Chapter Ninety-Six:

"They're totally wearing a hole in the floor."

From his perch atop the back of Amanda's chair, Kurt nodded his agreement with Kitty's declaration, without tearing his eyes from the scene before him.

Side to side, his eyes tracked their movements, his tail twitching like a pendulum.

Logan was pacing the med-bay lobby, fists twitching as if his adamantium claws were just itching to pop out, gruff jaw set in a frustrated scowl. He looked, Kurt observed with amusement, precisely like an angry, bristling Wolverine.

Jean-Luc, Remy's father, wasn't faring much better.

The lean, aging patriarch of the New Orleans Thieves Guild kept rising from his chair, glancing at the clock on the wall, walking a few paces in one direction, a few in another, before resigning himself to his chair once again with a heavy sigh. A minute or two would pass, with him absently tapping his fingers on the armrest, and then he would get to his feet once again and resume his routine.

"Would the two of you please be still?" Kurt turned his head at his mother's voice, and found her glaring at Logan and Jean-Luc. "You're making me anxious."

Though her tone was calm enough, there was a decidedly hostile warning underneath it.

Both men got the message, although Logan merely snorted and turned away to glare out the window.

"Je suis désolé, Madame," Jean-Luc apologized with a rueful smile, sitting once again.

"Don' mind him," Mercy LeBeau spoke up from the corner where she and Belladonna Marceux were watching little Jacques play a game of blocks with Nathan Summers, with the five month old baby Etienne seated on Belladonna's lap and chewing on his blanket. "He was like dis when Jacques was born, an' almost as bad when it was Bella in dere."

"Oui," Bella agreed. "De man could steal de crown jewels wit'out breaking a sweat, but when it comes t' his famille…" she trailed off, favoring him with a smile.

That word, family, caught Kurt off-guard.

Intellectually, he'd known of course that the LeBeaus considered Rogue to be one of them. She'd had no one else, believing him and the X-men to be dead, and they'd adopted her into the fold with open arms.

He just hadn't realized how thoroughly she was a LeBeau now.

Or maybe he had, and he'd simply been ignoring it. Bella's words hadn't been meant to imply anything, but he'd read more into them just the same.

Because in a few months, Rogue would be leaving.

She and Remy had decided to move back to New Orleans after the birth of the twins, to the entire X-family's chagrin. Kurt knew that his mother, especially, was disappointed, but Raven had ordered them all to be supportive of their decision and Kurt didn't dare incur her wrath, no matter how unhappy he was about it.

So he would keep his mouth shut while his sister traded her first family for the adopted one all over again.

A hand touched his leg and Kurt looked down at his girlfriend's gentle face.

"Stop fidgeting," she told him lightly. "Rogue's doing fine, you don't need to be worried."

Kurt blinked, and suddenly felt ashamed of himself for feeling bitter about his sister's pending departure when she was struggling to bring his niece and nephew into the world.

"Ja," he agreed sheepishly. "It's just taking so long."

"Childbirth is a long process, Kurt," his mother said, with a bleak smile. "I was in labor for thirteen hours with you."

Kurt blanched, horrified at the thought.

Raven's smile warmed at the sight of his expression. "Don't worry," she said, placing her hand on his arm with rare tenderness. "It was worth every minute."

Touched by her sincerity, Kurt smiled back at her, squeezing her hand.

"Suddenly I feel old," his mother sighed, chuckling in bemusement. "It seems just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with you, and now you're all grown up and your sister's making me a grandmother."

"Y' look too young fo' it," Jean-Luc commented, glancing at Logan. "Y' both do."

"The benefits of being a mutant," Raven said with a shrug.

"Not all of us are so lucky," Ororo pointed out, although in Kurt's opinion the regal weather witch had aged more gracefully than anyone he knew.

"You call livin' forever lucky, 'Ro?" Logan grunted.

Here he exchanged a heavy look with Raven, and Kurt frowned. He knew that his mother had a long, storied history with Logan, but suddenly he wondered just how far back their history went, and how old his mother actually was.

He opened his mouth to ask, then thought better of it.

Best that his niece and nephew's first memory of their Uncle Kurt didn't involve him having his own tail shoved down his throat.

Luckily for him, there were no telepaths in the room.

The Professor was keeping the students occupied and away from the med-wing, Emma Frost was conducting a Danger Room session for some of the older kids, and both Tessa and Jean were in the delivery room assisting Dr. McCoy. Kurt wasn't sure how much they were actually doing, or if their presence was more for Rogue's benefit than Beast's.

Either way, Jean being inside the delivery room could be useful.

Kurt reached over and tapped Scott on the shoulder with his tail, earning a raised eyebrow from his former fearless leader.

"Can't you use your rapport to ask Jean how it's going?" he asked.

"I already tried," Scott answered sheepishly. "She told me to stop bugging her."

Despite himself, Kurt grinned.

It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one feeling impatient to meet the newest members of the X-family.

"You know, five years ago if you'd told me that Rogue would want Jean at her bedside while she gave birth, I would have laughed in your face," Kitty commented, absently twirling a strand of her dark hair around one finger.

"Well, Jean is trained as a medical technician," Bobby pointed out.

"And we've all done a lot of growing up since high school," Lance added. "Just look at Kitty."

"Hey," his fiance elbowed him. "Look who's talking."

"I said we, didn't I?" Lance retorted playfully. "You're just jealous that Jean's in there and you're not."

Kitty's eyes narrowed, and Kurt winced. It would be a shame for Lance to get his head bitten off, now that he'd finally started to like the guy. But luckily for Lance, Mercy was feeling merciful- Kurt chuckled at his own wit- and came to his rescue.

"I'm jealous, too," Mercy assured Kitty with a sigh. "Marie was dere wit' me when I went t'rough it, I feel like I should be returnin' de favor."

"Oui," Bella said, giving Kitty a sympathetic smile. "But we'd jus' be in de way in dere."

The door to the med-wing slid open with a whoosh, and everyone looked up as Henri LeBeau, Theo Marceux and Emil Lapin returned from their coffee run, all three with a styrofoam cup in each hand. "Here y' go, chere," Henri told his wife, handing her one. "Trois sugars an' crème, jus' de way y' like it."

"Merci," his wife thanked him while Bella looked on enviously.

"As soon as Etienne's weaned, we're goin' on a cafè binge," she informed her cousin-in-law miserably.

"Shouldn' y' be over de addiction by now, femme?" Emil demanded playfully, passing one of his cups to Lucas. "Y' been off de stuff fo' over a year."

Bella opened her mouth, but just then the door to the delivery room slid open.

Every head turned, everyone stilled, as Tessa emerged in green scrubs, the door closing behind her. She barely had time to remove the mask from her face before she was bombarded with a dozen questions.

"How is she?"

"Are the babies out okay?"

"What color hair do they have?"

"How much did they weigh?"

"Did Remy faint?"

While Kurt blinked, startled by the sudden, and loud, chorus of voices, Tessa didn't so much as blink, and he envied her computerized mind.

"Marie is resting comfortably and the twins were born at 9:57am. They have brown hair and weigh six pounds and six pounds and three ounces respectively, and no," she paused, her lips quirking upward as she glanced at Emil. "Remy did not faint."

For a moment the room was quiet as everyone processed that.

Six pounds, Kurt thought in disbelief.

His combat boots probably weighed more!

"Can we see her?" Raven asked softly, with unabashed eagerness on her face.

"Yes," Tessa said, and half the room was on their feet at once. She held up her hand to still them. "Dr. McCoy says family only first, and the children should remain outside."

Bella and Mercy exchanged an anxious glance, and Emil sighed. "Gimme de babe," he demanded, taking Etienne from Bella's lap. "Theo an' I will stay out here wit' de li'l ones while y' go gush over de petite LeBeaus."

"Y' sure?" Mercy asked, even as Bella hurried across the room.

"Oui," Theo said. "Go see dem."

As his mother, Logan and Jean-Luc joined the girls and Henri around Tessa, Kurt glanced down at Amanda.

"Go see your sister," she ordered with a smile, and he ported himself over to them.

The Thieves scrunched up their noses, waving off the sulfuric cloud.

Kurt gave them a rueful smile.

"Give them our love," Kitty called after them as Tessa led them back into the delivery room.

As he filed in behind the others, Kurt winced at the overwhelming smell of antiseptic that filled his nostrils. He hated the smell of hospitals, and despite the decidedly cozier feel of the med-bay, it still had that dreaded smell.

"Why hello," Dr. McCoy's jolly voice greeted them. "Come to see the happy family, have we?"

He was standing at the sink, dressed in an operating gown, and washing his hands. Kurt smelled, underneath the oppressive anispectic, a hint of blood and his stomach clenched.

"Nothing to worry about, elf," Logan murmured.

Kurt relaxed, nodding. If Logan's more sensitive nose said it wasn't an unusual amount of blood, then there was no point in worrying.

"Bonjour, mon famille!" Remy cried, bounding up from his perch on the edge of the bed.

"Y' look like y' jus' stole de Hope Diamond, mon frere," Henri observed.

Remy barked out a laugh. "Right now, Henri, I doubt even dat could feel dis good."

"Ah dunno about that, sugah," Rogue's voice drawled, weary but strong. "Ah reckon stealin' that rock would have been a lot less painful."

Kurt stepped out from behind Logan, and got his first look at his sister.

She was propped up against a few pillows, the green hospital gown falling off one shoulder, her face flushed and her hair plastered to her forehead by sweat.

But she was smiling.

And in an instant, their mother was at her side, the softest expression she'd ever worn on her face.

"How do you feel, darling?" Raven asked, smoothing Rogue's hair away from her face tenderly. "Was it hard?"

"Hardest thing Ah've ever done," Rogue answered weakly.

Mother and daughter shared a look of such understanding that Kurt felt almost jealous, although he wasn't sure which of them he was envying.

Kurt hung back while everyone else crowded around the bed, Mercy and Bella embraced Rogue while Henri and Jean-Luc gave kissed her on the cheek, and Logan simply placed a hand on hers, pride shining from his dark eyes. While they fawned over his sister, Kurt was focused on Jean, who was bent over a basinet in the corner.

Jean looked up at him, sensing his gaze, and smiled.

Silently, she beckoned him over.

He crept across the room and peered down at the basinet, holding his breath, and then drew back in surprise. Gazing down at the red, scrunched up little faces, he couldn't help wincing.

Jean laughed. "It's normal," she promised. "All babies come out looking this way."

Just then one of the babies opened its eyes, and Kurt froze as he found himself staring down into a pair of tiny blue eyes.

"Not green after all, zhen," he managed to croak out.

"They'll change color in a few months," Jean informed him. "There's no way to know what color Remy's eyes would have been without his mutation, but there's at least a chance they'll end up with their mom's eyes."

Kurt nodded, unable to formulate words.

The hair, at least, could have come from either parent.

Soft tuffs of brown hair topped the little faces peeking out from the blankets they'd been swaddled in. The one looking up at him was wrapped in pink.

My niece, he thought in a daze.

"Bring dem over, Kurt," Remy called to him.

Kurt glanced at Jean and she pushed the basinet forward lightly, giving him an encouraging smile. Placing his hands on the glass rim, Kurt carefully moved the basinet over to his brother-in-law, who clapped him on the shoulder.

"Dis is yo' Oncle Kurt," Remy announced to the babies. "Yo' gonna like him, he's soft an' furry like a teddy bear, an' blue like Grover."

Kurt gave him a dark look, but couldn't manage to turn it into a glare.

"C'mere, li'l guy," Remy murmured, reaching down to pick up the baby in the blue blanket. "Papa," he said, turning to place the baby into Jean-Luc's arms. "Meet yo' newest grandson, Luc Etienne LeBeau."

"Luc, hahn?" Jean-Luc asked in a thick voice.

"Y' tol' us not t' name him Jean," Remy pointed out. "Y' never said anyt'ing about de ot'er half o' yo' name."

Jean-Luc laughed, staring down at Luc. "Y' got me dere, pup."

"He's beautiful," Mercy gushed. "Look at that little nose."

"Dis one's gon' be a handful, Marie," Henri warned her with a grin. "Jus' like his ol' man."

"Don' Ah know it," Rogue laughed.

"An' dis petite fille," Remy cleared his throat, drawing their attention to the pink bundle in his arms. "Is Ariane."

He pronounced the name ahr-ri-ahn, and Kurt practiced it silently in his head.

"Say hello t' yo' grandmère, Ariane," Remy said, handing his daughter to Raven, who smiled down at the baby with a trembling smile.

"What a lovely name," Raven said.

"Remy's mama was named Marianne," Rogue explained. "We took it from her name, an' made her middle name Irene." Raven looked up at the mention of her dead friend and, Kurt suspected, more. "After the two grandma's she won't get t' meet," Rogue added.

"Irene would be…" Raven broke off, overcome with emotion, and tried again. "I'm so…"

"What yer mother's tryin' to say, Stripes, is that ya did good," Logan grunted, leaning in to kiss her hair. "Ya did real good."

Rogue gave him a watery smile in response.

"Logan, come see your granddaughter," Raven ordered, with alarming gentleness.

Squeezing Rogue's hand, Logan obliged and moved to her side, peering down at Ariane with gruff affection.

Kurt took his place at Rogue's bedside, and his sister smiled.

"How do Ah look?" she asked.

"Like you just endured hours of excruciating labor," Kurt answered, with the obligatory brotherly honesty. "But you're beautiful, like alvays."

Rogue laughed, and gave his hand a weak squeeze that still managed to make his knuckles pop.

"So what do ya think o' yo' niece an' nephew?"

"Zey're tiny," he replied, deciding tiny was better than wrinkly.

"They didn't feel so tiny comin' out," Rogue informed him, and he made a face.

"I didn't need to know zhat," he muttered.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding sorry at all. "But at least ya didn't hafta see it happen, right? Poor Remy, he looked like he was gon' throw up the whole time."

Kurt followed her gaze to her husband, who had one arm slung over Henri's shoulder and was laughing as Bella and Mercy cooed over the babies. It wasn't just Rogue who was beaming, he noticed, Remy looked as if he could walk on air he was bursting with so much happiness.

"Mama," Rogue said softly. "Could ya let Kurt hold her fo' a minute?"

Startled, Kurt looked at his mother apprehensively as she approached him with the pink bundle in her arms. "Zhat's okay," he said shakily. "I'm not sure zhat-"

"Kurt, hold yo' niece," Rogue said flatly.

Gulping, he opened his arms and Raven gently placed the baby into them, adjusting the little girls' head to rest in his palms. "Support her head," his mother murmured. "And relax."

Relax. Easier said than done.

Once again, Kurt found himself those blue eyes gazing up at him, and he wondered if she noticed that he was a different color than most people in the room. Could newborns see color? He didn't have any idea.

"Guten tag," he murmured. "I'm your Onkle Kurt. But you know zhat already."

Baby Ariane blinked at him sleepily, and her little mouth formed a tiny "o" as she yawned, and he felt something inside of his chest melt.

"Ya know, the Blackbird can make it from here t' New Orleans in less than two hours."

Kurt glanced up at Rogue to find her biting her lip, and then looked back down at Ariane, whose eyes had fallen closed as she snuggled comfortably against his furry hand.

"Really?" he replied conversationally. "Zhat's good to know."

And suddenly, the bitterness about her leaving fell away.

What was two hours of distance, when it meant he'd get to see this precious little girl and her brother?

"Danke schön," he murmured to Rogue, voice thick.

"For what?" she asked, frowning.

"Being mein schwester?" he offered with a smile. "Making me an onkle?"

"Ah think ya have Mama an' Logan t' thank fo' the first part," she said teasingly, and he shuddered.

"Play nice," he scolded her.

His sister laughed, a tinkling sound that he still wasn't used to.

"Okay, Uncle Grover."

"Ve are not letting zhem call me zhat."

"Oh, we so are."

"Nein."

"Oui."

Sighing, Kurt looked down at the sleeping infant in his arms. "Remind me to start a petition to get Sesame Street cancelled before you start vatching television."

Translations:

Je suis désolé
Oncle- uncle
Fille- girl
Onkle- uncle (German)
Danke schön- Thank you
Mein schwester- My sister

Author's Note: Thanks for being patient with me guys. My computer crashed from a virus, and it took a long time to get it fixed and then it took me a couple of weeks longer than anticipated to finish this chapter with my family in town. I should have a new chapter up in "Rogue Evolution" soon as well. You guys are the best! ~BQ