Book One: A Wolf Among Beasts

Chapter Twenty Nine

Logan moves straight for Eli who's eyes widen going over the sudden change in her mind, realising what's just happened. Jean snaps into doctor mode and is already gathering supplies.

"Get Storm" Jean tells Charles who is already moving to leave the room, they'd talked about this, it would be Jean and Storm down there between Eli's legs and no one else, Logan is under strict instructions to stay by her head, there are things that brothers should never, ever see. Jean grabs a pule of blankets from the side and moves to Eli who looks more then alarmed that this is now actually happening. Jean lays a few blankets under the mother to be, getting her comfy just as Storm hurries into the room. Storm grabs another blanket and covers Eli's lower half with it. The four of them share a look, Eli looks up at Logan who strokes her hair and gives her a small smile.

"You can do this" he assures her. "You can do this....out of everything we've ever done, this is going to be easy" Eli closes her eyes and takes a deep breath and then she feels it, that first real contraction and it feels like her insides are being torn open not to mention the pain between her legs, like she sat on something, it go stuck and is now trying to force it's way back out of her. She clutches to Logan's hand.

..................

7 very long hours later;

Eli is still in labour, and Jean and Storm are both still assisting Eli in her birth, Logan sits at her side now, hand still holding hers, fingers latched together as Eli squeezes them to the point Logan knows that if it wasn't for the adamantium they'd be broken. Eli screams in agony.

"One last push! Push! The baby's almost here!" Jean assures Eli who looks exhausted, so very exhausted.

"I can't" Eli shouts back.

"Yes, you can" Jean assures her. "You are doing it"

"No, no" Eli mumbles throwing her head back. She can't do this. Who in their right mind can do this?

"I can see the baby!" Storm cheers slightly, getting more and more excited the longer this goes on, Eli less so.

"Push! Gently! Gently!" Jean tells Eli, who exhausted, falls backward just as the baby is born. "There" Jean tells Eli warmly, Logan peers up slightly as Storm helps cut the umbilical cord, and Jean wraps the baby in a blanket, Jean smiles down at it in her arms. "Eli" she calls to Eli who manages to open her eyes to look at her. "You have a beautiful baby daughter" Eli and Logan stare in shock. "Just like you thought" Jean adds softly.

"Please. Please, can I hold her?" Eli asks, Jean chuckles softly.

"She's your daughter, Eli" Jean tells her as she brings the baby over so Eli can hold her. Eli is amazed by the sight of her daughter. She looks up at Logan and manages a small smile before kissing her daughter on the forehead.

...................

A little later:

Eli sits in the rocking chair, now in the nursery and held in her arms is her brand new baby, a blanket wrapped around them both. Eli is in love. So very much in love with her daughter. Her beautiful little wolf. She cannot get over how much she loves her baby. She smiles down at her. Utterly at peace for the first time in years; even though Bruce isn't here to see his daughter, that he may never see his daughter, she still feels at peace holding her baby in her arms.

"Have you decided yet?" Logan asks leaning in the doorway, Eli glances up from her baby to him and then smirks.

"Yeah" she answers. "Yeah I have" she shifts the baby slightly getting comfy, her eyes drifting back to her.

"Well come on, lay it on me" Logan teases.

"River" she informs him. "Her name is River Howlett Banner" Logan smiles.

"That's.....nice" she shoots him a look. "What?" he asks. "I mean it. It is nice. River is a nice name"

"Look my time in Rio was the best of my life" she admits to her brother. "And Rio: well it means River...." she explains, Logan looks to her softly understanding. "Despite everything, me and Bruce, we were happy there.....we could have had a life, it could have been different...Rio will be that dream, that elusive forever dream"

"You're tired" he points out, knowing she's now rambling about nonsense. "Why don't you put her down and get some sleep?"

"I don't want to let her go" Eli argues pulling River closer to her.

"You can't sleep with her" Logan argues back. "How about I go and pull the crib in here and put it next to the bed?" Eli nods still staring at her baby as she stands with her moving towards her bed as Logan leaves the room.

.................

Within a few days Eli is back on her feet, fully rested and ready to show off River. How can she not? So she ends up sitting in the common room, the students all trying to get a closer look at River, though Eli has seen Storm trying to get close to possibly steal River, Storm has made no secret of her desire to hog the child. Eli would let her but right now Eli is obsessed herself with her own baby. Charles clears his throat behind her and Eli glances back at him.

"You're going to want to come and see this" Charles tells Eli who looks up from where she sits.

"See what?" she asks pushing herself to her feet careful of the baby in her arms. She looks better already, her skin and flesh back to normal, her hair shiny and brown again, it's like it never happened. She follows Charles through the corridors.

....................

Eli steps out of the mansion to find that the Hulk stands on the lawn waiting for her. He stands up taller when he spots her.

"Little wolf" he shouts just in case she can't see him. Eli sighs softly and gives him a sad smile.