The weather witch reached up to remove the stray tears that streaked her cheeks just as a knock sounded on the other side. The noise was to gentle to have belong to T’Challa, and Ororo turned around and pressed her forehead against the wooden door. She took a deep breath and opened the door to be greeted by Ramonda. She attempted to smile at the woman as she pushed the door open wider, the smile fell flat.
Ramonda reached out and gently cupped Ororo’s cheek. “I only wanted a quick word,” the older woman said, and Ororo nodded stepping side to allow the Queen to come into the room. Once Ramonda was in the bedroom, Ororo closed the door behind her, and still not trusting her legs with the surge of emotions inside of her, Ororo leaned back against the door once more as Ramonda quickly glanced at the packed bags. “I will have someone pick those up for you in a moment,” she said and Ororo nodded absently. That wasn’t why the queen was here though.
Finally, Ramonda turned dark, soil colored eyes towards her, and Ororo felt the weight of the knowledge behind those eyes. “I can understand if you do not come back here, or if you will ever speak to T’Challa again, although with the nature of your relationship with my son, I doubt that. I want you to know though, dear Ororo, that I do not think you are making the wrong choice.”
Ororo felt her stomach drop, because she had wanted to hear that before she had spoken to T’Challa, but even known hearing now, there was a certain comfort in hearing the words from Ramonda. Ororo knew she made the right choice, and this, this small moment was the last confirmation she would need to stop herself from wondering about this in the future. Ramonda and Ororo lapsed into a moment of silence, before Ramonda excused herself and headed out of the bedroom.
Ororo took a ragged breath and squared her shoulders before she collected her bags and silently left the bedroom. The bags were light, and Ororo wondered if she briefly wondered if she had done it subconsciously. Hm.
The sound of a cellphone buzzing across wood and falling on the ground woke Yukio out of a deep slumber. She grunted and blindly reached for the small metallic device before blindly hitting the answer button and pressing the phone to her ear. She wiped a smear of drool from her mouth and listened to the snoring on the sofa before she hissed a What? into the phone.
A moment later the tiny Asian fell out of the bed and the snoring on the couch stopped, Logan standing at the ready, silver eyes focused on her, as she stared wide-eyes across the room, unseeing for a moment. “Rory,” Yukio sighed into the phone and closed her eyes. Rory was the name the Yukio rarely used when talking to Ororo, but it was still a term of endearment, usually only used when her best friend needed her the most. Yukio opened her eyes up quickly and focused on Logan, because he didn’t know about Ororo’s special nickname.
“No, there are no naked suitors here, it’s okay for you to come by. How long until I see you?” Yukio spoke into the phone and then heard the familiar noise of her lock turning. She saw Logan tense and both of them turned their eyes towards the door as Ororo pushed it open, and stood before them, drenched to the bone.
Logan didn’t move while Yukio hung up the phone and ran across the open spaced flat and wrapped the white haired goddess in a fierce embrace. Ororo didn’t wrap her own arms around the tiny Asian, instead she stood still as a statue with her blue eyes focused on Logan, and he felt his shackles come up. He saw the hurt and the unbelievable anger in those eyes, and all of her emotions were directed at him. There were no obviously tear streaks across her cheeks which meant that she hasn’t been crying, not that she would, Ororo was a champion at keeping her emotions to herself, but when she had opened the door, her eyes had been different. Her pain was somehow this fault.
“Yukio, could you excuse us?” Ororo asked, turning her gaze away from Logan to look at her dearest friend. Yukio offered a forced smile, mentioned something about tea and slipped off towards the kitchen.
“’Ro, what are ya doin’ here? I thought ya were with th’ ““
“Shut up,” Ororo interrupted him, and took a bold step towards him, eyes blazing with a swirl of emotions as she grossed her arms. She didn’t swear, has never told anyone to shut up but she was so angry at him, so angry at him and his stupid choices and his awful habit of running away. “The only thing I want to hear is why you ran away from me?”
He wasn’t able to answer at first, the fire in her eyes taking his breath away from him, until he realized that Ororo was waiting for an answer. “I don’ runaway.”
“Don’t lie to me, Logan,” the words came out in a growl, and Logan had to admit that he ought to have been concerned. She might actually have been spending too much time for him. “You ran away.”
“Darlin’, I felt you make a choice, I don’ understand how me leaving was runnin’ away.”
“You let me make a wrong choice!”
“I thought it was it was a good idea. Ya needed someone ta take care of ya. Marryin’ T’Challa was a good choice.”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me, Logan. You should understand that better than anyone else.”
“No, ya do. Ya need someone to remind ya to stop worryin’ about the kids and take some time for yer self. Ya need to stop beating yerself up over a lost battle or a bad trainin’ session. Ya need help remembering ta eat and ta go ta bed. Darlin’, ya need someone ta look out for ya, ya needed someone ta let ya be selfish.”
“Oh! Like you are selfish? You would know all about that, would you not? With the way you constantly run off?”
“I left ‘cause I couldn’t tolerate the idea of ya marryin’ that man!”
“Then why did you not say anything?” Her voice softened here, and almost sounded silent after the yelling between the pair of them.
“Ain’t it obvious, ‘Ro? I don’t deserve ya.”
She laughed here, it was soft, short and musical. She reached out to cup his cheek. “You do not get to make that call, Logan.”
“Actually, he’s right. You’re way too hot for him,” Yukio yelled from the kitchen, and there was a moment of silence. “So, ah, the tea is done if you guys are done fighting in there, because I missed my best friend, and since she technically came to see me, you can finish dealing with your relationship later.”
