Sins of the Father

Sins of the Father Chapter Twenty One (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta...slash will be your way today! (Hey! I rhyme!) InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are groovy bunnies for archving/hosting. :) ProPhile...your smutmuseness is needed soon! ;) Morgan: Shimmy!!!! *ahem * Readers/Reviewers: ReiMars, wherefore art thou? *sniffle * And thank you all soooooooooo much for reading this and reviewing when you can!!!!!

"What's with you?" Jubilee peered at Jean from behind the ficus. "You look like Hell."
"Headache," she admitted with a negligent gesture. "Where's Remy?" She pushed her hair out of her face and peered back at Jubilee. "And why are you hiding in a plant?"
"I'm not hiding," she protested, looking anxious as she slipped out from behind the foliage. "And I think Remy's gone...I hope he's gone..." She smiled thinly. "I hate going to the dentist..."
Jean arched an auburn brow. "You've gone before without hiding like this...what's really the problem?" She was glad to have something to focus her attention on rather than her school problems and the fact Scott had tracked oil in on the carpet. "Remy do something? He forget your birthday?"
"Not yet," she sighed. "And it's not Remy...can we go somewhere else and talk? I'd rather not stand out here in the open..." She did not give Jean time to answer, turning towards the downstairs study and disappearing into cool shadows of the darkened room. Jubilee knew Jean was not trying to scan her but she could not help but feel exposed and wary. She could not explain it but ever since she had awakened that morning, she had felt sick with dread, shaky and clammy, a twist of fear working through her limbs and mind to pool in her stomach. She had picked at dry toast for breakfast, ignoring Remy's questioning looks as she left the table early. She knew she was not pregnant and was fairly certain the sick feeling was not due to some late blooming infection from her piercing... "Jean, is there some bug going around?" she asked as her friend shut the door between them and the rest of the mansion. "The flu or something?"
"Not that I know of...and you had your flu shot in November with the rest of us so you should technically be okay."1 Jean chose the Chippendale chair near the door and sank into it gratefully. "Why? You feeling sick?"
"For a psychic, that was kind of a dumb question," Jubilee teased, her face lighting briefly. "But yeah...just...nervous or something. Like there's something I should be worried about." She twisted her fingers together in a gesture of helplessness, pacing the width of the room. "Did I forget a test? No. Did I miss a date with Remy? Hell no..." She turned suddenly and licked her lips, looking almost sheepish. "Did I forget your birthday?"
Jean laughed softly and shook her head. "Nope. It's a few months away... It's probably just finals jitters...This is the first time you've had to take finals since you've always tested out of them before. Or maybe it's just nerves because you've never competed at state without the team from Bayville..." Jean rose and laid a friendly, comforting arm on Jubilee's shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing bad."
Jubilee shook her head and frowned deeply. "Jean, you don't understand...I am literally sick with this! I mean..." her voice lowered conspiratorially as she continued, "I actually threw up from this!"
Jean wrinkled her brow in concern. "You sure you're not...you know?" Involuntarily, her eyes flicked down to Jubilee's taut abdomen.
"Absolutely not. Not unless Remy's got some sperm mutation or something that makes the suckers survive me being on the pill and using foam.2" Jubilee vented a painful sigh. "I'm kind of scared here, Jean. I've never felt so damned awful before!" She turned away and shuffled to the settee, sitting with an audible sigh before curling onto her side and closing her eyes, a wave of nausea passing over her.
Jean winced as a spike of Jubilee's discomfort hit her unprepared senses. "Come on," she sighed. "I'm taking you to see Beast..." She started towards Jubilee but was waved back. "Don't make me move you," she added in stern tones. "I'll do it."
"Beast is helping Cecilia and Tabby set up her new office. He's not here." Jubilee opened one eye. "I feel better." At Jean's frown, she pressed on. "I was hiding from Ernie. He's being weird. I felt okay until he started talking to me last night...God, maybe he's got the crud and gave it to me! He breathed on me!" She sat up painfully and blew out a harsh breath. "That has to be it!"
"It wouldn't have gestated this fast..." Jean blinked. "Are you crying?"
Jubilee nodded mutely, sucking in gulp after gulp of silent sobs. Finally, she keened a soft cry and begged, "Jean, help me here! I don't know what's wrong with me! I feel so sad and sick and...I just want it all to end!"
The red head gasped; despair hit her like a wall as she opened her mind a fraction to Jubilee. She felt a wash of cold need and emptiness followed by and mingling with a burning grief so profound it could not begin to be fathomed. One thought was clear above all else, one crystal notion rising from Jubilee's mind. _She wants to die... _ "No," she said sharply. "Jubilee, look at me!" She knelt before the Asian girl and forced her to look up. "This isn't you. Something is affecting you. What's been going on? What have you done differently?"
Jubilee gurgled as she choked back a fresh sob. "Nothing! Do you think...do you think I'm going crazy? I felt fine yesterday..." She leaned forward and buried her face in Jean's neck. "I feel so awful!" The more she breathed, the more it hurt. It had gone from being an amorphous, nervous tension to physical illness to a despair so abject that she felt like she might understand hell now.
Jean tasted a twinge of her own fear as she rose, bringing Jubilee to her feet. "We're going to see the Professor, Jubilee. I'll ask him to meet us in your room. Don't fight me, okay?" She knew that was a useless question as Jubilee quickly became a quivering heap of sobs. She slowly led Jubilee to the door, pausing to move a box of tissues from the desk to within Jubilee's reach. Jean opened the door and nearly jumped as she saw who was standing on he other side. "Ernie! I thought you had Danger Room sessions until noon!"
He shrugged. "Got bored. Went walking around...she okay?" He nodded at Jubilee. "Looks like she lost someone close."
Jean narrowed her eyes at him but could not find a reason to snap. "Pardon us, Ernie. We have to get somewhere. Go back to Logan before he comes for you."
Ernie nodded assent but did not move as Jean led Jubilee slowly, painfully, up the stairs, the shorter girl sobbing harder than ever. "Okay, Aggie," he muttered to the empty hall. "I did my part."
1 Actually, flu shots only immunize for the previous year's strain so you're only safe from the old version.
2 Contraceptive methods available OTC are: film, foam, condoms, sponge (in some countries), jelly. Know them, love them, use them.