DREAMS AND DESIRES

By Keri Wilson

LEBEAU PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Chapter 2: Getting It Together

"Then Piotr says, 'but Katya, you're going to have a baby, you couldn't possibly lift something that heavy'." Kitty said with clear irritation.

"Uh huh," Tara smirked, "that sounds familiar. So what did you say back?"

"I told him I could phase the dresser, get it into the truck, no problem. But he goes ballistic then,'Nyet! How do you know that will safe for the baby, or yourself. So I let Mr. Russian Male Ego carry all the stuff. I felt like phasing, then dropping the dresser on his head. Of course, that'd just destroy the dresser, and we'd just have to get another one." They both laughed then. Kitty continued, "In the meantime, I'd be hearing the 'you must learn to control your temper' lecture from him, besides the daily one on 'what I can't do because I am going to have a baby'. Aargh! It makes me so mad I could..."

"Chew nails?" Tara suggested.

"Yes!"

"Well, darn good thing he didn't see us upon the roof yesterday, looking for any hail damage from the storm the day before."

"Oh god, if he had...!"

"He wouldn't let you out of his sight for five minutes! Ah know, that's how Remy was when ah was pregnant the first time. He's gotten less uptight each pregnancy." Tara smirks, "Ah'ven been trainin' him!" They both laugh.

Jubilee walks in "Conspiring again?" She asks, grining.

"What else, shugah?" Tara says, and laughs again.

"The guys are still talking outside, so the conspiracy plans can go on." Jubilee says, sitting down to join them. She still liked to play the "girls against the boys" games with Tara, and now with Kitty too. It was never anything really dangerous, or involving the children, just stuff designed to annoy Remy. Of course, now that Piotr was here, undoubtably Remy would come up with things they could do to annoy Tara, Kitty and even her. Nothing had been sprung yet, but they were expecting something before long.

In the meantime the guys were just talking."My Katya would never do that!" Piotr said surprised, as Remy told him the latest story in a long line of them, of things Tara had done during one of her three pregnancies

After each story Piotr's response had been the same, "My Katya would never do that", said in various tones of incredulity. Piotr's other big refrain was he was terrified that Kitty was not going to be able to carry the baby to term. The fear mostly seemed to be that the baby would be "huge". Too large for her to possibly carry the whole nine months, or that the baby's "hugeness" would somehow "damage" Kitty. Remy could barely contain his laughter it was so hysterically funny! He was sure he wasn't as crazy the first time Tara was pregnant! It was also funny because he had seen Tara and Kitty on the roof yesterday. Piotr had no idea what his wife was doing! Remy already knew to expect anything out of Tara, in fact, the outrageous the more likely she was to do it! Remy had mock scolded her last night, about "corrupting" Kitty. Tara had insisted it was Kitty's idea to go up on the roof.

Piotr and Kitty's moving in day had turned out to be a rather momentous one, and not only for them moving in. They had just got everything of theirs inside and just sat down to relax when an incredibly bad storm hit. It was the result of a freak hurricane that struck the Mid Atlantic and New England coasts. Hitting New York City first, and moving all the way to Maine. Bobby Drake's parents' home was completely destroyed. He had luckly managed to get even his stubborn father to evacate before it hit. It was a level 5 hurricane, the strongest they got. The damage on the coast was enormous, but even as far inland as they were it had spawned horrific storms. There had even been a tornado that touched down near them. Thankfully, it had only knocked down some trees. Tara and Remy, being southerners, were more used to tornados and knew what to do. They all went downstairs till the storm was over. Piotr really seemed at a loss at what to do, during that time. Kitty managed to get him to sit down, so he wouldn't agitate the little ones further. Remy said later to Tara, that Piotr needed to do something to relax.

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A week later Piotr finally caught Kitty. Remy was watching the kids swim in the basement swimming pool, so Piotr was left to his own devices. He decided to find his wife and go for a drive. he found her with Jubilee and Tara. They were working on the classrooms on the first floor. When he came in Kitty was on a ladder and had her arm partly phased. She was laying the wiring for a new electric outlet on the wall one foot from the ceiling. Tara was attaching a six foot by four foot blackboard to another wall. Jubilee was tacking down the carpet. When Piotr saw Kitty he roared, "Katherina Pryde Rasputina!"

Luckly, due to her years of training Kitty was able to keep her concentration and get her arm out the wall before she solidified it. Then she turned around very irritated, and said, "What Piotr Nikoevtch Rasputin?" very sacastically.

"That is not what you should be doing in your condition. Get down from that ladder!"

Rolling her eyes at Tara, Kitty climbed down, muttering "Yes, daddy."

Piotr's eyes narrowed, he had heard it. Then he said, "Why do you endanger yourself and the baby?"

"Piotr, it's perfectly safe, I'm fine. Look at Tara, she's perfectly fine and so are her kids. She did the same kind of work during her first pregnancy. Piotr, I'm not going to break, and I promise I will not phase anything of my body except my hands and arms, okay?"

"It is too dangerous Katya!" Then he turned to Tara, enraged."You did this! You made her do this!" He was angry enough he had turned to armored form and came up right behind her.

Tara stiffened in anger, then whirled around with her fists clenched in front of her abdomen.

Kitty yelled, "Piotr, it was my idea! I'm the one that said to her this morning that we might as well get started on converting these room into classrooms. Not Tara!"

This had an immediate effect on Piotr, he returned to his normal self, and said contritely, "I am sorry Tara. I should not have become so angry." Then he looked at her concerned. "I did not cause you any harm, or your baby?"

"No. Ah'm fine, ah'm sure the baby's fine. Gettin' yelled at won't hurt either me or the baby." Tara said this, but she wasn't about to tell him it had made her upset enough that she felt like she could throw up, despite her nausea medicine. She was still in the first month of her pregnancy, which every time had proven to be the worst one. She was still dealing with greatly lessened endurance, persistant low grade fever, and occassional severe morning sickness.

Then Piotr said to Tara, "You should not be doing these things either. Remy worries about you doing all these crazy things." Then Piotr turned back to Kitty. "Promise me, Katya, you will not do any more phasing while you are pregnant."

Kitty sighed, "Alright Piotr, if it makes you feel better."

Peter left then, shaking his head and muttering, "Remy was right, they are crazy when they are pregnant!"

Tara, Jubilee, and Kitty all rolled their eyes in annoyance at Piotr's parting statement.

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After this incident it wasn't hard for Remy to convince Piotr to do a little turnabout. Remy told them he and Piotr would go to the grocery.

Tara knew that they shouldn't be gone more than a hour. After five hours Tara, Kitty and Jubilee were starting to get real worried. When the van pulled into the driveway and Piotr got out with casts on one of his legs and one of his arms and was in human form, Kitty freaked out. Despite being nearly eight months pregnant, she ran down the steps and yelled for Piotr to get into bed, he didn't belong on his feet in his condition! As soon as she said "condtion", Piotr could contain himself no longer. He laughed and pulled the casts off.

Remy laughed so hard tears came to his eyes, from the looks on Kitty's and Tara's faces. Then Jubilee started laughing. Finally Tara and Kitty had to laugh too. The guys had finally got them back.

Then Piotr said, "Now you see, Katya how worried I am about you."

"Yes Piotr, I do, but pregnancy isn't quite the same as breaking your arm and leg. Piotr, I want you to be in the room next time I go for my check-up. Then you can hear the same time I do, just what Moira says is and isn't okay to do. Will you?"

Piotr reluctanly agreed. He felt better about it after Remy told him, "Hey mon ami, if Dr. McTaggart tells her no phasing, or whatever, then you can remind her that you know she's not supposed to do it! Doctor's orders!"

"Yes, you are right toverich. But what if she says Kitty can?"

"Trust me, de doctor, she tends to go to de side of caution. I guarantee she says no more phasing."

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Remy was proved right, much to Piotr's delight, and Kitty's annoyance! Miora expressed concern that the phasing could cause a negative reaction in th fetus, or even a chance of miscarriage. That hadn't occured to Kitty and she felt a little guilty about being so determinded to use her power and mocking Piotr's concerns. And a liitle worried that her earlier use of phasing may have already caused problems, even though she had been fairly cautious about using it.

However, Moira also thought that Piotr was overreacting to Kitty's pregnancy to a ridiculous degree."Ye wife is pregnant, not an invalid."

Other than using her phasing powers all other activities were fine, as long as she didn't push things. She could lift anything that wasn't a strain for her to lift, she could do her martial arts workouts, in fact, Moira sternly told Piotr,"This would be benificial during her pregnancy. Kitty's muscles would be stronger during labor, and didn't he want his wife to have the least possible pain during delivery?" Piotr looked properly chastened, and Kitty was somewhat mollified by this, at least all her activities wouldn't be disrupted by the pregnancy. Moira then told Kitty she must rest during the day, unlike another pregnant mutant she knew, giving a pointed look at Tara.

Tara smiled weakly, somewhat embarassed. Remy grinned, he guaranteed that Piotr would now pester Tara as well as Kitty to rest. And Piotr would doggedly keep at it until they'd do it, just to shut him up.