No copyright infringement intended.
Words in italics are telepathic conversations, dreams, or thoughts.
Chapter 11
"Hey kid." Logan called as he entered the sleeping fifteen year old's room. He noticed a slight movement from the lump on the bed after he said that. Walking closer, he realized that wouldn't be enough to awaken Rally. "Time to get up." He stated, shaking her slightly.
The sound of rustling of sheets came from beneath the covers, but the teen still made no move to get out of bed. Wolverine raised his eyebrow at her unwillingness to wake up. This was his first lesson of having a teen kid: waking up is the most difficult task of the day.
Not wanting to stand there all day waiting for his daughter to decide it was a good time for her to wake up; he grabbed the blanket and tugged them off her. Rally, in her white tank and dark blue sweats, grumbled and reached down with eyes still closed, searching for the cover that had disappeared from her body. The young girl, unable to reclaim her blanket, squinted her eyes open into the early morning light shining through her window to see where her cover had gone. She caught sight of Logan with a slight grin on his face and realized what had happened.
"It's too early." Rally whined. She turned on her stomach and planted a pillow over her head.
"If it wasn't for Jean, you would have been up an hour ago, but she thought you could use the extra sleep, so move it. I'm giving you five minutes to get up and do whatever you girls do after you get up." Logan stated.
Rally moaned again. "What time is it now?"
"Just about six."
"Why do I have to get up so ridiculously early in the morning?" She asked in a grumpy voice, emphasizing how early she thought it was.
"One, its not early. Two, stop whining, and three, because I said so." His voice was unwavering and serious. Maybe this father thing wouldn't be so hard for him after all.
Slowly, the young teen sat up in bed, hair going in every which way, and gave an irritated look at Logan. Without saying a word, she grabbed a change of clothes and headed sluggishly towards her bathroom. In a couple of minutes, the same teen exited the bathroom in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved, light pink, shirt. Her layered, brown hair reaching down past her shoulders was tamed and put into its place. She flashed another annoyed glance towards Logan.
"If I see that look again, kid, we're going to have a problem." He warned, getting a little agitated with her behavior already. That was something he could not stand: a kid with an attitude.
"Sorry." She mumbled, but continued to grimace.
"Lose the attitude." He commanded. "We're going to the training room." Logan headed out the door and his daughter reluctantly followed, although tired and cranky.
When they arrived at the training room, Logan flipped a switch and the room lit up. "Let's start off with 50 push ups." He ordered, turning around to face Rally.
"50 push-ups?" Rally asked, a little shocked by his demand. She could barely do 20, let alone 50. Was this his form of punishment? What was he even punishing her for? Anybody who was awoken earlier than they wanted would be grouchy. He was obviously much less tolerant of teen behavior than her old father had been.
He nodded. "Maybe this will teach you not to whine and to do what you are told without wasting time."
She hated being treated like a child and that was exactly what he was doing. Logan was punishing her like she was a child and here Rally was almost 16. Letting out a puff of hot hair, the young teen slowly bent down on her knees, laid on her stomach, and positioned her arms and feet in the push-up arrangement. Wolverine stared with a critical eye as Rally began pushing her body up and gently lowering it down.
"We'll be here all day at this rate." He provoked her after Rally had only finished 30 push ups in 5 minutes.
The teen growled, "I don't see you doing them any faster."
"Don't give me lip, kid." Logan said. "But, just to prove you wrong." He dropped to the ground, and began to do push ups. In 30 seconds, he stood back up and cracked his neck with an amused smile. He had done all 50 push-ups in the time it took her to do 10.
Rally said nothing. Her anger was building up inside of her but she knew if she let it out, things would become very ugly between her and Logan very quick.
"I should make you do more than 50 push-ups, like any other student would have had to do if they made a comment like that, but I'm feeling nice today. Tomorrow you won't be so lucky." Logan told her as she strained her muscles to do the rest of the push-ups. She let her body fall flat to the floor when she had finished and closed her eyes in agony. Her arms felt like they had been steam rolled.
"How do you feel?" Logan asked after a couple seconds with a mocking grin.
"Fine." She answered with gritted teeth.
"Hey kid, cool it." He replied, losing his joking mood. He saw the anger in her eyes and heard it in her response.
Rally stood up. Logan telling her to calm down made her anger grow even more but she remained silent with clenched teeth. She still didn't think of him as her father and it was difficult to take orders from him, especially when she was grumpy from waking up early. Last night had been a rough night for her. She had dreamed about her old life and when she woke up and found herself in the mansion and not in her old home, it was crushing to the young girl's heart. Nobody understood that, especially not Logan. He didn't even care about her and he was supposed to be her father! Rally's thoughts raced through her mind and all of a sudden, she exploded.
"Stop telling me what to do!" Rally yelled, releasing her stored up rage.
Logan was shocked at her outburst. Who did she think she was talking to him like that? Nobody, especially not his own kid, was allowed to tell him what to do. "Don't ever use that tone with me again. I am your Dad and you will do what I say. Do you understand?"
Rally shook in fury. "No! I don't understand." She was so enraged by his unfair demands.
"Sit down and cool it!" Logan said sternly and pointed to the chair on the far side of the room. She stood stubbornly without movement. He knew she gained both her stubbornness and boldness from him, but that gave her no right to act like a child and disrespect him.
"I'll say it one more time, sit down and cool it!" He roared.
Instead of more rage appearing in the teen's eyes, she fell to her knees and began sobbing at Logan's feet. Everything was too much. She didn't mean to take it this far. It just happened.
"Get up." He said sternly after a few seconds. He was showing her far more compassion than he would have if any other student had spoke to him like Rally just had. Logan would have been down their throat, inflicting physical pain, but Rally was his daughter. That smidgen of protectiveness buried in his heart kept him from lashing out at her, but it wouldn't hold him back for much longer. He had enough of her mouthing off and teenage attitude.
Slowly and weakly, Rally stood up, keeping her face downwards, refusing to look Logan in the eye. The teen was still crying and whimpering.
Gathering up as much patience as he could, Logan said calmly but firmly, "Stop crying."
She quickly quieted down, but silent tears continued to run down her cheek.
"Look at me." He commanded.
Rally lifted her face to painfully look at him. She saw the anger and disappointment in his eyes and it made her feel ashamed of what she had done. He was right. Rally had no right to talk to him or treat him like that. He was her Dad no matter how hard it was to believe and he deserved respect and obedience.
"I'm stopping your training." Logan told her.
Rally was deeply saddened. She had enjoyed yesterday morning's training with Wolverine. They worked together and pushed through it. That was before she knew he was her Dad, though. Things were different now. He was her father and if he said no training, she could do nothing about it. This meant she would never be able to fight with the x-men if she could never train or never got her mutant ability. But like her life, her mutant ability would probably be worthless. What hope did she have anymore?
"I'll start your training again when you start showing some respect. For now, you're grounded. Don't leave your room for anything. Do you understand?" Logan explained.
The teen nodded with a frown. The tears had stopped but her sadness remained. Logan, underneath all his frustration with Rally, had sympathy for his daughter, but not enough to relinquish her punishment.
Silently, Rally left the training room and headed for her room making no eye contact with anyone wandering the halls.
Logan left the training room as well and headed for breakfast. Just as he had assumed, everyone was just finishing up.
"Logan, you're back early. Where's Rally?" Jean asked, knowing that he had left only 25 minutes earlier to train his daughter.
"Yeah, what'd you do with the kid?" Scott piped in sarcastically.
Hank frowned. "I haven't seen Rally since the first day she arrived here. How is she adjusting?" He asked with concern.
"She's fine." Logan answered, grabbing a plate and flopping a bunch of freshly baked pancakes on it. He began eating, without putting syrup or jelly on top, showing he wasn't planning on sticking around for long.
Jean could tell something was up. "Where is she, Logan?"
"In her room."
"Who is in her room?" Emma interrupted, entering the room. The blonde woman went for the coffee
"Rally." Hank answered.
"Oh, Logan's daughter." She said loudly with a knowing smile.
Scott spit out the water he was drinking all over the table. "What did you just say?" Hank's face shared the same shocked expression as Scott.
Logan glared at Emma. He wasn't really upset that everyone in the kitchen and dining room now knew he had a kid and would make sure everyone in the whole school knew. They would have found out soon enough, but, the fact that it was Frost who let word out and that he wasn't in the mood for explaining, made him angry.
"Yeah, Rally is my kid. Is that a problem with anyone?" Logan asked, laying his fork down.
Scott was frozen in place and had no reply.
"I heard rumors about that going around the school, but, I had no idea they were true." Hank said. "I actually thought you two had some connection because of the way you acted around her." The fuzzy, blue mutant finished with a smile.
"Logan, why is Rally in her room?" Jean inquired for the third time.
"I grounded her."
"Why?" Jean and Hank both asked in unison, a little skeptical.
"She questioned my authority." Logan began eating again.
Scott interjected, still trying to believe that Rally was his daughter. "How could you have a daughter?" He asked.
"Ask Professor X."
Jean jumped back in the conversation, "What exactly did Rally do?"
"His daughter yelled at him and directly defied him." Emma Frost answered before Logan had a chance. The blonde had read his thoughts.
"Frost!" He yelled, knowing what she did. "Stay out of my head!"
"Logan, Logan. Calm down." Hank attempted to mediate the situation.
The mutant growled and finished his pancakes.
"Is it true that Rally was yelling at you?" The red-head pushed for more answers, seeing he had calmed down a little.
"Yes. She needs to learn respect."
"And you only grounded her?" Scott was shocked. He knew what Wolverine did to the students who mouthed off, but one that yelled at him and told him off? There would be hell to pay.
"It seems this giant grizzly is a weak teddy bear when it comes to his precious daughter." Emma stated with a laugh. She enjoyed so much to provoke Logan.
Succeeding in making him angry, he jolted up from his seat and bellowed, "Frost, I'm warning you!"
Hank jumped between the two mutants. He looked at them both. One was seething with agitation and the other had a satisfied smile. "Emma, that's enough." He told the blonde.
"Oh Hank, I was only teasing." She replied with fake innocence.
"Let it alone." He repeated. She shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room.
Logan, still angry, deposited his empty plate in the sink. "I have to take food up to Rally." He stated and began putting food items on another plate.
Jean grabbed onto his arm. "Why don't you let me take care of that? I want to talk to Rally, anyway. You should go for a ride to get all the steam out of your system."
He sighed, realizing that was the only way he would calm down now. Rally wasn't supposed to see anyone besides him while she was grounded, but, he didn't want to explode out of anger at his daughter and it wouldn't take much at all to set him off. He nodded and let Jean take over.
"I'll be back before midnight." He informed, heading out to the garage.
All the mutants could hear his motorcycle start up and roar down the road, even his daughter who was silently sitting at her window, thinking about how much he probably hated her. Logan being her Dad would never work out. Being a mutant wouldn't work out. Living in the mansion wouldn't work out for her. The young teen decided there was only one solution: Running away.
End Chapter
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