He had been feeling... odd, all day. Like someone was watching him, following him. He hadn't been able to relax enough to join the cage fight he had stumbled across quite by accident, not even enough to enjoy the beer he settled down with. Eventually he had downed the beer and lit out, finding a motel and holing up. Alone. Goddamn paranoia still wouldn't leave him though.
He showered, before collapsing into bed. He was almost asleep when his eyes shot open, fixing themselves on the rooms phone, on the bedside table. Who the fuck was ringing this room? He stared at the phone long enough for it to ring until the line company cut off the call, a split second later it began to ring again. Still staring warily at the phone, he crawled over until he was seated on the edge of the bed, before finally giving in to his curiosity and picking up the receiver.
"Who is this?" he growled menacingly.
"Logan? It's Jean, I need to--" a familiar voice sounded down the line.
"How did you get this number?" Logan demanded, cutting her off.
"The Professor's been tracking you with Cerebro all day, waiting for you to be near a phone long enough for us to search a number, he got the name of the motel you're at, we rang the office and asked to be transferred to your room," Jean explained. It had been a rather complicated process given the motel didn't have an online listing of any kind.
"I guess that explains that then," Logan huffed, sounding oddly relieved.
"Explains what?" Jean asked, ignoring the voice in the back of her head that informed her curtly that she was stalling.
"Been feeling like someone was following me all day, thought I'd finally lost it and gone completely nuts," Logan replied, his tone a lot lighter than it had been, almost flirty, until suddenly... "Why is Wheels trying to find me?" he demanded, suddenly audibly tense and on edge again.
"We... we need you to come back to the school, something's happened and... Rogue is asking for you," Jean replied. She was tossing up whether to tell Logan over the phone about Rogue's condition, or wait until he was here... could she convince him to come back without telling him, was another question.
"What's happened, what's wrong with Marie!? What have you fuckers- she was supposed to be safe there!" Logan suddenly raged, she could hear him pacing even down the phone line. "Tell me what the hell's going on Jean," he demanded.
"Rogue is... sick, she- she's dying Logan, a side effect of Magneto's machine, her body is failing, she... she wants to say goodbye to you in person, please Logan, please let her have that," Jean finished as she began to sob down the line.
There was only silence on the other end of the line for several moments, and for a minute she thought he had hung up on her. "...I'm on my way," Logan eventually managed to breathlessly reply. He began to hang up the phone when he heard Jean call out for him to wait.
"Scott's on his way to pick you up in the jet, it'll be faster than driving," she said, picking up the pained moan from down the line as she heard bed springs creak ominously. She knew Logan would realise just how serious this was with their obvious urgency, that they had dispatched the jet, before they had even gotten his agreement to return, was a telling sign.
"When... where do I meet him?" Logan eventually managed to growl out.
She could hear him fumbling for a pen in the background, so quickly gave him the jets projected landing location. "He'll be there in ten minutes, and Logan, please, for Rogue's sake, stay calm, I'll explain everything more in depth when you get here," Jean promised, hearing his mumbled agreement before he ended the call. She hoped he could keep his cool long enough to avoiding air-conditioning the jet, or aerating its pilot.
Ten minutes later Charles rolled out of Cerebro. "They are in the air and on their way back," he advised, "Logan is surprisingly calm and focused, long may that last," he prayed, as they made their way to return to their tasks while they waited. They wouldn't tell Rogue just yet, she was currently enjoying a movie session with her friends, and they didn't want to disturb the calm she was feeling by reminding her of her situation. So far still only the senior staff knew of Rogue's condition; she didn't want her friends to worry about her and her impending death. Though Charles knew she had started to prepare for her earthly departure, and was writing personalised letters to each of her closest friends.
--
"Where is she?" a wide eyed, positively terrified looking Wolverine demanded, as soon as he stepped off the jets gangplank.
His presentation surprised Jean, she knew Logan had formed a connection with the girl but she hadn't thought it was strong enough to stoke this level of sheer terror in the man. "Logan, you need to calm down," Jean prompted gently.
"I'll calm down when I see her," Logan growled, moving passed Jean toward the hallway that led to the med lab and the elevator.
"Logan please, you'll only upset her if you go in there in this state," Jean tried to reason with him, surprised when he immediately ceased forward momentum. Clearly having seen the sense in her statement, he visibly tried to force his body, and mind, to calm.
"Is there anything I need to know?" he asked, a moment later.
"She's probably going to look more fragile than you remember, and she's made everyone promise they're not to cry, she's so damn stubborn, not even going to give in to death without a fight," Jean told him, with a watery chuckle.
She saw Logan smirk, an obvious pride glowing in his eyes. "That's my girl, make that fucker work for his pay check," he murmured, with a chuckle of his own. "How much longer does she have?" he asked softly.
"We can't be sure, days, weeks maybe, it depends how much longer her body can fight off the cell degradation," Jean informed him.
"Is she in pain?" he queried, pain visible in his own features as he obviously pondered that possibility.
"Not as far as I can tell, she hasn't mentioned it, though it took her passing out in a hallway for us to realise she wasn't well in the first place, so who really knows, she's good at hiding," Jean responded with a shrug.
"And you're sure there's nothing that can be done?" he asked, his eyes pleading for her to tell him his assumption was wrong.
"We're still trying to figure out how her body was able to hold off the degradation this long, maybe if we can figure that out, we might be able to... do something," Jean replied uncertainly. "We haven't given up on her yet, I just pray she won't give up on herself, when we asked what preparations she wanted, all she wanted was a chance to say goodbye to you, don't let her give up now that you're here," Jean begged him.
Logan wholeheartedly agreed with her statement, he wasn't here for her to say goodbye, he was here to make good on his promise, to protect her, he just hoped he could find a way to. He couldn't lose her, she was all he had been able to think about in the six months since he had left, even in ways he knew he shouldn't entertain her; the spectre that invaded his thoughts... and his dreams. She still had so much to live for, there were so many things he wanted to show her, things she needed to experience in life.
Now that he was calm, Jean agreed to show him to Rogue's room. He smiled when he saw the brightly decorated room, the twinkling fairy lights casting an almost magical aura to the room. Rogue was asleep, dark and light hair fanned across her pillow, her lips curled slightly in a relaxed smile, her tiny gloved hand tucked under her chin, clutching... something... his dog tag, encased in her fist. A chair was standing near the bed, and a collection of bean bags were piled haphazard in the far corner.
Before Jean could say more, a male voice from another room, back down the hallway, called for her attention and she left Logan alone with a strained smile.
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