Just What We Need: Another Relative

"Excuse me?" Rogue looked at Hawk. "I don't think I heard you right. Mystique's what?"

"Pregnant," Hawk sighed. "During her processing they gave her a medical check up. Came as a shock to her too."

"How…?" Rogue gasped. "Who…?"

"Oh mein gott I think I know," Kurt winced. "Zartan."

"Zartan?" Ororo asked.

"A while back some of us discovered that the two of them hooked up without either of them knowing it was the other," Kurt grunted.

"You mean the hotel incident?" Ororo asked. "They were together?"

"And they weren't happy when they found out who they spent the night with let me tell you," Kurt shuddered. "We thought it was best not to say anything…For obvious reasons! Still gives me chills to this day! What I heard…Brrrrrr…."

"Zartan's the father?" Rogue blinked. "Oh why not? Why not make our family tree even more screwed up than it already is!"

"Rogue I can understand that you're upset…" Xavier began.

"Upset? No I am way beyond upset! I'm ticked off!" Rogue snapped. "What the hell was that woman thinking? Does she not know how to use birth control or something? Wonderful! Once again she screws up our lives!"

"Rogue!" Ororo gasped.

"Well you can't exactly think this is a blessing!" Rogue shouted at her.

"I for one do not enjoy having any kind of relationship with Zartan and the Dreadnoks," Kurt agreed.

"This is perfect! Just when my life couldn't suck any more!" Rogue got up. "I gotta get out of here!" She stormed out.

"She took it well," Hawk said sarcastically.

"Well she did have kind of a rough couple of days," Kurt snapped. "And quite frankly I have to agree with her on this one!"

"Kurt it's understandable that your first reaction to this news might be a bit selfish," Xavier sighed.

"SELFISH? SELFISH!" Kurt snapped. "After all the things Mystique has done to us? After all the hell she has put us through? She's used us both so many times thinking only of herself and now she's got another life to ruin. And you know how Rogue feels around people. She's always worried about absorbing them. Well how do you think she feels now if a baby is going to be in the house? And no matter how many precautions we take that possibility is always going to be there in Rogue's mind and it terrifies her."

"I confess I didn't think of that," Xavier frowned.

"The last thing Rogue ever wants to do is to hurt someone like that," Kurt said. "Believe me I know. We've been in therapy long enough to know how we feel about it. And she's probably upset that I'll have to be the one to do the most things with the baby and she'll be left out as well and she's right!"

"You sound like you've thought about this before," Hawk said.

"Actually these are the first things popping into my head right now!" Kurt started to pace back and forth. "Give me a few days then I'll really come up with some ideas! What are we going to do? I don't know how to raise a baby. I mean I've heard about kids raising kids but this is ridiculous!"

"Whoa Kurt slow down…" Hawk said.

"Well what are you gonna do? Leave my baby brother or sister in prison?" Kurt shouted. "Leaving it with Mystique is out of the question!"

"Obviously," Hawk sighed. "Just relax kid I'm sure we'll think of something."

"Kurt you and Rogue are not going through this alone," Ororo told him.

"I know, I know…" Kurt sighed and put his head to his hand. "I just really need to think about this if you don't mind." He teleported out of the room.

"I'm sorry to spring that on you," Hawk told them. "But I thought it would be better hearing from me than someone else."

"We appreciate that Hawk," Ororo sighed.

"We should think about this over the next few days," Xavier said. "It's not as if Mystique is going anywhere."

"Well she may be if Zartan finds out about this," Hawk sighed.

"I don't understand," Xavier looked at him.

"You really think Zartan's gonna just sit by while Mystique has his kid in prison?" Hawk asked. "Don't bet on it."

"But he hates Mystique," Ororo blinked.

"He hated Zanya's mom too but that didn't stop him from doting on his daughter," Hawk told him. "The Dreadnoks may be the scum of the earth, but when it comes to blood relatives Zartan and his clan are surprisingly tight knitted."

"So if Zartan finds out he has a child by Mystique…" Ororo frowned.

"Something tells me a restraining order would be inadequate," Xavier sighed. "He'd do anything in his power to get his child. And then warp it with his twisted mind like he did his daughter. I see your concern."

"It's going to become even more complicated than that I'm afraid," Hawk sighed. "You all know the history Zartan has with Stormshadow right?"

"He killed off the leader of his clan and framed Stormshadow for it," Xavier remembered the story. "You don't think Stormshadow would…"

"He wouldn't," Hawk finished. "But there are a lot of other members and former members of his clan that would."

"What?" Ororo asked. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I hope that kid turns out to be a girl," Hawk said ominously. "Or else it may never grow up."

#######################################################################

"I don't know what Hawk said but if we don't do something soon there's not going to be a Danger Room left," Logan grunted. "Stripes has been in there a good half hour and she ain't even slowing down." Something else crashed in the Danger Room, leaving a huge dent in the wall. "Oh great! Charles is gonna love that!"

Scott and Remy were outside the Danger Room as well. "Man she's really ticked off," Scott whistled.

"Glad it's not Remy she's mad at," Remy flinched at the sound of another explosion.

Kurt teleported next to them. "Is someone using the Danger Room?" He asked.

Another dent appeared in the wall. Rogue yelling angrily could be heard. "That answer your question?" Logan indicated.

"Kurt what's going on?" Scott asked. "What happened?"

Kurt expelled a breath before telling them. "Mystique is pregnant."

"What?" Logan looked at him.

"You're joking?" Remy looked at him.

"I wish!" Kurt spat. "It gets better. Zartan's probably the father!"

"No doubt about it!" Remy shuddered. "I remember that night in the hotel! Ugh!"

"As if we didn't have enough to deal with!" Logan groaned. "Well that explains the dents in the walls."

"Yeah another lousy week in the lives of the X-Men," Kurt grunted.

"I'm going in there," Remy punched in the code to open the doors.

"I wouldn't do that Gumbo," Logan warned.

"Don't try to stop me Wolverine," Remy opened the door. "I…" He was immediately cut off by a piece of debris flying into him, knocking him into the wall.

"REMY!" Rogue ran out terrified. She pulled what looked like a broken metal tentacle off him. "Are you okay?"

"No…" Remy groaned in agony.

"I told you not to do that," Logan shook his head. "You know you people should listen to me one of these days."

"What are you doing down here?" Rogue asked them.

"I was gonna use the Danger Room," Kurt told her. Then he looked at the mess.

"I don't think you're gonna be able to use it today," Scott gulped.

"I don't think anyone's gonna use it for a week!" Logan groaned. "Way to go Stripes."

"I'm not complaining," Remy winced as he sat up. "Much."

"I'm sorry," Rogue moaned. "I just…"

"We know," Scott cut her off.

"I just told them the wonderful news," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Does the whole mansion know by now?" Rogue groaned.

"Not yet," Kurt sighed. "But they will."

"We won't say anything," Scott told them.

"Its not you we're worried about," Rogue helped Remy up. "You know how fast the Multiple News Network gets a hold of things. I swear the little rug rat lives to spy on us."

"Well at least we all know why you wanted to destroy the Danger Room," Scott said. "Man I can't believe this."

"I've always wanted a big family but this is just ridiculous," Kurt groaned.

"It does seem like things are always happening around here," Scott shook his head.

"Here," Rogue propped up Remy onto her shoulder. "I'll help you to the infirmary. And don't even think about making any corny jokes unless you wanna get slammed into the wall again."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Cherie," Remy coughed. "Remy don't think his ribs could take it."

"Uh maybe we should go talk somewhere?" Scott indicated to Kurt.

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "I know just the place," He put his hand on Scott's shoulder and teleported him away.

"And that leaves me with the cleanup," Logan looked at the mess. "Great…"

Kurt and Scott ended up sitting near the baseball diamond in the backyard on the bleachers. "I suppose it is a little selfish to think how this affects me and Rogue," Kurt sighed. "We should be focusing on the baby."

"Kurt it's only natural that you reacted that way," Scott said. "I kind of remember when Alex came along. I didn't take it well at first."

"And how old were you? Two?" Kurt pointed out.

"Okay but my point is this is a big change in your life. It's only natural that you'd think of how it'll affect you," Scott shrugged.

"I'm more worried about how it will affect Rogue," Kurt sighed. "You know how worried she gets about absorbing people."

"You really think Mystique will let us bring it here?" Scott asked.

"I don't see that she has much of a choice," Kurt shrugged. "I mean especially if it's going to be a mutant…"

"If is a mutant," Scott pointed out. "It is possible for mutant parents to have kids that don't have an X-Gene."

"Really?" Kurt asked. "I didn't know that."

"Hank was telling me that the other day," Scott said. "It's rare but it does happen. He was talking to Lifeline the other day. They were saying how the X gene is passed through the male."

"Well that doesn't make sense," Kurt said. "I mean both me and Wavedancer's fathers are human and our mothers are mutants. Okay Magneto did experiments on me but still…"

"Well they were also saying there are also exceptions to the rule," Scott told him. "Some mutants have something called the Dominant X gene. Meaning no matter what their offspring are mutants. Both male and females can have it. Althea's mom is technically a mutate, not a mutant."

"What's that?"

"Mutate is someone without an X-gene, dormant or otherwise but mutated by artificial means. During this process, nine times out of ten they'll develop a Dominant X gene and pass it on to their kids. And their kids will pass it on and so forth. The kids end up with almost the exact same powers the parent has."

"So that explains why Althea and her sisters and brother can all breathe underwater and I'm blue," Kurt thought.

"Yeah and remember Rahne told us she has a friend at Muir Island who has the exact same powers as her dad?" Scott asked. "And Polaris…Well I don't really want to go into that."

"Thanks," Kurt rolled his eyes. He thought a second. "You know if that's true the odds that my new brother or sister is going to be a mutant are more than pretty good."

"Yeah the kid's not gonna have an easy time no matter which way you look at it," Scott sighed. "He's gonna need somebody to look out for him. To be honest, I can't think of two better people than you and Rogue."

"I just hope Rogue gets over her fears," Kurt sighed. Then he heard a rustle in the bushes. "What's that?"

"Let's find out," Scott put his hand to his visor. Both mutants cautiously moved towards the rustling. There was a figure moving towards them in the brush. "FREEZE!" Scott shouted, sending out a warning blast from his optic beam. The intruder was clipped by it and knocked down.

"All right who sent you?" Kurt teleported over him. "YOU!"

"The Tooth Fairy!" Evan snapped as he lay on the ground. "Geeze nice welcome you guys."

"Evan!" Kurt shouted.

"Oh man sorry about that," Scott helped him up. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing a few dozen aspirin wouldn't cure," Evan groaned. "And I thought Morlocks were paranoid."

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked.

"Spears," Evan grunted. "He's started his factory again."