Where the Heart Lies:
By: Siona
DEDICATION: To Steve and Lisa (Tatu and Nacht) for being the Wanda/Kurt
shippers you are.
*****
"I'm pregnant."
The words Wanda Maximoff had spoken that morning echoed again and again in Kurt Wagner's mind as he stood in the parlor of the X-Mansion, looking out a window to the lovely gardens outside. His face held a pained, thoughtful
expression as he deliberated over the sudden fact revealed to him just
hours ago.
Wanda was nearly nine weeks pregnant with his child. Kurt couldn't really believe that this whole thing wasn't some nightmare that would, sooner or
later, pop like a soap bubble and he'd be in his bed with Wanda in his
arms. Any second now...
"Kurt?"
He turned and saw Wanda standing in the doorway. She looked like an entirely different person; her appearance of a strong and willful woman had
dissolved into worry and dread of what Kurt might say now.
"Yes, Wanda?" Kurt replied, trying not to look at her stomach, keeping his
yellow eyes on the floor.
"I was just...Are you..." She heaved a heavy sigh and seemed to collapse
inside. Kurt yearned to run forward and hold her, but it was though an invisible brick wall had been erected between them. "Kurt, we can't hide
from this. Why are you avoiding me?" she asked despondently.
He finally tore his glance from the floor and stared her straight in the eyes. Wanda almost flinched at the confusion and pain she saw behind the
chrome yellow, the emotions battling for control over his mind. "You
honestly don't know?" he asked with disbelief in his voice. "You don't
know?"
He slammed a tight fist on the fireplace, making the candles and picture frames jump. "Have you even thought about this, Wanda?! We can't do this!
We can't just--"
"Can't what?" Wanda yelled back, advancing on him with furious tears standing in her eyes. "Can't have a child like normal people?! Does being
mutants and heroes mean we can't raise a family?!"
"It's not that!" Kurt replied. His face was contorted with anger and frustration, but the fist still resting on the hearth quivered slightly. He
could feel his fur standing on end. "It's not that!"
"What then! What's your problem? Is it me? What's wrong, Kurt!"
"Me!" He finally exploded. Throwing his arms up, he turned on her, lips pulled back to reveal his fanged canines. "I'm the problem, that's what so
damned wrong!"
Wanda pulled back, mystified. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
He groaned and glared back at the floor. He suddenly wished for a more destructive power, like Cyclop's eye-beams or Storm's lightning, something so he could vent out his emotions. But the anger began to dissipate when he felt her soft hands wrap around his chest and Wanda pressed herself to his back, hugging tighter than she ever had. A tear escaped from her eyes and
dripped onto his neck. Nuzzling into his fuzzy neck, she whispered,
"Please, Kurt...talk to me."
A silence hung in the room, so thick that Kurt swore he could almost feel it pressing down on him like a cold, wet blanket. Taking a deep breath to
steady himself for the speech he was about to give, Kurt said to her,
solemnly, "When I first met up with the X-Men, I was being chased by villagers who wanted to burn me at the stake...they had been convinced I was a demon and murder of little children. And they nearly got me, too, if
it hadn't been for the Professor."
He removed himself from his lover and turned around, taking her by the shoulders. Wanda was shocked to see tears streaking the blue face of a man
whose love of life and joyfulness she had come to love and admire. "It wasn't the first time, liebchin. And I still have nightmares that it won't be the last time. Before that, I lived with a circus, with Roma. Gypsies.
Do you know what I was to them?"
Wanda shook her head no, and he answered his question: "I was marime...beng. It means "dirty", and "demon", Wanda. Even among the people I loved, I was something lower than human." As he continued, Kurt couldn't
hear the break in his voice or feel the trembling in his tri-fingered
hands. All he knew was his own thoughts and the look of dismay slowly
creeping over Wanda's face. "God, Wanda, my own mother didn't want me! Because I am different, marime, a mutant...I have been feared and hunted nearly all me life. How could I bring a baby into all that world of hate
and fear?"
Wanda stared at his handsome face, unable to speak, as was he. She knew she was crying, too, but she made no move to mask her tears. Neither of them
did. They simply stood there, facing one another in a simple matter of
understanding at the deepest level.
"Kurt...you don't know if it will look like you, or Mystique," Wanda finally said quietly. At his mother's name, Kurt flinched. Seeing the pain
inflicted by the mere mention of the grandmother of their child, Wanda added, "And we don't know if it will look like me or my father. We won't know until it's born. And we won't be able to change that. Yes, our baby will be a mutant. Yes, it will have to understand what fear and hate and prejudice is. But that's why we're here, my love; it's up to us to teach
our child that, just like you and I and every other mutant here has,
they'll survive."
Kurt didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said. But he must have looked doubtful still, for Wanda took his large hand in hers and pressed it
to her tummy. "Feel that?"
"No," he said. "I don't feel anything."
"Now you don't. But soon...that's where her heart will be."
"Her?" A playful and familiar smile appeared on Kurt's lips. "How are you
so sure already, love?"
"Mother's intuition. I've been looking at names. I can't decided between
Talia or Josephine...what do you think?"
Kurt mulled it over. "T.J. Wagner...I like it."
By: Siona
DEDICATION: To Steve and Lisa (Tatu and Nacht) for being the Wanda/Kurt
shippers you are.
*****
"I'm pregnant."
The words Wanda Maximoff had spoken that morning echoed again and again in Kurt Wagner's mind as he stood in the parlor of the X-Mansion, looking out a window to the lovely gardens outside. His face held a pained, thoughtful
expression as he deliberated over the sudden fact revealed to him just
hours ago.
Wanda was nearly nine weeks pregnant with his child. Kurt couldn't really believe that this whole thing wasn't some nightmare that would, sooner or
later, pop like a soap bubble and he'd be in his bed with Wanda in his
arms. Any second now...
"Kurt?"
He turned and saw Wanda standing in the doorway. She looked like an entirely different person; her appearance of a strong and willful woman had
dissolved into worry and dread of what Kurt might say now.
"Yes, Wanda?" Kurt replied, trying not to look at her stomach, keeping his
yellow eyes on the floor.
"I was just...Are you..." She heaved a heavy sigh and seemed to collapse
inside. Kurt yearned to run forward and hold her, but it was though an invisible brick wall had been erected between them. "Kurt, we can't hide
from this. Why are you avoiding me?" she asked despondently.
He finally tore his glance from the floor and stared her straight in the eyes. Wanda almost flinched at the confusion and pain she saw behind the
chrome yellow, the emotions battling for control over his mind. "You
honestly don't know?" he asked with disbelief in his voice. "You don't
know?"
He slammed a tight fist on the fireplace, making the candles and picture frames jump. "Have you even thought about this, Wanda?! We can't do this!
We can't just--"
"Can't what?" Wanda yelled back, advancing on him with furious tears standing in her eyes. "Can't have a child like normal people?! Does being
mutants and heroes mean we can't raise a family?!"
"It's not that!" Kurt replied. His face was contorted with anger and frustration, but the fist still resting on the hearth quivered slightly. He
could feel his fur standing on end. "It's not that!"
"What then! What's your problem? Is it me? What's wrong, Kurt!"
"Me!" He finally exploded. Throwing his arms up, he turned on her, lips pulled back to reveal his fanged canines. "I'm the problem, that's what so
damned wrong!"
Wanda pulled back, mystified. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
He groaned and glared back at the floor. He suddenly wished for a more destructive power, like Cyclop's eye-beams or Storm's lightning, something so he could vent out his emotions. But the anger began to dissipate when he felt her soft hands wrap around his chest and Wanda pressed herself to his back, hugging tighter than she ever had. A tear escaped from her eyes and
dripped onto his neck. Nuzzling into his fuzzy neck, she whispered,
"Please, Kurt...talk to me."
A silence hung in the room, so thick that Kurt swore he could almost feel it pressing down on him like a cold, wet blanket. Taking a deep breath to
steady himself for the speech he was about to give, Kurt said to her,
solemnly, "When I first met up with the X-Men, I was being chased by villagers who wanted to burn me at the stake...they had been convinced I was a demon and murder of little children. And they nearly got me, too, if
it hadn't been for the Professor."
He removed himself from his lover and turned around, taking her by the shoulders. Wanda was shocked to see tears streaking the blue face of a man
whose love of life and joyfulness she had come to love and admire. "It wasn't the first time, liebchin. And I still have nightmares that it won't be the last time. Before that, I lived with a circus, with Roma. Gypsies.
Do you know what I was to them?"
Wanda shook her head no, and he answered his question: "I was marime...beng. It means "dirty", and "demon", Wanda. Even among the people I loved, I was something lower than human." As he continued, Kurt couldn't
hear the break in his voice or feel the trembling in his tri-fingered
hands. All he knew was his own thoughts and the look of dismay slowly
creeping over Wanda's face. "God, Wanda, my own mother didn't want me! Because I am different, marime, a mutant...I have been feared and hunted nearly all me life. How could I bring a baby into all that world of hate
and fear?"
Wanda stared at his handsome face, unable to speak, as was he. She knew she was crying, too, but she made no move to mask her tears. Neither of them
did. They simply stood there, facing one another in a simple matter of
understanding at the deepest level.
"Kurt...you don't know if it will look like you, or Mystique," Wanda finally said quietly. At his mother's name, Kurt flinched. Seeing the pain
inflicted by the mere mention of the grandmother of their child, Wanda added, "And we don't know if it will look like me or my father. We won't know until it's born. And we won't be able to change that. Yes, our baby will be a mutant. Yes, it will have to understand what fear and hate and prejudice is. But that's why we're here, my love; it's up to us to teach
our child that, just like you and I and every other mutant here has,
they'll survive."
Kurt didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said. But he must have looked doubtful still, for Wanda took his large hand in hers and pressed it
to her tummy. "Feel that?"
"No," he said. "I don't feel anything."
"Now you don't. But soon...that's where her heart will be."
"Her?" A playful and familiar smile appeared on Kurt's lips. "How are you
so sure already, love?"
"Mother's intuition. I've been looking at names. I can't decided between
Talia or Josephine...what do you think?"
Kurt mulled it over. "T.J. Wagner...I like it."