Saving....Gabriel?

Disclaimers: Logan and Remy are owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not sell, buy, trade, or intentionally harm their product. This is merely for my own use and ideas. The other people in the story belong to me.


Snuggling closer to his warmth and wrapping thick, hairy arms around a long, lithe body he settled back into his sleep. Listening to his lover breathe, while he breathed and quietly cleared his throat, he had just gotten back to sleep when the phone rang behind him, on his nightstand. He grumbled softly and rolled onto his back from his left side and blindly reached for the phone. Bringing the receiver to his ear, he opened his eyes and stared at the clock beside the phone. "Hello?" His voice was hoarse for the early hour of 5.30 AM, and he wasn't at all welcoming the morning.

"Mister LeBeau?" A female voice asked in an uncertain tone.

Logan pushed himself up onto his left elbow. "Hold on." He told her while he shook the other man sleeping beside him. "Hey, hey, phone." The softness of his voice had been so different than what he used to talk to the lady on the phone.

Groaning, Remy rolled over and held his hand out for the phone, also not opening his eyes. Before he spoke into the receiver, he covered it with free hand and whispered. "Tell 'em I'm in Cancun, due back when de Spring hits in 2009." He nodded and attempted to roll back over to go back to sleep.

"Sounds important."

"S' always important." Grumbling but taking the phone and saying hello before opening his eyes to see Logan staring at him in the dark.

"Mister LeBeau, Tammy Friday asked me to call you. My name is Sharon Roberts, I'm with the Careful Home Agency. Tammy asked me to give you a call because, well,..... she said you have the best experience in this field with battered and abandoned children." The woman spoke as soon as she heard the "hello" and didn't wait for his refusal.

Remy sighed and wiped his eyes with his free hand. "Did she also tell you dat I've had 2 kids removed from my house due to...." He wasn't allowed to finish as she pressed on.

The woman was sifting through Remy's progress reports and parenting papers on her desk as she talked to him. "Yes, yes, she mentioned that but, this little boy has nowhere else to go. He's nine years old and his father is a drug dealer who beat, raped and killed his mother with him hiding behind the sofa, in the same room." She paused for a moment, expecting to hear a dial tone but only heard Remy's steady breathing as he listened to her. "Mister LeBeau...?"

Remy sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose, he knew he would regret answering her. "What time do I pick him up?"

"He is being transferred from a shelter in Trenton so, he should be here, at our office, by 9.30 this morning. If you could be here by 8, we could get a start on the paperwork and you'll be able to take him home by noon." She sounded hopeful and stood up at her desk, praying that Remy agreed. Her office didn't open until 7.30 but since she was called in at 5, she figured she would get a jump on the situation.

Sighing, he turned back to see Logan still looking at him, this time with the bedside lamp on behind him. "Alright. We'll be dere by 8." He heard her thank him and hang up as he handed the phone back to Logan, and then started to explain as he stood up and get ready for the day.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You're not serious about this...?" Logan asked, disbelievingly. He stood in the doorway in only his blue flannel pajama bottoms.

Remy stood in the shower and looked over, through the frosted glass doors. He had been washing his hair and trying to make sense out of his muddled mind. "He has nowhere to go, Logan. What am I s'posed ta do, tell dem no?"

Logan pushed off of the door and came to sit on the toiletseat lid. "Thought you didn't work for them anymore?"

Letting the spray wash the soap from his hair, Remy closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I don't. Tammy is a friend of mine from dere, an' knows dat I've always wanted ta have a family."

"Just you, huh? I don't matter anymore? We aren't together, I'm just sleepin with you and payin half the bills until you find somethin' more permanent?!" Logan sounded hurt but was mostly trying to figure out what was going on from what Remy half-explained.

The side of Remy's right fist hit the door and made a loud racket to Let Logan know to drop it. As he got done with his shower and turned the water off, Remy slid the door open and reached for his towel that hung on the rack beside the tub. He began to dry himself off with the peach cloth and look at Logan, still sitting on the lid. "Look, I know you're in dis wit' me but, other people don't play fair with people like us." He leaned over and kissed Logan's lips. "Jus' tryin' ta keep you out of de middle."

Logan stood up and kissed him back. "Just don't push me too far, you ain't the only one in this struggle, ya know?"

He nodded as Logan left the bathroom and headed downstairs to fix breakfast.

Remy dressed and went downstairs to see Logan sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in hand and the morning paper in the other. Across from Logan sat his place with a plate of scrambled eggs, two bacon strips and two slices of toast as well as a cup of coffee. "You're not goin wit'?" He asked before he sat down.

"Did you want me to?" Logan asked from behind the paper.

A heavy sigh. "Fine, I'll go by myself. You get de boy's room ready, non?" Sipping his coffee and nibbling on the bacon, Remy glared at the man behind the paper.

Logan lowered the paper a moment later and took the last sip of his coffee. "Okay. I'll go but they'll just tell you what they told you the last time. I'm gettin tired of pickin up the pieces, Remy. They take this kid away, that's it. End this foolishness, okay?"

"Okay."

Standing up and walking past Remy and back upstairs, Logan prayed to himself that this time they'd let the child stay. He showered, dressed and shaved and was back downstairs to help Remy gather the paperwork he was asked to bring and readied the car to go into town. With a house in the mountains, it was a long drive into the city and Logan remembered to have plenty of Remy's favourite music on hand for the drive.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

They were both well dressed and well composed for most of the questions and paperwork but only ran short on tempers from lack of sleep. Logan only patted Remy's hand to calm him at least twice before Remy voiced his annoyance in his tone.

Ms. Roberts was a young woman in her 30s and smiled sweetly as they neared the end of the process. Brushing her short brown hair back, behind her ears, she cleared her throat and finished writing her notes at the bottom of the page before looking up at them. "Well, good news. I've gathered some testimonials and looked over a few testing scores from prior trials and it seems that Tammy was right in telling me to call you. I just have one more question, are you two planning on sharing a bedroom while he is in your care?" She sat at her desk, with her back to the window, and looked over the top of her round, thin-rimmed glasses at Logan and then Remy.

Logan sighed but Remy answered. "Oui. Dis was de reason why de two girls were taken from our house."

"Look, I've watched Remy go through Hell for this agency and it hasn't gotten any easier since he quit. We aren't going to flaunt the lifestyle in his face, or show him how to be gay, we just want the same rights heterosexuals have in raising children. This is only temporary, we know, but we have the right to be parents as well." Logan growled but contained it to only he and Remy hearing it.

She sat forward and smiled pleasantly. "I know, that's why I took Tammy's advice and called you. What happened with the girls, as I've read, seemed to be a disagreement between the parents' lawyers. Tammy and I think Remy has the best available care experience in dealing with traumatized children and are willing to put the books in his court. All we need from both of you, is your co-operation and we can get the ball rolling while we wait for the trial of his father."

"Have dey caught him?" Remy asked, his voice caught as he worried about the child's mentality.

Ms. Roberts dipped her head and removed her glasses. "No, but they have a few good leads and even better eye-witnesses. With your background, and Logan's government history, I'm sure he'll be placed in good hands." Looking at both of them before standing up and taking a breath, she eyed the door. "Now, I think he should be here, if you'll care to follow me, we can meet him."

They stood up and followed her down the hall, into the waiting room.

Going over and sitting on a chair, beside the small boy on the floor, she whispered something in his ear. He was a thin but handsome boy dressed in blue jeans and a long sleeved striped shirt, sitting cross-legged on the floor while watching cartoons on the small television in the waiting room. When he turned around to see who the lady was pointing at, a look of fright formed on his soft, ebony skin.

Remy inhaled and released before smiling casually and stepping forward to kneel a few feet from the boy. "Bon Jour, eh,... dat means 'hello' in French. My name is Remy LeBeau, and dis" turning around and waving a hand to Logan. "is Logan Howlett." Turning back to the boy, he replaced the smile and said quietly. "You must be Gabriel, non?"

The boy only stared at Remy but nodded slightly.

Remy looked the boy over and held out his hand, invitingly. "Well, Gabriel, how about we get some lunch..... an' go from dere, hm?"

Gabriel shrugged but eventually accepted Remy's hand and stood up.

Sighing in relief, Logan led the way to the car and opened the backseat door for the small boy. Leaning over the top of the window, he asked before he shut the door. "How about McDonald's?"

Blinking up at the man with wide eyes, Gabriel gave a small smile and nodded.


Continued.