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23. Departure

Summary: Well, not quite…but its close enough.
“I want to leave.”

“Leave?” Lying on his side, Logan tilted his head over the arm that was bent to support it, a thick eyebrow arching in question at Ororo, his other hand continuing its gentle caress of her silk covered midsection.
“Yes.” Ororo repeated softly, her murmur carrying equal amounts of decisiveness and pleading. “I want us to leave…go away.” She stressed on the us, even more so now.
“‘Ro…” Having caught her hint, Logan started, only to silenced as Ororo laid her slender fingers against his lips, her thumb automatically rubbing against his stubbled chin.

“I want to be like how we used to be. Just the two of us and the children…all of them.” Once again she made a point to accentuate her point, this time to include Jubilee along with Kendall and James.
“But yer…” Logan trailed off, alluding to her….problem.

Offering a sad smile at the Wolverine’s attempt at subtlety, Ororo leaned into his embrace, her hand falling down to his now bare chest, right above his heart. “I am fine. I just…”
“What?”
“I want to have some time with you, with our family, before it gets too…”
“‘Ro…” Pulling her to him, Logan silenced her. He wasn’t quite ready to face the inevitable, let alone deal with it. In his life, both the one he remembered and about the one he knew about only from what he had learned during his travels, Logan had not only seen but also caused a lot of death…but none of them like this.

Swallowing the sadness within him and more importantly the rage at not being able to do anything to remedy this situation, to help her, he did the only thing he could.

“Where do you wanna go?”

“Home.”

---

//Flashback//

He had stayed by her side, sitting on the flat metal floor, all so that he could be on thr same level as her, all for not causing her any disturbance and to give her the space to get a peaceful sleep, all while staying close to her. Had they been anywhere else, he would have gotten into bed with her, but not her, and specially not with his grimy state. In hindsight, he was thankful that Hank had allowed him inside…not that he (Beast) would have dared to stop the near berserk Wolverine. Their hands remained entangled with each others, until she woke up to find him staring at her, not having slept a single wink the entire time.

With the night’s experiments already cancelled, there was no need for her to remain in there…and she did not want to waste even one second than was necessary there.

Yet, her return to her…their room had anything but normal for intimated of Logan’s late night return (by Henry), Scott had come down to meet them. His arrival, in spite of all Ororo had told him so far, did not go well with Logan, the Wolverine’s distrust and readiness to face and put down any challenger for his mate, his pack, trouncing the fact that her scent was still pure…his claws snikting out on their own.

“Logan…” Ororo whispered, just low enough so that only he would be able to catch it. “No.”

Thankfully enough, getting the precarious situation, Scott had beaten a quick retreat, offering only a ‘I’ll inform the Professor,’ signaling that they could have as much time to themselves, as they wanted.

Even after Scott exited, not only the room but also the infirmary, Logan had remained rigid, on guard his senses following the other man. Finally, hearing the elevator doors slide shut, he had let the claws retract, turned and in one smooth move swooped down and picked up Ororo, cradling her in his strong arms, his eyes consciously avoiding hers.

As for Ororo, she did not need to see his eyes to know his state of mind, the sudden tension in his shoulders was more than enough to let her know about the doubts that had raised their heads within him. That Logan and Scott had once before, years ago, gone against each other for the affections of a woman, Jean, a competition that Scott had already won…maybe even before it began, did not help her case. And as much as he would deny, for all his confidence and animalistic superiority the Wolverine had had that one loss against Cyclops, and it was a sore point for him…a hole in his armor.

That she (Ororo), would do the same had not only struck him through that hole, it had nearly been fatal wound.


One arm around his neck the other flat against the upper curve of his chest, Ororo had rested her head against his shoulder, allowing him to carry her, first to the elevator and to their loft apartment….just like she had done so many times before…

…Just like it had been when he carried her across the threshold on the day of their marriage.

Logan carrying her, his strong heart thumping under her hand, had allowed the weather witch to forgot or at least pretend to do so, all the pain and hurt they had caused each other…and what she was going to cause him even more. For at that moment, they were once again who they had always been, the Feral Warrior and his Elemental Goddess.

Yet she knew that they needed both time and space to heal the wounds that they had caused each other.

Time and space…away from the mansion.

//End Flashback//

---

“Home?” Logan echoed, somewhat perplexed by Ororo’s choice of destination. Weren’t they…
“Umm-hmm.” Ororo nodded, the tears welling up in her eyes glimmering and giving them an uncanny appearance of the surface of a serene lake, and just as much depth.
“But we’re…” Logan offered, momentarily lifting his free hand to gesture towards their surroundings.
“No.” The headshake told him that this wasn’t the home that Ororo referred to. “Our home…homes. Kenya, Canada…” she hesitated for a second. “…the one what we wanted to make together.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned on Logan’s face. She had not only mentioned their ‘native’ countries but also the house that he had got built as a surprise for her. “You seen it?” He ventured…tentatively, a small of him hoping that she hadn’t. Not without him.

As if drawn out by telepathy, Ororo’s answer mirrored his thoughts. “Not without you.”
“…”


“Logan?” Ororo’s voice cracked, the stretching silence eating at her. Her own fears started popping up, only to be squashed by Logan’s words.
“When do ya wanna leave?”
“Now.” The answer was out even before the question was completed.

“Now!!” Surprised at her enthusiasm, Logan cracked a smile. “Its not even daylight yet. An’ the kids…”

“Okay.”

The very next instant, as if getting an energy charge, Ororo started to move away, stopping as he held her back. “What?” She looked over her shoulder.
“Where do ya think yer goin’?”
“To make the arrangements for…”
“You sit down.” Logan shook his head. “I’ll do it.”
“Logan, I am not sick.” Ororo knew that he did not want her to stress herself. “Besides, its not as if I am going to d…” She stopped at the growl from his throat, the fire flashing there. What would have been a simple joke before was a cause of pain.

Drawing back towards him, Ororo cupped one whiskered side wanting but unable to give any ‘long term’ respite to him.

“Logan…” she sighed. “I need to do this. I cannot limit myself to lying around like an invalid…at least until I can do otherwise.”

“‘Ro…” Logan reached down and pulled her close, burying his face into her long flowing hair, trying to both lose himself in her warmth and to capture it…capture it and close it within himself.

---


“What do you…” Logan started only to stop as his head snapped towards the slowly opening door, his eyes looking forward to the person he had already smelled and heard, and who he was knew must have surely sensed him.

Following the sound, her fingers tunneled through his wild mane, Ororo also finally saw what Logan’s senses had already detected.

Stepping out from behind the slightly parted door and clad in her white with multi-colored flowers night suit, Kendall Munroe-Logan, stared up at the sight before her, the sleep all but gone from her wide golden-brown eyes. The last time she had seen both of her parents together…it had been nothing like this. “Dad?!”

“Hey princess,” her father’s soft growl broke through her stupor her eyes flitting between his smiling face and her mother’s then back at him and finally to the hands that was extended to towards her…beckoning her.

“Daddy? Daddiee!” Nearly getting bowled over the way that the young girl barreled into both of them, Logan let himself fall back onto the bed as Kendall literally climbed over him, her arms around his neck capturing Ororo and pulling her down with them.

“Daddy, where’d you go? You didn’t come. Ievenphonedyousomanytimes,” the child rattled on, her iron tight grip not letting up. “We missed you so much. All of…” She stopped mid-sentence and lifted her head from his shoulder. “You won’t leave again. Will you? Please daddy, please. I’ll be a gooder girl. Won’t even fight with…”

“Ssh darlin’,” Logan silenced her, his heart churning in a mixture of joy and pain at the tears in his little girl’s eyes, tears that he put there. Pulling her back into his embrace, he planted a gentle kiss on her soft snow colored hair. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere kid. Not without any of ya.”

“Huh?” Confusion clear on her young face, making her look even more like Ororo, especially when she too was trying to get her head around something, Kendall tried to make heads or tails of what her father had just told her. Was he leaving again?

“All of us.” Logan reiterated, Ororo’s smiling nod corroborating his sentiments. “You, me, your mamma, Jubes, James…all o’ us.”

“All of us?” The way she spoke, Kendall might as well have heard the words for the first time. “All of us!” The second time around the three words carried a little more confidence and a whole lot of more happiness, the happiness part swelling up even more at the confirmatory nod from the two adults.

All of a sudden, the child pulled away, bright eyes and energetic body turning and heading for the door, a loud cry sounding from her lips as she bolted past it.

"Hey Jimmie. Daddy’s back!!”

Note: Was going to make it a bit longer but somehow didn’t feel it in the end….wanted to end it on a happy note. Hope it worked out fine.

Have been busy with my site (www.xcave.net), hence the delay in getting even this out. Hopefully the next update won’t be as long in the coming.

Please Review!!





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