Chapter 7
"So let's say, hypothetically speaking, that someone was to give you a Christmas present. Hypothetically speaking, of course. Let's also say that you're stranded on a starship with them, though, so what they can get you is kinda limited."
Hank frowned and made a face at me. "Your ability to keep a secret, Mr. Drake, is as lacking as ever."
"Hey, I never said that I pulled your name."
"Bobby, you are grinning from ear to ear. You have numerous facial and body language clues that you give away when you're up to something or when you're trying to hide something. It is alright, though. It doesn't matter to me whether the identity of who is arranging my present is a secret or not."
"Okay, good. I did pull your name. Now give me some ideas on what to get you!"
"I am not sure what to ask for. At least I cannot think of anything that is easily attainable. I miss my library, of course. But books are difficult to replicate. Their complexity takes up too much energy and it is not practical."
"Okay, then what else? C'mon, Hank, can't you think of something? Maybe my present can be to help you with your research."
"The best way you can do that is to stay out of the infirmary while I'm working."
"Oh, great! My own best friend asks me to basically get lost as a present to him! Is that the best you can come up with?"
Hank sighed. "I will try to think some more. Now what would you like, Bobby?"
"I thought you pulled Jean's name. Isn't that what she said at dinner?"
"Yes. But I think that since we're best friends, we should exchange something too."
"That is a wonderful idea, Hank," I said, a smiling spreading across my face. "I will have to devote some serious thought as to what I'd like to ask for."
Storm decided to spend one afternoon relaxing in the pool. After changing into her swimsuit and entered the humid area of the pool, she found Wolverine swimming laps. With so many areas of the ship now shut down, there were a limited number of places to go to just hang out. If someone really wanted privacy, they had to retire to their room since running into others in the gym, sick bay and even on the bridge was probable. Therefore, she took it as a sign that he was not in a completely sour mood if he was showing his face in public. Although no one else occupied the pool, Colossus, Cyclops and Jean were working out in the gym, on the other side of the large room. The Professor was with them, lifting weights as he liked to strengthen his upper body as much as possible.
As she approached the pool, Storm took a moment to admire Wolverine's form. He swam a few laps, his muscular shoulders and powerful back working away. Covered in hair, his body was all unbridled strength and masculinity. Storm repressed a sigh. Perhaps in another time and place….
The laps didn't seem to take anything out of Wolverine, but he stopped to take a break, swimming towards the shallow end of the pool.
"Hello, Logan," Storm greeted. He returned the greeting, as she made her way into the pool. Adjusting to the cold water, she waded through it until she stood near him.
"Been working hard?" she asked.
"Yeah," he grunted. "I'm takin a break now."
"I came here to relax myself," Storm said, reaching for one of the floatation devices in the pool. She leaned back into it. "I'm afraid I need some help," Storm began. "I was given a most difficult task at dinner two days ago and I've been unable to figure out how to resolve it. I was assigned to procure a present for a man who does not seem to be very enthused about the idea of Christmas. I think that the thought of surprising him with something he really wants is an impossibility. So I must come straight out and ask him for some ideas."
Wolverine smiled. "Darlin', your friendship is the best present I could have."
"Is it? It warms my heart to hear you say that, Logan." she said, smiling but looking at him intently. "But I must confess that I fear I perhaps have been remiss in my duty as your friend."
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"It seems to me that you have not been in a good mood lately. In fact, your demeanor has seemed worse than usual. Is there something I can do to help you?"
Wolverine had to laugh.
"What is it?" Storm asked, puzzled by his amusement.
He smiled and shook his head, "Alright. Admit it-you four women are working in tandem, aren't you?"
Storm couldn't repress a giggle. "Whatever do you mean?"
"Darlin, let's just say that you're not the first member of the fair sex who approached me lately, offering to listen to me to talk about my feelings." He said it flatly, without any negativity but not sounding appreciative either.
Storm raised her eyebrows. "I see. So….do you want to talk?"
"No." He turned to her and looked into her eyes. "But I am glad to know that you care about me, darlin', I mean it. If I ever do feel like talking, I'll call you. Or Rogue or Jean." They both smiled as he said the last sentence. "Now I'm gonna get back to swimming laps. Wanna join me?"
"No thank you, Wolverine. I came here simply to relax."
Storm watched him resume swimming and had to chuckle to herself. Wolverine's emotional state *was* a frequent topic of conversation among the four women. They all cared about him very much; they all liked him. But Jean was the only one who had gotten through to him, that evening when Jubilee had announced her pregnancy. Jean strongly felt Wolverine's mood was due mostly to guilt and anger over not being able to protect the women from the FOH, though there were likely other reasons he wasn't feeling well too. (The tediousness of their routine on board the ship, for one. And Jean hadn't said it out loud, but Storm guessed that Wolverine's feelings for Jean-and seeing Jean and Scott now expectant parents-wasn't helping either.)
Although she knew it was irrational that Wolverine feel guilt over the assaults, Storm understood why he might feel that way. 'Sometimes our hearts just refuse to accept things that our minds know.' Another, darker, thought entered Storm's mind that afternoon. Had Wolverine ever committed a rape? Could that explain the more difficult time he was having dealing with the feelings of guilt-especially since the other men didn't seem to be taking it quite as hard. Storm had seen a lot in her years; she was somewhat jaded. Wolverine had had quite a checkered past. When he first came to the X-men, he had been more animal than man. Who knew what he might have done? But despite Wolverine's gruff exterior, he was always kind-hearted and gentle towards his female teammates-in fact, towards all women, except those who were enemies of the X-men. He was an honorable man. Yet Storm decided it was possible, though she hated the thought and had to push it out of her mind. Even if he had done it in the past, she knew he would not do something like that in the future.
Storm checked the clock. Excellent. She still had two hours to relax before she and Jubilee, along with Jean and Scott, were due to meet with Beast. Beast now met regularly with both of the pregnant women and their coaches. The 5 discussed everything they had read and learned about childbirth and pregnancy, and Jubilee and Jean talked about the changes they were undergoing. Jubilee really seemed to relish being able to share experience with Jean, since she was much further along in her pregnancy. Jean always eagerly asked a number of questions of the younger woman. What also made the experience a joyful one was that Scott and Beast were both excited too. Beast's interest, Storm assumed, was mainly scientific. This was a major medical and scientific event that he'd had no previous first-hand exposure to. Scott's interest, of course, was personal and Storm enjoyed seeing this other side of him. He was actually full of wonder and awe at what his wife was going through. Since Scott never knew his biological family either, this was even more exciting to him.
Storm enjoyed playing the role of Jubilee's mentor. She herself never wanted to bear a child, and she was not regretful of the fact that her years to do so were dwindling. But the idea of being a wise old Aunt….Storm fancied that role very much.
Five chairs in the infirmary were arranged in a circle. Beast, Cyclops, Jean, Jubilee and Storm sat facing each other during one of their regular meetings. Storm passed out copies of an article she had found of women recounting their first-hand experiences giving birth. Hank discussed the research he'd read about since their last meeting, and everyone was quite impressed with the amount he knew and how well he was absorbing it. He knew the answer to most of the questions they lobbied at him, and for those that he didn't, he always looked it up and got back to them promptly. And when Jean or Scott or anyone else shared something they had read, Hank was generally able to flavor it with tidbits from other sources that he knew of.
Jean listened to Hank speak and had no fear about the birth process. She knew it would be fine given her and Scott's strong partnership with each other and with Hank. Of course she and Scott were not just relying on Hank to research and learn about childbirth for them. The two of them got on the computer several hours a day, and read and learned all they could. Jubilee and Storm often did the same.
Meanwhile, Hank glanced at Jubilee periodically and had to beat back worry. The woman was tiny—narrow hands and feet, a very small frame. She was eating healthy and gaining an appropriate amount of weight, but that wouldn't change the fact that she had a small frame. Once she had told him of her pregnancy, he had examined her. Her hips and birth passage were narrow. All they could do was hope that the sperm donor was not a large-framed man and that the baby would be small. Of course, Beast, Storm and Jubilee had discussed together the concerns about Jubilee's size. If he had to, he assured them, he would do a C-section. But Hank had never done that before and he did not look forward to the prospect. A C-section was pretty major surgery and he was not a surgeon. He wished that Shaman had decided to remain on board as his healing skills would have come in handy.
Hank knew that Jean would not likely pose such a problem. She had a medium-frame, and Scott was not a big-framed man either. In all likelihood, the birth would be fine.
"Do I have anything else to look forward to?" Jean asked with a smile. Jubilee had just recounted some of the physical discomforts she was living with.
"Well, I gotta say that I hate sleeping on my side. I just can't get used to it! I used to always sleep on my stomach," Jubilee said.
"Great," Jean muttered.
Scott smiled and added, "You know, it's really hard to change the position you sleep in. Before I had my…powers, I used to sleep on my stomach. But when my powers showed themselves and I had to wear glasses all the time…I had to learn to sleep on my back. Now I do it automatically but it really look me forever to get used to it."
"Swell," Jubilee said. "Probably by the time I get used to it, the baby will be here. And then I won't be getting any sleep at all!"
"Now we know that's not true," Jean said. "Besides, remember what we talked about. Since we'll both have babies, we'll take turns watching each other's so the other of us can get some time alone."
Storm smiled, "And all the other X-men have agreed to help. We'll be fine."
There was a pause in the conversation. Hank spoke up, "Jubilee, have you decided on whether you'd like to know the sex of your baby?"
The question had come up last time, since she was getting near to the point where the baby's sex would be able to be determined. Jubilee nodded, "I have been thinking about it. I think that I would like to know. I figure I'm gonna have enough surprises in my life, why not eliminate one other surprise?"
Hank nodded. "We'll do some tests, then."
Storm turned to Scott and Jean. "What about you two? You're going to have a wait before you'll be able to know, but when the time is right, do you want to know?"
"We still can't make up our minds," Scott said.
Jean added, "We both like the idea of being surprised at the birth. But it would be kind of nice to just know in advance too. We need to keep thinking about it."
The conversation paused and Scott spoke up, "You know what I wish for more than anything? I wish we had a * camera.* It pains me to think that we won't be able to record our baby's early years."
"So there aren't any in the supply room?" Storm asked.
"Jean and I searched the entire room, top to bottom. No cameras whatsoever. No videocameras either."
Jean added, "I hate to say it, but we even searched through some of the crew's quarters in the hopes someone would have brought one. I guess I'm really surprised that no one did."
"What about replicating one?" Storm asked.
"Bobby checked for us and said it would be extremely energy-intensive to do that, and take even more energy to develop the shots. And since we're only replicating necessary items, and the least complex ones….It just wouldn't be right." Jean took a breath. "Oh well. We'll just have to make due with the memories in our heads. I mean, none of us have here the photos of us when we were growing up. I treasure those things," she said, suddenly feeling very wistful, missing her parents and sister. "But the important thing is that we're all alive and together. After what we lived through, I am grateful for that. And I'll be grateful once I have a healthy baby."
Since we hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving on board the ship, it seemed that the Professor wanted to combine both holidays when we had our Christmas dinner. After he carved and served the replicated turkey, he then asked us to remember our many blessings. Because we came from a variety of different religious backgrounds (as a group, I had discovered, the 11 of us ranged from atheist to Christian to pagan), he did not want to lead us in prayer but did ask everyone to observe a moment of silence for us to consider the things we were grateful for. I closed my eyes and came up with quite an extensive list. The funny thing was, I actually was happier than I ever had been in my life. Some people might consider that insane given the circumstances I lived in, but I knew that for the first time in my life I had a real family.
Once the moment of silence was up, we all began to eat heartily. The number of things we had to be grateful for was a frequent topic of discussion during dinner, though and I contributed my thoughts a lot. As we passed and ate the delicious holiday meal, everyone seemed in a jubilant mood, though the food itself might have been part of it. In order to save energy, we now only replicated less energy-intense food. That meant that we rarely ate meat, since replicating it used a lot of power. But we had decided as a group to make an exception for our holiday dinner, and the non-vegetarians among us really enjoyed the turkey.
"I have an announcement to make," Jubilee said as people ate. "I decided it would be cool to know what the sex of my baby is going to be. So Beast performed this test and….." she paused as people leaned forward in their seats, listening intently, "it's a girl!"
Everyone congratulated Jubilee. Not that we thought the baby's sex mattered so much, but it was a chance to hug Jubilee and express affection for her, and that's what most everyone did. (Myself most enthusiastically included.) I saw Wolverine tenderly hug and kiss her. She was asked what she planned to name the girl, but Jubilee simply said she had a few ideas but wanted to keep them secret until the birth. "May she be as beautiful as her mother," I said. Jubilee smiled from ear to ear, which was awesome to see. And although we had no alcohol (alcohol was energy-intensive to replicate, and we decided to preserve the stash FOH had on board in case we ever would need it for injuries), we toasted Jubilee with our fruit juice and water. The mood became even more festive.
The infirmary was decorated with holiday ice sculptures that I had made. They didn't cost the ship (or me) any energy to make. It took me a while to be able to create clear patterns and make the sculptures attractive, but I had one shaped like a wreath, another like a Christmas tree, a snowman, a candy cane and a reindeer. Everyone heaped much praise on me for the decorations, even though they made the room a bit colder.
"We're lucky," Wolverine said looking at me. "If we ever get really low on energy, we'll always have water."
"Thanks to Bobby, we'd just need to wait for the ice to melt and we'll never go thirsty," Storm added.
By now, everyone knew the identity of the person who was getting them their holiday gift. (Keeping secrets among a group of 11 when you all live together in such close quarters is just impossible.) I witnessed quite a bit of creativity among the items that were exchanged. Almost all the gifts were slips of paper promising favors rather than actual objects. Most of the favors were things the giver would gladly have done "for free", but oh well. My gift to Hank, though, was another ice sculpture. It was a large plaque that read Dr Hank McCoy: Scientist, Doctor, Researcher, OB-GYN and All-Around Great Guy on it. Hank gave me a great bear hug (can he do any other kind?) when I presented it to him. Everyone voiced their agreement with the assessment "all around great guy", and Hank looked sincerely touched.
Colossus was the one who had my name. He had stopped me in the halls a few days before the Christmas dinner and we brainstormed on what he could get me. Finally we agreed that he would teach me a bit of the Russian language. I didn't have a burning desire to learn it but….it came down to the fact that the days were passing more slowly now. Boredom was becoming not unheard of. The Professor had advised me that learning a new skill, such as a foreign language, was a way to keep the mind sharp. Colossus was really enthused at the idea of teaching me his language. We met regularly from then on, and I learned a lot about Russian life and culture, in addition to the language. I also finally saw Peter get a bit more animated, a bit more….human. Colossus always came across as such a stone statue, so unapproachable and wooden. After he had told me stories of his life in Russia and his losing every member of his family, being forced to leave his country and culture, I guess I understood why he didn't want anyone to get too near him. I hadn't known it, but he had dated Shadowcat for a time, and their break up had been a bitter one. He was sad about her death at the hands of FOH during the attack on the mansion. None of us X-men had easy lives at all, and Colossus had certainly suffered his share.
Some of the gifts exchanged were promises of babysitting. Hank pulled Jean's name, and Cyclops had Jubilee's, and the gifts Hank and Cyke gave to their respective recipients were coupons for their babysitting services. Again, I'm sure the givers would have done this "for free" anyway, but it was something.
I do believe that some of the gifts exchanged might have been sexual in nature! Rogue had pulled Gambit's name, and Jean had Cyclops's. Neither woman allowed the group to see what the slip of paper she gave her man was, and much giggling accompanied the exchange. Jean and Scott were both blushing quite furiously.
Gambit had pulled Storm's name, and she made him promise to teach her some of his card tricks. Gambit pretended to be upset at having to reveal his secrets but he was grinning from ear to ear and I knew he was pleased that she would even want to learn. (Or his grinning might have been over the gift he would receive from Rogue, who knows?) Wolverine had to provide a gift to the Professor, and their exchange was a bit secretive too. The Professor handed him some papers that he'd printed off the computer and asked Wolverine to read them. The Canadian said he would. I sure wish I could've know what was on those papers, but I guess I'll never know. Jubilee had pulled Colossus's name, and he asked her to let him hold the baby and sing to the infant. "Is that all?" Jubilee asked, incredulously. "That's easy."
Speaking of singing, the best moment during the gift exchange came when Rogue asked for her gift from the Professor. She required him to sing a bawdy song at the top of his lungs in front of the entire group. She told the group they had been thinking for days of what he could give her, and finally she had decided on this. I was shocked that the Professor actually went along with it! He even added that he wished he could get up and do a dance to accompany his song, but that was impossible. We all laughed so hard during his singing that several of us had tears streaming down our cheeks and my sides ached. I didn't care about being stranded in space, living on a starship, hunted by groups of people who hated us-for me, it definitely the best Christmas I'd ever had.
Rogue and Gambit were the first to leave the festive gathering, wishing their teammates Merry Christmas and goodnight. The couple held hands as they made their way down the hall to the section of the ship with personnel quarters.
"Okay, sugar," Rogue said, turning to her boyfriend when they stopped outside her room, "Gimme a few minutes to get ready, ok?"
"Ok by me," Gambit said. He walked to his room to retrieve a pair of satiny gloves. He had defied the rule of not replicating anything unnecessary when he secretly replicated the gloves a few nights before. `Dese gloves are necessary,' Gambit had said to himself. `Necessary for the mental health of Rogue an' me.'
When Gambit's watch told him that nearly 10 minutes had gone by, he rapped lightly on Rogue's door. "Is Gambit," he said.
"C'mon in, Sugar," Rogue called.
Gambit entered the room and was surprised to find the lights dimmed. Not totally off, but dimmed. A few candles were burning near the bed. But the biggest surprise occurred when he took a closer look at his beloved. She wore a collar around her neck.
"Chere," he said, words escaping him. "Uh-um, Gambit brought satin gloves to use for the massage."
Rogue looked at him. "Don't go gettin' all excited, Swamp Rat. I ain't puttin' out for you, tonight!" That did not come out at all how Rogue had wanted to and she felt bad. The poor man who she loved so much, he had shown nothing but kindness and love towards her. She stood right next to him and tried to remember Jean's advice. `Just communicate simply and clearly. Tell him upfront….'
"Hey, Remy, I didn't mean to sound so bitchy," Rogue said, her voice apologetic. "I just meant that I-um, thought I'd wear the collar 'cause then you can massage me without having to use the gloves. But you know, as much as I care about you….as much as I love you, I ain't ready for sex now. Like we talked about." There, she said it. Damn, she had to again admit that Jean's advice was useful.
"Gambit understands. I will be good."
"Okay, good." She paused, feeling a bit awkward. "Well, now turn around, will ya? I'm gonna take my shirt off so you can massage my back and shoulders. No peekin'."
Gambit complied, wondering a bit at what he'd gotten himself into. He had taken care of a physical need by himself, not long before dinner. His pre-work didn't seem to matter a great deal now since his body was already reacting. He just took a deep breath and reminded himself that he could do this. He'd done it before during their courtship back at the mansion. And he had fought too long and hard to be back in Rogue's good graces to ruin it all now.
"Okay, I'm ready," Rogue said. She lay facedown on the bed, clad only in sweatpants and socks, the socks keeping her feet warm given the cooler temperature on the ship. Her head was on a pillow, neck turned to one side.
"Gambit's gonna prop your feet up with dis other pillow here," he said, reaching for the other pillow. "Dat will make it more comfortable." Gambit then stood next to her, at her neck and shoulder level. Stooping down to perform the massage would be a little uncomfortable for him, but he didn't see that he had much of a choice since straddling her would be out of the question.
"Okay, here we go," Gambit said as his hands reached for Rogue's shoulders. In that split second that his hands reached for her, his heart leapt and fingers trembled. The only time they had ever touched bare-skin-to-bare-skin was that horrible first night as captives of FOH. They had held hands and stroked each other's faces then. He'd never touched her shoulders and back before.
When Gambit gently placed his hands on her shoulders, Rogue gasped and her muscles tensed up. She shrank back. Gambit quickly withdrew his hands. "Chere? Are you alright?" he asked.
"I-I am. I'm fine," Rogue stammered. "It was just a bit of a shock. It's ok."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," she said, as she settled back down. "It's ok," she repeated. "It was just weird feeling your skin against mine. And I had a twinge of fear that it would hurt you till I remembered that the collar takes away my power. I mean, I knew that but….you know. I'm ok though."
Again Gambit placed his warm hands on Rogue's shoulders and left them there for several moments for her to get accustomed to. "How dat feel?" he asked.
Rogue took a deep breath. "Nice," she said at least. "Real nice. You got nice warm hands, Remy."
"Thank you." Gambit then began to slowly massage her neck and shoulders. Rogue closed her eyes and reminded herself to breathe. The sensations were intense. She had been 13 years old when her powers had manifested themselves, rendering her unable to touch anyone. The family she came from hadn't been affectionate anyway, but it had been a huge loss. Since that time, aside from the touching she and Gambit had done their first evening as FOH prisoners, her only other skin-to-skin touching had been when she was raped by the soldiers. That had been an intense and horrid way to experience touch. Years earlier, during her life as an X-man and when she and Gambit were falling in love, her recurring nightmares had involved inadvertently touching Gambit, thereby killing the man she loved. She had to remind herself constantly that the collar would now protect him. All those thoughts swirled through her head as Gambit touched her. She had to keep breathing deeply and let herself enjoy it.
After several moments passed, Gambit again asked, "How you feeling, chere?" His voice was a whisper. .
"Good," Rogue began, groping for words. "Intense. You know I hardly ever been touched before in my life. This is very intense for me. But it feels good too."
"Gambit can tell you got lots of tension in dem muscles."
"Yes," Rogue said. "But keep doin what you're doin, Cajun."
Gambit's cheeks began to burn. Touching Rogue like this was profound for him too. Her skin was smooth and soft. He tried to keep his mind from wandering but that was impossible. He imagined what touching her in other places would be like, how splendid her skin would feel against his. His lips would kiss her from head to toe without that damned satin having to be in the way. Gambit caught himself, took a deep breath, and continued massaging. Rogue herself had said this was intense, and he knew she hadn't meant sexually. There was no way they were doing anything more that evening and he knew it. To even ask would be a violation.
But that was ok with him too. He wanted Rogue to get used to touching and be ok with it. This was a good first step.
"You still feeling good, chere?" Gambit asked after some more time had passed.
"Um-hm," Rogue said, her tone clearly indicating she was still enjoying his work. "Though, Gambit sweetie, you just tell me when your hands are gettin' tired, ok? I know you're at an awkward angle and I don't want you to be uncomfortable."
"Gambit's doing ok for now," he said. "But if I get tired, I'll tell you, ok?"
"I can't believe that this is *my* gift to *you*," Rogue said. "I feel like I'm the one gettin' a gift here."
"Gambit is glad to do dis, chere. I love bein with you and getting to touch you."
"But maybe someday I can return the favor."
"Gambit would like dat too. Is up to you, amor."
Rogue let Gambit continue to massage her for many more moments. She savored the sensations, while at the same time she endured them….it still was scary to be touched, it still made a twinge of fear rise up in her. The last time she had been touched, it had been a terrible violation of her humanity. She mentally beat the fear back and tried to concentrate on how good it felt. After some time had passed, she said, "Okay, Gambit. That was wonderful. Thank you."
Gambit stopped the massage. "Gambit glad you enjoyed it, chere."
"I feel so relaxed I can fall asleep right now."
"Can Gambit kiss your hand before he goes back to his room?"
"Yes," she said, extending her hand without rising from the bed. Gambit kissed it gently.
"Pleasant dreams, amor," he said.
"Goodnight, my love," Rogue whispered.
It got really easy to lose track of time, at least for me, and that's what I did. I would say that maybe two months passed since Christmas, possibly more. One day I was eating breakfast I and wondered out loud how long we'd been living on the ship. Jubilee looked down at her belly and said, "Well, Bobby, my baby is due in about nine weeks. So I'd say it's been nearly seven months." Nine weeks? Day by day, you didn't notice the changes in her body so much, but she now looked very pregnant.
I had been a bit surprised that so much time had passed, but then again when I thought of it, I guess I wasn't totally astonished. Life on the ship just seemed normal now. My life back in San Francisco, laying on the beach and doing nothing, seemed like a distant dream. Some days were boring for the 11 of us, but we passed the time talking to each other, playing games, talking about our two upcoming arrivals, and the ever-popular working out.
Our search for dilithium had continued. It amazed me how vast space was, and apparently how sparsely populated it was. "Populated" might have been the wrong word, but we encountered no other starships, and not very many planets. I just had thought we'd run into more...things. I especially expected us to encounter, at some point, other alien races which had the ability to travel through space, but that did not happen. When I asked Hank about this, he reminded me again that space is so immense that it is quite possible that there are hundreds or even thousands of alien races with starships of their own, but given space's size, our paths simply had not crossed. He again used the needle in a haystack analogy.
Fortunately, we found some dilithium on an uninhabited moon. Once we brought it on board and processed it, we estimated that our ship now had enough energy to last 22 months. It hadn't been a huge increase in our supply, but at least it bumped us almost back up to 2 years. But we knew it was imperative that we continue to search. We continued to use our energy saving techniques of keeping the ship's temperature cool, sealing off the areas we did not use, limiting the hours the Danger Room was open, eating lower on the food chain, etc. We also figured that the babies would not require a lot of anything that would drain the ship's supplies. Hank's articles said they can live off breast milk for a long time. We replicated a few maternity outfits, items of baby clothes, cloth diapers, and other supplies.
"We're entering a new solar system," the Professor said one morning during breakfast. "Sensors indicate there are a lot of planets here, and I am hopeful that we can increase our dilithium supply."
"Let us hope," Colossus said. "It would be great if we could have very big increase in ship's supply instead of these small ones."
"All X-men, please report to the infirmary in 20 minutes. We need to have a meeting. Again, all X-men to the infirmary in 20 minutes." Professor X's voice sounded over the speaker system. I sat in the meeting room with Colossus and Jubilee, the three of us playing card games. A couple hours ago, we had entered orbit around the second planet of the new solar system. We all knew that the Professor had been doing the analyses on this planet from the bridge.
The first planet in the new system had had no dilithium. The purpose of the meeting the Professor called must have had to do with this second planet we now circled.
"I wonder what's up," Jubilee said. We looked at each other, trying to not worry.
"It cannot be major emergency, if we being called to sick bay and not bridge," Colossus said.
The three of us walked to sick bay right away. I guess I should say that Jubilee *waddled* instead of walked. Her abdomen was huge now, and I could tell a bit awkward for such a small boned woman. She also told me that heartburn and varicose veins were some of the other joys she was experiencing.
It seemed that everyone had gone straight to the infirmary, just as we had. The only exceptions were Storm, Rogue and Hank who apparently had been swimming and therefore took longer to get there. They were the last three to arrive, their hair dripping wet (which, for Hank, meant * a lot* of water.)
Once we were seated around the table, the Professor began. "As you might have guessed, I called this meeting in regards to the planet we are circling," he began. The Professor took a deep breath. "I will cut to the chase. The planet has huge amounts of dilithium. As you know, it's difficult to say exactly how much until we get it on board and process it. But from these readings, I would estimate the total amount of dilithium to be enough to power us for 7 to 10 years."
We exchanged excited looks with each other. But our excitement was tempered. We knew from the look on the Professor's face that there was going to be a "but" anytime soon.
"Unfortunately," the Professor began. "We have a bit of a dilemma. The planet is heavily populated with humanoid life."
Hank leaned forward in his chair, fascinated. He had been on the bridge, leaning over the controls countless times when we surveyed planets that ended up being little more than lifeless chunks of rocks. This time, however, he had been swimming when the planet was examined. I knew he was eager to get his hands on a computer and absorb as much as he could about the new planet.
"Where are the humanoids located in comparison to the dilithium?" Jean asked.
The Professor smiled. "That is part of the dilemma. There are four major landmasses on the planet. Humanoids occupy two of them, and they are the same two continents that contain dilithium. The landmass with the largest amount of dilithium is heavily populated. The computer can't get an exact estimate, but there might be as many as 500,000 humanoids, not counting a huge amount of animal life too.
"Now, normally," he continued, "we would have to abandon any thoughts of taking their dilithium. We can't take anything from an area where humanoids are living. Aside from the fact that we would be stealing, if they saw us-it would alter the course of their history. But things are a little murky in this situation." He paused. "The humanoids on this landmass are clustered in several major areas. The dilithium is in an area where no humanoids live. Plant and animal life exists there, but it is an area far from the humanoids."
"How far?" Storm asked.
"Do the humanoids travel to the area with dilithium?" Hank asked.
"Let me answer Hank's question first," the Professor said. "The answer is no. As far as I can tell, the humanoids are at a relatively primitive stage of their evolution. They appear to have some sailing equipment but no electricity. They have no vehicles that are capable of traversing great distances over land. It is probably best if I show you instead of tell."
The Professor moved away from the table and to the computer. He showed us a map of the areas that the humanoids clustered in and where the dilithium was located. All I can say is that there was a huge gap between the two. The dilithium was really far from where the people lived.
"If I were to speculate," the Professor said. "I think it is completely possible that the humanoids will migrate to the areas where the dilithium deposits are….but that migration is unlikely to take place for…..centuries. Of course the bottom line is that we don't know. For all we know, several geniuses will suddenly spring up, their civilizations will invent means of traveling great distances quickly."
"So the question becomes," Cyclops began, "is it morally right for us to take their dilithium?"
The Professor nodded. "They are not using it now. Indeed, they are unaware of its existence. The evidence indicates it is unlikely that they will become aware of its existence anytime in the foreseeable future."
Hank shook his head. "Speculating on the situation could drive one mad. What if we were to take all their dilithium and 200 years down the road, the dilithium had been destined to save their planet from some threat?"
"Of course," Cyclops said, "the other side to your speculation, Hank, is: what if the dilithium had been destined to cause great harm to the people? Then if we took it, we would've been doing them a favor."
Jean asked, "What if we took just *some* of their dilithium? Couldn't we do that without potentially harming them?"
"We could," Hank said. "I guess it all comes down to the question: is any meddling in the course of their planet appropriate? Because if the answer is no, then even taking * some* of their dilithium is potentially altering the course of their history."
I listened intently, glancing at the looks on the faces of my teammates. I know that not all members of the X-men are as interested in speculation. Not all of them enjoy analyzing the consequences of every move, or chewing on arguments about altering the course of a planet's destiny. Wolverine, Rogue and Gambit exchanged a number of looks with each other.
"Lemme make sure I got this straight," Wolverine finally said. "The people on the planet ain't usin' the dilithium. In fact, they don't even know it's there." He paused. "What's the problem?"
"Especially if we jus' take *some* of the dilithium," Gambit added. "We'll leave a bunch of it dere, so if they ever do discover it, it's dere."
"They're right." Rogue said. "Say I'm livin' in a big house that I inherited and my granddaddy had some old tool in the basement. I don't even know the tool is there, and if I saw it, I wouldn't ever know what to do with it. Do I care if someone takes it? No."
Storm took a deep breath. "I think they do have some good arguments there," she said, looking at the Professor. "And as I see it….it all comes down to the fact that we *need* the dilithium. We only have enough left for 22 months and 22 months is not a long amount of time. It will be here before we know it, and we have not encountered a lot of other sources for this precious material. We have surveyed over 20 planets and moons in the last 7 months and have very little to show for it. If we don't radically increase our supplies soon….we'll need to head back to earth."
"Yeah," Wolverine added, "and we know what waits for us there. The FOH are in control of everything. Those bastards made us out to be the criminals. We are responsible for the deaths of 200 of their people. If we're lucky, we get a trial and execution from the US government. If we're not lucky, FOH will execute us their way."
His words sent a chill throughout the room. Jeanne Marie's report had stayed with us all these months. The copies of her report had been placed in a cabinet inside sick bay, but the terror had stayed with us all. Wolverine's words had convinced me.
Cyclops spoke up, "He has a great point. And you know, as important as it is to speculate on the ramifications of our actions and keep in mind the interests of the humanoids on the planet…..For all we know, everyone on this planet is going to die in a famine next year. Or their star will go nova next century. Or there could be a war to wipe out all the life on their planet. There are a number of possible scenarios in which everyone on the planet could perish before the inhabitants ever even discover the dilithium."
"That is true, Scott," Hank began, "but remember. Any time we tamper in the natural evolution of a planet, the consequences can be profound. What if aliens had come to earth millennia ago and taken some of our natural resources?"
"For all we know," Rogue began, "they have!" I could tell she was getting impatient. "This is all speculation and the bottom line is that we don't know what the natural destiny for this planet is going to be."
"If there is a cosmic plan," Jean said, "maybe we are part of it. Maybe there is a reason why we're at this planet now."
People talked over a few of these points again before the Professor said, "We haven't heard from everyone yet. Jubilee, Colossus, Bobby…what do you think?"
I spoke first, "I've listened to what everyone has said. I think we should take half of the dilithium. If they ever need it, then it wasn't like we wiped out their supplies."
"I agree," Jubilee said.
Colossus nodded. "I agree too. We will never know cosmic plan or future of this planet. But this action-taking half their dilithium-will not do them harm. It is not like we taking their water."
We talked it over some more until everyone was comfortable with what we decided to do. I could tell that the Professor and Hank were least comfortable with it, but we did decide to take roughly half the planet's dilithium.
The next several hours we spent working, learning as much as we could about the planet. Half of us were working from the computers on the bridge and half of us on the computers in sick bay, and most of us shuttling between the two areas. Everyone was abuzz with the excitement, especially since the last few months had been so uneventful. As we studied more, we learned that dilithium on the planet was abundant, and the Professor's original estimate of enough to last us 7 to 10 years may have actually been * low.*
And we found out some pretty awesome things about the planet itself. It was similar to earth, but without the pollution or development. All the air would be breathable for us; in fact, our analyses indicated it would be far superior to air on earth as it was not at all polluted. The planet had some particularly beautiful areas-fresh air, warm climate, water, lots of vegetation. It was incredible. We all gasped and exchanged smiles as we looked over the data.
At one point, I sat at a terminal on the bridge, with Cyclops and the Professor looking over my shoulder as I pulled off the reports. Pictures from the planet's surface, specifically the areas with the dilithium, were showing on my screen.
"Professor, look at this," Cyke said. "You know….the team really needs a vacation. We've been cooped up here for seven months." He pointed to an area of the screen. "This area near the dilithium is completely uninhabited by humanoids."
I had to jump in, "And the temperature right now is 70 degrees and sunny!"
The Professor smiled. Maybe cabin fever was as annoying to him as it was to the rest of us. "These pictures are gorgeous. We've more than earned a vacation," he said, smiling.
Word that we'd be spending some time on the planet's surface spread, and excitement on board the ship continued to grow. My heart swelled with happiness. Warm sun, swimming outside in a lake, fresh air, flowers, trees…..oh, it was like a dream!
We did learn, however, that it wouldn't be perfect. The planet's atmosphere was subject to some pretty severe magnetic field storms. Our own Storm said that, based on the data we accumulated about them, these storms might be too powerful for her to control. None of us had ever seen or heard of anything quite as powerful as these storms.
In fact, Storm tried to control the storms from the ship but she was unable to. She didn't look too happy about not being able to deal with them, but we reminded her that the data clearly indicated that these fierce storms were nothing remotely like the ones on earth. Storm did some tests just to make sure there was nothing wrong with her powers. There wasn't-they worked just like ever before.
The magnetic field storms would make travelling to the planet's surface tricky. After discussing a number of different approaches, we decided it would be best to land the ship on the planet, load up the dilithium, and take off again. The storms were so severe that we decided not to risk using the transporter. We chanced losing the dilithium that way.
Hank worked on immunizations which would protect us from contracting any diseases from the planet's surface.
"So this is where it stands right now," Cyclops said to the group. "Currently there is a huge atmospheric storm going on right now. It should be over in about 48 hours, and then it looks like the next storms won't start up again for 14 days. So we can get down there, load up the dilithium….and have a little vacation." Those words really brought smiles to the faces of the group. "Then we'll take off again."
Everyone was delighted with the plan. We estimated that loading up the dilithium would take a day at the most. So almost two weeks to get down there and cavort in the sun! Someone even got the idea to set up tents and camp there, so we could sleep outside. The mood on the ship was extremely joyous. During dinner that evening, everyone was laughing and joking. Even the ever-grumpy Wolverine looked happy.
After dinner, we raided the supply room. FOH had tons of camping supplies-tents, canteens, sunblock -everything we might need. We started packing and getting it ready to go, along with the bathing suits I had replicated for the group. Excitement was at a fever pitch, and I don't think I'd ever seen Wolverine looking quite so happy.
The ship we were on-and, according to computer records, the others similar to them-was intended for long term space missions. Landing and taking off were not activities that they were designed to do frequently. Therefore, Cyclops and Hank had spent a lot of time during the last two days performing simulated take-offs and landings. They were the best pilots we had. Everything had gone smoothly during the many simulations they performed.
And everything went smoothly during the actual landing. Cyclops, Hank, Storm and Jean sat on the bridge, strapped in their seats, as Cyclops navigated the ship down to the surface. The rest of us sat together in engineering, as it had numerous seats with safety belts and we could easily monitor the bridge. I guess because the vessel is so big, I didn't really feel anything until we got closer and closer to the planet's surface. As the descent continued, the ship did shake quite a bit and we were all glad for our safety belts.
Jubilee sat closest to Wolverine, and I saw her reach for his hand at one point and put it against her abdomen. "She's moving!" she told Wolverine. Wolverine smiled, though the expression on his face was hard to read. I kinda liked it when Jubilee let me feel the baby moving. She'd done it a few times and I thought it was cool.
Our descent continued and we touched the planet's surface. We all were thrown forward in our seats, restrained by the belts. "You call that a landing?" Wolverine muttered, apparently at Cyclops, even though he was on the bridge and Wolverine said it too low for the intercom to pick up.
Soon the ship stopped shaking, and Jean's voice from the bridge came over the intercom, "How are you guys down there?"
"Everything's fine down here," the Professor said.
Soon, we were up and around. The plan was to collect as much dilithium as we could first thing, using the ship's loading equipment. We also knew that too many cooks would spoil the soup. Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Wolverine, and Colossus were a more than ample-sized team to handle loading the dilithium. They didn't need any more than five people working on it; others would have gotten in the way. They got to the planet's surface first and began their work.
The rest of us decided to stick together and go have a look at the planet.
"Whoa, I need sunglasses!" Jubilee said as the remaining six of us went down the exit ramp together. My eyes also were completely unused to the bright sun. After a few moments, though, we adjusted. The sun was strong but not glaring. I inhaled a deep breath and drank in the fresh air. It was incredible! I can't quite describe it. There's nothing * wrong* with the air on the ship, but this air was fragrant, clear, crisp….it was beautiful. I knew I must've experienced fresh air back on earth but this air was different even than in San Francisco. It smelled like nature, like purity, like happiness. I noticed the others doing a lot of inhaling and exhaling. Jean had her arms spread out and head thrown back as she took in the outdoors.
I looked around. We had landed in a large clearing next to the large rocks of unprocessed dilithium. Surrounding the clearing were trees, tall and majestic. Their green color was gorgeous. I looked up and saw birds flying overhead against the fluffy clouds, the warm sun in the background. We also knew there was animal life nearby but none of it dangerous.
Experiencing these things after seven months on board a starship was overwhelming. Hank and Jean both started reciting poetry, they were so moved. Hank later got me a copy of his poem:
"`To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun
To whirl and to dance
'Til the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
White night comes on gently,
Dark like me
That is my dream'"
"That was beautiful," Jubilee said.
"`Dream Variation' by Langston Hughes," Hank explained.
"There's a lake this way," the Professor said. "It should be about a ten minute walk. Or," he smiled, "ten minute ride for me."
We used our communicators to tell the five who worked on retrieving dilithium where we were going. I really felt bad for Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Wolverine, and Colossus at this point-imagine having to work instead of enjoy this. That was one sub-team I was sure glad I wasn't asked to be on!
We made our way through the trees. My head started to reel at one point, as all my senses were alive and buzzing. Hearing us step on twigs, feeling the warm sun and a cool breeze, smelling the fresh dirt on the ground-it was a beautiful experience. I knew we weren't supposed to touch things too much (we'd been immunized but you never knew), but I couldn't resist reaching out and just caressing some of the trees and plants. The planet was amazingly similar to earth-the beautiful areas of earth, that is. The tree bark felt just like tree bark at home.
The trees cleared and we came to a small lake. Again, it was gorgeous. The water sparkled, reflecting the sunlight.
"I feel like I'm in the Garden of Eden," Jean mused.
"What are the different seasons here like?" Jubilee asked.
"Their year is about 14 months long," I said, easily recalling the facts I had read. "In this area of the planet, what we would call summer makes up about 10 of those months. We're in the middle of summer now. Spring and fall are very brief. Winter is maybe two months long and it rarely gets colder than 50. No snow or ice."
"During this part of the year," Hank began, "at nighttime it will dip to the low 60's in temperature. Low but manageable. We'll be fine in our tents."
Jean added, "I read that not all areas of the planet are quite this idyllic. Like earth, I guess, it has its good spots and bad ones. We're just fortunate to be here."
"I would sure love to know more about the humanoids on this planet," Hank began. "I know that studying them is not possible. But what I wouldn't give to learn about their culture, their ways. Are they similar to us or vastly different?"
We continued to speculate and savor the outdoors for quite some time. We eventually made our way back to the ship, and began pitching tents and setting up camp. It actually felt good to be doing some work as I felt a little guilty compared to the five who were quickly but arduously loading dilithium. We set up the tents in a circle, and in the middle we made an area that we could use for a campfire.
"That's it," Cyclops said, when the group was done loading the dilithium. "We left over half the dilithium on the planet. And we have enough on board to ship to supply us for…." he paused for emphasis, "over seven years!"
The group erupted in cheers. This was wonderful! Lots of high-fives, back slapping and other cheers were exchanged.
"Let's celebrate with dinner!" the Professor said. Jean, Hank, and I began bringing the dinner we'd prepared out from the ship. There was this nifty dinner tray type thing that we loaded the food, plates, napkins, etc onto. It was still too warm to start a fire, but we sat in a circle around the campfire area anyway as we ate.
As I took my first bite of food and listened to the Professor talk about some of the beautiful sites we'd seen, out of the corner of my eyes I jealously glanced at the couples. Gambit sat up, with Rogue reclining against him. She was tired from her long day at work. He fed her. Cyclops and Jean were similarly together, with him practically in her lap. She rubbed his shoulders and fussed over him. Not long after I had rejoined the X-men, Jubilee had told me that practically half the team felt major envy over Scott and Jean's relationship. Now I could see why. I hated the thought that I'd never have that kind of love in my life, but it sure didn't look too likely.
"It's still light out," Storm said. She was in a half-reclined position, resting from her day of work too, as she leisurely ate her dinner. "Perhaps we can go swimming when we're done eating."
"That's an awesome idea!" Jubilee said.
Almost as soon as the dishes and dinner tray had been returned to the ship, we started changing into our swimwear. Most of the team then headed for the lake together. Colossus stayed behind at camp with the Professor, saying he preferred to rest. Rogue and Gambit said they would not be joining us for a swim, as they wanted to take a walk instead. So Wolverine, Jubilee, Storm, Cyclops, Jean, Hank, and I strolled towards the lake. We wore our swimwear under our clothes and carried towels. When we reached the lake, we stripped off our outwear and spread out the towels.
"I would much rather swim naked," Storm told the group. "But propriety demands I wear this suit. I cannot promise to do it every time though."
Wolverine smiled, "I'd prefer to be naked too. Something' about bein outdoors makes me want to get naked."
Hank chuckled, "Perhaps we'll discover two lakes, and then we can have one where swimwear is required and another where it is optional."
Cyclops and Jean didn't look overly thrilled at Storm and Wolverine's sentiments-watching their reactions, I had to stifle a grin.
I glanced at Jean and noticed that she had gained a good amount of weight. She wasn't far enough along in her pregnancy to be "showing" when she wore normal clothes, but in a bathing suit Jean was now thick around the midsection. Jubilee wore a big T-shirt over what must have been bikini bottoms, since no regular suit would fit her now.
I felt a bit self-consciousness about wearing swimming clothes around some of the other guys-I always do. I'm much smaller in stature than they are. I'm about 5'9" and have a slender build. I have some muscle definition but not a whole lot. Cyclops and Gambit, on the other hand, are both just over 6 feet tall and muscular-well-built chests, shoulders, legs, etc. Colossus must be about 6'5" and is even more bulked up. And Wolverine might be very short, but he was extremely muscular. I certainly enjoyed the views. As always, though, I'm good at averting my eyes and just taking quick glances at men. I've got it down to an art where I can look at them without being noticed.
Storm was the first adventurous one to head into the water. "The water is slightly warm," she told us. "It feels good."
That was all the encouragement I needed. I went in right after her, and the others soon followed. It was delicious. Being outside, seeing the trees and sky overhead beat swimming in the pool on board the ship any day. We could even hear birdsong. We all played and frolicked in the water. Aside from the physical joy of the experience, it was really awesome to see Cyclops really loosen up and Wolverine look happy. You don't see those things every day. We played some water games, dunking each other and such.
I never wanted to leave, and neither did the others. The Professor called to check in on us, and told us that sunset was approaching. We grudgingly knew we had to call it a day if we didn't want to freeze. We made our way back to camp, wrapped in towels, dripping on the ground. I helped Hank squeeze out some of the excess water from his fur. When your body is covered with thick fur, it doesn't matter how dexterous you are; you're gonna need help getting the all that water off.
I would've offered to also help Wolverine with this task too but didn't think it was appropriate. His hair wasn't as thick or dense as Hank's fur, but his body was covered with it. As far as I could see only Wolverine's palms, the soles of his feet, and parts of his face had no hair.
When we reached the camp, we entered the ship to dry off and change. I mused that we really had the best of both worlds here. Showers, bathrooms, food, and other amenities on the ship, and nature was just a walk down the ramp away.
"We might never want our vacation to end," Storm said as she settled around the campfire. Several others nodded along with her.
"Hey, guys," I began to the group, though looking at our three leaders, "since we've increased our dilithium supply so much…..can I replicate some marshmallows? We could roast them over the fire."
"What a great idea!" Jubilee said. "How `bout just this once? As a celebration?"
The Professor, Cyclops and Storm exchanged looks. I added, "It really doesn't take a whole lot of energy. Maybe we could just replicate one or two for each of us. That requires such a tiny amount of energy…." My stomach-and I'm sure others-started grumbling. We rarely ate sweets now since they weren't nutritious and we'd been so good about conserving energy.
Storm nodded at the Professor and Cyclops. "Go for it," Cyke said. Smiles were exchanged around the group.
It look just a few minutes, and I returned with 22 marshmallows on a plate. Others had scrounged up some sticks, and we happily began roasting them over the fire.
Rogue and Gambit were still on their walk, so we made sure to save them each two.
We had four tents and eventually began discussing who would sleep where. Cyclops and Jean got one tent. We decided as a group to give Rogue and Gambit another, hoping they'd agree when they returned from the quite long walk they'd been on. The remaining 7 of us had to be split up among the other two tents. Each tent was large enough to fit four, so that wasn't a problem. Jubilee kinda made the decision for the group when she asked Storm and I to room with her.
It had been a wonderful, but long, day. I was glad to enter the tent and surprised at how tired I felt as I rolled out my sleeping bag. Storm and Jubilee were rolling out their sleeping bags too.
"Are you going to be comfortable sleeping on the sleeping bag?" I asked Jubilee.
"It should be ok. I figure if I do get really uncomfortable I can always go to my room on the ship," she answered. "Though my back has been hurting lately. It would be really cool if one of you would rub my back."
"I'd be glad to," I said. "Since you, Storm, have been working so hard all day."
Jubilee lay on her side and I got behind her and gave her a massage. We'd done this before and she really liked it.
"I'm changing into my pajamas," Storm told us. She was behind us, and I made sure not to turn around until she told us she was changed. Not that she seemed to mind if anyone saw her naked, judging from what she'd said before.
"Oh, um, speaking of pajamas," I said as Storm changed. "I usually sleep in my underwear. Is that going to offend anyone?"
Storm chuckled, "Nudity doesn't bother me one bit. If you wanted to sleep naked, I certainly would not object.."
Jubilee giggled, "I'm just *so* offended by the thought of getting a glimpse of you in your underwear! It might give me nightmares!"
I laughed at her sarcasm, "Okay, cool," I said. At this point, I was really grateful to Jubilee for asking me to room with her, so I didn't have to be in a tent with three other guys. "Thank you for asking me to room with you," I told her.
"Thank you for what you're doing now," she said to me. "You do it very well."
"I'm glad to," I said. "How's your back been lately anyway?"
"Good and bad. Having this basketball in front of me makes me lean back when I walk. Or waddle, I should say. That's been putting the strain on my back. Some days it's worse than others."
Eventually the three of us settled down and went to bed. As I was drifting off to sleep, I'm not sure if I dreamed it or not but I thought I heard some very sensual sounds coming from other people's tents.
Rogue and Gambit held hands as they explored the new area. The Professor asked them to use their communicators to check in periodically, and they remembered to do so a couple times.
"Come dis way," Gambit said, leading them. "I think dis here would be a nice place to watch the sun go down."
"I wonder if the sunsets here are as beautiful as the ones on earth," Rogue mused.
"Dey gotta be. Everythin' else here more beautiful den on earth." He paused. "But nothin' here as beautiful as you, amor." He brought her gloved hand to his lips and kissed it.
Rogue smiled and blushed, clearly adoring his words. "You're as smooth as hog fat, mister."
"Is dat a compliment?" Gambit asked, his eyebrows raised.
"Well, it ain't meant badly. And I like it, sugar."
They sat on the green grass, Gambit placing his arm around Rogue's waist. She nestled her head on his shoulder. Indeed the sunset on this planet rivaled anything on earth. As the sun went down, hues of gold and dark red radiated against the sky.
"Mother nature is braggin'," Rogue murmured.
Gambit chuckled. "Been a long time since I ever seen anything dis beautiful. Except for-"
"Except for me," Rogue finished for him, smiling. She was deciding that she could take this kind of praise. Part of her wanted to discount any compliments but she reminded herself of some advice Storm had given her to keep her heart open and accept them.
"Exactly, chere." He paused. "We're such a long way from home. It's beautiful here but is hard to think of how far we be from earth."
"Colossus said today if we were to go at warp 5-which is like the ship's highest speed-it would take us about 5 months to get back to earth."
"Do you feel homesick, chere?"
"Naw. They don't want us back there. People hate us, and all the work we did didn't change that one little bit. Sometimes I miss the life we had back at the mansion. But I never sit around wishing I was on earth." She paused. "What about you, Remy?"
"I miss life at the mansion too. I don't miss all the fighting we X-men did all the time 'dough. Gambit tired of Sinister and Magneto and Apocalypse. And really tired of Friends of Humanity. But life at the mansion was good. Dis life good too, though. Maybe we don't need to go back."
"Someday I wanna do what Storm once said. Go back and rescue mutants from earth. Take `em somewhere else and start anew."
"Gambit likes dat idea."
"The Professor would never go for it though. Dontcha know deep down he still thinks we can go home someday and convince people to accept us."
"Dat his dream, chere. It's hard to give up on a dream."
"Mmmmm," she said by way of reply, snuggling further against Gambit. "You're so nice and warm."
"So are you."
They continued to hold each other and watch the sunset. Darkness slowly filled in around them. "I brought a flashlight," Rogue said.
"Is dat what's in dat duffel bag you brought?"
"That's not all that's in there," Rogue said. Gambit furred his brows in curiosity but Rogue didn't elaborate further. She simply said, "Gambit, I'd like you to kiss me goodnight."
"I'd like to do dat too. Did you bring some satin we can kiss through?"
"Naw. I brought a collar instead."
Gambit's heart leapt. To be able to actually kiss Rogue! Incredible. The only time they'd ever kissed before, unencumbered by her powers, was in the cell as FOH prisoners. This would be so much better.
Rogue reached through the bag and placed the collar around her neck. Given the last time she'd used it, it no longer brought back such terrifying memories. It didn't feel totally comfortable either though. "Okay, Swamp Rat, how we gonna do this?"
"Gambit could lay propped up on his side. You can lean into me."
Rogue liked the idea but didn't like what such a position could lead to. In the fading light, Gambit caught the look on her face. "Or we could both stand and face each other," he suggested.
"I like that better," she said. She got to her feet and offered Gambit her hand. She helped him up.
The couple faced each other and stepped into a hug. The warmth and tenderness felt so good. Rogue tilted her head back and looked at Gambit's face. "I love you, chere," he said.
"I love you too, Remy." He brought his face towards hers and gently covered her lips with his. He had been planning on the kiss lasting much longer, but the second after his lips brushed hers, Rogue gasped and pulled back.
"You okay, chere?"
"That was amazing! Oh my god. Your lips were on top of mine!"
"How did it feel?"
"It felt….shocking. But I don't remember `cause it was only an instant."
"Gambit would like to kiss you again. Dis one can last longer."
Rogue nodded, her system still feeling shocked but delighted. As she learned towards him for another kiss, her treacherous mind replayed a revolting image. A few of the soldiers who raped her had covered her mouth with theirs', slobbering over her, forcing their tongues in her mouth. It had been disgusting. What if-?
Her thoughts were cut off by Gambit's lips against hers again. This was different. This was totally different. She knew that now.
What she didn't really know was how to kiss, so she allowed Gambit to take the lead. But soon she felt the need to part her lips, and she did so. Gambit's tongue gently danced against her lower lip. "Oh, chere, dat feel so good," Gambit murmured. "You like it too, yes?"
"Yes," Rogue said, breathless. "Yes. Um….can we do it one more time?"
"Yes," Gambit said. He cupped her head in his hands and murmured something in French. Rogue's only knowledge of French came from sweet nothings Gambit had whispered over the years, and she knew he was telling her how beautiful she was. They kissed again, soft lips against soft lips. Rogue again opened her lips, and Gambit softly caressed her bottom lip and lightly brushed against Rogue's tongue before withdrawing.
When the kiss was over, Rogue pulled back. The day had almost been too much-experiencing the beauty of nature and now this. Her head whirled and she tried to keep her breathing steady. "Soon," she whispered to her love. "Not now, but soon."
Gambit had been a bit distraught when they returned to camp and saw that they'd been assigned to share a tent. He said that he was returning to the ship for a moment to use the bathroom, and knew he'd need the time to take care of an equally pressing physical need too. When he returned to the tent, Rogue was asleep, her collar off. Gambit crawled into his sleeping bag several feet away from Rogue's, and fell into a most content sleep.
Meanwhile, the two inhabitants of another tent were not sleeping. "Mmmmmm….that feels nice," Jean breathed. Scott was massaging lotion onto her breasts and belly. Her nipples were now darker and the area around them larger.
"Remember that article Beast gave us that said to massage your nipples if you plan to breastfeed," Scott whispered. His fingers massaged her breasts, playing close attention to her nipples.
/We should be in good shape, then, since you've been doing this for years./ Jean spoke into Scott's mind directly. She knew how much he loved to stroke her breasts and always had. Scott dipped his head and tenderly sucked her nipples, delighting in the sensations. His tongue picked up traces of the lotion, which didn't taste too good, but he brushed aside thinking about that, absorbed in his joyous task.
He didn't want to lift his head from what he was doing so he spoke into her mind. /I'm so happy, Jeanie. I can't believe we're finally going to have a baby together. I'll have the family that I never had when I was a child./
/You'll be a wonderful father, Scott. I can hardly wait myself./
Later, they lay together like spoons, Scott's hardness probing her wet depths. One of his hands reached around to rub her throbbing little bud as he moved his hips with increasing speed. Jean tried desperately to keep her moans quiet but a few slipped out, and she cried out when a deep and intense climax overwhelmed her. Scott was so enveloped in bliss that he forgot to be embarrassed at the thought of being overheard.
Our vacation was awesome! Never in my life did so many days fly by so quickly, especially considering that so few activities were done during those days. No one wanted to spend any time aboard the ship. We replicated food, showered, used the bathrooms there and that's about it. We ate and slept around the campfire. Our days were spent swimming for hours on end in the lake and walking for hours on end. Quite often we'd just lay around together, simply absorbing the fresh air and sunlight, and talking with each other-also for hours on end. I'd say it rained maybe two or three times, never lasting more than an hour. The temperature was consistently in the low 70's but never humid. Even on the days when it rained the sun always made a comeback. Maybe this truly *was* the Garden of Eden as Jean had called it.
I accompanied Hank a few times as he collected samples to study. He was always extraordinarily careful to not disturb the surroundings, meticulously taking one small leaf off a plant or a small dirt sample. Even a dedicated scientist as he, however, spent very little time in the lab. He preserved the samples and then returned to the campsite outside. He needed the outdoors as much as we all did.
Once Hank and I were laying around by the campsite and I made a comment about the fur which covered his body being matted. He then asked me to brush it out. I was a bit taken aback that he asked, but I was glad to do it. Hank enjoyed it so much he was practically purring. We started doing it semi-regularly. He'd lay down and I'd brush him out. The old Bobby would've been like, "Hank, are you sure you want me to do this? Like what if people see us and think that….well, you know…I'd be so embarrassed for you." He and I even joked about that being how the old Bobby would've reacted. But now I honestly didn't worry about that one bit.
Storm watched us once and offered to take over with brushing Hank. Picking up the brush, she smiled and said, "I never knew you enjoyed this, Beast. Why didn't you ask someone to do this before?"
Hank chuckled, "I never would have dreamed of asking, but the ever-candid Mr. Drake one day remarked that my coat was looking a bit….what was the term you used, Bobby?-shaggy? He offered to groom me and I am ever thankful for his candor. Being brushed is an experience I enjoy." The brushing of Hank continued to become a regular part of our days, and others also offered to do it. I saw Jean, Storm, and even Colossus (!) doing it on occasion.
"Can I decorate your pelt with little bows?" I asked during one of our brushing sessions.
Hank gave me the look he gives when I say something insane. "Or what about curling your fur? We could replicate a curling iron and give it some fetching curls!"
Hank gave me another look and said under his breath, "Your humor escapes me, Bobby." The Professor and Jubilee were sitting nearby during this particular exchange, and they both cracked up.
During the many walking excursions we went on, none of us ever saw any large animals. Birds were abundant, as were small animals. We glimpsed animals resembling squirrels and chipmunks, and occasionally saw an animal resembling a small deer. But they all fled when they saw us and we never examined one up close.
I truly had never seen Wolverine so happy. I guess he's meant to be outdoors and not cooped up in a starship all day. Storm was cheerful too. She had suffered from claustrophobia since she was a child, and while she didn't enjoy living on a starship, she could deal with it ok since the ship was so big. However, clearly she preferred this.
Storm and Rogue both were both, of course, gifted with the ability to fly and they took turns taking anyone who wanted it on a flying trip. It was awesome! We couldn't go too far as we didn't want to risk coming anywhere near the area where humanoids lived and having them spot us. But it had to have been one of the greatest thrills in my life when Rogue carried me in her arms and flew. She'd zoom around, the wind blowing in our faces. At first I was too afraid to look down and I simply let myself enjoy the speed. But I got comfortable with the knowledge she wouldn't drop me, and I let myself look down. That was incredible, seeing the tree tops. Rogue laughed and said she rarely got to use her ability for enjoyment; it usually had been used on dangerous missions.
I noticed that Rogue spent an awful lot of time flying around with Gambit though. She sure looked happier than I'd ever seen, and so did he. I must admit to a small pang of jealousy because ever since Rogue had warmed back up to Gambit, he spent less time with me. But it was ok. It wasn't like he never spent time with me, and the three of us did hang out together at times.
But I won't dwell on my bit of jealousy since the predominant emotion for me, and everyone else, was happiness. I didn't need to be a telepath to pick up on that. Scott and Jean were like overjoyed with their impending arrival. Practically every time I saw them, they were smiling. And I gotta say I never saw two people so in love in my life….even from the way they looked at each other, you knew. The only person who didn't seem totally thrilled was the Professor. Oh, I'm not saying he was unhappy for anything like that. But he did look a little wistful at times. I'm sure it had to do with being away from earth and everything he'd lost there. I'm sure he was the most attached to it of all of us.
None of us ever expressed a desire to be at home…or even to be anywhere else.
One day, Hank, Jean and Scott, and Storm and Jubilee held one of their meetings around the campfire. The group, I knew, met regularly in sick bay to discuss all things pregnancy and childbirth but I'd never listened in on one of their meetings before. I mean, since they'd always met in sick bay, it wasn't like you'd just happen to pass through there. But this time they decided they might as well meet outdoors since we did everything else there.
Jean and Scott were totally psyched because they said they had (or, I guess, *Jean* had) felt the baby move. They were excited. She said she was about 18-19 weeks along now. I heard her say she was getting cramps in her legs and feet when she woke up, which-from all the articles they'd read-she thought was from disturbed circulation, which often happens to pregnant women. Other than that, she said she physically felt pretty good.
"How are you feeling today, Jubilee?" Hank asked.
"At this point, I just want it to be over! I've got more than seven weeks to go and I'm just sick of it now. I mean, overall it hasn't been bad but now every joint in my body is swollen and my back is killing me," she said. "I can't believe I still have to wait seven more weeks." She paused. "And at the same time, I'm scared because I can't believe I am going to have a baby that's going to be my responsibility to take care of. A real actual baby."
I thought it was cool to listen to them, and they didn't mind that others were sitting near them during their discussion. I was excited. Well, mostly excited. I was scared too. I had asked Hank once before whether Jubilee was….big enough for childbirth. She's so petite. He told me he was concerned about her small frame, especially since we didn't know how big the father was. But I felt reassured when he said if he had to, he would do a C-section. Well, * mostly* I felt reassured…..Hank had never done a C-section before. I tried to push any worries out of my head.
"Hey Cajun," Rogue said. She approached Gambit who was sitting against a tree one late morning, playing Solitaire. A mild breeze occasionally wafted by, and a few of his cards would drift.
"Chere," he said, looking up.
"Can't find anyone to play cards with ya?"
"No, no one's up for a game. They all swimmin right now, `cept Jubilee who's napping."
"Speakin' of swimming, sugar,…do you wanna go swimming with me after dinner?"
"Love to, chere. Why after dinner `dough?"
"'Cause no one else goes swimming after dinner. We'll have some privacy. And, um…." she paused, her cheeks flushed, "the collars are water proof."
Gambit's eyes widened. "Is a date, 'den," he managed so say before she scampered off. He watched her go, his head spinning. She'd worn the collar so they could kiss a few times now during their vacation, letting him know beforehand-in no uncertain terms-that she intended to do nothing more than kiss. But the way she'd looked at him this morning….could she mean…..? His well-honed instincts told him that she indeed meant what he hoped.
The day passed excruciatingly slowly for Gambit. "Is it lunchtime yet?" he kept asking Wolverine, who had been assigned lunch duty that day. Wolverine raised an eyebrow the second time the Cajun asked. The afternoon was worse. Gambit took a long walk with Jean and Scott, and didn't hear one word the couple said (he knew it was mostly going to be about pregnancy anyway.) After the walk, he approached Storm and asked her when dinner would be ready. She scrunched her brows together and said, "Gambit, we have more than four hours before dinner." He then talked Bobby into playing cards with him, and afterwards approached Storm again. Storm just gave him an odd look and said, "If you're that hungry, make yourself a snack." Gambit got so bored that he even offered to help Beast with his research. Beast's goal for the day was to collect samples of bird feathers that had fallen to the ground. After crawling around in the dirt for some time, looking for tiny feathers, he asked Beast what time he thought it might be and how close they were to dinner. Beast replied that there were about two hours and 15 minutes to go before dinner. "Mon dieu! That long?" exclaimed Gambit. Beast wondered why he was so eager for dinner. Later, Gambit asked Jean to test her levitation powers by floating him around. Jean raised an eyebrow, "Well, alright," she said, "I could use the practice." She created a bubble and floated Gambit around, over the trees, for a bit. After that, Gambit tested the dilithium they had taken from the planet to ensure it had been processed correctly. The Professor really looked surprised when Gambit volunteered for that task, especially since the dilithium had already been tested and such work was not exactly Gambit's favorite type.
After an eternity, dinner was ready and the group assembled in their circle to eat. Jubilee sat up on a chair for her comfort; the rest were happy to sit on the ground.
Rogue and Gambit sat nearly on top of each other, flirting and giggling together. They fed each other, Rogue licking tomato sauce off of Gambit's gloved hand. They didn't join in any of the conversation the rest of the group had; they behaved as if the two of them were the only people on the planet. The others observed out of the corners of their eyes. Gambit and Rogue finally acknowledged the rest of the group the second they'd eaten the last bites of their meal, to tell the others that they were taking a swim together in the lake. By that point, everyone had surmised that going anywhere near the lake that evening would not be a good idea.
TO BE CONTINUED