Title: Vindicator
Author: Court (remylebeau@yahoo.com)
Website: http://www.lediableblanc.com/personal/fanfic/
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Vindicator 7
By Court
Ororo strolled down the hall, it was early still, and she had not slept long, but she was refreshed. She had never slept so soundly. She didn't realize how tired she was until she had woke this morning, she did not even remember going to sleep. She passed Remy's door and decided to let him rest a little longer, giving her time to grab her morning tea. It would allow her the chance to grab him a bite to eat as well.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard the elevator open to the main floor. She was surprised to hear someone up this early in the morning. Before she could turn the corner to see who stirred, Scott whipped around it, almost knocking her to the ground. She could see the anger on his face. "What has you upset, Scott?"
"Logan is gone! I don't know how he got out of the cell, but he managed to shut the whole system down. He's not on the grounds, and Rogue's truck is gone."
"Goddess." Storm flew up the stairs. She now realized why she slept so soundly. She should have detected the manipulation, it had not been the first time she had been charmed to sleep. Remy had done it to her many times to sooth her from nightmares. She pushed open Remy's door and found the room empty. Shelves had been cleared out, the closet emptied.
Scott walked up behind Ororo, seeing the room empty he sighed angrily and crossed the hall to Logan's room. He pushed open the door that set ajar and cursed at seeing the room in the same condition. "I should have known it was Gambit, he's the only one that could hack the mainframe so easily. I thought you were supposed to be watching him."
"He convinced me to rest in my own bed last night, he knew his room's small space bothered me. I did not think he was capable of this, he was in a great deal of pain." Ororo felt a tear fall down her face. She knew she had to control her emotions, but she had lost her brother today. A few tears and a little rain were acceptable.
"Great, now we have to track both of them down." Scott closed the door to Logan's room. He would lock both rooms and keep everyone out of them until this was settled. He couldn't believe this had gotten this out of hand. He was just on his way to release Logan from the holding cell. If he would have only talked to the Professor earlier, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
"Why must we track them down, Scott? Leave them be. Neither felt comfortable here anymore, we can not force them to stay." She stepped into Remy's room and fingered the carved banister of the bed Jean Luc had bought him. She knew it meant the world to Remy. He must have truly feared being at the mansion to leave it behind. She heard Scott follow her in, obviously wanting to debate the matter further.
"We can't just let them take off like this. The whole situation is out of control. Warren is missing and could be dead, and that could be Logan's fault. Now he has taken off with Gambit, who is injured and should be in the MedLab, not in a truck going God knows where. The fact that Warren threatened Gambit again and is still out there somewhere worries me as well."
"Remy is in the best hands. Logan will not let harm fall on my brother. But you are right, Warren I feel is a threat and it would make me feel better to know where they are in case of emergency. It would do both their wounded souls good to know they are still wanted, I believe." She sighed not sure that was something this make shift family could convey. Most of the team was still too angry towards Remy and Logan, too caught up in their small worlds to truly understand either man. She had taken time from her life to get to know each of them and it gave her comfort knowing they would take care of one another. Ororo followed Scott out of the room and closed Remy's door, she would protect his belongings in hope he would come back to retrieve them.
***
Logan drove down the highway towards the rising sun. They had not really discussed exactly where they were going, so he just drove south. He had several places scattered across the southern states, and he knew Remy did too. They could shack up at one of them and stay until they needed to move on. The X-men would track them down, he was sure of it. At least for awhile, until Scott's anger had faded, or a more important mission came up. Until then they would run and hide. They had an advantage, they both naturally blocked telepaths, so Cerebro would be no help to them. They just had to stay in places that they had more friends than the X-men. That way they would have a little help in dodging their former teammates.
He petted Remy's hair when he stirred restlessly in his sleep. He could tell the kid was uncomfortable, most likely in pain. He planned on stopping soon, once he knew they had a good enough head start. Neither had gotten much sleep the night before and he didn't want Remy's condition to deteriorate. He would have to take him back to Hank if things got too bad. He couldn't take Remy to a normal hospital and he wouldn't watch him die, so if it came down to it he would go back. He slowed the truck down to quiet the engine when he heard Remy moan lightly. He continued to pet Remy's hair as he woke.
"Logan..." Remy hated to make Logan stop so early into the trip but the pain in his lower body was impossible to sleep through. The adrenalin high from before had long worn away and the pain was on the verge of making him ill.
"Ya okay, kid?" Logan heard the pain in Remy's voice and it concerned him. Maybe he should have insisted on waiting longer before taking this trip. He wasn't a doctor, he didn't know how to handle this.
"Can we stop at the next rest area? I need to take some of my pain killers." Remy cringed as another sharp pain shot through his back.
Logan quickly pulled over the truck on the side of the road. He could tell Remy was in a lot more pain than he realized. The next rest stop was not for miles, he wasn't about to make the kid wait that long. "Where are they, Remy?"
Remy was surprised to feel the truck stop. "Logan, I can wait..."
"No, ya can't." Logan gently put his palm on Remy's forehead. "Ya are running a light fever, I don't want it to get worse. Now where are they in your bag?"
"In the front pocket." Remy shivered when the little warmth he had from Logan left him. He heard Logan rummaging through the duffel bag and then the sound of a bottle of pills. He bit back the pain when Logan lifted his head enough to swallow the drugs.
Logan felt the tremors running through Remy's body and pulled out the blanket he had grabbed from his room before getting back into the cab. He covered Remy's body and returned his head to its resting spot on his thigh. "Should you take the antibiotics too? It may keep your fever down."
"I need to eat something with them, so they can wait," Remy replied quietly as he settled back into his earlier sleeping position. He hoped the drugs would take effect soon so he could sleep again.
"Alright, there is a town about 30 miles up the road. We will stop there and get a hotel. We both could use a good meal and some sleep." Logan felt Remy nod against his leg. He started the truck again and pulled out to the highway. He was tempted to turn around and head back, but decided against it. He knew Remy would see it as a betrayal and that was something the young man could not take right now. He wasn't sure he could handle losing the boy's trust and friendship either. Remy was all he had now and he planned on keeping it.
***
Logan laid Remy in the center of the bed, being careful not to cause him anymore pain than necessary. It surprised him that the Cajun had slept through the trip into the small hotel room. He hoped it was because of the drugs and not the fever that seemed to be rising. After making sure Remy was comfortable he stepped back out of the small room to the truck and grabbed their bags. He took a look at the surroundings, his trained eye taking in several escape routes if needed. The town they stopped at wasn't much, they could have missed it if they blinked at the wrong time. There was only one mom and pop hotel in the small area, but it was nice and clean, it even had room service which surprised him. He didn't imagine the food was all that great, but if all else failed there was a small diner across the street.
He headed back in after smoking a cigar and locked the door securely behind him. He dropped the bags on the floor right behind the door. It would slow down anyone trying to get in and give them time to react. He looked to the bed to see Remy awake and rolling his eyes at him. "What was that for?"
"Y' are being paranoid. That's going to slow us down as much as anybody else." Remy curled up a little tighter, pulling the cover closer to him. The medication wasn't working as well as it normally did. He hoped he hadn't hurt himself more by breaking out so soon. Remy smirked. "I feel like we escaped from prison, not ran away from home."
Logan sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed Remy's arm. "They will try and track us down, at least Scott will. I may have killed Wings, which technically makes me a fugitive. They won't forgive that. I'm sorry for dragging ya into this, Gumbo."
"Not like y' put a gun to my head or nothing. As much my fault as it is yours, if not more." Remy gritted his teeth when a throbbing pain ran through his lower body.
Logan bit back the tongue lashing he wanted to give Remy. He was so sick of the kid taking all the blame for everything. He held it in for now, the kid was in pain and he didn't want to upset him further. They needed to do something about his physical wounds before they started working on the mental. "We need to get some food in ya. It may help the pain killers work a little better. Ya can take your antibiotics too, that fever isn't going away. I don't want to have to take ya back to Hank."
Remy's eyes widened at what he took as a threat. He couldn't go back, and Logan definitely couldn't go anywhere near the mansion. He was right, he was a fugitive. He knew how the X-men handled people they considered criminals. "Logan, don't, please. I'll be fine. A fever is normal, it'll go away. Promise me y' won't go back, I don't want them to hurt y'. I know they will."
"Calm down, kid. I won't go back unless I have too, but if ya start getting too sick I won't have a choice. Let's not worry about it now. We'll get some food in ya and get a good night's rest and go from there." Logan picked up the worn menu from under the telephone and read over the short list. "What are ya up to eating, kid?"
Remy's stomach turned at the thought of food, but he knew he needed to eat something. "I'm not up to much, I'm already filling a little sick."
"How about some soup. We'll see how that settles with ya and then we'll get something later if ya are still hungry." He saw the weak nod before the young man's forehead tightened in pain again. He couldn't stand to see Remy in agony. "Is there anything I can do about the pain, Remy? I know you're hurting."
There was only one thing that sounded even remotely relaxing to Remy, other than just flat out being sedated, a warm bath, but he didn't want to ask. Logan wasn't his nurse, and he had already done way too much for him as it was. The idea of the warmth, and finally being clean, was almost too hard to resist. He opened his mouth to ask and then shut it again. He couldn't ask. He probably couldn't handle it right now anyway.
Logan could see the hesitation. Remy wanted something and didn't want to ask. The Cajun obviously didn't understand that he would do anything to make him feel better. Anything to ease just a little bit of the pain. "Remy, what is it? Just ask and I'll do it."
Remy sighed. "A hot bath normally helps a lot, but I don't think I can manage to sit in the tub. Never mind."
"How about this? I'll order the food and while it's being put together we'll try to get ya in a bath. If you can't handle it, then fine, I'll put ya back to bed. Ya won't know til ya try. I'll help ya." Remy averted his glance to the floor, and Logan instantly felt like an idiot. The kid probably didn't want to be touched, let alone naked in front of him. "Remy, if ya are uncomfortable with me helping ya I understand."
Remy looked back at Logan surprised. "Non, Logan I'm not uncomfortable with y'. I trust ya. I just don't want to be a burden."
Logan shook his head. "Ya have to stop thinking like that. You're not a burden. Jesus, I'd be locked in a cell still, probably going nuts, if it weren't for ya. I think a simple bath is the least I can do for ya. Just let me figure out what to order and we will get ya in the tub." Logan looked over the short menu again. "What kind of soup ya want? They have tomato, veggie and chicken noodle. Your pick."
"Chicken, please! I have had enough of Stormy's vegetarian food to last me a month." Remy felt a small pain in his heart. He would miss his Stormy. He regretted not saying goodbye to her, but he had no choice, she would have stopped him. He hoped she would forgive him of that. In his heart he knew she would, Ororo was one of the few people that forgave him for his screw ups.
Logan saw the sorrow Remy had fallen into with the mention of Storm. He knew it was only a matter of time before they realized just how much they had left behind. He was sure there was no regret for either of them about leaving, but they both had people they would miss. Storm was like a sister to Remy, he would miss her the most, he was sure of it. He had his friends and family he hated to leave behind as well, Jubilee kept coming to mind. Maybe when this all settled they could do something about the lost friendships, but now if wasn't an option. He had managed to order their dinner mindlessly and hung up the phone. "They said it would be about an hour."
Remy smiled. "After all the food y' just ordered I'm surprised it won't take longer. Hungry?"
"Starving! You think putting up with Storm's veggie menu is bad, try having Jean cook for your every meal." Logan laughed at the look of disgust on Remy's face. They both knew she couldn't cook.
"Y' win, that's bad. Anything beyond pancakes and it's a gamble."
"Damn right. Well, while we are waiting let's get ya in the tub." Logan got up from the bed and walked towards the bathroom.
"Logan, y' don't have to do this," Remy whispered, knowing Logan would hear him.
Logan turned around and leaned against the bathroom door. "Stop, kid. Unless ya are uncomfortable with me, don't worry about it. If it will stop some of that pain ya are in I'm more than willing to help. If this bothers ya though, I will understand."
"Non, not like ya haven't seen me naked before. Ya know I have about as much modesty as Stormy does, everyone in the mansion's seen my birthday suit at least once." Some more than others. He cringed at the thought. He couldn't think of Warren now. He wasn't a problem anymore, Logan made sure of that.
"Fine then, one hot bath coming up." Logan headed back in the bathroom, happy to find a large, clean, tub. The small hotel was full of surprises. He filled the bath with warm water and put a folded towel on the bottom of the tub to make it softer. He wasn't sure if Remy would allow anymore help than getting him in and out, so he did what he could now to make sure the kid was comfortable. He moved the shampoo and soap from the counter to the tub's edge, easily in reach. After double checking everything he went in the room the fetch the Cajun.
"Don't even think about it," Logan chided, seeing Remy half asleep on the bed. "Bath first, then you eat, after that ya can sleep all ya want." Logan thought for a moment on the best way to do this. It was going to be hard moving Remy around and into the tub without pain. He hated that. "Alright, put your arms around my neck." Logan bent down close to Remy and allowed him to wrap his arms around him. Remy's hair tickled the sides of his face as he laid his face onto his neck. He lifted him up to his chest and carried him into the bathroom. He wasn't sure how he was going to manage getting Remy undressed, this was going to be a problem. "Uh, kid, how attached are ya to these clothes?"
"I don't even think they're mine, I woke up with them on," Remy replied quietly, his words muffled due to his face resting in the crook of Logan's neck. He was tired and this was the most comfortable position he had been in all day.
"I am going to put you down, but keep your arms around my neck and let me hold your weight." Logan slowly put Remy's legs down and shifted to make sure he had the majority of Remy's weight, he didn't want the kid putting anymore stress on the wounds, he had done enough of that already. Once he had Remy stable in his arm he unsheathed his claws on one hand. "Stay still, ya are about to lose those clothes."
Remy tensed when he felt Logan carefully cut away the pants and t-shirt. He hoped whoever's they were didn't want them back, because they were now shredded all over the floor. He smiled at Logan when the last piece of shirt was pulled out from under his arm. "Well, that comes in handy."
Logan chuckled back. "Yea, if ya don't mind buying a new wardrobe every week. Now hold on, I'm going to pick ya up again. It's going to be a little awkward, I figured ya would be more comfortable on your hip than on your backside." Logan felt Remy's hold around his neck tighten as he picked him up. He turned the naked body slightly in his arms and gently placed him in the water, his hip resting on the towel. "It's not too hot, is it?"
"Non, feels good." Remy closed his eyes as the warm water engulfed him. It was already working wonders.
"Okay, ya have to let go of my neck. Here I have an idea." Logan loosened Remy's grip and grabbed another towel, placing it on the corner of the tub. He gently laid Remy's head on the towel and draped one long arm over the side of the tub for leverage. "That good?" Remy nodded weakly, his eyes still closed. "Do ya want me to clean ya up a bit or do ya want me to leave ya alone?"
Remy opened his eyes sleepily. "It's alright, Logan, I'm okay."
Logan shook his head. "That didn't answer my question, Gumbo. Was that an 'I'm ok, get the hell out of here', or a 'I feel like a burden so I'm not going to ask'?" He saw by the kid's face it was the latter. "How about I wash your hair for ya. I can still smell the whiskey in it, I'm sure it'll make ya feel better." He wasn't going to mention he could still smell Warren in those locks as well.
"Oui, that would be nice," Remy whispered as his eyes groggily closed again. The warm water and Logan's presence made him feel comfortable and safe for the first time in almost a week, if not longer. He wanted to just lose himself in the feeling.
Logan retrieved the ice bucket from the counter to ladle water over Remy's head. When he returned from the short trip Remy had dozed off. He tapped the Cajun on the nose to wake him and pushed on Remy's chin. "Lean your head back a bit, I don't want to get water in your eyes." He poured a few buckets of water on the Cajun's head then began working in the shampoo into his long locks, trying to keep it out of his eyes. When he started to massage his scalp he stopped abruptly, feeling cuts scattered across his head. "Remy, this doesn't hurt, does it?"
"Non, why?" Remy wanted to open his eyes, but was afraid of the shampoo. He wondered why Logan would think that shampooing his hair would hurt, then he remembered the cuts. "The cuts aren't that deep, they don't hurt anymore."
Logan carefully began working the shampoo in again. "Did Warren do that?" He hated to bring up Angel, but he wanted to know. He had wondered exactly what had happened in that room.
"Oui, they're from his fingernails," Remy whispered.
"So he did try to suffocated ya? No one was really sure what happened." Logan carefully placed his hand on Remy's forehead and eyes as he poured water over his head, rinsing away the shampoo. When he took away his hand he could tell Remy was slightly upset. He was sure the kid didn't want to tell him yet, and he respected and understood that. He wasn't going to push him.
"I don't think he was trying to suffocate me... really. I think he just wanted me to shut the hell up... I really don't want to talk about his right now, I'm too tired." He knew Logan, of all people, deserved an explanation, but not now. The wounds were too new, too fresh. He needed to be able to distance himself from it before he could talk about what happened, so it couldn't hurt him again.
"It's okay, kid, I'm not going to demand the story. When you're ready you'll tell me." Logan wrapped a small towel around Remy's head and laid his head back on its resting place. He could see Remy wasn't lying about being tired. The kid's eyes slowly closed as he dozed again. Logan let him sleep. Maybe a cat nap would wake him up enough to eat. He soaped up a small rag and leisurely cleaned Remy up as best he could. He had to admit to himself he liked this, playing nurse wasn't all that bad, at least when Remy was the charge.
Logan finished up and rinsed Remy off. He brushed his hand against Remy's cheek until the young man opened his eyes again. "Can ya wake up for me? I need to go get ya some clothes and then I'll get ya out of here. I don't want ya to drown while I'm in the other room." He made sure Remy was securely put and left to find some clothes.
He pulled Remy's bag up on the bed and rummaged through it. He found some sweat pants and button down pajama shirt that would be easy to get on him. He searched for the other articles of clothing and didn't find what he was looking for. "Um, Remy, I can't seem to find any underwear, did ya forget to pack it?" Logan yelled into the bathroom. He raised an eyebrow when he heard laughter echo through the small bathroom.
"I don't wear any, so none to pack!" Remy yelled back.
Logan shook his head and returned to the bathroom, glad to see a smile plastered on the Cajun's sleepy face. He pulled the drain, letting the now lukewarm water leave the tub. "Let's get ya out of there before ya turn into a prune. Put your arms around my neck again."
Remy hesitated. "I'm going to get y' all wet, Logan."
"It's alright, I'm going to jump in the shower before the food gets here anyway. It'll at least be another 20 minutes, plenty of time. That is if ya cooperate with me." He smiled when Remy wrapped his arms around his neck without anymore hesitation. He lifted Remy out of the tub and dried him off the best he could. He helped him step into the pants and then the shirt was draped over him an arm at a time. Once he was into everything he pulled him back up to his chest and took him to the bedroom, laying him on the bed. "See, that wasn't all that bad, now was it? Hope it helped."
Remy nodded. "Oui, it helped a lot. Merci."
"Good, now I'm going to jump in the shower and then we'll eat. Take a little nap, I'll wake ya when the food gets here." He grabbed his clothes and headed for the bathroom again. Before entering he turned and took a last look at Remy and saw he had already fallen asleep. He smiled and pushed the door ajar.