The next morning, while most of the Guild members were celebrating the news of Shelby's pregnancy, Sebastien was heading into his sister's bedroom for that talk he promised her the night before.

Cheryl was sitting on her bed waiting for him, wearing a pair of white pants and a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt. Her long dark hair was pulled back into an uncharacteristic ponytail. "Hey."

"'Mornin', Sis. Did you hear de good news?"

"Yeah. Lucky dem. Reilly's always hated bein' an only child. Now she won' be." Cheryl nodded. "I wonder what it will be...?"

"I kinda hope it's a boy. I t'ink Questa would really love to have a son. We all know how much he loves Reilly." Sebastien commented, sitting in her desk chair and swinging his jean-clad legs back and forth. "So what did you wan' talk to me 'bout, anyway?"

"Tell me somethin', would ya? Do you ever get de feelin' at school dat de rest of de kids hate us?"

"You an' me or all of us in general?"

"Humor me, bro."

Sebastien laughed. "Okay, okay! In all honesty, I haven' really t'ought 'bout it. I mean, junior high is diff'rent den high school, 'member? Carson an' I tend to jus' stick together an' look out for Reilly when she needs it. Nothin' more, nothin' less. De kids don' ignore us, but dey also don' go out of deir way to be our friends. Why?"

Cheryl sighed and looked at him. "Carson said somethin' to me las' night an' I wanted to mention it to you in case he said somethin'. He accused me of usin' Mattie an' J.P. to make myself look better. In a sense it's true, but it's not for de reasons he t'inks.Yeah I like to look good, an' yeah dey help do dat, but I'm not a selfish person, an' dey don' even know why I do it."

"So why do you do it, den? If it's not jus' to use 'em? I mean you have friends, don' you? Why would you need to impress anyone by usin' J.P. an' Mattie? Dey don' appreciate it, an' I can kinda see why Carson would say somethin'. Sebastien said.

"Dat's jus' de t'ing. I don' have friends. I have people who hang 'round me b'cause dey fear me. Dey don' like me but dey pretend to be b'cause I'm in dis stupid Guild. B'cause of who Papa an' Mama are. When I do stuff like gettin' Mattie an' J.P. to go to dances wit' me, it's my way of tryin' to get de kids to like me b'cause I'm beautiful instead of jus' toleratin' me b'cause of what our fam'ly could do to dem if dey didn'." Cheryl admitted.

Sebastien's eyes widened as his sister was speaking and he stared at her in shock. He really hadn't known any of this was going on, and he doubted J.P. and Mattie had either. "Cherie, you gotta tell Mattie an' J.P. Dey may understand more'n you t'ink dey would."

"Dey can' possibly understand!" Cheryl exclaimed bitterly. "Dey don' have any trainin' as killers. I do."

"Non, but we do have trainin' as t'ieves." a voice commented from the doorway. Cheryl and Sebastien looked up to find Mattie standing there, a half-smile gracing her pale features. "Sorry for listenin', I didn' mean to. But I was walkin' by an' couldn' help overhearin'. Cheryl, you gotta look at de full picture. We're outcasts too, jus' b'cause of who we are, where we come from. De whole school knows it. Dere's nothin' we can do. All six of us have de trainin' of our respective Guild. Jus' b'cause none of us chose to b'come official members yet...dat don' change a t'ing as far as de kids at school go. Why do you t'ink no one has ever gotten mad at me for hackin' into de school computers, or upset wit' your little brother dere carryin' a knife to school? De whole city is terrified of makin' our parents mad. B'cause our parents are members of de Unified Guilds of T'ieves an' Assassins an' to everyone in dis city, dat means trouble."

"Boy you sure do talk a lot, Lapin." Cheryl frowned. "You done?"

Mattie raised her eyebrows and leaned on the wall just inside the door. "Maybe. Maybe not. But t'ink 'bout it. We're all in de same boat here."

"I wonder why none of 'em have pressured any of us to officially join de Guild...?" Sebastien pondered aloud as he considered what Mattie had just told them. He knew she was right. So did Cheryl. It made perfect sense, like most of the things Mattie said.

"I t'ink I can answer dat one." J.P. commented from the hallway outside. He poked his head in and grinned at them. "I t'ink dey look at de six of us as de only chance de Guild has to survive. Dey don' want to push us b'cause dey all grew up in de Guilds, dey all know what it's like. Dey want us to make our own choice, to b'come members or do our own t'ings."

"Dey want us to have de choice dey never had..." Cheryl commented, nodding. "De only way dey could have gotten out of bein' members of de Guilds was if dey did somethin' dishonorable an' got kicked out. B'cause dey're de only ones left, dey don' want to push us into deir shoes even t'ough deep down dey really want us to. But don' dey realize dat it effects our lives whether we're in de Guild or not?"

"Prob'ly. But dey never went to school, so maybe it's not occurin' to 'em." Mattie suggested. "Either way, it doesn' matter. Dis is somethin' we have to deal wit' without deir help."

"Hey...um...do you guys ever want to jus' do it? Jus' join de Guilds an' get it over wit'?" Sebastien asked.

"I do, I t'ink. When I'm done school. I wan' be either as good at computer stuff as Papa an' Theo, or better, b'fore I turn my life over to de Guild entirely." Mattie confided. "I can' speak for Carson t'ough. It's diff'rent for him. What 'bout you guys?"

"I don' know if I do or not..." Cheryl admitted. "On de one hand, it would mean I'd never have any friends outside dis fam'ly, an' I don' know if I want dat. But on de other hand, it would give me one heck of an advantage over everyone else in de city, an' even de world. De more I t'ink 'bout it, de more I like dat idea."

"I do." J.P. piped up. "I'm de only chance my father has of keepin' his name, his fam'ly, in de Guild. B'sides, I've been trainin' more lately. It's pretty cool. Even a little bit fun, sometimes. When Papa hasn' enlisted Claude to help train me, dat is." He laughed. "What 'bout you, Sebastien?"

"I'm wit' you, J.P. It might have to wait for after graduation, but I want to, yeah."

"I wonder what Carson an' Reilly t'ink of de idea?" J.P. asked, moving back into the hallway.

"Las' time I saw Reilly she was outside shootin' hoops in de driveway. I don' know where Carson is." Mattie replied, joining him. "You guys wan' go find 'em?"

"Sure." Cheryl replied. "Oh an' guys? For what it's worth, I'm sorry for de way I've treated you."

"Don' worry 'bout it." J.P. grinned. "We do understand."

As Mattie had predicted, the gang found Reilly in the driveway, getting extremely exasperated over the fact that she missed more shots than she got. She was dressed in one of her father's old T-shirts and a pair of cut-off jean shorts. She aimed the ball again and threw her hands up in despair when it bouced off the rim. Sebastien, who was a very good basketball player, laughed and went over to her.

"Here. Try doin' it like dis." He took the ball, bounced it a few times and then shot it at the basket. It went in with a smooth swish and Reilly glared at him.

"How do you do dat?" She demanded with a pout.

"C'mere an' I'll show you." Sebastien grinned. Reilly joined him and he demonstrated in slow motion how to shoot the basketball in a smooth, swift move while the other three watched. In ten minutes they had been joined by Carson and the six of them were playing a three-on-three game, guys against girls.

When the girls finally gave in and let the guys win after they'd been tied for most of the game, the six friends walked around to the backyard and climbed the large oak tree. That tree had been a refuge for members of the Thieves Guild for decades, and was now one of the teenagers' favorite places to hang out. The six teens lounged in the thick leafy branches in silence for a few moments before Mattie brought up the conversation that had been started earlier.

"De rest of us were talkin' 'bout somethin' earlier an' we wanted your opinions." She said to her brother and Reilly, taking her long red hair out of the ponytail she'd put it in for the basketball game.

"What's dat?" Carson asked, his deep yellow eyes giving him a somewhat cat-like appearance in de shadowy greeness of the oak tree.

"Do you guys ever want to b'come official members of de Guild?" J.P. asked.

Carson remained quiet, lost in thought. Mattie tried to read his thoughts, but was unsuccessful. It didn't take Reilly long to give her answer though.

"Oui. I do, definitely. I know Papa's gone t'rough a lot of crap, but I also know how much bein' a Guild member means to him. So I wan' do right by him even if Mama wasn' in de Guilds."

"Does dat part bother you?" Sebastien asked.

"No, why should it? Mama never cared what Papa did, she loves him anyway. She'd still love me if I chose to take de tests tomorrow. Of course I'm not ready to take 'em tomorrow, but I was talkin' to Bella Donna an' she t'inks if I work hard at trainin', I could do it by de time I'm sixteen. Maybe even fifteen. So I'm gon' start trainin' more." Reilly explained.

"Carson, what 'bout you?" J.P. questioned. He had been going to wait and see if Cheryl would do it, but he got the distinct impression from the beautiful young woman that she wouldn't do it.

"Honestly? I don' know." He replied, absently fiddling with a loose string on the hem of his black t-shirt. "I'd kinda like to see what else de world has to offer me, y'know?"

"I can understand dat..." Mattie commented thoughtfully. She knew their mother and their Uncle Remy wanted Carson to find his own way, figure out his place in the world as a mutant. If that meant him having to leave for awhile to find himself, then that was fine.

"What did you guys d'cide?" Carson asked, turning everyone's attention away from him, just the way he liked it. He hated being under intense scrutiny, even if the people doing the scrutinizing were his best friends.

"We all more or less want to, eventually." Sebastien replied. "I don' know 'bout de rest of you guys, but right now, I jus' wan' be a kid an' have fun. We can join de Guild whenever. But if we throw away our youth, de way dey all had to, we'll regret it for de rest of our lives. Kinda de way dey do."

"Yeah. Dat's partly why I don' know if I really want to or not." Cheryl confided. "I t'ink Carson has a good idea...go see what de world has to offer, away from here. It's really not such a bad idea, if you t'ink 'bout it."

Carson's piercing yellow-on-black eyes looked at Cheryl intently. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Did I jus' hear what I t'ink I jus' heard?"

J.P. grinned. "Yup. I t'ink you did."

"Oh c'mon! I'm allowed to t'ink you have a good idea even if I don' like you too much." Cheryl laughed. "I'm not entirely a horrible person y'know."

A voice drifted up through the leaves. "Dat's de catch. No one in dis Guild is a horrible person." Remy LeBeau told them. Aside from being Mattie and Carson's uncle, Remy was patriarch of the Guild. He had come back to New Orleans earlier than anticipated when both he and Dr. McCoy realized they had the chance to take off early from their duties at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. "All de really bad ones are dead. De rest of us are jus' misunderstood by society, if you wan' call it dat. Ever since de two guilds unified in 2000, t'ings have been fairly peaceful, but de rest of de people in de world can' stop lookin' at us as de criminals we are. It's somethin' we've learned to deal wit'. In time, you will too."

Reilly looked at him. "Remy! Did you bring Dr. McCoy wit' you? Mama an' Papa said you guys couldn' come until dis weekend..."

"So we're two days early, Reilly. But yeah he's here. He's examinin' your mother as we speak. You excited 'bout b'comin' a big sister?"

"Yah." Reilly replied, climbing down as quickly as she could. The others remained where they were, and Remy followed Reilly inside.

Upstairs in the safehouse, Dr. McCoy had just finished examining Shelby and showing her and Questa an ultrasound of their baby. Reilly timidly peeked in and when Dr. McCoy saw her, he smiled. Reilly almost laughed. She always thought the big, blue-furred mutant doctor looked funny when he smiled. But he was one of the nicest people she'd ever met, and was glad he was looking after the members of her family.

"Reilly! Come on in. Would you like to take a look at the baby?" Dr. McCoy asked her cheerfully.

"Really? Yeah." Reilly nodded, walking over and taking a look at the screen as the image of the fetus appeared again. It was amazing to her how clear it was, even though the baby was still very young. She pointed to a spot on the image. "Is dat it?"

"Sure is. You have good eyes. Now, I have some information for you." Dr. McCoy told them, turning the ultrasound machine off. "Shelby, it's a wonder you didn't figure this out earlier. You're about three months along. Which puts the due date in early December. Looks like you'll have your new addition in time for Christmas."

"That is wonderful news!" Shelby said. She smiled at her husband and daughter and found matching smiles on their faces as well, which delighted her to no end. "Anything else we should know?"

"Everything appears to be in perfect order with the baby, and as the next few months go by, I'll be able to give you a better idea of a due date." Dr. McCoy explained. "I now want to ask you a question."

"What's dat?" Questa asked, curious.

"Do you want to know the baby's sex?"

Three pairs of eyes widened in amazement, but they remained in silent shock. It was Reilly who asked the question for them. "You know dat already?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I do. But it's up to your parents to decide if they wish to know as well, or if they want to wait and be surprised when the baby is born." Dr. McCoy told her.

"What did dey do when dey were havin' me?" Reilly pressed.

"I'll answer dat one." Questa laughed. "We got him to tell us. For de record, your mother would have been happy to be surprised when you were born, but I couldn' wait dat long. I had to know. An' we never regretted de decision. Shel, what do you t'ink?"

"I think he should tell us, so we can start thinking of the baby as a person, give him or her a name, start getting the nursery ready...again...do you know, it's been twelve years since that nursury was used? It's going to be so nice to have a baby in the house again." Shelby said, a dreamy look on her face.

"Is that the final decision?" Dr. McCoy asked.

Shelby and Questa looked at each other and then at Reilly, who was nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, I guess it is." Questa laughed.

"Well in that case, congratulations, you're having a boy."

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