Moira Mactaggart

Sue Storm lay on the observation table. Her stomach was exposed, a clear gel covered her stomach, which was still flat and toned—though it wouldn't be for much longer. Now that the Invisible Woman was aware of her pregnancy, she was hyperaware of every hint of difference in her body. She could almost feel her womb start to swell within her.

Dr. Moira Mactaggart ran the ultrasound sensor over the blonde's stomach. The Scottish woman was tall, thin to the point of being willowy, her face more triangular than Susan's with dark brown eyes that matched her hair. The white labcoat did little to flatter the woman's features, but the tight jeans and flannel shirt showed a trim, waspish waist and small breasts.

Rather than a simple monitor, a three-dimensional hologram of the Invisible Woman's womb floated in midair. It was too early for Sue to see the much. Porkum had only inseminated her less than a week ago. Yet Moira pointed out the zygotes, attached at various places to the uterine wall. Just as H.E.R.B.I.E. had said, there were six of them.

"Ye're lucky I'm alive in this timeline," Mactaggart said. "No one has as much experience with mutant pregnancies than ah do."

The Invisible Woman ignored the odd comment. Mactaggart had been subject to so much temporal tampering that even Sue wasn't sure about much of the Scottish geneticist's personal history. Yet she was still an expert when it came to mutant genetics, and as the mother of a mutant herself, she was considerate to the delicacy of Sue's condition.

"And they're...definitely pig zygotes?" Sue said, as she stared at the busily dividing clumps of cells.

"Hard tae determine at this stage," Moira said, her Scottish brogue sometimes thickening until it was almost impenetrable, other times nearly disappearing entirely. "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. At this stage in fetal development, they all look alike. But the genetic markers are there, and we'll soon start tae see differences develop. Traces of the X-gene, though the cellular structures suggest they've inherited some of yer cosmic ray-derived mutations. Not sure how that will interact."

"Invisible piglets," Sue said, suddenly crestfallen. "Oh, what am I going to tell Reed?"

"Why tell him at all?" Moira said, as she wiped the clear gel off Sue's stomach.

Sue blinked. "Are you...suggesting I terminate the pregnancy?"

The Invisible Woman had been thinking about it. Her maternal isntincts warred against the practicality of the procedure. Especially since these were technically animals, not humans. At least, she hoped. An abortion would be clean, simple...no one would be the wiser.

"No, not at all," Moira said, as she turned off the display. She wiped off Sue's stomach. "It's a fascinatin' phenomenon, and best thing to do would be to let nature take its course. I mean, make up an excuse. Stay here. At the current rate of growth, ye should be full-term within 16-20 weeks. Make arrangements to be here for the last six weeks—say yer assistin' me on a research project. Which ye will be, in a way. Ye can stay here with me on Muir Island, give birth in perfect privacy, and go back with none the wiser."

Sue frowned. "You think I can hide my pregnancy for 2-3 months?"

"Aye—so long as you pack on a bit of weight. Eat healthy. Add couple kilos. Nothin' ye can't lose with diet and exercise after the wee piglings are born," the Scottish woman said, as she poked at Sue's hips. "No need to make a decision right this moment. I've still got these samples to analyze."

Moira gestured toward a rack that held several small vials. One contained Porkum's sperm, sucked out of Sue Storm's vagina. Others contained blood samples from Sue herself, and a small sample of amniotic fluid. There was a strange light in the doctor's eyes as she surveyed those samples.

"Aye, I've got weeks of interestin' research ahead of me."