Several days later, at lunch, things were finally beginning to settle in something close to normalcy. The kids were comfortable in their new surroundings, so long as they had an eye on either Logan or Rogue. This particular day they opted to have lunch in the cafeteria with everyone else.
Rogue was called over to sit with her friends, which Logan encouraged her to do. She'd spent almost every waking minute with either him or one, or both of the kids, for weeks now, she deserved a break. He, James, and Ava sat at one end of the teachers table, there were no kids their age at the school - it wasn't normal for kids their age to be active mutants after all - so they were out of luck for peers for now.
James sat and ate politely but quickly got bored once he had finished his food, he kept looking around to make sure Rogue was still at the other table, seeming anxious, before he climbed out of his seat and ran over to her. Logan watched in amusement as the little boy wriggled under her arm and began trying to climb into Rogue's lap, she didn't even bat an eye as she slid her seat back a bit and lifted him up. A moment later she shifted her plate closer to him when he began sneaking food off it. So that's what he wanted! Logan had never been one for rules but it looked like they would have to teach James some more basic manners, like asking to be excused before leaving the table, and that it was alright to ask for seconds if he was still hungry.
"Daddy?" Ava asked suddenly from beside him, sounding thoughtful.
"Yeah sweetheart?" he replied, noting Scott turn his attention toward them. Please don't let this be an awkward question little kids were so infamous for.
"Did James come out of Rogue's tummy?" Ava asked, regarding him seriously.
"... No," Logan replied, clamping down on a grin as Scott choked on his drink. The question was unexpected but not a wholly unpleasant thought when he had let it set for a moment. He was also thankful she apparently already knew where babies came from, that was one talk he wouldn't have to have.
"So, why does James call her mama?" Ava asked, now sounding confused.
"Well, when James arrived, I guess Rogue sort of adopted him, she took care of him, because I wasn’t here when they found him, and so he decided to call her mama," Logan answered honestly.
"Does James not have a mommy?" Ava asked sadly.
Logan thought about the woman they'd found, the one who birthed the boy. "No, James doesn't have a mommy," he answered, not one he would ever see or have contact with ever again if Logan had any say in the matter.
"Oh," was all Ava responded as she went back to eating, and thinking. Logan had a feeling this conversation wasn't over yet. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Ava piped up again. "Daddy?"
"Yeah kiddo," he replied with a grin.
"Would Rogue adopt me too?" she asked.
That had not been what Logan had been expecting to hear next, he turned to regard her curiously. "Would you like her too?"
"Mmhmm," Ava replied firmly, nodding her head so there could be no mistaking her feelings on the matter.
"Well then, I guess we can ask her," Logan replied. He had a feeling he already knew what Rogue's answer would be, he knew what he hoped it would be, at the same time he had his reservations about his preference in that regard.
"Now?" Ava asked excitedly, ready to jump out of her seat.
"Later, after lunch, she's not going anywhere," Logan assured the girl, "Now finish your lunch before James comes back and eats it," he teased. Ava giggled; the two children had argued at dinner the night before after James had stolen food off Ava's plate when she was distracted. When she'd demanded it back, he had licked it, right in front of her, before offering it back to her. Then Rogue had told Logan off for laughing.
Before they got a chance to talk to Rogue, the attention of the entire room was drawn to a far corner when a series of shouts went up. It was unusual for fights to break out in such clear view of the teachers but at least four boys were currently wailing on a fifth, while several more egged them on and several girls were yelling for them to stop.
"Shit!" Logan started, when he spied Flora among the girls calling for them to stop, Caleb wasn't at her side which meant he was probably in the middle of the fight. Before Logan could get across the room, two boys had already been thrown clear of the fray, at least one was down for the count, and a roar sounded from the crowd simultaneously as a small explosion sounded. People screamed as the crowd immediately fell back, away from Caleb who stood, now alone, lips curled in a snarl, he was surrounded by a swirl of flames that licked hungrily at his clothes and hair.
Scott, who was right behind Logan as he headed for the fight, immediately seized the two boys, still standing, who had been involved in the fight. Jean was seeing to the other two, leaving Logan to deal with Caleb.
Logan grabbed hold of him, ignoring the burn of the flames that kissed his skin, hauling the boy out the nearest door into the yard. Throwing him to the ground he began to smother the flames which seemed to be dying all on their own. Sarah came rushing out, among the group of students and teachers, to see what was happening, screaming when she saw her son, singed and not moving on the ground.
"He's okay," Logan assured her, as Rogue came rushing out with a first aid kit. It was largely unnecessary but he peeled open several burn pads and wrapped them around the worst burnt areas as an interim measure. Caleb lay still, gritting his teeth against the pain, as his healing burned almost as bad as the flames had.
Two older teens came out with a stretcher, offering to help carry Caleb to the med lab, Logan accepted the lift but directed them to the nearest bathroom with a full-size tub. Rogue ran ahead to run a cool bath; it was half full by the time the group got there. Jean caught up with them as Logan cut what was left of Caleb's singed clothes from his body, her gasp of shock at the extent if the burns doing nothing to help keep the boy’s mother and girlfriend calm.
"He's okay," Rogue assured them, she knew from Logan's own memories what he was doing, and that Caleb had already started healing, and quickly. Jean objected to Logan's plan to put Caleb into the tub of cool water, he just ignored her, leaving Rogue to keep her out of his way. "He needs to drop his core temperature to stop the burning which will speed up the healing, infection is the last of his worries right now; trust him Jean, Logan knows what he's doing, he knows what works, he's not going to do anything to put his own son in danger."
Sarah backed Rogue up, feeding off her calm assertiveness, as she reassured Flora too that everything was going to be okay. The sat around on the bed of the bedroom they were in, it just so happened to be Rogue's, hers being the closest to the elevator and stairs. Jean eventually excused herself, confident that Logan didn't need help, she needed to get back to her own patients.
It was a few minutes before Rogue sensed Logan begin to relax as he watched the slow heal begin; it was then she realised she'd lost track of James and Ava. Stepping out into the hallway to head back downstairs to find them, she stopped when she saw the pair of them sitting on the floor outside the doorway, hugging each other as they watched her approach.
"You guys okay?" she asked, as she kneeled down beside them.
"Is Caleb okay?" They both asked simultaneously.
"He's still healing but he's going to be fine," she reassured them as she picked them both up, one in each arm, and carried them into the bedroom to wait with the rest of the family.
She set them down on the bed as she went to answer Logan's call for the first aid kit, standing by watching, and assisting where she could, as Logan gently peeled and cut away areas of burned skin, to allow the new to heal faster. In all it took an hour before Caleb was able to start moving around comfortably, though he didn't initially make any move to get out of the cool water, content to sit around and prune for a while.
Logan refused to let Sarah and Flora in until Caleb 'looked' healed, though he knew he was still healing under the skin; it would be an itchy buzz by that stage. Caleb was even able to crack jokes when Flora finally came in to sit next to him, she wanted to hug him but was too scared of hurting him so he offered up a hand for her to hold instead.
"Not how I wanted you to see me in the buff for the first time but beggars can't be choosers I guess," he commented dryly, when she looked like she was going to cry again. Everyone laughed at that, though he only had eyes for Flora.
Logan left the room as he heard Scott approaching, telling Ava and James they could go and see their brother now.
"What's the story from the other side?" Logan asked gruffly, as he scowled at nothing. He was trying not to lose his shit; kids did stupid things, sure, but there was a big difference between a schoolyard punch up and attempted murder.
"They're not talking, the fire was obviously started by Johnny but why, we don’t know, how's Caleb?" Scott asked.
"He's healing well, I haven't asked for his side of the story yet, once he can move... probably another hour at least," Logan advised.
"Shit, that bad?" Scott asked, he knew how quickly Logan's healing factor worked, and something that kept him down for hours was bad.
"Burns always take a while to fix up, and that fire was hot so it burned deep," Logan replied, rubbing at his own arm where he too had been burned. It had healed, on the surface, but his arm was still hot, despite him having soaked it in the tub for the last hour, the hair hadn't grown back yet, and the sleeve of his shirt was ruined.
Scott let him get back but not before advising the boys were all grounded, three were currently confined to their dorms until further notice, the fourth to the med lab as he was suffering a serious concussion. Kitty had downloaded the CCTV video and they would review it later. Until the situation was sorted, Caleb was grounded too, and was to be returned to his own room once he could be moved. Logan agreed, fair was fair, he just hoped it didn't turn out Caleb was the aggressor, he didn't think he was but he'd have to reserve judgement until he had heard from everyone.
Half an hour later he got rid of everyone to give Caleb some privacy while he helped him out of the tub, Sarah brought a bathrobe for him so he didn't have to get dressed yet while he was still healing, before Logan walked him back to his room.
"Alright buddy, what happened?" Logan asked, as he took a seat on the bed beside where Caleb had flopped down in typical teenage boy fashion. For a while the only response was a deep, long sigh.
"They were being dicks, trying to provoke me, apparently you have a temper and they wanted to see if I did too," Caleb replied eventually.
"What tipped everything over the edge, and who threw the first punch?" Logan pressed.
"The fire kid. Apparently, he had a crush on Rogue but she didn't give him the time of day, so he's pissed at you because he thinks you 'ruined her' for anyone on her peer group but he can't do anything to you because he's not suicidal, well, that suicidal, so he decided to pick on me instead. Two of the other kids in the fight are in Flora's class, one of them latched onto her when we first arrived and was trying to flirt with her, she shut him down, now she's 'ruined' too and it's all the fault of feral super healers, of which I'm apparently the only one among the students, add to that I'm your kid, pretty much every guy hates me, because all the girls have apparently gone gaga over me."
Logan began to chuckle; he shouldn't find this as funny as he did but he couldn't really help it. "I thought it was the ice kid that had his eye on Rogue," he replied.
"Apparently he got over her after 'banging the ghost girl'," Caleb replied dismissively.
"Hey, you don't talk about women like that," Logan warned his son.
"That was a direct quote from the firelighter ... right before he said, and I quote, 'maybe I should follow his lead and fuck something else, maybe a garden nymph', end quote," Caleb replied, his voice bordering on a growl. He continued to detail the conversation that had immediately preceded the fight.
"Just please tell me you didn't hit him first," Logan replied, suppressing a groan at the thought of the kid getting himself in trouble within weeks of arriving. It didn't take a genius to figure out the 'garden nymph' that was referenced was Flora.
"No, he 'accidentally' threw his drink at me when he stood up in a huff when me and Flora were just ignoring him, I stood up and handed the cup back to him, he took the opportunity of me having something in my hand to take a swing at me, then the other three jumped me. Not sure what's worst, the fucking coward who took the first swing then essentially bowed out, or the other idiots who did his dirty work! What happened to the other guys? I know I hit a couple of them but everything's kind of ... fuzzy," he replied, sounding concerned.
"Two went down before you got melted, one's got a concussion but Jean released the other from the med lab - which reminds me, you're all grounded, and suspended, until this is sorted out, I'll try to get it in front of the Professor tomorrow but no guarantees, the other kids aren't talking so as of now it's your word against whatever the CCTV shows," Logan informed him.
"Oh man! Saved by CCTV twice," Caleb laughed, stopping with an 'ow' as he adjusted his position on the bed.
"You rest, your healing's still developing, so you're going to take a while to be back to a hundred percent, I'll bring you up some food, then you get some sleep," he said to Caleb, as he headed out of the room. He didn't get further than opening the door when he came face to face with Flora, carrying a loaded plate.
"Uh, Rogue said Caleb would be hungry..." Flora almost whispered shyly.
"She's right, he's still not able to move easily, why don't you sit with him and make sure he eats it all," Logan replied, with a smile at the girl. She was sweet, and a perfect match for the boy, though she was still a little too reserved - that was something that would be fixed with age and maturity.
She smiled back at him as he stepped aside to let her into the room, moving over to Caleb's side where she set about playing nurse. With a grin Logan left the room, silently closing the door behind him.