CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX:

Giggles and Growls and A First Kiss

AN: To 'AvalonTheLadyKiller' (stirs a pot of melted butter over a stove) "I am SO pleased I managed to melt you like butter with the pine-needle scene. Be assured of plenty more of protective, providing ferals coming up.

And to my dear, wonderful Plotbunny Guest. Hon, I practically THRIVE off of your reviews, but you need to check your spelling. And I love the GUARD bunnies and hares, however, I don't think the cannibal butterflies like them. (covers Plotbunny Guest in hugs)

ONTO THE STORY!

PS: Everyone, go but Bamon for another chapter to 'Primal Instincts'! Maybe we can get those muses moving!

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000

Cassie didn't know WHAT the two ferals in the corner of the classroom were up to, but her curiosity was dulled by the group of children surrounding her and babbling excitedly, showing her their pictures of the gremlins they had drawn, all in a myriad of colors.

"Ooo, that's really pretty." She complimented a little blonde girl as she showed her her drawing of a pink scribble which was supposed to be a gremlin.

"Look at mine! Look at mine!" a little boy with ruby red eyes demanded, shoving his paper practically up her nose and annoying Roddy who had to duck the incoming drawing.

"Oh, wow, that's great." She praised.

Roddy made a strange, gurgling noise in his throat, making Cassie start a little and look down at him in concern.

"Are you okay Rod—" she cut off mid-sentence and cocked her head to the side, eyeing the blue-skinned child in thought. "Were you…..Were you just growling!?" She didn't know whether to laugh or groan. It looked like little Roddy was already trying to emulate his role-model only, it wasn't exactly something she thought the "normal" public would take in stride. Then again, Roddy WAS blue…..with scales…so maybe that wasn't something she should really worry about.

She hugged the young child closer to her. "Roddy, honey, you need to be nice." She scolded gently, then let the matter drop. If he did it again then she would try to think of something. `Doesn't help that I growl myself sometimes.` she thought ruefully.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she clapped her hands briefly to get the childrens attention. "Okay, guys, I hear tell that you're learning how to spell. Can someone spell a word for me?"

She went around in a circle, asking each child how to spell a very simple word—'it' 'the' 'cat' 'hat'—and trying to get a feel for how far along they were. It was her own private joke when she asked Roddy to spell the word 'bug', then she went to pick a childrens book to read them, asking the children to please stay where they were.

She was browsing through the Dr. Seuss books when she paused to look over at the two ferals. Victor/Sabretooth was still sitting crosslegged on the floor with a piece of construction paper and a marker, writing furiously.

Cassie blinked at the picture he made, her lips quirking. `Well, it's good to know he CAN write.` Still, the sight of the wild looking feral man with claws and fangs sitting on the floor of a kindergarten classroom writing on green construction paper was somehow…..endearing.

`What must he have been like when he was a child?` she wondered. `How did he turn into that wild man that he is? What could have happened to him?`

She had read about feral children, of course. Not the mutant kind that were born that way, but children who had been abandoned in the woods and left to die, only to survive against all odds, becoming wild. Like Oxana Malaya, a Ukranian girl who had been abandoned by her alcoholic parents and was raised, for all intents and purposes, by a pack of dogs. Or that Ugandan boy who was left in the jungle when his father killed his mother and was raised by monkeys. But, from what she could remember, feral children had almost NO communication skills whatsoever, and they rarely ever learned them.

Well, okay, Victor hadn't known much vocabulary either when she had first met him, but he had learned pretty darn fast. `In just a matter of days, really.`

Just then Victor decided to look up and his amber gold eyes met hers.

Her breath caught in her throat and he arched an eyebrow, smirking sexily. She even swore she could hear a slight purr coming her way, teasing her senses.

She felt her knees go weak and she wobbled a little.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to try to steady herself, and when she opened them again she nearly jumped out of her own skin.

Victor was RIGHT THERE, just INCHES away from her face.

She couldn't help it. She yelped.

Immediately, both of Victors arms went around her waist, and he pulled her to him so that her entire weight was pressed against him (he took the weight easily.)

Victors head came forward and bumped hers gently, a very feline show of compassion compounded when he rubbed his bristly cheek against hers, making her giggle. "Like what ya see, mate?"

She was just barely aware of Logan making a strange sound in the background, a cross between amusement and annoyance, and the sound of the children giggling as well.

Cassie didn't know exactly what compelled her to do it; the warmth of his body (the man was like a furnace!) the strong support of his arms, the smell of musk and nature and furs, the feeling of safety she got when she was with him, the way he held her at night…

….but she leaned forward and quickly, chastely, pressed her lips against his.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000

The INSTANT she pressed her lips to his, the feral Sabretooth let out a roar of victory while the more human Victor felt something like bright sunlight, warmth, pouring into his soul, dampening all the pain he had gone through…..lessening all hurt he had suffered.

`More…..` Sabretooth growled and Victor was quick to take advantage, pulling her even tighter against him, pressing his mouth more firmly against hers and thrusting his tongue past the barrier of her lips, kissing her hard… .. ..claiming…..taking….. He was barely aware of the cubs giggles turning into groans of disgust or Jimmys exclamation, he was only paying attention to the heat of her mouth, the feel of her in his arms. One of his hands fisted in her long hair, holding her still to his domination and she sighed into his mouth, going all soft and pliant against him.

It was Jimmys hard punch to his right shoulder that pulled him out of his kiss, making him turn to growl angrily at the Wolverine.

"There are KIDS here, Vic!" Logan exclaimed once he had the Sabretooths attention, backing away quickly, hands up in a surrender position.

Victor let out an annoyed alpha growl, ready to launch himself at his little brother when he felt a tug on his leather pants leg. Looking down, Victor was greeted to the sight of little Roddy staring up at him with blue puckered lips.

Victor nearly fell on his butt, all thoughts of alpha-ness chased from his mind.

VOCABULARY:

MYRIAD: a lot of

PLIANT: bending easily, yielding, flexible

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000

CITATIONS:

Keith, Fritha. "10 Modern Cases of Feral Children." Listverse. Listverseltd, 7 Mar 2008. Web. 27 Jul 2013. /2008/03/07/10-modern-cases-of-feral-children/.

"myriad." Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 27 Jul. 2013. browse/myriad.

"pliant." Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 27 Jul. 2013. browse/pliant.