Logan had a lot on his mind, between what had happened with Teva the other night and the rumblings he was hearing that there might be another lab in operation. Charles had talked to the girl they'd rescued and gotten her to open up some, and she'd mentioned that she'd been transferred to that facility from another one. Once she'd consented to a mind scan some of the information she gave became clearer but Xavier was still working on it, trying to narrow things down.

Few things could make Logan want to fly into a homicidal, berserker rage the way mutant experimentation did. He remembered enough of the Weapon X project and what had been done to him to know it had been government sanctioned, maybe not officially but at some higher, deeper level, some governing body had okayed the procedure. They'd tried to make the ultimate killing machine and they'd succeeded right before they'd paid for it in blood.

He hated that Teva had seen those nightmares, seen how dark and horrifying they were. No one else knew the full extent of them, not even Charles or Jean who had tried to help him unlock his memories of the past. He kept that locked up tight with years of practice in not broadcasting the psychic equivalent of distress calls to anyone with the talent to pick up on it. He had his own not-insignificant psi-shields, some strange side effect of the brainwashing from Weapon X and the adamantium coating his skull. That helped keep his secret. Teva wasn't a strong enough psi to get past something like that, shouldn't have been, but in a way he'd let her do it. He'd gone back on what he'd said about not getting involved by letting himself act on the attraction, and that had given her the way into his mind.

That alone should have told him he was farther gone on the girl than he'd intended to let himself fall. After the loss of Mariko he'd made the conscious decision to wall that part of himself up like that Poe story, leave it bricked up until it choked and died for lack of oxygen and light. He was still capable of love and caring for his family but he'd decided there was no room in his life for losing another lover. Not when he could remember losing others in the past; even if he couldn't remember their names or faces, he knew they'd existed and his heart had the scars to prove it. He'd thought he was doing just fine and dandy until the Scot had come into his life, what had started as an attraction molding into something else just as warm, though God knew he still burned to touch her, to mark her and make her his.

It was the conflicting emotions he felt for her that kept him from moving, from acting on what the animal in him was more than ready for. She'd made it abundantly clear that she wouldn't shy away from that part of him, if anything she wanted it just as much as he did. Every time he kissed her or just touched her he could smell it, smell the need on her, knew she was burning just as badly.

Part of him told him to stay away from her but he found himself seeking her out. Like tonight, when he found her in the adults' rec room playing some bloody and violent hack-and-slash video game by herself, cursing at the screen in between crowing in triumph when a particular move got her what she wanted. He leaned up against the door frame and watched her acting very much like the twenty-something that she was, miles away from whatever age he was; he didn't remember being born, or having a childhood, or anything clearly until he'd escaped Weapon X, and it was only an estimate that he was in his 20s at least that point. Teva wouldn't have been born until the early '80s which put her at least 30 years younger than he was, except he didn't look like he was past his 40s even now. Any way one chose to look at it, he was old enough to be her father and then some.

"You think verrae loudly, Logan," Teva called over her shoulder without looking away from her game. It was only half-true, she apparently found it easier to read him now that they had this tentative mind link. "Do you think I really care how old you are?"

"Maybe I care," he said, finally coming into the room. "Ya ever think o' that?"

She snorted, eyes still on the screen. "I think you just like being a dirty old man, honestly."

"That ain't funny, Tev."

That got a reaction out of her that made her look at him, long enough that her character died but she didn't seem to care. She set her controller down and muted the TV. "Logan, what's going on?"

He scrubbed a hand over his hair and sighed, flopping down on the couch next to her. "I'm just bein' maudlin, babe. Ignore me or I'll drag ya down into purgatory with me."

She shifted, getting her legs under her so that she was kneeling, facing him. "I did'nae really mean the 'dirty old man' comment. Does it really bother you all that much, the age thing?" She cocked her head to the side. "'Cause you really dinnae look older than 40 or so, and that's only about 15 years difference."

"Except I remember lookin' about the same back in 1970, even if I don't remember a damn thing else."

Teva moved closer, shifting again so that her thigh pressed up against his, her head resting on his shoulder as she held onto his arm. He felt better when she touched him, she soothed some part of him he hadn't realized needed it. "I guess I did'nae look at your reluctance from that angle, that maybe you're, I dunno, creeped out by it or something."

He lifted his head from the back of the couch to look at her. "If anything I figured you'd be more weirded out by it. I mean, I was already an adult when ya were a baby, I remember shit ya probably only saw on TV growin' up." He leaned his head against hers, touched her hands where they were wrapped around his bicep. "Don't ya wanna be with a guy who watched the same cartoons on Saturday mornin', or who remembers goin' to high school?" Ultimately they didn't have a ton in common even if they did manage to keep finding things to talk about.

"Considering I'll likely never go back home, there are'nae a lot of guys who watched the same cartoons I did, or who'd even understand what A-levels are." Her thumbs rubbed against his flannel shirt. "You assume I had a ton of friends growing up and I just did'nae, I enjoyed being on my own much more. I invented stories and songs and had a hell of a time with it, I always felt ... sort of out of place around kids my own age."

She paused for a long moment, long enough he asked if she was okay.

"Aye, just ... my mother, we did'nae get along, y'ken? Not just in the normal way of mothers and daughters, she was severely mentally ill and my da enabled her, let her do what she wanted. By the time I began to realize it was'nae my fault, I was also old enough to realize I was on my own." She hugged his arm tighter, sighing quietly. "She was abusive even when she was'nae laying a hand on me, and nothing was ever done right. She was terrified that if I did something wrong that Da would leave her. She threatened to kill herself almost weekly over the fact that she was'nae pretty enough or whatever her latest obsession was, she was paranoid, threw temper tantrums to put a wee bairn to shame, and somehow it was all my fault."

"Ya know it wasn't," he said, offering comfort.

Teva laughed softly, bitterly. "Oh, aye, I realized that by the time I was eight. I think it was about that time I started making excuses for her and trying to limit my exposure to other kids who might think there was something wrong with me because my mum was crazy. I mean, did I really want to have friends over when chances were she'd be pissed at three in the afternoon?" She shook her head. "No, I took my chances with my own imagination. I pushed myself in school even though there was no one at home to be proud of me. I wrote music to escape." There was another laugh, this one rueful. "Ironic, I guess, that my X gene manifested as the ability to sense and project emotions, when all I'd wanted from my mum was just one real feeling."

Logan didn't know what to say to that so he just kissed the top of her head before resting his cheek against her again.

"I'm right there with ye on the maudlin, Logan. Maybe I cannae remember the Cold War but age does'nae seem to be the only criteria for who gets the shit end of the stick." She turned her head slightly so that she could look at him. "And then I could pose ye the same question ye asked me: do ye no wish to have a woman who shares similar life experiences? I'm only 25 and I'm sure you've done and seen things, gone places I could'nae even dream of, yet here ye are, cuddling up to a woman who's but a babe in arms compared to ye."

He didn't want to look at her so he turned his head, looking off somewhere to the right side of the room. "Seen a lot o' ugly shit, lost a lot of friends, an' sometimes ... sometimes I think I want someone who's gonna be able to show me that there's more to life than pain and death." That's what Mariko had been for him, in a lot of ways. He breathed out, the confession bringing its own kind of pain. "Someone innocent."

He felt her go stiff in surprise and then she was touching his face, directing his eyes back to hers.

"Ye really believe that? That I'm innocent?"

"All relative, darlin'. I look at ya and for all ya been through, ya got a light in ya I think maybe I can touch." His voice dropped to a near-whisper. "A light that ain't gonna burn me up if I get too close."

"Oh, mo dubh." He didn't understand the words but he understood the sentiment, the tears that made her eyes shiny as she leaned in and kissed him gently. "I'll let ye huddle around me, aye?"

His answer was to kiss her again, pulling her closer because now he needed to touch her, the differences didn't matter when she was near. He felt her climb into his lap, straddling his legs and he didn't protest, he wanted her there, didn't want to let her go.

She nipped at his lip, this time she was the one to demand entrance and he gave it, groaning when her tongue slipped inside and she kissed him like she'd eat him from the mouth downwards. He liked it when she got aggressive, her hands sinking into his hair and tugging, giving her leverage to keep control of the kiss.

Logan's hands dropped to her hips, gripping her so that he could control the movement there where she rubbed herself restlessly against him, seeking relief from the ache building. He could feel it in his own body, the need to take this further, and quick as thought he moved so that she was lying on her back on the couch. A moan escaped him when she hooked her legs around his waist, still able to keep the friction going. His heavy body kept her pinned, his hand coming up to catch both of hers and hold them over her head. It made her back and neck arch and he took the opportunity to bury his face against her neck, lick along the big pulse in her neck that thudded. He heard her breath catch and growled in approval when she lifted her chin without thought to give him better access, his teeth briefly closing over her throat in a completely dominant gesture. He could smell her arousal, a hazy scent mixing with the rest of the smells he associated with her to make him go blind with need.

Then a scent that shouldn't be there invaded his senses, the obnoxious cologne of the leader of the X-Men, and it was a mark of how far gone Logan was that he hadn't noticed the other man's presence sooner.

Scott stood in front of the TV, arms crossed over his chest with a very obvious glare on his face. Logan raised his head and growled at him.

"I guess I should just be glad you kept this in the adults' rec room and didn't do it upstairs. I trust I'm not interrupting something that couldn't better be dealt with in the privacy of one of your rooms?"

Teva was pushing against Logan's chest, her legs having released him the instant she heard Scott's voice. "Oh, hi, Scott," she said, her voice sounding strangled even as she grinned a little impishly at him. Logan moved off of her so she could sit up. "Did ye need something?"

A muscle in Scott's jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. He sighed before answering. "I was coming to get Logan because we need to do some recon."

"Fer what?" Logan asked, not bothering to straighten his clothing. He put his arm around Teva and kept her close, pleased when she snuggled back into him and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't seem too terribly embarrassed by being caught.

"Charles narrowed down the location of the lab the girl we rescued told him about. It's not pinpointed yet, there are a few places to check out, but I'd like to get it done if there are still other mutants there."

Scott paused as if considering something. "Teva, if you'd like to come along, I think that would be fine."

Logan growled again. "She ain't an X-Man, Scott." He felt Teva jab him in the ribs with a finger and looked at her. "Well, darlin', ya ain't. Don't wanna see ya get hurt."

"We're not planning on doing anything the X-Men would be required for, and even if we were, she could stay with the Blackbird. It's not like she'd be completely helpless, she is a telepath after all."

"Telempath, actually, but that's neither here nor there." Teva got to her feet, trying to pull Logan up with her. "C'mon, grumpy. Turn off the raincloud and let's go."

He grumbled but got up, still not entirely pleased with this turn of events. He'd learned to trust Scott and if the leader of the X-Men thought it would be safe, chances are it would be. But he'd also learned a long time ago to listen to his gut, and right now it was telling him this wasn't gonna end well.