Summer Fic Exchange: A Logical Progression 1/2
Title: A Logical Progression
Author: CloudyJenn
Recipient: xxxholiclover
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairings: Erik/Charles, Hank/Raven
Rating: R
Word Count: 18,000
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Warnings: mpreg, some sexual imagery, cursing, a pregnant man (no really, read that warning a few times)
Summary: Charles didn't want her to press this because he didn't want to hear Erik confirm it was just about the baby. Charles was grateful for the support. It didn't have to be more than that.
Author's Notes: My recipient asked for one prompt where Charles gets pregnant and another where E/C are afraid to admit their feelings for each other. So I decided to smoosh those together, partly because I've never considered writing mpreg before and it sounded like an interesting challenge. I gloss over much of the pregnancy as well as some of the ending from the movie. My recipient wanted happy slashy goodness, so I aim to please. It's canon AU from the beach scene. I borrow some names and details from comic canon, but for the most part, details are suited to fit the story.
A Logical Progression
Fantasies aside, Charles never thought he'd find himself in this position.
In truth, he hadn't realized he could find himself in this position. And yet, there he was, back pushed hard against a cold metal locker, held up by nothing more than the force of Erik's powerful thrusts. Their ridiculous yellow jumpsuits lay abandoned on a nearby bench in the locker room. Charles couldn't remember how he got out of his. He couldn't really remember much of the whole afternoon. Just flashes of images and emotions. Fear that Erik was going to be killed turned to blood-cold terror that he was going to commit mass murder eased into breath-stealing relief when Erik triggered the bombs safely miles high in the sky. It all blurred and pulsed together into one giant lump of quivery weakness that somehow became the catalyst for that first kiss.
Charles did remember he was the one who initiated it. All those months of holding himself back were forgotten in the heat of the moment and though he somehow managed to feel embarrassed of losing control even in the midst of mind-searing pleasure licking up his spine, Charles also felt proud he'd never once skimmed Erik's mind to see if his friend ever had the same fantasies.
Shielding against his thoughts right now was pretty much impossible though. Not just because sex always lowered Charles' defenses. Erik was all but shouting inside his head.
Too bad it was all in German.
Even without the details, Charles got the gist. Urgent lust, shocked relief, remnants of fear.
Charles recognized the apologies.
He didn't need them. Erik was safe and here. That was all Charles could ask for and he tried to communicate that in every touch, every kiss, in the way he arched his back and gripped Erik's hair and shouted his pleasure. He'd never been quite so vocal in sex or so open. Quite literally in this case. All his other times with boys at school had been fumbled exchanges, spurred by the excitement of something so taboo, the danger of being caught. It'd never progressed much past desperate and at times, humiliatingly swift dry-humping. Yet he didn't even think to question it when Erik lifted him up with intent, gripping under his thighs and rubbing his dick against the curve of Charles' ass. He laughed when Erik wrenched open the locker beside them with his power and began grasping for anything slick, but that laughter died a strangled death when Erik's long slender fingers pressed inside him.
Charles wasn't sure what kept him from trying this particular activity for so long, but it had clearly been a mistake.
It was only after he'd come all over his hand, his stomach and oh dear Erik's chest and felt Erik doing the same deep inside him that Charles had his epiphany. Those deep burning shocks of pleasure so different from tight wet heat around his cock were utterly delicious, but they weren't the reason Charles had climaxed so hard. Nor were they the reason his heart squeezed in his chest when Erik laid his forehead against Charles', warm breath puffing against Charles' lips and hitched his legs up again, determined to hold him close for a moment longer.
"Charles," Erik murmured, sounding as exhausted and wrecked as Charles felt.
There were times when Charles wished he could hear his own thoughts as clearly as he did others. Then the persistence of these inappropriate fantasies tumbled into reality wouldn't be smacking him hard in the face while Erik's dick still rested inside his body.
He was in love with his best friend.
****************
They didn't talk about what happened. Charles because his revelation startled him so badly and then because Erik also didn't say anything. Even if he were threatened at gunpoint, Charles would never have dipped into Erik's mind. He'd practically thrown himself at Erik like a horny schoolgirl and okay, Erik had accepted his ardor, but days passed and then weeks without a word or better yet, an offer of a repeat. Charles didn't think he could bear learning Erik had only indulged Charles out of misguided adrenaline-fueled relief.
Not that the worry was any more amusing. But if Erik wanted to pretend it didn't happen and their relationship could survive, Charles didn't dare tip the balance. Besides, they both had plenty to do. It took a week of lengthy debates that occasionally edged into real arguments, but eventually between the four of them, Charles, Erik, Raven and Hank agreed on a basis for creating a school for young mutants. The biggest controversy being, of course, Erik and Charles' disagreement about disclosure to the public. Charles remained convinced non-mutant humans could not handle the sudden introduction of powered humans into their midst. Erik abhorred the idea of hiding.
The compromise came in baby steps. It pained Charles beyond telling to suppress Moira's memories, but the alternative would be asking her to give up her career and Charles couldn't do it. They weren't ready to risk an institution with the CIA's resources knowing of their existence. Erik hated leaving the description of their students at simply "gifted", but he agreed to it so long as they didn't teach the children to hide in their personal lives. Each student would decide for themselves whether they would reveal their powers to the humans around them. In addition to teaching duties, Charles would begin drafting a series of lectures that would begin to slowly raise awareness of possible mutations to both the scientific community and the general public. He'd most likely be laughed out of his own profession, but that hardly mattered. A slow introduction of his and Hank's evidence would soon intrigue minds and hopefully, spin opinion towards a positive reaction.
He might have to sit on Erik to keep him from speeding up their time-line, but then again, he might enjoy doing so.
And so it was that five weeks after their mission on Cuba narrowly avoided disaster, the Xavier School for the Gifted officially opened.
They made Charles claim the name because it was his money funding it. And because Erik said the Xavier-Lensherr-Darkholme-McCoy School for the Gifted would look crowded on the letterhead. Their first student was a quiet red-haired girl named Jean Grey who had telekinetic powers along with a latent sort of telepathy Charles didn't quite understand. The following week she was joined by Ororo Munroe who could control the weather, Piotr Rasputin who could his body to steel and Warren Worthington who'd sprouted positively enormous white wings the previous year.
From an expectation of teaching high-level genetics to doctoral candidates, Charles found himself teaching grade school history, biology and English to a growing collection of preadolescent mutants.
The vomiting started the third week of school.
"What the hell did you eat last night?" Raven asked at Charles' bathroom door, her yellow eyes managing to convey both disgust and sympathy.
"Same thing as you." Charles heaved the words between hitching breaths and the effort made his stomach rumble. "M'dying."
"No, you're not," Raven said dismissively. "Erik isn't here."
Charles didn't know what that meant and considering he was revisiting each of last night's courses in surprisingly accurate order, he didn't really care. All he wanted to do was drag himself back to his bed and let the end come. A cool cloth mopped the sweat from his forehead.
"You better have some good lesson plans," Raven said with a regretful shake of her head. "Because our choices of substitute teachers are Alex and Sean, so..."
Both boys...no, men, Charles corrected himself, lived in the mansion still, but neither were official teachers. At least not of regular subjects. They'd teamed up to tackle the issue of physical training. Charles knew it was necessary, but their students were just so young. Not young enough that they can't be put in danger just for existing, Erik had reminded him.
Sometimes, it occurred to Charles that Erik's glass wasn't even one-fourth full.
"Alex," Charles gasped between the meat course and dessert. Alex might be more destructive in general, but he wouldn't scar their minds.
When he felt sufficiently empty, Raven pulled his limp body onto the bed and tucked him in. "If you need any more help," she said, tapping the side of her forehead and grinning. "Call Erik."
Charles tried to throw a pillow at her, but all he managed to do was pick his hand up, flop it back down again and moan helplessly. Raven said something, but Charles missed it because he fell asleep again almost immediately. He dreamed about walking through the sprawling backyard garden, a small hand held tightly in his own much larger one. Just before he woke, he heard a very young voice chattering happy nonsense. A smile dressed his expression when Charles opened his eyes.
He felt perfectly fine. A short glance at the clock gave him 11 AM. Huh. It must have been something he ate after all. Whatever the cause, clearly it was gone now. A quick shower and he rejoined the rest of the mansion for the second half of the day. Most of the staff were none the wiser. Including Erik who plopped down beside Charles at lunch with his bowlful of stew and a carefree smile. Charles decided to neglect telling Erik of his little pukefest. Luckily for Erik's deeply closeted mother-henning desires, little Kitty Pryde sat down opposite Charles and gave him a wide-eyed look of concern.
"Are you okay, Professor?" she asked. "Mr. Summers said you was sick this morning."
"'Were' sick," Charles corrected absently.
"You were sick?" Erik asked, turning away from his lunch to face Charles and begin some kind of examination only he could understand. Peering into Charles' eyes, turning his face one way and then the other, feeling the back of his neck. Touching Charles enough to bring the flush of heat to his cheeks.
"I felt unwell this morning, but I'm much better," he assured them both.
"Mrs. Raven said you was...you were puking up your guts!" Kitty countered with apparent fierce determination to glue Erik to Charles' side for the rest of the day. He made a mental note to scold Raven for scaring the children and riling up Erik.
"I assure you, my guts are intact. Really, Erik," Charles admonished, pushing away Erik's palm from his now cool dry forehead. "I'm fine."
"Did you get Hank to test you?" Erik asked sternly.
"No and Hank isn't a physician." They'd advertised a position for an on-site medical doctor, but Charles had compromised for the others' desire that a fellow mutant handle the discretion of treating other mutants. Until they found a suitable candidate, Hank was their best bet and Charles knew it. So did Erik and his raised eyebrow evidenced this knowledge.
"Charles-"
"Erik-"
"Kitty," Kitty interjected, then giggled at her own joke. It thankfully distracted Erik off topic for a moment. Charles stamped the image of Erik's ever so slight fond smile onto his memory. Erik and first graders would never get old. But still, it was a good time to make his escape. His fingers curled around the edge of his tray, he began to stand and that was when Charles first felt it.
A whisper of another consciousness. Tiny and weak and unlike anything Charles had ever felt. He could sense no real organized thoughts. Even more shocking, no name, a sense of identity so deeply ingrained in people that it was usually the first word he lifted off another mind. He couldn't even find a concept of personality. Just the idea of a life, a spark of consciousness clinging to Charles more closely than he'd ever experienced. Even Raven and Erik, his two closest companions, didn't shadow Charles so intimately. It almost felt as though...Charles shook his head, trying to clear the notion, but the sensation stayed the same.
It felt like the other mind was inside him.
The second he processed that thought, Charles leapt from his seat, knocking the chair back till it hit the wall. Erik's smile slipped off his face.
"Charles?"
"I'm sorry," he babbled, fingers white where they clenched his tray. "I just remembered...something to do. Have to...I'll see you later."
Judging by Erik's bewildered concern, Charles had not managed to escape the inevitable hunt and questioning Erik would force him to endure. But so long as he didn't follow him just then, Charles could care less. He doubted Erik would deal well with the idea that another mind had connected itself to Charles. Really, there was only one person he could trust not to completely lose it when he heard this information.
He needed to speak with Hank.
*******************
"Oh hello, Charles," Hank called out from under a pile of papers and what looked like bits of a microscope. "I was just cleaning...are you okay?" he asked once he got a good look at Charles' half-panicked expression. His mood shifted from pleasantly calm to pleasantly alert. It was one of the reasons Charles loved him so much. Ever since his form had changed from man to furry blue cat-man, Hank had settled into a zen-like state punctuated by bouts of scientific joy that not only suited him quite well, but was very soothing for Charles' abilities.
"Oh not really," Charles said, running fingers through his mop of sweaty hair. "I'm having a little problem."
"What sort of problem?"
"I think an alien consciousness may have attached itself to my mind."
There was a pause where Hank slowly removed his glasses and nodded thoughtfully.
"Well. We should probably do some tests."
"Yes, let's."
Three hours later, Charles lay on a cot in Hank's lab and massaged his aching temples. Most of the tests were mental. An hour and a half strapped into Cerebro while Hank calibrated the controls every so often to perform a complicated battery of tests had left Charles exhausted and even more convinced the consciousness he felt was not projecting from a long distance, but rather was somehow very nearby. In comparison, the physical examinations, the x-rays and blood tests, were quite relaxing.
"It's the damnest thing," Charles said, letting his hands flop back down on the cot. Frustration bit at his nerves. "It's almost totally unobtrusive. If I stop thinking about it, I don't even really sense it anymore. Why would someone bother to connect to my mind and then not try to steal information or harm me?"
"I have a...theory," Hank said. It was the hesitation in his voice that caught Charles more than his words. For the first time in an hour, he turned his attention from the consciousness to Hank's state of mind. The pervasive disbelief had him sitting up so fast his head swam.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Charles..." Hank's eyebrows furrowed and for a moment, he looked like the nervous kid Charles remembered meeting all those months ago. "I want you to know that I would normally never ask you something this personal, but...is it at all possible that approximately seven weeks ago, you engaged in unprotected intercourse with a man?"
Charles nearly fell on his cot.
"Why on earth would you ask me that?" he shouted.
More importantly, how could he possibly know?
Hank sighed and held up one of the x-rays. "I don't know how else to say this, Professor and believe me when I say I've tried to come up with any other explanation, but I can't. Your body has a secondary adaptive mutation centered in your reproductive system."
"Excuse me?"
"You're pregnant, Charles," Hank blurted.
Stunned silence followed this proclamation, though Charles didn't sit idle. His mind latched onto Hank's, demanding entrance and the proof of truth. Because this had to be a strange joke. Charles' life had never been normal, but male pregnancy stepped over a line he couldn't bear to cross. To his credit, Hank didn't even flinch at the insistent request before letting Charles in. A sudden rush of images and information streamed through Charles' mind. The same tests completed three and four times, the same results, each scan showing the exact same thing.
A tiny spark of life growing inside Charles' slowly mutating body.
"That's impossible," Charles whispered, eyes clenched shut against the truth.
We are all impossible, Hank murmured inside Charles' mind.
"Is it..." Charles had gone numb, but one point stuck out. "Is the baby safe?"
"Besides the fact that it's growing inside a male body, the fetus is perfectly healthy and on the correct time-line with its development," Hank assured him, this time out loud. He shuffled through his papers, excitement making the fur on his arms stand on end. "It's actually quite fascinating how exactly your body has created the necessary parts and space. The change happened slowly enough that we didn't notice, but I think if you looked, you'd find that your hips are even slightly wider. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if when the time came, your body even made it possible to expel-"
"Hank!" Charles couldn't hear anymore of that right now. He jumped off the cot and began pacing. In his life, Charles couldn't remember ever being so frightened. Not even when he first heard his mother's cool distant voice in his head when he was only three years old. It felt as though his body had betrayed him.
"Your body has always been this way," Hank objected. Charles paused. He hadn't realized he'd projected that thought. "You just never knew it because...well, I don't want to assume, but that must have been the first time you introduced foreign sperm into your body. You might never have known otherwise."
Excellent. His body was so desperate to create a new line of Xaviers that it gave him a way even if he preferred taking it up the ass.
"What am I going to do?" Charles groaned as he sank down into the large armchair he always favored when he and Hank discussed science until late into the night.
Hank's expression turned troubled, but whatever difficulty he had with his next sentence didn't stop him from saying it.
"There are options," he said very slowly. "If you feel this is more than you can handle. But I feel obligated to add, if you choose that way I think the father...that is, the other father deserves to know."
Charles stared at him. The other father.
"Charles, would I be correct in assuming that when you tell the other father, it would be best to do so in a setting where there isn't any metal?"
Oh god, Erik.
************************
Week Seven
Erik was Charles' best friend, very probably the love of his life and now apparently the father of his child.
And yet still...Charles had no idea how he would react to this news. He didn't think Erik would have much trouble accepting the mutation part of the explanation. His pride in their abilities would turn unbearably hypocritical if it failed him just because Charles was pregnant. No, once the shock passed, Charles could even see Erik being fascinated and pleased with this new addition to Charles' already not inconsequential power.
It was the deeper connection to Charles that he wasn't sure Erik could accept. After all these weeks of silence, Charles found it hard to believe that Erik wanted anything other than for their friendship to remain the way it was. He knew some people raised children without the benefit of a romantic connection. But raising a child with Erik and successfully burying his feelings seemed very unlikely.
Either way, Hank was right. Erik deserved to know about the baby. The flicker of consciousness might be clinging to Charles' mind only, but it was half Erik's. He needed to help make decisions about what to do with it.
If Erik said he wanted him to get rid of it, Charles didn't think he'd ever recover from that.
"Erik? Um...could I please speak with you? Privately?"
His tests with Hank had been three days ago. Three long days of absentmindedly teaching, barely seeing where he was going or tasting what he was eating. Charles knew his students and friends were worried about him. None more so than Erik, who'd threatened him with a whirling storm of paperclips just that morning if he didn't tell Erik what was wrong. But he hadn't been ready. He'd needed those three days to even make a dent in the process of accepting what was happening to his body.
And to ready himself for a possible end of his friendship with Erik.
"I should think the paperclips would have answered that question for you," Erik growled as he stood from his little study group. "Excuse me, children. I need to speak with your professor," he said, grabbing Charles by the wrist and dragging him into the nearest room, a large bedroom converted into a classroom. "Now tell me what's been making you drive me insane recently."
"I assure you, driving you insane wasn't my intention," Charles snapped, already defensive and antsy. Erik didn't look impressed. He crossed his arms, leaned against the door and glared down at Charles from his unfair height advantage. "Stop that. You know I hate it when you loom."
"Just tell me what's wrong, Charles."
"It's not that easy." While Erik stayed perfectly still, Charles couldn't stop moving. He paced from one end of the room to the other, alternatively wringing his hands and running them through his hair. "What I have to say is not...it's not easy," he repeated, feeling foolish. "It's not even strictly believable."
"Why don't you allow me to decide that for myself," Erik said calmly. His nonchalance irritated Charles. This whole thing was Erik's fault anyway. Erik and his demanding penis. See if Charles ever let Erik put it anywhere near his body again.
"Fine. You remember what happened in Cuba?" Charles asked and though he meant to sound businesslike, his nerves turned his voice shaky. Only Erik ever made him sound that way. "I mean, after the mission. In the locker room."
The subtle change in Erik's stance made Charles want to wrap his thoughts around Erik's so badly it honestly hurt. Now that he was finally bringing up the subject, Charles felt like he was pointing a light on the space between them that hadn't existed before Cuba. A space made of uncertainty and unfulfilled desires. A space that would only get larger now that Charles was openly speaking about it. He watched Erik's casual stance sharpen into tension, saw the way his cheek twitched and without using his powers, felt the air between them grow thick and awkward.
"Of course," Erik said shortly.
"Well, it seems..." Charles rubbed his temples again, already nursing a headache from this conversation. He'd never been trained on how to tell a one-time lover that they'd impregnated you. "The thing is, when I became ill recently, I went to Hank for a check up and he discovered that...well, when that happened, we...or rather, you...and I..." One hand closed over his belly. Charles couldn't feel any difference yet. "I'm...you know..." he said helplessly.
"No, I'm sorry," Erik said with a frown. "I don't speak inflection, Charles."
Charles sighed. Even using the proper words made him feel ridiculous. Besides being scared and upset, this whole ordeal embarrassed the hell out of him.
"Oh for...my mutation isn't solely mental." When Erik's confusion only deepened, Charles steeled himself. He didn't survive this long in life by shying away from his problems. "I'm pregnant."
It was almost comical the way Erik's emotions rapidly cycled in his expression. The confusion twisting into suspicion into anger back to confusion and then finally settling a cautious thoughtful look. Charles held his abilities tightly away from Erik's mind. "Well?" he asked.
"This is not your sense of humor," Erik said, his tone speculative. His light eyes flicked to Charles' belly and back up again.
"Even if it were, I am not joking," Charles assured him. He hadn't really expected Erik to believe him at first. "I could show you?"
If nothing else, Charles would love Erik for how quickly he always acquiesced to these requests. As with everyone, Charles did his best to stay out of Erik's private thoughts, but whenever he asked to connect to his mind, Erik radiated curiosity rather than the hesitation Charles' abilities typically inspired.
Charles paused for a moment to think. Showing Erik the test images Hank sent him would be the most logical choice. Erik liked hard scientific evidence as much as the next intelligent man. But this wasn't like telling a friend. This was telling the child's parent. He needed something deeper than distant facts.
Charles eased into Erik's mind, unable to keep the smile off his lips. Ever since he'd first pressed into it under the shock of frigid water, Erik's mind had been one of Charles' favorites. Deeply emotional without being hysterical. Neatly ordered. So many hidden spaces for Charles to explore if he were given the chance. At that moment, Erik's primary emotion was impatience.
"Charles?"
He snapped himself out of his indulgent enjoyment of being there. "Sorry, just...give me a moment," Charles murmured. While keeping Erik's mind embraced, he curled another strand of his power around the tiny spark of life. The baby didn't really react to it, but that was to be expected. The brain was still growing. It would be awhile longer yet before Charles could discern any actual thoughts. But it was enough to feel the presence. His child. Charles' hands trembled, but his power remained steady as he slowly drew Erik and the baby's minds together. He could tell the exact moment when Erik understood what he was sensing. The irritated confusion faded away and in its place, wonder blossomed across Erik's expression and his arms uncrossed, falling slack at his sides.
"Charles?" he asked again, but this time he sounded staggered. "Is that...?"
"Yes," Charles said thickly. "The baby. Your...well, our baby, yes."
Erik's gaze dropped to his belly again. His throat moved around several deep swallows. Connected as he was to Erik's mind, Charles could sense his sudden strong desire to reach out and lay a hand across his stomach. But Erik was unsure of his welcome. Charles frowned. How could Erik not know how welcome his touch would always be?
"You can...I mean, if you want-"
In an instant, Erik had leapt from the wall to Charles side and pressed one large hand across Charles' abdomen. Charles sucked in a sharp breath. The tips of Erik's fingers were dangerously close to much more intimate locations. "It's really there," Erik whispered, his eyes fixed on his own hand gently massaging Charles stomach. "I can really feel it."
Charles could barely get a word through the unfortunate pleasure mixing into his unsteady emotional state. "Yes," he finally croaked. "What...what should we do about it?"
Erik's gaze wrenched from Charles' middle to his face. The speculative thoughtfulness returned full-force, but before Charles could get an idea of what Erik was thinking, the connection between them broke. The loss stunned Charles and maybe he was projecting, but he could have sworn the baby's consciousness also felt unsettled.
"Do?" Erik said slowly. "Yes, we..."
Then without another word, he abruptly turned and stalked out of the room.
"Erik? Erik!" Charles ran to the door in time to catch Erik whipping around the nearest corner. "Erik!"
Well. Charles slumped against the door frame.
"Now what," he muttered.
**************************
His answer came later that night while Charles readied for bed. He'd left Erik's thoughts alone after being abandoned, but Charles had sneaked enough of a search to pinpoint Erik's location. Which had remained constant the entire afternoon. Something had held Erik's attention in his own quarters for several hours. Charles couldn't imagine what. He only hoped Erik wasn't moping or raging or...Charles paused in buttoning his sleep shirt. Oh god, he hoped Erik wasn't packing his things. The very idea had him half way to the door when it suddenly opened and Erik appeared as though Charles had summoned him with the strength of his alarm.
"Erik?"
Erik carried a small overnight bag in one hand and had a larger duffel slung over one shoulder. Charles' heart leapt into his throat. Holy shit, he had packed his things. And he was here to say goodbye and leave Charles and the baby forever and it was all Charles' fault for having the stupidest mutation in the world and...Erik threw his duffel on Charles' chair and disappeared into the bathroom with his overnight bag, leaving Charles and his panic attack in the main room.
"E-erik?" Charles tried again.
"Hmmm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Brushing my teeth," he answered before shutting the door. Charles stared at it while he listened to Erik turn the faucet on and off, knock things around, flush the toilet. The basic 'getting ready for bed' sounds. Understanding hovered at the edge of Charles' mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it. The door re-opened and Erik was wearing a pair of sleep pants topped with a sleeveless shirt.
"I don't understand," Charles spluttered, his eyes locked on Erik's bare upper arms. Heat flushed his cheeks. In comparison, Charles felt soft and small in his over-sized pajamas. He had plenty of pajamas that fit well, but Raven had gotten him these ridiculously large silky striped pants and a shirt with sleeves that fell down over his wrists. He liked to wear them when he was upset because it felt like being wrapped up in a hug. But now he just looked-
"You look like an overgrown child," Erik commented as he unfolded the blanket from the head of the bed.
Charles would have protested, but well, Erik was climbing into his bed.
"What are you doing?"
Thankfully, Erik didn't pretend he didn't understand Charles' question this time. "I'm moving into your room," he said plainly. "And no arguments. I don't care if your mutation is making this possible; you're still a man having a baby. There could be problems. You need someone here just in case," he said, tone darkly ominous in reference to these imaginary problems.
"But I could very easily call any one of you with my powers-"
"And if you were unconscious?" Erik challenged, hands on his hips.
"Erik, the baby is still tiny. What on Earth could possibly happen?"
"Well, let's not find out," Erik groused. He reached over to fluff up Charles' pillow. "Just shut up and go to sleep."
Charles stayed put. "So...so this means...I suppose you want me to keep the baby then?" he asked, twisting the material of his silly sleeves into balls in his fists. Erik jerked back as though Charles had shouted at him, his eyes wide and...was that hurt Charles saw in them? "Erik?"
"You were thinking of ending the pregnancy?" he breathed and no amount of holding back his powers could keep Charles from sensing Erik's devastation.
That was the moment Charles realized how completely blind he'd been. He'd been too focused on how this child could frighten Erik without realizing that this was the same man who'd been forever transformed by the tragic loss of his family so early in life. And now here Charles was talking about taking another member of his family from him.
"No!" Charles rushed forward till his knees hit the side of the bed. "I never wanted to do that," he said with such sincerity that Charles realized he'd really hadn't ever intended to do such a thing. Even if Erik had wanted it. "I'm just so...I don't know. I can't believe this is happening."
Erik threw back Charles' side of the blanket and fluffed Charles' pillows again, his motions jerky and distracted. Like he was covering an immense reaction to Charles' words. "I can't either, but here we are," he said and Charles didn't need powers to sense his relief. For the first time since Hank told him the news, Charles wondered if there were another way of looking at this situation. "You need rest," Erik added. His expectant look made Charles' scalp tingle. It wasn't exactly the way he'd envisioned getting Erik in his bed, but it'd do.
Besides, Charles had read a few of Raven's horrible trashy romance novels and he knew how these things ended. The two people, both in denial and forced to share a bed, find their way into each other's arms in the middle of the night. Erik might not want to start up a relationship, but surely after the week that he's had, he wouldn't begrudge Charles a little cuddle.
"Oh very well," Charles said with a mock scowl. "But keep to your side of the bed."
"I wouldn't dream of invading your space," Erik deadpanned. With a flick of his wrist, he used his ability to shut off the light. The bed bounced lightly as Erik tried to find a comfortable position. It only took him a moment to settle on facing Charles, curled forward, almost close enough to touch. Charles didn't dare.
"Goodnight, Erik," he said, his voice too loud in the silent dark.
There was no answer for a long time. So long Charles thought Erik fell asleep, but then a tentative touch on his stomach sent a cascade of shivers down his entire body. Erik flattened his hand low on Charles' abdomen and then sighed. For all that he'd been so good about not peeking, Charles just couldn't help himself anymore. His touch was as tentative as Erik's and when he didn't feel any resistance, Charles pushed forward.
It was all love. The sweetest softest emotion he'd ever sensed in Erik and it touched Charles so deeply he didn't even care that every bit of it belonged to the baby.
"Goodnight, Charles," Erik murmured. Charles covered Erik's hand and let that feeling lull him to sleep, already looking forward to his morning cuddle.
He woke up to an empty bed. Not just empty, but cold. Clearly, Erik had been gone for hours. Although he'd obviously returned at some point because there was a tray of food beside the bed that still had steam rising from it. Oatmeal, apple slices, orange juice and plain toast. All perfectly healthy and tremendously boring. Laying on the tray was a note written in Erik's severe hand.
You will eat this.
Charles sighed. How perfectly Erik to expect cuddles upon waking up only to find threats instead.
Even so, Charles ate every bite.
***********************
"So how come I met Erik coming out of your room at 6 AM this morning?"
Charles froze, his pen hovering over the notes from his latest research. His hopes of having a few days to come up with a way of telling the others about the baby died a horrible strangled death as Raven plopped down beside him, an amused twinkle in her yellow eyes.
Still, Charles wasn't above delay tactics.
"What were you doing up at 6 AM?"
"Erik and I go for a run every morning," Raven said dismissively as though she hadn't just revealed her secret Erik-related hobby.
"I didn't know you did that," Charles said. An uncomfortable shade of jealousy settled across his mind. Which was silly, of course. Erik and Raven had every right to spend time together without informing Charles beforehand.
It was just...A week or so after Cuba, Raven had confessed to Charles that she'd come on to Erik in a rather blunt fashion. She'd played it off as a good joke on herself, but Charles knew she'd figured out his feelings and felt guilty about the whole thing. It didn't amount to more than a very sweet kiss, she'd assured him. But still...he made me believe I wasn't hideous when I really needed to hear that.
On this one point, Erik and Charles very much agreed. He'd been a terrible cad for ever letting Raven feel bad about her appearance.
"You probably didn't even know there was such a thing as 6 AM," Raven teased. When he didn't immediately respond, she eyed him more closely. "Don't worry. I'm done trying to steal your man."
"He isn't my man," Charles objected, fighting a dreadful blush. "Erik is welcome to date anyone he likes."
"Uh huh," Raven said with no small amount of sarcasm. "And that's why he was coming out of your room this morning." Charles stared resolutely at his paper and Raven sighed. "Well, I'm just saying, you're in no danger from me. I spent the morning trying to get blue fur out of my bedsheets."
It took a moment for that news to sink it, but when it did, Charles' head popped right back up, his eyes and grin both very wide. "You don't say," he said, rather gleefully. And not just because it meant Raven was serious about her lack of interest in Erik. Charles never knew exactly what happened between Raven and Hank, but he'd been disappointed when it hadn't worked. "When did this happen?"
"Nope, sorry," Raven singsonged, jumping to her feet. "Not unless you tell me yours first."
Damn. Charles really wanted to know the dirt and getting it required Raven spilling because if he ever invaded her mind, they'd never find his body. But in exchange for his situation? Charles' hand dropped to his belly. The baby's consciousness hummed pleasantly against his.
She'd have to find out sooner or later.
"Oh fine," Charles said, nerves abruptly shaking.
Several moments later, Raven's voice could be heard echoing all the way across the third floor.
"You're what?"
"Shhh! You're going to bring the house down on us and I can't deal with that right now," Charles said, glancing to the door they really should have closed. Thankfully, no one appeared.
"But...but...pregnant?," Raven hissed. "I can't believe Hank didn't tell me! See if I ever let that jerkface in my bed again."
If Raven was anything like her brother when it came to letting jerkfaces into her bed, Hank was safe.
"It wasn't his secret to tell," Charles said sternly.
"Okay, okay," she said, leaning forward to stare at Charles' belly. "You don't look any different. Is there really...hang on, oh my god! I just realized what...you had sex with Erik!"
Charles was glad Raven wasn't yelling anymore, but he wasn't sure this scandalized whispering was any better. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I may be a mutant, but I can't actually produce a baby from nothing."
"But...but when?"
"Ah. Yes, that." He fidgeted, toying with his pen. "Do you remember in Cuba when you complained at me because you said Erik and I took too long changing back into our regular clothes?"
Her eyes narrowed and she stuck a finger in his face. "I knew you looked different when you came out of that room."
"Different how?"
"Different like...like you'd been canoodling a scary German man," she declared.
"Really, Raven-"
"So this is why Erik moved in?" she asked, brightening out of her apparent shock at his lascivious canoodling. "You found out you're having a baby and it made Erik realize he couldn't live without you? You're going to get pretend-married and raise a whole brood of tiny little mutants and live happily ever after?"
It sounded as though Raven had been in her collection of trashy novels again.
"No, no, nothing like that," Charles said and he thought he managed to keep the melancholy out of his tone. "He just wants to be nearby in case something happens."
Raven contemplated him for a long moment, one red nail tapping on his desk. Her searching expression made Charles feel like she was the one with mind-reading powers. Certainly, she seemed to know things about him that Charles often took much longer to understand.
"Bullshit," she finally said.
"Excuse me?"
"He doesn't have to sleep in the same bed as you to keep you safe," she said and then continued loudly over Charles' objections, "And don't tell me he didn't sleep in your bed. You only have one bed in there. He could just as well stay across the hall and-"
"You'll excuse me for being overly cautious, but perhaps you missed the part where Charles is a pregnant man?"
Both siblings jumped in their seats, neither one having noticed Erik's approach until he was already ten feet into the room. Raven recovered first. Charles could only focus on his relief that it was Erik who'd surprised them and not one of the children.
"Oh, I see," she said, standing from her chair and raising an eyebrow at Erik. "You just have to be there, huh? In case something comes up?"
"Raven," Charles scolded, his blush returning with vigor.
"Don't upset him," Erik said. He tried his looming trick on Raven, but Charles could see it wasn't nearly as successful with her. "He doesn't need the stress. It's not safe for the baby."
"You're really going to pretend this is just about the baby?"
Her gaze moved from Charles' silent pleading for her silence on the subject to Erik's stormy anger and back again. Charles didn't want her to press this because he didn't want to hear Erik confirm it was just about the baby. Charles was grateful for the support. It didn't have to be more than that.
"Right, okay," Raven said, backing down from Erik and turning to surprise Charles with a hug. "I can't believe it," she murmured in his ear. "I'm going to be a sorta aunt."
Charles' throat closed off as he brushed his cheek against her soft red hair. Raven wasn't a sorta anything. Erik's support aside, Charles was going to need her if he was going to get through this intact. "You're going to spoil it horribly, aren't you?" he managed to say. She chuckled and kissed his forehead.
"You bet I am," she promised before whirling on Erik and poking him hard in the chest. "And you. You better take good care of him, Magneto. Or else."
Everyone in that room knew Erik's power far outstripped Raven's, but none of them were surprised when Erik dipped his head and winked at her. She might not be able to harm him physically, but no one doubted she could annoy the hell out of him.
"You both know I'm perfectly capable of handling my own health, right?" Charles said. Really, it was sweet of them to posture like gorillas over him, but it was also giving him a headache. "Just...thank you both, but please go away. I have a lot of work to do." He pointed a finger at Raven. "Although don't think you're getting out of telling about Hank."
Raven blew him a kiss as she breezed out the door, but Erik stayed put, watching Charles work for a few moments until the feel of his gaze boring into Charles' forehead annoyed him enough to look back up.
"What?"
"You didn't tell Raven to keep this a secret."
Oh bloody hell.
************************
Raven swore up and down that someone must have overheard her bickering with Hank about the pregnancy and that she didn't tell anyone. Whatever happened, every single person in the mansion knew by that afternoon. None of them dared approach Charles, but their thoughts were unavoidably loud as their eyes followed his every step.
...can't be possible, can it?
...doesn't look any different...
...wonder who knocked him up...
The worst part was that Charles had promised himself long ago not to confront people about their private thoughts. And especially not snap the snide comments crowding his tongue. Erik was right. This couldn't be good for the baby. By lunchtime, he'd begun desperately hoping anyone would approach him so he could vent some of the aggravation building in his chest.
Since Charles' luck had been rotten since birth, that person was Kitty Pryde.
"Professor?" she asked, slipping into the chair across from Charles' desk. "Are you really gonna have a baby?"
If Charles ended up having to explain the birds and bees to Kitty because of this, he would personally tear Erik's dick off his body.
"Yes, Kitty."
"But I thought only girls could have babies," she said, chewing her bottom lip, clearly troubled.
"Well, that's usually true, but you know how we all have powers?" he asked. At Kitty's slow nod, he continued, "Well, as it happens, part of my power is to have children. But that's absolutely not true of most men," Charles said in decided tone. He didn't want her to scar her for life. "It's unusual, but we are all unusual and special, right?"
One of Erik's favorite lessons, though Charles sometimes had to surreptitiously pinch his sides when he started using words like 'superior' and 'better than'. But he wasn't entirely wrong. Each of their children were unique and very special. It couldn't hurt to teach them that lesson. Especially if it helped answer questions about humiliating male pregnancies.
"Yeah," Kitty said, but the confusion hadn't lifted from her expression quite yet. "But if you're having a baby, then...who's the mommy?"
An excellent question. In no way would that information stay secret and well...Erik deserved this.
"Mr. Lehnsherr," Charles said. "Mr. Lehnsherr is the mommy."
Later that night, after Erik and Charles had settled into bed and the lights were out, right as Charles was on the verge of sleep, he felt Erik shift to face him.
"If one more person calls me 'mommy'," he whispered, his breath soft on Charles' ear, his tone deadly serious. "I will murder you while you sleep."
Charles smiled into the dark.
Maybe this pregnancy could be fun after all.
**********************
(Link to: A Logical Progression - Part 2 of 2)
Author: CloudyJenn
Recipient: xxxholiclover
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairings: Erik/Charles, Hank/Raven
Rating: R
Word Count: 18,000
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Warnings: mpreg, some sexual imagery, cursing, a pregnant man (no really, read that warning a few times)
Summary: Charles didn't want her to press this because he didn't want to hear Erik confirm it was just about the baby. Charles was grateful for the support. It didn't have to be more than that.
Author's Notes: My recipient asked for one prompt where Charles gets pregnant and another where E/C are afraid to admit their feelings for each other. So I decided to smoosh those together, partly because I've never considered writing mpreg before and it sounded like an interesting challenge. I gloss over much of the pregnancy as well as some of the ending from the movie. My recipient wanted happy slashy goodness, so I aim to please. It's canon AU from the beach scene. I borrow some names and details from comic canon, but for the most part, details are suited to fit the story.
A Logical Progression
Fantasies aside, Charles never thought he'd find himself in this position.
In truth, he hadn't realized he could find himself in this position. And yet, there he was, back pushed hard against a cold metal locker, held up by nothing more than the force of Erik's powerful thrusts. Their ridiculous yellow jumpsuits lay abandoned on a nearby bench in the locker room. Charles couldn't remember how he got out of his. He couldn't really remember much of the whole afternoon. Just flashes of images and emotions. Fear that Erik was going to be killed turned to blood-cold terror that he was going to commit mass murder eased into breath-stealing relief when Erik triggered the bombs safely miles high in the sky. It all blurred and pulsed together into one giant lump of quivery weakness that somehow became the catalyst for that first kiss.
Charles did remember he was the one who initiated it. All those months of holding himself back were forgotten in the heat of the moment and though he somehow managed to feel embarrassed of losing control even in the midst of mind-searing pleasure licking up his spine, Charles also felt proud he'd never once skimmed Erik's mind to see if his friend ever had the same fantasies.
Shielding against his thoughts right now was pretty much impossible though. Not just because sex always lowered Charles' defenses. Erik was all but shouting inside his head.
Too bad it was all in German.
Even without the details, Charles got the gist. Urgent lust, shocked relief, remnants of fear.
Charles recognized the apologies.
He didn't need them. Erik was safe and here. That was all Charles could ask for and he tried to communicate that in every touch, every kiss, in the way he arched his back and gripped Erik's hair and shouted his pleasure. He'd never been quite so vocal in sex or so open. Quite literally in this case. All his other times with boys at school had been fumbled exchanges, spurred by the excitement of something so taboo, the danger of being caught. It'd never progressed much past desperate and at times, humiliatingly swift dry-humping. Yet he didn't even think to question it when Erik lifted him up with intent, gripping under his thighs and rubbing his dick against the curve of Charles' ass. He laughed when Erik wrenched open the locker beside them with his power and began grasping for anything slick, but that laughter died a strangled death when Erik's long slender fingers pressed inside him.
Charles wasn't sure what kept him from trying this particular activity for so long, but it had clearly been a mistake.
It was only after he'd come all over his hand, his stomach and oh dear Erik's chest and felt Erik doing the same deep inside him that Charles had his epiphany. Those deep burning shocks of pleasure so different from tight wet heat around his cock were utterly delicious, but they weren't the reason Charles had climaxed so hard. Nor were they the reason his heart squeezed in his chest when Erik laid his forehead against Charles', warm breath puffing against Charles' lips and hitched his legs up again, determined to hold him close for a moment longer.
"Charles," Erik murmured, sounding as exhausted and wrecked as Charles felt.
There were times when Charles wished he could hear his own thoughts as clearly as he did others. Then the persistence of these inappropriate fantasies tumbled into reality wouldn't be smacking him hard in the face while Erik's dick still rested inside his body.
He was in love with his best friend.
****************
They didn't talk about what happened. Charles because his revelation startled him so badly and then because Erik also didn't say anything. Even if he were threatened at gunpoint, Charles would never have dipped into Erik's mind. He'd practically thrown himself at Erik like a horny schoolgirl and okay, Erik had accepted his ardor, but days passed and then weeks without a word or better yet, an offer of a repeat. Charles didn't think he could bear learning Erik had only indulged Charles out of misguided adrenaline-fueled relief.
Not that the worry was any more amusing. But if Erik wanted to pretend it didn't happen and their relationship could survive, Charles didn't dare tip the balance. Besides, they both had plenty to do. It took a week of lengthy debates that occasionally edged into real arguments, but eventually between the four of them, Charles, Erik, Raven and Hank agreed on a basis for creating a school for young mutants. The biggest controversy being, of course, Erik and Charles' disagreement about disclosure to the public. Charles remained convinced non-mutant humans could not handle the sudden introduction of powered humans into their midst. Erik abhorred the idea of hiding.
The compromise came in baby steps. It pained Charles beyond telling to suppress Moira's memories, but the alternative would be asking her to give up her career and Charles couldn't do it. They weren't ready to risk an institution with the CIA's resources knowing of their existence. Erik hated leaving the description of their students at simply "gifted", but he agreed to it so long as they didn't teach the children to hide in their personal lives. Each student would decide for themselves whether they would reveal their powers to the humans around them. In addition to teaching duties, Charles would begin drafting a series of lectures that would begin to slowly raise awareness of possible mutations to both the scientific community and the general public. He'd most likely be laughed out of his own profession, but that hardly mattered. A slow introduction of his and Hank's evidence would soon intrigue minds and hopefully, spin opinion towards a positive reaction.
He might have to sit on Erik to keep him from speeding up their time-line, but then again, he might enjoy doing so.
And so it was that five weeks after their mission on Cuba narrowly avoided disaster, the Xavier School for the Gifted officially opened.
They made Charles claim the name because it was his money funding it. And because Erik said the Xavier-Lensherr-Darkholme-McCoy School for the Gifted would look crowded on the letterhead. Their first student was a quiet red-haired girl named Jean Grey who had telekinetic powers along with a latent sort of telepathy Charles didn't quite understand. The following week she was joined by Ororo Munroe who could control the weather, Piotr Rasputin who could his body to steel and Warren Worthington who'd sprouted positively enormous white wings the previous year.
From an expectation of teaching high-level genetics to doctoral candidates, Charles found himself teaching grade school history, biology and English to a growing collection of preadolescent mutants.
The vomiting started the third week of school.
"What the hell did you eat last night?" Raven asked at Charles' bathroom door, her yellow eyes managing to convey both disgust and sympathy.
"Same thing as you." Charles heaved the words between hitching breaths and the effort made his stomach rumble. "M'dying."
"No, you're not," Raven said dismissively. "Erik isn't here."
Charles didn't know what that meant and considering he was revisiting each of last night's courses in surprisingly accurate order, he didn't really care. All he wanted to do was drag himself back to his bed and let the end come. A cool cloth mopped the sweat from his forehead.
"You better have some good lesson plans," Raven said with a regretful shake of her head. "Because our choices of substitute teachers are Alex and Sean, so..."
Both boys...no, men, Charles corrected himself, lived in the mansion still, but neither were official teachers. At least not of regular subjects. They'd teamed up to tackle the issue of physical training. Charles knew it was necessary, but their students were just so young. Not young enough that they can't be put in danger just for existing, Erik had reminded him.
Sometimes, it occurred to Charles that Erik's glass wasn't even one-fourth full.
"Alex," Charles gasped between the meat course and dessert. Alex might be more destructive in general, but he wouldn't scar their minds.
When he felt sufficiently empty, Raven pulled his limp body onto the bed and tucked him in. "If you need any more help," she said, tapping the side of her forehead and grinning. "Call Erik."
Charles tried to throw a pillow at her, but all he managed to do was pick his hand up, flop it back down again and moan helplessly. Raven said something, but Charles missed it because he fell asleep again almost immediately. He dreamed about walking through the sprawling backyard garden, a small hand held tightly in his own much larger one. Just before he woke, he heard a very young voice chattering happy nonsense. A smile dressed his expression when Charles opened his eyes.
He felt perfectly fine. A short glance at the clock gave him 11 AM. Huh. It must have been something he ate after all. Whatever the cause, clearly it was gone now. A quick shower and he rejoined the rest of the mansion for the second half of the day. Most of the staff were none the wiser. Including Erik who plopped down beside Charles at lunch with his bowlful of stew and a carefree smile. Charles decided to neglect telling Erik of his little pukefest. Luckily for Erik's deeply closeted mother-henning desires, little Kitty Pryde sat down opposite Charles and gave him a wide-eyed look of concern.
"Are you okay, Professor?" she asked. "Mr. Summers said you was sick this morning."
"'Were' sick," Charles corrected absently.
"You were sick?" Erik asked, turning away from his lunch to face Charles and begin some kind of examination only he could understand. Peering into Charles' eyes, turning his face one way and then the other, feeling the back of his neck. Touching Charles enough to bring the flush of heat to his cheeks.
"I felt unwell this morning, but I'm much better," he assured them both.
"Mrs. Raven said you was...you were puking up your guts!" Kitty countered with apparent fierce determination to glue Erik to Charles' side for the rest of the day. He made a mental note to scold Raven for scaring the children and riling up Erik.
"I assure you, my guts are intact. Really, Erik," Charles admonished, pushing away Erik's palm from his now cool dry forehead. "I'm fine."
"Did you get Hank to test you?" Erik asked sternly.
"No and Hank isn't a physician." They'd advertised a position for an on-site medical doctor, but Charles had compromised for the others' desire that a fellow mutant handle the discretion of treating other mutants. Until they found a suitable candidate, Hank was their best bet and Charles knew it. So did Erik and his raised eyebrow evidenced this knowledge.
"Charles-"
"Erik-"
"Kitty," Kitty interjected, then giggled at her own joke. It thankfully distracted Erik off topic for a moment. Charles stamped the image of Erik's ever so slight fond smile onto his memory. Erik and first graders would never get old. But still, it was a good time to make his escape. His fingers curled around the edge of his tray, he began to stand and that was when Charles first felt it.
A whisper of another consciousness. Tiny and weak and unlike anything Charles had ever felt. He could sense no real organized thoughts. Even more shocking, no name, a sense of identity so deeply ingrained in people that it was usually the first word he lifted off another mind. He couldn't even find a concept of personality. Just the idea of a life, a spark of consciousness clinging to Charles more closely than he'd ever experienced. Even Raven and Erik, his two closest companions, didn't shadow Charles so intimately. It almost felt as though...Charles shook his head, trying to clear the notion, but the sensation stayed the same.
It felt like the other mind was inside him.
The second he processed that thought, Charles leapt from his seat, knocking the chair back till it hit the wall. Erik's smile slipped off his face.
"Charles?"
"I'm sorry," he babbled, fingers white where they clenched his tray. "I just remembered...something to do. Have to...I'll see you later."
Judging by Erik's bewildered concern, Charles had not managed to escape the inevitable hunt and questioning Erik would force him to endure. But so long as he didn't follow him just then, Charles could care less. He doubted Erik would deal well with the idea that another mind had connected itself to Charles. Really, there was only one person he could trust not to completely lose it when he heard this information.
He needed to speak with Hank.
*******************
"Oh hello, Charles," Hank called out from under a pile of papers and what looked like bits of a microscope. "I was just cleaning...are you okay?" he asked once he got a good look at Charles' half-panicked expression. His mood shifted from pleasantly calm to pleasantly alert. It was one of the reasons Charles loved him so much. Ever since his form had changed from man to furry blue cat-man, Hank had settled into a zen-like state punctuated by bouts of scientific joy that not only suited him quite well, but was very soothing for Charles' abilities.
"Oh not really," Charles said, running fingers through his mop of sweaty hair. "I'm having a little problem."
"What sort of problem?"
"I think an alien consciousness may have attached itself to my mind."
There was a pause where Hank slowly removed his glasses and nodded thoughtfully.
"Well. We should probably do some tests."
"Yes, let's."
Three hours later, Charles lay on a cot in Hank's lab and massaged his aching temples. Most of the tests were mental. An hour and a half strapped into Cerebro while Hank calibrated the controls every so often to perform a complicated battery of tests had left Charles exhausted and even more convinced the consciousness he felt was not projecting from a long distance, but rather was somehow very nearby. In comparison, the physical examinations, the x-rays and blood tests, were quite relaxing.
"It's the damnest thing," Charles said, letting his hands flop back down on the cot. Frustration bit at his nerves. "It's almost totally unobtrusive. If I stop thinking about it, I don't even really sense it anymore. Why would someone bother to connect to my mind and then not try to steal information or harm me?"
"I have a...theory," Hank said. It was the hesitation in his voice that caught Charles more than his words. For the first time in an hour, he turned his attention from the consciousness to Hank's state of mind. The pervasive disbelief had him sitting up so fast his head swam.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Charles..." Hank's eyebrows furrowed and for a moment, he looked like the nervous kid Charles remembered meeting all those months ago. "I want you to know that I would normally never ask you something this personal, but...is it at all possible that approximately seven weeks ago, you engaged in unprotected intercourse with a man?"
Charles nearly fell on his cot.
"Why on earth would you ask me that?" he shouted.
More importantly, how could he possibly know?
Hank sighed and held up one of the x-rays. "I don't know how else to say this, Professor and believe me when I say I've tried to come up with any other explanation, but I can't. Your body has a secondary adaptive mutation centered in your reproductive system."
"Excuse me?"
"You're pregnant, Charles," Hank blurted.
Stunned silence followed this proclamation, though Charles didn't sit idle. His mind latched onto Hank's, demanding entrance and the proof of truth. Because this had to be a strange joke. Charles' life had never been normal, but male pregnancy stepped over a line he couldn't bear to cross. To his credit, Hank didn't even flinch at the insistent request before letting Charles in. A sudden rush of images and information streamed through Charles' mind. The same tests completed three and four times, the same results, each scan showing the exact same thing.
A tiny spark of life growing inside Charles' slowly mutating body.
"That's impossible," Charles whispered, eyes clenched shut against the truth.
We are all impossible, Hank murmured inside Charles' mind.
"Is it..." Charles had gone numb, but one point stuck out. "Is the baby safe?"
"Besides the fact that it's growing inside a male body, the fetus is perfectly healthy and on the correct time-line with its development," Hank assured him, this time out loud. He shuffled through his papers, excitement making the fur on his arms stand on end. "It's actually quite fascinating how exactly your body has created the necessary parts and space. The change happened slowly enough that we didn't notice, but I think if you looked, you'd find that your hips are even slightly wider. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if when the time came, your body even made it possible to expel-"
"Hank!" Charles couldn't hear anymore of that right now. He jumped off the cot and began pacing. In his life, Charles couldn't remember ever being so frightened. Not even when he first heard his mother's cool distant voice in his head when he was only three years old. It felt as though his body had betrayed him.
"Your body has always been this way," Hank objected. Charles paused. He hadn't realized he'd projected that thought. "You just never knew it because...well, I don't want to assume, but that must have been the first time you introduced foreign sperm into your body. You might never have known otherwise."
Excellent. His body was so desperate to create a new line of Xaviers that it gave him a way even if he preferred taking it up the ass.
"What am I going to do?" Charles groaned as he sank down into the large armchair he always favored when he and Hank discussed science until late into the night.
Hank's expression turned troubled, but whatever difficulty he had with his next sentence didn't stop him from saying it.
"There are options," he said very slowly. "If you feel this is more than you can handle. But I feel obligated to add, if you choose that way I think the father...that is, the other father deserves to know."
Charles stared at him. The other father.
"Charles, would I be correct in assuming that when you tell the other father, it would be best to do so in a setting where there isn't any metal?"
Oh god, Erik.
************************
Week Seven
Erik was Charles' best friend, very probably the love of his life and now apparently the father of his child.
And yet still...Charles had no idea how he would react to this news. He didn't think Erik would have much trouble accepting the mutation part of the explanation. His pride in their abilities would turn unbearably hypocritical if it failed him just because Charles was pregnant. No, once the shock passed, Charles could even see Erik being fascinated and pleased with this new addition to Charles' already not inconsequential power.
It was the deeper connection to Charles that he wasn't sure Erik could accept. After all these weeks of silence, Charles found it hard to believe that Erik wanted anything other than for their friendship to remain the way it was. He knew some people raised children without the benefit of a romantic connection. But raising a child with Erik and successfully burying his feelings seemed very unlikely.
Either way, Hank was right. Erik deserved to know about the baby. The flicker of consciousness might be clinging to Charles' mind only, but it was half Erik's. He needed to help make decisions about what to do with it.
If Erik said he wanted him to get rid of it, Charles didn't think he'd ever recover from that.
"Erik? Um...could I please speak with you? Privately?"
His tests with Hank had been three days ago. Three long days of absentmindedly teaching, barely seeing where he was going or tasting what he was eating. Charles knew his students and friends were worried about him. None more so than Erik, who'd threatened him with a whirling storm of paperclips just that morning if he didn't tell Erik what was wrong. But he hadn't been ready. He'd needed those three days to even make a dent in the process of accepting what was happening to his body.
And to ready himself for a possible end of his friendship with Erik.
"I should think the paperclips would have answered that question for you," Erik growled as he stood from his little study group. "Excuse me, children. I need to speak with your professor," he said, grabbing Charles by the wrist and dragging him into the nearest room, a large bedroom converted into a classroom. "Now tell me what's been making you drive me insane recently."
"I assure you, driving you insane wasn't my intention," Charles snapped, already defensive and antsy. Erik didn't look impressed. He crossed his arms, leaned against the door and glared down at Charles from his unfair height advantage. "Stop that. You know I hate it when you loom."
"Just tell me what's wrong, Charles."
"It's not that easy." While Erik stayed perfectly still, Charles couldn't stop moving. He paced from one end of the room to the other, alternatively wringing his hands and running them through his hair. "What I have to say is not...it's not easy," he repeated, feeling foolish. "It's not even strictly believable."
"Why don't you allow me to decide that for myself," Erik said calmly. His nonchalance irritated Charles. This whole thing was Erik's fault anyway. Erik and his demanding penis. See if Charles ever let Erik put it anywhere near his body again.
"Fine. You remember what happened in Cuba?" Charles asked and though he meant to sound businesslike, his nerves turned his voice shaky. Only Erik ever made him sound that way. "I mean, after the mission. In the locker room."
The subtle change in Erik's stance made Charles want to wrap his thoughts around Erik's so badly it honestly hurt. Now that he was finally bringing up the subject, Charles felt like he was pointing a light on the space between them that hadn't existed before Cuba. A space made of uncertainty and unfulfilled desires. A space that would only get larger now that Charles was openly speaking about it. He watched Erik's casual stance sharpen into tension, saw the way his cheek twitched and without using his powers, felt the air between them grow thick and awkward.
"Of course," Erik said shortly.
"Well, it seems..." Charles rubbed his temples again, already nursing a headache from this conversation. He'd never been trained on how to tell a one-time lover that they'd impregnated you. "The thing is, when I became ill recently, I went to Hank for a check up and he discovered that...well, when that happened, we...or rather, you...and I..." One hand closed over his belly. Charles couldn't feel any difference yet. "I'm...you know..." he said helplessly.
"No, I'm sorry," Erik said with a frown. "I don't speak inflection, Charles."
Charles sighed. Even using the proper words made him feel ridiculous. Besides being scared and upset, this whole ordeal embarrassed the hell out of him.
"Oh for...my mutation isn't solely mental." When Erik's confusion only deepened, Charles steeled himself. He didn't survive this long in life by shying away from his problems. "I'm pregnant."
It was almost comical the way Erik's emotions rapidly cycled in his expression. The confusion twisting into suspicion into anger back to confusion and then finally settling a cautious thoughtful look. Charles held his abilities tightly away from Erik's mind. "Well?" he asked.
"This is not your sense of humor," Erik said, his tone speculative. His light eyes flicked to Charles' belly and back up again.
"Even if it were, I am not joking," Charles assured him. He hadn't really expected Erik to believe him at first. "I could show you?"
If nothing else, Charles would love Erik for how quickly he always acquiesced to these requests. As with everyone, Charles did his best to stay out of Erik's private thoughts, but whenever he asked to connect to his mind, Erik radiated curiosity rather than the hesitation Charles' abilities typically inspired.
Charles paused for a moment to think. Showing Erik the test images Hank sent him would be the most logical choice. Erik liked hard scientific evidence as much as the next intelligent man. But this wasn't like telling a friend. This was telling the child's parent. He needed something deeper than distant facts.
Charles eased into Erik's mind, unable to keep the smile off his lips. Ever since he'd first pressed into it under the shock of frigid water, Erik's mind had been one of Charles' favorites. Deeply emotional without being hysterical. Neatly ordered. So many hidden spaces for Charles to explore if he were given the chance. At that moment, Erik's primary emotion was impatience.
"Charles?"
He snapped himself out of his indulgent enjoyment of being there. "Sorry, just...give me a moment," Charles murmured. While keeping Erik's mind embraced, he curled another strand of his power around the tiny spark of life. The baby didn't really react to it, but that was to be expected. The brain was still growing. It would be awhile longer yet before Charles could discern any actual thoughts. But it was enough to feel the presence. His child. Charles' hands trembled, but his power remained steady as he slowly drew Erik and the baby's minds together. He could tell the exact moment when Erik understood what he was sensing. The irritated confusion faded away and in its place, wonder blossomed across Erik's expression and his arms uncrossed, falling slack at his sides.
"Charles?" he asked again, but this time he sounded staggered. "Is that...?"
"Yes," Charles said thickly. "The baby. Your...well, our baby, yes."
Erik's gaze dropped to his belly again. His throat moved around several deep swallows. Connected as he was to Erik's mind, Charles could sense his sudden strong desire to reach out and lay a hand across his stomach. But Erik was unsure of his welcome. Charles frowned. How could Erik not know how welcome his touch would always be?
"You can...I mean, if you want-"
In an instant, Erik had leapt from the wall to Charles side and pressed one large hand across Charles' abdomen. Charles sucked in a sharp breath. The tips of Erik's fingers were dangerously close to much more intimate locations. "It's really there," Erik whispered, his eyes fixed on his own hand gently massaging Charles stomach. "I can really feel it."
Charles could barely get a word through the unfortunate pleasure mixing into his unsteady emotional state. "Yes," he finally croaked. "What...what should we do about it?"
Erik's gaze wrenched from Charles' middle to his face. The speculative thoughtfulness returned full-force, but before Charles could get an idea of what Erik was thinking, the connection between them broke. The loss stunned Charles and maybe he was projecting, but he could have sworn the baby's consciousness also felt unsettled.
"Do?" Erik said slowly. "Yes, we..."
Then without another word, he abruptly turned and stalked out of the room.
"Erik? Erik!" Charles ran to the door in time to catch Erik whipping around the nearest corner. "Erik!"
Well. Charles slumped against the door frame.
"Now what," he muttered.
**************************
His answer came later that night while Charles readied for bed. He'd left Erik's thoughts alone after being abandoned, but Charles had sneaked enough of a search to pinpoint Erik's location. Which had remained constant the entire afternoon. Something had held Erik's attention in his own quarters for several hours. Charles couldn't imagine what. He only hoped Erik wasn't moping or raging or...Charles paused in buttoning his sleep shirt. Oh god, he hoped Erik wasn't packing his things. The very idea had him half way to the door when it suddenly opened and Erik appeared as though Charles had summoned him with the strength of his alarm.
"Erik?"
Erik carried a small overnight bag in one hand and had a larger duffel slung over one shoulder. Charles' heart leapt into his throat. Holy shit, he had packed his things. And he was here to say goodbye and leave Charles and the baby forever and it was all Charles' fault for having the stupidest mutation in the world and...Erik threw his duffel on Charles' chair and disappeared into the bathroom with his overnight bag, leaving Charles and his panic attack in the main room.
"E-erik?" Charles tried again.
"Hmmm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Brushing my teeth," he answered before shutting the door. Charles stared at it while he listened to Erik turn the faucet on and off, knock things around, flush the toilet. The basic 'getting ready for bed' sounds. Understanding hovered at the edge of Charles' mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it. The door re-opened and Erik was wearing a pair of sleep pants topped with a sleeveless shirt.
"I don't understand," Charles spluttered, his eyes locked on Erik's bare upper arms. Heat flushed his cheeks. In comparison, Charles felt soft and small in his over-sized pajamas. He had plenty of pajamas that fit well, but Raven had gotten him these ridiculously large silky striped pants and a shirt with sleeves that fell down over his wrists. He liked to wear them when he was upset because it felt like being wrapped up in a hug. But now he just looked-
"You look like an overgrown child," Erik commented as he unfolded the blanket from the head of the bed.
Charles would have protested, but well, Erik was climbing into his bed.
"What are you doing?"
Thankfully, Erik didn't pretend he didn't understand Charles' question this time. "I'm moving into your room," he said plainly. "And no arguments. I don't care if your mutation is making this possible; you're still a man having a baby. There could be problems. You need someone here just in case," he said, tone darkly ominous in reference to these imaginary problems.
"But I could very easily call any one of you with my powers-"
"And if you were unconscious?" Erik challenged, hands on his hips.
"Erik, the baby is still tiny. What on Earth could possibly happen?"
"Well, let's not find out," Erik groused. He reached over to fluff up Charles' pillow. "Just shut up and go to sleep."
Charles stayed put. "So...so this means...I suppose you want me to keep the baby then?" he asked, twisting the material of his silly sleeves into balls in his fists. Erik jerked back as though Charles had shouted at him, his eyes wide and...was that hurt Charles saw in them? "Erik?"
"You were thinking of ending the pregnancy?" he breathed and no amount of holding back his powers could keep Charles from sensing Erik's devastation.
That was the moment Charles realized how completely blind he'd been. He'd been too focused on how this child could frighten Erik without realizing that this was the same man who'd been forever transformed by the tragic loss of his family so early in life. And now here Charles was talking about taking another member of his family from him.
"No!" Charles rushed forward till his knees hit the side of the bed. "I never wanted to do that," he said with such sincerity that Charles realized he'd really hadn't ever intended to do such a thing. Even if Erik had wanted it. "I'm just so...I don't know. I can't believe this is happening."
Erik threw back Charles' side of the blanket and fluffed Charles' pillows again, his motions jerky and distracted. Like he was covering an immense reaction to Charles' words. "I can't either, but here we are," he said and Charles didn't need powers to sense his relief. For the first time since Hank told him the news, Charles wondered if there were another way of looking at this situation. "You need rest," Erik added. His expectant look made Charles' scalp tingle. It wasn't exactly the way he'd envisioned getting Erik in his bed, but it'd do.
Besides, Charles had read a few of Raven's horrible trashy romance novels and he knew how these things ended. The two people, both in denial and forced to share a bed, find their way into each other's arms in the middle of the night. Erik might not want to start up a relationship, but surely after the week that he's had, he wouldn't begrudge Charles a little cuddle.
"Oh very well," Charles said with a mock scowl. "But keep to your side of the bed."
"I wouldn't dream of invading your space," Erik deadpanned. With a flick of his wrist, he used his ability to shut off the light. The bed bounced lightly as Erik tried to find a comfortable position. It only took him a moment to settle on facing Charles, curled forward, almost close enough to touch. Charles didn't dare.
"Goodnight, Erik," he said, his voice too loud in the silent dark.
There was no answer for a long time. So long Charles thought Erik fell asleep, but then a tentative touch on his stomach sent a cascade of shivers down his entire body. Erik flattened his hand low on Charles' abdomen and then sighed. For all that he'd been so good about not peeking, Charles just couldn't help himself anymore. His touch was as tentative as Erik's and when he didn't feel any resistance, Charles pushed forward.
It was all love. The sweetest softest emotion he'd ever sensed in Erik and it touched Charles so deeply he didn't even care that every bit of it belonged to the baby.
"Goodnight, Charles," Erik murmured. Charles covered Erik's hand and let that feeling lull him to sleep, already looking forward to his morning cuddle.
He woke up to an empty bed. Not just empty, but cold. Clearly, Erik had been gone for hours. Although he'd obviously returned at some point because there was a tray of food beside the bed that still had steam rising from it. Oatmeal, apple slices, orange juice and plain toast. All perfectly healthy and tremendously boring. Laying on the tray was a note written in Erik's severe hand.
You will eat this.
Charles sighed. How perfectly Erik to expect cuddles upon waking up only to find threats instead.
Even so, Charles ate every bite.
***********************
"So how come I met Erik coming out of your room at 6 AM this morning?"
Charles froze, his pen hovering over the notes from his latest research. His hopes of having a few days to come up with a way of telling the others about the baby died a horrible strangled death as Raven plopped down beside him, an amused twinkle in her yellow eyes.
Still, Charles wasn't above delay tactics.
"What were you doing up at 6 AM?"
"Erik and I go for a run every morning," Raven said dismissively as though she hadn't just revealed her secret Erik-related hobby.
"I didn't know you did that," Charles said. An uncomfortable shade of jealousy settled across his mind. Which was silly, of course. Erik and Raven had every right to spend time together without informing Charles beforehand.
It was just...A week or so after Cuba, Raven had confessed to Charles that she'd come on to Erik in a rather blunt fashion. She'd played it off as a good joke on herself, but Charles knew she'd figured out his feelings and felt guilty about the whole thing. It didn't amount to more than a very sweet kiss, she'd assured him. But still...he made me believe I wasn't hideous when I really needed to hear that.
On this one point, Erik and Charles very much agreed. He'd been a terrible cad for ever letting Raven feel bad about her appearance.
"You probably didn't even know there was such a thing as 6 AM," Raven teased. When he didn't immediately respond, she eyed him more closely. "Don't worry. I'm done trying to steal your man."
"He isn't my man," Charles objected, fighting a dreadful blush. "Erik is welcome to date anyone he likes."
"Uh huh," Raven said with no small amount of sarcasm. "And that's why he was coming out of your room this morning." Charles stared resolutely at his paper and Raven sighed. "Well, I'm just saying, you're in no danger from me. I spent the morning trying to get blue fur out of my bedsheets."
It took a moment for that news to sink it, but when it did, Charles' head popped right back up, his eyes and grin both very wide. "You don't say," he said, rather gleefully. And not just because it meant Raven was serious about her lack of interest in Erik. Charles never knew exactly what happened between Raven and Hank, but he'd been disappointed when it hadn't worked. "When did this happen?"
"Nope, sorry," Raven singsonged, jumping to her feet. "Not unless you tell me yours first."
Damn. Charles really wanted to know the dirt and getting it required Raven spilling because if he ever invaded her mind, they'd never find his body. But in exchange for his situation? Charles' hand dropped to his belly. The baby's consciousness hummed pleasantly against his.
She'd have to find out sooner or later.
"Oh fine," Charles said, nerves abruptly shaking.
Several moments later, Raven's voice could be heard echoing all the way across the third floor.
"You're what?"
"Shhh! You're going to bring the house down on us and I can't deal with that right now," Charles said, glancing to the door they really should have closed. Thankfully, no one appeared.
"But...but...pregnant?," Raven hissed. "I can't believe Hank didn't tell me! See if I ever let that jerkface in my bed again."
If Raven was anything like her brother when it came to letting jerkfaces into her bed, Hank was safe.
"It wasn't his secret to tell," Charles said sternly.
"Okay, okay," she said, leaning forward to stare at Charles' belly. "You don't look any different. Is there really...hang on, oh my god! I just realized what...you had sex with Erik!"
Charles was glad Raven wasn't yelling anymore, but he wasn't sure this scandalized whispering was any better. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I may be a mutant, but I can't actually produce a baby from nothing."
"But...but when?"
"Ah. Yes, that." He fidgeted, toying with his pen. "Do you remember in Cuba when you complained at me because you said Erik and I took too long changing back into our regular clothes?"
Her eyes narrowed and she stuck a finger in his face. "I knew you looked different when you came out of that room."
"Different how?"
"Different like...like you'd been canoodling a scary German man," she declared.
"Really, Raven-"
"So this is why Erik moved in?" she asked, brightening out of her apparent shock at his lascivious canoodling. "You found out you're having a baby and it made Erik realize he couldn't live without you? You're going to get pretend-married and raise a whole brood of tiny little mutants and live happily ever after?"
It sounded as though Raven had been in her collection of trashy novels again.
"No, no, nothing like that," Charles said and he thought he managed to keep the melancholy out of his tone. "He just wants to be nearby in case something happens."
Raven contemplated him for a long moment, one red nail tapping on his desk. Her searching expression made Charles feel like she was the one with mind-reading powers. Certainly, she seemed to know things about him that Charles often took much longer to understand.
"Bullshit," she finally said.
"Excuse me?"
"He doesn't have to sleep in the same bed as you to keep you safe," she said and then continued loudly over Charles' objections, "And don't tell me he didn't sleep in your bed. You only have one bed in there. He could just as well stay across the hall and-"
"You'll excuse me for being overly cautious, but perhaps you missed the part where Charles is a pregnant man?"
Both siblings jumped in their seats, neither one having noticed Erik's approach until he was already ten feet into the room. Raven recovered first. Charles could only focus on his relief that it was Erik who'd surprised them and not one of the children.
"Oh, I see," she said, standing from her chair and raising an eyebrow at Erik. "You just have to be there, huh? In case something comes up?"
"Raven," Charles scolded, his blush returning with vigor.
"Don't upset him," Erik said. He tried his looming trick on Raven, but Charles could see it wasn't nearly as successful with her. "He doesn't need the stress. It's not safe for the baby."
"You're really going to pretend this is just about the baby?"
Her gaze moved from Charles' silent pleading for her silence on the subject to Erik's stormy anger and back again. Charles didn't want her to press this because he didn't want to hear Erik confirm it was just about the baby. Charles was grateful for the support. It didn't have to be more than that.
"Right, okay," Raven said, backing down from Erik and turning to surprise Charles with a hug. "I can't believe it," she murmured in his ear. "I'm going to be a sorta aunt."
Charles' throat closed off as he brushed his cheek against her soft red hair. Raven wasn't a sorta anything. Erik's support aside, Charles was going to need her if he was going to get through this intact. "You're going to spoil it horribly, aren't you?" he managed to say. She chuckled and kissed his forehead.
"You bet I am," she promised before whirling on Erik and poking him hard in the chest. "And you. You better take good care of him, Magneto. Or else."
Everyone in that room knew Erik's power far outstripped Raven's, but none of them were surprised when Erik dipped his head and winked at her. She might not be able to harm him physically, but no one doubted she could annoy the hell out of him.
"You both know I'm perfectly capable of handling my own health, right?" Charles said. Really, it was sweet of them to posture like gorillas over him, but it was also giving him a headache. "Just...thank you both, but please go away. I have a lot of work to do." He pointed a finger at Raven. "Although don't think you're getting out of telling about Hank."
Raven blew him a kiss as she breezed out the door, but Erik stayed put, watching Charles work for a few moments until the feel of his gaze boring into Charles' forehead annoyed him enough to look back up.
"What?"
"You didn't tell Raven to keep this a secret."
Oh bloody hell.
************************
Raven swore up and down that someone must have overheard her bickering with Hank about the pregnancy and that she didn't tell anyone. Whatever happened, every single person in the mansion knew by that afternoon. None of them dared approach Charles, but their thoughts were unavoidably loud as their eyes followed his every step.
...can't be possible, can it?
...doesn't look any different...
...wonder who knocked him up...
The worst part was that Charles had promised himself long ago not to confront people about their private thoughts. And especially not snap the snide comments crowding his tongue. Erik was right. This couldn't be good for the baby. By lunchtime, he'd begun desperately hoping anyone would approach him so he could vent some of the aggravation building in his chest.
Since Charles' luck had been rotten since birth, that person was Kitty Pryde.
"Professor?" she asked, slipping into the chair across from Charles' desk. "Are you really gonna have a baby?"
If Charles ended up having to explain the birds and bees to Kitty because of this, he would personally tear Erik's dick off his body.
"Yes, Kitty."
"But I thought only girls could have babies," she said, chewing her bottom lip, clearly troubled.
"Well, that's usually true, but you know how we all have powers?" he asked. At Kitty's slow nod, he continued, "Well, as it happens, part of my power is to have children. But that's absolutely not true of most men," Charles said in decided tone. He didn't want her to scar her for life. "It's unusual, but we are all unusual and special, right?"
One of Erik's favorite lessons, though Charles sometimes had to surreptitiously pinch his sides when he started using words like 'superior' and 'better than'. But he wasn't entirely wrong. Each of their children were unique and very special. It couldn't hurt to teach them that lesson. Especially if it helped answer questions about humiliating male pregnancies.
"Yeah," Kitty said, but the confusion hadn't lifted from her expression quite yet. "But if you're having a baby, then...who's the mommy?"
An excellent question. In no way would that information stay secret and well...Erik deserved this.
"Mr. Lehnsherr," Charles said. "Mr. Lehnsherr is the mommy."
Later that night, after Erik and Charles had settled into bed and the lights were out, right as Charles was on the verge of sleep, he felt Erik shift to face him.
"If one more person calls me 'mommy'," he whispered, his breath soft on Charles' ear, his tone deadly serious. "I will murder you while you sleep."
Charles smiled into the dark.
Maybe this pregnancy could be fun after all.
**********************
(Link to: A Logical Progression - Part 2 of 2)