Hank, Rahne, some afternoon

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

A log that has been sat on for a few weeks, first because Rahne didn't want to interrupt in the middle of some other confusion, such as the Return of Jean, and then because her player is a slowpoke. Rahne goes to Dr. McCoy to explain that she went into heat during Asgard.



The first thing Rahne always did when she got back to Xavier's from the animal shelter was to go change her clothes and shower, just to make sure she didn't transfer any bugs (arthropod or microbe) to the mansion's inhabitants -- or for that matter go around smelling like a few dozen strange dogs.

The second, on this particular day, was to go down to the lately-renovated kitchen in search of an orange.

The third was to see Dr. McCoy foraging through the refrigerator and decide reluctantly that she should really go on and talk to one of the doctors about something she ideally should have mentioned as soon as she got back from Asgard. And he was probably her best choice.

"Dr. McCoy?"

Hank looked around and smiled. "Hello, my dear," he said cheerfully. He snagged a couple of apples and stepped back out of the fridge. "Come to browse?"

"I was thinking of having an orange." She took one and shut the door, biting her lip. "...May I make an appointment with ye?"

"Of course. I'm free now, if you'd like." He gave her a thoughtful look. "Would you like to talk in my office? Or will we need one of the exam rooms?" He wondered what, exactly, was up. Most of the things he could think of that might bring a teenage girl to nervously request an appointment would, surely, be taken to one of the female doctors instead.

"I think yuir office would be fine," Rahne said diffidently. "If ye think an exam's needed afterward, that's fine. But 'tis not that urgent -- I can wait until ye'd be there anyway."

"I was just on my way back down anyway. I just came up for a snack." Hank smiled encouragingly. "Shall we?" Hm. Exam needed. What HAD been going on? Surely Rahne was too shy and reserved for the usual suspects....

"...Aye. That's good. Thanks." Be clinical, Rahne told herself firmly as she followed him down to his office. Don't try to talk around things. This was one of the things doctors were for.

...Or perhaps the sort of thing veterinarians were for. It wasn't exactly a usual situation, but then, that was one of the things resident doctors at Xavier's were for.

Hank waved her to the un-cluttered end of his couch, and pulled his desk-chair around so that they could talk without staring at each other across the desk. "Now. What seems to be the trouble?" he said gently, offering her the little cupful of lollipops. Even if she didn't want to eat one, maybe something to fiddle with would be helpful.

She blinked and picked out an apple one. "Well," she said, "ye remember I spent about three months in Asgard, almost all of it as a wolf, with a pack of wolves."

"I recall." Hank nodded. It had been quite a while since Asgard... he wondered why she was only bringing this up now. "I think that's the longest you've ever spent in wolfshape, continuously,isn't it?"

"Aye." Rahne tucked her hair behind her ear. "I should have mentioned sooner -- I suppose if there were going to be problems they likely would have turned up by now -- but...." She was talking around it. She should stop. "I was just at the animal shelter," she said rapidly, "and one of the bitches there was in heat. While I was in Asgard, I -- I went into heat myself."

Hank... blinked. Good heavens. This wasn't something he'd ever thought would come up... especially not when there were female doctors around. "I see," he said slowly, keeping his tone light and professional. "Forgive me for prying... but did you act on the hormonal impulse?"

Rahne flushed bright red. "No. I wanted--" Of course she had, that was what it meant. That was obvious. "I didna believe it would be right." Even remembering it made her feel hot all over, mostly but not quite entirely with embarrassment. "Hrimhari knew that. He didna really understand, I think, but he...." She swallowed. "He held back. And he scared off, or fought off, the other males. He was the alpha." She looked down at the lollipop. "When he... when the scent was too much for him... I bit him and ran away. He didna chase after me until... we'd both calmed down." Trying to quell her blushes and her nerves, she looked back up at Dr. McCoy. "If we'd mated," she said with determined if not terribly effective steadiness, "I think I'd... still be there. There would probably have been, er, puppies."

"Very likely. He sounds like a decent person, though, respecting your wishes like that." Hank nodded slowly. "And... well, straight physical mutations, so far as I know, tend to be passed on, much like psi powers - which are, technically, also a straight physical mutation, but in the brain rather than the rest of the body. All mutation is, of course, physical, but the term is generally used to refer to abilities that draw exclusively from the body itself, rather than outside power sources, and so on." She knew that. He was blathering just a little, but keeping it scientific might make things a little less embarrassing for the child. "So there's the distinct possibility that any children you may have in the future may have certain... wolfish attributes, much as you yourself do."

Rahne nodded. "I was wondering if ye thought there was likely to be...." She waved a hand a bit helplessly. "Well, I doona know what kind of problems there could be, in theory, that's why I was asking. And I supposed it might be something that ought to be... on record, in case it affected anything."

"Problems caused by the heat itself, you mean?" Hank thought it over for a moment. "Given how well your body-chemistries seem to interact normally, I think it's unlikely that it would do you any harm... however, I wouldn't recommend changing form while you're in that condition. There's a possibility that the hormonal disruption would carry over into your human shape, which isn't nearly as equipped to cope with it."

She blanched a bit. "I thought about changing form to try to get away from it, but 'twas too cold to give up the fur if I didna have to."

Hank nodded. "Probably wise. That kind of hormonal overload in a human body..." He grinned a little sheepishly. "Well, among other things, it might... er... mimic adolescent upheavals closely enough to prompt ... uh... growth. In certain areas." Certain types and levels of hormones, for example, could stimulate the growth of breast tissue...

Rahne blinked at him for a moment before working out what he meant. Her eyes widened slightly. "Well... it hasna come up since, anyhow. I'm thinking maybe -- likely -- 'tis only if I stay a wolf almost all the time for long enough. If I change back and forth... I hardly did that at all, then."

"I imagine you'd have to stay in wolf form for a long time before you built up to that stage." Hank nodded thoughtfully. "I *really* wouldn't recommend doing a full change if you ever become pregnant, however. Especially not from human to wolf. The baby - or babies, if you prove to have a tendency to multiples - probably wouldn't change with you."

Rahne bit her lip. "That makes sense. I can control... a fair bit of what changes in what order, and what doesna change much at all... if I only go to a transitional form, but wolf is wolf. Though I suppose the chemistry still might be doing things I doona realize."

"A partial transition might be all right, we'd have to see... although it's entirely possible that your body won't let you do anything that you shouldn't. Bodies are pretty smart, if you listen to them." Hank reached out to pat her hand gently. "I imagine this must have been worrying you a bit," he said softly. "You havent' discussed it with anyone until now?"

"No, I... wasna quite sure what to say at first, and everyone was doing urgent things." She smiled a bit. "Like de-fleaing and vitamins. It had already been a few weeks, the... the heat wasna right at the end, so I thought it could wait a while. And then I... suppose I put it out of mind too often."

"It's all too easy to put things off, sometimes. But I'm glad you came to me." Hank reached over to pat her hand gently. "I would like to do a few blood tests, if you wouldn't mind, over four weeks or so, to chart your regular cyclic hormone-fluctuations. That will give us a baseline, just in case we need one, and will let us know if there's anything unusual going on there. And... in my experience, feral-type mutations tend towards the high end of the scale, in regards to fertility. If... well, if and when you do decide to take that step, I'd advise you to be very careful."

Rahne nodded. "I will be. If ye think it might be better, we could test more than one cycle and see whether it... makes a difference how much time I do spend as a wolf." She paused. "Am I a feral-type? I ken the transitional form, especially, looks that way... but people talk about feral-types' instincts, and I felt I had to learn almost everything -- how to interpret scents, what the body language meant in the pack."

"Most feral types are permanantly in a form like your transitional one. They spend all their time in it. You transit back and forth, so it is a little different." Hank nodded. "You're a different kind of feral, but you do share a lot of the characteristics."

"Variations." Rahne considered this, then smiled a bit. "Thank ye for... making time for this."

"I always have time for you, my dear," Hank said, returning her smile. "And I'm glad you talked to me about this, instead of going off and fretting over it alone. We will run some tests, but for now, I don't see any reason why you should worry."

She smiled just a little bit more. "That's good."

Hank nodded. "And I want you to know you can always come to me, with any problem like this," he said, smiling encouragingly. "I know it must have been... well, very embarrassing."

"Ye could say that."

"It was mutual," Hank grinned ruefully. "But it's better to deal with it than let it worry you."

"Och. I'm sorry. I thought... well...."

"I know." He reached out to pat her hand gently. "But will you feel more comfortable coming to me next time?"

Rahne gave him a rather perplexed look. "I was going to say I didna think ye'd have been embarrassed."

Hank blushed. "Yes, well... I was, a little. I don't usually handle this sort of thing. Most of the young ladies prefer to go to one of the female doctors."

"I -- I suppose they would."

Hank nodded, and decided to leave it at that. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Not really." Rahne smiled at him, looking vaguely relieved, and stood. "I'll be back down right after dinner, unless ye'd like me to start sooner?"

"Later is fine." Hank smiled at her. "Take care, my dear. And I'm always here if you want to talk."