Mommy Mystique (cont.)

(A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I'm not sure if there'll be any romance later on, but there's still a lot of story to go, so don't be discouraged.)

Magneto was understandably astonished to learn about Mystique's twins. How he found out was a surprise in itself.
He hadn't thought Pietro had his number--he must have star-69'ed him at some point. When the phone rang, he had no idea who it was.
"Yes?"
"How could you?"
"Who is this?"
"You know perfectly well who this is. I want to know what you think you're doing!"
"Doing what?"
"You know what I'm talking about!"
Magneto felt as if he'd come in in the middle of the conversation. "No, I don't, actually."
"Mystique!" the boy spat into the phone. "You went and slept with her and got her pregnant!"
"Mystique is pregnant?"
"How could you be so irresponsible?"

Mystique shrank back from Magneto's anger. "How . . . how did you find out?"
"Someone was nice enough to call me and tell me." He floated across the threshold and inside the house, without being invited. "When were you planning on telling me?"
"Soon." She felt tears well up in her eyes. Damn those pregnancy hormones!

Magneto sighed. "This is going to change everything."
"I know that."
"You should have been more careful."
"I know!"

Now it was Magneto's turn to flinch.

"What are your plans?"

"I'm still working them out...."

"You won't be much use to me in your condition."

"Is that all you can think about?"

"What do you want me to say?"

Mystique rolled her eyes. "Most people would say 'Congratulations,' but then you're not most people, are you?"

Those words hurt.

"Forgive me," he said at last. "This was . . . unexpected."
"No argument here."
"I suppose you'll be needing extra money in the household account. How much?"
"Oh, I've got that covered. The boys are going to get jobs."

This caught Magneto well off guard. "Jobs? Doing what?"
"I don't know yet."
"What does Xavier say about all this?"

"We haven't discussed it much yet."

"Odd." Magento mused. "He's always seemed very talkative..."

"I told him I didn't want to talk about it, and he respected my decision," she said.
"What about your son? Isn't he at Xavier's Institute?"

Mystique hadn't expected that question. "Yes, he is, but what's that got to do with it?"
"It must be hard for you, having your children living under different roofs. Wouldn't it be easier if, say, he were here?"

"You may be right . . . Or," she added, "I could move there."

"There?"

"It was just a thought."
"I don't want to lose you," Magneto said suddenly.

Those were words she hadn't heard from him in a long time. She didn't know at first how to respond, but then she said, "My family needs me too."
"I thought we were family."

Mystique pondered this . . . . "Right now, I don't know what to think."

"Nor do I."

"I suppose this is the sort of situation where we just have to take each day as it comes."
"I suppose you're--are you all right?"
She wasn't. She was still feeling nauseous; if anything, it was getting worse. And dizzy, too. She felt like she was about to fall over.

"Ooooooooh....my head..."

"Perhaps you should lie down . . ." She had gone so pale all of a sudden.

"You may be right." That was as far as she got before she collapsed onto the floor.

Magneto grabbed the nearest phone. There was only one place he could bring her, without risking discovery.
"Charles?"

"Yes?"

"I have need of your facilities for a while. It's Mystique . . ."
"What's wrong with her?"
"I'm not sure."

Xavier didn't waste time. "I'll send a car for you right away."

When Mystique opened her eyes . . .
. . . she wasn't sure where she was.

But then she saw Cyclops.

"It's all right," he said. "You're safe."
"Why am I here?"
"You passed out. Looks like you picked up Kurt's bug."
Her hands went to her midsection, feeling for signs of life. "The babies?"
"They're fine."
"How did I get here?"

"You want to tell her or should I?"

She saw Logan's face above her.
"Magneto called and had Charles come get you. He was worried when you hit the floor like that."
"Is he here?"

"He's comin'..."

"Good."
She felt so tired and weak all of a sudden. One of the babies moved slightly . . . and she felt it all the way up her spine.

She moaned, and Logan rushed to help her. "You okay?"
"It hurts . . . please make it stop . . ."

"PROFESSOR!" Logan shouted.

"No, no, I'm all right," she whispered. "It's gone now."
"You're not all right. Something's wrong," Logan said, resting his hand on her belly. There was another movement, very small, but to Mystique it felt like she'd been punched in the stomach.
"AAAGGGH!"

It was gone as soon as it had come, but she still felt very achy and tired. How could this have come on all of a sudden?
"Sudden onset of symptoms is typical of this strain of flu," Xavier said.
"Is complete and total agony also typical?" Mystique demanded. She hated being sick or in pain.

"I hope not." Wolverine commented.

"Let me take another look," Xavier said.
Thirty minutes and a machine that resembled a giant hair dryer later, he was standing over Mystique, giving her the news.
"It's bad," she guessed.
"It's not that bad. But you will have to stay in bed until the symptoms clear up."
"How long will that be?"
"Hard to say. On average, about two weeks."
"TWO WEEKS?" The thought of those kids running amuck all over the house for two weeks was almost enough to kill her.
"It could be more or less. But you will need complete rest for that time."
"No, no, no. You don't understand. I can't--" She started crying and coughing at the same time, no mean feat. She almost fell off the bed . . .

Logan caught her. "You okay?"

"Forget me, save the babies," she mumbled against his chest.
Just then Magneto showed up. "I'll take her home now," he said.
"No," said Logan, "I think she should stay here."
"She'll be fine at home, in familiar surroundings."
"But if something goes wrong, she's better off here."
"What? What's going wrong?" she asked, but they didn't seem to hear her.
"I think she would do better under my supervision."
"She's better off--"
"Okay, that's it!" Mystique shouted--or tried to. "I'm not some prize to be fought over!"

Xavier quickly intervened. "You can take her home," he said to Magneto, "but I want to be kept informed. It's not very likely something serious will come up, but if it does, I want her back here at once."

"Understood."