A/N: Thank you all my chapter 2 reviewers! I'm glad some people like this fic. ::grins::

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Vengeance

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As they both slowly entered the mansion, Logan glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 6:30, which meant that the adults were probably already up, along with a few early risers. He cast a glance at Cadaver, who was looking all around uneasily. Logan blinked a few times, thinking that he was seeing things. It looked like the man was..fading?

"Hey, yer...uh.." Logan didn't know quite what to say, so he just pointed at the man.

Cadaver held his hands up infront of his face, then looked over his body. He turned back to Logan, smiling sheepishly. "Oh, sorry...it's kind of a habit when I'm in places with other people I don't know. They'd normally be too frightened by my appearance." He stood silently for a few seconds and turned completely transparent. "See?"

Logan did nothing but stare at..well...nothing. The guy was invisible.

Suddenly Cadaver's form started coming back in ghostly fases, like a person would look like coming out of a thick fog. Then he was completely whole again, the charcoal color returning to his skin.

"Ya don't gotta do that here Cadaver. We're all mutants, like I told ya."

Cadaver sighed, eyes directed at the floor. "Yes, I'll have to keep reminding myself of that. It's just...strange, actually coming in contact with another human being. Real contact. Being able to talk to them, they talk back, you know."

Logan nodded, then gestured toward the stairs. "C'mon, Rosie's up in the med lab."

Cadaver followed, watching wearily as he kept in step with the gruff Canadian, not realizing that he was inadvertantly becoming transparent again.

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Jean was working quietly in the med lab when Logan walked in. She had just finished giving the baby a check-up and a bath, then she put her in a new set of clothes. Luckily, some of the younger students had some old clothes that would suit for baby clothes at the moment. Jean cast her gaze at the door, looking at Logan. She smiled, a somewhat confused look on her face. "Logan, I didn't expect you to be back so soon."

He sighed, looking at the gurgling baby in Jean's arms. Just how she looked holding the kid, he could tell some day she would make a great mother. "I followed the footprints. The blood belongs ta Rosie's parents. They were both shot and cut up pretty good."

Jean's eyebrows furrowed and she quirked a sly smile. "'Rosie' Logan? You named her?"

He shook his head with a snort. "No. That's her name. I uh...sorta ran inta someone who knows her folks. He lived with 'em. He's also a mutant, like us, and the kid."

Jean seemed to look past Logan, in search for the person he was talking about like she expected him to be right there. "So where is this guy?"

Logan turned around in the doorway, noticing Cadaver wasn't there. Well...maybe he *was* there, but there was no way of telling. "Hey, Cadaver, make yerself seen."

Jean faced the doorway behind Logan where a man suddenly appeared. A dead looking man. Her eyes widened and Logan figured that she caught the irony in the guy's name. "Oh, hello...Cadaver is it?"

He nodded, feeling a bit embarassed that he had become invisible like that again. "I'm sorry...I just.." Cadaver looked longingly at Rosie. "I'm glad she seems to be in good hands."

Jean smiled, somewhat taken aback by the eerie sound that carried whenever Cadaver spoke. Logan didn't seem bothered by it, he had gotten used to it already and didn't really notice anymore. "Would you like to hold her?"

Cadaver shook his head, none too quickly. "No..I-I can't."

Jean's brows furrowed and she shifted the baby in her arms. "Why not? It's alright, she's fine."

Logan watched the man's posture as he seemed to shrink a few inches when his shoulders slumped.

"I uh.." He began to respond. "..I cannot lay hand on the innocent, but they are the only ones who can see me in my...invisible form. I think it's a part of my mutation."

Logan scratched his chin, leaning against the infirmary's door frame. "Innocent? Like just babies ya mean?"

He nodded, smiling half heartedly. "Strange huh? It only works with children before the age of five. I discovered that...I've done a few experiments to test my theories." He shrugged, smiling at Rosie when she reached out from Jean's arms towards him.

Jean bit her lip a frowned slightly. "I'm sorry Cadaver, I didn't know."

He smiled. "It's okay."

Logan crossed his arms over his chest and looked from Cadaver to the baby and back again. "What happens if you do touch 'em?"

Cadaver shook his head. "I can't. It's like there's a shield around them that blocks me."

Jean nodded. "Hm..that's interesting. Would you mind if I ran a few quick medical experiments on you?"

He shrugged, noticing Logan's slight shudder at the mention of 'medical experiments'. "Sure, why not. What about..finding Rosie's parent's murderer?"

Logan grunted, standing straight up and moving away from the door frame. "I'll be takin' care o' that bub." He smiled, showing off a pair of sharp canines.

Cadaver was eager to help in any way that he could. After all, he wasn't sure if they were his family or not, but he has been with them long enough. "What if you need me for anything? You know, suspects or something. I could point out someone who's been hanging around Rosie's parents maybe."

"Has anyone strange been hangin' 'round the kid's folks?" Logan gave a sarcastic smile, he already knew that answer.

Cadaver cast his gaze to the floor. "No...but-"

Jean gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Logan can handle this. If he needs you for anything he'll call. Right Logan?" She turned to glare at him sternly so he acknowledged her seriousness.

Logan sighed. "Yeah, I'll call." He grumbled, then walked out the infirmary door with a quick wink at Jean that he knew she caught.

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