"The first boy I ever kissed ended up in a coma for three weeks. I can still feel him inside my head. It's the same with you."

Coming up on the end of her eighth month, Marie was beginning to feel like she was never going to have the baby. Big as a house, wincing all the time from the kicks, she was smiling as broad as was possible as she helped the kids with their after school homework.

But then she jerked, eyes going wide. Giving a shake of her head, she glanced at the clock. Four minutes later, she did it again. Patting Ashley's arm, she whispered softly to her.

"Please, find Cain and ask him to come to our room."

Waddling, she barely made her way to the bedroom before her water broke.

The children were asleep, the music was on softly and Marie was working to decorate the house. While as big as a house. Christmas carols played, lights twinkled on the floor and she was singing along, looking rosey cheeked and pregnant and very, very happy.

I'm not going to have this baby, I'm just going to get rounder and rounder until I pop!


But I can feel her kick and the doctor says she's healthy, despite the panic over my due date and size.

They were weeds to many, desert paintbrush and other flowers that bloomed naturally in the desert and yet Marie had taken a lot of time arranging them. The ingrediants for dinner, ramen and raviolis, sat on the counter by the flowers.

On the sliding glass door that led to the deck, a message had been left. Written in crimson lipstick within a giant red heart were three words.

I LOVE YOU

The machine either holds this message or Cain takes the call. Either way, the message is simple. A request for Cain Marko regarding one Marie D'Ancanto with a request from her for him to please come to the area emergency room as soon as possible.

She was finally starting to adapt to life without caffeine. It hadn't been easy, or fun, but it was no longer to the point that she spent mornings dragging for hours until she could function, or her nights in a haze trying to stay awake just a few more minutes.

Of course, it wasn't as if anything could be normal either. Standing before the mirror in her bathroom in nothing but a sports bra and a pair of boxers, she stared at her reflection with a look of concern. Turned to the side, she couldn't deny that it was true. She was showing. Still shy of three months and she was showing. Panic was a bad choice, so was freaking, whimpering and curling up into a ball and trying to banish the fears of a twenty pound baby. Instead she just stared at the reflection, her hand rubbing lightly over the definite swell of the life growing within her.

Cain,

Can we talk? I'll be at our place.

Love,
Marie

Grabbing a bottle of water and being sure the kids were tucked in, she slipped out to the deck, curling up on the sun warmed wood and waited.

I don't know why I let that man infuriate me so badly. Nor why I care so damn much about how he feels about all of this.

And I hate that most of all. That I can't stop caring.

[Locked to Cain]

I'm sorry. I love you and, truly, I trust you completely. I know you're here for me and I couldn't be happier to know that. Thank you for blessing my life.

[/Locked]

Marie was moping and she knew it. She just couldn't handle that Logan wasn't even taking her calls yet. Part of her had expected this. The other part of her was teary eyed little girl inside because, hello, he was her Logan and who would she turn to if things went horribly bad?

Standing out in the desert that was just beyond the lawn they kept up, she was tossing a worn and chewed tennis ball for Sassy. The black poodle, nearly as tall as Marie's hip, raced back and forth, eagerly returning with her prize, just to have it thrown again. She didn't have to think like this, she could just be. Or try to.

"Are you happy?'

The three hardest words in the world, and the first that Logan put to Marie after she told him. They were in a park, tucked out of the way while they sat side by side on swings. She figured he wouldn't go too crazy in public, and yet she hadn't want him to make a scene.

Swaying a little, she pushed down and twisted herself up until the chain caught her fingers. Twirling out of control as she let go. At least until his hand shot out and grabbed her calf.

"Well, kid?" The scent of his cigar was bitter but it was like home to her. "This yahoo makes you happy?"

She stared at him, not wanting to seem flippant. "Yeah, he does. He treats me like a goddess, Logan.' She wasn't lying there. She just had yet to tell him all of the truth. Lightly pulling her leg away, she moved to climb up onto the merry go round, spinning thing and kicked off so it lazily turned.

"He's protective and caring and very loving,' she says, smiling as Logan came over to spin it for her. Perching on one rail, she went on. "His name's Cain. Cain Mark...' And that was as far as she got as it came screeching to a halt.

"That Juggernaut...' His features darkened, eyes narrowing as he chomped down on his cigar and bit off the end. "He's with Magneto, Rogue. He's the enemy and tried to kill me. He was there when Charly died, Rogue.' The way he said it, she knew what he was thinking. Even when she'd told him the best she could about the Nexus, most of it just was so much fantasy to Wolverine. She could try and explain it now but she wasn't sure he'd accept the truth of it at face value.

"He's not like that. I wouldn't trust him if he was."

"Like you didn't trust Pyro?'

"Logan! Don't you dare bring him into it."

"Why not? You have horrible taste in men, kid. Look atcha latching onto me."

"I'm carrying his child, Logan. Apparently I trust him with a lot.' She winced as soon as the words left her mouth. She hadn't mean to tell him like that, not just blurt it out like that.

Trying not to curl up and whimper at the look he gave her. Patting his pocket, he found another cigar. Not taking the time to light it, he bit down on the end, shaking his head. "I'll be in touch, Kid.' Still shaking his head, he turned and disappeared off into the shadows. He needed to think, to wrap his head around that the kid was having a kid. He needed not to track this bastard down and make him remember that she was a child and deserved better than being knocked up without even a high school diploma.

Marie just stared after him, biting at her lip to keep from crying.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm certain that Professor Xavier has contacted you and informed you that I left school. I waited until now, when I was 18, to contact you so that you couldn't make me come home.

I'm happy. I have a home, a place where I belong and I'm needed. I take care of children orphaned by war. Children like me who need someone like me to take care of them. For once I truly feel needed.

That said, I'm in love. I've met a very caring man who treats me like a goddess. We're expecting our first child. I know you won't be happy to hear that but I wanted you to know you'd be grandparents.

You won't be able to find me as I am living under an assumed name but I will keep in touch.

Love you,

Marie

The problem with having lots of caffeine and sugar when you had quit? The fall is near deadly on the mood and strength. So it was that Marie was curled up like a worn out kitten in a sunspot. That she'd gone to the stables that morning, taking Pony out for a slow ride through the desert before coming back with one trained, groomed and cared for standard poodle. Yay for sending them out for training. Now Sassy could not only sit, stay and heel but she could also fetch things by command, including cellphones, toys and her own leash.. not that she needed it anymore.

The pair together on a chaise out back, the dog seemingly as tired as her Mistress.

Respond to this post and I will give you the three words (or phrases) that I think MOST accurately describe you.

The cost? You have to return the favor by posting this in your own journal.

List three or four people you love, and three or four people you hate, with a comment to each. You are not allowed to say who, it must be guessed.

( Love )

( Hate )

Some overlap on both lists as, sometimes, that is the nature of love and hate.

She should have known better. The nexus was hard enough without all her caffeine but then running into Tom, having that talk with him once more, had been too much. Curled up in the center of the bed she and Cain shared, her head cradled on her arms and the blanket pulled up almost over her head.

The hope was that it would muffle her soft sobs, trying to get it out of her system before the children, or Cain, heard her. It shouldn't be bothering her that bad. It was just a fight. A fight with a man she'd met less than a year ago. A fight with a man that had helped her out countless times, was the reason she had even met Cain and was, in the end, the catalyst the the union that had led to the child she carried.

Yep, just a fight.

((Set just after her and Tom's encounter in the Nexus, obviously.))

thomas_small,

THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOU ARE OF THE ROCK.

*scampers off to upload icons. OMGOMGOMG icons of Anna hotness*