Words in italics are dreams, thoughts, or telepathic conversations
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Chapter 19
Rally and Logan had been traveling for over twelve hours now in the pick-up truck with only the twangs of country music filling the silence. Neither of them had said much of anything. The events of the past few days had both father and daughter in a deep contemplative state. Rally would never tell her father how she really felt about picking up and leaving the area she had grown up in and all her new friends at the mansion. She was too afraid to tell him that she just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry her eyes dry when she thought about never seeing any of the other mutants again, especially…Warren, but she would never bring that up. For all she knew, Logan would start yelling again about finding Warren in her room, on her bed, kissing her. That was a moment the 15 year old never wanted to relive. Kissing Warren, yes, but being scared for her life by her father, no. Whenever Rally thought about these things, her mind then went back to the painful memories of when she hurt others with her powers. It was selfish of her to want to stay there when she put everyone's life in danger. After all, the Professor had quarantined her and for good reasons. She would always have the picture in her mind of Warren's tough body being thrown like a rag doll into a rock by her invisible forces. That was why she had to leave. That is why she did not protest. Never again would she hurt another person. Maybe she would be able to move on from her past life with her adopted father.
"How far do you think it will be yet?" Rally asked, trying to break the monotonous silence.
"Not sure, kid. Why? Need something?" Logan glanced over to make sure her vital signs looked okay.
"Could we maybe stop and find a bathroom soon?" Going twelve hours without emptying your bladder really made for an uncomfortable ride.
Logan hesitated. As long as they kept driving, their sent was hidden from Sabretooth or any other mutant who could track them, but getting out of the truck meant their scents would be like a footprint showing where the two mutants had been. Of course, the scent would only last so long but Logan was not sure if he wanted to risk it. "Yeah." He replied, obviously hesitant. Sabretooth probably would never be within a 20 mile radius of where they were going to stop so Logan decided they could stop.
Within a minute, they saw a large bed and breakfast place along the highway at the start of a stretch of a small town with towering mountains on all sides and a lot of forests, lumberjacks, and cold.
"Make it quick." Logan stated as he parked the truck, worrying about the lingering scent. The faster they were back in the truck, the faster the scent would disappear.
"I'll try my best." Rally replied, hopping out the passenger side of the truck. It must have been just barely past 8 o'clock am and it was cold. All the young teen had on was a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She didn't even have a sweatshirt in her possession so she wrapped her arms around her ribcage in an attempt to keep in any body heat she could. As soon as she opened the glass door of the Bed and Breakfast, a blast of heat surrounded her body. It felt so good. Rally took a minute to absorb all the heat she could.
"Hey, can I help you?"
Rally snapped her head up and found a young, blonde-haired man staring back at her from behind the counter. He looked like he was probably in his lower twenties. He reminded her of Warren. "Hi, I'm just looking for the bathroom."
He smiled, showing his pearly white teeth. It was just the way Warren always smiled. "Do you want help looking?" The young man joked.
That was something Warren would say! Why was she being tortured like this? "If you don't mind." Rally smiled back.
"Not at all." The young man replied, coming out from behind the counter. "Right this way." He said, motioning with his hand. "We don't have a bathroom down here yet, but we're working on it. We get a lot of people stopping here just to go to the bathroom who are traveling up North. Is that where you are headed?" He asked, pushing open a door, leading to a staircase. He held it open for her as she came through.
"Thank you. Yeah, that's where me and my…dad are headed." It still seemed weird to Rally to call Logan her Dad.
"Well, I hope you guys have a nice rest of the trip." The Warren-like man stated as they reached the top of the stairs. "Here's the bathroom."
"Thanks." The young brunette smiled. It was painful to leave his presence because she felt like she was leaving Warren all over again. Why must I get so emotionally attached to people? I'm just going to lose them eventually. I should be more like Logan. He doesn't attach himself to anyone, Rally thought to herself as she went to the bathroom.
After she finished using the bathroom, she walked down the stairs and back into the lobby, headed towards the door. "Thanks again." Rally said to the young man.
"Anytime." He said with a smile.
And that was it. Rally was out the door in the bitter cold morning air, partially jogging to the truck where her father sat waiting.
Logan raised his eyebrow as she climbed into the passenger side and shut the door. "It's about time." The young girl didn't reply. He wouldn't understand why she had stalled in the Bed and Breakfast. He wouldn't understand her inner need for a constant companion.
Within the next hour of on-road driving, the two pulled onto a dirt road that was obviously hardlyy ever traveled on. "Where are we going?" Rally asked.
"The mountains. Best for hiding and training." Logan answered.
"Do you like the mountains?"
The mutant chuckled. "You have no idea, kid."
That always seemed to be his response. Not those exact words, but some kind of phrase that shut the entire conversation down. He never elaborated or went into great detail. "Why do you do that?" The young teen asked before she could stop herself.
"Do what?" Logan huffed.
"You end the conversation before it even begins. Why do you do that?"
He raised his eyebrow again, as they continued up the rocky road. That was becoming his trademark of both skepticism and surprise. "You're not making sense, kid."
Rally sighed. "Never mind." She would have to point it out to him when he did it again.
The mutant let on a slight smile. He knew exactly what his daughter was talking about. He just didn't have a good answer. That was just what he had always done. He was a loner. Loners didn't need to make conversation. Loners talk when information needs to be communicated, not to be social and share their inner most secrets. Logan figured that was something he would need to work on: connecting with Rally by talking about his thoughts. A minute of silence passed until Logan had built up the umph to ask his daughter a question that had been on his mind a lot lately. This would be a step in connecting with his daughter.
"Why don't you call me your Dad?"
Rally was shocked. Did he really just ask that? "Um…what?"
"You heard me." Logan sharply replied. This was uncomfortable ground for him and he wasn't about to repeat himself.
The young girl thought for a second. "I guess because…I don't think of you as my Dad yet."
There was no response from Wolverine who had his eyes focused on the road. It was obvious that the young girl's response had affected him by the way his grip tightened on the steering wheel so she asked her own question to lighten the air. "Why don't you call me Rally? Why do you call me kid all the time?"
"You are a kid." He answered.
"I don't call you adult." Rally smirked, knowing she had her Dad out witted.
Logan chuckled. She was definitely his child. There was no doubt in his mind. That wit wasn't learned, it was inherited. "Okay, smart alek. You made your point."
Rally smiled satisfyingly. She knew Logan wouldn't stop calling her kid and wouldn't start calling her Rally, at least not anytime soon, but the fact that he had actually talked and joked with her made everything seem okay.
"How much longer do you think it will be?" Rally questioned, not wanting to sit in another long, agonizing silence. She wanted to keep the talking and joking going, just like she used to do with her adopted Dad and her friends. That's what the young teen needed more than anything right now.
Logan turned his head for the first time to look at his daughter with a conspicuous smile. She cocked her head in a questioning gesture but no words needed to be spoken as the truck crested the top of the steep hill they had been climbing for almost half an hour. Rally's mouth dropped as Logan put the truck in park on a flat, dirt clearing on the cliff, overlooking the vast valley and snow-capped mountains they had just traveled through but at the base. It was incredible. You could see for miles over the green, leafy forests and the restless river. She was in such awe by the background that she didn't even notice the small cottage sitting in the middle of the area. "How did you find this place?"
"Long story." Logan answered, looking over the scenery and recalling the memories he could remember from when he lived here, years ago, after he had his mind wiped.
The two got out of the truck and stood in the out in the open, letting the cold wind pinch their skin. Rally wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm, but the cold didn't really faze her. This was not at all what the young teen expected when Logan said they were going to Canada. It was breath-taking. Without her knowing, the grown mutant made his way over to his daughter. Again, taking a step onto unknown ground, he wrapped his strong arm around Rally and pulled her into his side. He couldn't remember ever having a connection with another person like he was starting to have with his daughter, but he knew he must have at some point. Some point in his past that he couldn't remember because he had a child. A brave and beautiful little girl that couldn't have been created by himself.
"Thanks…Dad." Rally said in almost a whisper, as if she was reading his mind. Both father and daughter smiled. Neither of the two had felt this peaceful in a long time. Rally realized she could finally move on from the past and start over. This was her new home and she could do this.
