Thank you so much everyone!!! The reviews are great, we really love reading them.
Ice Lynx; And yes, Angel LeeAnn, Steph is a brat, lol.
IL; And I promise that I will not wait a rediculous amount of time to re-post ever again, winces. And sorry to those who had to wait.
Thank you everyone again!
-Ice Lynx and giveGodtheGlory
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Steph sat on the bed Rogue indicated, not listening to the older girl's talk as she studied the rich furnishings of the room. She'd never seen anything like them except in pictures of castles and suchlike. And now she was going to live in a place like that. Freaky.
"Bobby! Ah tole yah Ah didn' wanna see yoh revoltin' face agiahn! Git awhay from meh!"
The sound of something hitting the wall on the other side of the hallway, followed by the sound of feet scurrying away, snapped Steph back to the present and she looked up in time to see Rogue glower down the hall and then turn back.
"Stainkin' pervert!" The Southerner was muttering as she headed for the chair at what Steph presumed was going to be her desk.
Steph couldn't resist. She stuck out her foot.
Rogue didn't see and tripped quite beautifully, only she fell right on top of Steph, who threw up her hands to protect herself. One hand came in contact with the older girl's face.
Steph cried out involuntarily as she felt something sucking the life out of her, then everything went black.
She opened her eyes as someone propped her against the end of her bed, and looked up blearily into Rogue's frightened face.
"What's yoh powah?" asked the older girl urgently.
Steph stared at her woozily, trying to figure out what she'd said, then clumsily pulled out her slate and wrote. "My voice kills."
Rogue put a hand over her mouth, going pale. "Yoh immune, right?"
Steph nodded, too wiped to write anymore.
"That's good," whispered Rogue. "'Cause Ah just absohrbed yah. Ah got all yoh powahs...'n all yoh memories."
Steph scowled. "What's...you're power?" She blinked at how weak her voice sounded.
"Ah absohrb folk's life fohrce. If they a mutant Ah absorb they powahs too." Rogue's head bowed, her face shadowed with guilt. "Ah'm untouchable. 'N now Ah'm unheahrable, too. Ah'm sorry, Steph."
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Logan pulled Ruhko out of his jacket and handed her the bottle. "Thanks, 'Ro." He frowned at a muted cry from upstairs, wondering if it had anything to do with the way Bobby had just come flying down the stairs.
Shrugging, he looked down as the baby growled softly and chewed on the nipple, black eyes watching Ororo suspiciously.
"Where did you find her?" asked the white-haired woman gently, carefully keeping her distance.
"In a wolf den over by Striker's base." Logan poked Ruhko's belly and was rewarded by a growly chuckle and an arched back.
"Her mutation is very similar to yours," said Ororo softly.
"Yeah, but she's no relation. I'd smell it if she was." He lowered his head without thinking and snuffled Ruhko's hair, getting punched in the nose for his pains. "What?" He smirked down at the baby. "You want a piece of me? Huh?" The smirk changed to a wide grin as Ruhko responded to his tickling fingers with a bloodcurdling scream of glee and a dribble of milk from the corner of her mouth.
Then he remembered that Ororo was watching and looked up with a warning scowl, to see her watching him in wonder.
"Have you ever had children, Logan?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No idea," he said shortly, unwilling to mention Mariko. "I'm going to make sure those two don't kill each other."
Throwing Ruhko briskly over his shoulder, he went up the steps and down the hall, following his nose to the room that held Steph.
Something was wrong.
He paused and tested her scent again, forehead furrowed, then hurried forward and looked through the open door, his eyes widening as he saw both girls on the floor at the foot of the bed, Rogue weakly trying to pull herself up on a chair, and Steph looked barely conscious.
He hurried forward, falling to his knees between them. "What happened?" he barked, looking at Rogue.
She put her hand over her mouth, shaking her head mutely, then turned her face away and looked at the floor.
He turned to Steph and saw what was written on her slate. "Crap, were you two fightin'?"
Rogue shook her head without looking at him, Steph just closed her eyes and seemed to drift off.
"Crap." He put his hand to her neck and was reassured by the strong beat of her pulse, but still unnerved by the clamminess of her skin. Letting Ruhko slide to the floor, he scooped the black teen up gently and stood. "Marie, can ya walk?"
She nodded uncertainly and tried to get to her feet, falling back twice before she succeeded and then swaying on her feet, green eyes losing focus.
Logan cursed. Whatever Rogue said, the two of them were clearly suffering the effects of each others' ability. "Come on, let's get ta th' infirmary. Marie, y' hold my arm."
It was a long, slow trip, punctuated by such things as Ruhko falling down the stairs and nearly giving him a heart attack, but they finally got down to the medical lab, where the new red haired doctor sat stuffing his freckled face with Twinkies.
"Oh my stars and garters!" He bounded to his face with an agility that belied his football player build. "What happened, friend Logan?"
Logan growled, setting Steph carefully on one of the tables and then going to Rogue and helping her up onto another. "They used their powers on each other."
"And what is this fair damsel's power?" Hank asked, hand poised over Steph's arm.
"She puts people out with 'er voice." Logan started and looked down as Ruhko started climbing his legs, using her claws as crampons. "Sheesh, kid, ya tryin' ta chop me down?" He scooped her up, wishing he hadn't left his jacket upstairs.
"Dabo grumlea beesha," babbled Ruhko seriously, her eyes on Steph's face. "Nyonyonyo."
Steph opened her eyes uncertainly as Hank began checking her out, her eyes searching till they found Logan. Seeing him looking at her she gave him a ghost of her usual glare, then blinked and looked confused as Rogue buried her face in her pillow and started making choked hiccupping sounds.
"Good grief." Logan walked between the tables and rubbed her back. "Shh, it's gonna be okay. It always fades, remember?"
Rogue shook her head, her face red from the effort of making no sound.
Steph coughed as Hank looked down her throat and Logan turned, feeling stretched. -#$%, how the #$%'s a guy supposed ta deal with all three kids needin' him at once?-
-Carefully,- came Charles' dry response.
-Chuck!- He brightened, dropping Ruhko onto Rogue's table. -What's wrong with Marie?-
-She's frightened by the fact that she absorbed Steph to the point that the power transfer is likely permanent.-
"Crap!" He looked down at the auburn-haired girl, then turned back to Steph. "Just as soon as you two are feelin' better I wanna know exactly what went on up there."
She opened her eyes again and blinked at him unfocusedly, then slowly bent her hand into a rude gesture.
"She's gonna be okay, Hank." Logan glared at her, but spoiled the effect by pushing some of her hair away from her face.
"Dabla bobdle moke greesha bleuck," said Ruhko from where she sat happily on Rogue's back. "Gropa moobla bleurndo."
Logan turned to look at her just in time to see her reach out a pudgy hand and pat the Southern girl on the cheek.
"No!" he bellowed in horror, snatching the baby away as she screamed with surprise and fright.
Logan held her close for a few minutes, struggling to get himself under control as Hank stared at him mutely, then opened his eyes and looked down at her.
She stared back, her face streaked with tears, the claws on one hand unsheathed. She seemed perfectly fine.
Frowning, he looked at Rogue, who was staring at Ruhko in wonder.
"She touched you, didn' she?" he asked.
Rogue nodded, still staring at the baby.
"And yet she is unaffected," marveled Hank softly, brown eyes bright. "Further research is evidently called for."
"Ferget it, Beast. She don't let anybody touch her except me 'n Steph. 'N Rogue." Logan set Ruhko back on Rogue's bed, his hands poised to snatch her away again if something happened.
Ruhko looked up at him with a look reminiscent of Steph and patted Rogue's cheek again, then leaned over and sniffed her, little nose pressed to Rogue's cheek.
"Could it be because Rogue is in a weakened state?" wondered Hank. He reached out and touched a fingertip to the Southern girl's cheek, only to gasp and go stiff.
Logan pulled him away and let him fall onto the floor. "Dumb#%."
Rogue took a pencil out of her pocket and wrote on the sheet. "#$%, now I want a Twinkie."
Logan snorted and turned back to Steph, who was looking at him mournfully. "How you feelin'?"
She made a soundless gagging motion and he nodded and kicked Hank. "Hey, wake up."
The beefy redhead groaned and sat up, his hair standing on end from his trip to the floor. "So much for that theory."
"Yer gonna haveta be more careful with yer experiments." Logan pulled out a slightly mashed cigar and put it in his mouth, smirking. "Gonna do somethin' permanent ta yerself one 'a these days."
"Er. Yes." Hank stood and blinked owlishly at Steph through his lopsided glasses. "She seems to be unharmed save for the weakness, but I would like to keep her here overnight to be sure."
Steph gave him a dirty look but he was oblivious as he went over to Rogue and began to peer into her eyes.
"Interesting. Fascinating.... The same affect as consuming an unhealthy dose of alcohol."
Logan looked up, remembering his hungover feeling after Steph had yelled his name. "Ya mean destroyed brain cells?"
"Yes, though she'll recover fully, I should think. The dosage doesn't seem to have been great enough for permanent damage. Still, I would like to observe her overnight."
Logan stared at him, thinking thoughts of mayhem, his skin crawling from being in the lab, then sighed and pulled a chair between the tables and sat on it.
"What are you doing?" asked Hank puzzledly.
"Spending the night." Logan's glower forbade further question or comment.
"I...see." Hank turned away, returning to his experiment and his Twinkies.
Logan smirked after him, then looked at the two girls and the baby laying on either side of him and sighed. What had he gotten himself into?