disclaimer: As everyone knows, I do not in any way own the X-Men. I expect to receive no benefit from the use of these characters beyond the pleasure I receive from writing the story and sharing it with others.

What Might Have Been
by Dizi

Chapter 3

Scott looked up from the controls as Jean came to sit beside him. "Did she tell you anything?"

"Just that Donald blamed her for Rey being a mutant." She shook her head sadly.

"Damn bastard. Do you think it's the first time?" He didn't think it was. He wasn't sure why except that the Rogue he knew wouldn't have been ashamed. She'd have been angry. Unless this was ongoing and her confidence had been eroded. Then again, she hadn't been herself when she left.

"I just don't know, Scott, and she's in so much pain I didn't want to ask too many questions about it. When I lightly touched her mind all I got was that she's concerned for her children. She'll need bedrest for a couple days minimum. We have to come up with something to do with the kids in the meantime."

"Rey needs testing and he'll fit right in with our two boys. I don't know about Elise." He frowned, thinking. "All the kids are so much older than she is and she won't want to be far from Rogue."

"Anne. She goes by Anne now, don't forget. Five years ago I would have said Jenny would be good for her, but after... well, you know." She blanched at the memory of what had happened, but more how it had affected Jenny.

"Yeah, she hasn't been the same since Kurt and Liese were hit by that bus. Dammit! We're dwindling away! The teams are made up of mostly kids!" Scott banged his hand on the arm of his seat in frustration.

"They're not kids, dear. You sound like Logan. It's the way it should be, the young replacing the old. We're old, or you are anyway." She teased.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, old discussion. But what do we do with the girl? School's in session so there's no one to babysit her." He had an idea, actually, but didn't want to be the one to suggest it.

"Logan isn't too far away. He's used to girls with his four, and his youngest is five. I'd have to see if Jenny will call him though. He won't answer for any of us anymore." Jean said it a bit severely. They both knew whose fault that was.

Yes, that had been the suggestion he had wanted. "Do you think he'll do it? He's turned into a total recluse since Jubilee died. It can't be healthy for those girls."

"Which is exactly why he won't answer the phone for us! First you kept bothering him to come back to the team, then you kept calling to check on the girls. They don't even like you, Scott!" This too was an old discussion. Jean felt like she had loved Scott forever but sometimes he didn't know how to let go.

"I was just worried about them. It wasn't just me, Ororo did it too." He defended himself. "There would be an idea if we had a way to contact her. Ororo would be the perfect one for Elise."

"But we don't. If she were here she'd be just as involved in the school as the rest of us. I'm going to be going back and forth from classes to Anne or I'd watch her myself. She's such a cute little thing." Jean wryly smiled at him. "I would suggest you, but let's face it you're no good with girls this young."

"I can't figure out why they don't like me. Rachel liked me."

"Rachel was already grown when you met her and she's from an alternate timeline, doesn't count." She sighed. "I think it has to be Logan, if he'll do it."

"We'll see." Scott kept the smugness out of his voice. He liked the idea of having as many veterans on school grounds as possible. It made him feel not quite so alone with all the younger people. Remembering the past like this reminded him of something. "Is Hank still saying he's going to try talking her into letting him check her out more thoroughly? We'd all like to know what happened to her powers."

"He's going to try," Jean stressed the word. She too hoped they'd finally get some answers. "Maybe she'll let him now. Back then, she ran away when she found out about Remy. With him gone, she didn't seem to care about anything. Then she got married and that was it. Now she's going to be at the school, we'll all work on her to let Hank do the tests."

"If Remy hadn't gone off to look for her on his own when Rogue disappeared-" Scott began hotly.

"-none of this would have happened," Jean finished. "Please don't bring that up again. She doesn't need to hear it and it can't be changed."

"I know, I know. I just feel like if they hadn't been so impulsive... I won't mention it, and I'll keep my promise not to talk about the rest." He sighed heavily. So much wasted time. "Have Zelig call Jenny about Logan. He's the only one she really talks to anymore."

"That's not true. Jenny still goes to work and she'll talk on the phone, or we can even go visit her. She only lives twenty minutes away. She just won't come to us because there's too many memories. I really don't blame her." They hadn't really lost touch with Jenny but they didn't see her often.

Scott reached over and took her hand. He didn't know how he would go on if something were to happen to her. Again. "Neither do I, but have Zelig call anyway. He worries about her."

"Okay. How much longer until we're home?" Jean stood to go back and check on their passengers.

"Not long, about fifteen minutes."

Anne was rushed to the med-lab as soon as they arrived. Hank wanted to sedate her but she wouldn't allow it until after they landed and she'd had a chance to talk to the children.

"Promise me you'll be good," she said from a bio-bed. Scott, Jean, and Hank were a short distance away to give them the illusion of privacy. "These are old friends of mine. They'll take good care of you."

"But I want to stay with you, Momma," Elise whined, her big green eyes shiny with unshed tears.

"Oh, punkin, I know." Anne ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. It was a mess and sooner or later Elise would realize it and be horrified. She usually did her hair just before they left for school. But, of course, they hadn't gone today. "I'm sorry but I'm hurt right now. I'm going to sleep for a long time. Mr. and Mrs. Summers, Scott and Jean, are going to watch over you for a few days while I get better. Please, don't worry, and if you try you might even have some fun. Please, Elise? For me?"

Elise let out a little sniffle, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "Okay."

"Rey," Anne held a hand out to him, doing her best to force out a reassuring smile.

He tried to nudge Elise aside to reach her, but she wouldn't budge. "C'mon, my turn."

"No," she said clearly in her most stubborn way. "I don't want to."

He struggled. It was easily visible Rey was making a monumental effort not to say anything back or get physical with her, and Anne couldn't help smiling for real this time. The kids were being normal. Kinda. Elise wasn't usually this clingy or stubborn without some catalyst, and Rey wasn't usually this restrained. Despite everything that had happened, she could see her babies were still themselves underneath. It made her feel better.

"Sooner or later she's gonna pop, sugarbear, and it'll probably be on you. Do your best not to embarrass me when it happens." She squeezed his hand.

"I'll try, Mom." Rey rolled his eyes. "But she's such a brat."

"Mooooommmmm!" Tears suddenly gone, Elise stomped her foot. In both Anne and Rey's opinion the real problem when Elise misbehaved was that it didn't detract from the adorable image one little bit. Such things just seemed to add to her 'cuteness'. Granted she couldn't help the way she looked but she sure knew how to use it when she wanted to.

Anne laughed. "Oh, how I missed that this morning. You've both been so very brave and I'm very very proud of you. You can trust all my friends here, okay? Just do as they say and when I'm a bit better we'll figure out the rest." She waited for their nods before begging again, "Be good."

While Hank gave her the promised injection, Scott and Jean ushered the children out. She was asleep before they were out of the room. Her last sight was them walking away, looking over their shoulders at her, before everything was dark.

Part of Andie's administrative duties was the room assignments. Scott took Rey and Elise to his office while she rearranged things to find them someplace. He gently probed and prodded for all the details on the events of the last twenty-four hours, intending to learn as much as he could about Rey's mutation while they waited.

In a large wingback chair which made her look smaller than she was, Elise sat holding her doll, a lost expression on her face. Until she became bored, as most active six-year-olds would. She kicked her feet together. She tossed the ragdoll in the air. She softly sang "The Wheels on the Bus". She drove her brother crazy.

Glancing at her repeatedly, Scott saw a sweet smile on her adorable face each time and couldn't bring himself to say anything. No matter how annoying her actions might be.

Unable to sit any longer, Elise got up and started wandering the room, abandoning the doll in the chair. The only point of interest she saw was one of the walls covered in photographs. She found herself looking at them with fascination. Many had people in strange clothes. Some had strange people in ordinary clothes. One caught her attention completely. It looked like...

No, she couldn't be right. But she knew it was her!

Her eyes very wide, Elise shouted without looking away, "Rey! Come look, Rey! It's Momma! It's Momma in the picture! And she's FLYING, Rey! Come look!"

Startled from his explanation of feeling hungry but food not helping, Rey shook his head and sighed in exasperation as only a big brother who was indulging his sister could. Giving a wry look, he got up to do her bidding with Scott slowly following.

"It can't be Momma, Elise," he denied before even getting close. "Momma doesn't fly. She's just... Momma."

But he too stared at the picture once he was able to see it. It looked like her, but he knew it couldn't be. They would have known. If his mother could do the things in these pictures she would have stopped his father from hurting her. She wouldn't have let him...

"It's her," Scott spoke quietly, making them stare at him then. "A long time ago she could do all kinds of things like that. She was very powerful."

"She can't now," Rey said doubtfully. "She would've... she just can't."

"No, not anymore," Scott agreed sadly.

"Why not?" Elise demanded.

"We're not sure." Scott didn't want to get into details with children who didn't seem to know the first thing about mutants and the hazards of their lives. Not that he had many details, but what he did have he didn't feel he could give to them. So he gave a very simplified explanation. "She went away and when she came back she was different. Like she is now."

Both children continued looking at the images, mesmerized. It was hard to imagine their ordinary mother doing all the things they saw in the pictures, and she looked so happy. She smiled often, laughed and played with them, but they had never seen her as completely happy as she looked in the photos.

"That's you." Rey pointed at him in a group photo where they were all in uniform. He had easily spotted his mother in it but was only now looking at the other faces. "And Mrs. Summers."

"Yes," Scott said tightly. This one had been taken shortly before everything had changed, before Rogue disappeared for three months. It was a bittersweet memory. "We were all very close."

"They're all Momma's friends? Like you?" Elise looked at the picture intensely, memorizing all the faces both in it and the one beside it with the same people in regular clothes.

"Yes, like me. If you ever see anyone from that picture, you know they are a friend and you can trust them." Hopefully telling her this would help if Logan came. He hoped he would come and didn't really doubt he would, once he was told about Rogue. The others... he always hoped.

There was a quick knock on the door and Andie came in without an invitation, the knock merely being a warning. "Here's the room assignments. Don't forget, there are three applicants you need to meet in twenty minutes, one teacher and two students."

"Damn, I forgot." Scott ran a hand through his hair. "Let me get the kids settled. I should be back in time, but if not stall them a few minutes."

"Of course, Sir." Andie was ready for this. It was his usual response since he usually did forget. Which was why she'd reminded him as she usually did.

"Mister?" Elise tugged on his pantleg to get his attention. "I'm hungry."

"Oh. Well, we stopped serving breakfast a long while ago, but I can take you to the kitchen and our cook will feed you." She ran to get her doll and Scott turned to Rey still looking at the pictures. "How about you, son? You hungry too?"

Reluctantly pulling his eyes from the various images on the wall, Rey nodded. He did feel hungry, but not like he should after missing breakfast. It was more like what he'd been feeling yesterday and this morning before...

"When you finish eating, I'll send Zelig, one of our senior students, to get you and begin your testing." Scott gestured down the hall, leading the way. He still didn't know what to do with Elise but decided he'd have time to come up with something before she finished eating.

Something would come up. It always did.

to be continued.

note: The positive response to Elise and Rey have been great. Which is a good thing because these first chapters focus on them a whole lot. I've tried very hard to make them as "normal" as I can.

Also I wanted to emphasize that this is based on comic-verse NOT movie, since I recieved a couple emails from people who seemed to be confused. The is not "Marie" and this story was started long before I saw X3 or knew what it was about. Sorry for any confusion.

Last, I haven't seen any questions that I have not already planned to answer. Just not all of them right away. Due to personal issues, I haven't written very much recently but I still hope to have chapter6 done soon.

Chapter 4 will be posted in two weeks like usual.

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi