August 18, 1992

David looked around the square uncertainly. Sharon looked at ease next to him as people milled around. Kurt had told her that he would meet him there, but David' hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since he'd come into the square fifteen minutes ago.

He glanced at his watch. Kurt was at least ten minutes late, or David was ten minutes lost. There were too many people coming out for the night life. He pulled out his phone and began to dial his brother's number. Sharon put a hand on his forearm to stop him.

"I think you're forgetting who you're with," Sharon said.

He put his phone away, his eyebrows raised. Sharon took a deep sniff and smiled. She pointed towards the other side of the square.

"That way," she said.

"And here I was thinking cats only got caught up trees," David said.

Sharon tilted her head.

"Are you calling me a cat?" she asked.

"You have a cat's eyes," David said.

Sharon kept her head tilted. David smiled and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Beautiful cat's eyes," he said.

Sharon nodded.

"Good save," she said.

They walked to the other side of the square. David saw Kurt next to Amanda. The two of them were talking about something, he couldn't make out just what it was, but they were both animated.

Kurt turned and saw them. He waved and David waved back. Kurt wrapped a hand around Amanda's waist and walked up to them. Kurt gave David a sheepish look, but David wasn't there to lecture him. He just nodded at Sharon. He'd meant what he said earlier: he had understood.

He just wished that Kurt had decided on a better time to start taking cross-country trips.

"I'm guessing, from the fact that you're still wearing your old clothes, that you didn't bother to pack?" David asked.

Kurt blushed and Amanda laughed. David was struck by the pair they made: shining and happy. His parents would understand if they could see them like this. David wondered if the two of them had ever felt like Kurt and Amanda did, like leaving without saying a word to anyone was preferable to not seeing one another.

A second later he cursed himself for his stupidity. Of course they had. How could he think otherwise in light of what his father had told him? Besides, even when David was little, he'd seen the looks they'd given each other.

"It seems a little early to go out on the road though," Kurt said, "We can get dinner first, right?"

He could hear the pleading in his brother's tone. Part of David wanted to tell Kurt no, that they needed to get going as fast as possible. David's arm was still over Sharon's shoulder though, and stars were out.

Suddenly dinner seemed like a great idea.

"Of course," he said.

Kurt grinned and his eyes wandered over to Sharon.

"Double date?" he asked.

Sharon laughed and punched David lightly on the side. He could see the joy in her face though, and David couldn't help but feel that there was something in travelling the slow route sometimes.


"This place is huge mom," Luna yawned.

Lorna sat on the edge of her daughter's bed.

"It's a school," she said, "It's supposed to be big."

Luna nodded and looked around. Her daughter had said that Westchester reminded her of a palace. Lorna supposed that it was coded in her children's genes to like Westchester, to appreciate the beauty and peace it could offer.

"Will I be going here when I get older?" Luna asked, "If I'm a mutant?"

Lorna's heart ached. She didn't like the idea of having to send her daughter so far away as well as her son. Her daughter hadn't manifested her mutation yet, if she had one, and Lorna didn't like to think that it would be as dangerous as Max's had turned out to be.

"Maybe," she said.

Luna nodded and snuggled into her blankets.

"Is Max coming home with us after this?" she asked.

Lorna closed her eyes.

"No, not yet," she said.

"Why not?" Luna asked.

She looked down at her daughter's innocence. Lorna hadn't had that innocence since she was Luna's age. She could still remember the perfect faith that she'd had in her mother, a faith that had later been transferred to her father.

That faith had been both a blessing and a curse. Lorna didn't say any of this to Luna though. She wasn't even sure if Max was old enough to know, let alone her little daughter.

"He just needs to stay a little longer," she said, "But we'll be here for two weeks."

"And dad?" Luna asked.

Lorna thought of Providence, of her husband being called because one of his oldest friends had needed him.

"He'll be here soon, and then we'll all be together," Lorna said, "I'm sure you'll love that."

Luna nodded and yawned.

"It looks like it's time for you to go to sleep," Lorna said.

"I'm not sleepy," Luna said.

"You are though," Lorna said.

She got up and turned off the light.

"Good night Luna," she said.

"Night mom."

Lorna shut the door and walked down the hall. Her only thought was getting to sleep. Luna's questions had brought up a few painful memories, and her own doubts about the future. She could pretend that their visit to Max would make everything better, but she knew that it wasn't that simple. His mutation would still be uncontrollable for several more years.

Then there was the developing situation with the X-men. The Professor had asked her to stand as extra security in case something happened. She'd felt uncertain about bringing Luna to the Institute in light of this, but if something was going to happen in the world to mutants then the Institute was the safest place to be.

Lorna couldn't help but worry though. She had barely made it to her room when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and put it to her ear.

"Lorna Summers," she said.

"How's it going?"

Lorna smiled and held the phone close to her face.

"Everything's going fine Alex," she said, "Angel and Luna arrived this afternoon."

"Great," Alex said, "I'm glad that the flights didn't get delayed again. Calvin told me that the storm down there was getting pretty bad. How's our little princess doing?"

"Luna's fine," Lorna said, "She loves it here."

"We all did," Alex said.

Lorna thought of her earlier thoughts and felt some of the tension drain out of her. Alex always knew what to say.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too," he said.

He cleared his throat.

"Lorna, I booked a flight that'll take me down there," he said.

Lorna felt her heart leap up.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "It's a day from now, but I've been talking to Sean. Terry's back on her feet again, and he seems to be doing fine. She's stable, and she's rearing to get back onto the field."

Alex sighed.

"It's her way of coping I suppose, and I'm glad that she listens to Sean," he said, "He wants her to take it easy for a while, learn how to fight without her voice before she goes out again."

"So there still hasn't been any progress?" Lorna asked.

"Not really," Alex said, "I don't have too much faith in these SHIELD drugs. I don't have too much faith in these SHIELD people to be perfectly honest. They give me the creeps."

"Careful, they might be listening," Lorna said.

Alex roared with laughter on the other end, but they both had a pretty good idea of how strange the organization that Sean worked for was.

"I already checked the room for bugs," he said.

Lorna smiled.

"Hurry home," she said.

"Hey, I've never been able to stay away from you for long," Alex said, "Combine that with the kids, and it's like one giant magnet pulling me towards wherever you are."

Lorna closed her eyes, feeling the last of the tension drain out of her.

"Well, I am a guiding star," she said.

"Damn right you are," Alex said.


"Seriously? You guys can't move any faster? I gave you that thing like three chapters ago!"

"What are you talking about?" Scott demanded.

Deadpool made a face and pouted. Scott rubbed his temples and saw that Ororo was doing the same thing. Jean was concentrated on finishing decrypting the disk, so she was concentrated on her work. At least she didn't have to pay attention to Deadpool's ravings. The man was driving him insane.

Scott let his thoughts drift to Terry. She had always been a timid girl who had unwound slowly as time went by. She had been responsible, and he'd always trusted her judgement. She'd been a model student. How had she put up with Deadpool for more than five minutes, let alone long enough to fall in love with him? Then again, hadn't Sean asked Alex that since the two of them had become a couple?

Alex. Scott wished that he was with him at the moment. They had been funneling most of their energy into decrypting the disk, so they hadn't gone out on a mission since then. It was making Deadpool antsy, and Scott was getting tired of dealing with him. If Alex was there he might have already just fried him and had done with it.

"I've got it!" Jean said.

Scott got up and leaned over her shoulder. Files began to pop up on the Blackbird's computer. There were several different folders, a few of them with the Trask Industries logo on them.

Jean ignored them though, and hesitated over a smaller folder in the corner. She clicked on it and a few statistics came up.

"This one was the one that had the most data protections," she said.

Her voice seemed uncertain though. Scott looked at the folder.

"All I can see is shipping statistics," he said.

"Shipping?" Deadpool said, "Bo-ring. Where're they staying next? I need to blow that place up yesterday."

Jean ignored him and continued scrolling down the folder. She clicked on one of the files and several numbers appeared on the screen.

"Cyclops..." she whispered.

Scott pushed himself away and buckled into his seat. He heard Ororo and Deadpool scramble into their seats as he started the Blackbird's engines.

"What's happening?" Ororo said.

"We need to get to Westchester," Scott said, "Right now."

Ororo's eyes widened. She hurried to get her headphones are.

"Hey, I'm still here to kill people," Deadpool said.

"Then jump out of the plane," Scott snapped, "But we're going to New York, and we're going to New York now!"

Deadpool's eyes narrowed, but Scott couldn't care. He switched the Blackbird on and guided it into take-off position. Under normal circumstances he would have let Jean take control of the plane. There wasn't time for her to get into the main pilot seat though. He'd switch positions later.

He waited until they were over the city and the signal was clear before he began talking again.

"Marvel, radio Westchester right now," Scott said, "I need to get the Professor on and tell him what's happening."

Jean began turning the radio dials, trying to get the right frequency. Scott looked over at Ororo.

"What's our ETA?" he asked.

"About forty five-minutes if we push it," she said.

"Can we make it thirty?" Scott asked.

Ororo stared at him, her hands frozen.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Scott was about to answer when an explosion jolted the Blackbird forward.

"Engine one is down!" Jean shouted.

Scott struggled with the controls as the Blackbird spiralled downwards towards the city below them.