Part XIII

It didn't take long for the others to figure out the new dynamics. Neither Ororo nor Sabretooth said anything, but she began to be at his side for all of the group meetings and put in her input to him as if she had always been doing it that way. As with most things involving Sabretooth, anything he accepted as perfectly natural was accepted by the rest without question. At least not questions to him. They quickly learned that Ororo was equally disinclined to answer questions.

Hank was thoroughly amused by the entire situation and, regarding Hank, Ororo soon observed why the good doctor could get by with so much where Sabretooth was concerned. Hank never under-estimated Sabretooth's intelligence or 'dumbed down' anything he had to say to him. Small courtesies like that went a long way - as did Hank's study of the body language both brothers seemed to share. She learned about all of that when Hank took her to the side one afternoon for the first of a set of lessons. It was as if Hank opened another world to her. She had always wondered at how Logan and Sabretooth could attack in near perfect unison without communicating back and forth. Now she knew that they actually were communicating, just without words. Hank explained that reading the two of them was imprecise due to the amount of information they could give and receive via scents, but he taught her the basics. It was sobering to see just how much of what the two of them had been saying that she'd been missing. No wonder he got so frustrated with trying to communicate - in many ways, they simply weren't speaking the same language.

By the time the leaves began to fall, the colony had divided into two. Ororo and Sabretooth's territory was to the west of the river that ran through the area. They picked an area above the falls as the spot to build their homes whereas Rahne and Logan picked a spot downstream. In the end, each group built one large communal home with the intent that families that could build places for themselves when spring came again. For winter though, staying close made the most sense. Hank also pointed out that both groups would have young children come spring and that the communal homes would be the perfect place for the youngsters to be watched over while most of their elders were occupied with hunting and other activities vital to their new lifestyles.

Ororo would be one of those birthing when spring came, but for now the newest mothers were Kitty and Doreen. Kitty's had been expected, Doreen's had not.

In Kitty's case, the baby had been estimated for late fall, but came closer to mid-fall. To Ben's delight, their son was was good-sized with a healthy pair of lungs - as perfectly formed as any newborn could be wished for. Names were debated back and forth, but when they introduced the newborn to the rest, it was as Johnny Grimm. Their family group was part of Logan's pack now - no real surprise to anyone that knew of Kitty and Logan's extensive past.

The surprise additon was to Sabretooth's pride - and to the other surviving member of the Fantastic Four. Reed had been in a self-created shell ever since the devastation and had really only come with the colony because he couldn't bear to be in the city with the memories it housed. Doreen, the very bubbly personality also known as Squirrel Girl, couldn't stand to see anyone so obviously depressed, so she had begun a quiet campaign to lure him back to life. To the surprise of practically everyone, after several weeks of Reed seeming to take little notice of the young mutant, he began to respond. When Ben heard Reed laugh again for the first time in months, he gave Doreen a hug that left her needing air. But even Ben hadn't been aware of just how close the two had become until Doreen started putting on weight in an obvious spot.. Even more surprising was how quickly she grew - from the time they first realized she was pregnant until she gave birth was not more than four months - within two weeks of Kitty.

Doreen and Reed's newborn was also a boy who they named Joseph - and appeared full term. That gave Hank some pause and he began to observe Doreen carefully. A month later, he called Logan, Victor and Ben to meet him away from the camps. One thing all of them knew was that whatever Hank had to say, it was both sensitive and likely bad news.

Hank was obviously not happy - never a good sign. But he took a deep breath and started in.

"This isn't easy for me. I find I've become quite attached to our resident rodent, but I believe I have the reason for the rapid birth of Doreen's child. I don't have access to elaborate testing, of course, but from all indications, her body operates at a faster pace than the average person. Approximately twice the rate would be my guess. Which explains her high energy as well as her relatively large food intake. She heals about twice as fast - and I fear, age twice as fast. Which would mean that our dear squirrel will likely be gone of old age within twenty to thirty years. Possibly less considering the stress that will be placed on her system. I know she looks older, but the young lady is just over twenty-two years old."

The other three exchanged looks. They all had the opposite effects from their powers - extended life. Then Vic shook his head.

"They're both in my bunch. They need t' be told. Well... not like we're tellin' 'em she's only got a year at least."

In the end, they decided to all go together - the biggest trouble proved to be catching Doreen long enough to talk to her. Active by nature anyway, fall weather seemed to kick everything into high gear for her and she could be found gathering from sunup to sundown except for breaks to feed her baby. Reed knew something was up, but didn't question them as they sat and chatted with him while waiting for her to return.

She came back with a sack full of nuts. The first winter had shown that Doreen's body simply wasn't designed to handle meat. She didn't want to put anyone else to extra work, but she was determined to make sure there would be plenty of nuts, dried berries and dried fruits for the coming winter. They waited until she had settled down next to Reed, then Victor started in.

"There may be better or kinder ways t' do this, but I've always been a believer o' gettin' th' facts out an' dealin' with 'em. Dorrie - Hank here is pretty sure that yer body goes at a faster clip than most do. And that means yer most likely goin' t' age a lot faster than you should."

He stopped at that point as he noticed that neither of the couple seemed particularly upset. In fact, Doreen smiled at him.

"Have you all been worried over that? Reed figured that out months ago - we just didn't think it was anything to bother anyone else about. You're all sweet, but we figure we have about the same amount of years left to us, so that works out fine."

Logan and Vic exhanged looks - the girl was telling the truth by her scent. Not only not a bit upset, but practically radiating contentment. Ben just smiled and moved over to kiss Dorrie on the head. Reed reached up and patted Ben on his stony shoulder.

"You are one of a kind, lady. Glad you had the good sense to notice that, Reed."

The other three left out quietly and headed back to their own winter preparations. First snows weren't far off.