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“Morning Ororo.”

Ororo looked up from her stair-side seating, smiling at her friend and teammate.

“Good Morning Jean,” she moved to the side, a silent gesture for the redhead to join her.

Settling down next to her, Jean breathed in deep, taking in the fresh mountain air. This was their third day in this place, wherever it was and she already didn’t feel like leaving. The only thing she missed right now was the strong arms of her boyfriend, Scott around her, and his chest to her back, the rhythmic thumping of his heart sounding a beat almost hypnotic in nature. If only.

“So, how is motherhood suiting you Ororo?” She asked humorously, just to begin the conversation. At first, she had been surprised to find Ororo alone. Ever since they had come here and she had seen her daughter, it was seldom that the newly discovered mother was seen without and apart from the young child. It was the same with the other parent, Logan, the Wolverine. Seeing him here, with his family and now even the way he behaved towards Ororo, Jean was hard pressed to make him as the same person. In fact, had she not witnessed it in its entirety, she would have sworn that they were two different men.

As she sat down next to Ororo, her eyes followed her friend’s and her lips curved up in a smile at the sight before her. In the distance, she could make out the familiar diminutive shape of the snow haired Kendall. Leaping about like a frisky deer, Kendall seemed to be enjoying the company of a rather tall man.

“That’s Peter.” Ororo answered her unspoken question. “He’s Kendall’s art teacher.”

“Her Arts teacher!” Jean echoed, her eyes snapping back to the man and the child, both of whom seemed to be coming towards the mansion. “She has an arts teacher?”

“Yes,” Ororo answered with a smile and a knowing nod. From what Logan had told her, about a year and a half ago, Kendall had chanced upon the otherwise reclusive Peter and had sat for hours just watching him paint. When it happened the second time, Peter, just on a hunch and to keep her busy, handed her a plain sheet of paper and non-toxic crayons. Since then, the gentle giant and the wild child had been the best of pals, with Peter taking on the role of a sort of an art mentor for the daughter of the family.

----

“Interesting place they have here,” Jean commented once again looking around the property, especially the mansion. “Has similarities with what the Professor has done, but unlike us, these people are…..” she trailed off trying to find the correct words. She did not want to say secluded, nor did she want to say, not interested in helping others, neither of which was a complete lie or the truth.
“Content,” Ororo offered serenely, her own eyes following the slow but steady progress of her daughter. Walking together like this, Piotr, who was a good three to four inches taller than Logan, and the around three foot tall Kendall, presented quite an interesting, if not funny sight….almost as in one of those fairy tales. The Giant and the Kid….or in Logan’s words, the Giant and the Squirt. Even the name had a nice ring to it.

“Hmm, you could say so,” Jean acceded after a few seconds. “But staying so far from society….don’t think I’d be able to do it.”
“That’s because you are a city girl,” Ororo grinned in a moment of levity. “Even more so than young Jubilee.”
“Hey, I resent that,” Jean was quick to comment. “Hmm, not more….I’d settle for as much.”
“Okay, Jean,” Ororo smiled and shook her head. “As much a city girl as Jubilee.”
“Yup, that’s better,” the telepath gave a satisfied nod. “Wonder how they pay for all this? Henry, Dr. McCoy told me that the owner was one Mr. James Howlett. Haven’t seen him around. Is he a mutant too?”

Instead of answering her friend’s question, Ororo remained silent. She knew who this Mr. Howlett was. It was Logan’s real name, one that he had told her on her second day here. Even though on their marriage certificate it was just Logan, with Kendall being registered with the last name Logan, the mansion and the property was under the Howlett name. It was to maintain secrecy from anyone trying to find the truth about the Wolverine. Only a handful of people knew that Logan, the Wolverine and James Howlett were the same person…..a hundred year plus mutant with incredible healing properties that even at this age made him look like a man in his mid-thirties.

----

“Oh my god,” Jean gasp drew Ororo’s attention out of her thoughts and towards the thing….the person that had surprised her. “That’s Colossus.”
“What?”
“Colossus,” Jean repeated, still not believing what she was seeing. Who else was in this place? There was Beast, Dr. Henry McCoy, the genius geneticist that Charles had spoken about. Nightcrawler a.k.a. Kurt Wagner, the acrobatic teleporter, the first teenager that had ‘slipped’ through their hands courtesy of Wolverine, the second being the girl, Rogue. Even out of the two other guests, Lila and Alison, Lila also had some past connection with Wolverine. That was the only reason that they were allowed here in the first place. Jubilee and Laura she already knew….and now this, Colossus. An ex-Brotherhood member.

“He was with the Brotherhood,” she whispered softly, wary of any one overhearing them. Just her luck that at that very moment a gruff voice answered from behind her.

“He ain’t anymore.”

----

“Oh, Logan,” Jean mentally cursed herself for forgetting about Wolverine’s enhanced senses and his ability to move like a shadow, something she on more than one occasion suspected, was some sort of mutant ability of his and his ‘daughter’ Laura, who even now was standing next to her father, dressed in an almost matching black get up. Heck, except for the pendant around her neck there was nothing visibly different about the duo.

As she watched, Logan’s ears twitched as if hearing something. The next instant, he turned his head towards the direction from which Kendall and by now, at least a dozen wild flowers holding Piotr were coming from. Every few meters or so, Kendall would spy something and run off to check it out, with Piotr waiting patiently for the girl, who he had come to love and care for as much as his own sister Ilyana. Smiling at the sight of his daughter, Logan lifted his hand in his version of a ‘manly’ wave when the child called out to and waved at him.

“He looks….” Ororo concentrated on the young man. Even though she had only seen him a couple of times since she came here, she had a feeling of familiarity with the young man. One similar to the one she had on seeing Logan, Laura and Kirika for the first time. “…familiar.”

“He should,” Logan chuckled, stepping down a couple of steps to lean against the sides. “He nearly did us in.”

“He tried to kill you?” Jean gasped at his comment. “Us?”

“Yup,” Logan nodded. A very out of time, out of place, wistful smile playing on his face. “Us. Me and ‘R….Ororo,” he corrected himself, his slip of the tongue not going unnoticed by Storm. She was still not sure about how she felt towards this strange man who for more than two years of her life had been her companion, and husband for more than one. However, she did appreciate his giving her the distance she needed to come to terms with the situation and to get to know their daughter before thinking about whether there was a possibility of a future for the two of them or not.

“He tried to kill you and you still….”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Logan stopped Jean mid-sentence. “Although, it was on Ororo’s saying that I let him live. I was ready ta pay him back for what he was trying to do….with interest.”

“Mine?” Ororo croaked, her surprise clear on her face.

“Umm-hmm,” Logan nodded, watching Laura go off into the forest. The previous night had been hard for the girl, as she had another of her nightmares, an unwanted gift, courtesy of her creators at Weapon X. Right now, she was going to get some solitude and practice the meditation techniques that Logan had taught her. If that wouldn’t work, she was going to do the next best and foremost natural thing, let her inner beast and its anger out and let them run rampant until they simmered down to controllable levels.

----

“Dadd-deee,” Kendall’s lively and full of energy and mirth voice ended any conversation about killing and or failed attempts to do so.

“Hey squirt,” both father and mother’s eyes lit up at the mischievous giggle on their daughter’s face. Sitting like this, they almost appeared to be just another family, sitting together and enjoying the cool, fresh autumn morning. “What dya say?” Loan jerked his head towards Jean and Ororo.

“Oh, sorry,” a toothy grin made everything fine. “Good morning mama, good morning Missi-jee.”

“Good Morning Kendall,” both women returned at the same time, with Ororo’s opening up her arms as Kendall skipped up the stairs, towards her.

“This for you mama,” Kendall held up the, thanks to Piotr, tied up and somewhat arranged, bouquet of flowers. Although still not at hundred percent, the mother daughter duo had been making consistent progress. Kendall had easily taken up calling Ororo mama or mommy, depending on her mood, but was still not quite open in other areas. Like the other night, even though she agreed for Ororo to help her get ready for bed, she still wanted her daddy there. Yet, even that small victory had been a major achievement in Ororo’s eyes.

However, there was one thought or one point rather that both Logan and Ororo had so far avoided, either deliberately or just by chance, was the question of what would happen next. What would happen when at the end of the week, the x-men and consequently Ororo had to return to New York. What then?

That question was still on the back of Ororo’s mind and hour later as she and Logan sat down for their next round of recounting memories.

-----

In the mean time,

“What have you to report?” Fury stared down at his subordinate, his working eye nearly boring a hole into the younger man. “Have you found him?”

“We are trying….”

“Have you FOUND him soldier,” the general bellowed, and it was at all possible, the ‘soldier’ in question went even more pale.

“N-No sir,” he shook his head. “The transmitters we had planted inside him, they were all collected….from three different locations.”

“Of course they were,” Fury didn’t need to know that. “What do you think he was going to do? Keep them inside him and let us track him.” He internally cursed himself. Not only was their escapee vicious in his actions, with his memory ‘enhancements’ he was equally cunning too boot. Fuck. This was not supposed to happen. That’s why the fail-safes were put in place. Logan was going to blow a gasket when he’d know about this, which given the fact that he was the intended target of their rogue agent, would be sooner rather than later.

“Any luck with the telepaths?”

“Sir, he is practically invisible to telepaths,” the other man gulped. “His psychic shields….”

“I know about his psychic shields and all his other shields and enhancements,” Fury shut him up. “I was the one that sanctioned them. What I want to know is that have the telepaths been able to get anything useful?”

“That would be a no, sir.”

“Get out.”

“Sir?”

“I said get ou.”

“Yes sir.” With that the younger agent practically ran out of the room.

Running a hand over his baldhead, and down his face, Fury reached for the phone.

“Get me a chopper and call up Xavier. Tell him to expect us.”

Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter. I have been trying to keep the chapters in this fic. above 3000 word mark. Had more of the Logan-Ororo story in mind. Guess will cover it in the next one.

Any suggestion on who might Fury approach to reign in the rogue agent. Wolverine is not an option….he is kind of de facto. Someone else.

Please review and let me know!!





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