Chapter 31: New Year, Same Chaos

-Nevada, Christmas Eve day-

Chelsea and Logan were currently standing on the front porch of her parents house and they were about to knock on the door to notify the occupants of their arrival, but Chelsea hesitated when she reached her hand out to knock.

"Don't worry. I'm right here if you need me." Logan assured her.

"Thanks." The blonde nodded as she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before someone answered. The person to answer was a woman with mousy brown hair which seemed to be immaculately kept, was around her height and looked to be in her fifties, had green eyes like Chelsea and had (as Chelsea would put it) "a face always bearing a try-hard smile". This was Clarice Marks, Chelsea's mother.

"Uh...H-Hey mom." The Dragoness said nervously. "I'm back…?"

"...Chelsea, is that really you?" The woman gasped in shock after a moment.

"Yeah." The instructor nodded. "Can we come in? Because I'd really like to try and explain why I've been gone for so long."

"Yes, please." She replied as she ushered them in. Once inside, they saw that the house was just as well furnished as the Xavier mansion but at half the size. Clarice led them into the living room where four men were sitting with four women, four girls and one boy.

The oldest of the men was a man with graying blond hair, silver eyes and tan skin. He was wearing a green button down shirt and khakis and had on brown lothers. He looked to be around in his sixties. This was Sampson Marks, Chelsea's father, a very successful retired surgeon.

Next was a man who looked like a younger version of Sampson, but had Clarice's green eyes. He looked to be in his early forties. This guy was Sam, Chelsea's older brother.

Second to him was Jason, who had the same kind of blonde hair as Chelsea and his father's silver eyes, he was a year older than his sister at twenty seven.

Lastly was the youngest of the men was of course Chelsea's younger brother, Maverick Marks. Who was Twenty years old.

They were all with their wives and kids, or fiancé in Jason's case, and were sitting there waiting for her.

"So, Jason wasn't kidding when he said you were back." Sam said with a smile. "It's great to see you again, sis. What happened to you?"

"Yeah, and who's your friend?" Maverick asked.

"I take it this is the boyfriend you mentioned?" Jason smirked with a raised eyebrow. This info caused everyone to whisper in surprise, especially Elizabeth, who had been Chelsea's best friend since grade school.

"One at a time everyone, let's a least let them get settled." Sampson told them all sternly.

"Go ahead and take a seat, you two." Clarice told the two, which they did, sitting on a loveseat across from everyone. After a minute of silence to collect her thoughts, Chelsea let out a deep sigh before speaking.

"First off, guys, this is Logan Howlett. He's my co worker at my new job as an instructor at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. And as Jason just told you: We're currently dating." Chelsea explained to them while introducing the scraggly mutant next to her.

"Kinda figured that something like this would happen to you eventually." Maverick inputted.

"You always kinda had a type, sis." Sam nodded.

Clarice, on the other hand, seemed a tad displeased. "Does this mean he's also an instructor? What does he teach?" She asked.

"Physical Education." The scraggly man replied with a shrug. It was partly true since the danger room sessions were partially educational. "And a bit of everything else. I'm what ya call a jack of all trades." He added with a shrug. "The kids can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but it's definitely rewarding at least."

"Ah, a man who takes pride in his work, I admire that in a man." Sampson said with an approving nod. "I've always said that if you don't take pride in or enjoy what you do, you're in the wrong profession."

"Yeah I guess that's something we can agree on, bub." Logan nodded.

"Then I guess that means that you and mom liked your jobs better than us, huh dad?" Chelsea grumbled.

Sampson looked at her as though her statement made him upset, but just sighed heavily. "Believe me, I've had to learn that the hard way." He sighed.

"All that aside though." Clarice said before turning to Chelsea. "Do you have any idea what you running away put this family through? How much trouble it caused us? You were always a troublemaker like Jason, but running away? What on earth were you thinking?""

"What was I thinking? … What was I thinking?!" Chelsea hissed angrily. "Maybe I thought I was neglected. Maybe I thought you never cared about me to begin with. Maybe I thought you wished you never had me!" She all but yelled in anger. Glaring at her mother. "I mean come on mom, everyone in this family knows that if you were given the choice of being there for one of our events or another one of your stupid open houses, you'd always choose the open house."

Both Clarice and Sampson were taken aback by their daughter's harsh words, but of course, deep down, they knew she was right. They had neglected their children, they learned this a long time ago, in fact it was the very thing they spent the past several years trying to correct.

"Not to mention." The blonde continued. "I had just found out that I was what's known as a mutant, a human with super powers. I ran because I was terrified of how you would react if you found out. And on top of that, when I ran away, I was kidnapped by a terrorist organization called HYDRA, and was subjected to every kind of hellish torture imaginable. Forced to fight and kill my fellow mutants, experimented on daily, forced to live in a cage, being starved for days on end, being sexually harassed by a scientist who gave me 'favoritism'. And they even tried to turn me into their personal breeding stock!"

"THEY WHAT?!" Sampson yelled in rage as he stood up abruptly.

"Shut up, I'm not done!" Chelsea snapped. She then shot a draconic glare at her parents as her scales appeared. "Don't you dare compare what you've supposedly been through to what I have. I've been through a hell that you will never be able to comprehend." Logan then grasped her hand to calm her down, causing her to look at him. "If it wasn't for the friends I managed to make there, I probably would have been broken and brainwashed into what they wanted me to be."

She then sighed as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Those guys and everyone at the Institute gave me a home, gave me several shoulders to lean on, even showed me they actually cared for and loved me. And I can say this much: they've all been more of a family to me than the two of you combined!"

Clarice looked angry at her daughter's words while Sampson just sighed as he slumped in defeat and acknowledgement. He knew he screwed up and that his daughter had every right to be angry at them, so he decided to just take it. Her brothers, meanwhile, looked at their families and then at their sister and her boyfriend. They certainly were glad that she didn't have to deal with all that crap anymore.

Later on, the woman took the time to get to know her sister-in-laws, Jackie (Sam's wife), and Lori (Maverick's wife). Finding them to actually be quite similar to Kitty and Jean respectively. Then she met her nieces and nephew. Sam's kids: Kristen, Mandy and Eve, were three nice girls. Kristen was the mature second mother figure of the three, which reminded Chelsea of Ororo. Mandy was a ditsy valley girl fashionista type, and Eve was a tomboyish, football loving girl who intended to go to West Point for college. Maverick's kids were a complete 180 of this set up: there was Daniella, a Gothic girl who loved heavy metal and grunge so much that she made Rogue look cheery. Krystal was a cute little bundle of energy that seemed to have this air of making you want to hug her on the spot. And his only son Calvin was a dinosaur loving, wise cracking, walking encyclopedia that was pretty cool for a kid who wanted to enter a field as boring as paleontology.

After she got to know her family though, the woman was absolutely drained from pouring her frustrations out on her parents. So she stepped out on the porch where Logan sat on the stairs smoking a cigar. She plopped down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Can I take a drag?"

He raised an eyebrow at her as he handed her the cigar. "I thought you didn't smoke?"

"Well, I need it right now. I can't do any more liquor or else I'll get violent, and I need something to get me through this night." She growled, her tone obviously annoyed. After inhaling from the roll, she let out a sigh as the smoke wafted out of her mouth in a curling cloud. "Why did I agree to this? Why did you agree to this?"

"Because I knew it would make you happy." He remarks with a huff. "Although, that doesn't seem to be the case…"

"Logan... no, no thank you, I appreciate that you wanted to come out herea. I really do. You're probably the only person keeping me from going full dragon on them right now. But all of this... their reactions and attitude... it's just not what I was expecting…" She took another long drag. "...God, I don't know what I was expecting."

Logan kept his gaze on her for a moment before turning to look over the mountain range the yard's view provided. The dusty pink rays shown over the desert like a rose-tinted lens. "You wanted something to be different, so that's what you expected. So when it turned out to be different, but not in a positive way, you were hurt."

"Gee, thanks, Confucius. I really appreciate your philosophy." The dragoness muttered.

"Chels, I'm just saying. You're not one to typically be optimistic. But, when you are, and your optimism gets deflated, you get a lot more butthurt than you'd expect." This statement earned him a glare from his girlfriend, which probably would have made anyone else turn tail and run.

"You know me so well it makes me hate you."

He simply shook his head with a chuckle. "No, you don't. You're just not used to someone knowing you so well and loving you."

Her eyes got wide, and her wrist went limp, dropping the cigar. "What did you just say?"

Logan paused, holding his steady gaze with her, her shocked emerald green eyes. "Ya heard me right, Chels. I love you."

She stared at him for a moment, a million thoughts racing through her head. Why would he love her? No man ever loved her, she was a heart breaker she couldn't be loved. There was Marcus once long ago but that was complicated. Besides she was too violent to take anyone into a personal and intimate relationship, what if she hurt him? What if, gods forbid, he wanted to marry her one day? And- and- and…. Fuck it. The thoughts went silent. He was right. He did know her, probably better than anyone else ever had. And he cared. A lot. So yeah… fuck it.

She smiled at him, leaning in and kissing him gently. "I love you too."

(Later...)

The two were now back at their hotel room and Logan had just fixed them some bison burgers and a couple beers. Though as they started to eat, there was a knock on their door.

"Who in the world could that be?" The blonde wondered as she went to answer it. That's when she saw her father standing there. "What do you want?"

"Quite a way to greet your own father, but I'll admit I deserve it. May I come in? There's something I'd like to say to you and Mr. Logan." Sampson told her.

The dragoness eyed him warily before letting him enter their hotel room. As the man sat down with them at the table, he sighed heavily as he buried his face in his hands.

"I know this may be hard to believe but, when Jason told me you were alive, I felt like my heart had stopped. For thirteen years I had been living under the assumption you were either dead, or kidnapped and sold. Little did I know that it was the latter brought to the worst degree." He then looked up at Chelsea's unmoved face. "Your disappearance took a toll on all of us, especially your mother. Headstrong and traditional as she is, you were her only daughter, and she loved you deeply. She would spend most nights crying in her sleep. Additionally, it also taught us a valuable lesson: we were too careless with our children, and it cost us one of them."

He then let out a shaking sigh. "And it was on the day you didn't return, that I vowed I would never lose sight of any of you again."

"Jason told me about that, actually. He was glad you had learned, but found it a bit annoying." His daughter told him.

"It's a learning process." The man chuckled. "And then when you told us you were a mutant, and work at a school for them, it reminded me of my new occasional part time job: as a secret mutant physician." He revealed, much to Chelsea's and Logan's surprise.

"Wait, say what? You're a mutant physician?" Logan asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, mainly here and there. Odd jobs for people with the most extraordinary of abilities. It truly is a gratifying job, being able to help these people so they won't feel ridiculed." He nodded while signing wistfully. "But that's why I've come here, not only to reconcile with my only daughter, but to also ask for yours and Professor Xavier's guidance so I can better equip myself to help Mutantkind however I can."

The mutant couple in the room looked at each other before smirking and nodding in unison.

"Okay, we can help you with that. But only on one condition." Chelsea told him, secretly smirking like a loon.

"That being…?" He asked warily, red flags waving in his head.

"You'll have to come to the Institute and meet some mutant teenagers up close and personal." Logan chuckled, knowing full well that the man wasn't going to come out in one piece.

The man nodded nervously. "Alright. I think I can arrange that." He then got up as Chelsea followed him out, though before he turned to leave, he hugged Chelsea, surprising her. "For what it's worth, I truly am sorry for how I have neglected you all these years. I hope someday you can forgive me, and that I can make it up to you."

Chelsea looked at him in shock before she slowly hugged him back. "Yeah, me too…" She said as the two continued to hug. Now she wondered if she could have a similar moment with her mom.

(A few days later)

-Xavier Institute, New Years Eve-

Gavin, Devin, Rogue and Scott were currently out on the town with the Professor and stopping at various fireworks stands and other stores to get supplies for the New Years Eve party that night when everyone came home.

"Man, this is gonna be awesome! I love watching fireworks in action!" Gavin exclaimed in delight.

"I think you mean you like setting them off. I remember one year you bought a few cherry bombs and wouldn't wait until New Year's Eve and lit one, but when mom was about to catch you, you stuck it in a postal mailbox." Devin said, rolling his eyes.

"Did that go as expected?" Scott asked with a knowing smirk.

"It blew a hole in it and burned everything inside. Cost our mom two hundred bucks to get the post office a replacement." Gavin told him.

"Heh, the things we do as kids." Rogue couldn't help but comment with a grin.

"Tell me about it…" The pseudo vampire sighed.

Once all the fireworks were bought, they all went home to set up, just in time for Logan and Chelsea to roll up on the former's motorcycle.

"Hey guys. What's up?" The blonde greeted the group.

"Not much, how'd everything go with your family?" Gavin asked. This got an exasperated sigh from the blonde dragoness. "Yikes, was it really that bad?"

"When it comes to my mom? Yeah. My dad, though, was more open minded about me leaving. He even acknowledged what he did." Chelsea replied. "Though once I opened up the can of worms known as HYDRA, they all changed their tune pretty quickly."

"How angry are they at HYDRA?" Devin couldn't help but ask as he walked up to them.

"Oh my dad and brothers were livid when they found out. And my mom was horrified, beyond horrified actually once I got into what little detail I can still remember." Chelsea nodded.

"At least they listened." Gavin sighed.

"That aside though, my new sister in laws and my nieces and nephew are pretty awesome, too. Some of them even reminded me of you guys, actually." She smiled, remembering the fun she had there amidst the family drama.

"That's great!" Everyone smiled. "So are you guys ready for the New Years party tonight?" Rogue asked.

"Oh heck yeah! When do I not look forward to a New Year's party!" Gavin replied.

"I was asking, Chelsea." Rogue deadpanned, causing said blonde to chuckle.

"He's not exactly wrong, though. I'm actually looking forward to it." She smiled.

"You guys know your New Year's resolutions?" Scott asked as they all walked inside with the fireworks and other supplies.

"I'm resolving to start being more sociable. Hopefully with how things are going, I can keep it easier." Rogue said as she started unpacking everything.

"I'm resolving to try and not be as stuck up as I used to be." Devin stated.

"And I'm going to try and tell someone I care about just how much I care about them." Scott said firmly.

"Same." Gavin nodded. "I'm also going to make it a point to settle old vendettas this year as well." He added with a voice full of conviction. "What about you Logan, Chelsea?" He asked the two.

"I don't really make resolutions." Logan shrugged.

"I think I'm going to resolve to at least try and reconnect with my family more this year." Chelsea shrugged as well before turning to the Professor. "Hey Chuck, listen. My dad told me that he's actually been secretly acting as a physician for mutants ever since he retired, and he wants you to act as a sort of consultant for him."

The bald professor looked a bit surprised by the information given to him before he thought it over. "He wishes to create a medical service that won't discriminate against them, correct?" He asked.

"Bullseye." The woman nodded.

"Very well. I'll give him what information I can." He replied.

"That's pretty cool of him." Gavin nodded.

"Yeah." Everyone nodded as well.

Later that night, everyone arrived back at the Institute and both Gavin and Chelsea started talking to Bast about her visit with her family.

"So how'd it go?" The boy asked.

"My mother was really happy to see me, so were my brothers. But when I tried to talk to my little brother Ali about why he converted to Christianity, he constantly cut me off." The catwoman shrugged.

"Maybe he felt uncomfortable?" Chelsea offered.

"Maybe. But he seemed more angry to me, like he didn't want to hear what I said so I couldn't change his mind. I wouldn't have, though." She shrugged.

"That's gonna have to take some working around. Closed minds are the worst kind." Gavin groaned.

"True." Bast nodded. She then seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah, while I was there in California I actually met this really nice guy."

"Really? Who?" Chelsea asked in intrigue, which Gavin shared.

"He was a guy from the military named Johan Sever, he never mentioned what branch he was from though." She told them. "And get this, he really loves cats."

"Think your appearance will help win him over?" Chelsea asked with a grin.

"Maybe. But I think I'll just stick to us being friends first." The woman shrugged.

"Wait, Johan? Sounds German." Gavin said in realization. "Germans make me nervous." He added.

"He's a German-American that's… Not very fond of Hitler's past actions, to put it lightly." Bast said while she tried to figure out a light way of saying it.

"Oh." The boy said as he nodded.

After they finished talking, everyone had their dinner and everything got set up, the fireworks were set to go off at exactly midnight. Everyone was watching the ball on the Empire State Building as it got ready to drop and then the countdown started.

"Is everyone ready for the big moment?" Logan asked as he looked around with a grin of anticipation.

"Oh yeah." All the students nodded before they started counting. "Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… HAPPY NEW YEAR!" They all yelled and cheered as Amara, Jubilee and Scott lit the fireworks and they all went off in an explosion of sound and color.

Gavin had earphones on so his ears wouldn't be hurt as he lit the fuse on a massive two foot tall red white and blue rocket. "Here's to the year of the mutants!" He said as the rocket shot off.

He watched with a smile as the rocket soared into the air before exploding loudly in a glorious array of colors.

Rogue watched the display with him. She was wearing the choker he gave her and as thanks for making her life so much better over the past year, she kissed him on the cheek as the bell toll of midnight stopped.

"Thanks for making this year the best year of my life so far." She told him.

"No problem." He replied as he kissed her forehead, causing her to blush with a smile.

Chelsea, meanwhile, had just pulled Logan in for a kiss at midnight as well. "That should give us some luck this year." She smiled as they separated.

"Like we need it." Logan grinned as he kissed her again.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique had just finished watching the New Years ball drop as she finished reading a book on baby names, a disk sitting beside her on the coffee table. Baby Gender: Male, it read.

"Hmm, now, what should your name be?" She thought aloud as she looked at the book's list of names while stroking her belly. She then came to a name that felt right. "Hm… Yes. Damian will be your name. Damian Shirakumo." She decided, then she looked at her calendar. "Three months to go little Damian, then we can go meet your father, and maybe he can give you a sibling." She chuckled in a dark and seductive tone.

Dragon Emperor0: Clarification: that line Gavin made about Germans was a hellboy reference. He's not racist.

ThermalsniperN7: And keep an eye out for Johan's name in future chapters. He'll have an interesting role. Anyway, see you guys next chapter.