One-Way Ticket On A Runaway Train

The day of Christopher’s funeral it rained. Not a downpour, but merely a light sprinkling mist. Jubilee said that even God and the angels were crying. The tiny white coffin covered in white roses on the altar of the school’s chapel looked surreal. Rogue sat in the front pew buffered on either side by a somber Logan and a grief-stricken Scott. Hank had given Rogue a mild sedative to help get her through the service, so she was not hysterical, but rather in a quiet state of shock. The grief in the chapel was palpable as Father Riley conducted the emotional service. It wasn’t until later as the coffin was being lowered into the ground that Rogue’s emotions managed to break through the sedative. She became extremely distraught and had to be restrained by both Logan and Scott.

The only person who didn’t appear despondent was Jean, who remained calm and seemingly unemotional. While everyone was offering their condolences to the grief-stricken young parents, Jean was oddly quiet. Factors that didn’t go unnoticed by the Professor. Hank had informed the Professor, that while he couldn’t prove it without further investigation, he was fairly certain that Jean’s minor wound had been self-inflicted – a development that was troubling the Professor greatly. When Rogue was a little more stable, the Professor wanted to question her to see what she had to say about Sabretooth’s attack. Did Rogue witness Sabretooth inflict Jean’s wound? He was hoping that Rogue would be able to relieve the nagging doubt that had been plaguing him.

With tears rolling down his cheeks from beneath the red shades, Scott asked Logan if he could have some time at the gravesite alone with Rogue, so Logan drifted back toward the house. As Logan glanced back at the pair, he saw Rogue collapse against Scott in heartbreaking sobs, as his own heart shattered into a million pieces. When he got back to their suite, Logan packed away the miniature baseball glove he’d purchased at FAO Swartz, wiping away a decidedly unmanly tear in the process and not giving a damn. Christ, he’d loved that little munchkin and he hadn’t even been born yet. At least nobody had had the bad taste to make an insensitive comment about Rogue having another man’s child no longer being an issue, because he really wasn’t in the mood to inflict bodily harm.

Just then Logan noticed the photo on the dresser of him and Rogue taken just a week ago. Rogue proudly showing off her seven-months pregnant belly with him standing behind her – his hands over the top of hers, as they both cradled her stomach. She looked so happy, her face beaming, the horror of what was to happen just a few days later, unknown. Logan would give anything to be able to go back in time and not go on that stupid mission and leave the girls so utterly unprotected. Logan wasn’t interested in the semantics of the attack. He was only concerned about revenge, for Rogue and innocent little Christopher. Sabretooth would pay – slowly and in excruciating agony when Logan got a hold of him.

~*~*~*

Thirty minutes later Rogue returned to their suite, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Logan made her take another sedative, helped her get undressed and then put her to bed, climbing in behind her and just holding her as she cried herself to sleep. He drifted off to sleep himself visualizing ways to torture Sabretooth.

The next morning Logan found Rogue sitting curled up in the rocking chair that she’d purchased so that she’d have a place to sit and nurse the baby. Rogue was quiet, but Logan could see the streaks down her cheeks that indicated she’d been crying.

“I wish I knew what to say or do to make it not hurt anymore,” he said simply, as he knelt down in front of her.

“Just be here fer me, that’s all ah need, Logan. Just be here,” she replied, as the tears started again.

Logan stood up, lifted her out of the rocker, sat back down in it and cradled her gently in his arms. Rogue put her arms around his neck and placed her head on his shoulder. A couple of minutes later Logan felt her finally relax and then noticed she’d fallen asleep. Standing up carefully, so as not to wake her up, he carried her back over to their bed. He deposited her down gently, took the phone off the hook and climbed in beside her. Logan spent the next few hours just watching her sleep, grateful that she was finally getting some much needed undisturbed rest.

~*~*~*

Logan had touched Rogue and healed her physical injuries, but the psychological ones ran far deeper. The Professor had arranged for professional counseling for Rogue and Scott, with a specialist who dealt in miscarriage. Jean had made a nasty comment to Logan that maybe he should be concerned that Scott and Rogue’s mutual grief would push them back together – after all, they’d turned to each other once before. Logan told Jean in no uncertain terms to “Fuck off and mind her own business.”, but her words had served their purpose by instilling in him that very fear.

The therapist was also going to speak with the other residents of the mansion, making suggestions on how to talk compassionately with Scott and Rogue without saying anything awkward. Never being terribly articulated to begin with, Logan was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so he played it safe by just offering strong and silent support. He wanted to speak with the therapist about the best time to approach Rogue about having a child with him – not to replace Christopher, of course. Logan didn’t wish to appear callous or uncaring and realized he’d have to be careful how he broached the subject with Rogue, so that it wouldn’t seem that he wanted his own child simply to wipe away the memory of Scott’s. When Logan asked the Professor for a private session with the therapist and explained why, the Professor commended him for his responsible approach to the situation. Logan told the Professor that he’d messed up enough as far as Rogue was concerned and he was making every effort to not repeat history, by thinking before acting.


The Professor was glad that there hadn’t been any mutant emergencies surface, because he knew his team was in no condition to be effective. Maybe that had been Magneto’s plan when he sent Sabretooth to attack defenseless women and children – to cause so much disruption that the X-Men would be ineffective while dealing with their grief. Erik had been furious that his plan to mutate the world leaders had been foiled and Rogue had been rescued, but was he that cruel to kill an innocent unborn child or had Sabretooth just got carried away? The fact that the others hadn’t been injured as severely, suggested that Rogue had been the intended target. Erik claimed his fight was with humans, so turning on his fellow mutants puzzled the Professor, but then everything Erik did lately confounded him.

The therapist spoke to the mansion’s residents, advising them what to say and what not to say. Then she had a private session with Logan before meeting with Rogue and Scott. The Professor also spoke with the therapist to get her opinion regarding speaking with Rogue about the night of the attack, because so far Rogue had not offered to talk about it. Kitty and Jubilee had already given their accounts, which unfortunately, gave no insight into what happened between Sabretooth and Rogue or Jean’s participation. Jean maintained that she’d been working in the medlab and came upstairs after it was too late to do anything and that Sabretooth had taken a swipe at her on his way out. Some of the other residents told the Professor that the girl’s screams could be heard throughout the mansion. While the medlab was far enough away from the main house, certainly Jean should’ve been monitoring things telepathically.

When the Professor asked her why she hadn’t given the girl’s medical attention, Jean claimed that she heard the Blackbird land and decided to get additional help, because she’d been in no condition to do anything by herself. Hank had already informed the Professor that the amount of blood loss suffered by Rogue indicated the attack had not just happened prior to the team’s return. Jean was obviously lying. The Professor was loath to use his gift to ascertain the truth and also realized that Jean was capable of blocking his efforts, anyway. It was a negative side effect of having a talented student of his teachings.

The therapist was there when the Professor finally questioned Rogue, but in her shock and grief, the young woman had blocked most of the details of that night.

The Professor was warned by the therapist about probing Rogue’s mind at this point, as it would force memories to the surface that she wasn’t prepared to deal with yet. So the Professor had reached a roadblock in his efforts to uncover the truth and was utterly frustrated. He didn’t want to think he had a member of his household, especially someone who’d chosen the noble profession of healing, that was capable of such cruelty toward another living being. He knew Jean had been distressed about the events of the last seven months, but enough to allow Sabretooth to harm Rogue and her unborn child without attempting intervention? Did she hate Rogue and by association, Scott, that much? The Professor was determined to get to the truth, he just hadn’t figured out how yet.