Chapter One:

Grace

2 a.m.

Grace was asleep. Generally, that's what most people would be doing at this time. That's why when her phone rang at 2 am, she swore loudly before groggily picking up the phone.

"Logan, you better have a freaking good reason for calling me this early in the freaking morning." She hissed down the line. There was only one person who would call her at this time, usually to pick him up from an airport so they could spend a few days together before he was back training mutant kids.

"Gracie, it's the boy. We have him at the mansion and it doesn't look good" he didn't get a response, just a click and then the dial tone. He knew she would come. The amount of times she would drop what she was doing and drive half way across the country for that boy always amazed him. He shook his head and scowled through the window of the med wing. He could see Hank and Charles still working on him, removing plates of armour and gently searching for broken bones. Jean was trying her best to hold back a hysterical Kitty while Scott sat in the corner, face sullen and his arms crossed across his chest. Logan signalled to the professor before sliding onto one of the seats next to Scott. It was looking like it was going to be a long night.

Metaphor

Logan was pacing the hall, his usual scowl plastered on his face. The boy was still lying unconscious in the med wing. Sure he was the enemy, being with the brotherhood and all that, but he was family. It was something that he had asked Charles not to share with the student body; it wasn't like he was ashamed; the kid was a strong, competent leader. It was just he had seen what it was like when him and Scott fought. He didn't want to give Cyclops another reason to hate him.

"Logan, I really don't see Lance's condition getting any better tonight. Why don't you get some sleep?" Charles looked up at him calmly from his wheel chair.

"Grace is driving all night to get here: she'd kill me if I even let the boy out of my sight before she gets here." And so the professor went upstairs to check on the other students and Logan lent back in his chair to drown in his own thoughts.

Because after all, the kid was a walking metaphor and they were all going to be buried under the avalanche of bullshit he brought with him.

duty

It all started with a favour asked of them by Professor Xavier. He needed them to look after a baby while he tried to find it a permanent home. The minute Grace had set her eyes on the small bundle in the professors arms, her face lit up and her heart opened. The kid's parents were dead beats: His mother drank anything that would give her a buzz, and his father spent more time in jail than out. Logan could only sit back and watch as his girlfriend was handed the smallest baby he'd ever seen. Starved of nutrients and attention, the boy needed love. When he was two his father was released from prison and decided that he wanted his son. He was pulled out of Grace's arms by the lady from child services, only to be placed back there not two months later. No matter what state the child's parents would take him too, no matter who they convinced that they changed, it was only a matter of time before they would get the call from Charles to go pick the child up. She used to joke the Charles must be her guardian angel, because he was always returning her baby too her. Every time the kid would be taken back by his parents it would start all over again. Charles would ring in the middle of the night, and Gracie would get up and drive to where ever they had to go to pick him up. Once they had him home, they might have him for a day, a few weeks or even a few years. It had always been the just the two of them, before a matter of duty got in the way and they were given a son.

Hold

"Where is my Baby?" Grace had pulled up at the front of the mansion, not even worrying about parking her truck properly. Logan had met her at the front door, never stopping to welcome her into the house, he ushered her into the elevator. Tapping her foot impatiently, she asked again

"Where is my Baby, Logan?" She looked up at him, her curly hair was knotted, and her eyes where puffy. The shirt she wore looked strangely familiar, and judging by how it hung loosely from her small frame, it had once belonged to him. Her blue jeans where the same holey pair that she had been wearing the day he first met her, and her cowboy boots where caked with the red dirt that her driveway was made from.

"He's going to be ok, Gracie"

"I didn't ask if he was going to be ok, I asked where he was." She sighed, leaning her head against the side of the elevator. "I thought the med bay was on the second floor?"

"When the mansion was rebuilt it got moved to the sub-basement." The small room seemed to intensify the tension between the two. This was the first time that Grace had seen Logan since he had walked out her front door with a box of his things under his arm. The minute the door opened, they fought each other to be the first out, but in a way much the same as those stories where mothers will move parked cars to rescue their trapped babies, Grace pushed Logan out of the way to make it into the med wing and to Lance's side first. Her eyes softened at the sight of her son lying in the hospital bed. The monitor next to the bed was beeping happily and the relaxed look on the professor's face indicated that Lance was in no immediate danger. The big blue doctor was still wrapping injuries, but knowing that he was going to be ok, Grace broke down into tears.

crumble

Grace was the first mutant he was introduced to by Charles Xavier. He had been helping her to control her powers, and over the years she had become strong and agile. That was the Grace that he knew. Logan could deal with the Grace who was screaming at him to get his boots off her clean floor, or the Grace who would drop everything for the men in her life (even if she did give them hell for it later). The Grace he was used to would spend half her day cooking and cleaning for her family, and the other half locked away with her art. The Grace that he knew was kind hearted, but with an iron will, ready to do anything for her family. However, the Grace who had thrown herself into his arms in a fit of hysterics was not something that he could deal with. When she looked up at him, it hit him all at once how hard her life had become. She had always been one of the steadiest people he had known, and she had built that stability around her family, but with him and Lance so far away, cracks had formed. He was well aware how much he had hurt her when he left, but he was counting on Lance to hold her together. How was he supposed to know that the kid was going to decide to run off to Illinois? Wrapping his arms tightly around Grace, he felt the shudders wracking her small frame, and he was pretty certain that this would have been the first time that she would have let herself cry since he had left.

Authors Note: So this is the first part of this little story. I've had this story swimming in my head since I started watching X-Men evolution years ago. It ties together my favourite characters, Avalanche and Wolverine. The funny thing is that when I started forming this story, I pictured Wolverine's wife as a mutant who could manipulate feelings and emotions, and then when I watched X-men Origins I was like...wow! anyways, I've been playing with this story for ages until I could find a style that suited it, and so, each chapter will be set out as above, focusing on a central character and then broken down into 5 dabbles. I know there will be mistakes, so feel free to point them out! Questions are also welcome