CHAPTER 10

Logan decided to take Ron out into the town for the rest of the day. Ron and Logan walked all over the place window shopping. They went by a pet store and Ron stopped in her tracks. She looked in the window and saw kittens and cats from a year old to two. Logan looked back at his niece and walked to her. He saw the way she was looking at those cats. Then something else caught her eye.

"That's the cat I want." Ron pointed into the far end of the store.

Logan's eyes widened. What his niece wanted was a tiger cub that was laying in its kennel. "No way in hell you are having a tiger at the mansion."

"But I'll play, feed, and walked it everyday!" Ron said. "Look at the poor thing! It's as if they think the cub is some dangerous beast! You and I both know what's it feels like to be treated like we're savage beasts!"

Logan sighed. Ron was right. He knew what it was like to be caged up. The Weapon X Program treated Logan like an animal. Making the feral animal in him their weapon. The zoo probably couldn't care for the cub and gave it to the pet store. The cub would be there forever. Nobody would take a tiger cub home. Nobody except Ron.

"We'll come back later," Logan said. "We're going to have to talk with Chuck about it first."

Ron nodded.

Logan saw Ron's tail flick a little. "Kid, your tail is showing."

Ron saw and messed with the image inducer. "There."

Ron and Logan were about to get some lunch when there was a cry.

"Stop! Thieve!"

Ron and Logan were across the road and some guy was running with a bag. Ron knew she shouldn't because of her healing factor being extremely slow, but she ran across the road anyway. As the thieve was running by Ron took after him. Logan was pushing his way through people to get to Ron who rounded a corner and slipped from his sight. She spin kicked the thieve in the head. The thieve stumbled and Ron went for the purse.

Bang!

Everyone that was making their way somewhere stopped in their tracks wondering what the noise was. Logan stopped too.

"Ronnie."

Logan dashed across the road, following her sent and he smelled blood. Her blood. He rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Ron was laying in her own pool of blood and the thieve was long gone. Logan rushed over to and knelt beside her. She had lost a good amount of blood. He picked up his niece and ran to the nearest hospital that was only a few blocks away. Ron would never make it to the mansion. Ron's eyes were still open, but barley.

"Stay with me, kid." Logan was almost to the emergency entrance. "You gotta stay awake to name that cub you want," he said.

"Gotta. . .stay. . ." Ron's eyes started to closed.

"C'mon, Ronnie, stay with me!" Logan was at the door. "Stay with me, Ronnie!"

Her eyes shut.

"Help! Somebody, please help!" Logan shouted and a doctor came and shouted for a few more.

"What happened?" the doctor asked as they put Ron on a gurney and wheeled her to surgery.

"She was shot," Logan said as the doctor went in with the rest of his team.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't go in," a nurse said, blocking Logan's way.

He nodded his head and the nurse lead him to the waiting room that was down the hall. It was pointless to argue. Logan leaned on the wall beside the waiting room door and could hear what was going on from the room that was up the end of the long hallway.

"She's going into cardiac arrest!" he heard a nurse say. "Charging. . .clear! Charging. . .clear! Charging. . .clear. . ." it continued on.

Logan slid down the wall, put his head in his hands, and started crying into them.

Two hours went by and nobody told Logan about Ron. Logan looked around the waiting room and found a phone on the small table in the middle of the room. He got up from the floor and went over to the phone. He sat in the chair in front of the table and picked up the receiver. He wondered for a moment who to call. Xavier or Victor. He knew Xavier would find out soon and come. So, he decided to call his brother. He has the right to know.

"Talk," Victor's voice said on the other line.

"It's me, Creed," Logan said.

"What the hell are you calling--how the hell are you calling me?! You're suppose to be--"

"Ronnie busted me out, Creed," Logan said. "But that doesn't matter. She's hurt, Victor, hurt bad."

"Hurt?! How?!" Victor yelled.

"I'm at the hospital that's a few blocks from that bar you like. I'll explain everything once you--"

Victor hung up on him and Logan put the phone down. No more than twenty minutes later, Victor slammed the waiting room door open and slammed it shut.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER?!"

"First, she accidentally injected herself with that healing factor reducer of hers. Second, I took her into town and she tried to stop a thieve, but then he shot her and third, here we are waiting," Logan said.

"How long has she been here?" Victor asked.

"It's been only two hours and at least twenty minutes," Logan said, looking at the clock in the room that was on the wall.

Victor sat next to his brother and waited to hear news about how Ron was doing. "Why didn't you stop her?"

"Do you think I didn't try?!" Logan yelled. "I ain't that stupid, Creed! The next thing I knew, Ron chased after that thieve while I was stuck trying to push past people that wouldn't move if their fucking life depended on it. Then I heard a gunshot. I rounded a corner and Ron was laying in her own pool of blood."

Four hours went by and they hadn't heard a thing on Ron's condition. Logan felt extremely guilty. Felt it was his fault that Ron got hurt. Victor was now a few seats from Logan. Worry plastered Sabretooth's face. He tried not to show it but the thought of Ron not living made it show. He looked over at his brother. Logan was sitting in there in the chair with his head in his hands. A little while later Logan and Victor heard talking and looked out the waiting room window. They saw Xavier and talking with the rest of the X-Men. A normal person wouldn't be able to know what they were saying unless they could read lips or had heightened hearing. Xavier nodded his head and entered followed by the X-Men.

Scott, Jean, and Storm sat across from Logan and Victor. Kitty, Kurt, and Evan stared at Sabretooth and sat at the end of the room. Xavier talked to Logan telepathically and Logan told him what happened. Some more hours went by and the surgeon entered the waiting room. Logan and Victor stood up.

The surgeon smiled. "She's going to live."

Relief wiped away the fear in Logan and Victor.

"Who is the father and uncle?"

"Why?" Logan and Victor asked.

"She wants to see you," the surgeon said.

The kids stood up, but sat back down after Xavier told them that only family could see Ron. Logan and Victor followed the surgeon to Ron's room. They arrived and stared at the scene. Ron threw an IV stand at the nurses and a few doctors. It missed them, hitting the wall beside Logan, Victor, and the surgeon.

"She woke up, didn't know where she was, and started trashing the place," the surgeon said. "She said she'd stop if she saw you two."

"She had a nightmare, then," Logan said. "We gotta stop her, Creed."

Victor was grinning at what his daughter was doing then scowled at what Logan said. "Fine."

They walked up to Ron and she turned to them and stopped what she was doing. Victor extended his hand to her. She took it and the nurses, doctors, and surgeon relaxed some. Victor walked his daughter back to the bed. She hugged him and he hugged her back. Logan walked out to give them some time alone.

"Daddy, what was my life like?" Ron asked, sitting up in the bed.

"You lived with your mother at the Weapon X facility," Victor said. "That's all I know, cub, 'cause I never saw you."

"Why?"

"Because your mother wouldn't let me," Victor cupped his daughter's chin and pulled her face upward so she was looking at him. "It hurt so much that I couldn't see you. Yer my cub. My daughter. You mean everything to me. I love you more than anything in the world."

"I love you, too, Dad," Ron wrapped her arms around Victor's chest. "I want to come with you."

"As much as I'd like you to," Victor said, "you can't."

"But Pyro's there!" Ron argued. "And he's a fucking minor! You're letting a fucking minor there but not me?!"

"He may be, but you ain't gonna be there," Victor growled. "At least not yet. You still need to get yer memories back and Xavier's the only one that can help you along with Logan. Don't worry, cub, I'm gonna visit you when ever I can."

"What do you mean when ever you can?"

"Magneto has the Brotherhood goin' all over the place doing stuff. It usually lasts for a month or more, so I won't see you that much," Victor said. "But I am gonna see you everyday before the Brotherhood takes off."

"When are you leavin'?" Ron asked.

"Two weeks," Victor said.

"I don't want you to go," Ron said, hugging her father again.

"I know, baby, but I have ta go." Victor hugged his daughter back. "You need some rest. Go to sleep," Victor said, getting up from the bed and started for the door.

"I love you, Dad," Ron said.

"I love you too, Veronica." Victor left and headed for the waiting room.

"How is she?" Xavier asked once Victor returned.

"She's fine," Victor said. "You better help her with her memories while I'm gone."

"She is in good hands, Victor," Xavier said. "I will do everything I can to help her."

Victor nodded. "I know you can. I need ta speak with you and the runt alone."

"Very well, Victor," Xavier gestured for the other X-Men to leave. They left and Xavier turned back to Victor. "What is it you need to talk about?"

"Have you found anything out about her memories?" Victor asked.

"Not a whole lot," Xavier said.

"Only thing she found out was you not seeing her and that her mother was human," Logan said. "She got angry when I told her."

"That's all she knows?" Victor asked.

Logan and Xavier nodded.

"Veronica's startin' ta look a little bit like her mother," Victor answered.

"She sure is," Logan said.

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