disclaimer: All recognizable characters are owned by Marvel and I expect to make no money off them. Damn it.

No Place Like Home
by Dizi

Chapter 8: Something About Jessie

Jessie slowly opened her eyes, but didn't move to get up. She was in her favorite position with Victor's body wrapped around her, one hand cupping a breast and the other resting on her slightly bulging belly. His hand seemed to be drawn to it like a magnet whenever they were close.

She loved him so much and hated that he had to stay in this holding cell. So Jessie stayed with him as much as she could. It wasn't a hardship, other than some early morning sickness her pregnancy hadn't caused her so much as a hiccup and they seemed to make love constantly.

Besides there was too many people here. She liked them, it was just so many all together all the time made her nervous. The one with the French accent, Remy, had kissed her hand and she hadn't been able to look at him for days. Henry was fine and he was a doctor. That was good. She liked them all individually, it was just as a group they were overwhelming.

Logan and Victor seemed to get along really great. When everyone else was gone he'd let Victor go outside, knowing how trapped he felt. The couple would lay together in the grass under a tree while Victor smoked one of his precious cigars. The two men would even do some kind of training together, though they wouldn't explain exactly what they did or let her watch. She just knew they both came back very relaxed.

But she wished Logan would stop laughing so much, it made Victor really mad. Logan seemed to laugh at everything. The tag on the sweater she'd made saying "Happy Anniversary, Victor, I love you." and the homemade socks with his initials on the toe. He laughed when she made sure to get Victor strawberry ice-cream, and what was wrong with that? It was his favorite.

She thought he was going to hurt himself laughing so hard when he found her making a steak for Victor. He'd asked where hers was and she'd said she didn't eat meat. Logan had looked at her like she was crazy for a long time before he started laughing. She didn't get the joke.

The women were all really nice but they kept trying to take her to get different clothes. She liked her clothes. Victor liked her clothes. Why should she change them?

Once, Jubilee had a visitor named Emma and surprisingly the woman had told them to leave her alone about it when she found out about Jessie's underwear. She said something about contrast being exciting. Jessie really didn't understand what that meant but they had gone shopping at Victoria's Secret together and that had been fun. Especially when she modeled everything they'd bought for Victor.

Nuzzling her neck as he woke up, Victor's hands became active exploring her body and she stopped reminiscing in favor of the more immediate present. "We can't, Victor. We slept late and Henry will be here for me soon."

"What's he want now?" He didn't pause in the least, the blue-furred doctor had learned to give warning before entering. They were frequently caught in the act when Victor first agreed to stay in the holding cell.

"Some kind of tests, I'm hoping he'll be able to tell us if the baby's a boy or girl." The dreamy look on her face whenever she talked about the baby just increased his lust. It made him hard just thinking about how much she wanted his baby. She was the only woman who had ever felt like this about him. It was the only reason he put up with Logan's jibes about him wallowing in domesticity. Of course, kicking his butt in training sessions in the Danger Room helped too. He didn't count the times Logan won.

Chuckling as Jessie started gasping under his hands caressing her body, he said, "We'll just have to be done before he gets here then, won't we?"

Charles Xavier sighed. "You didn't tell her?"

"I made an attempt to give an explanation as to the nature of the tests this morning but she was unable to understand the purpose." Hank answered. "Jessie's concern is focused on the well being of her unborn child."

"She has a right to know. As her doctor, it's your responsibility to tell Jessie." Charles reproached him.

Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Hank defended himself. "That may not be advisable as her unique abilities have an affect on myself as well due to the nature of my own mutation."

"She's affecting you?"

"Jessie is unconsciously affecting anyone she comes in contact with who is even minimally animalistic in nature."

"And you're going to use that to avoid being the one to tell her." Charles observed in a dry tone.

Cringing inwardly at how easily Charles had seen through him, Hank said reasonably, "I am her physician and for her to lay blame on myself would not be advisable. I have a concern about Jessie being told at all. Her pregnancy has been free of complications thus far but the stress of being informed, not to mention the possible reaction of Mr. Creed, may prove to be detrimental."

"So you want someone else to tell her, but in such a manner that she does not get upset and doesn't upset Victor Creed." Charles translated. "That's a tall order."

"I have every confidence in you."

An hour later in his study, Charles found himself to be extremely frustrated. He'd been trying for thirty minutes to explain to Jessie about mutations, mutants, and empathy. She hadn't understood about mutation at all but he admitted to himself that he may have been too technical during that portion of his explanation. All she'd gotten about mutants was that they were 'different' and was quick to reassure him that she liked everyone she'd met at the mansion. Although she had understood the basics of empathy, the ability to feel the emotions of others and perhaps have someone else feel that person's as well, she didn't seem to understand how that was any more than being perceptive.

"I'm sorry, maybe I just don't understand what this is about." Jessie said seeing his frustration. Was this what he meant about 'empathy'? It wasn't hard. "Is this about my baby?"

He valiantly held back a sigh. Hank had been correct about her focus as she had asked this question before. Perhaps if he told her of the likely-hood of the child being a mutant she would come to grasp the concepts. "In a manner of speaking, yes, it is. There is very good chance your child will be born with a mutation as both you and Victor are mutants."

Her baby? Well, if Victor was a mutant that would make sense. Wait. "Me? I can't do anything."

"I hadn't meant to tell you that yet," he admitted. "But it is the main reason for this discussion. I believe Hank mentioned his tests this morning did not pertain to the baby, correct?" Charles waited for her nod before continuing. "They were about you and your abilities. Have you noticed how comfortable you have always felt around animals?"

"Of course. We always had animals on the farm. We were so isolated they were my only friends for a long time." Jessie reminded him. "Until Victor came and found me they were all I had when Mama and Daddy died."

"But you knew how they felt, didn't you? You knew when they were hungry or thirsty, when they were lonely, happy, or sad. You knew what they felt." Charles decided to start with the basics.

"Animals are easy to understand. You feed them at the right time and they don't get hungry or thirst." She informed him. "They let you know what they're feeling very easily if you pay attention."

"It's more than that with you, Jessie." He had the beginnings of a headache. Jessie seemed to have an answer for her abilities which was quite plausible and he had to make her understand that her's was more than that. "You knew inside what they felt, in your mind. If you think about it, you'll probably remember times when they also knew how you felt. They would have reacted to it, perhaps tried to help you because they could feel you the same way you felt them."

Jessie frowned. "They're like that. Animals understand you by your actions once they get to know you. Most are very loving and want to help."

"Really? You said Sammy was a wolf, even wolf-cubs are wary of strangers. She most likely reacted to you, to trust you the way she did."

"Sammy was just a baby when we found her. She would have been the same with anyone." Jessie insisted, ignoring the pain speaking of her lost friend caused her.

"Was she that way with Victor? Or just with you?" Charles hadn't looked into her mind but was sure he was on the right track from the look on her face.

Her mind was filled with memories. Sammy hadn't taken to Victor, he had said something about it being against his nature. Then they had both just... changed. Gotten along. She remembered wishing they would and then they had. So she had made them do what she wanted? Was that bad?

"You understand? At least a little?" Her expression led him to believe she was starting to. "This would be the case for anyone who has traits like those of an animal. They're called ferals, like Logan, Hank and Victor."

Jessie felt her chest constrict as it suddenly hit her what that meant. 'They would have reacted to it, perhaps tried to help you because they could feel you the same way you felt them.' Charles had said. Victor. He hadn't wanted to be with her. He had changed the same way Sammy had. He had helped her and everyone here said he was different with her...

She wasn't listening to what Charles was saying anymore. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. Jumping to her feet, she let loose her feelings, taking Charles by surprise. "Take it back! It's not true! Victor loves me! He does!"

Sobbing hysterically as she ran out of the room, Jessie passed by Logan, ignoring both him and Charles calling after her in her distress.

Starting to follow her, Logan changed his mind and entered the study himself, demanding an explanation of what happened to upset the young woman.

"So, let me get this straight." Logan said angrily a few minutes later. He couldn't believe Charles hadn't handled this better. "Ya basically told a pregnant woman that her man don't really love her."

"No! She might have taken it that way, but that wasn't what I was attempting to convey." Charles was still shocked by the way Jessie had suddenly grasped the subtleties when she hadn't been able to understand the rest of his explanations.

"I thought ya understood Vic an' Jessie have a bond like me an' Jubes. Ya said ya talked ta Cyke 'bout it." Logan had tried to explain to Scott so many times he'd gotten frustrated and went to Charles to make him talk to the X-men's leader. Charles had even explored the bond telepathically to get a full understanding. Yet he'd done this to Jessie?

"I do understand, I did explain to Scott. There can be no doubts about their bond. She had so much trouble understanding everything I didn't think she would jump to such conclusions." Charles defended himself, wondering how to make this right. "Jessie didn't give me a chance to explain her unique mutation made their bonding so strong."

"Jus' skipped right past that part, didja?" Was Logan sarcastic reply. "What did ya expect after tellin' her that she's controllin' Vic's emotions?"

"That is not what I said. I simply explained that animals can sense what she wants and attempts to give her what she needs. I didn't even get to how she reacts to them. Even the timing of her pregnancy was controlled by her abilities, she reacted to Sammy being in heat and her need to get pregnant caused Jessie to need a baby as well. I barely touched on ferals when she became upset. I actually wonder though if she would have found herself in this same situation with any feral she met. Her empathic affinity to animals is quite strong."

"Vic met her when she was a kid." Logan was incredulous. How could he doubt their bond even now? It was obvious to anyone who looked at them together.

"As you did Jubilee." Charles pointed out. "Perhaps it's necessary for such a thorough bond to be started when they're young. Jessie's abilities make it almost impossible for her to have had a healthy relationship with someone who wasn't feral in nature. If it hadn't been Victor Creed, it would have been someone else."

"An' ya don't think that would upset her?" Logan demanded. "To be told any feral would react that way to her? That any of us woulda felt the same way 'bout her?"

"I didn't say any such thing to her." Charles said firmly before sighing. Logan wasn't going to be reasonable. "We need to find her and explain."

"No we don't. There's only one person who can fix it, an' I'm gonna have ta tell him everythin'. Ya better hope he takes it better than Jessie."

"See you found a new friend." Victor said when he found Jessie outside. She was sitting in their favorite spot under a big tree petting baby rabbit, tears still running down her face. It broke his heart to see her this way. She'd been so happy this morning.

"They told you about me, didn't they?" Jessie didn't pause in her rhythmic petting of the bunny.

"That you're a mutant? That you have some kinda connection to animals?" Victor sat down beside her. "Yeah, they did. It's nothing to feel bad about, Jessie."

"So you know that you don't really l-love me. I made you, just like I made you care about Sammy." Jessie wouldn't look at him, ashamed that she had forced him to care about her. Everything had been taken from her. She shouldn't be near any animals ever again. How would she know if they really liked her or if she was making them?

"That's not true, Jessie." He told her quietly. "I knew there was something about you since you were a kid. You hadn't even met me then. I didn't have to go back to the farm, I wanted to."

"You probably wouldn't have if I wasn't a mutant. You wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me. You didn't in the beginning, remember?" She'd been thinking about it since she'd come out here. She had to let him go and it was breaking her heart. "You shouldn't be around me, Victor. I control you, I make you do things you don't want to."

"You need to get that thought out of your head. Yeah, I didn't want start something with you, but it wasn't because I didn't like you. It was because I wasn't good enough for you. I ain't a good man, Jessie." He saw her start to protest and held up a hand to stop her. Jessie never argued unless someone she cared about was being put down, usually him. "I'm not, and I never wanted to be. Until you. If you changed me then you changed me to what I wanted to be. Someone who was good enough to be with you. If it's only with you, well that's okay because you're the only one who ever saw more in me than the animal."

"And Sammy?" Jessie would always feel guilty about Sammy. "She'd still be alive if I hadn't found her."

"You're not remembering right. If you hadn't found Sammy she would have died. She was all alone and crying for her mama. You were giving her what she needed." Victor reminded her. "Did you listen to all the man said? You may have been making me feel what you wanted, but you were feeling me too. C'mon, Jessie, think about it. You hadn't known me for twenty-four hours and you wanted to be with me forever? That's what I'd been feeling. I'd been feeling that way a long time."

"But it's not right that you have no choice." She continued to protest.

"I had a choice, Jessie, I chose for us to be together. If I hadn't wanted you it wouldn't have happened that night." He told her firmly. He didn't know if it had been her powers or his lack of self-control but he didn't care. It didn't matter anymore.

She didn't answer and he knew she didn't believe him. Victor reached out to touch her and she cringed away. He wasn't getting through to her and he couldn't take her feeling this way.

"Jessie, please look at me." She slowly lifted her eyes to his. "Have you been happy? Truly happy while we've been together?"

"Yes." she whispered.

"So have I, and it's the only time I can ever remember feeling that way. If it's your powers, then that's fine. I don't think it is. I think they gave us a start and that's all. We've bonded and that doesn't happen if it's not real."

"You mean it?" she asked, full of desperate hope.

"We're joined, part of each other. It's like an extra instinct just for you. I didn't have to track you down, I knew where you were. Like how you do all those little things for me without me having to tell you what I want."

"But that's easy..." she started to say before she understood.

"Yeah, easy for you because of what you can do." He smiled at her.

"I want you to love me, but I want it to be real not because of this mutation thing." Jessie ducked her head. She'd never meant to say it out loud, but he never had before and she desperately needed to know he really loved her.

He lifted her chin and looked her in the eye. "Little girl, it's not only real, it's meant to be. What are the odds of another feral like me going to that farm? There's no one else for me but you. We were made for each other."

"Really?" and finally she smiled for him, once again giving him what he needed.

"Yeah, really." He reached for her and this time she let him pull her onto his lap, where he rested his hand on her belly.

Jessie snuggled against him. "Did everyone leave? How long can we stay out here together?"

"Nah, they're here. Logan and Chuck let me out to find you." he was almost purring he was so happy that she was happy again.

"Maybe we can stay awhile, it's nice out here." Reaching down she let the rabbit go.

He frowned. "Why'd you do that?"

"It's not right to keep him. He may not have really liked me." she replied, still feeling vulnerable.

Victor looked around and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anymore of 'em. Let's see what he does. Then if he stays, you keep him. Maybe he needs you just like Sammy and me."

Later, when they returned to the mansion, Jessie had the bunny cradled in her arms. He hadn't gone back to his family and they couldn't find any other rabbits. Jessie had found someone else to love that needed her.

to be continued.

note:
Beany- Thanks! Wonder how he'll be as a dad, hmmm?
Crazed Fuzzle- Did you catch why the 'friendship'? Jessie sees them as friends because that's what they told her. So, under her influence they're acting more 'friend-like', in their own unique way. I think she understood he was 'different' but didn't really understand what a mutant is.
Jinxeh- In my best Elvis, "Thank you. Thank you very much."
Irbis- Hey, he did his best! He's not used to being 'nice'.
Elizabeth Robbins- You bet it is! Do you think Jessie has totally confused them yet?
Rogue14- Don't worry Jessie did it for you!
GothikStrawberry- Scott's so fun to pick on sometimes I feel guilty. Not much though.

Next chapter: Someone loses Jessie's rabbit and they have to find him quick before she gets back from shopping for baby things. Here's where we start getting to the events that change everything for Jessie and Vic.

Unfortunately, I have to finish my move home and I probably won't be able to update for about a week. Sorry everbody but I'm going home to stay! Yippee!

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi