Chapter 8

(Logan)

I cracked my eyes open the next morning and groaned. Damn it, the world didn't end overnight and I was still gonna have to go to that noise factory. Angela stirred beside me before rolling over and curling up into me. I wrapped my arms around her and sighed. "Mornin' tiger."

"Morning." She replied sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Almost nine." I pulled her a little closer and she purred then kissed my neck. I growled playfully and pulled her on top of me. "Feelin' frisky this mornin'?"

"Mm, always when it comes to you." She replied and kissed me soundly. I buried my hand in her hair and slid my other one under her tank top to stroke her back. I was just about to slip it over her head when I heard the click of Evie's door across the room. Angela rolled off of me in a flash and I groaned again. I looked over and there was my daughter, her hair still messy from sleeping and rubbing her eyes. "Hey sweetheart, come on in." Angela said.

"Mommy, why does Daddy look so grumpy?" She asked as she padded across the room.

"Oh, he doesn't like mornings too much." Angela scooted aside and Evie crawled in between us. "You wanna get up now or go back to sleep for a little?"

"We can't go back to sleep! We have Chuck E. Cheese's today!" She giggled and I bit back yet another groan.

"Yeah we do, princess, but that ain't til six." I said as I rolled over and slung my arm over my two angels. "We can have a little more sleep, no problem."

"But Daddy, I have to have a bath an' get dressed an' Aunt Marie said she had a present for me an' there's breakfast that's gonna be pancakes cuz it's Saturday."

"She's right, lover." Angela added. "You know if we don't get down there before ten, between Sam and Hank there won't be anything left for us."

Now I did groan again. "Women. Since when are the women the ones with all the sense?"

"Since you fell in love with me. Now get up!"

Forty minutes later, we made our way down to the dining room. The students were all in high spirits, pancake day being their favorite day of the week. I scowled at the noise and went to my seat at the staff table next to Kurt and Buzz, who already had huge stacks in front of them. I looked out at the kids at the their tables, their chattering overwhelming my hearing and scowled again.

"Vhat is the matter, mein herr?" Kurt asked with a smirk.

"Nothin'." I said and dug into my breakfast. Angela joined me a few minutes later after she dropped Evie off at the younger kids' table so she could sit with her friend Wendy. "Darlin', are you sure I hafta go with you today? Can't it be a girl's day or somethin'?"

"Logan, we've been through this." Angela replied, piling her own plate full of pancakes. "It'll break Evie's heart if you don't go."

"Go vhere?"

Angela grinned. "Logan and I are taking Evie to Chuck E. Cheese's today." At his look of confusion, she explained. "It's a pizza place with an arcade, a play area and animatronic characters that sing. She went there last spring for Wendy's birthday and she's been begging to go back, so we said we'd take her today."

"So vhat is the problem?"

"I'll tell ya what the problem is." I growled and gestured with my fork. "You think that's bad out there? You ain't heard nothin' til you've been stuck in a room with 'bout a thousand screamin' kids under the age of ten with all them games makin' all their noise on top of it." I shook my head and attacked my breakfast. "It's enough to drive ya crazy."

"Vell then it is a good thing you are already there, ja?" Kurt joked and I glared at him and my woman as they broke into laughter. I just couldn't win today, I could feel it in my metal-covered bones.

After breakfast, I had back-to-back Danger Room sessions with Beta, Delta and Gamma teams. It only happened like that on rare occasions, due to the way the schedule fell, but it did manage to fill up most of the time before I would have to accept my fate. It also meant there was plenty of time for something to happen out in the world that would need the intervention of the X-Men, but everything remained stubbornly peaceful out there. For the first time in a very long time, I cursed my adamantium bones - a nice broken leg would have been plenty of reason to stay home and I'm sure I could have arranged one, failsafes or no failsafes. About four-thirty, I dismissed Gamma team and hit the showers, still coming up with jack shit for a reason to stay home.

A couple hours later, it was almost time to go and I was now desperate for an out or at least someone to suffer with me, but everyone and I do mean everyone in the mansion seemed to have other things to do. My first thought had been Storm, since she was really good with kids and had come back from the birthday party last year going on and on about how much fun she had. So I figured I'd hunt her down and ask her to go.

"Oh Logan, I'd love to," she said, "but Sam said he planned a surprise outing for us today. I'm so sorry." So much for that. Next stop, Rogue. I couldn't see how "Aunt Marie" could possible turn down her adopted niece.

"I'm sorry, sugah, but Remy and I already have plans for today."

"You can bring him with us." I said, hoping to convince her. "I'm sure Angela won't mind." Too much, I added to myself.

Marie just gave me a sympathetic look. "I know Logan and if we hadn't planned this weeks ago, you know I'd be there in a heartbeat." She patted my hand and walked away.

The story was the same everywhere I went. Iceman had plans with Warren and Sage, Kyro had a picnic with Chasca, even Peter was busy. With half an hour to go, I had a thought that maybe Chuck could be talked into it. I got within three steps of his door when I heard his voice in my head. 'Sorry, Logan, but I have paperwork I have to catch up on. Why don't you ask Scott?'

Scott fucking Summers, the bottom of the barrel. I gritted my teeth and went in search of him. Big surprise, he was in the garage tinkering with a new motorcycle, having long ago given up on getting the other one back from me. He looked up as I entered, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Hey Logan."

"Hey." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. "What's up?"

"Just putting the finishing touches on my new bike, which you had better not try and steal."

"Nah, I finally got the other one just the way I like it." I looked around and sighed. "So, got anythin' else planned today?"

"Why do you ask?" He asked with a smirk.

"Well, you know I've got that thing with Angela an' Evie today…" I trailed off, not happy at all with this conversation.

"Oh yeah, Chuck E. Cheese's." He grinned. "The kids had a blast there last year."

"Yeah well, I was just wonderin', you know, if you didn't have any other plans…"

"Yes?"

I gave him a scowl. "FortheloveofGodwillyougowithme?" I said in a rush, still not quite believing I'd been reduced to this.

Scott gave a short laugh, then walked over and slung an arm over my shoulders. "You remember that middle claw at Liberty Island?" I nodded and he patted me on the chest. "Have fun, bub." He started laughing again and walked away, leaving me standing there too shocked to even respond. I was doomed.

Angela and Evie came into the garage just then, my woman looking very confused. "Logan, why is Scott laughing so hard?"

"Nothin'. C'mon, let's get this over with." We piled into her car and I settled into the passenger seat, still scowling. Well, at least they had beer there.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Two large, one with extra cheese an' pepperoni, the other with extra cheese an' all the meat you've got 'cept anchovies." I sighed and looked around me, my ears already feeling like they were ready to bleed from the noise level in the place, not to mention the mixed smells of pizza, spilled drinks, frustrated people and dirty diapers. I was in hell.

"Anything else, sir?" The over-peppy girl behind the counter chirped. Yes, chirped.

"Uh, a pitcher of Coke an' a pitcher of beer."

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve beer anymore."

I went very still and just stared at her. "What?"

"We don't serve beer anymore. We stopped last summer, change in corporate policy."

Someone up there was having way too much fun at my expense. I turned to my woman. "Oh hell no, darlin'. I can't do this without beer."

Angela opened her mouth to speak, but Evie beat her to the punch. She looked up at me, tears standing in her big green eyes, her lip quivering. "B-but Daddy, you p-promised!" She wailed.

Oh shit. Now I felt like an asshole. "Evie, princess, I'm sorry. Don't cry honey, I take it back. I'll be fine." Yeah, right.

She sniffled hard and Angela bent down to comfort her. I turned back to the peppy chirper. "Fine, just the pop then."

She gave me the total and I paid her, then took back the change and the cupful of game tokens that came with the meal. Evie had recovered from my near-bad-father experience and took my hand, skipping along next to me. God, the things I do for my daughter. Evie dragged me over to her favorite game, which happened to be Whack-a-Mole, with Angela close behind. I couldn't help but smirk a little, thinking back to the untimely demise of one Mr. Maxwell of the BCI. Of course, Evie had no knowledge of the things we did, as far as we knew. However, with her newly awakened gift, it was likely she'd see things at least occasionally, though we would do our best to protect her. She shoved two tokens into the slot and handed me one of the mallets. "Here Daddy! See if you can beat me!"

I looked at the mallet with a raised eyebrow. Jesus, if Magneto could see me now. The big bad Wolverine playing Whack-a-Mole of all things. Suddenly, I was glad no one had been able to come with me. I'd never live it down. "Ok princess, you're on!" I said with forced cheer. About a minute later, the game was over and I had the higher score. The machine whirred and spit out about twenty tickets, which Evie immediately took custody of. I shook my head and Evie showed her tickets off, making sure to say that I won them for her, while Angela just smiled at me with a twinkle in her eye. We went in search of a table and found one not too close to the stage where the animatronics would perform at regular intervals. I sat down with a sigh. "Darlin', I will get you back for this." I said.

"Oh, I'm sure you will lover," she replied with a wink, "but not today."

Evie grabbed Angela by the hand and dragged her off for another game, leaving me to wait for the food. They announced our number about twenty minutes later, so I went and retrieved the pizzas. Angela was waiting when I returned, then she went to get the pitcher and some cups while I served out pizza for all of us. The pepperoni pizza was for the two of them to share, the other one was all mine. It was one advantage to having an extra hundred pounds of metal running through my body. It was like having a constant workout, so I never had to worry about gaining weight. Even though she had the same, Angela still ate like a woman and complained about watching her figure. I have never understood that, since she'd be perfect to me no matter what. Just try convincing her of that.

Forty-five minutes later, the pizza was demolished, the pitcher was empty and I was ready to go. Evie, however, had other plans. "Daddy, come play another game with me!"

"Daddy needs to digest for a bit, princess."

"Pleeeease?" She begged. "Me an' Mommy found a great game an' I wanna play it with you!"

I looked over at Angela who was stifling a giggle. "Oh, go on Logan. It'll be fun." She said. "I was pretty good at it, I'm sure you'll do just fine."

I rolled my eyes. "All right, you win. Can't see why you women always gotta gang up on me."

"Cuz I love you, Daddy!" Evie said and my heart melted a little bit more. "Come on before someone else gets there!"

She pulled me up out of my seat and dragged me clear to the other side of the room, Angela following close behind. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what she wanted me to play. "Uh, princess? I don't think I can play this one." I said.

"Why not?" She asked, her bottom lip starting to poke out.

"Um, because I don't think I can." Of all the things she could have dragged me to, from driving games to shooters to classics like Centipede and Pac-Man, my darling daughter picked "Dance Dance Revolution". "Daddy doesn't know how to dance."

She giggled. "Silly! You just follow the screen. It's super easy an' Mommy was good at it an' I'm only little an' I can play it."

Angela's face was bright red and I could tell she was holding back outright laughter. "What?" I snapped.

"Oh, nothing Logan. Nothing at all." She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss, then pulled my ear down to her mouth. "But you are going to owe me big time if you don't want anyone at home to hear about this." She whispered.

I snapped upright and I felt something much like terror. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." She said with a huge grin on her face.

"I am really gonna get you for this." I growled. Evie was still tugging on my hand and with a sigh, I took my place on the machine. She jumped up and down, clapping her hands, then fed the last of our tokens into the machine. For those who may not be familiar with it, the premise is simple. On the platform is a series of arrows. As the song plays, arrows appear on the screen and you have to put your feet in the correct spot to make the dance moves. As the game progresses, the dances get more difficult. If you make too many mistakes, the game is over. I didn't realize how much time had passed until I finally made a serious error and the game ended. When I turned around, I saw that quite a crowd had gathered and they all applauded me as I stepped off the platform. I was profoundly embarrassed and just gave them a half-hearted wave as I started to walk away.

Evie threw herself into my arms. "Daddy, you got the high score!" She squealed.

I raised my eyebrow at her. "I did?"

"Yeah, you hafta go back an' put your name in so's everyone knows!"

No fucking way I was putting in my name, either of them. I turned back to the machine and once I figured out how to do it, I put my name down as "James". Not like anyone here knew my real name anyway and if anyone from the mansion came back here, well…there are plenty of people named "James" in the world.

Angela was still smiling as we made our way out to the car. "Well lover, looks like those enhanced reflexes of yours came in handy today."

I growled. "I swear, if you tell anyone, 'specially Cyke, I will get you."

"Oh, I'm sure I can be persuaded to silence, with the right enticement." She purred and I softened a bit.

"Mm, I think I can come up with somethin' that'll convince you." I bent down to kiss her and Evie made a gagging noise. We broke apart laughing and got into the car. As I settled myself in, I decided that this outing hadn't been so bad after all.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at the mansion, Buzz was watching as everything unfolded. He'd called Angela down to the security office just before they were ready to leave on the pretense of explaining the new upgrades to the computer. She'd suffered through it graciously for as long as she could before finally pointing out to him that she knew how to use a computer and could figure this out on her next shift in the office. Buzz had poked her playfully in the chest, saying that she could at least humor him. This was his job, after all. In reality, he'd used that seemingly innocent little poke to plant the camera on the button of her blouse.

He had to admit that watching the big, bad Wolverine play Whack-a-Mole had been pretty amusing, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened at the end of the evening. As soon as he saw it, he got on the internal phone to Scott. "Summers, meet me in the Danger Room right now!" He shouted and transferred the feed.

Less than a minute later, Scott showed up looking worried. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"My friend, feast your eyes on this." Buzz replied and hit a button. A life-sized replica of Logan and his daughter playing "Dance Dance Revolution" appeared in front of him.

Scott stood there dumbfounded for a moment before breaking into gales of hysterical laughter. After about a minute, he calmed down and rushed to the general com. "Alpha team, meeting in the Danger Room stat." He announced. He was about to put the com down when something else occurred to him. "Bring popcorn."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Evie had fallen asleep by the time we got home. Angela parked the car and I gathered my princess up, listening to her grumble sleepily that she wasn't tired. I chuckled softly then kissed her forehead and she snuggled into my chest. Clutched in her hands was the stuffed monkey she'd gotten with the tickets we'd won over the course of the evening, which she had promptly named "Bosko". I shook my head in wonder, once again finding it hard to believe that I was this lucky.

As we entered the mansion, Angela and I stopped dead in our tracks. Usually bustling with activity that we can hear, the place was dead silent and that was always a source of worry. I sniffed the air, but I couldn't smell anything out of place. The only scents I detected were those of the people who live here, cigar and cigarette smoke and popcorn. Angela motioned to me to take Evie up to our room, then twirled her finger to indicate that she would take a look around. I nodded and took the stairs two at a time to get up there as quickly as I could.

I tucked Evie into her bed before leaving the suite and locking the doors behind me. I took a few steps down the hall before Angela came rushing up the stairs, her blouse clutched in her hands. "Logan, look at this." She whispered, pointing to one of the buttons. "I think it's a camera."

"What?" I asked, scowling. "How the hell did you get a camera on your blouse?"

"I don't know. Could have happened at the restaurant. It was pretty crowded, I did get jostled a couple times. Could have been planted then."

"Darlin', this is not good."

"Is Evie secure?" I nodded. "Ok, good. I haven't checked the lower levels yet."

I grabbed the blouse from her and crushed the tiny camera between my fingers. No sense in letting anyone know we were home now. "C'mon, let's go."

We made our way back down the stairs, bypassing the elevator to help keep the element of surprise on our side. As we passed the kitchen, I heard the sound of someone humming and motioned to Angela to stay put. I crept around the doorframe and stopped dead when I saw it was Rogue. "Marie?"

She turned with a yelp, then put her hand over her heart and glared at me. "Logan, you scared the livin' shit outta me!" She yelled.

"Sorry kid, didn't mean to." I replied. "Where the hell is everyone?"

"Oh! Um, well when we got back from our date, the younger kids were bored so me an' Remy took them down for some Club Danger Room time and you know how everyone likes that." She replied. Angela came into the kitchen, a look of relief on her face. "Oh! Gosh you guys, I'm sorry. I guess we should've left y'all a note or somethin'."

"Yeah, probably." I said and sighed. "You scared the hell outta us. We thought somethin' happened."

"And I found a microcamera on my shirt." Angela added. "I thought someone may have waited for us to leave to hit the mansion."

"A camera? Really?" Rogue asked. "That's really weird." She sidled up to me and started shimmying a little as she hummed to herself. "Well, I better get back down there. Y'all wanna join us?"

I looked at Angela and she shrugged. "Sure. I mean, Buzz modeled Club Danger Room after my old place. I wouldn't mind a trip down memory lane."

I took her hand and we followed Marie downstairs. She kept up the humming with the occasional shimmy the whole way down and I shook my head. What had gotten into that girl? We finally got to the Danger Room, but when the doors opened we didn't see the replica of RnR that we were expecting. Instead, it looked just like the Danger Room, with one exception. Smack in the middle was a replica of that damn dancing game, complete with me on one side dancing like a fool. On the other side was Hank, pulling some crazy ass moves that I could not believe, surrounded by every single person who lived at the mansion, including Chuck. I glared at Marie and a low growl erupted from my chest.

"Sugah, I swear it wasn't me!" Was all she said before she dashed across the room and out of my reach.

Suddenly, the image froze and Hank let out a snarl of protest. "Hey now! I was finally about to beat him!" Someone cleared their throat and he looked over at the door, then broke into a wide grin. "Logan my friend! This is great!" He cried.

I stalked to the middle of the room and glared at everyone. "All right, who did it? Who put the camera on her? Who recorded all this?"

No one said anything, but there was suddenly a bit of a gap between Buzz and everyone else around him. I took a step towards him, but Scott was suddenly in front of me. "Logan, don't. It's not his fault. He was only following orders."

"Whose orders?" I snarled.

"Mine." I went to grab his shirt, but he ducked under my arm and put his hand up to his glasses. "Now Logan, just wait. You're the one who always says I don't know how to have a good time, that I have, and I quote, 'a stick up my ass'. Well, now you know what happens when I get a mind to prank someone."

"So you decide to unwind by prankin' me? You got a death wish?"

Unexpectedly, he smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Remember when you called me a dick at Liberty Island?" I nodded. "Just thought I'd give you a real reason for it."

I dropped my hands to my sides and shook my head, then looked back over at the frozen image of me on that fucking machine. Even I had to admit that this was a hell of a practical joke, even if I was the butt of it. I looked back at Scott and sighed. "Cyke, you are a dick. But ya got me good, I gotta admit." I held out my hand and he took it, fool that he is. I pulled him forward and grabbed the front of his shirt. "But don't think for one minute you'll get away with it. I'll get ya back." I let him go and turned to the room. "As for the rest of ya, just remember. You have to put up with me in here as your instructor. Keep that in mind before you even think 'bout messin' with me."

"Logan, it's all in good fun." Chuck said, his eyes twinkling. "And the children really seem to enjoy it."

"Yeah whatever." I turned back to Buzz. "And as for you, I want this deleted by noon tomorrow, you got it?"

"Sure, whatever you say." He replied, looking pale.

I snorted and turned to leave. "What about now?" I heard someone ask.

"Damage is already done. Might as well enjoy it while ya can." A cheer erupted and I stalked out of there. Damn, with friends like these, who needs enemies?

AN: This entire chapter was inspired by an offhanded remark that my beta reader and fiance Zac said to me one night while i was writing...i had originally thought to do this as a one-shot, but as the story went on and started to feel really heavy, i thought a little levity was just what it needed...:) For the record, it took me almost half an hour to recover from the mental picture of Wolverine (any version) getting his groove on...:) I hope you all had as much fun here as i did...:)

Special thanks to Zac (love you honey!) and Turiel Tincdaniel, my most excellent beta readers...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for assuring me that i have a sick but very fun sense of humor...:) Super special thanks to my readers, for sticking with this saga for this long...and Super Swanky Special thanks to my lone reviewer of ch. 7, who was levanna...i know ffn was having some issues, so i don't know if anyone else reviewed and it got eaten or what...and levanna, let's just say that Scott isn't in the clear yet...now that it works properly, Logan has a very long memory...:) I won't say when, but i assure you that Logan will get back at him when he least expects it...:)

Now, for all of you who have read and not reviewed, give it a shot! All you have to do is click the little button down there where it says "submit review" and say hello and i will post a new chapter right away as a thank you!