Marie felt her hands go cold and begin to tremble as soon as they stepped into the corridor and approached the steps. The music and chatter from the people above made her stomach clench and her heart sped up. ‘God, Ah can’t do this. Ah can’t face them.’ She stopped at the landing and felt Logan’s large hand on her shoulder, nudging her to keep going. Unconsciously she leaned against his side as they continued their way up and held her breath when they finally reached the first floor. Nobody was looking at them, everybody minded their own business. ‘Maybe they won’t notice.’

But near their table stood the waitress, her face frozen in shock and her hand covered her mouth in surprise. “Oh my God!”

Great, now all chatter subsided and all eyes centered on the two mutants and the kicking bundle in Logan’s arms. He suppressed the vicious growl that threatened to erupted and settled to a casual expression – at least he hoped it looked that way. “Wasn’t her period after all.” He stated with dry humor.

“Umm, wha… shall I call an ambulance?” The blond waitress finally managed to get past her teeth.

“Nah, too late for that. Gonna bring the girls to the hospital myself.” He glanced over to his finished plate that had harbored a burger and fries an hour before, and Rogue’s cold pizza. “The bill please.”

‘God, those stares. They think me to be the greatest whore. Ah have to get outta here!’ Marie’s gaze wandered to the floor and remained there even when she fished for her and Logan’s jackets at the backs of their chairs.

The Canadian fiddled with his wallet and the baby began to cry, but the restaurant’s manager approached wide eyed shaking his head. “No, sir. This one’s on the house.”

“Huh, thanks, bub.” He began to rock the newborn again. “Shh.” But this time she resumed her wailing and Logan shoved his wallet back into his jeans back pocket before pushing Marie towards the entrance. “We better get goin’.”

“Umm, yeah.” The manager pressed out while scrutinizing the pale features of the teenager and watched the three head out to their pick-up truck.

X X X X X X

Her legs felt like jelly by the time they reached their car. Marie slid into the passenger seat and fastened the seatbelt, still clutching the two jackets to her chest. “We can forget to visit this restaurant ever again.”

“You have to look for a new favorite eating place, kid.” Logan answered and closed the door. His real struggle began as he tried to retrieve the keys from his jeans front pocket with a crying baby in one arm and the steering wheel taking a lot of his moving space. With a grunt he finally fetched the keys and revived the engine. Leaving the parking lot behind them, Logan let the deep breath escape his lips, he wasn’t aware he was holding and gladly took in that the baby had calmed and seemed to fall asleep any moment.

A few minutes later Marie broke the silence, her voice a mere whisper so she wouldn’t wake the baby by accident. “Ya gonna take me to the hospital?”

“Nah, child protective service might get wind of this mess.” He caught her troubled gaze in the rear mirror. “Will only end up in rippin’ the three of us apart. Won’t be of much help when I’m in jail.”

Her eyes held a sudden glimmer of hope as she looked over to her friend. “Ya’ll stay, Logan?”

“She’s also my prob-“ The last word caught in his throat and he glanced down at the serene face of his sleeping daughter. “She’s also my kid.” He already entered the suburban area of Westchester as he eventually answered Marie’s question. “Take you back to the mansion.”

“They gonna kick me out.” Marie muttered under her breath, her eyes near tears again as she grasped the jackets tighter to her chest.

Logan grunted that thought had also entered his mind. “If they do, they’re damn hypocrites and we’re better off without them, kid.”

“Ya shouldn’t tell them ya’re the father.” She locked eyes with him in the mirror. “Will only end with ya have to leave or worse.” Through she doubted that the professor or any of the teachers would call the police, but better safe than sorry.

He shook his head slightly and trained his eyes back on the road and the approaching school gate. “Nah, I won’t deny my kid. Apart from that, Jeannie’ll figure it out eventually. She ran a couple tests on me, when we first came to the mansion. She surely has a DNA sample.” Stopping at the security console, Logan typed in his code and the heavy gate slid apart, granting them access to Xavier’s School for gifted Youngsters.

A few moments later he stopped the car in the vast garage and leaned forward with a sigh and rested his forehead against the steering wheel. This was the calm before the storm and both of them knew that. Logan took a few deep breaths, before he looked back up and met Rogue’s tear streamed face. She was trembling, her face pale and her chocolate eyes rested fearful on him. Gently he reached out and wiped her tears away with a shaky hand. “Marie?”

“What if the worst case takes place? What if they kick me and the baby out?”

Logan smiled softly as he heard her words – me AND the baby. “Then I’m gonna take the two of you back to Canada and we’ll find a cabin and will make the best out of the situation without the help of the geeks.”

A small smile found its way to her pink lips. “Why wait? It would be so much easier, Logan?”

“’Cuz we’d only run away again. And apart from that it would be the wrong decision, kid.” He already saw her questions form on her lips and he interrupted her. “We need a doctor to look at the baby. She’s so small. And you need to go to school, kid, to graduate.” She was about to object, but he never gave her time to voice her words. “We’re both mutants and the chances are good that our kid is too. You know how dangerous it is for our kind out there. The school is most likely the safest place for you and her to grow up.”

She couldn’t argue that and nodded in resignation. Her eyes wandered down to her lap and she just wanted to keep sitting in the car. Suddenly Marie felt his callused fingers lift her chin gently, so she would meet his reassuring gaze. “We’re in this together, Marie. And I need you to be strong for our daughter.” The brunette sniffed and wiped her tears away, then her eyes fell upon the baby in Logan’s arms and she nodded softly. “Fine. Now let’s face them.”

Carefully to not make too much noise the Canadian opened the door and slipped out of the car while Marie did the same, still clutching their jackets to her chest. They were already half way through the hallway, the kitchen-door was located in, when the little bundle in Logan’s flannel shirt began to cry on the tip of her small lungs. “Great, we can forget ‘bout sneakin’ in.” Logan grunted and rocked the child gently. His calming “Shh, kiddo.” died on his lips as he saw a few of Marie’s classmates appear in the kitchen’s door-frame, their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide.

Marie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Bobby, John, Kitty and Jubilee stare at her. ‘Why of all people has it to be those four to see me. Jubes has the loosest mouth of all in this damn mansion. In five minutes everybody will know!’

Logan snarled at the students and continued his way to the hidden elevator, glad Marie never left his side though she looked paler than before. In the lift he pushed the button for the infirmary and finally sent out a mental call to the professor. ‘Chuck, you there?’

‘Yes, Logan?’ The calm voice of the older man sounded in his mind.

‘I need Jean in the Med Bay at once.’

A moment past by till Xavier’s voice returned. ‘I already told her. She’s on her way. Are you or Rogue hurt?’

‘No.’

‘May I ask why you need assistance in the infirmary?’

‘Kinda concerns you as well, Chuck. Come and see for yourself.’ Logan answered in his thoughts and stepped out of the elevator and rushed over to the Med Bay. Once arrived, he told Rogue to take a seat at one of the examination tables, while he placed the crying baby on the other table rubbing her chest gently. “Shh.”

X X X X X

A few minutes later, the child had finally calmed, the door opened and Jean rushed in with the professor, Storm and Scott on her heels. The red head stopped in her tracks as soon as her gaze fell upon the pale and fearful face of the trembling teenager and then on the tiny newborn. “Oh God, what happened?”

Logan rested his large hand on the baby’s chest, so she wouldn’t fall off the cold metal table by accident and turned to his fellow X-Men. “What does it look like, Red? She pushed and the kid slid outta her.” He stated and pointed his thumb towards Marie, who shrank even more into her over-sized shirt.

Rogue felt so embarrassed and saw the disappointed glares of her teachers and mentors center on her. Tears began to sting in her eyes and she struggled to not let them fall while she averted her gaze from the adults, looking back onto her lap. She wanted to pull her knees to her chest and crawl to a little ball, hiding from the cruel reality, but she didn’t dare to move an inch.

Jean was stunned for a moment, then torn between her two patients, but decided that the young mother looked shaken, but didn’t seem to need medical attention immediately. So she approached Logan and the baby, but glanced over to Rogue. “Rogue, how are you? Do you bleed?” But the girl just kept staring into the space before her for a long moment until she finally shook her head.

Logan unwrapped his shirt from the little body of his daughter. “Rogue should be fine. I touched her, gave her a little of my healin’.” He saw the nod of the doctor and noticed the other X-Men coming closer, scrutinize the baby. “Red, could you run a few tests on her? See if she’s alright?”

“Sure.” Jean met his concerned eyes and hurried over to her stethoscope and other medical utilities, she might need.

Scott stepped forward his eyes on Wolverine. “What happened?” He demanded in full fearless leader style.

Logan felt his patience vanish fast, when it came to the laser-shooting-mutant. “Are you deaf, Summers? Just told you Rogue gave birth.”

Meanwhile Storm had walked over to Rogue’s side and placed a hand onto the girl’s shoulder. “Rogue, how are you, dear?” She asked in her caring motherly voice, but the brunette only shrugged without looking up from her lap. “Why didn’t you tell anybody?” Again a shrug.

Logan listened – like everyone else – to Ororo’s attempts for answers and only growled in annoyance about the stupidity of the question. “Guess she was scared shitless, still is.” He saw Jean return to him and he finally lifted his hand from his daughter’s body, so the doctor could examine her.

Storm was about to ask the most uncomfortable question and this time she didn’t really expect an answer. “Dear, who’s the father?”

But before Rogue could say or do anything, Logan already answered, meeting the expectant gazes of the other adults. “I am.”

“What?!” Scott snapped at the older mutant and punched him in the face, only to hiss in pain and hold his right fist, after it had collided with the Adamantium skull. “Damnit!”

Logan did nothing for once, knowing full well that he had deserved that punch and if someone else would have put his little Marie into this situation, HE would have done much more harm than just beat the bastard to a pulp.

“You knew she was pregnant?!” Ro stared at the feral man disbelieving, disgust was also swimming in her blue eyes.

“No! You honestly think I would take Rogue to a fast food restaurant on purpose, so she could give birth on the toilet?!” Logan spat, but felt suddenly bad, as he took in the disappointed and disgusted glares of his fellow X-Men. He never gave a shit about what other people thought about him, but what made the opinion those geeks held about him count suddenly. He wondered and fought hard to not look away from the piercing stares of the other adults.

Jean lifted the baby up into her arms. “She’s 16! How could you?!” But her accuses were lost to Scott’s enraged rant.

“The toilet?! So you didn’t know you had knocked her up, you bastard? And didn’t even bring her to a hospital when she was in labor?!” His hand still hurt like hell, but he ignored the ache and stepped closer to Wolverine.

“It was too late for the hospital, the baby was already half way there.” Logan’s guilt instantly turned to fierce anger when he saw Scott lift his good hand to his black tee shirt, twisting the fabric in his fist. The Canadian’s hand immediately was on the other man’s and squeezed his fist tightly, but not so hard that he would break Summers’ hand. “Listen, bub, and listen good, Rogue was under your care the last eleven months, and a house full of telepaths wasn’t able to pick up on her condition?! And now you blame me that I haven’t noticed?! I was hardly around!”

Cyclops gritted his teeth. “Yeah, that’s exactly the point, you pervert! The few weeks you hang around the school, you spent your time knocking up our underage students! Isn’t it enough that you fuck a whore every other night in a bar?!”

Logan’s eyes darkened as he growled from deep within his chest and he gripped Scott by the hem of his shirt and threw him against the next wall, pinning the other man there. “I never, you hear, One-Eye, I never had sex with any of the students!”

He was at a disadvantage now, pinned against the wall, but still he didn’t back down with his arguments or his temper. “Huh? But you just confessed to be the father of that child! Sorry, if I’m confused, but a baby doesn’t come from holdin’ hands!” He was now shoved even further against the wall, his own hands grasping the feral’s ones.

Rogue was petrified by the scene before her, her inner Logan warned her that one more wrong word and the Wolverine would take over his flesh and blood counterpart, doing everything necessary to protect his cub. “Please stop, Mr. Summers!” She yelled and jumped to her feet and ran over to the two men, placing her small hand on Logan’s arm. “It was mah fault! Ah went to Logan to sleep with him!” The brunette blurted out and all eyes were suddenly piercing into her.

“Kid, cut it!” Logan hissed as he heard the gasps of the other X-Men.

Logan’s fists had lightened their grip on him and Scott used this chance to grasp the other man’s collar. “And you sick bastard took the opportunity!”

“He kicked me out ‘fore we had sex!” Desperate tears ran down her cheeks as her hand tried to loosen Logan’s now re-tightened death-grip on the other’s man.

‘Enough!’ Professor Xavier’s voice in their heads startled everybody with its unusual harsh tone. The sudden silence was only broken by the cries of the newborn in Jean’s arms. Xavier wheeled his chair closer to the two men and the teenager, his gray eyes held a coldness that chilled Rogue to the bones. “Logan, Scott, let go off of each other at once.” His voice wasn’t raised, but it carried enough authority and significance that both men complied and stepped apart.

Scott walked past the professor to stand next to Storm, he obviously got a mental order to do so. Unaware that she not only still held Logan’s hand, but was now running her fingertips over his knuckles in a soothing gesture, Rogue broke the physical contact at once as she finally understood why the professor’s glare on her became darker with every passing second.

Xavier let his eyes switch from Rogue to Logan and then back as Jean calmed the baby. “Both of you insist that you were never intimate, but this child contradicts this highly. Would you mind to clarify?” This was no question but an order.

Logan ran his fingers agitated through his dark hair and saw Rogue’s panicked gaze hover over his face. He turned his eyes on her for a moment “Go back to the table, kid.”, then back to the bald man in the wheelchair. “Look, Chuck, it isn’t what it looks like. It was over before it had even begun.”

“So you had sex with Rogue?” The professor’s voice was eerie calm and his face impassive, gone was all his natural gentleness.

“No.” After another run of his fingers through his mane, Logan eventually murmured a “yes”. He saw the professor’s anger boil in his grey eyes and continued quickly, hoping he wouldn’t regret his decision. “Chuck, best would be you make yourself a picture.”

This suggestion caught the older man off guard and his impassive face suddenly showed disbelieving surprise. “You suggest I access your memories of that incident?”

“Seems to me the easiest way.”

“Fine... Close your eyes, Logan.”