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How do you document real life
when real life’s getting more like fiction each day?
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Chapter Two: How Do You Stay On Your Feet?
Pain. That’s what Rogue felt as she opened her eyes. Lying on her back, she was vaguely aware that it was almost dark. She sat up slowly, but fell back down when a searing pain spread through her abdomen and down her leg. Looking down towards her feet, she noticed part of what she assumed was the train pinning her against the ground. ‘What happened?’ Rogue thought to herself as tears started to fall down her cheeks. She tried remembering.
She remembered a little girl crying onto her shoulder; screams; lights flickering; the train jerked and she was out. She tried to get up again, but could only cry out in agony when the pain overtook her senses. A slight movement to her left caught her attention. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out a small form crawling over to her.
“Marie?” The voice of a little girl filled her ears.
‘Samantha,’ she thought. Then she repeated the name out loud, “Samantha.”
“I’m here,” the voice replied and Rogue felt a small hand wrap around her own.
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Rogue managed to rasp out between sharp intakes of breath. She gave up on trying to move since the the pain was already unbearable, “Is anything…does anything hurt?”
“I’m okay, Marie. Please don’t leave me alone.”
“Oh believe me, Sammy,” Rogue smiled slightly, “I’m not going anywhere.” Then she heard something else, or someone. Someone was calling her name, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even turn her head. Someone was running towards them, or maybe there was more than one person. She was starting to consciousness again when someone gripped her other hand. Forcing her eyes to stay focused, Rogue saw Logan hovering over her. He was talking to her, but she couldn’t register anything he said. Scott appeared on her other side, but she tried to focus on Logan. Her vision blurred again.
“Logan,” she whispered, “I hate trains.” That was all she could manage to say before darkness fell over her again.
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When Rogue didn’t call to tell him that she was at the train station waiting for him almost two hours after she was supposed to, Logan knew that something was wrong. When he was on his way to the professor’s office to see if he knew anything, Storm cut him off saying that there had been a train wreck in the woods almost a half an hour outside of Westchester. Xavier had used Cerebro and confirmed that Rogue was there, along with another mutant child they had been expecting. While the professor was unsure whether or not they were okay, he did sense that they were both alive. So, naturally, the X-men went straight to the scene of the wreckage, hoping that the police wouldn’t get there first and find two mutants hiding out in the woods.
Logan was completely on edge as he, Storm, Cyclops, Jubilee, Shadowcat, and Iceman scanned through the wreckage for Rogue. They were all worried, of course, but it was a given that Logan would be the worst of all. He stepped over body after body, most of which he assumed were dead, which only added to his concern.
He smelled her before he actually saw her. Although, under normal circumstances he could probably smell her a mile away, but there were so many other people, not to mention all of the smoke coming from what was left of the train. Logan called her name as he followed her scent, but no one answered. He could hear the other team members following him and he continued to call out to her. “Marie Where are you, darlin’?” Then he heard someone cry out in pain and knew it was Rogue. When he finally found her, there was a little girl hovered over her and crying. He saw the piece of train siding pinning her to the ground which he easily lifted off and tossed to the side.
Storm beckoned the frightened child who reluctantly moved away as Logan knelt down beside Rogue, taking her gloved hand in his own, “Marie, can you hear me?” Her eyes were open and she whimpered a little but she didn’t seem to hear him. Cyclops knelt down on her other side and noticed the blood seeping through her shirt. He examined the wound and saw a gash that ran down the side of her abdomen and right leg where the train siding had torn the jeans she was wearing.
“This isn’t bad, Logan. We should be able to move her without causing any more damage.”
“Let’s get her back to the mansion,” Storm said before taking off her cape and handing it to Scott to use as a makeshift bandage. Logan nodded and looked back down at Rogue, who had paled considerably in the last few seconds.
“Logan,” she whispered, “I hate trains.” Logan might have laughed a little at this if she hadn’t passed out right after she said it.
Police sirens could be heard in the distance, and a helicopter was closing in on the wreckage. “Let’s move quickly, people,” Scott said as he helped Logan pick Rogue up as to avoid any further damage to her injury. Storm followed close behind with Jubes, Kitty, and Bobby who were trying to comfort a distraught Samantha who was scared mostly because Rogue, who had protected her on the train, was now the one in distress. They crossed the short distance to the jet and took off less than five minutes later. They arrived at the mansion within ten minutes and rushed Rogue down to the med-lab.
When Logan laid her down on the table in the med-lab, Rogue gained consciousness. She knew immediately where she was, which eased her mind, despite the painful sensations coursing through her. The familiar sight of the lower levels at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was another reminder that she was home. Filled with a new found strength, Rogue focused her vision and hearing on all the action going on around her.
“How bad is it?” She groaned, referring to the wound that was causing her so much pain.
“Marie?” Logan took her hand, “Hey, darlin’. How d’ya feel?” His face was filled with concern and she smiled a little at him.
“I’ve been better,” she chuckled, “but I’ll survive…or at least I hope I will.” She glanced at Storm and Scott as she said this, waiting for one of them to clue her in on the extent of her injury.
“You’re going to be just fine, Rogue,” Storm assured her, “We were just waiting for—“
“Where’s the patient?” A voice interrupted from the doorway. There stood Dr. Hank McCoy next to Professor Xavier.
“Hank? What are you doing here?”
The blue, fuzzy figure crossed the room and stood next to Logan, immediately examining her injury. Ignoring her question, he asked for some antiseptic to clean the wound, “This isn’t bad at all, my dear. You’re very luck to be alive.”
“What about the other people on the train?” Her voice asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. She looked up at Logan, who just stared back at her and shook his head. After seeing that look in his eyes, she didn’t have to hear the answer. “They’re all dead, aren’t they?” She said quietly. Her eyes welling up with tears of grief for all those innocent people she didn’t even know, “And Samantha? Is she alright? Where is she?” Rogue shot up off the table, wincing from the pain.
“Take it easy, Marie.” Logan eased her back down.
“Don’t worry yourself, Rogue,” said the professor as he wheeled forward, “Jubilee and Kitty are keeping a close eye on her. She is quite the spirited child. I daresay we almost had to tranquilize her.”
“What?” Rogue shot up again, “What for?” This time she ignored the pain. The idea of anything happening to such a sweet little girl almost broke her heart.
“She didn’t want to leave your side, even when you were brought down to the med-lab,” the professor closed his eyes briefly and opened them again; “I sense that Samantha trusts you a great deal. I believe I will go speak to her now and let her know you’re alright.” He turned around and wheeled back to the door and paused briefly, “Welcome back, Rogue. We missed you.” Feeling a little weak again, Rogue nodded and lay back down. Hank asked everyone to clear out so that he could finish seeing to her injury and they did, all except for Logan who stood by quietly watching.
“You’re being awfully quiet over there,” she smiled as Hank continued, wincing ever so slightly when he started to apply the antiseptic.
“Well you were too busy being injured to talk to me,” Logan teased.
“Aw, Logan, I’m never too busy being anything for…ouch ”
“Sorry.” Hank chuckled.
“For you,” Rogue finished, sending a brief glare at Hank before addressing him again, “You never did tell me exactly why you were here, Hank.”
“I was delivering the rest of the things from your apartment. Apparently, my timing was quite a convenience for you, missy.”
“You could have used Fed-Ex.”
“Yes well,” McCoy reached for a roll of bandages from a nearby cart, “Fed-Ex wouldn’t be able to personally accept Charles’ offer to join the staff as the doctor in residence for me, would they?”
“Really?” She asked excitedly.
“Of course. Besides, Miss D’Ancanto, when have I ever left a project unfinished? We still have a lot of work to do, and I brought along all of the research we’ve been working on. Sit up slowly now so I can bandage that wound. I’m just going to wrap around your abdomen, alright?” Noticing the difficulty Rogue was having sitting up on her own, Logan moved to assist her.
“I was wondering when the hero was gonna come to my rescue again,” Rogue smirked when Logan helped her sit up, placing his hand on the small of her back where she was still covered and applying the tiniest bit of pressure. Easing her up carefully, their eyes locked momentarily on each other and an awkward silence took over the room.
Dr. McCoy cleared his throat to snap the two out of whatever world they were in. He was inwardly smiling at this display. McCoy had only met Logan a few times before this when he came to visit Rogue in New York City. For six years, when she was studying at NYU he kept a watchful eye on her as a promise to his good friend Charles Xavier. While she majored in political science, she also minored in Genetics, which McCoy suspected had more to do with her mutation than an actual love for the science itself. It didn’t matter to him, though. A few years into her studies, he took her on as an intern. She was a bright young woman and a hard worker, but she was always talking about her best friend, the famous Wolverine. She showed such affection towards this man who had been protecting her since she was seventeen and had saved her life more than once. Then, when Logan stopped in to visit her and he saw them together…well lets just say that the good doctor could sense a budding romance between them whether they were best friends or not. Although, they themselves seemed to be completely oblivious…for now.
Logan backed away a little from the table and let Dr. McCoy bandage Rogues wound. “So what’s this research you guys are talkin’ about?”
Rogue grinned at him. “It’s research that could help me gain control of my mutation.”
“What….That’s great How does it work?” Logan said, stunned. The look on her face made him want to reach out and hug her. Her eyes lit up and sparkled with excitement.
“It doesn’t work yet,” McCoy interjected, “that’s why we’re still researching.” Rogue rolled her eyes at him and continued to explain.
“It all started a few months ago. Now you know how I can’t touch anything with a pulse, right?” Logan nodded, “Well Hank has a cat that wanders around the lab and one night she got up onto one of the tables where were letting some chemicals sit for a top priority project. She knocked this one beaker over with her tail. I was passing by and picked her up on instinct so none of it would get on her. She was so shaken up, the poor thing, that she dug into my shirt and wouldn’t let go. I held her for at least twenty minutes.”
“So? You play with Storm’s cat all the time,” Logan pointed out and Rogue’s smile got even bigger.
“Ah, but this time I wasn’t wearing my gloves…”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yay chapter 2! Enjoy and review please!