Hello, part two of the hella long chapter. Enjoy!

Bennie, I know it's been two years, but please come back! :)

Laurien hadn't meant to fall asleep, but all it took was a sudden wave of exhaustion and she was out. She wasn't quite sure how long she had been reading aloud before she had dozed off, but when Laurien lifted up the book lying face-down on her chest, she found that she had only made it to the second chapter. Thankfully, Nina was fast asleep next to her in the bed, having most likely fallen asleep sometime before her.

Laurien squinted her eyes around the brightly lit bedroom, and feeling the beginnings of a crick in her neck, reluctantly decided to make the trek to her own bedroom for the rest of the night. She carefully lifted herself from Nina's bed, setting the book on the bedside table before turning off the light. She then slipped through the crack in the door, and closed it gently behind her.

The hallways were quiet and empty, and a quick glance at a nearby clock told her that it was half-past one in the morning. It was certainly past her bedtime, but the restlessness in Laurien's mind seemed to be creeping back with every step she took. She found herself suddenly dreading the prospect of trying to fall back asleep.

Deciding that a cup of chamomile tea might help hurry along sleep, Laurien descended the stairs and made her way to the kitchens. Once she reached the entrance to the kitchen, she slowly opened the door, silently hoping that there weren't any students on the other side, as she knew the awkward small talk would be painful. She peered in at first, and once she was satisfied to find that no one was there, she entered completely. Laurien made her way over to where she knew Charles hid the good tea, only to slow to a halt when she noticed that the side door leading outside from the kitchen was cracked open a smidge, letting in the night breeze through the gap. Perhaps out of curiosity or if only to shut it to prevent all the warm air from escaping, Laurien approached the door and peeked her head outside.

A content warmth passed through Laurien when she again recognized Raven's leather-clad figure standing a few feet away from the door with her back to the mansion. From the scent that was floating from her direction, Laurien could tell it wasn't another regular cigarette she was smoking. Laurien smirked to herself, before walking out to join her old friend in the cool night air.

"Don't let Reagan catch you with that." She teased as she neared Raven, causing the other woman to jump at the sound of her voice. "It would be terrible for human-mutant relations."

Raven turned quickly, her curled blonde hair whipping around, only for her surprised expression to relax as her gaze met Laurien's. "Reagan should mind his own business if he knows what's good for him." She murmured as she reached out to offer the blunt. "Care to join in?"

Laurien held up a hand. "Sorry, I can't. I'm still breast-feeding for the foreseeable future."

"Ah, right." Raven blushed, giving her forehead an exaggerated smack before she took a another long drag. "No worries. More for me."

Laurien looked out at the Westchester countryside, shrouded in the darkness of the night. It had been ages since she'd last been here, and even longer since she'd indulged in a smoke. Her mind wandered to one of the times when she and Raven would sit by the open window late at night, being careful to keep the smoke of a lit cigarette floating out into the night air instead of flooding the bedroom with its incriminating scent. Raven had told her that Charles would "completely lose his bloody mind" if they were caught, but Laurien had quietly doubted it. Nevertheless, Laurien felt a little surge of pride that they were never found out for the handful of times they had dabbled.

As if with a flick of a lighter, a long forgotten memory flooded Laurien's mind. Perhaps only a few days prior to the incident in Cuba, she and Raven had been partaking in a smoke when they had heard faint voices emanating from below the open window. They'd shared a quick look of confusion before peering further out into the darkness, finding three criss-crossing flashlight beams making their way out towards the edge of the forest on the property. After hearing a rather loud exclamation of 'Dude!' that was immediately shushed by two other voices, Laurien and Raven had quickly surmised that Alex, Hank, and Sean were up to something.

"Do you remember that night when we followed the boys into the forest after curfew?" Laurien inquired curiously.

Raven frowned for a moment as she searched through her memories. Honestly, Laurien wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't remember, considering it had occurred over twenty years ago and had only just occurred to her, but then Raven's face cracked into a wide smile.

"Was that when they dragged Hank out to tell ghost stories in the woods?"

"Yeah." Laurien laughed, suddenly ecstatic that Raven remembered. "What were they telling him about? The Westchester Woopla or something?"

Raven groaned comically, running a hand over her face. "The Westchester Whompus."

"Ah, right. How did that come about anyways? I always forgot to ask."

"Oh, it was a dumb story that the housekeeper used to tell us as kids to get us to behave. I guess Sean bothered her into telling him the story." Raven explained before muttering, "What a crazy old bat she was."

They were both quiet for a moment, each running the memory through their heads the best they could after such a long time. Suddenly, Raven cackled. "We scared the absolute shit out of them, didn't we?"

Laurien had to hold a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter to avoid waking the entire house up as she recalled how she and Raven had quietly crept into the forest after the boys, having devised their plan along the way. They laid in wait behind some trees a few metres from where Alex, Sean and Hank had set themselves down on logs, listening hard to the story that Sean was telling. He had held the flashlight underneath his chin, casting his face in an eerie shadow and illuminating his halo of curly red hair. Once he'd reached the ending of the story, which of course included some unfortunate soul happening upon the Whompus in the woods and being eaten, or whatever – she couldn't quite remember the specifics – Laurien had made a twig snap with her powers on the opposite side of where she and Raven were hiding near the boys' camp.

They'd had to stifle their giggles when Hank uttered an immediate 'What was that?" in response to the sound. Laurien waited a few moments before causing another twig to snap, following it up with a heavy rustle of the leaves that had fallen upon the ground. The boys were all standing on their feet at this point, their eyes searching the dark woods in panic as their flashlight beams darted from one place to another. Laurien and Raven waited for the perfect moment, savoring the build-up to the scare. When the time was just right, Raven then transformed herself into the hulking figure of a man, towering far above Laurien's head, who then unleashed a deep, rumbling growl that resonated throughout the forest.

That had been certainly enough for the boys. "Fuck this." Hank had yelled, in what was perhaps the only time Laurien had ever heard him swear. He'd then kicked off his shoes and socks to free up his mutated feet, and sprinted back toward the mansion, leaving the equally terrified Alex and Sean trailing in his wake. Laurien and Raven had returned to the mansion through a back entrance, only to hear the boys shouting loudly at one another about what the hell they were supposed to do about the Whompus in the woods.

Charles and Erik had quickly joined them to find out what was going on, leaving Laurien and Raven to laugh silently from where they were hidden in the main hall as they listened to the boys' frantic explanations. Erik had later found them in the kitchen, feigning innocence over cups of tea and a few nighttime biscuits.

"Well, here we are again." Laurien said, finally composing herself after her laughing fit. "Can you believe that it's been over twenty years since we all first met at that CIA research base?"

Laurien immediately regretted her words when she noticed how the wide grin upon Raven's face slowly became tinged with sadness. "And we were all almost immediately forced in the middle of a nuclear stalemate." She added, shaking her head as she stared at something by her feet. "We were just kids. We shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place."

Laurien hesitated, somewhat taken aback by this sudden shift. "I don't think Charles initially intended for us to get caught up in that." She stated truthfully.

"I know, but he always meddles where he shouldn't and turns a blind eye to where he should get involved." Raven stated, bitterness staining her words.

Laurien opened her mouth, but on second thought shut it, resigning herself to biting her lip as she pondered Raven's statement. It was unlikely that any response she could come up with would provide any evidence to the contrary, especially considering the fact that the incident with the serum still stuck out painfully in her memory.

"Couldn't sleep?" Raven prodded, effectively changing the subject.

"Actually I dozed off for a bit while reading Nina to sleep, but I don't think I could do it again right now." Laurien sighed, raising a hand to her sore neck.

"Have you been sleeping at all since leaving your home?"

Laurien wracked her brain, trying to recall the past few days which now seemed like a terrible blur. "A few hours here and there before I'm usually awoken by nightmares, and those can get quite dangerous with my mutation."

Raven nodded, but her brow became furrowed. "What really happened over there? On the news they're saying that an entire squad of police are in intensive care after trying to apprehend Erik."

Laurien winced, but tried to push down the guilt blossoming in her stomach. "That was actually my doing, and even then, I didn't do anything to warrant anything other than a cast and a pair of crutches." She murmured bitterly, though knowing she shouldn't be surprised with their exaggerations. After all, the Soviets loved to play around with the facts. "They threatened my kid's life. They're lucky that's all I did."

Raven nodded again, taking another long drag from her blunt. "I heard that you were expecting a child before the mess in Paris." At Laurien's look of surprise, Raven added, "Charles told me."

"Yes." Laurien admitted, wrapping her arms protectively around herself as the night air seeped through the fabric of her sweater. "Two separate times, actually."

"I'm so sorry I didn't know sooner." Raven apologized, placing a warm hand on Laurien's arm.

Laurien shifted her own hand to rest over Raven's, grateful for the gesture. "H-How much did he tell you?" Laurien asked tentatively, hating how her voice wavered even after all this time.

"Everything, I think. The attack on the mansion, the serum, how he was a complete and utter jackass…"

Laurien couldn't help the sudden snort that erupted from her. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

"Were you nervous?" Raven inquired, shifting somewhat in her stance. "Becoming a mom, I mean."

Laurien recalled the morning she'd woken up feeling queasy. She and Erik had been travelling around the world for about two years before deciding to settle in Bern, Switzerland for a while. The unique architecture and the proximity to the turquoise waters had spoken to Laurien's soul in a way that she couldn't quite describe. After having moved around and lived in so many different countries up to that point in her life, Bern was arguably the place where she felt most at home outside of the Netherlands. She could sense that Erik was initially uneasy at the prospect of staying in one place for so long, especially when he was still enemy number one in the eyes of the entire western world, but he seemed to be willing to try for Laurien's sake. They had only been living in Bern for three months when she'd first gotten ill. While it wasn't exactly ethical, after a few days of the same symptoms, Laurien had asked one of the nurses at her work to fast-track a blood sample, which came back positive.

"Erik and I were so excited when we found out. Scared, for sure, but excited more than anything." Laurien explained, smiling to herself for a moment before remembering the heavy heart she'd carried in addition to the baby throughout the pregnancy. "I didn't think I could have any more children after the injuries I had sustained, and even when I was pregnant with Nina, I would wake up every morning and be absolutely terrified that I might lose her sometime during the day. I think I was so worried about her making it to term that I forgot about processing the fact that I was going to be a mother." Laurien let out a small huff of laughter. "Even now, eight years later and with another kid, it still feels a bit surreal sometimes."

A few moments passed before Laurien realized that Raven had barely moved a muscle, the blunt burning down within millimetres of her fingers, seemingly forgotten. What could only be described as a turmoil of emotions emanated from her, manifesting itself into a heavy stone to rest in the pit of Laurien's stomach. Fearful that something terrible was the matter, Laurien tentatively reached out a hand to touch Raven's arm. "Raven, are you sure you're alright?"

Raven suddenly turned to her, her expression twisted and pained. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Laurien blinked in surprise. "Of course."

"You can't tell anyone. Not Erik, not Hank, and certainly not Charles."

Laurien frowned, a sense of foreboding seeping throughout her body, but she nodded all the same. "I promise. This stays between us."

"You know Kurt? The blue kid with the tail."

Laurien nodded again, remembering how wonderful he'd been with Nina earlier.

"He–" Raven began, stopping short to take a deep breath, obviously struggling with the information she held on the tip of her tongue as tears rapidly collected in her eyes. "He- He's mine."

She wasn't proud of it, but it took Laurien a full five seconds before she managed to properly comprehend Raven's words. "He- He's yours? Yours, like he's your son?" She stammered, practically gawping like a fish. "Raven, when did this happen?"

"Almost seventeen years ago." She admitted, the tears spilling over as she took another shaky breath. "With Azazel."

Laurien paused, but still couldn't help blurting out, "Really?"

"Laurien!" Raven exclaimed, laughing through her tears.

Laurien quickly backtracked. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, but really? Of all the men in the world, you pick the scary Russian man who we saw slaughter dozens of innocent people."

Raven snorted, wiping at her face with her free hand. "Must I remind you of who you're married to?"

"I simply cannot begin to list the ways in how wildly different our set of circumstances are, but we're getting way off the point. You have a son, Raven!" Laurien exclaimed softly as she pulled Raven into a hug.

"I know!" Raven sniffled, gripping Laurien hard and burying her face into the shoulder of her sweater. "But he doesn't know."

After a few moments of a sorely needed embrace for both ladies, Laurien pulled back to look at Raven before beckoning her to sit on the grass with her, her feet still hurting from the long walk to the mansion. "What happened back then?"

"I got scared." Raven explained, as she got settled on the ground, her hand immediately grabbing at a bunch of grass to rip it up from the earth. "The Brotherhood didn't exist anymore. Azazel went missing a few months into the pregnancy, and I later found out that he had been killed and experimented on by Trask. I didn't know how to raise a child, and I definitely didn't know how to raise a child that looked like him, so I panicked." She threw a handful of grass to the side. "I left him with a travelling circus in Munich."

"Oh, Raven…" Laurien sighed, taking Raven's hand in hers. "We could have helped you, Charles, Hank and I."

"I know, but at the time I thought I had burned all my bridges with you all after Cuba,"

Laurien nodded, quite familiar with the assumption. "When did he get here?"

"Just a few days ago. I found him being forced into a mutant fighting ring in Germany."

"Are you going to tell him?" Laurien asked gently.

"I'm still debating that." Raven shrugged, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He might not want anything to do with me after everything I've done."

"I'm really sorry, Raven." Laurien said, squeezing her hand and hoping that it would convey what her words could not.

"God, how did we end up here?" Raven lamented, bitterly tossing another handful of grass. "Remember when we were young and still hopeful? Playing games and fooling around. Now I can't even envision how anyone would ever feel safe enough to have a family in these times."

"Well, I don't know if there ever has been or ever will be a truly safe time to bring kids into the world." Laurien countered, though a shot of sorrow swept through her body at the thought. "I can only imagine what my parents were thinking when they had me at the beginning of the war."

"I know everyone keeps saying that we're at peace, but I don't think that's true." Raven admitted. "Everything feels like it's balancing on the head of a pin."

"It's all up to whether or not the big men can get along." Laurien murmured, remembering all the horrible headlines she'd read over the years. "Reagan and Andropov. Then again, I don't know if Andropov is going to be around much longer. From what I've heard through the grapevine, his health has been kaput for a few months now."

Raven nodded slowly, quiet for a moment before she suddenly blurted out, "God, I love that song."

Laurien frowned at the sudden deviation. "Which one?"

"Marvin Gaye, 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine'. It's such a damn good song."

Laurien chuckled, the tune now running through her mind. "It is a good one." She agreed, pausing to clear her throat as the cold night air settled in her lungs. "Nina's only ever heard me sing it, never the real song, unfortunately. My record got broken in the move to Katowice, and it's a bit difficult to find a replacement copy on the eastern side of the Wall."

"I can imagine." Raven nodded, then gave Laurien a gentle nudge on the arm. "But now you can have some fun introducing her to all the things the western world has to offer."

"It may be a tad overwhelming at first, but Nina has always adapted quickly. I think she'll enjoy it." Laurien said, before pausing to ponder for a moment. "I wonder how long this whole eastern-western divide is going to last. Is it going to end during our lifetime or is it definite? Even I initially thought the Wall was supposed to be temporary, but look at it now."

"From what I've gathered in my travels, I think a lot of people are starting to have enough of it all." Raven confided, a small smile turning the corners of her lips. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Wall fell in the next ten years."

Laurien hummed, taking a brief moment to stare up at the stars as she allowed herself to bask in the possibilities. "That would certainly be something to see."

This is kinda one of those chapters that I've stared at for far too long, and I can no longer tell if it's any good, so I should just post it and get it out of the way. I get that way with my writing sometimes, where it seems like shit initially, but maybe in like three years, I'll read it again and think 'Holy Moley!' or maybe I'll still think it's shit then... The stresses of being a writer, am I right?

They never really address the fact that Kurt is Raven's son in the movies, so I thought I would try to fix that.

Not much new in my life, but since I last posted I got Covid again. Serves me right for thinking I could go see Multiverse of Madness on the opening weekend. Also what's with people openly going on their phones during the movie nowadays? Jeez...

Anywho, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review!