Hard Rock Café-New York
1501 Broadway
New York, NY.
2:00 P.M.
While they were at lunch, Remy called Jubilee and bumped up their flight because a storm was coming in to New York. It wasn’t going to be extremely big but, nonetheless, he didn’t want to get caught in it. So they decided not to go back to the school. They went and picked up their pictures and Jubilee’s chip. Marie grabbed copies of the pictures she wanted while they were there as well. Logan stayed behind in the Suburban keeping the heater on. He turned on his personal cell phone to check his email. He was surprised to get replies back from Hank and Charles so soon, and an email from Frank. The boat went back to its owner with the provision that Logan just needed to give Frank fair warning to get it back in time to surprise Marie for their honeymoon. He selected Hank’s email.
To: theotherartteacher at XavierSchool.net
From: labratambassador at XavierSchool.net
Re: Proposal Plans…
Done. I’ll even make certain that you will not have to go through the metal detector. Have you decided when you will need it? Get back to me as soon as possible so I can get the request completed within a timely manner. McCoy.
To: theotherartteacher@XavierSchool.net
From: mindclass@XavierSchool.net
Re: WTF…
Logan, watch your language… I have a 3:00 o’clock appointment free if you wish to speak. We should converse in person. Wheels.
Logan smiled but, then looked at the clock. It was already after two-thirty. He wouldn’t be able to make that meeting, so he sent a text message instead.
[Out w/Marie, Le Beaus. Won’t make it back 4 3 P.M. Move 2 4? L.]
[Understood, meeting moved. C.]
He got Charles’ reply just before the ladies came back out to the SUV. Then Logan drove the ladies to the same airport that they used for their California adventure.
Westchester County Airport
Westchester, NY.
3:00 P.M.
Everyone said their good-byes inside the SUV because it was too damn cold outside the vehicle and no one wanted to be out in the cold with a long good-bye. Logan got their luggage out of the back. A small crew from the airport came and received their luggage. He watched as Jubilee and Chloe turned to wave to Marie in her window when they reached the giant ladder to the door of the 747. She waved back and Jubilee started up the steps with Chloe. Jubilee banged on the plane’s door when they reached the top. She stepped back when it came open. Then Chloe and her mom boarded her father’s plane with one last wave to Marie. Marie waved until they went inside. Logan fully pulled away from the gate when he saw the plane’s door close and roll away to prepare for take-off. Suddenly, Marie turned to him and wove her arms around his, looking devilishly seductive up into his face…
“Your place or mine, sugah?”
“As much as I’d love to take ya home and ravish ya like you wish, I have a meetin’ with Xavier at four, this afternoon but, then I’m yours darlin’, for the rest of the night.”
Marie was instantly worried. Was he trying to get to that movie faster than she’d planned? Hell yeah, but, he had the right. It was his life. He lived what the movie was about. She knew she couldn’t stop him from meeting with Charles or from seeing the movie but, she knew she’d be there to pick up the pieces of the man in the aftermath of his mental destruction. She said a silent prayer that the damage done to his mind wouldn’t be as severe as she thought it would be. Marie tried to cover up her fear by kissing him on the cheek. Then she rested her head on Logan’s shoulder.
When Logan had mentioned the meeting with Xavier, he had suddenly smelled a spike of fear in her scent. There was something she was hiding from him and he didn’t like it, one bit but, he let it go. The ride back to the school was longer than expected because the traffic had backed up worse than he’d planned. They pulled into the driveway with ten minutes to spare until four o’clock.
“I’ll see ya later in my room as soon as I’m done with Chuck.”
“Ah’ll be countin’ tha minutes, sugah.”
Logan headed out of the garage and in through the front door.
Headmaster’s Office
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
4:00 P.M.
Before Logan could knock, Charles had told him to enter. He went into the office and closed the door. He kept the animal in check but, its anger was bubbling to the surface. He was more disappointed than anything. He remembered their conversation after the attack on the school and the loss of Jean. He’d asked him why he couldn’t be straight with him and give him the answers he was seeking. Yes, the mind wasn’t a box you could just open but, Logan felt like the least Xavier could have done was given him more clues to help his mind discover the truth. Obviously, there was something in his past that Xavier didn’t want him to know. Was a part of his past so mentally damaging that maybe he didn’t want to know himself?
“Logan, please take a seat.”
He nodded and sat in a chair across the desk from Charles. There were so many things he wanted to get out at once. So many things he wanted to yell and scream over but, he didn’t know where to begin.
“So… You know about the motion picture made about your life.”
“Yeah, I found out from Chloe Le Beau.”
“What is it you wish to know?”
“Who, what, when, where, why, how.”
“I am making my opinion known that I don’t think this is a good idea Logan,” Charles said and considered Logan’s state.
“I ain’t waitin’ any longer, Chuck. You’ve put me off one too many damn times. What are ya keepin’ from me? What is so damn bad that you’ve kept me from it all the years I’ve been here?” He heard the pain and anger in Logan’s voice. “Not knowin’ my past is holdin’ me back.”
Charles knew that it would be wrong of him to hold Logan back much longer, because he knew that he couldn’t stop Logan from finding out what was in the film.
“All right Logan. We’ll start with whom… The writers of the film contacted the school to get information about you for an upcoming motion picture. They wanted to do a film about you since you were the hero that saved San Francisco. I sent them as much information as I had, to help build some kind of trust with humans about mutants; that we have faults but, we are just as human as they are. They wove the information together into what they deemed a credible story. I must also tell you that they have done films about how you and Rogue arrived, the attack on the school, the loss of Jean and Scott. They have already approached me about doing a story about Erik and I, and how the school started.”
“I’m no hero, Chuck, you know that. Still, why keep my past from me instead of givin’ me a friggin’ clue where to look,” he asked, the frustration clearly strong in his voice.
“Because William Stryker shot you, point blank, in the head… With an adamantium bullet.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that he effectively erased your past from your conscious memory. The only way to access your mind presently is to allow me into your mind to help it build new pathways, and fill in the blanks. However, I do not think it is wise because it could destroy any control you have over the animal. You would lose your humanity and adapt a more feral state. It would be extremely dangerous to allow you to be around the students, so you would have to be held under sedation in the infirmary, possibly permanently depending on the severity of your feral state.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”
“Because I felt that you weren’t ready for the truth, Logan.”
“What were you doin,’ sendin’ me on some wild goose chase of tidbits because you thought you could control me, like a dog fetchin’ a stick? Like bein’ immortal ain’t enough, now I need a challenge to keep me busy… And like an idiot, I came back to you feelin’ like you were gonna help me. I have been wanderin’ for more than 15 years lookin’ for answers!” Logan yelled.
He saw the calm in Xavier’s face but, he also saw the guilt. He could smell it. Logan was angry and now the animal was getting angry because of all the time wasted in tracking down clues. Time, he could’ve been spending with Marie. Logan’s knuckles began to burn with the pain of the blades trying to come to the surface, not quite breaking the skin but, giving him pain all the same. Marie… She knew about the movie. Why didn’t she tell him? Right, because of Xavier’s influence…
“It was not my intention to make you feel that way, Logan. And for that I am profoundly sorry.”
Logan could smell that he was telling a half truth. There was something hidden that he wasn’t being truthful with him about.
“Why didn’t you just read my friggin’ mind like I asked when I came back from Alkali Lake the first time? What was the real reason you didn’t want me to know about my past, and you better gimme the God’s honest truth, now!“ The animal let loose the claws this time as he sat in the chair, one set pointed at Xavier.
Charles knew that if he was going to gain any ground, he was going to have to come clean. About everything…
“Because there was no time. I had to deal with the attack on the President and the negative direction that the government was taking, I feared headed towards passing the Mutant Registration Act. I was petrified of losing such a skilled warrior and you have been an extremely valuable asset to the X-Men team.”
“Scooter didn’t think so.”
“I’ll give you that. You are a loose cannon. Your methods are unconventional and a bit controversial but, you complete the mission objective. You would be a valuable asset to Magneto as well because he could control you by your skeleton. Magneto was amplifying his Brotherhood of Mutants and continuing to cause a war between mutants and humans when you and Rogue arrived. I needed the most skilled warriors I had to go up against him. Can you stop a moment and imagine my position? If I told you everything about your past, it would have destroyed you, and you could have killed millions of people if you went into your feral state. The government would have immediately ratified the Mutant Registration Act. Magneto would have been right there, trying to kidnap you from under my nose and, recruit you. I couldn’t allow that to happen. So, I kept you in the dark and gave you what I could.”
‘So, you let him take Rogue instead, is that it?’ He could hear Logan’s thoughts because he was angry and projecting loudly.
‘Not exactly. I had to allow her to be taken so that the X-Men could stop him from his killing machine. I didn’t want to allow her to be taken. Magneto had me in a corner,’ he replied telepathically, and thinking of one of their afternoons playing chess.
“What the fuck! What if we hadn’t gotten there in time? What if she had died? What if I had died? What if his plan had worked? Damn it,” Logan yelled and jumped up from his seat.
Charles could see that he was looking for something to take his aggression out on. He needed to calm both the man and animal down before he needed to justify to himself the cost of a new office of antique furniture. He watched Logan pace the floor left six feet, turn right, six feet, and repeat.
“The point is, Logan, that it didn’t work and he was in prison for a very long time.”
“And he got out…”
“And if he would have allowed me to read him, I would have known that he was dying of prostate cancer. And now my old friend is gone.” Charles looked saddened. “He died a human; I think one of his biggest fears, aside from mutant concentration camps, the mutant registration act, and government labs.”
“Well, he can fuck himself in hell for all I care.”
“Logan, he had good in him once, just as you do. Unfortunately, his mutation manifested in one of the world’s worst periods in history and the Nazi’s used him as a weapon. You both are a like in those respects, both of you have been used as weapons against your will.”
“Don’t you fuckin’ compare me with him,” Logan pointed his claws at Charles.
“All right, then we’ll talk about Marie. I made Ororo, Jubilee, Chloe, Kitty, and Marie promise not to mention anything from the film because you were still getting over Dark Phoenix and Jean. You needed time to grieve. Adding on your past would have been disastrous and I explained that to the ladies. Marie made the ultimate decision not to tell you.”
Charles was quick to make an addendum to that last statement, and Logan lifted the eyebrow at him.
“I know where you’re headed with this train of thought. No, Marie didn’t intend to hurt you by not telling you about what she had seen. I know how much you care for each other and there was no malice in her decision. She has your best interest at heart, Logan. Remember, she has a part of you in her. She will have to discuss details of what lead her to keep it from you.”
“I want a copy of that movie as soon as possible,” the man had finally calmed the animal down as the claws went back inside his knuckles.
“Logan. I know you don’t want to listen to me right now but, please consider what you are asking. Do you want to ruin the happiness you and Marie have now? You’re about to get married…”
Logan sat back down as he began to consider his options. Could he do it, put Marie through the hell of watching his destruction…? After all, what proof did Xavier have that he would self-implode? What if he watched it and was fine? What if he watched it and was a total wreck? Would Marie still want him as her mate? Could she live with a feral and mentally challenged husband? She had been through so much with her past and waiting for him to get his head out of his ass, did he really want to ruin things with her now? He didn’t care if he disappointed people but, when it came to Marie… She mattered. He couldn’t lose her, he realized, it would crush him if she walked away now, regardless if he watched the film or not.
“I’ll wait for Marie. We’ll talk and come to a decision together. By the way, while I was in California, I had several flashbacks. I think there were several things triggerin’ ‘em, because they happened at different places Marie and I went.”
“I see, and what do you remember of these visions?”
“They might have been triggered by scent and whatever I was looking at, at the time. It started with the train I saw when we entered the park. I felt drawn to it when I saw it pull into the station. It felt familiar, like I had ridden on a train several times before.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Le Beaus leave town and Charles gets the book thrown at him. Sorry for the delay...Good smut takes time. I hope you like this...
Chapter End Notes:
Please let me know what you think. Thanks for any reviews!