Most of you reading this have read my story All of This Past, an X-Men story. Since they're rebooting X-Men and created an entirely different universe from time travels, I have decided to follow that rabbit hole.

Warning: There will be more sex in this one (because, well married couple!). Unfortunately, Fanfiction Net is kind of a prudish place where if I start to give my characters some lovin', someone can report me and have my story taken down. As such this story will be crossposted to AO3. It will be marked with an AO3X at the top of the chapter above where the music goes. You can go read the sexy goodness there.

Remember, this is a completely different universe from X-Men and from the MCU as we know it. The events of Dark Phoenix have not occurred.

Playlist:

Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass

Taylor Swift - I Know Places

Rag'n'Bone Man - Human

Glass Animals - Agnes

Post Malone - Goodbyes

5 Seconds of Summer - Easier

Chapter 1, Walking on Broken Glass:

Despite the red rimmed eyes, the tear stains on her pale blue shirt, and the twins she had in tow Holly Harper managed to smile at the doorman. She pushed the stroller holding her twin eleven month olds into the lobby of the Stark building. The security guys had more body armor on than the last time she'd come here. Holly moved through the lobby fast, her sneakers barely making sounds on the gleaming floors. She tried to fathom another smile for the receptionist, but failed miserably when faced with the sophisticated polished look the other woman sported. She didn't miss the once over and the dismissive, somewhat irritated flash that passed over the receptionist's face.

"I'm afraid we don't have public bathrooms here," The woman behind the desk said, her voice plainly devoid of sympathy. "You should try somewhere else."

Holly fought the desire to burst into tears again. She wouldn't. She told herself she wouldn't and hell or high water she would not allow herself to cry. Especially not in front of this bitch. Holly's green eyes narrowed and she let her inner pain translate into anger, "Pepper Potts please."

The woman, with a barely contained sneer, said. "I'm afraid Miss Potts is busy all day. You should schedule an appointment. I believe her calendar is full until, oh the year twenty twenty five."

Holly held her breath, counting down from five until she didn't want to strip off her gloves and fry this bitch's brain. When she had enough patience (something a mother of twins had in short supply as is) she gave the receptionist a smile that was almost feral. "If you call up to Pepper's office and speak to her personal assistant, you'll see she has standing orders to be informed when Holly Harper is in the building." Her smile turned venomous, "Now if you don't mind, do your goddamn job."

After she made certain the call went through to whatever meeting Pepper was in that made her turn her phone off Holly moved her sleeping boys over to the expensive leather seating in the lobby. For the first time in hours she let herself heave a deep breath. It wasn't from relief. She wouldn't be relieved until she had somewhere to stay.

The Professor tried to talk her into staying, if only for her boys. As Holly sat there in the lobby of her father's building, Ivy and Rogue sent her texts and picture messages asking what needed to be boxed and what would be staying. Remy, her saving grace, held his own by running interference for her.

Around five or six minutes later Pepper exited one of the elevators, a broad, warm smile on her face until she saw Holly. The smile faded into worry. "What happened?"

As much as she believed that the tears were waiting for her father, it turned out they were just waiting for her friend. They'd grown close over the last two years. It made sense.

Scalding saline overwhelmed Holly's eyes as she finally allowed herself to fall apart. She wrapped her arms around Pepper, unable to control the sobs and choked out the words.

"I left Logan."

They were sitting in Pepper's office, her day schedule now cleared. Holly's gloved hands shook when she tried to pick up the tea cup. She felt guilty for ruining Pepper's white with elegantly printed black Fluer-De-Lis silk shirt. The tears were still periodically slipping from her eyes but thankfully the sobs had subsided into mildly erratic hiccups. She sipped the herbal tea and watched her sons play with the soft blocks Pepper always seemed to have here just in case Holly chose to stop by with the boys.

Telling Pepper still didn't seem real. Then again leaving still didn't seem real.

Neither did finding out her husband no longer existed.

Bile filled her throat. Holly swallowed down another mouthful of tea to wash it back. She concentrated on her two little boys and their baby talk, their gurgling and told herself mentally to deal with it. For them. First step was to leave and she'd done that. Second was to gather all of her stuff, baby clothes, toys and their supplies. Rogue and Ivy were seeing to that. Third would be to file for divorce. Fourth find a new place to live.

Pepper exited her personal bathroom after a few minutes wearing another shirt. This time a plain dark blue tee that looked more like GAP and less like something from Bergdorfs. She gathered Jamie into her arms while Tommy played on the floor. He clung to Pepper, all gurgles and smiles and big eyes.

"From the beginning Holly," Pepper said softly, sympathetically.

Dark tresses, much longer than they had been a couple of years ago, moved back and forth as Holly shook her head. "I can't." Tears threatened again. Her body shook as she tried to breathe and found she almost couldn't. "It doesn't matter." And it didn't. Not any more.

"Forget about Logan for right now."

Holly gave her a look that said 'yeah, right' and shook her head.

Jamie reached for his mother, "Mah."

The dark haired woman took her son. "I need to file for a divorce. I need to find a place to stay and I need to get a lawyer."

"Holly, you don't have to decide this today."

"Don't I? My husband…" her voice cracked, "my husband is…" god this would be so much easier if he had been cheating. If she had walked in on him and someone else in bed that would have been so much better than dealing with the reality.

Pepper's lips thinned, "Do you want me to tell your father?"

Holly shook her head, "No. I'll tell him. Is he up in R & D?"

Sighing, "When is he not there these days?"

Four hours ago with Professor Xavier in his office, they worked on the expansive capabilities of Holly's powers. Moreso her than him. Though the Professor never outwardly said it, Holly could feel the sharp edges of fear surrounding the memory of attempting to visit her mind. Of all the people in the school, on the campus, Holly's mind was the only one the Professor could never visit.

She, on the other hand, found that with a little training and concentration - she might never achieve a permanent block - Holly could control and sort through the steady stream of information she received when she touched someone or something. Right now her subject, as most of the previous subjects had been since these exercises began, was a t-shirt belonging to someone else.

Distantly Holly felt the trickle of blood down her nose and touch the cupid's bow of her lips. Her brow furrowed in concentration. Previously, when she hadn't been having much success and found out much too much about Remy's love life, she thought of the transfer like a river. One she could never quite seem to dam up. The Professor encouraged her to find another way to address the transfer from other people's things to herself because the term river always reminded her of flooding. Floods were uncontrollable.

It was her father, Tony Stark, who came up with the alternative. Download. He said it to Natasha Romanov when they were introduced. This is my daughter Holly. She downloads people's thoughts and memories.

Natasha refrained from touching Holly with a simple, polite, nod at the time.

Thinking of the transfer as data, simple ones and zeros being reallocated from something else to her made a world of difference. Suddenly everything came down to the basics of one, yes, zero, no.

The t-shirt belonged to Rogue and Rogue had it for years. Holly could see the years as they passed by her. Last week's fight with Remy and deciding for some god forsaken reason to date Bobby. Again. Holly chose not to see those things and it felt, at least to her, like a light switching off. Babysitting the twins. Little Jamie clapping and smiling as she taught him Itsy Bitsy Spider.

None of that was what she was looking for.

The blood slid a little over her lips. Holly ignored it and kept sifting. She went through years of memories before she found it. Evergreen eyes popped open. Holly handed the t-shirt back to a patiently waiting Professor Xavier.

"She never told me her name is Anna Marie. I've been calling her Marie for so long."

The Professor, looking as esteemed and well groomed as ever, smiled at her proudly and took the plain white tee back. "Well done Holly. Well done. How do you feel?"

The hankie she kept on her felt a little rough as she dabbed at her bloodied nose. "Good. Really good. I remember seeing her memories but they didn't transfer to me." She gave him a wry smile as the white cloth with blue stitches stained crimson. "I'm still bleeding though."

Nodding, the Professor turned his chair around and returned behind his desk. "As we continue to work on this, I would hope that your body's physiological responses to the expected pain ease. In a few months you may not have a nose bleed at all."

That would be amazing. Beyond amazing. She'd be able to kiss her husband without getting blood on him. Logan didn't seem to mind, but Holly could see it bothered him to hurt her.

As if he knew that she was thinking about him, there was a knock and Logan's voice at the door.

The Professor, somewhat confused by Logan's appearance when the Wolverine knew that the Professor would be working with Logan's wife on her powers, gave him the briefest of confused expressions.

"We did it." Logan said, sounding stunned and almost relieved at the same time.

Holly looked up at her husband and blinked a little. Where had the gray at his temples come from? Those weren't there last night or this morning when she left him sleeping. He usually didn't sleep in, but he just seemed so peaceful. The hair was a lot more...well more than it usually was too.

"Did what?" The Professor glanced at Holly to see if she knew. She shrugged in response. "Logan, don't you have a class to teach?"

"A class?" Her husband echoed sounding like that was the first time he'd ever heard that before. "To teach?

"Yeah," Holly tried to smile up at him, but found him not looking at her right away. "You teach History, I teach English."

He looked down at her and there wasn't a single spark of recognition in his gaze.

Holly's insides went cold.

"History," Logan repeated, nodding a little but not in the way that one does if someone understands something.

Holly, who had begun to pull her gloves back on, stopped.

"Actually I could use some help with that." Logan said and he didn't spare her a second look.

Professor Xavier now looked as if he too was thoroughly confused. "Help with what?"

Before Logan could speak again, Holly grabbed his hand.

Ten years later, you officially get the sequel. You're welcome.

I am a TERRIBLE human being. I know. But would you love me any less if I didn't make you cry?