"It's rough," Archangel agreed. "People feel they shouldn't leave you out, but they don't really have much of a part for you. Just there to complete the team."

"Sure, yeah, but maybe boredom's better, no?" Gambit countered. "I keep gettin' run through every moral dilemma dere is. Not to mention the accents people keep writing for me!"

"Ah'll second that one!" Rogue agreed vehemently. "You have no idea how hard it is to actually talk like they think Ah do. Ah'm Southern, sure, but it is the same language, after all."

"Den there's the plots..." Gambit trailed off, rolling his eyes in despair.

"You'd think people would start running out of ways to get you two together," Cyclops nodded.

"No such luck," Gambit shook his head. At a glance from Rogue, he decided to qualify that. "I don't mind the results so much, but de process is murder."

"Sometimes too literally," Storm murmured, joining the group. "Acting though it may have been, I still could not bear watching my friend die in my arms."

"Still, all's well that ends well, which in that case it did, if I follow your reference," Jean commented from her seat by her husband.

"Yeah, that one was actually kinda fun," Rogue admitted. "Some of the others, though..." She paused a minute before exploding angrily. "How could they even suggest Ah would traumatize that poor child like that?!"

"Huh?" Iceman asked blankly.

"I'm guessing chere means Leech," Gambit supplied. "Dey've had us do some pretty nasty things involving dat kid." Rogue nodded vehemently.

"Speaking of children," Jean added, rolling her eyes dramatically. "How many have each of us had?"

"You mean Ah was supposed to count?" Rogue asked wearily.

"I think we've all ended up as parents by now," Archangel glanced around the table.

"Or will be as soon as they add a couple more sections and get the kids actually born," Iceman clarified.

"No real hurry, though. Ah don't know how much Ah'm lookin' forward to any more of that particular script," Rogue added dubiously.

"Now really, how often do you think we'll have the chance to see Cyke here with an earring?" Iceman reminded them. "Though as soon as they start the next chapter I'll get to be in pain again with Emma threatening to maim me, so no rush."

"Yeah, someone's got a real twisted sense o' humor," Rogue agreed darkly.

"I imagine it would be rather funny, provided we weren't the ones going through it," Storm pointed out. "I'm personally rather looking forward to the next sections. People don't think to give me children, so it will be an interesting experience, comedic value aside." She began faintly humming the Brady Bunch theme under her breath. A look from Cyclops silenced that fairly quickly; apparently he wasn't too thrilled with his role in that particular storyline.

"Wish Ah could say that Ah'm lookin' forward to more kids," Rogue muttered.

"Surely you have some children you're proud of," Jean insisted.

"Dere have been some good ones, yeah," Gambit agreed.

"Most of them aren't even grown up!" Rogue argued. "Usually, all we get is infants. Ah'd like to get beyond that stage already."

"Well, now, isn't Cody a decent son?" Gambit countered. "He's a teenager at least."

"Sugah, which Cody are you referring to?" she asked icily.

"The one on dat teen team of kids of X-men."

"I really don't get that one," Iceman interrupted. "I mean, the X-teams have all just disbanded with no decent excuse?"

"I get the feeling that was just her way of forcing us all into normal lives so we'd get married and she could have children to work with," Jean interpreted correctly.

"Anyway, about Cody," Rogue took back over the conversation. "Ah suppose, Remy, that you didn't read any part of the script except what you were in."

"Well, I skimmed a little of it," he admitted. "Figured dis one was a kid worth keeping track of. Loved the morning meeting with Becca."

"Uh, Gambit," Jean pointed out hesitantly. "That part's not up yet, remember?"

"And I doubt it ever will be if no one sends any feedback. What's the point of writing a story if no one seems to be reading it?" Everyone looked around a bit uncomfortably, wondering where that comment had come from. Apparently characters weren't the only ones venting tonight.

"Anyway, I still think Cody is a good son," Gambit persisted. "What's wrong with him, chere?"

"One little thing, hon," Rogue answered icily. "He ain't mine."

"What?" Gambit exclaimed.

"She's right," Jean agreed. "Our little Johnny asks, and Cody says his mother's not a mutant."

"Sorry, chere," Gambit floundered uncomfortably. "I just figured, after the last part she wrote for us and all..."

"Not your fault, Remy. You're not the one writing it," Rogue shrugged it off.

There was an uncomfortable pause in the conversation, broken by the arrival of Wolverine. "What's the topic of the day?" he asked, pulling up a chair and squeezing his way into the circle.

"Parenthood," Archangel answered shortly.

"One thing I've missed out on here," Wolverine commented with a toothy grin.

"Careful what you say," Jean cautioned. "Someone just might decide to correct that for you."

Iceman winced at the thought of little Logans running around, and the whole table burst into laughter. "Jubes is definitely close enough to raised by me," Wolverine agreed.

"Speaking of which," Iceman changed the subject, "has anyone else noticed that Generation X gets to have all the fun? Do you see anyone else having a robot leader or getting turned into cats?"

"Or getting to harry us for a month," Cyclops added ruefully. "I really hate that one!"

"That's another one just making fun of us," Archangel agreed.

"Now, some of those scripts are a lot of fun," Jean countered.

"Watching Joseph get his memory back by slipping on salad was a good one," Rogue smiled.

"Okay, I guess we have had some fun this way," Cyclops relented.

"And gotten to do a lot of things we'd never get an opportunity to try in mainstream," Storm added. "The creativity constantly amazes me."

Bishop hurried in the door and walked determinedly over to their table. "Another plot just came in; let's move." With that, everyone stood up and headed out for another adventure.

And now for the credits...

Storm's reference to Gambit dying is from The Gestalt Arc series by Lori McDonald.

Everyone anticipating kids, Bobby's constantly being in pain, and Brady Bunch flashbacks are from Three Part Harmony by Denise Keppel & Krista Schneidereit. If you don't get the jokes, you definitely need to read the story.

All mentions of a teen team of X-er kids and Cody in particular are a shameless plug for my story GeneX, as is the comment appearing out of thin air. I'm getting NO feedback, so if anyone has read that, please send me a quick e-mail so I know to keep writing it or not. Thanks, and on with the credits.

The robot teacher for Generation X comes from Civic Lessons by J L Puckett.

Generation X being cats is, appropriately enough, from The Generation Cat series by Dyce.

Generation X harrying the X-men is from A Month of Terror by J B McDonald & Nony.

Joseph/Magneto's mishap with a cucumber occurs in People Will Always Surprise You... by Diamonde.

All of these stories are ones I have read and enjoyed enough that they stuck with me to writing this. Check them out.