Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution.

Chapter Twenty Four – In This Together

March 1998

Amara didn't respond for a second, leaning on the railing, staring out to sea. The words hovered in the air between them, an invisible barrier to the sounds of the waves crashing against the cliff below them and the distant shouts back at the mansion. Then …

"I'm sorry. For a split-second there, I thought you said …"

"I did." Rogue interrupted bluntly.

"Wow." Amara shook her head. "That was incredibly stupid." She paused. "I said that aloud, didn't I?"

"Yes." Rogue rolled her eyes. "What do I do?"

Now Amara turned to face her. "Well, first of all, you're getting a little ahead of yourself. Have you taken a test yet?"

Rogue shook her head.

"Alright." Amara took her arm and steered her towards the gate. "We're going into town. We'll buy a test and you will take it. Then we tackle the 'what to do' aspect."

"How are we going to buy a pregnancy test?!" Rogue demanded. "I'm seventeen!"

"Relax!" Amara told her breezily. "It's not like there's an age-limit."

Despite her team-mate's protests, Amara dragged her through the trees and into the high street, stopping at the nearest pharmacy.

"Amara, I can't do this!" Rogue hissed, stopping just inside the door.

"Fine!" With a flick of her hair, Amara walked up to the counter, smiling sweetly at the young man sat there, looking bored. "Hi. Erm … this is kind of embarrassing, but ... my older sister was grounded this morning; she sent me on an errand."

"And what does this have to do with me?" He asked, one eye on her, the other on the car magazine in front of him.

"You're … oh!" Amara feigned surprise. "I'm sorry; I could've sworn you were her boyfriend. Oh, well, that makes this a lot less embarrassing. Where do you keep the pregnancy tests?"

Now he looked up and, looking slightly embarrassed himself, or possibly trying to remember if his girlfriend had a younger sister, pointed towards the back of the store.

"Thank you." Amara gave him another smile and rejoined Rogue, pulling her in the indicated direction.

"Unbelievable." Rogue muttered.

Amara just smiled, but stopped dead in her tracks before she could respond. "Jean! What are you doing her?"

Jean started and cleared her throat. "Oh, I was just … um …" She picked up a box off the nearest shelf and shrugged. "I was thinking of …"

"Going blonde?" Rogue finished sceptically, snagging the hair dye from her hand. "Because this really isn't your colour."

Amara sighed and slipped past them, picking up a double pack from the shelf. "Seriously? Both of you?"

"Both …" Jean trailed off. "You too?"

Rogue nodded. "You as scared as I am?"

"Probably." Jean admitted quietly.

"Why don't you two wait outside?" Amara suggested gently. "I'll pay for these." When she caught up with them in the street, she was giggling. "I think he's expecting a call from my sister."

"So glad you're taking this seriously." Jean commented. "Look, we can't do this at the Institute; someone will find out."

"They're gonna find out anyway." Amara pointed out logically. "But, if you're that worried, we'll ask the Brotherhood if we can borrow their bathroom."

"I'll take that." Rogue put a hand on Jean's shoulder. "Does Scott know? Because, if he does, you should wait until he's there."

"No, I haven't said anything yet." Jean hesitated, seeming to weigh up the decision in her mind. "Okay, let's go."

And so it was that Wanda opened the front door to three X-Men, two worried, one quite unconcerned.

Only she and Pietro were home – Tabby, Fred and Todd were out somewhere and Lance was with Kitty – and Amara's quiet explanation meant that Wanda was happy to direct the girls upstairs to their bathroom.

Amara followed them, but stopped outside the door. "I'll wait downstairs." She told them quietly. "Just remember … no matter what the results are … we're all here for you. Alright?"

Both nodded silently and Amara turned on her heel and headed back downstairs.

When Lance and Kitty got back five minutes later, Amara was sitting at the kitchen table, chatting with Wanda over a plate of cookies and mugs of coffee.

The two exchanged a confused glance; Amara and Wanda, whilst they didn't dislike each other, had very little in common and there was no reason for Amara to be here.

"Hey Magma." Kitty greeted, slipping her jacket off. "What are you doing here?"

"Jean and Rogue are having some trouble, so we borrowed your bathroom." Amara answered cheerfully, directing the last half of her sentence at Lance as she offered them the plate.

"What kind of trouble?" Pietro asked, snagging a cookie as he slipped past them.

Amara opened her mouth to elaborate, but then her gaze shifted from him to the doorway, as both girls appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Well?"

Neither answered her.

"Jean?" Lance left Kitty's side and approached his sister warily. "You okay, Jeannie?"

Jean just shook her head as a sob escaped her and she burst into tears, burying her face in his chest.

Wrapping his arms around his twin, Lance turned back to Amara. "What the hell's going on?"

Amara ignored him, wrapping an arm around Rogue's shoulders. "You too?"

Rogue nodded. "I must be further along though." She whispered. "At least two months."

"Oh my God …" Kitty hurried over and hugged her tightly, putting two and two together.

"Does anyone want to explain?!" Pietro demanded, patting Jean on the back as she continued to cry.

"We're getting a cousin." Wanda told him with a small smile. "Or a second cousin. I never did understand how that works."

"First cousin once removed." Kitty corrected. "Second cousin is the child of your parent's cousin."

"A …" Lance trailed off, moving to look Jean in the eye. "You're not .. You are. Oh God." He pulled her into a hug again, kissing her forehead and murmuring words of comfort to her.

"You okay, Jean?" Rogue asked quietly.

Jean pulled away, wiping her eyes. "No. This isn't supposed to happen to me! Not yet anyway! What do I do?!"

"We." Rogue corrected. "What do we do?"

"Well, if I was pregnant," Kitty began dryly, "which – thank God – I'm not, I'd start by telling the father."

"Well, that's easier said than done." Rogue sighed. "I don't have any way to get hold of him. Honestly, I think the whole thing's worse than he's letting on."

"Then you need to tell Professor Xavier." Kitty continued as though she hadn't spoken. "He'll know sooner or later anyway. And you'll have to talk to Beast as well. And Wolverine, because he's running the training sessions. And you'll need to think about how you'll handle things when Apocalypse turns up again, because you can't really save the world pregnant. But I'm sure Jubes won't mind looking after them …"

"Kitty." Lance cut her off. "No offence, but I don't think you're helping."

Kitty grimaced. "No, you're probably right. Sorry."

"It's okay, Kitty." Jean whispered. "We're all a little out of our depth."

"Here's an idea." Amara suggested. "Why don't we just take this one day at a time?"

That evening, after a long talk with Professor Xavier (and the rest of the Instructors, much to the girls' dismay), Jean was still trying to figure out how to approach things with Scott.

As she stood on her balcony, leaning against the railing, bathed in the light setting sun, she was spared the task of finding him by his arms sliding around her waist.

"What's wrong?"

Jean smiled slightly. Even without projecting her thoughts, he knew her so well. Reluctantly, she moved out of his embrace, shivering slightly as a March wind blew past her. "Our plans just got completely fucked up, Scott."

Scott raised an eyebrow; Jean rarely cursed. "Bit behind the times, aren't you? The end of the world's coming."

"Yeah, but things just got even more complicated." Jean whispered, leaning against the wall.

"Honey, what is it?" Scott approached her, cupping her face. "Whatever it is, we can deal with it."

Jean sighed, tears swimming in her eyes. "I'm pregnant."

Scott stared at her for a few seconds. "You sure?"

Jean nodded. "I took a test today and Dr. McCoy confirmed it later." She pulled the sonogram photo from her pocket and handed it to him. "I'm about two weeks along." She waited, but he didn't say anything, gazing at the picture in his hand. "Are you okay?"

"I don't quite know what to say." Scott admitted quietly. "Everything seems to sound wrong."

Then don't say anything. Jean suggested telepathically, reaching up to kiss him. She opened the connection between them and his thoughts instantly flew into her head, accompanied by a rush of love and concern.

Oh God, Logan's gonna kill me. Unless Avalanche gets there first. Oh yeah; that's the part to be focusing on, you idiot! We're not ready to be parents! And the end of the world's coming; what's gonna happen then? But … she will make such a beautiful mother. Shouldn't I be more upset about this?

Jean pulled away gently, relieved that his thoughts echoed hers … all but the first two at least. "Alright. First of all, no one's going to kill you."

"Does your mom know?" Scott asked.

"Not yet." Jean shook her head. "And we're not going to tell her yet."

"Why?" Scott caught the look on her face. "No. Absolutely not. What happens if you haven't had the baby yet?"

"My absence could cost us." Jean argued.

"Your presence could cost us!" Scott protested. "It's the end of the world, Jean; you can't …"

"Scott, if I stay and you lose, we'll be the only ones left." Jean pointed out calmly. "And the rest of the world will be out for our blood; guilty by association. How can I bring a child into a world like that?"

Scott sighed. "Dammit, I hate it when you make sense. What if you've already had the baby?"

"Jubes has offered to baby-sit until we get back." Jean answered, leaving the if unspoken. She slipped her arms around his waist. "There's something else as well. Rogue's two months along."

Extracting himself from her embrace, Scott turned to the wall and began banging his head against it. "What's she going to do?"

"Well," Jean put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Remember Dorian?"

Scott nodded; a few weeks ago, they'd gone out to help Evan protect the Morlocks, who had been having trouble with people who blamed the entire mutant population for what had happened to the pyramid in Mexico and now another in China as well. The turning point, it turned out, had been a young boy named Dorian Leech, who had wandered onto the scene suffering from a head-ache. Seeing Evan get hit, he'd screamed, releasing his mutant abilities, and shut down the energy nearby, including mutant powers.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess. She's gonna be our last line of defence?"

Jean rested her head on his shoulder. "Let's just hope we'll never need one."

July 1998

"Where do you think they are?" Kitty hissed.

"I don't know." Kurt responded quietly. "But they'd better get here soon, or he's gonna kill them."

'They' were the rest of their team.

'Here' was the Danger Room.

And 'he' was Wolverine – and looking more and more angry by the second.

It had been four months since Jean and Rogue had learnt of their impending motherhood and the X-Men had quickly adjusted to the change that was soon to come.

Jean had moved into Scott's room and her room had been converted into a nursery with two cribs; her reasoning had been that it was halfway between her and Rogue and that way the two children wouldn't be lonely.

Wolverine, for his part, had warned the parents-to-be that it wouldn't be easy and not to count on him for baby-sitting.

But Kitty had come across him doing something strange to one of the walls of the nursery and he explained that he was soundproofing it, so the adjoining room could be turned into a playroom without one child waking the other up, and she knew that he was likely to be as captivated by these children as the rest of them.

Under Hank's careful gaze, the two women had continued training and had yet to miss a session.

But now they were both absent, along with Scott, which was a rarity in itself.

With a growl, Wolverine turned to them and they stood to attention subconsciously. "Find them."

"Yes sir." In unison, the two turned and ran down the corridor, all too glad to escape his presence right now.

"Where first?" Kurt asked as the elevator doors closed.

"Rec room." Kitty suggested, checking her watch. "That's where everyone else will be; they've probably just lost track of time."

As it turned out, she was right, but not in the way she'd assumed. They reached the rec room to be met with a strange scene.

The room was silent but for the TV playing the intro to a video game, but the menu was being ignored.

Jean and Rogue – the centres of attention – were sitting at opposite ends of the couch.

Scott was sitting next to his girlfriend, a hand pressed against the swell of her belly, a goofy smile on his face.

Jubilee and Amara were sitting with Rogue, their hands on her slightly bigger bump.

And the others were watching them in silence.

"What happened?" Kitty asked aloud.

"The babies kicked." Jean answered, a bright smile on her face.

"At the same time?" Kitty questioned, moving to her side and placing a hand next to Scott's.

"More or less." Rogue confirmed as Amara and Jubilee gasped.

"Oh my God …" Jubilee whispered. "That was amazing. Bobby?"

"I'm good, thanks." Bobby cleared his throat. "Why are you two in uniform?"

"Because we've got a training session." Kurt told him. "Twenty minutes ago."

Scott glanced at the time and cursed.

"Scott!" Jean chided. "The baby can hear you!"

As though to prove her point, there was a soft thud below Kitty's hand and she broke into a smile. "Wow …" She pulled her hand back. "Seriously, guys, Wolverine's about to double the time."

"Alright." Rogue waved off Sam's offered help and stood up, rubbing her bump softly. "We're coming."

"Yep." Jean looped her arm through Scott's. "Just give us five minutes to get changed."

"Can you believe Scott actually forgot about a DR session?" Kurt asked quietly.

Kitty swatted his arm. "Babies change people."

"That's not a change, Kitty." Kurt disagreed. "That's a miracle."

Kitty laughed, but her heart wasn't in it. Deep inside, she was praying that the fight with Apocalypse would stay away for at least another five months, so that the blissfully unaware prospective X-Men would have a future, even if their parents didn't.

She should have known they wouldn't be that lucky.

AN: I think this is still T-rated. Tell me if you think it should be higher for general content. Review please!