Taylor watched from the sidelines as John and Marcos were training with Bernie, who had seemingly recovered from his stint as a lab rat. "Why are you continuing to follow me around Lauren?" Taylor asked and the other mutant awkwardly looked at her, and she sat down.
"Do you ever really miss your family?" Lauren asked and Taylor glanced over at her, before she was blinking.
"I'm with my family here." Taylor gestured over to John, Marcos to a certain degree and even Bernie.
"You don't ever miss your real and biological family?" Lauren asked and Taylor sighed.
"I never knew my gene donors." Taylor explained and Lauren's eyes widened in surprise at the negative terms. "I was passed from foster home to foster home, until I mutated." She said and she was shaking her head.
"Then what happened?" Lauren asked.
"Johnny and his brother found me." Taylor explained and she was shaking her head. "I was alone, on the street and I was absolutely terrified of my own abilities. They found me and they brought me to their dad, all three of them were mutants." Taylor said quietly and she shut her eyes briefly.
"So, you never knew your biological family?" Lauren clarified and Taylor was shaking her head. "You never knew your biological family, so you made your own with the Mutant Underground Network."
"Pretty much. Why the heck are you even asking about all of this stuff?" Taylor asked as she opened her eyes again. "You have a biological family that loves you, you are lucky enough to have both of your parents still alive. Do you know how rare that is, in the world like it is now? Especially for mutants like us?" Taylor noted and Lauren looked at her, before she nodded.
"No, Lauren, you don't understand." Taylor said simply and she was looking over at the training games again, watching and Bernie was laughing as he clapped hands with John and Marcos, who had just both been briefly frozen. "You won't get it." Taylor said simply.
"Why not?" Lauren asked.
"Because you have to lose somebody that you truly care about. Feeling like your heart has been shattered, like nobody else can drag you out of it. Once you've felt that, then you will understand." Lauren looked almost offended at the words as Taylor was shaking her head and almost feeling guilty about the look on her face as she was walking away.
Taylor walked outside and she found Julianna, using her shields to contain foods and a big fridge that was being levitated over to the garage. "Don't distract me right now." Julianna said as sweat was pouring down her face and the shields were wobbling, bubbling as they tried to keep it steady. "Look out, everyone!" Julianna shouted and the other kids were diving out of the way and she let it fall to the ground, exhausted from the effort as she doubled over and her nose was dripping with blood.
"Whoa, easy." Taylor said, running forward as she caught Julianna. "Jesus Christ, when was the last time that you lifted something that big?" She asked and Julianna scoffed, shaking her head at the words.
"When I was pregnant with the twins." Julianna admitted and Taylor supported her and they were walking over to a couple of chairs, which Julianna promptly fell onto one of the chairs and Taylor was nodding, before she sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" Julianna asked.
"What do you mean?" Taylor asked as she was turning around to look up at her, from where she was sitting down on the patio, below the chair with her back resting against Julianna's legs.
"You can't fool me, Taylor." Julianna replied gently. "We both know that only five people that you have known in your entire lifetime, can read you like an open book. John, James, Gus, me and Bernie." Taylor sighed quietly, rolling her eyes. "Taylor Fern, what in the fucking hell is wrong with you?"
"The station is gone, we just barely managed to rescue Bernie and the other kids and John... He just told me that now, we have to move them all." Taylor muttered and Julianna looked down at her, her eyes wide. "This is your home, Jules, I know that. But you have to come with us to DC, we can't do this without you." Taylor murmured and Julianna glanced over at her, before she was nodding.
"I will reach out to some old contacts from my past and see if I can contact Gus's family, they might be able to take in a few of our friends here." Julianna murmured as she looked down at Taylor. "We will make it through, Taylor. I promise you."
"How the hell are you still going?" Taylor asked as she was looking up at Julianna, who very slightly was lifting her eyebrows. "I mean, you of all people would have a reason to break down and lose it. But you don't and you have continued to keep moving, even if it kills you. How the hell are you still going, Jules?" Taylor felt tears prickling at her eyes and Julianna sighed.
"Get up here." Julianna muttered loudly under her breath and then Taylor was getting up as Julianna moved over in the chair, so that Taylor could squeeze into the chair in the space that was left. "You are stronger than you want to believe, Taylor. But you also have your anchor who has yet to leave you behind, since you guys reconnected." Taylor was shaking as Julianna gave her a half-hug. "My big secret for keeping everyone safe though? I'm doing it for my kids, Taylor. I don't have a choice anymore, I can't just crumble. I don't have Gus anymore and between you, John and Marcos... All of you. you are basically just holding this station together with your sheer force of will." Julianna sighed. "Once you have kids of your own, you will understand."
"I can't." Taylor said and Julianna glanced over at her, lifting her eyebrows. "I can't have kids, I mean." Taylor muttered and Julianna's eyes widened briefly, before she gave her another hug. "I got my records unsealed from the agency when I was eighteen and I found out that despite my healing genes from my mutation, there is still something in my genetic code that... Well, I have gone into early menopause." She muttered and Julianna sighed.
"Well, you are welcome to take care of one of my four, any time that you want." Julianna said with a shark-like grin as Taylor laughed, throwing her head back as she heard the words and she could see the smirk on her face. "There it is, the smile with fangs and all is back." She said with a laughing smirk, as Taylor's eyes flashed amber and they were hugging. "Speaking of the children... I think I might be a terrible parent, if I choose to bring August along with me and into this fight."
"You can give him to Crater." Taylor pointed out and at the street name, Julianna was glancing over at her with narrowed eyes. "Isn't that Pulse's brother? Crater, that is his street name right?" Taylor clarified and Julianna nodded.
"Uh, yeah. Gus didn't mention him much, I got the unspoken message that they weren't on speaking terms. But, I guess that I could try and call him." Julianna said as she was grabbing a burner phone and she sighed. "Do me a favor, Tay?" She asked as Taylor was walking away.
"Yeah?" Taylor asked, turning around to look at her again.
"Don't tell Darren or August about this until it is finalized." Taylor nodded at the words rather quickly in agreement, before she was walking away from her best friend and she jammed her hands into her pockets.
YOU ARE READING
¹ Roar || The Gifted: John Proudstar
Fanfiction"I never thought that I'd see the day, when we would ever hear you roar again." ~~~~~ It had been years since they had seen each other. One enlisted in the military, the other became a licensed therapist. When one fell into a dark hole that seemed t...
