"Okay, so panel A should slide into panel C. Attach both panels with screw #4 which should be in bag marked MZ. Got that?"

"Bobby, you lost me when you said panel A."

Bobby looked up from the manual he had been reading aloud to John. He found his friend sitting on the floor, holding up three wooden slats in his hands, all of the slats clearly marked 'panel B.'

The two boys were working in John and Rogue's new room, which had an adjoining smaller room that was going to be the baby's. Their old bedroom looked like a baby store had exploded in it – everything, including the bed and the floors and even the bathtub, were covered in nothing but toys and clothes for the baby. Bobby thought it was a miracle that they found space to even sit.

"I can't find this so-called panel A," John complained. "Fucking Summers. Couldn't spend the extra hundred bucks to have someone put this thing together for us? What is this piece of crap suppose to be anyways? Does the baby need it?"

"Unless you plan on changing your baby's diapers on your lap then yes, you need a changing table, John. Look, why don't you…" Bobby was cut off when Jubilee came rushing into the room.

"Oh my fucking God! John! You gotta come quick!" She grabbed John by the front of his shirt and dragged him away.

"Jesus Christ… Jubilee! Stop fucking man-handling me!"

"What's going on?" Bobby asked, following close behind.

"It's Rogue… She's…"

John became suddenly serious, no longer caring that Jubilee's grip on his shirt was also digging into his skin. "Is she all right? Did something happen?"

"She's…" That was all Jubilee got out before the three of them skidded to a stop in front of John and Rogue's old bedroom. The door was closed but Pietro was standing in front of it, banging with his fist. Kitty and Wanda were standing nearby, Kitty biting on her finger nervously.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way, Rogue!" Pietro yelled through the door.

"You called me a waddling duck! How else did you mean it?" Rogue yelled back from inside the room. After a moment's pause, she also added with enthusiasm, "Jerk!"

"Jesus Christ, when did she get so sensitive?" Pietro muttered, dragging a hand through his hair.

Wanda stepped forward and whacked her brother upside of the head. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"What?" Pietro rubbed where he just got hit, a hurt expression on his face.

"God, Pietro, you are so fricking obtuse, you know that? I can't believe that we're even related! Do you even have a clue what carrying a baby does to a girl's body?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Never mind about that right now!" Jubilee shoved Pietro out of the way. She gingerly knocked on the door. "Rogue? It's Jubilee. John's here too."

"John?"

"Yeah…I'm here, Rogue. Can I come in?" There was a moment of silence then they heard the door's lock click open.

Jubilee turned the knob but before she actually opened the door, John grabbed her hand, stopping her. "Uh…maybe I should go in first."

"Oh…right…" Jubilee grumbled. She hated being left out of anything but she knew when to stand back and keep her opinions to herself, unlike a certain speedster.

John went into the room and shut the door again. He turned around, expecting to see Rogue sitting on the bed but instead she launched herself into his arms. The momentum threw John off-guard, making him stumble back against the door with a heavy thump.

There was rapid knocking from outside. "Rogue? John? You okay?" Jubilee asked.

John straightened as best as he could with a heavily pregnant girl in his arms. "Uh…yeah… Everything's fine."

"You don't think I'm a waddling duck, right?" Rogue looked up at him, biting her lip in concern.

"What? No! Of course not!"

"Really?"

"Rogue, you're the most drop-dead gorgeous girl I've ever met. No other girl or woman on this earth can hold a candle to you, everyone else pales in comparison. You are the epitome of perfection. I couldn't even begin to imagine anyone more beautiful than you."

Rogue smiled shyly, playing with his shirt lapels. She practically glowed with satisfaction but didn't to want appear too egotistical. "Really?"

"Really." He smiled back, holding her gently.

She was content to bask in the warmth of his words and his arms when they both heard someone softly knocking.

"Hey, 'Dyce…" Pietro whispered through the door. "Mind if I borrow that little speech sometime? Next time I get into girl-trouble, it could really help me out." Before John or Rogue could reply back with a smart-aleck remark, they could hear someone being slapped around multiple times. "Ow! Jubilee! Kitty! Wanda! Stop hitting me!"

Rogue and Jubilee were walking down the hallway toward their next class together.

"I'm telling you! He's so totally hot!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"Are you serious? You are seriously telling me that you have a crush on Paul Giamatti?"

"Hello? Have you seen Sideways?"

"Jubilee, you're so…" Rogue stopped in her tracks, gasping in surprise and clutching her stomach with one of her hands. "Oh my God…"

Jubilee turned to her friend, grabbing Rogue by the arm. "What? What is it?"

"I think…I think my water just broke…"

"Is she leaking?" Rogue and Jubilee both looked up to find Jones standing before them, pointing to the puddle around Rogue's feet.

There was a small crowd forming around them, wondering what was going on.

"Jubes, I think the baby's coming…" Rogue whispered before gasping again, this time in pain.

Jubilee snapped out her daze, Rogue's words finally sinking into her brain. "Oh, Jesus… People! Move! Move! Get the fuck out of the way! Baby train is pulling into the station! MOVE!" Jubilee started roughly shoving people against the walls, making a path toward the elevator to the med lab.

"Jubilee! What's going on?" Siryn called out. Jones was standing next to her, looking at the two girls in the elevator with worry.

"Jones, Siryn, you guys have to go find John! Tell him it's time!" Jubilee yelled before the elevator doors closed.

John was in algebra class, trying to figure out what the fuck polynomials were. Then Jones and Siryn came bursting into the room, almost getting jammed in the doorway when they both tried running in at the same time.

"Jones? Siryn? What is it?" Scott asked, pausing mid-motion while writing on the whiteboard.

"John! You have to come! Quickly!" Siryn cried out.

"Rogue…leaking…" Jones panted, his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"Leaking?" John was completely confused. "What?"

"Leaking! Leaking! She was leaking!" Jones said, his arms flailing. "Jubilee said it was time!"

John was still lost. "Time for what?"

"Dumbass! She's having the baby!" Siryn exclaimed.

"Having the baby? Oh my fucking God, she's having the baby!" John shoved out of his seat, knocking the chair over which in turn knocked over the desk behind him which knocked over another chair and so on and so forth… "Where? Where is she?"

"Med lab… Come on!" Jones grabbed one of John's hands, Siryn the other, and they all ran out of the classroom together.

The entire time they ran, Jones could hear John mutter under his breath, "Oh fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…"

The elevator ride down to the med lab seemed like an eternity to John. Jones and Siryn were quiet the entire time, knowing John's nerves were already on edge by the impatient tapping of his foot and the slightest provocation meant certain death by fire.

Finally, the bell dinged to signal they had arrived.

"Holy fucking shit! Finally!" Jubilee came running over, shoving blue medical scrubs into John's arms. "Hurry up! Dr McCoy said she's already dilated like a gajillion centimeters! He thinks it's going to be a quickie delivery! Hurry up! Hurry up!"

John stumbled through the swinging doors, disappearing from sight.

"Where's John? I'm not having this baby without him!" Rogue wailed, her face already drenched with sweat. "Where is he? He's supposed to be here! Stop looking at that goddamn monitor and go find him, McCoy!!"

And just at the right time, John came through the doors, tying the drawstrings of his scrub pants together. "I'm here! I'm here!"

"Oh thank God…" Hank sighed with relief, nothing he had been doing was calming Rogue down.

"John!" Rogue held out a hand to him, which he grasped tightly. "John…I'm scared…"

"It's okay… It's okay…" He leaned to kiss the top of her head.

"It's all happening so fast. I thought we would have at least a couple of hours. You know, Jubilee would take a million pictures while we waited and you would feed me ice chips… This is too fast. I thought the delivery was suppose to be hard…all the books said so…"

"People do have quick deliveries, Rogue," Hank said gently.

"Oh, what the hell do you know?" Rogue snapped at him.

"I'm just going to go see if Dr Grey's ready, all right?" Hank made a quick exit, not wanting to be the target of Rogue's labor-induced wrath anymore.

Rogue grimaced with pain as another contraction occurred, her face turning red as she squeezed the living daylights out of John's hand. He had to bite his lip from screaming with his own pain. Once the contraction passed, she loosened her grip. "I don't think I can do this, John… I don't want to do this anymore…"

"Rogue…I think it's a little late to go back now…" John tried to see if his hand was still functioning properly. As soon as he could feel the blood flow through his hand again, another contraction happened and she squeezed even harder, screaming in pain.

"Oh, God, John, I didn't think anything could hurt this bad…"

"Me either…" John said, trying to extricate his hand from Rogue's but her grip only became firmer. He wondered briefly if he should have fed her all those fruits and vegetables during her pregnancy because she certainly didn't need any more nutrition. "Okay, Rogue, why don't we try those techniques Dr McCoy taught us in lamaze class, huh?"

Together, they started breathing deeply in and out. Rogue was trying to think good thoughts, calming thoughts. But then another contraction distracted her from thinking about anything remotely good or calm.

"Can we get a doctor in here?! Please!!" John yelled. He was almost certain he heard a bone breaking in his hand.

Logan stepped out of the elevator and into the med lab corridor. He found what seemed like the entire school waiting there.

"Logan! You're skinny again!" Jubilee said in surprise.

"That's what you have to say to me?" Logan asked, quirking an eyebrow. "The Professor let me off the hook. What's going with Rogue?"

"I don't know. Dr McCoy told me he thought it was going to be a quick delivery but it's been like ten million hours already. Mr Summers tried to go back there but Rogue kicked him out. Oh fucking my God, it was soooo hilarious… Everyone could hear her cursing him out. 'Get the fuck out, you stupid son of a bitch! Do you think this is some of fucking peep show, asshole!'" Jubilee chuckled. "Classic."

Logan looked over to where Scott was sitting. Scott looked like he was trying to hide between Peter and Dominic, hunching his shoulders to make himself appear smaller.

"Don't forget about the part when she started chucking things at him," Kitty added helpfully. Scott shot her a dirty look.

"Oh yeah, we heard things clanking around too while she was screaming at him and then Mr Summers came out with this big-ass cut on his forehead. It was so classic!"

Logan smirked. "So, Summers, what did she throw at you?"

"Damn plastic cup…" Scott mumbled.

"She threw a plastic cup that hard that it left a mark on your thick head?" Logan howled with laughter.

Scott was saved from further humiliation when Hank came through the swinging doors, looking exhausted but a big smile on his face.

"Well?" Jubilee asked anxiously. "Tell us, goddamnit!"

"Why don't you guys go back there and find out?" Hank said. Then he realized his mistake when people started pushing forward. "Wait! Wait! You can't all go in there! Just a few people at a time!"

Jubilee tiptoed into the room, Logan following her. She could see Rogue lying in bed, holding what looked like a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"Rogue?" Jubilee whispered.

"Hey… Come over here, you guys, I want you to meet someone…" Rogue smiled.

Jubilee thought she never she'd never seen her friend look so serene. Jubilee and Logan quietly stood by the bed as Rogue carefully shifted the bundle from one arm to the other.

"Logan…Jubilee…meet Matthew Allerdyce."

"Awww…Rogue… He's so adorable!" Jubilee said, her gaze softening at the sight of this tiny little human being sleeping, his tiny little fingers curled around his mother's finger. The baby yawned wide, his eyes opening briefly to reveal big blue eyes. "Oh my God, Rogue…he's like a mini-John…only without the lighter…and with chubbier cheeks…"

"Where is John anyways?" Logan asked when he was able to form words without choking up.

"Um…well, Dr Grey is bandaging him up…"

"What?" Jubilee and Logan asked at the same time, confusion marring their faces.

"Never mind about that right now. There's another surprise…" Rogue said with a mischievous grin. "Reason why the delivery took so long…"

"Oh my God! Did you guys have…" Jubilee's question hung in the air when John came back into the room holding another bundle in his arms. "Holy shi…I mean…holy moly! Twins?"

"She's already got John wrapped around her finger," Rogue said, laughing lightly as John came over to sit beside her on the bed. "Cried like Banshee when he tried putting her back in the bassinet."

"A boy and a girl?" Logan said in wonder.

John nodded. "We named her Claire. She looks just like her mother."

"Stop lying, John… Her eyes are blue like yours…"

They were quiet for a moment, enjoying the babies cooing to one another from their parents' arms.

Rogue looked up and found Logan's eyes glassy, distinct sniffling sounds were coming from him. "Logan? Are you crying?"

"What? Of course not!" Logan said, rubbing his eye furiously. "Just had something in my eye."

"Oh, Wolvie…you big softie…" Jubilee teased. Then she noticed John's hand peeking from under the blankets, wrapped up in bandages. "What happened to your hand, John?"

"Just a minor casualty during the delivery…" John grinned.

A/N: It's done! WOO!! I want to thank all my readers…especially to those of you who left me lovely reviews. Hugs and kisses to you all!