An Uncanny Christmas

Chapter 5: An Immortal at Christmas

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- The Fantastic Four, Nightcrawler and all familiar characters belong to Marvel. I only own August.

Shout Outs-

TheLegendaryManHimself- It would be handy to read my URM stuff. Glad you liked my other stuff. This is the last Christmas chapter though.

Needles- Oh bugger, I thought Dani's parents came back after the Demon Bear thing. I didn't know about Melody joining Xavier's.

Agent-G- Sorry, these are just festive one shots. Watch out for more form Illyana in future chapters of The Uncanny New Mutants.

Manhattan-

'Twas the season to be jolly in Manhattan and Johnny Storm was doing a spot of Christmas shopping. His girlfriend Kourtney was there with him, as was Selene, Ben Grimm's girlfriend.

'It's nice of you to let me come shopping with you Johnny.' Selene said. 'I would have asked Ben but I wanted to keep his present a surprise.'

'And here you are shopping with a guy that can't keep one single secret.' Kourtney replied. 'You know that it'll be all over the Baxter Building as soon as we get back.'

'Good job I threatened Johnny before we came out.' Selene said. 'Being threatened with serious bodily harm can do wonders for getting people motivated.'

'And how.' Kourtney replied. 'If I want Johnny to change the channel on the TV, I just threaten to beta him over the head with a frying pan. What do you do?'

'Threaten to sacrifice his immortal soul to Mephisto and all his little goblins.' Selene deadpanned.

'Please say that you're kidding.' Kourtney said, not whether the former immortal was serious or not.

'Of course I was.' Selene replied. 'I threatened to sacrifice Johnny's soul to Belasco.'

Bloomingdale's-

Kourtney was helping Selene pick out a present for Sue. Johnny was just wandering around, ogling the lingerie mannequins.

'I absolutely have no idea what to buy Sue.' Selene said. 'What goes with invisible?'

'What about some shoes?' Kourtney suggested. 'You can never have too many shoes.'

'But what size does Sue wear?' Selene asked.

'I'll go ask him…' Kourtney replied as she tried to look for her boyfriend. 'Honestly, that man is like a child sometimes. I'm starting to think that I should hold him on a leash or something.'

Selene just chuckled as she spotted a nice set of lingerie.

'Do you think Sue will like these?' Selene asked as she held up a lacy pink thong and bra set.

'Reed might.' Kourtney replied. 'If he ever sticks his head out of the lab.'

Selene just nodded and placed the lingerie in her basket, might as well kill tow birds with one stone.

'Now for Ben…' She thought out loud.

'Kourtney, Selene! Look what I've found!' Johnny said as he ran up with a small black device. 'Look what happens when I press this button!'

Johnny pressed a button on the device, making it emit a fart.

'You found a fart box.' Kourtney said, hardly believing just how immature her boyfriend was. 'How old are you, twelve?'

'I don't know, I think it's rather amusing.' Selene replied as she took the fart box form Johnny and pressed it a few times.

Frrp! Parp! Prrp! Parp!

Selene could hardly contain her amusement at the whimsical device.

'Okay, I think I've found Ben's present.' Selene said as she placed the fart box in her basket.

'Even though you want it for yourself.' Kourtney said.

'Well yes…' Selene replied. 'Just like that time Johnny brought you that Tigra calendar for your birthday.'

'I'll never forget how much time he spent ogling that damn thing.' Kourtney sighed.

Later-

Selene had finished her Christmas shopping and was now out with Sue and Baby Val.

'You don't have to come with me if you don't want.' Sue said as she pushed Val in her pushchair. 'I know you have a… history with this kind of thing.'

'That's all right.' Selene replied. 'The worst that could happen is that I start to burn form the touch.'

Sue stopped outside their destination and Selene looked up at the building, they were standing in front of a church. The Richards weren't really a religious family, what with Reed being the science type and all but Sue felt that it was to visit her local church every Christmas to pray and 'talk' with her parents. Selene however was somewhat nervous, for obvious reasons. She wasn't sure if a former Devil worshipper like herself would be welcome in such a place, but she bucked up and cautiously followed Sue in. Fortunately, she didn't begin to burn upon reaching holy ground.

Selene followed Sue to a vacant seat and knelt down before the altar. She tried not to snoop on Sue's prayers as she tried to think of her own.

'Umm, hello God. I'm Selene and I want to thank you for helping me find such a wonderful man in Ben Grimm. I know I haven't been worthy of such luck, given my past… activities, but I want to thank you non-the-less. Actually, I'm pretty thankful that I got kicked out of the Hellfire Club because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met Ben would I? And where would I be then? I think it would be better not to answer that, don't you?'

Selene was so involved in talking to God that she didn't see Sue stand up. Sue tried not to snoop but she couldn't help but listen to Selene's words, who would have thought that a former devil-worshipping-dominatrix-from-Hell would even set one foot in a church? Selene was one more step further on her road to redemption, Sue was sure of that.

Back at the Baxter Building-

Selene, Sue and Baby Val were back form their trip to the church and were sitting back and enjoying the festive atmosphere. Ben was still visiting his old stomping grounds in Yancy Street. Selene would have gone with him but Sue told her that Ben liked to do this alone.

'Anybody want a drink?' Selene offered as she got up off the sofa.

'I'm fine thanks.' Sue replied.

'Just water for me.' Kourtney replied.

'A beer wouldn't go amiss.' Johnny added.

'Mom, can I have a beer?' Teenage Val asked.

'Only once you're twenty-one.' Reed replied.

'Aww nuts…' Val pouted.

Selene went into the kitchen and grabbed everybody's respective drinks. On the way back, the door chimed.

'I'll get it.' Selene said as she gave Johnny and Kourtney their drinks.

Upon answering the door, Selene got the shock of her life.

'Merry Christmas Mom!'

August, her estranged daughter, was standing on the other side along with Kurt Wagner of the X-Men.

'A-August…?' Selene stuttered. 'H-how, why?'

'It's Christmas.' August replied. 'Tis the season to forgive and all.'

Selene just stood their dumfounded, unable to process the fact that her daughter could forgive her for doing all the things in her past.

'Come on, invite them in.' Sue said as she came to see who was at the door. 'Kurt, August, wonderful to see you.'

'Merry Christmas Sue.' Kurt replied. 'We have gifts.'

'Oh you needn't have,' Sue replied as she took the gifts. 'But thanks anyway.'

August and Kurt followed Sue and a still dumbstruck Selene into the living room.

'Reed, everybody, we have guests.' Sue said. 'August and Kurt are here.'

Everybody stood up and give their respective greetings. Once that was over, August pulled Selene into the hallway.

'Mom, even though I've got you a gift, I wanted to give you something extra.'

Selene's jaw dropped once more as August gave her a warm hug.

'Merry Christmas.' August said as she laid her head on her mother's shoulder.

Selene slowly put her arms around her daughter, unsure how to respond.

'Merry Christmas August.'

August looked up at her mother's face and noticed something.

'Mom, are you crying?'

'Yeah…' Selene admitted as she brushed at her eyes. 'It looks like my prayers have been answered, I've got a family.'

'You already had that with Ben and the others.' August said.

'Yes, I know.' Selene replied as she held her daughter close. 'And it does me good to know that fact.'

END…

Okay, that's it for 'An Uncanny Christmas.' I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. With all that done, all that's left for me to do is wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year/Hanukkah/Insert religious holiday here.