Thanks to all those who reviewed! And just a quick thought-as
far as I know, it isn't possible to do a DNA test on an unborn
fetus, and even if it were, I would think it would be dangerous.
So for the sake of fiction, let's just say it's not. Hope you
enjoy chapter three!
* * * * * * * *
Remy awoke the next morning much earlier than usual. He wasn't exactly sure why, except that he had trained himself to be a light sleeper, so as to awaken in an instant if he had to. In his past as a thief, that had been a necessity. You never knew when and if you were being followed, and when you may have to run. Because of this, he now usually needed drugs to sleep soundly through the night. Drugs, or large doses of alcohol. His body had always been odd with medication, though, and funnily enough, a simple dose of aspirin was usually enough to knock him out. And he hadn't taken anything last night. That must explain why he was wide-awake at 6 o'clock in the morning.
Looking over, he saw Storm sound asleep, and he realized that he hadn't made it back to his own room. It wasn't anything unusual, however, as he frequently fell asleep in her room, even if she wasn't there. Her huge loft cast eerie shadows in the pre-dawn light of the day, and the rows and rows of plants vaguely resembled a jungle. Something about the whole thing was comforting to him, and in fact her whole room was, so he took up residency there whenever possible. She never made him leave, either, even when he showed up in the middle of the night unannounced. Unless he was drunk. Those were the only times she would escort him back to his own room. It was sort of her way of punishing him, he had come to realize. As he made his way to the door, Remy briefly wondered what everyone here thought about him spending the night in Storm's room. The thought had never crossed his mind before, but he realized that given what had happened, his actions now looked suspicious. Shrugging, he found that he really didn't care what they thought. If they didn't know him well enough to know that he would never do something like that, then they could go to hell.
He wasn't surprised to find that he was the only one up. Even to those X-Men who enjoyed getting up to greet the sun, 6 a.m. was pushing it. Although as he passed the lab, he was pretty sure that Hank would be up soon, eager to get a start on his formulas for the Legacy Virus. It boggled Remy's mind how the man could sit there in front of a computer screen for hours on end, hardly ever stopping to even take a break. Most be frustrating as Hell, he thought.
Deciding that he needed to blow off some steam, he hopped in the elevator, and took it down to the underground levels of the estate, one of which was totally devoted to the training area known as the Danger Room. In it, the ultimate in computer simulated training programs, some not even available on this planet. The professor had designed every inch of it to train his team, and it's technology was heavily guarded. Placing his hand on the DNA scanner, he let it check his genetic make-up so that it would know that it was really him, and not someone who shouldn't be where they weren't allowed. "Code accepted. Awaiting commands." The computers monotonous voice echoed throughout the massive steel room.
"'Nitiate Gambit training sequence Alpha- Omega 7-3." He said. The computer beeped its conformation. "Program loaded. Enter when ready." The huge pressurized door hissed and slid up, as Remy walked inside. All around him were the sights and sounds of the bayou, rendered as perfectly as if he were actually back home in New Orleans. The dark murky water, the old, moss covered trees, even the sound of frogs and mosquitoes along with the obvious temperature increase. Everything was perfectly calm and peaceful, as it usually was back in the real bayou. He even saw the outline of a large alligator floating near the bank. Home sweet, home, he thought, swinging out his bo-staff from one the many hidden pockets of his overcoat. He scanned the area, fully aware that the utter calm was fleeting. Come out, come out wherever you are. In less than a second, the serenity of the swamps was replaced by the sounds of six masked assassins wheedling plasma rifles stepping out from some nonexistent hiding place. "Now this more like it." He said, flipping his staff in front of him at the same minute he fanned out a handful of playing cards, charging them with kinetic energy. He smiled dangerously at the holographic adversaries. "Let's rock."
* * * * * * * *
Ororo woke up slowly as the sun began to shine brightly, peeking in from behind the blinds and curtains in her loft. With a huge sigh, she opened her eyes and glanced at her alarm clock. It was after 7. Late for her. For a minute her mind struggled to embrace the sights and sounds of the new day, the events of the previous one seeming nothing more than a horrible nightmare. Surely, it was all a dream. But as her senses returned, she realized that it was not, of course. It had all really happened, and she would have to accept it.
She sat up in bed, briefly considering not bothering to get up. She wanted to avoid facing her teammates a little longer. No, do not be a coward, she told herself, you will have to face them sooner or later, and you may as well get it over with. Still, she was not exactly looking forward to this day.
She silently made her way down to the kitchen. She was relieved that, for the first time in a week, she was not sick upon waking up. In fact, she was hungry. She hadn't eaten much yesterday, and she craved some more of the juice Remy had bought to her last night. The huge kitchen was still empty, indicating that she was the first up. Well, the second, actually, because she realized that Gambit had to be around somewhere. She remembered that he had stayed with her last night. Most likely he had taken off on his bike. It was not like him to get up this early unless he had somewhere to be. Probably breakfasting with one of those sluts he meets at the bars. She surprised herself by realizing that she was a little jealous. Ever since he had broken up with Rogue[1], she had been more observant about his actions. And as far as she could tell, there was a lot of action to be observant about.
Opening the fridge, she saw the container of orange juice, and grabbed it. Suddenly overcome by thirst, she began to drink it in huge gulps straight from the carton. It was empty when she set it down.
"If Logan saw you do that, he'd have a few things to say, after all the times you've yelled at him about doing that."
Ororo jumped back, startled, and watched as Jean Grey- Summers, flipped on the kitchen light, and smiled at her.
"I...," Storm stuttered, "You startled me, Jean, I hadn't realized you were there."
"Sorry," Jean replied. "I didn't mean to." She yawned, and walked over to turn on the coffee maker. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"Tell them what?"
"About you breaking the cardinal rule of 'spreading unnecessary germs, not to mention the fact that it is revolting.' Jean tried to keep the humor out of her voice as she repeated the very same line that Ororo herself had given Logan more then once.
"Oh, that," Storm said, "I don't know what came over me. I was suddenly so thirsty." She threw the carton in the trash, and turned back to the fridge to see what there was for breakfast. As she came to the realization that Hank's fluffy, sugar and chemical laden pillows of empty calories, more formally known as Twinkies, actually looked good, she began to wonder when a pregnant woman begins to have weird cravings. Twinkies were not something she had ever considered eating before. Now, though, they almost looked good.
"The coffee will be ready in a minute." Jean said, getting down two cups. "So, how were things yesterday? I hope Warren had enough sense to tell everyone that Scott and I were going to be gone."
"What?" Storm said, spinning around.
"My, but aren't you distracted today. Didn't you sleep well?"
Storm stared at the steaming hot cup that she offered her, and shook her head. "I am sorry Jean, but I am afraid I can't have any."
Jean frowned. "But you always have coffee in the morning. Aren't you feeling well?"
"Yes, I am feeling alright." She replied. Well, here goes nothing. "The thing is Jean, something happened yesterday."
Jean sipped her coffee, and stared at her curiously. "What? Nothing bad I hope."
Ororo felt her mouth play upwards at that. Was bad the word for it? "Nothing I can't get through. Just a bit...shocking. I am pregnant."
Jean choked as the words hit her, and nearly dropped her cup. "What?!"
"It is a bit unexpected I realize." Storm said. "But the even bigger mystery is that I have no idea how it could have happened. Nor do I have the slightest idea who the father could be." Before Jean could respond, she spilled out the entire story, starting when she had went to see Hank the previous morning. When she had finished, she looked over at her friend to gage her reaction. Although Jean was usually a very calm and rational person, Storm was still a little surprised to see that she didn't look at least a little shocked.
"Ororo," she began. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here yesterday. If I had been, you and everyone else could have been spared a lot of unnecessary guilt and anger." She patted her shoulder reassuringly.
Storm turned to her, confused. "What are you talking about, Jean? I am afraid I do not understand."
Jean sighed. "You will shortly. I was so hoping that this would not happen, but I guess it did."
"Will you please tell me what you are talking about? What do you know about this whole thing?" She could only stare at her friend, wondering what in the world she could know about this. The way her heart began to beat furiously against her ribs, her premonition told her that she was not going to like what she had to say.
"I know almost everything, I'm afraid. We must go see the professor immediately." Jean replied, heading toward the stairs. She stopped, and turned. "But first, we have to get Remy and Logan."
Ororo was too stunned to really comprehend what she was saying. "Why, Jean? What is going on?"
Jean gave her friend a small, sad smile. "I know how hard this is going to be for you to hear, Ororo. But I'm afraid that one of them is responsible for getting you pregnant." ----------------------- [1] This may be an opportune time to note that I am not a Remy/Rogue shipper. In fact, Rogue is one of my least favorite characters. Sorry to all those who like her, but they will not be together in any of my fics.
* * * * * * * *
Remy awoke the next morning much earlier than usual. He wasn't exactly sure why, except that he had trained himself to be a light sleeper, so as to awaken in an instant if he had to. In his past as a thief, that had been a necessity. You never knew when and if you were being followed, and when you may have to run. Because of this, he now usually needed drugs to sleep soundly through the night. Drugs, or large doses of alcohol. His body had always been odd with medication, though, and funnily enough, a simple dose of aspirin was usually enough to knock him out. And he hadn't taken anything last night. That must explain why he was wide-awake at 6 o'clock in the morning.
Looking over, he saw Storm sound asleep, and he realized that he hadn't made it back to his own room. It wasn't anything unusual, however, as he frequently fell asleep in her room, even if she wasn't there. Her huge loft cast eerie shadows in the pre-dawn light of the day, and the rows and rows of plants vaguely resembled a jungle. Something about the whole thing was comforting to him, and in fact her whole room was, so he took up residency there whenever possible. She never made him leave, either, even when he showed up in the middle of the night unannounced. Unless he was drunk. Those were the only times she would escort him back to his own room. It was sort of her way of punishing him, he had come to realize. As he made his way to the door, Remy briefly wondered what everyone here thought about him spending the night in Storm's room. The thought had never crossed his mind before, but he realized that given what had happened, his actions now looked suspicious. Shrugging, he found that he really didn't care what they thought. If they didn't know him well enough to know that he would never do something like that, then they could go to hell.
He wasn't surprised to find that he was the only one up. Even to those X-Men who enjoyed getting up to greet the sun, 6 a.m. was pushing it. Although as he passed the lab, he was pretty sure that Hank would be up soon, eager to get a start on his formulas for the Legacy Virus. It boggled Remy's mind how the man could sit there in front of a computer screen for hours on end, hardly ever stopping to even take a break. Most be frustrating as Hell, he thought.
Deciding that he needed to blow off some steam, he hopped in the elevator, and took it down to the underground levels of the estate, one of which was totally devoted to the training area known as the Danger Room. In it, the ultimate in computer simulated training programs, some not even available on this planet. The professor had designed every inch of it to train his team, and it's technology was heavily guarded. Placing his hand on the DNA scanner, he let it check his genetic make-up so that it would know that it was really him, and not someone who shouldn't be where they weren't allowed. "Code accepted. Awaiting commands." The computers monotonous voice echoed throughout the massive steel room.
"'Nitiate Gambit training sequence Alpha- Omega 7-3." He said. The computer beeped its conformation. "Program loaded. Enter when ready." The huge pressurized door hissed and slid up, as Remy walked inside. All around him were the sights and sounds of the bayou, rendered as perfectly as if he were actually back home in New Orleans. The dark murky water, the old, moss covered trees, even the sound of frogs and mosquitoes along with the obvious temperature increase. Everything was perfectly calm and peaceful, as it usually was back in the real bayou. He even saw the outline of a large alligator floating near the bank. Home sweet, home, he thought, swinging out his bo-staff from one the many hidden pockets of his overcoat. He scanned the area, fully aware that the utter calm was fleeting. Come out, come out wherever you are. In less than a second, the serenity of the swamps was replaced by the sounds of six masked assassins wheedling plasma rifles stepping out from some nonexistent hiding place. "Now this more like it." He said, flipping his staff in front of him at the same minute he fanned out a handful of playing cards, charging them with kinetic energy. He smiled dangerously at the holographic adversaries. "Let's rock."
* * * * * * * *
Ororo woke up slowly as the sun began to shine brightly, peeking in from behind the blinds and curtains in her loft. With a huge sigh, she opened her eyes and glanced at her alarm clock. It was after 7. Late for her. For a minute her mind struggled to embrace the sights and sounds of the new day, the events of the previous one seeming nothing more than a horrible nightmare. Surely, it was all a dream. But as her senses returned, she realized that it was not, of course. It had all really happened, and she would have to accept it.
She sat up in bed, briefly considering not bothering to get up. She wanted to avoid facing her teammates a little longer. No, do not be a coward, she told herself, you will have to face them sooner or later, and you may as well get it over with. Still, she was not exactly looking forward to this day.
She silently made her way down to the kitchen. She was relieved that, for the first time in a week, she was not sick upon waking up. In fact, she was hungry. She hadn't eaten much yesterday, and she craved some more of the juice Remy had bought to her last night. The huge kitchen was still empty, indicating that she was the first up. Well, the second, actually, because she realized that Gambit had to be around somewhere. She remembered that he had stayed with her last night. Most likely he had taken off on his bike. It was not like him to get up this early unless he had somewhere to be. Probably breakfasting with one of those sluts he meets at the bars. She surprised herself by realizing that she was a little jealous. Ever since he had broken up with Rogue[1], she had been more observant about his actions. And as far as she could tell, there was a lot of action to be observant about.
Opening the fridge, she saw the container of orange juice, and grabbed it. Suddenly overcome by thirst, she began to drink it in huge gulps straight from the carton. It was empty when she set it down.
"If Logan saw you do that, he'd have a few things to say, after all the times you've yelled at him about doing that."
Ororo jumped back, startled, and watched as Jean Grey- Summers, flipped on the kitchen light, and smiled at her.
"I...," Storm stuttered, "You startled me, Jean, I hadn't realized you were there."
"Sorry," Jean replied. "I didn't mean to." She yawned, and walked over to turn on the coffee maker. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"Tell them what?"
"About you breaking the cardinal rule of 'spreading unnecessary germs, not to mention the fact that it is revolting.' Jean tried to keep the humor out of her voice as she repeated the very same line that Ororo herself had given Logan more then once.
"Oh, that," Storm said, "I don't know what came over me. I was suddenly so thirsty." She threw the carton in the trash, and turned back to the fridge to see what there was for breakfast. As she came to the realization that Hank's fluffy, sugar and chemical laden pillows of empty calories, more formally known as Twinkies, actually looked good, she began to wonder when a pregnant woman begins to have weird cravings. Twinkies were not something she had ever considered eating before. Now, though, they almost looked good.
"The coffee will be ready in a minute." Jean said, getting down two cups. "So, how were things yesterday? I hope Warren had enough sense to tell everyone that Scott and I were going to be gone."
"What?" Storm said, spinning around.
"My, but aren't you distracted today. Didn't you sleep well?"
Storm stared at the steaming hot cup that she offered her, and shook her head. "I am sorry Jean, but I am afraid I can't have any."
Jean frowned. "But you always have coffee in the morning. Aren't you feeling well?"
"Yes, I am feeling alright." She replied. Well, here goes nothing. "The thing is Jean, something happened yesterday."
Jean sipped her coffee, and stared at her curiously. "What? Nothing bad I hope."
Ororo felt her mouth play upwards at that. Was bad the word for it? "Nothing I can't get through. Just a bit...shocking. I am pregnant."
Jean choked as the words hit her, and nearly dropped her cup. "What?!"
"It is a bit unexpected I realize." Storm said. "But the even bigger mystery is that I have no idea how it could have happened. Nor do I have the slightest idea who the father could be." Before Jean could respond, she spilled out the entire story, starting when she had went to see Hank the previous morning. When she had finished, she looked over at her friend to gage her reaction. Although Jean was usually a very calm and rational person, Storm was still a little surprised to see that she didn't look at least a little shocked.
"Ororo," she began. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here yesterday. If I had been, you and everyone else could have been spared a lot of unnecessary guilt and anger." She patted her shoulder reassuringly.
Storm turned to her, confused. "What are you talking about, Jean? I am afraid I do not understand."
Jean sighed. "You will shortly. I was so hoping that this would not happen, but I guess it did."
"Will you please tell me what you are talking about? What do you know about this whole thing?" She could only stare at her friend, wondering what in the world she could know about this. The way her heart began to beat furiously against her ribs, her premonition told her that she was not going to like what she had to say.
"I know almost everything, I'm afraid. We must go see the professor immediately." Jean replied, heading toward the stairs. She stopped, and turned. "But first, we have to get Remy and Logan."
Ororo was too stunned to really comprehend what she was saying. "Why, Jean? What is going on?"
Jean gave her friend a small, sad smile. "I know how hard this is going to be for you to hear, Ororo. But I'm afraid that one of them is responsible for getting you pregnant." ----------------------- [1] This may be an opportune time to note that I am not a Remy/Rogue shipper. In fact, Rogue is one of my least favorite characters. Sorry to all those who like her, but they will not be together in any of my fics.