Logan cringed and pulled the blankets tighter around him. He started opening and closing his throbbing hand. He heard the others on the team walking down the stairs and past the TV room he was in. Scott glanced in as he walked past, then stopped and looked again. “Scott?” Jean murmured.
Scott laughed, “Wow Wolverine, you burrowing down for winter? Hibernation is good for the grumpy bears, I hear!”
Logan grunted as he sat up and winced as he forced his body to his feet. “Fuck off, One-Eye.” He growled as he slowly made his way to the elevator.
“He’s got the growling down.” Scott said as they walked into the kitchen. Ororo and Jean laughed as the walked in.
Rogue stood at the counter pouring hot water into a heating pad and sticking it into a box with the others. She could hear what went down and was pissed, but bit her tongue from saying anything.
“Sounds like the hibernation hasn’t helped much.” He smirked
Hearing the smugness in his voice made her grit her teeth as she walked to the fridge. She looked up and saw the lone metal ice cream scoop some child had left in the freezer. She stared at it a moment and then ran a gloved finger over it, as the others were chortling at Scott’s reference. She ran her bare finger down the scoop once more as it reminded her of what he must be feeling right now.
Only one thought hung in her brain ‘No more’, and with that she grabbed the ice-chilled scoop from the freezer and walked up to Scott. With no warning she grabbed his sleeve at the shoulder and ripped it off his arm.
Jean lurched out of her chair “Rogue…”
Not shifting her attention towards the furious red head, she stayed focused on the struggling Scott. He tried to twist out of her hold, but he was no match for her strength or her rage. She pressed the frozen scoop against his bicep. “Feel that?” she grit out, “Metal… cold metal…” she moved it slightly and he gasped at the chill, “Imagine your bones covered in it.”
“Rog...” he squirmed again in her unyielding grip.
She interrupted him and went on as if he hadn’t spoke, “You see the thing about going on missions day after day, and diving in ice water to save one of your own is… the metal starts to get cold… no break in the relentless schedule… no time to warm up.” She looked at Jean, “Tell them what happens to a body in the stages of hypothermia, doctor…”
Jean’s jaw dropped but no sound came out.
“No? Well I’ll tell you.” She focused back on Scott, “The blood doesn’t go to the extremities. It stays in the core trying to keep the vital organs functioning. Without the warm blood though, the joints in his arms and legs start to get chilled and stop working properly, making it hard to move. Healing factors work in over time to try and cure the freezing muscle, making it feel like knives are being thrust in. The over use of a healing factor makes you tired and dizzy, but the unrelenting cold doesn’t allow you to sleep.” She turned the scoop to the front keeping him chilled, “His head is metal too, so his blood tries to keep his brain warm and the constant change in temperature gives him a massive headache.” She closed her eyes trying to keep back the tears, “Then, as if his pain wasn’t enough, his blood, that’s working so hard to warm him, is being spilled to save YOU. And as if it wasn’t enough, as if it meant nothing; you mock him!”
She tore the scoop away and threw it to the table if front of them. She stepped back, still glaring. “The difference between you and me, Cyke, is that I don’t sit back and watch a suffering friend, stumble in pain. And I sure as hell don’t stab him in the back, like all of you screw ups! I would have thought someone with so much knowledge of weather, or a doctor understanding health, or a team leader looking out for his team would fucking notice when one is hurting!” She turned back toward the counter, “Or maybe, that’s it… you just don’t fucking care.”
There were tears in Ororo’s eyes, and some pouring down Jean’s cheek, “Oh God, I’m…”
“Shut up! I only have one more thing to say to you… I hear any of you saying ANYTHING to him and I use every bit of my strength when I deck you… and I’ll make sure to spit on you as you heal. Just like your doing to him… to hell with all of you!” She turned and put all the heated up, therapeutic cloth pads from the oven into a box. She grabbed some mugs and took the whole steaming kettle. The box strap was thrown over her shoulder and she stomped out leaving the three to reflect.
They soon heard Rogue talking to a child outside the door, “Miss Rogue?”
Rogue let her fury calm and knelt down, the box’s corner brushing the floor. “What’s up, Sugar?”
Mitzy stood there wringing her hands; she produced heat and saw things around her as the color of their heat intensity when she used her mutation. “Well… Mr. Logan isn’t right. He doesn’t look the normal color.”
Rogue sighed, “I know sugar, Mr. Logan is sick right now… and cold”
Mitzy brightened, “I could sit beside him! I’ll be super warm, he’d like that right?”
“Right.” Rogue smiled “Tell ya what, I’ll fly you up there and you can share a mug of cocoa with me. What do you say?”
Mitzy clapped, “Yes! We’ll make him all better!”
Rogue smirked at the picture they presented, “Does it feel better, Mr. Logan”.
“Yeah Pipsqueak, feels real good.” Mitzy scrunched her glowing shoulders and curled up tight to Logan’s back. Logan smiled softly at Marie, “Thanks, Kid.”
Marie nodded at him and sipped her cocoa. She smiled back when she saw him flexing his hand and finally sighing in content.
“Mr. Logan?”
“It’s just Logan for you Pipsqueak, we’re a team now, right?”
“A team? Like how the X-men are?” she hugged his bicep when he flexed his arm and glowed a little brighter.
“Nah, like a family; you, me and Marie. We take care of each other, no matter what.”
“Like today, when you saved me from being taken back to the lab?”
“Yeah kid, and like you are now for me.”
The room was silent for a while as Logan looked into Marie’s tear filled eyes. She smiled brightly at him and mouthed the words ‘I love you’.
When Mitzy finally piped up, “I like being in a family, I think ours is the best ever, right?”
Marie set down her mug and crawled in next to Mitzy, “Right, Sugar!” and after a soft hug for Mitzy, and interlacing Logan’s fingers of one hand with their own they all drifted off. Logan finally warming, Mitzy between the parent figures she so desperately needed and Marie finding a home within their hearts.
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Story Notes:
I'm thinking about continuing on with this story, but I also like it the way it is... let me know!
Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm thinking about continuing on with this story, but I also like it the way it is... let me know!
Chapter End Notes:
So let me know if I should leave it or continue... don't you love Mitzy though?!