Healing

Chapter 8

"Again? This is the third homework you've 'forgotten' ... are you having problems with it? You can come see me if you are. Yeah?"

"I'm sorry..."

She didn't say anything else; didn't look up from her shoes. Logan had been angry, but she looked so small and sad that he couldn't bear to shout. The more time he spent here, the softer he got. He dismissed her, and leaned back against his desk. It had been another long day. He'd been up at 6am. It wasn't a nice time in the day. He usually got up in time to have a cup of coffee and a bite to eat before his first class.

Today, all the X-Men had had training. There were a large number of things that had been sorted now; repairs as well as paperwork, so they had more time. This apparently couldn't be left as free time...

'Ro explained that they used to have training just for the adults twice a week. But the circumstances meant that their attention was required in other areas. He'd asked Kurt what he thought of the early morning, but the man had replied that it wasn't too early; that he frequently got up this early and there was a fair amount of activity going on throughout the mansion.

Logan pushed off his desk and collected the exercise books. He'd get that marked after eating. He set off for his room, planning on dumping his stuff there. It was a total mess in there, having found no extra time to clean up. He wasn't too fussed about it though. It was organised mess; he knew where everything was in it.

"Logan?"

"Scott..."

"We have a mission to do. We set off in about 2 hours, so you'll have time to eat. It's undercover, so you don't really need to change, but bring a bag. We'll be away until Friday."

"Where we going?"

"I'll brief you when we set off, but you'll just need clothes and stuff to clean up with. You could always take a book. We are going to have to sit about for a bit of it."

"2 hours?"

"Yeah... I'll meet you out front, if you wanna wait near the basketball court?"

"Right."

Scott turned and hurried off. Logan hoped it wouldn't be a long journey, but if they were going undercover then they would probably be driving. He sighed and carried on to his room. No matter how long the journey was, there would definitely need to be a compromise on the music they listened to. He wasn't sitting through boy bands.


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"While the sun is bright, or in the darkest night; no one knows. She comes and goes."

This was the compromise... Rolling Stones. Not his favourite, not by a long way. But he would sit through it. If only the kid would stop singing. It wasn't that he was bad, but he wanted to listen to the proper vocalist.

"Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday. Who could hang a name on you?"

"Scott. Shouldn't you concentrate?"

"I am." Scott was laughing. The briefing he received was just they were observing someone. There was a file in Logan's lap; he would read it later though. He could read while he was in a moving vehicle.

He grunted and stared out the window, not saying anything else. The kid was happy as he sang away. He said it shouldn't be a difficult job, but it would be nice to get away from all the activity in the mansion. It was late and the sun was starting to set. Logan wanted to know how far they were going, but he chose not to ask. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much further. He was going numb from sitting so long.

"Aww, shit. I was meant to turn off there. Maybe there is another way I can go. Logan? Will you grab that map? It's in the glove box... thanks."

They pulled over, and Scott took the map from him. He frowned over it for a while, before nodding his head.

"We should be fine if we take the next turn, there is a small road we can take that will take us there. Do you want to drive? It's a small road, see? So I doubt there will be street lights along it. I don't like driving in the dark with just the headlights."

Logan opened his door and climbed out. He stretched out his muscles and took a deep breath. He lit a cigar, deciding that if the kid wanted him to drive; he could wait a few minutes. Scott gave him a look that showed he wasn't thrilled but didn't say anything. Probably glad he wasn't smoking it inside his precious car.

He stood staring quietly at the dimming sky. It was beautiful; the different colours blending so perfectly into each other. He had to admit it. The kid was staring off into the sky too; his head tilted back, exposing his pale throat. Logan wondered what they sunset would look like for him, glasses tinting the mesmerising sight every shade of red.

Life without colour... it was a strange idea. Scott truly saw red, all day and every day. Not that he could see green; Logan could testify to that. The kid had been jealous of the friendship he'd had with Jeannie (just friendship... she'd had no issues with rejecting him.)

After she died, he had been blue. Very blue. Luckily, he wasn't so much anymore. It had been horrible, but now Logan got to deal with him singing along to songs, and he had to cope with the kid's sense of humour.

Annoying; but overall a definite improvement. And no one could deny the kid was colourful. He hated it when people who didn't know him called Scott dull. He'd heard the parents of a young man who wanted to attend the school at the start of the next term; they been full of praise for Xavier, but had called Scott an uninspiring man, and that they were hopeful the other teachers were better. He could have beaten them.

He was perfectly aware of the irony of this. He had been notably less than impressed by the kid when he first got here. But, he liked to think he was a better person now.

"Logan! Today! We have got to get a move on, it's dark and it's starting to rain. Get in the bloody car."

He climbed in, and changed the music. Time to find something the kid would sing along with.


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It was cold. No, it was freezing. The room they were in clearly had no heating. They were staying with some of Xavier's friends. An old couple; very friendly and welcoming. But they clearly were set in their ways. They had gone to bed as soon as they had been shown their room.

They had been left a meal out in the kitchen, and there were towels in the bedroom (They were soaked through. The rain was very heavy, and the door was nowhere near the garage.)

There were two small, single beds in a spare room, but there was no heating. Just a fireplace, which Cyke had refused to let Logan light. Which led to his current problem; the cold.

Not that the kid was aware of it. He had pulled extra blankets onto his bed before crawling into it, and then he'd been out like a light. Steady breathing could be heard clearly, too loudly. Logan wanted it quiet. Totally quiet. He couldn't sleep. It was cold, and too loud.

He was miserable. He stood up, grabbed the book he had brought as well as a thick sweater and went to the kitchen, deciding to read for a while. Tossing and turning would only wake Cyke.

It was a good book, 'Ro had lent it to him. A story of a fallen warrior. He had read about 4 chapters when he heard whimpering. He looked up and frowned...

It was definitely whimpering, and gasping. It was coming from his room. He got up and went into their room. Scott was squirming, his uncovered face scrunched up.

For a long moment, Logan just stared. He could remember Scott saying he had nightmares, but he hadn't thought much of it. At the time, at least. Now, he wondered what you were supposed to do about people having nightmares. He normally had them, but wasn't often faced with others in the same situation.

He decided to try waking him, and sat on the edge of Scott's bed.

"Kid?" he whispered, aware that they weren't the only ones in the house, "Hey, kid... Scott? Wake up. It's ok. Wake up."

He shook the kid's shoulder, and Scott sat up, letting out a loud shout. His eyes remained clenched shut, thankfully. Logan had forgotten about them.

"Jean?! Jean... I'm sorry. Oh, god. Jean." He sobbed. It was strange, so different from the strong face of Cyclops that he usually faced the world with. Logan wrapped his arms around the kid and held him silently. Scott shook badly in his arms, continuing to apologise to the woman who wasn't there.

Logan vaguely wondered if she could hear him, remembering their telepathic link. If she really was alive. Scott and the professor seemed to think so, in some form. So she probably was. He couldn't imagine how they would react if they saw her. Would he be accepting, try bring her back to the mansion, or would he be cautious. Would he let Scott go back to her? He looked down at the man in his arms and decided that letting him go would be hard. But if he was positive it was Jean, he might be able to. He'd have to be certain though. The kid would have definite problems if he lost his love a second time around.

Logan shifted, so his legs were up on the bed and leaned against the back of the bed. He rubbed Scott's back to try and sooth him as Logan himself felt his eyes drifting shut.


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He had woken alone, curled in a ball in the middle of Scott's bed. It had been disorientating, but he had gotten up, showered and dressed before going for his breakfast. Scott hadn't said anything but a soft "thanks" and they had sat and eaten.

The two men had then driven out to go explore. They were looking for a mutant who was supposedly part of the brotherhood. He was supposedly a cocky young man with a bad attitude. Logan was starting to think that such people were Magneto's favourite for recruiting. Wheels said he had a fair few.

They were trying to gather information about what the brotherhood was doing, and spent the day talking to different people; hacking into different CCTV systems (Scott had done that... Logan wasn't too wild about learning technological ways of annoying people) and then had gone to pick up a few different bits from the shop for the couple.

"Overall, a successful day." Laughed Scott.

"S'pose. Except we didn't get locations or anything for Magneto."

"No... But we got leads. And quite a lot of them. After that, I'm depending on your nose." The kid was still laughing.

"Wonderful."

"Aww, come on Logan. What could possibly go wrong?" he shot an innocent look in Logan's direction. Logan sent back a stare of his own, which sent another tremor of laughter through Scott.

It felt almost pleasant; normal. But he still looked forward to getting back to the mansion. It was starting to feel like home, now. A very odd thought, but one Logan was very fond of.


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All done, and hopefully not hard to follow. Please review and let me know what you thought.