Chapter Four: Bringing It All Back Home
Westchester New York. Xavier Institute . Shortly after Logan & Rogue's arrival from Canada
I: Charles
Dressed in bulky, utilitarian thrift-store clothes, and ragged and weary from the road, Marie Lehnsherr still retained a certain gravity and dignity that made Charles understand what Eric meant when he said that she couldn't "live in a truck like an animal. My daughter is a lady."
"…and ah was just horrified upon mah first look at Logan's quarters. Do you know he's never even been inside his suite of rooms? He keeps a small fridge and a Murphy bed in his "office" behind the gym, and that's where he lives. Why, there isn't so much as a stick of furniture in his whole suite, and he has never touched a cent of the money that was allotted to him to furnish his rooms!"
"I know that, Miss Lehnsherr. But that was Logan's own choice."
"I would prefer it if you called me Rogue, Professor. And if you had seen the state Logan was in when ah first met him, you would know that even though he's a wise man, a good man, and a survivor, he doesn't always choose what's right for himself. Ah know it's irregular for a teacher to cohabitate with a student, but ah am of legal age, and well, Logan and I have been living together for some time. Ah just want to make a home for him. He lives like a bum in a skid row flop. I'd like to furnish his rooms, and keep them for him. Ah don't think Logan's had a woman to look after him for a long time.. To do the little things. Keep a house, Wash his clothes. Fix his food. Ahm not a little doormat, ah assure you, raised by Mystique, ah certainly am a feminist. But Logan's a good man. Would it be so terrible for him to have a real home, and a good woman?"
Charles looked across the table and saw a young woman who had never known her real parents, who had been mistreated by her family and abandoned at a young age, only to be rescued, and given a second chance at a home and a family.
Because she had been deprived of both, having them was a priority for her, and now, because of Erik, or Victor, or a combination of the two, she had lost her family, again.
And Logan had nearly destroyed himself after Jean married.
These two people needed each other, desperately, in this dark time in their lives.
And lasting relationships had been forged on less solid ground.
"Actually, Rogue, it would be good for him. Logan tries to convince himself that because he's Wolverine, he's not a man like other men. But he feels pain, and loneliness and alienation and bitter heartbreak as much as any of us do. But, you should consider that you are only 18 years old. You may come to change your mind about Logan. If you invest yourself deeply in his life, it will break his heart all the more when you are gone from it."
"Can you keep a secret for Logan and I, Professor?"
"That depends on what it is."
SHUNK!
Charles was somewhat taken aback.
"Ah have absorbed Logan's powers, permanently. And some of his memories. And if ah am right, in the exchange, he got a little piece of mah soul, too. So, as you can see, Professor, ah will never be gone from Logan's life."
Inwardly, Professor X cringed.
He could see a great tragedy in the making unfolding before his eyes.
But, the die was already cast.
He smiled at her, reassuringly.
"I will keep your secret. Considering that you and Logan came here, together, I have no authority to tell you what do to with your private lives. I would ask, however, that you allow the formality of being assigned a dorm room. I am sure that Jubilee and Kitty will keep your secret. They are both very close to Logan. No one else knows this, but they are the only people here that he kept in touch with. Logan is their mentor; he wanted to make sure that they were making their way successfully without him. When he stopped writing to them of a weekly basis, about a year ago, that was when I myself began to worry that we might never see him again."
Actually, Professor Xavier worried quite a bit about Logan, for a number of reasons, but he did not want to burden Rogue with them.
"I would, however, prefer that you do not make your connection to Logan known to any of the other students. That might be disruptive, and you might have to endure people saying unkind thinsg about you, behind your back. "
"Of course, Professor. Ah was raised to understand the importance of discretion in matters of the heart."
"Good. Perhaps you can impart that skill to Logan."
_____________________________________________________________________________
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Raven. I have good news for you and Erik. Your daughter has arrived safely at the school."
"Wait, let me get Erik on the phone."
Professor X waited.
"Hello, Charles? Is Marie well? Was she alright? Does she really believe that…madness of Victor's, that I have some plot to murder her? That's what it is. Madness. The man's a psychopath. He wants to isolate her from her mother and I so that he can have her all to himself. To do God knows what with her, in the end."
"One question at a time. Erik. Your daughter is in excellent health, and good spirits. I think she finds it hard to believe that you would endanger her life, but she's just not sure."
"Of course she isn't. It's my fault. Not yours, Raven, it's my fault. She told me, Charles. Don't let Marie get too close to Victor. I didn't listen. Now he's poisoned her mind against me. Convinced her I have some mad plan to murder her for my own selfish ends. You don't believe that, do you?"
"Certainly he doesn't believe it, Erik. He knows Victor's crazy. He lives with Logan, after all."
Charles chose his words, carefully.
"I do not believe that you would willingly murder your daughter, Erik, no."
"Does she?"
"I'm not sure. She's very confused. I do agree with you that Victor Creed has done much to destabilize her."
"Well, at any rate, this has to stop. Marie needs to gain control over her powers so that she can make reasonable choices about her life, and who she spends it with. And I have decided it will be good for her, to be in an environment where all the students are her own kind. She also needs to make some friends her own age. She has none. To feel less isolated. And, of course, you have hired teachers who are the best in their fields. But you were going t to let her stay, regardless, weren't you?"
Charles could tell that Erik was spoiling for a fight.
"I would rather have your permission than not, Erik. I will tell Marie that you and her mother support her choice to finish her education here. And, should he regret his nobility, I can assure you, we will not allow Victor Creed on these premises."
"That is the best reason of all for Marie to attend your school. One thing that we all could agree upon, even his brother, is that Marie should be away from Victor. Completely."
II: Jean
"There they go, again! Scott, do you hear that?"
Scott did not hear it.
He was asleep.
Jean woke him up.
"Wha? Huh?"
"They're at it, again! Over there in the bomb crater! Didn't you ask Logan to move his bed away from the wall?"
Scott yawned.
"Yeah, sure I did, honey. And he moved it. I can't hear anything. Put the radio on or something. The radio won't bother me. Go back to sleep."
"How can I? How can you sleep through all that racket?"
"I don't know. I'm awake, now. Look, honey, when you live in a place with other people, you just have to get used to things. I hardly hear anything. These walls are pretty thick."
"…oh, you goddamn dirty fucking son of a bitch! You bastard, you dirty, horny, god damn bastard…"
"Did you hear that?" Jean insisted.
"Yes."
Scott blushed in the dark.
He rolled back over.
"But I wouldn't have if you hadn't woke me up. Go to sleep, Jean. It's not that loud."
Scott fell asleep again.
"Maybe not to you, Scott. Maybe not to you."
Jean got up, and went down to the common room, to watch some TV.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"What do you mean, that's the wrong answer? I'm tellin' you, Scooter, I was at the goddamn Battle of the Ardennes Forest and that's exactly how it happened! You better change Rogue's grade."
"I thought you didn't remember anything about the past." Scott teased.
"So I forget a few details about shit that happened to me, so what? I goddamn well remember World War I! Well, parts of it, anyway. Especially that part! It was the first time I died, and woke up to find myself alive, later."
"Alright, Logan. You don't have to get so angry. I believe you. But what about this answer to the question about the Battle of Antietam Creek? You weren't in the Civil War, were you?"
"My father was! N' he told me all about it? You callin' Black Tom Logan a liar? He's a lot of things, my father, but he's not a goddamn liar!"
"Sure, I believe you. I believe your father, too. But, listen. Are you serious about wanting Rogue to graduate from here and go to college? Because her professors will expect her to go with what's written in the book, and if you go telling anybody else in the world that the book is full of shit because you were in the Gold Rush, and your father was at Waterloo, they're going to fail her and put you in the booby hatch. I'll change her grade, this time. But from now on, you make sure Rogue knows that she has to go with what the book says, not your stories."
Jean interrupted.
"Why don't you tell her that, yourself, Scott? Logan doesn't own the girl." She bristled.
"No, Jeannie, I don't. But comin' from me, she'll take it a little better. If Cyke tells her, she'll just think he's tryin' to make me look like a fool. She doesn't know you guys yet, the way I do. An, Marie, it takes her awhile to get to trust people. You gotta point, Cyke."
Jean realized she was scowling at Logan, even though she had no reason to, and he looked so unhappy about it that she wished she could stop.
Scott gave her an odd look.
"Logan, I didn't mean to be insulting. About you, or your father. But, I would like to hear that story." He began.
Jean left them alone, to talk, but Scott came to see her, in the infirmary, later.
"Jean, what was all that about? Charles wants us to make Rogue feel welcome, and Logan, too. He's still pretty jumpy, and the last thing anybody wants is for him to take that girl and run so that we can never find either of them again. How was that helping?"
"Do you think Logan's helping Rogue? Is that what you would call it? She's 18, and he's, I don't know, about a hundred."
Scott frowned.
"A hundred and ten, I think. Under normal circumstances, Jean, I would agree with you. But you have to consider, Rogue is not the usual 18 year old. The poor kid, she's the poster child for what Charles tells us can happen to a young mutant without this school. When you and I were 13, we were here, with the Professor. Rogue's family threw her out. She lived in a shack in a swamp, for two years. I mean, how long were we in Stryker's jail? A month? Two months? It was horrible, but at least we had each other. Rogue was alone. For years. And then, who discovers her but Magneto, and even that was a blessing for her. He gave her a home, and he looked after her, gave her the idea she was worth something. But then he fell in with Victor Creed. Can you imagine falling in with him, when you were sixteen? The things she must have seen, being so close to him? Logan's the first decent, good person who's ever taken an interest in her, with no ulterior motives. Sure, he's a little rough around the edges, but he's a good man. She needs him. Hell, I think he needs her, too. Logan's the kind of guy who can get a woman for the night, but not for the duration. We had our happy ending. Logan deserves to have his. Besides, it's alright with the Professor."
Scott was what you might call a Company Man.
If it was alright with the Professor, it was alright with him.
It was like that with everyone on the team.
Ro said it was none of her business. Hank's only comment was that he was glad they kept it discreet. Kurt wouldn't venture an opinion, other than to say that he didn't see any sin in two lonely people finding each other.
She had not spoken to Charles about it; she wondered what he really thought.
Because it bothered her.
They didn't all live in the suite next to the one Rogue and Logan occupied.
Before she really knew she was going to Charles' office, Jean was there.
She knocked.
"Come in, Jean."
Of course, there was no hiding from him that she was troubled.
Or even what it was that troubled her.
"I thought it would be Scott who came to talk to me about Rogue."'
"Scott agrees with you, Charles. Without even knowing what he's agreeing with. Why? Why are you allowing something like this to go on?"
"What do you suggest I do, Jean? Rogue is 18 years old. Old enough to vote, and marry, and drive, a legal adult. Not old enough to drink, which, I might add, Logan strictly prevents her from doing. It may seem odd to you, the position he holds in her life. Mentor. Lover. Father figure. That is the position that Victor Creed used to hold. Do you think that was better for her? After what Erik did to her, she needs Logan. How would you feel, Jean, if the man who saved your life, trained you, fed you and clothed you and put the roof over your head, a man you regarded as your father, who regarded you as his child, who professed to love you decided to sacrifice your life at the drop of a hat for his latest grandiose whim? And, the only reason you believe this possibly hideous lie is because it came from the sick, twisted mind of the sick twisted man that you, despite everything, love? That said, how would you feel about a man who owed nothing to you, who had no reason at all to care if you lived or died, willingly took up your burdens as if they were his, protected you, took care of you, risked his own life to save you? If you had finally found real love, true love with a man who had no ulterior motives for loving you, if some virtual stranger, demanded that you give that man up, would you listen?"
Jean could see his point.
"Probably not."
"Jean, if I told Rogue that I thought her relationship with Logan was inappropriate, she would tell him I said so, and they would both be gone, tomorrow. Rogue needs a home. She needs to finish her education, gain control of her powers, and be able to make a sound choice of what to do with her life. And you know as well as I that Logan's whole life, almost from birth, has been a tragedy. He's been used, manipulated, and betrayed by anyone who ever professed to care if he lived or died. He has no real home. No family, except for his psychopathic half-brother, and an embittered old man living on a lonely mountain in the snow, because the world has been even unkinder to the father than it has to the son. We are his home. We are his family. He left us, twice, each time coming close to death and ruin. I do not think he can afford to lose us a third time."
"All that might be true, Professor, but is it right? You don't sleep in the bedroom next to theirs. None of you really think about what they're up to, because you'd rather not, but I'm the one who listens to their bedsprings squeaking for half the night. She's like his little wife. Picks up his beer cans, and his dirty undershirts. She does his laundry, she cooks his meals, it's like she's playing house. And Logan, when he's not wearing out the mattress, he's telling her everything he can remember about his life, and teaching her all kinds of things she shouldn't have to learn. Rogue doesn't even realize what he's done to her, making her a feral mutant, like him. He has to train her! To do what? To be a foul-mouthed, beer-swilling, uncouth…"
Jean stopped talking, because of the way the Professor was looking at her.
"Charles, don't. Please!"
He spoke to her gently, but firmly.
"Jean, I don't think this has much to do with Rogue's welfare. Logan never meant to make Rogue a feral mutant, and now that he has, he considers it his responsibility to show her how to live with her new powers, so that she doesn't end up going the way his enemy, Sabretooth has. You may think I'm old-fashioned, but I see nothing wrong with a woman cooking a man's meals, or doing his washing. It's not as if she's his wilting little flower, after all. I also see nothing wrong with Logan trying to impart the wisdom of his lifetime to Rogue. Her mind is full of what Victor, Erik and Raven put in it, and Logan and I share a goal of replacing that poison with something positive. No, Jean, this is not about Rogue and Logan, it's about you and Logan."
"Me? Charles, are you insinuating that I'm jealous? That I want him all to myself? That I wish it was me in bed with him, and not Rogue?"
"Jean, do you really think that I don't know?"
That took the wind out of Dr. Grey's sails.
She sank into a chair.
"Do you know…everything?"
"Yes."
"But I thought I had hidden my thoughts from you so well!"
Charles smiled.
"Jean, a person with no psi-ability at all could have looked at Marvel Girl and Professor Logan and known that there was something unprofessional going on. I suspected. But I did not know until Logan told me."
"He did what?" Jean insisted
"He burst in here one night in 1985, and poured his heart out to me. He told me that you had been running with a fast crowd, and that you had seduced him, and that he had been having an affair with you not just because you were a pretty young teenager, but because he wanted to draw your attention away from drink, cocaine, the wrong kind of men, and general rack and ruin. He told me he loved you, that he wanted to marry you, and asked me for my permission. He also offered to leave, and never come back."
That hit Jean like a ton of bricks.
"Why didn't you…the school rules…" she stammered.
"You weren't concerned with the school rules then, Jean. You just wanted what you wanted. To prove to yourself that you were smart enough to have it. Never mind that it might cost a good man his last chance at a decent life." He rebuked her.
"I realize that now, Charles."
"I know you do, Jean. I didn't fire Logan for two reasons. The first was that I knew he was telling the truth about loving you. The second was that he may have done it in an unorthodox fashion, but he saved you. After you became involved with him, I'll bet you had little time to go out and raise hell."
"I had no reason to."
Jean smiled fondly, in spite of herself.
Logan, having been a cowboy, a mountain man, a lumberjack, a prospector, a Special Forces Marine, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a superhero was pretty much the embodiment of every hyper-masculine super-macho archetype in existence.
And his hairy, muscular, massive and fearsome appearance, topped off by his wolfish blue eyes, were just the icing on the cake.
He was everything a man should be.
After she took up with him, and began spending three or four nights a week in his embrace and under his tutelage, listening raptly to his wild tall tales and sleeping at night in his strong arms, she forgot all about painting the town red with Tony.
"No. You didn't. Logan distracted you long enough for you to overcome your destructive phase and go on with your life. I was glad to see that the two of you became close friends, in the subsequent years. Now, you've married Scott. That was the right choice for you. And Logan had his long dark night of the soul. He's made peace with your choice, and he is trying to go on with his life. Don't stop him."
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jean went directly to the gym, where the office of the Combat Instructor was located.
Logan was inside, packing some of his things into a box.
"Where are you going now?"
"Just movin' the rest of my stuff up to where I live now, that's all."
"I'm sorry I've been such a bitch you to. I'll admit it. I'm jealous. When I pictured you coming home, I didn't picture you have a rider by your side. But I guess its stupid of me. You can be Rogue's boyfriend and my best friend all at the same time. There's enough of you to go around."
"You don't hafta be jealous, Jeannie. I ain't changed towards you."
"I know. But, Jesus, I don't know what to do, Logan. I'm not sure if I should apologize to you for wrecking your life, and wish you good luck with the kid, or grab you by the shirt and tell you that you're making a terrible mistake."
Logan looked stricken.
"Well, you could always get on your knees and rip my pants open and start suckin' my dick. That's how you used to solve your problems."
Jean was shocked, and hurt by his sudden cruelty.
"Why do you have to be so hostile about it?"
Logan slammed the box down on his desk, and, as her students would say, got right up in Jean's face.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her down and inch or three to his level so he could do it, too.
"Because I might just be a tiny little bit mad at you, Jeannie, when you come in here about eleven years too late to say that to me!"
"Look, Logan, this isn't about you and me. It's about you and that kid. You know. The one who calls you a motherfucker while you're making love to her. I smashed your heart into smithereens. Do you want to repeat it? How do you think it's going to feel when your psycho brother comes rolling up here in his Escalade and honks the horn and yells "Hey, baby", and that little girl goes running back to him like you never existed? Maybe it doesn't happen now. Maybe it happens in another five years. Another ten. By then, it's really going to smart. You have the bad habit of falling in love with women who belong to other men. Break it. Break it right now, Logan. It's going to come back to bite you on the ass, really, really hard. You and I, we used to be lovers. You are still, hands down, bar none, the best I ever had. And you're my best friend. I would take a bullet for you, even though I know it might kill me, and wouldn't harm you, just to save you a minute of pain. Listen to me, Logan. The whole world is full of women. So, I'll bet, is your address book. Go and buy a nice pair of black jeans, and a new flannel shirt, get your hat blocked, and go find one. Send baby home to Daddy and Victor, and get on with your life."
Logan relaxed his grip on her.
He picked up his box of things, shaking his head.
"I can't. I'm in too deep, darlin'?"
"All the way up to your big ol' balls, huh? Too bad you've got your brain and your heart in there with them. Alright, Logan. Just remember this. When this thing blows up, don't run out. I'll still be here for you. I will always be here for you. Hell, if nothing else works out for you, I'll just have tell Scott that he's going to have to put up with a little polyandry. Just don't ever leave like that again. I don't think I could bear it."
Jean forced herself to smile.
Logan laughed a little, and smiled, genuinely.
"Okay, Jeannie."
Jean left Logan's office, promising herself that if that little southern fried chicklet spattered poor Logan's big dumb heart all over the pavement, she wasn't going to live long enough regret it.
III: Rogue
It was kind of like living a double life.
But that was par for the course for Rogue.
Logan was very much like Victor in many ways, but just as unlike him in many more.
He was, indeed a better man, he was a good man, a decent man, things nobody would have said about Victor Creed.
Loving Victor was hard, but she hadn't minded. Rogue always had to keep looking for the good in him, trying to find what it was that made her love him, in spite of who he was and what he did.
And he loved her as much as he could, but he had to keep so much of himself from her.
It was like she only had a shred of the man, the tiny shred of decency that was Victor Creed and not Sabretooth.
Logan was the exact opposite.
He never kept a secret from her, about anything, and though his heart and his soul were heavy, they were neither twisted nor black, and he gave her both willingly having kept them to himself for such a long time.
One thing was the same.
Both men made her feel safe and protected and loved.
Loving Logan, though, was easy as falling off a log.
He was such a wonderful man, kind and what her Aunt Carrie used to call ruggedly handsome; and he was never ashamed to be exactly who he was.
But Charles was right about Logan.
He was always trying to mortify himself.
The first thing she did was take the money he never used and get in Logan's truck and drive a little ways to the store in Westchester where her father had always bought his furniture.
Papa liked to buy simple, tasteful things that were good quality and would last a long time.
Victor always said that was because he was a miserly old Jew, but Victor spent his money on bullshit in a profligate way until he was flat broke.
He'd go on a spree and she'd lie and say he was taking her to school, and them if he didn't show up for a week she'd go to his apartment, and throw out whatever whore was in there robbing him blind, and and rouse Victor from his drunken stupor and have to contract the flu so she could take a few days off of school to clean the place up, do mountains of laundry, and nurse Victor back to health after he had abused himself abominably.
On those occasions, she had to steal money from Papa, so that Victor could pay his rent and his utilities, and get some food.
She thought Logan's tastes would be more in line with Papa's and her own.
They had three rooms.
A bathroom, a bedroom, and a living space with a kitchenette.
He was fond of television, so she bought the biggest one that would fit in their living space, and also a stereo with a record player, as Logan had two boxes of records, and Rogue, who didn't own any music recorded after about 1979, mostly jazz and blues albums, had a large record collection.
She had spoken to Papa on the phone, at Professor X's urging.
He swore up and down that he had no intent to harm her, and that it was all some vindictive scheme of Victor's.
He didn't insist on her coming home, because he wanted her to be away from Victor, to learn to control her powers, and to get a good education in a place where she was with her own kind.
Rogue wanted to believe Papa.
But she couldn't be sure.
She asked him to send her records and some of her other things, and all of her clothes along.
Rogue was quite happy to get rid of all those ugly things she had worn all winter; she was not in the habit of ever wearing slacks, let alone jeans.
In wintertime, she wore long coats, and long shirts and woolen stockings.
The rest of the room was furnished in a large overstuffed easy chair and a sofa that were both brown corduroy, so that the stains Logan would invariably get on them would not be obvious and easily wash away.
For the same reason, she bought indoor-outdoor blue multicolor carpeting for both rooms.
She found one of those old 50's style fridges at a resale shop for the kitchenette, and bought a small but sturdy blonde oak table and chairs for them to eat their meals on, and all the dishes and cups and plates she purchased were Corelle or plastic.
Both she and Logan had a great number of books, so she bought two bookcases, and a reading chair for herself, and two floor lamps.
Logan liked to keep things simple, so that and a set of blue and brown striped curtains made the living room.
She got towels in blue and brown for the bathroom.
The bedroom was large enough for a big bed, and even though she and Logan were not very big people; Rogue, at 5'4 or so was the tallest, and she thought a California King sized bed was a bit much, so she got the king sized bed.
And an old-fashioned brass bed; she knew that Logan favored those.
Like the one at the cabin on top of the mountain.
Again, she went with sheets and blankets that were brown and blue.
Logan didn't own much in the way of clothes and there was a closet in the room, so she got a wardrobe and a chest of drawers with a mirror on it , and a full-length mirror to hang on the back of the door.
Also two end tables, one for each side of the bed.
Two more floor lamps.
Lamps for the night-stand would have ended up on the floor anyway.
Same curtains as in the living room.
She furnished the rest of the place with her own odds and ends, and when she was satisfied, she had to practically drag Logan to his own rooms.
He walked from room to room, absently hanging his hat on the hook on the back of the door to the living room where she thought he would.
"That's a big bed, darlin'. An' a nice big TV. And there's all your records. You do have a lot of records, don't ya? Are those speakers for the TV and the hi-fi?"
Hi-fi.
Don't laugh, Marie.
"They cal it a stereo now, Logan. And yes, they are."
He sat down on the couch, and seemed to like the way he sunk into it.
Without saying anything else, he went downstairs and came back with his duffel over his shoulder and a case of Molson's, which he loaded into the fridge.
And returned to the living room with a bottle of beer and one of the Slim Jims from the box she had bought and put on top of the fridge, picked up the remote and sank into the overstuffed blue and brown plaid chair that she had figured had "Logan" written all over it.
He turned on the TV.
"Does this mean you like it?" she asked.
He smiled at her.
"Darlin', you did great. Like they say, a home's got to have a woman as much as a woman has got to have a home."
Rogue made most of their meals in the little kitchenette, although Logan did some of it, at his insistence.
Once a week, she did his washing along with hers in the laundry room.
Having an ashtray on every surface and two trash cans in every room went a long way towards picking up after Logan; but he surprised her in that, he still did most of his picking up, himself.
Unlike Victor, who would sneeze into a tissue and then drop it on the floor.
Rogue always did her homework in her dorm room, to keep up appearances, and she made two friends close to her image, protégés of Logan's, who credited her with bringing him home, and helped her keep her affair with Logan a secret.
Keeping things under his hat was not Logan's strong suit, but between her and Kitty and Jubilee, they managed to at least keep up the pretense that Rogue was just another, if not a little older, student.
Among the rest of the X-Men, Rogue took to Nightcrawler the most.
The first day she was there, he greeted her warmly, hugging her and calling her little sister.
Rogue was confused.
"But surely you zee ze family resemblance? Raven is my muzzer, too. Zat makes you, my little sister. I have heard so much about you from muzzer, but I never came to meet you, because, well, of ziz feud between Charles and Erik. But I am glad zat we haff finally met."
Kurt took his role as older brother very seriously; he genuinely considered Rogue to be family, and she came to see him the same way.
They shared more than just the same mother.
Rogue was raised Catholic, and though she was what the Church called a cafeteria Catholic, she tried to attend mass at least twice a month, something she had not done since she left New York, and something none of the other X-Men were concerned with.
Kurt was a devout Catholic; he had, for a while, left the X-Men to become a priest.
He went to a small church in Salem Center whose parishioners were all mutants and their non-mutant family members, and she joined the parish.
Like her older brother, she found great comfort in her religion.
They also shared a love for the culture of the bygone world that World War II killed off; Rogue was as interested in Kurt's DVD collection as he was in her records.
They spent long hours watching movies, listening to records, and sometimes just talking about those shining days gone by.
Every Wednesday, Kurt took her to New York, to a theatre that showed only Golden Age films, and they got quite a few strange looks, but she didn't care; they always had a good time.
Generally, Rogue was enjoying her life at the X-Mansion like a new birth of freedom.
There was no undercurrent of tension at the X-Institute; they didn't live in the same kind of paranoia as she had become accustomed to at home.
To Rogue, raised amongst the Brotherhood, everyone seemed friendly and nice, essentially good and it was quite a relief, not having to hide, anymore.
The best times, however were when she and Logan and Kurt all sat around and watched old movies together.
Logan always had a story from the past to tell.
"Look, Logan. The Sea Hawk is on AMC!"
"That's' a good one. "
Rogue went and made some popcorn, and during the commercials, Logan told her and Kurt a story.
"Ya know, Flynn ain't dead. Not even close. He was with Nick Fury in the OSS and then with S.H.I.E.L.D. from the beginning. He's one of us. A teleporter and a partial metamorph. He can just change his own appearance. Got some healing, not as good as me and Vic, but good enough. Him and Nick fell out after he went to Cuba in '58, and Nick forced him out of his own life, and into deep cover. Turned out though, he had a point about how we shoulda backed Castro, so the Russkies didn't."
"Well, where is he now?" Rogue asked
Logan took a sip of beer, just to keep her and Kurt hanging.
"Flynn? He moved on to his next career or two. You know that war correspondent for CNN? Robert Blood? The one who kinda looks just like Errol Flynn?"
"That's him?" Kurt asked.
"Sure is. He's still with S.H.I.E.L.D. Who do you think cleans up the messes Tony Stark leaves behind him?"
"What does Errol Flynn have to do with Tony Stark?" Rogue asked.
"Plenty. Howard Stark was a great businessman, and a great producer, but he was a shitty father. Him and Flynn were neighbors, in the thirties and forties. Friends, too. Now, in the sixties, when Tony was a kid living out in LA, his father's best buddyroo was a writer, journalist, and war correspondent named Peter Hood. Peter Hood was also Errol Flynn. That was his first new identity after Nick let him resurface in '65. After Howard's old lady died, he let the kid run wild, and I guess Hood, that is, Flynn, felt bad for him. In his will, Howard made Hood his kid's guardian. Although, even before Howard kicked, Flynn was more Tony's father than Stark ever was." Logan reported.
"This has to be bullshit." Rogue interrupted.
"No, no. Tony has a common interest in zeze old films mit us. I am fairly friendly mit him, and I happen to know zat ven his fazzer died, zat his fazzer's friend, ze famous journalist Peter Hood became hiz guardian. Und if you azk Tony who his best friends are, he vill tell you James Rhodes, unt Robert Blood." Kurt added.
"Wait a minute! That's' awful close to Robin Hood and Captain Peter Blood!" Rogue exclaimed.
"I'm not done yet. When we were in 'Nam, together, Eddie Blake told me that Flynn told him that he had an affair with Maria Stark, and Tony was actually his kid, not Howard's. I dunno if that's true. But Eddie knew Flynn better than I did. He played him in that movie they made about the Comedian."
"I heard he's not dead, either."
"Oh, shoot, everybody knows he's not dead, Kurt."
"Who, Eddie? He's still the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Covert Division. After he went out the window, he just decided to stay underground. I know. We were in the Big One, together. With the Invaders. Me an' Eddie, we been buddies for years. He got me into S.H.I.E.L.D, and talked Charlie into giving me my first shot with the X-Men. "
"Is he a mutant, too?' Rogue asked.
"Nope. He got shot up with the super soldier serum. Shot himself up, actually. He got sent in to clean up the mess, and just helped himself to what was left."
"Zat's not vat I heardt. I heradt zat he vas always a mutant, just passink as a normal human." Kurt interrupted.
Rogue interrupted both of them.
"So, you have it on the authority of Director Blake, who was friends with Errol Flynn, and his boss in S.H.I.E.L.D. that Robert Blood is Peter Hood is Errol Flynn who is Tony Stark's biological father?"
"Yup."
Marie shook her head.
"You know, Logan, if ah put this shit on the Internet, nobody would believe me?"
"Go ahead. Fuck, some nut probably already has. But everybody knows the Internet is fulla shit, so nobody pays any attention."
In the interim before Captain Blood, Logan got up to use the bathroom.
"I never know whezzer to take him at his wordt on zeze stories. But I hope it's true. Zat means I might someday get to meet Herr Flynn."
"You never know, Kurt. You jest never know. That would, however, explain a lot about Tony Stark. Put CNN on, for a minute."
They caught the last few minutes of "Robert Blood Reports", the subject of which was the crises facing modern Africa.
"…and here, in what used to be called darkest Africa, it is all that much darker in the 21st century than it was in the 19th, when that term was coined. The great nations of world cannot turn their back on the so-called Dark Continent, because it is the actions of the nations of the world, in the time before our time, that have brought this curtain of night to the very cradle of the civilizations that spawned them, thousands of years ago. I'm Robert Blood, and this is my report. Until we meet again."
He smiled, and tipped his hat.
Logan sat back down, and switched the channel back to AMC, just for effect.
"Oh mah God, Kurt, it's him! It's really him!"
"Gott in Himmel!"
"Toleja." Logan said.
"So? When do we get to meet him?" Rogue insisted.
"Any time you want, Kurt. As for you, darlin', how about never?"
"Logan! Ah wouldn't!"
"The hell you wouldn't! Maybe if you were a lezzie, ore dead, you wouldn't. Otherwise, like I said, never's good for me." Logan laughed.
He opened a fresh can of beer.
"An' that goes double for Tony Stark." He finished.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
In which, as Jean observed, Logan and Rogue play housie-housie, and Jean does not like it one bit. Also in which the past catches up to those of us in our story who are old enough to have one.
Chapter End Notes:
Oh dear! You don't suppose Jean is right, do you? Hey? just what dose she have invested in being right? And what about Logan? is there something they haven't told Rogue? And what about Victor? Am I the only one who thinks that he's only going to be noble for so long, before he does indeed, fire up the Escalade, and see about share and share alike?