When Logan opened his eyes again, he noticed the change in the older man's expression. His face suddenly didn't hold so much anger anymore and in his eyes was something alike sympathy. Logan on the other hand was sure he had the deepest blush of his life on his cheeks.

"I see." The professor's gaze locked with Logan's. 'I wasn't aware of how deep your feelings for Rogue are.'

'She's no fling. I love her for who she is. She means the world to me and I'm gonna take care of her and our kid.'

Xavier was still like dazed by the intense love and protection the other man held for the girl. He had felt that it wasn't the body of Rogue that attracted Logan but her caring nature, her unconditional trust in him, her unique ability to see the man in him and not the vicious beast. 'You already bared your soul in order to protect your family. This is against your feral nature.'

'Nah, Chuck. Wolverine would do everything to protect his mate and cub and so would I.'

'Your mate?' This revelation brought a new light to Logan's reasons to nearly sacrifice his life for Rogue back at Liberty Island. 'Wolverine and you? Are you two separated identities? This thought never occurred to me when I accessed your mind…'

'Chuck, you're rantin'. I believe your questions how it came to the baby are answered?'

'Yes, indeed.' The older man's eyes darted over to the young mother, who hugged her knees to her chest in shame, but he immediately felt Logan's thoughts penetrate his mental barriers. 'Don't, Chuck. She has gone through enough for today.'

'Fine.' Xavier stapled his fingers to a triangle before his face and turned to the doctor. "Jean, would you please start your examination of the baby."

Scott watched the professor navigate his wheelchair away from the perverted bastard and closer to Jean. He furrowed his brows, not believing the sudden change from seething anger to his usual kind and understanding self of the older man. "Professor, what actions will you take concerning Logan?" But he was simply ignored.

The Canadian scented the air tentatively and inhaled the smell of tears, shame and fear mixed with his Marie's unique scent. His own heart began to ache for the girl and he went over to the cold metal table she was perched on. Gently he placed his hand onto her head and began to stroke her hair, but it didn't take Scott long to stride over and push Logan away from the girl. "Hands off of Rogue! You already did enough to her, bastard!"

Logan's anger flared once again and he got hold of the other man and threw him against the wall with a growl.

"Logan!"

The professor's stern voice stopped Wolverine and he turned his head to face the old man. The rage was still boiling in his veins. Panting hard to calm his temper he almost growled at Xavier's authoritarian stare, but he bit down the snarl and stormed towards the door and out into the hallway. He had to get out of there, to clear his head, before he did something to Cyke, he might regret later.

'Where are you going, Logan?' Xavier's voice echoed in his mind.

'Shoppin'.'

Scott straitened his shirt angrily and watched the feral rush out the infirmary. "You let him go like that?!" But the glare he received from his mentor told him there were more important matters at hand than Logan. With a scoff he hurried after Logan, ignoring the objections of the professor and Jean. He reached the elevator just in time to see the doors close in front of him.

X X X X X X

A good five minutes later, Scott returned to the Med Bay, a satisfied smile on his face. He took in Storm was comforting Rogue, stroking her back, while the professor sat with his eyes closed before the newborn, his hands on either side of the baby's tiny head, accessing her mind.

Jean was relieved to see her boyfriend return without brushes or a broken nose. "Where's Logan?" She inquired, wondering what the professor saw in Logan's memories that made him change his priorities.

"Took my bike and hit the road." He observed his girlfriend purr warm water into a plastic box that had held medical equipment only a short time before. "Don't think we'll see him again."

Though she didn't react on the soothing words or questions of Storm, Rogue was aware of every spoken word in the room. 'He's running again.' She buried her face deeper in her knees and her mind shut down.

X X X X X X

The automatic doors of the infirmary opened a good half an hour later and a scowling Logan strode into the room. The surprised eyes of Scott, Ororo and Jean pierced into him and he growled a "What?!" at the trio.

Storm traded a gaze with her friends, before she decided to reply. "We thought, well…"

"I left the kid for good, huh?" Logan hitched his eyebrow. "Sorry to disappoint you. Was just shoppin'." He lifted two Wal-Mart bags up and approached Jean, who took the baby's temperature. His gruff features immediately held concern as he looked down on his tiny daughter. "How is she, Red?"

Jean had known from the first moment that Logan wasn't the good guy, who would court a girl – in her definition meant 'girl' in this context a grown woman and not an actual teenage girl – with roses and promise her a house with a white picket fences and the two point five kids. Wolverine could be so charming sometimes that she almost forgot he was the bad guy. But even in her worst opinion of the feral man, the redhead had never thought him to be a pedophile.

She tried to swallow her disgust for the man before her and concentrated on her work. "Quite small and light, but this doesn't surprise me since she's a preemie and Rogue didn't take care of her condition the last months." Jean remembered that the girl had taken part in the P.E. classes. Given, the brunette wasn't so enthusiastic about sports as in the beginning and tried to sneak her way to the sidelines whenever possible, but she hardly skipped a class.

Logan's face was troubled and he stroked the baby's stomach gently. "Preemie? I came to nine months, one week more or less wouldn't make such a difference, would it?"

His hazel eyes were digging into her with confusion and worry. It was hard to despise him, when his care for the child seemed so genuine. "I estimate that Rogue gave birth at the 36th or 37th week."

"I'm no math geek, but that are nine months!"

"But under optimal conditions the baby should be delivered at the 40th week. She's about a month too early."

"Huh? Ten months?!? Why the fuck does it say nine months everywhere?!" Logan barked in frustration, but only received a shrug from Jean as answer. He watched her write the temperature down to a chart and fixed the redhead with a stern glare. "The kid's kid is a preemie… what does that mean? Is she alright?"

Jean tried to access his mind, but his mental barriers were too strong and her telepathic powers too weak, so she only picked up on his guilt and heartbreaking concern he felt at the moment. "I did a sonogram. Her organs, especially the lung, are fully developed and doing their job. The professor made a mental scan confirming that there is no brain damage."

Logan nodded in thanks to the bald man, but his eyes were trained on the doctor. "So she's fine?"

"Yes, despite being quite tiny and light, but food should take care of that issue. I wanna make a small checkup every day, though. Monitoring her weight and development."

"Thanks, Red." He picked the little baby up into his arms, the white and fluffy towel wrapped around her tiny body. Running his fingertips over her cheeks, Logan chuckled as he noticed the white streaks in the brown downy hair of the obviously bathed baby. "Got your first bath, kiddo, huh." He placed a peck onto her head and cradled her to his chest. As he noticed the grins on the two X-Women's faces his gentle smile was replaced by his usual scowl.

It was then that Logan noticed the way Storm tried to comfort his Marie. The woman sat next to the girl on the table and ran her hand up and down her back, while the professor seemed to try to access her mind.

Frowning Logan rushed over to the four – Scott stood nearby and observed everything. "What's wrong with Rogue?" He didn't care that his worry was evident in his shaking voice.

Xavier opened his eyes and met Logan's concerned gaze. His voice held its usual calm, but was spiked with worry. "She withdrew from the real world to her mind and has erected quite strong mental barriers." The professor had always had difficulties to get into touch with Rogue's mind and he assumed her unique mutation to be the reason for it. "I tried to access her mind but wasn't successful. If I push too much I might do more harm than good."

Logan stroked over the brunette's head gently. "Have you tried the old fashioned way and simply talked to 'er?"

"Sure." Storm answered concerned and stood up.

"Would you take 'er, Ro?" Logan asked and placed his daughter into the weather witch's waiting arms. Then he sat down next to his Marie and slung his arms around her shoulders, pulling her petite frame against his chest and began to mumble comforting nonsense, not caring about the audience.