She was bored, that's what started it all, boredom, and looking back on all that had happened since that fateful day, she wouldn't change a thing.

*

She'd been abandoned by her friends while they went off to do things she couldn't - on this occasion, parading around in bikini's on a crowded public beach - so again, she was left to her own devices in the sprawling mansion she now lived in; it wasn't a bad step up for a teenage runaway.

The last time she'd been left behind she'd explored the library, top to bottom, and found what appeared to be blueprints for the entire building. One set looked like originals, old, worn, faded, and fragile, the second set was also old, but a more recent copy. She had been going to hand them over to the Professor - they didn't look like something that should be in the library - until she had looked closer and seen the network of hidden passages marked around the mansion.

She got curious, she knew from history class that really old houses were built with hidden passages, and in some cases entire wings, for servants, some were utilised in the underground railroad too. So, she kept the copy of the blueprints, handing in the originals, and decided next time she was bored she would explore the hidden history of the building she lived in.

And that was what led to her standing where she was right now, in the dark, narrow, dusty, unused hallway somewhere in the mansion. It had taken her fifteen minutes to figure out how to open the panelling on the student hallway to access the hidden passage. When she'd finally figured it out, she felt like such an idiot, it had been surprisingly obvious once she knew what she was looking for. She had a torch with her but so far hadn't needed to use it, enough light was filtering through the passages through vents, and a surprisingly elaborate series of mirrors that reflected sunlight around.

She'd been exploring for over an hour before she'd worked her way up to the attic level and finally found what she'd been looking for. A hallway, lined with doors of what must have, long ago, been servants’ quarters. With a newfound excitement she began exploring the rooms, she was hoping to find out more about the people who had long ago lived here, hopefully they'd left something behind. She tried to ignore the bitter thought that she felt like she had more of a connection with people who had probably been dead for a hundred years, than the living breathing people she lived with.

Over the next few hours she went through each of the dusty, long abandoned rooms, Each room had two doors, one into the bare secret hallway she'd entered from and a second onto a fancier hallway, that looked like the rest of the main areas of the mansion, she decided to explore that next and see what part of the house it emerged to. The rooms had dusty threadbare rugs on the floor, an old saggy bed with a collapsed, moth-eaten mattress, a small, free-standing wardrobe, and a table and washbasin.

As she went through each room, she stockpiled the things she found - a hairbrush, a dairy, a shawl, some silver candlesticks that had been stuffed in the back of a wardrobe wrapped in an apron. In the fourth room she found a chest, full of clothes, mostly worn workwear, both men’s and women’s, with a few nicer, fancier dresses carefully rolled and wrapped in the bottom.

But it was the fifth room where she made the most surprising discovery.

The door initially wouldn't open, it took all of her strength, to get the door to budge, when it finally scraped inward, she discovered why it had been so difficult. A large, heavy, dresser was pushed up against the door, the door of a room that had been occupied a lot more recently than the previous rooms.

This room was bigger than the others, it looked like it may have once been two rooms. It had a large modern bed, a dark wood bedroom set, with bedside tables, the door barring lowboy, there was also a tallboy across the room beside the second door, a desk, and a couch. There was a third doorway in this room, leading through to a modern bathroom, with a toilet, shower, and vanity.

As she explored this room more, she realised this room was not abandoned, someone was still living here even if they weren't in the room right now. She froze as she considered what she should do, she was distracted when her brain kept going back to trying to deduce who must live in this room, it was a man, judging by the personal effects but for the life of her she couldn't think of anyone who lived or worked here that it might be.

It was during this period of distraction that she suddenly heard footsteps outside the door to the fancy hall. She panicked and bolted out the door she'd come in, slamming it behind her just as the second door opened. She didn't stop running until she burst out of the panel door into the dorm hallway, slamming that behind her too she ran down the hall and into her room locking the door behind her. She was leaning against the door trying to catch her breath when she heard the same footsteps approaching her door now, whoever it was stopped outside her door. After a minute of silence, the footsteps retreated.

She took a moment to build up her courage before unlocking the door and swinging it open to see who it was who had followed her.

The hallway was empty.

--

It took her a week to work up the courage to go back to the attic. She'd spent that week trying to identify who it was who lived up there but she was no closer to figuring it out from the goings on in the common areas.

She decided to go back, not because she wanted to see who lived up there, but because she wanted to retrieve her treasure, particularly the diary. This time, she waited until dark. She had to borrow Kitty's emergency torch after realising, she had dropped hers at some point in her mad dash back to her room the week before.

She paused at the entrance to the hallway, listening carefully, not wanting to disturb the halls lone resident. Only silence met her ears. Flicking the torch back on she slipped down the hallway into the fourth bedroom where she'd been stockpiling her findings.

"Shit!" she muttered, as the torchlight illuminated the bed. It was empty, everything she'd found was gone. She turned to the fifth room; he must have found it when he followed her. She approached the door, considering whether she should suck up her nerves, knock, and ask for it, when she realised the fifth door stood before her, already open.

"Hello?" she called out softly, once she'd plucked up her courage, "Is anyone in there? I just want the stuff I found, do you have it?" She pushed against the door, opening it enough for her to see in, trying not to shudder as the door creaked ominously as it opened to reveal the dark void of the empty room. Taking a step inside as the moon came out from behind a cloud and illuminated the room through the skylight.

The room looked empty, turning her torch into the room she scanned it again, it was indeed empty, she took another step into the room scanning more of the room when her torch passed over the desk.

"Bingo!" she murmured, hesitation forgotten as she skipped into the room and headed for the pile of odds and ends on the desk.

She'd just reached the desk when she again heard footsteps quickly approaching the other door, before she could dart out of the room again the hallway door flew open, the disturbance causing the secret door to slam shut at the same time, and she was trapped.

The tall man who stalked in didn't seem to notice her initially but that didn't last long when in her fright she dropped the torch. A harsh crack preceded the light going out, leaving the room bathed in the dull silvery glow of moonlight. His head instantly snapped up in her direction, she couldn't make out his face but she had the distinct feeling he was staring directly at her.

He shut the door behind him before slowly and deliberately stalking towards her. She gulped nervously as she backed away from him, her retreat halted when she hit the desk. As he got closer to her, she couldn't help the feeling that overwhelmed her, he was a good foot taller than her, and looked like he was built of solid muscle. His stare, even though she couldn't see his eyes, was drilling into her, as if he was daring her to try and run.

He stopped, leaning forward and resting his palms on the desk either side of her, cutting off her escape routes. His face was so close to hers she could finally see his eyes, glittering dangerously, his lip curled in what might have been a grin but in the muted light looked more like a snarl. She didn't realise she was holding her breath until he moved, tilting his head and appearing to sniff her.

"Well, what do we have here," he finally rumbled, in a deep growling voice that vibrated right through her turning her insides to mush.

She stood there frozen, not knowing what to do, gasping in shock when he suddenly reached for her, one hand closing on her hip, pulling her closer to him as his other hand slid around the back of her head, burying his fingers in her hair as he tilted her head back. She realised what he was about to do as his face closed in on hers, she barely had time to blurt 'my skin', before his lips were on hers.

She wasn't sure what surprised her more, that this guy she didn't know was kissing her, or that nothing was happening. There was no pulling, no flood of energy, no flashes of thoughts and memories that weren't hers, and no collapsing, twitching, and seizing. She was so surprised she didn't even think to try and stop him.

He stepped off the plane and stalked out of the hanger, heading down the subterranean corridor and through the emergency exit. He took the service stairs two at a time, heading for the sanctuary of his room.

He was pissed, the mission was a bust, the captive mutants were all dead, probably long before they even arrived at that lab, it was literally a morgue. The scientists running that place appeared to be studying the anatomy of physical mutations, it was some Resurrection Men-level shit. The doctors didn't care where the bodies they were studying came from, so long as they came in.

He was tense and wound up at the waste of time of the mission, distracted with the need to work off the amassed adrenaline and aggression. He completely missed the scent that permeated the air as he approached his room, it wasn't until he'd slammed his way into the room that he realised something wasn't right.

A solid thud sounded right before the light level in the room dipped, jerking his head in the direction of the sound, ready to release his claws to face the intruder, his eyes came to rest on a slim feminine form. He regarded her closely, he'd never seen her before, though there was something vaguely familiar about her scent, he watched her closely as she stood stock still, not moving and barely breathing.

He shut the door softly, not taking his eyes off the woman in front of him, it wasn't the first time he'd returned from a mission and found a woman waiting for him, though usually they were a lot more forward than this one. He stalked toward her, feeling her out, noting how she backed away from him, though she didn't run.

He stopped in front of her when she ran out of room to retreat, leaning in and cutting off her escape routes. He took in the details of her, she was younger than he was expecting, a lot younger, she was nervous, though not afraid, which was something else he was not used to, every woman he'd been with before had been afraid, even though aroused he knew they feared him underneath it all.

He regarded her curiously, trying to work out what was different about this girl, he tested her scent again trying to figure out what it was about her that was familiar. She appeared to relax minutely as he continued to watch her, releasing a soft breath, the first she'd made since he closed in on her.

"Well, what do we have here," he finally spoke, impressed with her backbone. Her reaction was immediate; a spike in arousal and further reduction in nervousness, as she continued to stand up to him though seeming to be uncertain as to what to do next.

Her scent was intoxicating, not just arousing but calming too, she smelled fantastic, pure, innocent, *his*. He made his move, watching her closely for any sign she wanted him to stop as he reached for her, she let out a soft gasp as he pulled her closer to him. It wasn't until he was a hairsbreadth from her mouth that he heard her mumble something about skin but he wasn't thinking coherently enough to understand. Her scent spiked with fear and she tensed as he claimed her lips but she quickly relaxed as he moved against her, running his tongue along the crease of her lips, coaxing her to let him in. She moaned against his lips, allowing him to deepen the kiss.

He could feel his body taking over as he reacted to her growing arousal, she moved closer to him, pressing herself against him, and he reached down to lift her up and sit her on the desk. His hands found the hem of her shirt and he released her lips briefly as he pulled it over her head before moving his lips back to her, working his way down her neck towards her breasts.

Her gasp of pleasure as she buried her fingers in his hair drew his attention to two things, first, she was wearing gloves which was odd, second, they were both wearing too many clothes. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, unbuttoning her jeans as he moved down her body, he stripped her jeans off quickly, leaving her trying to catch her breath while he peeled off his leather uniform.

Moving back to the nearly naked girl in his bed he pulled her knees apart, spreading her open before him, she was still wearing panties but he made short work of tearing them off. Her surprised gasp turned into a moan as he buried his face between her legs, nipping and sucking at her clit, she was so wet, he worked a finger into her as he continued to suck on her, as she began to shudder against him he pushed a second finger into her as she came.

He was brought back to reality when he felt resistance as he thrust his fingers into her clenching channel, this girl wasn't a hooker. The scent suddenly clicked, this was the kid who had been in his room the week before, he'd followed her back to the dorms. He pulled away from her as she began to regain awareness. He turned his back on her, trying to get a handle on himself before he epically fucked up by screwing one of Xavier's kids.

"Get out," he growled.

"Huh?" the girl replied, breathlessly.

"Get out," he said louder, refusing to look at the girl while she shakily pulled herself to her feet and grabbed for her shirt and jeans, pulling both on quickly. She grabbed the torch that she'd dropped earlier. "If you know what's good for you, you won't come back," he added as she reached for the door and ran out of the room via the old servant passage.

When he could hear her footsteps fade away down the narrow passage he let out a frustrated growl. He shoved the dresser back across the door, what had he been thinking moving it in the first place, what part of him thought that would be a good idea. Now here he was stuck with a goddamn hardon to beat all and the sweet taste of virgin pussy in his mouth. He settled on a shower to relieve the new tension.

--

She hurried down the nearly pitch-black passage, the torch was a waste of time to grab, it must have blown the bulb when it hit the ground, now she had to get back to the dorm by memory, in the dark. She felt around along the wall as she went, expecting at any minute to fall down the two flights of stairs she had to get down before she got back to her room.

It took her almost twenty minutes to make the five-minute trip but she managed to avoid falling down the stairs. By the time she was back in her room she was so tired. She snuck into the room she shared with two other girls, thankfully her eyes were already adjusted to the dark so she managed to avoid the piles of teenage girl junk piled precariously around the room.

She collapsed into her bed, still confused about what had just happened. The untouchable girl had just been touched, and not just touched, she had never felt anything like that before in her life. To top it off, she'd been gotten off by a guy she'd never met before, even though he lived in the same house. His reaction though had been the most confusing, one minute he'd been... what had Jubilee called it, 'eating her out', and then he was demanding she leave.

His comment about not coming back probably should have scared her but all she wanted right now was to go back and ask him to do it again!

As she drifted off to sleep, the vague thought that she'd left her panties behind crossed her mind, she giggled sleepily, wondering what he'd do when he found them.

Classes dragged the next day, Rogue tried her best not to think about the dark-haired man who lived hidden away in the attic, or more importantly about what he had done to her. She managed fairly well until late that night when she woke up gasping and aroused from one hell of an erotic dream, she had gotten herself off on the images from the dream several times before she'd been able to fall asleep again in the early hours before dawn.

Again, classes dragged, and she was glad she didn't have any with telepathic teachers that day as her mind wandered, and she spent the whole day in a state of mild arousal. She felt like she was drawing attention with how much she was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, and her panties were soaked before lunch. She resolved that night that to hell with the consequences, she was going back.

Late that night, once she was certain her roommates were asleep, she stole silently out of bed and down the hall. She opened the panel silently, and slid it shut behind her with the barest of sounds, before she clicked on the torch she had managed to fix, and began the short trek to the secret wing. She quickly made her way to the farthest door, it was closed, but before she could lose her nerve, she turned the handle and pushed the door open.

She had half expected the door to be barricaded again, like it had been the first time she found the room but the door creaked open without impediment. She knocked softly on the open door but got no answer, so she turned the torch into the room. The bed was mussed, as if someone had been in it recently but no longer was. She walked into the room, filled with a nervous excitement, only to jump when the door behind her suddenly slammed shut.

"I warned you not to come back," a deep voice growled.

Rogue spun around to face the owner of the voice, turning the torch on him she got her first good look at him. He was older, but not as old as she had been expecting, probably in his late thirties, had a full head of dark hair she could remember burying her fingers in, scruffy facial hair that looked surprisingly attractive and she knew felt all kinds of fantastic when it rasped against sensitive flesh. He was completely naked, strongly muscled, his broad chest was generously sprinkled with dark hair, and his abs flexed ever so slightly as he stalked towards her. He stopped right in front of her before her eyes got the chance to wander lower.

"Why did you come back?" he demanded.

Try as she might, though her mouth opened as if to speak, she couldn't force a single sound out. That didn't seem to bother him though as he grinned lustily at her, sending a shiver of desire and anticipation down her spine. He took the torch from her hand, switching it off as he threw it onto the couch. He stalked around her, pausing here and there to touch her, brushing her hair off her shoulder, running his hand over her ass, groping her breast. When he came to a stop behind her, after having surveyed her entirely, he growled in her ear, "I know what you want but I don't think you do."

His teeth gently nipped at her shoulder before his tongue ran up the side of her neck until he nipped her earlobe hard causing her to yelp in surprise. Then he was gone, she waited, almost vibrating with anticipation, before his voice sounded again, further away than she was expecting.

"Last chance kid, I don't like being teased, either you leave now and don't come back, or, you get rid of those clothes and get in this bed and I fuck you until you can't walk straight tomorrow, choose wisely," he warned.

Rogue hesitated for a few moments, she didn't want to leave but it suddenly occurred to her she didn't know if she trusted this man, he could do anything to her and she didn't have the 'safety' of her mutation as a defence to fall back on to protect herself. Her brief internal dialogue eventually concluded that if his intention was to harm her, he would have done it already, she'd been in his room three times now and he hadn't hurt her, even given her ample opportunity to leave. She decided to go with her gut and trust him.

Turning back toward the room she saw he was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her intently as he waited. Slowly she moved a hand to the strap of her nightgown, nudging first one, then the other, off her shoulders she let the soft material fall from her body and pool at her feet before she stepped towards the bed. She reached for her panties next, her last remaining piece of clothing, he growled deeply as her panties slid down her legs, being left behind on the floor as she continued towards the bed.

When she got to the bed he reached out and pulled her forward, lifting her knee to straddle him where he sat. She settled herself on his lap, she could feel the hard ridge of his penis between them but she couldn't force herself to look down. Whether he sensed her nervousness or not he slid one hand into her hair and moved her head until he could lock lips with her, firmly but gently parting her lips she felt his tongue begin to explore her mouth as his other hand slid around her hips, pulling her lower body flush against his as he rocked his hips against hers.

He felt her relaxing into him, her tongue began its own hesitant exploration, while her wet core slid deliciously against his shaft, she was so far past ready he knew had to get inside her soon. With a quick twist he turned them around, dropping her onto the middle of the bed, he was on top of her before she'd even registered the surface under her back. He forced her legs apart and buried a hand between her thighs as his lips met hers again, sliding two fingers into her core as he slid his tongue between her lips again, he felt her begin to tremble at the invasion. It wasn't long before he had her gasping and shuddering as she came hard, biting her lip as she tried to censor her response.

With another sudden movement he had her on her stomach before he pulled her hips up to meet his and slammed his hard length into her. She shouted out in pain and shock at the unexpected invasion but didn't try and pull away from him as she shuddered and panted. He could scent her blood, he'd felt her hymen tear, once he was seated deep he stilled, giving her time to adjust and for the pain to dull, it probably wasn't the most considerate way to break in a virgin but this wasn't about being nice.

He felt her moving, shifting herself into a more comfortable position before she gently rocked her hips, gasping as she felt him slide inside her. He growled as his hands clamped tighter in her hips, holding her in place as he slowly slid out of her wet heat before sinking back into her. She made an encouraging moan, with just the barest hint of discomfort and he took that as permission for him to continue. He sank into her again and again, her pleasured moans and gasps growing in volume until she began to shout and beg for more, thrusting her own hips back against his as he moved. He slammed into her hard, reaching around her to pinch her clit as he came buried deep inside her and she followed him with a cry she muffled by burying her face in a pillow.

Flipping her back over again he pulled her knees apart, hooking them over his elbows as he slammed back inside her. She was still shuddering and clenching from her last orgasm as he pounded into her, she clutched at his shoulders, nails biting deep into his flesh, as he rode her hard. If she could walk at all tomorrow, he would be surprised but she continued to encourage him to give her 'more' and so he obliged. When she came again it was silently as she locked eyes with him as her inner channel grasped at him tightly. With a roar he lifted her hips and seated himself deep inside her as he spilled into her again.

She fell asleep almost immediately so he gently maneuvered them into a comfortable position, his rigid flesh still buried inside her, one leg thrown over his hip, her forehead resting against his clavicle, as he rested his chin on top of her head. He pulled a blanket up to cover them and slept, for the first time in a long time, contentedly, and without interruption.

He woke in the predawn glow, the warmth of woman in his arms was an unfamiliar sensation to wake to, but the feeling of her rocking gently on his semi erect shaft was definitely welcome. Rolling them over he sank into her, she gasped as he filled her, waking her up completely from her light sleep.

She moaned contentedly as he moved inside her slowly, "Have you been at it all night?" she teased as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I woke up to you getting yourself off and figured you were ready for another round," he replied as he moved over her. "I suppose I should ask your name seeing as how you're still here," he commented suddenly, though he didn't leave off trying to distract her.

She laughed, though it ended as more of a moan as his mouth closed around one nipple, nipping her hard enough to make her buck against him.

He chuckled as she whined when he pulled away, "So sweetheart, you got a name or what?"

"Marie," she panted, as she tried to shift against him to get back some of the stimulation he was denying her.

"Marie? I thought the kids round here had those fucking ridiculous code names?" he replied, as he went back to teasing her breasts.

"Oh, that, well, everyone else calls me Rogue," she replied absently, as she sank her fingers into his hair to hold his head in place so he couldn't move away from her.

He laughed outright at that, "Rogue? The hell did you do to earn that name?" he asked.

"How did this become a game of twenty questions all of a sudden?" she replied irritably as he pulled away from her again, "My mutation, it's a 'rogue mutation' so I figured it worked, people give you a bit more space too with a name like that, which in the circumstances was a good thing," she said.

"What's your mutation?" he queried curiously.

"I suck the life out of people, through their skin," she replied honestly. He froze, looking uncertainly down at all the skin between them that was pressed together, Marie laughed before telling him, "Don't worry, for some reason it doesn't work on you."

"How did you figure that out?" he asked, listening curiously as she explained how she had tried to warn him the first time he'd touched her, when he'd kissed her, but that nothing had happened when normally her skin would have knocked him out.

"Does that answer all your questions now? Can you stop torturing me already," she asked as she tried to leverage her hips against his.

"One more question," he replied, "Why did you come back?"

Marie stopped and her nose scrunched up as she tried to think of a reason why she had come to his room again, it wasn't just because she wanted to finally get laid. "You ... you weren't afraid of me," she finally admitted, smiling shyly at him. "Why did you let me stay?" she asked in return, hoping there was more to the reason than him simply wanting to fuck her.

"Because ... you weren't afraid of me," he replied, echoing her own statement but she could see it was said with sincerity.

"What's your name?" she whispered.

"Wolv- Logan," he replied, "For you my name is Logan."

Marie smiled as she brushed a lock of hair off his forehead, before she kissed him softly, he reciprocated in kind, and they lay in each other’s arms for several minutes just enjoying the feeling of being with another person who saw them as normal, as an equal, before their movements became more heated and desperate.

"Oh Logan!" Marie breathed as she came around him. He followed her moments later her own name falling from his lips as he shuddered with the intensity of the moment.

They lay entwined for several minutes until Logan moved to withdraw from her, noting her twinge of discomfort as he withdrew. "Go take a shower," he told her, as he moved away. He watched as she gingerly climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom on shaky legs. There was no door into the bathroom so he heard her start the shower, before using the toilet while she waited for the water to warm up.

As she stepped into the shower he got up, stripping the bloodstained sheet off the bed he briefly wondered what he should do with it, he couldn't really chuck it in with his laundry, it was kind of obvious what the stains were. In the end he balled it up and stuffed it in a cupboard, he'd figure it out later. He put a clean sheet on the bed before he followed Marie's path to the bathroom.

"You know, for a recent virgin you're pretty insatiable," he commented from the shower door, watching as her hand moved between her legs as she tried to get herself off again, she didn't reply except to reach for him and pull him into the shower with her. He kissed her deeply as she moved his hand down between her legs to replace her own and he quickly had her panting for more. Turning her around he pressed her against the wall as he tilted her hips and slid into her, groaning in satisfaction as he thrust into her until they both finished.

He turned her back around, leaning her against the wall as he took the showerhead down and began to gently wash her, by the time he got to the juncture of her thighs she was quivering with desire, it didn't take much for her to come again. When she did her legs promptly gave out and she slid to the floor. "Mm, I like that position," Logan replied lustily.

Marie lifted her head only to come face to face with his stiff length, she licked her lips nervously as she watched him run a hand over his cock. "You don't have to," he told her as she made to move toward him but she reached her hand out for him and asked him to show her. As he guided her hand down his length, he let his head fall back against the wall behind him, he growled loudly as he felt her tongue run along his cock before her mouth closed around him.

He cursed when a sudden knock sounded from the door of his room, "Stay here, stay quiet," he told her as he walked out stark naked and dripping water all over the floor. Marie covered her mouth to stifle her giggle at the surprise whoever was out there was about to get, as she heard a door open and an irritated Logan snap 'what'.

"There's a meeting in thr war room now," another male voice, that sounded like her math teacher Mr Summers, filtered through to her.

"I'm a little busy right now," Logan replied tersely. After a pause Marie heard Mr Summers reply 'ten minutes' before the door slammed shut. She was sitting in the shower, shoulders shaking as she laughed silently when Logan walked back to the room. "Where were we?" he asked as he stepped back into the shower, grinning at her.

"Here," she replied, hungrily swallowing his cock again as her hand came back to grip him tightly, she heard Logan grunt a 'fuck' as she explored his length with her mouth. She had no idea if she was doing it right, she knew the general theory, and he wasn't complaining so she figured she mustn’t be doing too bad. When his hands sank into her hair and he began to guide her movements she moved her own hand down to her centre that was screaming for more attention.

Logan felt her shift and looked down passed his cock disappearing between her perfect pink lips to her hand buried between her own legs. That she was taking her own pleasure from giving it to him was enough to tip him over the edge and he bucked into her mouth.

He reached down and pulled her to her feet, shutting off the water he grabbed two towels, he quickly wiped himself off and wrapped one towel around his waist before he turned back to Marie, she was still working on trying to reach her own release but he knocked her hand aside as he dried her off before picking her up and carrying her back to the bed. He threw her down before he moved to bury his face between her legs, she was most of the way there so it didn't take him long to get her off.

When she lay limply on the bed breathing heavily, he brushed back her damp hair as he pulled the blankets up over her. "Get some sleep, I don't know how long I'll be, if I'm too long go back to the main building same way you came here, don't use the other door, no one can know you're here," he warned. Marie mmhmm'd with a sleepy nod before he moved away and quickly pulled on clothes. He ran his towel over his head one last time to brush away most of the water before he, reluctantly, headed for the meeting he had been summoned to.

Over the next few months their relationship grew. Rogue would come to his room often, at first for sex, and while they still had a lot of sex Logan realised over time that there was more to his feelings for the girl.

The first time she had been waiting for him after a long mission he had been relieved, they'd fucked until well into the next morning which had worked wonders for his post-mission temper. It hadn't been until he was lying sated, with an armful of sleeping Marie, that he had realised most of the intense feelings he'd felt were because there was someone who cared enough to worry about him, to be there to make sure he was okay. He hadn't been able to put a name on the feelings that had burned deep inside him then, that had come later, but he welcomed them after so long living in a bland numbness trying solely to survive, now he was starting to feel alive.

He realised he loved her one afternoon when Marie had burst into his room crying, and thrown herself into his arms. She had sought him out when she was hurt and needed comforting, that had made him proud that he meant that much to her and she trusted him that much. He couldn't for the life of him remember what she had been upset about, but as he held her, he realised that he actually cared about not just comforting her but actually making her feel better, he wanted to take away her pain and tears. When she had finally finished her tale of woe and turned her red rimmed eyes to him, he couldn't help himself but blurt out his realization.

That first time he said 'I love you', it was like heaven split opened and Angel's started singing. He'd always thought it was cheesy when sappy sentimental shit like that was said but there was no other way to explain the effect the brilliant smile she gave him had on him, and the weight that lifted off his chest when she replied softly, "I love you too".

Marie on the other hand had fallen in love with him much sooner, and for an entirely different reason. After they had lain in bed one morning after Logan had returned from a long mission, she had asked him what exactly the deal was with the secret team. None of the students knew much about what happened beneath the school. Several students, Marie included, had seen the jet, many had been brought to the school in it, but other than that the teachers were tight lipped, and no excuse was ever given when classes were cancelled suddenly on the rare occasion.

Logan had explained what they did, raiding labs, stealing information, and tech that was being built to use against mutants. When she'd asked what his role was Logan had gotten quiet, he had showed her the claws for the first time that morning, explained how the military had made him into a weapon. He called himself the first point of contact but wouldn't explain further, which sent an ominous chill down Marie's spine when she considered the implications of that.

It wasn't until she had asked why he was never seen around the school, why he always stayed hidden, that things really began to get bizarre. Logan told her about how the X-Men had rescued him from a lab, that when he had been brought here he was so feral and out of control they had had to keep him locked in an isolation cell in the lower levels until he had calmed down and the drugs the lab had given him had worn off and they'd been able to communicate with him. When he had asked to be released from the cell they had agreed, on the condition he lived in this room, and didn't try to approach the students.

They had told him some of the students had been his targets while he had been being used by the military and so some of the students were afraid of him, he needed to stay out of sight so they weren't made insecure in their new home. Logan's guilt about what they told him he had done, even when he wasn't the one in control, had initially made him respect that, but he become more and more disillusioned as time wore on.

The only time he was allowed out of confinement was when the X-Men needed him on a mission. He had been outside, several times, in the middle of the night to avoid being seen, and had tried to leave many times but been stopped by an excruciating pain that had ripped through him whenever he got too far away from the mansion. He had begun to feel trapped; it was like the military all over again, though at least he had a nice cage now, and he was helping to shut down the fuckers who did what they'd done to him before they could hurt anyone else. He had admitted that Marie had made it more bearable over the last few months, even though he didn't like the idea he was being used.

His story had piqued Rogue's curiosity, and the next time the team had been on a mission she had snuck through the second door, eventually finding the correct halls and stairwells to get down to the lower levels. She had spent several hours going through mission logs and even found medical files, all of which identified Wolverine, which she knew was Logan's codename, but despite the fact the other team members where often referred to by their actual names, Logan never was. In fact, he was barely mentioned at all, and always in a terminology that reminded her of artillery. The most common phrase she found relating to him was simply 'Wolverine deployed, targets neutralised', whatever Logan did he clearly did it well, his targets were never not neutralized.

His medical records related almost solely to his military enhancements, and observations of things that took him longer to heal from. There were no post mission physicals, no record of him receiving medical treatment, it was all clinical and detached, as if Logan were a piece of equipment rather than a human being. Tucked in the back of the folder she found an x-ray that showed a small chip near the base of a skull, a brief note listed it as a safety feature and included a voltage reading, there was also a picture attached of what was identified as a transponder.

She had been interrupted then by the sound of an elevator door opening, she had hurriedly pushed the file she had been reading back where she had found it and hidden, before stealthily stealing back upstairs when the Professor, who had exited the elevator, had gone into a different room. The jet had been landing by the time she had gotten back to Logan's room, and he had arrived himself several minutes later.

He had shouted at her for going down to the lower levels, he had been able to scent her in the area when he got back, at first she had been afraid but when she had seen his shoulders sag and he had pulled her into his arms she realised he was worried for her, even before he warned her what would happen if she got caught. He had made her promise never to go down there again, pressing the issue when she hesitated. He had sent her back to her own room then, worried she might get caught with him in his room. The mission had apparently gone badly and he expected to be called back down for a briefing once Dr Grey had finished patching up the wounded.

Marie had lain in her bed that night thinking over everything she had seen, there were still things that didn't make sense, information about Wolverine that was missing, but she couldn't get over her suspicion that he was being used for something more sinister than just as a clawed battering ram. She resolved to continue trying to covertly find out everything she could about Wolverine, more importantly, why the X-Men wanted him, what they kept him here for. Logan on the other hand she knew, had pushed all those doubts and misgivings aside and was doing his best to do the right thing, with seemingly no gratitude from the rest of the team.

The next night her thoughts on the gratitude of the team were proven correct. She had snuck up the back stairs to Logan's room and been almost at his door when she'd heard voices shouting from inside. Mr Summers was yelling at Logan, who was mostly silent, the conversation eventually ended when Logan growled back, "I was already down, what the fuck did you expect me to do?" Before the door slammed shut and footsteps moved away down the opposite hall, as the other man muttered unforgivingly, 'Get off your fucking ass that's what'.

Marie slipped into Logan's room a minute later, as he shoved a dresser in front of the other door. Logan smiled at her tightly before nodding at the blocked door and commenting, 'He shouldn't come back tonight but just in case', before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. She had tried asking about the mission but aside from telling her Storm, her English teacher Ms Munroe's codename, had been injured he wouldn't give her any more information. She was surprised too when that night he didn't jump her the first chance he got, instead he spent hours touching her and bringing her pleasure before she fell asleep. He woke her early in the morning and sent her back to her room, refusing her offer to 'make up for last night' with a grin and a kiss, and a swat on the ass as she left.

One morning, Logan pulled her aside before she left, to tell her there was a big mission coming up, it would likely be several hours to a couple of days, and he didn't know when it would be called, he was warning her now so that she wouldn't worry while he was gone. "I'm still gonna worry," she informed him, "But thank you for letting me know, if I don't see you before you go, be safe," she said with a kiss.

The mission was called two days later in the middle of the day, the timing made her nervous as she watched the plane fly away, while her classmates rejoiced at the impromptu holiday. It felt rushed, like something wasn't right. She wished she'd been able to see Logan one last time before they'd left but there hadn't been the chance.

Charles Xavier, headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Children, watched the sleek black military jet, carrying his team of vigilante mutants off to their next target. He tried not to worry about this mission, however, the group they were going up against was very powerful, and strongly opposed to those who had 'suggested' the target. If any mission was going to go wrong, it would be this one, the worst part is, they wouldn't know for hours yet which way the pendulum would swing.

He tried to take his mind off the mission by turning his attention back to his paperwork, when a cleaner entered the currently empty waiting area outside his office and began the task of emptying the rubbish bins. Ordinarily that was somewhat of a non-event, after all the cleaners came once a week to do a full clean of the entire mansion, well, all of it bar the attic suite where Wolverine resided between missions.

Wolverine didn't like others on his space so the suite could only be 'cleaned' when he wasn't there, which wasn't often when the cleaners were around. Xavier called in Isadora, one of the cleaners, and asked her to personally see to cleaning that room first thing. She was familiar with the room, and somewhat familiar with the peculiarities of its occupant, so she left what she was doing immediately to undertake the task.

--

Isadora started on cleaning the bathroom, swept and washed the floor, washed the windows, and dusted. Despite the fact she hadn't cleaned this room for some months it was surprisingly clean, most of what she had done probably didn't need doing. Her last job was to change the sheets on the bed, she quickly stripped the pillows and comforter off the bed, throwing them on the couch to return to the bed later, as she turned back to the bed, she spotted a flash of colour on the floor. Reaching down she picked up the scrap of pink fabric, shocked to find herself holding a pair of women's panties.

She was sure the occupant of this room was a man. She dropped the article on the dresser as she shrugged it off, even stranger hating recluses had girlfriends she supposed. After stripping off the sheets she pulled open the cupboard where the fresh sheets were stored, she reached for a crisp folded sheet when she noticed a pile of fabric screwed up and stuffed in the back of the space. Pulling it out she recognized it as a sheet but why it had been stuffed into the cupboard like that she didn't know, she threw it across the room to the laundry pile she was making and continued with putting the bed together.

As she was pulling on the fitted sheet at the head of the bed, her hand brushed against something soft, grabbing hold she pulled out another pair of panties, this pair were black cotton bikinis, and they were torn, as if they had been forcefully ripped off a person. Isadora giggled to herself, well that wasn't her cup of tea but some women did go for that, she added them to the pile on top of the dresser. When she was changing the pillow cases she came across another pair of panties - she was starting to think this guy had a panty fetish, surely his girlfriend must notice her underwear going missing.

Once she'd finished with the bed, she gathered all her cleaning supplies up, loading them into the basket she had brought up with her, it was easier to get up the narrow stairs. She picked up the dirty sheets to stuff them into the basket too which is when she noticed one of the sheets, the one she had found stuffed in the cupboard, had blood on it, a fair amount of blood. Feeling a sudden spike of unease, she unrolled the soiled sheet a bit more, looking from the bloodstained sheet, to the pile of panties, none of which were of the particularly 'sexy' variety.

She did a wider scan of the room.

There were no items in the room to indicate a woman lived there, or even spent any great deal of time in there, no girly razors, feminine shampoo or shower gel, no makeup, and after a quick check of the drawers, no clothes. She hoped it was nothing, and she was worrying needlessly but she stuffed the panties into the laundry basket also and resolved to mention it to her employer, just in case.

The Professor's response however did not comfort her, he did not look impressed, thanking her for bringing the situation to his attention and asked her to leave the items with him so he could get to the bottom of the situation. He tried to relieve her concerns by telling her it was likely nothing, just that the man in question was supposed to advise the other staff if he was bringing anyone onto school grounds. She didn't buy his story but left it in his hands and continued her work.

Once Isadora had left, Xavier scowled as he regarded the items in front of him. This wasn't good, someone else knew Wolverine was here, but how to find out who, he had a suspicion it was one of the students, but which.

-

Marie finished her homework, even finished the book for her English essay assignment. Her roommates were still out, with no teachers around to enforce curfew they were all off having fun where they weren't supposed to, meanwhile she was left sitting on her bed worrying, and she couldn't even tell anyone else why.

It was after ten pm and Logan still wasn't back, she was getting tired but she couldn't sleep without knowing what was happening. She eventually decided to go wait in Logan's room, at least then if she fell asleep, he would wake her when he returned. So she wouldn't get caught out by curfew police, if they turned up, she pulled the age old trick of building a convincing looking lump under her covers, and turning all the lights out before she left.

When she got to Logan's room, she shucked her gloves and jeans and wriggled out of her bra before slipping under the covers of his bed in just her t-shirt and panties, missing the fact that it was freshly made, and soon fell into a light sleep.

Marie woke suddenly in the pitch dark, the moon was set, and no lights were on. She thought she must have heard something, so she lay in bed and listened. Sure enough, a few moments later there was a sound of shuffling footsteps followed by a muted thump.

She slid out of the bed, ducking down out of the immediate line of sight of whoever was approaching, just in case it wasn't Logan. It didn't sound like him, she thought worriedly, as she heard more stumbling steps and another thump, this time right next to the door.

The door handle turned slowly and the door creaked open, before the tall dark shadow of a man stumbled into the room and sagged against the door.

"Logan!?" Marie exclaimed, as she rushed across the room toward his silhouette.

She flicked the bedroom light on as she went but stopped with a horrified gasp at the sight before her. Logan was drenched in blood, his uniform was in tatters, torn in places, blistered and burnt in others. The hair on one side of his face and head was burned away, the skin puckered and peeling. In other places red liquid seeped out of bullet holes, while a mass of mangled flesh, where his right thigh used to be, appeared to have been hit by something a lot larger and filled with shrapnel.

Marie knew it was largely useless but she pushed against him in an effort to help him stay upright, if he fell now, she wouldn't be able to move him.

"You need to get to the bed," she said, trying to encourage him to keep moving.

"No ... bathroom ... don't get ... blood everywhere," he rasped, the gurgle of liquid, probably blood, in his lungs was audible.

With slow, obviously painful, steps he made his way along the wall and into the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. Once in the bathroom he lurched into the shower stall before slowly sliding down the wall until he sat heavily in the bottom of the shower. His head lolled back against the wall; his energy spent for now.

Thinking quickly Marie knew she needed to try and stop the bleeding. Rushing back into the bedroom she grabbed a sheet out of the cupboard before rummaging around in the desk drawers until she found a pair of scissors. She began to cut and tear the sheet into strips as she raced back to the bathroom, slamming the bedroom door shut on her way.

The slam of the door brought Logan's attention back to the here and now, and he was watching her as she walked into the room. He grinned wearily when he saw her field bandages.

"I'll admit, I'm making this up as I go along from what I've seen on TV so any tips you can give would be appreciated," she told him, as she dropped down beside him on the cold floor.

"Cut off ... uniform," Logan said, by way of instruction. He tried to help as much as he could as she cut and peeled off what was left of the uniform.

Once the uniform was out of the way the extent of the damage seemed even worse. Wounds that had been held shut by the constricting uniform were now ugly, red, gaping chasms of flesh.

"Logan what do I do, there's too much blood, how do I stop it," she whispered, trying desperately to hold back the tears that were wanting to fall. Crying now would not help anything.

"Bullets ... still in the ... holes. Start at ... the bottom ... one wound ... at a time. Once the ... obstruction's ... gone, it'll heal." Logan said, sounding a little less pained now. Marie noticed his hand move as if to reach for her but stall partway, she grabbed hold of his hand and lifted it her cheek. "Don't cry ... I'll be fine ... had to make sure ... you were okay," he told her, his voice still raspy but less wet sounding, he even managed a decent smile.

Marie drew a deep breath, to settle her nerves, before she placed a kiss on his bloody palm, not noticing the blood that clung to her lips when she did. She set to work, starting at the bottom of his left leg she quickly worked her way over every wound. Using her fingers, she searched out and, as carefully as she could, removed each mangled bullet, every single one had stopped when it hit his metal coated bones. She hated to think how many more wounds there had been, that had only hit soft tissue and already healed. As she went, she was relieved to see the wounds methodically begin to knit together, leaving behind angry pink skin, as his healing left off once the wound was closed enough to no longer be a problem.

It took her almost two hours to remove every bullet and all the shrapnel she could locate in the thigh wound. Logan had to shift position several times so she could reach all the wounds. By the time she was done she had almost as much blood on her as he did, her hair was matted to her forehead, where she had kept trying to push it back with the back of her hand, and the coppery tang on her lips had run down her chin as she had sweat.

Once all the wounds were closed it was time to wash away the blood residue. Pulling down the showerhead Marie carefully set the temperature to what she knew Logan ordinarily liked, even so she still checked with him that it was okay this time. He grunted intelligibly but she assumed it was something in the affirmative so she began to gently hose him down, blocking the direct flow of water onto the tender new skin with her hand as she gently massaged away the blood.

She hosed off the shower floor as well before getting him to turn over again so she could wash his front. She stifled a giggle when she asked sarcastically 'seriously?', as his dick tried valiantly to rise to the occasion when she got to that part of his anatomy. Logan huffed a half-hearted laugh in response.

When he was clean enough, she left him sitting on the floor as she stripped herself and washed all the accumulated grime off, so she wouldn't get him all bloody again when she helped him to the bed. He watched her with a grin as she showered above him but said nothing.

Grabbing a nearby towel she wrapped it around herself before grabbing a second to pat Logan relatively dry-ish. Getting him back onto his feet took a lot of effort from both of them, and once he was upright they had to pause to catch their breath. They staggered the short distance to the bed before Logan threw himself bodily at it. It took several minutes, and a lot of prodding from Marie, until he was fully 'in' the bed and she could pull up the covers over him. She grabbed an extra blanket too as he was very cold, as well as pale.

"What else do you need?" she asked gently, with all the blood washed away now she could tell he was deathly pale, as well as unnaturally weak and tired.

"Food," he replied, "Protein ... and fat, you'll need to ... go to the kitchen ... use your door ... shouldn't be anyone to catch you."

Nodding determinedly, she leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips, "I'll be back before you know it, don't go anywhere," she joked, as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out one of Logan's shirts, before pulling on her jeans and gloves. That should be enough cover for her to make a midnight dash to the kitchen.

She was back twenty minutes later. She'd found a picnic basket on top of the fridge and loaded it as full as she could carry with everything that looked like it contained protein and fat. As Logan moved to sit up enough to eat, Marie grabbed all the pillows and cushions she could find, to prop him up comfortably. Cold roast beef was the first thing she handed him, along with a bottle of Gatorade, she figured it would be more useful than plain water in his current state.

Logan powered through the meat, and drank half the bottle before motioning to the soft cheeses, which he likewise all but inhaled. He'd polished off half the baskets contents, and a second bottle of Gatorade, before exhaustion overwhelmed his need for nutrients.

After putting the basket away in the bathroom where it would keep cooler overnight, she returned to help Logan lie back down. Once he was settled, she stripped off her jeans again and climbed into bed in just Logan's shirt.

She gently cuddled up beside him, unsure how comfortable he would be having just healed, but was relieved when he reached for her and pulled her closer. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep again, hoping images of Logan's blood-soaked body would not be disturbing her dreams tonight.

It was ten am, all the classes for the day were being run by substitute or student assistant teachers while the main teaching staff were indisposed.

The mission had been more intense than he had expected, every team member had been injured, some so badly he had had to call in another surgeon to assist their own doctor, who was battling a concussion of her own. Cyclops had taken a nasty hit to the leg and once he was all stitched up had been fitted into a brace to aid in healing, and so he could still get around while he did, without being as obvious as crutches. Storm had been the least injured, suffering only cuts and bruises when she was hit by falling debris.

As for their asset, Wolverine had left the basement levels quickly, which was not unusual. However, when he had replayed the security footage from the hangar, he had been shocked to see the state of the indestructible mutant. How he had even managed to get up to his room, which according to the tracer chip he was fitted with he had, no one would ever know.

As he feared, one student had failed to show for her second class of the day. He had casually enquired as to her whereabouts from one her roommates who had informed him she had already left their dorm before her roommates had awakened - she apparently did so regularly, allegedly taking an early morning walk around the grounds.

Xavier considered his options as he reviewed the evidence before him. None of the students were meant to know about his dirty little secret. That one of them did seemed only protected from public knowledge by the simple fact that the girl, the Rogue, was involved on some sort of apparent sexual relationship with the asset that she was keeping a secret. How that was possible though he didn't know, the girl was incapable of physical touch, surely the Wolverine, a serial loner, wasn't desperate enough for human contact that he would go to the efforts of working around that.

He felt the gentle stirring of the minds he was monitoring, his team, as they began to waken a short time later. He sent a brief summons to each, directing them to a meeting in his office in half an hour, once they had all had opportunity to eat.

It was eleven am by the time the team joined him. From his grave countenance they knew, whatever he had to share with them was not good news.

"I apologize for calling you all down so soon but a serious matter has been brought to my attention, a matter involving the Wolverine, and a student I believe to be Rogue. I took the opportunity of his absence yesterday to have the cleaner tackle cleaning his suite, she discovered some items that disturbed her enough that she brought them to my attention," he gestured toward a full laundry basket sitting on the floor, which Jean rifled through, eyes widening at the torn panties and a gasp of surprise at the stained sheet.

"You think the Wolverine is ... is, what, 'involved' with a student?" Jean asked.

"With Rogue?" Scott scoffed, "Even her own classmates don't want a piece of that," he pointed out.

"That may be how Wolverine has taken her in. When I noticed this morning that the only student missing from classes was Rogue, I questioned one of her roommates, apparently Rogue regularly takes 'early morning walks' before any of her roommates are up, it's not uncommon for them to awaken to find her bed empty. I believe Rogue is with Wolverine right now, and I fear what physical state she may be in. Wolverine is not known to be overly stable after missions," Xavier stated.

"So, you want us to go and - check his room?" Storm asked, appearing uncomfortable with the suggestion. Wolverine was the epitome of antisocial, and particularly sensitive to having his personal space breached, so it was a valid concern.

"I believe we must, for Rogue's sake, there is no telling what he may have been doing to her all this time. Rogue is very difficult for me to get a read on, the nearest I can tell is she is in this building, though even I cannot tell exactly where or what state she is in. You will need to tranquilize the Wolverine, for everyone's safety, do not try to remove him from his room, just get Rogue out if she is in there. Bring her to the med lab until we can sort this situation out," Xavier ordered, his team all nodded in agreement and the group headed for the secret basement level of the school. Jean brought the basket too, for disposal.

As the team suited up, they loaded tranquilizer laden cartridges into the special guns they had on hand for use in managing the Wolverine, and other mutants like him. They would have to be quick to catch Wolverine off guard, if he caught on to why they were there he would no doubt become highly confrontational, and the mutant was not built to lose confrontations.

--

Marie woke to the comfortable feeling of a larger, harder, warmer, body pressed up against her back, a heavy arm wrapped around her waist holding her in place.

The sun was streaming in the skylight, indicating it was well into the morning but she wasn't surprised they had overslept so badly. Logan had woken again just before dawn and Marie had helped him to the bathroom, she had been horrified when she had noted he appeared to be peeing straight blood, at the beginning at least, but Logan assured her he was fine, it was just his body expelling what it hadn't been able to repair or reuse. He had eaten again, before they both fell back to sleep, exhausted.

Logan didn't seem to be so exhausted now, she decided as he rocked his hips into her butt, grinding his erection against her. She giggled before extricating herself from his grip on the excuse she needed to use the bathroom. When she returned, he was laying on his back watching her walk toward him, with an odd look on his face.

"Everything okay?" she asked gently, as she climbed into bed. She moved to lay down next to him but he shifted her position to leave her straddling his hips, his swollen member resting between her thighs.

He didn't make any move to go further so Marie waited, expecting him to answer her question. "Why?" he asked after a while.

She furrowed her brow in confusion, "Why what?"

"Why do you care?" he elaborated.

Marie smiled sadly, tears in her eyes as she admitted, "Because if I lost you, I'd lose a part of me, and I don't like seeing you hurt."

"So - this is about more than not being afraid?" Logan confirmed.

Marie nodded, "I told you Logan, I love you, the forever and always type. I don't know why, I don't know how, I just do, you're a part of me now." She leaned forward and chastely pressed her lips to his, it didn't take long before he deepened the kiss, as his hands began to wander over her body.

She could feel his hands under her shirt, groping at her breasts, as he bucked up against her panty covered core. She reached to pull her shirt off but he stopped her with a shake of his head. His hands moved back down to her hips and she raised herself up, expecting him to slide her panties off, or maybe tear them off like he'd done a few times, though she had asked him to stop that because she was running out spare pairs. Instead he reached between them and pulled her panties to the side before sinking two fingers into her. She was so wet and ready for him, he quickly replaced his hand with his cock, pulling her hips down flush against his as he sank into her.

"I love you, I need you, so much, you make it all worth it Marie," he whispered to her as he brushed a lock of hair back from her face as he moved inside her.

After a short while Marie shook her head as she bucked against him hard, this position just wasn't doing it for her. With a chuckle Logan rolled them over, his bulk pinning her to the bed as he pressed deeper into her. They both moaned in unison at the sensation before Logan began to increase his pace. He covered her mouth a moment later, as she cried out loudly and began to convulse around him, before he jerked inside of her sharply, growling as he spilled into her.

They lay in a tangle, breathing heavily until Logan could summon the strength to roll onto his side. He pulled her with him, his still stiff shaft buried in her tight, clenching channel, as she cuddled up to his chest, one leg thrown over his hips. They both dozed contentedly in the warm afterglow, satisfied that all was right in their world now.

They were just drifting off to sleep again, when Logan heard footsteps hurrying up the stairs. "Shit," he muttered, as he gently slid Marie off the bed, so she was out of view of the door, she quickly realized what was happening and ducked out of sight.

The door flew open a moment later as Logan sat upright and turned toward it. Marie couldn't see what was happening but it sounded like several airguns going off, Logan simultaneously roared in fury, as she heard the distinct sound of his claws releasing. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream when she heard, what sounded like a body, collapse heavily to the floor at the end of the bed.

She didn't dare move as she heard footsteps rush into the room. The voice of her biology teacher, Dr Grey, was heard assuring someone else 'he's out' before she heard Mr Summers comment to 'find her quickly'. As Ms Munroe rushed to the opposite door and darted out into the dark dusty hall, another person went into the bathroom; Marie realised they were looking for her. She was considering her options when Ms Munroe rushed back into the room, unfortunately there was no way for Marie to hide from that angle and she was spotted immediately.

"It's alright Rogue, we’ve got you," she placated, as she grabbed a thin blanket off the bed and quickly threw it around her.

Marie tried to fight but she was quickly restrained with the blanket, before she felt strong arms wrap around her as someone picked her up, throwing her none too gently over their shoulder. The pained masculine grunt as the offender stood, led her to assume it was Mr Summers. She spotted Logan's prone form as she was hurriedly carried from the room.

"Oh god, no, what did you do to him!" she screamed as she took in the dozen or so green tipped tranquilizer darts, dotted across his torso. She began to struggle and fight harder, trying to get out of her captor’s grip, all she could think was that Logan needed her.

The more she fought the tighter the grip around her grew. As they started down the stairs, she stopped fighting, not because she didn't want to get away but because she thought she'd probably end up hurt if she was dropped, or caused the person carrying her to fall down the stairs. She began to uselessly struggle again when they got to the bottom of the stairs but a minute later she was set down on a bed in the sterile white room that she recognized as the medical lab in the underground level. Before she was released, she felt latex gloved hands secure both her wrists to sides of the bed she was laid on.

"I'm sorry Rogue, we didn't want to have to do that," Dr Grey told her, "But you're going to hurt someone if you don't calm down. You're safe now," she said, in what was probably supposed to be her soothing doctor voice. All it did was infuriate Marie even more.

"I was safer before, let me go!" she demanded dangerously.

The Professor wheeled into the room then, drawing Rogue's furious glare. He opened his mouth to speak as a muted roar echoed through the corridor behind him.

"What the fuck!" Scott exclaimed, "He shouldn't be awake yet, we hit him a dozen times at least," he said confused.

Marie laughed darkly. "Well he's awake, and he's more pissed off than I am, you might want to make yourselves scarce," she taunted, as she discretely wriggled her hand through one of the restraints holding her in place.

As the rooms’ other occupants were distracted reloading tranquilizer guns, Marie unfastened the slightly tighter cuff on her second wrist. No one was paying any attention to her as she slowly slid off the table. There was no way she was going to get out the only door in the room while everyone was watching it waiting for Logan. Instead she snuck over to a trolley loaded with medical supplies, she heard Logan reach the underground level and as she heard him approaching the door, she shoved the trolley across the room as hard as she could.

It slammed into the wall with a loud smash and the rolling clatter of medical equipment flying everywhere. It was enough of a distraction to cause heads to turn from the door just as Logan burst into the room. He grabbed the nearest guns, held by Scott and Ororo, twisting them out of shape effortlessly. Jean recovered enough to raise her own gun, preparing to shoot, before Marie threw a nearby clipboard at her, throwing off her aim as Logan approached her.

As soon as the guns were taken care of Logan moved across the room to Marie, running his hands over her gently as he made sure she wasn't hurt. She reassured him verbally before he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, there was no need to hide their relationship now, they were already discovered.

When the broke apart the other room occupants were staring at them dumbfounded. Jean was the first to recover, slipping into doctor mode she began to question Rogue on how long she had been able to control her powers. She was interrupted when she tried to approach the pair when, after his growl was ignored, Wolverine forcefully pushed her back. That prompted Scott to action, he steadied Jean before she fell over before glaring at Wolverine and warning him to keep his hands off his wife.

"That's a bit rich coming from the man who just kidnapped my mate from her own bed, if anyone here needs a lesson in keeping their hands off, it isn't me," Logan replied menacingly, not moving from his protective position in front of Marie.

"Given your track record you can hardly blame us for being concerned for Rogue's safety," Xavier began, "You yourself know you are not usually, stable, after missions. When Rogue did not show up for classes this morning, we feared the worst. If you would allow Rogue to be examined it would allay our fears."

"What fears would those be exactly?" Rogue asked incredulously, "I seriously doubt it's my safety you're concerned for, not so much as keeping your secret of mutant slave soldiers, at least. I am curious," she continued, this was one thing that had been bugging her for months now, "The military must know you have him, why have they not made any effort to get him back?"

"As well connected as I am, I imagine they are concerned of the fallout of an attempt to infiltrate the school," the Professor replied, "And Wolverine is not a slave, my dear, he can leave anytime," he added placatingly.

"So, you'll give him the transponder that activates the chip you implanted in his brain so he can get more than a half mile from this place," Rogue asked pointedly. Those lies had been so obvious even she had been able to make them.

A dark look settled over Xavier's face, equally as angry and concerned looks were shared by the other X-men.

"I see," the Professor replied, Rogue knew far more than he thought, she didn't know everything but the knowledge she did have made her far too dangerous. "I am afraid Rogue, that your time at the school has come to an end."

Wolverine immediately tensed, his claws sliding into view, at the implication of the threat to his mate.

"We will allow you remain on the grounds but like Wolverine you are restricted to the service quarters and lower levels, you are not permitted to access the main school grounds. Wolverine, keep your pet on her leash or next time we collect her it will not be with tranquilizers," Xavier stated, before he rolled out of the room.

Wolverine watched him leave, furious, though at who he wasn't sure. Xavier definitely for holding them there, these others for playing Xavier's game. Marie for tipping her hand prematurely, himself for not being able to protect her better. They needed to seriously start looking for a way out of here, it was no longer safe for either of them.

Wolverine wearily trudged up the service stairs back to his room. All he wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep, preferably wrapped up in Marie. Though she'd been so restless lately she probably wouldn't appreciate the suggestion, he thought with a chuckle. It was two months since they’d been found out and she had been confined to his room, the X-Men finally admitting he, and now she too, were indeed prisoners.

She had been complaining about being cooped up, not getting any fresh air and getting fat. He'd snuck them outside a couple of times, so she could get her fresh air, it had definitely been worth it when she'd begged to have sex out in the woods. As for her getting fat, well, if that was fat, he liked it, and he told her so, her ass looked fantastic and her boobs had gotten at least two cup sizes bigger, her waist had thickened a bit but it was barely noticeable as far as he was concerned.

He had eaten his fill to boost his healing after this last mission, and given himself a blood transfusion, from the stock of his blood Jean had started keeping on hand, after Marie demanded she do so. This mission wasn't particularly worse than normal but it was the fourth mission in three days; they were getting closer to the main installation of this group of labs.

As he was trudging down the hall the scent of blood filtered through to him. Initially he irritably shrugged it off, and decided he'd have to have a second shower before hitting bed. Until his brain pointed out, it wasn't blood on him, it was Marie's blood. Startled at the realization he jogged down the hall and into their room.

The bedroom was empty but the shower was running and he followed the sound into the bathroom. A chilling thought that maybe Marie wasn't as happy here with him as she'd claimed, flashed through his mind, though he pushed that thought aside; if Marie really wasn’t happy, she'd definitely make sure he knew. The sight that met him was even more shocking than that thought though.

Marie was in the shower, on her knees, forearms braced against the wall in front of her. The warm water of the shower was raining down on her back as she panted and moaned as he watched a visible contraction ripple across her belly.

Then it hit him, Marie wasn't 'getting fat', Marie was pregnant. Not only was she pregnant, she was giving birth!

He moved into the room, kneeling down beside her on the shower. "I'm here Marie, how you doing?" he asked her gently.

She acknowledged his presence by shifting slightly to lean her head on his shoulder, "It hurts," she whimpered, "I ache and it's -" she was cut off by another contraction, this one followed by a huff as her abdomen squeezed downward.

"You're doing great baby, just relax, let your body do its thing," he soothed, resting a large hand on the small of her back. He tried not to let his worry show, neither of them had realised she was pregnant, and she'd been on the pill since she started coming to him, except the last couple of weeks when she hadn’t been able to get more pills after her stock ran out. When had she gotten pregnant, was the baby even ready to be born...?

He felt Marie shift under his hand, he could feel pressure against his hand as her pelvis moved, another contraction quickly followed. A fresh wave of blood, not just scent but visible tendrils of red running down the drain, caught his attention. Reaching his other hand down between her legs he felt a soft, slimy lump.

"Keep going sweetheart, you're almost there," he assured her, as she gasped in great lungful’s of air between contractions.

Another squeeze and the head came out, he felt the little body turning before a tiny, slimy, lump flowed out into his waiting hands. Looking down at the baby he was surprised to see it was still all closed up in a little membranous bag full of a yellowish fluid. He didn't know much about babies, or birthing them, but he knew they needed to breathe once they were born. Quickly he tore the membrane open, the yellow-tinted liquid cushion gushing out and down the drain, before he gently wiped off the baby’s face, turning it over carefully so any liquid in its nose or mouth could run out, as the tiny human began a piercing wail.

Once he was sure the baby's airway was clear he turned the baby back over, cradling it in his large hands. It was tiny, barely filling his hands, as its thin little arms and legs flailed. Turning his attention then to Marie he could see she was still resting, eyes closed and face buried against her arms as she caught her breath.

"Goddamn Marie you sure know how to welcome a man home. Look baby, look at the perfect little girl you made," he said to her softly, love and pride, and happiness and relief, in his voice.

Marie shifted her head to look down into his hands. "It's a girl?" she asked, sounding like she was in shock. He confirmed it was a girl, before Marie reached a hand down and gently ran her fingers over the tiny nose and lips of the quietening baby. "She's tiny," she whispered in awe.

"She's perfect," Logan assured her. "And hungry, think she'll reach to feed like this or do you want to turn around?" he asked, as they watched the tiny little girl turn her head toward her mother’s hand and try to suck on her fingers.

Marie opted to remain in her current position so Logan lifted the baby higher, gently sliding more umbilical cord out from where it disappeared between Marie's legs, until the baby could reach a nipple to begin suckling. They were each cradling the baby in hand as she fed, Logan watching over Marie's shoulder as she did.

About five minutes later he felt Marie contract again, her wide startled eyes met his, "Not another one?" she asked worriedly.

"Nah sweetheart, that'll just be the afterbirth," he reassured her, at least he hoped it wasn't a second baby. One baby was going to be hard enough to hide from their keepers, and he had already determined that she had to be hidden. No one could know about her; it was too dangerous.

Once the placenta was delivered Marie felt a lot more comfortable and with Logan's help was able to stand up and tentatively walk around. Logan held the baby, after he cut it free from the placenta, so she wouldn't have to worry about dropping it.

"We need to know how much she weighs, and do you know what time she was born?" Marie asked, as she watched Logan wrap the baby snuggly in a towel.

"She was probably born around nine, sorry, I didn't think to look at the time, and I can go swipe a set of scales from downstairs," he added. "She also needs clothes, and blankets, diapers, ... I don't know how to get all that without tipping off the ringmaster though..." Logan replied, as he watched the sleepy infant yawn widely as she burrowed into the towel he had wrapped her in.

"God she's gorgeous Marie," he commented a moment later, as he wrapped an arm around Marie, pulling her closer, as he held the little girl in his other arm and smiled down at her adoringly.

"You think so?" Marie replied, wrapping her arm around his waist as she rested her head on his shoulder, smiling down at the baby too. "How did we not realise I was pregnant..." she commented with a laugh a few minutes later.

"Beats me," Logan replied, "I guess if you had had a bump it would have been a dead giveaway but everything could be written off to something else. Not to mention, we haven't even been fucking for eight months... she's got to be a little early."

"I wish we could get her seen by a doctor but I don't want these guys to know about her," Marie said, voicing his own concerns, as she ran a finger gently over baby's head, she just couldn't stop herself from touching the tiny human she'd built inside her. "If I order stuff online do you think we could get our hands on it without them looking in it?"

"Probably not, not if it's addressed to either of us at least," Logan admitted, racking his brain for a way around their problem. "Do you any of your friends know you're still around?" he asked, uncertain if even they could be trusted.

"Jubilee does, she caught me sneaking stuff out of my old room once... if I get something delivered to her, we could swipe it from the dorm overnight. It wouldn't be unusual for her to get packages, and no one would check her stuff," Marie suggested, before yawning tiredly herself.

"That sounds like a plan, but it can wait for now, gotta get my girls to bed," Logan answered, placing a kiss on her head as he turned and guided her out of the bathroom and into bed. He looked around the room trying to figure out where he could put the baby to sleep but Marie reached out, and removed her from his arms, tucking her down into bed beside her with a smile and a possessive 'mine' comment.

He lay down opposite her, baby between them, watching over both of them as Marie joined their baby in sleep. Despite his earlier wish to sleep he suddenly found he was wide awake again, no desire to leave this moment right now. Several hours later he left the bed, making his way downstairs he decided for a change they were going to have the good food, and he slipped into the main mansion, heading for the kitchen.

He raided a substantial amount of food, including a tasty looking chocolate cheesecake, he took the whole thing, before heading back to the service passage. He made a detour to the med lab where he searched out a scale, and found a stash of new-born size diapers in a supply cabinet. With his haul in tow he headed back upstairs.

Both girls were still sleeping soundly, though the baby was beginning to fuss as he re-entered the room. When he checked on her, he wasn't surprised to find she had pooped, and peed through the crude towel diaper he'd wrapped her in.

Sliding baby out of the bed he set about cleaning her up, the bed would need to be changed later, but by the smell of it, Marie had bled some more, so that was a given anyway. Baby was well and truly awake by the time he finished cleaning her, he weighed her on the scales, concerned to note she really was tiny, only four pound seven - he'd always thought most babies were around six or seven pounds when born. He was trying to put a diaper on the little girl, without breaking her, when Marie woke.

"Just lift her up by her legs," Marie said sleepily, as she wandered over to him, yawning. She laughed when he shared his concerns about hurting the baby, and showed him how to move her and hold her to get the job done.

"How do you know this stuff?" Logan asked curiously, and impressed.

"I'll admit, I've never looked after a baby this young or this small before but I used to babysit for the neighbours for mall money when I was younger, so I've changed a few diapers," she replied.

Noting her appearance Logan suggested she go have a shower, an actual 'clean yourself' shower, preferably with no surprise babies this time. Marie just laughed and stuck her tongue out childishly at him, as she made her way to the bathroom, leaving him to settle the baby. By the time she was done Logan had changed the bed, and though baby was mostly quiet she was obviously upset.

"She's hungry," Logan informed her matter of factly, sitting Marie down on the couch and helping her work the baby into a comfortable position to feed. While Marie was feeding baby, Logan fed her, her eyes bugging in excitement when she saw the cheesecake he'd pilfered.

An hour later everyone was clean, clothed, fed, and back in bed to sleep. Logan finally fell asleep sometime around three am, with his arms wrapped around Marie who was cradling their tiny baby. A new level of contentment settled over him, accompanied by a niggling touch of foreboding.

--

The next day they were woken just before midday by Scott. They had both been lying in bed while Marie was breastfeeding the hungry child, thankfully her back was to the door so she pulled the blanket up over herself and pretended to be asleep, her nipple in baby's mouth keeping her quiet. Logan left her to it shortly after, following Scott out of the room after his summons to the briefing room; there would be another raid that afternoon.

Once baby's diaper had been changed and she was asleep again Marie set about with her next task. Ideally, preparing for a baby should be done in advance of its arrival but nothing about this particular situation was ideal. First, she had to set up her point of contact. Using the burner phone she'd managed to secure months ago, for emergencies, she dialled Jubilee's number from memory.

She explained to Jubilee that she was in trouble and needed some things but she couldn't get them to where she was, she needed a delivery address, and a receiver who could hold on to them, on the down low, for her until she could collect. After reassuring Jubilee that is was nothing illegal, she finally had agreement, she instructed everything should be delivered the next day. It would be addressed to Jubilee but she was not to open anything, just keep it in her room until Rogue could collect. Jubilee agreed, though she kept asking about what trouble she was in, eventually accepting Rogue's assurance that she would tell her when it was safe.

Once that was sorted, Rogue pulled out her laptop, and a student issue debit card she had swiped from the dorms some months before when the shit first started hitting the fan, hopefully no one had noticed it was missing and it would still be active.

She went online and found a mommy forum; she quickly registered an account and began searching for questions she had. First thing she needed to know, what do you *need* for a new baby! She was busy making a list of things she would need when baby began to grizzle. She moved to lie on the bed beside baby, reassuring her she was close, and gently rocking her back to sleep.

Once she had her list of needs, she began to shop, courtesy of Amazon. She had a strong feeling that they would not be here at the mansion much longer, so everything she bought had to be a necessity only and must be easy to travel with. The first thing she purchased was two large hiking packs, a collapsible bassinet, and a baby bag that had a foldout changing mat.

Then she bought dozens of reusable diapers, baby onesies, socks, and cotton mittens. Several sleeping sacks, hats, booties, and a tiny snowsuit. She went for the smallest sizes of everything, and then added the next size up as well just so she wouldn't have to do this again any time soon. She added several pacifiers to her order, swaddling wraps, blankets, burp cloths, baby bath towels, and reusable baby wipes. On considering the possibility of travel, and that it would likely be cross country, she opted to get a baby carrier, rather than a pram.

She added a few things for herself too, a couple of maternity bras, breast pads - she hadn't realised how much milk boobs would leak - and breastfeeding tops. As a side thought she also bought herself a pair of hiking boots, and some of Jubilee's favourite chocolate, all the best to keep her secret squirrel on side. She hoped Logan didn't need anything that she hadn't thought of.

She sent her order through, paying extra for expedited shipping, guaranteed for delivery within twenty-four hours. The total came to several hundred dollars, and for a while she worried the transaction wouldn't go through, so when the payment accepted screen popped up, she breathed a sigh of relief. Baby woke when she did and began to grizzle again. Putting the computer away she settled down to feed baby, before they both settled in for a nap. She woke up with a start hours later when the door clicked and squeaked open.

"It's alright sweetheart, it's me," Logan said as he silently entered the room.

"Hey, you okay?" Marie asked, always concerned by his propensity to play down whatever injuries he received on missions.

"Yeah babe, I'm good," Logan replied as he sat down on the bed beside her, and placed a kiss on her forehead. "How's baby been?" he asked.

"She's been great, mostly just slept and ate, then threw up what she ate, then ate again, then crapped herself, then went back to sleep," Marie detailed their day so far. Logan chuckled, as he gently ran his hand over the dark downy hair of their baby's head. "I also talked to Jubilee and ordered baby stuff, it should be delivered tomorrow, Jubilee's going to hold on to it until we can get it," she told him.

"You're amazing baby, absolutely fantastic, I love you," Logan told her with a grin.

"You're not so bad yourself," she replied, placing a kiss on his lips that were conveniently close. "How did the mission go?" she added, noting how he'd largely brushed off her previous query of him.

"The mission was fine, easy one, just a storage facility, only got shot twice," he added with a grin, knowing what she was getting at. "Anyway, you should go back to sleep," he said, laying her back down on the bed with a kiss, and pulling the blankets back over her.

"You should come snuggle too," she said, grabbing his hand, and shooting him puppy dog eyes.

"Soon babe, gonna hit the shower first," Logan replied. On his way to the bathroom he attracted Marie's attention when he slid the dresser across the doorway - now that he was back the door could be 'locked'.

By the time he was done in the shower she was asleep again. As much as he wanted to sleep, he had found something concerning on the mission. He pulled the thin brown folder he had swiped from the lab, hidden inside his uniform, out from where he had deposited it when he got to the room. Flipping it open he quickly read through the details listed in the file that bore his name.

The information appeared to have come from a variety of sources, it listed him as a 'project' of a rival 'company', there was information that appeared to be stolen from the original 'company', apparently by a doctor that had switched sides. There were detailed records of procedures he had been subjected to, and also how he had reacted to those procedures. It listed him as being highly confrontational and aggressive, that he wouldn't follow orders no matter how high they drugged him, and detailed that he wasn't above inflicting serious bodily injury to himself, and others, in an effort to escape.

He stopped in shock when he turned the page, encountering a note that listed a transfer of himself, from the project to the 'Xavier Institute'. As if that wasn't enough, there was information on mental controls and psychological conditioning being used to control him and make him more docile. The final page caused his blood to run cold.

"Project Extension: WeaponX Propagatio
Mate Selection: Natural
Mate Age at selection: 16
Mate Designation: X248 - Rogue
Breeding Schedule: Natural - offspring expected within 12 months
Project Location: Unknown - suspect Xavier Institute, recommend recon
Project Manager: Maj Gen William Stryker - Weapon X Founder"

He snapped the file shut as a cold shiver ran over him. Marie was right. She had hypothesized that Xavier was working with the military who had had him, and that was why they hadn't tried to take him back. Not only that but they knew about him and Marie, and were expecting a baby from them. They had both been correct about their child being in grave danger, if Xavier, and this Stryker guy, found out they were ahead of schedule...

He hid the file, he didn't want Marie to find it, she had enough to deal with at the moment without worrying about this. He was pacing the room worriedly when Marie and baby roused simultaneously, he was going to apologize for waking them until he watched as Marie, still half asleep, simply rolled baby toward her and offered her a nipple. Baby in turn dozed as she sucked away hungrily.

He joined them on the bed, pleased that once Marie had finished feeding, she placed baby onto his chest, declaring it was time for cuddle time with daddy, before she disappeared into the bathroom. When she returned baby was fast asleep, her head resting over his heart and a sticky tendril of milky drool puddling on his bare chest.

"That is adorable," Marie declared, snuggling against his side as his arm wrapped around her. Logan's large hand was almost completely covering baby, between that and his residual body heat baby was comfortably warm, even down to her tiny bare toes that Marie was loving touching. She still couldn't get over how tiny the little girl was.

"We should name her," Marie whispered a while later, not wanting to disturb baby.

"We should, does mommy have any suggestions?" Logan asked, barely above a whisper himself, though a deep growly whisper.

"Well, it's kind of unusual but I always liked the name Niamh [nee-v], spelled the Irish way," Marie answered, with a giggle.

"That name sounds familiar," Logan said, a thoughtful frown on his face, "I like it, I feel like I knew someone with that name once. What's the Irish spelling?" he asked suddenly.

"N-I-A-M-H," Marie replied.

"How the fuck does that equal 'nee-v'?" Logan asked with a chuckle.

"Ask the Irish," Marie replied with a shrug, "My grandma was Irish, it was her middle name, I always thought it was neat, and my grandma was fantastic, if she'd still been alive when my parents threw me out I would have gone to stay with her, she wouldn't have hated me," Marie told him.

Logan hugged her, he was sorry she'd had such a bad time with rotten parents but he couldn't help but thank whatever deity had gotten her here, with him.

"Niamh it is, spelled the Irish way, we should probably give her a middle name too, but something normal this time so she can pick and choose between them," he said amused.

"How about Daisy?" Marie asked. Logan shook his head, he didn't want to name his kid after a flower, that was too hippy for him. "Mackenzie?" That one was too long. "Ella?" Those two names sounded odd when said together. After several more suggestions Marie said, "What about Kenna? I used to go to school with a girl named Kenna, it means beautiful."

"Niamh Kenna?" Logan said, testing the sound of the names, "lt'll be more dramatic too when she gets herself in trouble and you have to call her by her full name because you've got to pause in the middle there," he said with a chuckle.

Marie giggled at the thought, remembering all the times her mother had called her by her full name, she always knew how much trouble she was in by how much emphasis her mother put on the double-e sound at the end of 'Marie'. "Niamh Kenna Logan, will you stop drooling on your daddy because it is just too cute," she mock chastised the sleeping baby as she leaned forward and placed a kiss on her tiny nose.

"...why Logan?" Logan asked a moment later.

"Well, you don't know your last name but Logan can be a last name, and we're both Logan's girls, at least one of us should have your name," Marie said. At the odd look on Logan's face when she looked up at him again, she thought maybe he didn't like that suggestion, "Or not, up to you, I mean my last name is..."

"I want you to have my name too," Logan interrupted her, "One day I'll marry you properly sweetheart, I promise." She didn't have a reply to that, so she just smiled lovingly up at him, before hugging him tighter.

--

That evening Logan planned to wait for Marie and Niamh to fall asleep before slipping down to the med lab. If what Marie had told him about what she had found down there previously was correct, the only thing keeping them here was a transponder which told the chip they'd implanted in him to electrocute him if he got too far away. If he could find that, they were as good as gone.

Unfortunately, just as Marie was beginning to drift to sleep someone tried to open their door; Logan was glad he had pushed the dresser in front of it earlier. Marie gently slid Niamh closer to her, rolling so she was protecting her from view, Logan cheekily mussed Marie's hair before tossing their thin sheet haphazardly over her. Before he moved to the door, he shot Marie a cheeky wink as he unbuttoned his jeans and mussed his own hair. He was still shirtless from earlier that day, and he looked positively delicious as far as she was concerned.

Logan shoved the dresser over enough to open the door to see who was out there, making sure whoever it was got only a brief look at Marie before he stepped into view. "You ever heard of this thing called knocking Cyclops? You're lucky we were done or I'd have had to take your last eye out," Logan stated cheerily, his tone indistinct as to whether he was serious or joking - knowing Wolverine it could be either.

"Mission, hurry up," he replied, ignoring the jab. He still didn't like the idea of leaving poor Rogue in Wolverine's clutches, he was so inhospitable that no one had seen Rogue in months other than these brief snatches. There was no telling what the violent freak was doing to her, as far as he was concerned, and after everything they had learned about the guy from the base they'd rescued him from, the fact she was still alive was a miracle.

"Be back later babe," Logan called to Marie as he shoved the dresser further out of the way so the door would fully open.

When he got to the briefing room he listened to the latest intel, the main compound they'd finally located had moved that day. While they worked to relocate it, they were going to hit another minor post, no point tipping off the commanders as to just how close they were, or, had been.

The mission was again short, though the guards were now better armed. This lab was cooking up biological weapons, but these weapons didn't appear to be for use against mutants, rather they were made from mutants. Specifically, two teenage girls, who could secrete a toxic neurochemical from their skin, uncannily similar to poison arrow frogs; their skin even had brightly colour patches of colour wherever the poison would discharge from.

When they returned in the wee hours of the morning the med lab was humming with activity. There was no way he was going to be able to access his own medical records, or search for a transponder, without someone noticing. So, he headed back to his room and the pair waiting for him. He tried the door but it wouldn't open, Marie must have pushed the dresser back across when he left. Rather than knock and risk waking baby he went through one of the other rooms, into the dusty back corridor and through the back door.

"I thought that must be you," Marie said with a smile as she relaxed, from where she had been tensely listening, to get a jump on the intruder.

He had showered downstairs so he climbed straight into bed, cuddling both girls to him, little Niamh slumbering peacefully between them.

"How did the mission go?" Marie asked sleepily, as she began to drift off again.

"It went good, we rescued two girls, they were milking their mutation to create bio weapons, but I can tell you about that later, you go to sleep." He planted a kiss on her forehead as her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep again.

He was woken the next morning by the smell of sweet milk, and little Niamh wriggling around trying to get to the sticky flow, she apparently didn't appreciate her mommy wasting her breakfast. He tugged baby down the bed until she was face to breast level and opened the shirt Marie was wearing, before sliding Niamh closer to a now exposed breast. Marie jumped awake, when baby grabbed hold of her nipple, and began suckling.

"Damn, I leaked all over the bed again," Marie complained, those breast pads had better arrive soon or they were going to have no sheets left.

"It's okay, they've seen worse," he replied, earning a giggle and a playful slap from Marie before she demanded breakfast.

Later that morning Marie's burner phone got a text from Jubilee to say the parcels had arrived, there were three boxes, and they were in the corner of her room. She also advised that the entire school, teachers and all, were going on a field trip, they would be leaving at one pm and wouldn't be back until five.

Logan was wary of the convenience the trip offered their retrieval of the packages but agreed they needed to get them, sooner rather than later. When one pm rolled around they were both at the secret panel in the dorm hallway, waiting for the last few stragglers to get to the buses out front. Neither wanted to risk bringing Niamh, but neither wanted to leave her in their room unattended either, in case someone was waiting on them to leave to search the place again.

Niamh was currently swaddled in her daddy's shirts, and wrapped in a thick blanket, hidden in the wardrobe of one of the other unused rooms on the service hall. They just had to hope she wouldn't decide now was a good time to cry, though she had been a surprisingly quiet baby thus far.

As they heard the buses start their noisy diesel engines, they popped open the panel. If the buses were beginning to pull out that meant everyone who was going was outside. Jubilee was still in the same room she'd been in when she shared it with Rogue so it wasn't hard to find, the stack of Amazon boxes was standing in one corner. Reaching the first box she split the tape and dug around the contents looking for Jubilee's present, it wasn't in the first one but it was in the second. She left the chocolate under Jubilee's bright yellow pillow, before they collected up the last boxes and stashed them back in the service hall.

They had just closed the panel when Logan signalled her to stay still and quiet, they heard steady footsteps approaching before continuing down the hall. Whoever it was stopped briefly in every room, before returning back the way they had come.

"Shit that was close," Logan muttered, with a relieved laugh. Marie agreed as they recollected their cargo and headed back for their room. After delivering the boxes they both made their way to where they had hidden Niamh, both breathing a sigh of relief at finding the little girl still safe and sound asleep in her little cocoon.

Moving her back to their bedroom, they barricaded both doors and began to unpack, Logan was curious to see just how well his little mate had prepared. The first box contained the packs, bassinet, baby bag, and hiking boots. Logan pulled the boots out and fit them on Marie; they were the perfect size.

"Wear them for a while to break them in, less chance of blisters later," he advised with a grin, she really had been planning ahead.

They set the packs aside as they unloaded the second box. Marie quickly sorting all the baby clothes by type and size, even the premmie size clothes were a little big for Niamh, so she was confident they'd have clothes for her for a good four to six months. She rolled the larger size clothes up tightly, and packed them into the bottom of the large baby bag, they wouldn't be needed for some time so they could stay there undisturbed. Then she sorted the right size clothes into outfits, each complete with a singlet, onesie, socks, and mittens, then rolled them up and added them to the baby bag; it would save time dressing Niamh in future.

She kept out half a dozen such outfit rolls, the hat, booties, and snowsuit for day to day use, tucking them away in the corner of a dresser drawer along with the baby carrier, and a dozen cloth diapers, the rest of the diapers she added to the baby bag. The pacifiers were tucked into a pocket, the wraps in another, burp cloths in a third. The washable wipes were left in the drawer, along with the towel and blanket. When it came time to leave, everything could be easily thrown into the baby bag for a quick getaway.

The last box contained the maternity clothes Marie had bought, the bras, breast pads and breastfeeding shirts. She sighed happily when she put on one of the bras, fitting the soft cotton pads against her sensitive nipples, this apparently amused Logan but she just ignored him as Niamh began to grizzle. It was so much easier to feed her with the right kind of bra, though admittedly she had only attempted to wear a bra once since baby was born.

Logan pulled out the bassinet, tearing off the packing and setting it up before collapsing it again. At least one of the needed to know how to do that, in case they needed to do it in a hurry. He would show Marie later how it worked, for now, he pulled out the packs, truth be told they probably didn't need two for their meagre belongings but if it meant splitting the load, he could do that. He himself had been pilfering the school’s survival supplies, he had two sub-zero sleeping bags, and a sizable supply of survival rations.

He dumped the rations in the bottom of one pack, that he designated his - the food would be the heaviest thing they had to carry so he would take that. He did tuck several days’ worth of rations into one of the pockets of Marie's pack, just in case they got temporarily separated at some point. There was a filtering water bottle for each of them, along with several bags of electrolyte replacement, just in case. He also had a compass and knife, which he tucked in Marie's pack - he had been teaching her survival tricks for months but you could never be over prepared.

He packed all but two sets of his own clothes into his pack, before doing the same with Marie's. His plan was to be out of here in days so they wouldn't need more, even if they ended up stuck here a few days longer. The folded bassinet, and the baby bag, fit into the top of Marie's pack.

He felt all kinds of an asshole giving Marie so much to carry, though her pack looked fuller it was substantially lighter than his, but if they got separated, she would have Niamh with her so she would need baby's things too. He also stuffed his supply of pilfered cash into a pocket of Marie's pack, if they got separated, he could sleep outside, but Niamh needed to be kept warm and that meant paying for a motel.

He stashed the packs behind the desk, hidden from view, before breathing a sigh of relief. They were packed and ready to go, the only thing holding them back now was him, and whatever they were using to keep him here.

A sudden thought occurred to him as he considered possible exit strategies. Leaving Marie to sleep with Niamh he moved into the other rooms down the service hallway, and barricaded all the doors between the used hallway and the dusty hidden passage, it would slow down anyone who tried to follow them when they left and reduce the likelihood of them being trapped.

That evening, as he was again planning a midnight raid on the med lab to try and find the transponder. They were interrupted by a pounding on the door, it was Scott again but he didn't even wait for the door to be opened, just yelled, 'We're hitting the main complex, get to the jet now', before dashing back down the hall. Logan leaned over and kissed Marie deeply. "See you soon babe, and you baby," he added, planting a kiss on Niamh's fuzzy head, the little girl just stared at him in response, while Marie cautioned him softly to 'be safe'.

A little after one the next morning Marie was woken by the bedroom door noisily opening, she had pushed the dresser up behind it so no one could sneak in but Logan's flying bulk was able to push it out of the way with no trouble. He immediately slammed the dresser back up against the door, shoving the couch over too for additional security.

Marie was out of bed immediately, pulling on her jeans and a jersey before Logan was finished barricading the door. "What's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"We need to go, and we need to go now, I can't find the transponder but-" he held up a medical file- "I know where the chip is, I need your help to cut it out." He pulled Marie into the bathroom with him, slapping the file down on the counter he flipped to the page that showed the chip, implanted at the base of his brain.

Marie paled. "Cut it out... with your claws? Logan you could kill yourself!" She exclaimed, fear lacing her words.

"It'll put me down for a while, I can't see a way to get it out without some damage to the spinal cord but it will heal, it'll just take time." He could see Marie was still apprehensive. "Marie, there is no other way, Xavier is working with the military group that has me, you were right, there was a reason they weren't trying to get me back but this group is planning on taking me back, and you too, they don't know about Niamh but they're expecting us to make a baby soon, and they want us back in their lab for when that happens, we have to go, now.

"I need you to help me get the chip out, don't destroy the chip, hide it somewhere in this room, then I need you to take this file, your pack, and Niamh, and leave. Listen very carefully. Get out of the mansion, head west through the woods until you hit the highway, flag down a long-haul trucker heading north, head for a town called Malone. Once you get to Malone head east on highway 11 wait for me in a town called Ellenburg, find a motel and stay there until I catch up to you. Got it?" Logan set out a plan for her.

Marie stared at him in shock as she realised, he was telling her to leave, without him, she threw her arms around him. "No, no I'm not going without you, I can't do this alone," she said with a sob.

"You can Marie, you can do this, you have to do it, Niamh needs you to do this, we both do. I'll catch up with you before you know it baby, hell I might even beat you there," Logan replied, as he hugged her to him tightly for a moment. It's not like he wanted to send her off alone but he had no other choice at this point.

She let out one final shuddering sob, squeezed him tightly then let him go, steeling herself for her task. He made her repeat back his directions before he let them continue.

Marie had to position his hand correctly to get as near to the spot of the chip as possible, once she'd done that, he shot a single claw out, cutting into his own neck. He immediately fell limply to the floor, having nicked his spinal cord. He was unable to move as Marie immediately dug her hand into the grisly wound, before it could close, and dug around for the chip. The odd sucking sensation when she pulled her hand away told him she had found the chip, tearing it out, along with the thin wires that tied into his nervous system.

With her unbloodied hand she opened the cistern of the toilet and dropped the chip in, it had a tracer so it ideally had to be close to his body, for now, so they wouldn't suspect he had removed it. Marie washed her hands quickly before dropping to her knees beside him, she was crying freely but not letting her tears slow her down.

"I love you," she whispered, dropping a kiss on his lips, he managed to choke out a return of her sentiments before she stood and walked away.

Logan watched from the bathroom floor as she pulled out her pack, shoving the last of her clothes into it, though her last remaining pair of gloves she pulled onto her bare hands, followed by the last of Niamh's clothes, except the snowsuit. Quickly she put the little onesie clad baby into the snowsuit before buckling her into the baby carrier. She pulled her boots on next, tying them securely, then fitted the baby carrier around her chest. She pulled her jacket on, zipping it closed around the carrier, then hefted her pack, securing the hip strap, before unzipping her jacket again so she could see baby.

With a final look back to Logan she smiled tearily at him. "I'll be waiting," was her parting comment, before she shut the door and hurried down the hallway, before she could change her mind.

She took the passage all the way to the ground floor, she would need to enter the main mansion to get outside but at this time of the morning she shouldn't encounter anyone. As luck would have it though, Jubilee walked into the kitchen just as she was pulling open the back door.

"Have you been inside the mansion this whole time?" Jubilee asked, sounding confused.

"Yes, but you don't know that, and you didn't see me," Rogue replied in a whisper, "I'll explain one day, when it's safe, in the meantime, don't ask questions, or you're likely to end up in the same trouble I'm in."

"Fair enough," Jubilee replied with an understanding shrug. If there was one thing you could trust Jubilee to do it was keep her mouth shut when it needed to be. "Thanks for the chocolate by the way."

"You're welcome," Rogue replied, with a grin and a wave, before she disappeared into the darkness of the night.

She dashed across the lawn and into the forest, thankful for the full moon and the cloudless sky to light her way. After a half hour hiking through the woods she came out on the highway and turned north, she stayed back from the road, so the passing cars wouldn't see her, until she spied a truck approaching. The first truck she tried to flag down didn't stop but the second did. As she slipped her pack off, and deposited in the foot-well while she climbed up into the truck, the pudgy man in the driver's seat asked how far he was taking her.

"As close to Malone as you're going," she replied, as the truck began to roll down the shoulder, picking up speed to pull back onto the highway.

"You're in luck little lady, I'm passing right through there, I'll drop you right in town unless you'd like me to drop you somewhere sooner?" he offered.

"Town would be great," she responded with a tired smile. She settled back in the seat, her hands coming to rest over her sleeping baby.

The truck driver was watching her oddly as he drove, it wasn't her first time on the road, and she really hoped she hadn't picked a creep. She was pleasantly surprised when instead of propositioning her the driver instead asked if she needed to call anyone. "You're obviously running from something, someone-" he pointedly looked at the baby carrier and its cargo- "If you need to call family, one of those women’s shelter places, hell even the police, I've got a phone if you need to borrow it," he offered.

"Thank you but no, I'm okay, I've got someone waiting for me," she replied, smiling down at baby.

"So, you're not running from the kid’s dad?" the driver clarified.

"No, running to him," she replied, after trying to figure out how to phrase it, she was going to where Logan would be after all.

"Who are you running from then?" he asked confused.

"Well... I guess you could call them my guardians, they're trying to... sell my baby, so, I had to leave," she replied softly, baby was beginning to stir and she would be hungry when she woke.

After a few minutes Niamh's fussing could no longer be ignored, as discretely as possible Marie maneuvered her out of the carrier and into a more comfortable position to feed, the driver gave her as much privacy as the cab allowed. Once baby was fed and burped and, on her way back to sleep, he spoke again.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"Today is her third day," Marie replied, as she gently rocked the infant.

"She's tiny even for a newbie, if you don't mind me saying," the driver continued, "Got three kids myself, oldest two are in their twenties, youngest is four, I guess you could call him a surprise."

"She was a definitely a surprise, didn't even know I was pregnant until she decided she wanted out," Marie admitted, "She is little but she's got a healthy appetite, she'll grow fast."

After a moments silence the driver added, "You're probably exhausted, new baby, and now you're hitchhiking, the bunks free, we aren't going to hit Malone for a good five or six hours, you should get some sleep."

Marie thanked him as she took up his offer, moving into the back of the cab she removed her jacket, making it into a little cocoon for Niamh, before she removed the baby carrier from herself and lay down next to baby. As she drifted off to sleep, to the soothing hum of road noise, she said a quick prayer, to a god she'd stopped believing in years ago, to keep Logan safe, and bring him back to her.

As he listened to Marie's footsteps hurry down the corridor, he breathed a sigh of relief. God that had hurt, and it wasn't feeling any better, with Marie gone now he could finally pass out and let his body heal uninterrupted.

He was woken sometime later by voices in the bedroom behind him.

"What do you think happened? The blood's got to be his, right?" A feminine sounding voice asked.

"I say she finally had enough of him smacking her around, I told you this was going to happen." That was a male, probably old One Eye. So, he thought he was smacking Marie around did he, what a moron, Marie would never tolerate that, in the incredibly unlikely event he ever stooped that low. And what the hell was going on with his senses, he felt like he was simultaneously weighed down with lead, and floating. Did his finger just twitch? Better not try that again with these dicks still around. Eyes closed, pretend to be dead, until you can move, then run when they're not looking - seemed like a good plan.

They sat around in his room for what felt like hours, he passed in and out of consciousness several times as his body continued to work at healing; spinal damage always took a while to heal, and would often leave him with a weird buzzing feeling in whatever limbs had been affected.

The room was brightly lit when he came too much later, a lot more aware than he had been earlier, it must be night and they'd turned all the lights on. The buzzing had set in, so strongly it felt like his whole body was burning. He took stock of his surroundings, he was still laid out on the bathroom floor, lying in a sticky puddle of his own blood, they mustn't have been able to manoeuvre him out of the space. There was someone in the room but his nose wouldn't tell him who it was, his ears on the other hand picked up the sound of someone entering the room.

"Any change?" Ororo asked, as she moved to the bathroom doorway.

"Nope," Jean replied boredly, "I brought some magazines up, if anything changes let me know but she may well have finally put him down for good. Enjoy your night." Jean said, hurriedly leaving the room, leaving Ororo alone to keep an eye on him. Bad, bad idea...

Over the next hour he progressively got more and more feeling back and began to gently flex his extremities, trying to be as quiet as possible. Ororo was on the couch, which wasn't in view of the bathroom but he knew she would likely hear him as soon as he finally moved, so he needed to move fast when he did, and take her out quickly. When he felt able, he slowly and silently eased himself into a sitting position, his head swam momentarily but as soon as could see straight he steadily rose to his feet.

He cast a shadow into the room from the bathroom light, though it appeared Storm was distracted as she didn't notice the change until he launched himself into the room. He had knocked her out before she could even reach halfway for the tranquilizer gun beside her.

He felt mildly bad for the fact it was Storm, she was the least offensive of the group of would be superheroes. Despite the fact he knew she'd been worshiped as a goddess in Africa she was probably the most compassionate and grounded of the bunch. But she was effectively standing between him and his mate and child right now, he'd apologize later if he got the chance. Quickly he tied her up with a shredded sheet, laying her out on the couch where she would be comfortable at least.

He was going to go straight for his pack and leave when the scent of blood reminded him, he was still soaked in it. He stripped off his shirts, throwing them onto the blood puddle on the floor - may as well keep all the blood in one place. His jeans were relatively blood free so he shucked them and threw them onto the bed to put back on, before he dove into the shower. Ignoring the initial coldness of the water, more interested in speed, he sluiced water over himself quickly to soften the flaking blood. His hair was the hardest to get clean but thankfully Marie had left one of her hair brushes behind, the stiff bristles broke up the clumps of matted hair. The water ran a murky brown for several minutes until he was satisfied he had got rid of, at the very least, the worst of the gore. He towelled himself dry as he walked back out to the bedroom stark naked, he quickly pulled back on his jeans, and grabbed the rest of his clothes from his drawer.

He pulled on shirts, socks, and his boots before he fished out his pack and crammed the rest of his clothes into it, before hefting it onto a shoulder as he lit out the service corridor, grabbing his jacket on the way. Hopefully it would be several hours yet before someone came to relieve Storm of watch duty and discovered him gone.

He managed to slip out of the mansion unseen and jogged into the woods, he didn't slow down once he got to the treeline, his night vision helping him pick out anything that might slow him down in plenty of time. Stepping out onto the side of the highway he turned north, he was less likely to be able to flag down anyone for a ride, little girls were seen as being relatively harmless but grown men were dangerous. Despite this, he tried his luck with the trucks that passed by frequently, surprised when he eventually heard the sound of a semi braking as it approached.

"Thanks bub," he said, to the driver as he climbed into the warm cab.

--

He couldn't believe it, almost a full twenty-four hours later, in almost the exact same spot as he had picked up the girl the day before, there was another figure trying to flag down a truck. Admittedly this one wasn't trying very hard, he'd probably been out here a while with no luck, he didn't even watch the trucks approach, just stuck out his thumb as he must have heard them approaching.

He wasn't in the habit of picking up hitchhikers but he'd broken that rule once already this week so what the hell. As he pulled past the male figure, and came to a stop a ways ahead of him, he briefly reconsidered but the guy looked wiped as he climbed into the cab. He was pale and breathing heavily from the effort of climbing up the ladder, and he stumbled trying to step into the cab, almost like his leg was asleep. Wherever this guy was going he was determined, like the girl the day before...

"Where to buddy?" he asked, as the wild looking, dark haired man collapsed into the passenger seat with a sigh.

"Malone," the guy replied.

"Malone?" the driver couldn't hide his surprise.

"Or as close as you're getting," the dark-haired man replied, either missing or ignoring his tone.

"You sure you don’t mean Ellenburg?" the driver asked.

Logan paused, turning to the driver, how did this guy know where he was heading?

"You're looking for a girl... with a baby?" the driver asked.

"You've seen her?" Logan queried, unsure yet whether he should be relieved or concerned.

"Depends, you her 'guardian'?" the driver asked, the barely disguised sneer in his voice telling Logan that the 'guardian' she had told this guy about was not a nice person.

"No, I helped her escape, now I need to catch up to her, she's... she's supposed to be waiting for me in Ellenburg, so we can get over the border before they catch up to us," Logan admitted.

"Why not just get rides over the border and meet on the other side?" the driver asked confused.

"Because neither of us have ID," Logan replied pointedly.

The driver paused, "Shit, you're going to try and walk over the border, with a baby, and no offence but you don't look so crash hot yourself."

Logan huffed a laugh, before leaning down and digging through his pack for some ration packs, "Some food and a few hours’ sleep and I'll be good to go, it's not ideal but we'll make it work, it has to work."

"You're the baby's father?" the driver asked, at Logan's halting affirmative nod he continued. "Is what the girl said true, are they really trying to sell the baby?"

"High level human trafficking, she wouldn't be going anywhere good," Logan replied, there really wasn't any other way to describe it. The driver paled, before letting out a curse. "You didn't tell me where you saw her," Logan reminded the driver as he swallowed a mouthful of protein bar.

"Picked her up about where I picked you up in the wee hours of yesterday morning, dropped her at Ellenberg about nine am," the driver told him.

Logan nodded, relieved that it sounded like she'd at least had an uneventful trip. "How was she?" he couldn't help but ask.

"She was okay, obviously worried but she got a decent amount of sleep and I bought her breakfast when I unloaded in Malone. The baby was good too, real quiet little thing, wish my kid was that quiet and well behaved sometimes," the driver added with a chuckle.

"Thank you, for helping her out," Logan said, suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore, the mouthful of protein bar he had to force down was like sawdust in his mouth. He couldn't help but feel like he had failed Marie, sending her off on her own, alone, with a baby, leaving her reliant on strangers.

"It was no problem man, glad I could help, seems like the three of you could use a helping hand. I'll drop you the same place I dropped her, in the meantime, bunk's free, go get yourself some sleep, you need it."

With a chuckle Logan followed the guys suggestion, surprised to pick up a hint of Marie's scent. It wasn't on the bed but it was on one of the blankets, she must have used the blanket when she was sleeping the day before. He pulled the blanket around him, to catch as much of Marie's scent as he could before he drifted off to sleep.

Around eight the next morning Logan woke as the truck pulled into a depot. The driver instructed him to stay in the cab and went to sign in for unloading. As forklifts hummed around the truck, removing some of the load, and rebalancing the rest. Logan tried to tamp down on the restless feeling that flowed through him, He was so much closer to Marie, but still a good hour away.

When the driver returned, he had two bags of greasy, truck stop breakfast, which the two men scarfed down, while waiting for the all clear to pull out of the depot. It wasn't long before they left Malone behind and turned east. As they approached the town, he was heading for Logan secured his pack, ready to go the minute the driver stopped.

When the truck pulled to a stop in town Logan paused to shake the driver’s hand, he didn't have any cash so all he could offer the guy was his thanks. "Not a problem buddy, you just go find her, you keep taking care of both of them," the driver replied, as Logan climbed out of the cab.

"Will do," Logan assured him, offering a wave as the truck pulled away again, getting caught in school time traffic as he continued on his way.

Hoisting his pack again Logan discretely scented the area, it was about nine so Marie would probably be getting, or recently have gotten herself breakfast. A diner would be the best place to catch a scent that would lead him back to wherever she was staying. Unfortunately, it didn't look like this town had one.

He headed toward a corner store that was close by, scanning through the front window. Marie had been here but not for long and she wasn't here anymore, testing the air for a scent trail he spotted a couple of motels about a hundred meters down the road. Hopefully she was in one of those.

Scanning the row of units as he wandered down, trying to look like he was meant to be there, he picked up Marie's scent, strongly, from one door. He knocked on the door, stepping back so Marie could see him clearly from whichever point she used to check to see who was outside. A shadow passed near the corner of the curtain, before the door was hurriedly unlocked, several bolts and a chain being unfastened before the door flew open and Marie launched herself into his arms.

"Oh God Logan, I've been so worried, are you okay?" she demanded, running her hands over him as if to make certain he was really standing in front of her. Before he got a chance to reply, she grabbed him and dragged him inside, gently shutting the door behind him.

Marie's breakfast was on the small table in the corner, and Niamh was fast asleep in her little bassinet on top of the dresser. Logan moved over to her, running a finger over her tiny chubby cheek, as Marie came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. He hung his head as relief swept over him - he had found them, they were safe.

Pulling Marie around into his arms he collapsed onto the bed as his legs finally gave way, he hugged her tightly as she cried onto his shoulder. He had never cried personally, as far as he could remember, but even he was damn close, emotion so thick he was almost choking on it left him speechless for several minutes.

"How did you get away?" Marie eventually asked quietly. She still hadn't released her hold him, sitting on his lap, arms around him, face buried in his shirt.

"Had to wait until my legs worked again, they mustn't have been able to, or bothered to, move me out of the bathroom. They were doing a watch detail, overnight, watcher got distracted and I got the jump on them. Got out of there as fast as I could," he replied, not making any move to release her as he stood and carried her back to the table and her breakfast.

"Come on, you need to eat up, and then get some sleep, we'll head out tonight, after midnight, it's about eight miles to the border from here and we're going to have to hike it bush style, we'll be lucky to make the border in three hours so I need you well rested," he told her as her began to feed her.

"You need it more than I do Logan," Marie tried to object as she tried to redirect the food to him.

"I'll get my own later," Logan argued, pushing back. Marie gave in with a sigh and a smile, and got back to eating. When Niamh began to grizzle, she moved off Logan's lap, so he could go and see to her while she ate. Her smile got brighter as she watched Logan fawn over his daughter.

He was satisfied Marie was eating, so he lay down on the bed instead of returning to the table, laying Niamh down in front of him so he could talk to her. He hadn't really had a chance yet to do more than watch her sleep or eat, so it was a good change to talk to her as she watched him, before she yawned sleepily and reached for him. He moved closer to her until her tiny fingers scratched at his beard, before long she lost interest, and began to suck on her tiny clenched fists.

Marie moved over when she finished eating and lay down beside them, just watching daddy bond with his little girl. She couldn't help but think how lucky she was, despite the circumstances they currently found themselves in. Logan was not only hot, and an insanely talented lover, but he was also shaping up to be a fantastic dad.

"Hey mommy, come here," Logan said to her with a grin as he sat up, tugging her in to sit between his legs so she could feed the hungry infant while he held them both. He spent the next twenty minutes stroking Niamh's hair or hand -until she grabbed hold of his finger- and pressing soft kisses against Marie's neck and shoulder.

Once baby was fed, Logan burped her before wrapping her up, how Marie had showed him, and rocked her to sleep, before setting her down in the bassinet. He suggested to Marie that they go to sleep now too but she refused until he had finally had something substantial to eat. They argued about who would go get food, Logan didn't want Marie to go alone but he also didn't want to leave her behind alone.

Niamh grizzled, leading Marie to finally whisper as she glared at him, "For God's sake will you go already, we just hitchhiked 300 miles alone, we'll be fine locked in this room for half an hour." She was gently rocking the bassinet to settle baby again as he snuck out of the room, suitably chastised.

That girl could be scary when she was pissed, he thought to himself with a chuckle.

"Come on babe, rise and shine, we gotta get moving," Logan was saying, as he jostled her gently out of sleep.

"What's the time?" Marie asked, stretching and yawning. Despite the fact they had spent most of the day alternating between sleeping and eating, she still didn't feel like dragging herself out of her nice warm bed.

Niamh was placed into her arms as Logan replied, "Bang on midnight, feed her as quick as you can, then we can load her into the carrier to go back to sleep." As Marie fed baby he moved around the room, collecting and repacking things that had been removed from their packs. Once baby was fed, he changed her diaper, dressed her, added her snowsuit, and buckled her into the carrier. When Marie was finished in the bathroom, he helped her put on the baby carrier, adding her jacket on top again, so she could zip baby up inside if it got too cold, and helped her with her pack.

He carried his own pack out but left it with Marie, hidden in the shadows, while he went to return the key to the office. The office was closed, as it was well past small-town check in time, but he slid the key and some extra cash under the door. Heading back to Marie he collected his pack, chuckling at her when she asked what the heck he had in there; apparently her estimation of how much a ton weighed was way off.

Logan led the way north, he was familiar, though how he didn't know, with this type of woodland. Once they got out of town and away from the smaller roads, he knew he would have to use the claws to hack through impenetrable undergrowth at some point.

As they closed in on three am he decided they were making okay time. Despite her special cargo Marie was going well, they'd been slowed down having to cross several large creeks. Thankfully none had been deeper than Logan's waist but they were difficult to get Marie across; with Niamh in the front pack, he hadn't been able to piggy back or fireman’s lift her across, and she couldn't wade across herself because he didn't want her, or more importantly Niamh, getting wet. After much contorting, huffing, and giggling, Marie managed to get across all the creeks with nothing worse than a wet butt and a damp sock, which squished annoyingly inside her boot as they walked.

He estimated they were probably about half a mile from the border when he heard a sound that struck fear into him. Without a sound he whirled around, clamped a hand over Marie's mouth, and guided her back into a thicker patch of brush, turning once he was sure she got the hint not to make and sound. He positioned himself between Marie and the sound he had heard, she would be completely hidden behind his back.

The sound of booted feet, clinking metal, and the stink of high-quality gunpowder and oil grew steadily closer. He could pick out at least eight individuals by sound, possibly two more by scent, he could probably take them, if he had to. He could tell by the way they were walking, trying to disguise their footfalls that they were trained, probably military. There wasn’t a military base or training area anywhere around here as far as he had been able to tell, which led him to the chilling conclusion that they were here looking for them.

Had he missed something and Xavier had managed to track them, though, the guy was a telepath so he'd probably been able to track them loosely anyway. What else would put the very people they were trying to get away from right in their path?

The footsteps were so close now that if it wasn't for the trees around them Logan knew he would be able to see them. Then the footsteps ceased, before they slowly began to circle around them as the squad spread out to their left and right; he knew they were caught. He briefly considered telling Marie to run but if she ran, they would likely shoot at her, and that was not a risk he was willing to take.

"Wolverine," a crisp, curt voice spoke out of the darkness. "We know you're there, come out, slowly and quietly, and we won't be forced to shoot the girl." Logan looked back at Marie, he could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew they were caught, she still gestured to him that she was willing to run. "Attempt to flee and we will gun you down like the dog you are, you will heal my boy but she won't, will she?" The voice asked mockingly. He knew that voice, he didn't know from where or when but he remembered it clearly, and he knew this guy wasn't bluffing, he wouldn't think twice about killing Marie.

Gesturing for Marie to stay he dropped his pack and stepped out of the brush, he could count six men in a semi-circle around him, that meant possibly four more already out of sight, probably sneaking around behind them. "Who are you? And what do you want?" he asked the voice. The voice turned out to belong to a pudgy General, probably in his early sixties. What he was doing in the field, especially if this was a simple recovery mission, was a mystery to Logan.

"You don't remember me? That's a shame, we had so many good times together, but not to fear, it's time to put you back where you belong, and that is what I am here to ensure," the General said, a sadistic smile on his face.

Two of the soldiers flanking the general stepped forward with an odd-looking metal contraption, they attempted to grab hold of Logan's arms but he threw them off easily, shooting six wickedly sharp blades out to fend them off from advancing again. A muffled feminine squeak from behind him alerted him to the position of three more soldiers. They stepped out of the brush, two armed soldiers flanking a third, who had released his grasp on his weapon in favour of a firm grip on Marie's arms.

A deep, rumbling growl reverberated through the wood as Logan turned his attention on the man... threatening his mate? This man was familiar too, though not in a bad way like the general, he had known this man, at some point in the great unknown 'before', known him well. His mind was confused, his subconscious telling him he could trust this man while his brain pointed out he was holding his mate hostage.

A split second too late he picked up movement from one of the other soldiers to his right as a bullet, that released an arc of blue light as an electrical pulse surged through the muscles of his right leg, hit him, knocking his leg out from under him. His knee hit the ground as his growl was interrupted by a grunt of pain. Marie started toward him but was firmly held in place by the soldier who had distracted him.

He was about to jump to his feet and start toward Marie when the General spoke again. "What a pretty girl, it would be a shame if we had to shoot her to get you to behave. The left foot sounds like a good place to start, then six inches higher every time you resist." Logan's growl grew in volume as the animal inside of him rebelled at the stalemate he found himself trapped in. "Kill any of my men however... well, she doesn't need to be pretty for what we need her for," the general added, as one of the soldiers pulled out a switchblade.

He looked up at Marie, knowing he had no choice, they had him because they had her, and he couldn't let them hurt her. Marie knew the minute their eyes met what he had decided, and she shook her head. "No, no Logan, get out of here," she whispered desperately, if he was free, he could come back for her, 'what was left of her', her brain helpfully added.

The two soldiers stepped forward again, the odd metal contraption was a complicated cuffing mechanism that secured Logan's arms, and stopped him releasing his claws. He let them fit the cuffs as he watched the two soldiers flanking Marie stand, with guns at the ready to shoot her if he so much as blinked the wrong way, he just hoped to god they didn't decide to shoot her anyway once he was secured. His subconscious continued to reassure him, she would be okay with the man currently holding her.

Once he was cuffed, and gagged, he was dragged back to his feet, the General approached then, not toward Logan, instead he approached Marie. He gave her a critical once over before pulling open her zipped-up jacket to reveal the baby carrier, folding back the head rest to reveal the soft fuzzy head of hair within. He chuckled darkly. "It seems we are ahead of schedule but you always were an overachiever Wolverine. The girl will not be any use for a few months at least in the circumstances, she is yours to do with as you please in the meantime Victor," he addressed the man holding Marie.

The General turned and walked back through the brush in the direction he and his men had come, ignoring Wolverine's furious snarl as he attempted to wrench his arms out of the grip of the soldiers now flanking him. The click of guns being cocked on Marie immediately ceased his struggle, though the ominous snarl continued unabated. With amused chuckles the soldiers moved their captives in the same direction, a fourth soldier appearing out of the brush with Logan's pack - they weren't leaving any trace of the pair behind.

A large, military troop-carrying helicopter was in a clearing not too far away. Leading Logan to believe that these men had not just been given their location but their planned route, definitely Xavier. They had to have been waiting here for hours, otherwise he would have heard the helicopter. He was loaded into the chopper, literally tied to a wall, though he was relieved to note Marie was treated a lot better. The guy the general had named Victor - even the guy’s name was familiar - was surprisingly gentle as he removed Marie's pack, he zipped her jacket mostly up around the baby, before guiding her to a seat and adjusting the flight harness to fit Marie without hurting baby.

Niamh was grizzling now, likely upset by her mother’s racing heartbeat. Marie tried her best to shush her without drawing attention to herself but as the helicopter began to roar to life, Niamh began to scream along with the engine. Marie looked worried, and about ready to cry herself, it was the first time the little girl had really let rip, she had obviously been saving her lung capacity just for now. Victor came to the rescue again, handing Marie a set of soft earmuffs, Logan could just make out his voice telling her to cover baby's ears and feed her.

It took some awkward shifting but Marie eventually had Niamh's ears, in fact, most of her head, covered with the earmuffs, and a nipple freed. She had to wriggle Niamh around to get her into the right position to be able to suckle.

"Goddamn! Can someone explain to me why the hairy one's the only one that gets to play with tits over here," one of the soldiers asked, his eyes glued to Marie's exposed breast, what little of it he could see at least. Both Wolverine, and the soldier in question, growled audibly at him, while the rest of the soldiers laughed.

The helicopter landed about an hour later. Logan tried to drag his attention off Marie enough to take in their new surroundings, charting what he could see of the outside, and building a mental map as they were led into the bunker. He mentally cursed when he realised, they were underground, the bunker extending back deep into the hillside, that would mean they could only get out through a designated exit.

They got to a junction in the hall and Marie was directed to the left, toward the scent of antiseptic and blood, he however was shoved straight ahead. As soon as Marie realised, they were trying to separate them she began to struggle, calling out to him in desperation. He finally managed to spit the gag out. "It's alright, I'll find you," he called out to her, earning himself a gun butt to the head. It had the desired effect; though she was still being obstructive, Marie calmed some, and let herself be led away.

Any hopes he had had of being able to escape before they got him to a cell were dashed when all nine of the soldiers followed him, leaving only the single soldier who was holding Marie, and the General, to continue toward the labs. He noted as they walked deeper into the base that his escape would be even more hindered by the fact that, to get out of the cell block, meant passing right by the barracks.

Before he was shoved into a dark, damp, barren, concrete cell the cuffs that secured him were modified. The cuffs covering his hands were left but they were removed from the base plate that held his hands together, allowing his arms to move independently. One guard took a sadistic amount of pleasure in shooting him several times with the electrically charged bullets during this process, before he was roughly shoved into the cell, the door locking behind him with a sharp click.

Once his ears stopped ringing from the shot to his shoulder he lay still on the floor and listened, trying to pick up on the movements of the guards, or better yet, get some clue as to how far away Marie was.

--

Marie felt her heart sink even further as Logan was hauled away one way and she was manhandled in the other direction. She was trying to make progress as difficult as possible for the soldier who had hold of her but it didn't seem to bother him at all.

The guy in charge led them to a medical room of some sort, where doctors were putting the finishing touches on what appeared to be an incubator. They must have been told they were bringing a baby in.

She was instructed to hand over the baby, had she even wanted to that wasn't possible in her current position, the baby carrier was under her jacket which was currently being held in place by the guy holding her. The General realised this quickly enough, and directed the soldier to remove the baby. Her jacket was quickly stripped off, and she felt him one handed undo the clips for the baby carrier. Wrapping her arms around Niamh to hold her in place Marie refused to release her grip, if they wanted her baby, they could pry her from her cold dead hands.

A sidearm was suddenly pressed up against the back of Niamh's head, "We can make another baby if we have to," the General warned.

The soldier, who had been behind her, stepped around in front of her, as she nervously glanced between the gun and the incubator, knocking the gun away as he wrapped an arm around Niamh. "Don't even think it, she'll be fine," he whispered, barely audibly, his comment clearly only meant to be heard by her, as he pried her arms off her daughter.

Marie tried to follow him across the room just as several more soldiers entered, one grabbing hold of her and holding her back as she watched the first soldier remove Niamh from her carrier and place her on the examination table in front of the doctors.

"Oh..." the doctor said, as she observed the infant, before turning to Marie, "Has it seen a doctor yet?"

"No, *she* hasn't, I'll give you one guess why," Marie glared at the doctor. The soldier holding her back quickly smacked her in the back of the head, he was promptly punched hard by her personal bodyguard, losing his grip on Marie as he hit the floor. The original soldier, Victor, the commander had called him, glared at her and told her to watch her mouth, as he returned to his post beside her.

The General turned to them and addressed her captor, "You're dismissed Victor, she is released to your charge, keep her under control, and away from Wolverine." He dismissed them but it wasn't until Victor began leading her out of the room that she realised, they were leaving Niamh behind!

"No! My baby, I'm not going without my baby!" Her struggles increased, to the point she almost managed to wriggle out of the grasp of the substantially larger man. His hand locked around her wrist and she lashed out, kicking at him as hard as she could. She knew she'd made contact with something, delicate, when he grunted in pain. It wasn't enough for him to release her though, instead he yanked her toward him and grumbled that 'the bitch is shaping up to be more trouble than she's worth', as he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

In frustration, Marie did the only thing she could and began to thrash and scream, pounding on the solid back in front of her and attempting to kick him again, until he grabbed hold of her ankles. Her screams attracted plenty of attention, everyone plainly hearing the enraged roar from deep in the bowels of the complex. Logan had heard her. Apparently, the soldiers were confident enough in whatever was holding Logan to not be concerned, and she was quickly carried back down the hall, in the direction they had previously come before.

She tried to focus on her surroundings but the distraction of the cries of her baby, from the direction of the lab, made it almost impossible for her to concentrate. Eventually she heard a heavy door slam, and she was gently set down on her feet.

She immediately lashed out at the man in front of her, keen to get away from him. It had been clear from the General's tone that this guy wasn't just expected to 'look after her', she didn't want to hang around to find out what else he was allowed to do to her. He didn't try to hit back at her as she had been expecting, instead he pulled her towards him, wrapping his thick muscled arms around her, and began to murmur soothingly as she continued to struggle.

After a few minutes of useless resistance Marie stopped fighting, she was tired and she was scared, and they'd taken her baby, she just wanted to curl up on the floor and cry until Logan came and made everything better. She slowly became aware of the words that were being said to her.

"It's alright kid, everything's gonna be okay, I'm not gonna hurt you, and I won't let them hurt you either, you don't have to fight in here, you're safe-"

"Safe!? With the people who kidnapped me, the people working with the guy who's been holding me hostage for months! Do you even know the meaning of the word!?" Marie snapped, anger quickly overpowering her devastation.

"I see you're feeling a little better, calmed down some. You're safe, in this room, and with me, I promise, I won't let anyone hurt you, and I'll have you and Jimmy outta here in no time -" the soldier started.

"Jimmy? Who's Jimmy?" Marie asked confused.

"The guy they brought you in with, your baby daddy, his birth name is James, I've called him Jimmy since about the day he was born though," Victor replied with a grin, slowly releasing his grip on the girl now that she wasn't so hell bent on busting his balls. "What name do you know him by?" he asked, curious to see just how much of his life before his uncharacteristic disappearance that he remembered.

"Logan," the girl replied, "You've known him since he was born? ... Why would you help these fuckers catch him then!?" she demanded.

"Jimmy's my brother, he disappeared about nine years ago, completely out of the blue, one minute he was there, the next he wasn't, it took me six years to track him back to this outfit, and then the last three to work my way up the inside to get close enough to the top to find out what was going on. I learned Jimmy was at Xavier's when X made contact a few months back saying he'd bonded with a female from the guys freakshow he calls a school - I'll let you in on a little secret, it's a goddamn harvester for useful mutations for fuckers like these guys.

"I considered blowing out of here and going straight to collect him from Xavier's but they kept talking about transferring him back here, I didn't want to blow my cover in case they transferred him before I could get to him but X kept stalling. When you two lit out of the Institute, X had to come clean and say he'd lost you both and come up with a location for recovery before you got too far away. Now I've gotta get both of you out of here, and the baby complicates things even more," he explained.

His comment about the baby buffeted her out of control emotions again and she finally began to sob uncontrollably, her legs buckled as she repeated a mantra of 'Oh god my baby, they have my baby'. Victor picked her up gently and sat down on the bed holding her. "I'll get your baby out of here, I promise, we'll all get out of here, and you won't have to worry about these fuckers ever again, not any of them, me and Ji-Logan will take care of them."

"What are they going to do to her?" Marie asked, almost hyperventilating at the thought of the doctors in the lab experimenting on her child. Aside from acknowledging the existence of the metal inside him, Logan had never elaborated much on what happened in the lab, that in and of itself told her whatever it was it was bad.

"At this stage it will just be testing, offspring is what they want from him so she's safe, for now at least, they'll test her DNA to see if she's carrying the same mutations probably, I don't know what your mutation is so if baby's taken after you instead... they might not want that mutation, in which case she's in trouble." As he admitted just how precarious the situation was, he knew he was in trouble. He'd never considered the possibility of having to smuggle out a baby, hell, Xavier had only told them Wolverine was involved with the girl a few months ago, a baby shouldn't have been born so quickly.

"How long have you and J-Logan been together?" he asked curiously.

The girl blushed but grinned impishly, "About seven and a half months," she admitted.

"Baby was early then?" he said, surprised and concerned. That explained why the thing was so tiny at least.

"Yeah, we didn't even know I was pregnant until 'surprise', out pops baby," the girl chuckled as she wiped away her tears. He offered her a box of tissues so she could blow her nose; when she was finally presentable again, red rimmed eyes aside, she asked, "So, when do we bust out of here, and what do we do in the meantime?"

"I recommend you sleep, or if you want there's some books over there, I'm not sure if they're still going to want you to feed the baby so there might be that. As for when, we wait for the opportune moment, they'll likely be hyper alert for the first few days, expecting Wolverine to escape, he's not going to be escaping though, not without help from the outside, which will be us, but it has to be when they're least expecting it, and it has to be when the head honcho is present, we need to cut the head off this beast before it gets any bigger."

"He really is your brother?" Marie asked, still not one hundred percent certain she believed him. Victor confirmed again that he was. "And, your name's Victor?" she added.

"Uh, not exactly, that one started as an inside joke between me and Jimmy, my birth name is Connor Logan, over the years we've both gone by many aliases, my current one is Victor Creed, code name Sabertooth," he replied.

"Why do use aliases?" she asked confused.

"After a hundred years or so people start to get suspicious when you don't age, if you're using the same name it's not so easy to convince people that they're probably remembering an ancestor, so we usually switch identities every few decades. I used the name Victor in this case because I was hoping Jimmy would remember, I don't know if he did though, maybe it sparked something, I thought I saw a flash of recognition..."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Victor went to answer it, after a brief conversation he closed the door and returned with a breast pump in hand. "They want your milk for the baby," he said, as he set it down on the desk in the corner of the small room.

"So, I won't even get to see her?" Marie realised, turning her mind back to the new development.

"Sorry sweetheart, not for a little while, keep up with taking milk on your usual feeding pattern so your supply doesn't get confused, you don't want your milk to dry up," he pointed out. "Now, I have to get back to work, I'm going to leave you locked in here, I've got the only key so no one else can get in but I'll come back and check on you regularly okay?" She nodded, resigning herself to the confinement; no wonder Logan had preferred the Institute, even without crazy mutant experiments and in the 'nice' quarters this place was depressing.

Taking in more of the room Marie shuddered at the cell like feel. The room was concrete, the door metal, there was a double bed in one corner, a desk with a desk chair in another, the door in the third corner, and in the fourth there was a toilet, with a sink over the cistern, and a small mirror on the wall behind.

Victor returned every few hours, partly to check on her and partly to collect milk to take to the lab for Niamh. It was about ten when he finally turned in for the night, he assured her baby was doing okay, though they were feeding her the expressed milk by a stomach tube because she refused to accept a bottle.

He had seen where they were keeping Logan too, he had apparently been less than cooperative all day, threats against Marie weren't working to control him anymore, not when they refused to let him see her or update him on her condition anyway. He'd been severely beaten at one point, and had managed to get the gauntlets off that they'd fitted him with - not that they had made much difference; he'd managed to kill two guards just from the sheer force he could pack into a metal armoured punch.

When he turned in for the night, he had brought an extra bed roll, leaving her to the bed she was already dozing on, he set himself up on the floor. It was an hour or so later, after he had turned the lights out that he picked up a flood of fresh tears from the girl. "You okay?" he asked softly into the dark.

"No," she replied with a sniffle, "I can't sleep, I... will you come up here and share the bed, I just - I'm not used to sleeping alone and..." she trailed off, surprised that even after everything that had happened she still found herself trusting this guy.

"... Sure, I can do that," he replied eventually, rolling to his feet, "Scoot over." He climbed into bed behind her, it was a tight fit but good enough.

"Be careful of my skin, it doesn't work on Logan for some reason but it works on everyone else as far as I know, so don't touch it, just in case," she said, as he settled an arm across her waist.

"Is that your mutation, your skin?" he asked. "What exactly does it do?" he queried when she confirmed.

"Not sure exactly, sucks in energy and thoughts, and mutations if the person who I touch is a mutant," the girl replied.

"Permanently?" he asked, "What happens to the person you touch?"

"Not really permanently, and I can kill someone if I hold on long enough, at the very least I knock them out, sometimes they'll end up in a coma for a while."

"That's actually pretty impressive," Victor replied with a chuckle, "No touching skin it is then."

They settled in to sleep but the girl was obviously still unsettled, when he asked her, she replied almost shyly. "Sorry, nothing personal, you just don't feel like Logan, it's better than being alone though." Eventually she drifted off to a light sleep.

The next morning Victor woke early to get the nights milk to the lab for the baby before heading to the mess. He noticed several oddly intrigued looks from the rest of the alpha squad, he knew none of them liked him, mainly because he was always given the 'good' assignments by Stryker, but he also knew Stryker never completely trusted anyone and a couple of them were under separate orders to keep an eye on him.

"Have fun last night?" The ever-irritating Nelson asked with a smirk. The guy was an arrogant prick, truth was if the guy didn't know his way around a gun, he would be completely useless.

"Had to get a little, creative, but all in all maybe it was worth it after all," he leered cryptically. He managed to suppress the urge to gag, not that the girl was bad looking, hell, if she was unattached, he'd have her in a second, willingly of course, but this was his brothers mate he was talking about.

It was lunch when the big breakthrough happened, he'd just delivered Marie her lunch and was collecting the milk when there was a knock on the door.

"Stryker's called the alpha squad to the main lab," he was instructed. With a nod he stepped through the door to follow his team mate. "He wants the girl brought too."

Victor paused, looking back around the door toward Marie who had paused in her eating to listen to the conversation. "Give me ten minutes to get her… presentable," he replied, at his teammates nod he began to close the door when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, take this back with you, it's a little late but the doctors need it for the kid," the guy glared but took the bag of milk. That should get rid of him and make sure he didn't hang around and possibly follow him.

Once Victor was sure he was gone he turned to Marie who demanded to know what was going on. "The opportune moment just presented itself," he replied with a grin, as he pulled out a control device from his pocket. Hitting a command, he hoped the loop tapes he'd set up for the security cameras worked, or this would be a short escape attempt. With that done he grabbed Marie's gloved hand and pulled her down the hallway deeper into the base.

"Wait here," he instructed, as he stepped into the hall that housed the cells. He wasn't at all surprised to find his brother trying to jimmy the door hinge with a claw. "That won't work but this on the other hand," he slid a key into the lock, and twisted, feeling the bolt slide away, "Hey what do you know, it was the right key," he added relieved.

The guy just stood there glaring at him uncertainly, he hadn't attacked him like he had everyone else so there must be some degree of recognition there, he clearly just wasn't sure whether to trust him. "Come on Logan, hurry up," the girl called softly from down the hall.

"Marie?!" he exclaimed, shoving his way past Victor to get out of the cell. He was down the hall, and had the girl in his arms, in a second.

"This is sweet and all but we don't have time, we need to get to the lab and get the baby before they come looking for us," Victor told Marie.

"You told them to give us ten minutes?" Marie replied confused.

"That means in eight minutes they're gonna be back at my quarters, only, we ain't gonna be there, so we need to beat them to leaving the lab, let's move," Victor explained as he began the trek back toward the lab.

"Why the hell didn't you get baby first?" Logan demanded.

"Because she's in a room packed full of guys with guns and I need your help to take them all out quickly so neither of your girls get hurt," Victor replied, not even bothering to look at him as he said it.

He pulled them up a minute later. "You wait here, when you hear the door close make your move, it's the only door on the left, will probably have two dead guys on guard, he advised Logan, to Marie he said, "You, follow right behind me, keep your head down, hair over your face, try to act like you're hiding, and don't speak unless I tell you to, okay?" At the girls nod of understanding he stepped around the corner, she was hot on his heels like he said. Thankfully Logan stayed put.

"Sir," the two guards greeted, one pulling out a key card. As he turned to the card slot by the door Victor attacked, breaking the neck of the first guard and moving on to the second before he could register the movement. He didn't hear the first body hit the floor and turned around to find Marie gently lowering it to the floor as he had done to the second. He grinned at her quick thinking; he didn't think those inside would have heard a body drop but better to be safe than sorry.

He swiped the key card, leaving the card in the slot for Logan, and entered the room with Marie hot on his heels as soon as the door unlocked.

She couldn't help the gasp as she spotted her baby on the other side of the room, lying naked inside an incubator, tubes and wires running all over her monitoring her vital signs. Victor grabbed hold of her arm when she tried to dart forward, and growled to remind Marie of his instructions, these people thought he was mistreating her so she had to play her part. She shrank back, pretending to hide behind her hair, which provided an excellent curtain for her to watch the room without anyone else being aware she was.

Several of the guards sniggered at her as Victor shut the door, all Marie heard was the resounding click which she knew meant a very pissed off Wolverine was about to join them. Victor shoved her into the room as he moved them away from the door, moving toward the General, he must be Stryker.

Seconds later the door exploded open as Logan burst into the room, claws drawn. The occupants of the room all turned their weapons on him but for those closest to him it was already too late. Victor shoved her again, this time toward the incubator. She didn't need to be told twice. Running to her baby she opened the incubator and began disconnecting all the wires from the baby. Very gently she removed the needles in her tiny arm, before grabbing a nearby pair of scissors to cut away the splints weighing her arms down. The feeding tube was the only thing left, and she didn't know how to remove it.

Looking around the room frantically, she spied a doctor trying to hide behind an EKG machine. Marie dragged her out by her hair and demanded she disconnect the tube, which she began doing before a loud crash behind them caused the woman to scream and attempt to hide again. Marie didn't waste a second, grabbing a dropped gun off the floor, she held it to the woman’s head, as she demanded again that she disconnect the tube. Blubbering and sobbing the doctor quickly disconnected the tube, the second it was done Marie dropped the gun and shoved her out of the way, absently noting that Logan was waiting for her with claws drawn.

She quickly dressed Niamh, finding all her clothes neatly folded on a shelf under the incubator, along with the baby carrier. Once she was dressed and buckled into the carrier Marie put her on, Logan appearing out of nowhere to do up the shoulder clip for her. She was concerned about baby being so still and quiet, unusually so, so she grabbed the doctor’s notes as Logan pulled her out of the room. She barely had time to register the carnage he and Victor had wrought on the room - everyone was dead, the room saturated in a generous coating of blood.

Victor was waiting at the door, with a couple of damp towels for them both to clean their boots of blood before they left, so they didn't leave a trail of bloody footprints for anyone else to follow. As he led them out, he paused, ducking into a storage closet, returning a moment later with both of their packs.

They made a beeline for the nearest exit, Logan and Victor taking point and wiping out everyone they came across, not a single person was left alive. Marie was feeling a little vulnerable trailing them, essentially alone, Logan must have noticed as he swiped a sidearm off a body, handing it to her with instruction to use it only if necessary; they didn't want to attract undue attention with gunshots.

They were out of the base and more than halfway toward the treeline when an alarm began to sound behind them. Logan grabbed her hand and they ran for the trees, Victor lagged behind but when they paused to look back, he waved them on. Seconds later a massive explosion rocked the ground, almost knocking Marie off her feet as debris began raining down around them. Logan pulled her toward him, sheltering her between his own body and a tree so nothing hit her.

A few minutes later, once the fall of debris had petered out, Victor asked amused, "You two done?"

"You could have warned us," Logan replied, once he'd checked Marie was okay, she was busy trying to remove the carrier now that Niamh was crying loudly.

Victor suggested they leave the area quickly as he shouldered Marie's pack, leaving Logan his. Both of them fell in step with him but half an hour later Marie stopped them.

"I have to feed her, now," she said looking around for somewhere to sit down.

Logan saw her concern, and pulled her down into his lap behind a fallen tree, while Victor took watch. "What's wrong Marie?" he asked, as she hurried to free a breast for baby.

"I don't know, she's too ... quiet, like - I can't explain it, she's just not herself," Marie replied worriedly, "I stuffed the doctors notes in that pocket, what do they sa-" Marie broke off with a gasp, as Niamh suddenly sniffed the air before clamping her mouth onto her nipple, and began to suck strongly. The thin tendrils of blue that snaked across Marie's skin temporarily left her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"What was that?" Logan asked, seeing recognition flash across Marie's face.

"That - that's what my mutation does, she's feeding off me, literally, she’s absorbing energy off me as she feeds... I think," Marie explained, "What do the notes say?" she asked, nodding to the notes Logan had withdrawn from his pack.

"Her vitals dropped after about twelve hours... they tried several fixes... then she started regurgitating milk... they inserted the feeding tube and it all just went straight through... looks like they thought the same as you, that she might need stimulation from your mutation. Holy shit… they know everything about you, Xavier fucking sold you out..." Logan growled furiously, as he threw the notes back in the direction if his pack.

As he sat with the two of them, trying to calm down, he didn't notice he was absently stroking Niamh's tiny bare hand, until she screwed up her nose and began to cry, drooling milk everywhere. In surprise, thinking he'd accidentally hurt her, he pulled his hand away from her. Immediately she ceased crying, but looked him directly in the eye, as she slowly began to suckle again. He'd calmed down immediately when she cried so he tried again to touch her, thinking about nothing but how cute she looked. Niamh almost immediately cracked a smile, drooling more milk.

"Babe, she's getting more than just energy," Logan replied with a chuckle, as Niamh went back to hungrily feeding. "You okay?" he asked, as he turned to Marie and noticed her thoughtful frown.

"Her mutation is already active, that's not supposed to happen, what if it gets stronger, and she can never control it?" Marie asked, a sadness in her tone that he knew was linked to her own inability to control her mutation.

"At least she'll have us baby, but she seems to have it under control to a degree," Logan tried to assure her. She shrugged, resolving that for now all was well, they could worry about the rest at a later date.

Four hours later they walked out of the woods onto a highway, a nearby road sign directed them the nearest town a further mile away. They continued down the highway, just inside the treeline until they came across a motel on the outskirts of the small town they approached. Victor booked a two bed room while the other two stayed out of sight, he went directly to the room. Five minutes later Marie entered. Logan joined them twenty minutes after that, with food from the nearby diner.

Niamh was asleep in the bassinet, Marie was in the shower, and Victor was pacing the room, apparently waiting for him.

"Victor, right?" Logan asked as he set down the food, pausing to check on baby before he moved to sit down on the nearest bed, Victor mimicking his stance on the opposite bed. It was probably time they were properly introduced.

"Yes and no, it's complicated for us. At the moment I go by the alias Victor Creed, my birth name is Connor Logan, I'm your brother," he informed him.

"So, Logan *is* my last name," Logan said.

"For you that one's even more complicated, by blood, yeah, you're a Logan, however, our mother died when you were born, the same night the mistress of the estate delivered a still born baby. Midwife took it on herself to swap the babies. You were given the name James Howlett at birth. Our father didn't handle losing his wife, and what he believed to be his daughter, very well, turned to drinking and kinda became a piece of shit. When your mutation began to manifest, he realised you were like me, and he put two and two together. Honestly didn't end well for anyone and me and you ended up lighting out. For a long time, it was just the two of us, drifting, fighting, fucking, you name it we did it."

"How did I end up in the lab - the first time?" Logan asked.

"After 'nam, we were transferred to a team run by then Major William Stryker, it was a team of mostly mutants, they'd started popping up more often by then, not as rare as we once were, and they correctly pegged as mutants. So that's how Stryker knew about us. Eventually you became disillusioned with the unit Stryker was running, it wasn't all above board if you catch my drift, you left, left the military, changed your name, disappeared, I did the same a couple of years later. Seems Stryker didn't forget about you though, when he had a project he wanted to use you on he brought you back in, involuntarily."

As Logan processed the information he was being given he was distracted by the sound of the shower shutting off. An image of a naked wet Marie flashed through his mind, but he quickly shoved it aside, it hadn't even been a week since she gave birth, he wasn't gonna harass her for sex.

They continued to talk until Marie, clean, dry, and dressed, emerged from the bathroom. Seeing Logan she immediately ran to him, she straddled his thighs as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, just holding him. He returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around her and burying his own face in the crook of her neck. They held each other for several minutes, Victor giving them space and quiet until Logan pulled away. "You need to eat baby," he said gently, extracting her from his arms.

Nodding she kissed him deeply before she stood and moved to the food on the table, she helped herself to a burger and hungrily tucked in. It was only about six o'clock but she was exhausted and starving, they'd hiked all afternoon, covered about twelve miles, her legs were all too happy to remind her. She listened idly to the conversation between Victor and Logan, obviously the one had been telling the other about the past he couldn't remember.

During a lull in the conversation, she asked her own question. "You said Logan gave you the name 'Victor' as an inside joke and you used it because you were hoping he'd remember," Marie reminded him.

"I guess you could say we were rather competitive in our younger days, I relied a lot on brawn, and because Jimmy was smaller than me, I usually won when we fought, I would dramatically declare myself the victor and wish him luck for the next fight. One day he wised up, realised brawn wasn't gonna beat me so turned to strategy, he whooped my ass good - honestly when it comes down to it, he's probably the better fighter out of the two of us because of that but don't tell him, don't want it going to his head. After that he mockingly began referring to me as Victor, usually every time he wanted to remind me, he could actually beat me in a fight." She was informed with a chuckle.

Marie giggled as she popped the last bite of her burger into her mouth. Niamh was waking up again, so she collected baby and moved back to sit with Logan in the bed as she fed. Victor took it upon himself to hand out the rest of the food, seeing as how Logan appeared to have no interest in moving, and who could blame him. They all ate in relative silence.

Once baby was finished Logan took a turn holding her, she was laid out on his chest where she quickly fell asleep, her mommy, who was tucked under his arm with her head resting on his shoulder, quickly did the same.

Victor watched, content for the first time in a long time, he'd finally found his brother, now they just had to shut down what was left of the program, specifically Charles Xavier. "That's a beautiful family you got there brother," Victor commented, as he lay back to sleep himself. Logan grunted in agreement as he placed a soft kiss on each of the heads resting on him, before dozing lightly himself.

Victor woke later that night, Logan was up, in the dark, putting a freshly fed baby back to bed, while Marie was getting ready for bed herself. He watched as she pulled off her clothes, pulling one of Logan's shirts on before looking back over her shoulder cheekily and sliding off her panties while Logan wasn't looking. If it wasn't for the fact it would have alerted both of them to the fact that he was awake, he'd have chuckled; his brother was about to get lucky.

Marie crawled into bed and was soon joined by Logan, for several minutes there was silence, until Logan softly murmured, "Go to sleep Marie."

"Hm, I'm not tired right now," she replied cheekily.

"Well, I am," Logan replied.

"Liar," Marie whispered, as Logan let out a muted groan.

"Marie you gave you birth less than a week ago, I'm not fucking you yet, you need time for your body to recover," Logan tried. He was definitely losing this battle.

"Actually, it was a week ago as of about three hours ago, and I am fully recovered, and horny, so what are you going to do about it?" Marie challenged. Victor was impressed, not only at the girls boldness in taking what she wanted but at the fact she'd been able to keep up on their cross country trek having only given birth a week ago.

"I'm going to sleep," Logan replied, matter of factly, before he let out another groan.

"Well you do that then, I'll just entertain myself," Marie replied, before Victor spied her duck under the covers.

Logan turned his head and looked directly at him, baring his teeth threateningly. Seems he still wasn't able to fool his little brother. With a grin he silently rolled over, giving the pair as much privacy as he could.

Logan bit his lip as he felt Marie's hot little mouth close over the head of his stiff cock, he didn't doubt if he told her they had an audience she'd stop but he was having trouble convincing himself that was what he wanted. As she swallowed more of his length, he gave up the pretence of refusal, bucking into the warm wet heat that engulfed him before pulling her back up his body. When her head popped out from under the blankets, he fiercely claimed her lips as he rolled them over.

Her legs parted automatically, accepting him into the cradle of her thighs as his weeping head butted against her slick opening. Slowly he slid himself home inside her, groaning as her tight muscles clamped around him. Marie sighed as he sank into her, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"God you feel so good baby," Logan whispered into her ear, as he kissed and nipped at her neck. She didn't say anything in response, just rocked her hips into his, moaning as he slid in to the hilt and crushed her clit between them. Their lovemaking was slow and sweet, and surprisingly quiet, out of respect for their 'sleeping' roommate. As he came inside her Logan covered her mouth with his as she shuddered her climax, milking his shaft as she did.

Rolling them both over with a contended sigh he held her close, he had come so close to losing her over the last several days. "Sleep now baby," he whispered, as she mmhmm'd sleepily and did just that.

The next morning Victor stalked through the rain back to the motel. He had taken a long, convoluted way back to the motel after taking his time getting breakfast, to be sure he wasn't followed. He also had a feeling his brother and his little mate would be wanting some more alone time when they woke.

Turned out he wasn't wrong. Baby was fast asleep, tucked up warm and cosy in her little bassinet, but her parents definitely weren't. He briefly wondered if he should leave again, to give them time to finish but one look back out into the rain made up his mind. He set the food bags down on the kitchenette counter and took a seat on the sofa, trying to ignore the sounds of pleasure filtering through the thin door.

The girl, Rogue, according to her file, though Logan called her Marie, let out a muffled cry as she came, his brother followed soon after. The noise roused the baby but he quietly shushed her, rocking her crib until she fell back into a contented doze. He gave the couple a few minutes before he knocked on the door and informed them breakfast was done.

Logan exited the bathroom first, dressed in only a pair of jeans, "Thanks, for breakfast, and for letting us finish," Logan said to him with a grin. Should figure his brother would have known the second he got back.

"That's some girl you've got there," Victor replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, she's fantastic," Logan replied before moving to the crib to collect Niamh, who was just starting to grizzle again. "She makes cute kids too," he added, smiling down at the little girl as she stretched and yawned in his arms.

Marie came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she flushed lightly when she saw Victor, whether because she was worried he'd heard them then, or knew he'd likely definitely heard them last night he wasn't sure. He would rib his brother about his sex life but not her, he smiled at her as he handed her some food. Marie returned his smile gratefully and took the chair Logan pulled out for her.

Marie watched Logan cradling Niamh against his bare chest with one arm while he ate with the other. He refused to hand baby over to her until he was satisfied she'd eaten enough, and then he called her over to him. He pulled her onto the bed to sit between his legs, using his broad chest as a pillow, while he held Niamh to her breast. This meant her hands weren't occupied supporting baby so she was able to play with her tiny fingers and toes while she fed, watching her mother, and over her shoulder, her father, with her big blue baby eyes.

The silence was broken by Marie. "I suppose I should apologize for kicking you in the balls the other day," she said, with a giggle.

Logan looked up as if to ask 'Really?!', a combination of pride and surprise in his eyes. Victor chuckled, "Nah kid, you were doing what you had to to protect your baby, you were being a good mama, I'm sorry I had to act like such an asshole. I am curious though, were you really considering letting Stryker shoot her? Would you really have wanted to live without your baby?"

Marie teared up as she replied, "If he had shot her how he was threatening it would have killed me too, and... I know what they did to Logan... I didn't want that for my baby but..." she broke off as the first tear trickled down her cheek. Logan wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, no wonder she had been screaming when they took Niamh, the pain in her voice was what had got to him the most when he heard her, like they were tearing her heart out.

Victor changed the subject, they should probably finish introductions, they both knew who he was, he'd told Logan who he had been, so when Marie calmed again he tried to lighten the mood by asking, "So you're Marie, right?"

The girl nodded, "Anna Marie D'Ancanto, I go by Marie, and also Rogue," she replied.

"And am I allowed to ask how old you are?" he asked teasingly, cocking a brow at Logan. The girl was a lot younger than his brothers tastes usually ran.

Marie glanced up at Logan, who rolled his eyes at his brother and nodded his agreement for her to tell him. "I'm seventeen," she replied with a smile.

"How long have you been seventeen?" Victor asked pointedly. Chuckling as Logan shifted uncomfortably as Marie admitted she'd only been seventeen for a few months. Victor shook his head and tsked at his brother, who growled in response while Marie just laughed. "And what about the little one, she got a name?" he queried next.

"Niamh. Niamh Kenna Logan," Marie replied, smiling down at her baby when she turned her big blue eyes to her at the sound of her name.

"Really!?" Victor replied surprised, "Who picked that?"

"We both did, I guess," Marie answered.

"Marie suggested it, I okayed it, why do you ask?" Logan questioned, confused by his brother’s reaction.

"... Niamh was our mother's name," Victor answered after a pause. He had been six when his mother died, he still remembered her, having held tightly to every precious memory of her. She had been a beautiful, loving woman who held their father's heart so tightly she'd taken it with her when she died. If his niece was going to be even a fraction of the woman she had been then the world was in for a treat.

"You were right, you did know someone with that name," Marie said to Logan as he stared at Victor in shock.

"Yeah, I guess I was," he replied trying to reconcile how he knew that, without knowing it. It gave him hope that maybe the memories he was missing really were still in his head somewhere, though he had decided, some months ago, that he really wasn't so desperate to remember anymore. Turns out when you have a future the past isn't really all that important anymore.

They talked a bit longer, mainly about Logan's parents, before Victor grudgingly turned to the elephant in the room. Specifically, what they were doing next, if they were going to successfully shut down the threat to their family, they needed to move quickly.

"So, Xavier knows about you both, it won't take him long to hear about Stryker's downfall. I don’t know if Stryker managed to get word of Niamh to him, so he may not know about her yet. But Stryker was not his only contact in the... industry," Victor revealed. He detailed a number of programs that he knew Xavier was, or had worked with.

"But..." Logan looked confused, "Who have we been shutting down then?"

"Private, free market, competition,” Victor replied, "The guys you were shutting down, to be honest, were less offensive than government mandated programs. Xavier was protected because he worked with the government labs, he got his government support by threatening to expose the government labs. The whole thing's messed up, and the only one winning is Xavier."

"So, what happens if we take him out? What about his school, all those kids," Logan queried.

Victor pulled a file out of Logan's pack, "Full details of every government facility I could find, in the world, it's taken me three years to get that, it can go public in an hour, or, it can be passed to a mercenary squad and the whole thing shut down in a year; want to help?" he asked Logan as he leafed through the file.

Logan chuckled before sobering, "If you'd asked me a year ago, hell if you'd asked me two weeks ago, I'd have agreed in a heartbeat but I can't take a year, not now..." he replied, looking down at his daughter, slowly falling asleep in her mother’s arms. "But we'll need to take Xavier out before you can shut the rest down, otherwise he'll warn them," Logan pointed out.

"I can have four squads mobilized in fifteen minutes, as soon as Xavier is out of the picture, they already have their first targets planned. Everything's been waiting on recovering you." Victor revealed, he wasn't surprised his brother had opted out, family had always been his foundation, that was the only reason Logan had stayed with Stryker so long the first time around. "But we need to move quick, before Xavier hears about Stryker, and shut him down before he can find us."

"That fucker I'll take, that's personal," Logan growled. "We're in Maine, right? How long will it take us to get back to New York?"

"If you'll fly, I can have us landing in Xavier's backyard in two hours," Victor replied, with a grin when Logan grunted in displeasure but agreed.

"I don’t to want to go back," Marie whispered, "Logan they've got the tranquilizers and..." he shushed her gently.

"I know you don't want to go back sweetheart, I'd offer to send you somewhere else but right now there’s no one I trust enough to leave you two with and this has to be ended, now," Logan said, turning her around gently to cradle her against his chest, "Marie ... I have never been so scared of losing something in my entire life, then again nothing in my life has ever meant as much to me as you do ... I cannot risk losing you again and that means getting rid of the biggest threat to you, and that's him. He managed to track us across state, he’ll be able to find us wherever we go if we don't. And they won't have time to use the tranq's, besides, you remember last time they used them? Kept me down for, what, three minutes, I may or may not have been dosing myself regularly to build up a tolerance," Logan added with a grin and a sly wink.

Victor chuckled, "See, strategy master, he'll be fine kid, both of you will, we'll be there to watch your back," he assured Marie as he finished typing out a message on his phone. The phone pinged a moment later. "Cavalry with be here in fifteen minutes, we'd better pack and be ready."

Logan nodded and shifted Marie, leaving her cradling the soundly sleeping baby while he and Victor cleared all their belongings out.

Fifteen minutes later they were standing on the outskirts of town watching as a helicopter landed thirty feet in front of them. There were several people in the chopper, Logan felt like he knew who some of them were but he couldn't remember their names, it seemed they knew him as a couple nodded and smiled at him.

Victor handed Marie a pair of earmuffs for baby, which she fitted with a smile, before he handed her a pair of ear plugs. It was noisy in the cabin, a lot smaller than the Chinook they'd been transported in days before. He handed Logan an earpiece to allow him to hear the chatter from the front of the chopper. Victor filled this team in on their objective, giving Logan point on the mission; the rest of the team was present solely for protecting Marie and the baby and making sure no one interfered with whatever - he stressed the 'whatever' - Logan was going to do.

Logan heard the guy sitting opposite him ask the guy beside him if he could switch seats, when he grinned darkly at being given free rein to do anything he wanted. He wasn't much for going into a fight with a hard and fast plan but this, this was going to take some thought.

About an hour and a half later the helicopter touched down on the back lawn of the Institute, sending kids scattering in all directions. As the rotors powered down the mercenary team began to disembark onto the now abandoned grounds. Logan lifted Marie out of the cabin, setting her lightly on her feet as he gestured one of the other men over.

"Marie, you stick close to me, or to this guy, okay, if anything happens and you need out of the way he can do that," Logan instructed. The guy nodded, understanding his instruction to be her shadow.

"No offence, but who is this guy?" Marie asked skeptically.

Logan looked confused for a moment, "I don’t remember but he can teleport," he replied with a shrug.

"I'm John," the man replied, offering her a hand "And I can teleport, so I'll be your exit strategy when this all goes tits up, knowing these two, that's exactly how this is going to go."

"That's comforting," Marie replied sarcastically, as she fell into step beside Logan. Taking all the opportunity she could at reassuring physical contact, she slipped her hand into his as they walked.

As the entered Marie spied Jubilee among a crowd of scared looking teenagers, she stepped out cautiously and called out. "Rogue, seriously chica, what shit have you got yourself in?"

"You would not believe me even if I told you but I promise I will, later," Marie replied, leaving her standing in the hall, more perplexed than before as she watched the half dozen armed men follow Marie on a march through the building.

Leading them directly to the Professor's office, neither Logan or Marie were surprised when their progress was temporarily halted by the emergence of the X-Men. Logan grabbed Cyclops by the collar of his shirt and shoved him bodily into the office, the two women jumping out of the way quickly, they all knew what Wolverine was capable of, and they did not want that directed at them.

Xavier was on his way out from behind his desk as the group filed in. They left the office door open, so all those in the hall could see and hear what was about to happen, Xavier had kept a lot of secrets through his life, the reason why it ended would not be one of those.

Wolverine dragged Xavier to the centre of the room, before slashing at the wheels of his chair, and the motor powering them, disabling the chair, before he spoke.

"You know who they are?" Logan asked darkly.

Xavier observed the men filling the room, and responded, "Yes, I know who they are, several are meant to be dead though."

"Yeah, that would have been awful convenient for you wouldn't it," Victor replied in amusement, as several of the others chuckled. Stryker had attempted to kill off most of them over the years when they had stumbled across his secrets, Logan didn't remember yet but he had largely been responsible for saving their lives, and helping them all to disappear off the radar.

"It's a shame, for you and for Stryker at least, that you're so bad at making some people die, that's really coming back to haunt you now," Logan said.

"Stryker?" Cyclops asked, where he had picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off, still scowling darkly at the larger man. "You know where Stryker is? He's one of our informants, we haven't had any contact from him for days," he added.

"Informant!?" someone scoffed, angered, from the back of the room, nudging his six like that was the best joke he'd heard in a while. Several others chuckled too.

"I know where Stryker was, I know where his lab was too, what exactly happened to it, and to him when we blew the place sky high I couldn't explain, I know some of it came back down," Logan replied with a dismissive shrug, "Of course, you probably didn't hear anything from Stryker because one, you let his little pet escape, and then two, he didn't want to tell you what he found when Daddy Warbucks helped him track us down. Do you know what he found Chuck?"

Xavier scowled. "I'm assuming he discovered whatever lead you to leave here, I assume that was that you realised you got your jailbait pregnant."

"Oh boy did I ever, and in spectacular fashion too, it's one hell of an announcement to walk into a room and find your mate giving birth to a baby neither if you realised existed. I'm curious though, did you know, or did you just suspect? I had a feeling you were up to something when you didn't kick up a stink about me banging 'jailbait' but it wasn't until I uncovered intel from those last two lab raids I went on that I realised just what exactly you were playing at. Very well played by the way, you had me fooled, unfortunately you were the bigger fool for thinking you could keep me on a leash once I'd figured it out," Logan informed him.

"Wait," Storm interrupted, sounding confused. "Stryker runs a lab?"

"You want to answer that one Chuckles?" Victor asked, pointedly placing a file on his desk that Charles had no doubt contained all the evidence of Stryker's activities, and likely his own involvement in them.

"I was aware General Stryker was involved in laboratory operations, I assumed that's how he was getting us the intel..." Xavier began, in an attempt to downplay the revelation.

"Stop lying old man, you know damn well Stryker was using you to shut down his competition, just like you were using him, and that competition, to your political and financial gain. You only went after the labs Stryker gave you the all clear to. Hell, I've been through your mainframe, you even have intel on a few operations we didn't know about, so don't try your smoke and mirrors here, not if you want to live at least," a geeky looking merc at the back of the room spoke up. Logan couldn't remember his name either but his mutation was something to do with electricity, energy, or technology - something like that.

"So, you're here to kill us?" Storm asked, looking perturbed.

"Not you, not this time at least," Logan answered, "I'm willing to give you the opportunity to step up and do the right thing, this guy though, that's a whole other story," Logan growled darkly, as he moved over to Marie. Gently removing the baby carrier from her he took Niamh in his arms, before moving back to the cripple in the sabotaged chair.

"You see this, this here's my little girl, she's a cutey isn't she? Her mommy did a real good job cooking her up. Unfortunately for you, she's the reason you have to die, because it's the only way to protect her. I look after what's mine, and I tried to do that the nice way, and leave you to your fucked up little world, and how did you repay me? You sicked that fucker on me, on Marie, on our child, you almost got my mate raped, and my daughter killed. Now it's time to return the favour.

"I'd love to keep you here and let you watch your world burn but truth is, I don't even trust you to die with dignity, you're already trying to get inside heads aren't you, already trying to play your audience but that's not going to work -" he shot a single claw from his clenched fist into the old man's chest - "Not in time at least, I pull this blade out, you've got about two minutes for your life to flash before your eyes, are you gonna like what you see?" he hissed, as he slowly withdrew the blade, a river of blood following the motion.

Several people gasped audibly in shock, as they watched the old man bleed out in front of them. Jean didn't even bother to step forward, she knew, like Logan did, and like Charles did too, that there was nothing she could do. His punctured aorta bled him dry in minutes, and as his body gave a final spasm as the last vestiges of life left him, Logan felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He carefully handed Niamh back to Marie before he turned to the rest of the X-Men.

The room exploded in colour and motion as Cyclops aimed a direct beam at Logan, John instantly teleporting Marie out of the room as Logan, and several others, ducked out of the way of the force beam. Logan rolled and launched himself at Cyclops from a different angle, before the younger man could register his change in location. His fist met the face of his attacker, with force, fracturing his cheekbone as Cyclops fell to the floor unconscious.

"When he wakes up you tell him that's the only warning he's ever gonna get, he attacks me or mine again, I will kill him." Logan growled to Jean.

Marie and John walked back into the room then, now that the threat was dealt with, they were followed by the braver of the curious faces watching from afar. Once Logan was satisfied that Marie was unhurt, he turned back to the matter at hand. While he was discussing the school, and keeping it open with Ororo and Jean, Victor was sending out go orders to the stand by teams ready to finally begin taking down the labs.

"Why are you leaving the school intact?" Ororo asked uncertainly, she had been sure, when Logan began detailing Xavier's dodgy dealings, he would want to shut everything down, get rid of every iota of the man's legacy.

"Because this school is necessary," Logan replied, "Where else are these kids going to go?"

Ororo paused, surprised at the compassionate response, she hadn't expected that from a man who could, and would, murder without hesitation. "If Xavier's double dealings were what was protecting the school though, how do we keep the students safe now?" she asked next.

Victor stepped forward, a stack of files in hand, "The purge of the labs is beginning as we speak," he said as the sound of helicopter rotors firing up could be heard from outside. "The labs we know of, all ninety seven of them, we have planned to shut down within three months, we are expecting it to take longer though as we expect them to start moving once we start taking them out, we've managed to stop word of the hit on Stryker from getting out so far but once they're down a dozen or more locations word is going to get out. This is detailed information on every base, it's all ready to go public, you hold onto this, use it as your bargaining chip if anyone comes calling, but make clear you don't have the only copies. We'll be outing each base as they're purged, raids are being live streamed to the internet from bodycams too. Would you be willing to take in any rescued mutants?"

Ororo and Jean shared a shocked looked, as they reviewed the substantial and detailed information in front of them. They had no idea the problem was this big, was this everything that Xavier and Stryker had been hiding from them!?

"Uh, yes," Jean finally answered, "Any way we can help let us know," she said softly.

"Best way you can help is to stay out of our way to be honest," Victor replied, as his phone began to softly ping as updates began to flood through to him. "You need to see something," he commented a moment later, asking where the nearest television was.

One of the kids led the way to the Rec Room, where a huge tv was currently displaying some brightly coloured cartoon. He grabbed a remote, giving a once over to all the buttons, before handing it the nearest teenager. "Open this website," he directed, showing the kid the address on his phone.

Moments later the tv changed, to display a split screen view of multiple in progress military style missions. Anyone could have been forgiven for thinking it was a videogame playthrough as a team of masked mercenaries moved through dark, emergency lit, reinforced concrete bunkers, shooting soldiers as they went. One screen suddenly shifted, opening to be the main focus as a breakaway group of mercenaries entered a cell, where a bruised and bloody mutant girl was being brutally raped by several soldiers. The soldiers were dispatched without mercy, before the bodycammed mercenary knelt next to the girl, wrapping her gently in a discarded blanket. The poor girl, who looked no older than about fourteen, with green tinted skin and gills running down the side if her neck, sobbed violently as she clung to her rescuer before the camera view switched.

The new camera showed a medical laboratory, where a man, in his mid-twenties, was strapped to a metal table while his internal organs were being methodically removed, while he was awake. His screams could be heard through the gag he had been fitted with, blood visible where he had bitten through his own lip. They watched in horror as the doctors were ruthlessly gunned down, before a medic stepped forward and began trying to return the man's vital organs, audio capturing the medics report that it would be hours, possibly days before the man could be moved, if he survived at all, before assuring his commander he would do everything he could.

The scenes continued, a never-ending litany of violence, death, and horror, until finally purged compounds began to explode in impressive fireballs, the explosions being superimposed with names, dates, and locations of the bases, along with a url which contained a detailed information dump on each location. Some cameras didn't stop rolling, where some places couldn't be cleared and obliterated yet, continuing to show the mercenaries efforts to save the captives they could.

"That's what Xavier was hiding," Logan said, dangerously calm, "That's what Xavier was helping. Show that to Scotty-boy when he's ready to listen." He turned and walked out of the room, as the screen switched back to the medic who was still trying to return organs to the man at the second lab. A second medic had joined him and had been working at managing the pain the man was in. Logan knew that meant the mutant was a healer, they could only drug him up enough to dull the pain for so long.

Marie followed Logan out of the room, taking his hand and leading him through the mansion, she found the service panel they'd both used to get out of the mansion what seemed so long ago. Silently she led him up the stairs until they reached what had been their room, shutting the door softly she set their slumbering infant down in a makeshift crib on the couch before she turned back to Logan. He looked equally as devastated as he did relieved, sitting on the end of the bed, head hung.

She knew he was rethinking his comment to Victor about not taking part in the purge, she didn't want him to go but at the same time she would support his decision if he chose to. Right now, though, he needed something else.

Gently and without a word Marie nudged Logan to sit up, and began removing his shirt's. "No, Marie, you don't..." Logan started, as he tried to stop her hands. She just pressed her lips to his, stifling his words as her hands continued to fiddle with buttons before sliding the fabric off his shoulders.

"I know I don't have to but I want to, and you want to as well," Marie said, as she broke away from him, now sitting shirtless and waiting for her next move.

She stripped her own clothes off quickly, noting Logan shift uncomfortably where he sat, his jeans now far too tight to be bearable. She straddled his lap, remembering the first time she'd sat with him like this. He'd been completely naked then and it hadn't taken long for him to throw her to the bed and ravish her, she wondered what she'd have to do to get him to do that again. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

Her hands snaked between them, opening Logan's jeans was a little more tricky than usual, and he grunted in relief when she finally pushed the stiff fabric out of the way as he flexed his hips and his rigid flesh sprang out. As her hand closed around his length, he pulled her lips back to his, kissing her deeply as she pumped him, before, without warning, he batted her hand out of the way, picked her up and impaled her on him. One of his arms snaked up her back, his hand clamping over her shoulder as he pulled her down while he thrust upward, she moaned loudly into his mouth, as he began to frantically move inside her.

He needed to work off some of his tension, quickly, before he hurt her. As he thrust inside her he felt her inner muscles clench rhythmically around him. She hadn't come so she must be doing it on purpose, it was just what he needed to explode inside her. As he caught his breath, he felt Marie's hands moving over his chest, nails scraping over a nipple, she began to rock over the still hard shaft inside her. Her lips moved from his to his neck, and then up to nip on his ear. He almost didn't hear her over the growl he released but when her soft voice filtered through his lust clouded brain with a request to 'fuck me Logan, please', he was lost.

He threw her onto the bed, climbing on after her, his bulk covering her completely as he spread her open under him. Sliding one arm under her lower back he lifted her hips, the head of his cock nudging her opening before he firmly planted himself deep inside her.

Marie cried out loudly as she felt him sink into her, clapping a hand over her mouth a moment later as she turned to where Niamh was lying to make sure she hadn't woken her. Her eyes closed in ecstasy before she could as Logan began pounding into her hard. He chuckled through a growl, which Marie's lust addled brain decided was the sexiest sound she had ever heard, as she almost came on the spot. He pulled her hand away from her mouth with his free hand, pinning it to the bed beside them. Her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip as she tried desperately to stop herself from crying out again.

Logan was having none of that though, he leaned forward, tugging her lip from between her teeth as he nibbled the plump flesh. "I wanna hear you baby," he growled, as he slammed into her repeatedly. Heedless of the consequences Marie cried out, begging for him go faster, harder, just generally for more. She came hard moments later, vaguely aware of Logan shifting position slightly as she lay in a boneless heap on the bed. When she could feel again, she was on the verge of her second orgasm, her hips raised high, one leg over Logan's shoulder as he ploughed into her, the bed thumping against the wall rhythmically until with one last final surge he emptied himself inside her, triggering her own orgasm.

As they lay in a tangled heap of sweaty, heaving flesh on the bed, Marie heard Niamh make a soft sound. She cringed at the thought of having to move to go see to the baby, she honestly didn't think she could even if she tried right now. Logan just rumbled softly, a comfortable, sated sound, and Marie was surprised when Niamh promptly went silent again. She shrugged and snuggled down into the warm arms around her, as she drifted into a light sleep.

She woke sometime later, whether it was minutes or hours she couldn't tell, all she knew was that Logan was hard inside of her again, and rocking into her deeply. She moaned as she shifted her leg higher around his waist so he could penetrate deeper. He was nipping at her breasts as he thrust into her, lapping at the milk that leaked out, before he moved his attention to her neck as he sped up his movements.

Her fingers tangled in his hair as her other hand gripped his shoulder tightly, nails digging into his flesh. "More, Logan, please," she begged, though what exactly she was wanting even she didn't know. Logan watched her contemplatively for a moment before he pulled out completely, chuckling at the mewl of disappointment from his mate before he rolled her over onto her stomach, tilted her hips slightly and sank back into her wet heat.

Marie moaned into the mattress as she felt him return to her body, it wasn't as deep but she felt fuller somehow as Logan almost straddled her. It wasn't long before they were both frantically trying to gain more friction and leverage, one thing Marie found this position didn't afford her much of, until Logan pulled her hips higher off the bed. He began fucking her in earnest then, as Marie thrust herself back against him before he came with a roar. She remembered the first time they'd done it in that position and was mildly disappointed he didn't bite her like he had then, at the same time she was really too tired to care.

She was too tired to even move as Logan, finally withdrew from her. Kissing the cheek of her ass as he shifted her himself so her legs wouldn't go to sleep. She could hear baby murmuring in the background somewhere but it wasn't until she felt her little mouth close around her nipple that she realised Logan had brought her over to the bed. He was watching her doze as baby suckled, a satisfied look in his gaze, though he softly asked if she was alright. "Fantastic," she replied, sleepily but honestly, "You worry too much," she told him, giggling at his affronted look.

"Only about you baby," he replied, dropping a kiss on the end of her nose. Before long all three of them were asleep again, all satisfied in their own ways; Niamh with her full belly, Marie with a pleasant ache between her legs and a full heart, and Logan with his arms full and a surety that his family was finally safe.

Later in the afternoon Marie was woken by her rumbling belly, Logan chuckled from behind her where he lay, arms wrapped around them both. Niamh had filled her diaper recently and was just starting to notice, a grumpy grizzle alerting her parents to her predicament.

"You get a shower, I'll get the baby," Logan said to Marie as he kissed her shoulder softly, before rolling her over him to get to the side of the bed.

"Why did we not bring up our bags, I could do with clean clothes to put on," Marie lamented. Logan didn't reply with words, just opened the door and pulled both packs into the room. "Do I want to know how they got there?" Marie asked.

"You mean, do you want to know Victor brought them up while I was fucking the daylights out of you? Probably not but yep," Logan replied with another chuckle, as he pulled the baby bag out of Marie's pack and pulled out a fresh diaper and a change of clothes for the baby.

"Great, are we ever going to be able to have sex again with any privacy?" Marie asked sarcastically, as she pulled out a change of clothes for herself.

"We're parents now baby, so unless you count a quickie in the other room while the kids not looking, 'privacy', that's a no," Logan replied, earning a laugh from Marie as she disappeared into the bathroom, stretching and yawning as she went.

She showered in record time, as her stomach repeatedly reminded her it required sustenance, stepping out of the bathroom again as Logan finished redressing baby. She sent him off to have a shower as she tidied up the soiled diaper, clothes, and wipes into a laundry bag for washing later. He likewise only took minutes before he was towelling off and throwing his clothes on, with several lewd and lascivious looks her way.

They made their way downstairs, avoiding the noisy cafeteria and heading instead for the quieter kitchen. There was a crowd already in attendance as the trio walked in, several people looking surprised to see Logan carrying a tiny baby against his chest. Most of the students in the room picked up on the sudden spike in tension among the adults in the room, and beat a hasty retreat, not Jubilee however, she marched right up to Marie and demanded she finally be given an explanation.

"Food first, then you get your explanation," Marie promised, as she began rifling through the fridge, pulling out anything that looked good, which in her current state was pretty much everything.

She fixed herself a plate, as Logan fixed one for himself, before she took a seat at the kitchen table, Jubilee sat opposite and stared at her pointedly as she began to eat. The others at the table, an unusually subdued Scott Summers – his face bruised and swollen, tired and worried looking Jean and Ororo, and a smug looking Victor, sat in silence, most appearing uncomfortable at her presence.

When she'd eaten enough to shut her stomach up, she turned to Jubilee. "What do you want to know?" she asked, as she swallowed the last mouthful of her first sandwich.

"What was in the packages?" she asked straight off the bat, "And don’t you dare say chocolate," she added; she already knew that.

"Well, there was chocolate but that was for you, the rest was baby clothes and stuff, we knew if we tried to get anything delivered to us it would get opened and the secret would be out, no one would think twice if Jubilee got yet another package though," Marie admitted.

"So, the baby is yours?" Jubilee said, "And you had it with you when you left, or had it not been born yet?" she asked confused.

"Yes, the baby is mine, and Logan's. She was born the night before I called you about the delivery, we didn't know she was on the way, you hear about those stories of women not knowing they're pregnant until suddenly they have a baby and I can assure you, it is as bizarre and shocking as it sounds to suddenly go into labour and not have a clue what is happening," Marie said, with all seriousness.

"The birth went okay then?" Jean asked then, seeming to remember she was a doctor.

"I thought I was finally getting my period, I hadn't had one since I starting taking the pill, which I assumed was just the pill, the internet said that happens sometimes, so I jumped in the shower, thinking the hot water would help with the cramps, next thing I know I've got full on contractions, them Logan comes in - he seemed to catch on to what was happening pretty quick, starts telling me to push - and then, bam, tiny little baby squealing her lungs out. In all it was probably over, start to finish, in about three or four hours, but the early party of that was just achey cramps, the contractions and stuff only lasted about half an hour, an hour maybe. So not bad I guess," Marie told her.

"So, you don't know what she weighed at birth, or..." Jean began to ask questions again.

"She was four pound seven, born at about eight thirty, the lab doctor estimated she'd been born at between thirty-four and thirty-six weeks, probably closer to that first one going by when Logan and I started... you know. She's healthy, eats well, according to the lab she'd put on an ounce from her birth weight at almost a week old, so that's really good -"

Logan interrupted her with a surprised, "Really?" It didn't sound good to him; the poor bub was a lightweight as it was.

Marie nodded, "Yeah, I was reading that babies on average lose up to ten percent of their birth weight the first couple of days after birth and don't usually gain it back for about two weeks, so if she's putting on weight, over and above her birth weight already, she's... how did he say it, an 'overachiever', just like her daddy," Marie replied, with a cheeky grin and a giggle.

"Won't argue with that," Logan replied with a laugh, satisfied with her answer, and the fact that Jean nodded along in agreement with everything she said.

"So..." Jubilee butted in, "Where did you meet this guy?" she asked conspiratorially.

"Uh, well, you know how you asked me if I had been in the mansion 'the whole time' since I 'ran away'?" Marie said, noting the uncomfortable glances from several other occupants at the table. Jubilee nodded eagerly; truth was she hadn't been able to forget a word of what Rogue had told her since she'd seen her. "There's literally a secret wing of the mansion, along with the underground levels, I was... exploring, one day, while you guys were all out, at the beach or something, doing summer stuff. I stumbled across the secret wing, where Logan was ... being kept..."

"Like a prisoner or something?" Jubilee asked, shocked and concerned.

"No!" Scott and Jean replied immediately.
As Marie responded, "Yes!"

"How can you say no? You had a fucking chip implanted on his brain that electrocuted him if he tried to leave, how is that not a prisoner?" Marie asked incredulously. Neither party responded, so she continued her conversation with Jubilee. "So anyway, we, uh, struck up a friendship... mutually beneficial association -"

"You mean you were fucking," Jubilee said with a grin.

"Weeeeell... yeah, but seriously can you blame me, I mean, if you could touch that wouldn't ya?" Marie replied, grinning when Logan choked on his sandwich when he laughed at her bluntness.

"Uh, don't hate me but hell yeah," Jubilee replied, holding her hands up in surrender to show that even though she'd consider it she had no designs on Rogue's man.

"How can you touch too?" Jubilee asked.

Marie shrugged, "No big breakthrough there, Logan just touched me and nothing happened so I figured 'let's see how far this can go'... turns out it went all the way, and then some."

"So, you can touch the baby too?" Ororo clarified. Marie nodded, the less she revealed about her baby the more comfortable she would be, she still couldn't bring herself to trust them.

"But why did you 'run away'?" Jubilee asked, air quoting the relevant reference.

"They found out we were together," Marie replied, pointing at the X-Men, "came up while we were asleep, tranqed Logan, hauled me down to the lower levels for interrogation... when they realised I knew pretty much everything, Xavier announced I was no longer welcome at the school, Logan could keep me as, I believe the Professor termed it, 'his pet', but I was restricted to his room and no one was to know I was on the grounds or, and I quote 'the next time [they] came to collect me it wouldn't be with tranquilizers'."

"The Professor said that!?" Jubilee asked, eyes wide in shocked surprise.

"Yep, I wasn't even allowed to go back to my room and get any of my stuff, they brought some of my personal belongings up later, I don't know what happened to the rest."

"It got added to the stockpile for new students," Jubilee told her as she jumped up and headed for the kitchen, returning with several bottles of beer, soda, and a bag of potato chips. "What happened next?" she asked eagerly, as she settled in with her snacks, pushing a beer across the table toward Marie. Logan leaned forward and snatched the beer away, before passing her a soda instead.

Marie giggled as she opened the bottle of soda, did Logan really think she would have drunk the beer, she might be young but she wasn't stupid. "Well, that was about two months ago, nothing much happened, we started trying to figure out a way to leave but never really got too far, when Niamh was born though, things changed, especially when Logan discovered Xavier was working with the labs and was planning on turning us both over to them."

"How did you get away in the end?" Jean asked, still curious just what exactly had happened in the room both had disappeared from.

Logan and Marie shared a glance before the former nodded agreeably to the later. "Logan couldn't find the transponder - it made the chip electrocute him when he got too far away from it - " she said by way of explanation, for the benefit of Jubilee and Victor, who was still sitting, listening silently from the other end of the table. "But he decided we were out of time, the handover to the lab was apparently imminent; that last lab you raided had been planning to try to intercept the handover. Logan decided the only way to get out was to cut the chip out of his head."

Victor hissed, grimacing at the thought, something like that must have been connected to the nervous system, that would have been painful as hell to do and hard to heal from. Jean gasped in shock, as she too considered just how they would have achieved such a feat.

Marie continued, ignoring the reactions, as she tried to ignore the memory of putting her hand inside Logan's head to rip the chip and its circuitry out. "We made a plan, I'd help him get the chip out, then leave, taking Niamh with me and he would catch up when he had healed. He didn't want us staying without him able to protect us."

"... Cut the chip out of his head?" Jubilee asked a moment later, a potato chip paused halfway to her mouth. "How?" Logan dramatically shot a handful of claws out if his clenched fist in front of her. "Oh," she squeaked.

"When did Xavier start looking for us?" Marie asked, after a lull in the conversation.

"After Logan vanished," Ororo replied, "He thought you were hiding in the school still, and that if we kept Logan under surveillance you would eventually come out looking for him, but when Logan disappeared too, he realised you'd both left."

"How long did it take for him to find us?" Logan queried curiously.

"Well, I wasn't relieved, i.e. found, until seven am," Ororo replied. Try as she might she hadn't been able to be angry with Logan for how he had got the jump on her before he left, all she had been able to think was that if she had been in his situation, she would have done exactly the same thing, and it turned out his situation had been even worse than she had realised then. "He began looking for you at about eight but he claimed he hadn't been able to find either of you, he always used the excuse that Rogue's mutation, and the metal in your skull, stopped him from getting readings on you. That's what he told us the chip was for, for tracking you in case you went berserker on a mission and ran off and we needed to find you," Ororo admitted.

Her explanation made sense to Logan, Xavier had clearly not even trusted his own people, and when he had been double crossing literally everyone he was involved with, it was no surprise why.

Scott interjected then, "We want to apologize Logan..."

"Wolverine," Logan replied bluntly, these people hadn't earned the right to be so familiar with either of them.

"Wolverine," Scott conceded, "We treated you poorly under Charles's orders, we would like to make it up to you, would you give us a second chance, we could really use your help around here and..."

"No," Logan replied, no way, no how, was he staying, he would never be able to trust these people, and though he did believe the school had a necessary function and role to play in the conflict between humans and mutants, it was still a legacy of the man who had wronged him, them, so gravely.

"But Wolverine, think of Rogue, and the baby..." Jean tried.

"I am," Logan replied bluntly, "My family is safer as far away from anything to do with that son of a bitch as possible."

"But she could finish school..." Jean continued to press.

"If Marie wants to finish school that can be done anywhere, or she can wait until Niamh's a bit older and skip straight to college," he replied firmly.

"Does Rogue get any say in this?" Jean asked, sounding just a little condescending.

"No," Logan replied sarcastically, "She's my pet, she does what I tell her to do." Marie and Victor both laughed openly in response, even Jubilee knew Rogue well enough to know she would kick up a stink about being forced to do something she didn't want to and joined in their laughter.

"I won't be staying," Marie added, "You couldn't pay me to stay, I don't even want to stay the night but we'll have to work that out, now that we're not running in secret I'd rather not hitchhike," she added for Logan's benefit.

"You hitchhiked? With a baby?" Jubilee asked incredulously, hell she'd known Rogue was a hard-ass but that was a whole new level of tough.

Marie just ignored her as Victor spoke up, "There's a car on the way for us," he began before Logan interrupted.

"I thought you were heading the purge?" Logan asked.

"Remotely for now," Victor replied, with an affirmative nod, his phone was still periodically pinging with updates, "Family comes first, I don't know where you two were headed when you left but your old cabin is still in the family, I planned to drive you up there and help you get settled before I join the frontline. If that's all right with you?"

Logan paused for thought before nodding, he had had an idea of a place he believed was his home, and a general location. He had planned to head in that direction and see if he could find it, even if just for any information it may be able to offer on who he had been.

"You could always go with Victor, to the front," Marie suggested, as she rested her head on his shoulder as she stroked their sleeping baby's nose.

"You want me to do that?" Logan asked, regarding Marie carefully.

"I want you do what you think is best," Marie replied, careful to avoid giving her own opinion on the matter he noted.

"Baby, staying with you and Niamh will always be the best option, you trump everything, so stop second guessing me," he replied with a grin, as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I just... I saw how you looked when you watched that footage, you wanted to be there, you wanted to..."

"I want to be with you more sweetheart. I'll admit, I'm a soldier, I have been most of my life apparently, and this is a cause I would gladly fight for but I don't need to, my time for fighting is done, I get to live a little now, and I get to live with you, and with baby, and I don’t want to miss a minute of it. Can you accept that?" he asked her plainly.

She didn't look at him for a moment but when she turned her face up to him, a brilliant smile on her face, and tears in her eyes he knew he'd made the right call. She nodded as she wrapped her arms around him as she agreed she could, before admitting she'd just be worrying about him constantly if he went.

"I'd be worrying about you too," he told her, hugging her tightly. He was glad they were both on the same page, hell, really it was like they were reading from the same version of the book, word for identical word, they'd disagreed on very little since the beginning of their relationship. It was a little disconcerting how similar they both were.

There was commotion from the hallway as Logan and Victor heard a vehicle pull into the driveway, the group made their way from the kitchen to the foyer in time to be greeted by a tiny, five-foot-tall, brunette girl. "Hey Vic," she said, waving toward Victor.

"What are you doing here Kit Kat, you're supposed to be running the streams?" he replied concerned.

"All but one team is in transit at the moment so the stream is running itself, and there was no one else to bring the truck down for you," the girl replied, tossing him a set of car keys.

"I hope you're not expecting a ride back?" he ribbed, though they both knew he would if she asked.

"Nah, Epsilon's ten minutes out with some kids, gonna hitch a ride back with them," she replied.

"Aww, that's sweet, you accept Pete's proposal yet?" Victor asked her.

The girl blushed prettily before responding saucily, "Why you afraid I'm off the market for good?"

"Girl you've been off the market since you laid eyes on the guy, the two of you have just been pussyfooting around that fact for far too long," Victor replied with a chuckle.

"Well for your information," the girl replied, "I did indeed accept his proposal, we're getting married as soon as this is all over."

"You're making him wait?" Victor said surprised, he was sure the kid would have dragged her off to the nearest Courthouse to get hitched straight away. They'd been together for the better part of a decade already, and his proposal had been in the air for six months.

"I call it motivation," she replied, "Not that much more motivation is needed than getting these places shut down but still, it would just be a distraction otherwise. Anyway, you gonna introduce me or what, caveman?" she gestured toward the gathered crowd.

Victor quickly introduced her to everyone, ending with his brother and his family.

"This a Katherine Pryde, one of our hackers and general tech expert, she's running most of the online operation and managing a large portion of the cross-team communications," Victor introduced her to everyone else.

"I finally get to meet that man that started this all," she said, stepping forward to shake Logan's hand, "I'm sorry for what you went through, it's not much consolation but it's going to save a lot of people's lives down the road," she added.

Logan shrugged, "It could have been worse but it hasn't ended too badly," he replied, hugging Marie close, Niamh still sleeping where she was cradled to his chest.

The girl, Katherine, didn't get a chance to reply further when a helicopter buzzed in over the treetops and began to descend onto the back lawn. The group made their way out the nearest exit to greet the new arrivals.

Niamh woke to the sound of the chopper engines but calmed quickly when Logan and Marie both soothed her, as she watched the lawn wide-eyed. Marie had read that babies didn't have great eyesight, because their eyes hadn't learned to focus yet, but, maybe if Niamh had her mutation, she had something from Logan too? She did seem to be watching specific things, rather than just observing at large.

A very tall, easily seven foot, heavily muscled, man stepped out of the helicopter as the rotors powered down, he ducked well under the blades as he made his way to them, shaking hands with Victor who introduced the giant of a man as Peter Rasputin, CO of Epsilon squad. Turned out this was the same Pete who was engaged to the tiny slip of a girl who ran their tech.

Logan waited until the pair were out of earshot before he turned to Victor and asked, "So... how do they..."

"Don't ask," Victor replied with a chuckle, "Seriously don't, Kitty gets real pissed, however they do it they manage, and she can still walk in the morning."

"Oh my god! You two are unbelievable," Marie exclaimed, catching on to their conversation, laughing as she blushed, no wonder poor Kitty got pissed at people asking questions about *that*!

They assisted Epsilon to unload their passengers, as Jean triaged those who needed further medical treatment on the lawn. Whoever their field medics were, they were well trained, and stocked. Most of the injured would require nothing more than bandage changes and observation for infection. They were transferred inside, as Ororo, and several of the students, prepared and assigned rooms for them all.

Half an hour later Epsilon, and their extra passenger, lifted off to return to base. Marie, who was by now sitting inside on the Rec Room couch with some of her old friends as she fed baby, watched Logan and Victor as they conversed on the lawn. Logan must have sensed her watching them as he turned to look at her right then and winked at her, she smiled back, before turning her attention back to her task, whatever they were discussing, if it involved her, they would tell her later.

Later was about ten minutes after, as she was burping a freshly fed baby. Logan came into the room and leaned over the back of the couch so he could place a kiss on both her and baby before he told her Victor was going down the road to buy a baby capsule, so they could safely transport Niamh, and to ask if she needed anything else.

"If we're gonna be on the road for a while probably some disposable diapers would be a good idea, that way we don't have to worry about doing washing on the way," was all she could think of to suggest.

Logan said he'd pass the message on, and get their stuff, they would be leaving as soon as Victor got back.

Marie's friends were of mixed opinion on this development, some wanted her to stay, some thought Logan was too - insert random negative trait that didn't apply to him in any way shape or form -, others just asked her to write or send photos of baby. Several of her friends asked to hold baby, and while Marie did allow her to be handed around for quick cuddles, she was very careful to make sure whoever was holding her was careful to avoid skin contact.

Half an hour later Logan came downstairs with both their packs, and Marie's laptop, which she had initially left behind purely to cut down on traveling weight. The X-Men followed him into the Rec Room, just as Victor walked in with a brand-new baby capsule. He set the capsule down on the coffee table in front of Marie and she settled Niamh into the seat, buckling her in as she stared wide eyed around her.

Once Niamh was buckled in Victor produced a bag, and drew out a small purple toned quilt, which he tucked in around the little girl, to keep her nice and toasty in her seat, and a fluffy pink teddy bear which Marie 'aww'd' over as he tucked it in beside baby. Niamh finished her appraisal of her new digs and appeared to find everything in order, promptly closing her eyes, apparently, she could fall asleep instantly.

The X-Men made one last minute attempt to change their mind about leaving but quickly left off, instead extending an open welcome should they ever decide to return, or even if they just wanted to visit. Handshakes and hugs, some awkward, ensued as they fare welled everyone before heading out to the SUV parked in the driveway. Logan buckled Niamh's seat into the back of the vehicle, waiting for Marie to finish with her friends before he boosted her into the truck.

With baby in the back seat there wasn't enough room for them both to sit in back together, so he kissed her softly before shutting the door and climbing in the front. He had ended up shotgun after losing the argument with Victor over who should drive, apparently because it was Victor's truck that meant he got to drive...

They pulled out minutes later, finally, permanently, heading away from the place that had been his prison for almost four years.