Logan sat at a dining table inside the bustling hotel and scanned the latest newspaper articles in a gruffer than normal mood. Four days since Jean had taken off to Xavier's, he and Anna seemed to hate each other, and Jean and Scott would be at it like rabbits. He scowled and looked at the girl. She had carried her empty plate around the giant buffet cart three times and had still not picked a single portion of food.
Anna stood on her tiptoes to get a better look at the food they had served. "When did this one die?" she asked curiously.
With a frown, the chef appeared confused at first, then offended. "It's a breakfast burrito," he explained to her.
"It looks dead," she said and poked at it with a fork.
"That's because everything I serve is dead," he snapped as he adjusted his chef hat and glared at her when she continued to poke at the food. He dropped to a quieter voice so the other hotel guests could not hear. "I'm about to kill you too, you little brat, if you don't leave that food alone."
"That isn't nice of ya," Anna told him, a little hurt.
Logan silently agreed with Anna and set his paper down on the table and walked over to the breakfast buffet cart. He took Anna's plate, dumped random food items on it and handed it to her. "Carry that back to the table," he said and watched her walk away. With a growl, he looked at the chef. "You talk to her like that again you'll be shish kabob before you finish your first sentence."
The chef gave a nervous yet polite nod and stepped over to the breakfast burritos. He offered Logan one in a show of peace.
"Keep your roadkill to yourself," Logan said with a grumble and walked away.
At the table, Anna poked at the contents of her plate and scowled. "Daddy, this don't smell good. Do Ah have to eat it all?"
Logan picked up his paper and grunted. "Eat what you can," he told her and sat down. After considerable time spent on each news article, he scowled, and his eyes darted to the door. "Hargreaves," he grumbled.
John Hargreaves crossed the dining room several times and smirked in Logan's direction. He seemed to enjoy his display of immature and silent taunts and stopped to talk to Anna when she carried her plate to the buffet table again. "Another late meal, Anna?"
"Mah daddy had to smoke eight billion cigars before we came down," she said and left her plate on an empty table.
With a snarl, Logan dumped his newspaper in the trash and walked over to them. He didn't want Hargreaves to talk to the girl for obvious reasons. "It's pool time, kid," he said and scowled at the man.
"Ah can't swim straight after breakfast," she answered back and poked at the breakfast burritos with her finger again.
"You can watch the water for a while," Logan growled and grabbed hold of her hand to pull her away from the food and Hargreaves. He walked her outside to the busy pool area and searched his jacket for a fresh cigar.
"Why does he want to keep talkin' to meh?" she asked while they walked to their usual table beside the pool.
"He's an asshole, that's why," Logan grumbled and released her hand. He rested a cigar between his lips and grabbed his lighter from his pocket.
"Ya smoke like a chimney, ya asshole," Anna told him with a cheeky grin.
Logan growled and pointed a finger at her. "The next time you use that word to me you better be ready to take the consequences, you understand me?"
A grumpy Anna sat down on a chair and watched the other kids play in the pool without her. "Ah'm bored," she said, gazing at him.
Logan concentrated on his cigar and thought about Jean and the baby again. He only looked at Anna when she tugged on his shirt sleeve. "Try not being bored," he told her.
After a few seconds spent with a comical scowl on her face, Anna looked at him again. "Aren't ya bored too? Ya always sit in that chair and do nothin' but read a newspaper and smoke. Why don't ya swim?"
"I don't swim," he answered gruffly and returned to his thoughts.
"Ya real old," she said. "Older than old. Ya ancient and ya can't swim?" She started to pull at his shirt sleeve again when he failed to answer her. "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"
Logan snapped out of his thoughts again and snarled at her. "Go play by the pool!" he ordered loudly.
Anna shrunk back a little, let her hand drop to her side and left the table without a single word. She walked slowly and sadly to the pool area alone with a drag of her feet. She looked that forlorn and upset, Logan went to follow her, but a scent caught him off guard and he dropped into his seat again.
Jean sat in the chair beside Logan and sighed to herself. She glanced at Logan and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch," she said. "How's Anna?"
Logan studied her face and his eyes dropped to her hands that brushed the crumbs off a cocktail menu on the table. He noticed her engagement ring had disappeared. "She's fine," he answered. "Where's the baby?"
"Storm's looking after her," she explained and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground, the words in her mind stalled until she could decide whether to voice them. "I've been having a little trouble bonding."
"I'm not surprised," he said with a shrug. "It ain't every day a baby bursts into your life while you're driving down the interstate." He looked at her bare engagement finger again and wondered if it meant there was a chance that he could make things work with her. "You thought of a name yet?"
Jean gazed at him and smiled. "No, not yet. Normally that's something both parents decide." She smiled again and was curious. "What was your mom's name?"
Logan growled. Sudden and scattered memories of his mother had resurfaced, and he tried his best to rebury them. "We're not calling her Elizabeth."
"It would make a good middle name for her," Jean suggested but Logan vetoed that too. "Okay, you suggest a name then."
He continued to smoke until his cigar crumbled into ash. "I really think you should pick something, Jean," he said with a heavy sigh.
She rested a hand in his. "I want you to be part of the process, Logan. You're her parent too."
The word still sounded foreign to him. What did he know about fatherhood? All he did was punish, yell or snap at Anna. He doubted he would be any better with the baby. When Jean squeezed his hand again, he sighed and gave it some thought. "Some memories came back to me recently, just a handful, and I once knew a gunslinger. She lived back in the days when land was snatched from the natives. She was old and tough, her hair white and her spine crooked from age when I first met her. Her husband was often locked up for beating her. The last time the cops took him away, she gave his land back to the natives he'd stolen it from."
"What happened?" Jean asked him and squeezed his hand again.
"Her husband paid off the local sheriff and the charges were dropped. He came back with a loaded gun and hunted her down. When she heard he was coming, she stayed put in the cabin and waited for him to make an appearance. When he reached the front porch with a plan to kill her, she picked up a rifle and shot him down. She buried him in the woods out back and made a promise to every woman out there. If they needed help, all they had to do was find a way of sending word, and she'd come running with that same rifle. On the day of her funeral, that tiny town on the border was overrun with women waiting to pay their respects."
Jean smiled because she liked the story. She had never heard Logan recall any of his past before. "What was her name?"
"Marie," he answered gruffly and lit another cigar.
"Marie? I like that name," she said with a smile. "Marie Logan-Grey."
He scowled and then snorted. "Logan-Grey? We're not using a double-barrelled name. They're for rich kids with a real sense of entitlement."
"We're not living in old Marie's time," she reminded him and squeezed his hand. "Men and women have shared rights and I like double-barrelled names."
He grumbled at that and sniffed the air when a gentle breeze rolled through. "I can smell Hargreaves again."
"Again? You mean he's in his hotel right now?" Jean asked, worried as she looked around the pool area.
"He's been snooping about since you left," he grumbled and watched her walk away. "Where are you going?"
"To find Anna," Jean responded and walked over to the pool. She circled the swimming pool and frowned because she couldn't see the girl anywhere. When she stopped to check each table, she apologized to the other guests who frowned her way and thought she was snooping. "Sorry, I'm just searching for my daughter," she told them.
By the time she returned to Logan, she was worried. "I can't find her," she said.
He left his chair just as the clouds covered the sun and walked over to her with a scowl. "She's probably gone down to the basketball court," he said and could smell an incoming storm. "Stop worrying, Jean. She's a pain in the ass when she wanders."
Jean crossed her arms and silently followed Logan to the pool. She noticed the scowl darken on his face. "What's wrong?"
"Hargreaves and Anna," he muttered and sniffed the air again. "Their scent goes in every direction."
"How is that possible?" Jean whispered to him and could feel her heart almost drop to her stomach over the thought of losing Anna.
"It isn't," Logan growled and stalked to the beach. He stopped after a few yards and retraced his steps. He looked at Jean. "He knows," he said out loud and then tapped the side of his head.
Jean understood the signal and spoke telepathically to Logan. "We need to find Anna. What's our plan?"
"You search outside, and I'll head inside," he said. "We keep this link open. He knows what we are Jean and I think he's gone rogue."
A worried Jean nodded and returned to the poolside. She checked every pocket of land she could find and even narrow side streets by the hotel were searched. Out of desperation, she stopped other guests to ask them if they had seen Anna, and not receiving a satisfactory answer, she went to check the basketball courts and the beachside park.
Logan growled in confusion. He tracked Anna's scent down every corner, hall and room and failed to find her. Now and then he checked in with Jean and grumbled. "He hasn't gone far with her," he said.
"How can you be sure, Logan?" she asked, standing in the middle of the basketball court, and watching a group of boys bounce a ball.
"He's found a way to scramble scents, not erase them," he said and headed to the security office. "I'm gonna get them to check the surveillance videos because this is taking too long."
Logan chatted to security for a few minutes and explained the situation. The story of a lost kid tugged on their heartstrings, and they agreed to check the footage. For legal reasons, they stated they couldn't show Logan the screens, but he had had other ideas. He pushed his way inside the room and watched what he could. After five more minutes of playbacks, he spotted Anna with Hargreaves on camera. "Where does that lead?" he asked the security guards impatiently because there were no further videos.
"The roof," the oldest and potbellied guard answered. "There are no cameras up there."
Logan's eyes narrowed and a growl rumbled in his chest. He ran for the elevator. "Jean, he's taken her to the roof. You hear me? They've headed in the direction of the roof!"
By that point, Jean was on the beach over a mile from the hotel. She had suspected that Hargreaves could have brought Anna to the sand but as the weather worsened and she heard Logan's voice, she realized she had been mistaken. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's on camera," Logan said and lost his patience when the elevator failed to arrive. He ran for the stairs instead and started to climb them as fast as he could.
Jean watched the families strolling back to the hotel and in a panic, she tried to push past them. She could hear Logan racing up the stairs through the telepathic link and here she was politely asking people to move out of her way.
Logan pushed the door open and reached the winding staircase to the roof. He tossed the staff-only sign to the ground and headed up those steps. He could smell the fresh scent of Anna now and she was frightened. He could hear voices, maybe a cry, was she crying? He reached the top step and flung the door open. He stepped out into the rain and snarled.
Anna's sobs were quiet, but Logan heard her fear and smelled it too. She could see the pool, but she didn't want to jump from here. "Ah don't want to," she whimpered. "Ah don't want to jump."
Hargreaves had his hand curled around Anna's hair. They stood at the edge of the rooftop, and he smirked when he saw Logan. "What took you so long?" he asked with sudden laughter.
Logan growled when Hargreaves dragged her closer to the edge. "Jean, he's got her on the edge of the rooftop," he said telepathically.
Jean gasped when she heard Logan's words. She instantly used her powers to topple every hotel guest in her way and swept them into the side of a sand dune. She ignored their screams and ran towards the hotel while she started to pray that Anna would be saved in time.
"Hand her over, Hargreaves," Logan snarled, making his way over to them with his arms outstretched for Anna.
"You made some pretty nasty phone calls about me, Mr Logan," Hargreaves said. "You, a mutant and a freak, had me fired from my job. Have you any idea how long I slaved away until the mayor saw my potential?"
Logan continued to growl. His knuckles itched and he kept his eyes on Anna. She called out to him, and his growls grew more threatening. "Hand her over," he snarled. "You hear me, Hargreaves? She ain't done anything to deserve this."
"She's a brat, I deal with them all the time, but I think she's a freak too," he said and enjoyed the power he held over Logan. "And what about that baby you have hidden away at your mansion? Are they both freaks, Mr Logan?"
"Ah want mah mama and daddy," Anna wailed when Hargreaves dragged her even closer to the edge of the rooftop.
Logan stopped when he realised it was too risky to try and reach them. "This really about you being fired?"
"You freaks are all the same," Hargreaves shouted at him, eyes wide and mouth loud. "All you do is kill, maim and murder."
"We're not all the same," Logan said and started to walk closer to them until Anna was almost at arm's length.
With his smirk like a knife twisting inside Logan's gut, Hargreaves unfurled his fingers from Anna's hair and shoved her over the edge. The scream from the terrified girl made Logan roar and he leapt forward. He landed on his chest at the edge of the roof, but he was too late. When he tried to grab her all he could feel was panic. He looked down at the falling girl when suddenly she was suspended in the air. He could see Jean at the poolside, and he breathed the largest sigh of relief.
Jean held one hand to her temple while her free one was raised in the air. The rain started to fall heavily as she slowly floated the terrified Anna to the ground. "I've got her, Logan," she said breathlessly. "She's safe."
As his growl built to a snarl and then a roar, Logan stood and stalked towards Hargreaves. His eyes narrowed, his claws unsheathed, and the thunder roared overhead as the storm arrived and the wind howled around them.
"You're all freaks," Hargreaves repeated time and again. "You're freaks who kill, murder and maim."
Logan grabbed him by the throat, his claws scratching and stabbing Hargreaves' skin without any guidance. "Yeah, you got that right," he snarled and threw him off the roof.
Hargreaves tumbled through the air and fell the full forty stories down to the ground. His body landed beside the swimming pool and the hotel guests who had taken shelter under the shade of the cocktail bar screamed.
Cell phone at his ear, Logan headed straight for the door. He called several of his old friends to clear up the mess for him and then headed downstairs to the hotel suite. He found Jean sat on the couch as she hugged a sobbing Anna. "We're leaving," he told Jean.
Jean nodded and used her powers to float all her clothes and other items into her suitcase. She did the same with Anna's clothes while Logan dumped all his belongings into his bag. "Shh, it's okay, Anna. You're safe," Jean whispered to the girl.
Anna sobbed and Logan recognized she was in shock. He zipped up his bag, threw it on his shoulder and held his arms out for her. "C'mere, Stripes," he said quietly.
Jean waited for Anna to reach Logan. She calmed herself down and finished packing. Collecting every forgotten bra and every lost pair of panties, she stuffed them into the suitcase and hurried.
Logan picked Anna up and held her in his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and he tried his hardest to make her feel secure. They were all soaked through from the rain but none of them had time to change their clothes. Within ten minutes, they had checked out the hotel and Logan had driven them out the hotel parking lot by the time the cops arrived to secure the scene at the pool.
Several times during the drive home, Logan and Jean shared a concerned look. Jean had sat next to Anna in the backseat and held her hand firmly. Logan finally nodded in agreement and Jean brushed her fingers across the crying Anna's temples. Anna fell asleep and Jean looked guilty. "This won't help her in the long run," she warned.
"Let her escape it for now," Logan muttered as they reached the mansion.
As he punched the code at the security box, Jean glanced at him. "Did you throw him off the roof?"
He remained silent until he parked the jeep in the garage. "You need me to answer that question?"
They left the jeep together and she watched Logan lift the sleeping Anna into his burly arms. She answered with a shake of her head. No, she didn't need to know because she didn't care.
He grabbed his and Anna's bags while Jean picked up her suitcase. She glanced at him. "Are we ready for this? It won't be easy."
"When's life been easy for us?" Logan asked her gruffly and led the way.
With a sigh, Jean wheeled her suitcase and followed Logan inside. Why was she worried about the future when they had almost lost Anna today? She shuddered at the memories and hoped the rest of the day would be kinder to them. It would not be easy because the mansion's residents had all taken sides in the breakup between Scott and Jean. With a baby to look after, and a traumatized Anna to watch over, Logan and Jean's relationship would be rocky at times. It could work, though, couldn't it? It could work.