Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution.
A/N: Yeah, there is an OC. But this one shot is still centered around Rogue.
Rogue sat in a chair at the kitchen table and cracked her knuckles. She was awaiting the punishment that most definitely was looming over her head. So what? It's not like she had done anything wrong. In fact it was completely Kurt's fault! …Okay maybe he wasn't completely responsible. But if Kurt hadn't suggested that Rogue and Kitty meet him at the edge of the football field before they went to King Burger then she most certainly wouldn't be in trouble right now!
Was it her fault that a few oversized jocks had been picking on Kitty and she was compelled to stand up for her? No. Was it her fault that the meat brains had started the fight? No. Was it her fault that her glove just happened to slip off? …Not really. Was it her fault that Scott just happened to be walking by at that exact moment and got the wrong impression? Not at all.
Well it's not like Rogue had actually intended to send those losers into a 6 week coma. She had merely lost her temper and had a… moment of weakness. That was it. A moment of weakness. Heck, you'd lose your temper too if someone called you a monster. But of course, Scooter doesn't believe in moments of weakness, and he of course narked to the professor the moment they got home.
Fortunately, the doorbell had sounded the moment before the professor doled out the punishment. So he gave her that look. The one that said, "Don't you dare move or I'll feed you to a T-Rex". Better known as Logan. So now Rogue was sitting in the kitchen. She was not in a good mood at all. And her anti-social tendencies were drastically getting worse because if anyone even tried to communicate with her she was liable bite their heads off. Or just chew it up and spit it into the garbage disposal in Scott's case.
She put her feet up on the chair next to her and sighed as she heard footsteps. Logan, Professor X and a young, brunette entered the kitchen.
"Ah, and this is Rogue." Professor X introduced at the sight of the white streaked teen, "Rogue this is Jacqueline Reese."
"Uh hi." Rogue said her eyes immediately falling to her large circular belly. It stuck out behind a yellow, sunflower designed shirt. The girl was bright and perky looking. The last kind of person Rogue wanted to deal with at the moment.
"Hiya, you can call me Jackie and this is Jimmy." Jackie said pleasantly while rubbing her tummy lovingly.
"Nice to meet ya." Rogue said sort of awkwardly. It was best to be polite in front of the professor. She didn't want her punishment to be any worse. So she turned to him and played the role of a curious teen. "Did you find her through Cerebro?"
"No actually. We found Jimmy through Cerebro." Xavier said gesturing to Jackie's pregnant belly, "It turns out that he is manifesting his powers from the womb."
"From the womb?" Rogue said.
"Yup. He's very mature. He's an old spirit, I can tell." Jackie smiled.
"It's a very rare occurrence, but not unheard of." Xavier said, "The problem is: Jackie doesn't have the mutant gene, therefore her body is having trouble adjusting to all the stress of a mutant pregnancy."
"Basically the kid's killing her." Logan interjected.
"No, the kid is not killing her." Jackie said with a frown she turned to Rogue, "He's just an overly active fetus." Then she turned her attention back to her baby bump, "Yes you are." She said in a childish voice.
"Jackie's here so we can run a few tests and see if there's anything we can do to ease her pain." Xavier said, "Would you mind keeping her company while Logan and I take her blood work to Dr. McCoy for diagnostics?" Xavier was giving her another one of his looks. This one said, "If you don't kill her you're punishment may just be shorter, but if you blow this you're working the Danger Room until there's nothing left but a few strands of white hair and the scent of conquered teenage angst and rebelliousness." So Rogue nodded in agreement.
Logan gave her a smirk as he walked out and Professor X wheeled after him. She glanced at the bright and happy girl she was "keeping company". Rogue internally shuddered because she was pretty sure this girl was her age. Teenage pregnancy wasn't exactly on the list of things Rogue supported. How on Earth did she expect to take care of an infant anyway? Why would she be stupid enough to allow herself to get pregnant so young? But then of course, maybe she didn't allow it. Rogue looked down solemnly at that thought.
"Man, I am craving a peanut butter jalapeno sandwich right about now." Jackie said breaking Rogue's morbid thought process.
"Well, ah don't know if we have any jalapenos. But there's some peanut butter in the cabinet." Rogue explained.
"Oh awesome, I can work with peanut butter. I just need to sit down for a moment, my ankles are swelling something awful." She said as she took off the faded yellow Converse All-Stars that covered her feet. Jackie let out a long relieved sigh as she rubbed her ankles and it didn't appear she'd be standing up any time soon, so Rogue decided to earn some nice points.
"What kind of bread do you want?" asked Rogue.
"Oh no honey, you don't have to do that. I can get it." Jackie said. Rogue winced at being called "honey" but she didn't falter in her act of kindness.
"No really, it's okay. Ah was gonna make a sandwich for mah-self." She persisted.
"Oh, okay then. Rye bread, please." Jackie said. Peanut butter and rye bread? Ew. Well then again, peanut butter and jalapenos? Double ew. Still, Rogue was determined to have a weekend free. She did her chore with no complaint. Or comment for that matter, this chick had weird ass taste. She spread the peanut butter across the bread and added some jalapenos. Probably bought by Bobby. Strange that the king of ice would love hot foods so much. Rogue placed the sandwich on a plate, she even added a toothpick. Damn, she hoped Scott wasn't rubbing off on her. The little, goody two shoe, suck up.
Ah, speak of the teacher's pet. "Hi, you must be Jackie, I'm Scott and this is Jean." The shaded teen sauntered into the kitchen with Jean at his side. As the three of them exchanged pleasantries, Rogue placed the sandwich down in front of Jackie. She then took a seat on the other side of the table, so there would at least be a table in front of her if she attempted to pounce.
"Oh thank you sugar." Jackie said as she took a bite into the sandwich, "You guys are all really nice. Most people are so hostile when it comes to mutants, I can't even imagine why."
"Yeah a few rotten apples and everyone assumes the whole basket is bad." Jean explained.
"It's absolutely horrible." Jackie shook her head, she took another bite and added, "People can be so judgmental and cruel."
"Yeah, it's one of the reasons this school was built. To create a friendly environment for mutants to grow up in." Scott explained.
"That's so sweet," Jackie said, "I'll have to ask the professor about a pre-school program. I'd love for Jimmy to make some friends."
"Aw, he's a boy?" Jean smiled, "How far along are you?" Rogue noticed a small transaction. Jean had subconsciously began to rub Jackie's belly. Did she even notice how socially inappropriate that was? People didn't just go around rubbing peoples stomachs. But it was like the baby had put her into some strange trance and Jean had automatically assumed it was okay. How could a baby put her into that kind of trance? Maybe Jimmy was some kind of mind-controller.
"7 months, I'm due April 23rd." Jackie answered, "Although the professor says it might be in my best interest to induce labor in the beginning of April, while I still have energy. I'm probably just going to let Jimmy tell me when he's ready to vacate the premises."
"Tell you? Is he a mind reader?" Scott asked.
"No, he's an empath. Every time he feels an emotion, I can feel it too, and vice versa."
"Weird." Rogue couldn't keep from saying.
"It's weirder when he picks up emotions from random strangers. You ever got a strong urge to jump in the middle of a make-out session between a thirty year old couple? Yeah, weird doesn't quite cover it." Jackie said.
"Yeah, well we've seen weirder here." Scott said as he checked his watch, "We gotta get going." He said, "It was nice meeting you."
"Likewise." Jackie called after them. After she finished up her sandwich, she pulled out some coconut lotion and rubbed her tummy where her stretch marks were.
Rogue looked at Jackie's exposed stomach. The round shape and her alien looking belly button. Why would anyone want to be pregnant? She had thought about what it would be like to have a kid kicking around in her uterus and it was horrible.
First off all, the natural way wasn't exactly feasible. She couldn't kiss a boy, let alone have him touch her long enough to impregnate her. And then there was the artificial way. But that wasn't exactly something she'd want either. There were too many variables that could go wrong. Birthing would have it's complications considering her skin wouldn't be able to touch the babies.
What was so great about babies anyway? They cry all night, they need you to change their diapers and they made you fat. Rogue didn't think she'd ever want a kid.
"You wanna say hi?" Jackie asked as she caught Rogue staring at her baby bump.
"Oh, no, no, no." Rogue murmured slightly embarrassed. The last thing this girl wanted was another pair of hands on her stomach. Especially hands as dangerous as hers.
"Nah, I insist." Jackie said, she placed Rogue's gloved hand on her belly, "Most pregos can't stand it when people touch their tummies. I personally don't mind it. Jimmy loves the interaction, I can feel him get all excited. He's such a little sweetie. Do you wanna take off your glove honey? You look sweaty."
"Oh, no, ah can't take off mah gloves. You see… something happens to people when they touch mah skin. They get hurt. It's a part of mah mutation." Rogue explained.
"So you can't touch anybody?" Jackie asked with her tilted in fascination.
"Nope. Not skin to skin at least."
"It must be hard." Jackie said.
"Kind of. It makes me feel more cursed than blessed sometimes." She explained.
"Well it all depends on how you look at it." Jackie said, "Take me for example. This little baby I'm carrying, drains all my energy. There are some nights I can't even manage to walk up stairs. I'm about fifty times more nauseous than a regular pregnant lady. And there are chances that I might not even survive after I give birth. So you could take this situation as a curse. But on the other hand, when you feel that little baby move, when you can feel how that baby loves you more than anything in the entire world and how that little baby depends on you. Oh, honey, it's more than a blessing. It's the best feeling in the world."
"Now you feel your power's a curse. You can't touch anybody. That's just gonna make your heart bigger. You're gonna know what true love is. You can't love someone physically, but that's okay, cause you're gonna feel their love inside you. Most people don't get to feel that cause they're so wrapped up with physical attraction. I can tell, you have a lot people here who love you. I bet you can feel it, can't you? Your power is a gift, don't you ever let anyone tell you differently, sweetheart." Jackie said with a warm smile. Rogue warmed a little bit but she felt a little embarrassed that a stranger had been able to crack her open and analyze her like that.
"I'm guessing you baby won't really care that I'm touching your stomach right now." Rogue shrugged and went to take her hand away.
"Not really. Jimmy remembers things. He can tell people apart. He knows that Kurt fella has fuzzy hands. He knows that Logan has kinda rough and calloused hands. He knows that Bobby has cold hands. And he knows that his Auntie Rogue, has nice, warm, gloved hands." Jackie said as she patted Rogue's hands reassuringly. Rogue smiled, and she wanted to roll her eyes at the stranger's corniness. Then something happened to make Rogue gasp aloud
"He kicked." She said incredulously. She had never felt a fetus kick before.
"Yeah." Jackie said, "He's reading your emotions, he likes you."
Rogue let out a breath of astonishment and all of a sudden she felt a wave of tranquility wash over her. It was calming, she was no longer concerned about her punishment. She didn't mind the load of homework her math teacher gave her that was still looming over her head as well. She looked down at Jackie's belly, Jimmy, and smiled.
Eh, maybe babies weren't so bad after all.
A/N: I've never written a Rogue story before, so I'm not sure how good the narration is. Truth is, she kind of annoys me sometimes, but I tried my best to get inside of her character. I need feedback, review and tell me how I did!