Jean's POV

Joyful chaos endures once the fighting stops. Even though it is the middle of the night, families are coming. They reunite with their mutant children and siblings who had been taken by the MRD. Those who do not have anyone to come to pick them up are being taken away by bus. Those injured are treated by a doctor from a nearby trauma center.

I watch as the doctor skillfully cleans and wraps the burns on Scott's hands and arms, where he seems to have been electrocuted. The thought of that makes me sick, and he must be able to tell because he shoots me a reassuring smile before going back to grimacing in pain.

Overall, emotions run high, and my empathy tingles with it all. It's overwhelming. I cannot wait to get away from it all.

What's worse is that no matter how hard I try, I cannot sense Rachel. The lack of her presence is anxiety-inducing, to say the least. Seeing the parents hold their children tight when they come to get them sends a jolt of jealousy through my blood. What I would give to have Rachel in my arms, safe and sound, right now. What I would give just to know she's alive.

"Blackbird's prepped to leave," Scott says to the waiting group of X-Men, along with the students who Rachel brought. The preteens are nearly falling asleep where they stand, and they slink up the ramp with heavy eyelids and slumped shoulders.

I'm seated behind Scott once we take off, glad to not be the pilot this time. My head is aching from everything, but my attempts to seek out Rachel is non-stop. It makes the pain worse, but I can't stop. She's my daughter. I have not known her long enough to have already lost her!

Not oblivious to my distress, Scott whispers something to Ororo before unbuckling from his seat. He walks past and motions for me to come with him. I follow him into a secluded area away from the rest.

"Have you heard from Rachel yet?" he asks. I shake my head.

"I've tried so many times, I just can't feel her. It's like she's-" I can't bring myself to say what I'm thinking. Scott pulls me into a warm embrace as the first tear falls. I'm overwhelmed with everything, and my hope is quickly dwindling. "Maybe she is just unconscious. The level of power I felt from her was more than enough to do that." I try to reason with my fears, but I do not feel any better.

"She's strong like her mom, If anyone could survive it, it would be her."

Then his bandaged hand travels down to my stomach, and he presses his palm against it. My heart jolts from my chest while new emotions bubble up inside me. It's a wistful sort of feeling, one I've never felt before. The thought of having any children was once such a distant idea. Scott and I have always been so careful, knowing the pain and selfishness it would take to bring a mutant child into this world. When Rachel came into our lives, I cursed the Jean and Scott of her timeline, wondering how they could ever bring her into such a cruel place.

Now things were happening at such a rapid pace and for the first time in my life, I wished I were pregnant. But I'm not, and he needs to know that.

"Scott," I whisper, looking up at him. The loving smile he has makes this so much harder to tell him. He wants a baby too. "I'm not pregnant."

His expression changes immediately as his smile drops, he whispers, "fuck you, Alex," before dropping his hand from my stomach. "I'm sorry. We found a pregnancy test in your drawer and I guess things just escalated."

I raise a brow. "And what were you looking for in my drawer, exactly?"

"Doesn't matter," he chuckles nervously, which only makes me more suspicious. "Who's pregnancy test was that then?"

"Doesn't matter." I can play that game as well. He will figure it out eventually once Ororo announces it. Until then, it is none of his business whose pregnancy tests I keep in my panty drawer.

"Scott, we need to prep for landing,'" Ororo calls.

"Be right there," Scott presses a kiss to my temple, then slips away to land.

I already have my stress slowly dropping as we get closer to home. I am still fearful for Rachel and searching for her every five seconds, but just being away from the MRD is enough to calm me some.

That brief level of calm is not long-lasting, however.

When we arrive at the mansion, we are found in the foyer by a flustered and angry Professor. His eyes narrow specifically on Scott and me. It feels like we are back in school and about to be punished. "What have you let Rachel do?" he demands.

"Don't yell at us, Professor! It's not like we told her to do this! If you haven't noticed, our daughter's stubbornness is through the roof! I tried to stop her but she is very good at thinking for herself!" Scott exclaims.

"She's completely altered every human's opinion on mutants. She's invaded the minds of millions and taken away their free thought. This is not just about thinking for herself, she is thinking for the entire nation! It's completely immoral."

Morals? This strikes me as odd. "You did not seem to have a problem with the human's immoral acts. For years they have discriminated against mutants and protested our lives. The government has been making laws about mutants without any consent from us whatsoever! And to make it worse, they threw literal children into cages just for being born different. And here you are, calling Rachel immoral?"

He sighs heavily. "I am not calling her immoral, but what she did is. The human mind is delicate, you of all people should know this by now, Jean. She has clouded their judgment and broken the natural cycle."

A new voice joins the room, and I jump out of my skin. "Well, so far this natural cycle only caused my kind quite a lot of pain, Charles. Homo sapiens like to repeat their mistakes," We spin around to find Magneto standing behind us. He wears some sort of metal helmet that blocks me from reading his thoughts or even sensing him.

More importantly, he is carrying Rachel in his arms. Her eyes are shut, and she appears to be sleeping. And most importantly, her chest rises and falls beautifully, and I can finally feel her presence once again.

"Rachel," I breathe, rushing towards her. Scott beats me to her and takes her from Magneto.

"Lay her over here," I instruct as I motion to the couch. He does so and I set her head down gently on a pillow. I fall into a strange state of mind, somewhere between motherhood and doctorhood. As a doctor, especially one who has dealt with mutant children, I know the best thing for her to do for herself and her powers is to rest. Her mind and body need time to heal from the intense energy strain she just put them through. I doubt she was even fully recovered from the mall incident, and now she pushed herself to the max. No wonder she's unconscious.

But even with the logical doctor mindset who knows she needs to rest, there's still the part of me that wishes she would just open her eyes and let me know she was alright. God, the agony of waiting for her to wake up is horrible, and it has just started.

While I thoroughly check her all over for injuries, I hear Scott start to confront Magneto. "I swear if you hurt her-"

"Hurt her? My dear boy, why would I hurt her when she has done so much for our race? We all owe her a great debt."

This makes me snap. He acts like she is a selfless hero when that's the last thing she needs to be right now. She is a student, not a soldier. "She is thirteen. The only thing she should be doing for our race is learning how to control her powers," Then I take a deep breath to calm myself before I lay two fingers against her temple. Her skin is feverish, but her mind is calm.

"Give her more credit. Your daughter is harboring and containing one of the most powerful beings to exist. If I recall, it is one that not even you could control. She is much more than just a thirteen-year-old. And you should know. Weren't you close to her age when you stopped Oblivion?"

My eyes narrow. How did he know that about me? "Maybe so, but I want a better life for my daughter."

"Don't we all, dear?"

I roll my eyes when Scott reacts to this. He crosses his arms, and even though his glasses cover his face, I know he is glaring holes into Magneto. It does not even take telepathy at this point. "She's engaged," he informs with a warning tone.

Magneto laughs at him. "I can assure you, there is only one person in this room I am interested in and it is none of you."

"Relax," I whisper to Scott when it's obvious he still thinks Magneto is a creepy old man. The Processor, who is doing a poor job at hiding his anger, starts wheeling away. "Let's have a word in my study, shall we, Erik?"

"Certainly, Charles."

The two leave the room in an eerily calm manner. I watch them leave, wondering what will be said in private. It must be relentless if he refuses to say it in front of us. I almost feel bad for Magneto. A livid Professor is not something anyone wants to deal with.

Scott rolls his shoulders and speaks nothing else on the Magneto subject. He wraps an arm around me. "How is she?"

"Sleeping deeply," I smile down at Rachel. "She's very peaceful."

We sit down, watching her sleep for hours. I lay my head against Scott's shoulder. Oh, what I would give for our daughter to be this peaceful all the time.

To Be Continued...

AN: All my plans are coming together! I hope you all are excited about the last few chapters as I am!