June got off the phone with the doctor's office that morning; she had an appointment for Rafael to see the doctor the next day, which unfortunately placed it on Jack's birthday. It was early so barring any need to hospitalize Rafael; June figured that they could still give Jack a birthday party.
"What's going on, mom?" Rafael asked
"You have a doctor's appointment tomorrow"
"Why?"
"Raf, I know you don't want to admit it but I can see you don't feel good, but it would help if you told me exactly how you feel" June said
Rafael gave a defeated sigh; he should have known that, as a nurse, June wouldn't be in the dark about his problems long.
"I'm always thirsty and I feel tired a lot. I don't really feel hungry either, even when I know I should"
"Why didn't you tell me about this, Raf?"
"I don't know, I just didn't want to bother you"
"You are never a bother, Raf" June said hugging him gently
June had already given Jack fair warning that her making an ASAP appointment for Rafael might put the appointment on his birthday, but Jack didn't care. He had also noticed that Rafael wasn't feeling well and he wanted to know what was going on. In many ways this didn't surprise June as given Jack's age he didn't really need her attention and understood that Rafael did need that attention plus she wasn't hovering over Jack the way she used to, not that Jack would ever admit that was a reason he liked having Raf in the house. He cared about Rafael and showed it in different ways including being highly protective of Raf and helpful if the younger boy came to him with a problem.
Rafael took a sip of his milk but June noticed he seemed disinterested in his breakfast which she knew for a fact that he liked. Seeing this concerned her greatly but she knew that the doctor would be able to tell her why this was happening and what they could do about it.
Arcee woke in the part of the base that had been set up should the humans have to remain overnight. It had been less than 24 hours since she turned human and they no more understood what had occurred then they did at the time of the event which concerned her.
She groaned and looked at the newly assigned cell phone. She had needed it since she no longer had direct access to the com line. She let out another groan as the object in question began to ring. She answered to hear Jack on the other end sounding concerned.
"Jack, what's going on?"
"We believe something may be very wrong with Raf. Mom said it isn't to the point where we need to panic, she's taking him to the doctor in the morning"
"But you're still panicking" she deduced as she walked to the human sized ground bridge controls
"Arcee, who cleared you to leave this base," Ratchet asked
"Ratchet, I'm needed at the Darby's house"
"The humans are very capable of dealing with their own problems" Ratchet contradicted "You aren't going anywhere'
Arcee growled
"Growl all you like it's not going to change my decision"
Arcee got off the phone and spun around to the medic a fire in her eyes
"Why the frag are you keeping me here like this?"
"To protect you from the Decepticons, you should know better than anyone that if Arachnid found you like this she'd kill you in a second"
"How would she know it was me?"
"You're giving off a weak Autobot beacon; it's your unique beacon. Your new look won't throw her off for long!"
Arcee groaned Ratchet was right Arachnid would take advantage of this situation and take her out, then turn around and kill Jack. Arcee bristled and went back into the base
Yessenia and Kathy were close to the KO Diner, Kathy had tracked Mystique to near this location and Yessenia knew for a fact that June planed on picking Jack up from work that particular day giving Mystique the perfect opportunity to try for Rafael.
Yessenia noticed the former high school principal standing casually by the bike rack and nearly lost it. She hated Mystique, especially after the shape shifter had gotten past her defenses and broke her nose.
"Easy Yessenia, we don't need you blowing our cover" Kathy warned ominously, "we knew she'd be here for Rafael, we should have known that Magneto and Mystique wouldn't let a boy of his talent slip past. We both know he won't come to their cause willingly so she would have to take him by force and that's when we remind her that he is under our protection"
"Okay"
Rafael and June got out of the car and June became instantly suspicious of the brunette leaning by the bike rack and kept Rafael close to herself.
Yessenia and Kathy came from their hiding spots and Kathy did her best to keep herself between Mystique and Yessenia
"So you've come for our rematch Polaris, and you brought Charles Xavier's little princess for backup… how cute"
"This is going to get ugly, you might want to get Rafael into the diner" Kathy projected to June telepathically "They have an explosive history and I don't think I can talk Yessenia down"
'Okay'
Rafael held fast to his spot as June tried to pull him away
"Yessenia" he said softly
Kathy was shocked at the change in Yessenia's expression, her brother's voice cutting through the rage and lust for vengeance
Suddenly Mystique noticed the other girls coming into the scene
"You aren't going to get him Mystique" Li-Na stated flatly
"He is under the protection of the X-Men, don't forget it!"
"Face it Mystique you're surrounded, you have nowhere to run… come back and we will get you again, that's a promise!" Yessenia said in a low growl
"Apparently you're cronies have left you high and dry, who's to say they'll ever help you with this mission!" Taylor said
Mystique suddenly realized she had no backup and turned into a crow and flew away.
"Thank you, girls, but what was that about?"
"That was Mystique, she's a shape shifter that works for Magneto, she does most of his recruiting, but I doubt she'll return with Yessenia around and sworn to vengeance for injuries she sustained at Mystique's hands" Kathy replied "Taylor can pick out her sent from a crowd no matter what happens your son is safe"
"Her actual name is Raven Darkholm, or that is the name she is using now" Li-Na explained as they entered the restaurant
"Those of us that went to Bayville High school before this last year knew her as the principal" Kathy added
"Okay, I know Kathy and Yessenia, but you two"
"I'm Li-Na Kim; I emigrated from South Korea three years ago with my parents"
"I'm Taylor Byron; I'm actually from a small town in Virginia so this desert climate is still foreign to me"
"You'll get used to it, just give it time" June assured her "Just do your best to stay hydrated"
"I do my best to make sure all four of these yahoos stay hydrated" the girl behind the counter said "I'm Charlotte Dewhurst, my friends call me Charlie, I'm from Henderson, Nevada so this climate old news to me"
"I'm June Darby"
"Darby… you wouldn't happen to be related to the poor kid they stuck in drive thru all week, Jack Darby" Charlie asked leaning on the counter as they heard Jack nearly swear from his position at the window
"Another drive off," Charlie asked
"Third one in two days"
"Ouch…" Charlie shook her head "the problem with drive away customers is whatever they don't pay comes out of the paycheck of whoever is working drive thru, and they sure do like to put Jack on drive thru"
Jack looked out into the lobby
"Mom"
"Jack, how are you doing?"
"I'm okay" he sighed
"Okay, that answers my earlier question" Charlie said noticing the sad look that crossed June's face that whatever those teenaged clowns didn't pay for her son had to
For the first time June really took a look at the faces around her. Kathy Xavier was a sweet looking girl, her blue eyes held a gentle wisdom beyond her nineteen years, Li-Na looked pure Asian, and probably very proud of her Korean heritage, June figured heads might roll if someone called Li-Na anything other than Korean. Yessenia favored her brother, but unlike Rafael her brown hair fell in curls that framed her face. Taylor had chocolate brown hair and dark eyes that sparkled with life and curiosity. She then looked to Charlie, who like Kathy had beautiful blonde hair, but where Kathy's was a beautiful yellow-blonde Charlie's was more of a honey color and currently pulled into a tight, professional looking French braid. Charlie had looked to Jack sympathetically; she knew that wasn't a fun position to take especially with the drive away customers cutting into what little pay he got.
"Jack, clock out, your shift is over" Charlie said as another boy a little older than Jack clocked in
Jack gratefully clocked out and got his clock out slip for his personal records but it wasn't like he ever needed them.
"Do you need anything before you get on your way?" Charlie asked
They got some drinks and left.
Charlie sighed as her replacement clocked in allowing her to leave for the day.
"Do we know why Mystique's cronies left her high and dry?"
"I can explain" a voice said
The girls turned to see Lance Alvers standing behind them
"Speak quickly, Alvers" Taylor said
"We didn't realize exactly what Mystique was going to do, we are willing to commit petty crimes but that's to live. We weren't going to force a kid that small that obviously had no interest in our cause, which isn't much of a cause anymore, to endure what we have to" Lance explained
Li-Na looked at Yessenia and Kathy
"Guess we should thank you for that, we believe that Rafael is having severe medical problems and you keeping him out of Mystique and Magneto's hands might have saved his life" Kathy stated noticing how Yessenia turned away worry evident in the action
Lance was going to make a crude comment about the X-men not having to fly Rafael back to Jasper but he noticed something else.
"There's more than that going on here, isn't there Polaris" Lance could be called cold and brooding but not completely heartless "you and he… he's family to you"
"Yeah… he's my brother" Yessenia confessed
"Well that's going to take the wind out of Mystique's sails when she finds out" Lance said "by the way… she won't find out from me"
The next day June called into the school to tell them that Jack would be there but Rafael would not due to a doctor's appointment.
"They got to the office and June signed him in.
"Dr. Mitchell won't be here; he had an emergency and doesn't know when he'll be able to come back. He sent in a substitute I hope that's okay"
June agreed that would work because she didn't feel that what was going on could wait until Mitchell returned. She then went to sit by Rafael to wait. She looked over to see him playing a game on his laptop, she was concerned about him but she tried not to let him know how much she feared was really going on.
It took half an hour for them to get called back his vitals checked and be placed in an exam room, and another twenty minutes for the new doctor to get around to them.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Alexx Woods, what seems to be the trouble today"
June explained the symptoms to Alexx and Alexx did some checks herself and June watched. She could nine times out of ten tell the doctors that were parents from those that weren't by the way they handled children.
"You really don't feel good, do you sweetie"
He shook his head
"We'll why don't we see if we can turn that around" Alexx ordered blood work, suspicions floating in her mind from what June had told her. She told June of this but also warned that it could take up to twenty-four hours
"Unfortunately for mothers like me, lab work takes what it takes" June commented as Rafael excused himself to go to the bathroom
"You speak as if you know about these things… I noticed you used terms I don't hear from parents"
"I'm not just a parent… I'm a nurse at the local hospital"
"Ah… so you understand what's going on better than most mothers that come through here with sick children" Alexx said "Baby we've been cursed with a double edged sword, we have the knowledge to handle almost any medical problem our children can toss our way, when we know what is… when we don't our brains are running up to fifteen possibilities and none of them sound good"
"Isn't that the truth" June sighed
"I've got little babies; my oldest is about Rafael's age, what about you"
"Rafael is the younger of my two boys… my oldest is turning eighteen today" June sighed "I don't want to lean on him… he has so much on his mind, but I have no husband to lean on"
"You fear you may have to put more responsibility on your older son and he'll resent it" Alexx assumed
"I mean he was made an instant older brother when I adopted Rafael. It was right around his seventeenth birthday so he's only technically been an older brother for a year"
June sighed, she could hear Rafael's small footfalls as he came back, she needed to keep up the façade of strength for him; she didn't want to frighten him more so than he already was
"Doctor, I do have a concern, Rafael's biological sister Yessenia is allergic to latex I was wondering if there was a chance Rafael could develop the same allergy"
"That certainly would put him at a risk, but right now we don't use latex in this office so either way we have no reason to be really concerned"
Rafael entered the room completely not looking forward to having blood drawn, he hated needles with a passion, had since he was small. His experiences with them had always ended badly
Alexx had the kit for drawing a blood sample for the lab. Alexx noticed initially that he was very tense and she made eye contact with June. That was all the prompting June needed, she could read the situation as well as Alexx could.
"Now you look away baby; and this won't take long" Alex said gently and June took a position by Rafael drawing his attention and striking up a conversation about his latest school project which, in Rafael's case was sufficient distraction from the task at hand.
"I'm done; see that wasn't that bad, was it?"
"You… you're done already"
"Told you it would be quick" Alexx smiled
Alexx assured June that she would call as soon as the results came back and June took Rafael home to wait.
The next day came and June got a phone call that the results were in. She was surprised when Alexx requested that she and Rafael return to the office.
"Mom, I'll come too, it's Saturday and my shift isn't for like three hours" Jack said placing a hand on his mother's shoulder
"Okay"
June, Rafael and Jack arrived at the office and were waved back to an exam room.
"Hi Doctor, this is Jack"
"Hi" Jack said awkwardly as he followed his brother to the exam table where he helped the smaller boy up before settling himself beside Rafael on the table
"June I'd explain, but I think you'll get the picture by just looking at the lab report" Alexx said handing June the report on a metal clip board. June read over the report and nearly dropped the whole thing.
To Be Continued…
