"Pushing me away so I give her space, dealing with a heart that I didn't break..."

Logan's ears perked up as the song floated into the rec room. He knew it, but he couldn't remember knowing it. He left his spot at the window where he'd been watching a pickup basketball game outside, and followed the voice out of the room.

He strained to figure out if the voice was familiar as well as the song. But his memories were blocked, as they always were; he could only ever access very short flashes or sounds at a time.

The voice was coming from the kitchen. As he got closer, he also picked up the sound of running water. Logan hesitated just outside the doorway, unsure as to what he'd be facing if he entered the room.

He told himself he was being a pussy, and forced himself into the kitchen.

A girl was standing at the sink, washing dishes and singing to herself. She was wearing yellow rubber gloves, and from her size, looked only about fifteen or so. She heard him come in, and stopped singing and turned to look at him.

When she saw him, her scrubbing motion abruptly stopped. Still staring at him, she flicked off the faucet.

When he saw her face, a word automatically came out of his mouth.

A name.

"Anna."

She responded with a frown. He blinked, unsure of where that had come from. He didn't know anyone named Anna. He didn't know this girl's name...so how did he so confidently attach this name to her face?

"Who's asking?" she said, in a sharper tone than he'd expected.

"Zoe, go do your homework," came a voice from behind him.

Logan turned, and what he saw almost gave him vertigo. It was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s, an older version of the girl he had called Anna. That girl had been the first person he'd ever run into who might've been from his past, and just a few seconds later, another showed up as well.

The woman only met Logan's eyes briefly, but in that short period of time, he saw enough to confirm that this woman did in fact know him. He saw recognition in her eyes, but there was more than that. Layers of emotion – pain, mostly. There was no time to analyze her expression any further, though, because the girl named Zoe spoke up behind him.

"I already did my homework," she said, with a hint of a pout.

"Then go study for your biology test," the woman replied.

"But-"

"Zoe."

Zoe sighed. She took off the gloves and laid them on the counter. As she did so, Logan noticed two thick bracelets on her wrists. As he kept looking, though, he realized they weren't bracelets – they were thick, metallic cuffs with buttons and LCD displays on the inner sides. She looked up at Logan as she passed him, then turned her attention to the woman behind him.

"He thought I was you," he heard her whisper. He turned his head to the side slightly so that he could see the woman's reaction. She placed her hand on the top Zoe's head and gave her a slight smile, and then the girl was gone.

Logan turned around fully. The woman drew a breath, as though steeling herself for him.

"Hi," she said, the smile having disappeared. "My name is Anna."

"I know," he answered. "We knew each other, didn't we."

Again, layers of thoughts and emotions became visible in her expression. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Yeah," she responded. "We did."

Logan saw that she wore two cuffs identical to Zoe's. She followed his gaze down, and uncrossed her arms.

"This is actually what I wanted to talk to you about," she said, raising one of her wrists slightly. "It's nothing personal, but I don't want you going near Zoe for the time being. She's my daughter, she – her gift is the same as mine. We can generate and manipulate electricity. Your adamantium endoskeleton, it'll mess with her system. I'll need to work on her controls – that's what these are called," she said, gesturing with her wrist again.

"What about you?" he asked.

She shook her head dismissively. "She's young, and hasn't had as much time as I've had to work on manual control. Besides, I've already been exposed to you – with the metal inside of you. I know what to expect."

Logan had a thousand questions bouncing around rapidly in his brain. But for some reason, he chose to ask, "You knew I was here already?"

"What?"

"You knew I was here," he said. "You weren't surprised when you saw me standing here."

"Oh," said Anna. "The Professor called me into his office a little while ago, because he'd seen images of someone like you in my memories before, and wanted to see if you were the same person."

Logan arched a brow. "The guy doesn't give anyone much privacy, does he?"

"Most of the time, he does," Anna told him. "But sometimes our thoughts are so loud that he can't help but hear them."

A small smile accompanied the arched brow, and Anna quickly derived his meaning.

"First of all," she said defensively, "I only thought about you loudly when I had just gotten here, because it was right after the last time I saw you. Second of all, do not smile at me like that because it freaks me the hell out."

He made a show of straightening his face. "Sorry."

"So, in conclusion: give Zoe her space, and I'm sorry, but I'm going to need space for a few days too."

"What do you mean?" he murmured.

She gave a short sigh, and looked away from him for a second. "I know that I've had fifteen years to get over...everything that happened, but I'm still not entirely there yet. I'm still angry with you, and I wasn't expecting to see you anytime soon, and I don't want to lose control and accidentally hurt you." Then, she added. "Or not accidentally. Whatever."

As eager as Logan was to ask her everything she knew about his past, he understood that he couldn't force it. "Okay," he answered. "Wait, what did I do to make you mad at me?"

She shook her head. "I need time, Logan."

He held up his hands. "Right. Sorry."

Then, her expression turned just a degree softer. "I'm glad you're alright, Logan."

He didn't know how to respond, so he remained silent as she disappeared into the hall.

One thought hit him hard as soon as she left. It had been fifteen years – so that meant that she must've been a teenager when he last saw her. Probably right around Zoe's age. Instantly, he felt creeped out at the fact that he'd found her beautiful.

A second thought that hadn't really sunk in before then struck him: she was Zoe's mother. She looked young enough to pass for her older sister. Logan realized that she must've had Zoe at a very young age, and a horrible feeling that Zoe's birth had something to do with his role in Anna's past began to set in.

It was a ridiculous thought, but it occurred to him nonetheless. He couldn't be the girl's father, could he? That would mean that he'd slept with a very, very young Anna at a time when he himself looked the same age as he did today.

The thought made him uneasy. He started for the fridge to look for a beer, but then remembered that this was a school.

God dammit.

*the song at the beginning is Florence and the Machine's version of Take Care

*also, I love Rogue, but she doesn't exist in this series (my apologies, other Rogue fans!)