This is not an April fools joke, I promise. So, finally were are at the end of the first installment of This Is Us! It has been one great ride, I honestly want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, faved, and followed this story. You guys are the best! And I hope to see you all in the next installment!
I'm done talking on with the story!
Chapter 20 The Change
"What are you talking about. My kid is dead." Clarice says shaking her head.
"No, Clarice he's not. He's right here." Evan says.
"Even if he is, how is this possible?" John asks.
"The doctor that was in Kenya with us, she is a mutant. She saved Ryan." Evan says.
"It doesn't make any sense." Clarice says shaking her head. John hugs her.
"Dat maybe, but he is your son. And th'se documents can prove it." Gambit says handing them to Clarice, but she doesn't take them. John takes the documents.
"It's been a long day for all of us why don't we talk about this in the morning." John says.
"D'accord, okay come on boys." Gambit says. Evan and little Ryan follow him.
"Can either of you explain what just happened?" Marcos asks.
"We will just-" John starts then stops when he feels Clarice's knees buckle.
"Clarice." John says as he holds her to him. "Give me a minute." John says then picks Clarice up bridal style and heads to their space. Once inside he closes the door with his boot and gently places her on the bed. He sighs and then there's a light knock at the door. "Come in." John says.
"I have some water for her." Caitlin says as she places the cup of water on the mini nightstand. "Do you want me to stay with her?" Caitlin asks.
"No, let her sleep. The sooner I explain the faster we all get some sleep." John says still holding the documents.
"John, you don't have to right now, you can tell Marcos in the morning." Caitlin says.
"No, I need to do this now or I won't sleep." John says heading for the door. Caitlin follows him closing the door softly behind her. As they make their way back to the group Marcos has his arms crosses and was pacing until he sees them approach.
"I know you have questions, and I have some of the answers, I'll tell you what I know and when Clarice is ready, she'll tell you the rest." John says. "Reed would you mind looking this over?" John asks as he hands Reed the documents.
"Sure John." Reed says looking over the documents in his hands.
"John, I thought that Sonia was the only girl you were involved with." Marcos says.
"No, she wasn't. Clarice and I were together for four years before I joined the Underground." John says. "Clarice and I were helping mutants at a safehouse in Oklahoma. We got separated, and she was taken by a mutant who was using her and others to gather weapons and it was then that she found out that she was pregnant." John sighs. "Clarice aborted the baby for their safety as well as her own she thought she was doing the right thing. The woman in charge didn't have a problem killing anyone who would get in the way of her goal." John says shaking his head.
"How did she escape?" Lauren whispers.
"She met another member of the X-Men, Storm. And Evan, was there and Evan's mom was killed right in front of him. They made a plan to be captured by the enemy and asked them to bomb the hideout that they were being held captive. When that happened, they made their escape and stowed away on a cargo plane. They ended up in California."
"California? That's on the west coast how'd she get to Georgia?" Marcos asks.
"With help from Storm and Gambit. She was in Athens, but she got run out of town by some local Purifier's. She stole from that store and got caught and you know the rest." John says. "I wasn't into Sonia, she wanted to be with me and I was looking for Clarice that was two years ago and she had me in a dream for six months." John says and lets out a sad sigh.
"Well, these documents are real. Ryan Fong is Clarice's son." Reed says after finishing the last page.
"What are you going to do?" Lauren asks.
"First everyone needs to get some rest; I'll show Clarice the documents in the morning. The next thing would be to get to know Ryan he's my son as much as he's Clarice's." John says as Reed hands him back the documents.
"How can you be so sure?" Marcos asks.
"Marcos how can you even say that?" Caitlin exclaims.
"It's fine, Caitlin. If your do the math the last time Clarice and I were together it was four years ago and if Ryan is four then I'm his father." John says.
"He turned four a few months ago." Reed says. John nods.
"Like I said if Clarice is up to telling you the rest than she will. Let's all get some sleep." John says turning on his heel and heading to his shared space with Clarice.
She was still sleeping so he put the documents in his bag and took off his shoes and then took off Clarice's. He placed a kiss on her head then laid down next to her wrapping his arm around her stomach. He closed his eyes the events of the day making him exhausted, he didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow but he knew he wouldn't let Clarice face it alone.
The next morning...
When Clarice wakes up that morning, she felt uneasy and nervous. So many things going on in her mind, she didn't know how to handle it all. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice John stir next to her.
"Don't overthink this." John says. "How are you so calm about this?" Clarice asks. "I'm not at least on the inside." John says. "That's comforting." Clarice says rolling her eyes. "Hey, we will approach this at your pace." John says moving a strand of her hair behind her pointy ear. "Except for the fact that Marcos and the Stuckers both want to leave." Clarice says. "I know, but right now this is more important than trying to find two people who made their choice." John says as he gets up and opens his bag pulling out the documents and handing them to her. She doesn't take them and John lays back on the bed.
"Clarice, you need to read this, we need to read this." John says taking her hand in his. "I feel like I'm opening Pandora's Box." Clarice says shaking her head at the file. "I'm right here, you don't have to go through this alone." John says taking the file and placing it in her lap. "You don't have to be." Clarice says. "Yes, I do. Ryan is mine as much as he's yours." John says with a smile. With a sigh Clarice opens the file. She finds out so much about the baby that she thought she lost, from his birthday to allergies when he broke his thumb, you name it the file had it.
"Are you okay?" John asks. "I'm just- I don't know. I want to know him, but at the same time, I don't think I'll be a good mom." Clarice says. "Hey, I get it I feel the same way. But we can do this together." John says taking her hand in his. "Together." Clarice says and leans her head on John's shoulder. "We can get to know Ryan after we shower." John says. "Right." Clarice says and gets up and goes through her bag. "I'll hold on to this." John says as he too gets up and places the documents in his bag.
Once they both grab their clothes they head to the station's showers. Clarice in one stall John in another. When they are done, they take their dirty clothes back to their room. Before Clarice opens the door John spins her around to kiss her.
"What was that for?" Clarice asks. "Giving you courage." John says taking her hand and they leave their room together. They find Evan with Ryan towards the back of the building.
"Clarice, hey how are you feeling?" Evan asks.
"Better than yesterday." Clarice says. John gives her hand a gentle squeeze.
"We wanted to meet Ryan officially." John says.
"And who are you?" Evan asks.
"I'm John Proudstar." John says using his other hand to shake Evans.
"Evan Daniels." Evan says then turns a little to the right. "Ryan come over here please."
Ryan who was drawing on the couch comes over slowly. As soon as he was closer to them Clarice could see the resemblance. Ryan had dark brown eyes, his hair was also brown, he had John's jawline, and skin tone. He had her nose and mouth and his ears were just slightly pointy.
"Ryan this is Clarice she's your mom. And this is John he's umm." Evan stopped not sure who exactly John was to Clarice.
"John is you father." Clarice says as she slowly let go of John's hand and kneeled in front of Ryan.
"Hi." Ryan says shyly.
"Hey, Ryan it's okay. We will take this one day at a time." John says kneeling down right next to Clarice.
"Hey I have an idea why don't you show us what you were drawing." Clarice says and stands she holds her hand out and Ryan hesitantly takes it. "John, can you get some breakfast for us?" Clarice asks over her shoulder.
"Ryan already ate." Evan says.
"Alright I'll be right back." John says heads to the kitchen.
Clarice sits in the middle of the couch, so she's close enough but not so much that she crowds Ryan.
"What is that?" Clarice asks looking at the picture in his hands.
"Aunty Ro." Ryan says than goes back to drawing what looks like lightning bolts and the X-Men symbol. John comes back with a plate of food and two cups of coffee.
"Do you mind if I leave him here for a minute I need to talk to Gambit." Evan asks.
"As long as Ryan doesn't mind." Clarice says.
"I'm fine Uncle E." Ryan says not looking up from his drawing.
"Okay, just stay here. And if you need me have Clarice or John come find me." Evan says.
"Okay." Ryan says and flips the page in his notebook to draw something else. Clarice and John share their plate and John notices Ryan glance at him then quickly get back to his paper.
"So, Ryan what's your favorite color?" John asks.
"I like blue." Ryan says.
"Blue's a cool color, I like green." Clarice says.
"I thought you liked purple." John says to Clarice.
"A lot has changed, since you and I were together." Clarice says then sips her coffee.
"What color do you like John?" Ryan asks.
"I like yellow, but blue is cool too." John says. He finishes his coffee then takes the plate and cups back to the kitchen. Zingo saw Clarice and jumped on the couch taking John's place. Ryan stopped drawing and looked at the dog with curious and cautious eyes.
"Ryan, have you ever seen a dog?" Clarice asks. Ryan shakes his head. "Would you like to meet Zingo?" Clarice asks. Ryan nodded. "Okay come over here. She won't hurt you I promise." Clarice says as Ryan reached over to pet Zingo, then pulled back slightly. Zingo looked at Ryan and wagged her tail she leaned over Clarice to sniff Ryan's hand. After a few sniffs she licked his hand. "She likes you." Clarice says. Ryan smiled and slowly started to pet Zingo on the top of her head.
John was walking back towards them and smiled at the sight he took out his phone and snapped a quick picture of them.
"She's good at dat, no?" Gambit asks as he and Evan walk over to John.
"Yeah, she is." John says.
"Clarice is the best! Don't tell Aunty O what I said Gambit." Evan says.
"Non, Stormy has da right ta know a'out dat." Gambit says with a smirk.
"So how long are you here for?" John asks.
"We'll be leaving tonight." Evan says.
"Oh, I guess Ryan is going with you?" John asks.
"Non, he's staying with his mother." Gambit says.
"But he came here with you." John says.
"That was part of our task, bring Ryan to Clarice. Then rondeau with the X-Men in New Orleans." Evan says.
"Why there?" John asks.
"Let's just say dat a certain someone is in trouble." Gambit says.
"What Gambit means is that he's a terrible gambler and he bet on Storm. Now she has to go settle his debt, again. Ow!" Evan says a when Gambit hits him in the head with a card from his deck.
"I am an excellent gambler, I just bet on a life instead of cash." Gambit says with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Is there anything Clarice an I should know before you two take off?" John asks.
"Other than Rouge kicking Gambit's butt into next century? Ow, Ow!" Evan says.
"Keep dat up hemme and den you can find your own way to New O'leans." Gambit says as he prepared to charge up some more cards.
"Guys I meant, about Ryan." John says getting in between the two.
"Oh, I'll go get his things." Evan says than dashes off.
"I thought we would have some more time to get to know him with you guys around." John says.
"Dat was da plan, after we found petit. But da plan changed. Ryan knows dat at some point he was gonna be with his mom." Gambit says.
"What do you mean?" John asks.
"Stormy always knew dat Ryan had to be with Clarice. It's why she never let him call her mom. She made sure dat Ryan knew who his mother is." Gambit says.
"Well, that's something, but Clarice is new to this and so am I." John says.
"So, your dat boyfriend dat petit was trying to get back to?" Gambit asks.
"Yeah I am." John says.
"Good da finally make your acquaintance." Gambit says and holds his hand out. John shakes his hand then starts to feel a minimal heating sensation in his hand. "You break either of dem and O'Gambit will break you." Gambit released his hand.
"Understood." John says. Evan then comes back with all of Ryan's belongings.
"This is everything." Evan says. John looks down at the huge duffel and smaller bag.
"This is it?" John says taking the bags.
"Well, everything dat Stormy would let Ryan take. Most of dats the essentials." Gambit says.
"So, Ryan is not good with large crowds of people. We found that out when we took him with us to one of the students school plays." Evan says shaking his head.
"So, he's becoming a mutant." Clarice states. The trio didn't even notice her come over to them.
"When did you come over here?" John asks.
"Just now, Ryan said you were talking about him." Clarice says.
"His powers are manifesting." Evan says. "The play was a few weeks ago." Evan says then looks over at Ryan. Gambit pulled out his phone and walked away making a call.
"So, how are we going to handle this?" Clarice asks John. "As calm as possible." John says taking her had in his. "John he's four and he has powers." Clarice says. "It's not uncommon for powers to manifest at a young age." John says.
"Umm, guys Ryan's eyes are turning yellow and he's running towards the door!" Evan says then runs after Ryan. Clarice and John are not far behind him.
Evan puts his hand on Ryan's shoulder to stop him. Ryan does stop, but his now yellow eyes are glued to the door.
"Ryan, what's going on buddy?" Evan asks.
"Someone is getting robbed." Ryan says.
"Who and where?" Clarice asks.
"A man, about 5 blocks from here at a store." Ryan says
"How do you know that?" John asks.
"I can hear it." Ryan says. As the three stare at Ryan in shock Gambit makes his way over.
"Good news petit, were staying for a month to help you get a decent handle on Ryan's powers." Gambit says.
"Of course, anything to get out of the beating that Storm and Rouge are going to give you." Evan says rolling his eyes.
"Keep it, up Daniel's and I will leave you here." Gambit says shuffling his deck of cards as another warning. "Now let's begin." Gambit says with a wicked smile.
And that's it! Again thank you all so much for sticking with this story to the end! The title for the second installment to this series will be: "Family Struggles" So look for it when it does eventually come out, I'm not completely sure when that will be. Until next time...