Logan reminisced on times passed not so long ago, the days of which were filled with a ceaseless pool of miraculous tragedies and forced fates. A string of faithful yet ill-fated romances tightened their loins on the grasp of his theta-waves. Idiosyncratically, he went through periods of remission from a painful life, only to have the delusion of peace raped from him once more, colder than the last time. It had been these such circumstances that pushed Logan to become the introverted loner; a personality that only made him even more desirable, and consequently, more unattainable. It was only in the present when he'd actually have to worry about the petty problem of tooth decay.

Getting Shortie to adopt the habit of brushing her teeth regularly proved to be challenge enough to drive Logan back into drinking, with what little comfort it provided for him. He didn't clement and get her children's toothpaste, introducing her to the burning mint. Her teeth were initially yellowed and brittle, and the process of strengthening them proved to be just as delicate. He had been the one to brush for her for about a month until she finally gave into the hygienic procedure and began to clean them herself.

He had also been the one who had been primarily bathing her, since Ororo and Jean insisted that they weren't obligated to so on the basis that they were females. The latter even hinted that he had about two more years of bathing before she'd be old enough to shower herself. She was a hellion in the tub, thrashing about to "swim" and hide in her fortress of excessive bubbles. Once she was settled, Logan had an easier time actually getting her clean. Getting Shortie out of the tub proved to be the most arduous task, as she refused every time. The end result was always a red-faced and soaked Logan holding his toweled daughter as he walked back to their room from the bath room that they used.

He was the least bit happy that he wasn't the one who had to do her clothes shopping, only needing to supply the funds. But other than that skipped obligation, he was truly saddled with the single parent responsibility. It was convenient that she didn't require/request any commuting to anywhere, and that she lived at her school, especially given her mutations.

What was superbly inconvenient and haunted Logan nearly every waking moment, even when in the recesses of his mind, was that he wouldn't be a reliable parent. Naturally he'd protect and care for her to the best of his abilities, but for how long? Things on the outside had been relatively quiet as of late, much to his relief, but what about when he's inevitably forced to take care of a crisis, and could be gone for quite a long time? He feared that he'd miss out on the major stepping stones in her early life. Given his childhood, he had made a promise to himself hat she'd have the best years of her life growing up to the greatest extent he could muster.

Said child was moaning on her bed in the middle of the night, only audible enough for her father to hear without causing a disturbance to the other sleeping residents (how benevolent). The source of her vocalized pain was her first tooth about to be lost. It was loose enough to move if small force was applied, but it was far from ready to come out. This had been the case for several nights, much to Logan's chagrin. It wasn't the fact that he was being woken up for the past week, but it killed him to feel so utterly useless, to not be able to relieve her of the trivial pain as she wept in his arms. He gently rocked her and stroked her hair, hoping to coax her back into sleep. He never expected teeth to be the cause of his current frustration.

"Daddy, it really hurts."

"I know it does, darlin'. Just try to ignore it."

"I can't! It's throbbing." She gingerly rubbed her mandible.

"Just let me rip the damn thing outta your mouth, it'll be over in five seconds."

He had never received such a nasty stink eye in his life.

He racked his brain for a solution. The Orajel they had applied before had done next to nothing to alleviate her pain. They had tried ice as well with no success. Shortie had resorted to twisting and contorting her body as well as balling her hands into fists as a means to channel her pain externally. She had inadvertently kicked his nightstand, opening its small door; and that's when his solution found him. He placed her sitting up on his bed as he bent down to the nightstand and pulled out one of his stashed whiskeys. A new bottle, he ripped of the seal and unscrewed the bottle. He dipped his index finger inside for a moment, then placed it in her mouth, delicately rubbing the pained area.

"You might not like the taste, but nothing helps a toothache better."

"But I like it, daddy." She honestly countered. He gave her a quizzical look.

"You're such a little liar." He chuckled.

"Am not." She coolly said as she took the bottle and drank a small sip. Though she genuinely liked the taste, she did not favor the burn it left. She also noticed that the pain in her mouth was gone. Logan's expression was an acute mix of exasperation and pride. He took the bottle, screwed the cap back on, and placed it back in its original spot.

"Listen here, it's only for your toothaches, understand?" He asked, eyes locked on her's.

"Yes. Thanks daddy."

She kissed his cheek and gave him a hug, both actions he returned. She sat in his lap and leaned into his torso, then requested some midnight reading. Agreeing, he picked her up and playfully threw her onto the bed before getting up to grab a book. It wasn't that she particularly payed attention to the content of the text, she just found it quite comforting, like a white noise. The duo cuddled into his bed as he began reading aloud yet hushed, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. When he was certain she was asleep, he closed the book and subsequently joined her.

The following morning had been quite. As they awoke, she felt the pain in her mouth, prompting a massage to her jaw. Logan saw this, then whipped out the whiskey and applied his liquor finger to her tooth. With that done, she ventured into the kitchen to grab breakfast, something sacred to her. She encountered Scott sitting at the table, eating cereal. He leaned from his chair to embrace his niece with a hug and kiss to the head. Shaking the box, he invited her to eat with him. Shortie began talking as he was getting her bowl.

"Guess what, Uncle Scotty?"

"What?" He asked as he poured the cereal into her bowl from behind her. He then grabbed the milk and began to pour.

"I love whiskey! It tastes so good!"

Upon hearing that, his face froze in a troubled expression as he dropped the milk, spilling it everywhere. He looked into her face that was starting to tear. He wasn't sure how to address this, but felt it necessary.

"Did you just say... that you like whiskey? Where did you get that?"

"Daddy put some on my tooth to make it stop hurting." She began to cry to herself.

Scott wasn't known for his nurturing aura, and he had no idea how to provide comfort to her. He figured he scared her into believing that he was angry with her. He pieced together her story and concluded that Logan merely gave her some to help with her toothache. Should the story have run in the direction he initially presumed it would, he was going to have a field day with giving Logan hell about it. Shortie placed her hand in the puddle on the table that led to the rest of the milk on the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey, you know you shouldn't cry over a glass of spilled milk."

"I wouldn't, but you just wasted a whole gallon! And it's not even noon yet."

Scott awkwardly gave her a hug in hopes to comfort her. By that time, Logan had been in the kitchen as well, accusing Scott of hurting his daughter somehow, threatening him like any other day. Scott angrily explained that me merely spilled the milk and she was overreacting. Logan responded to this by pulling out another gallon from the refrigerator and placing it in front of her, earning a smile.

"Seeing as you're dirty already, why don't you clean this up?" Logan jeered.

Had Shortie not been there, Scott's glare would have evolved into an optic blast directed at the wolf man.

The following hours had been uneventful for the relatively new family; Logan taught his afternoon classes while Shortie read in Xavier's office as he instructed his students. She hadn't been paying attention, but she'd occasionally listen to what was being facilitated when her book became monotonous. Her adoptive grandfather graced a smile in her direction a few times when he was met with his own silence in between points in his lecture. Shortie wasn't exactly appreciative of the baby faces made from the students in an effort to get her to laugh or smile. It was bad enough she was looked down upon stature wise.

When the room was empty, Shortie had taken the opportunity to sit upon his desk and inform him of her impending tooth loss. He smiled at the young child, reliving the innocence they carry, if only for a moment.

"My dear, do you know of the Tooth Fairy?"

She shook her head to indicate she did not.

"She's a tiny creature who exchanges money for children's fallen teeth. If you place it underneath your pillow and fall asleep, she will make the switch and you will awake with money."

"That's a lie!" She accused.

"It's understandable to be a bit apprehensive about such a claim. Just wait until it falls out, and we'll see whether or not she's fictitious."

"Okay grandad."

When Shortie was bathed and in her pajamas, she was told that she was allowed to stay up a bit later than usual because it was Friday night. Logan had been preoccupied with sorting and grading the history essays he had informed the students of three months ago; a twenty page assignment. As if they didn't think he was a big enough hard ass. He would never admit it, but he garnered a slight sadistic pleasure from giving heavy duty assignments. If that was their biggest problem, then they were pretty damn lucky.

She wanted to spend her remaining conscious hours with her father, so she darted from the bedroom with his classroom as her destination. Unfortunately, she only made it a few feet from the room before she tripped and fell on her face. When she got up, she felt something minute and hard rattling in her mouth, then spit the infamous tooth out into her hand. She also saw the blood that accompanied it. The pain flowed with her blood. She went back into the bedroom and grabbed the whiskey from the nightstand.

She took a generous swig, and a bit easier as well, considering that she'd been taking very small amounts over the the twenty four hours, and that the oral pain outdid the burn. Her mouth still throbbed, so she took a few more swigs until she noticed about a quarter of the bottle was gone. The pain was starting to subside. She simply sat in the dark room, swallowing tears, taking sips every few minutes to dull the throb. After almost ten minutes, she gave up and finished the last half of the bottle.

What she knew was that since she could heal herself, foreign substances wouldn't really have a lasting effect, but would for a bit, as her healing factor was much more delayed compared to that of her father's, or so Hank had told her during one of her check-ups. In essence, there weren't any real repercussions of her small body taking in so much alcohol.

But now she was feeling something. She felt her movements feel much more fluid. She even felt an inexplicable elation. The pain was completely neutralized now, so she started, much more slowly, for the classroom again. Absentmindedly, she carried the empty bottle in her hand. She had not encountered anybody in her travels, leaning against the walls for support.

"Musha rain dumado dumada!" She chanted thrice.

It took her much longer than expected to reach the door. She stood outside of his field of sight. She didn't know how to exactly approach-

"I know you're standing there, darlin'."

Before she finally walked into his room, her elation suddenly descended into depression. She felt every negative emotion she knew. As she walked into the classroom, she began sobbing. Logan looked up to see his daughter, crying with an empty bottle of whiskey in her hand. He also noticed as he sobbed, her troublesome tooth missing.

"D-d-add-y-y-y" She cried.

He wanted to be mad at her, but he couldn't bring himself to be. Instead, he chuckled as he walked to where she stopped and stood, and scooped her into his arms and started to walk out of the room. A quick epiphany came to him as he disposed of the bottle into a file cabinet near the door. He gently rubbed her back as they went back to their room, again not encountering anybody.

"I didn't want to lose a tooth and find a fake fucking fairy." She rambled grumpily and buzzed, sobbing subsiding. She was steadily feeling the way she did before she drank, but the pain in her mouth wasn't coming back. Logan took her into the bathroom to splash some cold water in her face. When they were finally back in their room, he pulled out a stash of beef jerky he had deeper inside the nightstand.

"Eat. It'll sober you up even faster."

She finished the bag in ten minutes, and by then, felt completely normal again.

"You're real lucky, kid. Most people have to suffer a hangover afterward. Not to mention drinking that much would have killed you if you weren't a mutant, ya know." He gave a frown of disapproval to discourage her behavior.

"I'm sorry daddy. I love you." She extended her arms for a hug.

"I know."

He bent down and hugged her small frame. Whenever he did, he was reminded just how small and delicate she was, healing not a factor to him. He knew that love was an investment that usually indebted him, but he couldn't help himself with his little girl.

"Now get your ass to bed. I could be a hard ass about this, but I'll forgive ya this time since your tooth fell out." He tucked her into her own bed, kissed her cheek, and waited until she was asleep before he left. He still had many papers to check.

Only a few feet from the door, he noticed the tooth that had fallen out. He wasn't sure why he did, but he picked it up from the floor and gently placed it underneath her pillow before he left the room.

Unbeknownst to Shortie, a certain uncle of hers had furtively infiltrated the bedroom. He slipped some money underneath her pillow and taking the tooth, being careful not to wake her up. He left the room, quietly wishing her goodnight.

When she woke up the next morning, she heard a crinkling whenever she moved her head. She pushed on her pillow, finding that it was the source of the sound. She removed it and had to contain a squeal of pure, unexpected joy when she found a twenty dollar bill. She immediately woke up Logan and proclaimed that the Tooth Fairy must have been real.

She showed her grandfather as well, apologizing for not believing him. As she raced to tell Auntie Jean, Uncle Scotty, and Auntie Ro, Xavier asked Logan why he was so generous with the funds.

"Wasn't me."

He found her in the living room with Jean and Scott, chiming away at her great victory. Logan noticed a subtle smirk on Scott's face. He walked to Logan and gave him a small box he said he obtained from Hank. Inside was the tooth that she lost last night. Logan gave him a look that mixed resentment and gratitude.

"By the way," Scott chimed, "you need to go and buy some more milk."