Logan was frustrated beyond all belief. He had left the mansion on what he had assumed would be a cake run almost nine months earlier. His mission seemed simple enough, Charles had gotten wind of a young mutant thief from New Orleans who had been banished from the city. Logan was to go south, collect the young man and convince him to go back home to the mansion with him. That had been in early February and now here it was mid October and Logan was still chasing the young man.

The little thief had headed all the way up the East Coast with Logan hot on his trail and somewhere between New York and their current location, just outside of Las Vegas, Logan was seriously wondering exactly who the mouse was in the current game of cat and mouse the pair was playing.

Logan's motorcycle hummed beneath him as he headed into the city, confident that he finally was a couple of steps ahead of the Cajun. He stopped for gas in a neighborhood just outside of the main strip when his insides twisted, "Creed." was the only word that came out in the growl that the feral let loose.

Logan could clearly smell the scent of the Victor Creed along with the scent of the young mutant he had spent the majority of a year chasing around the United States. He stalked inside the station and quickly paid for the gas he had pumped before returning to his bike and following the dual scent that was now invading his sense of smell.

The scent led him to an empty field about a quarter of a mile from the local high school. In the field there were signs of a fight that had been recently fought and the smell of explosions that Logan associated with the Cajun. Logan's heart dropped as he realized that he had been too late, Creed and his master Sinister had beaten him to the young mutant he had been desperately trying to reach and save. Logan released his feral side and the Wolverine let out a ferocious roar to the heavens at the unfairness of the situation.

Not for the first time in young Spencer Reid's life, he was truly afraid that his life was going to end. He had stupidly followed Harper to the football field in hopes of meeting up with the prettiest girl in school, Alexa Lisbon. Instead, he was met by the football team who stripped and tied him to the goalpost. After several minutes of taunting and laughter, someone in the back of the crowd threw a stone at him. It hit him in the shoulder and pain blossomed out and down his arm. What truly sent a tentacle of fear down his spine was the shout that followed the stone. "Aim for the head. Maybe we can knock some of those brains loose and he'll stop throwing off the curve!" Two more rocks came flying his way, one missed completely but the other caught him above his left eye and opened a gash on his head.

Before any more rocks could be thrown his way the crowd froze and then scattered when a loud howl was heard coming from somewhere nearby. Even in his dazed state, Spencer attempted to identify the animal, it wasn't a coyote or a wolf, the sound was off. The sound was more like a lion attempting to imitate a wolf. Spencer shook his head at the impossibility of that thought, "That blow to the head must be worse than I thought." he mumbled to himself.

The Wolverine was devastated with his failure to save the young pup that he had become to think of as his own over the last year. He opened up his senses to track the other feral and reclaim his pup. His senses picked up something else in the air- fear, pain, embarrassment and worry. The scent was coming from a youngster and the scent was nearby. There was a pup close by that he could save. The Wolverine followed the scent to the nearby school.

Spencer saw the man enter the football field and began to panic when he headed straight for him. How was he going to explain what happened to him and more importantly how was he going to stop the man from reporting the incident to the school ( which would cause him more problems with the bullies) or the police? (which would lead to an investigation of his home life.) The tears that the young boy had refused to release in front of his tormentors were falling down like rain in the face of his rescuer.

The Wolverine approached the pup cautiously, looking all around for the danger that had caused the youngster so much distress. He gently reached up with a single claw and cut the binding that was holding the pup in place, with his other hand he caught the young boy and gently placed him on the ground. The man-beast then sniffed the pup from head to toe looking for any injuries besides the gash on his forehead.

Spencer knew what a mutant was and he was aware that he was just rescued by a feral mutant so he sat on the ground as still and as submissively as possible while the man gave him a once over. When the man sat back on his legs to give the boy a visual inspection, Spencer exposed his throat to the mutant and gave a small whine to reinforce his submission to the more powerful man.

Spencer's submission was enough to hasten the return of Logan to the forefront of the mutant's psyche.

"What happened?", Logan spoke softly but still with a growl trying to keep the child in front of him calm.

"Jocks.", Spencer mumbled, curling in on himself attempting to hide his nudity.

Logan removed his jacket and draped it over the child's shoulders, then he backed away and began to collect the clothing that was tossed hap-hazzardly over the field.

Spencer carefully watched the man and his curiosity slowly over-whelmed his cautious nature, "Are you the Wolverine?"

The question startled Logan as he dropped the clothing he had gathered and he continued to search the field to avoid looking at the kid as he answered, "Yeah, how did you figure that out?"

The fact that the mutant has answered his question and turned to give him the privacy to redress further strengthened his courage, "I read a lot and mutants have always interested me. I have an eidetic memory, so I remember everything I read. For a while I thought I might be a mutant and that was why everyone called me a freak, but when I asked my mom she told me no. That a mother always knows and so I have to trust her. She also told me that she asked Charlie when I was little and he told her that while I was special I wasn't his kind of special so she wouldn't have to worry about that. But I..." Spencer stopped mid sentence and bowed his head down in embarrassment, "I'm sorry."

Logan chuckled at the word vomit that had just followed from the young boys mouth, "Nothin to be sorry for kid. How's the head?", he asked trying distract him from his embarrassment and once again draw him out of his shell.

"It only hurts a little." Spencer fibbed quite obviously. "I have some pain medicine at home I can take."

Spencer began to back away from the man, his cautious nature returning.

"What's your name?" Logan asked trying to regain some of the trust the pup had given him.

"Spencer. Spencer Reid. Thank you for helping me.", Spencer's well taught manners demanded that he thank the young man before he disappeared into the night.

Logan didn't try to stop the child from leaving, instead he followed him home from a save distance. He watched from the shadows as the child entered a run down house.

Once the door closed and Logan heard the lock on the slide into place, he moved around to the back of the house. His acute sense of smell pickup only one other person in the home and he could sense a serious illness in that person.

His sensitive hearing could pick up the young boy pleading "Mom, please you need to take your medicine."

Logan hated the maturity he could hear in the child's voice. A child that should be playing games and enjoying a carefree life sounded twice his age as he plead with he ill mother.

At the moment Logan made the decision to stick around a while and look after his little man. Just until he could find someone he trusted to do it for him.

AN: I wrote the Hotch story and realized that without the backstory it didn't make a lot of sense. So the next few stories will be the back story to the series. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Let me know if you figured out who the next Guardian Angel will be. Hint its not Remy. :) stray