I was fourteen when Victory in Europe was declared. There was a party in the hospital, and I had my first glass of champagne there with my father. If you can imagine it think of your birthday and Christmas happening at the same time. Everyone was celebrating. Several people had taken to the streets, yelling things in French I could barely understand.
For all the jubilation I knew we couldn't go home yet. The war was still raging in the Pacific and it would take more than a simple declaration of victory to heal the soldiers in our care. Our work would not end for a good deal of time. We knew this. Yet, everyone felt like we were looking at a brave new world.
Lorna turned the page. It was the third day of summer break. Alex had left the day before with Scott in tow. She'd already written him once. She figured the sooner she wrote the sooner he'd write back. And he had promised to write back. He wouldn't break his promise if he knew what was good for him when he returned to the school.
Rahne was on a hike with a few friends. For her part she had declined to join them. Lorna hadn't had much time for reading since she'd joined the X-men. Now that she seemed to have some leftover time she vowed that she was going to finish the journal. She'd waited long enough to know what it was that her mother had felt was important enough that she would commit to paper.
Taking a bite of an apple she'd taken from teh kitchen as a snack Lorna continued reading.
Nonetheless the hospital was more crowded than ever. Thankfully the wounds were no longer something that had to be treated immediately. There were dressings to change but the death rate in the hospital fell steadily. Wounded soldiers were being shipped to hospitals in the states now so they could be with their families while they recovered.
Many hospitals were also taking in the victims of the Concentration Camps that had been found scattered across Europe. Several had contracted diseases and all were suffering from malnutrition. I found myself there more days than most, trying to give them foods that wouldn't destroy their digestive systems but instead strengthen them.
It was around this time that I met your father.
She choked on the piece of apple she was eating. Forcing herself to calm down Lorna swallowed. Closing her eyes she clenched the sides of the journal. Part of her didn't want to read on. Her mother hadn't been very forthcoming about such information when she was alive. Lorna had only supposed that she was left in too much pain to speak of it.
If her father was a wounded soldier that would make him at least eighteen at this point. However, she knew her mother wouldn't be dallying with someone that much older than her. It didn't make sense to her. So much for that theory. She saw that it was more likely that he was a French local or a visiting family member. Either way it didn't matter; she was going to hear about her father for the first time in her life soon.
Swallowing she read on.
"Charles?"
Moira walked into his office, wrapping her bathrobe around her. Her husband was staring out the window. On his desk was a leather-bound journal. While she didn't flatter herself by thinking that she knew everything about Charles' office, she knew that it was new. Perhaps it had something to do with the current situation.
"It's nearly midnight," she said, "Are you coming to bed?"
He didn't answer right away. Frowning she walked next to him. His face was blank, a sure sign that he was deep in thought.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Charles sighed.
"Lorna came in here six hours ago and made a rather unusual request," he said.
"Six hours?" asked Moira, "And you've been thinking about it all this time?"
He nodded. Suddenly she felt apprehensive and reached out for his hand. It didn't move beneath her touch, which worried her.
"What was it?"
His lips tensed into a thin line.
"You may be familiar with the fact that Lorna was raised in a single-parent household," he said.
"Yes, Rose told me."
Again Charles nodded. All of his words were strangely mechanical and robotic.
"Her mother left behind an account of…just about her entire life to Lorna," said Charles, "She wasn't one for words apparently and wanted her daughter to know exactly what happened. The original plan was to save it for her until she was old enough. I don't know when Susanna planned to give the journal to Lorna, but it was given to her directly after her mother's death."
Beneath her hand she felt Charles' twitch.
"I see," said Moira.
"She's been reading it for quite some time," he said, "And…today she found out her father's name. Her mother spent a lot of time looking for him after she found out she was pregnant, but gave up before Lorna was born. It was like he disappeared off the face of the Earth."
Charles leaned back.
"Lorna thinks her father might have been a mutant. She asked if I could find him with Cerebro."
"But Susanna said he wasn't a mutant," Moira said.
"I don't think Susanna knew," Charles said, "And Lorna thinks the same. They were young and, her words exactly were; 'I think he hid it from her like Sean hides his mutation from Maeve. I think he didn't want to be rejected.'"
Moira considered it.
"She might be right."
"Mmm," said Charles, "She might be. If I find him then she says that she wants to meet him."
"Well, you can do that, if he is a mutant," Moira said, "You've found a lot of people with that machine."
"I suppose that I could find him," Charles said quietly, "but finding him and getting him to come are two completely different things."
"I'm sure he'd want to meet his daughter," said Moira, "Most men would. I mean…it'll be shocking to him. But I'm sure we could arrange something. And if not…well, then at least Lorna will know."
Charles shook his head. His free hand made a vague gesture and it was only then that she realized he was holding something.
"I wish it were that simple."
She laughed, made nervous by the agitation in his voice.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Perhaps because her father's name is Erik Lensherr."
There was a long silence.
"That can't be right," Moira whispered.
"It's what her mother wrote," said Charles tiredly, "And it makes sense when you think about it."
"But…I…"
"Moira, look at this. It was in the journal."
He brought his other hand round. In it was an old black and white photograph. There was a woman in it who looked somewhat like Lorna, even though her hair was probably brown. Another teenager stood next to her, an arm put companionably across her shoulders. Although the years had done their toll it was unmistakenably Erik.
"Oh my God," she murmured.
"My thoughts exactly," Charles said, putting the picture down on his desk, "He doesn't know of her existence; I'm sure of it."
"How?"
Charles gripped her hand and sighed.
"Erik is...possessive. If he knew he had a daughter he would have sought her out," he said, "The only question we have to ask ourselves now is what do we do?"
Almost angrily he shook his head.
"How do I explain to her that her father is the man she's been fighting against all this time?" he demanded, "How do I get him to come? Should I even want him to?"
Moira didn't say anything; she just rubbed circles on the back of his palm.
"You think we shouldn't tell him, don't you?" asked Charles.
"I don't think that," said Moira softly, "I don't know what to think. He's her father…but…he's also a wanted man. I don't know Charles."
He leaned his head down. Moira got up and sat in his lap, cradling his head to her. Charles sagged into her and she could see the stress that this was causing him. For six hours he'd probably been thinking of nothing else. As if his burden wasn't already heavy enough he had to deal with this as well.
"Whatever you decide, I'll stand by you," she said, "I swear I will."
His fingers dug into her shoulders, pulling her closer
"I need to tell him sweetheart," he said, "I…can't keep this a secret from both of them. He's my friend and she's my student. I have a duty to both of them."
He looked at her with pleading eyes.
"If nothing else he deserves a chance to talk to her before she finds out who he is. He deserves a chance to have her understand him, and she deserves the chance to try."
She nodded. It was the decision that she knew he'd reach.
"Okay," she said, "Okay."
Moira took a deep breath.
"So what do we do now?"
A/N: For all of you who knew or figured that out, good job adn congratulations! Now we're going to have some drama heating up here. In the comics Lorna Dane, or Polaris, was the daughter of Susanna Dane and Erik Lensherr. Thier background together was a little spotty, since the most information we have on Susanna comes from House of M which was an alternate reality. I ended up using the 'American in France' for her. And Lorna was also the youngest of Magneto's four children, the other three being Anya, Pietro, and Wanda. Anya died in a house fire when she was a toddler, the more you hear about his life the more you sympathize with the guy, and Pietro and Wanda are twins. Just felt a little less complicated to use her instead of the two of them. Besides, Lorna is Alex's girlfriend in the comics.