Well, this is my first try and writing a story from a character's point of view. I was inspired by Sarra Ambrai's fics (if you haven't read her stuff, you're seriously missing out) and wanted to give this a try. Not that I claim to be in the same league as her, but, hey, we can always dream, right? As always, feedback is appreciated and encouraged.

I don't own the X-Men and I ain't makin' any money off 'em neither.

I used to love Saturdays. No classes. Sleeping in. Grabbing breakfast and coffee at the little diner down the street. Now, Saturdays kind of suck. In the mutant palace here, the king of all buzzkills, Scooter Pie the Magnificent, gets my ass out of bed so I can fight pretend bad guys in the danger room. I mean, seriously? I'm an adult. I should be allowed to sleep in when I want. I'm going to tell him that the first chance I get.

Which is now.

I ignite a ball of energy and hurtle it directly at Herr Summers visor. Heh. He didn't see that coming. His attention squarely on me, I yell as loud as I can. "I'm sleeping in tomorrow, Summers! You can get your ass kicked another day!"

I hear Wolverine's deep laugh from behind me. In my best gymnast form, I twirl around and flip forward, throwing small sparklers at Logan's chest. Not big enough to do damage, but certainly big enough to sting.

"What the hell, Jubes?"

"That's for taking the last cup of coffee this morning, you jerk."

And I'm done. I've had over an hour of playtime here without caffeine or sugary sustenance so I salute my goodbyes and let myself out the exit. I really, really need a shower. And a pop-tart. But first the shower.

I start to take off my uniform when I hear the danger room door open and close. I know what's coming and I laugh to myself imagining what he's going to say this time. 'Jubilee, that was totally uncalled for!' Or maybe, 'Jubilee, you could have seriously hurt someone!'

"Jubilee, you and Wolverine are going on a recon mission." He doesn't bother looking at me, just opens his locker and starts taking off his gloves.

Well, damn, that wasn't nearly as fun as I'd imagined it. I vow to save my witty comeback for another day and stick with channeling irritated Jubilee for now.

"Scott, you are putting a serious damper on my Saturday, dude."

"You're an X-Man, Jubilee, deal with it."

I mutter a series of unfavorable comments under my breath while he continues talking. I notice Logan leaning against the end of the lockers, listening to the conversation while wiping his forehead.

"Emma uncovered some activity north of here in the mountains. She believes it's a splinter cell of the Friends of Humanity. We've seen a few popping up in areas around the country in the last few months and have been watching. But now she thinks they're starting to get more dangerous...stockpiling weapons."

"Yay. More crazies with bombs."

"Why wouldn't you just take the jet and check 'em out?" Wolvie always gets straight to the point.

"Or have Rogue fly up there?" I interjected.

"It's recon, Wolverine. We don't want to get them stirred up unnecessarily. With the two of you in a vehicle and plainclothes, if you get spotted, you can pass for hikers. Just go up there, sniff around and report back. Go whenever you're ready." He leaves the room in a flourish only Scott can make.

Sniff around. Hey, look, Scooter made a Wolverine joke. I chuckle to myself and notice that Wolvie's giving me that squinty-eyed look he does when he's pissed.

"Oh, don't give me that look. I gotta give Scott points for that one."

My uniform in the locker, I turn around to head out and up to my room for a shower when I catch Wolverine looking at me in kind of a stunned, dumbstruck way. It takes me a second before I realize that I'm standing in front of him wearing just a sports bra and form fitting workout shorts. I've never had to feel self conscious in front of him before. But at this moment, that's exactly what's going through my head. I shake it off and start walking again.

"Gonna get a shower, Wolvie. Meet you in the kitchen when you're ready, kay?"

His voice is low and curt. "Yeah, fine."

I look in the full length mirror in the corner of my room and survey myself up and down. I've obviously seen my body before, I am a woman after all. What woman doesn't agonize over the small imperfections, dimples and curves that drive her crazy. But now I see myself as a man sees me and it dawns on me that I'm pretty hot. Not in a supermodel kind of way, but my abs are tight, my arms toned and I'm well proportioned. And even though athletic chicks tend to have small chests, I was blessed with a decent sized rack.

Is this what Logan saw when he looked at me? Or was he just being the same old sullen Wolverine? I hadn't thought of the fact that he might be starting to see differently. As a woman. Although, if I was going to be totally honest, I hoped he would. I mean, I've loved the guy for a long time. Save for the very start of our 'relationship' when I'd had a tiny crush on him, it's pretty much been a platonic love. A love you have for a best friend, partner in crime or buddy. Since I'd graduated from college and became a full fledged member of the team, though, the crush I'd had on him in the very beginning reemerged. I feel my stomach flutter when I hear his footsteps. I've found myself trying to be in the same places as him at the same time. It was totally high school and it was totally stupid. Wasn't it?

"You're his friend, idiot. Get over it."

I stripped off my clothes and jumped in the shower.

Just over an hour later, Wolverine and I were on the road. Hot coffees for the both of us and donuts ready for consumption.

"You want sprinkles or plain?"

"Sprinkles."

I always find it amusing when these little quirks of Logan's find their way in the open. He's a total badass, skewers evil minions with his claws, runs around the woods mostly naked in the freezing snow and yet he likes donuts with tiny, multicolored sprinkles. Awesome.

"I heard that."

"What?"

"You giggled."

"Is there a law against giggling?"

"So I like sprinkles. Can't a guy like sprinkles?"

"You're entitled to like sprinkles, Wolvie. I just like the fact that you're such a walking contradiction."

"Am not."

"Oh, please, Wolvster. You know you are. Which is fine because it keeps you interesting. The rest of us are just one dimensional losers compared to everything you've got going on."

"You're not one dimensional, Jubes."

"Pfft. When up next to you, I'm totally boring, dude."

I was surprised at the seriousness in his voice. Whenever we joked around together, he still held on to this air of gruffness, but the tone this time wasn't kidding around.

"Don't ever talk down about yourself again, Jubilee. I'm not gonna have it."

I took a bite of my donut and decided to shut my mouth. I have no idea what bug crawled up his ass but it was not the time to call him out on being cranky. This was probably going to be a long trip.

We made it into the mountains by just after noon, stopping only to pick up some more supplies in case we had to backpack to our location. Wolverine parked the vehicle a quarter mile off the road.

"Scott said the camp was somewhere up under that ridgeline. It's going to be tough to sneak up on them in a hummer."

"That's why we're not gonna take the hummer. Grab your pack, Jubes."

"We're walking? What about this nice, HUGE, vehicle?"

"We don't wanna look like we're comin' in for an assault. We're a backpackin' couple now."

"Ugh. You know, sometimes I hate being your sidekick, Logan."

"You're nobody's sidekick, Jubilee."

"Sure, make a girl feel better just before you make her slog up three thousand vertical feet. You suck, you know that?"

I heard him snicker as he started walking to the trail. Some days, that guy really got on my nerves.

We hiked in relative silence most of the afternoon. There was some small talk here and there but much like the car ride up, I could tell that Wolverine was not in a big talking mood. Which, for him, wasn't all that unusual. I mean, come on, the guy wasn't a great conversationalist. But his mood was weird. He was tense and guarded. He walked up ahead of me most of the day. I was trying to figure out what had made him switch into broody mode when it struck me that he'd been acting like that a lot more lately.

Sure, we'd still been hanging out and all but he was more withdrawn and likely to be found riding around on his bike or down at his favorite bar. I hoped it wasn't an indication that he would be leaving again soon. I really, really didn't want him going anywhere. Despite my bitching about this mission, I was secretly ecstatic that I was getting the opportunity to be alone with him. Again, I was acting like a dorky teenager. I stopped and took a breath. He was way up on the trail. I don't think he'd slowed his pace at all in the last hour. Seriously, this guy was like a mountain goat.

"We've been going all afternoon, Logan. Any chance we get to stop any time soon? You do remember I'm not indestructible, right?"

He stopped and turned around. I think he might have smiled at me but that could have been my exhaustion.

"Sorry, girl. Didn't realize I was pushin' so hard." He looked up through the trees. "Look, it's getting' late. Let's find a place to camp and we'll move on in the mornin'."

"Spiffy."

He walked back down the trail and motioned for me to sit down while he walked off and looked for a place for our camp. I was swigging my water when he reappeared and waved me on to follow him.

"This way, darlin'."

I wanted to make some witty comment but I was just too damn tired. I followed him only a little way past the trail to an amazingly clear spot. It was like something out of a movie. Just past a large pine tree, a small circle of grass revealed itself. Wolverine had set down his pack on the edge of the clearing and begun digging in the bottom for the tent.

"I'll look for some wood, Wolvie."

He grunted his agreement and I walked back into the gathering darkness of the trees to search for stray branches. I didn't mind roughing it at much as I pretended to, really. I enjoyed being out in nature. Watching the lazy movements of the trees, listening to the whooshing of the wind through the leaves. As much as I was beginning to be more and more conflicted about my feelings for my traveling companion, being outside had a surprisingly calming effect on my emotions.

I gathered some good pieces of wood and brought them into the clearing. I turned my attention to finding some rocks to make a small fire ring. Didn't want to burn everything down during the night. Only I can prevent forest fires.

A few minutes later, my fire ring was complete, the wood in place and, I noticed, the tent almost up. I walked over to Logan and grabbed one of the support poles.

"I got it, Jubes."

"Don't be stubborn, Wolvie, I'll help you..."

"I said, I got it."

Now my feelings weren't quite as conflicted. I was pissed. I didn't even bother answering him and turned my attention toward my backpack. I pulled out the lighter and found the bag with our food. I decided to get the fire going and get out some dinner. It was getting darker and my stomach was beginning to protest.

It wasn't beer and pizza, but it tasted great. I ate in silence as I heard Wolverine finish the tent. His footsteps came up behind me and he sat down to my left. I handed him some beef jerky and cheese.

"Thanks."

I didn't bother with a 'you're welcome'. I was getting tired of him being so cranky. The excitement I'd had at the idea of being with him alone dissipated along with the embers of the fire flying off into the dark. I just wanted to crawl into that tent and disappear. I stared into the fire awhile longer and then got up to grab my sleeping bag out of my pack. As I got to my feet, his voice broke the silence.

"Look, Jubes, I'm sorry..."

I just really didn't want to hear him right now. I was tired and I was hurt.

"Logan, I'm exhausted. You may be able to take on the wilderness like Grizzly Adams but I'm just a mere mortal here. I don't know what's going on with you but maybe communing with your beloved nature will help you not be such a jackass in the morning." I took a deep breath and decided not to say another word lest I get myself in trouble. "Before I say something I will really regret, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

I took hold of my sleeping bag and crawled into the tent. The zipper was loud but I thought I might have heard Logan's voice say, "Night, Jubes."

Please take a minute to click on 'review'!