Chapter 1

Just one Night

The mission was a bust, M.R.D would not agree with it being a failure, but the Xmen knew they failed. The teenagers they were trying to help were caught just like the Xmen planned, but they didn't plan for them to be taken into custody. So Ororo Munroe knew exactly why Logan was so upset, and didn't blame him.

The second the jet landed on the ground, Ororo opened the jet door and Logan jumped out and stalked off. Ororo ran after him, her cape swaying behind her. She grabbed Logan's shoulder, making him stop "You're not taking off again?" she asked, it was meant to be a command but Logan always did what he wanted, no matter what she asked.

"I just need some time by myself Storm" using her code name instead of her real name, Ororo always knew that he used code names instead of real when he was angry or anxious, or just wanted to distance himself from the rest of the team. Ororo always found it an enjoyable part of Logan's animal-like personality when he did choose to use a person's real name, and she found it upsetting when he did call her Storm when they weren't on a mission.

It was like a part of her died a little bit when that happened.

Ororo let go of his shoulder and he shook it off, walking into the male changing room, first out of the 2 other men on the Xmen mission. Ororo just stood for a moment, hating Logan that he could just leave all these worries behind at any split second, he could leave this school behind and worry about his own troubles, while Ororo had to stay behind and pick up the pieces he left behind.

"Just let him be Ororo" Emma said, gliding next to her, Ororo felt someone looking around her mind, pulling up memories of what just happened, hearing a small voice whisper 'Logan again?' and 'Is this an obsession?'. Ororo had lived with Professor Xavier for years so she no longer found it disturbing when someone read her mind, but she did not appreciate it.

"Could you not read my mind for once Emma? I know that you like to know everything, but there are some things I like to keep to myself" Ororo said, stalking off to the female changing room, remarking to herself that she herself was acting a lot like Logan right now. Ororo shook her head, she would never be like Logan, she would always take her problems head on and never make anyone else help her fix it.

Behind her back she heard Emma mutter "You're more alike than you think". Ororo ground her teeth together, she was nothing like him. She wanted to forget things she had seen in her life, he wanted to remember it all, everything he had ever done, said, loved. Two very different people.

Nothing in common, at all.

While she was taking off her tight leather uniform Ororo wondered why she ever put up with Logan's problems of taking off every other month. She found it so annoying, but Logan was getting better. Ororo smiled at a memory she had of one fight with Logan where he yelled at her for trying to make him stay when the children were having parent's day (a day which he hated above all others since he actually had to talk to people), she yelled back, telling him that he had to stay. Eventually it was bad enough that she gave him a small shock to make him shut up.

However, he still yelled at her. Ororo found it refreshing that someone argued with her, usually the students, teachers and Xmen would agree with her since Ororo apparently had the best ideas, but Logan always wanted to go into a mission with guns blazing. Ororo always wondered why this was, was it because Logan had a healing factor and if that plan didn't work he could always go back and try again?

The last week she took Logan up on his offer, telling him that he could lead the next mission, this mission. Logan was actually a pretty good leader, they caught the group of teenage Mutants in no time at all, holding them all down to 'listen', (as Logan referred to it) half the group listened to Logan, saying they were sorry for wrecking those buildings.

The other half, alternatively, did not like being caught the way they were, so they used their powers to get out of the confined area that Logan pushed them into and started to fight back, fighting like no tomorrow. Ororo, expecting the group to be just a group of scared Mutant teens, didn't bring much back up, so the Xmen were unprepared for a large fight with the Mutant children. But having the majority of the team with them did give the Xmen the advantage.

So once again, the Mutant adolescences were caught and just as Logan was about to bring them back on the plane, the M.R.D team came. Ororo didn't hate M.R.D per say, but she didn't approve of them. Being caught by M.R.D wasn't as bad as the Cure but it was like high security jail, you weren't given a sentence, you just had to hope they let you out eventually.

Before Senator Kelly died, he had started the process of the M.R.D team, a team that would take Mutants into custody and hold them there. When the government discovered about Mystique pretending to be Senator Kelly they finally bought in a new Senator and he carried on the plan of M.R.D, as the Cure was forbidden to be given to Mutants unless they had a few offences on file, but those dangerous Mutants had to go somewhere. And after 5 years, that horrible dream finally came true.

M.R.D had a warrant to bring in the teenage Mutants to their facility, Logan tried to start a fight but Ororo had to stop him, he was up against 100 M.R.D team agents with guns and all he had was his claws. Quite even, Ororo thought, but they didn't want to shed any blood.

So, against everything the Xmen believed in, they had to hand the teens over. The second they did Logan stormed off on to the jet and didn't mutter a single word the whole way back, not even Emma could bring a word to his lips except 'Stop playing with my head Frost'.

As Ororo stepped out of the changing room she ran into Rogue, who dropped all the medical files she was holding onto the ground. "Ah no!" she said in her southern twang, bending down to pick up the files.

"Oh Rogue, I am so sorry" Ororo said, bending down to pick up the files with the young doctor, "I'm just-"

"Not concentrating?" Rogue finished, picking herself up from the floor, Ororo shoved the files into Rogue's hands "Have ya seen Logan? I gotta ask him about the mission, ya know, for records and stuff"

"You better not, Logan is a bit upset how the mission ended" Ororo said, Rogue gave her a questioning look, her head tilted to the side like a puppy "M.R.D came and took the children back to their base"

"Ah" Rogue hissed, she shifted the files in her hand "Well, Ah'll just write that up then...Ah-Ah'm sorry about the mission" she tucked a stray white hair behind her ear to join the brown, "Do ya know where Logan is though?"

Ororo sighed, when Rogue went back home to her parents after she took the Cure but she didn't feel at home there anymore. When she voiced this concern to her parents, they told her she was adopted.

Rogue got upset and her power flared up again, almost killing her with the pain, she came back to the school looking for help and understanding. Logan comforted her (telling Rogue to never ever tell anyone about his softer side) and told her to stay at the school and keep her powers.

Rogue and Logan were very close, something Ororo got jealous over (the fact that even though Logan was a gruff and sarcastic person at times, he still had someone who wanted to spend time with him) but Logan deserved someone in this world, and she was glad it was with someone who was so misunderstood as he.

Ororo exhaled, thinking of the best way to tell Rogue he didn't want to see anyone, not even her "He wants to spend some time alone, Rogue" Ororo did feel sympathetic towards the down poured look on Rogue's face, but Ororo had some more pressing matters to attend too. "I'll see you later Rogue"

"Yeah, bye" Rogue mumbled, shifting the files and walking down to the med lab.

Ororo walked down the gleaming white halls, she knew she had a lot of work to do, but she couldn't get the look of Logan's face out of her head. Logan always had this cocky look to him, he knew he was always going to get the job done. And his job was to save mutants. But that look of failure that crossed his face when the M.R.D team took those teenagers away was the worst thing Ororo ever saw.

But she couldn't let him wallow in pity, take off and come back after a few weeks, covering up that failure with blood of humans. She had to talk to him, if he liked it or not. She would not let him turn into that mutant, the one that killed humans just for saying a word against Mutants.

Although he did that now, Ororo could always stop him, but he was stronger than her and could easily take down Ororo or any other member of the Xmen. But maybe this time he would stay, Ororo hoped, unlikely that he would, but she did have faith in Logan for doing the right thing.

Students passed Ororo in the halls, most of them were teenagers, but some of them were younger. Because most mutants now were in their 30s, some of them were having Mutant children, unfortunately some of the children's mutation could easily be seen. But fortunately, most of the children looked like any other human, but they did get out of control when they were younger, and more so than other Mutant teens.

In one incident, somewhere in England, an 8 year old child of a single level 3 Mutant mother, was almost killed by Mutant-phobic teens, so using his power of acid generation, he almost burned all their skin off.

The child in question was sitting with his peers now, talking like any other 8 year old about juvenile matters such as superheros and how much getting homework sucked. Ororo smiled at him, and the boy and his friends all waved back at their principle of their school, their safe haven.

Ororo looked around the school once, not finding Logan, but she did see his bike (that belonged to Scott for so long), so she knew he hadn't taken off yet, but he was hiding from her. He knew she wanted to talk to him. Ororo shrugged, sitting down at her desk and pulling out papers regarding registration for new students whose parents wrote in asking if their child could attend the school.

Ororo sometimes wished that all the children could live at the school, but they didn't have enough room for so many borders, so she had to go through the lists, see which students could make it to the school every day or which lived in another state, or another country, then go through those and figure which students could get to school safely, as an obvious mutation would not be seen as fit on the local school bus.

It was hard work, as mutants who had run away from home or were abandoned unexpectedly were hard to place in a full school, so there had to be a few spare rooms for those mutants, or they had to be shoved into full rooms. It was hard work, and it was even harder to tell Mutant children that they couldn't live at the school because there wasn't enough room for them. But Ororo tried hard to make room.

It was up to the point now where most of the children had to share rooms with 4 or 5 others when the room was made for 2 (Ororo used the magical invention of the bunk bed for most of those, or she moved the beds around as best as she could), but some of the older children who were just reaching puberty hated the idea of sharing a room with a teen who had already gone through it all and was comfortable with their bodies once more.

So teenage angst ran high in the school, and Ororo had to deal with fights, rumours and 'female cramps' of all the older students. The younger ones were just there to have fun, most of them knew about the world outside of the gate, but they choose to ignore it all which Ororo admired. So, with all the normal teenage problems, Ororo had to deal with fights that usually ended with powers being used.

Being the head of a school of teens was not that difficult, but being the head of a school full of teenage Mutants was. Add the fact that Ororo was the leader of the Xmen to the mix you would have a life that left no time for a personal life of any sorts.

Time was passing by quickly for Ororo Munroe, and sometimes she felt she was going to leave nothing to show for it. Sure, she was the head of a school and the leader of the Xmen but that could be passed on to the next leader when it was time, she had no major accomplishments that people would know her for, sometimes it made Ororo just that little bit depressed.

Ororo didn't realise it, but she had been working for hours without getting anything done, out of all the paper work she had to do she had barely made a dent in it and it was already pitch black outside. The yells of the children outside were turned into whispers every now and again above her head, footsteps of the other teachers making their rounds of the school were silent, meaning they went to bed themselves.

She could just imagine the smaller children begging to stay up, the older ones begging for them to shut up so they could go to sleep themselves, it always made her smile when they asked if they could stay up that little later to watch TV.

Ororo's whole life was for the children, watching them leave for the summer was the most gut wrenching moment of the year 'empty nest syndrome' Emma called it, Emma and the rest of the team never felt the same way, but then again, they all had the chance to go out on the town while she got to sit in the Rec rooms most nights and watch movies with the kids.

And she knew it was horrible to think it, but she was kind of glad of the ones who had been abandoned or run away since they got to stay at the school all summer with her, meaning she wasn't completely crushed. Ororo moved the papers away from her, she looked around the room, it used to be Charles Xavier's but now it was hers, but it showed no sign of changes since then.

There was a picture of her and the first Xmen team on the wall, of her, Jean and Scott, all sitting around Xavier. There were a few pictures of Jean and Scott (together or with Ororo) then there was a picture of the new Xmen team, she had one of the students take this picture a few years back, she showed it off proudly, seeing this was the biggish accomplishment of her life so far.

She looked at the picture of Xavier, wishing that he was still there, her family had died when Ororo was young and she was left on the streets of Africa, she pick pocketed for most of her life, then she was found by a tribe and made their African Queen because of her ability to control the weather. It was not a life fit for a young pre-teen girl, so when Xavier offered her a place at his school, she jumped at the chance, living her twisted world behind.

But she never knew how difficult life would be here in America.

Ororo let her head drop onto the desk, "Ow" she muttered darkly to herself, not expecting it to hurt her head so much. Her arms curled around her head, her stark white hair covering any of her face that could have been showing, she was still for a moment, just waiting for any more sounds.

When she thought no one could see her or hear her, she let a tear escape, then she started to have a full flown crying fit. It was too much sometimes, all this work and nothing to relieve her with, she wished she could just have one night. One night where she could just let herself go and just do something for her.

But she couldn't, she had too many responsibilities, so the only way she could let go of all her stress, was a tear down her cheek, an extra session in the danger room once a week, and a yelling match with Logan every other month. Nothing much, but it kept her sane.

But even now, she had no time for the danger room session and Logan was being moody all by himself. Ororo wanted to yell, scream, shout her frustration of the world, she could make a giant storm, or a hurricane, but she couldn't, she had to keep the school safe. But she wanted to do something stupid so badly.

"You okay Ororo?" a gruff voice said, startling her. She jumped up, and she knew she must have looked like a drowned kitten by the look on Logan's face, she sniffed and wiped away her cheeks with the palm of her hand, trying to get rid of the dark eye liner make up that washed from her eyes with her tears.

Ororo was upset that she didn't hear Logan come in, this was her office for many years now, but yet he still barged in here like it was any other room in the institute. It frustrated her sometimes, but what annoyed her more was that Logan had seen her cry, seen her weak and broken. No one should see her like that.

Maybe she would get that fight she wanted, but she couldn't yell at him. The kids were asleep. Another release of stress crossed off the list.

She sniffed again and tried to fix up her papers, "I'm fine Logan, just fine" she said, shuffling them in front of her face, trying to avoid looking at him. "What-what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to tell you, I'm going to-"

"Take off?" Ororo guessed, she stood up, making a quick glance in the dark window to see her reflection, making sure she didn't look like she was crying too hard. She held her arms around her body like a self given hug, turning back to Logan, who was just staring at her with those blue eyes. "That's the thing with you, Logan, you take off when it gets too hard, and I'm left here with the kids who ask why they don't have combat class that day, or why they can't talk to you"

"They understand Storm-"

"Don't call me that" she snapped "Don't call me Storm when you want to distance yourself from me. Because let me tell you Logan, it never works, your still here at the school no matter what you wish"

They paused, Ororo staring down on Logan while he stared back, she sighed holding her hand to her forehead and shaking her head in annoyance "Just go Logan" she said finally, "Just take off and never look back, because I can't keep doing this anymore"

Logan growled, turning his back on Ororo "Fine I won't go" he said simply, going to open the door before Ororo stopped him.

"Wait Logan" Ororo said, holding her hand out to him, he turned back to her and she moved her hand back to her forearm, she stopped, unsure of what to say next. If she should tell him to just go, or thanking him for staying. But she had to know if she was in the same pain as her, if not more, making him hurt sometimes made her feel better, she knew it was cruel, but he had his outlets, she needed hers.

"Do you...miss Jean...still?" she asked, knowing that if there was one thing that Logan hurt most about, it was her. Logan hadn't spoken a word about Jean in years, Ororo didn't know if he still loved her, or he got over Jean with some cheap floozy he got to on his frequent trips out of the school.

"The same amount as you" he said finally.

Ororo looked at her feet, so Logan still loved Jean. Jean, her best friend, the one that almost killed them all, the red head that Ororo confined everything in and that was ripped from this world so suddenly, her death had been a big blow for Ororo, she felt like she lost her brother and father (Scott and Professor Xavier) in one week, and she finished mourning her sister.

But when she came back, Ororo felt like she had a family again. Then she was taken from her again, and Ororo had no more family except for the children, but they left her too. Ever summer "But, Jean was like a sister to me, like family" Ororo whispered

She looked back at Logan, who looked very much the same as before, "Jean looked like someone I used to know, I think. She loved Scott, Ororo, and nothing I could ever do or say would stop that."

"But didn't you love her?" Ororo callously said "You loved Jean, even with Scott there"

"I got over Jean years ago" he said coldly, taking a step towards Ororo, making her look up to him "I miss her still, but not in the same way, the same way I miss Scott or when Rogue almost died, or if the rest of the team got hurt"

"What about me?" she said, glaring at Logan "The rest of the team?" she quoted him, getting louder with each word "Am I not the same as the team Logan? The same as Jean? Rogue? Scott?" she hissed. "Tell me Logan. Am I less to you than everyone else? Would you care if I got hurt, or died?"

"I would care more, that's the problem 'Ro"

"What did you call me?" she said softly, dropping her arms to her side, taking a step towards Logan, his eyes wide as he realised the nick name he just called her and stepped back.

He paused, "Nothing" he said dismissing her from asking the same question again, "Look, I'm going to stay here, is that enough?"

"Yes" she said, staring as he turned his back on her.

Ororo didn't know if it was her fatigue, or having no physical release of stress, or the fact that Logan just told her that he got over Jean long ago. "Wait" she said, reaching her hand out to him, he turned back to Ororo. No emotion on his face at all. She hated it when he did that.

The next step was either going to make him leave forever, or she would have that one night she wanted for years.

When Logan was looking at her again, she took another step towards him, in his eyes she could see a glimpse of exactly of what was running around her mind. But she needed to know, she wanted that one night so bad, Logan was someone she trusted, and if it didn't work out, he wouldn't be someone that told the whole team that their boss tried to come onto him.

So, Ororo reached out towards him, putting her hands on his chest, feeling the tight muscles under his shirt, she reached up on her toes and kissed him. But it wasn't a sweet kiss, it was full of want, need, lust, there was no friendship in this kiss, it was the kind of kiss the bruised her lips. She waited, but she didn't need to wait long.

Logan kissed her back with the same enthusiasm, she snaked her arms around his neck, to bring him down to her level. But Logan had the same idea, putting one hand on her waist and one in her hair tugging at the long strands, pulling her up to his level. She pushed her body next to his, as close as their clothes would allow them. She was surprised when Logan broke away from her.

She was panting, she didn't even realise that she wasn't breathing, "Uh, what was that?" he asked, pulling away from her, he covered his mouth and just stared at her. Ororo just stood there, thinking she went too far, that she had pushed him away forever "This is so wrong" he muttered to himself, then he removed his hand from his face and ran it through his hair "Your my friend, 'Ro, my boss" he said, moving further away. "We can't do this"

Something in Ororo finally snapped, she was finally getting what she wanted for once, and now it was going to be taken from her "Logan, I have been working my heart out for the last 6 years, I haven't had any time for myself to go out, and I haven't down anything stupid in years. I just want one night. No commitment, after we never speak of it" she hotly said, taking another step towards him, he didn't move back which was a good sign. "Please Logan, just for me, I just want this one thing and I will never ask anything from you again" she almost pleaded.

Logan said nothing, Ororo wondered if he was going to do what she asked, or if he was going to avoid her for the rest of her life. "Ororo, are you sure about this? I mean-"

"Is that a yes?" she asked, taking another step hopefully.

"Yeah sure-" and her lips were on his again, more forceful this time. She backed him against the wall, assaulting his body with her hands, feeling up his arms, around his neck, his chest. He stopped her again, holding onto her wrists.

His lips let go of hers, and moved them against her ear, "We should probably go to your room, I don't want to do this...here" Ororo moaned as he nibbled on her ear, his hot breath making goose bumps on her skin.

"Yes, of course" she gasped, he moved his face away from hers and lead her up the stairs, a hand on her lower back, Ororo missed this physical contact, the feel of someone on her, wanting her. She then thought of an important matter as they passed by his room on the way to hers "Do you have any...?" she left the question hanging.

He understood her, letting go of her back and opening his door. "Yeah, wait here" he said, kissing her before going inside, Ororo waited, hoping that everyone was asleep, she would be in so much turmoil if anyone ever thought something was going on between her and Logan. Well, it wasn't anything wrong, just that it was frowned upon, especially with her the African Goddess fooling around with the gruff Wolverine.

She was reconsidering this whole thing, maybe she should stop while she could, but when Logan's hands moved down her waist to her hips, and he assaulted her neck with kisses, she forgot all that, she forgot to breathe, she forgot her name, but still led him down the hall, past all the other rooms and to the stairs that led up to her room.

Ororo was thankful that her room was sound proofed, not completely, but it was better than no sound proof at all. Tonight she was going to make a lot of noise, let go of all her stress. Ororo opened her door, but Logan didn't follow her, she tugged on his hand but he resisted "Are you sure?" he asked

She kissed him deeply, dipping her tongue into his mouth, he groaned against her and she knew that he was hers to tame now, she leaned up against his body and placed her mouth against his ear "I'm sure" she whispered then she bit down on his ear, making him growl. That brought out the animal in Ororo and she dragged him into the room while attacking his lips again.

Logan kissed back hard, almost bruising Ororo with his need for her, slamming the door shut behind him.

Author Note!

Okay, so my original version of this chapter was a whole lot different in my head. First of all, I never had that whole first half (Rogue, Emma, Ororo sitting in her office) and I originally had Ororo to go find Logan outside on the steps or something right after the mission, and the whole argument never really happened, Logan was a whole lot sweeter but then I thought about it and thought it wasn't really him.

Also, I had Logan kiss Ororo, but since I did that whole scene with Ororo just wanting one night, I had her kiss him. And you know that whole first chapter (chapter 0.5) I actually had that combined with this one, but I thought it didn't really fit in with this.

Okay, so review and make a little girl in Australia happy.