Title: Because of This …
Author: Duchess Curry
Fandom: X-Men
Pairing: Wolverine/Nightcrawler
Summary: The conclusion.
Archive: It's here. But if you can't find it, e-mail me at Duchess_Curry@yahoo.com and I'll send it to you.
Rating: M (currently) for language, sexual situations, and violence
Parts: 23 - 23
Status: Finished
Series/Sequel: Pending.
Website: Alas, no.
Disclaimer: All original X-Men characters belong to the Marvel Entertainment Group. I do not own them, I am just borrowing them for amusement purposes. I do, however, own all original characters which I have made up for the sake of the story (won't list them all, because there's a lot).
Authors notes & Warnings: This is the end of "Because of This …"

Chapter 23

Wolverine's head felt heavy. He winced a little at the thought of waking up, but still he opened his eyes. The almost harsh, bright light of the infirmary flooded is eyes, making him turn his head. Next to his bed was a small Plexiglas case. And in it, lay a little baby. A little smile graced Logan's face. He lifted one hand and put it to the case as the little being moved one of it's arms then slept on.

"Hey Kid."

"Oh good. You're awake." Wolverine looked in the opposite direction. Hank was standing there, smiling down at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy." Wolverine sat up, wincing. "Sore."

Beast nodded. "You will be for a bit longer. Your body is healing itself, but you lost so much blood that it's taking longer than normal."

Logan nodded. "How long was I out for?"

"Two days. I honestly thought it would be more though."

"Yeah." Wolverine responded absently, looking at his daughter again.

"Would you like to hold her?" Logan's head jerked up. "You can you know."

"Yeah." Still smiling, Hank picked the baby girl up out of the case and put her into her father's arms. Hank had to smile even more at the sight of Logan softening as he held the tiny child close. He stroked her soft cheek with his thick fingers. "There's nothing like it in the world, is there?"

"No." Logan whispered softly.

"Oooohhhh." Hank turned to help one of his other patients, leaving Logan alone for a bit.

"Hey Kid. Look, I don't know what kind of parent I'm gonna be. An' I really don't know what to do with a kid … Especially a girl. See, I'm a guy. And the thing is, your other parent is your dad too. Weird, huh? Your other dad he's … He's a great guy. But he's scared of stuff too. He's gone now … And I don't think he's coming back." Wolverine stopped for a moment, then it hit him. The other thing to warn a kid about at the beginning. "Oh, and just so you know; when you grow up you're probably going to be a mutant. I'm warning you about this now. Ya see, people don't like mutants. It's just `cause we're different. And they're not gonna be nice to you because of it. But I'm gonna take care of you; and keep the bad things away. Cause I don't want anything bad to happen to my little girl."

He heard Hank walking back over. "Having a good bonding experience?"

"Yeah." Wolverine said, still in his quiet, gruff voice. "How's the Cajun doing?"

"Not bad." Hank said, sitting across from him. "It would be easier though if just one of the LeBeau boys was hurt. But I get the pleasure of taking care of both of them; and dealing with Kevin, who has nothing wrong with him but stays here guarding Remembrance like a sheep dog." Beast sighed. "I got him to leave and go to sleep not five minutes before you woke up."

Logan shook his head. "He's got it bad for her."

"Yes he does. He put a collata ring on her earlier. Kevin said he wanted it to be there when she woke up."

Wolverine's head shaking turned into nodding, which let him look down at his daughter, avoiding what was flashing across his mind. "She should be alright Logan. Don't worry about that. She's getting the best care in this part of the world."

"I don't even know what happened …" Logan trailed off, fingering the baby's tiny hand.

"Skye siphoned off too much of the nightmares that Remembrance absorbed. She woke up, and somehow sensed that you were in trouble; and went to try to help you. From there the details get a little sketchy …"

Wolverine looked over at him, and filled in the blank. "I was in a lot of pain. She went into my head to help get rid of some of it … but something went wrong. I think I ended up going into her head."

Beast nodded. "I believe that the effects of her experience inside of Cerebro were still so strong that Remembrance unconsciously absorbed your worst nightmare at that moment and started acting it out, as she did previously with Charles and Jean. But unlike their dreams, yours was yourself actually dieing by bleeding to death."

"And she almost did." Logan stared off in the distance.

"But she's going to be fine now."

The little girl started fussing, so Logan looked down at her, and shifted her in his arms. Her crying softened, then went away. She opened her eyes, and stared almost blankly at him. "You're worth it."

Hank smiled at him again. Footsteps resounded in Wolverine's ears. He looked up, and saw Skye enter. The young man waved at him a little, making Logan nod in response. Skye then turned to Hank.

"I'm gonna …" He made a quick, abstract hand gesture, then went behind the curtained off area.

Hank shook his head a little and smiled. "He's always so nervous that he's going to do something wrong." Hank looked back at Logan who was looking down at his daughter. "She really is perfect." "Yeah. Was there anything wrong with her?"

Hank shook his head no. "No. The only minor thing was that her eyes are a little yellow, but that's common in some newborns. It will clear up soon, and it's nothing to worry about."

Deep down Wolverine smiled, realizing that the yellow might never leave her eyes … And that he was okay with that.

"Though there is a small problem that has to be taken care of." Wolverine looked at Hank, his face almost falling. "Your daughter needs a name."

Logan's relief was evident. "Oh yeah. That."

"Do you have one picked out?"

"I think so. I want to call her …"

BOOM! The explosion rocked the lab, cutting off Wolverine's statement. The lights blinked, then went out, as the baby started to scream.

"What the hell happened?" The lights blinked back on, and almost everything seemed as it was. Patients tried to sit up, conscious of the disturbance.

"Is everyone alright?" Hank asked. Logan held his daughter close, rocking a little to quiet her down. It seemed instantaneous, the baby was silent, and everyone looked to the previously curtained area, that was no longer. Total silence fell, and time seemed to stand still. There was a gaping hole in the wall, but there was more than that. The bed that Kevin had guarded so closely was empty.

The End ... For the Moment