A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Here's a little bit of a longer chapter.
The morning of March 15th dawned rather unremarkably. It was a gloomy Friday; the sky swirled angrily with dark clouds, threatening to rain over everyone's weekend plans.
"Beware the ides of March…" Kioni quoted cryptically as they dressed for their respective days.
Ororo was inclined to agree. Scott and Jean were due back from their honeymoon today, but that weather might stall their flight. Not to mention the hell the humidity was reeking on her and Kioni's hair. Ro eventually settled on pulling it back. Kioni helped her French braid it down her back. The chill, nearly unseasonal by this time of the year, seeped through the women's window.
"Guess the nice weather couldn't last." Ro commented sadly as she pulled on thick boots.
"Nothing gold can stay," Kioni said with a smirk.
"Full of literary quotes today, aren't you?" Ro teasingly pushed her.
"Anything to get me through this day. I hate rainy weather." As if to illustrate her point, Kioni flipped the hood of her jacket over her head.
"You look like the Unabomber," Ro observed.
"Yikes," Kioni yanked it off and reached for a men's beanie on her bedside table.
"Wade's?" Ro asked.
"Of course," Kioni said.
"He's ok with all of this?" Ro referenced her and Logan's upcoming plans.
"Ok?" Kioni tucked her hair under the cotton of the hat. "He is ecstatic. He insists we will be married one day, so this is a step in the right direction."
"Oh yeah?" Ro twiddled with the ring on her own finger. "How do you feel about that?"
"It is all moving rather fast, but…" Kioni contemplated her answer, "I suppose it is all right since I am beginning to think that I—" she cut off suddenly, blushing.
"You love him?" Ro supplied.
"Yes," her skin darkened further. "Is that too fast? None of my other relationships have affected me like this."
Ororo laughed. "You've got it bad girl."
Kioni sighed. "I suppose I do."
"You could do a lot worse." Ororo said. "He adores you, even if he is a little…eccentric."
Kioni giggled at the understatement. "Yes. Yes he does." The smile that spread across her face made Ororo feel as though she were intruding on some private moment.
"Ready for work?" she asked gently a moment later.
School was relatively uneventful; her students were all riled up at the prospect of a weekend. Their disposition turned sour once a downpour began and recess had to be cancelled. Ororo salvaged their moods by hosting a showing of Toy Story 3 in her room. Cecilia and Warren salvaged some snacks and the whole of fourth grade spent an enjoyable and lazy afternoon watching Woody and Buzz cavort around.
At the end of the film, as Andy drove away, Ororo felt moisture tingle the corner of her eyes. She tried to hide the embarrassing show of emotions; it was a kid's movie after all. Her students blessedly didn't notice, but Warren reached over subtly and slid a tissue into her hand.
"It's ok," he assured her. 'I bawled in the movie theater. My girl still won't leave off about it." With a reassuring smile he turned back to the film.
The bell rang promptly at 3. Ororo corralled her students into goulashes and rubber coats and watched them splash out of the building into waiting school buses and mini vans. It struck her how much she would miss them come May, and afterward. Allison waved happily at her from across the parking lot. Ororo smiled at her, knowing she would need to tell her—and the rest of her friends—sooner rather than later.
By 4 she was snuggled into the leather seats of Logan's car, prepared for spending the rest of the night in his oversized flannels until Jean and Scott called. The newlyweds were due back on a later flight, with an arrival time set somewhere after midnight. Ro figured that gave her and Logan a good amount of time together.
"Gloomy day," he observed as they trudged up to his apartment.
"The worst." She agreed.
"Better get used to these, darling. There's going to be quite a few in the future." Logan fell into bed next to her and handed her a bowl of leftover lasagna. They ate in silence, quietly contemplating.
"I don't think we can wait much longer." Ro announced. "To tell them, I mean."
"I was thinking the same thing." Logan cracked open his beer. The television hummed amicably in the background. "Maybe though, we could wait until Rogue has the baby?"
"Do you think they'll be mad though?"
"I think after what she pulled a few months ago, we can afford not to tell her something right away." Logan chuckled wryly. "Besides, she doesn't need stress right now. She and Remy have moving and a baby to contend with and Jean and Scott are all post-wedding bliss. "
"Good point." Thunder crashed outside and on the television the Knicks game they were half-watching went in and out of focus. "Wow. Mother Nature must be really pissed off."
"No kidding," Logan rolled out of bed to peer out of the window. "It's really coming down."
Logan's phone vibrated somewhere in the vicinity of the bed. Ro shuffled around looking for it. It stopped ringing just as she clutched it in her hand. Not a moment later, her own phone buzzed from her purse. Logan seized it and tossed it at her.
"It's your Cajun," he told her.
"Hey Remy!" she greeted.
"Stormy!" Remy hadn't called her that in ages. "It's Rogue."
"What's wrong?" the breathless nature of Remy's voice had her on high alert. Logan, sensing the panic in her tone, moved to put his shoes back on.
"Nothing. I mean, I don't know. I mean…"
"For God's sake, Remy! Spit it out!" Ororo was up to, shoving her feet back into her socks.
"My petite is going into labor," Remy finally said. He sounded ready to faint.
"We'll be there. Should we meet you at home or—"
"Non. The hospital. Apparently she's been having pain for an hour now and didn't say anything." Remy sound accusatory. Somewhere in the background Marie sounded as though she was protesting. There was a scuffle and then Rogue came on the line.
"Hey 'Roro," she said calmly. "I'm fine. Don't rush. Meet us at the hospital, ok? Tell Logan."
"Will do. " Before Ororo even hung the phone up Logan had his keys in one hand and Ro's jacket in the other.
"Ready?" he asked her.
"She's says not to rush." Ororo cautioned.
"We're not rushing." Logan assured her.
Apparently, anything short of stunt driving worthy of the Fast and the Furious was considered "not rushing" to Logan. Ororo swore that they had hydro planed no less than five times on their way to the hospital. The roads were blessedly relatively clear. Logan took a hard right, spraying an empty corner in a wave of water. Ro shot him warning looks but he paid them no mind. Eventually she settled on death-gripping the handle of the passenger side door and praying silently.
By the time they found parking, Ororo was sure she would need the hospital too. Logan practically wrenched her from her car and the two jogged into the hospital. Her wet feet slid around on the tile. Ororo grabbed Logan's arm to steady herself and allowed him to practically drag her to the nurse's desk.
"We're looking for Marie," Logan told the nurse in a gruff voice.
"Marie, what?" a completely unconcerned nurse barely glanced up at them from her place behind a clipboard.
"LeBeau, I guess." Logan answered.
"Lebeau, LeBeau, LeBeau," the nurse chanted, flipping slowly though her clipboard.
Irritation was registered clearly on Logan's face. "Well?" he asked curtly. Ororo gripped his bicep as a warning.
"Room 3D." the nurse announced.
"Which is where?" Logan was practically growling now.
"One floor up and down the hall," the nurse threw attitude right back at him and turned with a flip of blonde ponytail.
Logan spared a second to glare daggers at her back but then sped off, Ororo still attached to his arm. The elevator didn't seem to move fast enough for him. He pounded the button under one thick thumb.
"Baby," Ororo stroked the back of his neck. "Rogue will be fine. There's no way she ready to have the baby. She's probably not dilated enough yet."
This had the adverse effect of calming him down. His gray eyes bugged out of his head.
"Dilated?" the color drained from his face.
"If you're freaking out this much, imagine what Remy's going through." Ororo was struggling not laugh.
"My kid sister is having a kid. Cut me some slack." Logan told her. A hint of a smile crept to his face though and he reached down and squeezed her hand.
"Well, let's go help her out then."
Remy greeted them from the waiting room. He looked completely out of his element. His muscles were tightly coiled and he was jumping at small sounds. Ororo gave her surrogate brother a reassuring hug.
"The doctors are saying it's going to be a while," Remy informed them.
Rogue, in contrast to her Cajun lover, looked radiant. She smiled at them happily as they walked in, chatting excitedly about name possibilities and asking Ororo if she'd like to be in the room for the birth. Ororo assured her she would and then retired to the waiting room to call Scott and Jean.
3 hours later, the battery of her phone was dying, her butt was numb from being seated in such an uncomfortable chair, and Rogue seemed no closer to giving birth.
"Please don't take this long when we have kids." Logan murmured. His head was against the wall and he looked seconds away from passing out. Outside the hospital, the rain still fell, sloshing against the windows.
Kioni and Wade arrived 3 ½ hours in, bearing gifts. Wade dropped the pink teddy bear and balloons down on a chair and Kioni dropped a bag of burgers and fries into Logan's lap. It took some ingenuity to smuggle some food in for Remy, who refused to leave Rogue's side.
"So how's this work?" Wade asked around a mouthful of fries. "Does the kid just crawl out or do we have to coax her?"
"I think she must be waiting for Jean and Scott," Ororo said.
"Tell her not to hold her breath then," Wade said. "Because they're not getting here in this weather."
"Don't tell Rogue that," Logan said. "It'll break her heart."
"I've called and left three messages." Ororo said. "the minute they land, they'll know to come here."
"Suitcases in tow?" Kioni asked.
"Wouldn't put it past Red," Logan laughed.
"Ten bucks says she goes home and showers first," Wade challenged.
"Twenty says she shows up here soaking wet and jetlagged." Logan accepted.
Around 9 that night Jean and Scott came flying into the waiting room. Jean's ponytail sagged under the moisture that it had absorbed from the car to the hospital. Wade groaned and slid a twenty Logan's way. Scott looked on in confusion.
"Did we miss it?" Jean asked frantically.
"Settle down, Jeannie," Ororo told her. "Rogue's trying to break a record for 'longest time in labor'."
Jean wouldn't calm down until she had seen Rogue. When she was satisfied that no baby had been born without her, she dragged Ororo and Kioni off to the bathroom to touch up her hair and makeup.
"Think of how many pictures are going to be taken today. And Scott even has a video camera." Jean said as she tried to coax them into applying more mascara.
Several hours passed as the friends held their vigil. Ororo tried to amuse herself by watching crappy late night television, Kioni read quietly from Wade's side from her Kindle, Wade started a game of "Sporks" with Logan and Scott and Jean groaned in frustration every half hour, wondering what was taking so long. Finally, at 15 minutes to midnight, Remy emerged.
"Jeannie, Stormy, suit up. It's time." He held out two blue gowns for them.
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