Jean was quiet; she made no attempt to get involved
in the mindless chatter that filled the air. Logan was
back and since his return the afternoon before Rogue
had made sure to stay at his side. She was up to
something but she could be invisible to the telepath
if she chose to be which made Jean all the more
nervous. What did she want with Logan all of a sudden?
They were friends, yes, but she never paid this much
attention to the Canadian before.

Scott wandered in and grabbed a cup of coffee. He
glanced at Jean and made his way to the chair beside
her. "Hey."

She looked at him with a tired stare, " Good morning
Scott, sleep well?"

Scott looked around the table; everyone's attention
was on him. " Fine. How about you?" There was no way
he was going to be the subject of gossip because they
were disagreeing. It was a stupid argument anyway!

Jean smiled sweetly, " I slept fine."

* Jean, honey, we really need to talk about this * he
thought silently knowing she would pick it up but her
attention was on Logan and Rogue.

*****

Remy sat on the edge of his bed and prepared himself
for another day in Hell.

It had been a week since his break up with Wolverine
and it wasn't getting any easier no matter how many
times he told himself it was. He wanted to be able to
curl up around himself and forget but every time he
tried he got caught up in the memories again. So every
morning he would put on his uniform and a mask of
indifference and walk down the stairs straight into
the lion's den.

After a deep breath to steady himself he stood and
walked to his closet. Getting up the nerve to leave
his room this morning was harder than any other this
week. This morning he was going to have to face Logan.

The older man had disappeared after that night a week
ago. He used to do it all the time so no one thought
much of it. Late last night while Remy lay awake
listening to thoughts better left alone he heard the
familiar footsteps coming down the hall. His heart
leapt when they slowed outside his door but then the
man continued down the hall to his own room and closed
his door. Remy felt himself slip a little deeper into
the dark abyss that wanted to swallow him whole. He
couldn't seem to shake it off this time. He couldn't
get past the hurt. He couldn't make himself pretend
that he was okay. There was no reason to believe he
ever would be again.

He opened the closet and pushed his clothes to the
side but as he reached for a clean uniform he froze.
The depression he had shoved to the back of his mind
started creeping over him again. With shaking hands he
reached in and pulled out a soft old flannel shirt.
He'd forgotten Logan had left it there in case he ever
spent the whole night in Remy's room. Remy closed his
eyes and lifted it to his face. He inhaled deeply and
caught the faint scent that was uniquely Logan. the
intensity of the sights and sounds that assaulted him
took him by surprise and he stumbled back to the bed.
How was he supposed to face the man when just his
scent on a shirt rocked him off his feet?

He took one more deep breath before he threw the shirt
on to the chair in the corner. He couldn't tear his
eyes away from it as it fell lazily across the back.
He blinked back the sting of tears, it was ridiculous
how emotional he'd become since the older man entered
and then left his life. Damn it! It was the first time
in as long as he could remember that he felt
comfortable enough to let his guard down like that.

When Logan held him he KNEW he was safe.
If Logan said something would be all right, IT WAS.

Now he didn't have any idea how he was supposed to fit
all those emotions back inside. There were enough
tears to drown the whole world and the pain and the
loneliness were crushing him under their weight.

He startled at a sharp rap on his door. " Gambit!
Danger room in fifteen!" Remy got slowly to his feet
and went back to the closet. His eyes drifted to the
shirt on the chair before he finally retrieved his
uniform and got dressed. He stopped before opening the
door and let the familiar mask fall over his face.
Time to put Remy away for the day.

Gambit had returned.

*****

He strolled into the danger room with a smile on his
face that he in no way felt. " Hello ev'body. Nice
day, Heh?"

Storm smiled down at him from the perch she stood on
and he soaked it up to give himself strength. She had
been the only witness to his total beak down the night
Logan left. He cuddled up beside her in bed like a
child and let her comfort him. She rocked with him in
her arms and told him it would be all right even
though he was certain he wouldn't survive the loss.
She let him cry and never told him not to. She let him
be weak and she protected him the entire night. When
morning came she looked him in the eyes and with a
steady voice she told him he was STRONG and BRAVE and
GOOD. She told him that SHE loved him and he found the
strength to face that day and the next and the next
and the next after that. The love he felt for her was
beyond any word known to man.

Her eyes shifted uncomfortably to the right and Remy
steeled himself before he followed her gaze.

Logan was leaning against the wall, his strong arms
crossed in front of his broad chest. His head was
tilted to the side so he could hear what Rogue was
whispering in his ear. She kept shooting Remy looks as
she talked. Logan met Remy's gaze for a split second
before he nodded and looked back at Rogue.

Remy took a few more steps into the room and smiled
again. " Welcome home Wolverine, have a nice trip?"

Wolverine's eyes held an emotion that Remy couldn't
read and there was no way he was going to reach out
with his empathy toward man. It was because of the
damn power that he wasn't with him in the first place.
It should be HIM standing beside Logan, not Rogue.

Rogue smiled sweetly and chose that moment to say loud
enough for everybody to hear, " Can't ya TELL Swamp
Rat?"

Logan's gaze shifted to Remy again and the look in his
eyes was one of total disgust. Anyone paying attention
to the conversation would have been able to see the
look of anguish that crossed the young Cajun's face.
He paled visibly and whispered an urgent "excuse moi"
before he bolted out the door to the locker room.

He could hear them all laughing as the door closed...

*****

Jean was tired and grumpy and miserable and the bunch
of them laughing at Remy's expense was making her
furious. She glanced up at Storm and the two of them
turned to follow him.

" Where do you two think you're going? He's already
delayed the training session." They didn't stop
walking so he continued, " He's just hung over! He has
been every day this week! We need to go over-"

They ignored the team leader and continued out of the
room. Storm glanced back through the door as it closed
and she couldn't be sure but she thought she could see
a hint of sadness in Logan's eyes. She was so
disappointed in her family. Couldn't they see the
damage they were causing? She was worried about her
brother. He hadn't eaten more than two bites of
anything she'd given him to eat the entire week and
she knew he wasn't sleeping. If he didn't snap out of
the downward spiral he was in soon she feared for his
health, mental and physical.

Jean wasn't sure which she wanted to do more, simply
fry the X-Men where they stood or be sick with Remy.
She fought back tears as she thought of Scott's words.
He could be so incredibly thick sometimes! To his
SMALL credit he had apologized every day since she
left the boathouse and she knew he was sincere about
wanting her to come back. She wanted to go home too.
Sadly, he had no idea what he was apologizing for. He
was honestly glad his teammates had parted. He thought
of Remy as a user and a tease. He was under the crazy
impression that Remy was on a mission to bed
everything in the state. Jean had no idea where that
came from, the Remy SHE knew was very kind and well
mannered. She could tell that his adoptive father took
the time to teach him such simple courtesies as
manners and respect. He was also very quiet and shy.
The others took that as being rude and self centered
when in fact it was a bad case of low self esteem.
Scott had NO idea how much the things he said and
thought hurt the young man and he never made any
attempt to stop the others from continuing the abuse.
Logan had turned just as bad! She knew that in his
heart he still cared a great deal for the young
Acadian, maybe even loved him, but Rogue had somehow
gotten involved and was playing one of her sick games.
Everyone in the mansion KNEW she was a manipulative
little... she wanted to smack Logan for being so blind
to whatever game Rogue was playing. Although her heart
went out to Remy for being an innocent victim she had
problems of her own right now and playing den mother
was just more than she could stand. She truly loved
Scott and being away from him HURT! She needed to fix
her own relationship before trying to fix someone
elses.

Remy finally came out of the locker room and stopped
suddenly, he had expected to find Ro but Jean was a
surprise.

" Remy, are you all right?" Ro asked gently.

"Oui Chere, you heard Scotty, Remy jus' hung over."
His smile didn't fool either of them.

" Remy, Scott can be a real jerk." Jean said which
caused his brows to rise. " You come work out on our
team today. Scott can work with Logan and Rogue" she
continued.

" Scotty ain' gonna wan' t' do that but merci anyway
Jeannie."

" Then don't work out-"

" Ro," he said, stopping her mid- sentence. " I gotta
do this." He looked at Jean, " I'm guessin' y' know
what's been goin' on too?" She gave him a sad smile
and he sighed and continued. " I gotta do this. They
WANT me to run or switch teams. I GOTTA do this..." he
shrugged and his eyes begged them to understand his
next statement. " All Remy got left is his pride."

Storm stepped forward and took his pale face in her
hands. " Then shall we return?"

He tried to put on the smile again but it never seemed
to fit when his Stormy was close. He couldn't speak
past the lump in his throat so he blinked fast a few
times to clear his vision and nodded. Storm looked him
deeply in the eye and said more to him with the
gesture than any words could say.

The three of them walked back in and the session
began.

*****

Two hours into the session the Professor's voice broke
through the speakers and softly into everyones head.
" X-Men, it would seem we have a problem."

The danger room instantly turned back to it's original
state and everyone froze where they stood.

" What is it sir?"

" Magneto and his Acolytes are in New York City trying
to get information from a security company."

Scott shook his head, " All right people you heard the
man. Sir, could you send the coordinates to the Bird?"

" Already done. We will need both teams for this one.
Henry and I will be joining you as well." A soft click
signaled the end of the conversation.

"Everyone to the Blackbird."

" But Scott, we're tired," Bobby whined.

" Too bad. Come on people, we lift off in five
minutes!" He glanced around the room, they were all
tired but Magneto was enough of a threat alone. The
Acolytes were going to make this a lot more
interesting.

As the room quickly emptied Remy stayed behind. He
closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Another day in Hell just got immeasurably worse.

*****

TBC