DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men.

She paced back and forth in the small waiting area of the med bay. "What the hell is taking so long?" She looked at Storm, who had no comment. "Good answer, Windy."

She kicked the stainless steel garbage can, making it dent and nearly fold in half.

The door at the end of the room slid open and Jean walked in calmly, with a mug of coffee.

"Nice of you t' show up, 'best friend'!"

"I'm sorry, I got held up at the… ok, I just didn't want to come down."

"And why is that?"

"Because this is all so very pointless. And I have better things to do, like pick lint from my pockets."

"Thanks for the support."

"Happy to oblige."

"Ah'll bet you are."

"So has the answer to the question answered the question yet?"

"…No." She kicked the garbage can again, causing it to dent on the other side.

"You know, if I didn't know from speaking with the result, I'd say that you really aren't cut out for this mothering thing."

Rogue glared and then lunged at Jean, who froze her midair. She rolled her eyes and spat in Jean's coffee. Jean smiled and removed the offending substance from her drink, dropping Rogue to the ground. Rogue stopped herself and floated back to her feet, brushing herself off. She stepped over Remy, who had been knocked out earlier, and shoved Kurt's equally unconscious body over, making more room for herself to sit. She sank down in the chair and tapped her foot. After a brief moment, she couldn't take waiting anymore and she bamfed into the lab, where Marie was running the tests.

Jean sipped her coffee and looked over at Storm.

"Does she know that you're here?"

"As far as I can tell, no. I'm sure she would have said something, if she suspected it."

"Definitely. She can't keep her mouth shut for half a minute."

"That's my little girl."

Jean smiled. Over the past few years, as she got to know Marie, she also got to know Mystique much better. She had soon learned that underneath all of Mystique's tough, bitchy crust, there was a soft, caring person. She finally knew and understood at some level the bond that Mystique held with Rogue, and even the bond that Mystique held with Remy. She had even started to form her own bond with the woman. Mystique even trusted her enough to give her her phone number, so that Jean could call if anything came up with Rogue that Rogue herself didn't feel was necessary to report. She had received one such call earlier that morning and subsequently had donned the persona of Storm to take part in the moment.

A loud crash and a yell sounded from within the lab, and seconds later, Rogue teleported back into the waiting room, her shirt noticeably charred, and began pacing again. Remy moaned a little bit from his spot on the floor, and Jean pointed to him.

"He's going to wake up in a second."

Rogue looked down at him and kicked him gently. "Good. Then Ah can beat him up f'r putting me through this." She turned to Jean and reached out. Jean started to hand her the mug, but stopped, holding it protectively against herself.

"Are you going to spit in it?"

"Just gimme."

Jean complied, and Rogue gulped down the rest of the hot beverage, then tossed it back at Jean. As Jean used her TK to float the mug gently to the table, the lab doors opened and Marie walked out, carrying a piece of paper.

"Results."

Rogue leapt up and lunged at Marie, grabbing for the paper. Marie in turn, held Rogue off with her hand, absorbing Rogue in the process, and knocking her out temporarily. Jean laughed. No matter how many times she had seen Rogue's own powers used against herself, it was always funny. Because of her invulnerability, the effects of the absorption were very temporary, usually lasting fifteen seconds at the most. Sure enough, Rogue groggily stood up and shook her head once, blinking, before remembering what had happened and getting angry, reaching again for the piece of paper. Marie put her hand on Rogue's face again, raising an eyebrow threateningly. Generally, when the two of them stood off like that, it ended with them both unconscious. But this time, Marie made sure that she got the upper hand. She slowly charged the paper, making sure that Rogue could see the glow. Rogue grumbled and stepped back, giving Marie room. Marie smiled sweetly and raised the paper to her face, reading it. She lowered it and cleared her throat.

"I can easily say that this is the most pointless test I have ever run, and quite possibly the most pointless test that I will ever run." She charged up the paper and let it explode, walking back off into the lab.

"Storm" stood up and nodded to everyone in the room. "This was exciting. If you'll excuse me, I have to go floss."

She walked out of the room, and Rogue pointed. "That wasn't Storm, was it?"

Jean grinned and shook her head.

"Who called her?"

Jean's smile broadened, and she raised her hand.

"Thanks."

"No problemo."

Kurt hopped off of the chairs and headed towards the door. "I am going to follow her. She may have given birth to me, but I still don't trust her."

Jean laughed. "I have a feeling that there's a lot of that going around."

Rogue glared at Jean, and was about to hit her, when Remy suddenly sat up and tapped her twice on the butt, exclaiming "hit me" as if he were playing blackjack. She turned around and hit him.

She closed the door quietly behind her, pulling up the sweatpants. She had outgrown her uniform about a month earlier, and stolen sweatpants from Gambit. Once she had outgrown those, she hunted down a pair of Piotr's pants. He had noticed that they were missing, and spotted them on Rogue, but was too scared to approach her. She was much moodier not only because of the hormonal changes of the pregnancy, but also because once she started to show, Scott had forbidden her from taking part in danger room exercises at her normal level. She still went out on some missions, but when she did, she mostly just took care of things on the Blackbird, instead of being out fighting with the rest of the team. She hadn't been able to sleep and decided to do just what she used to do whenever she was unable to sleep. She checked the hallway before darting to the elevator and heading down to the danger room. As the door slid closed and the system beeped, she took as best a fighting stance as she could.

"Engage Exercise 32, level 45."

She waited.

"Ah said, Engage exercise 32, level 45!"

"Negative, Voice print: Rogue is locked."

"What the hell?!"

"Invalid entry."

"That sonovabitch!"

"Does not compute"

"Not you!" She flew up to the control booth and punched out the speaker, then exited the danger room and headed towards Scott and Jean's room. She didn't care if it was the middle of the night; she was going to give him a piece of her mind. She stormed onto the elevator and pushed the button a little bit too hard. The elevator stopped on the main level and she started to curse, but soon felt herself being yanked off of the car by a strong hand. She looked up.

"Betsy?"

"Good morning."

"Ah have to go."

"No you don't. All you have to do is come with me."

"Will this be quick?"

"That depends on how long it takes you to lose your homicidal feelings towards fearless leader."

Rogue jerked her hand away from Betsy's grip and crossed her arms. "Ah hate telepaths"

"Well, the entire telepath community just loves you. We have conventions monthly. The next topic is 'What color to paint Rogue's baby's room.' See, Jean has one idea, but I have another. And that bloody Emma Frost bitch thinks something else altogether. And the professor, he wants it to be done in wood. Wood! IT may work for his office, but a baby's room? Please."

"Betsy."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"You DO love me!"

"Marie's gonna pick the colors for the room."

"Makes sense. Ice cream?"

Rogue noticed that the kitchen table had two bowls filled with three different kinds of ice cream. Betsy grabbed a can of redi-whip and smothered one of the bowls, tossing the can to Rogue.

"Honestly, what isn't whipped cream good for?"

Rogue covered her ice cream in it and set the can down on the table.

"Ah'm gonna try not to read into that too much."

"Your choice. We could have had a whole conversation about that, but…your choice."

"Thanks for the offer."

"Anytime, luv."

She hopped up onto the counter and made herself comfortable, eating her ice cream so fast that she got brain freeze. Rogue was also shoveling the food down. Betsy looked up from her bowl and watched Rogue eating.

"Plan on coming up for air?"

"At least Ah have an excuse."

"Touché." Betsy ate another heaping spoonful and licked the spoon clean, using it to point at Rogue.

"So, how are you holding up?"

"An actual question? Betsy, you've lost your touch."

"Oh, give it a break."

"Ah'm doing well. Marie's being a royal pain. Twice."

"You want me to lay the big Marie out for awhile?"

"Thanks for the offer, but if she gets too rough, Ah can do it myself."

"Let me know if that changes."

"Sure will."

"Warren wanted me to check something."

"He's too skinny."

"So it's safe for him to bring his sweats out of hiding?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, good."

She switched off the TV, having felt the familiar rumble of the Blackbird docking. Over the past few months, it had become harder and harder to walk, so she rarely actually used her feet. She flew to the elevator and headed down to the hangar, where the team was sluggishly exiting the large jet. She sat on an outcropping in the wall and watched them unload the jet.

"Looks like y'all had a great time."

They all looked up. No one had noticed her there.

"Chére! What are you doing up dere?"

"Sitting."

"Get down!"

"No."

"Merde. I'm too tired for dis."

Gambit gave up and trudged towards the lockers, dragging his duffel bag behind him. Rogue watched him walk away and saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She looked back towards the Blackbird and saw Marie trying to sneak by without being seen.

"Ah see you there, ya little snot."

"Why, yes, it IS good to be home again. And these warm welcomes are just the reason why."

"Stop being so snide. This is all your fault. Ah should clobber you."

"You might want to save your strength. You'll need it."

"Ah'll show you th' full extent of mah strength, you little…"

Rogue trailed off, as she suddenly got very tired. Marie turned around and saw that Jean had stepped off of the plane. She smiled, and flew up to her now unconscious mother, carrying her back to her room and laying her down on her bed.

A loud knock on the door woke Rogue from the first good sleep that she had had in a long time.

"Dammit."

She floated slowly to the door, opening it and glaring sleepily at Marie, who was fully dressed and drinking coffee.

"Marie, it's 2 in the morning!"

"Yeah, you need to come down to the med bay."

"What? Ah finally get some sleep, and you interrupt it with this shit? Ah don't think so."

She tried to slam the door, but Marie just put her hand out and stopped it.

"Rogue, you need to come down to the med bay. Now."

"Don't talk to your mother like that."

"I'll talk to you any way I please. Now let's go."

"Don't sass me, child."

"You're coming downstairs right now, even if I have to sedate you and carry you down there myself."

By this time, Remy had woken up and was standing behind Rogue.

"What's dis all about?"

"She won't come downstairs."

"It's th' middle of the freakin' night! Of course Ah won't go downstairs. Ah'm going back to bed."

"She needs to come downstairs."

"Pourquoi?"

"Today is my birthday."

"Yer point?"

Marie stared at Rogue. "Are you so stubborn that you refuse to accept things as they are?"

"No."

"Are you just saying that to disagree with me?"

"No."

"Dis is all nice, but wake me up when somet'ing important happens."

"Anna Marie Darkholme, you need to get your sorry behind down into the med bay right this minute."

"Ooh, usin' what ya think might be mah full name. Spooky."

"Shut up and come down to the med bay."

"Can ah sleep down there?"

"You can try."

"Fahne."

Gambit smiled and walked back to the bed. "Good! Now Remy can get some sleep wit'out worrying about being kicked off."

"Think again, Swamp Rat. If Ah have t' go, so do you."

"Non. You're joking!"

"Ah'm not. Put on some pants and come down with us."

He looked down. "Remy's wearing pants."

"Then lets go."

Three hours later, they were all set up in the med bay, Rogue was lying on a hospital bed and had a few odd machines hooked up to her. Remy was lying on the bed next to hers and they were tossing French and German words back and forth. The last time that Rogue had absorbed Kurt, she had suddenly become fluent in German. It came in handy for when she was angry and wanted to shout at people without them knowing what she was saying about them.

"Merde."

"Scheisse."

Marie poked her head in from her office. "You already said that."

They both glared back at her, and she smiled.

"Marie, We've been down here for how long now? Nothin's happening. Can Ah just go back to bed."

"No."

Remy pulled the pillow out from under his head and covered his face with it, screaming into it.

"Remy needs a cigarette."

Rogue glared at him. "And Ah need some hard liquor. What's your point?"

"I'll be back." He stood up and headed towards the door, but was stopped as Rogue yelled.

"MARIE!"

He ran back, and Marie ran out of her office. Rogue had started to breathe heavily. She nodded at Marie and gasped out, "You're coming."

Marie rolled her eyes. Even in the middle of labor, Rogue made bad jokes.

"Remy, go get Hank and tell Jean."

Remy just nodded and ran off without saying a word. Marie turned back to Rogue.

"Told you so."

Rogue was about to snap back at her, but was cut off as another contraction hit. Marie laughed, and as soon as the pressure died down, Rogue commented, "You're a sadistic freak, aren't you?"

"I learned from the best. You need any pain killers?"

Rogue shook her head. Sure, it was extremely uncomfortable, but it didn't actually hurt. It felt like it definitely should, though.

The door clanged against the wall heavily, and Mystique stormed in.

"Where is she?"

Jean stood up and blocked the door to the exam area, where Rogue was still in labor, 45 minutes after the contractions started.

"She's still in there. They don't want anyone else inside until she delivers the baby."

Mystique sighed angrily and looked around the room, watching as a number of the people seated and standing scattered around the room averted her gaze. She walked over to Kurt, who was perched on an end table, playing nervously with his tail. Bobby, who was sitting in the chair next to the table, quickly vacated it and offered the seat to Mystique. She sat down next to her son and held his hand, giving him a reassuring smile. Jubilee was transfixed on Mystique, entirely uncomfortable with the prospect of having her sitting in there with them as if she was a member of the team. Kitty, too, was watching Mystique, but in an entirely different way. She had always blamed Mystique for all of the troubles that Kurt had growing up, but she saw that they actually did have a bond, albeit one that was formed later in life than, in her opinion, would have been ideal. The quiet in the room was shattered by an ear-splitting scream coming from the direction of the exam area. Betsy and Jean started to laugh, and the Professor smiled a little bit before motioning for the two to calm down. Jubilee had noticed their reactions, and looked concerned.

"You're so mean. She sounds like she's in pain."

Betsy rolled her eyes and replied, "Yes, SHE certainly does."

That sent Jean and Betsy into another fit of laughter, and the Professor choked back his own laughter, before clearing his throat and clarifying.

"That scream did not come from Rogue."

Jubilee thought for a minute, before realization dawned on her.

"…Gambit?"

Jean and Betsy nodded, wiping tears from their eyes. Another scream from the exam area made them relapse into laughter once again, and the laughter escalated as they heard Rogue shout for him to calm down, followed by a loud thud. It got fairly quiet again, and soon, they heard a baby crying. Moments later, Hank poked his head out of the door.

"It's a girl."

Jubilee was ecstatic. "I totally knew it would be a girl!"

Storm looked over at her. "Child, we all knew it would be a girl."

Inside of the exam area, Rogue was holding the small baby.

"Wimpy little thing, ain't it?"

Marie hit Rogue with a pillow. "I'll show you wimpy."

"That's my girl… You wanna look at yourself?"

Marie walked up to the bed, and looked down at the small child. Rogue looked at the baby, then back at Marie.

"You were so cute."

"Thanks."

"…what happened?"

Marie started to laugh. "I walked right into that, didn't I?"

"Sure did." She traced the little girl's facial features, and smiled. "You are cute, though."

"I know."

"Ego trip much?"

"Like mother, like daughter."

"Mind if I join you?" They turned to the door, where, unbeknownst to them, Mystique had entered. Rogue smiled.

"Hey, momma. Look." Mystique walked up to the bed, carefully stepping around the unconscious form of Remy on the ground. She watched as the baby's eyes twitched a little bit, not opening.

"Why is it doing that?" She pointed at it's eyes, and Marie thought for a second, before dimming the lights.

"Our eyes are very sensitive to light." Sure enough, the little girl's eyes started to creep open, and the world came into focus for the first time. Shortly after she opened her eyes all the way for the first time, little Marie fell asleep. The full-grown Marie grinned and took the baby, putting her inside of a large plastic incubator that would not only keep her warm, but also monitor her breathing and blood pressure. Rogue stood up and walked to the bathroom while Marie was out. When Marie returned, she was surprised to find the bed empty, and she ran out into the waiting area.

"Has anyone seen Rogue?"

The entire room stared back at her blankly, and Bobby asked incredulously, "Are you telling us that you lost the woman who gave birth about tem minutes ago?"

Marie nodded sheepishly. She was going to try to explain, but Rogue poked her head out from within the exam area.

"Marie, where's my clothes?"

Marie turned around and her eyes widened.

"What are you doing up?!"

"I'm fine. Where are my pants?"

"You're not fine, you just…" She turned around and noticed that the whole room was listening attentively. Rolling her eyes, she ushered Rogue back into the exam area.

"You just gave birth, for Christ's sake!"

"So?"

"So?! So you need to get back in that bed and rest!"

"Ah feel fine. A little bit tired, but that's it."

"There is no way that you can be 'fine.' Come on, get back in bed."

"Ah'm ok! Go ahead, give me an exam. Ah'm perfectly able to stand and walk and talk and move and dance and…"

"Get back into the bed, and I'll check you out. But if I think that you're not ready to be up, you'll stay in bed?"

"…Fahne."

He opened his eyes, and the world was all fuzzy. He was more tired than he could ever remember being in his whole life. He was sore, and felt like he had missed something big. He turned his head and came face to face with a tiny little girl whose eyes were just like his. A smile crept across his face as he remembered who the girl was.

"Bonjour, Marie." He whispered.

The curtain made a noise, and he looked up a little more, and spied Rogue walking in with a little box. She was out of the hospital gown that she had been in when he last saw her, and dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She walked up to the bed and sat down next to him.

"How're ya feeling, Sugar?"

"Sore."

"Aw, poor thing." She held out the little box. "Bubblegum cigar?"

He reached out and took one of the little pink cylinders, shoving it into his mouth.

"T'anks."

"Am I the only one who thinks this is all a little bit backwards?" Mystique stepped out from where she was standing on the other side of the bed. Remy looked up at her and grinned impishly. The faux fear that the two of them had of each other was unnecessary under the circumstances.

"T'ink about it, Raven. Would you have it any ot'er way?"

Mystique nodded, smiling. He was right.

A/N: Sorry if it took sort of long... I misplaced the disk that I keep the stories on. What can I say? I r teh st00pid. Well, now that I've found it again, review!!!