New Chapter! Enjoy!
That next week, Laurien, Raven and Nina took the ferry to the mainland and piled into the truck Laurien kept parked in a garage on the other side. They drove the short distance to Plymouth and started on their errands, stopping first at the post office in order to soothe their concerns about Sera making through the Carpathians in one piece. She knew it was silly to worry, especially considering the nature of Sera's mutation. However, Laurien reminded herself, she'd lost far too many people to become complacent now. To their relief, a postcard awaited them amongst the other pieces of mail, bearing a picture of the Carpathians that labeled the name and height of each mountain on the front, and Sera's precise handwriting on the back.
It was always surprising how much Sera managed to fit within the small amount of space afforded by a postcard, and this newest piece of mail was no exception. In a miniature script, Sera expressed her profound awe of the mountains and the fascinating people she'd met along the way. She'd mentioned something to do with an animal of sorts who had followed them throughout their trek, however Laurien would have to wait until they returned home in order to use a magnifying glass and properly read what Sera was saying. Even with her reading glasses, she could only make out half of the tiny words written upon the postcard.
With the postcard safely tucked away in Nina's bookbag, they then stopped by the hardware store, where they perused the various paint colours and helped Raven pick out a few swatches to take home and compare with her bedroom. Considering the little ones were not around, they could freely discuss the matter of Raven and Hank's relationship as they debated shades of blue and green.
"I think a calming colour would be best for him," Raven mused, holding up a sample of 'Sea Aqua' that Nina wordlessly wrinkled her nose at, prompting Raven to put the card back. "He's been so unbelievably stressed lately."
Laurien hummed in understanding, "More technical issues with the jet?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Raven said, letting out a deep sigh. "Hank has a long list of improvements that he wants done on it, but he can't implement them yet because doing so would temporarily take it out of commission, and my dear brother insists that the jet always be available in case they suddenly get called out for an emergency mission."
Laurien hummed again in response, frowning to herself as she examined a sample of 'Blueberry Muffin' that didn't look like it deserved the name. She'd made it a personal policy to be careful if Charles was ever brought up in conversation around the children. The younger two were still far too young to understand the complexity of what had happened between her, Erik and Charles all those years ago, though she knew that she was on borrowed time with Nina already. As perceptive as she was, she was bound to eventually notice that there was more to their personal histories. That is, if the somewhat sickly shade of green that threatened to overwhelm Laurien's irises whenever Charles or the X-Men were discussed hadn't already tipped her off.
After Raven settled on a few paint swatches to take home, they continued with the rest of their errands. Laurien and Nina usually handled the weekly supply runs, occasionally taking various other residents with them if they also wanted a ride to do their own errands. Erik was understandably reluctant to leave the island, as even with his pardon, there wasn't any guarantee for how someone would react upon recognizing him. There had been a detailed exposé a few years back in the news regarding his innocence in the Kennedy assassination, yet it did little to mend the nearly two decades of damage to his name.
They still had to stop for some grocery items that they couldn't grow or make on the island for a community-wide potluck that was to take place the day after tomorrow, but as it was almost noon, they decided to get a bite to eat first.
There were quite a few options for restaurants in Plymouth, however they always came back to an old favourite of the family. Molly's Diner could always be counted on for a good meal and some warm ambience, yet as they passed through the doorway, Laurien felt as though she'd just walked into a funeral parlor. The diner was eerily quiet, the mood sending goosebumps along the skin of Laurien's arms. The customers were seated at their respective tables, grim expressions marring their faces as they all silently watched the small television that sat upon the diner's counter. On the screen, a man sporting thick glasses was reporting a breaking news story.
"As we said, Dale, just moments ago, NASA reported that the heat from nearby solar flares caused technical issues, shorting out the shuttle's electricity. Due to this, the astronauts have lost any capacity for communication with NASA, and have lost all control of the vessel."
Laurien, Nina, and Raven stood frozen for a moment as this news sank in and Laurien suddenly remembered reading about the scheduled space mission a week prior. If she was recalling correctly, the launch should have taken place earlier that morning.
Laurien made eye contact with the waitress, Georgia, from behind the counter, and Georgia nodded at her before gesturing for them to take any of the empty tables. They silently picked a table within view of the screen and sat down.
The head news anchor then continued, "We'll keep you up to date regarding any updates regarding the astronauts of the Endeavour, but in the meantime, we'll be back after these messages."
Some noise returned to the diner as the other customers conversed quietly to their companions. Georgia came over to their table with three mugs and a carafe of coffee, radiating an anxious energy that made Laurien's skin itch.
"Hello, ladies." She greeted them with a lilting southern accent, pouring clumsy splashes of coffee into each of the mugs. "I would say good afternoon, but it doesn't seem like that's where the day is heading."
Raven glanced between her and the television screen, "We just caught the end of the news report, but what exactly happened?"
"Oh, just about an hour ago, they interrupted the football to say that NASA got the ol' 'Huston, we got a problem' spiel from the astronauts who went up today before they lost contact altogether." Georgia sighed sadly, her perfect golden curls swaying as she shook her head, "I just don't get it. I mean, after the Challenger explosion, why would they keep trying to send more poor souls up there?"
Laurien stifled a shudder at the reminder, thinking of all the school children who had been watching the space launch on the television, only to watch it explode in real time. Ever since then, she'd been very grateful that they didn't have a television on the island and was perfectly alright with getting the news a few days later.
"God, I swear this day is gonna give me an ulcer, I can feel it brewing already," Georgia lamented, setting down the carafe on their table and putting her hands on her hips before leaning side to side. "You know what, I'm gonna go do my stretches and give you a bit to peruse the menu. I'll be right back to get your orders, okay ladies?"
Georgia scurried away around the counter and vanished into the kitchen. Laurien fixed Raven a look across the table, but the other woman only shrugged and took the abandoned carafe to pour some more coffee into their mugs.
The commercial for orange Kool-Aid petered out before a booming jingle announced the return of the newscast. Some of the patrons shushed one another as the head news anchor, apparently named Dale, reappeared on the screen and greeted them again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a surprising new update. A second ship has been spotted in the sky."
Murmurs erupted from throughout the diner as they all digested this news, before they were shushed again.
Dale had a finger pressed to the headset in his ear. "We are being told the president has called in the aid of the X-Men."
An icy chill swept through Laurien's body. "What?"
"Oh my God." Raven gasped, raising a hand to her mouth.
"But- But the jet, it's not built for space travel." Nina uttered quietly, her wide-eyed gaze shifting from Laurien to Raven. "Uncle Hank told us himself when Ari asked him."
"Even so, would he be able to tell Charles no when it's the President who's asking?" Raven countered, her initial shock quickly dissipating into bitterness as her brow furrowed. From across the table, Laurien could sense the makings of a fire gradually building within her. Whether or not it rose to the height of a bonfire remained to be seen. "Christ, what is he thinking?"
Laurien leaned back in her chair, running a fidgeting hand through her hair as she watched the shaky faraway footage of the jet heading towards the atmosphere.
Once the jet disappeared into the distance, the television was evidently killing time waiting for further news. News anchor Dale was going to monitor the situation while he sent it over to a woman, Gayle, who gave them a quick rundown of each member of the X-Men. Laurien recognized the faces of the young team as their images appeared on-screen; They began with Scott, who, despite his dark glasses covering his eyes in the photo, was starting to look more and more like his older brother, Alex, with each passing day. Laurien looked away for a brief moment, her heart clenched painfully in her chest at the reminder.
"Georgia!" A man's voice called from the far end of the diner. "Georgia, turn it up!"
Georgia's head popped through the kitchen doors. "That's as loud as it gets, hun." She retorted, casting a withering look towards where the voice had come. "If you want to hear it better, swallow your pride and put in your damn hearing aids, Gerald. Now, hush."
When Georgia disappeared again behind the doors, Laurien looked back to the television and saw that Jean's image had replaced Scott's. Her smile seemed a bit strained in the photo taken from the official X-Men spread that Time magazine had published only a year prior. Laurien was glad that she was long-since retired from all X-Men duties, as she would have hated doing anything of the sort. Of course she, Raven and Erik had all read the article when it first came out, and while the world was becoming more and more accepting of mutants, it did nothing to deter the series of borderline offensive and intrusive questions the reporter had asked the team. Peter had later expressed his disappointment to them that several of his more colourful answers in response to these questions had been cut from the article.
Peter's familiar silver hair and sly smirk appeared next on the screen and Nina's hand suddenly reached out to grip Laurien's arm, fear and concern for her brother bleeding through her touch. Laurien let out a slight gasp of alarm, not having felt this kind of fear from Nina in many years.
Peter had been by Genosha for a visit only the day prior, suddenly appearing in the kitchen with a gust of wind and promptly stealing one of the scones they were letting cool on the rack for afternoon tea. The roughly 350 kilometres between Genosha and Westchester was of little consequence to him and his mutation, therefore he made a habit of coming by a few times per week.
"He's going to be alright, kochanie." Laurien murmured, laying a gentle hand upon Nina's. "They all are."
In the back of her mind, she knew she shouldn't promise these sorts of things, but really, what else could she do?
The photo of Ororo Munroe came next. They'd gotten to know her more when Peter brought some of the X-Men to visit Genosha. While she had been quite shy and reserved at first, she had quickly opened up and became a good friend to them all. Kasia in particular was fascinated with Ororo's mutation, and asked her a myriad of questions regarding flying.
Before they could see the rest of the team, their attention was diverted from the television when Georgia returned to take their orders. They'd barely looked at the menu, and Laurien would wager that they all ended up picking the first thing they laid eyes on. She was personally unsure about how much she'd enjoy whatever the soup of the day was, but it was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment as they waited for more information.
By the time Georgia returned to the kitchen, another commercial was on the screen. Laurien leaned forward, keeping her voice low as she asked Raven, "I didn't see the end. Are Kurt and Hank on the jet as well?"
Raven met her gaze and nodded wordlessly. Laurien didn't need her powers to tell her the kinds of emotions brewing within her friend.
"Were you both ever on a mission like that with the X-Men?" Nina asked, matching the hushed tone of voice as her own slightly wavered beneath the weight of her nerves.
Laurien, Hank, and Raven never really discussed anything regarding their First Class days. Though Laurien just recently discovered that Nina had some knowledge of what had happened. Only a few weeks ago, she'd been bringing in laundry to Nina's room when she noticed a strange crack in the wall next to where Nina's armoire stood. Upon investigation, she'd found a makeshift compartment created between the wall paneling, hiding a collection of news clippings. They'd been cut out from the newspapers they would bring back from the mainland on their supply runs, each detailing various stories regarding the past events the so-called 'older generation' of X-Men had partaken in throughout the decades. She hadn't mentioned anything to Nina about finding them, but had prepared herself in anticipation of any questions.
"Uh, well…" Raven glanced over at Laurien, evidently recalling her and Erik's hesitancy surrounding discussing past matters with the children, but when Laurien gave her a reassuring nod, she continued, "We weren't really called the X-Men back then, but I suppose you could say we deescalated tensions between the Americans and the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis."
"Sure, you could say that." Laurien remarked in a joking tone, trying to lift the mood. "They certainly escalated on us."
Nina frowned, seemingly unamused by her efforts. "I know we're in public, but I'm going to need some context here, ladies."
Laurien cleared her throat, glancing furtively at the table nearest to theirs. "Well, we can get into the exact specifics once we're back in the car and away from…" She gestured vaguely to the other patrons in the diner. "But long story short, we were trying to stop a man called Sebastian Shaw who wanted to push the Americans and the Soviets towards nuclear war. We did, but in the process of doing so, the Americans and Soviets instead decided to launch their missiles towards us."
Nina's face paled. "What?"
"You must remember that this was before the existence of mutants was widely known, so no one beyond the CIA knew about us." Laurien explained further, surprising herself as she then found herself trying to give the soldiers who were present that day the benefit of the doubt. "I suppose it was natural for them to be scared of something they didn't quite understand. I just wish their initial response wasn't to destroy it."
"What happened then?"
"Your father managed to stop the missiles before they reached us, however mutant-human relations were rather frosty after that."
She felt a flare of excitement overcome some of Nina's anxiety. Laurien really was trying to be better about sharing matters of her past with her children, and based on Nina's secret collection, it seemed she was ready to hear some of the more difficult aspects.
Nina's fingers tightly clutched her mug of coffee, practically vibrating within her clutch, and Laurien was suddenly worried that it might go flying in Nina's excitement. "God, Mama. How come you've never told me about this before?"
"It's… It's not one of my favourite memories, kochanie." Laurien admitted, sharing a soft smile of mutual understanding with Raven. "It was not an easy day; we were all pretty badly injured during the fight against Shaw and his Brotherhood of mutants."
"And, y'know, the plane," Raven added, taking a sip from her coffee.
"Ah, right," Laurien whistled as she remembered the ear-shattering crash of the fuselage surrounding her, "How could I possibly ever forget the plane?"
"The plane?"
"The plane we took to Cuba. Hank's first jet." Raven said, grimacing somewhat comically as she carefully set down her mug on the table. "It crashed with all of us in it."
The poor girl paused for a moment, glancing between the two of them as though trying to determine whether or not they were playing a prank on her. Eventually, her eyes widened and she muttered under her breath, "Fucking hell."
Laurien was too busy stifling a laugh to admonish her daughter for the language, and frankly relieved to have found some respite from the heavy mood surrounding them.
Raven chuckled, reaching out to pat Nina on the shoulder. "Sorry, sweetheart. Sometimes I forget that what we went through was not normal."
"Was Papa hurt too?"
"Uh…" Laurien hesitated, suddenly recalling a vivid image of her punching him and holding him down beneath the waves with her powers. "A bit, I suppose."
"Were you together then?"
"At that time, yes." Laurien uttered simply with a nod.
"But then you were apart for quite a while." Nina stated as a matter of fact, somehow already having known the answer.
When Laurien's brow furrowed in confusion, her daughter elaborated for her. "Papa told me." She said, twirling her spoon around the rim of her mug. "And, I mean, it makes sense. You had to have been apart for some time between then and when I was born, or else I would likely have several more siblings to deal with."
Raven suddenly snorted, prompting several other diner patrons to glance their way.
"Jesus, Nina." Laurien muttered under her breath, running a hand over her face as it grew unbearably hot. "You make it sound as if we were going at it like rabbits."
"Oh." A similar swell of uncomfortable heat emanated from her daughter as she recognized her misstep. "Sorry, Mama."
"It's fine, just…" Laurien trailed off, shaking her head as she felt an unpleasant sensation twist in her abdomen. "Just please don't repeat that in front of your father."
As if to cleanse themselves of the nervous energy and embarrassment racing throughout their bodies, they all collectively took a sip from their coffee mugs.
"So, who was this Shaw man?" Nina prompted further, swiftly recovering from her faux pas and clearly meaning to capitalize on the fact that the floodgates of information were open. "Was he a mutant?"
"He was." Laurien said, again casting a glance at Raven, unsure of how much she should reveal, especially considering Erik's complicated and painful history with the man. "He was a Nazi during the Second World War, and after somehow avoiding justice in the years after the war ended, he was set on trying to start a third World War."
"Jeez." Nina breathed out in disbelief, "And you all, you know, obviously stopped him before he could?"
"Yeah, that was how we all met, actually." Raven noted, pointing her spoon at Laurien. "My brother and your father found several mutants who were willing to help, and we formed a team. The First Class of the X-Men."
"So that's how you met Papa," Nina said to Laurien, eyes sparkling in awe before she then turned to Raven "And you and Hank?"
"We all lived at the mansion together." Raven nodded, a soft smile tugging at her lips. "It was like one big, long summer camp and perhaps one of the most fun times of my life."
"Vera Lynn was right, those were the days." Laurien agreed, before tilting her head to the side in mock wistfulness. "For how else could you enjoy life without the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over your head?"
Raven shrugged, "Ah, well, I suppose you take the good and the bad. It's all just a matter of perspective."
Any further reminiscences were interrupted by the jingle of the news station. Dale the newscaster returned, a confident set to his shoulders as he stared them down through the television screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that we have received word from NASA that the X-Men have safely retrieved every single one of the astronauts upon the Endeavour and are currently on their way back to–"
Laurien didn't hear the rest of what the newscaster had to say, as the diner erupted into a chorus of cheers and loud sighs of relief at the news.
Like helium filling a balloon, an expanding cloud of energy pushed throughout the diner, filling every corner and crevice, and making Laurien feel as though the entire building might take off from the ground and soar into the air. The atmosphere was infectious, and Laurien found herself smiling to the point where her face hurt. Raven and Nina were similarly swept up in the raucous celebration, the tension finally dissipated into the ether.
It was a strange experience to be watching a grand event with a dozen or so strangers. She hadn't done so since the fall of the Berlin Wall a few years back, and even then, she'd been reminded of hearing the news of Kennedy's assassination at the mansion with their students. She was glad to have experienced a happy outcome on this occasion, as the assassination had inspired a collective paralyzing horror that Laurien wasn't sure if she could ever forget. As for the fall of the Berlin Wall, there had been merriment and disbelief, however there was also an unspoken nervous energy that constantly demanded questions that no one knew the answers to; namely what was to come next politically as a result of this monumental event.
While she had hoped to be swallowed up by the good news, there remained an uneasy sensation simmering within Laurien's chest, stubbornly untouched by the revelry surrounding her. Their food soon arrived, delivered by a relieved Georgia who conspiratorially confided in them that she might call in sick the next day and treat herself to a trip to the spa to treat her poor nerves.
They thanked her and tucked into their haphazard lunch choices. Laurien swirled her spoon contemplatively around her bowl of soup, tomato bisque, her mind somewhere else entirely.
Oh Nina.
I would say the only big news event I've watched in a room with a bunch of other people (other than New Years Eve) would be the 2010 Olympic Gold medal hockey game where Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for Canada... Ah... Good times...
Anywho, Nina's being a little stinker and putting her foot in her mouth, much like myself at that age. Bless her, she just wants to know more about her parents and their crazy past, though I'm not sure she realizes how much trauma she's bringing up for her mother and Raven with this particular convo and line of questioning.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a comment or review!