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Words in italics are telepathic conversations, thoughts, or dreams.

Chapter 3:

"You okay, kid?" A gruff voice asked. Rally recognized it immediately as Wolverine's.

"Uh, yeah." She said, still trying to hide her emotions.

He walked into the moonlight and looked her over. "You don't look okay."

"I'm fine. It's just been a rough day." She answered, not making eye contact.

"Yeah. " He replied, sitting down on the overgrown root next to her, keeping his gaze forward. A minute of silence passed before he said, "Look kid, I'm sorry for how I acted on the Jet. I didn't mean to make you think I didn't like you."

"It's okay." The young girl said.

After a few more minutes silence, Logan stood up. He could tell the girl was hurting but if he pushed her to tell him, he wouldn't know what to say anyway. He figured she just needed more time to get over the loss of her father. So he began walking away but called back to the girl, "C'mon, kid. It's dangerous for you to be outside at night alone."

Rally stayed seated and thought, it's dangerous for me to be alone? Then why are they keeping me from the other students? The young girl then shook the thoughts from her head. She understood why the professor wanted her away from the other students. Rally didn't want to hurt anybody. She just wanted this horrible nightmare to be over with. She wanted to wake up and find that everything was just how it should be; her father still alive, her home still upright, and no mutants.

"That's an order." Wolverine called in a tone she couldn't disobey.

She stood up and brushed herself off, then began walking slowly towards the mansion. Rally realized she would never wake up from this dream. This was reality and she had to accept and embrace that.

Wolverine checked to make sure the young girl came inside before heading to Professor X's office. He had to figure this out and he could only do that with Charles help. Before he reached the Professor's office, though, Scott intercepted him.

"Abandoning the team again?" The man with sunglasses asked, not surprised.

"No, clopsy, you would enjoy that too much." Logan answered lightheartedly.

Scott grimaced. "Then why did you leave on my motorcycle when you knew we would have an X-men meeting?"

Wolverine's expression became serious, remembering why he had left. "I had business to take care of."

"Oh yeah?" Scott asked, getting up into Logan's face. "What business?"

"Nothing that concerns you, so if you'll excuse me," Logan said, pushing past Scott, "I have to go see Professor X."

Scott made no move to stop him , so he continued down the hall to Charles' office.

"Hey, Professor." He greeted, opening up the door.

"Logan. What a pleasant surprise." The Professor said from behind his desk. "What brings you here, my friend?"

"It's about why I left earlier."

"Oh?"

"Sabretooth said something about the kid when we were fighting." Logan paused.

"Continue." The Professor said with curiosity. Both of the men knew full well that Charles could have easily read Logan's mind, but he wanted to hear Logan out, instead of searching his mind for it.

"I had a flashback and I needed to find the truth. I went back to where the kid's house was and the flashback became more vivid but I found nothing out. I searched the surrounding area for Sabretooth to figure out what he was talking about, but he covered up his scent and all traces of his presence."

"What did Sabretooth say, Logan?" The Professor asked.

He hesitated before answering. "I asked him what he was doing at the kid's house and he said he was dropping by to say hi to his…niece."

"His niece?" The Professor inquired. This came as quite a shock to the bald man in the wheelchair. He had expected something dealing with the brothers' past resurfacing, but nothing like this. Besides, it was only recently that Logan learned of his relation to Sabretooth.

"Yeah." Wolverine confirmed.

The Professor mulled this all over in his head. "So if what he says is true, then you as his brother would be the child's...?" He didn't even have to finish. Logan knew exactly what he was going to ask.

"Yes, but I don't know how it could be possible, Professor."

"Well, Logan, you do have an entire past that you are still figuring out. I'd say it's quite possible. What motive could Sabretooth possibly have for saying Rally is your daughter? I can think of none." The Professor told Wolverine.

"I need you to dig around in my head to find out if it's true." The young man said to the telepath.

"If you insist. Have a seat." He said, rolling himself over to where Wolverine was now seating himself. "Close your eyes and just relax." The Professor closed his own eyes and placed his hands over Logan's temples. Immediately, broken images and thoughts came rushing at the Professor as he entered Logan's mind. First, he watched what had happened between Wolverine and Sabretooth at Rally's house.

Wolverine plunged through the front door after the explosion and yelled as he jumped at Sabretooth, stabbing the mutant with force that had the two falling to the floor. In retaliation, Sabretooth roared in pain and drove his own claws into the sides of Logan.

"Nice to see you again, little brother" Sabretooth said with a dangerous smile. This only infuriated Wolverine more. With a growl of rage, he picked up Sabretooth and threw him across the room.

The mutant chuckled as he got up from the floor, "You are so weak." In one bound, he was back with Wolverine and grabbed his chest and pinned him against the wall. Then he shoved him through to the other room and laughed even more.

"Your efforts to stop me are useless, runt." Sabretooth ridiculed. He turned his back and began walking away, searching for the girl. Unsuspecting to him, Wolverine recovered and came back through the hole, charging at him with razor sharp claws. Sabretooth turned around, but it was too late. He let out a ferocious roar as Wolverine thrusted one of his claws into his chest and held one to his face.

"What are you doing here?" Wolverine growled.

Glancing at the shining claws pointed at his face, Sabretooth answered, "I'm dropping by to say hi to my niece."

When the words sunk into Wolverine's head, he lost his concentration, allowing Sabretooth to break free. He attempted to go after Sabretooth, not believing what he had just said, but realized he still had to save the child. He heard her voice calling out for her father which allowed him to find her.

The professor continued watching as Wolverine saved the girl from the house and then, the flashbacks came.

"I love you." A beautiful woman said.

Another image then appeared.

"Logan!" The same woman's voice called with one arm outstretched. She was lying down on a table and other people were restraining her, keeping her from leaving the table.

A third image came into sight.

A baby was lying calm in the arms of the woman. "What should we name her?" She asked with a pleasant smile.

Then yet another image emerged.

"Take care of her." The same woman from all the images said to a man who the Professor recognized as Rally's 'father'.

Both men opened their eyes.

"Did you know the woman?" The Professor asked.

"No." Logan replied.

"Logan," he paused, "I can't be certain but I think she was your wife and the mother of Rally. I can see the resemblance of that woman in Rally. I can also now see the similarities between you and", he hesitated, "your daughter."

There was silence for a few minutes while all of this sunk into Wolverine's head.

"She's really my kid?" He asked, referring to Rally. Logan wanted to make sure there was no confusion in what the professor was telling him.

"Yes." Charles said with the same surprise in his voice as wolverine felt. "From your flashbacks, I assume that once the child was born, she was given to a human family so as not to bring on her the sufferings mutants faced. Based on her age, I can tell she must have been born just around the time all your memories were lost, about 15 years ago."

Logan was still trying to convince himself that all of this was true but it was so hard for him. "Is there anyway to check to see if she's really my kid?" He asked.

The Professor chuckled. "I'm afraid not. DNA tests are futile with the x-gene in place."

Logan stood up from where he was seated. "Well, this is a lot to take in. I need to get some sleep."

"Yes, I would advise that. Sleep well, my friend." The professor said as Wolverine walked out the door.

Logan continued down the hall, his mind completely in thought. He didn't even notice Emma's approach.

"Well, look who decided to show up." She said with scowl.

"What, the school can't function without me?" He asked sarcastically.

"We had a meeting, an important meeting that you should have been at." She mentioned as he continued walking with her by his side.

"I know."

"It was about Rally." Emma said, and noticed the change in his expression from unconcern to interest. They stopped walking. "Well that got your attention."

"Why was there a meeting about the kid, Frost?" He asked.

She smiled, knowing she had him where she wanted him. "You should have been there then you would have known." The blonde began walking away.

Wolverine grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Tell me." He ordered.

"Give me one good reason why I should?" She crossed her arms in stubbornness.

"Because I could kill you with one simple arm movement." He said, with no intentions of actually doing it.

"Fine then. The meeting was a debate on whether or not Rally should stay here." Emma confided.

"What? Why wouldn't they want her here?" He asked, appalled.

"I had the same expression, but some fear she could be a danger to the students here because of her powers being dormant. She is the first mutant to come here without discovered powers."

"That is ridiculous. What was decided?" Wolverine asked a little angered.

"Well, she may stay here, but she's under probation, if you will. Rally is not to be around the other students because they would not be able to protect themselves if her powers exploded into being, but, she may be around the x-men."

"Poor kid. We didn't bring her here for this." Wolverine sympathized.

"I feel sorry for her." Emma said.

"Yeah." He replied. "I'm gonna go check on her, make sure she's alright." Wolverine said and walked away before the blonde had a chance to respond.

End Chapter