Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters nor any of the copyrighted Halloween costumes; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike. I do claim the non-Marvel characters, such as the Williams family and the new offspring of the X-men. Thanks!
Note: I apologize for the spacing and random indents and anything of the sort. When the pages are loaded onto this site everything seems to get a bit messed up. I noticed that single lines get double spaced randomly. Sorry about that.
Through the Years
Part VII
Chapter 31: Life Goes On- A Decade of Change and Stability
"Come here Munroe, you can do it," cooed Jubilee beckoning the young child holding onto the edge of a coffee table across the room from her.
"Jubilee, he can barely stand, let alone walk," Bobby told her.
"It's possible, I mean look at him, he wants to try it," she said motioning to the mocha skinned one year old with dark wavy hair and bright blue eyes who was looking over at Jubilee and gurgling.
Bobby shook his head. "Ya know Hun, if Logan and 'Ro find out that the baby walked without them being able to see it, they might kill you, or worse me!"
Jubilee shot him a look, "That's when we just don't tell them. Isn't that right Munroe, we keep it a secret between the three of us, but your Uncle Bobby doesn't seem to get that hint."
Bobby then walked across the room to scoop up the little boy who had since fallen on his diapered bottom, then walked across the room and pulled a delighted Jubilee next to him on the couch. He gave her a kiss and then she proceeded to read a bedtime story to the little boy as he fell asleep in Bobby's lap. Bobby looked at the sleeping child in is arms.
"Kind of makes you want to have one of our own, doesn't it," he said aloud.
Jubilee smiled, "Bobby, I want to enjoy a few years of this marriage without children, then we can talk. Besides, I think for the moment we have a good deal going. We watch Munroe on the nights when Logan and 'Ro need a break and then we give him back in the morning!"
Bobby nodded in agreement with his wife, "You're right dear, besides, I think I'm all the child you can handle at the moment."
She laughed, "You're right, between you and the students, I have enough children on my hands at the moment!"
How did we get here? That's something that Bobby Drake asks himself on a near daily basis. His life for the last decade was something that he only dreamed of in the past. He and Jubilee started dating right after Storm and Wolverine's wedding. Like all couples they had their ups and downs, but overall they enjoyed what they had. Then one day two years ago they decided that they couldn't live without each other and she asked him to marry him, stating that she wasn't going to wait around forever and this time she was going to take matters into her own hands. Bobby of course said yes and they were married a year later. Not long after Bobby and Jubilee's wedding Ororo gave birth to Munroe Logan Howlett. The couple named him Munroe in honor of Ororo's family name, the middle name Logan in honor of his father, and the last name Howlett because legally it was Wolverine's last name and he wanted his son to have a chance at a definite identity that he never had. But Munroe wasn't the only child born in the last decade. About five years ago Jean gave birth to twins, Alexander Scott Summers and Charles Xavier Summers: Alex named for Cyclops and his brother and Charlie named for the Professor. Nathaniel, at first was a little annoyed at the attention the babies received, so use to being an only child for so long, but soon he immersed in the role of protective older brother. Now at 17 he lavished them with all the attention and affection that an older protective brother can give the five year olds.
Of course, he and his friends had changed over this time too. Nathaniel Summers developed his mutant powers at age 14. Like Jessica, his powers were quite strong as a result of having the genetic combination of incredibly powerful mutant parents. He developed the optic blasts like his father, only he lacked the head injury that prevented his father from controlling his powers, so Nathaniel could summon his powers at will. He also had the telepathic and telekinetic powers of his mother, but not her empathic abilities. So he could get into someone's mind or use his mind to levitate objects to himself, but was unable of sensing emotions the way Jean naturally could. Jessica always joked that this was because he was male and there was something innate in the nature of men that prevented them from decoding emotions of other people in the first place.
Jessica's powers had not changed much over the last decade. She still retained the same abilities as well as not being able to cope with so much power at one time. She still had to be mindful of all the power surging through her, least her powers render her unconscious, something that had happened a handful of times over the years. Her skin remained covered much of the time to keep her body heat in. Rogue couldn't help but mentally note that peculiarity between her and her daughter, though Jessica could touch people at will, something Rogue couldn't help but envy, but she was glad her daughter didn't have that part of her curse. As always, David was a willing vessel for her power surges being the fact that he didn't have any of his own powers to contend with. Life hadn't changed much for David over the years. He still attended the same school system with his same close friends and didn't develop any powers. But life was good overall. His sister Carlie had gone off to college to study genetics then switched to political science, hoping to one day take up the torch that their father left behind on the topic of mutant rights.
Bobby silently stood up holding Munroe and walked across the room, placing him in a crib set up especially for his visit. When Bobby and Jubilee married, neither wanted to leave their role as co-director of the dorms at the Xavier Institute, so as a wedding present, the Professor had a few rooms converted into a special living quarters with 2 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. When Munroe stayed over they placed a crib in the living room so that they could hear him from where ever they were if he made the smallest peep. Once the baby was safely in his crib, Bobby sat next to his wife on the couch and they sat in the peaceful silence holding each other and enjoying the other's company.
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Elsewhere in Westchester County, New York in fact, right down the road, another couple was enjoying the romance and alone time that the peaceful autumn night brought. They walked along the road hand-in-hand laughing and talking, the way most people associate with those young and newly in love. Every now and then he would pull her close to him, lavishing kisses on her face and neck, much to her delight. He'd stare deeply in her green eyes and run his fingers through her white-streaked hair, while muttering sweet nothings in French. It might be hard for some to believe that this couple had been married for nearly twenty years now, and the fire of passion was still burning as strong as it had been from the beginning. Remy LeBeau knew how easily this life could have passed him up. Any number of decisions made in the past could have denied him the happiness that he felt every time he looked at his wife or daughter. He knew that everyday they had together was precious, something that should be enjoyed. Nothing made that more clear than the battles they fought with the X-men during the last decade. No matter how close peace seemed to be, there was always some enemy somewhere that was looking for battle, whether it was Mr. Sinister attempting to exact revenge on Jessica for foiling his plans to capture Nathaniel all those years ago, or his attempts to capture any of the Summers' boys, run-ins with various new factions of rebellious mutants who got a megalomaniac idea in their heads and ran with it, or any of the other countless enemies fought over time. The names and faces were no longer important, the fact that they survived as a team, as a family, was.
During one particular skirmish when the X-men were few in number due to people being sent to fight elsewhere, Nathaniel, Jessica, and even David proved themselves to be worthy reserve X-men team members. It was about six months ago and most of the X-men were sent to deal with a crisis situation in Canada. Very few were left behind at home when a few of those megalomaniac newcomers tried to take over the world and destroy humanity closer to home, sure a fairly normal occurrence in the lives of the X-men, but the bulk of the team was taking care of a similar situation up north! All able and available X-men were called in to help and they were still shorthanded so Nathaniel and Jessica stepped up to the plate to help out. But help was still need so Beast and the Professor were able to join the fray while David took over the command center duties from the Mansion. Once this battle was over, the Professor told them that he would welcome them as reserve members to be called on in emergencies only, since he wanted them to concentrate on school and growing up first. Then he told them that one day he'd present them with uniforms to go with the newly christened codenames they gave themselves in the field. Jessica was christened Wildcard due to the nickname her father gave her at birth and the often random nature of her powers. Nathaniel didn't have any childhood nickname to work with, but everyone always commented on the red blaze that shot from his eyes when he used his powers more so than his telekinetic powers, so Blazer it was for him. David, not having mutant powers, had been nicknamed Hacker by Beast when he learned how to tap into the Mansion's secret files as a child so he took that as his codename.
One group that was growing increasingly irksome, particularly over the past decade was the Friends of Humanity. Whether it was because they were threatening the Williams family because of their connection to the late Senator Williams' mutant rights work or their appeals to Congress for mutant regulation laws or their clandestine activities, the FOH was a thorn in their side that wouldn't go away, and unfortunately would have to be faced head on at some point. It was just a matter of when.
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Jessica and David sat on the floor of the living room of the LeBeau's house, flipping through store ads for the perfect Halloween costume. The Xavier Institute was having a Halloween costume party in a week and even though they weren't students at the school, they were invited every year because of their connection with the X-men. After school today Nathaniel promised to show them his wonderful costume. He carried the bag containing his costume into the bathroom and changed leaving his friends to think of costume ideas of their own.
"So what do you think you're going to be, David," inquired Jessica looking up from another rejected advert.
"Honestly, I don't have a single idea. Maybe something traditional, like a pirate," David said.
"Yeah, I hear ya, maybe I'll be a witch or something like that," she replied. Before she could say anything else they were interrupted by a voice that said, "Alright Team, Danger Room session in three minutes."
They looked up to see Cyclops standing in the doorway of the living room wearing one of his older blue uniforms with yellow trim. After a second glance they noticed that this Cyclops had a shock of red hair instead of the brown hair the Scott Summers they all knew had.
"Oh my…NATEY! You look fantastic," Jessica exclaimed.
"I..I can't believe how much you look like your father in that," David chimed in.
Nathaniel grinned, "Yeah, I asked Mom for a great idea for Halloween and she told me I could use Dad's old uniforms if I wanted. There's this one picture of Dad in action taken by a Danger Room cam that I've always loved and he was wearing this uniform, so I figured I'd give it a shot."
"That gives me an idea for Halloween! Wait right here Natey, come on David," she said pulling a puzzled David upstairs.
Once in her parents' room, Jessica started to go through her parents' closet.
"Um, what are we doing in here," David asked.
"Natey's not the only one who can be one of his parents for Halloween," she stated while pulling out some articles of clothing.
"No offense, Jess," he said leaning up against a bedpost, "But I don't want to be my Mom for Halloween, and as for my Dad, everyone already says I look like he did so where's the fun in that? Unlike you guys I don't have superhero parents to dress up as."
"No problem," she said, "You can have one of mine." She deposited a handful of clothing onto the bed. David picked up one of Rogue's uniform jumpsuits and held it up against his body.
"Great idea, I think I'd look fantastic as your mother," he smirked and switched to a false feminine voice, "Whatta think of that Shugah?"
Jessica burst out laughing, "Oh man, that's truly scary! I'm going to have nightmares! Your accent needs work too." She grabbed the jumpsuit from him and held it against her body, "There! Now don't y'all think Ah make a better Southern Belle?"
This time it was David's turn to laugh. "Sorry my Jessie-Rose, you're too much of a Northerner to pull off that accent."
They both laughed and she handed him a pile of clothing, "Here go into the bathroom and try these on, I'll meet you in the hallway when your dressed." David took the clothes and headed to the bathroom down the hall while Jessica took her own pile and went into her bedroom to change.
Meanwhile Nathaniel waited for his friends to come downstairs. He sat flipping through a TV Guide until he heard the front door open. He stood up and was greeted by Remy and Rogue who had to do a double take when they saw him.
"Nathaniel, Shugah, is that you," Rogue gasped.
"Yeah Aunt Rogue, I was trying on my Halloween costume to show David and Jessica. What do you think of it?"
"I t'ink you picked a truly a scary Halloween costume t'frighten les enfants wit'," Remy muttered under his breath resulting in an elbow jab from an amused Rogue.
"So where are David and Jessica," Rogue asked.
"Right here Momma," said a voice at the top of the staircase. Jessica was the perfect carbon copy of Rogue in the uniform she chose from the same time period as Natey's choice. It was also her mother's favorite, which aided in the choice. She wore a yellow and green jumpsuit with a brown fighter jacket over it and her hair pushed back with a black headband. David stood next to her wearing one of Remy's old magenta, blue and black body suits, a spare pair of black gloves with some of the fingers missing, and a black headpiece that allowed his hair and face to peak out. The hair color was of course wrong and he wore his glasses due to the fact he was blind without them, but never the less he still made a fairly convincing Gambit in spirit. They walked down the stairs and joined the LeBeaus and Natey.
Rogue couldn't help but gasp in surprise. If Jessica had been wearing the green jumpsuit that was Rogue's first uniform, she could have been Rogue at that age. Everyone always commented on how much the mother and daughter looked alike, but it was never as evident to Rogue as it was that very moment.
"Mon Dieu," the original Gambit exclaimed as they stood in front of them. "You look merveilleux! But David, somet'ing's missing." He took off his trench coat, put it on his imposter, and stood back. "Dere! Dat's much better! Don't worry, I have a spare trenchcoat you can use for Halloween itself."
The all looked at each other and laughed, the next generation was already making its place in the world known loud and clear.
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A week later Mr. and Mrs. Drake were getting ready for the Xavier Institute costume party. Jubilee sat in front of the mirror making sure her hair was perfect under the cone-shaped princess hat. She wanted to go with Bobby as Romeo and Juliet but he wanted to go as April O'Neil and one of the Ninja Turtles. So as any newly married couple, they had a disagreement and then made a compromise: Jubilee would go as Juliet and Bobby would go as his Turtle of choice.
"Bobby," she called out to her husband changing in the other room, "Did I tell you I got an email from Kitty today?"
"Babe, you get an email from Kitty everyday," he called back
"Ok, well yeah, but this one's different."
"How's that," he asked calling through the closed door.
"She said that she and Damien are having a baby!"
"Wow," he said adjusting his turtle mask and shell, "That's great; remind me to congratulate them later."
Bobby smiled to himself and not just because he was dressed as one of his favorite cartoon characters either. Funny, you'd think that Damien would hate his guts after Jubilee left him to be with Bobby. Nothing could be further from the truth. Damien was hurt of course by Jubilee's decision to leave him, but living in Chicago gave him time to get to know Kitty Pryde. He now considers his relationship with Jubilee a blessing in disguise as a way of him meeting his Kitty. If Jubilee hadn't left him, he wouldn't have fallen in love with and ultimately married Kitty. So no hard feelings were harbored by anybody, much to the relief of everyone involved and they all were a pretty close group now. Strange, yes; unlikely, perhaps; but in this case, it was true.
Jubilee was getting out of her chair when Bobby burst into the room shouting "Turtle Power!" Jubilee smiled at him and shook her head while smiling.
"Very nice Dear, you make a wonderful Michelangelo," she said.
Bobby lifted the plastic mask off his face and looked at her with shock and dismay, "Well we obviously haven't been married long enough, I'm Rafael, not Michelangelo. See the red bandana on the mask? Besides if I was Michelangelo, I would have made a point to shout out 'COWABUNGA!' You have so much to learn," he finished while pulling her in for a kiss.
When they finished, Bobby put the mask back on, and they headed over from the dorm building to the Mansion ballroom for the party.
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Halloween was always one of the favorite holidays for the members of the X-men. In fact, Halloween was loved by most mutants for the fact that they could walk around fairly undetected. In a sense it was both freeing and depressing to have one day a year in which all mutants could truly be themselves without fear. It was freeing because they had this chance, but depressing because it could only be one day a year. Mutants, and some humans, of all ages gathered in the festive large ballroom at the Mansion on 1407 Graymalkin Lane. Some wore simple costumes while others had more elaborate grab, but everyone was having a wonderful time in an environment where they knew they had nothing to fear.
Nathaniel, Jessica, and David, dressed as their selected X-men, took turns dancing with each other and other students their own age. Kurt Wagner, dressed as a swashbuckling pirate, entertained a number of the younger children so that their parents could have some free time to themselves. Among those children were the brown haired, blue eyed Summers twins dressed as identical cowboys and little Munroe Howlett in a baby's pumpkin costume. Remy and Rogue, as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, glided gracefully across the dance floor; their costumes were the same ones used nearly every year but they made a stunning couple nevertheless. Jubilee as Juliet and Bobby as Rafael made sure that their students stayed out of trouble and danced when they could. Cyclops dressed as a police office, Jean as a devil and Monica Williams as an angel sat talking about this and that. Even Ororo dressed as a princess spent time on the dance floor with her husband who was dressed one of his regular flannel shirts and jeans. When students asked what he was suppose to be he grumbled that he was a lumberjack. He refused to dress up, but his wife told him to at least be creative with an answer, most years he never attended but he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Even the Professor and Hank McCoy got into the spirit of things. The Professor was decked out as a warlock and Hank was Hamlet, though some students though he was just some crazy killer walking around with a skull. When they said that, he insisted that they take Mr. LeBeau's literature class the following year.
Somehow everyone managed to get swept up into the spirit and magic of the night. Children and adults alike laughed, danced, and wished the night would never end. If everyone in the world was having this much fun and getting along, then they'd have nothing to fear anymore. Times like this made peace seem so close.
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But peace might not be so close when others are preoccupied with more tricks than treat on Halloween. That same night, Jackson Porter was attending an annual meeting of the leaders of various chapters of the FOH, held in Washington DC. So much had been done in recent years in terms of identifying mutants in public schools. The scanning technology had advanced tremendously, any mutant with a weak to moderately powered X-gene was detected by scans, much to their delight. Although they still were certain they weren't catching the most powerful, and dangerous, mutants, they were successfully weeding out many others. Although they couldn't have mutants removed from the schools, something about them having the right to a free and public education extended to them as well, members of the Youth FOH had been particularly instrumental in convincing these mutants to go elsewhere.
The moderator of the meeting announced to the crowd before him the usual agenda of what chapters were particularly noteworthy in furthering their cause this particular year. Then he announced news that was particularly exciting to those in attendance. FOH scientists, who have been working diligently for decades on identifying, locating, and destroying the X-gene, had finally done it. They had identified and located the X-gene years ago, and had been working on a way to destroy it in active mutants. But they had gone one step further; they could destroy the X-gene in humans who carried the X-gene. With this knowledge, they could finally rid the world of the mutant problem. A roar of celebration went throughout the room and it took nearly fifteen minutes before the moderator could speak again. When he did the news he told was of the gravest importance. He said that they had to decide if they should use this technology in a device that has been set up for it in a facility in upstate New York. Normally they would use technology against mutants without a second thought, but this required a major commitment. The device could not just destroy the gene, since the gene was connected so strongly to others in the DNA, the individual itself would have to be obliterated as well. This could affect the individuals in that room if they happened to be unfortunate enough to carry the X-gene somewhere in their DNA. But it didn't take the room long to decide, they'd rather die then pass on the gene to future generations. If they could stop mutants once and for all, they would, even if it meant giving their lives in the process. Jackson Porter sat grinning with the others around him. All their work, all their time and effort to make the world a safe place was coming to a head. It would only be a short amount of time now, 2 years at most and maybe as soon as six months. But once the device in the Upstate New York facility was up and running, the world would be rid of the mutant problem permanently.
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Author's Note- Oh man, you wouldn't believe all the stuff I have going on now! As you can tell by the content, I had planned to get this up before Halloween. I'm sorry this chapter took so long to post, but you know how it is! I have had the end of the story ready to go; I just need to fill in a few plot holes so I need to write a couple more chapters before that because this story took a slightly different turn than I originally anticipated when I wrote it (It was only 10 chapters or so at first, oops!). For instance, I originally had a chapter dealing with Rogue's origins, but since that is currently being revealed in her limited series, I felt it best to cut it and rework, but we'll see how it goes. Oh and the uniforms the kids wore for Halloween are the 90s era ones, in case you were wondering ;-)
giveGodtheglory- Hehe, glad Logan and Ororo's wedding made you do a happy dance :-P
Star-of-Chaos- Gee, how'd you know Kitty was going to be there for Damien, guess you knew I didn't want to leave him lonely. As for everything else, you'll have to wait and see ;-)
Tammy- Seriously though, if they put out a Gambit and Rogue book, I'd totally buy it and make everyone I know buy it just cause it would be awesome. You're right though, it would make them develop more as characters with the way they always play off each other. As for Bobby and Jubilee, I'm glad you like them in this setting :-)
Ishandahalf- So glad you enjoyed those moments in the last chapter. So you don't think Nathaniel has a chance? Well we'll just have to wait and see what happens there, maybe you are right and maybe you aren't and that's all I'll say on that for now. As for your midterms, I hope everything went alright on those! :-)
Quing- Aww, don't feel too bad for Damien, things worked well for everyone in the Damien, Kitty, and Bobby love triangle. :-)
Kizmet- Oh wow, thank you so much for your very kind words! Most of the story is already written or at least outlined, it's just a matter of fixing it up until I'm happy with it (I'm my own worst critic), but I hope you enjoy a few of the moments between the LeBeau family that will be dispersed throughout the rest of this story! As for angst, I'm all for a good angsty story, they're always fun, but in this case, I didn't think it would work out, so I'm glad you like it. :-)
Liliput83- Again, another person who noticed Kitty being there for Bobby before it was every stated! Damien was too nice to leave all alone! :-)
Bibliothecaire- Thanks for your concern, I'm just so swamped with work that I haven't had a chance to tweak the chapters left in this story, I'm going to try to be better but it's been a rough semester. I hope you enjoyed the extra long chapter to make up for my negligence.