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03. Me, Myself and….Oh No!!

Summary: The title is clear enough.

“She is who she says she is?” Jean addressed her fellow X-Men. Gathered in the conference room, called up for an emergency meeting, along with Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, were Iceman, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat and Rogue….not to mention, their Storm.

“How is that possible?” Cyclops was the first to speak up. “A shape shifter? A clone?” He presented his views. With Jean standing at the front, everyone except for Wolverine seated at lecture hall style chairs, it looked more like a teaching class than a x-meeting. Jean because she was the one who, in the Professor’s absence, conducted a telepathic survey of their entirely unexpected guest, not to mention a host of physical and medical tests. As for Logan, he was leaning against the wall, right next to the door….and was looking tense and wound up, well, more than he usually looked.

“At least we know she is nice,” Kurt offered with his heavily accented voice. If nothing more, he had liked it when, instead of the usual horrified reaction that he was wont to get, the strange woman smiled as him…almost as if she knew him quite well.

“Yeah,” Bobby put up his oh so technical opinion. “Even looks like Ororo, except that her boobs…uh,” he realized a second too late as what he was saying. “Never mind,” he apologized nervously looking at Storm. During the early days of the team, he had a massive crush on his Moroccan teammate had spent many a night fantasizing about her while involved in certain private activities. “You know, not that I measured or anything, or even see your br….I’ll stop now,” he hung his head before he could shove the shove of his leg to join the foot that was already lodged in his mouth.

----

“Where did she come from?” was Ororo’s question.

“What are we gonna do with her?” was Logan’s. There was something about this strange woman that was setting off his alarms. Something that made him want to run away and to her….all at the same time.

“According to her, she is from earth,” Jean avoided his question and answered Ororo’s, as she set about explaining further with what she had got from her telepathic interrogation. “She says she is also with the X-Men, and that like us, lives in a mansion, just like ours….here in Salem Center, New York.”

“How is that possible?” Kitty piped up. “Is she from the future?”

“Yeah, right.” Bobby sneered at her. “Looks like someone has been dipping into Dazzler’s stash.”

“Looks like someone needs to keep their mouth shut,” Kitty shot back with a tone that bordered between disdain and anger. Ever since she had caught Bobby’s email to Rogue, well, he CC-ed it to her by mistake, leading to her dumping him, the conversations between the two had been anything but cordial.

“Shadowcat. Iceman.” Scott went into leader mode, adopting his leadery voice, to do his leader bit…well, that was what Alison had termed it as, with a couple of more leader words thrown in for good measure. Never one to conform to the norm, the wildcat Alison seemed to thrive off at pushing others’ buttons, especially Cyclops’s…Mr. Tight Ass himself.

“You mentioned some differences earlier?” He turned back to Jean, missing out on the middle finger salute that Bobby sent his way.

---

“In her timeline, on her earth, whatever…” Jean wasn’t quite sure how to term it. “….their too are stationed in the same place and way as us. Even the teams seems to be similar. Just like us, they have senior and junior members, which we call Team-A and Team-B. Moreover, like us, their Professor Xavier is the head there too, with Cyclops as the team leader.” That revelation gained more than a few snorts from the gathering. “However, there are slight differences. Instead of the five members we had here, their team started with just three members, Cyclops, Storm and myself, I mean their version of me. The current team has five senior members with Wolverine and Beast being the other two. The junior members include Iceman, Shadowcat, Rogue, Colossus and someone called Jubilee. Recent additions include two new students, both of whom are as yet not on the actual team but on probation.” Sparing a glance at Scott, she carefully spoke the two names. “Havok and Polaris.”

‘Alex and Lorna,’ and as she expected, Jean sensed her boyfriend tense up. With their latest mission too recent for comfort, she knew this could….would be a problem. Even though he had not residual feelings towards Lorna, Scott did resent her and his brother…even if it was on a subconscious level.

“Whoa!” Bobby echoed in appreciation. Maybe in that world he and Storm….

“All the junior members are students at the school…and the senior members, their teachers.”

…or maybe not. Jeez-Louise, a teacher for crying out aloud. What could be worse than that. Maybe they had a teacher-student thing…..Oh yeah!

---
Paying no attention to Bobby’s hormonal thoughts, Jean elaborated further. “Neither Nightcrawler nor Dazzler are on the team. K…”
“Vas?” Kurt lamented loudly. “I am not on the ze team. Why?”

“Like I was saying,” Jean carried on. “Although the X-Men rescued their Kurt, who is in mid twenties, he is a reserve member. Moreover, he does not stay in New York, rather elected to return to his home in Germany.”
“Oh.” That seemed to settle Kurt. He, himself had often wondered what it would be like to go back to Germany to see if anything from his past, his life before Weapon X and now the X-Men, still existed there.

“What about Alison?” Kitty questioned. ‘And what about Peter?’ She thought about her boyfriend, (the Ultimate) Spider-Man. Were the two of them together there too.

“She is not with the team,” Jean answered in the nugatory. While she did run her telepathic scan, she did not go deep into the other Ororo’s mind. With her shields strong, the Professor would be the one who would be able to get a deeper, detailed reading. However, seeing as to how he was away to Washington for the week…alone, well, with his new friend, one Ms. Lilandra Neramini, that would have to wait…for now.

----

“So what is she doin’ here?” Logan growled from the sidelines, the tension rolling off in waves from him, his claws itching for release, as Jean brought up the surveillance camera from room….the holding-cell where they had placed the new arrival. “How did she get here?”

As everyone watched the eerily familiar visage of Storm, Jean explained the events that had conspired to cause the other Storm to be transported into their dimension.

“It seems like a freak accident resulting from a combined charge from a Sentinel, some sort of machine Magneto created, Wolverine’s…their Wolverine’s Admantium, Storm’s own lightening and Gambit’s charging attacks.”

‘Gambit.’ Quite a few of the X-Men turned to the newly returned Rogue. Her red-black eyes were clear indicators of the time she had spent away from the X-Men, in the company of the now dead Remy Lebeau a.k.a. Gambit.

----

“How do we get her back to her own world?” Ororo asked in concern.

“We have no confirmed idea at present?’ Jean shook his head. “Once the Professor returns, we will be able to make some headway in that area. However, even then, it could weeks, if not months…that is if we can do something about it in the first place.”

“You mean she maybe stuck here permanently?” Kitty questioned again.
“We don’t know.” Scott answered on Jean’s behalf. Truth was he knew that they were out of their depth here. If Henry had been alive, maybe he could have rigged something up. However, seeing that that was not the case, they would have to make do with whatever resources they had at hand. One thing he was sure of…there was no way that he was letting whoever this Storm was leave the X-Men….preferably the mansion, both for her safety as well as the X-Men’s.

“What should we do with her in the mean time,” Cyclops pointed a finger at the screen. “We cannot just keep her locked up like a criminal.”
“Its better to keep her where we can keep a track of her. We don’t know her true intentions,” Wolverine pointed out as the Devil’s Advocate. “We only know what she has told us.

----

“Yer hiding something,” Logan’s accusation cut into his thoughts. For a second he thought that the feral Canadian might be talking to him, but the tilt in his head was clearly towards Jean.

“I-uh,” Jean faltered for a second, but even was enough to pique the others to full attention towards her. “There are some things…” she began slowly, her eyes not quite meeting Logan or Scott. “…things that are different about her.”
“Different?” Scott echoed. “Different how?”
“Nothing much…nothing important as far as we are concerned anyway,” Jean tried to downplay it. “Just a few differences I found about during the telepathic scan….but those are expected seeing as to how she is at least eight to ten years older than Ororo here.”

“What do you mean Jean?” Ororo narrowed her eyes at the redhead. Noticing how Logan was flexing his hands, she too adopted a wary yet inquisitive tone.
“She has had some experiences that are similar to yours but have worked out differently due to differing decisions on her part,” Jean answered cryptically.

“Like what?” Now she was really concerned….and even slightly excited. From the little see had seen of her doppelganger so far, the woman seemed quite well put together, real refined and regal like…something, which she, a former car thief, was not. Could she be someday like that? ‘I bet that would get Logan’s attention,’ the thought flashing through her mind made her frown. Logan. Ever with everything she had tried and hinted at so far, Logan still didn’t seem to come around. ‘Perennially stuck in Ms. Red-Bush and her oh so, old-frickin’-soul….my ass.’

At Jean’s reluctance, Scott stepped up to second her motion, but was shot down by all the others. Even though he was the team leader, and the others deferred to that…mostly, they never did at such times…especially not when, in their eyes, he was trying to act like Professor X-Junior.

“I-We should let her tell us about it?” Logan noticed the tightness in Jean’s jaw. Whatever it was…whatever had him on the edge, Jean had seen it, and it had set her off too.

“That would be a good idea,” Storm nodded in support. Not a particularly big fan of Ms. Prissy-High society in the first place, her past thing with Logan, only set her on an even shorter leash where trust was concerned. “I’ll get her.”
“No,” Wolverine’s sudden outburst stopped her in mid action. “Ya stay here. Pete. Elf.”

“On it,” Kurt did not even spare a second to seek Scott or Jean’s confirmation. However, the choice of taking Piotr with him, did give him a falter. Ever since Piotr had come out, things had been tense at best between him and his teleporting teammate.

*BAMPF*

-----

Inside the holding cell,

Ororo sat calmly, waiting for her hosts, well, given her current situation, more like her captors to reach a decision about her status. Not twenty-four hours ago, she had been with her team and now….not only was she not on her own earth, she was locked up in a holding cell similar to the one she had on her underground base. Moreover, although the decision had been hers i.e. she had given into voluntarily, she did not like it one bit, but did it as a show of good faith.

Arriving at the mansion, at first glance she found nothing out of the ordinary. It was only after she gave it a second look did she notice the absence of the large garden she maintained, with just a solitary greenhouse standing in its stead. Then came the other and much larger surprise. She found herself face to face with an exact duplicate of herself….albeit a much younger one. Initially about to put up a resistance, especially on sensing that Jean entering her mind, she relented when, instead of knocking her out, Jean expressed surprise and seconds later linked her with her other self.

Giving up peacefully, she was escorted inside and finally to the holding cell she was in.

-----

“Storm,” a familiar voice drew her out of her thoughts. Looking up she saw the familiar blue form of Nightcrawler standing on the other side of the force field. Alongside him was Colossus, in his steeled up form.

“Kurt you can call me Ororo,” her calm voice and the fact she called him by his name, seemed to throw the teleporter for a second.

“Uh-well, yes, I guess so, let me think about it,” Kurt looked up at Colossus for support, but getting none from the equally confused Piotr.

Entering the pass-code, he deactivated the force field and asked Ororo to accompany them to the conference room…..this time electing to walk instead of just Bampf-ing away.

----

“Your name,” Jean started with the usual question, more to get things going than anything.
“Ororo Monroe,” came the confident answer.

“Species?”
“Mutant.”

“Do you mean any harm to us?” The question gained a raised eye from both Ororos….the look on the older one especially unnerving to the telekinetic-telepath. Being the oldest, both age and time spent with the Professor-wise, not to mention her own status in the team, Jean had grown accustomed to be the number-one female on the team. However, in the presence of this newcomer, that feeling of hierarchical superiority seemed to falter….the assured confidence that the older woman put out almost subconsciously, wasn’t helping in any way either.

“You can rest assured….all of you…even you Wolverine.” Logan and Ororo’s eeys shot up, while Jean slightly flinched at the declaration. Things were going to get out of hand pretty soon….out of HER than that is. “You will be the last person that I do any harm to.”

“Why is that?” Wolverine asked coldly.
“I...” Ororo spared a look at he counterpart. Noting her nervous anticipation, she instantly read into the reason for her interest. This would be interesting for her.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. “In my world-dimension, Logan and I…we are….together.”

-SNIKT-

The claws shooting out sounded clearly in the suddenly silent room.

-----

“Together,” Cyclops was the first to break the tension. “As in….”

“As in romantically involved, intimate,” Ororo offered with a tender yet confident smile.

A shaken (younger) Ororo looked from Wolverine to Cyclops to her twin to Jean, finally understanding the reason for the redhead’s wordplay. Finally, her gaze settled on her mirror image. “How intimate?” She couldn’t contain the words from spilling out.

“Very,” the answer came out easily this time. “We have been for quite some time.”

“Oh,” the interrogating Ororo voiced as her mind mulled over Jean’s words. ‘Different decisions on her part,’ that was what she had said. ‘Had Logan, that world’s Logan and she…had they…’ the corner of her lips curved up at the thought.

“Are there any more questions about my identity,” the new Ororo asked wearily. “I have had a long day and am tired. I’d like to get some rest. I need to be careful in my state.”

----

“What do you mean your state?” Scott questioned her words. “Why do you have to be careful?”

The new Ororo sighed as she squelched the urge to rub the back of her neck. “I wasn’t even supposed to be on active duty….but the mission warranted that we get as much help as we could get. I haven’t been on active duty since Henry put me on reserved status and gave strict instructions against any stress.”

“Henry,” Ororo choked at the memory of her now dead teammate and former lover.

“He is our resident genius…and doctor.” As she did not see the blue furred Beast anywhere around, Ororo assumed that he was not a part of the team….hence the explanation. “His said, and I quote refrain from all these x-erting activities until six months after the delivery.”

“Delivery!” Iceman leapt off his seat, away from Wolverine and both Ororos. “Delivery of what?”

The way that Ororo smiled and her gravitating to and around her midsection was answer enough without her to having to spell it out.

“Goddess!!” Her younger counterpart fell back into her chair, her wild eyes alternating between Wolverine and the Storm from the other dimension. “You-you…and him, I mean….”

“Not him,” Kitty was quick to point out, rather excited at the development. “Her Wolverine.” The present Wolverine blanched at the ‘her’…not to mention the present Jean…and consequently Scott.

“Yes,” the guest Storm’s face seemed to glow with joy. “We are going to have babies.”

“Babies!” That got yet another exclamation from the freaked out Iceman.

“Yes…twins.”

Note: Had initially planned on just a single child, but seeing that I have used Kendall quite a lot in the recent past, I decided to give her a break….well, for now. Who knows what sex the babies might be?

Please Review and let me know how you like it so far!!





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