A Gift Of Answered Prayers, 2 Lives Restored!
It was the next day and it was now, four days until Christmas and Scott was still very down on what to get for Morph for a nice Christmas present. Like anything could ever make it up to him for what he had done, betraying Morph like he did, leaving him and Beast for dead. However, Scott had been praying desperately for some inspiration for what to get him, which would touch his heart, and he would really love. As he walked past Morph's room, later in the morning after sleeping in a bit, to go off for his morning pee Scott heard loud thumping and music playing that was skipping and more thumping going on. He could hear a bit of the song playing and then a thump as it started skipping.
" More than a pass-pass, ass-ass-ss-ss, " thump, " ionate-song needs to be-bee-be-bee, " thump!
"Problem, Morph?"
"Yeah, some jerk scratched my CD, unless it was me, and then I'm the jerk who scratched it. But I do take good care of my CD's."
Inspiration at last hit, as he silently thanked God! He could try to buy that CD to replace it! "What CD is it?"
"It's called Father's House. I guess I could listen to the other one, You Shine," inspecting it he sighed, "at least this one isn't damaged."
"So is that by the same girl?"
"Same guy, yes," Morph says as he takes out the CD out of his stereo and looks at it, and shakes his head, there was a bunch of deep scratches on it. Little wonder why it was skipping so much. "How the hey did this happen?"
"Uh, well, maybe when Juggernaut wrecked the place, I mean, he totaled most of the place, then Magneto. Was it on the floor or something when you came back home?"
"Yeah, it was on my dresser before I left, but it was on my floor after that, and it was popped open out of the case lying there waiting for me when I came back, yes. So that's probably how it got all scratched up. Well at least that was the only one that got wrecked," he says smirking at Scott who was looking at the CD with one leg crossed over. "If you have to go, go, you're sure not going to offend me by standing around here, listening to me bemoaning my skipping CD. But, I will be, very offended, if you make a big puddle in my room, though. I'll rub your nose in it and make you clean it up."
"Okay," off and gone, he memorized the name of the artist and later that day went off to the music store to buy that CD to replace it. "Are you sure you don't have it in?"
"I don't see it. I probably got the name spelled wrong."
"Probably, I don't even know for sure how it's spelled."
"Do you know the name of the CD you're looking for, we can try searching for it that way," the lady asks as she looks for the CD on the computer to see if there's any CD's of that artist in stock.
"Uh, yeah, Father's House, it's called."
"Okay, Father's House, let's see." Putting that in under the Title search, rather than the Artist name search, she waited for the search to come up with the results. "Uh, there are a few ones that came up, here have a look."
"Let me see," stretching over Scott looked on the screen. "That's the one there. I still don't know how you say his last name. Doesn't matter, I want to get my friend that CD for Christmas to replace the one he has that got scratched. Do you have it in the store?"
"Nope, I would have to order it in for you and that will take 2 to 4 to even 6 weeks to get here and it will be $21."
"Oh that long, it will be too late then to get it in time for Christmas."
"Well, it's a special order; it has to come from Canada, and besides we don't carry too many Christian or Gospel CDs in here. You could try at a Christian Book Store; see if they have it in there."
"Oh, okay, thanks anyway." Doing that, he had to drive all the way uptown to get there, but it was well worth it as he soon discovered! Not only did they have the CD in, but 2 of his newest out; and for a lot cheaper, than what the music store wanted them for! "So how come it's so cheap here? The music store wanted $21 for it. I can get that CD and his 2 other ones as well, they're all inexpensive."
"He's just not selling them that expensively that's all; Brian's not out to make money, like some people are. However, he is a very popular artist. So is this for you?"
"No, it's for a friend, it's his Christmas present. He got his Father's House CD all scratched up when a creep wrecked our house. This is perfect, God answered my prayer; I just could not think of anything he would like for a gift. I was so totally stuck on what to get him that he would really like, especially with days to go before Christmas."
"Ah, see, all it takes is a prayer to get your answers."
Happily paying for it, he was thanking God silently for answering that big one. "Hey do you have anything in here to protect CDs so they don't get scratched up, some sort of spray or something like that?"
"Uh, yes," finding it with the CDs and accessories. "Here, you just slip them over the CD and snap them in place, and if it gets scratched, you just take that off and replace it with a new one. It keeps your CDs protected. I use these myself and they work great."
"I'll take two packages of them." After paying for that as well, Scott headed for home. Doing the last bit of wrapping, he put the goodies under the tree, and headed off to the kitchen, and who was there, after some eggnog! "Well I did it, problem solved," he tells Jean through her telepathy, 'I finally got Morph's Christmas present; and boy is he going to love it!" "Hey, what's with you, Morph, you shouldn't be so upset looking, after all, it's nearly Christmas, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm just missing my papa is all; I'm really homesick for him. You would think that he would call or write to me, but he hasn't, not even while I was in the treatment center. I don't know why."
"Oh, he probably doesn't even know that you're back, home here, that's all," Jean says as she takes the two big turkeys out to give them enough time to thaw out slowly out on the porch in the cold, so the will be ready to cook on Christmas.
"You think, I mean, I didn't call him or write to him lately, to tell him that, too busy with tons of other stuff to think of it; shame on me for doing that."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, it couldn't be helped. It has been very busy around here now, and especially for you, after what happened to the Professor, and you taking on lots of extra duties and all that. You're all bogged down with doing that, it happens. Besides, when we were setting it up for you to go to Muir Island for treatment, Moira told us that you could not have any contact with the outside world, nothing, not until she gave us the thumbs up. She didn't know how big of a threat you were with your schizophrenia, and well, after hearing what Sinister did to you. Well, safety was the number one issue with Moira. So she thought it would be best for everyone concerned, keeping their best interest in mind, no matter how awful it sounded, that you should have little to no contact with any friends or family members, at least not for the first little while anyway. So any letters you wrote, were kept at Muir Island or were sent to us, probably kept, I don't think we got one of them. Jean, did we get anything?"
"No, nothing that I can recall," Morph looked so shocked. "Sorry, those were the rules, you were dangerous, after all, not to mention Sinister more so."
"Does he even know I'm alive?"
"Yes, I called your, papa, back, to tell him you are alive, and you are going for treatments, but had to remain in little to no contact for the first little while. I actually had to call him a second time to tell him that, no calls or letters to you, because it wasn't allowed."
"Oh, no wonder why. Bet he was so happy to get that call, wasn't he? What did he say or do, scream, I don't believe you, you said he was dead or oh my God oh mio Dio he's still alive."
"I wouldn't know, he wasn't home, so I left him two messages on his answering machine, and our number to call back, if he had any questions or concerns, or in case if he didn't believe it, that you are alive."
"Oh I could imagine how happy he was, to get, that, call! Now I have to decide and quickly I got a half-hour before the mail goes out if I should mail this at least, the mug and letter, or if I should just hand-deliver it to my papa, on Christmas, when I go see him. It's cutting it close, it shouldn't take any more than a day or two to get it off to Pittsburgh, and that's only 5 or 6 hours away, so it should get there in time for Christmas."
Scott listening to this could sense the heartache in Morph's voice, and could feel a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was it guilt? No, it wasn't guilt - okay maybe a tiny bit - but it was actually a still small voice; he knew this was something he needed to do and act on, as he heard God's Voice he swore, saying, listen to what your friend is really saying, without saying it. "I'll uh, send it off. We need some more eggnog anyhow. I'll send it express for you, so it gets there for sure on Christmas, just in case you can't go there for some reason, at least your papa will get his gift from you. I'll even pay for it to go out, my little way of saying sorry for what I did."
"Uh," scratching his head, he nodded and left, "okay, sure, whatever; just be sure you do that before you go get the eggnog, Scott."
As soon as Morph was long gone, he grabbed the phone. "Now's my chance, I could tell he misses his papa, why not invite him over here for Christmas, I can pick him up, so he'll be surprised."
"Yeah, that's a great idea, Scott. Only one problem, you have to go get the number from his file off of Cerebro, and you probably can't ask Morph, for the password to his file, he'll figure it out or ask why you need it, and it will ruin the surprise."
"Yeah, and Cerebro won't release any of our personal information on any of the X-Men, not without 1 of the 2 access passwords to do it. The one to which the file belongs to, or the Professor's all access password to all of the files. All Cerebro will release freely is the mutant's names, and the video clips and the power descriptions, and that's about it. Anything more personal than that, or they don't want made public, Cerebro won't release it, for confidentiality's sake, and in Morph's case that would be phone numbers, and his actual name."
"Well, how did you get Morph's phone number those 2 times when you called him after we thought he was dead, then later when we found out he wasn't dead?"
"The Professor, he used his password and wrote the number down for me, and he shredded it after I dialed the number, both times."
"So how are you supposed to get his number now, with the Professor gone?"
"Oh that's easy, 4-1-1, I have all of the information I'll need to get the number right here," pointing to the delivery address, and the name of the recipient, Edward. "Hi there, I need to know a phone number of a friend of mine in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, I forgot, by the name of Edward Jones-Dommosskey. Uh the two last names are slashed. I have the address if you need that information as well to locate his number," walking off outside for some privacy with the mobile phone and package in his hand, as he heard someone coming towards the kitchen. Fearing it was Morph, he telepathically asked Jean, Who it is, is it Morph coming back into the kitchen?
Jean came out and handed him a pen and chunk of paper to write the number down. "It's just Rogue, don't worry."
"Oh good, I thought he was back for something. Okay, you got it great, so what's the number," and was told the number and relayed it a second time to make sure he got the number correct. "I got it, thanks, so much, you've been a big help, and merry Christmas." Clicking off the phone Scott turned it back on and dialed the number he got from 4-1-1, and waited as it rang four almost five times. Sure enough, that same husky Italian accented sounding man he called the first time to tell him Morph was dead came on the phone and said hello. "I sure hope he's home today, and not off visiting somewhere. Oh good you are home. Hello, is this Edward Jones-Dommosskey?" Sure it was him, from the accent, but double-checked said it anyway.
"It's just Dommosskey now, but yes, you got the right number. I'm not going to be able to help you with any legal matters until the first Monday after the New Year, so it will have to wait until, then, I'm sorry."
"Huh? What are you, a lawyer?"
"Yes. Isn't that why you calld me, you need a lawer or legale advice?"
"Oh! Ha, ha, okay. No, I got uh, a proposal for you, for some Christmas fun, and joy, this holiday season."
"That won't be very likely; I'm in no mood nor have any sort of holiday cheer in me whatsoever really anymore. I don't even have my house decorated."
"What, well why not?"
"There's no point, no one's coming over, and now I have no one to even celebrate Christmas with. Most of the family, I do have left, live too far away to bother to go see them. Even if I did try to get out there to see them, I probably wouldn't be able to get a plane ticket this close to Christmas. Hey, who is this, your voice sounds oddly familiar, why is that?"
"Because you sort of do know me; I'm Scott Summers from the Xavier School."
"Oh, I see, so it's, you," he says monotonously, with a hint of anger in his voice when he said 'you' that it would be him of all people calling him now. All he could think of was, what for, was it to now wish me condolences, after what has happened, especially after it all being your fault for doing what you did, to cause it to happen, by your bad judgment choice you made. "Well then, Scott, then I'm sure you know already then exactly why I'm in no mood to celebrate anything now anymore, since my son is dead, no thanks to your bungling."
"What, no. Didn't you get my messages?"
"Messages, what are you talking about, no, when?"
"Over 8 almost 9 months, after I called you to tell you your son died."
"No, I didn't get any messages from you or the Xavier School, sorry."
"Well that can't be, right, I did call you back, and I left you two messages on your answering machine, you had to have gotten them. I told you exactly who I was on the messages and why I was calling you back."
"No, I didn't get those messages whatever they were. Wait, about 8 almost 9 months after that, call to tell me my son died…wait, ohh, oh, I know why I never got the messages, that's when my house got broken into, oh, no. Sorry I didn't get them at all then. See when my house got broken into they took a few things, I did get them all recovered or replaced but my answering machine those kids took it smashed it, with a baseball bat for kicks, along with a few other things. So no, I never did get those two messages. But since then I got a home security, monitoring system, so now that won't happen to me again. So what was it, do you remember the messages?"
"Oh! Yes, and I'm about to make this the best Christmas ever, then, for you with what I'm about to tell you! Believe it or not, your son is still alive and well! Turns out, it was only a near-death experience he had. He had to get some treatment to help with the problems he had after that, but he's fine now and perfectly well, and back home here."
"What! No, don't do this to me! Oh please, not at Christmas, no!" he wails out tears in his voice! "If you're just saying that, to try and…"
"No, it's all true, honest to God, I swear it on a Bible, cross my heart; it's true; he is alive! He was revived, but we all didn't know that, for over 8 months, when he turned up, posing as our pastor to marry us. It was because the jerk that revived him had other plans, to use him, to get what he wanted from me and my wife Jean, which, just so happened to coincided perfectly well since your son had wanted vengeance on me and the other X-Men. Your son was put under a mind-control to seek his vengeance on us, which also gave him a split personality. But I can assure you that he's now perfectly sane now. He told me that God fully healed him completely of all the schizophrenia and all the other problems he had." There was sobbing on the other end mixed with what sounded like very loud and joyful praising, in some foreign tongue, probably Italian Scott guessed. "He's homesick for you, he was going to come and see you for Christmas, but I got a much better idea, how about, you, surprise him, and come over here instead, for Christmas, and see him, give him a big old Christmas surprise!"
"Oh, he's still alive! Oh God did keep his promise to me, and all this time, oh I oh I-I've been a doubting fool and to jerk God, and so angry and so nasty and, sniff, all for nothing!"
"Promise, what promise?"
"I prayed for him to have a long life, so after, you know, a-after that, accident, I was so angry with God and myself, I just about gave up, and nearly turned away. I was just so angry. I just couldn't believe in Him anymore that a loving God could break His promise to me like that, I was hurting so bad. I was so pissed off I kept screaming at God, revive him resurrect him, now, or else, I will turn away from You because You're a big fat liar!"
"Well, God knows why, and I know He will forgive you for all of that, after all, He knows perfectly well why you did and said that, and He totally understands. Ha, ha, and, He did answer that prayer he was revived or resurrected. I mean, put into that situation, God knows if he didn't survive it all, somehow, or resurrected or revived like he was, it would make God out to be a liar, right?"
"But He sure isn't! I have to make things right now. Oh, is Sydney there, now, I want to talk with him, so badly!"
"Who?" a bit surprised to hear a name, in a strange way, he had thought Morph was Morph's real name, only for a moment, before it hit him, and Edward had already asked cleared it up.
"Sydney, my son, is he there?"
"Sydney, oh, so that's his name, we just call him Morph, because of his powers. He never did tell us what his name is. It's been a mystery, he's never told any of us what his name is. Yeah, but, uh, but, it will ruin the surprise, if you did that. I wanted you to come over here for Christmas to surprise him, kind of like a big surprise gift for him. Do you want to do that, or can you not wait to see him or hear his voice? I can go get him if you really can't wait; he is here, he's around somewhere."
"I guess I can wait, a few more days, if I waited this long, just assure me that he is there, and alive and normal and all that."
"He is here, and very much alive and well, and back to the way he used to be, all silly and fun-loving, prankster, shape-shifter." Well, Edward wholeheartedly agreed to leave it all as a big surprise, even despite how quite eager and desperate he was to hear and especially to see his son, now after getting that wonderful and so joyous news from Scott that he still has his son alive and well! So with leaving Edward with their number and the directions to the place, Edward said that it would be easy to find his way to New York, especially with the GPS he has in his car. With that, he hung-up, as it was soon time for Christmas, fast approaching!