Memories
A Life to Look Out For
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
Logan was working on the bike to take his mind off things when Kitty came down looking worried.
"Logan!"
"What?"
"Logan, it's…it's…Tora…"
He leapt up and swore. The journey to the medi-lab never took so long. When he got there, Jean stopped him.
"What?"
"Dr Reyes and Hank are busy. And Tora told me to keep you out."
"WHAT!"
"Her exact words were 'Don't allow my idiot of a husband in here because one, he'll faint or something equally embarrassing, two, he'll end up going feral on Hank and killing everyone and three, I really won't be feeling very friendly towards him and will almost certainly try to stab him.' Is that a good enough reason?"
"She won't let me in?"
"Yes. She won't."
"Why not!"
"Because of the three reasons I just gave. And also, she may need a C-section. She has adamantium bones, which means that her hips may not be wide enough. Especially with the fact she was only fourteen when the metal was implanted. You can ask Hank about it later."
A scream stopped the conversation. Logan tried to run through the doors but Jean held him back telekinetically.
Logan, hold yourself together.
She spoke telepathically, hammering the words home. Logan growled and reduced himself to pacing backwards and forwards outside the door, trying to block out the noises. He didn't know how long he was there for. The other X-Men came down, Kurt staying for longest. Rogue sounded wistful and Storm brought some food. But the thing that kept him sane was Jean's little titbits. Like that Tora was almost there. That a C-section would not be needed. That he could go in now.
The last comment almost didn't register and then he was leaping through the doors. Hank looked slightly flustered and Tora looked exhausted but otherwise healthy. And then Reyes held out a tiny bundle of blankets.
"Meet James."
"James?"
"Etana asked me to name the baby James if he was a boy. If you don't like it…"
"No. James is fine."
Then he looked at her.
"And you. Are you fine?"
"I'm fine Logan. Aren't you going to hold him?"
He backed off sharpish.
"I'd drop him."
"Logan, you never drop anything you don't mean to drop."
And then Reyes placed the tiny bundle into Logan's arms. The thing…the baby…his son, stirred and then looked up with ice-blue eyes the exact shape of Tora's.
"I think he'll have blue eyes. I was born with golden eyes."
The baby squirmed then started screaming.
"What am I doing wrong? Doesn't he like me?"
"I imagine holding him directly under the light has something to do with it."
Logan moved and looked down at the boy sheepishly.
"Sorry kid."
The boy gurgled and nestled in closer. Logan was vaguely aware of Hank and Cecilia leaving quietly but that was about it. Tora reached out a hand.
"You look so sweet like that."
"What?"
"You're just gazing down at him with this soppy look on your face."
"I am not!"
"You are. You're going to make a good dad. Just try not to spoil him."
"I won't!"
"Then why, pray tell, were you planning to buy him a little toy push-tricycle Harley?"
"You know about that?"
"Jean told me."
"Oh…"
"Yes. Oh. I think he wants feeding."
"Here."
The tiny bundle was passed from one to another.
"So little Jimmy, do you like your family."
"I don't think he's a Jimmy. He looks too like you for that."
"Odd. I was going to say he looked like you."
"He looks like both of us?"
"Fine."
"How about Jamie?"
"If that's what you want to call him."
His hand brushed the delicate head with a thin layer of black hair. He had a life to look after. And that was why they were leaving in a week's time. Leaving for Shikoku and Etana's, now his, house there. The others were theirs as well but the Professor had accepted the Canadian Eyrie as a holiday house for the students who were trickling into the school. Excalibur were using Aingeal Castle as their new base and the Venice townhouse was being lent to Fury for a SHIELD mission. And Spider-Man was staying in the Manhattan apartment with MJ while his house was being rebuilt. And the safe-houses had been given to the X-Corporation. Etana had deliberately willed them to the mutant cause. There had been a problem with birth dates and surnames but a few letters; including some terrible Italian love-poetry signed Giovanni had proved Etana had been around three thousand years. That and a series of Roman scrolls talking of the Jewish angel of death, who stood proud in the Temple and fought off the soldiers until a spear pierced her side. Also there were a few documents and a single piece of cloth, which Hank had carbon dated and discovered it had fur follicles that belonged to an infant Etana. The fur was around the right age and Reed Richards had verified it. The US government had decided that he didn't have to use his experimental time-travel machine to interview a twenty-year-old Etana. Also, the exact date would have been hard to pinpoint. She had apparently given up counting her birthdays when she reached 730. It depressed her. And she couldn't place her birthday into a Georgian calendar as she counted by the Jewish calendar and had the stubborn habit of referring to the year as 5768. They'd seen the painting she'd left Steve. A typical painting of David about to kill Goliath, only this one had Etana –and it was obviously Etana- guiding his hand. The note called it "L'Angela della Morte guida della Pietra di David" or "The Angel of Death Guiding the Stone of David". Which Kurt had noted was rather inaccurate seeing as she claimed to have been born in David's reign and therefore had missed the entire Goliath episode by several years. This had resulted in Piotr countering that Etana had simply been modelling and Kurt had responded with "In a toga? With a sword? And a helmet that was wrong for the era?" On the whole, it had been rather funny.
Jean froze as a corner of the room lit up, revealing the painting. It had been restored countless times, until the original paint had flaked away and the canvas was gone. It had ended up being the eldest material thing left in the end. Her companion had treasured it above almost all else. And now it's shade hung in the cavern. Shades and copies. That was all that existed now.