New Teams, Old Problems

Chapter 5: Dr. McCoy Goes to Washington

Everyone in the mansion knew that Scott's nieces had come to visit because of the loud squealing echoing through the halls that weekend. Both girls loved their little cousins, and the twins could be seen chasing Leslie Ann and Mary Beth into classrooms and around the house all day long before they finally came in for a bite to eat.

Trying to live up to being the oldest in the group, Leslie Ann was making sandwiches for everybody as Mary Beth got out the juice boxes that Scott kept stocked in the pantry just for them, while the twins had noticed Tyler studying in the corner — he'd been sitting there working on some biology homework since just after breakfast — and climbed up into his lap to keep him company. Charlie even pretended to read to him, pointing at the pages and making up nonsense.

When Logan walked in from having been out in the garage wrenching on his bike, he had to step around the kids on his way to wash up, his hands half covered in dirty oil. He glanced over at Leslie Ann where she was working away and looking a bit down. "You alright, kiddo?" he asked as he scrubbed the oil off under the steaming hot water. "You look like someone kicked your dog."

"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied a bit sullenly.

He frowned and finished cleaning himself up before he leaned against the counter and watched her for a moment. "Where'd you get the shiner, sweet-pea?"

She self-consciously rubbed the back of her hand close to her black eye and scuffed the ground with her foot. "Couple boys at school were telling lies, and they didn't like it when I told them to shut up," she explained.

Which was the perfect reason for Mary Beth to slide up to helpfully proclaim, "Leslie Ann got in a fight!"

"What were they sayin', darlin'?" Logan asked as he sat down nearby, his chin in the palm of his hand and his focus fully on her.

"Stupid stuff," Leslie Ann said, still frowning. "They were saying stupid stuff about the kids at the school, and about the X-Men, and I tried to tell them they were wrong, but they just laughed at me, so I ... I punched one of them."

He extended his hand, palm up. "Let me see your hand," he said. "The one you hit him with."

Leslie Ann very quietly shuffled over and let him see, all the while muttering, "He deserved it."

Logan rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, where there was all kinds of bruising, nodding his head to himself. "You hit him a couple'a times, didn't you?" he asked, smirking slightly as she nodded. "Sounds to me like he asked for it."

"That's what I told Dad, but he said I still shouldn't hit people even if they're stupid," Leslie Ann muttered.

Logan had to smirk a little wider at that before he pulled her over and gave her a hug. "If you spent your time hittin' stupid people you'd be worn down by lunchtime."

"Yeah, but - they're just so..." Leslie Ann fell into a glare and harrumphed, her arms over her chest.

"You did alright," he said with a little laugh. "He hit you, and that's probably why your dad wasn't madder. Did you hit him first or the other way around?"

She scuffed the ground with her shoe again. "I hit him first," she admitted before she very quickly added, "But he shoved me!"

"Then you didn't hit him hard enough." He said with a little sparkle in his eyes. "Any boy that hits a girl should have his teeth knocked down his throat."

Leslie Ann nodded her agreement very fervently. "I only lost 'cause his friend pulled me off of him," she admitted with a bit of relish in her tone.

"Sounds like his buddy had it comin' too," Logan said. "But ..." He took a breath. "You shouldn't get into fights at school. Even if they're dead wrong about us. Dumb as it can be sometimes, everyone's got a right to their opinion, and they got a right to show how stupid they are."