Ororo watched as the helicopters set down on the landing pad in front of her. It was an easy landing, she made sure of that. Not so much as a whisper of a breeze stirred around them. It was an awkward job, she was so used to calling the wind, not stilling it.
As soon as the X-Men helicopter set down, the backdoor flew open and the professors chair floated to the ground followed by the professor himself, both supported by Jean's invisible kinetic hand.
Dr. Jones, Trisha and Kat quickly followed, along with a boy of about fifteen Ororo didn't recognize. Jean easily brought out the stretcher behind them, LeAnna's inert figure looking so small.
Ororo just watched, not knowing what else to do. Her job was done, but she couldn't just walk away. And in situations like this, there was nothing you could say. So, she watched, unable to do more than offer a heartsick smile. Not that anyone saw it; not even the professor look at her as he past her on his way into the mansion. It was probably for the better, she'd only make them feel worse.
She turned back to the helicopters. They could stay there the night, there was no rain coming. She paused when the co-pilot's door swung open on the visiting helicopter. A young man of maybe twenty stepped out. He was attractive, his red hair short and styled up. The tails of his sleeveless black coat flapped in the returning natural gentle wind. He nodded at her as he jogged passed, following the rest of the group.
Ororo looked towards the pilot's door, wondering who was flying it. She had heard that they had added two new members to their team, both men, a Cajun and an Aus...tral...ion.
She barely finished the thought. The pilot's door opened and he stepped out. Or rather, unfolded. He must have been six-four. With shoulders as wide as a house. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if he hand to turn sideways to get through doors. He made his way towards her, and she picked her jaw up off the ground.
He gave her a genuine smile as he stopped in front of her. "I here we have you to thank for the soft landing." His smile faded, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ororo was impressed at how even her voice sounded.
He stared up into the starry sky, squinting, "We should be alright leaving the birds out for the night. It shouldn't rain."
"It won't," she said, "Not at least for thirty six hours."
"Figured as much," he said, looking back to her, then gestured for her to proceed him towards the house, "After you, Miss Munroe."
"Thank you, Mr..."
He offered his hand "Peter McCalister."
It was warm and strong as it closed over hers. He smiled again and a thrill ran up her spine. She almost blushed.
He held her hand longer than was strictly necessary, letting go reluctantly, "After you."
Logan watched as Alex tried to make herself comfortable. The co-pilots seat was meant to keep you awake for the trip, not take a nap. She yawned and rolled her head against the top of the seat.
"Yeah know," he said, "You'd be more comfortable in one of the passengers seats."
She sat up and blinked, "No, I'm fine."
"Sure you are," he said, rolling his eyes. He pushed away from the wall, and made his way out of the cockpit, idly wondering where the blankets were, or if they even had any on this retrofit.
They were almost to there destination and all the kids were still asleep. So were the two kidnapers they had surprised just after take-off. He stepped up to the bathroom door and pulled it open. The man on the toilet groaned and turned his face from the light.
Great, he thought, and half turned back to the cockpit to call Alex, then thought better of it. What ever she had been doing, she was wiped out. Besides, there was an easier way to deal with it.
Stepping into the stall, Logan pulled the man up by the front of his shirt. He groaned again and managed to drag his eyelids half up. Logan hulled back and hit him squarely on the jaw, letting him fall back against the toilet, out cold.
Logan worked his hand in and out of a fist, smiling to himself. Suddenly the floor tilted beneath his feet. "Shit."
He ran for the cockpit. He found Alex still relaxed in the co-pilot chair, her feet now propped on the very edge of the console.
"What the hell..." Logan said, skidding to a halt.
"Landing," Alex said, around a yawn.
Anchoring himself behind the pilots seat, Logan was surprised how fast the plain lost altitude. His ears popped twice, but it didn't seem to affect Alex. She remained where she was, her arms crossed over her chest, eyes closed. She seemed equally unaffected by the planes sudden impact with the tarmac and the lurching stop that nearly threw Logan over the pilot's seat.
When the plain finely came to a halt, she simply yawned and stretched.
"There is probably somebody waiting for us," she said as she stood.
Logan stood his ground, blocking the doorway. "How do you expect to get out of here?"
"The door?" she said, batting her eyelashes at him.
He glared at her, she just smiled.
"We're a little far off the ground," he growled.
There was a loud clang as something metal hit the out side of the plain.
"That would be the stairs," she said. She reached up and ran her fingers along the side of his hair, before reaching down and tugging lightly on his beard. She chuckled and shook her head as she slip passed him to the door.
Logan reached up and rubbed the skin that she'd pulled. Truth was he could do with a shave, and a haircut wouldn't hurt either.
Turning on his heal, Logan walked up behind Alex as she swung the door open. Almost both entire groups stand at the bottom of the metal stairs. The only ones missing are the professor, the Doctor, and...the youngest...LeAnna.
"Mom," Kat said, her eyes filling with tears.
"What is it?" Alex asked, hurrying down the stairs to meet her.
Mom? Logan shook his head, hadn't Alex said they were sisters? Or had he just assumed.
"It's LeAnna," Kat choked out.
"What happened?" Alex sounded like she'd been punched.
Logan's first instinct was to reach out and hold her, protect her from the pain.
"She was in the mind of an animal when it was killed," Trish replied from the bottom of the stairs, "She's withdrawn in on herself."
"Oh, God," Alex said, wrapping her arms around Kat. After a moment, Alex stepped back and all but bolted down the rest of the stairs, Kat right behind her. Neither of them bothered to open the doors of the jeep sitting on the side of the road leading away from the airstrip.
Logan barely registered the rest of the group filling past him into the plain as he watched the taillights of the Jeep disappear down the road.
"Alex's done wonders with that one."
Logan looked over to see Jean standing beside him. He lifted an eyebrow.
"Kat's mother died in childbirth," she said.
Logan did some quick re-thinking. That would make Alex Kat's stepmother, and LeAnna her half sister. That would explain the difference in the look of the girls, and the similarity between LeAnna and Alex.
Jean continued, "And her father was...abusive."
Logan didn't like the sound of that pause. "Abusive?"
The haunted look in Jean's eyes told Logan that they weren't talking about the garden-variety-knock-'em-around abuse, though even that was inexcusable, but something darker, more insidious. Sexual abuse, Logan had the sudden need to disembowel someone he'd never met.
"Jean," Scott said, coming up behind them. Jean nodded and slipped past him. Logan would have sworn that Scott threw him a dirty look before following Jean back into the plain, but it was hard to tell through the visor.
You got nothing to worry about boy-o, Logan thought, turning to look back down the dark road, Not anymore.
"It's my fault," Kat said, her words barely audible over the wind rushing through the Jeep.
"How'd ya figure that?" Alex asked, glancing at her quickly before returning her eyes to the road.
"I'm in charge of security-"
"You've turned the house in to a veritable Fort Nox," Alex cut in, "You can't control what your sister does with her mind."
"She was in the kitchen," Kat said tonelessly, staring blindly out the windshield, "They blew out the window with explosive arrow heads from across the road."
Alex sucked in a deep breath. Whoever had hit them had done their homework. By staying off the property, they had avoided Sarah's sensors. And all the windows were bulletproof.
"I should have gotten stronger windows," Kat said.
"Are their commercially available windows stronger than the ones we have?" Kat's silence said no. "Look, kido, it's a little early to be indulging in self-blame. Can we get a better idea of what exactly happened before you start hogging all the blame for yourself?"
"Fine," Kat said in a belligerent tone that was music to Alex's ears, "But when all this is over I'm taking my fair share."
"Get in line," Alex said with a laugh.
"Yeah, after you, Uncle X, Maranda, Peter and Trish," Kat said sarcastically, counting the people off on her fingers.
Alex winced, "Everyone's blaming themselves then?"
"Yeah," Kat said, "Even Sarah. Do you have any idea how hard it is dealing with a depressed computer?"
Alex couldn't help laughing, "Anything like dealing with a depressed teenager?"
Kat rolled her eyes.
All of Alex's fear and panic returned as she turned the corner into the schools parking lot. Luckily, the halls were all but deserted, and those few students that were up and about stayed well out of her way as she ran for LeAnna's room.
The room was dark. Alex barely saw Maranda sitting in the chair by the head of LeAnna's bed.
Alex made her way to her daughter. She lightly brushed the hair off LeAnna's forehead. In the distance, she heard Maranda and Kat saying that they should go back to the plain to help out. Alex must have made some positive response, because they left.
Slumping down in the chair Maranda had just left, Alex took LeAnna's hand. She leaned over, "Sweetheart! Oh, Sweetheart, don't leave me. Please. Please, I love you. You're the world to me."
Alex opened her eyes to a world where color blurred. The scenery around her looked like a van Gogh painting, while she remained solid. But she was not afraid. Actually she was the most relaxed she'd been for a very long time.
She was sitting under a weeping willow tree, the dappled sun falling through the branches, highlighting the navy blanket she was sitting on, and the velvet grass around it. A baby lay on her back beside Alex, giggling up at the leaves swaying above her head. It was LeAnna when she was four months old. Alex reached out and ran a finger along the baby's soft, chubby cheek.
"Watch me, Mommy. Watch me." Alex looked up to see LeAnna at four standing just outside of the willow's branches. Seeing that she had gotten her mother's attention, the child did a pretty good imitation of a cartwheel. Alex laughed and clapped.
A giggle from beside her, made Alex turn. There was a swing set off to her left, and another young version of LeAnna was being pushed on a swing by a LeAnna of twelve.
A gate opened, and a man walked in. He was the only person that was not concrete. His face was shadowed, but with light instead of dark.
"Daddy!" the girl on the swing said, and jumped off the swing right into his arms. He hugged her and whirled her around before putting her on the ground. He moved around to all of the girls, whispering words of encouragement and praise, and sharing laughter.
After picking up the baby and tossing her over is head a couple of times, eliciting a riot of giggles, he lay down with his head in Alex's lap and the baby yawning on his chest. He reached up and gently pulled Alex's head down for a kiss.
And in that instant, Alex knew that her world was perfect.
As soon as the X-Men helicopter set down, the backdoor flew open and the professors chair floated to the ground followed by the professor himself, both supported by Jean's invisible kinetic hand.
Dr. Jones, Trisha and Kat quickly followed, along with a boy of about fifteen Ororo didn't recognize. Jean easily brought out the stretcher behind them, LeAnna's inert figure looking so small.
Ororo just watched, not knowing what else to do. Her job was done, but she couldn't just walk away. And in situations like this, there was nothing you could say. So, she watched, unable to do more than offer a heartsick smile. Not that anyone saw it; not even the professor look at her as he past her on his way into the mansion. It was probably for the better, she'd only make them feel worse.
She turned back to the helicopters. They could stay there the night, there was no rain coming. She paused when the co-pilot's door swung open on the visiting helicopter. A young man of maybe twenty stepped out. He was attractive, his red hair short and styled up. The tails of his sleeveless black coat flapped in the returning natural gentle wind. He nodded at her as he jogged passed, following the rest of the group.
Ororo looked towards the pilot's door, wondering who was flying it. She had heard that they had added two new members to their team, both men, a Cajun and an Aus...tral...ion.
She barely finished the thought. The pilot's door opened and he stepped out. Or rather, unfolded. He must have been six-four. With shoulders as wide as a house. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if he hand to turn sideways to get through doors. He made his way towards her, and she picked her jaw up off the ground.
He gave her a genuine smile as he stopped in front of her. "I here we have you to thank for the soft landing." His smile faded, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ororo was impressed at how even her voice sounded.
He stared up into the starry sky, squinting, "We should be alright leaving the birds out for the night. It shouldn't rain."
"It won't," she said, "Not at least for thirty six hours."
"Figured as much," he said, looking back to her, then gestured for her to proceed him towards the house, "After you, Miss Munroe."
"Thank you, Mr..."
He offered his hand "Peter McCalister."
It was warm and strong as it closed over hers. He smiled again and a thrill ran up her spine. She almost blushed.
He held her hand longer than was strictly necessary, letting go reluctantly, "After you."
Logan watched as Alex tried to make herself comfortable. The co-pilots seat was meant to keep you awake for the trip, not take a nap. She yawned and rolled her head against the top of the seat.
"Yeah know," he said, "You'd be more comfortable in one of the passengers seats."
She sat up and blinked, "No, I'm fine."
"Sure you are," he said, rolling his eyes. He pushed away from the wall, and made his way out of the cockpit, idly wondering where the blankets were, or if they even had any on this retrofit.
They were almost to there destination and all the kids were still asleep. So were the two kidnapers they had surprised just after take-off. He stepped up to the bathroom door and pulled it open. The man on the toilet groaned and turned his face from the light.
Great, he thought, and half turned back to the cockpit to call Alex, then thought better of it. What ever she had been doing, she was wiped out. Besides, there was an easier way to deal with it.
Stepping into the stall, Logan pulled the man up by the front of his shirt. He groaned again and managed to drag his eyelids half up. Logan hulled back and hit him squarely on the jaw, letting him fall back against the toilet, out cold.
Logan worked his hand in and out of a fist, smiling to himself. Suddenly the floor tilted beneath his feet. "Shit."
He ran for the cockpit. He found Alex still relaxed in the co-pilot chair, her feet now propped on the very edge of the console.
"What the hell..." Logan said, skidding to a halt.
"Landing," Alex said, around a yawn.
Anchoring himself behind the pilots seat, Logan was surprised how fast the plain lost altitude. His ears popped twice, but it didn't seem to affect Alex. She remained where she was, her arms crossed over her chest, eyes closed. She seemed equally unaffected by the planes sudden impact with the tarmac and the lurching stop that nearly threw Logan over the pilot's seat.
When the plain finely came to a halt, she simply yawned and stretched.
"There is probably somebody waiting for us," she said as she stood.
Logan stood his ground, blocking the doorway. "How do you expect to get out of here?"
"The door?" she said, batting her eyelashes at him.
He glared at her, she just smiled.
"We're a little far off the ground," he growled.
There was a loud clang as something metal hit the out side of the plain.
"That would be the stairs," she said. She reached up and ran her fingers along the side of his hair, before reaching down and tugging lightly on his beard. She chuckled and shook her head as she slip passed him to the door.
Logan reached up and rubbed the skin that she'd pulled. Truth was he could do with a shave, and a haircut wouldn't hurt either.
Turning on his heal, Logan walked up behind Alex as she swung the door open. Almost both entire groups stand at the bottom of the metal stairs. The only ones missing are the professor, the Doctor, and...the youngest...LeAnna.
"Mom," Kat said, her eyes filling with tears.
"What is it?" Alex asked, hurrying down the stairs to meet her.
Mom? Logan shook his head, hadn't Alex said they were sisters? Or had he just assumed.
"It's LeAnna," Kat choked out.
"What happened?" Alex sounded like she'd been punched.
Logan's first instinct was to reach out and hold her, protect her from the pain.
"She was in the mind of an animal when it was killed," Trish replied from the bottom of the stairs, "She's withdrawn in on herself."
"Oh, God," Alex said, wrapping her arms around Kat. After a moment, Alex stepped back and all but bolted down the rest of the stairs, Kat right behind her. Neither of them bothered to open the doors of the jeep sitting on the side of the road leading away from the airstrip.
Logan barely registered the rest of the group filling past him into the plain as he watched the taillights of the Jeep disappear down the road.
"Alex's done wonders with that one."
Logan looked over to see Jean standing beside him. He lifted an eyebrow.
"Kat's mother died in childbirth," she said.
Logan did some quick re-thinking. That would make Alex Kat's stepmother, and LeAnna her half sister. That would explain the difference in the look of the girls, and the similarity between LeAnna and Alex.
Jean continued, "And her father was...abusive."
Logan didn't like the sound of that pause. "Abusive?"
The haunted look in Jean's eyes told Logan that they weren't talking about the garden-variety-knock-'em-around abuse, though even that was inexcusable, but something darker, more insidious. Sexual abuse, Logan had the sudden need to disembowel someone he'd never met.
"Jean," Scott said, coming up behind them. Jean nodded and slipped past him. Logan would have sworn that Scott threw him a dirty look before following Jean back into the plain, but it was hard to tell through the visor.
You got nothing to worry about boy-o, Logan thought, turning to look back down the dark road, Not anymore.
"It's my fault," Kat said, her words barely audible over the wind rushing through the Jeep.
"How'd ya figure that?" Alex asked, glancing at her quickly before returning her eyes to the road.
"I'm in charge of security-"
"You've turned the house in to a veritable Fort Nox," Alex cut in, "You can't control what your sister does with her mind."
"She was in the kitchen," Kat said tonelessly, staring blindly out the windshield, "They blew out the window with explosive arrow heads from across the road."
Alex sucked in a deep breath. Whoever had hit them had done their homework. By staying off the property, they had avoided Sarah's sensors. And all the windows were bulletproof.
"I should have gotten stronger windows," Kat said.
"Are their commercially available windows stronger than the ones we have?" Kat's silence said no. "Look, kido, it's a little early to be indulging in self-blame. Can we get a better idea of what exactly happened before you start hogging all the blame for yourself?"
"Fine," Kat said in a belligerent tone that was music to Alex's ears, "But when all this is over I'm taking my fair share."
"Get in line," Alex said with a laugh.
"Yeah, after you, Uncle X, Maranda, Peter and Trish," Kat said sarcastically, counting the people off on her fingers.
Alex winced, "Everyone's blaming themselves then?"
"Yeah," Kat said, "Even Sarah. Do you have any idea how hard it is dealing with a depressed computer?"
Alex couldn't help laughing, "Anything like dealing with a depressed teenager?"
Kat rolled her eyes.
All of Alex's fear and panic returned as she turned the corner into the schools parking lot. Luckily, the halls were all but deserted, and those few students that were up and about stayed well out of her way as she ran for LeAnna's room.
The room was dark. Alex barely saw Maranda sitting in the chair by the head of LeAnna's bed.
Alex made her way to her daughter. She lightly brushed the hair off LeAnna's forehead. In the distance, she heard Maranda and Kat saying that they should go back to the plain to help out. Alex must have made some positive response, because they left.
Slumping down in the chair Maranda had just left, Alex took LeAnna's hand. She leaned over, "Sweetheart! Oh, Sweetheart, don't leave me. Please. Please, I love you. You're the world to me."
Alex opened her eyes to a world where color blurred. The scenery around her looked like a van Gogh painting, while she remained solid. But she was not afraid. Actually she was the most relaxed she'd been for a very long time.
She was sitting under a weeping willow tree, the dappled sun falling through the branches, highlighting the navy blanket she was sitting on, and the velvet grass around it. A baby lay on her back beside Alex, giggling up at the leaves swaying above her head. It was LeAnna when she was four months old. Alex reached out and ran a finger along the baby's soft, chubby cheek.
"Watch me, Mommy. Watch me." Alex looked up to see LeAnna at four standing just outside of the willow's branches. Seeing that she had gotten her mother's attention, the child did a pretty good imitation of a cartwheel. Alex laughed and clapped.
A giggle from beside her, made Alex turn. There was a swing set off to her left, and another young version of LeAnna was being pushed on a swing by a LeAnna of twelve.
A gate opened, and a man walked in. He was the only person that was not concrete. His face was shadowed, but with light instead of dark.
"Daddy!" the girl on the swing said, and jumped off the swing right into his arms. He hugged her and whirled her around before putting her on the ground. He moved around to all of the girls, whispering words of encouragement and praise, and sharing laughter.
After picking up the baby and tossing her over is head a couple of times, eliciting a riot of giggles, he lay down with his head in Alex's lap and the baby yawning on his chest. He reached up and gently pulled Alex's head down for a kiss.
And in that instant, Alex knew that her world was perfect.