Chapter 12: Rescue
Logan looked around at the scenery as he filled the battered cooking pot with snow to melt for water. Unbroken white. Nothing but pure unbroken white. He sighed.
He and Jubilee had been stuck here at the cabin for two days now, and food was running low. They'd woken that morning wondering if they should try to find their own way back to Professor Cohen's residence…or anywhere where there was running water for a hot bath and decent food. They'd been eating nothing but canned goods, broken occasionally by the power bars that Cohen had tucked in the pack. He had been reluctant to leave before, mostly on Jubilee's account. She had no shoes, no heavy clothes. And as appealing as it was seeing her dressed in his clothes, and laughing as his jeans threatened to slide off her slender hips, she couldn't wear his clothes off the mountain.
"Why not?" she'd argued with him that morning. He'd explained to her, patiently, that the moment she tried to walk anywhere, they'd fall off. He might like seeing her bare skin, but it wasn't going to feel so good when the cold air hit her. It wasn't an insurmountable problem (she'd suggested tying the jeans around her waist with the remnants of the rope) but the problem about shoes was. So he sighed, and put off their leaving for another day.
Not that he was really anxious to get back. He had grown to like this log cabin. If you could ignore the lack of running water and the constant woodsmoke smell in the cabin, it was quite cozy. The nights were cold, but in each other's arms it was quite warm enough. And it was wonderful waking up beside her every morning.
But it was hard, not having running water or heat, and food was running low. One of the cuts on her leg was swelling slightly, and she'd begun limping. He was worried that it might have contracted an infection, and wanted to get her to Hank and have her leg looked at.
Scott and Jean were the reason he was upset. If they hadn't interfered, he wouldn't have run off, and Jubilee would have had him by her side when she'd gone to the wedding, not the Cajun. Remy was all right, but he didn't have a personal interest in seeing that Jubes didn't get hurt. And the fact that Jubilee had nearly been violated again made him angry.
He returned to the cabin, having to wade through chest-high drifts to do so. Jubilee had cleared a path for him by melting the snow in several directions from the cabin's door, but with the wind still blowing as furiously as it was, the snow piled into the cleared places as fast as she could clear it. She'd given up eventually.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Jubilee was lying on the cot, staring into the flames dancing in the fireplace. "So, Logan," she said, "Where'd you go when you left?"
He set the pot on the edge of the hearth and joined her on the cot, sliding in behind her and wrapping his cold limbs around her warm body. She turned to him, pulled the blanket they'd been sleeping under over them both, and curled her warm feet around his cold ones. "I went ta Canada," he confessed. "Spent a few days campin' out in the woods doin' some thinkin', then hit some o' the roadside bar-and-inn places I usually visit when I'm out there on my own. Got inta a few fights, too." He grinned wolfishly as he remembered one. "At one o' them, there was this guy tryin' ta cut in on a lady an' her man. Started a bar fight by tryin' ta punch the lights outta the other guy. Poor sap didn't really know how ta fight; he was gettin' pounded but good when I stepped in. Poor gal looked like she was goin' ta faint when she saw my claws!"
Jubilee giggled, and he snuggled closer to the warm body, putting his cold hands on her breasts. She shivered, but placed her own hands over top of his to warm them. "Go on," she urged him when he didn't continue, "What happened?"
He sighed. "Hadda beat on the guy a bit before he got the message. When he finally left, the couple thanked me. Said they appreciated my help.
"The woman told me I'd make some lucky girl a happy woman. She said if I took care'a my woman half as good as I took care of a coupla total strangers, then any girl'd be lucky ta have me. It made me think o' you, Jubes. You don't really need takin' care of; ya proved that back at Crossroads. Come ta think o' it, the only reason that jackass was able ta take ya down was 'cause ya were watchin' me. Don't ever let yerself git distracted in the middle o' a fight, Jubes, no matter what's happenin' 'round ya. I can take care o' myself." He kissed her gently, then said, "Now answer a question f'r me. What happened at the party, an' why'd Creed git so pissed at ya?"
Jubilee laughed. "I broke his nose," she said, "And I kneed him, bit his arm, and blew him through a door with my pafs. He wasn't really pleased at being held off." She grinned. "I forgot to thank you, by the way."
"Me? F'r what?" It was hard to concentrate on the conversation with her wiggling against him like that.
"It was before I left for college. You took me into the Danger Room and showed me how to fend off an attack by a larger, heavier opponent. Came in handy with Sabretooth, both during that fight, and after, when we were here and he was trying to get me into bed with him. He put that damn collar around my neck in the middle of the fight at Professor Cohen's, but he forgot to lock it, that's how I got it off later when you and he were fighting. Thank goodness."
Logan chuckled, and shifted so he lay on top of her. "There's my Jubes," he said, kissing her. She wiggled around in his arms until she could press herself against his body, and all thoughts of talk fled out the window as their lips met.
Logan woke slowly, his nose filled with the smell of smoke. He coughed, and that started off a fit of coughing as he tried to draw breath in the smoke-filled room. "Jubilee!" he yelled, shaking her. She didn't wake. He sprang off the bed, rushed to the fireplace. In between the wreaths of smoke, he saw that a log had rolled off the fire, knocked up against the pot, and been deflected off the hearth onto the floor, which was made of wood. The floor had caught fire, followed shortly by the wall. Flames were now creeping up the side of the cabin. It was hopeless; he couldn't save anything. He returned to the cot, stuffed his legs into his pants and his feet into his boots, then grabbed Jubilee, pulled one of his shirts over her head and yanked a pair of his pants over her legs. That was all he had time for. He scooped her up in his arms and stumbled out of the cabin, half-blinded by smoke and choking on it as well. He carried her out to just before the treeline and watched, stunned, as the cabin burned before his eyes. What the hell was he going to do now?
* * *
It was getting dark. Scott sighed as he swung the Blackbird around in a circle and headed back the way he'd come. Beside him, in the co-pilot's seat, Ororo looked anxiously at him. "Can we not just look once more, Scott?" she said wistfully.
Scott hesitated. "'Ro, it's getting dark," he said. "We're not going to be able to see anything at all in a few moments." He stared at the darkening forest below them, feeling responsibility settle on his shoulders like a lead weight.
It was part of being a leader, he knew; especially of a team like the X-Men. Losing members was nothing new; he felt the loss of any member personally. But losing Logan and Jubilee…he grimly banked and swung over a new section of the search grid he and Charles had mapped out for the huge trackless forest, and turned the searchlight back on. Logan could piss him off sometimes, and he knew he got on Logan's nerves as well, but he had the same responsibility for his well-being that he had for every other member of the team. Including Jubilee. He was more worried about her than he was for Logan. Logan could take care of himself, as he'd proved time and time again, but Jubilee was still a little rusty from her time away from the X-Men, and he wasn't sure how well she would handle Sabretooth. Creed could be vicious and brutal; and Scott didn't want to see either of them in his clutches.
"Scott," Storm said suddenly, peering out of the window with binoculars, "Head in that direction." She pointed off to her right. "And turn the searchlight off."
"Did you see something?" Scott turned the Blackbird's nose in the direction Ororo indicated, and switched off the searchlight. They flew in silence and darkness for a while, as Storm kept the binoculars trained on whatever she was staring at. Jean closed her eyes, reaching out with her already-strained powers, trying to pick up their psychic signatures. Suddenly she gasped, and her eyes flew open. "Scott!" she cried. "It's them!"
Ororo pointed down below them, and now Scott could see the bright orange glow of a huge fire. Jean was already opening the lower loading door as he brought the sleek black aircraft into a hover position just above the tiny clearing. Then she reached out with her telekinesis and brought up their two missing members.
Logan clung tightly to Jubilee's unconscious body, keeping himself as still as possible so Jean wouldn't have too much of a problem pulling them aboard. There was nowhere for the Blackbird to land out here; Jean's telekinetic grasp was all that stood between them and a night out in the cold. He gave a huge sigh as his feet touched the floor and the loading hatch closed.
Ororo bustled up holding two thick fleece blankets. Logan barely noticed when she draped one over his shoulders; he was watching Jean wrap Jubilee in the other one and check the younger woman's breathing. "Is she all right?" he asked her.
Jean nodded, reaching into the medkit Ororo came up to them with and taking out an oxygen mask. She fitted that over Jubilee's face, turned the oxygen on, and telekinetically lifted her onto one of the seats as Scott directed the Blackbird back toward home. "She just got a lungful of smoke," she said. Logan pushed the hem of the T-shirt up and said, "Can ya have a look at that, Jean? Creed raked her leg with his claws back at her friend's house, an' I tried ta clean it up but it kinda don't look so good right now." Jean leaned in over the cuts, inspected them. Three of them didn't look bad, but the last two were definitely infected. 'We're on our way back to the mansion," she said, covering Jubilee with the blanket again, "And Hank can look at it there."
When they got close to the mansion, Jean reached out telepathically and spoke to Xavier. Charles, we found them! They're both alive! Jubilee's suffering from smoke inhalation, and she's got a couple of infected cuts on her leg from Sabretooth's claws, but she's otherwise fine!
Xavier sounded relieved. Thank God, I was so worried! Shall I have Hank meet you in the hangar?
Yes, that'd be great. Jean sounded relieved.
Sure enough, as the Blackbird landed in its hangar, Hank was waiting for them, along with all the other X-Men, including Remy. Jubilee roused slightly as the plane touched down, and allowed Logan to carry her off and deposit her onto the bed Hank had with him. Jean helped him push it back down the halls to the medlab, where to her surprise, Remy was waiting for her. "Remy," she said, sitting up despite Jean's protests and giving him a hug. "Remy, I missed you…oh, jeez…" and she got misty-eyed as she hugged him. Remy hugged her back, feeling a surge of relief that she was all right. He'd had the wildest visions of what Sabretooth could be doing to both of them, and it was a relief to find that none of those terrible things had come true. He laid her down as Jean's protests became insistent, and went over to Logan.
"T'ings wit' de p'tite be too excitin', homme," he growled at Logan as he punched the older man lightly in the arm. "You better not be rushin' off again any time soon, 'cause dis ol' Cajun can' take much more o' dis kinda excitement. De p'tite be too high maintenance f'r me." Logan grinned in response and they watched as Jean and Hank rolled the bed into the exam room.
"No," Jean said when Logan tried to enter. "She's going to get some sleep and a thorough exam. You had better go and have a hot bath and some decent food." She shut the door in his face. He was left staring at the door, bemused.
"She was worried about Jubilee," Scott said quietly. "So was I. So was everybody. Logan, I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or hers."
Logan turned, looked at Scott thoughtfully. The X-Men's leader was being sincere; he'd really been concerned for Jubilee, and he was sorry for what he'd one. However, it didn't make up for the three weeks of heartache Logan and Jubilee had gone through.
Scott staggered as the fist came flying in from off to the side and slammed into his jaw. He blinked in surprise, his eyes watering from pain as he rubbed his aching jaw. "Hey, I said I was sorry," he protested.
Logan stepped up to him. "Ya hurt both o' our feelings and broke Jubes's heart, an' all ya got ta say is 'sorry?' Gonna tell ya somethin, Cyke, Jubes mighta f'rgiven ya, but I ain't. And I got a long memory. Sorry don't usually cut it with me, but f'r her sake I'm gonna let it pass. Jus' don't do it again, Cyke, or Jubes or no, you an' I gonna get inta it." He turned and stalked away.
He sat back in the hot bath, relaxing, some time later, and thought about it all. Jubes wouldn't be really happy when she found out he'd smacked Scott's mug, but Scott had it comin' to him. Hopefully he'd take the hint and the word would spread, and everyone would leave him and Jubilee alone from now on.
He climbed out of the tub, toweled off, and dressed. As he was pulling his shirt over his head, there came a tap at his door. "Come in," he said.
Xavier glided in on his hoverchair, and Logan turned back to the mirror. "Lemme guess, this is 'bout me punchin' Scott out. Yer probably upset."
"Not at all," Xavier said mildly, and Logan turned, to see a smile hovering around the corners of Charles's lips. "I must admit, though, it was not quite the way I would have handled it. Before you arrived that night and then promptly left again to look for Jubilee, I was about to take Scott aside myself and suggest that he apologise for intruding where his advice was neither welcome nor wanted."
Xavier sobered. "Scott is not perfect, Logan. He will make mistakes, especially where the X-Men are concerned. He takes being the leader of the X-Men quite seriously; maybe too seriously at times. His childhood was completely out of his control; he now tries to control too many things, and ends up annoying everyone. Privately, between you and I, some of the things he does makes me look askance at him too. But I try to stay out of it, because it isn't my place to interfere. You all need to make your own mistakes in order to grow as individuals."
Logan sat down on the end of the bed and grinned. "Well, this is news," he said. "You an' Scott not agreein' on everything?"
"Just between us," Xavier said quickly. Logan nodded.
"So how is Jubilee?" Xavier said. "Jean and Hank are down in the lab with her; I figured if I wanted to find out what had happened, I would get faster answers from you."
Logan started to fill in the details of their three days up in the mountains together. "I swear I'm gonna kill Creed if he touches her again," he growled. "He left a note stomped inta the snow sayin' he wasn't done with us yet. She ain't leavin' my sight till we're done with him."
"Logan, be careful," Xavier warned him. "Jubilee has a lot of obligations, not all of them with the X-Men. You cannot watch her that closely without curtailing her freedom, or appearing to. She may not like that all that much."
Logan nodded. "I'll be careful."
Both men heard footsteps in the hall, and Jubilee suddenly appeared. She ran to hug Xavier, and kissed his cheek, then sat next to Logan on the bed. "Hank says I've got a little bit of an infection in my leg, and he wants to keep an eye on it, but otherwise I'm fine. So what are we all talking about?"
"From what Logan has told me of your encounter with Sabretooth, I believe you should be more careful for a while," Xavier said to her. "He is obviously bent on exacting revenge against Logan for the last time he was injured in a fight between the two of them, and now he will wish to avenge his defeat at your hands. Jubilee, be careful when you go somewhere, please?"
"Sure, Professor," she said. "Logan, have you got my jeans and my green sweatshirt in here somewhere? I couldn't find them in my room." Logan pointed at his bureau, and she began to rummage around in it. "Found them," she said at last. "I'm off to take a nice hot bath, then I'm going to find some dinner. Coming?"
Logan was about to demur when Xavier smiled. "I shall leave the two of you to your bath, then," he said. "It is good to have you both back. Welcome home!" He smiled broadly and vanished.
Jubilee leaned close to Logan's ear and whispered, "There's no one in the girls' bathroom right now, and no one using the hot tub. I can tell you had a bath already, but would you take another one with me?"
Logan grinned into the blue eyes of the young woman in front of him, stood up, and led the way down the hall to the bathroom. How could he resist?