Author's note: Stupid me!! I've forgotten something important in Chapter 11. The description of the baby's movement which Jean gives Logan in the short flashback, was one I got myself from a friend of mine when she was four months pregnant. I forgot to mention that! Yesterday she was complaining about the baby doing somersaults.

Funny thing is, the epilogue is already done. I wrote this chapter at night, since I couldn't sleep. LOL Hopefully both chapters will work out as I want them to. Have fun reading and please review!! ; )

I just wanted to upload it and what happened? The server is down again and it doesn't work. : ( I had both (this chapter and the epilogue) finished on Wednesday. : (

Love and Pain lie close together

While he stared down on her empty eyes, he heard the clicking sound a weapon made behind him. Right now he didn't care. Whoever it was he could shoot, stab or do whatever else he had in mind with him right now. All he could think about was the woman in front of him. Seeing her lying on the muddy ground, he refused to believe what his eyes told him was really there. With a shaky hand he reached out and pulled some of the red strands out of her cold and pale face. As his eyes traveled further down to her slightly parted lips, stopping at the small hole in her chest, which had soaked the clothes around it with blood, he still had the hope that everything was just a bad dream. He waited so much for the tiniest sound to escape her pale lips, even if his reason told him that this would never happen again. And he knew it was his fault. Everything that happened to her had to be blamed on him. It had been him who had left her alone, he had hesitated with running back and he had come too late. He'd not only failed his mate and to keep his promise, it was him who was responsible for killing his son's mother. Just as he'd bent down a bit more to caress her cold cheek, he heard some other clicking sounds around him.

"Hands behind your head!" one of the soldiers barked and pointed his weapon at Logan's back of the head. "I said hands behind your head and lay down on the ground," he said once more since his adversary didn't move an inch.

Logan raised his head a bit, seeing how he was surrounded by soldiers. He let his empty eyes travel around for a while, until he saw it. Light grayish hair, black suit and dark eyes. Beginning to growl he fixed his now furious looking eyes on the woman of whom he knew that she was the source of his personal hell. If she had just let them be, nothing of this would have happened. It had been her who had forced them to leave the mansion, if it hadn't been for her and the bluish beast next to her, they could have stayed and wouldn't have been forced to hide for months in the mountains, to live with the fear of being spotted one day… He bared his teeth as fury slowly began to take over and wanted to rise when she spoke up.

"Logan…," Storm said calmly and raised a hand to give him a sign that she didn't mean to attack him. "Please, just give up… Don't make the whole situation even worse."

Staying behind the soldiers, Rogue had her eyes fixed on her best friend, who still didn't move an inch and held his baby close to his chest. She panted heavily in fear, was afraid to hear a shot and see him falling, even if she knew a simple bullet couldn't kill him. But he'd kill them if the bullet accidentally hit his baby. Instinctively she made a step forward, but Bobby held her back with a shake of his head.

"Surrender!" the same soldier demanded and made a step forward, as Logan suddenly raised and turned to face all of them.

His snarl had stopped but the furious look in his eyes had become wild, cold and merciless. And Rogue knew what would happen now… "And then what?!" Logan growled in a low and almost inaudible voice. "Ya think ya killed my wife, so ya can kill me and my kid, too? Well, go ahead, bub."

"Kid?" Beast asked and exchanged a confused look with Storm, since he didn't understand what his former teammate meant. Had Jean been pregnant and been carrying his child when she'd died?

"Last warning!" the soldier cut him off from his thought and his head shot up again. "Surrender or we'll shoot!"

"Marie," Logan said instead and gave the girl a look. "Come here!"

Obeying she began to walk, but was held back by two soldiers. "Let her go!" Bobby yelled and tried to free her from the grip, but didn't succeed. "Damn it, let her go! You don't understand!"

"Step back!" another soldier demanded and pointed his weapon at him, as his comrades pushed Rogue back against Kitty.

"Bastard!" Kitty cursed and gave him a glare when she noticed Ororo's warning look. She switched her gaze to Logan, who was still waiting, before she gave Peter a sign to touch her arm. First confused, he soon understood what she wanted to do.

"It's my very last warning!" the soldier barked again. "You've ten seconds to lay down and put your hands behind your…" He stopped in surprise as all of a sudden two of the children reappeared in front of the mutant that they were ordered to kill and disappeared into the ground again, before he could say something. "What was that?!" he asked the two adult X-Men behind him.

"I don't know what this was about just now!" Storm gave back before her head jerked aside. "Bobby! Marie!" she called after the two X–Men as these suddenly disappeared between some trees. "What's going on here?!"

"I don't know…," Beast shrugged.

"If you're helping him," the soldier hissed and pointed at Logan while glaring at them. "You know what will happen then!"

"I can assure you that we're as confused as you," Beast tried to soothe him. "And we know the consequences. Why else do you think we're here?!"

"Captain!" one of the other soldiers suddenly yelled and the man turned quickly around, just to stare at six razor sharp claws.

"What the…," he began and gave the man and woman behind him a questioning look. "What is this guy? Some kind of Terminator?!"

"No…," Wolverine growled as his eyes had changed into a complete pitch black and reflected the soft light of the now clearly visible moon in the dark sky. "…your worst nightmare!" Before any of them could react he'd slashed at two soldiers, who instantly dropped dead to the ground, and threw himself at the next ones with a furious roar.

"Open fire!" the captain barked and began to aim his weapon at the mutant, who sliced his way through his men, being constantly hit by bullets but obviously not slowing down a bit. "Damn it," he cursed as only five were still standing and threw his gun to the ground to turn to Beast, who could only stare at the merciless berserker rage in front of him. "Give me the weapon!" the captain demanded angrily.

"But…," Storm began with an insecure look at Hank.

"Give me the darn gun!" the soldier barked again and tore it from the blue mutant furiously. Hearing the screams, which fell silent one after the next, of his men, he loaded it quickly and turned around in a rush as the loud roar was aimed at him. He saw death in front of him as the claws shot forward, but managed to shoot before his throat was cut through, accompanied by a yelp of pain that was uttered by the Wolverine as the acid-like liquid hit his waist and burned the flesh instantly away.

Heavily panting, Logan pressed his hands on the bleeding wound and looked up into the soldier's grim face with a glare, but stared also directly at the weapon that was pointed to his head. Growling and when his healing factor began to take care of the wound, Logan extracted his claws again. "Think ya can pull the trigger before I get my claws on ya, bub?" he hissed and already began to tense his muscles; preparing himself for a quick reaction. "C'mon, what are ya waitin' for?!"

Breathing in rasps while he pressed his free hand onto his throat and desperately tried to stop the blood from flowing, the captain knew this would be his last action. He'd been in battle to often to not be able to see what death was like. He used all his remaining strength to pull the trigger, as the man in front of him slashed quickly out and finished his job. Getting up when the man dropped dead to the ground, Logan glared at Beast and Storm, just to turn his head when the younger X-Men reappeared. Not caring about the two adults, he retracted his claws and walked over to them to make sure his boy was alright. Seeing it and hearing the whimpers, Storm's eyes widened. "They really have a baby…," she gasped in shock and stared at the man next to her, whose face mirrored his inner battle. "Oh my God…"

"Is he alright?" Rogue asked and looked up at Logan, who only nodded and managed to soothe the boy again.

"Peter has shielded us with his body," Kitty added and looked quickly away as she saw all the dead bodies on the ground. She noticed the look on the man's face in front of them. "I'm sorry, Logan…"

"We saw the soldier too late," Bobby said and looked down. "We only heard the shot and saw Mrs. Grey falling…"

"'s not your fault," Logan replied in a hoarse whisper. "It's mine… I failed her…" Rogue followed his gaze as he went back to Jean's body with his baby on his arms and she began to cry silently. They watched how he knelt down again and reached out to stroke over Jean's face with an indefinable look on his face. "Forgive me…," he begged barely audible and lowered his head as he heard a movement behind him.

"No!" Rogue yelled and jumped forward. "No!" He turned his head in confusion just to see how Beast held the weapon in his hand. It would have made him furious if he hadn't seen the tears in the man's eyes. "Why are you doing this?" the girl asked crying and spread her arms to protect her best friend.

"Because there is no other choice," Storm gave back and ran a hand through her face to get rid of her tears. "You know what will happen if we don't finish this…"

"But he has a baby!" Kitty also protested. "And you already killed Mrs. Grey!"

"Step aside!" Beast demanded, but the younger mutants remained where they were. "Don't you understand?" he asked them angered. "If we fail, they will arrest them, all of us. And you know what they'll do to mutants in that prison."

"But…," Rogue began as Storm cut her off.

"They will kill the students, Marie, don't you understand this?! There's no way out anymore and you know that! Why else do you think are we doing this for almost two years?! There's no other choice anymore…" Turning away from them she buried her face in her hands and dropped to the ground sobbing. "This is all my fault…"

"It is…," Bobby said darkly. "But still we won't let you kill Logan and the baby…"

"Step aside, Bobby!" Hank demanded once more.

"No!" Peter crossed his arms and shook his head.

"The time is running up! They want us to finish this until 3 a.m…" his opposite reminded him. "There's no other choice anymore!" Broken, he lowered his head.

"Step aside…"

Turning around with a frown on their faces, the younger mutants stared down on Logan, who still had his eyes fixed on Jean. "What?!" Kitty asked him perplexed.

"I said step aside," he repeated without looking up.

"But, Logan…," Rogue said and shook her head. "He will kill you…"

Nodding, he gave Beast a look. "They'll release the students if ya finish it?" Beast nodded slowly. "'kay… Do it."

"No!" Rogue protested once more and threw herself at him, crying, for protection. "Please, no…"

Looking at her, Logan shook his head. "It's okay," he tried to soothe her. "I've nothin' to lose." Seeing that she was about to say something, he handed the boy over to her after kissing him softly. "Make sure he's safe…"

"Logan…," the girl shook her head sobbing and looked down on the boy. "Please, don't… Just take him and go. No one will know…"

Shaking his head, he turned his face to look down on the woman he loved. "I've nowhere else to go," he replied calmly. "They'll find me sooner or later anyway. In that way at least Johnny's safe…" Reaching out he wiped her tears away and touched her cheek briefly. "It's the right thing… Just promise me you'll take care of him…" Letting out a loud sob she leant her head against his shoulder and pulled the baby close. "Promise me, Marie," Logan said again and made her look at him.

"Yeah…," she nodded weakly.

"Good," he said with a weak smile. "Now step aside…"

Reluctantly doing it, she slowly walked over towards Ororo with the others, where she dropped to the ground crying loudly. Seeing it, Hank's thick lump in his throat became even bigger as he approached his former teammate with the weapon in his hand. He knew what the liquid would do, that it was specifically designed for the man. Looking at Logan for a moment he shook his head crying. "I'm sorry, my boy…"

"Don't be," Logan replied. "Just mark my words. I'll never forgive ya and Storm for what you've done. Never! All we wanted was to be together and have a life and you took this from us and our kid!" Giving him a last glare he turned back to Jean and took her hand into his. "I hope ya rod in hell if you let anything happen to my kid…"

"We'll take care of him… I promise," Hank assured him before he raised the weapon slowly and Logan closed his eyes…

"So they are dead?" the president asked and put the report aside. "All of them?"

"Yes, we did as you ordered us to do," Hank, who stood in a black suit behind the desk, nodded while he had his hands crossed behind his back.

"And my men where killed by the Wolverine?" his opposite asked with a short glance at the paper in front of him and received another nod. "Then tell me where are the bodies of those mutants?"

Looking down, Hank heaved a deep breath. "After calling the base to report that we succeeded with the mission, Colonel Russell demanded that we burned both of them with the acid to get rid of their bodies…"

"And you did that?"

"Yes, sir…"

"So the acid was indeed useful against adamantium?" the president asked and leant back in his chair to look at the man in front of him. "How does it work?"

Shaking his head without looking up, Hank turned his head away. "You don't want to know, sir."

"I want to hear your opinion on it, my dear Hank. As a scientist…"

He looked up with an angry look. "I think it's barbaric…"

Nodding, the new elected President Keeler got up to take a look out of the window. "I heard something…," he began and Hank followed his movements. "…about an existing baby. What can you tell me about that, Hank?"

"That there is none, sir. The baby was hit by a bullet and we were ordered to burn all mutant bodies," Hank replied and earned a skeptical look. "It is the truth, sir. We knew that our students' lives were at stake and we did as we were ordered. Now that our students are back at school, we are done with this mission and I deeply regret that two former friends of mine had to die such a horrible death," he added and gave the man, who returned to his seat a grim look.

"It was you who'd called the authorities," the President replied and leant back again.

"I know," his opposite nodded and pulled a white envelope out of his pocket to put it onto the table. "And since I wished I hadn't, I hand in my resignation." He didn't wait for the President to say anything else and gave him a brief nod only. "Good bye, sir," he added and with that he left the oval office forever, knowing that he would never return.

Still remaining at the desk, President Keeler stared at the envelope for a moment, before he picked up the phone and dialed a number. It didn't take long and a man's voice could be heard on the other side. "It's me, John," Keeler said and picked up the report to give it a look. "Tell the director that Weapon X had been successfully eliminated. I want him to burn all files and what else you've got about him and proceed with the new weapon as planned." After he'd put down the receiver he took the report and walked over to the stove with it. Within seconds the paper began to burn and eat away what was left of the identity of two mutants and their child, wiping them off the planet…

Okay, that was Chapter 14 and now I go on typing the Epilogue. For those of you, who haven't noticed, but John was of course John Wraith and the mentioned director is the Director of the Weapon X program. The new weapon I referred to is of course X23. ; ) Please review and I hope you guys will still read the Epilogue. ; ) See ya!