Ororo bolted upright in bed, one hand lashing out wildly to fend off an invisible attacker. “No!” Her broken cry startled her into full wakefulness a fraction of a second before she hit the hardwood floor with a dull thud. “Shit.” She lay on the flat of her back, covering her forehead with the crook of her arm, her breathing labored, her lungs feeling unnaturally tight. She lay in the haphazard shadows of the room for a few minutes waiting for the cloudy, fading remnants of her dream to whisper farewell.
With a grunt she rolled onto her side, leveling herself up so that her arm rested on the rumpled sheets. She blinked, glancing at the bedside clock’s glowing green digits: 3:15 am. She frowned. Logan should have returned by now.
Ororo rose from the floor and grabbed her folded clothes from the top of Logan’s bureau. She moved about the dim room, hopping up an down on alternate legs, tugging her pants on.
Once slipped into her faded jeans and hooded ‘Xavier’ sweatshirt Ororo pushed open the bedroom window. She scooted off the sill, floating quietly to the ground below. Pulling her hood over her hair, she walked barefoot across the yard, unmindful of the alternating patches of snow still covering the grounds.
She stretched, effectively removing the remaining kinks from her restless body. She sighed heavily, wondering what had Logan so upset. He was very good at hiding his inner turmoil, and if she was anyone else, she would have taken this mood as just one of many swings he was known for. But she wasn’t anyone else. She was the woman that loved him.
She paused in her trek, then glanced over at the garage. Following her instincts she turned and made her way to the adjacent building. Leaning against the side wall Ororo tilted her head heavenward, watching the stars blink down at her. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling that they were watching her, knowing something she didn’t.
Shaking her head at her own wandering thoughts she placed her hands in her pockets and rocked on her heels. Beneath the blind face of the moon Ororo waited.
He was coming. She could feel it.
Sure enough, not a full minute passed before the quaking rumble of a well kept Harley Davidson engine broke the silence of the night.
Logan’s heart thudded in his chest as a solitary slender outline came into view, brought into full relief by the glow of his headlight. He pulled his bike up to the garage slowly, switching off the ignition. He didn’t dismount though, instead he sat in shadow and stared at the flaxen haired angel that had entered his life and changed his entire world. She was everything any man could ever want, and she loved him. He was undeserving of that, especially considering what his life had wrought upon her.
Ororo regarded him in equal silence, her blue eyes heavy with concern.
“I was thinking about leaving.” He said gruffly, unexpectedly.
She blinked rapidly, caught off guard. “What?”
He nodded, his gray eyes intent. “There are a couple of SHIELD operations that could use an experienced man--”
“No.” It was flat denial.
He shifted his weight, leaning the bike. “’Ro-”
“Whatever it is you think you’re protecting me from by running, you aren’t. You’ll only hurt me more by leaving me.”
“You don’t know that. There are things about me, Storm…dangerous things….”
“I’m not afraid of anything about you, Logan.” She continued.
He looked away from her earnest expression. “Maybe you should be.” His voice was a rough growl, laced with bitterness.
“Stop it.” She moved so that she was beside him. “I won’t let you try and scare me off.”
“I’m dangerous. It‘s dangerous for you to be with me. I‘ll only bring shit and misery into your life.”
“Are you listening to yourself? Look at me. Look at our lives. We trudge through shit and misery on the regular, Logan. But when we’re together we’re happy, right? That’s more than a lot of people get. So what’s wrong? Talk to me.”
He kept his gaze straight ahead, leaving her to stare at his shadowed, whiskered profile.
“Whatever it is, Logan, I don’t care.”
He leveled her a hard stare. “You may not care, but I do.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, this is never gonna work.”
Ororo swallowed the rapidly swelling lump in her throat and posed the question, “What’s never going to work?”
He shifted on the bike. “You and me.”
“Logan, don’t--”
The ache in her voice tore at his heart. “All I’ll bring to you is grief, Storm. It‘s better this way. Trust me.”
She shook her head. “I do trust you, but not in this. Whatever has you spooked, we can face together.”
“I’m sorry.” He dismounted, placing the bike between them.
Ororo couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Logan wanted to end things? Hadn’t that been his bed she’d rolled out of? Wasn’t that him groaning her name in her ear earlier in the evening? Was she in some sort of screwed up limbo reality?
“I never took you for a coward,” she whispered harshly.
Logan’s head snapped up. “You don’t understand.”
She held out her hands. “Then make me understand, Logan, because you’re right, I don’t. You said you loved me. Was that a lie?”
He grit his teeth together. “This is just the way it has to be.”
“Why?” She demanded, hating the catch in her voice.
“Because it is.” His hands clenched into fists. “It just is.”
“I’m not letting you do this.” Thunder rolled across the sky, heralding a frothing mass of clouds. Lightning flashed, a bright white streak reflected in baby blues. “I love you.”
“You wouldn’t if you knew.”
“Knew what?” She wanted to scream in frustration. “Talk to me. Please. Whatever it is, let me decide.”
Logan growled. “I can’t, ‘Roro.”
“Why not?” she demanded. The first fat drops of rain splashed on the Harley’s leather seat.
“I couldn’t take you hating me.” His voice was so soft she almost missed it.
“Hating you?” His unexpected vulnerability tugged at her heart. “Logan, I could never hate you.”
Logan closed his eyes against the soft sincerity of her voice. During his hours riding, all he could see in his mind’s eye was Ororo’s battered, abused form, laying limp against the roots of a tree, tied and bloody, knowing it was his son, a part of him that did that to her. He hated himself. How could she not?
He turned away from her. “I’m sorry.” An abrupt gust of wind lifted Logan off of his feet. “Hey!”
Ororo raised herself a few feet into the air alongside him. “Stop this. You are out of your damn mind if you think I’m just going to shrug and cry a few tears and let you tuck tail on us. No way, Logan! Not now, not ever.” She grabbed the front of his jacket, pulling him to her, forcing him to meet her glowing gaze. “What is it that you are so certain will make me hate you? Government agents? Another woman? A long lost wife? Just say it!”
“’Ro…”
“Just say it!”
“Sabertooth was mine!” He snapped.
Ororo blinked, not following. “Your what?”
“My son, my kid! There, I said it.” He growled, waiting for her revulsion. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Oh no.” They hit the ground hard, the winds ceasing altogether. Ororo stepped away from him, shaking her head. “No.”
Logan would have sworn he was immune to most pain, but seeing Ororo back away from him dug at him deep. He wanted to grab her, but he remained stone still.
Ororo covered her mouth with her hand. No wonder he wanted to leave her. Because of her, he had killed his only real family. Lost his only link to his past. How he must hate her!
“What?” Logan cocked his head, certain he misheard her muttering.
Her eyes were wide. “Because of me…” Thunder groaned loudly, a long mournful rumble that echoed over and over.
Ororo felt behind her for the wall, missed and sat heavily on the asphalt. She placed her head in her hands, shaking. “I am so sorry.”
Logan crouched in front of her, his dark brows furrowed and his gray eyes narrowed in concern. “’Ro, what the fuck are you sayin’?”
Ororo looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”
Large hands cradled her face. “’Ro? Baby, answer me.”
“Because of me, you lost you son.” She ached for him. “Forgive me.”
Logan jostled her slightly. “Ororo, damn it, answer me.”
She frowned, confused. “Logan, can’t you hear me?”
“Christ.” Logan lifted Ororo off the ground, swinging her up into his arms. “Storm, say something.”
“Logan? Why can’t you hear me?” Was he deaf?
“Look at me, Ororo.”
“I am looking at you.”
“Damn it! Professor!” They were moving towards the mansion, with Logan holding her close to his chest.
“Logan, what are you doing? I don’t want to go inside.” She tried to poke him. Weren’t they just talking about something? Something important?
“Hang on, darlin’.”
“What? Hang on? Are you insane? I’m fine. You, on the other hand may need mental help.” She rolled her eyes. A flash of blue out of her peripheral caught her attention. “Oh, Hank, thank the Goddess. Would you please tell Logan that I’m fine.”
The form of Henry McCoy shimmered in shadow, his intelligent gaze grave with concern. He held out one furred hand, as if reaching for her.
“Logan slow down. I can’t reach Henry.” She glanced up at Logan who was staring down at her intently. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Be okay, baby, just be okay.” He kicked open the mansion doors.
“Somebody!”
“What the hell is all the commotion?” Ali’s voice, groggy with sleep held more than a trace of annoyance.
“Ali! Finally, will you please talk some sense into Logan.”
“Get the Professor,” Logan said shortly.
“Storm!” Ali rushed forward. “What happened?”
Instead if answering he demanded. “Just get Xavier, Alison!”
“Kurt’s already on it,” she snapped back. She pressed her hand to Storm’s head. “She’s burning up.”
“Has everyone gone completely mad?” Ororo wanted to scream. “Logan, Ali! Look at me. Listen to me!” She turned her head. “Hank, tell them.” But Hank was gone. Ororo scrunched her face in confusion. What was happening? Why couldn’t anyone hear her? She struggled to sit up in Logan’s arms.
A faint burning sensation began in the pit of her stomach, growing rapidly until she felt like something was alive and trying to claw its way out from her insides. Pain! Indescribable and intense washed over her with the force of a tidal wave. She felt lost, torn apart by the fire raging through her body.
“Christ! She’s seizing!”
Logan’s rough, worried voice sounded convoluted and faraway. She tried to focus on his face but she couldn’t seem to see anymore, the room suddenly black. “Logan…” Shrieking, all she could hear was the horrible shrieking. Talons of pain and fire tore at her, rending her into screaming pieces.
Logan jerked with the force of the spasms rocking Ororo’s body. Fear was an emotion he was unaccustomed to, but he felt it now, and it nearly strangled him. Just as quickly as the paroxysm started, it ceased, leaving Ororo laying limp and still in his arms; her vacant eyes remained open, and her pale lips parted in faint, erratic breathing.
“Wolverine, what is happening?” Professor Xavier rolled from the elevator, flanked by a pajama clad Jean and Cyclops and a concerned Kurt.
Logan barely looked up, his worried gaze locked on Ororo‘s face. “It’s ‘Ro. She’s having some sort of attack.”
“What type of attack?” Scott asked.
“Fuck if I know,” Logan snarled. “I’m not a doctor.”
“Does she have a condition?” Scott asked Jean.
Jean shook her head, moving to kneel beside Logan and Ororo. “Not that I know of.” She placed her fingertips to Ororo’s wrist. “Pulse is thready.”
“Help her,” Logan said to her, his voice gruffer than usual.
Jean nodded, speaking as she felt under Ororo‘s chin, pressing the glands there. “It could be a number of things, Logan. An allergic reaction or a fever. Since this hasn’t happened before I see no need to worry,” Jean tried to reassure him.
Ali gnawed her lower lip, then with a ‘fuck it‘, she blurted, “This isn’t the first time.”
Several pairs of eyes swung towards her. “What?” Logan growled, his lips curled.
“Something similar happened to her in the shower earlier. I found her laying on the ground.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” Jean asked incredulously.
Ali squared her jaw, comforted by Kurt‘s warm arm about her waist. “Ororo’s a big girl. She doesn’t need me to play Mommy. Besides Cue ball told her there was nothing to worry about.” Ali sent Xavier a sharp look.
“We can play lay the blame later,” Logan bit out. “Right now, someone had better help her.”
Without warning lightning sizzled in the air. The windows of the main hall shattered with the force of the winds buffeting the mansion walls.
Instinctively Logan hunched over Ororo, trying to shield her from the falling shards of glass. He grit his teeth at the unexpected pain of thousands of volts of electricity lancing his sprawled form.
“Logan!” Jean cried out, thrown back across the marble floor.
Ororo turned her head towards the winded red head. “Aeir d‘eai, aeriate nemieweih! Sliviette!!” The walls shook.
“Storm!” Logan hollered, trying to keep Ororo pinned to the floor.
“N’yuni moto, mvua, mvua. Caedo liefhe.”
“I don’t understand,” Logan ground out through the pain.
“Heads up!” Ali hollered, diving to the side, pulling Kurt with her, as a small uprooted tree smashed through the broken window skittering across the floor.
Xavier placed his hands to his temples, focusing his renowned mental control fully on Ororo. ~Rest, child.~
For another moment the winds howled and lightning flashed as she resisted his urging, but then Ororo blinked heavy lidded eyes, the winds ceasing their screams and the rain fading from downpour to light drizzle.
She rolled her head back towards Logan, her fingertips caressing his jaw. “Soku...” With that she closed her eyes and slept.
Medlab
Logan felt restless. Blunt fingers stroked lily white strands of hair as he waited for Jean or Xavier to give him some news on Ororo‘s condition. He watched her chest rise and fall in deep, even breaths, comforted by the sight. She looked so fragile. He knew she wasn’t, but still, everything male in him rose up to want to protect her, which was ironic, because when she had him riled and worked up, everything in him wanted to dominate her.
There was no two ways about it, Ororo brought out the most extreme emotions in him. She made him angry, she made him frustrated, she made him rock hard with a glance, she made him laugh, point of fact was that she made him feel alive.
He straightened in his chair, his senses telling him that Xavier was on his way…with Fury.
The hydraulic doors hissed apart and the two men entered the room.
“Wolverine.” Nick greeted.
“So, what’s the matter with her?” Logan asked, ignoring the greeting, moving straight to the business at hand, and what mattered to him.
For a moment neither man answered.
Logan’s gaze flicked between the two men. Something wasn’t right. He set his shoulders, all senses on overdrive. “Chuck?”
“There is nothing physically wrong with her,” Xavier finally stated.
“What the hell do you mean? You saw her.” Logan demanded. “Something happened to her.”
Xavier rolled forward, regarding Ororo speculatively. “Yes, indeed.” He then turned towards Logan, saying, “I believe that Ororo has just reached a point where she needs a break. Too much has happened to her recently. She is…taxed.”
“And the marks on her? The seizure?” Logan asked, his hand resting on Ororo’s.
Xavier met Logan’s steady stare and Logan tensed at the uneasiness in the Professor‘s eyes. “I believe this is all self induced and inflicted. General Fury has told me of your recent revelation, and given the nature of yours and Storm’s relationship I assume you informed her.”
Logan remained stoically silent.
“I think that was, for lack of a better term, the straw that broke the camels back.”
Logan flinched. “You think knowing that Sabertooth was my kid snapped her? Drove her crazy.”
Charles shook his head slowly. “Not at all. I think she’s stressed, and emotionally unstable which is understandable considering.”
Several other scents filtered through the doors and Logan stood slowly, realizing soldiers were lining up outside the room in the hall. “What’s going on, Chuck?”
It was Fury that answered. “Stressed or crazy doesn’t matter to me. The girl is dangerous.”
Logan’s eyes darkened warily. “I’m dangerous,” he growled.
Nick nodded somberly. “I know.”
Logan’s upper lip curled away from his teeth, revealing his canine like incisors. He did a quick assessment of the room and his options.
“Don’t, Wolverine.” Xavier said softly. He projected an image of the soldiers lining the hall into Logan’s head. ~For Ororo’s sake, do not attempt anything…at least not yet.~
Without betraying the message in his head, Logan moved closer to Ororo’s bedside. “What are you saying, Nicky?”
“I think you know exactly what I’m saying.” Nick stated flatly. “She needs to be controlled.”
“You mean caged.” There was a definite growling edge to his voice.
“Term it however you want, Wolverine, but she needs to be monitored and contained.”
Logan shifted so that he was primed for motion. “She’s where she belongs.”
Nick straightened his shoulders. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Logan.”
“Funny.” -SNIKT- “I was thinking the same thing.”
~Logan, no!~ Xavier rolled between Logan and the door. ~The men have orders to shoot to kill. You may survive, but Ororo won’t.~
Logan couldn’t prevent his startled gaze from flickering over the Professor then back to Fury. The doors parted and armed soldiers strode through. Fury motioned Logan to step aside.
“It’s for the best,” Nick said. “This way she’s kept secure.”
Logan’s entire body shook with the desire to gut everyone in that room. Fear and rage boiled within. “Don’t do this, Nick.”
“I’m sorry, Wolverine. My hands are tied.” Nick’s voice was tinged with a trace of regret.
One of the soldiers moved towards Ororo.
“Don’t you fuckin’ touch her!” Logan whirled, grabbing the soldier nearest to him and pointing his extended claws scant inches from the soldiers face.
“You won’t like where this leads…just calm down, Wolverine.” Nick held up his hands placating.
“Get out. Get your men and get the fuck out,” Logan snarled, his face contorted in rage.
Clicks of rifles readying were muffled by roaring thunder, the sound effectively stilling the occupants of the room. All eyes shifted to the woman on the bed.
“C’mon, baby, wake up.” Logan whispered. Ororo however remained unmoving.
Twap. Logan jerked as a small dart struck his neck. With a slurred growl he reached up, pulling the tranq from his skin. It was heavy duty, most likely designed specifically for him, causing his vision to begin to blur and the room to tilt. Twap. Another struck his thigh. “Nnnnno.” He staggered, his grip on the unnamed soldier lessening. One knee hit the floor, followed reluctantly by the other. Logan’s glazed over gaze sought and found the sympathetic blue eyes of Xavier. “Don’t…’Ro…” He never felt his face smack the cold tile.
“This is truly for the best, Charles.” Nick said as his men lifted Ororo. “She’ll be better off and we’ll all be kept safe.”
Xavier gave the unconscious Wolverine a look. “Just keep telling yourself that, General.”
[Reviews - 194]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Has been viewed 4540 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | - Text Size +
You must login () to review.
