What If? Episode 907

Busted

New Year's came and went without any real fanfare. Logan and Scott did, however finally get out to do some ice fishing before school started up. And though Scott was happy to get his line in the water again - he wasn't exactly tickled with their bare bones setup. He should have known. It wasn't like Logan was really big on gear anyhow- so to find that the man's idea of a perfectly workable tip up was one sitting on open ice, totally unprotected from the wind and weather should not have been a surprise.

Still, he didn't feel right about asking for an ice shanty. Not when it hadn't passed Scott's notice that Logan had not gone back to work since his return from his secret adventure that Logan had refused to tell him about. Captain Rogers was right. His storytelling skills when he didn't want to discuss something was absolutely abysmal. He didn't really feel like he could even bring up the issue of money to Logan either. Not yet. Maybe not ever. At least - not until he could contribute too.

But Scott knew something was going to have to happen. It had been over a month since Logan had worked with the crew and Scott did not want to see Logan go into that stupid fight bracket again.

On top of that, it had been pretty clear to Scott when they were in the woods after the attack that Logan felt the pain plenty. He had to ... the way Logan was wincing as he'd addressed his injuries was not something Scott was going to forget any time soon. He couldn't imagine that level of pain - or how the hell Logan had managed to just stay awake through it. There was a reason most people didn't live through injuries like that, and Scott was convinced that he'd seen Logan flinch from time to time as if one of his healed wounds was still hurting. But he didn't feel comfortable asking much about that either.

Learning that Logan was a mutant was both freeing but also made things a lot rougher to deal with in other ways. Where was the line of what was okay to ask and what wasn't? How ... personal was it considered to ask questions on his particular mutation... it wasn't even like the laser face thing he did ... not really. It seemed awfully personal. And awkward. And for as curious as Scott was ....

"Hmm," Logan said suddenly, a flyer in his hand that he'd picked up with the mail. Scott glanced up quickly, trying to decide the best way to approach the subject without crossing any lines. Or ... maybe crossing them a little bit. But before he could, Logan dropped the flyer in the trash and just went about his business.

Scott let out a breath of relief and went back to his over break reading assignment until Logan spoke up. "Probably gonna miss the game next weekend," he said casually, though Scott knew exactly what the trouble was.

"Weekend job in the woods?" Scott asked hopefully - since, rumor was out that the lumber crews were going to be moving again while the ground was frozen solid.

"Not yet, no. Not 'til they get moving again," Logan said - and that at least got a little breath of relief out of Scott. That meant that Logan was at least going back to work, so ....

"Then what's going on?" Scott asked with a frown, hoping that the honesty policy was a two way street.

"Got another fight bracket lined up," Logan said in an unconcerned tone. "Don't worry about it though. It's not going to be a big deal."

And there was the lie. "That's really not what the word is around town," Scott said. "I know a lot of those guys are looking to get back at you."

Logan just shrugged one shoulder. "They can want a lot of things," he said. "Doesn't mean it's gonna happen."

"You don't know that you'll win for sure," Scott said, but then immediately straightened up when Logan turned around to give him the full power of a frown.