He lay down opposite her, baby between them, watching over both of them as Marie joined their baby in sleep. Despite his earlier wish to sleep he suddenly found he was wide awake again, no desire to leave this moment right now. Several hours later he left the bed, making his way downstairs he decided for a change they were going to have the good food, and he slipped into the main mansion, heading for the kitchen.
He raided a substantial amount of food, including a tasty looking chocolate cheesecake, he took the whole thing, before heading back to the service passage. He made a detour to the med lab where he searched out a scale, and found a stash of new-born size diapers in a supply cabinet. With his haul in tow he headed back upstairs.
Both girls were still sleeping soundly, though the baby was beginning to fuss as he re-entered the room. When he checked on her, he wasn't surprised to find she had pooped, and peed through the crude towel diaper he'd wrapped her in.
Sliding baby out of the bed he set about cleaning her up, the bed would need to be changed later, but by the smell of it, Marie had bled some more, so that was a given anyway. Baby was well and truly awake by the time he finished cleaning her, he weighed her on the scales, concerned to note she really was tiny, only four pound seven - he'd always thought most babies were around six or seven pounds when born. He was trying to put a diaper on the little girl, without breaking her, when Marie woke.
"Just lift her up by her legs," Marie said sleepily, as she wandered over to him, yawning. She laughed when he shared his concerns about hurting the baby, and showed him how to move her and hold her to get the job done.
"How do you know this stuff?" Logan asked curiously, and impressed.
"I'll admit, I've never looked after a baby this young or this small before but I used to babysit for the neighbours for mall money when I was younger, so I've changed a few diapers," she replied.
Noting her appearance Logan suggested she go have a shower, an actual 'clean yourself' shower, preferably with no surprise babies this time. Marie just laughed and stuck her tongue out childishly at him, as she made her way to the bathroom, leaving him to settle the baby. By the time she was done Logan had changed the bed, and though baby was mostly quiet she was obviously upset.
"She's hungry," Logan informed her matter of factly, sitting Marie down on the couch and helping her work the baby into a comfortable position to feed. While Marie was feeding baby, Logan fed her, her eyes bugging in excitement when she saw the cheesecake he'd pilfered.
An hour later everyone was clean, clothed, fed, and back in bed to sleep. Logan finally fell asleep sometime around three am, with his arms wrapped around Marie who was cradling their tiny baby. A new level of contentment settled over him, accompanied by a niggling touch of foreboding.
--
The next day they were woken just before midday by Scott. They had both been lying in bed while Marie was breastfeeding the hungry child, thankfully her back was to the door so she pulled the blanket up over herself and pretended to be asleep, her nipple in baby's mouth keeping her quiet. Logan left her to it shortly after, following Scott out of the room after his summons to the briefing room; there would be another raid that afternoon.
Once baby's diaper had been changed and she was asleep again Marie set about with her next task. Ideally, preparing for a baby should be done in advance of its arrival but nothing about this particular situation was ideal. First, she had to set up her point of contact. Using the burner phone she'd managed to secure months ago, for emergencies, she dialled Jubilee's number from memory.
She explained to Jubilee that she was in trouble and needed some things but she couldn't get them to where she was, she needed a delivery address, and a receiver who could hold on to them, on the down low, for her until she could collect. After reassuring Jubilee that is was nothing illegal, she finally had agreement, she instructed everything should be delivered the next day. It would be addressed to Jubilee but she was not to open anything, just keep it in her room until Rogue could collect. Jubilee agreed, though she kept asking about what trouble she was in, eventually accepting Rogue's assurance that she would tell her when it was safe.
Once that was sorted, Rogue pulled out her laptop, and a student issue debit card she had swiped from the dorms some months before when the shit first started hitting the fan, hopefully no one had noticed it was missing and it would still be active.
She went online and found a mommy forum; she quickly registered an account and began searching for questions she had. First thing she needed to know, what do you *need* for a new baby! She was busy making a list of things she would need when baby began to grizzle. She moved to lie on the bed beside baby, reassuring her she was close, and gently rocking her back to sleep.
Once she had her list of needs, she began to shop, courtesy of Amazon. She had a strong feeling that they would not be here at the mansion much longer, so everything she bought had to be a necessity only and must be easy to travel with. The first thing she purchased was two large hiking packs, a collapsible bassinet, and a baby bag that had a foldout changing mat.
Then she bought dozens of reusable diapers, baby onesies, socks, and cotton mittens. Several sleeping sacks, hats, booties, and a tiny snowsuit. She went for the smallest sizes of everything, and then added the next size up as well just so she wouldn't have to do this again any time soon. She added several pacifiers to her order, swaddling wraps, blankets, burp cloths, baby bath towels, and reusable baby wipes. On considering the possibility of travel, and that it would likely be cross country, she opted to get a baby carrier, rather than a pram.
She added a few things for herself too, a couple of maternity bras, breast pads - she hadn't realised how much milk boobs would leak - and breastfeeding tops. As a side thought she also bought herself a pair of hiking boots, and some of Jubilee's favourite chocolate, all the best to keep her secret squirrel on side. She hoped Logan didn't need anything that she hadn't thought of.
She sent her order through, paying extra for expedited shipping, guaranteed for delivery within twenty-four hours. The total came to several hundred dollars, and for a while she worried the transaction wouldn't go through, so when the payment accepted screen popped up, she breathed a sigh of relief. Baby woke when she did and began to grizzle again. Putting the computer away she settled down to feed baby, before they both settled in for a nap. She woke up with a start hours later when the door clicked and squeaked open.
"It's alright sweetheart, it's me," Logan said as he silently entered the room.
"Hey, you okay?" Marie asked, always concerned by his propensity to play down whatever injuries he received on missions.
"Yeah babe, I'm good," Logan replied as he sat down on the bed beside her, and placed a kiss on her forehead. "How's baby been?" he asked.
"She's been great, mostly just slept and ate, then threw up what she ate, then ate again, then crapped herself, then went back to sleep," Marie detailed their day so far. Logan chuckled, as he gently ran his hand over the dark downy hair of their baby's head. "I also talked to Jubilee and ordered baby stuff, it should be delivered tomorrow, Jubilee's going to hold on to it until we can get it," she told him.
"You're amazing baby, absolutely fantastic, I love you," Logan told her with a grin.
"You're not so bad yourself," she replied, placing a kiss on his lips that were conveniently close. "How did the mission go?" she added, noting how he'd largely brushed off her previous query of him.
"The mission was fine, easy one, just a storage facility, only got shot twice," he added with a grin, knowing what she was getting at. "Anyway, you should go back to sleep," he said, laying her back down on the bed with a kiss, and pulling the blankets back over her.
"You should come snuggle too," she said, grabbing his hand, and shooting him puppy dog eyes.
"Soon babe, gonna hit the shower first," Logan replied. On his way to the bathroom he attracted Marie's attention when he slid the dresser across the doorway - now that he was back the door could be 'locked'.
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