Six months later...

"Okay, for the last time, yes, there were German pirates!"

Sam looked at Kurt, unconvinced.

"Pirates are English," he said.

"Pirates were everywhere!" Peter said, "My dad told me there were even Polish pirates!"

Sam gave him a slightly more skeptical look. Peter threw his hands up and looked over at Kurt, for support, Kevin figured. Kurt didn't say anything though. He was too busy trying to glue a toy sword back together. Amanda was next to him, still in her half-made Victorian evening costume, trying to help.

Kevin grinned and flicked his wrist. Black sand swirled around the hilt of the sword, and it was one piece again. Kurt frowned at the sudden repair, then looked over at Kevin. His cousin smiled in thanks, and Kevin tipped his hat.

The feather came off.

"Okay, how about no more roughhousing tonight?" asked Amanda as Kevin knelt to pick it up and put it in his pocket, "Emma and I have enough work on our hands finishing the costumes before Friday, and I'm getting really tired of having to sew buttons back on dresses."

"But my bow came off when Kurt, um, Captain Hook, kidnapped me," said Laura, "That wasn't my fault."

"Your bow came off?" asked Amanda, dismayed.

Kurt moved away, looking at her nervously. He looked over at Laura, who looked at Kevin, confused. He gestured toward Amanda, and Laura's eyes lit up.

"Or his," Laura said, "It wasn't Kurt's fault either."

"Great," Amanda said.

"Liebling, it vas accident," Kurt said.

Amanda sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Just be a little careful next time you kidnap our little Wendy, alright?" she asked.

"Ja," said Kurt, "I vill be good villain and carefully kidnap ze children."

Despite the way Amanda threw her hands up, Kevin could see she was laughing. Megan grinned from her place on the table, right before adjusting her Tiger Lily headband. Next to her, Xi'an swung her legs, some of the tulle on the Tinkerbell costume getting kicked up.

"Okay, we are totally getting off topic here right now," Peter said, "And having me say that is not good."

He got up on a nearby table, tapping his foot once.

"Now, as your teacher, and director of the school's first play, I command your attention," he said, "We don't have that much time before the play, and I need all my main actors in focus for the big day. We've only got three more group rehearsals and three ones with the main actors-"

"Two," Amanda corrected.

"Two?" asked Peter, "Okay, you know what? No more mister nice guy. Those who don't obey from now on will be fed to the crocodile."

"We don't have a crocodile yet," Kevin said, "We haven't finished the paper mache in class."

"Use your imagination," said Peter, "Literally in your case."

He jumped down, just managing to land on his feet to keep from stumbling.

"So, bottom line," he said, "There were German pirates, and Kurt has to be Hook because he's also playing Wendy's father, and they do this thing in the play where Hook is like, also the dad."

"Why?" asked Xi'an.

"Probably to save on actors," said Peter dismissively, "Which is kinda weird, since there aren't that many parts. I have a kid playing a dog for crying out loud."

"And if my actual dad had to do that, he would look silly in an eye patch," Laura said.

From his spot by the table, Kurt reached up and scratched underneath his pirate eye patch.

"Correct!" Peter cried, "Your dad would look crazy silly in an eye patch!"

"The hell?"

"Language."

Kevin turned and saw Laura's parents in the doorway. He wondered how long they'd been there, but Peter just sagged.

"Aww, man!" he said, "Is it ten already?"

"Yeah, it is," Laura's dad said, "And what's up with the eye patch thing?"

"I just said you couldn't wear an eye patch because you would look silly," said Laura, "You don't…like eye patches, do you?"

Her mother laughed.

"Well, you're right about the silly part," she said, "When you're older, I'll tell you all about the time your father and I had to go to Madripoor."

Laura's father gave her mother a disbelieving look.

"Some of it, anyway," she said, "But you need to wrap it up here. It's almost time for bed. We have to be up early so I can cover Hank's first period."

"Don't understand why ya hafta cover just coz he wants ta see his girl," Laura's father said.

"He'll owe me."

Peter rolled his eyes, but clapped his hands.

"Anyway," he said, "Besides the whole costume thing, you guys did great tonight. So everyone very gently fold their costumes, and then hand them back to Amanda or Emma in the morning."

Peter clapped his hands again, and everyone started to move. Kevin felt Laura tap his shoulder shyly.

"See you tomorrow Peter Pan!" she said.

"See you tomorrow Wendy," he said.

She giggled and ran to her mother's side. For his part, Kevin looked down at his watch. His bedtime was a little later than Laura's, and they'd stopped earlier than he'd thought they would. So, giving Peter a quick wave, he headed upstairs toward his room.

He went inside, putting his hat on the dresser. Hurriedly, he pulled his green costume off, probably being less gentle than Amanda wanted. Kevin threw on his pajamas and, grabbing his watch and his book, he headed back into the hall.

No one was there, so it was easy enough to make it to his brother's room with ease. His parents, he knew, wouldn't be in to check on him for another couple of minutes. He was glad they trusted him enough to make it from the library to his room, mostly because it was such a small distance, but also because that meant he had a little bit of time.

He quickly opened the door and then shut it behind him. Kevin grinned as his little brother made a sleepy coo. David had been small when he'd been born, but he had ballooned since then, his arms and legs now chubby. He was difficult to hold, and Kevin wasn't tall enough to safely move him outside of the crib.

That wasn't a problem though. He put his book down on a small window seat and then walked toward the crib. Kevin waved his hands, and the crib's bars at eye level shifted back, a few grains of black sand hanging in the air. He wasn't sure it was sand anymore, not like he'd been when the wave had washed over Peter all that time ago.

His father had told him something about bending the world, making it move. He'd managed to create a shield out of air and dirt for Peter and Laura's father, pushing them down and protecting them from the explosion. Combined with the heat, the top layers of sand had turned into glass.

Kevin still wasn't too sure about all that. What he was sure about was that it was a good way to get his brother out of his crib when he wanted. He reached in and picked him up, shifting his weight. David blinked his blue eyes, yawning once and leaning into Kevin's shoulder.

He walked over to the window seat and sat down. He managed to get the two of them comfortable before he picked up Persuasion.

"Where were we?" he asked.

David didn't answer, but Kevin felt a warm and content little bump in his head. It had taken him a while, but he'd realized that was David's way of trying to communicate with him through his mind. He didn't have any words, so he was sending him emotions.

He didn't know if his mother and father knew what David could do yet, and he didn't plan on telling them. Brothers were allowed to have secrets after all. He grinned and turned the pages to where they had left off the night before.

"But I too have been thinking over the past, and a question has suggested itself, whether there may not have been one person more my enemy even than that lady?" Kevin read, "My own self. Tell me if, when I returned to England in the year eight, with a few thousand pounds, and was posted into the Laconia, if I had then written to you, would you have answered my letter? Would you, in short, have renewed the engagement then?"

He picked up David's hand and began to uncurl his tiny fingers. With great precision, he pressed them to the paper and began to follow the words.

"Would I!" was all her answer; but the accent was decisive enough," Kevin read.

David pulled back his hand and stuck it in his mouth. Kevin wasn't discouraged. He'd have to teach him to read another night, just like he'd have to get him to understand what was being read to him. One day, he thought, he'd be able to have David understand why the words were so beautiful.

Or maybe he wouldn't like Jane Austen as much. It wasn't for everyone. He'd make sure his brother gave it a chance though. He owed it to David to try.

"Good God!" he cried, "you would! It is not that I did not think of it, or desire it, as what could alone crown all my other success; but I was proud, too proud to ask again," Kevin read, "I did not understand you. I shut my eyes, and would not understand you, or do you justice. This is a recollection which ought to make me forgive every one sooner than myself. Six years of separation and suffering might have been spared. It is a sort of pain, too, which is new to me. I have been used to the gratification of believing myself to earn every blessing that I enjoyed. I have valued myself on honorable toils and just rewards. Like other great men under reverses," he added, with a smile. "I must endeavor to subdue my mind to my fortune. I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve."

Charles watched Moira from his place on the bed as she looked at the small monitor in her hands. Kevin's voice drifted through the speaker, interspersed every now and then with a soft coo or, once or twice, a giggle. Moira leaned back, resting her head in the crook of Charles's neck.

"Do you think he knows we can hear?" asked Charles, kissing the side of her head.

"Judging by how fast he heads back to his room when it's 10:30?" asked Moira, "I don't think so."

"Well, we'll let him keep his little secret then," Charles said, "Although I'm a little surprised he went to Jane Austen first, not something lighter."

"It's his favorite book," said Moira.

She turned the volume on the monitor down slightly and shifted so her hand lay flat on his chest. The smell of her hair filled his senses and, for a minute, all he did was take a deep breath. Truly, she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid his eyes on.

Moira moved her head, trying to get comfortable, and her hair slipped down his chest like a veil. He thought of their wedding, the small, simple affair. Kevin had been nearly ecstatic when he'd heard they were getting married. Although he was already allowed to call him father, Charles suspected that Kevin wanted the rest of the world to know as well.

The guest list that day had been small: his sister, Erik, Hank, any of the X-men who'd wanted to come. Kevin, of course, had had a front row seat. Peter had kept him entertained as they waited for proceedings to begin, cracking jokes about how it was Kevin's turn next and, well, didn't Laura like him? Charles had never seen Kevin look more confused.

Peter had, fortunately, stopped when he realized the ceremony was beginning. Charles might have had to go into his mind to make him stop otherwise. Not that he would've had the faculties to do so. The minute he saw Moira walking toward him, her loose white dress flowing over her slightly swollen stomach, her hair pinned beneath a short veil, it was all he could do to respond to the officiant.

Truthfully, all he could really remember of that day was the way she'd smiled down at him when she'd said her "I do." He'd been waiting more than twenty years to hear her say those words and, after everything that had happened, everything they had yet to face then, she'd walked into his arms willingly and with no regrets.

Now, as his wife of a year, she cocked her head at him, no doubt catching him staring.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

He reached out and cupped her face.

"How scared I am that, one day, I'm going to wake up and none of this will be real," he said.

She shook her head and moved so she was on her knees looking down at him. Moira gently took his hands in hers, her wedding band clinking against his.

"Don't," she said, "You deserve to be awake. You deserve every bit of happiness this world has to offer. We all do."

She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed them. He let his eyes close softly. Even after a year of marriage, he would never get used to the feeling of her lips on his skin. Charles opened his eyes and moved his thumb, letting it drift over her cheek.

"If you say it, I shall have to believe you," he murmured.

She laughed, getting up but keeping his hands in hers. From the monitor on the table, he could only just hear his son's voice.

"Anne was tenderness itself, and she had the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth's affection. His- oh no. Gotta go."

Moira turned her head as she heard the sounds of David being hastily returend to his crib. Then she turned back to him, squeezing his hands.

"Looks like it's time to tuck our son in," she said, "Want to come?"

He squeezed her hands back, knowing he would never have to let her go, let any of his family go.

"More than anything," he said.

A/N: This has been a truly awesome journey. A few months ago, I'd pretty much made my decision to retire from the site. Then, after getting a few messages asking if I was going to write anything, seeing the movie, well, things change. Thank you all for getting me back into this: after one story, I realized just how much I missed it.

I've said it before, but at the heart of the X-men is family. They're dysfunctional, truth be told, with so very many issues. But when trouble comes, they know where their loyalties lie, something I felt was hammered home by Erik's decision at the end of 'Apocalypse.' They know who their family is because, in the end, family really isn't just determined by who gave birth to us or who contributed to our DNA. It's only part of the story. Our families, our bloodlines, are also determined by the people we love, whether or not they're our biological children, whether they're the siblings we grew up with or the friends who have been with us forever.

I knew I couldn't write any fics after 'Apocalypse' without dealing with the difficult question of parentage. Erik and Raven are such different people, and they would have such different reactions to being parents. Their children are also very unique. I love Bryan Singer's Quicksilver, and Kurt has long been my favorite X-men. I wanted to be able to do justice to plot lines I knew many readers were interested in and, quite frankly, is fascinating and needs to be explored more. In the comics, Erik and Raven loved their children in their own way. Unlike the comics, the new movies give them a chance to actually be parents. It was also unique since the decision to embrace that challenge was held, in one case, in the hands of the child and, in the other, the hands of the parent.

As for Logan/Kayla/Laura/Emma dynamic, I don't know how many of you have seen the new 'Logan' trailer. I have mixed feelings about the movie, mostly because it looks a little less hopeful than what we've been seeing lately. On the other hand, I'm 100% sure that girl is supposed to be Laura. For the characters in my story though, I wanted to envision a different, but similar way things could have gone down from the 'Origins' movie. 'Days of Future Past' made everything bad about the third movie go away, and we got a much more intricate universe. I can't imagine it not changing 'Origins,' and for the better. There was real potential there.

Finally, Charles/Moira/Kevin/David. They are my favorite couple in the movieverse, and my heart beamed for every moment they put in the latest movie. It really felt like we were coming full circle. Confession time: I have never written Kevin this extensively before. I think I may use him more in the future. He kind of stole my heart.

I don't know when my next story will be, but it'll be a few months at least. I need to make sure my hands don't fall off from writing too much. In the meantime, check out "Monsters" by Coyote Blues. It might be the best Kurt story on the sight, and it does a great job of exploring the intricacies of having parents like Mystique and Azazel.

Now, for shoutouts. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed, those I could reply to and those I couldn't. A special thanks to KarateGirl70, who helped me with some of the more medical aspects of pregnancy, the talented Coyote Blues for her feedback, my constant reviewers savedbygrace94, Elora Donovan, jguti210 and of course, brigid1318, knightphoenix2, Alequandra and BROSMP! Thank you all!