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Words in italics are telepathic conversations, thoughts, or dreams

Chapter 5

Rally stepped out of the shower in the bathroom located in her room, feeling fresh and clean. She dried herself and realized she would be standing there with no clothing on until Jean arrived with something for her to sleep in. It didn't really matter, though, Rally concluded. They were both girls. The young girl kept the towel wrapped around her body as she walked out of the bathroom to where her bed was and sat down. It was only a few minutes before she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in." She called, thinking it was Jean.

"I brought you one of my-" Scott started saying as he opened the door. Then he spotted Rally with nothing but a towel covering her, "Oh my god." The man abruptly turned around. The young girl held her towel as tightly as possible and covering as much as possible. Both of the mutants felt the awkwardness engulfing the room.

"Jean wanted me to uh, bring you one of my t-shirts for, for, sleeping in." Scott stuttered, holding up the t-shirt in his hand. He was still facing toward the door.

"Um, thanks." Rally replied. "You can just leave it by the door. I'll get it then."

"Okay, yeah, uh, I'll just leave it right here." He dropped the t-shirt to the floor and walked back to the door. "See you in the, uh, morning."

"Yeah, see ya." The young girl said as Scott walked out and closed the door. "That was awkward." She quietly said then walked over and picked up the shirt. Rally wasn't really expecting something from Scott when Jean said she'd find something for her to sleep in and she wasn't expecting Scott to deliver it, that's for sure. Not wanting another unexpected visitor, Rally crept to the door and locked it. Then, changed into the T-shirt Scott had brought her. It was much more comfortable than her raggedy clothes. Sleepily, the young girl crawled into bed and in a matter of minutes, she was fast asleep.

It was nearly two in the morning and Wolverine still could not sleep. He kept pondering all the ways he could kill Sabretooth that would satisfy his hunger for revenge, but none were good enough. He sat up from where he was lying on his bed, realizing he wouldn't get much sleep, and extended his adamantium claws. Logan turned them so he could see all sides and imagined the torment he could cause on a person with them, when suddenly; he heard a blood curdling scream. It came from the south end of the mansion where the student dorm area was and he immediately thought of Rally. Without even putting on a shirt, Wolverine was out of his room and sprinting down the hallway towards where he heard the scream.

He slowed down to a fast walk when he was up the enormous staircase so as not to worry the other students who were sleepily looking out their doors to see what was happening.

"Logan, what's happening?" Bobby asked as Logan walked past his room.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." He ordered and continued down the hall to where he smelled the young girl's scent. When he reached the door, he tried to open it, but it was locked. Not a problem for Wolverine. He easily sliced through the wooden door and charged in, ready to attack the intruder or intruders, but he spotted no one, except Rally sitting up in her bed, trying to catch her breath and looking his way in fear. Wolverine retracted his claws and rushed over and noticed that sweat was on her face.

"Rally, are you alright?" He asked, grabbing her by the arms and making her face him. Her face looked as if she had seen a ghost and she was still breathing very heavily.

Wolverine shook her slightly to get her out of the daze she was in and said again, "Rally." This time, she seemed to awaken and come back to reality. Logan gently let go of her arms and asked, "What happened?"

Rally's breathing slowed down and she relaxed a bit. "I had a dream."

"Sounded more like a nightmare."

"I'm sorry." The young girl apologized. She didn't mean to wake everyone up. "I've had them ever since I was little…"

"It's ok, kid. We just wanna' make sure you're safe." Wolverine explained, showing her that he wasn't mad. The two were in silence until Jean, Scott, and the Professor came hurriedly into the young girl's room.

"Logan?" Jean asked when she spotted him at the girl's bedside. "What are you doing here?" It was very strange to the red head to see Wolverine concerned for a student, especially a new one.

"I wanted to make sure the kid was alright." He said to them.

"Oh?" Scott challenged. "You've never been worried about a student's safety before."

Wolverine had no intentions of sharing with everyone why Rally was an exception, especially not in front of her. He wasn't sure if he would ever tell her actually.

"Scott. Jean. It's alright" The Professor said, covering for Wolverine. He already knew Rally was his daughter and understood that he was a concerned father, even if Wolverine didn't know that yet.

Jean just shrugged it off and went up to where Rally was sitting on her bed. "Are you alright? We heard a scream. Was someone here?" She asked motherly.

"No, no one was here. I just had a dream. I'm sorry I woke everyone up." She apologized once again, now understanding how loud she must have been.

"It's ok. What was your dream about?" Jean asked. She or the Professor could have entered and dug around in her mind for the answer, but they wanted to let her tell them. If she refused to tell them, that's when both telepaths would have gone in her mind and got the information they wanted. For Rally's sake, though, they would give her a chance to inform them first.

"It was nothing. I'm fine." The young girl glanced at her now destroyed door and saw curious students peering in. All the other x-men turned around to see what she was looking at and spotted the students. Jean smiled at Rally and then walked over to where her door used to be and talked silently to all the students. One caught Rally's eye, though. It was a girl about her age with a white streak going through her hair. She was glaring. Rally quickly turned her eyes back to the professor. An instant drowsiness like never before came over her suddenly when she looked at the Professor and she fell over on her bed and was out.

Wolverine stepped forward with an urge to help her.

"Logan, it's alright. I made her fall back asleep so I can see what her dream was, without bothering her." The Professor explained. Logan looked at the professor and then took a step back as he placed his hands to the young girl's head and entered her mind. Her dream was the first thing he came to.

"No. Dad. No!" Rally warned and laughed as what she knew as her father picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Not this again. Dad, this is the lamest thing ever." She giggled as he continued carrying her towards the door.

"So why do you egg me on, smart alec?" Her father joked.

"I do not!"

"Yeah, you do."

They reached the outside and Rally was about to reply from over her father's shoulder where she hung, but he stopped suddenly and said nothing.

"Dad?" The young girl asked.

Without saying a word, he quickly put her down on the ground and she saw why he had stopped. Rally and her father stared at the other two men for what seemed like ages before the scruffy looking man said something.

"Hello." He said.

"Hello." Her father replied, not being his usual pleasant self to strangers.

"Hi." Rally greeted and attempted a smile but couldn't muster one up because of the way the scruffy man looked at her after she had spoken.

The Professor recognized the scruffy man as Sabretooth and the other was a random mutant who Charles had never seen before.

Rally's father continued to glare at the men and when he saw the way Sabretooth smiled sickeningly at his daughter, he told her to go inside.

"Why? Who are these men?" She asked quietly, not waiting to sound rude.

"Rally, just listen to me and go inside." He said in a tone she couldn't disobey. She hung her head in shame and was about to walk inside when a voice interrupted her.

"I would suggest staying outside, kid. You might wanna hear what I have to say." Sabretooth said and smiled at her father, like he had him blackmailed.

"I don't want my daughter anywhere near the likes of you." Rally's father growled.

The young girl was frozen in her tracks. She was frightened now.

The man chuckled. "This is not your daughter."

Rally's heart stopped when she heard the strange man say this and then everything shifted. She was alone in a dark room and voices were heard, like her previous dream, but this time, they were muffled.

"Help! Help me!" Rally cried, but her voice only echoed. She sank to her knees in despair and began weeping. Then out of no where, someone from behind grabbed her shoulder and she quickly turned around.

Charles was almost thrown out of her mind as Rally sat up and screamed a shrilling scream. Jean took a step forward to comfort her but the Professor stopped her.

"No. I think it is best if you leave us." He said quietly.

Jean nodded and looked at the young girl breathing heavily and looking around at her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was and that what had just happened in her dream, wasn't real.

Scott followed the red-head as they walked toward the door and Jean looked back to see if Logan was coming. Wolverine didn't move. He just continued to stare at Rally with concern.

"It's alright." The Professor told them, reading their thoughts as to why Wolverine wasn't following Professor X's orders.

They shrugged, too tired to care, and headed back to their room. The professor watched as Rally came back to reality, glancing from him to Logan. As he was about to address her dream, something unexpected happened. The young girl just began to break down and cry.

"Rally." The Professor said warmly. "It's alright. We're here."

"I'm-I'm sorry." She said in between sobs and wiped her tears from her eyes when she began to calm down.

Wolverine felt as a father that he should do something, but he had no idea what to do. Comforting someone was never big on his list and he avoided it as much as possible, but now, he wished he knew how. Not wanting to make things worse, he said nothing. The professor noticed Wolverine' turmoil and it was still odd, for even the professor, to think of Logan as a father of a child. It was something Charles could never imagine him being. He knew, though, that in Logan's heart, he had the ability to care for this child, even though he had gone through horrific events that changed his mentality and wiped out his warm and soft side.

"I'm so so sorry." Rally continued to apologize, still sniffling. She sincerely felt bad for waking everyone and causing so much disruption.

"Rally, it's alright. It was just a dream. Lay down and go back to sleep. We'll talk in the morning." The Professor smiled at her and then turned and began rolling away. Wolverine was about to walk away as well, but Rally grabbed his arm. He looked at her, not knowing what to do or how to react, but then he saw the fear and sadness in her eyes. Fresh tears began to form as she whispered so just he could hear, "Please don't leave me."

Logan was about to pull his arm from her grip and tell her she had to get some sleep, but decided this was the least he could do as her father. "I won't." He promised.

Rally let go of his arm and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thank you." She told him as he grabbed a chair in the room and pulled it over beside her bed. She laid her head back down facing Logan and pulled the covers up to her chin and just looked at him for a second. He stared back and was about to ask what but she closed her eyes. Wolverine continued watching her and it wasn't long, before she relaxed and was back asleep.

Quietly, he stood up, gave his daughter one last look, and then headed out the door he destroyed. He gave himself a mental note to fix it in the morning as he walked back to his room.

End Chapter

This chapter is actually pretty bad in my opinion but, I was already too far into it t start over when I realized it was crappy. So I'm sorry. But the next chapter should be better :) Reviews would be nice, especially helpful ones and kind ones.