Invasion: MSV Chapter 22

[dazzledfirestar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't believe it either.

Title: Invasion:MSV
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Rating: 18+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters here. They and the world this is set in are the property of Marvel Entertainment. The Purple Team is the property of ginevrasm (Morgan/Faye), ladydeathfaerie (Dare), sessys_fangirl (Jehnna), nanaeanaven (Roxxy) and dazzledfirestar (Haley). They are not to be used without permission. I make no money from this, and it is simply a form of entertainment.
Warnings: graphic M/F sex, preg, language and as always... ANGST

Her jeans felt tight. How had her jeans gotten tight in the matter of four days? She sighed heavily into the phone. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” She frowned. Intellectually, she’d understood that being pregnant was going to change things. But she wasn’t quite ready to give up her favorite jeans just yet. “What time is Reed supposed to get here?”

“Noon-ish. Do you want me to come along?”

She almost said yes right away. “No… you don’t have to.”

“I didn’t say ‘do I have to come along’ did I?”

“No. but seriously… do you really want to sit around here waiting?” She’d already told Piotr not to come down to the med lab with her. How would he take Johnny being there? It wouldn’t go over well, that much she was sure of.

“If you don’t want me there, all you have to do is say it.”

“It’s not that.” She sighed. “I just told Piotr that he shouldn’t come down with me so…”

“Gotcha.” The tension level in his voice jumped.

“Is it so wrong that I don’t want either of you gloating in the med lab?” She smiled at the phone, hoping the energy would carry.

It seemed to work as he let out a small laugh. “Okay, I see your point.” He sighed. “I just… I don’t like the idea of you going through all this by yourself.”

“I won’t be by myself, Johnny. Roxxy’s going to be there.” She picked up another bit of laundry and threw it in the hamper. She’d been neglecting her room a little lately, something she was sure she wouldn’t be able to get away with when… “I am going to make Reed promise not to tell you anything though.”

“Oh, that’s just mean.” He laughed again. “Call me was soon as you know something?”

“I will.”

“Haley…” he hesitated. “I want to tell you something.”

“You don’t have to.” Her cheeks felt like they’d caught fire. “Johnny, I know.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “As long as you know.” She picked up something in that moment, a hint of regret behind the other feeling that she didn’t want him to put a name to; not yet anyway.

“Johnny… I do too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up and continued to clean up.

“Jeeze, I didn’t think nesting started this early.” Morgan stood in her doorway.

“Just trying to keep busy.” The butterflies in her stomach were back in full force. “And trying to keep some food in me.” Haley sat down, a little dizzy for a moment.

“Bad morning?”

Haley shrugged. “Not the worst, but I’ve had better.”

Morgan sighed and sat down. “Well just think, normally that ends at three months.”

“Yeah and what about all this has been normal so far?”

“Good point.” Morgan laughed a little. “Make up your mind yet?”

“Great segue there, Morgan.” The shorter woman shrugged. “No, not really.” Haley stared at the phone for a moment.

“Are you just saying that until you know who the father is?”

“You are just little Miss Blunt this morning, aren’t you?”

Morgan shrugged again. “Thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask. When’s your appointment?”

“One.”

“Want to do some shopping before that?” Morgan smiled.

“Is there anything that can’t be fixed by shoe shopping?” Haley couldn’t keep the laugh out of her voice. “I suppose I’m going to need some new clothes soon.”

“Jeans feeling tight?” Haley nodded. “Okay, let’s go and find you something nice.” Morgan took her hand and was almost to the door when Haley’s phone rang. “Tell him he can call back when you have new jeans!” Morgan actually rolled her eyes.

Haley smiled indulgently. “Hello?”

“Haley? It’s Edie.” Haley’s jaw dropped.

“Edie? How did you get this number?”

“I don’t get an ‘aunt’ now that you’re a big X-Man?” a light laugh floated over the line. “Your father called me. He said you might be coming out this way. He gave me this number and told me to call it if you didn’t show up in a few days, so,” she could almost see her aunt shrug. “What’s going on, honey?”

“Well…” Haley debated what to say, what to tell her aunt. She hadn’t seen the woman in years… nearly a decade actually, but they’d written to each other often. In many ways she knew her aunt would understand some of it better than her parents, who she hadn’t actually told yet, would. The whole story poured out in a few breaths.

“Wow. And you were coming out here to…”

“Hide.”

“I can’t blame you, Haley.” A dry laugh came from her aunt. “But I’m glad you stayed and are dealing with it. I do however expect a visit once the baby is born. I have to meet my great-niece or nephew after all.”

“Of course.” Haley smiled.

“And…” Edie took a deep breath. “You don’t have to be with someone to be a good parent.” Haley’s brow crinkled a little. “All I mean is that you shouldn’t let biology dictate who you spend your life with.”

Haley let out a laugh. “A friend of mine gave me some very similar advice.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a good friend.”

“I’ve got a few.” Haley let her smile fall on a confused looked Morgan.

“I’ll want to meet whichever of them you decide on too, if you decide on either of them.”

“Of course.” Haley took a deep breath. “I… I might know soon.”

“Good. All that stress can’t be good for you. Haley, you can call me any time, you know that right?”

“Yes, Aunt Edie, I know.”

“Then do it a little more often, girl.”

“I will.” She was still smiling as she hung up the phone. “Now, shopping?” Morgan smiled and the girls headed toward the garage.



“I thought you weren’t supposed to do any heavy lifting.” Roxxy glanced at the pile of bags that covered Haley’s floor. The redhead just shrugged casually. “I think they’re almost ready for you.”

“Okay.” Haley started twirling the handle of one of the bags in her hand. “Can I just meet you down there in a few minutes?”

“Yeah, of course.” Roxxy left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Haley to her thoughts.

Was she really ready to know? She wasn’t sure. And Hank’s constant reminders that the chances of getting any sort of conclusive answer with this test weren’t helping. They should have, given how scared she was of finding out one way or the other, but they weren’t. She was starting to see this as a tease. Like someone dangling a solution over her head and making her jump for it with no intention of actually giving it to her. The last few days had seen her go from excited, to nervous to nearly terrified, and she couldn’t blame these feelings on the guys. They seemed pretty at peace with it all, actually. That wasn’t helping her either. How could they be so calm about it? Well, calm might have been stretching it a little, but still.

She got up and moved to the door. She was reaching for the handle when someone knocked. She opened the door and a small smile spread across her face. “I thought I would wish you good luck before you went downstairs.”

“Thank you, Piotr.” She swallowed a little. “It’s not really that big a deal… I mean, it’s just like an ultrasound from what Hank was telling me and the chances of finding something out are really…”

“But there is a chance.” His eyes met hers and she nodded. “You will come and tell me when you know anything?”

“Yeah, as soon as I know.” She nodded. “Piotr?”

“Yes Haley?”

She thought about asking him what he wanted the results to be. She thought about asking him if he really wanted this to be his baby. Sure he wouldn’t know for sure from this test, but still… “Never mind. I should get down there.”

“Are you sure you do not want me to come with you?”

She nodded again. “Roxxy’s down there waiting for me.” He moved out into the hallway. “I’ll let you know.”

“Good luck.” He squeezed her hand and turned toward his room. She tried to fight off the feeling that someone was waiting for him there. She shook her head and headed downstairs.

The machine looked like an ultrasound machine without the screen. Many cords fed into a computer, no doubt to store radiation levels and god knew what other kinds of information this thing could pick up. Haley was lying back trying to keep her heart from bursting thought her chest. The sudden cold wet feeling on her belly helped with that. “Jesus, Hank! If you don’t warm that gel up next time, I’m finding myself a new doctor!”

He chuckled lightly. “I thought you’d welcome the distraction.”

“And I thought you wouldn’t want to piss off the pregnant woman.” She couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Touché.” He smiled. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Roxxy squeezed her hand gently, and Haley squeezed her eyes shut. There was nothing to see, nothing to give anything away to her, but she just couldn’t bare to look at the machine while it did its thing. When she finally willed herself to open her eyes again, she began counting the spots on the ceiling. Anything to distract her from thinking about what that machine could tell her in a few hours.

“Haley… it’s okay.” Roxxy’s voice pulled her attention away from the spots on the ceiling. “No matter what, it’s okay.”

“I know.” But she didn’t… not really. She took a few more deep breaths. “How much longer, Hank?”

He moved the wand over her stomach one more time. “I think we’ve got all we need.” He reached over, handing her a towel to wipe the gel from her skin. “It will probably take at least three hours to know anything, if there is anything to know.” She nodded and handed the towel back. “I will find you when we are done.”

“Thanks.” Haley and Roxxy moved out into the hallway, where the rest of the team was waiting.

“So?” Dare pushed herself off the wall.

“A few more hours to go.” Roxxy smiled.

“Are you hungry? Should we get some lunch or something?” Jehnna looked at Haley for a moment.

“Umm… no. Actually…” she swallowed thickly. “I… I kinda want to be alone right now, if you guys don’t mind.” She turned away from the girls and headed back up to her room. She pulled the drapes tight and turned off her light. She just needed a little sleep, she told herself. She just needed to rest, to turn her brain off for a few hours. There’d be plenty of time to worry about everything after that.



The knocking on the door woke her from some sort of unpleasant dream. She opened the drapes, letting in the late afternoon sunshine, and tripped over one of her shopping bags on the way to the door. Hank was standing there, several pieces of paper in his hand. “I have news.”

“Oh?” Her voice sounded flat. It was the only way she could keep the edge of panic out of it. He handed her the pages. Half of it didn’t really make sense to her. She’d never figured most of it out if she hadn’t known what she was looking for. A lump formed in her throat as she read the bits she could make sense of. “Thank you, Hank.”

“If you want to talk about it…” He sighed heavily. “I suppose if you want to talk about it, you’ll go to Rosemary or one of the girls.” A small smile crept across his face.

“Thanks anyway.” She smiled back, or at least tried to. He nodded and moved away from the door, letting her out into the hall. She turned back to look at him, that same small smile still on his face. “It’ll be okay, right?”

“Yes,” He turned and wandered back down the hallway toward the stairs.

She took a deep breath and started in the opposite direction. A moment before she knocked she heard voices on the other side of the door. “She should have let you be there.”

“Kitty, it is her decision.”

“What do you want the results to be?” Haley had to strain to hear Kitty through the door as her voice dropped. She had just asked the one question Haley hadn’t been able to, and now she wanted an answer.

“I… I do not know. I have to wonder how things will be if… I do not want to ignore my feelings, Kitty.” Haley closed her eyes and willed herself to knock. She’d heard enough, not in his words exactly, but in his tone. “Haley?” He looked at her for a moment then his eyes drifted down to the papers in her hand.

“We need to talk.” She stepped into the room. Her eyes fell on Kitty. “Alone.”