Wolverine And Company ch 9

………………………………….

Vanessa's POV

Dear God, how this pregnancy thing drags on forever.

Time has zipped by since I found out I was pregnant (and carrying a mutant baby boy) and yet, somehow it continues to move ever so slow.

Four months down and only five more to go.

I can't believe I have double the amount of time I covered and then my lucky stars, the morning sickness seems to be over but now I'm blowing up like a freaking balloon fueled by a defected helium tank and my back, ankles and feet are increasingly sore.

This is no fun. I'm not even halfway over with this bit and already I'm miserable.

Ever since the attack from the brotherhood, I've been kind of locked and stowed away inside, only jumping outdoors for bits of fresh air or a walk in the park (and that's the garden on campus not the park 5 miles away from the mansion).

I began to work overtime hours in the school office (with nothing better to do in my time) and most glorious of all, Logan was watching my every turn and flinch.

We still resided in separate rooms but he began making a habit out of checking on me between class periods at work, sitting and eating lunch with me, helping me gather my things and retreat back to my room when the day was over, and making sure I was sound asleep when I decided to retire for the night.

At first I found it rather annoying; I didn't want a babysitter following me at all random moments in the day but as time pressed on, it didn't bother me as much and I found I sort of enjoyed his company rather than despised it. Logan was a pretty interesting character when he wasn't scowling or grumbling about something or the other and even when he was it was pretty funny. (His verbal rant on why he hated tomato sauce was hilarious)

So that was Logan and I in a nutshell, and the more I think about it, the more I realize how much we've changing in the passed few months and how much closer he and I are becoming….scary isn't it?

Anyway, closer or not, it still didn't change the fact that now it's midday on a rather chilly Saturday and I'm once again bed-ridden, flipping through the channels of the tv and not surprised to find nothing on.

I sighed. Dammit, I needed something to do; this pregnancy thing was pain on my body and boring as hell. I never used to spend Saturdays in.

Suddenly there was a knock on my door. Five bucks says its Logan.

"Yeah?" I called and the wooden door opened, revealing a smiling Rogue, poking her head in with a swish of her auburn hair.

Dammit; I would have been out five bucks.

I smiled at her, patting the bed next to me. "Hey kid, c'mon in."

Something about my pregnancy made me a lot friendlier towards children. I used to hate seeing them around the mansion; scowling at them when they smiled at me, and glaring daggers when one of them wondered into the staff corridor. But now I find myself being less and less agitated with their presence, and winking or smiling softly at them when they waved hello.

Especially Logan's trusty sidekick, Rogue. I always thought of her a pretty decent kid who seemed to have her head screwed on straight but now I was beginning to see how much of a doll she was and I realized her care for others would get her far in life.

"Hey 'Nessa" she greeted, coming inside and closing the door behind her. "Logan sent me in here to check on ya'"

I softly rolled my eyes. "No surprise there." I think the fact that Logan sent an assistant to check up on me was worth 3 bucks; not the whole five. "I'm doing fine I guess, just bored out of my mind and frustrated with the tv."

Rogue giggled. "Vanessa, it's a Saturday afternoon, you're not going to find anything to watch."

"I'm determined." She giggled again before sitting softly at the edge of the bed. "Hey kid, make yourself comfortable, just don't rub to hard in the sheets, Logan might get jealous you're lying in here and not him."

She chuckled and laid sideways on the bed, facing in my direction. "How come you guys don't share a room together?"

I stopped flicking channels.

The question wasn't an intruding one but it did catch me off guard. I had never really thought about it; how come we don't live together? I mean aside from the fact that I'm his "baby mama" Logan and I aren't necessarily an item….are we?

I mean we do hang out a lot, and he's nice to me, and he seems to enjoy my company, and visa-versa, and we are expecting a baby. What are we gonna do when the kid is born? We can't rotate him from room to room can we?

Oh Jesus, I hate when sudden questions pose a major conflict in my mind.

Rogue noticed my silence and frowned. "Vanessa, I'm sorry. I hadn't realized that ya' and Logan are—"

"Nah, it's alright kid" I reassured her and gave her a warm smile. "Don't feel bad about sparking something I should have thought of months ago. I guess me and Logan just never really talked about it; but you do bring a valid point."

"I didn't mean to intrude"

"You can never intrude Rogue; you're too modest for that." She bashfully smiled. "Feel free to ask away, I'm not afraid of questions."

"Do you want to live with him?"

Ha, so much for modest; I knew she had a curious side to her.

I smiled; despite the fact that she was only 17 years old, Rogue was a good person to talk to. She was an excellent listener and surprisingly enough, she could sprout some good advice when the situation arouse. So with that being said I had no problem confessing to her.

"I don't know actually." I told her, and she relaxed a little in her position on the bed, preparing to listen. "I mean aside from the whole baby thing, I don't know where Logan and I stand. I wouldn't want to pressure him into anything he doesn't want to do I guess….and sometimes I think he needs his space."

"He talks about you a lot."

That one caught me off guard. He does?

My expression was read clearly by Rouge and she pressed on.

"He does it absent-mindedly I'm sure…you know Logan" I nodded. "But he still does it. I think he's excited to be a father, even if he doesn't say it verbatim. He's always telling me how he's going to raise his kid different from everyone else and how he'll give him what he didn't have. Then he mentions how special he thinks you are and how he thinks no one else would be capable of raising his monster of a kid."

I could feel tears raising to my eyes and I didn't know why. Logan's adorableness has never made me cry before; well, nothing adorable has ever made me cry before, I wondered why this was different.

"Then he mumbles to himself a lot. He's got this mental list of things he's gotta do before the baby comes and he goes over it a lot, and he stresses how important it is to get it done. I don't think he realizes how much he does it but I think it's kinda cute."

Rogue smiled and I fanned the sprinkles from my eyes.

Dammit when did I become such a baby? Does having a baby in essence, make you a baby? To hell with these emotions!

"Aw Vanessa, don't cry" she giggled and gave me a hug. "You don't have to feel bad, it's good that he's so caring"

"That's the thing. I don't feel bad" I confessed. "I think it's sweet."

Rogue giggled again and I sniffled. Aw crap, I'm glad you find this funny kid because I'm disgusted at how emotional I've been these passed few months.

And that's when the door opened, revealing the man in question.

Logan stopped to stare at the scene between the two of us before plastering a scowl on his face.

"Alright stripes, what did ya do to her?" he asked and Rogue grinned.

"Nothing" she said, hopping off the bed and skipping over to Logan. "Just keeping her posted on some progress" she replied simply and then hugged him tightly and hopped right on out of the room.

Logan looked from where she had left, toward me, and shut the door. "What was that all about? And why are you crying Nessa? What did that runt say to ya?"

I chuckled and wiped my eyes free of tears. "She didn't say anything Logan, it's my own fault why I'm crying"

"Ah." He responded. "One of those hormonal things?"

Dear God I hope so, otherwise I definitely needed to toughen up over what a softie I've become.

"Yeah, just one of those hormonal things."

He smirked and kissed my for head. "Want some lunch preggo?"

I rubbed my growing belly. "Sure thing steroid, I'm starving"

XXXXX

We walked into the kitchen together (again something that was becoming a habit nowadays), and I wasn't surprised to find the gang in there ("the gang" consisting of Jean, Ororo and their respective partners, the professor and some of the kids) all gathered around Ororo's cooking.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Zeus and Hera." Scott remarked once he saw us enter. The others looked up from what they were doing and greeted us with smiles and Logan and I glared at the little prick. "Back from high and mighty Olympus to join us common folk?"

"Scooter if I was a god, I'd use you as golden toilet paper to wipe my royal—"

"Logan" the professor cautioned and he resorted to glaring.

Scott only displayed that pansy smirk of his; dill hole.

While Logan dug around in the fridge for leftovers, I took as seat next to Ororo and of course her little hands couldn't help themselves and found their way rubbing my increasingly growing belly.

"You're getting bigger and bigger by the day Vanessa." She smiled and I frowned, scratching my head.

"Uh thanks Ro'….was that a compliment or an insult?"

She giggled. "A compliment silly. Before you know it, your little angel will be in your arms instead of in your tummy."

I snorted. Some how when other people said it, it sounded all the more real.

"Angel is hardly the word"

Again little boy priss had his two pennies thrown in and I was less than amused.

"You know that dry sense of sarcasm you have must have been a real scream at your last party. I'm sure all your some odd, three guests were amused."

Scott playfully seethed. "Be nice to me, I'm evaluating you for term evaluations"

I shrugged. "I've got nothing to hide; I'm bitchy and pregnant, so sue me"

Scott rolled his eyes.

Ha! One point Vanessa, zero points Scooter; I've still got it.

Suddenly I found a plate of left over pizza and a cup of lemonade in front of me, followed by Logan's body, clunking itself into the empty chair next to mine. He stole one of the four pizzas he placed on my plate.

"So what's everybody doing around this dump anyway?" he asked, and took a hardy gulp of the beer he placed next to himself. (I still envied he could drink that) "This is a rather quiet Saturday, which is unusual for you people."

"Well Scott and I were just about to go over a few battle tactics in the danger room" Hank replied. "Would you care to join us?"

Logan scrunched up his face. "Nah, I'm all trained out for the weekend; got my kicks in yesterday." Hank nodded. "Plus and afternoon with Scooter is like and afternoon with a tumor."

Scott set down his coffee and frowned and I giggled. All right, Logan's on my team now.

"Why don't ya hang with us Logan?" Rogue suddenly jumped in. "Me, Jubes, and Kit were about to head to the mall."

"Jubes, Kit and I" Scott corrected and I was sure there was a group wide, eye roll.

"Is this you inviting me or asking me to give you rugrats a lift?"

Rogue grinned and I knew Logan couldn't help but smile while ruffling her hair some. "Hey" she complained.

"You don't have to worry about dropping them off Logan" Jean said. "Ororo and I are heading out this afternoon anyway so we'll do it."

"Great" Logan said. "So I'm back to having no plans; guess I'll just buy a six pack and—"

"Hey Vanessa, you should come with us" Ororo chimed in. "We're out to buy a few things for the professor, maybe you can do some baby shopping"

"Uh, do you guys seem to remember the last time we went errand shopping for the professor?" Not a fun time. Granted my knuckles and cheek healed the following day but, I wasn't up for the whole, kidnapping bit again.

"Oh, Magneto's been quiet since then, and were more alert now." She waved off. "Plus it'll be a lot of fun. Picking out Maternity clothes and baby clothes and toys and little shoes and cute little blankets and things."

I groaned. Some how I could predict myself being roped into this as much as I didn't want to. "I don't know Ro'…..I'm kind of babied out."

"Have you even bought anything for the baby?" Jean asked.

Oh shit. Have I?

Dammit, I was in my second trimester and I didn't have shit. Well I mean I had a bottle of baby lotion if that counted for anything but that's only because my old lotion was making me nauseous and the smell of the baby lotion was more subtle.

"Uhhh……."

"Perfect it's settle then" Storm smiled with a clap of her hands. "You're coming."

I sighed hard. Great.

"Ooooooo, baby shopping, I wanna come" Rogue adored. "Forget the mall, I wanna help pick out stuff for the baby. Oh, Vanessa do ya mind if I tag along? I want to help you pick out cute stuff."

I sighed again. How could I say no to her? She was so sweet and adorable; and I could picture her being a baby-sitter in the near future. Might as well let her get her kicks in now. "Sure why not kid. Bring a friend if you want."

"Can we to go too!" Jubilee and Kitty said in unison.

Damn me and my big mouth. I was beginning to dread this trip even more.

"Well" Logan cleared his throat, grabbing another slice from my plate and swigging a chug of beer. "Have fun with that; I think I'll watch football or something."

"Oh no you don't Mr., your coming too" Storm scolded.

I giggled. I knew Logan couldn't escapes from this one. No one could escape when Mother Earth directed them to do something, and by the sounds of it, I knew Ro' wouldn't back down.

"What the hell for?" he asked and chomped into the pizza. "I hate shopping."

"It's your son too" she countered.

"She shops, I'll teach him how to play sports. It's a 50/50."

"Don't even give me that sports crap Logan. Don't you want to be involved in all of your son's life? From beginning to end."

"I was already there for the conception" he said with a wink.

"Logan!" several of the tables members scolded and I laughed.

"Logan that's besides the point, your opinion matters too you know. Maybe Vanessa wants you to help her."

Suddenly he turned to me. "Do you honestly want my opinion?"

I could feel all eyes on me. I knew my answer must be chosen carefully for if I said no (which I really wanted to do) Xavier's kitchen table civil wear might begin. But if I said yes, Logan would be miserable and would grumble and complain the entire time.

Oh well; and eye for an eye I suppose. I've been miserable these passed four months carrying this baby around.

I smirked at him. "Your opinion would be nice"

He frowned and set down his beer. "Bitch"

I laughed. Suffer Logan, suffer.

Again Ororo clapped her hands together. "Alright then so it's settled, Logan is going as well. Anymore takers?" she asked.

"I'd buy tickets to watch Logan's pain and misery" Scott responded. "Count me in"

"How much is Admission?" Hank laughed and the others joined in.

Logan only glared.

XXXXXXX

Shopping for the professor was over in no time. Ororo and Jean only made a point to pick up a few toiletries, a new pair of pjs and yet another suit (I wondered if the professor owned any jeans).

So in no more than an hour of leaving the house I found myself standing in front of a baby store the size of a condominium complex, holding onto my belly for safe keeping.

The others had already walking inside while I stared at the lettering atop the building. Baby and Mommy Boutique. This did not sound promising.

Suddenly I felt Logan's hand place itself on my back.

"Scared?" he whispered in my ear and it made me shudder. Hell yeah I was scared. I didn't want to do this shit; I didn't even know where to start.

"Don't do that Logan, you're giving me the chills." I waved his hand away.

Logan chuckled. "Hey you put yourself and me in this mess. Might as well make the best of it."

I looked up at him. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, pick out whatever you want; I brought cash." He showed me a wad of hundreds he pulled from his jacket and I rolled my eyes.

"You look like a thief"

Logan frowned. "I aint' no thief. Won this fair and square in my cage fighting last week. There's got to be a good 5 grand here."

My eyebrow crept up my face. "Who the hell are you fighting? Batman?"

He grinned. "A fighter never reveals his secrets." Again I rolled my eyes. "But that's besides the point. The point is, despite how much we both don't want to be here, I saved this money to put forth for the squirt so shop till ya drop kid; I know you want to."

I sighed. "I really don't, but I guess we have to."

Logan shoved the money back into his jacket. "That's the spirit fatty; now c'mon, it's freezing out here and my metal is rusting."

Despite the circumstances I giggled and the both of us walked inside to join the others (who were already gazing around the huge store) and before I could utter a word we were greeted by a skinny blond sales woman with an unnecessarily huge smile on her face.

"Hi and welcome to Baby and Mommy Boutique! I'm Penny, how can I help you?"

Jean smiled at the woman. "Hi Penny, we just stopped here for my friend Vanessa who's expecting and needs the works in child supplies."

"Oh that's wonderful! And where is the mommy-to-be?" she scanned our group as if looking for a child in a crowd and involuntarily I felt myself being shoved to the front.

Hey! No pushing!

Before I knew it I was face-to-face with the perky blonde and she smiled at me and I frowned at her. I knew what was coming next and sure enough within the next two seconds her hands were on my belly.

I sighed. I think this is why Logan kept me inside more often then not.

"Oh how wonderful, what a healthy little bundle of joy you have here. How far along are you? Four months?"

I stared at her. How the hell did she know that? "Uhhh…….yeah." I replied unsurely and she stood upright, removing her hands from my stomach.

"I knew it; your stomach had the certain maturity to it."

Still staring at her, I turned back to look at Logan (who looked just as astounded as I did) and he only shrugged at me.

"And is this the dad to be?"

I was about to give her a sarcastic thumbs up until I noticed who she was gesturing too and it was close to making my morning sickness return full-frontal.

Scooter.

Scott stared wide-eyed and I new he wanted to choke and I put a finger in my mouth to fake gag.

"Ew!" I objected and Scott (for once) agreed.

"Uh no sorry Penny. I'm happily married." And he grabbed Jean by the waist, firmly planting his hands there.

I could feel Logan tense from behind me; I knew he wasn't happy about the error.

"This is the father to be." I corrected and pulled him next to be, startling Penny.

Logan didn't smile and he didn't greet her. He just gruffed and folded his arms across his chest, staring at her hard before looking away.

When most people met Logan they were either turned on or put off by his demeanor and I could tell Penny was the latter of the two.

"Uhh…..hi, nice you meet you."

"Whatever" he grumbled and Penny cleared her throat, dismissing the awkward tension.

"So uh……, Vanessa is it?"

I still wanted to slap her in the face for her mistake with Scott. "Yeah"

"What are you here for today?"

"Uh…..baby stuff I guess. Cribs, clothes…..and whatever else you need for a baby."

She giggled. "Is this your first?"

"Does it show?"

More giggling. Damn this girl was annoying. "Most moms-to-be have a list of what they're prepared to buy. If it's they're first the list is either humongous or non-existent. Most new moms think they need everything or don't have a clue at all what they need. And if it's not their first it's shortened a bit and they're clearer on what they need and don't need.

"uh….huh……..Say tell me something…..is this a full time job for you?"

"Sure is"

Boy does is show. I gave her a faux smile. "Wonderful. Uh, you know what, I think my friends and I are just gonna have a look around and we'll give you a holler if we need something ok?"

Penny smiled. "Sure thing! I'll be around if you need me so don't hesitate."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

And with that she wondered off to hound the next costumers that walked in the store.

"Aww, she seemed nice, what'd you do that for?" Ororo asked.

"She mistook Scott for the father of my child and she touched my stomach; she's annoying as hell."

"Uh Agreed" Jubilee said with a teenage pout.

"She was helpful" Rogue defended.

"She was stupid" Logan grumbled.

"All right, all right, she's just doing her job you guys" Jean reasoned. "C'mon Vanessa, why don't we look at cribs first?"

"Do I have a choice?"

But apparently I didn't for I found myself being hauled off to gaze at the cribs.

There was a huge section in the store, dedicated to about 40 to 50 or so cribs; each one decorated with sheets, blankets and frilly things themed appropriately and each one looking more complex than the next as we moved on.

"Oh Vanessa, look at this one, it's just darling" Ororo cooed. It was a cherry wood sleigh crib, decked out in soft baseball themed sheets; with a little mobile of baseball caps to match.

My nose wrinkled. Baseball wasn't exactly my thing.

"I don't know Ro'….I don't exactly like baseball." I said. "Plus it's too high; I can barely reach in to get the baby." Being five-foot-one was no walk in the park.

"Why don't you browse at the different types of cribs more suitable for your purposes and then decide which theme you want?" Hank suggested and I nodded. As much as I loathed the way he used complex words for simple sentences, the man had a point.

Instantaneously I knocked off 15 cribs right off the bat for the sheer fact of their height. I could hardly reach inside and if the baby was wailing or needed to be put down to sleep there wasn't a shot in hell Logan was going after him every time.

Some of the shorter cribs were ugly or had too many gadgets and gizmos, so that knocked off another 10, and about 7 or so others looked like they were meant for a jail bait baby or the offspring of sasquatch and the Abominable snowman so I crossed those off too.

That left me with some off 15 more cribs to choose from ad the selections weren't all that bad. Presuming the baby would be in my room I wanted the furniture to match my own and everything was all dark cherry wood so of course I found the perfect crib.

It was a hand crafted cherry wood crib painted in a solid black, with symmetrical bars and a simple mobile with ying-yang peace signs handing off it. The sheets inside were plain and white but made of probably the softest baby sheets around and the crib as a whole just screamed mod.

I liked it.

"This one?" Ororo asked after I had spent about two minutes going in circles inspecting every inch of the crib.

"Yeah" I replied. I was proud of myself. I actually found something and I liked it.

"It's a little boring don't ya think?" Jubilee said just exactly everything I knew Ororo was thinking but was too modest to say. "Don't you want a bit more color? A little more oompf, a little more…."

"Baby?" Bobby finished. "It looks like it's a crib for an adult."

"No, I like it." I said. "It needs a little work but it gives me a project to do. Maybe I can add a dash of red to the base. Or maybe red and white linen."

"Red Vanessa?" Jean asked unsurely.

"You really will have the devils child." Scott piped in and I glared.

"I will not. I like red, I like white and I like black; it's perfect. It's not so cutesy-wootsy like that other stuff."

"You're having a baby Vanessa, not a young adult; it's supposed to be cutesy-wootsy." Jean defended. "This….this is—"

"It's punk rock." Pyro finished. "You're pretty hardcore Ness, even when it comes to your offspring. I admire that. Think you might want to add some flames to that crib?" he asked hopefully.

I thought about it for a minute. "No not the crib. But I'll hold you to your offer on the changing table; provided I can find something simple like this."

John grinned while the others stared at me awkwardly or sighed in confusion. I could tell some days the gang didn't understand my thought pattern. I was in more ways than any, not like any other girl you can across; I tend not to fall into social norms; even when it came to my baby.

"Logan what do you think?" I asked.

I knew he was observing the others and their expressions and he chuckled, knowing exactly how I was; strange, hardcore and violent. So of course my color choice would reflect that. But I assumed that's what attracted him so he could care the least, and he only smiled at me. "Whatever you want Nessa', the price seems reasonable so it's all yours."

I grinned. This was an awesome day.

XXXXX

After we picked out the crib and asked a sale associate to hold it at the front desk (not Penny, the idiot), we moved on to clothes and shoes and again I failed to notice everything that a baby boy "should" have.

I shopped for baby similar to the clothes I shopped for when I bought for myself; and when I bought for myself, simplicity was key.

It was tough shopping with the gang. They all wanted adorable onesies with cartoon elephants, lions, hippos or "I love my mommy" on the front, while I went for plain and simple, black, red, white or, navy blue ones. We compromised on the ones I wanted with a few baby blues and pastel greens with mini footballs and hockey sticks on them.

When it came to shirts they wanted the ones that dressed baby like a mini-Scooter (Like hell I'd have that) while I wanted ones that dressed baby like a mini Logan (which he found amusing). I settled for a few polo shirts (again with simple colors) and a few of my own which included little baby plaid shirts and a tiny leather jacket. (I wonder if there was a carry on for motorcycles)

I found a few baby supplies with obscene writing on it like a pacifier that read, "Suck this!" a onesy that read "Mommy plus Daddy plus alcohol equals Baby", a bib that read, "Tickle me and I'll throw up on you" and a few other things that the group found particularly inappropriate but I loved; especially since I was having a son.

All in all I found the store not to be half bad and I could see myself going back in the near future.

We wound up spending a good chunk of Logan's 5 G's (which he counted and found to be six) and there was a lot more to go and for once I was…excited about it.

Strange. As we walked out the store with bags of clothes, bibs and pacifiers in hand (and Hank and Logan carried the crib) I found myself being reassured even more how real this whole baby things was getting.

Sure it was a reminder every time I looked down at my tummy that I was pregnant but hardly ever does it register that there's a baby in there and in a few months I'll have a son.

The thoughts of it made my head swirl but sometimes I envisioned it not being half bad.

A little tyke of my own to not necessarily raise by the book but raise my way and have him become everything I want him to be and everything he wants to be. He doesn't have to be a pansy ass little runt like some of the twerps at the school but tough like his father or hardcore like his mother. He'll be a little toughie no doubt, and my plans for designing the nursery (or not-so-nursery) at this point would be more reassurance of that.

My son was going to be everything I wanted him to be I just knew it. And for the first time since I found out I was pregnant, I now found myself, excited.

This was definitely a new day.

XX

Distracted by my daydreaming I snapped out of it when I felt Logan take the bags from my hands and place it in the trunk compartment of the X-van before closing the door.

I stared at him.

"You alright?" he asked me and I smiled. "You've been kind of silent since we left the store. You wanna' go back?"

"No; just excited is all"

He gave me a puzzling look. "Excited?" he asked. "Excited about what?"

"Excited about our son."

Logan relaxed and smiled, then kissed me on the lips. "I'm excited too."

"Are you really?"

"You kiddin' me? You bought him a leather jacket just like mine. The squirts' rolling out the hospital with that one."

I laughed. "I thought you might like it."

"I think Scooter's pissed about the "Dad is sexy and so am I" shirt. Something about a graven image or the other."

I rolled my eyes. "He's just jealous" I reasoned and kissed Logan again. Damn I haven't done that all day long; I was beginning to miss it.

"So what's next on the list preggo? Maternity wear."

I scrunched up my face. Something about fat people clothing didn't appeal to me. "Nah, let's settle for tacos instead. All this shopping is exhausting."

Logan chuckled. "Chubby says, and so it is done; tacos it is."

XXXXXXXXXX

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