Author's Note: The votes are in! So this stays as one story, and Laurie's full name will be Laurie Logan. Sorry, LadyDeathStrike1 and slickboy444, I also thought it sounded more official, but it doesn't make sense within the story.
Wolviesfan: Yes I realize there's a gap, but keep in mind two things. First this is a repost. Originally I was going to have just the first chapter as a one-shot fic, but I decided to make it longer. Once this story is wrapped up, I have another X-23 fic coming up. Second, I knew that if I went too deep into the name business, my story would end up sounding like everyone else's. I mean, I love all my fellow X-23 writers, but I didn't want this to be a generic fic. Nice to have a new reader. Welcome.
Agent-G: You and I talked already so I'm glad we understand each other.
LadyDeathStrike1: Yeah in the original version, her name was Howlett, but that left us with questions of how Logan knows it. At this point in Evolution, I don't think even S.H.I.E.L.D. knows his true name. Thanks for the impute though, and welcome.
ShadowGirlFawkes: Thanks for the review. I will have more soon. Oh and I'll take this opportunity to thank you for the great X-23 icons on your LJ.
Jinxeh: Hey, I sent those websites to you. It's the first one of the page. The other two are for the comics where X-23 appears. That includes all of X-23 #2 and part of X-23 #3, so if you haven't seen them, enjoy. And yes I loved the Bishop scene from Uncanny X-Men. Bad Bishop for beatin' up her daddy shakes finger at Bishop Remember Emma's reaction? What was it she said: "Keep her on a tighter leash." I don't know much about Emma, but I know I don't like her. How the heck did Scott hook up with her anyway? Blagh. And I did look at Phoenix: Endsong. I'm not really a fan of the complicated Summers/Grey/Frost romances, but the art was amazing. The guy who does that comic did a lot of covers including X-Men: The End. I could ramble on, but I won't. Thanks for the story about your parents. I still don't know if I want to contact my father in any way shape or form, but I just needed to get it off my chest. Sorry if I scared some people.
slickboy444: Always love hearing from you. Yes, it was Extermination that inspired me. Between that and the mini-series, I'm going to finish this fic and then go on to my other X-23 fic of which I have bits and pieces written already. That one will stem from the mini-series and will be from Sarah Kinney's point of view mostly. In the X-Men: Evolution universe, everyone focuses on her relationship with Logan, but here she also has a surrogate mother. That coming fic will be a cross-over between the mini and Evolution. Basic idea: Sarah Kinny breaks X-23 out after she hears that Rice is going with her on the mission. That makes X-23 thirteen. The story goes from there. Thanks again for the incuregment and inspiration.
X00001: Thanks for the review. No the other's are very careful around X-23. There will be more on that in chapter four and the story that would have been "Wings of Dispair." There's one particular student that will not be at all happy to have X-23 in the mansion.
Chapter 3
Weapon X-23 was furious. She sat cross-legged on her bed, barely ably to contain her rage. She shouldn't have trusted him. He'd betrayed her. He promised he wouldn't and then turned around and went straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury. She was so angry with him that she could hardly breath as emotions ran ramped through her: hurt, fear, bitterness, sorrow, and humiliation all at once. She knew she'd acted like a brat, throwing a meaningless temper tantrum, first over the essay, than over Logan's apparent betrayal. She couldn't handle it anymore.
So she concentrated, and forced the ocean of thrashing feelings to simply freeze. It was a technique she had learned as a child; a way to block out the weakness of her flesh, and function without the illogical distraction of her soft heart. It took intense concentration and discipline, but when she opened her eyes again, she reveled in the serenity of feeling nothing at all.
Moments after she emerged from her trance, she looked up as her sensitive hearing caught the sound of approaching feet. She sniffed the air to determine the person's sent, but she already knew who it was without confirmation.
"Go away, Wolverine," her voice was arctic cold.
Outside her door, Logan winced. On the occasions that Laurie called anyone by his or her team name, it was immediately clear that she was in some way angry or frustrated with that person. In the weeks since her arrival, she had never once called him 'Wolverine.' While she wasn't nearly comfortable enough with him to call him 'dad' or 'father,' Logan had never given her a reason to be angry enough with him to address him as anything other than his first name. Until now.
"Kid, I…"
"I mean it, Wolverine," she could feel the anger boiling in her mind again. "Go away, if you value your well-being."
Logan was about to protest again, but thought better of it. He would give her a chance to calm down first. "Lunch's in the fridge," he told her casually before walking away and back downstairs.
Laurie took another deep breath, emotionally exhausted. Five minutes later, she heard footsteps once again. Former Weapon X-23 was about to yell at her genetic donor that she wanted to be left alone, but her nose worked faster than her mouth. The sent wasn't Logan's. It also smelled like nature and the outdoors, but there was a hint of sandalwood and vanilla mixed with it. The mutant approaching was Ororo Munroe.
Seconds later, there was a soft knock on the door and Storm's soft voice sounded through the lair of wood. "Laurie? Child, may I please have a word with you?"
Her first reaction was to send the teacher away, but after a quick thought, Laurie admitted to herself that it wouldn't be fair to take her anger out on Ororo. "Yes?"
The door was slowly pushed open and Laurie's green eyes focused on the African-American woman. "I was hoping you could assist me in the attic green house," she smiled kindly at the fourteen-year-old girl. "Since you have the rest of the day off and today is Friday, I thought you might have some free time."
Laurie regarded the woman with mild suspicion. One thing she learned about Ororo was that she was very protective of her exotic plants. What could she possible need her help for when Laurie knew practically nothing about the care of a garden? However the request seemed genuine enough. Perhaps it would be a good opportunity to take her mind off her anger.
"Alright," the girl slowly slid off the bed, and Ororo smiled again.
"Good," she said. "Let us go to the attic."
Laurie had only visited the attic once, the very first day Logan brought her to the institute and gave her a tour of the school grounds. Her first impression was that it was pretty but seemed to lack a defined purpose. She did not understand Ororo's use for the plants but accepted the fact that she cared for them a great deal. Upon entering for the second time, the girl took a closer look at her surroundings. There were several long wooden tables along the perimeter of the walls and two more in the middle of the room. Ororo lead her to one of the middle tables and pointed at a stool.
"Please make yourself comfortable," she told her, picking up a pot with an exotic jungle flower.
"What am I to do?" Laurie asked.
"Take the powder in that jar," Storm pointed across the table at a clear glass container with a brown sand mixture. "It is a nutrient supplement for that plant," she pointed at a curved miniature tree in front of Laurie. "Simply add it to the soil."
The girl's green eyes narrowed. "You need my help with that?"
"Not only," Ororo rubbed her hands together above the flower and as Laurie watched, a small rain cloud appeared over the plant and began to shower it in soft rain. She had been well aware of Ororo's mutation, but this was the first time she had seen it used. It was beautiful, almost… calming. Storm glanced over at her, taking note of the girl's interest. "The rain is an amazing thing, is it not?" her tone was casual. "On the one hand, thunder storms can bring great destruction and create disasters as they pass. Hurricanes and strong rain fall can bring floods, yet rain is essential for life. It can also be quite beautiful."
Laurie didn't bring her eyes away from the hovering cloud, but Storm knew that she had the young girl's full attention. "There is something else," she continued, "that exhibits similar qualities. Do you know what that is, child?" Laurie shook her head. "Emotions."
The girl scowled at her teacher. She should have known that there was an ulterior motive to the woman's invitation. "I wasn't supposed to have emotions."
"Oh but you do," Ororo insisted. "No matter what they did to you, they could never keep you from feeling fear, anger, or pain. You probably felt very little positive emotions, it is true, but child, you must have felt something."
"What does this have to do with the cloud?"
"Because emotions are just as vital to life as the water we drink or the air we breath," Storm insisted. "One can physically survive solely on food, water, and air, but that is not living. As someone once said, 'Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.' Do not be one of the people who in the end simply dies without ever living."
Ororo was silent, waiting to see if the girl understood what she was saying, but Laurie remained quiet, her eyes lowered to the floor. She understood, alright, but a part of her didn't accept. "He went to S.H.E.I.L.D.," she finally said.
"Yes he did," Ororo agreed, glad that Laurie finally decided to share what was bothering her. "But what evidence do you have to think that Logan decided to turn you in? Didn't he promise that he wouldn't? Didn't he protect you from getting captured in the first place?"
It was true, and Laurie knew it full well, but as usual her anger blinded her to the truth. She had jumped to an extremely unfair conclusion. Logan was the last person in the world how deserved this from her. A new feeling surfaced, one that she had no name for yet. Frowning, she sighed. "He must hate me. I would if I were in his place."
"You only say that because you are feeling guilt and shame," Ororo didn't have to be psychic to know what was going through the child's mind. "But Logan does not hate you. How can he hate a child of his blood?" Laurie was silent. "Go to him. Tell him that you misjudged and that you're sorry. He understands better than anyone what it's like to have wisdom clouded by anger."
Logan leaned his full weight on the outer wall of the institute and closing his eyes, released a deep sigh. He was expecting Laurie to still be at school by the time he returned from S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters. On the other hand, Storm was right in saying that he should have known better than to let Fury land the helicopter on the front lawn. From Laurie's point of view, it must not have looked too reassuring. Logan could see why she took off. At least she ran into the house, instead of back out to the streets. If she'd done that, he would have spent another few weeks looking for here, and there was no guaranty that he could convince her to come back a second time.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that his senses didn't even register her presence until she stood only a few feet away. Logan shifted his head to the side and raised his eyebrow at her. Her green eyes didn't meet his questioning gaze. Logan couldn't pretend not to be slightly angry; it had hurt to know that Laurie still didn't trust him enough. Another stretch of silenced passed before she finally spoke in a hushed voice.
"I'm sorry."
Logan saw that one calming. He had hoped that if he left her alone, Laurie would come to understand the unfairness of her quick judgment, but if he had to guess Logan would say that it was actually Ororo who managed to get through to the girl.
"I forgive you," he replied honestly. "You wanna tell me what happened?
Laurie sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I thought you went to S.H.I.E.L.D. to turn me in."
"Yeah I kinda figured," Logan told her, "but no. Actually I just told my good buddy Fury that if he ever tried any shit like Hydra did with you, I'd personally make sure he never got a chance to have kids of his own. You know, make the punishment fit the crime."
The girl actually smiled at this but despite the humor, she knew full well that Logan was dead serious about his threat. Fury would think twice before he approached her. She glanced over at the bench next to Logan and noticed a rolled up piece of paper, the same one he'd brought with him from the helicopter.
"Then why did you go?" there was no suspicion now, just genuine curiosity.
"Well," if Laurie didn't know better, she would have thought he sounded nervous. Logan pushed himself off the wall and picked up the paper, tapping it against an open palm. "I went to see that so-called scientist who's responsible for…" he couldn't find the right words.
"For the Weapon X-23 project," Laurie offered calmly. "Don't worry, I'm not offended. Why did you need to see her?"
A smile touched Logan's dry lips. "I wanted to know when your birthday was."
"The date of my birth?" a quizzical expression flashed across her features. "Why?"
"For this," he unrolled the paper and handed it to her.
The paper read: "Name: Laurie Logan. Date of birth: May 15, 1989." She looked up at Logan, green eyes wide in amazement. Laurie glanced up at him with mild confusion.
"This is a birth certificate. My birth certificate."
"Yeah, well I kinda asked Fury to pull some strings," Logan shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Figured it would come in handy some day and you might like havin' it."
Laurie glanced down at the most valuable piece of document she ever held, and then noticed something else. The space for mother's name was left blank, but the one for father's name had a signature in it. Logan's signature. As the full understanding of the document sank in, a look spread over Laurie's face that could only be described as one of extreme joy and pure ecstasy.
With an ecstatic cry, she launched herself into his arms and Logan smiled as he held his daughter and let her vent out all the extreme emotions that had build up over the past few hours. Suddenly she pulled back, tears of joy shimmering in her eyes.
"Thank you," she said. "You have no idea how much this means to me. This is… this is something I haven't even dreamed about because I didn't think it was possible. Thank you… Father."
"You're welcome," he was absolutely thrilled to finally hear her call him 'father,' "But I also want you to understand that being part of a family is a great responsibility. I ain't gonna lie to you, kid, you hurt me today, more than I've been hurt in a long time. Your view of me means more than anyone else's. If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. This bond of parent and child gives us the most power over each other, and I want you to understand that."
Laurie nodded vigorously. "I'm sorry I hurt you today."
"I know," he stroked her hair. "I know you didn't mean to." There was a stretch of silence. "So, you wanna tell me why Ororo brought you home early?"
Laurie winced. Amidst all the excitement. She'd forgotten all about the essay, which seemed so insignificant now. "It's stupid," she told him. "We had an assignment to write an essay about our childhood and I over reacted."
"I see," Logan was thoughtful for a moment. "Look, I understand it's not the most pleasant topic for you, but we're gonna have to find a way to deal with situations like this." Laurie nodded in agreement. She hated coming off as a spoiled brat. "I'll tell you what," her father put an arm around her shoulder. "I ain't no psychologist, but why don't we try this; take a little bit of time each day to vent your feelings. Cry, if you need to. Join me in the Danger Room and tear it to shreds if you like. After that, I can take about an hour a day and teach you some meditation techniques. I now it sounds corny, but it really helps, I promise."
She thought about it for a minute then nodded in agreement. "And in the meantime," Logan smiled, "why don't we go inside, raid the freezer for some ice cream, and make up a story for that essay of yours?"
She quickly agreed and they began walking back into the mansion. Laurie looked back down at the birth certificate in her hands still feeling as if it was all a dream. She had a family now. She had a father. Perhaps there was hope for her yet.
