Waiting is the Hardest Part

WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART CHAPTER THREE (R for language and mild sexuality)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Mad Queen of Plotbunnies, Kristen and Lucas dance in your honor (fully clothed-don't worry!) while Dodo is composing an aria. I'm not sure how it will sound, but he's put his heart into it... Ted is just hiding. Singing dolphins scare him a little... Thanks to Rei Mars for the challenge-I hope she likes it! Mille grazie also to the archivists for taking this forward fling... :)

Nine Months

"Mister Logan, sir?" Esther, a short girl with wide blue eyes and an unfortunate lateral lisp, was staring up at Logan like she was going to cry.
"What is it, kid?" He fought hard to keep the growl out of his voice but it was difficult-he had an armful of towels and was in a hurry.
"Is Miss Kitty going to be okay? She was sounding like she was hurt earlier..."
"What're you doing lurking around the infirmary? Get to your own room and stay there!" He tried not to snap, really he did, but it just sort of came out. Esther yipped in startlement and turned away, running full tilt down the hall. _I don't have time for this... _ He strode to the infirmary, almost running as he heard the sounds from within.
"You son of a bitch! You're never touching me again!" Amara shrieked.
"Princess, remember to breathe..." Lance sounded scared, the only time Logan had ever heard that tone in the younger man's voice.
"If I wasn't breathing, I'd be dead, wouldn't I, dumb ass?" she snapped.
Logan braced himself to enter-a room full of mutant women in labor was something he had never thought of facing. _Where's Sabertooth when you need him? _ -but was stopped by Remy. The Cajun came tumbling out amidst a spray of plasma _pafs _ , patting at his clothes where Jubilee's assault scorched him. At Logan's raised brow, he said "Apparently, she got doubts on my parentage..." Taking a visibly deep breath, Remy straightened and went back into the room. "Now, chere, you jus' in pain right now..."
"You have no idea!" Jubilee growled.
Logan sighed. "Here goes nothin'..." The infirmary was verging on chaos with Beast right in the middle of it. Rogue and Todd were pacing along one wall, her head bent to hear whatever he was murmuring to her. Amara was on her side, breathing heavily, Lance rubbing her back as she rode out a contraction. Jubilee had hold of Remy's shirt front, twisting the fabric as she made a face of discomfort. Jean was leaning her head against Scott, taking slow, deep breaths, her eyes flying open even as Logan looked at her, her hands clenching Scott's arm as a contraction hit. Rahne was on all fours1, Jamie stroking her hair and looking like he was about to faint. Storm was speaking with Beast, her hand on her back as paced with him, pausing to bite her lip in a contraction. Logan dropped the towels on a table as he crossed the room towards Storm, stopping to stare when he saw Kitty. She was sitting on a large ball, Kurt on the floor next to her holding her hand. "Hiya, Logan," she said. "This would almost be fun if I wasn't in labor..."
"What the Hell is that thing?"
"Birth ball," Kurt explained. "Relieves pressure on the cervix..."
"Whoa-stop right there...I don't want to know about Half-Pint's lady parts..." Logan felt his heart squeeze though. He was going to be a father the same day he became a grandfather, of sorts.
Beast loomed behind him. "It's one of the stranger things I've seen...Amara went into labor around two this morning and the rest dominoed..." Beast shrugged his massive shoulders and look mildly flustered. "Kitty just came in while you were getting the towels. She's already at four centimeters and not very uncomfortable. She and Kurt have been making jokes about the baby just 'porting or phasing out, so I'm thinking she'll handle this well."
"How's 'Ro doin'?" Logan could see her talking to Jean, apparently discussing what was going on judging by the look on Scott's face.
"Fine, fine...she's been using meditation and vocalization to handle the pain. Amara is the only one who wants painkiller but I'm not an anesthesiologist...I can't administer it without some doubt."
"This all happened too fast to get them to the hospital..." Logan sighed.
"Storm didn't tell you?" Beast raised one blue brow. "The women all agreed months ago to have home births if their pregnancies went well. Sort of an all-for-one thing...if one went to the hospital, they all went..." A sharp sound from Jubilee drew Beast's attention. Making an apology to Logan, he hurried over to where Remy was having his shirt shredded by the small woman.

Two hours later...

"Babe, you're gonna hafta leggo my hand..." Todd hissed. He could not feel his fingers and seriously thought one of them was broken.
"I'll leggo your hand when this kid stops trying to tear me apart from the inside," she growled in response. "'s a's another one..." She bore down as another contraction washed over her, making Todd drop to his knees as she tightened her grip on his hand. "Love you, sweetie," she breathed.
"Grk."

"You okay, Rahne?" Jamie asked anxiously.
"If you ask me that again, love, I'm going to scream. Loudly." Rahne was not given to screaming, even when the contractions were at their hardest. Instead, she had hold of Jamie's arm, squeezing with all the pain she felt.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ....let go a minute, Rahne..." She glared at him but did it anyway. Jamie clapped his hand and a multiple appeared. "Grab him... it won't hurt as badly."
"That," Scott sighed, "is no fair..."

"I should show you how this feels," Jean bit out in the middle of a contraction. Her eyes lit up and she turned a speculative gaze on Scott.
"No! Nonononononononono!" he said, backing away but still tethered by her hand.
"Oh, I won't do it...I'm a little too distracted right now..." she closed her eyes and settled back.
_Thank God. _

Amara was sweaty and she hated it. Unlike the type of sweaty that got her in this situation to start with, this sweaty was not fun. Lance was shaking like a leaf, first rubbing her back then stroking her hair, then her back again... "Lance, stop it."
"Sorry..." He tucked his hands in his pockets and looked forlorn.
Heaving a sigh, Amara said, "It's nothing you're doing. I just don't want to be touched right now..." She sucked in a breath as another twinge started low in her belly and rolled into a full contraction.
Striving for humor, he said, "Well, you can punish me for it later."
"You'd better believe I will," she growled.

Storm was breathing evenly, eyes closed and face tipped upwards towards the overhead light. She made a humming noise and Logan stared. "What is it?e ase asked after a moment.
"Just wondering what you're doing...why aren't you all panting and that?"
"I'm using meditation. I tried to teach the others but it's easy to forget during moments of great stress...I've been doing this since before some of them were born so it is second nature to me..."
Logan raised a brow. "You're gonna explode one day, darlin', holdin' it all in like that..."
"You know I don't always hold it in." Her smirk clearly indicated just what she was referring to.
"Now, now, darlin'...you know we gotta wait for six weeks..."
"Remind me to show you some of these meditation exercises."
"Way ahead of ya..."

Remy smoothed Jubilee's hair back from her brow and sighed. "I'm sorry, chere..."
"For wha "M "Makin' you feel pain."
"Remy," she managed between contractions, "the only time you gotta apologize for anything involving this kids is if they blow something up that I can't replace." Another contraction hit her and she buried her face in his chest. He felt a surge of protectiveness, nearly overwhelming him, as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.


"Katzchen, that _hurts! _ " Kurt wrenched his tail free of her grasp and held it to his chest like an injured child.
"You don't know hurt until you've tried to shove nine pounds of baby out of a hole the size of..."
"Kitty!"
"Sorry...sorry..." she shifted uncomfortably. "I think I'm almost ready to push."
"Beast!" Kurt let go of his tail and grabbed onto Kitty's hands. "Do you want to kneel? He said that's easier than laying down..."
"Give me a minute," she gasped. "Now's not the best time for conversation..."
Kurt felt like he was in Bizzaro world. _God, yesterday we were just sixteen...how did this happen? _

Beast was sure he was going to roar or scream or something else that wosuresurely upset the room at large. Six women in the end stages of labor, five of them crowning. "Okay, fathers, listen up. I can't do this by myself. Everyone do as I say..." Beast quickly rattled off instructions, how to guide the baby out, how to clean the nasal passages and mouths of mucus. "I'm going to try and help all of you, but there's no way I can deliver six babies at once. Remember-stay calm and don't panic."
"Easy for him to say," Lance grumbled. "Okay, how do you want to do this?"
"As painlessly as possible," Amara snapped. "I want drugs..."
"I'll get you some of that awful ice cream you like when you're done," he offered, helping her to her knees and handing her the end of the knotted towel tied to the bedframe in place of a birth bar.
"It's not awful. You just don't like it because you don't like sweet things..."
"Must be why I love you so much," he said tiredly.
Amara stared down at him and for a moment, he was afraid he had made her angry. Her sudden laugh made him grin and drew glances from the other people in the room. "I think we should pick out a name now..."

"Okay, Rahne, steady now..." Two Jamies helped Rahne back onto her hands and knees, her low breathing filling their ears. "You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be..."

"You sure you want to do it like this, Jean?" Scott held her hand as she rolled to one side.
"Yeah...it doesn't hurt as much this way..." She squeezed tightly. "Scott...I trust you. But babies are slippery when they come out and if you drop our child..."
Scott bit back a smile. "I promise I won't drop the baby."
"Ever?"
"I'll give it a go."

"Logan, hold my hand."
"Darlin', are you....OW!"
"Sorry...contraction." Storm motioned for him to take her other hand. "I need up..."
"Stay right there...you're not having this kid on the floor."
"I need up...I refuse to have this baby laying down." Storm made a face of defiance and Logan sighed. "I'll help you squat on the bed."
"Good..get behind me and hold me up...don't gie the that look. Women in my tribe birthed this way for thousands of years."
"Welcome to the twenty-first century, kid," he muttered, ignoring Storm's glare as he moved behind her.

"You sure you're covered?" Rogue gasped.
"Mmpgher er mphere ad."
"Huh?"
Todd pulled down his mask. "Yes," he answered shortly. Every possible piece of his skin was covered. He even wore a pair of Beast's clear eye shields "just in case."
"Good, because I think you'd better get ready to catch."

"Kurt...this hurts more than I thought it would." Kitty wanted to cry. "I thought this would hurt less."
"Katzchen, there's a reason it's called _labor _ ." Kurt was nervous, however. Beast's decree that the fathers would be delivering the babies had made him start shaking fit to fall apart. "Here, hold my hand..."
"Can't...I'll break something." She gripped the sheets tightly. "Oh! That's cold!"
"Sorry, Kitty," Beast sighed, his stethoscope on her abdomen. "Just checking..."
"Is it okay?" Kurt practically leapt across he dhe doctor.
"Everything is fine...heart rate is strong and regular, Kitty's heart rate is fine as well. Any time now..." he added with a smile. "The head is crowning..." He thought he would leave the news that the child was blue for the parents to discover on their own.
"Okay, Schatz..." Kurt said, steeling himself, "when you're ready, push."

"I be in' in' somethin's wrong, Beast..." Remy said, his usually calm voice tinged with worry. "She been pushin' an' pushin' but nothin'..."
Beast looked past the young man to where Jubilee was laying, her eyes half closed in tired effort. "Let me check something..."
Remy stroked Jubilee's fand and hands as Beast performed an examination, the sounds of laboring women all around them. After a few minutes, Beast nodded for Remy to step to one side for a private word. "If she can't push the baby out on her own, she'll need a C-section. It's rare, but among Asian women we find that sometimes their pelvis is actually too small to deliver vaginally if the father of the child is of non-Asian descent.2 Like I said, it's rare, but apparently, Jubilee may be suffering from that even as we speak."
"C-section? You mean..." Remy swallowed hard. "Cut her open?"
"Only if she can't deliver vaginally." Beast laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. "I can do it here, in the hospital wing, but I need your permission in case she can't give it." Remy nodded, his face a mask of fear. "Go to her now...she might do this yet."

"Push, love...bear down..."
"....almost..."
"I can see the head!"
"Just one more...you can do it, I promise..."
"Oh, this is gross..."
"Breathe a minute...rest..."
"Okay...here we go..."

Beast checked on each mother in turn, the cacophony of voices melding so that he could no longer tell which father was saying what, which woman wassingsing who or crying. Rogue was first. With one hard bitten curse, she bore down and Todd found himself holding their son. He swayed dangerously on his feet as Beast reached around him to clamp off the cord. "Cut it here," he indicated, taking the baby from Todd's arms and laying him on Rogue's chest. Todd cut and jerked back at the sight of blood. "Now come say hello to your son..." He hurried over to Jean, who was gasping in relieved pain. Scott was already clng ong out the baby's nose and crying himself, hands shaking. "Another boy?" Beast grinned. "Seems to be an epidemic..." He helped Scott wrap the baby in a new blanket before he moved over to Storm and Logan. "You look pale,"
"This is..." Logan shook his head.
"Isn't it, though?" Logan was holding the baby as if he was afraid of breaking it. Beast looked at Storm, damp with sweat but looking mostly serene. "Boy or girl?"
"Girl..." she sighed. "We have a daughter..."

Lance was sitting on the bed with Amara staring as she stroked the baby's back. "Isn't it too early to feed?" he murmured, awed.
"No," Beast informed him. "She just has colostrums, not milk right now. The baby needs to learn how to suckle as soon as possible and the colostrums will help nourish...er, him or her?"
"Her..." Amara said, a goofy smile on her face. "Hello, my little queen...say hi to daddy..."
"Daddy," Lance mumbled, looking stunned. "Daddy..."

"I think I'm still in labor," Kitty said breathlessly. "Are you sure I'm done?"
"Ja, Schatz," Kurt sniffled, placing their son on Kitty's chest. "A little blue boy with a tail...I'm sure you're done!"
"Um, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Kurt..." Beast muttered from between Kitty's knees.
"Was?" Kurt blinked. "Oh, you mean the afterbirth, right?"
Kitty shook her head. "Two...there's another one!"
"How...what...Gah!" Kurt felt the floor tilt dangerously beneath his feet. "You mean..."
Beast nodded. "I must have missed it...the babies are small and your son was blocking the other one on the ultrasound...get ready to bear down, Kitty."
Kurt hurried around to the foot of the bed and Beast moved aside to let him deliver this baby as he had the first. "A girl..." Kurt croaked. "It's a girl..."
Kitty let her head loll back and let out a shaking breath. "Told you I wasn't done yet..."

Rahne had the easiest birth. Years later, Jamie would tell their son that she just sneezed and there he was, new born and smiling. She, however, would insist it was hours of painful labor, but, she would always add, he was more than worth it and she would have gone through days of labor just to bring him into the world. Beast smiled down at them as Jamie made inarticulate cooing noises to his new son, Rahne guiding the tiny mouth to her nipple. "Don't think you're getting your multiples t dia diaper duty," she whispered as Beast walked off.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," Beast sighed.
"No!" Jubilee panted. "Don't cut me open! Lemme push a little longer..." Her outcry brought silence to the room. She was struggling to sit up on the bed but Remy held her shoulders down.
"Chere, the enfant, it can't come, d'accord? Beast gonna hafta take 'em out...I ain't gonna let go yo' hand de whole time..."
"No..." she began crying in earnest, tossing her head from side to side in negation. "Don't cut me..."
"Jubilee," Beast said in his best doctor-voice, "if I don't perform the procedure, there is every chance this baby will suffer for it. Your health is at risk...I cannot, in good conscience, let you continue in this way. Remy gave me permission earlier..."
"Bastard!" she hissed.
"Chere," he said sadly, "I ain't gonna let you do dis...dis be de bes' ting for you an' our chile."
Rogue's voice carried across the room. "We'll all be there...can we, Beast?"
"I don't have room for you all in the operating room," he sighed. "Remy can stay with her, but all of you...that's too many people."
Kitty spoke up over the tops of her babies' heads, "Can you do it in the observation room? There's a window and she can see us..."

Jubilee looked over to her left, ignoring the mirror above Beast's shoulder that showed her abdomen split open. She could see her friends waving and smiling at her, then Kurt slump to the floor when he looked towards Beast. "Wuss," she whispered.
"Shh...." Remy kissed her cheek. "Just be quiet...let Beast do this..."
"Remy, you're going to have to come help me. I can't do this solo..."
Remy moved to the foot of the gurney and nearly gagged. Jubilee's open abdomen was before him, his child a moving lump inside her uterus. Beast's directions made him move automatically, the blood on his hands making him his his decision to let the C-section happen. "Everyting be fine, chere," he said softly. "Je t'aime..."
"Me, too, Gumbo," she breathed. Kitty waved to her and made one of her babies' wave it's tiny blue hand. Kurt was slumped against Scott, looking green around the gills. "And God help me, I love those freaks, too..." The crowd outside the window had stopped waving and smiling and instead looked anxious, looking from Beast to her and back again.
"It's a girl," Beast shapphappily. She could see Remy sway and turn pale. "Go stand by her head...I can do this part alone," Beast said kindly. Remy nodded, mouth a tight line against nausea, as he accepted the baby from Beast and hurried to Jubilee's side.
"A girl," she sighed. She turned her head back to the window and mouthed "Girl!" The crowd erupted in grins and soundless cheers, and, she was never quite sure, but she thought Rahne may have barked.

Night had fallen on the Institute and the excitement had died down. The students were given the rest of the week off in celebration of the cadre of births and were now either in the rec room or the Danger Room, "Goofing off" as Logan termed it.
Beast accepted the tumbler of Scotch from the Professor gladly. "Remind me to teach them how to call a hospital or birthing center if this happens again," he sighed.
Charles Xavier laughed. "Admit it-this was much more interesting that bandaging cuts and putting ice on bruises."
"Touche..." Beast raised his glass in salute. "You realize," he said after several quiet sips, "that including the babies, there are niftyifty mutants in residence here."
Charles choked on his Scotch. "Actually, I hadn't counted..." He shook his head. "Fifty..." With a smile, he said, "You know something, though? I think I could happily take on fifty more..."
Beast shook his head. "You, my good sir, are the worst kind of fool. You are the optimistic kind."
Charles chuckled. "That may be, but look at things this way...we can play with the babies all we want then send them home, all riled up to their parents."
1 A very good birthing position, actually. Not b/c she's a wolfy type person at all.
2 Weird but apparently true, at least according to the birth assistant class I took.