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7. New Chick on the Block

Jubilee hugged Logan tightly till he loosened her legs and set her down on the ground. But she hugged him again completely oblivious to the stares they got from the observing group.
“Hey, take it easy. Everybody is watching us.”
“Let them. I don’t care about them and your stupid no PDA’s. It’s been so long since we last met.”
“Long. We just met couple of months back.”
“TWO MONTHS….you know how much I missed you.” she shouted.
“Ok, Ok….no need to shout. You know I missed you too. That’s why I asked Xavier if he could admit you here.”
“I know. But I miss you soooo…….much. But now we can be together.” She grinned at him.
“See everyone is waiting. Let’s go inside” he said picking up bags he was carrying.

As they started walking up the stairs, Jubilee asked
“What’s in the bags?”
“Nothing much, just stuff I got for you from the mall.” He answered nonchalantly.
“You went to the mall….YOU WENT TO THE MALL. Who are you and what have you done with my wolvie?”
“Don’t call me that……atleast not in front of these people.” He spoke with a low tone.
“I don’t care….you are my wolvie and I will only call you that” she retorted raising her head and huffing.
“Alright…Alright…..I can’t refuse you anything can I?”
“No” she answered sticking her tongue out at him.

They had reached the top of the stairs where everyone was waiting for them, dumbstruck by what had just occurred right before their eyes. Logan, the silent scowling animal of a man, who in all his time at the institute hadn’t had a decent conversation with anyone except Charles was grinning playfully with a wisp of a girl. They had been joined by Marie who had witnessed it from her class window and after giving the students a reading assignment had hurried to the front door.

Charles was the first to speak,
“Ah Logan, nice of you to join us. Young Jubilee was got very impatient when you weren’t at the airport.”
Jubilee broke her embrace with Logan and turned to face him. “Yes. Why weren’t you at the airport?” she asked pointing and pushing a finger to his chest.
“Hey, I had to get this all this stuff for you. And anyway, Chuck would have made arrangements.”
“Hmmp” she turned away in mock anger.
“Jubes, come on…I even got yellow bedspreads for you.”
She grinned and turned to face him, “Really”
He nodded.

Everyone else present were quietly observing the interaction between the two, not knowing what to make of it.
“Come let’s go in” said Charles, wheeling himself indoors. He was followed by the others.

Once inside everyone got seated, with Jubilee sitting next to Logan who slung his hand over her shoulders drawing her closer.
“Yes where were we before the break?” he said smiling at Jubilee.
“Uh….Professor you were going to introduce everyone” answered Scott, finally getting his voice back.
“Ah yes. I would like to introduce Miss. Jubilation Lee.”
Jubilee smiled at everyone “Its just Jubilee.”
“Jubilee” said Charles still smiling.
“Jubilee these are a few of our teachers.” He then started pointing out the teachers and introducing them.
“The senior staff consists of Mr. Scott Summers, his wife Mrs. Jean Grey-Summers and Miss. Ororo Monroe. And this young lady here is Miss. Marie Darkholme.”
Everyone said help/hi and Jubilee answered in the same.
“And of course you know Logan.”
“Yes, I know LOGAN” she said snuggling closer to him and then said “Wolvie” slowly.

Scott’s curiosity got the better of him, “Jubilee, if you don’t mind me asking, how well do you know Logan?”
Logan scowled at his question while Jubilee just piped up “I am his girl friend.” Causing everyone’s mouth to fall open.
“Jubilation” admonished Logan. Jubilee just stuck out her tongue at him.

“Scott, to answer your question, Logan is Jubilee’s legal guardian. In fact it was him who brought Jubilee’s case to my notice.”
“Oh”
Jubilee again spoke “Thank you for allowing to study here Professor. Now I can be near my Wolvie.”
Marie and Ororo snickered at Jubilee’s pet name for Logan. Logan just rolled his eyes.
“You are welcome Jubilee.”

Logan patted Jubilee on her shoulder “Come on’ kid, lets get you settled in.”
“Oh yes, I can’t wait to get to the cabin.” Jubilee answered jumping up. Scott coughed his disapproval while Jean raised her eyebrows.
“No. I stay in cabin; you stay here in the mansion with the other students.”
“Aw, I was so looking forward to spending time with you in the cabin by the woods.” She slumped down again.
“You can come over whenever you want and even spend a night or two. But you will have to inform one of yer teachers before you do that. Now get up.”
“Ok, let’s go to my room. I want to see what all you have got for me.”
“You go ahead with Miss. Monroe and get settled. I have some stuff I want to discuss with Xavier here.”
“When will you come over?” she looked up suspiciously at the tall woman in next of her
Sensing her hesitancy “Soon and don’t worry about Miss. Monroe. She is good people.”
Ororo smiled at Logan’s complement. It seemed that their conversation the other day had worked in her favor.
“Ok.”
With that she got up and collected her suitcases and bags. Ororo, Jean and Marie helped her and soon they had left leaving Charles, Logan and Scott in the room.

Logan turned to Xavier and spoke evenly “Thanks Chuck.” He held out his hand.
Charles shook his hand “Don’t mention it. We hope we can help young Jubilee develop herself both personally and academically.”
Logan then got serious “There is another thing I would like to discuss with you Charles, alone” he said referring to Scott.
“Sure. You can meet me in my office tomorrow morning around…how is 9 o’clock for you?”
Logan nodded “Will be there.”
With that Logan turned around and walked out the door towards his office. He planned to work for about an hour and then go to Jubilee’s room. ‘Let the kid get settled down.’

As soon as Logan was out of hearing distance, Scott turned to the Professor
“Professor why didn’t you tell us Logan was the girl’s legal guardian?”
“Would it have affected her performance and caliber?”
“No Sir, but….”
“I didn’t think it was necessary.”
“But didn’t you see now how they treat each other. She was practically stuck to him. Don’t you find it odd a grown man treating a teenage girl like that?”

“What are you getting at Scott?” asked Xavier calmly. He had an idea what Scott wanted to say but wanted to hear it from his mouth.
“What I am saying is that what do we know Logan’s relationship is with the girl? She is Japanese. How did she come to be with him?”
“Scott, Jubilee has been under Logan’s care since she was ten years old. And although she is a bit precocious, she is nevertheless a very well mannered and fine young lady. We need not worry on that front.”
With that Xavier wheeled his wheel chair towards the elevators leaving a very confused and frustrated Scott Summers.

At the same time, Jubilee’s room

The three teachers had helped Jubilee in getting her luggage upstairs. Marie had left for her class, while Jean and Ororo were helping Jubilee.
“Jubilee would like us to open your luggage and get you settled in.” asked Jean.
“Thanks Mrs. Summers. But I want to check out the bed-spread and other stuff Wolvie…sorry Logan got for me.”
“But there is already a beautiful bed cover on your bed” stated Jean.
“I know, but you don’t understand…..he went to the mall ‘alone’ to get this for ‘me’. I gotta use it now.”
“I don’t think he would mind if you use it later.”
“I know. He won’t say anything, but he would like me to use it and I would hurt too. After all I am all he has and he is all I have.”
Jean was about to say something else, when Ororo spoke, “Very well child, we’ll use the bed-spread you want.”
“Thanks Miss. Monroe. You are good people in Logan’s book means you are great people in mine.”
Ororo smiled at the complement, while Jean felt hurt but smiled a tight smile. She knew that although Logan had said good people, he had meant only Ororo and not the others.

As Jubilee was rummaging through the bags, Jean spoke again
“So how did you meet Logan?”

Jubilee raised her head and a moment’s silence started speaking.
“My parents were both from Japan but they moved to California years before I was born. When I was nine years old my dad’s went bankrupt after the IT market crashed. So dad gathered some money and we moved back to Japan. We had been there for only three months when we were abducted by some idiot separatist people. Well they released a video of us to the news stating that they would kill one of us every twenty four hours. The Japanese government tried to reason with them but they killed my dad.”

The two women were shocked at her story, but stayed silent waiting for her to continue.

“Well somehow the American government got involved. I guess as I was an American citizen. They sent over people to rescue us. You know under the table, secret super-force like. By the time they got to us, those bastards had killed my mom too. Well I was rescued and handed over to the Japanese authorities. The team leader told me that they would take care of me till I got to the American consulate. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my childhood in foster homes, so I ran away. I hid in a mall for six months, stealing clothes, food, spare change etc. Whatever helped me survive?”

Jean laid a hand on Jubilee’s while Ororo got her tissues. After a couple of minutes she composed herself and continued.
“Well like I said, I hid in the mall for six months, not even going out. I feared that someone would catch me. I only came out during nights when no one was there. Well one night I was prowling my usual route when someone came from behind me and placed a hand on my mouth, telling me not to shout. I recognized the voice and when he let go, I turned around to face Logan. He had come searching for me. He said that he was going to take me back to America. But I refused saying that I didn’t want to get into the system and even I wanted to go I didn’t have any passport etc. He then told me that he had made all the arrangements, all the paperwork to become my guardian, a new passport and even ticket and I had to only say yes and we would be home within a day. We waited till morning for the mall to open and then walked out together. Once we got to the hotel I had a long tub-bath. After that he took me to get some new clothes, shoes and stuff. He said it was cheaper getting them in Japan. Then we left for the airport and voila back in USA.” She threw her hands over her shoulders.

Both the women laughed out at her actions.
“But why did he come looking for you? Was he a friend of your parents?” asked Jean.
“No. He was the leader of the team sent to rescue us. He had said he would take care of me and when I didn’t return to America even after three months, he took medical leave and tracked me down.”

Both Ororo and Jean were silenced by what Jubilee had just told them about Logan. Jubilee however continues as if nothing had happened.

“Anyway, once we were here, Logan asked me where I would like to stay. I told wherever he said. I was thankful for getting here and not being in some foster home. He told me that it was up to me to decide on the city as I would be studying in a boarding school. At first I was angry and afraid that he was trying to get rid of me. But then he explained he work to me and that it would be impossible for me to stay with him and study at the same time. Well I decided on Los Angeles. He got me admitted in the best boarding school he could find. You know one of those where students have to wear uniforms like prisoners.”

The others smiled at her comparisons and antics.
“Although I was in a boarding school he used to come to visit me regularly almost every month. He made it a point to be there for my birthday, for Christmas, New Year and various other holidays, especially Japanese ones. You know he has spent more time in Japan than me.”

Ororo answered “Yes.”
“How do you know?” asked Jean.
“He told me. I was jogging one morning and saw him performing Tai Chi moves. It was at that time he told me he had stayed in Japan.”
“Oh” responded Jean.

Jubilee spoke up “Yes. He knows a lot of that stuff; you know Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Karate etc. He even taught me a little bit of Japanese and Japanese customs. He said it was my heritage and my parents would have wanted me to learn them. Unlike him, I can only write my name in Japanese and read food menus. He speaks, reads and writes fluent Japanese and a whole lot of other languages some of whose name I have never heard before. He’s crazy that way. I had once asked him why does he do it?”

“And what did he say?” questioned Jean.
“He joked it off….gave me something about if he was good enough….some girl would take him home to meet her parents. Yeah, like that is going to happen.”

Jean cringed at Jubilee’s repeating words she had written in the letter she had left for Logan.
Ororo asked “Why do you say it like that?”
Jubilee looked at her as if she had grown another head “Have you ever seen Logan with a woman. Sure there are a lot of women who throw themselves at him. But he says he is looking for something unique. He says he tried the normal route, didn’t work for him. So it’s just the two of us. And here it is……Aaww man, what a bed-spread and yellow, just the way I like it.”

She got up and took off the bed-spread and started putting the new one. Ororo was helping him, while Jean was standing aside taking in all that Jubilee had said. The Logan she remembered was an average college student. He didn’t have big plans. He wanted to complete college, get a job, get married and settle down with a small house and a couple of children. It was Jean who had been the ambitious one and always felt somehow held back because of Logan. Then she had met Scott and they just clicked. She thought what would have happened if she had stayed with Logan and married him. If he loved Jubilee so much, how much would he have loved his own kids?

Her thoughts were disturbed by Ororo’s question to Jubilee.
“So you think of him as a father?”
“Well you could say that, but more so like an Uncle. Not the old boring ones but the young n’ sexy ones, with muscles of steel and deep pockets just for me.”
At her description both Jubilee and Ororo started laughing.
“Done” announced Jubilee “What do you guys think, isn’t his choice great or what?”
Ororo smiled in appreciation while Jean gave a small smile.
“Now let me see what other stuff he has got for me” she said as she emptied out the contents of the bags on the bed.
“Oh man, what does he think I am? The mallrat he rescued from Japan. Look at this, jeans, t-shirts, night suits, toiletries and the cherry toping on the cake, yellow overcoat and purple glasses.”
“Is that of some significance?” asked Ororo.
“Well as you can there is a lot of yellow. I llloooovee yellow, and the yellow overcoat and purple glasses are a permanent fixture in my wardrobe.”

Ororo picked up a bag “Oh, he even got you safety pads.”
“Yes, both of us were bewildered when I had my first period. He took me to the pharmacy and asked the lady there to help me. He was really red when she told him to pick up napkins for me. The next day he went to the library and spent the whole day reading about that stuff. He bought a couple of books, sat me down and explained everything to me. Once he got over the initial hitch he was quite comfortable with ‘lady stuff’ as he calls it. He even gave me the birds & bees talk once I turned fourteen. Although he has said that he will gut any guy who at me the wrong way or hurts me.”

Jean couldn’t take it anymore and suddenly got up.
“I’m sorry I just remembered something I have to do. Ororo please help jubilee to get settled in.”
“Of course Jean.”
“Thank you Mrs. Summers.”
“You’re welcome Jubilee.” With that she left the room.

The two of them of them were chatting and working when Logan walked in.
“Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?” scolded Jubilee.
“Sorry Jubes, I got held up with work. Sorry” said Logan touching his hands to his ears.

Ororo laughed at his actions. Logan looked at her
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“You” she answered trying to calm herself down.
“Wolvie don’t offend her. She is good people.” Quipped Jubilee

Both Ororo and Logan smiled at her comments.
“Well now that you are here I can leave. See you at dinner time.” With that Ororo stepped out the door.
“Wait kid. I’ll be back in a minute.” He went after Ororo.
“Ms. Monroe”
“Yes Logan”
“Thanks”
“For….”
“For helping Jubilee”
Ororo smiled and crossed her arms, tapping one foot “Don’t worry I didn’t do it for free. You will have provide a payment for it.”
“Payment?” asked Logan starring at her, “what sort of payment?’

Ororo’s smiled a mischievous smile, “Oh nothing much. Just that you will have to agree to become my running partner and teach me Tai Chi.”
Logan smirked “That’s a very big payment.”
“And…..”
“I’ll agree to do it on one condition.”
“What condition?” she asked narrowing her eyes.
“You’ll teach me how to dance.”

Ororo was silent for a few moments.
“What do you say?” asked Logan.
Ororo smiled “Yes”
“Yes?”
“Yes, I’ll do it. See you tomorrow morning at 6 AM”
“Great.”

Ororo turned around but spoke again before walking away,
“Logan….”
“Yes Ms.Monroe”
“My friends and the people I like usually call me Ororo.”
“So which am I?”

Ororo entered the elevator and just as the door closed, she said a single word
“Both”





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