A/N: Hey everybody! I don't make very many notes or comments in my fics, but I thought I should for once. I just wanted to thank everybody who's faved, followed, and/or reviewed this story. I didn't realize there was this much of a following for movieverse Victor, so I've been pleasantly surprised by all the support! Thanks again, and I hope I can continue writing chapters that you all enjoy!
"How are we feeling today?"
"Better than I have for the past few days, but also somehow worse."
Beast cracked a smile. "Well, hopefully we can fix that." He was sitting in a swivel chair that seemed entirely too small for him, glasses perched on his face and a lab coat sitting over his usual clothes. He wheeled away from the examination table Ria was slumping on and grabbed some papers that were sitting on the counter. "Let's take a look at your blood test results."
The room was a lot like a doctor's office, with less cheesy posters and less pamphlets about the dangers of unprotected sex. The lights were less bright, and Ria was thankful for that; it looked a lot less like the rooms she had gotten so used to and more like a gentle, legitimately helpful place. Her exam table was actually sitting in a corner, sectioned off by a half drawn curtain so that she could still see out into the rest of the room, which was filled with testing equipment. How Beast managed to run the entire setup was a mystery, but Ria figured that he didn't do much else with his time.
"Well," he wheeled back over to her. "You're definitely pregnant."
"No, really?" She asked sarcastically.
He gave her a look. "Really."
Ria smiled a little. "So...is everything normal?"
He read down the sheet. "Everything seems to be in order. Based on this, you're perfectly healthy. This is just a blood test, though." He looked back up at her. "I don't know very much about feral pregnancies, unfortunately, so I can't necessarily tell you how far along you-"
"Two months," Ria interrupted. "Well...nine weeks. I think. I tried to count when I found out, based on my heat. So."
"Well, if the fetal development of feral mutants is similar enough to that of humans, which I imagine it would be, we would, maybe, be able to use an ultrasound and find something."
"Why do you have one here?" Ria asked.
"With so many mutant children in one place, abnormalities are bound to arise that do not aid their bodies, such as tumors, bone problems, et cetera. I prefer to be prepared, and have many instruments and machines that wouldn't be found in the average mansion's infirmary." Beast said matter of factly as he stood and led her to another table. "And as you can see, it pays to be prepared."
"What is it that you're so worried about, anyway?" Ria asked nervously as she followed him and sat down again. She and Victor had been there for only two days, and almost everything she heard was concern for her wellbeing in some form or another. People seemed to have the impression that she was with Victor against her will and that he had forced her to have his children, and the longer she stayed and the more she interacted, the more she began to see just how much they hated him.
She didn't know exactly what he had done to warrant such hostility, and she really didn't care. Maybe it was part of living for so long and seeing so many people come and go, or maybe it was the variety of places she had been and all of the drama and glamour of her wartime days, but she wasn't too concerned with whatever horrible things he had done. He had never done anything to her aside from the usual spats and scuffles, so she had nothing to forgive him for and nothing to concern herself with, and whatever issues he had with everyone else, he had to figure out on his own.
"While you share the healing factor that Logan and Victor have, there's no way of telling if your reproductive organs are damaged." Beast said. "We've seen Logan recover from massive injuries, but the fact that your healing was slowed and even stopped while you were in that facility is cause for concern."
"I've felt fine so far." She said, trying to choke out the little pang of fear that she felt. This is what she had been worried about from the beginning. "And I've thought of all that before."
"I'm sure you have," Beast replied as he made her lay back. "We can't be sure until we take a look, though."
"Are you actually going to be able to see anything?" She asked skeptically.
"A heartbeat, if nothing else." He answered as he motioned for her to pull her shirt up. "As I said before, there's no way of telling if your pregnancy is going to be very comparable to that of a completely human woman's."
"Why wouldn't it be? My mother was human. I assume Victor's was."
"But the two of you aren't," Beast said as he spread goo over her belly.
She flinched at the coldness. "Is that the only thing you're worried about, or are you like everybody else?"
He sighed. "Victor Creed is...well, he's...how do I put this?"
"An asshole?"
"Yes, that. Everyone here who has interacted with him has always known him to be aggressive and brutish, especially with the way Logan talks about him." He put on a fresh pair of sterile gloves as the machine turned on. "When you first arrived with him, we all assumed the worst. It seemed likely that you were a business partner, as Victor has never kept a woman with him longer than a night. Now that it's been made clear that you aren't a threat, people are worried for your own safety with him."
"I mean your personal thoughts, Beast."
"My only concern is the health and safety of you and your children." He said, trying to stay neutral. "However, from what I have observed these past two days, he behaves much differently with you than he ever has with anyone else. Perhaps you've managed to change something in him."
She stifled a sigh. "I guess."
"He's taken on the role of an aggressive, dominant male in a family setting. He's taking risks to protect you, and that in itself is impressive for him."
Ria cracked a small smile. "He's rough, but he's never really given me a reason to be afraid of him." Her smile widened. "And he's so excited."
Beast looked impressed. "A little hard to imagine."
"That's what everyone keeps saying." Ria said as Beast pressed the probe against her stomach. She had been subject to ultrasounds before, but she had gotten used to them revealing nothing but dead fetuses, and they were usually followed by either an induced labor or a crude c-section. They could never let things just take care of themselves naturally. They always wanted her ready again as soon as possible, and waiting for her body to process what had happened was never an option with them.
She was half expecting the same thing to happen this time as she watched the black and gray screen next to her. The last several times she had been through this, she had stopped bothering to look, and now that she was back on a table with jelly covering her stomach, she dared to take a glance at it. She didn't know how to make sense of all the grainy, shifting shapes, but as Beast's blue eyebrows rose a bit, she figured it was a good sign.
"What?" She asked hopefully. "Did you find heartbeats?"
He nodded and pointed at the screen while he continued moving the probe with his other hand. "There's one...two…"
Ria felt her own heart jump. Twins?
"...three."
Not twins. Triplets.
She stared at the screen and saw some strange, pulsating blobs. "Are there any more?"
He moved the probe around a bit more and shook his head. "Only the three. Well, I shouldn't say only…"
"I have to tell Victor!" She grinned and started to sit up.
"Hang on, hang on." Beast removed the probe and grabbed a roll of paper towels to wipe the jelly off. He then pulled off his gloves and helped her up. "I want to do weekly checkups, to track development and ensure that everything goes smoothly."
"Yeah, whatever." Ria said as she stood, practically bouncing in place. "Are you coming?"
"I'll stay here and clean up. I'm going to run a few more tests-"
"Okay, see you next week!" Ria called as she tore out of the room.
She bounded through the halls to the kitchen, where Victor had grumpily said he would wait when she and Beast had asked him to stay out so that they could have peace and quiet. Sure enough, as she burst through the door, there he was, sitting across from Logan. Or was it Jimmy? Why did he have to change his name and confuse her? Maybe she should just call him Lambchops.
Victor jumped up the second he saw her, and both brothers were somewhat alarmed by her sudden entrance. Ria launched herself at Victor, alarming him even more, and pulled him down to pepper kisses across his face.
"I take it somethin' happened." He said as he managed to pry her off.
"He found heartbeats," she said excitedly.
"...multiple?" Logan asked.
Victor pulled her into a tight hug. "How many?"
"Three."
"Oh, Christ." Logan mumbled.
Victor grinned and kissed Ria's forehead, tangling his claws in her hair as he held the back of her head. "Triplets?"
She nodded and pulled away to look at him. "He wants to do weekly checks."
Victor nudged her over to sit down at the table and then looked at his brother. "Congrats, runt. You're an uncle."
"Never figured I would be, honestly." He stood and walked over to the stove. "I'm thinkin' we celebrate with bacon."
Victor rolled his eyes. "You think bacon is good for this?"
"You're s'posed to save the cigars for when the baby's born. An' they told me I couldn't smoke in here anymore anyway." He grabbed a frying pan. "So, bacon. It's all we got that's worth eatin' now."
A few minutes later, Ria was enjoying her food, Victor was nuzzling his cheek against hers, and Logan was keeping a safe distance at the other side of the table. It was all extremely domestic, with nobody snarling at each other or trying to throw punches. They were almost like a real family.
"Got any name ideas?" Logan asked suddenly.
"I don't even know what they are yet," Ria said.
"Yeah, so? You can still pick. I'm tryin' my best here, kid."
She growled. "Don't call me a kid. I'm almost as old as you. I'm having kids."
"Old habits die hard...darlin'."
"Only I can call her that, runt." Victor snarled.
"What am I s'posed to say?" Logan snapped.
"Okay, you can call me kid if I can call you Lambchops." Ria said. "Since Victor isn't going to let you say anything else." She only realized how ridiculous it all sounded after she said it. She had better things she could be doing with her time, and yet there she was, sitting at a kitchen table, joking about unimportant nicknames with a man she barely knew.
Logan was interesting. He carried himself with the air of someone who knew how dangerous he was, but not in the same way that Victor did. The younger brother was gentler, interacting with the students in Xavier's school in generally friendly ways, and Ria noticed that many of them called him a professor. She had no idea what he taught, but she could tell that he knew just as much as Victor did, and even if she had never been told anything about either brother, she could have guessed that he had seen war.
He was strong, but not as built as Victor. Ria was probably still much faster than him, even if he was quicker than his sibling. What intrigued her the most about him, though, were his claws; they weren't like hers or Victor's, which were which were just normal, everyday claws. His were metal, and they slid out of his hands as if they retracted and just sat in his arms the rest of the time. They couldn't be natural, could they? But if they weren't, then how did they get that way?
She didn't have a chance to ask him before the door opened and a few kids walked in.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Logan snapped as they just stood and stared at the three of them.
"W-we're on break," one of them stammered.
"I didn't hear a bell."
"We are, we swear!" another said, looking back and forth between Logan and Victor.
"Don't hear anybody else walkin' around outside, kid." Victor said coldly. "Get back to where you're s'posed to be."
They paled. None of them had thought of what to do if Victor Creed, infamous as he was, addressed them. They all began backing towards the door again, too afraid to turn their backs but even more afraid of what would happen if they disobeyed him. They ran once they reached the hallway, the sound of their footsteps mixing up with those of Xavier's wheelchair and the lumbering of Beast.
The blue mutant peeked in through the doorway. "We have an interesting development."