John was about to tell Logan to take it easy as the older man made his way toward him, thinking to himself 'so this is how a rabbit feels like just before it gets torn apart ...and, oh yeah, this is going to leave a mark.' Then he realized Logan wasn't reaching for him. He was reaching for the person standing next to him.
"Hey!" Bobby squeaked. John wasn't sure who was more surprised - him or Bobby.
"Logan! What are you doing?" Rogue cried out, desperately hanging onto his arm to stop him from swinging properly. "Logan!"
"Come here, you little shit..." He made a grab for Bobby's leg when the boy stumbled over some chairs trying to get away.
"What is going on here?" The Professor wheeled into the room, taking note of the overturned desks and chairs. Bobby was scrambling away from a furious Logan, Rogue trying to stop his rampage, John looking a little amused and befuddled about the whole situation. Everyone else looked on from the sidelines, either cheering Logan on or yelling at Bobby to look out. "Logan! Stop this right now and tell me what is going on!"
Logan finally managed to get a good grip on Bobby by the scruff of the boy's neck and held him up so high, Bobby was kicking his legs in the air like he was still trying to get away. "This fucking asshole knocked Rogue up!"
And for the first time in his life, the Professor's mind became completely blank. Just completely and utterly blank. "What the..."
"Professor!" Jean cut him off before the Professor could even begin to utter a profanity.
"She's pregnant?" Storm asked incredulously.
"Well, duh! Everyone knows that!" a girl in the classroom called out.
"Jubilee!" Rogue yelled.
"It was Kitty!" Jubilee pointed the finger to the girl standing beside Peter.
Kitty slapped Peter's arm. "Peter, you ass! I told you not to tell anyone!"
"Jones, I'm going to kill you!"
"I only told a couple of people!"
"QUUUUIIIIIIEEEEEETTTTTTT!!" The Professor's voice boomed out so loudly, he actually managed to knock over some of the smaller children to the ground who had been standing nearby. The room became immediately silent. "All right then. Now I would like to see Rogue and John in my office, please."
"Wait...John? I thought he," Logan hitched Bobby a little higher off the ground as if he was displaying a prize catch, "was your boyfriend."
"Logan, we broke up five months ago."
"Broke up? I thought we were just taking a break!"
"What part of I-think-we-should-see-other-people did you not understand, Bobby? It's been five months! Is this why people keep thinking we're still together? Have you been telling them that we were just taking 'break'?"
"Well...I...I...thought...uh..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, save it for later, Drake," Logan said, releasing Bobby who then came crashing down on the floor and landing rather ungracefully on his ass. "So if he's not the father, then why the hell did I smelt him on ya?"
"He let me wear his sweater earlier this morning, Logan. That's all."
"So he's not the father?"
"No," Rogue answered patiently as if she were speaking to a small child.
"Okay then."
"Okay?" Bobby said, rubbing his sore bottom while getting to his feet. "You're okay with this? How come you're okay with him impreg...OW!"
Logan slapped the back of Bobby's head and then looked at the boy innocently. "Oh, sorry. Hand slipped."
"He slept with...OW!"
"Damn hand...got a mind of its own, you know?" Logan grinned.
"I'm going to stand over there..." Bobby muttered.
"Are you quite done, Logan?" the Professor asked, arching a brow.
"Oh yeah... I'm done." Logan looked around the classroom and the overturned desks and chairs. He looked back at the Professor sheepishly. "Well...I...uh...I'll just stay here and clean up."
"You do that."
Rogue was making her way back to her room, wondering for the twentieth time if she should have stayed with John. The moment they came out of the Professor's office, he was whisked away by Logan who just mumbled to her "I'll bring him back in one piece..."
Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind her. "Are you really pregnant?"
Rogue turned around slowly, recognizing the voice. It was Amara and Rogue knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant situation. She wasn't sure what she ever did to Amara to hate her so much. "Yeah, I am."
"Huh... I'd always figured you'd probably die a virgin."
Rogue's eyes widened, feeling like she had just been slapped. She knew this girl could be vicious to her but this...this was beyond anything she'd imagined anyone would say to her face.
Jubilee came around the corner and immediately knew something bad had happened.
"Amara, why don't you go suck on a lemon and give people a reason why you always have that sour look on your face?" Jubilee said, putting her arm around her friend's shoulders.
"Whatever." Amara gave her a look of disdain and left without another comment.
Jubilee glared at Amara's retreating back before turning her attention back to her friend. "You okay?"
"I don't know why she hates me so much."
"She's just jealous."
Rogue let out a small derisive laugh. "Jealous of what? My sucky life?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh yeah, your life sucks sooooooooooooooo much."
"My life does suck!"
"Rogue, your life does not suck. You have Sexy McSexington, a.k.a. the frickin' Wolverine, looking out for you...he's practically like your very own Secret Service Man. You've got that man wrapped around your finger and don't tell me otherwise. You have Mr All-American-Boy-Next-Door as your ex, who everyone knows is still half in love with you. Now you've managed to snag yourself the resident bad boy as your boyfriend. You know? The same boy who got you water this morning and held your hair as you threw up God knows what? And, most importantly of all, you have this ravishing creature in front of you as your best friend - probably not the best keeper of secrets - but someone who'll stick by you through thick and thin and tell people like Amara Aquilla to go suck on a lemon." She paused to take a breath. "Besides, it's no secret to anyone that that bee-otch has like the hugest crush on John. Something about being able to 'light her up.' Get it? Her magma with his fire? What a tool. Girl needs to work on her metaphors."
Rogue gave her a small smile.
"See? I told you your life does not suck," Jubilee exclaimed, nudging her friend lightly. "So...what did the Professor say?"
Rogue sighed. "I have pack up my things."
"He's kicking you out?" Jubilee looked completely shocked.
"No, stupid. He's letting me and John move into one of the bigger rooms."
"Do NOT scare me like that again."
"Sorry."
"What else did he say? Anything I should know about beforehand?"
Now it was Rogue's turn to roll her eyes dramatically. "What? So you can go tell the whole school again?"
Jubilee was decent enough to look embarrassed. "Yeah...well...that was my bad. I dropped the ball. But you know as well as I do that I can't help it. I think it's genetic...or maybe a side effect from my mutation. And if you really want to blame someone, blame frickin' Angus and Malcolm Young. Damn AC/DC…"
Rogue smiled. "The Professor...he just wanted to know what our plans were."
"What are your plans?"
"I don't know. I think we just want to get through this one step at a time, you know? First is actually having this baby and then after that…I'm not sure."
They were both silent, lost in their own thoughts.
"Well, one thing I know for sure, we can't stand here forever. Let's get your things together so you can go shack up with your baby's daddy."
"Nicely put, metaphor-girl."
"I think I saw it on a Hallmark card one time."
Jubilee was packing some of Rogue's books when she blurted out, "How did you and John hook up?"
Rogue looked up from where she was folding up some of her clothes on the floor with a surprised expression on her face. "I'm not sure. It just kinda...happened."
"Rogue, things like you and John? It doesn't just kinda happen."
"I guess I meant I can't really pinpoint the exact moment we became more than just friends, you know? We always hung out together but that was only because of Bobby. Then, I don't know...things changed. It was suddenly just me and John hanging out. And I felt...I don't know how to put it...comfortable with him. Bobby was nice but he…I always got the feeling he didn't completely trust me. Like he was always expecting me to drain him dry or something. Like I was going to turn against him. With John…it was never like that. He was just…my boyfriend. You know?"
Jubilee nodded, knowing exactly what Rogue meant. "Can I ask about the sex now? What? Don't give me that look! You don't want me to learn about this kind of stuff on the streets, do you? Just think of it as a public service. You'll be doing the community a big favor."
"And by 'community,' you mean you."
Jubilee gave her a big toothy grin. "But of course, my dear."
Rogue thought back to her first time with John. Her whole face flushed.
"That good, huh?" Jubilee's voice interrupted.
Her eyes glazed over as a dreamy expression came over her. "Have you ever seen a boy eat pie?"
"Pie? John eats pie? I didn't think he liked sweets."
"He doesn't. But he likes pie. Apple pie. And the way he eats it... He makes these little noises... It's so filthy..."
Jubilee waited for her to explain further but Rogue looked like she was lost in her own little world. "Rogue? Rogue!! Snap out of it! Oh my God, stop thinking about John and pie!"
"Wha...what? Oh sorry..."
"Was he...holy crap...was he eating pie before you guys...before you...you know...conceived?"
Jubilee didn't think it was possible for her friend's face to become any redder.
"We were at a diner... God, if they only had coconut or even cherry pie but no, they only had apple pie. For some reason, he only likes apple pie... And...well...you know...he didn't have a condom with him and I couldn't wait...so we...um...just parked..." Rogue cleared her throat nervously. "Did you know there's a two percent failure rate on birth control pills? Who knew, huh?"
Jubilee just stared at her for a second then burst out laughing. "Are you telling me that watching him eat pie got you all hot and bothered? And that's why you're pregnant now?"
Rogue threw a t-shirt at her friend's laughing face, grinning unapologetically as Jubilee tried to duck out of the way. "Can we talk about something else now?"
"Oh my God...I'll never be able to look at pie or even apples the same way again..."
"Jubilee!"
"All right...all right... I'm done..." Jubilee tried to catch her breath. She rearranged her face into what she considered her most serious expression. "So what do you think you're gonna have? Boy or girl?"
"I'm not sure yet. I think it's still too early for me to have any kind of motherly instinct on that kind of thing..."
"Well, frankly speaking, I'm rooting for a girl. I don't think the world can handle another little Pyro running around...eating pie..." Jubilee burst out laughing again, even as Rogue aimed another shirt toward her face.
John was completely oblivious to the two girls watching him as he ate his apple pie in the dining hall. He was glad his little talk with Logan was over - he never wanted to hear certain sex-related words coming out of Logan's mouth ever again. And what the hell was the man thinking? Wasn't it a little too late to be having the-birds-and-the-bees talk now? He was still trying to get over listening to Logan talk about the female anatomy. Then watching as Logan did some kind of crude drawing of the female parts on the whiteboard…at least he thought it was suppose to be female.
Well, there was pie and that made him feel immensely better. He couldn't remember the last time they had pie for dessert after dinner. And if he had been thinking about more than just eating his dessert, he would have realized that they never had pie before that night.
Under the table, the empty plastic container that used to hold the store-bought pie laid between Jubilee's and Rogue's feet.
He was only on his third bite, savoring the flavor of cinnamon and nutmeg on his tongue, when he got hauled out of his chair by Rogue.
"Hey! I'm not done eating!"
"Yes, you are." She had a firm grip on his arm and led him out of the dining room, almost knocking over Warren on their way out.
"What the hell was that all about?" he asked, sitting next to a snickering Jubilee.
"Uh...I'm not sure." She paused, taking a sidelong glance at him. "You want some pie?"