Memories

Chapter Twelve

It was still just the beginning of December, and he decided to bring his whole, makeshift family out for shopping. Christmas was going to be there soon, and they were going to celebrate it like a normal family- as normal as they could be, at least.

"Okay, now everyone is going to be partnered up. No one is going by themselves. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Charles told his family sternly, and everyone nodded.

Alex and Darwin were sitting close together, and they were clearly going to partner up. Sean, Jean, and Scott were conversing quietly- they were another group. Logan, Ororo, Marie, and Bobby were sitting awkwardly together, probably grouped up. Charles already knew that he and Hank were going to be a group with the twins and Kitty.

Charles had already told them that none of the younger kids could be in a group alone, but Charles was letting Alex and Darwin off the hook of being paired with any of the young ones because they'd just been reunited. It had been a chore just to get the two out of bed and out into public.

Once the limo driver dropped them off at the mall, Charles gave them all debit cards and a cell phone each. With everyone equipped with a cell phone and a debit card, they all separated into their groups and went their own ways.

Charles had Kitty sitting on his lap, the twins lounging on Hank's broad shoulders. Charles was making it appear as if Hank still looked human for the sake of the surrounding humans as they shopped. They hit up toy stores, Hank preoccupying all three children as Charles went off by himself to buy all of the children toys. He got all sorts of Legos, stuffed animals, Barbies, and other assorted toys.

Once he was done, he had them sent to the limo. The five continued shopping together, Charles sneaking off to buy Hank's gift as the children distracted him. They continued shopping for the rest of the family, Hank sneaking off mid-shopping to buy Charles a gift.

Alex and Darwin had it easy, shopping together for everyone else and separating to shop for each other. They sent all of their stuff to the limo and went to hang out at the food court when they were done. They got nasty looks from others at their close proximity and Darwin's skin color, but they didn't care. If store clerks questioned his ability to pay, Darwin didn't need to tell his friends. If some people asked the two if they were fags, their friends didn't need to know. After that, they did keep a certain amount of distance. They didn't want to cause a fight.

Sean's group operated in the same way, shopping together and then separately. Once they were done and had gotten their gifts to the car, they joined Alex and Armando in the food court. Some looked at Ororo with the same disgust they looked at Darwin with, but she held her head up proudly.

Logan's group executed their shopping plan the same way, finishing quickly and efficiently. They joined the others in the food court, enjoying lunch. They all were getting dirty looks, Ororo and Darwin the worst of all. The whole group ignored the public, except Logan, who let out a few growls here and there, scaring anyone near enough to hear. Hank's group was the last to join them, Charles calling for a second limo because the first was full of gifts.

Charles sent the first limo on ahead, telling the driver to begin unloading the limo, promising a handsome tip in return. He went to join his family in the food court, who were all laughing and joking as if they weren't in public.

Charles smiled as he rolled up to his family, Hank and the three littlest ones already amidst the group. "Daddy!" Pietro cheered, throwing himself at the Professor with childish glee. Wanda followed suit, smiling to show off her dimples. Pietro grinned up at Charles, showing off his matching dimples. Familiarity sprouted in the back of his mind once more.

"Hello, children," Charles said affectionately, petting Pietro's white-blonde head and Wanda's brunette hair. "We can't wait for Christmas! Really, we can't! We're gonna bake so many cookies and sweets! We're gonna be Santa's favorite house because of all the sweets we bake!" Pietro said, speaking a mile a minute.

Charles laughed, smiling at them. They just smiled back, a guileless, innocent smile that Charles envied. He could no longer smile like that because the world had proven to be cruel; people destroy innocence for their own enjoyment without batting an eye in the adult world. Shaw taught him that. His stepfather and stepbrother taught him that. He shook the thought off, leaving the memories behind, if only for a moment.

After a while of joking around with his family, Charles received a call that the second limousine had arrived. As he looked up to tell the others the good news, he spotted the face he'd been dreading to see. "Logan, take them to the limo. It's just arrived," Charles said, his voice deadly serious as he slowly placed the twins on the ground.

Erik Lehnsherr was just across the food court, and he was staring directly at Charles.

Charles refused to break eye contact as Logan did as told, herding the children off as Charles stayed put. Logan had sniffed the air- he'd smelled him. He understood. The children were all giving Charles confused looks, but he refused to tell them. Alex would just become enraged and try to take Erik on, Sean would start trying to look for Angel, Hank would start looking for Raven, and Darwin would try to protect Alex, the Professor, and the rest of them.

It would be a mess.

Charles stayed at the table as Erik began crossing the food court, passing by civilians and tables, families completely unaware of the murderer walking among them. Then, Charles eyes widened with horror; he'd finally realized why the twins looked so familiar. Their facial features were almost the exact same.

The twins were just an innocent version of him.

As Erik neared him, Charles masked his expression. He couldn't let Erik know of the twins. "Charles," Erik said, his voice rough and deep, causing a buzzing to begin within Charles. Erik sat across from him at the table, still clad in a helmet. Charles was a bit surprised that no one had said anything about the helmet, but then again, it was New York. A helmet is probably normal compared to the majority of things in New York.

"Erik." Charles's voice was tight, his eyes scanning the crowd for any of Erik's normal goons- anything to keep his eyes off Erik. "Your legs..." Erik said, and Charles's eyes snapped to him. His eyes were shinning with apology, regret, and guilt. Charles's eyes narrowed, and he looked away again. He spotted Raven's favorite human skin- the beautiful blonde girl with a cute button-nose. Charles smiled slightly when he saw Raven, but she wasn't looking.

"Charles, please. I didn't come here to argue," Erik said, and Charles looked back at him, his temper flaring. "Didn't you? Because if not, then you should leave. I was just enjoying my day, but you can easily ruin everything, can't you?" Charles asked rhetorically, unable to hold his tongue.

Erik's hand landed on Charles's, gripping the disabled man's hand gently. "Please, Charles. I needed to see you," Erik said, his voice going quiet. His voice, usually strong and certain, was now sounding fragile and broken. Charles sighed, unable to deny him this simple thing.