Title: "The (Blank) Challenge"

Rating: T, to be on the safe side

Genre: family, friendship

Character(s): all the usual LR suspects, and then some ;)

Pairing(s): see notes below

Summary: 25 days, 25 one-shots. All written in under an hour and a half. (Prompts are accepted, restrictions apply!) [Day 01: "The Promise"/prompt: Tasha, promise. (AU. X-Men x-over).]

Notes: Hey there! So, I'm preparing for NaNoWriMo next month, and I need practice. This collection of one-shots is my attempt at that. The challenge is to post something every day.

Here's where I need help. Sooner or later, I'm going to run out of ideas, so I need prompts, please! Below are the aforementioned restrictions:

X Ratings can only go as high up as T.

X No slash or violence.

X No sibling/sibling or step-sibling/step-sibling pairings, please.

X Alternate universes and crossovers are very welcome! Regarding the x-overs, ask first if I'm familiar with the other fandom(s).

If you have a request that doesn't go against these, I gladly welcome them! Thank you in advance for the help!

Okay, with that out of the way, here's day one! Enjoy!

/day one/

Prompt: promise

Featured LR character: Tasha

"The Promise"

AU. "Promise me you'll take care of him."

"Are you sure about this?"

She looked up from the two-week old infant sleeping soundly in her arms. "Yes. I'm sure."

Tasha sighed. "I don't know about this, Or. That's your child we're talking about."

"I know." She again cast her gaze back at him. A small smile tugged at her lips. She loved that look on his face whenever he's asleep. It was so peaceful. He feared nothing, as if he knew and was absolute that he would always be safe as long as he was in her arms.

Her heart broke, but she did her best to remain strong.

She was making the best decision she could make given the circumstances. Tasha was her closest friend and was someone she could trust. She had known this years ago, when they met as teenagers, during her short stay at Cairo. Tasha was one of her potential victims then, a tourist from America whose backpack was hanging a little loose and was therefore an easy target. She followed her for a while, and once Tasha was by herself, she saw it as the perfect opportunity.

However, before she could snatch the other girl's possession, she noticed a terrified look on her face. It didn't take long for her to realize that the teenage girl was lost in the busy market. She was looking around, shaking. She tried to call out to her parents, but the stares being thrown towards her by the locals forced her into silence.

She knew she would be punished for not going for the backpack, but she didn't mind. She walked up to her, introduced herself, and then volunteered to help her locate her parents, which they did half an hour later.

They continued to be good acquaintances throughout the years, and their bond only grew stronger once she came to America. A friendship wasn't forged between them, though, until Tasha had discovered that she was a mutant. After the initial shock and terror wore off, Tasha still accepted her as a friend despite the media's negative depiction of her kind – and she truly treasured that.

She knew, however, that this was too big of a favor to ask. Tasha was just twenty-four, single, and had just started a career at the news station. She had just moved into a new apartment a few months ago, which meant that she was still on the rebuilding stage financially. But there was no one else to whom she could turn to, and she was running out of time.

Tasha stared worriedly at the newborn. "How am I even going to explain this to my parents?" she asked. "How can I justify adopting a baby to them?"

"Didn't you tell me before that you wouldn't mind adopting one day?"

"Yeah, I did, but…"

"…But not someone who's like me," she filled in, disheartened.

"It's not like that. Okay? You know it's not," Tasha said gently. "You, of all people, know that I have no problem with people with abilities. I'm a friend. But, you have to see this from my point-of-view. I have no idea how to raise a child who could have powers I won't understand. I want to be there for him every step of the way, but I can't do that if I don't know how to help him."

"You will. It may not seem like you'd be able to, but you will."

Tasha thought about it for a while. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. "To yourself, Ororo? Why are you doing this to him?"

"To keep him safe," she said. "We're at war. To the world, we're all the same, we're all enemies. But what they don't know is that we're constantly fighting with one another because some of us still want to protect the people that hate us so much. I don't – I don't want him to grow up in that situation. I want him to be where he would be loved and where he's not in the kind of danger we're always in. I want him to be understood, and I know that with you? He will be."

"What if your enemies come after him, after us? What am I supposed to do?"

"They won't. The Professor is the only one who knows about him and about me coming to you. You will be safe."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "And I will also keep an eye on him," she promised.

For a long time, Tasha didn't speak. Then, "Okay, what about his paperwork?"

She looked down. She shook her head. "I need him to be untraceable."

"What? You haven't done that either?"

"Look, I'm making do with what I can, alright?" she said, a mist of tears forming in her eyes. "This is not easy for me. As much as you'd like to think that it is, it's not."

"I know. I know. I'm sorry," Tasha said calmingly. She took a long look at the baby on her friend's arms then smiled. "He's beautiful."

She glanced down at him. "Yeah. He is," she said. "Would you like to hold him?"

Tasha sat up, nodding. "Yeah." She reached out to the infant when he was handed to her. Once he was safely cradled in her embrace, she watched him. "He's very quiet," she observed.

She chuckled. "That's because he's been fed. He usually wreaks havoc when he's hungry," she said.

"Ooh. I hope you don't grow up to be a troublemaker," Tasha told him with a grin. She looked up. "What's his name?"

The smile on her face gradually diminished.

Tasha understood. Her smile, too, slowly vanished. "You haven't named him."

"It's easier that way," she said. She gazed longingly at her child. Her heart inclined her to reach out for him, to take him back and to hold him, but she understood that she shouldn't. It would just make her regret her decision, and all of the effort to make this happen would have been for naught. Decisively, she took a deep breath then stood up. "I have to go, Tasha. Someone will notice I'm gone, and it may not be the right people."

Tasha stood up, the thought of an infant being left with her frightening her. "Okay," she said as bravely as she could manage. Following her close friend towards the door, she asked, "Will you keep in contact?"

She looked back and smiled a small smile. She shook her head.

Tasha nodded.

She took one last look at her child. "Promise me you'll take care of him," she asked Tasha.

Tasha nodded. "I promise."

She smiled at her. She kissed her son on the cheek, and then she walked back to her car.

Ororo pulled out of the driveway without looking at the rearview mirror. She drove on for blocks with a false sense of courage and her breath held then, once she was very far away, pulled to the side of the road then shed tears for the child she knew she would never see again.

Just in case you're not as familiar with the X-Men universe, Ororo Monroe is Storm. :)

Reviews and prompts will be appreciated!