THE FAMILY: EPILOG
The school was bustling with activity. It was obvious that there was a victory that night and everyone was in a good mood. Bell had introduced Fred to Peter and the two gentle, shy giants seem to hit it off as they cleaned up the mess that Lance made.
Bell had changed her clothes and now she looked like a teenager herself, only an extra, extra large teenage girl. Her t-shirt had a picture of a golden dragon on it that was breathing red fire and showed off her new well endowed chest nicely. Her new jeans were bright blue and she had her hair up in a high riding pony tail. Since she had forgotten to get sneakers she decided to go barefoot.
The bell rang and both Bell and Victor raced for the door to answer it. Jerry the delivery boy had been delivering pizza to the school for sometime now and was hardly surprised by anything. But when the door opened and two huge blonde people answered he had to take a step back just to look them in the face. He wondered if they were related. They acted like it. Because it was such a large order, he had help bringing it. His partner was a new guy and stared at both the building and it's occupants without any shame, he was too surprised for that.
Bell surveyed the room and took somewhat of a light tally of what was going on. Lance and Pietro were trying to make passes at the girls, who saw right thru them. Fred and Peter were getting along very nicely still and Remy and Marie looked as if they were joined at the hip.
Raven was sitting on a couch with a man who had arrived after all the fuss was over, he had very short blonde hair and he was wearing an earring. A little girl was leaning over the couch listening in on Raven and her male friend's conversation. He was introduced as Stanley and his young daughter Holly. He taught computer classes here at the school. She wasn't a mutant, or at least hadn't been tested yet. But she seemed to get along with every other student there.
James was making conversation with Ororo and he was trying to get a bite or two of Ororo's vegetarian pizza. Wanda had made herself at home with the teenage girls and they were giggling and talking up and storm. She noticed that Pietro whispered something in one of the girl's ears. Uh, oh, that's gonna get him into trouble. It did, the girl smacked Pietro in the back of his head, and he exclaimed, "Hey!" His sister nearly choked on her soda as it threatened to come out of her nose and everyone shared a laugh at her expense.
Toad also was enjoying some pizza and trying not to be too disgusting about it. Jenny watched in fascination as he held the melted cheese over his mouth and lowered it and rolled it around his very long tongue.
Jean and Scott were feeding each other bites of melted cheese and giggling. Professor Xavier was sitting next to Erick who had taken to sulking in a lazy-boy chair. He had gotten out of his dark outfit and taken off his helmet. He really didn't need it anymore.
It was hard on someone with enhanced senses, but it was uplifting too. There was a feeling of hopefulness in the air. Bell sat next to Victor who had been gleefully devouring pizza piece after pizza piece since opening the box. He stole looks at Marie and Raven and her new beau in turns. Bell wasn't jealous because he was only wondering if the man that she had chosen was making her happy, and it seems that he was.
The party continued on and there was a burping contest among the younger students. The results sent the group of kids in a fit of joyous laughter and the older kids just grinned. So far, her little friend Jenny by far had best burps.
After awhile when everyone had gotten full on pizza and sodas and whatever the energy was dying down as stomachs became full and appetites appeased. It was time for the broadcast of the summit conference on one of the cable channels and the room started getting quiet.
The pomp of the ceremonies were at best boring and at the worst dull. But everyone was waiting for the section of the ceremonies that was applied especially for them.
When Graydon Creed Walker was introduced the room became very quiet and everyone listened as he wove words like a tapestry. When he closed his speech the world leaders gave him a standing ovation. Raven and Victor jumped up and gave each other a hug, my, were they proud of their son. It even perked up Erick who then grumbled that they were pretty words, but it wasn't enough. Charles sighed, and looked at Erick sadly.
The younger children were sent off to get ready to bed while the older students still chatted with each other about what the speech meant to them. A few hours later after the last student went to bed. The teachers quietly got together along with some of the newcomers and began cleaning up.
Erick was given his old room and the rest of his crew got beds in the guest rooms, Wanda put on her coat and left to go back to her apartment.
After the room was cleaned and the trash thrown away, Bell scanned the room it was empty, free of students, teachers…it still look lived in and homey. She smiled, yeah; she was going to like it here. She turned off the light and went upstairs to her room. She was home.