Fanfiction: Consequences part Sixteen-Twenty Three
Title: Consequences
Author: Timemonkey
Fandom: X-Men
Rating: PG
Chapter 16/?
Warnings: Nothing really
Disclaimer: Not mine I'm just playing with them
Author’s Notes: A sequel to my Accidents, Good Day fics, and Not Always Easy fics
Summery: Life goes on and things keep changing
Accidentsverse archive is here: http://timemonkey.livejournal.com/12522.html#cutid1
"I'm telling you they did!" Warren insisted to the two women sitting in front of him. The angelic mutant was holding Raymonde, who was wiggling and refusing to accept the bottle Warren was trying to feed him with, in his arms.
"And what makes you so sure?" Rogue asked, holding back a chuckle from watching Warren's determined efforts to make the infant he was holding cooperate, and then adding, "Not that it's any of our business if they did."
Warren looked up from his efforts and smirked at her, "I heard them. They weren't exactly quiet about it. I'm surprised you didn't hear it."
Jubilee snorted and said, "That'd explain why Wolvie didn't sleep well, and why they've both been grinning all morning."
"Yeah, I wasn't even aware that Northstar could smile," Warren replied, with a small shudder, "The more I see it the more it creeps me out."
"Oh?" a feminine voice said from behind him, causing him to almost jump and almost fall off his chair from surprise and Raymonde laughed, finally giving Warren the opening he needed. Warren turned to see Aurora standing right behind him then she continued in an amused tone "My brother's happiness disturbs you?"
"You have to admit it's unusual for him. He's usually all smirks and condescending looks," Warren answered.
He lowered one of his wings as she leaned over his shoulder and grinned at her nephew, who giggled at her, and she said, "Yes, he is, isn't he?". She lifted up Raymonde from Warren's arms and then added, "I, for one, think it's a wonderful change."
"Sure it is," Jubilee agreed, "where is JP anyway?"
Not looking away from the infant in her arms Aurora replied, "Off doing something in town. He said he wanted to pick up a few things before Robert finished teaching. I would have gone with him but Madame Frost wished to speak with me." Aurora's tone became slightly irritated as she continued, "apparently she thinks I have not been doing my share of work around here. I was not aware that a guest was required to work while visiting family but I pointed out that I'd be more than willing to help teach the children, after all, unlike some people I am actually qualified to do so."
"Ahm sure Emma didn't mean to be rude," Rogue said, "she just can't help it."
The four of them sat together for a while, chatting about a variety of subjects, with Aurora occasionally talking in french to Raymonde before Aurora had to go change her shirt after Raymonde spit up on her.
Part Seventeen
Bobby was not happy. Things had been going so well lately, nobody had died recently, no alien invasions, everyone at the mansion was getting along fairly well, Aurora hadn't had any unpleasant personality changes, Raymonde was healthy and growing at a fairly normal pace and Bobby's relationship with Jean-Paul was going extremely well.
Everything had been going perfectly until that afternoon, when something unexpected had happened. Classes had been over for the day and they'd been getting ready for a session in the Danger Room when they'd overheard a news report on the television. The reporter had come on and declared that a special inside source had informed them that the former olympic athlete and Alpha Flight member, Northstar, had had a son with his boyfriend, the X-man Iceman. The reporter had then continued to not only tell everyone that Bobby had been the one who'd been pregnant but that the child was a mutant, shattering the widely held belief that the mutant race was pretty much dead and the possible repercussions of what that would mean.
Less than an hour after the report they'd gotten a call from Jamie Madrox, apologizing since it had been one of his dupes who'd spilled the story to the press. They'd had to physically restrain Jean-Paul to keep him from flying over there and killing Jamie but they'd managed to calm him down a bit. Instead they'd had a meeting to discuss what they could do about the situation. they'd abandoned the idea of just mind-controlling people into either accepting it or forgetting it. Ethical problems aside the exposure was too broad to be dealt with in such a manner. They'd considered hiding Raymonde for a while and claiming that the whole thing was just a hoax but they couldn't think of a safe enough place to hide him and neither Bobby nor Jean-Paul wanted to be separated from him for a long time. After a while they'd agreed to increase the mansion's security and hope that nothing too drastic would come of it.
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Bobby stood in front of one of the mansion's many windows, staring worriedly at the crowd that had been gathering over the past few days. Ever since the news report had gone out people had been arriving out front of the mansions gates. A lot of them had signs, although Bobby was too far away to actually read what they said. Emma was standing next to him, although she looked more angry than worried.
Bobby shot a worried glance down at the infant in his arms and turned to Emma and said, "They're not going to, like, rush the mansion, are they?"
Emma snorted in disgust at the people in question and responded, "I highly doubt it, Bobby. These are simply people who have nothing better to do with their lives than makes signs and fool themselves into believing that their efforts are accomplishing anything. They're far more likely to turn on each other than attack us."
"Really?" Bobby asked, surprised. "Aren't they all here for the same reasons?"
Emma looked back at the crowd and gestured towards a group near the center, "Those ones there are anti-mutant protesters who believe we shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. That group to the left of them are the ant-gay protesters, they mostly object to the fact that Jean-Paul and yourself are being permitted to continue such a deviant lifestyle around so many children," Emma rolled her eyes as she said deviant, as if unable to comprehend the depths of humanity's stupidity.
Emma then indicated a group on the far left, "They, are a group of religious fanatics who believe that a mutant child born of two men must be the second coming of Christ," Emma then turned slightly and pointed at the group that was as far away a possible from the group she had just indicated, "And they are the religious fanatics who believe that the mutant child of two men must be the Anti-Christ."
Bobby again looked out at all the people who were after his son for their various reasons, holding Raymonde closer to his chest than he had been, and Emma reached over and patted his shoulder, sympathetically. For a moment it looked as if a fight was going to break out among the crowd but they were all distracted as the sky suddenly turned dark. Clouds filled the previously clear sky and rain poured down upon the crowd of protesters. The mob of people scrambled away, seeking shelter from the sudden change in weather.
Bobby smiled as a familiar form descended from the sky, a dark skinned woman with white hair who gave the impression of class and authority even when completely soaked in the middle of a storm. For the first time since he'd heard the news report that had started this whole thing Bobby smiled.
Part Eight-Teen
Bobby made a quick stop at his room, to put Raymonde down for his nap, before rushing to the door to greet their new arrival. By the time he got there Ororo was already inside, having blown herself dry with her powers, and was receiving a warm welcome from the other X-Men.
After greeting her friends Ororo had walked over to Bobby, a broad grin on her face, and given him a big hug. After a few moments she pulled back and said, "Congratulations, Bobby, I wish I could have come sooner but things have been complicated in Wakanda and T'Challa needed me." She warm smile deepened and she said, while glancing over at Jean-Paul, "And I have heard that additional celebration is in order."
Bobby blushed a bit, both surprised and pleased that Ororo had already heard the news about his relationship with Jean-Paul and she obvious approval. Bobby smiled at her and then said, "Thanks, for getting rid of those people out there. I was starting to get a bit worried."
"It was my pleasure, Bobby. Besides" Ororo responded, her warm smile grew somewhat mischievous, "the garden was looking so dry I thought it could use a nice long shower, possibly for the next several days."
Ororo spent the next few hours getting caught up with everyone and getting settled in. Afterwords she came by Bobby's room and met the newest addition to the X-Family. Ororo was holding Raymonde, staring adoringly down at him as he stared back up at her curiously and Bobby hovered nearby, making sure Raymonde's head was properly supported. "He has your eyes, Bobby," Ororo said as Raymonde amused himself by playing with her long, white hair.
Bobby smiled as he watched them and said, "So I keep hearing. I think he looks just like Jean-Paul, only, you know, smaller."
"Of course," Ororo said, laughing.
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Bobby sat on the couch, stretching out and relaxing. The day had gone from fairly stressfull to fairly pleasant. The day's training session had gone well and Raymonde was already down for the night. Jean-Paul was still a bit cranky about the whole thing but Bobby was confident he could find a way to help the other man release his stress. While distracted by those thoughts Bobby had failed to notice Scott enter the room and was surprised when he sat down beside him. Bobby noticed that Scott looked as lost in thought as Bobby had just been and asked, "Everything okay, Scott?"
Scott looked over and replied, "Yeah, I just got some news from Emma. I guess I'm still in shock." Scott thought it over for a moment and then added, "It was actually some really good news."
"Really?" Bobby asked, his interest piqued. "What'd she say?"
Scott grinned and answered, "She told me she was-"
Scott was cut off as a small tremor shook the mansion and knocked Scott off balance and onto the floor. The light from outside, which had already begun to wane as the sun went down, was completely blocked out by something huge now standing in front of the mansion. Before anyone could react a giant, purple, metallic hand smashed through the wall and grabbed onto Bobby, dragging him outside.
Part Nine-Teen
Instinct was the only thing that saved Bobby's life. As the enormous Sentinel hand dragged him out of the mansion he'd shifted to his ice form, only to be crushed a moment later. The frozen chunks of Bobby's body rained down on the lawn and the rubble front he mansion's wall. The chunks melted into mist and reformed, leaving Bobby back in his flesh form, naked, disoriented and completely helpless. A dark shadow fell over Bobby as the Sentinel raised one of it's giant feet to crush him. He tried to move but the reformation had taken too much out of him. A split second before the Sentinel would have crushed him a form darted under the descending mechanical limb and carried Bobby out of harm's way and into the air.
Bobby looked up and saw that it had been Warren who'd saved him, and was currently trying to keep from being swatted out of the air by the deadly robot. Bobby then heard the distinctive sound of Scott's optic blast and heard Alex's blasts added to the battle a moment later. Warren flew tot he edge of the woods and put Bobby down, they were far enough away from the fight that Bobby could recover without having to worry about being hit but close enough that he could still see everything that was happening.
The Sentinel was larger than most of the others Bobby had seen. It was taking far more punishment than an ordinary Sentinel could and the X-men were struggling against it. It had caught them all off guard and so they hadn't managed to come up with a strategy yet. Most of the X-Men's efforts were spent trying to keep the Sentinel from destroying the mansion and killing all the children inside, and distracting it from their team-mates whenever it gained the upper hand against them. Scott and Alex were striking together, attempting to locate some weak point while Lorna used her magnetic powers to keep the Sentinel off balanced. Northstar and Aurora were darting around it's head, their light power seemed to briefly scramble it's sensors, allowing Wolverine and Beast a chance to get close enough to assault it physically. They began scaling the Sentinel, looking for a chance to damage it's circuitry but their accent was slowed by having to hang on whenever the Sentinel attempted to dislodge them.
Bobby was beginning to regain full control of his body and it seemed as though the team had finally gained the upper hand on the Sentinel when it's chest cavity opened and it released nearly a dozen much smaller Sentinels. The smaller Sentinels flew out and attacked the three flying X-men, catching them off-guard. Lorna was struck by several of the Sentinel's energy blasts and was stunned long enough for the larger Sentinel to grab her.Northstar was similarly struck but his sister managed to catch him, again triggering their power and disorienting the smaller Sentinels. Lorna was struggling to keep from being crushed, using her powers to keep the giant sentinel from fully closing it's fist.
Scott and Alex changed their focus from the giant Sentinel and destroyed several of the smaller ones. Bobby managed to gather enough of his strength to freeze the ground beneath the largest Sentinel, keeping it off balance long enough to not take advantage of his team-mates' vulnerability and giving Lorna the opportunity to break from, shattering the Sentinel's hand in the process.
Thunder sounded from above and lighting struck from the heavens, striking the smaller Sentinels and overloading them, as Storm flew out of the window, having regained consciousness after she had hit her when when she was knocked off her feet when the Sentinel's landing had shaken the mansion. Lorna ripped apart their ruined bodies and bombarded the larger Sentinel with the shrapnel, tearing several holes in it's metallic skin. Wolverine managed to take advantage of the damage done and tore into the Sentinel's circuits but Beast was tossed free, nearly crushing Emma when he landed. As the Sentinel reeled from the damage Scott and Alex struck it's eyes with their blasts, exposing it's vital circuits. Northstar, having recovered from the previous attack, and Aurora smashed through the Sentinel's head a super-speed, destroying it's robotic brain.
The Sentinel flailed as it's control was lost, slid on the ice on the ground and fell, backwards onto the mansion, crushing it completely.
Part Twenty
The X-Men stared at the fallen Sentinel and the ruble beneath it in horrified shock. The reality of what had happened and what it meant slowly sunk in. "By the Goddess, the children!" Ororo whispered, too stunned to speak normally.
Jean-Paul was the next to react, he sped across the lawn and began tearing at the ruble, desperately trying to dig through it. This snapped the rest of the group back to reality and they began to move. Most of them spread over the ruins, searching frantically for any sign of survivors, a couple moved over to Jean-Paul either to help him dig or to try and calm him down. Beast made his way over to Bobby, who was trying to make his way over to the mansion, probably to do the same thing that Jean-Paul was doing. Beats removed his lab coat, which he'd been wearing when he attack had begun, placed it over Bobby's shoulders and was helping his friend make his way over to the others. Bobby kept his eyes locked on the ruined mansion the entire time, even as he started to talk, "Oh God! Hank, Ray was in there!"
Beast pulled Bobby into an awkward half-hug as he kept supporting him as they walked. He did his best to comfort his friend as the younger man started to cry, his tears freezing halfway down his face, Bobby having lost some of his control in his grief. They finally made it over to the others and what they saw nearly made Beast lose it himself. The others had found no sign of any of the children outside the mansion and had gathered around Jean-paul who was still trying to dig his way inside. Rogue and Aurora were doing their best to try and talk him into stopping before he hurt himself while the others seemed at a loss of what to do. Only Emma seemed not to be paying attention to them as she stared blankly into space. It took everyone by surprise as when Emma suddenly reached out and grabbed one of Jean-Paul's arms, holding it still.
Jean-Paul whirled on her, his fist stopping only a few millimeters from smashing into her face, succumbing to her mental command to stop and calm down. Bobby felt a similar command wash over him and he stopped crying and focused on Emma. Her expression was serious and demanded everyone's attention. "I've made telepathic contact with my girls," Emma began, "they are trapped in one of the hallways in the mansion's sub-level along with almost all of the other students. They were attempting to take refuge in the Danger Room but did not make it there in time. The way is blocked both to and from the exits and the ceiling is unstable and could collapse at any moment." Emma's gaze fell onto Jean-Paul, then onto Bobby and she said, "Raymonde is with them, apparently Victor had the good sense to pick him up on the way."
A sense of relief flooded through the group but Emma quickly added, "We do not have a great deal of time. The children are using their powers to keep themselves alive but they will not be able to do so for long. many of them are injured, some only minor, others seriously. It is likely that there have also been casualties, it is difficult to tell at the moment as they are all so panicked their thoughts are all bleeding together."
"Alright. team," Scott said, "We need to clear a way down there as fast as we can, while not crushing the students in the process." Scott turned and looked at each person as he spoke to them, "Beast, Wolverine, we need you to clear a tunnel through the rubble. Northstar and Aurora, clear the debris away and be ready to evacuate the students once the way is clear. Iceman and Polaris, I need you two to keep the area from collapsing on both us and the students. Emma will stay in contact with the students and guide us towards them. Everyone else, get ready to deal with the wounded, try and find supplies to help them. let's move people!"
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Victor was doing his best not to panic. It was fairly difficult given the circumstances though. He'd just gotten into bed when he had been tossed off of bed as the mansion shook. He'd glanced out the window and almost screamed, they'd been under attack by Sentinels! Victor had watched long enough to se Mr.Summers and his brother begin attacking the monster when Miss Frost's voice had sounded in his head and told him, and all the other students, to get to the Danger Room and prepare to defend themselves. He'd been halfway tot he elevator when he'd realized that with all the adults outside there was no one to keep the baby safe or stop the Sentinel from hurting it. He'd run back to the dorms and was thankful to be on familiar enough terms with Mr. Beaubier to actually know where his room was, not that he'd been there all that often. The door had been unlocked and he's found Raymonde crying inside, terrified at the loud noises and shaking room. He'd picked up the baby and grabbed the kids stuffed gorilla to try and calm him down and had run to safety, or he'd tried to run to safety.
He'd run into the others in the hallway below the mansion, they were almost there when something had caused the earth to shake even worse than before. They'd been tossed onto the ground and the ceiling had collapsed on them. Fortunately Jullian had used his telekinesis to hold most of it away and the rubble had trapped them within a small pocket. Just when they'd thought they were safe one of the beams broke and a portion of the rubble fell on them. Several people were hurt and the new guy, and Victor realized he should probably stop thinking of him that way since he'd been with them for months now, had been impaled through the leg by the broken beam. Normally they would have cut it out and then healed the hole but the beam was still supporting a large load and then coudln't risk having the rest of it fall on them. Rockslide and Jullian were doing their best to hold the rubble in place but they knew they'd only be able to hold out for so long before someone lost it and they were all crushed.
The girls had told them that the X-Men were doing their best to save them but Victor was forced to admit that their track record in this area wasn't promising. He was doing his best to stay calm and keep Raymonde calm. It was impossible to tell how long they'd been down there bu it had seemed like a very long time. Victor found himself staring at the beam that was impaling Kevin's leg. teh beam must have also pierced the part him that ditributed the diamond gel because the area around the wound had hardened and was glittering in the flickering light produced by Match. It wa beutiful and horrifying at the same time and Victor was becoming almost hypnotized by the dancing pattern.
Victor was drawn out of his trance when he heard the metal beams around them straining. At first he thought they were going to collapse again and he prepared to shield Raymonde from any falling debris but instead the beams straightened out and formed a supporting dome around them which was then frozen in place. The dark pocket they were was suddenly flooded with light as several bits of rubble were cleared away. He heard the voices of Doctor McCoy and Wolverine yelling that they'd found them. they were saved!
Part Twenty One
Bobby was really very tired. After dealing with the Sentinel attack, believing that his son had been killed and then having to rush to dig the students out from under the Sentinel and the ruined mansion Bobby had had pretty much all he could deal with. After he saw Jean-Paul fly out of the ruble, carrying Victor and Raymonde Bobby had felt all the tension drain out of his body and had felt exhaustion take it's place. Finally, the last of the students were brought out, the wounded were being tended to and most of the people who weren't doing that were trying to figure out what they were going to do for the night.
Bobby made his way over to where he'd seen Jean-Paul fly over to and spotted the other man sitting on a fallen tree and trying to calm down their son, who had finally woken up. Bobby figured that either Emma or those telepathic triplets had forced Raymonde to go to sleep during the crisis to make him easier to deal with and so his crying wouldn't break Julian's concentration as the boy had kept the rubble from crushing them all. Bobby sat down beside Jean-Paul and wrapped an arm around the other man. Jean-Paul was shaking and looked like he was about to cry but was fighting not to and he leaned slightly into bobby's embrace.
"You okay?" Bobby asked, concerned.
Jean-Paul turned and looked at him and said, "I will be fine, Robert." Jean-Paul looked down at Raymonde and said, "I thought I'd lost him."
Bobby looked down at Raymonde as well and sighed, "Yeah, I did too. I guess we owe one to the kids."
Jean-Paul nodded and kept his gaze on his son, after a few minutes Bobby said, "You sure you're okay? You want me to hold him for a while?"
"Non, I have him," Jean-Paul said, holding Raymonde closer to his chest.
Bobby watched Jean-Paul for a moment before saying, "It's okay, Jean-Paul, Ray's fine. After we get things figured out we'll find whomever is responsible for all this and make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm sure Hank's dissecting the thing's computer right now and figuring out where it came from." Bobby leaned over and kissed Jean-Paul lightly on the cheek, "We're not going to let anything happen to him."
Jean-Paul sat there, resting against Bobby and holding Raymonde. About an hour later Scott came over and informed him that the Fantastic Four had detected the Sentinel and, while they'd been too slow to actually catch and stop it, they'd tracked it here and we're offering to give them a place to stay until they got the mansion fixed up again.
Part twenty Two
It really was surprising how fast a mansion could be rebuilt when super powers were involved. Bobby couldn't help but smile whenever he thought about just how many non-X-men had shown up to lend a hand. Not only did they have the help of the Fantastic Four several others had come to help out in their time of need. Ms Marvel had been one of the first to offer her help, followed soon after by several other Avengers. Madrox and his team had shown up, Jamie felt guilty about all the trouble his dupe had caused. Even the Young Avengers had stopped by to help, although the majority of their helping had been mostly watching Raymonde and cooing over how adorable he was. The team of young heroes had gotten a few laughs in after hearing just how Raymonde had come into existence afterward Bobby had felt compelled to point out that they shouldn't be laughing since it would be very easy for something like that to happen to Wiccan and Hulkling but they'd just laughed again. While most of them were rebuilding the mansion Beast, Emma, Wolverine, Captain America, and the Invisible Woman had tracked down the people responsible for sending the sentinel and made sure it would not be happening again anytime soon. Bobby and Jean-Paul had wanted to go with them but had decided to stay behind and watch Raymonde in case something else dropped out of the sky and attacked.
It took less than a month to get the X-mansion rebuilt and fully functional again. A month which had given Bobby and Johnny ample time to drive everyone else crazy with their pranks. Bobby had to admit that their best one had to have been when they'd dressed Raymonde up as Namor, complete with mini-speedo and winged ankles, and gotten Sue to freak out by claiming that Doctor Doom had de-aged Namor. The ruse had lasted less than an hour, Sue had caught on as soon as her initial panic had worn off but the laughs were worth the invisible butt kicking they'd received for it. They'd never gotten around to asking why reed had a tiny pair of wings that were easily attachable or why he was so willing to help them, though. They'd still been there to celebrate Johnny's son's first birthday, which had been a lot of fun even though David had been far more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper the gifts had come in than the actual gifts.
Best of all, by the time they'd gotten the mansion rebuilt Jean-Paul had calmed down and seemed to be back to normal. Bobby was relieved since he'd been starting to worry that Jean-Paul was stuck in a state of shock and depression. Bobby suspected that Jean-Paul had become distracted by the fact that Raymonde has started crawling. It was apparently hard to stay ina funk when you're busy chasing an infant around a building filled with high-tech machinery. Fortunately Reed had already built a child-proof play pen to keep David in so once they caught him they didn't have to do so again for a few hours. The two boys seemed to be getting along pretty well, or at least as well as two children who couldn't talk can get along and they now had several pictures of the boys sleeping on the rug, passed out along with whichever adults were assigned to watch them that day.
Shortly after moving back into the mansion Bobby had noticed something, Warren and Aurora were spending a lot of time flirting. It wasn't just the normal flirting but the kind of flirting that led somewhere kind. Bobby wasn't sure how he felt about it but was sure that Jean-Paul would react badly to the idea, Jean-Paul never seemed to approve of any of the men that his sister showed interest in and he already didn't like Warren. Bobby was doing his best to keep Jean-Paul distracted but he knew that wouldn't last much longer, apparently subtlety was not one of Aurora's strong points. On top of that problem Bobby had been watching Emma and Scott, whom he'd noticed had now both been acting unusually. He'd eventually remembered that Scott had been about to tell him something before the sentinel had attacked them but he'd been too busy get Scott alone and ask him about it.
After a day of teaching, training and parenting Bobby found himself laying in bed, snuggling up again Jean-Paul who was grading a few last papers. Bobby's sleepy brain eventually noticed that Jean-Paul had stopped moving and that the papers the Canadian man had been grading were now set aside. Bobby looked up at Jean-Paul and saw the man was staring off into space with a worried expression on his face.
"You okay?" Bobby asked, sitting up and stretching a bit.
'Oui," Jean-Paul said, as he came back from his thoughts, "I was just wondering about something."
"What is it?" Bobby asked growing a little worried, "You weren't thinking about the attack again were you?"
"Raymonde could have been killed, Robert," Jean-Paul said, looking at the door that led to their son's room.
"But he wasn't, Jean-Paul, Ray's fine. It's over," Bobby said, trying to sooth Jean-Paul's, and his own, worries.
"Is it, Robert?" Jean-Paul asked, looking back at Bobby. "How long until someone decides to send more sentinels? Or perhaps one of the X-Men's many enemies decide to attack? How many times has this happened, Robert, how many times have you had to rebuild?"
Bobby leaned forward and looked Jean-Paul in the eye and said as confidently as he could, "Nothing is going to happen to Ray, we won't let it."
"Some things can't be avoided , Robert, not if you remain in this lifestyle. We've placed Raymonde directly in the line of fire of every fanatic, villain and alien menace with a problem with mutants. How many times have you faced the Brotherhood? Or Apocalypse?" Jean-Paul continued, "How many friends have you buried because you just couldn't save them, no matter how much you wanted to, no matter how hard you tried?"
Bobby shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memories Jean-Paul's words had brought up. "What do you want us to do? Run away and hide while our friends stay on the front lines and die?" Bobby asked, frustrated that he couldn't come up with anything to refute the points Jean-Paul had brought up. No matter how much he tried he couldn't deny that Jean-Paul was right, this life did seem to destroy everyone who tried to live it. Jean had gone from one of the nicest and good-hearted people he'd ever met to becoming the sun devouring Dark Phoenix. The Scarlet Witch, an Avenger who had saved the world repeatedly, had lost her children and her sanity to the years of hardship. Did he really think they'd be able to do any better? Bobby leaned back and covered his face with his hands, trying to think.
Jean-Paul looked again at the door to their son's room and said, "We could leave, Robert, go back to Canada. It may not be perfect but it's much safer than staying here in the center of every mutant related conflict." Bobby looked up at him, uncertainty on his face, "You wouldn't have to quit the X-Men, just become a reserve member instead."
"I don't know," Bobby said, unable to determine what the right action would be. "I need some time to think about it."
Part Twenty Three
Jean-Paul was sitting at a table, attempting to have a conversation with his friend and fellow X-Man, Rogue, while trying to get his son to eat the liquefied fruit he was spooning out of a jar he was holding. "You're really surprised about how Bobby reacted?" Rogue asked him, trying to hide a grin, as he struggled to get Raymonde to swallow what he was being fed. Raymonde opened his mouth to allow the spoon to enter but then just let it dribble out forcing Jean-Paul to scoop it back up and try again.
Jean-Paul sighed and put down the spoon and answered, "They've been together for years now, it should not have been that big of a surprise. Besides," Jean-Paul continued, "I don't understand why he'd care, he's with me now."
"You gettin' jealous?" Rogue asked, trying not to laugh at the not-quite-a-pout that was on her friend's face.
"Of course not," Jean-Paul said, defensively, picking up the spoon and tried to feed Raymonde again. "I simply thought Robert's tastes had improved."
"Bobby's always been a little too invested in Lorna and Alex's relationship," Rogue explained. "I think he's still hung up on the idea that he stole her from him. Whatever the reason, finding out that they're getting married and having a baby at breakfast was a little too much for him to handle right after waking up.
"I suppose his reaction was amusing," Jean-Paul admitted, smiling as Raymonde finally gave in and actually ate the stuff.
Rogue chuckled, remembering how Bobby, after hearing the news, had sprayed his orange juice across the table and all over Logan, effectively ruining the moment of shock that had followed the announcement. "It was impressive that he could spray it that far," Rogue said. "Any idea when he and Scott are getting back?"
"He said that they were going to do a few interviews and attempt to calm down some of the reactions people were having before things spun out of control," Jean_paul said, a note of irritation entering his voice. "After all that has happened in the last several years one would think the general public would be too desensitized to abnormal occurrences to get so worked up over something like an abnormal birth."
Rogue shrugged, "After all that's happened Ahm not surprised they are reacting so strongly. They're probably afraid Raymonde will turn out to be the next Apocalypse or be overwhelmed by his power like the Scarlet Witch was. And those are just the people who didn't freak out over the fact that 'No More Mutants' isn't as final as it sounded."
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"Well, I think that went as well as could be expected," Scott said as he flew the jet back towards the mansion.
Bobby, who was sitting in the seat next to him just rolled his eyes and went back to glaring out the window. Bobby had spent the day surrounded by a bunch of reporters, who were only interested in getting the next big story, trying to dial down the hysteria that had come from the public learning about his son. Throughout it Bobby had tried to stay calm and answer the never ending stream of questions as well as he could while Scott had assured people that the mutant race was not trying to breed a new army of super-mutants to take over the world. Bobby leaned back in his seat and said, "I swear, Scott, if I hear one more person call my son an abomination I'm going to snap."
Scott gave Bobby a sympathetic look, setting the jet to autopilot. "I know it's hard, Bobby, but I think we managed some real progress today. Admittedly, we probably didn't convert any of the anti-mutant protesters but I think we've managed to get the situation under control. There shouldn't be any more Sentinels dropping onto our front lawn....at least not over this anyway."
Bobby frowned, reminded of what Jean-Paul had said the other night, then he remembered something, "Hey, Scott?" Bobby started, before the Sentinel attacked us you were about to tell me something, what was it?"
Scott looked at him for a minute and grinned, 'You may have noticed a change in Emma lately?"
"She's been pretty cranky lately, but I figured that was just from being sick so much," Bobby answered.
"That's called morning sickness, Bobby," Scott said, grinning.
"Wait, you mean Emma's...." Bobby trailed off as he realized the truth.
"Pregnant!" Scott finished for him.
Bobby grinned back at him and said, "Congratulations! You're going to be a dad! Again! You guys going to get married?"
Scott sighed and said, "No, I asked but she said that she wouldn't say 'yes' until she believed I really meant it and wasn't just saying it because it's what I thought I should say." Scott thought about it and then said, "She's right, though, we shouldn't get married unless we're actually ready."
"True," Bobby agreed. "And , hey, Emma's scary enough to scare away any cosmic entities or time travelers who try and mess with the kid!"
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Rogue watched as Jean-Paul struggled to give Raymonde a bath. She wouldn't have thought that the task in question would be so difficult but it was proving to be very much so. It wasn't that Raymonde didn't like taking a bath, quite the opposite as it turned out, once Raymond he had been placed into the water he'd immediately begun splashing and laughing, flailing around and making as big a mess as he could. Much to her surprise it seemed as though Jean-Paul was just as surprised at how difficult this had become.
"Haven't ya done this before?" Rogue asked Jean-Paul as they were both soaked by another splash.
"Robert usually does this," Jean-Paul answered as he struggled to actually wash the boy. "He bathes Raymonde and I change the diapers. I have helped several times but this is my first time attempting this on my own."
"Bobby definitely got the better deal there, Jean-Paul," Rogue commented. "At least he enjoys takin' a bath, a lot of kids don't like it."
"Having fun?" a voice from behind them asked, definite amusement in his voice.
The two turned to see Bobby behind them, leaning against the door to the bathroom and clearly trying not to laugh. "You know, Jean-Paul, Bobby said with a grin, "when you're all wet and frustrated like that you look like Namor."
Jean-Paul smirked back at Bobby and asked, "How was the trip?"
Bobby sighed and said, "Scott thinks we made some progress and I managed not to freeze anyone."
"Well, that's good," Rogue said.
"Yeah, I guess," Bobby said, "I guess I'd just forgotten at annoying these people can be." Bobby frowned and said, "I should probably get out more."
Another splash of water hit Rogue and Jean-Paul from behind, causing the two of them to jump up and Bobby to start laughing again. He walked over to the bathtub, crouched down and grinned at Raymonde, "Hey, buddy," Bobby said, "you giving these two a hard time?"
Raymonde just laughed some more and Bobby turned to face the others and said, "If you guys wanna go clean yourselves up I can finish up here."
Jean-Paul and Rogue admitted defeat and left the job in the hands of the master and left to go dry off.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Bobby looked around the van he was loading at Jean-Paul who was securing Raymonde into his car-seat. "This is everything we're taking, right?" Bobby asked, looking around to see if he'd missed any of the boxes.
"Yes, that should be everything. The rest can either be sent later or placed in storage," Jean-Paul answered, pulling himself out of the van, having finished securing their son into the vehicle.
The two men got into the van as well and drove off towards the airport where a private jet was waiting for them. Glancing back at the mansion behind them Bobby sighed and asked, "You're sure your friend won't mind us living with him for a while?"
"Of course not, Robert, it was Walter's idea," Jean-Paul responded. He was happy they were on their way. They'd told everyone they were leaving a week ago, possessions had been backed, good-byes had been said and now they were heading to a jet that would fly them to Canada and what Jean-Paul knew would be a safer environment. "I have been wondering, what caused you to change your mind, Robert?"
Bobby put on an innocent face and said, "Oh, you know, I just figured you were right, it's too dangerous here." Jean-Paul looked at Bobby suspiciously, certain the other man wasn't being entirely truthful. "Hey," Bobby said, "you hear Scott and Emma's big news?" Bobby grinned when Jean-Paul nodded, "Soon the mansion will be filled with the pitter-patter of little Summerses!" Bobby let that hang in the air for a second before adding," Can this thing go any faster?"
Author: Timemonkey
Fandom: X-Men
Rating: PG
Chapter 16/?
Warnings: Nothing really
Disclaimer: Not mine I'm just playing with them
Author’s Notes: A sequel to my Accidents, Good Day fics, and Not Always Easy fics
Summery: Life goes on and things keep changing
Accidentsverse archive is here: http://timemonkey.livejournal.com/12522.html#cutid1
"I'm telling you they did!" Warren insisted to the two women sitting in front of him. The angelic mutant was holding Raymonde, who was wiggling and refusing to accept the bottle Warren was trying to feed him with, in his arms.
"And what makes you so sure?" Rogue asked, holding back a chuckle from watching Warren's determined efforts to make the infant he was holding cooperate, and then adding, "Not that it's any of our business if they did."
Warren looked up from his efforts and smirked at her, "I heard them. They weren't exactly quiet about it. I'm surprised you didn't hear it."
Jubilee snorted and said, "That'd explain why Wolvie didn't sleep well, and why they've both been grinning all morning."
"Yeah, I wasn't even aware that Northstar could smile," Warren replied, with a small shudder, "The more I see it the more it creeps me out."
"Oh?" a feminine voice said from behind him, causing him to almost jump and almost fall off his chair from surprise and Raymonde laughed, finally giving Warren the opening he needed. Warren turned to see Aurora standing right behind him then she continued in an amused tone "My brother's happiness disturbs you?"
"You have to admit it's unusual for him. He's usually all smirks and condescending looks," Warren answered.
He lowered one of his wings as she leaned over his shoulder and grinned at her nephew, who giggled at her, and she said, "Yes, he is, isn't he?". She lifted up Raymonde from Warren's arms and then added, "I, for one, think it's a wonderful change."
"Sure it is," Jubilee agreed, "where is JP anyway?"
Not looking away from the infant in her arms Aurora replied, "Off doing something in town. He said he wanted to pick up a few things before Robert finished teaching. I would have gone with him but Madame Frost wished to speak with me." Aurora's tone became slightly irritated as she continued, "apparently she thinks I have not been doing my share of work around here. I was not aware that a guest was required to work while visiting family but I pointed out that I'd be more than willing to help teach the children, after all, unlike some people I am actually qualified to do so."
"Ahm sure Emma didn't mean to be rude," Rogue said, "she just can't help it."
The four of them sat together for a while, chatting about a variety of subjects, with Aurora occasionally talking in french to Raymonde before Aurora had to go change her shirt after Raymonde spit up on her.
Part Seventeen
Bobby was not happy. Things had been going so well lately, nobody had died recently, no alien invasions, everyone at the mansion was getting along fairly well, Aurora hadn't had any unpleasant personality changes, Raymonde was healthy and growing at a fairly normal pace and Bobby's relationship with Jean-Paul was going extremely well.
Everything had been going perfectly until that afternoon, when something unexpected had happened. Classes had been over for the day and they'd been getting ready for a session in the Danger Room when they'd overheard a news report on the television. The reporter had come on and declared that a special inside source had informed them that the former olympic athlete and Alpha Flight member, Northstar, had had a son with his boyfriend, the X-man Iceman. The reporter had then continued to not only tell everyone that Bobby had been the one who'd been pregnant but that the child was a mutant, shattering the widely held belief that the mutant race was pretty much dead and the possible repercussions of what that would mean.
Less than an hour after the report they'd gotten a call from Jamie Madrox, apologizing since it had been one of his dupes who'd spilled the story to the press. They'd had to physically restrain Jean-Paul to keep him from flying over there and killing Jamie but they'd managed to calm him down a bit. Instead they'd had a meeting to discuss what they could do about the situation. they'd abandoned the idea of just mind-controlling people into either accepting it or forgetting it. Ethical problems aside the exposure was too broad to be dealt with in such a manner. They'd considered hiding Raymonde for a while and claiming that the whole thing was just a hoax but they couldn't think of a safe enough place to hide him and neither Bobby nor Jean-Paul wanted to be separated from him for a long time. After a while they'd agreed to increase the mansion's security and hope that nothing too drastic would come of it.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Bobby stood in front of one of the mansion's many windows, staring worriedly at the crowd that had been gathering over the past few days. Ever since the news report had gone out people had been arriving out front of the mansions gates. A lot of them had signs, although Bobby was too far away to actually read what they said. Emma was standing next to him, although she looked more angry than worried.
Bobby shot a worried glance down at the infant in his arms and turned to Emma and said, "They're not going to, like, rush the mansion, are they?"
Emma snorted in disgust at the people in question and responded, "I highly doubt it, Bobby. These are simply people who have nothing better to do with their lives than makes signs and fool themselves into believing that their efforts are accomplishing anything. They're far more likely to turn on each other than attack us."
"Really?" Bobby asked, surprised. "Aren't they all here for the same reasons?"
Emma looked back at the crowd and gestured towards a group near the center, "Those ones there are anti-mutant protesters who believe we shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. That group to the left of them are the ant-gay protesters, they mostly object to the fact that Jean-Paul and yourself are being permitted to continue such a deviant lifestyle around so many children," Emma rolled her eyes as she said deviant, as if unable to comprehend the depths of humanity's stupidity.
Emma then indicated a group on the far left, "They, are a group of religious fanatics who believe that a mutant child born of two men must be the second coming of Christ," Emma then turned slightly and pointed at the group that was as far away a possible from the group she had just indicated, "And they are the religious fanatics who believe that the mutant child of two men must be the Anti-Christ."
Bobby again looked out at all the people who were after his son for their various reasons, holding Raymonde closer to his chest than he had been, and Emma reached over and patted his shoulder, sympathetically. For a moment it looked as if a fight was going to break out among the crowd but they were all distracted as the sky suddenly turned dark. Clouds filled the previously clear sky and rain poured down upon the crowd of protesters. The mob of people scrambled away, seeking shelter from the sudden change in weather.
Bobby smiled as a familiar form descended from the sky, a dark skinned woman with white hair who gave the impression of class and authority even when completely soaked in the middle of a storm. For the first time since he'd heard the news report that had started this whole thing Bobby smiled.
Part Eight-Teen
Bobby made a quick stop at his room, to put Raymonde down for his nap, before rushing to the door to greet their new arrival. By the time he got there Ororo was already inside, having blown herself dry with her powers, and was receiving a warm welcome from the other X-Men.
After greeting her friends Ororo had walked over to Bobby, a broad grin on her face, and given him a big hug. After a few moments she pulled back and said, "Congratulations, Bobby, I wish I could have come sooner but things have been complicated in Wakanda and T'Challa needed me." She warm smile deepened and she said, while glancing over at Jean-Paul, "And I have heard that additional celebration is in order."
Bobby blushed a bit, both surprised and pleased that Ororo had already heard the news about his relationship with Jean-Paul and she obvious approval. Bobby smiled at her and then said, "Thanks, for getting rid of those people out there. I was starting to get a bit worried."
"It was my pleasure, Bobby. Besides" Ororo responded, her warm smile grew somewhat mischievous, "the garden was looking so dry I thought it could use a nice long shower, possibly for the next several days."
Ororo spent the next few hours getting caught up with everyone and getting settled in. Afterwords she came by Bobby's room and met the newest addition to the X-Family. Ororo was holding Raymonde, staring adoringly down at him as he stared back up at her curiously and Bobby hovered nearby, making sure Raymonde's head was properly supported. "He has your eyes, Bobby," Ororo said as Raymonde amused himself by playing with her long, white hair.
Bobby smiled as he watched them and said, "So I keep hearing. I think he looks just like Jean-Paul, only, you know, smaller."
"Of course," Ororo said, laughing.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Bobby sat on the couch, stretching out and relaxing. The day had gone from fairly stressfull to fairly pleasant. The day's training session had gone well and Raymonde was already down for the night. Jean-Paul was still a bit cranky about the whole thing but Bobby was confident he could find a way to help the other man release his stress. While distracted by those thoughts Bobby had failed to notice Scott enter the room and was surprised when he sat down beside him. Bobby noticed that Scott looked as lost in thought as Bobby had just been and asked, "Everything okay, Scott?"
Scott looked over and replied, "Yeah, I just got some news from Emma. I guess I'm still in shock." Scott thought it over for a moment and then added, "It was actually some really good news."
"Really?" Bobby asked, his interest piqued. "What'd she say?"
Scott grinned and answered, "She told me she was-"
Scott was cut off as a small tremor shook the mansion and knocked Scott off balance and onto the floor. The light from outside, which had already begun to wane as the sun went down, was completely blocked out by something huge now standing in front of the mansion. Before anyone could react a giant, purple, metallic hand smashed through the wall and grabbed onto Bobby, dragging him outside.
Part Nine-Teen
Instinct was the only thing that saved Bobby's life. As the enormous Sentinel hand dragged him out of the mansion he'd shifted to his ice form, only to be crushed a moment later. The frozen chunks of Bobby's body rained down on the lawn and the rubble front he mansion's wall. The chunks melted into mist and reformed, leaving Bobby back in his flesh form, naked, disoriented and completely helpless. A dark shadow fell over Bobby as the Sentinel raised one of it's giant feet to crush him. He tried to move but the reformation had taken too much out of him. A split second before the Sentinel would have crushed him a form darted under the descending mechanical limb and carried Bobby out of harm's way and into the air.
Bobby looked up and saw that it had been Warren who'd saved him, and was currently trying to keep from being swatted out of the air by the deadly robot. Bobby then heard the distinctive sound of Scott's optic blast and heard Alex's blasts added to the battle a moment later. Warren flew tot he edge of the woods and put Bobby down, they were far enough away from the fight that Bobby could recover without having to worry about being hit but close enough that he could still see everything that was happening.
The Sentinel was larger than most of the others Bobby had seen. It was taking far more punishment than an ordinary Sentinel could and the X-men were struggling against it. It had caught them all off guard and so they hadn't managed to come up with a strategy yet. Most of the X-Men's efforts were spent trying to keep the Sentinel from destroying the mansion and killing all the children inside, and distracting it from their team-mates whenever it gained the upper hand against them. Scott and Alex were striking together, attempting to locate some weak point while Lorna used her magnetic powers to keep the Sentinel off balanced. Northstar and Aurora were darting around it's head, their light power seemed to briefly scramble it's sensors, allowing Wolverine and Beast a chance to get close enough to assault it physically. They began scaling the Sentinel, looking for a chance to damage it's circuitry but their accent was slowed by having to hang on whenever the Sentinel attempted to dislodge them.
Bobby was beginning to regain full control of his body and it seemed as though the team had finally gained the upper hand on the Sentinel when it's chest cavity opened and it released nearly a dozen much smaller Sentinels. The smaller Sentinels flew out and attacked the three flying X-men, catching them off-guard. Lorna was struck by several of the Sentinel's energy blasts and was stunned long enough for the larger Sentinel to grab her.Northstar was similarly struck but his sister managed to catch him, again triggering their power and disorienting the smaller Sentinels. Lorna was struggling to keep from being crushed, using her powers to keep the giant sentinel from fully closing it's fist.
Scott and Alex changed their focus from the giant Sentinel and destroyed several of the smaller ones. Bobby managed to gather enough of his strength to freeze the ground beneath the largest Sentinel, keeping it off balance long enough to not take advantage of his team-mates' vulnerability and giving Lorna the opportunity to break from, shattering the Sentinel's hand in the process.
Thunder sounded from above and lighting struck from the heavens, striking the smaller Sentinels and overloading them, as Storm flew out of the window, having regained consciousness after she had hit her when when she was knocked off her feet when the Sentinel's landing had shaken the mansion. Lorna ripped apart their ruined bodies and bombarded the larger Sentinel with the shrapnel, tearing several holes in it's metallic skin. Wolverine managed to take advantage of the damage done and tore into the Sentinel's circuits but Beast was tossed free, nearly crushing Emma when he landed. As the Sentinel reeled from the damage Scott and Alex struck it's eyes with their blasts, exposing it's vital circuits. Northstar, having recovered from the previous attack, and Aurora smashed through the Sentinel's head a super-speed, destroying it's robotic brain.
The Sentinel flailed as it's control was lost, slid on the ice on the ground and fell, backwards onto the mansion, crushing it completely.
Part Twenty
The X-Men stared at the fallen Sentinel and the ruble beneath it in horrified shock. The reality of what had happened and what it meant slowly sunk in. "By the Goddess, the children!" Ororo whispered, too stunned to speak normally.
Jean-Paul was the next to react, he sped across the lawn and began tearing at the ruble, desperately trying to dig through it. This snapped the rest of the group back to reality and they began to move. Most of them spread over the ruins, searching frantically for any sign of survivors, a couple moved over to Jean-Paul either to help him dig or to try and calm him down. Beast made his way over to Bobby, who was trying to make his way over to the mansion, probably to do the same thing that Jean-Paul was doing. Beats removed his lab coat, which he'd been wearing when he attack had begun, placed it over Bobby's shoulders and was helping his friend make his way over to the others. Bobby kept his eyes locked on the ruined mansion the entire time, even as he started to talk, "Oh God! Hank, Ray was in there!"
Beast pulled Bobby into an awkward half-hug as he kept supporting him as they walked. He did his best to comfort his friend as the younger man started to cry, his tears freezing halfway down his face, Bobby having lost some of his control in his grief. They finally made it over to the others and what they saw nearly made Beast lose it himself. The others had found no sign of any of the children outside the mansion and had gathered around Jean-paul who was still trying to dig his way inside. Rogue and Aurora were doing their best to try and talk him into stopping before he hurt himself while the others seemed at a loss of what to do. Only Emma seemed not to be paying attention to them as she stared blankly into space. It took everyone by surprise as when Emma suddenly reached out and grabbed one of Jean-Paul's arms, holding it still.
Jean-Paul whirled on her, his fist stopping only a few millimeters from smashing into her face, succumbing to her mental command to stop and calm down. Bobby felt a similar command wash over him and he stopped crying and focused on Emma. Her expression was serious and demanded everyone's attention. "I've made telepathic contact with my girls," Emma began, "they are trapped in one of the hallways in the mansion's sub-level along with almost all of the other students. They were attempting to take refuge in the Danger Room but did not make it there in time. The way is blocked both to and from the exits and the ceiling is unstable and could collapse at any moment." Emma's gaze fell onto Jean-Paul, then onto Bobby and she said, "Raymonde is with them, apparently Victor had the good sense to pick him up on the way."
A sense of relief flooded through the group but Emma quickly added, "We do not have a great deal of time. The children are using their powers to keep themselves alive but they will not be able to do so for long. many of them are injured, some only minor, others seriously. It is likely that there have also been casualties, it is difficult to tell at the moment as they are all so panicked their thoughts are all bleeding together."
"Alright. team," Scott said, "We need to clear a way down there as fast as we can, while not crushing the students in the process." Scott turned and looked at each person as he spoke to them, "Beast, Wolverine, we need you to clear a tunnel through the rubble. Northstar and Aurora, clear the debris away and be ready to evacuate the students once the way is clear. Iceman and Polaris, I need you two to keep the area from collapsing on both us and the students. Emma will stay in contact with the students and guide us towards them. Everyone else, get ready to deal with the wounded, try and find supplies to help them. let's move people!"
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Victor was doing his best not to panic. It was fairly difficult given the circumstances though. He'd just gotten into bed when he had been tossed off of bed as the mansion shook. He'd glanced out the window and almost screamed, they'd been under attack by Sentinels! Victor had watched long enough to se Mr.Summers and his brother begin attacking the monster when Miss Frost's voice had sounded in his head and told him, and all the other students, to get to the Danger Room and prepare to defend themselves. He'd been halfway tot he elevator when he'd realized that with all the adults outside there was no one to keep the baby safe or stop the Sentinel from hurting it. He'd run back to the dorms and was thankful to be on familiar enough terms with Mr. Beaubier to actually know where his room was, not that he'd been there all that often. The door had been unlocked and he's found Raymonde crying inside, terrified at the loud noises and shaking room. He'd picked up the baby and grabbed the kids stuffed gorilla to try and calm him down and had run to safety, or he'd tried to run to safety.
He'd run into the others in the hallway below the mansion, they were almost there when something had caused the earth to shake even worse than before. They'd been tossed onto the ground and the ceiling had collapsed on them. Fortunately Jullian had used his telekinesis to hold most of it away and the rubble had trapped them within a small pocket. Just when they'd thought they were safe one of the beams broke and a portion of the rubble fell on them. Several people were hurt and the new guy, and Victor realized he should probably stop thinking of him that way since he'd been with them for months now, had been impaled through the leg by the broken beam. Normally they would have cut it out and then healed the hole but the beam was still supporting a large load and then coudln't risk having the rest of it fall on them. Rockslide and Jullian were doing their best to hold the rubble in place but they knew they'd only be able to hold out for so long before someone lost it and they were all crushed.
The girls had told them that the X-Men were doing their best to save them but Victor was forced to admit that their track record in this area wasn't promising. He was doing his best to stay calm and keep Raymonde calm. It was impossible to tell how long they'd been down there bu it had seemed like a very long time. Victor found himself staring at the beam that was impaling Kevin's leg. teh beam must have also pierced the part him that ditributed the diamond gel because the area around the wound had hardened and was glittering in the flickering light produced by Match. It wa beutiful and horrifying at the same time and Victor was becoming almost hypnotized by the dancing pattern.
Victor was drawn out of his trance when he heard the metal beams around them straining. At first he thought they were going to collapse again and he prepared to shield Raymonde from any falling debris but instead the beams straightened out and formed a supporting dome around them which was then frozen in place. The dark pocket they were was suddenly flooded with light as several bits of rubble were cleared away. He heard the voices of Doctor McCoy and Wolverine yelling that they'd found them. they were saved!
Part Twenty One
Bobby was really very tired. After dealing with the Sentinel attack, believing that his son had been killed and then having to rush to dig the students out from under the Sentinel and the ruined mansion Bobby had had pretty much all he could deal with. After he saw Jean-Paul fly out of the ruble, carrying Victor and Raymonde Bobby had felt all the tension drain out of his body and had felt exhaustion take it's place. Finally, the last of the students were brought out, the wounded were being tended to and most of the people who weren't doing that were trying to figure out what they were going to do for the night.
Bobby made his way over to where he'd seen Jean-Paul fly over to and spotted the other man sitting on a fallen tree and trying to calm down their son, who had finally woken up. Bobby figured that either Emma or those telepathic triplets had forced Raymonde to go to sleep during the crisis to make him easier to deal with and so his crying wouldn't break Julian's concentration as the boy had kept the rubble from crushing them all. Bobby sat down beside Jean-Paul and wrapped an arm around the other man. Jean-Paul was shaking and looked like he was about to cry but was fighting not to and he leaned slightly into bobby's embrace.
"You okay?" Bobby asked, concerned.
Jean-Paul turned and looked at him and said, "I will be fine, Robert." Jean-Paul looked down at Raymonde and said, "I thought I'd lost him."
Bobby looked down at Raymonde as well and sighed, "Yeah, I did too. I guess we owe one to the kids."
Jean-Paul nodded and kept his gaze on his son, after a few minutes Bobby said, "You sure you're okay? You want me to hold him for a while?"
"Non, I have him," Jean-Paul said, holding Raymonde closer to his chest.
Bobby watched Jean-Paul for a moment before saying, "It's okay, Jean-Paul, Ray's fine. After we get things figured out we'll find whomever is responsible for all this and make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm sure Hank's dissecting the thing's computer right now and figuring out where it came from." Bobby leaned over and kissed Jean-Paul lightly on the cheek, "We're not going to let anything happen to him."
Jean-Paul sat there, resting against Bobby and holding Raymonde. About an hour later Scott came over and informed him that the Fantastic Four had detected the Sentinel and, while they'd been too slow to actually catch and stop it, they'd tracked it here and we're offering to give them a place to stay until they got the mansion fixed up again.
Part twenty Two
It really was surprising how fast a mansion could be rebuilt when super powers were involved. Bobby couldn't help but smile whenever he thought about just how many non-X-men had shown up to lend a hand. Not only did they have the help of the Fantastic Four several others had come to help out in their time of need. Ms Marvel had been one of the first to offer her help, followed soon after by several other Avengers. Madrox and his team had shown up, Jamie felt guilty about all the trouble his dupe had caused. Even the Young Avengers had stopped by to help, although the majority of their helping had been mostly watching Raymonde and cooing over how adorable he was. The team of young heroes had gotten a few laughs in after hearing just how Raymonde had come into existence afterward Bobby had felt compelled to point out that they shouldn't be laughing since it would be very easy for something like that to happen to Wiccan and Hulkling but they'd just laughed again. While most of them were rebuilding the mansion Beast, Emma, Wolverine, Captain America, and the Invisible Woman had tracked down the people responsible for sending the sentinel and made sure it would not be happening again anytime soon. Bobby and Jean-Paul had wanted to go with them but had decided to stay behind and watch Raymonde in case something else dropped out of the sky and attacked.
It took less than a month to get the X-mansion rebuilt and fully functional again. A month which had given Bobby and Johnny ample time to drive everyone else crazy with their pranks. Bobby had to admit that their best one had to have been when they'd dressed Raymonde up as Namor, complete with mini-speedo and winged ankles, and gotten Sue to freak out by claiming that Doctor Doom had de-aged Namor. The ruse had lasted less than an hour, Sue had caught on as soon as her initial panic had worn off but the laughs were worth the invisible butt kicking they'd received for it. They'd never gotten around to asking why reed had a tiny pair of wings that were easily attachable or why he was so willing to help them, though. They'd still been there to celebrate Johnny's son's first birthday, which had been a lot of fun even though David had been far more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper the gifts had come in than the actual gifts.
Best of all, by the time they'd gotten the mansion rebuilt Jean-Paul had calmed down and seemed to be back to normal. Bobby was relieved since he'd been starting to worry that Jean-Paul was stuck in a state of shock and depression. Bobby suspected that Jean-Paul had become distracted by the fact that Raymonde has started crawling. It was apparently hard to stay ina funk when you're busy chasing an infant around a building filled with high-tech machinery. Fortunately Reed had already built a child-proof play pen to keep David in so once they caught him they didn't have to do so again for a few hours. The two boys seemed to be getting along pretty well, or at least as well as two children who couldn't talk can get along and they now had several pictures of the boys sleeping on the rug, passed out along with whichever adults were assigned to watch them that day.
Shortly after moving back into the mansion Bobby had noticed something, Warren and Aurora were spending a lot of time flirting. It wasn't just the normal flirting but the kind of flirting that led somewhere kind. Bobby wasn't sure how he felt about it but was sure that Jean-Paul would react badly to the idea, Jean-Paul never seemed to approve of any of the men that his sister showed interest in and he already didn't like Warren. Bobby was doing his best to keep Jean-Paul distracted but he knew that wouldn't last much longer, apparently subtlety was not one of Aurora's strong points. On top of that problem Bobby had been watching Emma and Scott, whom he'd noticed had now both been acting unusually. He'd eventually remembered that Scott had been about to tell him something before the sentinel had attacked them but he'd been too busy get Scott alone and ask him about it.
After a day of teaching, training and parenting Bobby found himself laying in bed, snuggling up again Jean-Paul who was grading a few last papers. Bobby's sleepy brain eventually noticed that Jean-Paul had stopped moving and that the papers the Canadian man had been grading were now set aside. Bobby looked up at Jean-Paul and saw the man was staring off into space with a worried expression on his face.
"You okay?" Bobby asked, sitting up and stretching a bit.
'Oui," Jean-Paul said, as he came back from his thoughts, "I was just wondering about something."
"What is it?" Bobby asked growing a little worried, "You weren't thinking about the attack again were you?"
"Raymonde could have been killed, Robert," Jean-Paul said, looking at the door that led to their son's room.
"But he wasn't, Jean-Paul, Ray's fine. It's over," Bobby said, trying to sooth Jean-Paul's, and his own, worries.
"Is it, Robert?" Jean-Paul asked, looking back at Bobby. "How long until someone decides to send more sentinels? Or perhaps one of the X-Men's many enemies decide to attack? How many times has this happened, Robert, how many times have you had to rebuild?"
Bobby leaned forward and looked Jean-Paul in the eye and said as confidently as he could, "Nothing is going to happen to Ray, we won't let it."
"Some things can't be avoided , Robert, not if you remain in this lifestyle. We've placed Raymonde directly in the line of fire of every fanatic, villain and alien menace with a problem with mutants. How many times have you faced the Brotherhood? Or Apocalypse?" Jean-Paul continued, "How many friends have you buried because you just couldn't save them, no matter how much you wanted to, no matter how hard you tried?"
Bobby shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memories Jean-Paul's words had brought up. "What do you want us to do? Run away and hide while our friends stay on the front lines and die?" Bobby asked, frustrated that he couldn't come up with anything to refute the points Jean-Paul had brought up. No matter how much he tried he couldn't deny that Jean-Paul was right, this life did seem to destroy everyone who tried to live it. Jean had gone from one of the nicest and good-hearted people he'd ever met to becoming the sun devouring Dark Phoenix. The Scarlet Witch, an Avenger who had saved the world repeatedly, had lost her children and her sanity to the years of hardship. Did he really think they'd be able to do any better? Bobby leaned back and covered his face with his hands, trying to think.
Jean-Paul looked again at the door to their son's room and said, "We could leave, Robert, go back to Canada. It may not be perfect but it's much safer than staying here in the center of every mutant related conflict." Bobby looked up at him, uncertainty on his face, "You wouldn't have to quit the X-Men, just become a reserve member instead."
"I don't know," Bobby said, unable to determine what the right action would be. "I need some time to think about it."
Part Twenty Three
Jean-Paul was sitting at a table, attempting to have a conversation with his friend and fellow X-Man, Rogue, while trying to get his son to eat the liquefied fruit he was spooning out of a jar he was holding. "You're really surprised about how Bobby reacted?" Rogue asked him, trying to hide a grin, as he struggled to get Raymonde to swallow what he was being fed. Raymonde opened his mouth to allow the spoon to enter but then just let it dribble out forcing Jean-Paul to scoop it back up and try again.
Jean-Paul sighed and put down the spoon and answered, "They've been together for years now, it should not have been that big of a surprise. Besides," Jean-Paul continued, "I don't understand why he'd care, he's with me now."
"You gettin' jealous?" Rogue asked, trying not to laugh at the not-quite-a-pout that was on her friend's face.
"Of course not," Jean-Paul said, defensively, picking up the spoon and tried to feed Raymonde again. "I simply thought Robert's tastes had improved."
"Bobby's always been a little too invested in Lorna and Alex's relationship," Rogue explained. "I think he's still hung up on the idea that he stole her from him. Whatever the reason, finding out that they're getting married and having a baby at breakfast was a little too much for him to handle right after waking up.
"I suppose his reaction was amusing," Jean-Paul admitted, smiling as Raymonde finally gave in and actually ate the stuff.
Rogue chuckled, remembering how Bobby, after hearing the news, had sprayed his orange juice across the table and all over Logan, effectively ruining the moment of shock that had followed the announcement. "It was impressive that he could spray it that far," Rogue said. "Any idea when he and Scott are getting back?"
"He said that they were going to do a few interviews and attempt to calm down some of the reactions people were having before things spun out of control," Jean_paul said, a note of irritation entering his voice. "After all that has happened in the last several years one would think the general public would be too desensitized to abnormal occurrences to get so worked up over something like an abnormal birth."
Rogue shrugged, "After all that's happened Ahm not surprised they are reacting so strongly. They're probably afraid Raymonde will turn out to be the next Apocalypse or be overwhelmed by his power like the Scarlet Witch was. And those are just the people who didn't freak out over the fact that 'No More Mutants' isn't as final as it sounded."
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"Well, I think that went as well as could be expected," Scott said as he flew the jet back towards the mansion.
Bobby, who was sitting in the seat next to him just rolled his eyes and went back to glaring out the window. Bobby had spent the day surrounded by a bunch of reporters, who were only interested in getting the next big story, trying to dial down the hysteria that had come from the public learning about his son. Throughout it Bobby had tried to stay calm and answer the never ending stream of questions as well as he could while Scott had assured people that the mutant race was not trying to breed a new army of super-mutants to take over the world. Bobby leaned back in his seat and said, "I swear, Scott, if I hear one more person call my son an abomination I'm going to snap."
Scott gave Bobby a sympathetic look, setting the jet to autopilot. "I know it's hard, Bobby, but I think we managed some real progress today. Admittedly, we probably didn't convert any of the anti-mutant protesters but I think we've managed to get the situation under control. There shouldn't be any more Sentinels dropping onto our front lawn....at least not over this anyway."
Bobby frowned, reminded of what Jean-Paul had said the other night, then he remembered something, "Hey, Scott?" Bobby started, before the Sentinel attacked us you were about to tell me something, what was it?"
Scott looked at him for a minute and grinned, 'You may have noticed a change in Emma lately?"
"She's been pretty cranky lately, but I figured that was just from being sick so much," Bobby answered.
"That's called morning sickness, Bobby," Scott said, grinning.
"Wait, you mean Emma's...." Bobby trailed off as he realized the truth.
"Pregnant!" Scott finished for him.
Bobby grinned back at him and said, "Congratulations! You're going to be a dad! Again! You guys going to get married?"
Scott sighed and said, "No, I asked but she said that she wouldn't say 'yes' until she believed I really meant it and wasn't just saying it because it's what I thought I should say." Scott thought about it and then said, "She's right, though, we shouldn't get married unless we're actually ready."
"True," Bobby agreed. "And , hey, Emma's scary enough to scare away any cosmic entities or time travelers who try and mess with the kid!"
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Rogue watched as Jean-Paul struggled to give Raymonde a bath. She wouldn't have thought that the task in question would be so difficult but it was proving to be very much so. It wasn't that Raymonde didn't like taking a bath, quite the opposite as it turned out, once Raymond he had been placed into the water he'd immediately begun splashing and laughing, flailing around and making as big a mess as he could. Much to her surprise it seemed as though Jean-Paul was just as surprised at how difficult this had become.
"Haven't ya done this before?" Rogue asked Jean-Paul as they were both soaked by another splash.
"Robert usually does this," Jean-Paul answered as he struggled to actually wash the boy. "He bathes Raymonde and I change the diapers. I have helped several times but this is my first time attempting this on my own."
"Bobby definitely got the better deal there, Jean-Paul," Rogue commented. "At least he enjoys takin' a bath, a lot of kids don't like it."
"Having fun?" a voice from behind them asked, definite amusement in his voice.
The two turned to see Bobby behind them, leaning against the door to the bathroom and clearly trying not to laugh. "You know, Jean-Paul, Bobby said with a grin, "when you're all wet and frustrated like that you look like Namor."
Jean-Paul smirked back at Bobby and asked, "How was the trip?"
Bobby sighed and said, "Scott thinks we made some progress and I managed not to freeze anyone."
"Well, that's good," Rogue said.
"Yeah, I guess," Bobby said, "I guess I'd just forgotten at annoying these people can be." Bobby frowned and said, "I should probably get out more."
Another splash of water hit Rogue and Jean-Paul from behind, causing the two of them to jump up and Bobby to start laughing again. He walked over to the bathtub, crouched down and grinned at Raymonde, "Hey, buddy," Bobby said, "you giving these two a hard time?"
Raymonde just laughed some more and Bobby turned to face the others and said, "If you guys wanna go clean yourselves up I can finish up here."
Jean-Paul and Rogue admitted defeat and left the job in the hands of the master and left to go dry off.
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Bobby looked around the van he was loading at Jean-Paul who was securing Raymonde into his car-seat. "This is everything we're taking, right?" Bobby asked, looking around to see if he'd missed any of the boxes.
"Yes, that should be everything. The rest can either be sent later or placed in storage," Jean-Paul answered, pulling himself out of the van, having finished securing their son into the vehicle.
The two men got into the van as well and drove off towards the airport where a private jet was waiting for them. Glancing back at the mansion behind them Bobby sighed and asked, "You're sure your friend won't mind us living with him for a while?"
"Of course not, Robert, it was Walter's idea," Jean-Paul responded. He was happy they were on their way. They'd told everyone they were leaving a week ago, possessions had been backed, good-byes had been said and now they were heading to a jet that would fly them to Canada and what Jean-Paul knew would be a safer environment. "I have been wondering, what caused you to change your mind, Robert?"
Bobby put on an innocent face and said, "Oh, you know, I just figured you were right, it's too dangerous here." Jean-Paul looked at Bobby suspiciously, certain the other man wasn't being entirely truthful. "Hey," Bobby said, "you hear Scott and Emma's big news?" Bobby grinned when Jean-Paul nodded, "Soon the mansion will be filled with the pitter-patter of little Summerses!" Bobby let that hang in the air for a second before adding," Can this thing go any faster?"