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I'm a widow.
I think that was the first time I ever realized it. Before, I was just
going though the motions. Pretending that everything would be all right. Putting
on a show for the others. Especially for Nathan, my "son."
He's Scott and Madelyne's son, really.
I raised him, though. I was more of a mother to him then Maddie was.
It's not who gave birth to you, it's who raised you.
Scott used to say that to reassured me.
I've always felt that Nathan was not really mine. I didn't give birth to
him, so he can't be mine.
I've always wanted a child of my own. Right out of my own womb.
But Scott and me couldn't have one. We couldn't have one and still be in
the X-Men. That was all that matters to us. The team and more importantly, the
dream. We would die for it.
Scott did.
He sacrificed himself to save the life of our other "son," Nate Gray.
Apocalypse was destroyed in the process and so was my heart.
Scott was gone and so was my heart.
Standing in front of my full - length mirror, naked, rubbing my abdomen,
I realized that I was a widow.
Scott was gone.
We never got our chance to say our last good - bye to each other.
Or to say, "I love you."
Before Scott died, however, he gave me a priceless gift. One that would
go on forever.
I smiled to myself in the mirror and rubbed my abdomen lovingly.
I hoped it was a girl.