If Logan could pick a need, such as hunger and thirst, that was his favorite to satisfy, it would be sleep. It didn’t cost anything and it needed nothing to assist it. At least it used to not need anything to assist it. Sleep did not come easily to him tonight. After four large sleeping pills, Logan could not be at peace. After he brought Rogue to the medlab, Professor Xavier had requested his presence for a mind scan. The troubled older man said that he could return to his quarters but he seemed increasingly troubled about the matter at hand. If something troubled Chuck, it sure as hell would trouble Logan .
After his last attempt at shutting his eyes turned out to be futile, Logan arose from his bed and followed his instincts to the medlab. The silent house seemed to almost criticize him for not being in bed like the rest of the house but he was determined. As he walked across the chrome, futuristic hall of the underground X-Men headquarters his pace picked up slightly. His urgency to see her drove him to a jogging pace. The door slid away to reveal Marie’s serene body. The light around her was a light blue that was a night version of the usual florescent light in the medlab. If he didn’t know any better, Logan would say it was moonlight.
He approached slowly. He was lightly panting because of his jog to the medlab. Rogue’s hair was draped over the side of the bed. There was a dull beeping nosie coming from a machine by her bedside and Wolverine repressed the urge to silence it with his adamantium claws. He grabbed a computer chair that was under a desk and pulled it to her side. He reached for her hand and engulfed it with his. He knew that while she was in a coma, her powers were incapacitated but he wouldn’t have cared if her touch killed him. Her silence at his gesture was unbearable and he felt that he must say something to compensate for the quiet.
“Hey, umm, Rogue. You were really great out there...this is stupid.” Logan said as he started to remember that you didn’t have to make small talk with a person in a coma. In fact, you could say exactly how you felt and it wouldn’t matter. No manly pretense to be restricted to.
“Marie, I wish you were awake so I could tell you how beautiful you are. My stunning vocabulary isn’t finding the words to put this but, I think you are the only one for me. I wish this sleep you are under was some sort of enemy so we could run away from it. Together. But this is something you have to fight all by yourself, darlin’.And it kills me inside.”
Logan was about to continue, the word flow is easier after the first few sentences, when from outside the hall he smelled someone. It smelled like citrus. Hardly the scent of a villain but he shed claws and took a battle stance anyway. A figure appeared in the doorway.
“Wolvie?”
His claws retracted as Jubilation Lee came closer to him. He studied the girl. Her eyes were sunken and red and her cheeks were pale. The brightly colored sparks of cheap drugstore dye that usually adorned her hair were washed away, revealing plain black. Instead of her usual mess of punk paraphernalia on her clothes, she wore a plain black t-shirt and some pajama bottoms with purple high tops (the only color on her). Wolverine felt oddly comforted to know that even the painted up “mall rat” had a natural side.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Jubilee offered.
Logan shook his head and pulled up two seats for them in between Peter and Rogue’s beds.
Jubilee didn’t immediately sit down though. She walked over to Peter’s side and put her hand on his bandaged arm.
“Come on, tin man. Don’t be such a wuss.” She barely whispered. She smiled amidst swallowing oncoming tears. Logan watched. Quietly wishing for her to stop being so sad. Two sad people in a room is a most destructive thing. Jubilee regained her bearings and walked briskly from Peter’s side to the chair.
“It didn’t really feel like a victory today , huh?” Jubilee said to the man across from her. He shook his head.
“Until now,”Jubilee said and took a deep breath, “I always thought war was a thoughtless, emotional game. How many people could you take out from the other side. Just a meaningless body count, just numbers. I was always pretty good at math, and I have one hell of a competitive side so I thought: Hey, I might be pretty good at this war thing. Than you figure out, it not numbers, it’s lives.”
Logan listened to her with penetrating silence. Her eyes grew distant as if she might have just figured it out, right as she said it. Logan always thought Jubilee was one of those annoyingly outspoken girls who wise men developed the “seen and not heard” phrase after. To him, she was someone who felt the need to occupy silence with thoughtless and entertaining chatter. It was always Wolverine’s philosophy that if you didn’t NEED to do something, you don’t. Talking was just optional. That was why she irked him.
That night, his opinion changed. She was no longer the typical teenage rebel he saw over the security camera, throwing around her words. Everything meant something now, she was a woman. The fact that she could have been Rogue, if she had a different mutation, background, manner, and personality, was also in the forefront of Logan’s mind. She could be Rogue. And for that, Logan had to love her.
“I know about it.”she said randomly but some how respectfully, as if she knew she was skating on thin ice.
“About what?” But Logan had a pretty clear idea.
“You and her. You love her. I know. When you both came here, I knew. You were on a stretcher. Passed out . She was watching you, asking Scooter what he was going to do to you. She never once asked where she was or what was going to happen to her. She was only concerned with you.”
He looked slightly perplexed, so Jubilee elaborated.
“It took me awhile to understand why she was so worried about some guy who looked like he could obviously take care of himself but it eventually clicked. As time went on, I could tell that her feelings were returned.”
Logan eyebrows went up at this acquisition.
Jubilee was unnerved by Wolverine’s pondering silence, so she got up to leave. Just as she was about to go, she stopped and faced Logan.
“You can trust I won’t say anything.”
“I do.”Wolverine replied. As she left, she kissed him on the cheek. That’s the one thing about Jubilee’s type that Logan noticed, their overwhelming confidence didn’t allow them to be embarrassed.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay, I have kept you guys hanging for so looooong that I feel guilty cuz I don't think this chappy has a a huge pay off. There is no action or passionate romance. Just light fluffy smut. Love it for what it is and I'll give you a really good chappy very soon! - Ada