Welcome to the newest installment of the 907 Universe where Scott is Wolverine's adopted kid - and the world is a little brighter for it, somehow! Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Home Sweet Institute

Things in Westchester were really starting to fall into place. The little team of X-Men had grown to twice its original size by the time summer really hit, with Piotr and Illyana rounding out the team and bringing even more of a feeling of family to the place.

Logan was back to showing everyone who needed it how to defend themselves while K seemed to spend most of her time doing lord only knows what - though no one but Logan saw her come and go unless it was an established gathering time. Which for the most part wasn't too worrisome when Scott could easily factor in that she was digging for information on any of a dozen different concerns.

And when she wasn't digging around, she made it a point to tease Scott about Jean - especially since it was obvious that he liked her, to the point that it was hard to talk around her.

"Kiss her. Talking problem solved."

Scott shook his head at her, barely hiding his smirk behind his coffee. "I do kiss her, Mom," he muttered, turning a little redder.

"Then what's the problem? Just kiss her more."

"There's no problem," he grumbled.

"You're a blusher," K said over the rim of her cup. "Which is great because so is she."

"Mom."

"I'm in favor. If you two get married you'll both be so red you won't know what to do with each other. I can't imagine the idea of a honeymoon with you two."

"Let him go at his own pace," Logan said, pulling her a little closer to steal a kiss as Scott seemed to be trying to catch up to the shade of his glasses. "He'll do fine."

"I'm - I'm not even seventeen yet, Mom," Scott said, once more hiding behind his coffee cup.

"What's your point?" she asked looking perfectly confused.

"I'm not - we're not - I mean, we're not old enough for - stop that!" Scott spluttered.

At that, K simply started chuckling. "Okay, on the first count, you're old enough, you're just not legal. By the way. Totally different conditions. And secondly - good. You'd both probably die of embarrassment before you got anywhere fun."

Scott shook his head. "We're only old enough if you go by when you were growing up," he said, trying to deflect the teasing to get out of turning any redder.

"When I was growing up, my mother tried to have me married off by fifteen. So you're just … a spinster by her standards."

"Yeah, but by that yardstick, now you're turning into your mother," Scott said with a satisfied sort of smirk.

"Ah, but you're wrong. I'm not pushing, I'm asking … and smirking at the idea of you turning properly purple."

"You're going to kill me," Scott muttered, putting his mug down to run a hand over his face, which was still incredibly warm.

"Uh-uh. Not my job. That's Jean's job. And she'd die of loneliness without you."

"Wait, why is it her job to kill me?" Scott asked, turning her way. "What kind of relationship do you have with my dad?" he asked, pointing her way.

"One where he is happy, and by the way - does not blush at anything. At all. Ever."

"He's also not sixteen. Stop that."

She broke down laughing at that then popped to her feet to give him a kiss on the temple. "I'm just picking. You make it too easy not to." K refilled her coffee then took a moment to give Logan a proper kiss. "I'll see you boys later."

Scott shook his head once the door was closed behind K, taking his mug to the sink to rinse it out with a sigh. "She did that with Farrah too, you know," he muttered.

"So you should be used to it," Logan said.

"Hey, that's not…" He shook his head. "I'm not … very good at this? I don't need commentary."

"So if you need her to back off - and fast, bring up your silly bet," Logan said.

Scott paused at that and broke into a little grin. "Yeah… how's that - I mean, I don't want to know but-"

"Not that you need to know, but we're sure as hell not trying." Logan smirked. "Which means it's not happenin'." He tapped the side of his nose for emphasis.

Scott nodded. "Well, Jean's six months are almost out so… I'm almost the last one standing."

"I'm not doin' anything to scare the crap out of her," Logan clarified.

"I know," Scott said quickly. "I just meant… I think I might be the only one left besides Thor who can pick."

"The only one with sense."

"Hey, I do know what I'm doing for some things," Scott said. "I'm just… still new to dating. That's all." He shook his head to himself and then gave Logan a wave. "I'll see you after practice - or, well, no. After the professor's session. I told Jean we'd…" He blushed and then shrugged. "Yeah. See you later."

"Yeah. watch yourself, Romeo."

Scott rolled his eyes behind his glasses at that. "See you later, Dad," he said as he headed out to team practice.

Scott was in a good mood as he headed down to the boathouse, his hands in his pockets. It had been one of the best team practices yet - they were really starting to work together. It wasn't just that they were all starting to get the hang of their powers; they weren't running into each other or getting in each other's way… they were actually starting to rely on each other. Make plans and patterns.

Scott couldn't be happier about it, especially with how well things were going outside of practice as well. They'd gone on a few missions to save mutants in trouble in the past few months since he sort of accidentally gave a press conference introducing the team - and they were doing well.

But when he got there, K and Logan had their heads together in the boathouse talking in a quiet rumble between them that he could hear from just outside the open front door. Inside the two of them were handing papers back and forth, making their notations on a clean sheet of paper in a shorthand that Scott hadn't seen Logan use before, though K seemed to understand it perfectly, and K was shaking her head lightly as she sat back when Scott finally stepped through the door.

"Hey Caramel Mocha, something on your mind?" K smoothly covered up the one document that was in plain English before she sat back in the couch.

Scott frowned at the move. "Well, I was just in a good mood from a good practice, but now I'm curious on that," he said, not about to dance around it.

"No reason to sink your mood," K said. "We're just … trying to predict stupid."

"Hey, you're in luck - I'm pretty good at hashing out plans and finding patterns," Scott said. "What are you working on?"

The two of them shared a look and Logan waved him over. "K's been tracking the Department."

Scott's eyebrows shot up at that. "Any reason? I mean, are they looking our way again, or is this just preventative?"

"Um … mostly preventative," K said. "I'd rather not have to wait and be reactionary if I can avoid it."

He nodded. "I was just asking because, well, I know that sort of press conference a few months back didn't exactly help secrecy. Mask or no, the optic blast... "

"They don't have anything planned out yet for you," K said. "They have no idea what your scope is so they can't find a way to stop you yet, honestly."

Scott couldn't help but smirk at that. "Even better," he said. "You need help?"

"You got a lot of experience cracking codes?" K asked. "Or maybe a talent for Persian? Russian?" She pushed a map his way. "They've been setting up at the major crossings, so … they're waiting for us to move."

Scott frowned at that. "Well… good thing we're not moving," he said. "Not with the team doing so well, anyway," he added.

"About that," Logan said slowly. "We found a lead on that doctor, but we gotta go dig into the papers in person."

"I found his ex-nurse," K said. "The one that was in charge of that department at the orphanage."

For just a moment, Scott seemed to freeze before he nodded and the red behind his glasses got a little brighter. "Well, I don't want you to risk it if leaving will leave you open. You can - we can find the nurse when they're not watching, right?"

"They're not gonna stop," Logan said. "Ever."

Scott let out a breath. "Okay. Well. When are we leaving?"

"You're gonna stay and lead your team," Logan said. "And we don't know when that's gonna happen. We're just .. monitoring. Don't want to risk them getting the drop on you."

"I thought you said they don't know how to stop me yet," Scott pointed out.

"As you pointed out - you're not the only one that could be an asset here," Logan said. "You think your team is up to stopping them at full force?"

Scott paused at that. "I…"

"We're not going to leave you guys open," K agreed. "But on the same hand … we know what they want, and if we're somewhere else …"

"The team is good," Scott said. "Really. We just had one of the best practices yet."

"That's great," Logan said. "But have you worked against a military operation?"

"Well, no. I mean, unless you count the platoon I leveled?" Scott gave them both a wry sort of smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, you have experience with that - the others don't," K said, smirking at him. "But you were magnificent, if anyone asks."

"Yeah, accidentally so," Scott said, though he was smirking.

"You," she said, pointing at him with one finger. "Need to just take the damn compliment."

Scott held up both hands quickly. "I just don't want to take full credit for something I didn't entirely mean to do," he said. "Compliment me on something I earned - like how Sabretooth won't fight me square on. That's pretty good."

"Yeah, that's kind of the case for everyone. He doesn't fight square," Logan agreed.

Scott nodded, though he was still frowning as he considered it all. "So… be careful," he said at last. "I wish I could come with you."

"We're not going yet, we're just … trying to figure out the best plan of attack," Logan promised.

"Still," Scott said. "It sounds like the best plan is to split up and I just…" He let out a breath. "Both of them - that doctor and the department - it's not exactly a quick and easy kind of mission."

"I guess that really depends on if the nurse lead pans out further than the official non-record," K said. "It could be a quick down and back, honestly."

Scott let out a breath. "I almost wish you wouldn't find him," he admitted in a soft tone. "The professor and I are making good progress, and I'd really rather just… not."

Logan let out a breath and made his way over to Scott to rest both hands on his shoulders. "Scotty, we're not gonna take any risks we can avoid. Don't wanna screw up, kiddo."

"Yeah, the plan is to be here for you indefinitely," K agreed. "So we can watch you and Jean be sweet for years and years to come."

Scott smirked lightly at that, but his focus was still on the ever present threat of the mysterious doctor that plagued his memories and who had tampered so recklessly with his mind.

"Besides, I wanna see how good your team is gettin'," Logan said, smirking crookedly.

That, at least, seemed to get Scott out of the doldrums, and the two men started coming up with training possibilities together while K bit her lip and weighed out their next move. After Scott left, she very quietly made a phone call to Avengers mansion to see if there was any way that Coulson could give her a better feel for what was out there. If Scott was that concerned about the doctor … she was bound and determined to get him gone.