AU or Alternate timeline where Jean Grey never married Scott Summers because she gave into her "passion" for Logan shortly after they met. Logan and Jean have been married for several years and aren't happy. Not a Logan/Jean story. The team is basically the same…the only difference is that Logan has been faithful to Jean, so he never had a relationship with Mariko or anyone else…And because of the changed relationships the characters are slightly different, as well. Also I don't really understand all that Phoenix stuff so I am ignoring it. Jubilee when she shows up will be older (early 20s?). Logan/Jubilee, Scott/Jean.
Logan woke up at 5 am each morning. He tried not to wake Jean because she liked to get another hour of sleep before she got up. When Logan moved quietly, he didn't make a sound a normal human could hear, and he moved very quietly this morning. He loved his wife, he respected her and thought she was a brilliant, beautiful woman, but they spent enough time together already. He didn't want to hear her voice, mentally or otherwise, until at least noon today.
Logan's run was longer than usual that morning. He went his normal route for a few miles and then deviated from the trail to run through the underbrush of the forest. He got a few scratches on his skin, but they healed almost immediately, and he almost relished the momentary pain. He missed the outdoors; the feeling of grass underneath his feet and hearing birds and small animals scurry away from the ungainly sound of a man running through the underbrush.
Logan had been cooped up too long.
It wasn't that missions were less frequent. Trouble was happening so often these days that most of the team was tired out and vaguely disgruntled. And the missions were just as dangerous as anything Logan had faced in the past, if not more so.
It had just been a long time since he'd been on the open road alone, with no one to bother him or mother him or try to make him into something that he wasn't. The last time he'd felt that freedom had been that time he'd gone to Japan. It had been good to be alone. Logan titled his head slightly in confusion, unconsciously looking like a dog as he ran. He hadn't been alone that trip, he had been with Jubilee. Well, the girl was enough like him it sometimes seemed that when he was with her he was alone, but in a good way.
Not the way Jean made him feel alone.
Logan pushed the thought out of his head. He had fought to win Jean, and when she came to him that night it had broken Scott's heart. Logan couldn't go back on his marriage vows, couldn't be disloyal simply because things weren't the way he had imagined they would be. That old saying "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" popped into his head. It annoyed him, and he tried to look on the bright side. His wife was beautiful, talented and everything he had ever wanted.
Unfortunately Logan had never been good at judging whether the things he wanted would make him happy. Logan popped out his claws in frustration. He didn't want to think this way. Not when the person who was making him unhappy was his wife and could read his mind. She didn't deserve to feel all his frustration and bitterness. He slashed through an old, dead tree with his claws and let out a roar, which sounded fierce for a moment then faded out into the forest like it had never been there at all. Logan attacked the tree with vigour, as if he was trying to make himself known to something; to make his presence felt. He knew then that he couldn't go on this way for long.
What he wanted more than anything else was to imitate his roar, and fade into the forest like he'd never been there at all.
"Jean, is that Logan driving away?" Scott asked over breakfast.
Jean didn't bother to look up. She did a quick scan with her mind and noted her husband's presence driving away on his bike. She nodded. Jean and Scott were alone for breakfast; that was something that almost never happened. It was the first weekend off many of the team had had and they were trying to spend time with their friends and loved ones. Or in her and Logan's case, away from their loved ones.
"You shouldn't let him treat you like this," Scott said under his breath. She guessed he spoke so quietly because he was giving her the option of pretending she hadn't heard him.
Jean felt compelled to jump to her husband's defence. "Treat me like what? He just needs some space. Most people don't work with their spouse. Its harder than you think," she said.
"I wouldn't have minded," Scott said. He spoke aloud this time, but he wasn't pushing his agenda. They had already had this talk so many times Jean guessed even Scott might be a little sick of it.
"Its easy to say but less easy to actually do it," Jean said. "You've got to move on. Find a nice girl, have a few babies."
"Why haven't you and Logan had babies?" Scott asked.
"Too dangerous," Jean said. "Logan thinks at least one parent should stay out of danger to take care of the child, and I agree. I don't want to give up the day job, and Logan's okay with that."
"That's big of him," Scott said dryly.
"Actually, it is," Jean said. She had been surprised when Logan had been quite willing to allow her to continue the superhero business even after their marriage. He seemed so old-fashioned sometimes, but he was more open-minded than he looked.
"Can't you find fault with him at all?" Scott asked.
Jean looked at him curiously. She wanted to look into his mind and find out exactly what he was driving at, but she had gotten out of the habit when she got involved with Logan. He didn't like her poking around in his mind for nothing other than curiosity's sake, and she had grown to see the wisdom in that, even though it went against many of her natural inclinations. She managed to control her impulse and just answered the question.
"Of course I can find fault with him. Everyone has faults, even you, Scott. Logan loves me, and what's more, he needs me. I keep him sane, keep the feral, wild side of him from coming out. I'm his humanity," she said. She felt a little silly after she said it, but it was something she'd heard her husband say many times before, and not just to her.
"Don't you want more than that? More than just being a crazy runt's key to mental health?" Scott asked.
Jean felt Scott's words pull on her and almost answered yes, but then she was annoyed with the disrespect Scott had spoken with. No one at the mansion called Logan runt, knowing that Sabertooth used that name. Jean felt cold fear every time she thought of Sabertooth ever catching her or her husband in a weak moment, and she didn't need a so called friend reminding her of that.
Jean put down her fork and left the room.
When Logan returned it was 2 in the afternoon. He had managed to make it past noon with hours to spare. Jeannie was in the garden with Storm, so Logan decided to see how long he could actually push not talking to his wife. He put the things he had gone to town to get for her down on the bed and in the kitchen, then changed his clothes and went into the garage to work on his bike.
It was a Harley, an old one, a classic. Every curve was sleek and responsive, or would be when he got the gears working right again. He had been working for a couple of hours when he heard the shuffling of feet and looked up, expecting to see his wife.
He was a little surprised that he was actually pleased that it was Cyc.
"Hey Cyc, what's up?" He asked.
"What are you trying to do, Logan?" Scott asked, his voice annoyed.
Logan looked around him pointedly, his eyes taking in tools and bike parts. "Fixing my bike. What does it look like I'm trying to do?"
"It looks like you're trying to avoid your wife," Scott said.
"That's none of your business," Logan said. He stood up, wiping his greasy hands on his jeans. "Scott, you're not a part of my marriage. You're not involved. Stay the hell out of it."
"I can't stay out of it. You should have seen her at breakfast. She's lonely. Everyone else who's married is off on some romantic getaway, and all you two want to do is getaway from each other," Scott said.
"Maybe you should take her off on a romantic getaway," Logan said, a dangerous glint in his eye. Scott noticed and started to backtrack slightly.
"You know I haven't been involved with Jean that way for a long time," Scott said.
"I know, Jeannie knows, but I'm never certain whether you know it or not, Scoot," Logan said.
"Believe me, I know that she chose you. I don't know why, but she did. I wonder if she regrets it," Scott said.
Logan knew at any other time he would have exploded and threatened Scott with his claws, but he felt a strange kind of empathy for the guy. Scott looked surprised when Logan just shook his head sadly and went back to fixing his bike. "Even if you lived as long as I have, life's too short for regrets," he said. "Even if we don't always know what's best for us."
"What are you saying Logan?" Scott asked. He looked hopeful, as if he thought Logan was going to say he wanted to leave Jean. For the first time, the thought didn't seem far fetched to Logan--but nevertheless he pushed it out of his head.
"Nothing. Just thinking out loud," he said. Scott might have said something else if Logan had looked at him then, or acknowledged him in any way, but he went back to fixing his bike. A moment later Logan heard Scott walk away.
A few minutes later the professor called telepathically and told them to suit up and meet in his office.
"Hello X-Men. I'm sorry that those of you who chose to stay here at the mansion will have your holiday cut short by this--but it shouldn't take long," Charles said.
"Famous last words, Chuck," Logan growled.
"What is this mission?" Jean cut in before Logan had the chance to go on about how the Professor had jinxed them with his words.
"There is a mutant in trouble. She's a young girl who I've been aware of for quite some time. Her powers are not strong enough to protect her in her present situation, although they might develop in the future," the professor said.
"What are her powers?" Storm asked.
"That's not important right now. She's in urgent danger," Charles said.
"What's the danger?" Logan said.
"Her stepfather just found out she's a mutant. He wants to do her physical harm, but she's barricaded herself in the shed behind the house. I've blocked the location of the key from the stepfather's mind, but she needs to get out of that house and that situation," Charles said. "The location is keyed on Blackbird's computer. Good luck."
"Why did we all have to go?" Logan said as they walked toward the Blackbird. "Seems pretty straightforward. Any one of us could have handled it alone. Do you think there's something that Chuck's not telling us?"
"If it was relevant, he would have told us already," Scott said.
"The professor wouldn't hold back information that we would need," Jean said. "Maybe he just--"
"--wanted to punish us for staying here on call by sending us all out for a supposedly easy mission?" Logan finished. "It don't make sense."
"Perhaps the professor intends for the mutant to join the team, so he wants to show her how the team operates," Storm said.
"Well, this isn't how the team operates. We're sleek and efficient, not cumbersome," Logan growled.
Logan, perhaps you would like to join me in the study. The rest of you may proceed without him. You are perfectly right, not all of you are needed on this mission. Chuck's voice sounded in Logan's mind, and apparently the minds of the rest of the team as well. Jean looked at Logan sympathetically and kissed him on the cheek before following Scott and Storm up the ramp.
Logan thought he might be in for a lecture about respecting Chuckle's authority. He hadn't had one of those in a while. He had kind of missed them.
"Sit down Logan," the Professor said when Logan entered the room.
Logan sat uncomfortably for a moment before he took off his cowl and looked the professor in the eye. It was a lot easier to talk to Chuck seriously without wearing a stupid looking hat.
"What's up, Chuck?" Logan asked.
"I thought you might want an explanation for the way I set up this mission," Charles said.
"Hey, its your outfit. You run it how you see fit," Logan said. "You don't have to explain anything to me, just don't expect me not to grumble a bit if you don't give us all the information."
"It is hard to get things like this by you, Logan," Charles said. There was a twinkle in the other man's eye and Logan had the feeling that Chuck was making fun of him.
"So what's the story?"
"The stepfather is ex-Friends of Humanity. I wasn't sure where his ultimate loyalty would lie. If he chose to call in his old friends to help him deal with his stepdaughter…well, a few extra bodies wouldn't hurt," Charles said.
"Now I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. I never pass up an opportunity to crack a few of the Friends of Humanity's skulls," Logan said.
"In that case perhaps its better that you're here after all," Charles said. He looked at Logan thoughtfully. "Is there anything you want to discuss with me, while you're here?"
"Nothing I can think of," Logan said.
"Maybe I should think of something for you to do this weekend. You have the look of a man with too much time on his hands," Charles said.
Logan smiled uncertainly. The comment wasn't much like Charles. "Sure, whatever you want," he finally replied.
"Jubilee said something about coming to visit, but with all the Friends of Humanity activity, and because they have information about her on their files, I asked her to stay where she was, and be safe. She agreed, but she was disappointed. Perhaps you could go collect her from Columbia University and bring her back here," the professor said.
"Sounds like fun," Logan said.
"How long has it been since you've seen her?"
"A couple of years. How old is she now, anyway? Twenty-two?" Logan asked.
"Yes, I believe she turned twenty-two just recently. She told me you gave her a lovely birthday present," Charles said.
"I learned a long time ago never to forget that one's birthday. Sometimes I just have trouble keeping track of which one it is," Logan said.
"Of course. Shall I call her and let her know that you're coming?" Charles asked.
"You do that, Chuck," Logan said.
He went to get his things together, then pulled out of mansion gates feeling like a free man for the first time in ages.
