Disclaimer: I do not own Logan or The X-Men

The Chase

"To where will you go child?
Tell me where will you run, to where will you run?"

It was a complete failure, I wasn't expecting that reaction at all. We'll need another plan to get Logan to help us, but in the meantime, this girl has to eat something. There's a Whataburger restaurant a few blocks ahead -not the healthiest option- but I'm not in the mood for driving around the city. I'd love for Laura to have her meal inside the restaurant like any other child, but the less she is seen outside, the better. So we use the drive thru and then go back to the motel.

Laura's sitting on the bed across from me, gazing upon the untouched burguer and fries that sit in front of her.

"You haven't said a word since we left the graveyard" I remark "¿No quieres hablar conmigo?"

She shakes her head. God, she's devastated...

"It's ok. It doesn't matter if you don't want to talk. It's never been important, really, I love you all the same. But maybe…"

"¡Tú me dijiste que me ibas a llevar con mi papá y me engañaste!" she cuts me off, glaring at me and wrinkling her nose. It's a surreal moment, just a few hours ago I received the exact same stare from someone else…

I've seen pictures of Laura's mother, and this child is the spitting image of her. However, I never gave much thought to Laura's facial expressions and demeanor, I just assumed they came from her mother too. I was wrong. I was terribly wrong. This girl's personality completely matches Logan's.

Everything makes sense now...

"I didn't trick you, nena." I tell her, trying to calm her down. She doesn't say anything. She just sits there, breathing heavily, her watery eyes coming in contact with mine. "You heard me call him..."

"¡No!" she shouts.

I sigh "That man, Laura…was your dad. He is Logan. He is your father."

"¡No es!" she yells again. Disappointment is making her sulky.

I let out an exasperated breath "A ver, ¿por qué no, pues? Why isn't he your dad? Tell me... help me understand..." I encourage her, so she can listen to her own nonsense.

It works.

"Because…" her voice trails off, she's at a loss for words "…dice groserías como Pierce." she finally says.

Oh, that… the only person she's ever heard use the word 'fuck' twice in a sentence is Donald Pierce, and now she's labeling Logan.

"Everybody says bad words sometimes, not only Pierce. I say them too when I'm mad." I explain, casually.

"Pero se ve que es muy enojón." She shoots back.

I smile. "You are grumpy too, mi amor" …very much. That's the whole point.

"Pero está viejo." she says, pouting.

"I never said he was young -and that's a mean thing to say, anyways. We don't stop loving our parents just because they're old."

She's overcome with anger. Once you've seen the truth you cannot avoid suffering…

"¡Pero te trató mal y no quiso ayudarnos! Es… ¡Es malo!" She whimpers on the verge of tears.

If it came as a shock to me seeing Logan in that state, I can only imagine the hard blow she must have felt . Earning Laura's trust is not easy -she had given it to Logan unconditionally- and he lost it the moment he refused to help us.

"No, mi cielo. Ven..." I hold out my arms for her and she gets off the bed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. I pull her into my lap. "He's not a bad man." I say, holding one of her little hands in mine. "He's a good man who's probably been through a lot lately, just like us." I explain. "He didn't know who I was, and it was raining…and he was working. It was all my fault, that wasn't the right time to ask for his help."

"Pero fue muy grosero contigo" she points out, sobbing.

She's right. I pause and ponder my next words carefully "Yes... he was mean to me, but maybe he was just having a bad day. Driving around the city, dealing with strangers all day long must be very stressing." I don't believe this at all, meeting Logan confirmed my theory -and fears- that Laura is susceptible to develop mental health problems. But no child should hear anyone speak badly of their parents.

"¿Pero por qué es un driver y no como en el cómic?" she asks, confused.

"Because even heroes need to eat and pay the bills and, as you pointed out earlier, he's not young anymore; your dad can't be running around, fighting the bad guys like he used to."

"Ok" she says, not very convinced, but slowly opening her mind to this version of her father which she wasn't expecting at all.

I look down at her. "Shall we give daddy another chance?"

She shrugs "Sí, pero no le voy a decir así." There's resentment in her voice.

"You won't call him daddy?" I ask her, surprised.

She shakes her head. "No"

"Why not?"

"Porque no." she replies, sharply. … Logan will have to work very hard to win her back.

"Ok." Maybe one day… "But remember that you're giving him another chance, sí?"

"Mmm..."

"Laura..."

"Okeeey!" she exclaims, a bit annoyed.

She gets off my lap and starts to eat her cold meal. Raising this girl is getting more and more challenging by the day. But it's all worth it, every single second.

Maybe she's right, we shouldn't tell Logan that he has a kid -not yet. This man seems to have many troubles already and, whereas I feel bad for adding another one to his life, Laura's safety comes first. As a matter of fact, I doubt he'll recognize Laura as his child, let alone keep her…

If getting her to Eden was important before, now I'm sure it's her only chance for a better future. I cannot fail her.

While she finishes her burger, I check some of the documents Tom packed in her traveling bag. He put some of the children's files, including Rictor's and Bobby's, along with a couple of old newspaper articles on how the quickly decline in mutant birth rates baffled scientists across the globe. I'm pretty sure he's trying to tell me that Transigen is behind all this, or maybe he just thought they would come in handy on my first meeting with Logan -help me catch his attention.

We spend the rest of the day trying to forget about the incident...well, Laura does. What I'm trying to do is figure out a way to talk Logan into making the long journey to North Dakota -Wolverine has proved to be as challenging as his daughter, and I'm exhausted. I can't deal with both of them at the same time.

To make things worse, the motel owner is a pain in the ass. She doesn't want Laura to play with her ball in the parking lot. I mean, she's a child, I cannot lock her down in a small room the whole day…not again. I heard the racist bitch yelling at my girl from her office earlier, and it really pissed me off. She's lucky it didn't cross her mind to touch the kid -or try to take the ball from her- otherwise, she wouldn't have a head on her shoulders right now… That's one of the reasons I haven't taken Laura to crowded places with me: unable to use her words around strangers when she feels attacked or wants something, the child recurs to physical violence. A conduct that Transigen encouraged on a daily basis, and a habit that she won't easily get rid of. Anyway, I don't need any more trouble, so after the incident I called her inside to play with her toy horse instead.

We've also run out of supplies, and Laura is constantly asking for food, so I'll have to get up very early tomorrow and find a grocery store before trying to contact Logan again. The only good news is that my mini-documentary is practically finished.

It's 9am. I'm on my way to a supermarket I saw near the border. I left Laura at the motel. I was about to give her Logan's number so she could text him in case I don't make it back, but then I changed my mind. Leaving Laura anxious and scared about the possibility of something happening to me could be very negative for her already sensitive emotional state, so I just asked her to be a good girl and stay indoors until I came back.

The trip shouldn't take more than an hour, and we haven't been attacked or followed so far. I'm confident that fortune will be on our side and everything will turn out as hoped.

The parking lot is empty. Apparently, I'm the only one who does the grocery shopping this early in the morning. I'm unbuckling the seat belt when, suddenly, I get the feeling of being watched. I look around, but everything looks normal.

Cálmate, Gabriela... I tell myself, and open the door.

There's a sharp noise, followed by a sharp pain. I look to my right and, there it is, the face I hate most in the world: Donald Pierce's face. He smiles at me from afar, holding a gun in his robotic hand.

He thinks I'm going to collapse on the ground and give him what he wants. He doesn't know me at all…

I quickly close the door and start the car; I can feel warm blood pouring down my arm. I look briefly at him through the rearview mirror, he's running towards a big, black Hummer van across the lot.

I can lose him…I can lose him… How did he find me? What happened?

I drive as fast as I can, taking random turns. I can't see him behind me.

I'm absolutely positive that he thought he would knock me down right there; he was expecting me to get intimidated and surrender -just like in the past.

I go in the opposite direction of the motel and drive around for ten minutes, looking through the rearview mirror every few seconds. The pain is getting sharper and sharper, but I can't guide them to Laura, I have to make sure they're not following me. When my arm gets numb and I can't continue, I park the car in an alley and wait.

The wound is deep, and the bullet is still buried in the flesh. I rip the bottom of my shirt and use the strap as a bandage, applying enough pressure to stop the bleeding. It seems to be working…

After ten of fifteen minutes, I turn the keys and make my way back to the motel. Laura is on her own and I have to go back to her.

Pierce is a good shot, why didn't he kill me right then? What was he playing at?

He must have thought I had the child in the back seat...

What worries me the most is that he wasn't alone, I could clearly see more men inside the Hummer.

If Donald Pierce was never killed by any of the children back in Transigen, it's because he was an authority figure. It was always him at the front, intimidating them, bullying them, voicing out the tortures which awaited the kids if they didn't do as he said. His figure walking through the door was often the prelude to a traumatic experience inside a training room or a lab. Most of the children developed an irrational fear towards him.

That's what he was trying to do. He wasn't trying to kill me, he wanted to hurt me in front of her. He was going to use Laura's love for me to take her.

I can barely drive, but I manage to make it back. The motel is in one piece, the door hasn't been forced, the annoying lady is sitting in her office watching a bad sitcom. Relief courses through me, though he knows my car now…

I open the door to our room. Laura is sitting on the floor, playing with her toy. She looks up at me, noticing the blood. "¡Qué te pasó!" she cries, running up to me, and dropping the horse. "¡Qué tienes!"

"Está bien, está bien. No te espantes, cielo" I soothe her. No, it's not ok. I have to tell her the truth. I have to warn her about the danger. "Listen, Laura. I…I ran into Donald Pierce. He did this to me…"

She goes pale. I wait for her to say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth.

"I'm very scared too that he is so close, baby." I admit. "But panicking won't help us in the least. I'm going to contact Logan and ask him to come get us, ok?" Being so straightforward seems to help her swallow the bad news because she nods and picks up her toy from the floor. I know that Laura's emotional development is stunned, I know that she doesn't understand many things about the world, I know that my heart will always see her as the small toddler with round cheeks who struggled to leave the diapers -but right now, I need her to be the eleven-year-old she's supposed to be. I need to encourage her to grow into that person or she won't make it.

She retrieves the case with all the medical supplies and puts it next to me. I can't dig the out the bullet, but I can disinfect the wound and take some pain killers.

After changing my clothes and bandages, I take out the phone and start looking for Logan.

Contacting him directly failed before, and I'm pretty sure that if he finds out it's me texting, he won't come, so I'll pass myself as a client -a client who is willing to pay all the money in the world to save this little girl's life. Yes, I've made up my mind to give him all the cash we have left if it comes to that.

"¿Ya viene?" Laura asks me, scrutinizing the bandages around my arm.

"No, hermosa. No está disponible ahorita. He must be very busy, but I'll try again in an hour"

" ¿Te duele? Does it hurt?" she asks twice, desperately.

"Un poquito, bebé. No mucho." I lie "Why don't you take a bath, sweety? Let me see that you can do it by yourself because I'm afraid I won't be able to help you for a few days" I tell her, nodding at my wounded arm. "And I doubt you'll want your father's help."

She frowns. "No, no quiero... And he wouldn't want to help me anyways." she remarks in a resentful and sad voice.

I sent Laura out of my sight because I don't want her to see me like this. The pain is getting worse and worse. I hear her turn on the taps in the bathroom.

"Leave your clothes where they won't get wet because I couldn't get you new ones!" I yell.

"Ok!"

"Make sure the water isn't too hot!"

"¡No te apures! I can heal!"

"I don't care!"

"Ok!"

"Don't forget to wash your hair!"

"¿Me puedo lavar las claws también?"

"No, because you're going to make a mess! I mean it!"

"Ok, I won't wash them!

"Don't even get them out! ¡Obedece!"

"Okeeeey!"

With Laura trying to figure out how to be self-sufficient, I take out the phone once again and check Logan's status. He's not free yet, so I keep waiting.

After half an hour the pain killers finally kick in and I start to feel much better, though the bleeding hasn't stopped altogether. I rest my head on the pillow and close my eyes for a minute.