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Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm back! This chapter is just a continuation and even if it doesn't feel so ROLO now, please remember it is a ROLO fic and all will get better...hopefull :)
“He’s so precious”
“He’s the most beautiful thang ah’ve ever seen”
“Awww”

Ororo was sat down comfortably on the armchair directly opposite her bed wearing a baby sling across her body that connected herself to her firstborn, James. She could hear the comments of awe and wonder and she was thanking them with a serene and grateful smile but her expression and exterior did not mirror what she was feeling on the inside. It had been two whole weeks and a few days since baby James had been born and reborn and the first night they had slept inside the mansion. Having just arrived yesterday, Ororo was still readjusting to just being back inside the mansion and not having the constant sound of beeping and humming around her. She wondered how it must have felt for her new-born son.

“When can we hold him?” Jubilee asked excitedly as she moved closer towards Ororo and her son. Ororo looked up at Jubilee, Rogue and Kitty with a slightly amused expression. The three younger mutants had formed an arch around her preventing any form of freedom. She raised an eyebrow and smiled softly
“Well…James needs to sleep…then eat…then sleep again. You can hold him when he’s not so busy” she said with humour in her eyes. The three students rolled their eyes.
“Come on, Ororo…please” Kitty pleaded whilst bending over to see the slumbering baby against Ororo’s chest.
“You three have a class…that starts…now?”
The girls groaned.
“After…I promise” and with that the three mutants left Ororo’s attic bedroom gleefully.
Now alone, Ororo began to ponder.
It was strange.
For a brief period she had lost him.
James was dead for those 5 minutes and she felt as if her heart and her stomach had been brutally ripped from her body.
She remembered.
She refused to scream or wail because he had already gone
That wouldn’t bring him back, she would just let her blood run cold and wait for the pain to pass. She remained calm because she had already half accepted his death before it was announced.
Then just like that…
“Can I see him?”
Ororo thoughts were taken to a halt by the sound of a familiar voice.

“No…Um…Not right now-uh- he’s resting.” She cleared her throat. “He’s been through a lot…and all the different voices and faces he has to see… I do not want his sleep to be disturbed before we have to go back to the hospital…” Her voice trailed off as she lost the will to make excuses.
“Oh” Jean also cleared her throat and forced a smile. “That’s ok”, she ran her hand through her russet locks before continuing “You’re right…He needs his rest”
“Yeah”
“Yeah…and you know, I could always see him again when you guys get back”
“That’s true”
There was a deafening silence for three seconds before Jean took it upon herself to break it.
“Um…when will you guys be back?” She asked, making sure to keep her falsely placid smile on her face.
“Well…Piotr has agreed to drop me there…I’ll see how long it takes-”
“What? Logan isn’t taking you?” Jean eyes widened a little and she took a step closer to the resident weather witch. Ororo looked up then.
“No”
Ororo gently held her sleeping son closer to her as she slowly got up from her seat.
“I told him not to” She lied. Logan did not even know that she was going. “I will tell him everything he needs to know when I get back” She paused. “I need to spend some time with…James alone, you know, to bond with him as his mother. As James’ father Logan should understand that”
Jean nodded and glanced at the resting baby.
“Well, Jean…I think I will start going now, we will speak later…perhaps”

Ororo walked past her team mate and left the room. She had no words for her. What she had seen in the hospital was enough and she did not feel the need to carry on the ‘best friend’ charade. They had not exchanged more than a sentence or two since that day and Ororo had decided that it was probably better that way. And as for Logan…

Logan was a good father, she knew it by the way he picked James up so delicately with his burly hands and how he held him so carefully with his muscular arms. She knew it every time she saw the unfallen tears of joy in his eyes as he looked at his son. The way everything that he said revolved around him… No...That was simply because they had nothing more to speak about. He loved his son dearly but did he love her? Ororo wasn’t so sure.

She had neither the time nor energy to spend on crying about Logan’s detachment although it did occupy her mind as she rocked herself to sleep softly caressing her sons head at night. She hardly ever allowed James to sleep in a crib, Ororo smiled faintly as she remembered how she had managed to convince her friends that it was simply a Kenyan tradition. The truth was she was scared. She shivered every time he was taken away from her or if Logan lifted him too high and every time she laid him to rest her throat closed up. So, she decided that every chance that she got, she would hold him.

Ororo Munroe was simply too busy to worry about Logan’s affections, she’d convinced herself.
----------------
It was ten o clock in the morning and Scott was only just having his breakfast. He had already cancelled four morning classes in the space of two weeks and refused to do it again, luckily, his doting girlfriend had offered to take his nine o clock class as he rested. Scott thanked Jean inwardly as he took another sip of his juice.
About thirty exam papers were piled up, alongside his orange juice and bagel waiting for him to grade them. He groaned then lifted up the red pen on top of them and opened the first paper whilst shaking his head with a smirk. It was funny, life was more…normal. He was now a teacher that graded papers and actually sat down whilst having breakfast. He had a girlfriend who covered for him and one of his best friends was now a mother. Scott could not remember the last time that he had used his powers. Since Charles’ departure, missions were almost non-existent. There was the occasional recruit but that was not down to them. It was due to the fact that Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was a household name for mutants in the streets. It was slowly becoming a safe haven for mutants, a place where they could run to when they needed to. And they did, the past four months had seen three new students, two girls and a boy. He feared that the School was operating like a glorified hostel. He didn’t understand how Charles could do it, how he could keep that balance between safe haven and educational institution. But that was one of the many things Scott admired about Xavier, he did find that balance.

He missed him. His advice. His comfort. His care. His love, Charles was the closest thing to a father that Scott had since the death of his parents. It was Charles he would run to if he needed any of those things. They never called each other father and son but they never needed to. That mutual respect and bond was present to anyone. Scott smirked again as he remembered storming in to the Charles’ office, his face as red as his visor. He had seen Jean with Logan once again, they were not touching nor kissing but they were just too close for comfort. Charles already knew he was coming and moved closer to the door so that when Scott did enter he would be right there waiting for him. Scott smiled now. He wished that Charles could see that he and Jean had gathered up the remnants of their relationships and had managed to fix them. He wished that Charles could see that Logan finally respected that relationship and that he was preoccupied with his own. That his feelings for Ororo had become platonic enough once again. Scott had nothing more to worry about, not anymore, according to him.


-------------------
“Good morning, Miss Monroe. How are we today?”

Ororo smiled weakly at the owner of the familiar voice.
“Hello, Dr Clark, I am…well and James is…as good as can be” she said pleasantly as she slowly and carefully took a seat in front of the doctor. He smiled back, but he already knew that something was wrong. He had never had a new mother return back to the hospital on her own accord so quickly after being discharged.

“I did not think that you would be back so soon…”
“Yes…I know, thank you for finding time for me on such short notice” she responded with uttermost gratefulness on her face. She had called the hospital the night before, requesting to speak with Dr Clark.
“It was no problem, I am going in to theatre soon so I was going to be here early anyway…So Miss Munroe, what seems to be the problem?”
Ororo stared at the doctor without saying a word. She could feel James breathing and found comfort in the rhythm.
“I…”
Stanley Clark sighed inwardly and then forced a sympathetic smile. He knew that she was not going to talk so easily but he refused to get frustrated as he had dealt with such situations before. It was guilt that was stopping her from talking, he had encountered so many woman who hesitated to speak about their offspring’s problems because they felt as if it was their fault. He tried another approach.
“I have never dealt with a…”
“Mutant?” Ororo asked, suddenly snapped out of her mantra.
“Yes, a mutant baby. I am so sorry if I have not been able to assist you adequately in the space of these two weeks.
Ororo frowned slightly, almost confused.
“Would you mind telling me about your…mutation?” he asked whilst leaning forward across his desk.
“I do not understand what this has to do with my baby” she responded almost defensively whilst shades of red began to form on her face.
“I am very sorry if I have made you feel uncomfortable, Miss Munroe”. His apology was earnest, Stanley Clark had never encountered a mutant in his life…not knowingly…but he had met the victims of them.
Ororo nodded in acceptance and looked down at her son.
“Your apology is accepted” she whispered “and please…call me Ororo…I feel as if I am talking to one of my students”
He grinned and Ororo allowed a glimmer of humour to show in her eyes.
“Ororo… that is a very interesting name. Its Swahilli right?”
She smiled softly and nodded.
“How did you know that? It’s not a very common name”
“I can speak a little Swahilli”
Stanley chuckled at the surprise that was now visible on Ororo’s face and ran his hand through his dark hair. He stood up and walked towards his cabinet slowly reaching over to get a framed photo.
“Well there is one phrase that I can say perfectly… Una-zung-umza kiingereza?”
Ororo laughed, almost surprised at the sound that had escaped her, she had not heard it in a long time.

“Do you speak English?” She raised her eyebrow amused, “I’m guessing that it’s the only phrase you know?” she added tilting her head to the side.
“Pretty much. I spent two months there- in Kenya, on an internship in my second year of grad school” he told her nonchalantly.
“What? Really?”
“Yes” Dr Clark grinned, humoured by the surprise written all over Ororo’s face.
“They needed assistants that could work with the doctors there. I was just there passing their apparatus to them”
He sat back down again and met Ororo’s gaze.
“Look” he passed the photo to Ororo who took it with awe and wonder as she saw a familiar mountain.
“Mount Kilimanjaro” she whispered whilst looking at a younger version of the Doctor with cargo shorts and a white shirt, posing in front of the mountain.
“But this is in Tanzania, you told me that you went to Kenya” she said still smiling as she remembered the time she spent in both countries she called home.
“I did, but me and a couple of Dutch interns went on an excursion to the Mountain with a Kenyan friend. It was amazing” he sighed reminiscing.
Ororo looked down at James who looked back at her with half opened eyes.
“Look, James” she whispered showing him the picture, “I’m going to take you right here one day” she pointed at the peak of the Mountain and then stroked her sons head softly.
Stanley Clark smiled at the mother and her son.
“Yes, I didn’t always want to be a doctor in a hospital. No, no that wasn’t the plan” he said shaking his head with a half-smile.
“I wanted to travel the world saving lives-”
“But you did” Ororo interrupted him with a soft whisper, looking up from James and straight in to the doctor’s eyes. “You speak as if you were never able to complete those goals…but you did and I’m sure saved so many lives…”
“No…I planned to stay in Africa for at least two years then, when I was good and ready, I’d go to Sri Lanka for a few months...” He paused and his smile turned bittersweet. “I didn’t last 3 months in Africa”, looking down and rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger he sighed quietly. “I uh…I saw too many things and I…I just couldn’t handle it”
Ororo smiled at Dr Clark supportively as he looked back up at her
“You know, Africa is such a beautiful continent and I guess when…”
“I understand” Ororo whispered with a sympathetic look. Stanley’s expression suddenly lightened and his charming smile returned to his face.
“I guess you must think that I’m a sell-out working here” he said as Ororo returned the photo to him.
Ororo chuckled quietly “No...Not even slightly… Africa needed you in those 2 months and now America does”

Stanley grinned “Yes…I guess you could say that”. His gaze met Ororo’s again and they both smiled, comfortable with the sudden silence and the mutual eye contact between themselves. Dr Clark was looking at Ms Munroe as if for the first time. Yes, she was beautiful, he already knew that he was neither blind nor oblivious. Usually, being the good doctor that he was, Dr Clark paid no attention to such detail especially when the ‘beautiful woman’ in question is a patient. However, in this case he did, after all they were having an informal conversation and he was simply making an observation. He was simply observing the tousled white waves in her hair contrasting against her warm mocha complexion and cerulean eyes that were curtained by her dark long lashes.


Chapter End Notes:
Ororo will tell the doctor is wrong don't worry and keep reading if you want to find out more :)



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