Memories

Chapter Sixteen

Charles woke up with a grunt of pain, a small little mound having hurled itself at Charles and landed on his stomach. Charles laughed once he regained his breath, smiling down at the little three-year-old and the five-year-old twins that were jumping on his bed.

"Wake up, Daddy, wake up!" The children screamed, excitement in their eyes and impatience in their movements. "Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" Charles laughed out with exasperation. The children all squealed with glee and hopped off the bed, running down the hall while screaming "It's Christmas, It's Christmas! Santa's been here!"

Charles laughed lightly and climbed out of his bed, staying in his pajamas. Charles rolled himself into the bathroom and stared in the mirror for a moment. He stared into his own clear blue eyes, observing his face. His beard was itchy and rough, looking wild and un-groomed. His hair was long and unkept, and Charles knew he was in dire need of a haircut.

Charles remembered his neatly kept, sharp look, and he missed it. But Charles hadn't had the effort for months- not since Erik left. Erik had stolen Charles's will to live along with his heart and his sister.

But this day was different.

Charles felt alive again.

It wasn't like it had been with Erik, but it was there; the spark of life that Charles had been missing was alight in his chest, brought back by his family. Charles wanted to shave. He wanted to get his hair cut and dress in one of his suits. He wanted to be back to normal.

So, Charles shaved. The razor felt foreign in his hand. It was like Charles was using an alien object. After Charles shaved, he brushed his teeth and went downstairs, smiling at his family. They stared for a moment at his newly-shaved face, but they didn't utter a word about it.

After opening their presents and going through their stockings, all of the children jumping about with excitement at the presents from Santa and his missing cookies, screaming about the 'overwhelming proof of Santa', and the family ate a small lunch.

Sean, Jean, Ororo, Darwin, and Logan were all cooking Christmas dinner, the other children stealing food occasionally with the help of Alex. Charles and Hank stayed out of the kitchen, Charles not wanting him and his bulky wheelchair to be in the way, Hank worrying about blue fur getting in the food.

Hours later, the family all sat down to a wonderful ham dinner, green-bean casserole next to the ham, and mash potatoes and gravy on the other side of the ham. Sweet potatoes casserole- sweet potatoes covered in brown sugar and marshmallows- sat in the kitchen, ready to be eaten. There was also stuffing, rolls, cream corn, coleslaw, and other assorted desserts and pastries.

The whole family had loaded their plates and were stuffing their faces, laughing and joking with each other. Occasionally, someone would throw a piece of roll at someone else, and Charles would snap at them not to play with their food. A while later, and more food would be thrown.

To anyone else, they would appear to be a normal, everyday family.

It was still light out, only five o'clock, when the whole family finished their meal. So, they all went outside to play in the newly fallen snow that still remained from last night's snowfall.

They all made snow angels- except Charles- for a while. That is, until Alex threw a snowball at his little brother, Scott. Scott retaliated, but missed, hitting Sean instead. Sean threw two snowballs, but missed once, hitting Jean instead. Jean thought Logan threw it, so she hit him with one. Logan lobbed one at her, but hit Ororo straight in the face because Jean jumped out of the way.

After that, everyone was throwing snowballs at each other. It was total warfare- even Charles had joined in because Alex had hit him.

Eventually, the whole family ended up in a pile, laughing about nothing. Now that they were all soaking wet, everyone having been hit by a snowball, they all went inside and dried off by the fire, which Logan had started once they got inside.

They all slept in the living room together that night, telling stories and laughing and joking with each other.

Charles let go of all the hurt and the anger he had been feeling that year, just enjoying the moment while it lasted.

If only for a day.

And no one knew of the three presents in two empty rooms of the house. But, even though they were empty, the two rooms looked lived-in. They were frozen in time, not being touched by anyone since their inhabitants had left. One held two presents- one from her regretful, loving brother, and the other from the boy who'd fallen in love with her, but hadn't known how to treat her, too wrapped up in his own pain.

The other room had one simply-wrapped present from the man who'd fallen in love with the person it was meant for.

All three presents were waiting for the two inhabitants to return, willing to finally receive the love awaiting them and send it back.

And, somewhere that seemed a world away, the two missing inhabitants were thinking of the men they loved, wishing they deserved the love that they knew awaited them in that big mansion in the cold state of New York.