Chapter 20: Logan's Training 101

"Jubes. Wake up."

Jubilee sat up, rubbing her eyes, and frowned as she realized how dark it was outside the pickup's window. "Hey, it's dark," she said.

"Yeah, well, that's normal considering the fact it's almost midnight," Logan said dryly as he turned off the truck's ignition and opened his door. "And it might also have somethin' ta do with the fact that we're in the garage."

"We're home already?" Jubilee stretched her arms above her head and yawned, then jumped out of the truck and reached over the side for her bag. "Ouch."

Logan looked over at her. 'What?"

She shook her head. "Sitting in the seat too long." She sighed as she rubbed her lower back. "Next time, can we take your jeep? It's a little more comfortable."

Logan grinned. "Yeah, we can."

They entered the mansion by the back door, and Jubilee stopped short as she saw the person sitting at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette in complete defiance of the rules. "Remy! Is my bike the way I left it?"

Remy looked up with what Logan could only describe as a sheepish grin. "Eh, p'tite," he said gingerly, feigning surprise at her presence. "Maybe not exactly the way you left it…"

Jubilee squeaked in horror. "Remy, you didn't! My baby!" she exclaimed.

Remy laughed and took his feet off the table, standing up in his boxers and t-shirt and opening his arms to hug her. "Come an' give Remy a hug, p'tite."

She eyed him warily. "Not until you tell me what you did with my bike."

He looked hurt, his eyebrows flying upward in mock surprise. "Chere! Remy hurt! You lef' your bike wit' him, it safe wit' him! Remy take it out for a good wax job an' a full tank, is all."

Mollified, Jubilee allowed Remy to hug her, then broke off the embrace and headed for the fridge. "Anything good left from dinner?"

Remy made a face of disgust. "Non. Emma on kitchen duty tonight, wit' Scott an' Kurt. De only t'ing edible on de table was Kurt's cooking and Scott's burgers."

"I don't particularly care for either," Jubilee grumbled and headed for the kitchen counter, where a loaf of bread sat. "Well, there's plenty of sandwich meat left—"

"Eh, sorry, p'tite," Remy said with a lopsided grin. "After dinner we all attacked the lunchmeat. Not much left except the bologna and liverwurst."

Jubilee wrinkled her nose. "Damn. I'll leave the baloney for Scott and Emma, thank you. Not that they're not already full of it. And liverwurst…" She made a face. "Oh well. I'm heading up to bed, Remy. Good night." She swung her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed out of the kitchen.

"Don't fergit, Jubes! Seven tomorrow morning!" Logan called after her.

"I know, I know," Jubilee turned and walked backward a few steps, blowing a kiss at him and Remy before she turned back around…and almost ran into Xavier, in his hoverchair. "Oh, hi, Charles," she said cheerily, giving him a hug and stifling a yawn. "It's nice being home."

"It's nice having you back as well," Xavier said with a smile. "Did you have a nice time—" but she was gone, bounding up the stairs to her room. He walked into the kitchen instead, and saw Logan and Remy there. "Hello, Logan. It's nice to see both of you back. Did you accomplish what you set out to do?"

Logan sat down at the table heavily. "Yeah," he said. "I got her ta open up about some of the crap that's happened to her."

Xavier waited for Logan to explain, and when he didn't, the older man prodded delicately, "Is there anything we need to know? Or that I need to know?"

Logan clenched his fists on the table, though he carefully kept his claws from popping out. "A lotta stuff happened ta her, Chuck. Not all o' which I'm gonna get inta. But Bastion hurt her badly, mutilated her, really, and the damn Church freaks didn't help much either." He looked up at Xavier. "They nailed Jubilee's hands ta the crossbeam 'fore they got her here. She was nailed to it, an' had ta carry it on her wrists, fer quite a long time; they did it when they first captured her 'cause of the symbology and 'cause it was easier ta control her that way. And they tortured her in front of the entire cult. If it wasn't fer Warren's healing factor healin' her up before she woke, she'd be really heavily scarred now."

Xavier sucked in a breath. Remy looked anguished. They sat like that for some time, then Remy cleared his throat. "What you mean by 'seven o' clock tomorrow morning', Logan?"

"Yes, I did hear that," Xavier said, glad to change the subject. "Will you two be leaving again so soon?"

Logan shook his head. "Nah." He hesitated. "Look, Chuck, I know all this stuff ya talk about 'bout forgivin' yer enemies, an' I realize that Emma ain't the same person we tangled with all those years back…but she wasn't the right teacher fer the Massachusetts Academy kids, an' I don't like her negligence. Jubes let slip that she really don't know what she can do, she ain't really been trained in what she can do, an' that lack o' trainin' cost her her life with them damn Church freaks. She had several chances ta escape if she coulda used her powers effectively, an' because o' that gap in her knowledge she died. I ain't gonna let that stand, Chuck. I can't if she's gonna hang with me, she's gonna have ta learn ta fight, ta protect herself, cause I can't be there all the time. So startin' tomorrow she's gonna enter the Wolverine trainin' program. She's comin' with me on my mornin' run, an' we'll go on from there."

Xavier smiled gently. "I have been aware that her control over herself and her powers, while much better than they were when she came to live with us, are still not as good as would be necessary to join one of the teams. If you could rectify that gap in her education, I would welcome that." He sighed. "I will admit…and this goes no farther than the three of us…I was having a few doubts about Emma's…ability…to supervise the students at the Academy before Operation Zero Tolerance began," he said slowly. "And subsequent events proved my apprehension was correct. It is part of the reason why I closed the school later. Do what you feel you have to, Logan. But remember," he said warningly, "She is, for all her maturity, still young, and she is a woman. There are things that will be impossible for her to do simply because of her gender. Don't push her too hard, Logan, and accept that she might have limitations."

"In other words, don't ask her ta do somethin' she can't do," Logan said. "I won't, Chuck. I'm gonna work her ass off…but I know she's got limits."

Xavier smiled slightly. "When you are satisfied I'll decide which team she is placed on. And I shall keep an eye on her progress. Thank you, Logan. And good night." Xavier turned his hoverchair and quietly left the kitchen.

Remy was quiet for a few minutes, then said. "So you get her to open up, mon ami? You get closer to her?"

Logan thought about that first night…and decided to keep that to himself. "We got closer," he said quietly. "But we ain't gonna do the Scott an' Emma thing." He got up. "Good night, Gumbo."

"Bonne nuit, Logan." Remy sat for a while in the kitchen, smoking and thinking, and then sighed. "Eh, well, she not really your type anyway," he sighed to himself as he got up and headed for his room.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

A hand fought its way out from under the covers and hit the snooze button, then disappeared back under. Several minutes later there came a tap at the door, and Logan said, "Jubes?"

There was no answer from the somnolent figure under the blanket.

Logan opened the door, walked across the room, and tugged on the bedcovers. "Jubes. Seven o'clock. Up and at 'em."

No answer.

The tugging turned into a shove. "Come on, Jubes."

"Jus' a f'w more minutes…Logan…"

Logan pulled the blankets off Jubilee, swallowing hard when he saw her sleeping in a cutoff tank top and tiny boy briefs that showed an indecent amount of cheek. "Jubilee, I said up. Or I'm gonna haul you inta the shower and wake ya up with cold water."

That got her attention. Grumbling something under her breath about 'impossible demands' she hauled herself up and staggered over to her dresser, coming up with a close-fitting supportive exercise top and biker shorts. Logan watched her put them on, then firmly steered her out of her room, down the stairs, and through the kitchen and out the back door. He ignored the looks of surprise on Ororo's and Warren's and Paige's faces, ignored the frankly disapproving look on Emma's, and guided Jubilee out onto the back lawn.

The fresh, cool morning air seemed to wake her up, and as Logan began to stretch out using kata exercises, she began to follow suit. Logan did all the exercises twice, waiting to see her wake up completely, and when he knew she was, he started to jog. At an easier pace than he was used to, but no need to wear Jubilee out with a flat-out run yet. Ease her into it slowly.

It took almost twenty minutes for Jubilee and Logan to get around the perimeter of Xavier's property. Logan had to stop and give her a breather every six minutes or so, because she got winded easily. 'We're going to work on your stamina," he said to her during one of those rest stops. She nodded, chest heaving, unable to speak for the stitch in her side, and when she caught her breath they went on.

They finished up back on the rear lawn, and Logan led her in a series of exercises meant to cool her down. Then they went in and headed straight for their rooms to shower before breakfast.

Jubilee came back into the kitchen, hair still damp, and went to the cupboard, grabbing the new box of Sugar Bombs. Logan, working on a plate of eggs that Ororo made for him, saw her. "No, Jubes," he said. Her hand froze just before she touched the box. "Ya got too much sugar stored in yer system, an' it's weighin' ya down when we run. There's some whole-grain toast, and bran muffins, an' some low-fat beef sausage on the plate over there."

"No Sugar Bombs?" Jubilee looked aghast. "But I love Sugar Bombs! They're a major food group!"

"Right next ta soda an' candy," Logan told her, rolling his eyes. He grabbed an empty plate, dropped two muffins, a slice of toast, and four sausages on it, stabbed a fork into the sausage, and put it in her hand. She started at it for a few minutes as if it were going to bite her, and put it down, reaching for her glass…only to have her chocolate milk replaced with a glass of orange juice. Logan stared at it for a moment, then put the milk in front of Bobby. "Here, Sugar Boy," he said. "You drink that. Jubilee gets juice." Bobby started to laugh…and Jubilee paffed him in annoyance as she headed out to the dining room with her plate. Logan picked up her juice and followed her, sitting beside her at the table and making sure she ate the food he'd put on her plate. After she'd finished it all, he generously allowed her a slice of white bread toast with a scrape of butter and some strawberry jam (her favorite) and she stopped pouting. He grinned grimly as he watched her eat. She wouldn't be so happy when he made her work that off in the weight room later!