3

Chuck's Hill

Jubilation Lee had precious few contacts in Canada, despite her relationship with Wolverine. She was never much for camping, and she wasn't about to spend her leftover cash on a motel room. Getting across the country and up into Alaska to the designated port without the help of Xavier Platinum gave her few options, especially when she was trying to keep her name out of the papers and off hotel registries. She had to stay under the radar.

She left her sturdy, used Yellow Jeep, the one Chuck had bought for her, behind. He promised her it would be maintained and waiting for her whenever she returned. Going on foot increased her chances of staying out of sight, and what would she do with the Jeep when she reached the port, anyway? Besides, she was stubborn, as usual, and determined to do this using mostly her own resources - not Xavier's, not the X-Men's, not Remy's or her collection of Cajun Uncles. It was not only a point of pride to her to do it that way, but she wanted to prove to everyone else that the world had not yet become so ugly that she could do it without herself getting killed.

She took her souped-up laptop and a cell phone, of course. She wasn't that desperate for her independence. And Remy had insisted, in a way that she could not get out of. So far she had done quiet well for herself; occasionally hitchhiking, sleeping in parks, barns, and all-night diners, even hopping a train or two. She was damn good with a compass and she had all the right maps.

But now she was even further North, where the land was mostly woods and mountains, and it was getting a bit cold at night. She watched a rustic cabin for any inhabitants the better part of a day. There was no activity, so at dusk, she broke into it - well, she just pushed the door open, and paffed herself a good fire.

It was hidden in a thick stretch of trees, so she knew she'd have privacy. She figured on a generator - but didn't count on it. And a good thing, too - it was there, but there was no gasoline.

"Whatever. Lights would only attract planes. I just want to catch a few warm nights before moving on."

She got cleaned up with water she retrieved from a nearby lake, paffing it hot and adding some soap she found in a makeshift pantry. Then she ate some of the jerky and bread she had bought at a roadside stand, and opened a can of green beans from the pantry with her knife. She fingered the knife appreciatively and smiled as she chewed in silence. Remy had given it to her as a goodbye present. Her Uncles had taught her plenty about knives- how to use them for defense, as well as for eating and emergencies. The blade was forged and tempered with Shi'Ar technology. It was as tough as adamantium, and it was about 7 inches long. She kept it in a holster on her boot, on the inside of her left leg.

Just before removing her boots and retiring, she went outside for some fresh air and found herself gazing up at the stars. It was true, you could see more of them in the country. She made out the outline of the Milky Way, and identified a few constellations. It was very peaceful there. She was way ahead of her schedule and had some time to kill, so Jubilee decided to stay there awhile. Maybe the cool air, rushing water and isolation would take her mind off of Logan… or not.

Finally, she settled into a creaky old bed with a heavy sigh. Her heart was still heavy, but at least she had the purpose of Mongolia to fill her head.

***

"C'mon Carter! I ain't askin' you fer the world here. Just a lil' info 'bout a lil' gal."

Nick Fury sat on the corner of Sharon Carter's desk and gave her a cheesy grin.

"What's the matter, Colonel? Not as brave about approaching the fairer sex as you used to be?" She smirked as Fury chewed the inside of his lip. "Are you slipping?"

"Am I slipping? How long has it been since you and Cap been out on a date?" He gouged her good with that one. "Am I slipping, that's a good one, Sharon."

She crossed her arms and looked up at her once-again-director. "You know, just cuz you're my boss again doesn't mean I'm gonna do illegal research for you using the SHIELD mainframe, simply because you ask. And yes, Cap and I are no longer seeing each other. I would appreciate it if you didn't remind me."

"Awww, does it still sting?" he chided.

She gave him a cold stare. "Yes, it does, you asshole. Thanks so much for asking."

Fury looked down at his shoes. Sometimes, he just didn't know not to go there. He exhaled long and sounded sincere. "That was mean. An' it's not like I ain't never known that kinda pain. I'm sorry, Sharon."

She curled her lip at him, giving in. "You really are a jerk. Just be glad I like you. Apology accepted, Nicholas." She sighed, heavily. Fury was murder on her desire to play by the rules. "All right… Who is she, and why do you want her file?"

"She's a guinea pig for the med staff… and why do you want to know why I want her file… huh?" Fury grinned again, teasing her.

"Hey, if I'm gonna break the rules, I deserve a little bit of juicy gossip, right?! What's motivating you here? Is she cute or something?"

"Yeah, she's cute. An' smart and puckish. Look, I'da found out things on my own, but she - er, we were busy with a monitored task and I have a feeling she's here against her own… uh… better judgment, if ya will. An' I didn't wanna put her on the spot in front o' the hidden cameras."

"Oooooh," Carter squealed quietly, "I do love a mystery." She called up the staff records, hiding her identity by getting a piggy-back to the medical server using a 'borrowed' access code. It looked like an A-level doctor was simply reading through them. Fury gave her what little information he had, and she located Jane Winchester's file. Quickly burning the files to a disk, she handed it to Fury with a smirk.

"You owe me buddy. Big time."

"Thanks, Sharon." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and shoved the jewel case in his SHIELD jacket. "I do owe ya."

"Well, just… get me a box of Swiss chocolates, and keep me appraised of the sitch. If I'm not to have a love life of my own, I at least want to be kept up on yours."

"You got it, babe," he said, grinning at her as he closed the door to her office.

Sharon sighed. She stared at the black monitor after she turned her computer off. "Oh God… I'm getting my kicks by living vicariously through a set-in-his-ways, one-eyed, abnormally youthful eighty-year old career-military SHIELD agent…" She dropped her face into her hands and groaned into her palms. "I gotta get out more…"

***

Early in Logan's career with the X-Men, Charles Xavier gave him a present. It wasn't much in the way of a refinement, but it was right up Logan's alley. A thousand acres in the Northwest corner of Manitoba, Canada, to do with as he saw fit. And he did with it just as he pleased: not much. It was simple, hard to get to, and secluded. Just the way he liked it. Logan christened it 'Chuck's Hill', even though it was more like a small mountainside. He built a crude cabin with a huge fireplace and added some used furniture. The only other humans he had ever brought there were McCoy, Fury, Kurt Wagner and the Cajun. Jubilee had heard all the tales, and she had honestly hoped he would take her to see it one day, but she eventually grew out of the fantasy as she grew further apart from Logan.

The closest thing to civilization near Chuck's Hill was a huge tavern called Moria's. First you had to navigate your way down the hill, which could get you lost if you depended on the barely-there dirt road. When you got to the bottom of the hill, and if you were on track, you could catch an 'official' dirt road. Follow that for twenty miles and you found Moria's. It was the closest thing to a hot spot in the entire area.

Logan went to the tavern whenever he was staying at the cabin. He and Gambit had even ended a bar fight there once, saving the owner a bundle in broken furniture by rendering the bad guys unconscious with ease. But he spent most of his time on the hill. There was a lake filled with fish, and other game wandered around as well. He even had a long-standing relationship with a bear that showed up whenever he graced the woods. Mostly it was a harmless stand-off, a man-versus-beast deal. Although, with the lifestyle that Logan usually adopted while there, it was difficult to tell who was the beast. For many years he thought the bear was male, until she turned up with a few cubs. They didn't do any fighting that year.

This was where Logan came to either start or stop thinking. The entire drive up he still couldn't figure out which one he was going to engage in this time. All he knew was that no one would be there to bother him, and that's what he was looking for.

So naturally, the thin trail of smoke coming out of the chimney gave him pause when he saw it. He stopped and parked the Jeep about fifty feet in front of the cabin, and grabbed his bag. Logan crept up to the cabin soundlessly, his feet knowing every exposed root and rut there was. He knew whoever was inside had heard the Jeep and was probably running away or waiting for a fight.

He narrowed his eyes and growled low in his throat. This place was his, and so few things were.

Now angry, he stopped in front of the door, and inhaled deeply. What entered his nose made his jaw drop. It couldn't be. His hand froze in position near the door. He cleared his throat softly. Ya can't stand out here all night nimrod, he told himself. Open the Goddamn door and say hello.

The heavy piece of wood fit the doorframe perfectly, he had seen to that years ago, but it still creaked as it opened slowly. The cabin was dark, with a very low fire burning in the large room that he faced. Whoever it was he was expecting to see was staying hidden. For now.

He took a deep breath.

"Jubes. Come on out now, girl."

The fear he had smelled in the room was quickly replaced with other emotions, too jumbled together for him to discern completely. One he recognized clearly was relief. Another, love.

She stepped out of the darkness of the small room in the back, that huge knife Gambit had given her in hand. It glistened in the dark when the firelight caught it.

"I don't fuckin' believe this."

That was his Jubes all right. He suppressed the urge to grab her and sweep her up in a huge embrace. He'd at least wait until she put that damn knife down. Logan shook his head and closed the door tight to keep the heat in.

"Believe it, babe." He turned back around as she took a couple tentative steps into the larger room. She smiled at him shyly as she crossed her hands over her waist, knife still loosely in hand. Her long black hair was tied up in a tight, high ponytail. She was the picture of Soldier Swank in her patched up old jeans, Doc Marten combats, and a new gray henley. The crushed neon pink velvet scrunchie in her hair wasn't really adding to the mercenary look, but he knew better. Appearances were deceiving where Jubilee, Rebel Leader, was concerned.

"Cripes… What in the hell are ya doin here, Darlin'?" He yelled. She may have been frightened at his tone of voice if she hadn't seen him trying to stop himself from smiling.

"Me?! What about you?! Yer supposed to be in South America with Rogue and Cyke!"

"I cancelled! I decided to come up here and get my space." He said it with a calculated smirk, mimicking some of her last words to him. "Now, tell me, what are you doin' here?"

"I'm givin' you yer space, you idiot!!" She screamed, waving her arms about and beginning to laugh. She slammed the knife into the wall and there it stuck. "I'm headed up to Juneau where, in three weeks, I'm catching a cargo ship to Vladivostok. I thought ya wouldn't be here, duh! So I decided to stop here for a week or so and clear my head out a little!"

"Well, is it working?!" Logan shouted, and she could tell he was on the verge of laughing.

"No!" Jubilee screamed, then she did laugh. "Everything I look at makes me think of you! I hear you talking to me in my head and it's making me nuts!" She crossed her arms again when she realized he was watching her and grinning. "There! I said it! I hate being without you, okay?!?" She wiped a tear away and he honestly couldn't tell if she was about to cry or laugh.

He paused, smiling. "What the fuck are ya goin' ta Vladivostok for, Darlin'?" Logan grinned at her. He was so happy to see her.

"It's the only ship I could get myself onto that can get me within walking distance of the North Korean Mutant Liberation force. From there, I have a guaranteed bus ride to Mongolia."

He changed the subject smoothly. Her going there was something he was still not in the mood to face. "How the hell did ya find this place, Jubes? I never brought you here. I never even told ya how to get here." She pursed her lips and tried to hide a smile as she averted her eyes. "Jubilation…" Logan warned, crossing his arms. She just smiled. Finally he exhaled, resigning himself to the fact that Gambit would do anything she asked of him. "That mangy Cajun… I'm gonna give him a new haircut when I see him next." Logan muttered as he tossed his duffle into a corner next to the fire, "This is just too much."

He watched as she removed her knife from the wall and set it down on the table. She gave him an impish grin. He tossed his arms out to his sides in a gesture that let her know he was now out of small talk. "Aw fer Crissakes, woman! Are ya happy ta see me -or not?!" Logan half laughed-half yelled, just before Jubilee threw herself into his arms, smiling all the way.

***

Swallowing the last of his third beer, Nick Fury fingered the edges of the dossier on Jane Winchester, deep in thought. Across his lap lay a surveillance photo of her, taken almost five years ago, as she left a hospital. She looked the same; small in stature, short, spiked, white-blonde hair, casual clothes with sneakers, and those beautiful, haunted gray eyes.

He knew it was a horrible invasion of privacy, but he felt compelled to find out more about this pixie of a woman. Taking the disk that Carter had made for him, Fury had printed the files out as soon as he got home to his penthouse. He took a shower and grabbed a few beers, then he headed outside to the balcony and sat down to skim over the information. He would just glance, maybe get a little more insight on her. Enough to not look like a jerk when he planned on asking her out. He intended to get a 'yes'.

However, glancing at the file did not work. The information he found there could not be put down. He didn't stop until three hours later, when he had read the entire file.

His instincts had been right, she didn't seem the criminal type. She wasn't. The medical staff at SHIELD got its sanitary hands on her through a unique set of circumstances, not voluntarily, another of his instincts that had turned out to be correct.

Jane, just like any other intelligent American, was smart enough not to take her freedom for granted. Her then-boyfriend was dead, at her own hands, and she was facing murder charges. SHIELD had its eye on her for some time. Her gifts had been documented by certain staff members who were designated to watch such individuals, and they wanted the young empath for medical experimentation. So they dug in and waited for the opportunity to present itself. After the incident with her boyfriend, SHIELD swept in and gave the frightened young woman a choice: come work for us, or rot in jail.

She took the former. And at the time, she thought she was making the best decision. But Fury remembered her expression when she tended his wounds. When she wasn't flirting back with him, however reluctantly, she didn't look like a dedicated colleague. She looked more like a wolf caught in a trap, ready to chew its own leg off to get free.

***

It was already past midnight when Logan had found Jubilee in his cabin. They stayed up for another hour just talking and drinking some hard cider he'd brought in the Jeep. But he could tell she was exhausted and he finally forced her go to bed.

"Still gonna tuck me in like a little girl, Logan? Cuz you ain't sleepin' with me." She eyed him as his hands went for the covers. He stopped, and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Millie was right, girl. An' Chuck nailed me, too." His voice was quiet in the dark and she decided that if he was going to talk, she was more than ready to let him. Even the Wolverine had his breaking point.

"What doya mean, Wolvie?"

"I'm a… coward. You an' me, we can sit and talk for hours, just like nothin's ever changed. When no one is near us all I wanna do is get closer to you. My head's clear when it's just us. I know what I want. But I take us both back to the mansion, and we…" His voice faded off.

"That's one of the reasons why I had to leave there, Logan. It was mostly cuz I'm just not an X-Man anymore. But there was all that confusion with you. It was breaking my heart."

"I know. An' knowin' it is makin' it all the harder. I've never backed down from a fight, Jubes, you know that. But I can't shake the team. They were there all the time. I was gonna lose you with the way I was dickin' around - Millie told me that plain as day, but I was too scared to face it. I was waitin' fer my head to get out of my ass, an' I didn't know what else ta do. But when ya left, it got real clear."

She stared at him thoughtfully. "You ain't sleepin' in this bed, Logan."

He looked down. "I know that. I ain't gonna even try to ask. But can ya please tell me…"

She tilted her head to the side where she lay on the pillow. "What? Ask me."

"Exactly what do I have ta do to up my chances of that?"

She grinned up at him in the dark. "That's easy. Make chase, you idiot."

His eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's all? Chase you?"

"Yup. Chase me, convince me, and don't stumble in front of our friends. I think that's the part yer havin' trouble with."

"Not anymore. I already told 'em how I felt."

"Oh really?" Jubilee laughed. "When are ya gonna tell me, huh?"

"When I'm makin' chase, I s'pose. And to hell with whoever else don't like the idea."

"Just remember that the next time we are both standing in front of them, okay?" She wasn't smiling that time, and she could see he wasn't either. She decided to lighten the mood. "Anyways, Wolvie, they aren't all against us. Remy and Rogue love it that we're gettin' all sweet on each other. Henry thinks it's good for my general health, remember? And Chuck was encouraging, even way back before Oklahoma. There were those, however…"

"Don't say it. I don't wanna hear that name."

"Okay, okay," she sighed, sitting up and pulling herself closer to him. "Everyone, all the way from Steve Rogers to Viper, is gonna figure it out eventually, Wolvie," she laughed quietly from over his shoulder. "You can't be afraid of that, or it isn't going to work."

"I know that, babe. The team had it pretty much figured out with the way I was praisin' yer name before I left. But if we do it this way, by the time they all figure it out we can tell 'em to shove their majestic reprobations up their flamin' asses." He grinned wickedly. "If they got any ass left after I get done skewerin' them, that is."

She laughed out loud, and the happy sound echoed in the cabin. "That's good enough for me. I just… wanted an answer. Whatever else happens after tonight, you've given me an answer."

"But, no more tuckin' ya in… right?"

She smiled softer and whispered to him, "Nope… this is the last time - until you've made chase. And by then you'll have graduated from tuckin' in to gettin' in."

"Ah, I see. You got a plan."

"Always."

"A hard an' a fast one, I take it?"

"Them's my rules, dude." She grinned. "You okay with that?"

"Yeah, it's cool. I understand." She grinned up at him. Logan gently pulled her face closer to his and kissed her softly, then his whisper broke the silence. "Go to sleep, Jubes." Then he stood up, and had to force himself, again, to not rearrange her covers. "You can tuck yerself in, gorgeous." He winked at her and left the room.

Jubilee looked at the closed door for a long time, smiling herself stupid. "Much better…" she yawned. She looked out of the huge window at the stars and lay very still. She fell asleep quicker that night than she had in a long, long time.

***

"I love playin' with you Blue! It just keeps going!"

Natalie dug her fingers into Hank's fur and clung to him for dear life as he galloped across the yard after a giggling Paul. "Life does seem to slow down when I am with the two of you," Hank was out of breath, and enjoying every minute of it. Charles was there too, enjoying the twins' presence as much as the brilliant blue doctor. It seemed that when the adoption went through, they would have a grandfather just as soon as a father.

After McCoy had asked her, Trish Tilby stopped by to meet the children. While they were sweet and friendly enough, she was having trouble with their mutations. Paul's appearance was overwhelming. Once past his own shyness and her being taken aback by his total orangeness, she found he was a normal little boy – crude, dirty, affectionate and loud. But to look at him as though no one else would look twice… she just couldn't stop the nasty scenarios from forming in her head.

Natalie, though less obvious in her looks, was even more difficult for Trish to get past. When sitting on her lap, Trish asked her a question about Oklahoma. It was innocent enough, but the little girl was still having trouble with the death of her parents. She turned to look at Trish, not speaking, at a loss for words, really. The sadness in her intense orange eyes seemed to burn a hole in Trish's heart. One she was not ready to deal with.

She took Hank aside before she left, feeling the need to explain her subdued reactions to his announcement that he would adopt them soon.

"Henry, I can't just accept this, you have to give me some time."

"I'm not asking you to marry me, Trish. You aren't being asked to mother them. But I am going to adopt them. As my girlfriend, you are going to be around them. They are going to be my kids." He rubbed the side of her arm. "Is that going to be a problem?"

She looked back to the two of them, playing out in the yard with Charles floating nearby. She spoke to the image in front of her, almost as though Henry were not even in the room. "I'm… really not sure. I want to say yes, believe me. But I'm…"

"Trish… Do you still think of me like a blue fuzzy beast first, or your lover?" He came up behind her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I thought you and I were well past that kind of thing."

She turned halfway, placing her palm on his knuckles. He could feel her trembling slightly as she continued looking at the children, and not facing him. "You're my boyfriend Henry McCoy. Everyone knows that." This time she did turn. "But I am a public figure. And human-mutant relations are not getting any better. What happens to them if they become public spectacles because they know me? They could be hurt, or worse. I'm thinking about their future Hank… not mine. I only want to protect them."

She lied – or at least she hadn't told him the full truth. He felt her fear. Hank was just too much of a gentleman to say anything more. And her use of the word 'spectacles' had hurt.

Trish went home. Hank, momentarily saddened, went back outside to play with his charges. The more time he spent doing that, the better.

Charles had been trying to glean anything he could from the twins, as to what their mutant powers may turn out to be. While Natalie and Paul were nowhere near adolescence, at times slight anomalies or abnormal behavior could reveal what the future may possibly hold for them. As it turned out, Beast's comment about life 'slowing down' when he was with them was not entirely unfounded. It had taken awhile, but the Professor was a beginning to notice one abnormal pattern: On a small scale, everything slowed down or sped up around the twins, but only when the two of them were together – playing or otherwise. The happier they were, the slower things went for them. The more they argued, the more time they lost. And if they concentrated on or were engrossed in what they were doing… the more noticeable the shift in time became. The tricky part for Charles had been not looking for a change in Paul and Natalie, but noticing the change in himself when he observed them. That was how he found it.

Trish was right about one thing. If the control of time turned out to be their mutant talent, they would need protection. A lot of protection. There were many despicable people that would seek to exploit that kind of gift. Perhaps worse, if their talent were dependant on being together - with two personalities, two brains, two lives – it would be very hard for them to learn to control it.

Charles smiled. He did love a good puzzle.

***

It was a beautiful time of year in the thick woods sheltering the little cabin. Dew-covered, crisp mornings gave way to a full-blown Indian summer during the day, with vibrant red and yellow leaves and majestic pines everywhere the eye cared to wander. The sun shone brightly in the pre-fall sky, and the two people currently occupying the cabin went on frequent hikes in the surrounding hills and trees. Hikes that usually ended in a playful game of hide-and-seek, or the one-sided 'how-to-fall-in-a-creek-when-pushed', followed quickly by the 'run-for-your-life-cuz-you-are-next' game, or last-one-back's-gotta-fix-dinner. The man usually let the woman win that one; she was a lousy in the kitchen. At least, lousy at cooking in the kitchen. Well, cooking food.

Jackets were needed only at night. The temperature would drop slowly at dusk, and it was too late in the year for the nagging, biting insects that plagued the hotter months, now happily behind them. The nights were idyllic – cold, clear… quiet. A blanket of stars greeted them whenever they looked up from the porch. The weather was perfect for snuggling by the fireplace and falling asleep in each other's arms.

Logan and Jubilee had been in Canada for a week now, doing all these things, but not yet one particular thing…

Returning from her first visit to Moria's tavern, Logan grabbed a huge pile of wood from the porch and Jubilee paffed it into a roaring fire. The cabin was heating up rapidly. They stood facing each other on the cold wooden floor. Shoes and jackets had been tossed carelessly into a corner. He helped her pull her sweatshirt and T-shirt off over her head and threw them on the chair, and she now stood before him, upper body bared and golden. Jubilee's skin was soft under his rough fingers as he traced them up her arms, looking at her shamelessly, until his eyes reached hers. He could smell the desire as it coursed though her; it seeped out of her very pores.

"Jubes, Darlin'… Are ya sure yer ready? I don't wanna hurt you…" Logan regarded her carefully. Back at the bar, he wanted to be sure Jubilee had not gotten drunk, because he knew neither one of them could wait any longer than they already had for this night. He wanted to make sure that she would be sober, and her senses sharp, that she might look back and remember these moments in her old age – with extreme clarity.

It was just as important that he be sober. He didn't want to be some tame gentlemen with her tonight, that would not be in character. But… he also didn't want to be anywhere near drunk, for he could get carried away with his baser instincts. The ones that were telling him to just rip off her clothes and sink her four inches deep in the mattress.

They'd have time enough for that kind of fun later. Tonight was going to be different.

"It's gonna hurt no matter what, Old Man; whether I'm ready or not… 'Cuz It's been a real long time since I've done this…" she murmured, grinning sweetly and unbuttoning his shirt in the light of the fire. He looked deep into her eyes. Her face sat right below his when she reached around with her hands to his back. She yanked the shirt out of his jeans, pushed the collar off of his shoulders, and then let the worn cotton garment fall to the floor.

Jubilee ran her hands across his magnificent chest. "Besides," she breathed, mapping his stomach muscles with her fingertips, "I am ready. Certain parts of me were ready over an hour ago." She slid her hands up to the back of his neck suddenly and clutched at his thick, black hair. Directing an expression at him that said 'I do not share my toys', Logan thought his knees were actually going to buckle.

"Aw, cripes…" he whispered, grinning. She pulled his mouth down to meet hers, finally pressing her naked flesh against his own.

***

"I'm thinkin'… we broke… the bed," she muttered, her face half buried in the mattress, half hanging over the edge. Her right arm dangled down to the floor, and her left arm was lying across his collarbone. Her hand was still clutching his hair. Jubilee was on her tummy, and Logan lay on his back next to her. His left arm was draped across her back, one large palm holding her firmly at the hip. Their legs were still a tangled, happy mess.

"Babe… I know we broke the bed," he replied.

That's where they had ended up when they stopped ten minutes earlier, too tired to go on after the… thirtieth time? In four hours? They had lost count. Only God was aware of the new record that had been made that night, as a twenty-four year old, anxious, eager, acrobatic near-virgin got taken – repeatedly - by a seemingly ageless, creative, experienced powerhouse of a man, with a mutant healing factor. One that worked. And quickly.

"I think I may have singed your curtains with that last display… Sorry, Wolvie… I hope they weren't special." She still hadn't moved.

"Big frickin' deal! I ruined the mattress with my claws the twenty-third time." His voice was low, and raspy… and very, very masculine. "D'ya know how hard it is ta get large-item delivery to the Wilds of Canada?"

Feminine giggles, followed by silence.

"Logan?"

"Mmm?"

"Rogue's told me a few things about Remy's… um… stamina."

"Yeah, so I overheard," he scoffed.

"But I gotta tell ya dude – he's got nuthin' on you."

Logan slowly turned his head to look at her languid body next to him. "Kid, yer gonna have trouble thinkin' tomorrow, let alone walkin'."

She smiled quietly. "I guess that means you'll havta carry me everywhere. Or we can just stay in bed."

His hand slid up her side deliciously, and she shivered inwardly at his touch. When it moved back down to her hip, it wandered across her bottom, stroking and patting her there reassuringly.

Totally unnecessary, she thought, but cool; and so very.

"Jubes, Darlin'… are ya happy?" Wolverine asked, honestly interested in her answer.

"Logan, I mean this when I say it – and not just for what happened tonight, but since the day I met ya," she paused. "I don't have the words for how happy you make me."

Silence. He grinned in the dark, like a Cheshire cat.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now," she muttered.

"Okay… C'mon back over here if ya get cold. Or just tell me, an' I'll see if I can muster up enough strength ta move ya."

"Okay," she half-whispered, half-yawned. The fire popped and crackled quietly in the main room, but all they were listening to was each other's steady, satisfied breathing. Neither one of them had any idea where the next days would take them. For all he knew…

He reprimanded himself once again for his denial. Who was he kidding? He did know. Soon, he'd talk Jubilee into letting him drive her up to Juneau, and after seeing her safely aboard the cargo ship, he would simply turn around and go back to the mansion… It hurt, but they both knew it was true.

"I love you, Jubilation," he said clearly.

Jubilee broke the dark silence of the cabin's bedroom one last time, before they both drifted off. "I love you too, Logan

 

 

 

4

How to make a Wolverine nervous in one easy step

 

They sat under a huge tree, after having hiked the morning away. Although exhilarated, her body was also very sore, and she needed the freeing movement. Not to mention the fact that she almost brushed her teeth with her shampoo.

She needed some air, too.

He leaned against the massive tree trunk, rubbing her back soothingly as she snuggled against him. Clearly, they relished every moment they were having together, but they had things to talk about.

"I don't want my past messin' up yer future, Darlin'. That's all I'm tryin' ta say."

"But, Wolvie… I don't care about your past. I mean – I care about it, as in, I'm interested in it. But it won't change how I feel about you. You could dig up hideous stuff – like Sabretooth stuff – and it wouldn't matter. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Yer the most righteous, stand-up dude I've ever known." She balled a fist and hit him on his chest like a fellow soldier.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure about that, Jubes? Are you positive?"

"It's the only thing I have ever been positive about, Logan. I love you for who you are to me – not who you were to someone else." She leaned back and looked in his eyes, and her brows knitted together.

"You believe me… dontcha?" Jubilee implored.

His expression grew kind, but also sad, and he placed his large hand over her small one, squeezing it. "I believe you, babe. I just want you to know what yer gettin' yerself into."

"Oh? And you aren't gettin' yerself inta things with me?" She smiled at him warmly. Logan looked back at her slyly from under the rim of his hat. "Are you ready to be with me until I die, until I've grown old and you haven't?"

Logan raised a hand to her cheek. "The longer it lasts the better. No matter how old ya get, I'm keeping ya."

She sighed, and smiled. Jubliee leaned back into her favorite spot – him – and watched the tall grass flowing like water in the slight breeze.

"Yer stuck with me for good, ya know that kid?"

She grinned slowly, saying, "Good…" Jubilee pushed his hat up just enough to fit her face in under it, and kissed him.

Logan was kissing her back, but then he suddenly broke it off. "Marry me," he blurted out.

She blinked.

Um… Did he just propose to me?!

"Um… Did you just propose to me?!"

"Aww, c'mon Firecracker! Don't make me get down on my knees! I'm so comfortable where I'm at…"

Jubilee raised her eyebrows at him in protest. "Geez ler-weez! I don't even rate a little begging?! Some princess I turned out to be!" She backed away and hit him playfully on his shoulder. "Cripes, Logan! Ya don't even got a ring!" Feigning disappointment, she crossed her arms and made a 'hmpf' noise.

"Oh yeah! I knew I fergot sumthin'!!" An amused look on his usually feral face, Logan reached deep in a pocket on his sweatshirt and pulled out a little box. A little, light blue, velvet box. He held it in front of Jubilee's nose.

"This what yer whinin' about, girl?"

Jubilee's mouth dropped open as she stared at it.

"Ti… That's from… Tif… Tif…"

"Tiffany's. Of New York. Yes. You can do it, Jubes; just use yer teeth an' yer gums at the same time…"

She swallowed. "Bu… But that means that you bought… You bought it…"

He lowered his eyes and stared at her teasingly, shaking his head 'yes'. "That's right. That means that I bought it before I left. Like a few days, even?" He closed her mouth with one gentle finger. She shook her head in agreement, still staring at the box.

"Well, yer almost right. I actually bought it the day after I brought ya back home. 'Member when I went out for a spell, and Gumbo spent the day with ya? I guess… I couldn't wait any longer." Logan opened the box for her, because she appeared to be quite paralyzed.

"Rogue wanted to help me pick it out, but that swamp rat ain't got no fashion sense. And 'sides… I knew what I wanted to get ya."

He turned the box back around so that the ring was facing her. Jubilee's jaw fell open again. He smiled.

"Jesus H. Christ, girl… Yer still breathing, ain't ya?!"

"Uh-huh…" she uttered.

"God in Heaven…" Logan groaned, reaching for her hand with his free one. "Show 'em one damn piece of jewelry and they get all stupid." He separated her fingers until the correct one was pointing out, then he took the ring from the box and slid it onto her shaking finger. "Yup," Logan smiled happily, "Perfect fit."

Jubilee finally moved, pulling the hand back and examining the ring. She smiled, even thought her mouth was still agape.

Logan frowned. "What?! Tell me ya had no suspicions I was gonna do this?" His voice was sarcastic.

"Sure, I thought… maybe… but like, I dunno, years from now. This… This is… Wow…"

"I take it that's a 'yes', then?"

She looked at him finally, smiling like a little kid.

"Please say yes, Jubliation. Please." His expression was completely earnest. "I'll get down on both knees, if that's what it'll take."

"Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes!" She cried joyfully. She grabbed his face by his sideburns and kissed him all over.

Logan emitted a strange half growl-half giggle. Yer gonna be my wife, Jubie, he thought, squeezing her shoulders tight.

"This is so cool… It'll be a shock to the team, huh? Not to mention yer green-haired-with-envy-ex-wife. Oh, well; that's just too bad…" Jubilee muttered.

"That's my girl. If those jerkweeds can't handle it, fuck 'em."

She laughed, turning to look at him. "Ya wanna set a date?"

He paused for a moment, thinking about it. "Not in the least," he grinned.

"Me either!" She turned back and leaned on him, beaming at the ring.

***

Jane Winchester crumpled to her knees. This was the fourth test of the day and she was already whipped.

"Can we take a break please? I am not a theme park." She sighed, trying to ignore the pain she felt in her left leg. They were concentrating on that particular limb today. They already seemed to know the extent to which her gift could grow. Her grandmother had been very accomplished – she was a talented healer, and was known to have been able to defensively transfer pain in dire circumstances. But without the training she had received, even she would never have never gotten to that point.

Jane's grandmother, Matilda Winchester, was born in England, and moved to India with her parents at a young age. Fortunately for Tilda, her mother was a very smart woman. She knew what her daughter's future had in store for her, backwards and forwards, even though she herself was just a carrier. She felt sure that the best chance Tilda had to gain control over the family gift was to learn from a sect of Hindu elders. They would not fear her. They would push her to excel, and give her refuge from the outside world. And when she was ready, they would present her to that world, a more confident and powerful empath than she would have otherwise become. Tilda learned quickly and gratefully. She kept a book on her experiences and their teachings. Civil uprising and English interference in India was threatening to destroy the very place that had honed her abilities. If that were to be lost, her descendants would have a valuable record of how she was trained.

Smart lady, Tilda's mom.

Jane didn't get so lucky with hers. Tilda's illegitimate daughter Helen was the definitive free spirit wanna-be. She left Tilda, Tilda's memoirs, and India with her pretty, white-haired Swedish boyfriend in the sixties for a laid back place called The United States. She wanted to make clay pots for a living and eat organic food. She wanted to live in a teepee with her boyfriend and take lots of drugs. She wanted to be 'experienced'. What she got was a stolen social security number, a cheap inner-city apartment, a quick unmarried pregnancy, and an unshakable hemp habit. The pretty Swedish boyfriend left when his passport proved to be fake, and he got deported. He never even knew that he had fathered a child.

Helen wasn't a free spirit because it interested her. It was just an escape route. She knew the family history. It bored her, bothered her, and she wanted nothing more than to be rid of it. As a carrier of the gift, she had that option. Her daughter would not.

Helen Winchester died in 1964 from a heroin overdose. Mercifully, she hadn't been using the hard stuff while she was pregnant with Jane, but she left the toddler with little more than a name. And because of Helen's questionable entry into the country, there was no record of who Jane's surviving relatives were, or where they could be contacted.

Jane grew up in a nice foster home. Her aging foster parents were the decent sort; not too strict, not too lenient. She got a solid public education. Her foster father, though he treated it like a hobby so as not to damage her psyche, took it upon himself to uncover what he could about her family tree and gave her everything he discovered.

She learned something about it herself when she began stealing other people's headaches, and not by choice. Jane mostly kept herself from people, growing up much the same way Rogue did. She'd take away her mother's migraines, or the pain of a friend's skinned knee. Little things like that she allowed herself. But without any training, she had no control over the gift, especially when she had little control over herself. She avoided disasters like the plague.

When she lost her virginity and involuntarily stole her boyfriend's orgasm, she learned even more. She had trouble discerning some pleasures from pain, so her empathy simply took away both. Feeling both sides of that game was amazing, but impossible for a guy to put up with. Her physical relationships were always kept at a certain level – a very unrewarding one.

Later in life, she decided to give sex another shot, after she had taught herself how to form a 'chain' - like she had used when stitching up Nick Fury's arm. She planned on refusing the link during intercourse. But when in the throes of passion, she found she still couldn't control it. And when that man figured out it was her, and not what he assumed was his impotency, he got so angry that he began to beat the crap out of her.

Though small, Jane was a tough cookie. She never liked being hit. So she stopped him.

Not by using her gift - that was an advanced technique that she was still completely ignorant of. She just grabbed a frying pan and belted him over the head. He slumped to the kitchen floor, dead. She didn't mean to kill him, but…

Say hello to jail, Janie.

She wasn't afraid of being incarcerated. She even felt like she deserved it a little. But she knew the other inmates would use her when they found out what she could do. And they would find out. So when the SHIELD offer came along, it took her about two seconds to make that decision.

SHIELD, of course, already knew where all the secrets could be found. But they were being tight-lipped. Left to her own decisions, Jane would probably become some sort of wacky, sympathetic healer. They wanted to make her a weapon. It wasn't a very healthy relationship, until Nick Fury entered her life.

He knew she was in the med lab that day, but he had no idea the extent to which they were using her. The 'variable', a SHIELD agent no more than 23 years old, was lifted from his seat and carted away. He was a tall, muscular young man, obviously a weightlifter. He was also blissfully unconscious, unaware of the broken femur in his thigh. The last 'variable' was an older female agent. She, too, never felt the pain of her leg being busted. She sat and watched, just like the young man after her had, as the machine she was strapped into clamped down on her left leg in two places, and then wrenched it in two different directions. They heard the pop. They felt the pressure. Some of them even saw blood. But it was all very manageable; thanks to Jane's bare hand being strapped to their foreheads. Then, they got a nice shot of morphine, Jane broke her link with them, and they were removed.

The whole point of today's experiment was not to see how much she could take. Today, she began learning how to process the feedback of someone else's pain, so that she could remove it, store it, and toss it back at the person in controlled bursts. She knew they were planning to use it as a tool for torturing people, and she hated it.

To top it off, they weren't getting anywhere. So much of her gift begged that she simply remove the pain, and the next logical step for her was to heal. SHIELD didn't give a shit about that part. They just wanted another weapon.

"I said, can we take a break please? This isn't going anywhere." Jane drank the glass of some kind of liquid offered her by the technician in the white environmental suit.

Everything is so fucking white here. I hate it. I should have just become someone's bitch in prison…

"C'mon, give me a break here, will you? Where am I going to go?"

Nick Fury entered the upstairs observation booth silently. Three of the medical staff's corporate leaders looked over at him and frowned. Fury waved over at them sarcastically and nearly made a face. He hated these boys. Clearly, they felt no need to inform him of their agendas, and they didn't want him present to witness anything, either. But he was the Director of SHIELD again, so he could do whatever he damn well wanted. And today he wanted to see Jane.

The staff went back to their clipboards and silent observations, as the next variable was wheeled in. Jane sighed.

"Fuckers." She shook her head and gave the technicians a snide smile. Fury rubbed his upper lip with one finger, trying to hide his own smile at her willful nature.

The same process was carried out, and if Nicholas Fury was taken aback by what he saw, no one there would have been the wiser. He finally removed his finger when the latest variable was removed, and muttered towards the staff members. "Why doesn't she have a container of water? What is the point of this experiment?"

The junior member cleared his throat and spoke to him in quiet, cultured tones. It made Nick ill just listening to it. "The subject uses the water like a shock absorber, to deflect the pain. She cannot possibly isolate that pain and turn it back on the variable if she does not willingly embrace it."

Fury turned and looked at him slowly. "I take it you are having cooperation problems?"

"Yes. The subject is quite… stubborn."

"Why don't you try calling her by her name? Maybe the subject feels like a lab rat."

"That is of no consequence. We are confident she can manipulate the pain, the cat scans and EEG's prove it. It is her willingness that falls short."

"Have you threatened her?"

"Of course."

"How does she respond?"

The staff member gave him a sarcastic, thin smile. "Quite colorfully." Fury didn't find the doctor's joke amusing. Not in the least. He wasn't about to let these crazy scientists know that he was developing a thing for the subject. But he was revealing an interest in their experiments on her. In fact, he was trying to find out all he could about what they had planned for her - so that he could help her get out of it. So he had to be careful about what they perceived in his questions.

If he could get a murder rap off of Logan's head, then by God, he could do it for her, too.

Jane was sweating and tired. The circles under her eyes were visible even from where he was seated. They unhooked her from the multitude of machines she was attached to, and escorted her out of the lab. She was done for the day.

Nick made his exit from the observation balcony look as smooth and professional as he could, given the fact that he really wanted to run down three flights of stairs and catch Jane before she left the SHIELD facility. He finally found her, just as she entered one of the exit doors.

"Jane!"

Oblivious, probably from exhaustion, she kept going, limping slightly as she exited out of the three sets of glass security doors, swiping a card each time. Fury followed her. Each door was sealed off from the other, so he had to wait his turn and go through all three sets, just like she was doing, before he could speak to her. Finally, they both were in the tunnel that led to the underground parking deck. He said her name again, only softer, and this time she turned around. She smiled weakly.

"Hello, Colonel."

"I was watchin' what they were having you do in there today."

"Having me do…?" Jane shook her head and looked down, amused. "More like what they were doing to me." She looked back up at him, and he stepped closer. Even the tunnel walls had ears at SHIELD. "I'll assume, as Director, you already know what it's about?"

He nodded, never cracking that charming grin he'd used when he first met her. "I know enough, yeah."

She sighed, "I'm afraid I'll never be able to do what they want."

"Never be able to… or just won't?"

He didn't look pleased, and she could only reason it was from her poor performance. She didn't answer his question and looked down, clutching a St. Louis Blues jersey. He wondered for a moment why a woman with her kind of gift would be into a sport like Hockey.

"Jane, look," he started, moving as close as he would dare. "Yer like a new toy to them fools. So, just do what they ask… before they go an' break you."

She looked up at him, and he could see the anger on her face. "It's wrong, Colonel Fury. I'm supposed to evolve into a healer, not a weapon."

"I think yer supposed to be all sorts o' things. But you'll never get there if you help them destroy you. I know you don't want to do this," and here he leaned in much closer to her and whispered, "an' I'm gonna look inta that. Believe me," he smiled slightly. She smiled back. "Anythin' I can do, I will. But you havta cooperate with them for now, okay? I'll give you a lollipop if ya do."

She nodded bashfully and some of the color returned to her cheeks. "Okay, Colonel. For a lollipop, I'll try harder."

"Nick." He cracked the grin, as he chewed around the ever-present stogie.

"Nicholas, I'll try harder. I promise."

He seemed relieved. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"It's Jane." She eyed him.

"Jane, right… uh…" he swallowed, "Do you wanna go out with me sometime?"

She gave him another smile and slipped the huge jersey over her head easily, straightening it out. She smiled at him slyly.

"Maybe…"

The she left, walking up the slight incline of the tunnel into the parking deck. Fury grinned, as he noticed that she wasn't walking with a limp anymore.

It's all in yer head, missy. Just keep it there, an' you'll do fine.

***

Jubilee had to call Remy once more before she got on the cargo ship in Juneau.

"Jubes…" Logan stepped behind her as she set up her laptop and cell phone on the rustic table to contact Remy.

"Yeah." It was more of a response than a question. He watched, still a bit amazed, as she concentrated on the task at hand. Her old habit of flitting about from task to idea to crisis to flashy remark back to task was gone like her hideous teenage earrings. But he needed her to pay attention to him, right then.

"Jubes, I'm worried about somethin' Darlin'."

"Mmm…?"

"Jubilee, look at me." The sudden change in his voice to a very mature and concerned Wolverine made her stop what she was doing and turn to face him. Her expressive eyebrows danced above the baby blue orbs, letting him know he had the floor and she was focused on him.

"I'm gonna be blunt, here. Ain't ya worried 'bout us gettin' pregnant? 'Specially if yer gonna run off to Asia without yer escort?"

She smiled at him shyly. "You aren't some escort, Wolvie. You're my fiancé." He smiled back for a moment, albeit nervously. Logan crossed his arms and shut up. He wanted a proper response to his question. "We've never discussed this, have we? I mean, any of it? Kids, pregnancy, settling down – or not." She pulled another heavy, handmade chair out from the side of the table and set it in front of her. "Sit down, Logan. I'm sorry I didn't initiate this sooner."

"Nope, Darlin', don't ya go thinkin' that way" he said, taking the seat and her hands at the same time. "That was both our responsibility."

"Okay. I'll be blunt, too. Are ya more worried about me getting preggers… or getting preggers and being far away from you?"

He frowned. "To tell ya the truth, babe, I haven't figured that one out yet. They both concern me… But Jubes, do you even want kids?"

It was her turn to frown. "Someday. Yeah, someday I'd like to be a mom. If I can have your baby, or maybe babies – not too many, maybe. Then… yeah. Just… not right now." She looked down. "But if you don't want them at all, I suppose you had better tell me now so that I can get used to the idea. I just want to be with you, Wolvie. To be married to you, yes. And whatever way we get there is okay by me." Logan smiled at her lowered face. Almost on cue she lifted it up, giving him a radiant, soft smile.

"Good," he breathed, "Then ya feel exactly the way I do. I want us ta have a couple kids, too. Just not yet."

She squeezed his hands, exhaling. "One hurdle down."

"Yep."

"Okay, so as of right now, I'm…" she winced. "Man-o-man, Wolvie, I can't believe I never even told ya this. I just wasn't thinking, I'm-"

"Jubes, is there a problem?"

"No, not really. Just a circumstance."

He eyed her suspiciously. "Ya ain't sick are ya?"

"No!" She laughed, hitting him on the forehead lightly with the back of one hand. "No, don't be worried. It's just that, between the stress and my blood pressure going up… the malnutrition, and running myself ragged in Oklahoma, well, my periods just kinda stopped. I haven't had one for over two and a half years." Jubilee shrugged. It didn't bother her, it was just a fact that she was relating to him. "So that's why I'm not on the pill, and I've – we've never… bothered," she stopped to smirk, "with birth control. We never even talked about it. I'm sorry, Wolvie. I was just so eager to get in yer pants," she giggled, "an' I already knew gettin' pregnant wasn't gonna be an issue… I forgot to discuss it with ya. Hank says it's temporary, but for right now… I can't conceive."

"At all?"

"Nope, not until the plumbing straightens itself out, anyway." She grinned. He didn't.

"It's… gonna straighten out, ain't it?"

She smiled at him, teasingly. "Wow… You really do want kids, don't you?"

Logan actually blushed. "With you? You bet, Darlin'…" He swallowed, and lowered his voice. "The though of you carryin' around a piece of me inside ya… makin' it into a baby that's a little o' me and a little o' you…" He shook his head and smiled warmly. "Other you bein' my wife, Jubes, I can't think a nothin' nicer that you could ever give me."

"Then you got a deal, Old Man." She smiled at him crookedly, and spit in her palm, holding it out to him. He grinned, this was his Jubes, he had no doubt. He spit in his own – lightly - and shook on their 'deal'. She sighed and turned back to the set up.

He got up from where he was sitting then, and came to stand at her back - very close. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body through the crude slats in the back of her chair.

"You mean ta tell me you got the ability ta set up a vid-link with ya at all times?"

"Logan, tisk tisk… Haven't you learned by now that the Jubilee Doll is sold with all her attachments?" She waved her cell phone at him and then connected it to her laptop.

"So what yer tellin' me Darlin', is that you come with accessories?" He smirked and kneeled next to her, very close.

She giggled. "The only thing the Jubilee Doll needs to do that… is the Logan Doll. The… 'accessories'… just make it more interesting…" she turned to face him with her last words, and her breath was faint and ragged as she met his eyes.

Would they get no work done today?

"You want interestin', Jubilation? I can give you interestin'. An' I don't need no stinkin' toys to do it, neither." He growled at her.

"Izzat so…?" She murmured at him, falling helplessly into his blue eyes, then leaning forward and staring down at his lips.

"Yeah… that's…" Logan's voice just… disappeared… as he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him quickly, kissing her very passionately.

The video-link screen popped up, with Remy's cheery face saying, "'Ello, Petite!" Just as his own video link was established back in New York, LeBeau saw a scuffle of what had looked like thick fingers clutching long black hair, a flash of blue eyes, Logan's unmistakably massive arm, a streak of flannel, and finally, he heard a groan and a wooden chair toppling over.

Then he was left looking at the interior of Logan's cabin.

"Petite! You der, Jubilee?"

Moans, lip-smacking noises, grunts. Then it got real quiet. He heard a feminine voice whispering harshly, and the squeak of the same chair being set upright.

Before he knew it, Jubilee was sitting back in the chair, pulling her shirt back on straight and fixing her hair with her fingers. Logan's face popped onto the side of the screen briefly, a nasty and devilish grin on his face. The points in his hair were all out of sorts, and he looked like he had lip-gloss smeared across his mouth.

"Don't keep her long, Cajun. We were busy." He smirked gruffly and walked away. Jubilee covered her eyes and turned six shades of pink.

---------------