A series by November

Chapter 12: Momma

Rogue’s fall semester grades arrived and she had made a 4.0. She decided to declare a major in social work.

She rang in the new year with Kitty, Bobby, John, Jubilee, Leah, Rakim, and Carter. They had a merry time in Art’s apartment. Rogue drank too much, made out with Carter and John, and slept in late. They rang in the new year with pitchers full of margaritas, and sang a drunken rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" with utterly made-up words.

That spring went smoothly and quickly. She delved into her classes even more seriously than before. She had learned about a Montessori school adjacent to the WC campus, and she went in one day to speak to the director.

Rogue asked frankly if they had mutant children in their school, and how they would feel about enrolling one. The director, a woman named Liz Scherr, said that to her knowledge none of the children were mutants, but she could care less about that. She brought Maggie for a preview day and talked with Liz while Maggie started playing with a puzzle.

"So Magster, how did you like the school?" Rogue asked.

"I like it."

"Would you like to go there while I go to my school?"

"Yeah!" So, shortly before her fourth birthday, Maggie started her school career. She still had separation issues, but was doing much better. Rogue had her cell phone turned on all the time and she instructed Liz to let Maggie call her whenever she wished, explaining the extraordinary circumstances in which Maggie had been abandoned. The first few days there were a few calls. By the end of the week they tapered off altogether.

With Maggie in school, Rogue was free to spend more time working. She took a job as a social work assistant in a rehab clinic. On some nights, she had evening classes. She brought Maggie with her and Maggie quietly read or colored without incident. Rogue considered herself very lucky.

In May Rogue threw Maggie a birthday party. She decorated the mansion’s porch with pink and white streamers and invited her friends, plus five of Maggie’s little friends from school. Gillian and her mother Camille came to visit Xavier that weekend. Rogue grilled burgers and hot dogs and after the little kids left, the adults drank beer and played volleyball.

That day Rakim met Hank and fell in love. Not with Hank, but with his research. Hank took him down to the lab and Rakim’s life changed. He changed his major from computer science to biology and went in earnest about becoming a geneticist.

In June, Kitty, Rogue, Jubilee and Jean took Maggie camping. They bought a huge tent and made smores and went swimming in a lake. Maggie loved sleeping in the woods with her new sleeping bag. She was happy.

Marie got to know Jean a little better. Though she had quickly stopped seeing Scott as a teacher after graduation, she hadn’t got to know Jean much as a peer. Now they sat around the fire and talked about who the hottest men at the school were, laughing, discussing the merits of various movie stars. Jean insisted that Ethan Hawke was the sexiest man alive.

Rogue teased her about liking the young pretty boys. Jean threw a marshmallow at her. Rogue said that she thought Gavin Rossdale was the hottest. Jubilee preferred Justin Timberlake. Kitty said that they were all crazy and Kate Beckinsdale was clearly the hottest.

Then came July, and the custody hearing on the eleventh seemed to take forever to arrive. Rogue put on a plain black suit and Jubilee helped her do her makeup and put her hair in a chignon in an effort to make her look older. Rogue was certain that before the proceedings were over that she would puke.

She dressed Maggie in a pink dress and only told her that they were going to talk to some people. She told her that there would be a judge and that she should answer his questions, that she would need to sit quietly and that afterward they would get ice cream.

Jean and the professor accompanied her. Tucked into her car seat, Maggie chattered to no one in particular the whole way to the courthouse, oblivious to the gravity of the hearing. Outside the courtroom they met Dean Tierney.

It turned out that there was no cause for alarm. The presiding judge was an old friend of the professor, one of the only people on the city council that was supportive of mutant issues. Before the trial he came up and chatted with them. Rogue smiled and tried not to fidget when the professor calmly introduced him as Judge Stanley. ~Rogue, calm down, this man is a friend of mine and he will be sympathetic to you.~

Rogue calmed a bit, but she was still fiddling incessantly with her watch as the court was called to session. It went quickly. Most of the time was spent by the judge scrutinizing paperwork that Dean handed him. "Have the girl’s parents been notified of the proceedings?"

"Yes your honor, I have a certified mail receipt signed by the father." The judge squinted and compared the signature on the receipt to the birth certificate.

"Ms. D’Ancato, what is your profession?"

"I’m a teacher and a student."

"And who is your employer?"

"I teach a class at Professor Xavier’s school and I‘m a social work assistant at the Deer Glen Rehab Center."

"Do you have any other source of income?"

"I receive a stipend for performing tasks around the school and have been awarded a scholarship for college. Also, I essentially have free child care and board."

"Lucky you!" Rogue couldn’t help but smile. "The child was found in Philadelphia?"

"Yes sir, behind a dumpster. She was abandoned and beaten."

"Miss Maggie?" The judge boomed.

"Yes sir," Maggie said as she was coached.

"How long have you been living at the school?"

"A long time!"

"Umm, thirteen months, your honor," Rogue interjected.

"Are they nice to you there?"

"Yeah Professor gave me a room and Miss Rogue has been my momma."

Rogue’s heart stopped. Maggie had never used that word before. She felt a strange sweet tightness in her chest.

"And would you like to continue staying at the school with Miss Rogue as your momma?"

"Yes."

"Okay," the judge banged the gavel nonchalantly. "Custody is awarded to Ms. D’Ancato."

Marie squeaked with joy. She hugged Jean, and the professor, and even Dean. It had been so easy!

As Jean brought the van around, they sat in front of the courthouse. Rogue had tears in her eyes and couldn’t stop smiling. "Maggie, do you understand what just happened in there?"

"No." She was hopping up and down the granite steps in her pink dress and Mary Janes.

"Well we went there to ask the judge if I could be your momma, forever and ever. And the judge said yes. So that means that you can live with me forever and no one can take you away from me."

"What about my other momma? Won’t she be mad?" Rogue panicked and met Xavier’s eyes.

~Just tell her the truth.~

"I think she wanted it this way."

"She was mean."

"I know baby. But you know what? You’re a good girl, and you deserve a nice momma, not a mean one. And I love you a whole lot and I’m gonna be a nice momma for you."

They celebrated that night at Chuck E Cheese, Jubilee, Kitty, and Bobby, Leah, Scott, and Jean, and of course the professor. They all wore goofy party hats and when the professor raised his glass to toast "Miss Maggie D’Ancato" they all cheered.

From that day on, Maggie called her Momma.