grandfather clause

Sera was a small, delicate woman with skin the color of coffee and cream, cinnamon colored eyes and thick, soft, pure black hair that she wore short and styled into tangly spikes. Sera's mother, sister and niece were all small, delicate women with skin the color of coffee and cream, cinnamon colored eyes and thick, soft, pure black hair. It was like looking at one person at three different ages. By herself, Sera was a beautiful, exotic looking woman. Taken as a family, the effect was creepy, disturbing in its sameness. It almost hurt the eyes, to look at the Jannhanson women too closely. Logan had heard all about the new leaps forward in cloning and all the laws set up to protect human individuality. This crew must be breaking about a million laws just by existing. So far as he understood, they were all pretty much clones of the first Jannhanson woman, the one who figured out they didn't need men to have kids. Looking at the three women who had come through the door, every damn one of those no-cloning laws made sense. There was just something wrong abut this, about the sameness.

Age, hair and dress alone differentiated the Jannhansons. That was it, everything, the only difference. Three guesses why Sera had gone and gotten tattooed; gotta be the only way to really look like yourself with this family. One Jannhanson, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt and her hair worn in a long, thick braid, stepped forward. You Logan? Take us to my sister.

He just nodded, and led them down to the labs, where Sera slept now, or whatever it was she did. While they walked, Logan cast his eyes over the other Jannhansons. Okay, if the one who talked to him was Sera's sister, that made her Raphie. Which meant that kid was Kat, Sera's niece and the older woman was... huh. Either mom or grandma. He'd go for mom; she didn't look too old. She wore her hair cut short and simple, no frills, no fuss. She looked like she didn't care much about what people thought of her. Kat, the youngest, seemed skittish and nervous, even in a family not known for its desire to get to know new people. There was a story there, he thought. Or hell, maybe it was just the anti-mutant times she was growing up in. The others had pretty much missed all the insanity. He hoped like hell whatever they knew to do would work; he already had it figured that no matter how long they stayed, it was already too long.

Medlab was its usual nightmare scene. Terry had taken to sleeping curled around Sera's smaller body and all the tubes that kept her alive. The kid slept a lot. Logan had heard Jeannie talking about it with the prof. Saying that sleeping all the time was a sign of depression. Yeah, good guess, kid was depressed. Only thing like a decent family she had was laying on a slab. The Jannhansons, not exactly a rowdy bunch, got quieter upon seeing Terry. The kid, they did know; Sera took her back to the mountains for family trips and had said once that they had accepted the adopted girl just fine. If that was right, seeing her like this was maybe as bad as seeing Sera.

Hank, good for him, seemed less disturbed by the Jannhansons and more fascinated. He just stared as the three women paraded into the lab close on Logan's heels.

You must be Sera's family, the doctor said in his deep voice. How intriguing. You really are all identical.

Doc, not now, muttered Logan. They're her to help Sera, not be part of a science experiment.

I would never experiment on people, Logan! replied the larger man, clearly offended. A brief silence feel then, as Hank tried to collect himself. Perhaps someone would be so good as to make introductions here?

Raphie stepped forward, obviously feeling that social niceties were useless. I'm Raphie, that's my mother, you call her Miss Celest, and that's my daughter, Kat. You must be Dr. McCoy. Sera's mentioned you. She looked at Terry a moment, and then added. If it's alright with you, we'd like to wake Terry up and have Kat spend some time with her. The healing part of this situation is too difficult for her to handle yet, but she is able to help and comfort Terry.

Hank nodded, and Kat silently moved over to the bed to touch Terry's shoulder. Terry woke up slowly, confused; when she focused one the fact of her cousin standing in front of her, she wrapped herself around the smaller girl and began sobbing again. Logan winced and looked away, wishing he could block the sound as easy he blocked the sight. Ripped him to pieces, hearing the kid cry like. He hoped Kat could help, no one else had been able to do anything at all. Kat, even though she was smaller and younger, took Terry's weight like it was nothing, and whispering softly to the girl, began walking her out of the lab. Logan took a deep breath as Terry left. Things were just easier, without her having to see everything.

All her words having been spoken, Raphie, with Miss Celest right beside her, walked over to Sera's beeping bed, to the wreckage of their wild one, the Jannhanson that got away. Miss Celest's eyes shut for a minute, a sign of deep emotion in such a composed woman. Raphie just stared, her face tight and angry. Abruptly, she turned away, grabbed Logan and dragged him off to a secluded corner.

I cannot believe this! she spit angrily. We give you our dearest possession,
we give you our Serendipity and this is how you treat her? This is what you let happen? I knew this was a mistake, I knew it was a mistake for her to hook up with you... you... mutants!

Logan stared, incredulous, fighting the urge to slam her face first into a wall. Okay, for starters, you didn't give us anything. Sera made a choice, one she's damn proud of. And second, who the hell you calling mutant? You look in a mirror lately? You're not exactly miss perfect humanity here.

It's not who we are, it's not how we choose to live. You people, you revel in it, you shove it in people's faces. It's disgusting. No wonder humans hate us. Hate you! And what good does all of this do? My sister is practically dead because of you!

She helped save the lives of 13 kids, is what good it did.

You're supposed to keep her safe; you're the big tough guy. What damn good are you, that she winds up like this?

The words hit like a gut punch. Little close too home, that one.


Sera in black leather was not a threatening thing. Instead, it just looked like a come-on and Sera played that up, big time. He knew it was her empathy, the skill she had in making people feel what she wanted them to but it was still something to watch. The guards, every one of them male, what luck, saw tiny little Sera, all in leather and their libidos took right over. You could just see them thinking she couldn't be trouble, she was way too small and sexy for that. They came right up to her, Sera would touch their face and coo and the next thing, the guard would be on the ground, sleeping. Handy power, her ability to tell people's bodies what to do. There was almost nothing for the rest of the team to deal with. Wolverine could already picture Scott practically drooling in his desire to get her to play full time member of the team. Least he could rest assured that wasn't gonna happen. Sera was just makin' an exception here, she wasn't looking into going full time into the rescue business.

Sera's antics, combined with the work of the rest of the team, had been enough to win them the time to find the kids, and get them almost all of the way out of there. Logan had to carry the one who was the worst hurt of them all. Sera said she didn't have enough time to get to know a new body well enough to heal it in this situation and he didn't argue with that. He just picked up the broken boy and took off at a run towards the Blackbird.

It happened so fast, he almost didn't see it. Logan figured he'd never know why it had been Sera who had chosen to take that last guard on, but when they heard the clatter of boots come at a run, she was the first to turn. It was sheer bad luck that this one wasn't stupid, that he was with it enough to look past the appearance of Sera to the reality of the situation. It was all down hill from there. It only took a second for the guy to bring his gun up and slam Sera in the temple with it. Logan didn't even wanna think about why the guy was so careful not to kill what he had to know was a mutant.

Course, it was the last thing he did, cause Logan was on him in a second, but none of that mattered. It didn't matter that it took Scott and Hank working together to tear Wolverine off his prey, or that the guy probably wasn't gonna be able to feed himself again, much less hurt anybody else. Sera was down. Sera was gone, and Hank was hauling her limp body back into the Blackbird at a run.


You don't know nothing, he managed to growl. She knew the risks.

Raphie actually managed to look more disgusted than she had a minute ago. Screw that. We manage to get her awake again, I'm going to do my damnedest to take her back with us. The only thing she'll get out of being with you freaks is dead.

The rage was creeping back in, coloring his vision red. No one talked to him like this, no one was this stupid. He could feel his claws, fighting to push through his flesh and into hers. But even that instinct was hurting him; he had made a vow to himself when Sera came back to him that he'd never hurt her again and this, this not-Sera in front of him looked like her and smelled like her but wasn't her was driving him nuts. The clashing desires put him closer to the edge than he already felt. She looked like Sera. How could anybody look so much like her and not be her?

Make her better, Raphie, he managed to force out in words that were more snarl than speech. Cause I don't know how long I can go without hurting you.

Raphie looked at him like he was an animal, worse than an animal. She says she's one of you mutants. But she's not, we're not like you, slaves to our instincts. We aren't mutants, we are Other. She said the word like a title, like it ought to mean something to him. It only pissed him off more. With one last look of repulsion, she swept past him, regal as a queen, and he roared his anger to the world. It only made things worse, knowing that giving into to that urge had only made her more sure she was right and the rest of them were wrong. He stalked off, knowing nothing good could come of him staying here any longer. Just another failure in his list of trying to do the right thing where she was concerned.

Hank watched in professional fascination as the Jannhanson adults gathered around Sera. He had, of course, seen Sera act as a healer. In fact, he had been lucky enough to help her improve upon her skills. But even Sera at her best was nothing compared to the smooth precision of her sister and mother. Miss Celest was seated at Sera's head, one slim hand resting on the girl's temple gently. Raphie was first checking the instruments, clearly familiar with the workings of hospital equipment, and then moving to take her sister's hand in her own. There was a fluidity to her movements, a surety, that was lacking when Sera performed the same actions.

The personal part of him, that part that he had to hide whenever he needed to be a doctor to the people he most cared about, just hoped the women would be able to do something, anything. Sera herself had helped some seriously injured people, but nothing this bad. Nothing this permanent. She stayed like this much longer, he was going to have to face the task of asking Logan if the life support should be pulled. Adding a healthy fear for his own life to the assortment of miseries that Hank was feeling.

He could see when they left themselves and entered Sera. A certain emptiness came into the face, their eyes lost focus and their mouths went slack. He didn't know what they could do for her, in the state that she was in. Was there anything left to fix? Philosophers had been debating for centuries the question of what life was, trying to find that fine line between life and what came after. Even he could see how far gone she was. Machines breathed for her, they counted her heart beats, they fed her food. They showed that somewhere, deep inside, Sera's mind was still there. But nothing was coming to surface. What was there for the Jannhansons to help? But it had helped Logan, calling them and having them come. Times like this, sometimes all you could do was help the people who were left behind.

He sat heavily down at his desk, staring blindly ahead. The people who were left behind. Wolverine had called the Jannhansons, and now he had retreated, no doubt to rend and maim holographic enemies in the Danger Room; when the room ran red with computerized blood, Logan could find some kind of a sense of peace. The youngest Jannhanson was upstairs, ministering to Terry, who was a walking wreck, losing the woman who had literally saved her life. That only left himself, and try as might, he couldn't think of anyone who was here to help him. Morosely, he booted up the computer, hoping to bury himself in his work. It was the only thing that he expected to to be able to find solace in.