A/N Please R&R? Your reviews mean the world to me! XD ~Kelcor

CHAPTER TWO - LOGAN PART I

The next morning, the doorbell woke Logan up. Before he even opened his eyes, the memories from the night before came flooding back. He tried to move, to push himself up, but every muscle in his body seemed to scream in protest.

Duncan was standing on the other side of the door, bouncing from foot to foot. The 6 am call from Logan had been disturbing to say the least. Just one word wheezed through the phone – 'help', then the line went dead. And now it seemed like a lifetime had passed in the few minutes since he'd rung the bell. Not wanting to wait any longer, he tried the door. Unlocked. He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the door open. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Logan curled up on the floor only a few feet away.

He was at his friend's side in an instant, kneeling down next to him and touching his shoulder. Logan flinched away from the touch with a cry of pain. Not knowing where else to touch, Duncan rested his hand on the crown of his friend's head. He was in really bad shape. "Logan? Hey, Logan, are you okay? What happened to you?" His gaze moved around their immediate vicinity, looking for an intruder, but instinctually knowing that this was not the work of some stranger looking to rob the place and getting interrupted. This had been personal.

Logan looked up at him through one swollen eye. "What're… doin' h're?"

"You called me," Duncan replied.

"…di'n't…" Logan slurred back.

The loss of memory ratcheted his concern up a few notches. Duncan glanced furtively up the stairs, worried that Aaron Echolls would be making a grand entrance onto the scene any minute now. "Can you walk?" he asked quietly.

No answer. Which Duncan took to mean 'no but I'm not going to admit it'.

"Okay, don't worry about it, just let me do all the work." He slowly turned Logan over onto his back, wincing at the first full view of his friend's beaten face. "This is probably gonna hurt," he muttered, then took Logan by the arm and began to pull him into a sitting position.

"'m fine, Dunc'n, jus' go 'ome."

"No way. Not without you, man." Logan tried to push him away but Duncan caught him by the wrist and waited for his friend to make eye contact. When he did, it was dodgy at best. Duncan wasn't sure if that was due to concussion or embarrassment. Didn't much matter right now, anyway. "I am not leaving you here, Logan. You hear me? Like it or not, you're coming with me."

"Can't," Logan all but whimpered.

Okay. Embarrassment it was, then. Though, Duncan still couldn't completely rule out a possible concussion. "Don't worry about it, brother, I gotcha," he said softly, and in one fluid movement, pulled his best friend up and over his shoulders. He ignored the protests but couldn't quite tune out the whimpers that continued to slip through the long built barriers.

Duncan eased him into the car and got him settled and buckled in as quickly and gently as he could. Just as he got behind the wheel and started the car, Logan grabbed his arm with more force than Duncan would have thought possible. "No 'ospital," Logan insisted.

"Logan, come on, man. You're in really bad shape. You probably have a concussion, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of your ribs were fractured – " his voice trailed off when he saw the one single tear slide down his friend's face.

"Please," Logan begged. "No… 'ospital."

The guy was barely conscious but Duncan couldn't bring himself to ignore the plea completely. "Okay, I'll take you back to my place and call our family doctor to check you out. But if he says you need a hospital, you're going, no arguments. Deal?"

Logan hesitated so long that Duncan thought he'd lost consciousness again, then "Fine," came out on another pained breath.

Duncan called his dad on his way home, gave him the Cliff's notes version of what happened, then beat pretty much every speed record getting Logan to safety.

He watched his dad run out of the house as he pealed into the driveway. The passenger side door open to reveal a barely conscious Logan before Duncan had the ignition turned off. His father's gasp was audible even over the sound of the engine.

"You're sure his dad did this to him?"

"Pretty sure," Duncan ground out, as he exited the vehicle and came around to join his father. "Who else could it have been? Dad, he doesn't even remember calling me! I wanted to take him to the hospital but - "

Jake placed a hand on Duncan's shoulder to stop him. "It's okay, son. You did the right thing bringing him here. I called Dr. Kipper as soon as I hung up with you and he's on his way. But I think we should maybe call Sheriff Mars."

"No," Logan exclaimed, blindly grabbing onto Jake Kane's arm this time. He began tossing his head from side to side, clearly distressed at the idea of calling the police. Though, Duncan was pretty sure it wasn't so much about protecting his father as it was about not letting anyone else see him like this. He exchanged a look with his dad and was surprised to see his father lean into the car and put a hand on either side of Logan's jaw, cupping his face in the same way Duncan could remember him doing with him and Lily when they were younger and distraught about something. He knew that, deep down, this fatherly affection was exactly what Logan needed right now.

"Logan," Jake said firmly but gently, "I want you to look at me, son."

Logan complied, likely completely unaware of the tears streaming down his cheeks. "Please," was all he seemed able to say. Jake Kane caught the tears with his thumbs, eliciting a surprised gasp from the teen. Duncan wasn't sure if it was surprise at the gentle touch, or surprise that the tears were there in the first place. Either way, Logan hated showing any kind of weakness.

"We won't call the police this time, son," Duncan heard his father say. "But we need to get you inside right now, okay?" After a weak nod from Logan, Duncan helped his dad gently pull Logan from the car and they each walked on either side of him, doing their best to take most of his weight.

They managed to get him into the house without much difficulty but when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Logan stopped. "Sofa?" he whispered hopefully.

Jake and Duncan both saw the look of dismay on the young man's face as he gazed up the staircase knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to make it to the second floor. Taking pity on him, Jake said, "Duncan, why don't you go get the guestroom ready?"

"But," Duncan began uncertainly, because the guestroom was always ready for unexpected guests. Then he exchanged another look with his dad, glanced at Logan, and suddenly he got it. "Yeah, okay," he said, waiting until his father had a good hold on his friend before heading up the stairs.

Jake gazed down at the teen now completely leaning into his side, his heart breaking over the knowledge that the boy's own father had done this to him. "Logan," he said softly, "if we just put you on the sofa, anyone who comes by to visit over the next few days will see you. Wouldn't you rather have a bit of privacy?" It was a low blow but Jake knew Aaron would likely come looking for his son soon and wanted as many walls and doors between him and Logan as possible. Of course, Jake would be standing between Aaron and Logan, and Aaron wouldn't have a chance getting past him, but Jake didn't even want the kid to hear his father when he came looking.

A nod and a small whimper was the only answer he got, though. Logan wanted privacy but the kid knew he wouldn't be able to get up the stairs. And Jake knew that the kid would die before he asked for what was clearly needed, nor would he agree were Jake to suggest it.

Since he knew what the answer would be, Jake didn't even bother asking. He simply leaned down and scooped Logan up into his arms. A mortified whimper and a barely-there struggle came out of the teen but Jake just hushed him and said "I won't tell anyone, if you don't." Then began the climb to the second floor.

Duncan had caught on nicely and wasn't in the guestroom when his father entered with Logan cradled in his arms. Poor kid had his face buried in the crook of Jake's neck and shoulder and Jake could feel the tears of pain and humiliation soaking his collar. He gently laid Logan on the bed, of which Duncan had already pulled back the covers, and used one corner of the sheet to carefully dry the boy's face. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, son. You're part of this family and we take care of each other. Got it? You took care of Duncan yesterday, even took care of me a bit. Now, it's our turn to take care of you."

Logan gazed up at him. His confusion made Jake think that maybe he did have a concussion as Duncan had feared. Either way, the teen had calmed quite a bit. Duncan stepped up to the bed with a large basin of water and a couple wash cloths.

"Good thinking, Duncan. Let's get him out of these bloody clothes. Doctor Kipper should be here soon."

By the time they had Logan stripped down to his boxers and cleaned up, the kid was more mortified than ever. Sure, no teenage boy wanted to be seen in this vulnerable state, but Jake knew it was more than that. He simply wasn't used to being taken care of by anyone. Except by his mother, of course. And Jake didn't want to think about how many times Lynn Echolls had had to nurse her son back to health after a run in with Aaron. He wanted to believe this was a one-time thing but something told him it wasn't. The kid just seemed too accustomed to the pain. No, not accustomed... accepting. Like it was par for the course for him.

Doctor Kipper arrived a short time later. The older man took one look at Logan and said, "What in the world happened to this boy?"

Before Jake or Duncan could answer, Logan muttered, "Mugged." Neither of the Kane's argued. They had promised Logan, after all. But Jake silently vowed to have a chat with Aaron Echoll's himself very soon.

"Why wasn't he taken to a hospital?" the doctor demanded.

"He has a phobia of hospitals," Duncan lied. "Begged me to take him here, instead." At least that much was true.

Doctor Kipper wasn't at all happy about it, even grumbled through the entire exam about how Logan should be in a hospital, but he didn't argue.

Duncan could tell Logan was biting back, holding the pain in. So, he took Logan's hand, almost surprised at how tight Logan gripped his hand in return. As soon as the doctor was done with his examination, Duncan sat down with his friend to try to help him breathe through the pain.

Meanwhile, the doctor pulled Jake aside to speak with him in private. Basically, he could tell by the old scar tissue that they were lying to him but knew that he wouldn't be able to prove it, not with Aaron Echoll's high powered attorneys. So, he promised to let it go for now but that if he had to treat Logan again for anything more than the common cold, he would be more than happy to give the case to Child Services, high powered attorneys or not. Jake assured him that he would be doing everything in his power to make sure it never came to that.

Later that day, as expected, Aaron Echolls made the mistake of coming to the Kane Estate in search of his son.

TBC