Time Line: Three months later,
He sees his friend, the mutant known as Wolverine, who over the past few months, has become the man known as Logan….not only to his teammates, but also to a majority of the students.
He sees the strict and somewhat blunt manner in which he teaches the older students and the uncanny patience he exercises towards the younger ones.
He, the watcher is Henry McCoy, although he is better known as Beast.
He is currently the planner for the X-Men, and along with his co-feral, the co-leader of the team…..he has been for the past six months.
-----
“Thank you everyone for coming,” Xavier addressed the small gathering in his office. Seated or standing, as per their perusal, were Phoenix, Beast, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Gambit, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Iceman and Nightcrawler.
Conspicuous by their absence were Storm, Emma Frost and Cyclops. Storm had left for parts unknown, Emma Frost had returned to Massachusetts, while Cyclops….he was still in the mansion, although even he was in the process of getting his packing done.
“What’s dis about Professor?” Gambit was the first to put out the question on everyone’s mind….with the exception of the three senior teammates, Jean, Henry and Logan.
“This…” once again Xavier cast a glance around the room. “…is about the future of the x-men. As you know, we…we are currently short three members….soon to be four.”
“Four?” Instantly everyone present turned his or her eyes to present non-present Wolverine.
“Yes,” in any other situation, Xavier might have expressed some amusement at the scene….but not now. Not after what had happened. “Jean has requested a break…for personal reasons.”
“Then who will lead the team?” Was the obvious question, this time from Iceman.
“Henry and Logan,” the Professor was straightforward in his answer. “Although both will act as co-leaders, Henry will be focusing on information and planning, while Logan will be taking the lead in field missions and team assignments.”
-----
Time Line: Eight months later,
She is sitting at the window, watching the snowstorm rage outside. Its nothing new or out of the ordinary here….not in the cold of Alaska.
She has been here for the better part of a year now, away from her teammates, her family….and for her family.
Looking down at the presently silent bundle of pink and white, her heart and mind fills with a calming yet exuberant joy. The sparse growth of red hair, proclaim the child as hers…..her Rachel.
Rachel Summers is the first born of Jean Grey-Summers aka. Phoenix and Scott Summers aka. Cyclops, both x-men and both currently off-duty….albeit for slightly different reasons.
Jean had taken time off for her impending childbirth; and to overcome the effect of Emma Frost and Scott’s actions on their marriage and their trust. Scott on the other hand, was given a much-needed vacation by Xavier, for his confidence in himself and also for his wellbeing and life….from Wolverine.
It is finally time to go back and it has brought back memories of their last at the mansion….more importantly for Jean.
-----
“You want me to WHAT?” Logan’s growl was threatening enough by itself, without his walking the razor edge of control, with the events of the past few days, his usual thin control and Ororo’s departure threatening to push him over to the berserker side.
“We want you to lead the team,” Xavier replied calmly. “….for the next few months.”
“Why can’t Jean do it?” Logan shot back, glaring at the silent redhead sitting beside the Professor. “Or Hank, or anyone else for that matter? Why me? I don’t want it.”
“Jean, as you can see is on the family way and won’t be able to join the team for missions,” the telepath had everything thought out beforehand. “Besides, she and….” He stopped at mentioning Scott. “She is taking a temporary break from the x-men, at least until the delivery. It is best for her and for the child that she has a peaceful, tension free environment.”
“Yeah,” Logan’s tone was sarcastic. “That I am going to gut Cyclops has got nothing to do with her an’ yer decision….does it?”
Both Xavier and Jean had nothing to say in reply to that. Getting Scott away from the mansion and more importantly from Logan had been a major factor in Jean’s decision. She could just have easily have stayed in New York, and have one of the best doctor’s in the world, Henry *Beast* McCoy.
“As for Henry,” Xavier explained further. “Although an invaluable team-member and a genius, he does not have the practical experience…”
“Ya mean he ain’t a killer,” Logan completed the Professor’s sentence. He could already see that he was fighting a losing argument. With the three senior x-men out of the picture, it only left Henry and him as the obvious choices. None of the others were either experienced enough or had enough clout to command respect from the others. Leaving them, the next ones in line were Gambit and Colossus, and although both were old enough, they weren’t *prepared* enough. There was another choice, Nightcrawler. He had both skill and age on his side. The only thing going against him was practical experience.
--
After much deliberation, arguing and uncomfortable silence, Logan finally relented.
“I’ll do it,” both telepaths seemed relieved at the acceptance, but sensed that there was a *but* coming. “But, I got three conditions.”
“Conditions?” Jean voiced the question.
“Yeah,” Logan’s face was an impassive mask. “One, I ain’t doing this alone. Hank will do it with me. I’ll do the fighting and training, but the talking, teamwork and all that, that he’ll do.”
“Agreed,” Xavier’s acceptance was instantaneous.
“Two, neither of you or Hank will have any say on the way I do my work….or the way I train them or assign them.”
“Agreed,” this time the Professor had more to say. “However, you do know….”
“The X-Men don’t kill,” Logan supplied somewhat reluctantly. “Don’t worry, the only killing I want to do right now….” He trailed off, his eyes lingering on Jean. “And that’s my third condition. When Cyclops comes back, and I know he will, and when you give the team back to him, as I know you will, I won’t take orders from him and I won’t work with him….not even on missions. Anything you want done, you tell me. And, if you have any doubt with what I am saying, I don’t suggest you try confirming it….not if you want your kid growing up without its biological father.”
A cold shiver ran through Jean. She had mistakenly dared a peek into the feral’s mind….and what confronted her….she didn’t have the words for it.
“Agreed,” was all Xavier could say with a defeatist nod.
------
Time Line: One year later,
He has been back for three months now, rejoined the team for two, heading it for just as many….atleast the one under him.
On his arrival, the X-Men were officially split into two teams, one with him, Cyclops as the team leader. The other team, surprisingly, has Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler as its leader. With Jean and Beast in his team and Wolverine’s terms playing out, Kurt was the next in line. The other members of his team, the blue team, are Iceman and two newcomers, his own younger brother, Alex Summers aka. Havok and his current girlfriend, Lorna Dane aka. Polaris.
The second ‘gold’ team consists of Colossus, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Shadowcat and Wolverine. Rogue had, just like her mentor, refused to work with him and Remy had supported and seconded her, although his decision had more to do with what he and Emma did to Ororo. And, although, both Jubilee and Kitty didn’t say anything aloud, their decision was also clear enough.
‘What he did?’ He still cannot remember anything…..even after a year, nothing.
------
“Say something Jean?” He had turned to his wife. It had been a month after their Alaska *vacation* started.
“What do want me to say Scott?” She knew this day was coming. Scott had gone through the denial and was now in the anger-cum-bargaining stage. It had started two days ago, with a very small thing….something that she had said, something that had slipped out her tongue and mind. She had mentioned their first days at the institute…and Ororo.
“Don’t give me that,” Scott gritted his teeth. He could sense the tension seeping through their psi-link, which, ever since even that battle, had closed down from Jean’s side, still allowed some intense emotions to pass through. “I know you believe that I did….I did…whatever is being. I know you believe it to be true.”
“Scott….” Jean began with a sigh. Even though she had had the time to prepare herself for the intensity of the emotions this confrontations would bring, it still was hell on her mind, not to mention the stress of pregnancy.
“Don’t Scott me,” Cyclops stopped pacing and stomped up to her. “You believe it or not? Yes or no.”
“No, I don’t believe it. I don’t need to believe it. You know why?” The Phoenix inside her was itching to be let out. “I don’t need to believe it, because I know it to be true. I know that because the thoughts I got from Rogue and which she got from Emma, they weren’t fabricated ones, they were true ones, genuine memories of what conspired on that day….between her…and you.” By the time she ended, the anger and fight seemed to ebb away, but not completely. “So don’t try to turn this against me. I am also a telepath and what Emma did…what you asked her to do, whatever the reasons behind it might have been, it was-was…”
“What was it Jean?” Scott shot back, egging her to continue. “Was it bad enough what you and Logan….”
THUMP!!
The next instant, Scott found himself flying through the air and into the dining table.
“What I did with Logan was a betrayal of your trust, and although larger than your *mental* trysts with Emma, it was a betrayal between two consenting adults. What you did to Ororo and to Logan…there was no consent in that. It was abuse….it was rape, and there in Scott lies the difference.”
The word ‘rape’ jarred Scott back to his senses and under them. Ever since he came to know that he had done something with…to Ororo, something so horrific that it made him turn to Emma to mindwipe not only him and Ororo, but also Logan. It was the mindwipe of Logan that had troubled him the most, because according to Emma, that she had done to throw off Logan’s enhanced senses, particularly his sense of smell.
“Jean,” Scott’s voice and spirit both gave way as he slipped into the next stage….depression.
-----
Time Line: One year and seven months,
She has been gone for nineteen months, six more than what Logan had been away for. It wasn’t something that he meant to keep a track of, it just became that way.
He knows where she is. Why wouldn’t he? After all, he IS her brother.
He is one of the few people that he knows that know about her whereabouts and her wellbeing. There are two others, the Professor and Jean, and only one of them has been in any contact with her….the Professor.
Xavier knows about the brother-sister phone calls and about his trip to visit his sister.
No one else knows. No one…..almost no one.
*HE* knows…always knows. The *HE* is Logan.
------
“Hello,” the familiar, honey toned voice answered from the other end.
“Stormy,” Gambit greeted with his usual flair. He knew she would be expecting his call. He had said he would call today….he had said that while ending their last call.
“Remy, you know how I hate that infernal name,” Ororo’s voice held an amusement. It was a part of their usual banter. Her *scolding* didn’t stop him and his *name calling* had grown on her.
“Remy know you don’ like it,” the charmer replied with a chuckle. “’cept when it come from Remy.”
With that, they began catching up on what was happening on either side of the line. Remy telling her how he and Rogue had gotten *serious* (not in the sexual way. Get yer minds outta there) and about any new developments either in the school or the team. Ororo on the other hand talking about her new job as a school teacher and about the new house she had managed to finally buy, and about her new friends and family.
What neither of them talked about, what both of them either wanted to ask or tell the other about, was….well you know what.
Remy also didn’t mention how Logan would treat him once he returned to the mansion.
Even though he always made it a point to call from the city and on a day and time when he was sure that Wolverine wouldn’t be within twenty miles of him, somehow he always knew. Maybe it caught on the way that the Cajun tried to avoid him for a day or two, or the way the red-black eyes didn’t meet hazel ones, or maybe her scent traveled over the telephone lines and stuck onto him….he always knew….and he never asked.
Logan also knew about Remy’s trip. The fact that after being gone for nearly a month, Remy had returned with a glorious tan, not possible from being in New Orleans, not at that time of the year, was evidence enough….even if Logan’s senses couldn’t catch Ororo’s lingering scent on him.
“’Roro,” Ororo knew what was coming next. It came at the end of every call. “When are you comin’ back?”
Even over the time delayed staticky transmission, her sigh was clear. Remy knew her answer by heart.
“Soon.”
-----
Time Line: Two year, ten months and seventeen days,
She is sitting in pin drop silence, a single sheet of paper clenched in her slender coffee colored hand.
She has read it and reread it almost half a dozen times now.
She knows what she has to do….she has to go back.
She knew that this day would come, but like this…so soon….this she didn’t expect…or did she?
She never thought that the news, the letter calling her back would come from this person.
It is almost déjà vu that both Logan and her return would come from…for the same person….the person whose cursive handwriting is on the paper in her hands.
After almost three years of silence on either side, Rogue has written her a letter.
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