Running to Stand Still

Logan glanced at Scott, the leader of the X-Men busy playing with a puppy in one of the handling rooms of the pet shop. The Wolverine was on a mission to buy stinky animals for the woman he loved, just knowing how she'd react when he brought the little critters home.

He walked over to the pen that held the ferrets, surprised to find that the smell wasn't so bad.

An employee came over to him. "They've been descented and neutered. Are you planning to buy one?" she asked.

"Two, actually." He pointed at two cinnamon-colored ferrets, curled up around each other and asleep. "How 'bout those two?"

The girl smiled. "Perfect. They're only a few weeks old and have had all their vaccinations." She pulled a thick little book from a nearby stand. "Everything you need to now about the little rascals is in here. Do you need help picking out accessories for them?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I don't know anything about 'em. They're a present for my girlfriend." He suppressed the weird urge to laugh maniacally when he said that; he'd never outright declared Kat as his girlfriend. It felt good.

Within a half hour he had everything they needed: cage, litterbox, bedding, food, toys, and the book on ferrets. Scott came out from playing with the puppy, a fox terrier.

"I think I'll buy her for Rogue," he said. The southern belle had recently acquired control of her powers and was eager to touch anything living. "Think she'll like it?"

Logan snorted. "Yeah, just keep it away from me. Smells icky."

"Oh, and ferrets smell any better?" He glanced at the carrier the two animals were in. "They're kinda cute, I suppose. In a weasel-kinda way."

The two ferrets, now awake and aware of their surroundings, were chittering and making little squeaking noises as they explored the small carrier. "Play nice," Logan admonished when they started wrestling with each other.

Once they had paid they headed home, Logan driving and Scott keeping an eye on the little critters in the back seat. The puppy kept sniffing at the carrier, the ferrets sniffing at the puppy. They had to smuggle them inside past the girls in the den decorating the Christmas tree, hard to do when ferrferrets kept making noise and the puppy trying to wriggle it's way out of Scott's arms.

They deposited everything in Kat's old room; Logan had decided to move in with her rather than the other way around, seeing as she had more things to be transferred than him and it would be easier for her to stay put than to move everything.

He followed the direction the the book, setting up the double-floor cage with the bedding on one side and the food and litterbox on the other. He put the ferrets in, laughing as they sniffed out each and every corner before curling up in the fuzzy material the book said that ferrets preferred for bedding.

He was so busy paying attention to the little critters, and their scent masked any other, so he didn't notice Kat standing just behind him with a huge grin on her face. She jumped on him from behind, startling him and knocking him flat on his face.

"Dammit!" Logan growled. "You weren't supposed to see them until later."

Kat grinned. "You're so cute, Logan, y'know that? You bought me ferrets." She helped him get back to his feet before going over and opening the cage. The ferrets tumbled down the little pathway to the bottom and came out, crawling into Kat's lap. "Awww, you two are just so cute!" The larger one, a male, moved up her arm and sniffed at her hair, the female content to just be petted.

Scott laughed from where he was sitting on the bed scratching the puppy's tummy. "What're you gonna name them?"

She cocked her head to the side and watched the two animals twine themselves around her. "Sugar and Spice, I think. Suits them."

Logan nodded. "Sugar and Spice it is, then." He tapped the little guidebook against his leg. "Says in here that they should spend some time in their cage, getting acquainted with it and their surroundings."

"Aww, I wanted to play," Kat said with a mock pout. "They're so cute, Logan." She let them climb back into the cage before hugging him tightly. "I just got word that Xavier is having a Christmas Eve formal dance. Wanna be my date?"

"Do I gotta wear a tux?" Logan groused.

She nodded happily. "Yup, and I get a new dress. Do you want to go shopping this weekend?"

He leaned in close to her and whispered, "Can we get you some sexy lingerie while we're out?"

Kat laughed. "Sure thing, Logan. I'll even let you come in the changing room with me." She kissed him and then moved away. "Come downstairs, we want you guys to see the den."

Scott set the puppy down on the floor, only to be growled at by Logan.

"You go put that dog somewhere else. I don't want it eatin' her ferrets or peein' on the rugs."

"Well, gee, don't let me spoil your fun," Scott said, grabbing the dog as it went to sniff at the ferrets again. "I'll go hide it in Rogue's room and then I'll be down."

Kat grabbed Logan's hand and pulled him out of the room, blowing a kiss to her ferrets before closing the door and dragging him downstairs. Logan wrinkled his nose when they went into the den, his sense of smell overwhelmed by the scent of evergreen.

"You guys tryin' to build a tree lot in here?" he asked, earning a small paf of fireworks from Jubilee.

"It's Christmasy," she explained. "Deal with it."

Ororo chuckled as she passed by the couple, her arms full of red ribbons tied in bows. "I believe you'd better listen to her, Logan. Wouldn't want to singe the sideburns."