Thanks to all who have read and reviewed my work I'm still having a ball writing this story. I think Logan and Kate visit me in my dreams and bug me until I get the next installment down. Most of this is written in the middle of the night.
Disclaimers: All characters that are familiar belong to Marvel. The rest belong to me.
Feed back is always appreciated.
Chapter 14
Logan found himself wide awake very suddenly. He rolled over to jump from his bed. Too bad it wasn't his bed but a narrow cot in the med bay. He landed flat on his face on the cold tile with claws extended, ready to fight. Leaping to his feet, he checked the room for threats but found none. Confused, he retracted his claws and scratched his head. Hearing a small gasp from the next bed, he whirled around.
Oh, shit, he thought
A whimper of pain pulled him to the bedside.
"Kate," he whispered. "Darlin', wake up."
"Sick," she whimpered.
He quickly rolled her to her side and grabbed the trash can. He held her as she heaved.
"Hank," he hollered. "Get in here." His loud tone caused her to moan in pain.
"Nauseous?" Hank asked in a low voice.
"Yeah," Logan replied. "And in pain. More pain than nausea from the smell of it."
:I'll take care of both," Hank told him as he went to the table next to the bed. He removed two vials from a drawer along with a syringe. Drawing a measure from each vial, he injected it into the IV line going into her chest. The relief was fast. The heaving stopped and she relaxed and opened her eyes.
"Logan," she sighed.
"I'm here," he replied. "What can I do fer ya?"
"Kill the guy hitting my head with the hammer." she asked him as her eyes closed.
The next few days passed in a haze of pain for Kate. Logan healed and was returned to duty fairly quickly. Even though he was well, he found himself in the med lab often just to keep Kate company until one day she blew up at him.
"God dammit, Logan," she yelled. "Leave me the fuck alone. You're driving me crazy."
Logan beat a hasty but confused retreat. He wasn't sure what the problem was. He had been trying to help her regain her strength. He had developed a plan of exercise and weight training that should have had her back to normal in a couple of weeks. Almost as soon as he started discussing his plan, she started to yell at him. He needed to discuss this with someone he could trust.
"Jubilee," he called, knocking on her door.
"Hey, Wolvie," she said as she opened the door.
"Can I talk to ya?" he asked.
"Ya, sure," she said, inviting him in. Flopping on the bed, she motioned him to the bottom of the mattress. "So, spill."
"Jubes, you've been hurt a few times," he began.
"More than a few," she said, dryly.
"Yeah, well, more than a few," he agreed. "Am I such a lousy visitor that ya wanted me to leave?"
"Kate throw ya out?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"You're not the calmest person I know by a long shot. Ya tend to be abrasive but that's just your way. I wouldn't have ya any other way but I've known ya a long time. Kate hasn't known ya long enough to see how ya are when someone ya love is hurt. The more hurt that someone is, the more gruff and angry ya get. I know that, she doesn't. She was hurt bad, Logan. I think ya scared her with your behavior since she woke up. Try calming down and see what happens. If she loves ya, she'll come around."
He looked at her with new respect. "How did ya get so wise?"
"I grew up, Logan," she said softly. "I'm not a little girl any more."
"I can see that, darlin'" he said. "I'm not blind. You've turned into a beautiful, young woman and I couldn't be prouder."
"Thanks Wolvie."
"So, how do I get Kate to exercise so she can get her strength back?"
"Don't forget she's human, Wolvie. She won't heal as fast as a mutant. Give her another day then take her to the Danger Room for a very light workout. Ya gotta go slower with her than ya would with me. I'll help ya as much as I can between classes."
"Classes," he asked, surprised. "What classes?"
"I'm starting some classes at the community college next week. I'm gonna ask Hank for a letter of recommendation for Columbia."
"Damn, Jubes," he said in awe. "Ya are grown up."
"Go get your workout, Logan. I'll visit Kate for a while."
Logan was right about the amount of time she needed to return to her normal strength. In two weeks, she was doing her normal workout with little difficulty. The only problems she had were the predictable ones. Her temper tended to be short. Logan bore the brunt of her ire mostly because she wasn't comfortable around the others to let loose. She also had problems accessing her memories. This was the most frustrating part of her recovery. Words didn't come as easily as they used to and she occasionally would use the wrong word, unable to bring the correct word to her tongue.
Jubilee was central to her cognitive recovery. She was much more patient than any of the others when Kate would struggle for the word she was looking for. Jubes showed her that keeping a journal would help her to express her feelings and increase her word power.
Jubilee started a game that most of the mansion joined in on. A word of the day was chosen by the group every day and everyone had to use the word in a sentence at least one that day. They quickly had to increase the difficulty of the words to keep Kate interested. I was hard to challenge a woman who had five PhD's and she quickly became bored if the words were too easy. Logan dropped out after the first week in defeat but Jubilee rose to the challenge. She was often seen with her nose in the dictionary and a notebook composing sentences. It became a friendly was between Kate and Jubilee with Professor Xavier deciding the victor of the day. Kates' sentence must be spoken and Jubilees' must be written with correct grammar. With these restrictions, they were evenly matched. A fast friendship was formed between them.