Wow!  Something rare from me, a story that really doesn't fit into my timeline.  (Okay, I guess it could be a background story but....)

Marvel owns Emma, Cordelia, and the Black Beast.  No money is being made but the story is mine.  Please ask before archiving.  I love feedback, I live for it.  Please send feedback.  And thanks to those that helped me so much with this.

    It was cold; bitter cold. Sheltered thinly in the twilight world of the Morlock Tunnels, Emma Frost knew that it was freezing outside. Steam venting from the network of pipes around her soaked her clothes, the cold icing them to her body as soon as the frigid air touched them.

    Can't do this now! she thought.  Her escape plan was being foiled by the very reason she was trying to leave.  The Dark Beast wanted her child.  She couldn't deliver her baby here and now.  Not in this filthy place, not in this danger.  Her child was going to take its first breath in a place that didn't smell of human urine and rotten potatoes.  She had to make her way out.

    With an effort that she'd never thought she could produce, Emma forced one foot in front of another, pushing herself towards the entrance that she knew was somewhere ahead of her.  Nobody was going to control her again, force her to do anything.

    Just one foot in front of the other.  Emma's mind whispered. Don't think about the pain.  Walk. One foot.... the left one, put it in front of the right.  Don't check your watch again.  You know you're in labor.  What good (right foot now) is it (less pain, take a couple of steps) to know how far apart the contractions are?  Last time she timed herself,she was at three minutes.  A mother's protective instinct drove her on.

    There were times that the Black Beast had been kind to her, making sure that she was warm and fed, and that she had clean clothes to wear.  After the Clinic, when she felt that men were just users, stealers of innocence, he seemed different.   She thought his attention and his time meant that he loved her.

    How disillusioned a sixteen year old could be, Emma thought as she pushed herself onward towards the door.  With the experience gained in a few months, she knew what all men were, what they could do when given the power.  She had could give them what they wanted, what they needed, what they took, and what they begged for.

    She'd made him beg more than once for her body, for her heart, for her mind.  And then, she'd reward him, taking her time to satisfy her desires and his, mingling and mixing want with what she thought was love.  Love and lust weren't that far away, especially to a naive girl like she was at sixteen.  It was a lesson that Emma would never forget.

    Shortly after her seventeenth birthday, she'd discovered what he really did.  The tests and the subject matter were proudly displayed before her.  And she had liked it, the study into enhancing mutant powers, the potential for power that he had, what his research meant to her and how it made her stronger.

    Her legs wanted to give out, but Emma pressed on.  She was only a few steps away from the hidden door that led to the alleyway where they'd met.  She didn't know how long she had until he would regain consciousness.  She'd hit him pretty hard, tied him down, and gagged him, but he was strong and recovered quickly.  Inside these tunnels, he was king and she had been his queen.  Outside, he was a monster and she was free.

        That beast wanted her baby.  The thought drove Emma on, forgetting all the pain her body was in. The creaks and sighs of the tunnels, the rattling pipes and the scuffle of papers and rodents put her edge, prodding her to move where seconds ago she would have allowed herself to pause.  Her contractions were about two minutes apart by now.

    Today, as he was checking on the child, he all-so-casually mentioned what a boon it was going to be, to have a newborn baby around to play with.  Emma, at first, thought he meant that in a good way, that he'd accept her child and help her raise it.  Then, he started to talk about power augmentations and tests he could run on it.  The truth hit Emma right between the love-struck eyes.  The Beast wanted her baby.

    She waited for her chance, and found it in his post-coital haze.  After breaking the lamp over his head, she had tied him to the bed and wobbled for the door.  There was something very satisfying about seeing him tied down like that, powerless and at her mercy.

    Emma made it to the door, and found her way outside, where she was free.  Then, she stopped.  What now?  She was seventeen and pregnant, about to give birth on the street.  Where could she go that she'd be safe?

    The sharpest pain yet hit her as she pushed her way to the front of the alley.  Forcing herself to walk even though she wanted to die, she stepped onto the streets.  What the hell should she do now?

    Emma had no idea, no clue, no chance to hide.  She was helpless.  Mentally, she swore that she'd never be that way again.  But what could she do now?  The contractions were washing over her now, seemingly with no pause between them.

    A storefront church drew her attention.  Lights, people, music-- all spoke of safety.  The almost ironic Christmas decorations showed another mother looking for a safe place.  Looking back, Emma could see the alleyway door open and two of Black Beast's henchmen running out.  She had no choice.

    Church was the last place that old, pampered Emma would have willingly have gone on a Saturday night.  But, thankfully, for the forty-plus people gathered to wrap Christmas gifts, there was no better place to be.  Heads were bowed in prayer as the preacher beseeched the Lord for a chance to help the less fortunate.  It was a prayer that was quickly answered.

    No sooner did Emma make in the doors did she know that her baby wasn't going to wait another second to be born.  The congregation sprung into action.  She was moved into the preacher's study by the husband and wife medical missionaries.  A mother dug around in her diaper bags to get clothing for the child while another went to call the hospital.  The two cops who had just gotten off-duty but were still in their uniforms stood at the door, waiting on the ambulance.

***

    Later, after Cordelia was born and checked out at the community hospital, Emma gathered up the child's thing.  Her daughter was safe for the moment.  Now it was up to her to keep it that way.

    Every member of that congregation had given more than they could really spare, trying to help out the baby born in their church.  Emma counted the money, please to see that it was more than enough to pay for the bus ticket to Boston and the cab to her parents.  Cordelia would never be safe in New York, not as long as the Beast wanted to run tests on her.  Who knew what he had done to her baby while she was in Emma's womb?

    Emma's parents had set the events in motion that led to Cordelia's birth and they would take care of the results of their action.  They had always wanted a third child and, with help from Emma's powers, they would take in Cordelia as their own.

    Emma held her daughter carefully, willing her heart to freeze.  Because for her plan to work, visits to Cordelia would be rare, if not non-existent.  In order for this to work, she needed a heart of ice. She needed to be the queen of ice in order to force the pain to stop.  Using the same will power that forced her out of the Beast's lab, she could be that woman.  A mother's heart demanded no less.