Jubilation Lee sat in the window seat on the second floor of the mansion, nestled snugly into the bowfront window directly above the mansion’s grand entrance. She held a book open in her lap, but she hadn’t turned a page in the last hour. No, instead she watched the drive. Something Big was going to happen, and she wasn’t going to miss it.
She knew what those at the mansion who didn’t know her very well thought of her. Jubilee the Gossip, Jubilee the Mall Rat. Allowing others to underestimate her — it was practically an art form by now. Those on the team with her, of course, knew better.
It wasn’t just the body and reflexes of a gymnast that made her such an asset to the team, and her mutation was small potatoes compared to some of the others. No, what made her so talented — both as resident gossip and as teammate — were the big ears and sharp eyes that accompanied her big mouth. Nothing escaped her observation — not at the mansion, and not in the field.
She noticed the day that Xavier had received a cell phone call — a rarity in itself — and had withdrawn to his study to take it. Collecting information was second nature to her, and so she had loitered in the paneled hallway — no other place to be, really — as Hank hustled into Xavier’s study a while later, emerging so lost in solemn thought that he almost bumped into her as he left. And then Xavier himself, pale and drawn, and the sudden callback of Scott and ‘Ro from Europe, the hunt for Proteus apparently ending as pre-emptorily as it had begun.
Jubilee had put those pieces together just fine. She wasn’t sure what Hank’s role was, but Proteus was dead, or at least recaptured, and the Professor was taking it hard. And hadn’t that been a shock to them all, the Professor having a son all this time, with Dr. MacTaggart no less! Not having sniffed out that gossip out on her own still peeved Jubilee a little.
So Proteus was done for. Case closed. And yet that was just the start of it. Next came new visitors to the Professor’s study. Men with callused hands and contractor’s clipboards, and if there were any renovations planned in the mansion Jubilee would have known of it. Instead the construction trucks rumbled out to the old gamekeeper’s cottage, a good ten miles from the mansion through barely-there woodland trails, and Jubilee wouldn’t even have known about it if that flying girl hadn’t spotted them and told Peter who told Bobby who told Kitty who told Jubes...
And now recently...the weather had turned, the latest warm snap finally sending the piles of snow to melting, and as they did Xavier became more alert, more vigilant, often lingering at the window of his study overlooking the drive. He was expecting someone.
Yes, Something Big was definitely going to happen, and Jubilee wouldn’t miss it for the world.
_______________
The crunch of tires on gravel pulled Jubilee from her musings. She looked eagerly out the window, her breath fogging the glass, and all thoughts of Xavier’s mystery disappeared. She recognized that Jeep — Rogue was back!
She flew down the stairs, wrenching open the heavy front door and leaving it carelessly ajar behind her. She skidded a bit in the gravel, coming to a stop as the driver’s side door swung open.
She hardly recognized the woman who stepped out. It was Rogue of course, but...different. More confident, or something. Practically glowing. And...
Jubilee shrieked in excitement, jumping up and down on the gravel.
“No gloves! Seriously, chica? Can I try?”
Rogue held out a bare hand, and Jubilee touched it tentatively for just a moment before pulling her into a full-body hug. “Damn, girl, you actually did it! The others are gonna flip!”
She pulled back, smiling up into Rogue’s face, watching her mouth slide up in a shy answering smile.
Jubilee’s brow furrowed in confusion as she looked closer. “You got contacts? I mean, they’re cool and all, but I thought you were saving the makeover for...”
The sound of another car door opening made Jubilee jump. She turned, and...
“Hol-eee fuck,” she breathed. The glare of sunlight off the windshield had hidden the presence of a passenger, but now Jubilee was treated to the sight of tall, dark, and brawny coming around the front of the car, pulling Rogue close into his side as if she fit there naturally. Jubilee covered for an actual weakness in her knees by making a dramatic gesture of tottering back, throwing her hand up against her forehead as if she were swooning.
“No. Fucking. Way!” she squealed as Rogue blushed, tilting her head into the man’s shirt in apparent embarrassment. “Who! What! How!”
“Jubilee, this is Logan,” Rogue supplied, her voice a mixture of suppressed laughter and suppressed irritation with which Jubilee was quite familiar. “We’ve been together for...awhile.”
The man stood steadily, his arm around Rogue, his piercing golden gaze on Jubilee as she looked him over unabashedly from his wild hair to the hem of his oh-so-tight blue jeans.
“Man, oh man,” she finally decreed. “I’d have learned to touch too if I had that waiting for me at the other end.”
“Jubes!” Rogue was openly laughing now, both scandalized and amused. She looked up into the man’s eyes and he gazed down into hers, his expression turning tender as they seemed to share a private joke.
Jubilee felt her eyes prickling with tears, a lump gathering in her throat, and she covered as she always did, with a stream of chatter, turning back toward the mansion.
“C’mon in and spill it, chica, people are gonna be so amazed, Bobby is gonna have a fit...”
She heard a rumble and stopped, looking up into the sunny sky. The sound of thunder with a blue sky like this usually meant ‘Ro was in a mood. She had seemed happy enough earlier, Jubilee wondered what had happened — but then again the sound seemed to be coming from much closer...
She stopped in her tracks, turning to look at the man again.
“Dude. Are you growling?” she asked, her mouth gaping open before she realized and shut it with a snap.
The sound cut off suddenly.
“Jubes, can you give us a minute?” Rogue asked, her voice more clearly on the side of irritation now.
Jubilee met her eyes and found herself looking away. They were so bright now, so fierce, the sunburst of gold striking amongst the coffee-brown. What was up with that, anyway?
“Yeah, sure,” she muttered. “I can take a hint.”
She took all of five steps away before turning back to watch the two of them avidly. Rogue had the man’s stubbled cheek cradled in her hand, her thumb caressing his face as she spoke softly to him. The words pitched too low for even Jubilee to catch, damn her.
As Jubilee watched, Rogue unbuttoned another button at the neck of her shirt, spreading the collar of it a little until Jubilee saw a glint of metal in the gap. Whatever the man — Logan, Jubilee reminded herself — saw seemed to calm him too. He pressed his fingers there for a moment, seeming to touch something under Rogue’s shirt, and some of the watchful tension left his body. Rogue gave him a quick kiss, and then they both turned toward the mansion again.
Jubilee swallowed hard, her throat feeling a little too thick again. Rogue had always been so guarded. Seeing her like this — openly affectionate, glowing with happiness — was amazing. It almost made Jubilee believe in true love again.
And at the very least, it was damn good gossip. The scoop of the century, and Jubilee had it. She smiled to herself as she pushed the door to the mansion all the way open, leading the lovebirds in.
____________________
It was more than an hour later by the time Marie and Logan were able to break away from the flurry of introductions and blatant scrutiny of the mansion residents. Marie shut the door to her room behind her with relief as Logan sank into her big leather armchair.
“You okay?” she asked him, curling up in his lap.
He buried his face in her hair, taking a deep breath before letting it out in a long soft exhalation. “Better now.”
She sighed. “They’ll calm down as soon as the novelty wears off, I promise. And we’ll find a place of our own as soon as we can.”
He pulled her closer, breathing deep, rolling his shoulders a little to try to get the tension out. “S’okay. It’s just...a lot of people.”
“I know.” She nuzzled into his neck a little. “I missed my friends, but I like it when it’s just the two of us.”
“Yeah.” He rumbled in pleasure as she nipped at his neck a little bit. “This place is better. Smells like you.”
She smiled against his skin. “It’s a little surreal, you know? Havin’ you here, in my room, with all my stuff?” She tipped her head up to meet his eyes. “All the time I spent alone in here...I never thought I could be so lucky. Havin’ someone like you...bein’ able to touch...it seems like I’m gonna wake up any second now an’ realize it was all a dream.”
He wrapped his arms tighter around her, holding her close.
They sat quietly for awhile. Even with silence between the two of them, the sounds of the mansion filtered through the door. Thumping footsteps in the hallway, voices calling outside. Marie’s stomach was still roiling a little from the flood of smells. She was finding the mansion hard enough to adjust to with her new heightened senses and she had lived here for years. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Logan after his years of solitude. She could feel his muscles twitch with every new sound.
“The Professor is supposed to be back from his meeting in a couple of hours. We’ll meet with him and see what he thinks can be done about Proteus, and then we’ll take a long walk, okay? The woods are really beautiful around here. I think you’ll like it.”
He grunted his acknowledgement. She could see that he was working up to saying something, and she waited patiently. He always seemed to have a harder time with words when he was tense.
“Marie,” he finally muttered. “I’m sorry I’m like this.”
“What?” She looked at him in puzzlement. “What do you think you have to apologize for, Logan?”
He shrugged, avoiding her eyes. “I can’t be...easy...with people. They’ll know there’s somethin’...” He hesitated, and his voice was rough when he spoke again. “Somethin’ not right about me.”
“Sugar.” She tried to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “There’s not a thing in the world wrong with you. There’s nothin’ about you that isn’t perfect to me. You think I care about that? That I want some smooth talker like that Gambit person we met?”
His growl was answer enough. The smarmy Cajun had apparently been recruited while she had been gone, and hadn’t bothered to hide the interest in his eerie red-on-black eyes when he was introduced to Rogue.
“I’ll tell you what people were thinkin’ about you, Logan. The guys were thinkin’ that you’re a hell of a badass, and probably wonderin’ how they could get you on the team. And the women — and maybe a few more of the guys — were thinkin’ mostly about how good your ass looks in those blue jeans.”
Logan made a disbelieving noise.
“I’m tellin’ ya.” She tried to keep the jealousy out of her voice, not entirely successfully. “I thought Jeannie’s eyes were gonna pop out of her head.”
His brow furrowed. “Which one was she again?”
Marie couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she gave him a deep, slow kiss. “I really, really, love you, you know that?” she murmured into his mouth.
“‘Cause I can’t keep your friends straight?”
“Mmmmm. Exactly.”
He wound his fingers in her hair, taking charge of the kiss. She was gasping for air by the time they finally broke apart.
“A few hours, huh?” he rumbled.
She smiled. “At least. How ‘bout we make the bed smell like both of us in the meantime?”
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