Paradigm Shift

PARADIGM SHIFT CHAPTER THIRTY ONE (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), I found Ted. Whatever you do, don't look in the tub...the Mermaid isn't very modest... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are wonderful for archiving. :) ProPhile gets more gold stars for musing. Readers/Reviewers: The ducks are hiding in suitcases...I think they'll be taken in customs. Not too sure about duckortaortation laws... In the mean time, THANK YOU for reading and reviewing and reading more... *g *

"You ever notice how often we end up at the hospital?" Scott asked quietly, mindful of the multitude of ears in the waiting area outside Labor and Delivery.
"Yeah," Jean sighed, "but usually it's the ER. I think this is the first time we've been to the fourth floor."
Across from them, Rahne snorted in her sleep, twisting in the hard plastic chair in an effort to get comfortable, finally ending up with her face pressed against Jamie's arm and her feet in the chair next to her. Scott chuckled briefly and said sotto voce to Jean, "How did they get here?"
"They were with Todd and Lance for some reason." Jean rolled her head from side to side, seeking to relieve some of the building tension. "I hate hospitals."
"Need some aspiring or something?" he asked, already moving to stand.
"It's not going to help. This place is almost worse than ER. Babies are high projectors and almost all of them are scared..." She sighed and then took a long, deep breath. "I just can't let it get to me." She did not want to even think about how much trouble they were all going to be once they got back to the Institute, their aborted search for Kurt now a seeming mistake and, she admitted, ill thought out. She wanted to be mad at Kitty for it, but she knew she could not. _I agreed. I thought it'd be a good idea and damn it, I'm tired of being a voice of reason! _ She noticed Scott looking at her strangely and she raised a brow as if to say "What?"
"Your nose is bleeding."
Jean's fingers flew to her face and she drew back, mildly horrified to see the red stain on her fingers. "Shit," she said simply, looking betrayed by her own body. "It happens sometimes when I'm under a lot of psychic stress." She leaned forward and pressed against her nose. "Could you get me some paper towels from the bathroom, soaked in cold water?"
"Sure," Scott said, sounding worried as he got to his feet and all but ran to the men's room.
"Shit," she said again, under her breath. The bleeding was slowing but it was still annoying.
"What's wrong?" Todd asked, sounding bored.
"Nose bleed," Jamie muttered, barely awake.
"That sucks," the other teenager opined.
"Try being on this side of it," Jean said wearily. "What's taking Scott so long with the towels?"
"They're out in this bathroom," Todd said. "All they got's that hand dryer thing that doesn't do much else aside from make your hands hot and wet."
"Ah." Jean looked up and saw that Jamie had fallen asleep against Rahne and Lance was pacing along one wall, oddly nervous despite his lack of responsibility in the situation.
"Hey," Todd said suddenly, making Jean start in surprise.
"Yeah?"
"You think Kurt's okay?" He shuffled his feet on the carpet and shrugged. "I mean, even if he thinks he's all from another dimension or whatever, it'd suck if he got hurt, ya know?"
"I think he'll be fine," Jean said kindly. "I'm more worried about Jubilee."
"Ah," Todd said, sounding more confident. "She'll be fine. She's got that whole attitude thing goin' for her. Kurt, though...he's been actin' weird as Hell these past coupla days." He leaned forward, his earnest expression indicating a secrecy to Jean even if she could not feel the unspoken plea wafting off him. "My mom, she ain't right in the head either. I got lots of sympathy for people like that...it's a tough life when you start to go crackers..."
Jean sighed again and tried to smile but ended up looking as if she were in pain. "He's not...ill..."
Todd shrugged. "Whatever. I just know it's hard to be like he is."
Jean fell silent and let Todd feel satisfied that he had made his point. _Weirder things have happened than Kurt swapping places with himself. Okay, it's a little Freaky Friday1 but... _ She ceased trying to rationalize it to herself as Scott finally returned with a dripping ful ful of paper towels. "Thanks," she muttered, pressing the cold paper to her nose. "Stress sucks."
"You're going to be a thrill in college, aren't you?" he said, leaning forward to look at her.
"Just wait until we tell the Professor we got married. I'll have a nosebleed for a week straight." She felt Scott tense beside her at the reminder of their rather precarious situation in terms of their relationship. "It's getting harder and harder to hide, you know," she said quietly, aware that while no one had heard her comment, she needed to be more careful with her words.
"I know," he sighed. "We'll tell him at Christmas, how about?"
"I was thinking we ease into," she suggested. "Tell him we're engaged, then that we eloped..."
"It's still lying to him," he pointed out, sliding his arm around her shoulders.
"And we'll still get busted..."
"Yeah. Either way, we're screwed, huh?" Scott pulled her closer and she went with it, ing ing the pounding of dozens of other minds trying to seek her out. "You still got a headache?"
"Mmmm."
_*It's going to get worse, Jean. _ *
She gasped aloud. _*Professor.... _ *
_*Don't bother. We'll discuss it later. are are still at the hospital? _ *
_*Yes... _ *
_*Kurt, Remy and Jono are here with Beast, Warren, Banshee and myself. I have contacted Storm and Logan and they are returning shortly. _ *
Jean glanced around the waiting area and was relieved that no one seemed the wiser to her telepathic conversation. _*Professor, I... _ * She felt an almost physical shock at the draught of annoyance and disappointment coursing through her mind from the Professor.
_*We will discuss it later, _ * he sent, the tone firm and unyielding.
Jean felt a wash of t tht that tasted of bile in her throat. _*Yes, sir. _ * A movement at the head of the hall leading from the waiting room caught her attention. Kitty was walking somewhat slowly into the room, pale and a little shaken. _*Tabby had her baby, I think. _ *
There was a longish pause and then, _*I expect you all to return here immediately then. _ * There was a mentally deafening snap of the dissolution of the connection and Jean sagged forward.
"What is it?"
_Spare the drama for now, _ she thought to herself. "Tabby had her baby."
Kitty came to stand in the middle of the loosely assembled group. "Hey," she said, making Jamie and Rahne blink to wakefulness.
"Well?" Lance said abruptly, stopping mid-pace. "What's going on?"
"That was the most _disgusting _ thing I've ever seen, heard, or read about in my entire life," Kitty said by way of preamble.
"Kitty," Todd said, exasperated. "Boy or girl?"
She paused and smiled. "A boy. Five pounds, three ounces and about this big," she held her hands scarcely a foot apart. "And has lungs like his mother!"
There was a collective sigh of relief, no one wanting to admit just how much they actually cared about Tabby's welfare. "And?" Jean said, prompting Kitty.
"And she's going to have to stay a day or two and the baby will have to stay longer because he's so early...and that's it. She's got staples holding her abdomen closed and she only lost a little blood, comparatively..."
"Eeeeeeeeew," Evan said unexpectedly.
Kitty started. "Where've you been hiding? I haven't seen you all day..."
"Story of my life," Evan sighed. "So can we see the kid?"
"In a little bit. They're still doing tests and stuff. Did Amara make it back with Wanda?" she asked hopefully.
"Not yet," Jean sighed. "We've got to get back to the house ASAP, though...the Professor's not very happy with any of us."
"Oh," Kitty said, suddenly glum. "It's all my fault..."
"Don't even start," Storm said, entering the waiting area with hearacaracteristic grace, Amara in tow. "You are all equally at fault, no matter who provided the impetus."
Amara sank into a plastic chair and exhaled wearily. "Wanda," she said to the room at large, "is a bitch."
"You," Storm said sharply, "are in enough trouble already!" In a different tone, she added, "Wanda is already with Tabby in recovery...that was our first stop on the way here. We can come back and visit Tabby and the baby later. Now, all of you, back to the Institute immediately."
The teenagers exchanged looked varying from tremulous to annoyed. Rogue, emerging from her doze in one corner near a rather sad looking fish tank that seemed common to all hospital waiting rooms, said, "Well, Hell. Let's get this over with."
Storm arched a brow and seemed to be vaguely amused by her reaction. "Yes, rather. It's three o'clock now. You have exactly one hour to return home. If I have to come look for you, you will not be happy." She stood to one side as her errant charges trooped past her and towards the bank of elevators. As Kitty slumped by, she stopped her with an outstretched hand. "Thank you, Kitty."
"For what?" she said, her surprise obvious.
_For making this existence more interesting sometimes. _ "Tabby was frightened, I'm sure. Thank you for staying with her, even though you knew better than to be gone without permission..."
"Oh, God," she groaned. "Logan..."
"Let me handle Logan," Storm said, winking.
Kitty stared after the older woman, unblinking. "Well," Rogue said quietly, stopping next to her friend, "that was creepy. We should not have any idea about the sex lives of older people. After twenty, no one has sex."
"Please tell me you don't really think that."
"Ask me again when I'm twenty." She nudged Kitty's shirt-clad arm with her bare elbow and the shorter girl noticed for the first time that Rogue was still in shorts and a t-shirt, exposing way more flesh than was her norm. Rogue grinned. "I'm feeling better today. It's a safe day."
"Does Todd know?" Kitty asked archly as they walked towards the elevators, seeking to put the coming punishment from their minds.
"He's gonna," Rogue said, laughing openly.
"Speaking of people you don't want to think about having sex," Kitty sighed.
"Oh, shut it! I share a wall with Kurt, remember?"
"Oh, hell," Kitty groaned. "I thought his room was soundproofed..."
"Air ducts."
"Hell."

Forge poked at the cracked holo forlornly. "And I was just done with it, too."
Banshee sighed and laid a comforting hand on his friend's arm. "It was a lovely piece, too...There'll be others, though."
"Not like this," he sighed. "Well, I suppose it's only fair. It's my fault this whole thing got started ay." y."
"Not quite," Warren said, a bit slowly. "Well, not because of this holo anyway."
"What do you mean?" Forge asked, dark brows snapping together.
Warren shifted uncomfortably, his wings fluttering as was his nervous habit. "Well...you know that thing you were working on about ten years ago for the DOD?"
"Which _thing _?" Forge sighed. "There were so many..."
"A big _thing _... that was supposedly discontinued..."
"Oh," he said, making a face of disgust. "I destroyed it when the project was scrubbed. It was too dangerous to just...no!" The implication hit him full force. "How?"
Banshee cocked his head to one side, looking between the two men. " Either of you want to tell me what you're talking about?"
Warren, never looking away from Forge, said,me yme years ago, he was commissioned to build a machine for the Department of Defense while they were experimenting with time travel technology. It never panned out because science had not advanced quite far enough, though I tend to think _funding _ had not advanced quite far enough..."
"That's closer to the truth," Forge snorted.
"The project was discontinued and Forge was..."
"Fired," he said, not wanting to go into the details of his disassociation with the government.
"Fired," Warren allowed and cleared his throat softly. "The device was supposedly destroyed and the components returned to storage for later attempts. Howevehe che company that the DOD contracted and that Forge worked for technically was bought out by someone, a private investor..." The tension was thick as he paused for dramatic effect. "Magneto."
Banshee groaned softly. "It always comes back to him, doesn't it?"
"What fun would life be without an archenemy?" Warren asked cheekily.
Forge slammed his fist down on the worktable and growled. "He had it rebuilt!"
"Rebuilt and modified. It was so close, Forge," Warren said softly. "The Professor fouut tut that your original project was known to some higher-ups and they knew it wasn't malfunctioning but rather...well, functioning in a very different way."
"Speak English, please," Banshee said sharply.
"Instead of time travel, it affected dimensions."
Forge sat down heavily. "Fuck me. How did I not know that?"
Banshee waved him off. "So why did Xavier want this holo destroyed?"
"The machine is still in use and he seems to think he knows where. War Warren pressed his fingers together in a steeple as he considered his next words. "He thinks that Magneto has affected the world Kurt went into to his own advantage, making it a sort of testing ground for his plans..."
"So..." Banshee said, encouraging more.
"So," Warren sighed, "it all comes back to Magneto..."
1 Oh, you know this movie...it's been remade tons of times. Mom and daughter swap bodies... mayhem ensues...*shrug *