The whole group made their way to the Professor's office, the most likely place for him to be at this time of the day. Ororo and Sarah tagging along both for moral support and because they were curious, both about what was happening with Rogue and about what the Professor would say about the change in relationship status between the two; for once the teachers were ahead of the students in the gossip mill.
As they approached the Professor's office Logan groaned. "Great, the Boy Wonder and his sidekick beat us to the punch." It wasn't long before the others began to pick up on the sound of muffled voices from within the office. When they got to the door Logan simply rapped twice and let himself in, why not, they were already talking about him after all.
"What convenient timing Logan, Rogue, please do come in, hopefully we can make this brief, I do have a class to teach this afternoon. Am I to assume you are here for the same reason as Scott and Jean?" Charles asked, the amused glint in his eye immediately putting Logan, at least, at ease.
"I doubt it," Logan replied, "They were already gone before Rogue dropped the glass so they wouldn't have a clue." Scott and Jean looked at each other confused, before Logan continued, "Rogue is still healing, she dropped a glass and cut herself but it was healed before she even washed the blood away, she talked me into 'testing' it and cut herself a couple of times and healed up in a split second both times. We're kinda confused, the healing has never hung around so long before, got any theories?"
"That is a very interesting development," Charles replied, brow furrowing in thought as he turned his mind from the initial 'problem' to this, infinitely more interesting, development. "As a matter of fact, I did consider the possibility, and I believe I mentioned this to Rogue on one occasion during our sessions, that it may be possible for her to develop a permanent copy of another mutants’ powers. Repeated exposure to a mutation, especially one as evolutionarily beneficial as yours Logan may have been enough to trigger a permanent change in her DNA. Have you noticed any other changes my dear?"
"Well... now that I'm thinking about it, the senses haven't really dulled either, I didn't realise until just now when Logan mentioned hearing something, that no one else could but I could hear it too," Rogue answered. She ignored the other occupants of the room as she took a seat, placing James securely on her lap but holding onto him so he couldn't lash out if he felt threatened again.
"I would recommend a DNA panel and physical examination, perhaps x-rays or an MRI to check for physiological changes too," the Professor suggested. "But before I release you into Jean's capable hands for that, perhaps we had best sort out this other issue first. It seems I have been left out of the most recent news to do the rounds of 'Mutant High'," Charles said, his earlier amusement returning.
"That's probably because we, technically, haven't announced it yet," Logan replied, cocking a brow in Jean's direction. “Just to fill you in, Rogue and I are engaged, and she's moved into the suite with me and the kids, so her room can be reassigned - I'd recommend to Kitty, if she's going to be going on missions regularly from now on."
"And I am removing my name from the X-Men pool, and myself from the training roster," Rogue added, picking up Logan's surprised but relieved sigh from behind her as she said it. "I'll still be assistant teacher for history, Ro and I have discussed a roster going forward, I'll be on track to take the class over entirely once I get my degree, assuming that offer is still on the table?" she added.
"Of course my dear, you would be a welcome addition to the teaching staff even if you decide to refrain from the team, a most welcome addition as I won't need to find a relieving teacher for your class every time there is a mission," Charles replied, with a chuckle, before turning to Scott and Jean.
"It seems everything is in order, well thought out, in a mature and considered manner. I understand your objections with regard to Rogue's age, and will admit to having my own reservations where that is concerned, but, as I am sure both Logan and Rogue are aware, everything about this situation is legal, Rogue is free to make her own relationship choices, whether we agree with them or not. Going forward, there is to be no unwanted discussion on the matter... and certainly no discussion of others sex lives in public." Charles added the last as he picked up a stray thought shoved in his direction by Logan.
Logan chuckled, while Scott and Jean both opened their mouths to object, Ororo promptly spoke before anyone else could. "That sounds like an excellent solution Professor, I feel perhaps all this situation really needs is a little time, everyone to take a step back and let everything play out for a while before making judgements."
"Indeed, now, if that is settled, I would suggest more attention is given to the issue of Rogue's mutational changes," Charles said, pointedly, as a knock sounded on the office door.
Logan got the door, ushering Ava in as she waved goodbye to her brother, who rushed off to his next class. Jean reluctantly agreed to drop the issue, and offered to run tests that afternoon.
"That would be great, someone is also going to need some x-rays, on his arms if we could work that in somehow," Rogue requested, cryptically enough that James wouldn't know she was talking about him; he was still frequently flexing his hands uncomfortably but not doing much else with them.
"Of course," Jean replied, observing his behaviour as discretely as she could, "I'll need to take x-rays from you anyway so that won't be a problem. Shall we go now?"
As Rogue stood, affirming that plan, Logan hoisted Ava up and swung her around until she was piggy backing on him. "Where are we going daddy?" she asked curiously, as he, Rogue, and Jean, stepped into the elevator; everyone else disbursing to their respective classrooms.
"To the med lab sweetie, mommy needs some tests done so we're going to go with her, is that okay with you?" he asked, he knew the little girl didn't particularly like the lab but he didn't want to leave Rogue to deal with this alone.
Predictably Ava scrunched up her nose in disgust before she agreed to going too, she wanted to be with mommy more than she didn’t want to be in the med lab. Jean started with a blood draw, Logan having to hold James, and comfort him when he saw Jean coming toward Rogue with a needle, it seemed he still wasn't quite back to trusting her yet. It didn't help when Ava warily eyed up the vials Jean was drawing off, and worriedly asked if she was taking too much blood. Jean just laughed and reassured the girl that adults had a lot more blood in their bodies than children but that she would make sure she left plenty for Rogue.
During the physical Jean made lots of important sounding hmm's and haa's as she checked this that and the other thing. She was checking Rogues eyes when she suddenly said, "I just want to try something," as she rushed across the room hitting the master switch to turn off all the lights. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked, from where she was standing beside the door.
"... Three ..." Rogue replied in shock. It was pitch black, and Jean was standing a good fifteen feet away from her, there was no way she should have been able to see that.
Jean flicked the lights back on before moving back over to her. "Okay, I'm going to do the hearing test now," she pulled the machine out and handed Rogue a set of headphones and a button, instructing her to push the button every time she heard a tone. For several minutes everyone sat in silence as Rogue periodically pressed the button, before Jean announced the test was complete, she didn't bother looking at the results yet, instead moving on to the next test.
Over the next hour every sense was tested, and Jean even pulled out a scalpel to test Rogue's newly discovered healing. That action sent James into an absolute panic, that even Rogue couldn't get him out of, and Logan ended up having to take him out of the room. Ava stayed, mostly because she just sat aside silently and no one noticed her, until she jumped up wide eyed and yelled, "James, James, come see, mommy heals too!"
Logan bought James back onto the room when the little boy calmed enough to see for himself that mommy really did heal. Then it was Ava's turn to start crying as she threw herself in Rogue's arms and said between hiccupping sobs, "I can't hurt you now if I have bad dreams," sounding immensely relieved at this revelation.
"Alright, the last thing I need to do is take some x-rays," Jean advised, "Logan, you can't be in here for that sorry, so why don't you take Ava to wait outside and James can stay with Rogue?"
"Wha's a es-ray?" James asked confused, glancing up at Rogue from his seat in her lap.
"It's a picture of your skellington!" Ava announced, "Why can't daddy have a picture of his skellington?" she suddenly queried.
"Because Logan has metal on his bones," Jean explained, "The metal doesn't react well with the x-ray so he can't be in the same room when the picture is taken."
"Does it hurt to have pictures wiv you skelli- skiling- skillit- that thing?" James said, giving up trying to say the big word his sister told him.
"Skeleton," Rogue repeated for him until he managed to say the word himself. "No, it doesn't hurt, do you want to stay? We could take a picture of your skeleton too!" she said excitedly, trying to sike the little boy up to give it a shot.
He regarded her apprehensively for a moment before agreeing. "How come he gets to but I don't?" Ava pouted.
"Because I already have a picture of your skeleton," Logan told her, picking her up with a chuckle, as he carried her out of the room so Jean could get started. "I'll show it to you while we wait," Rogue heard him say as the doors shut behind them.
Rogue went first for a full body x-ray, James watching wide eyed from behind the screen until Jean told her she could move, he seemed confused, as far as he could tell nothing had happened. Rogue assured him it was 'magic' and got him into position for his own x-ray. He was surprisingly well behaved, lying perfectly still, as Rogue had done, until he was told he could move. "Can I see the picture now?" he asked excitedly, as he jumped up.
"Soon, it has to develop first, and we need to take some more pictures before that," Rogue told him. Next, they took x-rays of both of their arm's, elbows to fingertips.
There was a five minute wait for the x-ray’s to be ready, and Jean wanted to take advantage of having the two older mutants essentially at her mercy while they waited for the results of the testing, so she called them aside, leaving the two children distracted in the next room as they looked as Ava's x-ray’s on the light box.
"So, as you are starting a relationship, now is probably the time to bring up birth control," Jean said.
"You’re not already on the pill?" Logan asked Rogue surprised.
She rolled her eyes as she replied sarcastically, "Hi, I'm Rogue, suck-your-life-out-through-your-skin-girl, want to have sex with me?"
Logan chuckled. "Well, yeah, but I see your point, I thought most chicks took the pill to control their hormones though?"
"I've never had a problem with that," Rogue replied, blushing at his first comment even as she ignored it, "And to be honest, I don't want to screw that up so I'd prefer not to go the hormone disrupting birth control way, I'm pretty sure that's how pretty much everything except condoms works though?" she asked Jean.
"There are a few non-hormone-based methods," Jean advised, detailing these for the two of them.
"This all sounds unnecessarily complicated," Logan said after a while, "It's up to you darlin, though I don't like the sound of that IUD... if it makes any difference, I do know when your 'catching' and happy to take precautions or avoid sex at the right time, that's honestly probably just as, if not more effective than any of these options. Like I said though, your choice."
"I'll think on it and let you know when I've made a decision, I mean, at the very least we're going to have to use a condom anyway, so that's ninety eight percent efficacy right there," Rogue replied after a while, personally she didn't care if she got pregnant, and judging by what Logan had said in the kitchen earlier, he wasn't too worried about it either.
Logan chuckled, after her comment about the logistics of making baby girls earlier that afternoon, he'd given it some thought and didn't think she was entirely correct with her condom statement, but no need to mention that just yet.
Jean agreed that was a good idea, they apparently weren't having sex yet anyway, as much as that surprised her, it meant the need wasn't great right now. She left an open invitation for Rogue to come back any time of she wanted more information, before she left the pair to check on the x-ray’s and collect the rest of the test results.
"Alright," Jean announced, as she walked back into the exam room, noting the children were starting to get bored now and were currently amusing themselves by slapping each other with glove balloons. "So, all of your senses are heightened, your eyes do that same weird focusing thing Logan's do, I'll admit, it's a little creepy, almost like a camera auto focusing, and your night vision... well there's technically no test for that because people aren't supposed to be able to do that but you do, so, I think my test was successful. Your hearing is amazing, well above average, and your healing speed is on par with Logan's.
"Now to the x-ray’s, your overall bone density appears to have increased," she advised, as she put up two side by side x-ray’s, one from when Rogue had first arrived at the school, alongside the one from today. "You may notice, or have noticed, subtle changes in your centre of gravity, also be careful if you go swimming there might be changes in your buoyancy, there's also these!" Jean announced, sliding a second x-ray onto the light board. "These are claws, like Logan's, just bone only, and they are in your forearms Rogue, I take it you haven't triggered them yet?"
"Shit!" Logan breathed, "She manifested a physical mutation, is that... safe?" he asked worriedly.
"Technically your entire mutation is physical, in that it creates a physical and mechanical change in body processes, so it's not entirely unexpected that the claws have manifested along with the rest. The only problem is going to be long term effects, I won't know for a couple of days, when I've had a chance to get the blood work results, how permanent the change is likely to be. The claws will likely be there permanently, but if the healing were to eventually fade away - the mechanical process of the cell function to decrease - then it could be dangerous for Rogue to use the claws. So, I can't advise on the yet.
"Now, for James, check out your skeleton pictures, little guy," Jean said with a grin, replacing Rogue's x-ray’s with James'. "I think this is what is causing the issue with his hands," Jean commented, pointing to a spot on the close up arm x-ray’s. "This bone has been pushed out of place, dislocated essentially, probably simply because there wasn't enough wiggle room in his little hands to accommodate the claws as they passed through, so stuff had to move but it hasn't moved back. It shouldn't be hard to get it pushed back into the right place but, for obvious reasons, I'm not going to do it," Jean added bluntly.
Logan looked over the x-ray’s as Jean added the same shot of Ava's, Logan's, and Rogue's hands, so they could see what she was talking about with the bone being in the wrong position. Gently he lifted James onto the exam table. "Your hands are still sore, aren't they?" he asked the little boy softly.
James's nodded as Logan took hold of one of his hands.
Gently Logan felt over the hand, referring back to the x-ray as he tried to locate the point that was causing the issue. "Ah, there it is," Logan commented, as James imperceptibly flinched as his thumb moved over a slightly swollen spot. "I can fix this so it doesn't hurt any more but it's going to hurt when I fix it, you understand?" The little boy nodded before Logan began to manipulate his hand. "Look at mama," Logan told him, when he felt James tense as he watched what Logan was doing. The boy relaxed as he turned to Rogue before he yelped loudly when Logan suddenly, and firmly, pressed the dislocated joint back into place. He didn't cry, though tears welled in eyes as Logan gently massaged his hand until he slowly relaxed again. After a few moments Logan softly asked, "How does it feel now buddy?"
"Better," James sniffled, still trying not to cry. Logan made him flex his hand and grip his finger before he moved on to the other hand. He couldn't distract James the same way the second time but the boy managed to stay relaxed through the process, barely even flinching the second time, though tears did drop as he grit his teeth against the brief stab of pain. Logan pulled him close for a hug as he massaged the hand while the muscles resettled, letting the boy hide his tear streaked face against his shirt. After a few minutes he made him repeat the exercises to test the hand, before James smiled up at him and announced he felt good now.
"Do we need to do another x-ray to make sure everything's gone back in the right place?" Logan queried to Jean, who had observed the whole procedure in silence.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary, if he's able to move the hand fully and without pain it should be fine, just keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't unseat it again," she advised.
"What about the claws, is it likely to be something that affects him long term or do you think he'll grow out of it?" Rogue asked, as James scooted down to where she was standing beside the exam table, and settled in for a hug while she gently combed her fingers through his thick dark hair.
"He shouldn't have the claws yet, and definitely shouldn't be able to release them, so I'm confident that, once he's grown and developed a bit more, he will be able to use the claws without issue, Ava didn't have the same problem, though admittedly she doesn't have as many claws, Logan doesn't have a problem either, though how much of that is because of the adamantium, I couldn't say," Jean advised, basically it was a wait and see scenario, at worst James just might have to relocate his carpals every time he used his claws.
"I'll have to ask Sarah what happened with Caleb," Logan muttered thoughtfully.
"Caleb has claws?" Jean asked surprised.
"Why does that fact seem to shock everyone?" Logan replied, with a chuckle.
"Well, he got into a fight the other day but I didn't have to sew anyone up, so, I just assumed he didn't have them," Jean admitted with a shrug.
"Fair enough," Logan conceded. "Let us know when the results are in, and speaking of letting us know... James, in future, if you're hurting from something, you have to tell us so we can fix it, okay?"
James nodded, as he let Logan pick him up, before the whole group bid farewell to Jean and left her standing, now alone, in the med lab.
--
Later that night, after the kids were in bed, Logan wandered into 'their' bedroom. Marie was sitting on the bed, her laptop on her knee and books spread around her. She had decided against giving studying in the library a second chance after the fiasco earlier in the day, but judging by the fact she was paying no attention to her work it didn't look like studying in the bedroom was any more productive.
"Your computer's on fire," Logan said, not bothering to hide his grin when she turned to him and just replied blankly 'huh?'. "Nothing, is everything okay? You've been really quiet," Logan replied, as he walked over to the bed and removed all the books as Rogue snapped her computer shut.
"Just thinking ... you know, everyone thought we were having sex, and we weren't, now everyone thinks we're not, we should totally do it," Rogue said, with a cheeky grin.
Logan lay down on the bed with a laugh, wrapping his arm around her when she cuddled up against him. "I'm not having sex with you just because everyone else thinks we should or shouldn't, or are or are not, I told you, I'm waiting until you're ready."
"Until I'm ready, or until you're ready, or until you think no one else will object?" Rogue asked softly. When Logan didn't answer straight away she continued, "You don't have to worry about what other people think Logan, I already know how you feel, you love me for me, not for what you can get out of me, it was horrible for them to say those things but you have nothing to prove to me... If you want to wait I can live with that but only if it's for the right reasons, I'm ready, honestly I am, I won't claim I won't be nervous when the time comes, that's kind of a given in my situation, but if it's with you, I'm ready when you are, I trust you."
They lay in bed just holding each other for a time before Logan rolled over and snapped off the nightstand lamp, placing a kiss on her crown as he returned to his place. "I love you Marie, I hear you, I understand, it'll happen when it happens, for the right reasons." He felt her smile where her face was pressed up against his chest, as they both slowly drifted off to sleep contentedly.