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“What is he doing here?”

Ororo’s voice boomed in the rec. room, shocking everyone into silence and eliciting different reactions all those present.

“Do it Ag…” Rachel stopped mid clap, her young six-year-old face instantly gone pale.

“Uumph….” James lost his balance flopped down onto the ground, too stunned to even notice if he had been hurt.

“Herrree…..rr….” Kendall trailed off as she threw a handful of kernels of popcorn into the air, the fluffy popcorn flying all over the room.

The two adults in the room, Jubilee and Rogue immediately stopped talking, with Rogue even standing up just as she used to do when Ororo was her teacher. Jubilee, who was never too much of ‘good-behavior’ girl in the first place, kept on sitting, coolly regarding the two new arrivals. Inside however, she was seething, needing just one charge to set her off…..and that would come soon enough.

The only other ‘person’ in the room, also stilled at the sudden intrusion, but his shocked state only lasted for a couple of seconds before he reached for the popcorn, his bushy tail wagging against James’s shoulder and cheek making the toddler soon break out into laughter.

-----

Ororo and Scott, both stood there, at the door, watching young James so freely express his emotions. This was such a rare sight for the child that whenever it happened, it was a sight true to behold.

James Logan or James Munroe as he was known after his parents’ separation was an interesting mixture of his parents. Skin and hair color like his mothers, but physical characteristics and hair texture like his dad. Even his emotional and behavior side was very different from his sister. A quiet child from the beginning, he seemed to have both his mother’s control and his father’s introspection. He could sit for hours at end, just playing alone with his toys, observing nature, or just anything around him. Unlike his bold, outgoing natured sister, who, by the time she hit one was already jabbering half way to china, James did not speak until he was almost two years old. That led to some speculation about his mental faculties, which, much to everyone’s relief proved to be false. Things had improved so much since then that Beast, Dr. Henry McCoy couldn’t wait for the kid to turn five to give him an honest to god, Beast sanctioned IQ test.

Seeing the same James like this, laughing his head off and frankly acting like any other goofy, not a care in the world, klutzy four year old made Ororo stop in her step and observe her son. The hair on the dog’s tail tickled his nose, making him first laugh and then let out a loud sneeze. Falling over himself, he lay there on the ground, giggling and laughing away as his canine friend first sniffed him and then lay down quietly by his side, with James quickly throwing his arm over the mutt’s side, his uncontrollable chuckles causing the dog to shake too.

Ororo had seen what he had been doing when she entered the room….sitting astride the dog, riding it like a pony.

----

//Flashback//

“Oooohh…..Pupppee,” six year old Kendall Logan bunched her hands as she leaned against the window of the pet-store, watching the cute newborn Dalmatian puppies inside. Already mesmerized by the black and white dogs, her excitement went up a couple of notches when a particularly adventurous one pup from the litter of four, hobbled over its brethren and trotted over to the window. Jet black eyes stared into deep hazel ones.

“Mommy, Daddee,” Kendall’s cry had the desired effect, sort of, in the way that, in the blink of an eye, her father was by her side, not caring the least bit about the three outdoor restaurant chairs he had just knocked over. He had just stepped into the cigar shop to buy his monthly quota, when his baby girl called out to him…and as far as he was concerned, everyone and everything in the way could go to hell.

Imagine the look on his face on seeing two show haired beauties regarding him with a, *you need to cool it,* look, both of their hands crossed at their chests.

“Logan!”

“Daddee!”

“Hmph. What is it squirt?”

Her father’s theatrics instantly forgotten, Kendall gestured towards the glass partition and the animals behind it. “Pupppee.”

“Yeah. So? Uh, nice doggie.” Logan couldn’t understand what the whole big deal about the stupid dog was. Okay, the kid liked it, fine. As far as he was concerned, you seen one stinkball mutt, who don’t wanna *smell* another.

Looking up at Ororo, he got the, uh oh, look this time as she cradled their son, ‘Cueball jr.’, James Logan. Why couldn’t she just come out and say it? It would make things much easier for him. Hell, unless it was in the bed, he did not want to play twenty questions or hide the money or whatever game women played with their men.

“Want puppeee.” Oh, so that’s what that look meant this time. She was trying to tell him, *your darlin’ daughter is going to ask you to buy that dog. So you better get your ass in gear buster. I have just birthed a second progeny of your demon seed not a year ago, and although I would give my life for these kids, I will just as easily take yours if you dare to bring another mouth to feed and another butt to clean after in our house. Believe me when I day, healing factor not, you will die…painfully.*

That much in that small millimeter high raised eyebrow look. Shit, she could just have easily said that out aloud….and he still wouldn’t have understood it.

“Uh, pumkin’,” Logan looked to Ororo for support, but she was suddenly busy with the four strands of hair that ‘their’ pup had managed to sprout. If it weren’t for the fact that his was the only man’s smell on Ororo and that James’ face was an exact miniaturized copy of his, and the simple fact he had implicit and unshakable trust on Ororo, he would have sworn that kid isn’t his…..and probably would have got his ass busted back to Canada and then some. Looking at Kendall’s long luxurious tresses, at Ororo’s, ooh, tightness in groin, snowy locks and then his own wild forest, he pitied the poor baldheaded freak of his. ‘Kid, just grow some hair. I swear I won’t ask anything else from ya.’

“Daddee, please,” Kendall pouted and batted her lashes in the tried, tested and perfected way to get her father to do whatever she wanted. That particular look of hers had a success rating of 98.8 percent. Too bad this time fell under the remaining 1.2.

“Sorry darlin’ but no can do,” Logan practically had his claws crossed for Ororo to step in and save the day. “We already have one puppy. Ol’ cue-boy here.”

“Logan!” Aha, now she’d talk. ‘Sheer genius Bub. Sheer genius.’ “Kendall dear, what your father is trying to say is that having a dog with young child is not a good thing.”

“Why?” The precocious child was quick to question, looking at her father and not mother for the explanation. ‘cause wasn’t it daddee who said that.

“Uh, why ‘Ro?” Logan didn’t see anything wrong with it. He was, we get the mutt, if he tries anything funny with the kids, I gut him. There, simple as that. Now, where is the problem in keeping a dog with a small child?

Thankfully for him, Ororo had more than enough experience with him, with their daughter and with children in general. For the next five minutes, Logan stood to the side, silently observing, the 'lightening' rising between the mother and the daughter. Until, suddenly…..it frizzled out.

“Okay,” Kendall nodded solemnly. “We won’t get a puppy now.”

Whew.

“But what about when baby James gets older? We can get puppy then. Can’t we?”

The lost puppy look (no punny stuff) caused Logan to finally lose it and blurt out.

“Okay pumkin’. When James starts going to the potty himself, then you can get a puppy.”

“But what if he never starts to go potty himself?”

Shit. “Uh ‘Ro.”

Ororo just sighed and shook her head. “What about three years or potty himself? Whichever comes first.”

“Umm, ok. God promise.”

“Yeah kid. God promise.”

//End Flashback//

-----

“What is…ugh (clears throat) What is he doing here?” Ororo asked, finally finding her voice again.

Before anyone else could say anything, James lifted his head from the black with a patch of white fur on his right eye dog and exclaimed loudly.

“Momma, S’cuter stay with us now?”

“NO.” Ororo flinched at her shot-fire answer, cursing herself as the light in her son’s eyes just blinked out. Every in the mansion knew that although not possessing the feral qualities of his father and sister….yet, James seemed to be more in tune with nature than either of them or his mother. Anything. Flora or fauna, land, water or air, he instantly took the various creatures thee. It wasn’t his mutation presenting itself. It was just….him.

“Yes he is.” Kendall. That was the only other thing that remained to go wrong. Standing up from her sofa seat, Kendall stepped between James, the dog and her mother, her demeanor defiant. Her this type of behavior was increasing with each passing day and Ororo was running out of options on how to handle it….handle her. “Daddy said he is, so he is.” The child ended vehemently.

“Kend….”

“Mama, S’cuter will go away if we not keep him,” James’ spoke up, his voice subdued and forelorn.

“What does that mean?” Ororo turned towards the other two adults in the room. Jubilee was just ignoring her, trying to read whatever magazine she had got her hand on, while Rogue had been silently watched the interaction.

“Logan felt tha children and the dog here a coupla hours ago,” the southerner commented emotionlessly. “Said something came up and he couldn’t keep the children or the mutt.”

Knowing for almost certain what ‘came up,’ Ororo grew silent for a minute. In the last eight and a half months, Logan had never missed a weekend with the kids. Whatever the work, no matter how urgent, it always took a backseat when it came to Kendall and Logan. Except for this weekend…..today. “So, how long is he going to be here?” She gestured towards the dog.

----

Scooter, as Logan had named him, had been a chance discovery. While on his hunt….while on his trip, Logan came across a month old, sickly looking pup. It seems some of the neighborhood children, while playing paintball, had decided to make the ‘white-patch’ dog into one color. In that regard, they shot dozens of blue paintball at him, one of which took the poor critter’s eye out….the same eye as the one with the patch of white fur. Managing to get away, the pup hid in Logan’s jeep and thanks to some judicious territorial pissing by the pup’s other brother and sisters, Logan did not catch his scent for the next half hour, by which time, he was in the middle of nowhere. Remembering his promise to his little girl and with James’s third birthday drawing closer, Logan took care of the mutt. For him the breed of the dog didn’t matter in the least, at least not in front of the smile that would light up his little girl and boy’s eyes. Thinking of a name, he decided to not go with what he had taken to call the dog, ‘shitbag’ and went in for a better, cleaner and more familiar name, Scooter. Scooter for white patch on his right eye, Scooter for one working eye and finally, Scooter for Scott Summers.

Little did Logan know that soon, he wouldn’t be able to see his kid on a daily basis, let alone give the dog to them. In the end, it was only he and his one-eyed mutt left to give each other company, with the kids only being able to see their dad and dog for only two days a month.

“He’s gonna stay here,” Rogue answered, her usual husky drawl absent. “Logan doesn’t want the kids to lose their dog. An’ he knows about yer….” She deliberately let the words hang in the air, accentuating the unspoken ones by darting a glance towards Scott. “He know that ya don’ want the kids to have him. So he’s given Scooter to me and Jubilee. We’ll take care of feedin’ him and he rest of his stuff, the kids can just play with him.”

Scott stood by, silently watching the by now, giant of a dog lolling about as James and even his daughter Rachel played with him. It was clear from the way he reacted towards Rachel that the dog was used be near kids…..but still, he had to contain himself from rushing forward and drawing Rachel away before anything wrong happened. After all, it was a dog, an animal. On the other hand, he was thankful. He hoped that, Rachel would let go of her own puppy and or kitty pleas, now that there was already a dog in the house.

-----

‘What game are you playing Logan?’ Ororo mused as she watched Kendall finally back down and go back to playing with Rachel, James and Scooter.

Looking at the dog and at the children playing with him, only made her think about how Logan had been absent on James’s third birthday…..running after the demons that had haunted him for most of his remembered life, blaming himself for bringing them into the life of his innocent daughter too.

“Ororo,” Scott drew her attention back to the present.
“Yes Scott.”

“Can you look after Rachel for sometime? I need to…..”
“Of course Scott,” she didn’t need for him to say the words that he did not want to say, at least not to her.

“Thanks.”

Looking at Scott walk away down the hall, Ororo smiled ruefully at the complex circle and triangles that their life was….hers, Logan and Scott’s.

That left only one person to complete their circle….the same person Scott was going to talk with…whom he always went to talk with. Even now.

Scott’s first wife. The mother of his daughter….Dr. Jean Grey-Summers.

The late Dr. (Mrs.) Jean Grey-Summers.

Note: How is this for a twist?

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