X-S (New story) 1/2

[Darqstar]

Okay, this is the first time I've ever tried to post anything to a
newsgroup using this service, so I'll say "I'm sorry" in advance for
any screw ups I make :-)

Disclaimer: What belongs to Marvel I'm borrowing
without their permission. What belongs to me is mine.
Blah, blah, etc. etc.

X-S
Unexpected Arrival

"Hey, hey you! Stop! Hey, it's tough to run in heals,
so would ya please stop for christ's sake?"

Gambit turned around to see a woman around his age,
heavily made up, coming towards him. The heavy make up
wasn't surprising. This was not a good section of town
and at this late hour, the only women wandering around
were for the most part heavily made up. What did
surprise him was that she wore a long, heavy coat
buttoned up, covering a great deal of her body. That
was an uncommon sight in this area, no matter how cold
the temperature. "Were you talkin' t'me?" he asked as
she ran up to him, panting and out of breath.

"Yes," she gasped, holding her arms closely around
herself. "You, I need t'talk t'you."

Just my luck, he thought. I'm going to get
propositioned by a weird hooker. He'd come to New York
City looking for a chance to get away from the mansion
for awhile, catch a little excitement. While he wasn't
above occasionally *paying* for excitement, this wasn't
exactly what he had in mind. "An' why is dat?" he
asked.

"You're Gambit, aren't you?" she asked him. "You're
one of the X-men, aren't you?"

He gulped. Although he really didn't go to great
lengths to conceal his identity, he really didn't think
people noticed when he was dressed casually, as he was
tonight. "What makes you t'ink dat?" he asked her.

"The eyes give you away buster. I've seen the X-men on
the news an' stuff. A face like yours, eyes like
yours, they're hard t'forget ya know?" She'd caught
her breath now and was chewing gum and snapping it
loudly.

"Maybe dat X-man just a relative?" he offered, half
kidding.

"Don't matter. What matters is can ya get in touch
with him? Or any of the other X-men?" She tipped her
head to one side, her long, obviously dyed black hair
falling over one shoulder.

"Mebe I can, Mebe I can't," Remy said, refusing to
commit himself one way or the other. "Why you askin?"

"Because I got somethin' that belongs t'one of them.
The one you call Beast. And I want to give it back."
She stated.

Remy was more than a little skeptical. He knew Dr.
Hank McCoy rather well and somehow the idea of this
woman having anything of his seemed rather... remote.
Still, Hank had been know to have a very kind heart.
Maybe he'd lent her money or something and now she
wanted to pay him back. Stranger things had happened.
"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, that's the thing, I left it back at my place.
I live back there," she jerked her thumb behind her.
"I was gettin' ready t'go out and work when I saw you
walk by and I had t'get you. Under this coat I'm like,
uh.. not dressed."

I'll bet you don't wear much when you *are* dressed for
"work," Remy thought, but didn't say out loud. "So are
you askin' me t'come back t'your place so you can get
whatever it is you got for Hank?"

She shook her head. "No, it's okay, you don't have
t'come home with me." She motioned to a tiny coffee
shop. "Uh... could you wait in there for me? It'll
just be a minute, I swear. I just want to give this to
you an' you can be on your way and I'll be on mine. Is
that okay?"

There was something desperate about this woman, but
Gambit couldn't sense any danger from her. He looked
over at the coffee shop. It was small, but it looked
well lit and moderately crowded. If she was setting
him up for any sort of trouble, she'd picked a bad
place. Besides, there was something about her that
made him think she was telling the truth. She did have
something for Hank and once she gave it to him, they
would go their separate ways. "All right, I'll wait,"
he agreed.

"Thank god!" She exhaled sharply with obvious relief.
"I swear, I'll only be a minute."

"I'll give you five," Gambit warned her. "If you
aren't in the shop in five minutes, I leave."

"Don't worry, I'll be back way before then." She
turned to rush off then stopped. "Well, I might not
be, but if I'm not, I'll send a friend of mine. But I
swear on a stack of bibles either she or I will meet
you in less than five minutes." Before he could
answer her, she turned and ran off down the street as
fast as eight inch heals could carry her.

Oh dis ought to be amusing! Gambit chuckled to himself
and walked into the coffee shop. He got himself a
cup of lukewarm weak coffee from the counter and took
it over to one of the small tables by the window to
wait.

Four minutes later, another woman came into the shop,
holding something in her arms and looking around. She
spotted him and walked over. "Hey, you Gambit?"

Gambit looked at what she was holding, his eyes
widening. He started to shake his head, no, but for
some reason it came out like a nod instead.

"Then this is for you," the woman said, putting the
bundle on the table. "Tonya said you knew where to
take it." She turned and started to leave the shop.

"Hey wait a second!" Gambit scooped up the bundle and
started walking after her. "You can't do dis! You
can't leave me with dis! Dere is no way I can't take
this!"

The woman turned and looked at him. She was older than
the first woman who approached him, closer to middle
aged, with a look on her that said she didn't take any
crap from anyone. "Yes you can, yes you will," she
stated flatly. "Tonya told me t'turn it over to you.
I did. I sure ain't keepin' it. And don't expect
Tonya's gonna take it back either. She's packing her
stuff. She's out of here." With that, she turned and
left.

Gambit looked down at the bundle and shook his head.
"Oh Hank, " he moaned. "What in de world have you
gotten me into? And what 'ave you gotten *yourself*
into?"

*****

"Hank!"

Hank look up from his microscope for a moment. He knew
who it was and the fact that the person shouting
sounded excited didn't phase him either.

"Hank!" The cry came again, closer to the door. "Hank
are you in there?"

The object of all this shouting didn't move from his
chair. Instead he looked back at the microscope and
counted. "Four... three... two..."

The door banged open. "Hank!"

"... One." Hank looked up again and spun around on the
chair. "Hello Bobby. Is there a particular reason for
your shouting or are you just exorcising your rights to
free speech, even if it is late at night and you sound
both loud and obnoxious?"

"Hank, you gotta get upstairs, now!" Bobby exclaimed.
"I mean right now. Immediately. It's important. Very
important. Now!"

Hank slowly slipped off the chair. "Your gift for
speech is only outdone by your redundancy. What is the
problem Bobby?"

"Gambit just got back." Bobby said, heading for the
door.

"Oh well that certainly clears it up." Hank followed
his fellow teammate out of the lab. "Amidst all the
work I've been doing with the legacy virus, the rule
that we all must scream and shout whenever Gambit
returns must have completely slipped my mind. A
terrible oversight and I thank you Robert, for
correcting it."

"No jokes Hank, it's more than you think." Bobby said,
leading him up the stairs. "He has something for you.
Something some woman gave him. You've gotta see this."

"A woman gave *him* something to give to *me?" Hank
pondered. "There is something wrong with that whole
concept. Reverse it and I can see it. Women always
want to give Gambit something, although it's not
usually something I could carry with me, but a woman
wanting *him* to give something to *me*? Did he know
this woman?"

"No." Bobby shook his head as they walked through the
mansion heading for the kitchen. "Remy claims he'd
never seen her in his life. Says her name was Tonya,
at least that's what someone claimed her name was."

"Ah, the plot thickens!" Hank exclaimed. "An unknown
woman. The name Tonya strikes no bells with me, with
the exception of Tonya Harding and I doubt that is the
woman Gambit met. So, what is this thing Gambit has
been entrusted to pass on to me?"

"It's something you've gotta see for yourself," Bobby
replied as they walked into the kitchen.

Gambit was sitting at the table when they walked in,
the bundle on the table in front of him. He rose from
his seat as they walked in. "Hank, I don' know what
you've been doin' in your spare time... well, actually
now I *do* know but, mon ami you've got to be more
careful."

"Remy I don't understand.." Hank began then stopped
abruptly as he saw the bundle. "Oh my stars...." He
looked up at Gambit, his eyes wide. "How in the world
did this get here?"

"Up to de mansion? on my bike, an' let me tell you it
wasn't easy." Gambit shrugged. "How did it arrive
into the world? You de scientist, you tell me Hank."

Hank approached the bundle cautiously. This has got to
be some sort of joke, he thought someone is playing a
trick on me and a very bad one at that. He leaned
closer to the table to get a better look.

Lying on the table, wrapped in an old blanket was some
sort of doll, a bit smaller than the average human
baby, but the appearance was far from that of an
average. The tiny face was covered with sparse blue
hair, thicker at the head. Hank looked at Gambit.
"It's... it's a doll isn't it? It's got to be it can't
be..."

Before Remy could answer, the "doll" opened it's eyes
and let out a scream.

"Sorry, Hank, dat's no doll," Gambit said. He felt
sorry for his friend, but there was a part of him that
wanted to laugh. This was a situation no single man
*ever* wanted to find himself in.

"It's crying!" Bobby said, coming over and looking
down at the screaming figure.

"I can hear that," Hank replied dryly. "I do have
ears."

"Well, shouldn't we do something?" Bobby asked, raising
his voice to be heard about the wailing."

"Of course we should do something!" Hank exclaimed.
"I'm just not sure what..."

Although he wanted to, Gambit couldn't completely
suppress a smile. "Well, Daddy, maybe you oughta check
t'see if it's hungry or leakin'."

Hank looked at Gambit, his eyes wide. "I am not this
child's father!" he exclaimed loudly.

"Really? Sure look like you."

"Gambit, I can assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt
this child is not mine!" Hank swallowed hard. "Who
gave this child to you? Where were you? What, exactly
happened?"

As Gambit was about to answer, the kitchen door opened
and Joseph and Rogue walked in. "Good god what's all
the sc-" Rogue began, then stopped when she saw the
baby. "What in the world?" she began.

"Seems like our blue furry friend been doing somethin'
in his spare time we did'n know about," Gambit answered
grinning.

"Gambit, I'm telling you this is *not* my child!" Hank
shouted, louder than he intended to. His raised voice
caused the infant to increase volume.

"I dunno sugah, sure looks like yours," Rogue said.
"How did it get here?"

"I was in de City when a woman came up an' said she had
somethin' for Hank," Gambit explained.

"And while you're all debating the child's parentage,
haven't any of you noticed he or she is crying?" Joseph
asked walking over to the table. "I'm not an expert by
any means, but the last time I checked, when a child is
crying, they usually want and/or need something." He
scooped up the bundle easily, then frowned feeling
something extremely warm and wet on his sleeve. "Well,
I know one thing that's wrong right off the bat. There
wouldn't happen to be any diapers around, would there?"

Joseph's common sense approach seemed to knock Hank out
of his shocked state. He's right, he thought. We'll
worry about who's child this is later, right now the
important thing is to stop him or her from crying. He
looked at Joseph. "No, as far as I know, there are no
diapers in the mansion. They aren't something we find
ourselves in need of very often."

"Well, something has to be done," Joseph said, looking
very uncomfortable holding the child. "The blanket is
ruined and I think my shirt will be too."

Although Hank had no younger brothers and sisters, he
wasn't completely ignorant to the world of babies.
He'd earned money when he was younger by baby-sitting
and actually had been rather successful at it. "Let me
see the child," he suggested, holding out his arms.
Joseph happily surrendered the infant to him. Hank
looked over at Bobby. "Robert, make yourself useful.
Go and see if you can find an old towel or sheet
somewhere, something we can use for a temporary measure
until we can find proper diapers."

Bobby nodded and left the room rather quickly.

Gambit sensing he might be called into service decided
to volunteer rather than be drafted. "While your doin'
dat, I'll go down to the store and buy some diapers."

"Good idea," Hank nodded.

"You might want to pick up some formula too," Joseph
suggested. "And a bottle."

"An' some of those baby wipes," Rogue offered. "An'
some powder, an.."

"How am I suppose to 'member all of that?" Gambit
asked.

Joseph sighed. "I'll go with you," he suggested.
"I've spent some time with children, recently. I'm
sure I can help."

"Is there something I can do?" Rogue offered.

Hank thought for a moment. "Why don't you try to find
something for the child to sleep in?" he suggested.

Rogue thought for a moment. "Ah think Ah can manage
that."

"Good." Hank said, carrying the child from the room.

While the other four busied themselves making
preparations for the unexpected guest, Hank took the
child up to his living quarters and brought her into
his bathroom. Fortunately for all the members of the
house, the child had stopped screeching and instead was
whimpering quietly. Hank looked down at the bundle.
"You're not having a very good night are you?" he
asked, taking a towel and placing it down on the vanity
and lying the child on it. "Forced to ride up here on
a motorcycle, surrounded by strangers. We don't even
know your name. Worse, we don't even know if you're a
boy or a girl. Well, that's easily remedied..." He
pealed off the blanket. Underneath, the child was
naked except for a very soggy disposable diaper. He
pealed that off, trying to only breathe through his
mouth. "Ah, I see you're a little girl!" he exclaimed.

The child stopped her whimpering and looked up at him
with large, blue eyes. Hank didn't know if it was
relief at being freed from lying in her own waste
products or that at least her sex was known that
stopped her from crying, but it didn't matter. "Well,
this is a start, isn't it? We know you're a girl and
we've gotten that terrible diaper off you. Let's see
what we can do to make you more comfortable shall we?"
He took a washcloth from the towel rack, soaked it with
warm water and began cleaning off the child. While he
cleaned her off, he studied her carefully, making
visual assessments. "Well, you seem healthy enough,"
Hank murmured. "A bit thin, a bit small, but nothing
time and food won't take care of."

There was a tap at the bathroom door. "Hank, you in
there?"

"No I'm not, Bobby," Hank called out. "This is a
recording."

"Verrrry funny." Bobby snorted. "Is it okay for me to
come in?"

"Unless the sight of a naked infant titillates you, I
can't see why not," Hank answered.

"Gee, you're such a riot," Bobby commented opening the
door. "I can't believe you don't have your own sit-com
yet. I found some stuff."

Hank looked as Bobby began placing some old towels he'd
found on the other side of the sink. "Brown towels?"
he asked.

"My idea," Bobby said proudly. "I figured they
wouldn't look so stained when she was done with them."

"My, I'm amazed Proctor and Gamble hasn't hired you for
research and development," Hank murmured. "But, I
suppose one of them will do until Remy and Joseph
return." He turned his attention back to the infant,
who was grinning broadly now, waving her tiny arms and
legs around, obviously relieved to clean again.

"Aw, a little girl," Bobby said, looking down at her.
"She's kinda cute."

"Cute?" Hank looked at him. "This child is beautiful.
Look at those sapphire eyes, the fair skin underneath
that spectacular blue fur. I would say she's easily
the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."

"You would say that." Bobby commented. "It's the
resemblance to you." He looked at his friend. "Hank,
it's just you and me now... tell me, is she yours?"

Hank sighed. "Bobby, I assure you there is no chance
on heaven or earth that this is my child by blood."

"But how come she looks so much like you?" Bobby
asked.

"I don't know," Hank admitted. "But I plan to find
out." He dropped the dirty washcloth into the sink and
turned the water on to rinse it. "Do me a favor Bobby,
rip the end off one of those towels so it's square."

"Sure," Bobby agreed, doing as his friend asked.
When he finished, he looked at it. "How are you going
to make it fit?"

"Simple," Hank answered. "Fold it in half so it forms
a triangle, then lay it down there." He waited for
Bobby to do that then picked up the child and put her
down. "I've heard this is how people used to do it
before the days of disposables and pre-fitted cloth
diapers," he said, bringing the center corner of the
towel up between the child's legs and the other two
around. her waist. "See? Perfect. You wouldn't
happen to have anything we can use to fasten this would
you?"

"I thought of that," Bobby said, reaching into his
pocket and pulling something out. "Here."

Hank looked at the offered object and quirked one brow.
"A roll of masking tape?"

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, why not? It should work and
it'll be easy to take apart too."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a safety pin."
Hank took the tape and tearing off a piece. "But I
suppose that never occurred to you."

"Well it did, but I didn't know where to find any,"
Bobby admitted.

"Then you get an A for effort and a C- for results."
Hank used some smaller pieces of tape to hold the front
closed, then wrapped a longer one around the child's
waist to hold the makeshift diaper. "There, you're all
set."

The child looked at him steadily for a moment, as if
she wasn't quite sure what she should do, then grinned
broadly and waved her tiny arms and legs wildly.

"She admires your taste in fashion, Bobby," Hank
commented. "Let's hope with time she'll outgrow this
phase."

"Yeah, right. At least she's too young to talk like
she's swallowed a dictionary, unlike *some* folks I
know."

*****

Half an hour later the clock read 2:00 a.m. Bobby,
Hank and Rogue were in the kitchen waiting for Joseph
and Gambit to return. Hank held the infant, who didn't
seem at all upset with the sudden changes in her life.
She also didn't seem ready to go to sleep. She peered
over Hank's shoulder, looking about the room with sharp
eyes for one so young.

"Ah fixed up a makeshift crib using' some blankets and
a dresser drawer," Rogue said. "Ah put it in your room
Hank."

"Amazing how everyone automatically assumes that I
should shoulder responsibility to this child." Hank
commented dryly.

Bobby's answer was interrupted by Joseph and Gambit
coming into the kitchen. "We have returned," Gambit
announced, placing a plastic bag on the counter.

"We were able to get diapers and some other baby
supplies, including a bottle and formula," Joseph
added. "The woman at the convenient store suggested a
soy formula since we don't know if the child has any
allergies."

"Dis baby stuff ain't cheap either," Gambit commented.
"Hank, you owe us twenty five bucks."

A pained expression crossed Hank's face. "Remy, I'll
be glad to pay you the money. But I admit, I am
getting tired of everyone assuming this child is mine
when I am constantly stating she is not."

"Oh, forgive me," Remy said, grinning broadly. "Some
woman give me a blue child an' say that she belong to
you. What am I suppose to t'ink?"

Hank drew in a deep breath. "All right, I see your
point. But, and I'm only going to say this one last
time; this child is not mine.

"Well then, who's child is it?" Joseph asked, moving
over to stand next to Rogue.

"I don't know," Hank admitted. He turned to Remy.
"Now that the child seems to be settled, please tell
me, what happened this evening?"

While Gambit told the story, Hank continued to hold the
infant. She stayed remarkably calm during the story
of her arrival to the mansion, only interrupting by
occasionally cooing or making other baby noises. Every
time she did, Hank automatically reached down and
stroked her hair.

"So let me get this straight," Hank said, feeling
frustrated at the lack of information in Remy's story.
"This woman approached you and said she had something
for me."

Remy nodded. "She never used your name though, she
called you Beast."

"Hmm... I see." Hank nodded slowly. "And you didn't
try to locate this woman again after you were given the
child?"

Remy shook his head. "I really didn't want t'run
around de streets wit' an infant in my arms looking for
some woman who didn' want to be found. I figured the
best thing would be to just come back here. 'Sides,
Hank, how was I to know she *wasn't* your daughter?"

"Because I would think you knew me well enough by now
to know that I'm not likely to engage in any sort of
intimate relationship with a woman like this Tonya"
Hank retorted.

Gambit shrugged. "Far as I know you ain't seein'
anyone. Lots of men have been known t' take a little
walk on de wild side when they ain't got nothin'
steady."

"Well I'm not 'lots of men.'" Hank pointed out.

"You can say dat again." Gambit sighed. "Mebe I
should have gone looking for de woman, but hell Hank,
she obviously didn' want the baby. And I really didn'
know what else to do."

Hank nodded. "I think I understand what happened.
This woman found herself giving birth to an... unusual
infant. Obviously she's seen pictures of myself in the
newspaper or perhaps on the television and figured if
she could find a way to give me the infant, no one
would question it. However, a simple blood test will
easily prove the child is not mine."

"So what are you going to do?" Bobby asked.

Hank shrugged. "Well, right now the child is safe. I
don't suppose it would hurt to have her stay here a few
days. I can run some tests, make sure she's healthy
and see if I might be able to locate at least one of
her parents."

"Tomorrow night I'll go back to where I got her an' see
if I can't find Tonya," Remy offered. "But I'm tellin'
you Hank, even if I do find her, I doubt she'll
remember who de baby's father is, unless he was as
unusual as you."

TO BE CONTINUED