The Blackbird was met in the hanger by a small gaggle of teens and a
middle-aged man in a wheel chair. Among the teens assembled, was a girl
with a white stripe in her reddish brown hair, a blonde blue-eyed boy, a
girl with short brown hair and an Asian American girl all waiting anxiously
as Wolverine, Glow, and the others filed off the Blackbird.
Glow had her duffel slung over her shoulder and her sunglasses still on top of her head. She stared everywhere at once, slightly overwhelmed by her new surroundings.
"Greetings," the man in the wheel chair boomed in a deep rolling voice. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier. Forgive me for not knowing your name, Logan and I didn't have much time to talk earlier. I'd like to welcome you to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."
"Gifted Youngsters huh?" Glow made a noise of approval. "Somehow that sounds a lot better then mutant."
"I think so," Xavier told her proudly.
"I'm Glow. You can call me Sara, provided you get out of the back of my head and don't go back in there without permission," she let him know.
"You were aware? How fascinating," Xavier said, curious about this stranger Logan had brought home. "How ever did you."
"I run with a telepath. She taught me a few things. Can recognize one of you a mile off now," Glow said, shifting her weight as her eyes swept over the kids assembled. "If Dr. Grey would get her mind out of my head too, I'd appreciate it."
"Sorry," Jean said abashed.
"Standard policy for newcomers I would guess," Glow smiled to show that there were no hard feelings. "It's nothing we haven't done ourselves."
"We?" Scott asked.
"My friends and I," Glow begrudged him a straight answer.
"Shall we escort you inside?" Xavier asked.
"That'd be cool," she said, sounding light and uncaring.
"Hey Logan," the girl with the white stripe in her hair called as she walked up to him and fell in step as they all left the hanger. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd come back."
"Hey, I said I'd be back for that right?" he said as he fingered the dog tags that were hanging on her neck.
"Yeah, do you want them back now?" she asked, starting to take them off.
"Hold on to them for a while longer Rogue," he said as he ruffled her hair quickly and nodded to the other teens. "Who's your fan club?"
"This is Jubilee," she pointed to Oriental-looking girl, "This is Kitty," she pointed to the girl with short hair, "and this is Bobby," she pointed to the boy last.
They murmured various greetings. Glow fell back from where she'd been keeping pace with the professor to walk along Wolverine's other side.
"You kids go to school here? You actually have regular classes?" she asked.
"Yeah, math and history I could live without though," Jubilee said, popping a piece of gum.
"But we have classes besides the normal stuff. Classes that help us learn how to use our powers," Bobby added.
"Hmm," Glow stated as she stared around her at the pristine hallways and the kids moving back and forth between classes and activities.
"Whatcha thinking?" Logan asked, putting a hand across her shoulders.
"I was just wondering where this place was thirty-three years ago."
"You're not the only one," he replied.
Rogue quickly ducked her head in with her three friends and whispered. They separated, giggling quietly to themselves. Bobby fell in behind Glow and Wolverine and pointed at how close the two were walking to each other, as well as at the hand Logan had not removed from her shoulder. When the kids laughed softly again, Logan hastily pulled his hand away as if he had just realized what was so funny.
Glow paying attention to Xavier's tour and lecture, had not noticed the exchange behind her. Xavier was just winding up his speech and asked her if she had any questions.
"You got a place I could shower and change? Maybe catch some sleep? I was up all night making half-assed repairs to that computer to get it to work and then powered it so I could save what was left in there. I'm kinda wiped right now," she requested.
"Of course. Storm? Would you show our guest to a room and a bathroom where she could freshen up?"
At Storm's nod of acquiescence he turned back to Glow. "We can talk when you've had time to clean up and sleep."
"Thanks." She replied, and then followed Storm, giving one backward glance to Wolverine. When she and the white-haired woman were out of sight, the group of teens started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Logan asked them, shoving his hands in his pockets.
They collectively broke out into a string of "Ooooo's" and started singing a chorus of "Glow and Wolvie sitting in a tree..."
Logan lifted a lip in a snarl at the kids and Scott - who was openly laughing at him. Xavier and Jean were doing their best not to join in.
"You're lucky you're all underage," he told the kids flatly. "You're not through," Logan said as he turned to Scott and bared the claws on his right hand.
"Logan, your room is still in the same place," Xavier smoothly slid in. "Why don't you go up and get some rest yourself? We've got a lot of work ahead of us."
"Right," he nodded.
The kids and teachers heard metal retracting and Logan walked up the stairs to his room.
A loud burst of teenaged giggles followed him up the stairs.
It pleased Logan to find that his room was exactly as he'd left it months ago. Everything was in its proper place, straight down to the clean towels. He grabbed a towel and paced down the hallway to the bathroom, figuring he'd just wash his face and wet his hair. He'd take a full shower later, after dinner.
Logan strode right into the bathroom without realizing that the light inside was already on. He looked up at the sound of someone gasping. Glow stood, dripping wet from the shower, half in and half out of the tub as she reached for a bar of soap by the sink counter. They stared at each other in surprised shock for a heartbeat.
A slow, small smirk slipped across Logan's face. That smug look stirred Glow to action. She ducked back behind the shower curtain, pulled it off its rings, and wrapped herself in it. She stepped out of the shower and angrily advanced on Wolverine.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She roared at him, eyes ablaze, sparks going crackling around her body as she charged up.
Logan realized the best place for him probably wasn't in a bathroom full of water with a woman who controlled electricity. He started backing out of the bathroom into the hall as she marched forward.
Xavier turned around from his conversation with Jean to look down the hallway in the direction the shout had come from.
"What was that?" Jean asked him.
"I don't know, but we'd better find out," he said as he spun his wheelchair around and headed in the direction of that outraged voice with Jean close on his heels.
When the two got there they saw Storm, Scott and a few students already gathered to watch. With a mentally imposed command, Xavier sent the students away, leaving the teachers to sort out what happened.
"You arrogant little prig! What the hell made you think you could just waltz right in." Glow ranted furiously. She was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, wrapped in a blue shower curtain with little green frogs on it. The woman had Logan backed against the wall across from her.
"Well you should have locked the door or something." Wolverine interrupted, holding up his hands in defense, failing miserably at keeping the smile off his face and out of his voice.
"Argh!" she screamed, becoming enveloped in a golden yellow aura.
"I don't have to be psychic to know what happened," the professor whispered to Jean.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Jean asked.
"No. I want to see just what it is she can do," he said speculatively. "After all, it's not like anything's going to keep Logan down for very long."
Bolts of pure electricity started to run up and down her body, white with their own heat, and crackling and popping around her skin. Glow held up the shower curtain with one hand and aimed her other hand at Logan.
She bit her lip as the electricity that had been loosely flowing around her focused on her fingertips. With a cry of frustration she turned from Wolverine and pointed at Scott. A flash of white and yellow light enveloped both of them as she electrocuted Scott and sent him flying to the floor. He skidded down the hall about twelve feet and stopped.
"Scott!" Jean screamed as she ran past everyone to her boyfriend's side. As she checked for his vital signs she turned on Glow and shouted, "What the hell did you do to him? And WHY?"
"He'll be up in two hours with a headache. My power's electrical in nature. He might not even remember what happened. Most people lose their short-term memory when I fry them," Glow sighed as she powered down and the aura disappeared. "I'm sorry. I really am."
"Being sorry doesn't explain why you 'fried' him," Xavier pointed out.
"Because I promised him that I wouldn't use my power against him again!" she nodded in Logan's direction. Glow rearranged the shower curtain again and gestured with one hand in Scott's direction. "Scott was the nearest available male I could take my anger out on without feeling guilty about it."
"That's quite a temper you've got there," the professor observed.
"I'm Irish, I'm supposed to have a temper," the woman shrugged and as if it had just occurred to her she turned back around and walked into the bathroom. Glow paused for a moment, walked back out and poked Logan in the chest with her pointer finger. "And you! Next time.KNOCK FIRST!"
She smiled at the wince he gave from her shout in his ear, then walked proudly back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Everyone cringed at the loud bang of the door.
"Jean? How is he?" Xavier asked, rolling up to where Storm was helping Jean make Scott comfortable.
"He's okay, I think. He's vitals are all normal, but I still want to take him to the infirmary to be sure."
"Right. Logan, since it is your fault, however indirectly, that Scott is incapacitated, you get to carry him down to the medical center," Xavier announced as he passed them and left.
"Be careful," Jean cautioned.
"Like he was my own mother, Red," Logan told her as he gingerly picked the other man up.
"I'm going ahead to get a bed ready. Meet me down there," Jean said as she ran ahead.
"So, Logan. You haven't been back more than twenty minutes and already you've gotten yourself in the middle of a situation," Storm said as she walked along side him.
"Well, it's what I'm good at," he answered convincingly.
"Is it worth it?" Storm asked as they went down the stairs.
"Well, like you said, I haven't been home more than twenty minutes, when I got to see a beautiful naked woman in a shower and see Cyclops here knocked unconscious from taking my punishment."
Logan shifted the dead weight of the other man. "All in all, I'm having a great time. It's good to be back."
Storm looked at him with one eyebrow raised and sighed in exasperation. "At least things are never dull with you around. I'll see you Logan. I need to get back to my class. I bet they have all wandered off by now."
"I would have," He told her. When she was out of sight he looked at the unconscious form of Scott in his arms. "Screw it."
He tossed the other man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed in the opposite direction the white-haired woman had taken to drop Cyclops off in the infirmary.
Glow had her duffel slung over her shoulder and her sunglasses still on top of her head. She stared everywhere at once, slightly overwhelmed by her new surroundings.
"Greetings," the man in the wheel chair boomed in a deep rolling voice. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier. Forgive me for not knowing your name, Logan and I didn't have much time to talk earlier. I'd like to welcome you to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."
"Gifted Youngsters huh?" Glow made a noise of approval. "Somehow that sounds a lot better then mutant."
"I think so," Xavier told her proudly.
"I'm Glow. You can call me Sara, provided you get out of the back of my head and don't go back in there without permission," she let him know.
"You were aware? How fascinating," Xavier said, curious about this stranger Logan had brought home. "How ever did you."
"I run with a telepath. She taught me a few things. Can recognize one of you a mile off now," Glow said, shifting her weight as her eyes swept over the kids assembled. "If Dr. Grey would get her mind out of my head too, I'd appreciate it."
"Sorry," Jean said abashed.
"Standard policy for newcomers I would guess," Glow smiled to show that there were no hard feelings. "It's nothing we haven't done ourselves."
"We?" Scott asked.
"My friends and I," Glow begrudged him a straight answer.
"Shall we escort you inside?" Xavier asked.
"That'd be cool," she said, sounding light and uncaring.
"Hey Logan," the girl with the white stripe in her hair called as she walked up to him and fell in step as they all left the hanger. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd come back."
"Hey, I said I'd be back for that right?" he said as he fingered the dog tags that were hanging on her neck.
"Yeah, do you want them back now?" she asked, starting to take them off.
"Hold on to them for a while longer Rogue," he said as he ruffled her hair quickly and nodded to the other teens. "Who's your fan club?"
"This is Jubilee," she pointed to Oriental-looking girl, "This is Kitty," she pointed to the girl with short hair, "and this is Bobby," she pointed to the boy last.
They murmured various greetings. Glow fell back from where she'd been keeping pace with the professor to walk along Wolverine's other side.
"You kids go to school here? You actually have regular classes?" she asked.
"Yeah, math and history I could live without though," Jubilee said, popping a piece of gum.
"But we have classes besides the normal stuff. Classes that help us learn how to use our powers," Bobby added.
"Hmm," Glow stated as she stared around her at the pristine hallways and the kids moving back and forth between classes and activities.
"Whatcha thinking?" Logan asked, putting a hand across her shoulders.
"I was just wondering where this place was thirty-three years ago."
"You're not the only one," he replied.
Rogue quickly ducked her head in with her three friends and whispered. They separated, giggling quietly to themselves. Bobby fell in behind Glow and Wolverine and pointed at how close the two were walking to each other, as well as at the hand Logan had not removed from her shoulder. When the kids laughed softly again, Logan hastily pulled his hand away as if he had just realized what was so funny.
Glow paying attention to Xavier's tour and lecture, had not noticed the exchange behind her. Xavier was just winding up his speech and asked her if she had any questions.
"You got a place I could shower and change? Maybe catch some sleep? I was up all night making half-assed repairs to that computer to get it to work and then powered it so I could save what was left in there. I'm kinda wiped right now," she requested.
"Of course. Storm? Would you show our guest to a room and a bathroom where she could freshen up?"
At Storm's nod of acquiescence he turned back to Glow. "We can talk when you've had time to clean up and sleep."
"Thanks." She replied, and then followed Storm, giving one backward glance to Wolverine. When she and the white-haired woman were out of sight, the group of teens started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Logan asked them, shoving his hands in his pockets.
They collectively broke out into a string of "Ooooo's" and started singing a chorus of "Glow and Wolvie sitting in a tree..."
Logan lifted a lip in a snarl at the kids and Scott - who was openly laughing at him. Xavier and Jean were doing their best not to join in.
"You're lucky you're all underage," he told the kids flatly. "You're not through," Logan said as he turned to Scott and bared the claws on his right hand.
"Logan, your room is still in the same place," Xavier smoothly slid in. "Why don't you go up and get some rest yourself? We've got a lot of work ahead of us."
"Right," he nodded.
The kids and teachers heard metal retracting and Logan walked up the stairs to his room.
A loud burst of teenaged giggles followed him up the stairs.
It pleased Logan to find that his room was exactly as he'd left it months ago. Everything was in its proper place, straight down to the clean towels. He grabbed a towel and paced down the hallway to the bathroom, figuring he'd just wash his face and wet his hair. He'd take a full shower later, after dinner.
Logan strode right into the bathroom without realizing that the light inside was already on. He looked up at the sound of someone gasping. Glow stood, dripping wet from the shower, half in and half out of the tub as she reached for a bar of soap by the sink counter. They stared at each other in surprised shock for a heartbeat.
A slow, small smirk slipped across Logan's face. That smug look stirred Glow to action. She ducked back behind the shower curtain, pulled it off its rings, and wrapped herself in it. She stepped out of the shower and angrily advanced on Wolverine.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She roared at him, eyes ablaze, sparks going crackling around her body as she charged up.
Logan realized the best place for him probably wasn't in a bathroom full of water with a woman who controlled electricity. He started backing out of the bathroom into the hall as she marched forward.
Xavier turned around from his conversation with Jean to look down the hallway in the direction the shout had come from.
"What was that?" Jean asked him.
"I don't know, but we'd better find out," he said as he spun his wheelchair around and headed in the direction of that outraged voice with Jean close on his heels.
When the two got there they saw Storm, Scott and a few students already gathered to watch. With a mentally imposed command, Xavier sent the students away, leaving the teachers to sort out what happened.
"You arrogant little prig! What the hell made you think you could just waltz right in." Glow ranted furiously. She was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, wrapped in a blue shower curtain with little green frogs on it. The woman had Logan backed against the wall across from her.
"Well you should have locked the door or something." Wolverine interrupted, holding up his hands in defense, failing miserably at keeping the smile off his face and out of his voice.
"Argh!" she screamed, becoming enveloped in a golden yellow aura.
"I don't have to be psychic to know what happened," the professor whispered to Jean.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Jean asked.
"No. I want to see just what it is she can do," he said speculatively. "After all, it's not like anything's going to keep Logan down for very long."
Bolts of pure electricity started to run up and down her body, white with their own heat, and crackling and popping around her skin. Glow held up the shower curtain with one hand and aimed her other hand at Logan.
She bit her lip as the electricity that had been loosely flowing around her focused on her fingertips. With a cry of frustration she turned from Wolverine and pointed at Scott. A flash of white and yellow light enveloped both of them as she electrocuted Scott and sent him flying to the floor. He skidded down the hall about twelve feet and stopped.
"Scott!" Jean screamed as she ran past everyone to her boyfriend's side. As she checked for his vital signs she turned on Glow and shouted, "What the hell did you do to him? And WHY?"
"He'll be up in two hours with a headache. My power's electrical in nature. He might not even remember what happened. Most people lose their short-term memory when I fry them," Glow sighed as she powered down and the aura disappeared. "I'm sorry. I really am."
"Being sorry doesn't explain why you 'fried' him," Xavier pointed out.
"Because I promised him that I wouldn't use my power against him again!" she nodded in Logan's direction. Glow rearranged the shower curtain again and gestured with one hand in Scott's direction. "Scott was the nearest available male I could take my anger out on without feeling guilty about it."
"That's quite a temper you've got there," the professor observed.
"I'm Irish, I'm supposed to have a temper," the woman shrugged and as if it had just occurred to her she turned back around and walked into the bathroom. Glow paused for a moment, walked back out and poked Logan in the chest with her pointer finger. "And you! Next time.KNOCK FIRST!"
She smiled at the wince he gave from her shout in his ear, then walked proudly back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Everyone cringed at the loud bang of the door.
"Jean? How is he?" Xavier asked, rolling up to where Storm was helping Jean make Scott comfortable.
"He's okay, I think. He's vitals are all normal, but I still want to take him to the infirmary to be sure."
"Right. Logan, since it is your fault, however indirectly, that Scott is incapacitated, you get to carry him down to the medical center," Xavier announced as he passed them and left.
"Be careful," Jean cautioned.
"Like he was my own mother, Red," Logan told her as he gingerly picked the other man up.
"I'm going ahead to get a bed ready. Meet me down there," Jean said as she ran ahead.
"So, Logan. You haven't been back more than twenty minutes and already you've gotten yourself in the middle of a situation," Storm said as she walked along side him.
"Well, it's what I'm good at," he answered convincingly.
"Is it worth it?" Storm asked as they went down the stairs.
"Well, like you said, I haven't been home more than twenty minutes, when I got to see a beautiful naked woman in a shower and see Cyclops here knocked unconscious from taking my punishment."
Logan shifted the dead weight of the other man. "All in all, I'm having a great time. It's good to be back."
Storm looked at him with one eyebrow raised and sighed in exasperation. "At least things are never dull with you around. I'll see you Logan. I need to get back to my class. I bet they have all wandered off by now."
"I would have," He told her. When she was out of sight he looked at the unconscious form of Scott in his arms. "Screw it."
He tossed the other man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed in the opposite direction the white-haired woman had taken to drop Cyclops off in the infirmary.
