Second Chances
A/N: Thanks to dizi for letting me make a future for her OC, Jenny. She's going to have a wonderful life. Jenny's children were created during a series of conversations between dizi and myself. Amazing what you can do while IM'ing.
Epilogue
I've been watching this couple ever since I died. That's going on, let me see..., yeah, it's been three years now. I volunteered to watch them. They have guardians. Everyone has one but this couple needed more. I don't guard them, physically. I'm not sure if they need a physical guard. They're both very powerful mutants, and now, they both have healing factors. I'm not too sure exactly what their guardians do all day but it's not keeping them out of trouble. Maybe they escort trouble to them.
No, I don't guard their bodies. I am their advocate. I guard their hearts and their souls. In essence, I guard their love. I helped them get together, you know. I'm very proud of that fact. It was in the year that never was. I married them on a street in New York. I kind of screwed that one up. I did it without permission and got into trouble for it. But it completed the bond, which was what I was trying to do. They needed to admit, to themselves and to others, that they were husband and wife. It worked. The bond solidified and now links them together forever. Even after they die and are sent back, they will find each other again. It's kind of like a magnet for their hearts.
That doesn't mean their lives are all that wonderful. They are mutants, you know. Mutants have a hard time during this period in time. They are considered little better than animals, an attitude I found abhorrent even when I was alive. Being mutants gives them a set of difficulties normal humans never experience, but they have their share of normal human problems they have to overcome too.
The worst one was infertility. After the big blue doctor gave Jubilee her husbands healing factor, they were unable to conceive. Actually, they could conceive but Jubilee's body treated the embryo as a foreign body and killed it. I knew what was happening because I could feel the death of each baby, month after month, but I had no way of letting them know. It nearly drove her to suicide. She tried once and I had to force another mutant to find her and save her. He was a big, ugly brute but, in his heart, he liked Jubilee and didn't want her to die. Oh, well. He was rewarded for saving her. He's going to have something of an interesting life.
Almost a year ago, the blue guy finally worked out something to prevent Jubilee's body from killing her child. She's waaaaaay big now with a little girl who will rule her father with her little pinky.
Speaking of the proud Papa, there he is, fishing in the lake. Jubilee must be craving fish again. You know, I remember the day the doc gave Jubilee the inhibitor bracelet. The Boss finally smiled that day. I heard later that The Boss wanted them to reproduce. I asked why and was told that they are important to remove a bunch of genetic goofs that have been showing up in the genome. Evidently, in ten generations or so, their genes will be predominate and most of the genetic diseases will disappear. Pretty cool, huh? I get the care and feeding of the parents of the future of the human race.
Gotta go. Logan's about to get balled out and I like to listen in. You're welcome to come if you want.
"I can smell ya, Liese." he called out over the water of Breakstone Lake.
A small green head broke the surface of the water with a loud splash. "Your not 'posed to know I'm here, Unka Wolvie." amber eyes pouted.
"And yer not supposed ta be in the lake without someone with ya," he countered with a smile. She was a cute little imp. Adopted as a newborn by Kurt and Jenny Wagner, she was a green haired, amber eyed, amphibian gifted cutiepie and Logan loved her to pieces. Kurt didn't have the heart to discipline her and Jenny swore the child was going to drive her into an early grave with her antics. Her older brother, Zellig, was the model child, according to Jenny. Logan found him stiff and dour. He spent way too much time with Cyclops. He guessed the early years matter more than anyone thought. Zellig had no memories of his birth mother but he could remember feeling afraid and in danger. Those feelings colored his personality even now, almost seven years later.
"But you're here," she told him with a smile on her lips and flapping her gills to dry them.
"I didn't know ya was in the lake, kid." He picked up his string of fish and waved her out. "C'mon. I'm sure yer parents are lookin' fer ya."
He started walking toward the mansion when an ear piercing shriek nearly drove him to his knees. Without warning, a small, green haired limpet attached herself to his leg and started pulling with all her might. He looked down to find Liese, naked as the day she was born, trying to climb his leg and get to the string of fish slung over his shoulder.
"You killed 'em," she was screaming. Logan could feel blood dripping from his ears as the sound barrage continued.
"Liese, stop," he yelled. "You know Auntie Jubilee craves fish sometimes. I always ask them if they wanna be caught."
"They're dead," she cried.
"Aw, darlin', I always ask first. They all know that Auntie Jubilee is hungry and they want her ta have a big, healthy baby. I never catch one that don't wanna be caught." He knelt down so he could look her in the eye. "Don't cry, punkin'. They're happy ta help yer Auntie have a healthy baby." He pulled out a handkerchief and dried her face.
She finally saw the blood running down his neck from the ruptured ear drums. "I'm sorry Unka Wolvie."
"It's okay, darlin'," he said kissing the top of her head. "I'll heal."
She grabbed the handkerchief from his hand and ran down to the lake to dunk it in the water. Wringing it out as best she could, she ran back and washed the blood from her favorite Uncle's neck. "I love you," she said sweetly.
"I love ya, too," he said, picking her up and settling her on his hip. "But ya know ya ain't supposed ta run around the grounds in yer all together, even if yer just visitin' yer friends in the lake. Where are yer clothes?"
"I took 'em off," she told him proudly.
"I can see that, darlin'."
A sudden 'Bamf' followed by the stench of brimstone heralded the arrival of the child's father, holding the missing garments. Liese let out a soft squeal of pleasure at the site of her soft, blue furred papa. She let go of the short hairy Uncle and leapt into the arms of the soft furry papa. She sighed in contentment as she rubbed her cheek on the downy covered arm. Kurt's tail wrapped around her waist and tickled her ribs gently, making her squirm and giggle.
"I see ya found the trail?" Logan asked.
"All the vay from the front door," he said. "You need to go in. Jubilee has gone into labor."
The string of fish and all the tackle were scattered as Logan ran up to the house, his excitement and worry growing. Jubilee was tiny and the baby, large. The doctor had said that she could probably deliver without any problems but all kinds of awful scenarios kept racing through his brain. Women can die in childbirth. He read about it once. She could need a C-section. His worry started to overcome his excitement as he was entering the mansion.
He reached out and brushed the bond. It was wide open and throbbing with pain. He flashed reassurances down the link. He and Jubilee couldn't use their bond to talk telepathically, but they could communicate using emotional surges. He always knew what she was feeling and she knew what he was feeling. Came in handy when they had a fight. Right now, she was in a great deal of pain and absolutely furious at him. He followed the silver thread to the den.
Jubilee was on the floor, shrieking in pain. He could feel it himself as she shared her pain with him. His belly and thighs burned with a fire he had never felt before. The pain started in his back and wrapped around his to his abdomen, spreading upward and down. As the pain ran down his thighs to his knees, he stumbled and fell beside her, screaming.
"Logan!" Jenny cried.
"I'm okay," he ground out between gasps and moans. "Jubes is sharin' her pain."
Jenny grabbed the laboring woman's shoulders and shook them firmly. "Stop it, Jubilee. You need Logan to help you have this baby."
"He did this to me," she hissed as the contraction eased.
"Like you didn't want it, too," Jenny scoffed. "Let him go so he can be your rock."
"Jubilation, let go of Wolverine," Hank instructed as he entered the den, a blue wrapped bundle in his hand. "You are not going to make it to the hospital and I will need him to help you deliver safely."
The pain in his back and abdomen faded and stopped. He took a deep breath and sat up, shaking.
"Damn, Jubes!" he gasped. "Is that what it feels like? It's a wonder ya ladies ever want ta have a baby. That flamin' hurts!"
"No shit, Sherlock," she hissed.
"She is in transition," Hank informed him. "This is the most painful part of the process. Thankfully, it it also the shortest."
Jean ran in holding a small bucket. "You're going to need this," she told him as she shoved the pail in his hands.
"What fer?" he demanded. Suddenly, the air was filled with the scent of nausea. "Oh, shit." he swore. He got the bucket to her just in time.
Scott dangled a wet washrag over his shoulder, his expression commiserating. "You're both doing fine," he told the nervous father. "It won't be long now."
Logan took the washrag and started wiping Jubilee's face as another contraction rippled across her belly, making her scream in agony.
"I thought these things were supposed ta be two minutes apart." His eyes were filled with concern.
"Transition is different," Scott told him. "They come one on top of another. As soon as she's dilated, the contractions will get less painful and farther apart. Then the fun begins."
"Breathe, darlin'. He, he, he." he breathed with her. "What the hell are ya talkin' about, Cyke?"
"Pushing," he told him. "Jean broke my hand when she had Rachel."
Jean flushed with embarrassment. "I said I was sorry," she protested.
"Get yer hand outta there, bub," Logan growled as Hank examined Jubilee.
"I don't tell you how to gut an enemy, you don't tell me how to deliver a baby," Hank said, unfazed.
"Shut up, Wolvie." Jubilee gasped. "I gotta push!"
"Logan, sit with your back against the couch and hold young Jubilation between your legs," Hank instructed. Hank and Jenny helped Jubilee position herself between her husbands legs. Logan reached down and grabbed her knees, pulling them up and out, spreading her wide to open her pelvis.
"Jubilee, take a cleansing breath and blow out." Jubilee did as she was instructed and blew out. "Take a deep breath and push."
Jubilee took a deep breath, screwed her face up and pushed with everything she had.
"That's it, darlin'," Logan told her. "Yer doin' great."
"Jenny?" Hank called to the only human in the room. "Help me out here. This is going to be fast."
Logan watched in awe as his love brought a new life into the world.
"Index claw," Jenny ordered. He popped the requested claw. Jenny poured a bottle of alcohol over the exposed blade, cleaning and sterilizing it.
"Cut your daughter free from her mother," Jenny told him softly.
He reached down and severed the cord that connected mother and daughter, his heart swelling with love. He watched, tears streaming down his face, as Hank used the tiny turkey baster to suck the fluids out of the baby's throat, making her scream in indignation.
"Look what we did, darlin'," he whispered to Jubilee.
As soon as the placenta was delivered, Hank removed the bracelet that made it all possible and allowed Jubilee's healing factor to remove all traces of the pregnancy from her body. The baby was a healthy 8lb 4oz, 18 inch bundle who looked exactly like her mother.
"It is never anything less than awe inspiring," Hank remarked as Jenny settled the baby in her fathers' arms.
"What's that?" Scott asked, a silly grin on his face.
"The miracle of childbirth," Hank clarified. "Not matter how many times I witness it or how many babies I deliver, I am always awed at the process."
"I'm glad I'll never have to do it." Scott admitted. "I don't think I'd survive the pain."
"There's that, too," Hank agreed. "Weaker sex, indeed."
After a quick lesson in breast feeding from Jean, the X-Men left the new family alone to bond. Logan sat with his arms around his wife as she learned that toothless babies do indeed bite and bite hard and that breast feeding is second only to sex when it comes to pleasure. She watched as her new daughter suckled at her breast, a look of awe and pride on her face.
"What are we going to name her?" she asked
"I like Sumi. It's Japanese for respected." Logan told her, stroking his daughters' cheek with his fingers.
"That's pretty. I like it." she told him. "I want her middle name to be Elizabeth, after your mother."
"Are ya sure, Jubes? She died a long time ago."
"Almost a hundred years ago," she agreed, "but she gave me you. I owe her one."
"Sumi Elizabeth Howlett," Logan tried it out. "Sounds nice."
Logan had a very unfamiliar feeling rising in his chest. It took him several minutes before he could put a name to the feeling and when he did, he nearly cried. It was contentment.
Did you see that? She looked at me. Sumi looked at me! I've been told that babies can see angels but I didn't know they could see advocates. Wow! I feel honored. I'm the first celestial being this child has ever seen. And the only one, at least until her guardian gets here.
Just you wait, Sumi. You have an exciting future ahead of you. You and your brothers and sisters are going to save mankind from the damage they have done to themselves over eons of evolution.
How many brothers and sisters is Sumey going to have you ask? Well, considering that both her parents have healing factors and they have friend with influence in high places, quite a few. This will not be a small family. And because they have to do something, every time, to get pregnant, every child will be wanted and loved.
They were both given a second chance, and considering how bad they were screwing it up before, they needed it. Logan was allowed to visit a life he thought was impossible and chose to take it. In the year that never was, everything that happened was influenced. In the true year, he made his own moves and their marriage is stronger for it. When they found out that the healing didn't take, it was Logan who suggested the grafting procedure. He got into hot water with Jubilee for it because he didn't talk to her first but I kind of expected that. She hadn't trained him yet. Jubilee's second chance was that she got the man she always loved. Odds up here were saying that she would commit suicide on the first anniversary of his death. Seeing them together now, I can believe it.
It ended up well, this pairing. I had my doubts at first. He is so much older than she, but in this case, he needed to be. He has so much more experience in the things a mutant needs to know. He was given the opportunity to mold her as he saw fit and create the mate he needed. He did an outstanding job and if the world needs a pair to save them again, Logan and Jubilee will find themselves reborn and the cycle will start again. I only hope I will be chosen again as their advocate when it happens. It'll be a while, though. They do have healing factors so this life will be very long. I do know one thing. Being who and what they are, I won't be bored.
Fin