Chapter Nine: Discoveries

Author's Note: Hello all! I'm back! I apologize for the incredible lateness of this chapter. I've actually had it written for almost two weeks, but I never heard back from my betas, and I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer, so I decided to post. Just a couple of things to mention. I have started a new job as a middle school teacher, and my writing time will be limited for the next few weeks, so don't be surprised if there is another long wait between chapters. Also, I'm not entirely happy with the quote at the beginning of the chapter, but it was the best I could find. On that note, I'm sending out a call for help. If anyone knows of any really good quotes (on any subject) please send them to me in a review with the author of the quote. If I use it, I'll give you credit!

With that out of the way, on with the story!!

Chapter Nine: Discoveries

"Thou hast her, France: let her be thine; for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again…"
-William Shakespeare (King Lear, I.i.283-285)

Charles closed the gate to the cemetery with a resounding clang. Pulling out the key, he quickly locked the gate, but paused for a moment, gazing at the low-hanging branches of the willow tree that sheltered his wife's grave. Until next time, my love, he thought to himself with a mental sigh.

Together, he and Kitty headed back to the mansion. The trip was accomplished in silence. Charles was thinking about his wife and daughter, about his decision to put a date of death on his daughter's stone, and about the things that he had told Kitty that day. All of this was enough to put him into an introspective mood, even if he hadn't already been there just from the memories that assaulted him this day.

Kitty on the other hand was still in shock over everything that she had learned about the Professor that day. For some reason, she simply couldn't wrap her head around the thought that the Professor had been married and had a daughter. She didn't know why she was so shocked, though. The Professor was human, even if he was a mutant. He had as much right to a family as anyone else. It was just that, given what she thought she'd known about him, he hadn't struck her as being interested in having a "traditional" family. He was so dedicated to his work and to the mutant cause…in her mind, that didn't leave much time for a family. Now, she understood that his obsession with the school and his work was his way of pushing aside the grief from losing both his wife and his daughter.

After several minutes, they emerged from the woods and turned to head back to the house. Just before they reached the veranda, Kitty paused and touched the Professor's arm, drawing his attention to herself.

"Yes, Kitty?"

"I-I'm sorry I followed you out there without asking your permission, Professor, but I'm glad that you told me…everything," Kitty began awkwardly. "I won't tell anyone else without your permission, I promise."

Xavier was quiet for a moment. "I appreciate that, Kitty. I'm sure that sooner or later, I'll need to tell the rest of the school, but for the time being, I prefer that it be kept quiet."

"I understand, Professor."

Xavier nodded and headed back into the house, intending to catch up on the work he'd neglected that day, as well as view the tapes of the students' session in the Danger Room that day.

Kitty watched him go, then retreated to the tree where she'd been planning to sit and read and listen to some music earlier. Climbing the tree quickly, she settled herself in the little hollow and slipped her headphones on, but didn't press "Play".

I wish there was something I could do for the Professor, Kitty thought to herself. He's done so much for everyone here…keeping his secret just doesn't seem like its enough. But what more can I do? I can't bring his wife back to life, and there's no way I could find his daughter for him…

Kitty suddenly sat bolt upright. Was there any reason that she couldn't try to locate the Professor's daughter? She was fairly good with a computer…maybe she could use those skills to try to locate Elizabeth and find a way to bring her home.

She hurried inside and spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about how she could go about searching for the Professor's daughter. She was careful to keep her thoughts behind the mental shields that the Professor had taught her to use to keep from projecting her thoughts to him and Jean. She didn't want to get his hopes up if nothing turned up.

By the time that curfew rolled around, Kitty felt that she had a fairly good idea of how to begin her search for Elizabeth Xavier…now it only waited until morning to put her plan into effect. As she got ready for bed and then slid beneath the sheets of the room that she shared with Rogue, she almost couldn't keep her anticipation to herself.

She was standing on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the bay below the mansion. She frowned, wondering how she had gotten here. The last thing that she remembered was getting ready for bed. But now, instead of her simple white nightgown, she was wearing her usual outfit of jeans and a baby-pink shirt. Turning around, she could see the mansion, and everything looked dark and quiet, which was normal since it was just barely dawn.Sunnydale High, April 24th, 1999

"Hello, Kitty."

Kitty spun around again, but she couldn't see the owner of the voice anywhere. For all intents and purposes, she was alone on the cliff.

A musical laugh seemed to answer that thought. "You are never alone, Kitty."

Kitty spun back around to face the mansion again, and this time she saw the owner of the voice. It was a young woman, in her early twenties, Kitty guessed, seated on the stone bench that marked the end of the path leading to the mansion. She was dressed in a long, flowing, white gown, and a very faint glow seemed to surround her.

"Who are you?" Kitty asked, eyeing the woman carefully.

"Simply a friend. I need to talk to you, Kitty. Please, come and sit down," the woman replied, patting the bench beside her.

Kitty moved a few steps closer, but made no move to sit on the bench. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"My name is Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzie," she replied, a warm smile lighting up her face.

"Lizzie? Are…are you Professor Xavier's wife?" Kitty asked.

Lizzie's smile broadened. "Yes, I am."

"Are you a ghost?" Kitty wondered as she gazed at the woman.

"Not exactly," Lizzie replied. "Please, come and sit here Kitty. You have nothing to fear from me. I just want to speak to you for a few minutes."

Kitty hesitated for another few seconds before finally moving over to the bench and perching on the edge of it. She wasn't sure she really trusted Lizzie…if that's even who she really was…but she did want to hear what the woman had to say.

Up close, Kitty could see that Lizzie, while still young in appearance, was closer to her thirties than her early twenties. She had bright, vibrant green eyes and long blonde hair that trailed freely down her back. Her smile was warm and soothing. Despite her reservations, Kitty felt herself relaxing.

"I wanted to thank you, Kitty."

"Thank me? For what?"

Lizzie's smile grew sad. "For supporting Charles. For listening to him today, and just being there."

"It was sort of an accident that I was there," Kitty began awkwardly.

"Nevertheless, you were there for him, and you were willing to listen to him. No one has done that for him for many years, because he never allowed himself the chance to unburden himself. His friends were there for him after my death, but when our daughter was taken from him, he pushed everyone away and refused to share his feelings. He kept them bottled up and became a recluse for seventeen years, until he finally decided to open his home to all of you. You're the first person that he's been able to talk to about me and about Elizabeth, and for that, I thank you."

"Have you been watching him all this time?" Kitty asked, slightly amazed.

"To a degree, yes. When he's needed me, I've been there, even if he never knew it, and I was there in the cemetery today when the two of you were talking."

"Well, I…I'm glad that I was able to help him. But is that the only reason that you're here now?"

Lizzie shook her head. "No, little one. I've actually come here to ask a favor of you."

"A favor?"

Lizzie nodded and her smile brightened again, a tiny bit. "You have shown that you are compassionate and I know you care about Charles."

"Well, yeah, we all do. He's done so much for all of us, letting us live in his mansion, helping us learn to control our powers…" Kitty replied.

Lizzie nodded again. "I understand, Kitty, and I am not surprised at what Charles is offering all of you, to be honest. As much as he loves science, teaching is what he was truly meant to do. Watching him all these years, knowing that there were so many other young ones that he could have offered his knowledge to, but seeing that he wasn't, hurt me deeply. I know how passionate he was about his students before my death, and even after my death, he was still eager to be back in a classroom. When Elizabeth disappeared, that part of him disappeared as well. But he's begun to rediscover it, and that's thanks to all of you."

Kitty just shrugged, uncertain of how she should respond to the older woman.

After a moment, Lizzie shook her head and refocused her attention on Kitty. "At any rate, the favor I have to ask you is important, Kitty. Within a matter of days, Charles is going to get some news that is going to shake him badly. He's going to need someone to be there to support him while he works through the consequences of this news, and I was hoping that you'd be there to help him."

"Me? How?"

"A smile, a word, an offer to listen if he needs to talk," Lizzie replied.

"Is this…bad news?" Kitty asked.

Lizzie frowned. "Not exactly…but the consequences and the outcome of his decisions once he hears it could go either way. He won't be reacting logically when he gets the news and he'll need someone there to steady him if things are to work out the way they should."

Kitty sighed. "It would help if I knew what news this is."

Lizzie hesitated. "I shouldn't tell you…but…" she frowned, obviously weighing her choices before she nodded. "All right, Kitty. The news that Charles is going to receive is that his daughter is still alive. He's going to find her again, Kitty."

Kitty's eyes widened. "She's been alive all this time?"

Lizzie nodded.

Kitty sat there stunned, thinking of her plans to try to locate the Professor's daughter and realizing that she wouldn't need them any longer. Unless…
"I'm not the one who finds Elizabeth, am I?"

Lizzie shook her head. "Oh, no, Kitty. No, Elizabeth was meant to be returned to Charles, at the right time, and that time is now. Or rather, in a few days. No, his Cerebro device will locate her."

Kitty just shook her head, at the height of information overload, trying to assimilate all of this information. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Lizzie, if you've known that your daughter was alive all this time, why didn't you tell the Professor? If you can show up in my dreams, well, I'm assuming this is a dream, like this, why couldn't you go to him and tell him this yourself, and why didn't you do it years ago and spare him his grief?"

Lizzie's smile was sad. "I wanted to, Kitty, very much. But I wasn't permitted to."

" 'Permitted to'?" Kitty asked.

Lizzie nodded. "Kitty, everything happens for a reason. I was meant to die in childbirth to bring our daughter into the world. She was meant to be taken from Charles, because she has a very important destiny ahead of her. If Elizabeth had been raised here, with Charles, she would never have been able to fulfill her destiny. Now, however, she's at the stage in her life and in her destiny where she's being called home to Charles, because she'll need him in order to fulfill the rest of her destiny. Charles couldn't know that she was still alive, because if he'd found her too soon, it could have altered her destiny. All I could do was wait, and watch, and offer what comfort I could to keep his hope alive."

"What about free will? You say everything happens for a reason, that your daughter has this destiny…doesn't she have a choice?"

Lizzie nodded. "Oh, yes. She has a choice, and she's already made decisions that have set her on this path. More choices lie ahead of her, and Charles will be a very important influence in those choices." Lizzie sighed. "I wish I could explain it better to you, Kitty. The only thing that I can really say is that there is a plan for everyone, but the day-to-day choices that you make determine the outcome."

Kitty chewed that thought over in her mind. "Well, all right. I guess I'll help."

Lizzie's smile was tinged with relief, as was her voice when she spoke again. "I'm glad to hear that Kitty. You'll wake up soon, but you won't have any memories of this conversation. All you'll know is that you need to help Charles for the next few days."

"I just wish I understood more," Kitty admitted.

Lizzie leaned forward and gently kissed Kitty's forehead. "I know, Kitty. Faith is one of the most powerful forces in the world, but it's also the hardest one to accept. All I can say is that you have to have faith and you'll need to help Charles have faith." She studied Kitty intently for a long moment. "You have an important role to play in all of this too, Kitty. I can't say anymore than that, but just know that everything will work out as it should."

Before Kitty could respond to that thought, everything grew dark and the cliffside scene faded into blackness. The figure of Lizzie was the last thing to fade, the gentle glow that surrounded her lingering in the darkness for some time before finally vanishing.

Buffy hurried down the hallway towards her next class. Wesley had ambushed her earlier and she'd missed the warning bell. She had about two minutes to get from one end of the school where the library was, across the campus to the math wing.

Why is this always happening to me? she wondered. Like it's not hard enough being a Slayer…but no…I also have to deal with High School and an over-eager, pompous Watcher! Those two do not mix!

She was moving quickly and not really paying attention to where she was going when she suddenly was brought up short as she slammed into Principal Snyder. The collision knocked them both back a step and Buffy was jarred from her thoughts. "Principal Snyder! I'm sorry sir," she began, only to be interrupted.

"And where are you off to in such a hurry, Miss Summers? Cutting class no doubt?" Snyder snapped.

Buffy shook her head quickly. "No, sir. I'm on my way to Trigonometry. I had a free last period and I didn't hear the bell. I'm running late." She held up her math book as evidence.

Snyder frowned fiercely, but nodded. "On your way then. And no running!" he snapped as Buffy stepped around him and started back down the hallway again.

Buffy started moving at a fast walk, glancing at her watch. Damn…only one minute. I'm going to be late again. She sighed. Just before she passed out of earshot of Snyder (she had a longer hearing range than most people because of her Slayer powers) she heard him muttering to himself.

"Stupid girl. I knew I never should have allowed her back into the school, trouble maker that she is."

Buffy almost went back to confront him, but reminded herself that she had to get to class. That didn't keep the scowl off of her face. She was so sick and tired of jumping through Snyder's hoops. Just another month or so and I'll never have to deal with him again, she reminded herself. Unless he gets turned into a vampire, in which case I'll gladly stake him.

She sighed and hurried to class, picking up her pace as soon as she was out of eyesight…and slid into the classroom just as the bell rang. Made it! Score one for me! She hurried to her desk and pulled out her materials, grateful that she'd actually done the homework from the night before.

Bayville, New York…two days later

Kitty wasn't sure what had caused it, but for some reason she was very aware of the Professor the last few days. She'd offered him a smile and a warm greeting every morning when he'd joined them for breakfast. That wasn't unusual, but usually it was the Professor who initiated morning greetings, since the students usually needed food before they were awake enough to hold any type of conversation that didn't require grunts.

All during the school day, she had gone about her normal class routine without any problems, and she was even willing to face her most difficult classes without her usual groaning and complaints to the rest of her housemates. When she got back to the mansion, the very first thing she did was find Professor Xavier in his study and say hello to him and tell him all about her day and show him the results that she'd gotten on her latest assignments. They were exceptionally good grades, even for her. She was much better in computers and the math and science classes than she was in history or English.

Professor Xavier was proud of her, Kitty knew. He took a keen interest in their grades, insisting on seeing every paper that they got back. He had taken them in and he felt it was his job to be fully informed on everything going on at the high school, and in cases like Scott and Rogue, he was their acting guardian, so he was the one that was called for parent-teacher conferences. He actually acted in that respect to all of the X-Men, but for all the other students, he also reported on their progress to their parents. Poor grades resulted in a loss of privileges and sometimes additional tutoring, handled by himself, Ororo, or Logan, depending on what the subject matter was.

After talking to the Professor, she would head to her room to change for the afternoon training sessions. They were getting better with each session, although they all had a great deal to learn. Professor Xavier was convinced that their powers would continue to develop and he was going to push them to their absolute limits.

That was fine with Kitty. She wanted complete control of her abilities. It had been bad enough when her powers had first manifested and she kept unexpectedly walking or falling through things and she had no idea why it was happening to her.

As she came back to her room after the most recent session, she shook her head again, wondering why she was spending so much time thinking about the Professor the last few days. Sure, the things that he had told her about his family had been surprising, but that didn't explain what was going on since then. She just had this sense, like a tickle in her mind, that she needed to stay close to her mentor and keep an eye on him, which made absolutely no sense.

Shrugging off the odd thought, she quickly gathered up her clothes and headed for the women's bathroom so that she could shower and change out of her uniform before all the hot water was taken.

Sunnydale…same time Buffy thought in anger as she again picked up on Willow's thoughts about Oz. Why is this happening to me? I thought that the potion that Angel made for me made this stupid telepathy go away!

Not again!

It hadn't taken Buffy very long to realize that, somehow, the telepathy that she had been 'gifted' with by the demon she had killed a week ago had unexpectedly come back. She was dreading a return of the chaotic white noise that came from not being able to block out the thoughts of the people around her. Thus far, it seemed that she was only able to sense Willow, Oz, Giles, and Xander, with a few exceptions, like Snyder a few days ago, and occasionally her mom. It was starting to drive her crazy, but she didn't want to tell Giles and see the look on his face.

I wonder if Oz and the Dingoes will play that song that Oz said they wrote for their girlfriends when we go to the Bronze tonight? Willow's thoughts drifted back into Buffy's head again.

That does it! Buffy thought. She stood up abruptly from the table where she was sitting with all of her friends at lunch. Her abrupt movement caught her friends by surprise and the conversation cut off suddenly.

"Buffy? What is it?" Willow asked.

"Nothing. I just need to go and talk to Giles. You guys enjoy the rest of your lunch and I'll meet you in class later," Buffy said, waving Willow back down when the redhead started to rise.

Buffy left the cafeteria and headed straight for the library. She traveled the distance in record time and pushed the double doors open. Glancing around, she saw Giles and Wesley up to their eyebrows in books, seated at the conference table as they continued their research on the Ascension. "Giles, we have a problem."

The two Watchers, former and current, looked up with a start from their research. "Buffy?" Giles asked, standing as he caught sight of the expression on his Slayer's face.

"It's back, Giles. That 'aspect of the demon' telepathy is back."

Bayville…same time

Charles sat at his desk in his study, going over some paperwork on the results of the students' Danger Room sessions for the last few days. Logan and Ororo were both very proud of the kids, as was Charles. Logan was of the opinion that it was time to increase the difficulty levels of the missions that they were designing for the students again, and Charles was inclined to agree. Their times were getting faster and faster every time they ran a scenario, and they were truly working as a team, at least for the most part.

A knock on the open door brought him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Kitty peeking in at him. He smiled at her and waved her in. "What can I do for you, Kitty?"

Kitty stepped up next to the desk. "I was wondering what you're planning on doing for me during my next individual session? I've got full control of my phasing ability. What do you want me to work on next?"

Charles steepled his fingers and regarded the young woman. "I was actually just looking over the results from everyone's last individual sessions. I have noticed that you do have control of your phasing, which is quite impressive, but you still have a tendency to project your thoughts. Jean has mentioned several times that you tend to get too excited during the sessions and she can usually anticipate what you're going to do because she picks it up with her telepathy. My thought was to start working with you on learning to shield your thoughts better."

Kitty frowned as she thought about it. "I didn't realize I was projecting, Professor. I always keep the shields you taught me up."

Charles nodded. "It's not uncommon, Kitty, especially when you're excited. Sometimes emotions can override telepathic shields, and that makes it easy for telepaths to pick up on your projections."

"That makes sense, I guess," Kitty admitted.

Charles was about to continue when an alarm began beeping softly from his desk. He glanced down in surprise and then tapped out a command on his computer, silencing the alarm.

"What was that?" Kitty asked.

"Cerebro," Charles said, maneuvering his chair away from his desk and towards a blank wall at the back of the room. He stopped in front of the wall and reached out, touching a small button on the wall that Kitty had noticed before, but never known what it was for. At his touch, the entire section of the wall slid upward, into the ceiling, revealing a sophisticated computer console hidden behind it.

Charles moved closer and began tapping out some commands on the computer before he reached over and picked up a helmet attached to the computer by several wires and placed it on his head. After a moment, a computerized female voice spoke.

"Discovery. New mutant signature."

"Triangulate location," Charles replied.

There was a series of beeps from the computer as it responded to the command. Kitty watched in fascination. She'd never seen the Professor's sophisticated mutant detection computer at work before.

Another whirring sound and a map appeared on the screen. "Location triangulated. Location: Sunnydale, California." The map quickly panned to show an overview of the state of California, before a red dot began blinking on the map, indicating the location of the new mutant.

Charles frowned in surprise. "California? That's interesting. I don't think we've discovered a mutant from that far away." He paused in thought, before speaking again. "Confirm identity of new mutant."

"Identity confirmed."

"Display," Xavier ordered.

The computer beeped again and a second monitor lit up with a wire-frame image. "New mutant identified. Name: Elizabeth Anne Summers. Age: 18."

Charles sucked in a startled breath. Elizabeth Anne? No, it can't be. There's thousands of children with that name across the country. It's a coincidence, he told himself firmly. Best not to get his hopes up. Besides, the name didn't completely match. But the name…and she's the right age…

Kitty was watching the computer with interest, and almost missed the tell-tale hitch of breath from the Professor as the computer identified the mutant. But as soon as she heard the name, she understood the Professor's surprise. She recognized the name too. She reached out and laid a hand on the Professor's shoulder. "Professor? Are you all right?"

Charles shook off his shock. "Yes, I'm fine Kitty. It's just an unusual coincidence." He smiled at his student. "It just caught me by surprise, given everything that's happened in the last few days." Turning back to Cerebro, he issued another command. "Construct and overlay image of new mutant."

"Working."

There was a steady whirring from the computer as it accessed records of the identified mutant from both public and secured areas and began building an image of the young woman. First the body, from the feet up. The computer pulled the image of a young, slender, petite girl wearing hip-slung jeans and a trendy, comfortable top appropriate for the California heat. Then the computer added more details to the face and head. Long blonde hair, caught up in a ponytail. Then the face began to resolve. The image wasn't exactly clear. There wasn't a lot of detail in the face, but it seemed that the girl had green eyes.

Charles tensed again. It couldn't possibly be…not after all these years. "Computer, display face only and enhance."

A beep of acknowledgement and the screen divided itself between the full body model of the girl and a wire-frame of just her head and face. The computer began to take the information and build the girl's features up onto the new model. A long, oval-shaped face, with lightly tanned skin. Wide green eyes, delicately arched brows, a straight nose, full lips. After another moment there was another beep and the computer spoke again. "Enhancement completed.

Kitty studied the girl. She was strikingly pretty and there was laughter and life in her face. But at the same time, there was something familiar about her, but she couldn't place it. She turned to the Professor, only to see him frozen in shock, staring at the image of the girl, his already pale skin even paler. "Professor? What is it?"

"Lizzie…" he breathed.

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