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Lugging home groceries was something Ororo once liked to do when she was thirteen pounds lighter. Back when Ororo was a health nut-- she still was, but less so after eating a whole pizza on her own-- she would jog to the grocery store and purposefully buy jugs of milk, orange juice, and other heavy stuff to give her arms a workout. Now her stomach was heavy and she swore she waddled when she walked. At least she was close to home.

Ororo felt her baby do a backflip and she smiled. She was twenty three weeks along and finally at terms with what was going on. She went through a dark period, as was expected, but there really wasn’t anything she could do about it. What she could do was accept what was about to happen and prepare. And after feeling her baby kick for the first time, she cried tears of joy-- something totally unexpected.

Her baby was uncooperative, though. Every time she tried to find out the sex of her baby, the kid was flip and around and refused to give the obstetrician a clear view. It infuriated Ororo, but it was kind of funny. The kid wasn’t out of the womb and she was already letting Ororo know he or she was independent and refused labels. And it gave Ororo a definite sign as to who her baby took after temperamentally.

She wanted to sigh. Logan had disappeared on her and didn’t bother to even say sorry. Ororo shook her head and continued on her trek home.

She would have to buy a car soon. Ororo had been avoiding it. She carpooled and cared too much about the environment. Not to be funny, but she honestly felt connected to the elements. She exalted when it rained or snowed or shined. Ororo never had a “bad weather day.” All weather was good, but what people were doing to the climate was awful. She didn’t want to buy a car as a way to cut down her carbon footprint, but she had to think about her baby now.

Her kid needed a car. What if there was something serious and she had no way of getting there? Ororo didn’t want to think about her kid landing themselves in the hospital, but it had to be considered. And what if--

“I need ta get you a car, darlin’.” Ororo stared at Logan, not moving. He was on her stoop, smiling, a duffle bag resting idly beside him. “What if something happens to our baby? Hey, darlin’, calm down! I don’t think a pregnant woman should be moving so quickly--”

“You insufferable ass!” she screeched as she slapped him across the face. When she finally started functioning again, she dropped her brand new groceries and rushed over to slap him. The ruined groceries were well worth the satisfying sting in her hand. God, it wasn’t enough-- slapping him-- but it was a start. “You... You ass!”

Logan moved away from her, smiling regardless the red hand print on his face. He picked up her groceries and didn’t pay mind to the people watching the spectacle. Were he in their shoes, he probably would watch, too. (A pregnant woman dropping eighty dollars worth of food to slap a man across the face was always fun.) He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and lifted his duffle. “Shall we go in?”

Ororo unlocked her door and let him in. She watched him kick his duffle bag to the corner and then move to put her groceries away-- after washing them, of course-- her hands on her hips the entire time. (The sight was so unintentionally cute.) When everything was put away, she continued glaring at him, further infuriated by that shit eating grin she wanted to wipe off his face.

“You’re gettin’ big--”

“How dare you, Logan? How dare you just pop back in and out of my life and acting casual about it?” she shouted. “I get pregnant and you say you’re going to take care of it and then you just... You left me!” she said in a hurry. Logan opened his mouth to speak but was cut off. “I didn’t even get a message! Do I register so lowly on your mind that you couldn’t even deign to send me a crummy text? Hell, I would’ve accepted a damn fax!” She scoffed and threw up her hands. “But what did I expect? Honor from a man who cheats on his wife? Yeah right.”

“Ororo,” Logan tried.

“I guess I know why, though.”

“You do?” he asked, genuinely confused.

She pointed at her bulging tummy. “You didn’t want to own up to the consequences. You only want to be around when you can fuck--”

“That’s a lie and you know it!”

“Can you disprove it?” she hissed.

“I’m here, now, trying to make things right between us!”

“Oh, so I’m supposed to forget those two months you ignored me? Because you’re here, now, and that matters more.”

“Yes! It means I’m fucking trying--”

“Well, goodie for you!” she cheered, throwing her arms out. “You’re trying now and that means more than the two months I felt ignored and lonely and depressed.”

Logan palmed his face. There was no logic with a pregnant woman and she was making him feel like shit. “Look, I know what I did was wrong--”

“Obviously,” she muttered.

“--But I was trying to protect you.”

They stared at each other quietly, and for a second, Logan wondered if he’d won. And then she exploded. “That’s the absolute WORST excuse I have ever heard!”

“It’s the goddamn truth, Ro! You don’t know Viper like I know her--”

“I know she’s a perceptive woman.”

Logan gave a long suffered sigh. He moved towards her and was mildly surprised when she let him take her wrist and move her towards her couch. He sat her down then moved to rifle around in his duffle. Ororo got a glimpse of clothes in his bag. When he returned, he was holding a few pieces of paper with writing on them. “You remember all that stuff on the news about Schmidt?”

“The racist?”

Logan nodded, handing Ororo the papers. “Well, he knew Viper. They worked together at one point...”

Ororo listened intently, intrigued by the story Logan told her. He didn’t go into detail and he didn’t give her names other than Viper’s, but it was more than enough. Ororo had seriously underestimated the kind of woman Viper was. Viper’s story should’ve been turned into a movie--it had all the makings of a good thriller and a fantastic scandal.

When he finished, Logan moved the papers with Viper and HYDRA insignia on them and showed her a new piece of paper. One with his signature and Viper’s signature. Ororo knew what those papers were, having been well acquainted with them not a year and a half ago. That was a sobering thought. Two years ago, Ororo had been married and not even suspecting what was about to happen to her life.

“You got her to sign the divorce papers.”

He nodded and put an arm around her disappearing waist. “I told you I was going to take care of it.” He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and smiled. “I know you thought I would never leave her and I know you probably hate me for not being around, but I never gave up on us. I did what I had to do to keep you two safe.” Logan gently palmed her belly and smiled at her size. “I’m never gonna do that to you two again. I’m not going anywhere.”

Ororo was many things, but she wasn’t delusional.

Taking back Logan would mean many things, one of them being the possible loss of her tentative friendship with Jean and Marie. They’d finally reunited and were trying to get past everything that happened. Taking back Logan meant that Marie would definitely flip and Jean would more than likely have a hard time wanting to be around Ororo.

And more importantly, she didn’t want to see Logan and she didn’t want to hear him wax poetic about the man he was going to be in the face of the man he was. He missed so much time with her and put her through so much emotional stress.

But no matter what she wanted, she was in no place to start to arguing. Ororo was pregnant with his baby and he had every right to see their child if he was serious about seeing their child. If he was really stepping up to the plate, she wasn’t going to put him through the ropes and test his willpower.

So she smiled, putting her hand over Logan’s protective hand.

“I love you.”
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for reading and all the reviews.





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