Disclaimer: Posted with the first chapter...i don't think i'll bore you with it anymore...:)

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Chapter 2

I felt myself go pale when he said that. A thousand different things were going through my head, a thousand different feelings. I didn't know what to say, so I settled on "What?"

"You're pregnant. You're not very far along. I know this is terribly intrusive of me, but when was the last time you and Logan…" He trailed off.

"Uh the night before we got Scott back. A week ago."

"Then I'll venture a guess and say a week, no more than two weeks for certain." He gave me a stern look. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you that it's terribly risky for you to go haring off into the wilderness right now, no matter what the cause."

"Hank, I have to do this! Even more now than I did before! Logan…gods, he'd be so happy right now!"

"I understand your feelings about this. But this raises so many questions about the nature of your mutation and how it might affect the baby."

"Hey, this isn't my first one you know. I had another child, a daughter. She was killed by Stryker."

"And how did that pregnancy go? Were you ever killed while you were carrying her?"

"Oh. Um, no I wasn't. I was living a pretty normal life, had a job, a home, a lover who left as soon as he found out."

"That's exactly my point! If something were to happen to you out there, I can't guarantee the baby would survive."

"And there's no way to find out." I looked down at the floor, tears welling up in my eyes. He had a point, I knew that, but I couldn't stay here either. I had to do this. "Hank, I understand your concern, but I have to go. Just promise you won't tell anyone, not until we get him back."

"Angela…"

"PROMISE ME!" I yelled. "No one can know! Not Scott, not the Professor, NO ONE."

"You are my patient and everything in here is privileged information. Of course I won't tell anyone." He took out a pad and scribbled something on it before tearing it off and handing it to me. "But I want you to go into town and have this filled before you leave. It's a prenatal vitamin with iron. There's also a prescription for nausea in case you have any morning sickness, but with your mutation it may not be a problem. And whatever you do, do not take any unnecessary risks! You have extremely capable people going with you, let them help you, all right?"

"I will, I promise." I slid off the table as he stood and impulsively hugged him. "Thanks Blue."

"Congratulations, my dear. Now get out of here before I try to talk you into staying home again."

I gave him a mock salute and left the infirmary, shoving the prescriptions in my pocket. I felt lighter than I had in days and the cold lump in my center was a little smaller. At the end of the next summer, I was going to have Logan's child. Was it a boy or a girl? Would it inherit our mutation or be something completely different? I know a little about genetics in general, most mutants do especially if they went to the Xavier School. But I had no idea how the gene decides if mutations are inherited or not. It was something I would have to worry about later. Right now, I had to make a town run and get this stuff in the mansion without anyone knowing.

I slipped down to the garage without being spotted by anyone and got away with a minimum of fuss. With a car like my GTO, it's impossible to make a quiet getaway, but I timed it so that all the kids were in class when I left. I managed to get to the city without breaking too many laws, which was almost a miracle. I love opening it up as far as it will go and flying down the road, especially Graymalkin Lane with all its twists and turns. However, I had to start being more careful about things, which I really wasn't used to. It was with that thought in mind that I made another stop to the pawn shop.

I haven't actually fired a weapon since Alkali Lake. They'd trained me in the use of every firearm imaginable, but I had rarely used them. My talents were in close-quarters fighting and infiltration, so a firearm of any sort would have been pointless. Logan was so good with a rifle it was scary and I'd often wondered if he'd been a sniper when he was with the Special Forces. At any rate, I figured that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a bit firepower at hand just in case we ran into anything we couldn't handle, especially because no one on this team had a projective power, unless you counted Chasca's echolocation, which only worked on people with sensitive hearing.

I looked over the selection in the shop and settled on a Glock nine millimeter. It would be enough to take out just about any wild animal that might threaten us and would give me something else to wound Asp and Tigress with. As Weapon X operatives, they had healing factors of their own, but it's possible to overwhelm the system and make them shut down if you can injure them badly enough. I figured a few dozen bullets to the gut would work just fine in that instance.

With my purchases made, I returned to the mansion and slipped back to my room before anyone could ask me what I'd bought. It still felt so empty in there without Logan, but this would be my last night in there for some time anyway. I got my duffle bag out of the closet and packed the clothing I wanted for the trip, mostly cargo pants, tank tops and sweatshirts, but I also slipped in a few things for Logan. I didn't know what would be left of his X-suit when we found him and much as I love him to be naked all the time, it was seriously winter up there and I didn't want him to freeze anything important.

I checked the time and saw that dinner was just getting underway. I hadn't eaten with the rest of the school in a week and I figured I might as well since I'd be leaving in the morning. I slipped into the dining room with the last of the stragglers and took my usual seat next to Kurt. I swallowed a lump in my throat at the seat next to mine, respectfully left empty. No one here wanted to think that Logan wouldn't be coming back and that meant more to me than they'll ever know.

"How are you, mein freund?" Kurt asked sympathy etched in his features.

"Holding up." I replied scooping mashed potatoes onto my plate. "We're leaving in the morning to go find him."

"Ja, I know. I vanted to come vith you, but the Professor asked me to stay."

"He's right, Kurt. I know you can handle yourself in any situation, but the kids need you here more than I need you out there."

"I know. But Logan is mein freund and he vould do the same for me."

"He would also want to make sure everyone here was safe and he'd feel better knowing you were here doing just that."

"You do not play fair, did you know that?"

"It's part of my charm." He smiled when I said that and I realized that it was the closest to a joke that I'd come since waking up in the infirmary a week before. I sighed and started eating slowly, but picked the pace up a bit when I saw Hank scowling at me from the other end of the table. He gave me a knowing wink and I even managed a second helping before we adjourned to the patio.

It was getting to be too cold to be out there for long, but Storm did what she could to keep the wind down and the temperature to a tolerable level. Hank gave me another scowl when I went to light a smoke, but it was short-lived when I all but gagged and put it back out.

"Angela, is something wrong?" Storm asked when violently crushed my cigarette out.

"What? No, no I'm fine. It's just stale is all." I said, making an excuse. I stayed out there for less than an hour, sipping a single brandy (again under Hank's scowl) before excusing myself for bed. I wasn't surprised when Sam caught up with me before I made it to the stairs.

"Angela, hold up!" He said, jogging to catch me.

"What's up?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair.

"Don't give me that. There's something going on with you and I have a right to know what it is before we leave."

I sighed and motioned for him to follow me. I waved him into my room once we got upstairs and locked the door behind us. He sat gently in the single armchair and I perched on the side of the bed with a sigh. "Sam, promise me this never leaves this room, ok?"

"The rest of the team has a right to know too." He replied evenly.

"Fine, I'll tell them once we're on the ground again tomorrow. But you can't say anything to anyone, not even Storm, got it?" He nodded and I sighed again. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened and his jaw all but hit the floor. "You're…I mean…Angela this is great news!" He reached out and clasped my hand. "You must be so happy!"

"I'm thrilled, actually. I think it might be the one thing that'll bring Logan back better than anything else I can think of short of overloading his healing factor and putting him in a coma."

"You think it might come to that?" I nodded and he cursed softly. "I promise you, we'll try everything in our power to ensure it doesn't come to that, all right."

"Thanks Sam."

"Anytime. So, what does Hank have to say about this adventure we'll be undertaking tomorrow?"

"Basically don't get killed, because we don't know if the baby would survive that and there's no way to find out."

"I guarantee we will work extra hard to make sure that doesn't happen." We stood up and he gave me a gentle hug. "Congratulations, my dear. I'm very happy for you."

I let him out of my room and locked the door behind him. I stripped down to my underwear and pulled Logan's flannel out of the closet, wrapping it around myself before climbing into bed. As I drifted off to sleep, I could just imagine how happy he would be if he was here right now. For the first time in a week, I didn't cry myself to sleep.

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The alarm went off at the crack of dawn and I was immediately wide awake. I took a quick shower and grabbed my bag before running down to the hangar. Storm was already there with Sam doing the pre-flight routine as I settled into my usual seat as far away from the front of the jet as possible. A few minutes later, Totem and Chasca came up the ramp and Storm closed it behind them.

"Everyone settled back there?" Storm asked.

"As I'm likely to get." I replied, already feeling the panic start. I will never like flying as long as I'm alive. The hangar bay opened to the sky and Storm eased the jet out with long-practiced skill and we were on our way.

We landed about an hour later in the same place we'd hidden the jet the night we'd rescued Scott. Totem, Chasca and I allowed them a bit of privacy to say goodbye. Fifteen minutes later, she returned to the jet and we waved as it shot back towards the school. I'm not ashamed to say that we took full advantage of Sam's mutation out there. With his strength, he could have carried all of our gear without breaking a sweat. But as the de facto leader of this mission, I insisted that we all carry at least our own personal gear, not that we'd be doing a lot of major hiking or anything in the first place. The plan was to set up a base camp and scout the area in a ten-mile radius. If we didn't find any signs of him in that area in a couple days, we'd move on and repeat the process. If the weather became absolutely inhospitable, we'd have to abandon the search until spring, which was simply not an option.

The first thing we did was go back to the base where they'd kept Scott. It was remotely possible that Logan may have gone back there to finish off anyone we hadn't already killed, so it seemed like a good starting point if nothing else. We stashed our gear beneath the branches of a massive pine tree that swept the ground and set off. I was already in full alert mode, but my wariness grew when we got within half a klick of the base and encountered no sentries of any sort. A few minutes later, we reached the perimeter and I gasped at what I saw.

The few buildings that had been there were in ruins and the place looked like it had been abandoned decades ago rather than the week that had passed. I reached out and tentatively touched the fence, but if it had been electrified, there was no juice in it now. I glanced over at Sam, who stepped up and tore a huge section of fence away and tossed it aside. We cautiously approached the ruins, looking for any signs of recent habitation, but there was nothing.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected." Sam said, looking around.

"Not much here to begin with." I replied, poking through the remains of what appeared to be a Quonset bunker. "Where was the lab?"

"Over here." He led the way to what remained of a warehouse. Near the northwest corner was part of a wall with a doorway in it, leading to what I assumed would have been a stairwell. I peered into the gloom below and the stairs still seemed sound enough, so I carefully stepped across the threshold and started down.

The silence in the lower levels was so thick it was like a physical presence around us. It was also pitch black. I have great night vision, but this was beyond even my abilities. I pulled a flashlight out of one of my pockets and whispered a quick warning before turning it on. We were in a small anteroom with two doors, one to either side. The only door that was open was the one to the right, which bore the unmistakable marks of Logan's claws. I stepped carefully through, sliding the light back and forth slowly in front of me. From what I'd heard, this very hallway had been the site of a pretty major bloodbath. Now, it was as clean as a whistle, quite at odds with the apparent abandonment above. We did a quick but thorough search of the place, but except for a couple missed shell casings the place had been stripped bare. If Logan had come back here, he was long gone now.

We worked our way back to the surface. I picked through the ruins of the other warehouse a bit, but I still didn't turn up anything. With a sigh, we went back to the clearing where we'd stashed our things and set up our base camp. It had been decided that we would all stay in one very large tent as opposed to three smaller ones, in part to save on the amount of stuff we'd have to carry, but also because it would be warmer at night. Sam busied himself with setting that up while I took Totem aside.

"Kyro, did you know about this place?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. The only places I lived were at Alkali Lake then Hudson Bay after the day you and Logan-san escaped."

"So you don't know if there's other small bases like this anywhere?"

"I could not say, but it is very likely. This one would prove the possibility of it."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I didn't want to entertain the notion that he'd been recaptured and we'd have to search every remote area in north America for places like this. Add to that the fact that I had no idea how many other governments were involved with the Weapon X project and the thought was staggering. No, I can't worry about that now, I thought to myself and went to help Sam.

We had everything set up in short order and put together a quick breakfast before sitting down to plan the next few days. But first, I had something to tell Chasca and Totem. "Before we start planning, there's something you need to know." I began, setting down my mug of tea. "Sam already knows, but it is something that we need to keep in mind."

"What is it?" Chasca asked, brushing a few crumbs from the front of her coat.

"Yesterday, Hank had me in for a checkup and he told me…well, I'm pregnant." The two of them just stared at me before breaking into huge grins and congratulating me. "Thanks. But this means that the search pattern I was planning on using has been shot to hell. We're not sure if the baby would survive if I get killed and come back. So, I'll need to have someone with me to watch my back. I figure you can all take turns or something, but this baby is my second most important priority."

"What do you mean, 'second', Angela?" Sam asked. "I would think it would be number one."

"No, Logan is the most important. I want this baby, gods only know how much. But we made this one, we can make another if it comes to that. I'm not going to take any unnecessary risks, but we all know how fast things can get out of control." Everyone nodded. "So, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew before we got started."

I picked up a map that had our current position marked on it, courtesy of Buzz. "Ok, this is us right now," I said, pointing to the big black X on the map, "the base is here, the mountains are all the way down here. I figure we'll search the area in a ten-mile radius until we find some signs of where he went. He's totally feral now and it's winter, so he'll have looked for a place to stay in between hunts, a cave most likely. I don't know if he'll think to stock up on food, so it wouldn't have to be a very big one, just enough to give him a place to sleep and lay low during storms. If he's in hunter mode, going after Tigress and Asp, he might move every few days if the weather permits it." I put the map down and took up my tea. I took a sip and made a face; it was ice cold. "The real problem is people. I don't know what he'll do if he encounters anyone else out here. He might just hide, but if he sees anything that's even remotely threatening, he might attack."

"And it's deer season around here right now, isn't it?" Sam asked and I nodded. He swore softly. "Damn it. That means men in camouflage with guns."

"Exactly. Fortunately, there's less than a week left, so hopefully we won't have to worry about that." I pulled an envelope out of my jacket pocket. "Now, Buzz made these up for us as cover." I handed out the I.D. badges that identified Sam, Totem and myself as being part of Canadian Parks and Forests. "We're only going to need these if we come across any bodies. We'll say we've received reports of a rogue bear or a rabid wolf and ask any hunters we come across to leave, threaten them with fines if they don't. The people up here are pretty reasonable, so they should go without a fuss." I looked at Chasca apologetically. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but there's no way to hide those wings of yours. If we have to do that, you'll have to fly up somewhere and hide."

"I understand. I do not like men with guns anyway." She shuddered. "I would only frighten them and they might try to shoot me."

"Not frighten, honey. Startle, maybe but there's nothing about you to be afraid of."

"Oh, there is plenty about me to be afraid of. Logan has been training me, remember?"

I chuckled. "True, but they can't see how good you are with that katana just by looking at you." I picked up the map again. "Ok, we'll search this area first and we need to be pretty thorough. Look for anything that might show us where he went." I indicated a portion to the southwest. "Right in here is where we found Rogue, so there will be a bit of destruction there."

"Is there anything else there?" Totem asked.

"Yeah, a creepy little cottage. Looks like something out of 'Hansel and Gretel'. Wouldn't surprise me if there was an ugly old lady in there with kids in cages." Everyone chuckled and I went on. "Anyway, he knocked me out and took off and he apparently didn't go past any of the rest of the team, is that right Sam?"

He nodded. "No one saw or heard anything. We don't even know how long it was before Colossus found you."

"Ok then. Sam, you come with me today. Chasca, you go to this area here", I indicated a section to the north, "Totem, you go here." I pointed to where the base was and the surrounding area. "Use the earpieces, code names only. We'll meet back here in four hours for lunch." I handed out the earpieces and we all put them in. I reached into another pack and handed each of them a digital camera. "Take these. If you see any signs of him, like claw marks or whatever, get a picture, even if you're not positive. We'll send the memory cards back when Storm comes on the next supply run and Buzz will analyze them for us."

"Um, Angela?" Chasca said tentatively. "I don't have a code name yet."

"Oh." I sat there and thought about it for a moment. "How about Echo? You know, because of the echolocation."

"Echo. I like it. It isn't obvious. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Let's move out."

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I found his trail on the second day out. It wasn't obvious to anyone who hadn't worked with him for as long as I have, but I recognized it. Back in the Bad Old Days, if we had to slog through a jungle or forest, we would always mark trees to show what direction we were traveling by having him score the bark of a tree with a series of very shallow cuts, one for north, two for south and so on. If we were traveling say, northwest, he would make a single mark with another one bisecting it from the upper left to the lower right. He might be completely feral right now, but if he was intent on staying on the move he wouldn't want to go in circles. His training went almost as deep as the animal inside and doing something like that would be automatic for him.

At any rate, it was the second day when I saw the first marker. By the marks, he'd been traveling pretty much due west. He'd always had an uncanny sense of direction even in the worst of weather conditions, so I had every confidence that due west was the way to go. We broke down our camp and hiked to the position where I found the marker. As the others set everything back up, I called the Professor. I told him what we'd found and he relayed the information to Buzz, who would in turn feed every scrap into his computer until he figured out where Logan could be going. I asked about Rogue but there was no change there. Charles promised to send her along if she regained consciousness and I sent everyone back home my love. He also said Hank had a message for me, "Stay out of trouble", and I just laughed. With nothing else to report, I hung up.

Three days later Chasca found the next sign. It appeared that he'd turned to the north for a bit, so we broke camp again and set back up there. The day after that, we ran into the only other people we would see before this was all over. A group of hunters stumbled into our campsite one morning as we were all making our plans for the day. Chasca was still in the tent, but as soon as she heard me talking she wisely remained hidden.

"Gentlemen, can I help you?" I asked, reaching into my pocket.

"Oh, we didn't know anyone was out here 'sides us." One of them said, looking me up and down. "You hunting?"

"After a fashion." I took out my fake Parks and Forests I.D. "Melissa Arthur. We got a few reports of a rogue animal out here. Have you seen anything?"

The three men looked at each other and one stepped forward. "Well, I haven't seen the animal itself, but I've seen its leavings."

"Really?" I asked, taking out a small notebook and a pencil. "Where and when was this?"

"Oh, 'bout four days ago, a little to the northwest of here. Found a deer with its head almost cut clean off. Damndest thing I've ever seen. Heart was missing, too."

I wrote everything down. "Anything else? Are you sure it wasn't a person that did it?"

"No way, not unless it was one of them damn muties." He spat. "I mean, the way the head was cut off? Yeah, I thought man for a second. But I've never seen a man leave most of a carcass after killing it, no matter how he killed it. Whatever killed it ate what it could and left the rest."

"Very good. Thank you so much, Mr?"

"Campbell, Jack Campbell."

"Ok, Mr. Campbell. Now, I have to advise you to leave the area. With a dangerous animal like that loose, well…I don't have to tell you what could happen."

"No ma'am. We'll get out of here." They tipped their caps and left. As soon as they were out of earshot, I had Chasca take to the air to make sure they actually left. Surprisingly, they did.

As soon as she came back, we sat down again. "Ok, this changes everything. That had to be Logan's kill."

"Agreed." Sam said. "Not much else to eat out here this time of year except meat and even that'll start getting scarce soon enough."

"I know. So we have to find him and soon. Ok, we'll focus our search in here today." I said, indicating a fairly large area to the northwest. "Echo, you're with me today. I want you in the air looking for anything that might serve as a lair for him. I'm going to try and find what's left of that carcass after four days."

"Do you think he's still in this area?" She asked.

"Probably not. He's migrating towards something, I just don't know what. But this is the best lead we have and we're taking it."

Everyone nodded and we set out. My spirit felt lighter than it had in days now that we had a hard direction to search in. The days and nights were getting colder and I didn't want to go back home until I had him back. Even then, I didn't think it would be wise to take him back to the mansion. Still, that was something I'd worry about later. For now, finding him was all that mattered.

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AN: Well, this is off to a good start, yes:) Don't worry, the action will pick up soon enough...:) Special thanks to Turiel Tincdaniel and Zac for being the best beta readers ever...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for being an inspiration and a pain in the ass...:) Super Special thanks to all of the readers, even if you don't review (though i wish you would!)...and Super Swanky Special thanks to those who DO review...right now, that's Miss Lover Girl, Ineluctability, Sela103 and reeltreble1031...you guys rock!

Please review...it makes me happy and keeps me inspired to keep writing!