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Weeks after Alcatraz Island:

The heat surrounding mutants and the cure seemed to have died down somewhat. Hank was doing everything he could to bridge the gap between mutant and human affairs, yet it was probably only a matter of time before somebody else somewhere crossed the line between acceptance and dominance and things would get out of hand again. However things were calm on that front right now and for the moment that was just fine.

Ororo Munroe, leader of the X-Men and newly dubbed headmistress of the Xavier Institute, felt a bit overwhelmed at first with having to take over the school seemingly overnight but she was determined not to let its current and future occupants go without a safe place to go when the world turned them away. After news of the passing of the Professor, Scott, and Jean had spread, former X-men and friends such as Nightcrawler, Gambit, Banshee, Beast (from time to time), and even Emma Frost (to the chagrin of some) offered their assistance as instructors and adult figures for the children.

As for Wolverine, he informed Ororo that he was leaving for a few days to “take care of a few things”. She hadn’t necessarily been surprised by that but what did surprise her was his assurance of returning. At some point she half expected him to take off and grumble about how it wasn’t his problem but she felt that something in him had changed. Whether it was because he just hadn’t figured out where to take off to yet or maybe he finally felt like he had a home at the mansion, she wasn’t completely sure. Ororo hoped it had more to do with the latter but with Logan sometimes you just could not gauge his intentions unless he wanted you to know them.

After really about a day and a half or two, upon returning it was Wolverine who approached Storm explaining his final decision of sticking around to help train some of the kids. Much to her carefully hidden delight she would later find that she had a friend, among other things, in Wolverine.

************************************************************************

The somewhat-still-newly-dubbed X-Men consisting at the moment of Bobby, Colossus, Kitty, Jubilee, Rogue, and Angel were all settling into young adult life at the X-Mansion.
A few of them such as Colossus and Rogue slipped into the roles of student teachers at the Institute with Rogue taking the helm in some Humanities courses and Colossus using his artistic prowess in art classes as well as assisting Logan with his physical education classes.

In Rogue’s case, she had opted to not take the cure with the affirmation that she was who and what she was and that was the end of it. She knew it would be a long, hard road but she saw herself as an example, not only to herself but to the other students as well, that being a mutant wasn’t something to be ashamed of.

“This is me Bobby,” she had told him the day he found her in her room.

He slowly approached her taking her gloved hands in his bringing their interlaced hands to her eye level in the hopes of driving his point home.

“I’ve never wanted anything else,” he replied, his sincerity evident in his tone as he brought her to him in an embrace that spoke volumes of his relief at having her back and safe.


Present Day (one year later):

It was late at night and everyone in the house was asleep save for one person in particular. Logan was restless tonight which wasn’t the product of any nightmares seeing as he hadn’t even been to sleep yet. He was wrestling with the idea of going down to the Danger Room thinking that maybe a little physical exertion of the athletic persuasion would tire him out enough for him to get in a little sleep. Opting to just wander around the halls this time around he found himself heading towards the kitchen hoping to either snag himself a beer from his stash or something to eat.

He stopped in his tracks after he caught the scent of rain, vanilla, and….*sniff*….Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra ice cream?

*’Ro* he mentally confirmed.

Judging by the fact that she was up and about at this time of night meant that maybe she was just as restless as he was. He remembered witnessing night after night of her anger and sadness personified through rain and howling winds after the Alcatraz incident. He knew it was her and that she was crying because he could smell her tears and hear the sound of her sobs. Inwardly it tore at him more than he’d freely admit though he hadn’t really explored the why of it, just sort of stuffed it down. During the day she seemed fine but he knew that she was going through the motions of running the school and everything else. The others, particularly Beast, tried talking to her but she never really opened up about how she felt and chalked it up to the fact that she was just a bit tired. It was more like as if a part of her went with the Professor, Scott, and Jean.

As he got closer to the kitchen he also remembered another particular incident complete with vivid lightning and crashing thunder that shook the very foundation of the mansion.

~ He ran to Ororo’s room to see if he could try and calm her down. When he got to her door he found that it was locked. He pounded on her door to get her to open it but she yelled at him over the thunder in no uncertain terms to leave her alone. Saying nothing in reply, the claws of his right hand sprang forth making quick work of the door, threats of potential bodily harm by prolonged electrocution be damned.

“I told you to go away,” she said forcefully enough to make anyone else want to tuck tail and leave the room as fast as their legs could carry them. Fortunately, he wasn’t just anyone. She was sitting on the end of her bed looking up at him with her eyes a bright white with the only illumination in the room coming through the window in the form of bright flashes of lightning from outside making the scene look like something out of a horror movie.

“Tough shit darlin’ because I ain’t goin’ anywhere,” he shot back walking towards her and firmly planting himself next to her, his weight on her bed making her dip closer to him slightly. Not being one much for company at that moment, Ororo tried to get up and walk away and leave him behind in the dark but he wrapped a heavy arm about her shoulders to prevent her from doing that very thing. Realizing he wasn’t going to budge no matter what degree of attitude she gave him, she let out a long withheld sigh signaling to him that for once she wasn’t going to fight him.

“Does the pain ever really go away?” she asked in a faraway voice not really expecting an answer.

Logan thought about her question for a minute. He knew he didn’t have all the answers and he couldn’t magically take her pain away but he knew a thing or two about pain and loss. Instead of lamely patting her on the back and giving her some safe, mechanical answer like “it’s gonna be okay” or “things’ll get better” he figured he’d just go for it. Taking one of her hands in his with a gentleness even he didn’t know he possessed he decided to just give it to her straight.

“No it doesn’t really go away but ya learn ta live with it and move on. I know you’re hurtin’, a lot of us still are. I know I haven’t known Chuck, Scott, or Jean nearly as long as you have but I don’t think they’d want ya to run yerself into the ground or bear everythin’ on your own,” he answered her softly. Now he wasn’t exactly the go-to guy for doling out advice on life to anyone by any means but he was driven by this sudden overwhelming need to try and make everything better for her.

Turning her now blue eyes back to him he could tell by the thoughtful expression on her face that she was mulling over what he had said. “You have a point Logan, it’s just…” Ororo was silent for a beat, trying to collect herself as well as her rampant emotions, “I don’t know, it’s just difficult. I just keep going over and over it in my head; there had to have been another way. Even back at Alkali Lake, I should’ve done something, anything. Then maybe things wouldn’t have had to get to this point. Charles and Scott would’ve been fine and we could’ve helped Jean.” Ororo finished with a resounding boom of thunder as she was beginning to get angrier at herself for her own self proclaimed shortcomings in past events.

Getting irritated by the fact that she was taking all of the blame for things that nobody, let alone her, had control over, Logan fixed her with an intense stare, “Look, Jean made the decision ta leave the jet that day on her own alright. She didn’t let any o’ us help her, remember? You think I didn’t wanna run out there and yank her ass back in? You think I wasn’t pissed at her fer doin’ that but she didn’t want anyone ta do shit! That was her choice.”

Ororo was a bit taken aback by his sudden outburst. Logan on the other hand ignored that and instead chose to continue.

“That Jean died once that water rushed over her an’ the person we got after was just a shell. Took me a hell of a time ta realize it I’ll give ya that, but it’s true. Phoenix or not, the last thing I wanted ta do was run her through but she was outta control and don’t tell me that you could’ve stopped her some other way because she woulda dusted ya like tha professor before ya could’ve even thought about stopping her.”

“Logan, you don’t….”

“No, you don’t know how many times I thought the same things you’re thinkin’ right now. You’ll go insane thinkin’ that way trust me on that and I ain’t got much to go to get there, but you do.”

“It’s hard not to think that way.” Ororo replied bringing her eyes from her fisted hands in her lap up to look into his.

“I know,” Logan took a breath in an attempt to calm himself a little. He didn’t really intend to lecture her. He’d been wanting to say something to her and as a result his words just sort of bubbled out before he could stop.

Taking his eyes from hers as if she would see something he didn’t want her to, he confessed, “Ya know when I close my eyes I can still feel my claws goin’ through her and the weight of her body in my arms when she finally went limp. Wanna know tha last thing she said t’me?”

He let that question hang in the air for second. Ororo said nothing not wanting to interrupt him. He needed to vent just as much, if not more than she did. “She asked me ta save her an’ when I did what I had ta do, she just smiled at me. I swear ya coulda knocked me over with a damn feather then,” he said on a humorless, self-mocking chuckle. “Hell when she woke up in tha med lab and I asked her about Scott, she had no idea what she did ta him…..”

Ororo could see that he was struggling a bit with what he wanted to say, the furrow of his brow getting deeper by the second. “When she seemed ta remember, she begged me ta kill her. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t….” said Logan, the tail end of his account coming out as almost a whisper. “Irony’s a bitch that way…” he scoffed, his eyes locking back onto Ororo’s.

“Goddess…..” Letting Logan’s words wash over her, Ororo couldn’t help but feel that maybe she was being selfish. Here she was wallowing in every emotion under the sun: sadness, anger, pain, and even confusion; although she could only imagine that he was surely feeling the same things tenfold after what he had to do in order to save everybody.

“Logan, I didn’t mean to lay this all on you or cause you to rehash everything. I won’t even pretend to know how you must’ve felt after….”

Logan didn’t give her a chance to finish, “Stop. I don’t wanna hear apologies or anythin’ like that. This ain’t about who’s hurtin’ more or who has the right to feel a certain way. We were all raked through the fire bare-assed an’ already bleedin’. We all did shit that’s nothin’ ta write home about and yer walkin’ around here like yer just fine while tryin’ ta be everythin’ for everyone else, but what about you huh?”

She would not have readily admitted it, but Logan was right. After Alcatraz, everything was changing at a fast pace. She was now headmistress, leader of the Xmen, and she made her best efforts to keep a brave front, not for herself, but for everyone especially the children. Their lives were uprooted as it was and she felt it wouldn’t do them any good to see her break. She vowed to herself that she wouldn’t, not in front of them.

“I’m not tellin’ you not to feel the way ya do. Ya wanna be sad and get angry, go ahead. It’d be worse if ya didn’t.”

“What about you?” How the children were coping was foremost in her mind but Ororo was genuinely concerned about him as well. They may have had moments when they butted heads but she didn’t see him as just a teammate, they were friends too.

Logan gave a noncommittal shrug at her question, “Got me there ‘Ro.”

“‘Ro?” She quirked her brow at his use of her newly abbreviated name.

“Hey old age makes me colorful, sue me.”

She let out a brief chuckle at his humor. “We’re a mess you know that right?” she added with a slight shake of her head.

Logan smirked at that, “You bet yer ass we are.”

The rest of that night was spent with him just listening to her as she finally voiced everything she kept inside. Through his conversation with her, he realized that what stood between Ororo and her emotions was her control. Unlike Ororo he didn’t have to be in control all the time because he had moments where he could just get away and be angry and brood without flooding everything within a ten mile radius and then some. Going by the previous display outside, he had to give her credit for her control that was for damn sure.

Even Logan told her some other things that opened her eyes as to how he was affected by what had happened. Eventually they both ended up dozing off in her room. The next morning for some reason neither one them felt odd or sheepish about what had happened during the late night/early morning hours. Their conversation never went beyond the confines of her room and they fell into a sort of camaraderie and friendly flirting that did not go completely unnoticed by the others in the mansion. ~

Logan understood how she felt then, hell he was the one that had to kill Jean before she took out everyone on the island and God knows who else. He wasn’t proud of it, but in retrospect he thought about what Ororo had said to him before the battle: ~ Are you going to be ready to do what you need to do when the time comes? ~ They both made decisions that night that weighed on them both, but to Logan the weight lessened every so often when he found some understanding in Ororo. He only hoped that on some level maybe she found some in him as well.

Finally arriving at the threshold of the kitchen, Logan leaned against the doorframe crossing his arms over his white tank top clad chest taking a moment to just observe her. She was sitting with her back towards him on a stool at the kitchen island absently tapping her spoon in and out of the pint of ice cream. The dimmed lighting in the kitchen bounced off of her white satin robe covered curves. Breaking out of his reverie and choosing to make his presence known, he willed his feet to move forward silently letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

Coming up behind her peering down over her shoulder he whispered, “Fishin’ for something in there darlin’?”

“Goddess Logan!” Momentarily startled, Ororo dropped the spoon, her hand flying up to her chest over her heart. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t have a chance to become aware of his presence.

“Ya want I should ring a bell next time?” he replied smirking at her heading to the refrigerator.

“No, next time I expect a full on parade,” she retorted turning her head to stick her tongue out at him while swiveling her stool around to fully face him.

“Duly noted,” he mock saluted her turning back around to browse through the contents of the refrigerator taking mental stock of what he found and whether or not he wanted any of it. *Hhm …crap…. sniff….moldy crap….brightly colored jello-ey stuff with gummi bears floating in it, Jubilee’s crap….leftover crap….*

From her perch Ororo was attempting to suppress her giggle at the view Logan presented. He was slightly bent over digging into the refrigerator looking like he was searching for buried treasure. For a moment her semi-giggling stopped and she found herself taking in his sweat pants covered backside. In a flash Logan closed the refrigerator doors coming up empty handed and turned back in her direction. Swiveling her stool, Ororo went back to her ice cream pushing the fact that she almost got caught ogling her good friend’s rear end to the deepest corners of her mind.

Settling into the stool next to her, swiveling it to a position in which he was facing her profile, Logan slowly turned his head from side to side eliciting crisp cracking sounds from his neck. “Can’t sleep huh?”

“Not really,” she said before taking a small hit of her ice cream, “funnily enough I was so tired earlier I thought I’d be out once my head touched the pillow. How about you…nightmares?”

“Nah, you could run me over with a semi right now and it still wouldn’t knock me out” he said. Gesturing to her ice cream he asked, “You got an endless supply of that stuff or what?”

“Hey don’t knock it until you’ve tried it pal,” Ororo said in mock defense grabbing a spoonful, “here, try some.” Logan eyed the gooey mess clinging to the spoon. “Come on, stop staring at it like you’re Superman and I’m shoving kryptonite in your face. Or are you scared someone’s going to walk in and see big, bad Wolverine eating ice cream?” she teased. When he opened his mouth to no doubt answer her with a witty retort she spooned it into his mouth before he had a chance. Having no choice now, he swallowed it letting the cool mass slide down his gullet. “Hnnh, not bad.”

“Not bad? You’ve just had the privilege of sampling one of the holiest substances on Earth bestowed upon you and that is all you can come up with?” Ororo told him adding a bit of dramatic flourish for effect.

“’k, it’s like an orgasm in my mouth,” Logan said holding up his hands in surrender, “that better?”

Ororo cracked up at that, clamping a hand over her mouth so as not to wake up the whole house, not expecting quite an answer like that to come from him and thinking about the masses of innuendos in that one statement. “That’s perfect,” she answered wiping the tears from her eyes.

Logan couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from quirking up into a smile thinking how beautiful, relaxed, and unrestrained she seemed to be at that moment. Not really wanting it to end just yet, he decided to mess with her a little bit. “Sooo ya gonna share that or keep it only for yerself?” he asked making a grab for her ice cream. “Oh, now you want some…,” she said while sliding the carton closer to herself and out of his reach.

Inching forward to the point that her shoulder grazed his chest and his fingers almost brushed the container he replied, “S’posin’ I do.”

“Well, this is the last one after all…” Ororo supplied looking at the ice cream, still sliding it farther away from him. Logan moved closer to her to the point where he was practically in her face.

“So?”

Looking up, blue eyes meeting hazel, Ororo didn’t really know what came over her when she lifted a finger to his chin, but she was up for making some fun trouble.

Logan halted his movements when he felt her soft touch on his skin. He froze, plain and simple. All he could do was stare at her as he registered the downward path she was taking.

Ororo continued her ministrations, sliding her finger down the column of his throat, briefly mesmerized by the seemingly nervous bobbing of his Adam’s apple as she lazily dragged her finger over it. Logan wasn’t too sure what she was doing not that he really cared at the moment because it felt good. If she were to ask him what day of the week it was, even that would’ve been a toss up right now.

Finally reaching her destination, Ororo hooked her finger in the top of his shirt, pulled and unceremoniously dribbled a bit of the cold dessert down his shirt.

At the unexpected cold sensation on his suddenly heated skin, Logan let out an uncharacteristic yelp.

“Enjoy!” She winked at him, rising quickly from her stool to make an escape. However, Logan recovered just in time to catch her before she reached the doorway to trap her between the steel refrigerator doors and his body. Ororo grinned at him, “Hi.” The positively feral grin on Logan’s face made it clear that she was well and truly stuck, his hands braced on the doors behind her with his forearms on either side of her head.

“Goin’ somewhere after pullin’ that stunt?” he all but growled, eyes almost glowing in the dim light.

Trying not to laugh at his obviously ruffled feathers, with an air of nonchalance she answered, “Hmm, to which stunt are you referring?”

“Ta the one drippin’ down my chest…”

“Ah yes that one….opportunity presented itself, couldn’t bear to waste it,” bringing a hand to his chest she softly patted his shirt purposely pressing the mess further into the shirt and his skin, “but don’t worry, it’s warm now.”

*Tell me about it* Logan internally grumbled to himself.

Stilling her hand with one of his own he warned “Ya know it’s not nice ta tease ‘Ro,” his voice such a deep rumble that she felt it all the way down to her toes with him being so close. “What’s the matter Logan, afraid you can’t take it?” Ororo stated quirking an eyebrow, mischievously egging him on.

Leaning closer so that his fuzzy cheek brushed hers, a breath away from her ear he whispered, “I can take anythin’ ya got darlin’, real question is can ya handle the payback?”

Ororo felt an odd stir within her that she didn’t really want to name at the feel of the warmth radiating from his body coupled with his breath fanning her ear. Her mind screamed at her to get away, but other parts of her told it to shut up.

Pulling back a bit he was met with her smirking face, blue eyes twinkling in challenge as if saying “bring it on.” He felt something surge through him when he looked at her then. Whether it was due to the fact that she didn’t seem intimidated by him in the least or because as the days went by he kept finding her ridiculously sexy to him, he had no idea really. Like every other time, he tried pushing that feeling back. Only this time he didn’t think it was a feeling that he wanted to bury again under lame excuses.

Before he could stop himself, Logan leaned forward closing the already miniscule distance remaining between them, softly brushing his lips against hers. Expecting her to pull away or push him back enough to deliver an electricity laden slap across his face or something, he let a groan escape his lips when she fisted her hand in his shirt and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. Logan slowly nibbled on Ororo’s lips a bit until she parted them, granting him entrance. He could taste the lingering sweetness of the ice cream as he plundered the silky recesses of her mouth. Allowing himself to get lost in the kiss, he wouldn’t have stopped if not for the vital need of oxygen in his lungs.

When he pulled back, they were both breathlessly gazing at each other in silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Ororo was the first to somewhat awkwardly utter any type of response. “Umm, I should be heading up; I’ve got class in the morning.” *Nice segue Ororo* she chided herself.

Moving his hands back down to his sides, he stood there for a second. His desire muddled brain coming up with the only quick, coherent reply it could muster he said, “Yeah, I got a Danger Room session in tha mornin’…….”

Silence.

“Uh, go ahead, I’ll get that.” Logan gestured behind him to the forgotten, now melted pint of ice cream on the counter.

“Thank you, goodnight Logan.” That was all Ororo could think of to say to him as she willed her legs to move and carry her back upstairs as fast as they could without totally looking like she was running away from him.

“’Night ‘Ro.”

Listening to her quick footfalls down the hallway he remained glued to the spot while staring into the empty space in front of him that she once occupied. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he muttered to himself “What just happened?”





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