WHAT CAME OF OLD BEGINNINGS:

CHAPTER 2

Logan and Scott had been waiting six hours now. Both men were pacing back and forth in nervous anticipation. They had been joined by several of the other X-MEN, who were called down several hours ago. Betsy and Warren were there with their two year old twins, Warren IV and Victoria, Rouge and Remy, who where now engaged, were there, and Kurt had come as well.

Logan felt like splitting his head in two. What if something had gone wrong?

"Ya don't think somethin' went wrong, do ya?" He said for what seemed the hundredth time.

"They're okay, Logan. Calm down. You're being paranoid." Scott answered. Although Scott's eyes weren't visible, Logan could tell he was nervous. He could smell it on him.

"Okay? Paranoid?" Logan responded, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "This coming from the guy who said, 'I wonder if they need us', about eight hundred times."

Scott was about to retort when a tall figure about the same build as Scott came running down the hall. It was Scott's father, Corsair.

"Did I miss anything?" Corsair asked, his usual smirk on his face as he came to greet Scott.

"Not really, Dad. Just about six hours of waiting" Scott said.

Then the professor rolled through the door and pulled a mouth cover down from over his mouth. Both Logan and Scott snapped to attention, waiting for Xavier to report. Corsair mumbled something about the men being to tense and joined Scott next to Logan.

"Scott, your boy is healthy at seven pounds, six ounces, and Logan," the professor turned to Logan and finished his report while Corsair congratulated Scott, "Logan, it's a boy. He's premature and had a few problems..."

Logan cut off the Professor, "Problems, Problems, What Problems?"

"Only for the first few minutes, but he's been stabilized." The Professor finished. Logan's heart nearly ripped in two. He was convinced it was his fault. He knew he should have taken Ororo to see Hank more often. Then an urgent question hit his mind and he asked the professor, "How's 'Ro?"

"And Jean?" Scott quickly put in.

"They are exhausted to say the least, but very anxious to…" Xavier was abruptly cut off by a scream from inside. It had come from Ororo. Logan's heart raced and he leapt forward trying to reach Storm. Scott grabbed at Logan trying to contain him and failed. Corsair jumped in and held Logan's arms behind his back. The two barely managed to hold Logan back.

"Please, Logan let me go see." And the professor hurried to the lab.

"Let me go one-eye, I gotta help." Logan yelled at Scott.

"There's nothing you can do. You'd just disturb Hank"

"Calm down, son." Said, Corsair, "She'll be alright."

"What if she ain't" Logan said continuing to struggle against Scott and Corsair's grasp. "She's the one thing I did right in my life. And I ain't screwin' this up too."

Logan heard Ororo call his name and stopped struggling for a moment. That was it. He broke free and ran into the room, followed by Scott and Corsair.

Logan raced into the room screaming, "I don't want no kids, just…" He stopped dead in his tracks and Scott and Corsair did the same. "…You." Logan whispered.

The sight of his wife was almost as if he was gazing at an angel. Ororo's skin was damp, her chest heaved from lack of breath, and she wore no makeup, but she would still turn heads walking down the street.

Logan ran to her side and held her hand. She weakly looked up at him, her face glowing with serene beauty.

"Logan, are those tears I see?" She asked and she gently brushed them away.

"You scared the hell outta me, 'Ro." He planted a small kiss on her lips.

"Logan," Hank called from behind them, carrying two bundles, one pink, the other blue.

"Wow!" Logan said at a loss for words. "Um…which one?" He said a question in his eyes.

"Both of them." As Hank spoke these three words, Logan stopped breathing for a moment.

"This was the problem," Hank continued, nodding at the pink bundle, "She decided to hide behind her brother and show up late for the party." Hank finished and handed both bundles to Ororo.

On the other side of the room Jean was holding a yellow bundle that Scott was already marveling over. "Christopher got worried, too. Didn't you Chris?" She said the last bit in a play baby voice and smiled at the yellow bundle.

"Ah, there you are. Come see Grandpa, huh?" Corsair said and beamed with pride. He picked up the yellow bundle and examined him closely. The baby Chris had deep green eyes and small tuffs of reddish-brown hair. He wiggled with a funny look on his face in Corsair's arms. "Looks like we have a trouble maker."

Meanwhile, the pink bundle seemed to reach out to Logan. "Someone else wants to say 'hello', Logan." Ororo said and handed him one of the pink bundles.

"Oh no! I can't. I'll hurt her or something, I can't." Ororo simply smiled at him and gave him a look that made him melt. He sighed and she handed him the pink bundle.

As Logan held his daughter in his arms he experienced a whole new sensation. She was helpless. The little baby held Logan's gaze as if telling him that she trusted him. She grabbed his finger and her little hand did not even make it all the way around his thumb.

The baby girl had snow-white hair just like her mothers, and blue-gray eyes. The color was captivating. "Look at those eyes, like the sea during a hurricane… hmm, that's what I'll call ya… Hurricane." She was perfect, but something worried Logan. The baby had skin that was shockingly pale considering her mother had dark black skin. Her skin was even lighter than Logan's. He hoped it was just because she was a new born.

But when Logan looked at the bundle Ororo was holding, the difference he saw was amazing. The baby boy's black hair the color of Logan's, and gray eyes that almost made him seem like a ghost. The major difference was in their skin. While the girl's was pale, the boy's was dark. baby's were like night and day.

"What was that you were saying about not wanting children?" Ororo said.

"Oh nothin'. Absolutely nothin'" He replied with a smirk on his face.

Then she noticed the way Logan looked at the baby girl. "Logan, I thought I was the only woman in your life."

"I'm just flirtin' with the new kid."

Logan gazed into those Blue-Grey eyes and became entranced. It was difficult for Logan to believe he had found Ororo, the love of his life. He never expected to have another love for anyone else. Yet, he felt instantaneous love for these two small lives.

✘✘✘

That night Logan and Ororo sat rocking their children, Kimara and Charles, in their arms in Hank's lab. Hank wanted to keep the premature babies in the medical center for a few more days, just in case any problems arose.

Ororo was holding Kimara, and Logan was holding Charles. Logan was… terrified yes that was the word. He was terrified of messing things up again. It seemed every time he had something going for him he pushed it away. Almost as though he feared leading a happy life.

Ororo made him happy and he was surprised she had put up with him this long. Now he had children. A strange feeling fell over him, a feeling of love, but not the love he felt for Storm. Could this affection be directed at these tiny lives that he and his wife held? Could he already care about these two innocent beings he had known no longer than a day?

Logan felt he knew the answer to the questions. Already he felt a need deep inside himself to protect the twins. He would fight for them. He would kill for them. He would die for them.

As these thoughts set in Ororo spoke, breaking the revered silence. "I know you are frightened, Logan. I am as well. I fear that I will fail these small lives that entrusted themselves to me." She paused and looked up at Logan. "I also know that you will be a good father."

"What if I ain't?" Logan said.

"It is that concern that you are showing now that tells me you will be a good father."

Ororo gently set her free hand on Logan's. "We can do this." She said and looked at him lovingly.

"I love ya, Goddess." Logan stated in the simply way he usually did.

"I love you, Old friend." Ororo said in the soft way she usually did.

The two sat for another hour just looking at their children in loving amazement. They seldom spoke that night, but their occasional glances at each other were more than enough.

One question kept running through Logan's mind as he sat in this blissful moment. "Will this last…?"