Ever Met A Mutant? - Charles Xavier

Chapter Eight - A Year Goes By

Oxford, England 1954

From that kiss a year had gone by and it was one of the best years Charles had ever had. Not only had Charles finished his dissertation and was going to graduate with a First, he had gotten to spend the last year with (in his opinion) the most perfect human in the world. She was everything he never knew he wanted but once he had it he didn't want to let it go. He had fallen in love with every little thing about her, from her captivating smile down to her annoying habit of biting her nails or stealing his jackets. In fact he loved her more because of her many annoying habits and flaws.

Charles loved Evelyn with everything he had and he wanted to give her everything he could, including the perfect proposal. He had been carrying his beloved Grandmother's engagement ring around for months trying to decide how and when he was going to ask Evelyn for her hand. But nothing seemed good enough. Charles had always been so sure about everything in his life but for this moment he truly had no idea what he was going to do. All he knew was that he wanted to marry her ... and that he had to ask her mother if he could.

Charles was in the bedroom he shared with Evelyn stood by their large window, a beautiful diamond ring in his hand - it meant a lot to him. Charles had always been close to his Grandmother and before she had died she had given him this ring telling him that only the "right girl" could wear it. Charles knew he had found the right girl, he knew that his Grandmother would have loved Evelyn, she even probably would have scolded him for waiting this long to ask Evelyn to marry him.

"What have you got there?" a voice suddenly asked from the bedroom doorway. Immediately, Charles' heart dropped believing it to be Evelyn. With his eyes wide Charles turned to face the figure only to find Raven frowning at him. Charles sighed in relief as he gave his sister a smile before he pocketed the ring, however, not before Raven saw it. "Is that your Grandmother's engagement ring?"

"Err ... yeah" Charles replied, he was unable to deny the fact as he had shown Raven the ring at the time he had been given it. She knew exactly what it looked like.

"Oh my god, you're going to propose to Evelyn!" Raven exclaimed, figuring it all out incredibly fast. Charles' eyes widened at how loud she shouted it, he had no idea if Evelyn was in or not.

"Raven!"

"Oh don't worry she's not in" Raven said before she made her way over to him and hugged the man tightly. The pure joy on her face however was not seen on Charles'. He was panicking. As they pulled back Raven noticed his expression. "What's wrong?"

"What if she says no?" Raven could hear the fear in his voice.

"She'll say yes" Raven replied strongly without an ounce of doubt. Charles, however, didn't feel that way.

"You sure about that? I just keep picturing her saying no and me losing her and everything falling apart" Charles ranted as he began to pace. He was terrified of losing everything with one stupid mistake. Raven didn't know what to do with herself. She had never seen Charles like this before.

"You really love her don't you" Raven stated as she watched Charles pace the floor. Charles stopped his actions and turned to look at Raven, the truth written all over his face.

"I've never loved anyone like I do Evelyn" he said, even just mentioning her name brought a smile to his face.

"You want to marry my daughter?" a new voice interrupted. Raven and Charles frowned before they turned to find an older lady stood in the doorway of the bedroom. The woman was a blonde haired beauty, her daughter certainly did take after her mother.

"Mrs Hart" Charles greeted as he made his way over to the woman.

"Mr Xavier" she replied, "You really should lock your front door." Charles sighed; this was not the best start considering what he was going to ask her. Quickly, he nodded his head and replied.

"Yes Ma'am. Would you like to come to the study for a drink?"

"Yes, very much so" Charlotte Hart said, never one to turn down a drink. Swiftly the three of them left Charles' bedroom and went into the study. Raven made some small talk with Charlotte whilst Charles calmed himself down and made the drinks. Eventually the drinks were drunk and Raven had excused herself leaving Charles and Charlotte sitting on the couch the tension high (on Charles' part). Once the study door closed, Charlotte asked the question straightforwardly.

"You want to marry my daughter?" Charles was not shocked by her quick question, she was not one to beat around the bush with things, much the same way Evelyn wasn't.

"Very much so" Charles replied honestly. He knew that he needed Charlotte's approval. Evelyn had lost her dad many years ago, he had been killed for his powers – it was one of the reasons that Evelyn had been scared of Charles and his intentions when they first met. But the reason behind his death was not well-known; only four people knew: Charlotte, Evelyn, Charles and Schmidt. So Charles was asking Charlotte hoping she would approve, would bless their union – Charles knew how much Charlotte's opinion meant to Evelyn and if Charlotte did not agree he knew getting Evelyn to marry him would be virtually impossible.

"And you have asked me here to ask for her hand" Charlotte continued strictly.

"I had planned on coming to you but-" Charles started. The man had organised to go visit Evelyn's mother but it had turned out that Charlotte was coming to see Evelyn anyway so Charles had decided to talk to her then. But he didn't want Charlotte to think that he wouldn't have made the trip, he didn't need to give her any reasons as to why Evelyn should not marry him.

"I am aware" Charlotte interrupted with a smile. She could see Charles was very worried, clearly nervous. With a sigh, Charlotte moved closer to Charles and grasped his hand in hers, the motherly gesture foreign to Charles.

"Do you love my daughter?" Charlotte asked simply and softly.

"Yes" he answered immediately.

"Will you do right by my daughter?"

"I will try my best" Charles replied. He did not want to promise that he would never hurt her, would never do anything wrong because he didn't know that – he hoped he wouldn't but he couldn't say he wouldn't say the wrong thing. "I love her so much and I don't even want to think about my life without her. I can promise you that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy. Can I please marry your daughter?"