Author's Note: I suffered a major bout of writer's block. Thanks for your patience.

Chapter 4: Rebuilding-Anna

Canada…

Logan had called in some big favors before contacting the Professor. The woman in the warehouse had been altered to resemble Rogue and he had been able to get the real girl to a safe house across the border. Logan touched her for a few seconds every ten minutes, giving her brief boosts from his healing. By the next morning she was still weak, but stable enough to take to a trusted doctor.

Rogue was in a small hospital that was very empty. She heard two men talking quietly in the hallway, but couldn't tell what the conversation was about. *Shit, where am ah?* As she took in her surroundings through tufts of blonde hair she saw that she was missing a hand. After a few minutes of staring at the bandaged stump she realized she wasn't in pain and attempted to get up. The IV tripped her up and she tumbled to the floor. "Shit!"

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Ah'm fine. Ah just tripped. Where am ah? Who are you?" She hesitated as the shorter man helped her up. "Who am ah?"

The men exchanged a look. Logan had hoped that the incident back in the States hadn't messed with her mind, but had prepared for it. "You're Carol-Ann Howlett and you were in an accident. Do you remember anything?"

She slowly shook her head. "Ah'm nineteen...ah know how to do things, they're in mah head, but how they got there is kinda...fuzzy."

"Probably a combination of the trauma and her powers."

"Powers?"

"We're all mutants. You can absorb memories and abilities from other people." Terror filled her eyes until Logan touched her bare arm. "You can control it."

"Are you...who are you to me?"

"Your father." He looked at the doctor again and the larger man nodded. "When we get back home, we also have to get ready for the baby."

She had relaxed once she felt she was amongst people who cared for her. Now Carol-Ann felt her body tense."Is that why ah'm not getting painkillers? Ah'm not gonna lose mah baby am ah?"

"Your baby's fine. As long as we keep an eye on the both of you there's no reason for things to progress normally. Now, you need to rest."

"Alright."

Logan had hoped that her physical appearance would return to normal. However, with the exception of her left eye, she retained Carol's blonde hair, a blue eye, and powers.

The two spent the next month completing an addition for her and the baby. It became immediately clear that she couldn't quite control her new abilities, which became yet another concern for the baby.

Things progressed well until her sixth month when she went into labor. It was thankfully stopped and they found out that the baby was a girl. Carol-Ann was given strict guidelines to follow in order to bring her baby to term.

At the beginning of her eighth month she was put on bedrest. Most of her time was spent trying to decide on a name for her daughter. She and Logan were still arguing about the baby's name when they went to her next appointment. The baby was developing fine and she needed to continue her bedrest. As they walked out of the hospital her water broke. By the end of the day Carol-Ann had delivered a six pound, ten ounce daughter with a light dusting of white hair.

Logan went to see her the next morning. Though a bit tired, Carol-Ann looked extremely happy with the small girl on her chest. "Hey, you wanna hold her?"

"She's awake?"

"Yeah." She lifted the baby and said, "You wanna see your grandpa, Minty?"

"Minty?" He looked at the baby in his arms. "What kinda name is that?"

"It's short for Ariaminta. The lady who was here before was gonna name her baby that, but she had a boy. She seems to like it."

"Yeah." He immediately began comparing Minty to Reñe. *She's definitely quieter...and looks almost nothing like her dad.*

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, she looks a lot like you. You ready for this?"

"Ah think so. She's gonna be just fine."

By the time she was a week old, Minty's hair had darkened to a bright red and her eyes were the color of emeralds. She was truly her mother's daughter.

It was only a few years before Minty started to show signs of being a mutant. First it was just small things not being where they had been. Then things started to fall when no one was nearby or in the room. Logan and Carol-Ann were relieved to find out it was Minty's doing after walking in to find her giggling as some of her stuffed animals floated above her.

"She's telekinetic."

"Is it a bad thing? Ah mean will she be able to…" She stopped, unsure of what to think. "She just turned two. Is it normal for her to be so controlled?"

"Everyone's different. There's a place she can go when she's a little older. Besides, she's just havin' fun."

"Okay."

Minty finally realized there was someone else in the room and her toys fell. "Uh-oh."

"It's alright Minty." She picked up the girl, hugging her tightly. "Let's get you ready. Mama's got to go to the doctor."

"Mama sick?"

"Nope, just an exam. No worries, okay?" The little girl didn't look convinced, but nodded.

Over the next year and a half, Carol-Ann had several surgeries and fittings for prosthetics, all ending in rejection. She decided that living with one hand missing was doable.

Minty began getting terrible headaches after her fifth birthday, spending most of her time crying or buried in her bed. The doctors could find nothing wrong with her, mainly having to sedate her once she arrived.

It wasn't long after that they received two calls that changed their lives. The first was from Charles Xavier, who had noticed the spike in Minty's powers.

"This is unexpected," Charles stated. He listened quietly as Logan explained what had passed these last few years. "Rogue's been alive this whole time?"

"Yeah. I thought she'd remember who she was, but she hasn't. The girl's hers."

"I understand your desire to protect her after that traumatic experience, but her husband and son have been mourning her this entire time. He has a right to know that both of them are all right."

"Yeah. Now's the best time to get things settled. Minty's losing control. We'll be down in a few days."

"It was good to hear good news. We'll be expecting you.'

As they were packing to head down to the Institute another call came in. Dr. Moira MacTaggert had learned through research about the trouble Carol-Ann had been through in regards to her missing hand. Her call was to see if she was willing to be a subject in her study of cellular regeneration. After a brief discussion, she sat down deep in thought.

Minty was the first to speak up. "Can your hand get fixed?"

"Maybe." She pulled her daughter to her. "But you have something more serious going on."

Minty shook her head stubbornly, her red pigtails bouncing on her shoulders. "Mama and Minty get help. Minty will be okay with Papa," she stated firmly.

"What do you think?"

"It's up to you. Me and the kid will be fine. This could be a new start for you two."

Carol-Ann smiled and hugged her daughter. "Well then ah guess we have a lot to do."

"Yep."

They went their separate ways two days later. After an early morning farewell, Carol-Ann was off to Muir Island. Logan and Minty's trip would be just as long, but by car. This let the girl have a reasonably stress-free trip. Things were fine until they got close to the Institute Minty became more agitated. A smaller dose of her medication calmed her down, making her hazy but coherent enough to meet the Professor.