Mommy Mystique (cont.)

The next day at school, Rogue and Kurt went to Ms. Darkholme . . . but didn't know they were being followed.

By Scott, to be more precise.

He wasn't spying on them. No way. He was just . . . making sure nothing happened to them.

The revelation last night that their not-so-beloved principal was also their enemy was, to say the least, a shock. No wonder this school had always felt like hostile territory.

He'd have to tell the others, but first . . . he had to see what Kurt and Rogue were up to.

"What're you doing?"
Scott nearly jumped. "Nothing," he said to the person who had snuck up behind him while he was sneaking up on Kurt and Rogue.
"You're following them, aren't you?"
"Well . . . only for their own protection."
"You're spying on them!" Kitty gave Scott the dirtiest of dirty looks.

"I am not spying!" he said. "I'm . . . looking out for them."

In the meantime, however, Rogue and Kurt had disappeared inside the office.

Ms. Darkholme was busy . . . but as soon as she saw them, she knew what this was all about.
She pushed her papers aside and said, "Close the door."

********

"I think he's hungry," Wanda said. Jared had begun to chew on her finger . . .

so after a few discreet glances.... Mystique fed him.
When John saw what was going on, he demanded to be fed as well, so she fed them both at the same time.

She didn't realize, however, that she'd forgotten to close the door all the way...so Pietro came right in without knocking.
"Hey, Mystique, we need some--OH MY GOD!" He stared in shock at her bared--uh, flesh. "Put your shirt back on, Mystique!"

She glared at him. "I am feeding my children, if you don't mind."
"Yeah, I do mind! I don't want to see your naked . . . ewwwww!"

Mystique wanted to hit him... but she couldn't with two babies attached to her.
So Wanda hit him for her.
"Ow! Wanda! What was that for?"
Wanda glared at him. "You know what that was for! It's not like she's parading around topless or something! There's a baby's head in the way!"
"A very small baby's head," Pietro said. "In the way of very big--"
"OUT!" Mystique shouted.

Wanda dragged him out by the collar.

She came back a little while later to hear the rest of the story.

As the twins dozed off, Mystique picked up where she had left off.


*******

"I know why you're here," Raven Darkholme said to the boy and girl on the other side of her desk. "So you know the truth now."
"Some of it," Kurt said.

"Then let me fill you in on the rest. You don't want to hear what I did in the years between the last time I saw you and now, but I never forgot you."

Rogue tried to answer her. "You never came to see me. You knew where Ah was, but . . ."
"I did visit once. When you were about five."

"Huh?"

"You must remember. I took you to the petting zoo, and then we--"

"Petting zoo?" This was news to Rogue.

"You don't remember?"
"No, Ah don't. It's lahke you were never there."
Raven eyed her daughter with concern. Had someone done something to her memory? Or had she simply forgotten....

"We can't change the past . . . but we can start now with what we have."

Rogue and Kurt gazed at their mother.

"How do ve do zhat?"

Raven pondered this for what seemed like an eternity. "We'll find a way."

********
"DAAAAAAD!"
Magneto looked up from his paper in irritation. "What is it now, Pietro?"

"Wanda hit me!"
"Well, Pietro was making faces at me!"

Magneto sighed and got up. It was good to have his children back together, but . . .
"Will you stop acting like five-year-olds?"
"She started it!"
"I did not! He called Mystique a--"
"Well, she shouldn't have been naked!"
"She was not naked! She was feeding the babies!"
"Yeah, well I still saw her--"

Xavier never has to deal with this nonsense, Magneto thought enviously. "Go to your room," he said. "Both of you. I'm not listening to this nonsense."

"Hey!"
"C'mon, Dad . . ."

"I said go!"
They went.

Not quietly, of course; that would have been too much to hope for.

"Why'd you have to come back?"
"Why do you have to be such a jerk?"

Eventually Wanda came back and asked Mystique to finish her story.
"Not much more to tell, really."

"I still want to hear it."

"Well, Scott told Charles about our meeting. He seemed to think that it was a good idea that Kurt get to know me. He sees it as building a bridge, or something. Anyway, that night I needed company, so I went out to this bar . . . well, you know the rest."

After that, there was nothing more to be said.