I do not own X-Men: Evolution and/or Marvel in any way, shape, or form. Please do not sue, for it will inevitably just be a waste of time and money in trying to find a suitable legal representative. Thank you.

Pain

Rogue sat cross-legged on the turf's uncomfortable metal bleachers, watching the track and field events being played by her fellow classmates. Coach Wilson had benched her, as usual, because of her high-risk potential. But frankly, she could care less whether or not she got out there and exercised with the rest of them. Instead, she used the extra time to catch up on homework or work on her new pastime: drawing. She studied the players' every movement, scrutinizing them, looking out for something remotely interesting, hoping her newly discovered muse would be inspired. Ever since last Tuesday, Mr. Jenkins' first day at BHS, she had been feeling slight renewed, less tired - something was different inside of her.

And she knew exactly what it was, what was so unusual. All those emotions that had built themselves up over the years had broken through her dam. She had stored and locked them away in an impenetrable steel safe. And in an instant, it had been picked open and now, they were flooding to the surface. Those feelings somehow found their way to her nimble fingers, those fingers to a pencil, and that miniscule piece of led so strong to paper. And although Rogue was very skilled at it, every sketch was strangely empty, lacking a very important portion. Like a puzzle, if one piece was missing, the rest looked distorted and misshapen. It was yet to be finished.

She looked to her drawing and frowned, despaired. In the picture, three toddlers - their faces hidden - sat around in a bathtub, splashing in the foamy water. Rogue had drawn herself sitting on the edge, totally soaked and laughing. But there was this giant, empty space in the corner of the page that just annoyed the crap out of her. What was missing?

Her eyes wandered to her distended stomach, and she was immediately granted the answer: 'Remy'. Remy LeBeau, her husband, her children's father. She realized that she missed him... that pestering Swamp Rat.

Time to ponder the thought was out of the question, as Randle Wilson had different plans for her. "Rogue!" he bellowed, his loud, booming voice right in her ear. "Since you're just sitting there, why don't you do something useful and get the towels from the boy's locker room." He turned around, his back to her now. He blew his whistle. "Now! Pronto!"

She mumbled some insulting words under her breath and began crossing the field. From the time it took to get from the bleachers to the gym, which was a minute at the most, Rogue had counted hundreds of blunted arrows flying in her direction. Luckily, she dodged them all. In addition to almost being stabbed, she had tripped over thousands of feet, and was pelted with tons of tennis balls seemingly coming out of nowhere. 'Ah've definitely had mah workout for the day.'

In the boy's locker room, she located the towel bin and began rolling out. She soon fell instep with the rhythmic squeaking of the wheels. But that steady beat broke. She froze in place as a warm fluid slowly trickled down her thigh. 'That's strange. Ah didn't know Ah had ta go ta the bathroom. And it doesn't really smell lahke pee. Ah'll ask Mistuh McCoy later...' She left the giant bin where it was and headed into the girl's locker room, hurriedly changing her undergarments before rushing back to join up with the rest of the class.

Coach met her in the middle of the field, his fists hanging at his sides, tightly clenched. He raised an eyebrow. "There you are, Rogue. Sure took you a long time, didn't it? I swear, if I hear anything about you disrupting other classes, I'll have your hide. Where were you? What took so long?" he asked sternly.

"Sorry Coach," she said. "I just had an accident and had to..." She trailed off and grabbed the tightening muscles of her stomach. Rogue moved her hands down to her pelvis, as she felt a strange pressure there, as if something was trying to push itself down. Slowly, she inhaled and exhaled, controlling her breathing just as Mr. McCoy had taught her. With one hand on her abdomen and the other on her suddenly achy back, she walked over to the benches and lowered herself. She moaned as a menstrual-like cramp hit her.

Her classmates and Coach surrounded her, suddenly worried for her well-being. All prejudice and bias was thrown aside. Wilson pulled out his stopwatch, and when Rogue would signal, he started timing.

"Thirty-three seconds in duration. Five minutes apart."

"Forty-seven seconds in duration. Five minutes apart."

"Sixty-two seconds in duration. Three minutes apart," he announced.

'Great. Just dandy,' she thought. Rogue steadied herself by grabbing onto the handrails. She tried to stand up, but in a split-second, she was hit with another contraction that forced her to drop down to her knees in agony. She cried aloud, as the pain was great, and clutched at her sides. 'Lord,' she silently prayed, 'Ah'm sorry for teasing all those pregnant women who were screaming bloody murder durin' delivery. If this is punishment, just take meh now!'

A pair of fuzzy arms wrapped themselves around her middle. In the blink of an eye, she had been teleported to the high school's parking lot. Her head spun and the atrocious smell of brimstone filled her lungs, suffocating her, causing her to retch. When the gas was finally cleared away, she found herself laid out on the backseat of her van. Her younger brother sat next to her and Shadowcat at the wheel. Kurt buckled her seatbelt before doing his own. "Hang onto something, mein schwester. Vis is going to ve a vumpy ride..." he warned.

Kitty turned the keys in the ignition and peeled out of the parking lot, wheeling into the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Bayville, New York. They soon discovered themselves to be on the highway heading to the Institute, enclosed by thousands of other cars and taxis that were only budging about ten miles per hour. She slammed her hand down on the horn and shoved - phased - her head through the window, yelling "Hey! I, like, got a lady who's having a baby in the backseat! Like, move out of the way!" at the top of her lungs.

"Guys," Rogue breathed. "Ah don't think Ah'm gonna make IT!" Another contraction set in, the strongest so far. She grabbed Kurt by the collar of his shirt and screamed.

Kurt patted and rubbed her back in circles. "In, out. In, out," he instructed, helping her through the breathing.

"OUT!"

Once the contraction was over and done with, Rogue commanded that Kitty give Nightcrawler her cell phone. "Call Remy for meh," she said weakly, doubling over in pain. The contractions were coming closer together, the pain worsening with each and every one. "T-tell him ta hurry over ta the Institute."

Her brother dialed the number she gave him. "He visn't answering, Rogue."

"Call him again."

He called the number again, and to his surprise, Remy picked up. "Bonjour," he yawned through the shaky, static filled connection. "Dis is Remy LeBeau. If dis be a bonne fille, we can change dat mighty quick. And if dis be de electric company, Remy already sent in de money..."

Rogue roughly wrestled the phone from Kurt. "Remy," she said softly.

"Chère?" he asked, incredulously.

"Get ya fanny up ta the Xavier Institute! Ah'm in labor!"

-

The instructors met up with the three students in the Institute's driveway. A wheelchair sat at their side, waiting for Rogue to warm its seat. The Beast and Wolverine gently handled Rogue, helping her out of the car and into the mobile chair.

She looked to the left and saw Professor Xavier smiling at her.

"Ah never knew what it was lahke... ta look up at somebody from down here," she said quietly.

He just continued smiling and patted her hand.

-

"Where do you think you're going?"

Remy had only just stepped in through the Institute's threshold, and already, he was being greeted with hostility and confrontation. He strode up to Cyclops and ripped off his sunglasses, revealing looming, devilish pupils that sparked angrily. "Remy's goin' t' see his wife, homme. Y' got a problem wit' dat, Shady?" He pulled a deck of cards from the pocket of his trench coat, charging one. The exterior glowed a weird shade of purple. The edges burnt up and began falling to the ground, turning to small pieces of ash. "'Cause we can go at it right now..."

"Scott!" Jean called. "Don't do anything brash." She put a hand on his bicep, caressing his skin as she calmed him telepathically. She then gestured for Gambit to follow her down to the infirmary.

Remy followed the redhead into the medical center, surprised to see Logan standing in the middle of the bare room, claws sheathed. Instead, the Canadian stepped up and handed him a turquoise robe that tied in the back and a matching cap. Jean was left behind, and the two men made their way to the room where Rogue was being retained. It was silent. But just before they entered, Logan grabbed Remy by the sleeve and pushed him up against the wall. "No funny business, Gumbo. That girl in there... she's like a daughter to me. You've already hurt her once. Don't do it again. If you do, nobody, not even Apocalypse, will be able to stop me from gutting you," he growled.

"O' course, Monsieur Logan. O' course."

Logan pushed open the double doors that led into a medium-size, sterile, whitewashed room. The coloring -or lack thereof - took a moment to get used to, but eventually, Remy did adjust and regained his sight. His eyes unglazed and he saw his missus lying down on a cot, breathing through a painful contraction.

She turned her head to the side and smiled. "Remy."

"Chère." He held her hands in his own, holding them against his chest, promising that he would never leave her again, and coaching her through.

When the pain finally letup, Beast came over to announce the results of her internal vaginal exam. He looked over his paperwork, saying, "You are totally effaced and completely dilated. Babies A, B, and C are all in vertex or cephalic presentations, anterior positions. Baby A has crowned." He paused. "The next piece of information I have for you," he said hesitantly, "is quite amazing, actually. I have seen miracles time and time again, being a doctor and all, but nothing ever this astounding... It seems that the babies are immune to your powers, Rogue."

She didn't have time to embrace the idea, as another contraction hit full on.

"Can't you give her somethin'?" Remy asked, concerned. "Somethin' t' ease her pain?"

"It's too late."

Rogue looked to Remy, her eyes glossy. "Ah can't do this. Ah can't," she cried, going into hysterics.

Gambit wiped her tears away. "Oui, y' can, chère. Remy has faith in y'. Y' can do dis. Y're strong an' healthy. Y'll get t'rough dis." She avoided looking at him. Nervously, she wrung and twisted her fingers, becoming more and panicked. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, making it so that she could look anywhere else but straight. "I promise y', chère."

"No. Ah can't!"

"Oui."

"No!"

"Oui!"

"Okay, you two." Beast laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder, continuing with his instruction. "Now Rogue, when you feel the next contraction coming or see the line on the monitor peak, I want you to hold your breath and push for as long as you can, or until I say stop. Can you do that?"

She shook her head. "Ah can't!"

"Oui. Y' can chère!"

"Push!"

Rogue braced herself on the bed, clutching the sheets, and began pushing. But as the head was slipping through, she felt a burning sensation around the hole. The pain was too hard to bear. She cried out and grabbed onto Remy, screaming, "Ah can't!" She started to suck the baby back in.

"No!" Hank yelled. "Wrong way!"

Kurt teleported into the room, his tail wrapped around his video camera. On all fours, he leapt over to the foot of the bed his sister laid on and began documenting the babies' births. "Come on, klein ein (little one). Don't you vant to say hi to your Uncle Kurt and his camera?"

"Ah swear, Kurt, if ya don't get outta here with that thang, Ah'm gonna kill ya!"

"Push!"

"Aaah!"

The head popped out, and in three more pushes, so did the rest of the infant's body. "It's a boy!" Hank yelled, handing it Ororo. She quickly wiped it down and cleaned out its mouth and diapered it. She placed him in his own incubator.

Remy wiped Rogue's forehead with a cool washcloth and encouraged her. "Y' doin' fine, Rogue."

"Mah name isn't Rogue," she whispered into his ear. "Mah name's Marie."

He smiled. "Marie."

"Ah've never told anyone before. Anyone but you."

"Remy figured, chérie."

In about ten more minutes, Baby B was born. "And it's a boy!"

Rogue leaned back on her pillow and rested for a moment. "Ah didn't actually think ya were gonna come..." she told him breathily. "Not after the way Ah treated ya. Ya really do care 'bout meh."

"Chère?" he asked. "Don' y' know by now?" He chuckled. "Remy can' live wit'out y'! He loves y'."

"Vhat love! Vhat passion! And to think I caught it all von camera!"

"Ah'm gonna kill ya, Kurt! Oooh..."

The last baby was the most difficult to deliver. Rogue screamed and had to be held down. She struggled to get away from Logan's grasp. "Get it out! Get it out!" The bed began to rattle and shake as she wriggled violently and arched her back. "Get it out!"

Slowly, but surely, the baby was pushed out. Rogue fell back in a daze. "Doc?" she asked.

"She's not breathing."

- So, Remy's back. They love each other. Love is in the air. Blah blah blah. But Baby C - Jaimie - isn't breathing. Will she be okay? Will she survive? You'll find out next time. Sorry to leave ya'll with a cliff, but I'm done for the day. Anyways, thanks for the reviews! You guys are great! I love ya'll so much! Thanks and see ya laters. xmengirlzrule -