April 7, 1968

"Shit!"

It was difficult for Erik to hear Lorna's curse over the sound of the alarm. Her eyes narrowed behind the metal headgear she'd been given, and he couldn't help but do the same. He glared at Sean, who threw up his hands defensively. The screwdriver he'd been using to disable the keypad was still clenched in one hand.

"I told you Beast should've been the one to do this!" he said.

"Forget it!" Erik snapped.

He glared at the keypad, and then at the door. In the very least, it had opened.

"Polaris, just get it and go!"

Lorna didn't hesitate. She ran through, her plaited green hair flying behind her. He wanted to go with her, but security kept flooding in. So, instead, he drew level with Darwin and Sean and blocked the door. The two of them looked around, wincing as the security leveled their guns.

"Any time now Mags," Darwin muttered.

Erik glared at him. He couldn't believe that that name had stuck. He hadn't even agreed to it. However, he flicked his wrist and the guns went flying. As the men watched in alarm Sean sucked in a deep breath. Darwin grew fossilized earmuffs and Erik clapped his hands over his ears.

His scream shattered the two glass panes next to them. The men fell to the floor, trying to jam their fingers in their ears. Once there Sean stopped screaming. Erik moved his hand and blocked off the security entrance that they had come from. It would hold for a few minutes.

"Polaris is taking a while," Darwin said.

"She'll be back in a few minutes," he said.

One of the men began to get up. Erik glared at him and the metallic fixtures began to move. They twisted and bound the men to the floor.

"Just making sure," he said.

Lorna raced back into the room, holding a folder underneath her arm.

"We have to get going," she said, "There's probably more on the way."

Erik nodded and they took off down the corridor that they had come from. The alarm was still going on, and he heard the pounding of feet.

"We've gotta go somewhere else," Darwin said.

"There aren't any other doors!" Sean said.

Darwin rolled his eyes. He turned one of his fists into rock and punched through the wall. Three more punches cleared a way to the outside. He did a mock bow to Sean.

"Fine," Sean muttered.

They hurried through. Lights were coming on around the compound and Erik cursed again. Next time they really did need to get Hank down there. His eyes flicked to the sky. Speaking of Hank, where was he?

The Blackbird screeched across the sky. It flew in low and the ramp lowered. Erik grabbed Sean by the strap of his uniform and Lorna grabbed Darwin. Then they took off into the air. It had taken them both a long time to learn how to fly by manipulating the earth's magnetic fields, but it was a trick worth having, especially since Sean's flight required altitude.

They piled into the plane and Hank closed the hatch. He looked back at them and shook his head.

"Do not look at me that way," Sean said, buckling himself in.

"I told you that Trask Industries had highly advanced security systems," said Hank, "Let me guess, you clipped the yellow wire instead of the green one, didn't you?"

"Shut up!"

Hank shook his head again and pressed the throttles forwards. Erik allowed himself to relax then. He looked at his daughter, who held up the folder triumphantly. He gave her a small nod in appreciation.

"And how'd the headgear work out?" he asked.

Lorna traced the crown like metallic headband that Hank had given her that night. Erik wasn't sure how it was held on, but it was an attempt to cancel out some of the scrapes that Lorna always seemed to be getting on her forehead. Hank had even woven some green into the working of the metal.

"Great," Lorna said.

She sat down, still clutching the folder. The mission of the X-men hadn't stopped with Shaw. Every now and then the government gave them a mission that they had a choice in accepting, but most of the ones that came their way had to do with shutting down Shaw's network. Not all of his associates had been captured, and some had escaped. Other threats were rising as the population slowly understood that mutants were among them.

So they had begun regular training. Six years had crawled by as they struggled to turn their solid foundation into something real. There was a school now, a school that housed a militia, but a school nonetheless.

Trask Industries had recently been making some uncomfortable weapon developments. They had gone to investigate, with Hank doing air reconnaissance and Sean tentatively assuring them that he had the security system down. He probably should have doubted him a bit more.

Erik knew what they would find in those folders though, and it made him sick. The ignorance he saw on a daily basis made him want to scream. Despite Charles's assurances, things didn't seem to be getting better. People were foolish and so many of them hurt mutants just because they didn't understand.

Everyone alright?

It seemed like they were within range of Charles's telepathy. The Blackbird was getting faster.

Yes, although I think that we should keep Sean on aerial surveillance in the future, Erik thought, Or make better use of Raven.

We all agreed a quick in and out operation would be best. Or would have been if things had gone according to plan.

Erik snorted.

I hope you and Lorna aren't too tired, Charles thought, We have that recruitment trip tomorrow.

Erik groaned. He knew what that meant: a long flight and Charles wheedling parents into doing the right thing for their children. The number of children he'd seen hurt by their so-called parents, their siblings, the world in general, was such a waste.

Still, he supposed it was part of his job now.

And tell Lorna that there was a letter for her. I left it in front of her locker.

Erik smiled to himself. Well, that should make his daughter happy.

"Lorna," Erik said, "Charles said that you have mail."

His daughter's eyes lit up.

"It's in front of your locker," he said.

Lorna nodded, clutching the folder and looking impatiently out of the window. When they landed he watched her sprint right out the door into the small locker area next to the plane. The changing rooms were next door: it had been too cramped at the time to put them together.

He'd always been impressed with the catacomb of metallic tunnels that Hank had managed to build beneath the school. He hadn't done more than nod in approval when he'd seen it, he wasn't going to gush about things like Charles and Moira did, but it was still impressive.

Erik shook his head as he got out of the plane. He saw Lorna rip open the letter and begin to read. Once upon a time Charles might have just left the letter in her room. Instead he wanted her to have it right away. He'd thought that Charles had been somewhat soppy before he'd married Moira. In the past four years since the marriage, he figured that Charles and Moira had gotten much, much worse.

Now that Moira was pregnant Charles wasn't doing much other than stay by her side. They filled out forms together and Charles would go with her to all of her appointments. It made having a private conversation that wasn't conducted by telepathy all but impossible.

While it annoyed him, it also made him a little envious. Once upon a time he'd been the one driving his wife to those appointments. He inwardly bit his cheek, his thoughts drifting once again to Susanna. In the six years since Shaw had ordered Emma to destroy Susanna's mind, she hadn't so much as twitched. Charles had been into her mind repeatedly, but he hadn't even found a flicker of a thought.

He stopped biting his cheek. Not a day went by that he didn't think of her, didn't visit her. And yet, as each day went by, he could tell that he was forgetting a little more. Her animate face was fading from his memory, but there was more than that. It was getting harder to conjure up the sound of her laughter, what her slight but calloused hands felt like against his cheeks.

Erik shook his head again. No, he couldn't think about that. Instead he watched as the other members of the team began to go to their lockers, looking at their things and trying to find something normal before reentering the world above.

"The hell?"

He looked over. Lorna was crumpling up the letter in her hand. The boys were slowly backing away from her.

"Lorna?" Erik asked.

She didn't look at him, just kept crumpling up the letter into a tighter ball. Her eyes were glowing green, and Erik put his hands in his pockets. He nodded at the other boys, who quickly fled the room as fast as they could.

He waited a minute longer before speaking.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Lorna glared at him. She tossed the wad of paper at him and he caught it.

"Why don't you just read it?" she snapped.

He raised his eyebrow began smoothing out the letter. If this continued for much longer then he was going to get angry. Her attitude was wearing his patience thin. Then Erik read the first three paragraphs. He looked up at her. Now Erik understood her emotions all too well.

"They're extending Alex's tour of duty for another three months," he said.

Lorna punched the side of her locker. It dented inwards without even touching her hand.

"We all knew that this could happen," Erik said.

"He shouldn't even be there," snapped Lorna, "I told him not to go!"

Erik nodded. He didn't believe that Alex should have left either. They were fighting their own war here, one that was much more important than some petty scuffle in Vietnam. Who cared about communists when their own race was in danger?

Besides, there were ways out of it. While Canada hadn't been mentioned, that would have been absurd, Charles could have gone down to the recruitment office. He could have used his telepathy to make the officer forget about Alex all together. They had already done it for so many other students and teachers, even if Erik had to convince Charles of his Machiavellian tactics.

There had been other ways too, ones that would prick Charles's conscience less. Alex could simply apply for his master's, stay in college longer. There were ways to get him out, loopholes and exemptions to make things work.

Alex had been adamant though. Erik vaguely remembered some talk about his father, but he had been too angry to listen at the time. Lorna had been angry as well, and he'd heard more than one of their shouting matches from the living room. Charles had been thankful that the other students were out for summer break at the time. Erik hadn't cared.

Alex was not the boy he had imagined for his daughter. He was too headstrong, too arrogant and perhaps a touch righteous. He hadn't doubted that Alex loved her though. He'd had his suspicions in the beginning, but he'd watched the two of them together. Alex would hesitate to hold her hand, would arrange surprise motorcycle rides or study with Lorna even though she was a year behind in her work just to spend time with her. The helpless look he'd give her when her back was turned struck uncomfortably close to home for Erik.

His decision to go into the military seemed to negate all of that care. Erik knew that Alex still loved his daughter. The fact that Lorna, now that she had taken off her uniform's gloves, had put a small engagement ring back on her hand spoke to that.

She twisted it back and forth, glaring down at it.

"I want him home dad," she said, "Not over there. He's stupid for going over there."

"You'll hear no arguments from me," said Erik.

Lorna waved the hand that didn't have the engagement ring on it. The one that did was clenched tightly into a fist now.

"I don't know about the politics of it, the protests, any of that," she said, "But I just think there are more important things than that. Why don't we focus on the shit going on over here before going over there? Didn't he have more important things here?"

"Like mutant rights?" Erik said.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that that wasn't what she meant. She set her hand down.

"Yeah," Lorna said, "But, other things too. Things like me."

Erik sat down next to her, placing the letter there.

"You both agreed that you should wait a few more years," Erik said.

He remembered that very clearly. It had been one of the first questions he'd asked when Alex had asked him for his blessing before proposing to his daughter. It was, he admitted, old-fashioned. He thought that Lorna wouldn't have appreciated it.

To his surprise, neither had Alex. Alex had always known that Erik hadn't been particularly fond of him though, so he wanted to make sure that there weren't going to be any problems. That had been the part that had touched Erik. He had been willing to brave Erik's wrath and marry Lorna anyway, but he knew how much she loved her family. He'd even asked Anya for her opinions on the ring, provided she keep it a secret from her sister.

Letting his firstborn go was difficult. Although she wasn't married yet, the knowledge that she would be soon was enough. He didn't think that he could have let her go to anyone more dedicated to her than Alex.

He still remembered Alex saying that he wanted an engagement of at least three years. They were young, just starting out, and at the time neither of them had jobs or a source of income. Things were different now though. Now that Alex was in the military he was getting a steady paycheck. He would have been able to support the two of them if their lives took them from the Institute.

He'd often wondered if that had been one of the deciding factors for Alex's enlistment.

"I'm not talking about us getting married right now," said Lorna, "I'm just..."

Erik put his hand on Lorna's shoulder.

"I know," he said, "You want him with you."

Lorna glared down at her hands.

"I don't want him dying in some foreign land for some cause that I don't understand," she said, "I don't know why he's over there."

"Me neither," Erik said, "You'll remember that I told him he was a fool."

Lorna nodded and sighed.

"When he gets back, this had better be over," she said, "Either that or I'll run off to Canada with him."

Erik chuckled.

"I don't think we need to take it that far," said Erik, "We'll figure something out though. I know we will."

He picked up the letter and smoothed it out.

"Read the rest of this though," he said, "It will make you feel a little better. I think he wants to get back to you just as badly as you want him."

He placed the letter into her hands. She grasped it and nodded.

"Thanks dad," she said, "I...I needed someone to tell me that."

"It can help, no doubt," Erik said, "Get some rest. We have a recruitment trip tomorrow."

Lorna cracked a smile. She knew how much her father hated those.

"Does it look promising?" she asked.

"So so," Erik said.

He stretched.

"They're twins," he said, "I can't remember their first names, but apparently their last name is Maximoff."

A/N: Nice to see you all again! I'm pretty excited about this particular fic and, as I promised, the twins are going to be in this one. It's going to take a little bit to introduce the time travelling element, so I can imagine this fic ending up longer than the other two. Don't worry: I'm going to keep up my daily schedule.