Cable picked up the cube, "Phil, you have to kept this information between us. You can't even tell Scott. Though I suppose you can tell Ciara this will never happen again. You should probably shot yourself a round of the stuff as well, just in case."

She felt her face get rather warm, " oh...I think I mentioned being ok with bearing you children... I think that's why you've made so many of these..." She played with his hand, drawing little hearts.

Phil nodded in agreement, "Thank you Cable. I owe you for this, if you ever need help, let me know. Although as for killing the thing, you should still talk to Scott about it first. I doubt he'll have a problem with it, but proper channels and all that."


Pietro stratched the back of his head awkwardly, "uhh... I dunno. I guess it might've been on my mind a bit lately."

Cable patted Phil's shoulder, "Saved your life and your daughter's, soon I'll have your whole family in debt." He laughed, "Don't worry about it Phil. It's all for the greater good." Cable walked out of the room and found Scott.

"Phil says I have to get your approval to kill the creature."
Scott turned from talking with Emma, "Does he need it anymore?"
"Nope."
"Then why haven't you?"


Ciara made a cute little happy noise and snuggled up to Pietro, "I love you. I was so scared I won't make it.."

"I knew you'd make it" Pietro replied, hugging her tightly, "Now" he released her, "I'd better put all this things away. You mind if I leave for just a little bit?"

"I'm sure you've been watching over me this whole time," She kissed him sweetly, "Go have a rest love, but can I keep this teal onesie? It's just so cute."

Pietro nodded, "of course" he kissed her forehead as he got to his feet, "I'll be back soon, Promise." and with that he took an armful of knitted things and zipped away.

It took seconds to get rid of the load and the speedster soon found himself in the doorway leading to where the beast was being caged.

Cable came back, "Pietro, you may not want to be here for this son..."

Pietro didn't look at Cable as he entered, "You're going to kill..." he paused, "does it have a gender?"

"No. Nor is it human. Alien in nature. So don't think that you're losing a child cause it aren't yours to begin with." He prepped his gun. Then he looked at Pietro, a look of understanding on his face. "I have to kill it. It's only purpose is to advance it's own mutant. It feels no love or fear, it doesn't even think."

"But it was made because of me" Pietro replied, still staring at it, "it has my DNA, doesn't it?"

"Your DNA was the catalyst that started the progress yes but it's not a child." He put his hand on Pietro's shoulder, trying to find a way to explain it better. "Did you ever watch Prometheus? That Alien prequel they made? The Robot man tricks the guy into drinking the DNA of the alien and then he has sex with his wife and she ends up having an alien baby... This is kinda like that. Not a baby, just a monster, a parasite using Ciara's body to grow into this thing you see before you.

Son, it's not your fault and nor is it Ciara's. You both just got caught in the cross fires of a war you didn't even know was happening. I promise you this... won't happen again. Phil's gone to give Ciara the vaccine to rid the parasite from her system."

"See, that's what I told Ciara, basically. It just sounded like a lot of bull when it came out of my mouth" Pietro replied, shrugging off Cable's hand, "Do what you have to do, just don't ask me to understand it because whatever you say it's just... it doesn't feel right." he looked at the creature again and then turned to leave.

It won't be easy. For him or Ciara to get over the horror that had just happened to them. It would take time. Time, the thing mutants never seemed to have enough of.
Cable turned and closed the door and a few seconds later, the beast was dead.

~

Ciara was sitting in a wheel chair, looking out the window, just staring, running her fingers over the oneise in her lap. She didn't feel right. Like all the strength had been zapped out of her.

"I'm sorry" Spoke a familiar voice from behind her. It was Horatio and he was looking much older than he usually did.

She turned her head and moved to turn the chair around, "Whatever for?"

"I wasn't here" Horatio replied quietly, "I couldn't come... I'm running out of time and I can't always be where I need to be anymore. I couldn't save you from this."

Slowly Ciara got up from the wheel chair, and put a hand on the back of his head, bring her forehead to his. "It's alright love... There's always next time. You can't be everywhere at once. I'm alive, that's what matters."

Horatio ran his hand through her hair as his eyes flashed, bringing them into a time stop so he look at her, "you are alive... but are you well?" he asked with concern, "I should have brought you that antidote, I got Cable to do it but he didn't come soon enough. Is this something that needs to happen? It's hard to remember it all..."

"As well as I can be for what happened. Dad says I'm lucky to be alive. If I hadn't been so ripped when this happened, my muscles would have been reduced to nothing. I'm weaker but I can only be grateful for being alive..." She smiled, "What do you think of my new hair do?" She pointed to the strand of snow white hair. "Thought I'd try something new."

Horatio's fingers played with the white strands, he tried to smile but it wasn't genuine, "you're beautiful, as always." he replied.

"And you're just as Handsome as the first day we met." She kissed his cheek, "This isn't your fault. You always try your best but some things can't be changed." She swayed a bit and had to return to the wheel chair, "Course I won't be able to go on many adventures like this... Unless I get a hover wheelchair, maybe in a flashy yellow." She tried to smile, try to be ok with this but it would take time to adjust.

"You will get your strength back" Horatio replied, "I will do whatever it takes to have you whole again." he touched her cheek and returned time to normal.

"I don't think that's how this story goes. Perhaps the next one.." She replied, turning the chair back so she could stare out the window.

"... perhaps... if that's what it takes" Horatio frowned and turned away himself as he disappeared from the room.

A tear rolled down her cheek. Yes, perhaps this couldn't be fixed. Ciara felt a tugging at her chest and turned to see the man, the man who held a series of red strings in his hands.

He was staring out the window as well and singing to himself, " I find myself here again, out in the water. How is it that you've been my anchor,even when we are apart? And if the Swallow is still there, Then trust what is in your heart..." He took hold of one string and tugged, "Not much time left here, my dear. Time to try again... very soon."