Chapter 30 - One Down, Two To Go

The boys had really enjoyed their weekend of trouble for Kurt's birthday, and when they came in - still buzzed and in high spirits, K didn't even complain when both of them took up a spot on either side of her and settled in on the couch. Kurt even leaned over and kissed her cheek as he crooned an old German song that had her laughing outright at him.

"What's with the songs, Romeo?" K asked as she turned slightly, leaning on Logan so she could watch Kurt grin wider and more crookedly.

"Nichts," Kurt said , leaning back in his seat, though his eyes were dancing with trouble.

"Oh, come on," K laughed lightly. "What is it?"

"He's making his case to get the kids named after him," Logan said as he leaned into her and nestled his nose in her hair.

"Oh," she said slowly, nodding to herself. "I guess that'll depend on how well you take care of my sweetheart and our daughter."

"Oh," Kurt said, tipping his chin to his chest and lowering his voice as far as he could. "Only the very best of care, of course. Natürlich."

"Of course," K said, leaning heavier into Logan. "Abbey is asleep, so I'm sorry to inform you that I just … don't have any way for you to help right now."

Kurt leaned toward her, still reeking of trouble. "I can watch over her. You two can get a bit of air together."

"I think unless you just want to crash on the couch for coffee in the morning, we've got it covered," K told him. "I'm too tired to do much of anything fun."

"That's a shame," Kurt said before he gave her a peck on the cheek then got up to cross the room only to disappear at the front door.

"He's getting better about getting away from you before he 'ports," Logan said as he pulled her close to curl in.

"He is," she agreed.

Jean was in high spirits as her pregnancy progressed … she had thoroughly enjoyed her second trimester, and as she began to shift into the final few months, she couldn't help but look toward taking care of her friend, who, though she was only about half as far in, K was catching up to her fast in terms of bump size.

Of course, with two to contend with, and her usual uphill battle against the adamantium poisoning, K was more miserable than she could ever remember being. Keeping food down was a chore already and there was no positive progress in site.

Logan was doing all he could, and had kept the struggles she'd had carrying Abbey at the front of his mind, but even with him bending over backwards, it just wasn't working out the way he'd hoped. She was losing ground already and she still had more ahead of her than what she'd made it through.

The possibility that she'd lose both of them due to medical complications was a very real concern.

So, keeping that in mind, Jean was outright encouraging the girls to continue slipping baked things to K in hopes that they could entice her to snack and nibble. Especially since K only gave Jean a dry look when she'd encourage her to try the smoothies that she and Scott were making with increased regularity.

Over the weeks leading up to Christmas, the teens, having experienced a bit of success, decided to make a regular thing of their baking extravaganzas. It was fine … mostly. Of course, it hadn't taken hardly any time at all before Jubilee took over operations and began directing the girls on when to head down. But that really only made Logan irriated the morning of his birthday when she stayed with the girls waiting for him to answer the door. Especially considering that it was the third day in a row they'd shown up. And the third straight day that she'd refused to let herself in. He thought he'd made himself clear the first time he told her to just come in on her own.

"Just let yourself in Jubes. Jesus, you got a goddamned key. What the hell're you makin me get up for?" Logan complained as he took a seat between his wife and daughter, and went back to his coffee.

The girls swarmed the table handing out their goodies and more or less tried to ignore his foul mood. Jubilee set a muffin down in front of Logan as he took a drink. "You get one too, mister," she told him with a grin, though Logan glared at her for a moment over his mug.

"Yeah, we're all having some together, love," K said as she elbowed him. He'd encouraged this after all. Him and Jean both, and shocking noone, Jean wasn't around to deal with the girls pushing muffins and scones.

But the comment was enough to get Logan to reconsider his previous stance. "You girls are going to have to cut this back. Especially if you're not gonna let yourselves in. Once a week. That's it," he growled.

Their reaction was swift and united. "NO! We like coming to have breakfast with you guys!" Jubilee said. "And you said I could come by whenever I wanted!"

"And we miss K! And we need to help keep her healthy … she got so sick last time and now it'll be twice as bad!" Chloe added.

"Yeah! You don't want her getting sick, right?" Asked Zoe with a smirk, rounding it out with a weak attempt at a guilt trip.

Logan stared at the three of them flatly. "You pullin' this crap with Jeannie too?" All three girls grinned and nodded. "Fine. Once a week with the baked garbage. That's it. You want her healthy? Bring her something other than sugar," Logan finally said, trying to stick to his guns.

K smiled behind her mug as she tried to cover her snicker. He saw her smiling to herself and smirked as she met his gaze. "You can just shut up." he growled at her, K raised her eyebrow in her act of innocence.

"I didn't say a word, love," she purred out. He started to shake his head when Zoe went and got the coffee pot, topping off both mugs for K and Logan.

"There are advantages to having us around sometimes," Zoe said as confident as she was able, though she was slightly scared as she tried her hardest to convince him into letting them stay.

Logan let out a rumbling growl of irritation. He could see that they were trying to be nice. But he was used to his quiet mornings with K and Abbey. "Not every morning," he grumbled as Jubilee broke out a huge grin.

"That's like … that's practically like saying whenever we want," Jubilee said from her spot behind Logan as she gave Zoe the thumbs up.

Logan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't make me change my mind now, Jubilation."

"How do you do that?!" she barked at him, leaving Logan smirking to himself as K slid her hand down his arm to clasp his hand and entwine their fingers.

"This will get Jean to relax a little, too," K said quietly to him. "And as for excited as she is - she really does need to calm down and relax.

"Yeah, I know," Logan muttered. "I'm not changin' my routine for 'em though."

A few days later, the girls were met with a sight they would have rather not seen. When they got down to the boat house, Logan rounded the corner, blood up to his elbows and splattered across his shirt and the thighs of his jeans. A splash was also across his neck and part of his face. "Mornin' girls," he growled out as he brought in a large chunk of meat.

They sisters had stopped in their tracks at the sight of him like that. "What the hell did he do?" Zoe asked, eyes wide as Jubilee shook her head with an easy shrug.

"Looks like he's been hunting," she said replied, breaking their ranks to follow him into the house, though even she was slightly reluctant to grab the bloody doorknob. When she got inside, with the sisters tight on her tail, Logan was washing up and the piece of bloody meat rested on a cutting board in neat slices.

"Close the door, girls," Logan said over his shoulder as he finished scrubbing out the blood from his hands, before turning to see them as they made their way to K and Abbey. Zoe couldn't take her eyes off the blood on his shirt as he leaned against the counter, drying his hands.

"What's with the bloodbath, Wolvie?" Jubilee asked.

"K had a cravin' and you're not the only ones lookin' out for her," he replied simply as though she'd sent him out for ice cream. Their gazes drifted to K, who stood up and made her way to Logan to steal a long kiss with him - blood splatters and all.

"Hey, not everyone wants pickles and chocolate," K said refilling her mug. "Besides, I need the protein."

"So you had Logan kill a deer?" Chloe asked. K shook her head.

"Only thing in season," she replied. "Bears have already denned up already."

The sisters looked disgusted but didn't say anything about the hunt itself. "Um … you have blood … on your everywhere," Zoe pointed out looking a little bit pale.

Logan uncrossed his arms, looked down, and promptly left the kitchen, peeling off his shirt on the way to the bedroom. K smiled, watching him go, which left the girls a moment to get some coffee and check on their friend.

When Logan came back, he was all cleaned, showered and still buttoning up his shirt. When he got to K, he pulled her to her feet, wrapped his arms around her, and started in. Of course, K didn't wait for prompting and the two of them were getting a little involved as the girls chatted among themselves. Until of course, Abbey started squealing and clapping. The girls fell silent, looked toward the 'disturbance' and shared a glance until one of the girls cleared their throat.

"If you don't want to see it, don't come down here," Logan growled, clearly enjoying himself.

"Oh my god, that's so gross! She's pregnant! What are you doing?" Chloe spit out as the couple ended their kiss.

"How do you think she got that way?" he countered with a little chuckle as he slid his hand up the back of K's shirt while she nuzzled into his neck. "Thought you knew that part."

"Oh, eew," Chloe mumbled, looking away and turning bright red.

Logan gave K another kiss before deciding to cook something that didn't contain a metric ton of sugar, leaving Chloe and Zoe to regain their composure again.

Over the next few months, Logan remained on active duty, though his activity with the Avengers pulled back significantly. If he and Fury had issues before, it was well beyond a simple misunderstanding now.

And while Jean was positively glowing and soaking up every moment as she headed into the final stretch, K was slowly trying to back away from everyone and spent most of her time just trying to gain some weight, as was the usual doctor's orders. But all things considered, it really wasn't an easy task for her. She wasn't hungry, and when she was, she couldn't fit much in her for all the room the twins were taking up. Nearly every afternoon she'd have tea with Jean and Charles while Abbey played nearby, preferring to stay close to him when the moms were chatting. The little girl was becoming quite fond of him, and wanted to include him in her play. And to everyone's delight, Charles cheerfully played along with her.

Jean was in her final countdown of days, and somehow managed to keep her good cheer, while on the flipside … K was already actively trying to slow things down. And actively helping Jean to relax, too. Every little hiccup or tightening of her stomach had Jean anxious, and K would simply watch her, scent the air, listen to her concerns and tell her what was happening - which so far had only been false contractions and the simple sheer misery of being so far along.

But even with Jean looking out for her, K wasn't keeping up like anyone wanted to see her doing. While Jean was quickly approaching her due date and going slower and slower as time passed, K's days had turned into a seemingly unending string of visits to Hank to rehydrate or take the meds to counteract the Adamantium poisoning paired with literally the entirety of the team and half the students 'checking' on her and making sure that she was getting fed.

She had almost two months to go before Hank and Celia said they could relax – both highly concerned that K may go into preterm labor. She'd just made it under the wire for Abbey, and to add to it, they didn't really expect her to last anywhere near full term with the twins anyhow. So instead of the 40 weeks Jean was aiming for and hovering around, the bar was considerably lower for K.

Next to Jean's perky glow, K felt like a land whale and her body image was totally out the window whenever she caught a peek at her reflection. She was larger now than she was when she delivered Abbey. Both Jean and Charles was discouraged when K told them that tea would have to go on without her until after all the babies were born.

K didn't even try to hide the fact that she was going into isolation mode, which worried most of those closest to her. Additionally, she'd started taking showers in the middle of the night after Abbey and Logan were asleep. It was quieter and she didn't feel rushed that way. When she stepped out of the shower, she glanced up at the mirror for the first time in months and frowned deeply. "Oh … ugh," she whispered, resting her hand on the top of her stomach. She looked awful. Skinny but hugely pregnant. Her legs had lost muscle, her collarbone again overly prominent.

She worried her lip wondering what the hell she'd need to do to get to looking like a normal pregnant woman, cursing the idiots at weapon x that had made it so much harder for her to do while fighting the damned metal. Eating and taking it easy wasn't doing it.

"Darlin', you alright?" Logan asked quietly after she took a seat on the edge of the bed but didn't move to lay down.

"Just … yeah. I'll be fine," K replied, though even her tone sounded hollow.

Logan got up and made his way over to her to steal a kiss and take a moment with her. "I'm not takin' care of you good enough," he decided, though when he rested his hand on the side of her neck, she was already shaking her head.

"No, you're doing fine ...I don't understand it. I'm eating like a damn horse, but I'm as skinny now as when we had Abbey. What the hell is wrong with me?" she said, distressed.

"Talk to Hank in the mornin'. He'll have some ideas, I'm sure," he replied as he pulled the covers back for her and, urged her to climb in. "For now, you might as well sleep if you can. I'll handle Abbey if she gets up."

K let out a breath and tried to relax, wincing slightly as one of the twins stretched into her diaphragm, knocking her breath away. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll have ideas," K agreed.

Hank was pleased to see her the next morning, happy that she'd actually come for help before she was beyond assistance, even if there was a little competition for attention coming from a very disappointed and tired looking Jean hooked up to an IV and waiting for a bag of fluids to finish infusing into her arm. Not that Hank was going to draw too much attention to her while Jean was resting quietly.

"Ah, my dear girl. I'm sure all we need to do is to examine your diet and adjust it. Hopefully it will be as simple as that," he smiled as they sat down to figure it out. An hour later, he'd made his declaration. "I believe that your beloved will have to 'suck it up', I believe is the professional term for it, and tolerate the girls bringing whatever they think might help." He looked at her over his half-moon glasses. "You need raw calories. Your healing ability is tearing through nutrients like wildfire seeing as you're supporting two little ones. You're also using up your reserves leaving yourself with little to nothing to work with.

K let out a grumble of a sigh as Hank continued. "You simply can't afford to not do this otherwise, K. Your body will turn on you further if you don't."

"Thanks," K said as she started to slip off the gurney, though Hank was sure to try and kick off her new 'diet' by handing her one of his much cherished Twinkies that he kept in the lab.

"Raw caloric intake in the form of a luscious golden pastry." He grinned at her, and she only agreed to eating it when he got one of his own as well. It wasn't a hard sell.

And though K wasn't going to say anything to the girls, she was not entirely surprised when Hank made a point of joining her for lunch, and using the opportunity to tell Logan his theory, including his professional go ahead to let the girls bake to their heart's content. He was just loud enough and had timed it properly that Chloe, who was walking through the kitchen could hear and celebrate the good news by hugging both K and Logan, before she realized she'd hugged him, blushing bright red as she ducked her head down and scurried off.

K gave Hank a glare. "Really?"

"Really," he agreed, smirking wider. "I see nothing negative about letting you see how much people care for you." He leaned toward her. "Not to mention - the absolute payoff of the expressions on their faces." He tipped his head toward where Logan was almost glaring and Chloe was positively bouncing in place.

One thing was for sure - there was no way that K would be able to successfully hide in this kind of climate.

Jean's due date came and went - without even the slightest indication that her little girl was going to make an appearance. Her bubbly attitude had all but disappeared. The little cutesy remarks that had been kind of cute leading up to her due date had left her feeling a bit … melancholic. She was uneasy as every hour ticked by and she couldn't help but rest her hand on her stomach every time she had a little time to herself and mutter quietly to her still unborn daughter: "What are you waiting for?"

But of course, nothing changed.

With every passing hour, Jean couldn't stop thinking about the day she should have had a baby to hold, she had gone to the movies with Ororo and Rogue. They'd decided to make an afternoon out of it, and Jean had tried to get K to join them, but that didn't happen. Of course. She had been in high spirits when they got their popcorn and snacks … and Rogue had even made a little joke about how she should sit on the aisle … just in case.

The anticipation and excitement and nerves of it all had reached a fever pitch … such a casual mention of the elephant in the room … but even though Jean was openly weeping at times during the rom-com they were watching, the baby slept on. Comfortable and happy where she was.

When nothing happened for a few days afterward, she tried to act casual about it as she tried every single old wives tale in the book. Spicy food. Walking quickly. She'd even deeply considered running with K's suggestion to drag Scott off and put a smile on both of their faces. But she was just too uncomfortable to really consider that one seriously. Yet.

She'd all but given up - a week past her due date, though she was unbelievably grateful that the little girl didn't decide to show up on April Fool's day - when it finally started. And of course, half of the team was fresh off of a mission and barely settled into their rooms when it hit hard enough to take her breath away. Jean was lucky in that she didn't have to tell Scott. Not when he knew from their psychic link exactly what was going on in her head … and before she could put words to how she was feeling, he'd gotten up and swept her off her feet to carry her down to Hank, almost holding his breath the whole way.

By morning, they'd figured out that something had to be happening. Scott was nowhere to be seen, Jean was gone … Ororo and Hank too …

But the little one hadn't made her appearance yet, and Jean was wearing down.

The mansion was on pins and needles, and against everyone's advice, K slipped away from Logan and made a point to try and support her friend with a few kind words of encouragement between contractions.

"There is no shame in taking the drugs," K said quietly, though the sentiment was enough to get an exhausted sort of laugh out of Jean and a look of pure disbelief from Scott.

"I can't believe you're advocating drugs," Jean said, though it was clear the shift in subject matter was welcome.

"I'm advocating you not being totally miserable," K said as she gave Hank a look. "You're having a hell of a time …"

"And not yet where you need to be," Hank added.

K settled in and gave Jean a dry look. "Don't start with me," Jean said, wrinkling up her nose. "This is not the same as making you do tests and blood draws .."

"No, it's more important than that," K argued. "Come on. You're totally losing your street cred, big Red."

Jean looked more miserable somehow for a long moment. "You're awful."

"I know."

"I'm going to be here when those twins are born."

"I'm sure you will," K agreed.

Jean held K's gaze for a long moment then called out to Hank. "Alright. You can start drugs or … painkillers … or whatever you think I need most ..."

Scott glanced up at K with a little smirk as Hank went back to work.

By the time that the sun was hanging low in the sky, the whole mansion was on edge. Everyone knew Jean was trying hard to meet her little girl, and everyone knew she'd been working hard all day long. And right when the school would have heard the last bell for the day - had they not been on spring break - the angry cries of a newborn echoed the lab.

Considering the trouble Jean had though, the group didn't come down all at once, instead trickling in slowly and giving all three Summers' well wishes.

And when Logan and K were slow to show - dead last, of course - Jean got impatient and reached out to inform them that they needed to get there fast. That was all the warning they got though, before Kurt appeared in the boathouse and took all three Howletts up to meet Jean and Scott's daughter.

Abbey stared with wide eyes at the little tuft of red hair peeking out of the swaddling cloth - and she held tight to her father as he carried her closer to say hello. The little girl started to babble as close to 'baby' as she was able, staring at the little one in awe. "She's small, isn't she?" Scott said when the two of them came to a stop next to him.

"Uh huh," Abbey breathed out.

"What's her name?" K asked as she took a seat on the other side of the bed and reached over to rest her hand on Jean's knee - earning a weary but broad grin from her friend.

"Rachel Anne," Jean said brightly, automatically tipping her head to smile down at her daughter. "And now I can help focus on everything else."

"Like … getting acquainted with little Rachel and letting Scott wait on you hand and foot?" K suggested. "Great idea."

"And making sure you're doing okay," she replied. "Don't think I haven't noticed you're miserable too. Just be happy you don't have to go through labor."

"Yes. That's totally what my concerns are," K said as Jean waved her a little closer to hand over the little girl. "Oh, I forgot how little they are."

"Abbey was smaller than that, what are you talking about?" Jean laughed.

"Just by like … " K frowned and looked over to Scott.

"Two pounds. Rachel is seven pounds four ounces. Abbey was five-four," Scott said, though that only got a knowing smile from both women.

"Of course he knows," K said quietly, and Jean was nodding along with a broad smile.

"He's just good like that," Jean agreed proudly as Scott tried to find a way to backtrack - a light blush coloring the tips of his ears. "But she was the first baby here in … ever, really. So of course he'd know."

"Yes, that's it," K agreed, though she waved Logan closer to take over on Rachel. "You two did great. She's perfect."

"I tend to agree," Scott said, smiling crookedly.

The day after Rachel had been born was a busy one for the Howletts. Logan was keeping the place running smoothly for Scott so he could spend a few days keeping Jean company and getting acquainted with their daughter, and of course, it was about that time for K to head down and spend half the day with a saline pole and some blood tests. But that just meant that Abbey would be hanging out with one of her favorite baby sitters.

And Abbey had found a new trick. It wasn't her trick, but she thought it was a good one, and it was fun.

Somehow, Charlie could talk to her so no one else could hear, and all she had to do was think about what she wanted to tell him, which was incredibly good for a kid her age that was just starting to learn the intricacies of speech. Charlie was becoming her favorite person outside of mom & dad. Aunt Jeannie could do the same trick, but she wasn't as sneaky about it as Charlie was, and she encouraged Abbey to try to talk. This … was much easier.

As she played with her tea set and her teddy bears, Abbey had a thought, but couldn't express it, the words not quite there in her young mind, but she felt like it was important. She toddled to Charlie until he let her climb up and hugged her. She was happy to hug him back, patting him as she settled in, and when she looked at him, she grabbed his face with both hands and wrinkled up her brow, her expression as serious as a nearly one-and-a-half year old girl can get. She was worried about her mother, and none of Charlies' answers were good enough for her right now.

She's alright. She's on her way to get you now. Your little brother and sister are fine too, Charles projected back to her.

Abbey narrowed her eyes as she considered him before letting out a weary sigh and simply snuggling up under his chin again. Which was how K found her when she walked in a few minutes later.

"She's worried about you," Charles told K as she closed the door behind her. K walked up to the two of them and crouched down next to Charles so she could look Abbey in the face easier.

"You don't need to worry, vacker flicka. One way or another, I'll be fine," K promised as she cradled Abbey's face and the little one smiled up at her in response. Abbey sat up and reached for Charles' face again, once again giving him a serious look that had K wrinkling her brows as she watched them. "Does she do that a lot?" K asked, not having seen this particular behavior yet.

"Yes, more frequently too. She discovered that we can communicate, a few days ago, but she believes she needs to look me in the eye to do so," Charles said in a smile careful to pay strict attention to the little one before him. Abbey leaned forward and gave him a kiss before slipping down and going to her mother. K didn't ask any questions as she picked up the girl and they started to head out. "K, please take it easy. Abbey isn't the only one concerned. I don't have to tell you Logan is fit to be tied," Charles told her.

Weary of hearing it, K nodded, and turned toward Charles so Abbey could wave as they left.

From Swedish:

vacker flicka - pretty girl