"Logan…I didn't think I'd find you here" Jean mentioned, walking into the small side that overlooked the Med Lab through a one way mirror. He turned away from the mirror to glance at her with his arms crossed and Jean initially noticed that he looked concerned until she spoke, then instinctively coughed and changed his stance.
"I…um, yeah…Charles thought that this would be important for me…" he hesitated, only partially lying.

When Charles explained what had been agreed with Mallory, and that it could have a severe effect on her, something inside Logan pushed him to want to ensure her safety. He had been through Charles' procedures before and he knew first hand how intense they could be. He felt his heart race when he saw Charles put Mallory under a temporary sleep, feeling himself tense up when he thought of her not being able to wake up.
"You're worried?" Jean asked, unable to stop herself from reading his racing mind. He spun his head towards her with an irritated glare, but was unable to keep up his façade, at least he knew with Jean – his secret was safe since Charles explained to her about the alternate timelines.
"I don't know why I am…she isn't mine" he sighed. "But since that flash I had…somethin's changed"
"Of course it's changed Logan, whether you like it or not – you have another timeline now, where you had her. Although you're not living that life; it's pressed into your mind somehow, and seeing her has triggered it to start bleeding through…" she clarified, trying to make it as simple as possible for him.

She walked up to a table top behind them which was being used as a large screen, she pressed a few buttons and an image loaded up of what looked like white noise.
"What's that for?" Logan asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"It's those wires that are on her temples" Jean started, pointing to thin white cables that were stuck onto each side of Mallory's temple, going down into the floor. "That's what Charles will be using to transfer her memories, they'll go into the system to be viewed here."
Logan nodded in understanding and turned back to look at Mallory's lifeless body, and Charles placing on a helmet that looked similar to the one he wore in Cerebro.
"I can't be her father, like this…not how I am now. I don't know her…or what's she been through-" he started, feeling a lump in his throat as he felt anxious opening himself up to Jean. "-But I'm not going to risk losing everything I've fought for in this life, everything I've been through…for a man who couldn't protect her. Even if I did change, who's to say I would stay here?…all this would end up being for nothing if I just left."
"-And who's to say that you wouldn't forget?" Jean snapped, irritated at his stubbornness and selfishness. "-There is an extremely slim chance that you would forget who you are now, your mind is stronger than all of ours combined. You're also lingering on a past you know nothing about, you may have left her sixteen years ago but she's here now and she needs her father back, and that is your chance to have what you never did…family."

He was unable to conjure up an answer to her remark because he knew that she was right. He closed his eyes and exhaled dejectedly as the constant dull ache in his chest echoed through his body.
"The feelings you have now are a resonation of that past, they're strong enough to provide you with these thoughts now…if you were such a bad father and left of your own accord, would you really be feeling like this now?" she questioned, placing her hand softly on his forearm, as she noticed his face fall as the question rattled through his mind.

"Jean, are you ready?"

Charles' voice echoed through the speaker in the side room. Jean turned back to the table top and held down a button as Logan looked back through the mirror.
"-Yes Charles, on your count." Jean replied.
As Charles placed his hands down next to Mallory's head, the flickering image on the table top turned into a dark swirling colour.
"He's in…" Jean sighed nervously.

Over a ten minute window, different images flickered up which included a constant dark room which had a clinical bed and a small window which never opened. Logan concluded to himself that it was her room in the Asylum, something that caused his blood to heat with rage.
Suddenly, a solid moving image became more opaque causing Jean to gasp, standing closer to it with a pen and pad of paper.
"-He's found something…" she stammered.
Logan walked closer to it, anxious of what he was going to see.
Immediately it was clear that they were seeing a memory through Mallory's eyes. She was hiding in a room, looking through a crack in the door at Emma and a tall man in a sharp, dark suit.

"You know that once she's signed over to us, you will lose all rights to her. You will no longer have any connections to her and she will be declared property by the Project?" The male asked, his deep voice echoing into the room that Mallory was hiding in.
"Yes, yes fine. Just make sure that you can try and eradicate her powers…she may not be dangerous now, but she will…soon." Emma asked, picking up a glass of whiskey off the table and drinking a large amount of it.
"We shall try, but one last question…why are you allowing us to do this, she is only eleven?"
"Because I can't protect her anymore…" Emma sighed, downing the rest of her glass.
"Very well, I'll bring my team in momentarily to take her away. Please say your goodbyes."

With that, the man stood up and walked out of the room, Emma jumped up and ran into the room Mallory was in. Her muffled cries echoed through Logan's chest as he struggled to watch.

"I'm sorry Mallie, we aren't safe together…and once I go, you won't be safe. I need you with them, so they can try and kill the demon inside you, inside us…I'm sorry."
"But mum…" Mallory sobs, her head shaking.
Emma placed her hands up to Mallory's head and looked deeply in to her eyes.
"Don't worry, you'll forget this moment. I'll make sure you don't remember them taking you. I'm sorry"

Suddenly the vision turned back to black.

"…Emma erased Mallory's memory of that day-" Jean whispered, feeling her heart sink.
"She let them take her..." Logan growled, feeling the warmth of tears threaten behind his eyes, he sank down into a chair and cupped his face with his hands. "-Killing the demon?"
Jean mouthed 'I don't know' to him whilst she scribbled that quote down with three question marks.
"-I need a minute…" Logan sighed, struggling to hold his emotions in. He stormed out into the corridor and placed his hands on his thighs as he tried to slow his breathing down in an attempt to compose himself. He paced around outside for what only felt like a few moments, before he heard Jean shout his name and come rushing out.

"Logan!" she cried. "-It wasn't Emma…when Mallory was released, it wasn't her. It was one of Erik's clones…"
"What?" Logan snapped, storming back inside with her.
"She had the mark on her hand when Mallory killed her" Jean explained, reloading an image of Emma's hand, showing two scarred lines.
Logan knew that Erik had been designing clones based on Trask's early sentinels, but was shocked to see them being used so carelessly. He gritted his teeth and an angry growl escaped from inside his chest.
"-They suffocated her powers so she was defenceless…it was killing her, she had to do something…" Jean mumbled, feeling guilty for previously judging Mallory on speculation.
"So Erik's involved in this now?" Logan snarled. "-How does he know anything about this?"
"He must've known before we did, I bet he was the one who allowed her to get released from Eden…"
"But, why…what the hell does he know that we don't?" he growled, pacing the room once again. "-and why the hell is trying to kill her?!"
"I don't-" Jean attempted to reply, but Logan was too furious to allow an answer.
"There was a deal, he said he wouldn't get involved in anything high profile...I bet that fucker knew that she was mine!" he shouted, when he suddenly realised what he had said.
He stumbled and collapsed back into the chair, his face glazed over in realisation. He finally allowed the tears to fall down his cheeks as he stared silently at the flickering black image.

"Logan…I" Jean stuttered as she struggled to find the words to say. He silently stood up and slowly made his way to the door.
"I…can't…I-" he mumbled, when behind him a laugh echoed that he remembered so vividly. He spun around and saw a memory playing that struck him to his core.

He saw himself through Mallory's eyes, grinning wickedly as she giggled hysterically, her small voice causing Jean to instinctively smile. In the background he could see that it must have been Christmas, as the fairy lights flickered and Mallory's tiny hands clambered onto Logan as she tried to force him to wear a party hat. He faked a fight but allowed her to place it on his head.
"You're a princess Daddy…" she giggled, as Logan picked her up and spun her around.
"Is that right?...Em, did you hear that – I've been exposed" his voice called out as Logan's head turned to somewhere else, but Mallory's focus remained entirely on him – something that Jean noticed immediately and scribbled down. A female voice mumbled in the background, but clearly Mallory was not interested in the reply. Logan placed the party hat on Mallory's head and then picked her up and sat her on his shoulders.
Mallory's sight then wobbled as Logan's walked her up to a floor length mirror and smiled. She could see herself and giggled happily.
"Hey Daddy look, I'm a princess now!" She squealed, as she lifted up her arms in the air.

As the vision of Logan began to reply, the real Logan felt a burning urge to answer her and uttered the exact same words as his vision.

"You'll always be my princess."

Jean spun her head towards him in shock and jumped up, unable to believe what she had just heard.
"Did you just…" she whispered.
Unable to answer her question due to the shock he felt, he began to panic and stormed out, as Jean attempted to chase him, as she looked out into the corridor, Logan had already disappeared. Her body racing with mixed emotions, she exhaled and accepted defeat as she went back inside and looked through the mirror.
Charles removed his hands, looking dishevelled and exhausted. He looked up at the mirror and nodded, knowing that Jean was looking back at him.
"Logan saw everything…" She sighed quietly, knowing that he could hear her.
"…and?" he asked, under his voice ensuring that Mallory would not prematurely wake up.
"I think he's ready…" she mumbled. "-His timeline is beginning to bleed through, but he panicked"
"…alright, I'll speak to him. Did everything get extracted?" he asked.
"Yes, everything…"
"Miss Howlett should wake up within the next ten minutes, please make sure she has water…I'm sure she'll be exhausted…there's a lot we need to discuss."
"Yes Professor."

I loved writing this chapter, it allowed me to provide so many feels and finally delve into Logan's past and his denial of his fatherhood.
It also shows that his two timelines are bleeding through even stronger than before, to the point where he can recall what he said years before in his alternate timeline.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I've ALMOST finished part two of this story, and cannot wait to upload everything"
Please read, review and follow this story!

MH x