Author's note: Also those of you that are not members here can leave a review. So please do it! ; ) Thanks to those who have reviewed the last chapter! : )
I take my time to write this for you, so be so fair and leave a review! Even if it's a short one! ;)
I hope there are not too many mistakes in this. It's almost 6 a.m. and I can't sleep.
Changes Sequel – III. War + Epilogue – Epilogue Part 4
Ororo was getting suspicious. Since Jean had returned to the pool she was smiling like an idiot, but refused to tell her what had happened between Logan and her. Even three days, then four days and in the end five days didn't make the redhead spill the secret. Now, while they were having breakfast in the kitchen she was trying to spoil the children with her best chocolate chip pancakes and tried her luck again. Jack, however, was shaking his head.
"No, mommy and daddy told us not to tell anyone," he said and her face fell.
"Especially you!" Rachel added while chewing on her pancakes delicately.
"Oh, come on!" the weather goddess cried and look up as someone snickered in front of her. It was said redhead, clearly amused. "Jean, please! Tell me what's going on!"
"No way, 'Ro," Jean laughed and gave each of her children a kiss on the cheek. "And don't even try to bribe my kids, they won't tell you anything! Isn't that right?"
"Yeah," they said in unison and grinned at Ororo. "We won't say a word!"
"Unfair!" the woman sulked. "Will you tell me at least the thing Logan has to do for you that left him all grumpy yesterday?"
Jean laughed. "Oh that…," she said and sipped on her coffee. "Well, Logan was so stupid to promise me something on our wedding day…"
"Which is?"
"To look the same on our ten year anniversary," she answered and smiled into her cup, her smile turning into a giddy giggle as a frown became visible on Ororo's face.
"Ohhh!" the weather goddess made as realization hit her. "You mean he's going to…." She pointed at her face and her, squealing as Jean nodded. "Really?!"
"For the whole trip."
"What's daddy doing, mommy?" Rachel asked after listening to the two adults.
"You should see in a moment, baby," Jean smiled and stroked through her daughter's long red hair.
"I'm finished. Can I go outside?" Jack asked.
"Me too?" Laura and Lily added.
"Sure. But stay where I can see you, okay?" Jean said and sent their dishes to the sink with her powers. "What about you, Ray?"
"I wanna wait for daddy and see what he did!" the girl said determined.
"Daddy and I won't leave before we gave you a proper goodbye, baby, so you can go outside and play. There's still enough time," the older redhead smiled and watched her daughter running after her siblings. She looked outside the window, her smile turning into a smirk as she picked up on Ororo's thoughts. "I still won't tell you!"
"Oh crap!" the weather goddess cursed, making room as the others entered the kitchen and sat down on the empty stools. "His mean side clearly rubbed off on you," she teased the redhead, who giggled and greeted Akihiro as he came into the room, a phone attached to his right ear.
"Trying to get her to tell you where they are heading?" John asked and received a nod. "Forget it! Logan doesn't even tell his own brother about it…" He watched his nephew talking on the phone and sighed. "Lovebirds…"
"Hey!" Narya gave hima gentle shove. "Don't be rude. They haven't seen each other for…"
"Three days?" John finished for her and received a glare as Daken put the phone into his back pocket, handed his son the breakfast he was making for him and then poured two mugs of coffee. "I bet his sweetheart will be here in less than a second anyway." His head shot up as the backdoor opened and a more than exhaustedlooking Northstar entered. "See?" he grinned at Narya, who rolled her eyes and watched Jean-Paul pulling his son up to hug him and kiss his cheek before he went over to Akihiro, kissing him and giving him a tired, but thankful smile as he saw the coffee mug for him.
"You look like shit!" she told him as he was snuggling into the feral's embrace.
"Thanks, that's exactly how I feel," he said and hid a yawn, resting his hands against Daken's chest and looking up at him. "I've got to go back tomorrow."
"What?! Why?" the feral asked disgruntled and made a step back.
"Another shooting, some meetings and we're thinking about expanding to Europe. So I might have to travel there soon," Jean-Paul explained and could tell his significant other didn't like what he was telling him at all. "I don't like it either…"
"Then don't do it."
"I'm the boss. I have to do it." He ran both hands over his face and sighed. "I'm beat. I'm going to bed. What will you be doing?" he asked and angry dark brown eyes met his.
Daken moved around him and headed for the backdoor. "Sulking…," was all he said before he shut the door behind him
"Great… Thanks for talking," Jean-Paul muttered.
"What did you expect? He missed you," Jean told him. "He was even moodier than Logan on a bad day since you left."
"I missed him too, but what am I supposed to do? My work's in Canada, he's in New York. I can't always travel back and forth without a break. It's already taking a toll on me." He ran a hand through his hair, annoyed, and moved to the back door. "This sucks…"
Ororo watched him leaving and whistled. "Trouble in paradise…"
"With that much traveling back and forth? Definitely," Kitty added and dropped her spoon as she realized who was standing in the doorway, arms crossed and glaring daggers at all of them. "Oh….my…God…"
"What?" Ororo asked and turned around, just to nearly drop off her stool. "Goddess…"
"One word… Just one…'n I'm gonna kill ya!" Logan warned them and rolled his eyes at Jean's big smile. "Happy?"
Getting off her stool, she went over to him and ran her hands through his short hair and over his smooth cheeks. "Very!" she said and pulled him into a kiss.
"Damn, and I thought I switched off the lawn mower yesterday. Sorry for that, Logan," Scott teased him and hid his grin behind the newspaper.
"Fuck ya, Scooter!" Logan snapped.
Scott put the paper down and looked at him, then shrugged. "Looking like this you're not really intimidating."
"How about I rip ya a…," Logan began and paused for a moment, his eyes staring blankly ahead of him and a frown becoming visible on his forehead.
"Logan?" Jean asked concerned and touched his cheek to make him look at her. "What is it?"
"I feel…," he began and suddenly began to grimace, his body becoming engulfed in light. He only heard Jean saying his name as everything went dark around him.
Alarmed, everyone had jumped off their stools, but had to cover their eyes due to the light blinding them. They blinked as it became less first and was suddenly gone as quickly as it had appeared.
"What the…," Scott began and paused as he looked at the scene in front of him.
"Did it work?" Logan, sporting his typical look, asked and looked at the dark haired man next to him.
"Yeah," this one nodded and looked at Jean, who was staring at both of them in shock. "Hi mom."
Looking behind him, Logan smirked. "Hey darlin'. Sorry for crashin' the party," he apologized and looked into the round. "Everyone's here? Good."
"What the hell is going on?" Scott asked and his eyes darted aside as the Professor, who had obviously taken notice of it, entered.
"Hello Logan," he greeted and smiled at the younger man next to the feral, "Hello Jamie. You've grown a lot since the last time I've seen you. How old are you now?"
"22," the man said shyly and gave the round a quick glance.
"22?" Jean gasped and quickly calculated in her mind. "So you're from 2037…," she muttered and Logan nodded. "Is something happening?!"
"He's back. Apocalypse I mean," Logan told her and Jean's eyes grew wide. "It ain't bad. Not yet," he quickly added.
"But?" Charles asked, concern echoing in his voice.
"He slipped out of our grasp," Jamie replied. "We were able to locate him, but he has help. I managed to read him though."
"Read him?" Ororo asked.
"He can analyze mutants just by lookin' at 'em. One look 'n he sees their while history," Logan explained.
"But why are you here?" Jean asked, still confused, as Logan suddenly saw something on the outside and his eyes seemed to widen in shock. "Logan?" she asked and watched him walking over to the window, still staring at whatever he had seen. "What's the matter?"
Logan turned and stared at Jamie wide-eyed. "How far back did ya send us?!" he growled and his son averted his gaze. "Jamie?!"
"It's July 25," Jean said and Logan's eyes were on her now. "2019…"
"2019?!"
"Yes, what's the matter, Logan?" Scott asked and received a brief, but very shocked look from the feral before the man was staring outside again. Moving a bit to the side, Scott noticed that he was looking at his eldest, who had obviously made up with the speedster, and was currently sitting under a tree, Northstar napping with his head on the feral's lap. "Why are you so surprised to see your son?"
"Did something happen to Akihiro?" Charles asked, sensing that something was wrong, but Logan remained silent.
"I…," Jamie began after a moment of silence and looked down after Logan looked at him, "…heard you talking to mom. I know how much it still affects you. That you have nightmares…"
"So?" his father growled, clearly on the edge.
"So you can make it right, dad. You can prevent it!"
Logan huffed and shook his head. "Wasn't it ya who told us that things like this should never be the reason t'misuse one's power? T'not mess with timelines?" he asked harshly.
"Yes. Exceptions to be made," Jamie replied. "And this is one…" He looked outside, looking at the older brother he never got to know. He couldn't remember him at all. "You know I'd do anything to save Tommy's life, but I can't… If I save him, your grandchild will never be born. So I'd be killing one life for another. It's not the same with you, dad. In fact, you'd be saving lots of lives…"
Ororo who had listened to Jamie suddenly felt cold, a chill running down her spine. "Did you just say Tommy?" she asked and he stared at her as if he'd completely forgotten about her being here. "My Tommy?! My son?!" she asked, feeling terrified. She exchanged a look with Kurt, who was as shaken as she was. "What happens to him?"
Jamie bit his lower lip and shook his head. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."
"The hell you can!" she snapped at him and Jean stepped in front of her son.
"'Ro!"
"What happens to my baby?!" the weather goddess demanded to know, but Jamie remained silent. "How can you not care?"
This made his head snap up, his eyes blazing golden for a brief moment. "You think I don't care?!" Jamie asked and his hands were clenched to fists at his sides. "I'd give my life for Tommy. I'd do anything to get him back!" he said through clenched teeth and ignored the looks he was given. "But saving him would also mean that my son, your grandson, would never be born. So what am I supposed to do, hm?" His head jerked aside as said boy came into view and his breath hitched. Ororo watched how Jamie first stared at her son for a long moment, before he bent slowly down to pick Tommy up and held him in his arms as if he was the most precious thing on this planet.
"What happens to him, Jamie?" she asked and he looked at her with tears in his eyes. She heard him heaving a deep, shaky breath. "Please…"
"Some…guy with a knife. I can't tell you more, sorry. You already know too much," he apologized and looked at Tommy again. "I miss you so much… Everyday just sucks since you're gone," he whispered and heaved a deep breath before he handed Tommy over to Kurt. Wiping his eyes, his eyes fell on his watch. "6 minutes, dad!"
"Why is he so shocked to see Akihiro?" Jean asked her son.
"'coz I had t'put him down…," Logan said like a robot and all eyes were suddenly on him.
"Why? What happens that you had to do this?" Charles asked and wheeled closer.
Logan watched how his son was now talking to Jean-Paul and laughing with him. "He completely lost it after…," he began and broke off. "He killed a lot of students at school, got three of the X-Men next. He escaped 'n disappeared for a while. We couldn't find him. He then blew up the Fantastic Four's and Avenger's mansion, killing six superheroes and dozen others employees with it. Fury got pissed 'n sent S.H.I.E.L.D. after him, but he just laughed at them. Talk about a massacre in the streets." He sighed and shook his head, looking down. "In the end, I tracked him down. There was no getting' through t' him. I had t'kill him. Before he died he thanked me for doin' it…"
Jean felt her heart racing in her chest and looked from Logan to the couple on the outside and back. "Why would he do something like this? He's completely stable now." He looked at her and she knew. "Something happens to Jean-Paul…," she guessed and he nodded. "Of course… That would send him over the edge."
"When does it happen, Logan?" Charles asked, but before he got a reply the backdoor opened and the speedster entered.
Feeling watched as he made his way over to the fridge, Jean-Paul pulled two bottles of juice out of it and looked into the round. "What?! Sorry that I pulled my shirt off," he muttered with a shake of his head and went back to the door, mumbling something about 'weird people'. His hand was touching the doorknob as Logan addressed him.
"Just an advice, kid. Don't board that plane…"
Northstar gave him a confused look. "Are all of you drunk or something?!"
"Repeat what I just told ya!" Logan snapped with a glare.
"You don't want me to board a plane that I don't intend to board. Whatever it is you've been smoking throw it away!" the speedster said and left to join his partner again.
Logan sighed and, after one last look at his eldest, turned back around to face the group. "'kay… Since Apocalypse isn't really back here, yet, ya should still start lookin' for him. The earlier ya take him out the better. He should be a kid at this point of time. Correct?" he asked and Jamie nodded, then pointed at his watch.
"1 minute."
"Find him 'n kill him! Don't risk that he becomes that powerful again," Logan warned the group and felt the pull on his body. "Damn…" He looked at Jean. "Did we already go on that trip?"
"No… We were about to actually," she replied.
"'kay."
She groaned. "Don't tell me catastrophes happen and ruin everything…"
Logan smirked and began to glow. "Nah, it was fun. You'll love it! See ya in a bit!"
Jean shielded her eyes as the light began to blind her. She blinked as its intensity lessened and soon found herself looking at an annoyed looking Logan, who was rubbing the side of his head. "Are you alright?"
"No. I barely opened my eyes when ya knocked me out," he grumbled and took notice of the strange mood in the room. But before he could ask a look at the clock reminded him how late it already was. "Shit. Jeannie, we have t'hurry! Whatever happened, tell me on the way," he said and headed upstairs to get their luggage, whereas Jean called their children to her mentally, deciding that it might be better to tell him everything after their trip…
Since I can't sleep I decided to write this short chapter as an in-between-chapter. It's needed to set up future events that I had planned a long time ago and the next chapter will solely concentrate on the Paris trip. I'll be travelling to Rome tomorrow (by flying… And I'm already scared shitless….) and have to study for an exam, so it might take a while for me to write the next chapter. Keep your fingers crossed that the trip will go well! And thanks to all that left a review. It made me really happy. : ) Let me know what you think! Suggestions for the Paris trip are always welcome. : ) Please review! See ya!
