Author's note: Thank you to ZabuzasGirl, Rasha007, NotMarge, NicoleR85, partygirl98, SA Jedi DC of Marvel, Reader, kmj1989, Cloudcity'sBookworm, musicjunkie1996, Bamboooozled, Shelllee24 and anonymouscsifan for the reviews! Relax, everyone! Hank's the narrator, he can't die, haha. Rasha actually hit it right on the nose :-)

I must confess, I originally planned to have Zoey die when she was kidnapped by the FOH, a long time ago. And then I envisioned Hank being inspired to go into politics to honor her memory. But then I realized that Hank would probably be too heartbroken and devastated after losing her. I couldn't do it to him and Zoey (or my readers and myself!). Ever since then, I've always planned on a happy ending :-)

We won't see Kelly's reaction to Hank saving him today- that'll be eighty-four, I think. But we've got some more drama coming down the pipe. Hope you guys stay with me for the duration! Three to go after this!

A Promise Kept

"Hank! I need you, darling. You said you'd come back to me."

Zoey? How are you here? I thought...

"Z-zoey?" I asked groggily.

"Who's Zoey?" an unfamiliar voice queried.

"His wife," Alex's voice replied edgily. "Beast, you alive in there?"

No, I'm obviously a talking corpse.

I reluctantly opened my eyes, squinting against the light overhead.

Alex's face, pale and pinched with worry, swam into focus above me. His expression became relieved when he saw my eyes open.

"'M fine," I muttered. "Is Zoey here?"

Another man- who I suspected was a paramedic, if his uniform was anything to go by- peered over me as well. He flashed a light into my pupils, making me screw my eyes shut again.

"Sorry. Your wife isn't here, Dr. McCoy," the man said calmly. "You've been out for over twenty minutes, and now you're in an ambulance. We're taking you to the hosp-"

Huh? Oh, right.

It all came rushing back- Erik and the Brotherhood crashing Senator Kelly's speech, Magneto's hateful words, helping the X-Men neutralize him, and then getting shot by Raven.

On national television. Which my wife was watching.

My insides turned glacial at the thought, icy dread flooding through my nervous system.

Zoey's probably freaking out. The twins...

"May I use a telephone, please?" I asked apprehensively, attempting to sit up.

The two paramedics gently tried to push me down, though that obviously didn't work. "Don't-"

"I'm a feral mutant, gentlemen," I interrupted, sitting up completely over their protests. "Take the bullet out, give me a band-aid and I'll be fine. Please, may I use the phone?"

They exchanged incredulous glances.

"Look," I offered impatiently, reaching up with my right hand and pulling off the bandage they'd already placed about three inches below my left collarbone.

Ow. Tape on fur, whose bright idea was that?

I slowly rotated my shoulder, wincing from the pain. It stung, yes, but it was nothing too horrible. But I clearly wasn't bleeding, and probably hadn't been for some time now. My being unconscious had sped the process up immensely.

The paramedics stared at my rapidly healing wound with evident amazement.

Hey, there has to be one silver lining to looking like this, right?

"The bullet's pushing itself out, but we can hurry it along. I can feel it, maybe an inch below the surface already. Just take it out, please. There's no need for the hospital," I pleaded. "And I need to call my wife and let her know I'm alright. She's thirty-three weeks pregnant, and if she saw me get shot on television..."

What if the shock sent her into labor too soon?

My fur stood on end just thinking about the dangerous possibilities, for both mother and babies.

I knew, deep in my bones, that all was not well with Zoey. I still didn't put much store in gut feelings like that, but I couldn't shake this one. Especially when I remembered her disembodied voice, calling to me right before I woke up.

I had to find out for sure, or the uncertainty of not knowing would surely drive me mad.

Finally, the paramedics relented. They even let me use the car phone while they removed the bullet, using a tiny scalpel and a set of forceps to fish it out.

It was Billy who answered our telephone.

"Hello?" he asked anxiously.

"Mr. Rivers, it's me," I said. "Is Zoey-?"

"Oh, thank God," Billy breathed. "You alright, kid?"

"I'm fine," I replied quickly. "But Zoey-?"

"You scared us all to death, Hank. Zoey's water broke, seeing you get shot like that-"

The bottom of my stomach dropped out.

No!

I hissed, hearing my worst fears confirmed.

And it didn't help that that was the exact moment when the paramedic plucked the bullet out from my chest, either.

Ow.

"Marceline, Chloe and Maeve took her to the hospital. Me and Livie stayed back just in case you called," Billy explained.

"I'll get there as soon as I can," I promised.

"You better, kid. Zoey was really upset. They cut out the news feed right after that, so none of us knew what happened to you."

I cringed, thinking of the agony my wife must be going through as she tried to give birth to our children without knowing if their father was even still alive. Billy would be able to assure her now that I was fine and on my way, but that wasn't enough.

I needed to be there. To hold her hand and be supportive through to the very end.

Missing this isn't an option, I told myself firmly.

The paramedics were nice enough to turn around and bring us back to the park where the day's fiasco had unfolded. Alex insisted that I keep the bullet after they removed it from my flesh.

"What?" he demanded when I gave him a skeptical look. "You can show your kids when they're older. 'This is the bullet I got shot with when I saved that prick Senator Kelly on the day you were born. Your Uncle Alex made sure I kept it, because he's awesome.'"

I shook my head. "I had no idea you were so sentimental," I mused.

The park was mostly empty of people now, with the exception of a multitude of police and government entities and the odd news station crew- all of which we pointedly avoided as we hurried to our van.

My gait felt stiff and unnatural because of the lingering soreness from my wound. It would be tender for a couple days, but otherwise I was fine. My mental state of mind was definitely a different story.

"Alex! Hank!" female voices called out from our right.

It was Moira and Gwen, both running frantically towards Alex and I. They joined us in our rush towards the car.

"Thank God you're ok!" Moira cried, giving me a one-armed maternal hug.

Gwen smacked me on my "good" shoulder, which still somehow managed to hurt. "What were you thinking? You probably made Zo shit a brick with that stunt," she yelled.

"Says the girl who took out a human-hating telepath with a picketing sign," Alex retorted affectionately.

"Zoey's in labor," I explained, before the two of them could get into some sort of verbal sparring match. "So can we please-?"

Thankfully, no one brooked any argument about immediately jumping into the van and setting off for Salem Center.

"Charles and Sean are staying behind to monitor the situation," Moira announced, after a moment of telepathic communication with her husband.

"What happened after Raven shot me?" I asked. I was mildly curious, but mainly I was craving the distraction from brooding over Zoey's condition.

How far backward have mutant-human relations been set today? Should I be worried about an angry mob popping up wherever I go?

"Well, you landed on Mystique so hard when she shot you that she split her skull-" Moira began.

Hmm. No, not sorry about that. Tit for tat, I should think.

"-And that dazed her long enough for the police to get a hold of her. They got Emma, too. And then Charles kept Magneto frozen until someone found an anesthetic to knock him out for a while, until they get him to a metal-free prison under the Pentagon or something."

"So they're all in custody?" I asked.

Moira nodded, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

That's definitely a relief.

"How did the humans react to everything?"

She shrugged. "No one attacked each other in the crowd, if that's what you're asking. Charles and the police were able to keep things calm. And Senator Kelly didn't finish his speech after you took a bullet for him- his security team immediately whisked him away. He looked pretty shaken, honestly."

"I heard people quoting you, Hank," Gwen added brightly. "'Some mutants are bad, but most of them are good.' Someone said, 'thank goodness there were mutants in the crowd. Maybe they should allow them to openly serve on the police force, like Dr. McCoy says.' They kept talking about how you're a good man because you saved Kelly's life even though he's so anti-mutant. You're a hero!"

I snorted disbelievingly. Me, a hero?

Now that was a laughable idea.

"There's no love lost between that man and myself. I just knew that if a mutant killed him they would pass that bill no matter what," I explained. "At least now if we do enough damage control maybe we can kill the support it has after Erik's little performance today."

But first, it's baby time.

We got to the hospital in record time, thanks to Alex driving the wheels off the van like he was trying out for NASCAR. I opened the door and hopped out before he stopped the car, making a frantic dash for the hospital's front door.

I moved so fast the automatic door's motion sensor didn't even see me. As such, I ran face-first into the glass and cracked it with my nose.

Ow. Today is not my day.

Eyes streaming, I blindly stumbled inside. I took the stairs two at a time up to the maternity ward on the second floor, feeling much too impatient to wait for the elevator.

"Hank!" several voices called out as I stepped out of the stairwell. "Oh, thank God!"

Billy, Marceline, Chloe, Maeve, and Olivia swarmed me.

"Are you ok?"

"What's happening now?"

"Uncle Hank, don't you ever do that to me again!"

I smiled weakly, trying to be polite despite the insistent refrain in my head.

Get to Zoey. Zoey and the twins, get to them-

"I'm fine," I said quickly, edging towards the nurses' station. "Moira can tell you more. Zoey-"

"Go, go!" Marceline urged. "I'll be there in a moment."

The nurse on duty blinked when she saw me, her hand already reaching for the phone. "Sir, the ER is on the first floor-"

I glanced down at my shirt, still covered in blood.

Oh, right. Oops.

"I-I don't need a doctor, ma'am," I explained, tripping over the words in my hurry. "My wife is here, Zoey McCoy-?"

She glanced down. "Room 228, I'll walk-"

I didn't hear the rest of her sentence- I was already making a break for the hallway. I came skidding to a stop in front of Zoey's room and burst through the door.

The nurse inside jumped with a small yelp, making paperwork go flying.

"Hank!" my wife cried out. "You're-"

"-Keeping my promise."