TITLE: Be My Baby 1/2 (Jean's POV)
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen, S/J romantic fluff
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: "By the end of most weeks, if Magneto offered to babysit I'd probably say yes, as long as he promised to wait until later to conquer the world."
DISCLAIMER: The X-Men and the X-Men movieverse belong to Marvel and
Twentieth-Century Fox and other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: This takes place some unspecified time after "To Tame a Wolverine," but it's really a sequel to "Don't Wake the Baby." Thanks to Avi for explaining some things about guys, and making this more accurate. Any remaining misunderstandings of how guys think are entirely my own. Thanks to Askani'daughter for the beta, valiant spotting of unintended double entendres, and deletion of sickly sweet description above and beyond the call of duty. I promise *someday* I'll try a Scott/Warren fic as a thank you :)
In case you're keeping track, stories in this series are: 1) She's Having a Baby...Maybe, 2) Don't Wake the Baby, 3) To Tame a Wolverine (interlude), and 4) Be My Baby.
//thoughts//
*********************************
I originally went to our bedroom to take a nap. Scott was in conference with the Professor, and Jubilee and Logan had agreed to take Rachel off my hands for a few hours. I know Friday afternoon's supposed to be my mother-daughter bonding time, but it's not as if I don't see her all the time.
Logan muttered something about how well babysitting worked out the last time, but, honestly, I was so tired I wasn't listening. By the end of most weeks, if Magneto offered to babysit I'd probably say yes, as long as he promised to wait until later to conquer the world.
It had been an especially abominable week, filled with disasters large and small. If John wasn't burning down a garden shed, then Toad and Sabretooth were attacking postal workers. (I'm not kidding, postal workers, I still don't know why. Maybe they were bored.) And Scott and I were barely speaking to each other.
It was a stupid fight, brought on more by exhaustion than anything else. Who knows the last time we had a full night's sleep, *and* we're trying to teach, *and* we're running around being the X-Men. But damn it, I was sick of being the one who always apologized, so I was going to wait him out.
In any case, I wanted a nap. When I opened the door to our bedroom, I was determined to lie down and not move until dinner time. But one look around the room convinced me sleep wasn't going to happen. It was a disaster.
I leaned against the doorway, assaulted by the smell of dirty laundry and dishes never taken back to the kitchen. I wanted to cry. You know, it's not as if I expected everything to be perfectly neat all the time, but surely the ability to see the floor wasn't too much to ask?
There was no way I'd be able to sleep until I'd sorted through some of this mess. But where to start? Well, maybe if I sorted out the laundry and dumped it into the baskets, I'd feel better.
I gathered up the dishes first, averting my eyes from the bluish-gray mold growing inside one glass. Ugh, I'm all for penicillin, but I prefer to buy it, not grow it.
The more I sorted, the more annoyed I got. What did Scott think? That I was his personal maid? To hell with him, once this was done and I got my nap, he could sort out his own damn laundry. I made it to the window, and started clearing off a chair that I vaguely recalled was blue. I threw t-shirts onto the bed, uncovering a stack of books that never made it to the bookshelves. It was then I realized the futility of trying to clear everything out in one afternoon. I slumped to the floor and leaned my head against the soft cushion of the chair, accidentally dislodging the books.
One bumped my head and landed in my lap, dropping a leather bookmark on the floor next to me and leaving something sticking out from between the pages. Curiosity made me open the book, where I found several small dried pink and white, three-petaled flowers, still emitting a summery fragrance.
//Flowers?// I stared at the blooms in my hands in confusion. //Where did these come from? Oh, right, hiking in Northern California.// I lifted the flowers to my nose and inhaled, remembering that afternoon.
**************************
Scott and I were out west so I could attend a medical conference and somehow we found a few hours to get out of the city.
Well, really he dragged me out of the hotel forcibly, because I kept insisting I was working. But once I got a look at where we were going, I was hooked.
The sky was a shade of blue I thought only existed in paintings, so bright it almost outshone the sun, shimmering and nearly cloudless. The sun was high in the sky as we drove, and the air was so clear I could pick out individual pine trees on the mountain range in front of us.
Scott drove the rental car through the twisty roads and I navigated. We wound up bickering amicably as I tried to figure out how the road matched our map. (You'd think a tactics whiz would know the map is *not* the territory.) Finally, we pulled into a half-empty parking lot, grabbed our water bottles, and strolled along the path through the redwoods.
The air was cool, fresh, and smelled a little damp. The humidity was wonderful on my skin after the dry temperature-controlled hotel. I was a little cold and I wrapped my jacket tighter around me, but the cold didn't seem to bother Scott. (Men really do generate more heat than women, you know.) He put his arm around my shoulders and we walked like that for a long time, not really talking about anything in particular. We snacked out of a well-stocked knapsack, enjoyed the scenery, and soaked up the serenity that redwoods exude.
As we wandered up and down hills and across streams, we saw a deer grazing, marveled at the age of the trees, and generally acted like a sappy couple in love.
Scott fairly oozed contentment as we settled on a handy log to enjoy an especially lovely view, the sun slanting through a gap in the trees to fall on a small brook below us. I leaned my head against his and let my eyes wander. A small patch of pink down the steep slope caught my attention.
I leaned forward to get a better look, surprised to see flowers in the dense woods. I pointed out the delicate blooms to Scott.
"I'll get some for you," he said.
"Honey, it's a park, you're not supposed to pick anything." I was surprised at the suggestion from my law-abiding spouse.
He grinned that irresistible grin of his. "I know, but just this once, let's be reckless super-villains."
He climbed down a fallen redwood, propped on the hill like a guardrail, about three feet off the ground. He inched his way down while I hovered up above. He made it to where the flowers grew, perhaps thirty or forty feet downslope, and leaned down to pick a few. I saw him pause, his hand amidst the flowers.
"Jean?" he called quietly.
"Yes?"
"That sign we were looking at in the ranger station? Did it say that black widow spiders *do* appear in this forest?"
"Scott!"
He yanked his arm up, holding a few of the flowers. I heard a ripping sound, but it looked like he'd made it safely onto his redwood perch. Unfortunately, he was off balance and teetered right over the other edge. I automatically reached out with my mind and grabbed him, dropping him back on top of the log, and he held on tightly when he landed.
He stared up the slope at me and I stared down at him. His hand still contained the small handful of flowers, which he waved at me. Then, I started to laugh and he started to laugh and he crawled up the log to land in my waiting arms. We giggled together for a long time, giddy with the silliness of it all.
I pointed out the brand-new rip in his sleeve. "I hope this is your only injury."
"Darn, I like this shirt." He frowned. "Oh well, it was for a good cause."
"You'd sacrifice a concert t-shirt for me? I'm touched."
His face became serious, and he stroked my cheek. "I'd sacrifice anything for you."
I had to close my eyes, and we leaned against each other, minds linked so we could savor our love.
I swore at that moment that I'd treasure those flowers, just as I treasured my relationship with Scott. That's why I pressed them into a medical volume I'd brought on the trip, so they would dry on the way back to Westchester.
*******************************
//How could I have forgotten that trip?// I asked myself, looking at the pressed flowers in my hand. So many things had happened in the intervening time, so many troubles, so much danger, and we hadn't always taken the time to remind ourselves we were in love.
Rachel was born because we loved each other and wanted to share that love with a child. I sniffed as I carefully slid the flowers back into the book, and put it back on the chair. I reached out with my mind and found Scott was still with the Professor. I set out to grab a few things to ambush him with when he came out of the meeting.
--continued in part 2 (Scott's POV)--
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen, S/J romantic fluff
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: "By the end of most weeks, if Magneto offered to babysit I'd probably say yes, as long as he promised to wait until later to conquer the world."
DISCLAIMER: The X-Men and the X-Men movieverse belong to Marvel and
Twentieth-Century Fox and other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: This takes place some unspecified time after "To Tame a Wolverine," but it's really a sequel to "Don't Wake the Baby." Thanks to Avi for explaining some things about guys, and making this more accurate. Any remaining misunderstandings of how guys think are entirely my own. Thanks to Askani'daughter for the beta, valiant spotting of unintended double entendres, and deletion of sickly sweet description above and beyond the call of duty. I promise *someday* I'll try a Scott/Warren fic as a thank you :)
In case you're keeping track, stories in this series are: 1) She's Having a Baby...Maybe, 2) Don't Wake the Baby, 3) To Tame a Wolverine (interlude), and 4) Be My Baby.
//thoughts//
*********************************
I originally went to our bedroom to take a nap. Scott was in conference with the Professor, and Jubilee and Logan had agreed to take Rachel off my hands for a few hours. I know Friday afternoon's supposed to be my mother-daughter bonding time, but it's not as if I don't see her all the time.
Logan muttered something about how well babysitting worked out the last time, but, honestly, I was so tired I wasn't listening. By the end of most weeks, if Magneto offered to babysit I'd probably say yes, as long as he promised to wait until later to conquer the world.
It had been an especially abominable week, filled with disasters large and small. If John wasn't burning down a garden shed, then Toad and Sabretooth were attacking postal workers. (I'm not kidding, postal workers, I still don't know why. Maybe they were bored.) And Scott and I were barely speaking to each other.
It was a stupid fight, brought on more by exhaustion than anything else. Who knows the last time we had a full night's sleep, *and* we're trying to teach, *and* we're running around being the X-Men. But damn it, I was sick of being the one who always apologized, so I was going to wait him out.
In any case, I wanted a nap. When I opened the door to our bedroom, I was determined to lie down and not move until dinner time. But one look around the room convinced me sleep wasn't going to happen. It was a disaster.
I leaned against the doorway, assaulted by the smell of dirty laundry and dishes never taken back to the kitchen. I wanted to cry. You know, it's not as if I expected everything to be perfectly neat all the time, but surely the ability to see the floor wasn't too much to ask?
There was no way I'd be able to sleep until I'd sorted through some of this mess. But where to start? Well, maybe if I sorted out the laundry and dumped it into the baskets, I'd feel better.
I gathered up the dishes first, averting my eyes from the bluish-gray mold growing inside one glass. Ugh, I'm all for penicillin, but I prefer to buy it, not grow it.
The more I sorted, the more annoyed I got. What did Scott think? That I was his personal maid? To hell with him, once this was done and I got my nap, he could sort out his own damn laundry. I made it to the window, and started clearing off a chair that I vaguely recalled was blue. I threw t-shirts onto the bed, uncovering a stack of books that never made it to the bookshelves. It was then I realized the futility of trying to clear everything out in one afternoon. I slumped to the floor and leaned my head against the soft cushion of the chair, accidentally dislodging the books.
One bumped my head and landed in my lap, dropping a leather bookmark on the floor next to me and leaving something sticking out from between the pages. Curiosity made me open the book, where I found several small dried pink and white, three-petaled flowers, still emitting a summery fragrance.
//Flowers?// I stared at the blooms in my hands in confusion. //Where did these come from? Oh, right, hiking in Northern California.// I lifted the flowers to my nose and inhaled, remembering that afternoon.
**************************
Scott and I were out west so I could attend a medical conference and somehow we found a few hours to get out of the city.
Well, really he dragged me out of the hotel forcibly, because I kept insisting I was working. But once I got a look at where we were going, I was hooked.
The sky was a shade of blue I thought only existed in paintings, so bright it almost outshone the sun, shimmering and nearly cloudless. The sun was high in the sky as we drove, and the air was so clear I could pick out individual pine trees on the mountain range in front of us.
Scott drove the rental car through the twisty roads and I navigated. We wound up bickering amicably as I tried to figure out how the road matched our map. (You'd think a tactics whiz would know the map is *not* the territory.) Finally, we pulled into a half-empty parking lot, grabbed our water bottles, and strolled along the path through the redwoods.
The air was cool, fresh, and smelled a little damp. The humidity was wonderful on my skin after the dry temperature-controlled hotel. I was a little cold and I wrapped my jacket tighter around me, but the cold didn't seem to bother Scott. (Men really do generate more heat than women, you know.) He put his arm around my shoulders and we walked like that for a long time, not really talking about anything in particular. We snacked out of a well-stocked knapsack, enjoyed the scenery, and soaked up the serenity that redwoods exude.
As we wandered up and down hills and across streams, we saw a deer grazing, marveled at the age of the trees, and generally acted like a sappy couple in love.
Scott fairly oozed contentment as we settled on a handy log to enjoy an especially lovely view, the sun slanting through a gap in the trees to fall on a small brook below us. I leaned my head against his and let my eyes wander. A small patch of pink down the steep slope caught my attention.
I leaned forward to get a better look, surprised to see flowers in the dense woods. I pointed out the delicate blooms to Scott.
"I'll get some for you," he said.
"Honey, it's a park, you're not supposed to pick anything." I was surprised at the suggestion from my law-abiding spouse.
He grinned that irresistible grin of his. "I know, but just this once, let's be reckless super-villains."
He climbed down a fallen redwood, propped on the hill like a guardrail, about three feet off the ground. He inched his way down while I hovered up above. He made it to where the flowers grew, perhaps thirty or forty feet downslope, and leaned down to pick a few. I saw him pause, his hand amidst the flowers.
"Jean?" he called quietly.
"Yes?"
"That sign we were looking at in the ranger station? Did it say that black widow spiders *do* appear in this forest?"
"Scott!"
He yanked his arm up, holding a few of the flowers. I heard a ripping sound, but it looked like he'd made it safely onto his redwood perch. Unfortunately, he was off balance and teetered right over the other edge. I automatically reached out with my mind and grabbed him, dropping him back on top of the log, and he held on tightly when he landed.
He stared up the slope at me and I stared down at him. His hand still contained the small handful of flowers, which he waved at me. Then, I started to laugh and he started to laugh and he crawled up the log to land in my waiting arms. We giggled together for a long time, giddy with the silliness of it all.
I pointed out the brand-new rip in his sleeve. "I hope this is your only injury."
"Darn, I like this shirt." He frowned. "Oh well, it was for a good cause."
"You'd sacrifice a concert t-shirt for me? I'm touched."
His face became serious, and he stroked my cheek. "I'd sacrifice anything for you."
I had to close my eyes, and we leaned against each other, minds linked so we could savor our love.
I swore at that moment that I'd treasure those flowers, just as I treasured my relationship with Scott. That's why I pressed them into a medical volume I'd brought on the trip, so they would dry on the way back to Westchester.
*******************************
//How could I have forgotten that trip?// I asked myself, looking at the pressed flowers in my hand. So many things had happened in the intervening time, so many troubles, so much danger, and we hadn't always taken the time to remind ourselves we were in love.
Rachel was born because we loved each other and wanted to share that love with a child. I sniffed as I carefully slid the flowers back into the book, and put it back on the chair. I reached out with my mind and found Scott was still with the Professor. I set out to grab a few things to ambush him with when he came out of the meeting.
--continued in part 2 (Scott's POV)--