Chapter 14

A week later, Hank located Logan and Lorelei alone in the kitchen. "Well, Parents, it's confirmed," he joked. "I received the blood test results back from the lab I sent it to. My rough due date calculation is for early next May, but we'll see what a sonogram says later on." Logan and Lorelei caught each other's eyes, and smiled.

"Also," he continued, "I've been reviewing some of my medical resources on pregnancy, as I had mentioned, and I'm interested in locating an office nearby that could perform an amniocentesis. Not only does this reveal more about the fetus and its development, but it could provide very useful data for the subject of mutant pregnancy. I'll gather more information and we can talk about it." Grabbing his lunch food, the doctor headed back down the hall that led to his office.

"Here we go," muttered Logan angrily.

"Baby, what is it?" Lorelei searched his face, worried by his tone.

"Come out to the garage with me," responded Logan. "We can talk, and I need to change the oil on my bike - I've been neglecting it these past few weeks." He patted her bottom as he said this, but his joking didn't allay her concern about his abrupt change in mood.

Once outside, she waited patiently while he set up his drip pan, rags, tools, and quarts of oil next to his motorcycle. Perching on a large steel toolbox nearby, she watched him lie down in his oldest jeans and think about what he wanted to say. Finally, he spoke.

"Baby, I've been a bit worried about this since we first heard about our . . . little one." Lorelei had to smile at this tender epithet, but stayed silent. "Both the Professor and Hank have been telling us how unusual it is for mutants to have kids. I just think that soon enough, there's going to be talk about taking you to a lab and doing tests on you - on both of us. I could practically hear him writing a new article in his head when he talked to us about that stuff just now."

"Do you mean, because of his mentioning the amniocentesis?" she asked. "Hank wouldn't do anything to me that he didn't need to, just to get data for his research."

I wouldn't bet on that, thought Logan, but he said, "No, of course not, Baby, but right now the only people who know about this are here at the school. What about when it becomes known to other mutants? Or the medical community? How long before the government comes knocking on our door, wanting to examine our kid?" His voice was starting to get heated, and he kept his eyes riveted on the wrench he was using.

She wanted to tell him that he was being paranoid because of his past, but the eventuality of his suggestions was hitting home for her. The safety she had felt surrounding her at Xavier's school was starting to evaporate as she considered her future, and the future of the life growing within her.

"We don't know if he- if the baby will be a mutant, too," she whispered, sounding a little wistful.

He sat up, balling a grease rag in his hands. "You know that won't matter to them," he whispered back, sadly.

She sank to her knees on the dirty floor of the garage, wanting the reassurance of his closeness. "Then Logan, what will we do?"

He sighed, and lowered his voice, putting his hand on her leg. "I've been wanting to talk to you about . . . getting out of here. I want to take you back to Alberta, to the mountains. Where no one knows where we are. And no one can find us."

She blanched. "That sounds dramatic."

"It would be worth it to me to keep you safe. Let's not decide just this minute, okay, Baby? I'm an impulsive guy, and I'm trying to do this right and let you think things through, the way you like to." He smiled.

Lorelei had to grin in response. "Thank you." She looked past him, out the open doorway of the garage, and saw Professor Xavier at the front entrance to the mansion, conversing with a uniformed man in front of a delivery truck parked on the circular driveway, its doors open and cargo hold stocked high with brown boxes of all sizes. "Oooh, I'll bet those are the new lab supplies. I'll go help the Professor bring those in and unpack them."

"Fun!" Logan teased her, and she got up and dropped a grease rag on his head in retaliation before jogging out the door and across the wide swath of grass that separated the garage from the house.

Xavier saw her coming and beckoned her with his hand, leaning over the clipboard that the delivery guy was holding out for him to sign. Lorelei had nearly reached their position on the concrete when the wind shifted, blowing hard from her back right toward the two men, fluttering the pages under Charles's hands.

The delivery man whipped his head upward, his eyes latching onto Lorelei with a look that was almost predatory. Charles snapped his gaze in this direction a split-second later, having heard the sudden change in the man's train of thought, and listening with horror at what was now flooding through his mind. Run! Charles thought into Lorelei's head.

She hadn't needed this warning: the man was wild-eyed, clearly crazed with desire. She was momentarily frozen in fear, and he launched himself in her direction, knocking over the Professor's wheelchair. Xavier was dumped onto the driveway, his head smacking the pavement with a sickening sound that galvanized Lorelei to action. She wheeled around, pumping her legs across the grass as fast as she could go, and using every extra molecule of breath to scream at the top of her lungs: "LOGAN!"

The Wolverine was on his feet immediately, running out the garage door, where he saw the panicked face of his lover as she fled from her pursuer. He unsheathed his claws with a snikt! sound, drowned out by the earsplitting roar that came from his throat. He started sprinting toward her, the thought crashing to the forefront of his mind that he finally realized what was familiar about her new smell: himself. He could smell himself in their baby's smell, inside her. Nature's way of ensuring that he'd want the child, and protect it. Another primal cry tore from his vocal cords, conveying his intention to slay the one who threatened the mother of his young.

Once Lorelei was within a few yards in front of him, he dodged to one side, lunging past her to get her body behind him on the grass, and ready for blood. He raised one glinting trio of blades in preparation to slash and maim, but then he felt his fist freeze in the air. Logan, no, he heard in his head.

"Xavier!" he yelled. He cast his eyes to where the Professor lay on the ground, one hand pressing against a bleeding wound to his head, and then noticed that the man who was running Lorelei down had also stopped in place, and as Logan watched, the man's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed, succumbing to Xavier's telepathic control. Logan's fist fell then, too, and he sheathed his claws and whirled around to Lorelei, first shooting Charles a furious look in exchange for the sigh of relief he saw in the Professor.

Lorelei half-jumped, half-staggered into his arms hard, almost knocking him over. Wrapping his arms around her so tightly that he had to remind himself to ease up, he collapsed on the ground, shaking with gratitude to have her safe with him. She bent her head, crying, as he held her and buried his face in her hair, closing his eyes against the soft, fir-scented strands. "You were good, you were so fast. I got you," he assured her. "I got you both."

She lifted her face briefly in supplication. "Logan . . . ?"

He cupped the back of her skull, drilling his eyes into hers to impress upon her the conviction of his words. "I know. We're gone."