She stood alone in an alien landscape, surrounded by spiky trees that should never have existed in the normal everyday world. Beneath her feet was the cold whiteness of the marble spiral staircase that arched up towards the light that broke the bleak greyness of the sky.

Remy stood on the step two above her, hair tied back in the ponytail that had become familiar to her when the thief had invited her to his home. The Black suit wasn't like him though, let alone the black silk shirt that went with it.

Not that he didn't look spiffy.

Then her gaze finally reached his eyes, they weren't Remy's eyes, Remy's were a deep red, like the heart of a fire, this man's eyes were fire, living flickering flame. And the smile that curved the corner of his mouth was as unlike the Cajun's grin as it could be. It was all deep dark velvet like sex and ice cream.

"Well, Well, Well, wha' have we got here, hmm chere?"

His voice almost seemed to leave coloured echo's in the atmosphere around them as he took a step down so that he was standing directly in front of her. A thicker Frencher accent than the Cajun's as if he was actually French.

"I was waiting f'r the Wolverine, but my little trap caught vous instead, tres interessant"

He put out a hand as if to touch her face and she threw a tiny line of pyrotechnics in instinct to keep him away, he caught them gently and cradled them in his hand a tiny glowing ball of nuclear power in his palm.

A smile flicked the corner of his mouth again and he pulled a pair of shade's out of the air closing his hand as he put them on, but not quickly enough that she didn't see the brief flare of mixed pleasure and pain in his eyes.

"Oui, truly a fascinating woman, but I must be gone now, au revoir ma petite étincelle"

And then he was gone, there was no flash of light no smoke or even a scorch mark where he had been just an empty space on the stairs.

Then the place itself dissolved around her flinging her back into the darkness of sleep.

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She had been tossin' and turnin' most of the night and he was worried for Jube's he felt her entire body tense for a moment and she glowed briefly before flickering out like the fire he had doused a few minutes before dawn. He looked out over the road wonderin' what she was dreaming about when she let out a cry.

His body went on instant alert as he glanced around the clearing and then down at her, she was awake her eyes glowing like sapphires in the early morning light, she wasn't seeing him by the looks of her she wasn't seeing anything he shook her shoulders gently.

"Come on Darlin', lets see a bit of life here"

She focused her eyes clicking into the real world and locking onto his face like he was a homing beacon for a second she was still and then she reared upwards throwing her arms around him and buryin' her face in his neck.

She was crying.

He was Wolverine and unafraid of anythin' he told himself all the time but her crying reached into he chest and ripped at his heart it was so rare, or so rarely heard. She was his firecracker, not his child the way Kitty was but his partner and to hear her lost like this hurt him, perhaps more than it hurt her.

Making motions with one of his hands across her back he managed to soothe her until she managed to choke out the story of her nightmare, it sent chills tangling across his flesh making every single one of his hairs stand on end, Jube's hadn't seen the man she was describing, but she could describe him down to the accent.

He made a decision then that he was probably going to regret later, he stood up still holding her against him and sat her down on his Harley.

"Darlin' we gotta be movin' on now, I have a friend I want ya to meet"

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She had been trying to control herself, not look like such a wuss, a kid all over again, but Wolvie hadn't said anythin' he seemed distracted, not himself, her college education was makin' her think hard about this, the part of her that was more Jubilee than Jubilation Lee was wonderin' what kind of friend the Wolvster was taking her too and was remembering Madripoor with relish.

Putting a hand to her head she winced, she was betting her hair was worse than Paige's in a hurricane, she put her hand into her pocket and came out with a nifty little comb/brush and a pocket mirror. Looking at herself in it she had to sigh, what a mess, her hair had come loose of its nest of braids and was sticking up all over the place and her eyes were red rimed with crying.

"Was'up Darlin'?"

Wolvie had come up behind her and she shrugged her shoulders meeting storm blue eyes in the tiny reflection of the mirror.

"As usual I'm a mess"

He grinned the usual one half of the mouth up the other half down smile, before his eyes became slightly more serious, soft, but still slightly serious.

"That's what ya get for growin' the hair out"

He ran his fingers through and she winced at the tangles as he undid what was left of the braids. He looked at her for a moment longer his expression blank, then he put a hand out an relived her of the comb and began to rearrange her hair.

What followed wasn't as bad as she'd imagined Wolvie had a surprisingly light touch on her hair and it was warm in the spot where they were sitting, she heard the light bass rumble that passed for a laugh from Wolvie and opened her eyes.

"What?"

He was silent for a second before gathering her hair into three separate strands and beginning to weave a surprisingly complex braid as he spoke.

"You were purrin' like a kitten darlin'"

She felt a flush creep up her neck and fired off another question to stop him from noticing it.

"Where'd you learn to do hair Wolvie? You a hairdresser in ya last life?"

She regretted the reference to his missing memories as soon as she'd said it but not as much as she regretted the answer he gave her.

"Helped a lot o' women with their hair of a mornin' Lee"

She was stopped cold by that for a minute and she felt at the back of her mind an unfamiliar emotion stirring that hated every single one of those women, even Jean. That stopped her cold, jealousy? Over Wolvie's women? She stopped her mental tracks and put up a huge warning sign before coming back to herself as he perched her shades on her head.

"Thanks"

He nodded at her before shutting the mirror and tucking it back in the pocket of her jeans before movin over to the Harley and starting the engine. She ran over and climbed on behind him and waited for him to turn the engine over and be gone, instead he turned to her and put one finger beneath her chin.

For an endless second he held her eyes midwinter horizon and midsummer sky clashing and then he turned around and kicked the Harley back onto the road, she could have sworn he had murmured somethin' like 'almost but not quite'