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02. Johnny Quest

Summary: Its that time of the story again, the time for Logan to leave the mansion. After all, no RoLo fic can be complete without this. So here it is…just not in the way you might think.

It began, as with everything else, with an ending, or as far as Logan was concerned with pain, suffering and death, his three oldest and closest companions. For the Wolverine, if he wasn’t bearing either one or all of these three, he was in some way or form related with what caused them, either directly by his own actions or indirectly by just being there, being who he was.

Now, almost a month after returning from Alkali Lake, then accompanying the X-Men first to the White House and then back to the mansion, he was still here. A month since Jean had sacrificed herself to save the lives of not only the innocent children but also of her teammates…maybe even his. After all, in all his testing, even he hadn’t been put through the wringer to determine if he could survive the force of millions of gallons of frigid water, not to mention being drowned by it.

Life in the Xavier Mansion was moving once again and even everything hadn’t returned to normal, the memory of the recent events were gradually starting to fade away from the conscious of the residents. However, not everyone had been so lucky. Not Xavier, Ororo, the students…. Scott, all the people who had for years, known and lived with her….with Jean. And definitely not for him. Not by a long shot.

A lot had changed in the past month. Scott had all but closed onto himself, his involvement and appearances in the mansion and the X-Men limited to only the school, and that too only for classes. The rest of the time, he stayed behind the closed doors of the room that he had shared with Jean, venturing out only for food…sometimes not even for that. His general appearance had also changed. In place of the perfectly shaven, smartly dressed in at the least a clean t-shirt and trousers, Scott Summer now sported a three day old stubble, un-ironed shirts and jeans. And that was on a good day.

The other two ‘adults’, Xavier and Ororo had gone back to business as usual, splitting Jean’s workload among themselves, with Ororo taking care of the educational classes, and Xavier of the training ones. The only thing that they hadn’t been able to cover was the expertise that Jean brought by means of her medical education. That too, the Professor had admitted to be on the look for. He had contacted a couple of old students both of them doctors (well, one students and one ‘known’) and hoped to have something fruitful soon.

As for Logan himself, he had surprised both himself and the mansion residents…that su the ones who knew about him than just his name. Even Rogue, the one person who knew him more than anyone else was taken aback when instead just picking up and leaving, he elected to prolong his stay at the mansion….for an indefinite time. Moreover, even if he hadn’t taken up any classes to teach, outright turning down Xavier’s proposal, it wasn’t like that he was just sitting with his thumb up his ass. What he had done was taken charge of the renovation and rebuilding of the mansion, quickly becoming the de facto ‘go to guy’ for both the residents and the workers hired to repair the damage caused by Stryker and his mercenaries. Paid twice the usual amount, the private contractors were more than happy to work in the cold of the winter, and to do so without asking any questions, like what had happened to cause a ten foot high and about eight foot across hole to blow open in not one but two of the outer walls, and what was a school doing with motion detectors planted randomly all over the mansion grounds.

----

So lost was Logan in his thoughts that he missed catching the scent of the two forms standing outside his door. It was only when there was a soft but firm knock and the sound of his name being called with that familiar southern twang did he detect their presence. Their being, Rogue and her perennially sugar-hopped roommate, Juli…Jumi…Jubilee.

“Logan.” Rogue called out once again, not too loudly as to draw any undue attention but loud enough for the person in question to hear it. Not knowing whether he would be awake or asleep, she did not want to startle him. In fact, had it just been her, she would not have disturbed him at all, catching up to him a time when he was out of his room. However, it wasn’t up to her or Jubilee. It was the Professor himself who had requested her to ask Logan to come to his office, ‘post haste’. However now, when even after three calls there was no answer from the other side of the door, she was getting worried, and the fact that Jubilee was popping away bubblegum bubbles like there was no tomorrow wasn’t helping matters.

Raising her hand to knock once again, she stopped mid motion, taking a step back at the way the door was yanked open, a frazzled but clearly awake Logan staring down at her. The silence that ensued between them was shattered by yet another pop of a bubble.

“Hey.” Logan growled in recognition.
“Hey.” Rogue began softly, her greeting drowning as Jubilee took.

“Hey Wolvie. We were coming from class. Goingforlunch. Mindingourbusiness. Theprofessorstoppedusand…” she rattled off, picking up speed by the syllable. Seeing the frown forming on Logan’s face, Rogue, physically restrained her friend’s monologue ...a gloved hand serving as a temporary but more than adequate muzzle. She knew that Logan wouldn't harm Jubilee, even if most of it was because of the Asian firecracker’s association with her. Over the last month both Kitty and Jubilee had weaseled into the small clique of people that weren’t in immediate danger of getting skewered by the Wolverine and his deadly claws.

“The Professor asked us to tell you to come to his office.” Rogue quickly paraphrased the Professor’s message, still not quite understanding why hadn’t the telepath contacted Logan himself.

The reason for that, though not known to either her or Jubilee, was known to the man before them.

Running a hand through his wild sleep mussed hair, Logan glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the wall opposite to his bed. “When?”
“When?” Rogue echoed, finally letting go of Jubilee.
“When did he tell you?” Not feeling quite conversational, Logan was more than a little annoyed at being disturbed, even if it was by Rogue. “When does he want me to come?”
“Oh, thaht. Ten minutes ago. An’ he wants yah t’ come immediately.”

“Hn. ‘k.” About to turn away, Logan stopped mid-move, his hand tightening around the door knob. Seeing the way the teenager was shuffling on her feet, her shoulders slumped, Logan growled at the bitter smell of sadness rolling of Rogue. “Anythin’ else?”
“No. Thaht’s all.” Even a person without any enhanced senses would have caught that lie.

What drove the point home was that instead of looking up at him as she spoke, Rogue had all of a sudden developed an interest in the seam of her opera length gloves. “Hey.” He called out as softly as he could, adopting a sterner tone at getting no answer. Hey. Look up. What happened?”
“N-Nothing.” Rogue shook her head once again, only to have Jubilee give out the cause of her ‘being in the dumps’.

“Its Bobby.”
“Bobby?” ‘The Icicle.’ Logan recalled from memory. ‘Her boyfriend,’ came a second later, as did another realization, one that said that lately he hadn’t seen Rogue and the Ice-pop together all that much. “What’d he do?” If that punk did anything to hurt Rogue….

“Nothing.” Rogue snapped, both at him and at Jubilee, turning around and running away before either of them had a chance to respond. Realizing her faux pas, Jubilee too rushed behind her, leave Logan alone, a deep frown etched on his face.

He would have to pay Ice-balls a visit.

But before that he had a bath to take and an appointment to keep. Stepping back and shut the door behind him, he turned towards the bathroom for a quick shower to clean himself of the remainder of his early morning….late night workout.

What did Xavier want now?

---

It was almost twenty minutes later that Logan found himself in front of the double doors with the polished ‘Professor Charles Francis Xavier, Headmaster’ plaque on it. Where earlier Xavier would have answered his knock even before he would raise his hand, this time Logan actually made it through, getting a spoken one ‘come in’ instead of the usual telepathic one.

This was yet another of the changes, even if a temporary one, resulting from Jean’s loss. Whether by himself or after detecting an averseness from his projected thoughts, Xavier had been refraining from any sort of telepathic interaction with Logan. What Logan did not know was that it was the same with Scott, and for the same reason as him. It was too much a reminder of Jean’s last moments….and the thoughts that she had conveyed through all their minds.

Pushing all that back, Logan pushed open the doors and stepped in, wondering what Xavier wanted to talk about.

---

Not two minutes later,

“You want me to what?!” Logan could not believe his ears. He had not even settled down on the plush couch when Xavier dropped the bomb shell on him.

“I want….I would like you to, accompany Ororo on her trip to Africa.” The Professor answered calmly. He had expected this sort of a reaction, not because Logan had anything against Ororo or Africa, but mostly because there wasn’t anything for him to gain by making the trip or as the feral Canadian was thinking, by being a babysitter for the resident thermostat-cum-rainmaker.

“Accompany Ororo on her trip to Africa.” Logan repeated the words, slowly, mostly to himself, as if speaking them aloud would make it easier for him to understand them or deny them. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want her to do it alone.” Xavier’s explanation wasn’t to his liking or even related to his ‘why’ as Logan clarified.
“I meant, why does she want to go there?”
“Its…” Charles hesitated as he wasn’t quite sure how to answer it. “Ororo hasn’t given her reasons.”
“And yer still allowin’ her to go?” Logan quipped with a little too much scoffing and not enough surprise.
“She is an adult.” Xavier stated the obvious.

Still not quite sold on the idea, let alone the proposition of a trip to fuck know where, Logan grasped onto the Professor’s statement.

“If she’s such an adult, why not let her go herself. Why lug me along?”

“Like I said, because I don’t want her to do it alone.” Charles restated his earlier words, only this time with more feeling and more than a hint of worry. “Not after….” He trailed off, stating without speaking his worry about the safety and well being of his students, both current and previous. Even though he knew that Ororo was more than competent to take care of herself, he still wanted to err on the side of caution. After all, there was safety in numbers. And with the time Ororo had asked for her journey, he definitely wasn’t at ease at letting her being alone and out of contact for such a long time, especially with Cerebro still not up to full power and accuracy Moreover, with Scott not being in any condition to accompany her, and with no other responsible adult being there, Logan was his only remaining option.

Ruminating for a couple of minutes, as if weighing the pros and cons, Logan finally broke his silence. “How long?”

“About a month….maybe longer.” The open ended answer wasn’t confidence inspiring, but deciding on the ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ policy, Logan let it slide. After all, even if he had to go with someone else, this was a clear chance for him to get out himself.

“When do we leave?” As far as Logan was concerned, they could leave right now and Xavier caught onto it.
“In a couple of days. Ororo is in the process of modifying her class schedule so that Scott, Kitty, Rogue and I will be able to fill in, but only she returns or a new teacher joins us.”
‘Kitty and Rogue,’ that caused Logan to arch an eyebrow, which for him was a clear indication of his interest. Yet, seeing that it had nothing to do with him, he did not comment on it.

---

The meeting just about finished, he pushed himself to sit straight, his query of “Anything else?” getting a shake of the head from the Professor.

As he watched the feral Canadian leave, Xavier ruminated over what he hadn’t told him. The first thing being why he had so easily given into Ororo’s wish to take a break, and the second being why he had specifically asked Logan to be the one to accompany her. For these, there was one simple answer.

They both needed a break, if nothing else to do something that neither of them had done…..allow them to grieve for themselves.

To let out the pain that they had locked within themselves.

---

Not even sixty hours later,

*BEEEEEEEEP*

“Excuse me sir,” the rather well built (read: pudgy) airport security checker approached the rough looking man who had just tripped the metal detector. “You were supposed to remove all the metallic objects on your person and put them in the plastic tray,” he spoke in his ‘false’ authoritative tone.
“Did it already.” The way the taller man growled at him, caused him to take a step back….literally.

“Please ch-check again.”
“Fuck this.” Already angry at the cacophony of the airport and the strong scents assaulting his senses, Logan was more than ready to let lose and rip the man a new one, only stopping because of his present company, the one waiting on the other side of the metal detector.

Checking again and getting no metal object on his person…at least not on the outside, Logan stood with his arms apart as the security guard patted and checked him personally.

All of a sudden Logan found himself surrounded by not three ‘uniforms’, the one already there making it four. “Please step this way sir.”

“Why?” Even as he growled, Logan had already charted the easiest and quickest way, both to get away and to ‘chop-shop’ these four f’kers. However, the very next moment his blood ran cold.

“Full body cavity search.”


About five minutes later,

-SNAP- -SNAP-

The sound of latex against skin caused a shiver to run down the Wolverine’s metal encased spine, his gut constricting at the next command.

“Okay buddy, bend over and spread ‘em.”

---

WHACK!!

“Oww,” her back stinging at the sharp hit, Jubilee Lee whirled in her chair, ready to let loose a stream of expletives, getting beaten to the punch by the ‘rolled newspaper in hand’ Kitty.

“You are hopeless. If its not one thing, its another.” Kitty pointed at the computer screen.
“What?!” Reaching from the foot ruler, Jubilee used it itch that had replaced the stinging sensation.

“You make everything into a parody.” Kitty shot back, trying her level best to stifle her giggles at the mental visual of the Wolverine getting ‘fingered’. “Do you know what will happen if anyone gets a hold of this. We haven’t even changed their names.”

“Hmm. Then maybe we should.” Jubilee’s answer was just as quick, as were the names she came up with next. “How about Lilly for Ororo? Or maybe Tulip? Or Poppy? Rose? Or…”
“What’s with the flower names?” Kitty interrupted as she caught onto Jubilee’s line of thought.
“Well, we all know how much Ororo loves her garden, so I thought why not use a flower name in place of her real one.”
“Hmm,” it sounded acceptable to Kitty. “Okay…Rose will do.”
“Rose huh?” Though not her first choice, Jubilee accepted it. If it was up to her, she would have gone in for Lilly, the white kind, like Ororo’s hair. However, the main reason for her quick acceptance was that she has a kickass name for Wolvie. “But I get to choose for Logan.”

‘Uh-oh.’ Kitty stopped short at realizing that she had just walked herself into a tight spot, and with Rogue currently out of the picture, there was no one to support her…or more important, contain Jubilee. “What?” She asked finally.

“A’long.”
“Along?”

“No, not along, Jubilee shook her head. “A’,” she stressed on the first alphabet, and then on the rest of the name, “long…A’long. Its an anagram of Logan.”
“Oh.” A couple of seconds of mental musing and Kitty caught onto it. Still there was that thought at the back of her mind, the one that warned, ‘this is Jubilee. It can’t be so simple.’

“Besides, I bet it is a perfect fit for him.” ‘And there it is,’ Kitty’s Jubilee-alarm piped up.
“Perfect fit?” She repeated softly. “How.”

“You know, A Long. Bet Logan has a long….”

The rest of the words weren’t heard as jamming her fingers into her ears, Kitty literally sprinted out of the room.

“Hey!” Jubilee yelled after her. “I was talking about his ‘life’ and not his pe….”

“La La Lalala laa...”

Note: Sorry guys. I tried my best to keep Jubilee away, but she weaseled out and commandeered the computer.

Next, A Canadian Wolverine in Africa? Hope they have good Beer…and enough if it.

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