Chapter Nine: Best Laid Plans
My life had changed because of you
And I need you right here with me
There's no substitute for you
As far as I can see
You're the one for me
~Usher
Though the forecast had told of heavy rains throughout New York, the sky was cheerful and clear when Logan and Prita made their way outside. Her chubby legs supported her, but her hands grasped his to balance as she walked.
He probably looked ridiculous, hunched over so he could reach Prita’s tiny hands, and yet Logan found himself oddly uncaring. She toddled out of the backdoor, which was held open by a duster-clad Cajun. Without so much as a nod to the other man, the slow duo made their way to the open paddock just beyond the pool.
Ororo and Marie stood just a few feet apart, talking in low tones. As Logan and Prita, trailed by Gambit, approached, both women turned to smile at them.
“She’s all cleaned up, Mom,” Logan dutifully reported.
“As are you,” Ororo replied, indicating to his now-sopping wet shirt.
“Yeah,” he nodded, looking up to smile at her. “Coulda warned me to get my slicker.”
“Now,” she retorted innocently. “Where is the fun in that?”
“Ha-Ha.” His sarcastic laugh brought giggles to Marie and a low chuckle from the Cajun now straddling the picnic table’s bench.
“De joy of childrens, mon ami.”
“Shut up, swamp rat.”
“Boys…”
They both closed their mouths at Ororo’s warning. Logan marched Prita toward the table, releasing her hands so she could move much more quickly on the grass. He’d been sure to outfit her in already-stained overalls. At least ‘Ro wouldn’t verbally ream him for ruining a pretty pink dress.
Ororo and Marie turned back to their “lesson”. Storm seemed to be outlining the importance of control. Marie tried, several times, to hoist herself into the air with no success. Just as Gambit moved forward to help, Ororo shook her head.
“You have not found the trigger,” she explained with the patience of a long-time educator. “Your original mutation required none.”
“Great,” Rogue grumbled. “How do Ah figure it out?”
“Like so.”
With a swish of her cocoa colored hands, Ororo summoned a warm wind. Logan squinted to watch as Storm took to the air, grinning when a surprised Marie was lifted with her.
“Dis gonna be good,” Gambit said, crossing his arms.
“What?”
“Stormy gonna show Marie ‘ow ta fly. De hard way.”
“Huh.”
He grunted, sweeping his eyes over the immediate area to locate Prita. When he saw her pulling at tuffs of grass, giggling to herself, he looked back to the sky. Ororo had taken Rogue up at least several yards. It was not too high, but a fall might hurt them both.
As if she’d heard him, Ororo moved her hands again. Rogue began to drop like a lead balloon, screaming curses into the empty air. Logan moved to catch her, but Gambit stayed him.
“Jus’ watch. Trust ‘Roro.”
Confident that Ororo would never hurt Rogue, he sat back down, poised to leap into action. A moment later, Rogue’s free fall halted and she vaulted back into the air.
“What are ya thinkin’? I coulda died!”
She was shouting at Ororo, high in clear blue sky. Logan began to chuckle as the poor girl had no idea that she was flying on her own.
“I am not holding you,” Ororo’s honeyed tones reached his sensitive ears, her words filled with laughter.
Rogue began squealing, reaching for her teacher in fear. Ororo quickly regained control over the winds, lowering them both to the ground with feather-soft precision.
“How did Ah do that?” Rogue was saying.
“Fear,” Ororo replied promptly. “Your instinct for self-preservation activated the mutation. With a bit more practice, you will be able to take off and land on your own.”
“Go on,” Gambit chimed in. “Let Stormy drop ya a few more times.”
For nearly three hours, Ororo dropped and captured Rogue in mid air. The actions, at first, had given Logan several startles, but soon he realized that Ororo was never too late to catch their friend. He calmed down, drinking in the warm morning breeze as he watched the show above.
Prita was preoccupied by the joys of an outdoor garden. Amid heady scents of blooming lilac and cheery blossoms, she found earthworms and insects, inspecting each of them carefully. She never got too far from the picnic table, often bringing her specimens over to Logan for his approval.
It was like something out of one of those novels Kitty was always reading. The warm feel of family, taking in a beautiful day just content to be together. Ororo’s laughter danced on the wind, her wind-mussed appearance calling to something inside Logan he couldn’t place.
He struck up a conversation with Gambit, much to his surprise. They talked of his placement on the X-Men some years ago, just after meeting Storm in New Orleans. The story of that historic moment tumbled from the younger man’s heavy accent.
Storm had been on assignment in Louisiana, searching for a mutant just coming into his powers. An attack and subsequent head injury left her alone and without her memory. Gambit had come across the African beauty on the streets of New Orleans and taken her under his wing.
For a year, the two were inseparable. The X-Men tried in vain to locate her, the protection provided by the famed Thieves Guild shielding her from their benevolent search. Slowly, Ororo began piecing together fragments of her past, leading Remy on a strange journey to New York.
When the troublesome two reached Westchester, they quickly located the school. At the first sight of Jean, Ororo’s memory clicked back into place. Gambit, loathed to leave his best friend, stayed on with the mutant group for some time, learning to control his mutation while Cyclops taught him how to fight.
Two years later, stricken with homesickness, Remy returned to New Orleans. Ororo, tied to her home in New York, remained behind. The separation was difficult for both, but they remained in close contact. Gambit often returned to help the X-Men with intricate missions that required the stealth of a thief.
Logan, filled with this new information, saw beneath Ororo’s icy exterior in a new light. He knew her to be passionate and loyal, but the knowledge that she was an accomplished thief with a penchant for adventure was definitely new to him. He tried to imagine her alongside Remy as they pilfered from the rich. It seemed unreal, but the more Gambit told him, the more he understood her.
By the end of Rogue’s first flying lesson, Logan’s dislike of the Cajun scoundrel lessened. He did not entirely like the man, nevertheless it was a start. Rogue’s precision landing on the table was greeted with mad applause from both men. Even little Prita seemed proud of her young friend.
“What Stormy doin’?”
Rogue plopped onto the bench beside Gambit, sweating as though she’d run four miles. There was a peaceful look to her face, as though she found great joy in flight. When Remy questioned her, she shook her head, a wistful smile on her face.
“Flyin’,” Rogue replied sweetly. “Ah think she just can’t get enough.”
Three sets of eyes swung to the woman floating aloft. Logan felt a sharp stab of anticipatory lust in his stomach at the sight of her. Long white hair flowed behind her like a banner, caught up in the winds she commanded. Her lithe form was filled with limitless grace as she lifted her face to the heavens. She was so beautiful, so desirable that he wanted to kick himself in the ass for missing it so long.
He could only imagine the freedom she felt in that moment.
“Gambit!”
At her call, Gambit swung his legs from the bench and stood on the table. He backed up to the far edge, then took off at a dead run. Confused, Logan sat back to avoid tripping him, glancing at Rogue curiously.
The instant Gambit’s feet should have taken him to the ground he pushed off from the table, saved from an embarrassing fall by a gentle breeze. Ororo was smiling as she pulled her friend into the air with her, the pair of them laughing when Gambit sat back as though on a lounge chair, floating toward her.
“Must be nice,” Rogue said with an ache in her Southern drawl. “Knowin’ someone so well.”
“Trustin’ ‘em to catch you like that,” he agreed.
They watched as Remy stood, the air thick enough to hold him. The Cajun danced toward Ororo, making her laugh. She took his hands and together, they moved to music only they could hear, framed by the cheerful sun on a backdrop of true blue.
Yeah, he thought to himself. Must be nice.
~**~
Logan sat outside on the porch, a cigar clenched between his teeth and his feet propped up on the railing. It was a clear night, which Ororo swore up and down was not her doing. He could hear soft laughter from the direction of the lake, where Kitty and Peter had disappeared to some time before. He didn’t want to know what they were doing, but h doubted it was suitable for adults under the age of twenty.
The day had wound down, leaving him alone with his thoughts for company. Traitorous Rogue had borrowed Ororo’s car, taking Jubilee, Iceman, and Gambit with her for a night on the town. He trusted her to bring them home all home and only at Ororo’s insistence did he trust Gambit to not get them all arrested.
She was right, Rogue needed some time out. Still, Logan wouldn’t have minded her soothing company as the chilly night descended upon him. It wasn’t like him to desire company so much, and he couldn’t blame his young friend for wanting to get out. He’d planned on visiting Harry’s, but for some reason the idea no longer appealed to him.
Throughout the day, he’d thought about Storm. First, their encounter in the classroom, which made him only more determined to win her affections. She may not have wanted to love him, but she did. Logan would grab hold of that with both hands if he had to.
Then, he thought about Prita’s first steps. It was such an amazing thing, watching someone take the very first steps in their life. No matter what she did or who she became, Logan would always have the memory of her first, wobbly steps.
She’d come to him. Something about that gestured seemed symbolic in a mysterious way. Prita could have moved to her mother, but instead she mustered all of her toddler’s determination and marched toward the man willing to become her father.
He hadn’t planned on wanting to be Prita’s dad. In fact, it probably wasn’t healthy to imagine being the man she called “Dad” or hoping her first word would be a form of that simple phrase directed at him. Ororo may have repealed her decision to drive a wedge between Wolverine and Prita, but that didn’t make him her father.
Something about those two dark women made the black spots on his soul wither every day. They were filled with light and warm and a sense of home. All the things he had been denied since the years before, when Stryker and his taskforce stole his life.
Logan wasn’t an idiot. He knew he’d screwed up and Ororo wanted very, very little to do with him now. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to fight for her. Yesterday, in the jet, he’d told himself that he was likely falling for her.
Watching as she danced with Gambit on the air only made that process seem more tangible. She was wonderful in ways he’d rarely seen in human form. He wanted her to love him. Jean was no longer a factor. He’d made love with Ororo and the woman long deceased made no appearance in that shared bed.
Jean was out of his system, a system that suddenly begged for an infusion of Ororo.
“Solving the world’s problems?”
Wolverine smirked around his cigar, turning his head to look at Cyclops.
“Sure. Make me the king of the world and everything will be just peachy.”
The man laughed, taking a seat in the chair beside Logan after a gesture of silent question. Logan took the cold beer from his friend, handing him a cigar. It was rare that they both found the time to just hang out on the porch together.
That, of course, was how this unholy friendship started. After the women left them, Scott had come onto the porch to find Logan alone and brooding. He’d returned night after silent night until Logan struck up a conversation. Months were spent on this porch, in these chairs. Now, with Renee in Cyclops’ life and Logan’s own problems, they hadn’t found time to just sit outside and be men.
Tonight was a good time to start it up again.
Once Cyclops lit his cigar, the two sat back against their chairs.
“Mandatory nudity for all women, too,” he grinned around the cigar.
“Well, that’s a given,” Logan retorted.
They shared a light chuckle, looking out into the starry sky.
“The Professor’s feeling better.”
“Yeah, I stopped by this afternoon. You’d think nothin’ happened, the way he looks.”
“I know,” Scott sounded relieved. “I’m just glad he’s back on his…wheels.”
Another laugh.
“How’re you holding up?” Scott asked a moment later.
“How’d ya mean?”
“Well, let be honest.”
“Oh, God help me.”
Scott snorted with amusement, not turning to look at Logan. Instead, as though by some unspoken male code, the continued to look toward the sky.
“Logan, I told Storm that whatever’s going on with you two, I’m on your side.”
Surprised, Logan did turn this time. “Why?”
“Because I am,” the other man said plainly. “I would like to know what’s going on though. It’s starting to effect the team.”
Because he had a point, because Logan wanted someone’s advice, and because Scott had really been there for him over the last two years, he nodded.
In gruff tones, Wolverine laid out the entire situation to his friend. Starting from the calling-Jean’s-name incident. Though Scott flinched, he did not lash out or seem unnerved by the information. He listened as Logan told him about the airport visit, and all that had happened between himself and Ororo.
Scott listened with that same patient calm as he did most things in his life. Logan knew he was processing all of this new data and would comment once he’d drawn conclusions about it.
One thing that had changed in two years was that Logan never felt judged by Cyclops. The man simply took things and people as they were. Though their relationship was strained in the very beginning, Logan was now another that could simply talk without feeling as though he were trapped in a confessional booth.
“Well, damn,” he said at last, blowing out cigar smoke. “I could write this all down and make a fortune as a novelist.”
Chuckling, Logan rolled his eyes. “Still on my side?”
“Oh yeah,” Cyclops took a long draw from his beer. “You fucked up, but Ororo’s not making anything easier is she?”
“Not really,” Logan agreed. “Makes it worse that now I’m fallin’ for her.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to own up to that one.”
“Me either.”
“Logan, I see how you look at her,” he admitted quietly. “It’s written all over your face. She’s under your skin.”
“Tell me about it,” Wolverine grumbled.
“You two have to figure this out or it’ll drive everyone insane,” Scott sighed. “Storm’s stubborn as hell. If you want her, she’ll make you fight tooth and nail for every inch.”
“Great pep talk,” Logan sighed, letting his head fall back against the chair.
“Let me finish,” Scott said quickly. “But if you tell anyone I told you this, I’ll cut your spleen out.”
“Fair enough,” Wolverine agreed, his interest building.
Cyclops ran a hand through his hair, then scratched his forehead.
“Back a few years…ok, a lot of years ago, we had another student here,” he began. “His name was Forge, coolest mutation. Anyway, he and Storm struck up a romance, started dating. This was back before Jean and I, even.
Well, we finished school. Hank went with Jean to medical school so that left me, Forge and Storm pretty much to our own devices. They were inseparable, I mean so close it almost made me sick.”
Wanting to growl, Logan flexed his hands rhythmically, claws willing him to let them loose.
“Couple of months out of school, Forge asked Storm to marry him.”
“Whoa,” Logan breathed. Had she been married before? Was she a widow?
“Well, Storm didn’t answer right away. Said she needed time to think.”
“She does that,” Wolverine grunted. “Can’t make a decision unless she thinks it through.”
“Apparently you understand her better than Forge did,” Scott’s voice was slightly sad. “When she hesitated, he jumped to the wrong conclusion and withdrew his proposal.”
Shocked, Logan sat up, turning to face his friend. “He did what?”
Scott nodded, taking another draw from his beer. “Yep. Storm was heartbroken. She took off into this monster of a storm. I was afraid she’d really lose it. I mean, together five years and then boom, over.”
“What happened?”
“Forge left the mansion, joined up with some other mutant activist group sanctioned by an undercover government agency. Storm just moved on.”
Heart hurting for her, knowing how painful that experience must have been for her, Logan sighed. “That’s shitty.”
“Yeah.”
“So, what’s the moral of this story?”
Scott’s ruby-covered gaze met Logan’s, the other man’s face set with a sort of grim determination.
“Even with everything that went on with her and Forge, even her and Gambit, I’ve never seen her so unglued about a man before,” Scott said quietly. “For some reason, I think Storm’s in further than she wants to admit.”
Confused, Logan set his beer down and took the cigar from his mouth. “What?”
Sighing, Scott leaned forward. “She loved Forge, there’s no question. But there’s love and then there’s love.” He gestured to empathize his point.
“Storm’s afraid of anything that makes her lose control,” he explained slowly. “Forge was a good, sturdy type that could invent anything, but he wasn’t romantic. He didn’t have Ororo in knots over him.”
“You think she loves me more?”
His friend shook his head. “Not more, just differently. You’re the kind of guy that goes for it, come hell or high water. You go with instinct not intellect. That, I think, makes you dangerous to Ororo. You bring that out in her.”
“And she’s been so crazy because?”
“Her instinct is fighting with her head.”
“So…”
Scott grinned, winked, and stood. “You just have to find a way to get past her tendency to over-think everything. Make her use that instinct.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“How do you think I got Jean to say she’d marry me?” Scott chuckled. “Certainly wasn’t because her head told me I was the nice sturdy type.”
Logan threw his head back and laughed, surprised when the thought brought only the warm memories of Jean and not the sting of loss.
“One other thing,” Scott said as they calmed. “Storm only calls Gambit for a handful of reasons. When the team needs him, when she feels like getting in trouble or when she wants him to protect her.”
Frowning now, Logan raised a brow. “Protect her from what?”
“Herself.”
Scott went back into the house, leaving Logan alone with his thoughts once more.
~**~
By the time Logan made his way back into the house, he’d come to the conclusion that winning Ororo over was going to take more than clubbing her over the head and dragging her back into this cave for wild, uninhibited sex.
Well, there was always room for that, but he would have to appeal to that buttoned-up adventurous nature of hers. He’d have to get her out of the mansion, away from Gambit. Maybe he’d take her out a time or two, trap her into seeing him alone. He’d show his adoration for Prita too, include her as much as he could.
He really shouldn’t be thinking of Ororo naked while trying to make plans like this. It was somewhat hindering to the process. Just the hint of her smile sent his entire system into overload.
Passion and spontaneity were good, but maybe a well-planned seduction was also in order here. Scott might have been right about stopping Ororo from thinking for five minutes, but he wanted all of her. That wild instinct and stubborn intellect. He wanted to make her laugh, to get her angry so she would challenge him.
It had never been like this with Jean.
Logan reached his bedroom and pulled his shirt over his head. Undressing in the dark, he sampled the air with his nose, finding the faint scent of her still lingered in his private space. Stopping on his way to the bathroom, jeans unbuttoned, he grabbed for the pillow on his bed. Not worrying at being caught, he brought the down-filled pillow to his face, inhaling deeply of their mingled scents.
He wanted her. Day by day, he could feel it coiling in his stomach no matter how he tried to slow the progression or forget about it all together. Every smile, every glance pushed him further toward the cliff. He knew he would step off the edge soon and there would be no turning back.
Loving someone that loved you back was an entirely different ballgame. She may have denied it, even fought it, but somewhere inside her, she wanted him to love her.
“I’m workin’ on it, darlin’,” he growled into the pillow. “Just give me a little time.”
Throwing the pillow back down, unable to even mock himself for his emotional state, Logan undressed and moved into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and completed his nighttime rituals, wishing she would be waiting for him when he moved back into his room.
Of course, there was only silence to greet him. Sighing, Logan ran a hand through the wolfish peaks of his hair. After opening the window to allow that cool breeze inside, he slid into bed. Turning onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling, folding one hand behind his head. As though he could hear the music on the wind, he began to hum.
She’d relented some today, letting him hang around with Prita. He would take what he could get for now. Tomorrow he’d coerce the Cajun and Rogue into helping him out, maybe even call in favors from Blue and Chuck.
Content with his plans, he closed his eyes, imagining that her warm body was in his arms again, her sexy smile meant only for him.
“Yes, I’ll admit that I’m a fool for you,” he sang into the lonesome darkness, hoarsely mimicking Cash’s twang. “Because you’re mine, I walk the line.”
~**~
Logan speaks:
Yeah, I was definitely done. You coulda stuck a fork in me that night. It still bothers me, a little, that I didn’t really see her. ‘Ro was right in that respect. I was an idiot over Jean and never really saw Storm was there the whole time.
I was making up for lost time, I think. I knew I’d have to get past the Cajun and all, but I wasn’t worried. I could see that dumbass was startin’ to go idiot over Rogue, he wasn’t gonna be a problem much longer.
I wish I’d known then how true that statement would end up being. Gettin’ ahead of myself again.
After hearin’ about Forge an’ how Remy met Stormy, I had a lot to think about. When I slept that night, I kept nightmares from takin’ over. Dreams of ‘Ro and Prita mixed in with erotic dreams that had me panting in my sleep.
I kept thinking of babies and Storm until I thought I’d lose my mind, but I slept well that night. I was gonna have her in my life, somehow. Prita was the first step, now, I had to work on the Mommy.
I bribed Rogue and Gambit, coerced Blue, and flat out told Chuck I needed help. The next day was going just as planned. Of course, the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions. My plans might have had a little backfire.
Ok, I’ll be honest. It was a HUGE backfire. Damn that fuckin’ Cajun.
