With a scowl at the building he had just pulled up outside of Logan tucked the cigar he had been chewing on irritably back in his pocket, then shut the engine off, and stepped out of his beat up camper. His left foot sinking immediately into half melted snow slush did nothing to improve his mood.

"Comm link is active, give us a signal as soon as you have eyes on her," the One Eyed Wonder’s voice pierced the quiet of the chilly night. Even setting the damn device on the lowest volume setting was still enough to aggravate Logan’s hearing; or maybe that was just Scooter's voice.

With a growling sigh he pulled his jackets tighter around him, and stomped angrily toward the bars entrance. God damn Scooter and his useless security protocols, it was all his fault he was here. It wasn't like the guy had to do much, how hard was it really to keep an eye on teenagers and stop them from getting kidnapped.

Of course if the fucking teenagers weren't so god damn stupid as to wander off alone it would help. Hell, he knew Kitty was pretty naive, having been raised in a sheltered religious family and delivered to the school by loving parents, never having had to develop any street smarts, but he had thought she was smarter than to go off alone, in a club she wasn't supposed to be in of all places. He was going to kick Jubilee's ass when he got back, only she could have encouraged the other girl to do something so risky, and just plain stupid.

Thankfully it had only taken two days for Chuck to track Kitty to this location, and Logan had been close enough to arrive in time. The X-Men were on their way but didn't want to tip their hand before someone had eyes on the girl, just in case the human traffickers who had taken her managed to grab her and run again.

Chuck was sure Kitty was only scared, she didn't think she had been touched inappropriately. She had been unconscious for some time when first taken though, and Logan knew well enough that anything could have been done to her then. Though, if she was still a virgin, she may have been left untouched; virgin's generally fetched a higher price and all at sale time.

With another resigned sigh, he fixed his most dangerous scowl on his face, and let himself into the last place on earth he wanted to be. He really did not want to be anywhere near the types of people who bought and sold stolen people but he was the only one of Chuck's freakshow that would 'fit in' in a crowd like this.

And damn wasn’t that an uncomfortable thought...

He walked into the bar, and did a quick survey of the room. There was a cage in the back of the room but it wasn't lit up, looked like he wouldn't even get the chance to kick the shit out of some of these scumbags. Walking up to the bar, he took a seat at the darkest end and waited for the barkeep to notice him.

"What'll it be?" the short man, almost as wide as he was tall, asked gruffly.

"Bourbon," Logan growled. Nodding to the darkened cage as the bartender set his drink down a moment later he queried, "There any... entertainment, to be had around here?"

"Depends what you're into, there's poker over there, pool in the back--" the bartender said, eyeing him calculatingly.

"Female pickings seem a little slim," Logan hinted, casting an eye around the room as he did, before cocking a brow pointedly.

"Might have better luck downstairs," the other man replied. “Just mind your manners," he warned, as Logan downed his drink and moved in the direction he was discretely directed.

He scanned over every detail as he moved toward the pool hall, ducking into a 'staff only' door when he was confident no one, other than the 'security', was watching him. Feeding images back to Charles as he went, so a blueprint could be built for the team to follow along after him. He felt his apprehension grow as he descended underground into a crudely constructed basement.

At the bottom of the stairs he encountered another 'security' guy.

"Weapons check," the guy stated, giving him a once over as Logan came to a stop in front of him. "Warm or cold?" he queried, once he was satisfied Logan didn't have any obvious weapons on him.

Logan cocked an incredulous brow. "Warm," he replied, knowing it was code for living cargo, humans usually; cold being inanimate cargo, usually drugs, maybe guns.

"Minimum two k on person to get in," the guy replied.

"That's some pricey cunt," Logan muttered, digging into one of the internal pockets of his jacket and pulling out a wad of cash, flicking through it quickly so the guy could see he had at least the required amount.

"Premium stock man, seen it with my own eyes, you won't be disappointed, even got a few fresh ones on offer," the guy replied with a grin, as he pointed Logan toward the correct door.

The room looked like it had been intended to be an underground strip club, though it was now devoid of decoration. There was a stage at one end of the room, makeshift cages along the back wall with a number of women and girls inside them. The auction hadn't started yet but Logan knew it wouldn't be long until, one by one, they were led out onto the stage and sold off to the group of perverted men gathered around him.

With a glare at nothing, Logan grabbed the arm of one of the terrified looking “waitresses” and requested a beer, he needed something to distract himself with while he tried to figure out where exactly Kitty was. She wasn't in the cages, which told him she had probably been correctly singled out as a mutant and was being held separately. They would likely be wanting a higher price for her, possibly trying to cash in on any lab interest these 'markets' no doubt attracted.

"How long will this take?" Logan muttered to his comm, after a half hour of waiting for the bidding to start. He was getting antsy, the desire to kill someone growing with each tick of the annoyingly loud clock on the wall behind him. He desperately needed to know how long it would take the X-Men to move in once he gave them the signal, so he would know when this nightmare would be over.

As Scott responded directly into his ear with a response time, Logan noticed a fellow buyer eyeing him warily. "This takes too much longer the fucking cops are going to come sniffing," Logan muttered a little louder, and just as irritably.

The mean looking balding guy, with a beer gut and three day old body odour, chuckled. "This your first time here? Don't gotta worry about the law, that over there-" he gestured to a portly man across the room- "He's the local law," the guy informed him, chuckling again when he interpreted Logan's deepening scowl as dislike of law enforcement. "Who do you think keeps him in town? So long as he's enjoying the spoils he won't act on us, and so long as the issue doesn't affect the local population he can keep doing both -- it's a crying shame that though, there's some real pretty little things around town, looking for something special tonight myself; neighbours kid's a real looker," the guy finished, with a disgustingly leery look, as he turned to the stage to see the first girl being brought out.

It took all his willpower to hold himself in check as Logan watched the young girl stand mutely and passively in place. Fat wet tears rolled down her face, and the scent of terror wafted off her. She would be no older than twelve, with gorgeous curly strawberry blonde hair, and big blue eyes. She would be a beautiful woman some day, if she survived whatever came next after one of these howling dogs was victorious in his bid for her body.

~'Please tell me you guys are picking these off as they leave?'~ Logan telepathically begged his teammates, watching the blonde girl being dangled off the edge of the stage as her new owner counted out cash into the bookies greedy waiting hand, before he grabbed her by her handcuffed hands and dragged her from the room.

~'We've got road blocks in both directions, we'll save as many as we can,'~ Jean assured him.

After several hours the cages were empty, the crowd had thinned some but there was still an air of expectation from those remaining. He found out the reason in short order when, to hollers and jeers, two girls, in their late teens, were dragged out from a side room. Logan immediately noted one of the girls as little Kitty Pryde. The other girl he didn't recognize but his reaction to her was unexpectedly potent.

She wasn't anything special. Her hair was long, and slightly curly, a pretty shade between brown and red. She had wide green eyes, that reminded him of lush early summer grass right before it started browning off. Her height was about average, and though she was skinny from malnourishment he could tell she had a decent figure. She definitely hadn't been starved long enough for it to effect her tits. For the life of him he couldn't understand why he had so much trouble drawing his attention away from her, eventually he managed though.

~'I've got eyes on Kitty,'~ he telepathically shared, letting Jean see his view of the girl in question, looking just a little worse for wear. Like the other girl she was shackled, and had a thick metal collar around her neck. Where this rogue outfit had obtained suppression collars was something they would need to look into, they hadn't thought that tech had made it onto the black market yet.

As the MC hyped up the crowd with tall talk of the 'fine mutie merchandise' he had on offer, Logan noted Kitty's eyes warily scan the room. He was worried that, in her panicked and terrified state, she would give him away by displaying recognition when she spotted him. The most she did though was pause her gaze on him a beat longer before looking away - the terror in her scent immediately receded though. His ears perked up when Logan heard the MC mention that both girls were virgins - he spotted the quick flick of Kitty's eyes back to him even as she blushed slightly at that. He would tease her about that later, right now he was more interested to know what they knew about the other girls mutation.

The bidding started not long after, and as much as the animal inside him was demanding he leave Kitty and focus on the other girl - he wanted her, and he always got what he wanted - he had a mission to complete, and only so much money to do it with. When Kitty realised he was bidding on her however, she signalled him discreetly and indicated he should focus on the other girl. Oh well, if Kitty was fine with it... He kept up the pretence for a while longer before bowing out and letting a few other guys duke it out.

The second auction began before the winner was even across the room, and, wanting to keep as close to him as possible, Logan came in with a hard and high bid on the, so called, untouchable girl, in the hopes it would end the bidding quickly. He still had a bit of competition but his increasingly erratic bids, and a dangerous glare at his competition saw him come out victorious. Kitty had 'sold' for five and a half grand, he didn't feel the least bit cheated for closing at eight for his girl, and she was going to be his girl.

He signalled the X-Men as he stood beside the first guy, peeling off hundreds hurriedly, to finish up his purchase so he could follow Kitty closely - the plan was after all for him to have her in his possession so no one could disappear with her before the X-Men arrived.

Just as the girls were being handed over to their buyers, a surprise final piece of merchandise was dumped on the stage.

The small lump, inside a brown cloth sack, squeaked imperceptibly as it hit the ground. A moment later the sack was torn away to reveal a small child.

She was a tiny little thing, probably only four or five years old, finely built, with long, curly black hair, big sapphire blue eyes, and shimmering, translucent blue... wings. She looked like the fairies Logan had seen in the kids story books at the school, her innocent beauty was captivating, and called to him in a wholly different way to the girl whose arm he held. Even as he paused in his trek toward the exit a soft exclamation from Kitty drew his attention, and he turned in time to see her throw a pleading glance at him, begging him to help the girl. ... She knew that no matter what happened to her, the X-Men wouldn't abandon her, and they were obviously close if he was there.

Mentally calculating how much money he had left for another purchase, Logan had made up his mind even before he caught sight of the girl in his own grasp. She was staring at him intently, and when she caught his curious gaze settle on her she spoke quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Please, I'll do anything, anything you want, I won't fight you, I won't try and run away, just please, please don't let one of them get her, she's just a baby, please?" the girl begged, as the crowd around them jeered luridly over the ethereal child.

With a calculating considering look, even though he had already made up his mind, Logan listened as the bidding began while the girl held his gaze, continuing to plead with her beautiful green eyes. An ETA update came through his comm and, without taking his eyes off his purchase, he called out a bid, immediately silencing half the crowd.

"That's not fair, he's already got a girl, he can't have two!" A furious competitor called out from across the room.

"Put your god damn money where you mouth is, jackass," Logan sneered across the room, finally turning away from the girl, catching sight of Kitty again just as her ‘owner’ dragged her out the door. Another bid was placed against him as someone took him up on his challenge, and he immediately fired back.

"Fifteen," he bid, slapping almost another ten grand onto the current bid. No one dared bid higher, and in near silence the auction was called, the depleted crowd watching with bated breath to see if he was actually going to put up the cash on such an insane bid.

Logan was mentally counting down to the X-Men's arrival, as he slowly counted out his bid, he didn't have the cash so he needed them to hurry up before he ran out of notes to distract with. He was up to four thousand when all hell broke loose, in the form of half the room being blown in by a beam of red light. Taking advantage of the distraction, he immediately lashed out at the three traffickers nearest him, two counting and guarding the auctions take, the third keeping hold of Logan’s pending acquisition. All three hit the floor in various states of deceased in moments, and Logan quickly grabbed the duffel bag full of cash, as his prior purchase grabbed the now loosed fairy and did her best to shield her from flying debris and running people. Grabbing hold of the teen, Logan dragged the two girls toward the nearest exit; a back staircase that he had seen another few traffickers disappear up.

Shoving the duffel into the older girls arms too, as they approached the door at the top of the stairs, Logan pushed her to the ground, with a warning to 'stay', before he launched out the door into a volley of gunfire. The guns fell silent soon enough as the last of this batch of human trash lay cooling in the blood soaked snow, and Logan rushed back to where he had left the girls, hoping the teen had been honest when she said she wouldn't run.

She hadn't run, whether that was because she had agreed not to, or because her escape routes were cut off, he couldn't be sure. There were three men, other bidders on the auction, on their way up the stairs when Logan stepped back into the passageway. He was covered in enough gore for them to do a double-take, pausing in their advance long enough for Logan to grab the girls, who still had tight grip on the bag, and drag them out the door, mumbling as he did for the teen to 'make sure baby doesn't see this'.

They jogged quickly across the dark parking lot to where he had parked his truck, and he threw open the driver's door immediately. Boosting the girl, and her charge, off the ground he shoved her into, and across the front seat, cringing a little when he heard her slip and fall to the floor between the driver's seat and passenger seat.

"Slide into the back," he demanded, as he leapt into the driver's seat, plunging the keys into the ignition and twisting to get the old diesels coils warming. "Come on old girl, it's now or never!" he murmured to the trusty old rust bucket, as he simultaneously slammed his door and turned the key. The engine coughed, and shuddered, then roared to life. "Hold on!" he called to his passengers as he dropped the parking brake, slammed the truck into gear, and floored the gas.

The truck bounced wildly as it lurched forward, jumped the small curb hidden under the snow, drove straight over the side walk, and out onto the road, barely missing a drainage ditch in the process.

"Keep your heads down!" he directed, as he punched the gas harder, pushing the cold engine to its limit as he watched the group of men who had followed them pause, one raising a gun to shoot at the fleeing vehicle. The guy got a couple of shots off, laughably wide of his target, before the group were distracted by the building behind them collapsing into it's own basement.

For ten miles they quickly rumbled down the road, Logan constantly checking their tail to make sure they weren't being followed. All the while the girls lay quietly on the floor of the camper, the teen holding them wedged in place between the narrow couch bed and the table, while the fairy clung to her tightly, her face still buried in her chest. Once he was sure they weren't being followed, and had reached an appropriate crossroads, Logan slowed the truck, and pulled carefully to the side of the snow crusted highway.

Parked on the side of the road he turned back to the girls. "It's alright, we got away for now, come on up here darlin'," he prompted the teen, who collected the little fairy girl, and climbed back between the seats to sit down in the passenger seat.

She flinched when Logan reached toward her but relaxed when he simply grabbed the handle of the duffel bag she was still carrying, and pulled it away from her. Opening it, and pulling out wads of cash, he removed everything that wasn't actually money itself. The tender he transferred to a beat up backpack he pulled from behind the driver's seat - there must have been a good forty or fifty thousand dollars in there. Then he threw the duffel, with all the bill wrappings, and a thousand bucks for whoever discovered it, as far into the trees as he could from the road.

"Why did you do that?" the young woman in the seat beside him asked curiously, as he got back into the truck.

He did a double-take, seeing her watching him openly, no fear in her countenance, only wariness and the barest hint of concern. He found himself answering her even before he had a chance to think about why he was bothering to tell her - most of the time when working with the teens at Xavier's he did stuff and just let them figure it out for themselves.

"There's probably GPS tracers in the bag, or anything they added to the money, if I leave it all here, if they trace it, they have no clue from here which way we're going-" he pointed to each of the other three options of roadways- "Leaving a bit of money in it means whoever finds it, if not one of the bad guys, is more likely to keep their mouth shut about finding it," he explained.

The girl nodded agreeably after considering his statement, before she began to shift around in her seat. She was pulling the seatbelt around herself to secure her to the seat, before rearranging the little girl who was still clinging to her so she was comfortably cocooned in her arms.

Logan was surprised to note the little fairy wasn’t afraid, she hadn't been afraid at all this whole time, even when the human traffickers had her on the auction block. Maybe she was simply too young to realise the danger she was in, and that she should be afraid. Either way, the little girl snuggled against the teens very comfortable looking chest, her face angled toward Logan, where she watched him for a few minutes as the truck began to roll down the road again. Eventually she yawned widely, and promptly fell asleep.

"That other girl, the other mutant girl, she said someone was coming to rescue her, were you supposed to be getting her?" the girl asked softly after a time, so as to not disturb the sleeping child on top of her.

"Yes," Logan answered honestly.

"So, why did you buy me instead?" she asked in confusion.

"Because I felt like it," he replied with a shrug, how else could he explain what he didn't even understand himself, all he knew was he had to have her.

"Why did you buy her?" she queried next, indicating to the child sleeping in her arms.

With a soft grin Logan glanced over at the sleeping child. "You did ask me to," he pointed out. Sure he had already decided he was going to but if he told her that she would ask for more of an explanation, and he didn't have one.

"Who's going to rescue the other girl now?" she finally asked, softly, sounding concerned.

Smiling over at her Logan nodded. "Don't you worry, the rest of the team already got Kitty, she'll be on her way home by now," he assured her.

"And what about us... what are you doing with us?" the girl asked uncertainly.

Logan didn't answer. For several more minutes there was silence in the cab, before he reached over and fiddled with the heater knob, turning up the heat now that the engine was warmed up.

"So, what's your name darlin'?" he eventually asked, changing the subject entirely.

Not long before dawn Logan felt the slight pinching feeling of a telepath trying to contact him. With a glance at his two sleeping passengers he relaxed enough to let Charles make contact, careful to avoid him seeing any thoughts in his mind. It wouldn't do to have the old telepath getting suspicious now.

~'Chuck, Kitty okay?'~ he queried as a greeting.

~'She is doing well, she was worried about you and whether you made it out of the building before it met its unfortunate demise, I assured her you would be fine; apparently you had another girl in your possession, and she was worried about her too?'~ Charles informed him, querying the information indirectly.

~'Yeah, we both got out fine, were out before it blew, what made it go up?'~ he asked, torn between it being an accident, or One-eye intentionally having tried to finish him off.

~'Young Pyro accidentally ignited a fractured gas line, that reaction training you assisted with last time you were here worked wonders, he was able to switch his own mutations protections on very quickly, though he did receive some minor burns Jean believes they are largely superficial, and he was able to divert the explosion around his teammates,'~ Charles advised proudly. Johnny Allerdyce had been a thorn in Logan's side the whole time he had been at the school the year before, he was a mouthy, arrogant, cocky little shit. It had taken Logan kicking the shit out of him in training, while Logan was literally on fire, before Johnny had realised Logan wasn't shitting about the kids mutation not being all he thought it was. The kid was still a pain in the ass but he at least dropped the cockiness and started listening after that, and he was a fast leaner too when he applied himself.

~'Good for him,'~ Logan replied distractedly. ~'Listen, some of the folks back there got a pretty good look at me, and I didn't manage to take them all out, so, I'm going to ground for a while, do us both a favour and don't come calling any time soon,'~ he advised his old friend.

~'Of course, that would probably be best, we will try not to disturb your vacation again, I do have to ask though,'~ Xavier hesitantly began, ~'... Shall we collect the girl for you?'~

~'Nah, I'll get her home, it'll give me a reason to get out of the area,'~ Logan responded. Of course he wouldn't tell the nosy old codger whose home he was taking her to, that was need to know information, and Charles didn't need to know.

~'That makes sense,'~ Charles agreed, and after further assurance that Logan didn't require any assistance the telepath retreated, and Logan was left alone once more with his thoughts.

--

Late the following night, as the two girls again slept, Logan smoothly slowed the camper and turned off the highway, into the driveway that led to his cabin. Slowly he crawled down the rough track, trying not to jostle his passengers enough to wake them. He had been making a rather large circle around the area his property was located for a couple of hours, waiting for the cover of darkness, and the girls to fall asleep, before he risked venturing in. He didn't want the teen - Marie her name was, though she tried to give him some bolshie codename to start with, that he had just laughed at - to get any ideas about running off. If she didn't know where she was she would be less likely to try that, not that she would need to, he had no intention of harming her, though she still seemed understandably wary of him.

Eventually pulling to a stop in front of the small dark cabin that was his refuge, he eased himself out of the vehicle, leaving it running with the heater on to combat the chill of the mountain night, and headed inside. Once he had a fire roaring away, to warm the building up, he went back to get the sleeping girls. He opened the passenger door and couldn't help but grin to himself at the adorable image both sleeping beauties presented. He reached for Bella - the little blue winged fairy - first, she was on top after all, but almost shot his claws out in surprise when Marie's arms reflexively batted him away and wrapped around the little girl as he started to lift her away.

"Shit kid, you're jumpier than I am," Logan murmured with a chuckle, as Marie's eyes blinked open.

"What are you doing?" she demanded grouchily, her speech still a little slurred from sleep.

"I'm taking her inside to bed, I was going to come back for you next but seeing as you're awake now you can bring yourself in, come on," Logan directed, tugging the somehow still sleeping child from Marie’s arms, and continuing toward the cabin.

He heard Marie scramble out of the vehicle behind him, slamming the door loudly after her, accompanied a split second later by a loudly whispered 'sorry'. She caught up to him as he got to the door of the cabin, and he nudged it open with his boot to admit them.

"Bed's through here," he murmured to his shadow as she shut the door behind them, stepping through a doorway beside the fireplace into the small bedroom tucked in behind. It was warming nicely with the heat starting to soak into the stone wall that was the back of the fireplace.

"There's only one?" Marie's voice startled him.

"One what?" Logan queried, distracted by trying to figure out how he was going to turn back the blankets for the sleeping child in his arms... with a sleeping child in his arms.

"Bed... there's only one bed," Marie repeated, turning his attention fully to her.

"Yeah, there is, it'll do for tonight though, probably warmer too for the both of you since the fire hasn't been going long," Logan said, before asking if Marie could pull back the covers for him.

He lay Bella down in the bed, slipping off her shoes, and the coat he had bought her earlier that morning, then tugged the blankets back over her. Still, she was shivering a little in her sleep by the time he was done. With a smile down at her sleeping face, Logan stood and turned to Marie.

"You sleep on this side of the bed, it's closer to the fireplace so it'll be warmer, I'll sleep on the other side, if we keep Bella between us she should be plenty warm too," Logan explained. "I'll go get more wood for the fire and some extra blankets, you start warming up the bed," he said, as Marie stood in silence staring at him uncertainly. Leaving her to follow his instructions, he headed back outside to move the truck under cover and get more firewood.

By the time he got back to the bedroom with a couple of spare blankets, Marie was in bed with a still sleeping Bella cuddled up to her. Without a word he spread the blankets over the bed, before kicking off his boots, and shedding jackets, belt, and popping the button on his jeans, before crawling into bed. The bed was big enough for two people, small as she was though little Bella made it a bit of a tight fit for three he decided, as he fit himself in far enough from the edge to not fall out of bed, with Bella pressed up between him and Marie. He didn't mind though.

"’Night Marie," Logan said softly, grinning in the dark as he watched Marie watch him in the pale silvery light that filtered through the clouds and the window. Curtains might help keep some heat in, he noted absently, marking down a mental to-do to grab some curtain fabric when he went into town next. Then he finally settled in to sleep for the first time in three days.

"Stop squirming sweetie," a soft female voice murmured, as Logan felt himself drifting toward consciousness. A small foot connected with his thigh a moment later, as a younger voice answered the first.

"But I gotta pee," Bella whispered urgently.

With a groggy chuckle Logan spoke without opening this eyes. "Outhouse is out the back door, you'll need your shoes and coat, you'll have to go with her M'rie and make sure she doesn't fall in," he mumbled. As the girls slipped out of the bed and fished for coats and boots, Marie murmured an apology for waking him. "No problem, it's morning anyway," he noted, not even needing to open his eyes to detect the increased light level. "If she wants breakfast you should be able to find something in the kitchen, top the fire up, but let me sleep for a bit longer," he added, drifting back to sleep even as he heard the girls giggle in response.

A couple of hours later, with a yawn and a painful sounding stretch, Logan dragged the rest of his clothes on, and headed out to find coffee. The girls were playing a game of checkers on the kitchen table, where they found it he didn't know, and the fire was crackling away merrily. The coffee kettle was hanging near enough to the fire to keep warm without boiling dry, and a pot with some leftover baked beans was keeping warm on the hearth.

"This for me?" Logan asked, nudging the pot, as he filled a mug with hot coffee.

"Yeah if you want it, Bella's eyes were bigger than her stomach," Marie replied, grinning at the little girl who childishly stuck her tongue out at her.

For the first time it struck Logan that he hadn't really thought this through very carefully. His cabin was tiny, little more than two rooms, though there was a little loft where he would set up a bed for Bella. He didn't have indoor plumbing, or even running water. He only had one set of dishes for goodness sake, he remembered, as he recycled his spoon to eat the last of the warm beans straight out of the pot, so he didn’t have to wash the bowl too.

The girls were watching him closely, Marie still just a little wary, Bella curiously. That little girl was constant questions, and he could tell from the look on her face she was about to start asking them again.

"Why is your toilet outside?" Bella asked suddenly. "And why does it not have a flusher? Why does the hole go down so much? If I fall in it will I die?--"

Logan cut off her flood of questions with a chuckle. "Well kiddo, this house was built a long, long time ago, it used to be that all houses had their toilets outside, out here it has the advantage that there's no water pipes to freeze in winter, the hole's so deep so you don't have to smell what comes out, and yes, if you fall in, you could die, it's been known to happen. I'll make you a special seat so you don't fall in, how about that?" he quickly offered, on seeing the little girl turn wide eyes to Marie.

"I told you so," Marie just giggled, as the little girl made gagging sounds, as she focused on the part where she could die if she fell in the toilet. "Does that pump work?" Marie turned to ask Logan, gesturing toward the manual water pump.

"Most of the time," Logan confirmed, "The water tank is underground and it only draws up when you crank it, it can take a few pumps to get the water moving- where did you get the water for the coffee?" he asked curiously.

"There was some fresh snow outside," Marie replied with a semi embarrassed shrug, "I figured it would be okay if I boiled it first."

"Yeah, it would be okay without boiling so long as it's fresh, no animal tracks near it," Logan responded with a satisfied nod, pleased at her ingenuity. "I have to go to town today and get some more supplies," he added, "If there's anything specific you need me to get you, write a list," he informed Marie, pointing to a drawer on the sideboard where she found a notepad and pencil when she followed his direction.

"Can I come?" Bella asked hopefully, bouncing off her chair and over to where Logan sat in the old leather armchair by the fire. She looked for all the world like she wanted to climb into his lap, so, Logan set aside his coffee and scooped her up, setting her on his knee.

"No sweetheart, not this time," Logan advised, grimacing when the little girl pouted adorably. "Sweetheart, you know the place where I got you from- the bad men?-" the young girl nodded- "Well darling, one of the reasons they had you was because of your pretty wings--"

"You think my wings are pretty?" Bella asked in innocent surprise.

"I sure do sweetheart," Logan replied with a grin, "I think they're adorable, and perfect, and pretty- but not everyone else thinks that, and there are people out there that- well, they want to hurt you, for having pretty wings, I don't want that to happen, not to you, and because I'll have to kick their butts if anyone does hurt you, so for now, you need to stay here but I'll find you a coat or a cloak or something that hides your wings and maybe next time you can come to town with me, okay?"

"Oh, okay, are you going to take Marie with you?" Bella queried, pointing out logically, "She doesn't have wings."

"Nah kiddo, someone has to stay here and make sure you stay out of trouble," Logan replied, tickling the little girl when she grinned impishly at him. When the pair finished their impromptu tickle fight, and Bella lay across his lap, stretching her tiny feet out toward the fire to warm her toes, Logan turned his attention back to Marie. "List done?" he asked, catching her attention from where she had been absently staring into space.

"Um, I think so," Marie returned hesitantly, handing him the paper she had scribbled a few things on.

Logan scanned over the list. "What size clothes are you both?" he asked, noting the lack of clothing items, aside from 'socks', on the list. He made a few additions of his own to the list before tugging on his jackets, boots, and collecting his keys and a handful of cash. "Don't burn the place down while I'm gone," Logan commented, ruffling Bella’s hair before he slipped out into the chilly morning.

"What are we doing now?" Bella asked excitedly, as soon as the rumble of the truck disappeared.

"Well..." Marie began, glancing around the small cabin. It was quite small, the main room was about fifteen by twenty feet, the small bedroom, about fifteen feet square, there appeared to be a small loft above the bedroom too but there was no ladder to access it. Outside didn't provide much more, there was an open lean-to along the back length of the building, full to the brim with stacked firewood in one direction, and then the outhouse in the other - the outhouse was slightly less inconvenient to use due to it being accessible from the lean-to, so you couldn't easily be blocked off by snow to get there.

"Well, I think the first thing to do, is clean this house, let's start with making the bed shall we?" she suggested, smiling as Bella animatedly threw herself into the task.

After making the bed, they set about collecting and folding the clothes that had been left around the room. They searched through the bureau drawers until they found where all of Logan's clothes went - though Marie set aside the ones that she thought could do with being washed. Their own clothes amounted to what they were wearing, and the coats they hung on the pegs by the backdoor. Bella insisted on sweeping the floor, and Marie used her distraction as a chance to be nosy, she wanted to know as much about her... owner, as she could. It wasn't that she didn’t trust him but... well, he did buy her after all, from human traffickers, and he seemed to have no intention of letting them go.

When she opened one of the drawers in the rustic bedside table, she felt her cheeks warm as she blushed. Her promise to him flooded back to her. Dear god, no wonder this man wasn't letting her go, she essentially promised to be his whore, and he had enough damn condoms for that. With a nervous sigh, she glanced across the room at Bella, who was dancing around the room humming happily to herself as she 'swept'. If her sacrifice, her discomfort, saved little Bella from what would have been a terrible fate for such a sweet little girl, she could live with that she decided, as she silently slid the drawer closed.

There was a curtain rod above the rooms lone window, in fact - there were curtain rods over all four of the tiny cabins windows - but no curtains to be seen. From standing on the kitchen counter Marie could see a chest in the loft, and wondered if that might perhaps contain curtains. She also spotted what looked like it might be a ladder, pushed up the top. Using the armchair, which was thankfully solid enough for her to climb onto the back of when it was pushed up against the wall, she managed to reach what she thought was the ladder and drag it down, she also found the anchor point to fix the ladder into place.

She was pushing the lid of the chest open just as she heard Bella's voice behind her.

"I cleaned all the part of the window I could reach, Marie, what do I do now?" little Bella asked, as she climbed over the edge of the loft.

"Most importantly, don't fall," Marie teased, before she turned back to observe the contents of the chest.

There were indeed curtains contained inside, thick dark green woollen curtains which would work wonders for keeping the cold out. Shaking each one out one by one, Bella giggled as she chased disturbed mothballs around the loft and caught them up to return to the chest. Gathering up the curtains Marie threw them out of the loft, aiming for the armchair, before she and Bella climbed down the ladder again. Bella managed the ladder without any trouble and Marie breathed a sigh of relief; the loft was small, she couldn't see fitting two beds up there, so she assumed Logan was intending to sleep Bella up there alone. There was nowhere else for another bed, and while Logan had said last nights sleeping situation wouldn't be permanent, she couldn't see him forgoing his own bed to sleep in the tiny loft.

The girls worked side-by-side the rest of the morning, hanging curtains, washing windows, sweeping floors. They dusted the loft, and went through the rest of the items in the chest, mostly other housewares, blankets and quilts. Rolled up in the bottom, wrapped in what appeared to be a length of silk, was a dark green woollen coat. It was obviously cut for a woman, it had long sleeves, a large hood, and the 'skirt' of the coat was full and went down to the floor. It looked to Marie like something a woman would have worn back in the eighteen-hundreds, over a full or bustled dress.

"It's so pretty, it should be yours!" Bella declared, as she pushed Marie to try it on.

"I don't think that's a good idea, this is special, it might be something sentimental of Logan's," Marie explained – then had to explain what the word ‘sentimental' meant - before rolling the coat back up carefully and wrapping it again in the silk. She would take it downstairs though and put it in Logan's room, then Bella could use the chest for any clothes Logan bought for her.

There was a bed frame in the loft but it had no mattress on it, so instead Marie and Bella made a 'bed', out of the quilts and blankets from the chest, on the floor by the chimney. The chimney was nice and cosily warm, and warmed the little loft space nicely. Bella immediately asked Marie if she thought Logan would let her have the loft as her room - it seemed like she loved it. Once they had hung the smallest curtain over the loft window, they retreated back to the ground floor to tackle the last room; after collecting more firewood and topping the cosy crackling fire up again.

"Bella," Marie said softly, catching the little girls attention once they were back inside. She had been debating about how to broach a certain subject, in a way that didn't upset Bella, or make her overly cautious or afraid, all morning. Bella had finally given her an opening, and a way to bring it up. "Sweetheart, you can't wander off like that," Marie scolded gently, watching as Bella hung her head a little.

"I just wanted to see the birdie," Bella replied, pouting adorably.

"I know sweetie but you can't go off on your own like that, you don't know what might be in the snow, the snow might be covering up a hole that you might fall into, or a bear trap, there might be wild animals that might grab you, or bad people, or you could wander too far and get lost," Marie pointed out. "If you want to look at something like that again, you tell me and I'll come with you, okay? It's very, very important that you always stay where I can see you, alright?" Marie stated.

"Uh-huh, okay, and Logan too, right?" Bella responded, a bright smile lighting her face.

"... It's very important you always stay where *I* can see you, even if you're with Logan I should always be able to see you," Marie replied, not wanting to say anything the might cause the girl to be scared of the man.

"Why can't Logan watch me too?" Bella asked, confusion on her face.

"Well, Logan... I don't think Logan has much experience with little kids, he might not realise some things that might hurt you," Marie offered tentatively.

"I'm not a little kid, I'm a big girl!" Bella replied with a scowl.

Marie giggled. "Yes of course you are, and you're a big girl who stays where I can see her, okay?" she pressed again.

"Okay," Bella replied, with an exasperated sigh and a roll of her pretty blue eyes.

"Promise?" Marie asked, raising a brow sceptically.

"Promise!" Bella answered with a giggle.

"Good, for now, we’re staying here in this kitchen and trying to figure out what all these things do, it looks like we've got all the ingredients for making bread, except an oven, but I think that's what that box is in the side of the fireplace..." Marie began to murmur, mostly to herself, as she pulled things out of cupboards and dusted them off.

--

"Shit, maybe I should have brought Marie," Logan muttered to himself, glancing between the list he held in his hand, and the shelf in front of him. Who the hell would have ever known there were so many different kinds of tampons! Well, Marie probably, if that was the case she could have given him a little more direction than just writing down 'tampons'.

"Uh, can I help you sir?" a nervous female voice almost squeaked, from about halfway down the aisle.

"I hope so," Logan replied, grinning at the young shop assistant, no need to traumatize the girl, she should know this too, right? "My girl asked me to grab her some tampons, she wasn't very specific though, anything special about these or does anything go?" he asked the girl, who suddenly wasn't so nervous anymore. In fact, she looked like she was trying not to laugh at him, and simultaneously drooling over him.

It took a few minutes for the girl to explain the different types of tampons, before Logan eventually selected a few that should cover all bases, and moved on to the next thing he needed. He almost did a double take after thanking the shop assistant and walking away, when he could have sworn he heard her sigh dreamily behind him. Hell, if he had known talking about tampons turned chicks on like that before he would have had even less trouble picking up women. He saw the same girl as he was waiting at the checkout, whispering with some of her friends, and giggling as they tried to watch him without being so obvious, making their actions even more obvious. With a shake of his head, he headed out with the last of his purchases.

He ended up having to pile the groceries on the front seat and foot well, thanks to the back of the camper being loaded up, but it wasn't too far back to his cabin from here.

He breathed an unconscious sigh of relief when he drove out of the trees and into the cabin clearing an hour later. Not only was the cabin still standing but smoke was still lazily curling out of the chimney, indicating the fire was being tended. Marie and Bella were still there. An odd feeling accompanied that thought, contentment definitely, a feeling of home, but also a tiny little inkling of guilt- that he was sure must be his conscience- nagging at him that he was, for all intents and purposes, holding them prisoner.

Unsurprisingly, his overwhelming response to that was for his conscience to go fuck itself. He had no intention of harming either girl, or forcing them - Marie specifically - to do anything... much... that she didn't want to do. He wasn't even going to force them to stay, if Marie really hated it here, or hated him - though he planned to do everything in his power to avoid that outcome - he would set her up somewhere safe, maybe take her to Xavier's. But those were, hopefully, worries for another day, or better yet, never.

First, he had to finish setting the two girls up in his home. He backed the camper up, as close to the front porch as he could get it, and then headed inside with the first load of groceries.

The smell hit him the moment little Bella pulled the cabin door open, fresh baked bread, or, baking bread, filled the cabin. An involuntarily feeling washed over him with that smell... somewhere in his brain there were memories associated with that smell but all that could filter out to his conscious mind was a feeling of peace, of home, and happiness. He caught himself smiling, again, at the flour dusted girl tugging him inside by the hem of his jacket.

"We made bread!" Bella declared, rushing to the fireplace, and pointing excitedly at the little built in oven box.

"Now how did you manage that?" Logan queried, setting groceries down on the tiny kitchen counter; when Marie shooed him away from the table she was trying to clear of flour dust.

"We cleaned the kitchen, and Marie found a recipe book, and pans to put the dough in, and we mixed in the yeas' and made the flour go all puffy, and Marie said when it's cooked we can eat it, with soup, so long as it doesn't get burned, Marie didn't know if the oven would work, she said it doesn't have a temp-a-chur thingy, and we can't watch it because there's no glass, and it takes soooo long, you should get a microwave, they cook much faster," Bella rambled out at a million miles an hour.

Logan just ruffled her hair with a chuckle before he turned to Marie, who was watching him uncertainly. She had worn that look almost constantly since he had picked her up, and it was starting to bother him. "You found the cellar I take it?" he nodded to the rug on the floor that covered the trapdoor that led down into the old cabins root cellar.

"Yeah," Marie nodded, "I also took some of the vegetables and meat and made a stew, or soup, sort of, don't know if I followed the recipe right... I hope you don't mind, Bella was starting to get hungry and I didn't know how much longer you were going to be--" Marie trailed off, blushing pink and ducking her head in embarrassment, or fear, one or the other, he couldn’t quite tell at this stage.

"I don't mind at all, sounds good, and it smells delicious, what's say we go bring in the rest of the shopping and then have us some good food, hm?" Logan queried, picking Bella up off the floor as she began to bounce excitedly again, and carrying her outside to the truck.

"First things first," Logan said, popping the camper door open, and sitting a barefoot Bella on the floor inside. He snagged one shopping bag and dragged it closer, pulling out a packet of socks, pink woolly socks. He slipped one sock onto each of Bella's feet, and tugged them up as far as they would go; all the way up to her knees.

"They warm enough for you?" Logan asked, grinning when the little girl squealed excitedly and wiggled her toes in the fluffy coverings. Then he pulled out a pair of rubber boots, and slid them on her feet too. "They're a little big but you should grow into them soon enough, you can wear these outside but no coming inside with dirty boots on, you got it?" Logan teased, even as Bella beamed proudly, and ran to show her new boots to Marie, who was just following them out to the truck.

For the first time, that he had seen, Marie actually smiled, a genuine happy smile, not tinted with wariness. It looked good, and he couldn't help the feeling that he wanted to try harder to make sure that smile came back, or better yet, stayed in her face for good. After complimenting Bella on her new boots – Logan got her the decorated ones rather than the plain black ones, these ones were purple with little smiling insects on them, and the little girl was animatedly pointing out ladybugs and caterpillars – Marie moved over to the truck to see what else he had bought.

Logan was wrestling with a mattress, trying to drag it back out the door he had shoved it in, and Marie helpfully caught the end before it could fall loose and land in the snow slush. They carried it inside as Bella followed along after them asking questions, as she always did.

"This, little lady, is your new bed," Logan finally replied, as he set the mattress down and eyed the loft. "You okay with being upstairs?" he asked.

"Yay!" Bella squealed, "Yes, yes, we cleaned it up too," she told him.

"I can see that," Logan replied, catching sight of changes he had missed the first time he came in. "You stand back and I'll get this upstairs," Logan prompted, shooing Bella back, and then back a little further, before he hefted the heavy mattress and pushed it upwards, and into the loft.

He heard Bella murmur in awe, “Wow, he's like superman!”, as he followed the mattress upstairs, and lifted it again to place it on the old bed frame. Smiling down at the little pile of soft quilts and blankets on the floor, he picked those up and dumped them on the bed, before he shifted the entire bed, so it was butting up next to the chimney.

"Hey! You messed up my bed," Bella pouted, as her head appeared over the edge of the loft.

"You don't need to sleep on the floor now, come on over and let's make this bed for you," Logan offered, waving her over as he called down below to ask Marie to bring up the sheets he had purchased.

Marie was there moments later, tossing bags of bedding into the loft, and then climbing up herself to help make the bed. "I don't think she needs this many pillows," Marie giggled, as she tugged pillows out of oversize plastic shopping bags; there were about six pillows in total.

"Yes I do!" Bella declared, grabbing a pillow and swinging it at Logan as she declared loudly, "Pillow fight!"

They tussled for a while batting each other with pillows, and Marie was surprised to note that though Logan was firm with Bella, he was still gentle and even let her pin him a few times. Eventually, when Bella was giggling so hard she could hardly breath, Logan called time on the pillow fight and admitted all the pillow weren't for Bella.

"You can have two kiddo, the rest go downstairs," Logan stated, ignoring Bella's pout. "And hurry up and finish making your bed and come back down because I bought more stuff," Logan advised.

By the time Marie and Bella finished the bed and descended the ladder, Logan had unloaded several large boxes, which apparently held flat packed furniture, and was now hauling in bags of clothes. He directed the girls to the front of the truck where there was more groceries waiting, and they unloaded those into the kitchen before Marie began sorting out what could go where - some would need to go to the cellar, so she would have to set that aside and wait for Logan to be finished.

"Your bread's done darlin," Logan called out from the loft a short time later; he was busy putting together a dresser with Bella's... ‘help’.

Marie reached over for the timer she had found and set, only to see it had stopped working about a minute after she set it. Cursing under her breath she moved to the small oven, opening it up carefully with the help of a dishcloth; to protect her hand from the hot metal handle. The loaves within were puffy and golden, though a little darker on the side that was closest to the fire. Pulling them out, she carefully turned them out of the tins, half expecting the bottoms to still be dough - they weren't! - and set them aside to cool.

"I'm hungry," Bella announced loudly, appearing suddenly at her side and making Marie start in surprise.

"The soup is almost done," Marie promised, "Would you like an apple in the meantime or can you wait?" With a heavy sigh Bella agreed she could wait, and scrambled back up the ladder to the loft, a lot louder than she had apparently descended just moments before.

With her out of the way, Marie went back to collect the soup, moving it from the fire to the table, cringing a little when she realised something was burned to the bottom. She dished up a bowl for Bella, and set it aside to cool for a while. With that done she set the table with the new dishes Logan had bought, and sliced up the warm bread into thick, mostly even, slices. She could hear Logan and Bella talking up in the loft and knew they were almost done, so she decided to wait for them to finish rather than interrupting.

While she was waiting she decided to start unpacking some more of the boxes Logan had brought in. She was surprised to find a stack of boxes filled with books, both fiction and non-fiction for adults. Another box contained books and toys, for a child Bella's age. She had just picked up a ragdoll, dressed like a fairy, complete with wings, when Logan climbed down the ladder from the loft, Bella riding on his back.

"What's that?" Bella queried, when she spotted the doll.

"I think this might be for you," Marie offered, handing the doll to the little girl, who turned it all around until she had thoroughly examined the whole doll.

"It's got wings... just like me," Bella commented in awe, gently unfolding the dolls fairy wings. "Thank you," she said, throwing her arms around Logan. Then of course, she wanted to sit the doll at the table to eat dinner...

"No toys at the table," Logan insisted, "Put it on the chair over there and when you're finished eating you can take it upstairs," grinning when Bella pouted grumpily before doing what she was told.

As they ate, Logan watched in amusement as Bella leaned forward over her plate and squinted at her dinner. Eventually he felt he had to ask, "What the hell are you looking for kid?"

"Onions," Bella replied, glaring at her plate. "I don't like onions, and I know Marie put them in, she said she didn't but she chopped them, so they must be somewhere but I can't see them," she explained.

With a grin Logan glanced at Marie, who was wearing a smirk of her own. He knew there were onions in the meal, he could taste them but like Bella he couldn't see any. Though in saying that... it was getting pretty dark now that the sun was just dipping below the horizon. Without a word he stood up from the table, and collected one of the oil lamps off the mantle. A strike of a match, and a few moments later, he carried the lamp to the table.

"Can you see better now?" he asked, setting the lamp down in the middle of the table.

The little girl didn't answer straight away, instead she got distracted glancing around the room. "You got no lights?" she said suddenly, a frown on her face as she considered that thought.

"Yep, this house was built before bathrooms and electricity, that's what the lamp is for, but the lamps work with fire so you have to be real careful with them so you don't accidentally set anything on fire that shouldn't be, like, the table, your bed, the house," Logan said seriously.

Bella was curious then, and interrupted her dinner to get him to show her how the lamp worked. Eventually she remembered her hunger, and the mystery of the vanishing onions, and went back to her meal, thoroughly inspecting each spoonful of stew to be sure she didn't get any onions. Marie watched her with an amused look, knowing she was eating all the onion without even realizing it.

After the meal was finished, Logan washed the dishes while Marie and Bella went to the loft and folded all of Bella's new clothes away into her new drawers. Then they unpacked the last of the days purchases, finding places for all the books, and toys that now belonged to Bella. When the little girl finally yawned so widely she almost fell over backwards, Logan announced it was time for her to go to bed.

"Will you read me a bedtime story?" Bella begged Logan, when she came rushing back inside after using the outhouse.

"Of course sweetheart, you go put your pjs on and I'll be up soon," he instructed, watching with a grin as she scrambled up the ladder.

Her voice filtered down a moment later. "Logan, I can't see my jammies, it's too dark."

With a chuckle the man in question collected one of the spare lamps and moved it upstairs to Bella's room, setting it up on her new bedside table and lighting it for her. He left her to find her pyjamas and get ready for bed, with another warning to be careful with the lamp.

"Is that safe?" Marie asked apprehensively, as she watched Bella's larger than life shadow flicker on the upstairs wall and ceiling.

"It worked for kids for hundreds of years, worst case scenario she burns everything down," Logan replied, with a chuckle and a shrug. For some reason that didn't appear to fill Marie with confidence.

Marie busied herself with general tidying downstairs as she listened to Logan reading Bella a bedtime story, and another, then another. He finally told the little girl three stories was enough, and if she behaved herself and went to sleep now he would read to her again tomorrow. Marie was relieved to note he blew the lamp out before he came down the ladder again, just in time to catch her yawn widely.

"Time for bed for you too darlin," he teased with a grin.

Though it looked like a nice, soft smile, Marie couldn't help the shiver of fear that ran down her spine. There was only one other bed, clearly Logan intended her to sleep with him again, this time just the two of them. With Bella out of the way that could only mean... Well, she did promise him anything, and if it stopped him laying a hand on the little girl, she would live with it. She still flinched when his hand touched her arm.

"You go get ready for bed, I'll lock up and be in soon," he said, as his hand skimmed up her arm, and down her back, before he gently encouraged her, with the hand now at her waist, toward the bedroom.

Moving into the bedroom, Marie warily eyed the pile of clothes Logan had purchased for her. She hadn't gotten around to putting them away yet but she had sorted them out into general piles. There were three items that looked like bed wear, a thick pair of flannel two piece pyjamas, another thick flannel nightgown, and a short silk nightie - the sexy kind Marie would never have imagined wearing but looked like the sort of thing a man like Logan would want to see a woman wearing. She didn't want to wear that, and not just because it looked like what her owner would want her to wear, it also looked like it would leave her freezing cold, even under the heavy pile of blankets on the bed.

She had just finished pulling on the flannel nightgown when Logan stepped into the room. He gave her a once over glance, and nodded as if he were happy with what he saw, before he began to strip off his own clothes. Turning away from him hurriedly, as he began to work on dropping his pants, Marie busied herself getting into bed. It took Logan a few minutes to get ready for bed, he seemed to be tossing up himself what to wear to bed, before he tugged on a pair of sweatpants. He sat on the edge of the bed for a few moments, before he extinguished the lamp on the bedside table, and rolled under the covers. Marie immediately tensed, as she felt him shift into his preferred position, and she very nearly screamed when he reached out and tugged her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her as he murmured for her to relax and sleep.

An hour later Marie was still lying silently, tense and unmoving, spooned against his warm, masculine body. She had thought Logan had fallen asleep from his deep, even breathing, and she jumped in fright when he spoke to her suddenly.

"Darlin if you don't relax neither one of us is going to get any sleep," he said softly, his tone smothered in amusement. When she stayed quiet, he shifted them both around a little more, rolling her onto her back so he could look down at her - though how he could see her in the dark she didn't know. "What's wrong Marie?" he asked gently a moment later.

"It's a little hard to relax when..." she started, trying to reign in her thoughts and emotions before she either got mad or started crying.

"When?" Logan asked gently, his hand moving from her waist to her arm, rubbing her arm in a way that felt oddly comforting for the circumstances. "When?" he pressed, a little more insistently when she still didn't speak.

Anger won out, just by a fraction, and she snapped at him. "When you're a piece of goddamn property, owned by a grown man who wants to do god knows what to you!" she said, tearing up as terrifying thoughts of 'god knows what' began to creep into her mind. She might lack physical experience, by sheer grace of god, but she was nowhere near naive. She knew that if he wanted to, he could hurt her in ways she couldn't even imagine, probably the only few ways she had left to be hurt.

"Marie... darlin I don't consider you property, and I don't intend to lay a hand on you, anything that happens between us, if anything happens between us, will only be something we both want and are both comfortable with," Logan replied gently, and she could almost hear the smile in his words. "I know you made promises Marie, promises you didn't particularly want to make, promises you made to protect Bella, I don't have any intention of collecting on those promises, I want nothing more than for you to both be happy, and warm, and safe, and cared for, and that's what I'm going to do. Don't get me wrong you're a beautiful girl, and if you wanted it I wouldn't say no, hell I've done enough shit in my life to know I don't deserve anyone as sweet, and caring as you in my life but I'm also not stupid enough to turn down the opportunity when it presents itself. All I want to do to you right now, is make sure you get a decent nights sleep, you worked hard today - I don't think this place has been so clean in decades - you deserve a nice night of peaceful, warm sleep, so relax, please, sleep, I'll be right here beside you to keep you warm and safe, that's all," Logan assured her. By the time he finished talking, she did feel a lot more relaxed, she wasn't sure if she believed him entirely but it was a start.

She nodded in agreement, into the darkness, before rolling back over onto her side. Logan lay down behind her, and wrapped his arm back around her. Despite the fact nothing had really changed, the embrace this time felt comforting, rather than restricting, and Marie felt herself relaxing by degrees, until her eyes fluttered shut.

The last thing she heard was Logan whisper into her hair, "Goodnight darlin."

The next morning Marie was surprised to find on waking, that she was alone in the bed. Though the blankets behind her were still warm, so she knew Logan hadn't been gone long. She listened silently, trying to figure out where he was in the small house, and heard a near silent metallic scrape that she recognized as the kettle being shifted on the grate by the fire. A moment later she heard his voice rumble quietly.

"What are you doing up already kiddo, it's pretty early and still cold, you should go back to bed for a bit longer, until the fire's warmed up the cabin some more," he said, obviously speaking to Bella, who answered him sleepily a moment later to advise she needed to go to the bathroom. "You need help?" he asked, causing Marie to almost leap out of bed to get there first, before Bella murmured softly that she could do it herself.

A few minutes later, she heard the sound of Bella's little boots clomp back inside and the door close softly. Logan chuckled softly as the little girl groused about how cold it was outside, before Marie heard the ladder to the loft squeak a little as Bella scrambled upstairs, and padded back to her bed. A minute later the back door opened and closed again, and the tiny cabin fell silent but for the soft pops and crackles of the logs in the fire.

Just as Marie was starting to fall back to sleep, her own body decided to get her up. Tugging on her coat, she silently moved through the cabin, popping her head into the loft to be certain Bella was in her own bed, alone, before she slipped her boots on and headed outside.

Logan paused where he was standing over a basin that was sat on a small shelf, a small mirror mounted on the wall of the house in front of it. He was shaving, sort of, he was missing most of his scruffy facial hair. Not that she could blame him, it was so cold up here in the mountains that if she could grow facial hair she would probably leave it to grow too, just to keep warm.

"Morning," Logan offered with a grin, before he went back to shaving with a wicked looking straight razor. She idly wondered, as she watched the razor move across his neck, if he would flinch if she yelled boo but some part of her, the bit that was starting to think maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all, wouldn't let her find out.

"Morning," she returned softly, as she walked past him to get to the outhouse. By the time she was finished, Logan was done shaving, and he had moved on to washing... with snow...!

"Isn't that cold?" she couldn't help but ask, as she watched Logan scrub a handful of snow over his bare chest.

"A little, but it gets your blood pumping which warms you back up," he replied, with another grin, "Want to try it?"

"No, not particularly," Marie replied, trying her damndest to stop her own lip curling in a responding look. "Well, I'll leave you to it," she murmured softly, chancing a look back over her shoulder as she let herself back inside. She tried not to let herself debate whether his chest, with it's heavy dusting of dark hair, was better looking than his heavily muscled back. Though she failed spectacularly in that endeavour she still couldn't decide, even as she kicked herself for thinking about him that way. Despite what he said about not considering her property, he still bought her, he owned her--

"You know I've been thinking," Logan spoke suddenly behind her, as quiet as his words were they still made her jump as she spun around to face him. Damn he moved quietly... and he had put his shirt back on, double damn. "Sorry, you okay? I didn't mean to startle you," Logan added, a worried look crossing his face as he took a few more steps toward her.

She thanked her lucky stars he pinned her flustered state on fright, she didn't want to go giving him any ideas. "It's okay, you move quietly, I didn't hear you come in," she covered, shifting nervously.

"Sorry, I'll try to remember, stealth's just- something that comes natural," Logan hedged.

"Is that something to do with the knives?" she asked suddenly in response. At his shocked look she continued, "I saw them at the auction, you killed those guys with them," she pointed out.

"... Shit, I was hoping you hadn't seen that," Logan grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "D-do you think Bella--"

"No, she didn't see," Marie assured him. Finding it again unsettling how he seemed concerned, though not for himself.

"Good, poor kid's probably going to have enough nightmares from that experience," Logan murmured softly.

"Anyway, that's sort of what I was thinking about, and your comment last night, about being my property," Logan continued with his original thought, as he stepped past her and poured himself a mug of now hot coffee. "You realise I took my money back from those fuckers, I didn't pay them one red cent for you, didn't get a receipt either, I don't own you darlin... and I don't want to own you either, yeah, I'd love it if you stayed here, with me, I felt something when I saw you that I've never felt before, a connection...

“I've been alone a long time, and it- it felt good, even if you just want to live here, and that's all, I'd like the company, it doesn't have to be anything more... We're going to be snowed in within the week so it's too late to go anywhere else now but if you really hate it here, come spring I can take you somewhere else, there's a place in New York, a school, for mutants, they'll take you in if you don't have anywhere else to go," he offered, though she could tell it was a reluctant offer.

"And Bella?" Marie asked.

"That would be up to her, I doubt she ended up with the traffickers by accident so I doubt her parents want her back, she's a little young for the school, and I've kind of got attached," Logan returned, a soft, lopsided grin settling onto his face. "I'd probably keep her, if she wants to stay, I don't know if I've got what it takes to be a dad but... I'd be better than nothing, or just being another face in the crowd at the school - no offence to the staff of course but... she's so little, she needs someone one-on-one to take care of her, a parent, you know, I'd give it my damn best shot."

"What if she doesn't want to stay?" Marie demanded.

Logan sighed dejectedly. "I guess I drop her off when I drop you off then," he murmured, "But don't write me off yet darlin." With that, he swallowed the rest of his coffee before flashing a smile at her, and walking back into the bedroom.

Marie busied herself making a warm breakfast for Bella. Porridge was easy enough to make over the fire, and it filled the house with the delicious smell of the spices she used to flavour it - cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and the heady sweetness of brown sugar. She had been surprised to discover so many herbs and spices among the groceries Logan bought and had the cabin stocked with, he looked like a meat and potatoes kind of guy, the type of man who wouldn't know the name of any flavour beyond salt and black pepper. She again caught herself wondering about the mass of contradictions that were being revealed as she observed him.

Bella hurriedly dressed herself in the loft when Marie called up to her that her breakfast was ready, and the pair were sitting at the table eating when Logan came back out of the bedroom. He didn't stop to eat, instead he headed outside... but not for long.

"Are you hungry?" Marie asked, watching him curiously as he made his way back to the bedroom with a hammer and some nails.

"I'll be there in a minute," Logan replied, as he disappeared into the room.

They were disturbed a moment later by hammering, and turned around to see Logan nailing a thick blanket over the doorway of the bedroom. Once he was done, he hammered a peg of some sort into the wall, then bent it a little, before gathering the blanket up and tucking it behind the peg. "A little privacy for you," he said, as he took a seat at the table, promising to hang a curtain for Bella too into the loft.

"And I'll build you both a vanity today so you have somewhere to wash where it's a bit warmer than outside, there's no shower, not in winter at least, but there is a small tub, I usually just drag it inside and fill it with water heated on the fire, it's a time consuming process though so you probably won't be able to do that too often, once a week at most, so most of your washing will have to be done with a washcloth and basin,” he advised.

If Marie was being honest with herself, he sounded nervous, and it was making her feel just a little nervous too. Was he just being nice, trying to make them comfortable, or was he trying to lull them into a false sense of security. She kept her thoughts to herself and decided to wait him out, if his intentions were dodgy it wouldn't take long for him to show his true colours.

They were lying in bed one night about a week later, both lost in their own thoughts.

Marie always slept with her back to Logan, he would often spoon against her, which she quickly got used to. The nights he slept on his back, or even facing away from her, she found herself feeling a little neglected, as much as she didn't want to feel any connection to him at all. One thing she had noted through their association was that he was always gone from the bed before she woke. She knew about the 'morning wood' phenomenon, from her teenage gossip sessions with her friends who had less strict parents, and she had begun to suspect that was why Logan was never around when she woke.

He seemed to be actively avoiding any contact with her that could be seen as sexual, aside from them sharing a bed. Though even that action was undertaken almost as platonically as one could imagine. As a result she had quickly found herself becoming comfortable, and maybe even a little curious. After all, what was there to stop her now, her strict religious parents had thrown her out, the collar the traffickers had slapped around her neck had taken care of her mutation, and she couldn't see Logan objecting if she approached him. Maybe she should wear that sexy silk nightie to bed tomorrow night--

"Marie?" Logan's voice suddenly sounded softly, interrupting her thoughts as his hand reached out and stroked her arm.

Here it comes, she couldn't help but think, here came the part where he got tired of waiting for her to crack, or maybe he thought she was comfortable enough she wouldn't resist, and now he was going to turn into the horrible piece of human trash she had known he was right from the minute she saw him bidding among the crowd at the slave auction...

"Darlin, do you want me to take that collar off?" he asked, interrupting her suspicious musings. "I probably should have offered before but, well, they said your mutation stopped your skin from being touched, and it wasn't controllable... I probably should have asked you about that though, how would they know after all..." Logan mumbled as he mused. "I can take it off for you if you want me to," he eventually reiterated firmly.

Marie rolled over and stared at him, glaring suspiciously at him. "Why would you do that? They told you my skin puts people into comas, why would you risk that?" she asked him.

Logan shrugged, a grin touching his lips as he regarded her in return. "My claws could- have, killed people, you trust me enough to sleep right there beside me, I trust you not to use your mutation on me," he replied. "Not like you'd get far even if you did, we're too far away from town for you to get there before you’d freeze," he added, referencing the sharp decline in the weather, including the steady snow they'd had for the last eighteen hours.

She observed him calculatingly for a couple of minutes, before she could accept the fact that he was being completely honest. He trusted her not to harm him with her mutation, even though he knew nothing about it.

With a soft, sad sigh she replied softly, "I wouldn't want to use on you but... I really can't control it, I don't even know what it is, what exactly it does just... when people touch my skin they- they seize, and sometimes go into a coma, and I can hear their voice in my head, see their thoughts, memories, sometimes they fade after a while, I think that's when the people wake up again... some of them have never gone away." Her eyes began to water, and eventually a fat tear dropped from one eye and slid sideways across her cheek until it disappeared into her hair. She wasn't surprised when she felt Logan's large, warm hand cradle her cheek as his thumb wiped away the tear track.

"Well, I can't claim to be an expert on mutations but I could help you practice controlling it if you want." At Marie's sudden startled look he added, "The claws aren't my only mutation, not even my main mutation, I heal, from damn near anything, I'd probably be able to stand your mutation better than any normal person." She still obviously didn't look convinced so he continued, "I could take it off really carefully so, if you wanted to, you could put it back on later?" he added to his offer.

Marie considered his comments, regarding him curiously before she said with a sigh, "It's not safe, what if Bella touched me, I wouldn't want to hurt her."

"Bella's big enough to understand, besides, it only works if you touch skin, right? Well, it's winter, your clothes are pretty covering, less chance of accidentally touching, me and Bella can cover up more too," Logan pointed out. "And you're never going to learn to control it if you don't try, it's like riding a bike, sure you're probably going to fall off at some point while you're learning, I'm happy to be here to catch you."

"I could kill you," Marie reiterated firmly.

"Would that be a bad thing?" Logan asked, smirking at her when she looked up at him startled. "Come on, I know you hate my guts, you've been so overprotective of Bella... I'll be honest, that's making me feel a little uncomfortable, I mean, I haven't done anything to suggest I might harm her, and I never would, but having you always appearing whenever she and I are together... I know you don't trust me but I don't know how many more ways I can show you I'm not a threat, not to you, and not to Bella... I figured you having your mutation available as a defence would help calm you down a little," Logan admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"Why haven't you tried to have sex with me?" Marie blurted suddenly, her thoughts moving back to suspicion.

"Marie..." Logan broke off with a frustrated sigh, that turned into an irritated sounding growl as he scrubbed his hand over his face thoughtfully. "Darlin, as I've said, I have no intention of laying a hand on you like that, if anything like that happens it's going to be by mutual consent," he paused for a moment, seemingly in thought. "Do you want me to-- ... Is that why you're so worried about me being around Bella? Do you think you not having sex with me means I'm going to try something with her?" he suddenly blurted out, as that terrible thought occurred to him.

The immediate aversion of Marie's eyes, and the light embarrassed blush that stained her cheeks obviously told him plainly that that was indeed one of her fears.

"Fucking hell!" Logan growled dangerously, throwing back the blankets as he leapt from the bed and began to pace the cold floor. "How the fuck-- why the fuck-- do you really think I would do something that sick and perverted!" he growled, his voice dangerously quiet.

For the first time since she had met him, Marie was truly afraid. His anger was so sudden and terrifying, and of course a stark reminder of the metal blades he kept hidden away inside his arms, that she knew he had, and would, use against people he felt slighted by. Right now that anger was directed at her, and she hung her head, almost cowering in her own apprehension.

"I'm sorry--" she tried to murmur.

"Sorry! Fucking sorry!? I've done a lot of fucked up shit in my life granted but never, ever, have I, or would I ever harm a child, and certainly not like that, that's- just- ... it's one thing hating my guts darlin but it's a whole 'nother thing accusing a man of something so fucking heinous, I risked my goddamn life for that girl, and for you, how could you think, for a second, that I would..." Marie flinched when she heard his voice crack, the emotion he had been projecting as he spoke had been growing to the point where it had cut off his ability to speak completely. Without another word he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Marie alone, and feeling colder than if she had been outside in the swirling snow.

When Logan still hadn't returned to bed an hour later, Marie tentatively rose, and went to find him. She had gotten over her fright at his sudden change in demeanour, and she could understand why he got so angry. Now she just had to get him to listen long enough so she could apologize, and explain.

The cabin was empty, Bella was asleep in her bed, but Logan was nowhere to be seen. With a scowl, Marie pulled on her coat and boots, and slipped out the back door. No sign of him there. No sign of him out the front either. Adding more wood to the fire, Marie settled down in the old leather armchair in the corner, wrapping a discarded blanket around herself as she settled in to wait for Logan to come back from wherever he had disappeared to. She didn't think she would sleep until she could talk to him.

She was still sitting in the armchair, staring numbly into the flames, when Bella climbed down the ladder not long after the sun had peeked over the horizon.

"Good morning," Bella mumbled sleepily, holding her arms out for a hug, as she did most mornings with both Marie and Logan.

"Morning sweetheart, did you sleep well?" Marie asked softly, trying to keep the tears she was still struggling not to shed, out of her voice.

"Mmhmm," Bella murmured, "I had a dream, Logan made pancakes, and we had a picnic outside, with the snowman... hey, where's the snowman gone?" Bella suddenly asked, as she peered out the front window into the yard where she and Logan had built a snowman the day before, before the snow and really started falling.

"I think your snowman got snowed in," Marie replied with a giggle, pointing at the snowman size mound of snow sticking up into the air in the otherwise flat area.

Bella pouted grumpily before requesting breakfast, asking if Logan would make pancakes anyway, even if they couldn't have a picnic with the now buried snowman.

"Um, well, Logan's not here right now but we could make pancakes if you like," Marie informed her uncertainly, answering the little girls queries of, 'where is he', and 'when will he be back', as noncommittally as she could.

For the whole day they hung out inside, cooking, reading, playing games, both periodically watching out the window to see if they could catch a glimpse of Logan. By dusk he still hadn't shown up, and Marie was on the verge of a panic attack. After already having put Bella to bed, she was ready to bundle up and go looking for him; to hell with the dark, and the fact she would probably get lost.

Suddenly, movement and heavy footsteps could be heard on the back porch.

Throwing the door open, Marie threw herself at Logan, almost before he had a chance to register her sudden appearance.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean- I mean, that wasn't right of me, I shouldn't have--" she began to ramble and cry, completely missing the sensation of Logan picking her up, and carrying her inside, out of the cold.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm sorry, I overreacted, I didn't mean to be gone so long either- I-I walked further than I realised," Logan interrupted her soothingly, rocking her and rubbing her back, as she sobbed against his chest. Her arms locked around his neck, as if she was worried he would disappear if she let him go.

"I'm sorry," she eventually repeated, with a dejected sniffle. "I know it wasn't fair of me to think things like that, it's just--"

"It's hard for you to trust people," Logan interrupted, a lopsided grin lifting one corner of his mouth. "I understand darlin, you've seen the darkest side of humanity, I should have been more understanding, you didn't necessarily think I would do that, it's just... what you've grown to expect from people in general, right?" he asked gently.

With a miserable nod, Marie shifted on his lap, burrowing into his chest again as his arms came up to wrap around her.

"When my mutation turned on, I was kissing a boy, I'd had a crush on him forever and he finally realised I existed and started trying to be friends with me," Marie began her story softly, she felt like she owed him an explanation. "We were in my room, we were talking, and then he kissed me, it felt good to start with but then I got scared, well nervous more like I suppose, and I tried to pull away but he- he wouldn't let me, he held onto me and rolled over on top of me, I couldn't move, and he started touching me and- and then it happened, I started... sucking him in through my skin, I could see what he was thinking, what he had been planning to do to me, he was going to- to... and then he was going to blackmail me to stay quiet, he would tell my parents I seduced him, and tell the kids at school I was a whore, and if I- I... he thought he could get me to keep letting him have sex with me, if he kept threatening me, he had done it before, to another girl, eventually he got her to- to let all his friends 'have a turn' with her, and then he 'dumped her', I knew her, she never told anyone what he did to her, and he was going to do that to me too.

"When I managed to push him off me, I just remember screaming, and screaming, feeling so dirty, and throwing up... my momma found him seizing on my bed, she thought that was what I was screaming about, she called an ambulance, then tried to get me to come out of the bathroom I locked myself in. Later, when the ambulance was gone and they had taken him to the hospital... momma was hugging me and telling me everything was alright, and I just started telling her what I'd seen, the things he was thinking, and- when I finished telling my story I fell asleep. When I woke up momma and daddy were arguing, about what they were going to do with me, I was a freak, possessed by a demon, unclean, they wanted to have me exorcised and they called their priest who said it was a serious case and they needed to take me to the church and it would take a while. I begged them the whole way not to send me away, I told them that I wasn't evil, that I was still me, that I wasn't trying to hurt anyone.

"My daddy looked me dead in the eye and told me I wasn't his daughter, that his daughter died when whatever evil spirit it was had taken over my body and turned me into a freak, that he wouldn't believe otherwise until the priest told him I was saved. They dragged me into that building kicking and screaming, I was so scared, I didn't know of what exactly just that whatever was going to happen in there wasn't going to be good. The priest had two helpers, and they took me down to the basement, and there was... it was a- a- they called it a dungeon, and they tied me up, and gagged me, and they took my clothes, and-" she sucked in a shuddering breath even as she felt Logan hold her tighter, rubbing her back comfortingly, even as he tensed and began to growl softly- "One of them touched me, and I saw what they were going to do to me, it was even worse than what the first boy wanted to do. I managed to hold onto him long enough to knock him out and escaped, I stole clothes from the church storeroom, and money from the Sunday collection... part of me felt bad for stealing from a church.

"I knew I couldn't go home, so I hit the road, I stowed away on a train, headed north, I almost got caught when it stopped. From there I hitchhiked. The first guy I got a ride with stole my money, the second... wanted payment, I- he- tried to force me to, um, with my mouth... he slipped and touched me, and as soon as his grip loosened I ran. The next guy was nice, or so I thought, he said he could get me across the border, into Canada, but I would have to hide in the back of his truck so the border guards wouldn't find me, he locked me in, two days later he let me out, and handed me over to two guys. That was the first time I was sold. I hadn't told the 'nice guy' about my skin, so he didn't tell the guys he sold me to, they took me to a motel, and got drunk, they forced me to drink too, they thought it would make me too drunk to fight them, and it did but... one of them tried... I couldn't push him away, so I held onto him, the things he was going to do to me... and then when they were done they were going to kill me, and bury me in the woods where they buried the last girl... she was twelve, they took her off her dad, he owed them money for drugs and stuff, she died before they even finished...

"When the second guy realised there was something wrong with the first guy, he knew it was me, he started yelling at me, and hitting me, and I was screaming... eventually the motel manager came and banged on the door, telling him he was scaring the neighbours. They talked about what had happened, and the motel manager said I was 'probably a freak', and he knew someone who would pay good money for me, that's when I was sold to the traffickers, they tried to- to pimp me out, no matter how many times I told them I couldn't be touched, they didn't believe me, I talked my mutation up, telling them it was more dangerous than it was, that people just had to get near me for it to work. It worked for a while, then one day they slapped the collar on me but all of them were too scared by then to touch me, then they discovered I was a- a virgin, and they decided they could sell me for more instead.

"That other girl, Kitty, she was brought in the next day, and Bella the same day. They were talking about military bids, and how much the military would pay for mutants, they were going to auction us off to the private market first to try and get more money. One of the guys, he had touched me a few times since the collar went on, he told me that if I didn't sell that night he was going to have me all to himself before they handed me over to the military, kept saying there was no point wasting 'good virgin meat' on those 'animals', that the soldiers would just tear me up until I was good for nothing, he'd be doing me favour, by- by doing that to me first, he... he hurt one of the other girls, one of the human girls, to show me what he would do to me, then to show me what the soldiers would do to me he... she screamed so much, I can still hear her screams...

"I know it wasn't fair of me to project those men's thoughts and actions onto you, it's just, every man I've come across since I was able to see what they were thinking, it was all one thought, how to hurt me," Marie eventually murmured.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that darlin, you never should have had to see that, I understand, I've seen the darkness that hides inside people, I have my own darkness, though it's not like that, it wouldn't do that," Logan assured her, his lips pressed to the crown of her head as he continued to hold her. "I can take the collar off, I can show you, I'll let you see, I'm not like that, not like them," he offered, even as Marie shook her head vehemently.

"I don't want to hurt you," she told him, "You've been good to us, I should trust you for that."

"There's a lot of people you should have been able to trust darlin, people even closer to you than me, and they all let you down, I know you don't want to hurt me but if you ever need to be sure I'll show you in a heartbeat, besides, you still need to learn how to control it," Logan insisted, reminding her of his offer the night before, before they had argued.

"... I'll think about it," Marie murmured softly, her eyes fluttering closed as her body suddenly remembered that she hadn't slept the night before. After the emotional rollercoaster that had been that day, and finally sharing her story, she was exhausted, almost too tired to notice Logan pick her up and carry her to bed. She was fast asleep even before he slid beneath the covers next to her.

Logan woke the next morning, to a weight on his chest, and a comforting warm scent just under his nose. He couldn't help the involuntary grin that crossed his face when he opened his eyes and glanced down to see Marie's head lying on his chest, her arm wrapped around his waist. This was a first, and he hoped it wasn’t the last. The fact that the blankets had been pushed down in the process, and his right shoulder was now freezing cold as a result, not enough to prompt him to change anything about this situation.

As he lay in silence, in the early dawn gloom, his thoughts from the day before came back to him. He had left in anger, because it was an easier emotion for him to deal with than hurt. Losing himself to the thought 'why was he keeping her, why did he want her', first posed to himself in anger as he considered the logistics of calling in the X-Men to come and take her away. Eventually with, not an understanding exactly but a knowledge, that she was meant to be with him, and he needed to make more of an effort to show her he would not just provide for her physically but also emotionally. He still didn't understand where the instinctual reaction he had to her had come from but as he had allowed his instincts to take over, and knock his pride down a peg or two, he found desires he had never felt before, settling into his soul.

He didn't want to own her, or control her, he didn't want her staying with him out of lack of options. He wanted her to be an extension of him, and strangely, for himself to be a part of her, they were two pieces of a whole. The feeling he felt when he first laid eyes on her... as near as he could interpret it, it was like the universe, fate, god, whatever you wanted to call it, had handed him the other half of a soul he didn't know was missing. That was why her unspoken accusation had hurt him, that she didn't feel the same way made him doubt his own feelings in the matter.

Until he realised one minor detail.

She was so young, and had been so hurt, traumatized no doubt. While he had been too, it was longer ago for him than for her. He had relearned the lessons he had already discovered in the long, long life he had lived before a small group of humans had tried to destroy him.

Some people couldn't be trusted.

Others could, and it was worth the risk to find them.

He couldn't be mad with her for acting out of her insecurities but he wasn't going to let her fester in them either. He would teach her to trust again, he would show her what he already knew; that he loved her, he would care for her, he would protect her. He would show her that not only could she rely on him, but he would teach her to rely on herself too, so she could let others in without fear, and protect herself from those who would harm her. Then, one day, when she was stronger emotionally, he would show her how they fit together, two bent and twisted pieces of a beautiful whole.

He felt her stir against his chest then, and moved his hand leisurely against her back, soothing and comforting her when she tensed at feeling him under her cheek. "Morning," he whispered softly, once she had relaxed, "You sleep okay?"

"Mmhmm, yeah," Marie murmured, still sleepily. She shifted just a little, bringing her hand up from his waist, to rest on his chest beside her face. Logan smiled softly as he felt her fingers absently tracing patterns on one pec, even as his own hand continued it's soothing motion on her back, as they otherwise lay in silence.

"Logan?" Marie asked suddenly, "We're you serious when you said you wanted to keep Bella... as your daughter?" she queried absently.

"Yeah, yeah I am," Logan murmured back after a few moments of thought.

"But... why would you want that? Don't take this the wrong way but you don't exactly give off fatherly vibes, if you know what I mean," Marie said, sounding apologetic as her scent flooded with embarrassment even before the words has left her mouth.

Logan chuckled. "I know, believe me I know, I don't know what it was about her, maybe it was an extension of how you made me feel, thinking of kids, with you right there beside me... just seemed right," he eventually replied.

Marie hummed a little, thoughtfully, as she went back to absently stroking the hairs on his chest. When her finger ran lightly over his nipple, sending a shaft of heat directly to his groin, he figured he had best find some way of distracting himself. If Marie didn't want to touch him with her mutation to see what kind of man he was, he should probably find some way of verbalizing it.

"I'd honestly never even thought of kids, as anything but noisy, annoying, small humans that get in your way all the time, I guess my only exposure to kids was when I was forced to venture into civilization, like shops or malls, when I needed stuff, or running into vacationing family's at diners – then I went to the school--"

"The mutant school, in New York?" Marie clarified, recalling that detail from their earlier conversation. When Logan confirmed she curiously queried, "Why did you go there?"

"That's a long story so settle in," Logan teased before he began to explain. "So, the guys I was working with to rescue Kitty, when I found you, they work out of the school, most of the kids at the school are runaways, like you were, that they've rescued in one way or another, but they don't only rescue runaways. Just like there's bad humans, there's bad mutants too, one of those bad mutants is a guy named Magneto, his power is that he can manipulate metal, as the corny-ass name suggests-" he paused to listen to Marie giggle at that comment- "Anyway, Magneto somehow found out about me, and the metal that's inside me, it's apparently very rare and he wanted it, so, he was going to capture me and, well, rip it out of me, the X-Men, the team from the school, they found out about his plan and tried to track me down to warn me but Magneto and his goons got to me first.

"Magneto couldn't extract the metal out of me alone, his power wasn't strong enough for him to extract it in a way that wouldn’t overly damage me, and he was hoping I would survive having the metal removed and, I don't know, stick with him and be one of his lackeys – he's a weird old fucker with bizarre ideas – but he had this machine though, that was going to help him strip the metal out of my body, it had only just started running when the X-Men figured out where he had taken me to, and thank fuck because it hurt like hell. They blew the machine up, with me inside it, I think that was an accident but I still use it to piss off Scott, he's the team leader, real stick up his ass kind of guy, easiest ways to get a rise out of him are to question his credentials, ignore his dumbass instructions, or flirt with his fiancée, I admit to liberally doing all three but I think it's fair enough, the guy almost killed me blowing up that machine with his laser eyes," Logan groused, though Marie could hear the amusement in his voice— whoever this Scott guy was Logan must like him well enough underneath everything else.

"So, I was in pretty bad shape after the machine blowing up thing, and they took me back to the school to patch me up, One-Eyes fiancée is their doctor, which is how I discovered how much it pissed Scotty-boy off when you flirt with her, recovery took a while, not physically exactly, the healing had me back on my feet in a couple of hours but there must have been something inside a little bit messed up because I felt like shit for a few days, that's why I didn't put up much of a fuss when they asked me to stay while they tried to track down Magneto, who somehow managed to escape, that damn fucker always gets away, he's got a date with my claws as soon as I can pin him down but he's slipperier than an eel. After about a week, they offered me a position at the school, on their team, helping rescue kids and kick bad guy ass, I figured I could do that, then Chuckles thought it was a great idea to get me teaching the kids something useful, and that's how I ended up supervising a survival camp of fourteen teenagers, which eventually became teaching them how to fight, self defence, some of them might go on to become X-Men themselves... Turns out kids aren't as bad as I always thought, sure, they'll try you patience sometimes but they're still green enough for you to kick their ass in training a time or two, and just like that, a little respect," Logan said, letting loose a satisfied but amused growl.

Marie giggled again, not least of all because when Logan growled the hair on his chest tickled her. "So, how long have you been working with the school?" she queried softly.

"About four years, Kitty was one of the first students I met, she walked through a door right in front of me, got a fright and fell through the floor, poor kid had just started at the school, her parents sent her because they didn't know how to help her stop falling through the floor every time she got a fright - I think her brother was onto the right idea, he kept spooking her just to see it happen - she was fourteen, still just as green today as she was then but she's a sweetheart. That friend of hers though, Jubilee, god that girls got a screw loose, we rescued her in LA, she was hiding out in a mall, just trying to keep warm and avoid a group of mutant hunters that were trying to find her, she thought I was one of them and when I found her she lit my metal lined ass up like a Christmas tree, her power is some sort of plasma energy bursts, she almost fucking electrocuted me, then had the audacity to sass me for 'sneaking up on her'... she’s a good kid though, going to get her ass kicked next time I go back for getting Kitty in trouble, I know she had something to do with it," Logan finished, even as he realised Marie wasn't really listening to him anymore, not since he mentioned Jubilee paffing him, she was more focused on not laughing.

"So, why were you out here, why weren't you at the school?" she queried a few minutes later, once the giggles subsided.

"Vacation, as cool as most of the kids are, I need a break from time to time, someone 'accidentally' set my room on fire so it seemed like a good time to take off for a while, give the Prof plenty of time to fix my room up before I go back," he replied, twisting a strand of soft hair around his finger.

"When will you go back?" Marie asked softly.

"I was planning on going back end of spring, early summer, I don't know, never really set concrete plans for myself, might stay up here all summer instead, maybe even next winter too, depends on what the rest of the fam-- what you decide I suppose," Logan responded, just as softly.

Marie didn't reply, just burrowed down into his chest again, distracting Logan from the sound of little feet padding across the loft and down the ladder.

"Marie.” A loud whisper was heard a moment later at their curtain door.

"Come in sweetheart," Logan responded.

"Logan! You're back!" Bella squealed, pushing aside the curtain door and running into the room. She scrambled onto the bed and threw herself at Logan for a hug, which he returned with his one arm that wasn't wrapped around Marie. "It's cold," Bella said, suddenly remembering why she had come looking for grown ups.

"The fire must have gone out," Logan said with a grin, "You snuggle up in here with Marie and I'll go re-light it." In a quick flurry of blankets they swapped places, and Logan left the room, still sans shirt, to get the fire going again.

"Damnit!" Logan muttered loudly a moment later. Before the girls could ask what was wrong, Logan walked back into the room and began pulling on clothes. "You two stay in bed, the chimney's been snowed in, I've got to clear it before I can light the fire," he advised, leaning over to ruffle Bella's hair before he got too far away.

"Be careful," Marie murmured, smiling at him softly, for the first time without that touch of fearful apprehension in her eyes.

Logan smiled back. "I'll think about it," he teased, before walking out, and thumping his way into his boots.

--

Ten minutes later, and covered head to toe in snow, Logan was back, surprised to find both Marie and Bella up.

"I had to pee," the little girl offered as an explanation, once she was done mock-terrified screaming about a zombie snowman.

"Well hurry up and get back into bed, it's freezing out there," Logan said with a chuckle, as he worked on getting the fire blazing, grinning again when Bella scampered back to the bedroom to scramble back into bed with Marie, loudly decrying the cold, and making Marie squeal when she pressed now cold toes against her.

He entered the room, watching the pair squirming around and giggling in the bed, and went to find dry clothes. Slipping out of the room as silently and unnoticed as he entered, he changed in front of the fire, and hung the other clothes up to dry, before returning to the bedroom, now dressed comfortably in sweatpants.

"Logan, Logan, come in the bed, it's cold out there," Bella giggled from under the blankets. With a glance at Marie, who smiled encouragingly at him he did just that, climbing into the bed and pinning Bella under the covers with a metal weighted arm over the top side.

"Where did the kid go?" he asked Marie, in a teasingly confused tone as Bella squirmed and poked under the blankets, giggling as she called out to say where she was.

"Let me out or I'll bite you," she declared a moment later, before doing exactly what she threatened.

"Ow!" Logan yelped, diving under the blankets and grabbing the little girl, dragging her up the bed, to plonk her on the pillow. "You know when you threaten someone like that you have to give them the chance to comply before you do what you threatened," Logan told her, rubbing at the spot she had bitten and growling at her good naturedly. Bella just giggled some more before she launched herself at him and hugged him tightly.

Eventually Bella decided the early morning chill could be braved enough to search out food and again requested pancakes for breakfast. "But Logan has to make them," she demanded.

"Why Logan, what's wrong with my pancakes?" Marie mock-pouted.

"You burn them," Bella replied, matter of factly, to which Marie laughed. It was true, the pancakes she had cooked the morning before had all burnt, it wasn't her fault the fire didn't have temperature controls.

"Well, how about you and Marie mix the batter, and I cook them then," Logan suggested, chuckling when Bella immediately agreed and leapt out of bed to go start getting all the ingredients together.

Marie was standing at the kitchen sink, humming softly to herself as she washed the dishes. A hand suddenly touched her waist, causing her to jump in fright. The hand was immediately removed, and a sheepish but amused looking Logan offered a hurried apology.

"It's okay," Marie replied, blushing at her own reaction, the one she had after the fright passed, "I just didn't hear you come up."

"Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting that," Logan apologized again. "So, is it alright if I touch you?" he asked softly.

"I suppose so," she responded, smiling when Logan's large warm hand immediately wrapped around her waist again, and gently eased her closer to him until she could feel the warmth of his hard body pressed up against her.

His eyes were intense but soft and focused, and she didn't notice his other hand raise until he brushed a lock of hair back from her face. He tucked her hair securely behind her ear, as his hand continued on to trail down her neck. Slowly tugging her closer, until his lips met hers--

Marie jerked awake, body warm and flushed, as the dream faded away. Even in her dreams her fear of being touched was not completely banished, and she just knew it was because of her own unease and uncertainty around her mutation. Logan hadn't mentioned to her again removing the collar but she knew, from the dark looks she had caught him directing at it, that if she asked he would have it off her in a moment. It had taken her a week to psyche herself up to be able to consider giving it a try, and her repeated dreams of being touched – specifically touched by Logan – were one of the reasons why she had finally decided it was time. If she was going to make herself vulnerable to him, she had to make herself vulnerable to herself first.

She would ask him first thing in the morning to take the collar off, for now she would try and get some more sleep.

--

Logan lay still and quiet, hoping Marie wouldn't realise he was awake. He had started to become so in tune to her body and its reactions, that he had started to wake and respond to *her* dreams. Waking up abruptly to a warm and aroused woman in his arms was a lot better than waking up to nightmares, though it made sleeping next to that woman without making some sort of advance on her really hard, in more ways than one. Feeling Marie relax into sleep again, with a soft, happy sigh, he resigned himself to another uncomfortable, sleepless night.

So it was a surprise to him when he woke with a start, when Marie sat up in bed suddenly, with early morning sunlight peeking around the curtains.

"Morning," Marie said cheerily, a relaxed and confident smile lighting her face.

"Morning," he mumbled, rolling onto his back before suddenly realizing, that probably wasn't a very discreet position, and rolling partially back onto his side. "What's got you so chipper this morning?" he teased.

"I have come to a decision... I want you to take the collar off," Marie declared, holding up a hand and demanding he wait, when he immediately sat up to get to work pulling of the collar. "Do it carefully, in case I need to put it back on, and don't touch me or my skin unless I say you can," she set out her conditions.

"I understand," Logan agreed, "May I remove the collar now?" he queried, refraining from reaching for her again until she gave him permission.

It took ten minutes, and Logan pulling out the tool box for some helpful tools, before the collar finally switched off as the locking mechanism popped open. Marie let out a significant full body shiver as she felt her skin reactivate, her mutation burning over her body in a tingling wave before she was able to breathe again.

"You alright?" Logan asked gently, looking for all the world like he wanted to reach out and hug her, though he refrained from doing so.

"Yeah," Marie murmured, "I never realised how intense that was, I didn't feel that when it first came on I'm sure."

"Maybe you were just too distracted when it first turned on," Logan suggested. “May I touch you?" he asked, when he still looked like he wanted to hold her.

"Not my skin," Marie said softly, even as she nodded her consent. As Logan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap, she felt strangely comforted and at peace, even with the niggling fear in the back of her mind that she could quite possibly kill him if he slipped.

For several long minutes they just sat, Marie adjusting to being dangerous to the touch again, while at the same time feeling comforted in the fact that someone still cared for her in spite of that. Her next thought brought tears to her eyes; this is how her parents should have reacted when she became toxic to the touch. She snuggled down into Logan's embrace as she let her tears flow.

"You feeling okay?" Logan asked worriedly, even as he tilted her head back. "Don't cry darlin," he encouraged, and she knew if she let him he would wipe the tears from her eyes himself, a thought which brought a soft smile to her face.

"I'm good, thank you, I never realised how much I needed this, you know, someone to just show me that I was still okay, thank you," she said, before extracting herself from his arms, and wiping her tears away.

"Anytime darlin," Logan offered with a grin. "Something else that might help, if you can feel your mutation like that, might be meditation, you ever done that before?" he asked, pulling himself out of bed, and stretching before he pulled on a single flannel shirt over the t-shirt he had worn to bed.

"You mean 'new age, devil worshiping, baloney'?" Marie queried with a teasing grin, "Might have heard of it," she added.

"Shit your parents were weird," Logan offered with a chuckle. "Get dressed, I'll teach you, it might help, if you can learn to separate the feeling of your mutation you might be able to make it turn off," he suggested, which sounded sensible to Marie.

She dressed, while Logan went into the other room to build the fire back up. Pulling on thermal pants, and a pair of what looked like yoga pants, on the bottom, and a thick, baggy, long sleeved woollen jumper on top. Her toes were cold so she added thick woollen socks, and in the interests of safety-- damn it, she didn't have any gloves, except the woolly winter gloves Logan had bought her but they wouldn't be comfortable for wearing twenty-four-seven. She left them on the dresser as she followed after Logan, she would just have to be careful to make sure she didn't touch anyone.

Logan had moved the chair and the dining room table back a bit, leaving a clear spot in front of the fire where he was already seated, cross legged on the floor. He caught Marie's adorably confused look as she regarded him, and he innocently queried, "What?"

"You’re just a mess of contradictions, you know," she replied, smiling at him as she took a seat, cross-legged on the floor opposite him.

Logan chuckled. "Yeah, well, when you've been around as long as I have you learn a thing or two," he shrugged nonchalantly, as he tugged her closer, and adjusted her position slightly. "Now, first step is to learn how to focus, just sit there, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing... don't try and control it, just let it go, in... and out, and focus on feeling the rhythm," Logan instructed, demonstrating for her.

She felt awkward at first, and her mind tried to wander, the other voices in her head constantly trying to interrupt. Logan always seemed to know, and would murmur softly to get her back on track.

They had been sitting in near silence for almost ten minutes when suddenly a little voice whispered, "What are you doing?"

Marie jumped at the sudden interruption and Logan chuckled, his eyes still closed, and unfazed. "We're meditating," he quietly advised Bella, who was staring down at them from the loft.

"What's that?" the little girl asked, climbing down the ladder to get a closer look.

"Good question, it's like... listening to your insides," Logan said, finally cracking on eye open to regard the girl now standing beside him. He sent Bella off to the bathroom while he tried to get Marie back on focus but she was still unsettled by the time the little girl returned.

"Can I try too?" Bella asked, sitting down on the floor beside then and leaning into Marie, who immediately jumped away from her, leaving the little girl looking hurt and confused.

"Marie, sit down," Logan demanded firmly. "Bella, Marie took off the collar that stopped her mutation this morning, she's trying to learn how to control it herself, but that means you can't touch Marie at the moment, okay, especially not her skin," Logan explained to the little girl.

"Why?" Bella queried, her lip trembling dejectedly.

"Marie doesn't have wings like you do," he pointed out in response, "Her mutation is her skin, and it can hurt people if they touch it, so until Marie can make it turn off, you can't touch her, because Marie doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want to get hurt either, I'll be careful," Bella promised Marie as she tentatively sat back down.

Tears immediately flooded Marie's eyes as she shuddered, before saying anxiously, "I've change my mind, this isn't a good idea, someone's going to get hurt."

Logan frowned. "Marie, no one is going to get hurt, sit back down and focus," he instructed.

"I can't... the voices..." She elaborated when he glanced at her questioningly, "When I try and focus, it's like they all want to come out and all talk at the same time, I try to push them back but that only works for so long."

Logan considered her thoughtfully for a moment before he obviously came to a decision.

"Alright, Marie, sit there, Bella, sit there, you wanted to learn too right," he didn't need to point out it would keep Bella more or less distracted and in one place while he and Marie focused. "We're going to try visual meditating," Logan said, trying not to roll his eyes when Bella immediately interrupted to ask what that was. "So, sit how I showed you, close your eyes, relax and let your breathing even out."

After a few minutes he could tell Marie had calmed down enough to continue, Bella was still distracted but she was a little kid, what would anyone expect. "Right, now, Bella, picture, in your head, a snowy field, can you see it?" he asked softly.

"Uh huh," the little girl murmured.

"Right, can you see the fox?" Logan suggested, a grin in his voice. Bella scented confused for a moment before she giggled, and declared she could see his tail. "Alright, you keep an eye on that fox and follow wherever it goes, okay," Logan told her. "Now Marie, we're going to work on confining those voices, you said they go quiet for a while when you push them back, so we're going to work on building something a little more permanent to hold them back, let's start by picturing you're in... a big white warehouse..." Logan suggested.

Quietly, Logan talked Marie through, creating rooms in her empty warehouse, and pushing visual representations of the voices into the rooms, before locking the doors. He could scent her tears at several points, and her anger when she locked away one voice in particular. After almost an hour of silence, punctuated infrequently by Bella telling them what her fox was doing now, Logan asked Marie quietly if the voices were gone now.

"Yeah, they're finally quiet, will they stay locked away now, do you think?" Marie breathed softly, calmly.

"If you locked the doors properly they should, it's your mind after all, you control everything that happens in there, you understand," Logan told her.

"I control everything," Marie repeated, taking a deep centring breath, he could almost hear the smile on her face as she said it.

"If you're ready, that's probably enough for toda..." Logan's words faded away when he opened his eyes.

The three of them were currently sitting... in the middle of a snowy field. He could tell it wasn't real though, as it wasn't cold, in fact he could feel the heat coming off the fireplace even though he couldn't see it, and he could feel the rug underneath him. At Bella's giggle to his right, he saw her eyes were open watching something to his left. Turning, he saw a little white fox scampering about in the snow, scratching and digging, before it dove into the powdery surface, and came back up with a rabbit. Marie's surprised gasp told him she had opened her eyes and was seeing this too.

Watching the fox curiously Logan suggested to Bella, "We should let the fox go now, to have his breakfast, what do you say, should we go home and have ours too?" With a nod, Bella agreed, and the trio watched as the fox trotted off into the distance, rabbit caught in it's jaw, before the snowy landscape faded away and they were back in the cabin, in front of the fire.

Watching Bella closely, Logan noted a fine sparkly mist, seeming to hang in the air, as her little translucent wings fluttered excitedly. "Have you ever done that before Bella?" Logan asked curiously.

"I watched foxes on the TV once," Bella replied obliviously, "But that was more fun, it came up and licked my nose," she giggled, Logan and Marie just glanced at each other in confusion. It seemed Bella had some psyche powers to go along with her physical mutation.

While Bella and Marie were making breakfast, Logan slipped outside and headed for his camper, managing to dig the snow away from a door enough to open it. He dug around for the last package of things he had bought when he went to town - that he had dumped in the glove compartment and forgotten about - before returning with the little paper packet to the cabin. He watched Marie and Bella interact for a while as he tossed up whether to show her what he had bought, he really hoped it wasn't necessary but after a few minutes of watching Marie flinching, often times unnecessarily, whenever she determined Bella was too close, he gave in.

"Marie," he called her over, and handed the small paper bag to her, prompting her to open it. "Will they help you?" he asked, once she had withdrawn the scraps of fabric from the paper. He had seen the gloves as he was leaving a gas station of all places, some sort of satinised lycra, thin and stretchy, but still pretty, and remembered the warning he had been given about Marie's mutation. Of course the warning had been given so he wouldn't remove the collar but even then he had known he would.

Marie just stared at him for a moment as her eyes welled with tears. She eventually unfolded the gloves, and pulled them on, before turning back to him and thanking him. He even got a hug.

Over the next month both Marie and Bella worked on strengthening and controlling their powers. Bella's hallucinogenic 'fairy dust', as Logan nicknamed it, could induce visions controlled by whatever Bella was thinking or feeling. That could be both a blessing and a curse, the pair had found out when Bella began having nightmares about her time with the traffickers, and even before. If her projections were anything to go by, there was no way either of them would be making any attempt to reunite Bella with her parents.

Bella herself had discovered an enjoyment for trying to prank Logan with her hallucinations. She wasn't happy whenever he managed to figure out she was fooling him, which he usually did, and took great pleasure at managing to trick him in the tiniest ways. Her greatest feat to date was creating an illusion that the kitchen table was one foot further left than it actually was, and when Logan put his mug down, there was no table physically underneath it. Thankfully Logan had seen the funny side of that one along with the girls, though he made Bella clean up the resulting mess, which she did, giggling uncontrollably the whole time.

Marie's control was slower in coming. Several of the voices had escaped a few times but each resulting set back had left her more adept at strengthening the walls and locks, until it appeared they were now impenetrable. From there she moved on to focusing on her mutation. Logan had convinced her to touch him a couple of times, so she could ascertain what it felt like when it activated, as a reference point. He was correct in his assumption that he could handle touching her better than any of the others before, managing to touch her skin for a full thirty seconds on one occasion before he almost passed out. He managed to stay conscious but spent several long minutes on the floor recovering, and telling Marie off for fussing over him when she should have been focusing on herself.

The first time she had touched Logan she had gotten distracted by his heightened senses, he was really interested to hear, from a practical perspective, just how different his own senses were from 'normal'. As he said, he knew he sensed everything 'better' but it was hard to comprehend just what 'better' meant when you knew no different.

The second time they touched had been an accident. Marie had been asleep, not wearing her gloves because she didn't like how they made her hands clammy when she slept. One of her nightmares, her own personal brand of torture, had struck, and when Logan tried to wake her she had lashed out at him in her sleep. He had actually passed out on that occasion, and Marie had been beside herself with terror that she might have hurt him, or worse. Eventually Logan’s voice in her head had convinced her he was fine.

She had spent the rest of the night sitting cross legged on the bed beside him, as Logan helped her refine her meditation techniques... from inside her own head. It had been a bizarre but effective teaching tool. She had also had a first hand, in depth, dose of Logan's feelings in regard to her, and she had seen for herself the truth in Logan's earlier assurances. He was happy just to have her around, and while he wouldn't turn down more, her happiness and comfort were more important to him than his own.

Christmas had come and gone, and Logan had surprised the girls with his own covert preparation for the cultural celebration. The cabin wasn't big but they had woken one morning to Logan propping up a small tree in the corner of the main room. They had decorated the tree with popcorn, paper ornaments, and painted pinecones. Christmas dinner had been venison, supplemented with all the trimmings, and Logan had surprised Marie again by not only knowing all the herbs and spices he had purchased but being a damn good cook to boot. Christmas dinner was better than anything her momma had ever made, and the company was a lot better too. Logan had even produced a few more hidden pre-purchases as presents for the two girls – a silver bracelet with little fairy charms for Bella, and a silver necklace with a pretty engraved locket for Marie. Bella had drawn pictures for Logan and Marie as her presents to them. Marie had felt quite self conscious at not having anything to give Logan herself, though both seemed happy with the brownies she managed to bake without burning.

She was still thinking about Christmas a week later, even though she was supposed to be meditating. She wouldn't have peace and quiet for much longer - Logan was very particular about not letting Bella stay outside for too long - so she had better get on with it!

‘It wasn't a Christmas gift but it sure would be nice to start the New Year without this pesky life-sucking skin,’ she thought irritably.

Focussing on her skin, and the gentle hum she had come to recognize was her mutation, she passionately told that feeling, "Just stop already, damn it!" She sat, frozen in shock for a few minutes, when immediately, just like that, her skin stopped humming.

"No way," she murmured in disbelief, as she focused again. No, the hum was definitely gone. She tossed up for a few more minutes whether she should try and turn it on again before deciding, worst case scenario, she would just end up where she had been five minutes ago.

"Skin on," she stated, because this was her body and she was in charge – and saying it aloud made it seem more real. She felt a little sick when she felt the buzz wash over her again, and barely managed to hold back her panic as she demanded, "Off!" Breathing a sigh of relief when her skin calmed again.

And just like that, as if it wasn't the single most monumental achievement of her life, her mutation was controlled.

She spent a few minutes bouncing around, and happy dancing, and crying tears of pure joy, and only just caught herself before she could rush outside to share her news with Logan and Bella...

No, she didn't want to just 'blurt it out', she wanted to do something a little more memorable. A lot more memorable in fact. She smiled when she felt Logan's voice inside her head, trying to talk her out of the plan she was quickly formulating. Then she promptly shoved him into his mind-room and locked the door.

Logan and Bella returned from their walk-snowball fight-winter survival lesson, in due course, and the rest of the afternoon and evening passed as usual. It wasn't until Logan was up in the loft, reading Bella bedtime stories that Marie put her plan into action.

Lighting both lamps on the bedside tables in their room, but turning them down low, Marie set the mood, before she slid open one of her drawers of the dresser, and removed the dark green, silk nightie she had turned her nose up at the first time she had seen it. Undressing quickly, she slid it on, then climbed into the bed. Damn, she had been right, it was freezing. It wouldn't be for long though if anyone could warm up 'the bed' it was Logan, he was like having her own personal furnace right beside her.

She burrowed deep under the blankets, pushing them up to her chin, so Logan couldn't tell what she was wearing underneath, and waited for him to make his way to bed. She was feigning sleep when he entered, though she didn't miss his chuckle when he called her out for still being awake. She just smiled, keeping her eyes closed, until she felt him sit down on the edge of the bed after getting changed.

"Leave it," she whispered, when he leaned over to snuff his lamp. At his confused query she shrugged noncommittally when she replied, "I'm enjoying it, it makes the room look pretty."

"Alright darlin, I'll leave them until you fall asleep then," Logan responded with another chuckle, as he slid under the blankets, rolled over toward her, and... his hand stopped when it brushed against her silk covered waist. "Marie...?"

"Logan?" she responded coyly.

"There something I should know?" he asked, and she didn't miss the strain in his voice that she knew was an appreciative growl.

"Yes, yes there is," Marie replied, just a hint teasingly. "Do you know what day it is today?" she asked, it was mostly rhetorical but Logan still responded in confusion that it was December thirty-first. "Mmhmm, New Years Eve, that means tomorrow is New Years Day, that means my year from hell is over, and I want to dive headfirst into the new year... with you... *with* you," she repeated, running a hand over Logan's covered chest so there could be no mistaking what she meant by "with".

"What brought this on?" Logan queried, the soft smile on his face not enough to banish the apprehension behind his eyes.

"I realised something," Marie informed him, "I do feel the same way you feel, it just took me a while to trust that feeling but I do now, I trust that feeling, I trust you, and most importantly, I trust me," she explained. "And I want to start this year off as I mean to go on, with you," she finished with a smile.

Logan bit back a groan as both her hands played over his chest, as inexperienced as she was, she seemed to be a natural as her nails scraped lightly at one nipple - he nearly growled aloud at that. "You don't think this is kind of sudden?" he murmured, trying not to show just how intensely he was reacting to her. Hell, he was painfully hard already and she had done little more than indirectly tell him she loved him and touch his clothed chest.

"No, I mean, we've been sharing a bed now for, what, two months, and you have been a perfect gentleman the whole time I would add, I'm ready, I want this, I want you. Don't you want me?" she asked teasingly, pouting as she suggested it.

"God damn do I want you," Logan growled, finally letting his hands move back to her, and begin to pet and stroke her over the thin, now warm, silk. "Fuck I want you so bad," he almost whined as he tugged her closer, not able to resist grinding his crotch into her thigh so she could see just how much he wanted her. "What's wrong?" he asked, pausing when he felt her tense against him.

"Uh, nothing," she whispered, blushing bright pink. At his responding growl she ducked her eyes, and said a little uncomfortably, "It- it's pretty big," as she brushed against his crotch.

"You know, guys generally take that as a compliment," Logan replied, as a grin broke out across his face, he bit back the chuckle though, sensing there was some underlying worry for her. "Is there a problem with that Marie?"

"It's really big," Marie reiterated nervously.

Logan couldn't help the chuckle that time, until he realised, Marie had seen some horrific things in the minds and memories of the men who had harmed her, men who were no doubt tiny little limp dicks, because let's face it, that type usually had 'a type'.

Before he could say anything to reassure her she asked softly, "Will it, like... fit? Will it hurt?"

"Marie..." he began, moving a hand up to her face, and gently stroking her hair. "I'm not going to lie, it's going to hurt a little but not because of that, just because it's your first time, and the first time apparently always hurts for women, but I am going to do everything I can to avoid that as much as possible, I want this to feel good for you, and if it's too much for you, or you want to stop, you tell me and I will... and also, yeah, it'll fit, it'll fit perfectly," he assured her with another grin before leaning forward and beginning to feather quick, light kisses across her face, too quick for her mutation to grab at, assuming of course her mutation had still been an issue.

Marie let him feather kisses across her face, rolling them over as he did until he was resting over her, his weight on top of her a comforting presence rather than a fear inducing restriction. When he kissed her on the lips, for the third time, she felt her hand move, almost of it's own volition. Up his chest, and over his shoulder, to sink her fingers into his thick hair, and she held him in place as she returned his kiss. It took Logan several moments to realise nothing was happening from her skin, and he eventually pulled back to look her in the eye, catching her satisfied grin as he did.

"Something you want to tell me darlin?" he teased, moving his own hand to her face, running his fingers over her skin, and dipping his head to continue kissing her again.

"Do you want to know or are you going to keep cutting me off?" Marie breathlessly giggled when Logan released her lips again.

"My apologies, you were saying?" Logan asked, before promptly moving his lips to her neck, and beginning to suckle, and kiss, and nip his way down to her collarbone. How the hell did he expect her to concentrate on forming coherent words when he was doing that anyway... "Well?" he pressed, after she moaned, and arched into him when he nibbled a particularly sensitive spot on her neck.

"Huh?" she asked in a daze, returning her eyes to him to find out why the heck he stopped kissing her. "Oh, uh, I turned it off," she hurriedly said as she pulled his lips back to hers.

"Just like that?" Logan queried, pulling away from her but giving her a teasing look, so she knew he was deliberately messing with her.

"Yes, just like that, I got frustrated at the buzzing and told it to 'just stop already', and it did," Marie rushed out, with a glare before she moved to kiss him again. "God damn it, I swear Logan if you mess around much longer I'm going to--" Marie exclaimed, when Logan pulled away from her again.

"You're going to what?" Logan asked, apprehension returning to his gaze as he observed her, not that she noticed.

"I don't know, I'll think of something..." Marie responded, blushing prettily.

"You're sure this is what you want Marie?" Logan queried softly.

Marie turned her full attention onto him, and gazed up at him adoringly. "Yes, this is the one thing I am one million percent positive about," Marie assured him, and finally Logan returned to his attentions, kissing her tenderly, as he began to coax known, but foreign, responses from her body.

Logan was sitting on the front porch, enjoying a cigar in the mid afternoon sunshine of late summer.

Bella was in her room, reading her first grade level story books. He and Marie had decided against sending her to school, for several reasons, including not wanting to draw attention from CPS for this child that didn't belong to either of them, not by blood at least, and also not wanting her to get bullied or teased for her wings. So they had started teaching Bella at home.

With the exception of reading, which she loved, it was a lot harder than Logan had been expecting. A lot harder than teaching the teenagers at the school for sure, at least with them you could threaten them with bodily harm to get them to self regulate their behaviour, Bella just went stark raving mad whenever they tried to get her sit still for more than ten minutes to work on a task she didn't want to. If he could get drunk he was sure it would have driven him to drink!

That was part of the reason why Marie was in their room having a nap. The other part of the reason was also the reason why canned fish, in fact any fish, had been banned from the house, and olives, and Logan's cigars. He chuckled remembering the green colour Marie had turned when he opened the box a few days before, and then promptly told him to get out and take his stinking cancer sticks with him.

He never would have thought he would ever find himself in the position he was now in. A woman who was effectively his wife - hell she was more than that simple term could ever convey to him, she was his lifeline, his mate, the other half of his soul. And a father, Bella had started calling him 'daddy' in the last few months - he was pretty sure that was her way of seeking assurance from him and 'mommy' Marie that she wasn't about to lose her place in their family. And their new baby, due in little over five months, would be joining the clan soon.

Xavier had been in contact with him recently, asking when he was returning, wanting to schedule him to teach from the beginning of the next school year, which was due to start in three days. Chuck was being nosy he was sure, though normally Logan would have returned to the school already. It wasn't like he had completely abandoned the X-Men though, he had joined them on two missions so far this summer, them swinging by to pick him up from a landing spot nearby, and returning him the same way. They were all curious about why he hadn't returned with them though.

And it seemed that curiosity had finally reached its boiling point, Logan noted, watching four figures make their way out of the trees, up the cabins rough driveway. Stubbing out the cigar with a sigh, Logan waited until they were closer before he rose to meet them.

"What?" he rumbled gruffly, when the group stopped a few meters off the porch.

"Where is she?" Scott demanded with a scowl.

"Who?" Logan asked, playing dumb, knowing he was either talking about Bella or, more probably, Marie.

"The girl you bought off the traffickers you sick--" Scott broke off near the beginning his angry tirade when Jean laid a calming hand on his arm.

"I didn't buy anyone off traffickers, in fact, they paid me, only fair for having to put up with their filth I guess," Logan replied, feigning nonchalance just to see how pissed he could get Scott. No matter how long he spent away from the mansion, pissing off the boy scout was still the best fun you could have... well, a close second... Actually, now that he thought about it, there were quite a few things he would rank as more enjoyable now, and all of them revolved around the two girls inside.

"Logan," Jean replied, sighing in irritation, "We all know you picked up a girl, you told Charles you would 'take her home', and we know she's in there," she set out their position.

"And?" Logan replied.

"So you didn't take her home did you?" Jean snapped.

"This is home," he pointed out, watching comprehension dawn on Jean's face. She appeared to be conversing telepathically for a few moments, she wasn't quite as good at hiding the body language that went along with regular conversation as she did that.

Just as Jean opened her mouth to speak again, probably to nag him about being a smartass, a surprised gasp from the back of the group caught everyone's attention. Logan wasn't sure why the geeks had brought Kitty with them but judging by where she was looking, eyes wide and mouth open, Bella must have been at her bedroom window. Kitty turned her eyes to him, a question evident but also a smile on her lips. Nice, sweet Kitty wouldn't be thinking any of the horrible thoughts the others no doubt were, and she was likely closest to the truth.

No one else appeared to spot what Kitty had, and from the noises inside he knew that meant Bella was planning on coming to him. With a resigned sigh he told everyone to come inside, while he wracked his brain for a way to explain. Everyone was taking seats at the table when a noise from behind the curtain to the loft drew their attention.

"You can come down," Logan called quietly, before the inevitable query could come from the loft. Immediately the curtain was pulled back, and Bella spun around and scooted down the ladder, before running over to him and taking shelter behind his legs, peeking out at the strangers shyly.

"Daddy, who's them?" she asked, once she had looked her fill at the newcomers and turned back to Logan.

"These are my friends, from that school we were talking about the other day," Logan told her, prompting her to come out of hiding and say hello. "And this, is Bella," he advised the others, by way of introduction.

"Daddy?" Kitty teased Logan, with a big grin on her face.

"I know you!" Bella exclaimed excitedly, "You were at the bad place, daddy helped save you too," she declared, smiling brighter when Kitty nodded and confirmed she was correct. "Why did you go with the other people and not come with daddy?" Bella asked curiously.

"Oh, I had to back to the school, so I could finish my studying," Kitty told her.

Bella considered her words with a disgusted scowl on her face before wrapping her arms around Logan's leg and pouting up at him. "Daddy I don't want to go to the school, I don't like study-ying," she told him.

"I'd noticed," Logan deadpan replied, before seating himself in the one remaining free chair in the room - his large leather armchair - and pulling Bella into his lap.

"Okay," Jean was the first to break the stunned groups silence, "Obviously she's not your daughter--"

"What gave it away?" Logan asked sarcastically.

"Well, she's what, four--"

"I'm five, I'm a big girl," Bella interrupted to say.

"-- I'm sure we'd have heard about her before if you had a daughter, admittedly her colouring matches," Jean said, comparing the odd pairs matching black hair and blue eyes. "But she has wings," she added, having not missed the little blue wings hanging down the girls back when she climbed down the ladder, in her pretty green sundress, the back of which had been modified so it didn't impede her wings.

"Biologically she's not my daughter," Logan confirmed, "But I'm her father in a much more meaningful way," he said, glancing down at the little girl who was smiling up at him with the happiest grin he had ever seen on her face.

"But... Logan, you can't just pick up a kid and decide to keep it, what about her real parents?" Scott suddenly blurted out. Funnily enough, all the anger he had been displaying outside had evaporated as he had watched Bella and Logan interact.

"Her biological parents were sacks of human garbage, who sold their child into... that-" he didn't want to say the words aloud where Bella could overhear but he knew the others would pick up his meaning- "Just because of a quirk of her DNA and a pair of fairy wings, you pick up kids every day for the same damn reason, admittedly they aren't usually as young as Bella but what does it matter when you've already been cast aside, she's no less deserving than any of the other kids of a safe home, her age just means she needs a little more one-on-one care and commitment, and that's what we're giving her," Logan replied.

"We?" Ororo finally spoke, for the first time, only to be interrupted by a noise from the other room.

By the time Marie stepped out into the room, all eyes were on her, and Logan was out of his seat, popping Bella on her feet while whispering something in her ear that sent her scampering toward the kitchen.

"What's all the noise out here?" Marie asked cheekily, keeping her attention on Logan as she moved into his arms and placed a soft kiss on his whiskered cheek, nodding a greeting to the strangers in turn.

"Sorry darlin, didn't mean to wake you, here, sit down," Logan said, offering her his chair, and helping her get comfortable. Bella was at her side the moment she was settled, with a glass of iced tea and the tin of cookies they had baked that morning.

"Go offer some to the visitors too, and get the lemonade out for people," Marie instructed the little girl, chucking a glare at Logan for not showing the little girl some manners when hosting guests. Logan just let out a grumbling growl and rolled his eyes, he didn't invite them, as far he was concerned they could fend for themselves.

When Logan turned back to the guests at the table Kitty was bouncing in her seat so excitedly he was worried she was going to disappear right through it, the floor, and into the cellar below. Everyone else was back to stunned silence, as they observed the pregnant young woman before them, and the rough and tough badass known as the Wolverine waiting on her.

"So, this is the other half of the 'we'?" Ororo asked, noticing Logan's relaxed, and dare she say happy, look absorb a bit of apprehension.

"Hi, I'm Rogue," Marie introduced herself before Logan got a chance to speak. "If I'm remembering correctly, white hair and controls weather, is Ororo, red hair and telepathic is Jean, and 'dumbass with the shades' is Scooter, is that right?" she queried innocently, directing her impish grin toward Logan, who chuckled at her daring diffusion of the situation.

"It's Scott actually, I'll let the rest pass but only because it's not your fault he's a moron," Scott replied, standing up and making his way past Logan to shake Marie's hand. He needed to get a closer look to be sure what he was seeing was real and not some trick if the light, or his visor. Nope, the girl was definitely pregnant. "And this is Kitty," he added, pointing to the last member of their party.

"Yeah, me and her have already met," Marie confirmed, offering Kitty a smile, as she finally launched herself off her seat and came over for a hug.

"I thought you couldn't control your power?" Kitty asked, noting the absence of the suppression collar, and her bare arms and hands, and her pregnant belly of course, hard to miss the implications of that.

"I couldn't, Logan convinced me to take the collar off and have a go at trying to control it," Marie informed her, ignoring the surprised looks several people cast at Logan, as he too ignored them.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your mutation?" Jean asked, Kitty hadn't known other than it knocked people out and couldn't be controlled. She listened in awe as Marie explained what her power did, as best she understood, and explained how she had learned to control it.

"And I learned to control mine too, most of the time," Bella interjected, "It still happens sometimes when I'm sleepy and have bad dreams but I--"

"Bella," Logan interrupted gently, "The adults have to have a talk for a bit, why don't you go show Kitty your bedroom," he suggested, watching in amusement as the little girl sighed dramatically, before turning on Kitty as she launched into a detailed diatribe of her room being in 'the treehouse', as she tugged Kitty toward the ladder. Kitty winked at Logan, as she dropped the curtain back into place over the doorway to give the adults some privacy.

"Now that she's out of the way, what exactly do you want?" Logan queried of the team.

"Well... let's just say we weren't expecting what we found," Scott sheepishly admitted.

"And what exactly were you expecting?" Marie asked, a hint of ice in her tone that Logan had heard directed at himself once, a long time ago now. Marie didn't trust them.

"I'll admit, when Kitty told us Logan had 'bought' another girl, and then he took off without handing her over, and then he wouldn't come back to the school... well, we kind of thought he might be, uh... up to no good," Scott said, looking uncomfortable.

"I see, I wondered why Logan was reluctant to go back but if his 'friends' think so highly of him I suppose it makes sense," Marie replied, glaring daggers at Scott.

"Look we--"

"You what? Thought Logan might have picked up where the traffickers left off? Did you really, honestly, think he might have picked up a girl and been harming her?" she demanded.

"It was one of the possible scenarios we had to consider," Ororo interjected calmly, "I personally didn't believe it myself, I've known Logan for many years now and he's always been good with the students, always been trustworthy, and careful, in saying that, I've known Logan for many years and I didn't expect what we have found either, he never seemed the type who would be happy 'settling down', yet, here is his, seemingly settled and happy."

"It's all down to the company," Logan replied with a chuckle, pulling out Kitty's vacated seat at the table, and spinning it around to seat himself on, next to Marie. "I never expected it either but when I saw her, I knew I had to have her, like it was meant to be," he grinned over at Marie, who reached for his hand, and squeezed it; because once she was in this armchair she was stuck until someone helped her out of it thanks to her baby bump, so that was the best she could do.

"What about you Rogue?" Jean queried, still looking a little uncertain, she was a doctor, and though she may not be a psychiatrist she knew about things like Stockholm Syndrome.

"I went through a lot before I got to the point Logan picked us up, it took me a while to learn to trust again but I'm glad Logan stuck it out and helped me, I couldn't imagine being anywhere but right here, right now... well, I could imagine but I wouldn't want to be in any of those other places I can," she added with a shudder. At Jean's prompting, and Logan's encouragement, Marie hesitantly detailed her story, from manifestation to rescue.

"My god, how could anyone do that to their own child," Jean said, wiping away her tears, "I swear it never gets any easier, every time I hear a story like that... I'm sorry for everything you've been through Rogue--"

"I'm not," Marie replied, smiling softly at Logan again, "It got me where I am today, it got me a man, got us a daughter, got us a baby, life is good, a little harder without electricity but that can be fixed," she finished with a grin.

"You're just not going to let that one go are you," Logan replied with a chuckle.

"Don't get me wrong I love this place but you can't tell me life wouldn't be a little easier with a washing machine instead of having to do laundry at the creek," Marie giggled, and the guests couldn't help but feel like this conversation was one that had been had before.

"I told you, I booked the electric install for next summer, it was the earliest they could get out here," Logan replied.

"We could get a generator in the meantime," she suggested.

"... We could move to the school," Logan suggested. They had had this conversation too, off and on, since Chuck had first asked Logan to return to teach. "There's electric, there's heating, there's more space, you could take some college classes, Bella would be the youngest, until bubba pops out, but she'd have some friends, friends who wouldn't think wings were weird, we wouldn't have to worry about snow stopping the midwife getting through, the doc would only be a couple doors down the hall, full medical unit at our fingertips just in case," he rattled off a list of reasons why it was a good idea, things they had both already discussed though not made a call on yet.

"Do you think your 'friends' could handle that? Me and you, and Bella and baby?" Marie asked, watching the faces at the table as she posed her hypothetical query.

Funnily enough it was Scott that answered her, cracking a grin as he replied, "You know what, I don't think that would be a problem at all, though, the doc would be a floor down rather than a couple of doors down." At Logan curious glances he clarified. "Well, your old room might work for you and Rogue but with two kids you'll probably want to upgrade to one of the suites the Professor's been renovating in the attic; three bedrooms, living room, its own kitchen, what do you think?"

Logan looked surprised initially, then relieved, and Marie could see the grin starting to crack through even before he turned to her. "Wouldn't hurt to give it a shot, what do you think?"

"I think that would be a great idea, we could trial it until baby arrives and then re-evaluate after that,” Marie replied, though she couldn't help the nerves in the pit of her stomach at the idea of being surrounded by people again. She had gotten used to, and comfortable with it just being the three of them, at least they would have their own space though.

"Great, well, I'll go get the jet, I have no idea why you always made us land so far away, it'll fit in this clearing no problem," Scott pointed out, "Jean, Ororo, and Kitty can help you pack."

And just like that, they were ready to get on the move again.

Jean was fussing over Marie the whole flight, making sure she was comfortable and not stressed. Logan was distracted by Bella, who wanted to simultaneously sit on his knee, and look out the small porthole window, a prospect Logan did not enjoy.

It took Marie several minutes to notice the pair had fallen silent around halfway through the flight, and she turned to look at them, expecting to see Bella had fallen asleep. Instead she saw Logan and Bella, heads together and matching mischievous grins on their faces, as they whispered quietly to each other. She wanted to think 'at least they aren't causing trouble' but those grins told her otherwise; they were planning something.

When the jet landed at the school, dropping down below the ground level before a thick hanger door slid shut above their heads, Marie wasn't surprised when Bella immediately left Logan behind and ran to the front of the plane to watch the shutdown sequence being run. She was such a curious child it probably shouldn’t have surprised her. When Bella grabbed her own little backpack, and headed off the plane at Scott's side, chattering away a mile a minute about her dolly that she had carried with her the whole trip, Marie didn't think anything of it given everyone else was headed in the same direction.

Until she noticed that Scott wasn’t headed in quite the said direction. He was walking in a steady straight line, not towards the door of the hangar room, but to the wall about four feet to the left. She caught Logan's shit eating grin, a moment before he shushed Jean when she looked like she was going to call out to Scott.

A moment later, Bella stopped walking suddenly and Scott walked full speed into the wall. Logan and Bella immediately started laughing, while the rest of the women tried in vain to stop their own giggles from bursting forth. Bella quickly scampered back to Logan, hiding behind his leg, and they watched as Scott shook his head and stared between the wall in front of him, and the door beside him.

"What...?" he queried in confusion, before Marie explained; Bella could make mirages, and jabbed Logan in the ribs as he continued to chuckle.

"What was that for?" he asked, in mock hurt.

"I know you told her to do that," Marie replied.

Logan shot her an offended 'who me?' look, before clarifying. "There's 'telling' and then there's 'suggesting' darlin, I just helped her out with a few suggestions," he said with a grin, then ducked down and lifted Bella onto his back, before picking up the bags he had been about to carry to their new suite. "By the way, Scooter, watch your back," Logan added as he, with an angelic looking Bella in tow, walked past him.

"Seriously, your back," he repeated, before he and Bella cracked up laughing again when they heard a chorus of shrieks from behind them.

Marie rolled her eyes, it was going to be a long year, if they weren't careful they would be being asked to leave before it was over. Though finally giving in to her giggles at the matching looks of mischief on Logan and Bella's faces... she wasn't really too worried about that. It would sure be fun.