hey guys - falling a hair behind because I had a major decision to handle for the next chapter or two, and it took forever to decide the direction, but ... I got it. Just had to talk it out.

robbie - why THANK YOU. I prefer this to the crap that Marvel laid on him and then you know ... never really tried to make right by him. This has a lot of potential, I think. (but I am obviously biased.)

griezz- that ... is just not the case. I'm following the canon in this one where Scott actually has physical damage that prevents him from gaining total control. It really is a relatively unexplored facet of him though, so I can see where theories like that would pop up, however, you can't tell a diabetic that they're just not trying hard enough when their pancreas malfunctions - the same is true here, though I have yet to determine where exactly that damage is that would screw with his control. All I can tell you is that my sweet Scotty boy is medically at a disadvantage.

Scruffy - nooooo, no roadhouse. nooooooo. but I can see how you got there. ;)

and to our guest - wait no longer!

A Decision Is Made

Scott had stared at the ceiling for a while and tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. With a frustrated sound, he threw back the covers and headed for the kitchen. He didn't know that Logan was still up, but he was almost relieved when he saw him.

"You alright, kid?" Logan asked as Scott came over and sat down at the table with him, though it was clear that everything about him was off - from the way Scott was fidgeting, to his posture, and that wasn't even considering the scent being so far off from normal ….

Scott let out a breath. "Back … last fall," Scott said, frowning deeply - not just because of the subject, but the simple fact that whatever he'd had plotted out to say had simply escaped him. "When I … blasted you, what did it look like?"

Logan tipped his head to the side and narrowed his eyes as he watched Scott's guilty movements. "You havin' headaches again?" Logan asked.

"Yes, but … not anymore. I'm just … can you tell me please?"

"Red," Logan replied. "All I saw was red before I hit the tree. Why?"

Scott shook his head, but finally spoke through gritted teeth. "The glasses stop … whatever it is from happening," Scott said. "When it happens," he gestured to his face. "They glow."

Logan moved to lean forward, never taking his eyes off of Scott. "Okay. Can you make it happen? Or stop it when it does?"

"I don't know," he replied before he launched into a very fast paced explanation of what had happened before he'd gone to bed, ending in a very anxious and frustrated kid that clearly had no idea what to do with himself.

Logan took a while to respond. He knew the kid was freaked out - by himself - but he also knew that Stark's crappy location prohibited them from going outside and just … diving into it right then and there. Finally, after what had to have felt like a lifetime to Scott, Logan let out a long, slow breath. "Alright. Get some rest. Or try to. First thing tomorrow, we'll go find somewhere we can look into this. Deep in the woods - or a … secluded beach. Somewhere you can try it out without the cops getting called."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked with a frown. "Isn't that… I mean… we just moved and if anyone sees me, or sees my eyes when they do …Whatever…"

"That's why we'll find somewhere private. Otherwise, I'd tell you to let loose on Stark's ridiculous house."

Scott very nearly smirked. "Yeah but I don't think I know how to turn it on unless it sneaks up on me in a headache."

"Well… how about you try it, or if you're nervous, we'll let it go until you start getting headaches again." He shrugged one shoulder up. "Either way, you're gonna need to try it sooner or later."

"Yeah, I know," Scott said with a sigh. "I need to get it … well, I need to be able to stop it or school is just…" He shook his head.

"One step at a time, right?"

"Then if it's alright, I think I'd like to start sooner than later. To get a handle on it before it gets worse."

"You got it," Logan replied with a nod. "Can it wait 'til daylight?" He was smirking just slightly, fully aware that Scott had no intentions of going out with something that would glow that brightly.

The corners of Scott 's mouth twitched. "Unless there's a festival or fireworks show I don't know about," he said.

"Beats the hell outta me, I'm new around here too," Logan shot back before he got to his feet and ruffled up Scott's hair as he passed. "Get some rest. You'll feel better tomorrow."

The ocean was roaring behind them as Logan and Scott hiked into the woods. The salty air had a way of making the forest feel somehow even more cool than it was, and the mixture of sea spray and wet forest moss and dirt was almost like a palate cleanser for Logan after the long miles of highway between there and New York.

The further they hiked, the better Logan felt, and the more both of them relaxed until finally, many miles into the woods, Logan paused and closed his eyes as he listened intently.

Scott leaned against a tree as he watched him. Though they'd gone through the woods together plenty of times before - it was never like this - and never had Scott really watched Logan when he did anything like this. It was pretty cool to watch, if he was being honest.

Logan drew in a few deep, long breaths, and finally opened his eyes, still listening hard as he slowly scanned the forest around them. "Alright," he said finally. "Nearest people I can scent are at least ten miles upwind. No one's followed us, and the last living thing that's been through this way was a blacktailed deer about an hour ago." He turned Scotts way. "Pretty sure this is about as good as we're gonna get for a while." He gestured to the woods around him. "I don't know how to coach you through this, but - no one is gonna sneak up on you here."

Scott nodded quietly at that, though he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do to get his whatever it was to work, and hearing that Logan didn't know what to do either didn't exactly help his nerve level.

All he knew was that his powers came with the headaches. And the headaches seemed to come like other headaches - with noise, with stress, that kind of thing. Except when they came out of nowhere.

He tried to figure out how to force one of those then. He rubbed his forehead and took his glasses off and thought about everything that would surely help to stress him into a headache - the fact that he couldn't risk going to school with glowing eyes. The State Home for Foundlings. The people on his and Logan's tail. The fact that they were after him to get to the first good thing that had happened to him since the crash.

He rubbed at his eyes and held his breath and tried everything from staring into the cool air until his eyes hurt, and he felt like he was at least succeeding in giving himself a headache.

The rest of it, not so much.

While Scott worked out how to get his ability to work, Logan found a spot to just keep out of his way and listen for any sign of trouble. He doubted that there was much of anything that he could do to help the kid. It wasn't like he had clue one on how to deal with abilities that you had to think about using. It wasn't a position he like to be in either - one that offered nothing but just watching the door more or less.

But after a while, while Logan was listening hard, that same sound echoed the woods - though not nearly as crisp or loud as the first time Logan had encountered it. For a moment he wondered if Scott had wandered off to a more private spot, but after a few moments of listening hard, he could hear that he was right where he'd left him. Still, he wasn't about to interrupt if he was making any progress. But when it didn't sound like Scott was doing anything but berating himself and pacing, Logan figured it was probably time to go check on things.

"How's it going?" Logan asked as he returned to the clearing. "Any luck?"

"Not exactly," Scott replied with a frown. "I mean - kind of. But it wasn't really like before? I mean … a little. But … I don't know."

Logan tipped his head to the side in almost a nod. "We can come back - or even find another spot next time you think you can do it. Not like we're on a schedule or anything."

He clapped his hand on Scott's shoulder as the two of them headed back out down the same trail they'd used to go in. Logan wasn't entirely surprised. If he needed stress to trigger them, the long, relaxing hikes were not going to contribute to the kid getting a hold on this thing. He just didn't know of a safe place for them to fiddle with it.

"How are you with thunderstorms?" Logan asked suddenly as they moved up a trail. When Scott didn't answer right away more than to let out a little huff, Logan had to smirk. "Hey. this isn't a picking session. Truth be told I'm not the biggest fan. Walking lightning rod and all," Logan pointed out. "I was just thinking … if we found a good spot along the beach, you might be able to give it a shot during a thunderstorm."

"Maybe," Scott said at last with a small nod.

"You can take out your frustrations on a whale," Logan teased. "Or a particularly uppity wave."

"I'd take a poorly built sand castle at this point. Start small."

"I can help with that," Logan agreed. "Don't think I've ever built one so it'd have to be crap."

"I used to build them with my brother. He loved the ocean," Scott said.

"So he liked the ocean and you like the air," Logan said with a nod.

"Yeah, I like to be able to see where I am and where I'm going," Scott said with a smirk.

"You wanna lead the way out then?" Logan asked, gesturing for him to take over if he wanted.

Scott raised both eyebrows but then nodded, the smirk still tugging at him. "Yeah, alright."

"If you get too far off track I'll let you know," Logan promised, relaxing just a bit as the boy seemed more at ease when he took over piloting their way out of the woods.

As it turned out, he only needed to be redirected a couple of times where the trail was all but absent. When the two of them emerged - not too terribly far off course from the trail head they'd gone in on, Scott couldn't stop smiling to himself. Understated, sure, but smiling all the same.

"Maybe we just need to hike a little more," Logan said.

"I don't want to totally avoid it," Scott clarified. "I need to figure it out."

"I know," Logan replied. "I just thought if you weren't so stressed about it, it might come more natural. The learning how to use it thing."

Scott smirked to himself but didn't say anything as the two of them got back to the house. He wasn't settled in much at all though before Logan was ready to leave again.

"Gotta go see about that job," he said. "Don't wait up. I'll be back real late."

"Alright," Scott said, looking around the house with a little frown. This would be the first time he'd been alone after all the mess that had happened in the cabin - and even in New York. It wasn't that he was scared … he was just understandably nervous about what might come to pass if he was all alone.

He wasn't a great fighter yet, and he had no one but Logan out here on the west coast. He didn't even know anyone in town. As the door closed behind Logan, Scott drew in a deep breath. This was no different than any other time Logan had left. If these Department people were going to come after him, he was sure they'd go to Logan - not Scott.

He headed over to work on the file some more, but two pages in they were talking about control mechanisms that were implanted along his spine and … that was more than Scott wanted to get into on his own in the overly large, dark house. "I'm sure Tony has sports channels," Scott muttered to himself as he headed over to the living room to watch a little TV, but as was now his habit as much as it was Logan's - he found himself seeking out the news instead.

Logan meanwhile had quickly made his way down to the bar and settled in where the owner had pointed him, doing the simple task of watching out for trouble - and minors - and dealing with them accordingly.

It wasn't awful, but it was rowdy by the time midnight rolled around, and he saw where the trouble was as the roughnecks started making themselves comfortable - and harassing half of the clientele. It wasn't too long before one of them was sure to bump into Logan, spilling their beer on him as they did so.

"You're gonna need to take it easy before you get tossed," Logan told the guy, but that just got a laugh out of the tall, broad roughneck. Which led to the guy putting his hands on Logan to shove him backward - and that was when the fight started, and very promptly ended.

In a few quick, hard hits, the man was on the floor, and shortly after that, his best friend too. Logan turned to the advancing pair from their group and stuck a finger at them. "You want to end up on the ground too? Fine by me. But you'd be smart to take your stupid friends and get them the hell outta here before you do more than bleed a little on the floor," Logan pointed out, and just like that, a hush fell over the bar and the remaining members of the two men's group dragged their friends out.

The rest of the night was pretty calm, and by the time they closed up, the owner was tickled, offering him the job on a more permanent basis on the spot.

"Let me know if you need anything," the owner told him with a pleased smirk.

"To be honest, lookin' for a place for me and my boy to stay," Logan admitted as he folded over the cash he'd made from the night. "Not real familiar with the area yet."

The man nodded his head and scribbled down an address. "My brother has a handful of cabins out in the woods if you like it quiet. Rent's reasonable, and last I checked there was just one other tenant, and that one minds their own."

Logan looked at the address and nodded. "When's a good time to get 'im?"

"Go now - set it up, tell 'im I sent ya."