Chapter 12
.
Jean returned home with baby Laura. As much as she hated Sinister for what he had done to her, she had come to love this baby, she was her daughter. Jean bonded more with Kurt's girlfriend Amanda. She had been through something similar. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but both women had essentially been raped, both had a child as a result. And despite everything both women loved their babies. Wolverine wanted to be there for his daughter, but he couldn't. He was still a fugitive, and he had to protect Rogue. Jean and Scott adapted to their new roles as parents to Laura. The other Xmen welcomed this new addition to the family. It was shortly after that Danielle and Rahne had their babies, a boy and a girl. These three children would grow up together. But they feared what kind of a world they had brought these children into. Senator Kelly's presidential campaign was gaining more momentum, and it seemed more and more likely he would be the next president of the United States.
.
Kitty feared that Kelly would be elected president. The current president wasn't the biggest supporter of mutant rights, but she also wasn't calling for mandatory registration or internment camps. Even if Kelly lost the election, his supporters would get angrier. There was always the chance that one of them would just murder her for being a mutant. Kitty thought back to her time with Lance, how he had protected her, loved her. He might have been a little angry, but he was never violent towards her, and at this point she could understand that anger. Kitty decided to sieze what happiness she could while she could. She called Lance and they agreed to meet in secret.
.
Lance: Thank you for agreeing to see me.
Kitty: I wanted to thank you for helping dr Grey.
Lance: Yeah well, noone should have to go through something like that. Why did you leave and let me think you were dead?
Kitty; There were times you scared me.
Lance: I would never hurt you.
Kitty: But you were willing to hurt others.
Lance: Who, that idiot mob who tried to lynch us? That teacher who tried to force you to have sex with him.
Kitty: And those who died in New York? At the very least you were an accessory to that.
Lance: I'm truley sorry about that. I just thought it was neccessary to save our people from genocide.
Kitty: Is that you talking or Magneto?
Lance: I chose to follow Magneto because I agreed with what he had to say, I made my own choices.
Kitty: You interested in making better choices?
Lance: You mean Xavier?
Kitty: Why not?
Lance: Because I still agree with Magneto. I still think war between us and them is inevitable.
Kitty: And I still believe in Xavier's teachings. So where does that leave us?
Lance: I don't know. Maybe, we could be together. Have ourselves a secret affair.
Kitty: Would that even work?
Lance: Maybe, I say we find out.
Kitty: Okay, let's find out.
.
Over the next few months there were numerous clashes between mutants and humans. Most were small, road rage type incidents. But every just about incident was recorded, and people always assumed that mutants were to blame. This caused more and more people to be afraid of mutants, and thus there were more incidents of violence. When Magneto saw on the news about people marching at night with torches, and chanting "The mutants will not replace us", it brought back many painful memories. He became more and more convinced that peace was impossible, that the only way to ensure his people's survival was to win the coming war. Senator Kelly continued to gain in the polls. Many mutants and a fair amount of humans feared what would happen should he be elected. Many worked to defeat him on election day. Not all of them particularly liked his opponent, they just viewed her as the lesser of two evils. But in the end it was all for nothing. Robert Kelly, quite possibly the most anti-mutant candidate of all time, was elected president of the United States.