Hi guys! Hopefully by the time I get this posted it will be by my deadline I've set of December 1. Although you know what they say about deadlines....they love to go whooshing by. Oh, and forgive me if some stuff ends up really bitter. I am being dragged down to Alabama for Thanksgiving. No offense to anyone from Alabama. I reserve judgment. No, I just don't like my cousins much.

Episodic: I would just like to say that I have considered your suggestion of Max for her name and have, now don't take this the wrong way, rejected it. Mostly because I feel I would start stealingDark Angel's personality. God I miss that show! I have heard that they may be bringing it back. (but ya didn't hear it from me.) For right now I think I'll stick with X. It's like, when you find out Logan actually has a name. It's just not the same anymore. Anyway. I think I would like to remind you that you were going to make Christmas presents for your loyal reviewers myself included. You can never start too soon. : ) Thanks for all the reviews. I'll try to make this chapter a good one. Oh and I stole your little blurb about X23 hope ya don't mind cuz you get x23 and logan bonding.

Curliest Guru: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WOO BIG 15? crap I don't even remember how old you are. lol naw, I'm kidding. way to go, you are no longer such a little kid! woo! oh and just because you'll know what I'm talking about, you delta minus semi-moron! I love you. hope you got lots of neat stuff and thanks for the reviews. one of these days maybe I'll sit down and actually get you to watch x-men.

Lolita Red: Feel better soon! And look just in time a new chapter for you to review! oh and I meant to tell you, James was soooooo sweet. mayhap a relationship will blossom? oh well. like I said feel better and thanks for the reviews. Now I feel bad that my message to you isn't as long. That's probably a good thing.

Linnea's Muse: You are so sweet. Thanks for the review. You are my saving grace. One of them anyway. Did that sound corny? and I don't mind long reviews. they are always welcome. Better than no review at all.

Ah my little fanfiction family. I hope y'all like it.

Chapter 13: Daddy's Little Girl

Something big was about to happen. X23 could feel it. It was like having a large stone pressing down on your chest, always pressing down making it difficult to breathe. The first time she'd ever felt something she'd panicked. She couldn't get enough air into her body. She lay on a bed in the dark. Everything important in her life had always happened at night, so it was no surprise that something was going to happen now. For once the whole institute slept. An anomaly from what she could gather. Logan hadn't said much since her conversation with Jared. She didn't understand that the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach was guilt. She sighed. No point in sitting in bed if she wasn't going to be sleeping.

In her purple plaid flannel pajama pants and her black long sleeve T-shirt. She padded her way down to the kitchen in her bare feet. Her metabolism made it so she needed to eat almost constantly. Sometimes it was annoying. Tonight she didn't mind the distraction. She dug into a half-pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and contemplated everything that had transpired recently. She groaned and rested her forehead on her arms.

"You cryin again, petite?" X23 jerked up and extended her claws, all of them. It was just reflex.

"Damn it Gambit don't you ever make any noise?" She continued to mumble curses under her breath while simultaneously pulling out a chair for him to gracefully, and noiselessly lower himself into. He wasn't wearing his duster for once. Somehow it made him seem more real to her, sitting there in black leather pants, and a very skin tight black T-shirt that showed off every muscle. Without the coat, she paid more attention to his face, to him. His read eyes were captivating. Too captivating for anyone of the female variety's own good. X23 didn't have to worry. She had balls of steel.

"Now, don take dis the wrong way, but dat just be disturbing t' look at." Gambit jerked his chin towards her feet. X23 had forgotten to extract those claws when she relaxed. She hid a small smile, the only kind she was capable of giving, and sighed. "To be honest, they kind of hurt keeping them crammed up inside my feet all of the time. I know it's weird looking, hell even I think so, but damn it, it's just more comfortable." Gambit chuckled.

"Why X23 I think you be warming up to Remey." X23 rolled her eyes.

"Gambit I've got to give you credit, you are something that can always be counted on to never change." Gambit sobered up a little at that remark, all kinds of emotions played across his face that she knew he tried to hide. X23 sobered too. "See, I just go and ruin everything don't I?" Gambit hated himself as much as she hated who she was.

"I'm just glad to see you no longer on the streets. It's not de best place to be, non?" He cocked and eyebrow at her pointedly. Was everyone going to try and play dad to her? "How did you manage to get out of dat? I think I deserve ta hear de story." X23 heaved a huge sigh. She was being dramatic, but with Remey it didn't matter. There was something freeing about being around him. Almost like you'd be willing to let everything go and just have a good time. It was something she valued in these few moments she'd been around him but something she was wary of too. "The boss owed me a favor, and I made him an offer that he just couldn't refuse."

"And what kind of offer would dat be?" X23 extended the claws in one hand again pointedly and replied, "I threatened to cut off the mother fucker's balls if he ever touched me or let anyone else touch me again." Gambit let out a loud, long laugh.

"Cherie, you really are sometin else. I bet he let you do whatever you wanted after that."

"Oh yeah, he set me up real nice. I doubt I'll ever have to make money again."


Logan stood just outside the kitchen and listened. X23 must not be paying the normal amount of attention she paid to her surroundings otherwise she would've said something. Either that or she was pointedly ignoring him. A sharp stabbing pain seared through his chest at that. He looked at Gambit, so easily talking to his daughter, and felt a bubbling kind of anger that he hadn't felt since Jean picked Scott over him. He would never admit it, but in that moment he was jealous of Gambit. Jealous of the fact that Gambit knew her, that he could talk to her; that Gambit could make that cold half smile of hers grace her lips. And then Logan was angry, angry at himself, angry at her. Why couldn't he ever just have peace in his life? Damn it, she'd only been here a short time and fuck him to hell, he already cared.


X23 and Gambit had jumped when the door had slammed. She all the way up from the table claws extended already sniffing the air, Gambit jerking to a more alert position, three cards casually out and loose in his hands. X23 was confused. She didn't smell anyone different or strange, just Logan. She sniffed again, drawing more of her surroundings smells inside herself, analyzing them in a very systematic way. It was then that she noticed it, the unmistakable tang of anger and fear. Surprisingly enough, the two seemed to always go together. She looked at Gambit.

"Well I think I've had all the fun I can handle for one night." She offered him a small shake of her head when he looked at her with concern.

"Aww petite, de fun hasn't even started yet." She offered him a mean glare that believe it or not scared the crap out of him. He forgot that she wasn't always quick on the uptake when it came to some social situations, especially flirting. Though considering her past profession he didn't blame her. He grabbed at his chest above his heart, "Doomed ta be forever rejected by the wild rose." Now she rolled her eyes at him, but at least some of that anger, and the underlying sadness she wouldn't admit to, wasn't as prominent as it had been before.

"G'night X, as always, it's been a pleasure cherie." With that he swept out of the room. Several seconds later she heard the sound of his motorcycle roaring to life to drone up the street and eventually, silence. She sighed then smiled. Like she said, she could always count on Gambit to be Gambit. Interesting that she'd known him so briefly and yet, she seemed to be able to bond so well with him. Great. She needed a friend. She put the ice cream away and steeled herself. Then she went out into the cold night air in search of Logan.


Logan hacked his way through the woods. Nothing like cutting down trees for your anger management. He stopped. He smelled something strange. Anger, with a tinge of dementia craze seemed to permeate the whole clearing that he was standing in. Underneath it all, he smelled something else. It was harder to place because it smelled like himself. It was X23's scent. Now that he'd been around her he had picked up on some subtle differences between her scent and his own. She had been here with Jared. For some reason that fact seemed to piss him off more, mostly because there weren't many signs of major struggle. He whirled around, thinking he might have heard something.

X23 emerged from behind some trees. She still reminded him of a ghost, pale as she was and as silently as she moved. All kinds of emotions that Logan didn't know how to deal with bubbled to the surface so he worked with the one he was most comfortable with: anger.

"Fine time for a stroll. I didn't peg you for the type to commune with nature." X23 had tried to lighten the situation, but it didn't help. The awful feeling in the pit of her stomach, dread and guilt churned together was back. Her fight or flight programming was kicking in and she desperately fought her uprising panic.

"What was Jared doing here?" He demanded sounding very much the condescending parent. X23 found her own anger and fought back.

"Why do you care. Maybe he just wanted to drop by and have a chat."

"What's this you were talking to Gambit about? What kind of disgraceful life were you living."

"If you must know, after I escaped from HYDRA I was a whore for awhile. It was the only thing I could make a decent living at." She spat back at him. Both were short of extending their claws, but amazingly that reaction was kept in check. Then Logan turned hateful.

"You come waltzing in here and you think you're so tough don't you, so god damn untouchable. The only thing you've got is them claws of yours and let me tell you, without them, you're nothing. Nothing and nobody! You are so screwed up you don't know left from right and you think you can run around threatening people into doing whatever the hell you want. You're so scared of letting anyone see anything about you. So you traumatize people instead. But let me tell you something, that isn't going to fly well around here. You think you can act like this for the rest of your life, like you don't need anybody? You are going to look around you someday and you are going to realize how utterly alone you are and then where are you going to be?" He screamed all the pain and rage he subjected himself to everyday. Every word sliced through X23 more painfully than anything else she'd ever been cut by before. She wasn't the only one who was mentally fucked up around here.

"I pose again the question of why the fuck do you care?" She choked back a sob. "You think I'm nothing, look in the mirror you fucked up bastard. At least I don't deny what I am, a freak and a social reject. You come out here and scream at me and then wonder why I don't like people, why I drive them away. Yeah, you've been real warm and fuzzy like. You fucking hypocrite. Fuck you I don't need this. I could've stayed at HYDRA to suffer this kind of abuse. You think I'm nothing, yeah, that may be, but at least I'm a nothing with a purpose. What are you Weapon X? What? You're a drifter that has to destroy everything you touch because that was what you were made to do like me: destroy things. We are made to fuck up everyone's lives." She screamed all of it, spitting every hateful word into his face. He was so shocked by the depth of her rage, deeper than his, that he didn't even stop her when she began to pound on his chest. He also hazely thought it was surprising that no one had come to see what all of the commotion was. By now, tears were streaming down X23's face she was so pissed of, and somewhere deep down, heartbroken.

X23 had enough and angrily jerked away striding through the woods. Logan caught her arm as she extended it behind her head to extend her middle finger at him.

"X, I'm sorry, I did—"

"FUCK YOU! How many times to I have to scream it in your face that I don't give a damn about what you think. I don't want your fucking apologies and I certainly don't need your pity. I should've killed you when I had the chance."

"Damn it stop!"

"Why? It's a fine time you picked to start playing dad." She sneered into his face. Logan however, wouldn't let her leave just yet. Suddenly she dropped to the ground, one leg extended claws popping out. "Let me go, or we find out if they gave you adamantine balls too." She growled. He moved back and let her stand. When he reached for her, she swatted his hand away and angrily stalked away.

Logan sat on the ground and put his head on his knees. He let out a strangled sob. None of that had come out the way he wanted it to. He wanted to pick her up and shake her. He wanted to hug her until she finally let herself be. He didn't want to care, but he did. He really was fucked. Tears poured down his face. He didn't know how to do this. He didn't want to have to do this. He wished this wasn't happening. He wished what she'd thrown in his face wasn't true.

"I just...I just don't want you to end up like me." He whispered into the cold, cold night.


X23 made it to her room and slammed the door. She didn't care if she woke somebody up. Fuck them. She leaned against the door, eyes closed. An unmistakable change came over her. One that had been seen before by people who were no longer alive. When she opened her eyes they were a cold and smoky green, like old glass bottles. The rage in them was deeper than any anyone had yet to see.

"I have something you might like." Elijah's small voice piped up from the bed. She looked at him with her dead eyes and then to the bed where his "present" lay. She made a facial expression that made Elijah shiver. She walked over to the bed and picked up what was on it, her old uniform.

"I forget, you know everything." Her voice was like icicles jabbing there way through your spine and out your stomach. The next morning, for the second time, X23 was gone. Logan and Elijah were the only two that weren't surprised.

A/N: I would just like to remind people that I am NOT, I repeat NOT pairing X23 and Gambit. I just think she can use all the friends she can get. Episodic, hope you like it, not exactly the "bonding" you were looking for, but believe me, it's a small step towards a beautiful thing. Hope I captured the angst of being a parent with a "difficult" child. Why is it I set these deadlines and then immediately go ahead and do what I said I'd do right after I give myself plenty of time to do it? Did that make sense? Oh well.

Oh and I really like to use the word fuck. I just kind of noticed it. I know I say it a lot, but I didn't realize I made X23 say it so much. ok, well, it's like 10:30 time for David Letterman. Night peeps, hope ya liked it.

REMEMBER TO REVIEW FOR THE SAKE OF THE SANITY OF THE AUTHOR.

OH AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL. REMEMBER TO BE THANKFUL FOR SOMETHING. I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL OF MY FANFICTION FRIENDS.