Jonny started awake with a whimper. Something was *touching* him something was *on* him get it off get it *off*...

He hit out, and a pained yelp pulled him the rest of the way out of sleep. Oh, bugger. He'd kicked Kyle again. "Sorry," he murmured. His voice sounded funny in his own ears. Sort of... hollow. Still. A lot of things felt and sounded strange here.

"Ow!" Kyle sat up, rubbing his elbow and giving Jonny a wounded look. Someone less familiar with the odd, bony face and slit-pupiled yellow eyes might have classified the look as 'sharp as a teaspoon', but Jonny was getting the hang of his cellmate's visual cues, and this one was the what-did-you-do-that-for-you-crazy-Brit look.

"Sorry," he said again, sitting up too and reaching over to give Kyle's bony shoulder a little pat. "Dream." He didn't have to specify that it had been a *bad* dream. There wasn't any other kind here.

Kyle nodded, making a little barking noise that usually meant 'that's okay' or 'you didn't mean it'. Jonny smiled wearily. "Thanks. Wanna sleep some more?"

Kyle shook his head, dirty blond hair flopping into his eyes, and settled into an odd sitting position that balanced most of his weight on his tailbone. "Wasn't sleeping. Was thinking."

Jonny blinked. Kyle spent a lot of time gazing thoughtfully into the middle distance, but he rarely talked about it. "Thinking 'bout anythin' special?"

"This place," Kyle said thoughtfully. "It's in America. I figured that out." He gave Jonny a considering look. "I'm Canadian. But that's still pretty close. You're from England. That's a lot further away."

This was a staggeringly long speech, from Kyle. Jonny followed it through, filling in the skipped bits in his head. "Yer worried," he said slowly. "'Cause bringing a Canadian into the US, that's not a big leap, but bringin' in a Brit... this isn't just a local organization. This is something big."

Kyle nodded. "Bad sign," he said thoughtfully, curling up on the floor and resting his chin on his toes.

Jonny nodded, reaching out to scritch behind Kyle's ear. His friend made a happy noise. "Very bad." He bit his lip. "You think... they'll kill us?"

Kyle tilted his head a little, so the scratch found an itchy spot. Jonny liked the cute-puppy act, so Kyle played it up for him. Look at me, I'm just a big ol' friendly doggy, not anything scary or dangerous, just a big blond Rover. Woof. "Dunno." He gave his friend a long look. Tall he might be, but if Jonny was more than thirteen or fourteen he'd eat his toe claws. Kyle didn't know how old he was, anymore... he didn't remember much of anything anymore that didn't have to do with the Facility... but he was pretty sure he was older than that. So, older than Jonny, and not nearly as beautiful, even with the funny thing strapped to his chest. Guess who *wasn't* the vulnerable one in the pairing. "I'll fight 'em if they try," he said comfortingly, giving Jono's knee a pat.

Jonny nodded. He still got jumpy if anyone else touched him, or if something touched him while he was asleep, but Kyle was in many ways so profoundly nonhuman that it just didn't matter. He fell into the same catagory as something furry jumping into your lap, not.... anything else. Besides, it was hard to be intimidated by someone who flopped on his back and made happy growly noises if you scratched his head. "Good."

Kyle nodded, and rested his chin on his feet again. He blew air out through his nose thoughtfully. He hadn't wanted to worry Jonny, but he'd been smelling far fewer scents in the air lately. Almost all the Subjects were gone, the Scientists were fewer, and so were the guards...

That was different. That was new. And anything new, in a place like this, was almost certain to be bad, sooner or later.

Especially the part where they were getting rid of Subjects. That really wasn't good, if you were one of the few... or two... Subjects left.

* * *

"COOL!!"

Scott winced a little at the loud shriek that issued from an upstairs window, and peeked a bit nervously through the front door. Anything that got Annie that excited would have to be...

... a sleek, shining black convertible, glistening venomously in the drive. Scott tried not to salivate. It was beautiful, it was perfect, it gave the impression of speed even while standing still, it was a glittering, wicked beauty of a car-

~Scott? You're panting, love....~ Jean giggled, coming up behind him and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Uh-huh..." Scott said weakly, from the depths of the wildest mechanical lust he'd experienced since he'd first seen his beloved bike. The car was just *sitting* there, in the drive, begging to be taken out on the road.... ooohhhhhh...... the temptation......

There was a smug chuckle from an inconsequential humanoid blur somewhere to his left. "Like th' car, huh, one-eye?"

"Guh...." Scott said dazedly, some strange force dragging him bodily down the steps towards the car. He didn't fight it. Hello, beautiful.... don't mind me, I'm just drooling over that perfect body... itching to caress that beautiful steering wheel...

Jean chuckled ruefully, watching her fiance circle the car with an adoring look on his face. "You know, I honestly think that if Logan had given Scott a choice before he took off the first time, Scott would really have been torn between letting him take the bike, or just steal me."

Creed gave her a long, considering look. "'s a nice bike," he said thoughtfully, clearly understanding Scott's potential dilemma.

"He might take a leaf out of Logan's book, you know," Jean grinned. Scott was leaning over to look inside the car, making little happy noises.

"And get his blood all over the all-leather interior?" Creed said brightly. "Nah. HEY, GIRLS! GET IN THE DAMN CAR ALREADY!!"

Annie and Clarice zipped through the front door, flinging their dufflebags into the back of the car with an abandon that made Scott cry out an anguished warning to be CAREFUL of the leather! "We're ready, Dad!" Annie crowed, vaulting into the front passenger seat. "Where'd you get the car?"

"Outta storage." Creed ambled down the steps, giving the car a fond little pat. "Haven't driven her in a while."

"It's pretty," Clarice said admiringly. Behind his glasses, Scott gave her a horrified look. Pretty? PRETTY? Was she BLIND? This car wasn't *pretty*, it was lust on wheels!

Annie patted the side of the car, getting sticky fingerprints on the perfect gleam of the paintwork. Scott whimpered under his breath. "'s cool. And shiny."

Creed nodded, sliding into the car and curling his fingers lovingly around the wheel. "Well, I can't take both o' you on the bike," he shrugged. He glared at Scott until he moved a few more inches away from the car, then peeled out of the drive, barely giving Annie time to wave before they were gone in a flurry of gravel.

"I want a car like that one," Scott said forlornly, watching it go.

"Maybe the Professor will buy you one for your birthday," Jean said comfortingly, struggling not to collapse in hysterical laughter right there in the drive.

Scott brightened a bit. "You think so?" he said hopefully.

Jean collapsed into hysterical laughter right there in the drive.

* * *

Kyle had paced the length of the cell more times than he could count, tried to sleep, failed, and paced again until his paws hurt before Jonny was brought back.

He was pushed into the cell, too groggy to walk alone, and he crumpled on the floor, curling up into a tight little ball. The guard snickered. "Tired out, huh? Too b-" The smirk dropped off his face as Kyle lunged at him, snarling. "Shit!" The cell door slammed shut.

Kyle growled again, keeping it up until the footsteps were well down the hall. Then the growl softened to a gentle grumble of concern, and he nudged gently at his friend. "Jonny?"

Jonny whimpered, curling up tighter. Kyle reached out, smoothing his hair gently. "Is okay," he said softly. "Is just me. Dog boy. On guard."

Jonny lifted his head, biting his lip hard enough to draw a drop of blood, tears still trickling down his cheeks. "K-K-Kyle?"

Kyle nodded, judging that the time was right to hug his friend gently. "You okay?"

Jonny didn't hug back, but he didn't pull away, either. "There was... more tests," he said slowly, unhappily. "I don't know what they want... I'd tell them what they wanted to know, 'f I just knew what it is...."

Kyle shrugged, automatically rocking a little. "Tests," he said, a wealth of disdain in the word. "Who knows what they want? 's all just tests." He smoothed the matted hair gently. "Guard try anything?"

Jonny shuddered convulsively, but shook his head. "Just.... said some stuff..." he whispered.

"Ehn." Kyle shrugged, giving his friend one last hug then letting go, curling up beside him in his best Faithful Hound impression. "Too scared to do more'n say. I'd get 'em, elsewise."

Jonny nodded, resting an absent hand on Kyle's curved back. It was funny... before he'd come here, he hadn't been much of a touchy person, especially not with other guys. His parents hadn't been huggy types, especially not his father, and it just didn't feel quite right. And after... what had happened... he'd been firmly convinced that he never wanted to come into physical contact with another human being ever again. For some reason, though, Kyle's combination of amiable acquaintance and golden retriever had Jonny scritching behind his ears, ruffling his hair and, on several occasions, using him as a foot rest. There'd been a hug or two, and that had made him a bit nervous, but.. well... to put it mildly, Kyle smelled pretty damn doggy, and there was nothing like a lungful of unwashed pooch to take your mind off certain things.

Kyle snuffled softly, and Jonny smiled. Leaning back against the wall, he closed his eyes, and for once he didn't stir even when Kyle apparently got sick of his own feet, and rested his chin on Jonny's knee.

* * *

Clarice kicked thoughtfully at the back of Annie's seat. "Where are we going?" she ventured. She'd wondered about that, but hadn't quite dared to ask, in case someone decided she couldn't go after all.

"I dunno. Dad, where are we going?" Annie asked, poking her father gently with one clawed finger. "We're going the wrong way for th' city."

"I rented a cabin," he grunted, batting at her hand in a pleased sort of way. "Lotsa.... trees to climb, and stuff."

"Ooh. Yay!" Annie bounced. "And bunnies?"

Creed nodded. "You can catch yer own breakfast, lunch, 'n dinner if you want," he said, reaching over to ruffle her curly hair. Clarice went a bit pale, and he tossed a glance at her over his shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. Got some ordinary stuff fer you."

"Oh. Thank you," Clarice said politely.

Creed shrugged. Obviously he had to feed the kid. He'd..... well.... in a vague sort of way, taken responsibility for her. Just for the weekend. So, obviously, food had to be provided. "Hope ya like stuff in cans."

Clarice nodded. She'd lived on the streets long enough not to be a picky eater. "Is there any canned spaghetti?" she asked hopefully.

"I think so." Creed shrugged again, wondering if he'd gotten enough stuff. He'd gotten what would be about enough for Annie, and Annie ate more than most human adults. Fast metabolism, or something.

"If there is, I want some too." Annie leaned over her door, so the wind riffled through her hair. "Go fast!"

Without any conscious thought, Creed's hand flashed out and jerked Annie back down into her seat. "Don't do that!" he growled. "And put on yer seatbelt!"

"But-"

"You wanna get pulled up?" he demanded. "'Cause if a cop sees you hangin' out of the car like that-"

"Oh, okay." Annie pouted, but buckled her seatbelt. Clarice had already buckled herself in, Creed noted gratefully, and hadn't pushed the sash part of the belt down around her waist, the way Annie immediately did.

HE wasn't buckled in, of course, but that was neither here nor there.

"I'm bored," Annie said, after a minute. "Are we gonna do anything interesting?"

Creed rolled his eyes. "Put on the radio if yer bored," he said, before he thought. "Aw, no....."

It was over an hour before he and Annie managed to agree on a station... classic rock, something they could sing along to, loudly and out of tune. Clarice just sat in the back, being nice and quiet like a good girl.

After a while, it occured to him that Clarice might also be bored. Fortunately, there'd been an officiously helpful shop assistant in the store where he'd stocked up on supplies, and she'd inadvertently saved herself from an early grave by making a couple of suggestions about little girls and long car trips. "Hey, Clarice. Bored?"

She nodded. She really was a surprisingly cute kid.... she had this serious, wise little look which he, for one, considered a lot more appealing than the empty-headed expression you got on most kids. "A little. But I don't mind."

Creed smiled, a rather fearsome expression. "There's a bag on the seat beside you," he directed. "Got some stuff for you to keep busy with."

Clarice blinked, but obediently dug around in the bag. Paperback books, some legos, some felt-tip pens, some crayons and..... ooh. Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh! She grabbed the colouring book and dug through the crayons to find the pink. That was the reliable thing about Barbie colouring books. You definitely needed the pink.

Much later, after they'd had dinner (stew) and gotten ready for bed (washed off any obvious sticky bits) Creed leaned back in his armchair and silently congratulated himself on the marshmallows. Oh, sure, they'd hit Annie like a ton of bricks at around two am tomorrow morning, but as long as she didn't wake him or Clarice up - and she'd promised she wouldn't - he didn't really care. Annie was perfectly capable of amusing herself for a few hours, and she might even bring him back a rabbit.

The girls were both sitting crosslegged on the worn rug in front of the fireplace, toasting their marshmallows with the assiduous care that seemed to come naturally to both of them. Clarice was eating only pink marshmallows, Annie only white. Good thing he'd gotten a mixed bag. Also a good thing that he loathed the things himself, or there might have been a brawl over them.

"It'll catch fire if you do that," Annie said warningly, as Clarice's marshmallow got too close to the flames.

"Oh. Okay." Clarice pulled it back a centimetre or two. "This is fun."

"And tasty." Annie already had a sticky ring around her mouth. She was as messy an eater as he was, her father thought rather proudly. "But yeah, definitely fun. Are you having fun, Dad?"

Creed shrugged, and sipped his beer. "I ain't hatin' it," he conceded. He watched the girls pick at the sticky, melty things with apparent contentment, kept perfectly happy for the whole evening by a dollar-fifty worth of candy. Hah. This kid thing wasn't so hard.

* * *

The next morning, he decided that he was sticking by his assessment. Kids were easier to handle than pretty much anything else he'd tried to cope with, up to and including household pets. They didn't pee in the corners, they could feed themselves if he left food where they could reach it, and if he was cranky he could tell them to piss off until lunchtime... and they *did*. He could definitely get used to this.

"AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGHH!!"

He looked up.

"IT'S OKAY, DAD! IT WAS ONLY A SNAKE, AND I MUSHED IT!!"

He smiled contentedly and went back to drinking his beer and watching a squirrel try to decide if it was worth getting close enough to him to steal some of the nuts the girls had left at the other end of the porch. Yep, this parenting thing was a cinch.

Some time later, the girls pelted around the corner of the cabin and jumped on him. "Dad, Dad, guess what we did!?" Annie yelled happily, bouncing around on him as if he was a springboard.

Creed took in the water all over them, the muddy feet, and the fish hanging from Annie's hand. "Tapdanced?"

"Only if what Clarice did when she saw the snake counts," Annie said, grinning. "We caught a fish! Well, we caught two, but one was really little so I just et it right away. I got a bone stuck in my teeth, but Clarice pulled it out for me."

"Annie caught them, really," Clarice said honestly, hanging off his arm and getting his sleeve damp and muddy. "But I helped."

"She laid on a rock and dibbled a stick in the water so they'd come up to the top," Annie agreed. "Can we have our fish for lunch?"

"Sure," Creed said agreeably. Fresh fish was pretty good, and they could always cook some of it for Clarice. "What else?"

"Lucky Charms!"

"Carrots!"

"Okay," he agreed, since that sounded pretty well balanced to him. "But I'm havin' steak."

* * *

Scott was waiting on the steps when they got back, ostensibly because he wanted to make sure everything was all right before he let the girls go to class. And, he admitted privately, because he wanted to see the car again.

He nearly screamed when it pulled up, dusty, dirty, with a chip in the paintwork and two grubby kids climbing all over the seats. But he wasn't called 'fearless leader' for nothing, and none of his wounded horror showed in his voice. "Annie? Clarice? Did you have fun?"

"Yeah!" Annie rocketed out of the car without bothering to open a door, and hugged him happily. She smelled of pine needles and mud and what Scott suspected was three days of only washing the obviously sticky bits. "We climbed trees and chased stuff and I caught fish and Clarice nearly caught a bunny and Dad let us eat anything we wanted to and we had at least one vegetable every day like you said and can I be a little bit late for English class 'cause I REALLY need a shower and I know the play anyway?"

Scott chuckled. "I think you'd better," he said mildly. "Clarice?"

"I had one this morning," Clarice said in an unusually cheerful voice, being hoisted out of the car like a sack of potatoes by an amused-looking Creed. "There was only enough hot for one person."

"Oh." Scott decided not to inquire further. "Did you have fun too?"

Clarice nodded, her pale little face more animated than he'd ever seen it. "It was great! There were hundreds and thousands of trees, and we could make as much noise as we wanted to!"

"Spent one whole mornin' racing around in th' woods shrieking like banshees," Creed noted, tossing the dufflebags out of the car. He, too, looked happier than Scott had ever seen him, most of the tense suspicion gone from his body-language. On second thought, though, that was perfectly reasonable... after a weekend with Annie, especially if she'd been allowed to eat whatever she wanted, 'tense' was a far less likely option than, say 'limp as a cooked noodle'.

Annie nodded. "We were being wolves," she explained. "Only howling's a lot harder than it sounds."

"I'm sure it is." Scott smiled and shooed the girls gently. "Go upstairs and get cleaned up," he said firmly. "I'll get your bags."

"Okay!" They scampered off, and he gave the car a yearning look. He wanted to take it into the garage and wash it off and polish it carefully and sponge all the dust and dirt off the leather and buff each and every bit of chrome until it was perfect again.

Creed grinned at him. "Nice, huh?" he said proudly.

"Yeah..." Scott said wistfully. The professor had been firm. He couldn't have a car like that one. The students would swipe it and kill themselves.

Creed grinned. "'F I was you," he said conversationally, "I'd be lockin' the door on Annie and Clarice 'til I handed over the car as ransom for lettin' me have 'em."

"I won't say the idea didn't occur to me," Scott said honestly. Then he shrugged. "Lucky for you I'm not you."

Creed nodded, and swung into the car and away without saying another word. But he'd grinned, and it had been a bit more friendly and a bit less menacing than usual.

* * *

Kyle wobbled into the cell, and fell over.

Jonny waited tensely for the guards to close the door, and the moment they did, he dropped to his knees beside his friend, turning him over gently so he was on his back. "You orright, mate?" Kyle was as limp as a wet tissue, eyes glazed and fingers twitching a bit. "Kyle? You okay?"

Kyle gave him a dazed little smile. "Fiiiiiiine....." he managed, giving Jonny a limp little wave that was probably meant to be reassuring. Then, for no apparent reason, he folded up like a swiss army knife. "Ooooo...."

Jonny rolled his eyes, and uncreased Kyle into a more comfortable-looking position. "What'd they GIVE you this time?" He grabbed a determinedly flailing leg and held it down on the floor until it gave in.

"D'no...." Kyle said blearily, snuffling at Jonny's arm. "M' woooooozyyyy..."

Jonny couldn't help laughing a bit as he wiped a bit of drool off Kyle's chin. "Yer high as a kite, mate," he said, grinning as the tip of Kyle's tongue flopped out of the corner of his mouth, giving him an idiotic expression. "Nice, is it?"

"Had be'er..." Kyle decided, after thinking about it for a while. "Th' give me a nee'le..." He folded up again, and made a whuffling noise.

Jonny sighed, and untangled him again. "You get all the fun jobs," he said, without rancour. "Sleepy?"

Kyle's eyes crossed. "No..." he mumbled drowsily. "Th' floor's col'..."

Jonny chuckled softly, and tugged Kyle around a bit until he was stretched out reasonably flat, and parallel to the wall. Then he sat down, leaning comfortably against the wall, and rested Kyle's head on his lap. "Better?"

"Yeh, mush..." Kyle mumbled, curling up in a ball and snuggling his ear against Jono's leg. He fell asleep immediately, leaving a rather bemused Jonny patting the matted hair awkwardly and wondering when, exactly, he'd turned into someone's mum.

* * *

"The subject responded precisely as we hoped," Doctor Allejandro said cheerfully. She was a small, chubby, friendly looking woman, the very last person you'd ever suspect of performing illegal experiments on mutants in a secret laboratory. Which, of course, was one of the reasons she was allowed to keep doing it, even now, when funding from the Atticus Tremane Foundation had dried up, and staff cut to a minimum. Besides, she was an excellent biochemist. "Of course, we'll have to do more testing, with higher and lower dosages and so forth, but so far there have been no unacceptable side-effects."

By rights, the man she was talking to, the head of what was left of their department, should have rubbed his hands together, laughing in a sinister fashion as he purred an 'Exxxxcelent' or possible a 'Precisely as I expected'. But he just nodded, pushing his glasses absently up onto the top of his head, and chewed on the end of his pen. "Oh, good. How long before it can be used in the field?"

"Oh, another week, maximum." Doctor Allejandro gently pulled the pen out of his mouth. "NOT in the lab, Professor," she reminded him gently, for at least the five hundredth time. "Don't put anything from the lab in your mouth, remember?"

He looked abashed, and nodded meekly. "It's working these late nights," he said sheepishly, putting his hands behind his back. "I get tired, and distracted, and there goes the old oral fixation, hm?"

Nina Allejandro nodded, giving him a little pat on the shoulder. "I know," she said soothingly. "You should get more sleep."

"But we're so CLOSE..." Professor Epstein said fretfully. "We've cut our subjects down to a minimum, freed up the holding areas... did we cut too many subjects, do you think?"

"Oh, no. If anything, we were conservative." Nina looked up at the list thumbtacked to her cork-board. "Let's see... look, two still here, and six in the holding facility in Canada. That'll be more than enough, and we only really need the feral one and the psi right now."

Epstein nodded, brightening. "And once we've figured the right dosage to counteract a healing factor, we can pick up more," he said happily. "My information places three of them in one area... let me see... Oh, I don't remember. That school place, with all the mutants. You know the one."

Nina nodded. "Somewhere near New York, right?"

"That's it." Epstein nodded happily. "And the one in Vancouver's going to get picked up any day now." Now he did rub his hands together, like a child anticipating a treat. "Subjects with healing factors, can you imagine? Such possibilities!"

Nina could, indeed, imagine, and her fingers were twitching at the thought. "Oh, yes, Professor," she said happily. "And I hear one of them has a metal-bonded skeleton, too! Fancy that!"

"Oh, you tease me, Doctor Allejandro," Epstein said, wagging a finger at her with a roguish smile. "That can't possibly be true."

Nina chuckled. "Oh, but it is! One of those early Canadian outposts, you know... the one we got the information on healing factors from."

Epstein looked as if all his Christmases had come at once. "A whole week?" he said mournfully.

"If we use the psi as well, I can have the final testing finished in five days." Nina chuckled. "I'll pencil him in, shall I?"

"Oh, DO, Doctor Allejandro, dear, do..."

* * *

(End part four)