When Logan got inside, the Professor motioned him back into the great room, where there was a small panel waiting for him.

"Marcie Herbert's looking for donations for a plane ticket to come here," said Jean.

"Leanna's companions are on their way and will be here within two hours," said the Professor.

"I still require a sample from you," said the blue doctor Logan couldn't remember the name of.

"I talked to Scott and you and I can retrace your cage circuit," said Jean.

Logan turned around and walked out again.

"Logan!" yelled Jean behind him.

"I'm just goin' to lie down." She kept following him. "You comin' to bed with me?"

She didn't laugh. In fact, he thought he smelled a little more blood on her, meaning she was mad again. "We still need to talk."

He ignored her and walked to his room. When he got there he fell onto his bed, knowing that he wouldn't get any rest but not caring.

"We were just discussing what we do when Leanna's followers arrive. Leanna she'll talk to them, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that she might not be able to convince them to stop. They will come after you specifically, and it is critical that we don't allow them to find out that the kids are mutants, too, so if you can lead them away…"

"Sure. I'll lead them wherever you want. You need me to run back to Saskatchewan?"

"Logan, listen to me. This is serious. We don't want to have to hurt these people."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about. Like hell I don't want to have to hurt these people. It'll be the best thing all week."

"If you won't cooperate we'll have to find another way to subdue the followers with minimal injury, and it will be more dangerous."

"I'll cooperate."

"So you won't attack them?"

Oh, he would definitely attack them. "No."

"Good."

"So, is…" Logan stopped. What was that sound? It was someone sneaking around outside his door, trying not to get heard.

"Logan?"

"Was that all?" he asked, still listening for signs of who was sneaking around. There. A sneeze. It was One-Eye, the asshole. Probably suspecting something with Jeannie in his room alone with him. As if it was a possibility at this point.

"No, unfortunately. As I mentioned before you left, Marcie Herbert is raising money to come here with her oldest four children. She has a new webpage up."

That was a much bigger threat than any group of militant mutant-haters coming for him. "What about it? You don't want me to give her the money."

"No, but the Professor could."

"He won't."

"Yes he would. And why shouldn't he? Think about what this woman has gone through. She deserves to see you if she wants."

It was the last thing he wanted to think about. "Great, so she can sit around and fight with Ettie and Leanna."

"You can explain the situation to her, and she won't."

"What the hell logic is that? Ettie and Leanna already knew when they started goin' at it."

"Logan, it's not like you to be a coward. You're being a coward."

There was no way Logan could possibly have described how mad he was in that moment. Part of it was the rage that filled him when she called him a coward. Part of it was his anger at the injustice of the whole situation. And part of it was a looming feeling of helplessness, which made him at least as mad as the insult did. What was he supposed to do, go back in time? Change his genes?

"Okay, I'm going. But we still have to sit down and find the women, and you still have to tell the ones we find." She left.

Logan wondered whether she could feel how mad he was. Either way it was much safer for her to be gone, that much was obvious. He closed his eyes and lay still.

The result was that he was completely relaxed and better able to hear when Scooter talked after the door closed behind Jean. "I'm guessing you're glad right now that you didn't fall for his charming tough-guy shtick."

He jumped off of his bed without another thought. Jean insulting him was one thing, but with One-Eye it was a completely different matter. And not only that but he insulted Jean, too, suggested she would have been unfaithful. He threw open the door and found the asshole only twenty or so feet down the hall, with Jeannie in front of him. He jumped at the asshole, letting out a primal growl. It felt so good to be able to pour out all of his rage, and toward somebody who deserved it.

Scooter whipped around and Logan smiled at the fear he suddenly smelled on his prey. It was all he had time to do, though, as he saw a flash of red light and found himself hitting the floor face down. Impossible. His prey got him. Rage…

"Aren't you awake yet? God."

Logan's head was buzzing and he couldn't figure out where he was or why. All he knew was that he was woken up by someone no one should ever have to be woken by: Jubilee.

"There he goes. How hard did Scotty hit him, anyway?"

He was on the pool table, in the pool room. Scooter had hit him with the red stare. He still couldn't believe it.

"I don't know, but if Logan was out for five hours it probably woulda killed anybody else." Amanda Carlson.

"Five hours?" His voice came out a mumble. Scooter had messed him up bad. Scooter. Messed him up. It just wasn't happening in his brain.

"Look outside. It's getting dark." Kitty Pryde. What a surprise, with the other two there.

"Yeah," said Jubilee, "Why are you hanging around here? You gotta go over and talk to Leanna."

"Did she leave?"

"No. And she's not gonna." Jubilee.

"She was so great. How can you not love her?" Kitty.

"He does." Jubilee. "Don't you? Rogue has you in her head and she said so."

"Get away from me. What is this?" He sat up and jumped off the pool table.

"Don't go." Kitty.

"You have to talk to her anyway. She saved your ass while you were sleeping." Amanda.

Logan was just starting to leave, but now he stopped. "Huh?"

"You missed it. She went out and talked to them, her followers. Then she came back and she all crying and everything. It was cute. I felt so sorry for her." Kitty.

"What Kitty means is she told them she's not the Virgin Mary and got them to leave." Jubilee.

"She didn't have to. She did it for you." Amanda.

So he didn't get to beat the crap out of them? Damn. Not only had he let himself get knocked out by One-Eye, but he couldn't even make himself feel better about it?

"At least go say thank you." Jubilee.

He had to thank her? Everything was slow to process. He had to thank her, because she had stood up to her followers for him. 'I thought I could help you. You never had anybody fight for you.' She was trying to fight for him. He shook his head, to clear it. But the girls thought he was refusing.

"Don't be a bastard." Amanda.

"Don't deny you love her." Jubilee.

"If you had seen her when she came back in you would." Kitty.

"No, Wolvie doesn't believe in stuff like feeling bad for other people." Jubilee. As if anyone else dared to call him that.

"Anyway she's not leaving now. She's staying here forever with Nick." Kitty.

"I told the Professor he could spare a room and have Leanna live with you." Jubilee.

"Who said they could stay here?"

"The Professor." Amanda. "She even said she wouldn't mind leaving since she's not a mutant, but the Professor told to her to stay."

"She'll prob'ly get a job like you." Kitty.

"I guess we don't have our cult leader position filled yet," said Logan, grimacing. He had thought at the beginning that they would move in, get jobs, and start fighting over him. Check, check, and check. He had thought that their kids would overrun the Mansion, and that everything was going to cost him. Those were started and the end was not in sight.

"Maybe she'll get your job; anybody could do it better than you." Jubilee.

"Logan?" called Jeannie's voice from the hall. Then she appeared in the doorway. "There you are. I've been looking for you. What are you doing in here? You still need rest."

"I don't know why I'm in here. I woke up here."

"What? We brought you to the infirmary."

Kitty and Jubilee were both grinning, Kitty sheepishly and Jubilee maliciously. Amanda was still frowning at Logan.

"Did you bring him here after I left?" asked Jean of the three of them.

"We figured you were busy so he might as well have somebody looking after him…" Jubilee trailed off.

Now Jeannie went to Logan and looked him up and down, apparently trying to figure out if they had done anything to him.

"What'd you do?" he asked.

Before any of them answered Jean pointed at something on his left arm. It was sticking partway out of his shirtsleeve, but when she pulled up his sleeve a little it was obvious what they had done. It was a heart, with Leanna's name inside. Jeannie reached down and wiped at it with her finger, and the ink came off. Logan rubbed the rest of it off quickly with his sleeve.

"What, you're in kindergarten? Drawin' on me while I'm out."

"I doubt that was pen," said Jeannie, "or at least not on the surface of the skin. I'm guessing it was a tattoo, or it would have been if not for your power. The ink didn't stay in the cuts as they healed, looks like."

Logan turned back toward Jubilee with some of the rage he had had before he had been knocked out. As if there was any doubt it had been her idea.

"Logan, let's go," she said, pulling at him. "We don't have time for that."

"Since when don't we have time to punish the students for pulling crap like this?"

"They'll be punished later. This is urgent."

"What is it?" asked Amanda.

"Logan," said Jeannie between her teeth.

"Alright, alright." He followed her out of the pool room. If they learned they could get away with crap like that, though, somebody was going to get his or her stomach region ventilated.

"It's Leanna's other children," said Jeannie quietly to him as she checked to see if the girls were listening. "They're back at her place in Saskatchewan, with a woman who sounds hostile. She says she knows you and she talked to you yesterday."

It took a few seconds for him to get it, but when he did he swore aloud. "Juanita's got her kids? They're done for."

"So she is hostile?"

"No, just a malicious bitch who doesn't give a damn about anybody but herself." He gave a low growl. "A couple of them are pretty old, right? Tell 'em to escape and forget about the young ones."

"Logan! You knew her, right? Help us."

"I'm giving you the best advice you can get. You don't wanna screw with Juanita."

"Logan, I'm serious."

"Fine. I'll talk to her. You just want to torture me, don't you?"

The place Jean was leading him turned out to be Chuck's office. When he entered Chuck looked up from the phone and motioned for him to come over to the desk. When he got there Chuck handed him the receiver.

"The safety of these five children is our highest priority," whispered Chuck.

"Hello," said Logan grimly once he got the receiver to his ear.

"So I guess little Leanna had to save you from the bad guys." It was definitely Juanita, and didn't have to be able to smell her to know she was feeling as malicious as ever. "I guess it's a good thing I got to her kids before the rest of the CTR did. You never know what they might have done to the little guys."

"Juanita, what are you doing? Give up the kids."

"Oh, Wolverine, you know how much I hate kids. Only problem is that I don't happen to have my own private plane like our Ex-Virgin Mother, and I also don't have the funds to send five kids to New York. Or even to get to an international airport." All of that might have been true, and knowing Juanita it probably was, but the way she said it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Chuck said he'd send it to you, I'm sure." It came out mostly as a growl.

"Oh, he said you all would come here yourselves and pick them up. But where would the fun be in that?"

"What do you want from me?"

"I think I already mentioned. What was it? I don't quite remember. Some money?"

"Juanita, you don't want to get into this. The money is not worth the crap you're getting yourself into here, holding the kids."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Malicious, too malicious for her to really mean it. What was she going to ask for? "Well, how about we make a little trade?"

"What?" This was even more of a growl.

"I'll give you an address, even one where you can land a plane nice and easy, and all you have to give me is all the time back I wasted with you and because of you. Either that or something of equal value."

"Juanita…"

"What's a good rate? How about one genuine cage fighter cojón for two kids? Seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Of course I guess that means you can only get four of the brats back, unless you to cut into some other flesh."

"No." There was no hesitation in his response.

"That's too bad. I guess I'm out of luck. You'll have no trouble letting our dear ex-Virgin Mother know why she's down to one brat, I'm sure."

"What are you going to do, Juanita? Take 'em with you? No way you could stand it. And not even you would let 'em bite it. That's multiple life sentences when they catch you."

"You obviously forget who you're talking to. I don't need to keep 'em or drop 'em. I know a couple of people who'd kill for five golden opportunities like these. So young, too. Two girls, they'll go for more, especially if they get their looks from little Leanna. Not as much if they end up with your ugly mug, but anyway…And the boys won't be too bad either, if they take after you at all. Maybe even more profitable than the girls, come to think of it."

Logan turned to look from Chuck to Jeannie to Ororo, who was also in the room, standing back.

"What's wrong?" asked Jeannie quietly.

"How about you let me talk to 'em," said Logan, trying to think of anything he could do to get them away from the bitch. A couple of them had to be old enough to fight back, right? Nick could have taken her. "Any kind of trade and I have to know they're still there and whole."

"Glad to hear you're open to trade."

"I don't hear them."

"Hold on. You thought I had them sitting on my lap and listening to my private conversations?" There was a pause for twenty or thirty seconds, during which time he realized his heart was beating about as fast as he had ever felt it beating. Then the evil voice came back. "Here you are. Baby Jesus."

He heard a small noise that sounded like a little kid's squeal. Then he heard faint breathing, and a faint mocking voice in the background, saying 'Talk to him, Dear Lord Jesus.'

"Dammit, Juanita, let me talk to one who can understand what's going on!"

"Guess he thought he was too good to talk to a sinner like you," said Juanita, picking up the phone again. Oh well." She put down the phone again.

"What's wrong?" repeated Jeannie.

"She's threatening to sell 'em. And knowing her she can find a place who'd buy 'em. She's asking for something that's kind of personal to me."

"You can't give it up?"

"No," he answered with a grimace.

"We will pay if we must," offered Chuck.

"We can also locate the children using Cerebro," offered Ororo.

"You better get on it," said Logan, "we're gonna end up tracking her down."

"Very well," said Chuck. He and Ororo left the room, leaving only Jeannie.

"Are you still there?" sang Juanita in her false-sweet voice.

"Lemme talk to one of the older ones."

"Okay. No need to be pushy." Still false-sweet.

He restrained himself from growling at her, not wanting the kid to be scared.

"Hello?" said a little girl's voice uncertainly.

"Hi there," he said, trying to remember how he was supposed to talk to little kids. Growling at them was not on the list, and not doing that was hard enough. "Is Juanita right there with you?"

"Um…yes."

"Can you…" he stopped. How the hell was he supposed to tell a little girl to take out Juanita? "Do you like her?" Maybe seeing where they stood was a better start.

"Um…no."

"Does she have something bad, like a weapon? A knife, or a gun, or something?"

"Um…uh huh."

"A gun?"

"Uh huh."

"Are all of you okay?"

"Kinda. She won't change the baby."

"Good. Now, can you…"

"Time's up," said Juanita. She had yanked the receiver back. "So we have a deal?"

He growled at her. "Yeah."

"When are you gonna be here with my fee?"

"10:00."

"Connors Field, outside of Saskatoon. Only you."

"I can't fly the jet. And it takes two to fly."

"I'm sure you'll manage. One comes. I don't care if it's you or not, long as they have my fee." She hung up without another word.

Logan dropped the receiver and swore out loud.

"What's happening? We have to go there?"

"She wants one person. I told her 10:00. We're gonna have to force her to give us the kids."

"We can all go, just in case."

"We'll all have to, but I'm out in front."

Jean nodded. "And the Professor can find the kids, if she doesn't have them with her."

Logan walked out, shaking his head. Jeannie followed after using her power to hang the receiver back up.

"I don't need any more surprises today."

"We can put off contacting the other women until tomorrow."

He growled low, then walked to the kitchen in silence. As he got himself something to eat for the first time since breakfast, he heard his name yelled from a long way off. It was one of the students, maybe Fred or one of the older ones. He decided he didn't want to be found and started eating.

It didn't work. After a minute or so Fred peeked in, saw him, and called to him again. "Logan. You have to see somebody."

"I don't have to see anybody."

"No, I mean you have to see her." His eyes were wide and he was smiling, as if he had seen his favorite celebrity or something.

"I definitely don't want to deal with any more women today."

"What are you talking about? She came here to see you and you won't even meet her? You don't know what you're missing."

"I can guess."

He let out an exasperated noise.

"She's got kids with her, right?"

"No. A woman like her? No way she's ever had kids."

He didn't believe it, and he was in no mood to appreciate a woman even if she wasn't another old fling back for blood.

"Fine." Fred left, and started to call out to somebody else this time.

He had only just finished his sandwich when Fred appeared again, and he understood just a split second early: the bastard had brought the woman to him.

"Mr. Logan?" asked a woman's voice, as a she pushed open the kitchen door and walked past Fred. She was tall, lower-mid 30's, dark brown hair. He might have been tempted to flirt with her if he had met her at a bar. "You are Mr. Logan, right?" She walked right up to him and looked him up and down.

"Who's askin'?"

"My name is Elena Pedre, and I'm a private investigator out of New York."

"You're a P.I.?" He huffed. She was the last person he could have seen as a P.I. They were middle-aged men with voyeuristic streaks who wanted a job setting up cameras in people's bedrooms and stuff like that. People who didn't have what it took to be detectives.

"I was hired by a man by the name of Emil Catala. Do you know him?"

The name didn't mean anything to him, but he didn't trust anyone would be hiring a P.I. to find him.

"Well, he knows you. He sounds like he has some kind of grudge against you, as a matter of fact."

"Why you tellin' me, if he hired you?"

"He hired me, but he doesn't own me. It is partially my responsibility if someone I'm hired to find is harmed in any way by one of my clients."

Whoever this Catala guy was, there was no way he going to harm the Wolverine. Especially not now. In fact, he thought a tough or two showing up at his door might be pretty refreshing right about now. Unless they showed up while he was out tangling with Juanita. And with his luck, that would be what would happen. "Who is he?"

"I can't give you much information. It's my suspicion, though, that you've had dealings with him in the past, or else he wouldn't be looking for you. If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with his wife. He's overprotective of her."

"What's her name?"

"Sarah Denise Catala."

He stared at the lanky P.I. "Sarah Denise. Sarah Denise Catala." It was Sarah Denise. He didn't think he'd ever hear her name again.

"Old girlfriend?"

"Something like that." She had been the best lay in all his cage days. He still remembered those three weeks vividly. He was a king in that town. Or he was until the day Sarah Denise had showed up and told him he had to leave. Her husband had found out. He would have been fine gutting the bastard and anybody else who would have come after him, but she wouldn't let him. For whatever reason he let her talk him out of it. He left. He told himself it was better that way than to be wanted for murder. Probably was, too.

"My hunches tend to be pretty good."

"So what, he's gonna get back at me now? A little late."

"I got the impression he was looking locally until a couple of days ago. I got the call yesterday."

"So tell him you couldn't find me."

She smiled. It was the kind of smile that would have made half the men in any bar hit on her. "I'll lose half my commission if I don't get back to him tonight."

"Half your commission?" He chuckled. He was tempted to let them come, but he knew Chuck wouldn't be happy with it. Too close to the kids. Unprofessional. Not okay. "Some mercenary. So you'll take your money, then when he shows up you'll call the cops?"

Her smile got wider. "Something like that. Don't worry, I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

He laughed. "You won't let anything happen to me?" He paused. "So why'd you come here? What makes you think I wasn't gonna let something happen to you?"

"I can take care of myself. And a guy like you? You wouldn't do anything."

He shook his head. "You trust your hunches too much."

"Is that a threat?" She was obviously trying to flirt with him now. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"Get out of here, before I prove you wrong."

"I know that's a threat." She was getting closer to him now.

"What the hell are you doing? You think you can sweet-talk something outta me? You don't wanna play that game, believe me."

She backed off. "Fine. I'll call you later, if I find out Catala is coming here."

He waved her away. He was in no mood for that. All the better if Catala did send somebody down to rough him up. Did people do that anymore? He hoped so. He needed some exercise.