A/N: To be honest, I hate this chapter. But please leave your reviews/or advice and I will post the next chapter soon! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)

Chapter 9

Logan half-rushed through drying his hands off as he used one hand to pick up the ringing mobile device to answer it. With the other hand he thoroughly scrubbing through his sopping hair with the towel, he let out a gruff and questioning, "Hello?" The voice that answered on the other end of the line made his blood boil. He growled out her name from between his teeth, as if it were poison. "Emma Frost…."

There was a girlish laugh of delight before the telepath asked, "Should I be glad that you remember me?"

A snarl nearly made it past Logan's mouth before Rogue now wrapped in a towel, quickly grabbed the phone and stammered out the words, "What do you want, Miss Frost?"

"Well, I heard from Ms. Monroe that you have daughter that shall be joining us here at the institution?"

Rogue nearly cringed; the adoption papers had not been fully processed yet, leaving them to be nothing but a patchwork family at the moment, "Yes, Logan and I do. Her name is Laura."

"So will be animalistic like her father then, I will make sure that Hank McCoy sets up the proper training sessions for her."

And with that final word, the numbing sound of the dial-tone rang in Rouge's ear until she felt herself click 'end call'. And hand the phone over to Logan.

The feral mutant did not say a word, but instead threw on fresh t-shirt and pajamas and headed out of the closest-sized bathroom to wear Laura was, while Rogue slipped on a nightgown, a pair of leggings, and some socks. Sometimes the Succubus-like mutant felt like she was an Eskimo when she had to layer herself, but what choice did she have? She didn't want to hurt Logan or Laura with her skin.

The seven-year-old was lying on the bed curled up with her chin resting on her knees. Her eyes were squeaked shut, and small whimpers came from her mouth. Her two claws fully-unsheathed from their dormant place between her knuckles. The crayons and coloring book lay scattered on the floor. Tears were slithering down Laura's cheeks like rain on a windowpane.

The first four words that she was able to choke out between sobs made the Wolverine's heartache. "Am…I…a…animal?"

Logan held her as close as he could with about being nicked by his daughter's claws. "And why would you think that?

"Cause of what the lady on the phone said…"

Logan glanced at Rogue, now what were they supposed to say? They didn't know that Laura could hear the conversation from the bathroom. Then again this hovel's walls were paper-thin. Rogue cleared her throat and sat down on the other side of the confused seven-year-old. "You are not an animal. You are very special, and we show you just that once we reach Xavier's Institute."

"Institute? Is that like a hospital?" Laura asked with wide eyes now filled with fear.

"No," Rouge shook her head, "It's a school for other people like us."

The puzzled look on Laura's face only increased, "People like us?"

"Darling, we're mutants. We're special." Rogue explained and then to both her and Logan's shock placed a kiss to Laura's raven-black locks.

"I'm special." The young lab-raised mutant seemed to have a hard time wrapping her mind around the concept, mostly when she was in the Weapon X facility, they called her just that, a weapon.

Her eyes glistened with a question that slipped out of her mouth before she could fully think it through. "That guy with the funny way of talking, am I related to him?"

Rogue and Logan only exchanged confused glances before, Rogue decided to confirm exactly who Laura was talking about. "Was his name Gambit?"

The seven-year-old feral mutant nodded like a bobble-headed. "Yeah, but he told me to call him, Uncle Remy."

Wolverine nearly snarled, but stopped himself and struggled to keep calm, when he questioned his little girl. "When did he tell you to call him that?"

Laura shrugged innocently, "On the way home. Or what used to be home."

Logan sighed, "You are related in a way and I guess if you want to call him that, you can."

Rogue stared at the man she loved; she could not believe that he had just allowed that. He and Gambit never saw eye-to-eye on anything. But she guessed that when it came to his daughter, he was surely becoming a softy. He then picked Laura and tucked her in. She looked at him with frightened eyes, the curiosity completely melted from them. "Daddy, will you protect me from the monsters?"

He handed her stuffed animal wolverine and kissed on the forehead, "I won't let anybody hurt you, Kit. I promise."

He tried to ignore the fact that Rogue was smiling at him when he joined her under the covers of the creaky motel bed. Logan sighed, as Rogue lay her head on his t-shirt clad chest. "Do you think Ivy and Gambit will spoil her?" the feral mutant whispered.

Rogue could not help laughing as quietly as she absolutely could. "Absolutely."

Logan sighed, "Maybe going to Louisiana is a bad idea…"

Rogue shook her head and showed Logan the mass amount of texts; she had been getting from Ivy. "She is dying to meet her. We can't just up and change our minds now.

Wolverine grumbled and buried himself under the covers, sparing one last glance at the serene and sleeping face of his little girl before falling to sleep himself. But that sleep only lasted for a few precious seconds, when he was startled awake by Laura banshee-like screams of terror. He automatically went to her bed, and held her close, even though her claws were digging into skin, he didn't care. Rogue watched the pair, barely even awake, but feeling helpless. She couldn't help the little girl in this type of situation.

"The smell…the smell…" Laura whispered as her fear-stricken eyes stared at the open window that was letting in a gentle breeze in order to cool down the stuffy motel room.

"What smell Laura?" Logan asked, as he stroked her hair. He two also looked out the window, but he could not smell anything out of the ordinary. Just the grass. and the smell of burning cigarettes, and alcohol from the other guests.

"The smell that made me kill, Sarah-Mama…" Laura whimpered. "I smelled it. I really did."

Logan gave her back her stuffed animal wolverine, once her claws were back in their rightful place. "There isn't anything out their Kit, I swear."

He then went back by Marie, and laid down beside her, she looked at him with worry in her eyes. "Is she going to be alright?"

Logan could only shrug and breath out the words, "I don't know…"