Rogue took a sip of her orange juice, watching from the corner of her eye as Jubilee came into the common room. Jubilee rifled through some of the cabinets before pulling out some construction paper and streamers. She tripped over the loose ends of streamers that became entangled between her legs as she tried to hurry out the room.
"You okay there, Jubes?" Rogue called out from where she was sitting by the windows.
"Uh…yeah…I'm fine." Jubilee straightened then literally hopped out the room, the streamers still firmly entangled.
As she left, John came in, chuckling at Jubilee's little dance down the corridor. He came over to where Rogue was sitting, handing her a plate of sliced melon. "Do you think we should just tell them we know about the party?"
"No, it'll ruin the surprise."
"It's not exactly under-the-radar, you know. I saw Peter unloading crates of soda and water outside and you know what he told me? He was feeling a little dehydrated."
Rogue almost choked on the melon she had been chewing. "He was always the worse liar."
"And Kitty tried to hide this gigantic cake behind her back when I caught her in the kitchen last night. She kept denying that there was this four-tiered white frosted cake behind her on the counter."
"Oooo! There's going to be cake?"
John rolled his eyes. "Rogue…"
Rogue giggled. "I'm kidding. I think we should just remain pleasantly ignorant of the fact that they're all trying to throw us a surprise baby shower."
"SURPRISE!"
"Oh my God…you guys…this is too much…"
If John had the ability to hand out Oscar awards for outstanding acting performances, he would definitely give one to Rogue for the performance she was putting on right then. He couldn't believe how easily she convinced everybody how genuinely surprised she was.
"Well, don't just stand there in the doorway like a couple of slack-jawed yokels…" Jubilee teased, pulling both John and Rogue into the outlandishly decorated dining hall. "We were going to just have it in the rec room since the stereo and the couches were already in there but then more people wanted to come so we had to move it in here. Isn't it awesome? I did the decorations!"
Rogue had to bit her lip from laughing because it would have been obvious to anyone who knew Jubilee for even a micro-second that she had done the decorations. The room was filled with yellow streamers and balloons and table clothes and banners – even the flowers she had picked out were yellow daisies.
"It's wonderful, Jubes. I love it," Rogue told her friend.
"I didn't want to seem bias about what the baby might be…you know, boy or girl…so I just used yellow. It seems relatively neutral, right?"
"Very Jubilee neutral. Even Switzerland would love it." Rogue didn't know how long she could keep her straight face – John had no such qualms and was already doubled over laughing. She was very glad when other people started to come over to congratulate them on the baby.
"I can't believe what Logan is making us do!" Kitty exclaimed. Kitty and Jubilee were walking back to the party from Logan's room, carrying what seemed like a ten-ton gift-wrapped box.
"Kitty, I've had to rub that man's feet for the past two weeks. You've nothing to complain about yet," Jubilee said from her side of the box she was holding.
"Why couldn't he have gotten Peter to do this?" Kitty panted. "He could have carried this monstrosity without breaking into a sweat."
"Will you quit complaining? We're almost there." They had made it back only to find the entrance blocked by someone. "Bobby! Get out of the way, you dingus!"
Bobby turned abruptly, finding a gigantic box in his face. "Oh sorry!" He moved out of their way and let them pass through into the room.
"Thanks for your help!" Jubilee yelled sarcastically. "Let the two girls carry the damn thing! It's not heavy at all!"
Bobby just stared at her, his forehead furrowed with confusion.
"Did he get stupid overnight or something?" Jubilee asked as they set the box next to the gift table.
"Ask me again when my heart stops pounding." Kitty was slumped over, her hand on her chest trying to catch her breath.
Rogue came over to where the two girls were huffing and puffing. "Where'd you guys go?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes. "His highness, Lord Logan, called us away. Apparently, he's too shy to bring his baby gift down himself and so we had to do it for him… Not to ruin the surprise but he bought you that damn baby crib you registered for. He just had to buy you the most expensive thing on that damn registry, didn't he?" She paused, looking toward the doorway they had just come through. Bobby was still standing there, hovering over the threshold. "What the hell is he doing?"
"Who?" Rogue turned to where Jubilee was looking.
"Bobby…he's just standing there…"
"Was he invited?"
"Rogue, everybody was invited…"
"Ladies…" Pietro came over to where the three girls were contemplating the hovering Bobby. There was a sly smile on Pietro's face that distracted the girls. It was a smile they had come to know well and it usually meant trouble. "We're about to play some games. Want to join in?"
"What are you guys playing?" Jubilee asked skeptically.
He leaned over, his mouth close to Jubilee's ear as he whispered the answer. Rogue and Kitty could see Jubilee's eyes widen in shock.
"Come on over if you want to play." Pietro walked away, laughing loudly.
"Pietro! Come back here!" Jubilee ran after him. "You can't play truth or dare at a baby shower! We're not playing that! We've already got games set up!"
Rogue and Kitty giggled together.
Bobby was still standing by the doorway, already forgotten.
Logan came downstairs, reassured that everyone would be distracted by the baby shower to notice that he had come out of his room. He had grown somewhat comfortable with the bulging belly but not confident enough to go wandering through the mansion willy-nilly.
He headed toward the kitchen because all Jubilee left for him was a cheese sandwich and a glass of water. He made a mental note to himself to wake Jubilee up at 4 a.m. to make him a quiche.
He was going to make a quick sprint across the doorway of the dining hall when he accidentally knocked someone over.
"Bobby?" Logan looked at the sprawled boy on the floor. "What are you doing?"
Bobby got on his feet quickly, keeping his eyes from straying to what Jubilee had been calling Logan's 'smooshy-Pillsbury-doughboy-hee-hee area.' "I'm just…I'm just observing things…"
"Observing things? Why aren't in there with the rest of them? Wasn't everybody invited to this shindig?"
"Um…yeah…basically…"
"So what's the problem?"
"Well…um…" Bobby tried to search for the words to answer him. His eyes strayed to where Rogue was sitting at a table, smiling when John came over with a plateful of food for her. She was always hungry, eating practically anything these days.
"It looks like everybody's having a good time," Logan mused aloud, interrupting Bobby's thoughts.
Bobby tore his eyes away from the couple – everyone did look like they were having a good time. Jubilee was laughing hysterically over something that had made the usually unflappable Pietro blush like a ripe tomato. Kitty was daintily nibbling on a yellow frosted cupcake as Sam and Dominic were scarfing down stuffed mushrooms like they were going out of style. Peter, Siryn, and Wanda were looking on as Jones got spun around and around by Storm and Warren to play 'pin the diaper on the baby.' Jean was busy putting a silly party hat on the Professor's head as Scott and Hank were trying to repress their girlish giggles.
Bobby's eyes, though, went back the two people sitting at a table together.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No offense but I'd rather not talk about my feelings about this whole John-Rogue-baby situation with you."
"What the hell did I do?"
"You haven't exactly been shy about letting me know what you thought of me as her boyfriend. And do you want me to remind you how you reacted when you thought I was the father of her baby and how you reacted when you found out it was his instead?"
Logan gave him a sheepish look. "Err…well…yeah… Sorry about that…" He cleared his throat, trying to search for a way to make amends. "Look, I know our…erm…'relationship' hasn't been the best but I'm still here if you want to…you know…talk. And not just because everybody else is in that room you seem reluctant to enter."
Logan couldn't believe what he was saying. He was never one to want or need to hear about other people's problems, especially the emotional kind. Must be the fake hormones Jubilee's always complaining that I have, he thought. He gave himself a mental shake then moved away from the doorway. He hoped there were enough of those stuffed mushrooms for him, when he heard Bobby call out, "I don't know where I stand with them anymore."
Logan turned around to look at Bobby who was still staring at where John and Rogue were sitting. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I don't know if I'm even anything to them anymore. He's got his old friends to hang out with now – they're always doing things together. And she's…she's got him… And I just don't know where I fit in."
"The dynamics might have changed but you're still their friend."
"And I'm just going to have to accept that my former best friend stole away my girlfriend?" Bobby scoffed.
Logan sighed, giving Bobby his exasperated look, the one that he usually reserved for Jubilee. "If you're going to keep thinking of it that way, then no, you're never going to accept it. And you're never going to know where you fit in either." Logan paused, unsure how Bobby might react to brutal honesty but there was no other way to get the boy to realize that things weren't going to go back to where they used to be. "She loves him. He makes her happy. They're happy. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll know where you stand with them."
Bobby sucked in a breath like he had just been punched in the stomach. Bobby didn't say anything. He watched as John helped Rogue to her feet, holding both of her hands, her pregnant belly thrust forward.
"I'm sure they didn't want to hurt you, Bobby. They care about you too…" Logan had to give himself another mental shake. Damn fake hormones…they're turning me into some kind of girly-man. He glanced over only to find that Bobby was gone.
"Open my present! Open my present!" Jubilee exclaimed, jumping up and down with the present in her hands.
"Okay, okay…" Rogue said. Jubilee handed her friend the box and watched as Rogue's fingers tore at the ribbon and wrapping. "Oh my God, Jubes… It's adorable!"
Rogue held up a stuffed doll version of what everyone could see was Wolverine, even down to his little claws (made out of cloth and stuffing, of course) and X-Men uniform and his trademark sneer.
"I had a good model to sit for me," Jubilee said cheekily.
"You made it yourself?" John asked incredulously.
"No, I bought it at the Wolverine gift shop. Yeah, of course, I made it, you doof! You wanna see my thumb where I kept pricking myself with the damn needle?"
"Here… Open mine next…" Rogue and John were both a little more than surprised to see Bobby standing in front of them, a gift-wrapped box held out in Bobby's hands. "It's…uh…not much but I thought you guys might like it."
"Thanks, Bobby," Rogue murmured, taking the present from Bobby. She unwrapped it to find a copy of Goodnight, Moon inside.
"My mom used to read that me when I was little…or at least, that's what she told me. It's a good book…probably will help when it's time to go to sleep, right?" Bobby chuckled nervously, knowing that everybody's eyes were on him. He shuffled his feet, not knowing what else to do or say.
"You should try those stuffed mushrooms… Sam won't shut the hell up about them," John said, steering Bobby toward the table where the hors d'oeuvres were set up.
"It's like a party in your mouth! And everyone's invited!" Sam yelled out. "They're that good!"
The baby shower was still going in full force when Kitty saw Rogue dragging John out of the room.
"Hey, Jubes…did they get into a fight or something?"
Jubilee laughed. "No, no… Someone made the mistake of bringing a pie."
"A pie?"
"Yep, a pie. An apple pie…"
Kitty could only look at Jubilee in confusion, not knowing what Jubilee was finding to be so hilarious.
A/N: Sorry for the emo-ness of Bobby in this chapter but it was one of the loose ends I wanted to clear up before the next (and final!) chapter. And I've decided now on what the sex of the baby (or maybe it's 'babies'…or maybe not…) so stay tuned… ;)