Disclaimer: Grrr… I don't own any of the X-men. Marvel owns them.(Someday… they will be mine!) I do however own Dom (SCORE!) and Astral and Nicole/Mindfire.

Please be gentle! This is my first X-men fanfic! Reviews welcome, no flames! I burn easy.

Sorry I'm slow at posting. I write the chapters in advance so that if writer;s block hits me it won't take months for you to get updates. Also I'm living in two different houses and only one has internet and my computer. On top of that I am having guy troubles and all so… I'm sure ya'll understand. So many reviews! Thank you all! You keep me inspired and happy to continue. So this chapter is a little explaining and stuff… You'll see…

This chapter is dedicated to my baby sister: I love you Queen Richard and Texas wasn't good enough for you.

mm4ever2gether- okay… the Chloe thing kinda confuzzled me for a minute. Glad u r enjoying.

Bima- sometimes I don't even know what will happen next…

Wolvieluvr- Yeah it was either Yuriko or the Japanese woman Logan was in love with in the comics, but I like Yuriko better so she became Dom's mom.

Shelaweena- welcome to the fold! (big grin). It's like my own personal cult following!

Starbaby-210- yeah, yeah your computer's on the fritz so I thought I'd give ya a shout out even though you didn't review… (Cheesin!)

Nicole awoke slowly, aware of an IV in her arm. She squinted against the bright lights of the med lab and groaned.

"Can I get a glass of water?" she croaked and Logan helped her to sit up.

"Are you okay, kid?" he asked.

She nodded. "Water?"

He held a glass to her lips and she tried to gulp it. "Little sips."

She complied and stared at his drawn face. He looked so tired and worn. Rogue sat on the other side of the bed. Under her eyes were dark circles. "Logan... Rogue. How long have I been out?"

"A couple of days… How are you, kid?"

"My head hurts. There is too much up there."

"You up to talking about it? Charles is right outside." Rogue said.

She nodded and Logan helped her to lie back down. As he went to the door, she spoke, "He loved you, even if he didn't know you."

Logan stopped and his hand gripped the door frame, hard. "I know."

Charles wheeled into the room. "How are you feeling Nicole?"

She sat up slowly. "Okay. A little sore."

"Are you ready to talk?"

She nodded. "I saw it all… He wanted me to know."

"Know what?"

She stared into the Professor's eyes. "The truth."

"And what did you see?"

"Everything," Nicole said, opening her mind so Xavier could see.

The young Japanese woman tucked the blanket around her sleeping baby. She smoothed a lock of his unruly black hair and turned at a noise in the doorway. Logan leaned against the doorframe.

"He sleeping?"

"Yes. What did they say?"

"They won't let you leave with him. I tried, darlin'."

Tears came to her eyes. "I don't want them to do to my baby what they have to me… to us."

Logan put his large hand on her shoulder. "I know, Yuriko."

"I will run with him, Logan. I will run before I let them experiment on him." She held her hands out before her and her nails grew into long adamantium talons. "I don't want him to be a guinea pig."

"I'll help you."

Yuriko turned and smiled at Logan. "Our son will grow strong like his father."

Logan snorted. "Let's hope he looks like you."

"I want to run tonight."

Logan nodded. "Pack your things and get Dominic ready. I'll create a diversion. Just be careful, Yuriko."

Within an hour there were explosions from the interior of the base and guards were trying to calm the Wolverine from his bezerker rage. Yuriko and her bundled baby slipped away into the night, deep into the Canadian wilderness. She raced through the underbrush, racing towards civilization. All night she ran, until she got to a highway. Happening upon a truck driver, she begged a ride to the nearest town and from there she made her way to Seattle. She looked down into her son's deep eyes and smiled.

"It'll be okay, Dom. I will take care of you."

With a groan, the fifteen year old, opened his eyes, to find himself upside down in his mother's jeep. The seatbelt held him suspended in the air. He turned and saw his mother in the same position.

"Mom?" he whispered.

Yuriko groaned and opened her eyes. "What happened, Dom?"

"There was this man in the road and he… he hit the car. Are you okay?" he stared at the cut on her cheek that was healing itself.

Yuriko nodded. "Are you?"

Dom nodded even as blood dripped into his eye. Yuriko gasped. "Dom! I can see your skull!"

Dom felt an odd sensation in his head and Yuriko's eyes widened. Her son's head slowly healed and left only a trace of blood. "What's wrong, mom?"

"Oh, my baby," she whispered, her worst fears coming true. He was a mutant. He was just like her and Logan. Exactly like Stryker wanted him to be.

"Mom, that guy-" Dom was cut off by someone reaching into the car and wrenching Yuriko out. She stared into Sabretooth's face as he held her aloft by her neck. Bringing her close to his face, he chuckled.

"Heya Yuriko. Long time no see!" he growled.

"Run Dom!" she screamed and unleashed her adamantium nails. She sliced into Sabretooth's face, causing him to drop her. Trying to run, he used his fist to knock her across the road. Dom unhooked his seat belt and fell. Climbing out of the wrecked automobile, he stared as the furry beast advanced on his mother.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Dom growled.

"Run, Dom!" Yuriko ordered.

Sabretooth turned around with a smile, "So this is Wolverine's runt. It'll be a pleasure cutting you to pieces!"

Dom took off at a run and tackled Sabretooth. He began to pummel the beast with his fists. Yuriko pulled her son away and pushed him towards the woods.

"Run, Dom. Run far and fast and don't look back!" She ordered and turned to bury her nails in Sabretooth's chest.

Dom obeyed his mother and ran into the forest. He could hear the sounds of battle behind him, but he ran only thinking of her orders. Suddenly, he collided with a man. The man looked down at him with an wicked smile.

"Hello Fury."

Dom's eyes widened. "Stryker."

"Running will do you no good, my boy. Just come with me and all will be well."

Dom growled. "Not in this lifetime."

He felt the sudden sting of a needle in his back and he turned to see a young blonde mutant, holding a syringe. She smiled evilly, and broke the needle off in his skin.

"Astral, you always were fast." Stryker's grinning face was the last thing Dom saw.

Dom awoke tied to an operating table. His whole body screamed in pain and he looked down to see his bloody body, mutilated. He felt heavier and he knew that they had fused his bones with adamantium, like his parents. He howled in rage and twin blades sliced through the skin of his knuckles. He cut through the restraints and staggered to a wall. Sliding down, he stared at the claws jutting from his knuckles.

"Fury is awake, I see," Stryker spoke from behind a glass wall. "Good morning."

"What did you do to me?"

"I made you perfect. You are even more perfect than Wolverine. You should be proud. You are a success."

Dom swallowed hard. "I'm a freak."

"But you are my freak. Do as I say and I promise to keep Yuriko alive and well. If not… then… well… let's say, Yuriko will not be around to watch her baby boy grow up."

Dom was silent for a moment. "What do you want me to do?"

Dom let out a low growl as his acute hearing caught the scientist's voices through the thick glass of the containment chamber. He was suspended in water the was tinged green. It was during one of the rare times they didn't control him with the serum made from the liquids in Jason Stryker's brain.

"What do we do now that he's dead?"

"The same thing that we have done for the past three years he's been gone. Work on Project Fury."
"What if fury learns of his mother's death?"

"She was just a drone ever since Stryker used the serum on her and Fury is the same. She was expendable."

His mother was dead? Dom felt rage course through his veins. She was dead. All he had was dead. Dom unsheathed his claws and punched one through the glass of the incubation tank he was in. The glass cracked and the weight of the water shattered it. Yuriko was dead, his mother, gone! He lunged for the men, killing them both. He paced down the cold metal halls, killing guards left and right. Exiting the small lab, he stumbled in the sand. As he past the gates of the deserted compound he felt a sharp sting in his skull and he blacked out.

Xavier broke the link. "I see. They triggered a chip in his brain to make him forget."

"That's what I saw. I saw all the pain Dom felt during the operation. I felt it too. I felt the sadness when he realized what he was. I felt the guilt when he became Astral's slave. I saw the way he pretended a whore in Mexico was me. He told me loved me in Japanese."

Logan's grip on the door frame tightened. "He's dead, Nicole."

Nicole turned her face away from. "I drained him, didn't I?"

"You didn't have any way of knowing," Hank said, leaning over to put a reassuring hand on her arm.

Nicole jerked away. "Please don't touch me. I can't control it."

Xavier's eyebrow rose. "You learned limited control and show-"

She shook her head. "No. No more control. I don't want to touch anyone."

"Nicole… You are stressed. Give yourself time before you make such a drastic decision-" Rogue said.

"No… Professor, my powers are dangerous. I don't want to touch anymore."

"I understand, Nicole. You know if you change your mind, you are always welcome to come back to taking lessons from Jean and I." Xavier nodded.

"I know and I thank you for it."

"Kid, you can't let Dom's death do you like this," Logan pleaded with her. "Please don't."

"I've made my decision, Logan."

Astral snarled. They had locked her in a cold room, with Fury's dead body, which had been covered with a sheet. She couldn't project herself out. She was trapped. Alone with Fury's rotting corpse. She looked at the body in disgust. Blood had soaked through the sheet. He was a failed experiment, like his father and mother.

Xavier opened the door and Magneto stood next to him.

"Astral, when will you learn?" Magneto asked. "I warned you that Fury was one who would not be controlled."

"Fury is dead!" Astral spat.

"Maybe, but you didn't succeed where Stryker left off, either," Magneto waved a hand and she was lifted by the metal restraints on her arms and legs. "I will deal with her, Charles."

Xavier nodded. "I hope that I never see you near my school again, Astral. God help you if you come back."

Astral snarled and Magneto handed her over to Sabretooth. He watched them leave and looked back at Dom's corpse.

"It's a pity that Dominic suffered the same fate as his mother," Xavier spoke, softly. "To die so young, and by someone they both cared for."

"Are you certain you saw what you saw?" Magneto asked.

Xavier stared at his old friend. "What do you mean Eric?"

"I'm just saying that these things tend to mend themselves."

Xavier stared at his old friend. "Eric."

"Until next time, Charles." Magneto left.

Xavier stared at Dom's motionless body. Dom's bloody arm jerked and fell from under the blanket. No dead body moved like that.

"Hank! Jean!" Xavier yelled and wheeled himself to Dom's covered body. He leaned down and slowly peeled the sheet away. Dom stared up with glazed eyes and Xavier sensed nothing, and then Dom's eyes closed.Hank and Jean came into the room.

"What is it Professor?" Jean asked.

"We need to get Dom to the med lab and on life support… I don't think he's dead."

Logan and Rogue arrived in Xavier's office with the other senior X-Men a few hours later. Ororo, Scott, and Gambit were all lounged around in chairs around the room awaiting the Professor's news.

Xavier wheeled into the room. "Good. Everyone is here. I have some startling news. Hank has discovered that Dom's body is still functioning on a cellular level. His body is healing itself."

Logan's jaw dropped open. "I stabbed him through the lungs! There is no way."

"You were shot in the head once, sugar. You survived," Rogue pointed out.

"His lungs are healing themselves as we speak," Hank looked at the medical chart he had before him. "They are healing very slowly so we aren't sure if he'll recover or not. We have him hooked onto life support, but it is still touch and go."

"We need to tell Nicole!" Rogue stated.

"No."

Everyone turned to stare at Logan.

"Why not?" Jean asked. "She'll come out of this depression and maybe pursue learning to control her powers again."

"And if he dies again? She'll be even more devastated. Let's wait to tell her. I won't have her hurt again." Logan set his jaw. "I won't lose both of them."

"I understand and I agree." Xavier laced his fingers together. "Not a word to Nicole, until we are certain."

"Pardon Gambit's idiocy, but isn't she a telepath? What if she reads it on our minds?" Gambit asked.

"Nicole doesn't go just traipsing around in other people's heads," Jean stated.

"Even so, Gambit does raise a point. I'll put shields in everyone's minds here today. Nicole is not to know, until we have certainty that Dom will live or die." Xavier ordered.

Jubilee burst through the door. "Nicole's drunk!"

"What?" Logan growled.

"I don't know where she got it, but she drank like a whole thing of whisky and she's on the roof. Kitty and I can't get her down."

Logan tore out of the room and Jubilee followed his up to the roof. When he got up there, he saw Kitty standing near the door, tears on her face.

"She's standing on the edge and she won't come down."

Logan stepped out and saw Nicole standing on the edge, the wind whipping around her clothes. "Nicole?"

She didn't answer him, but continued to stare into the sky. He noticed the empty whisky bottle broken nearby and he advanced on her.

"Don't come near me," she ordered.

"Nicole, what's wrong, darlin'?"

"I… I think I drank too much," she slurred.

"Why were you drinking?"

"Dom wanted to."

"Dom's dead."

She tapped her temple. "Not up here. He's always up here. He's been there ever since the day he saved my life."

"Come down off there, darlin'. Come here and talk to me."

Nicole shook her head, violently. "I just want to be left alone."

"Come down off of there and you can lock yourself in your room for a week for all I care." Logan took a few steps closer to her and reached out with one hand. "C'mon, kid."

She turned to stare at his hand and he noticed the tearstains on her cheeks. Reaching out, she took his hand and he pulled her to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her to his chest. She started to sob and clutched his shirt.

"I hate myself, Logan."

"Don't do that, darlin'. You're wonderful…"

"I look down at my hands and I expect two claws to be there. There is so much of him in my head and I killed him."

"You didn't kill him, kid. I did."

"I wish I was the one you stabbed."

"Don't say that. Don't ever say that."

"Why it's true! I hate me! You should hate me! I killed your son, Logan!"

"I killed him, Nicole. I stabbed him."

"He could have healed if I hadn't touched him!" Nicole sobbed. "If I hadn't touched him…"

"But you helped me, Nicole. You gave me insight on my past. On my family and you helped me to move on with my new family. With you and Marie." Logan took her gloved hand into his. "You helped him, by getting the truth out."

Nicole hugged Logan and buried her face in his chest. "I hate this."

"Me too, kid, me too."

Three Months Later….

Nicole was submersed in the book she was reading, until it was snatched from her grip. Gambit held it out at an arm's length.

"What is this smut, chere?" He wrinkled his nose. "Burning Desires."

"Give it back, Remy!" She rose and tried to take it.

"Gambit thinks chere is lonely. If Gambit wasn't so afraid of Logan and Jubilee, he'd help you out."

"I ran out of normal books to read and I borrowed it from your girlfriend. Maybe she's the lonely one."

"That was a low blow-"

"Give me my book or I'll gut you!" she snarled.

Gambit gave her a look. "Chere, he's coming out again."

Nicole lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry, Remy. He does that sometimes. I need to go out and clear my head for a bit."

As she walked away, Gambit grabbed her hand. "Gambit is here for you. We all are. Don't get too drunk."

She nodded and left to roam the nearby bars, to satisfy the Dom in her head. She slipped out from the mansion and walked down the lane towards the gates. She heard a noise to her left and peered into the bushes.

"Logan?" she whispered and he emerged from the bushes.

"You okay, kid?"

She nodded.

"Where you off to?"

"Drinking. Dom's thirsty.

"Dom is dead."

"Not in my head he isn't. He's always there either wanting to drink or smoke or have sex… sometimes all three."

"I'm sorry, kid…"

She brushed him off with a wave of her hand. "Perish the thought. Wanna go do some shots of tequila? Father and daughter bonding time?"

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can keep up with me?"

"I have Dom, Remy, and you in my head. The three biggest drinkers I know… or knew. I think I'll do fine."

Dom shot up in his bed, ripping loose IVs and monitors. Sputtering, he jerked the breathing tube from his throat and swung his feet to the other side of the bed. He coughed and hacked.

"Damn," he muttered. "I need a smoke."

Rubbing the crick in his neck, he peered out the open door of his room to see Hank sleeping in a chair, with War and Peace on his lap. Dom smirked and pulled on a pair of pants he found and ripped off the offending hospital gown. Stitches in his back pulled with each movement he made.

So he was alive. He even amazed himself with this recovery. He knew his father has shredded his lungs the minute it happened and had expected to die, yet here he was. As he left the med lab, barefoot, he zipped up his pants and peered down the empty hall. Where the hell could he find some smokes?

Sniffing the air, he caught the smell of one of Logan's cigars. Good ol' dad. Always there with the smokes. Dom headed off down the hall, in the direction of Logan's scent. He got to an elevator and took it upstairs. Following the scent, he went to one of the school's many living rooms and found his dad and surrogate mother sitting on a couch. Dom leaned against the doorframe.

"Got any smokes?" Dom asked, his voice just above a growl.

Logan's head snapped around. He was so immersed in Marie he didn't even hear Dom approach.

"What the hell are you doing up here?"

"Looking for a cigarette, but cigars are just as good. Fork one over," Dom held out his hand.

Logan rose and jerked his son into the room. He slammed the door shut.

"I thought Hank was watching him?" he asked Marie, who was hugging Dom. "What if Nicole had seen him?"

"You haven't told her!"

"About that smoke-" Dom started.

"We talked about this! How can I? He might be alive, he might not. She would have spent every minute down there."

"Listen I need some nicotine-"

"Like you were, Logan! How are we going to tell her?" Rogue asked.

"I've got an idea! Give the kid a smoke and he'll go tell her," Dom supplied.

"What do you want me to do? I can't bear to see her hurt."

Dom sighed and caught the scent of a cigarette. Slowly, he left Rogue and Logan to their spat and made his way to the remodeled gazebo. Gambit was leaned back, enjoying a cigarette. His eyes widened when he saw Dom.

"Mon Diou! You can't keep Wolverine's kin down, Gambit sees."

"Shut up and give me a cigarette," Dom snatched the one Gambit offered and used the Cajun's lighter to ignite the tip. He inhaled the smoke and sighed happily. "Thanks."

"So you lived?"

"Apparently so. How long was I out?"

"About three months, mon ami."

"Damn. Where's Nicole?"

Gambit shrugged. "Reading? Moping? Maybe even drinking. Who knows, mon ami."

Dom took another long drag on the cigarette.

"They say that your lungs were shredded."

"So?"

"How did you survive?"

Dom shrugged. "I've got too much of my father in me? I heard my dad was shot in the head once and he lived."

Gambit shook his head. "That is frightening to Gambit."

"Whatever. I'm going to find Nicole."

"Whoa! Hold on, mon ami. We never told Nicole you were still alive. We can't have her freaking out on us."

"Is she okay?"

"She thought she killed you."

Dom's jaw clenched and he stubbed out the cigarette. "When she absorbed me?"

"She thought she drained you. She had you stuck in her head for a long time. Changed the chere's personality a bit. She got pretty wild. Still is." Gambit gave Dom a shrug. "She learned to like whisky."

"So where is she?"

"I dunno. She never stays in one place around here long."

Dom headed back for the mansion, but was intercepted by Jean and Hank.

"Where have you been?" Jean asked.

"Smoking."

"Did Nicole happen to get a glance of you?" Hank asked.

"No. I was on my way to-"

"Good. Come with us please." Hank requested. "We need to run a few more tests and-"

"No! No more fucking tests!" Dom jerked away from Jean's touch. "I want to see Nicole. I want to see her now!"

"Now is not a good time. She doesn't know you're alive."

"Then let me tell her." Dom doubled over in pain, his stitches bleeding again.

"Let's get you to bed," Hank stated.

Dom felt so weak. He nodded and leaned against Hank for support. Hank took him back to the med lab. Xavier wheeled next to Dom's bed.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired. Why didn't you tell her?"

"We weren't sure if you'd make it and we knew that you dying twice would hurt her even more," Xavier explained. "She's spent the last three months in bars, satisfying you in her head. She refuses to touch anyone. Now the question is how to tell her-"

"Don't."

Hank raised an eyebrow. "Why not, Dominic? I understand you have discovered feelings for her and-"

"No. Nothing good will come of this. Let her think I'm dead. I'll leave."

"Are you sure, Dom? You are welcome here." Jean assured him.

"I know, but I'm warped. You've already got my dad here and he's enough for the entire continent. I don't want to screw up Nicole and I feel that I will. Sometimes I still get the urge to capture her. It's my animal nature, I don't trust myself. I care about her, but I care enough to let her go."

" 'Love is like fire, but whether it's gonna warm your heart or burn your house down, you can never tell.' Jason Jordan," Hank chuckled. "One of my favorite quotes on that particular topic."

"I won't hurt her. I will leave and never come back." Dom stared at Xavier. "You're a telepath, tell me I'm lying."

"I know you are telling the truth. I understand your decision. If ever, though, you find the need or to return to us, feel free to do so."

Dom nodded. "I leave tonight."

"You are still recuperating-" Hank protested.

"No. I leave tonight."

Rogue sat near the window as rain beat against it. Logan came to her side.

"He's gone."

She nodded. "So what do we tell Nicole?"

"Professor said it would be best to just keep on as if he were dead. Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "Are you going to leave me too?"

He pulled her up into his arms. "Never, darlin'. I swear."

"I love you, Logan." Rogue looked up to his eyes.

"I love you, darlin'," he whispered and kissed her.

Rogue wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. Logan hugged her, letting her cry.