AN: I play fast and loose with medical knowledge, terms and facts here. I am not a doctor and do not claim to be one. These people have super-powers, let's go with it. Also, as with the last chapter, some discussion of pregnancy dificulties/miscarriages - please be aware of your triggers.
October 2000
For a few moments, the elevator swam around her, every drop of her consciousness focused on trying to breathe. She could not lose Pietro and their child in the same week.
"Lexa," Kitty said softly, "you can see him, but you have to stay calm, alright?"
"I am perfectly aware of how to behave in an infirmary, thank you." Lexa retorted, a little tartly.
"Yes you are, under normal circumstances." Kitty agreed levelly. "But this isn't normal, is it?"
Lexa sighed. "Sorry, Kit; I didn't mean to bite your head off. It's just …" She hesitated, but she needed someone to know, someone to talk to, who knew a little of what it was like. "I'm pregnant."
Kitty's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Finally, she stuttered, "B-bu-bu-but … what?"
"Yeah." Lexa agreed softly. "Do that for another hour or so and you might be where I am right about now."
"Oh God …" Kitty whispered. "Are you okay?"
Lexa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know. I went to talk to Mom about it … I just …"
The elevator doors opened and the two women stepped out.
"Why not let Bella take a look at you?" Kitty suggested gently.
"Okay." Lexa agreed hesitantly, following her.
The infirmary seemed fuller than Lexa had ever seen it, and she found hysterical laughter bubbling up in her throat at the thought – everything they had been through, and it was a car accident that had such a desperate effect.
Only one set of curtains was closed and it was to those that Kitty gestured, bouncing Cindy in her arms as she stirred. "Jubes is the only one conscious; she's talking to the police at the moment."
"She must be distraught." Lexa murmured, only half-paying attention. Her gaze had landed on the next cot over, which was occupied by a still body, his identity obscured by the burns covering his face. A sheet of gauze was wrapped around his torso, covering a wound she didn't even want to consider. For one horrible second, Lexa thought he was dead, but then she realised that his chest was rising and falling – just.
"Bobby." Kitty filled in quietly.
Lexa swallowed hard, feeling guilty for being so relieved that she wouldn't see anything worse, and turned away from him towards the other beds.
With a heavy sigh, Kitty put a gentle hand on Lexa's arm and propelled her down the infirmary to Pietro's comatose body.
His face was slightly charred, his blond hair falling over his closed eyes. His left arm was in a cast and there was a bandage across his chest.
Aside from that, however, and much to her relief, his breathing was steady and there didn't seem to be any other injuries.
Her eyes slid to the left, where her adoptive father lay unconscious as well, but his powers seemed to have taken care of his physical injuries.
"Lexa?"
Lexa took a deep breath and turned to meet Belladonna's concerned gaze. "Hey."
"You alright?" Belladonna asked, not fooled by her attempt at a smile.
"No, not really." Lexa said. "How are they?"
"Well, Logan should be awake soon." Bella answered. "He heals faster than I can do anything. Pietro – well, what you see is what you get; if he can get through the next 24 hours …"
"It's a broken arm." Lexa interrupted.
"And smoke inhalation." Bella said gently. "I've got them all on oxygen, but there's only so much I can do. If he can get through the next 24 hours – and I'm confident – he'll be fine. I just finished operating on Todd, he escaped broken legs because of the way his powers work, but I had to patch his lungs up – he's much the same, 24 hours and we'll know more."
"And Bobby?" Lexa asked.
Belladonna sighed, but her answer was delayed by the curtains being drawn back and a detective exited, looking grim.
To Lexa's surprise, she recognised the officer in question. "Detective Black, hello."
"Miss Howlett." Black greeted, shaking her hand firmly. "I should have known I'd run into you eventually."
"Kitty?" Jubilee asked quietly. She was sitting up in bed, with a cut forehead and red-rimmed eyes that were determinedly not looking at her fiancé.
Kitty complied with her unvoiced request, handing Cindy over to her mother, who held the little girl tightly, her shoulders shaking.
"Can we assume this wasn't an accident?" Lexa asked quietly.
Detective Black sighed. "Well, from Miss Lee's testimony, I'm almost certain that the other driver collided with them on purpose."
"Why am I not surprised?" Kitty muttered, stroking Jubilee's hair.
"We'll catch them." Black said firmly. "From what we've been told, the other car was badly damaged, and we've got the registration as well."
This didn't make Lexa feel any better. She couldn't see anyone actually getting any sort of punishment for this; unlike the shooting, they had no solid evidence and any good defence lawyer could get the charge reduced to driving without due care and attention.
Her gaze had wandered from the detective to Pietro's motionless form and she hadn't realised she was shaking until Belladonna put a firm arm around her shoulders and steered her to one of the empty beds. "Sit down, sugar. Tell me what's bothering you."
Hesitantly, and with a lot of pauses, Lexa told the older woman about her morning, including her visit to Deborah. Halfway through the story, Belladonna had fetched an ultrasound machine and pulled the curtains closed.
"First things first," she said, mixing together the jelly-like lubricant. "I'm going to give you a sonogram and that'll tell us how far along you are and how the baby's doing."
"But you said …" Lexa began.
"I was giving you a warning." Belladonna said, tucking her shirt up out of the way. "I've never encountered something like this before, your mother's right. Plus I'm not an obstetrician."
Lexa closed her eyes anyway, reluctant to watch. Come on. Just tell me and get it over with.
"Okay …" Belladonna said slowly. "Okay, do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"What's the bad news?" Lexa asked immediately.
"Well, I can't hear a heartbeat." Belladonna said.
"But the heart wouldn't have started yet, would it?" Lexa asked, her own heart pounding in her chest.
"Well, judging from what I can see, you're around three months along." Belladonna said gently.
"Three months?!" Lexa repeated, her eyes flying open against her better judgement. "Shouldn't I have … you know?"
"Well, that's the good news." Belladonna explained. "Miscarriages this early generally lead to expulsion of the foetus. Since you haven't, there's a good chance that the baby's still alive."
"But … the heartbeat …" Lexa said weakly, a tiny spark of hope growing within her.
"Well, sometimes, if the body feels that the baby's in danger, it can form a thicker lining around the placenta to protect the baby." Belladonna explained. "And that can sometimes block ultrasound waves, which in turn would prevent me from hearing a heartbeat. As it is, the picture isn't as clear is it should be, which suggests a thick uterus lining."
"When will we know?" Lexa asked.
"When the heartbeat comes strong enough to break through or the baby starts moving," Hank answered from the curtains, "whichever comes first. I do apologise for the intrusion, Lexa, but Logan's just come to and he's asking for you."
Lexa nodded, turning back to Bella. "Is there anything I can do? Or not do?"
"Nothing I wouldn't say to any other pregnant woman." Belladonna answered, pressing a button to print the ultrasound for her. "No smoking, no drinking, eat healthily, don't overdo it on the physical exercise. Although Kitty has family history and she was alright. I'll keep an eye on things."
"Thanks." Lexa said, fixing her shirt.
"You're welcome." Bella said, drawing back the curtain. "And don't give me that look, mister!" She added sternly, meeting Wolverine's glare with one of her own. "You can show a good example to the students and stay in that bed until I clear you."
Lexa hid a smile and rounded the two beds separating them to take the chair beside Logan's bed. "Hi. Welcome back."
Logan snorted. "Some homecoming. I've only been gone a couple of months; everything's fallen apart!"
Lexa rolled her eyes. "Exaggerating a little, don't you think?"
"Yeah?" Logan asked. "Then why did Speedy think that you'd gone to visit that woman who told us about you in the first place?"
"Pietro." Lexa corrected automatically. "And that woman happens to be my mother."
"Look, just because she …" Logan began.
"No." Lexa interrupted. "She is my mother. She gave birth to me. Half of my DNA is hers. We're working on it. And I am not getting into this now." She rubbed her temple. "It's been a long morning."
"Lex?" Logan asked, frowning. "What happened?"
Lexa managed a very small smile. "It's nothing. How are you feeling?"
"Nothin' that won't fix in a day or two." Logan growled. "Now who do I need to kill?"
Lexa chuckled against her will. "No one, I swear. I ... I'm pregnant … and I might have miscarried … but we can't tell yet, so I went to talk to Deborah, because she knows what it's like."
Logan stared at her for a few minutes, and she half-expected him to throw a fit about the baby (which was not going to end at all well, given where they were). Instead, he covered her hand with his own and said nothing.
As it turned out, nothing was exactly what she needed to hear.
Logan was out of the infirmary by dinner time and Jubilee was officially released the next day – not that she actually left the infirmary, taking most of her meals at Bobby's bedside.
Between Pietro and Todd, it was a toss-up which would wake first. Unlike Bobby, their external injuries weren't too bad, but it was the internal effects of smoke inhalation that concerned Bella the most.
Two days after the accident, Todd opened his eyes, jolting awake with a gasp and a groan.
Belladonna just about dropped mug of coffee in her hand in her haste to keep him from trying to move.
"Pietro?" He asked, complying with her wishes. His initial movement had hurt – he wasn't stupid enough to attempt it again.
"Still unconscious." Belladonna said softly, tucking a cushion behind him to prop him up a little. "But I would imagine he'll be awake soon. Your injuries were fairly similar. I'd like you to stay here tonight."
"Whatever you say, Doc." Todd said, grimacing. "Can I have some water?"
"Yes, of course." Bella said, pouring him a glass. "Sip it, don't gulp it."
"Oh, thank God …"
Bella smiled at Lucie, who had sagged against the door frame, her eyes fixed on Todd, who managed his own smile, just about.
"I know." He said hoarsely. "I look fantastic."
"Come on in." Bella told her kindly. "Did you come down for any particular reason?"
"Came to grab Jubilee's plate." Lucie answered, her eyes cutting momentarily to where Jubilee was curled up asleep on the chair beside Bobby. They didn't stray from Todd for very long though.
"Well," Belladonna said cheerfully to Todd, "you seem to be doing alright. Stay here tonight, but you should be able to get out of here tomorrow morning. Yell if you need me."
Lucie let go of the door frame, having regained enough composure for her legs to support her once again, and stumbled forwards (okay, maybe she hadn't) to take the chair at Todd's bedside.
Belladonna drew the curtains on her way to her little apartment, cutting them off from rest of the infirmary and allowing them to talk without waking Jubilee.
"How do you feel?" Lucie asked softly.
Todd gave an experimental shrug. "Eh, I've been better. Doc said Pietro's still out?"
Lucie nodded. "I was expecting him to wake up first, to be honest, what with his metabolism, but Bella says that his lungs are kind of exempt from it so you're on even footing." She dropped her gaze to her lap. "I was so worried. We all were."
Todd smiled wryly. "Would it have helped more or less if we'd actually talked about that thing we don't talk about?"
Lucie glanced up. "You mean the fact that you kissed me? Maybe."
"I mean the fact that you kissed me." Todd corrected. "Because if that would help, we can have that conversation now."
Lucie giggled. "Honey, it was definitely the other way round."
"Well, whichever way round it was," Todd said quietly, "do you regret it?"
"No." Lucie said, sobering immediately. "Not for a second. Do you?"
"Definitely not." Todd said hastily. "But you're, you know, gorgeous and amazing and way out of my league, so …"
"Don't say that." Lucie said, frowning. "Aside from anything else, I will decide my own league for myself, thanks."
"Gotcha." Todd said, with a self-deprecating smile. "But still – me?"
"You." Lucie agreed, covering his hand with hers. "And I'll thank you not to get burnt to a crisp again."
"Oddly enough," Todd said, "it's not something I was planning on."