Raven hadn't realized on the beach that Charles had been so badly hurt. She hated herself for leaving him, but he had urged her to follow Erik. Azazel had teleported them to a safe house, where they could stay until they could figure out their next step.

When she woke the next morning, she discovered that Erik had gone to Charles in the middle of the night, and brought him to the safe house. She had been appalled at how much damage the bullet had done.

Erik wanted Charles to have around the clock attention while his spine healed. She thought that meant Erik would hire a nurse — she hadn't expected that he meant to take care of Charles himself.

The others left, seeing that Erik had no interest in leading them against the humans until Charles was well.

At first she had been jealous of Charles for taking all of Erik's attention. She had wanted Erik, or she thought she had. He was the one who had told her that she was beautiful, that her natural form was "perfection." After watching the devotion that Erik displayed as he cared for Charles in those first few weeks, she came to the stunned conclusion that Erik had never been interested in her.

She had been hurt and angry when she realized. She had lashed out at them, before running off in tears to hide in her room. The next morning she crept downstairs, embarrassed. Charles and Erik had ignored her behavior from the night before, and treated her as they always did, as a sister. She came to understand that all she wanted was to be treated normally, like an adult — and that's how they treated her.

After Charles's back was healed enough that he could be moved, the three of them relocated to the Xavier mansion, and gave it a new name. They posed as two brothers and their sister, taking Raven's old name of Darkholme. The people of Westchester didn't mention that the siblings looked nothing alike, or that the two brothers seemed closer than they should be. The fiction made their lives easier, and gave Erik legal authority to make medical decisions for Charles when he needed professional care. His paralysis made him prone to certain infections and injuries, despite Erik's vigilance and care.

Raven left her brothers and traveled the globe until she found a mutant healer that could help Charles. He remained paralyzed, unable to feel anything below his waist. Raven tried not to think what that must make for their sex life. They were her brothers.

The healer was able to help Charles' severed nerves regrow, giving him sensation again, and some control. He still needed the wheelchair, but maybe, in time, he might be able to walk again.

Raven still traveled, and sometimes she came across young, mutant children that needed a home. She would bring them back to Westchester and give them to her brothers. The Darkholme School for Gifted Children was established, and accepted local students as well as mutants. It gave the two men a basis for creating the new understanding they wanted to build between mutants and humans.

Somewhere along the way, she ran into Azazel again. They had an intense, three month relationship that ended abruptly when Azazel found out that she was pregnant. He ran, and, refusing to feel humiliated, she went home to her brothers.

It was an easy decision, she thought, exhausted after a long labor. The midwife carried the squalling newborn and deposited him in Charles' lap. She watched with a tired smile as Erik immediately bent over to coo at the baby.

She lay back against her pillows, watching her brothers as they exclaimed over how perfect baby Kurt was, from the blue of his skin to his little tail and his tiny fingers and toes. They sounded absolutely besotted by the new life in their arms.

Erik leaned closer to Charles and kissed him, the baby held oh-so-carefully between them. Raven felt happiness burst in her chest at the little family. They would make excellent fathers, and she would enjoy being just an aunt, spoiling her nephew.