Disc- I No Own X-Men! Me Own Rita And Her Children!
Three months had passed and it was Rita's birthday again, she was sitting in the living room with at least 50 gifts in a huge pile in the corner. At least 30 of the institute kids were sitting with Rita and playing with Shawn and Marie, who were now a year and half old and were starting to walk.
Rita sat with Logan and all the guys while the girls played with the 'babies'. Bobby waited until Logan walked away for a second to talk to Rita. "So, when do we all get to give you your birthday spankings?" the guys laughed as Logan came back and they all shut up, to Rita's surprise Logan came back with yet another 5 gifts to add to the still growing pile. Most of the gifts came from Logan and all the other students.
"God Logan, where did those gifts come from?" Rita smiled as Logan came back and kissed Rita, standing next to her.
"Me." Logan smiled at Rita as Kitty screamed, when Logan and Rita turned to see what she was screaming at they saw Marie flying. They both laughed, no one knew that Marie could fly except for Logan and Rita, with all the stuff that has been happening lately they forgot to mention it. The good part was that the Brotherhood had left Rita and her children alone for those few months.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
When it came time to open the presents, another 10 had been added, there were like 65 gifts now, and everyone was waiting to see what she would get. It turned out that Rita got a lot of the same thing, clothes and CD's, but a few were original. Scott and Jean each gave Rita some clothes, Rogue had given Rita some black make-up to help keep the Brotherhood away, Ororo gave Rita some money, Charles gave Rita some novels to read over the summer that Rita was out of school, Remy gave Rita a gold necklace with a large black diamond that must have cost at least 400 dollars, Kitty gave Rita some clothes and 'regular' make-up, Bobby gave Rita a piece of black lingerie from Victoria's Secrets, and of course Logan was pissed and only let Bobby live because Rita said to, and then there were Logan's gifts. (A/N sorry bout the long sentence, but it's a lot of gifts to talk about) Logan had given Rita the most wonderful gifts of all, some clothes of course, make-up, jewelry, everything she could ever want and more. Logan gave Rita one plane ticket to Hyères, France.
"You said that your family used to live in France and that Magneto lied, well you can find out for yourself. I'll stay here with Shawn and Marie until you come home." Rita's eyes began to water as she heard these words from Logan; she threw her arms around Logan's neck and hugged him, thanking him too many times to count.
"You earned it Rita." Ororo and Charles said in unison as Rita smiled.
"If you want it, the plane leaves tomorrow morning." Logan smiled, and Rita hugged him again, running upstairs with the other girls to pack.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Rita lay awake that night, thinking of what was to come that following day. She would be going home, but what would she find? Would she find her family? Her past? Anything? She knew that Logan only got her a ticket to go alone was because he had to search for his past in Canada alone, though he found nothing he still had to do it alone the way she has to do it.
"You need to go to sleep darlin' " Logan turned and looked into Rita's eyes.
"I thought you were asleep." Rita smiled sleepily at Logan and yawned.
"I was, and now it's your turn to go to sleep, you need it for tomorrow." Logan ran a finger down Rita's cheek and kissed her forehead, waiting until she finally went to sleep.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
In the morning Rita packed her clothes, it took almost three suitcases to finally get everything she needed ready. "Now, you promise to come back soon?" Kitty asked, giving Rita a hug goodbye as everyone at the institute stood around the already crowded airport.
"Three months at the most, I already went over this." Rita hugged Kitty and all the other students and teachers, though it would be much harder to say goodbye to her children, Logan, and of course Charles, he was like the father she never really had when she was growing up.
"Goodbye Charles, I will miss you so much, you've always been like a father to me, I mean a father that was actually with me for more then 2 years and paid attention to me that whole time." Rita hugged Charles and turned to Logan, a little girl and little boy standing next to him, holding his hands.
Rita smiled at the sight, knowing that her children would be as safe as if they were with her. "Goodbye Logan, I will miss you so much, and my kids. I love you all" Rita looked at everyone and hugged Logan, kissing him goodbye while hugging and kissing both her children before walking onto the plane, leaving everyone behind.
The X-Men waited until Rita's plane was out of sight before leaving.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
It had been two days since Rita was gone and no one had heard from her, she would have been France for a day now, searching everyone guessed, until the phone rang in Rogue's room.
"Hello?" Rogue's southern accent was deep, almost like she had been crying.
"Rogue? Rogue are you ok? Were you crying?" Rita asked the girl on the other end.
"Nah, ah'm fine, just tired. So how are ya Rita? Found anythin'? Ready to come home?" Rogue was full of questions when she found out that is was her old friend Rita who was calling.
"No, nothing like that I just called to tell you goodbye, I…I don't think I'm coming home." Rita's voice got thick, and you could hear the tears in her voice.
"But whay? Logan and ya family is here, yer friends are here, whay leave? You have ta come home, you have ta! We'll miss ya so much if ya don't. What's there that's so important?" Rogue's questions kept coming, Rita didn't know if she could answer them all.
"I don't know Rogue. But I can't come home, I already knew I wouldn't come home two days ago, I just couldn't say it, you would never have let me leave if I did. But the Brotherhood is after me and my kids and I cant take it anymore, I haven't found my family and I'm not going to look, I don't want to end up Logan if there are no answers to the questions I have for them." Both girls were crying, Rogue over losing a friend and Rita over losing the first real family she ever loved.
"Ya have to come home, what if Logan finds out? Ya'd leave Logan and yer children? If ya do then yer no better then Logan himself, always running away from the things that scare ya. Why don't ya stand up to the Brotherhood?" Rogue was screaming now, hoping that if she brought Logan to her room to hear what Rita was saying then she would really come home in three months.
"Rogue? What are you yelling for? Who's that on the phone? It better not be someone from the Brotherhood." Logan stood in Rogue's doorway, he didn't even bother to knock, he just walked in.
"It's Rita; she says she's not comin' home." Rogue's cheek were damp now and her eyes were a scary blood-red from all the crying, but Rogue didn't care, her mascara was running and all her other eye make-up was gone, on the back of her hand from wiping at her tears so many times.
"What? Give me that damn phone." Logan grabbed the phone from the young girl's hand and put it to his ear, hearing a girl on the other end crying. "Rita?"
"Um…hi Logan, how are you doing? How's Shawn and Marie?" Rita sniffed, trying to keep Logan from hearing the tears in her voice.
"What's this crap about you not coming home? What did you find Rita? What's keeping you there? How can you say that you wont come back, you promised three months, do you really want me to have to tell this to your children, that mommy ran out on them when they were one?" Logan was shouting now, drawing a huge crowd at Rogue's door, which Logan still didn't close. Somehow, everyone knew who Logan was talking to without even asking who it was; Rita was the only person who could ever get a rise out of Logan like that.
"I'm sorry Logan, but I can't. If I come back then the Brotherhood will just come looking for me again and finish what they started three months ago. I don't want that to happen anymore then I want our family to split up, but what do you want me to do? And you answer your question, I haven't found anything yet." Rita thought about hanging up the phone, but just couldn't bring herself to doing it.
"So that's it then? So because the Brotherhood did something wrong, which let me remind you they do everyday, your not coming home? You wont even tell anyone face to face? You wait until after you've left to tell everyone? How long have you known that you wouldn't come back?" Logan was like Rogue, his questions just wouldn't stop coming.
"I've known ever since I hugged you all goodbye, but I just couldn't tell you all and risk you guys holding me back, keeping me from leaving." Rita told Logan the worst news he had heard in years as the line went dead on the other hand, Logan slamming the receiver down on the cradle.
"She's gone Chuck, she won't come back. She said that she doesn't want the Brotherhood coming back for her and finishing what they started three months ago so she's just not coming back ever. Not even for her children." Logan looked at Charles and walked through the large crowd toward his room.
Charles watched Logan leave and sighed, knowing how hard it had to be on Logan, he finally let someone into his life and now that person was gone, maybe forever. Remy stood behind Charles and put a hand on his shoulder, looking down at the Professor, who for once, had nothing left to say to try and comfort his students.
"Remy will go Professor." Remy's words had taken everyone by surprise, they all turned to stare at him, wondering if what he said was true.
"No Remy, I cant let you go, I told your father that I would watch you and I cant watch you in France so the answer is no." Charles looked into the teenage boy's face, knowing that Remy wanted a different answer.
"But Professor, Remy's the only one who knows France better then anyone else, non?" Remy stared at Charles until Charles finally broke down and told Remy he could go, but only if Remy's father said it was ok and Remy gave Rita some more to think about her decision.
"Don't you dare come back without her Remy." Rogue hugged Remy, glad that he was willing to bring her friend back.
"Remy wont, I promise." Remy told Rogue.
"Remy, don't bring her back against her will." Charles nodded to Remy and Rogue then wheeled out of the room, leaving the students standing outside Rogue's door still.
Remy sat down on Rogue's bed, he would wait until Rita called again to see if she still didn't want to come home, then as he promised Rogue he would talk to her, first on the phone and if that didn't work then face to face in France.
