Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution.

Chapter Forty – Explanations

February 1999

"Wait, wait, wait …" Pietro cut in, looking bewildered. "She's your mother?"

"Keep your voice down." Lexa said quietly. "No one else knows. Not even Wolverine." She didn't turn to look at him. "Am I right?"

"Yes, you are." Deborah whispered, a pained expression on her face.

"Lex …" Pietro murmured, a touch of sympathy in his voice. Maybe if this revelation had come at any other time or place, she would have been annoyed at that; refusal to accept sympathy or pity was something they had in common.

But she could tell he tried to hide it. And even if he hadn't, she wouldn't care.

Not now.

"No." Lexa tightened her grip on his hands, leaning back against him subconsciously. "I need you here."

"Kitty said you were abducted from a hospital as a baby." Pietro said quietly.

"That's what SHIELD thinks." Lexa told him softly. "What I thought too, but I reorganised the infirmary filing cabinet last week and caught sight of my DNA profile. I've got a photographic memory. It took me a while to figure out where I'd seen it before." She met her mother's eyes openly. "Why? What could they have possibly offered to make you experiment on your own baby?"

"It wasn't that simple!" Deborah protested. "It's … I can't explain it …"

"Try." Lexa suggested sharply, feeling Pietro shift his hands so his were covering hers, tracing soothing patterns on her skin.

"They decided that it would be easier for me to get pregnant than for them to abduct babies; there are … places that help you out. I was so desperate to have a child that I didn't realise what I was doing until I was already pregnant." Deborah didn't break eye contact, seeming to beg Lexa to understand. "My first five pregnancies were boys; I miscarried every time. I think it was because I knew what was going to happen to them. When I found out you were a girl, I was so relieved. They were so insistent that it had to be a boy … The time I spent pregnant with you was the happiest nine months of my life. I figured that they'd start again and you'd be safe, but …"

"They decided to use me anyway." Lexa finished quietly. She knew she could get Kitty to check if the woman was telling the truth, but she didn't need a telepath; her emotions were strong enough for Lexa to sense in the air.

"The second you were born they took you away from me." Deborah faltered. "You have … You have no idea how awful it was … hearing my child screaming for me but powerless to get to you …"

"And the DNA?" Lexa prompted gently, unable to keep the harshness in her voice any longer.

"They said they'd put you through the process with or without it." Deborah fumbled for a tissue in her pocket, as her tears began to fall. "I left it for as long as I could, but … I couldn't lose you; I couldn't … Every day, I tried to find a way of getting us both out of there, but I couldn't … I tried so hard, but … I couldn't protect the one person I cared about."

Lexa watched as her mother finally looked away; she had never known that Deborah had stayed in an attempt to protect her.

Looking back, she could remember the time she'd spent with the woman … how she'd snuck pages of fairy-tales into combat manuals … how she was the only person who smiled at her … how she used to run a comforting hand across her forehead when she was sick … how she used to sneak sweet things into her meals without anyone noticing …

Now she thought about it, there was something else that had been bothering her.

Reaching out, Lexa touched Deborah's arm gently, drawing the woman's attention back to her. "When I escaped … there were holes in the security grid … every time I thought they might catch me, something happened. I thought it was luck or a coincidence, but … it was you, wasn't it?"

Deborah nodded, still trying to control her tears. "I managed to slip a virus into the system and activated it when you escaped. Once you were free, it was utter chaos and I managed to slip away to SHIELD. I was hoping that they could help both of us, but then they told me you'd been killed going after HYDRA and …" She finally lost her battle, sinking to her knees shaking with sobs. "I'm so sorry … I tried so hard …"

Lexa started forward instinctively, before glancing back at Pietro. She was confused.

Her boyfriend had been right when he'd pointed out that HYDRA had failed when it came to her; she wasn't a soulless emotionless weapon.

But just being emotionless didn't mean she always understood them and Deborah's actions didn't seem to follow through with love as she knew it.

Something Anna had said when they were talking Lorelai suddenly floated into her head: "Having a child … it's like taking everything you know about your capacity to love is just turned on its head. Suddenly there's this little person and you'd do absolutely anything to protect them. Did you know a mother bear will eat her cubs if the food runs out? But it's been proven that it's not to save herself; it's to save them from a horrible death by starvation."

Seeing the conflict in her eyes, Pietro kissed the side of her head lightly and released her. No longer able to use his embrace as an excuse not to move, Lexa moved instinctively, crouching beside her mother, feeling her own tears forming in her eyes.

When Lexa's hand touched her shoulder, Deborah wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her tightly, rocking her soothingly in an attempt to bring comfort to both of them.

It would take a long time for Lexa to completely trust her mother, but she knew she'd do everything she could to get there.

Once the Brotherhood had taken statements and were waiting for Pietro and Lexa to talk to SHIELD, Lance pulled Kitty aside to talk to her.

"Are you alright?"

Kitty sighed. "Lance, I'm fine; I promise."

"What were you thinking?" Lance murmured into her hair, one arm around her waist, the other hand on her stomach.

"I was thinking I can't do this without you." Kitty glanced over her shoulder. "And Lexa was gonna do something stupid if I didn't come up with something." She cupped his face to get his attention. "I was careful, Lance. That's why I let them catch me; I knew that way I could control what happened rather than fighting back. I kept a shield around my stomach all the time."

"I'm worried about you as well." Lance told her with a smile, kissing her.

"Well, I'm always careful." Kitty grinned. "I wasn't going to do anything reckless, Lance. Don't get me wrong; I'd walk through hell and back for you, but if it means putting this child in danger, you're on your own."

"Strangely enough, I'm alright with that." Lance kissed her forehead. "I love you, Kitten."

"I love you too, Shakedown." Kitty murmured, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Do you think she's okay?" Lance asked quietly, nodding towards Lexa, who was now talking to Fury, arm wrapped around Pietro's waist.

Kitty sighed. "I think she will be."

Somehow, Kitty and Lexa made it home before curfew with no one none the wiser about their rescue mission. Closing the front door behind them blocked out the sounds of the wind and twilight chorus, leaving them in strangely quiet house, and the two exchanged a frown before making their way to the rec room, pushing open the door to find a scene so peaceful that both took a moment to double-check their surroundings, just to make sure they'd entered the right house.

John was sat at one end of the couch, his back against the arm rest, his legs bent at the knee, but parted slightly to allow Amara to sit between them, leaning back against his chest, apparently half-asleep.

Remy was lounging at the other end of the couch, nodding to something John was saying, but watching Anna, who was lying on the floor, pulling faces at her daughter, whom she was holding above her.

Lorelai's gurgling was the only sound that filled the room, aside from the low hum of the TV, but the only people paying any attention to the latter were Ray, Roberto and Jamie, which was odd in itself, because the first two could rarely watch for more than a few minutes without a fight breaking out over what to watch.

Taryn was sat in Warren's lap – it hadn't taken those two long to get their acts together once Warren had realised that Scott had no problem with him dating his ex-girlfriend – and cradling one of the twins, probably Monica, judging by the pink hue of the baby's clothing, and talking to Scott, who was holding a sleeping Joey.

Sam and Rahne were curled up in one armchair, talking quietly and exchanging occasional kisses.

Bobby and Jubilee were in the other, but they were silent; the only sign either was still awake was Bobby stroking his fiancée's stomach absently, a tiny bump just visible under her shirt.

Almost hating to break the peaceful atmosphere, Kitty cleared her throat. "Where's everyone else?"

"Kurt's with Amanda." Jubilee answered without opening her eyes. "She leaves in two days on that cruise she doesn't wanna go on. But if her parents call, he's here."

"Noted." Kitty's eyes moved to the twins. "And Jean?"

"Infirmary." Scott didn't look at her. "Alex and Lorna were attacked in town today."

"Are they alright?" Lexa asked immediately.

"Jean kicked me out because I was 'getting in the way'." Scott admitted. "So I don't know."

With nary a glance between them, Kitty and Lexa turned on their heels and made a beeline for the infirmary, where they found Jean searching through the filing cabinet.

She glanced up as they entered, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. "Lexa, where did you put Lorna's file?"

"It should be under P." Lexa answered, sparing her a glance. "You two alright?"

Alex shrugged, the movement causing him to wince. "Been better."

"What's the injury count?" Kitty asked.

"A lot of bruises and Alex has a broken arm." Jean straightened up. "Lex, what in God's name is Lorna's file doing under 'P'?"

"You told me to file under code-name." Lexa reminded her. "Lorna doesn't have one, so I made one up temporarily."

"Which is?" Lorna prompted.

"Polaris." Lexa told her. "You know, magnets."

"I like it." Lorna decided.

"Good." Jean handed Lexa the file. "Make yourself useful; check for allergies. Kitty, can you get a painkiller out please?"

"No allergies." Lexa frowned, turning the file around to get a better look at the information. "Er, Jean …"

"Not now, Lexa." Jean slipped a needle into Lorna's arm. "Don't move."

Rolling her eyes, Lexa opened the filing cabinet, finding the Q section, which was very small – in fact, it only had one file.

When she'd reorganised the cabinet, she'd only read her own file, respecting her team-mates' privacy. But finding a file with her boyfriend's name on it had caught her attention and she had glanced inside to make sure it had been labelled correctly.

It had been and she'd moved on, deciding not to question why the X-Men had files on the Brotherhood as well, but her photographic memory had seen enough and something had just struck her.

Pulling out the file labelled 'Quicksilver', she opened it again, holding the two DNA profiles side by side.

Just to make sure, Lexa then searched the 'S' section and extracted Wanda's file, flipping that open as well. "Jean …"

"Not now, Lexa." Jean repeated. "Thanks, Kitty."

"Jean …"

"Lexa, not now!" Jean insisted. "How are you feeling, Lorna?"

But it wasn't Lorna who answered. Lexa, staring at the samples in front of her, decided not to bother with sugar-coating her discovery.

"She's Pietro's sister."

AN: Review please!