It was a special day. Professor Xavier pulled them all into his office and explained to them, in full detail, how very important and special the day was, and how if any of them (he eyed Logan for a long moment at this point in his prepatory speech) misbehaved or acted in a way that would cast a bad light on mutants, they would have a very long talk from him and he would be very disappointed.
Logan grunted.
It would be just like Xavier to stare at him of all the people that he'd rallied into this ridiculous idea of an outing.
Upon the silver-rimmed black-board next to Xavier in big white chalky words was written "Meet A Mutant Day." That's what this whole thing was. Meeting a mutant, and spending time with them for a day. Xavier had started the programme in the schools, encouraging people to let their children meet the 'mutants' that many feared, to accept them and understand them, all in hope of spawning a generation of people that didn't fear mutants and see them as something alien. Of course the reality of the situation was, the parents of these young minds were the ones with the permission slips, and many had refused to let their children have contact with any 'mutie freaks'. It was a challenge even finding a school that let the Professor in the door. Government funded schools were the only ones open to the idea, mainly because they were battling the hellish publicity caused by the now-missing Senator Kelly.
From all the schools in the vicinity of Westchester, Xavier had managed to gather a handful of fifty students for the planned trip to the New York Zoo. Xavier explained some complicated metaphor of the animals being like society, and how the dangerous animals were looked after just as well as the harmless ones, but Logan let his mind wander to the hell that would be their day out, silently thanking God that there were few enough children for the X-Men to be split into pairs as they guided the children around the menageries. He glanced to Rogue, whose head was tilted, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she listened to Xavier, and with all the grace and maturity of a fifteen year old, stuck his tongue out at her. She double glanced at him, frowning and smiling at him with disbelief before pointing to the Professor and mouthing 'Listen!'. He sighed. She was getting prettier. He wasn't sure how she managed it, but she was surely getting prettier, suiting well the band of beautiful women that bore the circle-bound 'X' that they all dedicated their lives to. He looked to the other people in the room.
Storm was listening intently with that serious look on her face, and he wondered quietly why she never had any men hanging off her. It confused him, because she was stunning, very much the Goddess everyone regarded her as. The scoundrel Xavier had let stay here called Remy LeBeau seemed to be sniffing around her, but the boy had the libido of a tom with two pound balls, so that wasn't a surprise. He had a heady band of admirers, most of them a little younger than Rogue. Rogue's two closest friends of her age, Kitty and Jubilee, both flanked Remy. They were the two girls in the place that didn't go ga-ga for the Cajun, and Logan admired them all the more for it. Scott and Jean stood at the front of the room side by side, arms crossed in a similar stance of determination. They were overseeing the event with Xavier with all the precision of a military campaign, and with some sense of security Logan knew if they ever hit real peril (not the weekly calls of help from silly young kids tangling their stretching limbs or knocking out the usual Magneto-wanna-be's), the X-Men would be in good hands.
"Well," Xavier said, running his hands together, "Shall we get into the bus and on our way?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes and raised an unenthusiastic (and very much sarcastic) "Yay."
Obviously leading a bunch of kids around a hot packed Zoo all day had as much appeal to her as a day old carton of black bean stir fry. Logan turned as a waft of light oriental musk over strawberry soap pulled at his attention, and he smiled at the young woman that wore it. Rogue tipped her head and met his eyes.
"Ya ready?"
He gave a low groan, "I'm not good with kids."
She smiled, nudging him, "You were good with me."
"You weren't exactly a kid, Rogue."
Rogue smirked, pulling him along with the band of X-Men that now all filed out into the hallway, heading for the big silver bus that was parked out the front of the mansion.
"You called me 'kid' often enough."
He shrugged silently, trying to ignore the gum-snapping girl standing behind him in her gaudy yellow felty jacket.
"This sucks," she moaned.
"Tell me about it," Logan rumbled back at her.
Kitty just sighed, "Come on guys, a little enthusiasm wouldn't hurt. We're helping these kids, you know?"
Rogue sighed, "My cousin Jenny had the sweetest little kids. I miss 'em. They used to hug my legs and little Emmy would put flowers in our hair and sing songs with me."
Logan found that picture a very idyllic one, that had the fierce big bad animal in him whimpering with happiness and rolling on his back in the grass. He shifted, growing impatient in the line of the fifteen X-Men that waited to get into the bus. Scott sat at the driver's seat, fiddling with the controls to the automated door.
"Come on, Cyke," Logan growled, "We haven't got all damned day!"
Scott threw an agitated hand at Logan as he turned the key and pressed the button madly. Finally, with a shuddering groan, the doors to the bus edged open. The would-be passengers filed in, Jubilee nudging Logan and Rogue in the ribs, bustling them towards the back of the bus. When Logan looked back at her to cast her an unamused glare, she just pulled her glasses down over her eyes and grinned at him. He shook his head as the younger X-Men sat him down on the bench at the very back. Logan could see the visor of Cyclops in the rear-vision mirror, the mouth smirking back at him. Damned jerk.
He looked next to him, finding a slightly bouncing Rogue gazing out the back window.
"Ah'm so excited!" she said, "This is gonna be fun, huh?"
He glared at her flatly, but it didn't dull her mood. He always liked her for that, never letting his bad behaviour get her down. It was a strange experience indeed for Logan, and somehow therapeutic. The young X-Men around him sang bus-trip songs, and although the youngest people there were old enough for college, he felt as if he were a teenager going to a football match or some such. Some part of him felt thankful to have experienced the moment of camaraderie and excitement. Rogue grinned and sang with her friends, clapping her hands and nudging the shoulders of her friends. Every now and again she'd smile at him and pat his knee or ruffle his hair. He liked it when she was happy.
They got to the Zoo about ten in the morning, and the small group of children weren't that hard to spot at all. They ranged from second or third grade to early high school, and a few of them sported either strange hair, strange skin, or both. Somehow someone thought this was an activity geared for mutants. Oh well - it all had to start some place.
The Zoo's chosen guide strolled out with a gait that screamed of culture. Messy brown curled hair topped his head, and large doe-like eyes regarded the X-Men with an unusual kindness. Logan could sense the sudden heart flutters radiating from the women in the group as the guide flashed a bright smile and rubbed his hands together.
"Good morning - you're the group for Meet a Mutant day?"
The women all exchanged glances as the well-spoken British accent hit them, and Xavier rolled forward, offering his hand to the man. "That we are. You would be Mr. Carter?"
Shaking the proffered hand, Mr. Carter nodded. "Yes - George Carter, but you can all call me Geordie."
Jubilee swooned, gaining a puzzled look from Geordie.
"Right, uh - children - can you come in close please?" Geordie motioned for the children to gather around, and he stood up on a nearby bench to gain their attention. "Right - thanks. Now, as you know, we're all here for Meet a Mutant Day. New York Zoo is glad to help Professor Xavier and his ongoing campaigns for Mutant Rights, and we hope that after today, you'll learn enough about the amazing people that we call 'Mutants' to form your own opinion on the issue. Now, we've made some work-sheets for you, that your Group Leaders will help you fill out."
Logan glared at Xavier. "Work-sheets? What damned work-sheets?!" He practically flinched when the voice of Xavier popped into his head.
~~Please Logan, be quiet for the moment.~~
Logan straightened indignantly and looked to Rogue. She was pulling her hair behind her ears, eyes wide as she watched the guide speak.
"These sheets tell you all about evolution, and how not only humans, but the other animals in the zoo, evolved to their current state. We hope you'll see that mutation is just a part of survival, and that none of us would exist without it. Okay - when you all came in you were given numbers - all those with number one - can you please go to that palm tree over there? Jubilation and Remy are your Group Leaders. Now where are Remy and Jubilation?"
With raised brows of awe, Jubilee stepped forward.
"I'm here," she croaked. Geordie smiled and pointed to the tall palm tree that Remy and the kids were already heading off to.
"Yeah - your kids - over there."
She gave a dizzy laugh and nodded, "Kay right - dude." She walked off after Remy, looking back to Kitty and Rogue, waggling a hand and mouthing 'Owch!'. The girls all looked very much in agreement. With an awkward blush, Geordie rubbed the side of his nose and looked back to the group.
Logan tuned out as Geordie wrangled the chattering kids, rubbing the dips in his knuckles with a dark scowl. A few of the children regarded him with wide eyes, turning away from him with what could only aptly be described as fear. He wasn't too put out though, poor Hank got the strangest looks of all. Hank however, had the grace of speech of John Forsythe, and the vocabulary of the entire reference sections of the books in every library of New York State combined. Any beastly misconceptions would be blown away the moment the guy opened his mouth.
Logan on the other hand, was very good at scaring children. Very very good. He glanced up to Jean and Scott, who looked like they were in heaven amongst the ambling children who smiled at them brightly. He could see the awe in the kids faces as they looked at Jean, and Scott garnered the adoring smiles and batting eyelashes of quite a few young girls.
"Erm - Mr. Logan?"
Logan glanced up, Geordie looking straight at him.
"Your children are waiting for you."
He grit his teeth at the man. "They ain't mine, Bub."
Geordie just smiled with good humour, "Quite - either way - they're waiting for you."
He nodded, loping over to a bunch of very young looking kids milling around Rogue, all about six or seven years old. There was one kid there that looked about 12, and he seemed as enthusiastic about the whole thing as Logan did. Logan stretched his neck in the late spring heat, wishing it wasn't so clingy. He glanced back to where he came from, spotting Geordie call Storm over to him. Aah, Storm was the odd one out, but apparently she was to take the kids around with Geordie. With a smirk Logan looked back to the group he was destined to be with. Rogue smiled to Logan, and lifted a gloved hand to him.
"Hey kids - this is Logan. He's my best friend, and he teaches sport. Say Good Morning to Logan."
"Goo-mowning Logan."
One little girl frowned, "How can he be your best friend? He's a boy and he's too old."
Logan fought the urge to grit his teeth, but Rogue just shrugged.
"Well he is. Now, Logan - this is Stephanie."
He tilted his head with a thin smile, "Hey Stephanie."
The little blonde imp smiled up at him with mismatched teeth and twinkling green eyes.
"And Ted..."
A little boy with short cropped brown hair and a slack-jawed gape blinked at him.
"And Jeremy," Rogue pointed to a blonde boy, "Sally, Ralph and - " She paused, smiling differently to the older boy than the rest, "Max."
The kid twitched a nostril at Logan with ill regard and looked away. Logan liked the kid already.
"Okay, shall we go to the lawn so we can get to know each other a little before starting our tour of the Zoo?"
The kids all nodded and squealed with delight, latching onto Rogue and trailing after her as they walked over to a nearby picnic lawn to begin the day. Logan couldn't help but be a little in awe at Rogue's easy repor with the children. The woman never failed to amaze him. He sat down next to her, the children gathering around them on the grass, young Max sitting a little further away than the other kids. Logan glanced to Max's hands, noting the thick gloves that covered them.
"Marie - what's your power?" asked Stephanie, sitting to attention in front of Rogue.
Rogue tipped her head, holding up her hand. "Well, it's not really a power. We don't call them that. Professor Xavier likes to call them 'gifts'."
Jeremy pouted. "Well - what's your gift?"
"I don't really have a useful one," she said, "My skin absorbs the memories and life energies of other people and animals."
Stephanie looked confused, "What's that mean?"
Logan frowned, but Rogue looked totally at ease with the situation.
"It means that I can't touch people," she said gently, "If I do, I hurt them."
"Z'at why you wear gloves?" said Jeremy.
Rogue nodded, pulling the gloves on tighter. "Yep."
Logan looked to Max. The boy was looking away, a distinct sadness in the young features.
"How about him?"
They pointed to Logan, as if he had no voice of his own. Logan lifted a hand.
"Logan - wait-"
He didn't wait. Without even a flinch he popped his claws on the hand, letting them gleam in the sunlight. The little girls screamed and recoiled, the boys shuddering and looking scared. Max smirked.
"Jeezsss-" Rogue clamped her eyes shut and sighed, "Logan! Ah told you to wait!"
Logan shrugged, "I'm showin' 'em my 'gift' Marie."
At that, he let the claws slide back in, and left his hands in a fist to demonstrate the almost instantaneous re-knitting of the flesh there. The little girls, previously revolted and terrified, tilted their heads with confusion at the perfectly healed hands. They glanced nearby as a flash of red pulled their attention. Logan looked just in time to see Cyclops burn a pencil in half, and Jean was making one hover in the air.
The children looked back to Logan.
Jeremy shook his head, "Woah..."
Rogue smiled, her gloved hands seeking out Logan's as she spoke to the children.
"What do you know about evolution?"
Stephanie frowned. "Evolution isn't real. Why are you rubbing his hands?"
Rogue blinked, looking to Logan (who smirked with something akin to triumph), to her hands (that were absently rubbing the dips in his knuckles) and then back to Stephanie.
"Er - first off - Evolution is real, and secondly - Logan's skin itches after it heals for a few minutes, so I like to rub it better."
Logan noted Rogue's gift for glossing over the needlessly traumatic. The truth was the skin there hurt like hell from all the cutting and healing going on, and her knuckle rubs were more than welcome, especially with the nice satin of the opera gloves she wore. Stephanie steepled her fingers and looked to Rogue most seriously.
"Can I ask a question Miss Marie?"
"Sure, Steph."
Stephanie nodded, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"
Rogue opened her mouth, feeling her voice die in her throat. Oh shit. Logan watched Rogue stumble with the subject matter, her mouth stammering.
"Erm - well - now that's not really why we're here Stephanie."
Stephanie opened her mouth, but was cut off by Logan clearing his throat. Logan's voice had weight in it as he spoke, as he'd stayed mostly quiet since he joined the group.
"Doesn't matter what ya believe in Stephanie," he said, staring at her gravely, "It's the here and now you gotta think about."
This seemed to disturb Stephanie a little bit. Rogue addressed Stephanie with a soft look on her face.
"Did your parents know what this tour was about, Stephanie?"
Stephanie nodded, "Oh yes. They wanted me to know about the mutants."
Logan narrowed an eye. "Why?"
Stephanie blinked at him like it was blatantly obvious.
"You're plagued by demons," she said, "That's why you're punished, and have those dark powers."
Logan rolled his eyes, and Rogue squeezed his hands to silence him.
"Now Stephanie, you know that there's a perfectly scientific explanation for our gifts," she said. "Logan's body is geared for healing. It heals very fast because he has a lot of the cells that help the body fix itself up. I can't touch people because the electricity in my body is different from everyone else's."
Stephanie looked confused, and Rogue sighed.
"Look, it's not important. I tell you what - you listen to me today, and all about evolution. After that, if you still think that your idea about demons being the cause of our powers is the more likely, then fine. You can believe that. But-" She glanced to Logan and smiled before looking back to Stephanie, "If you think that maybe the idea of evolution makes more sense - then perhaps you can read up on it when you get home?"
Stephanie looked uncertain, but Rogue pouted, batting her eyelashes at the girl.
"Please? For me?"
The girl sighed, pursing her lips. "Maybe. My Momma wanted you to have this picture of Jesus though..."
Rogue smiled patiently, "I'd love to have a picture of Jesus, Stephanie."
The little girl smiled, and dug through her bag. After a moment she pulled out a couple of trading-card sized pictures of the effeminate featured Messiah, brown curly hair tumbling around his perfect features, his face tilted in regard. She handed two of them to Rogue in chubby hands.
"One is for Mr. Logan, too."
Rogue smiled to Logan, then nodded. "Thank you Stephanie. Now - uh..." She tucked the pictures away and looked back to the group, "What do you guys know of evolution?"
The children mumbled and looked blank, and with tired eyes Max looked back to Rogue and shrugged. She sighed, and crossing her legs she pulled out the work-sheets.
"Let's read out what this work-sheet has to say huh?" She flapped open the folded work-sheet, clearing her throat primly, more for show than for function. Logan gave a lopsided smile. "Evolution is the slow change of a living organism over many thousands of years into a new and different kind of organism. Do we all know what an organism is?"
Ted put his hand up, "It's an animal, right?"
"Or a plant," nodded Rogue, "It's a living thing. Very good, Ted. The exact nature of evolution is still debated today, but the basic process is the same. It starts when two living things come together to make a baby - or what scientists call 'offspring'. Do you know what happens when that happens?"
A few of the children blushed and giggled, and Sally put her hand up.
"The lady gets fat!"
Rogue smiled and nodded, "Yeah, but that's after the very important moment that is responsible for a thing called 'mutation'. Now, when any two organisms bond to make offspring - they mix up some cells."
Ralph frowned, "What's a cell?"
Rogue swallowed, thinking a little. "Well - we're all made up of them. They're very tiny things that make up our body, and there are different kinds of them. There are cells for the skin, cells for your muscles, and you stomach, and your eyes and your heart and - this is very important," She lifted a finger and looked each child in the eye, "For making offspring."
A little understanding seemed to dawn on the children.
"Now, for the moment we'll talk about animals like us, that we call the mammals. Do you all know what a mammal is?"
"It's like my cat," said Ted sagely.
"Very good. We're mammals too. That's why we have hair, and why we breast feed our babies. Inside all the females of the mammals, there is an organ - an organ is like your heart or your stomach or your liver - there's an organ called the uterus."
"That's where the babies are made," said Stephanie.
"Exactly, well done, Steph," Rogue said, obviously pleased the girl was open to the experience of learning about evolution, "A part of the uterus is..." Rogue sighed, "I'll draw a picture for you." She dug around the small bag of activities she'd been given by Geordie and pulled out a black pen and a black drawing block. She scribbled down a vaguely 'Y' shaped blob, with two frilly ends with round ovals attached to them. She showed the group. "This - roughly - is inside all women. The baby grows here-" She pointed to the centre of the uterus, "Aaand the special cells that help make a baby are grown here -" She pointed to the ovals. "They're called ovaries. Now, when a baby is made, these cells bond with cells from a man."
Ralph raised a hand, "Where do they come from?"
Rogue looked to Logan, blushing a little, and Logan smirked.
"Go on, Dr. Quinn," he said, "Tell 'em all about it."
Rogue cleared her throat, narrowing her eyes a moment at Logan, "They come from the male sex organs."
Stephanie blushed, looking uncertainly at Sally.
"Um - they come from the testes," Rogue said, scribbling a vague drawing of a penis and testicles on the drawing pad, and poked at the testes, "Right there. When these cells come in contact with the special baby-making cells I told you about earlier, something really amazing happens." She flipped over the page eagerly to a new clean sheet, drawing two cells, "They begin to combine information on how to build cells. This information is in something called chromosomes. Sometimes, these little bundles of information organize themselves wrong, or they get muddled, and the information tells the cells to make the offspring different. As a result, the offspring comes out different from it's parents."
"Is that how mutants are made?" asked Ralph.
"Yes," nodded Rogue, "Such offspring are called 'mutants'. See, this has been happening to all animals and plants since life began on our earth. It's how we all changed from tiny cells in the water to the complicated animals we are today. Over each generation, things changed in the living things on earth, till they became what we know them as now. It's all got to do with something called 'natural selection'. It's based on the premise that the strongest animals survive to make more offspring. You all following me okay?"
The kids nodded back at her. Logan held up a hand.
"Oh uh - I think I'm a little unclear about what the testicles are for-" He broke into a snigger as Rogue scowled at him, slapping him playfully. Ted shook his head at Logan.
"You should have been listening!" he scolded. Rogue shook her head and sighed.
"Okay okay. So - we got changes in the special cells that make up the offspring - they're called sex cells - and these changes make the baby different from the mother. Then we have 'Natural Selection'. Now, sometimes when the offspring is different from the parent, it ends up that the offspring is changed in a way that it's easier for it to survive that the parent. Say, an animal was different from it's parent in the fact that it had stripes on it's fur, so it could hide in the grass better. It made more babies than the other animals, and so those babies were striped too. And those striped babies survived better than the other animals which bred with those babies, and all the animals eventually - after thousands of years - ended up with stripes too. From that, from an animal with no stripes, to an animal with stripes - a new kind of animal was created. That's evolution."
Jeremy frowned, "That's complicated."
Rogue laughed, nodding, "Yes it is - but it's the way we all began, Jeremy."
"And that's how mutants happened..." said Ralph.
"Yes," Rogue said, "What's happened with our kind of mutants - people like me - is still a bit of a mystery. See, it's supposed to take thousands of years for this change to happen, yet mutants like Logan and I have existed since the early 1900s. A lot of people are scared of mutants, because they think that we'll get rid of 'normal' human beings. These people haven't read many books - you know why?"
The children shook their heads.
"Well remember me telling you about those striped animals?"
Now they nodded.
"The animals that weren't striped didn't suddenly disappear, and it's not good for the survival of the animals for them to do that. They all made babies together, and the stripes were soon shared by all the animals of that kind. Human beings will survive, and it's been theorized that one day, all humans will have a mutant power of some kind, that it'll be normal."
Jeremy looked scared, "Do they have to have claws?"
Rogue smirked, "Well no. If we make sure Logan doesn't make any babies, then there won't be any with claws, no."
The children didn't really get the joke, except Max who smiled and tugged at the grass as his shoulders shook in a quiet chuckle.
Jubilee didn't like children, it was something everyone knew. There was a time when she would baby-sit for five bucks an hour, and she never wanted to relive those days again. Right now she was sure she was going to be one of the rare cases of 20 year olds dying from cardiac arrest.
"You're a BOOGERHEAD!" shouted one child, tumbling over another, and Remy LeBeau growled.
"You both be de boogerheads!" he said, pulling the kids apart, "Why you behave like dis?"
"Cause you suck," snarled one little kid. Remy looked to Jubilee.
"You think he be a long lost relative of Wolverine?"
Jubilee groaned, "Probably. We all know what a slut he is."
One girl looked up at Jubilee with wonder, "What's a slut?"
"That's RUDE!" gasped another child, and the little girl blushed.
"It's nothing, never mind - I taught you about evolution, you saw my damned powers now shut the hell up!"
The little girl's lips quivered, "You're mean..."
"No, I'm stressed," Jubilee said, "There's a difference." She looked to the worksheet in her hands and sighed. "Right - tigers. We're going to see the tigers. Up - all of you - up!"
Remy jumped to his feet and pulled Jubilee up after him, the two young boys at odds still nudging and scowling at each other.
"Ah swear," growled Remy, "If you two don' stop wid de t'eatrics I'm gonna throw you in wid de tah-gers m'self, eh?"
The two boys stared at him quietly.
"Don' make me bring out de aces, kids."
They quivered, remembering the dramatic display of his 'gift' and they nodded frantically.
"Yes Mr. LeBeau!"
Remy straightened, looking to Jubilee and waving an arm in front of him. "After you, mon chere."
She fluttered her eyes at him thankfully and sighed, "Right. Let's go."
The younger children milled about Rogue with intent enthusiasm, and Sally had a hold of Rogue's gloved hand, stroking it gently, sometimes leaning her head on it. He could see the care in the girl's movements, like she was sorry for Rogue's 'gift'. Sally had asked Rogue at length about it.
"Can you touch anyone at all?"
"Nope."
"Not even for a second?"
"No."
"Don't you miss it? Touching people?"
Rogue had looked sad that moment. "All the time."
Logan squeezed her shoulder then, sneaking a light kiss to the back of her head while the children were preoccupied with the seals throwing themselves about in their little sanctuary. He'd thought he'd been stealthy enough to not draw attention to the gesture, but as he turned he saw Max, leaning against the glass of the enclosure, narrowing his eyes at him. He could just hear Jubilee cooing 'busteeeed' in his mind. He had to stop finding himself around that woman, her bizarre behaviour was like a disease. He loped quietly behind Rogue as they moved on to the penguins, watching her bottom sway as the kids trailed behind her and cooed at the flipper-winged ornithoids dipping in and out of the water in the terrarium set up.
"Here's a good example of how evolution can change an animal. Penguins are birds, yet their feathers are smaller and oilier than that of birds that fly. They create a sheath to protect the fluffy, insulating downy feathers underneath."
Logan cocked a confused brow at Rogue. Since when the hell did she know so much about penguins?! Well - she was in college, and had passed all her classes in high school with flying colours - she was a smart little nickel. But still - penguins?! Rogue glanced up and saw the look on his face, and as she walked past on the way to the polar bears she smirked and said.
"I like penguins."
Go figure. He trailed behind the little group, and the only other person doing any trailing was Max. Logan was convinced of the severity of the kid's attitude, and curiosity bit at him as to what the hell was up this kid's ass. He loped next to Max, kicking the pebbled trail they were walking on.
"How bout you?"
Max glanced up with narrowed eyes. "Huh?"
"Penguins," he said, "You not listenin' to Marie?"
Max snorted, "I'm not as rapt about your girlfriend as you are dude."
Logan straightened. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Sure," he nodded slowly, "And those knuckles rubs are entirely necessary."
The attitude wasn't as quietly fascinating as it was before, and Logan scowled.
"Well you can shut up and come back to me when you've had a clear foot of adamantium embedded in your arm to pop out at the slightest loss of temper, eh?"
The boy grew quiet, eyes glued to the knuckles that were currently being discussed. He seemed curious, and clenching his jaw petulantly he gestured towards Logan's hands.
"How'd you get 'em?"
Logan glanced down to his hands a moment, rubbing them before stuffing them in his pockets.
"Dunno."
Max's brows twitched down. "Fine - don't tell me then."
Logan let the boy skulk ahead of him after that, wondering why the kid was such a bad tempered shit. People were generally shits for a reason. Logan's was the fact that he couldn't remember his life, bar twenty shithouse years on the road. That would be enough to make anyone want to tell the world to go get fucked, but a kid - what did they have to be angry about? They collected cheap crap toys, they watched bad television, and listened to even crappier music.
Suddenly the reasons for being such a bad tempered child were a little too numerous.
"I swear to fucking God, I'll never ever booby-trap the men's lockers in the gym with fish-oil pills ever again I swear I swear just don't make me go through this - please!!"
A little boy tugged on the girl's sleeve, whimpering. "I wanna see the snakes!"
Jubilee clenched her teeth, "I - KNOW. I don't."
Remy was in the toilets. The children wanted to see the snakes. Jubilee hated snakes with a passion ever since the one time she was forced to leave civilization for a camping trip, she stepped on one and killed it. It's guts burst from the sides before the thing had a change to hurt her, but the very sensation of those bones breaking and the squelching of the gizzards under her heel were enough to have her wretching all over again.
Little Timmy didn't seem to understand that. Jubilee paced back and forth, gritting her teeth with a fierce scowl. Suddenly, a flash of long brown trench-coat fluttered past the corner of her eyes, and turning she saw the man stride from the men's bathroom, hitching his pants. She glared at him.
"Did you wash your hands?"
He blinked at her, "Eh? O' course I did!"
Jubilee nodded, "Right - want you to set a good example for the children."
Remy scoffed with disbelief, grabbing a kid's hand and dragging them onwards.
"We go see de snakes," Remy said, "All of us, non?"
Jubilee shook her head thoroughly, "Non! I'm staying outside of that damned Snake House Mr. LeBeau!"
Remy spun on his heel, facing Jubilee with a straight look of no nonsense.
"T'ink about dis, ma chere," he muttered, voice curling softly around the accented words, "You stepped on de snake how long ago?"
Jubilee gulped, eyes locked to his moving lips that were only a couple of inches from her face.
"Ten."
"Ooh," he looked to the children around him, raising his brows and nodding at Jubilee while he pointed at her with a naked thumb, "Dix! Dix..." He clucked and shook his head, "Dese children - dey will no longer be afraid of de dark by dat time, ma petite. Hmmm? You don' have to be scared of de snakes anymore either."
Jubilee scowled, "I'm not SCARED of them - I'm disgusted by them!"
"Ya look scared to me!" announced one little boy who'd been a terrible thorn in Jubilee's side that day. Remy bent over, eyeing the boy with a smile and nodding.
"Ya know what I be thinkin' petit?"
The boy shook his head.
"I be thinkin' you're right-"
"Why you son of a-"
Remy frowned at Jubilee, clucking and putting a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder in front of him.
"D'ese are children, ma belle!"
Jubilee growled. Wonderful time to start playing the Good Baby-sitter.
"Now, don' you mind the chere, little one," he said, addressing the boy again, "She proud, non? Doesn't wanna admit she's scared. But it's okay..." He looked to all the kids, eying them meaningfully, "Bein' scared is smart. Bein' scared saves your life. Is how all dese animals live, eh? Ms. Lee live too - she's smart. But - she's lettin' dat fear dat made to protect her, to harm her." He stood up straight, meeting Jubilee's enraged glare, "Dat fear stop her from enjoyin' the day wit some cute kids."
A little girl next to Jubilee frowned up at her. "Why do you hate us so much?"
Jubilee's jaw dropped, and she immediately felt like an asshole. "I don't hate you... you just... you guys - you intimidate me."
"Wuz imnitedate mean?"
"In-tim-i-date," said Remy clearly through his mangled accent, "Is like - fear. She's probably scared you won't like her."
"I don't," said the little Wolverine-Clone, "She reminds me too much of my big sister."
Jubilee, after looking at the child with helplessly hurt eyes, sighed long. "Oh great." With a flap of her arms, she marched off on ahead, past the snake house, to a bench just past in on the path. Remy, with glinting red eyes, watched her go with a sigh. He looked down to the boy, shaking his head slowly.
"Dat not be de way to gettin' girls to like you, li'l one."
The boy shrugged, "I don't like girls anyway. Can we see the snakes now?"
Remy looked to the snake house, and spotted Jean and Cyclops leading their children in. With a press of his lips, Remy nodded, pulling the children along.
"Come on," he said, "Hurry."
"Why are we hurrying?!" cried the boy.
"Never you min'!" Remy said, bustling the children into the dark strange smelling room. The red-tinted glasses of Cyclops glinted in the light of the row of terrariums, and a perfect row of teeth in lush lips pulling to a smile greeted the Cajun.
"Hey... how're you handling the tykes?"
Remy groaned, "I be fine, mon ami, but Jubilee been havin' a few problems dealin' wit dem."
Jean, curling behind Scott to approach Remy, frowned.
"Really?"
Remy nodded, and Scott sighed.
"She's been fighting the 'little kid' image she's been slapped with for so long... maybe she's having trouble relating to the kids because of that?"
Jean shrugged, frowning, "Well, did anything happen to set any insecurities off?"
Remy just snorted.
"Man - dat little kid dere announced he didn't lahke her. And she refuses to come in here and I was an' idiot by tryin' to get her to."
Jean nodded, "Her aversion to snakes."
Cyclops looked to Jean, "She's scared of snakes?"
Jean shook her head, "No, not scared as such - disgusted. The very sight of them makes her want to vomit."
"Oh... she's scared..."
The telepath sighed. "Why is everything so black and white in the minds of men?" With that, she turned around, gathering the children towards the Tiger Snake cage. Remy fidgeted.
"So where is she now?"
"Outside," Remy said, "At the bench up the trail."
"She abandoned you?!"
Remy rolled his eyes.
"Non, non - she's jus' lettin' off some steam, mon ami. I was wonderin'..."
Scott tilted his head.
"Could you look out for the kids for jus' five secon's? I wanned to go make sure de chere be okay..."
"Sure Remy," nodded Scott, slapping a hand on his shoulder, "We'll bring them to you outside afterwards."
"Merci," Remy replied, bowing his head a little before sweeping out the door in a swirl of brown trench-coat.
The kids absolutely adored the gorillas. They pointed and cooed and thumped on the thick glass, squealing at them. Rogue had a lot of joy in telling little Stephanie that both Gorillas and people had common ancestors. Stephanie frowned.
"Does Mr. Logan have more dem ancestors than us?"
Logan merely glared at her, but Rogue smirked.
"Some would like to think so, Stephie."
Logan leaned in to Rogue as he walked past her to watch a mother gorilla with her baby, and whispered in her ear.
"You are so going to get it, missy."
Rogue giggled, kneeling down with Jeremy and listening to him explain to her exactly why his father must have been born from a gorilla himself. Logan sat down at the edge of the knee-high wall that lined the enclosure, the glass barring him from the rest of the rocky, leafy environment behind it. The mother and the baby behind the glass peered at him with something akin to curiosity, and the mother, with a black furry hand, padded at the class at him and cuddled her baby tight. Dear God, thought Logan, the gorilla is coming on to me...
"You know, that kid might be onto something about your ancestors."
Logan lifted a brow and looked behind him. "You askin' for a kick in the ass, kid?"
Max stood behind him, hands stuffed in pockets, eyes looking with mild amusement at the repor Logan had going with the female gorilla. The boy shrugged, pursing his lips with an wry smile.
"I doubt your boss Xavier would like that - ya know - you're supposed to be out here proving how well mutants and normal people get along, right?"
"He's not really my boss." Logan then tilted his head with a wince, eyeing Max, "What's with that 'normal people' shit anyway? Does Marie look abnormal to you?"
Max shrugged, "No. But we- you're - you're not normal."
Logan's glare never wavered. "What's normal?"
The brown eyes of the boy flecked with pain, and his lips twitched as he opened them, his words and voice too old, too filled with pain.
"It's what everybody else is - and you're not."
This only caused Logan to snicker, and leaning forward to the boy, he patted the boy's cheek with the back of his hand in a rough brotherly gesture.
"There's more of us than you know, kid."
Max flinched, scowled, and stalked off to the other side of the group. At this, Logan gave a triumphant smirk, till Max looked back to him.
Ohhh Logan, he thought, You really are an asshole.
Alienating the poor sod was not going to solve anything, he thought, and when they moved onto the chimpanzee enclosure, Logan pulled Marie to a side.
"Rogue, I'm a little concerned about that Max kid..."
Glancing to Max, Marie smiled brightly.
"Why Logan! We're not gettin' all paternal now, are we?"
He tilted his head with a simper, "Marie..."
With the use of her real name, Marie quickly caught that he was serious. She sighed, nodding.
"Raght, raght, I'm sorry. So - what has you so concerned?"
"I dunno," he shrugged, "First off - the attitude is all wrong."
Rogue nodded with a mockingly serious pout, "Oh yes... can't have someone else being a bad-ass around Mr. Logan."
"Marie..."
She sniggered again, nuzzling his sleeved arm as she laughed helplessly.
"Second - I think he's having some problems with this mutant deal."
She looked up, her laughter calming and she swallowed the last of her chuckles down. "Okay - okay. Look - why don't you try to talk to him a little more, hmm? He seems to like talking to you."
"He hates talking to me, what are you talkin' about?"
Marie smirked, "Well he hasn't said two words to anyone but you - so it looks like you're the one he likes the best."
Logan sighed, "Oh great."
Remy approached Jubilee with his usual poised cat-like gait, hands in pockets, eyes locked on his target. Jubilee, knees brought up to her chest as she sat on the bench, scowled and looked away, shuffling down the bench as Remy drew near. He lowered himself down onto the bench, the scent of civilization, of a woman, lifting from her as a breeze whipped past. It was soap, and perfume (of the slightly fruity variety, with just a hint of vanilla, not that Remy could really tell as his knowledge of girl's perfume wasn't that extensive) and the residual catch of sweet smelling washing powder on her fluffy yellow jacket. It contrasted to the whiffs of animal manure and rotting peat that permeated through out the Zoo, of caged animals and decomposing leaves.
"You bein' okay petite?"
She didn't look at him.
"Do I look okay?"
"Non," he said evenly, "And dis concerns me."
She glanced to him, tilting a brow down. "Pfft. Whad'you care?"
Remy blinked, obviously hurt.
"Jubilee, Ah care," he said, "Not only are we comrades, we be friends eh? I care much for you and I only wish you to be happy. I can see dat dis ting wi'd de snakes be upsettin' you."
She shuddered at the mention of the word 'snake', the red of tears rimming her eyes. "It's not just the snakes..."
"Eh?"
She sighed, rolling her eyes, "The kids hate me. Kids never used to hate me. They used to love me, cause-"
"Cause you be one of d'em eh?"
She nodded. "I guess - I guess I feel a little lost. Cause I'm not a kid anymore and yet - the team-"
Remy sighed, stretching an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her.
"It be hard, gettin' past d'at age, ma chere," he said, "An' you got de kin' of soul d'at never grows old, eh? You be always doin' yo' thing, and suddenly yo thing ain't fittin' in anywhere. Ah, I understand."
She frowned at him, wiping at a rogue tear, "What? You? Everyone thinks you're hot shit!"
He slouched at the bench, relaxing into the half embrace, "Oui, but bein' a thief don' always get you friends."
"Oh..."
"'Xactly."
She leant on his shoulder, sighing and nuzzling momentarily, "Thanks Remy."
"Is nothin'," he said, "Look - de team will accept you eventually. D'ey know you be good at being a player, oui? You jus' need the opportunity to prove yourself."
Jubilee scoffed, cradling her head in a hand, "Yeah well it won't be today."
"Ah, maybe you might surprise yourself eh?"
Jubilee smiled again, letting him plant a kiss on the top of her head, leaning into the caress.
"You know, you're not such a bad guy when you forget about yourself," she said dryly.
Remy grinned, a charming curl in his lips, "Sure, jus' don' be spreadin' de news eh? I be havin' even more girls all over me."
"Oh GOD!" Jubilee thwacked him in the chest, "I gotta learn to keep my mouth shut!!" She quietened from her giggling when she saw a serious look fall on Remy's face.
"Jubilee..."
She swallowed, "Yeah?"
"Come into de snake house wit' me. See dat dey cannot hurt you anymore."
She shuddered, cradling her hands between her knees. "I- I can't."
He slid a hand into hers, clutching it tightly, meeting her obsidian orbs with his own ruby ones.
"You can," he said, "I believe dis of you."
She sighed, hiding her face in her hands again. Her voice was tiny when she murmured.
"Remy... I'm scared."
The arms were around her once more, holding her tight, the velvet voice of deep masculine tones soothing her ears.
"Ah'll be dere for you chere."
She sighed, eyes falling shut. "Okay."
He pulled her up to her feet, his arms cradling her gently. "You don' have to be scared, you big tough Jubilee, 'kay?"
She nodded, breathing raggedly, "Big tough Jubilee."
They grew close to the entrance of the snake-house, the musty smell of air-conditioners and old carpet and terrariums overwhelming her. She breathed tighter, whimpering.
"OhmyGod-ohMyGod!" She buried her face into Remy's neck, shuddering all over.
"Cooome on," Remy mumbled, "You can do it."
"I'm scared," she whispered over and over, "I'm scared, I'm scared!"
He stopped her, tilting her head up and meeting her eyes. "Non. You NOT scared, Jubilee. You don' feel scared at all."
Her body shook under the stillness his hands brought to her face, and she let him turn her around, leading her in. The very smell of the terrariums looming around the corner reminded her of the smell of the leaf litter of the forest floor. The reptile aroma that was strange and musty like a ten foot mouse, with a disgusting tangy curl to the end of it. It was such a tiny whiff, but it was enough to get her stomach churning. Then, the black of the wall blocking the light from outside drew back, and the long row of branch and leaf-filled tanks faced her. She clutched the body in her arms, burying her face into the chest.
"Oh God - I'm gonna puke..."
"Shh-shh... it'll be okay, petite."
"No, it's not," she said, shaking her head, "I can feel it Remy, I can FEEL it!"
"Feel what?"
She looked up to him, meeting the soft glint of his eyes in the diffuse light of the tanks, "The belly of the snake - under my foot."
"Is all in your head, chere," he said, "Come on..."
Cyclops lifted his head at the sound of Remy's voice, a smile spreading across his face.
"Hey Jubes."
She glared at Scott, shaking her head dourly, "Can't talk. Might puke."
Remy sighed, rubbing the upper of her arms as he lead her to the python exhibit.
"Oh God," she groaned, "It's so gross... it's revolting... slimy looking."
"Is not slimy," said Remy, "Dry as a bone."
She looked at him, "How'd'you know that?"
"I knew a man in Orleans who kept one e' dese."
Jubilee screwed her face up, "What kind of psycho keeps a fucking snake?"
One of the children behind Jubilee gasped, and she clenched her eyes shut.
"Ohh, he own aeh um - exotic pet store. Provided de dude I used to work for wit a few em," He lowered his voice, eyes darting about, "You know, a few slightly more dangerous species, for certain purposes but I say no more than dis."
Jubilee narrowed her eyes at him, "Sure - like HE'S a good character witness for the snake species!"
Remy shrugged, "Fine - that little story didn' work as well as I hoped."
Jean strolled over, a cool smile on her features, "You know, they're going to bring the python out in a few minutes so the children can touch it. Perhaps-"
Jubilee was already lurching towards the door, being sprung back over and over by Remy's hand at her collar. He shook his head, pouting with disapproval.
"Tch tch," he tisked, "Come now, petite, dis bein' de perfect opportunity for you!"
"No!" She shook her head, "No - I swear the python will NOT like my vomit all over him!"
For the next few minutes Remy guided her along the row of tanks, soothing her with low tones, rubbing her back when she cowered into his chest. He'd seen this girl face off bad guys twice her size, and yet an encased snake had her shuddering all over like a autumn leaf. She gripped Remy's collar, gazing up at him with fear.
"Remy..."
He pulled his gaze away from the tiger snake exhibit, "Hmm?"
"Don't make me do this! Please!"
He sighed, "Look, I am not makin' you stay here, but you walk out that door an' you let this fear defeat you."
She whimpered, moving to wriggle out of his arms, "Okay - I'm defeated!"
The arms around her wouldn't budge and she found herself convincingly trapped. She glared up at Remy with something akin to betrayal.
"Hey! I thought you said-"
He shrugged, "I changed my mind. I'm not lettin' you wimp out on dis."
She howled in his arms, the little kids around her looking up in fear.
"Pleaaase don't!" she whimpered again, her hands running over his neck, his lips, her eyes begging him, "Please? Please?" She tiptoed, batting her eyes at him, "Please let me go please I swear I'll do anything - jus- Don't make me touch it!"
Jean covered her mouth, looking away as her shoulders shook slightly with laughter, and Scott, with a smirk, nudged her.
"Jean!"
"I'm sorry," she breathed, "I couldn't help it! I just wouldn't want to be blind and listening to their conversation, is all."
Scott shook his head with a smile.
Remy stood firm, eyeing her, not moving, his arms wrapped around her tighter than the animal that would be brought out to meet the children in a few moments. She felt tears prick her eyes.
"Are you doing this to torture me?! Humiliate me?!"
He rolled his eyes, "Ah'm doin' dis to help you!"
It was then the lights of the enclosure lifted, and a side door opened magically from the seemingly green felt covered walls. A man stepped out, middle-aged with scruffy black hair, solid hands and a tawny uniform touting the crest of the New York Zoo.
"Hey everybody!"
The children all cooed and cried out with glee, at which point Jubilee let out a sharp whine and buried herself in Remy's trench-coat, shaking violently.
"No! I'm not coming out I'm not!"
Remy lifted his eyes to the ceiling, sighing patiently as the zoo employee rubbed his hands at the children.
"Who's ready to meet Tessa?"
"Who's Tessa?" called out a little voice.
"Tessa is New York Zoo's own six foot carpet python!"
A cry of terror struck out from Remy's bulging trench-coat. The Cajun swallowed uncomfortably, shepherding the hiding girl forward towards the attendant talking to the children. He poked the lump that was Jubilee wearily.
"Come on now, Jube, dis is ridiculous!"
"I'm not coming out!"
"Well you have to - you - bumping t'ings aroun' down dere."
"I'd rather face your snake than that snake!" she cried.
With a long suffering growl, Remy LeBeau grabbed the wriggling Jubilee, pulling her out from underneath his trench-coat and presenting her to the attendant, still shuddering and whimpering and sobbing. The attendant looked to Remy expectantly.
"Hello Sir - is there a problem?"
"Oui," Remy nodded, "She be terrified of snakes!"
A long smile broke out on the attendant's face and he nodded, "Aaah! Ophidiophobia!"
Jubilee gave a spasm as she scowled at the attendant with distaste. "Yeah -speekee englay?"
"Oh, Ophidiophobia means fear of snakes - literally snake-phobia," the man smiled, who's name tag said 'Aaron'.
"Yeah I got that," she said, "Therefore I want outsie!"
"Ohhh," Aaron shook his head, "I promise you Tessa is not poisonous, she can't hurt you. I've been working with snakes all my life, so you're in good hands, okay?"
Jubilee nodded, then shook her head, "Look buddy, I'm shitting myself here!"
Aaron laughed good naturedly, "Sure. Tess is as sweet as candy, miss, she loves the children."
"For dinner," mumbled Jubilee.
He ducked inside the doorway, his shorts-clad behind sticking out for a few minutes. Children stretched their necks, anxious to see the star attraction, where-as Jubilee was clawing her way under Remy's trench-coat again.
"Petite! Non!" he hissed, pulling closed his coat, "Stop dis!"
Cyclops shook his head, leaning to Jean and whispering, "It's the first time I've ever seen Remy try to get a girl OUT from under his clothes before..."
Jean tilted her head and tutted, "Will wonders ever cease?"
"Apparently not," sniggered Scott.
Remy pried the girl around to face the snake handler, her smaller body still half draped in his coat. He was stronger than she thought, and despite her writhing she found it impossible to escape his grip. Aaron turned about with the huge snake draped in his arms, striped and mottled a golden yellow and a deep ruddy brown.
"The Carpet Python hails all the way from Australia-"
"Oh DEAR GOD!"
"And-"
"It's REVOLTING!"
Jubilee was twisting and blubbering, Remy's arms pressed about her, clamping her to his body.
Aaron seemed totally at ease with Jubilee's outbursts, and he watched as Tessa slithered all over his arms, "Tessa doesn't eat people. The biggest thing she'll eat is a bird or a rat."
"Does she bite?" asked one child.
"No," said Aaron, "They have no poison. They kill their prey by wrapping about them very tightly so they can't move, and can't breath. Kind of like what this young man is doing to our ophidiophobic friend here."
Jubilee whimpered, feeling the humiliation seep into her bones as the children laughed, as Jean giggled and tried to hide it, as Cyclops was smirking behind his visor. The only one NOT laughing was Remy, and that was because he was taking a fair battering in her struggles. Her hands grabbed at thighs behind them, fear gripping her tight.
"I'm so scared, Remy!" she breathed, "Please don't make me do this!"
"Shh, you can do dis."
She gulped, the snake handler meeting her terrified gaze after throwing a few more bits of trivia about the snake in his arms to the children.
"Would you like to pet Tess?"
Jubilee tilted her head shakily, "No... but - I'm-" She clenched her eyes shut, "I'm going to..." She looked up to Remy behind her, "Hold my hand!"
He nodded with a small smile, dipping his head to the nape of her neck and letting his hand slide down to hers. The other hand held her wrist as she lifted the shaking hand up, pale fingers quivering in the space between her and the snake entwined around Aaron's arm. She reached forward, breaths catching, tears welling in her eyes.
"Oh God..." She squinted, licking her lips, "Remy I'm so scared..."
"Is okay," he mumbled into her ear, "I believe you can do it."
She clenched her teeth, "Oh GOD!"
At that, she let her hands touch the cool body - it was a BODY! Muscles shifted and moved underneath her fingertips, and it was dry - he was right - it was dry. Tears spilled down her face as the head of the snake curled around, flicking it's tongue out at her skin. She looked to Aaron in alarm but he merely smiled.
"She's smelling you," he said, "You're someone new. She likes being handled though, loves meeting new people."
"How the hell does she know?" Jubilee said, fear wavering in her tones, "She's a snake."
"She's a hunter," Aaron said proudly, "They need to be clever."
She gulped, looking down to where her hand roamed over the shifting flesh encased in the tiles of hard horny scales. Those scales - they were huge. Tessa lifted her head, up from her fingertips, and for the first time Jubilee met the eyes of the animal under her touch. The cool regard in the round patterned orbs struck both fear and awe in her in a moment, the discordant combination slamming open her mind. The muzzle of the snake looked almost -dog-like, and the upturned top lip was constantly flickered at by dark-toned forked tongue. She swore... in that face was curiosity!
"She's-" Jubilee pulled back a sob, "She's - cute!"
A teary laugh fell through her, and Remy grinned, hugging her tightly.
"Aaah!" he growled happily, "D'as MA CHERE!"
Aaron smiled, "So you still scared of her?"
Jubilee tilted her head, "Well - kinda..." She ran her hands over the long sliding body that moved to explore the reaching hands of the children, "I respect her... healthy respect. I don't want to do this again any time soon though..."
Remy hugged her again, swinging her a little, "Ah'm ver' proud of you, Jubilee. Very very proud."
She looked up at him, turning away from the snake, teary eyes batting, "I don't - I don't know what to say... I mean-"
"Pssht!" He pressed a finger to her lips and stood straight, turning her around, "Friends - they do dis for each other non? Help out - help wit de fears. Is like a gift."
Toeing the ground, Jubilee looked up to him under lash-hooded eyes, "Yeah well... what you did was still pretty amazing. I didn't know you could be like this."
"Like what?"
Jubilee gave a wry smirk and punched him playfully in the shoulder, "You know. Decent."
"I knew you could be brave, chere. I'm glad you proved me right."
"Me too," Jubilee smiled brightly.
Remy re-adjusted his mussed up coat, glancing to the children cooing at the snake, "Come on den - we show dese kids more animals eh?"
"Ooh!" Jubilee jumped up and down, "Yeah! Next we can go see the spiders!"
Remy gulped, "Spiders?"
Lunch time came very quickly, and as planned the groups met together at the small playground near the throng of food vendors, selling everything from chinese dishes, lebanese kebabs, to the ever popular mexican cuisine. The children lined up at the carts, the teachers lazing on the stretch of grass that was the main picnic area, which was centred with an elaborate playground in the theme of wild animals.
Kitty, Jubilee and Rogue sat in a row on a bench next to the climbing equipment, Rogue with a fried chicken roll and fries, Kitty with a few interesting smelling kebabs and Jubes with a plate overloaded with a couple of small-sized burritos.
"I swear," Jubilee muttered around a mouthful of cheese and bean paste, "The guy was a fucking hero. He marched me in there and MADE me touch that damned snake!"
Kitty shook her head, "Wow. I didn't think Remy had it in him to be so-"
"Charming?" sighed Rogue.
"Devoted?" mused Jubilee.
Kitty shook her head again, "Caring!"
Jubes snorted and rolled her eyes, "He reminded me that's why he was doing it about a thousand damned times!"
Rogue grinned, "OOooh... methinks the Cajun has a bit of a soft spot for ol' Jubie here non?"
"Ohhh," the eurasian groaned, "Now you stop that, Rogue or I swear I'll kick your ass!"
Rogue snickered, "Ya know Ah'd be the last one standing, girly!"
Jubes narrowed her eyes, "Not MY fault I don't have superman whammy!"
Rogue grinned and shrugged, "Ye get what ya get, baby."
Kitty tilted her head, eyes set on the hulking shape of Logan sitting apart from the table of older X-Men, biting into a paper wrapped burrito. "He's pouty today."
Rogue glanced up, snorting, "Yeah he's always pouty."
"Yeah but he's - " Kitty tilted her head the other way and pursed her lips, "Extra pouty."
Rogue looked up at the man again, staring at him for a longer moment. Yes, he had been quiet most of the morning, since their little talk in the chimpanzee enclosure. She pressed her lips together in deep thought.
"He's worried about the older kid in our group - Max."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," nodded Rogue, curiosity in her features, "It's weird... seeing him get all tetchy over a kid like this."
"He got mucho tetchy over you, amiga," said Jubes, apparently affected by the burrito in her hands. Rogue just groaned at her.
"Fer gawds sakes, I was a good 17 years old when he picked me up - I was hardly a youngin'!"
"Youngin' enough," said Jubes.
The southern girl sighed, giving up. She wasn't sure why she was denying the idea that Logan may have been hankering to get the young boy under his wing, just something about the scenario disturbed her. Kitty was watching the boy eat his lunch alone, a definite dejected air to his composure.
"What's with the kid's gloves anyway?"
Rogue tilted her head. "Maybe he can't touch people either."
"God you'd hope not," said Jubes, "I mean - I'm sorry Rogue - but it'd suck."
"Oh I'm with you," Rogue said, "And it does suck."
Kitty nodded.
With a press of her lips, Rogue gave a determinate jut of her bottom lip.
"Ah'm goin' to talk to Logan."
Jubilee glanced to her watch and tapped it, "She talked to us for an amazing ten minutes today before disappearing with Monkey-Man!"
Kitty nodded, "Kay - you get the five bucks but dude - you owe me if they don't make out in the back of the bus by the end of the day."
"Deal!" said the eurasian, slapping a hand into Kitty's.
She strolled over to him lazily, sending him a long smile as he glanced up guardedly. Only after seeing who approached him did he relax, stiff shoulders slacking a little, and with some aggression he bit into his perfectly innocent burrito. His eyes darted up as the girl sank down next to him, her shoulders nudging his with affection.
"Hey shoog."
"Hey."
She pouted at his low dreary tone, and she nudged him again, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Wassa madder?"
He glanced at her briefly before looking back to his burrito. "Nothin'."
Rogue rolled her eyes.
"Pffft. Logan, you're forgettin' who ya talkin' to."
Glancing to her again, looking a little more annoyed this time, he huffed.
"Guess so."
He tried to ignore her tipping her head down and looking up at him, her body snug against his as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
"Come ooon," she cooed, "Tell Rogie wha's wrong."
Her pout and her affection and (bravely wandering) hands were all geared for one thing and he knew it very well. She was trying to get him to spill. Pressing his lips together determinately, he wondered why, when he knew what she was doing, she still got what she wanted out of him. He shrugged, talking around a mouthful of cheese and fried beans.
"I was a smart-ass to that kid Max earlier," he said, "Feel like a real asshole."
Rogue snorted, "You are a real asshole - why let it get to you now?"
Logan's hazel eyes dashed up towards the boy sitting alone on a bench, munching half-heartedly on a hamburger.
"I know that kid. Ya know?"
"No."
This surprised Logan, and he met her gaze.
"That attitude, that bug up his ass - I've felt it before."
"Ohh," Rogue nodded, "And you wanna help him?"
"Pfft!" Logan flapped an arm, "I'm a selfish prick - when do I help people-"
"Now you're just feeling sorry for yaself."
Logan's brows dipped down, "I am not!"
"Y'are," frowned Rogue back at him. "For Christ's sake, Logan - if you can help someone, if you think you know how - do it! It's not unmanly or whatever! Scott does it, Remy does it!"
"Oh yeah," Logan droned, "I look up to them big time. Uhuh."
"Logan," she groaned, "Grow up."
His eyes darted to hers, and shame sprung inside of him.
"Max obviously has some problems, and it's not some shameful thing to sit down with the kid and nut them out with him."
Digging into the ground with a bare claw, Logan nodded, "Right."
Rogue noticed his childlike destruction of the lawn underneath him, and tipping her head she groaned again.
"Logan - don't do that - you'll give yourself tetanus."
He shrugged, "I can't get sick - I heal too fast."
Grabbing a napkin off of the table of X-Men behind them, she wiped at the claw before she let him put it back in. A frown grew on her face and she pointed at him firmly.
"No more digging with your claws!" she tutted.
Logan smirked, "Sorry Ma."
"Ooh!" She thwapped him one.
"Ow!"
"Serves ya right!" she said, dusting off her behind as she stood up. Logan's grin fell as she began to walk off.
"Hey!!"
She looked back to him.
"Where ya going?!"
With a smile sliding on to her face, she said, "Lettin' you get on with helpin' Max."
Logan nearly howled. Surely Professor Xavier was better equipped for a job like this. Finishing off his burrito in a final savage bite, he threw the paper scraps into the bin (for he was never one to be a litter-bug) and got to his feet.
"Logan!"
He turned at the sound of the Weather Goddess' voice behind him at the lunch table, the woman smiling brightly behind a rather fashionable looking pair of black horn-rimmed sunglasses.
"You going to join us for a coffee or not?"
A regretful noise rumbled in his throat and he shook his head.
"Nah - gonna get to some business. Maybe later."
Storm shrugged, "Okay."
Her look was one of amusement as Logan strode off towards the playground, around it, to a bench with a lonesome long-haired boy on the other side.
"Is it me or is he getting stranger the longer he stays with us?"
Scott gave a wry grin and bit into a hamburger, "No I think we're all getting stranger, 'Ro."
"Five years of Jubilee as a student is enough to make anyone strange," said Jean, eyeing her own burger.
"Oh yes," Storm agreed, "Fantastic student, but a little to eager for the games. I didn't quite know how to answer her question of 'What did Napoleon put his hand in when he wasn't wearin' his coat?'."
Scott's lips spread in a grin, "I remember that!"
"Though I do believe she said it with a few more 'grody's and 'dude's."
"I'd say so," nodded Jean. It was then Scott sighed most dramatically.
"I miss having Jubilee as a student."
Meeting each other's gazes, Storm and Jean nodded.
"Me too," said the Weather Goddess.
"She's far more dangerous as a team member," Jean said with a smirk, "The pranks do a lot more damage."
The fearless leader nodded knowingly, "I still can't get the smell of fish oil out of my tracksuit pants."
Max barely twitched as the heavy weight of Logan plomped down on the bench next to him. He merely concentrated on the hamburger in his hands, and the terrible cheese that was put in it. The boring niggling itch that was Logan's eyes staring dead at him was by far too annoying to ignore, and Max scowled at him.
"You some kind of kid-lovin' freak?"
Logan snorted, "Some think so."
Max's eyes widened a little and Logan shook his head.
"Sorry Kid, in-joke you wouldn't get. Wanna talk?"
Max looked back to the playing children on the climbing frame the bench was set in front of, loathing in his features.
"Not particularly."
Shrugging, Logan leaned into the bench and stretched out his legs, crossing them lazily.
"Fine, then we'll sit."
The child next to him practically bristled, the still gloved hands gripping the burger in them.
"Don't you have a ridiculously under-aged girlfriend to go chase?"
Logan lifted a brow. "First off, she's in college, second - she's not my girlfriend, third, I'm not chasing her, fourth, it's none of your God-damned business."
"No fifth?" muttered Max.
"Actually there is." Logan sat up, and as he leant over to Max, the young boy shrank away. He reached out for a glove, but Max recoiled, shifting down the bench.
"Don't!" he said, trying to underplay the flinching he'd done, pulling the gloves on tighter, "Don't..."
Logan leant back, giving the kid his room. "Somethin' under there you don't want anybody to see?"
Max's eyes glinted with fear, anger. He pressed his lips together, swallowing shakily.
"No, just - just fuck off all right? Lemme alone!"
Grabbing his hamburger, the young boy jumped to his feet, striding off across the play-area.
"Be at the parrot exhibit in half an hour, KID!" called Logan.
Max promptly flipped him the bird.
Logan let a long groan fall through him, and he leant back in the bench, sliding his hands over his face and giving a long sigh. Shit. He'd fucked up royally. With a capital R. God, why did he think he could communicate with the kid? It was a miracle he could make peace with himself half the time, why on earth anyone thought he'd be able to get through to the little shit storming across the playground was beyond him.
It was at that moment that slender digits dug into his shoulder. Even as his face was covered by his hands, he could smell the beguiling curl of strawberries and musk, the slip of satin against his neck.
"What the hell am I doing?" he groaned.
"Doin' some good," came the honey-thick voice behind him, "What happened?"
Pulling his hands away, he looked up at Marie behind him. As she looked down her mahogany and champaigne locks tumbled around her angelic features.
"I fucked up," he said, leaning his head back against Marie's arms, "And he told me to fuck off."
Rogue sucked in a hiss, wincing, and with a pat of his shoulders she curled around the bench and plopped down next to him.
"Charmin'," she said.
"Oh yeah," Logan agreed, "Didn't help that I was about as subtle as a road accident."
"Well we both know that subtlety ain't your strong point," she said with a sympathetic smile. Her eyes looked over his chest, and with a pat of his arm she scooted up to him, "Come on... move up there."
He lifted his arm with a muted smile, trying to forget that he was in an incredibly public place and that Rogue was acting like they did when they were just lounging around the school grounds. He gave an uncertain rumble.
"Marie..."
"What?" she asked, snuggled to his chest.
"There're people around."
She laughed, "Yeah so what?"
He shrugged, figuring that the day was just perfect for Logan humiliation. He looked down to Marie. As he did, she glanced up to him, smiling, eyes that deep brown that had some part of him whimpering for his mommy.
"There's a bet going..."
He cocked a brow, "Yeah? What's that?"
Rogue gave a cheeky grin, gazing out at the playing children. "Remy and Jubes at the back of the bus on the way home."
"Hmm... Gumbo and Ms. Fourth of July eh?"
Rogue just smirked.
He shrugged, "What the heck - I'm in for five."
"That's the spirit!" Rogue grinned, slapping his chest, "Really gettin' into the whole 'Excursion to the Zoo' experience!"
"Yeaaah," he growled, "Right along with buying a bag of zoo-poo for Storm's herb garden and ducking the rotten vegetable being thrown at you by the orang-utans."
"Well Jubilee threw a few back of her own."
Logan shook his head, "I don't think 'Bessie' was expectin' Gumbo to lob her a fizzer."
Laughter erupted from Rogue, the girl curling her legs up and clapping her hands.
"I never thought I'd live to see an ape shit themselves!"
Logan just smirked, "I got more fun out of watching Gambit get lectured by the zoo attendant."
Rogue giggled, "Well he shouldn't have tried to feed 'em explosives!"
Finally, a smile cracked on Logan's features. It was only a brief flash of one, as Logan looked out at the children it faded, guilt dragging it to a pout.
"Somethin's up with that kid, Rogue," he said. "He wouldn't take off the gloves..." He shook his head, picking at the seam of his jeans, "He needs real help, Kid. More than he's gonna get from me."
He felt the smaller but stronger arm of the woman next to him squeeze, her voice gentle as she spoke.
"If you really think that he needs help, at the end of the day you should mention it to the Professor. Till then, I think you should keep tryin'. Show him you give a shit."
Logan scoffed, "The kid knows I give a shit, I just don't think he cares."
"If he knows, he cares," Rogue said, pulling his face around to meet her firm stare, "'Kay?"
Her expression was bright, full of optimism, and he'd be damned if it wasn't catching.
"Kay," he said, nodding, and she patted his shoulder.
"Good man. We got fifteen minutes till we gotta take the kids to the parrot exhibit."
Sucking in a long breath of air wafting of animal poo and dough-nuts, Logan nodded.
"Wanna go for a walk?"
Logan looked to Rogue, her frame curled up against his, and he shook his head.
"Nah. I say we sit for a while. Plenty a' time for walkin' today."
Rogue smiled and settled to his shoulder, watching the children play. A determination was bolstered within him at the eyes of the girl in his arms, and he knew that if the Max kid was in trouble, or needed help, he'd get it. Whether he wanted it or not.
The parrot enclosure was an expansive greenhouse with double sets of spring-loaded doors set in entrance enclosures to keep the birds from escaping, an oriental style wooden bridge path winding through the great thing and leading to a door to the other side. Logan had never really thought about parrots before. In his nearly twenty years of remembered time on the earth, parrots were just not something he encountered. They had no real place in backwater Canada, and as such the shrill brightly coloured creatures and he had never crossed paths.
Oh, how he wished that he could still say the same.
Marie herded the children into the first door. "Come on - hurry - no! No Ted don't open that door not yet! We gotta close this first door first!"
Logan jumped forward to stop the kid, and turning to look back, he frowned. "Where's Max?"
"Here."
He turned, and Max leant against the mesh-covered wall with his ever present petulant scowl.
"Glad you could make it," Logan droned, and once the last of the children were in and the door was closed behind them, "Get in there."
Pushing himself off the wall with a roll of his shoulders, Max growled. Not just any general grunt of aggression - it was a fully guttural, tongue rattling growl that sent the few birds close enough to the entry cage into the air with a flutter of wings and screeches. It was the sort of thing that Logan often did without thinking, making Marie smile and usually any surrounding women shudder. The deep savage noise from the gawky young Max however earned a sweeping look from Rogue, confusion denting her brow, and a wide-eyed glare from each of the little children. Logan was impressed.
Max, however, obviously wasn't. His face went a deep mottled red, and he barged his way past the children and Rogue, racing into the parrot enclosure before them.
Marie sent a blank look to Logan.
He spluttered, "What?!"
"What did you do?"
He shrugged with open hands, "I didn't do anything - I told him to get inside!"
She rolled her eyes, pushing the children in, "Get in there an' find him you great monkey's ass."
With a suffering moan, Logan pushed the heavy spring-loaded door open, little children racing in past him, Marie taking her time to stride through. Letting the door swing close, he sauntered onwards into the thick of the greenery. It was at this point that an explosion of feathers and claws decided to acquaint itself with Logan's head.
From the towering palms about them, green, red and blue bodies launched themselves down at him, frenzied screeches rattling Logan's nerves. He fought not to pop his claws and crouched instead, batting off wildly nipping birds.
"What the fuck!?"
Two hands grabbed his, and an english voice muttered at him.
"You're scaring them, Mr. Logan."
He looked up to see an unimpressed Geordie Carter dragging him towards the exit.
"I didn't do anything!" Logan practically howled.
"No, you didn't have to," Geordie said, pushing a very stunned Logan into the exit enclosure. Once the chaos of panicking birds was shut off behind them, Geordie sighed. "I'm very sorry about that. The birds get very frightened when in an enclosed space like that with a predator."
Logan frowned with confusion, "I'm no damned predator."
Geordie smiled patiently, "Er... it's complicated. It's your mutation you see."
"Huh?"
"Your mutation... it emulates the predatory functions and instincts of most hunting animals yes?"
Logan felt a slow dawning on him and he sighed darkly, "Yeah..."
"Yes well... the birds know that - they sense it Mr. Logan - as they just did with young Max here."
Logan swung around. On a bench lining the exit enclosure, Max sat, large dark eyes fixed on him with a strange mixture of hatred and fear. Logan looked to Geordie.
"Uh - sorry about scarin' yer birds."
"That's quite allright," Geordie said with a stiff smile, "Just remember not to go into any enclosures like this one again will you? A few of the animals have very delicate constitutions..."
Logan nodded, "Yeah. Sorry."
With a final nod Geordie turned about, ducking back inside the enclosure. Yeah, it was what he thought. Max avoided Logan's stare, gloved hands fiddling.
"Wanna go somewhere a little less crowded?"
Max's eyes flashed at his, "Why?"
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Logan rocked from toe to heel patiently.
"To talk. Guy to guy."
Max sighed, a heavy sigh that Logan understood too well.
"Come on," Logan grunted, opening the door out, "We'll wait for the kids outside."
Logan led him out in silence, the fight in Max seeming to be all gone, the heavy drag of depression in his movements. He poked the kid till he sat at a nearby bench, Max wringing his shoulder and glaring at him. Max shifted, fear all over him.
"So you gonna tell people about me?"
Logan shrugged, "Nope. Not my place."
Max looked down to his hands. Around them it was quiet, the main thoroughfare diverted mostly towards the pandas around the other way. Parrots weren't apparently as popular as big fluffy teddy-bears. And for good reason, thought Logan darkly.
"When did you know... that you were a mutant?"
Max sounded suddenly small, and looking to him, Logan shrugged.
"Wish I knew, Kid," he said. "Don't remember anything past twenty years ago."
Max frowned, "You got amnesia or something?"
Logan nodded, "Something like that."
"Woah."
"Yeah," Logan said. He pointed at the gloves suddenly, "Do your parents know about this?"
"No," Max said, shaking his head, "They think it's a new fashion or some shit."
Narrowing his eyes a little, Logan gave a lopsided wince, "Something real ugly under there?"
Glancing to the older man defensively, Max hugged his hands to himself.
"Can't be any worse than these--"
With that, Logan let his claws spring from his arms, the eight inches of adamantium gleaming in the patched daylight that fell from between the tree canopy above them. Frowning, Max looked to his hands at his chest.
Hope built in Logan as he watched the child regard his own hands, the young face drawn in a thoughtful pout.
Clenching each other, the hands gripped the gloves, and with a wringing motion, Max pulled his hands from the woollen things.
Mottled brown marks dappled the tops of the olive-toned skin like large freckles, the hair there a little wiry and darker than one would expect on a boy of this age. The mottled flesh ran up under the sleeves with the sparse but thickly shafted hair. This wasn't so shocking to Logan. What really surprised him were the fingernails. They were darker than human fingernails should be, instead looking a deeper grey, delicately sweeping to severe points. They were claws.
"I file 'em down," Max said, voice rough, "They grow back."
"D'you get hurt?"
He could see Max immediately knew what he meant.
"Yep," Max said, "I can fall over, cut myself. Break a bone - all that shit."
"But you heal," said Logan, "Real fast."
A small dent touched Max's young soft brow, and he nodded. "Yeah, exactly." Looking back to his clawed hands, the boy shook his head. "Wouldn't be so bad... but I get angry. Easy. And then the claws... they get bigger - like a cat's. Like they fold out or somethin'..." Looking ahead, Max gave a short sigh, and he pulled back the long dark hair around his ears. "For while, I wore a hat, to hide them. They're getting bigger... I won't be able to hide them anymore."
Where the delicate curl of flesh that was the human ear should have been was a long slender stretch of skin that went to a point, thin yet stiff enough to sit on it's own. Logan couldn't help but feel a twist of shock in his stomach as the ear twitched about in it's place, changing direction. At the tip of the ear was a thin soft tuft of brown hair.
"I can hear really good," Max said finally, letting the hair fall over the ear again.
Logan patted the kid's shoulder. "Yeah... it's like that zoo guy said - our mutations emulate animals. You like cats?"
Max nodded back at him, "Yeah... I got one at home."
"Right," Logan grunted, "Our powers... they got somethin' to do with what's botherin' us when our mutation takes effect, and our upbringing. I know that sounds strange, it's just a theory. The Professor has a few of them."
"The Professor?"
"Yeah," Logan said with an affectionate narrow of his eyes, "Professor Xavier. He organized this."
Max looked back to his hands, "Oh."
"He can help you, you know. With that."
"He can get rid of this?" he said, hope in his voice.
Logan sighed, shaking his head. "Nah, nah kid. He'll help you control it though... accept it. Even like it."
Max screwed his face up in incomprehension. "Hph! You - you like being like that?! Like a freak?"
He smiled now, looking down to his clawed hands, "Yeah, yeah I do, sometimes. Sometimes it sucks but that's life kid. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it doesn't."
"I hate being like this," Max said, "I hate it. I have to wear these stupid gloves cause the claws scare my little sister. You know what it's like, having your little sister absolutely terrified of you?!"
Logan just met the angry child's eyes calmly. "No. Then again, don't have a sister to start with - that I know of."
This lowered Max's hackles a little, the boy sobering at the sad tone of Logan's voice.
"Sorry."
"S'okay," Logan said, "Don't remember any sisters - doesn't mean I don't have any family."
A quiet moment fell between them, and Logan took it to think on what had happened. Shit - he was finally talking to the kid. He'd gotten the kid to show him what he was hiding, and in a big squishy icky lovey-dovey 'isn't the world so damned wonderful' way, he felt really good. Marie would be so proud. Logan threw his head back, groaning.
"God, I'd kill for a beer."
Max looked up at him, wincing through the bright sunlight. "There's a big diner near the Zoo entrance... got a roped off bit for parents to drink wine and stuff... yeh think they'd have any beer there?"
Logan eyed Max. "Very possibly."
Logan could feel himself twitching impatiently, his claws, though back in his arms, niggling to get out again. Flaring his nostrils he sighed. Fortune seemingly favoured the savage, however, as Rogue and the babbling little bodies that were their group of children burst from the parrot enclosure. Stephanie ran forward, grabbing Logan's knees and gazing at him in awe.
"There's a parrot in there that TALKS to you!"
Logan glared at the child like she was a growth on an old man's nose, "Yeah? What does it say?"
A gloved hand wrapped around the girl's mouth and behind her, Rogue blushed.
"Baby, you don't wanna know what that dirty little rat of a bird said..."
"It's going to hell," Stephanie said dourly.
"I'll bet."
Rogue blew a stray lock of hair from her face, looking down at Logan in front of her.
"You two okay? What the hell happened in there anyway?"
Glancing to a worried looking Max, Logan shrugged, "The birds obviously had a bit of a misunderstanding about my intentions, so the Zoo-Guy says."
"Oh," Rogue jutted her bottom lip with a rise of her brows, "I see. Okay well -shall we go to the next exhibit then - or do you guys need more male-bonding time?"
Max snorted, giving a laugh and shaking his head. "Sure - we haven't affirmed our inner 'Tarzan's yet."
Marie tipped her head, hands propped on hips, giving a gasp, "My my my, Max - is that humour I hear from your pretty little mouth?"
Logan warmed at the open affection she showed the boy, and blushing wildly, Max hid his face behind a neatly gloved hand.
"Just don't let it get around."
Grinning, Logan thumped the kid's shoulder. "In fact - I was gonna take Max for a quick walk - tell him more about mutants."
Logan met Rogue's questioning gaze, glancing to the boy's gloves deliberately. Nodding slowly, Rogue smiled.
"Right, well, I can't sit around windbaggin' all day," Rogue announced, turning around to look at the children around her. With a bright smile she clapped her hands, "We got a zoo to take a look at, huh kids?"
The children let out excited hoots, jumping up and down and clawing and hugging Rogue. Giving Logan a tired look, Rogue smiled, waving.
"I'll meet you at the zebra exhibit in an hour?"
Rolling his eyes about in thought, Logan nodded quickly.
"Yup - should be plenty of time."
"'Kay. Seeya round."
Jumping to his feet, Logan pulled Max along with him, the look on the older man's hinting of desperation.
"You gonna tell me about mutants?"
Logan nodded, "Yup. First - I get beer."
Max grinned.
The Zoo-hosted diner was thick with fibre-glass animals and fake greenery, the scream of children and angry parents echoing off the tackily decorated walls and roofs. Logan was pretty sure if he saw another plastic inflatable monkey hanging from any rafters or fake branches stuck to walls he'd pop his claws and the monkeys. He loped along to the roped off area, sitting down at the bar. Max stood on the other side of the roped off area, shifting from foot to foot nervously. Logan eyed him.
"It's okay, Kid, it's safe to cross the red ropes - you won't disintegrate or nothin'."
Max twitched his lips, "Kids aren't allowed in there are they?"
Logan shrugged, "Who knows. If they got a problem with it, they can deal with me."
That seemed to instil some confidence in the boy, and he crossed the ropes, sitting on a stool next to Logan at the bar. The bartender watched this with some ire, and he glared at Logan as he pulled out a glass for the beer the hairy man had ordered.
"No beer for the kid," the bar tender said, pulling Logan his beer with a firm scowl. Logan just eyed the man.
"Do I look like the kinda guy that would give an undreamed kid beer?"
Max smirked. Glaring at him, Logan ticked a brow at the boy.
"Dude, I'm not sayin' anything," Max said, and Logan shook his head, pushing the side of the kid's head with a rough nudge of his hand.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He looked to the bar then, pulling out a cigar, "Just give me the damned beer. You can kick me out if the kid gets one drop of amber bubbly."
This seemed to appease the bartender, and he slid a beer to Logan with a look of utter contempt. Logan downed it with gusto, and the boy stared.
"Woah..."
Okay, Logan thought, I shouldn't be encouragin' this kid to be an alchy, but then again, the likelihood of that happening to a kid with regenerative healing like himself was minimal. He shrugged, knocking back the beer.
"Won't your girl be pissed if you come back drunk?"
Logan glared at Max.
"How many damned times do I have to tell you that she ain't my girl?"
Narrowing his eyes a little, Max pouted sagely.
"You act like she's yours."
Logan only eyed the boy silently whilst demanding another beer. After a moment of shared silence, Max scratched at the bar with a finger, the very tip of his claw peeking through the woollen glove and running light sounds on the wood.
"This beer tastes like shit."
"It's good," Max said, "That she likes you."
Logan double glanced at him.
"Whadya mean?"
Max shrugged. "If a girl like her likes a mutant like you, then maybe some girl one day might like a mutant like me."
Logan shrugged, wedging the cigar in his mouth. Crap, he didn't want to be an agony aunt. But looking down at the hopeful obsidian eyes of the boy in front of him, he sighed, pulling the cigar away momentarily.
"Sure, kid," he said, "It's like anything like that. Even normal humans have problems with that shit. They don't got claws or fur or nothin', but they have bad skin and funny legs and stinky attitudes. It's all relative."
Max looked up at Logan. "Are there more kids like me - at that school you teach at?"
Logan nodded, "Yeah, Max. There are. Lots of them." He smiled then, "Lots of pretty girls too."
There was a sudden twinkle in the young boy's eye, and he nodded. "Cool."
Logan wasted no time in downing a couple more beers (much to the bartender's suspicion and distaste). Max watched in awe as the amber brew disappeared down Logan's throat, knocking the fluid down like it was a vital life source rather than something to be enjoyed. Max shook his head.
"Dude," he said, "You've had like - three beers in ten minutes! Aren't you drunk?"
Logan blinked at him slowly, lifting his fingers up and pinching them together.
"Only a little. S'those regenerative powers."
"Oh."
"Two more," he said, tapping at the bar, "Then I'll be nicely piss-drunk."
Max grinned, shaking his head. Logan had his two more beers, and the man behind the bar glared at him.
"You're not drivin' that kid anywhere are you?"
Logan shook his head, "No. We're goin' on the bus, bub."
Logan looked to Max.
"Bus. Bub. They're kinda the same huh?"
Shoving the right money towards the bar man, Max pulled Logan away from the bar.
"Yeah, whatever. Come on, we got some zebras to see."
Lifting his arm and letting Max stuff his wallet back into his jacket pocket, he sighed around the cigar in his mouth.
"When we get to the zebras we get to Marie."
"Yeah that's right."
Logan stared at Max a long moment. "You really think she's my girlfriend?"
Max shrugged, "I dunno - ask her."
A long sniggering laugh fell from Logan, wrapping his heavy arm around Max's shoulders.
"Yeah, right!" He cleared his throat, talking to an imaginary Rogue as they stumbled along, "Hey, Rogue, are you my girlfriend?"
Max frowned at Logan, "Rogue? Who's Rogue?"
Logan's eyelids fluttered a moment as he struggled to think, and he rubbed his face groggily.
"Oh I mean Marie - Rogue, Marie. Rogue."
Max still looked confused.
"She's an X-Man, it's her name when she's kicki-" He stopped, blinking, and groaned, "Oh... oh no. I-" He gulped, "I wasn't supposed to tell you that, was I?"
Max's eyes were wide now, glaring at Logan. "No. No, I don't think so."
Leaning in towards Max, his eyes were pleading. "Shhhhh!"
Max smiled, "Sure dude. Secret safe with me."
Logan's muddled thoughts rose to panic then, and he kept an eye on Max, watching as the boy's eyes seemed to be full of some hidden excitement. Ohhh... oh crap. He knew he was gonna get one hell of an ass whipping when he got back home, and it wasn't going to be from Marie.
As promised, the aforementioned Marie was stooped next to her young babbling band of little ones, pointing at the striped equines and smiling as she spoke of them. Logan felt the buzzing from the beer fog his usual sharp control, and with some regret he realised it was going to take him another ten minutes for it to fade away. Five pints, he thought, I'm out of commission for a little bit yet... maybe she won't notice...
With clunking noisy footsteps, he approached his companion and she stood up fully, smiling brightly. It took one sniff for her smile to fall. She glared at him, pulling him aside.
"Logan! What the - have you been drinking?!"
He shrugged, "Jus' a couple o' beers."
Her jaw dropped and she covered her face, shaking her head. "Ohhhh mah God. Oh mah God. You idiot! You God-damned idiot - we got kids to look after!"
"Calm down, Marie," he pouted, "I be fine innaminit."
She just whimpered, "Just tell me you didn't give any to Max."
He tilted his head, "What is it? Do I have 'Beer Smuggler to the Under-aged' tattooed to my God-damned forehead?!"
"No!" she groaned, grabbing his upper arms to reassure him, "No, Logan. I'm sorry, you're right."
"A' leas' I'm coherent."
She eyed him. "Maybe."
"Miss Gordon! I wanna see the leopards!"
Marie glanced to Stephanie at the girl's plea, and with a patient smile she nodded to the girl.
"Sure sugar - they're up next, just be patient."
The little girl pouted and stomped the ground, but Max put a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head slowly. Looking away from the scene, Logan met Marie's unimpressed grimace. He hated that look. It made him feel such a bad bad boy, and not in a good way.
"I'm sorry," he sighed, running a hand over his face, "It's juss-s-whole lookin' affer kids thin' - it's not my thing."
Folding her arms, Marie tilted her head at him. "I don't know, you were doing such a good job with Max."
He shrugged, "Yea'w'll.... Mass is cool."
"So are they, Logan," Marie said, pointing to the other children, "If ya just gave 'em a chance! Just talk to them like people, and they'll respond to you. It's like any time you meet someone, you might get along with them, you might not. Just don't forget that children are little people."
Logan's gaze on her was unflinching, "Little people scare me, Marie."
She sighed, "Great well, time to overcome that."
She patted his shoulder roughly, pulling him over to the group of children.
"You're so firm and direct, baby..."
Marie glanced at him, frowning, "Save it, shoogs."
Marie directed the children (and Logan) on to the leopard enclosure before snagging Max and pulling him aside, a serious look on her soft features. She gripped his gloved hands, stooping a little to meet his height.
"Max, sugar, how many beers did Logan have?"
Max shrugged, "Five."
Rogue's face fell to a deep frown. "That's not right..."
"What's not right?"
She shook her head, "He's a super healer. He can go about ten beers before losin' control like this..."
Max frowned back at her, concern also in his features.
"What's it mean?"
Marie shrugged, "Ah don't know. Jesus! I jus' hope Logan's okay-"
A high-pitched ringing scream ripped through the serenity of the packed zoo, birds scattering and the similar panicked cry of children and people rising up after it. With a double glance to each other, Rogue and Max bolted towards the leopard enclosure up ahead - where the scream came from.
The leopard enclosure was less elaborate than that of the tiger's, a complete lack of glass barriers, rather a shrub strangled wire fence in front of a deep canyon with steep slopes, not so steep to be lethal but steep enough to cause injury if one were to fall down it. With complete horror, Rogue realised that's exactly what had happened.
Logan was making groggy attempts to scale the fence that reached his hips, but with lazy staggered movements he kept sliding back down to the pavement again, swearing a blue streak under his breath. She ran up to the fence, and gazing down, her heart seized in her chest.
In the bottom of the great valley between human and leopard, little Stephanie cowered, unable to move, her leg bending in a gut-wrenchingly wrong way that made the skin crawl cold. Tears streamed down her face, her whole little body trembling, her cries echoing off the steep walls around her.
"Stephanie!" Rogue called, "Stay still honey! We're gonna come getcha!"
Rogue spun around to Logan, grabbing his arms. "Logan - we gotta help her!"
Logan shook his head as if shaking off a dizzy spell, eyes blinking slowly. "Rogue... sommin's wrong... I can't..."
At that, Logan fell limp to the floor like a rag doll with a dull thud. Marie was frozen between jumping down and clutching Logan and leaping over and helping Stephanie. Before she could move however, an older female gasp told her someone had already taken the initiative.
"Oh my! That boy just jumped down there!"
Rogue jumped up to the fence, glaring over the edge.
Max was leaping down there, and as he bounced down the wall in long springing jumps he landed at the bottom in a graceful sweeping motion. The gloves were quite literally off, and the clawed fingers, nails smooth and glinting in the sunlight, stood out prominently. She saw why Max had leapt down - a leopard stood at the top of the canyon, paws spread and sliding down the front of the far wall of the canyon, eyeing off Stephanie with gleaming interest. With horror, she could see it was the sort of look a cat gave an injured bird, or unawares mouse.
"MAX!" she cried out, "GET OUT OF THERE!"
The boy ignored her, stalking protective circles around Stephanie, pointed ears poking out of long brown hair and flattening over it. A deep guttural growling lifted from his chest, and the leopard eyed the boy warily. There was anger in the large cat's eyes though, challenge. This was it's home - a foreign feline could not invade it's small piece of territory.
With a leaping bound, the leopard sprang down to the other end of the canyon, eyes fixed on Max, it's path seemingly blasé and roundabout, but also sharp and full of purpose. As Max stalked forward, away from Stephanie, Rogue took her chance.
She leapt over the fence, soaring down towards the injured girl, ignoring the angry cries of the just-arrived zookeepers behind her. Bundling the girl up into her arms, she shouted to Max.
"MAX! Stay BACK from that animal!"
Max didn't seem to be aware of her, or his humanity. He growled at the large feline not a few yards in front of him, hands tense, clawed, spread wide. Rogue floated up to the barrier, depositing the sobbing Stephanie into the worried arms of the zookeepers, and she barely muttered to them "Take her - I'm gettin' Max," before sweeping down after the growling boy.
As she swung down in the air, the leopard - losing patience with growling and yowling - sprung forward towards Max with slashing claws and white gnashing teeth. Muscled spotted arms wrapped around Max, large black claws digging into flesh, and the two bodies tumbled in a whirl of hissing, flying tufts of fur and roaring. With a swift push of his legs, Max sent the leopard flying back over his head, the animal toppling, rolling then regaining it's nimble footing. Max remained on his back, arms outstretched and fingers clawed, his teeth gnashing and his eyes staring wide, pupils large and threatening. Without hesitation Rogue surged forward, grabbing the boy, hauling him over her shoulder as she soared up and over the barrier, the leopard growling and slashing in the air with paws after Max, who growled and clawed back at the animal.
Once back over the barrier, Rogue set Max down, rushing to Stephanie's side.
The little girl was surrounded by zoo-keepers and staff, Geordie hovering over her with a stricken look on his features. A light hand touched Rogue's shoulder and she spun about. Storm frowned at her with alarmed eyes.
"What happened, Marie?"
Rogue swallowed, shrugging, "Ah dunno! One minute I was talkin' to Max and then - boom!"
She glanced to Max, who was crouched, glaring at the ground, teeth still gnashed and chest heaving as he took in frenzied breaths. She sank down in front of the boy, clutching him by the shoulders.
"Max..."
The dark eyes flashed up to her, and she clenched her jaw determinately.
"Max - it's okay now. Just - calm down now. We're all safe."
A long breathy growl rumbled in the boy's throat, and he turned about, crawling on hands and knees to Stephanie. He sat back on his haunches, watching quietly as the first aid officer applied makeshift splints to the crying girl's leg. Crouching next to Max, Marie looked to the children surrounding Stephanie.
"What happened?"
Jeremy looked doleful as he said, "She wanted to get a better view of the baby leopards, so she climbed up the fence. Then she fell."
Marie sighed, cradling her face in her hands, "God - this is all my fault."
Glancing about, she saw Logan being tended to. She looked to Stephanie one last time.
Max had one of her little white hands wrapped in his large hairy paws, a very human worry in his large dark eyes. With a sigh of relief, Marie could see the animal in him was fading - for the moment. She didn't have to be a genius to guess that the control of that animal was an elemental thing in Max, and that a place at the school was a necessity for the young man's survival.
Logan was still where he'd fallen unconscious, another first aid officer next to him, checking his pulse. The hair-peppered hand of her companion hung limply in the officer's hand, and Rogue's heart tightened in her chest as she knelt down next to Logan. She took her lip in her teeth, frowning to the officer.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Aah, there you are Miss Gordon."
Glancing up, Rogue saw Geordie approach, sinking down to a crouch next to her. His lips thinned grimly as he pointed to Logan.
"Your friend here is lucky to be alive."
Rogue frowned, "Huh?"
"There've been reports of people falling unconscious, vomiting and being exceedingly intoxicated all over the zoo today - we tracked it down to the diner. The bartender had been slipping isopropanol in the alcoholic drinks."
Instinctively wrapped a hand around Logan's, Rogue swallowed, trying to control the anger in her chest.
"What's that?"
"Rubbing alcohol," the man replied, rubbing his hands together with a tense tick of his lips.
She looked down to Logan, tightening her hold on the unconscious man's hand. "Why? Why would somebody do this?"
Geordie frowned deeply, shaking his head. "The majority of the victims were mutants, Miss Gordon."
Rogue felt a growl in her throat, and she looked away, fighting the rage building in her chest.
"Racist bastard."
"Indeed," nodded Geordie, large brown eyes suddenly soft, "I am very sorry. The man responsible is being held by the proper authorities, I assure you."
She nodded, "Thank you."
She silently doubted the justice that would be served to the man that did this to Logan, but that sense of helplessness and anger was washed dull by the worry in her heart. Looking back to the progress on Logan, she noticed a paramedic had joined them, wrapping a sphygmomanometer around one of Logan's muscled biceps. She squeezed his hand lightly, brows furrowed, fear drowning her.
"Will he be okay?" she breathed, looking up to the paramedic.
The look on the medic's face looked grim, till the hand she gripped tightened around one of her own, and glancing down she let out a soft cry of relief. Wrapping herself around Logan's frame she hugged him tightly, gasping.
"Oh thank God! Thank God!"
Logan gave a quiet groan, squinting a little in the daylight, pulling in long waking breaths.
"Whuthuh hell happened?"
Rogue sat up again, fussing with Logan's hair and face, worry and relief reddening her eyes.
"Geordie said the bartender at the diner was spikin' the drinks with somethin' lethal soundin'... you drank five of them Logan! You coulda been killed!"
He snorted groggily, "Jeez-Christ, Marie, I didnn intensh-ly drink the stuff, did I?"
She sighed, pulling his jacket open, closed, pressing flat the buttons, her restlessness irritating him. He growled, grabbing her hand with one of his own.
"Stop that," he said, "I'm fine."
She nodded, taking his hand again and clutching it to her chest. He cocked a drowsy brow at her as she squeezed the hand between her breasts, leaning her face on her gloved hands covering his. She waited the long minutes it took for Logan to shake the most of the sick grogginess from his bones, and his grumbles about a headache to soften to sounds of relief. As he finally sat up, he frowned in thought.
"Hey - didya save the kid?"
Rogue sighed, shrugged, "Kinda. Max helped."
Logan blinked, "Max?"
She nodded, "Yeah - jumped right down into the pit and faced off a big assed leopard. It was amazin' Logan."
"He couldah got himself killed," Logan sighed.
"You too," Rogue said, "You couldn't even scale that fence and you were all determined to get in there!"
Logan frowned with twisted lips in an unappreciative grimace.
"Rogue..."
"Well it's true."
There was no more room for argument. Looking over Rogue's shoulder, Logan watched Max who eyed the paramedics as they took Stephanie off to the first aid hut and to treatment. Next to Max stood Geordie, who held one of Max's hands like a specimen, turning them over and examining them with great interest. Max seemed a little too numb to really care. After a moment, Max was left to replace his gloves, and Logan took the chance to approach him.
"Hey..."
Max glanced up. "Hey."
"Heard you did sommin' pretty stupid."
Max sighed, nodding, "Yeah I know. Seriously - I don't know what came over me. I just - snapped or something."
Logan shrugged, gazing off at the leopard enclosure.
"W'z also pretty brave," he said. "That's really sommin' - riskin' your life for a little kid."
Max shrugged back at him.
"I did what I had to."
"Tha' saved a life," said Logan.
Max nodded.
"Yunno what, Kid?"
"No, what?'
Logan smiled ever so slightly, "You couldnuh done it if ya weren' a mutant."
With as much reserve, Max smiled back, pulling on his thick woollen gloves. Logan watched his booted toe kick at the floor idly, and he looked to Max.
"Whaddaya say - talkin' to your parents about goin' to the Professor's School for the Gifted? I's good there. Lots of fun there. I'm there. Marie's there."
Max gave Logan a long look.
"There's also those hot mutant chicks I was tellin' you about..."
A smile cracked across the boy's face and he laughed.
"Sure, man, sure."
Logan never thought he'd see the day where he'd be recruiting kids into the school of his own volition, but after seeing the wild animal in the young boy's countenance, he knew the kid needed to learn control just as much as Logan needed to not so long ago.
Rogue nearly drove him to distraction the following half hour with her incessant little fussings and fiddlings with him - cradling his hands, picking lint off of his jacket, asking him (repeatedly) if he was feeling all right. All in all -he loved the attention.
The rest of the kids were shepherded back to the main kiosk, and the day was concluded earlier than expected with the mishap with Stephanie and the Rubbing Alcohol poisoning. Logan watched shakily as Marie said goodbye to her band of children, the kids hugging her and Sally kissing her gloves. He listened to them, to their voices, Marie's tones soft as she responded.
"You're very beautiful, Miss Gordon," said Sally, "You saved Stephanie!"
Marie shrugged, "Well - Max did too. It was nothing."
Sally only shook her head, then seemed to squeeze Marie's hand in hers.
"I love you. I hope you can fix your skin one day."
The smile Marie gave the child was sad. Logan felt the wallowing drunk organ that usually functioned as his heart slowly break.
"I hope so too, Sally."
As the children filed into the bus, Marie waving with a tender smile, Logan loped up with a mournful pout. His head throbbed, the world still tilting and reeling about him, whims and impulses wrestling to action with control falling over helplessly. Rogue waved, not noticing him, her free hand lax and by her side. With carefully deliberated movements, Logan took the hand in his own, enfolding it tenderly.
Rogue turned, startled, and upon seeing his expression she gave a sympathetic wince. With a soft groan, she ruffled his hair, cradling his cheek a moment.
"Ya poor thing," she said, sighing wistfully. "Ya really been knocked 'round today, huh?"
He just gazed at her intently. With a slow blink, thinking on what Max had said earlier, he realised the kid was right. He did act like Rogue was his girlfriend. In the wallowing numb state he was in, logic was staggered and broken, left to chaos to sort itself out. Straightening himself a little, he swallowed.
"I love you."
Through the wince she'd been wearing, Rogue gave a short giggle, patting his cheek.
"Aww." She gave him a hug. "I love you too, sugar."
Logan frowned. She was taking this rather important news so awfully well. It was then it dawned on him (it was a conclusion of genius in his given state), that she didn't take it well. She didn't take it at all. The way in which she took it was completely wrong, and he frowned grumpily, trying to think past Jubilee calling out to Rogue, something about capturing Kodak moments. Rogue gathered his arm in hers and began walking towards the long silver X-bus, and Logan's brow was deeply furrowed as he tried to think of a way to make himself clear. His brain, however, wasn't co-operating. All he could think to do was look at her in something akin to meekness.
"Can I have another hug?"
Marie double glanced at him, then smiled.
"Like you have to ask," she said with an affectionate smirk, and turned to him for a hug. Logan literally grabbed for her. She gasped as he swept her up into his arms in a tight embrace, and she patted his back with some uncertainty. "Woah! That rubbin' alcohol really makes you cuddly..."
"Prob'ly why they call it rubbin'," he mumbled into her shoulder.
She laughed, "Most likely..."
The tentative patting on his towering shoulder stilled as he ran his hand up her back, into her hair, caressing her with the movement. Her smile dimmed to a soft wonder, and leaning back in the embrace she moved to meet his gaze.
"Logan?"
He watched her chiselled sweet lips as they moved around his name, aching to kiss them, to brush them with his own, pressing against them and saying exactly what words couldn't articulate at that drunken moment. Instead he took a long breath in, gazing at her with all the fire he could muster.
"Are... are you okay?"
He brought one hand to her shoulder, pulling up a tress of her hair, dragging the soft silky curled end over her lips with a quiet wonder. Her eyes drifted shut, fluttered, and with a hitching breath in she opened them again.
The shrill blast of the X-Bus smashed through the moment, Logan's brow crinkling down again as Rogue took a long breath in, stepping away. Holding his hands, she smiled.
"Come on, shoog. We gotta go."
He nodded, letting her drag him towards the bus, concentrating on where his feet were going. He groaned quietly.
"Man, I'm-so fucked."
Rogue gave that babying smile again, pulling him towards the back of the bus where her friends sat rowdy and heckling.
"Ooooooooooh!" Jubilee cooed at the top of her lungs with Kitty, "Rogue and Wooolverine, sittin' in a-"
SNIKT
Logan's popped claws silenced them, their eyes big.
"Be nice," he growled, "I got a headache."
Rogue sat Logan down at the seat just in front of the stretch of seats at the back, hands at his upper arms, squeezing and comforting. She tilted her head, sighing.
"You know them," she said, "They're just having fun."
Rogue glanced to Jubilee, who just grinned, winked, and gave Rogue the thumbs up. Rogue smiled, noticing with some delight that Jubilee sat closely nestled with Remy in the back corner of the bus, the Cajun looking out the open window next to him and sucking lightly on a cigarette. His arm was draped loosely around her shoulder, a calm regard in the ruby red eyes.
With some confusion, she felt a heaviness against her chest, and looking down she saw Logan had nestled himself against her shoulder, slipping down to her breasts. He groaned.
"Logan - You okay?"
"My head feels like a melon."
She groaned softly for him, sinking her fingers into his hair and stroking it gently.
"We'll be home soon, baby, then you can sleep."
He nodded, falling into her lap and making himself rather comfortable against her belly. Running her fingers through his hair and watching the sunny scenery around them as Cyclops started up the bus, Rogue and the X-Men headed for home.
Jubilation grinned at the scene of Logan laid out in Rogue's lap in the seat nearby, and leaning to Remy she nudged him.
"Hey, check it out."
Glancing away from the window, Remy smiled.
"Aah, de Wolverine got a good thing goin', oui? He make de most of a poisoning."
Jubilee scoffed with disbelief, "Remy! You don't joke about somebody swallowing that much cleaning alcohol."
Remy just grinned, "I mean nothin' bad, chere."
Shaking her head, Jubilee looked to the front of the bus with some boredom, letting herself lay against Remy's body behind her, fatigue teasing her eyes closed. The day had been too long. After the Snake Incident, things had been pretty straightforward, as straightforward as looking after a bunch of children could ever be. Honestly - why would one want to stick grass up their nose, or eat it? Emulating zoo animals was the apparent excuse, and she'd had to explain that elephants did not eat with their noses, but their mouths, and that grass did not fit into the human diet, or any of the food groups. The little tyke asked what a food group was, and Jubilee had given up, her stress levels close to snapping.
Remy took over, guiding the children away from the apparently appetizing looking grass, and on to more interesting exhibits. She sighed long, snuggling into the back behind her, thighs either side of her, leaning on the shoulder and upper arm behind her head.
"You make a good chair," Jubilee mumbled, the rumble of the bus engine filling her ears.
"Merci," Remy said, flicking his cigarette butt out the window.
She glanced up to him, smiling. "What - no witty retort about my ass?"
Remy's eyes were closed, his head against the bus wall behind him, and he shrugged. "Later, when Remy have de energy."
Jubilee sighed, revelling in the warmth their close bodies created, thinking back on the day with a certain amount of awe. Remy really had outdone himself. She never figured him as a 'kids' kind of person, but he was one, he really was. He had the kind of wry patience that children seemed to love to giggle at, and his accent and countenance made talking and interacting with him a fun game. She wouldn't have guessed it - but children loved Remy. Turning her head a little, his stubble-roughened chin brushed against her forehead, and looking up she smiled at him briefly. He nodded back at her with a laid back smile of his own, a new cigarette in his hands.
His chest rose and fell underneath her, the sound of his breathing in her ears.
"I can't thank you enough for today," she said, gazing off into nowhere, "I mean, I thought I was really going to hate it, but you made it fun somehow."
He shrugged, fingertips brushing a stray lock from Jubilee's face. "You jus' needed to relax, is all."
"Hmmm, well you're good at relaxing people..." She yawned, patting his thigh, "Shit... and I thought my Mom's futon was comfortable..."
Stretching her arms up, she giggled when Remy growled, pulling them from in front of his face.
"Chere nearly knock my cigarette out de window..."
She giggled, arching her back in the ends of a stretch and tilting her head up to look at him.
"Sorry."
Remy just smiled, hands running down outstretched arms, skimming past ribcage (and the side of a breast) and settling at her hip so snug between his legs. He tilted his head at her.
"Let's not be doin' it again, eh?"
Jubilee laughed softly and looked away. After a moment, "How'd you get so good with kids?"
He shrugged, letting Jubilee re-adjust herself so she could face him, looking into his eyes, his face not far from hers. His eyes looked suddenly evil (well, more evil than usual).
"I jus' get a lot of practice dealin' wit' you eh? OOmmph!"
"Bastard!" Jubilee growled, good nature in her laughing eyes.
"You know I be jokin' wit' you oui?"
He looked serious, features soft as he spoke, fingertips running feathery trails up her jaw. She nodded, barely aware of what she was doing. All she was aware of was Remy's lips, those freaky eyes somehow endearing, even verging on sexy.
"Remy be ver' proud of you today, chere," he said, "You showed de snake what for, eh? I have no doubts you one day be the best X-Man ever, wit' such a courage in your soul."
Jubilee tilted her head, smirking, "You are such a sweet-talker, Rem. I'm surprised none of your girlfriends have fallen with diabetes or somethin'."
He grinned at this, pointing to his chest. "This time Remy be honest, chere, all come from in dere."
"Yeah?" She shifted a little, digging inside his jacket to his chest, "What else have you been hidin' in there then?"
Catching her hands, he pulled them away, leaning in and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You find out, eh?"
"Maybe," Jubilee giggled cheekily, stifling a sigh as Remy's lips descended upon hers.
She relaxed into the sudden caress, the soft but expert lips of the man wrapped around her pushing all cares or rational thought from her mind, all other senses other than touch and taste and smell fading into her subconscious. Remy's running touch was lazy and exploratory, yet firm and dedicated in it's own way, enough for her to know that such a kiss meant something to him. His fingers were plunged into her hair, cradling her neck, holding her face to his as he eased his tongue over and past her lips, sinking deeper in her mouth and teasing at her own.
She contained a moan, feeling the eyes of her friends on her, and she barely registered the "oooooooh" that a chorus of her peers seemed to take up in.
She also happened to miss the five buck notes being passed along to the mahogany-and-ice tressed girl with the sleeping Logan in her lap, a short but triumphant smile on the luscious pink lips. Had she caught it, Rogue would have had one pissed plasma-firing friend on her hands.
Right now, however, with Remy holding her delicately, exploring her mouth idly as he held his cigarette out the window - Jubilee could honestly say that anything that could possibly annoy her could go jump, because right now - she didn't care.
When the bus finally ground to a halt out the front of the X-Mansion, Logan's drool had made some very interesting patterns on her thigh and the front of her shirt. She sighed patiently, glancing to Max in the seat across from her, who was in the middle of comparing claws with Hank. There was relief in her as she saw this, a familial one that always warmed her when a lost child would find their way to the School of the Gifted. She had been one herself. Looking down to the heavy weight in her lap that was an unconscious Logan, and thinking upon her role as guardian for the day, she felt an odd crawling sensation. Things had changed, and finally she had the opportunity to give back something for the kindness these people had shown her.
As her friends filed out of the bus (Jubilee taking a shot of Logan asleep in Marie's lap for good measure on the way out), Marie waited patiently, rubbing Logan gently on the shoulder, whispering as tenderly and nicely as she could to him as to wake him slowly. After a moment he groaned, rolling onto his back and gazing up at Marie. His eyes were distracted by the bust that hovered over him and he smiled weakly.
"Thassa sight to wake up to-"
"Logan!" Rogue laughed, covering her face to hide her blushing, "I don't think you should be allowed to have rubbing alcohol for a very long time!"
"Fine by me," he grunted painfully.
"You guys gonna spend the night in the bus, or can I go park this thing now?"
Glancing up, Rogue saw the tired visage of Cyclops in the front seat, twisting back to look at them.
"Sorry!" she called, shifting in her seat, "Just wakin' up Logan."
Cyclops nodded, grunting the engine deliberately.
Rogue stood, levering herself under Logan's left arm pushing him up, the heavy sleepy man making uncertain steps once upon his feet. He groaned again, leaning his forehead against her hair, his eyes closed.
"Jus' chop my head off. I promise to grow a new one."
"Yeah yeah yeah, you promised you'd be back for the damn tags too - you were gone for a year!"
He grumbled softly, "I came back event'ally..."
She rolled her eyes, and leading him off the bus, Rogue tutted, patting his stomach (she forgot how taut it was sometimes) gently.
A large number of the students were wide-eyed as Rogue lead the limp and staggering Wolverine off to his room, the sight of Logan in less than one hundred percent control of his faculties never before seen and rather worrying. Rogue allowed them nothing more than a passing glance however, particularly when he started swearing emphatically about a certain painting on the wall on the way to the dormitory wing.
"I hate that fuckin' painting," he growled, pointing at it as Rogue shepherded him past it, "The guy on it loo's like an asshole."
Rogue sighed, "You just hate it cause he has a bigger set of mutton-chops than you."
He glared at her, "You think I godda prob'm growin' my hair?"
"It was a joke, Logan."
"SubTLEty, baby, subtlety!" he said, yanking at his own facial hair, "Ser's'ly..."
"Shhh honey - you'll scare the children."
Logan, after looking around with some indignance, spotted a young fellow near a drinks machine. Before Rogue could stop him, he staggered up to the boy, tapping him on the shoulder roughly.
"Hey ya - uh - Joey is it?"
The boy blinked, shying away a little, "Nathan."
Logan's face fell, "Oh. Duzz'n matter. Hey - am I scary? I mean - yeah 'course but - you kids, you scared o' me?"
The boy shivered, "Is that a trick question?"
"No."
The candid look on Logan's face froze the child, and he gulped.
"Honestly, sir?"
"Yeah," growled Logan, "And call me Logan! LOH-gan. Nunna dah 'sir' bull-shit!"
After swallowing again, the boy winced. "L-l-logan?"
Logan ticked up an eyebrow.
"We're all scared of you."
Just as the older man's features fell, the boy added.
"But you're Wolverine - that's kinda what you're for..."
Blinking, Logan nodded, standing shakily as the boy watched him to make sure he wasn't going to get a back-hand.
"Tha's logical. You go drink now."
Logan let Rogue pull him away, her small hands strong and directing. His room loomed up in front of him, and opening the door she led him inside. He stared at the bed, hearing Rogue move about him, and with a keeling loss of balance he let himself fall down onto the bed.
"No no no," she said, pulling him up, "Get those boots off..."
For some reason Logan reached for his belt buckle.
"Ha ha!" Rogue winced uncomfortably, "Shoes off first - then pants - under the um - the um..."
She pointed at the comforter on the bed, frowning. Logan just tipped his head with wobbling control.
"Ss-jus' me darlin'," he said, yanking off his boots with great grunts, "Nothin' special."
Rogue could only give him a tense smile. "I could think of quite a few people offhand that'd disagree."
He grinned, "Are you one of them?"
Blushing wildly and pulling back the blankets, Rogue mumbled with a shaky smile, "No comment."
"Awwww..."
Logan tipped aside easily as Rogue pulled the bed out from under his jock-clad bottom, and throwing it over him deftly she pulled his feet down so that he lay on his back. His legs, smooth, brown, delightfully muscled and hairy, stuck out from under the covers, and he glared at them. Rogue laughed lightly, behind her hand.
"Logan..."
He frowned, "They're cold."
She took her bottom lip in her teeth, "Then put them under the blanket."
"Tha's'n idea..." He dragged them underneath, pointing at her. "You'r'a genius."
"No," she said, "You're drunk off your nut."
His pointing grew more fervent whilst she pulled the corners straight on the bed.
"Drugged!" he said, "I'm drugged. Big difference. I can han'le my alch- al-beer very well thank you."
Walking over to the side of the bed she sat down next to him, meeting the glazed hazel eyes earnestly.
"You should get some sleep, Logan. You've had a rough day."
"Tha's one word fer-it," he mumbled into his hands as he rubbed his face, and he felt her fingertips run lines over his scalp with gloved silkiness. He rumbled his approval, leaning into the hand and closing his eyes in delirium. Suddenly, the hand was gone however, and the girl patted his chest.
"Remind me to never get you drunk again." She blinked, and gasped, "Oh! Before I forget, I got something for you at the zoo today - you stay right here!"
She ran from the room, her steps echoing down the hall. Logan's thoughts lingered to that of how slight she was in his arms, how soft. To Max's insistence that the girl was somehow Logan's.
The footsteps soon returned, and the girl held a paper scrunch of back, and something limp and plastic and brown hung from her lips.
"Ah sah zis'n thawt ah you!" she fought to say around the nozzle of the inflatible something she blew into. He watched with intrigue as her cheeks grew red from the puffing. After a few large lungfulls, a great darkness grew in his chest. He wasn't sure if he was thinking it or saying it, but "Oh God," fell through his head. Pressing closed the nozzle, she lifted up the thing that turned out to be a shiny brown inflatable monkey. It had little black eyes, a pink muzzle with a wrinkled smiling mouth, and plastic tufts of fur either side of it's face to create an absurd pvc set of mutton-chops. Everyone was out for his look these days - even stupid inflatable monkeys and old dead guys.
"Isn't it cute?" she smiled brightly, "Ah saw it 'n it reminded me of you."
"Thanks."
He wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted. Trotting over, she deposited the plastic monkey on the bed next to him, bringing the scrunch of paper back forward. She put it in his hands.
"Wassis?"
She pointed at it, "Open it."
He sighed, making deft tugs at the paper, gritting his teeth as he went. Great. Perhaps it was another monkey something. As the paper was torn away however, he unwittingly held his breath, the indignation inside of him melting away.
On a little earth-coloured rock, with a dead wood branch laid out behind it, was a little porcelaine wolverine, big black nose turned up at him, long sculpted locks of deep orange-red and a brown that was almost black painted over the china body. He swallowed thickly, glancing up at Rogue, battling with himself not to cry. Instead, he pointed at it.
"Now... that's cute."
Blushing, Rogue nodded, "Yeah, Ah thought so."
He smiled a little, poking at the little wolverine with a curious finger.
"You didn't have to get me this stuff."
She shrugged. "I thought you could use a get well soon present."
"Thanks."
This time, the word had meaning, and sitting down next to him, she wrapped her hand around one of his and squeezed gently.
"Well, I mean it. Get well soon."
"I will."
"Good. Get some sleep."
She nodded at him, and patting his leg with finality, she rose and strolled to the door, reaching for the knob. Logan growled, or thought he did, he couldn't tell with his spinning head, or the sleep that came over him and made him imagine things in astounding reality what hadn't actually happened yet as R.E.M visions tried to claim him. He pushed the breath from his throat, went to growl her name, but she was still moving, about to close the door. She was smiling at him, waving a little goodbye.
"Marie-"
It closed with a clunk. He blinked, frowning.
"No..."
With a sigh of effort, he threw his head back onto the pillow, weariness from the day battling with his urge to get up, race down the hall and stop her. This was wrong, this was bad - she was getting the wrong idea entirely. She thought this was the drink - it wasn't the drink - no he was drugged - but it wasn't the drugs. He breathed carefully, trying to think, trying to plan, trying to make sure he had a way of letting her know, trying to...
Perhaps he had breathed a little too carefully, a little too slowly. Perhaps he'd let his body relax a little too much as he let his brain take over. Either way, no amount of willpower or urging himself would wake him from the slumber he'd let himself slip into. His body won the battle, and his mind would have to make do when he awoke - whenever that would be.
Rogue smiled as she entered the female-crowded kitchen, the girls in there chattering and making tea and coffee. A few men rested on sideboards - Hank, Scott, Bobby, Johnny - but the younger boys soon evacuated the room that smelt of perfumes from showers, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and herbal brews. The expansive kitchen echoed with the cooed voices of the women, the strong tones of opinion, the confident barking of laughter. It was set in to harmony with the deeper voices of the men, Scott wry, humourous, yet ever tender, and Hank with his Forsythean tones that screamed of intelligence and wit. For a moment, Rogue listened to them, to Storm chatting about the charming Mr. Carter and his sweet accent and the apparent dinner he asked Storm out for (You go girl, Rogue thought), to Jubilee about how nothing really that rude happened at the back of the bus she swore on her mother's grave. Kitty frowned.
"I thought our mother was still alive," she said.
"Yeah, ain't life a bitch?"
Amongst all of this, Scott glanced up, sitting at the work-table in the middle of the room, hands wrapped around a mug of steaming somethingerather. He smiled as he noticed Rogue hiding in the doorway.
"Hey Rogue - you look about how I feel."
She shook her head, walking into the room, "No. You can't possibly. Leading a drunk Logan around by his collar is the kind of exhausting you don't wanna know."
Jean grinned, pouring her something into a mug. "Here - hot chocolate."
"Oh yes please," she groaned, "That sounds wonderful."
Jubilee sat in the corner, smirking secretively into her mug, shaking her head. "Man - I got enough blackmail material on Logan from today to last me a lifetime!"
Kitty gave a thumbs up, "Oh yeah! Lap shot number one for starters!"
Jubilee cackled with glee, nodding and nudging Kitty, whilst Rogue just blushed.
"He was tired! Leave the poor guy alone - apparently he had enough rubbin' alcohol to kill a small elephant."
"That's our Logan," chuckled Jean into her tea.
Rogue saw the amusement around the room at the situation, Cyclops grinning back at his wife. This wasn't funny, thought Rogue, and with a cross of her arms she frowned at everyone.
"Now see here," she said, "He could have been really hurt! Ah was scared to death!"
Jean nodded, patting Rogue's shoulder, "I know I know, we shouldn't laugh..."
Jubilee sighed with a fawning look.
"He was just so cute and cuddly!" she said.
"Like bringing a cat home from the vet after it's been spayed," giggled Kitty.
Jubilee's laughter took a turn for the shrill and Rogue just shook her head.
"Next time you get put under for something in the infirmary and you start swearing about the smurfs again - watch me laugh at you!"
"Okay okay," Jubes nodded, "I was kidding - I'm sorry. Really. I'm sorry. It was very scary."
Rogue looked up at Jean, pursing her lips in thought.
"Jean... what's gonna happen to the guy that did this to him?"
With a suddenly serious sigh, Jean shrugged.
"I don't know Rogue. We can keep tabs if you like - you might be asked to be a witness if he goes to trial."
"Yeah but..." Rogue's eyes narrowed, "The judge won't care will he? The judges never care when it comes to mutants."
Jean blinked sadly, meeting Scott's serious gaze.
"We don't know that Rogue. All we can do is hope for the best."
"Hope Logan doesn't remember the guy's face that did this to him," Scott added darkly.
Rogue took a tentative sip at the hot chocolate Jean had poured her, the sweet warm milk melting down her throat. It wasn't rare for a judge to deliberately move against mutants in the courts. In divorce settlements, the mutant parent would lose all, and most certainly any children in the dissolving marriage, in most petty crimes the mutants would get harsher penalties (for more muties away in jail meant safer streets for all). It was a well known fact - there was no justice for mutants. That's why the X-Men were around.
"If the courts act up, you can promise I'll be after the jerk myself," said Rogue.
"Right behind ya," Kitty nodded.
"Yeah," agreed Jubilee, "We'll handcuff the bastard naked to a street lamp and write 'Mutie-Hater' on his ass!"
"You'll do nothing of the sort," Scott said firmly as he glared at her from behind ruby lenses. Jubilee frowned, fingering the rim of her cup.
"You're no fun."
Leaning against the sideboard next to Jean, Rogue closed her eyes, trying to add up all the craziness of the day and come up with something. All she got was muddled memories and an ache for her bed. She looked to Scott.
"Hey, is Max gonna start school here now?"
Scott looked thoroughly pleased as he nodded.
"Yeah. Next week."
Sighing with relief, Rogue smiled. "Great. Logan'll have a new friend too." Rogue laughed softly, "Gosh - you should have seen those two after Logan figured out his problem. Like he found his long lost kid brother or something - peas in a pod - that sort of thing."
Scott looked up at her then, "Does that mean I should look forward to having this kid in my classes or not?"
Rogue smiled knowingly, "I wouldn't make him angry."
Looking down to her cup, Rogue decided to knock back the last of the hot chocolate, her weariness overtaking her. A shower, a long long nap. A nap would be so nice. Downing the rest of the drink, she placed the mug in the sink, rinsing it
"Thanks Jean," she said, "That was really nice."
Jean smiled back at her. "It's no problem, Rogue."
"Hey!"
Rogue looked up to Jubilee.
"You and Logan were looking pretty snuggly on the way to the bus today, what was up with that?"
Smiling a little, Rogue shook her head.
"I think it was just the druggin' affectin' him," she said, shrugging as she spoke, "You know him - he's never usually like that."
Pursing her lips askew, Jubilee leant on tilted hips. "I dunno..."
Tapping her lips with a finger in thought, Rogue pointed to Jubilee, amusement in her voice.
"Ya know what was really cute?"
"No."
"Just before he hugged me - he said he loved me!" She blinked suddenly, waving her hands around in a gesture of dismissal, "I mean - I know he meant platonically and all that but still - it was nice to hear it."
Jubilee's mouth was edged open a little, a look of disbelief on the girl's face. Before she could speak, Rogue sighed.
"Okay - I'm off for a shower. Night everyone."
Whilst those around Jubilee all called goodnight, Rogue trudged from the room. A strangled gasp of disbelief fell from Jubilee, and she pointed at the door that Rogue had just walked out of.
Scott looked up, "Got something to say, Jube?"
"Unhh!" She waved a hand, "He told her he loved her!!"
Jean smiled, "Yeah but you hea-"
"No!" Jubilee shook her head, "No. No no no no. This is Logan we're talking about here - LO-GAN!"'
From Scott, "So?"
"So!" Disbelief of the reactions around her fuelled Jubilee's more shrill tones of voice suddenly, "He LOVES her - like LOVES and she totally didn't get it!"
Jean looked patient, "Jubilee..."
Putting her mug down suddenly, Jubilee straightened. "I gotta tell her! I gotta set this right! This is wrong!"
"No."
"Why?!
The girl glared at Scott, who had issued the negative.
"They gotta sort it out themselves, Jubes. You can't solve their problems for them - that's not the way it works."
Jubilee gave a staggered gasp, "But they're in LOVE dammit! You're telling me not to help them out? That's like telling me to let Romeo poison himself!"
"Yeah well," Scott shrugged, "Life sucks like that sometimes-"
"Cyke!"
Scott levelled his look at her, bringing the mug away from his mouth. "Look - he has to find the balls to tell Rogue about it himself. It's up to him. You -you stay out of it, and have your fun with Remy. If you get involved, things will just get unnecessarily complicated."
Jubes opened her mouth but Scott raised a commanding hand.
"That's an order, Jubilee."
Folding her arms with a low growl, the girl scowled at her leader.
"Sometimes it royally sucks to be an X-Man!"
At that she stormed from the room in a string of muttered curses, and Kitty frowned to Jean and Scott apologetically.
"She hates the original version of the Little Mermaid story too. I think she petitioned Romeo and Juliet to be made into a Disney Movie recently - you know what she's like."
With that the girl followed her best friend, leaving Jean and Scott alone with Hank to ponder the situation. The telekinetic looked to her husband, brow furrowed in thought.
"Honey, did you mean what you said with the 'complicating things' comment?"
"Yeah," Scott nodded, "I also thought if Jubes is right, and Logan is gonna start chasin' after Rogue - don't you think she deserves a running start?"
With a knowing smile, Jean held down a laugh, which Hank gave openly.
"I guess you're right."
Pulling a five dollar note from his pants, Hank looked to Scott. "I'll place my wager with the Wolverine."
END
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
This is not beta read. Any of you who don't believe in evolution, please note that not only is it spoken of extensively in this fic, but that the views of devout Christians that don't believe in it are slightly parodied. Not that I'm kicking anyone's faith, it's just one of those "What's a penis?" moments, that's all. This fic was inspired by the Doris Day movie "With Six You Get Eggroll", where the song "Que Sera Sera" was sung incessantly. Doris Day rocks my world, dude. Also, the 'New York Zoo' is completely fictional, kinda like Lily Page's Tavern. It's loosely based on the Perth Zoo, LA Zoo and San Diego Zoo. Dedicated to my pal Jo who was listening to me rave on about how gorgeous Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-an Griffith) is and how much I want his body when she knew how delectable he was all the damn time. Special thanks to Donna Bevan. The woman knows more about drugs than I care to mention - but she's going to be a forensic pathologist after she finishes her uni or whatever so she's got a fine excuse. Either way, she's a good one to have at a party (lol). Guest Starring: Ioan Gruffudd (The Guy Who Saved Rogue in Titanic) ~~~ Geordie Carter. Matthew McConaughey (A rather young version of the Priest guy from Contact) ~~~ Gambit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (A young Tommy from Third Rock from the Sun) ~~~ Max.