Title: Missing 2/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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Liam pulled his battered old Sedan onto the side of the road about 300 yards from the entrance to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. “Lou, are you sure we should do this?”
“Which part? Meeting our dad or checking to see if our mother died in vain?”
He sighed at her flippant attitude. “Believe what you want about mom, but the government came clean about the plot in the senate, and no one's been infected...”
“Yet,” she interjects. “What? You believe everything aunt Clara tells you? There's also been a lot she hasn’t *known* about this whole business, or our father.”
“I guess, but what if he hates us because she never told him? He could take that out on us.”
“Then it’s his loss. Anyway, you heard what she said. We have to give him a chance. Aren’t you even a little curious?”
He leaned his head against the car window. “You know what curiosity did!”
“Lighten up will you. I want to meet her friends, Xavier. See where she came from, what kind of life she had. Liam, I’m finding it hard to remember her. And I want to meet my father. Even if he turns out to be a miserable old bastard, and I hate him, at least I can say I know who he is.” She poked him in the side and smiled. “You know I’m right.”
“Yeah, I know.” She smiled triumphantly as he pulled back onto the road and headed for the large double gates of the most famous and prestigious school in the world.
He parked the car outside the main doors and got out. Louise got out as well, but stayed by her door. She put her hand in the pocket of her jeans and fiddled with the dog tags that were her mother’s. She had no idea why, but it made her feel better. He walked around the car to her. “You ok?”
“Yeah, just looking at it. It’s huge. All the window’s. Which was hers do you think?”
“God knows.” He sighed with nervousness. “Come on.”
They walked past some students sitting on the grass talking and up the steps to the door. It pushed open easily, and they walked in. There were students of all ages milling around. Louise looked down the large hall and could see a small desk tucked neatly in the corner next to a large oak door. A small plaque on the desk read ‘Reception’. She recognised the woman sitting behind it from one of her mother’s photographs. Her name was Kitty Pryde.
Louise pulled Liam along behind her. “Excuse me?”
“Oh hello, welcome to Xavier’s School for the Gifted. Can I help you?” Liam smirked at her tone, it was the stereotypical, I’m-here-to-help-but-how-quickly-can-I-get-rid-of-you-tone.
“Yes, we, we wanted to see Professor Xavier.”
“Um, do you have an appointment?” She glanced down at her diary spread out on the desk.
“No, but, it’s really important.”
Kitty sighed and Louise sensed that she was slightly irritated. “I can see if he is free, but I won’t make any promises. Can I take your names?”
Louise swallowed. “I’m Louise, and this is my brother, Liam D’Ancanto.” She waited for the girl to gasp and proclaim that she knew their mother, but she didn’t. She simply nodded and knocked on the office door behind her.
Louise heard a voice through the expensive wood panels. “Come.” Kitty Pryde walked inside and closed the door behind her.
Liam nudged her. “Shouldn’t she have known mom?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, maybe she changed her name when she left.”
Kitty came out of Xavier’s office, looking a little puzzled. “Um, the Professor would be happy to see you now.” They both smiled. “You’re lucky. He normally doesn’t see people without an appointment.”
They followed her into the office. Xavier wheeled around from his desk and shook both their hands. “Good Morning. I’m Charles Xavier.” He looked behind them. “Kitty, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Yes, sir.” She left and closed the door quietly.
“Please have a seat.”
“It’s an honour to meet you, sir. We’ve heard a lot about you.” Liam’s voice was a little shaky, for as long as he could remember he’d read everything he could on this man and now finally he was in front of him.
“Really...” He wheeled himself back behind his desk and smiled. “From whom, your mother?”
Louise gasped. “You know who we are?”
“Yes, the second Kitty said your name. I’m one of the few people who know your mother’s real name...” he paused slightly, briefly skimming their minds for any signs that they were lying about who they were and when he found none he smiled. “Although I never knew about the two of you. Twins?”
“Yes, sir.”
His brow furrowed. “How old are you?”
Liam squared his shoulders a little. “Eighteen today. Look, there’s a reason why we’re here...”
“A couple of reasons, actually.” She glared at her brother. “Please, watch this.” She rose from her chair and took Marie’s video out of her bag and gave it to him. “Mom had it delivered by her attorney to us this morning. She asked us to bring it here to you.”
Xavier took the tape from her. He glided over to his bookcase, which, with the touch of hidden button, pulled apart to reveal a widescreen tv with a built-in video and DVD player. Liam looked envious of the size of the tv. Xavier pushed the cassette in and glided back to watch it.
After watching it, he turned it off and stayed in front of his desk by Liam and Louise’s chairs, both looked at him as though expecting some amazing revelation, theirs minds projecting their fears of trust and uncertainties. “I’m honoured that one of her first thoughts was for you to come to me.” He linked his hands together in his lap. “I’m very sorry you lost your mother. She was a good friend and an excellent student and an even better X-Men.”
“Personally, I’m having a little trouble imagining my mom as an X-Men!”
“Oh young man, she was exceptional. Hot-tempered and reckless at times, but in a mission situation, absolutely perfect.”
“Hot-tempered and reckless. Well, at least we know were you get it from, Lou.”
She hissed under her breath at him. “Bite me!”
Xavier chuckled. “The rest of the team will all want to meet you when they find out, especially Jubilee. She was your mother’s best friend.”
They looked at each other and nodded. “We’d like that. Um, sir what about...”
“Your father? Logan. Yes, well. This is going to come as a bit of a shock. I dare say he will be more than a little angry with your mother’s choices, but I understand her reasoning.” They nodded. “With Logan, the easiest way to do things is to just come right out and tell him. Most of us left taming the Wolverine to her.”
“Wolverine. Logan is Wolverine.” Again Louise thought about the tags in her pocket. He must have given them to her.
“Yes. I can ask him to come in now if you’d like?”
She looked at Liam. “Whatchya think?”
Liam grumbled. “May as well get it over with.” Xavier smiled at his tone of voice, exactly like his father’s.
Xavier wheeled behind his desk and picked up his phone, dialling a three-digit number quickly. “Scott, would you and Logan kindly come to my office right away. Bring Jubilee with you. Yes, thank you.” He put the phone down ands looked at them again. “Are you two alright?”
“Nervous. What if he hates us?” She rubbed her hands together feeling them getting hot, her stomach knotted and she really felt like she wanted to be sick.
Liam pulled her hair gently, like he used to when they were kids. “Then it’s his loss.” She smiled, but it faded at the knock on the door. Liam rose from his chair and stood behind Louise, putting his hands on her shoulders.
“Come.”
“You wanted to see us, sir?”
Jubilee pushed past Scott into the room. “Whatever it was, I swear I didn’t do it!” Xavier chuckled.
“Yella, that line stopped working when you were a 17-year-old brat!” The gruff voice followed her into the room. He strode in and perched on the edge of Xavier sofa.
All three of the X-Men noticed the visitors. Logan looked them up and down, and his eyes narrowed slightly, and his nostrils flared. Something familiar bugged at him, but he couldn’t place it. The girl - she looked - she looked like Marie. Dark hair, huge eyes, wrong colour, but huge. He dropped his head and decided it would be better for him to look at his feet and not to go there. He could smell fear and nervousness coming off them both and somthing about their scent still bugged him.
“Scott Summers, Jubilation Lee and Logan, I would like you to meet Liam and Louise.” Scott stepped forward and shook their hands as did Jubilee. Logan simply nodded. “They are Rogue’s children.”
Scott looked like he was about to fall over. Jubes squeaked and put her hand over her mouth excitedly, and Logan stood up, his hands on his hips. “Bull! Prove it!”
“Logan, don’t be so rude, dude!”
“No way. If she had kids, she would have said something.” He paced a little in front of the others, steaming angry. He knew he didn’t need them to prove it; they looked like Marie, smelled like her, his Marie. No, he recognised the scent. It had a slight variation that was their own, but now that it had been pointed out, he knew they were hers.
“Ok. I’ll prove it.” Louise stood up and held out her hand to him. “Give me your hand.”
“Excuse me?”
“Lou, don’t.”
“It’s fine, Liam. I said, give me your hand.” He just stared at her. “Ya want to know, don’t you? So gimmie your damn hand!” He huffed and held out his hand palm up. She took it in hers and stared into his eyes, concentrating on pushing her empathic ability and giving him the proof she thought he wanted.
~FLASH OF LIGHT~
Logan was standing on the front step of a house he didn’t recognise. A pale green car pulls into the driveway. He gasped as Marie stepped out. He wanted to run to her, but a little girl in front of him does it first, followed by a little boy. Marie hoists them into her arms, raining kisses on their happy faces.
~FLASH OFLIGHT~
He gasped and was back in Xavier office breathing heavily. He snatched his hand away from her. “Mom’s mutation pulled, I’m an empath by touch, but I can push it out as well.” She steadied herself then fished around in her pocket for the tags, letting her fingers feel the metal.
“Logan I think maybe you should sit down for a moment.” But Logan only shook off Scott’s hand.
“I can’t believe she got pregnant. She went off, and God, you two are what – 17,18? Didn’t waste must time finding someone else, did she? Jesus! No wonder she told me to get lost...” He sat down again. “Oh God, she must... she must have already had someone else when she left, so she... she was cheating! God fucking damn!”
Liam pushed in front of his sister. “Don’t talk about my mother like that! Who the hell are you do judge her?”
Logan stood up, squaring up to Liam. “And who the hell are you to get in my face, boy!”
“Logan, that’s enough. There is more to this...” Xavier tried to help, but neither man would step away.
Louise pushed on her brother’s huge chest and then faced Logan’s equally huge chest. “There was never anybody else, never, because she loved you. Never, not even one date, not one night out, ever.” She brought her hand out of her pocket and tossed the tags at him. “You want to know who we are to get in your face, Wolverine? We’re your children!”
He caught the chain high in front of his face. The metal glinted at him. It held a faint scent of Marie. He stepped back from the angry girl in front of him, suddenly realising the words that she had spat at him. “What?”
“She kept us a secret, because she thought it was the right thing to do, to keep us safe, out of the way, pretend to be normal. She left us a message, told us the truth. We only found out today about her being part of the X-Men and having a life we knew nothing about, not to mention you!”
“No, no way! She wouldn’t do that... she... you’re my kids?” Scott sat down on the couch with Jubilee, in shock. Logan ran his hands over his face and groaned.
Liam could tell that he was genuinely shocked and backed off, feeling a little sorry for him.
Logan met his eyes. They were filled with fear, of him, of rejection? He didn’t know, but he knew he needed to calm down.
Now that Logan looked properly at the two of them, he could see it - the dark hair, the eyes, the build of the boy, and the attitude of the girl. “I, ...shit!” He glanced at Xavier for help, but the bald man only smiled. “I’m sorry. I have no idea what to say!” He chuckled slightly. The whole serene situation suddenly seemed funny. “I have kids! Fuck! I have a son and... and a daughter! Shit!”
Liam took a deep breath. His mother’s voice floated into his mind about giving Logan a chance. He stuck out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”
Logan smiled despite his shock, shaking his hand, and Jubilee noticed that it was the best smile she had seen him give since Marie left. “Cut the sir crap. Liam, right?” Liam nodded.
“And I’m Louise.” She held out her hand with a brilliant smile, just like her mother’s. She was shaking slightly.
“Louise. Nice to meet you.” He had a sudden urge to hug her but held it back, fearing she might push him away.
She gestured to the tags in his hand. “She... she wore them all the time. Around her wrist mostly. Sometimes round her neck, but mostly her wrist. They were left with a box of things, photos, knickknacks, and a leather jump-suit with an ‘X’ in the centre.”
He let his old tags weigh in his hands. He remembered the day he gave them to her, the way they fit perfectly into her little gloved hand, the feel of those brown gloves, and the way the material felt against his rough fingers. {I’ll be back for this.} Of course, he hadn’t meant the tags. He’d meant her.
“Um, I... I can’t believe I have two kids. When, I mean, how old are you?”
“We’re eighteen today.”
“T...today!” The time seemed to suddenly dawn on him. “I’ve missed eighteen years of your life! Why the hell would she do this?”
“I… I think you need to watch the tape.”
He shook his head. “Tape, what tape...?”
Xavier put on the tape again, and they watched it. Jubilee smiled, so did Scott, when Marie’s face filled the screen. Logan sighed and rubbed his hand over his face.
“Hi. Um, ok, how to start. Be honest. Ok, there are two ways that you two could be watching this tape. One is that I’m sitting with you, laughing and fending off bad jokes about the state of my hair or listening to a million ‘What are you wearing?’. Or the other option is that - is that I’m not with you guys anymore.” She sighed. “Personally it’s the more likely. I’m sorry. I really, really am. I’m going to tell you everything I can, so that you understand, so that you know the only reason I left you, the only reason I died, was to save you, to save your future. It’s April 4th, your seventh birthday, but you’re watching this eleven years from now. Huh, that’s weird. You’re in bed, tired out. I’ve read you a story each, tucked you in, kissed you both and told you I love you.”
Logan couldn’t register all of the situation, watching her. Seeing the emotions play on her face. Looking at her hair and her smile, hearing her voice, it was almost too much. He would give anything to hear her voice.
She looked at her watch. “Right, times a tickin’. Last subject. Oh fuck! Sorry, you shouldn’t swear. Swearing is bad, so is smoking, don’t ever smoke. Or sex, sex is very very bad! Ok, here goes nothing, your father.”
She blew out another long breath. “I expect that you’ve badgered Clara with questions. Truth is she doesn’t know anything about him because I never told her anything. To be honest I shouldn’t have gone off without telling her anything because I’ve left you no way of finding him and that... that simply isn’t fair. He’s - he’s a good man, on the whole. Has a few bad points, but then who doesn’t? You’ve never seen him, and that’s my fault. We, I mean, I, no... uh crap! We’d been together for nearly three years, living in the same room, sharing our lives. I love, I mean ‘loved’ him so much, and he loved me...” Logan could feel the lump in his throat when she said ‘love’. She meant it. She had loved him.
“Unfortunately I found him at three o’clock in the morning in bed with another woman. I walked into her room to see if she hadn’t anything to help me sleep, and there he was, flat on his back with her on top in nothing but her undies. She was such a bitch about it as well, telling me it was only a matter of time before she stole him from me anyway, and all he did was slur and plead that it wasn’t what I thought. Yeah right! So I told him to Foxtrot Oscar and left...”
Logan turned his face away from the rest, heard the words she spoke, begging her children to give him a chance, and finally admitting that she still loved him. But he couldn’t look at her. When Scott shut off the video, and the cabinet silently whirred and moved back into a book case, he got up and stood in front of Louise and Liam.
He rubbed the back of his head. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t cheat on your mother. I love her, and I would never have done that to her. I did take off, and I did get drunk, really, really, really drunk, and Marie did find me in bed with another woman on top of me... but... it wasn’t like that.” He glanced at Scott, who stepped forward.
“He’s telling the truth. The woman your mother found him with was my wife. Logan was extremely drunk, and she used her mutation, telekinesis, to hold... to hold him in place while she tried to... um...”
Xavier hid his amusement at Scott’s awkwardness. “I think they get the idea, Scott. I’m afraid at the time, Jean, the woman in question, made a lot of wild accusations with regards to her supposed relationship with Logan. Your mother was understandably upset and refused to listen to any reason, and she left. She made it perfectly clear that she didn’t wish to return and agreed with me that there would be no contact from any member of the team or school, except, because of the severity of mutant hatred at that time, for in an extreme emergency. Even when I did speak to her, she refused to listen or even speak about the situation. If I had known she had children, I would have forced her to listen. I am truly very sorry.”
Louise sat down in the chair again, her eyes filing with tears, but she refused to let them fall. “So, this was all a mistake, compounded by fear?”
Charles wheeled in front of her and touched her hand lightly. “Fear for one’s children is an extremely powerful thing. She so desperately wanted you to be safe, and she was right. The situation with humans and mutants at the time was more than volatile. You were in danger every day that you were out in the open, hiding was the only option she had.”
“At the time, children were at even more risk, as some were trying to stamp the problem out before it even arose. Children of known mutants were being killed, and the authorities weren’t making much of an attempt to help mutants.”
She nodded at Scott, and Liam rubbed her arm. “What about Clemency?”
***************END OF PART TWO
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Again love to poor injured Gamma!