Sundry III: Reality

Sundry III: Reality
Chapter One
In the story of Joanna Darius and Logan (a.k.a. James Howlette, depending on who you’re talking to), there is forbidden romance, forgiveness, finding a way home, and a fairy tale wedding. Then again, there is also battles, fighting, constant conflict. Like all fairy tales, they must come to an end. Fast forward, if you will, one year after Joanna and Logan have their dream wedding, and come to expect their first (and subsequently their only) child. Two years after that, a painful divorce after which Logan remains at the Xavier’s Institute, while Joanna and their son, Stephen (named after Joanna’s father), moved to New York City where she got her teaching degree, and began work as a high school history teacher, supporting Stephen and herself. Until five years after the initial marriage of Joanna and Logan -where Joanna accepted the second marriage proposal of her life, to a man she never expected to fall in love with. Pietro Lehnsherr, the son of Magneto.
Together, they led a fairly simple life, Pietro acting as a doting stepfather to Joanna and Logan’s son, and Joanna pretending not to miss her ex-husband. Though they had parted ways, there were still times when she missed him beside her, fighting with her, not against her. She was twenty six years old, in her second year of teaching at a small, private high school near the house she and Pietro owned. Their life seemed easy, and they were glad to be together, but time didn’t seem to be healing either of their wounds.
Fast forward another ten years. Stephen had just turned fourteen years old, and an uneasy peace had settled over most of the world between Homo Sapiens, and Homo Superior. Both realized that the other didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and it was easy to just embrace the difference then try to beat it out of one another. Well, most people felt that way, anyway. There were still groups, trying to get one group to over take the other -and that’s what the X-Men had settled into doing. Stopping the terrorist groups from causing harm to either group, human or mutant. But Joanna, formerly Sundry of the X-Men, had nothing to do with that life anymore -neither did Pietro, who seemed content just to be Joanna’s husband.
That is until Stephen, who had previous shown no mutant ability -though coming from two powerful mutant parents, began to show signs of a new power.
"Mom!" Stephen’s scream seemed to flood the house, as he stomped around upstairs, which was odd for only eight o’clock on a Saturday morning in early September. "MOM! DAD!"
"What is it, Steph?" Pietro stuck his head out of the door to the den where he had been talking to Joanna while she graded papers. "Holy shit..."
"What the fuck is happening?" Stephen’s skin was coated in a thin waxy blue coloring. "What is this?"
"Jo... You might want to take a look at this..."
"What is it -oh my god, Steffi!" Joanna only had to see a glimpse of him to know what the big deal was all about. "What happened?"
"I don’t know, Mom! I woke up, and suddenly...I was just coated in this stuff."
Joanna ran her fingers along Stephen’s waxy coated arm, "I don’t know what to think of this, Pietro. I’ve never seen this before." She rolled her own sleeve, and watched the waxy substance coat her own arm. "It’s not a physical mutation."
"So this will go away, right?" Stephen asked, looking between his parents. "I’m not going to stay like this?"
"Gosh...no, I don’t think so." Joanna concentrated on returning her arm to it’s normal state, and the wax melted back into her skin. "Just concentrate, Steffi, and it should go away. Think about it going away."
"I...I can try."
"It’ll be okay... Why don’t you go practice it? A mirror helps sometimes. I think you’re Dad and I need to have a chat...in the Den." Jo tugged on Pietro’s sleeve, tugging him into the small office.
"Do you think we should contact Professor Xavier?" Pietro already knew what this little ‘chat’ was about, and he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against his desk across the room.
"I don’t know, Pietro. I mean...I’m really happy that Stephen is coming into his powers, but what if this isn’t the only one? What if there’s something more? What if it’s something we can’t handle?"
"Jo, what can’t you handle?"
Joanna tilted her head at him, "I know every one thought that I was so damn great when I was a kid Pete, but...I’m older now. I’m almost thirty-five years old. I’ve got responsiblities. I can’t kick-ass with the best of them anymore."
"Thirty-five?" Pietro chuckled, "Funny...you don’t look a day over twenty-five." He leaned up from his desk, snaking an arm around her waist, tugging her a little closer to place a kiss against her lips, before releasing her again. "Jo, we should call the Professor. All mutants deserve a good education, and the options we had -the option you had."
Joanna bit her lip, and nodded, "What about...what about Logan?"
"What about Logan?" Pietro shrugged. "He’ll get to see Stephen, work with him...maybe he’ll stop griping about how you try and seclude him up here."
"He’s the one who wanted Stephen to stay with him in Canada! I’m not letting our child stay in that creepy-ass house of his! -Remodeled or not, it’s still an appalling house!"
"Okay...okay. Relax now." Pietro put his hands on Joanna’s shoulders. "I’ll call the Professor, and let him know that we’re coming for a visit. I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you."
Joanna sighed, "You’re right, Pietro -and besides, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen any of my old friends."
"Sundry!" The familar voice, older now then when Joanna had first heard it over fifteen years ago, came from behind them as Joanna, Pietro, and Stephen got out of the car.
"Tori." Joanna smiled, hugging her first student. "How are you? Still hanging around here, I see."
"Yea... It seemed so empty after you left, though...I really considered leaving and joining up with another group -but...I’m glad I stayed." Tori was a lot older now, and more mature. Her hair was pulled back from her face, and her clothes was practical -jeans, and a tank paired with a pair of sandals, "Come on inside! The Professor is in his office, waiting to talk to you."
"Good." Joanna nodded, following Tori into the expansive mansion, an arm around Stephen’s shoulders. "Lead the way, Tori."
The Professor’s office hadn’t changed since the last time that Joanna had been inside of it -three days after the divorce had been finalized, and she said her parting goodbyes to the Professor, and the rest of the X-Men. He didn’t seem to have moved in her absence, still sitting behind the formidable desk, his hands clasped together on top of it.
"Joanna...Pietro. I’m so glad you called me -ah, and young Stephen -I haven’t seen you in such a long time."
"Hi, Professor." Stephen gave him a half wave.
"So, I take it that this is not a social call?" The Professor asked, beckoning them into seats in front of the desk.
"Stephen...came into his powers." Joanna announced. "We were wondering...if there was room for him here?"
"There is always room for a mutant in need of education, Joanna, you know that as well as anyone." Professor Xavier moved his hands from the desk, and leaned back in his chair. "But...there is one thing."
"Yes?" Joanna raised her eyebrow.
"Don’t you think that you should talk to Logan about this first?" He raised an eyebrow, "See what he has to say about this?"
"Professor..." Joanna sighed. "I’ve managed to avoid my ex-husband for ten years now. Do you really want to break that cycle?"
"Sundry." The Professor’s tone was serious now. "What happened in the past, is in the past. I think you need to make amends for your problems. The two of you loved each other once, very much if I remember correctly, and...well, frankly, when it ended, there was more then just one broken heart, Joanna. Maybe it’s time you spoke with him?"
"Now, Professor Xavier-." Pietro spoke up.
"Pietro, I think now would be a good time for you to make use of your talent, and run along. I fear if Logan catches sight of you, I might have a few bloodstains in my carpeting."
Pietro sighed, "Is he still bitter about that?"
"Do I really need to remind you of what you did to him, Quicksilver?"
"I’m confused...what are you people talking about?" Stephen asked, leaning on the arm of his chair.
Joanna smiled, shaking her head, "Nothing, Steffi. Why don’t you go find some of your friends, huh? I’m sure that they’ll be glad to see you."
"Sure." Stephen shrugged, standing. "Everyone outside, Professor?"
"Most of them, yes." Professor nodded, waving him away. "They’ll find you, I’m sure." After Stephen had pulled the door closed, he turned back to Joanna and Pietro. "Logan is in the Danger Room, Joanna. I suggest you have a chat with him -Pietro, how about I give you a tour of our newest facilities? I’m sure you’ll be quite intrigued with them."
Logan looked up from the computer screen, into the face of a woman he thought he would never see again. His heart seemed to pause, letting his head capture the moment that Joanna Darius -correction, Lehnshurr, would walk back into his life so unexpectedly.
"Hi, Logan." Joanna shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, and scuffed the toe of her sneakers against the carpeting. "How are you?"
"Joanna." Her name was barely a whisper against his lips. He began to look her over, and shook his head, "You look...great."
"Thanks." Joanna shrugged. "You look good too." And he did -age was starting to show a little more now, his hair showing the signs of greying, but he was still hard muscled, and handsome.
"What are you doing here?" Logan asked.
Joanna shrugged, "Stephen sort of...discovered himself this morning, I guess. He can coat his body with some sort of organic wax compound. It’s actually kind of interesting."
"And you’re sending him here?"
"If that’s okay with you -I mean, Pietro and I-."
Logan growled involuntarily, and turned back to his computer screen.
Joanna sighed, brushing her black hair back behind her ear, and sat down in the chair next to him, "Logan, I didn’t come here to fight with you. I want Stephen to be able to see his Dad, to spend time with you...If you don’t want him to come here, then...I’ll find someplace else. We’re not sure if this is the only power that he has, right now. I mean, what with my powers and your powers...he could have anything."
"You make it sound like disease, Joanna."
"I didn’t mean it to sound like that." Joanna shrugged. "Logan...is it alright with you if I send Stephen here? To get this kind of an education?"
"You know that I don’t care, Joanna. I’ll agree with anything you say."
"Logan...I know you care. I know you want to say something."
"I don’t want to say anything to you regarding our son right now. As far as Stephen is concerned, yes, send him here. I want to be close to him, that’s it. But for us.." He looked away from her, "for us, it’s far from over, Joanna."
Joanna shrugged, and shook her head, "Look, I know that you didn’t like when I married Pietro, but...I’m happy with him, can’t you see that Logan? Can’t you be happy for me?"
"How can I be happy for you when-." He sighed and shook his head. "Why am I wasting my time? Just go, Joanna."
Joanna bit her lip, hesitant to leave, wanting to reach out to Logan -to touch him, comfort him again. But she sighed, and shook her head, "Fine. Goodbye Logan."
"Goodbye."
Pietro and Joanna drove back to the city alone, the promise of visiting Stephen the following weekend to bring him some more of his belongings, and to visit the only comforting thought to either of them about leaving their son behind.
"So...your chat with Logan?" Pietro raised an eyebrow.
Joanna shrugged, "As good as could be expected, I suppose." The two were quiet, and Joanna asked the question that had been looming in her mind, "Pietro...do you think I made a bad decision, when I left Logan?"
Pietro shrugged, "I don’t know, Jo. I mean, I don’t know the whole story. I just...I know it left you both heart broken."
"I wish he could find someone...like I found you." She put a hand on his knee for a moment. "He’s just...he’s so lonely, I feel so sorry for him."
"I doubt he wants your pity, Joanna."
"I hate seeing him like that. I remember him being happy, or at least content...he seems so broken now."
Pietro put his hand on hers, and stroked her fingers, "Jo...You don’t have to lie to me. I know you still have feelings for him."
"Of course I do, Pete. He was my first everything." She shrugged. "If it wasn’t for Rogue and you...I probably would have died after the divorce."
"Nonsense...even if we hadn’t stepped in, you have plenty of other friends who would do a lot more then what we did for you." Pietro lifted her hand to kiss her fingertips. "You just need to have a few people in your court."
"But everyone else seemed to be siding with Logan."
"There were no sides, Jo. You and Logan separated. Neither of you really wanted it...but...it was for the best. If you hadn’t...then, we wouldn’t have had our start...I wouldn’t have a great step-son, or a wonderful wife...life would have been very different."
Joanna sighed, "Yea..."
13 Years Earlier.
"Logan!" Joanna smiled, pressing her lips to his. "Come on, you’re scaring the baby, I’m trying to get him to sleep." She pulled him away from Stephen’s crib, and put her arms around his neck. "I think we should ask Rogue to baby sit, and then go out for dinner." She raised her eyebrows.
Logan grumbled, "I’d love to, darlin’, but this is just a pit stop on my way downstairs. I’ve got to get the Blackbird back into workin’ order. She got hit pretty hard last night, and it’s gonna be a while before I get her runnin’ again."
Joanna sighed, "Alright, fine." She nodded, pressing another kiss to his lips. "You’ll come to bed at a decent hour though, right?"
"I’ll try my damndest." He nodded. The two walked together out of the nursery, the small room that was attached to theirs, and into the hallway, going their separate ways.
Joanna joined up with her best friend, Rogue, downstairs in the rec room where she and some of their other friends were watching a news update.
"Hey." Joanna leaned over the back of the couch.
"Hey." Rogue turned from the newscast for a moment. "You talk to him yet?"
Joanna bit her tongue, and shrugged, "Not about...that."
"Jo, how much longer are you going to avoid this?" Rogue asked, standing up, and leaving the remote in Pietro’s lap, grabbing her arm, and pulling her from the room so they could talk privately. "I know that you don’t want to do this, but your lives are endanger if you don’t."
"It’s blackmail, Rogue." Joanna crossed her arms. "Why would I leave a husband that I love?"
"Because if you don’t, Magneto will kill you, and you know that he will. You may have regained everything you lost during your accident, and then some, but unless you kill him first, he is the only mutant powerful enough to do you in."
Joanna sighed, "Rogue...everything is so good right now. Logan loves me, we have Stephen...we’re finally moving out of the Insitute -granted, it’s to the Logan’s manor, but..."
"Joanna, you have to do this so you can end this whole thing with Magneto. He’s been terrorizing you for months. This might just stop it."
"Would anything really stop that man?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, and turning away from Rogue. "I don’t want this. You know his terms. Divorcing Logan, moving someplace else. No contact. He can’t know that this is why..."
"Look, what you do is your business, but it’s not just going to end with you, Jo. After he obliterates you, he’ll go after Stephen, and Logan."
Joanna sighed, covering her face with her hands, "I know you’re right, and yet..."
"Jo, you know I want to do anything to help you, but you have to do this." Rogue took her friends hands in hers, and held them. "It’s going to hurt a lot of people, and...it’s going to be a sudden shock, I’m sure but...Logan is strong."
"But he’s not strong enough." Joanna shrugged. "Magneto could contort his entire body -he’s powerless to fight him...so am I."
"I know that this seems like it’s the worse thing in the world right now, and that after this nothing is going to be okay, but...life will go on if you just give into this simple demand."
"Simple? Separating from Logan is simple?" Joanna slid down the wall to the floor, where she sat with her arms tightly wrapped around her knees. "I would rather die."
Present
The week passed quickly for Pietro and Joanna, and they soon found themselves again entering the gate of the Xavier Institute. All around them, they saw familiar faces, but more often then not, they were clueless as so whom some of the students were.
"Back again so soon, sugar?" Rogue leaned in the doorway on the porch, wearing her green and yellow uniform, with her short brown jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and her red hair cascaded across her shoulders. "I woulda thought you’d never give this place a second glance, honey."
"It’s good to see you too, Rogue." Joanna smiled, hugging her best friend. "I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you last weekend."
"I heard you talked with Logan." Rogue stood up, hugging her back before leading them into the mansion. "How’d that go for ya?"
"It could have gone better...or worse. It was okay." Joanna shrugged.
"You should seen him afterwards...holed himself away downstairs, putz’d around for awhile, wouldn’t talk to no one, or eat..." Rogue shrugged, "Stephen isn’t used to seein’ his Daddy like that, Jo."
Joanna bit her lip, "Pietro, do you mind if Rogue and I go talk? Why don’t you go see if you can find Stephen?"
"Sure, Jo." Pietro nodded, "You find us when you’re done."
Jo turned back to Rogue once Pietro was gone, "Where can we go that’s private?"
"There’s a private place in this mansion? When the hell did that happen, sugar?"
Joanna smiled, and linked arms with her friend, ascending the stairs.
"You never told him about Magneto blackmailing you into divorcing him? Jo! No wonder the guy is so messed up! You just told him you wanted the divorce, and left?" Rogue had changed into some civilian clothes, and now sat on her bed, while Joanna occupied a chair across the room.
"What was I supposed to tell him, Rogue? That Magneto found a way to finish me off for good, and if I didn’t comply he wasn’t going to just kill me -but everyone I knew?"
"You should-a told him something!" Rogue crossed her arms. "He’s tried to move on after you, you know. I mean, he cares about us all, but... he can’t never find a woman he loves as much as he loves you. -And why do you keep bringing Pietro around here? You know that’s just like a slap in the face to him."
Joanna sighed, "You don’t understand, Rogue." She turned the chair to look out of the window over the grounds of the school, her black hair falling in front of her face, masking her expression from Rogue’s eyes. "I love him. Logan, I mean. I never wanted to leave him, but they were Magneto’s demands... I probably shouldn’t even be here now, but..."
"And what about Pietro? You know that’s why Logan thinks you left, right? Because you didn’t care for him anymore, and you had fallen for Pete."
"I know." Joanna nodded. "And I do love Pete, but it’s different. It’s more of a...comforting sort of love."
"Comforting? What are you talkin’ about?"
"Logan has everything a woman could want -a danger level, skills in all areas, he’s handsome, smart, rugged... Pietro is -how do I put this? Pietro is just Pietro. He has a past, his father blackmailed me...but he’s sweet. Caring, kind, cute."
"You regret marrying him?"
"Once in awhile." Joanna shrugged. "I guess when I married him, I just wanted Stephen to have a father, you know? Someone that I knew would be there for him all of the time when Logan couldn’t be. I knew he’d take care of us, you know?"
"And now?"
"And now...I know enough to take care of myself, Stephen is growing up, and doesn’t need as much protection."
"Are you going to separate?"
"I don’t know." Joanna shrugged. "What would I do?"
"Well...you know the Professor would always be more then welcome to giving you your old job back..."
"Rogue, I have a job!" Joanna smiled.
"Ah, right...the History Teacher gig."
"I happen to enjoy my job." Joanna raised her eyebrow at her friend. "Not very many people can say that, Anna."
"I like my job...most of the time." Rogue shrugged.
"So...changing the subject, how’s Remy?"
Rogue shrugged, "He’s fine, I guess. It’s hard to have a boyfriend that I can’ ever touch, ya know?"
"I know it’s hard, Rogue, but...you’re getting better control of your powers all of the time...some day, maybe you’ll get enough to get a little contact."
Rogue shrugged, "It seems like the only time I get to be a normal person is when I’m around you, Jo, and since you left, I hardly see you anymore. I gotta be like this locked up animal, and I hate it."
"I know you do, Rogue." Joanna stood up, to sit beside her friend, putting her arms around the other girls waist. "But you know that we’re all looking for a way to help you. Me, Remy, Professor Xavier. We’ll find some way to help you, some day."
"I sure hope so, sugar, ‘cause I’m sure sick of having to hold back in life."
After spending the rest of the afternoon with her son, and husband, Pietro and Joanna sat in front of the Professor Xavier.
"Your son is very bright, but you already knew that." He smiled kindly at them. "Logan seems to enjoy having him around, even if he doesn’t show Stephen that."
Joanna bit the nail of her thumb, but didn’t say anything.
"If it’s alright with you, I’d like to be able to give them a little more time together, Joanna. Logan could be the one tutoring Stephen, one-on-one."
"If you think that’s best, Professor." Joanna nodded.
The Professor stared at her for awhile, and Joanna automatically put up her mental blocks, barricading the Professor from her thoughts. He may have been powerful, but she was more-so, and she didn’t need the Professor telling her what she already knew.
"We’d like it if you visited again, Joanna...Pietro. We’re always happy to have guests. Perhaps you’d like to spend Thanksgiving vacation with us?"
"We’ll think about it, Professor. My mother is throwing one of her annual shin-digs, but maybe we’ll get down." Joanna awkwardly hugged the Professor, before she grabbing her purse. "We should be getting back -I have some papers to grade before Monday, but it was nice seeing everything again. I’m sure we’ll be back soon. Tell Stephen to call if he needs anything."
"Of course, Sundry." Joanna tried not to flinch at the use of her codename, and smiled at the Professor before pulling Pietro along with her out of the room.
"Is something bothering you?" Pietro asked, as they got back into the car.
Joanna shrugged. "No, I guess not. I just...I want to get home."
"Do you want to teleport? I’ll drive, it’s fine."
"No." Joanna shook her head. "I’ve used my powers enough for one day." Her mental barricades tumbled, and she breathed a sigh, for a moment, she heard a thunder of voices, before they quickly stoppered up again in her ears.
"You sure?"
"Positive." She nodded. Besides, she needed the car ride to think, and decided what she wanted to do, now that Logan would obviously be back in her life.
"What?" Pietro looked disbelievingly at Joanna, from where he sat in the kitchen, eating his usual morning breakfast. "When did you decide this?"
"I don’t know. It’s been awhile coming, I guess." Joanna shrugged from where she sat on the counter in her black dress slacks, red sweater, and black boots, eating a cereal bar. "And just because I want to break off our marriage doesn’t mean that I don’t still love you, Pietro...I do. It’s just...I love you more the way I did when I met you, then the way I did when I married you."
"I’m not surprised, Jo." Pietro shook his head. "I didn’t expect you to stay married to me forever... I just..." He sighed. "What changed now? What made this the time?"
"I guess it was seeing Logan again. I hate your father for what he made me do."
"And I’m sorry for that -if I had known, I never would have let it stand...but my father isn’t really a threat anymore."
"He’s always a threat." Joanna smiled, shaking her head. "But...it’s time that I faced up to it. He can’t scare any more. He tried to break apart my life, and...he succeeded for a little while. I want it back, Pete."
Pietro stood, moving to put his arms around her waist, her knees squeezing around his hips, "I want you to have it back. You get the papers, and I’ll sign. No messes. We take what we had when we started, and the rest of it can be split, right down the middle."
"Thank you, Pietro." Joanna hugged him around the shoulders, burying her face in his neck. "Thank you."