All right so I'm back to the land of the living, that is, I have internet access for the next 36 hours or so. As such, I am posting this, and technically I was supposed to post Chapter 4 but only if I can get the edits finished in time. I didn't like how fast this story was moving as it was, since I completely skipped most of the pregnancy (oh, I didn't spoil anything! It's right here!). I'll try and edit it tonight and get it up by tomorrow, but I'm not making any promises.

If you're really lucky and I can find access while I'm in Winnipeg, I'll post the next one next week!

Enjoy

Chapter 3

The last nine months had been a whirlwind of happiness and fear. A couple of close calls during missions in her fourth month had restricted Jean to voluntary house arrest. Jean had also braved numerous doctor's appointments with Logan…

FLASHBACK

"We're just going to check up on this baby," Hank spoke up, interrupting Logan and Jean in the medlab. Since Hank was the closest thing to a doctor that had connections to the mansion other than Jean, it seemed like an easy thing to call him their OB/GYN.

"We've got a sex," he said with a smile.

"Girl," Jean stated promptly. "We've had that conversation already."

Hank grinned at her. "Why am I here again?" He continued to move the wand over her stomach, his face screwed up in concentration as he listened closely.

"What is it, Hank?" Logan asked, concerned.

"We might have an irregular heartbeat," Hank said carefully. "It's not going to affect the baby too much. Just be careful, take your time, less stress… the usual things to lower blood pressure," he suggested to Jean. The redhead nodded as she watched Hank pack up the ultrasound.

"Other than that, everything is perfect."

Jean smiled as Logan helped her off of the table. "Thanks Hank."

END FLASHBACK

" Logan!" Jean exclaimed, shaking him roughly before doubling over in pain.

"Jeannie?"

" Logan," she moaned, leaning forward and grasping the bedspread until her knuckles turned white.

"What's wrong?" he asked, shooting upright in bed. Jean had been having pains for the last week, but it had never been that bad.

Jean grimaced. "Grab my bag and wake Hank. I'm in labour."

Logan was up and moving about in an instant, wrapping an arm under Jean to help her stand and grabbing the duffle packed by the door. Then they were on their way down to the infirmary, Logan pausing to wake Hank up. When they, specifically Jean, were settled, Hank smiled down at Jean.

"Its nice to know this little girl is going to have the same promptness as her mother," Hank said affectionately, hooking Jean up to the necessary equipment. "Does she have a name yet?"

"We haven't officially decided," Jean forced out between clenched teeth.

"Between?" Hank asked, trying to keep Jean's mind off of the pain.

"Michele Ashley and Jane Stefany," the redhead breathed as the contraction passed.

"I'm partial to Michele," Hank offered conversationally.

" Logan likes Jane," Jean answered with a smile, loosening her death grip on Logan's hand. "Therein lies the problem."

"Why Jane?" the blue man inquired.

"Jean and Jane," Logan explained bluntly. Hank chuckled softly, the sound drowned out by the hiss Jean gave as the next contraction hit, the painkillers having not kicked in just yet.

"Breathe through it Jean," Hank coached softly. "I had the professor call in Moira for this one. She's better trained medically for this than I am."

Jean nodded. "Just get this baby out," she breathed.

Unfortunately for Jean, the labour was not as swift as she would have liked. Sure, her baby girl had picked the right day, but not a good hour. It was another six hours before Moira pronounced her dilated enough to push.

"Damnit Logan," Jean said after her first push, relaxing the grip on his hand. They could physically hear the bones clicking back into place.

"I know, Darlin'," Logan answered indulgently, barely wincing as the bones quickly knit back together.

"Focus, Jean, she's almost out," Moira encouraged.

"You are never touching me again," she growled at Logan seconds before she pushed again. Finally, the baby was out and general relief washed through the room. However, Jean's contractions didn't stop.

"There's another one," Jean breathed when another contraction had passed.

"What?" Moira and Logan asked together.

"That irregular heartbeat Hank heard," Jean rationalized, wincing as the others rushed back to her. "One was covering the other and the heartbeats were almost completely in sync. No one could tell."

"Including you," Logan said in awe, bracing himself for Jean's push. "We won't have to pick a name after all."

Jean glared. "We'll never have to pick names again," she shot back as the final push brought their second little girl into the world.

Minutes later, Jean was cradling Michele Ashley Grey in her arms and Logan had been convinced to hold Jane.

"You're a natural," Jean complimented in a whisper so as not to wake the sleeping Michele. Jane seemed to have more energy than her older counterpart and boundless curiosity. Logan met her eyes with awe as Jane's small hand wrapped around Logan's pinkie finger.

"They're beautiful," he whispered over the beeping machines.

Jean smiled. "They are," she agreed with a yawn. Without being asked, Logan careful deposited Jane in one of the basinets and gently took Michele from Jean's arms.

"You need to sleep," he said as he put Michele in the other bed. "I'll watch them."

Jean nodded sleepily. "You know Logan, this father thing… it'll work."

Logan smiled, moving to kiss her forehead. "I love you."

Jean was already asleep.

She thanked God for maternity leave. With twins, and twins that seemed to enjoy keeping her awake with endless crying, she'd gotten very little sleep. Logan and continued teaching at her urging and wasn't around during the day to help. Not only that, but because of his teaching and need for sleep, she'd taken control of the twins at night. He'd tried to pitch in to help, taking them when he got in from afternoon classes to allow her some time to catch up on sleep, but that wasn't enough.

"Jean?" Ororo poked her head into Jean and Logan's room to find Jean changing Michele's diaper. Jean smiled tiredly at her best friend.

"Hey Ro."

"You looked exhausted," Ororo remarked.

"Thanks," Jean responded sarcastically.

"You need a break, my friend."

"I need a nap."

"And the difference?"

"A break could mean an extended period of time. A nap, if I'm lucky, is half an hour.

"If you're lucky?"

"Chell and Jane trade off."

"Do you know what sleep is?"

"Not since these two were born," Jean admitted. "I love it though. Having them I mean."

"What about Logan?"

"He teaches and needs the sleep. He takes them when he gets in after afternoon classes."

"Well, I'm going to take these two and you are going to get some decent sleep," Ororo decided, holding up her hand when Jean opened her mouth to protest. "Rogue and I will handle Michele and Jane. We haven't had a good chance with these two since they were born. You need a nap and we want time with our nieces."

With a proposal like that, Jean really couldn't refuse. She finished Michele's diaper and turned with a thankful smile.

"Find Rogue and I'll have them ready to go."

When Logan stepped into the bedroom to check on Jean and his girls he was surprised to find the room completely silent. He panicked and panicked even more when he checked the cribs and found them empty.

" Logan?" His murmured name brought his attention to the bed and the tousled redhead curled up under the blankets.

"They're with Ro and Marie," she answered his unspoken panic. His shoulders visibly relaxed and he climbed into the bed beside her.

"Give you a break?"

"Been sleeping all afternoon," she answered.

"All afternoon?"

"This is the first time I've been woken since Michele and Jane left to spend time with Aunt Ro and Aunt Marie," she affirmed.

"Wow," he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She cooed appreciatively, stretching against him leisurely.

"You've been alone all afternoon?" he asked unnecessarily, trailing gentle kisses down the side of her face.

" Logan," she murmured half heartedly. "We already have two little girls…"

"We'll be careful," he promised huskily, cutting off further protests with his mouth.

" Logan…"

It seemed Ororo's decision to lend a helping hand had sparked a trend throughout the mansion. Jean found herself constantly relieved of her two daughters by the mansion's inhabitants and it gave her a reprieve she hadn't had in the first eight months of their lives. She'd had the time to slowly get back to teaching since the 'day care' had stepped up and the girls had started sleeping through the night.

"Hey Charles," she spoke softly, pushing open the door to the office.

"Jean," he acknowledged, Jane on his lap.

"Michele?"

"Bobby rocked her to sleep half an hour ago," Xavier answered, cocking his head towards the playpen by the window. Sure enough, the mop of red hair spoke of her daughter's presence.

"How were they?" Jean asked, lifting a fidgeting Jane from the professor's lap.

"Angels," he answered. There was still an underlying tension between the two of them from the issues of Phoenix and it was times like these that the tension was palpable.

"Charles, I would appreciate it if you would try to stay out of my head," she spoke softly, not meaning the words to be harsh, just a not-so-subtle warning. Part of her knew the professor's telepathic probe was partially subconscious, out of habit, but since Phoenix she'd been forced to strengthen her mental walls and thus was strong enough to block him out.

"Jean…"

She knew what was coming, the inevitable conversation as to their relationship and his need to check on her. "You held me back, made me struggle with things as an adult that I should have dealt with as I was coming into my abilities," she reprimanded calmly.

"I didn't have a choice," Xavier insisted.

"You didn't have the knowledge," she countered, bouncing a fussing Jane on her hip. "It's hard for you to admit when you don't have the answers."

"You were dangerous," he stressed.

"And I'm not now?" Where Jean had found the inner calm she was currently exhibiting, neither of them would ever know. The points she was throwing at the closest thing she had to a father were long pent up frustrations.

"Jean, you were dangerous. You had no control."

"You never gave me the chance to learn to control it, never taught me how to control it before deciding what was best," Jean pointed out. "We don't know if I could have controlled it or not."

"I stand by my decision."

Jean looked out the window for a few moments, Michele's playpen in the corner of her vision and the comfortable weight of Jane on her hip. "Would you do the same thing to the girls?" she asked, apprehension in her voice.

The professor pondered this for a few moments, watching the now grown women standing before him. He was proud of her, first and foremost, regardless of what had happened. She would always be a daughter to him and as a 'parent', seeing potential danger, he'd acted. The two girls were his family too, but not his direct responsibility.

"You understand the risks involved," he began slowly. "You and Logan are both mutants and you both know Phoenix."

"You're evading the question," Jean snapped impatiently. Then she calmed down and apologized.

"You and Logan are better equipped to deal with it than I was, Jean. I don't believe it would be necessary," he finally said.

"You don't think they'd be that strong?" There was a shred of hope in her voice that he was sad to have to stomp on.

"I believe they will be stronger." He'd never lied to her since he'd met her, mainly because she'd always call him on it, but also out of respect for her. He wasn't about to start now.

"Stronger," Jean breathed, her eyes darting between her two daughters. "Oh Lord."

"We have influence Jean. You, Logan and every other person Michele and Jane come in contact with will have influence on their values, on their choices. I don't believe we will have any problems with either of them," he tried to reassure her.

"What if we do?" Jean asked fearfully.

"We will cross that bridge when we reach it, my dear. Focus on raising your girls," Xavier said calmly. Jean smiled, gathering up trip one of all the children's stuff scattered around the room.

"Thanks for watching Michele and Jane today," she said, settling Jane in the playpen beside her sister.

"Any time, Jean," Xavier replied, knowing their previous conversation was closed by not resolved.

"I'll be back."

Jean sat with the girls on her bed hat night, her Care Bears spread around them as she marked the latest batch of papers from her grade twelve chemistry class. However, her mind wasn't on the papers at all, it was on Jane and Michele.

She was Phoenix, the most powerful mutant should she ever fully control and use the immense power she kept locked up and Logan was the Wolverine, powerful in his own right through his animalistic nature. There were dangers within the possible mutations of their children, the potentially volatile mix of the Phoenix and the Wolverine.

"Mama." Jean's head snapped up at the whine amazed at the word and then taking in both girls and the lavender-coloured bear between them.

"Girls," Jean admonished, laughter in her voice at the situation. "Share Bear is for sharing and you're not doing that." She gently extracted the bear from one grip, picking Jane up and bringing her towards her.

"Now, what did you just say?" she asked, rubbing her nose against her daughter's. The little girl giggled, grasping at her mother's face.

"Mama," she giggled again and Jean grinned widely.

"Her first word," Jean jumped slightly at Logan's voice, surprised he could still sneak up on her.

"Yeah," she answered, watching Logan lift Michele and toss her in the air. Michele laughed loudly as her father caught her again.

"They're going to need more room soon," Jean remarked honestly. "Jane's already getting stir crazy sharing a room with us."

"We could turn your old room into a nursery," Logan proposed, cradling Michele against his body and tickling her.

"That's a long way away," Jean protested, letting Jane crawl across the bed again.

"What were you thinkin'?" Logan inquired.

"Remember how we talked about getting a place of our own?" Jean asked in reply, scooping Jane up before she tumbled off the bed.

"Yeah," Logan responded.

"Maybe… maybe that's what we should do."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Move out of the mansion?"

"The girls are going to need more room, kids their own age, experiences outside of the Institute," Jean tried to explain.

"You don't want them growin' up here where we know they're always protected?"

"Are they? This place is a prime target, Logan, we both know that."

Logan shrugged. "Are they any safer without Ro, Marie, Kitty, Bobby and Chuck near by? You and I are strong, Darlin' but there's only two of us and you've only tapped into the full power of Phoenix a handful of times," he pointed out logically.

"I don't want them to be X-men," Jean responded. "I don't want them to have to face the same things we have."

Logan sighed, knowing he was finally getting to the root of Jean's fears. "That's not our decision to make."

Anger swelled up in the redhead, manifesting itself in the tremors of the bed. "How can you say that? You'd let our children go off to fight in battle?"

"They won't be kids forever, love," he pointed out sagely. "There will come a day when we won't make their decisions because they'll be old enough and trusted enough to make them on their own."

"They're your little girls!"

"That will grow up to be my big girls and eventually women."

The shaking of the bed slowly stopped as Jean calmed down. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Marie," he answered simply, scooping Jane up in his free arm. "I watch her go on missions because that's the decision she's made."

" Logan…" there was a warning note to Jean's voice.

"We'll talk to Chuck," he proposed. "See if we can find another arrangement."

"They'll grow into the same lives we lead," Jean warned, looking between her daughters. "They'll be fighting for the same cause."

"If they believe in it," Logan countered, setting the girls in their cribs. "They my not agree with what we fight for."

"They learn it."

"They learn tolerance, Jean, not violence." The argument was starting to get on Logan's nerves simply because Jean had believed in what they were fighting for and still did. This sudden fear for two girls that were just starting to talk, mutant or not, was paranoid for her. He settled against the headboard beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his body.

"I love those girls, Jeannie, with all my heart, just like I love you, but if we close them off from this part of life then aren't we cutting them off from parts of us and a family they deserve to know?" he asked softly into her hair.

"I don't want to be responsible for sending them to their deaths," she whispered back. "I don't want my girls dying before me."

Every time Jean's fears about parenting surfaced, Logan had to laugh. He'd expected to feel the compulsion to run and escape from the responsibility of two kids but he'd set eyes on Michele when she'd first been born and felt all of his fears evaporate. The pep-talk from Ororo and Marie the night before their birth had helped too.

Instead, he found himself telling Jean that everything would work out and that their girls would grow up to be their own women with opinions, goals and values. He didn't have time to be afraid for his own parenting.

"They'll be stronger than both of us," he whispered with conviction. "They'll face what we have with ease and grace and win."

"How can you be so sure?"

"They're your daughters," he answered easily. "Your passion and drive are part of their personalities."

"Michele's got your stubborn recklessness," Jean responded with a huge grin.

"And Jane's got your quiet compassion," he countered.

"My compassion and your temper… isn't that an odd mix?"

Logan chuckled. "Is that why they were fighting over the bear?"

"Huh?"

"Knowing what's theirs and keeping it close?"

"Possessiveness… I can see that."

"Mmhmm…"

Cuddled up against him, Jean was starting to drift off to sleep.

"Hey Red?"

"Mmm…"

"We'll be fine."

The conviction in his voice made her believe it.