Usual: Money? None Here. Characters? Not Mine. Song belongs to Bob Dylan. Everything else belongs to whomever owns it. I plan on eventually writing one chapter to go with each verse of this song, so stay tuned for future details. Don't worry, I won't do anything to the characters that their owners wouldn't do..... And in traditional Jeanne style, Ever Onwards.........

**telepathy**
words that the speaker emphasizes
*************************** = a change in the speaker (same as last chapter)

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Wandering in the Storm
Jeanne M.

And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Shelter from the Storm by Bob Dylan



I'm outta here. I can't stand the reproach in everyone's eyes. 'Ro, Jean, Remy, hells, even Hank has pulled me aside and said I was behaving like a kid! Me!

They say I'm killing her.

I just brushed 'em all off. Ain't none of 'em ever understood the relationship between me an' Jubilee. She's my partner, my lifeline, or at least she used to be. The kid got tougher, she got hard and cold, and she doesn't need a sentimental old fool like me around anymore. And I admit, she's got me spooked. Ever since I found her after she escaped that hellhole in Arizona, she's had me spooked. There's a shadow in her eyes, and a sharpness to her movement. Shit, even her scent has changed! The girl became a predator to escape being prey, and just being around her gives me the creeps.

But when 'Ro came to me with tears in her eyes, I finally had to listen. Well, she's stopped eating. And stopped attending Danger Room sessions. In fact, she's started avoiding any activity where I'm likely to be. 'Ro says they barely managed to drag her in for a physical last week, and Jubilee has lost almost twenty pounds since she came back to the mansion. Ororo is not a woman to waste words, an' she flat out said I was breaking Jubilee's heart.

I told her that she'd have to have one for that to happen.

And Ororo slapped me.

I still can't believe she did that, but she did. Didn't even rub her hand afterwards or anything. Just slapped me so hard my head snapped backwards. It hurt like a bitch. Once the room stopped spinning, I was aware of a very upset goddess looming over me. An' let me tell ya, folks, 'Ro is not a woman ya want to mess with.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself yet, Wolverine?" The words were hissed so low I almost missed them. "In your selfishness, you are killing your Jubilation! She needs you, Logan, now more than ever. You were willing to help Kitten face her dark side after the ordeal with Orgun, but you are willing to abandon Jubilee to her demons? You claim to be a man, my friend, but you are behaving like a spoilt child!" She took a step closer, and I found my self backing up. "We've all known for a long time that Jubilation has some sort of psi talent, but she has it so tightly locked away that not even Jean, Emma, or the Professor could open it up. Well, at her physical Hank found miniscule changes in both mind and body, associated with the emergence of mid-level psionic talent. He thinks that her latency is beginning to stir, and become something more than her current psionic cloaking and shielding. And she's trying to bury it again because all she's picking up is your repugnance and fear!"

"I ain't afraid of her!" The words are out before I think. "Why the hell should I be afraid of a punk kid, especially Jubes?"

"Because it is Jubilee, Logan. And you no longer know what she is capable of. She grew into a woman while we weren't watching, Logan, and now there's a stranger sitting at the table where our laughing sparkler used to be." Ororo looked at me with sympathy, eyes losing their hard edge. "Please, talk to her. Stop pretending that she doesn't exist!" Her hand gently brushed the already healing bruise on my face. "You really are killing her, Logan, physically and spiritually. It's still Jubilation, even if her changes do seem a little frightening at times. Bright Lady knows that sometimes her eyes scare me, but you don't see it stopping me from loving her." She smiled softly, and turned to go, feet treading softly on the grass.

"She was too young to become an X-Man, 'Ro. I never shoulda brought her here."

'Ro paused, head tilting to one side. "Actually, Logan, I think Jubilee was too old to be an X-Man. That has always been her greatest difficulty. It's very similar to my experience after the Siege Perilous. She was an adult trapped in the body of a child, she'd seen and been through too much. When you met her, Jubilee could not Dream, and she could not trust. Somehow, someway, she learned to trust you, but unfortunately you have not lived up to that honor." With that, she glided back towards the mansion.

So I'm leaving. I told Chuckles to holler if things got too hot, but otherwise I needed to clear my head. That man's silences can speak volumes. He simply nodded, and I left his office. If I'm hurting Jubes that much, then I gotta clear out for a bit. If her psi is really wakin' up, then it's better for everyone involved if I'm not here. I don't wanna be the reason she represses her own abilities. I don't think I could stand knowin' that she stunted that beautiful mind of hers because of what's leakin' out of mine.

My heart tells me that she's still my Jubes, an' I just wanna scoop the kid up in a huge hug. But I'm too afraid that the animal inside will sense the rival predator and try to hurt her. 'Cause that's what she feels like to my senses, not like a teammate/pack-mate, or partner/pack-second, or even daughter/cub. She feels dangerous, and I don't wanna accidentally turn on her during a fight.

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No no no no no no noooooooooo! I feel the deadness in my heart grow a bit as I watch him throw the duffle on the motorcycle. Not again. Oh please, by all the Gods above, not again.

I don't want to be left alone again.

***************************

Ororo hears the motorcycle start, and hangs her head.

"Bright Lady forgive me, I failed." Her voice is a whisper, and as her eyes mist over clouds begin to gather overhead the house. "I fear the price of my failure tonight, oh dear Goddess!"

***************************

I can sense Jubilee watching me, it raises hackles on my back. I look up to her window, but the light is out and the curtains drawn. For some reason, I decide to look up farther. And there she is. Silhouetted against the sky, standing at the edge of the roof. The wind has picked up, whipping her black trenchcoat like a fluttering banner and sending her long hair flying around her face. Her face. It looks carved out of stone, and I swear that her eyes are glowing faintly.

**Go then, Logan-san, if you are so scared of me.** I feel the contempt in her mind-voice, and it takes all my willpower not to jump on the bike and drive like hell. **If you are unwilling to face what I represent, you should leave.**

"When did you learn that trick, kid?" I know she can hear me, despite the rising wind.

***************************

I can do this. I can do this. I don't think I could handle it if he leaves me again. But if I'm the one who does the leaving, who breaks the tie, maybe I'll be able to stop the pain. Maybe. I don't want to, I don't! But I won't let him crush me again. I don't want to be hurt again. So I'll hurt him instead.

**Does it matter?**

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**Does it matter?** Her voice echos eerily in my skull. **You've made it abundantly clear that you don't give a shit about me now that I don't need you for protection. So why don't you get on your bike and go to whatever bar you were thinking of to get a nice beer and a cheap girl?** It's a resounding coldness in my mind, as if her words are little puffs of frost. **Later, Wolverine.** With that, she vanishes. One moment she's there and the next.....gone. I shudder and hit the gas. Time to get the hell away from her. It's only until I'm in a seedy place about fifty miles from the school do I realize that at the end, she called me by my codename. For some reason, the room suddenly feels a whole lot colder.

***************************

I slump against the chimney, my head aching from that small use of telepathy. Maybe I burst a blood vessel and I'll die of internal head injuries. I could only be that lucky. I watch him pull past the gate and start laughing. I just keep laughing and laughing. Nothing's funny, nothing at all. I keep laughing.

"Jubilation?" I twist around to see Ororo standing by her skylight. "Would you like to come inside? The winds are getting dangerous, and I prefer to interfere with Nature only when I have no other choice."

"Yeah. Thanks." I pull myself up and head towards her. Ororo smiles at me, and brushes hair out of my eyes as she places an arm around my shoulders. That's when I start to cry.