Chapter 10: Fire and Flood

It had been a huge blessing having Izabelle's family living so much closer to her. They had packed up everything and moved to the nearest city once they realized how attached Izabelle was to the school. There had been mixed reactions to this, ranging from happiness to jealousy to suspicion. Understandably, some mutants like Sam were very happy for her, having a large family himself and many of which were now at the school. But others like Rouge and Scott were rather sensitive about family issues.

Rouge had never gone out of her way to see Izabelle before, as they really didn't have much in common outside of Beast, but now Rouge was giving her a very definite cold shoulder. If Izaebelle appeared she would leave the room without hesitation regardless of what was going on. Bobby had noticed Izabelle's hurt expression after this had gone on for about two weeks.

"It's not really about you, Izabelle," he comforted under his breath. They were at dinner and Rouge's empty spot was obvious at the full table.

"I don't care if it is or not. I just wish she didn't do it in such a blatant manner."

"Yeah, well that's Rouge. But don't hold it against her. The chances of her having a child are small to none, and as for her family…well…" Both their eyes darted to Kurt, who was flirting outrageously further down the table.

"Not so bad on the one hand but on the other…" Bobby murmured.

Izabelle nodded feeling mildly better. "There's still Scott," she breathed to Bobby.

He laughed loudly and tried to cover it with coughing. Izabelle glowered at him while pounding him on the back in a manner that was much closer to punching.

"Oh what I would not have given to have been there. Your mouth… someday you're going to lose a limb." He sighed happily and drank more water.

Scott had been antagonistic every time her parents visited, insinuating there should be more rigorous screening for guests. This last time when Izabelle had tried to explain her father was a civil engineer and her mother was a secretary and neither were a threat to the school, Scott had asked her how she knew. That had been the last straw and she may or may not have yelled that she knew because she could read f %&ing memories. Unlike Logan, Scott was not going to have it out with her in front of others and had simply left the room, glowing red and obviously furious.

Bobby regained the ability to speak and spoke louder since Scott had already left the table. "He's clearly out of line and there's no way Jean's not giving him an earful in that direction. My parents parted ways with me years ago and you don't see me being an irrational fathead. But you've got to be more careful; sometimes you're too fiery for your own good. Hey!" His face lit up. "Maybe that's a mutation as well!"

"Oh go to–"

A blue paw covered half of her face muffling the end of her sentence.

"I swear, you will be a worse influence on the baby than Logan, my darling," Hank teased, taking the seat beside her. "Heard about Scott."

"Isn't she a gem?" Bobby grinned over at Hank.

"Oh yes," Hank replied with a wry glint in his eye. "A real sweetheart. So sweet she could just rot your teeth."

Izabelle resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him and kept quiet.

But things calmed down as fall took hold and the very real possibility of birth came to the very front of Izabelle and Hank's minds. There had been no false contractions of any kind, as if the baby had enough excitement and was just waiting for the right moment.

The next afternoon found Izabelle lying in a pile of raked leaves. She had been helping Hank with grading since he was much busier than usual; he was trying to work well ahead for when the baby came. After they had finished, Izabelle had wandered outside to wait for her mother, who was picking her up in half an hour, and she had mandated that Hank do something restful. Bobby had swung by and invited him for some football, and every so often she could hear cheers from the other side of the school.

She felt mildly guilty for not giving back to him as much as she felt he gave to her and so she was trying very hard to amend this. She knew he needed to lean on her more than he was willing to say sometimes, and being pregnant was no excuse for ignoring his needs.

As she watching the puffy clouds float by and letting her mind wander when she saw Anesthesia approaching her from the cliff side of the school. Anesthesia and Forge had spent increasing amounts of time together and she had even taken on a large role in his physical rehabilitation.

Hank was not thrilled with seeing the secretive mutant so often but he did realize if she was in sight of someone then she wasn't busy abducting his wife. He did not care what anyone said, his fur rippled every time she was near and every time he saw her glance at Izabelle's belly. Something was going on, and he was willing to kill to protect his family.

Anesthesia knew full well he had guessed her intent but the Professor was impressed with her adaptation to the school and was inclined to give people the benefit of a doubt. So she lay low, played nice around Beast, and went out of her way to avoid Izabelle. She needed everything to go smoothly when the time came. But this also required her being alone with Izabelle, and for that she needed Izabelle's trust.

"Hey, Adine," Izabelle greeted the angular woman as she sat on the grass beside her. "What brings you out here?"

"Going for a run along the cliff. Forge should be able to join soon."

"You've been really great for him, you know that?"

Anesthesia blushed in spite of herself and hid her face behind her bangs.

"It's no sin you know. He's lovely and very eligible."

"Not all of us are in a position to just run off with someone we care about though." Anesthesia knew it was a risk to dance so close to the truth in saying this but her reasoning was two-fold: another woman would sense the truth in her words and Adine needed desperately to at least tell some half truth to someone. She adored Forge, more than she would ever admit to anyone including the mechanical genius himself, and it made her stomach roll to think of what future events would do to their "relationship."

Izabelle could see her thoughts had turned inward so she tried to draw Adine back out. "What could possibly be keeping you back?"

"The past is always present for some of us."

Izabelle nodded and didn't press her. There were a lot of different kinds of hurt here and some you just didn't poke at. "Well, I'm glad he has you. And he's glad too, for what it's worth."

Adine gave a rare smile and crouched in the grass beside Izabelle. "The baby's well?"

"Hank is very optimistic. It has been harder than we expected but it looks like we will be okay."

"That's good news."

Izabelle was surprised at how sincere Adine sounded when she said this. It was more emotion than she expected from someone she half knew.

"What is it then that is the matter? You were radiating worry so I headed over here," Adine continued.

"Radiating?"

"I have a very slight ability to feel emotions. At least as far as they are connected to your senses."

Izabelle sighed and decided to just tell someone. "I'm afraid my baby will be a girl and that I'll be a terrible mother. I feel selfish and horrible."

"You want a boy?"

"Yes. I just feel I would be a better mother to a boy. And girls are so…"

"Girly."

Their eyes met and they both smiled. Adine was not particularly feminine and seemed to understand perfectly.

"But it's my child. How horrible is it to think this way? And I should feel like, oh I will love it no matter what, shouldn't I?"

"It seems to me you are looking at this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you are worried that you would not be the best possible parent you could be. There are many people in this world who do not worry they do not love enough. It would seem if you are this concerned with making sure you love your child as much as you can the chances of you being a terrible parent are much smaller."

Izabelle rolled the words around in her mind as the other woman stood, brushing off her knees.

"Well, I could tell you what the baby is, but I think that's better saved for your husband. You'll be fine. I need a shower. See you 'round." And as Adine jogged away, Izabelle felt a sense of peace that had not been imparted by Anesthesia's touch, as it had before, but by her words.

She heaved herself out of the leaves and waved to her mother's car as it stopped halfway up the long drive. Izabelle's mother, Carol, had talked Izabelle into wandering through stores looking at baby things under the restriction that they would not buy anything. Carol had gone a bit crazy with buying baby things and Izabelle had insisted she stop.

"You seem fairly calm," Carol said, as Izabelle dropped into the passenger seat.

"Well, all things considered…" Izabelle remarked absently.

"What does that mean?"

Izabelle started a little and smiled. "Sorry. I forget you aren't a mutant."

Her mother smiled and it was only very slightly strained. "Yes, I never thought I would feel as though I were the odd one in all of this. You understand what I mean of course."

Izabelle did and she explained her statement: "I just never expected to be with anyone. I mean, I left you guys and my long-term relationships ended there. How could I marry or raise children?"

Her mother only nodded. Sometimes there was nothing to say.

"So I don't have any expectations. We can't even know if this pregnancy will go like all others. But I'm feeling hopeful today."

Her mother smiled at her and took her hand. "And that's certainly something."

"You're being a spoilsport."

"My kankles are hurting and I feel sick and I'm tired of carrying this baby," Izabelle sighed.

Hank wrapped his arms around his wife, cradling her belly in his hands. He began to very gently massage her stomach and she let out a little sigh of relief. He was strong enough he could actually lift the weight of the baby in his own hands which felt like heaven.

"How about now?"

"I'm just not up for anything today. I feel listless and unhealthy."

"Then just for a walk about the grounds. It's not healthy for you to stay in either and you know you won't feel better if you just watch YouTube clips for hours on end and then go to bed, Izabelle." Hank was getting a bit desperate. There was somewhere they needed to be and he was willing to lay on some guilt to get her to cooperate.

Izabelle sighed and wrapped her hair in a bun at the base of her neck. It was getting too long but she had no desire to cut it herself and Amara was visiting family until tomorrow. But Hank was right; she would get sucked into doing something stupid and then would feel empty and angry.

"All right," she agreed, reluctantly.

"Excellent!" Hank beamed at her.

But Izabelle was surprised when he caught her at the door.

"Wouldn't you like to wear this lovely top you just bought?"

Izabelle's eyes narrowed as she took the cowl necked shirt from him. "What are you up to, Henry Phillip?"

"Only wishing you to feel as beautiful as you are."

In case Izabelle had any doubts that something was afoot, the loud sounds of children being shushed followed by heavy silence as they headed toward the front room erased all doubt from her mind. They rounded the corner to be bombarded by people yelling "surprise!"

A sign hung from the bay windows that read, "It's a ….!" and green and yellow balloons hung in clusters around the room.

Amara rushed to Izabelle, who was stunned to see her friend back already, and hugged her. "I hope you'll forgive me but Kitty and I decided to just do it anyway! You're the first mother in our groups and we must celebrate!"

Izabelle found her parents easily and gave her mother a wry look. "Baby shopping but no buying? I can't imagine why you agreed," she teased her mother.

"I was surprised you didn't guess based on that alone!" her father teased back at her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Izabelle caught white hair contrasting with much darker hair. Forge had his arms wrapped around Adine and her head rested on his shoulder. They remained like that for only a moment but it made Izabelle very happy to see it. Forge had been oversleeping on occasion over the past few weeks and she had guessed why, though this was the first real confirmation she had gotten.

Forge noticed her gaze and blushed, though he recovered quickly. "Cut the cake! We're dying to know!"

Izabelle fixed a questioning gaze on Amara who grinned.

"Hank told us the gender. Cut a slice and find out!"

Izabelle moved to the table in the center of the room and picked up the cake server. Her hand shook slightly. She stared at the white cake without moving.

"Or are you chicken, darling?"

Izabelle's eyes met Logan's and he grinned at her. A smile flashed across her features and she made two swift cuts in the cake. Without hesitation she pulled the slice away and was greeted with a deep blue piece of cake. Her hands flew to her face and she could not stop smiling. The baby was a boy.

Congratulations rang out on all sides and in the mêlée Izabelle saw Adine flash her a thumbs up and a huge smile.

The due date crept closer and the weather turned rainy suddenly. It would begin with a frost in the morning and then rain through the day and into the evening. It was nice to have the promise of a healthy baby boy in the gloom of the weather.

Izabelle was watching the news when Sam and Roberto poked their heads into her room. She was still trying to find places for all of the shower gifts and welcomed them in on the condition that they carry some of the heavier stuff for her.

"Unseasonably heavy rains have weakened the structural integrity of some of the older sewer systems. While the danger of flooding is always present in the city, residents are asked to be especially careful and to be attentive to any signs of crumbling or weakening. If any deficiencies are noticed please call–"

"You'd never guess we'd get all this rain," Sam exclaimed as Izabelle muted the television. "Normally we're buried in snow by now."

"I'll take this over the snow. The jet can still get out in pouring rain."

"Structural danger in the city though. Wonder how that'll affect our renegades under the city?"

"Ugh," Izabelle rubbed her stomach. "Don't remind me. But you know… there really hasn't been much activity in that quarter."

"They must be busy," Sam motioned toward the television, which now showed a collapsed sewer, with the road caved in over it.

"Can't help but feel bad for them," Izabelle mused.

"I can!" Roberto exclaimed.

"That's because you have no soul!" Izabelle teased. "Any news on the surgery? I don't want to bother him…"

One of the younger mutants had been complaining of pains, which turned out to be appendicitis so Hank was dealing with it in-house.

"Should be over by now. You know how easy that is now. Name picked out yet?"

"Yes! You want to be the first to know?"

"Sure!" Roberto grinned.

"Too bad!" Izabelle laughed.

Roberto threw a baby toy at her and laughed as well. "You evil little witch!"

"That's no way to talk to my wife," a voice rumbled from behind Sunspot and he felt himself lifted off of his feet.

"Of course not, Beast. If only she didn't earn it quite so often."

Hank smiled and put Roberto back down. "One less appendix in this mansion; showed it to him so that made him pretty happy and Jean's checking on him in a few hours."

"Great news," Izabelle said and hugged him. "Don't forget I'm on shopping duty tomorrow."

"That's why we came!" Sam exclaimed. "It went straight out of mah head! Sorry. Some of the people are being jumbled around so Hank you'll be Saturday but I know that's her due date so if it happens then, obviously you're off."

"How kind of Logan to let me off for the birth of my first child."

"Don't you ferget it either, bub," a voice called down the hall, sending the room into peals of laughter.

Deep below the city, Adine slipped and gashed her palm on the rough stones as she caught herself. She had left in the afternoon when she would be least noticed and had made her way to the city. The sewers were more treacherous than they had been in a long time. The rain had the walkways as slippery as glass and the waters roared by. But as she drew closer to the Morlocks' location the water began to dry up.

Berzerker jogged up to her and she snarled at him. "What the hell is this? Where's the water?"

"We've dammed it further up. It was becoming dangerous."

"And damming it makes it safer, how? If that thing blows, we're all dead!"

"But once we have her then we can use it to flood the entire area. We've found another location."

They made their way through the Morlock dwellings. Horribly disfigured mutants called out to Anesthesia as she followed Berzerker, some running up with requests and some receiving small parcels from the bag Anesthesia carried with her. Things were worse than when she had left for the mansion several months ago. Many were sicker than ever with the filthy conditions they were forced to live in and it had become harder to go topside for food; the violence towards those who ventured above had gotten worse. Anesthesia involuntarily felt the memory of fire that had once eaten away at her body and her vision went red for a moment. And they wondered why they found their guards in pieces!

This was good though. She needed this. She and Forge had begun a physical relationship, against her better judgment, and she had felt it weakening her resolve. This was why she was even at the school: for these mutants who needed her and needed something much more powerful that only she could bring them.

She inhaled deeply, imagining that she was absorbing the fury and power she needed for the next few days. Berzerker watched her carefully as they walked. There had been concerns that she would back out and leave them when they needed help more than anything. But this was the mutant he remembered and he knew she would come through.

They reached the dam and she looked it over as he explained the structure.

"So we have about two days before we need to either adjust the structure before it gives way."

"That is very clever. Two days will be plenty of time."

"You mean…"

"Yes. Come."

They made their way more quickly back to the central room. Deftly, she lept onto the dais and the rejected mutants crowded around to hear what she would tell them.

"Morlocks!"

Howls and shrieks went up in return and if anyone had been present to hear them it would have made their blood chill.

"She is carrying a boy and will deliver at any moment. We must act before she delivers at the mansion or all our work will have been in vain! He is all we have hoped for and he will belong to us! Tomorrow, we strike!"

It's back! Hooray! It would be a very long and involved explanation but needless to say I hope you all keep reading and let me know what you think! Finishing this story is definitely a priority so it should be done within the month.