Sarah closed the fairytale book, noticing the child was practically falling asleep on her arm. She slowly moved her to lie down on the bench before leaving the white room. She frowned at the book before shoving it in her bag; it was decided that she wouldn't be allowed to keep reading her favorite childhood book to her daughter. Hopefully, the other stories she offered would pass the review.
'Honestly, all this fuss over a bedtime story?'
It wasn't as though she wasn't aware of their concerns when told not to read such tales. Stories of fantasies may be unsuited to X-23's development but to Sarah, it was harmless fun. The three-year-old was already on track. Hearing the book was too "radical" nearly made her scoff in Martin's face when she realized he wasn't joking. That was fine, she figured she'd find a way to sneak in the book. False pages should do nicely.
Her lips pursed as she made her way down the hall. If it weren't for her, Martin would've stayed as a mouthpiece for the military officials in charge. It's times like this Sarah wished she had waited two more years to solidify her bond with X-23 as her mother.
A sigh echoed in the nearly deserted hallway, "No, that wouldn't have worked."
If she had hidden X-23 for too long, it would've looked like insubordination instead of offering The Facility another chance to rectify their mistake. Besides, she had done a good enough job of placing them in quite the predicament once the DNA proved the child was a near clone of Weapon X. A good number of people outside the project knew about her pregnancy since she had made sure to attend enough conferences while expecting. Going on maternity leave less than a year into her job might not have been her best moment, but she would've rather killed Zander before giving birth in his operating room. After all, legal documents were much easier to come by when you gave birth at a hospital.
She had given X-23 something no one could take away: legitimacy. The maternity leave had given her enough time to establish her contingencies. It wasn't exactly difficult to maintain plausible deniability as to why she acquired such documents: X-23 needed a passport. They couldn't really have expected her to drive from California to Canada with a crying infant, now could they?
It wasn't as though Sarah expected Martin's superiors to revere her, but more gratitude would've been appreciated for sacrificing her body to science. Not a soul involved in the project could deny she had singlehandedly saved it. But she supposed not being thrown into a cell for misusing their property was good enough. How could they when she secured their funding? It may have been the fact she refused to sign a death certificate, but she had carried the child for months and given birth; the least they could do is let her claim she had a child. Results were results after all. Although she did wonder if any of her interrogators bought her story of not being able to play the part of a grieving mother. They knew they had to tread carefully now, as she was the woman who tamed Weapon X and created his successor, Laura Kinney.
'No, that's no good,' she thought, shaking her head as she entered the other cell.
It did her no good to be attached to her legal name when Sarah dubbed her "X-23" to reflect Weapon X. She needed to maintain enough distance so she wouldn't appear compromised and have someone cite motherhood as her flaw. Arriving at her destination, Sarah made her way over to the man before pulling dog tags out of her pocket. Zander was seemingly offended at the idea of giving him such a thing. She admired their glossiness; he was a living weapon and should be respected as such. He was already sitting, so she knelt down to place them over his neck before giving a slight tug in her direction. Weapon X showed no response to the raised lettering, much to her chagrin.
She ran her fingers over the chain, "They haven't been taking care of you, have they?"
Sarah frowned as she stroked Weapon X's messy hair. The leaders of the Weapon X project had outfitted him with a bulky device resembling a helmet that was geared to send brain waves to subdue his aggression, but all it did was give him vertigo. Honestly, she wondered if they really believed they could train him to kill on command in his current state. It was occurrences like these that made her wonder if they really valued having an intelligent soldier. She swore those idiots would never learn. At least she'd ensure that X-23 wouldn't fall victim to such idiocies.
Sarah took out a small white blanket for him to sniff before laying it in his hand. Weapon X held the blanket, feeling the soft texture move in his hands. She smiled as she grabbed a warm, wet towel and began gingerly cleaning his face. The blanket had been taken from X-23's room in hopes he'd get used to her scent before she'd eventually have them meet. She'd have to rely on his instinct since she doubted the child would have much tact.
As she began to shampoo his hair, Sarah thought back to her nightmares of the child sprouting claws along with its cry during the delivery. Those nightmares were preferable to the ones she'd have about her childhood. At least she could've contacted The Facility and the situation at the hospital would've been dealt with accordingly. She refused to admit it out loud, but at least they could've protected her. Unlike with her father, no one took action to protect her, let alone believe her.
She'd never let that happen to her Laura, and that's why she didn't dare tell her sister or mother about the child. There'd be enough questions about the child from her peers outside the project were she to die. Even if another massacre were to happen and the project became defunct, the girl could survive in a home so long as she hid her mutations, but Sarah doubted she'd be adopted if that fact were discovered. Thinking about the possibility reminded her of the times when she wished she had been put in a foster home instead of staying at that house with those people.
Perhaps Weapon X had noticed her irritation, but he leaned his head against her palm. Maybe it was back when she was pregnant, but he'd grown more docile, she noticed.
She murmured, "I think if everyone treated you with humanity, you'd improve, James."
Sarah wondered if the heat radiating off of him was natural. Although he was immune to diseases, she couldn't resist pressing the back of her palm against his forehead. She couldn't help but chuckle; it was almost like she was a wife worrying about her husband. Sometimes when she was bored out of her mind listening to the pointless chatter from her colleagues about their lives, she imagined the three of them pleasantly living together in a place away from here.
Amidst the babble, Kevin had invited her to happy hour with the rest of the team, but she found no reason to talk with them outside of their shared research. Perhaps one day when James Howlett regains his humanity, she can tell them about how she has a family.