“Here you are!”
        Peter teleported out of thin air and landed on the Mansion’s gently sloping rooftop. Below him, Professor Xavier’s spacious, well-tended grounds spread out all the way to the distant horizon. Beyond, the restless ocean churned against stony gray cliffs.
        Serena was sprawled on her stomach, moodily staring at nothing. She barely even stirred as her lifelong friend settled down into a limber full-lotus beside her.
        “Whatsa matter, flametop?” he teased, nudging her bare shoulder with a friendly fist.
        Peter’s light touch startled the girl out of her gloomy thoughts. An anxious frown marred her exotic features as she propped herself up on her elbows and met his curious gaze. “How’s Jubilee doing?” she urged.
        So that was the problem. Peter flashed her an encouraging grin, and rubbed her tense shoulders. “Jubilee’s doing fine!” he assured her. “Beast said that this baby won’t take nearly as long to be born as the last two did.”
        “You’re sure?” Serena anxiously twisted around and stared up at him. He was surprised by how pale her small face looked in the full moonlight. “You’ve ‘seen’ it?”
        Peter’s burgeoning precognitive skills were the subject of intense fascination throughout Professor Xavier’s enclave of mutants. More and more, he was being summoned into the War Room for meetings where his new-found skills were tested to the limits. ’Rina loved to mock the far-away look that whitened his slanting gray eyes whenever he entered a precog trance, but she trusted his talent implicitly. Far more than she trusted her own growing abilities.
        He already knew the answer--he’d known it for weeks, ever since Wolverine had cornered him in the den and gruffly begged for a ‘reading.’  Jubilee’s newest baby would finally be the daughter they’d both been yearning for.  And her birth would be mercifully easy, compared to the birth of their two rambunctious sons.
        If only Logan had thought to ask when little Sera would be born, then they could have been prepared!
        But no one had anticipated that Jubilee would start her labor three months early!  And now everyone was scared that something bad would happen to them both.
        Peter let his eyes go white, just to reassure his future teammate. “Sera’s birth will be an easy one,” he intoned in the deep, echoing voice that always heralded a precog vision. He knew how to throw his voice into that register now, so ’Rina would never know the difference.
        Then something familiar caught at his mind--that elusive ‘otherworld’ taste-touch that meant a true precog incident was building. His slanting eyes widened in surprise, then blanked out as the other voice commanded his vocal chords. “Her life and death will bring new life and hope to the world. An end to the hatred and suffering, the birth of a new era.”
        Peter’s prophetic words echoed through the still night air, but they weren’t his words. They never were. Something larger, wiser, was channeling through him, using his mind and body to part the veiled mists of time and give a tantalizing glimpse of what lay ahead.
        Then the eerie sensation faded, and he was only Peter Xavier again...a frightened teenager who felt too young and insecure to harness the tremendous energies just beyond his grasp.
        ’Rina was staring at him with such a horror-stricken expression that chills ran down his long spine. “What did I say?” he demanded, gripping her shoulders. “What was it, ’Rina?”
        The girl’s clear young voice was muted with dismay as she quoted back his unsettling prediction. Then frightened tears flooded her green eyes, and spilled down her pale cheeks. “Life and death, Peter?” she quavered. “Sera’s going to die?”
        Somehow Peter found his arms around ’Rina, and he hugged her tight as much for his own comfort as for hers. “Everyone dies sooner or later, flametop!” he urged. “What I said doesn’t mean she’s going to die right away! It doesn’t!”
        Serena gradually let herself be reassured...but the fear was still there, eating at her mind. And behind it, a bigger fear that she’d never dared to speak of...
        “Peter, have you ever wondered what it was like?” she finally whispered against his wide shoulder.
        “What, having a baby?” Peter instinctively ‘listened,’ then winced as an echo of Jubilee’s fierce labor pangs twisted his stomach into knots. “You don’t want to know yet, flamer--it hurts!” he assured the shivering girl. “A lot!”
        Serena tried to open her mind so he could insert the vivid image--she knew that he could telepathically meld with others in the team--but as usual, her mental shields were too strong for him to penetrate. A muffled groan escaped her as he sighed and shook his head. “You’re still too scared, ’Rina,” he grumbled. “I can’t do it if you’re too scared to let me in!”
        She was trying, she was! But that other fear was stronger, shutting her off from everything and everyone.
        Would it happen to her, the same way it had to her mother...
        Peter caught the barest hint of her panic, and held her closer. ’Rina had been changing lately, closing up inside so that no one could get near her mind. Even his father, the Professor, was having trouble touching Serena’s agile thoughts. But Peter was sure he could, because they’d always been so close, if she’d just let him!
        “Tell me, ’Rina!” he urged, tipping her face up toward his. “I know I can help, if you’ll just tell me what you’re so scared of!”
        A convulsive shudder swept through Serena, and her arms tightened around his waist. What if he made fun of her...or worse yet, what if it happened before she could stop it...
        “I-I can’t, Peter!” she stammered, burying her face. “I don’t want you to get hurt!”
        Hurt?  Peter stared at ’Rina in blank surprise. How could she possibly hurt him?
        Oh, sure, she was lots stronger than he was...all of Rogue’s children were extra-strong... but he and ’Rina had been best friends ever since they could crawl!  Even when they’d gotten into fights, and she could’ve pulverized him, she’d never taken advantage of her superior strength!
        Why was she so afraid of hurting him now?
        “L-like Momma hurt Cody when she was younger!” she finally gasped, her small chest heaving as she forced out the betraying words. “Please, Peter...”
        Peter remembered hearing tales about Rogue’s childhood sweetheart, and his blood ran cold. Rogue’s awesome ability to absorb anyone’s memories and powers was as terrifying as it was impressive. He’d even experienced it once, at the Professor’s insistence. She’d just barely touched him with one slender fingertip, but he hadn’t woken up for nearly six hours. And he’d had a terrible headache!
        Only ’Rina and her two brothers, young Cody and Lucas, seemed immune to her dangerous abilities. Even Gambit, who adored her with single-minded devotion, couldn’t touch her without being hurt. Each time she wanted to have a baby--always by a different father, so that their gene pool kept getting bigger--she had to go into Beast’s laboratory and spend a whole week there under a stasis field.
        Peter didn’t understand everything about that process--something about the stasis field taking away her powers so that the baby had time to grow a little. He did know that it wasn’t always successful. Wolverine had given her little Lucas, and he was toddling around just fine. But she’d lost both of Bobby Drake’s and Nightcrawler’s babies before they’d even started to kick around inside her. He was a little scared to do a precog on this newest attempt by Moira’s golden-haired husband, Banshee. Maybe in another month, if she held onto it that long...
        But ’Rina wasn’t old enough to start thinking about having babies yet, she was only thirteen!
        And yet...
        Peter suddenly became vividly aware of things that he hadn’t really noticed before. He’d been so worried about the changes to Serena’s keen mind that he hadn’t realized how her body was changing at the same time!
        How could he have missed the new, provocative curves in her slim hips and chest? Or her sweet, seductive scent, the one that enveloped and distracted him whenever she was nearby?
        All those dreams he’d been having about some nameless, faceless girl touching him, stroking him, giving him exquisite pleasure...and she’d been right here all along, right under his nose! How could he have been so blind?
        Peter’s throat suddenly went dry as she shifted in his arms, and he felt her small breasts pressing against his lean ribs. He was suddenly aware of a fierce pounding in his belly, the same kind that always accompanied his feverish, erotic dreams.
        Suddenly Serena LeBeau was more than just his playmate and confidante--she was soft and warm, and the touch of her supple body was driving him absolutely crazy as he became vibrantly aware of their isolation!
        All the adults were clustered around Jubilee, offering their physical and mental support as she labored to give birth. And all the other kids were sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the crisis.
        Only he and ’Rina were left, and they were alone...no one was physically or psychically watching over them...
        Peter risked sliding his hand along Rina’s spine, and felt her catch her breath in surprise. She felt it, too, he was sure of it! If only he could breach her mental shields...
        “I can’t!” Reddish sparks began to swirl through Serena’s emerald-green eyes, highlighting her growing panic. “Peter, you know I can’t risk it! What if it happens to me like it did to her, and I hurt you? You could die!”
        Rogue’s first kiss.
        No wonder ’Rina was so afraid!
        Why hadn’t he seen it before, and realized what was inhibiting her?
        “There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” he whispered, stroking her shoulders with gentle hands. “I’m not afraid, ’Rina! I know you’d never hurt me! And even if you did...” He tossed a lock of white hair off his forehead so he could see her face better in the moonlight. “It’d be worth it!  Wouldn’t it?”
        Serena hesitated, and he knew what she was thinking about.
        Logan and Jubilee, out in the arbor, six months ago.
        She and Peter had snuck outside late that night to test each other’s growing skills...it was a game they’d been playing for years, with increasing confidence. ’Rina would fly to a spot out of Peter’s visual range, and he’d try teleporting to her. Or he’d ‘jump’ somewhere new, and she’d try to find him by sensing his mental aura and flying straight to his side.
        He was better at it than she was, because she wasn’t a telepath. Still, over the years, she’d learned to recognize his distinctive mental voice, and her accuracy had improved correspondingly. Professor Xavier--she couldn’t even think his name without a little shiver of awe--approved of their games because he wanted them to be teammates, when they were old enough to join his elite force.
        But he’d never have approved of them sneaking out at night to practice.
        So they’d never told him.
        It was their most carefully-guarded secret.
        Or it had been, until Peter had teleported into the arbor that night, six months ago, and his mental aura had gone vivid green with shock. ’Rina had raced to his side, stunned by the force of his ‘sending’ and terrified that he was hurt.
        And they’d seen Logan and Jubilee rolling around on the ground, moaning and clutching each other! She’d thought that maybe they were sick, until the moon had cleared a thick cloud and she’d realized that they were both naked.  Then she’d understood what they were doing, all right!
        She still remembered the ecstatic look on Jubilee’s face as she’d perched on Wolverine’s bare hips and rocked up and down!  Even she, non-telepath that she was, had been shocked by the force of their spiraling emotions!
        Would it be like that for her...or would her mother’s dreaded powers flood through her veins at the crucial moment?  Cody had been in a coma for months, and then he’d died, just from a single kiss!  She just couldn’t risk Peter’s life that way, no matter how much she might want to touch him and feel him...
        “It’d be worth it!” Peter was insisting, holding her closer. “It would, ’Rina! Cody wasn’t a mutant--he couldn’t handle it! But I know I can! Even if the worst happens, at least then we’d know! And if it doesn’t...and we can do it...”
        His chest was rising and falling in rapid cadence as his hands tightened on her slender waist. All those intense dreams, when he’d woken with a throbbing in his belly that no amount of cold showers could ease...and ’Rina was here, clinging to him with frightened strength, so soft and warm and alive...
        He was a telepath, he had felt the passion and ecstasy swirling through Logan and Jubilee...and sometimes the other adults, too, when he opened his mind and let it drift. He did know how wonderful it could be! So much better than the dreams, even better than the times he’d stroked himself to a hot, fierce orgasm that left him shaken and sweating...
        The fiery pounding in his veins was making it impossible to think straight. He’d never imagined that the passion could overwhelm him so completely!
        Of their own volition, his hands rose, stroking ’Rina’s small breasts with frantic urgency. Her skimpy blouse was gone, vanished like smoke into the darkness. Had he ripped it off her slender frame, or had she kinetically transmuted it from her shuddering body?
        “’Rina, please...” His voice was hoarse, husky with desire, as her small nipples rose beneath his searching palms. “We have to...we’ve gotta know...”  He was out of control, clutching at her with frenzied desperation, as crimson heat seared his reeling brain.  Dear God, he had to feel her sweet warmth enfolding him, taking him beyond himself and...
        They were so tangled together that he could feel every inch of her agile body straining against his. But they were still on the Mansion’s high roof, and a moment’s inattention could send them tumbling to the ground far below!
        He’d never dared to teleport another person before. But desperation overcame caution, and instinct supplied the impetus. One moment they were sliding down the rough shingles; the next instant, soft grass was cooling the burns on his knees and elbows.
        Not that he’d even noticed the pain. The entire universe was pulsing through his veins, thudding with savage force through the rigid shaft jutting up between his quivering thighs. All his life, he’d thought that long knob of flesh was nothing more than a nuisance. Now it was dominating his very soul with a desperate longing that just couldn’t be denied!
        “Peter, wait...” ’Rina’s faint voice was choked with fear as they rolled over, and cool dew glistened across her writhing body. “I can’t...I can’t...”
        Peter’s wide chest heaved as he fought for sanity. “It would’ve already happened!” he panted, even as he instinctively pulled her closer. She felt so incredible in his arms! How could he never have realized... “You won’t hurt me, I swear it!”
        They were both naked now...she must have transmuted their clothes away, because he’d been too busy caressing her shuddering body to fumble with his tight shorts. So she did want him, despite her frantic protests!
        Heat blossomed through his veins as her small mouth opened beneath his.
        Her first kiss.
        His, too.
        And they were both still alive. Rogue’s dreaded legacy had passed them by.
        Peter groaned with relief as ’Rina’s slender arms tightened around him, holding him close. “Now our future begins!” he panted against her soft throat, and was shocked to hear the prophecy-echo in his ragged voice. “Love me, ’Rina!”
        “Show me how...”  They were locked so tightly together that he felt her urgent plea through his very bones. Especially the extra one, that steely ramrod jutting between her parting thighs with single-minded determination!
        Then silky warmth enveloped him, searing him to the core, and he helplessly moaned. Not even his most passionate dreams had been like this, and he still wasn’t even inside her yet!
        He’d passed his sexual awareness class with high marks. He knew what to do...in theory. But the reality was so much more than he’d ever dared to anticipate! He wanted to touch and taste and explore every inch of ’Rina’s beautiful, lithe little body, and feel her hands and mouth gliding all over him, too! How long could he hold back, before sheer physical need overcame rationality, and...
        ’Rina was already far beyond logical thought. She’d been wanting this moment for so very long, but she’d been so terribly afraid...
        But she was safe! Peter hadn’t been hurt! And his lean body was thrusting against hers with urgent insistence, parting her legs and rocking against her with a force she couldn’t begin to resist!
        Soft sobs escaped her as something hot and hard probed between her soft thighs. She knew what it was, and it felt so right as it pressed deeper and deeper into her quivering body!
        Pleasure began to blossom through her veins as he pushed harder, and sizzling heat exploded through her belly. Harder, deeper, until their hips were locked together and their bodies were fused in an ageless dance of passion!
        Time seemed to falter and freeze as the last of ’Rina’s nebulous fears vanished like mist. She could feel Peter’s frenzied need coursing through her like a broken dam as he suddenly stiffened, and fierce spasms rocked his taut frame. Heat was exploding in savage, liquid bursts from his steely shaft, flooding her entire body with exquisite ecstasy!
        “’Rina!”  Peter’s husky voice echoed in her ears as they came together again with vibrant force, melding into each other with a deep-seated instinct that far-surpassed conscious thought.
        Suddenly the entire universe seemed to be cramming into her skull! Serena recoiled in terror as an avalanche of sound and sensation burst upon her, overwhelming her dazed mind!
        Too much...it was all too much!
        Instinctively she clung to Peter’s wide shoulders, sobbing in protest.
        “’Rina!”  Peter’s hungry mouth was covering hers in a deep, drugging kiss, but his voice was penetrating the deepest recesses of her mind! “The link...my God, it’s finally happened!”
        He was as deep into her mind as he was into her soft, curving body! Peter felt a sudden burst of elation that heightened every sensation to dazzling intensity. ’Rina had finally dropped her mental shields and let him in!
        The shock of psychic penetration was so potent, another tidal-wave of ecstasy instantly exploded through his young body. Wildfire chased through his surging veins and pulsed into ’Rina’s warm depths with devastating force. And she was matching his fiery orgasm with such incredible passion that his head reeled!
        Somewhere in the distance, they both sensed a faint cry of protest, followed by a quick stab of pain and then blinding light. ’Rina’s helpless sob echoed little Sera’s outraged wailing as the newborn infant filled her small lungs for the first time.
        Peter quickly severed the inadvertent psychic bond, and held ’Rina close until her terrified trembling faded away. If they’d ‘heard’ Jubilee’s exhausted shout of triumph, and Sera’s first indignant birth-cries, every telepath within a hundred miles must have heard them!
        If they were lucky, they might have two or three minutes left before Professor Xavier burst into the arbor and forcibly separated them. For a very long time!  Peter was certain that such an early soul-bonding with his future teammate had not been part of his esteemed father’s master plan!
        And yet...
        He risked a quick mental peek, extending a very thin thread of his consciousness toward the distant Mansion.
        No one was paying them the slightest bit of attention! Not even Jean or the Professor himself had ‘heard’ them! Could they really be so preoccupied, or had he finally managed a proper one-way channel?
        Serena was staring up at him with wide eyes. The shock was slowly wearing off, leaving her dazed and bewildered. “What happened, Peter?” she quavered in a low, shaky voice.
        Despite his better intentions, a rakish grin curved Peter’s lips. “Which part?” he countered, flexing his lean hips.
        His long shaft was still rock-hard and full of energy. Serena gasped in surprise as he thrust even deeper, and his agile hands slid across her naked breasts in an intimate caress.
        If no one from the Mansion was charging outside to chastise them, maybe they’d have enough time to make love again! Only this time, Peter wanted more than just a frantic, hurried penetration. ’Rina deserved more than that from him!
        An anguished groan tore at his throat as he eased away, and their sweat-slick bodies separated. It took a supreme effort to lay back, to keep from throwing himself back across her soft, curving frame and burying himself in her sweet depths again!
        Serena was even more confused by his sudden withdrawal, and hot tears began to form in her eyes.
        Then the soothing touch of his powerful mind impinged on hers, and she understood. He wanted to make it last longer this time. The initial urgency had faded enough that now they could take the time to explore each other’s bodies properly.
        And he was lying there in the moonlight, teasing her with that steely shaft jutting straight up from his taut thighs, silently urging her to touch him...
        An impish grin lit ’Rina’s elfin face as she curled tentative fingers around his hardened flesh and slid her fingers along its slick length. Peter softly moaned with delight.
        She could feel the waves of pleasure cascading through his quivering body as if he was touching her, too!  Was this part of the telepathic bond they’d finally formed?
        She’d passed her own sexual awareness class with equally high marks. And she knew just what he wanted right now. Heat blossomed in her belly as she bent over him and slid her tongue over his hot flesh.
        Peter’s strangled gasp echoed through the still night air. His long fingers were tangling in her russet hair, clutching at her with desperate strength. ’Rina took him deeper into her mouth, and felt him lurch in shocked surprise.
        A moment later, her own body lurched as he pressed her down and ran eager fingers between her parted thighs. Then searing heat exploded through her sensitive flesh and she cried out in startled wonder. Dear God, it was happening again...like a freight train racing out of control through her quivering veins...higher and harder and faster...
        Spurts of hot liquid abruptly flooded her mouth, and she knew that Peter was sharing the same delirious ecstasy. Now she understood why the adults made excuses to get away sometimes...why Jubilee’s tanned face had glowed with such an unearthly joy when Logan had buried himself deep into her limber body!
        Even the pain of childbirth was worth risking this glorious passion...again and again and again!
        Sudden disorientation startled her, and she clung to Peter’s wiry body as the world itself seemed to shift around them.
        Startled chirping from a million lazy crickets abruptly echoed in her ears. And the air felt heavier, humid with fragrant moisture.
        ’Rina knew this place! Every frond of moss cushioning their naked, writhing bodies was familiar! Every low-hanging tree evoked poignant memories of a different time, a different life!
        Peter must have plucked the half-formed memory from her mind and brought them here through sheer instinct, as soul-shattering bliss had flooded through his veins!
        They slowly untangled and stared around in blank disbelief. Nearby, moonlight glistened off the slow-moving river. A huge willow was trailing branches right down into the water, and ripples were spreading away from it in concentric patterns.
        Further down the muddy bank was the deep swimming hole where two laughing children had once played, and loved...and left their innocent childhood behind with one fatal kiss...
        Somehow it seemed fitting that she and Peter should finish what had begun here so many years ago.
        Rogue would understand...
        ...and maybe Cody’s restless ghost would finally be laid to rest.
        Serena met Peter’s eyes through the darkness, and saw him slowly nod. No words were necessary...because he understood.
        His slanting eyes slowly whitened as he reached for her and held her close, and she wondered what he was seeing. But she knew better than to disturb a precognative vision, even for passion’s sake.
        Peter’s hands reverently slid over her tingling body. Still white-eyed, he pressed her into the soft moss and entered her willing body with one forceful thrust. ’Rina eagerly clung to him as his breathing quickened, and sweet desire flared between them again.
        Something was different this time...deeper, more profound...as they strained together in swelling ecstasy. Closer...closer...
        ’Rina suddenly cried out, and felt Peter’s long body shudder in response. It was happening to them both...power and energy were surging through them, melding them into one body, one mind, one soul! Gods alive, she’d never experienced anything like this before!
        Eerie light seemed to surround their glistening bodies like sacred starfire. And from a distance, she heard Peter crying out something in his deep prophet’s voice. But the ecstasy was too intense...she could barely even breathe as they helplessly clung together, trembling with reaction!
        “’Rina...” The vision-light slowly faded from Peter’s gray eyes as they fell back into the crushed moss, too exhausted to move.
        Serena barely had the strength to wonder how they’d manage teleporting back to the Mansion at daybreak, before anyone missed them. Somehow they’d find a way--Professor Xavier had drilled resourcefulness into their brains until it was instinctive. She doubted that he’d ever foreseen this, though!
        Suddenly Peter stirred, and forced his eyes back open. “What did I say?” he mumbled against her tangled hair. “It was something important, but I can’t remember now...”
        He never could, that was one of his whimsical talent’s major drawbacks.
        ’Rina smiled and gently stroked his damp forehead. “It can wait until morning,” she assured him in a low whisper. “Sleep now, Peter--nothing will bother us here.”
        “My little flametop...” Peter’s words slurred into a drowsy mumble as he relaxed beside her, and his ragged breathing gradually steadied.
        Serena waited until he was fast asleep, then slid free of his protective arm and floated up into the air. The sluggish river beckoned, and she settled onto the muddy bank with silent feet.
        Cody’s restless, lonely spirit seemed very close to her as she stared up at the starlit sky.  Had he heard Peter’s startling prophecy at the height of their passion, as a lingering fragment of his powerful life-force had melded with her quivering body?  Would he understand the changes about to overtake the unsuspecting world?

"Sera’s birth was the catalyst...you and I are the key to the future. Together we will change the world, make it safe for our children and hers...”

        Peter had said it, and Serena trusted his powers implicitly. So it must be true.
        Already she could feel his awesome life-force at work in her weary body, changing it, gaining strength.
        Cody would understand...perhaps, in his own nebulous way, he’d even helped them take that first crucial step along their predestined path. Where else could that ghostly light have originated?
        Rogue would understand, too. She’d have to, because the last vestige of her childhood love was still alive...inside the child that ’Rina and Peter had just created here, where Cody had lived, and loved, and died.
        Serena looked up at the distant full moon, and took a deep, steadying breath.
        Her whole life was about to change.
        She hoped that she was up to the challenge.

The End...?