All Logan could think about was getting to the hotel. He was running
as fast as he could through the crowd of tourist and pan handlers,
slowing every so often to look down at the boy.
"Shit, now what am I gonna do" he thought to himself. "I should have
minded my own business and walked on" As soon as that thought came he
shook it away. "God only knows what would have happened if I didn't
show up, the kid would have probably died behind that dumpster and no
one would have gave a damn!" The thought angered him, he was going to
kill the boys parents when he found them, if he found them.

Finally he arrived at the hotel. He stopped briefly at the front door
wondering how he was going to explain carrying in a half dead boy
into a hotel. The clerk knows he came alone when he checked in
earlier today, he was just hoping he didn't notice or care. He
quickly headed into the lobby. As he thought, the clerk didn't even
give him a second look as he head towards the elevator. Luckily he
was the only one riding up which gave him time to look at the boy.
"Hey kid, wake up, its ok your safe now, everything is gonna be fine,
come on" he whispered trying to stir the boy from sleep, lightly
shaking him.
The doors came open and he rushed to the room, fumbling with the key
he finally opened the door and ran inside. He rested the boy gently
on the bed, careful not to hurt him and turned to shut the door.
When he came back to the bed he noticed a small movement and a weak
moan escaped the boys lips.

"That's it, come on wake up, your okay now. We will get ya cleaned up
and get ya some food, maybe some new clothes" Logan began to worry,
he felt the boy's head and he was starting to run a fever. "Come on
kid, I will buy ya a damn pony if ya just wake up for me, anything"
After several minutes of coaxing he noticed the small boys eyes
flutter and slowly open as if testing the light, then open fully.

"Hey kid, glad you're awake" Logan said with a smile.

"NON! "Get 'way! Don't Touch Me!" the boy yelled while pushing his
self across the bed and falling off the other end before Logan could
catch him. The fall didn't seem to phase him, too caught up in fear,
as he pushed himself into the corner. "Please, don't" he sob, pulling
himself into a ball.

Logan didn't know what to do, he knew the boy was scared, but he
didn't know how to prove that he wasn't gonna hurt him. He slowly
made his way over to the corner and stopped a few feet away from the
boy and kneeled down.

"Kid, I am not going to hurt you I promise, I won't touch you, just
please come up here on the bed, or at least the table."
The boy shuttered and then peeked out under his arm. He raised his
head slightly to get a better look at the man's face and asked "What
do y' want?"

"I don't want anything from ya, I promise. You're sick and hungry,
all I want to do is take care of ya. That door over there is always
open, ya can leave at any time I promise. Just eat something and take
a bath and let me take care of any injuries ya have and you can leave
if ya want, I swear to it kid" Logan hoped this was enough to at
least get him out of the corner.

The boy uncurled himself and shakily stood up using the wall for
support. Logan took that as a cue to stand himself and give the boy
space. He walked over to the night stand and picked up a menu for the
restaurant downstairs.

"I bet you're hungry, huh? Why don't I run you a bath and while ya
are cleaning up I will go grab us some food from downstairs?" Logan
waited for a reply but did not get one. "Is that ok kid?" He
questioned again.

The boy nodded.

"Good, I will get the tub going then, its pretty big so it will take
a few minutes to fill. Why don't ya look over the menu while I do
that and ya can tell me what ya want to eat when I come back, ok?"

Another nod from the boy.

"Ok, I'll just be in the bathroom" Logan stated as he walked slowly
to fill the tub. From the corner of his eye he saw the boy make his
way to the bed and pick up the menu. He doubted the boy could read,
but the pictures would work fine. The fact that he was looking at the
menu and not making a dash to the door made Logan smile. Logan
started the water and made sure that there was soap and towels near
the tub and made his way back to the bedroom.

"The bath is ready when you are. Did ya pick out what ya wanted?"

The boy looked up at him with a smile that could charm angels from
the heavens.
It almost broke Logan's heart and filled it at the same time.

"I can have anything in this book?" the boy asked with amazement

"Sure kid, anything" Logan said with a smile.

Suddenly the smile on the boys face disappeared as he sat the menu
down on the bed and turned away from Logan. "That's ok Monsieur" he
whispered.

"Kid, I know you are hungry, what's wrong? Pick something out. If you
can't decide we can get a bit of everything. Just tell me what ya
want and it is yours" Logan pleaded.

The kid began ranting between sobs "I can't pay y' for the food, de
stole my money, so it's better I don't eat, I don't have anything t'
give y', and I don't want to..."

Logan stopped him before he said anymore, he actually feared what the
kid was going to say, it was bad enough he heard it from him
once. "Listen, I don't want you to pay me for anything, I promise I
want nothing from ya. Anything I give ya is for free, I want nothing
in return. Ok?"

"You promise?" the kid questioned, as if this time it would assure
him that it was ok to believe him.

"I promise. Now pick out something from that menu and get in that tub
before it gets cold. Ya are starting to run a fever and the bath and
food should help." Logan ordered.

"Anything is ok with me, it all looks bein" the boy said with a
slight smile.

"Ok, little of everything it is, now get in the tub and get cleaned
up" he jokingly demanded

The boy slide off the bed and shakily stood and started towards the
bathroom leaning on the wall for support. Logan knew the kid wasn't
going to be able to get into that big tub himself, but he knew the
kid wasn't going to let him help without a fight.

"You need any help kid?" he yelled from the bedroom.

"NON!" came the scared reply.

"Ok, I won't come in there unless ya want me to, but don't go
breaking your neck. If you need help just yell" He tried to sound as
casual as possible, but it hurt to know the kid was this scared at
his young age.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and called in the order to the
restaurant, always listening for any noise that might warrant him to
check on the boy. After hanging up he walked towards the bathroom,
standing right outside the half closed door he yelled in. "You ok in
there?" he paused and waited for a reply. "Kid, you ok?" he repeated.

"Oui, Monsieur, mais I can't wash my hair" he answered back. "Is that
ok?"

"I can wash it for ya if ya want, its ok, I promised I wouldn't hurt
ya and I mean it." He stood and waited for a long minute. He almost
asked again when he heard the faint "ok" come from the room.

"I am coming in then" Logan warned as he pushed open the door slowly.
Amazingly the boy managed to get out of his clothes and into the tub
without help, but it looked like it took what was left of his energy
to do it. When Logan knelt down to wash his hair the boy
flinched. "It's ok, I have been told I am good at this" he said
jokingly, hoping to relieve some of the boys tension. "Lean your head
back a bit" he lightly commanded. He slowly poured the water over the
boys hair and worked in the shampoo and carefully rinsed it out,
making the water dirtier then it already was. "Is that better?" He
asked after rinsing the remaining shampoo out.

"Oui, Merci" he whispered.

"Why don't I help you out of the tub, ok?" He questioned the boy
again, afraid to do anything without the boys permission.

"Oui" the boy said weakly

"Here we go" Logan reached for a towel as he stood the boy up in the
tub. "You ok?" he asked as he dried him off and got him in a warm
robe.

"Tired. Hungry." is all the boy said

"Ok, lets get ya in the bedroom and I will run down and pick up the
food, will ya be ok for a few minutes by yourself" Logan felt almost
stupid after asking the question. "The kid has been on his own for
who knows how long, he can survive a few minutes in a hotel room" he
chided himself.

The boy nodded, and then looked at the bathroom floor. "What 'bout my
clothes?"

"I am gonna pick ya up some new ones downstairs, those are warn out
and dirty. And before you even say it, you don't owe me anything" he
said while sitting the boy on the bed. He began to worry, the boy was
being quiet and looked really tired and the fever was still there. He
also noticed the blood that had rinsed off the boy in the tub, he was
afraid he may be hurt more then he was letting on. "How about you lay
down and take a short nap while I am gone, you look tired, I will
wake ya up when I come back"

The boy laid down and mumbled "Ok". To tired to argue he fell asleep
when his head hit the pillow.

Logan snickered and pulled the covers up over the boy. After making
sure he was warm enough, he went into the bathroom to collect the old
clothes to try and find something that told him a size. The shirt was
so old the tag was long gone, so he tried the jeans. When he turned
them over to check the tag he noticed the blood stain in the
seat. "Shit" he growled. He suspected that the boy had been abused,
but now it was confirmed. "Who could do this to the, he just a child"
he thought to himself. He pulled himself out of his angered thoughts
and got back to the task at hand. The faster he got the food and the
clothes the faster he could ask the boy what happened.

Logan rushed downstairs to the small shop and picked up clothes,
along with a toothbrush, hairbrush and a pair of sunglasses. After
picking up the food he hurried upstairs and into the room. He sat the
food and bags on the small table. As he turned to wake up the boy he
saw the small figure raise up out of the bed and rub his eyes.
"You awake? I got ya some clothes and a toothbrush. You wanna change
before ya eat?"
The boy glance down at himself in only the robe and nodded weakly.
Logan continued "I hope these fit, I looked at your other clothes for
a size, but the tags were gone. Kid?" he looked at the kid worried.
The boy had dropped his head and small sobs were racking his body.
"Hey kid its ok, what's wrong? I promise, I don't want anything if
that is it" Logan raise the boy's chin with his finger and looked him
in the face and finally saw what was wrong in the boy's eyes,
shame. "Kid its ok, I saw the blood, and I have a good idea where it
came from, I was gonna ask ya if ya were hurting."
Logan was cut off by hysterical sobs from the boy "Please I'm sorry,
I was hungry, I hadn't eaten in days, he said the other boys do it, I
didn't know what he wanted, he gave me money, but the man at the
restaurant wouldn't take it and the boys in the alley took it from me
before y' came. I swear it is gone, I didn't know, please." he
pleaded as if his life were on trial.
He couldn't help it, he grabbed the young boy in his arms and held
him, he didn't care if the kid wanted it or not, the kid needed
positive human contact and he was going to get it!
"Kid its ok, its not your fault, that man knew better, he was just a
bad man and he should have never touched ya, its not your fault" he
quietly whispered the words over and over while petting the boys
hair. "Kid this is not your fault, you understand that right?" He
pulled the boy away slightly and looked into those exotic eyes.
"I guess" came the tiny answer. "Why did he do that? Do all bad men
like to do that? It hurts so bad" he began to sob again and rested
his head back on Logan's chest.
Logan did not want to have to explain this to a kid, especially not a
kid this young. "He shouldn't even be worrying about this stuff yet"
he thought to himself.
"Well kid, its hard to explain. When people are older they like to do
things like that, but when you are older it doesn't hurt. You are too
young, that man knew that, he should have never touched ya" He hoped
that was enough to help the kid understand, he just felt damn
uncomfortable trying to explain this to a 7 year old.
"Oh" came the small sigh. "So its ok if I am older to do things like
that?" the boy questioned.
"Yea, but only if you want to, and not for money, or anything like
that. You will understand when you grow up, just stay away from all
of that now, ok?"
The boy nodded.
"Hey! Lets get over to that food before it gets cold!" praying the
mention of food would end this conversation for now. And it did. The
boys eyes lit up and he looked over to the table at the containers of
food. Logan was surprised how much energy the promise of food put
back into the kid. The boy forgot all about getting dressed and
practically ran to the table. Logan grinned seeing the look of
surprise at all the food laid out on the table.
"Have a seat kid" Logan handed him a fork "Dig in!"
The boy looked at the fork for a minute and then back to Logan and
then back at the fork. Logan then realized the boy had no clue what
to do with it. Not wanting to make the kid uncomfortable he threw his
fork onto the floor "Never needed em myself" and began eating with
his fingers. The boy grinned and mimicked the man devouring anything
he could get his hands on.

"Slow down kid, your gonna make yourself sick" Logan laughed.

That angelic smile returned on the boy's face and he continued to
eat. Logan could not resist to smile back. The kid was growing on
him, and it almost worried him. He start to have thoughts of wanting
to lock him in this hotel room just to keep him away the world
outside, to protect him. Maybe he should call one of his contacts,
have them look for the kids parents. He couldn't leave him out on the
streets again. "If I have to I will take him with me." he thought
with almost a glint of hope that he could. Then it dawned on
him. "Hey kid, what's your name? I feel kinda funny calling ya kid
all the time. Mine is Logan"

The kid stopped gnawing on the chicken leg long enough to look up at
Logan "Don't have a name" he shrugged and continued eating.

"You don't have a name? Didn't your parents give you a name? What do
other people call ya" he questioned.

The boy stopped eating and looked down at the floor "I don't have any
parents. But other people call me Diable Blanc, Demon, Freak, Boy" he
closed his eyes as if to be trying to remember more, when Logan
interrupted him.

"Why don't we think of a real name? I'm not gonna call you any of
those." Logan stated and smiled trying to lift the mood that kid had
fallen into.

"Ok" the kid said with a shy grin.

Logan acted like he was in deep thought, his fingers brushing his
chin and one eye closed as he mimicked a English
accent "Hmmm......can't call you Mary....maybe Lisa....no that won't
do....how bout Georgita"

The boy giggled uncontrolable and managed to say "Non" between
breaths.

Finally after Logan didn't think the boy could take it anymore he
said "How about Remy?"

The boy froze and looked at Logan as if he was rolling the name
around in his head, he finally said "I like Remy" and smiled.

"Remy it is then! Hello my name is Logan how do ya do" he mocked
while holding out a hand to shake.

"'ello my name is Remy" he proudly stated back and shook Logan's hand
with his small one.

"Glad to meet ya kid, glad to meet ya"
 

TBC