Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or X Men.

I am sorry for the late post. My husband is on vaca this week and my morning routine is really messed up.

Discoveries

Chapter 13

The next morning everyone was amazed at the story they heard of the happenings of the night before. As the child was again checked and confirmed to be perfectly fine, the girls decided to continue with their wedding plans. Jean promised to continually check the child since she would be traveling with them.

After a leisurely start to the day and after lunch and all the mansion chores were done, the girls headed to Anna Claire's.

Having made reservations the day before, everything in the shop was made ready for them when they arrived. Just as with Evie's impromptu bridal shower, they were given the red carpet treatment. Their comfort was catered to at every turn. There were snacks and drinks and flowers and music creating a beautiful atmosphere. It didn't take long for the girls to get into the mood and begin to make quite a collection of items. Unlike the last time, Jubilee and Kitty were not told to just sit and watch. Kitty and Shalimar were seated and soon gathered quite a collection of items in front of them. Everyone laughed and joked and enjoyed their afternoon immensely.

By the time they arrived home, it was much the same scene as when they came home from Evie's shower. A mountain of beautifully wrapped packages were unloaded and each man went to help his girl take her things to her room. Jesse and Brennan, as the grooms, naturally had the largest piles and did indeed end up making two trips up the stairs.

"We have to suffer through another night of guessing what's in those packages," Scott whined.

"But if we let you see them in the boxes, you wouldn't get the full affect." Jubilee smiled at Bobby.

"Oh, Remy tink we feel the affect anyway," he pulled Marie into his lap and kissed her.

"Where are you going on your honeymoons?" Jubilee asked.

Brennan looked at Shalimar and pulled her closer to him. "We thought it would be nice to do some sight seeing in Hawaii."

"Yeah, I know what sights you're gonna be seeing," Logan smirked as Ro punched his arm. He winked as Shalimar blushed at him.

"Kitty and I decided to go to Australia. We want to tour Sydney and see the outback."

"Don't stay too long or you'll come home speaking stranger than Remy." Bobby dodged a punch in his direction.

"Now it's time to do some rearranging," Jean began. "We have to get Jesse out of the teachers' wing and Brennan out of Shalimar's room." She held up a hand to silence him when she saw him about to protest. "You can't be anywhere near her after midnight, tonight. The caterers and all the people we hired to make this place beautiful will be here early. We will stay on the second floor like we did before. Nadine will stay with us." Turning to her husband she smiled, "Thomas stays with you. Remember that under no circumstances are Brennan and Jesse allowed up the stairs."

Ororo turned to Jesse. "Will you be alright to stay in the extra guest room with Brennan?"

Jesse smiled knowing she was trying to be considerate of the fact that it was the room he used to share with Emma. "That room will be just fine." He turned and smiled as Kitty squeezed his hand.

"Good. Now I think it's time we all turned in. Tomorrow will be a big day." Ororo stood and all the girls followed her out talking and laughing.

"Well, I guess they told us." Adam smirked as he stood.

"Yeah, when Jean gets this focused there isn't much that anyone can do but listen." Scott put his drink down and said his goodnights.

By 11:30 Jesse and Brennan were in the room with the lights out. That particular room had twin beds but Jesse and Emma never minded. They just snuggled on one. Now Jesse lay in bed alone staring into the darkness. "Brennan, are you still up?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure how much sleep I'm really gonna get tonight."

"I know what you mean. What do we have to be nervous about? Isn't this what we said we wanted?"

"It's not that we don't want this. It's just that all the formality makes me jumpy. I keep telling myself that the only thing that will change between Shalimar and me is a piece of paper but that's not really true is it? It's like I realize that it will be just me and her forever."

"That's how you want it, though."

"Of course, it is. This is really stupid. I want her with me. When I thought she went out hunting for someone else, I nearly went crazy with jealousy. I don't ever want to be without her. This is gonna give me a headache. I need to sleep. Goodnight, Jess."

"Goodnight, man."

At about 2 am the mansion was quiet. Everyone was peacefully dreaming of the day to come. All of a sudden, a blaring signal began to peel.

Instantly people were on their feet, moving to the rehearsed procedure drilled into their heads in case of emergency. Children were filing out of the mansion through a secret door which led them outside. The oldest among them, a group of four 16 year olds, stood at the entrance counting heads and taking charge to care for all.

Scott moved to the computer in his room and brought up the information waiting to be read. 'Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert,' blinked repeatedly. "There's an intruder," he told his wife as she pulled on her robe. "But this is crazy."

"What is?" She moved to his side.

"The intruder is in the danger room. How could someone have gotten that far without setting off the alarms 'til now? Go to Evie's room and stay there with the babies until we find out what's going on. Get Shalimar to guard the door." He kissed his wife and left quickly.

Running down the stairs he saw the X Men forming on the first level. Mutant X was by their side. All obviously pulled on clothes quickly to be able to meet the problem at hand. "Intruder in the danger room," Cyclops reported as he reached the group.

"How's that possible? They would have had to get through too much to get down there unnoticed." Shadowcat asked as she moved to the center of the group.

"Why don't we go down and ask them?" Wolverine sneered as he extended his claws.

Everyone wait.

They all turned to see Charles emerge from the elevator with Adam by his side.

"I sense only one person. There is something familiar about him but I can not determine what it is. Please use extreme caution. I do not sense hostility as much as desperation. Go."

They split into groups and emerged on the war level from three directions. Ensuring that the rest of the level was secure and that the danger room was not currently running any programming they moved to the door. Cyclops went into the control room which has a window that overlooks the room. It is only visible from inside the room when no program is running. He saw a young man in maybe his late teens tapping the controls trying to get the alarms to stop. His clothes were torn and dirty. He looked as if he'd just been in a fight.

Twenty years later

A beautiful young woman lay in the med lab, still and pale and breathing raggedly. Her mother could do nothing but stand by and watch as her only child was slowly dying in front of her eyes. They were alone in the lab as explosions rocked the ground around them. The day before, she had just suddenly taken ill. She fell to the ground during a walk around the gardens with her fiancé. This otherwise perfectly healthy young woman was rushed into the med lab and examined. Her caring friends and family stood helplessly around as the doctor announced that for some unexplainable reason she was dying. The only hope for a cure was no where to be found.

Suddenly the doors to the med lab slid opened and a group of young people moved in. Her fiancé led the way to her bedside. "How is she?"

"She's only getting worse. There's nothing I can do. I can't help her. I can only sit here and watch her die." Her mother dropped her head and sobbed.

"Jimmy, we don't have a choice now." He turned a desperate look to his friend. "It's time we did it."

"But Gramps is gonna---"

"Shawna, we don't have a choice," he yelled then turned to see her eyes turn golden and glare at him. "I'm sorry." He moved to hug her. "This is getting crazy. The X Men are out numbered at every turn. There are just too many of them and not enough of us. We need help." Turning back to face the unconscious girl, he declared, "I am not going to let her die."

Bryan put a hand on his shoulder. "None of us will. Let's do this. Everyone to the danger room," he ordered. Bryan was very rarely in charge but knew when to step up to the plate. All followed and soon the group was standing by watching Mikey pull a device into the room on a hover cart.

"Everybody stand back. I'm not sure what kind of range this thing has." He pushed buttons and turned dials and pointed it at his friend. "You ready? Remember I'm only giving you 1 hour. Then I'm bringing you back, no buts, got it?" After exchanging a look of best hopes he pushed the button and his friend was gone.

TBC