Family Matters

Summary: A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt

Ch 7 Beneath Such Dreamy Weather

She slipped out of the bed, got dressed and walked down the hallway and into the living room. Her eyes were once again drawn to the pictures Moira had on her fireplace. Ever since she lost her powers she was realizing how alone she really was. She was surrounded by people, but none of them were really her family. None of them could truly replace Charles and deep down she knew that.

She thought of Erik and she remembered how much she enjoyed his deep and throaty laugh, mostly because it was a rare occurrence especially as the years passed.

It didn't take long to get Erik to cave to her whims after they had left Charles. He may have been able to manipulate metal with those strong hands of his, but he was still just a man. And men had needs. Those first few times were nothing short of amazing. He knew how to give her what she needed, wanted and craved. The darkness had always been there even when he was a young man but it hadn't taken control completely at that point. He could still have fun and enjoy life, those were the time she relished and missed. So much had happened in that brief window of happiness they shared to her and to him.

She stretched out on the bed reveling in the feeling of their love making. She picked her head up and saw him standing by the window, he was breathtaking. His naked muscular form was illuminated by the moonlight. She had never been with someone that wanted her as she was and he would have her no other way. The boys she'd been with when she was younger, had they seen what she really looked would've run screaming or been cowering on the floor in fear. She slid of the bed and walked over to him and slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Look at them walking around not realizing how insignificant they are. They argue over race, religion, intelligence, they don't even know they are being replaced not by a superior race or religion, but a superior species" he stared out at the night sky then turned to her. "Now, where were we?" he said grabbing her shoulders, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him and he carried her back to the bed.

Then one day he told her that he wouldn't be sharing her bed anymore. She was angry at first but then she understood, they were fighting a war and his attention was needed elsewhere. But he still kept her at his side, shared his thoughts and fears with her. Frost may have been able to listen in but she was never the one he talked too.

Maybe she was naïve to think she meant something to him, that they were more than just partners. She shook those thoughts from her mind as she stared at the pictures in front of her.

She was looking at pictures of a smiling boy with a short brown hair and an equally has happy Moira holding him. Could her life have been pictures of a family growing up together? For awhile she imagined it could be, they were happy. She had found someone that accepted them and cared for them. Then reality set in and her mission became more important. Her eyes narrowed as she stared through the picture. None of them should have to hide.

"Raven?" She was startled when she heard Moira's voice from behind her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Moira told the younger woman. She saw her body was tense and agitated. And wondering if she should be worried. Even a powerless Raven could still be dangerous, maybe she had made a mistake letting her stay here. Charles believed she was different and she trusted his instincts.

Raven closed her eyes and calmed her breathing. "It's fine…I was just lost in my thoughts I guess"

Moira nodded in understanding as she watched her body relax, now she just looked somber and troubled. She had heard them last night; she wasn't really expecting them to get together, although it was never out of the realm of possibilities. She was going to say they were both young, but they're not. Then she started thinking about how strange it would be to still have such a young body with the wisdom of someone so much older. She hadn't talked to Logan much but she knew he was searching for answers to his past. But like all of them they were looking for someone that was like them, someone who could understand.

"Where is your son now?" Raven asked breaking the silence that descended in the room.. "If you don't mind me asking"

Moira looked towards the floor, she didn't even know if she should be telling her this. "When Kevin's mutation manifested, he couldn't control it. His ability allowed him to warp reality and take possession of other people's bodies. He became violent …and I couldn't let him hurt himself or anyone else." Moira told her. "He's at a facility I have, where I'm trying to figure out a way he can live with is mutation."

Raven listened quietly as Moira told her about her son. Looking at him was always the hardest. So she tried to avoid him, but he came to her not knowing who she really was. "When their born you see this life for them, then it always turns out completely different then you imagined"

Moira looked at Raven with the realization dawning on her. "You have children?"

Raven turned to look at her. "I have two…boys" she replied then added. "They don't know me" It was way too late to be regretting her decision now. It was better this way, especially for Kurt, no child should have the memory of what happened that night.

Moira was shocked, Raven was a mother. "Does Charles know?"

"About one of them yes, the other I don't know" Raven sighed and closed her eyes. She then walked past Moira into the kitchen. Moira followed and went to pour grounds into the coffee maker.

Raven sat down at the island and eyed the closed laptop next to her. "Can I use your computer?" she asked. She had an idea but she needed to check something out first.

"Sure" Moira told her as she leaned against the counter to wait for the coffee to be done. It had been a long few days with flying from Scotland to New York and back again. Then having to relive memories of her life as a young woman.

Raven opened the laptop and started typing. "So how are we going to do this?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, do what?" Moira asked in confusion trying to think of what Raven could be referring to. To her knowledge they hadn't talked about doing anything.

"Bring Charles home" Raven told her like they'd already discussed it. Her fingers started flying over the keyboard as she talked.

"…Home?" Moira asked as she poured the coffee into two cups and handed one of them to Raven.

"Thanks" Raven replied taking a sip and placing it gently on the table next to her and went back to typing. "Yes, we're not going to leave him there."

Moira held the coffee cup in both hands. "Raven, that's not his body" she said to her looking her in the eyes. "We can't just take it"

Raven looked at her. "Why not?" she asked. She didn't see a problem with it, John Smith wasn't using his body anymore and with it Charles would be able to walk again.

"Well besides being moral and ethically wrong…." Moira told her putting her mug on the table. It hadn't even crossed her mind to have Charles just take the body.

"Well in your honest professional opinion is there a chance John Smith could wake up"

Moira sipped her coffee. "There's… always a slight possibility"

"How slight? What are the odds"

Moira sighed. "Slim, but Raven that's beside the point."

"Due to extensive and irrevocable brain damage the patient is highly unlikely ever to achieve higher functions above a vegetative state." Raven said to her. Moira's eyes widen in shock. "And that's right here in his file, written by you." Raven told her turning the computer around to show her.

Moira leaned in closer to look at the screen. "How?..." She asked, and then sighed. "You hacked into the hospital's network. Those are confide…" she just stopped talking not bothering to finish her sentence. Raven knew all that already and didn't care.

Raven went back to typing. "Since they don't know who he is or where he came from. You can say through some research you found his sister in America." she said as the plan started forming in her mind. "I'll say he always went on retreats like this and we were used to not hearing from him for years. So that's why we had no idea he was here. But now that we know I want to take him home to New York"

"And how will you be transporting a comatose patient?

"A plane, I can fly anything. I'll say one of my clients lent me their air ambulance charter plane"

"How do you know Charles will even agree to this?"

"Ask him then" Raved suggested. She had already planned out what they were going to do. However she needed Charles to help her accomplish it.

Moira closed her eyes and sighed. Charles belonged back home leading his team and helping other mutants control their abilities. But she didn't know if she could allow this. That man whoever he was didn't agree to this. And she also knew that know had come to claim him and the chances of him waking up with cognitive function was slim to none. "I'll talk to him" she told Raven as went to take a shower and get ready for work.

Tbc...