It seemed overnight that Jean was four months along, her life full with work, afternoon naps, and nausea from the smell of the tractor fumes. Though it drove her crazy, everyone else found it amusing that as soon as the tractor was heard starting up, Jean was running for the nearest bathroom.
She had just left her bed, shuffling around the house. As an avid early riser, she enjoyed the quiet time alone to get ready for the day, though she would give anything for one more hectic morning at the Mansion. Bobby fighting Kitty over the last pancake, the sound of Xavier's wheelchair, and Storm shoving a cup of coffee under Logan's nose as he stalked into the kitchen to pacify him for a few moments. Checking on the girls, she ran her hand absently over her stomach, finally feeling a firm and very distinct roundness that she had lacked.
Going to the bathroom, Jean lifted her shirt and gasped at the change in the mirror. It was a shock to see her stomach protruding, when she had always been athletic and very trim. She could have sworn that when she checked just the other day, her stomach was as flat as ever, no physical proof that she was pregnant. It shamed her for a moment to be concerned with getting fat, and brushed the thought aside as if the baby might know it.
"What are you looking at," Emma asked as she shuffled toward the kitchen.
"Look at this."
Emma was horrified, she didn't hide it very well. "What happened?"
"Well, there's a baby-" Jean smiled at Emma's eye roll.
"But it wasn't there yesterday."
"It's normal, don't worry," Jean tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Wouldn't dream of it. So, is there any movement yet?"
"Not for another month or so," Jean looked down at herself with a thoughtful smile.
"What's that look?"
"I wonder what Logan would think of this," Jean turned away, knowing Emma wouldn't have the answer to what she wanted to hear.
"He would have come around to it, after it sunk in."
Jean looked to Emma with a kind smile, blinking back the tears in her eyes.
"Stay there," Emma requested, walking into her bedroom.
"Why?"
"Do you have to question every single thing, Jean?"
Jean shrugged sheepishly, it couldn't be helped sometimes. Emma came back with her fancy camera in hand, fiddled with the buttons for a few moments and then held the camera up to her face. With Jean's body angled in the doorway to the bathroom, the soft light accentuated the slight rise of her stomach.
"First public appearance," Emma reasoned.
"Please don't give the baby a big head until after he or she is born," Jean smiled.
"You have a good point about that," Emma chuckled unexpectedly, surprising both telepaths.
"Do you want coffee?"
"Please. I'll just go and put these on my hard drive."
They shuffled off to opposite ends of the small house, feeling closer then they had ever been.
Emma took to taking pictures of Jean, asleep or awake, working hard outside or making her stand for another snapshot of her changing profile.
"Thank you, Kitty," Jean smiled as Kitty wedged another pillow behind Jean's back.
"Seems like you've got all the pillows on this property," Emma smirked.
"I'm uncomfortable."
"Maybe it was the double cheeseburger you just had to have," Emma pointed out.
"No, this isn't...it's the baby!"
"Where? Let me feel," Kitty gasped, letting Jean place her hand where the kick could be felt.
Emma snapped a picture of Jean grinning as Kitty touched her bare belly.
The weeks passed quickly, life moving along like it tends to do. Jean's stomach started to impede her work, and so Jubliee started helping Jean make her bed.
"Your boobs are big," Jubliee stared.
"That tends to happen," Jean chuckled, looking down at herself.
"But they're gonna get bigger, the book says so!"
"Sadly they won't stay that way."
"They're bigger than Emma's!"
"Jubliation Lee," Emma hissed.
"Well they are," Jubliee insisted as Jean laughed.
Emma, though offended, snapped a photo of Jean laughing as she hugged Jubliee.
As Jean grew bigger, Emma saw the glow of absolute love in her eyes, not comprehending how someone could feel that way about someone they hadn't held. But that was motherhood for you, until you were one you had no inkling of unconditional love like that.
Just after the baby shower, Jean had gone to her room to take a nap. But Emma heard Jean's thoughts churning steadily, and went to check on her. She lay on the bed, rubbing her stomach steadily. Emma snapped a few quick pictures.
"Hey."
"What is it," Emma sat on the edge of the bed.
"Oh, I'm just tired..."
She saw that glimmer of missing Logan there, and what it would mean to Jean for him to be there with her. That hurt Emma most of all.
"Try and sleep, okay?"
Jean nodded, and closed her eyes.
"Jean, for the love of my sanity, sit down!"
Emma had been watching Jean move about the house restlessly while editing pictures of the last five months. Since the baby shower a week ago, Jean was in getting ready mode, trying to feel useful since Mac and Justin insisted she stop working and rest up for the birth. She had grown out all in front, and Emma had to admit, pregnancy looked good on her.
"I can't keep still. Baby doesn't have any room left."
"Are you going into labor?"
"Might be," she let out a heavy breath.
"Go and take a shower," Emma suggested.
"I think that's a good idea."
Emma continued emailing pictures to Hank, when she heard Jean groan.
"Jean?"
Jean's response was tight with fear, and Emma almost knocked her laptop over running to the bathroom. She could see Jean's rounded silhouette behind the curtain, and no water running.
"My water broke."
"I'll call the doctor, are you all right?"
"Yes," Jean responded, sounding like she had regained her calm for a moment.
Emma stayed close while Jean went ahead with her shower, relieved to catch the doctor right before she left for the day.
"Keep her comfortable, I'll be on my way shortly," the doctor reassured Emma before hanging up.
"Emma, could you had me a towel?"
"Sure," she stuck a towel around the curtain.
Taking Jean's arm as she stepped out of the shower, Emma helped her into the bedroom, getting comfortable clothes for Jean to wear.
"Should I call the girls in?"
"No, its fine. Emma...thanks," Jean smiled.
"It's nothing. Shall I let Hank know we're in business?"
"Yes, he'd love that," Jean lay on her side.
"All right, Ford, my dear. The time is now," the doctor announced twelve long hours later.
Emma stood next to Jean, with a hand on her shoulder. This wouldn' have been her first choice, but she had specific orders to stay with Jean, and she'd catch Hell if she didn't follow them. Though Jean was exhausted, Emma could feel a grim determination to keep going through the haze of pain.
"Push," the doctor counted down from ten at each contraction, Jean starting straight ahead as she bore down.
Finally, Jean fell back against the pillows gasping, covering Emma's hand with her own.
"It's a boy," the doctor smiled behind her mask, clearing his throat so he could let out a healthy cry.
They placed him on Jean's stomach, cleaning him up as he howled his displeasure at the overwhelming noises and chill of fresh air on his little body.
"Let me get a picture of him," Emma took her hand away to snap a picture, then returned her hand to Jean's, who held on tight.
"Have you decided on a name," the doctor asked as they took him away to get dressed.
"James," Jean spoke breathlessly, tears in her eyes.
"James Grey, sounds good," Emma whispered in her ear.
After a long night of feedings, Jean opened her eyes to see Emma looking into the bassinet curiously.
"He's not going to bite."
"With Logan as his father, I have my doubts."
"Do you want to hold him?"
"Later. Feeling pain?"
"Nothing I can't spend the next eighteen years of his life telling him about," she smiled in good humor.
"I think we should go to Bobby in India."
"Why is that?"
"The base of Hank's isn't secure, they've had to move," Emma muttered.
"You're going with us," Jean asked, sure she had heard wrong from being so tired.
"I'm bored, and now you have your hand full with this one," she reached out a tentative finger and brushed James' cheek.
"Hey, fearless leader," Jean smiled.
When James was a month old, the five Mutants prepared to leave Mac and Justin for India.
"You be careful now," Mac reminded Jean, touching James' head gently.
"We will," she smiled, hugging him for the first time.
Jean cradled James to her chest as Justin said goodbye to Kitty and Jubliee, and smiled as Justin approached her.
"Will we see you again?"
"Maybe."
"I'll miss you," he leaned in, giving her a gentle kiss.
Jean dragged a finger over his temple, making him forget as she had done with Mac, and walked away.
"Why did you do that," Jubliee asked, baby carseat in hand.
"To keep them safe."
"But they won't remember us-"Kitty accused.
"It had to be done, Katherine," Emma interrupted. "Jean can give the memories back if we ever come this way again. There's our man," she led the others to a man reading a newspaper.
"Scott," Jean gasped in disbelief as his crimson sunglasses came into view.
"Good to see you. Let's get on the plane first, then catch up," he smiled.
Jean buckled James into his carseat next to her, and took the opportunity to take a nap while he was sleeping. She woke when Scott touched her hand gently.
"Hey, you hungry?"
"Starving," she smiled.
"Better get some food in you before he wakes up," Scott smiled.
Jean adjusted blankets as Kitty and Jubliee slept in the reclining chairs.
"Same Jean that I remember," he grinned, carrying a full plate of fruit, crackers and cheese.
"Thanks. So, how have you been?"
"Storm and I have been piloting planes, smuggling information and new Mutants, since we got outta that compound."
"Is Ororo-" she looked to the door of the cockpit.
"Well it sure isn't me or Emma flying the plane," he joked. "Until Logan found us, we thought the worst of you three."
Jean swallowed the tears Logan's name brought to her eyes, smiling down at James. She could get used to it, and feel more pride than sadness, since James would be hearing so much about his father as he grew.
"He looks like you," Scott commented.
"You think?"
As if knowing he was being talked about, James began to cry. She picked him up, grabbing the diaper bag, and headed for the back room. "I'm going to be awhile, he's hungry too."
"I'll get back to the front and relieve Ororo."
As Jean changed James' diaper, a quiet knock interrupted her soft talking. "Come in."
"I just had to come and see the newest addition before I took a nap," Ororo's lilting voice took Jean back down so many old roads, she couldn't stop the tears from finally falling.
"Oh, I didn't want you to cry," Ororo knelt beside Jean and enveloped her in a familiar hug.
"It's happy tears," Jean pulled back, looking into Ororo's face. "Storm, its so good to see you."
"And you. Now, this is someone I have yet to meet," Ororo scooped James up in her arms. "He's gorgeous."
Jean watched Ororo with a smile. "He's everything to me."
"I can tell by the way you look at him. He must be hungry," she grinned at his squirming around.
"He's a big eater," Jean took him from Ororo and threw a blanket over her shoulder to feed.
"Stay, I'll just be resting a short while," she patted Jean's shoulder and lay down on the low bed.
Kitty and Jubliee were wide-eyed watching the sights of Delhi fly past in the windows of the car. They had been isolated for so long with so few people around that it seemed they were starved for stimulation. The air was heavy with aromas, making Jean breathe deep. Jean-Paul opened the door as they walked up, smiling at Jean carrying James against her chest.
"Let's get you settled."
A tall attractive man ran in the open front door as Jean and Jean-Paul climbed the stairs. "Where are they," Bobby asked, getting tackled to the ground by Kitty and Jubliee.
James lay in the bassinet next to her new bed while Jean unpacked. When he was old enough, the room next door was waiting ready with a crib, changing table, and rocking chair. The change felt good, being around other Mutants felt more natural, not to mention she wouldn't have to go by her alias anymore.
"What is it," she asked softly, picking James up as he cried. As soon as his head was against her chest he began to quiet, and Jean kissed his fuzzy head.
"How's my boy? Good? I'm so happy to have you, do you know that," she swayed side to side, and he made little noises of contentment.
"You and I are going to be okay. We're with our family, in a safe place."