Another glorious day at the Institute for Gifted Youngsters …

Fingertips traced the few lines that made their home on her face. She watched the motion from the mirror in the bathroom as though she were hypnotized. Right below her right ear she lightly tossed back a stray strand that dared not to conform to the hairdresser’s creation atop her head. She continued to stare into the reflection. Her lips pursed casually downward which caused a few more lines radiate out from the corners of her mouth. Perhaps, she mused, I could fake a stomach virus and slip off to my green house and tend to my plants all afternoon. That would have been a lovely way to spend this day. But no, she had a responsibility and even though it was tearing at her inside she would not betray this day.

And while she silently thought to herself a few words from downstairs began to drift towards her ears. Her neck twisted slightly to the right as her eyes darted as far as they could to peer inside her loft. The words came again, this time closer. ``Remy, `` she muttered underneath her breath. Again he yelled up to her attic, but this time she had heard him clearly. They needed her. ``I am nearly finished. I will be down momentarily.`` Ororo finished her words as she turned her head back towards the mirror and the wavy curls of snow bounced back into her face. A half smile crept warmly upon her faced and she lifted the clear lip gloss to her lips and began to apply it. She hastily puckered and tossed the tube aside into the massive pile of makeup that lined the left wall of her bathroom. Why did they all feel it necessary to get ready in my room. `The SPACE` Jean had explained.

And now she was all that is left of the frenzy that had been the getting ready wedding party. Getting ready for a wedding, was, perhaps, one of the most complicated and extreme things Ororo had ever done in her life. The end result though, that is what made all of this chaos worth it. She took in a deep breath which prompted her delicate body to stiffen up as her hands smoothed out the top of her golden maid of honor gown. And with that Ororo swiftly turned around and went out of the bathroom, picking up her bouquet of lilies that lay on her bed and traveled down the stairs into the main part of the mansion.

— some time ago

`` MARRIED!`` Came a chorus of women’s voices from the kitchen on a particularly cold evening in January. The men in their lives merely stepped back tentatively. They had seen this kind of reaction on the Discovery Channel. Women could go absolutely bizarre at the mention of a wedding. In the middle of the female huddle stood Jean, eyes beaming with joy as her hand extended outwards to show off the diamond ring Scott had given her last night over dinner. Rogue squealed in delight. Jubilee clapped, and accidentally shot off a sparkler into Betsy’s hair - which was now steaming thanks to the water Kitty had thrown on it. The smell of crisp purple caused Tessa to shift over to the left a little, which actually gave her a better view of the ring. ``Congrats! Oh my gods. Did you set a date??!? Oh this is so exciting!`` all came out from the murmur of the crowd. To Logan, who was sitting off to the far left corner of the room, away from the fray, the women looked like a pack of vicious wolves crowding over dinner. Their voices rang out all across the mansion, chattering and prattling on and on about colors, and flowers, songs, guests, seating arrangements, honeymoons, buffets … anything and everything these women had thought about since birth and no one seemed to notice that Ororo was missing from the excitement. No one but Logan, that was.

The men of the institute, though, they were an entirely different breed of creatures. Logan’s gaze shifted to them as he snorted at all the commotion of what he considered to be the most anti climatic announcement since the release of Titanic. Slim and Red were FINALLY going to legalize their relationship. Whoop-ie. His thought made him grunt to himself. He focused on Scott, who was at that moment raising a beer up to his lips with a smile as his brother Alex was telling a rather animated story - hands wailing drastically in the air as Warren and Bobby laughed at the punch line. Remy’s glowing gaze was fixated at Rogue’s rather pleasing figure for him to be paying attention.

They were all boring him. If only Oro … and before he could even finish his thought the scent of her from outside drifted towards him. He took in a rather large and slow breath that filled his lungs, and his eyes fluttered, even if for a second, with pleasure and happiness. She was finally home. As to not make himself look to suspicious he only slightly moved his body in the chair to get a better look out of the kitchen window. From there he watched Ororo help Charles out of the van and into his chair as Henry opened the trunk to pull out bags of groceries. God, she always thinks of everyone else before herself. He watched her smile broadly and laugh sweetly, probably something that Henry had said. And she too loaded her arms with bags and the three began to make their way towards the kitchen entrance.

Logan scrambled from his seat so fast it caused the wooden chair to bump against the wall with a thud that fleetingly distracted the two groups from their conversations. ``What’s his problem?`` chirped Bobby as his gaze followed Logan as he dashed to the door and flung it open just as the professor’s hand reached for the door to open it. The professor, having not seen that coming, stopped his chair abruptly, as to not run over Logan, BUT Ororo and Henry had been looking at one another while they were walking because Henry was telling her a joke that involved a penguin and a doctor and did NOT notice Charles stopped. WHACK. Ororo, who had continued to walk, rushed clear into the back of her chair, her left foot being caught up on the side, and went tumbling over the chair. Bags of food went darting across the kitchen and ‘Ro came crashing down, head first, into the cold tile of the mansion.

`` ….. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!`` A shocked silenced hushed over everyone, their collective eyes staring intensely at the unfolding scene.

Henry came tumbling down on her immediately thereafter causing a louder CRASH to echo through the room. An apple that had soared out of the brown paper bag, bounced against the furthest wall of the kitchen and came rolling back to the tangled twosome and rested itself perfectly against Henry’s forehead. From the view of Charles Xavier, the two on the ground were a tangled yet humorous mess. His forehead scrunched inward as though he were telepathically contacting Henry or Ororo, but instead he was actually clenching up in order to keep the laughter subdued. And although the time that had passed between the fall and the silence that hushed over the kitchen felt like an awkward hundred years to Logan, no more than two minutes had passed. In all that time not a single person inched in order to help the two sprawled out on the ground — it was as if they were in such an awe of the spectacle that it completely grabbed their ability to function.

Finally, a low moan came from underneath the mass of blur fur. `` Uhhhhhhhhh. `` Spokes of white hair were sticking out from in-between Henry’s legs. He had somehow managed tyo twist in midair and land opposite of Ororo’s body. Her head had been struck by his thick calf and smashed clear into the floor, and even before she had the ability to brace her body for the worst of it, his entire hulking body came flooding down upon her. ``Henrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry. `` Ororo’s words dragged out, not in a tone of anger, but rather a tone of excruciating discomfort and pain. He shifted his body somewhat, not exactly moving off of her.

``Yes, Ororo?``

Charles peered over Henry’s shoulders to watch as Ororo lifted a finger to the blue ball of fur and sent a small bolt of lightening through him.

``Blessed heavens!`` he exclaimed as his body involuntarily shook, sending small blue hairs floating through the air. He rolled himself off, got to his feet and extended his hand to help Ororo up. But before Henry’s gesture could even go noticed by ‘Ro, Logan had already picked her up and placed her back gently on her feet, his right hand remaining firmly placed on her right shoulder.

``Are you alright?`` The staring crowd finally blurted out hesitantly. Ororo nodded her head, having not quite worked up the energy to speak. Her acknowledgment of them was almost like permission for them to continue on jabbering in their groups about the wedding - not a single one of them bothering to help Logan, Charles, Henry and Ororo clean up or mention to the newcomers what exactly has created such a stir in the kitchen.

``Are you sure you are alright?``

``Positive, Henry.``

``You took quite the fall.``

``Yes, that I did. Serves me right for not looking where I was going.``

``No, Ororo, it is my fault for having stopped my chair in such an abrupt manner.``

``No. It was my fault. I opened the door, `` Logan’s voice sounded low because he felt so bad about the incident. It was then that the other two bickering men turned to look to Logan, who at that very moment realized his hand was still placed on Ororo’s shoulder. Self-conscious of his actions he quickly withdrew and let his arm hag at his side. She noticed too, but she didn’t move it; Logan thought to himself, keeping the impending smile inside as to not alert the rest of his thoughts.

``Let me help you with this.`` The four of them began to wander about the kitchen picking up the food that had escaped from the flung paper bags. As for the two groups of mutants, they continued to talk loudly and fervently while ignoring the action going on around them. Ororo was used to this by now. She, as co-leader of the X-Men and as self exalted ‘mother’ to the residents of the mansion, had come to realize that most offered very little help. Sometimes she wondered if she were being taken advantage of when it came to the duties she performed around the institute, and to a certain extent she was. Over the past year Scott was becoming less and less concerned with the daily activities of the household and the running of the X-Men, not that he was very into it in the first place. He was more into the title than anything else. Ororo found that in his place Henry and occasionally Logan were becoming more helpful in his place. But none of the other women around the mansion did as much as she. It was Ororo who chauffeured the younger ones to their activities, she prepared the majority of the meals, she washed, dried, folded, sorted and separated the clothes, she cleaned the mansion on a regular basis, paid the bills, took care of the duties as team leader, scheduled exercises, activities, courses and training and not to mention attended to the emotional needs of everyone but herself. Ororo put herself second, always. Each and every person there would tell you, if asked, that Ororo Munroe was on their list of closest and best friend; but would that person be just as important to her? Storm was a leader, through and through.

Out of the corner of his eye, as he went about helping clean up, Logan watched Ororo as she bent over to pick up a loaf of squished rye bread. As she straighten back up Logan immediately caught the faint wince of pain ‘Ro tried to keep hidden.

``Come with me,`` Logan growled underneath a breath as he walked towards Ororo, grabbing her elbow and shuffling her out of the room and towards the bathroom. Charles merely arched a brow at Logan’s rather strange behavior. He had noticed that for the past few months, dare he say for the past year, Logan had been more and more at tentative towards her. He didn’t mind much, really, she was after all like a daughter to him and he felt that she should be happy, and if her happiness should come from Logan, than so be it. But Charles wasn’t the only one to notice lately that Logan had been more careful, thoughtful, dare say clingier as of late.

Warren nudged Remy in his side. Bobby curled and whined.

``What did you do dat fo’?`` Remy’s hand crept up to the spot where he had been hit and he rubbed it slightly.

``Did you see how strangely Logan acted when Ororo, Henry, and the Professor came in?`` Warren’s gaze, unbeknownst to Logan, had been following his moves throughout the kitchen, and especially where his eyes fixed on - ‘Ro.

``Nu.`` His head shook, sending hair tossing back and forth in his face.

``I am telling you, Remy, he has been acting odd lately. He always seems to be looking for Ororo when she is not around, and when she is he is either staring at her or right at her side. I think something is going on, and I am going to find out.``

— here and now

Ororo’s heals clicked and echoed as she took the final steps down. Her eyes drifted downward over her dress to make sure everything looked perfect. The golden gown clung just right on Ororo’s body, accentuating all the right areas - her thighs, back and chest. It had little in the way of designs, just a simple darker sash tied around her waist, and in the back the material hung loosely to show off her toned back. She finally reached everyone and she smiled. It was perfect. The weather, of course, provided by the resident doctor of meteorological events, had made sure that there were no clouds in the sky, but the temperature were not too hot, nor too cold and the wind blew ever so slightly. It was as ever a perfect day, and Ororo would have nothing less for her best friend.

``Are you ready?`` Ororo asked rhetorically as she gave Jean a hug. It was a more of a ’this is a big step’ question, than a are you physically able to walk down the isle question.

``Ready as ever,`` Jean whispered into her friend ear with a slight sniffle. She was trying so desperately to keep from crying - again. They released from their hug and Jean prepared herself while Ororo let her gaze drift outside. There were hundreds of people sitting outside waiting for the ceremony to begin. Most of them were already seating, some commenting on how they had never seen such a more perfect day or others saying how they knew the bride and groom. She smiled to herself. Ororo was happy for her friend. She deserved this. Scott and Jean had been through a great deal of drama during their dating years and at times it seemed as if they were never going to make it, but here they were about to get married. How Ororo secretly wished that were her in the wedding dress instead of her friend.

She tried to squash the feelings of jealousy but they did not to want to go away. She sighed. She was a hard worker, generous, caring, loving, loyal, moral, dignified, beautiful, intelligent, trusting, all those things and more a person should want and yet she was lonely. For some time now she had managed to keep her loneliness a secret, but it wasn’t working well. The truth was buried deep inside of her soul willing itself to the surface. I deserve to be happy. It has been quite sometime since she had been in a real relationship and her soul ached for companionship. For a person to hold onto her as she slept. Finally, for a person to take care of her. Ororo’s misty blue eyes washed over the crowd until they fell upon a figure not too far from the back of the crowd. He was rugged, gorgeous, brilliant and amazing in her eyes. To others he was a monster, cold hearted and vicious, incapable of love or understanding of basic human emotions aside from sex and pain. But not to her. He was her best friend, even if he didn’t know it. Lately she had been sensing a connection between the two of them, but she had dismissed it as her imagination. She continued to stare at him, or his back for that matter. He was the last thing she thought about before going to sleep and the first person she wanted to see when she got up in the morning. Logan felt as though he were being watched by someone and was relieved to see that it was only Ororo looking his way as his head canted to the side in order to get a better view. She blushed upon realizing he noticed her. Their gaze locked, if only for a brief moment before each turned their heads to the people surrounding them.

If only he knew how much I have loved him since the first day I saw him.

If only she knew how much I have loved her since the first day I saw her.

The wedding march began to play.