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The
knock on her door woke Jubilee from a deep and peaceful sleep. One of
the best she'd had in a long time, she could tell, without even needing
to wake up enough to evaluate the pros and cons of her previous sleeping
experiences. "Go away!" she yelled, not moving her head from
the comfortable surface it was resting against.
"It's me, Paige! We need to talk!"
Jubilee grumbled, gradually being forced into full wakefulness. Sunlight
hit her closed eyelids. "I don't wanna talk. Come back
tomorrow."
"It's about Wolverine!"
*Wolverine?* The name caught her attention instantly, as it probably
always would, much like waving anything white in front of Frosty caught
hers. Something nagged at the back of Jubilee's mind, something
important she needed to remember regarding that name, but she didn't
want to track it down. She wanted to go back to sleep.
Unfortunately, Paige *had* mentioned the magic word. "All right,
all right," Jubilee said, grumbling even more fiercely. "Give
me a sec."
She raised her head, then dropped it again, in favor of nuzzling her
cheek against the warmth of the pillow. Paige could wait until she'd
woken up; this firecracker was going back to sleep. The thought drifted
through her fuzzy mind that Frosty was really overdoing the whole
hand-loomed linen thing -- Jubilee could distinctly feel the fibers in
the cloth.
Paige continued knocking, loud enough to wake up a vampire, and the
nineteen-year-old replied grumpily -- like she was going to be anything
else in the morning -- "I'll open the door in a minute."
Reluctantly, Jubilee pushed herself up from the extraordinarily firm
surface of the bed.
"I don't think you want t'do that, darlin'," the 'bed' rumbled
at her in a familiar and welcome voice.
Jubilee rubbed her eyes. She must be dreaming. This had to be a dream.
Since when was her bed made out of superheroes? After rubbing her eyes
with one hand, she opened them for the first time that morning. Beneath
her rested a -- naked! -- Wolverine. His arm curved around her waist,
and her comfortable pillow had been his chest. His eyes were
half-closed, but she thought she could see a twinkle from beneath his
eyelids that matched the hint of a grin on his face. The events of the
day before came back to her then -- her rejection of Logan, and her
subsequent date with Gambit. The almost comically disastrous evening
that had followed, and then Wolverine's sudden, unexpected appearance in
her room. And the results of the ensuing discussion. The extremely
satisfactory results.
"Wolvie!" She threw her arms around his neck and began kissing
him wildly. No wonder she'd woken up feeling happy and like all was
right with the world. Everything *was* right with the world.
His lips met hers, greedily taking everything she offered him. Rough
stubble brushed against her face, and she broke away from the kiss to
rub her face against his, savoring the feel of his skin against hers. He
growled and recaptured her mouth hungrily. As Jubilee's arms braced her
body against his chest, Logan's held her tenderly close, as though
afraid that this most precious thing might be taken away from him.
"Jubilee!! I'm trying to help you!" Paige shouted from behind
the door. Then a disgusted sigh could be heard. "Fine! Be that
way!"
Stomping receded into the distance, and Jubilee grinned down at Logan,
blissfully happy that she'd remembered to lock the door the night
before. And even more happy that her mental shields against telepathic
intrusion seemed to have stayed up. If anyone knew what was *really*
happening in here, Frosty would be bursting in here with the 'We Hate
Wolverine' committee right behind her -- probably at a really awkward
moment, too -- all demanding revenge. And last night -- as well as this
morning, if all went the way she was already plotting -- were certainly
awkward moments. "One problem taken care of. Now we ought to have
the rest of the morning to ourselves."
"Nearly afternoon now, darlin'."
"Even better."
****
Rage, hate and bitterness.
Those were the primary emotions Emma Frost sensed from the chaotic sink
of negativity that centered on the school's library. The same emotions
that had been radiating from Everett ever since he had encountered
Jubilee together with Wolverine in the mansion only two days before.
Emma had sensed those emotions even then, although only in retrospect
did they seem important. At the time, the disturbance in Everett's
thoughts had seemed minor, as ordinary a thing as Paige's disappointment
at leaving her brother. But now Everett's emotions had become a major
problem. His obsessive brooding blocked her ability to see emotion or
thought in the rest of the house -- when she sent out a psychic probe,
it slid into the morass of resentment that currently comprised Everett
Thomas' thoughts, and she could sense nothing more. It was as though a
dense fog had settled over the house, and nothing was visible but that
fog.
It was hard to understand how a non-telepath could cause such an
overwhelming problem. Normally only a telepath or an empath could swamp
their surroundings with so much raw emotion. A non-telepath could
radiate such thoughts but, without the telepathic power, would not be
able to project them like this. Such thoughts could be easily shielded
from, and would have caused Emma little worry. She wondered whether
Everett's mutant ability might have something to do with this. As Synch,
he possessed the ability to put himself "in tune" with many
things, including the mutant powers of another person. If, for instance,
he had synched himself with Emma's own telepathic powers, he could be
radiating hate with the strength of one of the most powerful telepaths
on the planet.
She paled, although it was difficult to tell when the person paling was
a blonde of fair complexion who happened to be wearing white -- a tactic
she had used to her advantage before to avoid showing her emotions. That
explanation made sense. Perhaps he had originally done it out of
instinct -- when Jubilee avoided him as well as the rest of the team, he
might have sought out the telepathic power as a means of monitoring her
presence when she had retreated from him. He might even have used
telepathy to attempt to convince her to his way of thinking -- his
failure could account for the deep pit of near-madness he was now in.
That he was now drawing all of them into.
It was time and past time to do something about this.
White stiletto heels clicked down the hall. The White Queen found two of
her students busily occupied in the erection of a vaulted-ceiling-high
scaffolding in the entry way. Dropcloths had been properly laid down,
and the furnishings of the house properly protected against damage.
"What, may I ask, are you doing?" she asked with deceptive
calm. "Don't you have classes?"
Angelo, tied to the scaffolding with several twists of skin, answered
before Starsmore could make the attempt. "Uh -- this is a class
project. For a... demonstration."
She tried to read the outermost layer of his mind, and found herself
deflected away into the haze of anger emanating from the library. Drat.
She'd have to resort to more elementary means of communication. Like
talking. "A demonstration of what, Mr. Espinoza?"
The formal mode of address caught his attention as she knew it would.
She was becoming rather tired of the lack of discipline that had ensued
upon their return from the festivities in New York. It made sense to
extend some leniency to Jubilation -- she needed time to recover her
usual exuberance, and Emma was waiting patiently for her student to
confide in her. But the behavior of her other students! And on a
Tuesday!
He straightened. "Of tactics, Ms. Frost. Like we discussed last
week. With Mr. Cassidy. In his class. You weren't there. You see, we
have this idea about how to neutralize an opponent who is able to
deflect an ordinary attack. Strength against weakness, rather than
strength against strength or weakness against strength. It had something
to do with 'The Art of War' that we were reading..."
Emma held up her hand. She could see that Angelo would go on and on with
his explanation, and without her telepathic abilities, she had no way of
knowing what was true or not. Or cutting the explanation short by taking
a summary of it from his mind. And it was becoming increasingly
irritating not having those abilities. She had more important things to
do than bully her students. "That's all right. Sean knows about
this, of course?"
"Absolutely."
She nodded. Fine. Emma walked away, secure in the knowledge that her job
had been done for the moment. Once she took care of Everett though, she
would certainly do something about the current laxity in schedules.
"Whew." Angelo let out his breath once the headmistress was
out of sight. "I thought for sure she was going to ask us what we
were *really* doing and spoil everything. This is too important."
Jono held his hand to the place where his throat should have been and
shrugged.
"Yeah, it isn't like you could tell her much of anything. Must be
rough not being able to communicate. Hope that Ev lays off the negative
vibes once we take our revenge on Wolverine." His tone was dark and
full of nasty gibbering things that were eager to hate and destroy.
The other man shrugged again, this time philosophically, and went back
to erecting the framework of the device which would allow them to set up
a large set of sound speakers. And, coincidentally, some tar and
feathers. Or the currently available equivalent.
****
Emma entered the library -- a room dark with emotion as well as lack of
light -- located Everett in a chair by the window, and came to sit next
to him. "We need to talk."
He looked up, eyes heavy with pain and wary of more of it. "I'd
really rather not."
"This is important. I've tolerated your grief so far, but you are
disrupting the psychic functioning of the other members of this school,
and for that reason, I must interrupt you."
"Thanks for caring," he said in a voice too tired to support
sarcasm, looking away and hiding his eyes in the shadows that cloaked
the library. With the electric lights turned off, only the sunlight that
managed to get through the long narrow windows illuminated the room.
Patches of bright light marred the gloom of the room that otherwise so
perfectly matched Everett's mood.
Emma maintained her steady gaze. "Sympathy is irrelevant to this
discussion. You already have, I believe, the sympathy of your fellow
students, and myself as well. Indeed, with your emotions coloring the
psychic atmosphere, you have the empathy of everyone here who possesses
more than a trace of telepathic or empathic powers. But," Emma
continued, her voice still correct, but perfectly cold, like a sharpened
blade, "sympathy is not what you need. Even with our sympathy, your
feelings have continued to fester."
"Then what do I need?" Everett laughed hollowly. "I don't
know how you're going to get me that. I can't *have* what I need."
She shook her head. "I'm not speaking of Ms. Lee."
"That's who I need."
Emma did not falter upon hearing the overwhelming bleakness of his tone.
"Your problem lies inside yourself. *You* need. You are, in fact,
needing so much that you have engulfed all of Generation X in your
needs. Do you think that the presence of one person in your life could
possibly be enough to close that gap? It rarely is, and if it had been,
you would almost certainly have been dead already from the shock of
losing that person. Most flaws can only be closed from within, or
cauterized from without. They cannot be filled with other people.
Emplate learned that lesson to his cost and ours, draining too many
people of their life forces."
"I'm not Emplate! I'm nothing like him."
"Indeed? Perhaps you do not have his powers, but you are attempting
the same action. You are attempting to fill a lack in yourself with the
unwilling sacrifice of another person."
His hurt could be read on his face now, as her words brought him back
from the cold place he had retreated to inside himself. "I
wouldn't... it's not like that. I love Jubilee."
"The emotions you're projecting are not love, Everett. Your
thoughts are filled with hate and resentment. However," she said,
forestalling another protest, "your feelings have no bearing on the
current problem."
"I thought you just said that they were the problem."
She nodded. "The problem is that you're projecting those
thoughts."
"Projecting? Like a telepath? I'm not--" He stopped as he
realized what Emma was trying to convey. "You think that I've
synched myself to you."
"Given the strength of your thoughts, yes. If you stop using your
power, then the telepathic problem should be resolved." She paused
for a moment, then continued in a softer voice. "If you wish to
talk about your feelings, I'd be happy to assist you. However, I respect
your privacy."
His fists were clenched in his lap. "I'll do that. I didn't realize
I was affecting the others -- I just--" Everett broke off, closing
his eyes to concentrate on reversing the synchronization process.
*You just couldn't see anyone outside yourself,* Emma thought, a little
sadly. She doubted that Everett would want to talk about his feelings
for Jubilee. He would most likely continue to wall himself away, a
course of action that would benefit no one.
He opened his eyes. "Ms. Frost," Everett said, apprehensive.
"I can't unsynch myself."
"So what you're saying is that Wolverine's going to be dumb enough
to walk under that contraption, and then somehow you're going to manage
to drop the glue on him -- without him first smelling it -- and then
you're going to drop the feathers on him -- again, without him knowing
they're there, and all while he just stands there and lets it
happen?" Astalon asked, fists on her hips, staring up at the
scaffolding that had been erected in the hallway.
"Um, basically yes, chica," Angelo replied defensively.
"And how far away are you planning on being when this
happens?"
"Over there." He pointed to a recess in the hallway.
"About ten feet, then." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, so?"
"Which gives you -- what? -- maybe four to six seconds to live
before Wolverine figures out what happened, realizes that you're there,
and has you by the throat?" Angelo didn't respond to that, looking
thoughtful for the first time in the brief conversation. "Good
plan," Astalon commented sarcastically, seeing that one of her
points had finally hit home. "Hope you have life insurance."
"You think you could do better?"
"I know I couldn't do worse." Coming from a person whose power
resulted in disaster for her own teammates as often as it did for the
bad guys, the statement was more of a joke than a threat.
Unfortunately, Angelo liked jokes. "So what do you have in
mind?"
****
Wolverine's low voice rumbled underneath her, vibrating the part of her
body resting against his chest. "I hate to be the one to tell you
this, darlin', but we're going to have to get up sometime."
Jubilee sighed heavily. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Hunger calls and all
that." She raised her head to look into his amused face. "If
you'd made my stash of candy last longer, then it wouldn't be so much of
a problem, y'know."
His hand ran soothingly over the bared skin of her back. "I seem ta
recall havin' to pull rank to get you to give me any."
She arched her back against his touch, then smiled, remembering exactly
what 'pulling rank' had entailed. "Geez, Wolvie, all you had to do
was *ask*. 'Course, once you brought up that you were older than me, I
just couldn't let a geezer like you starve."
"Geezer?" He grabbed her -- not that she was trying to get
away -- and rolled on top of her, looking down at her with a playful
snarl on his face. "*Geezer*?"
Jubilee was reaching up to touch his cheek and draw his face down for a
kiss, when his expression went dark.
"Yeah, I suppose I am," he said seriously, all playfulness
gone. "Don't know that I have any business bein' with someone as
young as you."
Lightly, but with deep concern, Jubilee asked, "So, you think that
if I'd fallen in love with someone like Ev then I'd be baking apple pies
and raising kids and being all-American and having white picket fences
and stuff like that? 'Cause, y'know, it's not likely to happen. We're,
like, heroes and all that. 'Sides, I don't like apple pies."
He scowled at her. "There's nothin' wrong about wanting a
family."
"Then why don't Scott and Jean have any kids?" Knowing that
she'd struck a good point, Jubilee pressed her advantage. "We don't
get ordinary, innocent lives -- their 'kid' is older than they are and
not too cuddly unless you think sleeping with heavy weaponry is
cool."
The scowl got fiercer. "*I* want kids."
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'. Whaddaya got to say about that?"
Jubilee flinched as she realized what she was thinking. She said it
anyway. "That maybe I'm too young for that yet? That maybe I don't
really want to have kids right now?"
Logan closed his eyes, then slid off her, lying down on the bed.
"That's what I thought."
Jubilee sat up and thumped him on the chest with her hand. It was her
turn to lean over him. "So -- what? Are you in some sort of hurry?
We've been together like a week and already you're talking about kids
and all -- you gotta give me some time to adjust. Wolvie, you can't give
up on me just because you want kids and I've never thought about it
happening to me personally. An' we're supposed to talk about major
relationship things before jumping into them. I mean, what's next? Are
you going to start proposing before you've even taken me on a
date?"
His eyes opened, a glint of humor replacing the coldness that had been
there before. "I don't know. After going out with Gumbo, I might
not live up to your standards."
She thumped him again, this time with a relieved smile now that the
subject had changed to something more manageable. "Pleeeease don't
remind me about that. What a mistake that was. All Remy wanted to talk
about was candlelight and flowers and my eyes being reflecting pools of
something or other and feelings and stuff. I was trying to decide
whether stabbing him would get him to shut up."
"You got something against love, darlin'?"
Jubilee rested her head on his shoulder, curling up against him.
"Nah. Not exactly. Well, maybe. Love's okay. I love you and there
isn't any way you can get me to stop."
Logan hugged her tightly. "I love you too, Jubilation."
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, kissing it tenderly. "I
know. But keep saying it anyway, okay?"
His chuckle rumbled under her cheek, and she stroked his chest gently
before going on. "But love and thinking that you're in love and
being in love with the whole idea of love aren't the same thing. That's
what happened with Ev, y'know."
"What happened with who?" he asked, bristling automatically.
"Don't be jealous, Wolvie. It's over, and even if it wasn't, I want
you." She raised herself up to look at him, face crinkling
doubtfully. He had dumped her once already, and now there was the kids
issue, and it wasn't like she was going to tie herself to him if he
suddenly stopped liking her. She loved him; she didn't own him.
"Unless you decide you don't want me."
"Ain't gonna happen," he replied, crushing her to him. "I
learned my lesson."
"Cool. Anyway," she continued, after kissing him deeply and
rather thankfully, "like I was saying, I'd gone through the loving
the idea of love thing with Ev, so when Remy tried to pull it, I wasn't
about to fall for it again. Even if he did it better than Everett ever
had. When I dated Ev, he had this idea of who I was and that idea wasn't
really me at all, even though he thought it was. He saw some surface
things about me and acted like that that was all I was. To him, I was
some sort of wise-cracking irrepressible person who could entertain him,
who had, like, zero depth. And I was someone who he could protect from
my own irresponsibility. And I'm not irresponsible." Jubilee stared
at Wolvie. "Right?"
"Of course not," Logan said with a straight face.
"Uh-huh," she said, looking unconvinced. "So I wasn't
that person, and I couldn't get him to start seeing me as who I am, and
so I stopped dating him. 'Cause I wanted to be who I am and be loved for
that. Not what someone thinks I am. I want to be myself. But he never
gave up, I guess, 'cause he's acting even more protective than ever now,
like you're going to hurt me or something. And maybe it did hurt when
you left--" Logan pulled her closer, face nuzzling her hair, as he
heard the still-felt anguish in her voice, "--but it was still my
pain and my decision what to do and I'm not a little kid who needs to be
taken care of."
"You never have been since I've known ya."
"'Course not. That's 'cause I was rescuing you when I met
you."
"I'm still going to protect you, darlin'. Always have," he
said, warning her.
She didn't need the warning; Jubilee knew that Wolverine protecting her
didn't bother her the same way that Ev or Generation X protecting her
bothered her. She considered the possible reasons why. "It's
different with you. I got to be your partner when we were
together." Jubilee thought about some of the things that she'd been
put through since joining Gen X. "It's not the same here. I've
been, like, nine years old every since getting here and I've never grown
up as far as anyone's concerned who was here when I started. And I don't
want to end up living down to their expectations. I mean, who really
cares about putting hair dye in Frosty's shampoo? I got better things to
do with my life than that. Still get blamed though. It's like being
Bobby Drake, although it's kinda cool that the Drakester left the X-Men
and all that. Got to start over and build a new rep. That's what I want
to do. Leave here with you and start over."
"Yer a kid t'the X-Men, too."
"At least they haven't been living with me -- maybe it'll be
better." She remembered Cyclops' reaction to finding out that she
and Wolvie were sleeping together and shook her head. "Or maybe
not. But it doesn't matter. If you're the only one who can handle me
being the way I am, then well, at least I get to be with you."
"That you do. As much as you can handle."
"More than that, I hope," she replied, grinning at him.
"I want all of you, not just what I can handle." She stroked
her hand down his chest, reaching his waist and dipping below it.
"Hmm... look what I'm handling now. Think I can have that?"
"You can have anythin' you want, darlin'. You already got my
heart."
And discussion of getting out of bed was put off yet again to a later
time.
Several phone calls and a four-way telepathic merge later, Synch had
been forcibly unsynchronized.
Emma sat back on the couch, her spine relaxing, but otherwise showed no
outward sign of having been fazed by the ordeal. Immediately, she tested
the results of their labor. She reached out mentally to Jono, who was
relieved to hear that telepathic communication was once again
functioning. *Finally,* she thought. "Thank you for your
cooperation, Everett."
Everett slumped into his own chair, a dour look still wearing his face.
"Yeah, I guess. At least I'm not hurting anybody now. You can all
just ignore me and not have to worry about how I feel."
She clearly heard the unspoken portion of his statement, that he
believed everyone would prefer to ignore him, and shook her head.
"You are welcome to talk about your concerns with myself or Sean.
You will not be ignored unless you choose to be."
He considered her statement -- giving it real consideration; she could
tell. Hope peeked out from around the tremendous burden of depression
and guilt that he carried. "At the moment, I think that's what I
really want. Even if I didn't know I was doing it, I've been in
everyone's faces all day, and I think I'd rather just be by myself for
now."
"A wise decision," Emma agreed. "I hope you'll come to
dinner." She reached for Jubilee, trying to assess her state of
mind, to see whether the two young people would be able to reach some
sort of accord over the meal, and met a mental block that was fraying
around the edges. Emma's ethics about prying into people's minds were on
the level of 'if they didn't want me to see inside their thoughts, then
they should have had better defenses'. Jubilee's could be quite good
when she tried. At the moment, however, mental leakage was spilling
around the barrier the girl had erected, images of nakedness, and skin,
and -- *Jubilee!*
Emma broke off the contact, aware she'd given the game away by shrieking
into Jubilee's mind. "If you'll excuse me," she said,
standing, "I have a little problem that needs to be dealt
with."
****
Jubilee started giggling. "Man oh man, are we going to get
it!"
Wolverine growled at her. She'd chosen a very sensitive juncture to
start laughing at him. And the possibility of a threat didn't make him
any happier. "What is it?"
"How fast can you get dressed?" she asked, grinning, while
remaining where she was.
"Faster if you stop doing that."
"This?" she bounced on top of him, and his fingers tightened
on her hips, proving that her moment of levity had not entirely broken
his concentration on the act in progress.
"Yeah. That."
She slid her hands farther apart on his chest, giving herself a broader
base of support. "I don't think we have very long 'til Ms. Frost
decides to break the door down. Or gets a locksmith to do it,
anyway."
"That was what you were screeching about? Emma?"
"I do not screech!" She pounded the heels of her hands against
his chest, which only seemed to increase the speed of his thrusting
against her. "And, yeah, that was her. I think she found out that
you're here. Too bad she couldn't wait any longer."
"Darlin', I'm surprised that she didn't throw me out last night
when I was waiting' for you."
Jubilee shivered. "But then you wouldn't have been able to
apologize and we wouldn't be here, and I'd still think you weren't very
nice, and everything would be all wrong..."
He growled at the thought, kissing her deeply, then rolled her over
underneath him. "If we don't have much time left, then there's
something I'd rather be doin' than talkin'."
"Like what?" she asked innocently, even as her hands ran down
the line of his back to his naked buttocks, pulling him more fully
against her.
His mouth swooped down on hers, answering her in silence, lips demanding
a different sort of response than she had been giving him, even as his
hips thrust powerfully into her.
Jubilee's nails bit into his skin, encouraging him, wanting him to give
her as much passion as he was willing to show. Not as much as she wanted
-- because she wanted all of Wolvie, even the parts he was afraid to
show people, the parts that had kept him in hiding when he'd gone feral,
the parts that were neither good nor bad, but just *him*.
****
Lying in each other's arms, resting, Logan and Jubilee's quiet
conversation was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.
Jubilee made a face. "Geez, sure took her long enough to get around
to coming up here."
"Darlin', she's been standin' outside the door tapping her foot for
the past five minutes or so."
Jubilee grinned suddenly. "Bet she got an earful. Wonder if she was
enjoying herself?"
#*Were*, Jubilee,# came the telepathic response, correcting her grammar.
#Now would you please open this door?#
Jubilee got up grumbling, shimmied into the yellow dress from the night
before, and opened the door. "Yeah, what is it?"
"I believe you know what this is about, Jubilation," Emma said
from the doorway, one arched eyebrow expressing her opinion of
Wolverine, who was lounging comfortably on the bed, unclothed and
unbothered by her presence.
"There's some sort of policy now about visitors?" Jubilee
challenged, planting herself firmly between Emma and Logan.
Emma stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. "What are
you trying to hide? And why?"
Jubilee's brows furrowed. Why was Ms. Frost asking a question like that?
Frosty knew what Jubilee was thinking -- had to have known, given the
surge of telepathic outrage she'd felt -- what was she getting at?
"I'm not hiding anything."
Emma's assessing gaze moved past Jubilee, to Wolverine, taking in each
detail of his appearance before returning to Jubilee.
Jubilee flushed despite herself. So maybe the Frost-meister knew how to
push some of her buttons. No, she hadn't exactly rushed to tell anyone
that Wolvie was there, and that he'd apologized, and all, but she'd had
her reasons. "I-- we made up. Everything's okay again."
"And so, I assume, you'll now be leaving us to return to New York
with him?" Emma didn't wait for an answer, but continued in a cold,
disapproving voice. "Keeping in mind, of course, that you can come
running back here whenever the reality of life proves too much for you
to handle?"
At one time, Jubilee might have responded with an outraged retort.
Protesting loudly was certainly what everyone expected her to do -- as
she'd told Wolvie, a lot of people around here refused to accept that
she'd grown up, that *she* could ever grow up. But instead of replying
hotly, Jubilee backed off. What was Frosty trying to get at here? Emma
had been relatively kind and solicitous after Wolverine had deserted her
on the front steps of the mansion -- Jubilee knew that Emma was
concerned about her and her happiness, and had exhibited no problems at
that time with Jubilee coming back to the fold. Either some sort of
mindswitching had occurred, or Emma was concerned about her running into
trouble again. And it wasn't hard to figure out where she might think
that trouble would come from. Wolverine.
"You think I'm just gonna get hurt all over again," Jubilee
said evenly. "That I'm just setting myself up to get dumped all
over again. An' maybe that makes sense. It happened once, it could
happen again -- that's what you're thinking, right?"
Emma inclined her head coolly, as if to say that she wasn't going to
commit herself either way, but would grant the point for the sake of
argument.
Jubilee continued. "So it probably wouldn't mean anything to you
that Wolvie won't do it again, or that I trust him now and he trusts me.
Or that I have to live my own life, and figure out some things the hard
way, whether or not you like it. Whether or not *I* like it very much.
Or that I'm just as scared that this is all going to blow up on me as
you are worried about me, or that I know I have to take the chance
anyway because there's a part of me all bound up with Wolvie and losing
it hurts like having everything good and vibrant and alive cut out of
me. But I hope this means something to you -- it makes me very
angry--" more accurately, trembling all over with rage and nerves,
"--that you'd do something as heartless as threatening me with the
loss of the only home I've had in six years. 'Cause having a home means
a lot to me. Having a family means a lot. An' I thought you and
Generation X were it. An' if I shouldn't come running back here with my
problems, well then, I guess you're not my family after all. Which'd
mean you don't have any right to be giving me advice either. But--"
she stared levelly at Emma, her arms crossed, "I hope that's not
what you meant."
"Do you? Do you want my advice at all?"
Jubilee shrugged. "It won't change my mind."
Emma looked for a moment as though she might offer that advice anyway,
but shook her head slightly instead. "I hope you're not expecting
my blessing."
"I was just kinda hoping for a shoulder to cry on and all
that." An amusing image occurred to Jubilee, and she glanced
between Emma and Logan, smirking. "And, anyway, isn't it like
traditional for parents to disapprove when their kids drag their
boyfriends and girlfriends home?"
Emma's lips quirked into something that could have been a smile.
"Do you have an answer for everything, Jubilation?"
Jubilee met that expression with a smile of her own. "Not
yet."
"Hmph. Do join us for dinner. It would only be polite to do so,
seeing as you--" she looked at Logan, "--are our guest,
invited or otherwise."
"Sure thing," Wolverine acknowledged. "I was gettin' a
mite hungry anyway."
"Yes," Emma said repressively, "well, I expect to see you
then. Goodbye."
She left the room, closing the door behind her.
****
"That went more easily than I was expecting," Jubilee said,
turning back to Wolvie and moving to sit next to him on the bed.
"More easily than I thought it could," Logan acknowledged.
Jubilee leaped at the explanation to explain the situation to him,
hoping that doing so would clear things up in her own mind. "Well,
see, you gotta understand that Ms. Frost really does like us all. She's
kinda stiff on the outside still, but she cares, she really does."
"That's why she was about ta try ta throw me out the door
then?"
Jubilee flashed on *that* image and grinned. Emma wrestling with a naked
Wolverine. Could be entertaining. "Right. She wouldn't bother
coming up here to yell if she didn't care. It's not like it matters to
her who's sleeping with what." The what was more figurative than
literal, although with some mutants and some alien species, you never
really did know if they actually counted as a person or not. Not that
Jubilee was into that kind of thing, although matters *had* gotten a
mite confusing with the talking cabbage thing with the mental powers --
it'd had quite the seductive.... *mind*. But attraction to vegetables
was just too weird for her.
Wolverine ignored the strange statement. "Ya love her, kid?"
Jubilee nodded. "Sounds silly, doesn't it?"
"Nah. Sounds perfectly natural."
She leaned into the warmth of his body and hugged him tightly.
"Good. I don't understand it, but it's there and I don't want to
change it. Not ever."
"Okay by me."
"I feel the same way about Sean, y'know."
A possessive growl rippled through him. "Now *that* I might have a
problem with."
Jubilee giggled. "But he's ever so much more cuddly than
Frosty."
"That's exactly what I'm having the problem with."
She giggled more loudly. "An' he's cuter too, if you like that kind
of thing."
"Gonna get himself uncute pretty soon here."
"Wolvie, you're not... *jealous* are you?" Jubilee asked,
pretending to be shocked.
"And if I am?" he asked, pulling her down on top of him, and
rolling her over until his body was covering hers, and his face inches
from her own.
She screwed up her eyebrows, as if in deep thought. "I guess I'll
just have to kiss you."
Yawning and scrubbing at her eyes, Jubilee stepped down from the
staircase into the main entry way of the Massachusetts Academy, on her
way to dinner with the rest of Generation X. It was nearly 6 p.m., and
she was more tired now than she had been the night before, prior to
going to her room.
Of course, the fact that she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night
might have something to do with that, she reminded herself.
The cause of her lack of sleep descended the staircase behind her,
looking gruff as usual. They'd both had a shower, and his drying hair
was beginning to stick up from where it'd been slicked down against his
head. Wolvie appeared irritable, hungry and unapproachable -- at least,
to anyone who didn't look beyond his rough features to notice the
smiling lines of his mouth and the crinkle to his eyes. Jubilee did.
She grinned at him. "C'mon, slowpoke, no one's going to bite
you."
"You sure about that, darlin'?" he asked, head tilted as if to
catch a sound from the hallway beyond.
"Sure, I'm sure. Hit you certainly, try to kill you maybe, even
slice and dice you if nobody hid the knives. But not *bite* you,"
Jubilee said merrily, tugging on his hand and leading him toward the
kitchen.
Logan grinned back. "So yer sayin' there's going to be some
after-dinner entertainment then. You shouldn't have, darlin'."
"Well, I wanted you to feel at home," Jubilee joked. One of
Wolverine's favorite forms of entertainment was going out to a bar for a
beer and a brawl. It *was* kinda funny to imagine him at dinner, plates
being flung around as various people went flying through the windows.
She turned somber. On the other hand, there was the matter of the
revenge upon the Wolvster that had been sworn by the various members of
GenX... "Y'know, the 'We Hate Wolverine' Society is probably still
out in force."
"What society?" he asked, looking suspicious.
"Well, see, people kinda took it personally that you dumped me, and
well, um..." she shrugged. "It's just what I've been calling
them -- Angelo and Paige and Ev and all those guys been jumping on me
and telling me that you're awful and that they want to get back at you
and stuff like that."
His expression remained suspicious, which was a more-or-less neutral
look for Wolverine. "An' you went along with this?"
"Nah," she said, squeezing his hand in quick reassurance.
"It's not that I didn't think you *deserved* it," she said,
grinning slightly at him, "but I thought that if there was going to
be any kind of revenge, then I should be the one to do it. More
satisfying that way. Having everyone else want to beat up on
you..." she shivered. "I couldn't stand that. I'd break out in
spots or something. Guess that doesn't make much sense to you that I was
mad at you but I didn't want anyone else to be."
He drew her into his arms and kissed her soundly. "I get the
idea."
Jubilee smiled as he released her. She was probably just making a big
deal out of nothing. 'Sides, there was nothing that the Wolvster
couldn't handle. Even her teammates. "Great! So let's eat!"
With that issue resolved, they made their way to the kitchen. Wolverine
would have liked to keep Jubilee tucked into the corner of his arm, but
every time he tried to snare her, she would mold against him for a few
moments before returning to the exuberant bouncy stride that pulled her
away from him. She retained her hold on his hand, but couldn't repress
her excitement.
Turning the corner, Logan let himself be tugged along, enjoying
Jubilee's obvious happiness. *I hope her friends don't spoil this for
her,* he growled to himself. *She's too happy now, an' I made her too
sad earlier. She deserves to be happy.*
Caught up in his thoughts, pulled along by Jubilee, and not expecting an
attack, the first warning he got of danger was the sight of a handful of
glitter dusting the air as it floated to the floor.
Glitter? What the hell?
He looked up and saw a platform above him. For a moment, he was
disoriented. After all, glitter was scarcely the kind of attack he was
used to. But a set-up was a set-up any way you looked at it, and his
nose was catching bits of scents he didn't like very much. Especially
combined with Jubilee's earlier warning. Swearing under his breath at
the bad timing of amateurs, Wolverine sprang forward, pushing Jubilee
out of the way, trying to get the both of them to safety before the
prank -- whatever it was -- could be unleashed upon them.
As he did, he brushed against the wall -- which moved, first slowly and
then in heavy shudders.
Slamming into the floor and knocking the breath out of Jubilee, who was
under him, Logan risked a look up and back. The wall seemed to be coming
apart, and he then noticed the scaffolding that had blended in with the
wall. Cursing, he realized that he and Jubilee didn't have time to move
-- they were going to be underneath it when it fell.
He put his head down, nuzzling his face into the side of her neck, and
hoped that the protection of his body would be enough to keep her safe.
Jubilee was breathing heavily under him but didn't move. She shuddered
as she felt multiple impacts hit the body covering hers, and squeezed
her eyes shut when she felt him go limp. Unconscious. *Way to go, team,*
she thought bitterly. *So they really do hate him.*
Voices started shouting. Jubilee tried not to choke on the dust and
glitter suspended in the air. Geez. Talk about overkill.
#Are you all right, gel?# Jono's telepathic voice said, contacting her.
#Yes,# she sent in reply, then added, #But I think Wolvie's hurt. Not
that you'd care.#
She felt him first recoil, then shut down the connection between them.
*Serves him right,* she thought.
Multiple hands lifted the weight of debris from her, then finally, moved
Logan's body. Jubilee remained there for a moment, readjusting to the
sensation of being able to breathe freely, then slowly levered herself
up. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she looked around.
The hallway was totally destroyed. Wreckage littered the area. Beams and
girders and metal and wood and all sorts of things, including broken
furniture, lay shattered in a massive heap of debris. It looked like a
Juggernaut convention had come to town. Curiously, though, in the center
of the worst of the mess, there was a circle completely free of damage.
Sean bent over her, looking concerned. "Are you all right?"
Jubilee ignored him. "Where's Wolvie? I want to see Wolvie."
The headmaster stepped back gingerly, avoiding the heaped rubble, and
then Jubilee saw Logan. Tears filled her eyes. He was bleeding
profusely. His body was turned away from her, and she could see where
parts of the metal scaffolding had been driven into his back. She
couldn't see his face, and scrambling to her knees, she knelt over him,
unaware that she was whispering his name over and over again.
"Oh God, you've got to be all right. Logan. *Wolvie*, please be
okay." She looked at his face for the first time. His eyes were
shut, and he didn't open them as she spoke to him. Shocked, all she
could do was to wrap her arms around him and hold him. Some small
sensible part of her knew that his healing factor meant that he would
likely be all right. Knew that the best thing to do would be to let go
of him so that he could be taken to the infirmary and have his wounds
cleaned out so that they could heal faster. She'd seen him heal from
worse. And yet, all she could do was cry and rock his body in her arms.
It hurt so much to see him injured less than a day after they'd
solidified their relationship, as though recognition of the bond between
them increased, rather than lessened, the pain.
"Jubilee..." Sean said, touching her shoulder.
She didn't let him finish, shaking him off. Looking up, she saw that all
of Generation X had gathered to see the disturbance. Her eyes picked out
the people who'd been loudest in putting down the Wolvster. Everett.
Monet. Angelo. Jono. "You happy now?" she asked, knowing she
was angry and not caring. "Is this what you wanted? To hurt him?
'Cause you did it. An' I'm not going to forget it."
She was about to start into an angry tirade when she felt Emma's touch
on her mind, silencing her. Outraged, she stared at the headmistress.
#He's alive, Jubilation,# Ms. Frost said coolly to her alone. #And your
teammates did not intend to harm him in this fashion. Wait until you
have recovered from this shock before taking your revenge upon them.
They are truly sorry that this has happened.#
Jubilee snorted, but gave up after giving the assembled group one last
glower. It was useless fighting Frosty on her own terms. And Wolverine
was more important to her anyway. #I'm not gonna forget,# she said,
aiming one last parting shot at Emma, as Sean lifted Logan from the
floor.
#I haven't asked you to do so.#
Jubilee followed Sean away from the others, leaving silence in her wake.
****
Emma turned to her students. One long level look reduced them all to
staring at their feet. "I won't ask you what you have to say for
yourselves, as nothing you could say would influence my opinion. Angelo,
Jonothan -- I assume you used the earlier disruption in telepathic
communication to conceal your activities from me, as I sincerely doubt
the veracity of your earlier excuse. This was in no way sanctioned by
Sean."
Angelo and Jono, covered in glue and glitter, winced.
"However, you seem to have found your own punishment. I suggest a
sincere apology to Miss Lee, and then perhaps several hours cleaning up
the mess that you have made."
Emma turned to Everett. "I suggest you help your friends, as this
at least in part was due to your influence upon them."
Monet received a level glance. The Algerian girl had entered the hall
only after all of the damage had already been done, and looked as
innocent -- and self-satisfied -- as a cat sunning itself on a window
sill. Paige seemed ready to run after Jubilee, her face full of concern
as she studied her shoes. Emma passed her over, as well as the younger
members of the team, to settle on Astalon.
Astalon, who had been at the center of the destruction, and yet remained
untouched by it.
"I assume," Emma said, "that we have you to blame for the
unexpected alteration in your teammates' plan?" It was a rhetorical
question. Astalon's mutant power, such as it was, was that she could not
be harmed. Not invulnerable, her power instead worked in subtle and
often disastrous ways to keep her from danger. Such as, perhaps, the
redirection of one very heavy scaffolding away from her and onto someone
else.
"Very well," Emma concluded. "All of you are assigned to
aid in cleaning up this mess. I'm sure the experience will do you good.
I expect those of you personally at fault to apologize to Logan."
She turned, and stalked away.
Angelo shuddered. "Apologize to *Wolverine*?! Man, I'd rather go
out and slit my throat myself."
"It would be one way of solving the problem," Monet observed.
"If you had consulted me, I would have informed you that this plan
would not work."
"You had a better idea?" Angelo challenged.
"Of course."
A tendril of skin snaked around behind the group to grab a mysteriously
unused pot of glitter. It was dumped onto Monet, who looked distinctly
offended. Punkin and Kiwi joined in, scooping up what had fallen to the
ground and throwing it around.
Then the screaming started.
"What do you think that is?" Sean Cassidy asked his fellow
teacher, as faintly heard screaming drifted into where they stood,
outside the infirmary, waiting for Wolverine to recuperate as they
talked privately about their students.
Emma Frost, the headmistress of the school and a vision in the white
leather that constituted the main part of her dominatrix persona,
concentrated. "I believe that a glitter fight is in progress."
Sean sighed deeply. "If I didna already have Terry, I'd never have
children."
Emma regarded him, amused. She knew he had a deep affection for their
students, even in trying times like these. "I'll be sure to keep
that advice in mind."
"Nae. You'd make a wonderful mother, Emma."
"Of course I would. I already have a fine collection of
whips."
Sean sputtered, and then laughed openly, breaking the tension that had
settled over them since first hearing the crash in the hallway and
seeing Jubilee and Wolverine buried under the rubble.
"The difficult part," Emma observed after a moment, "is
letting them go."
"Yes, that it is," he agreed, sighing again. "That it
is."
****
Logan's eyes had begun opening drunkenly from the moment he was laid
down on the bed in the infirmary. Jubilee had assisted Sean in cleaning
the wounds made by the falling debris, then jealously perched herself in
a chair placed by Logan's head as soon as the headmaster was out of the
room.
"Hey, darlin'."
"Hey, yourself," Jubilee said, smiling, her eyes still
half-full of the tears she'd shed when she had first seen his injuries.
But when she spoke, her words held nothing of the concern she felt for
him. He'd taken worse, and he didn't appreciate being babied. And she
needed to believe that. "So what are you lying there like a wussy
for? Can't the big tough Wolverine take a little bit of a building
dropping on him?"
"You got a smart mouth on ya."
"You're just noticing that? Wow. You must've been hit harder than I
thought."
He grimaced, and pulled himself up so that he was sitting crosswise on
the bed. "There's no good way to get hit by a building, darlin'."
"I woulda thought you could outrun a building," Jubilee said,
the humor making her feel better. "I mean, it's an inanimate
object. That means it's slow, y'know. You lettin' yourself get out of
shape?"
"It's the momentum," he said solemnly, then scowled. "I
feel like givin' somebody a piece of my mind for that."
"How big of a piece?"
His claws snapped out. "About that much."
"Well, that's good. I don't think anybody here had that much brains
to start with -- if you give them that much, then maybe they'll do
better next time. 'Course, used Wolverine brains prolly aren't worth as
much as say, highly-educated accountant brains like the Drakester's."
He snorted, and retracted his claws. "I'm takin' this very
seriously. Maybe your teammates have a problem with me -- I can handle
that. They want to come to me, we can talk." The flexing of his
hands was a clear indication of what kind of talking he planned to do.
"But they coulda killed you, an' that's something we're gonna
haveta discuss."
Jubilee shook her head. She hadn't thought about that. She'd focused on
her concern for Logan -- and, in any case, the idea of her friends
deliberately trying to harm her was... well, up until right now, it'd
been... unthinkable? Okay, well, not unthinkable. It had, after all,
happened before. But she would have expected them to go after her
directly, or be possessed by weird alien dudes, or something like that.
"They couldn't have wanted to kill anybody..." Memory prompted
her with some of the conversations she'd had with the 'We Hate
Wolverine' Society. "...well, they wouldn't have wanted to kill
*me*."
He stared at her, his blue eyes disconcertingly clear and piercing. She
squirmed. "Oh, c'mon," she said finally. "It's not like
you haven't been attacked before by the X-Men for the same thing.
Remember Viper?"
Logan ran a hand through his hair, leaving it more rumpled than before.
"Yeah. I remember."
"I wish I didn't."
"Me too, darlin'."
"So--" Jubilee asked, her mouth twitching in the beginnings of
a mischievous grin, as some of the tension left the room. "Does
this mean dinner with my family is off?"
****
A less than happy ensemble met around the dinner table. Wolverine's
scowling visage fit right in, neatly countering the palely terrified
faces of the chief three conspirators -- Angelo, Jono and Astalon -- who
had been threatened respectively with castration, further adventures in
castration, and evisceration.
Jubilee grinned, looking down at her plate to hide it. Wolvie's nose
could not be fooled -- he'd known who had been responsible for the
faulty scaffolding -- and he'd singled the Tricky Trio out before dinner
to have a little "talk" with them. He'd been more relaxed
after that -- she'd seen him growl at Emma where he'd merely ignored her
before. Obviously, he was starting to be in a better mood.
Everett could barely look at her, Artie was doing their best to distance
himself from the disaster -- and, Jubilee thought, two sets of long
claws -- while Kiwi and Punkin were also affected by the strained
atmosphere, and kept quietly to themselves. Paige was hanging all over
Jubilee, trying to make up for her teammates' behavior by her concern.
Really, only Frosty and Monet were acting halfway normally -- Monet
behaving like she was above all of it, and Emma serenely ignoring
everything.
"Are you still leaving, then?" Paige asked, twisting at her
napkin. "I mean, you were going to before, and now," she
glanced quickly at Logan and back down again, "well, are you?"
"Yeah," Jubilee said. She considered what else to say, and
couldn't think of anything. "It seems like the right thing to
do."
"But you want to, don't you?" Paige asked. She avoided looking
at Wolverine, which was difficult, because he was sitting next to
Jubilee and, at the moment, glowering right at her. "You really do
want to go, you aren't just going because you feel you have to, or
anything like that?"
"I want to be with Wolvie. And," Jubilee said, smiling wryly
and waving a hand in the direction of the infamous hallway, "I just
don't think things'd work out if we stayed here."
"Not to mention that you might be required to continue studying at
the college level," Emma added dryly.
Jubilee looked up at the ceiling, as if praying for divine assistance.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be Archangel's night off. "Like a
degree in Liberal Arts would really be useful for anything. If I ever
got kicked out of the superhero biz, I could do, what? Be the most
literate person in line at the welfare office? Uh-uh. I don't think
so."
"I've always thought," Emma continued, unruffled, "that
you would do well as an attorney."
The look of horror was genuine. "A *lawyer*?! Do you hate me or
what?"
Emma smiled. "Just think, you could go into politics. Perhaps even
become President someday."
"Supreme Justice Jubilee," Angelo added. "You can pardon
all your friends when we get in trouble."
"You people have sick, sick minds," Jubilee said firmly.
#President Lee and First Lady Wolverine,# came a stray thought from
Jono's direction.
Sean sputtered, and Angelo laughed outright. Jubilee grinned at the
thought of Wolvie in one of Emma's business suits, then lost it
completely, giggling so hard that she had trouble breathing. "Just
think... of the... pantyhose."
Logan looked appalled, then grinned back. "So the college thing is
off then."
"It's sounding better and better every minute," Jubilee choked
out.
Emma set down her fork. "I have a course outline you could
peruse."
She couldn't take it. She really couldn't take any more of this. Jubilee
wiped the tears from her eyes. "So, you think I'll get cute
bodyguards in the Secret Service, or do you think I'll have to draft
some?"
"Draft," Paige said.
Angelo nodded. "Draft."
Wolverine snaked his arm around Jubilee, and she looked at him. His
craggy features promised her all the protection she'd ever need.
Although she supposed there might be some argument over his cuteness
factor. But not from her. "You know, I think that's something I
won't have to worry about."
"Bodyguards?"
"No, finding a cute one."
Dinner continued to be eaten. Astalon finally ventured the question that
was on the minds of every member of The Society. "So, do you really
like *him*? --" she nodded at Logan, "--and why are you going
back with him? How do you know he isn't going to hurt you all over
again?"
Apparently, the threat of evisceration hadn't worked.
Conversation stilled, as they waited to hear Jubilee's answer. Jubilee
was aware of the tension in the arm holding her. She felt some of it
herself. Were they going to be quizzed by every mutant on the Eastern
Seaboard about the state of their love-life? "I love Wolvie. Yeah,
I'm going back, and thirdly, that's a dumb question."
Emma looked at her. "I think it's a very good question,
Jubilation."
Jubilee made a face. "Y'know, once I'm off the team, you're gonna
have to like call me by my code name. It's Jubilee. Get used to
it."
"The question," Emma prompted. "I know you've told me
your reasoning, but I think the others would appreciate knowing as
well."
Darn. She hadn't been able to distract the Frost-meister. 'Course, there
hadn't been much chance of *that* succeeding. "Because
relationships hurt. Wolvie's probably going to hurt me and I'm probably
going to hurt him. Magically perfect love doesn't exist, or if it does,
it doesn't last once reality comes into the picture. The important thing
is that we're going to try to work things out together from now
on."
#Gel, that was almost... insightful.#
There were some surprised nods from around the table, except from the
White Queen, who only looked smug.
Jubilee chuffed under her breath, and leaned back against Wolverine.
"Whaddid I tell ya?" she asked him. "The last thing they
expect from me is maturity."
He grinned. "Their loss, darlin'."
****
Twelve hours later, Jubilee and Logan were ready to hit the road,
staying longer having been deemed as A) too cramped in Jubilee's twin
bed, and B) too hard on the emotional state of the school's occupants.
With arrangements having been made to ship her belongings to
Westchester, all Jubilee had really needed to do was pack a duffle bag
with a few immediate essentials to cover the transit time of her
parcels.
Jubilee frowned as Wolverine secured her bag to his motorcycle. The
questioning of her peers had gotten to her. And then there was the
memory of Logan having ridden off on this very motorcycle only days
before, leaving her behind. "Do you think everything's really going
to be okay?"
He shrugged. "Nope. Things go wrong all the time."
"How comforting." Of course, he was sorta right about that. A
superhero's life was rarely dull. Quite the opposite. She tried to
imagine explaining the amount of on-the-job stress that they got to a
psychologist. 'Yes, doctor, my classmate merged with her psychopathic
brother and attempted to eat me. I've suffered recurring nightmares ever
since, especially after being surrounded by energy-eating monsters last
year in Boston.' No. Couldn't picture it. Not without the psychologist's
head exploding or going in circles or something. "Life isn't
fair."
"Who'd want it to be?" He straightened up. "Way I figure
it, if life was fair, I'd be dead several times over. Sometimes we get
what we deserve, but most of the time, we don't. Else, how would I have
you?"
Jubilee pondered that for a moment. She *still* hadn't served any time
for her juvenile stint at shop-lifting, after all. And then there was
the incident with the tuna... "Good point. Still..." She put
on the extra helmet that Logan carried on his bike.
"What?" he looked expectantly at her.
"I kinda think I do deserve you."
He grinned, a lazy smile that crinkled the smooth skin of his face and
uncrinkled the wrinkled skin. "Well, then, I guess I feel sorry for
you."
"Hey!" Jubilee swatted him.
He caught her hands easily, swinging her into his arms for a kiss.
"Just think of it this way, -- if your teammates were upset at me,
you'd better believe that mine are going to be worse."
"Why?" she asked reasonably. "I'm happy, you're happy.
What's there to be mad about?"
Logan grinned. "Nothin' at all, darlin'. Nothing at all." |
