"How far apart have you been having them lately?" Hank asked, she thought for a moment, she hadn't really realized how far apart they had been since she was talking to her sister which hadn't been that long. "I'm not sure, fifteen minutes maybe." She remembered what he'd told her about if she'd had contractions ten minutes apart or less. "It hasn't even been that long…" "True, but babies do often choose their own time to come into the world, It's not always that convenient, but…" "How long do we have?" Logan asked looking at the blue guy. "I'm not sure, has her water broken yet?" Ororo shook her head slightly, "No." She said calming more. "Not yet." Hank had a serious look on his face. "What is it Blue?" Logan asked the Doctor. "Ororo, were you at all stressed when you started having pain?" She didn't have to think, she knew, explaining to her sister about how Weapon X was searching for Logan and anyone else who had been with them in the past had pulled a nerve that refused to be comforted. She nodded to him in response. "If you don't mind my asking, what was it?" Asked Beast looking her in the eyes, she looked away. "I'd rather not talk about it Hank." The Scientist nodded to her approving of her request. "Alright Ororo, but I have to advise you not to let things bother you now… as a Mother to be you are more fragile than you were before, and it's vital for the baby that you do your best to balance yourself in every way you can till your term is up. Understand?" She nodded not looking at him. "I'm sorry if I upset you, I just want to make sure that your baby is safe and healthy." He said apologetically, "I understand Hank… thank you for your concern." She looked up at him halfway into her sentence, he smiled at her in response. "Would you like something to relax?" "That would be nice." "Alright." Hank got something to make Ororo relax and rest for a little while.
Waking up she looked around, out the window she saw it was dark outside, she then looked to the other side of her where she saw her husband slumped in the chair beside her. Smiling to him she reached her hand up to remove a loose hair from in front of his face, she then pulled her hand back to herself. Looking to the clock on the wall she could barely see it since the only light in the room was from the lamp on her right. Straining her eyes she saw that it was about 2:00 in the morning. It shocked her to see that she had slept so long. She wasn't exactly tired at the moment, but she wasn't all the way awake either. "It's not time to get up yet darlin'." She heard a voice from her side, she looked over to see Logan now sitting up straight in his chair. "How ya feeling?" "Stretched, how about you?" "Rested." He responded reaching up to his face and rubbing his left eye. "That's good." She said back, as she turned her head to him. They talked for a few minutes, she was getting hungry, so she was about to get up and get a bite to eat. "What're you doing?" "I'm hungry Logan…" "You stay here, I'll get something for you." "But-" "No buts. I'll be back in a minute." He said getting up, she laid there looking out the door, she couldn't believe that she'd slept so long. The wind was howling outside, there was a silhouette of an owl outside, just sitting on a branch as the wind made it sway back and forth. She watched as it sat there seemingly watching her, she couldn't help but wonder why it was there… surely there were other safer places in the trees where it could perch and be untouched by the nighttime breeze. She closed her eyes momentarily as a wave of tiredness washed over her. Opening her eyes again she saw that the owl's eyes were a yellow shade. It was nothing unusual for an owl since they're nocturnal by nature, but the one thing that put her on edge was that they were glowing, not just regular. One thing crossed her mind then. Mystique. She moved to sit up, the creature at the window moved just out of sight. 'What's she doing here?' She asked herself quietly, she heard the subtle footsteps of her husband as he came to the entrance of the room. She kept her gaze out the window just long enough to see the "bird" fly off into the wind.
Noticing her uneasiness he looked to where she was looking just in time to see an owl fly off into the distance. Seeing this he felt the same insecurity as she did, that was no owl. She turned to look at him seeing the expression on his face she knew he saw it as well. "Do you think it was?" She asked with a concerned look on her face, he looked to her on the bed, his eyes answering her question. He was sure it was, but he didn't want to think of that at the moment, even still, he knew that if they wanted to keep each other and their family he was going to have to protect them. A million conscious and subconscious thoughts went through his mind in that moment. Thoughts about the dreaded Weapon X, about their enemies, their true friends, their future, past, present, and everything else that concerned them in that moment. Was he going to have to go back to being the tool to protect them? To insure their security. "James." He heard his real name called softly, he looked down to the host of that voice. Ororo was looking at him concerned, like she knew what was going on in his head somehow, he did his best to calm himself and focus on that moment, not the endless possibilities of the future. "Hm?" He made the sound to her, asking her what it was, though he knew all too well what he was thinking. "your claws…" She said Looking at him understanding his need to block her and their unborn child from any harm that would try and come their way. He looked down to his hands seeing that the edges of his claws were peeking out of his fists. "It's ok Jim, we're not in danger right now, you've done a good job keeping us safe, thank you my husband." She watched as his eyes slowly started to turn back to their normal color from a darker more savage state. "I think little Jessie's very proud of her Daddy." She said knowing it would break him out of whatever funk he was in, he turned to face her, looking at her curiously his eyes normal now. "Can't you hear her?" She said knowing that what she said was true. He came closer putting down the tray of food that he brought for her on the fold out table that was next to the bed. He sat down next to her as if unsure of what she had said and its validity. "Listen." she said leaning back for him to put his ear to her stomach, he leaned in, so his ear was to her belly. A moment later his face went from its regular expression to delighted, she could feel the warmth from him radiating now at the joy and love that just reentered the room. He rubbed his face against her tummy gently trying to snuggle the little one through her Mother's skin. Ororo couldn't help but be touched by his sweetness toward both her and their daughter in the moment. She ran her fingers through his thick charcoal mane soothingly as his breathing started sounding more like a steady purr rather than just the intake and exhale of oxygen. They stayed like that for a couple more moments before he turned his head and kissed the bump that the little one was giftwrapped inside. His eyes said everything to her after that moment… thank you, I love you, etc.
It wasn't long after that that she started to eat the food that he brought her, he sat silently watching her as she ate. His gaze alternated from her to the window. Though she didn't want him to worry about her or them she knew he was doing his best to protect them, and she couldn't thank him enough for that, though she could protect herself well enough when she had to and the others were of course as well, but not as much as he was. She took a moment looking back at the quote from Corinthians that she'd come across every now and then, "There are three things that will endure – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love." 'God sure is wise to let Paul write that…' She thought. Love truly was everything that he described. It gave strength, and endurance, and the will to accomplish what was once impossible before. It didn't take long for them to get sleepy again and eventually fall asleep in each other's arms.
She woke up again with the urge to empty her bladder, she slowly rose from the bed, feeling like a balloon that was over filled and about to pop. She exhaled hard as she stretched backward, then walked to the bathroom and did her business. She looked in the mirror as she washed her hands, she turned to dry them. Seeing herself there with the baby bulge, made her feel fat. There was a knock on the door, she jumped startled. "Ro, you in there?" Logan's voice came from behind the door. "How did you know…" She said sarcastically, "It's a gift." He gently pushed open the door and peered inside. "You didn't have to track me here…" She said turning away from him. "Ya weren't there when I woke Princess… wanted to make sure you were safe." "I'm fine Logan." "Ya sure?" "Yes, I'm very sure." They looked to each other through the mirror. "I'm so fat." Ororo said looking at herself, Logan smirked to her. "I like you this way." Ororo looked at him confused, "What?" She asked staring at him. "I like ya any way ya are Darlin." "Oh, I'm sure…" She said sarcastically "Ro." He said turning her head to him. "You really like the fact that I'm fat right now…" "I love ya regardless of how ya look n feel." Though she felt bleh, she knew he meant what he said and would probably stake his life one it regardless of what she thought. She nodded to him understanding what he meant by this, "I guess…" He rested his head against hers as he placed his hands on her stomach rubbing gently. "Our little one's gonna change our lives Ro." She just looked to his hands putting her hands ontop of them. She couldn't help but smile as she heard the soft purr emanating from him as he held her. A little while later she went downstairs getting something to eat. She felt uncomfortable sitting or lying somewhere all the time, so she needed to get up and stretch her legs every now and then, though Hank told her what he'd told her about being too active, or stressed out at any time she felt she knew her limits, and everyone understood the need to be active at least a little bit. Since her sister was there at the time she stuck close to Ororo and did everything with her unless it was taking a bath or shower, or something very personal like that.
The Professor wheeled into the kitchen, seeing Ororo raiding the fridge, with Vivian standing close by, she gave a quick smile to him, "Hello Professor." She said, he smiled back "Hello Vivian." "Hello Ororo." He said looking to her, she gave a peek over the fridge door seeing him. "Hello Charles." She said back. "How are you feeling?" "Ready to get this baby out." She said, he chuckled lightly. "I'm sure you are." "Ha, not without me there Ro." Vivian stated teasing She ate as they talked for a short while, Ororo and her sister then headed over to the garden.
Logan, though still the head trainer, and guardian of the mansion decided to hand over the responsibilities of training the students to Scott and postpone any of his personal training of the X-men till after the baby was born. He thought about it when she'd gotten closer than 6½ months to having the baby and decided that it would be the best course of action if he paused training for now, and resumed after the baby was successfully delivered. Scott was happy to take the position of head trainer, even if it was a temporary position. He wasn't wild or untamed as Logan in any way, but he knew he could handle the position since he was already the head of the Beta team. Jean was very confident that he would do amazing, and so was Logan. The others were happy that Logan wouldn't be the one who was training them for at least the next few months. But they did regret it a little bit when Scott made it his normal dialect to talk about training, and battle techniques, along with the normal school of the day, and homework.
Vivian followed Ororo as she was about to go up to their room, when she stopped, feeling weird. She felt as if she had suddenly lost control of her bladder, feeling a little embarrassed, her face flushed a little bit, but as she looked down to see what happened she realized that may not have been the accurate conclusion. She looked to her feet seeing a fairly sized puddle at her feet. She then realized what happened, the thought wasn't that much of a shock, but it gave her a bit of a start, the two sisters looked to each other.
"My water broke…"