CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

Getting to know Logan Part 1

AN: That's to g-love99 for reminding me to put in what happened to Magneto. As always, the reviews are loved. Please tell me what you like and what you don't like!

"Well then," Xavier said calmly. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Logan, might I suggest you show Miss. Andrews to the showers? I'll have Ororo find something clean for her to wear."

Logan nodded gruffly. "Yeah, sure, wheels. We'll talk about this later."

"Of course, Logan." Xavier said congenially, wheeling out.

Cassie stood there awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Seriously, kid." Logan finally said. "Did he hurt you?"

She chewed her lower lip, debating.

The muscled guy infront of her looked at her with pity. "You can tell me, darlin. Ah'm not going to hurt you. If you're scared, I can protect you. I know that bastards scary but, trust me, I can be scarier."

Cassie gaped at him. Was that supposed to be COMFORTING!? She groaned and buried her face in her hands for a moment before looking up, keeping her eyes closed. "Right now I just wanna shower, okay?"

Logan nodded. "Alright, darlin. Follow me."

He led her out of the danger room and started down the hall, glancing behind him once to make sure she was following.

They walked a bit before he spoke again. "You know, you don't have to be afraid of me, kid, I won't hurt ya." He said this gruffly and almost embarrassedly, showing her that he was just as uncomfortable as she was.

"I DON'T know that." She emphasized. "I don't know ANYTHING about this. Right now, all I want to do is get my stuff and go home."

"You know it's not gonna be that simple. You're safer here." He looked back over his shoulder at her again. "Where's home?"

She crossed her arms over her chest almost childishly. "Like I'm going to tell you."

He growled. "Look, kid, I'm not the bad guy here, I'm tryin' to HELP you."

"Then give me some information." She snapped back. "Tell me about this place; where exactly it is, who founded it. Where's a phone that I can call someone? Am I even ALLOWED to call someone? Am I a prisoner here?"

"It's safer for you here, there's a phone in the kitchen if you want to use it, and no you're not a prisoner…..I don't think." Logan added the last part under his breath, not meaning for her to hear, but she did.

She tried to shove the panic she felt welling up inside her to the back of her brain. "Why…." She swallowed hard and tried to make her voice sound nonchalant. "…..why would someone want to keep me here against my will?"

Logan stopped and looked over his shoulder at her again, wincing. "Aw, don't be like that, darlin. We just want you to be safe, that's all, and with Sabretooth even that's kind of up in the air. So don't think of it as being a prisoner, think of it as being a guest. Come on we'll take the elevator to the floor above this one, that's where the gym showers are. There will be towels and soap and clothes there for ya."

He pushed the up button by the silver elevator doors. "This place was founded by the Professor; that bald guy in the wheel-chair. He wanted to make someplace where mutants could come and belong. The guy's filthy rich."

"How did he get that rich?" she asked, tugging on her long, red-brown hair, using the slight pain to ground herself.

That gave Logan pause. "Don't really know, come to think of it."

She winced. "He's not a drug dealer, is he?"

"Hell, no!" Logan snorted, seeming amused. "The guy's as straight laced as they come! He's done a lot for the kids here. For anyone who asks for help. Even the so-called 'hopeless cases'."

She couldn't help it. Honestly. She just didn't have that little word filter that others seemed to have. "Were you one of those 'hopeless cases'?" she made little quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

Logan growled warningly at her and she put up both hands in a surrender position, taking one step back.

"Heah, no offense meant."

Logan shook his head. "Come on, kid, let's get you cleaned up. You smell like that flea-bag."

The metal elevator doors dinged open and Logan stepped inside, arching an eyebrow at her when she hesitated. Then he rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna bite ya, kid."

She stepped into the elevator.

"Er, you know the 'fleabag'…..er…..Victor?"

Logan snorted. "Yeah, I know'em. Thrown him off a tower or two."

She gaped. He was joking when he said that...right? Then again, the guy DID have metal claws. "So you're enemies?"

"Yeah." This came out almost completely as a grunt.

"So then, why did he ask you to protect me?" she nudged at the elevator floor with her shoe. It was covered with soft, plush carpet and screamed money. How loaded WAS this wheelchair guy!?

"I dunno, kid." Logan seemed honestly baffled at this. "Maybe because I'm the strongest one here?"

"Are the other people here going to hurt me?" she asked, now chewing on her lower-lip. She bit so hard, she brought blood and Logan whipped his neck around to look at her so fast she was surprised he didn't get whip-lash.

"Heah! Stop that, darlin!" he commanded, grabbing her chin firmly, but gently. "Hurtin' yourself isn't going to help anything!" He reached into his jeans pocket and, to her complete and utter surprise, pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to her. "Here, hold that against your lip. NOW, kid." He made it a little growl of command when she didn't move to stop the bleeding immediately. At the growl, she quickly pressed the fabric to her lower lip.

"No-one here is going to hurt you." Logan assured her the best he could. "Not while I'm here." And somehow, Logan had a feeling that Sabretooth would rip the guts out of whoever even TRIED to hurt this girl, as weird as that seemed to him.

The elevator door dinged open. "Come on, shower's this way."

"What's this about a Magneto?"

Logan blinked at her. "Don't you watch the news, kid?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. Tv doesn't really interest me that much." This, at least, got a small smile out of the guy.

"Well, Magneto is…..WAS…..a very powerful mutant who decided that humans are the inferior race and should be destroyed. Well, to make the long story short, he had this huge plan to turn all humans into mutants, but it backfired. Eventually, the cure was forced on him. Now he's one of those humans he hated so much."

"The cure….you mean that one that's takes away a mutants…er….mutant-ness?"

He smirked again at her term. "It gets rid of the X-gene, yeah." He stopped. Here's the showers, girl. Get in and get clean. I'll wait for you right here."

She had one more question. "Are you really Sabretooths brother?"

Now there was no doubting the hostility in Logans growl. "NO! Now get going!"

She eeped and rushed into the showers.

VOCABULARY:

CONGENIALLY: (ken jen'yel) adj. 1. Able to get along well together; having the same interests [congenial friends] 2. Fitting ones needs or mood; agreeable [congenial surroundings]