Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, or ideas. Marvel powns...oops I mean owns all.


** are telepathic thought

Ororo stands in the Xavier Memorial Garden. She smiles, and lets the memories pour from her just as much as the rain pours from above.

These events in the past eighteen months have been turbulent, to say the least. So much has happened, and not just to myself. Oh no! This black cloud of vengeful karma has seem to find its self a nice cozy spot right above the institute.

Scott, my brother. What happened? I feel like you here at dinner, well not actually at dinner. You haven’t actually talked or done anything socially or trained with us since... Then seven minutes later you were dead. Scott, can you here me? You were so alone. I tried, I really did. I even got you to smile once. Do you remember? I do. You were literally going to shred you dirty laundry. I remembered when Jean always used to make herself scarce when you needed help with that. So, this time when I saw you struggle, I didn’t mind helping you. Separating, folding, putting away. Dress shirts ironed, just a wee bit of starch, polos went in the second drawer. Darker neutrals went in first with the neckline facing the left, pastels on top facing the right. We were laughing and singing our laundry song, when Numbnuts sauntered by. Of course he thought it would be a great time to make fun of how “anal” you are. I remembered how you turned around and waited for his next remark. I turned around after you, and you had a big grin on your face. You felt for my hand, and I gave it to you to squeeze. You knew Logan would still be within hearing distance, and you mouthed, “finally.” Your glasses were being cleaned in the lab. Logan finally remembered that you had to keep your eyes shut without them. That’s right, Dumbass realized your blind, and had to have you things a certain way to function. Oh Goddoss, can he be such a fucktard! I do not want to think about him. I just ate.

Were you happy when you saw her again? I think you were. I think were happy, and she gave you something even better. She gave you eternity itself. Even though we are all mutants, we’re still human. None of us could fathom or contain that.

Not even you, my other half, my best friend, my Jean. My one and only sister. You were the first westerner outside of Charles and Erik to show me some kindness. I didn’t really know what to make of that. So I stayed at arms length. I kept my self inside the shell of a deity. I remember how you tried so hard to get inside my head. On the two hour drive to Nairobi International, you tried every half hour. I kept wondering why my brain kept feeling itchy and ticklish. I suppose had I not had natural psi-defenses you would have already been in my head. Could that be considered rude, yes. But I guess you used your telepathy as an extra sense. Hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, and for you getting people to speak their thoughts. It took me a while to understand that.

A whole forty-seven minutes. We hadn’t even crossed over Lake Victoria before we couldn’t stop blabbing like we’d known each other for years. Verbally and mentally. I think we drove Erik crazy before Charles. I remember thinking, “I don’t have to talk with her. I can save my breath and live a really long life.” That set you into a fit of giggles. Charles too. I remember when you found out why I have natural psi-defenses. Because the weather is empathic to how I feel, I have to control all my emotions. I’ve had an active mutation since I was born, and I could use my powers since I was very little, the psi-blocks just have always been there for me.

Jean, sweety, you were so paranoid when you couldn’t get your telepathy to work the way you wanted it to. I felt so awkward around you sometimes. You reminded me of a really wealthy person who invites someone into their opulent home. Not out of spite or anything. The host is telling the guest to, “make themselves at home.” The guest, having never been in a home like this, doesn’t do anything. So the host is reduced to begging the guest to sit eat and talk. That was us at first. That two hour drive and those first forty seven minutes told me two things about you. One was you were very stubborn. Borderline arrogant, actually. The second was that you would never give up. I loved that about you.

Shadenfreude: Chapter One



Logan stretched as he walked towards the balcony. Dawn was fast approaching. Its rays appeared as welcoming arms, and he was ready for this Monday morning.



*Welcoming arms,* he thought to himself. Since when was he a fan of poetic terms, and sunrises for that matter. He scratched at one of his stubbornly thick mutton-chops.



His mind ran through the highlights he was going to have later on. Beer, food, beating on the older students...err training with the older students, tactics classes, food again, more beer. His afternoons were actually the best part of the day. That’s when he got to take the younger children out. Training with them included sports, wildlife walks, paint ball, all sorts of fun stuff. Of course, when it was suggested that he do this, he reluctantly accepted. He smirked to himself. Reluctant was a gross and disgusting understatement. Ororo had threaten him in oddly sadistic ways if he wasn’t actually going to do it. So he “relented.” He never told her that he had every intention of doing it in the first place. Where would the fun be in that?



Thinking of Ororo turned his smirk into a grin. He turned around to lean his back against the balcony railing, and lit a cigar. He loved annoying the hell out of her, and making her angry was the equivalent to handing out free cheesecake smothered in thick hot fudge to dieters. He would actually be able to sleep better at night knowing that he could make her mad as hades. She would still be more beautiful than anything or anyone he’d ever come across, and that thought no longer bothered him. Logan took a long drag of his cigar, closed his eyes and leaned his head back. His hands gripped the railing of the balcony so hard that his knuckles turned white. Oh yeah, he usually did have to brace himself when he thought of Ororo.



When she was mad, as he often saw her, cheeks would flush. She would get that adorable little twitch in her left nostril and one of those perfect eyebrows would raise. Her stance would also change. Those legs, of which he couldn’t stop from admiring even though they were kind of short, would part to be parallel to her shoulders. Her arms would tense, and depending on how mad she was they would sometimes cross over her chest. He opened his eyes and grunted at that idea. He, long ago, learned how to not make her that mad. The last thing he wanted were more things getting in the way of her breasts.




He loved how she would literally get in his face when she wanted to get her point across. She would even lean forward just a little, and that was the perfect position. He got a good view of everything that way: shoulders, which would make his teeth ache for action, boobs which would often be protruding through her many shirts. He would think that her breasts would do that on their own. It was almost as if they peeked through for some air. Poor things. Her behind would also stick out. A fairly loud involuntary growl escaped him.* Dammit,* he thought, *I need to get that shit under control.* He slammed his eyes shut again desperately trying to get the blood to go back where it belonged. Of course it didn’t work. His tri-force of power expanded and tightened, as if to mock him. He forced himself to think of something else.



He turned around to face the Xavier Gardens. The manicured lawns, the shrubbery maze, and the stunning array of flowers often reminded him of a place that also seemed like h...He forcibly shook his head. No, this was the only home he’d knew of. He raised his eyes a little more and he could clearly see the memorials. He took another drag. As he slowly inhaled, he thought of those three people who forever changed his life.



Xavier. Just the sound of the man’s name warranted respect, as did his ideas and the majority of his actions. He had opened his home and his facilities to Logan without a second thought. Well, not really. The man was an extremely powerful telepath. His thoughts happened faster than bullets. So he probably thought much more than twice about letting in strangers. But he made everyone feel welcome. Logan knew that whatever great ill that he did, or however long he stayed away, he would ALWAYS be forgiven and welcomed back at the Institute. Logan let loose a shard sigh. He never experienced that kind of security before. Logan also remembered standing at the man’s grave a year and a half ago. He was glad that he didn’t have to apologize for being wrong and completely out of line when it came to the Phoenix. Xavier was right when it came to the psi-blocks. Without them Jean was lost in her own mind. But, he still should have just told her about them. She still should have known they were there. What if she could have found them comforting? Logan’s brow folded deep. Thinking about this always hurt.



Yes, thinking of Jean now hurts. He knew how painfully ironic that was. When he first met Jean, she was the opposite of hurt. She was friendly, warm, and welcoming. (Unlike a certain resident ice-queen / weather-bitch...ha ha ha!) She was everything a man would want to come home to. She smiled at him in every way possible. With a delicious mouth, with those forest green eyes, and even in his head. It happened, oh so fast. One minute he was unconscious from getting his head kicked in and being blown up in the snow, the next he felt a soft, warm, lithe had tickling him. He opened his eyes, and she stuck a fork in him because he was done. Thanks to her, he knew that it was possible for him to feel that way about a woman. She unlocked a door that he didn’t even know existed. He would be eternally grateful for that.




Watching her get warped by her own power was devastating. He felt so helpless. Another growl came out. He was that helpless one other time in his life. Weapon X. He grunted again at even more irony. He ran away from the control of Weapon X, and he ran to the out of control Phoenix. What the hell? He was beginning to feel like he was cursed or like he was being stalked by really shitty luck.



He hated the Phoenix. She was not Jean, in his opinion. This evil thing-a-ma-jig captured Jean in a box and took her far far away. The dead bird stole her entire life. She didn’t deserve that. He hoped and prayed that Jean understood that he and Ororo knew how she felt inside the Phoenix. They were experts on how it felt to be trapped, and helpless to your environment. It was a fate he wouldn’t even wish on Sabertooth.



The last grave always made him feel like a piece of shit. Here lies a good man. Done in far before his prime. He was another that truly didn’t deserve his fate. The poor guy didn’t even see it coming. Logan remembered Scott’s downward spiral into depression. First at Alkali Lake, where Jean’s first self sacrifice allowed them all to live. He watched with awe and a hint of jealousy as Cyclops turned into Scott and never really came back. He wanted to know what it was like to love someone that much too. It was as if Scott and Jean had given up their lives for each other. Everyone else in between was cannon fodder.



He noticed something that quickly snapped him out of his revery. It looked like a body in an odd position on top of the graves. Great! That’s the last thing people need around here, death on top of death. He squinted when he thought he saw the body shift. That’s when he saw the shape and the distinguishing characteristics of the body.



“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he swore. “She did it again!” Ororo had fallen asleep on the graves for the umpteenth time.



He toke a dive off the balcony and landed with the grace of a cat. He tore through the gardens and stopped in front of her sleeping form. A funny sound came out of him. He realized that he had grit his teeth to keep from laughing at her. She looked so terrible, but painfully gorgeous at the same time. She was in her blue and white two piece cloud print pajamas, which were caked in dirt from the rain last night. Seeing her here, he also realized that the rain was her fault too. Her mouth was parted in a sleepy “O”, and her short two toned hair was tousled to high heaven and also covered in mud. She shifted again and suddenly kicked her legs out, and waved her arms wildly in the air. She mumbled something about Jean better not wake her up this early any more for classes, then she stopped, and went back to a silent sleep. When she was moving around, her shirt got stuck underneath her chest and it revealed a toned dark tummy that begged to be rubbed.



Never one to turn down a offer like this, he did so.
“Storm...,” he gently prodded.
“No flighting, no Shlorm,” was his response, and a funny sounding snore that made him smile. She was so gonna hear about that later. He bent down and shook her gently.
“Common, Roro.”
“Huuuh...” She fluttered her eyes, and squinted from the sun.
“Well, looked who finally decided to grace us with her presence.”
“I hate you.”
“Good morning to ya too, darlin.”



She was forced to see that shit eating smirk first thing in the morning. It was not going to a good day. She groaned and tried to roll over. A warm and calloused hand on her stomach stopped her. And much to her chagrin started something else deep inside her. *Oh common,* she thought to herself, *can I please catch just one break.* She looked at his hairy mug and noticed that his eyes were closed and he seemed focused. *Goddess no, please tell me he can’t smell it!*



“Common, you gotta get up now, they’re callin’ for you inside. Did you have a conference call this mornin’ with the Academy of Tomorrow? Hmm...I think ya did.” He pulled her up to her bare feet. “We need to get ya inside so they can stop sceamin for ya.”



“Is that what you where doing, listening to them call me?”
“Yep.”
He didn’t miss the brief flash of relief that flew through her pretty face. He decided to let her slide on the other thing his enhanced scenes caught. It looked like she had a busy day ahead of her, so he’d bring it up at another more inconvenient time.

Shadenfreude: Chapter 2



Logan offered Ororo his arm as they began the trek back to the mansion. She glared and furrowed her brow at him. He snatched his arm back and snorted at her. She made an attempt to straighten out her clothes and wipe the dirt off, but then realized how absolutely futile it was. Logan had the time of his life watching her struggle. He brought his index finger and thumb up to rub at his chin as he remembered why he loved to frustrate and annoy her.



*Flashback*
Ororo looked out of her window for the street name. *Orange road.....ApplePlumGrapePeach...What, in the world, possessed these people to name this streets...Oh good grief, there it is!* She slowly pulled into the cul de sac. After she put the Benz in park and unbuckled her seat belt, a rush of memories assaulted her. As she opened the door and saw the neighborhood, the memories wouldn’t stop. She saw Jean and herself playing Scott and Hank in a hockey game in the middle of the rounded road. She and Jean leaning on and dragging each other to the Grey house after yet another night of, “I dare you to drink that. Oh yeah, watch me! Your turn.” There was another time the four musketeers were walking to the Grey’s, Ororo noticed how everyone seemed to be obsessed with these adorable little green leafy plants. People where wearing them and had them hanging on their doors. She asked Jean what they were about.

“It’s for St. Patty’s day,” was the super cheery response.
“I’m sorry, what does that mean?”
“Oh jeeze, Rory. I keep forgetting that you’re kinda new here.”
Scott had snuck up behind Jean and nudged her. “Good one Jean. Weren’t you the one who was with the Professor to LEAVE THE COUNTRY to pick up Ro. Duh! You know for a telepath, you’ve got some problems up here,” he had tapped her on her forehead to stress his point. Jean got the last word in by stepping on his foot as hard as she could. Hank separated the soon to be wrestling match.
“Do you two mind,” he admonished, “I would, for once, like to walk into this house not looking like violence itself.”

*I know this is difficult for you.*
Ororo snapped around at the voice in her head. She saw Logan help the Professor out of the car and into his chair.
*I’m sorry, Charles. I refuse to believe that all of this is happening. It can’t be all undone like this. It was supposed to be better. Why is this happing so fast? I just don’t understand.*
His gaze had brought her down to her knees in front of him. He took her hand and hoped his thoughts would be enough for her, because at this point it was all he had.
*Don’t be sorry, child. Absolute power corrupting is more than a cliche. This is why we became X-men. We need to be prepared. I know that Jean is still here, and I’m going to get her.*
Logan’s voice was enough to bring them back. “We need to look alive; we have company.” After a brief discussion with Magneto the last thing Xavier said to them was to wait for him. Scant seconds later, all hell broke loose.

*****Later on in the flashback****

Both X-men met up with each other in the living room of the Greys’ after getting their collective asses handed to them by Callisto and Juggernaut.

“This is ridiculous,” Logan nearly screamed.
“Aww, what’s wrong Wolverine? Not used to being tossed around like a worthless ragdoll.” Storm nearly bit her lip at her retort. It was a little harsh, too bad it was true. She changed the topic to prevent further rudeness. “Jean’s room is in the attic, we need to get there NOW!”

As they raced upstairs, they suddenly felt the ground shift as the house was inexplicably ripped off of its foundation, and it started to hover and spin in the air. The sudden movements of the house knocked Logan off his feet and into a corner in the living room. Storm used her winds to lift herself off the floor. Logan glared at her, mainly because that’s all he could do.

Sucking up his pride he asked her a question he knew he was never going to hear the end of. “I could us a little help here, please.”
She had a puzzled look on her face. “I’m sorry, what did you say. I know that I must have heard you incorrectly. I thought you said, help me. Then you said please.” Ororo rubbed her head like it hurt. “Wow, I must have hit that coffee table harder than I thought.” She gave a toothy smile, and floated towards the stairs.
“You know,” he shouted, “your real friggin funny.”
“Not nearly as funny as you right now. Hurry up, we have things we need to do, as a team.”

She let her winds take her under the second floor railing and sat down under neath of it. She threw her legs over the side and got her self a good look as Logan struggled to upright himself. His situation got worse as the house took a few more spins. Storm simple leaned in the direction of the turn. Logan was defenseless as he toppled around wherever gravity and centripical force took him. Storm bit down on her lip and sat on her hands to hold back from pointing and laughing.

“Glad yer enjoyin’ this, darlin, cause instead of laughin’ ya could get that nice ass of yers down here and help me.”
Storm’s struggle to not laugh just made her face scrunch up and look funny. Before he could give her his meanest glare the house took a deep dive. Furniture started to move books were blown about, and the dining room glass table skidded out of nowhere and slammed in Logan, shattering instantly. Storm flinched at the unexpected blow and at the sound of the broken glass. The Wolverine has seemingly had enough. After the house began to ascend again, he unsheathed his claws and used them as leverage against the hard-wood floors. The added pressure of gravity made every move he made a difficult one.

The house rose again, and this time it span continually. Logan was abruptly taken from the floor, and slammed into the wall, next to the stairs, with no mercy. He heard the audible crack of the eight by tens under his weight. *What the hell,* he thought, *this damn day couldn’t possible get any worse!* Storm also felt the sharp turn, but she once again just leaned to the right. Wolverine once again used his claws to climb the wall heading towards Storm and the second floor hallway. He gave her some awfully dirty looks. It was plain as day that he was thinking all sorts of naughty thoughts. She squints back at him, brushes dirt off her jeans, and casually shrugs. When he was mere inches from his “partner,” he reached out a clawed hand to possible use her as leverage. She rolled her eyes. He reached for her again. She was about to pull him on the landing when a large looming shadow above her caught her attention. Before he could grab on to her she was backing out of the radius of the shadow.

“What the hell Storm?”
“I’m almost sorry Logan,”she pouted at him, then she gave him a signature smile.
“What are you talking about, woman?”
She pointed up. Logan sees it and gives her his number one your-gonna-get-it-as-soon-as-I-get-out-of-here glare. He sheathes his claws and tried to get up from the floor as quickly as possible. The weight of the his metal skeleton and gravity glue him to the floor. He tried so hard to give Storm the finger, but he never had the chance. The grand piano crashed into him like it hated him.

Storm shook her head trying to dislodge the awful noise from her head.
“I forgot that Jean used to play the piano.”
Two pairs of clawed hands shot up out of the rubble. A very pissed of Wolverine pulled himself up. He turned around and roared straight in Storm’s face.
Once again she shrugged and asked, “What?”
He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s just go.”

They ran for the end of the hallway. Before they got there they heard the ceiling creak above them. The sound went wherever the house tilted. As if other large objects were being jerked around by gravity. The house stopped, then it started moving again causing most people and items to bounce. The ceiling above them groaned it protest and cracked. Storm’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what was above them. She pulled Logan out of the way. But the object just seemed to follow them. She saw the ceiling buckle and this time she actually felt a little bad this time as she saved herself. Logan once again had no warning to save himself from the large custom engraved anvil. Needless to say, Wolverine was none too pleased about this latest mishap. Storm turned around from him and covered her face with her hand. She really felt bad about that one.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS A FUCKIN ANVIL DOIN’ IN THIS DAMN HOUSE? What’s the excuse this time, HUH? Are ya gonna tell me that Jean’s a part-time blacksmith?”

She flinched when he finished screaming. Then wrapped her arms around her mid section. The only thing she could offer him was a meek, “no.”

“Oh no, girlie, ya ain’t gettin outta that easy. Ya gonna answer my damn question. I wanna know why the hell I was attacked by a random anvil. I mean I understand the piano, but this shit...Ya gotta be fuckin kiddin me!” He looked at her expecting a through explanation.

She inhaled slowly, “Jean’s father, John Grey, was a professor at Bard. He taught U.S. History. He absolutely loved eighteenth and nineteenth century life. He used to take us too his events that he coordinated at the colonial fair at Busch Gardens. For his twentieth year there they gave him an engraved anvil. Jean loved it so much that he let her keep it in her room.” She finished her story with her eyes cast down. She knew that if she looked at him she might die laughing, literally.

“Jesus,” he swore again. “I’m really beginnin’ to think this day really can’t get any fuckin’ worse!”

Four and a half minutes later, it got much much worse.
***End Flashback***



Instead of letting Ororo go to her room for a bath that she desperately needed; he steered her towards the headmasters office. Her office.



“Logan, I would really like to start the day clean.”
“No time sweet cheeks,” and swatted her rump to back up his compliment, “Em is waitin’ on ya. Besides you look fine.” This was no lie on his part.



She just rolled her eyes and opened the door. She walked across the room to the desk and sat down. He noticed her putting her arms on the desk to make a nice crook for her head.



“Oh no ya don’t.”
She blew air at him. He walked over to her desk and turned on her computer and monitor. He found the software needed to start her VIDEO conference call.



If looks could kill...

Shadenfreude: Chapter Three



Ororo buried her head in her arms, and wished that she had her friend Sue’s powers. *Why couldn’t I go in space and get stuck in some gamma rays? Then I’d be able to turn invisible and say, “screw it all.”* She contemplated about that idea on a serious level, but then concluded that the X-men in Spaaaaaace would be a bad idea. She felt the wood of the desk warm against her forehead. It felt kind of nice, and it made her lethargic. She wondered if she could feign sick, and have someone else take this call. *Oh wait, there isn’t anyone else.* The school’s faculty had dwindled down to two full time teachers (one of them doing double duty as teacher and administrator, guess who that was), and three part time teachers. She could feel that black cloud of bad luck rumble as if it too was laughing at her. She heard her unwanted guess make towards the door, but then he stopped. She brought her head up to see what was going on.


Instead of leaving and allowing Ororo to be embarrassed by her pathetic appearance by herself, he had decided to stay, and get a first hand account of her humiliation. He was facing the large french style window, but he didn’t miss her narrowing her eyes at him. The chaise lounge that was under the window seemed to call out to him. When he was close enough to it, he jumped on it and threw his legs over it, so that they dangled off the edge. He laid back with his hands behind his head and turned his closed eyes towards the sun. He didn’t need to open them to feel the heat come from the sun, or from the frazzled woman at the desk. Thinking about all that heat made a sly grin appear on the feral man’s face. He opened one eye and caught her staring. The dark and primal part inside of him decided on giving the woman, who made him sweat at night, something to stare at. Legs were stretched out (as were the jeans that covered them), toes were wiggled (showing off those annoyingly sexy black leather Timberlands), and a back was arched high off the furniture rippling the muscles all over his torso. He turned around to each side creaking it, then he worked on his neck. He saw an involuntary nose twitch out his side vision.


It felt like Christmas.


Ororo turned to face her computer so abruptly she nearly fell out of her chair. She heard more creaking and cracking, but she dared herself to not turn around again. The noise stopped, so she began to bring up some files on screen that she new Emma would want to review. She heard paper rustling and figured Logan was reading the Daily Bugle. That reminded her. She looked in the desk for her Blackberry. She started to update her To Do List: renew paper subscription, order new edition English, World history, and Geometry books, collect and examine lesson plans for the remainder of the second marking period, call the repair man for the washers and the dryers, prepare for upcoming field trips, split the x-men into three teams to attack Sam’s Club BJ’s and Costco for much needed supplies...*Why couldn’t one wholesale club just sell everything?*


Creeeeeak, crackcrackcrack....*Oh Goddess no, please don’t tell me- -* Ororo had foolishly looked up, and there he was again. Going at it this time with those arms, tanned ripped and hairy in all the right places. She remembered how they felt like warm butter on her skin earlier, but considering what he was doing with them now, she wanted nothing more than to tear them off and beat him...yep, with his own arms.



“Could you PLEASE stop that?”
“Nope.”
Diediediediediediediediediedie. “I am trying to concentrate,” she added a silent, “you Jack-hole.” All she could do was let out an irritable sigh.
“What time is it, Storm?”
“Are we fighting?”
“Darlin, when are we not?”
“Code names are for missions. I really don’t know how to make it simpler for you.”
“Fine then...Breezy, what time is it?”
“Almost seven thirty, and if you don’t want your scrotum to turn black and fall off, do NOT call me that again.”
“Ya seem to forget that I have a healin’ factor. It allows me to grow my shit back,” he leaned forward and sneered at her, “and better than before.”
“And you seemed to forget that I have a near unlimited amount of electricity at my disposal at any given moment, and whatever I choose to do to you and your appendages WILL hurt, a lot. Oh, and lets also not forget, how you are covered in a highly conductive metal.”


He quickly sat up and folded the paper. Not liking the way that Ororo was brushing him off, he thought of something that would be the proverbial cherry on top of her situation.


“Look I just remembered something I had to do. I’ll be back before the call. And, ah Ro”
“What,” was the curt reply.
“Don’t cha dare lock me out.”
“Alright, fine.”
He gave her a look that said, “Bullshit.”
She pretended to work more on her portable device as he took his sweet time walking to the door. He didn’t need to turn around to know that she was watching him. He could smell her doing it. The urge to stop and inhale as hard as he could was nearly overwhelming. She wished he would get his grabable tight and well toned Canadian behind out of her personal space. As soon as he had both feet over the threshold, he turned around to make sure she was going to let him back in, but the door was suddenly slammed violently in his face and locked into place.



“Ororo? I’m sorry I’m late. There’s a bloody demonstration at my door step. I really can not believe these people have nothing better to do than to annoy children at a school on a Monday morning. Ororo? Are you even there?”
Ororo knew that this day was going to go from slightly crappy to free flow unstoppable diarrhea when she heard the high pitched, slightly accented. former socialite’s voice. Releasing her palms from the thick mahogany door, she slowly made her way back to the computer and plopped down in the chair, then waited for it...


“Oh good Lord woman, what happened to you? Or is it really that dirty in the Institute, and don’t you own actual clothes? Perhaps I should pull my students out earlier than I anticipated.”
“Frost, what are you talking about. The student exchange was for a semester, that’s two marking periods. We’ve just finished the first one.”
“Well, that’s what this staff meeting is about. Didn’t Logan tell you?”
All that could be heard was the grinding of Ororo’s teeth. On that note, Emma moved out in front of the camera, and there was the Board of Trustees at the Academy of Tomorrow. To make matters even better there was a knock at her door followed by a deep and annoyed grumble. She ignored until she heard -snikt- and the door knob turned, and in walked The A...-Logan, Xi’an Manh, Dr. Cecilia Reyes, and Sean Cassidy.


Before she could get any more grief about her unusual appearance, she held up a dirty open palmed hand to halt any questions and comments.
“Let’s just get this over with, shall we. Emma, what is this about taking back your students?”
“We all know that the Institute is dangerously under staffed, and because of that the students don’t have the access to the education that they should.”
“Emma, please don’t kid your brunette self,” Xi’an said. “We know about our staffing difficulties. We have it covered. Not only that, but we are just fine with the extra-curricular activities too.” Xi’an’s barely contained distaste of the other telepath was obvious. They mutual distaste steamed back from their time at the Institute. Apparently more than one telepath in a room was begging for a disaster. Murmuring could be heard, and Xi’an didn’t have to use her powers to know that she had just hit one out of the park.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Karma?”
“First of all language Emma, you need to set an example. Second, the Danger Room does precisely what it needs to do. By the way Em, where do your students train?”
Before she could answer, Cecilia piped in with, “Last time I checked it was the backyard.”
“All right, everyone. Enough is enough. I know Emma has a point.”
Ororo took in the visible change of the telepath’s features when Sean defended her. She also noticed Logan’s silence during all of the commotion.
“As I was saying, the Board and I agree that the Institute is not well equipped enough to hold out for the rest of the school year.”


Ororo just held her breath and waited for the noise to start again, and it did. This had gone on long enough. She could feel her heart beat against her chest. Now was the moment to tell them, the longer she waited the more the dissent would be when her faculty found out. She could feel large luminous grey eyes on her. For some reason, instead of annoyance or trepidation, they gave her strength, and an ability to endure.


Logan could tell that Ororo was nervous, and he didn’t like it. In the time that he knew her, he had known only two things to ever get under her skin, so seeing her like this made him want to shake, squeeze, kick, and gut whatever it was that was bothering her. He wanted her to just spit it out. *Common, Roro. Don’t let the plastic wearing heifer get to you*


“Emma, I suggest that you actually read the email I sent you last week. It pertains to this topic.”
“Why should I, and what is it about.”
“I just told you, must you constantly question my athor...Never mind.” Cecilia, Xi, and Sean had looked at her with anticipation. “I know that we cannot survive another school year, but as far as I know, all the students here do not want to get schooling else where. So I was suggesting something of an official merger of sorts.”


“This is the first decent thing that has come out of the Institute, well since myself.” On Emma’s end there was a general consensus of agreement. Logan had never in his life seen a group of people who simultaneously roll their eyes.


Before anyone else could react Peter and Kitty, who seemed to be around each other really rather often now, had come in with the mail.
“Miss. Monroe you have a letter from ahh...hold on...here it is. I thought it was a joke cause it says its from an Eric Lensherr.”


Pin dropping silence was the only thing that could be heard.

Shadenfreude: Chapter Four



Peter was the first one brave to move and speak. He had put his arm around Kitty and turn her around so that her back was facing the stunned crowd.
“Kayta, you know very well that being nosy gets you nowhere.”


Kitty couldn’t help but to get lost in those earthen eyes. She new juicy news when she saw it, and that letter screamed, “JUICE ME, BABY!” With Peter looking at her like that, she was bound to give in, verbally.
“Fine, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” The huge grin on her face said other wise.


Peter was wise enough to not press the issue. Instead he fished through his letters and found one for Cecilia and another one for Ororo, as well as the dreaded bills.
“It looks you there’s no luck for you, Karma,”Peter said sincerely.
“Oh why doesn’t anybody loooove me,” Xi’an playfully whined. “Shut up, Emma, and your roots are showing,” she added before the realalisticly brunette said or thought anything.


It was quite obvious that this meeting was over. Logan stole a glance at Ororo, and she looked ready to collapse.
“I think on that note that we can stop this debacle.”
“Thank you Cecilia. He’s right everyone. Emma read my proposal, and get back to me.” With that she snapped off the computer. “Alright everyone, I know that this may be a shock, but I do need everyone to be a little more patient with me until I can get this situation under complete control. I will give all of you details about this merge after lunch. So instead of worrying about future problems, just keep on doing what you are. The only thing that will change dramatically change is recruiting students. This will have to be put on hold until we can insure them the proper expertise. We are good, but we are also few. Any questions, no, excellent.”


As the teachers were leaving, Logan decided to linger. He was worried about his boss-lady, and his curiosity about the letters was a little to much.
“How about I take your first History class; you need to need to get yourself clean.”
“Thank you, Logan. I appreciate that. Oh, and while your at it can you make sure that Peter and Kitty get to their classes, on time, and hickey less.”
Logan walked right up to her and cradled her face in his hands. He saw how she was looking stunningly skittish. He kissed her widow’s peak, rubbed his stubble against her forehead, and inhaled her dirty hair. She stilled smelled like wet earth, rain, and unpolluted fog. A soft content rumble came out, and he knew that was a sigh of peace that escaped her.
“Ro?”
“Hmm...”
“Take yer time today, especially with that bath because ya really need it, darlin.”
“Logan?”
“Hmm...”
“Get out!”
On his way out he made a mental note to make sure that Kitty helped him out on a matter. While getting close enough to touch Ororo (which was a treat in itself), he has able to see the name on the second letter. He wanted know why a powerless Magneto was writing her, and who the hell was Pietro Maximoff. Did she know something about Magneto’s whereabouts? The last time the person in charge at the Institute kept secret, it killed them. He was not going to let that happen again.


**********
Ororo’s Loft
**********


Ororo was just mesmerized by the still full waters of her three-person jacuzzi bath. She ran several fingers through the water testing the temperature, still contemplating wether or not she wanted to get in.

“Works better, you know, when you get all the way in.”
Ororo turned around, and there she was, just casually sitting in her sink.
“Jean!”
“Hi! Surprised to see me?”
Ororo had paused before lifting her muddy shirt over her head to seriously contemplate that question. After a moment she got fully undressed and settled herself in the tub. *Oh Bright Lady, is this nice* After she was able to regain her thoughts, she opened up her eyes and her sister was still there, nearly laughing at her. She closed her eyes, and felt bubbles and hot water in her face that wasn’t her own fault, followed by a giggle, again not her own.
“Hmph!”
“What,” came the far too innocent reply.
“Don’t you have something far more interesting to be doing?”
Jean gave a very unlady-like snort. “What would you have me doing, Oh High and Mighty One. I got a little bored with decomposing and resting in peace. And I’ll have you know, it is quite difficult trying to rest in peace with someone above you babbling away.”
“Girl, please.”
“Sooo, what are these,” Jean asked in a sing-songy voice that showed she already knew. “Hmm, ...bill, bill, bill, ad, Magneto, bill, oooooh what have we here! A letter from Pietro. Let’s have a looksee shall we.”
“Um, NO!” Before Jean could react, Ororo had moved out of the tub, grabbed the letter out of her sister’s hands and ran into her bedroom. Just to make sure Jean understood how to mind her own business, she dashed back to the bathroom and splashed her pouting sis with two hand fulls of water, then dashed back out again.
“Jesus woman, put some damn clothes on. I never understood how you don’t have a problem with all your stuff hanging out and flying all about.”


While Ororo searched her echoing closet for something to wear, she could have sworn she heard a soft powdery cough behind her, somewhere around her bed. She ignored it, and found a beautiful cream suit. Unfortunately it was nearly parallel to the one that Emma was wearing today, so it got put back. She settled on a floor length shiny black skirt and a white see through blouse with a tight black corset underneath. She told herself to thank Xi’an for the new taste in clothes. When she grabbed her accessories she heard the cough again. Somebody was trying to get her attention. *Dammit Jean.*


She stomped, nakedly, out of her closet, with her clothes in hand, to come face to face with......Scott! Well, wasn’t she Miss. Popular on a day when she wanted nothing else but her own company. She threw her clothes on the bed, then sat at her vanity and began to attack her hair with a brush. She tried not to let it show how much it hurt without the leave-in conditioner. Scott casually sat on the edge of her bed, like nothing was out of the ordinary.
“So, I heard you got a letter from- -“
“Oh Good Lady, not you too.”
“Aw man, she got to you before I did, darn.”
Ororo wiggled in her seat hard, uncomfortable, anvil shaped, and satin covered vanity seat. For the first time since she sat down, she turned to really look at him, and found a pair of cobalt eyes that could rival her own. She grabbed his face in her hands and rubbed her thumbs against the rarely seen stubble. When she had her fill, she brought their faces centimeters apart and took a look at those NEVER before seen eyes.
“I really miss you.”
He wrapped her in a tight hug. “You mean you miss me doing all the grunt work, ie conducting meetings, and calculating spreadsheets better and faster than Excel, and disciplining.”
“Na uh,” she said, but it came out muffled because it was buried in his shoulder.
“How about you telling me what’s in those two letters?”
“How about, NO!”
“ It’s pretty obvious that Pietro wants you back. But, I don’t understand why Magneto would write. I don’t feel right about that.”
“I’m not to worried about it. Whenever he wrote Charles and referred to himself as Eric, the subject was always about personal matters, which would imply that it would be about Wanda. The Goddess knows, he never said anything about Pietro over the years. I remember how Charles would have to remind him that he had a son.” She picked up the letters and began to shuffle them. She wasn’t to worried about them before, but now she was terrified. Something just didn’t feel right.
“I’m going to leave you to your own devices. If anything goes wrong, we got your back, Sis. So, trust your instincts, and let us be your safety net, for once. Oh yeah, Ro, one more thing...”
“What?”
“Nice landing strip.”
That earned, yet another, foot stomping.


Now that she was finally alone she was able to get dressed. Afterwards she threw caution to the wind and opened up Eric’s letter first.


Dear Little Ro,
I know that it was difficult for you to open this, so I would like to thank you first for letting by gones be what they are.
I am unsure if you knew that I wrote Charles on a regular basis. But if I recall correctly, he always confided in you, and knowing you as I do, I do not believe his confidence in you was ever misplaced.
I hear that the mansion is still standing, and the children are happy. Rumor has it that troubled times lie ahead for the school. I know that you will find away to survive, as you always have.
I also know that you must have your hands full, but I must ask you for a favor. I am usually able to contact Wanda on a regular basis, and lately I have not. I fear something is wrong, and since I do not have the resources I used to, I was wondering if you could tell her to contact me. I would appreciate any help in this matter that you can spare.
Thank you again, and good luck in your future endeavors.

E. Lensherr


Ororo felt an invisible hand turn up her worry notch a few pegs. She opened up Pietro’s letter, hoping it wouldn’t be about the same subject.


Dear Rory,
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard from Dear ole Pops by now. Wanda is missing. We ususally talk everyday, but she hasn’t called in two weeks. I stop by and she’s not home. I thought she was kidnaped, but no ransom note, and there wasn’t a struggle at her apartment. To tell you the truth, I’m scared shitless.
I went to the cops, and they laughed in my face. The response I got was, “That’s one less mutant I have to worry about.” What the fuck! The chief told me to take it to District X. I wasn’t expecting anything out of their precinct. Its out of their jurisdiction. I was able to get the message to Lucas. He said he’d look for her on his own off the clock.
I’m so sorry to bog you down with this. I was hoping that you could use some of Charles’s contacts to help me.
I’ll stop by in a day or two to fill you in on all the details. I do miss being around you, but believe me when I say, I wish it were under completely different circumstances.
You’re a doll.

Tro


*Oh Shit!*

Shadenfreude: Chapter Five


***************************
Meanwhile in Ororo’s Classroom
***************************

Logan sat down at the teacher’s desk with his senses on alert ready to catch any wanna be cheaters. He told them as much to discourage them. He remembered hearing a smart comment by a girl whom he had always thought to be color blind about how it would be easier cheating with a psychic. Ororo had assigned an in class essay about the differences between Nero and Vespatitian, and how each one effected Rome. She also had side notes about how each emperor still has an effect on contemporary society. WHAT! Logan decided the essay was as far as her lesson plans would get today.


He tried not to show his elation when the bell chimed, but took note when the students did. Before they all tried to simultaneously tried to fit through the door, he called Kitty back. She ignored him talking to the color-blind girl...Julie, no that’s not it, ..Junie,....Jubilee. That’s it. That girl talked so fast and so much, she could sucker a yeti, an Eskimo, and a penguin into buying ice. He took another note of that. People who genuinely had that much to say, knew gossip or at least where to find it. To round out his team of hunter-gathers, he knew he would have to track down Marie. With her infallible logic, she would be able to sort through the crap and the truth that the other two would dig up. He stroked his chin. Kitty could hack into any computer, Jubilee would talk to or at anyone long enough to get them to spill some kind of information, and Marie would be damage control and common sense. Now all he had to do was to get the ball rolling. No secret was going to be safe from him now!


“Girls, I need a favor.”
“Sure Mr. Logan.”
He pointed to the girl who just spoke. He squinted one eye at her and asked, “Jubilee, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So, how would the two of ya like to help me?”
This time it was Kitty who spoke up. “Just what do you have in mind. I have the feeling that it’s either illegal or morally questionable if your making nice.”
Logan gave her his most indignant snort.
Both girls gave him The Raised Eyebrow of Disbelief. They looked at each other, then they both simultaneously asked, “Who is she?”
“What!” The realization slowly dawning on him. They assumed that the favor had to do with a woman. Damn, they were good. Oh well, no use in hiding it now. But he promised himself no one would know of all of his true intentions. “This one is about Ro.”
“Oh my God,” Jubilee exclaimed “What’s wrong with her?” She couldn’t help the fear that came through in her voice.
“I knew that letter would be bad news,” Kitty stomped her foot and murmured, “I should have steamed it open when I had the chance, damn.”
“Katherine Laurie-Ann Pryde, that is a federal crime,” Logan told her in his most patronizing voice.
“Oh, yeah! Like you weren’t thinking about it, too.”
Before Logan could lie and deny it, Jubilee actually stepped in between the two and held her hands out. “Woah, woah, woah! Hold up you two. What letter? And why don’t I know about this? Somebody better talk before I start handing out the pruple nerples, now!”
Logan got of the desk he was leaning on, and walked towards the door. He sniffed to make sure that no one was around. He came back to the girls with a very serious expression on his face.
“Alright ya two, what I’m about to talk about doesn’t leave this room, except for Marie. I will fill her in later.”
Kitty simply snorted.
“This is much more important than that. Look Jubilee, Ororo got a letter today from Magneto, only it was addressed as Eric Lensherr. Now last time I checked Mags hated that name. I don’t feel right about this, and she won’t share the letter.”
“Well of course not,” Jubilee filled in, “it’s her letter, and it’s private. See the thing is Mag...um Eric and Professor Xavier would keep in contact about things. As long as it didn’t come in between X-men and Brotherhood stuff. They would talk about the first class- -“
“First class,” Logan questioned.
“Yeah, uh it was Hank, Scott, Jean, and Ororo. They were the first students here,” Kitty filled in.
Logan tilted his head to take all this information in. “So, Eric and Charles, trained all four of them back in the day.”
Both girls nodded.
“With just the four of them it must have been pretty close nit.” Logan was just begining to understand the relationship between the original four.
Jubilee’s head snapped up. “Oh yeah, don’t forget about Dr. Mactaggart. She was here to then. They were all like family. Miss Monroe isn’t hiding the letter; it’s just really personal. In fact now that I think about it, the letter may be about Pietro or Wanda.”
“Who?” This was getting more and more complicated.
Kitty took over while Jubilee found the time to breathe. “Pietro and Wanda are Magneto’s kids.” She ignored the look of Logan’s shock. “They used to train here, too. They have the craziest powers. Pietro is faster than sound, seriously. He makes Callisto look like she was crawling backwards. Pietro moves so freakin fast you can’t even see him, kinda like a teleport, but it’s his legs are moving that fast. Then there’s his twin, Wanda. Her stuff is....complicated.” Both girls rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
He wondered what was so tough about her. He silently urged them to continue.
Jubilee took over again. “Ok you see it’s like this. Technically her mutation is called hex powers. She can manipulate and control probability.” She saw the dumbfounded expression on Logan’s face and tried again. “Hmm...let’s say you and Wanda are about to fight on a dock, and seeing as how you have nothin’ but your claws,” she saw his brow furrow and inhaled to get to the point faster, “you would have to get up close. To do that you would have to cross the dock, so you do. Half way across, BAM, it breaks and you fall in the merky-ass depths. That dock should be a sturdy piece of engineering, right? What are the chances of that happening to you? That’s what Wanda can do.”
Kitty started to giggle and nudged Jubilee.
“What’s so funny?” Logan asked. He was still reeling from the onslaught of information.
“Well rumor was between Hank and Scott that back in the day, Wanda was the reason that Pietro and Miss. Monroe started going out.” Kitty stopped laughing when she saw the look in Logan’s eyes.
That news did not bode well with the feral man.
“Ah, Mr. Logan, we gotta run. Mr Cassidy isn’t gonna let us slide if we’re late for music again.” Jubilee started for the door.
Kitty was lagging behind her when she remembered something. “Hey Logan, you never told us what you wanted for a favor.”
“First of all I needed information. So, thanks for that. Is there a way I could find out more?”
“Sure Logan. I’ll meet you in the library after classes,” Kitty offered.


Logan left the class in a daze. He suddenly realized how very little he know about the people in his own home. He had his own head up his ass for so long, that he hadn’t even noticed that the people around him had lives.
Sure he knew that Ororo looked good (and smelled good too). He now knew that she was a mystery beyond that. What kind of person was she outside of the school and uniform? He knew that this “thing” with Pietro was not casual. Ro was not a casual person when it came to people close to her. Once he went over all the information from the girls, he was now positive that Ororo knew where Magneto was. He didn’t know what else was wrong, but he knew that something wasn’t right.


*****************
Headmaster’s Office
*****************


Logan closed the large dark mahogany doors behind him. He took his time turning around. This office was very intimidating, even to him. The room hadn’t really changed much under the new ownership. The floors were still green, moss colored, he thought. Xavier must have liked the outdoors. Once again, Logan felt like kicking his own ass for not talking to the man when he had the chance. Out of all three of the Institute’s dead teachers he felt he the most remorse with the man who welcomed him first.


*There is no need to feel grief like this.*


Logan abruptly let go of the door handles he forgot that he still held. He rubbed his temples. Sometimes hearing Xavier’s voice would be comforting. Now, it was just a little weird and slightly ironic. Here he was snooping around in Xavier’s office which is now Ororo’s, and he just thought he heard Xavier’s voice snooping around in his head. He ignored it, as usual.



He inhaled as he walked to the broad desk. He could smell a faraway spice scent, Ororo. It was heavy and very strong right in front of the desk. She paced, a lot. His nose could also “see” the other smells that had floating tendrils. There was a clean crisp smell emanating from the cushioned Queen Anne chair that was against the wall. Definitely Scott. The identical chair next to it held a flowery scent. Juniper, Jean. He couldn’t stop looking at how the chairs were placed, next to each other, with the right and left arms touching, mingling, just like the scents. He shook himself. He really needed to concentrate.


He began looking in the drawers. Ororo’s things were a mess, or maybe not. Apparently there was some sort of method to the madness. All sorts of school papers, newspapers, pictures, magazines, menus, invoices, notes, memos, bills, and every other piece of paper were scattered in all the draws.


*I’ve always warned her about her lack of organization. One day she is going to have to heed my advice. What about you? You don’t even know what you’re looking for, do you?*


He looked up, after seeing nothing he continued ravishing her desk. That’s when he heard a something akin to a parental sigh.


*Oh boy. How could I forget? You two are just alike, so very very stubborn. Instead of looking in the desk, try observing what’s on top. You always did have a problem accepting what was right in front of you within your grasp. That’s something you should try to work on.*


He literally grunted at the baritone British voice. He stuffed all the papers back in the drawers in no particular order, not that anyone would notice. Once it was all cleared, he took a good look at what was on top. Computer monitor, framed photographs, term papers. Nothing that would tell him anything. His eyes roamed back to the three frames. One was a picture of Hank, Ororo, Jean, and Scott as young teenagers taken on Jean’s front porch. *Her parents must have become pretty understandable people.*


*Actually it took a little persuasion to have them open up to Jean’s social life. It became a safe haven for the children. It helped them believe that families could open themselves up to mutant children.*


He narrowed his eyes. Thinking of Jean happy and safe in her own home made him happy. Knowing that it may have not been that had her parents had their way made him the opposite of happy, for many reasons. *Damn, can’t anything around here just be simple.*


*No, it can not. Of course you’re always welcome to return to cage fighting.*


The side of his lip curled up in a sneer. He looked at another picture, and the sneer stayed on his face. It was a picture of an older teenage Ororo in a two piece deep purple bikini that should have been illegal in at least fourteen states. She was laughing on a high cliff facing a beach with a brown petite brunette in a red bathing suit. What angered Logan was the man who had his hands wrapped around her bare waist, and he was laughing along with her. Ororo’s silk milky hair was being blown in the wind and wrapped around the mysterious young man, who strangely enough had white hair of his own. He couldn’t stop staring at him. He was so familiar. Angular cheek bones, icy baring light grey eyes. It was killing him, he knew that he knew this man from somewhere. *Where are ya now, Wheely. I could really use yer help.* Silence. *Of course yer quite now.*


Logan took the picture in his hands. He covered up the two women. Then he covered the man’s smiling mouth. The shock was momentarily paralyzing. Either Ororo dated Magneto in another life, a clone of his, or *god forbid* this man was his son. His grip nearly broke the glass in the frame. Yulp, they were definitely going to have to discuss this.


He looked at the last picture. This one had an older Ororo at the same cliff, alone. He looked closely at her surroundings. The cliff was very high, and the beach at the bottom looked like it was a bit frigid. His acute eyes could detect frost on some of the blades of grass. Could it be that this picture, as well as the other one, wasn’t taken in the US. As far as Logan’s knowledge went, he couldn’t recall any cliff beaches in the States that stayed cold. He focused on the beach below. It looked as if someone was herding animals. White puffy animals with small and yet elongated heads, was she in Scotland? Logan rolled his eyes. There was so much he just didn’t know. Why hadn’t he bothered with her before?


Thinking of the woman in question, he eyes honed in on the details around her. He looked at her enticing bare feet. They were almost covered in the lush thick grass. His eyes had closed, and once again his mind wondered to a green forest and a naked and waiting Ororo running from him. Only every few steps she’d toss her mane back and glace over her shoulder, and give him a beckoning smile, just to make sure he was still following. There was no need. She didn’t know it, but he would always be chasing after that smile.


He leaned back, and again let his sight travel up and down the vixen. Damn, he was in so much trouble when it came to her. That’s when he noticed the lower right hand corner of the picture. There was a stereotypical red and white checkered blanket with a basket. In the basket was a baguette and a bottle of Merlot visible. She was on a date, at her special spot, and Logan knew it was with the mystery man.


That girl had a lot of explaining to do.

Shadenfreude: Chapter Six


Kitty wondered through the isles of the library looking for her teacher. She was slightly apprehensive about all of this. After she had talked to Peter about her blunder earlier, she felt awful about exposing the letter. It was true that the letter was private, but the fact that her teacher was keeping it secret didn’t sit well. She didn’t have to tell exactly what was in it, but she could have told someone that she was hearing from him. Peter just didn’t understand that it wasn’t alright for someone to receive letters from a notorious terrorist. He tried to convince her that Magneto was harmless without his powers. She countered with a cliche about a leopard’s spots.

As she filtered through the separate rooms and cubicles, she finally found her self-defense teacher in the archives. She was about to knock on the door when he told her to come in.

“Alright half pint,” he said with his back still turned, “I need your help going through these.” He turned around with his hands full of thick photo albums which where slammed on the desk in front of her. “I need to know who is who and what they do.”

After a few minutes of flipping through the books, they heard a thrill shriek in the library.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiity, damn girl where’d you go so fast? Kitty? Did you make your mind up?”
“Jubileeeeee. I’m in the archiiiiiiiives!”

Logan’s hands covering up his ears did not at all muffle the sound of the two girls to his oversensitive ears. “J-lee, get in here now! And for the love of all things holy, stop screaming.”

After a minute of scurrying feet Jubilation Lee popped into the room. “Hey there, I got some stuff I thought we’d go through.” She took out what looked to be a summer tote bag full of newspapers, magazines, and discs.

Logan cocked his head at the items. “What is that stuff?”

“This is current stuff. Newspapers and other news from the last three months. I always keep stuff like this cause it helps me keep up with current events.”

Her friend gave her a wide eyed unbelieving look. “Oh, please. All I ever see of yours is a stack of OK and People magazines. Your such a celebrity whore.”

“Nu uh. I can tell you what’s going on with the implosion of the Republican party, the unrest with the shut down of Jersey’s of state funds, how much the currency of the Zimbabwe is worth, and how Bragelina held out so that their baby photo’s could rack up multimillions for charity. Oh yeah, I’m that good.” She dug into her bag some more and brought out more newspapers. “This papers covered the events at Alcetrez. And guess who was there!”

Logan couldn’t help the grin that appeared. He was beginning to like this girl more and more.

Not wanting to be outdone by her roommate, Kitty thought of something that would score high in this impromptu ingenuity test. “Logan, I can get access to the San Francisco Times and the USA Today photo databases.”

“No ya can’t Kitty,” Logan said.
Jubilee just narrowed her eyes.

“Oh yes I can. Getting past their security isn’t all that tough. I mean how do you think information gets leaked out.”
Sensing a losing battle, Jubilee decided to cut her loses. “That would be a good idea. We can compare the shots. See if the pictorial info coincides.”

“Good job girls. Really, I’m shocked.” The compl-imsult brought beaming smiles from both students. “Jubilee, leave everything you brought with Kitty, here. Kit when ya’ve found all the info ya think is important put it on a disc.”

Kitty gave her friend a shit-eating smile and a flash of tongue.

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“Ya,” he pointed to the young Asian girl. “Are coming with me, to have a look at these old hard copy files. Ya seem to have a crazy knack for paper work. After a while this shit makes my eyes bleed.”

************
Meanwhile
************

Ororo took the stack of term papers to her office. She hated this time of year, and so did the students. Of course this showed in their work, and their grades. In this no win situation she was almost tempted to let some of the slackers slide...*almost.*

As she dropped the papers on her desk, she thought that she saw something askew. She did a three hundred sixty degree scan of her room. Nothing seemed to be a mess.

“You know, a little bit of organization won’t kill you.”

Ororo hit her head on her desk when she heard Scott’s voice. “You know brother, maybe it will. Of course not ironing your underwear didn’t kill you.”

“No, your right, that’s not what killed me.”

“O Goddess, Scott. I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be silly girl. I never did like wrinkles on my behind, so there, take that.” There was a big smile on his sister’s face.

He took a seat on the chaise under the big french window. “You look like you need some help.”

“Please, Scott.”

“So, where are the other’s.”

“Probably reeling about the merger. Scott, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that.”

As he walked over to her he bent down to pick up something on the floor. He looked at her writing furiously on someone poor students paper.

“Hey Ro, did you see this. It looks official.”

She looked at the letter in his hand. The was a U.S. government seal on the back. The return address was from the Department of Mutant Affairs, Hank’s department.

“I think Cecilia may have dropped that this morning.”

“Is there an office romance that I am once again the last to find out about.”

Ororo choose to wisely remain silent at that remark. “Let me page her. I don’t want this forgotten again.”

She found the page button on the multi-use phone at her desk, and paged the doctor. “Cecilia, I have a letter for you that was left behind today. Are you busy now?”

“No, Ororo, I’m on my way up now.”

“Thank you.” She then turned off the pager.

While she was working the phone, Scott had taken up a few paper to start on the tedious process of grading them.

“Please do not write in *your* hand writing. The last thing these children need is to think that their grades are being done by an angry ghost haunting the mansion.”

“Angry! Ghost! HAUNTING! I am so incredibly insulted. Besides you better be nice to me or else I’ll start writing on walls.”

“Oh really, like what!”

“I could start in the boys bathroom. When all the fog gets on the mirror I could write something like: for a good time call 555-****. That is your cell phone, isn’t it.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Or better, yet I could make a ketchup and cherry sauce solution to look like blood and write everywhere: RO HAS A LANDING STRIP. CUM THIS WAY...”

Ororo’s mouth just hung open.

Scott had his trademark smile of victory.

“Oh good lord, please tell me that’s not true, big sis.”

This was not what she needed right now. “Jean, please.”

“Alright, alright. I guess it’s better than an arrow head. So, watcha up to now.”

“Grading papers,” was the simultaneous reply.

“Ewww. I hated doing that.”

Scott bent forward to whisper in his sister’s ear, “Figures that the all powerful entity is scared of teenage term papers.”

Ororo snorted at the glaring red head, who also appeared out of no where.

Even surrounded by telekinetic fire wings and veins that stuck out in anger at being made fun of Jean couldn’t help her own laughter at the fact that they called her bluff.

That’s when they heard the knock at the door.

“Now if you two refuse to behave, I will call the Ghostbusters, or Dr. Strange, or something.”

Scott had the right mind to look at his feet in pretend shame. While Jean thought it would be funny to make angelic halos appear over her and her beloved’s head with a devilish look to her face.

Ororo just held her breath when she opened the door.

The hassled doctor strode in a threw herself in the unoccupied chaise by the window.

“You know that seems to be the most coveted spot in this office.”

“Of course girl, this seat is so comfortable. I’ll betcha the dead even miss it.”

“Actually...” She could hear snickering in the back of the room. She shot the couple a sharp glare. They stopped, for now.

“So, you said that you had something for me.”

“Oh yes, here.” She handed her the later.

“Ro, you poor thing. I think you’ve been under a lot of stress lately. I’ve already got Hank’s letter.”

“Really? Oh, that’s right. Where was I?”

“Trying to do to much at once, while trying to appease everyone on very little if any sleep. Of course having Sex-in-Denim trying to ride you can bedazzle any woman.”

“Huh?”

“Oh don’t look at me like that. Just because I spend my time in a lab, behind a book, working in some other, way shape, or form, doesn’t mean I’m completely out of the loop.”

“I feel you, Reyes,” Scott said with only Jean and Ororo as his audience. He looked at Jean. Then at Ororo. “Who the hell is Sex-in-Denim?” Jean whispered the answer in his ear. Scott then bulked, but quickly pulled it together when Jean stomped on his foot. “So when did that whole thing start?” Jean telepathically told him she would fill him in later.

Ororo still looked at her like she had three heads. Cecilia knew that this tension between Logan and his “Boss Lady” was getting a little stuffy. She thought that Xian had a finger on the situation. Well, apparently she had slacked up on it.

“Ro, I can’t believe you thought this was for me. Hank would never use government letterhead for personal use. This letter is probably for you.”

“Speaking of personal use...”

“Oh no, Miss Thang. Business first. Open this first. Then we talk about how fabulous Hank is in bed.”

“WHAT!” It would have been even funnier had Cecilia heard that it came from three different people, especially since two of them were no longer alive.

Ororo opened the letter before she’d let the mental images take over. She read it twice to make sure she got the words right. Was today the day for breaking news, or something?

“Well?” Cecilia tapped her french manicured nails.

Ororo new that she could hear the news from Hank any day of the week. It was the other people in the room that expected the news a-s-a-p. “Do you know where Bobby is? This concerns him, as well as the rest of us. Do me a big favor can you let the other faculty know that I need to see them now.”

The doctor raised a pretty eyebrow. “Ororo, is everything alright, because two staff meettings in one day is a bit rough. I’ll go get them, but don’t except an easy crowd.”

“When is it ever easy?”

“By the way, page Marie’s room. Bobby’s probably in there. You know I gotta say that I hated the idea of the cure at first, but for someone like Rogue...I think it should be up to the individual. I’m just glad it wasn’t forced.” She looked at Ororo and knew that this was a conversation that was going nowhere. “I’ll be right back.”

Ororo hit the page button and Marie’s room number. “Marie I hate to disturb you, but do you know where Bobby is.”

“Yeah, Ah do Miss. Monroe, he’s right here.”

“Bobby?”

“Yeah?”

“Listen to me, your not in trouble or anything, but I need to see you in my office right now.”

Bobby’s eyes widened, and glanced at his girlfriend as she put her top back on. People had the *best* timing around here.

He grabbed Marie’s hands as she began to work the buttons back on. She gave him a shy smile, and tucked one of her white locks around her ear. “Another time, Ah promise. This sounded real important, Bobby. Ah ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“I will fill you in on everything when I get back.”

“Bobby, it sounds private.”

“As long as you’ve been here, you haven’t learned the number one thing yet. Here at the Institute, there is no such thing as privacy.” With that, he left to see the Headmistress.


****************
Back in the Office
****************

Ororo looked at the fair eyed boy in the chair opposite her. She had always like him, even though his taste in friends had always bothered her. Now with the absence of John Allerdyce, Bobby Drake had nowhere else to go but up. He had proved himself as an X-men many times. First when the mansion was under attack by Stryker. He may have been scared at first, but he was able to (no pun intended here) keep his cool and protect himself, others, and was able to assist in an evacuation of the mansion. He amazed his tutors again with his cool head on the Black Bird at Alkali Lake. When she heard how he calmly stood his ground at the cure lines with Allerdyce, she could not have been prouder. Then watching him battle at Alcretez, Ororo new that Bobby was a classic in the making.

Bobby looked at his favorite teacher. She looked at some kind of official document on her desk before pushing it towards him. It only took him a few minutes to completely read it.

He nearly laughed out loud at it. His whole life he had been always been average. If anyone looked up the definition of mediocre, his picture would be there. Even when he found out about his mutation, it wasn’t anything spectacular. *Oooh, awww look at me turn warm beer into a tasty cool one!* Sure it was a great party trick, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. Now the government was telling him that he was...

“Miss Monroe, what’s an Omega or a level five mutant?”

Ororo watched as a shocked Jean and a confused Scott crowded the young man to read his letter. Apparently no one had any decently around here. She coughed in her hand to let her extra guest know that that was enough.

“A few months ago, the Board of Mutant Affairs believed that classifying mutants and their abilities would be a really good idea.” Bobby got the district impression that Miss. Monroe did not agree with that. “The majority of mutants range between level one and level three. For example our self-defense *expert* is a level three.”

“What about you?”

“Well myself, Xavier, Magneto, and John are all level four mutants. Then the category of level four has another level in it called Alpha. People who are alphas have an unexplained potential.”

“Let me guess you, the Professor, and Magneto are all Alphas.”

Ororo nodded. “But you Bobby have unlimited potential.”

“Like Ms. Grey. I can’t do anything like that. She could shape the world.”

Ororo looked at her friend and sister. She just shrugged. “Jean couldn’t control it. She never could. Well, not all the way. But Bobby, your not her. You have the ability to control molecules of any substance. You can do amazing things if you can see it in your mind. Look, just take this letter and think about it, ok?”

Bobby looked at the letter again and noticed that the number said page one out of three. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“That’s all that concerned you personally. So as for now you are dismissed.”

As he walked out of the door, he ran into his other teachers. Must of them were grumbling about a bitch named Emma, another meeting, and a merger. He noticed the last person to walk into the office was Miss Coy. She winked at him as she left the door slightly ajar. He had a soft spot for her when he found out that they both enjoyed Jessica Alba and Angelina movies for the same reason.

After moving in the shadows behind the door he adjusted himself so that he could hear properly. What he heard confirmed the cryptic statement the Headmistress gave him before she left him.

“Bobby, I’ve always trusted you, and I am so glad that you could be trusted with Marie getting cured. I’m glad that Marie can too. It will be very hard for you both in the future.”

After hearing the shocked gasped and Gaelic cursing, the news became apparent. The cure was temporary.


**************
Afterwards
**************

As yet another terrible meeting came to a close Ororo heard her cell phone ring. She loved her new Kingdom Hearts II ring tone. What was this one called, again...Passions. No that was the Japanese version. Sanctuary, that was the English version.(How fitting.) She adored Hikaru Utada. Didn’t she have a tour in Japan coming up soon? While she was searching her, far to full, purse for her phone, she made a mental note to see if Xian or Jean would want to make a impromptu trip to Japan for spring break.

She really hoped that Xi would go because travel across the globe with a devilish ghost with way to much time on her hands could lead to trouble.

“Hello?”

“You sound busy.”

“Pietro! I didn’t expect you to call so soon. When will you be here?”

“I’m on my way now. I’m stuck on the bloody Jersey turnpike.”

“I didn’t think you’d drive. Taking it kind of slow are we?”

“You know that I would take anything I do with you slow. Ah, you’re blushing.”

“Am not,” she argued as she tried to contain her blush.

“I should be there in a couple of hours. Make sure your awake enough to talk. See you soon.”

Logan overheard them say their goodbyes. He swallowed his rising bile. When Maximoff got there, he would be there to listen, one way or another.

Shendenfreude
Chapter Seven


Pietro Maximoff wasn’t a man who liked to wait. At all. Well, there were a few things that were worth it. But if they were counted, they wouldn’t use all the fingers on both hands. Traffic was not on that list. He had always wondered why the hell there were always so many damn drivers in Jersey when the car insurance was the highest in the US. It made no sense.

He had called Ororo at the Institute an hour ago, and he should have been there by now. Waiting caused him to be anxious. This actually caused his heart rate to accelerate, which was a rarity for him. Waiting to hear some word about his sister, or his father’s whereabouts, and waiting to see Ororo after seven years is causing him to sweat bullets.

As Pietro flew by the sign that said welcome to New York, he was able to calculate the time to get to his destination in mere seconds. He missed Ororo and being at Xavier’s. As he sped down highways, his eyes, which were used to receiving blurred images because of speed, picked up some of the landmarks he remembered as a younger man, especially one beautiful spring blossomed apple farm.


***********
Flashback
***********

Wanda and Jean had just come back from their outing, and thrown themselves carelessly on the living room couches. Red hats, shoes, boutique shopping bags, and baskets of apples were thrown about everywhere. If anyone had come in, they had to walk through a variable land mind of girlie things.

Eric had heard their commotion all the way in the basement, where he was working on the new additions with his son. He looked at Pietro who just shrugged and went back tying up the cables.

“You didn’t go with them?”

“Oh, hell no.”

Eric stop making the plating for the walls of the big round room just for a minute. “Oh really, why not?”

“Because I just didn’t wanna go. Being stuck with my sister and blabber mouth in a retail environment isn’t exactly what I would call fun.”

“I thought you wanted to go out...and enjoy the nice weather.”

“Are you trying to imply something, Father? Besides, I don’t think that Ororo wanted to go with them.” Pietro quickly shut his mouth, and glared at his father when he realized that he had just walked into a verbal trap.

Eric went back to making the plating, and answered nonchalantly, “Don’t worry son, I wasn’t trying to imply anything. It’s just that I haven’t seen Ororo outside the mansion, lately. ”

Pietro let his hands fly at a blinding speed while working. Doing menial tasks at this rate was soothing, and calming. The self generated wind from the speed blew his white hair from his eyes and made him think of another wind-maker with white hair.

Eric saw his son’s far away look. He recognized it immediately. Wanting to help him in this situation was something that came naturally, which was a surprise to him. His newly non-strained relationship with Pietro still had a bit of that new car smell.

Eric new that Pietro barely trusted him after he had left his young children and their mother for research project on Genosha with Charles and a few other colleagues at that time. It was only supposed to be for a few months, but disaster had struck in every conceivable way. The team was attacked, the project was stolen, and there was a native uprising that made it impossible to leave the island, for years. It was during the attacks that Charles lost the use of his legs.

With all the bureaucratic red tape and constant violence, sending in UN forces to get out foreigners and innocent people was nearly impossible. No one would send in help because the new government wasn’t officially recognized, as well.

The Genoshan leaders had also managed to bribe surrounding countries and trade economic powers to not send in troops by instituting an apartheid society against mutants. It wasn’t long before forced mutant slave labor was a quiet accepted practice. On the undeveloped island, only rich merchants and aristocracy had a semblance of a decent life. For everyone else, it was hell on earth.

It took Eric, Charles, and the researchers that survived ten years to escape Genosha.

During that time, the Lensherr family had imploded in on itself. Their mother, Magda, had committed suicide, and left her five year old twins alone. Bouncing in and out of foster care homes had left Wanda and Pietro a deep sense of abandonment issues. They had learned to trust each other blindly. It was during their early teen years that their mutations had become active. Very much like all other mutants, it was not a pleasant experience.

Wanda’s reveal was particularly devastating. She was walking home after a pep rally with a crowd friends when her powers had caused random objects she past to spontaneously combust. The “friends” that she had been with panicked, and reacted with violence. Pietro was blocks away when he had seen throngs of people running towards the fight. When word had gotten back to him that his sister was being pummeled by gangs of people, he ran as fast as he could to be by her side and get her out of there. Needless to say, he ran really fast.

Wanda’s injuries were serious, and had consequences that would follow her throughout her life. She had a heavy amount of neural damage. After surgery and a steel plate put in her head, she still had occasional seizures and she would often blackout during times of extreme stress. The pain medications and the mental drugs would have her hallucinate. It took quiet a while for Wanda to get herself under some sort of control. A side effect of the beatings was the abnormal power level of her mutation. Something that no one could explain was why did her mutation level would fluctuate so often and extremely. It made an already unstable young woman dangerous when let loose or under medicated.

Instead of going to face their already abnormally strict foster parents, both of the twins had ran away. After years of being homeless and on the run, they had managed to come across a very accepting diplomat’s family who was able to take both of the weary twins in, and give them a stable home throughout those tough teen-age years. The Maximoff’s had taken all of their children all over the world to learn and spread the news of global awareness. It was on an assignment to Genosha that the twins had learned of their father’s involuntary extended stay. Afterwards they had learned of his whereabouts, and were finally able to reunite with him.

Wanda had taken to her father immediately. They had bonded like the ideal father and daughter. That had made Pietro jealous. It seemed that all that remained between father and son was time and space. Both men were extremely stubborn, and it was obvious that neither was willing to make the first move towards readjusting themselves around each other easily. It had taken a year to bring the father and son duo to where there are now, and it was still a very fragile state. It seemed to be that they just tolerated each other, which was good enough to live in a cooperative environment at Xavier’s mansion.

While Pietro worked away, Eric took out the Sara Brightman tickets he had and put them on the lower table next to his son.

“What are these?”

“Ororo’s birthday present.”

The flurry of movement from the younger man stopped. “When was her birthday? She never said anything.”

“Well, when she was orphaned, she was very very young. When Charles and I recruited her she had been on her own for nearly ten years, and had not known much of her own history. So we decided that it would be a good idea to celebrate her birthday on the day we recruited her.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Do you mind making sure that she gets them.”

“Of course not.”

“Now.”

“Oh, right. Uhm, ok.”

Before Eric could turn around and complete his task, he felt a breeze and new that his son and the tickets had made it upstairs to the attic.


*******
Attic
*******

As soon as he stopped, Pietro had found himself knocking on the heavy mahogany door. Before he could change his mind and turn around, he heard the foots steps in a slight run towards the door. He found that he held his breathe as he watched the doorhandle move.

“Pietro! Hello.” Ororo gave him an adorable shy smile. “I thought that you would be in the basement or training with Hank today.” She found herself looking directly in his eyes, “I never expected you to be here,” she coughed lightly and added, “outside my door.”

“Well I would have been here sooner if a certain someone had said something about a birthday today.” He stood looking at her in a sort of patronizing way.

“Hmph. Well this certain someone does not need the attention.”

Pietro sauntered closer to her, at nearly an intimate level and pressed on her nose with his index finger. “Boooop!”

Ororo couldn’t stop her girlish laughter. “What on earth was that for?” She covered her face just in case he was going to do something strange, again, even though a part of her wanted him to.

“Oh common Rory, you of all people deserve a special day. You need to let other people make you have a good time.”

She raised an arched brow.

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“No,”

“Don’t you trust me?” He had asked that as if it where rhetorical. He was shocked that she answered, and confused.

“No,” she said again. This time she shifted her frame against the door, and looked him straight in the face, again. She really wasn’t kidding.

“Why not!”

She snorted at him. “Pietro I have only known you for three months. In that time we have had four conversations- -“

“Six actually. This is number seven, but then again who’s counting?”

Ororo let out a hard sigh. “My point is that I don’t know you.”

“A good way to find out is to spend some time with me. And why don’t you trust me. Have I done something to you?”

“No, you haven’t. It’s just that, I don’t give my trust out blindly. I’ve lived to long on my own to depend on other people for fun,” she looked as if that was a new concept to her, “and I don’t do well when I have to focus on myself for extended periods of time.”

“Haven’t you heard of ‘the benefit of doubt’?”

She shook her head.

“It’s when you trust somebody until they, well fuck up. Think of it as taking the initiative when it comes to trusting someone. I mean after all you trusted Jean, my father, and Xavier at first, didn’t you?”

“Point well taken, but at the time I had few other decent options.” She turned away from him at the threshold and walked to sit at a little cubby table in the corner of her room. She left the door open for him as a silent invitation.

He took no time at all to follow her, literally.

“What are you talking about? I thought you were living the high life, being worshiped and all?”

“At the time, the only reason why I went to the rural villages was because I was on the run from the police in Cairo, and Moroccan officials. I was sent to steal something extremely valuable, but then I was set up to take the fall from my own group. Hiding out on Kilimanjaro and bringing forth rain seemed like a good idea at the time. That is until they caught up with me. I was on the run again when I was found by your father and Charles. So, at the time my options were jail and torture, blacklisted, exile, and again with the torture, or death at the hands of my own guild, or coming to the States with a group of strangers to fight for basic mutant rights. I chose option ‘c’.”

She almost laughed out loud at his dumbfounded expression.

“Well, that explains why you don’t trust anyone. But Ro, please understand not everyone is out to get you.”

“Really, Pietro? Then why are you here.” She leaned back in a slightly provocative way. Ororo let her eyes take in his hard yet welcoming features. The lines that formed around his eyes at such an early age described some of the hardships he had gone through, but his wide eyes were warm, as was his delicate and often running mouth. His hair, very much like hers, was white and begged to be fondled. It was cut with a razor, so it had several spiky points that flared out and several points hung in his face stopping right over his eyes. It gave him a young but virile look.

She took her time with her gaze to let him know that she saw through his bullshit, but it also gave her time to savor her rare look-see.

He loved it when she looked at him. He had caught her once or twice, but it was a fleeting moment that not even he could catch up with. Right now time seemed to stop for it. He gave her a cock sure grin. If he had feathers, he would have puffed them out for her to be impressed by. But he knew that to get on her good side it would take more than feathers and good looks. Even words at this stage were weak for her. She needed something to hold on to, from him, that she could trust.

“What do you want from me,” she asked.

“Not what you think. I want you to trust me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I’ve heard that one many times before.”

“Ok, well how about this. I will take you to see this,” he gave her the tickets, and reminded himself to thank his father. Her face had lit up like a Christmas Tree. “So you like her then, right?”

“She’s one of my favorites!”

“Alright then.” He reached around and lightly traced the veins on her hand with his thumb. He saw that her first reaction was to pull away, but she had stopped herself. He took her other hand in his and let his fingers run light trails on the inside of her palm.

Ororo found herself unable to look in the eye this time.

He sat up and leaned towards her. “After the concert, I can show you around Westchester. There are a ton of things around here that I know you haven’t seen. I highly doubt than anyone here has had the time or been able to show you. Or if you don’t want to, I am sure that you can think of something else. After all it is your night, and your rules. I am ready and willing to oblige the lady for the night.”

“I know for a act that you hate opera and you don’t like nature.”

“I promise you, I will be ready and waiting for you with bells on.”

That evening when Ororo descended the stairs in a simple little black dress, Pietro was waiting for her in a tuxedo with two Christmas bells hanging around his neck.

It was the first time Ororo had learned to begin to trust someone outside the circle of Xavier’s brood.

It was Pietro’s first time in experiencing the joy of taking one’s time.

After the concert, Pietro showed Ororo some of Westchester’s finest orchids. She squealed like a little girl, and ran barefoot through the lines of blossoming trees. He had found a hill right underneath an old apple tree and watched her enjoy the cultivated nature.

When she had finally had her fill, she plopped right down next to him, out of breath with flushed cheeks.

“This is amazing Pietro. Thank you, so much.”

“Please, “ he said looking down at her sprawled out form, “you and only you, can call me Tro.”

He helped her sit up and cupped her face. As she took her time blinking, he let himself be fascinated by her extremely long and inviting eyelashes. They seemed to beckon him closer as they moved. He couldn’t resist.

She watched as he nudged her cheek with his nose. Her head, all on its own, leaned towards his touch. Her breath had itself caught in her throat. When she could feel the contact of his lips she could feel her heart beat through her entire body.

The kiss itself mirrored its participants. Part of it was nervous, reluctant, and shy. The other part was aggressive and yet patient, knowing and yet ready and willing to explore more. When it was over both were panting and smiling.

Pietro leaned his forehead against Ororo’s. “Wow,” he breathed out.

“I...”

“It’s alright. I didn’t know it was possible to be kissed like that, Ro.”

She nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Ro, believe me when I say that I would love to continue with this...”

“But?”

“But, for the first time, I am willing to wait. I don’t think your ready, and neither am I.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder, as he leaned back against the heavy apple tree. He took his tuxedo jacket and wrapped it around them both. Afterwards he just let his arm rest against her waist.

As he got comfortable, he let his chin rest against the top of her snowy crown.

That was how they spent the night.

Although the date and the day had ended, something new had started. What neither of them knew was that it would lead to something neither one could have anticipated.

**************
End Flashback
**************

Pietro walked up to the large and slightly intimidating doors of the mansion, and rang the bell. He didn’t have to wait long at all before they were thrown open and a body practically flew out into his arms to greet him.

“I am so glad to see you. Please come in. You have some filling in to do,” Ororo said in one breath. She just couldn’t stop smiling. The man who was wrapped in her arms had been abruptly taken away from her under circumstances that were beyond her control or his. It was obvious that they both had issues since then, but it was now water under the bridge, or was it? She shook of the mental shackles. He was not here for her. This was about Wanda. Wasn’t it always? Major problems that took up everyone’s time and attention always revolved around Wanda or Jean. Ororo squeezed her eyes shut when she hugged Pietro again before pulling him inside.

Logan watched the exchange from atop the staircase. He hated everything about it: the familiarity, the closeness, and most of all the special light in Ororo’s eyes. They went from cobalt to a clear oceanic blue. A blue that made Logan just want to dive in. Right now, in fact. But there was a stranger taking up space on his diving board.

They had hushed voices as they walked hurriedly to Ororo’s office. Logan could still hear them very clearly, but he didn’t understand why they were whispering. It was after midnight, and today was Tuesday. Nobody who could sleep was awake right now.

He could hear them even better while he paced outside the Headmistress’s office. Logan was not above blatant eavesdropping to get much needed information. Ororo would be stubborn enough to try and take on the MAximoff problem by herself. He needed to prove to her that she wasn’t alone. Not now, not ever. Hadn’t she known that?

What if this fucker was here to make sure she knew that? A low and threatening growl rumbled throughout the feral. Why would a smart and practical woman like Ororo fall for this loser’s bullshit? He scratched one of his sideburns. The same reason why he wanted her for himself. She needed to know the truth about Pietro and what he’s been up to for the last seven years. Maximoff’s wrap sheet was a mile long. Logan was positive that whatever was going on was a lot deeper than whatever Pietro was going to tell Ororo about.

The were so many questions. What really happened to Wanda? Where was Magneto? What happened in the fall out between Magneto and Charles, as well as Magneto and his children? Was it the Genoshan Project? What the fuck was the Genoshan Project? Who else managed to survive? What has Pietro been doing all this time?

Then there was the question that had been on Logan’s mind for quiet some time. How would he ever get Ororo to understand him, take him seriously, or return his feelings? Even a fraction of the way?

All she ever asked him to do was to make a choice and stick to it. Stop running away.

So would just being there for her be enough? Did he have to take a backseat to El Speedo?

Oh hell no! The Wolverine never came in second place. EVER.

As he continued his pace, he began to formulate a plan.

Shedenfreude
Chapter Eight


Bobby and Marie darted from one bush to the other across the side lawns of the Xavier mansion, being very careful not to trip the alarms that they knew about. Marie had wanted to kick herself when she remembered who the one student was who knew where all the alarms were. She reminded herself to talk to her as soon as she got the chance.

When they got to the side of the building where Marie’s room was Bobby squeezed her around the waist, and gave her a sly kiss to stop the question from completely forming. Marie’s room was on the fifth floor, and she was really confused on how to get there. If getting to the mansion was difficult, how were they going to get past the newly revamped security inside the mansion, as well as the nose of Wolverine.

Marie looked in her boyfriend’s sparkling blue eyes and saw him raise his hand. Before she knew it the air around her had dropped in temperature. She could feel the goose bumps form on her flesh form, and the prickly sensation of numbing coldness beneath her feet. *What in the blazes was he doing?*

Bobby loved the look of bewilderment on her face. “Hold on tight.” In response her arms around his waist tightened in response. Using the moisture from the air, he created a spiral of ice that lead straight up to Marie’s room. He turned her around so that she could completely stare at the winding glistening ice case.

“Bobby, this looks like something out of a fairytale! How?”

“Believe it or not, I can feel moisture in the air, well, everywhere, and anywhere for that matter. I can do this crazy thing where I can see it in my head too. It wasn’t until recently when I was studying molecular structure with Dr. Reyes and temperature control with Storm, did I realize that I could do something with it.”

“Does that have anything to do with your new move. You know, the one where you turn into ice?”

“Yeah,” he tucked another lock of white behind her ear. He must have looked like a light bulb went on over his head because it did.

“That’s so amazing, I would hate to piss you off. I mean if you got real angry at somebody and you froze them from the inside out...ouch”

“You sure you’re not a mind reader, Rogue, cause um...You know I would never do anything like that, right?” He looked at her for reassurance.

She took his face in between her hands and kissed the bridge of his nose. “Of course. So um, now that I know your really powerful and stuff, um, how do you plan on using this thing. I mean can you defy gravity?”

“Maybe,” He walked up a steep slope of the slide and caught her when he caused a ripple in the slide to pushed them upwards.

“Bobby this is brilliant. Have you thought about using this in the Danger Room? I mean this would come in so handy.”

He pouted at her. “You mean I can’t keep this for my own personal enjoyment.”

“No!”

“What if I used it to pick up girls. I could say something like, ‘Hi, I’m Bobby Drake and an Omega Mutant. I can freeze myself the air around me, and you baby.” He gave her a Leisure Suit Larry look.

“Bobby Drake, you are so lucky I don’t have super strength. If I did I would wack you as hard as I could right now!”

“Oh look, we here.”

He iced up his hands so that the window would stick to him and pushed it up. She grabbed on to his shoulder and gracefully slid into her room then helped him inside.

She gave him a parting hug and told him, “The next time we see a premiere, we don’t have to see the Thursday midnight showing. We actually have a late night Friday curfew. All of this is really not necessary, Bobby”

“BLASPHEMY!”

Marie snorted at him. “Was Superman really worth all of this?”

If Bobby’s eyes had gotten any wider they would have flittered away. “How on earth could you say that. It was the greatest movie ever. A true testament to the franchise.”

“Is your Yankee behind kidding me? I fell asleep four times. I think I missed the few times there was a physical confrontation. Why, oh why, was there a kid in this movie? How did you not know it was Superman’s? I mean he leaves five years ago, then Lois shows up with a five year old son. Please!” She rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Singer is an amazing director. He really knows his characters.”

“Yeah, he knows how to bore his audience with those characters.”

“I’m going to ignore that last statement.”

“Ok then, I’ll ignore the fact that you like the baby-mama drama of the dead beat super-dad, that was really a chick flick in disguise.”

Bobby narrowed his eyes and let her have it. Or so he thought.

Unbeknownst to the arguing couple, several pairs of eyes watched them from the forest outside.

“What do you know so far,” one of the women with a heavy accent asked the man in charge.

“The security is tough to crack. The best way to get in is through the front door.”

Another younger man asked, “The front perimeter is the least guarded. We should wait till most of the trained personnel is out. Who has the schedule?”

The older man spoke again. He looked back at his three person task force. “That does not matter. The last time someone tried an invasion of this mansion, it was ultimately a disaster even though they were fully prepared. It seemed that the best security was inside. We will not make that same mistake.”

The older woman looked down at her hands with a worried expression.

The leader looked at her with near contempt. “Do you have a problem?”

She shook her head, and stared at him. This was hell. She watched as the light reflected of his pale skin, making him look like an animated corpse. Great, more proof that she was in hell. All she wanted was to go back to her island, walk her slightly frigid beach, and bury herself in her lab. Even though she had more motives than the obvious for being her tonight, she still hated it. Just as she was about to tell the man in front of her what she really thought of him, she felt something akin to a warm blanket wrapped around her, as if to calm her. Then she realized it was all in her head, as was the low baritone voice that told her to clear her mind, focus on her task until it was complete. *You are not alone,* the voice said.

The leader looked at the younger girl. “You better be able to do this.”

The young woman took to the shadows and moved within them. She hated that man with a passion. If she didn’t owe him for her life, he would have already been dead.



Logan raced up the attic stairs hoping and praying that he wouldn’t smell what he absolutely dreaded. He needed to talk to Ororo alone, right now. While he was in the kitchen for his midnight beer, he got a whiff of new scents and the literally came of the tail end of Speedy Gonzalas. Did he bring them here, or was he followed. Dammit! No more questions. He needed answers, and he had a feeling that Ororo needed them too, whether she truly wanted them or not.

When he got to her door he listened for something, and heard no signs of anything, at all. Almost as if nobody was there.

He opened the door and for the first time walked into Ororo’s room. The sight that greeted him was amazing. It didn’t look like what he had expected. The entire space was one large room except for the expansive walk in closet. Cata-cornered near a large round window was the largest four poster bed Logan could ever remember seeing. It was made of a dark bark and it looked like it came straight out of a classic fairytale. The silk canopy comprised of different red scarves gave it a Middle Eastern tent look. It was east and west making a beautiful sight. Real ivy with white flowers grew up the winding posters of the bed, and the night stars shone through the silk making the walls glow in a soft pink light. He could picture a naked Ororo rolling her hips on top of his with an arched back and his hands guiding her strokes.

His nostrils flared and tried to find her scent, which was surprising difficult. Her scent was trapped beneath layers of all the ferns, herbs, potted and exotic plants. Who knew she had a green thumb?

He moved towards the closet and the bathroom, and that’s where he could pick up the smell of fresh morning fog. He followed the scent out of her room, down the hall and stairs, down the next hall. By this time it was fainter. She hadn’t been here in a while. Where was she? Logan had a rueful smile on his face. He was beginning to think that more and more. Having never depended on anyone for anything ever, it was a new feeling that he had, and he was on the fence on whether or not he liked it.

He made it to the parlor where the scent was strong but flowed towards the doors, along with the new scent that intertwined with it. She had left after midnight with that Maximoff fucker. The beast inside was mad as hell.

Without thinking all the way, he threw open the doors to follow the scents and trip over an unconscious body of a woman.

“What the hell,” he barked. He sniffed her to see if she had been shot, and smelled no gunpowder, but he did notice that her hand was on top wound that had seeped through her battered clothes. He slipped his right hand under her knees and his left under her torso, “Easy, darlin.” He kept her hand over the wound. When he shifted her weight, her head lolled to the side and her black and purple highlighted hair fell into her face.

He kicked the intercom next to the door to turn it on. He kept kicking at it until he finally got the Dr.’s room. “Cecilia, we got an emergency. Meet me in the lab, pronto.”

She yawned. “Why?”

“Dammit, I just said that it was an emergency.”

“Alright, alright. Is it a student, what’s the problem?”

“Not a student. I found her on our threshold, and it looks like she was beaten and stabbed.”

“What! Um, get her to the lab, and see if you can stop the bleeding, I’ll get Warren. We’ll need him.”

Logan didn’t second guess the saucy doctor. He had no idea what Wingy could do, and he didn’t care.


************
Med lab
An hour later
************

Cecilia took of the plastic gloves and threw them away. She made sure that the mysterious young woman had enough dauladin before she was going to call it a night. Thanks to Logan’s quick moves, and Warren’s healing touch, the girl was able to survive a stab wound in her stomach that had come perilously close to her liver.

Logan watched the kid and the doctor do their thing and was amazed. He had no idea about their abilities, and once again cursed himself for it. He needed to make a conscious effort to learn about the people with whom he shared a home with. Before he had never cared. He didn’t care enough to stay, never cared about other people’s property. That idea nearly made him vomit because he had made so many mistakes.

Cecilia put her arm on Logan’s shoulder. “You saved her life, and done all that you can. Get some rest.”

He stood up and looked at Wingy. “You should probably get some sleep too.”

Warren hadn’t heard a word the man said. He was too busy brushing the sleeping woman’s razor cut uneven fashionably disheveled hair out of her face.

“Kid?”

“Huh. Oh ah, I think I’ll stay here. You know, just for tonight. She might wake up.”

“Good idea. If she does, see what you can get out of her.”

He walked out of the medical lab with his previous thoughts. Where the hell was Ororo?



**************
Meanwhile in
Central Park
**************

“Do you feel wrong doing this,” Pietro asked his smiling companion.

“Of course I do.” Storm snuggled closer to her friend and continued staring at her bare feet. She had taken of her square heeled leather boots to let her feet mush in the soft earth. “I should be there. Leaving them without warning isn’t something that I do.”

“Of course. Good ole dependable doormat Ororo.”

She punched him in the arm. “Not nice, Tro.”

He put his arm around her and had her lean her head on his shoulder. “You up for a little race to the other end of the park?”

“Not against you.”

He batted his pretty eyes at her and gave her a sorry pout.

“Fine!” She ignored his smart ass grin. “Only under these conditions. If I win you have to tell me everything. Ok. If you win, you have to tell me EVERYTHING! Got it.”

He rolled his eyes as he got into a starting position.

“One more thing.”

“Let me guess. No powers, right?”

“Now that we understand each other,” She mimicked his starting position. “On your mark.”

“Get ready.”

Before she said go, she used her winds to hover just a tiny bit. She had every intention of winning this impromptu battle.

Pietro knew that she was going to use his sub-sonic winds to propel her to the finish line. He could let her have it, but where would the fun be in that.

After mere seconds of running, floating, and dodging trees at break neck speed, Pietro’s feet reach the line of trees signaling the end of Central Park.

As soon as he stopped and turned around, he saw Ororo coming at him like a human bullet. She stopped just in time, inches away from his face.

“You cheated!” She had her own serious pout.

He pointed and laughed at her. “Good thing I didn’t do it buy myself, huh.” He cupped her face and pressed his thumb into her lips, and then gave her a kiss on her forehead. “We should probably head back now.”

“You have so ‘splainin’ to do,” she said in her best Ricardo accent.

Pietro sat down with a defeated sigh. “Alright Ro, what do you want to know?”

“First of all, what happened when you found out about Wanda? I know for a fact that you know more than you wrote to me. There is no way that Lucas would volunteer his time unless Wanda was taken. So spill it now!”

“Last week Wanda had told me to meet me at her apartment for dinner. I had asked her why, she didn’t say anything. I kept badgering her about and she broke down. It turned out that the dinner was supposed to be about our father.”

“Did she know where he has been hiding?”

“Oh yeah. That’s not just it Ro, you see when I got there and saw that nobody was home, I was shocked. When I looked around, I didn’t see any evidence of foul play. Nothing was ransacked or taken, nor was anything different. I checked out her medicine cabinet and looked in her weekly pill container, and she had taken her medicine that day. So I knew that she wouldn’t just invite me over and then just leave. I rechecked her loft again, then that’s when I saw it.”

“What?”

“A tweed beret. The kind my father had an affinity for.”

“Wait a minute. What are you saying?”

“I think that my father led Wanda out of there, and he left that hat there to tell me that he did so.”

“Pietro, this makes no sense. I got a letter from you both that said that Wanda was gone. Why would Eric tell me that, knowing full well that she was with him? She wasn’t in some kind of danger, was she?”

“Do you have that letter on you?”

“Of course, Tro. I carry things like that on me all the time. The Goddess knows how I love to be reminded that my life revolves around nasty plots to make my life turbulent and miserable.”

He looked at her while not moving, blinking, or breathing. She was also caught up in the moment. When he leaned in diagonally to match his mouth with her’s she widened her eyes when his hands flexed at her waist.

She didn’t see it coming when he began to tickle her mercilessly.

“Stop it Peitro.”

“Nope.”

“Please *hahahaaa* it’s going to start *haha* hurting *snort*. Why are you *heheheeee* doing this?”

“You said you had the letter on you so, I am going to do this until it appears.”

“You know that I was being sarcastic.” The evil tickling fingers stopped.

“Booooo. Oh well, we really should be getting back then.”

They were walking hand in hand quietly until they reached the parking garage.

Pietro opened her door for her and helped her inside. Before he closed the door, he knelt down at her side and laid his head in her lap. “Rory, I’m scared.”

Ororo smoothed her hands through his hair, and softened her beating heart because it would slow his down too. She had learned this trick a long time ago to calm him down. “Don’t worry, we will find out what’s going on. I promise you that much.”

The ride back to Graymalkin Lane was quiet and full of thought.


***********
Elsewhere
***********

Pale fingers typed on a laptop, opening up files and compiling information. Dead black eyes looked at the video playing on the monitor for the countless time that night.

He watched the boy create the structure out of what seemed to be thin air, quite literally. He turned up the volume so that he could once again hear the explanation. He had already memorized it, but he could never get tired of hearing it.

The boy could manipulate molecules. He could also control their temperature as well as the temperature of any liquid substance anywhere, whether or not in was in an organic or inorganic container. Because of the boy’s unlimited potential his powers could effect everyone on a global scale.

Even though he was not the man’s first choice he definitely could make it work.

He hoped that the boy’s genes would hold out to be stable unlike his first two test subjects. He walked over to morgue refrigerators and pulled out tray 14785E. The body of a woman slid out. Her once fiery red hair had dulled to a lazy burnt sienna. The skin that held a doll like paleness to it cooled even more to an eerie gray and those emerald green eyes no longer shone.

The man glared at her and kicked the tray from the bottom. The body just bounced, and settled back down.

“Stupid whore! Just when I finally find a person who can create and destroy mass, you end up dying. Then when I get tissue and blood samples, I find that I can’t stabilize or duplicate or genes. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

It was almost as if she didn’t answer him out of spite.

He stomped out of the chilled room down the long dark hall until he got to where his prisoner was kept. He unlocked the door and kicked it open.

“Alright, crazy ass. You better be ready to work today!”

Shedenfreude
Chapter Nine


Logan rested his hips on the edge of kitchen counter.No Peter, no Marie, and no Ororo to make something eatable. He just shook his head. The last couple of days and last night had just all around sucked.

A breakfast of coffee, with milk and sugar, a shot of JD, and a burnt bagel was not what he wanted to face the day with, but it was going to have to do. When he tasted the coffee, noticed it wasn’t nearly as sweet as it should have been. He sniffed at it and noticed how there wasn’t enough milk. Before he poured more milk, he drank a few gulps out of the gallon just to make sure that it was ok. It was a safety measure; he didn’t want any one else to get sick or anything He refused to believe that he was being a smart ass. He through his head back and laughed.

It took every once of discipline he had to not go and hunt Ororo down. He knew what it was like to desperately need time for yourself. As long as he had been at the mansion, he had never known Ororo to do anything self indulgent, until now. Everyone one of the adults that came across the Institute had his or her own vice. That was all perfectly normal.

The timing couldn’t be worse.

First the silicon infested Emma wanted in on Xavier’s territory.

Magneto picks this time to make himself known.

His peepsqeek son decides that this is a great time to show up.

There was a near dead girl found at their door.

And it was now that Ororo started to become a permanate fixture in his mind.

A soft growl escaped from his mind. That wasn’t supposed to happen. This very elusive spot was reserved for one person only. For now, forever, and well, never. The magnificent red head had never returned his feelings. He often asked himself why he whittled away his time trying to be her life when in reality he never stood a chance.

Was she worth it?

It was a rhetorical question. Yes. Every stolen moment he had with Jean was worth his time. But he had learned a very valuable lesson through it all.

Force cannot be applied to nature. It just doesn’t work. He tried to force Jean to feel for him. Even though he had gotten under her skin, he could not get to her mind. Scott had his fortified domain there.

When Scott was unnaturally taken away, Logan still had no chance with Jean. She still wanted her love. She would not rest until she had him.

His deadly embrace was the least he could do for her. It was a small, “I’m sorry,” for making her think that she was remotely unhappy with Scott.

The alpha part of him hated it, as it did this newcomer.

Maximoff was nothing good. Thanks to Kitty and Jubilee, he learned a lot of what this man has been doing since his last stay here.

He knew that the uppity Headmistress wouldn’t keep him here for long when she found out.

Still, the idea of Ororo being upset bothered him. Even if it meant keeping Maximoff around longer, he would have to put up with it to give her some sort of happiness.

It made Logan sick to think of Pietro making Ororo happy. But the idea of force in nature came back to him. If it was supposed to happen then it would. But Logan knew that the last time someone came out of nowhere to crash at the mansion and to steal the heart of X-woman, it didn’t work. This idea made the Wolverine smile in a self satisfied way.

The last few days had been rough. Ororo had been anything but happy. Something was wrong. She was making frequent trips to District X, and she was distant. There was air of mystery around her that was newer than the one that usually surrounded her.

She had a problem, and she wasn’t sharing it. Why did she always do that? He was there ready and willing to be apart of this team she was raving about.

He looked at his watch. 8:30. Even though it was a Saturday, most people would be up and eating by now. Ororo would have been finished. He had sniffed around, and no one had even been downstairs.

He knew that Kitty and Jubilee wouldn’t be there. They had spent the last few late nights in the library sorting through their files. But to have an empty kitchen at Xavier’s was a rarity, indeed.

Logan forced himself to go down to the basement and not charge up the stairs to see what Ororo was doing.

When he got to the medical lab, he found a sight that he should have seen coming.

Standing at the head of the bed was a very weary Warren Worthington III. He had not changed his clothes since the last time Logan had seen him, and he sporting three day old stubble. He had his large wings spread out around the table, obscuring the young woman from his view. It looked as if he was shielding her. The younger man’s shoulders flexed and the muscles of his wings rippled, as well.

Logan simply took the remainder of his bagel and finished it in the hall. He knew what it was like to loose yourself in someone within minutes, and to be a hopeless cause after a few days. Angel would actually have a chance, and Logan was very happy for him. God knows someone around here deserves to be happy.

Well, besides Ororo and Speedy McNeedy.

The only thing that bothered Logan was the girl. There was just something familiar about her. He thought he had seen her before. It must have been brief. Maybe it was just a flash or something. He hadn’t even had the chance to really remember her smell.

As much as he felt for the kid, he had a bad feeling about her.

~X~

Ororo woke up with a sudden start. Her hair clung to her face and her room was covered in a fine mist of damp fog. Her daily anxiety was making it harder and harder to sleep peacefully. After getting the temperature under control, she threw on a pair of maroon hot pant and a fitted tee to have some kind of breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen, she frowned. There was dirty dishes in the sink, and the milk was open and it had wet lip marks on it as if someone tasted it before using it.

All of the boys in the mansion knew better. After the time Jean called an emergency morning meeting to find out who was using the milk without glasses, this incident was never to repeat itself. Jean made sure of that. Under her punishing hand, every man in the house a clean right hand for a month.

That was two years ago, before a certain hairy feral man showed up.

“DAMMIT LOGAN!” She grabbed the 2% and stormed down to the sub-basement.

Before she could make her breakfast, she stomped downstairs to the danger room where she knew Logan would be breaking anything in his path.

When she got out of the staircase she kept right on stomping to the danger room, and realized that no one was in it.

“Looking fer me, darlin,” came the gravelly voice that made her want to break every rule.

Ororo held up the accursed evidence in his face. “What is this?”

“Milk?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

He took a good sniff. Nope, nothing in his eyes, or nose. So he shrugged. This seemed to infuriate her more.

“Logan, do you see anything amiss,” she tore of the top and shoved the upper portion of the gallon right back in his face. He still couldn’t see anything wrong with it.

“Did you drink it this morning?”

“Sure did.”

Ororo lowered her voice and calmed it. She sounded like she was trying to get a naughty student to admit that they did something wrong.

“Did you happen to use a glass?”

Logan just tilted his head as if she just spoke a foreign language.

“That’s it, Ro? That’s all ya came down here for.”

“Logan, this is gross. No one wants your spit.” She could have smacked herself as soon as she said that. Maybe he wouldn’t catch her discomfort or her... She lowered the milk jug and watched him slowly stalk towards her. Oh crap.

“That’s not true, darlin’. I can think of at least one person right now.”

Logan watched the frozen Ororo as he took the three steps that brought them within inches of each other. He wished that he had a camera; she looked like a wide eyed doe in the headlights. With that analogy in his mind, he promised himself that he would do what he could to not run her over.

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t cop a feel, smell, or taste when he could. Right now, she was ripe for the taking. He lowered his head to the curve of her neck and shoulder and inhaled long and slow making sure that every part of his nose was saturated in her deliciously overwhelming arousal.

Logan briefly closed his eyes and wondered why she was still for so long. Ever since he had known her she was always walking briskly or talking tactics, missions, or teaching. She was either with Xavier or Scott going over business of the school. When she wasn’t in the school, she and Scott went to recruit for the school. Ororo Monroe was a woman who was never still.

Well, there was that one time.

He remembered it very clearly. It was one of the few moments in the last fifteen years he ever remembered hesitating. The night he went on his fool’s errand to rescue Jean, single handily, from Magneto. She had come into his room, and demanded that he stop being a jackass, think before he acted, and to remember that he was a part of something much larger than himself. Of course it all went in one ear, and out the other.

It wasn’t until she put herself between him and the door and successfully blocked his path, did he realize that she was very serious, and it was all she wanted out of him.

When he saw the stubbornness in her fierce eyes, he knew that he had met his match in her again. Ororo rooted herself in the ground and looked at him with a dare in her eyes. She stood still in a fierce but quiet glory and silently dared him to do something about her presence in his room. Logan took the dare. He had grabbed her shoulders and backed her up against his closed door.

For the worlds longest minute he was able to see Ororo. Sure he had checked her out. And yes, she was the finest and most flawless thing that was female on two legs. But for this instance, he saw something that was deep. She wasn’t being a bitch by being here. She was trying to protect him. This was the only way she knew how for him. That’s what Ororo was by nature, a protector. She protected the children, she tried so hard to protect Xavier, she even tried to get Scott to not go to Alkali. Even through his clouded mind, Logan was able to tell that Ororo was trying to protect Jean too.

During this long minute, Logan couldn’t help but to indulge himself. He wrapped his fingers tightly around her shoulders and pressed her harder against the door. In response her eyes brightened and her lips parted in a surprised sigh.

He should have held his breath. He should have closed his eyes. He really should have let her go. But he did none of those things. He breathed in the scent of fog and a hint of arousal. It nearly made his knees cave in. Her face was flush and full of color. This was the response he wanted from Jean. Now that he had it in his arms, he really didn’t want to let it go. For the rest of this minute, he really didn’t mind that the woman in his arms was Ororo. In fact he really enjoyed it. He knew that a part of him craved it from this woman. He desperately wanted to feel more of the electricity that flowed from each other far more often than what he had been privileged to.

That’s what scared him the most.

He had let her go, and pushed her away. He needed to concentrate on Jean. It was almost ironic that Ororo was the only one who ever managed to get him distracted from her.

It was her parting words that changed the direction of his life.

*If your with us, then be with us.*

No more half-assicity. No more taking advantage of the mansion without giving something in return.

Logan inhaled again, and her mind numbing scent brought him back to reality. Somewhere in all this the milk had dropped and she had backed up to the corner, and he had followed her. Ororo’s shoulder twitched and Logan felt currents of electricity flow down his body feeling a lot like a train of ants tickling him.

Everything was an the verge of being perfect until the force of her knee slammed into his unguarded blood-filled joystick.

All Logan could do was lean into her as he sank to the ground.

“What the hell was that for, woman? That really fuckin’ hurt!”

“No more than a glass table or a grand paino, or even an anvil.” She gave him the same smile she did when those heavy objects rained down on him.

Why did she always have to that? One minute she would be warm and almost welcoming the next she was a frigid witch. She was the polar opposite of Jean. But the normally mellow red had always kept him at arms length. Even if there was a slight chance that Ororo would let him in emotionally, he would take it.

Logan understood that the both of them needed an emotional anchor. So he was going to have to put up with this “maybe yes maybe no” hot and cold game she was playing.

That didn’t mean that he was going to like it. Nor did it mean that he was going to cut her any slack.

When the pain subsided enough for him to stand he did and grabbed her arm in one fluid movement.

“Logan, what are you doing?”

“Where the hell have you been for the last three days?”

Ororo couldn’t believe that this man just asked her that particular question. “Last time I checked where I go and what I do is none of your business. The main reason for that is because you don’t care. You’ve made it clear time and time again, that unless I’m a fog machine or a lighting rod, I am annoying you. Since there is no Jean to keep you still, I honestly don’t know why your still here. Isn’t it time for your monthly get away. I mean seriously, I take three days off for myself, something I haven’t done in five years, and I get twenty questions?”

“Common, Ro. Don’t be that. Alright? I was worried.” He loosed the grip he had on her arm just a little. He gave her a little pout and let his fingers slide against her forearm just enough to feel its silky texture. “Besides, this isn’t ya, Ro. This is that asshole.”

Ororo nearly shocked his anus shut right then and there. “Don’t go there, Logan. You don’t know Pietro, and you sure as hell don’t know me.”

“Look, I know that.” He inhaled and reluctantly dropped her arm. “Can’t ya see it. Damn woman. I’m trying to do what I can to change that. I...I think I’m askin’ ya for a chance, Ro.”

Ororo couldn’t believe what she just heard. What is it with all this awful timing lately? She had to give him credit for being honest. It pricked her heart because she hadn’t been open with everything else that has happened lately. Since he was making a sincere effort into being a true member of this random mutant family, she owed him the truth.

For some odd reason, she thought he was asking for something more intimate than the opportunity of being treated with some civility. This made her wonder if this truly stubborn man had finally given up on his unattainable dream. She willed her heart to keep a slow rhythmic beat. She couldn’t let herself believe that Logan had realized that she was a woman. Not now. Ororo wouldn’t hurt Pietro like that. She had given up her feelings for this Canadian because she believed that Jean would have her way, as usual. It would feel like being stabbed in the neck with a spoon if those feelings resurfaced again only to not see an end result, wether it be good or bad. That was what hurt the most. Nothing was given the chance to happen.

“I’m sorry, and there’s something I need to tell you.” She noticed that their hands were so close together. With a small forward movement with her arm, she let her fingers trace his and laced them together and squeezed gently.

Logan ran his free hand through his thick winged hair making it tousled. He shifted so he could face her. She had her head down and her choppy silver and white locks had gotten in her face. He hated that; she was far to flawless to be covered by that. Before he could stop himself, his fingers had brushed the hair out of her face and the back of his hand ran down the line of her cheek and jaw line. The subtle curve would be forever sketched into his memory. He made a promise to himself not to fuck up with her again, so that he could touch her like this more.

He felt the weight of her leaning into his embrace and the beast inside purred with delight. With her being this responsive, the was a small chance that nothing happened with Pietro.

“Ro, I need to show ya something.”

“Hmm...what?”

“Something bad happened while ya were gone. Ya need to come with me to the lab.”

This snapped her out of her zone. “Oh Goddess, is it one of the students?” She let him go and tried to sidestep him. He place a warm hand on her stomach, just like he did when he found her on the graves. It made her stop moving and completely relax. He must have noticed the change in her posture because he applied more pressure and began to move his hand in small circles.

Logan walked around to stand behind her, while keeping his hand on her stomach. His other hand gently squeezed her waist. He nearly came undone when her teeth bit down on her plump bottom lip. He pulled her flush against him, and buried his mouth in her sky like hair.

“Easy, Ro. She’s ok.” He led her back to the medical lab.

Apparently Warren had finally taken his leave. He left behind dozens of soft white feathers. Both Logan and Ororo had to stifle laughs at that. The poor kid tended to molt when he was stressed out.

Ororo was shocked at the condition of the girl on the table.

“What happened?”

“I was going out- -“

Ororo shot Logan an I-told-you-so look.

Logan smartly ignored it, and went on with his story. He told her how they found “Jane Doe” on bleeding from a stab wound right on the door step of the mansion. Cecilia had come in with Warren and stop the bleeding and managed to get her to begin to heal in record time. It didn’t take much, Logan told her. Whoever stabbed her had just missed her liver.

Ororo walked up to the table with question written all over her face. When she got a good look at her, she let loose a startled gasp.

“Ro? What is it? Do you recognize her?”

“Logan! Don’t you? She was at Alcatrez with the Brotherhood.”

“Are you sure cause I don’t remember seeing her with them. Could she be from the Morlocks?”

“I remember seeing her briefly with Callisto.” When she said her name, Ororo flinched. The memory of the adrenalin rush that fried the violent Morlock leader still bothered her. Logan had his hand on the small of her back for comfort. As usual it worked. It was starting to scare her. “Has she regained conciseness, yet?”

“‘Fraid not.”

“Have you wondered what she’s doing here?”

“Warren and I both think that she didn’t have no place else to go. It was someone’s bright idea to advertise this place as a safe haven.” He gave her his best mock glare. “So what are we going to do with her?”

“We should keep an eye on her. I don’t want her locked up. I would like for her to tell us everything on her own. If she came here by herself with a stab wound, then I think she may need our help, but...”

“Babe, you feel something ain’t right with this, dontcha. So, what were you gonna tell me.”

Ororo led Logan back to the hall outside and told him everything about her letters, Eric, Pietro’s sudden appearance and the missing Wanda.

Logan also opened up about his investigation about the Maximoffs. To his surprise, she wasn’t upset by it. In fact she wanted in on it.

They both agreed. Something was just not “right” about all of this. The timing was to close together for these events to be unrelated.

Inside the medical lab the woman opened her eyes and lifted a stiff and sore arm to brush back some purple strands of hair. She couldn’t believe it. These people were giving her the benefit of the doubt even though they didn’t trust her. That was more respect she had received with the last two bands of vigilante mutants she had joined up with. Here she even found a blond winged Adonis to watch over her. Even the woman who fried Callisto wasn’t the evil bitch her friend had said she was. Maybe this people weren’t so bad. The guy with the claws was a little too dangerous though. It would take a lot to get by him.

No matter how bad “Claws” was, he was a kitten compared to her new boss. Or was that her colorless, maniac, molecular-obsessed ex-boss. She pondered that as the sleeping pill she was given kicked in.

Outside on the bench in the Memorial Gardens, the spirit of Scott watched as his lover slowly approached him. She sat down next to him and hung her head. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Uh oh.

“Jean...oh god. You chickened out again didn’t you.”

“I couldn’t.”

“What’s the excuse this time?”

“She was busy finally having that heart to heart with Logan.” That response got her Scott’s angry face. “Oh, you didn’t know about that. I thought you, of all people, would be really happy.” She flashed him a brilliant smile.

He wasn’t falling for it. “Jean, she needs to know, as soon as possible.”

“She has her hands full! I will not burden her more.”

“This isn’t a random crime. Someone exhumed and stole your body, Jean! Tell her!”

She leaned her head on his shoulder, and watched the birds scatter that were in the shading oak tree. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Love, your not the only one.”