Disclaimer: Marvel characters do not belong to me.
Ororo turned to the next page of her novel. Her legs dangled over the arm of the chair she occupied in the infirmary. Logan had passed out during his medical exam. Henry had been unable to wake him, the professor unable to reach him. His vital signs had all checked out and he was indeed in perfect condition. She closed the book and looked at the cover: Into the Wild. The copy had been in the rec room and she'd taken it, along with a cup of chamomile tea, down to where she now sat. Until a few months ago, she'd never been able to imagine Logan needing any kind of care. He was always the epitome of strength within the X-men, never one to be kept down. But, he was human, they all were, regardless of how people chose to nitpick at the definition. His breathing changed and she looked up, his eyes slowly opening.
“What the...?” He said groggily. Looking around, he seemed to relax when his eyes set upon her. “'Ro?”
She smiled. “Yes, Logan. I am here.” Though she'd never said it, she did enjoy the baritone sound of her shortened name that he almost always used.
“You know, if you wish for my company, you need only ask. These dramatics are totally unnecessary.”
“An' where's the fun in that?” He rubbed his eyes and stretched out. “How long have I been out?”
“A number of hours. Just after your medical exam.” She explained, bringing her chair closer to him.
He shook his head. “It changed again.” Logan said simply.
Ororo was surprised at this. “You haven't left us. You've been here the whole time.” Though she didn't want it, for a moment there was a doubt. “Are you sure? Maybe this time, it was a dream.” He shook his head in response. “I think,” Ororo said getting up and nudging him to move over, “I think that you might need to get away from the mansion. This started upon your return.”
“Ya think it has somethin' t' do with it?” He let her in, draping the sheet over her and resting his head on her chest. “But it ain't effecting anyone else.”
She silently agreed, adjusting to allow his arms around her waist. A mocha hand trailed lightly along his exposed shoulder, another played with the strands of his long hair. “No, but that doesn't make it impossible.” Maybe it was the mansion, so many people and memories hitting him after what he'd been through. Maybe he just wasn't ready to be back. Again, she tried to push the thoughts from her mind. The X-men had been subject to more crazy events, this might've hit the charts at number 32 or so. What was happening to him was real. Wasn't it? “Do you remember Montana, four years ago?”
Logan's body shook, followed by a laugh so loud it startled her. “Fuck yeah, I remember Montana.” She slapped him on the head, and he buried himself in her chest a little more, to cower from the next. “Come on darlin', that was hilarious.” He laughed again.
“For you, maybe.” She said indignantly. “I was mortified.” There was no doubt as to which incident they spoke of. “Ya need ta get away from here 'Ro. We both do. Come on' darlin', my treat.” She mimicked his voice and manner horribly, making Logan laugh harder for it. “Some treat!”
“Yer terrible at accents darlin'.” His chest rumbled as he spoke. “Hey, once we hit the park, it was gravy, but how the hell am I supposed t' know you need supervision while shoppin' for supplies.”
She rolled her eyes. “Now you're exaggerating.”
“A fire extinguisher 'Ro. A goddamn fire extinguisher. Ya don' need to be a rocket scientist ta use one.”
“The store owner admitted that it was probably faulty, did he not? I was just looking at it, it wasn't my fault the thing went off in the store. I was under attack!” She argued, starting to smile. “And yes, I did not know how to work the thing, but the thought never crossed my mind to learn. I find I am far more effective in stopping fires with out it.”
“Ya damn well could've started one at the rate you were goin', knocking things off shelves and bouncin' around.”
She laughed now. “Screaming: my eyes, my eyes. Not my most graceful moment I'll admit.” Still chuckling: “Anyway, the point I was trying to make before I was so rudely interrupted, was that the camping trip helped me. Just being away from here for even a night might help to make sense of things. See through a new set of eyes... like I did after they were burnt to hell and back.”
“I hear ya.” He kissed her stomach. “Ya gotta promise me one thing though.” She hummed a response. “Never sub for the fire-safety course.” He ducked again, unable to avoid the slap he knew he would receive.
“Okay, okay, okay! I've got one!” Jubilee called out, hands raised, amidst the chaos of voices. “Johnny Storm against Carnage.” Again voices in the rec room raised. She and Kitty, along with Bobby and a few other students, had gone into their 'what if' battles. Such talk tended to come about when they were bored, and sparked endless debate that would often continue days after.
“Are you kidding me? Johnny would fry him in a second.” Bobby said, completely dismissive about the pair up.
“Carnage wouldn't sit still long enough for that to happen.” Said Alex, a newer addition to the institute.
Kitty shook a finger. “Come on, if Johnny went supernova, he wouldn't stand a chance.” Curled up on the couch, she'd been flicking through channels as they spoke, resting on no show in particular. “Besides, I give Johnny Storm extra points just for being delicious.” She added.
“I'm gonna second that.” Jubilee said matter-of-factly.
Bobby folded his arms, watching the nature program of... big cats it seemed.“Nah, I'd kill to see Juggernaut versus the Hulk. Can you imagine that?”
“Now that would be sweet.” Alex agreed, sitting on the floor with his back rested against the couch. “Great choice.” He moved his arm back to beckon the five that Bobby gave.
Jubilee rolled her eyes as she heard the smacking sound. “Destruction, destruction, destruction. Big, dumb oxes pushing their weight around. Where's the cunning in that?” Her head was propped up by one of the sofa cushions as she lay stretched out on the floor.
“Hey, Hulk's a genius.” Bobby shot.
“No, Bruce Banner's a genius. That's different.” Jubilee countered.
“And he's hot.” Kitty made sure to add.
Alex shook his head. “Do you girls think of anything else?”
“Yes, but we're not blind. Besides, you guys are a lot worse.” Kitty said, staring down at Alex. “You're like a Round-Up ride at a carnival whenever you're around women.”
“Yeah right. I'm convinced chicks are ten times worse, they just don't get caught.” Bobby scoffed.
“And there's the cunning.” Jubilee grabbed the remote control from it's perch on the sofa arm above her, and began channel surfing.
“T and A aren't all we think about. Contrary to popular belief, men do actually think with their big heads.” Said Alex.
It was Kitty's turn to roll her eyes. “Please, you're gonna tell me that if a smoking hot woman walked into the room right now, you wouldn't have a look at her jugs first?” She asked as she looked to Bobby.
“Good afternoon everybody.” Ororo greeted. All heads turned to the left. “Everything alright?”
“No.” Alex said.
Ororo's brow furrowed. “Really? What's the matter, Alex?”
“I mean no, I wouldn't.” He blurted out.
“Wouldn't what?” She asked, not quite able to make sense of what he was talking about.
“Awkward.” Jubilee said under her breath.
Realizing that probing deeper would be a waste of time: “Has anybody seen Mr. Summers?”
“No Ms. Munroe.” Alex, still seemingly frozen in place.
Ororo smiled, clearly confused at his manner. “Alright. Thank you anyway.” She made her way down the corridor, unaware of the chuckles that she was leaving behind in the rec room. She'd been helping to compile test papers with the biology teacher, accidentally letting the time run away from her. She'd almost completely forgotten about the briefing that they had arranged. If he was not in any of the rooms she might usually find him, she figured he was probably outside supervising. A number of weeks ago, in one of Alex's first tutored lessons, he'd been unable to fully control his ability, blasting out a large section of the west wing. The area was used especially for the purposes of new mutants with little to no control of their abilities. Luckily, Jean had responded quickly to the situation, directing the power of his psionic blast and protecting them from harm. Recently they'd brought in professionals to rebuild the lower part of the wing. But it was always a slightly tense time, having contractors about the institute. Though the lead contractor had known the professor for years, having his teams change meant that there would always be someone new to stare and ogle at what Ororo once heard them describe as: a freak-show more than a school. The students had enough issues to deal with without Joe-public treating them in such a way.
Sure enough, Scott was outside, red sunglasses reflecting and making him unmistakable. The builders where about to finish up, voicing their thanks to a large and shining silver Colossus as he hauled the final set of bricks to their place, ready to be used the next day. Leonard, the contractor, had offered him a job after seeing him on the mansion grounds one day in his steel form, swinging a few of the younger students. Neither Scott, nor Xavier had objected, primarily because having Peter on site with the builders meant he might get wind if anything wasn't above board. Besides, a little extra money wouldn't be bad for him.
“You forgot the meeting.” Scott said as she walked over to him.
“I know, I'm sorry. I just got so caught up with work.”
He grinned. “Don't worry about it 'Ro. The files will still be there in the morning.”
“You don't want to get to them now?” She watched as the builders said their goodbyes to each other.
“Nah. Jean and I have a date in an hour, I don't want to cancel it or rush the briefing. So... you have the rest of the night to relax.” Scott said, placing his hands on each of her shoulders. “I've been meaning to say: good work with Logan. We lost a member of our team and you brought him back. Even if I can't stand the guy, he's still one of us.” He kissed her forehead. “I hope he makes you happy.”
“Thank you Scott.” She looked over his shoulder, catching sight of Logan walking away with the builders. “Did you rope him into working as well?” She asked her tall friend.
Scott turned. “Who?”
“Logan.” Even from behind, she could tell it was him by his manner. “Excuse me.” She and Scott parted ways and she headed over to her wild man, calling for him to stop. “Logan!” With hearing like his, she wondered why he didn't respond to her calls. “Logan.” She said, finally catching up to him. For an instant, she felt she didn't recognize the eyes that looked back at her. “I have the night off. I thought maybe we could use it for a mini-getaway to help clear your mind.” Ororo removed the hard hat that had been covering most of his face and put it on herself. “I don't know how good of a distraction I'll be, but I have few ideas.” She grinned naughtily. Had she not been feeling so in the mood, she would've made a comment about his recent haircut, but she didn't want to spoil the moment. “I'm going to take a bath, and should you wish, I'm yours for the night.” The sight of her snowy white locks cascading over her shoulders, pure blue eyes filled with impure thoughts, was enough to guarantee that the hat would not be the only hard thing between them. She moved away from him. “I think I'll hold onto this.”
And with that, she left, hungry eyes following her as she skipped up the steps back into the mansion.
Things had not changed again since the last, transition. On his final set of push ups, Logan was deep in thought as the grass came closer to his nose in one swift motion, then repelled back in the same manner. In some ways, he wanted to go back. Things seemed to make more sense here, but the thought of leaving her there, hate and pain running so deep within her, and him being the cause of both. Well, someone who bore a resemblance to him. He wondered if the days that had passed here, passed equally in length there.
He had not stopped asking himself two questions in particular: what, and why. Having tossed around many ideas and possibilities for the past days both to himself and with others, it became clear that the answers were anything but. It was getting dark. Probably about time for him to head back in.
He'd been training, eating more than his regular, which was saying a lot. If nothing else, his training sessions helped to clear his mind of all thoughts and give the damn thing a break for a while. He grabbed the towel to his side and made his way back to the mansion. He'd picked a spot near the border of the grounds, far from the sight of prying eyes. The institute was undergoing reconstruction on its west wing, there were far too many unfamiliar people around for him to be comfortable. The gates of the Xavier Institute always felt like the barrier between the big, bad world out there, and the safe haven for mutants that some argued was too idealistic, not a true representation of life out in the real world. He scoffed at the thought, the real world. He didn't even know what that meant anymore. He was getting closer to the tree-line before the garden, noticing that the builders were heading out.Thank fuck fer that. He thought.
He caught sight of Ororo walking over to one of the men. She seemed more familiar with him than he'd liked. After a few moments, she removed the hard hat from his head, placing it sexily to one side. He didn't know what she was playing at. He carried on, each step causing his anger to rise. She left him, hard hat still on her head. Logan rolled his shoulders, knowing that there wasn't a chance he'd let the fucker go without a stern word, or fist. The man was making his way back toward the only remaining parked truck. Logan stalked through the brush, stepping into view as the man threw his tool belt into the cab. Logan sniffed the air, growing colder at the scent.
“Well, well, well. I was wonderin' when you'd show.” The man said, turning to face Logan.
“You...” Logan uttered, in disbelief.
“Kinda has a strange irony, huh?” His double chuckled. “As much as I'd love t' hold hands an' sing kumbaya, I got an invitation that I sure as fuck ain't passin' up fer this.” He pointed up to the mansion, Ororo's room to be exact. “An' I just can't have you spoil my fun.” Logan knew all the thoughts behind the grin that followed his doppelgänger's words, none of them good.
Logan stood, still in shock, snapping out of it in time enough to steel himself for the tackle that sent them both tumbling back into the tree line. He rolled back again to free himself, getting to his feet. The trademark sound of adamantium rushing free could be heard, glinting from what little light was left of the day. “You better start talkin' bub, 'cause I ain't a fan o' impersonations.”
“Funny. Neither am I.” One by one, razor sharp adamantium claws extended from the back of his hand. “An' one more thing,” he said, reaching to his inner jacket pocket. Logan saw the gun come out, moving to dodge as the silencer pointed towards him. He leapt out of the way, and he might've avoided the ensuing shot, if the shooter had been less of a marksman. The bullet hit him straight in the temple and his body hit the earth, a plume of autumn leaves jumping into the air. “Never bring knives t' a gun fight.”
Logan's eyes snapped open. He was inside. Had it happened again? He got up from the sofa couch and sprinted for the kitchen. “Please, no.” He prayed, hitting the wall as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. A sick feeling came from the pit of his stomach as he looked at the photos on the refrigerator door. His eyes fell to Ororo, hair almost absent. “Send me back.” It was him, it had to be. The Logan who had marred the life of this Ororo, was now free to do so with the other. “I have ta get back goddamnit!” Claws unsheathed, he stabbed the granite counter. “Send me back!
To Be Continued I believe
