“I think I deserve an explanation,” he grunted, stepping in to their bedroom. Marie was rearranging a small cupboard she had found earlier, filling it with clothes and various knickknacks. Upon hearing his words she stopped and sat on to the mattress.
“Does this have anything to do with our earlier chat about Jean?” He asked. Marie didn’t answer.
“Come on, kid. If there’s a problem... If there’s something really wrong, I’d like to know about it before somebody fucking dies! There’s no secret that would be worth anybody’s life!” He tried to reason with the girl. She shook her head.
“I can’t tell. I promised. Jean made me to promise her not to tell anybody,” she whispered.
“This isn’t some fucking soap opera, kid! I thought Jean was going to die! Luckily she didn’t hold on to you any longer or she’d be dead!”
“If you need to know what’s going on, go ask Jean! It’s between her and Scott anyway!” Marie shouted and turned her back on him, going back to her earlier task of sorting out their possessions.
“Maybe I should ask her...” Logan growled, turned around and stormed out.
For a while he tried to tinker with the grand saw, but bolts and screws weren’t cooperating with him. Annoyed he threw the wrench in to corner where it landed with a loud clatter. Noise echoed in the hall around him.
Up until now there had been no secrets. The real cloak and dagger games had begun only after the jet crashed. He had tried to hide Scott’s breakdown from Marie and Jean. They had tried to hide Scott’s breakdown from him. And what really had happened to Jean this morning? Had she simply stumbled down the stairs? She wasn’t clumsy. And what the fuck was the screamer that had drawn him away from Jean and Scott today? Why was this place so deserted? Why had Scott given up so easily and landed here? And why the hell Marie wasn’t able to trust him enough to tell what the fuck was going on?
As it was, he wouldn’t get the answers he was looking for unless he grilled Jean. And that didn’t feel like the right thing to do. But did he really have any options?
He walked slowly to the door and pressed his ear against it. He could hear two hearts. One of them beating slowly, sluggishly. Asleep. Another beating with such fervor that he had to wonder what was wrong. He knocked on the door silently, and now he could hear bedclothes rustling. Soft footsteps. Most likely Jean. He waited, the door cracked partially open and Jean’s face appeared to the crack.
“We need to talk,” he whispered. Jean turned to look somewhere in to the room, then nodded and pushed the door open, flinching when the hinges cringed. She slipped out and pushed the door closed carefully.
“Outside,” she whispered. Logan followed her.
Once outside Jean seemed to relax somewhat. They sat on to the ground.
“What’s going on?” Logan asked. Jean shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s complicated, Logan...” She started.
“Bullshit. Start talking, doc,” Logan interjected.
“It’s about Scott. He’s having some difficulties. First the Blackbird crashed, then his visor broke, and he’s... He’s feeling left out. He’s feeling like we don’t need him anymore...”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Logan huffed.
“He thinks that we’re only looking for a proper excuse to get rid of him. And lately... Lately his thoughts have been so ugly and his mood has been shifting constantly... I have been trying to find a way to break our psychic bond because truth to be told he’s going insane and that’s something I do not wish to witness as intimately as the bond allows me... This morning he found out what I was doing. I was walking down the stairs, when suddenly I felt him at the back of my mind...”
“He pushed you.” That wasn’t a question. Logan felt a sudden bout of rage coursing through his veins, then it settled and ebbed to something akin of sorrow.
“I’m not sure. It felt like a shove. Then I thought that I must have imagined it. Then you guys left and...”
“That fucking screamer. Without it we could have settled this all...” Logan growled. Jean actually blushed.
“That... That was me. You heard a projection of my emotions. You didn’t know what caused it, so your minds chose the most logical point of origin for it.”
“Fucking unbelievable. Had I known about this, I wouldn’t have proposed landing here,” Logan huffed leaning his forearms to his knees, his head hanging low.
“But that’s just it. We were all so excited about the possibility to breathe and eat anything that wasn’t canned or recycled. How could have we know that this would happen?” Jean asked. Logan grit his teeth.
“I should have known, Jeannie. I know Scott. I should have known better than to ask him to land. He likes nothing more than to carry the fucking responsibility and I took it away from him.”
“That’s bull...” Jean started, then they both froze, their heads cocked. A door slammed inside. The door to Jean and Scott’s room. Scott was awake.
“He better not find out about our little chat...” Logan whispered. Jean wrinkled her brow, look of determination crossing her face.
“He won’t... I locked it away... I think...” She hissed, then quickly straightened her posture when Scott stepped behind them.
“Doesn’t anybody sleep at night anymore?” Scott asked, sliding between Logan and Jean on to the ground, crossing his long legs.
“Wasn’t tired. Came to watch the sun set,” Logan said. Scott turned his face towards Jean, look of worry flashing over his features briefly.
“And you? Couldn’t sleep either? Or does your head still hurt?” He asked. The tone of his voice was just a tad bit too right. Just a tad bit too clinical. Jean shook her head, then cleared her throat.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just couldn’t sleep either. I thought that some fresh air would help,” she then produced a verbal answer. Scott rubbed the thick layer of bandages that covered his eyes and crinkled the bridge of his nose.
“It itches... If you guys aren’t tired, maybe we could try to fix my visor?” He asked.
“I guess we could. You think it would hold if we just glued it together? I got some extra strong two-component glue from the hardware store,” Logan proposed. Scott turned to ‘look’ at him.
“It couldn’t hurt to try. We just have to make sure that the lenses are intact before we try it out. I’d hate to ruin the whole thing just because of some microscopic flaw in the gem.”
“I’ll go and get the glue. It’s in our room,” Logan said and stood up, giving Jean a reassuring nudge to her shoulder. Then, right before he stepped in to the mill he turned around.
“Uh... Scott? I hate to ask you this, but...” He started, trying to sound reluctant.
“Go ahead,” Scott urged him to continue.
“Since you’re blind and all... Could you watch the radar tomorrow? You probably have sharper ears than both of the girls together, you’d probably hear the signal long before them.” For a moment Scott seemed to mull over his request, then nodded.
“I can do that. Are we expecting company?”
“I don’t know, but it’s better to be safe and sure. We have been slacking off with guard duty lately...”
Relieved look on Jean’s face told Logan that it probably had been his best idea for a long time.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for delay, I have been furnishing a house for my character in AQW. Boy, do I regret making it a girl... Some of the stuff in that game would fit perfectly for Rogan theme, but only if I could make my character as Wolverine.
Chapter End Notes:
I try to keep updating more regularly.