Second Chances

A/N Before it even starts...Victor's animal came out when he was young, and took over. It has been Sabretooth in complete control since he was around eleven years old, a predator, a monster, the only 'human' thing in his life was his relationship to Logan. The years since Logan left have been very hard on Sabretooth, turning him into the one we see in X1. The animal is very smart, very crafty, and right now completely dormant. The Victor dealing with the X-men at this point is a ten year old child in a man's body.

Logan has always kept his humanity, even if the animal comes out he never lets it completely control him. That humanity was what kept Victor halfway tame over the years together. When Logan's memory went, his humanity was still there, as well as the animal. Remember Logan's memory loss is from the bullets to the brain, Victors is truly from the horrible trauma that happened to him...which will be explained eventually.

Chapter 3

He stared at the bathroom door, and cringed. He didn't know why, but he was afraid of that mirror. He couldn't let the fear control him. He remembered his father saying that, at some point, 'Don't let the fear control you boy, a man doesn't let the fear control him.' He cringed. His memory was coming back slowly. He remembered the farm, helping his father with the gardens and the fields. He remembered Mrs. Elizabeth helping nurse him when he was sick. He remembered his father's drunken rages, blaming him for his mother's death. He remembered the beatings, but most of all he remembered being sick, very sick, all the time until he'd locked himself in the cellar. He remembered something else, something about another boy, younger than him. He remembered pretending to sleep and listening to Mrs. Elizabeth and his father talking about the other boy, James, his brother.

He started as the door opened. It was Rogue. She had two bowls with spoons sticking up in them in her hands.

"Neither one of us ate much, so Ah figured a little ice cream wouldn't kill us." She smiled, a real smile this time, and he realized he liked her smile. She was his friend, she'd been nice and now she brought ice cream. That meant she was a friend.

"Thank you Rogue." He said as she handed him the bowl.

"Marie." She smiled at him and jumped up on the dresser top with her own bowl.

"Why do you wear gloves, Marie?" He asked around a mouth full of cold goodness.

"Ah can't touch people. My skin hurts them." She said, sadly.

"Really?" He was sad for her, that had to be worse than claws and a monster hiding somewhere ready to take over and make him go away again.

"Yeah..." She took another small bite of her ice cream.

"Well, I wish I could help you as much as you've helped me." He said. She looked at him, her head tilted to one side.

"Victor, how old do you feel, inside your head?" She asked.

"I remember my tenth birthday, I got a new knife from my pa, and a new coat from Mr. and Mrs. Howlett." He said softly.

"If you close your eyes, how long ago was that?" She asked.

He closed his eyes and let himself try to remember, let all the stuff around him fade and think about his birthday. It had been about four months ago, that he could remember. "It was in July, last July." he said.

"So inside your head you're ten years old?"

He just nodded. He felt strange in this grown up body. It didn't feel right, it felt too big.

She stood up and walked over and sat next to him on the bed. She took his hand in hers and just held it. "I'm sorry." She whispered and leaned her head on his shoulder.

The other man the one that he felt he knew, the one with the knives in his hands came in the door and growled low.

"Rogue, you should head for bed."

"I'm just getting Victor settled." She said. She picked up the empty ice cream bowls and spoons. "I'll be by in the morning to wake you up Victor." She said gently as she left the room.

"I don't know what game you're playing, bub, but you leave her alone." Logan snarled.

"I'm not playing any games, I don't know that many." Victor whimpered.

He watched Logan sniff the air, and realized that he could pick up scents the way Victor could. "I mean it, Mister, I don't know what you're talking about." Logan walked slowly across the room.

"Who are you?" He asked softly, looking Victor in the eyes.

"Victor, that's all I know, please Mister, don't hurt me." He said softly. Something was pushing him, something in the back of his mind. He knew this man's scent, knew it well, but all he could think of was his baby brother, James.

"James?" He asked slowly. "Is it you Jimmy?"

He watched the man shake his head, and then snarl and back away. "I don't know what you're talking about. Get some sleep, bub, and remember I'm watching you." He slammed the door shut and Victor bit back a sob. Logan smelled like his little brother, but he was so mean, so angry all the time. He pulled back the covers and crawled under them, and grabbed one of the pillows to curl up with. He tried to keep the sobs quiet, he knew if he could hear just about everything going on around that Logan could too, and he didn't want his brother to know that he was scared...and alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He's just a little boy, in his mind." Rogue said softly as she was sitting in the chair in Logan and Ro's room. Logan came in, and he looked almost frightened.

"Logan?" Ro stood up and walked to him.

"He...he said something and I remembered..." His eyes were wild, and Rogue watched Ro slip her arms around him, trying to calm him down.

"Do you really want to talk about this now...?" She asked.

"Yes, I trust Rogue." He said softly, kissing her, his eyes calming down. He was still tense, but he held her close. "He called me James, then Jimmy and I remembered, I was in a bed, just a child, and he was sitting in a chair across the room, trimming his claws with a knife, he called me Jimmy...and...he's my brother." Logan buried his face in Ro's hair.

"Logan?" Rogue asked softly.

"Its been coming back slowly, bits and pieces. Something Jean did, before I killed her did something in my head and I'm slowly getting it back." He said as he and Ro separated and he sat on the end of the bed.

"He's just a boy, in his mind, a scared little boy." Rogue said.

"I can't believe that, he's..." He shook his head, and she could see the conflict in him. He wanted to hate him, because of her, because of the statue, but something in him was fighting back.

"Your brother, evidently, and he needs you." Rogue said. "Right now, more than ever."

"I can't remember." Logan said slowly. "I just can't remember." Rogue stood up and walked out of the room.

She stopped at Victor's door and heard the strangled sobs from inside. He was just a little boy. She opened the door softly. He looked over and she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Just try to get some sleep." She said softly.

"Don't leave me, I'm scared." He whispered.

"I'll stay right here." She said softly. She stroked his hair, and started to hum.

"I know that song...Mrs. Elizabeth used to sing it to me when I was sick."

"Hush little baby, don't say a word, momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring. If that diamond ring is brass, momma's gonna buy you a looking glass, and if that looking glass gets broke momma's gonna buy you an ox an yoke. If that ox and yoke break down, you're still the sweetest child in town." She sang softly, watching his eyes drift slow, letting her fingers stroke softly across his brow as he relaxed into a peaceful sleep. She looked up and saw Logan standing at the door, looking at her strangely.

"He needs me." She whispered.

"Rogue..."

"No one else does, but he does." She whispered. Logan just nodded and turned away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He woke up with a start, he wasn't alone. He took a sniff, it was the girl, Rogue. What was she doing here with him. He shook his head. It was cloudy, he didn't understand where he was?

"Victor, are you okay?" She said softly.

"Yeah...where am I?" He asked.

"You're here, where you were yesterday, you're safe Victor." She said softly.

"Safe?" He snarled the word and she started, pulling back from him.

"Yes, you came to us for help. Do you remember anything?" She asked.

He shook his head again, and then looked at her. Something, he needed her for something, but he couldn't remember what. A song kept running through his mind and suddenly he remembered her soothing him to sleep last night, remembered...the sudden pain tearing through his brain caused him to scream in agony.

"Victor?" she said, then started screaming "HELP ME!"

He rolled on the ground gripping his head, the battle raging inside it. He could feel it stronger, pushing to get out, but he had to stop it, had to keep it caged inside, he wanted his freedom, wanted to live, not let it control him anymore.

He felt a prick in his arm, and felt the pain fade, and with it his vision, the last thing he saw was her frightened confused face as he blacked out.

XXXXXXXXX

"He had a massive aneurism in his brain." Hank said. Storm watched him breathing softly on the bed. "His healing factor is working, however I am going to continue monitoring him. Rogue said he was different when he woke up."

"Do you think it was the adult Sabretooth that woke up?" Storm asked.

"Ah don't know, he was different, not like he was yesterday, but not the way Ah remember him from Magneto's place either." Rogue said finally.

"Did you spend much time with him, when you were with Magneto?" Storm asked. No one had ever really asked her much about that time.

"No, not really, he watched me, a lot, was always watching me. He rarely spoke, mostly growled and snarled...but Ah remember one time, Ah was tryin ta sleep, tryin ta relax, and Ah was scared, so scared and Toad was pickin at me, throwin things and flicking me with his tongue and Sabretooth growled at him and stood between us so he couldn't hit me anymore...he said "She's got more guts than you, no frail sniveling out of her. She knows she's gonna die, and is just tryin ta sleep, leave her the fuck alone." Then he started...Ah don't know what ta call it, the sound he made but it helped me relax and get to sleep. He never touched me, never hurt me, even when they ordered him ta put me in the machine, he was gentle."

"Do you remember anything else, Rogue, anything at all that might help us reach him."

"Ah remember, after they chained me to that machine, I heard him talkin ta Magneto, Ah couldn't hear what was said, but it wasn't pretty. He was arguin' and Ah think it was about me."

"Thank you." Storm looked at her closely. "Hank, I'm going to ask Rogue to stay with him, you continue to monitor him, we can schedule our appointment another time."

"No need, I can bring the machine in here, he will sleep a while yet. Whatever happened to him seemed to have slowed down his healing factor, he's not metabolizing the sedatives as efficiently as his body should." Hank said as he gestured her to climb up on a bed nearby. He pulled the curtain and she climbed up. Logan took her hand as Hank wheeled over the machine. He turned the screen so she could see, and pulled the tube of gel out of the warmer next to it.

"I have been eagerly anticipating being able to properly use this machine." He said with a big grin. "Too often I have to use it to diagnose something wrong, it is time it was used to show something right."

She looked at the grainy black and white image on the screen as he brushed the wand over her stomach, the speakers picking up the heartbeat and she felt tears in her eyes. Logan held her hand tight and she looked up at him to see a single trail of moisture from his eye and knew he was as excited by this as she was.

The profile of the face showed on the screen and she bit back a small sob. There was her baby, safe in her body, growing and becoming the perfect creation it was. The father and man she loved stood next to her as excited about becoming a parent as she was.

"There is only one question I have...do you want to know if its a boy or a girl?" Hank asked.

"I think we'll wait." She said, and Logan squeezed her hand. Hank just nodded and wiped the gel off her stomach.

"Well you have a healthy baby, growing normally." He said as he helped her up. Logan sat down next to her.

"Darlin' I think we need ta do this right." He said softly, kissing her.

"What do you mean?" She said as she pulled her blouse back down to cover her stomach.

"Will you marry me?"