Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Roughly Fourteen Years Ago...

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Throwing out the kick stand of his Harley, Logan gave an appreciative look to the collection of cars and bikes that littered the lot. Some looked like full restoration jobs in between the different stages of tear down, body work and paint jobs, others just looked to be in for the love that kept them purring. Recognizing one trouble maker sitting at the front desk flipping through a car magazine, Jubilee looked bored as she blew a bright pink bubble.

"Surprised they don't got ya earning your pay giving the cars a wash." Logan said to catch her attention, in these parts his Harley just didn't cut it with all the rides to pick from.

"I don't do detailing, I'm the girl you leave the keys with. What brings ya here? Cause I know you don't trust anyone to touch your baby but you." Jubilee asked, leaning against the counter with her low cut top giving him an eye full.

"Looking for a pretty boy mechanic, you seen him around here?"

"Wow, you get bored of me already? Find yourself a new friend with the same kind benefits?"

Growling at the little lady giving him so much grief, Logan left her off at the counter as he was in no mood to go playing her games today, not after getting a text from LeBeau about wanting to have a talk. Heading down the bays, he spotted Remy working on an engine of an old Charger done up to the nines.

"Gotta say, LeBeau, I didn't expect ya to hold this gig. Figured you'd run off with the first pretty little thing that caught your eye." Whether it was a car or a lady, Logan figured on the first but wasn't about to hold his breath about the latter.

Lighting up a smoke, Logan leaned up at the door to watch Remy work. He had to admit the kid was good with his hands, that gentle touch of his pickpocket fingers served him well once they down under the hood.

"I got something more beautiful waiting for me at home, neh?"

Marie, the tie that bound them together, both loving her in their own ways. Try as he might to hate the kid for dating her, Remy treated Marie like royalty. And for all his flirtatious ways, he only ever kissed his special lady. Looking back to the service desk, Jubilee had been right all along, it all came down to what Remy did with his chance.

"It's about time for my break, and you be doing me no favours with that cigar of yours, here I am trying to quit that bad habit of mine."

Stubbing out his cigar, that was something else LeBeau was working on mending, one among the many of his bad habits.

"There's a decent bar and grill down the road, what say we get a bite and you can have that talk you're there." Logan said, the breeze bringing the aroma of the smoked brisket the joint was famous for.

"That be a great idea, let me go wash up these filthy hands and then we take my car." Remy offered, "Why don't you go find out what Jubilee wants as a bit of take away, she's chained to the desk waiting on a call about an engine we needed yesterday."

As much as Logan didn't want a reason to go talking to Jubilee just yet, he headed on up to the desk where she looked busy with a call that had her holding the phone between her ear and shoulder while looking something up on the computer.

"LeBeau and me are gettin' a bite, want us to bring ya back something?" Logan asked quietly as not to interrupt her.

"Surprise me, oh, and a cherry coke." Jubilee hastily answered, holding the phone to her chest for a second before getting back to the call.

Waiting on LeBeau by his car, a mint looking late Eighties Lincoln he had won in a card game, or so that story went, the man himself had ditched his coveralls to get cleaned up as best he could. The grease under his nails was something that just never washed off of the hands of a man who made his living messing in the guts of cars.

A five minute drive had them finding a couple of stools up at the counter, ordering up two of the house's specials, with one meant to go. Ordering himself a beer, it was the cherry coke that had the lady looking a might curious at him. Placing an order for wings and a beer to follow suit, Remy looked like a man with something on his mind, far too quiet for his usual self who never knew when to shut up.

"You've known Marie as long as anyone, say you had a question you have to ask her that you maybe be afraid of her answer, how would you do it?" Remy asked.

Feeling a bit shocked to hear LeBeau asking him for advice, Logan enjoyed a sip of his beer while he mulled over the question for some serious thought. He owed the kid that much for putting in a real effort to clean up his act.

"There a reason you ain't asking Lee about this?" If there was someone Remy usually went to for those kinds of questions, it was Jubilee.

"Maybe because this be as close as I get to asking Marie's Pappy for his permission."

Just to prove he wasn't bluffing or pulling his leg, Remy reached into his shirt pocket for a little box Logan had mistaken to be a pack of smokes. It wasn't anything flashy, just a little gold band with a diamond in the middle, but he recognized the jeweller it was from having gone there for the odd gift or two over the years.

"You planning to make an honest woman outta her?"

"She make an honest man out of me, I think it be time I do the same."

The smug prick he usually hated was nowhere to be found in the sincere smile Remy had plastered over his face, dipping his shades low enough to flash his red on black eyes that looked completely smitten by the idea of his proposal.

"Last I checked, ya don't gotta go asking me dick all, it's all up to her to make that choice." Logan grunted, downing a hearty swallow of his beer that had him thinking he might need another to wash down burger.

"I know you and me, we get off to a rocky start. But I think I be growing on you, so I hope if she say yes, then you and me, maybe we can see if we can't be friends."

It wasn't to say they didn't have a lot of shared interests, they both liked a good cold beer and were known to hustle a game of cards now and again, each through their own means. There wasn't much he wouldn't do for Marie, either. She helped him be a better man, too, something she was doing for LeBeau now all through loving him. Raising his glass, Logan waited for Remy to take his, a toast made between them saying everything that didn't need be said.

"Just keep it on the straight and narrow, bub."

Thinking back to Remy's original question though, Logan found a pen and started drawing out a bit of a map from memory on a napkin. X marked the spot of one little stretch of road he knew Marie liked for the view it offered. Folding it up neatly, he passed it off, and that was all the help he was going to give the punk. Everything else was up to that sweet talking Cajun.

"Thank you, Logan, now I just have one last favour to ask. You think you could cover for me, I seem to have forgotten my wallet back at the shop."

"Prick."

Laughing just the same, somehow he figured he knew what Marie's answer would be, so paying for lunch wasn't too hard to swallow, not like his pride. That would be a lot harder, but he'd try to play nice and give the kid a chance and see if they couldn't become friends, all for her.

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Present

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The Munchkin's pretty quiet. There were probably some other stories I could have told her about her pops that I don't think Marie would go telling her any time soon, either, but I'm still on thin ice as it is. The last thing I need is to go giving either Marie or Jubilee another reason to use me as a punching bag again.

"Mom still has it."

For a minute there I think she's talking about the ring, but I figure out what Anna means when she starts drawing it out on a napkin, what with having taken a walk to a local greasy spoon for a milkshake and cup of coffee. She's trying for memory, so I oblige her with the rest, wondering to myself just how it'd hold up against the original. Marie always was one to make keepsakes out of the strangest things.

"Ever been up there?" I ask, only because it's a little too close to the school.

"No, but Momma said it was a map to someplace special that she'd take me some day."

It wasn't much longer after that when LeBeau and her headed on out to go make a life for themselves, just the two of them. That's a day I'll never forget, the school felt empty after that, and I found myself in bed with Jubilee for the last time before I hit the road. We were both pretty lonely that night, and that's probably something else I shouldn't go telling pipsqueak here, not with how curious she's looking up at me again.

"I'll try and think up a few more stories to tell ya about your pops, kiddo, the stuff yer Momma ain't likely to tell ya 'till your older anyway."

"Why did he ask you though, I mean, you're around Mom's age right?"

Sharp as a tack this one, and that's a damned good question too. Something tells me bullshit won't fly with her.

"Part of what makes me the man I am is that I don't age much, been carrying around this mug for a long time now. Your mom wasn't much older than you are now when I first ran into her. But that's a story I should save for later, maybe see if she doesn't want to tell her side o' it."

Laughlin City was a hell of a ways away from Meridian, and given how starved Marie was when I met her, I bet she was damned near ready to go making a few more mistakes of the likes that had her climbing into the back of my trailer. And just like every time I'm reminded of that, I'm glad I was there so she didn't have to.

"So, how old are you then?"

"Old enough to have fought in a Civil War I didn't have much business being in, seeing as how I'm Canadian."

It takes her a second to figure that out, but when she does her eyes go plenty wide, but that's a secret between us until I get a chance to having a proper chat with Marie.

"Did you fight in any other wars?"

"Most every big one right up into Vietnam."

"Why?"

"Fighting seemed to be the only thing I was ever good at, but as it turned out, even this ol' dog is able to learn a few new tricks."

Sipping at her shake in thought, Anna seems to be satisfied with that answer as I got plenty enough time to get back to my cup of coffee, which a waitress has done me the honour of freshening up. Having a look at the time, I'm about to see about borrowing kiddo's phone to see how Marie is doing when it rings.

"Hi Mom, yeah I'm with him, he bought me a milkshake. You'll walk me home right? Mom wants to know."

"Like ya had to ask, kid."

"Yeah, he will. Okay, we'll see ya at home. Love and hugs, bye."

Settling up with the bill being as I got a kid to get home, we hit the street. This time though she's holding my hand that I've got hitched in a pocket by my thumb. Taking hers in mine more proper like, it feels smaller than I would have ever thought it was, and plenty delicate. She has a smile for me as I look down at her, seeing her Mother in her again that it's easy to imagine the beauty she'll grow up to be some day.

Thinking back to the photos that hung all over the walls back at Marie's place, the life she had to make for herself wasn't too bad of one if she went raising a fine little lady like the one I got the honour of walking home. I'm glad again that she didn't have to go doing it alone, neither, that she had someone with her the whole time lending a hand. But maybe it's time I see if I can't offer a hand of my own.

"Think we got enough time so you can help me go buy a new phone?"

"You lost your phone?" Anna asks, making it sound like it's the dumbest thing I could go and do.

"It was an old piece of junk, time to upgrade I think." That's a bit of a white lie with just enough truth in it to explain why I don't got a phone no more.

Getting to telling her how her Momma helped me pick out my last phone, it's time to see what she's willing to tell me about herself over a bit of shopping.

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"I really liked that towel, too, ya know?" Jubilee grumbles as she helps me pack up the pull out.

"You can always wash it."

"You told me he covered his junk with it, I don't need that image every time I go to dry my face."

"Gross Lee, I'm so glad he's taking Anna the long way home now."

By the sound of things there's a tradition in the making if Logan has to go ask a D'Ancanto for help when he needs a new phone, that I don't even feel guilty about smashing his old one now.

"Man, back during our boarding school days I could have made a mint off this thing." Jubilee muses, holding her towel by pinched fingers as she tosses it into the trash.

I have to laugh at that, because I half expected her to try and Ebay it or something. I can even see the listing now, gently used gaudy ass towel, the picture included of Logan looking like David in denim with the towel in question thrown over his shoulder. That's an image leftover from my morning that isn't helping me one bit, but it's technically the afternoon now, so I snag a hard lemonade from the fridge and decide to get down to cleaning out the bathroom like I swore I'd do.

"Wow, what's on your mind, Roguey?" Jubilee teases as she follows my lead, she still has a few hours before her shift, and then it's off to her night class.

"It's what I'm trying to get outta my mind, thank you very much, and that's Logan's buck naked ass." Well, there was plenty of full frontal, too, before he got to walking on by me.

"Hey, at least he hasn't seen you naked." Jubilee huffs, cracking open her hard lemonade for a sip.

"The way you tell it, that wasn't the first time." That was a story that came out over a bottle of Jack one night when my Anna May was still in diapers.

Jubilee isn't one to get flustered too often, but looking back at her I can see I should have kept my big mouth shut. Cleaning the bathroom can wait while I go give my best friend a hug to say I'm sorry.

"I still feel stupid about that." Jubilee says with a broken laugh as I hug her.

"Sleeping with Logan?"

"First time? God no, he rocked my world! Just all the times after when, but fuck, I dunno, it always felt nice laying with him there making me feel all kinds of tingly and stuff. All I can remember now was how awkward it was when one of us had to leave, which always happened."

"And here I told Trish just last night that there's no such thing as uncomplicated sex."

"Uh, why?"

"Because she was trying to convince me I should have let Logan rock my world last night..."

Looking plenty puzzled as she digests my little secret, Jubilee bumps her head against mine like we always do in these moments, of which we've had a lot. It wasn't just me learning to change diapers and sooth a crying baby, Jubilee has always been there for me as the only babysitter I ever trusted.

"He is pretty fucking hot, ya know." Jubilee laughs, her breath heady with spiked lemonade.

"You're not helping!" Expressing my vexation with a feral growl fit for the man himself, all I can think about is how nice it felt every time he held me since walking back into my life.

Staring up at me, a little spark of understanding blossoms in Jubilee's eyes, her usual shield of snark and sarcasm falling away to make the moment ever more intimate. Moments like this for her are so rare that I was shocked to see her so comfortable with Trish.

"Just don't make my mistake. Take it slow, cause I know he still cares about you. How you were doing was the first thing he asked about after we ran into each other at the museum."

Proving I've got an infinite amount of tears, they tickle as they roll down my cheeks as I smile dumbly at the person in my life who's the closest thing I've got to a sister. Kissing away my tears to go and give me one last bump to the head, Jubilee pulls away slowly until I can let go.

"I should probably grab a shower before you get down to some serious cleaning in there, as I wouldn't want to go messing it up on ya right after you cleaned it."

"Lemme go get your stuff outta my room first. I didn't want Logan using anything he shouldn't be, not after what he did to your towel. Speaking of which, you can borrow mine."

"Let me guess, my defiled towel was what gave you that idea."

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Hurry up, I know you gotta get all dolled up for your shift."

"Gawd, yes mom..." Jubilee groans in a perfect imitation of my own daughter.

It's just what I need for a laugh with how serious things just got. But there's that advice she gave me which I really needed, to take it slow, just one day at a time. I don't need to go jumping into anything I'm not ready for. I got my Anna May to think about first, so my love life can take the back seat for the wild ride I got ahead of me. But, hey? At least I know I got my best friend's blessing, and that means something given how paper thin the walls of our apartment are.

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