Kate Summers walked down a hospital hallway, looking down at her feet and watching her steps, counting them, until she reached her son Nathan's hospital room. She ground to a halt when she got there and looked up to see a male nurse standing in the doorway.

"Mrs Summers, while you were gone, we changed some of Nathan's bandages." He said. Kate felt like she had been punched in the gut, but she carried on.

"Right." She said, nodding slowly. "Any change in his condition?"

"He's noticed he's without an arm now, he knows it's been amputated." The nurse said sympathetically.

"He's upset, isn't he?" Kate winced.

"He is indeed, Mrs Summers." The nurse nodded. "He needs his mother."

Kate swallowed and nodded, feeling a lump in her throat. The nurse walked away and Kate walked inside to her son. She saw Nathan was sleeping and picked him up off his hospital bed. "Nathan, it's me, it's Mommy." She said soothingly as she sat down in a chair.

"Mommy?" He looked up at her and her heart broke at having to look down into her son's dead left eye. "When will I get my arm back?"

Kate couldn't bring herself to tell him that he would never. "You'll be getting a better arm soon, sweetie." She said with a fake smile, desperately trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"I can still feel it there, Mommy. My arm. I can feel it there. It hurts, Mommy."

"I know it does, sweetie." Kate breathed and began running her hand gently through Nathan's hair.

Nathan wrapped his arm around Kate's neck and also nestled his head into her shoulder. "I feel like I'm hugging you with my other arm too, Mommy." Nathan said sadly.

Desperately wanting to soothe her toddler, Kate rubbed his lower back, taking great care not to disturb the thick layers of bandaging around Nathan's chest and back. "It's going to be okay, Nathan, I promise."

"I told you, Mommy. My name's not Nathan. It Cable." Nathan mumbled. He sniffled sadly into his mother's shoulder.

"Okay, okay. Cable, I promise you, everything will be alright." Kate said, feeling Nathan nod into her shoulder.

Kate couldn't help but feel that she should be feeling Nathan's little shoulder pressing into her chest. Instead, his arm, his shoulder, parts of his chest-it had all been cut away in an attempt to save his life. It had obviously worked, even if her tiny toddler had been in a coma for fourteen weeks, fighting meningitis. He'd won his fight, Nathan was alive. But why was she so sad about it?

"Kate." She heard her name being called and looked to see her husband Chris standing away from them. "How is he?"

"Upset." She said back. "Chris, you need to be looking after Gabe and Scott and Alex and Rachel. Let meworry about Nathan."

"Cable." Nathan corrected, his voice muffled.

"Right. Cable."

"But Nath-Cable is my son too, Kate." Chris said, walking into the room, up to his wife and son. "I just spent the better part of three months watching my son teetering on the brink of death. I love him as much as I love our other children."

"I know you do, Chris. I just don't think it's fair on the other children that they miss out on both parents now that Na-Cable is recovering." Kate said.

"And I understand." Chris nodded. "I have the kids with the sitter. I wanted to see how my boy is recovering."

"Come hold him." Kate offered.

Nathan let go of her and leaned his head on her chest.

"He looks so peaceful." Chris ran his hand through Nathan's hair.

Nathan whined quietly and sadly.

"He's not dead. That's something you say when he's dead." Kate snapped, though not out of anger. She was simply exhausted, having not slept much since Nathan fell ill.

"It's also something you say when he's sleeping or when he looks peaceful." Chris said calmly.

"D'jou wanna take him, Chris?" Kate asked.

Chris bent down to pick his son up.

"Just hold him tight and keep him close to his IVs." Kate muttered as Chris held Nathan tightly.

"Kate, you should go get something to eat or drink. Bring Nathan-"

"Cable." Nathan corrected grumpily.

"Cable a Popsicle or something." Chris smiled. "Go on, we'll be fine, won't we, Buddy?"

Nathan nodded.

"Alright." Kate agreed. "I'll be back soon, sweetie." She planted a kiss on Nathan's head and left the room.

After a quick restroom break, Kate wandered into the hospital cafeteria, looking lost and desperately concerned about her still-seriously ill son. Deep in thought, Kate bumped into another woman, causing the woman to spill soda on her top.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kate said, offering napkins to the woman.

"That's alright, I should have been looking where I was going too." The woman took the napkins from Kate. "I'm just worried about my kid, you know?"

"I'm a mom too." Kate replied. "I have five kids. One of them-"

"Is here." The woman sighed, sadly. "Mine, too."

"How many?" Kate asked.

"Just the one." The woman replied. "My son. He's just turned four years old."

"Mine too." Kate said. "The one who's here, I mean." She added.

"Is he...?"

"He's just come from the ICU." Kate sighed. "He's still, seriously ill, but at least he's getting better."

"Intensive Care?"

Kate nodded.

"I'm so sorry-that must've been so worrying. Mine's just got here." The woman threw the napkins in the bin. "Cancer."

"I'm so sorry." Kate said in shock. "If there's anything I can do for you and your husband, let me know."

"My son's father... He's not around. He wasn't a nice man. That's why we moved to New York."

"Where are you originally from then?" Kate asked.

"Toronto." The woman said. "Do you mind me asking, why is your son...?"

"Meningitis." Kate cast her gaze downwards. "He lost his arm, shoulder and parts of his chest."

"I didn't know meningitis could do that!"

"Once septicemia takes hold, the only option is amputation." Kate said, repeating the words spoken to her by Nathan's doctor.

"I'm very sorry to hear that." She said.

"I'd better get back to my son and my husband." Kate said, walking out of the cafeteria.

"Wait!" The woman called after her. Kate turned around and saw the woman scribbling on a piece of paper. "Here's my cell number." She said, handing Kate the paper. "My name's Hailey Wilson."

"I'm Kate Summers." She took the paper.

"Maybe we can get our kids together, you know, since they're isolated from the world stuck in here." Hailey suggested.

"Maybe." Kate said with a small smile. It would do Nathan good for him to talk to someone his own age, rather than the adults he's interacted with exclusively for the past four months. She was certain it couldn't be good for any toddler to talk just to adults.

A few days later, Kate was sitting in the chair next to Nathan's hospital bed with Nathan sitting on her knee and still heavily bandaged. She was reading The Cat in the Hatto Nathan while he was sucking hard on an orange Popsicle, like his life depended on it.

"Hey, Kate."

Kate looked up from the book to see Hailey standing in the doorway.

"I was going to take Wade to the art class. I was wondering if your Nathan wanted to come too."

Nathan pulled the Popsicle from his mouth. "Cable!" He said indignantly.

"He just insists we call him Cable now." Kate patted her son's hair.

"Before he got ill, my Wade insisted I call him Ryan." Hailey looked concerned. "Is that normal?"

"God yes!" Kate laughed. "My Gabe and my Scott have gone through the same phase. It's just something toddlers do."

"How old are Scott and Gabe now?" Hailey asked.

"Scott's six and Gabe's eight." Kate said.

"You have younger children, right?"

Kate nodded. "Alex is three and Rachel is fourteen months. In case you were wondering. Rachel never got a first birthday or a first Christmas, Na-Cable was sick at the time."

Hailey frowned slightly. "How did your older kids take it?"

"Gabe... He seemed-and still seems-indifferent to the whole affair." Kate explained. "Scott was deeply upset by it and just wants his little brother back. In fact, he spent all of Nath-Cable's fourth birthday by his side, watching over him. Chris and I, we had to pull him away."

"Your kids sound close. I'd like for Wade to have a brother or a sister someday."

"But then that sibling might hate him."

"True." Hailey shrugged. "So, does Cable want to come to the art class?" She asked the little boy.

Nathan looked up at her and nodded.

"I hope you get along with my Wade. I hear you share the same birthday, February tenth."

Nathan nodded again, this time more enthusiastically.

"It would be good for him, Hailey. Let him mix with kids his own age." Kate smiled sadly. "But we can't take him away from all his medical equipment. The oxygen cannula, the feeding tube, the IVs-"

"Wade has IV tubes too." Hailey said. "I know you're worried about what other kids might think of your son, now he has only one arm-"

"And half a body." Kate muttered.

"-But you shouldn't. Kids are more accepting than adults."

"I'm just worried for my Nathan." Kate said, stroking Nathan's hair protectively.

"Cable!" Nathan whined.

"My Cable." Kate corrected herself.

"I'll bring my Wade here and the boys can play together, if that's okay with you?" Hailey asked.

"It's fine by me, I guess. I need to check it with my son's nurses..."

"Let me know." Hailey smiled and left the room.

"Is that your new friend, Mommy?" Nathan asked.

Kate nodded. "Yeah, she is, sweetie."

"She's nice." Nathan said, smiling approvingly.

"Yes. Yes, she is." Kate said.

Later that day, Kate was still sitting in the chair, only now she was eating a sandwich and watching one of her older sons, Scott, help Nathan play with Lego. Hailey appeared again in the doorway.

"Hey, Hailey." Kate said. "My son's nurse said there's no risk of him passing the infection on now, he'll be fine to mingle with cancer patients."

"Oh, that's good. I've brought Wade along." Hailey smiled. She was holding the hand of a small boy with dirty blond hair that flopped over his eyes.

"Oh, Hailey, this is my son Scott." Kate gestured to the older boy.

"Nice to meet you, Scott." Hailey smiled.

Scott looked up from his Legoand frowned. "Yeah." He grunted before returning to play with his younger brother.

"Wade, come on in and play some Lego." Kate smiled at the young boy before turning to her own sons. "Scott, be nice."

"Mom, I don't want no one to laugh at Cable." Scott said.

"Wade won't make fun of your little brother. He's sick, too." Kate said assuringly.

Hailey led Wade into the room and Wade gingerly walked over to Nathan's hospital bed, where Scott was playing with Nathan.

"Uh... Hi." Wade rubbed his arm anxiously. "I'm Wade Wilson."

"I'm Cable." Nathan gave a small smile.

Scott put his arm around Nathan's neck.

"That's Scott, he's my big brother." Nathan said.

"Hi, Scott." Wade said quietly.

"Do you want to play Lego with us?" Scott asked, still apprehensive of the little boy. "I have Batman Lego."

"I like Batman." Wade nodded.

"Wade's such a cute little boy, Hailey." Kate smiled. "So quiet, too."

"Oh, you won't say that when you get to know him!" Hailey laughed. "Sometimes I fear he'll never shut up!"

"He's scared, isn't he?" Kate asked.

"He's only four. And he's facing a long battle." Hailey sighed. "I'm thirty-three and I've never been through half the things my Wade's been through. Life just isn't fair sometimes."

"I know what you mean." Kate said. "My Nathan's still got operations planned. Skin grafts, mostly. And his wounds have to be cleaned out-it's almost like scrubbing them-just so the skin around doesn't die..." Her voice cracked slightly.

"It looks like the boys have really hit it off." Hailey smiled, observing the two toddlers playing, in a bid to change the subject.

"It does." Kate agreed. "So, when you said Wade's father wasn't a good guy...?"

"He didn't abuse me or Wade, if that's what you're thinking." Hailey said quickly. "He's a wonderful father to Wade... He just wasn't a good fiancé. Cheated on me-twice."

"I'm sorry to hear." Kate said.

"Mom, I gotta go potty." Scott called out.

"Scott..."

"Go take Scott to the bathroom, I can watch the boys. And there's nurses patrolling the place so Cable won't be short of medical attention, god forbid, should he need it."

"Well, the bathroom is just around the corner..." Kate nodded. "Scott, take my hand." The older boy slid off the hospital bed and ran to take his mother's hand. "He's usually quick, we'll be back in a minute." She said as they left the room.

"Mommy's gone." Nathan said, sadly.

"You heard her, she's just taking your brother to the bathroom." Hailey smiled at the one armed little boy who was looking at her sadly. "She'll be back, I promise."

Nathan nodded and moved back to his Lego.

"Do you like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?" Wade asked after a brief pause.

"Yeah." Nathan nodded. "But I got sick and had to come to hopsital and now I don't see it no more."

"I love Mickey Mouse." Wade said with a smile. "What happened to your arm? Where is it?"

Nathan looked at Wade in confusion.

"Wade honey, Cable here... Well, his arm made him sick. To make him better, doctors had to take it off."

"Will it grow back?"

"Wade, no. It won't." Wade looked at Nathan who nodded.

"But Mommy said I gonna get a better arm. And it will be better than Batman." Nathan said.

"Nothing's better than Batman!" Wade cried out. He and Nathan began to laugh and Kate and Scott re-entered the room.

"They really have hit it off, haven't they?" Kate said.

"They have. I haven't seen my son this happy in ages." Hailey smiled.

"Does this mean Cable doesn't like me any more?" Scott asked, looking up at his mother.

"No, I know he still loves you." Kate smiled. "He's just found a friend his own age."

"Wade is four too?" Scott asked.

"Yeah." Kate nodded, watching her son play, smile and have fun for the first time since he got sick.

A/N: So here's the first chapter of my Cable and Deadpool spinoff to Marvel Elementary (go check it out). It's not a sequel, but will tie in and can be read separately if that's what you wanna do.

This first chapter is essentially a rewrite of another chapter in that story, but like TV shows based on books, it's just an adaptation and will develop its own story.

I also know Scott is the oldest Summers brother. I don't care. You'll find out more about the Summers family as time goes on. Also, here, Katherine Summers is still alive and Christopher Summers isn't a Starjammer. Or is he?

Going by the Posehn/Duggan Deadpool series, I didn't like the revelation of Original Sin. But I wasn't meant to. Even Sabretooth gave Deadpool a dirty look after witnessing what Deadpool did. Sabretooth-the vicious and remorseless killer was even disgusted with what Deadpool did. Beyond what implanted memories Deadpool had of them and eventually what he did to them, I just wrote them as a normal family.