Chapter 6: Reavers
The television hit the wall with such force that a hole was bashed in the plaster. The woman who had hurled it stood over the shattered circuitry, snarling. "Wolverine's found himself a girl!" Lady Deathstrike snarled in hatred. "Betcha that's his kid she's having too!"
Pierce, the leader of the Reavers, looked over from where he was reading a newspaper. "It is," he said calmly, watching the woman slice the TV into shreds with her adamantium-laced fingers. "Come on, now, you're not doing anything productive by losing your temper like this. We have to plan."
"Plan?" her ears pricked up at the words as the rest of the Reavers came into the room to see what the fuss was about.
"Yes. Don't you think it would hurt Wolverine to have her taken from him? We're going to kidnap her, then when he and the X-Men come for her we could eliminate them all."
Lady Deathstrike grinned, and left off mangling the TV to sit down at the table with everyone else as they began to plan.
Cyber was similarly enraged. The mutant went around his base smashing things in a rage, a rage that amused his visitor. "So do you want in or not?" said Deathstrike impatiently.
"Of course!" he snapped. "Anything to get the little @#*%!" He flexed his claws wickedly. "And I'd love to see what these hallucinogenic compounds will do to his little woman."
Sabretooth stared at Lady Deathstrike as she spoke. "Ya wanna what?" he snarled, savage delight blossoming in his mind. "Yer gonna kidnap the runt's woman? He's gonna slice an' dice ya up fer that!" He licked his lips. "I seen his chick. Little bitty thing she is, ain't hardly worth the time he's wastin' on her when he coulda had somebody like you." His eyes roamed laciviously up and down her body, and Deathstrike extended her claws.
"Don't even think about it. I'm in it for the revenge, pure and simple. So are you in or out?"
Sabretooth grinned slowly, a slow, cruel smile. "Wonder what she sounds like when she screams," he said.
Sara sat up in bed suddenly, startled out of her sleep by a sense of impending doom. She made a face. As if she didn't already have problems sleeping, now she was going to have to deal with insomnia? She winced as her swollen feet hit the floor, and took a few moments to ease her weight onto them before she stood up.
In the three weeks since her release from prison she had more than gained back what she'd lost during her stay. Though the nausea continued, she could keep it at bay with the pills the obstetrician had prescribed. Her feet and ankles were swollen a great deal of the time now, and the doctor had said that it would only get worse as she entered her sixth month. Logan had taken to rubbing them in the evening after they'd gone to bed, and it did help.
Logan. She turned and looked at him, sleeping peacefully in the other side of the bed. By now he was used to her waking up in the middle of the night, and didn't do more than open one eye when she got up. He was so considerate, letting her sleep late in the mornings, sometimes bringing her breakfast in bed, and comforting her when she got emotional, which she did with such frequency she was disgusted with herself. Jean had laughed, and told her it was normal, and that she was going to go back to normal as soon as the babies were born.
She looked down at her nightgown, and grimaced. Two spots of blood had soaked through her nightgown where the metarium and her skin joined. She would have to tell the obstetrician about it in the morning. The metarium was flexible, and it did stretch, but she was ballooning out so fast it didn't stretch fast enough. The edges of her skin were beginning to pull away from the metal again. Jean had given her a lotion to work into the skin on her stomach, to keep her from getting stretch marks. It hadn't done anything for the stretch marks, but it had helped her skin stay supple enough that she didn't have quite as much a problem with the tearing edges. Fortunately for her, Koven had not laced her abdomen with as much of the metarium as he had her arms and legs; thinking, perhaps, that her limbs would be more of a target to an attacker.
Jean and Storm's doctor knew about the metarium. She had asked Sara if she was a mutant on Sara's third visit, and Sara had admitted she was, and turned off the image inducer. The woman hadn't even batted an eyelash, going instead to her stomach and examining the edges of the skin. It had added a new dimension to the pregnancy, and one that they hadn't anticipated, but it seemed to be going well so far.
She wandered out to the nursery, sat down in the rocking chair, and reached for the book on the lamp table. She tried to read, but the feeling of impending doom hanging over her head persisted, and she couldn't shake it off to concentrate on her book. She finally gave up her attempt at reading and just sat quietly enjoying the peace of the night until her eyelids grew heavy and she nodded off to sleep there in the rocking chair.
Logan awoke to bright sunlight streaming in the room across the bed. For a moment he was alarmed at finding the other side empty, then as he dropped his shields he felt her in the nursery asleep. Having a telepathic contact with Sara was a wonderful thing, he mused as he smiled and got out of bed. He pulled on his clothes, then went out to the nursery and tapped her shoulder gently. "What…?" she whispered groggily.
"Go ta bed, darlin'," he whispered softly in her ear. He slid an arm under her own and got her back into the bed, pulled the covers up around her, and dropped a kiss on her cheek as he went downstairs. In the kitchen he poured himself a cup of black coffee as he sat down. Someone had left a catalog from the local department store on the table and he picked it up, idly flipping through it. A large red circle in the middle of the jewelry section caught his eye, and he opened to the page.
The circle was drawn around a small marquise-cut diamond in a setting of swirling gold filigree. His mind, unbidden, saw that ring circling Sara's slender finger, and he suddenly remembered Frank's words; you never know what could happen…
"Indeed," came Jean's voice from the doorway, and he turned, not realizing he'd spoken aloud. "I thought you might want to see that," she nodded to the catalog. It suddenly dawned on him that the thing must have been left there on purpose, and Jean nodded with a twinkle in her eyes as she sat down with her own cup of coffee. "Sara was looking at that a few days ago," she said. "And she asked me if I thought you really loved her."
"O' course I do, how could she doubt it?" Logan said, shaken, as Betsy and Storm came in and sat down, both with tea.
"Logan, she's having your children," Betsy said. "You haven't asked her if they'll have her last name, or yours, and she's been terribly reluctant to bring up the subject because she's afraid you two will fight over it."
"She has been waiting for you to ask," Storm said. "With her hormones the way they presently are, she's quite hesitant to ask if you would marry her. But it is definitely on her mind, and she has been getting more and more anxious as time has passed and you didn't say anything."
"I haven't asked 'cause I thought she needed time ta get over what's happened," he said. "I didn't know she was waitin' fer me."
"She thinks you don't think she's still attractive, " Jean smiled. "She's been moaning about being fat and ugly the last week."
"She's not!" Logan blinked. "Mos' nights I can barely keep my hands offa her!" he was appalled at his own denseness. "How could I 'ave missed it?"
"You're male," Jean giggled. At his offended look the three women burst out into laughter. "It's a guy thing," Jean cracked, giggling. "Don't get offended, Logan, all guys are like that to us girls. So how about coming with us when we go out today? You can get that ring today and pop The Question tonight." She mimed quotation marks around the words, and Logan could almost hear the capital letters.
"I guess I should," he said, studying the picture again.
He felt terribly out of place in the jewelry store, much like a bull would feel in a china shop, but at least this time it wasn't as bad as it was the first time he'd come in here to purchase something; namely, Sara's necklace. Jean, perhaps sensing his uneasiness, took charge, engaging the saleswoman in some small talk as the case was opened and the ring Logan wanted to get was brought out for inspection. He felt a little disappointed when he saw it; there wasn't that sense of rightness about it that he'd felt with Sara's soulstone necklace. The ring looked nicer in the picture in the catalog than it did under the bright, glaring jeweler's light. He thought about it for a long moment, then shook his head. He felt, instinctively, that Sara wouldn't like it.
He looked through the rest of the diamond rings in the case, trying to find one that he could see Sara wearing. Some were too big, some too small. Too flashy, too quiet. Discouraged, he was about to call the whole thing off when he saw one, in the back of the case; a simple, narrow band of gold with an oval diamond in its center. A fine thread of gold wire wrapped across the face of the stone, and two tiny diamond chips formed the center of golden flowers on either side of the center stone. When the saleswoman brought it out, and he examined it, he saw, in his mind, the narrow band of gold encircling Sara's finger. It felt right. Jean was pleased with it, too, and he bought it, with the reassurance that he could later bring it back to have it sized if it didn't fit.
He kept opening the bag and peeking at the ring all the way back to the mansion. Jean and Ororo exchanged amused glances, but didn't say anything until they were almost home. Then, "Logan."
"Yeah, 'Ro?" he looked at her.
"If you don't want her to know about it until tonight then I suggest you hide it. She's almost at the door." And he looked up, and felt Sara's presence moving to the front door of the mansion. He shoved the little black velvet box into his pocket and grabbed a couple of shopping bags for Ororo as he got out of the car, trying to look innocent.
Sara felt his excitement as she stepped out of the mansion and made her way out to the car. She was about to ask when she felt Jean brush her mind lightly. Don't ask, Sara.
Even more curious now, she almost said something when she felt the rush of anticipatory pleasure run like a heady wine through his head. So she quelled her curiosity and instead kissed him, pretending as though she hadn't noticed anything unusual. He dropped the bags in Ororo's room, then went straight to their own and deposited the little black box in the top drawer of his dresser.
When dinnertime came around he slipped the ring out of its box into his jeans pocket, going downstairs. It was becoming an effort for her to get up once she'd sat down, so he had gotten into the habit of bringing her a plate. He took his time about it, waiting until everyone was seated (which seemed to take less time than usual, probably because he could 'hear' Jean urging everyone to sit) before he brought out her plate, covered with a napkin. "Logan, what--" she started to say.
"Sara," he said, wondering if he should kneel but feeling awkward about doing that, and opting instead to simply stand, "I love you an' I want ta marry ya. Will ya marry me?" and he pulled the napkin off the plate and revealed his surprise; the ring, encircling the stem of a single red rose.
Sara stared at it, her mouth open. She had waited for this, hoped for this, but really hadn't expected it. It took her totally by surprise. She opened her mouth to speak, looking up at him, then her eyes closed and she fell over off the chair.
Logan stood stupefied. Of all the reactions he'd thought she would have when she saw the ring, this wasn't one he had planned for. She wasn't out long; her eyes flew open as she hit the floor, and she sat up, gasping. "What? Logan? You want me to…"
"I want ya ta marry me, Sare, I love ya." He knelt beside her, helping her to stand, and she threw her arms around his neck in a huge hug.
"Yes," she whispered breathlessly. "Yes, I'll marry you. Oh, Logan, I thought you'd never ask!" She slipped the ring on her finger, giving him a long lingering kiss. They kissed. And kissed. And kissed.
Gambit spoke up, laughter in his voice. "If ya don' min', p'tite, Gambit a little hungry," he said. Sara reached down to the table, found her spoon and threw it at him even as she broke the kiss. The X-Men broke up into laughter, and settled down to an impressive engagement dinner for the two.
