Back Where the Sun Can Find You XI: United

by Addie Logan

Summary: An unexpected addition tests the limits of the family Jubilee and Logan are trying to form? (Part eleven in a series)

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: Like with parts one through nine, if you have serious issues with W/J romantic pairings, DO NOT read this! You have been warned. Constructive criticism welcomed. Flames deleted right after I tell you off for being a rude little moron. And people who flame without giving an email address are wussies.

Author's Note Part II: After a nice long break, BWtSCFY is back. Miss it?  Sorry about the HUGE gap between chapters?biggest yet. Between school and a computer that hasn't worked in almost a year, it's been difficult to write.  Sorry again for the wait!

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I can tell by the way you're walking
That you don't want company
I'll let you alone and I'll let you walk on
And in your own good time you'll be
Back where the sun can find you
Under the wise wishing tree
And with all of them made we'll lie under the shade
And call it a jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're talking
That the past isn't letting you go
But there's only so long you can take it all on
And then the wrong's gotta be on its own
And when you're ready to leave it behind you
You'll look back, and all that you'll see
Is the wreckage and rust that you left in the dust
On your way to the jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're listening
That you're still expecting to hear
Your name being called like a summons to all
Who have failed to account for their doubts and their fears
They can't add up to much without you
And so if it were just up to me
I'd take hold of your hand, saying come hear the band
Play your song at the jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're searching
For something you can't even name
That you haven't been able to come to the table
Simply glad that you came
And when you feel like this try to imagine
That we're all like frail boats on the sea
Just scanning the night for that great guiding light
Announcing the jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're standing
With your eyes filling with tears
That it's habit alone keeps you turning for home
Even though your home is right here
Where the people who love you are gathered
Under the wise wishing tree
May we all be considered then straight on delivered
Down to the jubilee

'Cause the people who love you are waiting
And they'll wait just as long as need be
When we look back and say those were halcyon days
We're talking 'bout jubilee

*** *** ***

Akira ran from Carrie's front door, screaming "Mommy!" and jumping into Jubilee's arms. Jubilee hugged him tightly.

Carrie stood outside her door, arms crossed over her chest. "You'd think they'd been separated for years, not just a night," she said with a laugh.

Kurt chuckled. "I never thought I'd see the day when little Jubilation was a mother," he said.

"She's not so little anymore," Carrie said. "Hell, she's married with a kid."

"I know."

Logan approached the pair. "Hey. Thanks again for watchin' Akira. Meant a lot to both me an' Jubes."

Carrie elbowed him. "I bet it did. Have a good wedding night?"

Logan grinned. "Oh yeah." He laughed when he saw Kurt blushing. "Too much for ya, preacher?"

Kurt shook his head. "I just don't want to think of you and Jubilee?in that way. I am happy you found love, but that is too much information."

Logan laughed again as Jubilee walked up to them, holding Akira. "What's going on over here?"

"Nothin', darlin'," Logan said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Carrie noticed the way that Jubilee seemed to glow, standing there with her husband and son. She felt happy for her friend, but also an overwhelming sense of sadness at the thought of what she'd never have.

*** *** ***

Logan paused as soon as he opened the door to the cabin. He held Jubilee back. "Someone's in here. I can smell 'em."

Jubilee stopped. "Who? Do you know them?"

"The scent's familiar, but?"

"It's just me, Logan."

Wolverine's head snapped up and he saw a young woman sitting on the couch.

"How did you get in here?" Logan growled, standing in front of Jubilee and Akira.

The woman held up a key. "With this. You gave it to me, remember?"

Logan stared at her, puzzled. What woman had he ever given the key to his cabin to besides Jubilee? The woman frowned. "You don't know who I am, do you, Logan?" She sounded sad.

He looked her over. She had chin-length white hair and almond-shaped brown eyes, accentuated with a large amount of white eye shadow. She was obviously Japanese, but that could make her any one of a number of women from his past. "I?I don't."

The woman walked over to him, meeting his eyes. "It's me, Logan."

Realization hit, and Logan felt as if the breath had been knocked out of his lungs. "'Miko?"

She smiled a little. "Hey."

Logan grabbed her, hugging her tightly. "I thought you were dead."

Amiko hugged him back weakly. "Yeah, about that?I'm not. But some guys want me to be, so I'm sort of in trouble."

Jubilee and Akira slipped past Logan. The sound of Jubilee shutting the door reminded him of her presence. "Um, Amiko, you remember Jubilee, right?"

Amiko gave her a sort of half smile. "Yeah. Hi."

Jubilee gave the same smile back. "Hi."

Akira tugged at Amiko's pants leg. "I'm Akira. Logan and Jubilee are my mommy and daddy now."

Amiko's eyes got wide. "Your what?"

Logan chuckled nervously. "It's a, um, long story."

Amiko caught sight of the ring on Jubilee's hand and gaped. "Did you give that to her, Logan?"

"Yeah."

Amiko backed up slowly. "You married Jubilee? Hell, you might as well have started fucking me!"

"Amiko?" Logan said, his tone a warning.

"Hey, I'm twenty years old. I can say what I want," Amiko replied, her posture taking on a defiant tone.

"A lot of things have changed since the last time you saw me," Logan said, trying to stay calm with everything that was suddenly being thrown at him.

"Yeah, you turned into a pedophile," Amiko muttered.

Logan's anger did flare up at that. "Watch it, 'Miko. Look, you said you were in trouble. Just tell me what's goin' on, and stop insultin' me and my family."

Amiko snorted. "Family. As if you know the meaning of that word. And as for the trouble, well, I managed to piss off some gangsters, okay?"

"How'd you do that?"

"I was datin' one of them, but I wanted to end it. Apparently, he didn't share my sentiments. Now he wants to kill me for it."

Logan let out a breath. "Amiko?I?"

"Look, you don't want me around, fine. I won't mess up your pretty little family anymore."

"Logan didn't say that," Jubilee said quickly.

"You stay the hell out of this," Amiko snapped.

"Don't talk to her that way," Logan said. "She's my wife, and?"

"What, does that make her my mother?" Amiko asked.

Jubilee picked Akira up. "I'm taking him in the bedroom."

Logan nodded, and Amiko rolled her eyes. Logan shot her a look as soon as Jubilee was out of the room. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What, that I thought maybe I could come to my 'father' for help?"

"Dammit, you know that isn't what I meant. You could've always come to me for help." Logan chose to ignore Amiko's snort. "What I meant was you let me think you were dead, then came back tellin' me you got mobsters after ya and insult Jubilee for no reason."

"Did you ever even love Yukio?"

"What?"

"Did you love Yukio?"

"Darlin', that was a long time ago."

"You didn't!" Amiko yelled. "You never wanted the three of us to be a family! But now, now that things are on your terms you're gonna tell me about family. You're a piece of work, Logan."

Logan stared, dumbfounded. "That?that ain't true. Things were?difficult then. I did the best I could."

Amiko sat down on the couch. "Well it wasn't good enough. And I hate you."

"Fair enough. That couch you're on is pretty comfortable. You can sleep there as long you want. You're my daughter, and even if you hate me, my home is yours. I'm goin' to talk to my wife."

Amiko turned away, not looking at Logan as he walked into the other room and shut the door.

*** *** ***

"Did I make that lady mad?" Akira asked once he and Jubilee were alone.

"No honey, she's just angry with Logan. It's nothing you did."

"Who is she?"

"She's Logan's daughter."

Akira thought about that for a moment. "Does that mean she's my sister?"

"Maybe."

"Are you her mother?"

"No."

"Oh."

Jubilee looked up when she heard Logan come into the room. "What's going on with her?"

"She may or may not be stayin' here for a little while," Logan said. "Oh, and she hates me." Logan sat down on the bed. "I thought she was dead. If I'd known she wasn't, I?" Logan stopped. He couldn't honestly say that he would've done anything differently if he'd known she was still alive. "She's right," he said. "I'm a terrible father."

Akira climbed out of Jubilee's lap and took hold of Logan's hand. "I think you're a good daddy," he said, looking up at Logan with his big, green eyes.

Logan smiled a little. "Thanks, kiddo."

Amiko knocked softly at the door before peaking her head in. "Logan? Can I talk to you again for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." He got up, walking back out into the living room with Amiko. "What is it?"

"Look, I'm just going to go, okay?"

"Amiko, don't. I'm sorry about everything in our past, but we can work it out. At least give me a chance to be yer father, all right?"

"I'm?I'm not sure if you deserve that chance."

Logan hung his head in shame. "I know I don't. And I'm not sayin' I can make up the past fer ya pun'kin. I just?I just don't want ya walkin' out of my life again."

Something flashed through Amiko's eyes, and for a moment Logan thought it was guilt. "I shouldn't, Logan."

"I wish you would."

Amiko sighed. "All right. But don't say I didn't try to leave?"

*** *** ***

Dinner that night was awkward to say the least. Nobody said anything, alternating between poking their food with their forks and actually eating it. Akira was the first to break the silence.

"Aunt Carrie has a little gun hidden in her panties drawer," he blurted out. "She had to move it when I found it through."

"Gee, Logan, sounds like you're picking top-notch baby-sitters as usual. Gonna stick him with an assassin and the Silver Samurai, too?" Amiko muttered.

Akira's gaze bored into Amiko. "You know my real daddy?"

Amiko's jaw dropped. "Harada's your father?"

"Like I said, it's a long story," Logan supplied quickly.

"What did you get yourself into this time, Wolverine?" Amiko asked.

"It's somethin' I'd rather not talk about. Eat yer salad."

"Yes, daddy," Amiko muttered, spearing her lettuce hard with her fork. She took a bite, swallowed, and then looked down the table to Jubilee. "So, what, do you have a older man/daddy fetish, or what is all this about?"

Jubilee glared at the other girl. "I love Logan. We got married. End of story."

"Well, yeah, but you gotta admit, that's pretty creepy. I mean for a few years there, he was like your dad. It's practically incest." Amiko took another bite of salad.

"That's enough, 'Miko," Logan growled.

"So did ya do Kitty, too?"

Logan had to fight to keep his anger in check. "Keep yer opinions on this to yerself, kid."

"Kid, huh? Do you realize she's not even four years older than me? If I'm a kid, what is she?"

"That's enough, Amiko."

"Hey, if you don't want to come to grips with the fact that you're a dirty old man, that's fine with me."

"With me, anyone woman would make me a dirty old man," Logan snapped. "I was plenty older than Yukio, too, when you get right down to it. I love Jubilee, age difference or no. And she was never like a daughter to me. I looked out fer her, yeah, but that was because she was my partner, and that's what partners do. I'm glad yer here, pun'kin, and I can't even begin to tell ya how happy it makes me t'see ya alive, but yer constant comments on my marriage have got t'stop. You don't have a clue about what's goin' on here."

Amiko mumbled something that could've been "fine," but it was apparent she wasn't any more comfortable with her foster father's new marriage.

The dinner table grew silent again.

*** *** ***

Wolverine held Jubilee next to him, trying his best to sleep. He wondered why every time things started going well for him something had to happen to mess it all up. He kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead before slipping out of her arms and the bed.

He wasn't surprised to see Amiko on the back porch, drinking a mug of what smelled like hot chocolate. "Couldn't sleep?"

Amiko jumped at the sound of Logan's voice, almost spilling her drink. "Logan! I?I didn't know you were awake."

"Haven't been out of the bedroom long," he said. "You need anything, pun'kin?"

Amiko wasn't sure if she liked him still calling her the same nickname he had as a child. It some how managed to agitate her at the same time it relaxed her. "No, I'm fine. I just came out here to think."

"If you want someone to talk to?"

"I'm fine, Logan," Amiko snapped.

Logan nodded and started to go back in, but stopped when he heard Amiko call his name. "Yeah?"

"Was I ever more than just a burden to you?"

The pain that flashed across Logan's face almost made Amiko wish for a moment that she hadn't asked the question. "You were never a burden to me, darlin'. Never."

"But you were never around. I thought?I thought you hated me."

"I loved you kid. Still do. I know it doesn't make it any easier, but it was that love the kept me away. I was afraid that me bein' around ya would get ya hurt."

Tears were stinging Amiko's eyes. "I got hurt when you weren't around, Logan."

Wolverine hung his head in shame. "I know. No wonder you hate me?"

Amiko set her mug down on the top of the small wooden fence surrounding the porch and walked over to Logan, placing her hand on his cheek. "I never hated you for that. You meant so much to me, that having you for a father was worth everything I had to suffer. What hurt me was you never seeing it."

Logan didn't miss how much Amiko's sentiments mirrored the ones Jubilee had shared with him when he'd first returned to the mansion over a year ago. He'd spent his whole life convincing himself that he was doing the right thing by keeping his loved ones at a distance, but now he knew he'd been wrong. With all the regrets he had about his past, it was the first time he could remember genuinely wanting to go back and do things another way.

"I'm sorry," he said to Amiko. "More than I could ever tell ya. I never wanted to hurt you. Hell, you were the last person I ever wanted to hurt. You were my little girl."

Amiko fell over on him, crying in earnest. Logan held her, rubbing her back as she let her emotions loose on his shoulder. Suddenly, she pulled away from him. "I need?I need to go in."

"'Miko?"

"Good night, Logan." Amiko hurried back into the cabin before Logan could ask any more questions.

*** *** ***

The next morning Logan took Akira with him to the grocery store in town, leaving Amiko and Jubilee alone in the cabin.

Jubilee started wishing pretty soon that she'd been the one to go and not Logan. While Amiko had seemed to decide to keep her comments to herself while Logan was around, it was a different story with him gone.

"So where'd ya pick up the kid? Families R Us?"

Jubilee looked up at Amiko from across the room. "It's a long story and I'd rather not get in to it."

"You know, you of all people should know better."

"Know better than what?"

"Know better than to think Logan's gonna stick around. He ditched us both, Jubilee. You think this perfect little life in Canada thing you have going on is gonna keep him grounded for once? It's not in Logan's nature. As soon as he feels the need to run, he's gonna be gone. He may convince himself and you that he's going 'cause it's the best thing, but it's a lie. Logan just can't stay in one place. He's like a wild animal. He has to go where his instincts tell him."

"You don't know anything about what's been happening recently, Amiko," Jubilee replied, forcing herself to keep her cool.  "Logan and I have been through more in the last few months together than we ever have before, and he hasn't left me. He may have run in the past, but he's not going to this time. You can be sure of that."

"Must be nice being so delusional all the time."

"Must be nice being such a jaded little bitch. Why are you really here, Amiko?"

Amiko looked taken aback for a second before falling back into her normal casual demeanor. "I told you. I was in some trouble and I thought Logan might be able to help me."

"You and I both know there's more to it than that?"

"Are you accusing me of lying?"

"Maybe not outright lying, but you're hiding something. Why would you stay gone all this time, then just waltz back into Logan's life? If you were so intent on him thinking you were dead, it must have really been something to bring you here."

"People are trying to kill me, Jubilation. I'd say that's really something."

Jubilee stood up. "Just don't try anything to hurt him, or my child, or you will have made one enemy that you won't be able to hide from." She went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Amiko took a deep breath and rested her head in her hands.

*** *** ***

Where has Amiko really been all this time? And is Jubilee right about her less-than-honest answer concerning why she came back? Find out in part twelve of Back Where the Sun Can Find You?coming soon to a computer near you. In the meantime, leave me feedback!