The X-Men: New Additions - Part 17

Author:  Stacy Ricco

 
    The week Alex spent at the Massachusetts Academy went by rather quickly. She spent most of the week talking to Sean and Emma about what subjects she was going to teach in the upcoming semester. Sean and Emma agreed that she would start at the end of February, which gave Alex a month and a half to find something to keep her occupied. Alex spent the rest of her time there hanging out with the students in an effort to get to know them better.
Alex returned back to the mansion at the end of the week. Logan was nowhere to be found and after talking to Rogue, Alex learned that he was out on an extended mission. The Professor found a woman in Salem Center who agreed to give Alex cooking lessons. Alex was to start the cooking lessons on Monday. Alex spent the weekend hanging out with Rogue and Jean. Alex was amazed at how fast their pregnancies were developing. Rogue was going in to her seventh month and was a little more than showing. Rogue was now in to real maternity clothes and was happy now that she was really showing. Jean was only a month behind Rogue and wasn't that far behind in terms of size. Like Rogue, Jean was also wearing real maternity clothes and a constant smile adorned her face. There were bets being taken about whose baby and stomach would be biggest. Alex was only four months along and was almost the size of Jean. Of course Alex was carrying twins and was expected to have the largest stomach. Alex ended up creating a lot of her maternity clothes, since she didn't really care for the frilly traditional type of maternity clothes.
    Monday morning Alex awoke and was surprised to discover that she had slept until ten am. She was supposed to be at her cooking lesson by eleven. One side effect of her pregnancy was that she was sleeping more and more each day. Which was probably for the best, since she had a hard time gaining weight. Beast had put her on a very high carbohydrate diet in an effort to get her to gain some weight. He had also put her on a regiment of vitamins and supplements and even after all that she was barely gaining weight. This was one instance where it didn't help having a high metabolism.
Alex jumped out of bed and ran to the shower. Twenty minutes later she downed a quick breakfast and headed out the door. She jumped into Logan's jeep and went racing out of the mansion grounds. She decided not to tell anyone in the mansion what she was doing. She wanted to surprise them one day with dinner after her lessons were over. She pulled up to a small two-story house a few blocks from the main street in Salem Center. The house was surrounded by a white picket fence and it looked like something out of a Normal Rockwell painting. Alex took a deep breath and walked up to the front door. She rang the doorbell. A drop dead gorgeous guy answered the door. He had to be about twenty years old, had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. Alex could do nothing but stare at him.
"Can I help you?"
"Huh? Oh I'm sorry. My name's Alexandra Xavier and I'm here to see Teresa Ardito."
"Ah yes. My grandmother is expecting you. My name is Antonio. Please come in," he said with what Alex figured to be a slight Italian accent. Alex noticed he had a devastating smile.
She followed the handsome man into the house. She walked behind him admiring the view and had a grin on her face. This was one person she definitely did not want Logan to meet. She sighed at the thought of Logan and continued to follow Antonio through the house. They arrived in the kitchen a short time later. A short stocky woman was in the middle of stirring something on the stove. Her white hair was pulled up into a bun and an apron covered her dress.
"Nonna. The young woman is here."  *
The old woman turned around and a smile adorned her face.
"Ciao. My name is Teresa, but please call me Tessa dearie."  **   
"Ciao. Il mio nome è Alexandra. Prego denominilo Alex."  ***
"Parlate italiano?"  ****
"Si E tedesco, spagnolo, russo ed alcuni altri."  *****
"Please sit dearie. Charles said you want to learn how to cook, yes?" Tessa said switching back to English.
"Yes ma'am."
"How is he doing these days?"
"He is well."
"Good to hear that. Him and I have known each other for a long time. I used to be his cook a long time ago," she said with a slight smile as she remembered the days gone past. "So what do you want to know about cooking?"
"Everything I can ma'am. I do not have any cooking experience."
"None? Didn't your mama teach you anything?"
"No ma'am. She died when I was five years old."
"I'm sorry to hear that child. Don't worry. Old Tessa will teach you how to cook."
Alex smiled.
"When are you due?"
"What? How did you know?"
"Dearie, you have the glow. Every woman who is expecting has a certain glow about her and my dear it is as plain as day."
Alex smiled a little. "I'm due in mid-July."
"Is this your first?"
"Yes ma'am."
"You and your husband must be so excited."
The smile quickly faded from Alex's face upon hearing that word. Husband. She couldn't begin to think along those lines.
"What's the matter dearie? That young man of yours and you having problems?"
"We're not married, ma'am, but yes we are having some problems. Neither of us is ready to have babies."
"Are you expecting twins?"
Alex just nodded.
"Oh dearie that's wonderful."
"Thank you."
"Now let's say we get started. Time waits for no woman. Here, now put this on and we'll get started," she said handing Alex an apron.
Alex just smiled and accepted the offered apron. She wondered if this what it was like to have a grandmother.

    Alex returned home around four that afternoon and was exhausted. She couldn't believe how much energy it could take to cook. Tessa sent her home with food, but after being around food for the better part of the day, Alex wasn't hungry. She put the bowl in the fridge and headed up to the room she shared with Logan. She laid down on the bed and was asleep in a matter of minutes.
Alex woke hours later with Meph asleep on top of her. Her stomach rumbled and demanded food. Alex looked at the clock and did a double take when she saw that it was four am. She had slept for twelve hours and surprisingly enough no one knocked on the door. She got up and headed for the kitchen in an effort to appease her rumbling stomach. She heated the food Tessa sent her home with and finished it in a matter of minutes. She was still hungry. She found leftover Indian food and proceeded to heat that up in the microwave. She knew whose turn it was to cook earlier in the evening. Hank was the only person who ever ordered Indian food. Alex finished off the Indian food in a short period of time and headed back up to the room. She stopped by the Professor's office and the library to grab a few books just incase she couldn't go back to sleep.
Alex mounted the stairs and was walking down the hallway when she saw Hank slowly creeping out of the men's bathroom. He looked at her and winked. Alex knew what he was up too. Bobby was probably going to find a nasty surprise later in the morning. Alex winked back and entered the room she shared with Logan. She turned on the lights and sighed when she saw the empty bed. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed Logan. She especially missed him at night. Alex sat down in the chair next to the bed and Meph jumped up and curled up in her lap. She looked at the pile of books on the nightstand and couldn't decide what to read. She put her head back and closed her eyes. She was asleep in a few minutes.
   
Someone pounding on the door woke her up later that morning.
"Who is it?"
"Bobby. Can I come in?"
"Sure."
The door opened and Bobby walked in. His skin was a dark purple. Alex couldn't help but to laugh.
"It's not funny. I will get you back for this," Bobby said standing with his hands on his hips.
"I didn't do it. Honest. I know who did though."
"Who?"
"Do I really have to tell you? You should be able to guess by now."
"Hank. I should have known it. Oh I'm going to have to think of something really good to do to him."
Alex just grinned at him.
"What's this? Logan buying you jewels? I didn't think he was the type," Bobby said holding up the emerald and diamond necklace that had been lying on the dresser.
"No. That was a gift from the Professor."
"The Professor? Why would he be giving you things like this?" he asked holding it up to the light. The jewels caught the sunlight coming in the window and it sparkled with green and white fire.
"I'd rather not discuss it. So what do you have in mind for Hank?" Alex asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know yet. But it will have to be something really good."
"How about a hairless Beast?"
Bobby's face lit up, he set down the necklace and went running from the room.
Alex sighed and looked at the clock. It was only nine am and she had two more hours before she had to be at Tessa's house. Alex got up and put the necklace in the drawer that she had commandeered for herself. She didn't want any more questions asked about it.
There was another knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Rogue. Can Ah come in?"
"Sure."
"Hey sugah. Jean, Storm and Ah are going to go look at baby furniture today. Want to come along?"
"I'm sorry I can't. I already have plans for the afternoon. How about I catch up to you when I can?"
"Shur. Ya okay? Ya look a little tired."
"I feel fine. Still trying to wake up after Barney knocked on my door and woke me up."
Rogue laughed cause she knew who Alex was talking about. "Ah think Hank went a little too fah."
"Maybe. But purple does seem to be his color, doesn't it?"
Rogue laughed a little harder and said goodbye to Alex. Alex spent the rest of her free time reading and then headed to Tessa's.


*           Grandmother
**        Hello
***      Hello. My name is Alexandra. Please call me Alex.
****    Do you speak Italian?
*****  Yes. And German, Spanish, Russian and a few others.