Epilogue

Nearly 2 weeks passed before Storm, Logan and Tasha returned to California and rejoined Jubilee - who returned a week prior. They brought with them someone else – a small 10-month old boy to be united with his mother. The other 11 infants had all been united with their parents – or at least one of the parents. It was a very pleasant surprise to Professor Xavier and the other X-Men that all the parents wanted to take an active role in the lives of their children despite the fact that none of them planned to have children – or even remembered giving birth. It seemed that the only good thing to come from the imprisonment of the mutants was that for all they went through, finding and raising their children gave them control over the final outcome of the whole ordeal.

This twelfth child was a special delivery for Logan and Storm. Both of them knew the mother and had grown quite close to her. Her name was Lisa Johnston – the first missing mutant Logan found. She was most excited to be reunited with the child she had given birth to but never seen. She had been dreaming of this day ever since Beast first told her what he found when he examined her.

Logan, Storm and Tasha pulled up in front of Lisa's house just before noon. Jubilee was already there. She and Lisa had become good friends after the ordeal at Castle and often visited each other. She also played a significant role in helping Lisa embrace her mutant powers and get comfortable with her newly found gifts.

Both Lisa and Jubilee ran to the van when they saw it pull up. Lisa's parents followed closely behind. Lisa ran to Storm, who was holding the bubbly baby.

"Lisa!" Storm yelled with a huge smile across her face.

"Storm!" Lisa replied; looking at her and at the sleeping baby. "This…is him?" she nervously said.

"Yes it is." Storm said with a smile.

"Can…can I hold him?" Storm cheerfully handed him over. "I…I never held a baby before."

"You're doing fine." Storm replied.

They all went inside and sat down. Lisa and her parents rarely looked up, they couldn't take their eyes off the beautiful baby Lisa now held in her arms. It only took a couple minutes before tears of joy rolled down the cheeks of Lisa and her mother. Even her father teared up a little.

"Now look at that…" Logan said with a smile. "You're gonna get the baby wet!"

"He's so beautiful!" Lisa responded.

"That he is." Storm replied.

"What's his name?" Lisa asked.

"Well…" Storm replied. "He doesn't have a name…not yet at least. That's something the MOTHER should give him right?" Lisa looked up with a slightly puzzled look on her face. She then smiled from ear to ear.

"I'm going to name him LOGAN!" she said with a great deal of happiness. Everyone looked at Wolverine – who by now was grinning from ear to ear and almost tearing up.

"Wolvie! You have a namesake!" Jubilee cheered.

"What the…Logan?" Logan tried to regain his composure but it was too late…the smile on his face betrayed his usually tough exterior. "Yeah…that's a good name…good tough name! That'll work!" he said with an air of pride.

They all settled into the afternoon. Jubilee, Logan and Tasha unloaded the van – which was filled to the top with every physical thing a baby could ever use for the next couple years. Every X-Man in the mansion went shopping and bought gifts for Lisa and her son. What wasn't covered in actual gifts was covered in the many gift cards they sent. Even Bishop sent a $500 gift card from Toys R Us. It truly showed the good-natured side of the X-Men.

Storm went over every detail of what Beast and Professor Xavier said about baby Logan. She told Lisa and her parents that since baby Logan had virtually no physical contact for 10 months, he was due for a lot of TLC. She also told her that Professor Xavier tried his best to reverse the effects of the lack of intellectual stimuli. Being in a tank for 10 months when other babies were being cuddled and spoken to had taken its toll. Luckily, he was in the presence of 2 of the world's most powerful psychics – one of them being the very motherly Jean Grey. They were able to communicate with him and take care of much of the damage. They thought that with a good amount of TLC, the baby would be just fine. Professor X also had some very good news for Lisa. As with the other mutants, muscular atrophy had been kept to a minimum and the baby would probably start walking soon. He also noticed that for not having any emotional stimuli, the baby seemed very smart, responding very quickly to some of his psychic sessions. He surmised that the child would have a very promising future – especially with a mother like Lisa; someone Storm, Jubilee, and Logan all spoke highly of. That brought a very large smile to Lisa's face. Storm told her that it would be tough though, and there would definitely be hurdles to overcome but that everyone involved believed everything would eventually be okay.

Before the evening was over, Lisa asked Storm and Logan if they would be the godparents of baby Logan. They happily accepted.

The next evening back in Davis, Logan went to the store and picked up some food and beer. When he returned, he found a note on the refrigerator that said "Tasha is with Jubilee, needed some air – Ro." He looked outside and saw Storm's Mitsubishi still in the driveway. After calling to her and getting no response, he went to the garage and saw an empty space where his Harley used to be. That was all he needed to figure out where she was. Being in the city of Davis, she couldn't just fly off. His scoot was the next best thing. He quickly hopped in her car and sped off into the sunset headed toward Lake Berryessa. Forty minutes later he pulled into their favorite spot and saw his scoot. After that, it took mere minutes to track her down. He found her sitting on the lakeshore not too far from where Logan had been kidnapped – where it all began.

"Thought I'd find ya here Darlin'. What ya thinkin' bout?"

"Hi Sweetie." she said, not looking up at him. "I just needed to get away and clear my head."

"Figured as much…this mission really took its toll on you hasn't it."

"I…I just cannot believe…" she had a difficult time getting the words out…a sure sign that it was really eating away at her.

"You wanna tell me what happened? I read your briefing, also saw Jean's…but you wanna tell me what's not in the reports?"

"Can I ask you something Logan?"

"Shoot…"

"What do you think of when you experience your berserker rages?"

"I don't…"

"You don't think of anything?"

"Its pure reaction…my mind is completely clear and all that's left is training."

"What do you see?"

"Red…"

"I assume you are not talking about Jean" she said with a slight laugh.

"Heh – not even close. No…all I see is red – pure anger."

"Anger at the enemy?"

"No, at the situation."

"I see." she replied with a slight bit of understanding. "Is that how you know when to stop?"

"Probably…never gave it much thought. So what brought this on?" He inquired but he already knew the answer.

"In Vacaville, I experienced something similar." she responded.

"Rage?"

"Yes – not at the people; at the situation. My entire body filled with anger and I just…exploded."

"That's what the report said."

"Yes, but what the report did NOT say was what I felt during the battle with the guards."

"What did you feel?"

"Everything…"

"Care to elaborate?" Logan said with a smirk.

"I felt the bullets hit me."

"WHAT?!" Logan yelled in amazement. He knew from the report that the bullets never penetrated the energy field around her. This really made him curious.

"Well…not me personally, but I felt them being absorbed by the energy field around me."

"How?"

"I do not know." she said with a genuinely puzzled look on her face. "I just know that I could feel each bullet entering the energy field around me. I felt it being absorbed. I felt the energy being returned to the earth around me. I felt it all! There's something else."

"What?"

"When I was surrounded by lightening, it was too bright for me to see."

"But Jean said all of your shots were accurate – dead on accurate!"

"Yes – that is what puzzles me. I couldn't see, but yet I saw everything."

"You mean like some sort of telepathy? Did Jean help you?"

"No. It seemed like I became one with the planet. The ground told me how many people there were. The wind told me where they were, the moisture in the air clung to them and guided my hands, and the lightening became an extension of me. I even knew where Jean and Bishop were – I felt their presence."

"Sounds like you were in tune with nature."

"Yes – exactly, but not like before. This was so different…so extreme. Also, when I let loose that large energy blast; it decimated everything around me."

"Yeah – I saw the damage – that musta been one helluva blast!"

"I felt the damage."

"What? How?"

"The grass, several small trees, even the insects that were destroyed…I felt their destruction. I have never felt that before – not to that degree." Logan didn't know what to say. Clearly this was something new for her – something she would have to deal with in her own way. "The worst part…" she continued "was that when it was over, I didn't care about what I had done."

"I don't think that's true Darlin'."

"Yes it is. The only thing that mattered to me at that moment was getting you back."

"If that were the case, then why are we talkin' about it now? Darlin' all you did was put your own personal feelings aside in order to save me and a lot of other innocent mutants."

"Yes, but all that destruction…"

"It's unfortunate, that's true – but it happens…especially in situations like this. You and I both know that. We've both had combat scars…we heal and get past it."

"I know…I just cannot get past the fact that I became so enraged and was capable of doing so much damage without thought of the consequences."

"Without thought of the consequences? Lemme tell you about some of those consequences. Those 50 mm guns woulda cut you ta shreds…that's one consequence I can definitely live without. Also, if you hadn't come and rescued my hairy ass, I coulda been in there with those other mutants for a LONG time...and think about those babies. Each and every one of them has been reunited with their parents. What about THOSE consequences? You need to recognize your contributions to this mission. You single-handedly liberated nearly 100 mutants and stopped some pretty bad shit from happenin'. "

"You are right Logan." She said, hugging him and thanking him for his kind words. "But…" she continued.

"Thinkin' about Old Man?"

"Yes. I…I EXECUTED him."

"It ain't like he didn't have it comin'."

"Yes, but to be the judge, jury, and executioner. We've fought so hard to be accepted into society. How could I take the law into my own hands?"

"Storm, you and I both know that there are some people on this planet that are just plain bad. You also know that with all of Old Man's resources, he woulda been in jail for about 5 minutes before his lawyers got him out."

"That's still no excuse."

"It may not be, but what he did ta those twins…that's reason enough for anybody! Hell – if I'da seen that, I'da sliced him up myself. Think about what the parents of all those babies we rescued woulda done if they had gotten their hands on him. Nobody blames you for what you did Storm…nobody!"

"I know Logan, and I wouldn't have blamed you had it been you that killed him…"

"But…?"

Storm turned to him with an air of curiosity. "Do you ever think about the people you killed?"

"Every night…"

"What?"

"Every night I sit up and have a beer with 'em…every single one that I killed. If ya like, you can join us."

"How do you deal with it?"

"It's tough sometimes. A lot of 'em were just soldiers or troops obeyin' orders. They happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those are the ones that haunt me the most."

"And the others?"

"They got what was comin' to 'em."

"All of them?"

"Damn right; and I don't drink beer with 'em…I toast their demise."

"How can you say that?"

"With a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other. Let me ask you this. You think if I came across Hitler, before he killed 6 million innocent people, I wouldn't have cut him down?

"That's different."

"No it ain't. Hindsight is 20/20. You KNOW he killed 6 million people so it's easy to take him out."

"Old man killed 3 that we know of…and woulda killed more. The only difference between him and Hitler were the resources Hitler had. Old Man was just as evil, and if you didn't get rid of him, he would have eventually gone after you…or someone else!"

Storm thought about what Logan told her. It was tough for her to accept what she did, but she knew he was right. Violence should always be the last resort, and this was one of those situations. There was no peaceful way this could have played out. Old Man made that decision when he kidnapped the first mutant; and his fate was sealed when the 3 infants died. If Storm hadn't stopped him, the parents of those 3 dead children - or those of any of the kidnapped mutants – surely would have taken him out. It eased her mind a little, but she still knew it wasn't over. She knew she would eventually find herself joining Logan at night with the people she killed.

They sat and watched the moonlight reflect off the lake for several hours. Very few words were spoken, but then sometimes you just don't need words to communicate. Logan held Storm in his arms and slowly rocked her to sleep. He knew from personal experience that this was going to be the first of many long nights. Justified or not, it was a tough thing for her to swallow. She wasn't a killer, and this really cut her to the core. He also knew he would be right there by her side…for as long as it took. The Ro/Lo Combo was there to stay!

Well, that's my story. I hope you liked it. I'm sorry it took so long to finish. Please read and review it and tell me what you think.