Sometime later, a soft cry from the bedroom roused them both from the contended doze they had fallen into. After Marie had fed both boys again the happy parents lay on the bed playing with their babies, stretching little arms and legs, tickling tiny feet, and kissing tiny fingers, until little mouths started to yawn. It was almost ten, and neither new parent was happy to leave their babies three flights of stairs away from them, so Logan helped Marie make the boys comfortable in the wrap carrier.
The boys were content being cosily confined to their mother and settled in to sleep quickly, while Marie agonized over whether they were in the right position and if the wrap was too tight or too loose. Logan eventually chuckled and told her to stop fussing, they would both know the minute anything changed. In the meantime, he was looking at the babies current position and trying to figure out how the hell they had ever fit inside her.
They made their way to the Professor's office, not in the least surprised to find they were the last to arrive. The meeting was a sombre affair, Logan and Jean did most of the talking, the Professor offered Marie counselling if she wished to avail herself of it, while her friends offered her support as well. Scott asked if Logan would assist him in overhauling the school's security system, to reduce the risk of another breach and they agreed to meet after lunch to do that. Before Jean reminded the new parents, their babies were late for a check-up.
The meeting was ended, and Jubilee and Kitty begged to be permitted to accompany them to the baby’s check-up, which Logan semi reluctantly agreed to. It was near enough to their next feed time that Marie didn't mind the boys being woken a little early, though the boys themselves didn't appreciate being removed from their mother, or having their warm clothes and diapers taken away so they could be weighed again. Both boys expressed their displeasure by peeing on Jean, which made Jubilee shriek when some got on her too, which in turn made everyone else laugh.
After each baby was weighed, measured, and given a complete physical to make sure neither parent had missed counting off any tiny fingers or toes, Jean allowed them to be re-dressed and Marie to suckle them. Jean also checked Marie's nipples, and offered her a moisturizing balm she could use to prevent cracking and bleeding and checked the boys latching ability, and Marie's milk flow. When she was finally satisfied all was well, she left them to feed in peace.
"Congratulations Rogue, you've done a wonderful job, and the both of you have two very healthy little boys," Jean assured them. Despite that, Logan still queried with her the boys minute loss of weight since the previous day and that it was within normal parameters. Jean reassured him that the weight loss was less than she had been expecting, though that may simply be due to the minor differences in weight from different sets of scales. She instructed them to bring the boys down for a check-up every other day for the first two weeks, and that they could keep an eye on their weight with their own scales too in between.
Once the feeding was done the girls wanted to hold the babies, Logan suggested they go back up to their suite for lunch and they could hold them up there, so the group didn't take up any more of Jean's time. The girls whooped and hurried Marie out of the room and towards the elevator.
"Hurry up old man or you got to wait for the next one!" Jubilee yelled, as they left Logan behind in their haste while he gathered up the last of their things.
The boys had their first visit with 'Aunt Kitty' and 'Aunty Jubes' while Rogue took a shower and Logan fixed them all lunch, and supervised the girls. It's not that he didn't trust them with the babies but after Jubilee had accidentally drowned a squirrel while trying to 'rescue' it on the survival camp, he figured there were worse things he could do with his attention. Kitty was a natural, catching on almost as quickly as Marie had on how to handle Aidan. She even managed to stop his fussing when he realised, he wasn't with his mama. Jubilee on the other hand he had to remind every few minutes she needed to actually hold the babys head; Liam was surprisingly tolerant about the handling, though he did appear to be glaring at the yellow blur before him.
By the time they were finished lunch, Logan having rescued Liam from Jubilee so she could eat without risking dropping him, both boys were asleep. Logan put them to bed before reminding Marie he had to go meet Scott.
He didn't want to leave her alone but he also didn't want her to feel like he was trying to keep surveillance on her, so he suggested, casually, that the girls stay and they could 'watch a movie or do some girly shit', seeing as how they hadn't had much time to spend together lately. All three seemed to miss the overtone of the 'stay and keep an eye on Marie' order, and jumped at the idea. Logan left them raiding the kitchen for what was left of Marie's pregnancy snack stash, while Marie scrolled through the mansions movie database to see if there was anything they hadn't seen yet.
--
Three hours later Scott and Logan had finished the overhaul, they were about to head up to the Professor's office to run over the changes with him when Scott pulled Logan aside. "I'm sorry- for all the shit I've put you through, I admit, I didn't like you from the minute I met you, knowing you and Rogue were living together I put two and two together and didn't like the result, I took that out on you by being an asshole, and I've given you nothing but shit since you came back, even if I was only thinking it most of the time when trying to be civil around Rogue. Honestly, you've shown me up to be the bigger man the whole time, and now with this... Rogue is lucky to have you, you're a good man Logan."
Logan nodded in reply, he didn't know how to respond but after a moment commented, “So, our ceasefire is an unconditional surrender now?"
"Yeah, yeah it is," Scott agreed with a chuckle, as they both continued on their way.
After running through the new security protocols with Xavier, Scott excused himself, leaving Logan alone with the Professor. It didn't happen often that the two of them got to chat alone, which was a shame because Logan actually really liked the guy. Charles spoke first once the door was shut behind them, "The offer for counselling goes for you too Logan, I know you, wrongly, assumed a lot of guilt over Rogue's kidnapping and this recent revelation cannot be easy for you, if you need to talk--"
"Marie and I have talked, it helped both of us, we know where we stand, I promised Marie I wouldn't make what happened my fault, that blame rests at his feet alone, my only concern is protecting my family," Logan replied. Once they left the mansion, he wasn't sure how best to do that, Sabretooth knew where the cabin was, should he sell up and move again, would Marie be okay with that.
"Very well. On a different note, knowing now of your connection with Sabretooth, I have made enquiries to see if it is possible to track down other mutual family members of yours, I shall let you know if I have any success," Charles informed him personably.
Logan thanked him before excusing himself also. He didn't need to voice his concerns for Marie so soon after learning about her assault, he hoped to get back before the girls finished their bonding session. He didn't want her to be alone right now, just in case, survivors’ guilt was nothing to chance, especially not so soon after giving birth, that combined with a bout of postnatal depression could be fatal. He would have to be extra vigilant to make sure she got enough sleep and good food, and lots of healthy bonding time.
He was pleased to find the girls still sitting around chatting. The boys were no longer in bed, Liam was laid out asleep on Marie's lap. Aidan was softly snoring on one of the quilted playmat's Helen had sent down as a baby shower gift, with Kitty lying down on the floor next to him watching him sleep. Jubilee was lying upside down on the couch, with her legs hanging over the back, and her head hanging off the seat, going on about how much better the muted movie was upside down.
Dropping a kiss on top of Marie's head he hugged her as he leaned over shoulder for a while watching Liam sleep, his fat, milk filled belly slowly rising and falling as his little fist gripped Marie's finger even in his sleep. Eventually the movie finished and the girls made their excuses to leave, or at least Kitty did, before she dragged Jubilee bodily out of the room to give the parents some alone time.
--
The next several weeks passed in a blur, as they tend to do after babies are born. Logan bore the majority of the burden of sleepless nights, making sure Marie's sleep was as undisturbed as possible. Helen and Peter came to visit, and were able to stay for a week when the Professor offered them a guest room. Jubilee and Kitty stopped by at least once a day, often with outrageous trinkets for the babies, they even brought several of the younger students up to visit with 'gifts' they had made in the holiday craft program the Professor had the girls running. Ororo was kind enough to do their grocery shopping for them, meaning Logan didn't have to leave Marie alone.
They ate lunch in the cafeteria, with babies in tow, for the first time when the boys were four weeks old. Marie's classes began the following week, so they decided they had best start acclimating the boys to the sounds of the school.
Marie had a class schedule that worked around the boy’s routine as well as it could, there was only one class she would need to pop out of to breastfeed. The rest of the time they planned for Logan to watch the boys. Logan had suggested she express milk that he could feed to the boys, so she didn't have to miss any class, and so that he didn't have to keep waking her up for midnight feeding, but so far the boys had rebelled at that idea, refusing to accept bottles even though it smelled like the food they were used to.
All in all it was not going to be too much of a struggle for Marie to continue her studies, though Logan thought she did make an amusing sight sitting on the floor of their suite, baby suckling on a breast while she did her homework with her free hand. It seemed she was a natural at more than just fight technique judging and field dressing stab wounds.
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