Logan was sitting at a table reading a newspaper outside of a restaurant he brought Peter, Wanda, and Amy to for pizza, when kids came running up to him, looking slightly panicked.

Amy went to hide behind him slightly before pointing at the three men slowly walking closer to the table.

"Uncle Logan," Amy spoke quietly, "those guys over there won't stop following us."

"Yeah, Peter tried to tell them to stop but they didn't listen!" Wanda said, just as quietly.

"What do we do!?" Peter whisper-yelled.

Logan slowly got up while the men stopped about 10 feet from the table.

He wasn't so sure about these guys. They stood together, sharing looks of anger like they were some kind of tiny gang just waiting to start up some trouble. He assumed that they were following the kids because they had a thing against mutants, it was always a thing against mutants. There are always going to be people that hate mutants, he knew that, but to harass three young kids? Really? And yeah, it's not like it's exactly hard to tell that the kids are mutants, either. Amy had vibrant purple hair and eyes and Peter had striking silver hair. Pretty noticeable. But they were also great kids that would never want to hurt anyone (except maybe Peter sometimes, but he's still a good kid). Not only that, but they were his family, and no one was going to mess with his family. Not on his watch.

"Stay here, okay? I'll handle this." He said in a soft voice, facing the kids and giving them a light smile before turning and walking up to the men.

"Can I help you with something?" He spoke gruffly as he stopped a few feet away from the assailants, like a wall between them and the kids. "You should go, there's nothing for you here."

"You with em'? The brats over there?" The man in the middle of their little group started, his voice laced with venom as he gestured slightly towards where the kids were. "You one of them too? A freak?" He said, spitting out the last word before continuing. "You seem to be mistaken, there's definitely something we want here," He spat, briefly glaring at the kids, "so why don't you just give up the little abominations and we won't have to stir up any more trouble than necessary." He finished threateningly, staring at Logan like he was trying to melt him under his gaze.

Logan turned his head slightly to address the kids while keeping his eyes on the men in front of him. "Kids, call your parents-" He said, holding his cell phone out behind him to Peter, who hurriedly grabbed it and ran back to the table before starting to dial a number, "-this might get a little messy."

"Logan, thank god!" Was the first thing he heard from Charles as he rolled through the doorway to the holding cell area of the police station, followed by Erik, Hank, and Raven. "I don't know what the children would've done if it weren't for you."

"Speaking of," Erik said to the officer heading to open Logan's cell, "where are the children?"

"They're back in the briefing room with Agent MacTaggart." He replied as he undid the lock to the cell door and slid it open, stepping aside to let Logan out. "Don't worry, they're okay. She made them hot chocolate."

The confirmation that they're children were safe and alright put a small smile on everyone but Logan's face, who was still irritated with the situation. They followed the officer out of the room as he led the majority of the adults over to where the kids were before taking Charles and Logan over to the front desk to fill out some paperwork.

Logan watched as Erik, Hank and Raven arrived at the room with the kids and a small chorus of "Dad!" could be heard inside as the children ran up to hug their respective parents. He gave a small smile as he turned back toward the desk, just as a thin stack of papers was slid toward him.

"Thanks for bailing me out, Charles." He said simply as he began filling out the papers.

"Of course. And Logan?" he heard Charles start next to him, "I really am incredibly grateful for what you did. You know that I never condone violence, but you may have saved the children's lives today." Logan looked down to meet his eyes as Charles stared at him with a serious expression. "Thank you." He finished, giving Logan a gentle smile before they each turned back to their own paperwork.

Logan thought for a moment before saying anything. "You know," he began, still looking down at the papers, "I don't think there's anything I wouldn't do for those kids. They're my family, but-" he paused, looking up in thought, not entirely sure how to continue, "-they're more than that. When those guys showed up, all I could think about was that I needed to protect the kids." He finished as he looked down at Charles, who was smiling up at him.

"Those kids admire you, you know."

"Yeah." He thought, smiling a little. "I think I do."

They finished up their paperwork as the rest of the group came over. Logan nearly jumped in surprise when the kids ran up to hug him.

"Thank you Uncle Logan!" They said together, and Logan's heart softened a little. They eventually let go and they all walked out to the parking lot together.

Amy took Hank and Raven's hands while they walked, the two adults shared similar relieved looks as they looked down at their nervous daughter, who seemed pretty happy and relieved herself.

Peter swiftly took Erik's hand while Wanda walked beside Charles in his wheelchair and held onto his elbow.

They were all safe, their not-so-little mutant family, happy together again.

"I must commend you, though, Logan." Erik said as they walked. "You didn't even use your claws on those men?" He asked. Logan shook his head.

"He probably didn't have to." Raven spoke up. "You saw them, they looked like they could barely throw a punch." She said, earning some laughs.

"Wait, you saw them?" Wanda asked.

"Yes," replied Charles, "while we were waiting for your Uncle Logan." He said. "We thought we might give them some dirty looks, and goodness can your Auntie Raven throw some nasty ones."

They laughed again and Raven smiled down at Amy, who giggled in return.

"Hey," Peter piped up, "one of the guys's heads kinda looked like a butt."

They laughed again as Logan thought for a moment about how lucky he was to be part of this family. "You know kid, I think you might be right." He chuckled as he ruffled Peter's hair, making him giggle.

They reached the cars and were finally able to head home, three exhausted kids and five incredibly relieved and equally exhausted adults. Logan may not be related to them by blood, but this was his family, and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for them.

AN:

Hi! Hope you like it so far!

Thanks for reading! Toodles!