"Why are you here?"
"What?" Donella asked sitting up looking around at the room with white painted walls and mass produced art.
The walls of a hospital. "Why are you here?" The voice asked again and she looked down at the face of her late husband laying the the hospital bed.
"Because you're sick. And I said I'd never leave no matter what." She was confused.
"I'm not here anymore." He replied somewhat cryptically.
"What do you mean? You're right in front of me. Is the pain making you hallucinate now?" She reached out and brushed her hair through his curly hair.
It was cold to the touch and blinking she looked down to see him in a coffin. "Why are you here?"
"No. No this isn't...I..." She stammered.
"Why are you here?"
She finally understood what he was asking. She turned her back on the funeral home and saw him behind her, standing next to an empty wheelchair. "Because I can't live with it anymore."
"I asked."
"That doesn't make it right!" She said sharply. "It doesn't make it ok."
"No it doesn't. I shouldn't have asked you to." He looked down at the chair. "He wants you back."
"He doesn't know me. He doesn't know what I've done, how badly I've screwed up."
"He doesn't care. You should move on. Punishing yourself isn't the answer."
"And what if he gets sick and asks? I can't do that again."
"He never would. He's stronger than I was. I was a weak man who couldn't bear the burden. I'm sorry I asked you to. You never could tell me no." Julien gave her a sad smile his green eyes wiser in death than they had been in life.
"I'm scared." She finally blurted.
"Good. It's ok to be afraid. Its healthy. He'll help you just like you help him. Don't punish yourself any longer."
Julien started to fade out. "Wait! Wait please don't go. Not yet." She tried to grab him but he was as insubstantial as memory. There but not. "I have to go. This is his chapter in your book. Enjoy it. I'll be here when the book ends."
She gave a watery smile. "Bookworm." She teased fondly.
"Philistine." He teased back and left her alone with the chair.
She sank to her knees before the chair. "I'm afraid." She whispered laying her head in the chair where his lap would have been.
"It's ok to be afraid. But you don't have to be alone." Charles whispered stroking her hair.
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A baby wailed shrilly in the infirmary. "It's a boy!" Donella crowed looking down at Rogue who lay exhausted on the bed.
She took the baby from Jean and placed him in Rogues arms and went to find Logan. She found him pacing the hall his fists clenched. "You have a son." She said smiling broadly.
He turned to smile back at her. She was more her old self since she'd woken in Xavier's arms just after diverting a nuke. She seemed to be at peace with herself though she was still as full of beans as ever. "I'd wait until they can clear the blood first. You know how you get." She chided.
He snorted but lingered. "So How goes the expansion?" He asked having been mostly too busy to really keep up with the new plans.
"We're making progress. Adding a 'wing' is a little more difficult than the original part of Haven. We have to clear away dirt and rock while still making sure the air filtration system doesn't overload and kill everyone." She grinned. True to her previous statement once Storm and Rogue announced that they were pregnant every couple in Haven started wanting babies. The pregnancy count was up over fifty now.
Logan nodded but she could tell his mind wasn't really there. "I think you can go in now." She said gently and he took off at a jog.
She followed him and watched him settle next to his wife gently touching their new son who they had named Donovan. She smiled at the touching scene and looked over at Storm who was still recovering from giving birth to her daughter who she and Hank had named Ivy. She heard the faint whir of Charles chair and felt his hand on her hip. "Soon we'll be over run with them." He said softly.
She smiled down at him. "Would you have it any other way? Haven is thriving. Our underground Haven is becoming an underground city. What city doesn't have children?"
He lifted her hand and kissed it gently. "A very poor one indeed." He murmured then lifted her shirt and kissed the swell of her stomach.
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~~ Haven grew to be the foremost Mutant Haven in the whole of The North American Continent. During it's final years it boasted a population of seventeen thousand mutants with fully one thousand humans coming to live with them as well. When the number of mutants outstripped the number of 'pure' humans the Haven Planning Committee set forth on their final goal. They removed the dome of Haven and showed themselves to a changed world. A world in which 'pure' humans were the minority. A new kind of politics was born into a new world. Haven remains as ever a refuge from the storm. It's pathways and buildings holding out the promise of a better future built through understanding and hard work. The heroes of Haven stand immortalized in stone for all to see though no Statues are so loves as those of the X-Men and their leaders. Charles Xavier and his wife Donella.~~ Passage taken from A History of Mutant Kind Available for sale at The Haven Museum of Mutant History.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
All done. Hope you enjoy it. The ~~ Parts at the beginning of the story are from the same place as the ~~ parts at the end.
Chapter End Notes:
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