Memories

Still to Come

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.

Tora was sitting in the corner of the attic, gazing out of the window. The official reason she was up here was to look for parts for the Danger Room. The real reason she was up here was because she could see the grounds and the students in them. She loved watching the younger kids playing but there was still the heartwrenching point that soon Jamie would be out there, playing with children his own age. And then after that, he'd be with the teenagers watching calmly, playing basketball, growing up and not needing her any longer. That thought hurt. But he needed her now, the tiny baby who she could see Remy throwing in the air outside, with Ororo keeping a very close eye on him. The others were all so protective, acting as parents as well. Just yesterday, she'd seen Jean and Scott playing with Jamie. But even with his surrogate parents, if he saw her or Logan, his arms would instantly stretch out and he would cry to be picked up. It had been so funny when Cap had come round and Jamie had blinked at him then stuck his arms out to be picked up. Then when Stark turned up, Jamie stared at him for about a minute before turning away and snuggling further into Steve's arms. At that point, Bobby had cracked a joke about paternal instinct which resulted in Jamie doing the baby pout thing. Sometimes she swore he understood every word she said. His responses seemed faster than a normal child's of his age but then that could just be mother's pride speaking. Although he did have his favourite people and places. He liked Hank and the lab, willing spending all his time there with him, until he got hungry. Then he would bawl until Hank sent her a message to come down as soon as possible. But he seemed to love being carted around in a sling over Beast's chest, little hands clutching at blue fur. And Beast seemed to like having someone to talk to who listened politely and didn't interrupt with 'What's or 'How's. According to Hank, Jamie was the best listener other than Reed Richards, and even he could be trying as he would always insist on pointing out all the mistakes as Hank talked.

She stood up and scooped up the equipment. She had an appointment with Sue who wanted to talk baby talk with her. And to see if some of Franklin's old toys could be given to Jamie. Although Hank, Logan and Tora had all vetoed the Nuclear-Powered-Rock-a-Bye Crib that Reed had invented. There were some of Reed's inventions that were just questionable. What sane man invents a machine to attack a cosmic entity? She entered the room and stuck her head into the space where Hank was lying on his back, carefully taking the mechanisms apart.

"Got the parts Hank."

The blue hand reached out.

"I really appreciate this Tora."

"Do you want me to go and get a sandwich or eight?"

"Tora, you are a veritable life-saver. Not to mention your son is a brilliant listener and I may be forced to kidnap him to have someone listening to my plans. I believe he may have a brilliant scientific career ahead of him."

She laughed at that.

"You and Stark both. He saw Jamie messing about with one of the kids' phone and immediately tried to explain how it worked. I had to point out he is only four months old."

"But you have been playing him the Mozart CD I got for you?"

"Among other things…"

"You've been playing him Queen again, haven't you?"

"Er…yes."

"Tora, what are we going to do with you?"

Phoenix laughed.

"I remember walking in to find 'Who Wants to Live Forever' being played on repeat. And Jamie just listening to it. Well, it looked like he was listening to it."

Tora finished making the sandwiches as the coffee brewed. One thing she had missed while she was pregnant was coffee. Along with training and being allowed out on her own after a certain point. Kurt, Piotr or Logan ended up walking with her down the road to buy essentials when the others had used them up. Which completely defeated the point of her walking down there. She balanced the coffee mugs in one hand and Hank's sandwiches in the other, ready to begin the perilous journey downstairs to the Danger Room. Halfway down, Kurt had the misfortune to bump into her and ended up with the sandwiches. By the time she was there with Hank, she realized Remy would be looking for her, as it was time to feed Jamie. Managing to give her excuse to Hank, she hurried upstairs to find Remy charging leaves and blowing them away so they exploded about a metre away from him. Jamie was blinking owlishly, wondering what the pretty explosions were and forgetting that he was hungry. It was almost as good as the funny girl's paff-paffs. Then he was scooped up and heard 'Thanks Remy', a 'No problem' and then was being taken inside, away from all the pretty lights! He opened his mouth to scream and then realized he was hungry. The pretty lights didn't matter as much then.

Jean laughed.

"I didn't expect you to suddenly change perspective like that. But that was so…weird being a baby again."

"I thought you'd appreciate it."

Jamie wasn't really aware of what was going on. He'd been warm and safe in his cot, snuggled to his bamfy-doll when the bangs and crashes had started, waking him up. Then hands he knew had picked him up and he'd been placed in his carrycot. The person he trusted moved fast, running, bouncing him about uncomfortably. He started crying and then he heard Mama scream, a scream he'd never heard before. She was in pain, and he saw her lying on the ground, leaking red-stuff. Dada lay there as well, along with Uncle Kurt. He saw her head raise and her pretty-ill face register sorrow, then she collapsed back onto Dada. He saw Uncle Peter holding Auntie Kitty, both against a wall with something through them. What was happening? Then he'd left the house and Tante Eloise had continued running and when she stopped she'd hugged him close and started crying, but he didn't understand why she was crying because she'd been so happy earlier with Uncle Luke. Then he heard a voice demanding the 'Runt's Pup' and then Tante Eloise had pushed him away with her movey-without-touchy trick and then he'd heard her scream.

Jamie started screaming and then Mama was there, warm arms cradling him, hushing him because 'it's just a nightmare chéri, just a nightmare', but Mama can't understand because it's still happening, only it's in the background and it's a different Jamie. Then the thread is severed and he was able to relax and believe it really was 'just a nightmare'. And in another world, Victor Creed savoured his final victory over the Runt.

Phoenix froze.

"Such an early manifestation…"

"Yes."

"But then they were all like that."