A/N: yeah sorry about the wait on this one, I had such bad writer's block on it :( but now I have covid so lots of isolation time! gets ya thinking, y'know


Getting Avenger Mansion to be the "safe location" Tara had arranged for Logan's World of Wishes visit was 100% worth it to see the realization hit Logan's face as she pulled the car to a stop in front of their gates.

"Tara…" Logan growled, turning to glare at her.

Tara merely raised her eyebrows innocently as if waiting for him to actually verbalize a question. "You didn't want a hospital. This isn't a hospital."

"No, this is worse." His complaint was empty and they both knew it. The mansion was likely one of the most secure locations she could've arranged for a meeting. And it indeed was not a hospital.

"You'll survive." She lowered her driver's side window to speak into the metal call-box at the gate. "Hey JARVIS, it's Tara Knight with Logan Howlett."

"Greetings, Ms. Knight. You are free to enter, but Mr. Stark would like to ensure that Mr. Howlett knows to, and I quote, 'keep his claws off the curtains.'" If an AI could sound tired, Tara was sure JARVIS would be the first to accomplish it.

"Remind me again why I haven't gutted that little shit," Logan grumbled as the gate opened and Tara drove them into the garage underneath the manor.

She shrugged. "When he's not busy pissing you off, he annoys everyone else and it's extremely entertaining?" The surly man next to her simply harrumphed in response, and Tara grinned, knowing he begrudgingly agreed with her. "Alright, time to shine! Don't want to make the kiddo wait."

Logan was fairly moody the entire walk into the mansion and through the foyer to one of the meeting rooms, but the moment he stepped into the room, his entire demeanor changed. He pulled his shoulders back slightly, pulled the toothpick from his mouth and slipped it into his jeans pocket, and even smoothed the majority of his ire from his expression.

Tara had seen the change before during her visits to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters whenever the bell signaled that class was in session, but it filled her with pride to watch Logan do the same to meet one of her World of Wishes kids.

To her surprise, Jeremy had been in conversation with a casually dressed Captain America of all people when they walked in, but the moment he caught sight of Logan, he jumped from his seat with a grin.

"No way!" He crowed. "You actually came! Oh my god oh my god, I can't believe it!" He held out his hand for Wolverine to shake, having to lift it above his head due to their height difference. Logan huffed but smirked as he firmly shook Jeremy's hand.

Mutants were still widely hated enough that supporting them was an evenly split moral and political issue. Tara thought it was all a load of bullshit, but it's also why she was likely chosen to be the liaison more often for mutant public figures. Safer for everyone involved if the liaison was someone who treated them just like everyone else.

It's also the reason Captain America sent her an apologetic smile that passed more as a grimace. "Just here to chaperone," he murmured lowly after moving to stand next to her near the doorway.

Tara fixed him with an unimpressed stare. "Better you than some of the others," she replied flatly.

It was true though– there were many Avengers that Logan barely tolerated, and more so that he couldn't stand at all. Steve Rogers was one of the few that Tara hadn't heard true grievances about from the grizzly Canadian.

The two of them kept to the side of the room as Jeremy bounced around Logan. Her part of the job mainly ended at the doorway; now she was just on hand to ensure things ran smoothly. With a private meeting like this, it essentially meant she was able to get some remote work done. Reports and press releases didn't write themselves.

It turned out to be much more difficult to focus with a hovering super soldier at her shoulder.

Jeremy and Logan had ended up wandering to the manor's large kitchen, where a large mound of dough sat on the counter surrounded by several rolling pins and a pile of cookie cutters.

"The cutters are hero symbols!" Jeremy announced with a grin as he spread them out so Logan could see them all. "Look, I even found an X-Men one!"

Logan chuckled quietly. "That's cool, kiddo. It your favorite one?"

The boy nodded rapidly. "Only because they don't have ones for each of you yet. Then I'd definitely get the Wolverine one."

Logan's gaze flicked over to Tara, and he tilted his head towards the dough once he saw she was paying attention. Ever since they had moved to the kitchen, Tara expected this to come up. Considering it was dough and they were relatively alone, she gave him a thumbs up.

The mutant turned back towards his wisher. "I've got something far better than a cookie cutter." With a sharp flick of his wrists ("did it to excite the kid," he'd later grumble), three long, sharp claws erupted from between the knuckles on the hand furthest away from Jeremy.

Jeremy's eyes went wide. "No way…"

Logan cleanly cut through the dough, horizontally so he wouldn't break the countertop.

"Awesome," the boy breathed quietly before he became reenergized and began bouncing in excitement. "What else can you cut? Ooh, how about this?" He scrambled to offer one of the heavy wooden rolling pins to Wolverine.

Logan glanced over at Tara with a smirk. "Bill it to Stark," he said, and then returned to entertaining young Jeremy as the visit quickly turned into a game of 'see what Wolverine can cut through.'

Tara sighed as she started a list of everything they'd need to replace. This might turn out to be one of her most expensive cases yet.

She watched as the limousine left the private drive and the manor grounds' gates shut behind it before turning back toward the open door. "You can both come out now," she called, lips curling in amusement as both men who'd been shadowing her stepped out of the manor wearing similar hooded jackets and baseball caps. "Love the matching outfits. You even color-coordinated!"

Logan growled and pushed her shoulder to get her to start moving. "Start moving."

Steve paused to help steady Tara, despite her waving him off as she laughed. "He agreed to try out a coffee shop nearby."

"I hope you're not too attached. He's going to get us kicked out for smoking."

"What did you get?" Tara peeked into their mugs as the two men returned to the booth she'd snagged but was unable to tell the flavors based on color alone. Their drinks were equally dark and murky.

"Black," Logan muttered, sliding in to sit next to her. For such a large man, he was surprisingly agile.

"Just like at the front," Steve added as he took up the seat across from them, and the two raised their drinks in a lazy salute.

"Could not be me," Tara shuddered. "I'll stay with my sugary delights, thank you very much." She took a lingering sip as both stared at her like she'd turned green. "How do you think I have the energy to deal with all of this?"

"Good point," Steve allowed.

Logan shrugged. "You didn't have to be here," he pointed out to Tara.

"It's free entertainment for me."

Steve finally laughed, his hand coming up to rest on his chest as he leaned back into the action. "Fair enough. I haven't seen the old man here in a while. Never pass up an opportunity to shoot the shit with him."

Tara gasped at hearing a swear fall from the hero's mouth. "I knew it! Tony owes me fifty bucks."

Logan snorted, setting down his coffee to rummage around in his jacket. "Rogers was in the army and Stark thought he didn't have a dirtier vocabulary than the rest of us?"

"Hey!" Steve pointed a finger at him. "No one can out-cuss you, Howlett."

"Fury," he replied. Tara didn't understand, but Steve easily accepted it. "Barnes gave it a good shot, too."

Barnes, Bucky. Officially MIA as of February 1, 1945. Unofficially… Tara had recently been in the same room with him as he told war stories to the grandson of one of his fellow Howling Commandos'.

"I heard he met with one of your wish-kids," Steve continued, and it took an extra moment for Tara to realize he was talking to her. "How… how was he?"

Tara stared at him hesitantly. "Are you not in contact with him?" She didn't want to be known for spreading people's business or tattling to heroes about every under-the-radar figure she met with. She wasn't about to start tearing down the respect that she'd just begun building up.

Steve cringed. "It's complicated."

Tara smiled sympathetically. "Everything in this business seems to be," she agreed. "If that's the case here though, I suggest you ask Natasha for an update instead. I don't want to make a habit of answering questions like that because the asks will quickly become bigger and more along the lines of snitching."

The blond clearly wasn't a fan of her response but settled for merely pursing his lips. "Even if someone's in danger?"

"Sure, jump to an obvious exception…" Tara rolled her eyes. "I have Magneto, the Professor and Tony on speed dial. Between one of them, the correct group to respond will be alerted."

Steve looked like he was about to argue, but Logan let out a low growl and set down his drink with a heavy thud.

"Watch it, Rogers," he warned.

Tara rolled her eyes and nudged him in the side with her elbow. "I don't need you to protect me from everything, Logan. As for your mutual friend," she proceeded cautiously. "He told a fair amount of war stories. There was one about a tank that was a particular favorite."

Steve chuckled, still clearly disheartened that she gave him such impersonal information, but glad for anything he could get. "Could be any number of stories when you put it like that." He sat silently for a moment, brow furrowed in thought, but then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and a napkin stamped with the logo of the coffee shop they sat in. Tara watched in confusion as he scribbled a number on it. "You seem to be doing good work, Ms. Knight. If you've got any numbers left for speed dial, here's an extra option in case Tony puts JARVIS on 'do not disturb' again." He slid her his phone number and stood up, coffee in hand. "Poker next week?" He pointed at Logan.

The older man gave him a shrug and a grunt, but Steven seemed to take it in the affirmative. With a lazy salute to his former brother-in-arms and a nod to Tara, he left the shop.

"Got golden boy's number, didja?" Logan asked once the door was shut and the super soldier was out of earshot.

Tara glared at him as she tucked the piece of paper safely away. "There a problem with that?"

He smirked and met her stare as he took a long sip of his coffee.

"Oh fuck off," she scoffed.

"Careful," he grinned. "You're starting to sound like me."