Heart's True Home

"K-kiss me... right here, r-right now." Remy blinked
back the tears that made his vision swim as Logan
applied more pressure to his wound.

But the blood flowing from the wound didn't slow much.


Logan shook his head not trusting his voice not to
betray him. It would be admitting defeat.
Kissing Remy now meant he believed the kid wasn't
gonna make it.

"Where the Hell is Blue?" Logan's voice was rough
with emotion when he did gain enough control to speak.
He was looking around wildly, the doctor was somewhere
behind them and just to their left when Logan saw the kid
take the bullet and crumble to the ground. Remy
coughed, and Logan's attention snapped back to him. He
changed position slightly to block the sunlight from
the boy's pale face and noticed blood on his lips. He
saw that Remy's eyes had slipped shut and with his
free hand he gently tapped his cheek, "Stay with me
kiddo... open yer eyes and talk to me, not much longer
I promise... Blue's gotta be close by, he was right
behind us!"

He had a gut feeling that it probably wouldn't be soon
enough. There was a growing puddle of blood under the
boy, but Logan refused to give up. He pressed a little
harder hoping against hope that it would be enough.

Dazed red on black eyes opened slowly and Logan sighed
silently... not gone yet. His boy was a fighter. He
smiled down at Remy and let his free hand slide from
the kid's cheek back into his silky red-brown hair.
Remy's breath hitched as he turned into the touch.
Logan wanted nothing more at that moment than to be back in their room at the mansion, or off in the woods, in the danger room... anywhere but there. "That's my boy... I know it hurts, but ya gotta hold on a little longer.
Can ya do that? Can ya do it for me?"

Remy winced and tried to curl up around the pain as he
gave Logan an almost invisible nod.

"You gotta lay still boy, the bullet passed clean
through ya and I can't get it to stop bleedin'." As
crazy as it seemed, a hand full of idiots with
high-powered guns were actually holding them down.
"Hank!" Logan tried again to get the doctor's
attention, wherever he was, and was repaid by a shower
of bullets passing just to his left.

"Logan," Remy's voice was a breathy whisper. He
wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer,
"love y'..."

Logan's breath caught, and his heart skipped a beat.

Remy never said those words to him before.

He'd been hurt too many times to open himself up to
that kind of pain again, and Logan understood that. He
knew Remy loved him. He didn't care that he found it
hard to say the words. He could read it in Remy's
eyes, and feel it in his touch. It was as true as
anything he'd ever believed.


"I been tellin' ya that for months, and you pick *now*
to say it back to me?" He absently smoothed back soft
hair as he asked. He let a soft smile, he in no way
felt, play at his lips. Remy didn't need to see how
this was tearing him up inside. Once the kid was safe
at home he'd go out into the forest and howl at the
sky, or destroy the danger room... He had his own ways
of releasing the anger and fear that was building
inside of him.

Remy's lips curled into a tiny smile, "Was waitin' f'
th' perfect... moment."

Logan bent and kissed his clammy, cool forehead. He
was going into shock, and there was no way to stop it.
"I love you too Rems, now hush up and let me save ya
so we can say it some more later." He watched as a
shiver passed through Remy's body and
moved closer, covering him with his own. He was glad
that Storm wasn't around to come with them today. She
would be hovering, and he wasn't in the mood to share
Remy right now. If his gut feeling was right, and the
kid.... he shook himself away from that thought, Remy
was *not* going to die!

"Logan!"

Logan silently thanked whatever was out there watching
over mutants today, and sighed with relief. "Where the
Hell ya been Blue? Kid's shot and I can't stop the
bleedin'! Get yer ass over here now!"

Hank peered out from behind a large cement planter
identical to the one Logan and Remy were behind. They
were in front of the building the three X-men were
trying to enter when they were ambushed. It was a
homeless shelter for mutants, and the FoH had been
sending threats for months. The police had been
notified, but they didn't seem to care.

The team was here just yesterday; this was supposed
to be a routine follow up. Logan, Remy and Hank were
sent to make sure there were no injuries or issues
left to deal with. They never expected that they'd
have to defend the place from the bigots again so
soon. They weren't even in uniform. "I'm pinned down!
I can't get to you!" As if to prove the point a bullet
struck the planter just inches from Hank's head. A
cruel laugh could be heard echoing off the building.
"I was able to get a message to Jean, back-up should
arrive soon!"

"Soon ain't good enough!" Logan shouted back. Remy
moaned pitifully as another wave of pain washed
through him. Logan looked over at Hank, pinned down
only a few hundred feet away, then back at Remy, who
was trying so hard to pretend he wasn't hurt as bad as
Logan knew he was, and he made up his mind. "Darlin'...
Remy, can y' hear me?"

Remy tried to nod but he was so cold and so tired all
of a sudden...

Logan grabbed his chin roughly, and squeezed to get
the boy's attention. "Kid! Remy! Open yer eyes and
listen t' me!"

Remy licked his dry lips, and forced his eyes open.
Logan never used that tone around him, and he was
shocked to hear it now.

Logan sighed and let his own eyes close for a second,
"That's my good boy." His tone was infinitely gentle
now as he captured the dilated red on black eyes and
held their gaze,"Darlin' you need help, and Hank
can't get t' ya. Remy? Remy!" The red on black eyes
were closing again.

Remy's eyes fluttered open again, and he tried to take
a breath to say he was listening, but he choked and
coughed up blood instead.

"Fuck!" Logan's hand had long ago fallen asleep from
trying to stop the blood flowing freely from the kid's
wound. His head pounded from the noise of the
high-powered weapons the bastards had somehow gotten
hold of. But worst of all was the fear in his gut that
he was gonna have to watch the kid bleed to death
right before his eyes when help was so close!

Remy forced his eyes opened again, and found he
was staring into worried blue. He concentrated on his
lover's face and whispered, "l-listenin' ch-cher...so
cold... tired... not doin' s' good..."

"I know darlin', I know. Listen... I gotta make a
diversion so Hank can get over here to you, do you
understand? I gotta get their attention off him, and
onto me, it's the only way."

Remy weakly tried to reach out, but was stopped short
by the throbbing pain, "non..."

Logan let his free hand brush back a tear on Remy's
cheek, and then took one of his hands. "Cajun... yer
gonna bleed t' death if I don't and I will not let
that happen! I love you Rems, I wasn't just spoutin'
words when I said it."

Remy's eyes refused to stay open, "was afraid t'
say... but always felt..."

Logan kissed him, totally aware that Hank was probably
watching them closely by now, "I know darlin'.
"You trust me, you hear? You hang on
just a little bit longer." He placed Remy's hand on
the blood-saturated shirt he took off, and was holding
against the wound, "I need you to concentrate and
press real hard. You'll only have to do it for a few
seconds, until Hank gets here. Can ya do that for me?"
He was using Remy's natural need to please to his
advantage. If Remy were doing this for him he'd try
harder to hold on and accomplish the task.

"Hank! Get read to haul your furry ass over here!"

"Logan, I don't understand? How are you-"

Before he could finish asking the question, Logan
stood up with an unholy roar and moved away from his
shelter beside the Cajun. Shots rang out from three
different locations and his body was riddled with
bullets. He fell to the ground with a smile on his
face... he stayed conscious long enough to watch Hank
move to Remy's side. The kid was finally safe. He let
the pain and
the darkness drag him down, and trusted the healing
factor to save him as it always had before.

The ground shook as the Blackbird suddenly hovered
above them, and the X-men acted immediately upon
getting a fix on the snipers. The battle that had
been going on for close to an hour was over in a
matter of seconds.

But was the price for their delayed arrival going to
be too high?

*****

Logan clawed his way back to consciousness from
darkness not unlike death. He took his time, not in
any great hurry to see the stark white walls of the
med lab. He heard soft whispers that sounded far away,
but grew increasingly louder and clearer. There was
some kind of cold fluid being forced into his veins
and he growled softly.

"Ah... it's about time Logan. I was beginning to fear
that we took too long getting back home." Hank and
Scott came into his less than perfect view, and Hank
asked,
"Do you know where you are? Do you recognize me?"

Logan blinked a few times to clear the fog from his
mind, "R-Remy..."

Hank chuckled, relieved that one of his patients was
finally awake. "No, you are incorrect, I am-"

"Where Is Remy?"

Scott quietly excused himself, and Hank used the time
to drag over a chair. "I want you to stay in this bed
for at least another hour. You were hit by more than
three dozen bullets, even you need time to recover
from that."

"Where is he?" Logan felt a cold hand grip his insides
as Hank took off his glasses and looked down at the
floor. "Is he-"

"How long have you two been involved?" Hank caught
his eyes and held his gaze.

" 'S been nearly six months now. Blue... "

"I thought Scott-"

Logan shook his head, "He made up his mind a long
time ago. He don't want to lose Jeannie. I was just
somethin' he needed to get out of his system. I can
live with that. I *can't* live without the kid ... Blue,
this is it, Scott... Cyke was nothing. I really love Remy."
His eyes tried to find reassurance in Hank's calm
features, "Please tell me... did I wait too long?"
Hank's continued silence was killing him. He should
have made a move sooner...

"He's alive Logan, and he wouldn't be if you hadn't
sacrificed yourself. I can't say yet if it was enough
to save him though. The bullet damaged his liver... he
lost a great deal of blood. I used every bag I had
available to perform the surgery and repair the
damage. I can't give him anyone else's blood; you know
that. We just have to wait and see."

Logan closed his eyes a moment and let what Hank said
sink in. Something about Remy... the X-factor in his
blood, or his previous involvement with Sinister...
made it impossible for him to accept blood from any of
the X-men. Any foreign blood acted like poison in his
system. Hank had to force him down to the lab
regularly to give pints of blood that he kept in case
of such an emergency. If he used it all during
surgery...

"He will be able to replenish the lost blood on his
own, but it will take time. I'll be able to safely say
he will make a full recovery in about forty-eight
hours."

"I want to see him."

"No, Logan you need-"

"I *need* to be with Remy, Blue. I can get through to
him, make him hold on, I know I can." He paused then,
and the look in his eyes when he continued made Hank's
huge heart ache. "Please Hank, I can't lose him. He
said he loved me, finally found the courage to say the
words... do you have any idea how hard that had to
be?"

His words trailed off and Hank patted his shoulder. He
was the only one who knew anything about Scott's
little experiment with male sex; he still felt that
Scott used the older man. Logan had gone along
because, at one time, he felt attracted to the team
leader. It lasted only a few weeks, and in the end
both men knew it wasn't going to work. He was the only
one who knew Logan preferred men to women. Men could
handle the...what were Logan's words..."the needs of
the beast."

Hank offered to be his "friend" all those years ago
when Logan first arrived because Hank, more than
anyone else at the mansion, understood the animal lust
that wanted to take over at times. He offered himself,
and in that offer Logan found his first real friend.
He never took the large blue doctor up on it, but he
could smell that
Hank was sincere, and knowing what the man was willing
to do for him meant the world to Logan.

"Alright, I can see how much this means to you." He
stood and watched Logan as he got slowly to his feet.
Even his phenomenal healing was put to the test by the
high-powered weapons the FoH used on them. Remy was
lucky to be alive.

They stopped just outside an open door and Hank placed
a hand on his friend's shoulder, "He will need a lot
of help while he is recovering, I'm sure he would much
rather have it be you at his side." Hank smiled at the
true love and concern he saw in Logan's eyes. He
stepped back out of the way as Logan passed him to sit
beside the young Cajun.


Hank watched silently from the doorway as Logan
carefully took Remy's hand in his and placed a soft
kiss on the back of it. The smile on Logan's face when
Remy's fingers curled around his hand was enough to
warm his heart. He slowly backed away from the small
room so the two men could have some privacy. It looked
like Logan, and the beast he carried inside him, had
finally found what they'd been searching for after all
these long years. There was a kind of peace that
descended on the man the moment he laid eyes on the
boy this time... Hank smiled as he realized his friend
wouldn't have as much time for him as he used to.

He'd found his heart's true home.