Chapter 20

"Damn, runt, only four hours behind her. That's gotta be a record."

If Logan was looking for hospitality, he wasn't going to get it. Especially not at six in the goddamn morning before Victor even drank his token coffee.

With that thought, he led the younger feral to the kitchen, bypassing the living room where Laura still slept. Torturing the runt was one thing, but there wasn't any point in torturing himself.

"Heh. Thought I'd be having to shovel up guts once Con got ahold of ya. He hates cats, and I can't stand your stink on a good day. I hurried," Logan said.

"I'm touched," Victor sneered, "Lucky for you, the mutt and I came to an understanding."

Victor made a show of starting the single cup coffee maker before rounding on the other man.

"Now, what in the actual fuck are you doing here?"

Logan always let the brat stew for several days before fetching her, and he never trekked all the way here. Laura hadn't even slept off her adrenaline crash yet. Something was up, and invading Victor's house was a power play, not a social call.

The younger feral wasn't weather worn and bedraggled as Laura had been, but even Victor could see the weariness in his posture. The scent of underlying illness was also more prominent than it had been a month ago. That just served to piss Victor off, and he nearly missed what the runt said.

"Chuck and I have a plan, but you have to agree to it."

Neither of them were the type to beat around the bush. At least that hadn't changed.

Victor snorted. "I ain't helping you or your merry band of idiots."

"Not me," Logan clarified, "Laura."

Well, damn.

Logan had learned a new way to get under his skin. Victor would help if affected the kid, and the X-Men bastards knew it. This was why he'd avoided the whole family thing after Jimmy left; it was nothing but trouble. Instinctively, Victor, wanted to tell him to fuck off. He held his tongue long enough to at least learn what Logan was getting at.

"She's not going to stop running off up here. For some unfathomable reason, she likes your sorry ass," Logan continued.

Victor didn't get it either but had decide to stop questioning it. Kids were weird.

"She's probably just tired of yours."

The other feral ignored the return jab.

"Whoever was running that lab wants her back. Apparently, the one you busted wasn't the primary operation. It's not damned safe for her to be running around alone for weeks on end, in the first place. And now, she's back on their radar."

Here it was. The big picture came into focus. The runt had intel and was going to ask him to help take out the whole operation. And he'd do it in a heart beat, for free no less, damn him.

"So, Chuck set up a schedule."

Victor blinked.

Well, that was fucking presumptuous. He hadn't answered to anyone setting a timetable in decades, and he wasn't about to start now.

The younger feral pulled a battered piece of paper from his coat pocket and handed it over.

Victor's brow furrowed the dates scribbled down. The highlighting mostly corresponded with major holidays. What the hell?

"It's her school schedule with the holidays marked in. You pick her up on the dates in yellow. Bring her back in the dates in blue. We made up a few when there was a gap big enough for her to get restless."

The runt was asking him to... babysit? What the ever-loving fuck?

"What about those lab fuckers?" Victor asked, glancing up from the makeshift calendar.

"We're on it. You're not invited." Logan smiled, nastily.

Victor glared back at the crumpled paper.

"You've heard of computers, right? Cell phones? You could have fucking wrote. Called. Instead you show up here."

Had he just practically suggested they sync their Google calendars? What the hell was his life coming to?

He latched on to something else the other man had said, wanting to regain control of the situation, "Pick up?"

"Or I bring her. We alternate." Logan shrugged. "We'll figure it out."

Victor growled, lowly.

"Laura! Quit faking being asleep and get the hell in here!"

The girl complied, bright-eyed and mutt in tow.

"You want this?" Victor asked, thrusting the crumpled paper out to her.

Laura took it, concentrating to decipher his brother's scribble. After a moment, she nodded, handing the paper back to him.

It was a terrible idea that went against everything Victor had been working toward for decades.

"Looks like I got her for the next two weeks. Get the hell out of my house."

This wasn't what he'd signed up for when he found the girl, but this... this could work.