Chapter 7: Discussion
Xavier picked up the telephone and dialed the number to the orphanage next door. It rang twice, then someone answered it. "Blackstone Orphanage."
"This is Charles Xavier at the Institute," he said. "I need to speak with Headmaster Gilmore concerning one of his students."
There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line, then a new voice, a familiar one, came on the line. "This is Headmaster Gilmore, I am so pleased to finally speak with you," he gushed. "One of my students has gone missing from the orphanage, yes she did. I believe she might be hiding somewhere on your grounds, so if you really don't mind…oh, I'm sure you don't…I'd like to search for her, I really would…"
"Headmaster Gilmore," Xavier interrupted the flow of words abruptly. "I know about the child of whom you speak. She is here, a guest at my school, and she will remain so. She will not be returning to your establishment while I can still prevent it. I have learned some interesting things about you and your doings from her which lead me to believe she is not safe with you. Come here, and we will discuss it."
There was silence for a moment, then Gilmore's voice filled his ear. No longer oily and filled with mock pleasantness, the voice was now cold and flat. "She can't have told you anything."
Xavier insisted, "I refuse to discuss this any further with you over the phone. Come here and we will discuss it."
There was more silence. "I will be there soon." The line went dead.
Xavier set the phone down, and flicked a thought toward his students; one in particular. Nathan.
Downstairs in the rec room cleaning and loading his guns with Bishop, Nathan Summers, Scott and Jean's son from a possible future timeline, froze, 'listening' to that inner voice. Yes, Charles?
I am expecting company shortly. Please greet our...guest…at the door and escort him up to my study.
Nathan, also known as Cable, smiled grimly. Amy's headmaster, Charles?
Yes. Xavier answered him.
Nathan stood up from the table, snapping a loaded clip into the chamber of his gun. I would much rather be killing him than allowing him to enter, Charles. Such things Jean's told us he's made her do…It's terrible, to force a child to do things she doesn't want to do.
Yes, it is. And he won't be doing it anymore. Xavier's mindvoice was determined. I plan on having a chat with him. Please bring him up when he arrives.
Will do, Charles, Nathan answered.
Xavier called Jean next. Jean, he said. Mr. Gilmore will be arriving here momentarily. Please bring Amy up to my study.
She's going to be there when he arrives? She's going to watch while you question him? There was doubt in Jean's mindvoice. Are you sure that's wise?
Xavier sent an affirmative thought. I don't really want to, Jean. But when I bring him up in front of the Social Services review board, I don't want him to say that I've been putting words in her mouth. I want him to see that she's not under his control anymore, that she's doing this of her own accord.
He felt Jean's nod. All right, Charles. We're both coming.
Jean opened the door and let Amy walk in first, pulling up a chair for her first, then one for herself. Amy sat in front of Charles's desk, her hands wrapped so tightly around a mug of hot chocolate that her fingers were white. He noticed. "Amy, if you'd rather not be here…" he began.
She shook her head vehemently. "I want to, Mr. Xavier," she said. "I want him to know that I know what he's done. I want him to know that the decision to not come back was mine, and not you telling me what to do. I have to stop being afraid of him."
The soft chime of the front doorbell sounded throughout the mansion, and Xavier felt all activity through the great house stop. Maybe it was his imagination, but the temperature of the house felt as though it had dropped a few degrees, as the cold anger of a dozen minds permeated the psychic atmosphere. Even Amy gave a slight shudder, as if she felt the change as well, even though she wasn't a telepath. Then, Charles. Mr. Gilmore's here, said Nathan telepathically.
Mr. Gilmore knocked at the heavy wooden front door a couple of times before he saw the doorbell. He pressed it, waited for a moment, then pressed it again. He waited with some impatience as the door swung slowly back. He was prepared for almost anything, but expected to see a starched, pressed butler on the other side of the door.
He was, therefore, disconcerted when the first thing he saw was an enormous chest. He blinked. He was tall; he didn't know what to call this brute. His eyes traveled up the bulging chest muscles, barely contained in an oversized T-shirt, to the thick biceps, and took in the thick neck before he stopped at the face. And felt his jaw drop.
The mountainous man had silver hair, cut shaggily but still reminiscent of a military style, and his face looked as though it had been carved in granite. One eye was completely normal; the other was a fiercely glowing orb of yellow light. Harvey Gilmore suddenly felt much less confident. "Uh, I'm here to see Mr. Charles Xavier?.." he trailed off uncertainly as the mountain in front of him stared stonily at him.
Could the man hear? "I'm here to see Mr. Xavier," he said again, enunciating his words slowly and carefully. "Are you deaf?"
The mountain moved. "I heard you fine," he rumbled menacingly, and Harvey Gilmore took a step backward, intimidated. "Come this way." The man turned and stalked away, and Gilmore thought rather hysterically that the floor was probably reinforced. There was no way this behemoth could stand on it otherwise.
Down a hall, down another, and up a flight of steps. Gilmore was trying to memorize the way in, but after a couple of twists and stairs, he was completely lost.
In front of him, Nathan was smiling grimly to himself. He was doing this on purpose; the more roundabout way they took to Charles's study, the more difficult it would be for Gilmore to try to break into the mansion to steal Amy away. He led the man through the east wing, down through the servants' rooms, and then up the main stairway and down the corridor to Xavier's door. He had passed it several times already, but the man he was escorting was so bewildered he doubted if he recognized the hallway.
Nate opened the door to Charles's office and showed his charge in. "Mr. Gilmore is here."
The dry twinkle in Charles's eye was the only betrayer of his amusement as Gilmore came in. His face remained perfectly calm. Please remain, Xavier said to him. Mr. Gilmore won't be here long.
Nate came in after Gilmore and sat down in the chair by the door, instinct making him pull the chair just close enough to Jean and Amy to keep Gilmore from touching the little girl.
Gilmore walked into the study, staring at the elegant but tasteful décor, and gritted his teeth. Forget the bank. This man Xavier probably had more money than any bank. He let his gaze travel around the room until it stopped at the two chairs in front of the desk, and he recognized the occupants. The red-haired woman named…Summers, that was it. And in the chair beside her was his wayward pyromaniac.
He took two steps forward, grabbed the girl's arm. "Go home," he snarled at her, fury filling his face as he yanked her out of the chair. "Get home at once! You will be punished severely for this. Go home!"
The woman took Amy's other arm and drew her out of Gilmore's grasp. "She won't. How would you punish her, huh? Starve her, beat her up, make her work? You've already done that. There's not a lot left you haven't done. You've hurt her enough!" Jean wrapped her arms protectively around Amy, who was shaking now in fear.
Gilmore spluttered for a moment, angry. "How dare you speak to me that way, you bitch!" He raised his hand and slapped Jean's face as hard as he could.
Jean didn't even have time to react. Nate rose from his chair by the door and descended on the man, every muscle in his body tight with anger. His hand came down on the man's face, slapping him exactly as Gilmore had struck Jean a moment earlier. Gilmore's head snapped around on his neck, and there was a dazed look on his face when he looked around again. Nate loomed over him, hands not quite touching the man but looking as though he might at any moment. "Don't you dare," he said, speaking carefully around his gritted teeth, "touch anyone in this house again. Least of all my…"
Nate! Xavier said warningly in his head. He bit off the rest of his words and turned away from the man cowering in front of him, walking over to where Jean stood beside Amy.
Are you okay, Mom? He asked her telepathically, on a private thread only he and she could 'hear'. Jean knew he was worried; he only called her 'Mom' when he was worried about her, and only telepathically.
Jean nodded, smiling weakly. I'm fine, thank you, Nate, she said. Nate brushed a strand of her hair away from her cheek, looked at the bruise. Dad's going to be furious, he warned her.
He heard her mental sigh. He always is when I get hurt, she said. It'll be all right.
Xavier spoke to Gilmore. "Sit down, Mr. Gilmore. What I have to say will be brief. We know what you've done. We know you've been using the mutant children to rob banks, and using the orphanage as a front. And you've been getting your son to hide Amy's memories. That stops now. Jean is a gifted telepath, she's undone all the mental damage you did by getting your son to suppress her memories. Amy will remain here while we track down the relatives you made her forget, and she will be returned to them. You will return the children to the orphanages they came from."
"And if I don't want to?"
"You'll do it," Xavier said. "If you don't, I will turn you into the authorities myself. How much do you think they'd like to get their hands on the perpetrators of the mysterious bank robberies? And with your prior convictions, what do you think your parole officer will say? What will the D.A. say?"
Gilmore stared at him. "You wouldn't tell on me," he said in disbelief. "If you do the mutant children will go to jail too."
"I'm willing to risk it," Amy said bitterly. "If I do go to jail it will only be for having listened to you, to what you told me to do. I'm ashamed that I did; if I have to go to jail then I'll go if it means I stop you." She was silent for a moment. "The other kids didn't need to be coerced, so they deserve it too. Greg loved it, robbing banks, and then wiping my memories. In fact," she said, turning to him, "He beat me up several times, then blocked my memories of what he did. You didn't know that, did you," she raged at him. "Your son is a cruel, sadistic little bastard. Go home? I'm not going home! Your orphanage was never home to me, it was a prison, a jail. Anywhere would be better than there!" she tore away from Jean's grasp and ran out of the room.
Xavier was silent for a moment. "She is going to stay here. She won't be returning to your orphanage. Now get out of my house."
Gilmore looked as though he were about to say something, but Nate stepped forward, and one look at the tall man made Gilmore change his mind about whatever he was planning to say. 'This isn't over yet," he hissed at Xavier as he stalked out.
When he was gone, Xavier sighed and looked at Jean. 'That's over. Jean, are you all right? I wasn't expecting him to do anything like that—I'm sorry--"
Jean touched the tender spot on her cheek, and winced. "I've had worse happen," she said cheerfully. "I'm going to go get some ice before this swells too much, and then I'll go find Amy. I'll see you at dinner, if there's nothing else…?"
"Go on," Xavier said, and she left his study.
Moments later, Nate poked his head back in the door. "He's gone, Charles. I gave him the long tour of the mansion. He won't be able to find his way back in even if he could get past the outer defenses."
"Thank you, Nathan. I am sorry that happened; I wasn't expecting it, and I know how much you hate seeing your mother and father get hurt."
Nate smiled a little sadly. "If Jean and Scott could make the jump into the future and raise me, keep me alive all that time through everything that happened, then they'll survive this stuff. I might hate it, but my parents can take care of themselves." Both men were silent for a moment, then Nate said, "Jean's gone to find Scott. Bet he's going to have a fit. Where's Amy?"
Xavier said, "Ororo showed her the spare room I gave her until we find her relatives. Amy's in there right now."
"Okay. I want to talk to her. Thanks, Charles." Nate's head disappeared.
Amy was sitting on her bed staring off into space when there came a tap at her door. She looked up as Nate opened it and stuck his head in. "Hey. Want to talk?"
She shrugged, and Nate took that as permission and walked in. "He's gone, Amy. He won't bother you again."
She remained sitting on her bed. "You love Miss Jean."
Nate grinned and sat on the end of the bed. "I do, but not the way I think you're thinking. Jean's my mother, Amy. I come from a time far in the future. Jean and Scott are my parents; when I was born I was infected with a virus, for which there wasn't a cure. A woman named Mother Askani took me into the future to get a cure for the virus and save my life. When she couldn't find suitable parents for me she came back, stole Jean and Scott, and brought them to my time. I knew them growing up as Slim and Redd." Better not to mention that Mother Askani was really his sister Rachel from another possible timeline. That would confuse the girl more. "The future I grew up in was really rough. I eventually came back in time to alter some things that happened in this point in time so that the time I grew up in would never happen, and met Jean and Scott, and the rest of the X-Men. I didn't find out until later that they were my real parents. They're my mother and father, Amy."
Amy turned to look at him. "Somehow I can't see you as a baby, Mr. Nathan."
"Oh, I was," he said. "And Jean and Scott still baby me sometimes too." He chuckled. "They baby each other. I bet that's what Scott's doing right now."
Scott blinked, shocked, as Jean came in the kitchen where he, Storm and Remy were cooking dinner. "Jean!" he pulled out a chair for her, and went to the freezer for a couple of ice cubes as Storm got a plastic baggie from the kitchen drawer. He dumped the ice into it and wrapped a clean towel around the makeshift ice pack as she seated herself at the table. 'What happened?"
"Mr. Gilmore took a swing at me," Jean said as Scott applied the ice pack o the swelling under her eye. "I was trying to get Amy out of his way."
Scott spluttered in fury for a moment. "I can't believe the nerve," he snapped. "I'd like to…"
"Don't worry," Jean's eyes twinkled. "Nate slapped him right back. He's got the same bruise I have."
"Good," Scott said grimly. "This looks nasty," he winced as Jean twitched. "Sorry," he apologized.
Storm sat down next to Jean. "So Amy will be staying here?" she said.
Jean nodded. " Charles said he's going to try to delay talking to Social Services about her for as long as possible. We don't want them to appoint Amy a new guardian, or worse, send her to another orphanage before we find her relatives."
Storm considered. "Why don't you and Scott apply to adopt her?" she suggested. "Then the question of appointed guardianship can be settled, and Charles can try to find her grandparents without rushing."
Jean looked at Scott. Scott looked back at her. "Wow. We didn't even think about that," Scott said, startled. "I don't see why we couldn't, unless you have a problem with it, Jean."
Jean looked uncertain. "What happens when we find her relatives, though? What happens then? What if they don't let her stay here? What if they want to take her away to live with them? It wouldn't be fair to Amy, Scott, if we let her get attached to us and then she has to move again. She needs a steady, stable place to grow up. The kind of life we lead isn't exactly steady and stable."
They all looked a little down. "I'm not saying we should nix the idea altogether, I'm just saying we should think about it. Maybe we should talk to Charles later about it, see what he says."
Upstairs, Amy said wistfully to Nathan, "I wish I had parents like that, that loved me like Jean and Scott love you. My Mom and Dad were like that, and then they died in a house fire. You know what I've wished for every birthday I've had since then? I wanted someone to adopt me who would love me like that again. But no one wants to adopt the older ones. They all want babies or really young children." She put her chin in her hands, depressed. "And nobody wants mutants."
Nathan looked at the quiet little girl sitting despondently on the end of the bed, and felt a rush of pity for her. He had never thought about what happened to orphans, what happened to the children nobody wanted. He was really lucky he'd had Slim and Red growing up. How much more awful for her, with no parents at all, and then to be used like that…he sighed to himself. She really did need someone to adopt her, to love her. Too bad there weren't a lot of parents like Jean and Scott out there…
A sudden thought made him sit up. Why couldn't Jean and Scott adopt her? She was old enough to keep the X-Men's secrets, old enough to take care of herself if they had to go on missions. It would be like having Jubilee around again. He made a mental note to speak to Jean and Scott about it later as he 'heard' the telepathic call for dinner. "Dinner's ready," he said, holding out a hand to her. "Want to go see what Scott, Ororo, and Remy made for dinner?"
"I'm coming," she said, bouncing up, all her melancholy evaporating. "I'm starved!"