A/N: Yesterday I got dragged to The Da Vinci Code with my friend Jenn (remember her?) and her NEW boyfriend (how? How does she keep getting them? I can't even get the one!). He kept glaring at me, so I got out to use the bathroom, then snuck into X3 for half a scene, until I got scared away by a group of morbidly obese people. But I got there just in time to hear that line, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. If I did, I'd get to see X3 legitimately, rather than having to sneak in for five seconds.

Chapter Twenty-One: Arms Wide Open

Germany, 1987

Margali, even though she was exhausted, even though it had been a horrible day that she just wanted to forget about, could not fall asleep. Her eyelids ached from being kept open for so long, but there was something in the back of her mind that was keeping her up, and she couldn't figure out what it possibly could be.

The morning had started out well enough. Nothing really special, but nothing out of the ordinary, either. She had pulled herself out of her bed and into the cool early spring air that had crept into the caravan during the night, gotten dressed, and shaken Stefan, Amanda, and Kurt awake.

Kurt, ever since he had crashed into them the summer before, had stayed at the Circus Gelhaar, working with the older acrobats on flips and other tricks, all of which he was amazingly talented at. During free time or at meals, he would stick closely by Margali's side, quietly observing all of the hustle and bustle around him. He never spoke much, but the others knew that if she could trust him, then they could as well. Kurt was readily accepted into the circus life and family.

That day, however, it became horribly clear that he still was vulnerable to the outside world. Margali had been with her friend Mary that afternoon, helping her repair the holes in the tents, when Amanda had run up to her, her little face bright pink and covered with sweat.

"Mom! Mom!" she screamed, stumbling over the skirt of her dress. "Help!"

Margali dropped the fabric she had been holding and rushed over to her daughter.

"Amanda! What's wrong?" She wiped the child's forehead.

Amanda gasped for breath. "Come quick! Kurt's in trouble!" She began bouncing up and down impatiently.

"Stop, I can't hear you. Where's Kurt?"

"He's- he's...the other boys, they're a lot bigger and I think they're older. Come on!" She began running in the direction she had just come from, and Margali followed her, trying to move as fast as possible.

When Amanda finally stopped, she gulped and pointed to a group of boys that looked to be around their mid teens. They had their backs to her, and were laughing and jeering at something a few feet in front of them. Every now and then they would take a small stone from the ground and lob it at their subject, cheering.

Margali glanced down at Amanda, who had a hint of scared tears in her eyes. "They're throwing rocks at him, Mom! Make them stop!"

She nodded, and then marched angrily over to the teenagers. As she pushed her way between them, making no effort to avoid jabbing her elbows into their ribs, they began to quiet down, realizing that their fun was about to end.

Kurt was kneeling on the ground, using his fingers to balance and remain upright. His breath appeared labored, and he had focused his stare on the new blades of grass pushing up from beneath the earth he was resting on. Margali could see that he wasn't crying, but she wasn't sure if she should be glad about that.

With one swift motion, she bent down and lifted him up into the crook of her arm, where he immediately buried his face. She breathed in deeply as he tightly curled his arms around her neck.

As she faced the boys, she realized she was not exactly sure of what to say to them. Stupid, ignorant bastards...an infinite number of insults begged to be released from her lips, but she held them back with all of her might. Instead of beating them up so they knew what it felt like, like she wanted to, she gave them her sharpest, most intimidating glare, and shoved past them angrily.

Within the hour, everyone had found out what had happened. A few were considering running after the boys and giving them a taste of their own medicine, but it was too late. They were long gone. All they could do was crowd around unhelpfully as Margali put bandages on the nicks and scrapes he had gotten, giving loud voice to all of their complaints about modern society and brutish fantasies. Finally, she could not stand it anymore.

"Everyone! Out!" she shouted, and they knew her well enough to follow her orders. But the peace only lasted for a few minutes, before she had finished with Kurt's wounds.

"Come on, Kurt," she told him, and when he did not answer or move, she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the meal tent, where it appeared that everyone had made some sort of pact to not talk about him anymore. Every now and then, however, someone would glance over at the pair and shake their head worriedly.

But that night, Margali knew that she was missing something important. Although the idiotic boys and the danger they brought was long gone, there was some other hazard coming. She could not explain how she could recognize this feeling, but it had to be some sort of intuition. It was driving her crazy.

Eventually, it forced her to get out of bed and see if there was anything to drink in their little pantry. Maybe some tea would help her rest.

As Margali moved the containers and glasses around as quietly as she could manage, the small intuition told her to look back at the children's beds. She could see the dark shape of Amanda's small frame hunched up in the top bunk bed, and Stefan's larger one sprawled out across the bottom one. But the little cot Kurt occupied was...empty.

Margali swore loudly, then covered up her mouth in shock. When she saw that she had not woken up her kids, she went over to the door of the caravan, opened it, and began to search for the moon shadow of a familiar tail.

She and Kurt had done this several times now, and she cursed at herself for letting her guard down. He'd get up in the middle of the night, grab Stefan's Swiss Army Knife, and run out into the forest or other surrounding scenery (depending on where the circus had traveled to at the time). Then, while they were still asleep, he'd hurry back into the caravan with a new cut, similar to the one that Caroline girl had given him. It was a horrible habit, but no matter where Stefan hid his blade or how much Margali scolded him, pleaded with him, or tried to stop him, he managed to continue doing it.

Recently he had not been doing it at all, and they had mistakenly decided that he was done with it. But apparently that was not true.

In a few minutes, Margali spotted him moving quickly back to the caravan, rubbing his hand on his face. She could see his other fist clenched tight around something, which she assumed was the knife.

As he entered through the door, he did not see her at first. So when she spoke, he jumped.

"Kurt, give me the knife," she said, holding out her hand.

Kurt looked guilty, his yellow eyes wide open, and he complied without any resistance.

Margali sighed. "Go sit on my bed. Don't wake Stefan and Amanda up."

For the second time that day, she had to bring out her medical kit. She brought it over to where Kurt was and used a match to relight the kerosene lamp, setting it on the mattress gingerly.

"All right. Where is it this time?" she asked, pulling out antiseptic.

Kurt shivered. "Can I have Birdy, Margali?" he inquired in a small voice. Birdy was the little stuffed bear Margali had given him for Christmas, and he couldn't sleep without it.

"Tell me where it is first."

He nodded, and pulled the edge of his shirt up to reveal a sort of crescent shape etched in his skin. It wasn't bleeding much at all, but it still needed a bandage. Margali pushed him so he was lying on the bed, and went over to his cot. Birdy was next to his pillow.

"Here you go," she said, handing it to him and sitting on the bed, grabbing her gauze patches and cotton balls as she did.

Kurt let out a little puffy breath of relief and tucked Birdy in his arms securely. His eyes glowed slightly in the lamplight as he studied Margali's expression.

She tapped the new cut gently. "I suppose this one means something as well." Then, quickly as possible, she began dabbing antiseptic on it.

He winced and gasped. "You didn't tell me you were going to do that."

"It'd hurt more if you knew it was coming. Stop squirming, Kurt." She used her free hand to hold him down. "What does the cut mean?"

Kurt continued shifting around underneath her for a moment, and then settled down. "Jealousy," he sighed.

"What are you jealous of?" she asked. "Oh, wait. Who are you jealous of?"

He nuzzled the top of Birdy's head, which had become worn with love over the past few months. "Everyone else. Normal people don't get rocks thrown at them. They get to go to school and their mothers don't leave them all by themselves."

Finally, Margali heard the noise she had been waiting for: a sniffle.

She groaned. "Is that what you think?"

Kurt nodded, freeing one of his hands from his embrace and wiping his face with the back of it. "It's true, Margali. I see them all of the time, and even though they're staring at me or they're afraid, I can tell that they have happy lives."

Margali pressed the edge of the bandage on his stomach, and began smoothing it out over his skin. "Kurt, let me tell you something. Sit up." She gripped his shoulders and pulled him up. "Come on. Face me."

Kurt was silently crying against his teddy bear, still holding it tightly. His eyes were shut and he was facing straight ahead.

"All right. Don't. But you still have to listen to me." She screwed the cap back onto the antiseptic bottle. "There is not one normal person in this world. No one is perfect and no one has a perfect, normal life. No one looks the same, either. You're just as different as everyone else."

"Then why are people scared of me, if I'm different like them?"

"Not everyone's scared of you. I'm not. Amanda's not. Remember all of the people crowding around us today? They aren't scared of you, because they care about you. People who are just don't...they don't see the Kurt we know when they look at because they're not trying. And if they don't try, then they aren't worth your time to worry about."

Kurt opened his eyes. "Really?"

"Yes."

He mulled over what she had said for a moment, and then kissed the nose of his teddy bear. "Birdy likes me, too."

"She does. That's why I got her for you."

Kurt smiled waterily. "She likes you too."

"Oh, she does?"

"Mm-hmm." He looked at her. "She says you're nice. And she says you're her favorite woman in the whole wide world." He giggled, and held up Birdy so she covered his grinning, tear-streaked face. "Favorite, favorite, favorite."

"Is that what she says?" Margali asked, reaching over and tickling him. He laughed even more.

"Stop. Stop it," he managed to get out between his howls.

"No."

"Yes. Yes. Stop." He thrashed around, trying to escape. "Stop, Mama."

"No, not until...wait. Mama?" She stopped tickling him and sat up.

"Never mind. I'm going to bed." Kurt looked sad again, as he slid off of her mattress.

"No. Come here," she said, as she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back up. "You just called me Mama. I heard you."

Kurt shivered. "I'm sorry. It just slipped out." He patted his stomach, right over where he had made the cut. "I won't do it again."

Margali frowned. With his words came a rush of fear, exhilaration, joy, surprise, and, most noticeably, familiarity. This mix of feelings had come twice before; both times when she had found out she was pregnant with Stefan and Amanda. Sometimes it felt like she had been put on earth to be a mother. Even though she had two biological children, she mused, staring down at the boy tucked into a protective ball next to her, she now knew that she a had a third one.

"Kurt?" she asked, touching his shoulder. He looked up at her, squirming from a blend of sadness and embarrassment. "If- if you want me to be your mother-" Was that too formal a word? "-Then I will be."

Kurt's eyes suddenly filled with tears again, but he was smiling shyly. "Really?" He let his legs slip down from his body. Margali smiled down at him.

"Yes. I guess I'm adopting you."

He let that thought settle for a moment, before jumping onto her lap and hugging her tightly. She squeezed him back, letting him sob and laugh and choke on his words for the longest time, before they both fell asleep in their embrace. All too soon the morning came and woke them from their little rest, but with the streams of sunshine and the heaviness of dew hanging in the air came Stefan and Amanda, shouting and shoving and clamoring for attention, with Kurt snuggled between them.

My children, Margali thought, as she rose from the bed and stood up to her full height. My children.

A/N: Sorry this took so gotdang long, but I have A TON of stuff to do, plus the computer is needed for other stuff at my house. I'll try and do better, I promise!

A/N 2: But only if you review. (Just kidding, I really am not the blackmail type. But please, do feel free to review). : )