May 23, 2023

The storm tapered off the night before, but soon the weather brought more rain and wind that kept the power out. It was an inconvenience, as far as Xavier was concerned, and an event that even Ororo could not control. However, all and all, it was pleasant to see the students at work or play for once, although they were underfoot and arguing constantly in the interim. He could not count the many times the teachers had to break up the children from one petty disagreement or another. He had to chuckle though. Food fights had been common enough and most of them over relationships out of his league of understanding. Major storms that knocked out the electricity and forced all to interact without a computer? It was more amusing.

Xavier wheeled himself to the living room, eying those in there with a somewhat unbiased glance. Although their thoughts jumbled through his head like spaghetti, he sorted them out and tried piecing together conversations on the physical level instead of a mental, even the groups who were on their own and entertaining themselves. Ororo, Jean and Scott had been trying to get everyone occupied with an old game of Monopoly, something that had not been taken out in some years, obvious by the dust that flew and danced in the wax candlelight. Jax, Jay and Fiona tried taking another group on in Twenty Questions and had a shouting match that ended up in laughter. Hank, Alex and Danielle tempted some others in trying to finish their homework if there was some to be had, until the battery power ran out and lectures began. Even Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and Colossus eased the younger children in a game of Hide and Seek and Tag too, watching out for the furniture and the older decorations in the mansion.

The only person who was missing from the immediate scene was Logan (although Alex was so noticeably thinking about Lorna over in Europe until July). Xavier did not take long to find him. He had been observing the mess from afar, standing in the foyer with his arms crossed. The urge to smoke a cigar was great and the confusion was worse. Xavier hoped to defuse it, silently moving towards the older mutant and seeing the same things he was, except on Logan's left. Mostly, Logan was watching Danielle and his own children intermittently, his gaze on Daken doing some reading, Celeste gossiping over a game of cards and Danielle helping a student with an essay.

"Where are you?" Xavier asked, sure that Logan was thinking about the story he was viewing through new eyes.

"Too many damned weddings," Logan muttered with understanding to the question, twisting his own silver wedding band. It seemed to itch every time he thought about it.

Xavier laughed this time. "That's how a close family works, Logan. People are born, they live and they die."

"Not for most of us, I see."

"Of course. However, this is but a cycle."

"You can tell me it's a cycle all you want, Professor, but I know it as a mess. God, how was it that I fell in love with a psychotic teenager?"

"Because she was foolish enough to take on your challenge and proved you wrong. That took three years, although I must say, you did nothing inappropriate."

"Yeah, kids aren't my thing and still aren't. However, I hate pity parties. She had one for years. How did it all change?"

Xavier displayed a secret and eloquent smile. "That would be my doing."

Logan brooded. The Danielle he always knew, from the time he met her when she was twenty-three, was always mature and responsible, albeit sometimes in hysterics and having a head for getting out of situations if she wasn't so flighty and crying while protecting her children. She acted quickly otherwise, killing with ease and without remorse, and did everything in her power to do the right thing. In the end, when they reached the Chinese monastery and before he went back in time, she had grown so old. She was still reeling from losing Michael and Riley to a hopeless cause, felt guilt for exposing Celeste and Daken to this new age and groaned under the heavy burden of travel, death and destruction.

Oh, how they moved though, from place to place and from riot to riot. They could be part of a New York City parade one day, one that elevated the cause of greed and corruption, and the next in Nova Scotia, where they would lounge on a remote summer home and forgetting that it all existed until their party was crashed by Sentinels. Even from afar, they watched a human group murdered by the thousands and then mutants whipped to death, escaping only with each other and their lives. It was a world in which Logan was glad now was a memory.

However, even with these little changes, Logan saw how the ripple in the water was larger than even he expected. Being a presence in someone's life, especially when it used to be a wish, was a surprise and one that an impact on history itself. He even had years to put up with Scott and that was enough to make his mind reel. Ororo, Jean, Matthew, Mae and even Roger (and hell, the master spy was a sight for sore eyes) were more welcome to see surviving than Cyclops. While it was grating on the nerves, seeing the pieces of the past sewn together made more sense and somehow more difficult to accept. It seemed too much like a dream still and one he expected to wake up from. Logan waited for someone to pinch his arm and tell him that the Sentinels were behind them or that some bounty hunters were up ahead and still saw and heard nothing to the contrary.

Ok, so dealing with a former crazy teenaged assassin was better than battling Sentinels. That much Logan was certain of.

"How different do you think would have been had I not come back?" Logan would have thought events would have played out the same way, although he was also sure that going back would have made it the same, even if Trask was assassinated.

"More problematic," Xavier agreed. "Much the same way you showed me many years before."

"Yes, but I think dealing with the so-called Apocalypse seems like a walk in the park."

"I disagree, although you have a point. However, the future you also dealt with seemed worse."

The two said nothing for a few minutes, waiting for someone to become bored or run past them. None of that happened though, the children and teenagers content in their dealings of games, chatter, homework and paper planes. While Xavier wondered how that came to be, since paper has been scarce in recent years (paper books being the exception and only in public libraries), he still enjoyed the stillness that came with keeping his students so unstructured. Congratulating himself on a schedule that pushed them further than expected, he was nonetheless startled when Hank joined him and Logan. Hank did not seem pleased with himself, wiping his dirty hands on a handkerchief. He was not wearing his customary suit and that stood out, even for Hank.

"No power is expected to be back in town until after the weekend, Monday morning by the earliest," Hank announced quietly, hoping that nobody else except the present company of two heard. "We can't hold the generator much longer either. We might need to just use it for the perishables, which are running low by the way."

Logan groaned. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Hank raised an eyebrow. "Can't deal with the children so crammed up and need Danielle to take the steering wheel?"

"Enough," Xavier warned, sensing a fight. "Hank, salvage what you can with the food. I am sure the supply truck will be here tomorrow, regardless of the power or not, and we can deal with that when it comes. Give a hand when you can, Logan. I'm sure Hank and Alex will eventually need the extra help."

"Right." Logan nodded and crossed his arms.

"I hope it doesn't come down to that," Hank said. "We need Logan, there'll be trouble down below."

Xavier pursed his lips. "That bad?"

"If the power isn't up by Sunday, we'll have more problems than just spoiled food."

"Cerebro?"

"Might be down for some weeks. The power it takes plus yours won't be recovered by the mind alone."

"The Danger Room?"

"I might be able to finagle it with Alex, although even he says he might wait until the power came back on. It's not pretty, Charles. Everything is malfunctioning and will be for some weeks after it's resolved."

"I see."

Logan was about to interject when Celeste arrived, appearing in every way frustrated. There was a black and red mist swirling around her, almost like Danielle's blue and silver, and it made her demonic in a way. It didn't help that her black and red clothing matched, even down to the nails colored black with red glitter. The girl was just as much of a menace as her mother was at that age, Logan decided. It was the same attitude where he originally came from and he knew how to deal with it. It was just a matter of what Celeste wanted and how to appease her at the same time to get her in line.

"Elizabeth Jean Mitchell." Logan kept is arms crossed and his eyebrow raised, inquiring in every way, but also stern.

"Daddy!" Celeste glanced left and right to make sure nobody heard her full name being uttered. She then remembered her manners. "Professor, Mr. McCoy."

"Celeste," Hank greeted warmly, Xavier echoing the sentiment. Then, Hank added to Logan, "I'll leave you to it. I don't envy you."

Chuckling, both Hank and Xavier departed to the living room, leaving Logan and Celeste behind. Logan motioned for his daughter to follow him to the large window, the same he had first seen Danielle (or his alternate past self) many years before. The two sat down, the thickening clouds outside darkening both of their features. Celeste curled up her legs as she made the mist dissipate, the knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her knees. What a scene, Logan mused. Celeste, although with Logan's dark hair and with Danielle's red color streaked in a few places, was in every way her mother's daughter, from the arrogance, clothing and powers down. Her hazel eyes even matched, similar to Michael and Riley (or what Logan remembered of them), the same which appeared troubled and confused at life.

Logan put a reassuring arm around Celeste's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"You see, I like this guy," Celeste started.

"What guy?" Logan resisted the temptation of releasing his claws. Nobody was touching his little girl, even if she was almost thirteen and too old to sit in his lap.

"That guy who can play with water when he's in it," Celeste continued, hesitating in every way. She saw Logan's face, which she took to be menacing. "Daddy, I like him. He's the same guy I fought Miss Prissy of Popularity over. You know, the girl who thinks she's all that and a bag of chips."

"Why, I'll –"

"Daddy! Seriously, he's not bad. And I can take care of myself."

"Famous last words. Besides, nobody is good enough for you."

"Oh, like you're not good enough for Mom, right?"

"Your mother is a different story. She was just as difficult as you are now and had her own ups and downs."

Celeste snorted. "Yeah, right."

Logan was about to say how Celeste never understood Danielle's story or how she came to be and soon stopped himself. He did not see the whole story too, although he had been there the whole time supposedly. He just hoped he bullshitted himself enough that even his own daughter did not know what happened. If he recalled correctly, Celeste's powers almost copied Danielle's, with her mind control, energy manipulation and totally annihilation if she put her mind to it, although she also aged slowly like Logan. However, Celeste also did not share powers with a sibling nor did she age like Michael and Riley did or become invisible. Logan could only thank genetics that he and Danielle somehow managed that.

Another shadow cast itself nearby. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, Mom," Celeste groaned, a tone that matched Logan's in many ways. "Can't you go away?"

"I have some business with your father to conduct." Danielle's voice seemed a little off, although it was warm and welcoming for the teenager and that was a change. "It might take the rest of the day."

"I don't need to know." Celeste waved her hands, jumping off of the window seat and out of Logan's arms. "See you at dinner?"

"I would assume so, pending any food fights," Danielle said sarcastically.

Celeste muttered something about mothers and their interfering ways and passed Danielle with a dirty look anyway. Danielle returned it, putting her hands on her hips and watching her daughter join her group of friends, some of which were male. Celeste seemed shy around one of them, a guy who can control water when it was within his range, and she blushed a deep red when he started talking to her. It made Danielle think of earlier times, when Vinnie Paul charmed her and made her forget about her childish crush on Logan. By then, she frowned, deep in thought and in the past. Vinnie had a way to make you forget things, she remembered, and would drive into your desires to try to fulfill them, a false sense of security. Her heart always remained with Logan though, even afterward, and she proved it many times over. However, being punished for remaining different was another story…

Danielle joined Logan, sitting where Celeste previously had been. She sighed deeply, not daring herself to rush into Logan's arms. She feared that it would be too much of a scene, much as Jean and Scott had been (kissing in the hallway was gossip for weeks) and once Matthew and Ororo (holding hands down the stairwell). It was enough to be a teacher and have some of her family around her. Worse was having them around twenty-four/seven, a fact that never escaped her. Ordinary parents had seven or eight hours without their kids and welcomed work as a break. Even again, Danielle thought, they weren't exactly the normal set of parents either.

"Is it that boy again?" Danielle laughed.

"Yeah," Logan replied, not feeling amused. "When did our daughter become as promiscuous as her mother?"

"Hey, watch it. Celeste hasn't gone far down that road too far yet. Besides, I was called Bitch for a reason."

"I don't want her with any guys. She's too young."

"Aww, see? You do care. Now, put your claws away before you scare some of the kids."

Logan had not realized he was fuming enough to allow his claws out. They went back in quickly, his glance on Danielle. "I take it you want the business done upstairs?" he then asked, grinning as he did and wishing that he could skewer the guy whose hands were on Celeste.

"Now, you're getting the drift," Danielle said lightly, pulling Logan up and towards the stairs. "We're not taking too many breaks this time. I am hoping to get to the last turning point and leave it there for a while."