Papa ch 11

……………………………

"Ahchoo!!"

Abigail sneezed for probably the millionth time that morning, splattering snot all over the poor Wolverine.

Logan grimaced, pausing as he held her away from his body and reached for a damp cloth lying in the kitchen sink. "That's disgusting kid" he grumbled, resisting the urge to strangle her.

So far, babysitting a sick toddler had proved to be less than amusing.

After finding out she was sick, Jean gave Logan some liquid medicine to give her after meals, which he concluded, would have worked out much better if Abigail would actually eat anything.

She refused to eat lunch, she refused to eat dinner, and when he did manage to slide her a little something to eat, it only came back up and all over the floor which gave him even more work to do.

Then last night, poor Abby was up until around midnight, coughing and sneezing and sniffling and it took about three bedtime stories and an ancient air purifier that created an earthquake to finally get her to sleep.

Once he was sure she was knocked out, he shut off the air purifier and opened up a window so fresh air would still pass through and with Logan's luck, a stupid little owl decided to perch itself on his balcony and hoot itself silly.

After about an hour of hooting, a boot to the stomach finally shut it up and Logan drifted back to sleep, only to be woken again a harsh wind blowing outside and through his open window. He figured Storm must have been having that dream of hers again, where the world suddenly became deprived of air and it was up to her to save the day (the things X-men dream about) but that still didn't mean it was good news for Logan.

As the wind picked up, leaves and shrubs of grass came along with it and flew into his room, along with scattering a few things on the floor and creating a new mess for him to clean.

Logan sighed harshly, slamming the window shut and deciding to clean up the mess since he couldn't sleep anyway, and he grumbled and cursed the whole time, blaming it all on Abigail.

When he finally finished he returned back to his bed—which despite a recent addition of a new bed to his room, still had Abigail in it— and managed to get two hours of sleep before Abigail woke again at 5:30 in the morning, sniffling, coughing and sneezing once more, and looking toward Logan for any sort of relief.

So after a few hours of tv, stories, the earthquake making air purifier and a snuggle with her blankey and Wilbur, Abigail fell into slumber again for about an hour before finally waking up for the morning and brining a tired and cranky Logan right along with her.

And so now, here he was at breakfast, pissed, annoyed and tired, wiping snot from his face, and wishing he could burry this toddler alive.

"So" Storm said, setting a plate of breakfast in front of Abigail's spot at the table. "How'd it go last night?" she asked Logan, fixing him a plate as well.

"You tell me" he said. "Save the world from its deprivation of air again?"

She blushed and sheepishly grinned. "Oh, I conjured winds in my sleep again huh?"

"My window was open"

"Logan, it's cold out, why did you open your window?" Jean asked. "I gave you the air purifier for a reason."

"That damn piece of junk!" he cried. "When the hell did you buy that thing anyway? When Chuck was in school? It created an earthquake in my room and I thought my bed was going to collapse through the floor"

"I told you to throw it out" Scott threw in, causing Jean to roll her eyes.

"Well it works doesn't it?"

"Barely" he grumbled, sitting down at the table and putting Abigail in the seat next to him. She only climbed down once situated there and hiked right back onto Wolverine's lap, snuggling her head into his chest.

Logan sighed.

"Well whatever" Jean continued. "My point is, it's the middle of winter and you opened the window when there's a sick child in the room. The cold draft is only going to make her worse"

"Oh calm your waters red, the squirt was so heavily bundled in my damn comforters that she could've turned into a butterfly by morning."

"She slept in your bed?" Storm asked, cutting up little Abigail's waffles. "Why didn't you put her in the bed we bought?"

"I did" he said. "But apparently she thought mine was more comfortable"

"Ah I see" she said, pushing the plate back over. "So I'm guessing all in all, you didn't have such a great night"

"Oh no on the contrary Ro'. I mean the highlight of my evening would really have to be when Oswald the Owl perched itself on my balcony and decided to hoot into the early morning with it's mating calls."

Storm glared. "Alright, don't get testy, it was only a question."

"Jesus Christ" Logan said, shifting Abigail to one side of his lap and beginning to eat his breakfast. "Why people would actually choose to have children is beyond me."

"Aww" Scott cooed. "You mean you don't get any satisfaction out of knowing that little Abby looks up to you?"

Logan glared. "Scooter, I got about three hours of sleep last night and I'm pissed the hell off, I'd advise you not to mess with me."

"I'm so scared" he trembled playfully.

Logan glared harder. "Dip shit" he mumbled.

……………………

After breakfast Logan decided a nap would be the best thing for both he and Abigail and surprisingly enough, she was knocked out as soon as she hit the pillow, which brightened things up significantly for him.

Crawling under the sheets himself, Logan was just about to drift into dreamland himself until a knock at the door abruptly interrupted him.

He snapped his eyes open. "This is not happening" he thought, shutting his eyes again and squeezing them tight, trying to fall back asleep.

"Maybe if I just pretend I'm not here, they'll go away" he thought.

The knock came again. "Logan I know you're in there."

"Damn" he thought. It was Jean behind the door and if there was one person you didn't try and mentally fool, it was Jean. "Ok maybe if I pretend to be asleep she'll go away."

Again he shut his eyes tighter if that was at all possible.

"And I know you're not sleeping Logan" she called after knocking again. "So open the door."

Logan groaned throwing the covers over his head. "No go away!" he called to the door.

"Logan c'mon, it's important"

"It can't wait?"

"Uh didn't you just hear me say, important?"

"Well to hell with importance. What's important right now is my nap"

"That statement was so redundant, but I'll pretend I didn't hear that and ask you one more time to get out of bed."

"No!"

"That's it Mr., you asked for it"

"What are you gonna do? Burst open my—hey!" He was interrupted by Jean swinging open the door and standing in the doorway smirking to herself. "What the hell Jean?"

"Telepathy Logan, telepathy" she replied, tapping her temple. "Now c'mon get up"

He grunted, throwing the covers off his body and swinging his feet around the bed, sitting up and stretching. "This better be important Jeannie, or I swear I'll—"

"What, burst my door open?" she said in her best Logan voice.

He glared. "You know Jeannie, I never thought I'd say this to you of all people but, you're a bitch"

Jean giggled. "Oh you're just cranky, now c'mon"

…………………

She led him to the kitchen, with him trudging behind tiredly and rubbing his eyes and her scolding him to keep up. He grumbled and mumbled the whole time until he reached the kitchen, only to become more upset upon finding, Scott, Storm, Hank, and the professor conversing happily in the room.

"Dammit Jean!" he cursed, glaring daggers at her. "What the hell is so Got' dammed important that you had to drag me up out of bed to—"

"Hello Logan" interrupted a female voice, spinning around in the barstool she was seated on to face him.

Once he got a good look at her, Logan's eyes first shot up in surprise, then narrowed into a glare. Jessica Purcell. What was she doing here?

"Logan, you have a visitor" Jean introduced, watching the exchange between the two. Logan glared, while Jessica smirked, both of them silent, yet dying to say something to one another.

Meanwhile as Jessica smirked Logan could only stare her down and wonder what the hell she was doing there. He only escaped her for a day and yet here she was, looking him in the eye again, the same smart-ass expression displayed all over her face.

He already concluded, he was too tired to deal with her.

"Jean, you woke me up to say hi to this wench?" he asked, making his way toward the fridge and digging around for a beer. "Jeez lady next time do like any normal person would and leave a message." He addressed Jessica this time as he popped the top off of his beer and took a swig.

"Well hey I had nothing to do with her waking you up. She said she had a visitor for me and I assumed it was Abigail, not you" Jessica fired back.

Logan glared again while Scott however, grinned from across the kitchen.

"This should be interesting" he whispered to Ororo.

"Well you know what they say about assuming" Logan said smoothly after another swig of his beer and Jessica rolled her eyes.

"Ya I know what they say. And they're right on the money too because you are definitely an ass"

His eyes narrowed again. "Cheeky wench" he murmured.

Jessica laughed. "Ho, ho, ho, me? Cheeky? You're the one who's been lashing out at me since I got here. What the hell did you take for breakfast, bitch pills?"

"Ya, I got them from your kitchen"

She smiled. "Touché"

"Look kid, I've been up with a sick toddler all night, and I was about to take a nap until you showed up, so I don't need the smart remarks right now."

"Oh poor Abigail's sick?" Jessica cooed. "What the hell did you do to her?" she asked, whacking him on the arm once he was in close enough range.

Though it didn't hurt, Logan rubbed his arm and looked at her with disapproval. He was tired, pissed and cranky, and being whacked on the arm didn't help any. "I didn't do anything to her, she probably picked up something from that filth of a box you call a store."

She rolled her eyes again. "It isn't my store, I just work there temporarily. Paying for college remember?"

"Oh Gee, must have slipped my mind, I always forget useless facts."

She smiled sarcastically and Logan returned the favor.

"Ok, ok, now that we're all friends here" Storm interrupted, cutting the tension through the air with a sharp knife. "Logan, the reason Jessica stopped by today was to see Xavier about a job proposal."

Logan finished up his beer and tossed it in the garbage can before lamely twirling his finger in circles and replying with a rather dry, "Whoop-dee-doo". He rolled his eyes afterwards. "What the hell does that have to do with—job proposal?" he suddenly asked.

Jessica's grin widened to reach the far corners of her face. "Yep, that's right ol' buddy ol' pal. Job proposal. As in here; at Xavier's; working; helping; caring; and who knows, possibly even living."

Logan twitched at the word. Living? This did not sound like it was going to turn out good. "Job proposal? What the hell brought you on to this? One day you're working in retail and the next you decide to have a career in mutant child care."

"Hey, what can I say? You and Abigail's touching story, won me over. It's an impulse decision I'll admit, but a damn good one, and I'm willing to commit."

"And just what are you supposed to work here as? The maid?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You're hilarious."

Logan scoffed.

"And for your information, I happen to be useful for a lot more things than just folding clothes"

"Feh, like what?"

"Like oh, I don't know………..taking care of children, hence my request for a job application here at Xavier's."

"Oh a job application is far from required Jessica, I would be delighted to have you here and I'm sure the others feel the same."

She beamed.

"Delighted?" Logan asked. "More like disgusted." He raced over to the professor, putting his arms on the elderly man's shoulders and giving him a little nudge towards Jessica's direction. "Look at her chuck. Take a moment to really, really, look at her. Look at that evil and sinister look in her eyes" he murmured in Charles' ear. "Does that look like the face of your average do-good, caretaker? I don't think so. I say she's evil. I say she's working undercover for the brotherhood."

The professor only sighed, shrugging Logan off his shoulders. "Oh Logan don't be absurd, Jessica's an angel, I practically raised her myself."

At the mention of this, she smiled an angelic smile and Logan scoffed. "Ya well, it's been years since you let her go Chuck; she's changed."

"Oh pish-posh. We all know that we need the extra help around here Logan, and Jessica here suits the profile down to the tee. She's intelligent, loving, caring, patient, and she's working on a degree in teaching. I say she finishes up this school year as a Teacher's assistant, gets her degree and by next school year, she'll be good to go."

"Teaching?" Logan asked. "You never told me you were studying teaching"

"You never asked" Jessica responded.

Logan glared again. "How convenient."

"Well all in all, I think it's a fantastic idea, wouldn't you all agree?" he asked, addressing the others in the room.

"You'll be more than welcome here Jessica" Ororo said warmly.

"Can't wait to have you aboard" Hank said.

"We have so much to catch up on" Jean replied.

"You were good in math right? You can be my T.A" Scott said with a smile and Jessica laughed. It was so nice to be welcomed.

"Well then, I guess we've all agreed, I think having you here would be a splendid idea Jessica. It'll be great to have you back."

"Oh, yay! Thank you professor!" she said, getting up and thanking him with a hug, squeezing him tight. "I promise, I won't disappoint you"

"I'm more than positive you won't" he said.

Turning to Logan for a response, Jessica's face was filled with glee, joy and a smug little look just for spite, to piss the little Wolverine off. She couldn't wait to hear what he had to say when he found out she was working there.

"Well" she asked, her smile dissipating into that smug little smirk of hers.

This wasn't the first time Logan felt the need to slap it off her face. But he chose not to respond. He knew she wanted a reaction out of him and he wasn't going to let her get the best of him. So instead he simply ignored her and turned in the other direction preparing to leave.

"I think I hear Abigail calling" was all he said, before turning his nose in the air and sauntering out the room.

Jessica giggled. "He'll get used to it."

……………………

"What a little wench I'm telling you" Logan ranted, pouring soap on top of the wash cloth and lathering it up, preparing to bath the girl in front of him.

"I mean first Jeannie comes in and wakes me up, so very rudely might I add and then I get to the kitchen to see that damn smirk on Jessica's face and I know she's just dying to make fun of me."

"Mmhmmm" came the voice of Abigail in a rather distracted and high-pitched voice. She was having way too much fun with the rubber ducky Jessica had given her earlier that day.

"Then she starts firing off the comments, when I'm already pissed off and—lift up your arm kid— and calls me and ass and all of that dumb girl bullshit that comes along with it. So then Storm interrupts the little argument we've got going on and surprise, surprise, the bitch announces that she's gonna start working here!"

"Ah!" Abigail whined, reaching for the rubber duck she dropped in the tub.

"Just one second" he said, while washing around her back before handing it back to her. "So then I try and convince Chuck right, you know, to not let her work here, and he's all, oh she's nice and sweet and intelligent and all of that load of crap. —Sit down and gimme' your foot kid— And keep in mind, this is the same loudmouth who accused me of being a pedophile that Chuck's referring to as ol' reliable."

"Ol' reliable" Abigail repeated with a giggle, wiggling her toes for the Wolverine.

He smiled. "You got it kid, ol' reliable." He said, standing her up again. "So then chuck offers her the job and everyone in the room is all oh, we're so glad to have you back and then she looks at me expecting some sort of reaction you know, so I simply ignore her and walk away." He smiled triumphantly. "Pretty smart move huh kid"

"Yes indeed" Abigail responded, though having no idea what he was talking about and squeaking the duck in her hand.

Logan smiled again, dropping the rag and grabbing the small bucket in the corner of the tub and filling it with water. "Hold your head back squirt"

Doing as she was told, Logan poured the water over her head, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. And as he Dipped the bucket back in the water he poured it over her head again to rid of any further soap before ringing her hair free of water.

"So all in all, I think I got her right where I want her." He finished leaning his elbows against the edge of the tub to look Abigail in the face. "What do you think kid?"

"Papa!" she suddenly cried, throwing herself against his chest.

Logan smiled for a change instead of pushing her away, embracing her in that tiny hug of hers. "Papa!" he cried back. "That's all you've got to say huh?"

She smiled

"You know what kid?" he began, letting go of her and getting up, retrieving a towel. "You're a pretty good listener. I mean I'm sure anyone else would have told me to shut it by now but not you. You care about my problems, I like that."

She smiled up at him again.

"Alright now c'mon, out of the tub."

At the mention of this, her smile quickly morphed into a frown. Leave the tub? Now way was she leaving the tub, she was having too much fun. "No, no, no" she protested, holding onto her rubber duck possessively. "No wanna get out"

"Well it's time to get out so c'mon" he said, holding the towel open.

"Five more minutes?"

"Nope"

"Two more minutes?"

"Not-uh"

"One more minutes?"

Logan laughed. "No, not five minutes, not two minutes, not one minutes, out now" he said, wrapping the towel around her body and pulling her out tickling her as he did so.

Abigail giggled furiously as he tickled, calming down when he set her atop the counter.

"You're a handful kid" he said, beginning to dry her off and reach for her clothes.

As he helped her put her clothes on, Abigail sneezed and wiped up her runny nose with the back of her arm, giving Logan a boogery smile after doing so.

"That's disgusting kid" he said, using the towel to wipe her hand and her face. "Looks like it's about time for a bit more medicine and then it's off to bed with you."

"Bed time story?" she asked as he pulled the top of her pajamas over her head.

"I'll think about it"

Swiping Wilbur from off the counter, Logan helped her put on her pants before handing the doll to her and picking her up in his arms.

"Ok now off we g—" Stopping short, Logan glared when he saw Storm leaning in the doorway, smirking at him and twirling a bath loofa by the handle on her finger. He wondered where she came from for a moment, until he remembered he had asked her to bath Abigail for him, but now that that task was done, he didn't appreciate her presence here, or more or less, he didn't appreciate her smirking at him.

Like Jessica, Logan wanted to slap this look straight off her face for he concluded for the day that he did not appreciate anyone giving him that look.

"Well, well, well" began Ororo, shifting her smirk into an, I'm-about-to-tease-you smile and steeping into the bathroom fully. "Looks like you don't need me to bath her after all"

"Ya well, you took to long" Logan responded, shifting Abigail in his arms.

"Uh-huh, ya and when has that ever stopped you from nagging me before?"

"I called your name like 500 times but you didn't answer."

"Sorry there are other people living in the mansion other than you Logan"

"Well then, don't promise me you'll do something for me and then never show up" he shot back in a snooty-tooty voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Gee I'll just let little Kenny who's down in the med-wing suffering from asthma know that"

"That's all I ask" he said, exiting the bathroom and completely missing Storm rolling her eyes again and following after him.

"Anyway, I'm sort of glad I bailed out on you, looks like you and Abigail had a swell time."

"We bonded" he admitted, setting Abby on the bed. "Is that a crime?"

"I seem to recall a certain someone threatening to strangle another certain someone until her head exploded."

Logan smirked. He loved his graphically explicit ways of killing. "Ya well, she's being good today so I have no reason to"

"Mmmhmmm" she responded in a I-know-better manor. "And her little flu she has going on is just…….."

"Look Ro', I don't need the third degree from you alright? I'm a grown man and I can do whatever the hell I please and if I choose to get along with a three year old for fifteen Got' dammed minutes than I will and don't you think for a second that you have the authority to—"

"Ok, ok, ok, Logan! Sheesh, calm down, I was only teasing" she interrupted, holding up her hands in defense. "Don't have a cow"

Logan only let go an abrupt huff of air to stop himself, feeling his blood pressure smoothly transition back to normal and his pissed off meters descending back to zero.

"Well good" was all he could say, not really having the right response for this type of situation. He really wished she'd just leave. "And don't make me have to tell you twice"

Storm giggled, folding her arms in front of her torso and nodding her head, Genie style. "Yes master, and back into my bottle I go"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Ya whatever"

"Well anyway, as fun as it's been having this delightful conversation with you, I've got a big stack of essays in my room with my name on it so, it's been a pleasure Papa and goodnight and God speed."

"Goodnight R—" Logan narrowed his eyes. "What did you just call me?"

"Uh, Logan, Mr. Paranoia" she responded like a sixteen year old, rolling her eyes in the process.

Logan narrowed his eyes further. "That's not what you said Ro"

"It is what I said loony bin, what else would I call you?"

Giving her one more suspicious look, Logan shrugged it off into his whatever bin before turning his attention back to Abigail.

"Goodnight Abigail, Goodnight Papa"

"Papa!" Abigail cried.

Whirling around, Logan glared daggers at Storm. "I heard it that time and your dead Ro'!"

Laughing Storm took off down the hallway as Wolverine chased after her, all the while crying, "Papa" as she went along.

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