Ranger scoffed in mock offense before smiling. ”I… Can be serious. It’s happened before. I could do it again, f’r you.” Ranger licked his ice cream before holding up one hand like he was being sworn in at court. The ice cream a stand-in for a bible. ”Small, simple, serious. I promise.” So help him, dairy-god.

When Noel pushed the pamphlet over to him he took a look at where she indicated. Ranger very quickly understood why her gaze had glued itself to that spot for a while.

It was not something Ranger had not seen before. He had been through high school health class where diagrams and videos were shown. Having been swept away in the joy of having a future kid, Ranger had forgotten about the logistics of the miracle of birth. Noel having the kid meant Noel having the kid. Birthing included.

”Yeah.” Ranger said as he looked at the diagram. ”In my excitement I mentally skipped past this part t’ when the kid’s here.” Ranger looked up at Noel, ”It’s a hell of a thing. I cain’t even imagine what it’ll be like, but there’s drugs an’ I’ll be there with y’.”

Noel mentioned the FAQ saying pregnancy takes forty weeks. They were on week nine. Ranger flipped to the FAQ section and then the timeline. Nine out of fourty. They were only just learning about the baby and already it was around a quarter of the way done cooking. ”Y’ll have t’ tell work about it at some point.” Ranger tactfully avoided saying SUPER. They may not be cloak and dagger, but Ranger was used to avoiding saying the name of who he worked for. Darkside habits take a while to break. ”Maybe we keep it between us until it’s too obvious. Delay desk duty.” Desk duty. As he said it Ranger was glad it wasn’t him who was having the kid. The small amount of desk duty he did have between SUPER and BlacTac was already enough to drive him batty. He couldn’t imagine being fully on desk duty.

Yeah? Yeahhhhh. There was a surgery for that instead, wasn't there? Maybe they could schedule this sort of thing. Noel crunched her cone determined to plow through her ice cream so she could start typing up questions.

"You know if it's not such a big deal, maybe you should do that part. Have we gotten to the place where we can seahorse a dude? Maybe you should bake this bun." She was teasing, but the idea was a lot like offloading the wedding. If Michael were in charge of it, would she be as happy as he was? He could still walk away at any time. Not that she thought he would. But the option was there. She did not have that luxury. Noel resolved to bonk whatever needed bonking to swap. Maybe the wedding would do it. A wedding worked last time.

And maybe Michael had seen the scheming about work that was happening behind her eyes. Even without having to directly state her plans out loud, he ferreted out the heart of the issue.

"It's not- I'm not scared of desk duty. I just don't want to be useless. I need to be doing stuff and I don't think it's unreasonable to want to do the one thing I can do. I'd be just as nervous if I broke a leg, I think, except legs heal. And we know this broken leg is happening ahead of time. And we're not planning on it going away afterwards." Maybe she was mixing her metaphors or being melodramatic, but the broken leg thing was feeling more and more accurate. No autonomy. No way of escaping what was attached to you.

Was she going to have to quit? How was that going to work with two people in dangerous jobs?

"Plus I'm gonna get fat." She did hesitate before taking another bite of her cone, but it didn't stop her entirely.

Had Ranger not spent a week in Noel’s body he might have said that him doing the birthing part was impossible. Now? It likely could be. Putting an oven in a dude still sounded far fetched but the pair of them swapped again that would have Ranger taking the bun.

After bringing his eyebrows—which had gone for an elevator ride at the mention of seashorsing—back down, Ranger said through a cuckle, ”I don’t think mankind has mastered seahorsin’ dudes.” Likely because there wasn’t a high demand for dudes looking for a kitchen renovation in their abdomen. ”If…” Ranger paused for a moment as he considered what he was about to say, ”If we happen t’ switch again, I’ll handle the bun f’r y’.” Ranger said seriously.

Looking at the diagram and thinking about what it would entail… Ranger was not thrilled by the possibility of doing it. However, he had to accept it as a possibility. They had swapped before and still didn’t know why. There would always be the chance that at any point moving forward they could swap, that could be during the pregnancy or even during the birth. So while he was not thrilled, he couldn’t champion Noel keeping the baby but wanted to jump ship if he were to have to carry it.

Noel explained the heart of her misgivings. She didn’t want to be useless. They knew what was coming and how it would affect her ability to work. They also knew it would be a persistent issue with regards to work.

It was a legitimate concern. Once they had the kid, that wasn’t the end of Noel’s inability to work as she had. Sure, given some time they could find childcare and both of them return to work, but when would that be? A few months, six months, a year, or more? Ranger had no idea how long it took for a body to get back into fighting shape after a baby. He also had no idea of how long was a good amount of time to take to bond with the kid and breast feed and all those other new parents things.

Ranger was considering all those things when Noel added that she was going to get fat.

He blinked, then cracked a small smile. ”So what if y’ do? Y’ can burn it off if y’ want after ‘r keep it an’ roll on.” Ranger followed Noel’s lead and bit into his ice cream. There was something satisfying about getting a good mouth full of ice cream instead of just a little lick. After he swallowed he held it out toward her, ”want a taste? Before I eat it all.” Then he added, ”Y’ won’t be useless. Sure, y’ likely won’t be a field agent f’r a while but there’s still some y’ can do. Y’ can do on-site interrogations an’ help weed out the rot still in the agency. After y’r cleared f’r active duty… I can take a step back. Let y’ fly high again. Maybe then we trade off, make sure we’re not both headed out at the same time, ‘r find a damn good sitter. We have some time t’ figure it out. The broken leg won’t last f’rever.”

Noel watched Michael retreat into some serious introspection as he processed the possibility of him giving birth. It hit a little bit more realistically after their week-long walk in one another’s shoes and she appreciated that he took it seriously. Except… Sometimes he was absurd to the point where Noel had no alternative. She had to smile, maybe even laugh while she rolled her eyes or shook her head. But the very act loosened something in her chest. Ultimately, with the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder, all obstacles were insignificant.

Noel swapped her cone for his since they were both getting low and they hadn’t yet managed to share. If she didn’t do it now, it was never gonna happen.

”I appreciate the earnesty. Realistically, it’s not likely that you’ll suffer that part, but a girl can dream.” And a girl could scheme. The problem was they still had no idea on the why or how it happened. She had time. She’d make a note...

Noel nibbled at Micahel’s cone, the smell and taste weren’t unpleasant but it was lilac colored and she didn’t trust it. At the same time the flavor was weird in an I-can’t-stop-eating-it kind of way.

> “...After y’r cleared f’r active duty… I can take a step back..”

”That’s stupid. You’re bulletproof.” Sort of. She glanced around, but the store wasn’t busy in the least. Still, she leaned forward so that she wouldn’t be shouting things like ‘hey we’re mutants!’ ”I don’t think this is solvable now. I just can’t imagine what’s realistic for ‘after.’ All I can think about is the me part of after. There’s a third thing to worry about now. Or when we get there.” That was something she had to continuously remind herself of. That big question mark would affect everything.

Somehow this was a bit deja vu. Should Noel be taking Micahel’s hand? Putting it in her mouth? She leaned back, confused at where that mental image came from.

”What possessed you to get this?” It tasted like grandma’s soapy fruit loops and it somehow made her want to sneeze in her brain.

Ranger laughed a little. Noel could dream of not having to torpedo the baby, but it wasn’t looking like whatever caused the swap in the first place was happening again. At least not when they try to do it. They had exhausted a short list of things that might have caused it in an attempt to make sure it wasn’t going to surprise-happen to them again like it was a function of one or both of their powers acting in concert. It might have just been some random mutant’s power or something else outside their control. That’s how it was when Ranger had swapped with Lori. That time it had just been bad luck in where he had picked up a muffin.

New York was a strange city.

The possibility of Ranger taking a step back after the kid was born to let Noel get back in the action was shut down. She was right, Ranger was the bulletproof one. Well, mostly bulletproof. In the field he was the most and least at risk of the pair of them. On one hand his power meant he was able to handle significantly more adverse situations and come out unscathed to a point. On the other hand, this meant he found himself in those situations more often. And his power did have a crucial weakness. It would only protect from one type of attack at a time.

”Y’r right. This idn’t somethin’ we’re gunna be able t’ solve now.” And would likely remain unsolvable until the last variable was able to be accounted for. Their kid was a wildcard. Its needs would change what they could and couldn’t do.

Ranger took a small bite of Noel’s ice cream. It was very nutty. Not something Ranger would have thought to order for himself. He normally went for more plain flavors—and lavender and honey it seemed. ”We can figure it out as we go.” Ranger took another small bite, ”However it starts t’ shake out, I’m here t’ help y’. It’ll mean big changes, no doubt f’r you more than me. I’ll be here t’ help… share the broken leg?” Ranger questioned his statement as he said it. He had tried to latch onto Noel’s analogy.

Noel leaned back and then asked why Ranger had ordered the lavender ice cream. ”It came t’ me. I know it’s my favorite...” Ranger scrunched up his face as he thought about it for a moment, ”I can’t remember havin’ it often though.” Ranger chuckled. ”I think it’s somethin’ I picked up while I was you.”