Rogue calmly shook her head. “Nope.” Jean was gripping her pen so hard that she thought it might snap in two any second. The doctor’s left eye was twitching, and Rogue half expected her to start crying or shouting or throwing things, she looked so completely out of it.
Logan stood back, leaning against the wall, arms folded in front of his chest. Secretly he had to admit that his initial reaction to Marie’s idea had been similar. He had been at a complete loss for words, but then he had been all for it. He had made her promise to take him with her when she told Jean, if only to see the look on the redhead’s face. And now that Jean looked as though she might have a stroke, he was glad he’d come along. Jean’s blatant disbelief in Marie’s ability to give birth naturally had hurt him more than he realised at first, and he was secretly happy to see her suffer like this.
“Rogue, you can’t have this baby on your own. You’re not a doctor nor a nurse...”
“I don’t have to be. I’m a woman, in case you didn’t notice. I don’t need your help to birth this baby.”
Jean opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, either because she didn’t know what to say or because she deemed anything she could have said as inappropriate. Then she took a deep breath, took off her glasses and very slowly put them on the table in front of her. She fixed Rogue with an icy glare. “The professor won’t allow this.” Turning away, she stormed out of the med lab, heading for the elevators.
Logan and Rogue let out collective sighs.
Professor Xavier was in his office, enjoying a nice cup of tea with Hank McCoy when the door burst open and a very dishevelled-looking Jean burst through the door. He immediately suspected an emergency. Maybe an attack...?
“You can’t let her do that!”
Charles froze, and Hank coughed politely. “I just remembered I still have some test to grade. See you later." As inconspicuously as possible, the blue giant slid outside.
Jean was pacing the small space in front of his desk, wringing her hands. “It’s insane, you can’t allow this.”
“Allow what? Jean, what is wrong?”
“It’s Rogue!” Charles only barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes as Jean leaned on his desk, clearly angry. “She’s gone completely insane!”
“What makes you think that?”
“She wants to give birth alone. Only her and Logan.” She threw up her hands. “I mean, she’s not a cat or something. Humans can’t give birth alone.” She shook her head, completely appalled by the very idea. “It’s just too dangerous.”
Charles leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “Actually, it’s not.”
“What?”
“After your little... speech at dinner, I suspected that Rogue would look into alternatives to doctor-supervised birth. It would only be natural to assume she came across this idea on her search.”
“But... But who would do that? It’s irresponsible! I mean, people die during childbirth all the time.”
“Unassisted? Less than 2%, actually.”
Jean stared at him. “You’re on her side.”
He gave a half-shrug. // I’m on nobody’s side, Jean. This simply is not my decision to make. And neither is it yours. // He wheeled around the table as she sank into a chair, laying his hand on hers. // I agree that there are certain risks. But I am sure that Rogue though about this for a while and that she did not make this decision lightly. Have some faith in her. //
She sighed deeply. “Alright. But I won’t be held responsible if anything goes wrong. I told her what I think she should do. If something goes wrong, well, it’s her own fault.”
Charles watched as she left his office, frowning. He had hardly ever seen Jean be so adamant about something. Given her background, he understood her fears but he also knew about Rogue’s strong wish for something resembling normalcy. And if unassisted childbirth was the way to go for her, who was he to stand in the way.
Besides, it wasn’t like there was any real threat. She would most likely still be inside the Mansion, Logan would be with her and medical supplies were literally just down the hall.
Sighing deeply, he poured himself a new cup of tea. Only 15 weeks to go...
End of Chapter 7