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For all the trouble he could be, and darned if he did not love to make trouble, Sam was not a hard guy to handle. He wanted to be respected and validated like anyone else, and using his unique codename helped her do that. Even when she was not teaching, sometimes that Education Minor came in handy.

Maya’s warning came down from the God Room after a bit of bickering with Rime and dear God, she was going to have to get these two playing nice at some point. ”It’s nae bold. Maya knows me better than anyain; she knows for a fact Ah’m prone tae daeing stupid things in th’ field.” Valkyrie would argue she was bold and proactive, but the end of the day, Mirror could argue she just threw herself shield-first into any bad situation.

Getting ready for the program to start, Sam’s question seemed so obvious before Becca remembered his upbringing. ”Aye, no killin’ unless it cannae be avoided, an’ Ah have faith in yer ability tae gie th’ job done withit it.”

The simulation kicked off, with Rebecca already feeling the waves of heat coming off the building. She pulled up a facemask that was added to her fire-proof uniform and scanned the scene for their best way in.

Rime, of course, being young and proactive, wasted no time in grabbing her and gliding them toward the front door of the problem. She rolled her eyes as they smashed into the building. ”Ah’ll be fine, bit nae gettin’ handsy, Ah can move mahself.” That said, that was a pretty quick way to move. ”Though thinkin’ meant we couldsa made an ice pillar or somethin’ up toward th’ floor wi’ the most fire.”

Turning back to look at the front door behind them, a pillar fell in front of the door along with some ceiling, blocking it off. Evidently, the Danger Room thought that plan would have been cheating, or fate was just funny. Freeing herself from Rime’s grasp once they were inside, she took in the first floor which was not as burnt to a crisp as she might have expected. The fire did not start here, it spread here.

”Okay, keep yer frosty aura aroond us tae block off some ay th’ heat, bit dorn’t gie crazy wi’ it an’ give a victim permafrost.” This was an occupied building, so they were looking for survivors.

Gawain likely was not thinking as far as the baby’s delivery when they had plenty on their plates. As the one who would be having a baby removed from her in one way or another, it was very much a thing on Becca’s mind. They might be able to induce on a day with an agreeable power, but pregnancy was unpredictable and she was ready for whatever option as long as it meant bringing her child safely into the world.

It was easier to take the future head on when she had someone like Gawain so supportive. She smiled ear-to-ear when he kissed her forehead. ”Ye’re pretty great yerself, hun. An’ yeah, ye need tae tell her she’s got tae meet her grandkid,” she agreed. ”My father and my ma are makin’ plans tae visit arood th’ due date.” Becca had to convince her mother she did not need to come down in the months ahead; she wanted to take care of her little girl, but Gawain and the Mansion would make sure a very pregnant Becca was in good hands.

”My pa is lookin’ forward tae meetin’ ye, which makes me jist a wee bit worried fer ye,” she joked, mostly. ”Ah gie tae meet yer assassin mom, bit ye’re th’ ain who’ll gie a talkin’ tae frae a grumpy Englishman.” Becca’s family was much more traditional than Gawain’s, but Gawain’s mother kept her child safe from her own assassin’s guild. Sure, she was part of an assassin’s guild, but if Gawain trusted her, Becca was excited to meet her.

Meeting the parents would happen eventually, because how could it not when they were going to become parents themselves? ”Ah’m sure he’ll gae easy on ye. Jist dinnae let him bully ye intae doin’ or sayin’ anything.” She fully expected Garrison would make pointed comments about the lack of a ring on Becca’s finger and the feet Gawain was dragging, but he would deal with them taking things at their own pace. ”Anythin’ Ah shoods know abit meetin’ yer ma, besides her choice in career?”

The safety of Becca’s baby was more important than anything, but that did not make it suck any less to be grounded. Becca loved being in the field as Valkyrie. Now that she was relegated to comms and training, she was getting a little stir crazy.

Of course, even without the baby, her powers were haywire. She would be benched regardless while she figured her magnetism out again. Those were not the only powers she had access to right now, though.

She was not on the active team, but it was always possible trouble found Becca anyway. She wanted to practice, not just with fighting powerless, but to get the hang of her borrowed powers thanks to her gift baby. She only had a day with each power before it returned to the randomizer, so she had to make the most of them when they were present.

That meant serious training, which Maya, blessed love of Becca’s life, was not prepared to offer her. Maya meant well, but she was clearly handling Becca with kid gloves. With that, she called on Sam to be her training partner today, after a squabble that allowed Maya to play overwatch.

Today, Becca’s hands felt very stiff. When she cracked her knuckles, they cracked hard, likely due to the stony, craggly exterior she saw from her forearms down to her fingers.

Sam clearly read the concern emanating from the God Room. She returned the fist bump and added a toothy grin. ”Ah’m nae abit tae break. She’s jist feelin’ cautious. Abit me an’ th’ baby. Ah’m sure in her shoes, Ah’d be up there, tay. Sae be nice, Rime.” Maya was being over-protective, but they had always agreed to protect one another. Becca would not have her girlfriend bullied for doing so now.

”Today’s session coulda been hand-tae-hand, bit Ah dinnae want tae smack ye aroond wi’ boulder fists,” she joked. ”Sae instead, two person scenario. Burning buildin’, group ay arsonists. Gotta save civilians, take it th’ arsonist squad, put it th’ fires.” Sam could put out some fires with his powers, but he could not use them indiscriminately if there were civilians in the area, keeping things challenging.

Thankfully, Valkyrie’s costume was made of a flame-retardant fabric and she was wearing extra padding on her body to prevent any major trouble with her stomach. Even the program was altered with the minor stipulation to avoid Becca’s stomach when attacking her. She wanted rigorous training, but she was not stupid.

Valkyrie was lucky to be on this iteration of the X-team. They were deputised, with a degree of recognition and authority that came in handy in a crisis. It was not perfect; plenty of people were apprehensive of mutant superheroes, but when trouble was going down, they listened more often than not.

Kitty had her priorities in place once she calmed down, prioritizing children before adults, and then moving on to whoever she could grab. That was the philosophy: save whoever you could get your hands on. With her powers, that was literal.

While her defacto apprentice worked, Valkyrie was partially aware of her, because her priority was to stop the bad guys. Specifically, 3 bad guys who were getting in through the door. Well, they tried, but Valkyrie stayed close to the vault door to limit their access. One of them raised a gun to shoot and even got a shot off which thankfully crashed against her shield. Cafas designed it for this. She trained to read barrel angles so she could do this. It still scared her s**tless.

That was why she needed a burst of magnetism to knock guns out of hands. Guns in the hands of criminals were the problem, and one of them had a larger gun ready to fire. Her training was mostly against handguns; the barrel of a rifle would move too much to stop too many shots.

It was fortunate she knocked away the guns when she did, because a canister of some kind fell into the room. In a moment of definitely not panic, Valkyrie turned her shield toward the object and positioned herself between that and the last victims. Thankfully, there was no explosion; just smoke.

The smoke made Valkyrie cough, but she noticed she was not hearing coughing from her opponents. They must have had masks under their rubber masks. Dammit. The cloud made it hard to focus, between the coughing and the diminished eyesight. Her shield blocked her body, but a fist did catch her against the cheekbone. She fell back, trying to lessen the impact of the hit, but it still rattled her. The men were pressing forward on her, so she needed a way to deal with them.

Thinking about her options in the second or two she had, Valkyrie reached for a pouch on her belt. It had been a while since she used them, but she always kept a pouch of small metal ball bearings handy for jobs a shield could not do. She needed her shield for defense, to protect her, the victims, and her baby. Instead, she tossed the handful of marbles out, using magnetic pulses in different directions, shooting the small objects around the room, keeping them in front of her.

Sounds of pain told her, amidst the clouds, her plan was working. It was hard to go on the attack when it felt like a metalic swarm of bees was striking you. They could breathe, but their sight was still not good enough in the cloud to make out what was attacking. Of course, Valkyrie was still coughing up a fit, but the smoke was dissipating slowly. That was good and bad. They needed an exit plan.’

Fortunately, Kitty had done her job and escorted all the victims out. If she had time, Valkyrie would be proud. Actually, she would make time. ”Amazing job, kid!” Touching the earpiece she wore attuned to the police radio channels, she called out, ”Valkyrie to PD, clear to enter and engage.”

“Wha--ow! The cops are com--”

Valkyrie tossed a shield at the source of the voice, stopping it with a clang to the masked head. ”Kitty, if ye stick behind me, can ye control when Ah’m solid? Phase us while we run, unphase me when Ah swing mah shield? We can force them forward toward the police.”

Of course, that was proactive. She was thinking like this was an X-Mission, but she was working with a civilian. ”Or we can keep ye safe and gie it through the same wall we’ve been escortin’ folk it through. Ye did plenty, sae we can gie it noo.” At the end of the day, saving themselves was just as noble as wrangling bad guys.

Rebecca did not want to get a reputation as the strict mansion mom. She did have a knack for walking into situations where students deserved a talking to, but she tried to treat them as teaching moments. She did not want kids to think she was around to get them in trouble.

Sam trying to abscond with the jet and a young woman was pushing the limits of that commitment. When she misused the jet for her own hormonal teen means, she was using it originally for X-Men purposes. That was how this was not hypocrisy.

He lied about his plans, but in the kind of way where he was either obviously telling her what his plan was or he was just a terrible liar. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Just before she could question her sort-of-apprentice’s decision making, she could have sworn he said… scatter?

She stepped forward, but noticed something slipping into the floor. There was still a Sam in the pilot chair, but… yep. Ice. An ice copy. Did he just get pulled through the floor?

Wait…

Oh, Sam and Little Miss Shadowcat were going to have quite the talking to if she could get her hands on them. Still, for now, she sighed and accepted that they had made a successful getaway. She might have chased him if not for her pregnancy and her quiet appreciation that Sam was doing typical teenage things. Good for him.

Freaking brat.

When did Rebecca and Gawain start being adults? It was not so long ago that they were just sexually frustrated teens on a jet together. Now they were in a doctor’s office, hand in hand, looking at their future. They were really taking this next life step.

This was overwhelming in the best way. Could she even handle more of this right now? She was willing to find out. ”Aye. Yes, please.” She wanted to know her little baby was healthy.

The doctor enabled the sound and re-located the spot against Becca’s abdomen. From the monitor next to the bed, they heard it: the soft, rapid thump of a baby’s heartbeat.

Becca’s jaw hung open in awe. ”Sae fast,” she said softly.

“That is expected,” the doctor assured her. “A baby’s heartbeat is faster than an adult’s.”

That was comforting. If anyone was going to know if her baby was healthy, it would be the doctor. She could focus on the mind-boggling bliss of the consistent beating they were listening to. ”Gawain… it’s really our baby. We made a wee person…”