Chapter 5: Bar Fight
Jubilee sat at a small table in the back of the bar, nursing her drink.
Casey hadn't been home so she'd decided to kill some time. Unable to think of anything to do, she'd pulled up at this seedy little bar Logan had mentioned a few times, and gone in. They had looked at her suspiciously when she asked for a beer, but said nothing when she produced her ID. Now she sat at a small back table, staring at the bottle and wondering what the hell she was doing.
"Ah, hell," she said in an unconscious imitation of Logan, and tossed back a last gulp of her beer. She shouldn't be here staring at the damn thing. Maybe she should go back and talk to Wolvie, tell him what she was feeling, get him to talk to her…
"Hey," came a rough voice from behind her. She raised her head, looked at the two men who had just walked up to her table. "Whatcha doin' here, little girl?"
"I'm not a little girl," Jubilee said flatly, returning her gaze to the bottle. It was empty; maybe she could get away from them by going to get another one. She got up without a word to the two men and went to the bar. "Another Molson, please."
"Make that two," said a gravelly voice from behind her. She turned, surprised, and saw Logan standing behind her. "Hey, darlin'."
God, only a few hours away from the mansion and she had missed him so much. Her heart slammed around in her ribcage for a few minutes before settling down, and she managed a cool, 'Hi, Wolvie', when what she really wanted to do was throw her arms around him and hug him tightly.
"Got a table?" Logan asked as the bartender pushed the bottles across to them. He slipped the man a few bills and handed Jubilee her bottle. "We need ta talk."
I'll say, Jubilee thought to herself, but she didn't say it aloud. Instead she led him across the bar and back to the table she'd occupied before, noting with relief that the two drunks who had spoken to her had disappeared. She dropped into her chair and sat silently as Logan sat down across from her.
They sat in uneasy silence for a moment, she waiting for him to say something, and Logan fidgeting with his bottle uneasily. Finally she opened her mouth and spoke. "Wolvie—"
He spoke at the same time. "Jubes—"
She looked at him, he looked at her, and they both laughed. The tension around them cleared a little, and she grinned at him. She was rewarded with an answering grin.
"Look, Jubilee," Logan said, putting his beer down and looking at her squarely. "I'm sorry fer the way I been actin'. And I don't want ya ta go nowhere. It's just…yer very special ta me, an' I don't want nothin' ta happen to ya. Jubilee, everybody I ever cared 'bout, everybody I ever loved, died 'cause o' me. Mariko…Silver Fox…" he swallowed hard. "If it wasn't fer Winged Boy's healin' factor, you'd'a died when those bastards crucified ya. I was…" he took her hand, touching the pale, almost unnoticeable scar on the back of her hand. "I was so glad when ya opened yer eyes, so glad ya made it…I don't think I could bear seein' ya die like that again."
"Is that why you've been keeping me away?" Jubilee said gently, capturing his hand with hers. His callused, rough palm felt warm in her own smaller fingers, and she squeezed his hand gently. "Because you're trying to keep me safe? Logan…I've lost everyone I cared about too. My parents…my family…Illyana…Everett and Mondo and Angelo…you don't have the monopoly on losing the people you love." Her voice softened even more as she said, "But it's more important to treasure the time I did spend with them than to try to keep everyone at a distance because I'm afraid they might die. Logan…we face death every day. Some of us have more than a nodding acquaintance with Death. I died, Annie says, on that table. I was dead for a while. And I came back. It's not really a bad thing, thought I did feel like sh—"
"Watch yer language," Logan warned automatically.
Jubilee threw back her head and laughed, and Logan watched her, smiling a little. She finally wiped her eyes and said, still chuckling, "I'm not a little girl, Logan. I can say what I want." She saw his face, and chuckled again. "Okay. I felt like crap when I came back. Happy?" She took a sip of her beer and went on, her tone getting serious again. "We face death as X-Men every day, Logan. It's practically an occupational hazard for us. Any one of us could kick the bucket at any time, even you." She snorted. "Hell, Jean's kicked it several times, and look, she came back most of those times. I still haven't counted her out, I keep waiting for her to pop up somewhere on Earth. God must have a revolving door policy for her." Logan grinned at her, and she smiled back, her blue eyes twinkling. "I guess…what I'm trying to say, Logan, is that yes, I might die tomorrow, at the hands of one of our enemies, or one of yours, or I might get hit crossing the street. But if I do, I will have spent the time with the people I love and it will have been worth it. I love you, and I want you as a part of my life forever." She sighed. "I've had a crush on you for a long time; but I know you don't really feel the same. I'm willing to settle for that, Logan, if it means you'll still be my friend. I want the closeness we had before I left for Massachusetts. I miss that." Her voice dropped. "God, I missed you."
Logan's heart contracted in his chest. "Missed ya too, darlin'," he said, finally admitting aloud something he'd resisted admitting to himself. While she was gone, he'd catch himself thinking, I miss the kid and then quantify it by thinking, I don't miss her, I miss the way she annoyed Scott all the time or something like that. He'd resisted admitting to himself that he missed her, missed her company, her laugh, her smile, her bright blue eyes, even her infernal, everlasting sloppiness and damn bubblegum smell, and the mouth that ran on at a million miles an hour. "I really did miss ya."
"So what do you say?" she said, holding out her hand to him. "Wanna start over?"
He looked up into those blue eyes again, and said, "Sure, kid."
"…and stop calling me kid!"
He reached out, grinning, and ruffled her black hair. "Sure, kid." He teased her while she squirmed and protested, and finally she broke into smiles.
"Let's go home, Wolvie," she said, gathering her coat and shoving her wallet in her back pocket. She started to stand…and sat down again, very hard, as she collided with a huge mountain of a man standing just beside their table.
"What's this, a chickie trying to grow some balls?" he sneered at her, then ignored her completely and focused on Logan. "You an' me, we got some unfinished business, runt."
Logan sighed. Now he remembered why he avoided this particular bar. The drunks here never learned…or they got too drunk to remember the lesson he pounded into them every time they picked a fight with him. But tonight he wasn't in the mood to fight; he was tired, and he knew Jubilee had to be, and he wanted to get her installed safely in her room back at the mansion before she changed her mind and went haring off to…wherever she had been intending to run off to. "Git lost," he said wearily, getting up and reaching for his motorcycle helmet. "I ain't in the mood fer it tonight."
"What, in the mood for love?" the man reached out, grabbed Jubilee's arm, and hauled her out of her seat, pulling her close to him. "Well, I guess I can see your hurry, wanna take this chick to bed."
Logan exploded. "Hands offa her!" He grabbed Jubilee's arm, pulling her away from the other man by main force, pushed her behind him, and stood protectively in front of her. "Gotta go through me ta git ta her," he challenged. He didn't want to fight, but if the man was spoiling for it, he'd give it to him.
"My pleasure." He ignored Jubilee's 'Logan, he's not worth it, let's get out of here!' and advanced on the man.
The other guy swung first. Logan ducked under the swing and came up inside the man's guard to plant a fist in the man's ribs. The man grunted, wrapping his arms around Logan and dragging him backward a few steps. He used his meaty left fist to bash Logan in the head. Jubilee shrieked, a short, sharp sound, as the fist connected with Logan's eye. Logan howled.
"Let him be!" Jubilee darted forward into the fray, and tugged rather ineffectually at the man's arm. For all it moved it might have been solid rock. "Leave him alone!"
"Jubes!" Logan yelled at her, punching at the man's gut to get him to let her go, "Stay outta this, yer gonna git hurt!"
Jubilee ignored him, continuing to hang on the man's arm. With a low growl, the man flung his arm wide, sending Jubilee flying. However, the brief moment of distraction was long enough for Logan to fight his way free of the other man's arms, and he took up a ready stance just outside the man's reach, looking warily for an opening.
He risked a quick glance over to the corner. Jubilee was sitting against the wall, shaking her head, looking dazed but all right. A woman sitting at a table near her was helping her stand, speaking to her in a low voice. Satisfied Jubilee hadn't been hurt by the big man in front of him, Logan turned his attention back to the fight. Just in time, as a big fist swung at him. He ducked, and the fist crashed into the table behind him, demolishing the table and sending the two half-empty bottles of Logan's and Jubilee's beer crashing to the floor. What a waste of good beer, Logan thought as the smell permeated his senses.
"Stop it!" Jubilee cried out again, but both men ignored her until a stream of multicolored pyrotechnics exploded in the air between them with a series of loud 'paffs' until both men's ears were ringing. Jubilee walked forward, her hands outstretched and ready to deliver another round if they didn't get the message. "Stop it," she said firmly. "I don't want to be fought over. I don't care to see you fighting over whose balls are bigger. And it's not like the winner of the fight's going to get to walk off with me." She took Logan's arm. "Come on, Logan, let's go home."
"Not goin' anywhere, chirpy," the big man growled, reaching out to her. Jubilee turned, eyes blazing, and shot a stream of colored sparks at him, which then exploded right before his eyes. As he staggered back, temporarily blinded by the brightness, Jubilee led Logan out of the bar.
"Look at you," Jubilee fussed as they stopped near their bikes. She ran her hands through Logan's hair, getting its points back in place (and Logan tried not to think about how good those fingers actually felt running through his hair) and then she handed him his helmet. "Let's go home. You're going to need aspirin, and a shower. You smell like beer."
Logan still hesitated.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
"Ya had a drink," he said a little more accusingly than he meant to.
"So?" she shrugged. "So did you. I only had one, Logan, and the mansion isn't that far. Or if you think we won't make it home, we can hit a motel. There's one up the road." She pointed at a neon red sign that said 'vacancy' at a small motel three buildings up. "But I'm perfectly capable of driving my bike home." She patted the seat of her beloved motorcycle.
Logan looked at her. One drink wasn't much…but she did have a slight build, and he knew from watching her eat that she had a fast metabolism. She might feel fine now, but she might not make it home. "Let's hit the motel," he said. If it had been just him, he wouldn't have hesitated; but this was Jubilee, and he had to take care of her.
They checked in. Jubilee didn't have a lot of cash with her, but the motel was 'affordably priced', as the cashier told them "Translation: cheap," Jubilee muttered to Logan behind her hand as she took the keys. Logan grinned at her and they went off to the room they'd been given. It was small, a single room with a double bed and a bathroom. Logan was all for leaving when he saw there was only one bed.
Jubilee scoffed. "Oh, Wolvie. It's not like I'm going to jump your bones." Still chuckling, she claimed the bathroom first.
Logan hadn't brought anything with him, so he grabbed the remote to the TV and flipped through the channels until she came out of the bathroom, dressed in a set of blue flannel pajamas from her suitcase. She flopped wearily down on the bed beside him, yawning, and grabbed the remote from him. "Your turn for the bathroom," she said.
Logan sighed as she began to surf the channels and got up. He didn't particularly care what they watched; but she just had this habit of flipping through channels and the constant changing of images on the TV screen was distracting. "Find something and leave it on, will ya?" he said as he went toward the bathroom.
"Sure, Wolvie," Jubilee said absently as she continued to channel surf. Logan shook his head and headed for the shower.
He stepped in and turned the water on, leisurely taking a long hot shower. When he emerged half an hour later, hair still damp and wearing only his boxers, he found her curled up on her side of the double bed, sound asleep. The remote had fallen from her limp hand, and lay on the floor while an old black and white Godzilla movie flickered on the TV screen. Smiling a little, a soft, tender smile he never let anyone see, he pulled the covers up to cover her, turned the TV off, switched out the light, and crawled into the bed beside her. He lay awake for a while thinking, until the sound of her soft breathing lulled him to sleep.