Author's note: The scene at the beginning refers again to Wolverine: Origins! It's my interpretation of Logan's past!! So, don't get confused!!!

Oh, and I totally forgot: Chapter 24 reached the amount of words of Changes. : ) And the amount of reviews: ) Thank you so, so much, guys!!!! You're all my heroes: )

Changes Sequel – I. Darkness Part 25

Moving, while Ororo whimpered aloud in pain, Sabretooth's senses were completely focused on the woman underneath him. His large hands tightened the iron grip on her hip and buried his sharp nails even deeper into it; causing more blood to drip into the snow. About to bend forward a bit, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and torn away. Roaring aloud in anger, he looked at the claws which were buried deep in his abdomen, before he realized who was standing in front of him and had disturbed him.

"Can't ya just stay dead, bub?" Logan growled in a low voice and turned his head when he heard Ororo sobbing in relief. "Run!" he yelled, but noticed that she didn't move an inch. "Damn it, 'Ro, run!"

"I can't…I can't move my leg," she sobbed and tried to cover herself with the remains of her clothes, while she directly looked into Sabretooth's grinning face as Logan turned around again.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" the taller man growled. "Disturbing an old fella while he's fun?"

"You gonna have fun now!" Roaring aloud when Wolverine took over, he pulled his claws out of his opposite and went into a deep crouch; ready to attack and protect the still crying woman behind him.

Chuckling, Sabretooth looked at Wolverine's claws. "Got somethin' for ya," he grunted and extracted 4 claws on each hand. "Nice, eh? Let's see how long you'll make it without a working healing factor, runt!" With a loud primal roar, he leapt at his opposite, while Wolverine jumped, too, to meet his adversary in midair…

Upstairs, Jean just left the bathroom when Lily's terrified scream sent shivers down her spine. As fast as she could, the redhead ran over to the twin's room and opened the door in a rush to find her daughter kneeling on the ground with a frightened look on her face. "Honey, what's wrong?" Jean asked her panicky and kneeled down next to her quivering daughter. Looking at the child, this one only stared back with widened, terrified eyes and began to pant heavily. "Lily?" the redhead tried again and cupped her face to make her daughter look at her. "What's wrong?"

Finally realizing that her mother was next to her, the girl clung to her and began to sob aloud. "He hurts daddy…," she cried and made Jean frown in confusion, while she pulled the quivering child close.

"Who?" Jean asked calmly and began to stroke through the dark silky hair soothingly. "Honey, daddy's fine. He's downstairs and brings the tray back to the kitchen…"

"No!" Lily said and looked up while she shook her head; sending more hot tears down her already wet cheeks. "He will hurt him…"

Concentrating, Jean let her powers reach out to the others and tried to find any sign that something had happened or was wrong. But there was none… Still, she suddenly felt how her inner alarm was activated. "It's okay, honey…," she said absently and pulled the child close again, while she felt worried. "Calm down, everything's fine…"

Clinging to her mother once more, Lily buried her face on her opposite's neck. "Don't let him hurt daddy, mommy…," she sobbed and tightened her grip. "Please…"

Terrified, Ororo watched with widened eyes how both mutants fought against each other in a merciless and brutal fight, which only had one aim: kill the adversary or die trying it. Quivering in fear, she backed off against the next tree and pulled her legs as close as possible; unable to take her eyes away from the brawl. She caught the sight of her hand and raised her head up to fix her eyes on the dark evening sky. She needed to try it again, she needed to help him… Concentrating, Ororo tried to summon a thunderstorm, her eyes fixed on Sabretooth, who slashed again at the growling Wolverine, while this one ducked and left a wound on his opposite's left leg. But nothing happened. Cursing, she gritted her teeth and watched how Sabretooth's wounds healed quickly due to his uniform, while Logan's were still visible. She knew he needed help. With their adversary's uniform blocking his powers, he was clearly the loser. By now she was so cold that she didn't even feel the pain she was in. The only thing Ororo was completely aware of was that they needed help and that her leg was numb. She still couldn't move it an inch…

"I've always been better, runt!" Sabretooth hissed and took hold of his enemy's right arm.

"You've always been a fool!" Wolverine growled back and gritted his teeth when sharp nails tore his skin open. Being in a complete berserker mode, he didn't feel the pain. All his mind told him was protect the woman and kill him…

"Really?" his opposite chuckled low. "Who's denying what he is,…Jamie? Father would be disappointed… He should have killed ya, too, back then!"

Snorting, Wolverine slashed his claws at Sabretooth's face, but this one quickly evaded the attack. "Jeez, I really fucked up the straw in your head, eh?" (Changes Chapter 39!)

Chuckling again in amusement, Sabretooth shook his head. "The only one who's fucked up is you, brother!" Roaring in fury, Wolverine attacked him again, noticing the quick move his adversary made too late.

"No!" Ororo shrieked and covered her mouth with both hands when she saw the amount of blood that splattered the snow. Slowly, Wolverine got up again, holding his waist with one hand while the other slashed at the grinning Sabretooth. Missing him, this one grabbed his arch nemesis's neck while the other took hold on one arm. Growling at the roaring Wolverine, he turned him quickly around, so that this one's back was facing him. With a grip that was like pure iron, Sabretooth held the furious Wolverine immobile against his body and chuckled low; his black eyes meeting the terrified blue one's of Ororo. Grinning devilishly, he began to push against his nemesis's shoulder and joints; hearing a satisfying crack when the shoulder went out of its socket.

"Your powers are useless, Jamie," he growled into Wolverine's ear. "I'll gut ya open and watch ya bleedin' ta death while I screw that bitch over there!"

"I'll kill ya!" Feeling another fit of rage rolling over him like a destructive wave, Wolverine roared aloud, just to yelp in pain in the next second.

While he'd still held him immobile to his body, Sabretooth had extracted one set of claws right at Logan's back. His dark eyes watched in deep satisfaction how the blood of his nemesis soaked through his clothes and he switched his murderous gaze to the woman at the tree. Grinning, he bared his sharp fangs at her; roaring in pain all of a sudden, since Wolverine had buried the claws of his free hand into his waist and turned them around. Growling in fury, he tightened the grip, which would have smashed the bones of a normal human being by now, and pulled him closer. "My turn!" he hissed and let go of Wolverine, just to leap at him quickly. His claws went through Wolverine's back and reappeared on the front. The impact sent more blood into the snow, which already gave the impression that a large animal must have been killed in that place. Baring his fangs, Sabretooth held his arms steady, making it impossible for the roaring Wolverine to drop to his knees, since the adamantium blades of his adversary were like hooks in his body. From far away he heard Ororo screaming in terror and he could only guess how bad it must look for her to see him like this. Still, he would rather rot in hell than giving in to his enemy. He knew what would happen if he lost this fight… In the meanwhile, Sabretooth had switched his predator gaze to the crying Ororo again, whose eyes were fixed on the blood that left her friend's body constantly. "You're the next, bitch!" he growled and grinned suddenly, while she widened her eyes; knowing what he would do. With one swift move of his hands, Sabretooth moved his arms upwards; cutting his way through Wolverine's upper body, just to throw him away like a dead doll afterwards. He could count on nature to do its job…

His ears still roared from the terrified scream the woman had let out as she'd seen his actions. Sabretooth chuckled once more and came slowly closer while Logan's blood dripped from his fur and claws; enjoying the power he had and what this did to her. His nose caught the fear she felt and it only aroused him more. "Where did we stop, hm?" he asked her in a low voice, watching in satisfaction how she pressed herself against the tree and tried once more to summon her powers. "Oh right…" Jumping, he'd thrown her to the ground before Ororo could react and pinned her to it. Desperately trying to get free, she began to fight against him when Sabretooth roughly parted her legs with his knee. Closing her eyes firmly, she began to cry aloud; waiting for the pain to rush over her again as someone suddenly slammed into her torturer. Looking up, she saw how Sabretooth landed on the ground, but got up quickly again, while a heavily panting and bleeding Wolverine positioned himself on his knees in front of her. Realizing in what condition he was, Ororo's eyes filled with new tears again. "Logan…," she said in barely more than a whisper and was about to reach out to him, when he began to growl at his adversary full of hate.

Sabretooth in the contrary roared in fury, but had also taken notice of his enemy's state. Extracting his claws again he leapt at the smaller man and sent him crashing into the cold snow once more. While Wolverine managed to ram both set of claws into his opposite's abdomen and turned the blades within it to cause as much damage as possible, Sabretooth did the same with one fist while he placed the other right under Logan's jaw; just as this one had done with him back then and had nearly killed him. Instantly, Wolverine realized the danger he was in and froze. "You wanna know how long it takes until a stabbed brain heals?" Sabretooth asked the panting mutant underneath him. "What kind of damage it does?"

"Even to someone like ya who's dead from the neck up?" Wolverine spat and bared his teeth.

Sabretooth chuckled and brought his fist closer. "You'll see… I only have ta thank ya for one thin', runt. Thanks ta ya I remember everythin'!" he growled and grinned afterwards. "And while you're either dead or healing, I'll comfort your little bitch next… Is she as sweet as her?" Roaring in fury, Wolverine wanted to wipe that grin out of his opposite's face, as this one suddenly turned the claws in his abdomen until he had to retract his own.

"No, stop it!" Ororo screamed and couldn't look at it anymore. "You're killing him!"

"Oh really?" Sabretooth asked ironically. Grinning at her, he turned the set of claws quickly into the other direction and chuckled when Wolverine yelped in pain. "That was my plan…"

"No!" Shaking her head, while hot tears ran down her face, Ororo closed her eyes briefly. "Stop hurting him, you bastard!" she yelled at him under tears and pulled all her strength together to start an attack, but as soon as she moved, he pushed her back against the tree. "I said stop it! You want me, so leave him alone!"

"How cute!" he chuckled and turned towards the panting Wolverine again who was still pinned immobile to the ground. "Let's see how much damage your brain can take, shall we, Jamie?" he purred.

"Fuck you!" Wolverine spat in an already dazed state and had trouble to see.

Hearing the snikt of Sabretooth's claws that were still under his adversary's jaw, Ororo let out a loud terrified scream when the taller mutant was suddenly sent backwards through the wood. Not caring about who was responsible for it, Ororo's eyes were fixed on her friend, who laid like dead in the snow. "Logan!" she yelled aloud and crawled her way to him. "No, please wake up! Don't do this….," she cried and turned her head to see Hank, Jean, Peter and Bobby approaching. With her heart in her mouth, she ignored her trouble to fill her lungs with fresh air and looked at them. "Hurry!"

Stopping right next to her, Hank gave her a shocked look. "Are you…," he began but was cut off by the panic-stricken woman on the ground.

"He's dying! Help him!" Ororo sobbed aloud and closed her eyes tightly to collapse into the snow crying. "Please, help him…"

In the meanwhile, Jean, who had stopped briefly to concentrate her full power on Sabretooth and had made sure that he was gone, arrived, too, and dropped to her knees next to Logan. "No…," she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

After checking on his friend's pulse, Hank looked up. "Peter help me! Quickly!" he ordered and together they lift Logan's limb body up. "To the infirmary," he added and Peter nodded, while Bobby could only stare at the scenery, which directly seemed to be taken from a horror movie. Never before in his life had he seen so much blood… "Bobby, get Moira, quickly! Jean, I'll need you, too!" Realizing that the woman was in her own world and could only stare at her husband in shock, he cleared his throat. "Jean!" Hank said louder and made the woman startle. "Help Ororo inside, treat her wound and help us with the surgery! We have to hurry!"

Only able to nod while she hadn't understood one word, Jean helped the still heavily crying Ororo up from the ground and followed the men to the inside…

Waiting for a few hours now, Ororo laid silently crying in a bed in the infirmary. She'd pulled her legs close right after Jean had left to help with the surgery and since then she was staring at the floor with empty eyes, mumbling a prayer she'd learned from Kurt. She couldn't even express in words what was going on in her head. She was afraid. More than that… She'd never forgive herself if he wouldn't make it… Pulling the sheet closer, she looked up when the door was suddenly opened and Moira came in. Ororo watched the woman closely. She saw her tensed face and her eyes immediately widened. "No…," the woman began to sob, when Moira quickly rushed to her side.

"Hey…," she said and laid one hand on her shoulder. "He'd not dead…"

"What?" Ororo asked her with a complete blank expression on her face. She'd understood that the woman had talked to her, but she'd no idea what she'd said.

Sighing, Moira sat down on the edge of the bed and took her hand. "But he's far from being out of the wood, yet."

"How bad is it?" Ororo asked her, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"It was a difficult operation," the other woman said and crossed her arms. "That bastard has caused some serious internal injuries. And he lost lots of blood. Not only during the fight, also during the surgery…"

Staring at the spot on the ground again, Ororo pulled her legs even closer. "Is he…"

"…healing?" Moira asked and shook her head. "No…"

"This is my fault…," the other woman suddenly began to sob aloud and buried her face in the pillow, while Moira turned to her in shock.

"What makes you even think that?"

"I should have paid more attention…If it wasn't for me, Logan wouldn't be dying now…"

"He won't die, you hear me!" her opposite replied and made her look up. „And if he hadn't intervened, you would be dead now, girl! So don't even dare to give up on him! It could have happened to anyone of us! Hell, Hank and I didn't even know what was wrong when he suddenly jumped off his stool and ran outside and then Jean came into the kitchen and was pale as a ghost…," she said, but also in her eyes tears became visible. "But he won't die…"

Looking at Moira for a while, Ororo looked down again. "But if he dies…then only because he had to protect me. Because I am so damn weak…"

Running a hand through her face, Moira straightened her clothes and hair before she turned fully towards her. "I need to examine you. We need to know how badly he injured you…"

Shaking her head, Ororo still stared down. "I'm fine…"

"You're covered in bandages, Jean had to stitch you up, your leg was dislocated and your right wrist is broken, girl!" Moira tried to talk some sense into her friend. "That bastard raped you, so you're not fine!"

Still crying silently, Ororo swallowed. "He didn't rape me… Logan intervened…"

Sighing in frustration, the woman with the long brown hair briefly looked away. "Ororo, you were bleeding. That's what Jean said…" She watched how her opposite ran a hand through her bruised face. "How far did he go? I need to know, Ororo, I'm sorry!"

Wrapping her arms around herself, the weather goddess closed her eyes tightly. "He…he penetrated into me and thrust two or three times…," she finally said barely audible and opened her eyes quickly again when she saw his face in her mind.

Nodding, Moira laid a hand in her shoulder. "Then I have to check if you have internal injuries," she said softly and met the other woman's gaze briefly.

"Only make sure my baby's fine…"

Pulling her hand away slowly, Moira looked at her in shock. "You are pregnant then?"

Ororo nodded. "I made a test in the morning…"

"Come on, lay down, but be carefully with your back!" Helping the groaning woman, who grimaced in pain when the deep and long cut on her back began to burn heavily after her back touched the bed, Moira sat down on a stool and pulled a tray with medical equipment closer. "I'll be careful, okay?" Beginning with her work, she carefully looked for any internal injuries, while Ororo had her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Tears were still running down her cheeks and she winced when she felt something cold at her lower abdomen. "There's a small crack which had probably caused the blood, but the wound is closed by now. Does it hurt?" Moira asked and looked up, but Ororo shook her head. Searching her carefully she put the equipment aside. "Any other pain in your lower abdomen?" she asked, but received only another shake of Ororo's head. "Okay, but if this changes or you bleed then I need to know it immediately! Now let's check on the baby…" She carefully pulled the other woman's shirt up, taking care not to touch the bandages and turned to the ultrasound scanner. Working on it, Moira narrowed her eyes to look at the screen more closely. "I can't see any injuries at your uterus, the amniotic sac is intact, too, from what I can see… And the foetus is developing fine… I'm not mistaken that you noticed it late, huh? When was your last period?"

"I was on the pill…," Ororo replied barely audible.

"Didn't you say you were late at the party?"

"I wanted to have a break from it, but I didn't get my period…"

Moira nodded and looked at the screen again. "Have you forgotten to take the pill somewhere in between?"

"Yeah…"

"Didn't you have morning sickness or felt dizzy and tired sometimes?" she asked her, but Ororo shook her head.

"You should know by now that I'm nearly always tired since TJ was born," Ororo gave back. "I only threw up for a week or something. And not regularly, so I thought it was an upset stomach, since Jean got sick shortly afterwards…"

"Hm…," Moira said and carefully wiped the gel off her belly. "From the way it looks I'd say mid to end of fourth month already…"

Turning her head to give her a frightened look, Ororo bit her bruised lip. "But it's fine?" she asked and Moira nodded.

"Yes. Development is normal, the heartbeat, too. But due to the circumstances, I'd like to check on you again tomorrow and then once a week for the next two months. Afterwards…well, you know the procedure." Smiling at her, she pulled the shirt down, when Ororo grabbed her arm.

"I want to see Logan…"

"You should sleep," her opposite replied and gave her a worried look.

"No, I want to see him… I need to see him…," Ororo said and gave her a pleading look.

Sighing, Moira finally nodded. "Okay… Come on, I'll help you!"

Entering the intensive care unit while Moira went upstairs to speak with Charles, Ororo immediately had to gasp and tears gathered in her eyes when she saw Logan on the bed. "Oh God…," she said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. She'd seen him in worse conditions before but never before had he been covered with so many bandages. She came slowly closer and sat down next to Jean, who was sitting next to him and held his hand; her eyes fixed on her husband worriedly. Ororo's eyes switched towards the monitor that displayed his weak beating heart and she turned her head towards Jean. "How is he?"

Looking at her friend briefly, the redhead shrugged. "Weak…," she replied and looked at Logan again. "He lost lots of blood and had serious internal injuries. I was able to fix most of them with my powers, but…"

"…he's not healing, right?" the weather goddess ended her friend's thought and saw her shaking her head. "God, Jean, I'm so sorry… This is only my fault…," she said and buried her face in her hands crying.

"It's not!" Jean gave back and looked at her closely.

"Of course it is… He protected me. If he hadn't…"

"…then Sabretooth would have killed you," the redhead finished harshly.

Sobbing, Ororo looked up and hugged her. "I'm so sorry…," she cried and buried her face on her friend's shoulder, while this one only nodded and looked at Logan again; still holding his hand in hers when the door behind them suddenly opened…

Upstairs, Moira sat opposite Charles in his office and stared at the ground. She still couldn't believe what had happened and her thoughts kept on drifting back to the question if it could have been prevented. "This is horrible, Charles. We need the new security system soon…," she said and he only nodded. "I don't even dare to imagine what else could have happened…"

"I know, Moira. I know," Charles replied and supported himself with his elbows on his desk, while his hands were folded in front of his face. Both of them looked up when the door was opened. "How is he?" he asked Hank as this one entered.

"Unchanged," Hank replied dryly and sat down next to Moira on one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Logan's still not healing, but at least the bleeding has stopped by now."

"If Jean hadn't managed to fix his internal injuries with her powers…," Moira began and shook her head, while Hank nodded.

"He'd be dead now…," he finished. "I'm still not able to understand how Sabretooth was able to avoid the old security system. There should have been at least an alarm…"

Sighing, Charles let his hands sink. "And I still don't know what exactly had happened at all," he said and looked to and fro between them. "So, if one of you would be so kind to explain it to me, please?"

Exchanging a short glance with Hank, who only nodded, Moira shifted her position on the chair. "Hank and I were in the kitchen when Logan came down to bring the try back, which he'd used before to bring Jean something to eat," she began.

"He sat down for a minute to drink a beer and we talked about…," Hank went on and stopped briefly, not knowing if he should tell Charles about the subject their conversation had been about. "…well, we talked about if…"

Realizing that the mutant tried to ignore the real topic, Charles nodded. "Hank, I know about their loss," he said sadly and looked down. "I felt Jean's sorrow and Logan's stress…"

Understanding, Hank nodded briefly before he went on. "Well, we talked for quiet some time. He sipped on his beer and suddenly froze."

"We asked him if something was wrong, but Logan was out of the back door in the next second. We went outside and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen," Moira explained and looked at Hank again.

"So we went inside again as Jean suddenly appeared a few minutes later and told us to get some X-Men together. The only ones I could find were Peter and Bobby," the blue mutant said and the Professor nodded before he turned his gaze to Moira again.

"Jean told me to prepare the infirmary, but before I could ask why, she and the others were already gone," the woman went on.

"She told us they were in the wood and she'd have to attack from farther away, so we should go ahead. The next thing I know is that we heard Ororo screaming and how a wave hit us from behind. I saw how someone flew backwards through the trees, when Peter gasped next to me. It was then that I took notice of Ororo. I hadn't seen Logan first, when she began to yell at is to hurry and to help him," Hank said and sighed before he ran a hand though his face. "You should have seen the place, Charles. It looked like a massacre…"

Thinking about what he'd heard, the Professor remained silent for a while. "How is Ororo?" he asked and looked at Moira.

"Thank God she hasn't serious internal injuries. But due to the deep wound on her back, she will definitely be left with a scar," the woman explained and pulled a face in disgust of what had happened to her friends. "Of course her mental condition is a complete different topic… I can't tell how she really feels, but she blames herself for Logan's condition…"

Nodding, Charles leant back in his wheelchair. "I already gave Scott and Kurt a call. I didn't tell them what had happened, yet, but I told them to come back immediately. They should arrive soon…"

"I will talk to Kurt then," Moira suggested and saw how his opposite nodded thankfully.

"Since I'm convinced that Jean would like to stay with Logan, I will watch over the children later," Hank said and looked at Charles. "So, if you need my help, I'm upstairs in the West Wing."

"I will help you," the woman suddenly said and returned to smile she was given, before she turned to the Professor again. "Charles' there's only one more thing…"

"Yes, Moira?"

"When Jean told me that Lily warned her about Logan being in danger… Well, I remembered something…"

Frowning, Charles bent forward again and gave the woman a curious look. "And what?"

Noticing that also Hank was looking at her and paid fullest attention, she blushed slightly. "Back then when Magneto attacked us we hid in the hiding place in the basement complex… Well, the twins were three months old then and I remembered that Logan only woke up at night because Jack began to cry. If the boy hadn't woken him up, Logan would have never went down to the kitchen and would have never taken notice of the Brotherhood in the garden…," she explained and made Hank frown while he crossed his arms.

"But…isn't that only a coincidence? I mean, Logan told me about it after I asked him how it was possible that he took notice of the attack, but…"

Hearing it, Moira turned towards him and gave him a serious look; one which told him immediately that she was ready for a debate. "When Scott brought Logan to me and his heart stopped beating, Lily began to cry. She stopped exactly at the same time his heart began to beat again, Hank. And now she warned Jean… That's not a simple coincidence!"

Thinking about it, Charles finally nodded. "Lily also warned us when Logan was about to leave for the mission to Mexico. And the plane crashed only few hours later… Jean told me that the girl had the same dream she had about the accident."

Furrowing his brows while his mind was working, Hank rubbed his chin with one hand. "Does that mean…that the twins share a connection with Logan?"

Deeply in thought, the Professor leant back. "It could be. From what I know the twins inherited mostly the Wolverine part of their parents so far… It…it might be possible that they share some kind of connection with each other," he said while his opposites listened carefully. "The question only is if it only affects Logan and the twins or if it also works with Jean and Rachel. As far as I know Logan and Jean already share a strong mental link, so it could be possible that they can also feel if something is wrong with their children…"

"We also need to find out why Sabretooth was wearing this uniform, why it affects our powers so much and what he wanted," Hank said. "We need to be prepared the next time. If he can nearly kill Logan…he could kill us all…"

Moira nodded. "Especially since we don't know if it's Apocalypse again or if Sinister builds an army and is in possession of the technology of the uniforms…"

Agreeing with them, Charles nodded. "It would be devastating to have to fight against them without being able to use our powers. Especially when the powers of our adversaries are maximized due to wearing the uniform."

Hank suddenly looked up. "Do we still have the uniform Logan wore?"

"Yes, it's in the basement," Moira replied and frowned. "Why?"

"Maybe we can give it to Forge? He also invented our uniforms. If he could find out about the technology of Apocalypse's or Sinister's uniforms, we might be able to use it for ours, too…"

"Right!" the woman said and nodded. "The uniforms should work as…similar poles. That means they would rule out their effects."

Looking at Charles, Hank bent forward a bit to explain it. "We would be able to use our powers, while our adversary's powers wouldn't be maximized. That means everything would be normal again. We have our normal powers, so do our enemies, since both uniforms would fight their effects."

Charles nodded in understanding when it suddenly knocked on the door. "Come in, Scott!"

The door opened and Scott entered followed closely by Kurt. Both were clearly worried since the call had surprised them. "What's wrong? Why did you call us back?" Scott asked and stopped in front of the desk. "Did something happen?"

Moira got up and linked arms with Kurt, leading him back to the door. "Kurt…would you follow me, please?" she asked on their way and left with him. Before the door closed behind them, the mutant managed to exchanged one worried look with Scott, before that one turned to the Professor again.

"Did something happen to Storm?" the man asked and looked to and fro between both mutants.

"Scott, sit down, please," Charles said and made an inviting gesture to the empty chair in front of him.

Doing so, the man sighed. "What's wrong, Charles?" he asked clearly frightened by now.

"Ororo was attacked last evening," the Professor said and made his former students slowly lean back in shock.

"Attacked?" he asked and gave Hank, who only nodded, a short glance. "By whom? Is she hurt?"

"She has quiet some injuries, but those will heal…," Charles briefly explained before his face changed. "Sabretooth attacked her in the wood."

"Sabretooth?" Scott asked aloud and bent forward in a rush. "But Logan said he'd stabbed his brain back then. How could he have survived this?"

"His healing factor…," Hank said briefly.

Thinking about what he'd heard so far, Scott lowered his head. "What did he do to her?" he asked through clenched teeth and full of hate. Seeing how Charles and Hank exchanged glances, it hit him immediately. "No…," he said and shook his head in denial. "Not that…"

Laying a hand on his friend's shoulder, Hank squeezed it lightly. "He couldn't finish what he started. Logan intervened…"

"Jesus…," Scott gasped and ran a hand through his face, still not able to believe what he had heard. "Did Logan at least kill him?"

Withdrawing his hand, Hank looked down. "Well…it's rather the other way around…"

Switching his head to the mutant on his right, Scott cocked an eyebrow at him. "Logan's dead?" he asked in shock and gave Charles another look.

"No, thanks to Jean's powers he's not," this one quickly said.

"But he's still in a very critical state," Hank added sadly.

Only able to shake his head, Scott got up, burying his hands in his pockets and walked over to the window; staring at the darkness on the outside. "How did this happen? How could Sabretooth even enter the grounds without anyone taking notice?"

In the meanwhile, Moira had led Kurt to a corner in the corridor. "Moira….what's wrong?" the man demanded to know; fear echoing in his voice since his senses told him that something was wrong.

The woman stopped and heaved a deep breath. She didn't know how to tell him or where to start. "When you were gone… Sabretooth attacked us last evening," she finally said after a while and noticed his shocked look. "To be more precisely…he attacked Ororo…"

"What?" Kurt asked her with widened eyes. "Where's she?"

Moira shrugged. "Either in her room or still with Logan and Jean…" Seeing how he was about to teleport, she quickly grabbed his arm. "Wait! There's something you should know first, Kurt…" she said and gave him a sad look.

Reaching his room upstairs, Kurt carefully opened the door. Moira had told him what Sabretooth had done to his wife and it made him feel so miserable that he wished he could tear his heart out of his chest. The small lamp on the bedside table was on and illuminated the room a bit. It was then that he saw her laying on the bed, legs pulled close and staring at some spot on the floor. He closed the door behind him and came slowly closer; meeting her gaze when she looked up. Kurt froze on the spot, not knowing what to do or say, when Ororo pulled a face and began to sob aloud. Without thinking twice, he was at her side on the bed and pulled her close, allowing her to cry her eyes out on his shoulder, while he, too, gave in to his pain and had to cry. He slowly rocked her back and fourth until her sobs changed into irregular sniffs. Cupping her bruised face gently, he looked into her sad eyes and lowered his head.

"Don't worry about me," she suddenly said calmly and rested her head on his chest. "I'm more concerned about Logan. That bastard hurt him far more than me…"

"But he…," Kurt began and had to frown, when she sat up a bit.

"He could have done far worse, Kurt," she replied and held her gaze lowered. "The wounds will heal…" Shaking his head about her reaction, he was about to say something when she placed his hand on her abdomen. "Our baby is fine, that's all what counts to me…" Looking into his surprised and shocked face, Ororo smiled slightly before she found some rest in his embrace.

With his hands still in his pockets, Scott made his way down to the ICU and entered the room. Jean immediately turned around when she heard the door and watched him coming closer. "Hey…," he said and sat down next to her. "How is he?"

She could only shrug and ran a hand through her tired face. "Still unchanged… I don't know why his healing factor doesn't kick in…"

He nodded and looked at Logan first before his eyes scanned over the monitors briefly. "I know it sounds stupid now, but…'Ro can be glad that he took notice of it…"

"I know," the redhead nodded and felt how he squeezed her hand encouragingly.

"He'll be fine," Scott said and gave her a smile. "You know him. Logan's always looks like a mess and pulls through in the end." Nodding, she gave him a weak smile and turned her gaze to her husband again. "Moira wanted me to tell you that she and Hank stay with your children."

"Thanks," Jean said and watched him getting up.

"You'll be okay here?" he asked concerned and she nodded. "If something's wrong, you know where to find us." Giving her a kiss on the forehead he made his way back to his rooms, where he opened the door carefully. He smiled when he noticed who laid in his bed and was deeply asleep. Scott got rid of his clothes and tried to make no noise when he laid down next to her; spooning her from behind. He placed a kiss on her shoulder, when she suddenly made a noise.

"You're back?" Mystique asked half asleep and he nodded.

"Charles called us back because of an emergency," he explained calmly and gave her another kiss. "You're fine?" She only nodded and cuddled up to him already asleep again. When Scott touched her arm, he was slightly confused that she wore a shirt, but didn't want to think about it right now. Yawning, he pulled her close and slowly drifted off to sleep, too…

Late on the next day, Scott entered Charles office to tell him what Kurt and he had found out in Sinister's laboratory. He sat down in front of Charles's desk and waited for the man to finish the last three papers. Charles put them away and gave his opposite a warm smile. "I'm sorry for making you wait, Scott," he apologized but the man waved off. "What did you find out?"

"Honestly, not much. Sinister does indeed experiments on mutants. We found several cell and cages with mutants in it. Also children," he began to explain. "We didn't free them since we do not know anything about them."

Charles nodded. "It's terrible to hear that a mutant does so horrible things to his own kind…"

"Yeah," Scott agreed. "Anyway. Kurt found some files about some of our students and us. So, obviously we are one of Sinister's targets. I also found this," he said and handed the Professor the paper on which he had copied the things he'd found on the boards. "It looks like a genetic experiment, doesn't it?"

"From what I can tell, yes, but we better ask Moira and Hank or Jean," Charles replied.

"What could A child is coming. The master will be reborn mean?"

"I don't know, Scott," the Professor said and put the paper on his desk. "Maybe that a child will be born and give Apocalypse his full power…or is able to destroy him…"

Thinking about it, Scott sighed. "Well, we stayed hidden and kept the laboratory under surveillance, but nothing happened at all. No one went inside, no one came out. I think if Sinister is active, he is probably somewhere else…"

"Did you find out about other labs of him?"

"Not really. We couldn't access the data on his computer, but we took the hard drive with us so that Mystique can try. The only labs we found out about where three. Maxico, Japan and Alberta, Canada."

"Alberta?" Charles asked surprised. "Maybe Logan knows something. It's his native country… It's only strange that you also mentioned Japan and Mexico…"

Scott smirked sarcastically. "Because it has to do with where Logan went lately?" he asked and Charles nodded. "Then look at what Kurt found," he said and handed him a large file.

Looking at it, the Professor immediately had to frown and took the file into his hands. "Oh my God…," he gasped when he recognized what he held in his hands. "You find it in the lab?"

"Yes," the other man nodded. "Kurt was as shocked as you…" Getting up, he walked over to the window and crossed his arms, while the Professor opened the file; still being shocked about it.

"I thought nothing was left…," he murmured and turned the pages. "But this…it's really everything… Even things which weren't officially known…"

"I did some thinking, Charles," Scott said and met the man's gaze. "Everything we found there, the files, the things on the board, that file….and the weird child-master sentence…," he began and ran a hand through his face. "It's obvious what Sinister is fixated on… So,…is Jean pregnant?"

Sighing, the Professor closed the file and shook his head. "No. She was… Scott, I know what you are thinking about, but I doubt that a child…"

"…a class 5 telepath with a rapid healing factor and also telekinetic abilities could be a threat?" Scott finished the sentence. "I think so, Charles! I was told Sabretooth wore Death's uniform. What else could he have wanted here except taking one of the children or better all with him? Think about what I did with Ray when Malice was controlling me! I wanted to take her to you, but what if she only made me say it because I was interrupted by Storm? Logan's and Jean's children are powerful, but what if they had one with both its parents' powers?"

Thinking about it, Charles leant back. "We already discussed it, Scott! As long as the children stay with us and their parents, nothing can happen."

Slowly, the man came closer. Despite his usual calm outer appearance, he made the Professor shiver due to his threatening look. "But what if the enemy got his hand on them? And what if we fail to get them back, Charles?" Scott only asked and both man looked at each other in silence.

Later that evening, Jean was upstairs and tucked their children into the blanket. Due to the circumstances, they were allowed to sleep in their parent's bed together, so each child held its favourite animal close, while Miloh laid protectively in front of the bed so that he looked directly at the door. Jean gave each of their children a good-night kiss and remained on the edge of the bed for a while. Up to know the twins and Rachel didn't know what had happened; had only wondered why they hadn't seen their parents the whole day through and why Moira and Hank had woken them in the morning.

"Where's daddy, mommy?" Rachel asked her and pulled her animal closer.

Lily gave her mother only one odd look. "He hurt him, didn't he?" she asked scared and saw how her mother nodded.

Before the girl could pull a face, the redhead quickly took her hand into hers. "He'll be fine, honey! Daddy only needs to rest…"

"What happened?" Jack demanded to know. "Who hurt him?"

Sighing, Jean folded her hands and looked down. "Daddy protected Aunt 'Ro against a bad mutant. He got hurt, but he will be fine."

Noticing her mother's look, Rachel gave her a look. "You're lying…," she said and buried her face in her wolf sobbing.

"I'm not, Ray," Jean gave back and stroked over her daughter's hair soothingly. "You know that daddy's strong. He will be fine after he got enough rest. But he needs me, so I have to stay with him and won't have enough time for you. I'm sorry…" Seeing the depressed and sad looked of their children, she felt a thick lump in her throat coming up. "Moira and Hank will watch over you while I'm gone, okay?"

"Can't we go and see him?" Jack asked her, but she shook her head.

"You can go see him when he feels better, okay?" she asked and waited for them to nod. "Now sleep and behave, will ya?" Getting up, she gave each of them a kiss, before she walked towards the door. "Sleep well!"

"Mommy!" Lily called and made her mother stop. "Tell daddy we love him."

Smiling, the redhead nodded. "I will. Good night!" She closed the door behind her and took the blanket she'd left on the floor. "Will you be alright here?"

"Don't worry about us!" Hank said and shook his head. "You do down to Logan. We will watch over them."

"Thanks," Jean said and walked towards the door. "I'll inform you if there are some changes…"

Moira nodded. "Try to sleep a bit, Jean. You can't stay awake for days…" Seeing how the redhead nodded and left, the woman had to sigh. "Gosh, I hate times like these," she complained and had to yawn. "Sorry!"

"You should sleep, too. You worked the whole day through, Moira," Hank suggested and she nodded; taking one of the blankets Jean had given them into her hand and spread it over herself. "Same goes for you, Hank," she mumbled and yawned again.

"I know. Now sleep," he replied and looked at her in surprise when the woman cuddled up to him and rested her head on his chest. Smiling warmly, he reached out to pull her closer.

For the next days, there weren't any changes at all. While Scott and Mystique tried to break the code of the hard drive, Kurt took care of his wife lovingly, while Moira and Hank either watched over the children or checked on Jean and Logan in between. Charles had contacted Forge in the meanwhile and waited for a call of the man. It was already late when Jean sat next to Logan again, holding his hand, while she kept on falling asleep for a few seconds. By now she felt the exhaustion of the past days very much. She felt constantly tired and had lost weight since she barely ate. Her friends kept on bringing her trays with food, but she hardly ate any since she preferred sleeping for a while. Again, her eyes closed for a few seconds…

"You should sleep…"

Opening them in a rush, she stared at Logan in shock, noticing that he was looking back. "Logan…," Jean gasped and sat up a bit to check on his wounds.

"Hey…," he said tiredly while she looked underneath each bandages; noticing that his wounds had finally healed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed next to him, she reached out and stroked over his hair lovingly, before she couldn't help but sob in relief. "Hey…," Logan made and squeezed her hand a bit that still held his.

"You scared me to death," she cried and heaved a deep breath.

"Isn't that what I always do?" he teased her and was glad when he heard at least a weak laugh from her. "How's 'Ro?"

Sniffing, Jean wiped her tears away and waited until her breath was normal again. "You saved her…"

"And her baby?"

Surprised, she gave him a look. "You knew?" she asked since as far as she knew no one had known about it before.

Logan only nodded weakly. "My senses…"

Shifting her position a bit, Jean looked at the monitors for a moment. "Are you in pain?" she asked worriedly, but he only shrugged. No matter what he would tell her now, she knew that he was in pain after a major healing.

"My head hurts like hell… And I'm tired…," he replied truthfully and closed his eyes again.

Jean smiled weakly and stroked through his hair once more before she placed a kiss on his lips. "You should sleep then. He nearly killed you…"

Snorting in disgust, Logan moved until he was more comfortable. "I should have killed him back then. Next time I will…," he grunted barely audible, when she shook her head.

"No!" the redhead said a bit louder. "'Ro said he wore the same uniform you did under Apocalypse's influence… No one of us has a chance against him without our powers and his being maximized. You've no chance against him without your healing factor, Logan… You'd only get yourself killed…" Seeing how tired he actually was, she heaved a deep sigh. "Sleep! The kids want you back till Christmas…"

Logan opened his eyes a bit. "How long was I gone?" he demanded to know.

"Nearly two weeks," Jean replied and touched his cheek when her eyes became sad again. "If we'd been only less than a second too late…"

Knowing what she was about to say, he nodded. He was completely aware of what would have happened to him if his adversary's claws had stabbed his brain… Especially without his healing factor. "I know…," Logan said calmly and stroked over her hand. Feeling how oblivion caught up with him, he slowly drifted off into sleep when she kissed him. "Sleep…," he mumbled and tried to pull her closer, but was already too far gone to be able to pull her down for real. Jean got rid off her shoes and pulled the blanket aside, before she cuddled up to him closely. It didn't take long and he pulled her close in his sleep, causing her to drift off soon, too…

Well, that's it for today. The next Chapter will be a Christmas / New Year special. I already start writing it. I hope I can finish it until Wednesday or Thursday. Thanks again to all reviewers!!! Also to sammy-girl and AliasSpyCrazy who helped me through my writers block. ; ) I hope you guys liked that chapter here, too, because it was difficult to write. : ( Well, have a very nice Christmas and see ya soon!!!