"Charles, I'm fine."
"I know sweetheart, but don't you think that you should take the elevator rather than the stairs more often?"
She glared at him.
"It only makes sense," Charles said defensively, "It must be difficult. After all; you're showing now."
Moira sighed. At five months her belly had grown to a healthy size. For a while she had been nervous about the lack of growth. Considering how much the two of them wanted this child she felt that her worry was completely justified. One of her cousins had been pregnant and started to show at three months. So the fact that she could still fit into most of her clothes at four months made her mad with worry.
At first she told herself that the date had been miscalculated. They couldn't name the date of conception and thus the date couldn't be perfectly calculated. There had been no shortage of occasions for their child to be conceived on, although it had been rather embarrassing when she had to explain that her to her doctor.
When she voiced her worries her doctor had calmly explained to her that, depending on how fit a woman was, she could end up showing later. As a former CIA agent Moira had always tried to stay in perfect shape. It certainly explained why she had yet to look pregnant. Nonetheless she had worried right to the point when her baby bump became noticeable.
After that she had calmed down. It had been a normal pregnancy thus far, hadn't it? Nothing strange had happened other than the delay of her stomach's growth. The ultrasound had shown nothing wrong. She had even learned that she was carrying a little boy from it. Moira felt confident that nothing was going to go wrong.
At the same time she had stopped worrying Charles had increased. Moira theorized that it had something to do with his nurturing nature. If he was a protective caretaker to his students then it made sense that he would be a strong force in helping his wife with her pregnancy. That was just logic.
However, like the battle over whether or not she could take the stairs, Moira felt a little exasperated. She knew that in the 18th century women wouldn't be allowed outside too much for fear they would catch a cold and miscarry. It seemed hilarious but in the Tudor era royal women were put in a room during their final months of pregnancy. They would lie in a bed, day after day, only moving to go to the bathroom. The door would be locked and food would be passed through the door via maids.
From the way Charles looked at her from time to time she had a strong suspicion that he was considering doing that.
"Taking the stairs is good for me," she argued, "I need to get a little exercise. It's not like I'm not going to go sky diving or anything."
His face contorted.
"I'd certainly hope not," he said.
"I'm not taking any risks with little David here," said Moira.
With a smile she put a hand on her stomach. She was particularly happy that they had already picked a name for their son. There had been some consternation over what to name him. Moira had wanted to name him after Charles while Charles was fond of the name David. He also said that he objected to anyone being named after him.
In the end they had compromised. Moira had decided that she hadn't wanted to force Charles to give his name to anyone, while he realized that it was something she wanted to do. So it had been decided that their child would be named David Charles Xavier. The name seemed to have a certain ring to it.
"For the millionth time I'll be fine," Moira assured him.
"Yes," he said, his face worried, "but what if something happens?"
"Nothing will happen," Moira insisted, "Nothing is wrong with either of us. He's developing normally and I'm just having the usual morning sickness."
Charles grimaced. He was supportive, but they both knew that that didn't mean that he had to like trying, and occasionally failing, to soothe her nausea.
"I can't help but worry," sighed Charles as they went into the Danger Room to meet with the boys, "It's something that I do."
"I know, and I'm glad that you're not just leaving this up to me and then running off to the bar," said Moira, "But you shouldn't worry."
"But-"
"Are you guys arguing about Baby X again?" called Alex, "'cause, you know, I've heard just about as much of that as I can take."
Moira rolled her eyes.
"Stop calling David that," she said.
"I find that Baby X works," said Sean, "I mean, sums it up pretty well. It's a Baby, and its last name will be Xavier."
"Yeah," Alex said, "So Baby X."
Moira was starting to wish that she hadn't mentioned that she was pregnant; Alex and Sean might not have noticed if no one said anything.
"If we didn't have a name then it might work," said Moira, "But you know that we finally agreed on David."
"Careful there; don't get too attached to that name," Sean said, "My parents got told that I was gonna be a girl."
"That's 'cause you are a girl," laughed Alex.
Sean punched him in the arm. Alex pulled back his arm to escalate when Hank stepped in between them. He held both of them at an arm's length.
"Enough," he said.
"I quite agree," said Charles, "If you're done with coming up for strange names for my son we might be able to get to work. We might want to debrief your last mission at the airfield."
Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and moved away. Swallowing Sean walked so he was standing next to Alex.
"You were outnumbered, but you did a fantastic job with minimal damage. I'm sorry that the Blackbird needs a new engine but-" started Charles.
"Can we put that off for a little bit?" asked Sean.
"Why's that?" frowned Charles.
"We uh, actually have something we want to talk to you about," he said.
Charles cocked his head.
"Yes?"
Sean swallowed again.
"We, meaning Alex and I, um, we know you're starting to put together a program so that some of the kids can go to college here."
Her husband nodded. It was one of Charles' more ambitious projects; geared towards students whose appearances might raise questions if they appeared in a normal college setting. He felt that there was no reason to deny them higher education since he'd already found that he could give them a high school one.
It was a remarkably simple operation. All that needed to be added were one or two more teachers. Several of the others already had the appropriate degrees, including Charles himself. The program was going to be launched sometime the next year. As some of his first students Hank, Alex, and Sean had found out about it ahead of time.
"Can we do that?" asked Sean.
Moira looked at Charles. He looked as though the wind had been struck out of him.
"If…if you're interested in going to college," he said, "I can certainly help you find one and get the paperwork ready. We can give you glowing letters of recommendation."
Sean scuffed the floor with his foot.
"Did you not want us to stay here?" he asked.
"That's not it," Charles said quickly, "I'd love for you to stay here. But, please don't feel like you have to. There are better schools than one just starting out in its college program."
"I don't think there are," Alex said.
For the first time in a long time Alex assumed a serious expression.
"Look, I like it here," said Alex, "I like the fact that I don't have to hide."
"But the two of you can't stay here forever," Charles said, apparently still surprised.
"There's more than that," said Alex.
He looked back at Hank, who nodded at him. Apparently they had discussed this with him before approaching them.
"I know my mutation isn't as obvious as some," continued Alex, "but I like what we're doing here. Before you guys found me I'd resigned myself to going in and out of jail because there didn't seem to be anything for me. My parents were afraid of me even if they wouldn't say it. I think they're afraid of Scott too to be honest. But I started to be someone here. I became part of something bigger than myself."
"We just know that there's more out there," Sean said, "and we want to be part of that. I never considered going to college, but I was thinking I could learn like politics or something. Hank's already making a difference with his studies, and I'd like to do that too."
"Exactly," said Alex, sounding relieved, "and then what we're doing won't just be here. I mean, by the time Baby X is going to school then things can be completely different. Maybe not, but we'll sure as hell be taking steps to making it that way."
Moira felt tears gathering in her eyes. She looked down at Charles whose eyes were looking watery as well. Gently she put a hand on his shoulder. He reached aback and held it tightly, rubbing circles on the back of her hand. Charles smiled briefly before looking up for a minute.
"When you put it that way," Charles said, his voice thick with emotion, "Then I really don't have much of a choice."
A genuine smile came onto his face.
"You have no idea what it means to me to hear this," he said, "And I suppose it means that I'd better have the program ready by the end of the year."