Title: Missing You 7/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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Logan had watched as Scott had agreed to take Victor Creed back to the mansion. He had watched while Louise had constantly touched Creed using her mutation to re-assure him and guide him to the jet, all the flight home and then into the lower levers where he was now with Hank. Creed hadn’t wanted to let her leave him, but after a little bit of gentle talk from Louise he had stayed and nervously let Hank tend to his hair and clothes as he had no visible injuries.
Logan knew that Louise and Liam were showering and he wanted a very serious talk with Xavier and get Creed put out of the way. He charged into the Professor’s office only to find Jean sitting in front of his desk. He looked her over for the first time in eighteen years - she had aged well and was still a beautiful woman. Only now a large partially healed bruise marred her face around her left eye and a cut ran across the corner of her mouth. She also had some small burns down her neck, obviously from a cigarette.
She gave him a tight smile. “Logan.”
He didn’t acknowledge her, just set his gaze on Xavier. “I want him out of here…” he pointed to Jean. “Along with her.”
“Logan, Jean has provided us with detailed information. We don’t know how the FoH set up this facility, but they obviously fled after Jean’s escape knowing she would inform us of their plans. We need to investigate the facility more and try to figure out what their plans for Sabertooth were.”
“Who the hell cares?”
“I care.” He turned to find Louise in the doorway. He had been so consumed in his anger he hadn’t noticed her come in. Liam was behind her and so was Scott. The twins filtered into the office. Scott stood behind Xavier and ignored Jean completely, not even sparing her a glance, which irritated her enormously.
Logan looked at his feet, then at Jean, then jerked his head towards the door. “Ya mind, *team* business.”
She stood up gracefully and gave him a hateful look. “I was part of the team once.”
Logan got close to her face. “Yeah, till ya fucked it all up! Get out!”
Jean looked at the professor, awaiting his instructions. “I’ll speak to you later, but if you wouldn’t mind, we have things that need to be discussed.” She nodded, glared at Scott and left quietly.
“Chuck, I want them both out!”
Liam pointed towards the door. “Who was that?”
Scott cleared his throat. “No one you need to worry about at the moment.”
Louise moved forward. “You can’t throw him out. He needs help.”
“He’s an animal, a nasty bastard who’s killed a lot of people, kid, and he doesn’t deserve help.”
“O’ what like you, you mean.”
His eyebrows shot up. “*I* am nothing like him!”
“What about all those years ago when you woke up in the middle of nowhere? Didn’t know who you were, where you’d been, what had been done to you? It’s not that much different, Logan.”
He noticed that she had gone back to calling him Logan and it hurt him a little. “It was different, I…”
“How, how was it different? You told us yourself, how you lived, how you killed because in the beginning you didn’t know the difference and then how you killed even after you did know the difference, simply because you could. Travelling around beating up dumb rednecks too stupid to realise that they were practically throwing their money at you. You told me that you got a second chance when you met mom and you grabbed it with both hands. Doesn’t he deserve a second chance?”
“No.”
“Why?” Logan put his hands on his head and turned away from her in exasperation. She looked at Xavier for help. “Why?”
“It is difficult with him. He was a member Magneto’s Brotherhood. They were basically mutant terrorists, the exact opposite of the X-Men and what we stood for and still stand for today. Sabertooth killed a lot of people for Magneto, he was part of the plot to use your mother on the Statue of Liberty. I can understand why Logan is reluctant, but in this case I have to agree with you Louise. I think that given his reduced mental state it would nothing short of cruel to hand him over to the authorities.”
“You’ve *gotta* be kidding me!”
“Logan, you have to admit that if he doesn’t know who he is or what he has done, it’s not really fare.”
“You too Summers? Just great.” He shook his head, his hands resting on his hips.
“What would mom say?”
He sighed. “Don’t bring her into this.”
“Why not? You *know* she would agree with me!”
“Fine, ok, just fucking fine! But she doesn’t go nowhere near him ever again and that’s final!” He pointed at Louise while looking between Liam, Scott and Xavier.
Louise was up again in a second. “Hang on, I’m the only one he really trusts and with my mutation he can kind of communicate. So I need to see him and I will see him.”
“You listen to me young lady…”
She got in his face and jabbed a finger in his chest. “NO you listen to me. Just because he has a past, just because he’s dangerous and just because he has a violent nature… ooh remind you of anyone! None of that means that he doesn’t deserve a second chance, just like you. Look a little closer Logan, the similarities are endless.” With that she stomped out of the office.
“Told you, you couldn’t stop her doing anything.” All three of the older men glared at Liam until he sunk lower in his seat and became really really quiet.
By the time Louise made it down to the main med lab her anger had faded and all she could think was that her mother would want her to at least try and help this man, no matter what his faults.
She walked in and had to stop at the door. Hank was finishing helping Victor dress in a pair of plain black sweats. Hank had cut most of his blond shaggy hair away. It looked like a Tom Cruise: Mission Impossible two kind of style. She smiled: it suited him. Hank had also thrown away his tattered clothes and washed him. His was sat in the middle of the room on a small stool.
She had been right, he was handsome and his body was amazingly muscular (like her brother and father), but less tanned and each muscle even more defined. Her eyes lead down and were stopped by the waistband of his sweats.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
Hank walked to his desk and read off his notes. “Fine, yes fine. By the looks of it he’s suffering from some kind of regression or more likely amnesia from prolonged use of animal tranquillisers and a rather potent alpha-adrenergic blocking agent…”
“A what?”
He chuckled. “He urinated in the corner of the lab and I took a sample to see if there was anything to find and there was… it’s called Phenothiazine, I found traces of it, it blocks the production of adrenaline, more specifically alpha-male adrenaline. One large dose can last for up to four days, so I suppose that’s when the lab was abandoned. It would have been used to make him docile, pliable… easy for experimentation.”
Louise looked over at Victor and he simply stared at her blankly. “That’s just horrible. Nobody deserves that Hank.”
“No my dear, they don’t, no matter what they’ve done.”
After a beat or two she wondered: “Why have you got him there in the middle of the room?”
Hank’s expression lightened immediately. “Well my dear, I was trying to give our visitor a shave.” He gestured to the razor, foam and water on the small side table. “But he growls at me, refuses to let me touch him and takes rather an aggressive stance that personally I don’t want to challenge.”
“It’s getting late, why don’t you go and grab some dinner, I’ll give him a shave.”
“I think maybe I should stay, he may well be docile at the moment, but there is no telling what…”
“I can handle it.”
Hank sighed reluctantly realising that there would be no arguing with her. “If you’re sure, I suppose you do have a certain, way, with him”
“Very.” Hank left and she walked over to Victor, his dark eyes watching her every move. “Hey.” She picked up the foam and rubbed it lightly between her fingers letting him see. “See, its fine.” She put it lightly on his face, he flinched at the new sensation of it, but let her.
The she picked up the razor and he stood up sending the stool sailing away. “Hey, hey, easy. Its fine.” She held out her hand and when he took it, her mutation opened up gently to let a feeling of safety flow from her to him. Then she picked up the stool and sat him down again. She started off very slowly, rinsing the razor out after nearly every stroke over his skin.
She stood by his side, but needed to do under his chin, so she gently slid one leg in between his open legs, so intent on her task that she didn’t notice how slowly she slid her knee along his leg and up his thigh.
His eyes watched her all the time, his fists clenched tightly at his sides, but after a while he lessened his grip and relaxed. She nearly jumped when she felt his hand on her leg just above her knee. She glanced briefly at his eyes, but their blackness only ever showed amazing intensity, never allowing her to see what he was thinking.
Moving to the other side of his face she slid her other knee in between his legs, this time enjoying the feel of it rubbing against his leg and up his thigh. She noticed that her breathing had got a little heavy along with his and meeting his eyes again, even darker than before, she realised that she was getting more than a little turned on by the sheer magnitude of him and she knew she was playing with fire.
She managed not to look at him while she finished his jaw and then his top lip. She rinsed off the remainder of the foam and wiped his face with a towel. Stepping back she smiled at him, but gasped when he grabbed her waist with both hands and pulled her to him, not wanting to let her go. She had to brace herself against his shoulders and their eyes stayed locked.
One of her hands decided to act completely on its own as it slipped gently from his shoulder and down onto his chest, his skin feeling smooth under her fingertips. She came to her senses and stepped back from him again just as Hank came in.
“Well well, what a good job you’ve made of that. If I ever fancy a shave, I’ll call on your services!” She brushed some of her hair behind her ear, using the action to cover the slight blush on her cheeks, then giggled at the thought of Hank having no facial hair. Hank walked over to Victor and handed him a bowl piled with bread, cheese and a selection of cold meats. “I though you might be hungry, friend.”
Victor snatched the bowl and immediately went over to the corner and began to wolf down the food like he hadn’t eaten in a year. She leaned close to Hank. “That wasn’t the corner he peed in was it?”
He chuckled. “No, hence the mop bucket and wet-floor-sign over the other side. Poor fellow, he was famished.” Hank went to him and crouched in front of him and left a bottle of water on the floor next to the bowl of food. Victor growled and picked it up. He sniffed it, shook it and tried to bite it. “Ah… never had one of them, had you.” He took the water back and walked back to Louise inspecting the bottle. “Not sure how to make him understand about drinking it.”
Louise almost laughed hysterically. “And I thought you were supposed to be a genius!” She fetched a kidney dish from the surgical cupboard and poured the bottle of water into it, then placed it in front of Victor, who immediately dropped his food and lapped at the water like a big cat.
“O’! My physics Professor always said that a lack of common sense wouldn’t do me any good in later life.” Both he and Louise laughed.
“I think you make up for it.” She watched Victor eat for another minute or two then followed Hank over to his desk. “Where is he going to sleep?”
“There is a small store room next to the Blackbird hangar, I’ve had it cleared out and put a bed, chemical toilet and lots of blankets and such in there. Both myself and Charles agreed that it wouldn’t do for him to be wandering around with the children. I saved his shirt and put it in the room, so he at least has one familiar scent. I’ve shown him the room and the toilet. I think he understands.”
“Will he be on his own?”
Hank smiled. “No, I have some work to finish and I doubt I will finish much before morning, you know me. I’ll be here.”
“Ok, but, um... leave the door open and the lights on.” Hank looked momentarily puzzled, but nodded anyway. “I’m gonna go see mom and then go up.”
“Alright, I will see to our guest. Good night, my dear.”
Victor caught her eye and she smiled at him before leaving the med lab and swiping herself into the chamber room. She immediately rested her head against the cold glass of the chamber and sighed. “What am I doing? What the *hell* am I doing? He’s Victor Creed! He’s from the Brotherhood for Christ Sake! A terrorist, a killer… he pees in the corner! Why him? There are a truck load of handsome and amazing men in this building, a couple of them actually interested in me, *but no* I have to feel attracted to the one that my father hates and tried to kill my mother, oh and not to mention that he’s a apparently a homicidal maniac. Yeah I know how to pick ‘em.”
She lifted her head and looked at her mother’s face. “Help… but your not going to, are you? O’ mom!”
She kissed the chamber and left the room, walking slowly up to her room. It was in between her fathers and Liam’s. As she walked past Logan’s room she could hear him moving around and smell his cigar. She wanted to knock and talk to him, apologise for running off on the mission and nearly getting herself killed and yelling at him, but simply couldn’t face it. She didn’t want him to be angry with her or shout at her, so she went to bed.
*********
Logan woke up with a start, he sat bolt upright in bed. His dream of a tall water-filled chamber drifted away from him. It was the same dream most nights, he would wander the mansion halls until arriving at Marie’s chamber only to find it empty. As his mind cleared he got out of bed and put his jeans on, he was searching for wherever he had thrown his shirt when his hearing picked up a soft knocking noise.
It was coming from Louise’s room. He walked out of his own room and knocked on her door. “Louise?” There was no answer so he let his nostrils flare, fear and pain met his superhuman senses and he leant back kicking in the door with a load crash.
Louise was sat on the floor next to her bed, blankets thrown in all directions and her back against the wall. Eyes and mouth open, but unable to move as she shook uncontrollably. The slight knocking noise he had heard was the back of her head as it rattled against the wooden panelled wall.
He was next to her in an instant, he said her name repeatedly, but all she could do was stare at him open-mouthed while she convulsed in his arms. He turned his head towards the door and shouted for help as Liam ran into the room. He had obviously heard Logan crash through Louise’s door. Liam was on his knees next to his sister. He cradled her head against his chest and put his hands in hers, allowing her to grip him as the fit continued. Jubilee came running in and immediately said she would run off to fetch Hank. ‘Ro appeared at the door, but instead on intruding into the room she shoed away the others who had filtered out of bed in the commotion.
Logan locked eyes with Liam. “Is it normally this bad?”
“No, but she’s been getting worse lately.”
He growled. “Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?”
Liam grimaced as she shook against him. “Because I promised I wouldn’t. You know what she’s like, she won’t ask for help. She thinks that Hank should be concentrating on helping mom, not her!”
An hour and forty minutes later Louise woke up to the bright lights of the med lab. The first thing that she saw was the bare back of her brother, closely followed by the equally bare back of her father. They were talking to Hank next to his desk. She sat up and shook her head.
“What is it with you two and not wearing a shirt?” Liam was the first to get to her and he hugged her hard.
When he pulled away she found Logan’s hand stroking her hair and then her cheek. “You ok?”
“Yeah. Did I pass out?” She looked slightly confused.
“No, Hank had to give you something to stop the shaking. Louise, why didn’t you say this was getting worse?”
She looked at her feet, unable to stop her voice from showing her emotions. “Everyone has other things to think about, the school, classes, students, this FoH facility thing, Victor, mom… and… and I didn’t want you to think that I was just baying for your attention or something, ‘cause I know you and Liam get on and I didn’t want you to think I was just being a jealous kid and...”
“Baying for my attention? What the fuck! You’re my daughter! You can have any part of my attention whenever the hell you like, either of you can. Where the hell has this come from?”
She glanced at Liam then Logan and shrugged. “I don’t know, I just… I…” she wiped her eyes as tears began to fall. “I don’t know how to do this, people and emotional crap. It’s always been me and Liam, you know, just us and we don’t have to try, we just are. I don’t know how to get close to people, I can trust people kind of, but I can’t let them in… I just… its hard.” Liam hugged her close again and kissed the top of her head.
Hank, who had been standing back a little from them, cleared his throat and stepped up to the examination bed, put his hand lightly on her arm and gave her a bright smile as she wiped her face again.
“There is some good news.” He looked at Logan and Liam who both beamed brightly. “I think I have finally found the correct formula to counter-attack Clemency.” Louise wiped her face and gave a small laugh. Hank put up his hand to stop her from saying anything. “It will take another 3 to 4 months to actually develop, but I have it. Finally I have it.”
She moved away from Logan and Liam and hugged the big blue doctor, nearly knocking him off his feet. “God! You beautiful, beautiful blue man!”
He chuckled and untangled her from him. “Like I say it will take a few months to get right, but the basic formula is there. In the meantime, I think we need to take a closer look at you my dear.”
She shrugged. “I’m fine, some times it’s just worse than others, that’s all.”
“Poppycock! Your blood pressure was through the roof and you this close to having a stroke! This needs to be looked at, Louise, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
“What do you mean - a stroke?” She looked horrified. “Old people have strokes!”
“If there is too much pressure on the cells and blood vessels inside your brain then yes, you may well have a stroke or if the pressure builds around your heart, even a heart attack. My dear, this is very serious.”
Suddenly realising that she should have said something earlier she started to cry again and looked at the three concerned faces in front of her. “I’m sorry. I This time, Logan held her close.
“Go back up to bed, get some sleep and tomorrow we’ll run some tests and see what we can come up with.” Hank rubbed her arm again and she smiled at him, then allowed Logan to carry her back up to her bed.
**************END OF PART SEVEN
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I have a new beta Bancainte... huge thanks to her for helping me!!