Chapter 34
Four Weeks Later...
"Sara, could you stay after class? I need to speak with you." Marie called after Sara before the teen could get out the door.
"Uh, sure." She said, a little confused as to why Marie wanted her to stay behind. After the students had left, Marie turned to Sara with a mysterious smile.
"Christmas Break is in two days, are you going back to Frisco?" She asked curiously, though the school gossip mill had already given her the answer. Sara sighed sadly(AN: Hey! Alliteration! Try saying that five times fast! ...Okay I'm done.) and plopped down onto a desk.
"No, I can't afford the tickets. It's a shame, I really wanted to see my family...and Kayla of course." Sara trailed off with a distant look on her face. Marie turned her back toward the teen and made her way to her desk.
"Listen Sara, I know that Christmas is still a week away, but I wanted to give you your present while I still had the chance." She said as she made her way to the desk that she and Cassie shared. Sara's confused eyes watched her every move.
"Still have the chance? Professor, I'm gonna be here for Christmas." She clarified. Marie smirked.
"I don't think so." She whispered as she retrieved an envelope from the top drawer.
"You say something Professor?" Sara asked, just faintly picking up a few stray words. Marie said nothing, she just handed Sara the envelope with a smile. Sara raised an eyebrow, before opening the envelope.
"Oh...my...God!" Sara exclaimed when a plane ticket fell into her lap. With trembling hands, she picked it up to inspect it more closely. Marie watched her with a warm smile.
"That round-trip ticket will take you to Frisco and back in time for next semester. I already called your family to arrange for you to be picked up at the airport. Also, me and Crause will take you to the airport Saturday afternoon, so you might want to start packing." She said as Sara's eyes began to fill with tears. Unable to control herself, Sara grabbed Marie into a bone-crushing bear hug.
"Oh thank you! Thank you so much Professor!" She said as she broke down in tears, sobbing into Marie's shoulder. Marie smiled and hugged Sara back.
"No problem, I couldn't bear to see two lovers seperated by something as petty as distance. And please, call me Marie when we aren't in class." She said after Sara finally calmed down. Sara smiled through her tears.
"O-okay...Marie. Wait, ohmigod! What's today?!" She suddenly asked in a worried tone.
"Thursday." Marie replied calmly, making Sara freak even more.
"Shi-I mean-crap! I gotta get packed! And I gotta say goodbye to everyone! Oh, and I gotta call Kayla-" Marie cut her off there.
"Actually, Sara, Kayla doesn't know. Me and your parents thought that you'd be the perfect Christmas present for her." Marie said with a mischevious grin. Sara met her smile with a face-splitting grin of her own.
"Prof-I mean, Marie, I can't think of how I can even begin to repay you for this." Sara said, her tears spilling over again. Marie smiled and clapped her on the back.
"Don't worry about it. I know what it's like to love someone and not be able to see her." Marie said, reflecting on her relationship with Cassie before she met Jean.
"Really? I didn't know that you and Jean were seperated." Sara said. Marie shook her head.
"No, no, this was before I met Jean. You see, in high school, Professor Crause and I dated for a few months." She corrected.
"WHAT?! Holy cow, I didn't know that!" Sara said in a shocked tone that made Marie chuckle.
"Yeah, sit down and I'll tell you all about it." Sara complied, and Marie began to tell her about the history between her and Cassie, and how it affected the relationship between her and Jean.
Meanwhile...
"Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit! Oh shit I'm late!" Jean muttered wide-eyed as she paced the floor of the bedroom she shared with Marie. She nervously alternated between running her fingers through her hair and wringing her hands nervously. She stopped her pacing with a horrified look on her face.
"Oh God! What if I'm...NO! No, I'm just running a bit late. Yeah, that's all, just...three...weeks...late." She whimpered and lowered her head into her hands. She then stood straight up, smoothed out her wrinkled button-up, and left for the infirmary.
I might not be...but I probably am...I have to be sure. She told herself as she forced her legs to carry her to the infirmary.
When she got to the infirmary, she opened a medicine cabinet and rummaged around. After finding the device she was seeking, she followed the directions on the box and then sat and anxiously waited for the answer to a universal life-changing question.
Cassie wiped the sweat off of her forehead as she walked along the metal corridors, leaving the Danger Room.
Whew! Nothing like a work-out to clear the mind. Now I can give some thought to what I'm going to get Jean and Marie for Christmas. Why the hell do they have to be so hard to shop for? I guess that I could get-
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cassie was cut off by an ear-piercing scream coming from the infirmary. Curious and alarmed, she ran to the metal doors and bursted into the room to find Jean Grey sobbing on the floor, clenching her stomach and looking as if she were about to throw up. Cassie ran over to her and picked her up. She gently placed her on a metal table and hugged her tightly to her chest as she sobbed into the younger mutant's shoulder.
"Jean, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Cassie asked worridly as Jean clung to her with everything in her.
"I-I-oh God-I'm-" Jean couldn't speak. Cassie, seeing that the doctor was a step away from hyperventilating, took Jean's face in her hands and looked her in the eyes.
"Jean, listen to me. Breathe in." Jean sucked in a deep breath. "Now breathe out." Jean blew the air out of her lungs. Cassie continued this coaching until she could see that Jean was calm enough to tell her what was wrong. "Okay, now tell me what happened."
Jean, still too choked up to speak, pointed to the device laying on the floor where Jean originally sat. Cassie walkd over to the device and picked it up. When she saw it more closely, she almost dropped it. She looked at Jean with a combination of shock, worry, and anger.
"Oh my God! Jean, you're pregnant?!" She said as she looked at the whimpering doctor. Jean continued to stay silent, acknowledging Cassie with merely a nod of her head.
"But-but how?! Marie's a girl, you're a girl...and you're fucking around on her, aren't you?!" Cassie's confusion quickly turned to anger at the thought of her best friend being cheated on. Infidelity was something that no relationship deserved. Jean looked up with wide eyes.
"NO! No I swear, I never cheated on Marie! Please Cass, you gotta believe me!" She didn't know if it was the sincerity in her eyes, or the fragility in her voice, but Cassie somehow knew that Jean wasn't lying. Still, this did nothing to relieve her confusion, though it certainly cooled her anger.
"Okay, so how exactly can you be pregnant with Marie's child?!" She said in a firmer voice than she had intended. Jean bit her bottom lip to keep it from quivering.
"I don't know, she told me that she was shooting blanks." She answered, only confusing poor Cassie even more.
"Wait a minute! Time out! Shooting blanks?! What the hell are you talking about?!" In a shakey voice, Jean quickly explained about Marie's special trick.
"Ya know what? That explains it. In fact, why didn't I think about that?" Cassie said in a voice so calm, you'd think that she heard this kind of thing every day. Thing is, in this house, she probably did.
"No Cassie, it doesn't explain everything! How am I pregnant?! Marie assured me that she wasn't yet strong enough to generate sperm!" Cassie pulled Jean back against her chest as she broke down once again.
"Well Jean, I guess that the only explaination is that Marie is probably stronger than she thinks. She's probably mutating, making her shape-shifting abilities more realistic. I mean, Marie wouldn't lie to you about something like that. I'm betting that this is gonna blind sight her as much as it did you." Cassie assured as Jean cried onto her shoulder.
Just then, Marie came bursting through the door. Jean saw her and immediately jumped into her arms. Cassie surmised that Marie must have felt a disturbance in the telepathic link between her and Jean.
"Jean, what's going on?! I felt something wrong and got down here as soon as I could! Is everything okay?!" Marie asked as she tried to figure out what was wrong with her hysterical lover. Jean took a deep breath before she spoke into Marie's shoulder.
"Marie, how would you feel about having children?" Jean whimpered in a trembling voice. Marie pulled Jean away just enough to give her a reassuring grin.
"Jean, we've been through this. I would love to have children with you as soon as we get married." Marie comforted, not realising where this conversation was headed.
"Well then Marie, you two'd better get married within the next six months." Cassie said, making Marie's grin dropped in half a heartbeat.
"Wh-what?" She stuttered. Jean gently grabbed Marie's chin and turned her head to look into her eyes.
"Marie, I'm pregnant with your baby." She said in a very serious tone.
The room began to spin. Then all went black for Marie as she crumpled to the floor.
AN: Well, that's probably not the way that any sane person would break that kind of news. Then again, that is what makes good drama, right? Anywho...review please!