Stars In The Night

Getting Serena back was probably one of the most important things Peter had ever done in his life. Something he knew all the way into his bones. If she hadn’t wanted it, it wouldn’t have happened ofcourse but part of her at least did and he had brought her the rest of the way. Keeping her in love with him though was going to be the challenge.

Serena wasn’t a good cook, except maybe pancakes, always left her room a mess and had servants all of her life. Peter on the other hand did not have that and was quite used to taking care of himself. He hoped, in the future, that he and Serena could have a place of their own. A house with a large yard and children, eventually. But for now it was enough to just be with her in the tower.

He had always regretted not going to Prom and he thought that Serena had as well. Well, now that he was being paid an Avengers salary and could afford a nice suit he decided that maybe it was time they went to ‘Prom’ together as they had planned long ago. Harry had shown him pictures and he had spoken to the Midtown’s Principle about using the gym as they always had. Their Prom was themed ‘Stars in The Night’ and he found a place online that sold the whole thing complete. All he had to do was borrow Harry’s portable DJ setup and do the decorations himself. Rent a tux or borrow one of Tony’s and get her into her old Prom dress. To do that though he’d need to lie a little but he hoped she’d forgive him that when they arrived. Happy could drive them in the limo and...yeah. I can do this! He thought then hit ‘Buy’ on the website.

Serena was in the lab with Tony as they worked on improving the thrust on her suits boot jets. Every time she reached around 80% thrust she’d have a falloff of power and velocity. The suit was supposed to be able to extend past 100% if she asked it to but it never worked. They had a boot in a clamp and the rocket thrust was coming out of one end. Both she and Tony had on goggles and Peter just stepped on in without a care in the world...as usual. Tony saw him and then hit the auto shutoff.

“Hi Peter, have you read the sign just outside the entrance to the lab?” Tony asked as he lifted up his goggles. “The one in english and in large print...Its…” “Yellow and red, yes sir Mr. Stark sir. I’ve read it. “You see, I wanted to talk to Serena but she wasn’t. You know answering her phone. I tried yelling but I don’t think you heard me,” he said as Serena took off her goggles and looked at him. “Oh, hi Serena, could we talk...maybe..just a minute? I only need a minute?” he said quickly like he always did when he was nervous. Why he was nervous he couldn’t say though.

The Tower was all abuzz after everyone learned that not only was the baby created using Steve and Kate's DNA, but that they were going to adopt him. Isabella was thrilled for them and was helping them with anything they needed. Thankfully, thus far they had been able to keep the news out of the press, but they knew they would find out sooner or later. They couldn't just hide the baby in the Tower for the rest of his life. However, before any formal announcement could be made Kate wanted the baby's abilities examined. She had been in contact with Professor Xavier and he had agreed to come out and meet the baby. He was due to arrive within the next few days. Steve and Kate wanted to get the baby settled first. The shock of everything was still there, but Steve and Kate were handling everything relatively well all things considered.

Serena and her father had been down in the lab for the past few hours trying to figure out why her suit's boot jets weren't working the way they should be. Kate didn't notice that Peter had walked in until her father hit the auto shutoff and the rocket thrust immediately ceased. She turned around and lifted up her goggles when she saw Peter. Serena looked at her father after Peter told her that he needed to talk to her.

"I could use a short break anyway. I'll be back in a few minutes," she told him before stepping out of the lab with Peter. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

“Uh...hi Serena, I’m sorry to bother you, I know you’re busy,” Peter said as if they were still in high school and he didn’t sleep in her bed almost every night. “I was wondering if you’d...go out on a date with me?” He said almost as if they were in high school. He didn’t know why he was nervous but he was for some reason. “I...made reservations for Saturday Night (It was Monday today and the Gym was not being used on Saturday), He said.

“I kinda thought we could fancy it all up you know. I’d wear a tux and you’d wear that sweet dress, you know the one you never wore to Prom,” he said all innocent smiles.

Serena could immediately tell that something was up. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow first when he asked her out on a date (like they weren't already sleeping together) and then when he told her to wear her unworn prom dress.

"Why are you acting so strangely?"

“Strange?” He said and giggled nervously. And shrugged trying to play this off. Oh shit she’s getting suspicious! He thought. “Because...I want it to be special. I mean, you and Gambit went out all the time and,” He began than swallowed. He hated lying to Serena but this was actually partially true if not completely true. Gambit was a hard act to follow form what he had heard. “And I guess I just want our time out to be special,” he said though it was a struggle to keep his voice from raising an octave or cracking. Ok, maybe it crackled a little. Oh shit, Corsages! I need to order those! He thought as he smiled and looked into her large, brown eyes. Oh Please, please please! Nothing suspicious here! He thought as her eyes seemed to bore into his skull.

Serena knew something was going on, but she liked surprises and Peter was trying to make what this was special. She suddenly smiled and then leaned forward and kissed him. “You’re lucky you are so cute and I love you. So Saturday night?”

At first Peter was surprised she had said ‘Saturday’ then he recalled that that was what ‘he’ said. And the day he had reserved the school gym. “Uh, yeah, Saturday,” He said then kissed her back. “I’ll let you get back to it,” he said then stepped away from her. Peter had much to do yet and little time to do it.

In the two days that followed Tony’s connections afforded the baby a birth certificate with the name that Steve and Kate had chosen. ‘William, after Kate's father, Joseph, after his, Rogers. He had a social security number and everything. To the world Steve and Kate had adopted the child from an undisclosed orphanage. That sent a buzz of reporters and investigators hired by a slew of rag mags to find the place that adopted out the baby. They ofcourse would never locate it. The agency was not named on any document nor ever spoken during any of the press announcements or interviews. And for the simple fact that there was no orphanage. The baby was ‘found’ by Isabella in a Hydra hidden laboratory.

This evening Charles Xavior is due to drop by to ‘observe’ the boy and Steve and Kate are exhibiting a large amount of anxiety over that. Steve was on his laptop looking at car seats. The baby was in his crib sleeping soundly near their bed and Kate paced back and forth as she thought about what Charles could find.

“Honey, your going to wear out the floor. Come help me pick out a car seat,” Steve asked and offered her his lap to sit on. “You know Charles better than I do, He won’t tell anyone anything we don’t want him to and his mind can’t be read,” Steve said.

To say Kate was anxious would be an understatement. These past few days with the press had been extremely stressful but it appeared that the story that they had adopted him from an orphanage was not being questioned. She hadn’t gotten very much sleep because every time William made a sound at night she was awake and checking on him. Isabella had reassured both herself and Steve that after a time they would become accustomed to his sounds and what they meant and their anxiety over that would change.

Professor Charles Xavier was due soon and Kate was now anxious over what he might find. They needed to know his abilities though. It would help them to be better prepared for whatever William went through. She hadn’t realized she had been pacing until Steve had pointed it out. She sighed and walked over and sat on his lap. “I’m sorry. I just want to be sure he’s going to be ok.”

“Hey,” Steve said as he touched her face and made her look into his bright blue eyes. “He’ll be fine. He’s strong and healthy,” Steve said softly as he pulled her head down gently for a kiss. “Do you remember our third night on the Island together?” Steve said in a hushed tone. He certainly did. Kate was on fire that night and they didn’t really stop until nearly dawn. “I liked the little blue…‘ teddy, you called it?” He asked. His mouth curled into a smile as he saw her eyes grow warmer. “I’d like to see that again really soon,” he whispered. It was almost all see through but it hid just enough to tantalize his senses. He kissed her again more passionately this time and he move his hand down and settled it over her middle over her pants.

“Help me pick out a car seat and I promise I’ll
Make it worth your while,” he said in that voice he held when he wanted her sexually.

As she grinned there was a knock on their door.

Kate remembered the night Steve referred to very well. Seeing him out on the beach and in the water had gotten her rather worked up and they both had benefited from that. She grinned when he mentioned wanting to see the blue teddy again and was glad she had stopped him from ripping it off her. It had been rather expensive and she wanted to get more than one use out of it. She kissed him back and moaned softly against his lips when she felt his hand settle down between her legs. She was about to kiss him again when suddenly she heard a knock at their door. She took a moment to compose herself before standing up and walking over and opening it.

Meanwhile, Serena had found Logan. She had been meaning to talk to him for a few days now. However, he was almost always with Natalya and it was Natalya that she needed to talk to him about. Natalya was down in the gym working out alone and she found Logan in his room. The door was partially open, but she knocked anyway and then waited for him to give her permission to enter. She walked in and closed the door behind her and walked over to him.

"Could I speak with you a moment about something that happened with Natalya on the last mission?"

Logan rarely had visitors besides Natalya. He was lying on his bed reading when he smelled her and asked her to come in. He sat up almost immediately and, after hearing what she said he shook his head. “What is it girl that you couldn’t speak to her yourself if it worries you?” he said gruffly. She did smell worried, if faintly but it was there.

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“Kate!” Charles said and pulled her into a friendly hug at the door. “It's certainly been a very long time,” He said. Inside Steve rose and waited for Kate to let him inside. “And Steve Rogers,” he said smiling and shook his hand as he removed his hat. “I’ve always wanted to meet you,” he said. “I came as soon as I could but you know how Tony is, as cryptic as ever but I think I got the jist of what you’re after,” he said pleasantly.

Serena could immediately see worry etched on Logan's face when she mentioned that it was Natalya that she needed to talk to him about. She sat down on the edge of his bed and looked at him. "At one point during our last mission we were being heavily attacked by guards. They were using one of those walker vehicles and we were being sprayed by bullets. Natalya...well...at one point she just...froze. Pharaoh had to yell at her to get her to come out of whatever it was that she was in. I've never seen that happen to her before."

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Kate smiled when she saw Charles. They hadn't seen one another in a long time, but had talked from time to time. He liked to check in on her and Serena. She had a feeling he would want to see her before he left. She took his hat and placed it aside after he took it off while he and Steve got acquainted.

"It was certainly a shock to us when he realized that Hydra had used both of our DNA and spliced it together to create William. He is already showing signs of genetic mutation, which doesn't come as a shock given who Steve and I are, but it's the fact that he's not even a year old and already a mutation seems to have developed."

William was awake at that point so she picked him up out of his crib and handed him to Charles. "You can see he's quite heavy for his age, which we estimate to be about 8 months and it took Tony and I using an adamantium needle to get blood from him because we couldn't penetrate his skin with anything else."

“Indeed. Well, shall we see him?” He asked and Steve watched as Kate lifted him up from his crib. Charles gestured to the bed. Will yawned tiredly as she sat with him on her lap. He wasn’t quite awake yet as his eyes drooped and he blinked several times. Steve sat in the desk chair and turned it around to face them.

“Well he certainly looks healthy,” Charles said. “He’s a big boy,” he said as he began to focus on him. He touched Will’s leg and the boy’s eyes snapped open as if he was aware of Charles now. For several moments nothing appeared to happen and Charles looked like he was straining.

“His mental strength is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t break through,” he said. “But…” he began and then he plied his full strength on him. Finally he broke through.

It was an odd sensation being inside a babies head. The perspective was all skewed and diminuative. “His mind is aligned against what I’m doing just like his body is against harm,” Charles said. “His mutations are there, still dormant and unrealized,” he said in a monotone voice.

As Charles delved into the boys mind his mutations began to manifest. As Kate held him in her lap he began to slowly fade as if all of his colors were suddenly washed out, paling until they could see through him. He was still there but he was disappearing.

Kate held William against her, but facing out towards Charles. William was comfortable around Steve and herself at this point and seemed to trust them, but she could sense that he didn't trust Charles. She watched as Charles' brow furrowed in deep concentration and it appeared that he was straining to get inside the child's mind. She glanced at Steve when Charles told them that William's mental strength was extremely strong. It surprised her that it took so much strength and power for Charles to get through it.

As Charles finally broke through and began to communicate with them. Kate was about to ask how many mutations their child had when suddenly she looked down and noticed that William appeared to be...disappearing. She began to panic, but found she could still feel him though he was almost invisible.

"Ok, well he appears to have the ability to become invisible. Is there anything else?"

The baby materialized and tilted his head up to look up at Kate. He put his hand into his mouth. Charles continued to touch him and as he did Kate felt him getting heavier and heavier. When Steve saw her in distress he came over quickly and together they still had difficulty holding him. Fortunately it didn’t last long and he became lighter and lighter until he was far lighter than he had been originally. Steve’s hands moved through him an as he backed away the boy solidified once more.

Charles waivered as if he were about to pass out. “Charles?” Steve asked them Charles gestured that he was alright.

“I’m alright...just give me a moment to catch my breath,” he said. Steve looked at the boy. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Charles said amazed. “He’s quite powerful and I’m afraid, quite dangerous if he were given Magneto’s perspective of the world,” he warned.

Kate was rather overwhelmed by everything she was seeing and experiencing with her son. Although she had not given birth to him, he was hers and Steve's and they both had already grown quite fond and protective of him. She picked William up and put him back into his crib with a few toys.

"So, what should Steve and I do? Is he going to get even stronger as he gets older?"

“He likely will but you just need to remain strong, diligent and consistent,” he said. “Like any parents. He likely won’t manifest these other abilities for quite sometime. So you wont need to deal with those for a while at least. And he might feel physical pain but not injuries which is for the good,” Charles explained. “Well that’s something,”
Steve said but he wasn’t at all happy about this.

—————-

“What do you mean, just froze? How? Like just stood there while the thing fired on Steve?” Logan asked in disbelief. “Did anything happen before or after that?” Logan asked.

Kate wasn't entirely sure how to feel about all of this either. It was a lot to take in and process on top of being new parents. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before looking back at Charles. "Do you think, when he's older, that it would be worth having him go to your school? Would that help him?"

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Serena sighed and nodded to confirm what Logan asked her. She then thought about his last question. "Uh...the only thing I really remember was she was firing one minute and then she ran out of bullets and she was loading another magazine and then she froze and she was looking down at her hands. As I said, I've never seen this happen to her before. Thankfully, Pharaoh snapped her out of it."

“You could have just asked her what happened but now that you’ve brought it to me I guess I’ll have to ask her. Thanks so much Serena for that,” he said sarcastically. “Now run along and try to make yourself useful,” he said rudely. He wasn’t happy at all with her that she involved him in this.

——————-

“Well that would be up to you but we don’t turn mutants down unless there are behavioral problems of a severe nature,” Charles said.

Serena rolled her eyes at Logan. “Natalya doesn’t talk to me like she does to you. You know more about her past than any of us. I would think it would be easier for her to talk to you about this than me.”

———————————-

Kate glanced at Steve and then looked back at Charles. “Are you anticipating that William might experience behavioral problems due to his mutations?”

“I’ve been doing this for a while now and I can tell you that quite often young people are incapable of dealing with great power without guidance. You two being mutants yourselves though have a unique insight where
most of my kids do not have mutant parents. Just trust your instincts and the rest will take care of itself,” Charles
Said

——————

Logan stood finally then stepped around Serena he opened his door and then pushed her out into the main living area. “I’ll be sure to speak to her, thank you for your concern,” he said more to appease the girl than anything else. He was concerned about this though. He slammed the door in her face.

Kate nodded and knew that there where no guarantees with any child of how their temperament was going to be as they got older. She and Steve would just need to do the best they could. She hoped they could instill their good morals and values in him early and that that, along with their love for him, would be enough.

"Charles, I do have another question. Steve and I have been talking about perhaps eventually having another child. Do you think we should expect that anymore children that we have will also have mutations?"

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Natalya had finished with her workout and she walked back up to Logan's room, where she knew he was. She walked in and closed the door behind her. She began to undress to go get in the shower, but could sense Logan looking at her. Now, he looked at her all the time, especially when she was undressing, but this was not that kind of look. She paused in what she was doing and looked at him.

"Is something the matter?"

Charles smiled at Kate. he wanted to give them comfort but the real truth of the matter was. It was impossible to tell. “I wish I could tell you for certain but quite honestly, there is no way to tell. You can do tests while your pregnant but Kate. Is that really how you want to move forward?” He asked. “What will be will be and all you can do is your best,” He said.

“William here will be one of the most powerful mutants this world has ever seen. Who better to guide him than the two of you?” Charles said confidently as he took back up his hat and stood. “I have faith that all will be well,” He said as Steve shook his hand.

“Thank you Charles,” Steve said then showed him out. William looked up at Kate, his blue eyes looking into hers and he smiled at her. An innocent smile.

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“Serena came to me today. She says you froze during the mission while Steve was being attacked by that robot thing,” Logan said. “I assumed she was exaggerating and that you’d be able to explain what happened,” he said as he moved up to her. It was difficult being serious when she was half naked.

Natalya didn't look at Logan, a sure sign right there that something had happened. She was quiet as she considered what to tell him. "I...I didn't freeze. What happened wasn't out of fear. I had a flashback to a mission I was sent on when I was still with the SSB. For a moment I wasn't there anymore, but I was back in that restaurant. I came out of it."

Logan tried to think back. Natalya had told him many things about her former life. Usually when he was comforting her after a very bad nightmare. He remembered the tale of the restaurant. A very bloody event where Natalya had been particularly ruthless. He saw her eyes grow distant suddenly and he moved up to her, took her face into his hands and kissed her lips in hopes that she’d not go back there again in her mind.

“Stay with me Nat,” Logan said in a raspy voice. There was no real resolution to memories like that. Logan knew that well because he had them to. Moments in time when the people that he had killed came back to haunt him as if it was happening all over again.