The flight was going to take about two hours, a fact Logan was trying not to think about. He didn't like flying on the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

"So, you and Rogue?" Scott started, as he kicked back from the pilot's position now that the autopilot was engaged.

"I wouldn't mention Rogue if I were you, I haven't kicked your ass yet for letting her go on that mission," Logan pointed out warningly.

"Rogue is perfectly capable of handling her own on missions, I wouldn't have let her be involved if I wasn’t convinced of that fact," Scott justified his position.

"Well I guess if Rogue is perfectly capable of handling possible death or internment on missions, she must be well capable of handling her own personal relationships then," Logan replied pointedly.

"You know Rogue's mutation keeps her at arm’s length from people, it makes her vulnerable when faced with 'personal relationship' situations, if you do anything to take advantage of that..." Scott responded, beginning to get himself worked up.

"I know all about Rogue's mutation," Logan interrupted, "It almost killed me, twice, saving her life, admittedly one of those times was my own fault she needed saving but I saved her none the less. I left her here for her own safety and wellbeing, I would still be away, leaving her to grow up, if someone else hadn't decided she was already grown up. If she is grown up enough to risk dying, she's grown up enough to live. I have no intention of taking advantage of her but I also have no intention of pushing her away, not when we both want the same thing. If you have a problem with that you can shove it up your ass for all the fucks I give."

Scott paused, shocked, it was the closest he'd ever heard Logan come to talking about his feelings. As he considered his statement, he really couldn't fault his logic, and he knew Rogue had had a crush on the guy, since probably before she arrived at the school.

"Look, I won't stick my nose in your business but if you hurt her, just so you're aware, you've got a mansion full of people who will kick your ass in some very imaginative ways. We all care about Rogue, she's hard not to get attached to, just promise not to rush her, she's young and inexperienced, whatever happens let it happen naturally, you risk pushing her away otherwise," Scott cautioned him.

"I know," Logan replied, "I've got plenty of time to wait for her."

They sat in silence for a while before Logan asked with a grin. "So, when you say Rogue's 'perfectly capable', just how good are we talking?"

Scott chuckled, pulling up a monitor as he tapped commands into the computer that was linked to the X-mansions database. He pulled up video logs of some of Rogue's best training simulations, her all-time best was when she took on the entire junior team, single-handedly, and beat the lot of them. He hit play on the log and sat back to watch.

The video finished not long before they were ready to touch down, despite making several comments on flaws in Rogue's execution and openings she had missed, Logan had a very impressed grin on his face by the time she was standing victorious at the simulated base she had 'captured the flag' from. He wouldn't say it out loud, at least not anywhere Scott could hear it, but Rogue really could handle her own, though he did note her shameless appropriation of his own style, she must have a lot of him still in her head. He did comment that he would take over Rogue's training personally if she was happy with that, which Scott did complain about, Logan just ignored him.

They arrived at a dirty, run down house on the seedy side of town about five minutes later. The convertible that had been stashed in the back of the jet was fitted with fake plates so they didn't have to be careful with hiding the car. As they made their way up the front path, stepping over trash and empty beer bottles, Logan was thankful that James was out of this environment now.

Scott knocked politely at the door, though Logan could hear someone moving around inside no one came to get the door. He gave it a minute before he pounded loudly on the door with one metal reinforced fist. Still the door didn't open so he called out, "Open the goddamn door or I will." The shuffling inside became louder, and he distinctly heard someone run out the back of the building, and jump the back fence which creaked ominously, before the door opened.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want?" A woman’s voiced asked, she could only see Scott from where she was positioned at the narrow crack between the door and the frame that the security chain allowed.

"We're here about your son," Scott stated.

The woman laughed scornfully. "Should have thought about that sooner before you fuckers screwed me over, little shit’s gone, you should get the same way," she snapped.

"Open the damn door now," Logan growled, stepping into her line of sight.

It took her a moment to recognize him but as soon as she did, he scented her fear jack up, and he caught the door as she tried to slam it shut, shoving the door open hard enough that the chain snapped, broken links pinging off the nearby walls. The woman turned to run but Logan grabbed her before she could get into the next room, shoving her to sit on the couch as Scott entered and calmly shut the door behind him.

"You are Tansy Martin, is that correct?" Scott asked, as he took up the roll of 'good cop'.

"Who's asking," she snapped snarkily.

"Your parole officer," Logan replied sarcastically.

"Fuck you, you freak, you caused all this, you and those goddamn government fuckers, I knew the money was too good to be true. And then that little fucking freak they stuck me with. Wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for him," she replied, refusing to acknowledge Logan.

"How much did they pay you for my kid?" Logan asked, curiosity taking the edge off his harsh tone.

"It was supposed to be a half mil, got fifty grand in advance, the rest on delivery, except the goddamn assholes never showed and left me lumped with it," Tansy replied, obviously furious. "The little shit was nothing but trouble from the start, then at two the little freak grows claws and stabs the shit out of my boyfriend, and I go to jail for it because no one believed me. If it's the kid you're wanting though I already got rid of it, dumped it in the foster care system, good luck finding it."

Logan stormed out, he had all the information he needed, he trusted Scott to be able to handle one woman on his own, he on the other hand needed to calm down. No wonder the kid didn't ever want to see his mother again, she really did hate him, had his life before the lab got him been any better than his life in it. Then and there, as Logan leaned against the car waiting, he promised James would have the best damn life he could give him.

When Scott exited the house an hour later Logan had retreated into the car as it had begun to drizzle drearily. The drive back to the plane was quiet and tense, neither man spoke as they boarded the jet and took off again, returning the way they had come.

"She gave names of her recruiters, no guarantee they're real but we'll see... did you get everything you needed?" Scot asked, a way into their trip.

"Yep," Logan replied, making it clear that was all he would say on the matter.

"Probably no consolation but she said you were a fantastic fuck, even for a 'freak'," Scott added, trying to lighten the mood.

Logan chuckled. "Never have had any complaints," he added with a grin, accepting the distraction.

By the time they got back to New York it was after nine pm, most of the mansion was quiet, it being a school night, the kids who weren't studying or already in bed, were being as quiet and inconspicuous as they could, so they didn't get reminded of homework and curfews.

Logan made his way up to Rogue's room, he slipped in quietly, needing to see James and reassure himself that the boy was safe and comfortable now. He wasn't surprised to find James fast asleep in Rogue's bed rather than his own. Rogue wasn't asleep though and she watched him closely as he silently crept into the room. He stripped off his jacket, boots and belt and joined the pair on the bed as they had been before he left.

"How'd it go?" she asked quietly.

Logan looked sadly down at his sleeping son. "I'm so glad he's out of there," he replied. That was enough for Rogue to know it must have been really bad, she wasn't going to push for more information but Logan needed to talk. "She was paid, to carry the baby, but they never collected. She hated him, just the way she talked about him, he must have been healing from a really young age because I can guarantee there was abuse going on, it's the only way she could have kept him without him being taken off her earlier. Makes you wonder what would have been worse, staying with her or foster care, hell part of me is wondering if the lab might even have been better... I feel like I've let him down..."

"It's not your fault Logan, you couldn't have known, all we can do now is pick up the pieces, there's no point beating yourself up over it," Rogue replied, taking hold of his hand where it was sitting on the bed beside James. She could see he was still struggling so carefully extracted herself from where she was cradling the sleeping boy. Moving to the other side of Logan and wrapping her arms around him, watching James where he was still sleeping. "You love him, he loves you. If you had known, it never would have happened, I know that, you know that, he knows that. You can't change the past Logan, only the future, and you're going to make his future awesome."

Logan rolled back, wrapping his arm around her, his other cradling James. "I'm going to do my best, for both of you," he said, a small smile settling on his face as he pressed a kiss to her hair.

The soft warm bed, the gentle sound of his sleeping sons breathing, and the soothing beat of Marie's heart began to pull him to sleep. "I should go," Logan said a minute later, he should get back to his own room before he set a precedent for falling asleep in Rogue's bed.

"You should stay, " Marie murmured, holding onto him tighter, "Stay." James shifted at the same time, unconsciously hugging him too. So, he stayed, sleeping soundly for the first time in a long time.

--

The next afternoon the Professor called Logan down to his office unexpectedly, Kitty was just leaving as Logan arrived, she smiled at him sadly but rushed away before he could ask what was going on. Worriedly, he entered the office without bothering to knock. The Professor was alone, perusing a file.

"Take a seat Logan," he suggested.

"That bad huh," Logan commented ruefully, as he sat down across the desk from the older man.

"Kitty has found a match," he commented, as he closed the file and slid it across the desk, he didn't remove his hand from it so Logan refrained from attempting to pick it up and let him continue speaking. "She believes this is the child mentioned in James' lab records. This child, and her whole immediate family are currently listed as missing persons." His piece said he removed his hand from the file, allowing Logan to take it.

He sat frozen, holding the file for a moment before flipping it open, the smiling face of a curly haired little girl was front and centre of the file. He could immediately see similarities between the girl and James, namely the eyes, though the girls were green rather than James' hazel, the shape was the same. Her hair too, though somewhat tamed, was still wild, thick and dark, almost black.

He flipped through the documents contained in the file, birth certificate, school records, medical records, a few family photos, and a sheaf of missing persons reports for mother, father, and two children, the girl, and a baby boy.

"Has there been any progress in finding the location of the lab the girl's in?" he asked quietly, after he had closed the file again.

"I'm afraid not," Xavier replied, "But we are continuing to decrypt the files, as soon as something is found we will let you know.”

With a tired sigh Logan nodded before standing to leave. "Can I hold onto this?" he asked, continuing out of the room when Xavier confirmed it was his.

When he got back upstairs, he considered tracking down Rogue before deciding he had burdened her with enough of this fucked up situation, the fact she was looking after his son made that obvious. He sat down on his couch glumly as he reopened the file, not at all surprised when the door opened a moment later; trust Rogue to just know anyway and come looking for him.

"Not good news I take it?" she said, taking a seat beside him. He pulled the photo out of the file and handed it to her. "She's cute, at least you know you make good looking kids," she said, as she tucked the photo back into the file a couple of minutes later.

Logan huffed a laugh as he wrapped his arm around her. "She's in a lab, god only knows where, her entire family is missing, I can only assume they're dead. I remember her mom, let's just say she was hard to forget, her husband was cheating on her so she decided two could play at that game, I didn't care, I'd be out of there before dawn and she was up for anything. You probably don't want to hear about that though," Logan added.

Rogue giggled. "The you in my head has already scrambled to try and hide that memory," she told him.

"I guess I really don't have any secrets from you," he replied, looking only mildly uncomfortable at the thought.

"Damn straight, and you better not start keeping any," Rogue replied, "Not from me at least. You don't need to hide from me Logan, I'm here for you, whatever you need, and to remind you that none of this is your fault. We'll find her." She placed a kiss on his bearded cheek before resting her head against his chest.

They sat for some time just comforting each other until James wandered in, freshly woken from his nap, looking for them.
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