Logan woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in his bed. His sheets were sticky with sweat, his pillow was on the other side of the room, and it felt like he'd shifted the position of his mattress. But he hadn't destroyed anything, and his claws were still retracted. That was an improvement, considering that he'd dreamt of being experimented on again.

After he'd accidentally stabbed Marie, he'd had to work hard to teach himself to keep his claws retracted. More often then not, he simply dozed so that he'd be half awake and in control in the event that his claws did jump out. Tonight he'd tried actually sleeping, and he was impressed with himself for not destroying anything, considering the fact that he'd had yet another nightmare. While it had been vivid for him in the past, it had never been so vivid that he'd even heard people talking.

"He'll be indestructible."

"Inject the adamantium."

And then the needles had punctured his skin, and the white hot liquid metal was injected into his bones…

Logan shivered and swung his legs over the side of the bed, rubbing his temples. He didn't need to sleep. He very much wanted to, but if he was going of dream of pain and horror every time he shut his eyes, then perhaps a tired mind was the price to pay for not having a troubled mind. At times like this he was grateful for his healing mutation.

He stood with an annoyed groan and decided to roam the mansion and make sure that none of the children were causing mischief while the X-Men were out. Before he'd gone to bed, he'd chatted with Marie and she'd assured him that everyone at the mansion knew he was here and knew better then to get on his bad side. While he certainly believed her, he got the feeling that the night wasn't going to be uneventful.

He checked the halls upstairs and they all seemed to be relatively quiet. He shrugged, knowing that silence didn't necessarily mean that everyone was sleeping peacefully. It didn't occur to him that the children may just be well behaved, because in a mansion filled with at least seventy-five kids, one of them was bound to be a troublemaker.

He made his way downstairs and heard that the TV was on. Deciding to investigate who was still up at – he checked the position of the moon outside – 2:45-ish, Logan followed the noise to the living room. A boy no older than twelve sat on the couch with perfect posture, staring intently at the TV. He changed the channels every few seconds, but Logan noticed that he held no remote. He looked a little closer and saw that the channels changed every time the child blinked. Neat trick…

Blink…

"Global warming is going to kill us all. The Republicans are responsible."

Blink…

"I know you're in there. I hear you caring!"

Blink…

"I've never known you to judge a person based on their beliefs. In fact, you're pretty tolerant of everyone. Except Hugh Jackman…"

Blink…

"Can't sleep?"

It took a second for Logan to realize that he was being addressed. He shook his head and pulled his attention away from the television. "How can you tell?"

Blink…

"Because you're awake."

Blink…

Logan nodded. A child's logic was usually as simple as that. "Right. What's your excuse?"

Blink… Blink… Blink…

He finally settled on a nature show with a bored sigh. "I don't sleep."

"Fair enough," he said with a nod and continued down the hall. He thought about getting something to drink, and when the smell of dry ice drifted into his nose from the kitchen he decided that he ought to do just that.

Sure enough, he found Bobby sitting at the counter, eating out of a container of ice cream. Logan's first thought was that women usually did that when they were depressed about something, but being that this boy's power was ice, he probably just enjoyed eating foods that were cold.

"Hey," he said casually as Logan walked in.

"Doesn't anybody sleep around here?" Logan asked pointedly.

Bobby cocked an eyebrow at Logan and went back to his desert. "Apparently not."

Logan opened the door in the fridge and inhaled, frowning. "Got any beer?"

"This is a school," Bobby said flatly.

Logan opened the other side of the fridge and pouted for half a second before turning back to Bobby. "So that's a no?"

"Yeah, that's a no."

"Got anything other than chocolate milk?"

"… ice water," Bobby mumbled.

"What was that?"

"There should be some soda over there in that small cupboard." Logan followed where the boy's spoon was pointing and pulled a warm Coke bottle out. Popping the cap off, he offered the bottle to Bobby who raised it to his lips. Horrified, Logan nearly recoiled, snapping that he hadn't been offering the boy a first swig. But Bobby blew on the neck of the bottle and the glass frosted over. He handed it back to Logan, perfectly cold.

Impressive. "Thanks."

"No problem." Bobby didn't seem quite as territorial as he had earlier, and Logan was sure that he knew why. He wondered if his own reaction to the boy had been so negative because of the fact that he'd made Marie leave. Perhaps if Marie hadn't constantly asked about him - as Jean had insisted that she had - Bobby would have been a little more polite and a little less macho when they'd met earlier.

Perhaps he and Bobby needed to just talk, so that they could size each other up properly. Marie really seemed to like him, and he was reminded of the look in her eyes that begged him to approve of the boy. Logan sat down across from Bobby at the island in the kitchen. "So, how long have you been here?"

"Couple years," he answered easily.

"And your parents just sent you off to mutant school?"

For a second, Bobby looked a little uncomfortable, and Logan wondered if he was pushing this conversation in the wrong direction already. There were plenty of people that weren't on the best of terms with their parents for one reason or another. Marie had that problem, as he'd found out from touching her. In fact, it was logical to assume that most children at Xavier's school had either run away from home or lied to their parents. "Actually, my parents think this is a prep school," he said slowly.

So he lied. Logan nodded, starting to feel uncomfortable in his own skin. It was one thing to have a heart to heart with Marie while trying to keep her from running away, but another entirely to have a heart to heart with a boy he didn't know for no reason other than sheer boredom.

No, he refused to believe that. This conversation wasn't for the sake of boredom, it was for Marie's sake. Because, for some reason, she liked this boy, and she wanted Logan to like him too. He'd be damned if he was going out of his way to be uncomfortable for this boy's sake.

Still, Bobby's tone stirred a little pity in Logan's heart. "Oh, I see," he said, hoping he didn't sound too callous. "I suppose lots of prep schools have their own dorms, campuses…"

"Harrier jets?"

"It's a free country." Bobby raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more. There had been something strained in the boy's voice, and Logan couldn't quite place what it was. Nor did he want to, so he changed the subject. "So, you and Rogue, eh?" Logan had noticed that no one called Marie by her name. Part of him wondered if she'd told anyone else her real name. Logan himself only knew her first name.

"Yeah." He examined his ice cream very closely as he spoke. "It's not what you think, though. I mean, I'd like it to be…" He stopped speaking, seemingly horrified at what he'd said. Logan would certainly agree that it was the very last thing that the brat should have said, but he simply leaned in closer to Bobby, causing his pulse to skyrocket. "It's just… it's not easy when you want to be closer to someone… but you can't." Logan nodded solemnly, gazing at his drink. "You know," Bobby said suddenly, "I saw how you looked at Dr. Grey."

Logan narrowed his eyes at the youth. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing," he said innocently.

"No please…" Logan set his empty bottle on the counter with deadly precision and gave Bobby a look cold enough to chill his bones. "Enlighten me."

Bobby swallowed hard and looked anywhere but at Logan. His pulse began to race and Logan could smell him beginning to sweat. "It's just…" He swallowed and began again. "Well, when you saw Dr. Grey come down you looked pretty happy to see her. But you lit up like a Christmas tree when you saw Professor M – "

"I think I get it," Logan snapped. He reached for his bottle to take another drink before realizing that it was empty. He felt his lip curl involuntarily as he struggled not to toss the glass bottle over his shoulder.

Was he really that transparent? Bobby had only met him that afternoon, and if he knew enough to say that Logan had lit up like a Christmas tree...

Logan scowled. Who the hell talks like that, anyway?