Winter of Our Discontent

He sat on the floor, knees up, rocking forward and back, forward and
back. He went over it again in his head how he would tell Logan that
he had to do one more thing for the X-men before perhaps forever
leaving them behind. The hardest part he felt was having to tell him
he called Scott. He decided to be a little devious. Speaking out
loud but very softly, he told a sleeping Logan about the call.

" Y'see Cher, I told Ro dat I would tell Scottie dat we were all
right. I call'd `im dis mornin' and he asked dat we pick up a file
in Minneapolis. I told `im ok, dat we would do it as long as he left
us alone afta. He agreed and now we gotta go to Minneapolis." Remy
smiled as he continued rocking. "Glad t' see ya don' mind one more
fo' da road Cher. I be getting into de shower now."

Remy turned the water to as hot as he could stand it, and then just a
little bit more, and stepped into the shower. He let the water fall
over his body and closed his eyes relaxing his muscles and letting
the steam take away the stress that the phone call had caused. He
soaped up, shampooed, and rinsed, all with his eyes closed not
wanting to open them to the light yet. Turning off the water he
reached for the towel and felt a hand.

A large hand.

A large, hairy hand that gripped his wrist in a not so gentle manner
and pulled him from the tub.

"Tell me you were kidding." Remy opened his eyes reluctantly, hoping
that when he did Logan would still be sleeping. "Tell me ya didn't
call Summers and tell me ya didn't agree to break into a place and
steal something."

Remy sighed and whispered. " Oui Cher, I did."

Logan walked out of the bathroom and sat on the side of the bed, Remy
right on his heels. "But Cher, I told `im it was de last time. Dat
after dis he had to leave us alone. I told `im we not X-men no
more."

Logan looked up at his lover, his eyes sad. He wanted to say
something but could not find words. He was angry and sad and
disappointed - disappointed that the person who had made him feel
like they were being taken advantage of by the X-men had agreed to
work for them again. He pulled himself off the bed and went into the
shower without a word.

Remy sat for a while on the floor. He felt terrible. He felt that
he had betrayed Logan and that perhaps this would end what little
time they had together. He wished that Logan had said something.
Anything. He could feel the emotions coming from his new lover and
had no idea how he was going to make this up to him. He slowly
packed his things and put them in the jeep. He ordered breakfast and
laid out clothes for Logan before packing the rest. Logan came out
of the shower, ate, dressed and went to wait in the car in silence.
Remy paid the bill and walked to the jeep as if he were walking the
last few steps to the gas chamber. He was dreading the ride to
Minneapolis. If, in fact, that was where they were going. Logan had
not agreed to go there after all.

"Why Rem? Why would you call them and why the hell would you agree
to do this?" Logan looked so sad Remy wanted to cry.

"I promised Stormy I'd call, Cher. I couldn't go back on my word to
her. I didn't want ta do dis but Scott agreed to let us go if I
did. It'll be so simple, Cher, jus' a hotel room. Go in, pick up de
file, and go. I leave it someplace and call Scott to come pick it up
and we go away. To Canada, Alaska, or anywhere ya want Cher." Remy
touched the side of Logan's face gently. "Please don' be mad, Cher,
didn't do dis to hurt ya, truly I didn't."

Logan sighed and leaned into Remy's fingers. "I know ya didn't
kiddo. I know. Let's just do this and begin again, ok?"

Remy smiled and relaxed back into the seat. "Of course, mon amour.
Anyt'ing you want."

Logan drove north toward Chicago. Remy felt that since it would only
take about 10 hours to reach Minneapolis and they had 2 days, he
could at least bring Logan to Chicago to get some Blackhawks
memorabilia. He knew Logan loved the team though his heart belonged
to the Vancouver Canucks. He had heard him talk endlessly about
Bobby Hull and Tony Espisito.

Remy told himself that he would have to pick up some books on the
subject if he was going to be able to follow Logan in any hockey
conversation. He also hoped that Logan's love of hockey would help
in convincing him to get a generator in the cabin. Remy could
possibly talk him into a small one to run his laptop so he could
watch some DVDs. Remy would compile his `movies to take with you on
a desert island' ~or frozen landscape as de case may be~ He reminded
himself. Maybe if he picked up some hockey DVDs, Logan would
comply. That would be his plan anyway. His lover had to concede a
little. Didn't he? He would have no phone or lights or running
water, but maybe he could at least have one piece of civilization.
Movies. He looked at the older man and smiled, thoughts of curling
up in front of a fire with a romantic movie or music playing. Logan
would definitely agree to this.

He was rewarded with a smile in return and fingers caressing his
hair. "Love you, Rem."

Remy melted at the words and leaned into Logan's shoulder deciding
that it really didn't matter if he ever saw another movie. "Love y'
too, Cher."

They drove into Minneapolis on Thursday morning at 3am. They had a
great dinner in Chicago and drove leisurely through Wisconsin. Remy
found any opportunity to take pictures. Logan was grateful to his
young lover for doing that for him. He needed to know that this was
real and not another planted memory. He had to know that he was
indeed going home to Canada and with a new lover - a chatty,
hyperactive and sometimes bratty lover, but someone who loved him
nonetheless.

Logan pulled in front of the hotel and turned to Remy. "Ya listen
here, Gumbo. I will give ya 15 minutes to get in and get out. I
don't see ya coming out the door before then, I go in. Ya see
somethin' that ain't right, ya come out. Promise me."

Remy smiled. "Promise, Cher. I won' be more den 10 minutes tops.
If dis guy didn't leave de files in de room, I come out and we move
on." Logan nodded once in agreement. He looked at his watch as
Remy entered the hotel.

Remy entered the room with no difficulty. He was not surprised, as
getting to the room was so easy. Not much security in a hotel like
this one. He wondered if the traps lay inside. As he scanned the
darkened room, he saw the guard sleeping on the bed closest to the
window. He moved about the room and could not see any bag. He
opened the closet slowly where an old gym bag sat on the floor in the
back. Peeking inside, he saw a large manila envelope. He moved
into the bathroom and opened the envelope, using the nightlight as a
reading lamp.

"Dis way to easy" he muttered to himself as he realized he had the
files. He was reaching to open the door when curiosity got the
better of him. He opened the bag and removed the envelope within.
He hesitated momentarily as he thought about what was inside. Scott
had mentioned information regarding the X-men. Something that would
hurt them. He placed the files back into the envelope and then
removed them again.

Glancing at the files inside, he whispered "I only look if my name on
one, no harm in dat, right?" He looked to see if any names were on
the files. To his dismay, they were unlabeled. He sighed and mulled
over his options. Look anyway or put it away and let Scott worry
about it. After about 30 seconds of guilt, he opened the file.

Glancing quickly over the words, he looked for his name. He found it
on the fourth page. His name and results of endless, it seemed,
blood tests. He shuddered at the memory of being in that lab and all
the blood they took and tests they ran on him after. The CAT scans
and bone scans, injections and, at one point, bloodletting. He
looked at the results and froze as he saw the results of his DNA
analysis.

Back in the jeep Logan was growling. He was going from impatient to
worried. He never should have let the kid go in there by himself.
He was sure it was a trap, but Remy had been insistent that he would
be all right. Logan agreed to wait in the car until he returned.

"Anything happens to the kid and I'll take it outta yer hide,
Summers." He turned about, looking to see if anything looked out of
the ordinary and was relieved slightly as he realized that all was
quiet.

Remy wiped the tears as he read the report. There were four
different strains of DNA, two of which were mutant strains. One
unidentified but human. "Impossible, dats plain impossible" he
whispered. "No one can have more den 2 DNA." The fourth strain is
what made his heart seem to stop beating.

~The mutant 7034653, Remy LeBeau, has DNA consistent with Panthera
Onca.~

He stopped at that point. There was no need to go any further. "I'm
barely human." He croaked out the words and slipped the papers into
his pocket. He was not going to let anyone see the results. He
would read them later and then destroy them. He was no longer an X-
man so they had no right to this information. He was about to put
the file back when he saw another header.

Weapon X:

He decided that no one needed to know about Logan either and pulled
the pages to destroy them as well. He caught a glimpse of a list of
names that gave him pause again.

~Volunteers for the WEAPON- X Project.~ They were listed by rank.
There were about twenty of them. Next to their ranks were their
names and then crimes committed. Remy shuddered. The project was
conducted on military prisoners. And, 12th on that list was a name
that made shivers run up Remy's spine.

He shoved the papers back into the envelope and then held it at arms
length. He started to charge the files with plans to leave them
burning in the bathroom. After a few moments deliberation, though,
he changed his mind and withdrew the charge, pocketing the envelope
and slipping quietly out of the room. He walked down the stairs to
the lobby telling himself that removing his and Logan's files before
handing it over to Scott was the right thing to do.

Smiling at his handiwork, he made his way back to the jeep waiting
for him at the curb. His smile faded, however, as he saw Logan
sitting, chewing on his ever-present cigar. He sighed sadly. Logan
wanted to know his past. He wanted to know why he was chosen. How
would he react to the knowledge that he volunteered for the Weapon X
project?