Logan snored peacefully for the first time in a while. He was sprawled out on his bed as if he were drinking before, but he had been sober for a while. People even began to notice he had cut back on the cigars, which explained his (extra) grouchiness. He had been popular talk in the circulation of petty rumors induced by students with nothing better to do. They all gushed over his daughter, who took special care to avoid them at all costs. She's even been slipping away from Scott lately, a fact Logan doesn't mind at all. She spent most of her time under her father's shadow, learning history as of now, because he felt she was too young to lay the more intense stuff on her. As of now she was once again laying on his side. He had figured she wouldn't be too different from a high maintenance dog, and just had to emphasize his lessons and orders to her, and she'd eventually learn. But that sneaky child knew how to crawl on his chest and get little to no protest. If he kept giving in to her wishes, she'd never learn...

He hated early mornings as much as she did, so he decided that today could be a late day. He couldn't fall back asleep, but didn't mind the silence for a while. He took this time to think about his kid as a whole; quite demure and reserved, but affectionate to whom she loves. He liked that in a person. It saved them from having to maintain phony ploys of friendship to others. But she wasn't rude to others at the same time. He also noted that the poor thing was always so scared. In the past few months he could recount a couple acts of extreme phobia; naturally, she couldn't stand the dark (alone), she slightly xenophobic, but not exactly racist, and had a crippling fear of heights. She said it had to do with the sound of the fall.

Her mutations hadn't really evolved much yet. Xavier had more tests run on her and concluded that the new set of powers, should they even be new, would express themselves as she hit puberty. He had heard of and seen multiple nightmares of prepubescent and adolescent kids, all of whom were afflicted with an unrealistic sense of entitlement and a belief that they have such horrible problems, when more often than not they just don't think straight at that time. He saw puberty as PMS: an excuse to be an ass. He wouldn't let that slide with her, but something told him it wouldn't be too much of a problem since she was already so obedient at such a young age.

Their peaceful haze was ceased by an intruding Xavier making his way to Logan's bed. Since he had the kid with him he had begun wearing more... decent bedroom attire for the night, so for that he was thankful in the moment. But he was still pissed that he had the nerve to barge in like that. He countered in Logan's head that it's still his house. Touché.

He placed a yellow envelope on his nightstand and told him he had some paperwork to fill out that he had to answer personally, not a secretarial or computer job. Logan technically had no reserve to complain, because ever since he had been fully in charge of the girl's early education, his workload had dramatically decreased. He was able to still be in charge of the Danger Room on call, and whenever he had some free time he'd go down and make sure everything went smoothly. Logan gently moved his daughter to the foot of the bed as Xavier left the room. He opened the envelope to find a few documents to legitimize her, at least in the facility. It included all phenotypes, statistics, and genealogy. He was a little screwed in the maternal wing, but they couldn't have expected him to fill that out anyway. He filled out the first sheet that was to include her personal information. He started filling in what he knew until he re-examined the page and noticed he had missed a crucial point on the paper and in parenting: her name.

How he or anybody else never had the presence of mind to ask her name or give her one was beyond him. And he was stuck on this one. He had never wanted kids in the first place, so he had never had any names picked out like most women have done by the age of fifteen. Her sleeping face was as fragile and had the pallor of porcelain. He had always liked the name Laura, but he felt that this title didn't give her justice. He considered letting her choose, but that would probably end badly.

The object of his unwilling affection had awoken as if she knew she was on his mind. They had a pleasant chat as they usually did in the morning after waking up. He directed the conversation to the name situation. She had informed him she never really had a name that stuck. Other people felt obligated to give her their favorite names but both would never stay. That's why she was content with just being called "kid".

"You gotta have a name, though, you're staying here." She beamed at that sentence, finally feeling like she belonged to somewhere, someone. But she never really had a name in mind. Logan had an unusual spark of genius: let the day dictate her name. He ushered her to get dressed as he did the same in the bathroom. He wore his typical attire and she a small black dress. It made her look witchy, and she that was über cool. He decided that since it was a Saturday they could take a break from lessons. What they were going to do was still unclear to him. Other than her travels beforehand she had never left the campus, nor did she have the desire to. At first that fact spited Logan, now he loved it. They wandered around the massive mansion for a while, meeting many students and faculty members on the way. May of them had never seen the child before due to her shy nature and recent sheltering by Logan. She hid behind his leg any time a person looked her in the eye or tried to get to her level. He quickly picked up on it and just wore his usual glare with extra fire to scare off anybody who tried to talk to them. Yep, that power never gets old.

She had made a protest of hunger to which he had to agree. They wandered off to the kitchen where she had gained a good fifteen pounds since she joined. Granted she was still a small child and a little bit underweight, but only by a little, nothing threatening. She planned on gaining those pounds and then some when she opened the fridge to find a strawberry shortcake at the top shelf. Her pupils dilated like she had seen the ethereal plane inside the confection. She didn't wait to start jumping to reach the top, arms stretched in dedication. Logan couldn't help but chuckle to himself before walking over to help her. As soon as she saw his hand reach for it, she yelled a bold and defiant "No!", startling Logan.

"Looks like you do have a voice after all, runt. Let me get it for ya..."

"NO! I can do it! Let me do it!" She saw it was a loosing battle, but she never gave up easily. She had decided now would be a good time to conquer her foe from the first day of arrival: the counter. The fact that she wasn't banned from the kitchen after spilling the flour and breaking the cookie jar was bewildering. She advised her father to go into the corner and stay there. He was confused by the command but nonetheless complied, shaking his head. He turned around and saw her up on the counter and near the fridge. He walked fast over to where she was, and she noticed, so she climbed up on the top of the fridge, shouting a quiet "Yes!" to herself in victory. The celebration was short lived due to her dad picking her up from the top of the fridge. She had forgotten to take into account his massive height. She didn't bother fighting it and accepted she would have to be short forever.

Logan opened the door with one hand while holding her in his other arm. He told her to grab the cake herself, trying to teach her the power of teamwork. She was much more satisfied with that rather than having him have to do it for her. They didn't bother getting plates and devoured the food. Logan went at a slower pace since the food was a little sweet for him, but he was aghast by how fast and how much food she ate, nearly half of the damn cake. She finished with a loud burp and the stretch of her arms. "Shortcake is the closest thing to Heaven."

What was so great about shortcake? She had mentioned she loved the strawberries and that red was her favorite color. She also said she liked it because they were both short. He had to admit she looked a little under height for her age, probably stemming from previous malnutrition. She was a little shortie.

That word bounced around in his head. "Shortie... shortie... shorite... Shortie!" His second grand idea had struck that day.

"Hey kid, would you like the name "Shortie" or something? It kinda fits you well."

"Yes!" She beamed, "I was worried I'd get a boring name like Laura or Ann!" He swallowed that one down. But he had to agree, Shortie was cool. It wasn't the worst name he could've chosen. At least she liked it, for now. And it was with that he later went to finish her paperwork with a first and last name: Shortie Logan. He thought that somehow it sounded appropriate.

Xavier examined the papers quizzically. He wouldn't expect Logan to use such an obscure name for her, but she was an oddity. Later in the day she had paid him a visit and they discussed her name.

"Now, come on, sweetheart. Shortie is a nice nickname, but not for a given name."

"But it is! I want this name more than I want my hair!" She gestured to her new strawberry red hair.

"I can't tell you what to do, so please make sure this is what you want." He gently warned with a smile. This is why she liked him. He didn't lie to her or treated her like a helpless idiot. She thought he would be a nice grandpa. She would ask that of him later.

"Say it." She demanded.

"Say what?"

"Say the name." Gee, which movie out of one thousand did she steal that one from? He could only laugh before he said "Shortie Logan."

"Thank you grandpa!" She gasped and covered her mouth. He laughed again having read her thoughts on adopting him as a family member. "You're welcome, granddaughter." He loved this little girl from the first seconds of meeting her. He could tell she was headed for things greater than herself. She gave him a big hug before running to her dad's room to tell him the news. All the way there she could only think of one thing:

"Shortie Logan".

She couldn't decide which name made her happier.