Auld Lang Syne - Coming of Age (Backdated)

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Alice and Gene begin to change their minds about keeping their daughter at the school for fear of what secrets might be uncovered if she stayed. They make the decision to take Molly with them back into hiding. Figuring out their plan, Molly does not agree.



Gene started the car in the motel parking lot, and turned it off again suddenly. He leaned back and closed his eyes, ignoring his wife's questioning look for a moment. "I don't think we can stay here for long, Alice. I love seeing Molly, but the longer we stay, the more likely the right connections are going to come together and alert one of the seventeen telepaths in that place."

Alice frowned. "But Molly needs us now, Gene. Especially since the reason her memory is like this is my fault. Can't we stay just a bit longer, to make sure she's all right?"

"We need to get Molly out of here, Alice. Xavier's was safe at the time, but you know as well as I do that eventually it's going to be ground zero for conflict. I don't want to wait until Molly's already been sized for an X-Man uniform before we try and get her free. The position is Germany is safe, secure, and dull. We'll be outside of everyone's radar; Lensherr's and Xavier's."

“But what about Molly’s therapy? Her memory gaps, they need treatment.” Alice didn’t voice the thought that crossed her mind, that as the cause of the issue, she was the last person to actually be able to help.

"What happens when Xavier's people dig into her memories and find things that made no sense to her when she was younger, but paints us as Brotherhood sympathizers? You think they'll let Molly leave?" Gene said. "If they find out, they'll take Molly away, Alice. For good."

Alice closed her eyes against the pain of that thought. "You're right," she said at last, voice tight. "We have to take her with us. She can't stay at the school."

"And we can't stay here. It's time to start over, Alice. No more Xavier, no more Lensherr. It's about us, as a family. Which we should have figured out a long time ago." He muttered the last part as he put the car into drive.

****

"Did you enjoy lunch, honey?" Alice asked Molly, glancing over at the girl in the back seat. They'd told her they were taking her back to the school; outside, the signs were directing them to the airport. Alice hoped to distract Molly with random chat.

Molly nodded, her hands on her belly. "It was the biggest sandwich ever," she said. A lot of stuff had happened in the past few days. Her mom and dad were back for awhile....but Miss Frost the 2nd said they were the ones who were the reason why she couldn't remember a lot of things. She still loved them, because they were her mom and dad, but it was still a lot to think about.

"Did you?"

"I did." Alice smiled. "All the better for having my favourite baby girl with us. We miss you so much. Isn't that right, Gene?"

"That's right, Alice. See, honey, your mom and I have been talking, and there's an exciting opportunity for us in the near future."

"Opportunity?" Molly echoed, sitting up a little higher in her seat. "Like...a new job?"

She didn't know what other kind of opportunities there could be.

"Not quite, sweetheart. We were thinking... how would you like to live with us again?" Alice asked.

Molly fell quiet for a moment or two. At one time she had. But now, after all that she knew....she wasn't so sure.

"Can I think about it?"

"What's there to think about, kiddo? Xavier's was only temporary, while it was too dangerous for us to be together as a family. Now, that's all over. We'll have a new home and a fresh start." Gene resisted the impulse to grind his teeth at the thought of Xavier's conditioning on his daughter. "It's time to come home, Molly."

From the backseat Molly stared at the two of them, then back out the window at the town that passed before glancing back to them.

"I don't want to."

It all sounded nice, to be with her parents and to be a family again. But that was before.

It was the first time she'd really said no.

Alice frowned. This was new. And not exactly welcome. "Molly, honey, we only want what's best for you," she began.

"Then...then why did you make me forget?" Molly said, blinking up at her mother. It was a question mixed with confusion, and curiosity and a hint of something else, something that made Molly's eyes narrow and her jaw set.

“Because there were things it was better that you didn’t know, things that would upset you,” Alice replied, voice a little uncertain as she waited for the inevitable memory wipe this sort of conversation was bound to generate. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, sweetheart. I only wanted to make sure you were safe. That’s why we want to take you with us now.”

Molly didn't move, staring at her mother and father for awhile before she suddenly shook her head.

"But you did hurt me! You made it worse! And now I'm....I forget everything. Even if I don't want to.How can I be safe if I don't learn? The bad things make you learn...and get better...It's...experience. But...but I can't learn if I forget. I wanna grow up. I wanna be someone who can help people. But I can't if I can't remember."

"Molly, this condition is temporary. Once we fix it, you'll be fine. There were things you saw when you were little that would have been dangerous for you to know. It would have made you a target for bad people." Gene sighed. "Molly, it wasn't about taking away bad experiences, kiddo. When you broke your leg falling out of the tree when you were six, you still remember that, right? Isn't that a bad experience? That made you be more careful climbing and pay attention. I'm sure that the adults at the school kept things from you for your own good, right? This isn't any different."

"It is different...." Molly said, blinking at him. She would've believed him. She would've wanted to anyway. But now she didn't.

"They don't erase those things if I do find out." Falling quiet for a few moments, she glanced up to her mom.

"Are you gonna erase this too?"

Alice looked at her daughter, really looked, as if seeing her for the first time. "No, sweetheart," she replied softly, her voice choked with emotion. "I won't erase anything else. I promise." She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, then looked to her husband. "Gene, we can't do this. We have to send her back to the school."

"Alice, if we send her back, you understand that everything ends for us, right?" Gene said quietly, almost too quiet for Molly to hear. "Either we go to jail, or we go so far underground that we have to abandon everything. For good."

"I know, Gene. But we've already damaged her too much. To do this... would only make it worse. And I can't live with that. Even if it means never seeing her again."

He was silent for a long moment before sighing and nodding. "You're right." He pulled the car off to the right hand lane, angling towards the closest exit. "Alright, kiddo, we're taking you back to the school."