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Chapter 2

Ororo moved to Beast’s side as their students gathered around them on the field for today’s lesson. This group had a mix of energy users and telekinetics and she couldn’t remember what else, so Beast had decided to take today’s class outside to the farthest practice field on the front lawn of the Institute. She spotted her son David whispering with a couple of girls, and they were all smiling.

She shook her head. If it hadn’t been for the fact that his curls were white instead of blond and he had darker skin, he’d look exactly like his father. Jackie had shown her pictures almost every time the four of them flew out to Kentucky for a visit, just so she could see how much David looked more like Brian every day. Seeing those photos had been an amazing surprise. Not just that Jackie had been right, but the chance to hear and see more about Brian’s childhood. Over the years, Ororo had wished she’d had the same type of childhood instead of living as a little orphaned thief in Africa after her parents had been killed when she was a little girl. Once Brian had heard her story, he’d teasingly sung the chorus of As Long As You Love Me to her. And for the first time, that song became her favorite. She’d suddenly realized just how true it really was for her and Brian. Brian hadn’t judged her; he’d known the kind of woman she was now, had fallen in love with, and it didn’t matter what she’d done in the past because she had moved beyond it and left it behind to become an X-Man.

Hank stood there waiting for the students to settle, large furry hands clasped behind his back. When most had settled down, but not all, he tried clearing his throat for attention. When that only got a couple more eyes on him, he shot a glance at Ororo. With a flick of her hand, a short, sharp breeze blasted across the group.

That got their attention. She wasn’t pleased to see that David had been in that last group and now looked sheepishly up at her and Hank.

“Now that we have your attention,” Beast began, “let us begin. As a reminder, though you should not need one, please silence your cell phones so that your full focus can be on learning and not the Internet.”

Ororo grimaced when her phone rang in her pocket just then. The students laughed as Beast made a face at her.

“I believe I just said something about silencing cell phones, Storm.”

She blushed and pulled out her phone. “Sorry, Hank.” She was about to reject the call when she realized it was from Brian. She frowned. Brian knew class was in session here. He’d just be sitting down to breakfast himself, if she remembered right.

She chose to answer the call, hoping it wasn’t an emergency. “Hi, honey. Can I call you back in a--”

“Rosie’s here in Vegas.”

Ororo stopped and blinked, not quite understanding. “What?”

“Rose is here with me,” Brian repeated, “in Las Vegas. She popped out of nowhere, right in the middle of the restaurant.”

Ororo’s mouth dropped open, her eyes immediately going over to where David stood watching her. Seeing her look his way, he frowned and mouthed “what?” Instead of answering, Ororo told Hank to just keep going, then turned and moved away from the group.

“How did she get there?” she demanded. “Rose should be at school!”

“I know. I think we have a teleporter in the family, Ro.”

“What? But she’s only ten!”

“Considering how I got my powers, should we really be that surprised that it hit her this young? And age doesn’t stop the bullying.”

Ororo’s heart sank. Oh no. “What happened?”

“One of Rose’s friends started hanging out with the kids that bully her instead of with her and Brooklyn. At recess today, those kids forced the girls off the swings and started chasing them. Seems that’s what happens when she comes home scraped up most of the time after she’s played with friends, but she was scared to tell us the truth. Rose said she wished you and me were there, and all of a sudden she was here and crashed into a cart of dirty dishes.”

“Is she okay?”

“Other than freaked out that she’s somehow here and not at school and doesn’t know where Brooklyn is, she’s okay. Hungry, too. Kev, thanks for getting her some food.”

“Are all five of you there?”

“All but Nick,” Brian replied. “He’s still home. We had plans to meet up with him later. I might ask if I can leave Rose with Lauren and Odin until the show tonight.”

Ororo heard her daughter protest at once. “No! I wanna stay with you!”

She chuckled, then asked, “Does her school know what happened yet?”

“Not from me, yet,” Brian said. “I wanted you to know first in case they contacted you once they found out she’s missing. We need to let her teacher and Brooklyn know. I’m sure Brooklyn is gonna be freaking out that Rose suddenly disappeared.”

Ororo nodded. She knew how close Rose and Brooklyn were. To suddenly have her best friend disappear like that would scare anyone.

“On top of that,” Brian continued with a sigh, “looks like it’s also time to move Rose to the Institute. I mean, she made it here in a single jump, Ro. Not even Kurt can do that.”

Ororo shook her head in disbelief. “She’s so young. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a student her age here. David hasn’t been here a full three years yet himself.”

“Didn’t you say he’s still discovering powers, too?”

“And I think we’ve found one more. We think he has your ability to communicate in dreams.”

Brian whistled. “Wow. How many does that make now?”

“Three, I think. The energy shield like yours, the dreams, and his own phasing through solid objects. He’s actually in the group of students I’ve got with Hank right now.”

“Then I’ll let you get back to class, and I’ll call Foxwood. And go ahead and tell David about Rose when you get the chance. I’m sure he’s curious.”

Ororo made a face. “Especially since my phone rang just as Hank said to silence them.”

Brian chuckled. “Whoops. I’ll let you go, then. I love you, Ro.”

“Love you, too.”

She heard Rose call out, “Love you, mama!”

Smiling, she said, “Give her a kiss for me. We’ll figure out how to get her back home later.”

When she returned to the group, her phone now silenced, she found David waiting with Hank instead of on the field practicing with his classmates. He’d evidently been focused on her instead of Hank’s instructions, so Hank had pulled him off the field to wait. When Ororo told them about Rose, David wanted to rush out to Las Vegas and get her right then.

“She’s okay, David,” Ororo reminded him. “Your dad will look after her and call the school. We can head out later tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, you can keep practicing and focus your powers. And get ready to see Rose here every day once we get her back home.”

When David reluctantly returned to the field and his classmates, Hank remarked, “She’s rather young, isn’t she? But then, with the way her father got his powers…”

“That’s what Brian said, too.”

“Do you think we should run any tests when she gets here?” he asked. “To see if we can predict any other changes she might go through?”

Ororo frowned. Some of the training David went through here wasn’t just to stretch his growing powers. It was also to see if the DNA he’d gotten from his father could harm David, too. Brian had nearly died before they’d discovered too many powers inside him and found the way to save his life. She’d been afraid to admit that she was worried that same thing might happen with David and Rose. Brian had understood--had had the same worry, in fact, when they’d learned Ororo was pregnant with David, with the baby they had lost in between him and Rose, and then Rose herself. Rose had also been a difficult pregnancy, and they had almost lost her, too. But, by some miracle, she pulled through and came into the world screaming and ready to live.

“I don’t know.”

~~

“Brooklyn, I don’t know how it happened! Daddy says I might be a teleporter, ‘cause I just disappeared from school and showed up in Las Vegas.”

Brian watched as his daughter clutched his phone tight in her hands, pleading with her best friend to understand. Her fright grabbed at him and nearly made him sick. With a great deal of reluctance, he put up an empathic block. They had a big day ahead of them, and as much as Brian loved his daughter, he couldn’t spend all of it fighting off Rose’s emotions.

A hand on his arm made him turn. “You okay?” Kevin asked.

“I’ll manage. I heard you talking to Ella.”

“Yeah, I told her about Rosie. She said to give her a big hug from the whole family as soon as I could. We’ll wait to tell the boys until you and Ororo say so.”

Brian smiled. “Thanks.”

“Betcha they’re gonna be excited, though,” Kevin admitted with a grin. “When they learn their cousin can teleport.”

“They’ll want her to show off all the time,” Brian agreed.

“Yeah, I promise,” Rose said into the phone, drawing his attention. “Once I learn how to do it right, I’ll show you.”

Brian started to interrupt, but stopped. Rose needed to make that promise. She needed her best friend to stay, had probably thrown out the offer like a lifeline. And Brian knew that with enough time and training, she could keep it.

A moment later, Rose’s smile told them everything they needed to know. Brian sighed in relief at the sight. He didn’t want to admit that his mind had gone to the ugliness that had happened over several months when he had first discovered his own mutant powers eighteen years ago. Until they had discovered what had really happened when that light had fallen on Nick and paralyzed him and how, Brian had nearly lost AJ as a friend. Even fans had turned away when they’d realized Brian was a mutant. Only a tiny number, thankfully, and all the work they’d done in the years since had brought new fans into the fold. To have a bond like that taken away was shattering. Brian would give Brooklyn a big hug when he saw her in thanks that she hadn’t abandoned her best friend.

The girls soon said goodbye. Rose returned Brian’s phone nearly crying with relief. Brian held her tight for a moment and sent waves of comfort to her.

“It’ll all be okay, sweetheart,” he promised.

Nick had a big hug for her too when they all met up at the studio. His disappointment at the bullying when Rose told her story again flowed so heavy Brian was almost surprised that he couldn’t physically see it floating around the room.

“You know,” Nick said, “I’ll just bet they’re really jealous because your family has powers and they don’t. But they just don’t want to show it, so they act mean.”

Rose crinkled her nose. “Really?”

Brian felt the spark of hope mixed with her disbelief. Don’t build her hopes up, Nick. It might not be true.

“You never know,” Nick replied with a glance at Brian. “Some people are like that. A friend of my ex-girlfriend finally admitted to me one day that she’d done everything she could to break us up because she’d been jealous that I had powers.”

“Why?” Rose asked.

Brian echoed her confusion. He remembered the woman, recalled that he’d sensed jealousy in the friend but had just assumed it was because she liked Nick as well as his girlfriend did.

Nick shrugged. “It never made sense to me, but she apologized anyway. So, who knows what those kids really think when they’re bullying you?”

“Daddy could. He can read minds.”

“But he won’t unless we say it’s okay,” Nick reminded her.

Nick’s explanation seemed to satisfy her for the moment. So, she sat and listened while Brian and the others worked on songs. Nick also kept her entertained when he wasn’t in the recording booth, using his telekinesis to play one of the guitars, making it seem like someone invisible was playing it. Sometimes he’d even float her around the room and turn her upside down, leaving her giggling. Once, Kevin helped her plink out some nonsense tune on the piano. AJ and Howie would make silly faces with her for photos and Instagram posts (with Brian’s permission). When Brian wasn’t in the booth and Rose wasn’t otherwise occupied, she was right by his side either on his iPad or just listening to the music. After a couple of hours, Brian not only realized that Rose had finally begun to relax, but she was starting to nod off. She’d fight it, though. Her head would start to droop, but then she’d jerk back awake. Her fear when that happened fluttered at him so often that he finally knelt beside her and whispered that if she needed rest, it was okay.

“We’ll still be here when you wake up,” he promised.

He placed a kiss on her head and sent a wave of comfort with it to help her relax. Within half an hour, she was asleep. Brian sighed in relief. A sudden spike of irritation and fury turned his gaze to the others.

“You’d think ten-year-olds would know better,” Howie remarked.

“Why?” Brian asked. “They’re ten. They’re still taking example from their parents on right and wrong. The three that bully Rose, I know their parents. All the couples are split on how they feel about mutants--one parent accepting mutants, the other not so accepting and more racist.”

“Guess which one is loudest, then,” Nick grumbled.

“And Rose pays the price,” Kevin said with a sad sigh. “Should I be grateful my boys haven’t faced any of this yet? Or do I ask them if they’ve been bullied, but haven’t told me and Ella?”

Three hours later the men called it a day at the studio. Now it was time to head to Planet Hollywood for some more rehearsals. Brian woke Rose with a gentle shake and led her out to the car.

“Why you gotta rehearse?” Rose asked when they got to the theater. “You do this all the time.”

“We need to make sure we really remember all the steps and the words,” Brian explained, “and where we need to be on stage. We also gotta to make sure everything’s working right. We don’t want to be left hanging in the air like we did that one time.”

Rose frowned. “How come Uncle Nick didn’t fix that? He could’ve.”

Nick replied, “Because the people in charge of that didn’t want me to. They wanted to try to fix it themselves.”

Brian could see that it didn’t make sense to her, but it would in time.