CHAPTER SIXTY:

An Animal…..

AN'S:

To: AvalonTheLadyKiller; I'm so glad you like my story! However, it will continue to be rated 'T' for Teen. When things start getting intimate, I will just insert the word 'lemon' and you guys can use your own imaginations.

To: Ceilidh Stewart: Not to sound like a broken record but, again, I'm so glad you like my story! And as you read on, you will see that I attempted to correct my math error. (which, since I know you read on, you already got that, so this AN is kind of a moot point but…wow, I'm rambling) Back on track…..Anyways, as for 'beeping out' the swear words, that's what makes me more comfortable. Just use your own…er…creative vocabulary to fill in the blanks. J

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Victor stalked along, straight and tall and deadly down the halls, keeping all senses open for trouble, and when Hank McCoy began to go in a different direction to his classroom, the oldest feral put a detaining hand on his shoulder. "I need ya to do somethin' fer me."

Hank arched an eyebrow (that you could barely see due to all the other fur covering his face.) "Yes?"

"I want the cubs to get a check-up. All of'em, start'n with this class."

Hank gave a curt nod. "That will be quite an undertaking. Infact it may take over a few weeks."

"Just get it done." Victor growled. "No matter how long it takes. You can do this group right after they've eaten."

Hank shook his head. "I agree that this is important, Mr. Creed, however I have my own class to resume that I left quite suddenly—"

"—so have yer mate take it over." Victor interrupted. "The cubs health comes first, ya need ta remember that."

Hank fought back his own growl at the reprimand and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You do not need to remind me of that, Mr. Creed." He said coolly.

"Good." Victor replied, one golden eyebrow shooting up at the tone in Hanks voice. It actually seemed to amuse him. "After they eat, get to it."

Hank huffed, but said nothing till they reached the cafeteria where he padded over to the weather-witch who was supervising the children lining up at the buffet.

Victor watched him speak to her for a moment then gently nudged his mate towards the buffet-line. "Go get yerself something ta eat. Plenty of meat and vegetables."

Cassie rolled her eyes as she went up last in line. "Are you trying to be my mate or my father?"

Victor gave a warning growl and, quick as a cobra, leaned down and latched his teeth to her neck.

She 'eeped' and froze, tensing up.

Victor released his teeth with a growl. "I am NOT yer Father!"

Cassie reached up to rub the sore spot on her neck. "Yeah, yeah, I get that." She glared at him and Victor glared right back. "And what's with the whole biting thing? I hope you've had your rabies shots."

Sabretooth just barely reined in the urge to pounce on her, pin her beneath him and force her to submit. She'd had a rough week, so he guessed he could give her a little leeway till she learned the ropes, but not much longer.

"I'm a feral, mate." He informed her gruffly. "Means I can't get rabies."

Now she arched an eyebrow at him. "Really? Funny, I'd figured that'd make you more susceptible to it, being part animal and all."

She saw the flash of hurt in his eyes, masked so quickly she thought she could have imagined it. Guilt panged hard in her heart and she reached out to put a hand on his arm. He twitched as if he would have liked to pull away but stood firm.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "Really. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Sabretooth just snorted. "What feelings?"

Unconsciously, she winced. "You don't mean that."

He nudged her, still gently, closer to the buffet line, his voice now cold. "Get yer food, frail."

Obediently, she took up a plate and some silverware, watching as he moved along the line adding different things to the childrens plates, more vegetables, more meat, and her eyes widened when he pulled a small jar from somewhere out of his furs filled with some kind of bug for Roddy.

Mentally, she began hitting herself in the head. `Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! …..Wait…why am I even feeling bad about this!? The guy KIDNAPPED me!` …..and held her….and fed her….and kept her warm…..and…kissed her like she had never been kissed before. She could feel her face blushing. `Okay, so he's got some good points, but still…..`

Then she saw him in her minds eye, how he had been earlier, playing with the children in the green, his enormous strength and muscle-mass gentled for their little bodies.

`Okay, I'll just play it by ear.` she added some meat to her plate, sighing. `Open mouth, insert foot…..again.`

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HANK MCCOY/BEAST

The blue-furred feral took another deep breath to calm himself as he approached his white-haired goddess who was ladling some fruit onto young Jennys plate (the little girls head didn't even reach the top of the buffet.)

Part of him simply rolled over and purred whenever he saw his weather-witch, took in her rain and gardenia scent. `You've got it bad, Hank old boy.` he thought to himself.

"Ororo," he purred and almost blushed red beneath his fur at how his voice sounded; velvety and seductive. By the blush on the weather goddesses cheeks, she heard it too.

Hank cleared his throat. "Victor wishes me to do some health check-ups on the youngest children right after they eat. Would you mind terribly taking over my class for the rest of the day? That is, if you have nothing else to do."

Ororo pressed her chocolate lips together, mentally running through her daily schedule. 'Yes, I think I can manage that."

Hank let out a small breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Thank you, my dear, I owe you a great deal."

"No" Ororo said, smiling gently. "Just your company and some hot tea later on tonight."

Hank nodded, beaming at her. "Of course, my dear." Before he could back out, he took her hand and kissed it, eliciting more giggles and cries of disgust from the children.

"I believe I'll take over here" Hank said, clearing his throat and reaching for the spoon. "You'd best go check on my class."

"Of course." Ororo agreed. She brushed a kiss on Hanks furry blue cheek as she breezed past.

Hank blushed amongst the childrens giggles and little Jenny asked why some of his fur was tinted red.

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LOGAN & VICTOR

Logan immediately picked up on the older ferals sour mood and winced. With his enhanced senses, he had heard the entire conversation between Victor and Cassie and had the feeling that his 'take-no-prisoners' brother was hurting more than he was letting on.

The feline sat down so heavily the bench buckled and Logan leaned back, startled. "Whoa, easy there!"

Victor just growled at him.

Logan, for once choosing the higher path, simply put another bite of meat in his mouth.

"She thinks I'm an animal….." Victor growled so softly that only Logan heard it.

The Wolverine shrugged. "You DID kidnap the girl." He pointed out practically, ignoring Victors glare. "But she volunteered ta stay of her own free will till the end of the week, and that says somethin' right there. If she REALLY wanted to be GONE gone, she would have left by now."

Victor snorted. "As if I'd let her leave."

Logan took another forkful of meat. "Now that sounds pretty animal ta me, Vic."

There was a cautious silence, broken when Victor handed his younger brother his 'to-do' list made on construction paper. "Here's yer 'to-do' list Jimmy. Make sure you get it ALL done or they'll be hell ta pay."

Logan scanned the list, his face quickly becoming indignant. "What the &^%$#!"

Lightning fast, Victors hand reached out and hit Logan in the head, making him jerk back.

"Hey!"

"Watch yer language infront of the cubs, Jimmy." Victor growled.

Logan gave him an 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me` look, but decided to ignore the hit…..for the moment. He pointed to the list in his hands, growling himself. "I am NOT yer secretary, Victor, you've got phone-calls on this list. PHONE-CALLS!"

The Sabretooth barred his teeth, his voice low and threatening. "And you'll make every one of'em, Jimmy-boy. They're ALL important."

Logan looked down at the list again, a scowl etched on his face. He flicked the offending paper with his fingers. "Okay, I'll admit, some of these make sense, but MAGNETO!?"

"Keep it down, Runt!" Victor hissed dangerously. The metal-manipulating man may have been forced into the cure but his name could still cause considerable panic at the school. "ALL of it, Jimmy. Every. Last. Chore. I'd do it myself if I didn't have ta deal with old one-eye."

Logan looked as if he'd rather eat dirt. Victor wondered if his little brother could remember doing just that when he was younger till Victor had stopped him. THAT had been a lesson quickly learned.

"Fine." Logan grumbled, folding the piece of paper up and sticking it in his jeans pocket.

"Don't lose that, Jimmy." Victor growled a warning. "There are numbers on there that people have KILLED to get ahold of."

Logan blanched, but took the paper out and stuck it in his front-pocket instead.

Victor rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a wallet, runt?"

Logan arched an eyebrow at him. "Like you do?"

He had a point.

That's when Cassie sat her tray down next to Sabretooth and sat down.

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CASSIE

`Okay, act normal, act normal, act normal, act normal, act normal…..` the brunette almost slammed her head into the tray of food infront of her. `What the beep IS normal anyways!?` That started her brain on a long train of thought about what was actually considered normal and how that would be defined until Logan/Jimmy's voice jerked her out of her own head.

"Yer supposed to EAT the food, not glare at it." Logan said, his look both amused and sympathetic.

Victor gave her an authorative growl. "Eat mate."

Instead of complaining, she simply cut up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth. Victor looked back to his meal and started shoveling it in with all the grace of an eating sayian; that is to say he ate like a man starving.

Cassie gaped at him. "Whoa."

Even Logan was looking at him in shock. "Whoa's right. Vic, ya need to breath."

Victor ignored them.

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VICTOR CREED

`If she thinks I'm an animal, I'll give her an animal…..` he thought angrily to himself. Yes, angrily. It was definitely ANGER he was feeling, NOT sadness. Not a deep disappointment. No, it was anger, and he knew how to handle anger. Sadness, that was a different story. Disappointment, well he figured he should be immune to that particular emotion, or at least used to it, but now it was eating away at him like a cancer.

That was when he felt it again, a light, gentle touch on his arm. Then one word; "Victor."

Never had his name been said with such tenderness, such gentleness mixed with regret…with apology. The scent of her regret, like wet leaves and sadness, like gooey mud, the kind that stuck to your feet and pulled you down.

Then another scent, the scent of his cub. Roddy clambered into his lap, his jar of bugs entirely eaten. The cub said nothing, but simply wrapped his tiny arms around the great Sabretooth as far as they could go (which wasn't very far at all). But when his mate leaned into him, not pulled or pushed or done in her sleep, but willingly seeking his arms; he felt the pain inside him thaw.

Logan cleared his throat, gathered up his tray, and moved to another table, mumbling something about checking on Jonesy.

Victor didn't pay attention, completely still.

"You wanna know something funny?" Cassie whispered against his arm, her voice so quiet if he hadn't been a feral he wouldn't have heard it. "Not funny hee-hee, but funny as in strange?" she continued.

He said nothing, but she went on.

"Last night, while you were still gone, doing…whatever it was you were doing…..and it was getting late, wanna know something crazy?"

Victor grunted; why couldn't she just get to the point!?

She did. "I couldn't help but wonder when you'd get back here….." She said quietly. "…..and I was hoping it would be soon because…..because I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep without my meds unless you were holding me."

Victor grunted again. "Nothin' strange about that , frail. Yer body knows even if yer mind refuses to accept it. Yer body knows I"ll keep ya safe, that it's safe ta shut down."

She chewed her lower lip. "Well, how about giving my mind some time to catch up with my body? I mean, I just met you a few days ago. I'm going to make mistakes, Victor. We both are. This isn't exactly normal dating procedure."

The feral snorted, speaking the words that had been in her mind just minutes earlier. "Define normal."

Cassie couldn't help but giggle a little. "Okay, so how about a date later on? I'm not the best at holding a conversation, but I'm sure I can figure something out…..Maybe…I hope."

She was relieved beyond measure when he smiled. A small smile, but a true one.

"Yeah, sure mate." Quickly Victor ran through the different scenerios his brother had presented to him. "How about a walk?"

She smiled up at him. "Sounds good to me, but only if you promise not to tackle me if I gather some flowers."

Victor chuckled. "As I'll be with you, I don't think that'll be a problem."

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VOCABULARY:

INDIGNANT: adj. angry about something that seems unjust, unfair, mean, etc.

SUSCEPTIBLE: easily affected by; open to

DETAIN: v. to keep from going on, hold back

UNDERTAKING: v. 1 to enter into or upon as a task, journey, etc.

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END CHAPTER AUTHORS NOTE:

Don't worry guys, you'll get to see Logans 'to-do' list when he actually starts to try to finish it (chuckles evilly) I've got some ideas for that one. But the next chapter will probably focus more on Bobby trying to stir up trouble. Ideas are welcome!