Chapter 4
-Family meeting- rang in every mind in the house and the whole house hold descended on the living room next to the dining room to see Charles sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace “seats please everyone” and all the children sat down Alex and his boys sat on the three seater Sean on the floor in front of them Raven took the armchair with Angel on the arm and Erik called a seat from the dining room putting it beside Charles and sitting down with a smile “ok today marks the 2 year anniversary of us all coming together as a family at the CIA base and to celebrate Raven has made us a wonderful dinner but before we eat we are going to do a little something that I did in university it is to help us bond more and become even more of a family we are going to tell you our deepest secretes” the whole room looked at him and he took a deep breath I’ll start and then Darwin will go second he said looking to his left and we will go round until we reach Erik ok” the children all looked at him and Raven and Erik looked at him like he was insane
“ok so let’s go I was born Charlette Xavier and only became Charles when I was 13 years old” as soon as he said it the room went silent as Erik reached out and grabbed his hand for support with a smile as Angel and Sean looked at Raven and Darwin stared at Charles as Alex spoke up “so em do you wear a binder or like what cause I mean like you pass really well proff, shit sorry” the boy said realising what words had just slipped out his mouth and Charles smiled at him “no Alex I don’t wear a binder I got them removed when I was at Oxford but there is no need to apologies believe me I take it as a compliment my boy” and suddenly he felt a wave of relief pouring out of them all and questions started flying “I will answer any questions you all have later but for now let’s continue yes” and they all nodded
“ok Darwin you next my boy” “em well mine is pretty dark Proff but well when I was in high school I was suicidal, I came out to my friends and they all told me I was a freak, I tried to drown myself and well I grew gills that’s how I found out I was a mutant” he said with a small smile as Alex squeezed his hand and Charles sent a feeling of love and acceptance towards the boy and everyone else looked at him with concern “it’s ok though I mean I’m better now I know I belong here I’m good” he said causing Charles to smile and Alex to talk “oh so my turn now right” Charles nodded
“ok well it’s no secret that I was in prison when the proff and Lensher found me right” the whole room nodded Alex had been open about it with them from the start “well I guess my biggest secrete is why I was there I killed my ex-boyfriend, we where you know” he said raising his eyebrows “at it in bed one night and well I got a bit too excited and suddenly my powers came out and I killed him that’s how my powers came so yeah that was freaky” he looked away from the two men at either side of him and looked down at Sean instead then kicked him
“ok bud your turn” and Sean froze “em ok my secrete isn’t as bad as them but I’ve been to rehab 8 times” “what the shit dude your like 29 and you’ve been with us for 2 years so in 27 years of life you went to rehab 8 times” Alex said with a joking smile to his best mate “yeah well it just never worked as I would always end up back on the same street that got me there in the 1st place and so I was pulled back in until Charles and Erik saved me from it” he said with a smile at the 1st really parent figures he had ever had in his life.
“Hank my boy your turn” Charles said with a smile and Erik looked at him with confusion “em ok Professor well mine is well its nothing compared to the boy’s but to me it’s a big thing” “stop rambling babe come on” Alex said “I’mInAPolygamistRelationshipWithDarwinAndAlex” he said all very quickly and within one breath and the boys stared at him and Charles just looked at him “Hank say it again but slowly this time no one is going to judge you my boy” hank took a deep breath and spoke “I’m In A Polygamist Relationship With Darwin And Alex” “what the heck does that mean” Raven asked and Hank began to stammer while trying to explain “’well it means that, Alex is dating me and Darwin” “wait so Alex is cheating on you with Darwin” Sean asked slapping his mate on the leg “no, no, em Charles can you help me with this please” and he nodded “no one is cheating, they are both dating Alex and are both perfectly aware of the fact and happy about it, I promise, it is in fact a common occurrence in many countries around the world, now if there are no further questions we will move onto the girls, Angel your turn”
Angel explained about her life before she was a dancer when she was a ‘lady of the night’ how her pimp had bought the club and made his ‘best girls’ dancers there and let the rest go there were shocked silence and as soon as Sean decided what he was going to say Charles silenced him not wanting any backhanded comments about the girl and Raven spoke
“well I don’t have that dark of a secrete so I will tell you the only thing about me that my brother doesn’t know”’ she began and Charles looked at her he knew everything about her didn’t he at least he thought he did “it’s no secret that I became his sister when he found me in his kitchen stealing food but that wasn’t the 1st time I had done it I had been to nearby houses many times and been here at least 4 or 5 times before he finally found me” everyone looked at her and Sean spoke “wow you really have had a sheltered life if that is the darkest secrete you have girl” Charles decided he needed to have a talk with this boy about the fact he doesn’t have to say everything that comes into his mind but he will table that after the talk about sending him to rehab for the 9th and hopefully final time in the boy’s life with a smile he just shook his head “that would explain why I thought your mind was familiar to me that night pet” and Raven just rolled her eyes at her ‘genius’ brother before turning to Erik
“your turn Lensher what’s your deep dark secret” and Charles just looked at him “bearing in mind that we have to eat dinner after this love so let’s not make it your body count yeah” “oh please you think I remember how many people I’ve killed Charles I lost count a long time ago, but no I’m going to tell you the one thing I figured I would never tell another soul in my life especially not you Charles so yeah” the entire room was staring at him Lensher didn’t keep much secrete he was open about his dark past so what was so bad that he didn’t want to tell anyone even his lover, especially his lover “’well dear what is it” “I’m a father I have at least 3 kids” and the whole room went silent and suddenly Charles realised his secrete would not be the one to pull attention from Hank but Erik’s and that was even better “yeah em from my Nazi hunting days” - there was this woman Magna we were in love and well we had a daughter and then she was pregnant again but one morning I woke up and she and Anya where gone I never found out what happened then there was another girl Susan I yeah it was a drunk one night thing I got her pregnant sorry love but this was all before we met - the whole room stared at them as they had a silent conversation with each other “its ok dear we can talk later this evening lets go and get dinner everyone” he said turning around to address the rest of the group at the end and rolling off to the dining room as the girls went to get the food and brought it in.
IN THE DINING ROOM
“so are you really a dad”’ Sean asked looking at Erik who as sitting beside him while enjoying his meal “yes Sean” he said rolling his eyes at the boy and Alex spoke up “to be honest I’m more interested in how you managed to sneak in here so often without getting caught Raven” causing his lovers to laugh “you only want to know how she did it so you can do it when you break curfew” Darwin said as Hank continued to giggle at it all he felt happy and a whole lot lighter than he had in months knowing that everyone knew and there was no more need for secretes, Hank had never been very good at those, he was brought out of his thoughts by Charles’ voice speaking over him to Alex “you should know my boy that my powers are a lot stronger now than when I was a child and therefore you will defiantly not get away with it now” he said with a laugh he was happy and content his ‘family’ loved and accepted him for who he is, Erik is the love of his life, the family is closer than ever and the plans to open his school are on track he felt like nothing could ever go wrong again.