Logan was at the stove with Mrs. Stone, as usual, trying to cadge an extra rasher of bacon out of her. "Ya know I love ya Stoney. Why, if I was twenty years younger, I'd give ya a run for yer money." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as he reached for the bacon plate on the counter beside her. "Yer as sweet as yer cinnamon rolls, darlin'." He grabbed the plate and tried to get away before she smacked him on the back of the head. Didn't quite make it. "Now don't hurt yerself, Stoney, I've got a pretty hard head. Might bruise yer hand, and then we'd hafta eat Storm's cooking."

Storm, who'd just returned from Idaho, gave him a mock glare, from her seat next to Keye. Logan was able to relax around Mrs. S., for some reason, and Storm enjoyed seeing him in this playful mood. Mrs. Stone was a mutant, but claimed she didn't know exactly what her mutation was. Storm thought it had something to do with knowing what people needed. Kurt was on Storm's other side, smiling, but looking a bit tired after the long flight.

"Keye, it's so good to have you back. You've been a stranger too long," Storm smiled at her old friend over her dish of fresh fruit. And a cinnamon roll--she was healthy, not crazy.

"Good to be back. How was Idaho?" Keye asked, her smiling glance including Kurt in the question.

Kurt's face grew serious. "I'm afraid I ruined everything."

Storm patted his arm and said, "Nonsense, Kurt! If they're that narrow-minded, it's their problem, not yours." To Keye, she said, "The parents were fundamentalists--very set in their ideas. Kurt was not to blame."

Logan, eavesdropping as usual, called over, "Whatsa matter? They think ya were the devil or somethin'?"

"Worse," said Kurt morosely. "Zey find out I am a Catholic."

Keye burst out laughing. At Kurt's puzzled look, she apologized. "I'm sorry, Kurt, but I've come across these types before. If I had a nickel for every so-called anti-Christ, I'd be a millionaire. Storm's right, they're narrow-minded."

Logan grinned, "They toss garlic and holy water at ya?"

"Wolvie!" Jubilee called from across the table. "That's for vampires, dude, not Catholics. I knew you were dozing off during that movie last week--start paying attention!"

"Won't be chaperonin' ya at any more movies after that one, Jubilee, so it won't be a problem. First that 'Kate and Leopold' chick flick, and then freakin' 'Van Helsing'?" Logan managed to scowl and look martyred at the same time. "I've had a better time at a salad bar. Get Kurt to take ya next time--he's the sensitive type."

That got a smile from Kurt, who disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and almost immediately reappeared with Logan's plate of bacon, which he began to pass around the table.

Logan turned to Mrs. Stone in disbelief. "Did ya see that Stoney? I'm practically wastin' away, and that big blue crayon steals the last o' the bacon."

Mrs. Stone patted Logan's bewhiskered cheek, thinking it was nice of him to cheer Kurt up. "Just this once, Logan, I'll fry up another pan of bacon, but don't try any more of your tricks on me, or you'll take a spatula to the temple," she said with mock ferocity. As an afterthought, she added, "Bub." This elicited some giggles from the table, and earned her an extra kiss on the cheek from the Wolverine.

"Thanks, darlin.' Wasn't for you, I'd starve to death." He made a mental note to take her car in for an oil change and check-up before she left to visit her daughter next Saturday. Maybe I'll have Sabertooth taken care of by then.

Logan's keen hearing caught the vibration of a cell phone. Keye excused herself and headed for her room. Off to call that cousin of hers, he figured. At least Vincent seemed like a sensible guy. It shouldn't be to hard to get him to agree cut Keye out of the mission. He had an urge to follow her, but he suppressed it and instead took a seat next to Katie and waited for his bacon. No sense turnin' into a stalker.

Keye went to her room, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket as she entered. She'd felt the vibration from an incoming call, and knew it could only be a family member, most likely Vinnie. She hit the callback button. Vinnie answered immediately.

"Hey, Keek."

"Vinnie, what's up?"

"Our friend is suddenly in a hurry, heading away from your location. Apparently, something came up, or something spooked him." Vinnie was a little annoyed, but like most of the watch, he was a patient guy. He had to be. "We're pretty sure he got called away. Probably by Magneto--we're pretty sure he's still working for the guy. He'll be back, though. You want to try intercepting him further out? Go after him? Or just hang out until he heads back your way?"

"I'd rather meet him without Magneto around to complicate things, Vin, but I 'd like to get him before he gets all the way back here. What do you think?" Keye asked.

"Yeah, I'd wait him out, Keek. Besides, I'm happier knowing your new friend Logan is there to keep you safe." Vinnie couldn't help yanking her chain a little, to see if he could figure out what was up in that quarter. He and Keye had practically been raised together, and he knew he'd be able to read her reaction and see if Logan was a big deal or not. Keek hasn't had a serious relationship in a long time, he thought, maybe she's finally interested in somebody. But she'll put it on hold as long as she's encanu.

Keye groaned. "Yeah, about that, Vinnie, we need to figure out how to keep him out of this."

Vincent smiled. When cousin Kiki was annoyed, she generally kept her voice and demeanor extra-calm. Part of her psychology training. But the obvious irritation in her voice now told him what he wanted to know. Logan was important to her. Plus he'd caught Keye's scent on the guy. Well, it wasn't like she hadn't teased Vinnie mercilessly about whomever he dated, so he gave her chain another yank. "But Keek, he's pretty good at tracking, and he's got a pretty sweet set of claws. He'd probably be an asset." Plus he's one of us, Vincent thought. "And he is familiar with our target. According to our intel, he's got a history with Creed."

"I know, I know. Charles filled me in on the Liberty Island incident."

"More history than that, Keek. They go way back, might've even worked together. Creed's memory is still intact, though, unlike his buddy Logan's."

"No way. He's a jerk sometimes, but he would not have been a buddy of Creed's."

Vinnie smiled again--now she was defending the guy. That clinched it. "Hey, don't get all upset, Keek. I like the guy. I'm just saying, why cut him out when he could be useful? He's rarin' to go, too."

Keye tried to relax her clenched jaw. "Look Vinnie, quit needling me. Logan has his own agenda. I need to get close enough to Creed to do my thing, otherwise he'll just heal up and come back. Logan is the old-fashioned type--he'll shove me out of the way for his own shot at Creed. It'll never work."

Vinnie replied, "Seriously, Keye, you don't trust Logan? I mean, if we explain the plan to him and why we're doing it that way? You wouldn't trust him to go along with it? He seems like a smart enough guy to me--surely he'd see why you need to do what you do."

"I'd trust him to follow his instincts. Protect the female, basically. So I'd trust him with my life, but I don't think he could set his instincts aside to let me work. Besides, he's feral, Vinnie, and once he unleashes that, there's no calling it back."

"Well, Keye, you're encanu. It's your call, and I'll back you up no matter what, you know that. But just think it over, will you? By the way, I think he's one of us." He dropped the last bomb almost casually. "The nose knows, you know."

Keye was stunned. Why hadn't she picked up on it? "Are you sure, Vin? He's an X-gene mutant. What are the odds of him being both?"

"I don't know, Keek, but he's family. Picked up the scent right away, along with your scent on him," Vincent couldn't resist that last bit.

"Shit."

"Jeez, Keek, does Grandma know you talk like that?"--Keye rolled her eyes at that--"Anyhow, I'd better get going--gotta check with Lodge and Davey. Let me know if you decide to let Logan come along. Look at it this way: It'll be hard to keep him out of it now that he knows. So we might be better off having him with us instead of running around on his own. Just think about it."

Keye sighed. She felt like the ground had been shifting underneath her ever since she'd met Logan. She'd planned to ignore the attraction and just teach her classes. She thought she'd fulfill her term as encanu peacefully, doing mostly computer work. Now she wasn't sure she was going to achieve any of these goals. "I'll get back to you, Vinnie. Give my love to Lodge and Davey." She paused, and said, "Vin, I will think it over, I promise. I do take you seriously, you know. There's nobody I'd rather have on the watch with me."

"I know, Keek, I love you too. And you might try just talking to the Logan, get to know him a little. The guy has more control than you give him credit for. Check him out a little. You never know, right? Talk to you later, cuz, and keep the phone handy so I can get you if Creed changes direction again."

"Will do, Vinnie. 'Bye for now." She closed her phone. Talk to the guy. Novel idea, especially for a psychologist, right? Keye used her com-link to check in with the Professor, who had been on Cerebro all morning. Charles confirmed Sabertooth's new direction. He'd also been looking for Magneto for awhile now and appreciated the tip. Rubbing the back of her neck, Keye suddenly felt the need to exercise. She changed into running clothes, grabbed IPod and headed for the door. Wonder if Newfie's up for a scramble. She touched the dog's mind lightly. Well, well, someone was up all night, she thought, but didn't awaken the dog, who was napping in the kitchen. Keye idly wondered at their ability to communicate, albeit primitively, without the physical contact. Only certain family members could do it, and only with a certain line of dogs. Guess humans weren't the only species mutating. Leaving the mansion, she crossed the grounds. At the edge of the woods, she stopped to stretch, then headed up an old familiar trail. She never saw Logan slip out the door to follow her into the woods

Keye remembered back when she, Jean and Scott used to go on their 'scrambles'. Keye hated steady jogging, so they'd find uneven, mostly uphill paths complete with fallen logs, gullies and other obstacles. They'd gotten in pretty good shape. Storm preferred flight, so only came along once in awhile. It was child's play for Hank, but he'd go if Storm was going. Hank loved watching Storm run. So did Scott, when he didn't think Jean was looking. No matter how rough the course, Storm always managed to look beautiful. Keye wondered if anyone had kept up the tradition. Should have invited Scott along, she thought. It would do him good to get out of the mansion more.

Logan was surprised at Keye's choice. Steep and rugged, the trail wasn't used by the students. A spring rockslide had also blocked it about a half mile up, Logan knew. He told himself he was just following Keye to keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, his eyes kept straying to her more interesting parts. She made pretty good time and was in better shape than he'd expected. He vaulted over a log and wondered why, as nice as she was built up top, she didn't bounce much. Maybe uses duck tape. Nah, probably one of those special bras the kids talked about. The first week he'd taught his hand-to-hand class, the girls had begged a ride to the mall to get 'workout' clothes. Unfortunately, on the way to town, he'd gotten an earful about the ins-and-outs of sports bras. Rogue had insisted on telling him, whether he wanted to know or not, that if she didn't have the right bra, her 'boobs' hurt when she ran. What was it Jubes whined about? Uniboob. Shit. Too much info, in any case. Why do these damned kids talk to me like I'm their damned mother? He like breasts as much as the next guy, and if he'd been talking to that busty blonde down at the bar who always gave him the come-on, he'd have talked tits all night long without batting an eye. But hearing about 'em from teenaged girls just plain creeped him out. He'd almost turned the car around and made Storm take them to the damned mall. Now, however, he found himself wondering if Keye got sore when she ran. No uniboob there, he thought with a smile. Wonder if she ever just lets 'em go free . . . The sound of a good-sized rolling rock interrupted his reverie, and he sprang aside to avoid it. Keye, finally stopped by rock-fall, was coming back down the trail. Might be a good time to have a little chat with Bounceless Barbie, he thought. He stopped and waited.

Keye was disappointed to find the trail blocked by the rocks. She'd wanted a longer run. She started back downhill, carefully avoiding the loose rocks. She slowed to round a sharp bend and ran smack into a hard male chest. Logan's arms came up around her to steady her, as she struggled to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her. He felt a twinge of guilt for deliberately stepping into her path like that, but he'd felt an overwhelming urge to keep her off balance since he'd first met her. What's gotten inta me? he wondered. I used ta have a little more finesse with women, unless they were tryin' to kill me.

Keye finally caught her breath, adrenaline still pumping, and said, "Logan, what are you doing? Let go of me."

Logan ran his hands up and down her back, trying to calm her down "Exhale, darlin', that's it. I just figured you might have somethin' to tell me. Nice perfume, by the way, Don't see why you'd put it on just to go runnin' though."

Keye reluctantly pulled away from the back rub and sat down on the uphill side of the trail. "I was kind of enjoying my solitude. My privacy. Alone. By myself. And I don't wear perfume. I'm allergic."

Logan gave a half-smile. "Privacy? At Xavier's? Might as well kiss that idea goodbye, Keye. Did ya talk to yer cousin? I heard yer cell phone vibrate during breakfast."

Keye's nerves were still firing. "That's none of your business. Go away and let me finish my run." She stood up and crossed her arms. "I'll give you a head start--get going."

Logan shook his head. "There's only one trail down, darlin,' and I'm blocking it. I've gotcha here, and here ya stay 'til we have our little chat."

Keye's lips tightened up in what Logan thought of as her 'prissy mouth.' She countered, "Cut the caveman stuff, Logan. My conversation with Vinnie is my business. Family business. Nothing to do with you. Now get the hell out of my way before I . . . oh, I don't know, zap your synapses or something."

"Havin' a little trouble gettin' in touch with yer feelins' are ya?" He stepped close to her. "I'll start, then. You're not going to take on Sabertooth. You're stayin' out of it. You're not goin' near him. Got it? Good." She could hear his breath coming faster, felt it on her face.

She stared into his narrowed eyes, feeling disoriented for a second. She snapped out of it and sighed, sitting back down, her anger fading. "Logan, aside from the obvious, which is that you have absolutely no authority over me, I don't know what else to say. I have to do this. I need to do it. I'm the best qualified to do it."

Logan scowled down at her, then slowly exhaled, cracked his neck, and sat beside her. "Look, Keye, I know I'm an asshole. I know I'm a chauvinist pig, or whatever they're callin' it these days. But what you're plannin' is suicide, plain and simple. I'm old school, darlin.' I can't let ya do it. I've fought this guy; thought I even killed him. And I'm the best at what I do--you wouldn't last a second." He ran his finger over the back of her hand. "I can't stand by and let ya get killed for nothin.' Don't ask me to."

They sat there quietly for a minute. "We don't know each other very well, do we?" Keye said finally.

"Shit, Keye, I don't know myself very well. What difference does it make?"

She sighed again. "I'm trying not to be insulted here. You train women. You're on a team with women. Why do you assume that I'm not as capable as, say, Storm? Or Jean, for that matter? Because I happen to own a pink dress?" She smiled a little sadly as she said the last.

Logan looked down the hill. He could tell she was a little hurt, but he had to ask, "Can ya control the weather, Keye? Can ya lift an airplane with yer mind? Can ya even fight? I'm not tryin' to insult ya, darlin,' but surely ya see my point." He refused to believe that his real reasons had more to do with his feelings than her abilities. That would be stupid, since he'd only known her for a day.

"Dammit, Logan, I don't want to argue with you," Keye said tiredly. "I don't know how to convince you. I can fight, all right, but I'm not planning to fight Creed. I'm going to fix him or I'm going to kill him. It's risky--it's a calculated risk. You're not supposed to even know about this. Believe me, you won't stop me, so please just don't interfere."

Logan slammed his fist on a rock, splitting both the rock and his skin. Keye instinctively grabbed his hand, but it healed within seconds. He pulled his hand from hers. "Let's get back," was all he said. He started down the trail ahead of her, easily jumping every obstacle in his way. He stopped at a particularly wide gully to offer her a hand. At her look, he shrugged, "Old-school, like I told ya." She took his hand and he pulled her across. She was a little disappointed that he dropped hand right away. Near the mansion's grounds, he spoke again. "Meet me in the gym at three, and I'll work out with ya. Give ya a chance to show me yer stuff."

"Logan," she began to object, then changed her mind. "All right, see you at three." A group of boys called out to Logan, and he moved off in their direction. Keye went into her room to shower and change. She worked on her lesson plans for the upcoming semester, grabbed a sandwich at lunch, and continued to work until almost three o'clock. Refusing to speculate about whether or not this was a good idea, she left for the gym.

Logan had taken a brief nap to catch up from his lack of sleep the night before. He felt fairly refreshed and was warming up when Keye entered the gym. He nodded at her and continued his warmup. Keye began her own routine, which included a lot of odd wrist exercises as well as twisting and stretching. For some reason, the exercises looked familiar to Logan, but he couldn't place where or when he'd ever seen them. He finished his warmup and said simply, "Whenever you're ready."

Keye finished up and replied, "Okay, how do you want to do this?"

"Guess I'll just attack ya," Logan said and immediately attempted a front choke hold--one he knew Sabertooth liked to use on women. Keye dropped back into a classic stance and preempted the choke with a wave of her arm, grabbing and turning his wrist in one fluid motion. He hadn't gotten enough momentum going for her to use it against him, so she helped him along with a foot sweep. He went down on the mat, neatly rolling away and to his feet. I've seen this style before, he thought. Maybe studied it in the past sometime.

Logan tried a few more times to grab her from different directions. She continued to deflect him with smooth, efficient, almost circular movements, including blocks and throws. If it weren't for his healing factor, his wrists would have been pretty sore by now from the holds he countered with. He was satisfied that she had some training in self-defense, but he needed to know if she could do more than handle a mugger or a subway Don Juan. He unconsciously adopted a martial arts stance and began to throw a few experimental punches and kicks. He was impressed when Keye moved toward, rather than away from, most of his kicks. She only had to move her body a few inches to deflect the kicks. Logan gave a fast roundhouse kick. Keye moved into it, turning with the kick, and smoothly grabbed his ankle as she turned. Redirecting the force of his kick, she threw him halfway across the room. He landed in a sort of somersault and rolled up to his feet. She blocked his punches the same way, never using direct force, but instead redirecting the energy of his movements to her own ends. She threw him through the air a couple more times, and he landed with the same roll. The circular movements and the rolling landing sparked something in his mind. Aikido? he thought. It's called Aikido. How do I know that? He had a sudden mental glimpse of a dojo full of men in long black skirts. Not skirts, split pants--hakamas? And it's defense, not attack. He bowed, signaling a break, and asked, "Aikido, right? Where'd you learn it?"

"Mom had me take lessons when I was a kid. My uncle had a dojo. I added karate later on, when I got to the angsty age, and wanted to be more aggressive. Plus I'd seen a few cool karate movies and wanted to learn the kicks." She was barely breathing hard.

Logan said, "Well, I've seen yer defense. Now let's see if ya learned anything useful from those movies in the way of an offense. Light contact only--wouldn't wanna mess up yer hair." That last crack would rile her up, he knew.

Keye smiled nastily. "Well, I'd promise not to mess up yours, but looks like somebody already got to it." Listen to us, smack-talking like adolescents.

They squared off and began to move. Logan grinned as he noticed her hands weren't up in a defensive position. She's either really bad, or she's really good. The really good ones taunt you by leaving themselves open like that. The really bad ones just don't know any better. He figured from her balanced stance that she was one of the good ones. He threw the first combination and his hunch was confirmed. She moved in and blocked both his kick and punch, and nailed him in the ribs. Not a lethal blow, but would've broken a few ribs on most guys, if she hadn't been pulling her punches. She moved out of range again. He stepped up the pressure and managed to land a few blows, once he was confident in her ability to handle the more advanced attack. Probably won a few tournaments, he thought, but she's still not in my league--or Creed's. She was no longer taunting him as he worked her harder and harder. She still managed to get in a few licks, which was more than most people did with him. He knew it was unfair because of his healing factor, but he pushed her until she was exhausted. "That last one was lethal, darlin,' so let's call it quits." She nodded as she caught her breath.

"Nice move," she replied. "I think I'm going to have to steal that one." Keye wasn't surprised that she'd lost to Logan. Extensive training was evident, as well as his mutation. Still, she thought she'd turned in a respectable, if futile, performance. She waited, thinking he was going to start in on how she wasn't up to fighting Creed, but he just threw her a towel.

"Ya did all right. I have a few moves I'd like to teach ya, though." At her raised eyebrows, he grinned, "Not those kinda moves--what a dirty mind ya have. Let's schedule some training time, maybe some danger room sessions, and I'll show ya some tricks that could come in handy with guys like Creed." She'd never need to use them, if he had his way, but it wouldn't hurt her to learn them just in case.

Logan was pleasantly surprised at Keye's abilities. Hell, she's better than Summers, and he's not bad. Too bad she's teachin' music--could probably palm off a couple of my whiny beginner classes on her. He slung a towel around his neck and headed out of the gym. "Let me know what times ya can train, and I'll see what I can do."

"I appreciate it, Logan, but you don't really have to," she said, "I'm not planning on fighting Creed if I don't have to. I'm not joining the X-men either, so there's really no need to train me any further."

Logan stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "You don't understand, darlin', training is mandatory."

Keye Alo'aleki, PhD, MA, barely resisted the urge to stick out her tongue. Jeez, I'm regressing into childhood, she thought. "Thanks for the workout," was all she said.

"Don't mention it. What did Alo find out about Sabertooth?" Logan figured it was worth a shot, but he didn't expect she'd tell him anything.

Keye gave him a long-suffering look, but surprised Logan when she answered honestly, "Vin said he changed direction--they think he got called away to a rendezvous with Magneto. They're still on his trail. We're going to wait until after they meet up, so we can get Magneto's location. Hopefully, Creed will leave after the meeting and we can intercept him--someplace where Magneto won't interfere, but not too close to the school. I might be able to extract a little info from Creed before he dies."

"You tell Xavier about this?" Logan smelled the truth on her, and wondered why she'd decided to keep him in the loop.

"Yeah, he's tracking Sabertooth on Cerebro. We're not equipped to deal with both Magneto and Creed right now, so we'll leave Magneto to the X-men."

Logan turned to face Keye--if she was gonna be honest, so was he. "I won't be going on that mission, Keye, so ya might as well not get yer hopes up. All that metal, ya know. I'll be going after Sabertooth, with you. I won't ask ya to give it up; I can see that you're dead-set on it. But I'm not lettin' ya go without me. Maybe you are the only one who can make sure he stays dead, I don't know. But I'm the only guy who's fought him to a standstill and lived to tell about it. I know him better than anybody. You need me. So I'm in, with or without yer approval. It'd make more sense to work together, though. So how 'bout adopting me into yer family long enough to help ya take care of Sabertooth?"

Keye looked into his eyes for a few seconds, then replied, "Think it over first, Logan. You won't like our plan, I think. Would you be able to defer to me as leader? Pink dress and all?"

Logan considered lying, but decided to be straight with her. "If yer askin' for blind obedience, then no, I can't promise that. Tell me more about the plan, darlin', and ya can count on me to tell you what I think. If I decide to go along with yer plan, I'll do everything I can to make sure ya pull it off."

"Tell me honestly, Logan. Are you willing to let me decide exactly what sacrifice I need to make to accomplish this? Because as encanu, I'm sworn to do whatever it takes to stop Creed. Even if it means my death, or worse. You understand?"

More than most, Logan knew that there were much worse things than death. "You asked for honesty, so here it is. I can't promise that I'll stand by and let ya get hurt or killed. I can't promise that I'll put yer mission above yer safety. That's the best I can do, Keye, so yer stuck with it."

Keye sighed. "Why do I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place?" Logan grinned at that, remembering their first meeting.

"Get used to it, darlin'," was all he said. Maybe even learn to like it. After I take care of Sabertooth, we'll work on that. Help ya get in touch with yer feelins. He turned away before she could see the effect she was having. "See ya later."