A/N Jinx, some of this was written just for you...as for the rest. There are a few questions answered...and more posed. Its much more complicated than you might think, or then again, knowing me...and my readers, you know just how complicated and twisted I can get before resolving everything in the end.
Chapter 2
He had no idea how he was going to deal with this. What Moira told him about the scars was bad enough, but now a cub? It wasn't that he didn't relish getting it right at least once, but this wasn't what he'd hoped the situation would be.
She was taking her sweet time packing, and he was finding more and more to criticize about her life. She had no regard for safety, knives were just thrown in a drawer as if her healing factor would always be there. She needed to realize for the next seven to eight months, or within two weeks of delivery, her healing was gone, and she would be susceptible to every disease she came in contact with, as well as casual injuries that would be suddenly life threatening, because she wasn't able to fight off infections.
"Do you have a doctor yet?" He asked as he flipped through a stack of books on a table.
"No, finding a good OB/Gyn is hard enough without trying to find one that will take mutants, I'm looking, though." He just nodded, even though she couldn't see his agreement with her statement.
He felt something against his leg and looked down. It was the damned cat. He glared, he growled, he snarled, but all she did was look up at him and say "mmmrroowwwww".
He pushed her gently out of the way, but she came right back, rubbing against his ankles and letting him know she wanted him to sit down. Every time he'd been in the apartment, she'd kept at him until he sat down and she could jump in his lap. Truth to tell he was actually getting attached to the damn animal.
He heard Melinda moving around in the bathroom, so he sat down on the couch. The cat, as he expected jumped into his lap and half climbed up his chest to look him in the eye and then start rubbing her face on his cheeks. He rubbed back, his hands supporting her little body, and stroking her back. He was so intent on the cat that Melinda's voice startled them both.
"Are you just going to sit there?"
"What do you want me to do?" He asked, trying to soothe the startled cat.
"Put the little traitor in her carrier," which landed next to him on the couch, "and pack some cat food, it's in the kitchen , if you didn't already know."
He bit back the growl. She had every right to be pissed. He was honestly trying to stay calm and not wring her little neck. She had no idea what they'd landed in with the scars, and he was royally pissed off at himself for starting the whole biting thing in the first place.
He hadn't known when he bit her that it would start a chain reaction. He closed the door on the cat carrier. The little feline face looked up at him as if he'd stepped on one of her young or something. Great, the cat was pissed at him too.
Moira told him, after much threatening, pleading, cajoling, and flat bribery to fund her next project, that the scars were semi-permanent. Unfortunately, she'd also told him how they became permanent, and that cub condemned them both to a life of matehood.
He pulled out a bag of dry cat food and a couple cans of wet and put them next to the cat carrier. He looked at the two suitcases and a cosmetics bag and groaned. He pulled out his phone and called the garage.
"I'm going to need the limo." He growled into the phone. No way in hell he was carrying all this shit to Manhattan.
The final tally was three large suitcases, one cosmetics bag and an over night bag, the cat carrier, the bag of food, and the vase of roses. He had to growl at the driver seven times on the short drive to the Creed building because of the stupid chuckles.
They got out of the car at his private elevator in the garage under the building. The driver helped carry the bags into the elevator, and Victor was glad to see the last of his knowing grin ad the doors finally closed.
He put his key into the slot and the elevator began to move.
"Do you have to play this awful music?" She asked.
"No, I like Jazz." He said, with a growl. This wasn't going to be easy, not like the first time.
"She's gone. I want that no good son of a bitch arrested. He took my girl." Joe Belden snarled as he pointed at Victor. Victor just grinned at the trouble maker. He hadn't left this chair all day, and since it was the town sheriff sitting across the chessboard from him, he doubted that anyone would reasonably assume he had anything to do with whatever Joe was screaming about this time.
"Now, Joe, Vic here's been with me all day, and I know I saw Mandy over by the general store an hour ago, she's prob'bly wondered off somewhere." Fred said calmly.
"That freak had somethin ta do with it." Joe yelled. Now Victor was starting to get angry.
"Joe, jest calm down, we'll start lookin' for tha girl." Fred said.
Victor grunted, so much for finishing his game of chess. He knew the girl, he'd seen her several times when Joe and his hands were in town. He felt sorry for the poor girl, half ragged, and always seemed tired when he saw her. He slipped away from the table and strolled over to the general store. He made a few small purchases, and walked back to the sheriff's office, where his horse was standing patiently. He tied his small parcels to the saddle, and the followed the faint scent he'd picked up at the store.
He found her sitting on a log in a clearing. She either wasn't aware of the three young men in breechclouts sneaking up on her, or she didn't care. She had a threadbare book in her hand, and seemed lost to the world.
One of the men moved to grab her, and Victor charged with a roar. He wasn't taking the blame for a few foolish braves thinking to grab a woman. Hell they weren't even really old enough to know what to do with her if they did grab her.
She jumped and screamed as he chased the boys away.
"Sorry 'bout that." He said.
"No, thank you. I jest didn't hear 'em." She was shaking, Victor slipped off his coat and draped it around her shoulders.
"Your Pa's lookin for you." He said as he put an arm around her shoulder. She just folded in half and started to cry. He let out a low growl of frustration, but she just cried harder.
He picked her up and started back toward town. He could hear the loud voices calling her name as they got closer.
"There he is, and he's got mah girl." Joe shouted. Victor groaned. This wasn't going to end well.
"Vic, where'd ya find her?"
"Back in the woods, some of the tribal boys were sneakin up on her. I ran 'em off, 'n then she started cryin." Victor said as he set the girl on her feet. She clung to his arm instead of running to her Pa.
"He jest ran them off, Pa." She said as she tried to hide behind Victor.
"Shut up, girl." Joe snarled. "He had her, he compromised mah girl." Victor actually rolled his eyes at Fred, but was surprised by the serious look on the sheriff's face.
"Victor, this is a serious charge, and you ain't got nothin but some tribal boys ta back up your story, if they would. I'm gonna have ta lock ya up til the judge gets here." Victor growled low.
"Now don't be like that, Judge Farris should be here this afternoon or tomorrow mornin at the latest." Fred said.
"What about the girl?" The way she was clinging to him, he was afraid they'd find her dead, and then he'd be hung for murder, not that it would do much, but hanging hurt.
"She's goin home with me." Joe started.
"Now hold on, Joe. She's the only reliable witness we got, she's gonna have ta go ta lockup too, jest for the night, 'less the judge shows up later."
Victor could hear Joe muttering under his breath. "Now what the hell am I gonna do about supper? Damn girls more trouble than she's worth."
He followed Fred, the girl clinging to his arm, fear rolling off her in waves as they passed a group of loggers that worked for Joe in the logging camp outside of town. One of them, Conrad, glared at the girl, and spat on the ground in front of her.
"Whore." He muttered. Victor grabbed him by the throat, pushing the girl behind him to protect her as he moved.
"Say that again, I dare ya." He let his claws slip out along the side of Conrad's neck, cutting four parallel wounds that bled into the palm of his hand.
"Victor!" Fred shouted.
Victor dropped Conrad on the ground.
"Show some respect." Victor growled, then turned to follow Fred.
He didn't say a word as Fred opened the door to one of the two cells in the town's small jail. Mandy went just as quietly into the other one.
"I'll just go get the board, we can finish up the game 'til the judge gets here." Fred said as he locked the doors.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"It was nothin." He growled.
"Pa wants me ta marry Conrad, but I hate him." Her voice was soft.
"Then your Pa's an idiot, but I already knew that."
"There's rumors you're rich." She said.
He laughed. "Na, I trap, make enough ta get by."
What people in this backwoods Canadian logging town didn't know wouldn't hurt them. He was ninety years old, he had money, it just didn't mean anything to him.
"I think Pa wants the judge ta order you to pay, least that's what I overheard them talkin about last night."
"Is that why you wandered off?" He was getting angry.
"No, they were gonna try ta get you in a fight. Ah jest wanted ta read mah book and Pa always cuffs mah ear when ah try ta read at home. 'Says it's no god for a woman ta read, they get above themselves."
Victor bit back a growl. He didn't agree about a woman reading, he'd met several nursed in the war who were very well read. Now that the Kaiser's troops were defeated, he could relax at home a bit. He had a little cabin up the mountain, he trapped and hunted and fished, and got by okay. His brother was off seeing the world but Victor just wanted to be left alone.
Fred came in with the chess board and he forgot the girl in the other cell as he started trying to map out moves on the board. He'd carved this set for Fred last year, and enjoyed a couple good games when he came to town for supplies.
He finally made his move when the door flew open and Judge Farris walked in. Victor growled again. They were never going to finish this game.
"I hear we got an accused rapist?" Farris asked.
"No, just a misunderstanding." Fred said. "Vic here was with me all day til the girl went missing. He went off on his own, claims ta have scared off some tribal boys, got someone checkin with the chief on that. We'd been lookin about half an hour when he comes up carryin the girl. She was wearin his jacket, but I didn't see nothin wrong with her clothes. Joe is in an uproar 'bout it, but 'far as I can tell, the girl says it happened how Vic said."
"I'm gonna want ta talk ta the girl alone." The judge said. Judge Farris had the reputation for being fair, and for making the punishment fit the crime. Victor figured he'd be on his way to his cabin in less than an hour.
One hour later Victor still couldn't believe what happened. He was leading his horse back to his cabin, he glanced back at the passenger riding on the saddle, a small carpet bag with all her worldly possessions in it tied to the pommel.
"You got two choices, as I see it, boy." The Judge had said. "Either marry the girl, or hang."
Victor hadn't thought very long or hard. Mandy wasn't hard on the eyes and she knew how to keep house so he wouldn't have to train her, and something to warm his bed nightly he wasn't going to turn down.
He'd even made a sort of ring out of some copper wire he had in his pocket, and Judge Farris performed the ceremony. Joe had been pissed, and that had just made Victor sure he'd made the right choice.
"You didn't have ta do this." She said as he led the horse to the front door of the cabin.
"Darlin' I can smell the pain and fear you were in. Hell you're less scared of me than you are of your Pa." He said as he lifted he down from the horse.
The peck of a kiss at the wedding hadn't done anything but whet his appetite, and he leaned down and gave her a real kiss. She was hesitant at first, but by the time the horse nudged them, her hands were wrapped around his neck and she was just as enthusiastic as he was.
The ding of the elevator reaching the penthouse floor pulled him back to the present. He glanced at Melinda, and picked up the cat cage and two of the bags. He pressed the button to keep the door open and carried his load into the living room.
"Wow. When you said penthouse, I thought you were joking." She said.
"Nope, your room's at the end of the hall." He pointed, "last door on the left. The gym is across the hall. If a door's locked, don't mess with it, I store some of my brother's shit and I have no idea what's in there." He dragged the rest of her things out of the elevator, removed his key and let the door close. From inside the room it was a bookcase filled with first edition novels. His eye was drawn to one tattered book, "John Carter of Mars" could barely be made out on the spine. He felt a lump in his throat, and growled to clear it. The past was the past, he couldn't change it.
"I'll see what I can do about finding you a doctor. You should probably call work and tell them you won't be back."
"What?" She said as she unfastened the door of the cat carrier. He smelled a surge of fear, the last thing he expected.
"I don't want you to leave here without someone with you."
"Why?" He could hear suspicion in her voice.
He picked up a stack of papers he'd left on the coffee table in the living room.
"This should answer that." He said and stormed off to his study, fear was something he normally enjoyed, but not in the woman carrying his cub. He could hear her muttering, but made the conscious decision not to listen. He pulled an old watch out of his pocket. Inside, on the cover, an enamel portrait of Mandy looked back at him.
"Darlin, I don't know, I can't be around people, not on that day. I love ya. I don't remember if I ever told ya. I think you knew, I know, that day you told me about the cub I couldn't have been more proud. We never had much in the way of fancy stuff, never needed it. I still miss ya. Its been ninety-two years and I still wake up missin ya in my arms." He closed the watch.
Both cubs were conceived on the same day, ninety-two years apart. He always went away, always took time to remember his little Mandy on the anniversary of their wedding. Melinda caught him by surprise. He'd been thinking of his wedding night, when she walked up the path, and never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he'd taken advantage. Now, reluctantly, he had her under his roof. e leaned back in his desk chair. The only thing missing this time was Jimmy, and he hadn't spoken to Victor in almost twenty-five years.
Victor felt a strange chill down his spine. James was the reason Mandy died, Lissa died. Would this have a chance, if James wasn't involved? He slammed his fist on the desk, then uncurled his fist and extended his claws. He drew them across the expensive mahogany of the desktop, watching curls of wood twine behind the tips.
So many things in his life were all twisted up, like those pieces of wood shavings. He didn't know if straightening things out would be a good thing or a bad thing.
