Rogue gazed on the sleeping face of her son lovingly, admiring the light
brownish fuzz of hair on his head that turned to white in the front.
"He's going to have your hair, Rogue," Forest whispered.
Rogue smiled and stroked the back of the blanketed bundle gently.
"He has his daddy's eyes, too." She whispered back.
Forest grinned.
"I wonder if he'll have his temper," She said, repressing a giggle.
Rogue felt a giggle rise inside her too at the thought of a miniature Wolverine.
"Ah wonder what his powers are," Rogue said when the giggles had passed.
Forest smiled.
"You two make quite the combination of genes," She whispered.
Rogue sighed as the problem of the ring on her hand resurfaced in her mind.
Forest noticed her twisting the ring and patted the young mother's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it---deal with it when they get back. There's no reason to fret."
Rogue nodded, feeling a lump rise in her throat at the thought of not being with Logan.
"Speaking of them getting back---I wonder where they are?"
Forest walked to the window and peered out.
"They've been gone for such a long time."
A worry rose in Rogue's heart as she realized how many hours had gone by without Logan and the others returning to safety.
"Yeah, it's been quite a while, shugah," She whispered.
"Should I try to contact Jean with the communicator?"
Rogue pondered a moment.
The trouble was over, the baby was delivered and safe in his mother's arms, but she was getting worried.
"Why not, shugah? Go ahead."
She hovered to the crib and placed her sleeping son down carefully.
"We'll go to the doorway so we don't wake Ryan."
Forest picked up the radio and moved to the doorway, watching as the mother of a son three hours old flew silently to where she stood and shaking her head.
"You're lucky you're invulnerable, Rogue," She said with wonder as the young mother settled beside her.
"Sure am, shugah," She returned.
"Now let's get it ovah with, huh?"
Forest raised the communicator to her mouth and spoke into it softly.
"Hello? Jean? Anybody?"
They waited for a response, but other than the crackle of the radio, they heard nothing.
Then...
"Bloody 'ell, she has a radio or something!"
There was a shuffle of noises before the distinctive click of the communicator being turned off reached their ears, and all was silent.
Rogue finally spoke, feeling her heart drop into her feet.
"That-that was Toad. He works for the Brotherhood," She said in a flat tone.
Forest looked pale.
"They've got her," She whispered hoarsely.
"They've got them."
Rogue bit her lip as a thought came into her mind.
"They've got Logan," She said, balling up her fists.
Forest covered her mouth with her hands in horror as realization dawned on her.
"Oh, my..."
Rogue pounded one fist against the other.
"We've got to help them!" She said determinedly.
"We can't let the Brotherhood hurt them!"
Forest shook her head.
"Oh, Rogue, there's nothing we can do!" She said sadly.
"Yes there is. Ah'm gonna save them."
Forest looked shocked.
"Rogue, you can't be thinking of leaving your newborn son all alone!"
Rogue pondered for a moment.
"Then he's coming with me."
Forest looked outraged.
"You can't take a baby in a battle, Rogue! He'll be hurt! He'll be killed!"
Rogue sobered at that thought.
"Then ah'll have to leave him here with you, shugah."
She glanced back at the crib, aching at the thought of leaving him for even a moment, but she had to save his father from the enemy.
It was her duty.
"There's a couple bottles of milk stored away in that unit, give one to him if he starts fussing."
Forest nodded.
She flew back to the side of his crib, reaching in and picking up the sleeping newborn gently.
Holding him to her chest, she kissed his downy-covered head softly before placing him back in his soft cocoon of blankets.
"See yah, Ryan," She cooed before turning back to Forest.
"Watch him for me, Forest," She said as she looked at her friend in the eye.
"I'll do my very best," Said Forest as her friend swept by.
"Good luck."
Rogue paused at the door.
"Thanks---ah'm gonna need it."
Then she was gone.
+ + + + + +
Logan paused to take a whiff of the surrounding evening air, trying to stay focused and keep his mind off Rogue and their baby.
~Ground, Sea breeze, the remainders of a black forest ham on rye sandwich, vanilla perfume.Rogue likes Vanilla.~
He sighed as he remembered the scent of her hair.
~Whoa, bub, mind on the job! Okay okay I can do this...A group of people where smoking there....no mutants....wait there was one.~
He took another breath.
~Kind of manly....with an undertone of female mutant....~
He grinned wolfishly.
"Gotcha, Mystique," He said in a whisper as he began to track the trail of the shape shifter.
He wove his way across the courtyard in this manner, pausing every once and again to reaffirm that he was still on the tracks of the metamorphic mutant.
He stopped suddenly.
~New scent,~ He thought, taking a deeper smell. ~Sabertooth!~
He growled and felt his knuckles itch as he recognized the smell of his sworn enemy, a huge feral-like mutant with powers very similar to his own.
~She met that bastard here.and shifted too, by the smell.~
A loud click caught his attention.
"Hello, Wolverine," Said Mystique with a malicious grin.
"We meet again."
Logan turned slowly to face the shape shifter, gritting his adamantium- laced teeth angrily.
"Mystique," He hissed.
The shape-shifting mutant held a cocked gun aimed straight for his head, her hand playing lightly on the trigger as she took a step towards him.
"You're losin' your touch, 'stique, if'n you think you can take me down with that ole' piece'a crap."
He said, nodding at her firearm scornfully.
Mystique smiled.
"This here 'piece of crap' is actually a powerful piece of weaponry, Wolverine. Its impact is about equal to the force of a small Nuclear bomb going off. Latest technology." "
He growled.
"An you're hopin' to tear a hole in a head laced with indestructible metal an' a healin' factor?"
He chuckled.
"I wish you luck, ya crazy blue bitch."
He felt his lips curl into a snarl as the huge silhouette of his most hated foe joined the blue metamorph known as Mystique.
"Sabertooth," He growled, letting the claws concealed in his forearms break free to relieve the persistent itch in his knuckles.
"Wolverine," Sabertooth returned with a sneer.
The hair on Logan's neck rose as he glared at his old enemy, feeling the urge to kill rising with every breath he took.
"Thought you were dead, Creed."
Sabertooth grinned manically.
"Disappointed?"
Logan growled.
"Very."
Mystique cleared her throat, obviously impatient to get her job over with.
"Victor, we've got other orders. Let's keep it quick."
Her hand caressed the trigger longingly as she took another step towards Logan, her yellow eyes flashing as though daring him to make a move.
She stopped when she was about three feet away from him, and grinned suddenly as an idea stuck her.
"Let's make it hurt the most," She said as she used her powers to morph. "....shugah."
Logan swallowed noisily as he took in the figure of the brown haired woman he loved so much, complete with the trademark white streaks.
"Rogue...." He whispered hoarsely before his logic kicked in.
~Fuck, she's not Rogue!~ He thought, angry at his reaction.
He raised a fistful of adamantium with a growl, fighting his natural instincts.
~She's not my mate! She's Mystique!~
The Rogue look-alike grinned as she watched him furrow his brow, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes as his emotions battled inside him.
"That's it Logan....shugah..." She crooned in Rogue's southern honey accent as Logan's hands began to shake and one by one the claws slid back in.
He shook his head.
"You're.Mystique....no....you're....not my...Rogue...."
He inhaled sharply through his nose, letting the altered scent of the shape shifter clear his brain from the clouded battle of instincts and logic.
"MYSTIQUE!" He roared, popping all his metal-laced claws at once and springing at the metamorph with murder in his mind.
Mystique shrieked and in reflex she reverted to her natural form, her eyes blazing yellow and her skin a cool glistening blue.
Logan hit the metamorphic mutant hard and as one they rolled to the ground, a tangle of limbs as they struggled for their lives and victory for their team.
"Victor! Help me!" Mystique shrilled, morphing every few seconds in an attempt to find a form that would give her leverage against the feral mutant with claws that battled her.
Sabertooth grinned stupidly and let Mystique get a few scratches from Logan's claws before stepping in to help his associate.
He grabbed the smaller Logan by the wrists and dangled him in the air.
"You know what I'm gonna do after I finish with you?" He leered.
Logan growled and struggled to free himself.
"Well, I'm gonna go to your lil home and tear your lil girlfriend....what's her name....oh yeah...Rogue....from limb ta limb.....after I'm finished * enjoyin *' her, of course...."
Logan roared.
"You * sick * bastard!"
Sabertooth's features lit up with an insane grin.
"Then I'm gonna take your lil kid...."
He leaned forward and whispered his twisted plans into Logan's sensitive ears, laughing at the horrified expression that spread across his adversary's face.
"Victor! Stop playing with him and do your job! We have to go!" Called Mystique.
Sabertooth snarled.
"Fine, fine!"
He lifted the smaller man into the air and dashed him against the cobblestone with enough force to knock out an elephant, let alone a mutant.
Logan's claws automatically retracted as the impact rendered him unconscious.
+ + + + +
"He's going to have your hair, Rogue," Forest whispered.
Rogue smiled and stroked the back of the blanketed bundle gently.
"He has his daddy's eyes, too." She whispered back.
Forest grinned.
"I wonder if he'll have his temper," She said, repressing a giggle.
Rogue felt a giggle rise inside her too at the thought of a miniature Wolverine.
"Ah wonder what his powers are," Rogue said when the giggles had passed.
Forest smiled.
"You two make quite the combination of genes," She whispered.
Rogue sighed as the problem of the ring on her hand resurfaced in her mind.
Forest noticed her twisting the ring and patted the young mother's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it---deal with it when they get back. There's no reason to fret."
Rogue nodded, feeling a lump rise in her throat at the thought of not being with Logan.
"Speaking of them getting back---I wonder where they are?"
Forest walked to the window and peered out.
"They've been gone for such a long time."
A worry rose in Rogue's heart as she realized how many hours had gone by without Logan and the others returning to safety.
"Yeah, it's been quite a while, shugah," She whispered.
"Should I try to contact Jean with the communicator?"
Rogue pondered a moment.
The trouble was over, the baby was delivered and safe in his mother's arms, but she was getting worried.
"Why not, shugah? Go ahead."
She hovered to the crib and placed her sleeping son down carefully.
"We'll go to the doorway so we don't wake Ryan."
Forest picked up the radio and moved to the doorway, watching as the mother of a son three hours old flew silently to where she stood and shaking her head.
"You're lucky you're invulnerable, Rogue," She said with wonder as the young mother settled beside her.
"Sure am, shugah," She returned.
"Now let's get it ovah with, huh?"
Forest raised the communicator to her mouth and spoke into it softly.
"Hello? Jean? Anybody?"
They waited for a response, but other than the crackle of the radio, they heard nothing.
Then...
"Bloody 'ell, she has a radio or something!"
There was a shuffle of noises before the distinctive click of the communicator being turned off reached their ears, and all was silent.
Rogue finally spoke, feeling her heart drop into her feet.
"That-that was Toad. He works for the Brotherhood," She said in a flat tone.
Forest looked pale.
"They've got her," She whispered hoarsely.
"They've got them."
Rogue bit her lip as a thought came into her mind.
"They've got Logan," She said, balling up her fists.
Forest covered her mouth with her hands in horror as realization dawned on her.
"Oh, my..."
Rogue pounded one fist against the other.
"We've got to help them!" She said determinedly.
"We can't let the Brotherhood hurt them!"
Forest shook her head.
"Oh, Rogue, there's nothing we can do!" She said sadly.
"Yes there is. Ah'm gonna save them."
Forest looked shocked.
"Rogue, you can't be thinking of leaving your newborn son all alone!"
Rogue pondered for a moment.
"Then he's coming with me."
Forest looked outraged.
"You can't take a baby in a battle, Rogue! He'll be hurt! He'll be killed!"
Rogue sobered at that thought.
"Then ah'll have to leave him here with you, shugah."
She glanced back at the crib, aching at the thought of leaving him for even a moment, but she had to save his father from the enemy.
It was her duty.
"There's a couple bottles of milk stored away in that unit, give one to him if he starts fussing."
Forest nodded.
She flew back to the side of his crib, reaching in and picking up the sleeping newborn gently.
Holding him to her chest, she kissed his downy-covered head softly before placing him back in his soft cocoon of blankets.
"See yah, Ryan," She cooed before turning back to Forest.
"Watch him for me, Forest," She said as she looked at her friend in the eye.
"I'll do my very best," Said Forest as her friend swept by.
"Good luck."
Rogue paused at the door.
"Thanks---ah'm gonna need it."
Then she was gone.
+ + + + + +
Logan paused to take a whiff of the surrounding evening air, trying to stay focused and keep his mind off Rogue and their baby.
~Ground, Sea breeze, the remainders of a black forest ham on rye sandwich, vanilla perfume.Rogue likes Vanilla.~
He sighed as he remembered the scent of her hair.
~Whoa, bub, mind on the job! Okay okay I can do this...A group of people where smoking there....no mutants....wait there was one.~
He took another breath.
~Kind of manly....with an undertone of female mutant....~
He grinned wolfishly.
"Gotcha, Mystique," He said in a whisper as he began to track the trail of the shape shifter.
He wove his way across the courtyard in this manner, pausing every once and again to reaffirm that he was still on the tracks of the metamorphic mutant.
He stopped suddenly.
~New scent,~ He thought, taking a deeper smell. ~Sabertooth!~
He growled and felt his knuckles itch as he recognized the smell of his sworn enemy, a huge feral-like mutant with powers very similar to his own.
~She met that bastard here.and shifted too, by the smell.~
A loud click caught his attention.
"Hello, Wolverine," Said Mystique with a malicious grin.
"We meet again."
Logan turned slowly to face the shape shifter, gritting his adamantium- laced teeth angrily.
"Mystique," He hissed.
The shape-shifting mutant held a cocked gun aimed straight for his head, her hand playing lightly on the trigger as she took a step towards him.
"You're losin' your touch, 'stique, if'n you think you can take me down with that ole' piece'a crap."
He said, nodding at her firearm scornfully.
Mystique smiled.
"This here 'piece of crap' is actually a powerful piece of weaponry, Wolverine. Its impact is about equal to the force of a small Nuclear bomb going off. Latest technology." "
He growled.
"An you're hopin' to tear a hole in a head laced with indestructible metal an' a healin' factor?"
He chuckled.
"I wish you luck, ya crazy blue bitch."
He felt his lips curl into a snarl as the huge silhouette of his most hated foe joined the blue metamorph known as Mystique.
"Sabertooth," He growled, letting the claws concealed in his forearms break free to relieve the persistent itch in his knuckles.
"Wolverine," Sabertooth returned with a sneer.
The hair on Logan's neck rose as he glared at his old enemy, feeling the urge to kill rising with every breath he took.
"Thought you were dead, Creed."
Sabertooth grinned manically.
"Disappointed?"
Logan growled.
"Very."
Mystique cleared her throat, obviously impatient to get her job over with.
"Victor, we've got other orders. Let's keep it quick."
Her hand caressed the trigger longingly as she took another step towards Logan, her yellow eyes flashing as though daring him to make a move.
She stopped when she was about three feet away from him, and grinned suddenly as an idea stuck her.
"Let's make it hurt the most," She said as she used her powers to morph. "....shugah."
Logan swallowed noisily as he took in the figure of the brown haired woman he loved so much, complete with the trademark white streaks.
"Rogue...." He whispered hoarsely before his logic kicked in.
~Fuck, she's not Rogue!~ He thought, angry at his reaction.
He raised a fistful of adamantium with a growl, fighting his natural instincts.
~She's not my mate! She's Mystique!~
The Rogue look-alike grinned as she watched him furrow his brow, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes as his emotions battled inside him.
"That's it Logan....shugah..." She crooned in Rogue's southern honey accent as Logan's hands began to shake and one by one the claws slid back in.
He shook his head.
"You're.Mystique....no....you're....not my...Rogue...."
He inhaled sharply through his nose, letting the altered scent of the shape shifter clear his brain from the clouded battle of instincts and logic.
"MYSTIQUE!" He roared, popping all his metal-laced claws at once and springing at the metamorph with murder in his mind.
Mystique shrieked and in reflex she reverted to her natural form, her eyes blazing yellow and her skin a cool glistening blue.
Logan hit the metamorphic mutant hard and as one they rolled to the ground, a tangle of limbs as they struggled for their lives and victory for their team.
"Victor! Help me!" Mystique shrilled, morphing every few seconds in an attempt to find a form that would give her leverage against the feral mutant with claws that battled her.
Sabertooth grinned stupidly and let Mystique get a few scratches from Logan's claws before stepping in to help his associate.
He grabbed the smaller Logan by the wrists and dangled him in the air.
"You know what I'm gonna do after I finish with you?" He leered.
Logan growled and struggled to free himself.
"Well, I'm gonna go to your lil home and tear your lil girlfriend....what's her name....oh yeah...Rogue....from limb ta limb.....after I'm finished * enjoyin *' her, of course...."
Logan roared.
"You * sick * bastard!"
Sabertooth's features lit up with an insane grin.
"Then I'm gonna take your lil kid...."
He leaned forward and whispered his twisted plans into Logan's sensitive ears, laughing at the horrified expression that spread across his adversary's face.
"Victor! Stop playing with him and do your job! We have to go!" Called Mystique.
Sabertooth snarled.
"Fine, fine!"
He lifted the smaller man into the air and dashed him against the cobblestone with enough force to knock out an elephant, let alone a mutant.
Logan's claws automatically retracted as the impact rendered him unconscious.
+ + + + +