Mommy Mystique (cont.)

"Ooh!"

"You okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No, it's just Junior saying hello."

"Spunky little kid, isn't he?"

"We need to talk about this," Mystique said.
"So talk."
"Not now! Not in front of--" She looked back at the boys, who were watching this little scene with mingled fascination and repulsion.
"I can't believe it!" Toad exclaimed. "Boss Lady and that guy?"

"No way!"

"Is he moving in with us?"
"Quiet," Mystique warned them.

"Or what?" Pietro demanded.

"Never mind or what," she snapped. "Don't you have homework or something?"
"Yeah, but this is more fun."

She gave him a menacing glare...

"We're leaving."
They scurried upstairs, where they wouldn't be seen but could still hear.

"Now then," Mystique said, "where were we?"

"I believe we were discussing what to do about this," he said, putting his hands on her again.

She took a deep breath . . . .

"Don't do that again," she said.
"But--"
"This is not 'our' problem. This is my problem. There is no 'us'. There never was, there never will be. It's my fault I wasn't careful that night, and I'll be the one to take care of this . . ."
"Now hold on." Logan held both her hands in his own. "This is my kid too--unless you're planning to do something drastic."
"No!" The very suggestion was unthinkable. She'd had a fairly religious upbringing, and had been taught that to do such a thing was unforgivable. Compounding her first mistake by making another mistake was not an option.

"OK, then . . ."

"What do you want? Do you want visitation rights? Joint custody?"
"This is better than 'Springer'," Toad said to Fred, upstairs.

Fred, of course, was oblivious to everything except his stomach. "Are they almost done? I want some pizza!"

"Shut up, Fred."

"I just want to be a part of this kid's life."
"How?" Mystique demanded.

"I don't know." Wolverine admitted. "But still . . ."

"We'll discuss this another time," Mystique said, sending an angry glare up the stairs. The boys scattered.

"I thought you said she couldn't see us!"

"She's evil! She can see through walls!"

"You were saying?" Mystique prompted Logan.

"Let's just go over all this tomorrow. You can come by to check on Kurt."

"'Kay."

Thinking it over after they left, Mystique wasn't sure what she wanted. That night, they'd only had one thing on their minds, and just then that was all she had wanted. Now she didn't know. She couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life with this man; on the other hand, it was his baby. It wasn't as if she could--
"Ow!" She rubbed her side, then felt around to her back. It felt like she'd been kicked both places at once. But how was that possible? "Ouch!"

"What's wrong?" Toad asked. Mystique did a double-take--she'd thought he was still upstairs.
"Nothing," she moaned. "I'm okay."
"You don't make noises like that when you're okay!"

"It's nothing, really..."

"Maybe you'd better rest." He helped her into a chair, despite her protests that she was fine, and brought a cushion so she could put her feet up. "How's that?"
"Really, you don't have to--"

"Just take it easy."

"Don't you have homework or something?"
"Nah, did it already. Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, thank you..."

"How about a drink? I can make you some iced tea--"
"NO!"

Mystique then took a quick breath and called out, "Todd? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. Please come back."
Toad wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe her. One minute she was all sweet and nice, the next she was Ms. Psycho. Okay, so she was always mean to him before, but at least she was consistently mean. This baby sure was making her do weird things.