Logan growled as he heard the steady beeping and felt the pull of glue on his chest hair. He was in the medlab again. He'd kill Hank one of these days if the guy didn't learn to just leave him alone and let him heal in peace.

No, I won't, he thought, sitting up and pulling off the connectors. Need him around if one 'a the kids or Ro or the elf gets...hurt?

He stared for a few minutes at the still forms on the other tables, then got up and walked over to look down at them, his nose trying to pick up a hint of what had happened.

There was a snort from behind him, then a gasp and a sigh, and he turned to look at Marie, who was sitting in Hank's chair with Ruhko sprawled across her lap, sleeping.

"Logan! Yer up," she said softly, with obvious effort, and he realized that she was controlling her voice.

"Yeah...." He looked back down at Kurt's peaceful face. "What happened?"

She heaved a huge sigh. "Steph lost it."

"What?" he turned to frown at her and saw that she was fighting back tears.

She opened her mouth, but then closed it and shook her head, scooping up Ruhko to hold the baby close.

Logan looked around for a shirt and found one laying next to the table he'd been on. -Chuck? What happened?-

-Welcome back to the land of the living, Logan,- the Professor's mental voice sounded old and weary.

-I git enough 'a that crud from Hank, knock it off 'n tell me what the #$% happened.- Logan growled in his chest, one hand on Ororo's shoulder.

-I am not speaking metaphorically, Logan. You were dead for nearly fifteen minutes. Steph was very upset at being excluded from the medlab, and when Ororo and Kurt attempted to comfort her in the hallway she lashed out at them with her voice.-

"Crud," whispered Logan, squeezing his eyes shut for a minute. - Where is she?-

-In the holding cell.-

Logan felt the hair stand up on his neck. -How long's she ben in there?-

Charles gave a mental sigh -Two days. This is Monday morning. You were injured Friday night.-

Logan's growl became a snarl of rage. -Ya left her in a cage fer two days!? I thought better 'a ya than that, Chuck.-

-Logan...- began Charles, but Logan put up his mental shields, still snarling, then turned and looked at Rogue, who stared back with wide eyes, Ruhko peering over her arm fearfully.

Shaking his head, he turned and strode out of the room.

Steph was huddled in the corner when he came into the cell. She looked up when the door swished open, then scrambled to her feet, eyes narrowed in fury.

"What were ya thinkin'?" growled Logan, scowling back at her. A back corner of his mind noticed the slave collar she wore around her neck.

She didn't answer, only sucked in her breath and gave a piercing scream of rage, then kicked him, hard.

He gasped and leaned against the wall, fighting back the urge to go feral and take it personally as the pain coursed through his body, barely aware of the fact that she continued to attack him. What did I do wrong?

The worst pain faded, and he suddenly whirled, extending one claw and slashing the Genoshan collar off her neck. "Ya wanna kill people, huh?" he snarled. "Go ahead! Cut loose 'n blow my brains out, but before ya do ya might as well rip this up first." He pulled a folded sheaf of papers out of his waistband where he'd stuck them as he left the medlab.

She put her hand to her neck, eyes twin brown stones, then took the papers and looked them over, her expression changing to bewilderment. Finally she looked up at him.

"Application fer adoption," he said shortly, past the lump in his throat. "You've ben a ward of the State fer over a year. They wouldn' let a single guy adopt a teenage girl, so Ro was standin' in as my girl. But now Ro's maybe dyin' 'n it don't look like you want any part 'a me, so go ahead 'n make confetti, 'n then git yer screamin' done." He paused and clenched his fists. "Just don't hurt Rogue 'er Ruhko. Or Chuck. The other kids'll need 'im."

Steph stared at him for a timeless eternity, her face blank with shock. Then she turned, the papers falling from her nerveless fingers, and walked blindly away from him till she hit the wall.

Logan swallowed as she crumpled and sat huddled there, with her forehead to the cold metal, soundless sobs shaking her thin body. Every instinct told him to go to his pup and comfort her, but he still wasn't sure that she wanted him anywhere near her. Finally, the sight of her hunched shoulders and bowed head was too much, and he walked over and sat next to her, pulling her gently into his arms.

"Shh, darlin'," he whispered, suspicious moisture gathering in his eyes and leaking from the sides. "It's gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright."

She stiffened, and he tensed slightly, ready to back off and give her her space, but then she gave a choked sigh and lay her head on his shoulder, soaking it silently with tears.

Logan lay his cheek on her head, his eyes staring back at memories of a tiny Japanese girl and her mother as he rocked and murmured reassurances.

-Logan?-

-Not now, Chuck! I'm busy.-

-I thought that you would like to know that Steph did not injure Ororo and Kurt. One of the other students is a telepath, and tried to protect them when he sensed Steph getting ready to use her voice. It was the first time his power manifested, however, so I'm unsure as of yet what he did to them.-

Logan gave a sigh of relief and smoothed Steph's hair. "Ya didn' hurt 'em, darlin'." -So they're gonna be alright?-

-Perhaps.-

He choked off a growl. -Don't give me that crap.-

Putting his shields up again, he looked down at Steph and discovered that she was asleep, one hand clenched in a death grip on the front of his shirt.

This time his tears escaped for real as he thought of what the world must have thrown at the girl to make her see someone like him as a source of comfort.

Steph sat up and looked around her room, scowling, then blinking as she caught sight of Logan sitting in her chair, which had been moved to the side of her bed.

She looked at him soberly, noticing the frown he wore as he slept, then thought of what had happened earlier.

The sudden chop of metal against wood broke her out of her musing, and she leaned over to look past Logan, who had wakened with a start.

"Ah, crud. Ruhko, don't chop the blasted door apart," he groaned, getting up and opening it.

The baby looked up at him thoughtfully, then retracted her claws and toddled past him to Steph's bed, where she reached her arms up and babbled earnestly, dancing on her toes.

Steph picked her up and cuddled her close, patting her close-packed black curls with one hand.

Logan watched them for a few minutes, then looked around as he caught the smell of KFC coming from downstairs. "You hungry, Steph?"

She glanced up at him, then pulled a notepad out of the night table and wrote. "Buzz off, yer worse than an old hen."

He stood and looked down at her uncertainly, not wanting to leave if she needed him, but she gave the ghost of a grin and waved him away.

"Okay. I'll be in th' cafeteria if ya need me." He turned and walked out.

He was halfway down the hall when the patter of little feet warned him of a follower.

"Thought you were stayin' with Steph, half-pint." He scooped Ruhko up and looked at her questioningly.

She shook her head and pointed toward the stairs. "Nabo dappee beesha, nurmy."

"Whatever you say, kid." He hiked her up so that she sat on his shoulder like a horse and continued on his way toward supper, his mind still with the troubled teen in the room they'd left.

Steph sat on her bed and doodled on her pad after they were gone, thinking again about what had happened during the past few days. I nearly killed his friends. I thought I had killed them. But he came in there and was gonna let me kill him, too. He's off his gourd. She shuddered as she thought of those terrifying minutes when Hank worked franticly over Logan's limp body. He don't need my help to do it, looks like he can do himself in just fine.

Then her mind went back to what had happened in the holding cell and she clenched her jaw to keep from crying. For a few minutes there she'd felt safe, loved, protected. And something told her it wasn't a one-shot deal. That maybe she actually could depend on someone other than herself.

"No!" she said, then blinked as she realized that there had been no trace of her mutation in the word.

"No," she whispered. No mutation.

Grinning like an insane hyena, she repeated the word over and over to herself, writing it on her pad at the same time.

Mwaha! What a great first word. Hmmm, I'd better teach it t' Ruhko. Logan's gettin' over the shock of bein' called daddy.

A knock on the door made her look up at Rogue, who was holding a massive candy box and an armful of roses and orchids that was nearly bigger than she was.

"Bobby gahve me some chocolate," said the Southern Belle shyly. "Ya wanna shayah it?"

"No," said Steph, smiling beatifically.

Rogue frowned and started to turn away, but then realized what Steph had done and turned back with a big grin. "You tahlked!"

"No," argued Steph, grinning back evilly. "No proof," she wrote on her pad in huge letters.

Rogue shook her head and came to sit in the chair where Logan had been, laying the flowers on the bed and taking the lid off the chocolate box. "Hmmm, strawberry creahm! Those are all mihne."

"No." Steph took one and stuffed it in her mouth, then followed it with several buttercreams and a toffee. "Nurmee."

"Yah sound like Ruhko." Rogue grinned and strung the insides of another strawberry cream.

Steph made a rude gesture and ate a coffee cream, her eyes starting to show the effects of the sugar and chocolate.

Rogue laughed. "Now ya lookin' like Jubilee."

A few minutes later all ten pounds of chocolate was gone and both girls were giggling insanely as they discussed Bobby's butt and Peter's chest along with the good points of several other boys.

"Ah need somethin' ta dreank." Rogue got up and started toward the door, only to smack into it and start giggling again. "Yah comin', Steph?"

Steph nodded and stuck her pad and pen into the pocket of her pants, then winced and shook her leg as the pen stabbed her.

Down in the kitchen they pulled the fridge open and looked thoughtfully at the contents.

"Ooo!" Rogue snatched a six pack of bottles, then pulled a bucket from the freezer and headed back toward the stairs.

Steph wrote quickly and flapped the pad over the older girl's shoulder, trying not to drop the chocolate cake she'd taken from the fridge. "Beer?"

Rogue's eyes crossed slightly as she read it, then she shook her head. "No, shugah, somethin' bettah." She held up the six pack so that Steph could read the words on the bottles.

Jolt cola, read the black girl, squinting to keep the letters in focus. All the sugar and twice the caffeine of regular cola. Her eyes widened. "Are you for real?" she wrote.

"Heh, wait'll yah have some." Rogue ducked into her own room and flopped down on the bed, putting up her hand to adjust the way her suppressor was turned. "Heah." She handed Steph a bottle of pop and a spoon and pulled open the ice-cream bucket. "Bottohms up, shugah!"

An hour later they were having an earnest conversation about the little spots that kept dancing around the room as they bounced up and down on the bed on their butts and giggled like hyenas, neither of them aware of the fact that they were talking very loudly or that Rogue's suppressor was now laying on the floor.

"Ah bet yoh ticklish!" said Rogue, diving at Steph.

"Ahh! Get the #$% away from me, you $#% perv!" Steph tried to jump off the bed, but got her foot caught on nothing and she fell on her head.

"You okhay?" Rogue peered down at her, owl-eyed.

Steph looked up at her and started giggling, then turned toward the door as Peter came in.

"Vat is happening?" he asked, his handsome face creased into a questioning smile.

Steph got herself up on all fours and went into a crouch, wiggled her bum, then pounced and hit him in the chest. He went down with a glorious crash, smashing a table that had been standing by the door.

"Vat?" he asked, laughing, then gave a whoop of dismay as Rogue also pounced and both girls started tickling him. "No! Argghh! Girls, please stop tickling me! Please, ...." he trailed off in Russian, laughing so hard that they wouldn't have been able to understand him even if they'd known the language as he gently tried to fend them off without hurting them.

"What's going on here?" the growl cut through the laughter and giggling, and Steph and Rogue looked up guiltily.

Logan scowled down at them, Ruhko peering over his shoulder with a big grin on her baby face. "Rogue, git off his chest 'n let 'im up. Steph, let go 'a him now."

Both girls complied meekly, and Peter got to his feet and left the room, blushing furiously.

Logan watched him go, setting Ruhko on the floor as she suddenly let go of him and jumped, then turned back to the girls. "I can't even sit down fer a few minutes without Chuck tellin' me yer abusin' Colossus?"

Steph exchanged a glance with Rogue, and the girls nodded at each other.

Logan stopped his lecture to look at them puzzledly. "What?" Then his eyes widened. "Oh, crap, no."

He made it all the way to the turn in the hall before they rugby tackled him and sat on him, then started tickling him, Ruhko growling as she beat up his feet.

"Arrgghhh!" he bellowed, squirming like an eel, then rolled over and caught one girl under each arm, shaking them gently and growling.

Steph growled back, totally caught up in the game, and Logan was so busy that he didn't notice the lack of effects from her voice.

"Yah want a piece 'a me, huh?!" He tried to bound to his feet, only to trip over Ruhko and put his head through the wall.

Steph and Rogue howled with helpless laughter, then jumped on him again and started tickling.

"Crap! No! Please! Stop! ROWRRR!!!"

All three girls squealed and ducked in delight, then jumped on him and got shaken and growled at again.

Charles watched through the eyes of a startled student, his own eyes wide at the hilarity of the foursome.

Then he shook his head. Logan was in for it deep now. There would be no turning back.