Logan paced to and fro along the narrow room. He felt so useless. The other men in the room seemed to feel the same way, though none of them were pacing as he was.
He could smell blood; the sickly sweet, coppery aroma that tainted the air, but worst of all, her could smell her blood.
His claws ached to come out – like they did whenever he could smell this much blood – but he kept them firmly in place, his hands balling up into fists to prevent any damage to the neat, white plastic chairs that lined the room.
His pacing ended when a small, homely woman entered the room. He could practically feel the tension as everyone stared at her, waiting to hear the news.
However, the woman didn't seem to notice – or didn't care – and tucked her too short mousey brown hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses back up onto her nose.
Her fingers drummed against the side of the small clipboard that she was holding, and Logan could hear every last tap, he could see every movement she made, he could almost see the blood throbbing through her veins.
"Mr. Howlett?" he asked, looking up expectantly, and Logan let out a breath that he hadn't even known he was holding in.
Logan followed the woman out of the room and down the hall. For such a small woman, she walked very quickly – as most nurses do – and Logan had to take twice the amount of steps that she did just to keep up.
"It's been quite a busy day today," she commented, rounding a corridor, "It feels as if I've been on my feet all day!"
Logan ignored her. He didn't have time to listen to her inane babblings, all her wanted to do, was get to the room, and with as little fuss as possible.
"Is this is?" the woman asked, peering at the number on the door and comparing it to the one on her clipboard, but then she shook her head and continued down the corridor, "442, 442, where on earth is room 442?"
Logan held back a sigh. He needed to stay on her good side if she was ever going to find the right room, and shouting at her, unleashing his claws and killing her like every fibre of his being was telling him to, would not help to achieve his goal.
Eventually, the search was over, and the little woman poked a thumb at room 442, before striding off at an even quicker pace. Logan took a deep breath, and entered the small room.
At the far side of the room were a bed and a small crib, and in the bad, lay the most beautiful woman that Logan had ever laid eyes upon.
Almost as quickly as the small nurse had moved, Logan made his way across the room, and when he reached her, he bent down low and kissed her forehead, before leaning back and sitting on his haunches.
"How are ya feelin' Wanda?" he asked and she smiled at him tiredly.
"Like the luckiest woman in the world," she decided and he beamed back at her, playing with a small lock of her curly brown hair.
"You might be the luckiest woman in the world, but I'm the luckiest man in the world," he told her, "First, being married to you and now... this."
"Would you like to see her?" Wanda whispered to him and he almost fell back from the shock.
"It's a girl?" he asked, he had no idea why, but he'd almost expected it to be a boy.
"She's a girl," Wanda corrected, moving herself so that she was sitting up, and pulling the small bundle from underneath her arm, before handing it to him.
Logan took the child from his wife's arms with the utmost care and moved the cloth just enough so that he could see the face of his newborn daughter.
He almost dropped his daughter there and then. She was the most beautiful thing he had seen in all his life. People always said that you couldn't know what a child would look like when they grew up until they were at least five or six years old, but he could tell, he knew that she would be beautiful, even more beautiful than her mother.
"You got any ideas on what ta call her?" he asked, once he'd recovered his speech.
"I'm not quite sure, I think you should decide," she said, "Something as exotic and beautiful as she is."
"Serena? Malvina?" he asked, thinking aloud, "Honoria? Xenia? Kyra?"
"Wait! Wait!" she said, cutting him off from saying any other names, "Xenia. I like that name. What do you think?"
"Xenia Howlett," he mused, staring at his daughter, who gurgled up at him affectionately.
"It fits," Wanda offered and Logan nodded.
"It does," he agreed, "Xenia Howlett it is."
Logan smiled at his daughter, wiggling a finger at her teasingly, and she reached up a small, delicate hand and clasped it with a surprisingly strong grip.
"She's a tough one," Logan laughed as Xenia manoeuvred his finger into his mouth and chewed on it, "Ouch! She had teeth!"
Wanda smiled as he nursed his – now bleeding – finger against his chest.
"She has the X-gene," Wanda stated proudly, "Like mother like daughter, like father like daughter."
Logan nodded, watching as his child began to fall asleep.
"Do you think it would be okay," he started, "If I took her to see some old friends?"
"Of course," she said, seemingly delighted by the idea, "We've both been thoroughly checked."
"Are you sure?" he asked, "I could stay?"
"No!" she answered slightly too quickly, "I mean, go and get your friends, I'm sure they'd all be so jealous when they see our little princess."
"If you say so," he said, standing and carrying Xenia out into the corridor.
Logan went along a few more corridors - taking far too many lefts and rights for his liking – and eventually, he came to the guest's waiting room.
Inside the waiting room, among other people, was an ageing bald man in a wheelchair, and beside him, a large, ape-like man whose body was covered in blue fur.
Logan made his way over to the men. They both smiled when they noticed him.
"Logan," said the blue-furred man, when he stood beside them, "Good to see you old friend."
"As per usual, hank stole the words from my mouth," said the bald man, and then he looked at the bundle in Logan's arms, "And who might this be?"
"Charles, Hank, I'd like you to meet Xenia. Xenia Howlett," Logan said, almost bursting with pride as he handed the infant to Charles.
Charles stared into the face of Logan's daughter, his face covered by a mask of awe.
"She is truly remarkable," Charles said, as if he was examining something from under a microscope, "How dainty and yet, so peaceful looking. She's going to be quite the handful when she grows up."
Charles handed the baby carefully over to Hank.
"Astonishing," he said, as he cooed at her, "Quite the sight to behold."
With a great reluctance, Hank handed Xenia back to her father.
"Yeah, she's got one hell of a bite on her too," Logan said, showing his two oldest friends his wounded finger, and both chortled.
"It would seem you have a mutant on your hands, or in them, as the case is," Charles said happily.
"So, how is Wanda getting on?" Hank asked, "I haven't seen her for a considerable amount of time."
"She's great," Logan beamed, "You can come and see her if you want, I'm sure she won't mind the company."
Logan started down the corridor, Charles and Hank following, and managed to find his way back on the first go. He knocked on the door gently, wanting to be quiet, in case she was sleeping.
He opened the door a fraction and poked his head in.
"Wanda, honey, are you okay if Hank and - " he stopped short of finishing his sentence.
The windows next to the bed were open, the curtains torn to shreds, the late night rain was pouring through them, soaking the equally tattered bed sheets. Wanda was nowhere to be seen.
Logan ran into the room, nearly throwing Xenia in her crib in his haste to pick up a scent – any scent – but he couldn't find any.
He walked up to the curtains and took a long, deep smell, but there was no scent. It was as if the hospital sterilisation had managed to seep into his nose.
His knees buckled underneath him and he fell to the floor with a feral wail of despair. Charles rolled slowly into the room, and Hank followed.
Hank picked up Xenia while Charles probed the room telepathically for any signs of an intruder, when he could find none, he looked over at Hank.
Hank nodded and handed Xenia to Logan, hoping that the sight of his child would soothe him.
Logan smiled sadly down at his daughter.
"I guess it's just you and me now kid," he said, and Xenia blinked up at him.
- Heya! It's me Draculous! I just wanted to say, thank you, to those of you who have read this, and also, this is a sort of plea for reviews! So, PLEASE review! X