X-Men fanfic: "The Big Day" by Eliyes

[eliyes]

.
Hey, look, I wrote a het couple! With no sex^*, though it's definitely implied to have happened. This is the opposite of death!fic -- no, no, not survived!fic (wherein a character who canonically died is saved, not that I don't generally like that type of fic). This is birth!fic. As in, someone being born is the main event of this story (well, arguably). I figured I should tell y'all that up-front, since I know some people avoid such stories like they're contagious.

(Don't worry, fic can't make you pregnant! ;D)

This is Iceman/Rogue established-relationship fic. It's an AU in that, at some point during the comicsverse time-line, they didn't get together in the books, but they did in this timeline. Also, this is skewed to be more from Bobby's pov than Rogue's, since I really don't think I could handle writing what it feels like to give birth, especially not having done it myself. The narrative is in the 3rd person.

I totally blame Rachel Luttrell and David Hewlett for inspiring this fic by having babies on and off screen (though not with each other). It put THOUGHTS in my MIIIIEEEEEND. *crazy face*

And now, without further ado or unnecessary authorial babbling:


The Big Day


"I'm s'posed -- to have -- a C-section!" Rogue protested between gasps, and then ground her teeth together as another contraction hit.

"I'm driving as fast as I can!" the cabbie called back, more than a little freaked out at the woman in labour in his backseat, especially given that she was mangling a length of steel that had been part of a stairway railing not long ago.

"I could fly faster than this!" she screamed at him, mostly from pain.

Bobby maneuvered to peek at the speedometer.

"Not quite this fast," he said, "and you'd probably have trouble concentrating."

Rogue twitched like she'd kick him if he wasn't the only thing about this situation actively trying to make her more comfortable. He stroked her sides soothingly and tried not to think about what she might do if a contraction hit mid-flight. She'd kept on flying all through her pregnancy; she said it felt better than walking, and he could believe it. Still, the sight of her increasingly gravid body aloft had both amused and terrified him.

"Why did I let you do this to me?" she groaned.

"I think you said something about love and my parents and my eyes," he reminded her, feeding her an ice chip. "If we want another kid in the future, you know, I'm totally okay with adopting."

She nodded, crunching the ice chip and opening her mouth for another.

He glanced out the window, and then at his watch. The contractions were coming faster, and even at this (highly illegal) speed, he didn't think they were close enough to the mansion to make it in time. The cabbie had wasted precious minutes trying to argue them into going to a hospital, but had changed his tune when Rogue had screamed at him that she had to have her doctor. She had simultaneously wrenched the steel bar into a new shape. After that, the cabbie's motto had become "whatever the lady wants".

A startled exclamation from the driver's seat was their only warning before the cab jounced as something landed on the roof. Suddenly, a familiar wingtip flashed past the window.

"Hold on just a bit longer, Rogue! Our guardian angel just showed up!"

"Warren?" she gasped, and reached over her head to crank open the window. It wasn't down two inches before her next contraction hit and she yanked the handle right off the door.

"Ice the wheels!" Warren instructed, and Bobby did so immediately. Between their already considerable forward momentum, newfound reduced friction, and Warren pushing, they picked up speed noticeably. The driver was now sitting perfectly still, hands white-knuckling the wheel and eyes fixed forward. If he was lucky, a telepath would take pity on him and blur his memories of this.

"Ramp the corner!" Warren yelled, and Bobby blinked, then flung his hand forward. The car went nearly vertical for a second as it whipped up and around a curving construct of ice like a bobsled, and then they were in the driveway.

The very long, curving estate driveway.

Warren gave a warning shout to hang on, and then the entire car lifted off the ground, right over the trees.

"How you doing?" Bobby asked Rogue, wishing he could wipe the sweat off of her face, but had nothing with which to do it. He was stripped bare to the waist, having sacrificed his shirts to the cause when her water broke just outside the restaurant. The best he could do was draw off a little of the moisture.

"Oh, you are so marrying me after this," she groaned.

The car rocked gently as the wind picked up. Warren flew alongside them now, visible out the window; Ororo was probably above.

A harsh sob heralded Rogue's next contraction, and she started a cursing, rapid-fire mantra about how much she wanted to push and how she'd never hated her powers more. It was possible her child would be as immune to her powers coming out as it'd been inside, but Hank had agreed that the risk to the baby was enough to merit trying a C-section instead. Bobby didn't want to find out what it would do to Rogue if something happened to their baby because of her powers, but if they didn't get Rogue to Hank immediately--

Hell, it was probably too late for a C-section at this point, anyway.

He hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on outside once he knew their friends had them, so it took him by surprise when the door behind him opened. Jean had brought them down so gently that he hadn't even felt it.

As he scrambled out of the way, he felt a sensation akin to his stomach dropping and his entire body tingling. It was familiar, and he looked around, quickly spotting the green-skinned boy who had caused it.

"Leech!"

"No powers!" Leech told him, giving a thumbs up.

Hank had wedged himself into the cab and Bobby could hear him instructing Rogue to push with her next contraction, calmly explaining that her powers were temporarily suppressed.

"Get me out of this car!" was her response.

Bobby and Ororo pulled her out, carefully, and set her down on a blanket Jean whipped into place. Hank crouched between Rogue's legs and Bobby --

Bobby knelt next to her and took her hand, now that she didn't have superstrength. He bent over and kissed her forehead and whispered, "You're doing great."

"Ja, it's almost over," Kurt said, taking her other hand. He flashed a giddy smile at them both, more elated than ever at becoming an uncle.

Suddenly, Rogue squeezed her eyes shut and squeezed Bobby's hand painfully tight, but didn't break it, and she pushed, and pushed again, and a new baby girl entered the world, squalling almost immediately.

Bobby went limp with relief at the same time Rogue did, resting his head on her collarbone. He missed seeing Hank cut the umbilicus and all that fun stuff. He kept his eyes closed when Warren announced that the cab driver had fainted, and when Kurt softly told Rogue how very happy he was for her.

"Leech, my good man," Hank said, "you were an immense help. I don't suppose you can keep it up long enough for this young lady to have her first meal?"

"Leech can," was the confident reply.

Bobby lifted his head and opened his eyes to watch Rogue hold their daughter in her arms for the first time, only then letting go of his hand. Ororo slid in behind Rogue to help prop her up, and Bobby helped unbutton and peel away sweat-soaked clothing, watched her feed the baby for the first time.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as that tiny mouth latched on. An equally tiny fist waved from the bundle of cloth (provided by Ororo if the pattern was any clue), and Rogue slipped her finger into its grip.

"She's just a little bitty thing," she breathed.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "But she's as beautiful as her mother."

Rogue looked up at him with a smile so bright and happy that it made something in his chest hurt. He leaned down and kissed her, lips touching bare lips for the first time. They took their time about it, gentle, lingering. By the time Bobby lifted his head again, he felt drugged just by the taste of her.

"Mm. A girl could get used to that," Rogue said, a little wistfully.

"Leech will stay."

They both looked up at this announcement, discovering a lot of smiles being directed their way. Possibly the most satisfied of these was Leech's, but then, he always had liked to see people happy.

Warren gave the kid an affectionate nudge, grinning.

"He's supposedly staying so you can breastfeed, but if you take advantage of the time to make out a little, that'd probably be okay, right, buddy?"

"Right," Leech confirmed, with a decisive nod. Bobby chuckled.

Rogue looked down at her baby, and then up at the young mutant.

"Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Don't throw away your breast pump," Hank cautioned, making Kurt twitch. "If Leech tried to use his power as often as she'll need to be fed, he'll overtax himself fairly quickly."

"Still, even just doing this once a day --" Rogue said, tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

"It will allow you to bond," Storm chimed in, with calm authority. She pulled a hankie out of nowhere.

"It's been a big day," Jean said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. His cheeks hurt from smiling so much. "Actually -- Rogue, do you remember proposing to me in the car?"

She gaped at him, but not in a bad way.

"I, uh --" She blinked. "Oh, my lord, I did! I mean I do -- remember."

"Did you mean it?" Bobby asked, amazed at how calm his voice sounded.

"Yeah," Rogue admitted softly.

"Good, I accept!" He leaned down to kiss her again, amidst the laughter and congratulations of their friends.

*-*-*
Announcements
William and Madeline Drake are proud to announce the birth of their grand-daughter, Irene Georgia Drake...



^* I have actually written sex for these two, basically a series of PWPs with hints of the relationship that frames these moments progressing past the edges of the scenes I've written. I haven't posted them because 1) they aren't finished, and I want to post them in one chunk (don't ask me why, I don't know), and b) for some reason posting heterosexual sex seems much more intimidating to me that posting slash. Possibly this stems from the fact that there's a much much higher chance that someone reading my stories has had f/m sex as opposed to m/m, wherein it's like 49% of 1/10th of the world has had m/m sex, and most of my readers are female, so they haven't. I FEER FOR MAH AK-YOU-RASS-EE. D: So. I may post these, someday, if I get the guts. It's just that I read way too many trashy romance novels growing up and I'm pretty sure it warped my brains.

Now cross-posted to frozen_breaths.

Comments

[jo-the-phoenix.livejournal.com]

:D Awww. I enjoyed it very much (though I'm usually one of those who avoid such fic like the plague). Very cute, heart-warming, mushy, romantic... sigh.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Wow, if this were a book I'd want to quote you on the jacket. I'm glad you don't regret reading it. ;3

[jo-the-phoenix.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, yay, a jacket quote! XD