I'm trying my best to finish this story before Christmas Day! Thanks to everybody who has reviewed and I promise I'll name and shame you all as soon as the last chapter has been posted. Chapter five has already been written and chapter six is already in the works. I don't expect this story to hit over seven chapters anyway, but the latter will probably be posted after the 25th Dec. Have you ever tried churning a story out like this? Argh, it's hard if you actually want to sleep at some point! xD

Ain't No Sense in Sugar-Coating It

Chapter Four

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."
― Albert Einstein

"Marie, darlin'," Logan said, brushing her hair away from her damp, tearstained face. "Calm down. Breathe with me, huh? It'll make you feel better."

He cradled the girl in his arms and wondered why she was this upset. When his brother stalked in the cabin again with the liquor and smokes, he growled. "What did you do?"

Victor snorted and emptied the contents of the bags on the counter, smirking when he spotted the whiskey. "Jimmy, I watched over her like you asked me to." He cracked open a beer as an afterthought and turned to face the other feral.

"What did you do?" Logan snarled, his hackles rising. "She never cries like this unless there's a goddamn reason for it. So start talking!"

"It was him," the older mutant scowled, pointing over at the yawning wolf. "He went and acted like a fucking ass and I tried to fix it. Ain't my fault you've got yourself lumbered with an ungrateful brat."

Thinking the kid had been bitten or something, Logan sniffed the air for any sign of blood and started checking her over. Shit, why had he left her here alone when there was a huge wolf with an attitude problem blundering around?

"Morrok didn't take a chunk outta her," Victor grumbled, making quick work of his beer.

Satisfied his brother was telling the truth; Logan tried to calm the girl down and still watched the other guy with an angry eye. "Then why is she crying like there's no tomorrow?"

"L –Logan!" Marie whimpered, tears still running down her cheeks. She pointed over to the nearby coffee table with a devastated sob and a trembling finger. "Logan!"

Wolverine followed the point where her hurt had settled and his brows knit together. Her bear, the same one she'd had since she had come into this world, the toy she slept with every night and fed ice cream to was nailed to the table.

"Victor," Logan barked, growling at his brother. "What the hell's the matter with you!?"

The feral in question swallowed a growl and helped himself to another beer. "I was trying to help," he rumbled in his own defence. "The wolf got hold of it, the leg fell off and the pup was on a crying streak. What'd you want me to fucking do?"

"Not to make things worse for a start," he grunted, walking over to the table and spotting the bear's leg nailed down with the rest of its body. "Hell, if you wanted to get it attached again why didn't you sew it back on?"

Victor snorted. "I don't sew, Jimmy." He scowled. "And you go picking up a needle; I'm disowning your ass real quick."

Logan hugged the kid and shook his head. "You're a complete dick, Victor," he stated, going to make himself comfortable on the recliner. He settled down and sat the girl on his lap. "Kid, you need to calm down. You're going to be sick if you carry on like this."

Trying to soothe her tears, he hushed her and stroked her hair. "Shh, Marie," he whispered, still entering into a staring contest with his dumbass of an older brother. "Your uncle's an idiot, okay? I'll get the bear fixed for you, Darlin'."

When she still didn't stop crying, Logan glared at Victor. "You happy with yourself, huh? I hope you know where to stick that hammer."

Victor heaved a sigh. "Go grab your shit from the truck," he ordered, eyeing the pup with a thought trailing through his mind. "I'll sort this." He caught the look he was receiving. "Fuck it, the right way this time." His brother was still giving him the evil eye. "James, I'm gonna sort it!"

Logan growled deep in his chest at the anger he was scenting off him. "Yeah, I'm really going to leave her with you again," he grumbled, standing to his feet and doing just that. There was nothing else he could do, he had to fetch the kid's toys, hide them and lock the woodshed and truck. "Deal with this, Victor," he demanded, clenching his fists as he pecked Marie on the forehead and set her on his feet. "Or I'll deal with you."

"Like to see you try, little brother," Victor mumbled, containing his urge to pin Logan down and beat him. He waited for him to leave and he stalked over to the crying girl and yanked her off the floor. "You're crying again, pup," he commented, curling her closer to him. "And I'm real sorry 'bout that, you know, I like yer, even though you're crappy with your singing and the likes."

Marie rubbed at her eyes and sniffled really, really sadly because she was sad, very sad and more than sad. He'd hurt her teddy meanly and now she couldn't move Mr Bojangles off the table.

Edging closer to the place of the bear's nailing, he stood Marie on the table and pointed at the fucking toy. "See that?" he asked, looking his usual dangerous and dishevelled self. "That's a toy who's real happy to have a big bed like that. Think of all the females he could invite in there with him, hey. He'd nail 'em all," he smirked, liking the word play he was figuring out.

The little girl blinked at her uncle, confused and drowning in sadness. She would really be sad until she wasn't here anymore because Mr Bojnagles was saddened and sadly sad.

Victor sighed. "Some sick fucks in this world get off on nails. You know what I mean, pup? When I was, I dunno, around your age or something, a bunch of nail-lovin' bastards tried to get me hooked on this fat book full of tales and stuff. Never could understand why a group of skirt wearin' folks outta Rome wanted to play with tools an' wood built into crosses."

When he caught a whiff of the girl's confusion, he snorted and patted her head. "Jimmy was just the same way back then. He was the tyke hanging back, feeling real confused over everything. I was the little shit up on my feet and throwing the damn book of crap at some fireplace." A dark smirk played on his face. "Got one hell of a whippin' for that but it was worth it. First taste of causing havoc and pain that was."

Logan, meanwhile, was oblivious to his brother's way of dealing with Marie and the bear. He had grabbed every single bag, gift and toy from the truck and squirreled them away into the woodshed with one sole purpose in mind: kicking Santa's ass.

Sure, he knew there was no such thing, but that didn't matter. In his eyes his kid needed the best and she'd be getting it from now on. There would be no more shirking his responsibilities or taking off for months at a time. He'd be stuck to Marie's side like glue and nobody would be getting in the way of him building a relationship with the kid.

He lit a cigar as he locked up the shed and was surprised when his X-Man communicator buzzed away in his jacket pocket. He'd never owned a cell phone and nobody would want to contact him anyway so this was a bit of a surprise to him.

Raising an eyebrow, he produced the communicator, answered it and pressed the damn thing to his ear. "What?" he asked gruffly, exhaling a ring of smoke into the frozen air.

"Logan," Scott greeted, his voice dropping with disapproval. "Where are you?"

Wolverine sighed heavily and chomped away on his cigar. "Didn't know that was any of your business, Cyclops."

"Of course it's my business," he tutted, sounding flustered. "You've taken Marie, why did you take Marie? We need to know where you've taken her. You can't just run away with a child, Logan. How irresponsible can you get? This isn't the same as taking my bike and –"

Logan growled. "Now you listen up, bub," he started, ready for a fight. "I can do what I like with the kid." He puffed away on his cigar, growing more pissed as the conversation went on. "And if you're not careful I'm gonna come visiting with a boot that's going to greet your backside."

Scott didn't sound impressed. "That's really mature, Wolverine. Threatening somebody is a sure sign you shouldn't be anywhere near Marie. Tell me where you are and we'll come pick her up. She deserves to be home for Christmas, don't you think?"

Fury cluttered and drowned his thoughts at the idea of his kid being taken from him. He might have been calmer and held more morals and kindness than his brother, but he would never let anybody take his little girl anyway from him, especially not an asshole like Cyclops.

"You listen up," he snarled, biting his cigar in two and crushing it under his boot when it dropped to the frozen ground. "She's mine. That kid's mine and if I catch sight of you around her you won't know what hit you, bub, get me?"

Logan cut the call and stamped on the communicator, destroying the device and picking up the tracker. If the X-Men wanted to come for the kid, he'd be waiting with adamantium laced fists.

Growling lowly, he headed back to the cabin with stormy thoughts. The truth was nobody but the Professor knew Marie was his, but that didn't excuse Scott's threat of jumping onto the X-Jet and coming up here to snatch her away. He'd always thought Cyclops was a dick and he'd damn well been right all along. Though he'd never thought the guy was suicidal, too.

"That make some sense, pup?" Victor asked, hoping for an answer of his liking.

Marie nodded, kneeling down on the table and tickling Mr Bojangles' nose. "He's happy here 'cause he'll be okay soon. Logan's goin' tah save him with silly magic an' words that make people in tah sheep."

"Close enough," the dangerous feral muttered, glancing over his shoulder when he scented his brother's rolling fury. When it wasn't directed at him, he frowned suspiciously. "Realised why it's real important to your wallet you wear a condom?" he questioned, smirking.

"Shut it, Victor," Logan ordered, not in the mood for banter or fighting.

Victor watched him grab the whiskey and unscrew the cap. He caught sight of the tracker dumped on the counter and stalked right for it. "The hell is this?"

"You know what it is," the younger feral mumbled, drinking straight from the bottle. "It's a sure way to take on the X-Men if they come calling and they make good on their threats."

"Threats?" Sabretooth snorted, giving his brother an amused look. "What fucking threats? I thought you were down with the cue ball and his crew of hookers." He watched him scowl. "That a no, Jimmy?"

Logan growled and downed another large helping of whiskey. He thought it might help the anger and the situation if he confided in his brother for once. "I've just had Summers on the phone harping on about me taking the kid away from there," he said seriously, gazing over at the girl talking to the nailed bear.

"So what?" he shrugged, not really giving a damn.

"Cyclops went on about how I was being an ass and the way he sees it they're gonna be coming our way to get her back. You see, he don't know she's mine, at least he didn't till now. I'm not sure if he caught on when I was chewing him out just now. The guy isn't exactly known for his brains."

Victor snarled and cracked his knuckles. "He won't be known for nothing but being dead if he shows up here," he warned darkly, snatching the bottle from his related rival and swigging from it.

Logan silently agreed, although he didn't want to voice those sentiments. He had always struggled to control his animalistic side, but now it was starting to unravel and he wasn't sure he wanted to make the effort to stop it from happening. The thought of Marie being dragged back to New York, away from him, away from his sharp eye and gruff protection was close to sending him wild.

Carefully climbing down from the coffee table, Marie padded softly over to Logan, still dressed in his flannel shirt. She stood in front of him and pulled at his sleeve. "Logan, Ah'm cold. Canada Land makes meh go like this," she said, starting to shake. "It's goin' tah make Santa cry an' his beard's goin' tah fall off."

The fury was wiped away once his little girl started to talk. "I hear you, darlin'," he chuckled, ruffling her hair. "I'll go grab a blanket and those socks of yours, okay?" He started walking to the bedroom they were sharing. "This is why I asked you to pack your clothes, kiddo."

Victor rolled his eyes at his half-brother's parental side. Hell, it was killing him. "You see this, pup?" he asked, tapping the bottle he was holding.

Marie nodded and leaned against his legs. "It's a baby bottle."

Logan snorted at that, grabbing her socks from her bag and searching the built in closet for a blanket hanging around in there somewhere.

"No, it ain't," Sabretooth rumbled, pulling a face. "This shit warms folks up. My Pa was a real bastard but he knew how to keep me warm with this when I was a rugrat."

"Victor!" Logan grouched, carrying the blanket and the socks from the bedroom. "Don't tell her stuff like that," he sighed, calling Marie over to the couch. He bent down when she sat on the leather and dropped the blanket on her. "Wrap yourself up in that, Darlin'," he told her, taking the long, fluffy socks in his hands and putting them on her cold feet. "That better?"

The small southerner smiled. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, Canada Land an' bells. Ah'm really warm in Canada Land an' baby bottle bells!"

"That'd be a yes," Wolverine snorted, stepping over the wolf lounging by the fireplace and making his way back to the kitchenette. "And you need to start watching what you say around her, Vic. I don't want the kid growing up like we did."

Victor grumbled at that and eyed the girl with a pointed look. "That pup ain't nothin' like us, Jimmy." He glanced at his brother as she started singing again. "Well, she ain't nothin' like me. Your Ma took to singing like that when she lost her fucking mind."

Logan's lips twisted in a snarl and Sabretooth barked out a laugh that soon faded as Marie sung the rest of the evening away.