"So, how are Lorna and Rahne settling in?" asked Charles.
His wife just smiled and leaned against the window frame. The two girls had been in the school for nearly two weeks now and he felt that it was time to discuss their status. Since he hadn't had to see either of them in his office he felt that they had done well. He knew enough that there had been no incidents other than the pool, but neither of them were in his advanced classes and thus he didn't have too much contact with them.
In his lap David squirmed; evidently not liking to be kept still for long periods of time. He was going to be a real terror once he learned to walk.
"Rahne is having some difficulty with her schoolwork," said Moira, "She's undergoing tutoring for most of her subjects, although she seems to be an avid reader. She also has an in-class aide in the form of Doug."
"How's that working?"
"Pretty good. Still a little early to tell," Moira replied, "But she seems to be getting on well with Doug and has a few friends."
"And Lorna?"
He had more contact with her than with Rahne. While Rahne was in a lower-level class for power manipulation Lorna was making her way into a more advanced one. Alex had been in that class but Charles had managed to have a word about Lorna's mutation before she displayed it. He had raised his eyebrows but said nothing of it. Charles had the feeling that it was becoming a taboo subject to mention the connection they were all thinking.
Sometimes he caught Lorna doing dexterity exercises with coins. She said her mother had recommended them for her. Many had been the time that he struggled to keep a straight face as she guided coins through her fingers gracefully. be
Charles knew that those were exercises that surgeons did while training for their work. Susanna, being a nurse, would of course have seen it. So it was logical that she would have passed such information on to her daughter. Nonetheless it made him uneasy, watching her do that. The memories it brought up were rather painful.
True to his word he had shared his feelings with his wife. There wasn't much she could do, but it did feel good to have someone he could talk to.
"Is she fitting in you mean?" asked Moira.
He nodded.
"Look out the window," she laughed.
Charles wheeled up and gazed out of the window. On the field he saw Lorna sitting cross-legged under a tree. Alex sat next to her with his books, commenting on something. If he looked hard he could see Scott and Rahne playing some sort of game of tag with Doug not too far away. He smiled.
"Well well," he said, "Are they dating or…friends?"
"Friends thus far," said Moira, "Not sure how long that's going to last. It is Alex we're talking about here."
"Alas."
A chubby hand reached up and pulled on his hair. It was a hard yank and Charles had to grit his teeth from the pain it caused.
"Ow," Charles said, trying to pry his son's hand away, "Time to let go; Daddy needs his hair now."
With great difficulty he managed to make his son let go.
"Can't take your eyes off him, can you?" asked Moira, going over and picking David up.
"It's like trying ot keep a legion of soldiers from storming a castle," he grumbled, "You think they've quit but there's everywhere…"
"You have the most interesting similes," she said, "Just wait until he gets old enough to understand them."
"They are rather spectacular," Charles said, "But if we must wait for that then I'm going to have to wait a very long time indeed."
He paused before taking a breath.
"Raven always said if I had kids they'd never be able to understand me," he said, "I'm starting to wonder if she was right."
Now it was Moira's turn to pause. She turned away from the window and walked next to him.
"I'm sorry she hasn't been able to see David," Moira said tentatively.
Truthfully he knew Moira didn't mind that their old terrorist friends hadn't had any interaction with their child. He knew her well enough to know that. However, he appreciated that she was treating the matter with delicacy. Moira knew how much he missed his sister, even if said sister had run off with his best friend and later kidnapped her.
The ties of affection and family weren't something that could just be cut instantly. He still thought of Raven as his sister and Erik as his friend, although in a fondly distant way. Of all the things that had happened one of the ones he regretted the most was that Raven hadn't been able to see her nephew. Being able to brag to his friend about having a wonderful son might have been nice too, but Raven was his sister.
When he was younger it had never occurred to him that their paths would part. Anytime that Charles had thought of his wedding or having a family, though those times had been few, he always pictured Raven nearby. Or, if she hadn't necessarily been in the picture, he'd always known that she was there. Perhaps taking her for granted had been one of the things that had driven her away, but still. It would have been nice for her to have been there for this.
"Well sweetheart," he said, directing his gaze to his wife and child, "Life does lead us to strange places sometimes."
It was a simple matter of counting. The only reason it was so difficult for her at the moment was because the answer dictated so much. Mystique looked at herself in the mirror and breathed deeply. Her yellow eyes stared back and for the first time in years she felt small and helpless.
Her hand touched her stomach gingerly. Part of her didn't know how she could have failed to notice sooner. It had been bothering her for a long time. She had gotten sick in the mornings, certain smells had been getting to her, classic symptoms. While she wasn't an expert she knew enough about biology to know that.
However, she was very good at lying to herself. She'd decided that she just had some sort of flu. Mystique had taken medicine for the nausea and hidden her symptoms from the rest of the Brotherhood. Sickness, unless it was severe, would probably be scoffed at. Mystique would just have to work through it.
Only Azazel had noticed that she was sick. It irked her that he'd noticed and not Erik. Mystique started to wonder if he noticed anything about her at all.
"Something wrong Raisa?" he'd asked one night.
He was starting to use the pet name in more casual conversation. He didn't care if she heard it now.
"I'm fine," she'd said irritably, "Just a flu."
His expression had become strange then and he'd given that same polite smile. Azazel was always at his most terrifying when he did that.
"Da," he said, "I'm sure."
That night had left her acutely uncomfortable. It was a flu and nothing more. Something she had eaten was causing her this stomach upset. The underlying nausea was making it difficult for her to cut meat, why she retched inwardly every time the blood of her victims filled the air. That was all that it was; a flu.
Then the signs became more and more recognizable. With a growing feeling of dread she had finally given in and gone to the doctor that morning. She'd left in her favorite 'blonde hair and blue eyes' get up. Then, once she was some distance away and sure that no one was following her, she'd used a completely new disguise.
This was something she didn't want anyone at all knowing about. If she was wrong then it would make her look silly. If she was right then it didn't bear thinking about how it would go down. And when the doctor had confirmed her pregnancy she was doubly glad that she had taken so many precautions.
Being pregnant was a problem in and of itself. Mystique would have been scared under normal circumstances; she was unmarried and had no family or close friends she could turn to for support. If Charles was there things would be different; she would have someone trustworthy to talk to. However, she forbade herself from thinking that way. What was done was done.
Yet, Mystique wasn't just unmarried and without anyone close. For her it was far worse. Although she'd found comfort in Azazel's arms for nearly a year she was still being intimate with Erik. With everyone coming and going at different times Mystique didn't know who the father was.
In the best case scenario the father would be Erik. She'd be able to tell him and she had a feeling he'd be receptive. He might like the idea of having brought more mutants in the world even if he didn't want to be a father. That was something that could easily be handled. They could deal with it from there.
If it was Azazel's then she had no idea how he'd react or what he'd do. How would being a father fit into his plans? Would he care at all, get angry or be annoyed? And so many other things would happen. Her relationship with Erik would effectively be over to start with. That would probably be the least of her worries though.
Of course she had to figure out whose it was first. The doctor had given her a date of conception, roughly three weeks ago. She breathed in and started trying to remember missions and dates. Erik had been away around that time but she wasn't sure when. There was still a good chance that the child was his. Closing her eyes she started counting back calendar dates. As she did so a knot formed in her stomach.
It was then she realized that Erik had been gone that entire week on a mission to Brazil. He'd even been gone for some of the next week and the week before. He'd brushed her off and she'd been feeling particularly lonely so she'd gone to her normal source of comfort. She touched her stomach again and opened her eyes. For a minute she stared at her reflection. Then her lip trembled and she started to cry. It wasn't Erik's. It was Azazel's.