A/N: apologize for not updating, I was away traveling. Updates will be every Friday from now on! Enjoy!

|•••|

I stood next to Charles as he laid of the medical slab. He was unconscious and a load of diodes were hooked to his head. He looked like a vegetable to me and I watched as his chest slowly rose then fell. Logan had been the first one to find us, then Jean and Scott. Apparently something had gone wrong with Cerebro and it had hurt him. Needless to say, I swore to myself I'd never trust that blasted machine again.

"Josie?" Jean murmured as she put her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged her hand off of me and turned my head away. I didn't want to deal with anyone. I just wanted Charles to move around and stop looking like a vegetable. It was making me uncomfortable. I couldn't stay and watch him any longer, so I turned and marched from the room.

I went to Cerebro. I walked in and went over to the machine before I started beating it down with my fists. "Josie, Josie!" I heard Jean call out from behind me but I didn't listen. I continued beating it, feeling the pain in my hands until I was grabbed in an embrace. I swung around to punch the person but my fist was caught by Logan. I met his gaze for a long moment before I yanked away and stormed past him, bumping his shoulder as I did. I kept on walking until I got into the elevator. I punched the wall when the elevator didn't immediately open… My hands started aching. I leaned against the wall and slid down it, staring at my bloodied hands.

"You okay there?" I heard Logan ask and then I saw his shadow move over me. He sat down beside me and I continued looking at my hands. "I'm sorry." He said after a few moments. I looked up to meet his eyes.

"Charles can't die. He's all I have." I said it before I could stop myself. At leastI wasn't crying. I was just feeling really helpless and I wanted to punch something else, but my hands continued aching. I knew I was at a vulnerable point and even if I had sworn to never be dependent on anyone, I was dependent on Charles. Him dying before me just seemed like an oddity. I never wanted to outlive him despite him being many years older.

Logan just stared at me. I knew he didn't know how to comfort someone acting like a lost puppy. I had sought my comfort in the wrong place. Turning my head, I felt my bottom lip tremble slightly. I refused to allow myself to cry, though. I couldn't cry, not in a time like this. "Josie…" Logan murmured. "We should probably get Jean to fix your hands up."

"I'll be fine. I don't need anyone's help." I practically snapped at him. I stood up and rushed into the lab next to the one Charles was currently in. I went over to the sink and reached over to turn on the sink when I reached how bad my hands actually were. They were aching and were already starting to show the early signs of bruises, not counting the blood that was drying.

I washed my hands off very carefully. They trembled as I bandaged up the cuts. After I was done doing a rough job of fixing up my cuts, I looked at my wrist. It obviously still needed the cast, but I wanted to take it off already. It was becoming a nuisance. I leaned myself against the counter and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to assure myself Charles would be okay. There was no way my dad couldn't make it out of this, he had made it out of much worse.

I turned to walk out when I noticed Logan was in the room, silently watching me. I stared at him with annoyance. "You creeper! How long have you been standing there?!" I demanded.

"Long enough to see your near breakdown." He responded as he unfolded his arms and took a couple of steps towards me. "You know, you don't have to act so strong all the time. That mask will crack eventually."

"Why don't you take your own advice?" I snapped and went to walk around him but he caught my arm.

"Stop acting like a teenage girl who was told she couldn't go to prom with her boyfriend," He said as he looked me in the eyes. "It makes you seem like you're a brat which I know you aren't. You're better than that." He paused for a moment, letting that sink in before speaking again. "Why did you try to make me stay earlier?"

"Why does that matter?" I asked as I tried yanking my arm away but he wouldn't let go. "Logan, please let go of me. This is the only time I will ask you. Then I'll hit you with the cast I have because of you." I warned but right then we were distracted by Scott yelling.

"Jean! Jean, no!" Scott yelled out. Logan let go and we both rushed out of the door to see Scott dart by us. We turned to see Jean put on the helmet to Cerebro and then the doors close right as Scott got to them.

"Oh no," I murmured before I ran over to Scott. "We can't do anything. Cerebro only opens to Charles." I told him as stood next to him impatiently. We didn't need Jean getting screwed up by Cerebro too; it would only make matters worse.

Scott continued beating on the door. "Jean! Jean!" He screamed over and over. I looked back at Logan and he stared at the doors with worry on his expression. I heard the door open and turned just in time to see Jean crumple to sitting position, the helmet off of her head. Scott ran to her first, then Logan and I stood a few feet behind, watching with worry.

"Jean! Jean, speak to me, please." Scott said as he got on his knees. He grabbed her face in his hands and brushed her hair from her face.

Her eyes opened and she looked at him. "I know where Magneto's going." She answered weakly and leaned over to rest her head against his.

"Why the hell would you risk Cerebro?!" I yelled at her before I could stop myself. "One thing, it's too powerful for you to handle and the other is Charles was just hurt by it! What on Earth made you think that it was a good idea?"

"Josie, calm yourself." Scott said and I flipped him off before I looked back at Jean.

"So, what did you find out?" I asked as I folded my arms. "Where is Magneto going? The bathroom? The mall? Where?"

Jean looked up at me with tired eyes. "The U.N. summit."

I paused and my face went blank. I stood there for a moment before I could form a coherent thought. "Oh. That might be a problem."

We ended up getting Storm because we decided that the smartest thing to do was to plan before running it. Probably a smart decision, but I wanted to run in and beat the shit out of Magneto. And Sabretooth, who I owed for giving me what looked like the beginnings of a black eye.

We all were standing around our handy three-dimensional map of metal to get an idea for what our plan of attack. I stood across the map from Logan and Ororo, and I was next to Scott who was next to Jean. "The U. N. summit is on Ellis Island, here." Scott said as the map showed Ellis Island. "Magneto will be launching his attack from the Statue of Liberty, here." He pointed to the Statue of Liberty which had formed.

"He doesn't know his machine kills, and if he gives Rogue enough power..." Ororo said, trailing off.

"He could wipe out everyone in New York." I finished, looking over with raised eyebrows and a sigh. With every passing moment I was ready to beat Magneto's ass down.

"We'll fly the Blackbird in here, come in around the far end of Ellis Island." Scott said as he pointed to the various images on the map.

"What about harbor patrol? Radar?" Logan questioned.

"Our ship was made by Hank McCoy," I said proudly, a smirk on my face. "If they have anything that could pick up our ship, they deserve to catch us." I turned to Scott and Jean. "We should get changed and get this show on the road. I'm looking for vengeance for this shitty black eye I was given by Sabertooth, so get changed and get ready to leave in five." I marched from the room and headed to the room I had gotten Logan's outfit from earlier. I grabbed mine and stripped down quickly. I was trying to get changed before anyone else walked in. I wasn't that lucky.

Logan walked right in, seeing me in my bra and panties. He paused in the doorway, looking down at my body. Let me tell you this just to get the point over: I don't have huge breasts, I wear a 34B in bras, I'm only 5'7", and the only thing I care really about my body is my abs. Everything else I don't care about. My body is not something a man would ever glance twice at and find attractive. I was no Marilyn Monroe. But Logan was looking at me. And it made me uncomfortable. So what do I do when I'm uncomfortable? I make shitty jokes and try to get the attention off of me.

"Don't tell me you've never seen a woman in her underwear before." I said with the most confidence I could muster. I put my hands on my hips and popped one out to the side as I continued to look at him.

"Maybe you should learn to lock the door." Logan snapped back at me.

"I've nothing to hide." I said to him as I started to slip my suit on. He was just standing in the doorway, making no attempt to leave, so I assumed I was going to just have to finish getting dressed in front of him. Once I got it on and I stood straight up and saw he was still looking at me. "Seriously? Can you stop looking at me like that? It's disgusting." I zipped my suit up and grabbed my boots. I slipped them on and then turned to look at Logan… To see he was changing.

He was in his boxers and I couldn't help but check him out. I'm still a girl, okay? I could begrudgingly admit when a man was attractive. Logan looked up and caught me staring as he slipped his suit on. "Seriously?" He asked as he slipped it on. "Can you stop looking at me like that? It's disgusting." He mocked with a slight grin.

I couldn't help but laugh at the mockery and smile at it. "You are insufferable, Logan." I said as I pulled my hair back in a tight bun. "Ugh, I need to chop my hair all off. It just gets in my way."

"I like your hair." Logan said and I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. He had put on the suit but not zipped it up. "I think it looks good, at least."

"So now you're a stylist?" I picked up the clothes I had changed out of and put them in the place my suit was usually. I estimated his shoe size, grabbed a pair and walked over to Logan and gestured to his zipper. "You might want to zip that up. Unless you expect to surprise Magneto with your package." Once he had zipped up the suit I held up the boots for him. "And here you are, your magical boots that will help you kick some ass." I tossed them to him before I started to walk around.

"Where exactly is the Blackbird?"

I stopped moving and turned to face with. "Jean and Scott have to come get changed, they can show you."

"You're going to trust Cyclops to send me in the right direction? He'd send me off a cliff before he would show me the right way." Logan said as he slipped his shoes off and put on the others I gave him.

"Ugh, hurry up then." I said just as the door opened to Jean, Scott and Ororo. They grabbed their things before each going to another place to change. Scott glared at Logan but other than that they didn't speak. Once he was ready we walked out of the room and started to head towards Blackbird.

"So," Logan started out with. "What is your mutant name?"

"What?"

"There's Cyclops and Storm and even Rogue has one but… I never learned yours." He said.

"That's something for another time." I tried brushing it off. It wasn't that I didn't like mine, I just felt like it made me seem less threatening. "How'd you get yours, Wolverine?"

"Can't quite remember." He said.

I looked over at him with surprise. "You have no memories whatsoever?"

"My memories pick up in the seventies. I was full grown with these," Logan said as he showed his claws.

"Logan, I think this is the first time we've been able to talk civilly without one of us being sarcastic." I observed aloud as I looked at his claws. They went back into his skin.

"I notice you started calling me Logan, also."

I looked over at him, slightly rolling my eyes. "Charles does it, I just picked up on his habit."

"You've never called him professor, have you?" Logan asked me.

I shook my head as I looked ahead. We were almost to the Blackbird. "No, Charles has always been a father to me. He's just my teacher secondary." I glanced over at Logan. "All I can tell you, after all this is over, I wouldn't be too hasty to leave. Charles can help you with your past more than any other person. That is, if you want to learn it." I opened the door and entered the huge room. Blackbird sat in the dead center of it. "Here we are." I went over and walked up the ramp to climb aboard. I sat down in a seat and looked to see Logan come and sit in the seat next to mine.

"So this is it?"

"It is." I nodded as I watched him look around the jet. "You know who Henry McCoy is?"

"You mentioned a Hank McCoy earlier."

"Hank's a nickname. He's a very smart man and like a big brother to me. He helped raise me." I said with a fond smile. Hank was an amazing guy. I made a mental note to contact him after this was all over. There was a lot I needed to do after all of this was over.

"So… What happened to your parents?" Logan asked and I looked at him to see his eyes were on me.

"Dead. Or at least one of them is," I responded as I crossed my legs. "My mom died giving birth to me and I never met my biological father. Charles adopted me because my mom had asked him to. They were together, my mom and Charles. Not married, no, but they were together. Hank told me so."

"How did you find out Charles wasn't your actual father?"

I looked away from Logan then. I never liked talking about that time much. It was a dark time for both Charles and I. We didn't get along very well and we could hardly tolerate one another. "He told me himself; he didn't want to lie to me anymore." I decided to say instead of going into specifics. It would spare me the trouble of going back through those days.

"When did you discover your powers?"

I laughed slightly, shaking my head. "I was fourteen. I was scared of a movie Hank had shown me… That night Hank wouldn't let me use a nightlight, he wanted to break me out of the fear of the dark. Needless to say the fear I experienced managed to activate it. Lame, I know. But, hey, I have never been scared again in my life, so who knows if my powers would have activated if not for Tales of the Crypt?"

"Wow," Logan chuckled slightly. "When did you decide to learn how to properly fight?"

I looked over and grinned at him. "I saw Terminator. Ever since then, I've been a fighting machine. It gets a little tiring being the best."

"The best? I broke your wrist earlier."

"Asshole," I said with my grin. "That was because you have an unfair advantage, metal man."

Logan gave me a look. "I think I still would've been able to."

"Ahh, ahh, choo!" I mocked a sneeze. "Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."

"You know, after this is all over, we will fight and we will see who comes out on top." Logan said.

"Challenge accepted, Wolverine. You'll need the time to catch up with me. I'm way past your level." I said with a grin as I turned to face forwards. Just then Jean, Ororo and Scott got on board. Scott went over and sat in the pilot seat, Ororo taking a seat next to him. Jean sat behind them and next to her was an empty seat. Behind Jean was where Logan and I sat. They closed the ramp and then the large panel opened up in the ground. "Hold on, Wolverine. Hope you're not afraid of heights." I said to him as I glanced over at him. The Blackbird rose out of the panel and took off.

I looked back over at Logan to see the top of his uniform was unzipped. He caught me looking at him and I gestured to the spot on mine. He looked down at his then reached down and Logan zipped up the rest of the way. "You actually go out in these things?" Logan asked, looking over at me with raised eyebrows.

Scott scoffed from his seat and looked back at Logan for a moment. "What would you prefer... yellow spandex?" He asked sarcastically.

"I think that would be quite interesting." I said as I looked back at Logan. "We'd look like we were out of a workout video. I'm sure we could make workout videos and they would sell quite well. Xavier's Worktastic Workouts."

"Once again, Josie, I believe you're going crazy." Scott said.

"Maybe, but your girlfriend loves me anyways." I shot back with a grin.

"Were you trying to make a joke that Jean prefers you over me?"

"It wasn't a joke, she does. Everyone prefers me, Cyclops." I said as I leaned back in my seat. "Now why don't you pay attention to the sky so we don't run into a flock of birds?"

|•••|