Author's Note: So here's chapter 2. I'll be reposting a chapter every few days until I get to the new stuff. As I said there are slight changes. Oh and the assignment she gets in class was the same one I got in my Junior year English class. Actually this entire fanfic was inspired by that assignment. It also has some parallel to what Kurt got in the X-Men: Evolution comic. Enjoy.

slickboy444: Actually it was your story and the way you wrote X-23 that inspired me to finally take the initiative and finish my own. Thanks. As for the name, I only really use Laurie because I try to stick to something official. I love both the names Sarah and Amiko, but Amiko was a completely different character, and I did feel like X-23 deserved her own name.

Agent-G: Yep, X-23 does deserve her own name, and I have no strong feeling about Laurie (other than the fact that it's just another emphasis on her ties to Logan), but as I said. I wanted to stick to something official. I read your story, by the way, even if I didn't review it. It rocked. And I'm also glad to see a fellow fan of the mini-series.

ShadowGirlFawkes: Thanks for the kind words. X-23 is how I got hocked back into X-Men. I buy the comics now looks guilty Anyway, as I said, there will be a new chapter every few days till I get to the new stuff.

X00001: Ah yes, the other X-Men. There will be trouble there. Not that anyone doesn't feel bad for her, but X-23 can be a bit… unpredictable at times. And not everyone will be happy that Logan's attention now has to be so divided. Those who've read the old version of 'Wings of Despair' know what I mean.

Windvuur: Haha! I also read all the comics! high fives The mini-series is by far the best so far, both in art and plot. I do love her in Uncanny X-Men and X-Men #165. Have you seen that one? That's like a Christmas special. It was totally cute. Logan made her hang out with Rachel and Kitty. I think they completely confused the poor girl with all the socializing. NYX I don't really like. It's hard for me to see her stepping out of the mini and into the NYX series. It's just… well this fic is rated PG-13. Enough said.

Jinxeh: You haven't seen the episodes! Wraaa… Well I know a link to the transcripts. Would you like it? And thanks for the review.

Chapter 2

Two Weeks Later,

The rays of sun pored into the classroom and one could see the particles of dust swirl in their wake. It was only ten in the morning on the sort of Friday that school should have been canceled just to let the teens play outside. Unfortunately, for the students, Principal Kelly had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

A middle-aged teacher stood at the front of the class facing the teens as she spoke. "In her book Wait Till Tomorrow, Goodwin writes in a sort of first person style where she recalls the events of her childhood, but takes it step further and analyses them with an adult perspective. Therefore, for Monday, I would like you to write a short story from your own childhood in the same style."

Green eyes from the back row immediately darted at the teacher, but before Laurie could say anything, the bell rang and everyone started to file out of the classroom. She packed her books and binders and walked up to the teacher. "Mrs. Carter?"

"Yes, Laurie?" the woman looked up at her with a smile.

"This story," the girl asked carefully. "Does it have to be from our childhood?"

"Of coarse," she sounded as if it was something completely trivial. "I'm sure you have something interesting to share. Where did you used to live? Maybe something about your family. Did your father take you anywhere fun when you were younger?"

Laurie didn't answer. She was beginning to feel it again; the wild caged animal that was her anger. More often than not, it took a great deal of self control for her not to lash out at the other students at the institute or the teens and faculty of Baville High. Being around so many people at once was overwhelming, and she was starting to find it harder and harder to control her volatile nature.

"Can I use the phone?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Press nine to dial out," the teacher didn't even look up from her desk, pointing to the telephone the other side of the room. Laurie crossed the length of the classroom, and picked up the phone, quickly dialing the number for Xavier institute. She waited.

One ring. The teacher got up and walked out of the class, leaving the girl alone.

Another ring. Several hundred pairs of feet shuffled through the halls of Baville High as students rushed to get to classes.

By the fifth ring, she started to feel nervous. What if no one was there? All the students except for Scott and Jean were at school and the two eldest teens probably wouldn't have stayed in the mansion for the entire day. She saw Logan that morning, but he could have gone anywhere by now. The only people she could hope to reach were Professor Xavier, Dr. Henry McCoy, and Ororo Munroe.

While she was grateful to Xavier for allowing her to stay in the mansion, Laurie had uneasy feelings towards the telepath. While he had assured her that he would not invade the privacy of her thought and Logan went as far as to explain that their minds were difficult for most telepaths to intruder, she still didn't feel too comfortable with being too close to the professor. The girl decided weeks ago that her past and pain was her own, no one else's. Occasionally she would speak to Logan, but it was much easier to talk to him because she knew that he would understand better than anyone else and that he wouldn't pressure her to reveal more than she would.

Dr. McCoy was not an easy man for her to judge without a biast oppinion, for the sole reason that he was a scientist. She had spent fourteen years of her life in labs surrounded by unfeeling, unsympathetic scientists who saw her as nothing more than an experiment. She was unsure of McCoy's interests, but the day after Logan brought her back to the institute, he had proceeded to ask her a series of questions about her development until Logan barked at him to leave her alone. By that time, Laurie could feel the claws under her flesh itching to lash out at something, preferably something big, blue, and furry. She'd spent the next several hours trashing the danger room, until she was simply too exhausted to do anything but sleep. The only adult aside from Logan that she felt at all comfortable with was…

"Xavier Institute, Ororo Munroe speaking."

The girl blinked then gathered her thoughts and responded. "Miss Monroe, it's… Laurie." Her new name still sounded so foreign on her tongue. At first she had thought that she would remain X-23 even after she came with Logan, but he had growled at the idea saying that X-23 was a name of a weapon not a child. She would have chosen a name for herself, but once again Logan stepped in, insisting that the privilege of naming children was usually reserved for the parents. She didn't mind mostly because she had very little knowledge of any names outside of those that already belonged to the X-Men.

"Laurie, how are you, child?" Storm's accented voice sounded from the other end. "Is everything alright?"

"No, not really," she confessed. "I do not feel well." As soon as she said it, the girl winced at her own stupidity. It was an excuse she'd heard other Baville High students use quite often when ever they wanted to get out of school. But for her to claim illness was ridicules, considering that thanks to her healing factor, she hadn't been sick a day in her life.

As if she hadn't noticed the blunder, Ororo replied. "Tell me what is wrong."

"I just don't feel well," the girl repeated. It hadn't been a complete lie. She really didn't feel well, although the problem was more mental and especially emotional rather than physical. Physical problems would come later, if she didn't find a vent for these feelings soon. Laurie had learned early that there was a clear pattern to her outbursts that linked them to her emotional instability. "And I'm afraid that if I stay, I… it would hurt others."

There was a pause as Ororo processed the information she was just given. Where Professor Xavier and Hank questioned the girl out of scientifically driven curiosity and most the younger mutants made it a point to leave her alone, Ororo had taken it upon herself to support the child in a similar way that Logan did: pasence, understanding, and not intruding where Ororo knew she would not be welcomed. "Would you like to come home?"

Laurie released a relieved breath she didn't even realize she was holding. "Thank you."

"I shall pick you up at the main office in ten minutes," the weather-witch informed her.

She frowned. "Where's Logan?"

Ororo hesitated for a second. "He went out for a while," she told the girl, "but should return in a few hours."

Laurie considered it, then decided that there wasn't anything unusual to worry about. Logan often went into the city when he could find spare time. Despite the need for family and companionship, there was also a need to be alone. "Alright, I'll go ask one of the other students to tell my teachers that I'm leaving."

"Alright, see you in ten minutes," Ororo hung up the phone.


By the time Laurie gathered her things and left the classroom, there were very few students left in the halls since the next bell was about to ring any second. The first person she saw was Kurt, as always struggling with his locker.

"Aw come on," he muttered under his breath immediately reviling his German origins. "Vhere's Kitty vhen I need her?"

"Kurt," she called to him. The startled mutant emitted a sound of surprise, jumped a full foot in the air, then vanished out of existence only to reappear a second later with a poof of smoke on top of the stack of lockers. Laurie folded her arms over her chest in annoyance; the other mutant students were still not comfortable with her. She supposed she couldn't blame them since a little over a month ago she had infiltrated the institute and knocked them out.

"Vhat do you vant?" the teleporter asked from his place on the locker stack looking down at her.

"I want you to tell my other teachers that I'm going home," she said bluntly.

"Vhy?" Kurt asked suspiciously and appeared next to her.

Former Weapon X-23 didn't need this: a third degree from one of the other students. By this time she was feeling her temper boil and knew that if she let it get a hold of her, the school would find itself with several thousand dollars worth of repairs.

"I just don't feel well, okay?" she looked away from him, fists clenched at her sides. "Just tell the teachers I won't be there." She turned on her heel and stalked to the main office, away from Kurt.

Ororo arrived only about a minute after Laurie reached the office. The African-American woman gave her a warm smile then went inside to sign her out. When she emerged, Laurie looked down at the floor, feeling a little uncomfortable. After all, what other fourteen-year-old would want to be taken home he or she was upset over an essay?

"Everything is taken care of," Ororo sat on the bench beside the girl. "I told them you probably cought a cold, and they said you could go home." There was a lapse of silence, then the girl took a deep breath and nodded. She got up and followed Ororo outside where one of th institute's many cars was parked.

Laurie threw her school bag on the back and plopped down in the front passenger seat. She didn't say anything, and Ororo didn't ask, only regarded the girl with a look of pity. If the child wanted to tell her what had happened, she would have. She had learned long ago from her friendship with Logan that people such as himself and Laurie would only talk when they were ready. Ororo knew that she was one of the very few people within whom Logan felt comfortable enough to confide his thoughts, and if she had to guess, Ororo would say it was because she never pressured him into talking. That kind of pressure could only have a negative affect.

The five minute ride to the mansion was spent in silence. When they arrived, Laurie pulled her backpack from the back seat and was about to follow Storm inside, when her ultra sensitive hearing caught a strange sound. Somewhere deep in her subconscious, she recognized it and her heart beat speed up, pounding against her chest in fear.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered to Storm, but the woman only frowned at her.

"Hear what?"

"Shh. Listen," the sound approached and Ororo finally heard it too. "Helicopters," Laurie whispered, and before Ororo could react, a backpack fell onto the ground and the leaves in the tree above them rustled. Storm blinked, and the girl was gone. Weeks on the run had caused her to be particularly weary of military personnel.

Ororo watched as the helicopter landed and a ramp fell to the ground with a his. Seconds later Logan emerged from the doorway holding a rolled up piece of paper and accompanied by a middle-aged man with a patch over his eye, wearing an old beat-up leather jacket, and chewing on a toothpick. Six other armed men followed them out. Ororo glanced up to the tree, but if the girl was still there, she was hiding, and the woman decided not to reveal her whereabouts.

"Logan," she said as he came closer, a grin plastered on his face. "Simply because we live in a mansion, doesn't mean that the general public would be found of the idea of military helicopters landing on our front lawn." Her voice had an unapproving under tone to it, like that of a mother scolding a child.

"Sorry, darlin'," his grin widened. "I'll tell this bozo," he jabbed his thumb at the man with the eye patch, "to find a better parking spot next time."

"And who exactly is this 'bozo?'" Storm placed her hands on her hips regarding the man with a suspicious look.

"Nick Fury," he replaced his toothpick and held out his hand, "agent of S.H.E.I.L.D.. Wolverine and I were just tying up loose ends."

"Yeah," Logan waved the roll of paper, "an' now that we have, Fury's leavin'." He gave the government agent a glare, and Fury smirked.

"Before I had a chance to talk to the beautiful lady," he glanced over at Storm. "I'm leaving so soon?"

"Not soon enough, bub," Wolverine growled, but there was evident humor in his tone. Fury gave Logan a mock salute, nodded to Ororo, who politely responded in kind, and headed back to his choper. A minute later, it was out of sight, and Storm turned her full attention on her teammate.

"Care to share, Logan?"

"Like Fury said," he shrugged. "Just tyin' up loose ends."

"Well I'm glad you're back," she told him, "because at the moment, your daughter is in need of your assistance."

Logan's grin immediately changed to a deep frown as paternal instinct kicked in and lines of worry crossed over his face. "Laurie? What's wrong? Is she alright?"

"No, she is not," Ororo shook her head, "and I believe your friend's brief visit made it worse. Therefore I strongly suggest you go and talk to her." As soon as she said that, they both turned as the massive front door of the institute was slammed shut.