Disclaimer: Not mine

A/N: I know it's been nearly a month and I am so sorry, I was in a funk and then was kinda semi-depressed and angry at everything in my life and was unable to write and then I got to reading some Jasper/Bella twilight fanfiction. It's my guilty pleasure. Don't judge me. But now I am back, so please enjoy this short chapter, I'm hoping to start working on the next chapter tomorrow.

Chapter twenty-six

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~Cheri, Niki & Family ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Seven years ago when Norah had been fifteen years old Cheri had made one of the biggest mistakes of her life – other than knowingly marrying an alcoholic. Cheri had said hurtful, painful things to her teenage daughter and had believed wholeheartedly in every word that she spoke to her; she believed that Mutants were a danger to the majority of the population, she believed that most Mutants would eventually turn on the human race, that they would eventually try and harm the humans, she believed that they all were a danger and that the ones who had incredibly powerful and dangerous abilities like Norah did would eventually let their powers rule them and put humans in danger. At the time, Cheri had believed what she said to Norah, she truly thought that Mutants needed to be subdued, she thought that they all needed to be 'fixed' of their abilities and that they needed to be kept track of because of what they could do and what they could eventually let themselves do – harm other humans, try and control them and/or kill and enslave them.

Before Cheri had found out about Norah she had read articles and watched the news about Mutants who nearly had killed the humans and who had wanted to kill off the humans because they were different than the Mutants and for that reason alone Cheri had decided that all Mutants were like that – power hungry, greedy and dangerous to everyone around them. For the first time in her life Cheri feared her daughter, feared what she could do and what she could become, feared that she would be like those other Mutants that she had read about in the news and that made her decide that she needed to 'fix' her youngest daughter of her Mutant powers so that she didn't become dangerous to herself or the people that she cared for.

It wasn't until years later, after an argument that she had with Niki, did Cheri realize how completely and utterly blind she had been and how…how racist she was being towards her own daughter and the people that Norah was a part of – Mutants. Her daughter was a Mutant, a Mutant who had two incredible abilities and Norah loved her powers and enjoyed being a Mutant even though there was so much hate and violence when it came to Mutants. Cheri should have been supportive, she should have told Norah that she supported her, that she loved her and didn't care that she was a Mutant but instead she had acted like those anti-Mutant groups and looked at her own daughter with fear and disgust and had told her that she wanted to 'fix' what was wrong with her even though there was nothing wrong with Norah. Cheri's reaction to Norah being a Mutant was what drove her daughter to run away from home at the age of fifteen and really, Cheri couldn't blame her for doing that. She would have done the exact same thing especially since Cheri had wanted to force Norah to go to the doctor's office to try and 'fix' her of her Mutant powers. Cheri was glad that Norah took matters into her own hands and ran away before she was able to lose her powers because Cheri feared her abilities; being a Mutant was an integral part of what made Norah….Norah and Cheri was glad that she wasn't able to take that away from her daughter.

"Mom," Niki said as she moved from where her daughter was sitting with her husband in the rather spacious seats of the cabin of the private jet they were in – a Stark Industries jet specifically – and sat down beside her mother who was looking at if she had a million things going on in her mind at once and was giving herself a headache. "Are you okay?" she questioned carefully, not sure how her mother's emotional or mental state were at the present moment.

At that Cheri laid her head back against the head rest of her seat and pursed her lips together for a moment before giving a dark, hollow sounding chuckle, "No, no I'm not. Not in the least." She said with a sullen tone of voice, a pained expression playing across her face. "I'm heading to New York to see my estranged daughter who I haven't seen in seven years and the last time I did see her I told her that she needed to be 'fixed' of her mutation, I told her that all Mutants were dangerous and that I refused to let my own daughter become one of them and now….now I'm beyond nervous at seeing her again and am on a jet to see her and hoping against god that she doesn't hate me on sight and tell me that she hates me." She said to her eldest daughter and paused for a moment to regain control of her erratic breathing. "And seriously? A Jet? We're on a jet, a Stark jet which I still can't wrap my mind around. I mean how in the hell does she know Stark or people who work at Stark Industries that make it possible to send this jet for us, is she some sort of high up researcher or scientist or something along those lines?" she questioned and then grasped at her hair in frustration and seemed to give an almost inaudible scream. "For fucks sake I don't even know my own daughter anymore and the only one I can blame for that is myself and I hate it and hate myself that I allowed that to happen."

Hearing how frustrated and angry at herself her mother was Niki opened her mouth to say something, to reassure her mother that everything was going to be okay and work out in the end but shut her mouth before she could even form a word. She knew that no matter what she would say to her mother that it wouldn't be enough to make her feel better about how she had treated Norah and how she had reacted to the information of Norah being a Mutant (she overreacted to the nth degree), she also couldn't make her mother feel better about the fact that she didn't know anything about Norah anymore either. Niki was in the same boat though; Niki didn't know anything about the person that Norah was now, she didn't know what her likes and dislikes were, her favorite color, her favorite food, what she was passionate about, her favorite band, she didn't know what her favorite book was, who she was dating, what her job was, if she went to school and what for, she knew absolutely nothing about her sister.

"How can you stand to look at me and be around me?" Cheri asked after a few minutes of silence between herself and Niki. "How could you bare to be around me all these years after what I said and did to Norah?" she questioned, tears in her eyes which she quickly tried to wipe away before they had a chance to fall down her face.

Niki gave a sad smile and grasped her mother's hand and gave it a tight squeeze, "Because you're my mother and I love you." Niki responded simply. "I love and I am sure that no matter what has happened in Norah's life that she still loves you, even if you did overreact to her being a Mutant. You were brainwashed by the media, by what the media and what some articles online said about Mutants – that they were dangerous and needed to be watched." She told her in understanding. "I believed at first, I believed that Mutants were bad and dangerous but then I paid attention, really paid attention and realized they were people just like you and I. That they were different then us, yes, but they were still people, still living and breathing people who deserved to have a normal life just like anyone else. We all make mistakes, some worse than others, and yeah, you probably shouldn't have acted the way you did but it's too late to take it back but it's definitely not too late to ask for forgiveness from Norah. If she's still just as stubborn as she used to be it may take a while but eventually she'll forgive you."

Hearing that Cheri gave a laugh, her youngest has always been stubborn as a mule and would outwait someone if she absolutely had to and would not change her mind for anything if she truly didn't want to do something. It was one of the things that Cheri loved and hated about her daughter – her stubbornness. It was a good quality to have for the most part.

"Do you really think she'll forgive me?" Cheri asked uncertainly, she felt bad pouring her insecurities about her youngest onto her eldest daughter but there was no one else to ask and Tom, who had come with and was well on his way to being drunk courtesy of the Minibar, was not all that much help of much for comfort.

Niki nodded confidently, "Yes, I think she will. Just channel your inner Norah and don't back down until she accepts you, be stubborn like she is." She said with a small smile on her face.

Before either Niki or Cheri could say anything else to one and another on the subject of Norah, Niki's daughter Aurora came over and shoved a piece of paper at Niki and looked at her with hopeful blue colored eyes. "Do….do you think she'll like it? Auntie Norah?" she asked nervously as she pointed at the drawing she had done. "I don't know her favorite animal but dogs, everyone loves dogs. It's impossible not to LOVE dogs." She said with as much conviction as a seven year old could.

Niki smiled and pulled Rora in and kissed her on the forehead, "I think she'll love it, Norah used to love baby animals and puppies included. Maybe when we get to New York you can find out what her favorite animal is and draw it for her." She suggested with a smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Rora said brightly and then hopped back over towards her father and where her supplies of colors and paper was at the moment.

Looking out the window of where she was seated Niki gave a quiet sight and closed her eyes for a few moments, it wasn't just her mother who was worried about Norah accepting her again but Niki was worried as well. Norah may have called her before she went to Sokovia to defeat the bad guys or whatever, she wasn't exactly sure on the details just that there was some guy that wanted to take out the human race and she was helping her friends keep that from happening, but just because Norah called her didn't mean that Norah forgave her for siding with their mother all those years ago. Hell, Niki wouldn't be surprised if Norah didn't try and slap her or scream and throw things at her the moment she saw her again. She hoped she wouldn't do that but Niki wouldn't be all that surprised if that happened – she'd do the same thing in Norah's position honestly. Niki loved Norah, she truly loved her and missed her more than anything and wanted….needed to have the sister relationship that they once had had. She didn't realize what she was missing until it was gone; she missed late night talks, movie nights, make-up, talking about everything and anything, she missed having someone to talk about their parents to and complain about them to as well. Like any child.

Looking a few feet away at where there was another row of luxury seats Niki couldn't help but shake her head in disappointment at her father Tom, the moment that they stepped onto the jet he had made a beeline for the minibar and began to drink to his heart's content and ignored the glares that both Niki and Cheri had thrown at him. Tom was definitely not all that fatherly, even after not seeing Norah in seven years the only thing he seemed to care about was drinking and being drunk as he possibly could for as long as possible, even with his ex-wife threatening him and telling him to stay sober until AFTER he saw Norah, he didn't listen. He still drank and wanted to become drunk. If it was up to Niki she would cut her father out of her life, he didn't really do much for her, her daughter or anyone in the family really but her mother still cared for him as the father of her children even if they were divorced so Niki put up with him and had as minimal amount of contact with him as possible. She only hoped that he would try and be semi-sober when he had the chance to see Norah again but she wasn't about to hold her breath.

Rather than worrying about her father and his alcohol problem, Niki instead decided to worry about what she was going to say and do when she was finally face to face with Norah for the first time in seven years.

~_~_~_~_~_~ Author's Note ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

I know it's not all that much but it's better than nothing, I wanted you guys to see into what Norah's mother felt and see her family before they finally see Norah.