Disclaimer: same as before!

Thank-you for the enthusiastic reviews, glad you like the direction I'm taking the story in. Hope you enjoy this segment just as much. Now for chapter three..

"Professor!" Ororo exclaimed as she burst through the office door. "Oh, Scott----I'm sorry, I didn't mean to----" The two men looked up at Ororo in surprise at the unexpected intrusion. Even more shocked to see that she was on the verge of tears.

"It's O.K Ororo dear, please come in and sit." Charles manoeuvred himself around his desk and next to the chair he wished her to take.

"I'll go now Professor. I'm sure you've got lots to talk about." As Scott exited the room, he laid his hand on Ororo's shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "You know, whatever the problem is----I'm here for you. Jean too."

"Thank-you Scott." She gave him a small nod in acknowledgement of his kind offer. Then Scott left the two to talk, closing the door quietly behind him.

As soon as the doors catch clicked shut Ororo moved quickly over to the leather, padded chair. Sitting down heavily she suddenly burst into tears, burying her head in her hands.

"Oh Charles!" She sobbed.

Xavier moved his chair closer and ran his hand down her long, soft hair. "It's O. K my child. It's O.K."

Just the sound of his voice helped to calm her greatly. She lifted her head from her hands and promptly threw her arms around Xavier's neck Tears cascaded down her face as she kneeled at the side of the Professor's wheelchair.

The action elicited a gasp of shock from Charles, he wasn't used to such unexpected behaviour from his normally calm and reserved Windrider. A quick glance out of the window at the gradually increasing winds told him that the weather wasn't either.

"She's really here!" Ororo cried through joyous laughter, but her face was grimaced through what seemed to be unbearable pain. "Charles, she's really here! She's come back to me!"

Still with her arms around the Professor Ororo brought her hand up to cover her face as she continued to sob and outside it started to rain.

"I'm happy for you my dear, I truly am." He returned her embrace lovingly. At the back of his mind he'd always knew that there was a possibility that this day would come and he knew that Ororo would need to lean on him more than anyone else. Maybe she'd even need him more than she needed Logan. After all he was the only one who truly knew the pain that she had gone through and at this moment he couldn't have felt more like her father.

After a minute or so Ororo lifted her head, she'd stopped crying now. The rain had stopped too but the wind remained persistent, blowing in dark clouds to shade the once bright sun.

Wiping her tears away with the sleeves of her cardigan, she sat back down in the chair and folded her hands in her lap. In fact she appeared almost embarrassed by her untoward display.

"What do I tell her Charles?-----How can I even begin to explain?" Her voice was slightly gravelly from the tears, so she cleared her throat.

Xavier reached over to Ororo and gently pried her hands apart, then he took them in his, giving them a tender squeeze.

"You will tell her what she needs to know and what you feel comfortable with her knowing. At the end of the day my dear, it's up to you."

She wiped again at her face before saying, "But how can I?" Her eyes were searching as she looked at the Professor, as if she expected him to provide her with the answer.

"You will find a way." He reassured her. "You have a strength in you that you are unaware of. You will find a way."

She smiled at him and nodded though her eyes still held a definite sadness. She didn't appear too convinced by the Professor's faith in her.

"Where is she now?" He asked as he released her hands and sat up in his chair.

"I left her in the Rec room. She had cried herself to sleep. I think she was exhausted."

"Right, well I'll get Rouge or Bobby to make up one of the guest rooms and we can move her up there."

Ororo nodded in agreement as she took the jug of water that Xavier kept on his large desk and poured herself a glass. Her throat had suddenly become dry and she was finding it hard to swallow. The tumbler clattered against her teeth as she tried to take a sip, a small uncontrollable tremor affecting her right hand. So she was forced to clasp the glass with both hands to steady it.

"By the way my dear, what did they name her?" Xavier took her hand in his once more as he asked her.

An almost wistful smile came to her lips and a look of tenderness washed the sadness for her eyes. Then she said quietly, "Catherine."

* * *

Ororo perched herself on the edge of the bed that Catherine was now laid in.

After leaving Xavier's office she had returned to the Rec room to collect her. Waking her from the deep sleep that she had fallen into had not been easy. She probably hadn't slept in days by the look of her and who knows how she hadn't gotten there.

When they'd arrived at the guest room they'd entered to find Marie and Bobby just finishing tucking in the fresh sheets.

They'd asked no questions, to Ororo's internal relief, leaving as soon as the task Xavier had asked of them was complete.

After a lengthy shower and a change of clothes, the others being taken directly to the bin, Ororo had offered Catherine some food. She'd excepted eagerly, sleep obviously wasn't the only thing she'd been deprived of recently.

And that's where Ororo had just returned from, but as she came into the room she noticed that Catherine was now sprawled out on the bed, once again dead to the world.

Setting down the tray of food on the dresser top that sat just to the left of the door. She crept as quietly as she could over to the bed. Slowly prying the sheets from under the girl's body, she pulled them over her and then sat beside her sleeping form.

She gazed down at her now, smoothing back the still damp hair that was plastered to her forehead. Evidently her hair was as difficult to dry as her own.

Ororo couldn't believe she was really here. She'd let that part of herself go along time ago, she'd had to, just to survive. But here she was now, in a peaceful slumber right next to her.

Ororo was lost in the moment but then she had a startling thought,---- Logan. What was she going to tell him?

Her brow furrowed as she considered her options, running one hand absently through her hair. Would he understand? Understand why she'd never told him about such a crucial part of her past? Could she even bear for him to know?

"I need some fresh air." She whispered to herself as she stood from the bed. But as she made her way round to the door she tripped on something protruding from underneath it. Only just about managing to catch herself from falling by grabbing the edge of the bed she looked down to discover what the object was.

It was an opaque, blue plastic bag that Catherine must have brought with her, probably hidden under her coat.

Ororo bent down to pick it up but as she did the handle ripped, spilling its contents onto the floor with a noisy clatter. Looking up quickly, she was relieved to see the noise hadn't disturbed her sleep.

Kneeling on the floor Ororo began to pick up the items one by one. There was a small dark brown teddy bear that had just the one black beady eye and was practically thread bare. She smiled as she turned it over in her hands, absently examining it, then placing it back into the bag. Next was a black covered, pocket size Bible, flicking through it quickly she noted that it was written in Italian.

Various currencies in crumpled notes and battered coins had scattered everywhere so she had to run her hands along the floor in order to scoop them up. There was money from Egypt, Morocco, Spain, France and bizarrely, or so Ororo thought, Serbia and Croatia too. But she didn't have time to ponder, she was sure she'd learn everything later.

The only thing left on the floor now was a punch of faded and dog-eared papers that were tied together with a length of rough string. Retrieving them from the ground she was about to place them with the other possessions but something stopped her.

Fingering the string hesitantly, she looked up at Catherine once more before giving into curiosity and pulling open the knot carefully.

The papers mainly consisted of newspaper cuttings, mentions of mutants, the X-Men in particular. There was even a blurred picture in one of the articles that had appeared in most newspapers all over the world about two years ago. It was a picture of Storm that had been snapped by a stunned bystander during a mission in Belgium. It wasn't very clear at all, you couldn't really make out any great detail, just a black blur with a shock of white following from it.

Despite the fact that the photo wasn't exactly conclusive it had obviously been enough to convince Catherine that she should come looking.

The last thing in the pile was a photograph. It had turned a sepia colour through age and had been torn in two at some point, sticky tape held it together now. In the picture were rows and rows of children ranging from around three to thirteen, fourteen. They were all dressed in the same colours, grey pinafores and white shirts for the girls, grey shorts and white shirts for the boys. On each side of the group were several dour- looking nuns but despite this most of the children appeared genuinely happy. But among all the jet black haired children in identical uniforms one stood out, one little girl with a scruffy shoulder length crop of bright white hair.

Ororo closed her eyes as she pressed the photo to her heart, for a second she thought about holding onto it. But she knew she couldn't, taking one last glance at it she gathered all the papers back together again and tied them with the string.

Just as she was about to put them back in the bag there was a soft but firm knock at the door.

"Ororo?" It was Logan.

She quickly pushed the bag back under the bed and started for the door, calling as loud as she dared, "O. K, I'm coming."

Logan took that as 'don't come in', so he waited for her to come out the room. After a moment or two she did just that, closing the door quietly behind her but not looking it this time.

Immediately Ororo went to Logan, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his chest.

"Hey, you O. K?" He asked, returning the embrace.

She nodded against his chest before pulling her head back to look up at him, "I'm fine my love. I think it's time we had a talk."

She pulled away from him, somewhat reluctantly, and started down the corridor, Logan following close behind.

* * *

Ororo had led Logan up to their attic bedroom to talk, away from prying eyes and eager ears. The whole mansion was probably buzzing with gossip already, which was always the case when somebody new arrived.

Ororo sat in her reading chair by the balcony door, motioning at the chair opposite but Logan shook his head. He preferred to stand, he always did when he was agitated, it made him restless. Whatever 'Ro was about to tell him, he felt certain he wasn't going to like it.

She said nothing for a moment, she just watched, slightly bemused as Logan began to pace, slowly back and forth.

"Logan please, will you stop that." She said with a small laugh.

"Sorry darlin'." He eventually took the chair.

She sighed softly before beginning, "This isn't easy for me Logan. Her turning up out of the blue like this has dragged all sorts of----feelings and memories----memories I'd long locked away."

Logan was about to interrupt but Ororo raised her hand to halt him. "Please, just let me finish. Let me explain as much as I can. But you must understand that I can't tell you absolutely everything just yet. It would be unfair on Catherine if I told you before I told her."

"Catherine." Logan repeated the name quietly to himself, as if in conformation.

"I don't want you to be angry with me for never having told you all this." Those words instantly made Logan's features darken, his face becoming much more stern than usual. "But you must understand that I had my reasons."

Ororo turned her head to the window and gazed out at the sky that had finally become blue once more.

"You already know about my parents----how I lost them in the attack on our village." She brought one suddenly trembling hand up to rest on her mouth briefly. It was so very hard for her to talk about this. Not just the loss of her parents, but the other memories that it brought with it. Being buried alive for days on end------surrounded by the decaying corpses of her tribes folk----.

She shut her eyes to try, in vain, to block the horrifying images that flooded her mind. Taking a deep breath she tried to continue.

"It wasn't just my parents I lost that day.-----I lost so much more-----." Her voice more or less trailed off as she opened her eyes and turned to face Logan. His expression hadn't changed much, save for the vague look of confusion that was now creeping in.

"Is she who I think she is?" He asked, trying to stay as neutral as possible, but it was hard. His gut tensed as he prepared to hear an answer he'd been dreading.

"Please Logan, just listen." She implored softly. "I lost my sister that day also---- or so I thought."

Logan shook his head a little, "What?" It hadn't been as bad as the answer he'd been expecting, but still----a sister! Why had she never told him?

"The girl----Catherine, she's your sister?" He stood swiftly from the chair and took a few steps back into the main space of the room. He scratched at the back of his head absently as he tried to take all this in.

"No." Ororo started quietly.

Logan's gaze shot back down to his wife who was still looking up at him, seemingly back to being calm as ever.

"Then what?" He said, a little harsher than he'd intended to.

Holding her gaze with his she replied softly, with a hint of a smile playing on her lips, "Catherine is my niece."

-TBC-

The plot thickens!!! RnR please!