Chapter 8: Proposal

"Oh my stars and garters," Hank exclaimed as Logan hurried into the medlabs, followed by Betsy, Remy, Warren, Bobby, and Charles. "Here, Logan, put her here. Charles, where is Jean, I'll definitely need help with Jubilee…"

"Jean, Rogue, Storm, and Scott are on their way back even as we speak," Xavier said as Betsy efficiently began to remove Jubilee's torn, bloody clothing. "Logan found her at the home of a friend of hers, and thought it prudent to return here immediately instead of stopping to look for the others."

"A wise decision," Hank said approvingly, beginning to run one of the Shi'ar bioscanners over the prone body. "Hmm. She's lost a lot of blood, she may need a transfusion. Deep puncture wound under the lower ribs…Betsy, put some pressure right there, slow the bleeding down…"

The door flew open and Jean rushed in. "Hank, Charles told me Logan found Jubilee…oh, no…"

She froze, dismayed, at the sight of Jubilee's still form lying on the table under Hank's hands.

Ororo shook her head. "I believe Hank and Jean need to get to work," she said to the watching X-Men. "Perhaps we should leave them to it." Xavier turned his hoverchair and left, followed by the others and lastly by Betsy. Logan found himself hustled out along with them, and sat down heavily on the couch just outside the door. The others, sensing his need to be alone, started to wander off, except for Xavier.

"How did you find her?" Xavier asked Logan quietly.

Logan braced his elbows on his knees and propped his chin on his hands. "I was out lookin' fer Jubes," he began. "There's this one guy she likes, he's a friend o' hers, and I asked him if he'd seen her. He an' I got into a bit of a scrap before he finally told me he'd seen her at Rex's an hour and a half ago. I called Jean here an' asked her if Jubes'd come in yet, and she said no. So Moose an' I went drivin' around for a while lookin' for her, till he finally remembered that she knew where he lived and maybe she might have gotten inta his loft.

"So we went to his place, and Jubes was there. Chuck, she was lyin' on the floor, in a puddle o' her own blood. I ain't never seen that mucha Jubes's blood all over her and outsidea her, an' it scared me ta death. I just brought her back here myself as fast as I could."

There was silence for a time, finally broken by Charles. "So what did you get into a fight about this time?"

Logan ran a hand through his hair. "Jubes was down at Rex's this evening drinkin' a little," he said. "She an' Moose got inta a conversation, and she told him she was disappointed that I didn't propose to her yesterday on her birthday." He growled in exasperation. "He went an' started beatin' up on me cause he said she was cryin' and he hated seein' her cry. Told me to get my ass in gear an' ask her a'ready, 'fore somethin' happens. Life's too short, he said, to waste time." He dropped his head into his hands. "Chuck, that stab wound looked pretty bad. What if…what if…" he couldn't finish.

Very, very quietly, Xavier finished for him. "If she doesn't make it." More silence. Then, "Logan, if I may ask…why haven't you?"

Logan looked up, surprised. "Chuck, I'd'a thought you'd be the las' person ta ask me that question," he said. "It don't bother ya that I'm old enough ta be her father?"

Xavier considered. "Chronological years aside," he said, "No. Jubilee is a great deal more mature, emotionally and mentally, than a great many people I know. And with your healing factor, you are much better equipped to handle her…youthful energy…than many of her contemporaries. And although she has not yet said anything about it, Hank tells me she has been working with her powers to slow down the aging process and stop the slow deterioration of the body's cells. Assuming that she is successful, she could theoretically hold off the aging process as long as you could. So no, I don't see a reason for you to refuse to propose to her, if that is what you and her both wish. And as she obviously wants you, and you want her, I really don't see why you're hesitating."

Logan sat there feeling as though he'd just been handed a check for a million bucks. To be able to settle down with Jubilee, to live with her and be with her for the rest of her life, which might now be drastically longer thanks to her powers…it was everything he hoped for, and more. Still…

"Chuck, I don' know who I am. I don't know where I came from, or if I got family somewhere, or what my past holds. What if I done something that we fin' out 'bout years from now, an' she finds she can't live with it? What do I do then?"

Xavier tilted his head, considering. "If that time comes, Logan, then you cross that bridge when you get to it. Jubilee loves you; love can find ways to forgive almost anything. And I seriously doubt that there is anything quite so terrible in your past; your very personality precludes the possibility that you may have done something terrible; you are simply not the type. And if that love is as strong as I suspect it is, you both will make it through any trip of self discovery you may embark on in the future." Xavier gripped Logan's shoulder firmly. "Think about it, Logan."

The door opened, and Hank came out. His white coat was stained with blood, and he had a weary look in his eyes. Logan's eyes widened, fearing the worst, but Hank shook his head. "She's still alive, Logan," he said. "But it will be touch and go for a while. The stab wound was quite deep; she lost a lot of blood, and her lung was punctured by the blade. One rib was also broken; both injuries will require time to heal." He sat down on the couch beside Logan as he dropped the coat into the wastebasket kept for just these occasions.

"We will need to wait until she recovers consciousness before we can find out what really happened, but I can piece together some of it by the wounds she sustained. She must have been stopped by people…several, by the looks of it. There was some type of scuffle; my guess is that she went down an alley and ran into a gang of some sort. They took her purse, from the welt on her arm where the strap was cut; then she was pushed down onto her back. I assume they meant to assault her physically, as there are abrasions on her shoulderblades. She fought; I found dirt and epithelial cells under her nails. They tore her clothes; at that point she must have managed to get away from them somehow and tried to run. She was tackled from behind, and that was when she was stabbed. I don't believe it was deliberate; she may have fallen on the knife or been stabbed by it in the scuffle. She fell, they became alarmed, and they ran. She got back on her bike and tried to reach the nearest place of safety she could find, which I assume was her friend's loft." At Logan's nod, Hank said, "It was a good thing your friend decided to check there, because if he hadn't she may not have made it. I believe she will, but it will be touch and go there for a while."

He studied Logan. "She made some sort of effort to try to heal herself. The molecules of matter that make up cells and body tissue looked like they had begun to pull together; however, she does not have the medical knowledge to fix biological wounds. I will have to correct that oversight when she awakens. Now, in the meantime, Jean is quite tired, and you don't look as though you will be getting any sleep anytime soon, so if you would be so kind as to go in and sit with Jubilee while Jean gets some rest, I believe she would be grateful."

Jean was slouched half-asleep in the chair beside Jubilee's bed when Logan walked in. "Jean," he said, tapping her shoulder. "Jean."

She opened one eye, then sat up. "She's still asleep?" Jean asked, though it was more of a question.

Logan nodded. "Yeah, Jean, she's still asleep. Why don't you go get some sleep yourself; I'll stay with her." Jean nodded, too sleepy to argue, got up, and stumbled out of the room a bit unsteadily.

Logan sat down in the vacant chair, reaching for the limp hand lying on the bed. "Jubes," he said, his whisper loud in the room, silent but for the low, reassuring beep of the machines monitoring her condition. He sighed, gripped her hand tighter, and marshaled his thoughts. "Jubes, I love ya. I haveta say I never loved anyone the way I love ya. Not like I did Mariko, not like Silver Fox, and definitely not Viper. Yer not like any of them. I thought what I felt fer them was love, but it's nothin' like what I feel fer ya. I keep tryin' ta put it off, tryin' ta tell myself ya deserve better'n me, that yer just obsessed with me, but I can' keep fooling myself. Ya do love me, as much as I love ya. If ya didn't, ya wouldn't be experimentin' wit' trying ta slow down yer aging. So, Jubes, if ya really want me to…if ya really, really love me, then, Jubes, I want ya ta marry me."

Jubilee's eyes fluttered open, and she pinned him with a bright sapphire gaze. She blinked, and her lips moved, but he couldn't hear her voice. He didn't have to.

There was a light in her eyes he'd never seen before.

* * *

Moose looked up from what he was doing when he heard the sound of a motorcycle engine. A loud engine. And a good one, at that. He grinned and stood up, wiping his hands on the greasy shop towel he was using and walked out into the office of the shop. "What can I do fer ya…" he trailed off as he saw who was waiting for him. "Logan!" He dropped the towel and leaned over the counter. "How's the little Lady?"

"She'd fine," Logan said, taking off the distinctive black helmet with its three silver slashes and shaking his head. "She's got a broken rib, punctured lung, some cuts and scrapes, but otherwise she's okay." He grinned wolfishly. 'She's confined to bed until she heals. I managed to wrangle out of her the story of what happened, and I'm going looking for revenge. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" Moose agreed. "Let me close up shop here and I'll come with you."

Logan followed him back into the rear of the garage and watched as he began to pick up the scattered tools lying about all over the floor. He surveyed Jubilee's bike. "She wasn't kidding when she said the gang was tough," he said.

"What gang?" Moose straightened. "I know most of them around here; they all know the little Lady and they know not to touch her. She has my protection."

Logan blinked. "Well, someone didn't get the message, or they thought she was easy pickin's." he said. "Jubes was on her way home and she decided to try a shortcut. She cut through an alley, and at the other end a gang of guys was waiting for her. She took off on her bike, they followed on theirs. They chased her almost halfway across the city. She doubled back and was only about a block from here when her bike ran outta gas and stalled. So she got off her bike and prepared to fight. That was when a couple of guys jumped out from behind a dumpster. They'd herded her through the whole city. Back to point one.

"One guy cut the strap o' her purse. Then three o' the guys got offa their bikes an' closed in on her. She tried ta run, but they grabbed her an' threw her ta the ground, an' tried ta rape her. Moose, I don't know how mucha her past she mighta told ya, but she was…hurt…pretty bad…a few years back, and she ain't quite healed mentally from the memories. She still gets nightmares 'bout that stuff that happened ta her.

"Anyway, she had a flashback, and her power went rogue on her. She blasted a coupla them and took off runnin'. They tried ta grab her again, an' one o them tried ta stop her wit' a knife. She ran into the blade; got stabbed. She screamed, fell, an' they ran off. Jubes said they were wearin' black leather jackets with red eagles on 'em. Ya know a gang that runs 'round here wearin' jackets like that?"

"Yeah," Moose said grimly. "They call 'emselves the Bloody Eagles. They play like they all big an' bad, but they do mainly petty crimes. Stealin', runnin' a chop shop for cars and bikes, breakin' an' enterin' shops, muggin', pickin' pockets." He took off his shop apron and washed his hands at a sink at the rear of the garage. "Been hankerin' ta go take 'em down myself. The only problem is that there are too many of 'em. Ten in the gang altogether. I may be a gamblin' man, but them odds is too much fer me."

"Well, eight now," Logan grinned a wolfish smile. "Jubes got a couple o' them. Think the two o' us can handle eight guys?"

Moose growled. "I could handle all eight o' them myself if it was fer the little Lady," he said. "Do anythin' fer her." He wheeled his bike out from the back of the shop where it was wrapped with canvas, and got on it. "Ya given anymore thought ta what I said 'fore we went ta fin' the little Lady?"

"'Bout makin' an honest woman outta her?" Logan grinned as he pulled his helmet back on. "Yep. Did that when she woke up. She said--"

"She said yes, I know," Moose grinned widely. "Didn't haveta tell me that, I knew a'ready she'd say yes, the way she was talkin' 'bout how disappointed she was that ya hadn't done it a'ready." He punched Logan none too gently in the arm. "So what took ya so long, ol' man?"

Logan paused. "A lotta stuff," he admitted. "Didn' know if she really wanted it; didn' know how our friends were gonna react ta us 'makin' a match outta it', as the Cajun said. Wasn't sure if I really wanted her ta hitch herself ta a guy old 'nuff ta be her father. Lotta reasons." He shook his head. "Had a talk with a friend o' ours. He pointed out ta me that it didn' really matter what other people thought; if it was what both of us really wanted it, he didn' see a reason why we shouldn't. So I went ahead an' asked when she woke up. Soon's our doctor allows her up and outta bed, we gonna go get a ring fer her and start plannin' the hitchin'." He grinned. "Told Jubes ya pounded some sense inta me, an' she said ya were definitely invited."

Moose grinned. "Great." He pulled on his own helmet, got on his bike and started it up, and looked at Logan. "Shall we go?"

The two bikes drove up and down the streets where Moose said they usually hung out. It wasn't long before they spotted a red eagle crudely spray-painted onto the door of an apparently abandoned warehouse. They stopped, dismounted, and Logan popped his claws preparatory to slashing down the door.

"Wouldn't do that if I was you, short stuff," came a rough voice from behind them. Moose and Logan both turned, to see a big black man holding a tire iron in one hand as easily as if it was a matchstick. "This here's our territory; and we don't like intruders. Ya ain't walkin' away from here alive."

"Yeah?" Logan crouched into a 'ready' position. "Ya gonna stop us?"

"Yep." The man began smacking the tire iron against the palm of his other hand. Logan didn't allow himself to get distracted by the movement; all his senses were focused on the man in front of him. And on the ones around him; he could smell at least six more hiding behind cardboard boxes, dumpsters, trashcans, and abandoned cars littering the alley.

"If yer plannin' on surprisin' us with the rest o' yer gang, ya can tell 'em all ta come out," Moose said easily, unwrapping a length of chain from around his bike and swinging it experimentally. "Ain't much o' a surprise if we a'ready know they're there." His eyes narrowed. "Ain't I seen ya before?"

"Yeah, the las' time I run into the both of ya at Rex's I was tryin' ta git wit' a chick and ya cut inta my fun." The man scowled.

"Mighta been fun ta you, but it wasn't fer her," Moose growled, the chain swinging around a little faster. "Ain't fun fer the little Lady bein' gang-raped by the likes o' you."

Men started popping out from behind various pieces of junk all around the two men. The guy in front of Logan narrowed his eyes and snapped, "This ain't yer stompin' ground, Moose Montgomery. Yer place is back up there." He jerked his thumb behind him, toward the direction Moose and Logan had come. "So why're ya down here? Ya thought ya was too good ta join us 'fore, so why you here now?"

"Cause ya hurt a real good friend o' mine," Moose growled. "That chick, as ya called her, was mindin' her own business goin' home from Rex's when ya all jumped her. Stole her purse an' tried ta rape her. Ya got some payback comin'."

"We ain't touch nobody—Wait. Wuzzat the little chink chick we got down on the other night?" He laughed. "She had a fine piece a ass, man, looked all nice and purty. Scream all nice an purty fer us when we took off those little panties." He pulled from his pocket a couple scraps of pink satin and fluttered it in front of Logan's and Moose's startled faces. Logan could smell Jubilee's scent from where he stood…and something else. His nose wrinkled as he smelled the man's own body odor on Jubilee's underclothes.

The man shoved the bra and underwear back into his pocket and returned to swinging the tire iron. "Oh, yeah," he smirked. "Chick looked real good, too. Nice tits. Wanted ta get myself a mouthful' a them, but as soon as I got my mouth on her she went nuts. She blasted me and one of my buddies with these firework kinda things and took off runnin." He snickered. "Was so satisfyin' hearin' her scream when the knife slipped between her ribs, man, I wanted ta f**k her right there, but we heard sounds an' thought someone was comin', so we ran. Too bad. Maybe when I get done wit' ya two, I go back an' fin' her an' finish what I started."

The man never got another word out. Moose went from a dead standstill to full action, holding the middle of the chain. One end flicked out, wrapped around the tire iron, and yanked the thing out of the man's hand, while the other end slammed with considerable force into the guy's jaw. He shouted in surprise and pain, and the fight started.

A short, scruffy, bad-smelling guy jumped out in front of Logan and swung a length of chain at him. Logan swiped at the chain with his claws, watching the man's face go slack with surprise as the chain fell into dozens of pieces in front of him. Logan didn't wait, but pressed up his advantage by stepping forward as Stinky fell back, and swiped a claw across the man's face. Stinky screamed, his hands coming up to cover his face, and turned and ran as blood dripped to the ground from between his fingers. Logan didn't spare a second glance, but tore into the next man, who had a section of lead pipe in his hand. This guy was slower on the uptake than Stinky was, and just stopped and stood still, staring at the stub of pipe left in his hands. Logan raised a fist. Lead Pipe looked at those three deadly adamantium claws, dropped the pipe, and fled.

Moose and the leader circled each other, each watching for an opportunity. "Aw, ya sweet on her," the man said sarcastically. Moose growled at him. "Ya got inta her pants, huh? How 'bout her, huh? She all nice and tight for ya?"

Moose swung the chain at him and missed. The chain wrapped around the guy's fist instead. The man grimaced, and yanked. Moose lost his grip on the chain and stumbled back, feeling the metal links burn the palm of his hand as it slipped from his grasp. The gang leader swung the chain at Moose, catching Moose's ear with the edge of the chain. Moose howled in pain as he fell. His hands curled around something on the ground; it was the leader's tire iron. He stood, gripping the tire iron, and the two men circled around each other, looking for an opportunity to strike.

Logan snorted as his fourth opponent ran off down the alley. Cowards. Didn't have a problem pickin' on a lady or someone weaker than themselves, but they sure did have a problem when it came to someone their own size. He glowered at the others around him; three more men, each holding some scrap of garbage. No serious weapons, unless ya counted the guy who thought he could sneak up behind him holding a knife. Logan waited until he smelled the burst of sweat that signified an incipient strike, and whirled.

His two outer claws pinned the man to the concrete wall behind him as the single inner claw just barely dimpled the thin skin of Knife Boy's neck. Knife Boy dropped the knife. It fell from his nerveless grasp, and Logan set his foot on top of it. Never taking his eyes off the man, he picked it up from the ground and set the point of it against Knife Boy's ribs. "Ya wanna get what ya gave her?" he said softly, dangerously. His nostrils flared at the smell of the man's fear.

"No, no, man, I don't, Look, I jus' done what Mike tol' me to, I didn't know she was yer girl, I swear, I ain't never gonna bother her again…" And to Logan's complete disgust, he smelled urine as the guy soaked his pants. He stepped back form the man, yanking his claws out of the wall. A chunk of concrete clung to the end of his first claw, and he shook it in the guy's face.

"Ya ever mess wit' her again, ya even look at her again, an' yer head's gonna look like this, bub, understand?" Knife Boy nodded fearfully, and Logan gave him a shove. "Get going, all of ya." As they ran out of the alley, he turned his attention to the last two combatants, Moose and Mike.

Moose lunged quickly, suddenly, not telegraphing his move by any body language, and caught Mike by surprise. Mike stepped back, quickly, to avoid the rush from the bigger man. Moose tackled him, sent him flying backward…

Right on top of a twisted scrap of metal that pointed upward.

Mike's body was speared neatly on the shard of twisted metal. Moose stared, started forward, horrified, but it was too late. Mike twitched once, and then the light went out of his eyes as he died.

Moose looked at him regretfully. "I wasn't going to kill him," he said. "Jus' scare him inta leavin' the little Lady alone. I didn't mean ta kill him."

Logan retracted his claws and rested a hand on Moose's shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Moose," he said. 'It was an accident. I don't think anyone's gonna miss him too much, but Jubes is gonna miss both o' us if we don't git movin'. Ain't gonna be long 'fore one o' his gang comes back ta fin' us." Logan looked speculatively at Moose as the two of them turned and headed back toward their bikes. "There ain't gonna be a street war over his sorry ass, is there?"

Moose considered. 'Naw, not likely," he said. "Stuff like this happens all the time around Hell's kitchen. And he wasn't really well liked, or well known, around here. Naw, he's gonna be chalked down as a missin' person who nobody's gonna miss at all."

Logan stopped Moose and put a hand on his arm. "Ya ain't gonna tell Jubes 'bout this, are ya?" he said. "She ain't gonna like it that ya killed somebody."

Moose held up both hands as he mounted his bike. "I ain't tellin' if you ain't," he said.

Logan nodded, then grinned suddenly. "Ain't never been on yer side o' a fight before," he said. "Kinda a change from beatin' each other up, huh?"

Moose's laugh echoed around the alley as they roared off.