A Man After Her Own Heart – Chapter Three

Disclaimer:  I own nothing except Val, her family, and the story idea.

A/N:  Rated R for language.  If it's not your cup of tea, please don't read it. 

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Val was still upstairs when she heard the front door open and close.  "I'm home!" called out her sister.  "Mom!  Anyone here?"

"Upstairs," called Margaret over her shoulder.

Val heard footsteps on the stairs and in a few seconds was face-to-face with her sister.  She noted with surprise how much they looked alike, but then realized that if they both looked like their mother, then of course they'd look alike.

"Oh, my God, Lizzie!  When did you get back?"  Annie catapulted herself at Val and if it weren't for her strength, Val would have gone down under Annie's glee at the reunion.  Obviously Annie didn't have the same feelings their parents did.  It had been five long years since they'd seen each other.  Annie had been eight at the time.  Now she was thirteen.

"Just now," replied Val, still holding her sister in a tight hug.  "God, it's good to see you."

"Annie," said Margaret.  "Sit down, please.  I need to speak with you."

Before Annie could reply, though, the doorbell rang.  "Who in the world could that be?" wondered Margaret in annoyance as she turned and left the room.

Alone, Val pulled away from her sister's grip and said, "How would you like to come stay with me for a while?"

"Stay with you?  What are you talking about?  It's the middle of the school year.  Besides, like Dad would ever let that happen."  Annie tossed her chin-length shag and said, "Why don't you move back here, though?" 

"That's not gonna happen," replied Val a little too gruffly.

"Annie!" called John from the foot of the stairs.  "Come down here!"

Annie rolled her eyes and muttered, "The master and commander beckons."

Val chuckled at that and said, "What did you call him?"

"Master and commander…like the book or the movie.  That's only one of many, though.  I've got a thousand."

Annie flung her book bag onto her bed and the two girls walked downstairs.  They could hear voices in the living room and they looked at each other trying to gauge how much the other knew.

Val hung back and let Annie go in first.  The sight that greeted her when she finally entered made her gasp loudly.  What the fuck was he doing here?  And in her fucking jacket, too!

Ororo and Scott noticed that Val was staring at Logan, exchanged glances and then looked to Logan for help, or at the very least an explanation, but none was forthcoming.

"Elizabeth," John said sharply.  "Is there a problem?"

Val pulled her accusing gaze from Logan's dark eyes long enough to look at her father and shake her head, mute from the shock.

"Lizzie, this is Ororo Munroe, Scott Summers, and Professor Logan of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," introduced Margaret.  "They're interested in enrolling Annie in their school."

Recovering, Val crossed her arms over her chest, narrowed her eyes and glared at Logan before saying conversationally, "Over my dead body." 

"Ms. Morrow, we've just been telling your parents what we can offer Annie," replied the woman with cocoa brown skin and white hair…Ororo.

"Really, it's quite a wonderful experience for anyone with her aptitude," added the man with the red glasses…Steve?  It didn't matter.

Annie edged close to Val and said, "You okay?"

Logan had remained quiet during the exchange.  Val's eyes bore into his.  "How exactly did you do this?" she asked the man who had less than a week ago spent the night in her bed.  "Was it all part of some elaborate plan?  What the fuck – "

"Language, Lizzie!" tittered Margaret.  "I'm very sorry about that, I don't know what's gotten into her today!"

John stared at Val and said frostily, "Elizabeth, it appears that we no longer need your assistance.  You can go."  She had been dismissed.

"Are you kidding me?" Val raged.  "These people have been here for what, two minutes, and you're ready to hand over your daughter lock, stock, and barrel?"

"They seem to have a wonderful program," protested Margaret weakly.  "It's on the east coast…think of the wonderful opportunities for Annie…and best yet, she qualifies for a full scholarship."

"I just bet she does," said Val darkly.  She raked her eyes over Logan's form, still waiting for him to speak.  When he said nothing, just continued to hold her gaze, Val broke the silence by stating the obvious.  "This is bullshit.  Annie, we're outta here."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" boomed John.

Annie stepped away from Val.  Her sister's gaze was darting back and forth between Professor Logan and their father.  She'd already preformed mind-scans on the three strangers and they were all harmless and well meaning.  She wasn't worried about going with them, but she felt a great deal of hurt and anger coming from Lizzie and she was worried about that.  Also, she knew their father well enough to know that if you crossed him, you could expect bad things.

Sure enough, without waiting for an answer, John Morrow stood quickly and stalked past Val, catching her arm along the way to drag her from the room.  If she'd been ready for the attack she would have used her strength to keep herself in place, but the surprise of it knocked her off balance and she was forced to stumble along behind her father as he humiliated her in of the three strangers by taking her away as if she were a two-year-old in the midst of a tantrum.  Well, two strangers, she corrected herself as she finally caught her balance and ripped her arm from his hand.

"What the hell is the matter with you," he snarled when they were alone in the kitchen. 

"Me?  Who do you think you are?  You're so ready to get rid of your daughter that you have no idea what kind of people these are."

"You will not speak to me like that, Elizabeth," her father replied coldly.  Faster than she expected, her father's hand was coming at her, stopping just as it would have connected with her cheek bone.

"That's ain't a very good idea, Mr. Morrow," Logan murmured, his grip tight on John Morrow's wrist.  Logan had appeared literally from nowhere.  Val couldn't believe how silently he'd approached and struck.  Ironically, it was the same hold he'd used on Val the first night in the truck when she'd gone for the radio.  She'd given him the finger for it, though, while her father went limp and almost whimpered in response.  Logan didn't know where she'd gotten her balls from, but it wasn't her father.  The man was all talk.

"Is everything all right in here?" Margaret trilled as she entered the kitchen through the swing door.  "Oh, my," she faltered when she saw her husband's hand raised to strike her daughter, stayed only by Professor Logan.

"Everything's fine, Mom," said Val before she tore her eyes away from Logan's and left the room.  Logan released his hold on John but warned him in a low voice, "Hittin' ain't a good way to communicate." 

"I'll keep that in mind," John replied with an edge to his voice, while rubbing his wrist.

Val had pulled Annie upstairs and said, "Get your stuff together.  We're leaving before Dad really loses it."

"But, Lizzie," Annie objected, "I think it'll be okay.  This school sounds kind of cool.  Plus…I mean…Dad doesn't like me to talk about this, but I can tell things about people and they're…they're okay.  They're telling the truth.  They only want what's best for me."

Val stared hard at her sister.  "Annie, I know this might all sound good, but you're just a kid.  You don't know the things people will do to you, especially once they know that you're…different.  I just want to protect you."

"Protect me?  From what?  And what do you know about being different, anyway?" Annie scoffed as only a thirteen-year-old could.  "Do you know that I can go into people's heads?  And what's more, I can move things with my mind.  Just by thinking about it.  It's the most amazing thing you'll ever see!"

This was news to Val, but she said, "I believe you, but I don't trust them.  And I do know what it's like to be different.  We don't have time to go into it right now, but I can assure you that I do."

Annie regarded her sister thoughtfully.  A quick mind-scan told her that Lizzie wasn't lying, but Annie was still unsure what to do.  "Look," offered Val, "come with me now and if you hate it, you can always go to the school later.  We can go together and take a good long look at it and make sure it's the right place for you.  I just think this is too big of a decision to make in the first thirty seconds of being asked."

That sounded reasonable enough to Annie and she slowly nodded.  She'd known her father's feelings for as long as she could read his mind.  This wasn't the place for her and as sad as she was to leave, she'd known that this day would come sooner or later.

"Okay," Annie agreed.  "Let me put some things in a bag.  I'll meet you downstairs."

"Good." Val smiled with relief and left her sister.

Once downstairs again, Val blatantly ignored the questioning eyes of her parents and the "school people".   Even as cold as it was outside, it was nothing compared to how cold it was inside.  Without a word, Val opened the front door, stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door firmly behind her.  The silence of the winter's afternoon hung heavily around her and she shivered at the sharp gust of wind.  Icicles hung dangerously pointed from the roof and she felt her stomach protest again.

Crossing her arms across her chest, not an easy thing to do with her big jacket on, Val leaned against the side of the house and waited for Annie.  When the door opened again she turned to see the white-haired woman, Steve, and Logan exiting.

"I think we'd better be going, then," said the woman.

"It's nothing personal," Val lied. 

"If you change your mind, please get in touch with us as soon as possible," said Steve.  She took his card and noted that his name was actually Scott, not Steve.  Scott Summers.

"Sure thing," she said tonelessly.

Scott and Ororo headed toward the shiny black car parked behind her old Ford and she again waited for Logan to speak.  Finally, she turned to him and out of complete frustration asked, "What the fuck?"

"C'mon, Lizzie, don't be that way," Logan half-smiled, trying to break the tension.

"Fuck you," she spat.

"I swear, I had no idea this was your sister," he confessed.

"Whatever," Val bit out.  "I don't know what to believe anymore.  Just stay away from me and stay away from my family, okay?"

"The school's legitimate," Logan argued.  "We couldn't tell your parents this, but it's a place for young mutants who need to learn to use their powers or who just need a place to go.  From what we understand your sister has the potential to be a very powerful telepath and telekinetic.  But that means there are people out there who'll want to use her.  Magneto, for instance, is probably looking for her."

Val's eyes met Logan's and she thought about this piece of information.  Annie had assured her that he was telling the truth and she wanted to believe him, but….  "I'll take my chances," she replied roughly.

Logan nodded, not surprised at this.  "Well, if you ever need us…or me…you can use this."  He handed her a small black communicator.  It was a very high-tech walkie-talkie that had a homing device attached.  If she called for help they'd be there no matter what.

Nodding, Val accepted it and said, "Okay."

Logan stood before her a moment longer and was just about to turn the subject to other things when Annie opened the door and stepped out with a suitcase.

"Ready," she said.

"Okay, then," sighed Val, breaking the look she'd been sharing with Logan.  "Bye, Logan."

"Bye, Val.  It was nice to meet you, Annie.  Take care a your sister."

"I will, Professor Logan," smiled Annie back.

The two girls watched him walk toward the black car that already held Ororo and Scott, and get in.

"Let's go, kiddo," muttered Val.  "I'm freezing."

They forced themselves to walk against a stiff cold wind as it swept across the Dakota prairies.  "This is your car?" asked Annie as they reached the old Ford.

"Yup," replied Val, unlocking it.

"It's kind of…crappy," Annie observed.

Val chuckled and said, "Yup."

They got in and watched the black car pass them and drive away.  Val put the communicator on the seat between them and turned the engine over.  It coughed a few times, but started and they slowly rolled away from their parent's house, probably for the last time.