“How many do we have now?” Tank inquired leaning nonchalantly against the doorjamb of Logan’s office.

“Eight,” Logan replied without looking up. “I talked to the contractor in town, he’s gonna be out next week. They should have six full sized cabins built by fall.”

“Why not just add onto this old house?”

“The kids need a place of their own. Granted they’ll be sharing but really, it’s not fair to them to be locked away within the walls of this house.”

“I’m just concerned for their safety is all.”

The cabins will be interconnected, and we’re still going to have communal meals. It’s just a way of giving them some space.”

“Why not get Helen to send a crew over?”

“Because I do not want anything from her,” Logan ground out looking up at the only other male on the property over the age of eighteen.

“Why not? She is…”

“Don’t say it,” Logan growled, his fists clenching. “My family is here. They need us, need to know we’re going to protect them, provide for them. I can’t afford to be running to ‘mommy’ everytime we need something.”

“Where’s the money coming from?” Tank asked. “I ain’t got a lot but you’re welcome to it.”

Logan shook his head, “I’ve got more than enough saved up. Making a living pounding red-necks and hicks makes you more than you think.”

Tank nodded even as a slow, evil little grin slid across his face, “Why not have Xavier pay for it?”

“I don’t want anything from that freak.”

“No, he’d never know he was paying for it. We send someone in there on a ‘fundraising’ mission. He’d never know what hit him, we have enough to build ten cabins, and you haven’t spent a penny.”

“That’s theft.”

“That’s sweet revenge. The man’s got way too much money as is.”

“Look,” rising Logan moved closer to him and lowered his voice, “The contractor has a mutant daughter that’s just beginning to show signs of her more latent talents. He’s slightly concerned that she’s gonna fall into the wrong hands and has offered to build the cabins for us at a discount.”

“On what condition?”

“We take his daughter off his hands. Find her somewhere safe to be.”

Tank nodded, “Where’s the contractor from?”

“Barkerville.”

“Where the heck is that?”

“British Columbia. He’s already got a crew on the way; we don’t have to do anything. Apparently his daughter is coming with them.”

“Logan, you’re a dangerous man.”

“No, I’m street smart. Besides that, I need to get the girls out of here. They’ve been working so hard on training that they’ve forgotten what it means to be rested, to have extra energy. They need a holiday.”

“They won’t leave.”

“They don’t have to,” Logan grinned, “We’re all going to go to the lake for the weekend. Every one of us including the kids. I’m sick of seeing the shadows in their eyes, sick of seeing the look of pain, of disgust when they see a scar, a mark. Just because they got sit on doesn’t mean they have to like it.”

Shaking his head Tank remained silent as Logan walked away from him. Turning and leaning against the wall he watched as Logan disappeared up the stairs, obviously the other man was searching for Rogue. A weekend retreat to the lake wouldn’t solve their problems, hell it wouldn’t even scratch at the surface but at least it was something normal, something that wasn’t connected to battle and Tank had to admit that was better than fighting all the time.

“Rogue seems a bit moody today,” Jubilee whispered softly from near his shoulder.

“Yeah? Why is that I wonder?”

“Bad night,” she replied softly. “She spent part of it in the sickbay, trying to hide from Logan.”

“What? Why?” Staring down at Jubilee Tank was shocked.

Jubilee shrugged, obviously debating whether to reveal her knowledge or not, “I think it had something to do with what she saw yesterday morning.”

“What did she see?” Tank followed Jubilee into the study and watched her close the door and do a quick check of the room. “Jubilation, what did Rogue see? Does it put the rest of you in danger?”

Jubilee shook her head; satisfied that the room was empty she sank into a chair, “No. She saw Kitty and Scott.”

“She seems them regularly.”

“Apparently not this way,” Jubilee flushed, “See they were outside and making love. Apparently Kitty was giving Scott a hummer and well he came, and part of it got on Kitty’s face and naked breasts and Rogue saw that.”

“So Rogue saw Scott ejaculate on Kitty instead of in her,” Tank eased along, searching for the answer.

“Yes,” Jubilee sighed,” In a lot of ways it reminded Rogue of what she suffered at the lab.”

“There were no indications of sexual abuse Jubilee. Her hymen was in tact, there was no scarring near the vaginal or anal area.”

Jubilee shrugged, “Doesn’t have to be penetration for a rape to occur.”

“What do you mean?”

Jubilee shrugged and looked away, a shadow crossing her face. “It doesn’t matter. Just forget I said anything.”

“No,” Tank knelt next to her, “Tell me what you meant. Did they hurt Rogue? What did they do to her? I need to know so I can help her get better.”

“Sometimes they made her watch when they hurt Kitty or I, sometimes they’d tie us together and use things so we were the ones doing the hurting. Sometimes they made us um do things to Rogue. The nights that they did that a lot of the time they covered Rogue in their cum,” Jubilee whispered painfully, a flush climbing her face. “Sometimes they pissed on her, but they always left her covered in that. She spent most of her time caked in their ejaculate, because of us.”

“No, that had nothing to do with you,” Tank pulled her close and closed his eyes at the pain in her voice and the anger building in his body. “Do you know if they did anything else to her? Did they penetrate her at all?”

“Once, some guard got cocky and sat on her chest trying to force her to perform oral sex, only she caught part of his skin and he went into seizures. That was early on during our captivity and after that they just used her for a depository. Tank don’t say anything, Rogue doesn’t really remember and I don’t want her to.”

“Does Kitty remember?”

“If she does she hasn’t said anything. We weren’t as lucky as Rogue to get mind blanking drugs. We weren’t important enough,” Jubilee looked at him sharply, “Does Logan know?”

“I think you’ll find that Logan knows a lot more than you think,” Tank replied softly. “He’s a very astute man.”

“He’s also been in a lab,” Jubilee replied softly. “I guess he’d know.”

“Look as much as I think we don’t want it, we need a vacation. This weekend at the lake will do us all a world of good.”

“But what about…?”

“If there’s trouble…we’ll deal with it,” Tank declared easily, “Now then we should find the others and let them know they need to pack. Three whole days at the lake will be a nice change of pace. Nobody to fight, nothing to do but relax, kick back, fish maybe.”

Shaking her head Jubilee sniffled, “You’re insane.”

Tank chuckled, “Aren’t we all.”
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