“Yes, Rogue, what can I do for you?”
Rogue slid into the room, softly closing the door behind her. She was projecting anxiety as though it were a tangible thing. “I was just wondering...” She broke off, toying with her scarf nervously.
Charles smiled. “Please, have a seat. Tea?”
“Yes, please.” She sank into one of the chairs in front of his desk, wringing her hands.
Charles poured both of them tea, then placed the cup in front of her on the desk. She smiled half-heartedly. “So, you wanted to speak to me about something?”
Rogue sighed deeply. “I was thinking... with the birth coming up and all... Maybe we should resume my training.”
He nodded. “I was merely waiting for you to ask.” He smiled at the surprise showing on her face. “Rogue, I want to help you get the best experience possible. It’s not every day that this house sees an event as unique as childbirth.”
She sniffled a little, and tears welled up in her eyes. Fanning herself, she smiled widely. “Thank you.”
In the next two weeks, Logan didn’t see too much of his wife, as she spent almost every waking hour in the med lab with Jean and the Professor, working on her control. She didn’t talk about it much, and when she woke up one morning holding her head and muttering “Shut up”, he decided to jump the gun and ask her what was going on.
But Marie just smiled at him, although the smile looked a little strained. “Nothing. Why’d you ask?”
“You keep getting headaches. Yesterday, you answered my question before I asked it.” He noted that for a fleeting second she looked like a child caught with its hand in the cookie jar. “And you made the chocolate bar fly into your hand at lunch.”
She avoided his gaze, but then she sighed. “Fine, fine. Yes, I’m working on my control and Jean lets me touch her. We had a slip yesterday, and I absorbed a fair bit of her. But I’m getting better.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That why you said you weren’t in the mood yesterday?”
She nodded. “And I keep catching myself checking out Scott.”
Logan jumped up, muscles flexing. “I’ll talk to Chuck. This has got to stop, now.”
Marie grinned. “Calm down, sugar. She’s fading already. And... I really need to do this. So please, give me a little more time.”
He sighed. “As if I could say no to you.”
Two days later, Hank was alone in the lab, Jean having gone out to dinner with Scott, and he used the time alone to get some work done he wanted published in a magazine. He was crouching on the desk, the end of a ball point pen between his lips and his glasses pushed up on his head, and his laptop balanced on his knees.
He had just started going through some notes when there was a knock on the lab door, so gentle that anyone with senses less acute than his would not have noticed.
“Come in, please!”
The door opened a fraction, and Rogue stuck in her head. “Hey.”
“Hello, Rogue.” He hopped off the desk and pulled open the door. “Please, have a seat.”
She slid past him, smiling a little sheepishly. “If you’re busy, I could come back later.”
“No, no, I could do with a little distraction.” He leaned against the desk as she sat.
“I... I wondered...” She sighed, passing a hand over her large belly. “I didn’t want to go to Jean with this, cause she’d just unpack her ultrasound thingie and I have only told her about a trazillion times that I don’t want ultrasound.” She looked up then, wringing her hands. “Could you maybe... find out how the baby’s positioned?”
Hank smiled widely. “Of course!
Relief visibly washed over Rogues face, and she smiled. “Do you have time now? I kind of have the feeling that I don’t have that much time left.”
Hank nodded. “Please, if you’d sit over here.” He gestured at a cot on the other side of the room. Rogue, still smiling widely, sat on the cot and pulled up her shirt. When Hank started rummaging in a drawer, she raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“I... um... Jean ordered some gloves that should fit me...”
Rogue rolled her eyes. “Come here.” Hesitantly, Hank complied, and he couldn’t help swallowing hard when she grabbed his arm and placed his hand on her stomach.
The fur-free tips of his fingers making contact with her skin.
Her smile widened.
Hank’s eyes bulged. “You... what... when...?”
And then they hugged, tears streaming down Rogues face.
When they separated, she wagged her finger at him. “But don’t tell Logan. It’s gonna be a surprise.”
Hank nodded, smiling. “You bet it will.”
End of Chapter 8