After X3. Jean, Scott, & Xavier alive. Doctor Carin Constantine was a young doctor helping Stryker with the Weapon X project when she met Logan for the first time and witnessed the carnage and pain that was the result of the project. Now, more than fifteen years later, she finds herself reuniting with the man who she watched kill everyone she worked with. Can she handle knowing about his past and keeping it from him? What will she do when she finds herself falling in love once again with the man she thought was a 'failed experiment'? Logan/OC
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men or anything related to Marvel. I only own my characters.
More than fifteen years had passed. More than fifteen years had slipped through the fingers of time and she couldn't believe that time could move as quickly as it did. She couldn't believe she was going to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, knowing that he was going to be there.
Doctor Carin Constantine tried to push such childish thoughts aside as she rode silently in the taxi that was taking her to the school and she sighed softly. She was thirty-seven, for heaven's sake! She wasn't about to let such thoughts get in the way of her duty and the reason for her visit to the school. She was an adult now, not twenty and fresh out of college and medical school, still tripping over her own lab coat.
No, she was a grown adult with resposibilities to her patients and she always put her patients before herself. She cared about them far too much to let her emotions play the part for her and she knew they were depending on her and the information she gathered from Professor Charles Xavier. Her patients were mutants, even though she wasn't a mutant herself. She treated mutants because that's what she did best. Treating people, no matter if they had a few extra abilities or features.
The taxi stopped suddenly in front of an iron gate, shaking Carin from her thoughts, and she looked over the mansion, smiling softly. Beautiful was only one of the many words that could describe the mansion. She paid the taxi driver, who didn't seem to want to go any further, and she picked up her small bag from next to her on the backseat. She walked up to the gate, which opened the moment she reached it, and she started walking up to the front door. Carin didn't hear the noise of children, supposing they were probably in their classes, and she could only really hear the clicking of her heels as she walked.
She was dressed for profession and impression, but also comfort. Her black pantsuit matched the color of her hair, which was wavey and pulled back into stylish ponytail with no stray hairs to fly into her face. Her make-up was light, since she wore black horn-rimmed glasses, and her lips were painted a deep red, contrasting sharply with the paleness of her unblemished skin. The front door opened when she walked up the stairs and she smiled easily at Professor Charles Xavier, who waited for her at the door and smiled back at her.
"Welcome, Doctor Constantine. Come in. We can talk in my office and I'll introduce you to my staff." he said and she walked into the school, closing the door behind her.
"Thank you, Professor Xavier. You have a beautiful school." Carin said, her voice smooth and soft, accented with a British accent.
Xavier nodded and chuckled lightly as he lead her to his office and the sound of the children escaping their classes soon filled the once silent school. They walked into his office, Carin laying her bag to the side, and she sat down in the seat Xavier offered in front of his desk as he manuvered around it to face her.
"I must say that I wasn't expecting your call, Doctor Constantine. It's not unwelcomed, just...unusual." Xavier said calmly as he studied the beautiful woman sitting across his desk from himself and she smiled, nodding.
"I can understand your surprise, Professor, but I assure you that I am merely here for business. My patients come first." she said softly, trying to reassure the man that she wasn't there to expose his school or to harm his students. "I also understand your worry and protective nature over your students and staff. I am the same way when it comes to my patients. There are many people who would love to burn my office down to the ground and put me into a holding cell."
"You're not a mutant yourself, Doctor."
Carin smiled and shook her head softly. She was expecting this, waiting for it since the moment she had stepped onto the property. She was a mutant doctor, not a mutant herself, and on unchartered territory when it came to the school and Xavier. "No, Professor, I am not a mutant." she stated and she was slightly surprised by Xavier's smile, even though she didn't let her face or eyes show the surprise.
There was a soft knock on the office door that momentarily interuppted their conversation and Xavier smiled, softly. "You can come in." he said and the door opened, revealing a small group of four people, two women and two men. Carin took a wild guess and guessed that this was the staff Xavier was speaking of.
They walked into the office, the last one in closing the door behind them, and they studied Carin while she studied them. The first man was tall with neat brown hair and he wore ruby-lense glasses. He was dressed in jeans, a tucked-in button-down blue shirt, and nice brown sneakers. The woman standing next to him was nearly the same height as the man, the same height as Carin, with long deep red hair and green eyes that watched Carin closely. She was dressed in a pair of black dress slacks, a nice blue t-shirt, and black high-heels under a crisp white lab coat. The woman next to her was slim like the other woman and about the same height as well with short gray and white hair that was layer and flipped out slightly. She was dressed in dark jeans, a black slim-fit t-shirt under a gray vest, and black high-heel boots. She smiled at Carin and Carin gave them a small smile, which disappeared when her blue eyes landed on the final member of the group.
It's him..., she thought as she studied the man and she realised he hadn't aged since the last time she had seen him. He was tall like the others, but he wasn't as slim built as the others with his muscled frame. He was well-built, strong, but without looking like a muscle-head, and his thick, dark hair was messy, but styled with a purpose as it rose in two peaks sligthly towards the back of his head. He had long sideburns and whiskers covered his jaw and his dark eyes watched Carin closely. She knew he was testing the air, smelling her scent. He was dressed in worn jeans, rugid boots, and a black t-shirt that hugged him.
"May I introduce Doctor Carin Constantine from Los Angeles. Doctor Constatine, this is Doctor Jean Gray; her husband, Scott Summers; Ororo Monroe; and Logan." Xavier introduced them and Carin's eyes stayed contected with Logan's.
Carin stood and broke the eye contact, smiling at the others. He's the same., she thought as she tried to turn her attention from Logan. She had aged seventeen years, married and divorced, had a child, gained a few gray hairs and wrinkles and he hadn't aged one bit. It seemed too strange to Carin, too unfamiliar.
"A doctor? Like Red?" Logan asked and Carin turned her attention back to him quickly, slightly startled by his deep, rough Canadian-accent voice. The same voice that haunted her dreams and thoughts.
"I'm a mutant doctor, if that's what you mean." she said, quickly collecting herself and she pushed away all unprofessional thoughts. "I treat mutants."
All four frowned and Carin quickly understood why. They thought she was trying to cure mutants, not take care of their health. "Treat mutants? Like provide the cure?" Ororo asked, her dark eyes watching Carin closely and she frowned.
"No, I don't give the cure to my patients. Personally, I find the cure repulsive. There is nothing with mutants or the mutant gene. I treat mutants in the way a doctor would treat non-mutant patients." Carin said slightly defensively and her sharp blue eyes nearly made Ororo and Jean flinch.
"What is your ability, Doctor Constantine?" Scott asked and Carin cleared her throat slightly.
"I am not a mutant myself." she said softly and the four teachers looked at her in shock and disbelief.
"You're not a mutant, but you're treating mutants?" Jean asked in a tone that nearly caused Carin to look down at her feet like a child would if they were being scolded, but she held her dignity and looked into Jean's green eyes. She's questioning my abilities to treat my patients. She wouldn't be the first person to ever do that and she won't be the last.
"Doctor Grey, I know you would love to stand around here all day and question me upon my abilities to treat my patients with the needed care, but I don't have the time or patience. I have a twelve-year-old girl who has just discovered she is a mutant and her parents put me in charge of helping her. Just before her parents brought her to me, she fell deathly ill and I have not been able to find the reason why." Carin nearly snapped and Logan smirked at her attitude towards Jean and Jean blinked in surprise. "I am here for Professor Xavier's help, not to 'butt heads' with the next person who critizies me. I already go through that at home. I believe the last thing someone spray-painted on my car was 'Mutant Whore'. I have a little girl who needs my help and I will not give up until she is cured or I am in the grave. When she is treated, then I will fly back here just to let you bash me."
Jean, Scott, and Ororo looked at Carin in slight shock and amazement. They had never met someone, besides a mutant, who was so protective of the mutant population and the only other person they knew who was as stubborn and strong-headed as Carin was Logan.
"I apologize, Doctor Constantine. I just haven't met a non-mutant who actually cared so much about mutants." Jean said and Carin gave her a small, gentle smile.
"Mutants are still people, just with a few extra qualities about them. Everyone is different, no matter if you're a mutant or not." she said softly and Jean nodded, a small smile gracing her face.
Xavier cleared his throat slightly and Carin turned her attention back to him. "I have taken the liberty to have a room set up for you. Logan, could you show Doctor Constantine to her room?" he said and Carin nearly cursed the older man as she grabbed her bag and followed Logan out of the office.
They walked towards the stairs to the upstairs rooms and Carin could feel the eyes of some of the students watching her from the doorway of the rec room. She looked over her shoulder and smiled gently, causing some of the students to disappear back into the room or smile back at her. Logan glanced over his shoulder at her and frowned slightly. There was something about her that he thought was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. There was something in her scent that he thought he recognized, maybe from his past, but he couldn't remember. Carin smelled of lavender and chocolate and Logan could smell the chocolates she kept in her pocket. Dark chocolate. Expensive taste there, Doc., he thought, inwardly smirking and they finally reached the guest room.
"Thank you, Mr. Logan." Carin said softly when he opened the door for her and he gave her a quick smile.
"No problem, darlin'. Welcome to Mutant High." he said over his shoulder as he walked back down the stairs and Carin smiled, her blue eyes soft as they connected with his dark ones.
Maybe, just maybe, I can get through this. He's as charming as ever. Just as long as I can keep his past a secret while I'm here, I can get through this little trip. Fates, help me.