Just the Start


It was the day of the funeral and a bleary-eyed Anna crawled out her Mama and Daddy's bed. Her heart was sinking, swirling and turning, and she felt , sick. So sick, if it'd been a school day, she would have chucked up her guts and showered the whole lousy town with lumps of gummy bears and peanut butter.

She huffed loudly and dragged her socked feet over to the heavy wooden door, thinking a new thought with every step. Her mama was dead and gone, her daddy was even more dead and gone, and what about Jimmy? He was dead in the head and gone behind the eyes. That meant she was still pissed with him because she was and always would be. It was easier to be real angry with him then cry and sob like crazy on his shoulder.

"He don't deserve mah tears none anyway," she muttered to herself as she turned the chunky lock and opened the door. Sucking in a deep breath, she crept along the hall and avoided all the floorboards that would creak under her skinny frame, letting her brother know she was wandering around.

There wasn't anything in the world she needed today other than a jar of peanut butter and a spoon to eat it with. She was even hoping real bad they had the crunchy kind in the cupboard because she wanted to spoil herself without throwing too much effort at the world. There was no point thinking of the funeral because she weren't going, but she did want to lick something off a spoon. Why go to a funeral when she could stuff her pale cheeks with peanut butter instead?

She shuffled to the kitchen, her eyes ignoring the photos on the wall and her socks keeping her feet real warm. Her toes weren't cold today, but her heart was. The thoughts of her mama were pushed out her head when she reached the kitchen. There were some rustling sounds coming from the room and was she thinking Jimmy was down here with her, eating the fridge 'cause he was hurting too. That sounded real plausible to her, though when she peered through the crack in between the half opened door, she got one heck of a shock.

The figure was tall and his hair was blonde. She didn't know if he bleached it 'cause he came from California and loved to surf, but her heart nearly stopped in her chest. Who was he? Why was he here? And why the hell was he searching through her mama's fridge? He seemed real happy to eat everything in sight and she reached behind her, grabbing one of her mama's weighty umbrellas. Her mama loved to collect umbrellas and the guy in the kitchen was gonna get the biggest one shoved up his nose real soon.

She stepped inside the kitchen, biting her lip and moving the swing-door as carefully as she could. There weren't no way she was going to let him scare her before she scared him. Her heart was caught in her throat as she lifted the umbrella up high and moved closer to the burglar who was pigging out in her kitchen. His back was to her, he was leaning closer towards the fridge, helping himself to some meat, and she scowled. Yeah, this was her chance. She swung the umbrella forward and cracked it down on him.

The thief straightened his spine when the umbrella made contact. He growled when the umbrella smacked him on the back of the head, and he snarled when he bashed the front of his head on the roof of the refrigerator.

Anna readied herself to attack him again, her heart caught in her throat, but her anger spurning her on. But when the guy threw his hand up and caught the umbrella in his heavy grip, she was real close to panicking. And when he swung around, snarling and grabbing hold of the back of her shirt, she wished she'd stayed in bed.

"You want to die?" he demanded to know, hauling his little sister's feet off the floor and holding her in the air, giving him enough time to show her he meant business by throwing the umbrella across the room.

She suddenly swallowed the lump in her throat and parted her dry, nervous lips. "JIMMY!"


Eight years ago…

"What ya lookin' at?" Anna said, dragging her feet through the crumbling dirt on the sun-baked ground. "Ya can't look at meh or nothin' 'cause Ah'm invisible."

The doctor was impatient as he side-stepped the girl and approached the farmhouse in the stifling heat of the summer. "That's lovely, Anna," he said, carrying his bag to the front door as he strode quickly with precise steps. "I don't have time for silliness, though. I'm running late and your mother's an extremely unwell woman."

The lonely girl followed him with a miniature scowl. "Ya don't have tah be mean none," she said. "Ah ain't bein' mean tah ya, Ah'm just invisible. Ya can still talk tah meh 'cause ya mah friend, Doctor Dutch."

"I'm not your friend," he said abruptly, knocking on the door with quick tap. "I'm a doctor. Go and be a nuisance elsewhere because I don't have time for this ridiculous nonsense."

Her face fell and she watched the doctor being invited into the house by her daddy. She wasn't sure why the man was being mean like he was, but she thought it was probably because she was invisible and he felt left out. She took off in a wander to the nearest barn, thinking up a really big storm as she reached the giant doors.

"Ah'm real sad, Jimmy. The doctor was mean tah meh 'cause Ah'm invisible," Anna muttered, walking into the huge, wooden building. But her brother wasn't there. He wasn't nowhere around and she didn't know how to call him on the phone in the house.

A small nut and bolt fell from the greased hand of Victor and he growled, working on one of the motorcycles Wolverine had sourced from a friend in the town over. "Can't an asshole work in peace around here?" he grumbled, lifting his head for a few seconds to see what his kid sister looked like now. She'd definitely had a growth spurt since he'd last clapped eyes on her.

The little girl walked over to him, her steps slow because she was curious. "Who are ya?" she asked, pointing at him because he was a big, fat stranger.

"Nobody," he muttered, wiping his hands on a grease-stained rag. "I was just passing by and caught sight of this bike. You think Jimmy would miss it?"

"Jimmy's got loads of bikes 'cause he's real greedy," Anna helpfully pointed out, stepping closer to the beaten up motorcycle.

"Yeah, that's the hunter in him," Victor explained, looking down at his sister. "He's kicked his feral side into gear by hunting out heaps of junk like this instead." He shook his head and slapped her hand away when she went to dig in the toolbox. "And you can bet your ass I'm ain't letting you play with them. You think I'm as crazy as I look, huh?"

Anna nodded, thinking he looked like he was real crazy. "Is Jimmy hidin' somewhere? Ah want tah talk tah him 'cause Ah'm still sad," she said, rubbing the mild sting from her hand.

"Fine, here's me biting," he sighed loudly, tossing the rag on the toolbox and eyeing the girl. "What's the problem? I'm better than Jimmy at sorting stuff out, so spill."

She blinked at him and scowled softly. "Ah don't trust ya none. Jimmy's mah big brother an' only big brothers can keep secrets. Everybody knows that, ya silly ol' stranger."

Victor stooped down until he was face-to-face with the girl. For a second or two, he was ready to tell her to talk away because he was her brother, but decided he didn't need the hassle. And anyway, she was safer not knowing who he was. "Nobody knows I'm here," he told her. "Not even Jimmy. Your Ma and Pa don't know I'm here, neither."

Anna put her hands on her hips and huffed. "Nuh-uh, that's not true none 'cause Ah know ya here an' everythin'."

He nodded curtly. "Yeah, you know my secret and I'm trusting you with it, kid. That's real rare for me, so about about returning the favour and giving me something to work with? I'm not usually nice to nobody, y'know."

She gave it some real, proper, important thought and nodded slowly. "Ah've thought about it loads an' Ah'm gonna talk tah ya 'cause Jimmy's run away like a girl."

Victor smirked. "He's always run like a girl," he agreed, picking Anna up and sitting her on the motorcycle. He kept one hand on her shoulder and another one on the bike to keep both steady. "Now, talk while I'm all ears. I don't have long, so make this quick."

"Ah was playin' the invisible game an' Ah saw the doctor's car comin' down the drive," she explained, grinning widely as she pretended she was riding the bike just like her brother did. "He got out his car an' Ah talked tah him 'cause he's mah friend."

"You're friends with Marco Dutch?" Victor grumbled, scowling suddenly. "That's Ma's doctor, isn't it? The fella with hair grey before his time and cold eyes that our blacker than cow dung?"

"Ya sound real funny," Anna told him, but she nodded at the first part. "Doctor Dutch said he wasn't mah friend, though. Ah only wanted tah talk tah him but he was mean. Jimmy's mah friend, Mama's mah friend, an' Daddy is too, but Ah want more friends an' nobody likes meh none."

Victor's scowl darkened when he spotted tears in his kid sister's eyes. He plucked her off the bike and sat her down on a bale of straw. "Stay there," he growled that roughly poor Anna didn't dare move to even try and tie her shoelace.

He stalked across to the house and stood by the doctor's car, wondering why the hell he was letting himself get dragged into this stupid mess. But as soon as he thought about Anna-Marie, he leaned against the car and lit a cigarette. He'd make sure the damn doctor would keep a polite tongue from now on.

Anna, meanwhile, was still sitting on the hay bale ten minutes later. She was starting to think she could hear loud, angry shouting outside and she frowned curiously."Hello, ya real loud folks!" she called out, almost jumping out her skin when Doctor Dutch was thrown into the barn and landed with a thump near her feet. "That was real naughty of ya," she told the doctor. "Ya gonna hurt yaself an' then ya gonna have tah see a doctor."

"I am a doctor," Doctor Dutch said, pushing himself to his polished shoes and straightening his tie. He looked wildly over his shoulder for a second before he glanced at the girl again. "I apologise for my behaviour earlier, Miss Howlett," he said quickly, his tongue almost tripping over the words. "I hope you can forgive me. I was just worried about your mother." He heard Victor clear his throat loudly as he stood outside the barn listening. "I'm still your friend, of course! I've always been your friend, so please do forgive me!"

Before Anna had the chance to answer, the frightened Doctor Dutch picked up his medical bag and sprinted out the barn in fear of his life, limping slightly as he went.

Victor stalked into the barn with a proud smirk. "You feeling better now he's your friend again, Anna-Marie?" he asked, heading back over to the motorcycle he'd taken a liking to.

Anna nodded, a grin slipping onto her cheeky face again. "Ya mah friend too, fat boy," she answered, standing up and running over to him.

He snorted and ruffled her hair. "Glad I could help, but it's time I got going now," he said, stopping long enough to tighten the bolt he'd been fiddling with earlier. "Give Jimmy hell for not putting this on properly, okay?"

"Ah don't want ya tah go," Anna scowled, standing in front of him with her arms folded over her chest.

"I don't care," Victor snapped back, wiping his hands clean and giving the bike another once over with his eyes. "Get back to the house and don't tell anybody you saw me here, understand?"

An unsure Anna-Marie backed away, feeling sad. She gave him a quick wave and then barreled towards her house again, leaving him there shaking his head and grumbling about family. How could one kid make him feel like the biggest asshole going?

"Stay safe, Pup," he muttered, smoking another cigarette before he took off into the sunset again.


The Present Day…

Logan had fallen asleep on the couch in his Pa's box-like office. He was dying to catch at least an hours sleep before he had to deal with everything today. But the sound of Anna screaming sent him to his feet before he even knew what was happening, and while his super senses filled in the gaps, he raced to the kitchen. "Hey!" he grunted, barging into the kitchen with a growl. "What's going on?"

Victor glared at his brother and hauled the girl over to the table by the back of the shirt. He dumped her in the chair and rested his hands on her shoulders to stop her moving. "Family hospitality is down shit creek, Jimmy," he groused. "You know what she did with that fucking umbrella?"

"Ah did what folks do tah burgulars!" Anna argued, trying to box the guy's hands off her shoulders. "Get ya dirty paws off meh or Ah'll bite!"

"Try it and see what happens," Victor warned darkly, looking down at her. His scowl deepened when he caught sight of her face, though. "What the hell's that in your nose?"

Logan sighed heavily, heading for the fridge. "Anna, there's nothing to be scared of, darlin'," he promised, taking some bacon, sausage and egg out to cook for breakfast. "He's a friend of the family."

"How come Ah ain't met him?" Anna said, matching the glare that was still being leveled on her. "An' it's called a nose ring. Ya lived in a cave ya whole life or somethin'?"

Victor snarled at her words and guided her chin up. Now they could look each other in the eyes, he made it clear what he thought about her attitude and style. "You'd better listen good because I won't warn you again," he said. "I might go easy on you today, but tomorrow will be a different story. You're going to take that lump of metal out your nose, you're going to remember the right way to talk to me and Jimmy, and if you step out of line you'll soon find out what the consequences are."

"Vic," Logan said, turning to look over to his brother. "Lay off her for now. Today's going to be tough enough without you and Anna kicking off too."

She wriggled out the chair and started to back away. She didn't know what the heck was going on right now or who the new guy was, but she didn't like him none. In fact, she was real sure she hated him 'cause he was crazier than members of the Jackson family shopping for new noses when they already owned one that sat square on their face.

Victor growled, letting the girl hightail upstairs. "Don't give me that look, Jimmy," he said when they both heard the bedroom door slam upstairs. "She's not keeping that piercing or that attitude. It's as simple as that."

"I might not like what's she's done to her nose, but I'm more bothered about what's going on in her head," Logan sighed, heating up the frying pan. "She's fifteen. Do you remember what you were like at that age?"

"No," the older feral grumbled, stalking to the kitchen door. "And I'm gonna handle this my way."

"You've got five minutes to make a connection with her," Logan growled lowly, tossing the sausages into the pan on the stove. "She needs to get ready and eat breakfast; the service starts in a few hours."

"Yeah, I know, this ain't the first funeral I've been to," Victor responded, climbing the stairs with a determined look.

He stopped halfway, catching sight of a photo of two little boys grinning cheesily at the camera. That was John and Jimmy, but most people probably didn't know he was also in that photo too, just hidden from view because his ma hadn't wanted to see his face again. He took it off the wall and turned the frame over in his calloused palm, sliding the photo out and taking it upstairs with him. It had been crudely folded in half so the fifteen-year-old Victor was banished from the family photo, but opening the photo up and smoothing the crease away would help him explain everything to Anna, he hoped. "Yeah, that should help," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Kid's like a steam roller on acid."