Epilogue: Progeny

I stared blankly into the face of the most powerful mutant in the world. He stared right back at me, and yawned when I did. I turned away from the mirror, and downed my tenth or eleventh cup of disgusting, stale hospital coffee. What did they make this stuff out of? I tried not to imagine. I needed the caffeine. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I looked over as the nurse began to shout, "Mr Rosiçky! It's coming this time, it really is!"

You've said that three times already, I thought, nonetheless hurrying over towards the bed.

"It's coming this time," she repeated.

"Chloe?" I said.

She gasped, and looked up at me, nodding her head. My tiredness vanished and my heart began to beat with excitement – excitement and wonder. Chloe clutched my hand and I winced at her scream of pain. Neither of us had slept properly in the last 48 hours, but our fatigue was gone now. After so many months of waiting, after so many hours in labour, our child was minutes away from being born.

I had promised myself that I would never inflict pain on Chloe again, and it was with a twinge of guilt that I endured the loudest scream she had given yet, as her hand tightened painfully around mine.

"It's coming!"

"Push, Mrs Rosiçky!"

Chloe's grip nearly crushed my hand as the next contraction came, and I pushed out with my telepathy, trying to ease her pain. She was breathing hard, her heart rate was sky-rocketing, and suddenly a terrible thought struck me. My own mother had died in childbirth…her pulse rate had been too high, and her heart had stopped working…what if the same thing happened to Chloe?

"It's a girl!" one of the nurses cried.

My fears were immediately vanquished by the next sound I heard: it was the high-pitched wailing of the baby that had just been born. Chloe gasped with joy and relief, and I gave her hand a tiny squeeze, leaning over to kiss her. She had survived. This Mrs Rosiçky was destined to see her child's life.

It was around Christmas time that we had got married. It had been a small, quiet affair, just the two of us with Chris and Felicity as witnesses. We had wanted it that way. It had been the happiest moment of my entire life…until now, that was.

"Uh, Mr Rosiçky?" said one of the nurses, nervous and uncertain.

"Yes?"

"Your baby…your daughter is a mutant."

As the nurse passed me the tiny baby, wrapped in a hospital blanket, I knew a wonder and an awed elation that I would never feel again. My first child; my first heir. The world had a new Rosiçky. Presently she opened her eyes and stared up at me. She had gold-pupilled eyes, just like mine. Another trait, another gift she had inherited from me.

"Mr Rosiçky? Did you hear me? I said your daughter is a mutant."

"Yes, I know. Thank you," I said, then I smiled, "Chloe, I'm afraid there's a challenger to your position as most beautiful girl in the world."

"Let me see her," Chloe said, holding out her hands.

Gently, and ever so carefully, I placed the little miracle in her arms, and knelt beside the bed. Chloe's eyes brimmed with tears and her smile was the happiest I had ever seen, as she held our daughter in her arms. She looked up at me, a happy tear rolling down her cheek, and we kissed once more.

"Nothing we've ever done has been important than this," she said, her voice choked with emotion. "Stopping Constantine, saving each other's lives, none of it can compare with what we've done today."

I felt the same, knew she was right, and just nodded.

I had dozed on and off afterwards, and had kept no track of time, but I knew it was some time later in the day; the three of us were alone in one of the hospital rooms: Chloe sleeping, resting after her ordeal; me lovingly cradling the new arrival. The baby was awake, her mind active, and I could almost communicate ideas with her. Being a telepath meant her mind and senses were more developed than a normal human baby's would be. She already knew who I was, and who Chloe was, and could identify who was holding her. She tended to get upset and scream when it wasn't one of her parents.

She also seemed to have learned that I was telepathic but Chloe wasn't. She communicated with my mind, and expected responses, but seemed to know she wasn't going to get any from her mother. It was amazing, it was incredible, it was…all far too much for me to take in right away. This little bundle of creation had saved my life before she was even born – I knew right away that she was not going to be anything like an ordinary child. But that didn't matter, because neither Chloe nor myself had been ordinary children either.

The baby opened her eyes and looked up at me. Matching blue irises and gold pupils met. I knew this baby was no mutant; she was nothing more or less than her parents' daughter. She had gold eyes because I did, she had telepathy and healing power because I did. There was nothing in her genes that did not belong to either Chloe or myself, no mutations whatsoever. Yet despite this she would be called a mutant, branded as one, when she was nothing of the kind. I sighed. It was a strange and crazy world in which we lived.

Chloe woke up to feed the baby, and I dozed off again. When I next awoke, the sun shining through the window told me it had to be some time the next day. It wasn't long before the new family had our first visitors: Chris and Felicity, the latter almost dancing with desire to see the baby. As they entered the room together, I felt a small pang of regret that it had never worked out between them. I still felt a tiny bit guilty for my inadvertent part in their break-up. They loved each other, as friends, but no more than they loved Chloe or myself. There was nothing romantic between them, and I knew there never would be. Perhaps some people were just not meant for each other.

Chloe looked on a little anxiously as the baby was passed to Felicity; it was only natural for her to be maternally possessive, and reluctant to let anybody else have the baby.

"Ohhhh, she's adorable!" Fliss squealed, cradling the little miracle. "Oh, I just want to take her home and keep her for myself! Chloe, can I keep her?"

"No," Chloe said, a little angry even though she knew Fliss wasn't being serious.

"What's her name?" Chris asked.

"Annie," Chloe and I said together.

"We agreed on that name because it's similar to my mother's," I said.

"It's a nice name," said Fliss, smiling down at the tiny Rosiçky. "Hi, Annie. I'm your Auntie Fliss!"

Annie didn't appear to like this, and she started squirming and wailing, unhappy at being held by somebody who wasn't one of her parents.

"Fliss, I think you should give the baby back to Chloe now."

Chloe relaxed as the precious bundle was returned to her. Annie quietened, and Fliss said, "On second thought, I think I only like babies when they're being happy. It's always a relief to be able to hand them back to their parents when they start yelling."

"Congratulations, I suppose," Chris grinned, extending his hand for me to shake, then leaning down to give Chloe a peck on the cheek. "Oh, by the way, the Professor called the house last night, to wish you luck. He said he was willing to wait a few years before putting either of you back on the active duty list."

Chloe and I smiled. The four of us were full X-Men now, and fully committed to the cause, though Chloe and I had both had to temporarily resign for obvious reasons. Raising a family was a bigger and more important responsibility than anything else could ever be, and neither of us was willing to risk our lives while we had children depending on us. Both of us had solemnly sworn that, until our children had grown up, our fight against Constantine would be our last. The world did not need us right now anyway. It had other protectors for the present.

And for the future…who knew? The future was unwritten; anything could happen. There was nothing anybody could do to predict it. Chloe was holding part of the future in her arms right now, our future, little Annie. The future could not be predicted, but the future could be controlled. I had controlled it and shaped it when I had killed Constantine, making it a better and safer future for everyone, but nobody more so than my own child. She was my whole world now, she and her mother. I had given everything I had, including my life, for their future, and Annie had given it back to me. I knew the world wouldn't be mine forever; one day it would pass to its heir, to Annie, to serve and protect.

I leaned down, kissed my child lightly on her forehead, and said in a voice too low for anybody else to hear, "Protect it well."

A/N: and that is the end of Neil's story. Please leave a review to tell me what you think!

A/N: I've really enjoyed writing this trilogy; it's been an astonishing journey for me, and I hope you've enjoyed it too. Some of you have been with me since the very beginning, and your feedback has motivated me to keep going. Thanks to everyone who has left a review to any of these three stories; thank you for your time and the best of luck with your own stories!

A/N: Neil, Chloe and Annie will return, most likely some time in the future when she is a teenager and possibly has a little brother! Until then…