Jubilee sat in the burned out remains of her room holding a cowboy hat. Everything else was gone. All her possessions, her entire life.

She sat in the ashes for hours thinking about the people she'd loved and lost. Ev, CynJen, Illyana, her parents, all dead. Wolvie, she hardly ever saw him anymore. He'd moved on with his life, and it felt like he'd forgotten all about her.

She could be gone tomorrow and life would go on. No one would probably notice. They'd all definitely be better off. She'd brought so much pain to the people in her life.

"Huh, probably would've been better for everyone if I'd never been born."

Khaki

**********

Meanwhile, up in heaven...

A young angel named Clarice sat among the clouds, watching the sorrowful scene below her. Michael, her guardian angel, sat alongside her, his sandleclad feet peeking out beneath his white robes as he dangled his feet over the edge of the cloud.

"Oh, how sad!" Clarice muttered while trying to listen to what Jubilee said. "Michael, why would anyone want to do something so horrible to that young girl? And why does she seem to be giving up hope?"

"Well, Clarice," Michael replied, clearing his throat. "This particular girl has had a very tragic existence. It would seem that the actions of those less tolerant has finally pushed her over the edge, into the pits of despair."

"But can't we do something to help her?" Clarice begged. "Well, actually, you will be helping her, and after that deed, you shall receive your wings."

"My wings..." Clarice breathed wistfully. "Then tell me how I can help her! She just looks so sad...."

"First, let us go back through the years, back where young Jubilee's life first began..."Michael droned on, waving a hand while Clarice watched mistified.

RemysAngel

**********

Clarice watched Jubilee's happy childhood with her parents. They were loving, but not suffocating; strict, but not controlling; and always understanding. Even when Jubilee discovered her powers, they were kind, understanding, and accepting. Their love never faltered.

Clarice watched as, in one week, Jubilee's life completely changed. Her parents lost their money when the stock market crashed and days later, they lost their lives when their car crashed.

Jubilee was left homeless and penniless and shipped off to child protective services.

"That's terrible, but children do lose parents and survive," Clarice commented.

"And so did this one. Keep watching," Michael said.

Clarice watched as Jubilee left the children's home and ended up living in a mall. 'So strong, so resourceful,' Clarice thought as she watched Jubilee fend for herself.

She watched Jubilee fight against the M-squad, follow the X-women, and end up in Australia. 'Even in a strange country, she's able to take care of herself,' Clarice thought.

Clarice watched what the Reavers were doing to the man tied up on the X with tears in her eyes.

"Why are they doing this, Michael? Who is that man?"

"Why is unimportant. He is Logan, Jubilee's 'Wolvie.' Watch what Jubilee does."

Clarice watched as Jubilee overcame her fears and helped the dying man. She watched as Jubilee treated him, protected him, and saved him. Then, it struck her.

"Wait a minute. Logan, Wolvie, that's Wolverine!"

"Yes, I thought you would have heard of him. He's rather famous in the guardian angel circuit. I think he's gone through more angels than any other person. Be grateful he wasn't your wings assignment."

Clarice breathed thanks for small favors and turned back her attention to her assignment.

She watched as Jubilee learned, grew, and fought with the X-Men. She watched the adventures Wolvie and Jubes had together, how close they became. She felt the ache and loss when Illyana died. She watched as Jubes suffered with the uncertainty that she had lost Wolvie when his adamantium was ripped from his skeleton.

She continued to watch as Jubilee moved and started to live, learn, and train with Generation X. She felt the ache and loss when Jubilee's friends died: CynJen and Ev. She felt the hurt and rejection when Wolvie broke his promises and didn't visit. And then she felt the utter despair, lonliness, and heartbreak of the girl as she sat in the ashes of her room, clutching Wolvie's hat and rocking almost imperceptibly forward and back.

She heard the words Jubilee spoke, "No one loves me; no one cares; I wish I were dead; I wish I'd never been born."

"Oh, Michael. I understand now, but how can I help? What can I do?"

"You have to go down and show her, Clarice. Show her what it'd be like if she'd never been born."

Khaki

**********

Jubilee picked herself up from the charred ground and quickly went outside to walk in the falling snow. Her boots crunched the stiff ground beneath her and she smiled faintly at the odd sound. My life is over, she thought dully, I wish I'd never been born. Just as she thought this a strange noise sounded behind her. That's funny, Jubilee thought, it almost sounded like someone falling into snow....

Several yards away Clarice landed with a loud OOMFF!! She groaned as she lay there in the very cold, very wet snow. 'What did I do to deserve this?' she pondered before trying to heave herself out of the deep snow bank.

Just then, someone stepped into the light ahead of Clarice....

RemysAngel

**********

"So just who the hell are you suposed to be? It's a little cold to be walking around in that at this time of year," Jubilee said feeling like delivering some kick ass, if the girl was not so young.

"Thank's a lot, Michael." she whispered to herself. "You said nothing about falling down here."

Clarice wiped the snow off herself then looked up at Jubilee and smiled and innocent smile... Jubilee didn't smile back.

Clarice smile died out and she chuckled carefully. "I'm an angel?" she half said half asked as she technicallly was not really an angel yet, but she was probably the closest to it Jubilee had ever seen.

"An Angel...Right." Jubilee frowned. "Ya, like, lose your license?"

"My license...? for what?" Clarice asked puzzled.

"Your license to fly. Like, GEE, if you an angel aren't you supposed to be able to FLY?!?" Jubilee waved her arms.

"Oh... actually... you could say I don't have my 'license' yet. Actually, that's the reason I'm here... I mean, in a way... or at least part of my visit." Clarice looked up. Not a realy good start, eh Michael?'

"Yeah, right, whatever. If you're an angel, what more than getting your license are you here for?" Jubilee was ten second's from a total meltdown, or she had completely lost her mind.

"Oh yeah. Sorry, I'm here to help you." Clarice said, getting more sure of herself.

"I'm here to show you how important you are." Clarice waved her arm... and nothing happened. "Hehe... Sorry i'm new at this." Jubilee looked at her with a look that screamed 'nutcase.'

"Is this going to take long? Because if I was not sure before that I was better off dead I'm definitely sure now... So if you don't mind, I'll be in the lake." Jubilee started to walk off sure that she had finally lost it.

"In the lake? Ain't that too cold this time of year?" Clarice asked. "You could freeze to death."

"For an imaginary angel, you're not that bright, but you catching on." Jubilee said back and started to think about if she really did intend to jump in to the lake... Probobly not. There was most likely ice... Well, it was a good idea at the time, if not too well planned.

Admiral

**********

But, hey, she could probably just paff her way through the ice. That'd work.

She turned and continued her journey to the lake. Angel-girl followed behind, but she kept quiet. Good, Jubilee was not in the mood for talking.

When she reached the lake, she walked about 10 feet out onto the surface. 'Should be deep enough here,' she thought as she put her hands out and paffed her target.

Nothing happened. No sound, no light, no heat. Nothing came from her hands. She tried again, looking down at her hands. Wait a second, there was something wrong with her arms. They were covered with a brown fabric. What happened to her yellow jacket? The breeze blew through her hair and she shivered. Where was Wolvie's hat?

She turned to Clarice standing on the shore.

"What did you do? Are you a mutant? Are you controlling my perceptions?"

"You've been granted your wish, Jubilee. You've never been born," Clarice said, trying to sound dramatic. She didn't get the reaction she wanted.

Jubilee ran and flug herself at the angel pinning her to the ground. "What's really going on? If you don't tell me, I'll paff you into next week."

"You can't. You're not a mutant. Jubilation Lee was never born."

"Stop saying that! If I was never born, then what am I doing here? Who's sitting on top of you?"

"You are a non-entity from another timeline. You've been given a great gift, Jubilee. A chance to see what life would be like without you."

"I'm going back to the school. We'll see how smart you are when you're facing Generation X."

"There is no Generation X." Clarice said, but Jubilee wasn't listening. She was running for home.

'This girl is crazy.' Jubilee thought as she ran. 'I'd better get help to deal with her.'

When she got to the mansion, she couldn't get inside. The front door was locked.

"Come on guys. Let me in," she called as she banged on the door and rang the doorbell.

A man in a butler uniform answered the door. "May I help you, Miss?"

"Who're you?" Jubilee said as she shoved past him.

"Miss, I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to enter." He said as he grabbed her arm.

"Hey," Jubilee said. "Hands off the material."

She elbowed him in the gut and stomped on his foot, escaping from his hold and running up to her room.

She was stunned at the sight when she entered. No ashes, no smoke damage, no water damage, it was just a normal bedroom, conservatively decorated. Looked like no one'd been living in it in months.

The butler came up behind her. "Miss, you are tresspassing. The police have been called and will be here shortly."

Jubilee ran past him as he tried to grab on to her again, and kept running until she'd made it back into the woods.

"What was that?"

"That is the mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde DeWinter," Clarice answered.

"No, that's my school."

"Not here. Never was."

Jubilee jumped at Clarice, pinning her to a tree. "Where's Generation X? Where's Miss Frost?"

"There is no Generation X. I believe Emma Frost calls herself the White Queen and leads a group called the Hellions?"

"But the X-Men..." Jubilee stopped when she saw the look on Clarice's face. "What? What have you done to the X-Men?"

Jubilee ran for the main road. This couldn't be happening. It was all a trick. A mind game. Angel-girl was some kind of telepath and she was messing with her mind. 'We'll see about that. Professor X will stop her.' Jubilee thought as she hitched a ride on a semi-truck headed for Westchester. Clarice hitched with her. 'All the better,' Jubilee thought. 'We'll see how smart she is when she faces off with the greatest telepath in the world.'

An hour into the trip, the truck slowed down at some sort of check point.

'Must be some sort of toll road,' Jubilee thought, until someone knocked on the door.

She rolled down the window to see a State Trooper standing there with a weird device in his hands.

"Ok, everybody out."

The trucker got out with a weary, almost bored sigh, so Jubilee followed suit.

The trooper held out the machine to the trucker, and he put his finger on the indented part of the device. The device beeped and a green light showed. Clarice followed with the same results. Then it was Jubilee's turn. She put her finger on the same spot as everyone else and felt a prick.

"Ouch," she said as she pulled her hand protectively up to her chest. The device beeped and the light showed green.

"Ok," the trooper said. "You're clear."

The trucker turned and climbed back up into the cab.

"What was all that?" Jubilee asked Clarice under her breath.

"Oh, mutant checkpoint," Clarice said as she climbed back up into the truck.

Five mutant checkpoints later, Jubilee and Clarice stood in front of Professor Xavier's mansion. Or at least what was left of it.

It looked like it'd been assaulted by high energy weapons. There were several places where she could see into the rooms of the mansion through the massive holes.

"What happened? Where are the X-Men?" Jubilee said as she ran around the house.

She came across the grave where Illyana was buried, but there was another grave marker beside it.

Her stomach felt hollow and her heart froze in her throat. She didn't want to see whose grave that was, but she had to. The grave got closer and closer as her numb legs propelled her forward. Both plots were covered with weeds and shrubs. It appeared that no one had visited them for some time.

She pulled the grass and weeds away and tears sprung to her eyes and her breath caught as she read the marker.

"Logan A.K.A Wolverine."

Khaki

**********

"It can't be true!!!!!" Jubilee slammed her hands into the grave, tears streaming down her face.

"What are you doing here, Kid?" Jubilee stopped.. that voice.

"BISHOP!" Jubilee turned around but instead of being greeted by her former teammate, the hard, cold eyes that she saw sent shivers down her spine.

"How do you know that name? What are you doing here?" Bishop asked again.

Jubilee saw how old he looked, scared, and there was not the old fire in his eyes any more, just that cold gaze.

"I... I... know him... was looking for him." Tears ran down her face. "Can't believe he's dead."

For a moment she saw sympathy in the big man's eyes, but only for a second. Then a voice came over the comlink.

"Bishop, the sat is coming overhead. Get down here right now." Bishop pressed a button on his wrist. "I'll be right down. We got a security problem... A girl claiming to know Logan."

"You don't have time to fool around. Grab her and get down before you blow our cover," the voice said in haste.

"Sorry, Kid... Can't have you blow our cover." Bishop grabbed her, and he was surprised as she did not even try to fight him.

He ran into the mansion through a hole in the wall. Jubilee looked at Clarice who was right behind.

"Hang on..." Bishop took Jubilee by the waist and lowered her down into a hole in the floor, and she felt a new pair of arms grab hold of her, and start to carry her down the corridor into one of the lifts to the underground facility.

Jubilee felt so sad... What had happened? She felt Bishop grab her again.

She looked up at the man who had been holding her, and her blood froze.

"Creed, you make sure that the securety is green, and then hurry down. You have 5 minutes," Bishop said, giving a security card to Sabretooth, who was dressed up in an X-Men unform.

"Don't ye worry, Bishy-boy. I'll make sure this place is locked down tight, and see you in 30 seconds." Creed took off down the hall.

"Please wake me up from this nightmare!" Jubilee closed her eyes and didn't open them until the lift stopped.

It was the war room, and it looked as if it had fared better than the rest of the building.

Bishop sat Jubilee down in a chair, and she looked around. No one was here.

"I know it's hard... but you must understand what you are. How important you are," Clarice said putting her hand on Jubilee's.

"What... what happened?" Jubilee asked Clarice, but Bishop could not see the angel.

"Those damn satelites are scanning for mutants, but we are safe dowe here for the moment... I don't know who you are or where you came from or how you got here... but this is a war, and you just stepped onto ground zero." Bishop said anger in his voice.

"This her?" The voice startled her, she turned around and looked at what she, at first, thought to be a ghost.

"CYKE!" Jubilee screamed and jumped out of the chair, running right into Scott grabbing him in a strangling hug.

Scott looked shocked. "Yeah... sure, but just who the hell are you? And what are you doing here? And just where do you know Logan from?"

"I... it's..." Jubilee swallowed.

A door opened and Jubilee's heart jumped.

Logan walked in, but to her horror... in the suit he'd worn as Death.

"She says she knew Logan... Does she look familiar to you?" Scott asked.

Jubilee froze to ice as his eyes looked her over.

"I have never seen her... and neither had Logan. She is unimportant. Kill her."

"Death, I'm not going to kill an innocent child on your treacherous word!" Scott said grabbing his arm.

"If you won't, I will." Death drew his sword and brought it up to strike. Jubilee screamed as she saw the blade come down.

Out of nowhere something jumped onto Death, and after a short struggle, she saw Creed on top of Death holding his massive hands around his neck as Death's sword clattered into the corner.

Admiral

**********

As Creed pulled Death back, Jubilee inched away towards Clarice.

"What's going on? Why is Logan acting like that? And if that's Logan, who's buried in the cemetary?"

"That's not Logan."

"What?"

"Logan was killed by the Reavers."

"No, I saved him from the Reavers."

"You were never born. You weren't there to save him. He tried to escape, but they captured him easily when he couldn't get hidden fast enough. The remains of his body, after Lady Deathstrike stripped out the adamantium, are resting out in that grave. That is a construct created by Donald Pierce. He received Logan's memories and was intended to bring down the X-Men from within."

"He was successful in killing several of us," Cyke interrupted. "The Professor, Gambit, a lot of good people before we stopped him and reprogrammed him. Who are you two really? You know way too much about us for your own good."

Khaki

**********

"What d'ya mean a construct? Like Albert?"

"Indeed that was my designation prior to the High Lord's reprogramming of me. I fight alongside the X-men to ensure the survival of the fittest."

"I asked you a question, young lady."

Before she could answer Cyclops' question, Clarice grabbed her and yanked her into the hallway. The four 'X-men' followed her but then went the wrong way, despite Jubilee being directly in front of them.

Clarice answered her question before Jubes could ask it. "Think of A Christmas Carol now. I can do that when we need to."

"What happened? How did mutant checkpoints happen? The school's been the Massachusetts Academy for years."

"The White Queen was outed when the high-tech mutant detector was invented. All her assets were stripped from her. Those people bought that place for a song. She and the Hellions, along with survivng Inner Circle, went underground."

"But how did that happen? Why?!"

"Oh, without Wolverine, Psylocke was never freed from the Mandarin. Eventually he and she killed Iron Man in a very public battle. That drew the Shadow King's attention."

"I remember him startin' stuff right when I joined the team."

"He was able to defeat and possess the Mandarin, gaining control of Psylocke and the ten rings as well. That allowed his plans, including the capture of Storm, who he re-aged, and the possession of Colossus and others as his servants. The chaos and destruction they caused made mutants even more persecuted. Genoshan anti-mutant tech became must-have. Most of your GenX friends are still alive, though. They're all survivors and have hooked up with various mutant groups."

"There are others besides the X-men?"

"Of course. Apocalypse and Magneto are dead. Cable and Stryfe both left realizing this timeline couldn't be connected to the one that they came from. But a few other X-remnants are out there. Along with the Shadow King himself, Mr. Sinister, and the few heroes who weren't slaughtered as mutant sympathizers and continue to try to protect them. Do you want to see them?"

"Yes, I do, I have to know what happened."

"Let's start with your pseudo-sister, Kitty Pryde, and the remains of Excalibur in England."

"But I don't like Pryde."

The angel snorted. "In England. You do know someone from England."

"Jono'll be there?"

"Yes. By the way I may be a rookie but I'm good a reading humans emotional responses. You don't dislike Shadowcat as much as you think you do. You've just created an artificial sibling rivalry. Now hold on, I'm not very good at landings on long distance travel."

Jason Barnett

**********

"Whoa!!!!" Jubilee yelled as she fell onto the sloping grass fields of Muir Island. Rain was pouring down onto the fields, softening them, and thereby softening her impact, if only by a little.

"You weren't kidding about your landings," Jubilee said as she got up and got her bearings. The rain was freezing. 'Well, what d'ya expect, Lee, in the middle of winter.'

"Where to, Angel-girl?"

Khaki

**********

"Over there," Clarice pointed, indicating a grass-covered hill in the distance exactly like every other grass-covered hill around.

Jubilee followed the almost-angel, trudging through the rainstorm.

"All these differences are because I wasn't born?"

"Yeah."

"Well, explain the mutant detectors and the checkpoints and the satellites and why¡¦"

Clarice interrupted her. "That was an indirect result of your absence. Without you, Wolverine died." Clarice paused as she heard a sob escape Jubilee. When she'd regained her composure, Clarice continued. "His replacement killed the professor, as well as other X-Men. The professor was the driving force behind keeping anti-mutant legislation from being enacted into law. Without him and with all the public battles involving mutants, it was easy to get the laws passed."

"Yeah, but that's just in America. The other countries have to be better, right?"

Clarice didn't answer. She just stopped and Jubilee, shivering, stopped next to her.

"So now what?" Jubilee asked.

Before Clarice could respond, a hand phased through the ground, grabbed Jubes by the ankle and pulled her through the earth. Jubilee landed with a clang on a metal walkway just below the surface.

"Oh, hi Kit-Kat."

Khaki

**********

"Good job, picking them up Starmore."

"I live to serve Miss Pryde," the British teen responded sarcastically. "Who the bloody hell are they?" He had his face but his chest was gone. Possibly worse than before.

"Let's find out." Kitty produced a mutant identification device. "Put your thumb here."

Jubilee did as ordered and it registered her as a mutant. "You're one of us. And unregistered too. Welcome aboard. I've got other things to attend to but you're welcome to stay."

"But th..."

Clarice interupted Jubilee. "It'll show you as whatever you need to be to complete this search of the world without you."

Jubilee looked at the scorch marks on the underground complex. "What happened here?"

"Well, Excalibur was trashed. Captain Britain was killed by Psylocke and the Shadow King added Meggan to his ever growing little group. Her empathy made her an easy target."

"Don't think the Shadow King's little takeover bid was limited to the U.S. He attacked all over the world. When Jean Grey was killed by Sentinels in the states Rachel Summers lost it. She became Phoenix and tried to avenge her mother's death. She survived for a while but when she got killed the Phoenix Force came back here to a man called Feron. His ancestor was the first mortal to touch the force but he wasn't able to. These scorch marks are from it manifesting as it destroyed his body before finally leaving. Only Kitty survived that. She's picked up a few mutants from around England and Europe. Chamber, who manifested wrong because of the additonal stresses placed on him. Pete Wisdom, Monet and Claudette St. Croix, and a girl named Briget Shane. A few others that you've never heard of. Of course she never let Pete get close to her. Want to go invisible and spy on them? Or head somewhere else?"

Jason Barnett

**********

"This is too much," Jubilee said shaking her head. "Everything is so different. It all feels so wrong."

Kitty's voice came from a speaker on the wall near Jubilee. "Battlestations. Here they come."

"What? What's going on?" Jubilee said as she ran down the metal stairs, following the path Kitty had taken.

When she reached the control room, she could feel the tension, thick in the air.

"Who's coming?"

"You," Jono said, turning from his monitor. "Get down and stay out of the way. It's the Destroyers."

"Clarice, what is it? Who's attacking?"

"The Destroyers are the creation of the FOH. With all the battles and destruction caused by mutants, the FOH grew in ranks. They created nano-robots that can slip through most shields and defenses. They can kill most mutants because they attack on a cellular level."

"Ok, so how're we gonna fight 'em?"

"There is no way to defeat them. Excalibur will fight vigilently, but everyone here will be dead within the hour."

"What? No? We can help. I can paff 'em. Kitty can phase everyone and keep them from being hurt."

"No, you were never born, remember? You're not a mutant, no matter what I make a scanner read. Kitty can only phase a certain number of people and cannot continue for an extended period of time. They will die... Jubilee, you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away? One life touches so many others. When that life is missing, it leaves an awful hole."

"No, this isn't supposed to happen. They aren't supposed to die. Monet, Kitty, Jono, Jean, the professor,... Wolvie."

Jubilee threw her hands over her eyes as she heard the high pitched whine of the Destroyers invading the base.

"No! I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again."

Jubilee let the sobs wrack her body and she stood, praying and hoping, for minutes before she realized that the whine was gone. A breeze blew past her and she realized that she was outside.

She looked up from her hands, her tear-stained cheeks freezing in the wind. She was standing on the lake, back at the school. She looked down at her arms to see the familiar sight of her favorite yellow jacket. She reached up and felt the worn material of Wolvie's hat. In awe and excitement, she threw her hands out from her body and shot paffs across the lake.

"Yes!" she yelled. "Thank you! Thank you!" and then, more quietly, with deep emotion, "Thank you."

She turned and was about to head back to the school when she heard it.

*CRACK*

The ice broke underneath her and she plunged into the freezing water. Sputtering back up to the surface, she laughed at the irony.

"Ok, I learn the value of my life, and then I freeze to death in the lake!?!"

She grabbed for the edge of the ice and had pulled herself half-way up, when it broke beneath her and dropped her back below the surface.

Fighting to get back up with all her strength, she swept her arms around and felt a familiar hand reaching out to grab onto her.

Breaking out of the water, coughing and gagging, she saw Wolvie. He was spread-eagle on the ice, distributing his massive weight over as much surface area as possible.

"Hold on, Jubes. I got ya."

He pulled, dragged, and tugged her out of the water and back to shore. Once he was on solid ground. He pulled her to his chest, lifting her in his strong arms, and took off running to the school.

"Wwwwolvie, you'rrrre alive!" Jubilee stuttered through her shivering. She hardly felt the cold at all, she was so happy.

Wolverine broke the lock on the door as he kicked it open and plunged into the house. "I need some help here!"

"Ach," Sean said, when he saw Jubilee. "Bring the lass to the med lab. We've got to warm her up."

An hour later, Jubilee was lying in the med lab. She was wearing a sweat suit, mittens, and a wool hat, and was cocooned in an electric blanket sipping hot cocoa. She was so happy to see them all. Jono, Paige, Angelo, heck even the White Queen and Monet. They were alive. They were where they were supposed to be. She loved them. They were her family and they loved her too.

A knock on the door caught her attention. They'd cleared out to let her rest not 10 minutes ago. Who could this be?

"Darlin', can I come in?"

"Sure, Wolvie."

"How're you feeling?" he asked as he approached her bed.

Jubilee thought about that for a moment. "Wonderful." 'in every way' she mentally added.

"Glad to hear it."

"What are you doing here, Wolvie? Why were you out at the lake?"

"I heard about what happened with your room and all. Thought I'd come and see how you're doing. I also wanted to bring ya some stuff. Ya know, to decorate your new room."

He pulled a poorly wrapped box out from behind his back. "Sorry about that. Wrapped it myself."

"It's ok." Jubilee said snatching it from his hands and tearing off the ribbon. "I'm gonna rip it apart anyway."

She opened the box and tears came to her eyes. It was full of pictures. Framed pictures. Her and the X-Men when she was on the team. Her and Illyana playing. Her and Wolvie making faces at the camera. Towards the bottom, there were pictures of her with Generation X, arm-in-arm with Ev. The last picture took her breath away. It was her parents. The tears were coming freely now.

"It's not that great of a picture, I know." Wolverine apologized. "I got it from the Los Angeles Times. It was on file in their vault."

"Wolvie, it's perfect. Thank you."

"Nah, kid. Thank you. Thanks for being ok. You know you're one of the few people in the world that'll put up with me? What'd I do without ya?"

"Probably the same as I'd do without you."

"Well, then we'll just have to stick together. The world wouldn't be the same."

"Ya got that right."

-----

Up in heaven, Clarice was enjoying her new wings, flying circles around Michael.

Khaki