Guileless: Parts 13-16

by Yezra

thirteen

Jubilation Lee, Rebel Leader

Jubilee was hunched over some papers, preparing false identities for the new arrivals that were going to be transported out of state the very next day. Things were moving very fast now, faster than ever before ... and she couldn't afford to let them get past her now. She was tired, as usual, but felt better as she listened to the sounds of the X-Men moving among the rebels in the connecting hallway, asking questions, getting help with the supplies they had brought.

Hank was telling a few children wild stories and checking out their general health at the same time. She remembered how much she had loved playing with him when she was young. Scott's presence alone made her feel like she could pull the next step of her plan off without a hitch. Sure, he was white bread to the hilt. But he was reliable and reassuring and she loved him, even if she didn't tell him with words. Rogue was... well, she was Rogue. One of jubilee's best friends. It was nice to have a girlfriend around again; it had been far too long to go without shopping and boy talk.

And Gambit... her heart almost stopped when she saw him walk out of the Blackbird. She'd forgotten how much the Cajun meant to her. And when he lifted her off the ground for that long, possessive hug, she didn't want him to let her go.

LeBeau was one of only two people on the planet that knew her as well as she knew herself. And as for the other person...

If he doesn't wanna see me, so be it.

For once, at least, she could be alone. And as soon as she finished this stack of papers, she could proceed to get some real sleep instead of just a nap.

Her head nodded absentmindedly, but she snapped it back up.

She put the finishing touches on the last 3 identities, did some collating, and declared herself done for the day. By tomorrow night, they would all start disassembling the complex and getting the hell out of Oklahoma. All of them. And then she'd be going... where was she going, anyways? She hadn't even thought about it.

Oh, hell! Like Remy's gonna let me go anywhere except back to the mansion. I'll just have to deal with Wolive then...

Taking her shoes off, she propped her feet up on the desk in the cramped makeshift office and drifted off.

***

"Jubie... Hey, Jubes."

There was a hand shaking her shoulder. She groaned.

"Is it morning already...?" she murmured, eyes still closed. The man in the back of the room winced at the fatigue in her voice. She needed the rest; that much was obvious. But his business with her couldn't wait any longer.

"Nah, It's about half-past-midnight. You got a visitor." Martin stood up from where he'd been crouching beside her, and got her a glass of water.

"Okay, Marty," she said sleepily. She lifted her legs off of the desk with a grunt and placed them flat on the ground. Sitting up in her chair, she faced the back wall. She began sticking her feet back in her shoes and running her hands through her long, dark hair. "Tell 'em I'll be there in a sec." The figure in the back took a few steps closer, but was still shrouded in the dark.

"Nah, Jubes, he's-" Martin's words were cut off as he looked up at the visitor, who shook his head at him. "I'll leave ya be..." he said, moving away from Jubilee and out of the office, shutting the door to the room.

She exhaled and cleared her throat. "No peace for the wicked," Jubliee said as she rubbed her face and got ready to talk to whoever it was she figured was waiting for her outside the office.

"Jubilee."

She froze.

It... can't be. No way.

Still not moving, she remained in her chair, gripping the arms so tight she was giving herself white knuckles.

Maybe I'm just imaginin' things...

"Jubes, please turn around."

She closed her eyes tight and sighed heavily, bowing her head. "I didn't know you came with the others."

There was silence from the visitor, then came the familiar, comforting growl of his voice in her ears once again. "I didn't know if I should have."

She stood and turned, and could only make out a silhouette in the shadows. Jubilee leaned on the chair back out of necessity. Even in the dark he knew she was trembling. He could smell fear, happiness, apprehension, guilt, and relief... a thousand feelings stampeding through her. They gave no leeway to each other, and his sharp senses had a difficult time sorting them out. Of course she was trembling. This was making him tremble.

"But Darlin'... when I saw you, I thought... all I could think was..."

"Wolvie..." her voice came out a strangled, tight whisper.

He stepped into her view then, and quickly closed the distance between them.

Before she knew it, he was holding her fiercely. She hugged him back, her feet dangling off the ground and her arms tight around his neck.

"God, Jubes," he said, breathing her unvarnished scent in deep, "I... I was sure I'd never see you again..." Wolverine's voice choked on his own words, and he found he could say no more as his throat tightened up and he swallowed back his tears.

Jubilee's face was buried in his neck, and her hands clutched at his shirt so tightly she almost ripped it. Her voice finally came back to her, and it made his heart feel both better and worse at the same time.

"Please don't say anything. Just hold me."

***

It was 5 AM. The group of rag-tag mutant rebels and the eleven refugees made their way through weird tunnels with hatches for doorways, like that of a submarine, following Jubilee's lead. Logan noticed that they were headed down, albeit slowly, and there were several different paths that could be taken. Even he was beginning to lose his sense of direction in the maze. He had no idea what this tunnel system was originally used for, but water and water treatment - and most likely the corporate sanctioning of clean water - had something to do with it. How she found all this abandoned stuff and how she'd accomplished what she had, he couldn't understand.

Yeah ya do, Old Man. She's resourceful enough, just like ya taught her ta be, but she was born smart.

Everyone had something to carry. Jubilee had the food storage for the refugees to take on the train. Logan and Cyke were pulling baggage on a cart. At each junction there was another hatch, and they had to lift it over the frame whenever they encountered one. Rogue carried laptops, cell phones, and various electronics to help the refugees get from the train's final stop to the welcoming camp ... a long walk. The escapees had to do a lot of the technical work themselves to accomplish this, but Jubilee made them feel like they couldn't fail.

Stuck at the end of the line, Remy was the lucky one. He got to carry a cute little girl with black hair and light brown eyes. They had flirted with each other the entire way down.

As they made even more turns and got nearer to the tracks, he could smell it. Motor oil, hot rubber, electricity. Jubilee's pièce de résistance in her amazing, hidden rebel compound: a bullet train. With just one small car and a mega-thrust engine, it was pieced together on a shoestring and mutant dreams of freedom, by herself and no doubt black-market friends of hers. He felt the magnetic field that supplemented the train's standard power source. It was a crude set up, but she had taken full advantage of any resources she could to make it work, and then she made it work better. They turned down the final tunnel. Up ahead of them was the opening to the underground station.

"What's that?" Logan pointed, his voice teasing. There was graffiti just above the entrance to the train room. It read, in colorful letters, 'Jubilee's Jamboree'. She groaned and tried not to notice that he had asked about it.

Marty laughed from behind them. "A mutant named Danny painted that just before he became bedridden. Cute, huh?" He grinned. Logan smiled crookedly and looked at Jubilee who just walked away, shaking her head and muttering nasty things to herself about stupid nicknames.

They went about their business without a lot of talk. Jubilee was busy instructing two of the adults how to send the train back, and what their next step was after that. Martin heard a scream from where he was loading the so-called 'Jamboree' with the refugee's supplies. He went bolting toward it. The little girl with black hair was staring at a dark corner and appeared to be frozen. He darted to her side and asked her what was wrong. Cyclops and Remy came over as well and stood behind them.

"What's wrong, jeune fille?" She pointed to the corner where a thin tail suddenly swished out into the light, then back again. She yelped and backed away, right into Remy who picked her up immediately and stepped back himself. He hated vermin.

"It's a rat. A big one, too. Want me to kill it?" Cyke asked Marty. His hand moved to the side of his visor. Marty didn't answer at first. He was staring at the shadow with a strange look on his face. Cyke eyed him. Was the guy a telekinetic?

Marty exhaled and finally spoke. "Nope, I already took care of it." He stood up from where he had been crouching and smiled strangely at Cyke and Remy, then walked away.

Remy turned so that the little girl's face was looking away from the corner and nodded for Cyke to fish it out if he could. Cyke reached into the shadow without hesitation and pulled out the rat's corpse in his gloved hand. It appeared to be freeze-dried.

"Holy shit," Scott muttered.

***

They saw the morning's refugees off without a hitch and returned to the complex. Scott told Remy to try and keep Marty behind him and Rogue so that he could ask Jubilee a few questions about him.

"What is his power, Jubilation? That rat looked like it had been dead for over a week."

She looked over at Scott, then at Logan, who had been filled in on the little experience in the corner. She kept her to a whisper for some reason.

"He can temporarily paralyze living things. But given enough time, and if the mass of the body is small enough, he can upgrade paralyze to petrify. Permanent-like. And, uh... well that means Game Over, you know..." She continued through the tunnels, watching her step as she straddled yet another hatchway. "It isn't a pretty power, Scott. I don't ask him about it much. But I know he had very few mice and insects in his cruddy apartment before he wound up in a camp, when the Guv did his thing." She smirked at them, but not pleasantly.

"What exactly doya mean by 'small enough', Darlin'?" Logan asked quietly.

"I guess... Like my size small enough." She whispered matter-of-factly, looking him right in the eyes. "He'd probably fail with either of you two. But a kid... or someone like me..." Logan growled under his breath. Scott made a mental note to watch the guy really close.

"How well doya know this guy, Jubes?"

"I'm... not sure, Wolvie. I'm really not."

"Can his powers be stopped?" Scott whispered.

"Well... I'm sure he can be killed... at least I think he can."

Scott and Logan wondered why she had moved right to 'killed', and bypassed 'incapacitated' as though it wasn't even an option.

Moving on in near-silence, Logan decided to take the lead, wanting to see if he could find their way out of the maze by sense of smell alone. Every time they got to a hatch, he took Jubilee's hands and helped her over the frame. She smiled at his thoughtfulness.

Marty didn't.

***

"Well... As you all saw, this is a working facility, night and day. Has been since the day we got it up and running. We have 18 people that live permanently on site ... myself included. Not all of us are mutants, but most of us are. There are a few of us mutants that can pass as normals, and we actually walk among society undetected when necessary. I got made last December when I went on a rescue - I was video taped in some hayseed police facility bustin' a kid out of jail - so I haven't been out in 'polite society' since then." She frowned and looked back at her old teammates. "I don't like it much, 'cuz there's stuff I think I'm better equipped to handle on the outside, like infiltration, but if I get nailed by an FOH trooper on the street, I'll get dead. An' that's not gonna do these people in here a whole hell of a lotta good."

"They kill mutants... just like that?" Scott's voice sounded skeptical.

"Think martial freakin' law, dude."

"The news said they expect cooperative registration and just give you warnings, or put you in camps if you're hostile."

"Scott, if that's all they are doing, then why are we here?" Jubliee looked at him sympathetically. "Don't believe everything the news tells ya, Cyke. Most of the reports are fabricated, white-picket-fence bullshit. This whole state is one big anti-mutant faction. You saw how the borders are, right? Can you imagine what would've happened if the Blackbird didn't have any stealth and had gotten caught in Oklahoma air space?"

Scott's only response was a heavy sigh. Jubliee squeezed his hand. "Like I said, I'm glad yer here to help us shut down. There are so many others we will never be able to help. An' while we've gotten a lot of people to their freedom, it's taken a toll on the lifers here..." She shook her head and grew quiet.

"Yerself included?" Wolverine asked from the back of the group.

She smiled at him. "Let's just say my blood pressure is not where it should be."

They turned around a few more corners, various normals and mutants passing them in the hallways. Most of them knew her by name, and she them.

"Me an' the other lifers, like Marty, handle most of the underground railroad activities. All the permanent residents have cell phones, thanks to some of the contacts I've formed over the years, and we have enough laptops to keep things comfy." She grinned at LeBeau.

Remy and Rogue shifted uncomfortably. Jubilee picked up on it immediately - she had forgotten until now that the other X-Men were still unaware that most of her 'contacts' were Uncles of the LeBeau persuasion. She cleared her throat before anyone could ask questions and continued.

"We move anywhere from 10 to 20 mutants out of state a month, steady, since we got the paths straightened out. There's usually about 6 people in the infirmary, 3 of which seem to have become permanent. That's a thing I'd love to have done better with, but we never had the resources to care for them properly. There's a little girl here that's had chronic ear infections for a year now," she looked over at Hank. "I'm really glad you came, Blue. Medically, I can't do anything more for these people than I already have."

Two small children, a boy and a girl, darted out of a makeshift infirmary room and ran through the group of X-Men in the hallway. The little girl could've passed for a normal except for her brilliant orange eyes, but the boy had skin that rivaled the girl's eyes ... in same exact shade of orange. His own eyes were a beautiful shade of blue.

"Woah! Hey you two, get back here, right now." They turned around slowly, resignedly dragging their butts back to where Jubilee was squatting and waiting for them. She had an uncharacteristically stern look on her face.

"Give it to me." Jubilee held out her hand expectantly. The little girl was hiding her hands behind her back. "Nat, give it. Now."

The little girl, whose name was Natalie, handed over a small remote control with a groan. She rolled her orange eyes in her adorable face and placed a hand on one hip.

"Paul, did you pester your sister for the remote again?"

"No! I asked her for it. She just wouldn't share."

"And just how many things do you think Nat can do in there? She's not allowed go running around all over the complex like you ... she's still sick. If she wants to hog the remote, you have to put up with it and go watch TV in some other room."

"Okay already." He looked down and kicked his toe against the floor.

"And you! Are you supposed to leave the infirmary? Without my permission?"

"No," said Natalie, with an extreme air of indignation. "If Paulie hadinta chased me I wouldinta."

"Hadinta?! Oh, my God, girl, you are so not doing your English assignments." Jubilee picked up Nat and ran a hand through Paul's short, brilliant orange hair, telling him to go play with some other toys for now.

"Okay, Jubie," he said, and ran off down the hall.

"These two are twins ... and very quarrelsome ones. Their mom was orange from head to toe, eyes included, and their dad looked just like Paul Newman. Hence the name 'Paul'; kid's got the guy's eyes, I'm telling ya. Squint, and he looks just like Butch Cassidy."

"Was orange?" asked Rogue.

Natalie was looking down now, playing with a strand of Jubilee's long hair.

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about that later, Rogue." She gave her a sad smile. "Hank, this is six-year-old Natalie, the chronic ear infection I mentioned. She's been living in the infirmary, on and off, for about eight months now. And sometimes," she shifted the little girl to her other hip to get her closer to Beast's inspection, "Sometimes they can really hurt, huh, Nat?"

Natalie just shook her head 'yes' slowly, looking down and away from all the eyes that were scrutinizing her.

Wolverine watched them carefully. It was still his Jubilee, somehow; she still smelled the same, still looked the same, just thinner... but this was a person he hadn't known before.

"Well; Natalie, meet Blue. He's a real doctor. He's gonna get you all better."

Beast reached out offering the tiny little girl a huge, blue, furry finger for her to shake. Her eyes bugged out and she clung to Jubilee.

Jubes whispered in the little girl's ear, "He took care of me when I was younger. He's the best doctor in the whole world, and he's a lotta fun too."

"But... but he's all blue, an' hairy!" Natalie's lip curled back.

"So what? Yer brother's orange!"

"Yeah, and he's a goober," the girl muttered.

Rogue laughed out loud from the back of the crowd.

"Not helping," Jubilee shot her a look. She went back to Nat's curled lip. "Well, you'll like Blue because he isn't a goober." She handed the little girl over to Beast, who went, but reluctantly. "If you'll take a look Nat, he's the exact same shade of blue as Cookie Monster, and you won't believe how cool hairy men can be." At this, Remy silently punched Logan in the arm, and grinned. Logan growled under his breath.

"Just give him a chance, honey; he's great, you'll see."

Beast looked thoughtfully into the little girl's beautiful orange eyes. "Stunning, simply stunning. Like two tiny sunsets..." was all he could manage. Natalie's cheeks turned bright pink and she giggled, covering her eyes with her tiny hands.

Jubliee led them all into the infirmary, holding the door open. When Wolverine - who was in the rear - got to the door, he took it from her and wordlessly insisted she enter before him. Jubilee smiled back, almost nervously.

By this time, Natalie had Hank's spectacles off of his nose and was trying them on.

Rogue poked Jubilee in the back and nodded at Beast and the little girl. She whispered in Jube's ear, "Ya'll mean fer the little girl ta come ta adore Blue ... or the othah way around?" The two women giggled.

Jubilee said her hellos to the other patient in the room, then went back to the X-Men. "The folks who've ended up in this room mainly need bed rest, I think, and better diets like all of us... and a course or two of antibiotics wouldn't hurt. But I'd rather you check all of us out thoroughly, Beast. They think I'm a doctor! An' I did as well as I could, but God only knows what I've missed, not havin' your professional expertise."

"Jubilation," said Hank, "You did excellent ... not just well, but excellent ... under these or any other circumstances."

"Amen to that, Hank," Scott added, smiling.

Jubilee stole a look at Logan, who gave her a proud smile.

When she got her blushing under control, Jubilee told Natalie to go to Remy, and asked Hank to follow her into a second doorway, one that had no windows.

"Where they goin' Shugah?" Rogue asked of Natalie, touching the little girl's long wavy hair with a gloved hand.

Natalie looked frightened. "That's the room with the really sick people, Danny and Mrs. Nickel. Jubie don't let any- I mean, doesn't let anybody else go in there."

Rogue looked up at Remy, who looked back at her concerned. They set Natalie back on her bed and talked to her, while Scott made a few inquiries of the room's other occupant. He was an older man named Jason, and he looked like he had seen some action.

Logan stared after Jubilee and Hank, and decided that since no disease could kill him, he was gonna have a look-see.

Plus he wanted to keep Jubilee in his sights.

***

Logan entered the doorway, and found himself in a plastic-covered decontamination tunnel about 10 feet long. He closed his eyes as a mist of some kind covered him from the sides and the top. It lasted for about a minute. An exhaust fan went on, then a blinking light. There was a sucking sound as the door to the next room opened.

Jubilee gasped and ran to shut it, but then stopped when she saw it was him. She had on a small gas mask and lab coat, and long rubber gloves.

"Did you get under the mist, at least?" she asked of him from the little window.

"Yes," he replied, more than a bit sarcastically.

She smiled and opened the door to let him in.

"You'll be all right, Wolvie... But," She shut the door behind him. "Don't stare at 'em. They feel like they're under glass as it is."

"Of course not," he replied, looking at her tired, nervous face.

Wolverine entered the room to find an older woman sitting up in a bed on the right hand side of another plastic-lined room, and a boy of about 13-15, also in a bed, but surrounded by his own plastic canopy on the left side of the room.

"Danny, Millie, this is my friend Logan. He has a kick-ass mutant healing factor, so he's okay in here just the way he is.

He's more than 'okay', my dear, thought Mrs. Nickel, He's a quite a looker!

"Oh, young man," muttered the older woman, smiling, "What I wouldn't give for your mutant power right about now."

"Why, lady? What kinda powers do ya have?"

She scoffed. "I can flatten things into 2 dimensions," she drawled. "And a fat lotta good it's doing me in this bed."

Danny laughed from the other side of the plastic-lined bunker. "Aw, come on, Millie! It came in really handy yesterday when Jubes couldn't fit that big book in the sterilizer!!"

"Be quiet, Daniel." She sounded pissed, but she was smiling anyhow.

"Hey ... respect yer elders boy. What can you do that's better'n her?" Logan barked.

"Aw, I'm just a featherweight pyro. Low-grade stuff. Some flamage to wood and other burnables. Nothin' special."

"Yeah, Danny; 'nothin' special'." Jubilee sat down on the bed next to Millie, taking her pulse absentmindedly. "That's just what the cops said before they locked you up for burning the 'Normals Only' sign on the library." She snickered.

"How ever did you avoid being killed, young man?" asked Beast.

"Well, they did lock me up, Mister. An' I'm sure they would have carted me off to toe-tag land, But Jamboree here," Danny threw a thumb at Jubilee and smiled crookedly, "The babe busted some skulls, paffed a few bars and broke me the hell out!" Danny tossed his hands in the air as if it were his favorite story to tell... which it was.

Jubilee shrugged and looked over at Beast and Logan. They looked... distinctly disappointed.

"What?!" she yelped at their expressions. "So now I've got a criminal record in Oklahoma too - big deal! I'm still Jubie the Juvie, get used to it already!"

Logan grinned from ear to ear at Beast, who sighed.

"Now, why don't you tell us what we have in here, hmm?? Maybe I can help you."

"Well, Millie has cancer. We're in these get-ups to protect her from our germs, cuz..." she wheeled around to look at Danny, who was staring at Beast. "Danny here ... our graffiti artist ... has had walking pneumonia since he arrived, and he can't seem to shake it. So I gave him the canopy to protect us from his germs. We rigged an air filtration system for it and it works as an oxygen tent, as well. " Jubilee shrugged and looked at Beast. "Hank... maybe it wasn't the best move; I don't know. It was the only thing I could think of. They're both protected from germs and drafts, and the one that's worse off has the tarp."

"Millie should have the canopy," Danny muttered.

"Be quiet, Daniel."

Jubilee sighed. "Whatcha think, Beast? Danny's been through 4 courses of different antibiotics but he's just not responding, and that was my last dose. Mille is in decent health so far, but I'm looking forward to getting them both out of state. Anything you can do before we pack up and move?"

"How about givin' em some o' my blood?"

Jubilee rolled her eyes at Millie saying, "Macho poop."

"That is worth a try, Wolverine, but we don't even know if it will work at all, let alone in time before we bug out."

Jubilee froze. She bit her lip. Millie's head popped up and Jubilee shut her eyes, exhaling slowly. It had been a stupid, stupid mistake, letting him in here...

"Wolverine? You are Wolvie?"

"Yeah, Darlin'," he grinned, "Ya heard o' me?"

Millie paused playfully, eyeing Jubilee, whose back was still to Logan and Hank. Jubilee looked at her sternly and mouthed a silent threat to keep quiet.

"Oh... only what young Jubilation here has told me. You are..." she looked at Jubes and almost laughed at the way the vein in her forehead was sticking out. "...quite the character, Mr. Logan."

Jubilee bit the inside of her mouth and glared at Millie, shaking her head quietly. Millie smiled, trying to look innocent.

"Well, Hank, I have to get back to work. If ya need anything just give a shout, and someone will help, I guarantee it." She stood up and looked at Danny. "Behave yourself." He stuck his tongue out at her. She leaned over and fluffed up Millie's pillows, whispering through the mask, though she knew Logan would hear it anyway.

"Thanks a lot, you old bird. I'll get ya for that one."

"Not likely, dear," Millie whispered back, satisfied with herself.

Jubilee walked out of the plastic prison, Wolverine in tow. The sanitizing mist fell down on them quickly, and Jubilee put her gloves and her paper lab coat in a waste bin. The mask went in a drawer marked "to be disinfected". Though trying to hide a smile, she avoided eye contact with Logan altogether.

"Gonna havta go have a talk with that nice 'old bird' later on ... just the two of us, I think..." he teased.

She rolled her eyes and left the tube.

***

"So why is this happening Jubilee? You've got a great thing going here. Why, after all this time, do you have to bug out?"

Jubliee, Scott and the other X-Men had packed themselves into the small office where she did her paperwork and created new identities for the mutant escapees.

"Two reasons; The Governor's forces, including his precious New Sentinels, are planning to attack this compound."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm getting there."

"And the other reason?"

She cleared her throat and leaned on her desk, crossing her arms.

"We have a mole."

The group looked around themselves, at first shocked, and then disgusted.

"Jesus..." Scott muttered. "Do you know who it is?"

"Yep. I'm sure of it. But I only just found out, and I can't prove it to anyone, not without a strong psychic, and we don...t got one. That's why I was hoping Jean would come with you."

"Who is it?" Wolverine's growl pierced the room's relative calm.

She looked at them almost shyly.

"It's Marty."

"But... But he's in all yer operations, Shugah!"

"I know, believe me, it pains me to say this. He has access to nearly every system we've implemented. But here's the thing ... I have a mole, too. Natalie and Paul's father ... he was a normal. His brother, also a normal, is part of the resistance ... the human resistance, the one that is in favor of mutant-human relations?" She swallowed hard and sat on the desk's edge. "His name is David, and he works as a reporter for the pro-human/anti-mutant state paper in Tulsa. He gets the goods on the Governor's movements, and then he gets them to me. They'd kill him if they found out he's been double crossin' 'em. I been sneakin' off base for this info, once a week, and it's getting harder and harder to cover my tracks. He told me about a supposed attack over a month ago. But their plans were delayed... by Marty."

"Is he suspicious, Chere?"

"Nah, not yet. I've fed him false information since I found him out. Near as I can figure, his plan was to have the Guv's forces attack while we were busy deconstructing the complex, because we'd be at our most vulnerable then... and Marty thinks we're still buggin' out in four more days..." she sighed. "But we gotta do it tomorrow night."

They gasped. "Tomorrow?! How are we gonna do it by then?" Scott yelled.

"We'll only have six more mutants to get to the railroad tomorrow morning; and I've completed the preps for that already. The entire free Oklahoma mutant community knows this operation is going south and they have already started to find alternate means of escape. And after the last official underground run, it's just a matter of flying out the remaining sick; Jacob, that fella in the infirm? And the twins, and Danny and Millie who are in isolation. That will be done by the able-bodied lifers - and you guys." She smiled faintly. "We have little to no choice, Cyke. If the Governor's sentinels reach this complex before we can get everyone out... That's it, game over. They'll kill anyone they find here, mutant or otherwise. That idiot Marty probably thinks they just won't aim for him." Jubilee's face was deadly serious.

For a time the room fell silent.

"But the deconstruction, Jubes... Once that bastard sees it startin', he'll phone home." Logan clenched his fists. She could see the anger in his eyes, and had a pretty good guess as to who he wanted to level it at.

"No, because he won't see it starting. Aside from some personal effects, there isn't going to be a deconstruction."

They stared at her.

"It's a ruse. You guys are the only ones that know this part. The rest of the lifers will catch on quick and follow your lead. They're about prepared as they can be for stuff like this, and if I tell 'em to, they'll do whatever you tell them to."

"But if de Guv get into de complex, he could mebbe track all de people down dat you have rescued, find 'em out of state and have 'em... y'know..." Remy said.

She smiled mischievously at Remy. "Not if there isn't a complex left." She said, matter-of-factly, then looked at her feet. Wolverine grinned at her. He knew what was coming next. This was more like the Jubilee he knew and loved ... devious, smart and dramatic.

Scott smiled, crossing his huge arms. "You're going to blow it up, with the New Sentinels running around in it, aren't you?"

She grinned. "That's the plan, dude. May as well take out as many of them as I can if I'm gonna do this."

Rogue laughed. "That's cool, Shugah!"

"Yes, it is, Petite ... but it gon' be close, no?"

"Yeah."

"How long will we have once he contacts the opposition?" asked Cyke.

"About ten to twelve minutes, give or take."

Logan shook his head, thinking. "So this party has to be wrapped up in like ... what? Seven minutes?"

"Thereabouts." Jubliee smiled at Wolverine. Scott said something else to her, but she found herself gazing at Logan. And he was gazing back. A half of a smile crept up the side of her face. Rogue kicked Gambit's foot lightly and suppressed a giggle.

"Jubilee? Hey, Jubes ... did you hear me?"

She jumped just a little, and Logan grinned at her reaction, rubbing his cheek. "Huh? What, I'm sorry, Scott, what didja say?"

"Why did Marty delay the attack? I don...t get it, what was the point in his waiting?"

"At the time I was organizing a real deconstruction - my resources have dried up too much to continue this venture. Marty was helping me do it. I can only assume now that he was gonna arrange for the attack to take place before I even called you. When I realized we could never do it on our own, I made the decision to contact you. Now, Marty was the only one who knew I'd contacted the X-Men for help. Then, low and behold. David tells me, just hours before you showed, that he heard that the Guv's appetite was seriously whetted at the thought of capturing and showing off not just one former X-Man, but a whole handful of real ones.

"How else could the Guv's office know about your coming? Marty was the only one who'd been privy to that information. I didn't want to believe it was true, but it's obvious now. At that point, you guys were already in the air. I had two choices: either call off your aid, which meant that all of us here would perish, or hatch this wild plan and hope you wouldn't be too furious with me to participate. I'm sorry... I know it was wrong of me, but... I was out of time. And I don't want these people to die."

"You did what ya had to do, Jubes. Ain't nobody here gonna contest that."

"Okay, so what about the charges? How are we going to set them without his knowing?" Leave it to Scott to get right back to the planning stages.

"That's the tricky part. I'm the charges. I'll be hangin' back a bit... I'm gonna set latent pafs throughout the entire complex and blow them telepathically when I'm clear. There are tunnels under this compound that only I know about; I intend to use them for this part."

"You can't make that many pafs, Jubes, I've never seen ya do that much."

"Oh? And how long has it been since you've 'seen' me do anything, Logan?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"I don't care, I don't like it. Too risky."

"I agree wit Logan, Petite. How you gonna get clear in time?"

"I can control my plasma telepathically now. Not just play with it, but control it. You don't see us wastin' precious generator power on heatin' bath water, do ya? How do you think we've been doin' stuff like that, Rem?" She grinned.

"I thought you wanted a telepath here so you could read Marty? Why can't you just read him to prove your theory to your comrades?"

"I don't need to read him to prove my theory, Cyke. And I can't read him ... or anyone, for that matter. I can only use it to control my pafs - that's the limit of my telepathic abilities. Other than shielding myself from a hard-core telepath, that is."

"But, how are ya gonna get yer plasma in every room in enough time?" Logan chewed on the end of an unlit cigar restlessly.

"Well, I'll have to run... won't I?"

"Nah, no way Jubes," he removed his stogie and pointed it at her like it was his finger. "You ain't doin' this."

"'This' isn't your choice, Bub." Her voice was as cold as the daggers in her eyes.

Logan glared at her. The others got quiet and decided it was time to leave the room. It was a decent plan; it was risky, but she had it well organized and thought out, and it stood a good chance of succeeding. They knew as much as they needed to know... so they left the two old friends to argue.

Outside of the office, Rogue leaned into Remy. "Let's go fill Beast in, Shugah," she smiled. He put an arm around her and they headed for the infirmary.

"Hey, what about them? Shouldn't we stick around in case they wanna, y'know... Talk or something?"

Rogue and Gambit turned and stopped, staring at Scott like he had just grown a second head. Then they busted up laughing and continued on their way.

Cyke, while a born leader, was so naive at times.

***

"What're ya tryin' to prove, Jubilation?" Logan grit his teeth and spat his words at her.

"I ain't provin' nothin', Old Man ... I'm doin' what has ta be done! Why the hell can't you see that?!" She frowned at his arrogance.

"I ain't gonna see nuthin' that involves you dyin', kid! End o' story!" His voice thundered in the tiny room.

"I am not a kid," she replied, quiet but agitated. "Or have you still not noticed that?"

"Fine, yer a woman, Jubes, I got it already."

Boy do I ever got it, he thought, licking his lips. "But that don't mean I gotta enjoy you stickin' yer neck out as far as you intend ta." Logan had calmed down a bit. But she could tell he was still very angry.

Jubilee smiled and stood up, shaking her head with resignation. When she stopped in front of him, she looked into his eyes. He saw that there were tears shining in hers, but she was still smiling at him. She was, in fact, almost laughing.

Jubilee threw an arm around his neck, followed quickly by the other one. On cue, and on reflex, Logan pulled her against him. Briefly he noted that she had gotten way too thin for her own good. Still, he sighed; relieved that she came to him first. Holding her close like that, it was as though nothing unfortunate had ever passed between them, at that moment... or anytime before.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up, Wolvie," she muttered over his shoulder. He could tell she was still grinning.

"Yeah, well..." he said gently, "You don't give the Old Man a choice sometimes, Firecracker." He ran a rough palm over her hair and kissed the side of her head. His voice was no more than a whisper, and Jubilee had to force herself not to cry when she heard it.

"I'm so proud of ya, Jubes."

fourteen

Walk Softly And Carry A Big Paf

"Jubilation, I'm going to be quiet frank with you."

"But..." she smiled as she sat before him on a raised table in the complex's only examination room. "Yer already quite Hank." Grinning, she looked down at her bare feet, and dangled them back and forth. In nothing more than an old pair of boxer shorts and a bra, Beast could see the pink, eight-inch scar on her chest that ran from the space between her breasts and curved down to her right side. It was from the bullet wound he had saved her from four years previous on the disastrous mission in Canada. He also saw her ribs poking out of her sides. He knew she was trying to make light of the situation. Some defense mechanisms could not be removed.

Especially not when one has ingrained them into one's very soul.

But Hank knew he had to at least attempt to reason with her. As her doctor, he had no choice. What she was planning with the complex was dangerous enough, and her waning health was only contributing to that danger.

He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, clamping his eyes shut. He knew she had very little choices at this point. There was no way he was going to talk her out of her plan, but if he could maybe get her to alter it a little... Beast looked over at the laptop that was literally performing an ongoing EKG and blood pressure analysis with her. She'd peed in a cup, opened a vein, allowed him to poke and prod every orifice her body had, and now she was hooked up to devices that beeped a lot and spit out strips of paper.

And it was only 7:34 am.

The final six refugees had already been seen off earlier that morning, and they were probably 50 miles into Missouri by now.

"My body hasn't seen this much action in a few years, Blue. The least you can do is let me call you by yer real name ... not 'Frank'." She giggled. He looked at her and he had to smile.

Witty, thou name art Jubilee.

Beast exhaled long before starting his gentle tirade with her. "Your blood pressure is elevated, not drastically, but too high for comfort. You are borderline anemic and definitely underweight. Your skin is sallow and you may even have a slight case of rickets, I'm not sure about that one yet. Your strength ... which was always considerable for your size and age ... has diminished to below that of a human in the same range, and this is at least partly due to your labored, daily use of your powers to ... as you say ... heat the bath water around here."

She looked at him, expressionless. "In short, Jubilee, you are in no position to do what you have planned. The expenditure of the plasma alone may do you in, and then what will happen if it blows while you are no longer conscious to control it? I'm not happy with this ... at all, and I insist you attempt to alter the plan."

She swallowed, and grew very serious. "There isn't time, Hank. We are doing this in 8 hours ... dinnertime, to be exact. Marty always has trouble thinking when he is eating."

He was about to contest her stubbornness with more remorse facts about her health, when there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Blue's voice was loud and clear.

"It's Logan. Can I come in?"

Beast looked back at Jubilee, smiling just like the Mona Lisa. "This would be your choice, my dear."

No, I've never been transparent with Beast. He can't tell how I feel about Wolvie. Nope. Not at all.

He turned back to sit at his laptop and started playing with the stream of physical information coming off of her.

"C'mon in, Wolvie." She looked at the door, smiling.

He poked his head in and looked her up and down, a friendly smile playing about his lips. "Ya sure, Darlin'? This is just a social call. I mean, yer in yer skivvies and all." He glanced at Hank, the doctor's back to him, and then back at her.

"You've seen worse on me," she grinned.

"Ain't nuthin' worse about it, Jubes." Now he was grinning.

Hank frowned, but smiled, as he watched a certain monitor. Then he suddenly added, "Come in, Logan. Please." Blue was watching the read out, suddenly engrossed. Something had peaked his interest.

Jubilee smiled as Logan moved to stand in front of her. He pointed at the electrodes and other crap sticking to her skin. She laughed and made a few jokes. Amazingly, after all that had and was happening, they were completely at ease with one another. Staring at the monitor, Blue chuckled under his breath and rubbed his upper lip. Logan had heard it, but he was only interested in what was sitting in front of him at the time.

"Do they tickle?" He grinned at her.

"Nah, but they're sticky," She wrinkled her nose at him. "And they smell funny."

"That's the adhesive, babe."

Babe...? He called me 'babe. He's never done that before. How very...

"I know... Doesn't mean I havta like it."

"Did Rogue give ya your girl care package yet?"

"Yeah..." she said shyly. "Why?"

Blue leaned in really close and watched the same monitor for a moment.

"Cuz she put some of that purple lotion you like in it; you know, the stuff that smells like lavender an' licorice. Should take away the odor if it's still there when Hank's through wit ya." He smiled at her, gazing at her eyes once again. She could do nothing else but gaze back.

Hank grinned, following one particular line of the monitor very closely.

Logan reached out and took one of her hands. He stroked her knuckles, carefully avoiding the electrode just behind them. Her face broke into a crooked smile, and she squeezed his hand in return.

'I missed you,' he mouthed silently.

'I missed you too,' was her noiseless reply.

Beast cleared his throat. He had seen enough. Logan actually started and let go of her hand when the big, furry fella stood up. "Well! I have a date with Little Miss Natalie," he said. "I'm giving her a warm bubble bath this afternoon, right after her antibiotics."

"I knew she'd take to you, Blue," Jubilee grinned.

Hank cleared the distance between them in one easy step. He cocked an eyebrow and addressed Jubilee.

"Jubilation, your heart rate increases ... just slightly - when Logan speaks to you. But your blood pressure decreases dramatically when he touches you. You should let him do it more often." He glanced at Logan's surprised expression, then at Jubilee's flushed cheeks. "Why don't you kiss her? Then maybe I won't have to put her on a beta blocker." He released a stifled laugh and left the room, closing the door behind him ... quite securely.

Logan cleared his throat and looked at Jubilee, who was just smiling quietly. He uncrossed his arms and leaned in closer to her, straddling either side of her with his large palms on the table.

"Might be worth a shot, Jubes," he said quietly.

"Maybe." She smiled and waited for him to make the first move this time. He reached for her hands and placed her arms around his neck. Logan leaned in slowly, then gave her a warm, soft kiss, steadying her by putting a hand on her back. His lips lingered against hers a little longer than he'd intended. They both heard the beeping that was monitoring her heart rate increase. Their lips parted and they smiled, touching foreheads.

"Golly gee Logan... I dunno if that did anything for my blood pressure, but it sure felt good," she whispered, her face inches from his.

"Yeah, I think so too." He stayed still for a bit, enjoying the serenity between them. Then he inhaled slowly and stepped back, squeezing her hand one last time before breaking all contact with her.

"Get dressed, Jubilation. We flew in some decent food with us, and I'm cooking you lunch. Yer lookin' ... and feelin' ... a little too thin for me, Darlin'."

He grinned, and headed for the door. Jubilee smiled after him, then wondered just what the two of them were doing.

***

Logan walked the halls of the compound to the kitchen, smiling to himself. He had no idea what he and Jubilee were doing either, all he knew was that they were together again and she still cared about him.

He nodded his head at various individuals walking the halls, marking their scents. Ever since Jubilee had told the X-Men about Marty, Logan was suspicious of all of them. He could smell lies and deceit when they were strong enough, and he wasn't going to take any chances that someone else may be in on things with Marty. He had just found Jubilee, and Logan wasn't about to lose her now.

His sense of smell also took him right to the mess hall. He opened the cooler that held the stash of food the X-men had brought with them, and pulled out a frozen steak and two oranges.

She's gonna eat this whole damn thing, even if I gotta make her.

Another body silently entered the kitchen, and Logan didn't even have to turn to face him. He sniffed the air quietly and curled his lip. It was Marty. He had to fight the strong, violent urge to drop what he was holding, lunge, and slice into tiny pieces.

Keep your head on straight, Old Man ... don't let him know what you know.

"Hey, Logan," came his friendly voice.

Boy doesn't have the right to call me that. That's my name ... only my friends call me that.

Logan turned and gave him the most genuine, reserved smile he could.

For Jubilee. For Jubilee, ya gotta do this right.

"Hiya Marty. Just gettin' Jubes some protein and C. How's it goin'?"

"Pretty good. I see the two of you are getting all friendly-like again." The boy could not hide his cynical, plotting, mock-jealousy tone from the ears of Wolverine.

Still... he would make him work for it.

"Pardon?" Logan smiled again, setting the oranges and the steak down on the table.

"You and Jubes, you know... I saw you two flirting in the tunnel yesterday. You going after my girl?" Marty gave him a fake smile and his best dangerous eyes. Logan wanted to laugh.

This guy's a traitor... and a dick. There's so much to work with I don't know where to start.

"Marty... Jubilation an' I have known each other fer a very long time. An' I care about her - a lot."

"Yeah," the boy laughed, "Like a daughter, right?"

Wolverine wanted to cut the sickeningly artificial smile from his face. Literally. It was bad enough that the he was stabbing them all in the back. Now Marty was pretending to 'want' Jubilee just to get a rise out of him; probably hoping that Logan would slip up in his anger and reveal secrets in the process.

I ain't bitin,' you little asswipe.

"No, not like a daughter. Like a friend. One that I love dearly."

Marty laughed, reaching for a can of food in the pantry. "I've heard about how much you loved her."

Logan felt the anger inside him begin to rise. He wanted nothing more than go berserk and rip the guy up. But he already knew that Jubilee had confided a few things in Marty before the guy betrayed her, she'd told him as much. She had just needed someone to talk to back then, and at the time he had her trust. Logan knew Marty was using that to his advantage now, and no matter what he said to him, the creep only knew so much. No one but Logan and Jubilee knew everything that had gone on ... or was going on ... between them.

He decided to take a new approach. "Listen..." he started gently, "I'm not gonna walk on anyone's toes here. If you got something goin' on with Jubes ... that's cool. She hasn't said a word about it to me yet, but it's cool." He smiled tightly. "All's I'm tryin' ta tell ya, is that the two of us got a history that's a lot more involved than the little parts you may know about. So maybe, don't get paranoid over things you think yer seein'. It's been a long time since me an' Jubes been around each other, and we're just feeling our way back into bein' friends," he paused, eyeing the youth and letting his last words sink in. "Good. Close. Friends."

Marty twisted his lip at the older man, tossing an air of indifference at him. "Whatever..." he said, strolling out of the kitchen.

Logan grinned tightly. He managed to make the kid believe that he wasn't actually pursuing Jubes, but he also threatened him at the same time.

The second part was a cakewalk: Marty hurts Jubes, Marty dies a horrible freakin' death at Logan's claws.

The first part... that was a bit tricky.

Even he didn't know if he was pursuing Jubilee.

The woman in question walked through the door of the kitchen then, looking backwards for a second. She turned to face Logan and smiled. Walking up to him, she whispered her words. "I just passed the ratfink in the hallway. He was all pissed off. What did you say to him, Wolvie?" She grinned, despite the fact that he could smell how nervous she was. Every time she saw Marty, she got more nervous.

He put an arm around her and made her sit at the mess hall table.

"Nothin', kid. Don't let it make ya nervous. I won't let him hurt ya." Logan rubbed her back for a moment and then walked over to the stove. "All I told him, in no certain terms of course, is that you were a free agent and you could flirt with whomever you wanted to."

Jubliee reached for an orange and started peeling it. "Whomever... meaning just you... right?" She grinned.

He turned away from the stove and smiled at her quietly, almost shyly. "Something like that, yeah." Slightly flushed, he turned back around. "You wanna work yer paf magic on this cow, or should I sear it?" Jubilee eyed his strong shoulders as he began unwrapping the steak and searching for a frying pan.

"Lower left shelf, Wolvie." She crossed her legs and let the man cook for her.

***

"Take you to dinner, my dear?" Marty smiled his bright-white smile with his boyish blonde hair and his captivating green eyes.

You bastard.

"Um, I had a big lunch, but thanks all the same, Marty." Jubilee smiled at him with her best fake sweet smile.

"Oh, yeah - from that wolferdine fellow."

"Wolverine," she said tightly.

"Whatever."

"Marty, look, don...t be jealous. We go way back, ya know."

"I know, I know, I just don...t want him hurtin' you all over again."

"He can...t if I don...t give him the chance, right?"

Marty paused, looking her over as he stopped outside the kitchen door.

"All right, Jubes. Okay."

She smiled at him one more time as he turned and walked into the kitchen alone.

Jubilee breathed a sigh of relief as she strolled down the hall. Then she broke out into a full sprint and ran for her office, where the X-Men were waiting.

Natalie and Paul were there, safely held in Beast's arms. Millie was up and moving, supported by Logan. Most of the other permanent residents were there, or getting their things, having been informed of her decision throughout the day. She grabbed her laptop - the only thing she was taking - and shoved it in a waterproof bag that she slung over her shoulder.

"He's in the mess hall alone. It's time. Where's Danny?" She panted.

"He said he wanted to get his paints and brushes."

"Dammit! I told him I'd get him more in New York!"

"Never mind that, Jubes. You go find him so you can start laying off your pafs and we'll get these folks on the Blackbird. As long as we keep it quiet, we have plenty of time." Scott rested a hand on her shoulder and motioned for them to get started.

Millie leaned in close to her as she passed with Logan. "He kept his art stuff somewhere in the infirmary. He'll be there."

"That's where the entrance to the secondary tunnels are - he's over on the opposite side of the compound. Shit, I'm gonna tan his hide for this!"

"Look, Jubes, be careful. I'll get Millie here on the Blackbird and then I'll come help ya with Danny. If all else fails, we'll get out through the tunnels, but I'd rather you set off the pafs from the air in the jet."

She looked at Logan carefully, squeezing his forearm. "Okay, it's all we can do now. You be careful, too," she said smiling. She took her bag off and put it on his shoulder, and took off down the hall.

"Just 'friends', my lily white ass..." Millie muttered smugly in Logan's ear as he helped her out of the office.

"Yeah, well... ya know..." he stammered.

"No, actually, I do not, and I expect to live through all this so that you can tell me someday - 'Wolvie'."

"Ya got yerself a deal, Millie."

***

Marty sat alone in the mess hall. It was far too quiet for his tastes. Even the hallway was quiet. All the dinner dishes were still soaking, so everyone had eaten before him. Why hadn...t anyone asked him to join them? And why wasn't anyone still doing the dishes?

Oh, well, at least I'm alone... I can check in with the Guv. Time to be sneaky, he thought. Gotta get them before they get me.

He took his cell phone out of his belt and speed-dialed the Governor's mansion. Someone picked up after two rings. A young, exuberant female voice answered.

"Geronimo's Pizza, Home of the Spicy Devil! Will this be delivery or pickup?"

Marty stared at the phone, dumbstruck. The jig was up.

"That bitch! She changed my phone!"

"Sir, please!" said the teenage girl on the other end. "We don...t tolerate that kind of language here at the home of the Spicy De-"

"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at the phone and smashed it on the counter.

He stared at the pieces on the table.

That was a silly thing to do, Martin.

He still had the number memorized. All he needed now was another phone.

***

Jubilee had stopped in every room on the way to the infirmary, releasing big, colorful balls of plasma from her fingers. They were floating around the complex like shiny helium balloons. She had already started to slow down, keeping her heart rate level, her blood pressure as low as possible, and walking fast instead of running. One false move with her emotions and she'd trigger the whole damn thing too early. No one was roaming the halls, and for all she knew Marty was happily stuffing his face.

"Danny? C'mon kid, where are you? We gotta leave, and right now."

She checked all the storage units in the infirmary. She looked in the lab. Nothing. Jubilee heard a male voice swearing in the isolation unit and smiled. "Danny, you'll have an oxygen tank on the Blackbird. Come on already!" She pushed through the plastic drops, "There isn't enough time left for-"

Jubilee stopped short of moving any closer. There was young Danny all right, partially paralyzed in Marty's clutches. In his free hand, Marty held the boy's cell phone in the air. The paint set that Danny had treasured so much was scattered at their feet, half of it still hidden under his bed.

"You're right Jubes - there isn't enough time left. Thanks to Daniel here, I still got to make my call and this little sneaky exit you're trying to pull just backfired."

"Marty, you are so stupid if you think you'll survive this."

"Oh, yeah... They...re gonna kill most everybody they find here, yourself included. But the Governor will have his X-Trophies and I'll get my rent-free condo."

"You'll be too dead to live in it." She spat her words at him. "Yer a stupid piece of shit, Marty - yer no better than Magneto was."

***

Logan looked up from where he was loading what few possessions the rebels were taking with them. Jubilee's laptop was laced around his torso.

The rumbling was off in the distance yet, but it was getting closer. He knew what it was. Scott ran down the gangplank and looked up to the sky.

"They've been alerted... God Dammit! Where the hell is Jubilee and Danny?!"

"They...re still inside... with Marty." Logan grit his teeth and growled. "Get outta here Cyke - I'll take care of Jubes!"

"I'm not leaving without her! We just got her back!"

Logan gently shoved him into the side of the jet, driving his point home. "No one knows that better'n me, Scott! But you gotta leave - now! I'll make sure they get out, there's still the alternate tunnel and she said it was by the infirmary. Now take off and get these people home!"

He let go his hold on Scott's collar and ran back into the compound.

Scott watched him disappear into the hanger door. "Good luck, Logan. Take care of her."

Remy's head poked out of the Blackbird as the first signs of the New Sentinels showed in the sky. "Der is no time left, mon ami! De jets are firin', Rogue is ready to fly - do as de man tell you and get in de plane!" LeBeau grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back into the Blackbird.

***

"Magneto had the wrong vision. Humans are the dominant species on this planet. It is a better idea to fit in as one of them - not to try and prove yourself superior. And if I'm such a 'stupid piece of shit' - why are my Sentinels here before you could get everyone out, huh?"

Jubilee realized that the noise outside wasn't coming from just the Blackbird.

"If it's me you wanna hurt, Marty - then put the boy down! He didn...t do anything to you!"

Marty's grip on Danny got tighter and she saw the beginnings of petrifaction creeping up his hands and feet. Danny screamed in agony. He turned his head to face Marty and managed to light his hair on fire. Marty screamed and dropped Danny to the ground, limbs already frozen and useless. Marty ignored his smoldering hair and reached down to grab Danny's leg, further petrifying him. "You little worm! No one hurts me - ever again!"

Jubilee jumped and landed on Marty's back. She laced her fingers together and slammed her fist into the back of his neck as hard as she could, while still keeping her cool for the plasma. She knew she wouldn...t have enough control left to fight off Marty and contain the plasma if he decided to turn on her. She hoped everyone else was already gone.

He let go of Danny's leg with the blow to his neck, and tried to grab Jubilee. Marty stood up and flung her off of his back. Danny was lying on his stomach now and was no longer moving. Jubilee landed with a thud on the ground next to him and tried to face Marty, who pushed her back down and grabbed her wrists.

"Ya wanna feel what it's like to be frozen alive, bitch?" He grinned at her through insane eyes.

"Marty - You've lost it! The Sentinels won't spare you! They'll kill us all!"

"I hold the Governor's prize - I will not be harmed!"

She felt her hands going numb. "If you do this, I'll blow the whole place before you can get out. I promise you that!" Her mouth twitched as she absorbed the pain of the paralysis and tried to stay calm.

"Shut up. You lost. Face it Jubie! This was too much a gig for a little nothing like you! You don...t got the sto-"

Jubilee looked up at his face as she felt the paralysis stop - instantaneously. Blood squirted out of Marty's mouth and she ducked to avoid it. His hands went slack and he was lifted off his feet.

Hovering before her, Marty had three metal claws protruding from his chest. Wolverine stood behind him, snarling and two seconds away from a berserker. There were some expressions on his face that she could never forget - and this was one of them.

"Simple equation! Hurt Jubes, and ya die. End o' story, bub." Logan pulled Marty's head back and made sure he was dead. "Not yet, huh? Lemme fix that for ya." He twisted his claws in a vicious circle inside the Marty's ribcage and listened as the death rattle escaped his lips. When it ended, he tossed the body to the ground and wiped his claws off on his jeans.

Jubilee, still trying to keep her control over the plasma blobs, crawled over to Danny and flipped him over. He was partially petrified and very dead. "No no no..." she cried, "He was just a kid!" She let him go as Logan grabbed her and got her to her feet.

"I'm sorry, Jubes - I know ya cared for him, but he's gone - and we got Sentinels combing the compound!" He hugged her to him and prayed she wasn't gonna start falling apart now. Not with the enemy bearing down on them. Not with all the plasma floating in the air.

"Where's the other tunnel? We have to get out, now, and get you far enough away so's ya can set off the plasma. Jubes - where is the tunnel?!"

He slapped her lightly, and she stared at him. "I'm sorry - I really didn't wanna do that." She pulled out of his embrace. "Jubes - I wasn't tryin' ta hurt ya, don...t run away!" She clawed at the frosted, plastic-lined walls covering the back end of the isolation room. "Jubes - what are ya doin?! Girl, we gotta get out o' here!"

The compound began to shake as the heavy bodies of the New Sentinels infiltrated the hallways. She turned to look at him. "I know that you idiot, now help me get these sheets down!"

He ran to her side, claws unsheathed, and sliced cleanly through the plastic drapes that made up the room's sterile environment. When they fell away, a hatch was revealed.

"Let's boogie," she muttered, spinning open the hatch and stepping through.

***

Screaming through the upper atmosphere, the Blackbird made its escape from Oklahoma. None of the Sentinel ships or the FOH forces could possibly follow it.

"Mah God, Cyke - Ah hope they made it out!"

"Me too Rogue, me too..."

Natalie and Paul clung to Hank's shirt, too afraid to let go. The rest of the rebel mutant's were scattered throughout the cabin, counting their lucky stars. Remy was sitting next to Millie, quietly saying a prayer in French for Jubilee and Logan's safe return.

"Be sure to include Daniel in that, young man," Millie said to him.

"Oui, mademoiselle; consider dat done."

***

Logan was in front of her, racing through the tunnels. It was easier for him to pop the door to each hatch, this was a barely used tunnel and most of the hatchways were stuck tight. Jubilee just didn't have the strength left to turn them. Her job was to close each one behind them and tighten them as best she could ... it was the only protection they were going to have against the impact when she set off the plasma. It was taxing her, as she became weaker with every step. Every hatchway was a trail to get her legs over, every door got heavier, every wheel was a nightmare to turn.

Jubes was behind him, screaming. "Go go go go! Take as many lefts as you can, as soon as you hit a left with a closed green door, take nothin' but rights after that! I'm right behind you, don't wait for me Logan! Run!"

From the security of the tunnels, they could hear ... and feel ... the sentinels infiltrating the compound. Massive bodies of metal and circuitry working their way through the hallways she had spent the last two years of her life in. There was no time for her to think about how much energy and blood she had poured into this haven she had created for her kind, or what had happened with Marty, or poor Danny... she only prayed, to whatever good grace it was that had been sitting on her shoulder all this time, that Scott and the others had gotten away and they were safe.

The grade of the slope was subtle, but Wolverine was aware that they were going down again, not up. He didn't like the thought of going deeper into the Earth ... it only meant that they were going to have to come back up at some point. All he could do was trust Jubilee and do what she asked of him.

He stopped short of his latest left turn. "I got a green door with a chain, Jubes!"

"Right take a right go right now!" He heard her voice from about 4 hatchways behind him. She sounded winded. Everything inside Logan was screaming at him to go get her and carry her out, but he knew he had to keep going with the hatches.

He turned on his heel and took the first right.

***

Oklahoma State Governor Wallace Pearson, of the Pro-Human party, did not make many personal appearances. He was a very paranoid man. But today... today he considered it his duty and his honor to attend the festivities of eradicating and dismantling another threat to the human race ... this 'mutant' underground railroad.

This illegal operation was a highly successful one, and therefore a threat to his credibility as well. All mutants were filthy abominations of God and needed to be wiped from the face of the Earth. That was his reason for being born. It was his job.

He dismounted from the helicopter that had brought him here, keeping a safe distance away from the playing field, but watching his modified sentinels doing their jobs with a tight, restrained smile.

"Not picking up any life signs in the compound, Sir." A young FOH soldier approached him, reading the instrument in his hands, with a worried look on his face.

"Then they are hiding ... or shielded somehow. Find those damn mercenaries and make examples of them!"

"But, Sir, you don't understand, this device picks up life signs, even a dog would-"

"Dammit, soldier! Did I ask you your opinion?"

***

Jubilee was losing ground, but Logan had opened the last hatch. Before him was an open cement stairwell that zig-zagged up higher than he could see, and at its base were more rusty tanks and pipes. He felt a slight gush of air on his face as it moved down the stairwell through the opened hatch. He smelled the Oklahoma surface faintly in the air, somehow, and her plan suddenly became quite clear.

He turned back to look through the tunnel he had just exited. He could hear her raspy breathing about 40 feet behind him. She was no longer running. She was also struggling with getting the hatchways sealed. Logan knew he had to go after her.

He fled back up the tunnel and leapt over the last three hatchways with ease. He found Jubilee panting, rasping, holding herself up by the handrails that lined the tunnels. She looked up at him, desperate blue eyes searing into his own.

"Wolvie, I gotta blow it soon," she croaked, "I can't concentrate on it much longer."

"Just hold it 'til I get these last hatches locked down, Darlin', then you can let it fly," Logan said, picking her up and moving through the tunnel with her. When he got her through the last door, he set her down carefully on the cold cement floor beneath the stairwell. He turned away from her to go seal the remaining hatches, when she grabbed his coat and pulled him back, stopping him.

"No. Seal this last one, and come sit against this wall with me. Time just ran out." Her eyes bore into his own with more seriousness than he had ever seen before.

"Whatever you say, woman." He slammed the hatch door shut and spun the wheel quickly, locking it in place. Logan picked her up and shoved her into the corner beneath the stairwell, and he covered her with his body as completely as he could manage.

***

"No, Sir, but I think you should consider that-"

Pearson grabbed the equipment out of the soldier's hands, and attempted to read it.

***

"Jubes," Logan whispered against her neck, "Whatever happens... I love you, babe."

"An' I love you back, Wolvie." She managed one last smile, then tucked her body in tight so that he could pull her that much closer. With Logan's familiar arms holding her close, Jubilee's brain finally relaxed its hold on the plasma.

Now.

***

"This thing is worthless! Let the Sentinels do their job, boy!" Pearson spat his last words and threw the $10,000 instrument over his shoulder.

Just before it hit the dusty ground, a silent, piercing white light covered the Governor and the doomed men surrounding him. They had just enough time to put a hand up to cover their eyes before they were vaporized.

***

Shards of light pierced even the depths of the tunnel that Logan and Jubilee were crouched in. They heard a loud boom, though it was not nearly as deafening as she thought it was going to be. Then she felt an odd, quiet breeze.

"Oh, fuck..." she whispered, "This is gonna be bad."

Logan closed his eyes and pushed her further into the corner. Suddenly a deafening howl was heard rushing through the tunnels they had just been running through. The last hatchway door creaked softly as it buckled into the tunnel just the slightest bit, giving in to the great suction that was pulling it. Then as suddenly as it started, the screeching stopped. The multitude of hatchways they had escaped through gave out as the force of the blast was finally made real. One by one they blew outwards, towards the crouching pair, and the only hope was that the explosion would weaken enough by the time it reached them so that the last hatch would hold. Hopefully...

Jubliee clamped her eyes tight and gripped Logan's forearm until she drew blood. His only response was to hold her tighter.

The blast finally reached the last hatch, popping it open and sending a wave of heat and dust through it. The door clanged loudly against the wall when it burst open. On instinct, Logan turned her further into the corner. His mind reeled with responsibility to her. Maybe if he concentrated hard enough he could phase her into the wall and they would be safe...

A few flames screamed into the opening of the hatch, crawling upwards and finding nothing to eat but the air. It had all happened very fast and the paf explosion was already over. He stood up quickly, taking her hands and helping her over to the stairwell.

"What now, Lee?"

"Now," she coughed, pointing up, "We climb. The fire up top is gonna start eating the air down here, so we have to go up for more. We have to leave - now." She coughed again, and leaned over with her palms on her knees.

"You ain't in no condition to climb stairs, girl."

"I know that. So I'm glad you're gonna carry me, right?" She smiled at him, and somehow managed to look unassuming, even with her face covered in sweat and soot.

Logan almost laughed. He tossed her over his shoulder as gently as he could and began to climb the stairwell. "Yeah ... you got such a good plan, all right," he teased, happy enough that they were still alive. "A plan that'll get yer ass dead. Yer lucky I'm here, ya mall rat."

Jubilee's laughing voice was bumpy and strained as he carried her up the stairwells quickly. "You'll get no argument from me, Old Man." She clutched at the back of his shirt and smiled despite their situation, because he had his hand on her ass, and his was within her reach.

Fifteen flights of cement stairs, several hatchways, two more tunnels and 40 minutes later, they were finally topside and saw blue Oklahoma sky. Logan cautiously opened a rusted door to an abandoned water treatment plant some eight miles East of the blown compound.

"How the hell didja find all these underground routes, Jubes?"

She shrugged, grinning at him. "Just curious, I guess. I had a lotta time to kill when there weren't any sick mutants or refugees to deal with." Jubilee faced the West, staring at the massive black cloud of smoke on the horizon, the result of her mutant powers.

"Shit," she muttered. "Didn't really know I had that in me."

Logan came to stand next to her, putting an arm around her and pulling her close. He rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

"Was that... a Hiroshima-type radioactive blast? There was that white light..."

"Nah - I wouldn...t go that far. The light was just for show. The compound and all that were in it is toast, guaranteed. But it was just a super-douper hot, quick, big boom. The energy will dissipate, just like normal. I don...t want all the little lizards and prairie doggies to get radioactive poisoning on my account."

"You got nerves o' steel, Jubilation. Color me impressed."

She smiled at him, saying "Thanks, Wolvie," and gave him a peck on the cheek. "But don't count the game over with yet. We still gotta get out of Oklahoma."

She walked back to the holding tank doorway and looked for a marker. If she could figure out which plant this was, she could determine how far of a walk they had left.

"Oh. More walking. More dust," Logan grumbled, "Joy."

fifteen

Where Have You Been All My Life?

The Blackbird landed safely at Xavier's mansion. The rebel mutants and humans were greeted by more authentic X-Men, including the famous Professor Charles Xavier himself.

"My goodness, you are a beautiful young lady and a handsome lad," Charles said to Nat and Paul as they took turns shaking his hand. Anticipating his next question, Hank's thoughts reached out to Charles and told him that the twins were orphans, and it was still a tender subject with the both of them.

~ I see, Hank. That is most unfortunate for them... ~

"Will you be staying with us here for awhile, children?"

Natalie looked at Paul and he looked back at her. Paul squeezed her hand tight in his own. "Will Blue be stayin' 'awhile'?"

Charles almost laughed at their choice of names for Beast; they had definitely been in the company of Jubilee at some point. "I certainly hope so - he lives here you know! He is my doctor as well!"

"Well..." started Natalie coyly, "We wanna stay only in the places Blue stays." She looked up, and back, at Hank to where her orange eyes were staring right up into his blue ones. "Can we stay with you Blue?"

Hank almost started crying. He had grown very attached to the twins already, and he had no idea how he was going to say goodbye. Now it looked as though he didn't have to, not just yet...

"It would be my greatest pleasure if you would take up residence here at the mansion for a time, my dears."

~ Like the rest of their lives? ~ Charles raised a teasing eyebrow at Hank, who only smiled.

"Huh?" said Nat, her nose scrunching up in the most adorable way Hank had ever seen, anywhere, on anyone.

"He said yes, you goober," Paul shoved his sister in the hip and laughed.

***

"So where are they?" asked Betsy, as she helped Scott remove the few remaining bags that had survived the trip.

"We... I'm not sure. I hope they made it."

"You don't even know that?"

"No, I don't. And I'm getting worried. Was the explosion on the news? Our scanners picked it up from the air, but just barely."

"Yes. And it was reported as a bloody accident - combustion of stored chemicals or some ridiculous rubbish like that, at an abandoned water treatment plant. Complete lies. Wallace Pearson hasn't even made a personal appearance or statement yet."

"Well... If he was there, and I'm thinking he was... he isn't going to be making any more personal appearances, ever again. I'd like to see how the damn FOH and the Pro-Human Party is gonna cover this one up. It will be an embarrassment if they don't."

Betsy grew quiet, continuing their work. "I hope they got out, I really do..." was all she said. Scott fell silent.

***

Logan and Jubilee were huddled against each other in front a fire she had paffed into existence. "Have I ever told ya how handy I think yer powers are?"

She giggled against him. This was so nice for her... no more mutant refugees to worry about, no other X-People around staring at them getting all snuggly. "No, you've never told me that. It's a cool power, but I think Millie's is cooler."

"Hmmm... Yeah, I got a use for that one too. There's a long list of jerks I'd like ta flatten into two dimensions."

"Whose powers do you like best?" she asked out of the blue, which made him happy. She was having a good old-fashioned conversation with him.

"Well, ya gotta admit, I know he was a big jerk and all, and I'm glad I wiped him off the face o' the Earth... but Magneto was kinda neato."

"Fair enough. And it rhymed too! Anybody else?"

"Banshee's. Twistin' metal with a thought, and then shatterin' it with a scream. Not very useful, but it'd be pretty whup-ass to watch." He pushed the hair from her face and looked down at her. "What about you? Whose do you want?"

Jubilee thought for a moment. "Rogue's are cool, cuz then you can do whatever ya want. But I like bein' able to touch people without an inhibitor. I guess I like Quicksilver's, cuz I like to run, and the faster I can go, the better. And I'd like Penance's, providing I can turn it on and off."

"Whatever happened to her?" Logan asked innocently.

Jubilee didn't answer at first. "I was hopin' you could tell me, Old Man."

"Sorry, Darlin'. I ain't got the foggiest idea," he answered. "Hey - Monet was fast, right? How about hers instead of Quicksilver's?"

"Yech - and what if the cold, bitchy exterior comes with it? No thank you, Bub."

Logan laughed loudly to the stars above them. "Okay, but if I could pick just one? One power only, and no other?" Logan asked, looking at her. They smiled at each other and answered simultaneously.

"Nightcrawler's!"

Jubilee nodded her head in approval. "Bamfing!! The only way to travel!"

Logan's head jerked up suddenly. She clutched at his shirt and kept quiet, because she knew he smelled something.

"We're being watched, Jubilation." His voice dropped to a whisper and all the humor fell from her face.

"Creature, veggie or metal?" she whispered.

He sniffed the air a few more times. "Metal," came the curt replay.

"Wolvie, if it's a Sentinel... it probably trailed us from the compound, and it's probably wounded. It'll behave erratic."

"It's a Sentinel."

He stood her up, and tossed his jacket on the fire, squelching it. He pushed her behind him and faced the direction of the odor.

"Jes stay behind me, girl," he said, anger in his voice. Jubilee did as she was told but readied her fingers for some action just in case.

A long time went by, where all she could hear was the sound of their breathing and the gentle breeze that whipped around them.

"Maybe we should move, confuse it... draw it out a little?" Jubilee's whisper was so faint even she couldn't hear it.

"No." He growled and crouched. "It's here."

They heard a distinct clicking noise about thirty yards in front of them and a hiss. The thing was definitely not operating on all cylinders. "It's aim'll be off," she whispered.

There was a few more clicks, then silence.

"From the right," he said quietly, pushing her to the left side behind him. A faulty beam shot out and landed on his arm.

"Dammit!" Logan winced. This was not going to be easy. He pushed her down to the ground, and unsheathed his claws, running forward and slamming into the thing. She heard metal clanging as his heavy adamantium body made contact with it. It was dark, only the light of a new moon and some stars were helping them. She blew off a few pafs for light and got a view of the fight.

Logan was already close to a berserker. The thing was damaged and weak, but definitely a major threat. He was on its front, ripping way at cables, metal casing, anything he could find. It wrapped a heavy, slow arm around him and pulled him back, and Jubes heard the laser go off again, this time at close range.

Wolverine howled at the pain, it had cut across his face and chest. The wounds were smoking and painful. He lashed out at the thing again, and it faltered, but was not quite ready to go down yet.

Jubilee ran towards them, now blind with rage at what it had done to Logan. He saw her coming, and attempted to get between them, but the sentinel was quicker and it threw Wolverine down.

"Jubilee!" Logan bellowed, not wanting her to come close to it. Laser wounds he would survive; she was different story; and it was gearing up for another hit. "Get back!" He yelled at her, rushing up again. The thing fell over as he pushed it off balance, and it let out a laser blast that cut his stomach deep. Jubilee's eyes widened in horror. A final shot of the beam got past Logan's body and landed on her arm. She didn't even notice it at first.

She leveled a paf at the metal beast that sent it back more than ten feet from Logan, where he lay motionless on the dirt.

"God damn you!" She bellowed at the twitchy bot, clutching her bleeding arm. With nothing left for it to try, it readied itself to fire another shot into her, but she was too quick. Jubilee clenched her fists at her sides and narrowed her eyes as she melted the thing in her fury, right down to the ground, quickly and completely. Doing so had taxed her to the limit, and she fell to the Earth, kicking up a dust cloud as she hit. Facing the ground on her hands and knees, a stream of blood dripped out of each nostril and a massive headache overtook her as she tried to relax. The gash on her arm was seeping, and smoking, and her nose was a waterfall of blood and Oklahoma dust. Jubilee groaned; she was determined not to lose consciousness. The blood pooled onto the dusty ground and she stared at it, dizzy and shaken. The acrid smell of the smoldering Sentinel crept up her nose and made her gag, so she crawled away from it toward Logan, who was still not moving. She shook him and he did not respond. Already healing cuts from the laser were still in his face and his chest, but the stomach wound was very bad, and she thought him dead or dying. Before she knew it, she was laying on top of him, clutching his smoking shirt in her fists and screaming in anger. She looked up, tears blurring her vision and the blood and liquid from her nose washing all over her mouth and chin.

"Logan, you can't die on me! Don't you leave me now!" She sobbed heavily, blind to the fact that she hadn't allowed herself to cry like that since that night on the dock with Scott so long ago. Her despair was flying out of her like a dam that had burst at the seams. In a way, she had convinced herself that she wasn't even capable of such a torrent anymore so she hadn't needed to stop herself from having one for years. But now here it was, and she was powerless to turn it off.

Her friend of old lay beneath her, raspy breathing finally coming from his body. She looked up, and shook his shoulders. When his response was not enough, she slapped him lightly, calling his name over and over between her sobs. She was a wreck, and she didn't give a damn.

Logan's eyes fluttered open and he looked over at her. He winced at the blood on her face and arms, and reached out weakly.

"Are ya hurt bad, Jubes?" Logan whispered weakly and missed brushing her face with his hand, tugging on her ponytail instead.

"I'm fine, it's just a bloody nose ... are you all right?!"

"I'll be fine, girl... I just gotta catch up here. Don't be scared." He coughed and some blood spattered out of his mouth. Jubilee ripped off a piece of his torn shirt and wiped his mouth with shaking fingers.

"Oh my God, I thought you were dead, Wolvie," she cried - desperate cries of a worn-out adult who had been pushed to her limit. There was no girlish melodrama left in her, even in his weakened state he could smell the fear and the exhaustion pouring out of her by way of her tears.

He sat up finally, and she pulled out of his arms. He removed his smoking t-shirt and checked himself out quickly. Logan cupped Jubilee's face in his hands, turning her head from side to side, inspecting it. "Did it hit you in the nose, or on the head?"

"No," she said roughly, wiping the blood away with her sleeve. "I got a nosebleed when I fried it - see?" She pointed at the pile of smelt, which was still bubbling.

"Cripes..." muttered Logan. "You be sure'n tell Hank what happened when we get back. Nosebleeds mean yer overexertin' yerself. You gotta be more careful, Jubes. Yer health still ain't back to normal."

She stared at him, dumbfounded for a moment. Then her insides yelled at her for being so predictable - for being the silly teen.

You cried like a baby, and look! He isn't even fazed by this. Maybe you shouldn't be either.

She swallowed hard, wet eyes looking away from him. She reached over to finger the cut on her upper arm, trying to find a reason not to look at him.

What do you expect, Jubes? This is Wolvie. He doesn't emote, remember...?

"You're welcome, Wolverine." Jubilee stood up straight and walked to the edge of the dead fire. She picked up her laptop bag, and slung it over her shoulder.

"Jubes, I wasn't bein' ungrateful to ya, I'm just concerned that yo-"

"I know that," she sniffed, wiping her nose with her sleeve again. "Are you able to walk?" She was all business again, and he wondered what he'd missed. Other than not expressing his gratitude.

"You took that thing out all alone, huh?"

"I did what I had to do. Can we put some more miles behind us, or do you need some more time to heal?"

He stood up, not quite sure how to approach her like this. He never really knew what to do with crying women, except for taking them to bed. That usually made them feel a lot better. But he could never be casual like that with her, and she had already finished crying anyhow. In fact, she was acting like nothing had happened at all.

"I can walk."

"Great," she replied. "I wanna be out of Okalahoma ASAP. The sooner we get into Missouri, the sooner we can call the prof and buy you a new shirt, huh?" She gave him a tight smile, then looked up at the stars, found her position, and turned on her heel, continuing their march through the desert.

***

Despite her exhaustion, what had happened with the Sentinel was pestering Jubilee and she couldn't rest. She was leaning up against the side of an old outbuilding, shaking. She felt it starting inside of her - the fight had shaken it loose and now it was free. Over and over she told herself to stop it, but she was cascading into it ... into being a Person With Emotions.

"Jubilee?" She didn't answer, and kept her back to him. The tears were falling now, and she was already embarrassed. "Hey, Jubes..." he said, placing his hands on her tiny shoulders and trying to turn her to face him.

She resisted his pull and whimpered under her breath. "No... Just leave me be, I'll stop eventually. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry... Cripes! Like that's gonna happen!" He grabbed her by her upper arms and turned her around forcefully, ignoring her tiny protests from the pain in the cut. "Dammit, girl, you look at me. Now." She placed her hands on his shoulders and tried to push herself away, but she was too tired and he was just too... he was Wolverine. He was strength to the Nth degree. She couldn't win this physically, so she just looked down and away, closing her eyes and letting the tears slip out. It broke his heart to see her like this, trying so hard to not need anyone's help, knowing he had a hand in her turning out that way.

"Darlin', please don't shut me out. Not when we're finally together again." She was doubting not only his concern, but her own. "Please, Jubes, don't get upset... you'll make yerself sick and we got a long way ta go yet."

"I can't help it..." For years she had stopped herself from crying, and over time, she had simply became incapable of it. Now... all it had taken was one moment of crisis alone with him. It was as though a carefully constructed box with no key had suddenly been broken open, and she was powerless to stop the flood of emotions coming out of it. "Don't tell me not to cry! I'm so tired of not crying!" Jubilee shook violently. "Big girls don't cry, right?! So call me a baby then! Go ahead, it's not like I've never heard it before!" She covered her face again and started to pull away from him. "This makes you sick, doesn't it? All that training... You havta be disappointed in me! I should be so much tougher, after all this time... But you show up, we get in one little scrape, and just like that I turn back into a baby!" Now she was crawling away from him. He yanked her back to into her arms, and shook her gently until he had her attention.

"No ya don't. You wanna cry, you go ahead! I'm through telling you to hide stuff. You learned that from me, too; and it was wrong for you to take it to heart ... like you had any choice. You've always been tougher and more mature than most people I know, but now you've sacrificed your feelings just cuz someone else made you feel like you had to... just so they'd think you were an adult... they were wrong to do that, Jubilee, and 'they' includes me."

That had done it. Jubilee buried her face in his shirt and proceeded to cry her eyes out. Wolverine kissed the top of her head and held her as close as he could without breaking her. It was the only thing that he could think to do, and it was the only thing she really wanted.

"That's okay, Darlin'; let it go. You know yourself better than you think you do. You ain't no blubberin' idiot ... yer a survivor. And don't you ever believe, not for one second ... ever again ... that caring makes you weak."

***

Jubilee was cautious about parading around in daylight so close to the explosion, so they walked - a lot. Three weeks of hiking in wooded areas and sneaking through rural towns was now under their belts. They had made it to the Mississippi River in the Southern tip of Missouri. Logan was trying not to rush the journey home. Her health was slowly improving, and he didn't want her to hurry back to the mansion without some downtime. Not after being gone for four years. At least, that's what he kept telling himself as to why he wasn't rushing it. The upshot to this little break was that he got to be alone with her. She was smiling on a regular basis again. And telling stupid jokes.

They found themselves in another cheap motel, another 18" TV, six-pack, large pizza with the works, and another late night movie. The heat in the room was not working, so they got it for real cheap. Logan was sitting up on the bed, with all the pillows propped up behind him against the plastic wood-tone headboard. Jubilee was curled up next to him under a thermal blanket, watching "Batman Forever" on cable.

"Good Lord, this movie sucks!" She muttered from where her head was resting close to his shoulder.

"We shoulda watched that Cary Grant Flick," he growled.

"I agree. What a waste of bandwidth. People are starving, and just look at the budget on this piece of crap!"

Logan picked up the remote and pointed it at the screen. "You don't wanna watch the rest o' this, do ya Darlin'?"

"Cripes, no!" She yawned. "Turn it off while it still just sucks. No need to go for all four tomatoes."

He turned the TV off completely and the room was bathed in near-darkness, except for the bathroom light. They were quiet for a time, just sitting together and enjoying the closeness.

"I've been putting it off, asking you this, Logan... but... you've called Chuck and got us the cash for the band-aids, food and these," she cleared her throat, "luxurious-type accommodations!" He grunted a laugh. "But why haven't you called the team? They could come and get us with the Blackbird in less than a couple hours."

He hesitated, just enough for her to notice, then said, "Maybe I don't want to. Maybe I want you all ta myself for awhile."

She smiled, and he felt her hands grab onto his arms as she crawled into his lap. He covered them with the blanket again. "I've missed this, Wolvie," Jubilee sighed, snuggling. "I'll never be able to tell you how much."

"So don't tell me. Show me," he whispered.

"I am showing you, stupid. I missed having your arms around me when things got bad."

"That wasn't what..."

Whatever it was he had tried to say to her, it wasn't coming out of his mouth all too clearly. Then her eyes snapped open.

"Did you just... make a pass at me?"

"Uh..." he swallowed, "Yeah. I did." She fell silent. "That okay, kid?" He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, and not just to try and warm her up.

"Yeah... it's fine. I just... um..." Now it was her turn to stammer.

Logan berated himself. Here she was, finally starting to get close to him again, to trust him, and he went and jumped into it whole hog. "Jeez, Jubes... I'm sorry. That was an awful thing ta do."

"No! No, it wasn't," She sat up, steadying herself with a hand to his chest. "Not really."

"Maybe you ain't feeling that way anymore?"

She smiled. "Oh, yes I am." She smiled even more. He started, as he felt a small, chilly hand on his cheek. Logan looked in her eyes and fell right back into those forgiving sapphires. "I want you to make chase, Wolvie. I just don't want to leap without lookin'. Not just yet..."

"We can do anything you want, Jubes."

She smiled and leaned into him again. He was so warm under the blanket, it was like he was her own personal furnace. After a time, she spoke hesitantly. "Logan... about Remy and Rogue... about me knowin' that they were married," she swallowed. "I... never lost touch with them."

Logan began to heat up all right. "You mean to tell me... all this time... they knew where you where and never said flippin' word one?!"

"Yeah... and stop fuming, or I'll go sleep by myself." She was serious.

"You'll freeze to death, Jubilee."

"Not with my pafs."

"Oh yeah? So you learned how ta paf in yer sleep then?"

She pursed her lips. "Okay... I could freeze to death... so I guess that means you had better get in a non-mad mode right quick, if you ever want to make a pass at me again."

Logan stopped gritting his teeth and calmed down. "Okay, Jubes... Okay. But I gotta tell ya, that's not the best news I've heard today."

She raised her eyebrows. "You heard good news today?"

"Only when you said 'good mornin'!" Logan laughed.

"They never said a thing because I asked them not to. I got in touch with them about two months after I left. And I've never been completely out of touch with them since. Remy used his connections and sent me to live with his some of his guild members in San Francisco... They bought me like, I dunno, everything I needed and more, took me to foreign countries, they wouldn't let me get a job. I never asked 'em to do that, they just went ahead an' did it. Great bunch of guys."

"Guys?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah... Men, every last one of 'em. They were so cool, it was like having 8 rich uncles all competing for your favor. Then, I made my decision about Oklahoma. And when I told Gambit and Rogue, they never treated me like a little child and tried to drag my ass back to the mansion. I'll never forget that they did that for me. I love 'em both, so much."

Out of her sight, Logan frowned. "I'm sorry, but I gotta be honest Jubilee... I woulda' sliced the address outta' that Red-eyed Cajun if I had known he knew where you were. An' Rogue too."

She snickered, placing a hand on the steely muscles of one of his arms as it snaked around her waist. "Duh, Wolvie... that's why they played dumb," she whispered.

"What about Xavier? He would have sensed it in LeBeau's thoughts."

"Chuck and I... Well Wolvie, that's a different story altogether. I've had contact with him, too, but... Yer the first person I've told about this part. It was rare, and all telepathic. And he respected my need to be left to my own devices more than anyone."

"Jubes, I'm... sorry, I'm really sorry. I shoulda seen that you needed that kind of independence. I shoulda helped you before things got as far as they did."

"How can you help a person be independent?"

He paused. She got him on that one. "I dunno; I just should have done... something."

"Logan... If you'll remember... we, uh... we had far more personal issues to deal with at the time. My independence was just a side note... until that night I left."

"Personal? Ya mean you and me?"

"Yeah. We never did finish talking about it. Then you had yer hand on Jean's ass and the two of you were all kissie-faced... and that meant that discussing our 'little problem' was set even further back on the burner, didn't it?" She paused, waiting for his voice to enter the conversation. But all he could manage to do was to continue playing with her hair, so she finished what she had to say. "I am not going to lie to you and tell you that that little incident had nothing to do with my decision. You know it did ... I told you as much in that letter I left you. But what I do need for you to understand... is that when all that went down, I suddenly realized that I really didn't have an identity to fall back on. By myself, I mean. I was always 'someone else's somethin'. When you feel alone, and all of a sudden I did... an adult person just needs more than that, Logan. I hadda go find it."

"You know, me and Jeannie... that was it. You know that, right? It ended, the moment I walked away from it. I'm not sayin' I been a chaste man since then, but..."

"You? Chaste? Persish the thought!" Jubilee giggled.

"Okay, okay," he groaned. "My point is that it ended, and it ain't come back."

"Yet...?" She intentionally left the question open-ended.

"No. It ain't come back, Jubilee. And it ain't gonna. If you woulda stuck around, you woulda known that."

"Too late, dude. I already felt betrayed."

"Betrayed? Ya got me on that one, Jubes."

"Yeah, betrayed. As in, one day yer coming home early from Japan just fer me. The next day yer kissing me like a grown-up. The next yer running away cuz' you can't handle what you did. The next yer back, nursin' my bullet wounds and never leaving my side, and promisin' me that we'll talk about what was happening with us. And the next... Yer kissing Jean and forgettin' all about it. My head still had a jumble of questions in it that only you could have answered. The damage was done, and I felt useless on my own, so I left."

Jubilee didn't sound angry, and she wasn't. It was more like she was pointing out the facts to him, trying to make him understand. He knew that, but he still felt bad. By all rights she should be telling him to pound salt and leave her be. Yet she was here. He smiled, pulling her closer, but then a thought occurred to him.

"What? Tell me." She looked him in the eyes.

"Jean musta known where you were all those years, too," he frowned.

"Yep, me an' Remy and Rogue figured that too."

"Didn't they worry about her spillin' it?"

"No, because I told them that she never would."

"You told her not to? Cripes - Jean knew too?!"

"No, I didn't say that. I said I knew she never would ... as in speak up. Oh..." Jubilee yawned, "She'd get inside 'em all right, I even told 'em to go ahead an' let her... and she'd know, but then she'd keep it to herself. Which is exactly what happened." Suddenly sad, Logan ran a hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head. She smiled. "I knew how Jean was thinkin'. She was probably a little too tender from the last incident, and didn't wanna get involved. She was also respecting my decision as an adult, finally. I'm not an idiot, Logan. I know how women think- I am one, ya know." She giggled again, but he wasn't laughing at her joke.

"Nobody ever thought you were an idiot, Jubes."

"No... they just thought I would get over every tragedy tossed at me because they assumed I had the attention span of a 10 year old. Like maybe I was too careless to care? But it wasn't like that at all, even when I was a 10 year old... I dunno, maybe I got too good at hiding it... but I remembered everything, Logan, and like it was yesterday. I remember how troubling it was learning how to play triplicate notes on the violin, and I remember the elation I felt the first time I did it. I remember the corridors of my tunnels in Australia. I remember the smell of Bastion's Ostrich skin gloves every single time he slapped me across the face. The blue ones smelled sweeter than the black ones. And I remember the bandages on your left hand as you waved at me when you left that one night." She yawned again. "I know we got a ways to go in the healin' department, Wolvie... But nothing has changed. I don't want us falling into something too fast and ruinin' everything, but... I admit it, I never stopped loving you. I want you to know that." She yawned again. "Can't we just let things happen as they will?"

He fell silent. She was coming back to New York with him, and for all intents and purposes, telling him she was his, and his alone, if he wanted her. Logan gently wrapped one huge hand around the back of her neck and turned her face up to meet his. He kissed her, not eagerly so much as possessively, and she felt it all the way down to her toes. When the kiss broke, they just stared at each other in the dim light of the room, breathing deeply.

"That was nice," she finally whispered.

"Very nice," he whispered back.

"You need a cold shower now, dontcha?" She grinned at him the dark.

"Yeah, well," he laughed, "That was the risk I took. I need a long cold shower, Jubes. Please don't kiss me back. Please get off my lap, right now. I'm beggin' ya."

She giggled and got off of him, intentionally eyeing his leather jeans. She teased him, kneeling on the bed as he stood up. "Wowzers! Did I do that?! You really do need a cold one!"

She giggled, startling him. He had to remind himself that he'd been right, all those years ago... Telling her that her soul wasn't all scarred up like so many other people he'd known.

After everything that had happened to her, Jubliation Lee was still as guileless as ever.

"Shaddup, kid," he said, turning to face her and glaring at her playfully. She giggled and got to her knees, crawling over to the edge of the bed and flinging her arms around his neck.

She sighed. "It's so cool to know I can do that to the Great and Powerful Wolveroonie!" Then, not thinking, and not wanting to, she went in for the kill and kissed him again. This time he didn't hold back, and his mouth sank onto hers hungrily. Logan pulled her body up against his and he felt her stiffen. A strange, hungry tremor shot through her.

Too much, too soon...

Just as he was about to break the kiss, she did it for him. Breathless, she uttered, "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair... You asked me not to do that... but I... I guess I had to." She swallowed, playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. "I'll stop." She pushed herself away and broke contact with him, wiping the sweat off of her upper lip.

"Not that I don't like it, woman... but thank you." Logan exhaled, closing his eyes and trying to turn around.

She smiled at him. Wolverine: losing control, tortured, in heat... and over her. Those leather jeans really did fit him in all the right ways.

"Go take yer shower Wolvie. By the time you get out I'll be asleep and tucked into the far corner of the bed. I promise ya."

He opened his eyes and smiled at her, like a hungry man eyeing a steak. "That'd be wise," he growled, and walked into the bathroom.

She giggled again as she heard the shower start up, wondering briefly how long it was going to take him before he felt 'safe'.

She giggled again, and then scolded herself for her lurid thoughts.

"Go to sleep Lee. You got the rest of yer life for that stuff."

When she woke up in the morning, he was curled up behind her with an arm wrapped around her waist, sleeping away like an innocent. As innocent as someone like Woverine could look.

sixteen

Some Things Never Change

It had been three and a half weeks since the explosion in Oklahoma. Logan was in contact with Xavier, told him they were fine and for the others no to worry, and had made it clear that no one was to come get them. They had needed the time alone together. But they were tired of walking. So they stopped at a used car dealership in Kentucky and found something they both liked.

"Ya wanna get it? I can call Chuck, he'll wire us the money."

"It is a pretty color... And I like the way it's kinda beat up and broken in... and it ran like a top in the test drive."

"Yeah ... you got an affection for stuff like that, dontcha Jubes? Old things that never say die."

She looked from his blue eyes to the used yellow Jeep and back again. " 'Zat such a bad thing, Wolvie?" Jubilee teased.

"Not at all, girl, not at all," Logan said, leaning over to where she still sat in the driver's seat and kissing her.

He turned to look at the saleswoman and asked for a phone.

An hour later, the paperwork was finished, the Jeep was paid for in full, and Jubilation Lee now owned her first vehicle. She grinned at him as they drove off, the wind in their hair. She reached down and stroked the back of his hand, and he brought it up to his lips, kissing it gently. Logan was happy to see her feeling so well and smiling, but to his dismay the trek back to the mansion was going to end a lot quicker.

***

They arrived at the mansion after a few more days of driving, casually stopping here and there for sleep or food; sometimes even a bit of sight seeing. When they drove up to the back door and parked the Jeep. Jubilee sat still for a moment, looking at the old building. Logan could not read her face or her scent.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, taking her hand in his larger one.

"I'm... I'm not sure. I'm really not sure what to think about all this."

"Then don...t think about it." Gently, he took her chin in his hand and kissed her. "I'm right here, babe. Yer not gonna do this alone."

"Okay, Old Man. Let's go then." She kissed him back quickly and they jumped out of the Jeep. Logan wrapped an arm around her and they walked up the back steps. He opened the kitchen door and they stepped in. Jubilee took a big breath. "Still smells the same," she remarked.

"Yeah - like computers, sweat, beer and books."

"Never thought of it that way, Wolvie. But that's like way accurate." Jubilee laughed as he set down their duffle bag and hugged her again. No sooner were they embracing than several X-People descended upon them. Logan released her, a little too fast for her tastes, but she was too much deluged with other people's hugs and cries of hello to focus on it.

Kurt hopped into the kitchen and was the fist to hug her. "Jubilee! Mein Gott! You're beautiful!"

"Thanks, Kurt!" She giggled, "That means a lot coming from a priest - I think."

"I still have eyes, Liebling," he teased.

"Just look at your hair! It's so long!" Betsy ran a hand through it and smiled, tears shining in her eyes.

"Ah told ya, Bets - ain't she a picture?!" Rogue smiled and crinkled her nose at Jubilee.

"I see you didn...t get any taller," Warren teased.

"And you didn't get any smarter," she gave back, giggling.

"Heyyyyyy! Where's the love for me?!" Bobby ran into the room, and grabbed Jubilee excitedly. He pulled back a little when he thought he heard Logan growling.

"Jeez, Drake - let a girl get a word in, willya?!"

"Yes, Robert, set the child down," came Storm's lilting voice from the back. She strode forward, regal as ever, and gently pushed the Iceman aside. "Oh! But I see that you are no longer a child! Gracious Jubilation, you are lovely," she said, gathering the shorter woman up and holding her protectively.

These people never change, it's amazing!

Betsy moved over to Logan with Kurt and they chatted with him quietly about the journey home. Charles hovered in and Jubilee gave him a warm hug. "I've missed ya, Professor!" she nearly squealed. All he could do was hug her back and say her name. Jean and Scott came in from the back door and joined the festivities. When there was a quiet moment, Jean took Jubilee aside.

"Jubilation..." Jean whispered. "I was so worried about you, all these years." A couple of tears fell from her beautiful green eyes and Jubilee wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Then she tilted her head, and the uncertainty softened into a warm smile.

"Jean, I'm fine... everyone's fine. Don't you worry anymore." She took one of Jean's hands in her own and squeezed it.

Remy turned the corner into the kitchen and grabbed her suddenly, lifting her off the ground. "Chere! You be alive!" He kissed her on each cheek, then her lips, then he hugged her tight.

"Aw, Rem! I'm so glad ta see ya!"

Scott moved in to shake Logan's hand and then gave him a quick, manly hug. "Good to have you two back, I was really worried," he said under his breath.

"No need for that Cyke. She took good care o' me," he grinned.

"Jubie!" two young voices screamed in unison from the upstairs hall.

Natalie and Paul came running down the stairs and forced their way through the adult legs. They nearly toppled Jubilee over when they jumped on her at the same time.

"You're home!" They squeezed her neck so tight she squeaked.

"Yes I am!" she wheezed out.

"We missed you!"

"I missed you too!"

"Blue wants to be our new daddy!"

Jubilee looked up at Hank and beamed as she kneeled down to get on the twins' eye level. "Is that so?! That's great! You get to stay here, then - and this is a really cool place to live." The twins looked at her and smiled. "And Blue's gonna make a great dad," she said quietly, hugging them both. Jubilee looked up at Hank again over Paul's shoulder and smiled brightly.

***

Unfortunately for Millie, she wasn't faring as well as the twins. While the X-Men had welcomed her into the mansion with open arms, she was confined to a bed in the infirmary from the moment she had gotten there. The commotion of the escape had weakened her further, and Hank had determined that she was in the last stages of her cancer. It had metastasize to her entire body, and not even the advanced Sh'iar technology could help her. ever the dignified Old Bird, she took to wrapping up her affairs quickly.

"...I'm unmarried, no kids, and the FOH already killed my sister. Her children are grown, and they sided with their human father after the divorce, so... No, Dr. McCoy, there is no one you need to inform of my passing. Really, Jubilation is the only one, and she is already here, isn't she?"

She smiled sweetly and Hank looked up at her over his glasses. "It's just Hank, Millie. And yes... she is. I am glad to have her back with us." Hank was sorry to see Millie dying. He had hoped to save her from the cancer.

"She seems to be happy to be back."

"For the most part. I am sure there is some adjustment for her."

Millie eyed him. Jubilee needed no 'adjusting'. She knew what was bothering the young woman.

"I suppose... Hank, would you mind asking Wolverine to come see me, and soon?"

"Of course, Mildred."

Millie's eyes narrowed at him playfully. "Call me 'Mildred' one more time and I'll go back to 'Dr. McCoy' - got that, blue boy?"

"Yes ma'am..." said Beast, looking at her as though she had just scolded her favorite pupil. "I'll call Logan in right now."

Millie fixed her hair while Beast finished up her chart.

No sense me looking horrid. Logan is a nice piece of tail and I am still a woman, aren't I?

Beast glanced at her fussing, and snickered after he put the phone down. "He said he'll come right down."

"What the hell are you laughing at? Can...t a girl look nice for a guy?"

Beast smiled at her. "Why tamper with perfection, Madame?" He grinned at her when he saw that his comments elicited a blush, and then he left the room.

A few minutes later Logan was at her side, taking her hand with all the charm of a devoted son. "How are ya feelin' today, Darlin'?"

"Well, not so good. Hank says it doesn't look very hopeful."

"Aw, Millie, ya gotta keep fightin', Darlin'! You ain't no quitter." He squeezed her hand tighter.

"Oh, I'll fight Mister, don...t you worry. But nevermind all that. I didn't call you down here for that." She sat up a bit and he fluffed her pillows for her.

"Okay... What's up, ya Old Bird? You got somethin' planned, I can tell."

"Not planned, so much as... I wish to dispense with some influence before I am gone."

"Such as...?" Logan's eyebrows shot up. She was crafty, this one...

"How are things going? Between you and young Jubilation, I mean?"

"Is things suppose ta be goin' somewhere, Millie?"

"Oh stop that! You know what I mean! Where is it at? Have you nailed her yet?"

Logan's eyes bugged out.

"Don...t look at me that way. A man with a body as nice as yours has been around, I can tell. And I know something of the history between you two. I can see the writing on the wall right now, also." She folded her hands in her lap and stared at Logan. "Have you told her how you feel, hmm?"

Logan stammered. "Well - No! I mean yeah, she knows it! Why go messin' it up with a bunch o' words?!"

"Ah, I see... So, things are basically casual for the two of you."

"No! No, they aren't."

"Okay..."

"They're... ah... Things are..."

Millie leaned forward and spoke to him quietly. "Go on. I won...t tell," she whispered sarcastically.

"Aw! Jeez! I ain't never been any good at this stuff!" Logan yelped, standing up and running a hand through his hair.

She nodded as she watched him circle back to her bed. "No shit," she muttered.

"Well, it's just that..." he swallowed and sat back down next to her. "Me an' Jubes, we got this bond, and nobody can break it. But things are also different now... she's older, and she's been gone a long time... and aside from that thievin', shiftless Cajun, I'm the only one here she's got any ties to. I love her an' want her to stay, but..."

"But... It has to be her choice?"

"No, what I mean... What I'm tryin' to get at... is that everything is different fer her now, fer her bein' back here - well, fer both of us. And I realize now that I'm still not ready to let her grow up that fast... now that we're back, I mean."

"Ohhh... I understand now! You're apprehensive to start a physical relationship with Jubilee in the confines of this house while under the watchful eyes of its inhabitants, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Logan shouted, "That's it!" Millie was not as excited as he was, however. She gave him a quiet stare that made his stomach do a flip-flop. "Yer thinkin' I oughta tell her all that, huh?" Logan looked like a little kid that got caught stealing.

"Not at all."

"Um... What?"

"What I think," she said, clearing her throat, "Is that you ought to grow up before she slips through your fingers."

Logan was speechless. She was right, of course. But he was frightened.

She looked down, and played with the hem of her bed sheet. "Could you ask that nice little girl with the white streak in her hair to come see me now? And Jubilation, too?"

"Yeah, sure, Millie. Whatever ya want, Darlin'." He squeezed her hand again and kissed her on the cheek. "You get better, ya hear me? Who the hell's gonna keep me in line if you don't, huh?" Logan smiled at her and walked out.

***

"Hey there, Shugah! What can Ah do for you? Hi, Jubes honey." Rogue smiled at Jubilee where the young woman sat holding Millie's hand. Jubilee did not smile back. Rogue sat down on the bed next to Millie and frowned. "Hey now... What's all this?"

Rogue knew Millie was dying, but she refused to be nothing less than cheerful.

Millie looked over at Jubilee and spoke quietly. "Do you wish to leave, Jubilation? I won...t take offense."

Jubilee's head snapped up to look at Millie. Her voice was angry. "I ain't goin' anywhere! And if you had any sense then you won't either." Jubilee eyed Millie, who eyed her right back. "I'm not tellin' her, Mills. You want this, you gotta tell her."

"Wha... What's happnin' here? What're you two talking about?" Rogue was getting confused. "Somebody bettah fill me in on the mystery."

Millie turned away from Jubilee and looked at Rogue. "Why I want you to absorb my mutant power, dear."

Rogue's eyes bugged out. "No way! Ah Ain't gonna do that! Have ya'll flipped out or somethin'?!?" She stood up and backed away from the bed, instinctively protecting her skin form any random contact.

"No, I'm perfectly sane, Miss Rogue."

"Yeah, right..." Jubilee muttered. "I told ya this wasn't gonna go over so well." She still held Millie's hand but she looked away from them both now.

"Ah cain't do that! Ah'll kill ya! An it'll be painful fo' ya!"

"But, dear, I'm already dying. And the method my body has chosen is already painful, I might add."

"But - But... it'd be murdah! Ah cain't just take ya life like that!"

"It is not murder if I am asking you to do it."

"Hank don't even know ya'll are askin' me this, does he?"

"This is not Hank's decision, Rogue; it's mine. And what is worse? A slow, fruitless passing; or a quick, useful one?"

Rogue stood defiant. She still hated using her powers. She could understand Millie's point of view, but it felt really weird to even be considering it. "Ah dunno, Millie."

"I wish to wait for a time Rogue, until I am closer to passing. Please consider it. It would make me happy if you would.

Rogue looked over at Jubilee. "What do ya'll think o' this, Jubes?"

Jubilee met her eyes, and Rogue could tell she was tired and had been crying a bit. "I don...t want to see Millie die, but she is going to do that whether you help her to or not, Rogue. All I can honestly do is respect her decision as an adult who knows what she wants, for herself and for those she cares about." They were, perhaps, some of the most difficult words Jubilee had ever uttered.

"Ah gotta think this through, gals, Ah really do." Rogue bit a nail and turned to leave the room.

"Please do that, young Rogue... but do not take too long." Millie said patiently from her bed.

***

"Whatcha doin, Jubie?"

Jubilee screamed as Logan words came from behind her ear. He had snuck up to her in the library and was taking advantage of the fact that she was engrossed in something on her laptop.

"Jesus!" Jubilee yelped, clasping a hand to her neck. "Dammit, Logan..." she muttered, while still grinning.

He grinned back at her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Logan nodded toward the screen. "What's got ya so intrigued on there that I was able to sneak up on ya?"

She turned back to the screen. "Oh, I got an eMail from David. He's left Oklahoma and joined the mutant resistance."

"David - that guy from the paper? He was your mole. Ain't he a normal?"

"Yep, but he's fallen in love with a mutant, just like his big brother did." She smiled at him and reached up to squeeze the hand he had resting on her shoulder. "So... he and his girlfriend are just rebels now, and they go wherever they are needed."

"And where are they needed?"

"They're in Mongolia. Can ya believe that?"

"Geez, Mongolia... that's a long way off."

"Oh, they'll do well. David's real smart, and a genuinely decent guy."

"Ya miss him, dontcha?" Logan fingered her hair and pushed it behind her ear while she talked.

"Sure, he's saved my ass plenty. I miss all off of my rebel team - we were like brethren."

Logan watched her face as it skimmed the letter again. He knew she was re-hashing many a moment in Oklahoma. He wondered, briefly, about her future.

"I thought the X-Men were your team, Darlin'."

"They were, then I was with Gen-X... Then I became a rebel. I hate ta tell ya this, Logan, but once a rebel always a rebel." She smiled at him sarcastically.

"But... yer here now, Jubes... Right? Yer gonna be a member of this team."

"Logan..." she closed the laptop and turned to face him, where he was down on one knee next to the chair she was sitting in. Jubilee placed a hand on his cheek and searched his eyes for a moment. "Truthfully... I have no idea where I'm gonna end up. I haven't made my mind up about anything yet."

"Well..." he said slyly, pulling her off the chair and bringing her down to the floor with him. She laughed lightly as he rolled her over and pinned her arms down at her sides. "No one's home... so maybe I can take this opportunity to tell you what I think you ought ta do, huh?" He nuzzled her neck and rubbed his sideburns against the soft skin there, tickling her. She giggled against him.

"You don't have to wait - aieeeee! Dammit!" she laughed out loud, "For the house to - God - be empty to tell me your opinion, big guyieeeeeee!"

He chuckled in his throat as she gave in to fits of laughter that ended up being quieted by his own lips. After kissing her for awhile, he carried her to the rec room, where they settled on the couch close together, with a couple beers, a bowl of popcorn, the remote control and Aliens.

***

"Oh, Millie Shugah! Ah wish Ah didn't have the ability to do this. Ah wish you'da nevah known about it!" Rogue stood next to Millie's bed, wearing a baby tee, with a lot of exposed, dangerous skin.

"There now, Rogue. Just wait for Hank to start the IV drip, then do your thing and it'll be over before you know it. Then you can flatten shit and you'll love it, I swear."

"I wish to go on record to state, one more time, that I highly object to this." Hank removed Millie's IV from the current bag and placed it into a new bag, which contained a mild sedative.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Henry! Stop finding new ways to recite the Hippocratic oath! It's my body and it's my departure, and this is what I want."

Jubilee stood at the foot of Millie's bed, her hands clutching the arm Logan had draped around her neck and collarbone. "Yeah - fer Petey's sake, Hank - give the Old Bird what she wants without an argument," Logan growled. He thought it was cool that Millie was picking her own way out, but he was agitated at the way Jubilee was so stressed over it. He just wanted it to end.

"All right then... It just... saddens me."

"I'll miss you too, Henry," Millie chided. She looked over at LeBeau, hanging out in the back of the room, keeping a polite distance. "You say you'll get some of my memories as well, Miss Rogue?"

"Yeah, that's right Shugah."

"Well... you be sure and tell your husband about the time I went to Atlantic City and met that sailor on leave from the Korean War at a dance hall. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. It'll give the two of you a few games you may not have tried yet."

"Millie!" Rogue looked at her, half shocked and half amused.

Hank turned bright purple and Logan grinned.

"What? Can...t a girl pass on what she's learned?" Millie sat up a bit, and waited for Rogue to sit next to her. She shifted so that she could see Jubilee's face one more time, and smiled at her. "You take care of her, young man. She's the prize in your Crackerjack," Millie said sternly to Logan.

"Yes, ma'am, you have my word."

She looked at Jubilee and said, "Now, don...t you go on about this dear, it's what I want. You make sure that blue boy here cremates my remains, and you spread my ashes all over the planet. I am very glad I got to meet you, Jubilation Lee."

Jubilee looked in Millie's eyes and gave her a soft smile. "G'bye, Millie."

Rogue sniffed a little and asked her if she was ready.

"As I'll ever be," she replied, growing a bit woozy.

"Okay, Shugah... cuz once Ah get goin', Ah ain't lettin' go."

"That's the whole idea, dear." Millie looked at her sternly. "Now do it."

Rogue leaned forward and hugged the older woman, pressing her body to her and rubbing her cheek against Millie's own. As the heart monitor registered a momentary spike in her rate, Millie gasped and then she went limp in Rogue's arms. As the life drained out of her, Rogue stayed true to her word and did not let go until it was done. Her weakened state hastened the process, and within moments she was gone.

Rogue released her corpse suddenly. She covered her hands with her mouth, and stood up, turning to face Jubilee. "Oh mah stars, Jubes! She's led a wonderful life!"

Jubilee had tears streaming down her face while she smiled at the same time. Logan held her tighter to him. The scent she was giving off told him she was going to fall apart and start crying - maybe not just yet, but it was going to happen.

"Hank, you'll see to her body? Please?" Somehow she managed to get the words out.

"Certainly, Jubilation."

"C'mere Cajun... Let's see what ya'll look like in 2-D..." Rogue grinned at him playfully. Jubilee remembered that same grin all over Millie's face when she forst told her about her 'Wolvie'.

LeBeau blanched. God only knew what the girl would do after an absorption. "Chere, Amour, you stay away from Gambit! Don' you come any closer!" He backed away from the doorway and stepped out into the hall. Hank, Logan and Jubilee watched as she edged closer to him until he bolted, honest fear evident all over his face. All they heard was Rogue's laughter, which somehow sounded like an old woman's, following the Cajun as he ran down the hall.

"Well," Jubilee sniffed, "That's definitely Millie." She hugged Logan's arm to her and looked over at the bed where the body lay. She moaned, just softly, and started shaking. Logan turned her around in his arms and held her tighter. "She was such a nice lady. I hate losing people!" Jubilee sobbed against him. Logan looked over at Hank, who nodded at him silently. Then he left to give them their privacy.

***

"Are you sure 'bout dis, Petite? It been a long time since you don' dis stuff..."

"It'll be fun."

A mike flipped on from above their heads, and the scolding voice of Scott Summers, leader, was heard. "The Danger Room is not 'fun', Jubilee."

They both groaned.

"Cripes, it's like having seven fathers again..."

"Ain't dat de truth, Chere."

The mike flipped back on again. "I heard that." Logan could be heard chuckling from behind him.

"Can we start this thing, or are we gonna philosophize all day?"

Remy looked at her and grinned. "Dat de petite Remy know. Cyke, give de lady what she want."

"Okay," boomed the speaker, "But it's a low-level program and you are to work together to get through it, got it?"

"This oughtta be rich," Logan muttered.

"We heard that!" shouted Jubilee and Remy in unison.

***

"Petite! Duck!"

LeBeau leapt in front of the holographic trooper in Jubilee's path. He disarmed it and put it down quickly, then yelled, "'Puter! End program!"

She had already received a blow to her stomach and a gash on her leg, and they hadn't even been in there for tem minutes. Remy came over to her quickly and placed a hand on her back as she rubbed her forehead, panting. "Petite, Remy t'ink you got to wait an' train s'more before you ready for de Danger Room, comprendre?"

"I'm... okay..." she breathed.

"Yes, but... You gonna get hurt, If you rush t'ings."

Jubilee bent over, hands resting on her knees, breathing heavily. She looked up as the Danger Room door slid open and Logan strolled in.

"Uh-oh, Chere... Remy t'ink Logan lookin' to force some bed rest on you..." LeBeau poked her gently in her bottom with his staff and she swatted it away.

"Quit it," she laughed, still out of breath.

"Question bein'... Logan gon' make de petite take de bed rest alone, or do he join her, eh?" He poked her again, a bit harder. She gawked at his words, although there was laughter in her eyes, and smacked the staff away again. Jubilee shot a playful spark at his own behind.

"Aye, sapristi! You learn to fight mean wit my Uncles!" He rubbed his butt and gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Oh! I barely even paffed ya, ya big baby!" she laughed out loud and stood up as Logan came to stand beside her.

"Okay, Bub, playtime's over. I got some frustrations to work out. Let's see how ya fare against a flesh an' blood enemy."

"Why don' you work out de frustrations wit de petite?" Gambit grinned wickedly, spinning his staff like a baton. "You might like de results a lot better, mon ami."

Logan shook his head at the Cajun and looked back at Jubilee. "Yer tired, Jubes... that's enough fer today. Go grab a shower and get something to eat. You got all the time in the world to be in fightin' condition again." Her brow creased at his words, as though she had something to add to that. But she chose not to share it.

Not just yet, dude. Soon, though.

"Okay, firecracker?" It was one question, but it had more than a few meanings.

"Yeah," she said, blinking back her thoughts. "Yeah, that sounds okay..."

Logan nodded. Clearly she needed to talk with him, but she wasn't the girl that leapt into his arms and chattered on at the drop of a hat anymore. Logan didn't necessarily miss that girl, but he held out hope that the woman would let that kid out once in awhile.

Jubilee smiled at him, and moved closer to kiss him on his lips, but he beat her to the punch and planted a sweet kiss on her forehead. Her momentary confusion and disappointment at his restrained affection was covered up quickly, but it didn't escape the Cajun's attention. She nodded her head silently and walked out of the danger room, doing her best to cover up her confusion further. LeBeau just drank it all in, and decided that waiting for the right time to ask her about it was the best course of action.

Logan turned to face the tall Frenchman. LeBeau formed an immediate I-know-what-you-two-are-doing-together smirk on his handsome face, even thought he knew they weren't really doing it - not just yet, anyways.

Logan shot him a disgusted expression. "Shut up and deal, Gumbo... Dammit already!"

LeBeau flicked a handful of cards into his fingers. "Quand tu veux, courtaud, anytime..."

***

After Scott checked her out and told her not to worry about it, Jubilee stared out of the observation window, carefully towards the back so that Logan and LeBeau couldn't see her watching. She studied their fluid movements, how they worked together like a well-conditioned machine, even if their targets were each other. She wiped her face with her towel again, burying it from view. She tried to drown out the voice that was yelling at her in her head, but it was too loud to ignore.

Yer not some superhero. Yer not an X-Man. You don...t do this kind of thing anymore. You can't do this kind of thing anymore...

She sighed, dragging the towel across her face, and looked down at the men again. The heat from her flushed cheeks was warning her of the dangerous rise in her blood pressure, but she chose to ignore it.

There were things that needed discussing with Logan.

***

Jubilee was hungry again, and she wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had been in the kitchen making one, and less than two minutes had gone by when Jean came in and casually began speaking to her. The telepath was trying not to give it away that she was there for a 'talk'. But Jubilee had far too much experience with people initiating 'talks' for her not to know it. She sighed. When were these folks going to cut the cord?

Fine with me, Red. But if you wanna discuss me and Logan, yer gonna have to bring it up. I will not do it for you...

As if she was reading a script, right on cue, Jean brought 'it' up.

"I just want the both of you to be happy, Jubilation. Maybe it's going to require more than an innocent attraction for a healthy, adult relationship."

"Healthy? Ya mean like when you played tonsil hockey with Logan right in front of yer husband? That kind of healthy?"

"That was a long time ago." Jean was getting angry, and she had to remind herself that she had started this conversation.

"That's right. It was. And he's over you. You seem to be pretty interested in his feelings though, even if those feelings aren't for you."

"I just think that the two of your should think about this carefully. You should consider what it means to the team. You should consider your age differences."

Jubilee turned to face her. Her expression was one that Jean had never seen before ... not on that face, anyway.

Jean had innocently enough crossed a line that she hadn't even realized was there. From Jubilee's perspective, this was holier-than-thou, listen-to-my-advice-and-follow-it bullshit. And while the telepath insisted on giving it, by the younger woman's standards it was no longer needed - or wanted. Jubilee had dispensed with outside interference in her personal life a long time ago. Oklahoma may have been a hard ride, but no one questioned her decisions like she was a little child while she was there. And if strangers no longer did that, why would she let the likes of Jean start now? She was fuming now, and her words came out as such.

"Jesus Christ! You just don't give up, do ya lady? You gotta control every fuckin' thing you can! How about this," she yelled, tossing her peanut-butter covered knife in the sink with a loud clang. "You should consider that me and Wolvie are healthy enough to know that the 'age difference' doesn't mean a damn thing - to us. Everyone is younger than he is. You should consider that what I do with my time and my body is not the 'concern' of the team! And most importantly, you should consider minding yer own goddamn business!"

"That's enough yelling, young lady!" Jean spat her words at Jubilee in a harsh whisper.

"Why?! You afraid the rest of the house might hear me given' it to ya, Mom?" She still hadn't turned the volume down.

"You have no idea what you are getting into. I do not want to see the two of you getting hurt. I only pray that Logan comes to his senses in time." Jean crossed her arms and stood defiant.

Jubilee took a step closer to her, and got right in her face. Her voice was little more than a growl. "Whether or not you are comfortable with his new woman isn't a big concern of his, and that's what's makin' you crazy." Her appetite now gone, Jubilee turned away from Jean and grabbed the sandwich she had just made. She tossed it on the table and pointed at it, looking at the older woman with furious eyes. "See that?! There's a new game for you to play! How 'bout you eatin' somebody else's leftovers for once?!"

The young woman stalked out of the kitchen and into the back yard, and it was clear she had no immediate interest in smoothing things out with Jean Grey-Summers, if ever.

***

"Are you positive, Chere? Dis is what you wan'?"

"It all depends on his answer Rem. So what I want is kinda unclear at the moment."

LeBeau reached out a hand and caressed her cheek. "To have you back... has meant so much to dis ole' thief, Petite... So much dat de words fail me." She frowned, and he could tell she was fighting back tears. "Tu vas me manquer, p'tite soeur."

Jubilee swallowed hard, looking at him with intensity beyond her years. "Je vais penser à toi, grand frère."

Remy took his hand away suddenly and looked up towards the mansion.

Logan had heard most of Jubilee's rather loud discussion with Jean in the kitchen. Walking out to the grounds, he saw the two of them over the brush. Jubilee was leaning against their tree and talking to Remy, who was standing in front of her. Their conversation was private, he could tell by the hushed tones, but he was not close enough yet to make it out. The Cajun shushed her as he noticed Logan approaching, and then he left her there without a sound, before Logan even got close to them.

Jubilee sat alone now, and she turned to look at Wolverine as he came closer. He could hear her jaw muscles clenching and unclenching at ten paces. It took him a lot of coaxing and some time before she moved over enough to allow him to sit behind her.

Eventually, she calmed down to the point where she was laying on the ground with her head in his lap. She was physically relaxed, but her mind was obviously still ticking. "Y'okay now, Firecracker?" Logan ran his fingers through her hair.

From where it rested on his lap, her head lolled over to look up at him. She didn't look very happy... she looked anything but. "Yeah... I'll be just fine."

"Bullshit. Don't you start lyin' to me."

She barely reacted, but she did stare up at him.

"What about the nosebleeds? You still gettin' them?"

"No... Well, they're goin' away." She rubbed her eyes softly. "Look, Wolvie... Jean set me off, and I'm still pissed at her, but truthfully I couldn't care less about that."

His hand came to rest on her collarbone and she held it there softly. "I'm just kinda confused, here. You've been givin' me some pretty conflicting signals, Ya know?" He looked down at her but did not respond. "Before... when we were on the road... Cripes, Wolvie ... we had to stop ourselves from making love, and more than once. Now, you've all but stopped flirting with me. But ya can't seem to stay away from me, either," she swallowed. "Why?"

"You know how I feel about ya kid. You know."

"Do I? I know what I think... I get the impression that you might be doin' this just to make sure I don't run away again. You wouldn't be so affectionate, otherwise? 'Cuz ya certainly aren't pursuin' me anymore..." She eyed him in the mottled light under their tree. Logan's face was unreadable. "Yer having second thoughts, and you can't bring yourself to tell me." It wasn't a question.

He paused, then spoke gently. "You worry me, Jubilation. I wasn't there when ya needed me the most, an' before that I didn't take enough time ta notice that you were keepin' it all hidden. Then, bam! You were gone, and not just for a walk in the park, either. I just don't wanna make that mistake again. I don't wanna lose ya more'n I already have."

"Logan you haven't lost me. I'm askin' you why you suddenly lost interest in the chase."

"That's sorta the same thing, Jubes..." Logan looked down, away from her probing eyes, and she felt truly bad for him. She felt even worse for what she was about to say. But he was going to have to hear it this time.

She sat up. "Dammit! I knew this was gonna happen... soon as we got back here..." she muttered to no one in particular. Facing him, she asked, "Remember when I said that just because this was going to be hard on me, it doesn't mean that it'll be easy on you? Do you remember that?"

"I'll never forget it, Jubes."

She exhaled, pulling back. "The last thing I wanna do is give ya more grief."

"But...?" he looked at her, waiting for the bomb.

"But..." she looked down now. The words were getting stuck in her throat. Taking her chin in his hand gently, he turned her face up to meet his.

"C'mon Jubes, even if you think yer gonna hurt me, you gotta say it. That's how we got inta trouble in the first place. I won't have us bein' like that anymore."

She nodded her head silently, agreeing with him. She paused for a moment, looking the big guy in his gentle blue eyes. "I can't deal with this indecision anymore. I feel like yer pullin' me in two different directions. One minute I'm your buddy, the kid you took care of. The next I can see that gleam in your eyes that says somethin' a whole lot different. And it reminds me all too often that I want more of it."

"An' I don't like havin' an audience watchin' what we do." His voice was brutally honest. "I'm scared, Jubes."

She sighed, sitting up fully on her knees. "If we're gonna stay here, we're gonna have an audience, period. So, you're embarrassed to be with me then? To be seen pursuing me with the X-Men as witnesses?"

"No."

"Aren't you?! The last time you had your arm around me was when you walked me through that door for the first time in four years," she said, tossing her thumb in the direction of the mansion. "And as soon as you saw the others, you removed it. What the hell else am I supposed to think, Wolvie? You're embarrassed to be with me." He looked down, frowning. He said nothing. She was mostly wrong, but he had no idea how to explain it to her. "I'll take your silence as admission to that fact."

Logan sighed. She had taken it the wrong way, now she was miffed, and he should be clearing it up. Yet somehow he couldn't bring himself to talk about it.

"Why are you so damn good at drawin' me out, yet I can't do the same for you? When did that happen to us? Logan, tell me what you're scared of."

He swallowed hard. She deserved the truth, however much it hurt him to give it to her. "It scares me... that if I fail as your lover, I'll lose you as my friend. That's a lot for me to lose, Jubes. No one knows me like you do. I'd be miserable."

"How can you be so sure of that? And are you saying that what we could have together isn't worth taking that chance?" Again, she was met with his silence. "Never thought I'd see the day when the Great Wolverine would be playin' it safe." She smirked, attempting to lighten the mood.

His head snapped back at her words, looking her dead on. "I'll risk all sorts o' things, Jubilee, and on a daily basis. But I ain't riskin' you."

He tried to keep looking at her, but found that he couldn't, and his eyes went right back to the ground. She sighed. "Okay, I get it... But here's the thing. I'm not like you on this one. You've stuck around here for years with the Jean thing, pining for a relationship that you couldn't have, but perfectly willing to stay by her side ... as her friend. You've had the comfort of being a real member of this team ... something I have yet to achieve - to help you deal with living under the same roof as her."

"You are a real member of this team! Don't say you aren't." He glared slightly.

"You and I both know that I've never fit in here ... not enough. I was always the sidekick, or the trouble-maker, or the kid, or the 'tag-along', or the 'honorary X-Man', or some crap like that, to justify that fact that the X-Men took a minor with handy plasma tricks and limited fighting capabilities on dangerous missions." He didn't respond and looked away from her eyes again. She was telling the truth, and he couldn't dispute it.

"And anyway, stop trying to change the subject! Being an 'official' X-Man is the least of my concerns. All I can think about right now is why we've hit another wall. My point is that, for all those years, you nobly bore a torch for Jean on your own." Jubilee lifted his chin up then, and looked him in the eyes to make sure he was listening to her. "I do not have the strength to do that ... an' I don't even want to. I can't put up with that kind of longing the way you have with Jean. You have to make up your mind about this, Logan."

"I need time. I don't know what else to tell you, but I know I need time to do that."

She shook her head, disappointed, and stood up. Logan's hand still clutched hers. Looking up at her, he saw that she was neither angry nor sad. She looked like she was finished, and it made his blood go cold. "You'll have your time," she sighed, and her voice went very quiet and soft. "You'll also have your space."

He stared at her. He knew what she was saying, but he didn't want to believe it. "Jubes, please, you can't leave. You just got home!"

"I can, and I'm gonna. This isn't my home anymore. I thought you were gonna be my home, but now I can't tell what you want. And until you make that clear, I have to do something with my life. Besides..." She let go his hand and backed away a step. Jubilee exhaled, nervously crossing her arms. "If there is one thing Oklahoma taught me, it's that I know I have a calling ... and it isn't just being a certain someone's sidekick, or a torch holder. I didn't come back here for that. And you know it." She uncrossed her arms and turned to go. Jubilee's back was to Logan, and her voice was calm and quiet. But she knew those mutant ears of his would pick it up, even over the breeze.

"David's having more trouble with the FOH and mutant rights in Mongolia than he can handle alone. I'm going to help him. I'll drop you a line when I get settled." She stopped for a moment, putting a hand to her forehead, and he thought he could smell tears downwind. "God... I love you, Wolvie... but I'm just not equipped to be a martyr. You taught me better than that."

Completely dumbfounded, he stared after her as he watched her walk away.

She's going to Mongolia?!

He wanted to grab her by the arms, hug her and kiss her, and tell her to stay with him because it was all going to work out. Another part of him also wanted to look around and make sure that no one else was watching them before he touched her.

It was a part of himself he was learning to hate, and that was the part Jubilation Lee was walking away from.

And the bitch of it was, Logan knew she had every right.

Fin

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Okay, I know... not the happiest ending.

I was going for a realistic approach. Well... as real as it can be for two comic book chracters. FACE IT, in the Real Marvel World, Jubes had growing feelings for Wolvie, Logan is still in love with Jean, Jean just keeps stringin' him along (yawn...), and Jean still has a soul mate in Scott.

That's life, kiddies. That sells books. Has for a long time now.

Would I like to see Jubes flex her mutant muscles in the titles?? Sure! But I think she has a better chance at dating Nick Fury than she does being a regular character anymore. Maybe she should... Nick's kinda cute...

* ahem * The whole point of writing this fanfic was to give me something else to read if Marvel never lets Jubie grow up or allows her to prove her worth. Closure, remember? I can always come to this site and find a thing or five to make me feel better about her fate, even if I'm still reading the books. Which I will be... I know how long these books have been around. They have to let her be an adult sometime, right? But, we don't know where, or even if Jubes is gonna show up again.

I'm really sorry if the end made you sad. But, fear not! A sequel (entitled 'Seasoned') has already been started, and it's much happier.

At least in the beginning.

Thanks for reading this story.

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