Glass Cage

Dani didn't know how long she'd been here, it seemed like forever. Sometimes that man came in just to look at her. There was glass all around but she couldn't break it. She couldn't orb either; her powers didn't work at all here. It was a wonder she didn't die from lack of energy, but maybe her powers being gone kept that from being a problem. It was desolate in this little sterile prison, and she knew that as soon as they had her child, she would be expendable. How utterly horrifying! Not only to suffer this humiliation at the hands of evil men, but to lose her child too. It would have been better to have died in the fire.

"Danielle," Xavier's calm and soothing voice called.

Dani shook her head violently. This was some trick, or perhaps her imagination. "Stop it! Go away, you're not real. I'm not going to hear your tricks!"

Xavier stepped closer to the glass cage and stared at the frail woman huddled in the corner. She thought she was still a captive, and she thought she was hallucinating. He tried again to reach her. "Danielle, I am really here, look," he said.

Dani looked up and gasped, "Professor? You… can walk?"

"Only in here," he said waving his hand. "You're hiding again, inside your mind. Do you remember your life before? Do you remember how we spoke in your forest and I could walk with you?"

Dani furrowed her brow, "There was nothing before this, only dreams. You are from my dreams, but you had a wheelchair then." She smiled up at him and then looked around her glass cage and sighed, "I am going to die, you know. I'm nearly ready to have this baby, and then I will die. You should go away from here before he comes back. They like killing mutants you know." Her comments were childlike, as though she'd regressed under the stress of her treatment.

"I don't like this place very much," Xavier said. "I would like to go leave, but not by myself. If I open this cage, would you come with me?"

"But it doesn't open, I have tried," she said. "There are no doors, you see, even the floor is glass…"

"If you want to leave, it will open for you," Xavier said. "Logan misses you."

Dani frowned as if she couldn't place the name, "Logan? Is he a friend of yours? Is he from my dreams too?"

This was much worse than he'd thought. Danielle had blocked out all reality, but her hiding place wasn't pleasant as before. He wondered just what they had done to her in this place. This was going to take a lot of patience, and he'd have to take a new approach. Xavier sat down in front of the glass and gave her a smile, "What kinds of dreams do you have, Danielle?"


Logan woke to the cries of his daughter. She was probably hungry, and wet, and he felt completely alone. He sighed and picked her up, holding her against his chest and rocking. Damn, women can whine when they want something.

"Okay, darlin'. Daddy'll take care of you," he said softly. God he missed Dani. He headed for the door, but as he was about to reach for it, the door opened and Rogue was standing there holding a bottle.

"Here," she said, handing it to him. "Bond with your daughter."

"Is it warm?" he asked.

"Yes."

"But not hot," Logan said with a cocked brow.

"Just feed her, Wolverine! Storm and Kurt are doing a little nursery shopping for you and Jean wants you to bring her downstairs for a full checkup," Rogue informed him.

Logan frowned but didn't argue. He just crossed the room, sat down and put the nipple of the bottle against his daughter's lips. Her red faced crying stopped immediately and she sucked greedily on the bottle. He sighed and then a smile slowly crept over his face. He was her father, and she was beautiful.

"Dani is going to be just fine," Rogue said softly. "You'll see."

"I don't know this time, Kid. This time we seem to keep missing our big break." He paused a moment, not sure if he wanted to even talk about it, but then he looked at Rogue with deep sadness in his eyes. "I can't lose her again, Marie. I don't think I'm strong enough to bury her again. It'd destroy me."

"What about your daughter? She needs you," Rogue reminded him.

"She needs her mother," Logan said as he looked down at her again. She'd finished her bottle, and Logan cocked a brow.

"What?" Rogue asked as she came closer.

Logan looked up with astonishment clear on his face, "She's… purring."

Rogue bit her lip and then smiled, "That little wildcat. I'd say she was definitely your kid."


Dani described a forest, and it seemed familiar to Xavier. Around him, the vast emptiness began to fill with color and shapes. The scene she described appeared, but in the center she still sat inside her sterile glass cage. He listened and watched, waiting for his opportunity.

"That was a nice dream," she said. "I remember my parents, but I can't see their faces. Dreams are funny things, aren't they? Sometimes they feel so real…"

"You first met Logan in this forest, do you remember?" Xavier said.

Dani rubbed her hand over her belly a moment and Xavier thought that might be a good sign. Mention of Logan brought the baby to mind. He waited hopeful of her progress.

"Poachers… and a reporter," she said and then her face paled. She looked at Xavier and her eyes were full of anger. "The fire!"

"Yes, there was a fire," he said.

Dani hung her head and covered her ears. The glass cage went up in flames, and Xavier had to back away. The heat was so intense and he started to panic, "Danielle, it is over! Stop torturing yourself with all of these dark memories!"

The fire vanished, along with the cage. Dani stood facing him with confusion on her face, "Who are you, really?"

"I am Professor Charles Xavier," he said. "We have met, once or twice."

She started pacing around him, looking like a stalking predator. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing. I only want to help you get well," he said seriously. "Your family needs you."

"My family is all dead," she said.

"Not your baby and her father. They are waiting for you to wake. Stop hiding here," he said with kindness in his eyes.

"But if I stop hiding, it will hurt again…" she sobbed as she fell to her knees. "I couldn't stop it! It was horrible… the pain, the loneliness, the loss…"

"What did you lose, Danielle?" he prompted as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"My hope," she sobbed.

"He never stopped looking for you. None of us ever stopped looking," Xavier said. "Come with me. It is time you left this place."

Dani looked up at him questioningly. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home, Danielle," he said as he helped her to her feet.

He put an arm around her shoulders and led her down the forest path. He hoped that she would begin to return to herself along the way. The scene gradually changed and the trees looked more familiar, like those in the grove around the school. The path led to an open lawn, and just beyond he saw the mansion. They made it as far as the door when she halted.

"This isn't it," she said. "This place is strange to me."

"I spoke of home, and this is where we are. Open the door, Danielle," Xavier said.

"You go first," she said shakily.

Xavier didn't like that idea, but he had no choice. He gave her a hug and turned the knob. "We'll be waiting for you." And with that, he found himself sitting in his wheelchair beside her bed in the infirmary. He stared at her, but there were no signs of change. He should have waited for her to go through the door, but that would have been useless. She wouldn't do it for him. She needed Logan to draw her home. He was the only one who could do it.

"Well?" Beast asked.

"I have done what I can, the rest is up to her," Xavier said sadly.

Beast nodded, and returned to his computer. None of them were good at waiting.


Logan headed to the infirmary exam room where he knew he would find Jean. He paused by the intensive care room door, but forced himself to keep walking. He stepped into the lab and Jean looked up and gave him a smile.

"Well, there is our new arrival. How did she do with the bottle?" Jean asked.

"She downed all of it," Logan said. "She's been sleeping since."

Jean smiled, "That is normal." She held out her hands to take the baby but Logan hesitated. "This will only take a couple of minutes, and she probably won't even wake up."

Logan handed her over and waited. He felt fidgety and didn't' even know why.

"You still haven't named her?" Jean asked.

"Dani will name her," Logan said firmly.

"And if Dani…" Jean's voice trailed off when she realized how heartless that sounded. She quickly amended the statement. "A coma can go on for a while sometimes. Have you at least a nickname for her?"

Logan sighed, "Wildcat."

Jean bit her lip to stifle the amusement of it. That was certainly not unusual around here. "Wildcat it is," she said. "Your Wildcat is doing just fine, healthy as a horse, like her father. We'll get your room set up for baby care in a couple of hours."

"What about Dani?" Logan asked.

Xavier rolled in just in time to answer that question. "She isn't ready to wake up yet. Her memory of her life is foggy, clouded by pain. She needs more time to work through it. I'll try again tomorrow."

"She is in pain?" Logan asked in horror.

"Not physical pain, Logan. They did the worst thing imaginable to her, they kept her completely isolated. Men in solitary confinement go mad after a couple of weeks; she was in that cage for months."

Logan scowled, "Ass holes!"

"Go visit," Xavier said. "Talk to her, she can hear you. Give her a reason to wake up."

Logan looked back at Jean who gave him a nod. "I'll keep an eye on the little Wildcat here for you. Go on," she said.

Logan left without another word and Xavier looked at Jean with a cocked brow, "Wildcat?"

Jean just smiled and shrugged.


Beast looked up when Logan entered and gave him a smile. "Want me to leave?"

Logan just stared at Dani a moment before asking, "Any change?"

"Her body has recovered from childbirth at a remarkable rate. If I hadn't delivered the child myself, you'd never know she'd ever carried a child. Even her hip placement on the x-rays is… Oh, you mean the coma. No, no change." Logan pulled up a chair to sit beside her and Beast just discreetly left. He could watch her monitors from the next room.

"Hey, baby," Logan said softly. "How are you feeling? You know, you're missing all the fun. Your daughter misses you, she needs her mother." Logan suddenly felt choked up, "I need you, Dani."

She didn't stir, and Logan was frustrated. He took her hand in both of his and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall into her dreams again. He would reach her somehow, he had to. After a few minutes, he finally found himself standing next to an empty, broken glass cage in the middle of the redwoods.

"Dani!" he shouted, but there was no answer.

He saw an obvious path and followed it. He noticed the change in the trees immediately and ran out of the woods onto the lawn calling her name, "Dani, Dani where are you?"

Finally he saw her sitting on the edge of the pond at the side of the mansion. She was watching the fish in utter fascination. There was something wrong. She wasn't acting like herself at all. He decided to play this cool.

"Hi," he said.

She looked up, "Hi."

"Watching the fish?" he asked, noting the complete lack of recognition.

"It's peaceful here, I like the quiet," she said. "Do you live in that big house?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm Logan."

Danielle looked up at him for a moment, remembering that name. "I'm Danielle."

Logan stared at her, still in her full term pregnancy. That gave him an idea. "So, you must be excited to see your new baby."

Dani's expression was sheer terror, "No, they want to take the baby away."

"But they are all gone now," he said. "Every one of them. You are safe now."

She looked at him curiously, "How do you know they're gone?"

Logan couldn't help the icy tone in his voice, "I killed them."

"You don't seem the type," she said looking back at the fish.

Logan sat down beside her, "Do you remember the father of your child, Dani?"

Dani started shaking, "No, I can't remember him. They told me he was dead…"

Logan was beginning to understand what was wrong with her now. She lost everything and they wanted to take her child, too. That was enough to stress anyone beyond the reach of reality. "You know, men like that lie."

"He would have come for me," she said. "I know he would have come for me."

Logan couldn't stand it any more. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into his arms. "I did come for you, Dani. You already gave birth to our beautiful girl and she's safe. Please, you have to remember…" he pleaded as he hugged her.

"A…girl?" she said softly.

Logan drew back to look at her. Her violet eyes seemed to bore right through him, searchingly. He couldn't resist kissing her. He was surprised when she wrapped her arms around him and accepted the kiss willingly. He allowed himself to be caught up in the passion before he returned to his senses. He had to get through to her.

"Dani?" he asked.

She stared at him, trying to catch her breath. "Logan?"

"Yes, baby, its Logan," he said. "Please say you remember me."

She looked at him, and her memory identified him as the one she saw standing over a pile of dead scientists with bloody claws. Her mind raced, he had said he'd killed them. He said he'd come for her, he said their daughter was safe. His hazel eyes were so familiar…

"Oh, god! Logan, I remember…" she threw her arms around him. "I was so frightened, it was horrible. I couldn't get away, I tried, I tried so hard to get away…"

"I know, baby, I know. I tried so hard to find you, but I was almost too late," he said. "I'm so sorry, baby."

"But you still came," she said. "What the hell is wrong with me? Where the hell are we?"

Logan laughed, "Somewhere in your head I guess. You're in a coma, baby. We're in the infirmary."

Dani drew back from him and stood, staring at the school. "I understand now. The professor was here before, but I didn't know him. I think I know what to do. You better go now," she said, and Logan suddenly found himself back in the infirmary. He looked at her, waiting for some sign. He heard a change in the beeps coming from her monitors, and the next thing he knew, Beast, Jean and Xavier had burst into the room.

"What did you do?" Beast asked as he checked her eyes with a light pen.

"Just talked to her," Logan said.

Xavier smiled, knowing exactly how he'd managed that. It had been an effort to set up contact between them, but it had been worth it. He would be glad when this was all over. He really needed some rest.

Here pupils are responsive and her brain activity has increased dramatically. I expect a full recovery. Dani turned her head and moaned softly and Logan brushed a curl away from her cheek.

"My baby, where's my baby?" she asked weakly as she opened her eyes.

Jean brought her over and handed the baby to Logan. "Right here, Dani. She's right here, safe, like I promised." Dani smiled and Logan laid their daughter in Dani's arms.

"She's perfect," Dani said. "What did you name her?"

"I saved that for you," Logan said.

"Andromeda Marie," Dani said.

Logan looked at Dani, not sure why she picked that name, "Why that name?"

"That is what I have called her since I knew I was pregnant, I don't know why, but I always knew it would be a girl, and that was the name I gave her."

Logan cocked a brow. That was before they got back their memories. "It's a perfect name for a Wildcat, Dani."

Dani smiled and stared at her daughter. "Logan? Is she…purring?"

Logan smiled proudly, "Yes."

Xavier chuckled. Everything was going to be fine.

Logan took his chain off his neck and retrieved her ring. He looked at her with tenderness. "Danielle Anastasia Mason, mother of my daughter, Andromeda Marie, will you be my wife?" he asked as he held out the ring to her.

Dani's eyes filled with tears and she smiled, "Yes, Logan, oh, hell yes!"

He put the ring back on her finger and kissed her.

Beast cleared his throat loudly. "All right, enough of that. She needs to rest."

Jean smiled to see them together again. "I'll bring a bassinette in here for little Andi."

Logan and Dani both looked at her as the memory of a life long past returned, but neither said a word about it. This was now, and they wouldn't live in the past. He knew it might be a few days before she was on her feet again, but she was finally home.

"You look tired," Dani said, looking up at him.

"No, baby. I'm fine, but you need to rest," he said. "I'll let you sleep. I think I'll just go help set up the nursery in our room for when they let you out of here."

Dani smiled, "Can you leave Andi here with me for a while?"

Jean smiled, "I'll help you look after her until you start feeling better. Go on Logan, we have everything handled here."

Logan nodded and gave Dani a kiss before leaving. He was anxious to get her out of the infirmary, but wouldn't rush it. He wanted her to be okay. After seeing her so lost, he wanted to make sure she had completely recovered before he dealt with wedding business. The baby was already born, so there was no use in rushing now. All he cared about now was building a strong family. With all the things that have gone wrong for them so far, it would take time and patience.

"Get some rest," he said and left.

Dani didn't like seeing him go, but she was happy to have her daughter in her arms. Her thoughts were suddenly filled with the memory of how close she had come to losing her baby, and Jean picked up on it immediately.

"Everything worked out okay," Jean said. "You don't ever have to worry about Andi. She has a mansion full of mutants to guard her from now on."

Dami sighed, "I don't even remember the birth."

"It was an emergency caesarian," Jean said. "You were out for the count."

Dani chuckled, "As long as it was you and not them."

"It was Hank and me that delivered her," Jean reassured her.

"Was Logan there?" she asked.

"We couldn't get him to leave," Jean said. "He was nearly crazy with worry." Literally.

Dani smiled and her eyelids fluttered closed. "I'm glad he was there…" she said dreamily and fell asleep again.

Jean lifted Andi carefully off the bed and carried her into the next room. After a diaper change and a bottle, she brought her back in a bassinette and left it beside Dani's bed. With one ear tuned to the monitor, Jean went back to work. Everyone was home now, and everything was going to be just fine.