Part XXXXX

By the time Erik and Emma arrived on the scene, the rain had stopped. In any other circumstance, that might have sounded like good news, but where Storm was concerned? It seemed ominious. Both Hank and Logan were searching the outskirts of the area searching for the newest scents.

Erik started to move toward Hank, but found himself drawn up short by Emma. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the rubble.

"The boy and the infant are both here. Come."

Trusting in Emma's senses, Erik went with her and helped her move some of the rubble. Soon they were able to spot the signs of a doorway leading into the hillside. Redoubling their efforts, they soon had it clear and Erik forced the door open.

Emma stayed back as Erik glanced inside. The interior was pitch black, but he thought he saw a glimmer from the back. He moved inside to search - a moment later, Emma called out a warning, but she was just a little too late.

The warning yell drew both Hank and Logan back to the ruins just in time to see Erik reemerge from the hillside with his right hand and arm dripping blood. Relieved to see Logan, Emma went over to him.

"You'd better be the one to go in there. The child will know your scent as family."

Erik was muttering a few things best left untranslated as Hank moved over to check over his wounds. The boy's needle sharp teeth had bitten down to the bone and his claws had made several deep scratches as well, though they had fortunately missed severing a major artery.

"Why did the boy attack me? He's been around me before."

As Logan headed inside to check on his nephew and niece, Emma was the one to supply the answer.

"He's been around you, but he's still too young to tell who you are by scent. His nose is highly sensitive, but he hasn't got the experience yet to connect the scent to the source, so to speak. Just like if when you were young, you had been taken to a stand full of different fruits. You might have known they were all fruit, but that didn't mean you knew what the differences between them were. The only scents Kamau can really pick out at his level of experience are his blood relatives and the ones with really unique scents, like Doreen with her fur."

Logan came out with the boy and infant in hand - Kamau still had some of Erik's blood on him. Kamau grumbled a bit when Logan gave him a light poke, but he looked up at Erik and said, "Sowwy."

Erik noted the child didn't look particularly sorry, but then he ended up laughing.

"Nothing to be sorry for. You were defending your sister. If I'd had your abilities at your age, I'd have done the same." Or worse….Oh yes, I've done worse when my family was threatened.

Logan studied Erik for a few moments after that comment, then just nodded and turned to Emma.

"Any chance you can get a feel fer where Ro an' Vic are?"

A frown formed as Emma's eyes scanned the area even as she swept it with her mind.

"Victor is as difficult to locate mentally as you are and Ororo has an admirable set of defenses as well. Which would appear to be up if she's in the area. Then again, considering how fast she can fly, she may simply be beyond the range that I am currently searching."

Emma tactfully didn't mention the other reason Ororo's mind might not be active – that possibility was already well-known, but not for consideration. Yet. A brief debate, then she reached out mentally to Hank.

"Hank, I'm not going to say this out loud in front of the children and you're the only non-shielded present. I felt an emotion spike near here that ended nearly as quickly as it began. That will generally indicate one of three things: shielding going into place, unconsciousness or death. I also recently felt... I'm not sure how to describe it. A void is the closest I can come - like something ceased to exist that I wasn't even aware was there until it was gone."

Hank tapped his claw on his chin thoughtfully as Emma gave him her best guess at the direction that latest sensation had come from. Then he turned to Logan.

"Give a call to whoever might be closest so that they can take the youngsters back to one of the settlements. We have a rather formidable group present here for checking out the area, but it would be wiser not to be babysitting during the search."

Logan's immediate reaction was to open his mouth to say something, but whatever he had intended to say caught in his throat as Adimu gave a small squirm in his arms. Instead, he shifted stance and gave out a call to Rahne. The call was seemingly answered before Logan even finished it, but the one making the rapid appearance through the trees wasn't Rahne. It was Doreen, who immediately reached for Adimu. Kamau was already moving toward her. Staying with Doreen was what he usually did when his parents were gone and her side was a comforting presence.

"Cherry's already filled me in on the basics – go. Kamau will help me with his sister."

Whatever Logan said to Doreen went unheard by the others present, but Doreen gave him a concerned smile as she took Adimu from his arms. As soon as the transfer took place, Hank headed off in the direction indicated by Emma with Logan hot on his heels. Erik made a rude noise, but no other comment as he and Emma followed in the pair's wake. Doreen watched until they were gone from sight, then headed back to Reed. They needed to get space ready for Creed's family until their home could be rebuilt.

Hank and Logan had been out of sight ahead of them for around ten minutes when Emma stopped Erik with a slightly upraised hand, then altered their course slightly. Erik gave her a curious glance, but opted to follow her lead without question. Less than two minutes later, he saw the tell-tale white hair up ahead – Storm's back was to them and she was kneeling intently over something. That changed when his foot landed heavily on a dead branch and snapped it.

Storm was on her feet in practically a second. She whirled around, bloodied knife clenched in one hand. Clothing, face – indeed, most of her front – was as bloody as the blade. There was a snarl on her face and her eyes were flashing until a near skeletal hand rose up from the ground and took hold of a piece of the scraps that had once been one of her favorite kaftans. Erik took an involuntary step back – the blood, the stance, the cattish eyes? He suddenly saw in her what Creed had always seen – the lioness beneath.

That side of Storm was no revelation to Emma so she only studied Storm long enough to determine that the vast majority of the blood was not her own. Then her eyes followed the hand down to the rest of the body on the ground. Creed, little doubt. She couldn't think of anyone else unaccounted for that Storm would have been guarding. Leaving Erik behind, she moved over to get a better idea of how she might assist. By that time, Ororo had relaxed back down and resheathed her knife.

To say that Creed looked bad was a gross understatement. His eyes still met hers with something akin to humor in them though and he managed to speak even though his throat was obviously still undergoing major healing. The words were low and hoarse, but understandable.

"Ain't s' bad, Frosty. Trust me – th' other guys look worse. Hope none o' 'em were any that Bucket-brain was too fond of, 'cause I don't think we left much o' 'em behind t' remember 'em by."

Smirking a bit, Storm turned her attention back to her husband, settling back down at his side. Her fingers moved to press together some of the torn areas to give his healing factor a hand. After figuring out her goal, Emma joined in as Erik moved up behind them just in time for Logan and Hank to burst onto the scene. The look of temporary confusion on their faces made it a bit easier for Erik to regain his own composure.

Hank didn't waste long puzzling how they were beaten to the spot, but joined in with checking over the various wounds. Logan stayed on alert, constantly checking the breeze.

"Any left that you know of, 'Ro?"

"The five we encountered are all accounted for, Logan. And won't be bothering anyone again in this lifetime. If there are others who might have held back? No idea. I suppose we should have left one for questioning, but that thought occurred a bit late to be of any practical use."

A growl sounded. At least that's what it sounded like to Erik, but it was obviously more than that as Logan paused his vigil long enough to answer his brother.

"Cubs looked good. They're with Dorrie. Kamau took good care o' th' baby. Even took a bite outta ol' Erik there when he reached a hand in t' check on 'em."

Ororo glanced back over her shoulder at the now-flushed Erik as a hoarse laugh came up from beside her. The gravelly voice followed - still with an uncomfortable amount of amusement in the tone for Erik's liking.

"That's m'cub. You can all stop yer fussin'... ain't nothin' now that a good meal an' sleep won't fix."

Logan moved over and offered Creed a hand up. Emma moved out of the way and, after giving a look of exasperation, Ororo did the same. As Creed sat up, Erik looked over the massive amount of slowly mending wounds.

"Who were the attackers?"

Storm's mouth openly slightly, but a light growl from Creed stopped her from saying anything, though she gave him a quizzical look. He answered her and Erik at the same time.

"You've made th' remark on more than one occassion that you really need t' stop askin' questions you don't really wanna know th' answer to. So think fer a couple o' minutes. However you may or may not o' felt about 'em in th' past? They're dead now. Scavengers are already workin' on what little we left behind. You still curious? Ask us tomorrow. We got baths t' take an' a home t' rebuild."

Creed got to his feet with less than his normal grace, but his stance was steady as he nuzzled against Ororo. Hank and Logan smelled the chance in the air. Taking the hint, they herded the others back toward camp as a warm rain began to fall behind them.

Ororo's mouth found Creed's as the rain began to run down their bodies like red jewels. What scraps of clothing remained were tossed to the side. On the perimeter, a few preditors and a few more scavengers took in the scene. They may have been drawn by the scent of the blood, but even the least intelligent of them knew that, wounded or not, this pair was not safe to tamper with. The preditors moved on, but some of the scavengers remained. Just in case.

Not that either of them paid the least attention to their audience. Their den might have been destroyed, but they had successfully defended their cubs and each other as well as taking out a full measure of vengence against their attackers. It proved to be a potent aphrodisiac - though as Logan had often pointed out, the two of them hardly needed help in that particular department.

Later, as they rested on the ground not far from where they'd begun, Ororo twined her fingers in his damp hair.

"Remember the first time you came to me at the lake?"

"Yeh. Not th' sorta thing I'd be likely t' forget. What of it?"

"I was wrong. I suppose it took me this long because it's hard to recognize something you haven't known before except in a parent-child sort of way. But I love you."

His reaction was a bit bemused as he drew her closer again.

"Damn. How'd that happen?"

That made her laugh even if it did also cause her to take a nip at his nose.

"Hell if I know. What I do know is that I don't need a ceremony to seal our bond unless one would have meaning to you."

"I already have everything that has meanin' t' me. But now that you've said it, I lay claim t' you like I do our cubs. An' Hell better make room for any sorry bastard that tries t' take you from me."

This is the last chapter of Courtship. I hope you've enjoyed the story. The next story arc will hopefully be off the ground in the near future. The current working title for it is : LATEOTW : Growing Pains.