Mommy Mystique (cont.)

"What's he doing here?" Lance demanded.

"He's a part of this too."

Pietro looked at her as if she were crazy. "He's what?"

"Oh my God," Toad exclaimed. "Is he the father?"

Mystique gave him a dirty look.

"Let me just make this clear first of all," she said. "No one is leaving. There may be a shifting of room assignments, but not for a few months yet. I'm going to be taking a leave of absence starting next month, and I probably won't return until the beginning of the next school year."

"So what's that mean for us?"

"It means we won't have any money," Lance complained.
Mystique gave him a pointed look. "There's one solution to that problem. You can go out and get a job."
"WHAT?" You would think she had asked him to cut off a vital part of his body, or clean his room, or something equally horrible. "Why me?"

"Because you're the most able-bodied."

"But I don't want to get a job!"

Mystique just looked at him . . .

"Okay, okay, I'll get a job!"

"This should be good." Pietro snickered to Toad.

"Don't laugh," Mystique warned him. "You're next."

"WHAT?!!"

"The free ride is over, boys. From this point on you'll have to earn your keep. We're going to need every extra penny you can bring in."

Rogue started to snicker.

"This is not a joke," Mystique admonished her. "If you want to keep food on this table, you're going to have to pitch in. I have some money saved, but it won't last forever."
"Why don't you just ask the father for some money?" the girl suggested.

"I would if I knew who or where he was."

"Whaddya mean, you don't know?" Toad demanded. "How many guys you slept with in the past six months?"
"I really don't think that's any of your business!"
"Oh yeah? You yell at us for being irresponsible, and then you go and get--"
"Leave her alone!" Kurt shouted at him.

They were ready to duke it out when Mystique stopped them.
"Behave yourselves, all of you!"

The silence was deafening . . . broken finally by Kurt's coughing spell.

"Now see what you've done?"

"I'm all right," Kurt protested.

Mystique wasn't buying. "I never should have let you come here in your condition . . ."
"I'm all right, Muzzer."
"No, you're not. I think you're getting worse."

Her suspicions were confirmed when, a second later, Kurt began throwing up.

"Uh . . . should we do something?" Toad asked.

"Well, duh!" Rogue snapped.

"Move him onto the couch," Mystique ordered.

They gently picked him up . . . and he started coughing again, so hard they almost dropped him.

"This is not good."

"Tell me about it," Kurt groaned.

Rogue grabbed a blanket. "Here you go, sugar," she said. "You just make yourself comfortable till your ride gets here."

"My ride?"

"Someone's comin' for you, right?"
"Oh. Oh, yes." He remembered now. "I told Scott to give me an hour. He should be here any time. I hope he brought a casket with him . . ."

"Don't say that." Rogue stroked her brother's indigo hair. "You're gonna be all right."

Finally,Cyclops arrived . . . and Wolverine was with him.
While Scott took care of Kurt, Logan had a word or two with Mystique.
"I knew it was you," he said, "that night at the bar."
"I knew you knew," she told him, though she hadn't.
"So what do we do," he asked, "about this?" He placed his rough hand on her midsection, and the baby jumped.