Chapter 1: A Beginning
"I swear the next person who touches my belly without asking my permission will lose a hand," Izabelle growled furiously to her husband, Dr. Hank McCoy.
"Patience, love. You can't go around pulling arms off of old ladies in the supermarket," he replied calmly, with a wry smile on his lips.
"Smirk all you want," she sulked, tucking her short hair behind one ear, "No one's touching you." Hank had taken to wearing his holowatch when he went outside of the mansion and Izabelle nodded at it pointedly.
"Hey Hank." Logan's familiar brusque greeting came from behind them. "Izabelle. Baby." His hand stretched toward her bulging stomach and she grabbed his wrist sharply. Her death threat caught on her lips though. Logan was smiling at her; he had overheard her talking to Hank.
"Very funny, Logan," she replied, releasing his hand. She gave him a tense smile and walked on ahead of the two men.
"She was calmer before," Logan remarked grinning.
"She had to when her mutation was in full swing. And the hormones make her edgy." Hank grinned sideways at Logan. "Or so I tell myself."
Logan laughed quietly and they followed after Izabelle.
Hank and Izabelle had been married for over a year and a half when they learned of Izabelle's pregnancy.
They had married soon after Hank's impromptu proposal in Wal-Mart. The ring he bought her was phenomenal, a white gold band swirling with sparkling diamonds.
"Do you think he will ask you for real?" Kitty asked.
"You can never tell with him," Izabelle murmured, failing to suppress her smile.
"You know! You know it's coming! When?"
"Soon." Izabelle grinned and said goodbye to a hopelessly antsy Kitty.
That night had included a surprise journey to the city and a fun retro fondue restaurant. Izabelle had waited through all of dinner but nothing happened. She waited through a walk in Central Park and to a lantern festival. And yet Hank had still been able to surprise her.
"Buy a lantern?" a woman had asked them.
"Gladly!" Hank replied looking through various glowing lanterns. "What do they mean?"
"Well, this one means love," the woman had passed him a peach lantern with blossoms painted on it.
Hank paid for the lantern and they had wandered over to the nearby pond to let it free.
"But what is this?"
Hank had pulled, seemingly from nowhere, a gorgeous ring, glittering in the light of the lanterns. He had proposed "for real" and Izabelle had said yes, again.
Hank had been impressed with her capacity for wedding planning. The wedding had come together easily and naturally in Izabelle's own hands, though she was by no means on her own. Their friends throughout the mansion were thrilled to have a wedding among them and joined in with the dress fitting and cake tasting and all the details Hank felt blessed to not have to take part in. There were a few he wanted to be party to but had been banned from, however.
Izabelle spun around inside the dressing room and Magma gave a delighted squeal.
"Get out here and show us!" Roberto called out.
"It's perfect!" Magma called back, deliberately playing up the suspence.
The door swung open and Izabelle rushed out to show her friends.
"Ta da!"
They were able to keep a straight face for about 10 seconds before the group burst into gales of laughter.
"That is so perfect!" Tabitha crowed springing up with Izabelle's camera.
"This is the ugliest thing I have ever worn!" laughed Izabelle. The dress had a train that felt as if it were miles long in ivory lace. She was covered head to toe in the stuff and the puffy sleeves brushed her ears. There were giant buttons up the torso of the dress and it ended in a high, buttoned collar.
"I've saved the best for last in both categories though," Izabelle grinned.
"You would have had a hard time topping this for hideousness," Sam smirked.
"I'll take this one," Tabitha offered handing of the camera to Amara, who squeezed onto the store couch between Roberto and Sam.
It felt like years before they heard from Tabitha and Izabelle again. And they had been unusually quiet the whole time. Finally, Boom-Boom reappeared.
"I think this is it!" she whispered excitedly.
Izabelle walked out to them and they knew for a fact that this was her dress.
The dress was very fitted, strapless, and flared out into a short train. But the key feature of the dress was the waist, wrapped from under the bust to above the hips in a deep blue that perfectly matched Hank's fur. The whole thing was covered over in a layer of lace and another trailing ribbon in the same blue.
It was perfect.
When all was said and done, the couple was married outside, in the grove in which they had first kissed, under paper lanterns and the stars. The whole mansion was invited and the wedding party was worthy of the X-Men.
As a wedding gift, the X-Men had pitched in for a honeymoon in Europe. The newlyweds chose Budapest and Bratislava and were gone for two weeks. When they returned it was as Henry McCoy and Izabelle Rowan McCoy.
A year and a half later from that date Izabelle gave voice to a change she had noticed and a test was bought.
"What's the result, Izabelle?"
She held the plastic wand out to him.
"Blue. Pregnant."
They both stood in their bedroom, taking in the news.
The couple had not been trying to become pregnant, but they had not been avoiding it either. They were both beyond their mid-thirties and certain feelings had been entertained about having children.
"We'll be parents, Izabelle."
She looked deep into his eyes and a smile spread across her face. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly to him.
It wasn't a moment of loud screaming as it is for some; their moment was one of quiet acceptance and deep joy.
They had talked, after three months of waiting, about how to break the news to their friends. It was Izabelle who ended up initiating the rather ridiculous plan. It had required breaking the news to Iceman early but this was no loss as he was Hank's closest friend.
The temperature had risen into pleasant summer weather, before the inferno of July and August, and the pool had become a popular spot for the students and faculty. So the word BABY! in letters of ice across the surface of the pool had been an instant success and the whole school was aware by lunch that Hank and Izabelle were pregnant.
Now Izabelle was five months pregnant, very visibly so, and some of the charms of pregnancy were wearing thin. The summer heat seemed to amplify every natural side effect of pregnancy and Izabelle began to dispair that she could make it through four more months.
Hank fought hard to support his wife in every way he could imagine and this made all of the difference for Izabelle. He kept things light and adored her all the more for her bizarre new body.
"I have kankles."
"You have lovely legs and ankles."
"You aren't denying it."
"I do not have to deny every crazy statement that utters from my wife's lips." A smile grew across Hank's face as he read his article.
Izabelle stared disappointedly at her swollen ankles and turned her attention to her belly. "And stretch marks. I'm only four months along, Hank."
Neither spoke about the scars on her back and leg anymore, but both were grateful that they did not cross her belly where the skin needed to stretch.
Hank looked over his glasses at her. "I see nothing."
"Maybe if you actually looked through your glasses," she teased, pushing them up on his nose.
Hank gave a dramatic sigh. "My dear, if you cannot be quiet I shall have to take drastic matters to prove you wrong."
"There is no way you could-"
Without another warning, Hank tossed his magazine to the side, rolled over in bed, and passionately kissed Izabelle.
Pajamas softly fell to the floor as they wrapped themselves around one another.
One odd side effect of her pregnancy was what it had done to her powers. Izabelle was one of the first mutant pregnancies that Hank had dealt with directly and the nature of her powers led to unpredictability in their strength. Some days she could practically sweep Charles' memory and other days it was as if her powers were not even there.
It was unclear what her powers would be like after the baby was born and this alarmed Izabelle, though she internalized it for the time being. She seriously doubted that Hank's love for her had anything to do with her being a mutant and it did not seem fair to question this.
One thing was absolutely certain: This would be the very first X-Baby to be born.
Izabelle had been pretty safe on the cravings front so far. She was acutely aware that people who were not careful exploded during pregnancy and kept looking large well into the next few years. Regardless, she needed peanut butter.
The school had taken to putting a jar aside for her and she carried this through the first floor, spoon in hand, poking around in an attempt to find something interesting while Hank was in training. He had banned her from going outside any time around noon, to protect her and the baby from the blaze, and she was bored.
A group of younger mutants, largely female, waved her over to them in one of the side rooms. This particular group Hank had dubbed her fan club; Izabelle's baby-belly fascinated them, to the point of annoyance. But as Hank would remind her, mutant pregnancy wasn't an every day occurrence and therefore it gave them a different kind of anticipation, one that could include them in the future.
"Ladies," she greeted, crossing her legs under her.
"How's baby?"
"A furnace of death." They laughed and inwardly Izabelle knew they wouldn't giggle when they were carrying a heat generating being in them in the middle of summer.
Noticing Izabelle, Amara, Roberto, and Tabitha joined the cluster. Roberto was almost as distracting to the younger mutant ladies as the baby, and the two combined was almost too much for them.
"We were going to watch a movie. Wanna join?"
"Sure. What movie?"
"Tarzan. The Disney one."
They watched Izabelle's face fall. One of them who called herself Pixie asked what was wrong.
"I…don't watch that. Sorry."
Tabitha laughed loudly, and waved as Sam wandered in from the pool. "You make it sound indecent!"
Izabelle blushed.
"You should watch it! It's so cute!" Pixie coaxed.
"And Phil Collins. Always good," added Roberto.
"I've seen it…"
"And you didn't like it?"
"I did…I just can't watch it any more."
"But why not?" The girls wriggled like puppies.
"It's not a bad reason, assumin' I'm guessin' right." It was the first thing Sam said but Izabelle shot him a dirty look. Sam and Izabelle had patched things up after her engagement, something she was very grateful for; he really was a good friend.
Izabelle sighed loudly and Roberto helped her as she stood up. She stared at her hands as she spoke. "Kerchek…When he dies…."
A grin spread across Tabitha's face. "What was that?"
"Something about a humanoid ape being shot to death is just…too close to home…It wasn't a big deal before, but all of the hormones…"
There was a moment of dead silence and then a deafening cloud of "awww!"
"That is so sweet!"
Izabelle laughed. "Well it's something. Don't let me stop you, ladies. I'll join next time."
As she left with the cluster of New Mutants she couldn't help but laugh. If every idiosyncrasy would be endearing now she should have pretended to be pregnant a year ago!
What say you? I've never done a sequel before but as I wrote the ending for the last story this just came together.
There will be one more OC later who I tried in a story that didn't pan out. So that makes me happy as well.
Nice fluff chapter to begin with but don't worry, there will be action and drama!
Reviewers get a section of the next chapter early!