Standing in the hall looking out of the window, Logan smiled. Nearly five years. He had been with Marie for nearly five years. Becky would be five in a month.
He was currently watching her run around with Jubes and Pete. They were playing Cowboys and Indians. Every time Becky pretended to shoot Pete, he flipped on his mutation and fell to the ground with a load metallic clink. Becky nearly fell over because of her giggles every time.
She was tall for her age, long brown hair, which was currently in pigtails. Blue eyes. Logan had told Marie on several occasions that he was sure the girl could see right through a person. Her face looked so much like her mother’s, chubby little cheeks, freckles, and a cute little nose that she screwed up whenever you mentioned eating her greens.
He had married Marie. Becky had been five months old and the cutest bridesmaid ever; Scott had held her all through the ceremony. Marie was so happy. They got married by the lake, and after, he had picked her up and jumped in with her. Initially she had screamed about her dress, but once he was kissing her in the water and laughing, she had forgotten about the dress and laughed as well, screaming at the top of her lungs that she loved him.
That was the day she told everyone her real name. She said that she was done being Rogue and had left her behind. Now she was Marie. A week later they moved back into the mansion, as a family.
At first he had thought he would care that Becky wasn’t his, but he didn’t. She was so beautiful, like her mother. He couldn’t help but love her. The first time she rolled over, he was bouncing around yelling for Marie, “Look! Look what she did!” The first time she sat up on her own, he was the same. The first time she had eaten something, he was there laughing as she screwed up her face and pushed the spoon back at her mother.
The first time she held up her arms to him, asking *him* to pick her up, he had melted. He forgot Ethan and everything that he represented. This perfect delicate little copy of Marie wanted him, needed him, loved him.
Now she raced to him, screamed for him when she was scared, called him Daddy. He could put his hand on his heart and say not once, not even once, over the last five years had he looked at that little girl and thought, ‘She’s not mine.’
He had been given everything he had ever wanted: a life, a home, a beautiful wife, and the most gorgeous little girl in the world who though he was a hero.
That evening, Marie and Scott had finished cleaning up the dishes from dinner and were chatting about and looking at the latest batch of photographs that Marie’s students had taken.
“Becky asleep?” Scott was sitting on the kitchen counter with a picture in his hand, desperately trying to figure out what it was.
“Yeah. Logan read her another story. He’s too soft with her. One day he’s going to be really stern all of a sudden, and it will shock the pair of them.”
“He’ll never be stern with her! Kid’s got him wrapped around her finger tighter than you have.”
“Are you saying my husband is whipped?” She was smiling. Scott was completely right.
“Oh yeah! The man has no hope, ever.” He frowned and turned the picture upside down and bent his head to the side. “What is this?”
“I think it’s someone’s inside leg, but I could be wrong. I think this group took the ‘free range’ I gave them a little too far.”
Both Marie and Scott looked up and smiled when ‘Ro walked in. “Hey, any coffee left?”
“Yeah, it might not taste too good though. It’s been there a while.”
She laughed. “When does the coffee in this place ever taste any good?” She looked at the picture Scott held and matched his frown. “What is that?”
No one had any time to answer as they all froze. The scrap of claws on wood and the soft thudding of an animal running past the kitchen door were caught by all of them. They exchanged glances. Marie got off the stool, Scott hopped off the counter, and all three moved to the door.
They peered into the gloomy corridor, trying to find what had run past. They all saw a pair of deadly glowing eyes in the darkness. It moved forward. As the shadow evaporated into light the wolf came into view, its teeth bared into a vicious snarl. It ran at them.
All three, including Scott, screeched and ran back into the kitchen. Marie and ‘Ro jumped up on the middle counter, hugging one another, and Scott stood up on the counter in between the sink and the fridge. He knocked the coffeemaker off, and it smashed loudly
The wolf snarled, growled and barked at each of them, eliciting a screech every time. Scott attempted to shoo it away, but the animal simply snarled more, baring its teeth dangerously.
“’RO, BLAST IT WITH SOMETHING!” Scott was completely petrified.
“OH, LIKE WHAT EXACTLY? I CAN’T KILL IT!”
“MARIE, TURN YOUR SKIN ON! TOUCH IT!”
“I’M NOT GETTING FUCKING NEAR IT! YOU BLAST IT!”
“I CAN’T. I DON’T HAVE MY VISOR. I COULD HIT ONE OF YOU!”
All three looked at each other, the same thought dawning on them at the same time. They all turned to the door.
“LOGAN!”
Logan was picking up Becky’s dolls off of their suite floor, wondering why in the hell she needed so many and why they all had to be pink, when he heard something break downstairs. Then he could hear snarling and barking. He dropped the dolls and raced into Becky’s room. She was still fast asleep and shifting slightly as she dreamt. He ran out into the hall and headed down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
When he hit the bottom step, he heard Marie, ‘Ro and Scott yell for him. He increased his pace as he could smell their combined fear. But he couldn’t smell anything else. Whatever was growling and snarling had no scent whatsoever.
He rounded the corner into the kitchen and stopped abruptly. “WHOA!” The wolf turned and saw Logan. It took a few paces back, snarled, and bared all its lethal teeth. As it charged him, Logan ducked and put his arms up in defence. The wolf electrified with a pale blue aura and disappeared in mid-air.
“What the fuck was that?”
Scott jumped off the counter and then nearly fell over on the spilt coffee. Logan moved forward and helped ‘Ro and Marie off the centre counter.
‘Ro was the first to catch her breath. “I have no idea. Is the Professor still up?”
Scott nodded. “He was the last time looked.”
They left the kitchen, moving slowly down the hall to the Professor’s office. All the time Scott was looking behind him, checking for the wolf. “I’m glad you heard us call.”
“You mean you’re glad I heard you screaming like a girl?”
“Hey, they were screaming too!”
“Yes, Scott, but, they are girls!”
“Shut up, caveman.”
Logan was about to reply, but they were interrupted by the sound of a high-pitched scream from upstairs.
Marie’s face dropped. “Becky!” All four adults took off up the stairs. Marie ran as fast as she possibly could, Logan was close behind, followed by Scott and ‘Ro.
As they reached the door, the wolf raced out and immediately disappeared in a shimmer of blue again. Logan was first in the door and through to Becky’s room.
She was crying for him already. “Daddy! Daddy!” He sat on the edge of the bed, and she jumped into his arms, almost getting lost in their size.
He shushed her and stroked her long hair. He could feel her tears staining through his shirt. Marie was kneeling on the floor next to her. She pulled Becky out of Logan’s embrace slightly and began to check her over.
Scott flicked on the bedroom light. She had no marks on her, and her thick flannel pyjamas were in perfect condition, just slightly bed-ruffled.
She clung to her father, shaking lightly in his arms. “I had a bad dream, daddy.”
“Tell me what it was about, Becks?”
“It was my story, free ickle pigs and the big bad wolf. But the wolf tried to eat me instead. I was running, and I fell, and it tried to bite me!”
He looked at Marie whose face showed nothing but confusion. “I read her three little pigs earlier.” He looked back at Becky as she rubbed her face. Then she raised her head, and he saw into her eyes. They shone at him, pale blue, like lightning. “I think she did this, her mutation.”
“How could she? She’s only 5 years old, Logan. She’s not supposed to manifest until she’s at the least 15 or 16.”
“We need to talk to the Professor and Hank.” Scott was right.
Logan scooped up Becky, and they headed for the Professor’s office. As they sat in his office and explained what had happened, Becky drifted off to sleep again in Logan’s lap, oblivious to the conversation.
When Hank arrived in his pyjamas and dressing gown, the Professor gestured to ‘Ro. “I think a couple of students have drifted out of bed in the commotion. Would you mind sorting them out before you go to bed yourself?”
She smiled at the group. She got that there was something-private going on. “Of course not. ‘Night, all.” She touched Becky’s head lightly as she left the office. After she had headed up stairs, she heard Hank, the Professor, Logan, Scott and Marie take Becky to the lower levels.
“It will be simple to ascertain if it is her mutation. A quick series of tests, that’s all. Nothing too stressful for our little one.” Becky had woken up when they entered the med lab. She smiled brightly at Hank. He always called her ‘our little one’, and she loved it. It made her feel special, like she belonged to everyone. Little did she know that she did; the whole mansion adored her.
Marie sat on the exam table with Becky in her lap, her small face scrunched up and buried in her mother’s chest as Hank took some blood from her arm. “OW!” Once that was done, he took a saliva swab from inside her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Rebecca. It’s all over now.”
Hank took two drops of her blood out of the vial and dropped them onto a glass plate. Then placing it under his microscope, he nodded. “Yes. She has manifested her gifts.”
“Gifts? I have a gift, like daddy?” Hank knelt on the floor in front of the exam table. Kneeling he was still the same eye level as the little girl.
“Yes. You do, but it’s a little different than daddy’s. You made a wolf. It was very clever. Do you think you can remember how you did it?”
“I was dreaming about my story. I don’t know how I did it. I was standing there watching the little pigs build their houses, and the wolf chased me. I ran. Sorry.”
“Becks, you don’t have to be sorry for runnin’, kid.”
“You’d never run, you would have fought it. I’ve seen you fight stuff, in the dangerous room.” He walked over to the exam table and sat down next to her.
“You’re right. I would have, but that’s because daddy can be dangerous too. You, you’re meant to run. You’re meant to run as fast as you can and hide until mummy or daddy come find you.” They had drummed it into her: they were all different, and people some times hurt others who were different. If that happened, she was to run and hide.
“I know. Mom says that you’re not dangerous. You’ve just got mist under your hood.”
“That’s misunderstood, sweetie.” Marie giggled, and everyone smiled at her daughter.
She leaned in and snuggled against her father. “That, too. Can I go back to bed now?”
The Professor closed his eyes briefly before speaking. “Jubilee is on her way down to take you. She has promised to stay with you until your parents come back up. We have boring things to talk about.”
As she nodded, her brown hair flapped around her face. Jubes came through the doors looking a little sleepy. She picked up Becky, and after saying goodnight to everyone, she left with her.
The room was quiet, each one of them with their own thoughts. Marie was the first to address the situation.
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
“You’re right it shouldn’t, but it is.” Hank cleaned his glasses as he spoke.
“Is there a reason why it has manifested now?” Even though the Professor sounded calm, he was very worried about the little girl.
“Well, there are two possibilities I can think of straight off. She could have a medical condition called Precocious Puberty. If she suffered from that condition, her body would release oestrogen into her bloodstream, causing her to go through puberty early, which would in turn confuse her mutation into thinking that she had reached puberty, and it could therefore manifest.” He walked over to his microscope and other equipment. He took some more of Becky’s blood out and used a pipette to mix it with something clear, then he dropped some on a strip of paper and measured the colour it turned next to a chart. “Her cells show no increase above a normal level of oestrogen for a girl her age.”
“What’s the other possibility?” Logan had his arm around Marie. He could feel her shaking. He wanted to make this stop, protect her again.
He looked at Logan before he spoke. “I have read reports and witness accounts of early experiments and medical examinations of early mutants. The experiments themselves were never documented. Neither were the test subjects.” He lowered his gaze from his friend. “Hence the reason you can find no record of yourself. One good thing to come out of those labs was the findings. They have given *decent* scientists a head start on how the ‘X’ gene works.”
“Get to the point, doc.” Logan wasn’t comfortable with this line of conversation.
“They discovered that the gene not only mutates a person’s bodily cells causing a mutation, but it itself mutates and changes its structure.” Everyone in the room looked a little confused. “Everyone carries the ‘X’ gene, even humans, but there are a few humans and mutants that carry an accelerated form of that gene. For example, the chances of two normal humans having a child with a mutation are around 37.5% these days. If one parent is a mutant, then the chances of that child being a mutant increase. If both parents are mutants, then it is a certainty that child will have a mutation.” He pointed to Marie. “You carry a normal ‘X’ gene. If *he* carried an accelerated form, even though he’s human, the combination of the two would pass to little Rebecca and could cause her mutation to manifest early and be more powerful.”
Marie sighed. “How do you tell if you’re right?”
“I can look at her DNA and gene structure. It shouldn’t take too long, but I’m sure I’m right. There are other issues concerning this.”
“What do you mean?”
“She is young, too young for this. Her mutation is obviously a powerful one, if she can create something that not only is corporeal, but can also think for itself. It will take a lot of her energy to control and use. Her age and size means that she doesn’t have the energy levels necessary to gain that control, meaning she couldn’t stop it if she wanted to. It could be physically dangerous for her, possibly fatal if prolonged. I would say that it needs to be suppressed until she is physically and emotionally developed enough to cope with it. After all, most mutations don’t manifest until puberty; it’s nature’s natural control.”
“Was it the drugs?” Her voice was quiet because she didn’t want to ask, but she had to. If it was, she would never forgive herself.
“No, we ran several tests during your pregnancy and since. There is no indication that the drugs had any affect on Rebecca whatsoever.” She visibly relaxed, and as Logan looked at her, he realised how hard it must have been for her to ask that.
“Is there a way to suppress it until she’s ready?” Scott really hoped there was.
“There is, but I fear it may bring with it other…more personal complications.” He looked directly at Marie.
“Like what?”
“If I can get an exact DNA and blood sample from you and from Rebecca’s biological father, I can create a suppressant. But it would mean contacting him for the samples.”
She smiled. “Hank, that’s fine. We can contact the prison service. We can get it from their records.” Logan shifted uncomfortably.
“A sample from medical records won’t be enough. It has to be no more than 12 hours old. Freezing for containment, preservation or transportation works fine for normal tests, but the necessary information relating to a mutation or the ‘X’ gene disintegrate after that time. And the blood, well it always helps to be fresh.”
“Well, there must be a prison doctor who can do it, without asking questions, a quick back hander and no one would know.” She looked at Logan, and then to the other men in the room. All were inspecting their shoes. “What?”
“Darlin’. It’s not as simple as that.”
“Why not?”
“He’s not in prison, Marie. He was released just over a year ago.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” She moved away from her husband. “And you’re just telling me this now? Oh my God, you all decided that I didn’t need to know?” She paced slight with her hands on her hips. “Does Jubes know?”
“No.”
“And why is that, Logan?”
“Because she would have told you, Marie.”
“Too fucking right she would have. Because unless you forgot, that son of a bitch is the reason we have this situation. I don’t care what way you sugar coat it. He had sex with me without my consent, which, the last time I checked, was rape and now he’s out, anywhere!”
“Marie, it wouldn’t have done you any good to know. Unless you were planning on contacting him?”
“No, Logan, I have no desire to ever see him again. What if he had come looking for me? What if he had seen Becky?”
“He would never have got anywhere near you. I would never let him do anything to you ever again. You don’t have to be afraid of that.”
“Logan, wake up! I’m not scared that he wants revenge. What scares me is Becky. We registered her birth. You’re on her birth certificate as her father. That’s illegal. If he found out about her, he could report that. Who do you think the courts would side against, a reformed con who could play himself as the victim, or a mansion full of mutants who lied? They could take her away…” Her voice broke with emotion. “They could take our little girl away or…or she could die!”
He walked to her and hugged her tightly as she cried. “No one is ever taking her away from us.”
He looked at Scott, Hank, and Charles. “We can get the samples without giving away the situation. We do it tomorrow, and get this over with.” They nodded. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
After she spent a little while in the bathroom gathering herself, she joined him in bed. He lay there holding her, unable to sleep. She couldn’t either. Suddenly he got up, roughly throwing the covers back with a growl and stalking out of the room. “Logan?”
He came back a couple of seconds later with Becky in his arms. She was still asleep, and he settled her in between them, all three eventually sleeping peacefully together.
**************END OF PART SIX
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary: “I know. Mom says that you’re not dangerous. You’ve just got mist under your hood.”