What is to Come

Chapter Fourteen

They had a plan laid out for next year, but they had to get through the rest of this year in the mean time. Even being allowed back into town for errands, children were still not allowed in the schools and the supplies had been ordered but had not yet arrived. The easiest solution was to sign the children up for on line courses. This would give the new adults a chance to prepare. No one really thought Jean was up to teaching anything right now, no matter how 'okay' she insisted she was. On top of this, Charles wanted Jean and Scott to try to finish the degrees they started before all of the trouble began.

Remy and Rogue were also still working on their control issues. They spent every morning helping the younger kids where it was needed, the afternoon with Charles working on their powers. They were making steady progress. After that, Rogue would help Logan with the vehicle maintenance while Remy helped whoever was assigned to make dinner. They still hadn't managed to find the time to arrange their picnic, however their relationship seemed to be shifting anyway They themselves didn't seem to notice but the others did.

The main reason they hadn't officially gone out was they spent nearly every evening with Jean and Scott. Usually the four of them would sit together in the parlor watching movies or playing cards. They never talked about Jean's "Incident" or what caused it. Scott had tried to talk to Jean about it, but she still refused to talk to him about it. He worried about this, but at least she was talking to someone.

Jean still was talking to Rogue in addition to talking to Charles and Ororo. It still hurt his feelings that she wasn't talking to him but he was talking to Remy and Charles. Over all the four of them had become very good friends. Despite their own problems, Jean and Scott were working together to convince Remy and Rogue to take a break long enough to actually go out.

Jean was working on Rogue, trying to talk the other girl into it by assuring her that she (Rogue) deserved time off from everything. Rogue for her part was equal parts nervous about changing her relationship with Remy and guilt over being so happy herself when everything else was so chaotic.

Scott was trying to talk Remy into asking Rogue out to the movies or dinner. Remy's only response was that they had agreed to a picnic, he just needed time to work it out. The truth (which he wouldn't admit to to anyone) was that he still didn't like going out since they had no idea where Sinister was.

Kitty and Piotr spent most of their evenings with his little sister, though occasionally they joined the others in the parlor, as did Kurt when he wasn't busy talking to Amanda on the phone in his room. Kurt wasn't allowed to visit her very often thanks to the restrictions still set on the mansion's inhabitants but that didn't stop them from talking to each other nearly all evening.

Logan, for his part, was doing his best to hide his restlessness from the rest of the mansion. He wanted nothing more than to go back out in search of Sinister but he had to stay here to help teach and protect the kids of the mansion. It was driving him crazy. He felt caged in and helpless which in turn was making him short tempered. The only ones who really wanted to spend any amount of time with him at the moment were Rogue, Kitty, and Ororo. Even Charles was avoiding his company at the moment. Though that was mainly due to the negative feedback from Logan and Charles' own full schedule. Charles knew however, that it wouldn't be long before Logan couldn't take anymore waiting and simply wandered off on his own in search of the enemy.

In short, things at the mansion were tense that spring, though they all tried to keep it from the children even as the outside world seemed to be closing in around them. The protesters had returned to the gates, and were always there to press up to any car that dared leave the grounds.

Two of the newer kids, Angelo and Everett, had offered to go into town one day to pick up some supplies, mostly for an excuse to leave the grounds. Charles reluctantly agreed, provided they take an adult with them. Hank reluctantly joined them temporarily abandoning his lab.

They had just finished in the grocery store and were loading the van when they were approached by a group of five boys about their own age. Everett realized right away the boys were looking for trouble, but Angelo failed to notice them at all, until the ringleader stepped into his path from the cart to the van.

"Why don't you freaks shop somewhere else. You're just going to poison the food in there so normal people can't eat it." the strange boy said.

"That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard! Where'd you get an idea like that?" Angelo said in response, kind of shocked at the statement. "We aren't position and even if we were why would we want to harm our own food source."

"Oh please. Everyone knows you freaks don't actually need any of this, you just come in here to bother us!" said a second boy. By now Everett was watching carefully as he slipped the last of the bags in the van and Hank had climbed from the driver's seat to try to difuse the situation before it got to bad.

"Excuse me lads, but it seems to me that you have been misinformed. We are human. Just as you are, we simply have been given a gift that makes some of us look different."

"Everyone knows you all are trying to take over the world and are just trying to get rid of us!" said a third boy. Fear was evident on his face though if it was because he didn't want to be here or if it was the 'truth' he was quoting that bothered him none of them could say.

"Where did you here such nonsense from?" Hank asked still trying to br polite.

"From school, and our parents, it's in all the pamphlets. Don't bother trying to deny it, we know the truth so why don't you freaks get outta here before we make you leave." said the first boy. Hank shook his head sadly at the boys. This would only get worse as time went on if they couldn't find a way to stop it, but for now the most important thing was to get Everett and Angelo home, so Hank agreed to leave while denying once more that they intended to harm anyone and they made their way back to the mansion.

~O~0~O~

Being idle in anyway went against Pietro's nature. This is what he was thinking about as he watched the others on the beach with his father and Crystal by his side. Wanda had joined them for awhile, but was now back in her house making lists of things that needed to be done, the others were taking a much needed break to relax in the sand and sun.

Pietro was frustrated with his recovery. He was healing well, but he lacked his usual energy, spending most of his time at the moment either working on recovery with Crystal or sitting in his father's office with Magneto and Wanda going over the ever growing lists of things that needed to be done to make their new home work.

He understood that all of this was important, but it didn't stop his frustration at his own limitations. Before his coma, he could have not only finished the list of supplies himself but he could have gotten started on any number of other items that they had outlined, instead he was stuck as an observer.

The worst part for him was that he was already feeling tired again, and all he had done was walk down here from his new home. Crysral assured him it was all part of his recovery and that he would be back to normal soon, but it didn't really help, especially as he watched Wanda take over more and more of his roles in the group. He tried not to feel jealous of his sister, after all he'd felt terribly guilty about having left her behind during her own illness and had spent years wondering what he could possibly do to make it up to her, but he never imagined making it up to her would mean losing his own place among them.

This thought, which just came to him, made him realize that he was feeling jealous of his sister and being unfair to her. A stab of guilt over his selfishness passed through him before he turned to Crystal and his father and repeated these thoughts out loud.

Crystal responded first, before his father could react. "I've told you before Pi, It's perfectly normal to feel these things. You've been through a major trauma and are just now beginning to recover. It's natural to feel overwhelmed and frustrated at the situation. I know that it's easy to become discouraged but I will keep reminding you how far you've come until you can see it for yourself."

"Wanda has found her place, finally." Erik added in a kind tone that he was attempting to use with his children more often. "For many years she felt like an outsider and is only just now starting to come out of her shell. She will never take your place though Pietro. I assure you never will either of you replace the other. I am truly sorry that my earlier behavior has driven you to feel this way in any form or that either of you ever felt that you didn't matter to me because you both have always mattered."

Pietro stared at his father, still not use to this new version of Magneto. A man who admitted he'd messed up while the twins were young and that he had failed them. Only asking now for a chance to do things right for them now and in the future. Neither Pietro nor Wanda fully trusted this change of heart but they were willing to give it a try, after all the truth was all either of them every really wanted was their father's love and approval.

Magneto, however, was not used to heart-felt conversations and quickly made his excuses to leave feeling rather exposed having had this conversation in view of his son's...nurse? friend? Girlfriend? He still hadn't actually figured that part out.

He left rather quickly, intent on getting back to work, there was still much that needed to be done if he was to fulfill his plan to make Genosha a self sustaining sanctuary for mutants everywhere.

~O~0~O~

Kelly's New York office was much quieter and more secluded than his Washington office, which is why it was chosen for this meeting. He ran the office from his home retaining only the minimum staff to keep things going while he was away.

No one was there at his home-office at the moment as he had given the housekeeper the evening off. Shortly after the maid had left Kelly looked up from some paperwork to find Creed and the 'Shadowed man' waiting for him to begin. He managed to keep (barley) his composer as he set aside his paperwork.

"You did well so far Robert. Now's the time to start on the next stage of the plan. Soon they will bow to me and all of this will be a distant memory. " The man in shadows assured. He was pleased himself, everything was going according to plan. Just a few more buttons to push just the right way and he will have won.

The biggest by far thing to worry about was the X-Men, they did tend to interfere with plans. For now however, he was content to allow Kelly the belief that he had some say in what happens Kelly would be in for a very rude wake-up call when he realized they had painted right into a corner of which there was no mistake.

Creed for his part in this meeting just sat quietly. Some may find him an incredible hypocrite associating with the likes of Sinister who clearly is the active (at the moment) leader behind these plans. Creed didn't like it though and he didn't trust Sinister who was clearly strange even if he was a mutant himself which Creed assumed he was after reading a bit of Kelly files on mutants. He was a little surprised in fact that Kelly was so trusting of the mutant considering how he felt about it.

.

Kelly for his part was as unhappy as Creed about this man being their main benefactor and intended to change that as soon as possible. Not that he thought he could get away with that and live to tell the tale.