Chapter 12: No Greater Love

"Goddammit!" Moose swore as his pant leg refused to go on over the bulky bandage on his knee. The doctors had told him he could go home today; though both arms were in casts, he could still use them to do basic things around the house.

He couldn't wait to go home. He had enough of this hospital. Ororo had been an infrequent visitor while he was here, cheering up the long days with stories about his little Lady growing up, but she had been busy searching for her too, and hadn't been around as much as he would have liked. He awkwardly tried to climb into his pants again, just as the door opened.

He turned. Ororo stood there, tears streaking her chocolate skin, her silcver hair touseled, her clothes wrinkled. She was a mess. "Moose…" she said hesitantly. "Moose…Jubilee…"She couldn't go on. Instead she walked in, sat down on the bed, and burst into tears.

"No…." Moose breathed in anguish as he realized what she was trying to say. "No…." His eyes filled with tears, but he refused to let them fall as he sat beside her on the bed and took Ororo in his arms. Her shoulders shook with her sobs, and he widened his eyes, willing himself not to cry. "'Ro…what happened…?"

Between sobs, Ororo choked out the story. "Jean and Scott went out looking for her…They were almost run over by Sabretooth driving a jeep…Jubilee was in it with him. His tire blew out and he stopped on the bridge. Logan faced him down while Jean got Jubilee away from him, and Logan and Creed fought. Logan stabbed him, and thought it was over, when Creed got back up and beat Jubilee. Logan went to rescue her. When Sabretooth got the better of Logan, Jubilee ran into him and knocked him off Logan, and she and Creed went over the side of the bridge...Jubilee caught the bridge supports, and Creed caught her legs. She was hanging on, and Logan was going to pull them both up, but Jubilee thought Creed was going to pull Logan off and take him down into the river with him. So she let go. She and Creed fell into the river. The police have been searching for the last six hours, but they haven't found her body. It's not likely that they will." And she burst into a fresh torrent of tears.

"Oh, dear god, please no," Moose gasped in anguish. "Not her…oh, no…" He bowed his head, mourning the sassy little Lady he'd come to love in the short time he'd known her, and for a while there was no sound in the room but 'Ro's sobs.

At length, she ran out of tears, and he awkwardly handed her a tissue. "Thank you for coming to tell me," he said. "I was expecting Logan…but I'd rather have you tell me. How is he taking it?"

"Hard," Ororo dabbed at her eyes with another tissue. "He has not come out of the room he shared with her since he came home. He won't eat, won't sleep, won't talk to anyone." She sniffed. "I was hoping maybe you would come with me to see him. Maybe he will talk to you."

"I'll come," Moose said immediately, standing up stiffly and trying once again to get his pants on. With Ororo's help, he finally got them on. "Can I stop by my garage first?"

She followed him to the shop, and watched as he bent awkwardly and looked for the tiny object he sought. When he had no luck, she got down and looked, and it was she who eventually found what he sought.

* * *

Logan lay on the bed, clutching Jubilee's pillow in his arms. The scent of her hair was still in it; and he hugged the pillow to him as his eyes filled with tears. "Why," he whispered to the silent room. "Jubilee, why? I could have pulled both of you up…Jean had my legs…he wouldn't have pulled me over…" but she was gone, forever, and there was nothing he could do but lie here and grieve for his little firecracker…

The door opened, and he smelled a scent he never expected to smell in the mansion. He turned in surprise, as Ororo showed Moose into the room, and closed the door. The big man looked around the room, then finally perched on the edge of Jubilee's desk chair and watched Logan silently. It was Logan who finally broke the silence. "Whatcha doin' here, Moose?"

"I heard the news," Moose said quietly. "Ororo told me what happened. I…came to say I'm sorry. I loved her too, Logan. Maybe not quite like you loved her, but I still loved her." He held out the tiny gold circle he'd rescued from his shop floor and held it out to Logan. "That mutant…Sabretooth…he took this off her finger before he took her. I thought you might want it back."

Logan took the ring from Moose, staring at the tiny sapphires. "She loved it," he said wistfully. "She wore it all the time. Said it reminded her of you."

Logan looked at the ring for long moments, then suddenly held it out to Moose. "I can't. It's got too many mem'ries fer me. Ya can go 'head an' keep it. I got her engagement ring." He gestured to the small velvet jewelry box Rogue had picked up at the mall. The woman had been so pleased that it had come in in time for Christmas; Logan hadn't had the heart to return it and tell her that the girl who was supposed to have worn it was dead.

Moose looked at it, looked at Logan. "Go ahead," Logan said, sitting up.

Moose opened the tiny box and looked at the diamond and sapphire ring inside. "She always did have a thing for sapphires," he said quietly, closing the box. For a moment, both men sat quietly, each with his own memories of the woman they'd both loved.

Ororo opened the door quietly, and poked her head in. "Charles has scheduled a memorial service for tomorrow," she said quietly. "Max, you are welcome to attend."

* * *

The service was short, simple, as was the object that Charles had chosen for her. A plain, polished stone tablet, inscribed with her name, a quote, her birthdate, and the date of her death…was it only a few short days ago? It felt like an eternity to the two men who remained sitting by the stone long after the wind and cold had driven the others into the mansion behind them.

Logan brushed away the drifted snow from the stone tablet and looked at it somberly. Charles had a quote inscribed on the tablet. It read, 'No greater love hath one man but that he giveth his life for another'.

Moose read it too. "She gave her life to save you," he said quietly. "No greater love, indeed."

* * *

Dr. Amanda Greene looked up from the paper she was writing and took off her glasses as the Pomeranian yapped hysterically at the back door. "What's up, Buster? You have to go out?" She got up and opened the door beside her stove that led out to the back yard, but the little dog refused to go out. She closed the door, but the dog didn't stop barking. Finally, exasperated, she clipped the leash to the little dog's neck, slipped on a pair of boots and her coat, and took the dog out.

Buster yanked insistently on the leash, almost dragging her toward the river, barely a hundred yards from the river's edge. "Buster, no, don't go too close…" and her voice trailed off as she saw a huddled figure on the bank. She was about to turn back to the house, to call the police, when the figure moved. "Logan…" it said.

Amanda dropped the leash, startled, and Buster ran up to the figure, licking it's face. When she came up she found a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, with long, thick, tangled black hair, lying on the stretch of sand between the water's edge and the snow-dusted grassy lawn. The girl stared glassily at the sky, mumbling incoherently, and Amanda was seized with a sudden stab of pity, which became more acute as she took in the girl's bruised, battered appearance. "Come on," she said, running an arm under the girl's arms and lifting her. She didn't weigh much. "Let's get you inside." She turned toward the house with the little dog running along behind.