Logan’s first reaction had been to scream. To slam his claws deep into Scott’s chest so that he could feel exactly what Logan was at that moment. Since he could not gut the other man, Logan moved to his next option. Spinning about on his heel, Logan slammed his fist into the metallic wall behind him.
“Logan, calm down,” Scott said, placing a hand on Logan’s shoulder.
Whirling back around, Logan glared at the smaller man, his eyes wild. “How the fuck do you expect me to calm down when Marie was taken away from me?”
“There’s nothing you can do, Logan. Now I understand how you feel, but you--”
“You now shit all, Scooter!” Logan roared, grabbing hold of Scott’s collar and slamming him into the opposite wall. “You have never been where I am right now, One-Eye, so don’t go shittin’ me about knowing how I feel ‘cause you don’t!”
Not able to stand Scott’s presence any longer, Logan stormed towards the elevator. He needed to get outside, away from the stench of the medlab, and breathe in the fresh, clear air. Being outdoors, in nature, was the only thing besides Marie that could relax him. Since he couldn’t go to Marie and feel her arms wrap around his body as she held him close, Logan chose to disappear into the mansion’s extensive grounds.
“Daidee! Daidee!”
Logan had no more stepped out of the elevator then he was greeted by the excited shouts of a hyperactive four year-old who was up long after she should have been in bed. Turning towards the screaming child, Logan leaned down to scoop her into his arms as soon as she was within reach.
“And just what are you doing up, runt?” Logan asked as the little girl squirmed in search of the most comfortable position. “You should have been in bed a long time ago.”
“Kristyn Hunters, where on earth did you get to!” Jubilee hissed from around a nearby corner.
“I lost Ju-Ju, Daidee,” Kristyn announced, a ferocious grin on her face.
Despite himself, Logan chuckled softly, brushing a kiss against his daughter’s forehead. “That you did, runt. Good job.”
“Squirt, this is not funny,” Jubilee grumbled as she rounded the corner, coming face to face with Logan and Kristyn. “That wasn’t funny, squirt. You had me worried.”
Kristyn gave Jubilee a toothy grin, the same one she had learned got her whatever she wanted. “Wanted Momma and Daidee.”
“I’m right here, runt,” Logan assured his daughter, giving her a tight squeeze. When Kristyn asked after her mother, Logan frowned and solemnly shook his head. “You can’t see your Momma right now.”
Kristyn’s response was to pout, a well documented sign that she didn’t approve of something. Deciding that he’d calm down better with his daughter, Logan carried her out to the back patio that overlooked the spot where he and Marie had been married five years before. When she had gotten pregnant with Kristyn, they had still been unable to touch, but a faulty condom had allowed Marie to become pregnant. It also left Logan in a two day coma, but the results were more than worth it. Nine months later, the pair had welcomed their daughter into the world. Unsure of how the baby would react to Marie’s skin, Jean had performed a cesarean section to deliver the baby. Logan had nearly gone on a rampage when he smelt so much of Marie’s blood and ended up shoving his claws into a very expensive piece of equipment.
Marie had come through the delivery without any complications and Logan delighted in being able to hold his baby girl. Even more amazing to him was watching Marie breast feed the tiny infant. To both Logan and Marie’s delight, and the mansion’s other inhabitants, Marie was able to touch their daughter. The discovery had been an accident. Logan had been holding a sleeping Kristyn as he sat on the edge of Marie’s bed. Marie had reached out and ran the tip of her index finger along Kristyn’s tummy which was covered by a pink sleeper. Before either of them could react, Kristyn shifted in her sleep and placed her tiny palm directly on top of Marie’s hand. It took a second for them to react, long enough for the connection to have started... but it hadn’t. Kristyn merely opened her eyes and gazed disinterestedly at her parents before shutting her eyes again.
Desperate to be able to touch his beloved wife, Logan had handed Kristyn over to Jean who was standing right beside him. With steady, determined movements, Logan inched his way closer to Marie and placed the flat of his palm against her cheek.
Almost instantly, Logan felt the connection open up and pulled away, but not before he could see the sad expression on Marie’s face. Jean had tried everything she could think of to replicate the biological change that allowed Marie to touch Kristyn, but she couldn’t find the solution. When Hank had arrived a year later, he hadn’t fared any better.
Even four years after Marie had given birth to their daughter, Logan was still unable to touch Marie. Anything more than the briefest of kisses would open the connection between them and Logan would feel lightheaded. It had only been for about a month that the two had been able to touch. During one of Marie’s meditation sessions she had found the preverbal switch that allowed her to shut her mutation off at will. Since that day, Logan and Marie would touch each other as often and possible, unable to get enough of each other. The first time they had been able to kiss, really kiss, without any barrier between them was one of the most amazing things Logan had ever experienced.
“Daidee quiet,” Kristyn announced as Logan sat them down on the steps of the patio. “Daidee not s’pose to be quiet. Daidee loud.”
Logan smiled softly at his daughter and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Well it’s really late and I don’t wanna wake any of the animals up. They’re all sleeping, just like you should be.”
“Not sleepy,” Kristyn told him as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “How come Momma not here?”
Logan stared into Kristyn’s wide brown eyes, Marie’s eyes. The little girl was clinging onto his arms as she sat straddling his thighs, waiting less than patiently for his answer. Logan could tell by her pursed lips that Kristyn wasn’t going to wait much longer for him to tell her why she couldn’t see her mother.
“Well, runt, Momma had to go away,” Logan told her, unsure of how exactly to tell her what had happened to Marie. Kristyn was still working on the concept that even though Wile E. Coyote could walk off a cliff and not start to fall until he looked down, the same thing wasn’t true for her. Logan had barely been able to stop her from walked off the top step of the mansion’s main staircase with her eyes shut the day before.
Kristyn furrowed her eyebrows, her lips turning down in a slight frown. “Where’d she go?”
“Momma had to go see Jeanie and Dr. Hank,” Logan whispered solemnly. The scent of Marie’s blood was still fresh in his mind and Logan hated that he hadn’t been able to do anything about it. Jeanie wouldn’t let him. It had taken Hank, Scott, Kurt, Bobby and St. John collectively to get him from the medlab where Marie lay bleeding to death.
“Dr. Hank’ll make Momma better,” Kristyn announced with a confidence Logan wished he could share. “He made me better.”
Logan couldn’t help but smile when Kristyn brandished her index finger as evidence, complete with a Little Mermaid band-aid. Taking her small hand in his, Logan brought it to his lips and pressed a kiss against her palm. “Your Momma’s gonna need more than a band-aid to get better, runt. Momma’s real sick right now. That’s why Jubilee was supposed to be watching you.”
“Ju-Ju’s ‘nnoying,” Kristyn told him with a roll of her ever-expressive eyes. “She talks too much and makes my head hurt.”
Unaware of the magnitude of what was happening in the mansion’s lower levels, Kristyn began to ramble on about what she had done that day. Logan listened intently, nodding his head and making approving noises whenever Kristyn’s raised eyebrows indicated he should.
Sensing the fear that was rolling off him in waves, Kristyn reached up and patted Logan on the shoulder. “Dr. Hank’ll make Momma better. You see. ‘Sides, look what I got!”
Grinning from ear to ear, Kristyn reached into the front pocket of her denim overalls and pulled out a silver keychain bearing the X-Men’s trademark symbol of a circled X. Dangling from the keychain was a key that Logan knew very well.
It was the key to Scott’s beloved motorcycle.
“Where on earth did you get this, runt?” Logan asked as he took the key from his daughter’s outstretched hand.
“The place where Unca Scooter keeps his socks and panties,” Kristyn told him proudly as she snuggled back into his arms.
A few minutes later, the four-year-old was sound asleep. Brushing a kiss against the top of her dark head, Logan stood up with Kristyn still in his arms and headed back into the mansion. Had the situation been anything but what it was, Logan would have taken the opportunity Kristyn had given him and gone for a ride on Scott’s bike. Since his return six years before, Scott kept the keys to his bike hidden away where Logan couldn’t find them. Over the past year and a half, Kristyn’s inquisitive and innocent nature allowed her to snoop through other’s rooms and often leave with a few pilfered items. The keys to Scott’s bike, a CD that Jubilee played too loudly and too often, a newly bloomed rose from Ororo’s garden, Remy’s infamous Black Book (at Jubilee’s request, of course) and anything else that she could be persuaded to be looking for.
As he walked through the dimly lit halls, Logan caught sight of Kitty staring pensively out a window and indicated with a silent jerk of his head that she follow him. Even though Kristyn was asleep, Logan would feel better if Kitty was watching her. Kristyn had a habit of playing hide and seek with Jubilee and Jubilee often had a hard time finding the little girl.
The moment he opened the door, Logan’s sensitive nose was bombarded by the lingering scent of blood. Marie’s blood. Someone had been by to clean it up, but the smell of it still remained, the cleaning products used to remove the stains doing nothing to diminish the smell.
“Do you have any idea how Rogue’s doing?” Kitty asked in a quiet voice as they entered Logan and Marie’s suite.
Logan heaved a great sigh and made his way towards Kristyn’s room. “Not a peep since Jeanie had me thrown out of the medlab.”
“I’m sure that Rogue will be all right,” Kitty said, resting a hand on Logan’s shoulder as he gently placed Kristyn in her bed. “Rogue’s a fighter. We all know that and so does she. Rogue would not leave you and Kristyn by yourselves so soon.”
“God, I hope that’s true,” Logan murmured as he began changing his daughter into her light blue fleece pajamas which were covered in yellow ducks. At the moment they were Kristyn’s favourite pajamas. “I’m not ready to lose her. I don’t think I ever will be.”
Kitty placed both her hands on his shoulders and briefly massaged the tense muscles. “Rogue loves you, Logan, and she wouldn’t willingly leave you. Now go to her. I’ll stay here with Kristyn.”
Leaning forward, Logan brushed a kiss against Kristyn’s forehead. His daughter looked blissfully content and it broke Logan’s heart that she might never see her mother again. Leaving Kristyn in Kitty’s capable hands, Logan went back into the main room of his family’s suite.
The room that he had found Marie unconscious and on the floor in a puddle of her own blood.
It had only been a few hours ago, but to Logan it felt like an eternity. Before it had happened, Logan’s night had seemed like a good one. He and Scott had had a good workout in the Danger Room-- Scott leaving great deal more battered and bruised than Logan --and had spent the rest of the evening watching a Detroit/Colorado game with Marie in the small living room. However, as soon as he had entered the room and found Marie, Logan felt as though he had stepped into a nightmare.
Logan may not have had much medical knowledge, but he knew that finding Marie bleeding from her vagina when she was seven and a half months pregnant was not a good thing. Jean and Hanks’ worried looks hadn’t done much to reassure him of his wife’s well being.
Unlike her pregnancy with Kristyn, Marie’s second pregnancy had been planned. Jean had offered to help medically in their attempts to get Marie pregnant, but Logan and Marie had let nature take its course. It had taken almost a year, but Marie had eventually become pregnant again and Logan hadn’t even had to go into a coma in the process. Until that evening, the pregnancy had been uneventful and Logan had delighted in watching Marie’s stomach grow as their child grew within her.
As Logan strode briskly through the hallways, passing people quickly jumped out of the way. The Wolverine was like a man possessed and they knew better than to stand in his path. He was desperate to find out what had happened to his beloved Marie. He wasn’t about to lose her or their child. He wasn’t. Logan wasn’t about to become a single father. That meant Marie had to live.
As he travelled down to the medlab in the elevator, Logan felt himself going slowly insane. It wasn’t a very long ride, but it felt infinitely longer to Logan considering he didn’t know whether Marie was alive or dead. Logan liked to believe that he would know if Marie died, so he was able to retain a some hope.
Logan stepped out of the elevator just in time to see Jean exit the medlab, her scrubs covered in blood.
Marie’s blood.
“No....” Logan moaned, shaking his head back and forth. “No... no. No!”
Before Jean could say anything, Logan took off running toward the medlab. There might still be time. He might still be able to save Marie. Paying no attention to the words Jean was shouting at him, Logan pushed her aside without a care. He needed to get to Marie. There might still be time for him to touch her. To save her.
“Marie!” Logan screamed as he stormed into the operating room. He nearly collapsed as the overpowering scent of Marie’s blood nearly knocked him out. Logan staggered and would have collapsed had Hank not appeared behind him and held him up as his knees started to give out.
“I do not believe that this is the best place for you to be at the moment, Logan,” Hank said softly as he helped Logan to straighten himself.
“Where’s Marie?” Logan groaned as he allowed Hank to lead him from the operating room. “She can’t be....”
Hank eased Logan down onto a chair in the main room of the medlab. Logan was on the brink of tears, but wanted to keep them subdued until he was alone. He wouldn’t react with others around. The only person Logan would allow to see him break down was Kristyn, but he knew that she wouldn’t fully understand what was going on. It would take a long time for Kristyn to really understand that she would never see her mother again. She was only four and wouldn’t accept the fact that she couldn’t see her mother whenever she wanted.
“Now, Logan, before I let you into recovery to see Rogue and your son I need you to calm down,” Hank said solemnly, placing his hands on Logan’s shoulders. “You will be of no used to them if--”
“They’re all right?” Logan demanded, sitting up and clutching at Hank’s arms. “Marie and the baby are all right?”
Hank bobbed his massive head from side to side. “I would not necessarily use the term ‘all right,’ but Marie and the child are doing better than Jean and I had anticipated. Your son is very small, but he is a fighter. However, because of his premature birth it will be a few months before he is allowed out of this area. Provided there are no unforeseen complications both should recover completely.”
Logan nearly fainted he was so relieved. Marie was alive. Their son was alive. Logan had never been so relieved in his entire remembered life. Resting his elbows on his knees, Logan buried his face in his hands and finally allowed the emotions he had been holding at bay all night to overcome him.
Once he was back in control of himself, Logan raised his head and met Hank’s eyes. “Can I please see them? I need to see them,” Logan whispered, his voice muffled by his hands which were still covering his mouth.
“I am sure that both Marie and your son would benefit from your presence,” Hank told him as he rose from a crouching position. “I should warn you, however, that Marie is unconscious at the moment. She is sedated at the moment and will remain so for roughly a day.”
“And my son....?”
Hank was much more grim when it came to describing the infant’s condition. Most of what the doctor said, Logan didn’t completely understand. Hank had a tendency to go off on a tangent when talking about a patient’s condition and this was no exception. And while he didn’t fully understand what Hank was telling him, one message got across loud and clear.
Marie and their son were lucky to be alive.
If he’d had it his way, Logan would have touched Marie as soon as he discovered her bleeding in the living room. The only reason he hadn’t was because he’d promised Marie that he would only do it if it was a life or death situation and either Jean or Hank gave him their permission. Logan had been reluctant to give Marie his word in the matter, but had eventually consented.
Following silently behind Hank, Logan entered the recovery room. At the sight of Marie lying peacefully on one of the hospital beds, sound asleep, Logan felt the last bit of doubt leave him. Just to be sure, Logan planned on giving Marie’s already heightened healing abilities-- the result of one too many absorbtions --a little boost to ensure that she recovered as quickly as possible.
Logan only wished that he could do the same for his son.
As though knowing ahead of time that Logan would be torn between his wife and his son, Hank and Jean had placed the incubator the newborn was in right next to Marie’s bed. For the first time ever, Logan was glad that the medlab had acquired just about every medical instrument available. It had undoubtedly helped in saving his son’s life.
Still, nothing could have prepared Logan for the first glimpse he had of his son. The boy was small, so much smaller than Kristyn had been, and had a vast array of wires and tubes sticking out of his body. Listening with only half an ear to what Hank was saying, Logan learned that one tube helped him to breathe, one wire kept track of his heart beat while another monitored his blood pressure. What all the others were for, Logan didn’t know. The diaper he was wearing made him look even smaller. On the newborn’s head was a small blue cap that indicated he was a boy.
“Can I... can I touch him?” Logan asked in a broken voice, unable to take his eyes away from his son.
“But of course,” Hank was quick to assure him. “It has been my experience that newborns should be touched and held as much as possible. This young man is no exception.... I was wondering, had you and Rogue decided on a name for this little one.”
Logan didn’t answer the other man right away. Instead, he slipped his hand into the opening of the incubator and brushed his forefinger along the back of his son’s hand. “Hey there, Braeden, it’s nice to finally meet you face to face,” Logan said softly, marveling at the softness of his son’s skin. “You gave me one helluva scare there and I’d really like it if could keep that to a minimum until you get a little older. Or you could just not do it at all. Either one would work for me. And you’re gonna have to be real good for your Momma for the next little while. I don’t want you getting colic like your sister Kristyn did. Not that I minded staying up with her all night, but it worried your Momma a lot and she didn’t get much sleep. So you just concentrate on getting bigger and stronger and I’ll do my best to keep all of the psycho women in the house away from you.”
It was a month and a half before Logan and Marie were allowed to bring Braeden out of the medlab on a permanent basis. Thanks to a less than brief kiss from Logan, Marie was up and about in a matter of days, much to Kristyn’s delight. It had been very hard for Marie at the beginning, emotionally. She blamed herself for what happened to Braeden and was scared to touch him the first few days for fear of hurting him further.
“Marie, you had nothing to do with what happened to Braeden,” Logan told her on more than one occasion. “You didn’t hurt him with your skin. It wasn’t you, darlin’. You heard what Jeanie said, there was something off about the way the placenta was attached to the womb and she and Hank missed it. That’s all that happened.”
“But he almost died ‘cause o’ me,” Marie whispered forlornly. “Maybe if Ah’d just taken care o’ mahself better this wouldn’t o’ happened.”
Logan held her close, brushing a kiss against the top of her head. “You couldn’t have been more careful than you were, Marie. You did everything right. It’s just one of those things that can’t be helped.”
It wasn’t until she was able to hold Braeden without any wires or tubes attached to him that Marie really began to feel better. By the time that he was six months old and began showing his smile off to everyone who came within view, both Marie and Braeden were fully recovered. The little boy was still a little on the small side, but both Hank and Jean declared him to be healthy and a miniature copy of Logan. His eyes were slowly beginning to shift to hazel and his dark hair had a tendency to stick up every which way. Plus Scott swore that the Braeden had growled at him on more than one occasion.
By the time he was twenty-seven months old, everyone was referring to Braeden as Mini-Logan, the tiny terror. Braeden seemed to delight in the name, grinning broadly whenever he heard it.
“Wook what I got,” Braeden announced as he tottered up to Logan who was on the driveway working on the vintage Harley he had bought for himself the year before.
Dropping the wrench, Logan turned his full attention onto his son. “And just what do you have, kiddo?”
Braeden grinned ferally and reached into front pocket of his overalls, pulling out the key to Scooter’s bike. “I getted Unca Scooter’s keys.”
“And just where did you get these from?” Logan asked, curious as to what new hiding spot Scott had found for the key.
Crooking one chubby finger, Braeden turned and headed towards Ororo’s rose garden at the front of the mansion. Wiping his hands off on a rag, Logan heaved himself up and followed his son across the lawn. He couldn’t help but laugh as Braeden walked into the garden without a care in the world. The toddler stopped near the bird bath in the center of the garden then squatted down and picking up a large rock.
“I getted it under this,” Braeden declared, lifting the rock above his head.
“I suggest you get outta there, kiddo, before Auntie ‘Ro sees you playing in her roses,” Logan suggested, placing his hands on his hips.
However, Ororo wasn’t the one to catch Braeden in the roses.
“Braeden Thomas Hunters, get out o’ that garden right this minute,” Marie said sternly as she stepped out onto the porch.
“But, Momma, I getted Unca Scooter’s key,” Braeden said as though it were the most important thing in the world.
Logan could tell from the look on Marie’s face that it was taking everything in her power not to laugh at the little boy. Kristyn’s chanting of, “Braeden’s in trouble. Braeden’s in trouble,” as she peeked through the front door didn’t help much. Marie had to bite into her cheek to keep from laughing at Braeden’s earnest expression.
In the end, she was forced to let a giggle escape when Scott came upon the scene in the front yard. The sight of Logan holding the key to his bike had the other man white in the face.
It didn’t help matters much when Braeden walked over to Scott. Craning his neck back so that he could see Scott’s face, Braeden said quite solemnly, “You don’t hide things good.”