Kitty entered the room then, a thick file of freshly printed paper in her arms. She had been working almost nonstop on decrypting files since the mission, even having been given permission to skip classes this week to get a head start. Logan just recognized her as the girl who had run through the door when he had first arrived at Xavier's, it didn't surprise him she was good at breaking into things. Rogue however knew Kitty well enough to know when something was wrong, and right now her friend was just the right shade of pale for her to know that the slightest lapse of the girl’s concentration would see her sinking into the floor.
"Kitty managed to locate James’ file and has been working on decrypting it to figure out how the lab found him," Scott announced to the team.
"What have you found, kid?" Logan asked, picking up on the girls’ distress.
"It was planned, everything about James, right from his conception," Kitty said quietly, "They knew they couldn't hold you, when they found you, they paid a woman to... to have sex with you, to get... to get... um... your uh..."
"Sperm?" Logan offered, some distant part of him mildly amused, as the girl blushed and nodded.
"Then they used it impregnate her. The baby was left to grow up normally but something happened, and the woman abandoned James to child protective services in Canada. When he was two. The lab picked him up within days when they discovered his mutation was active. He's been in that lab for almost a year and..." Here Kitty stopped, her nerves, which had been dying down, began to creep back up again.
"And?" Logan prompted, feeling his own apprehension increase.
"He may not be the only one," Kitty replied.
"The only one what?" Logan asked, hoping she wasn’t meaning what he thought she was.
"The lab believed you might have other children, and they've been looking for them, there is reference to another serial number... and another base code... I'm still trying to decrypt more files on both of those. They've been trawling government databases, mostly medical related, trying to find DNA matches to James, in the hope it would lead them to some of his siblings. From what I've been able to glean, they're going to be slowed down a lot by the loss of this information and the hit on that base, but also, we can search the databases faster if we use Logan's DNA profile to search, paternal matches are easier to make than sibling but I'll need Jean's help with that, also... it is highly illegal," Kitty pointed out.
"Go for it, blame it on me if you get caught," Logan said, "If there's more of my kids out there, they're in danger, anything you can you do to find them..." Logan cut off, the thought that there might be more little boys or girls out there, suffering like James had, was too much to think about, what if they were older, what if it was worse.
"How many kids could we be talking here?" Scott asked curiously.
Rogue stifled a chuckle, Logan smirked at her ruefully before replying, only partly serious. "Well, if condoms are only ninety-eight percent effective, over sixteen years, a hundred, hundred twenty..." Logan shrugged. Hell, he was no saint, and he never claimed to be, though now that the ramifications of his earlier lifestyle were coming home to bite him in the ass he couldn't help the stab of regret. "Truthfully though, I always tried to avoid chicks that were... too ripe, per se, so the actual number should be a hell of a lot less."
Kitty was blushing furiously at his admission, Rogue too, though she also seemed amused by it. Scott and Jean's response was open mouthed shock, while the Professor simply gave Kitty the go ahead to begin the process, as discreetly as possible.
Another thought occurred to Logan then. "What about the mother, where you able to get any information on her? I'd like to pay her a visit, see if I can get the full story out of her," Logan stated honestly. There were details of what happened that were missing, and James wouldn't know them, she was his best bet for getting information.
Kitty looked to the Professor, who nodded in agreement, before she handed over a stapled dossier on a woman named Tansy Jane Martin, identified as the mother of James, the file was surprisingly complete, including a current address, and a substantial criminal record.
"Was the address on the lab file?" Logan asked.
"No, the lab stopped keeping track of her entirely when she abandoned James, but it's the address she's currently bailed to, so if they wanted to find her again it wouldn't be hard," Kitty replied.
"Great, my kid was birthed and raised by a druggy... a violent druggy..." Logan sighed, as he scanned over the list of criminal convictions the woman had. "How the fuck did this chick not get him taken off her the day he was goddamn born!" He closed the file as he began to consider how best to get to British Columbia, as fast as possible, to speak to her.
"It would be best to interview the woman as soon as possible, if the lab were to attempt to track her down in light of James' release, time is of the essence. Logan, I would request Scott accompany you to meet her, you can fly out on the jet this afternoon if you wish," the Professor offered, whether he had been picking up Logan’s thoughts, or simply offering from the goodness of his heart, Logan decided it didn’t matter and accepted the offer and agreed for Scott to come with him. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever this chick had to say, so someone else as a witness would be a good idea.
The meeting was finally adjourned to a late lunch. Rogue suggested not exposing James to the crowds in the cafeteria for the second time in the same day, so she made them lunch to eat outside. When she caught up to Logan, he was sitting solemnly beside the playground watching James play.
"Penny for your thoughts," she said, as she sat down next to him and handed him a beer. "Sorry it's not stronger, Scott keeps the good stuff under lock and key," she added, nodding to the bottle.
Logan chuckled as he popped the cap and swallowed half the bottle, as Rogue lay out food for the trio. "I honestly don't know what I'm thinking, I don't know what to do. I need your help here kid, you seem to know what you’re doing, I don’t know the first thing about kids," Logan told her, the intimate honesty was a vulnerability she knew he wouldn't dare show anyone else.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm just making this up as I go along," Rogue replied with a grin. "How long are you and Scott going to be?" she asked a moment later.
"As long as it takes to get answers, hopefully she's forthcoming, I just need to know what happened to James for her to dump him like that. Can you watch him again tonight?" Logan asked her.
Rogue paused, of course she would look after him but suddenly the idea of James going away, even if it was just down the hall to Logan's room, hit her. James wasn't her child, even if he did insist on calling her mama. "... Yeah, yeah of course, anytime," she replied, with a smile that couldn't quite hide the pain in her eyes.
"You don't have to, I'm not going to make you, I can find someone else if you have other stuff you want to do," Logan replied immediately, obviously interpreting her hesitation as her wanting to decline.
Before she could reply James rushed over, having got a whiff of food. He climbed into Rogue's lap as he helped himself to a sandwich. His earlier unease was gone, she noted, as he chattered happily, pointing out various things that he knew what they were and naming them, while asking about the things he wasn't sure about. When he finished eating, he wanted to go explore the woods, Rogue figured she should probably give Logan some time alone to get to know his son, so she excused herself and left Logan with James.
Logan watched her walk away, something was bothering her but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, he didn't have time to stop and think about it though or he would risk losing the three year old who was quickly disappearing off down a forest path into the woods, calling for him to hurry. An hour later they were walking back to the mansion, well, Logan was, James' little legs had gotten tired, as had the rest of him, and he was riding on Logan's shoulders as he yawned widely, his pockets full of sticks, stones, nuts, and leaves that they had found on their trek.
Logan made his way inside, having to shift the toddler from his shoulders before they got to the first doorway. When he got upstairs, he encountered a problem, James' bed was in Rogue's room but he wasn’t sure if she would want James interrupting her right now, and he didn't have time to move the bed for James to have a nap.
"Go dada," James said, nudging him and pointing toward Rogue's room.
"Alright, alright, I'm moving boss," Logan replied with a chuckle, as he continued to Rogue's room. The kid turned out to be a surprising amount of fun, and not as much work as he had been led to believe; though he had yet to encounter a temper tantrum that toddlers were supposed to be well known for.
He knocked on Rogue's door, it was open but pushed almost closed. She called out for them to come in which Logan did, spying her immediately at the desk where she was sitting, reading. He immediately noted her eyes were red rimmed like she had been crying.
"Hey, sorry, didn't want to bother you, James needs a nap, do you want him down in here or should I put him in my bed?" Logan asked, almost dropping James when he suddenly wriggled out of his grip.
"My bed!" the little boy announced proudly, pointing to his bed in the corner, he ran over to it and pulled out the ball of crumpled fabric that was his pyjamas. He turned to Rogue questioningly as he looked to the sunlight streaming in the window. She helped him change into his pyjamas as Logan closed the curtain, cutting down the light level in the room. James then had to go and explore the curtain to figure out how 'daddy turned the sun down'. When he finally crawled into bed, and asked Rogue to read him a story, his eyes were already half closed, so she wasn’t surprised when he was asleep before she was even finished the second page of the book.
She dropped a soft kiss on his head before she put his book away. Collecting the book she had been reading when they entered, she and Logan left the room, leaving James to sleep undisturbed. Logan led the way to his room, closing the door softly behind them.
"What's wrong Marie?" he asked, before she had even been able to sit down, "And don’t say nothing, something's bothering you and I want to fix it so tell me."
She snapped her mouth shut, her answer had been going to be 'nothing', even the Logan in her head was pushing her to tell him the truth though.
"I don't want to get in the way of you and James but... I guess I kind of got attached, I don't want to lose him, I know I'm not his mama and I've been trying to discourage him from calling me that but..." she admitted, swiping at a wayward tear.
"Marie, you're not going to lose James, I would never do that to you, and I'd never do that to him, god knows you'd make a better parent than I would, he's the luckiest kid ever to have you in his life, and I'm lucky too because I can't do this without you so you have no idea how glad I am to hear you want to be a part of this," Logan told her with a relieved grin, "I'm sorry too, I..." he cut off looking uncomfortable, he didn't intend to tell her the rest but at the same time, it felt like the right time.
"I never wanted to do anything to make your life harder, and now I feel like shit for saying... I came back for you Marie, I don't intend on leaving again, not without you. Admittedly, James kind of throws a spanner in the works a bit but if we're going to do this together, I want to do this *together*, I... I was never coming back for this kid-" he said, as he tugged on the dog tag chain he could see disappearing into her shirt collar, pulling the tag into view- "I was always coming back for you. I didn't plan on saying anything, not yet, you're so young, I wanted you to have a chance to be a kid, grow up, have some fun, and if you want time to do that I'm happy to wait for you but I thought you should know, seeing as the spanner is in play."
Logan nervously smiled at her, a little disconcerted by Rogue's dead silence while he said his piece. The tears gathering in her eyes were not helping him tell which way this was going either. "And I don't mind him calling you mama, if you don't mind," he added, in case his previous statement hadn't been clear enough. A moment later he held an armful of sobbing Rogue as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hugged him for all she was worth. He heard her barely breathe, ‘Please don't let this be a dream’, and cheekily pinched her.
"Ow, what was that for?" Rogue demanded, pulling away from him and rubbing her butt where he had pinched her.
"I guess it's not a dream," Logan replied with a chuckle. Rogue hugged him again joining in his laughter as she wiped away her happy tears.
"So, let's just get this straight, you're asking me to - be your girlfriend?" Rogue asked with a grin.
Logan shook his head. "No Marie, I'm asking you be my mate, one day be my wife, be the mother of my child, maybe even make more kids with me some day. What do you say, does that sound like a position you'd be interested in? I can't promise you it'll be easy, nothing in my life has been so far so I'm not holding out much hope for the future, but if you want to, I'm more than happy to have you walk this path with me."
Rogue nodded madly from the minute he asked if she was interested, hugging the living daylights out of him as she laughed and cried, and literally felt like she was going to burst with happiness.
They were interrupted by the door opening, James poked his head through the door. "Mama, can't sleep," he said, with a yawn, "Sleep with you?" he asked.
Breaking into a huge contented smile Rogue gestured for him to come over to them, pulling James into her lap, where she sat in Logan's and cuddled him close. "You sure can sweetie," she told him, kissing his head again as the little boy purred and rubbed his head against her face.
Logan picked the pair of them up and made his way back to Rogue's room, depositing them both on the bed before turning back to shut the door. He pulled off his belt, and kicked off his boots, before joining them on the bed. James beamed from one to the other of the adults flanking him, before snuggling down hugging both of them, and promptly falling asleep again.
An hour later, a gentle knock on the door preceded the door opening, and Scott sticking his head in. "Rogue, have you seen Logan?" He asked quietly.
"He's here," she replied quietly, watching as Logan began to stir from where he had fallen asleep. She wasn't surprised the nap he'd had this morning wasn't enough to catch up however many days sleep he had missed.
"I'm here, I'm up," Logan replied groggily. "We ready to go?" he asked Scott, who confirmed they were.
"Where you going dada?" James asked, jerking wake and grabbing hold of Logan as he moved to sit up.
"Just going on a mission kid, you're going to stay here with Rogue while I'm gone, I'll be back by morning, you behave yourself while I'm away okay," he said, matter of factly, his tone and body language telling James everything was normal, dad would just be out some times and that's how it was. It worked, and James let him go, snuggling back up to Rogue before waving to him and saying goodbye.
As the jet took off five minutes later Logan spied Rogue and James, waving from her window, as the jet lifted off. He waved too, from his place in the co-pilot’s seat, he didn't know if they could see him but it was the thought that counted.