9 MONTHS
THE
RAIN WHISPERS SERIES
PART THREE
MONTH 7 – Nesting
"Logan, buddy. You’ve
saved my butt plenty o times, an’ I’m about to return the favor. Take off your
boots."
"Drake, you forget to
defrost yer brain?"
"Yes, but that’s
beside the point. If you wanna live, take off the boots."
Bobby had met Logan at the
door as the husky man was returning from a beer run.
"You gonna tell me
what’s goin’ on, or do I gotta hit you upside the head with this?" He held
up the six pack he was holding in his right hand.
"Ha! I know you too
well. That’s Canadian beer pal. You wouldn’t risk it!"
"Get to the point,
Drake!"
"Storm’s
cleaning."
"There better be
more."
"Maybe cleaning
doesn’t quite cover it. You could perform open heart surgery on the kitchen
floor."
Logan looked at Bobby
oddly. Then a light bulb went off.
"…Nesting."
"What?"
"Storm’s
nesting."
"…Logan, I know she
can fly, but…"
"Every female animal
on the planet does it." Logan continued, wisely removing his footwear.
"Was wonderin’ when this was gonna happen." He said, more to himself,
then continued with Bobby. "Expectin’ mothers get this urge t’make
everythin’ perfect for the baby. Everythin’s gotta be neat. Everythin’s gotta
be clean, or there’s hell to pay."
"How the hell do you
know?"
"I know nature."
"CHARLES!!!"
"I am leaving. I’m
going."
"I just cleaned that!
Now I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN!!!"
"Charles quickly
rolled his wheelchair out of the kitchen."
"God, no one’s
safe!"
"Whatcha do
Chuck?"
"I went though the
kitchen."
"That’s all?"
"His in his
chair."
"So. It’s clean."
"Ororo insists I left
marks on the floor."
"My advice Chuck, till
this phase is over, use the new hover."
"I was just on my way
to get it." He started past them. "Watch yourselves boys. It’s a war
zone in there."
"DO NOT EVEN THINK
ABOUT SETTING ONE FOOT IN HERE!"
Bobby stopped, his foot in
mid-air over the threshold of the kitchen. From her seat at the table, Jean
looked up and grinned. She was enjoying this, especially since she was the only
one in the house Ororo hadn’t blasted in the past several weeks.
{‘A unified baby front,
Jean?’}
{‘Of course.’}
Jean’s grin widened.
"You almost finished,
darlin?"
"Of course not,
Logan. Look at this place. First, I have to remove these scars Charles
left on the floor, then the rec room needs tending, and then the dining room.
This mansion is a sty."
Jean amusingly nodded in
agreement as she scooped another spoonful of cookie dough ice cream – with
pickles – into her mouth.
"Jeanie, is that what
I think it—Jeez, it is."
"Want some?"
"Pass."
"Later." ‘Much
later.’
"They would only get
it on the floor, anyway." Storm muttered.
"Storm, is it okay if
we go in the--?"
"No."
"How about
the--?"
"No."
"The--?"
"Not there
either."
"Then where--?"
"Outside!" Both
Jean and Storm said in unison.
"But off the porches
and verandas!" Storm added as the two made there way out.
"We allowed in our own
rooms?" Bobby asked in a low voice he thought only Logan could
hear.
"Don’t tempt me
Drake!"
"Looks like you’re
sleepin’ under the stars tonight kid."
"An’ with my luck,
it’ll be raining."
"Don’t give her any
ideas."
"How many more
months?"
MONTH 8 – Moms
"I can’t take it! I
want Storm back. Our Storm. Not that raging mass of hormones."
"Not that much longer.
The baby’ll come and she’ll be back to normal… I hope."
"Give the girl a
break. You guy’s got any idea what she’s goin’ through?"
"All the kids runnin’
round our place, I don’t remember my momma ever actin’ that batty."
Logan sighed and shook his
head. "You’ve all seen what Storm can do with her powers, and I’m bettin’
we ain’t even seen close t’half o’what she’s capable of. Just imagine how hard
it is for her to keep all of that under control under normal
circumstances. Now…"
"She’s gotta be
borderlining madness, trying to keep it all under control."
"I see your
point."
"Hey!"
"Where you been Gumbo?
Cyke’s fumin’ that ya took off like that."
"With a mini-jet to
boot."
"In the middle of the
night."
"Had to make a pick
up. Somethin’ t’make Stormy feel better. Or, guess I should say someone."
Gambit stood to the side
and a beautiful, elegant woman (who had to be hovering around 6’5"
or 6’6") entered the room.
Logan smiled, immediately
stood up and extended his hand. "M’Rin, good ta see ya."
"And you, Logan."
"M’Rin? Hi, I’m Kitty
Pryde. I glad to finally meet you."
"Kitty, Ororo has
spoken of you often. And you, you must be Kurt."
Nightcrawler took M’Rin’s
extended hand and kissed it instead of shaking it.
"She did indeed
describe you well, Mr. Wagner."
"Ororo has told us of
the peace talks you were orchestrating. Were you successful in reaching an
agreement with Kazen?"
"For now, yes. I only
prey that it holds. Far to much blood has been spilt over an inherited cause
which we were never given an understanding of."
M’Rin was Warlord of the
Skies of K’dall—another world, Storm once stumbled upon through a juncture in
the Savage Land. The two had formed a strong bond, not unlike that of mother
and daughter. In fact the two regarded themselves as such, something each was
in need of."
"Now, I do not mean to
be rude, but where is my daughter? It has been far too long since I have seen
her face. It pained me greatly when I knew I could not be here for her wedding,
and even more so when I could not support her after Rafe’s death. I will not
miss the birth of her first child. I would sooner abandon my position."
"Well, let’s not waist
any more time. I’ll take you to her M’Rin." Kitty said, motioning towards
the door.
"How’d you know to go
get her Gumbo?"
"Got a message from
her yesterday, when nobody home. She tell me d’talks is done an’ she want
someone to come see Storm. So I go pick her up."
"Ha! You just wanna
get on Storm’s good side so she don’t blast ya again."
"I admit
nothin’."
* * * * *
M’Rin sat with her legs
bent on Ororo’s bed. Ororo lay with her head in her mother’s lap. She was
happy. Her mother was here and that meant everything would be all right. A
childish belief she knew, but for the moment, Ororo indulged herself in the
fantasy that a parent was all-powerful and all protecting.
"I no longer recognize
myself, M’Rin."
"What do you
mean?"
"…I am not the person
I was eight months ago."
"And you never will be
again." M’Rin answered, with a bit of a chuckle. "But this is not a
bad thing. Right now, you are going through what ideally is the most wonderful
thing in life, but it is undoubtedly the strangest, and the most magical. Your
temperament, your control will return to you soon. But you will not be the Ororo
you once were. A new woman will be born along with your child." She leaned
forward and kissed Ororo on the forehead. "And that woman will be wiser,
more loving and stronger, than the previous ever could have been. There is an
additional strength of spirit that comes with being a mother… no matter what
the future result…" She trailed off.
M’Rin had a daughter, who
although she still lived, was no longer acknowledged as such by M’Rin’s
society. She had turned her back on her mother and in fact had become one of
M’Rin’s worst enemies, both personally and professionally. She became a sky
pirate and M’Rin was often given the task of hunting her down. Although many of
the woman’s cohorts had been captured, M’Rin’s former daughter still remained
at large. A part of M’Rin often wondered if she somehow subconsciously was
letting the woman escape—the left over residue of a mother’s love, long ago
denied.
"I am no longer
certain I am up for the task. I am frightened. What I make a mistake? This
child is depending on me. What if I mess up? I have done so, so frequently in
the past."
"You are mortal Ororo.
If you can learn form the mistakes you will make—and I will not lie to you, you
will make errors—but if you can learn from them and move on, that will be the
greatest lesson you can teach this child. Not to be perfect, but to be wise
enough not to repeat miss-doings."
"I shall need your
assistance."
"You will have
it."
Storm sighed. ‘Six more
weeks.’ "Six weeks seems like a lifetime…"
MONTH 9 – Ame
"Where is Ororo?"
"She went for a walk
with M’Rin in the woods. She was feeling a little restless."
"But the teams’ on
their way home. Everyone’s all right, they should be here in a few hours."
"I don’t think that’s
the reason Hank. She’s just days from delivering. She nervous, she’s anxious.
You know when Storm gets that way she can’t stand being shut up in a house.
Even in her attic. She needs to be in a natural setting."
"I suppose so Jean,
though I hope she would not travel too far."
* * * * *
"So these Sentinels, I
thought you had destroyed them all ready."
"Weeds always find a
way of resurfacing—usually stronger than they were before you plucked them.
These new S4’s required the effort of all three teams as well as the
Avengers."
"But they
prevailed."
Ororo nodded. "Yes,
for now. But we shall no longer delude ourselves by believing we have seen the
last of them. Even now, Charles is organizing Danger Room sequences simulating
even more powerful robots."
M’Rin stopped walking and
ran a slender hand along a tree. "Your lives are spent fighting such
desperate battles, yet your home is so peaceful."
"Our haven. Were it
not, I do not believe we could--"
"You could…?"
"That we--"
"Ororo?"
"…I—I think I
am--"
"The baby?"
Ororo nodded and placed her
hand on another tree for support. "I—it is time."
"Come. We need to get
you back to the house."
Ororo took a step; them
grabbed her stomach in pain. She shook her head. "I do not think I can
make it. The child is coming right now!"
* * * * *
"Jubilee, give me that
arm."
"If this scars, I
swear t’God--"
"Don’t worry. I’m sure
Everett will still be all over you. Now give it here."
Standing nearby, Synch
grinned devilishly. Jubilee narrowed her eyes. "What are you smiling at.
If you weren’t standing so close to the doc, you’d have been blasted too."
"Still felt it. And
I--"
"Ahem!"
"And we got the bulk
of it."
"Well perhaps you
would’ve preferred I be the one standing in front." She said
sarcastically.
Everett’s usually
lighthearted face slid immediately into a seriousness that would have matched
Wolverine’s.
"Don’t even joke about
that, Lee. Not ever."
Cecilia finished tending to
Jubilee’s arm, as the youngest leader stood up and hugged her long time love.
"Don’t worry, you
ain’t getting rid of me that easy."
"Hey! Strap in you
three, we’re approaching."
Kitty looked over at the
display as Cyclops made the landing adjustments. Everyone was strapped into
their seats. The Blackbirds Red and the Blue were secure in their hangers. She
shook her head. Forge’s talent always surprised her. The Blackbird Gold, which
they were currently sitting in, was the main ship. The Red and The Blue were
two separate ships, each more than large enough to hold their own team,
remained housed in the lower compartments of The Gold. How the three fit
together, while The Gold retained its stealth size, she couldn’t figure out.
Even with her vast knowledge of computers, Kitty knew she was no match for
Forge’s mutant ability to create practically anything he thought of.
"Commencing landing
sequence." Cyclops punched in the correct codes and the ship descended
into the ground. The main entrance/exit of the ships was several miles from the
hanger under the school, but it only took seconds for it to reach its
destination. It pulled to a complete stop and the floor beneath it turned
around slowly so that it was facing the direction from which it had just
come—ready for action.
The Professor and Jean
entered the hanger, just as the door to the ship opened and the
X-Men started filing out.
‘Uh-oh.’ "What’s wrong?" Scott
asked. The last time he had disembarked with the Professor waiting in the
hanger, Illyanna Rasputin, Colossus’s younger sister had died. He took a quick
glance in Peter’s direction and could tell from the cautious look on his face,
he was thinking of the same moment.
"Nothing is
wrong." Jean said with a smile. "We just have some—unexpected
news."
"News?"
"Our family has
grown—a little sooner than expected."
"…Storm?"
"Yes."
"She had the
baby?!"
"About 30 minutes
ago."
"In the woods."
"The woods???!!!!"
Several of them yelled.
"She was taking a
walk. Hank barely got out there in time."
"Is she okay?"
"What about the
baby?"
"Is it a boy or a
girl?"
"In the woods?"
"Where are they?"
The Professor held up his
hands. "Both Ororo and her daughter are doing fine. They are in Storm’s
apartment with M’Rin and Henry."
"A girl!"
"What’s her
name."
"I think the
introductions should be left to Ororo."
* * * * *
For the first time since
the child’s birth, Ororo took her eyes away from the baby’s face, to look
towards the sound coming from her door. Twelve heads were poking through the
doorframe and she could hear several more bodies moving around beyond them. She
smiled. "Come in, all of you."
M’Rin, who was sitting on
the bed, beside Ororo, looked over her shoulder to see the suddenly shy X-Men
stumble in. They were now all in the room, but still remained cautiously by the
door.
"She cannot bite you.
She has no teeth."
They came forward and Ororo
turned the child around in her arms to face them.
"I would like you all
to meet my daughter Ame.
(Note: pronounced
"Ah"-"May" without stress on either syllable--NOT
"Amy")
"Rain."
"What Wolvie?"
"Ame. It’s the
Japanese word for rain."
"That’s perfect!"
"I love it!"
"She’s beautiful
Ororo!"
Tiny Ame had dark skin and
the beginnings of a few wisps of white hair on her head. Sensing an audience,
the child yawned awkwardly and partially opened her eyes. They were a deep
shade of jade green.
"Ame," Ororo said
softly, "this is your family."
The child showed her
enthusiasm with another yawn. M’Rin saw that her daughter’s eyes were equally
as tiered as the baby’s.
"All right everyone.
Out. They both need their rest. You can visit later."
The X-Men, who had finally
forgotten their shyness, groaned and mumbled as they grudgingly made their way
out the door.
"Wait! Logan, would
you remain a moment please." Logan stood aside and waited until everyone
else, including M’Rin had left, then walked over to the bed. She motioned for
him to sit, which he did, beside her. Ame made and adjusting noise.
"She’s gorgeous
darlin’. Looks just like you."
"Would you like to
hold her?"
"…Uh, no. My hands
ain’t clean."
Ororo knew that wasn’t the
real reason, but she let it go.
"I—I have something to
ask of you Logan. The most important request I have ever made." She took a
breath. "I want you to be Ame’s godfather."
Few things in life
surprised Logan and even fewer still actually shocked him. This was one of
those rare moments.
"You want me to
what?"
"To be her godfather.
If anything were to happen to me, you would be her primary guardian. Of course,
I would want her to be cared for by everyone in this family, but as for
official custody, I want it to go to you."
"You sure you’re
feelin’ alright darlin’." It was an honest question.
She smiled. "Yes, my
friend. This is not a rash decision on my part. I have put much thought into
this."
"Why me? Don’tcha
think Jeannie and Scott would be better for this?"
Ororo closed her eyes.
"As much as I love and trust them, Scott and Jean will have their own
child to deal with. It would not be fair. Plus—there is an additional reason
for my choice."
Logan narrowed his eyes.
"She can learn much
from you, things you cannot learn from a textbook or other methods of
conventional learning. I want her to have a sense of honor and a respect for
nature. These are things you are more than equipped to teach her if
necessary."
"And…" Logan
sensed there was more. A reason she was holding back.
"And… I need to know
that Ame is being taken care of—that she is safe." She looked Logan
directly in the eyes. "I need to know she is being looked after by someone
who is willing to protect her, under any circumstances, without hesitation, and
by any means necessary." She leaned forward intently. "By any
means necessary."
Logan got the message. He
chuckled. "S’funny." He started. "How everythin’ goes out the
window when you’re a parent. Values, promises—vows."
"Ame means more to me
than any honor code I live by. Her safety is paramount. I need to know someone
who is willing to do the same is caring for her. I cannot afford the chance
Scott or Jean would hesitate to think about another solution. A more peaceful
one. Where this child is concerned…"
"T’hell with
peace."
"I know I may sound somewhat
crazed in my reasoning--"
"You sound like a
mother who’s tryin’ t’protect her kid." He sighed. "Okay, darlin’, I
see you’re point. I’ll do it if I’m needed. But you just better plan on being
around. This girl’s gonna need her mother."
"I am not planning on
going anywhere just yet. I just want a little insurance."
"Ya got it." He
stood up and ran a finger along Ame’s cheek. The baby cooed happily. Logan
kissed Ororo on the top of the head. "Congrat’s darlin’. Now get some
rest."
"I—we will."
As he left the room, Ororo
lay down with Ame on the bed beside her. She used pillows to insure the child
would not roll away.
‘I feel as though I should
be saying something to you. But I know not what.’
Ame looked at her mother
through her wrinkled eyes. She brought a fist to her mouth. Ororo smiled and
then did the only thing she could think of, the only thing that seemed
appropriate. She sang softly to the newborn:
"For all my life, I’ve
waited for someone like you,
And I thank god, that I
finally found you,
For all my life, I’ve
waited for someone like you,
And I hope that you feel
the same way too,
I pray that you do love me
too."
The Beginning
Well, that’s it. The
foundation for The Rain Whisper’s Series has been set. From here on out, the
stories will (hopefully) be in chronological order, but they may or may not be
written that way. I may skip ahead five, seven, or seventeen years ahead—who
know? Hopefully I’ll remember to write Ame’s age at the top of each story so
you’ll know where the story fits in. Anyway, please write me and let me know
what you think. I can
be reached at stormgates@hotmail.com
. I need to know people are reading this stuff! If they aren’t, then why am
I writing these stories and who am I talking to now? Enough rambling for now.
Have a good one! (Write me!) Bye! -Next up: "And The Child Shall Lead
Them"