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Yesterdays & Tomorrows

Summary: “Blink an eye and you miss it.”

A clear mid morning sky, a well maintained expanse of green and an imposing mansion in the background, with any other situation this would be an ideal setting for an episode of the ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’. However, for the three people currently in view, it was an entirely different and important matter….well, for two of them anyway. As for the third, she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing here at this time. It was time for her English class with Ms. Rogue, something she had been exempted from on a ‘request’ from the headmaster himself, Professor ‘Uncle’ Xavier. And now here she was, with her mother standing sideways from her and Xavier in front of her.

--

The day before (Sunday),
Late-Afternoon,

“Thank you Ororo,” closing the file in front of him, Charles cleared his desk, turning his complete attention to the snow haired woman entering into his office.
Her lips curving up in an uneasy smile, Ororo gently closed the door behind her, made her way to the Professor’s mahogany desk and occupied one of the four empty chairs placed in front of around it.

“Charles, is there….” She was straightaway to the point. With both James and a still confused Kendall napping after lunch, she had availed the time to meet the Professor and discuss his findings about Kendall’s power surge. She would have done it earlier, except that ever since her kidnapping and torture, Kendall, had an equal if not more aversion towards anything medical….especially underground labs. Normally, given her inherited healing factor, she did not fall ill or had any allergies and even if she hurt herself, her wound would heal soon enough. In fact, today had been only the third time in the last seven months that she had entered the infirmary and the first time because of her. Both previous two times had been because of James, once when he hurt himself by slipping off the bed and knocking his already loose tooth out and the second time when he had a severe bout of the flu, which given the number of cases at that time was something that many of the mansion residents had. Only a few children, including Kendall herself escaped unscathed.

“There is nothing to worry about Ororo,” Charles too was quick in offering respite to the worried mother. And he was telling the truth…well, almost. “I just asked you here to discuss about Kendall well being and how she is taking the sudden change.”
“Oh,” even though her voice seemed to lose some of its worry, the tensed, squared shoulders did not let at all. “Well, I finally managed to get her to eat something and calmed down James too. Both of them are sleeping my room my right now.”
“Hmm,” even though James was still technically a human, the latest events caused a thought about his status to flash through Charles’ mind. However, this was not the time for that. That was a bridge they would cross when they came to it….except. “Ororo….” He deliberated for a second, not sure whether to ask such a question from a mother. “Have you noticed any change in James in the past few weeks….or months?”
Confused at his question, Ororo could only ask, “Change? ….Oh, you mean has his mutation become active?”
“Yes.”
“No Charles,” Ororo was firm in her response. She would have known had anything like this happened and she would have told Charles that. Why did he even need to ask about it?

Sensing her unspoken question and her given her current state of mind, Charles was quick but deliberate in his next revelation.
“I just asked….because….Kendall….well, the weather display today, it wasn’t because of any power surge in her.”
“It wasn’t?” Now this was news to Ororo, because from what she saw and from Henry’s inference it was a power surge, one accompanying the onset of puberty. “Then what was it?” She asked, the answer to her question raising its head somewhere in her subconscious.

“No. It was her powers finally breaking free….” this brought the answer to the forefront. “…it was because of her mental block giving way….the mental block we set years ago.”

----

//Flashback//

“Fatherhood suits you,” Xavier wheeled up next to Logan. At a passing glance the sight was one that everyone in the mansion was used to seeing, one of Wolverine lounging in front of the fifty-inch television of the Recreation Room, a couple of empty beer bottles standing on the ground next to him, an ‘on its way’ bottle in his hand and the rest of the six pack lying within arm’s reach.....and a game of Ice Hockey playing on the boob-tube. Pretty much normal…except for a small change, a small change that had changed his life forever….and one which he couldn’t be more happy and content about. Supported in his free arm, using his chest and mid section as a make shift bed, her soft breathes tickling his chest hair through the cotton t-shirt, was Kendall Logan, his and Ororo’s newborn daughter.

Even though there was no verbal response from his end, the gentle curve of the lips and a barest of caress with the supporting arm, was evidence enough for Xavier. He knew that even though the TV was on, all of Logan’s senses were working at full till, even keeping track of the thumping of the child’s heart, vibrations of which he could feel through to his own chest. In fact, the TV’s volume was set at near silent and had it not been for the slightest of jumbled buzz, Xavier would have sworn that it was set at mute.

“’Ro needed the sleep,” Logan’s words although pretty clear made Charles’s ears perk up. He knew Logan as one not to make any comments without some meaning or reason to them, especially not ones about his and now Ororo and Kendall’s private life.

“I understand,” the older man offered an opening for a possible conversation. “Being a mother, a new mother at that….”
“No Chuck,” Logan cut him off, his voice suddenly dropping in pitch and rising in urgency. “She needed the sleep. She was gonna drop if she didn’t get it.”

“Logan…” Charles drew his chair nearer to the couch, letting his telepath net out just in case anyone were to chance on upon their conversation. “Is something wrong with Ororo. Because her medical tests…”
“It ain’t anythin’ wrong with her,” setting the beer on the side table, Logan brought it up to support Kendall’s neck and gently set her down on the bedding he had set it out next to him, all the while taking care not to wake the child’s slumber. “Its her,” he finally spoke, gesturing towards his daughter.
‘Kendall?’ Xavier soundlessly expressed his question, his raised eyebrows expressing his surprise.
“’Ro gets tired controlling it,” Logan ran his hand over his face and through his hair and for the first time since he entered did Xavier notice the tension in his friend/teammate’s body. Even though his healing factor took care of his injuries and pretty much everything else, including fatigue, with prolonged use it was possible to see traces of it….and this was one such time.

“Controlling it?” Xavier echoed Logan’s words, knowing that now that he had made the move, Logan would himself come out and tell him about it, and given that it was something relating to Ororo and Kendall, it would be sooner than (the usual) later.
“Its my fault…” a frown creased the feral Canadian’s temple as his eyes took in the tiny form of his first born (in his memory) child. “…its all my fault.”
“Logan…” over time Logan’s self hate over his past, his actions and even his mutation had tempered, but on certain occasions, like when he and Ororo first came to know that she was pregnant, it did raise its ugly head again….and this time seemed like one of those.

“The beas….the things she got from me…” correcting himself, two fingers draped around the child’s arm, Logan lifted his eyes to the Professor. “…it doesn’t allow her peace…or to Ororo.”

Once again Xavier stayed silent waiting for further revelations. He could guess what Logan was hinting at, but wanted confirmation before saying something in return.

“What she…that of me inside her…and what she got from Ororo…” it was pretty clear now. “…they don’t fit together. Seen the weather outside?”

The question although seemingly out of place seemed natural to Xavier’s ears. What Logan was saying in this own way was that Kendall’s inherited feral qualities coupled with her non-existent control over it or over the other half of her mutation, her mother’s weather control powers was causing erratic weather patterns to develop almost continuously. They got stronger when she felt uneasy, hungry or especially when she cried to express herself, which given her feral nature was quite frequent. The only reason that no one knew about this was because of Ororo keeping a tight rein over it. However, this continuous use of her powers to control the effects of Kendall’s involuntary loss of control was having an averse affect on Ororo with the combined strain of taking care of a newborn, the regular and frequent feeding, and near 24/7 use of her own powers was finally starting to show in her. Even with Logan pitching in to keep Kendall calm and fed, things were pretty strenuous and tiring for the new parents.

“Charles,” Logan started again, deliberately using the Professor’s proper name. “I know it ain’t like that but….it won’t be like she’d be affected by the things that were done to me. The experiments, the metal…the nightmares…”
“No Logan,” this question was one which Xavier as well as Ororo, Jean and Henry had heard quite a few times over the better part of a year. “You also saw the results of the tests Jean and Henry did on you during Ororo’s pregnancy. The things….everything you had to undergo, it wasn’t on a genetic level, and as for other changes, your healing factor compensated…..repaired them.”

“Yeah,” Logan answered and grew silent for a few moments. “So, there’s nothing we can do….”
“There is…” Charles started slowly, and seeing the hopeful look on Logan’s face pedaled back even further. “But….I am not sure you will like to do it.”
“For ‘Ro and the kid, anything’,” Logan’s response carried no doubt, suspicion or hesitation.

“It is something I have done only once in the past and that too as a last resort, and let me assure you that although it is unconventional, it worked perfectly that time too.”
“Anything.” Logan stressed again.

“Very well, but I have to stress that before you make a choice….please hear me out…completely.”

//End Flashback//

---

“When?” was all Ororo could say as she recalled the sessions she, Logan and Kendall had had with the Professor, both individually and finally as a unit. There had been total five, with the first and fourth being Kendall alone, second being her, third Logan, and the final being all three of them. It hadn’t been an easy choice to make, but days of deliberation and a supportive vote from the Professor’s previous subject, Jean had made them decide for it. Moreover, with the experience he had gained over the years, Charles was able to fine tune the block so that only the child’s weather control powers were tethered. Also, it was set in such a way that was very similar to the natural progression of mutation, that is, it would break away/dissolve on its own when Kendall reached puberty….or as it had now happened, when she experienced a sudden, harrowing event.

“I don’t know,” Charles answered in response to Ororo’s one word question. “I cannot comment for certain, but from I can infer from her control at least a few months.”

“Control?” This was even more of a surprise for Ororo…then again it was not. After all, she had failed to detect the onset of the full range of her daughter’s powers. ‘But, who has been….Logan.’ The name just popped up by itself. “It is Logan isn’t it?” The query required no answer. “He has been training her.”
“Not in her weather control powers,” Charles made it a point to specify that. “But yes, in her other half, it seems that he indeed has helped her and by doing that helped her subconsciously gain control over her other powers.”

“And he didn’t tell us…tell me.” Ororo hurt and sense of being betrayed sounded clear in her voice.
“Ororo…..he….” Even though this change in Kendall had come as a surprise to Charles too, he knew that ever since that final day in court, Ororo had consciously avoided meeting Logan….and even more so since…. “He did not hide it. He did not want to tell me and you….”
“But what about Kendall?” It was becoming near impossible for Ororo contain herself from getting up and marching up to her room to get the truth from her daughter.
“I don’t think she even realized it,” Charles answered in a calm tone. “As far as she is concerned, it was just a part of her growing up and even the exercises and meditation that Logan used to teach her control, it was just her spending time with her father.”

At the silence that answered him, he tried again. “Ororo…”

With the realization that she had missed such an important thing in her child’s life weighing heavily in her thoughts, it took a few seconds for Xavier’s hail to get through to her.

“What….what can she do?” She asked finally. “How much is her control?”
“I don’t know,” Xavier answered truthfully. “We will have to see it to get a better estimate of it. And as both of your powers are similar, you will be able to judge it better than anyone else. We can set up a test time and….”
“Tomorrow,” Ororo ended that sentence even before it reached completion. “We do it tomorrow morning.”

With that she got up and near about marched out of the room, the sudden change in the weather outside mirroring her emotional state.

----

Present time,

With both adults looking on, her long silvery tresses plaited behind her, her hands clenched at her sides, her eyes closed, the young weather manipulating feral stood ramrod straight as she started to concentrate on doing what daddy had taught her. She had been reluctant to do so, but had finally agreed to it.

“Nothing is happening,” Ororo whispered to Charles after a couple of minutes. While Charles kept telepathic distance so as not to disturb or hamper the child’s concentration, Ororo was keeping track of the atmospheric conditions so as to detect even the subtlest displays of power.

“It takes time,” Kendall piped up from a few feet away, her sensitive ears catching her mother’s words. “I can do it.”

A few more second and then suddenly…..

KRRAKKA-BOOM

“Goddess!!” Although somewhat expected, Ororo gasped at the sight before her.

As for Charles, he reached down, lifted, opened and calmly brought his umbrella over his head.

----

Her usual hazel eyes white and crackling with elemental-electricity, her balled fists engulfed in the same energy, rain spattering around her, Kendall turned to her mother and the Professor…

“I told you I can do it.”

…her voice reached them from six feet up in the air.