X Does Not Mark The Spot (May 1991)

“I can understand that,” Isabella said to Jean. “Before I married Tony I was in a relationship with another man. Our relationship was...complicated to say the least but I loved him. We broke up because I wanted marriage and children and he did not. Then, two years later we meet again and he proposes because he knew that was what I wanted. There were a number of reasons why things did not work out between us but I will always love him and Tony knows this.”

Serena became full and stopped feeding. Isabella took a moment to readjust herself and get Serena resettled. “Do you and Scott have any children?”

Eventually Isabella and Jean ended back up in Hank’s lab. Xavier, Hank and Tony was there and as the door opened Isabella heard them all arguing but it cut off abruptly as they came in. Hank’s cheeks were flushed and Tony had that look he had when he was upset with someone other than her. Jean raised an eyebrow as well when she saw the three that turned to regard their entry into the room. “Hank has the results Isabella Stark, are you ready to hear them?” Charles said and smiled at her. The smile did not touch his eyes though and Jean frowned right then. Hank moved and picked up his clipboard.

Isabella walked with Jean back down to Hank's lab. Isabella had changed Serena and she had fallen asleep in her carrier. Isabella could hear the three men arguing when she and Jean walked in. One look at Tony was enough to tell her that he was upset. She could only assume it had to do with the results of Serena's test. She carefully put down the carrier so as not to awaken her. Isabella became quite nervous at that point and she glanced at Tony before looking at Charles.

"I'm ready...I think..."

Charles smiled again as Hank looked at him and then nodded and gestured to Hank. Hank’s eyebrows drew up a moment and then he looked down at his clipboard. Isabella being a former CIA agent, she knew people and Hank had some trepidation about what he was going to say. “Ok, so, Isabella our tests not only tell us if there is a mutation but it also gives us how defined the mutation is...or will be,” He said and then looked at Tony a moment before he looked back to Isabella. “Serena’s mutation has unusual markers. But what is important is that her mutation is well defined. I think she might be a level 4 or 5 mutant when her abilities fully manifest,” He said. “To put that to scale, the professor and Magneto are level 5 mutants,” Hank said.

Isabella listened to what Hank had to say. Isabella could see why Tony was upset. At this point in the world mutants were not widely accepted into society, which generally feared them. Isabella knew all of this was difficult to hear, but they needed to hear it in order to better understand how to help their daughter. She was shocked though by how powerful it was believed she was going to be. What if she couldn't control her powers?

"You mentioned her mutation having unusual markers. What exactly do you mean by that?"

Hank had hoped that Isabella wouldn’t ask him and Charles had asked him to not bring that up. Tony had asked him not to say anything about it to Isabella because he didn’t want to worry her but Hank would not lie to her. He would have talked to her in private about this, not here and now. Hank however felt that Serena was her daughter and she deserved to know. Charles did speak up though to head Hank off.

“Isabella, we are still at a very early stage in what we can really detect from these tests. There could be any number of reasons anomalies like these could exist,” He said. Hank could see Isabella’s eyes become more and more worried so he decided to just push forward. Hank pushed his glasses tighter onto his face with a finger.

“Markers like these indicate that Serena isn’t originally from this timeline,” Hank said. “Hank she doesn’t understand quantum physics,” Tony said. “And you might be wrong Hank, those tests have been wrong before,” Charles said and the men began to argue again.

Isabella could feel the tension rise in the room at her question. She saw Hank glance at Tony and Charles glanced at Hank. Well...that couldn't be good. Isabella felt her worry for her daughter's safety rise dramatically. Not even Charles' words could soothe her and Hank could sense that. However, what Hank said was shocking to Isabella. What the hell did he mean that Serena wasn't originally from this timeline?! Isabella had never studied physics before and didn't understand how something like that could even be possible.

She watched as the men began to argue again and she decided in that moment that she needed some fresh air. Without saying a word she just picked up Serena's carrier and walked out. None of the men would notice her exit until they looked over and she wasn't there. She walked outside and found a bench she sat down and placed Serena's carrier beside her. Serena was still asleep and Isabella just looked down at her sleeping face as she tried to wrap her head around everything that she had just learned.

Eventually Tony came and sat down next to her on the bench. Birds tweeted and flew past them. A bee buzzed as it landed on a purple flower near them. It was a wonderful day and Tony leaned back on the bench. He decided to wait until Isabella spoke to him. Offering her anything right now could either make things worse or makes things alot worse.

Isabella glanced over at Tony as he sat down next to her. Isabella was quiet for a long while before she finally spoke.

"Do you think it's true?"

Tony looked over at Isabella. “I told Hank not to tell you that because I knew you not understand. Hell, I’m not certain anyone understands,” Tony said and then took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Would it matter if we didn’t know? I mean, what if we never came here at all? What it really matter? Would we love Serena any less?” Tony asked.

Isabella immediately shook her head. "Absolutely not." She reached down and gently caressed her cheek with the back of her index finger. "I am concerned for her though. What if she really is as powerful as they believe she might be and can't control her powers?""

“And we won’t know that until the time comes. We can prepare, we can plan and we can raise her the best way we know how,” He said, “What we cant do is worry about what we can’t know and can’t control,” He said. “I mean...look at where we are. So many children...mutants and they were playing kickball and tag and baseball,” Tony said. “She’s just our little Serena and that’s all that matters,” Tony said.

Isabella slowly nodded and knew that Tony was right. Worrying would do nothing. They would prepare as best they could and if they needed to they could send her here for a brief period to learn to control her powers. She smiled as she looked down at her daughter.

"She really is beautiful, isn't she?"