Of God and Man
Disclaimers: See chapter 1
A/N: I began this story during the final illness of Pope John Paul II. As I began this chapter, he was near death. I would like to dedicate this story to John Paul II who's faith in God and Jesus Christ led me back to the church after a twenty year absence. May the Heavenly Father accept his soul into the Kingdom of Heaven and keep it safe until Christ returns to us to gather His flock at the end of days.
Feedback: I love it. Please tell me what you thought about the story, good or bad.
Chapter 12 Mail Call
Ororo arrived just over fifteen minutes after Logan called and told her that Carolyn had collapsed and was in surgery. She ran through the halls of the mansion, her mind a mass of confusion and fear. She should have been safe here. The only threat remaining was The Hellfire Clubs and they didn't have the nerve to attack the X-Men directly. Magneto had admitted his interest in a phone call to Charles but, when informed of her background, told him that he wouldn't make an attempt to take the girl from the mansion. A woman of such strong religious convictions was useless to him.
She skidded to a stop outside the door to the small waiting area attached to the operating suite. The entire team was gathered there along with, of all people, Captain America. Jubilee, she could tell, was very upset. She kept jumping up and pacing rapidly around the room, only to return to her seat with each circuit and repeat the process. Kitty watched her in stony faced silence but didn't stop her from pacing. Logan's face was full with what she had come to recognize as thunderous self recrimination.
"Logan," she called from the door. Every eye in the room snapped to her. There was complete silence for about a half a second then the babble of voices swept over her, drowning out whatever Logan had said.
"Quiet," she bellowed, holding up her hand. "I will try to straighten this out. Jean, where is Scott?"
"He's driving the car back from my parents house," Jean's tear stained face begged her to understand. "I flew here under my own power. I felt what she was doing."
"And where are Rogue and Gambit?"
"On their way back from Hawaii," Kitty told her.
"Who's flying? Rogue?"
"United Airlines," Logan said, his head bowed. "They should be back in the mornin' if Rogue doesn't take it inta her head ta pick him up and fly back herself."
She nodded, satisfied that the absent team members were accounted for.
"Okay," she said with a sigh. "What happened?"
The volume increased as everyone tried to tell their story.
"I cannot understand you if you all speak at once," she said, raising her voice above the din. The room quited again. "Who was with her today?" Logan, Bobby and Steve lifted their hands into the air. "You three, come with me." She led them down the hall to the Danger Room corridor.
"Logan, you first. Explain to me what happened."
"She said her sheets were torn by the washer," he explained. "We took her ta Macy's ta replace 'em. We were attacked in the parkin' garage by S.H.I.E.L.D. and they were attacked by Selene. Carol defended herself and took 'em all out. When we got home, she started ta vomit blood. When we finally got her ta cut the threads, she passed out."
"Do you agree with his story?" she asked Steve and Bobby. Both nodded. "Thank you. Bobby, you may return to the med lab. Steve, you may return to the Avenger mansion. If I have any further questions, I will call you there."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay and make sure Carolyn's alright," Steve said stiffly.
"Of course," she said, surprised. "I will have a room prepared for you."
"I'll stay with Carolyn," he told her as he walked back to the med lab with Bobby.
Ororo watched them leave, thoughtfully.
"It's all my fault," Logan told her quietly, staring at his feet.
"It seems like it's a medical problem," she said. "You are not responsible for a medical problem."
"I tore the sheets, 'Ro," he whispered.
"What?"
"I wanted ta get her back with Cap. I needed ta give her an excuse ta go inta the city and meet him again. I made sure the other alpha's were out when she needed ta go so I'd hafta ask Cap ta help guard her. I didn't anticipate that S.H.I.E.L.D. would attack and I figured we could take care of Hellfire if they tried anythin'. I screwed up, 'Ro."
"What were you thinking? She could have been killed, or worse, taken by S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Ya never saw her when she was with Cap. He made her happy. She'd have this glow around her and she'd smile and laugh. I've never seen her so relaxed. When they had the fight, it was like part of her died. She was so sad and unhappy that I couldn't stand it. I just wanted her ta be happy, 'Ro. Instead, I almost got her killed. She could still die 'cause of me."
She lifted his face and looked into his eyes. "This is a serious lapse in judgment on your part that cannot go unpunished. You put a fellow X-Man in peril. I will need to discuss this with Charles and Cyclops. I'm disappointed with you Logan. You know better."
"I can be packed and gone in an hour," he told her.
"You won't get off that easy. You made a promise to Carolyn and I intend to hold you to it."
The pain in his eyes was breaking her heart. He was wrong and he knew it. His own conscience was punishing more than the X-Men ever could. He was going to pay for this one for a long time.
"I am going to help Henry. I suggest you try to get Steve to shower and change. He has blood all over his clothing."
"Perforated gastric ulcer," Hank announced three hours later. "She has lost a significant amount of blood necessitating several transfusions but I believe she will pull through. The main thing we need to worry about now is infection. A fair amount of stomach contents were spilled into the abdominal cavity and has set up a peritonitis. If she survives the infection, she will be fine."
"Couldn't you wash everything out?" Bobby demanded.
"I irrigated with four liters of sterile saline after the stomach had been repaired but in these cases, it is best to treat it as if the infection is already present. There is very little chance I was able to wash out all of the bacteria."
"How could she have an ulcer?" Kitty asked. "It takes years of stress to develop one."
"She hid a powerful mutation for ten years," Hank told her. "Ulcers are not caused by stress anyway. They're caused by H-Pylori and are very treatable when caught early. She has two other ulcers in different stages of growth as well. I will treat them and start a PPI to prevent new ones from erupting. What concerns me is that she showed no outward signs of the ulcer. These kind of ulcers are very painful in their latter stages. She should have been in considerable pain."
Everyone looked at Wolverine.
"I didn't smell anything from her," he told them. "She's able ta lock her pheromones away along with her emotions. If she was in pain, she wasn't lettin' the pheromones tell me."
"Has she burned out?" Jean asked, wringing her hands.
"Her EEG tracing is normal for a human, not a mutant. This tells me that her battle shields are still in place. We won't be able to tell if she has burned out until she wakes and is able to lower her shields."
"How is she able to keep her shields in place while unconscious?" Storm demanded.
"Omega level empaths are so rarethat we just don't know much about them. The shields could be hardened because she has suppressed her emotions for so long or because they are a natural defense that she needed to be trained to use. I don't think we will ever know."
"Did she power up?" Cap asked, his face flat. He had reluctantly showered and changed into a sweat suit left by Colossus. It was a little too big but at least it was clean.
"Cerebra's record of the event shows a slight dip in her power level," Charles said as he wheeled into the room. "She did not power up but she will within the next six months. I have just spoken with Colonel Fury. Selene is comatose and they are asking our help to wake her up."
"No!" Jean hissed. "I refuse to help her in any way."
"I know, my dear," Charles said, patting her hand. "I told Colonel Fury that we could not help her until we found out exactly what Carolyn did."
"We won't be helping even when we know," Cyclops said as he entered the room. "Her mind is too dangerous for anyone to mess with."
"I agree with Cyke," Logan growled. The room rang with astonishment. "What?"
"You agree with him?" Jubilee gasped.
"I agree with anyone who talks sense," he told her with a shrug. "There's a first time fer everything."
"We won't be doing anything as of yet," Charles reassured them. "It is possible Carolyn has a tendril still attached to Selene's mind. If she does, she will need to withdraw before we can attempt to wake her."
"Leave her the way she is," Jean demanded. "The world is better off with her mind turned in on itself."
"We have no right to do that Jean," he told her. "We are responsible for what happened to her and we must do everything in our power to correct it. Colonel Fury has assured me that S.H.I.E.L.D. can hold her as long as necessary."
"Hah," Logan exploded. "She'll be gone inside of a day if we wake her up."
"How do you figure that?" Charles demanded.
"The Black Queen is more demon than mutant. The collar won't hold her. I say we kill the bitch and have done with it."
"X-Men don't kill," Scott said pompously.
"Bull shit," Logan growled. "Ya authorized lethal force in protectin' Carol. Selene's a direct threat ta her. She ain't gonna quit."
"If she comes after her again, then yes, kill her. But I won't allow you to kill a defenseless woman in a cell on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier."
"Don't fool yerself Cyke. She's about as defenseless as you are 'cept a collar'll shut ya down. It won't shut her down. Her powers ain't all 'cause she's a mutant. I say, if we don't kill her, we leave her ta rot in a coma."
"This is not a topic for debate at this time," Charles admonished the room. "We can do nothing until Carolyn regains consciousness."
"That will be quite some time," Hank told them. "I have given her a sedative that will keep her asleep until morning."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Jubilee announced. "It should be Carolyn's decision. She was the one who was hurt and it's her right to decide what happens to her."
"Hank," Steve interrupted, "May I sit with Carolyn?"
"Of course," Hank told him. "I might suggest you call the Avengers first and let them know where you are."
"I called them earlier," he told the big blue doctor. "If anyone calls, I'll be with Carolyn."
Steve pushed his way through the crowd and into the small ICU. The room was small, only two beds, but the powerful equipment in the room could do things no other ICU is capable of. Here, Hank and the other X-Men can save the life of someone other units would have given up on.
The Shi'ar is a vast empire that encompasses a large portion of the Milky Way Galaxy. Lilandra, the Empress of Shi'ar, had fallen in love with Charles Xavier many years ago. She very much believed in Charles' dream of peace between human and mutant but was appalled at the injuries the team would sustain in the course of their work. She began to send shipments of medical supplies and equipment that, when used carefully, would give them a slight edge over their enemies. The one thing that tickled the back of her mind was that some of the equipment could be used as weapons. She sent the equipment on the promise from Charles that he would never reveal to anyone where they came from. Thus, when Steve Rodgers entered the ICU, he was confronted with a dizzying array of unfamiliar machines.
Steve, in his role as Captain America, had met several extraterrestrial and extragalactic races. Most of them were hostile. He recognized the equipment as extraterrestrial and wondered at that. He had never met an advanced race who was willing to share their technology. The X-Men, obviously had. He didn't ask. He knew they wouldn't give him a straight answer. He was a little put out. Hank had been and Avenger at one time and he should have told him as the leader of the Avengers.
'Ah well,' he thought. 'We have our secrets, they have theirs.'
He pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down and picked up her hand. She was so pale, her skin almost the color of the sheets. Large dark circles framed her sunken eyes. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. She had severl IV lines going into her. The one in her chest had two red lines infusing precious blood into her depleted body. He wasn't sure about the ones in her arms. One of them was most likely and antibiotic but he didn't know enough about them to be sure. All he knew was that the more he looked, the more his heart pounded. For the first time in years, he was afraid.
'Dear God,' he prayed silently, 'please don't take her. I'll do anything You want but please, don't take her from me.'
It was 2:00AM and Ororo couldn't sleep. She had sent Hank to bed at midnight with orders to stay there until at least 8:00. She had taken over rounds from him. Carolyn's vitals had stabilized and her color was much improved now. She felt confident that she would pull through. She would have a long and painful recovery but she would recover. She woke briefly during the night and was able to lower her battle shields, allowing Storm to repeat the EEG. The tracings didn't indicate burnout but they would know more when she was fully awake.
When Ororo entered the med lab, she found Logan parked in a chair tipped against the wall outside of the small ICU, his hat pulled low over his eyes. She knew he wasn't asleep. Logan would never allow himself to sleep if he believed he was on guard duty. He wasn't, but that didn't make a difference. Logan had his own set of priorities.
"Logan?" she called softly.
"Mornin' 'Ro," he rumbled.
"Has he left her at all?" she asked, looking at the still form of Captain America.
"He comes out long enough ta use the bathroom but that's it."
"Has he eaten?"
"Nope."
"He hasn't slept either?"
"He dozed for a few minutes."
"He loves her," Ororo remarked.
"Yep," Logan replied. "You talk ta Chuck and Cyke?"
"I did," she confirmed.
"How much trouble am I in?"
"No more than me," she told him with a shrug. He tipped his hat back and looked at her . "I didn't wait for a plane."
"Oh."
"We will have to take our lumps."
The chair dropped to the floor with a dull thunk as he got up and went to her side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"He seems besotted," she remarked.
"Yeah," Logan said. "'Ro, do ya love me?"
She looked down at him, her eyes scolding. "I wouldn't sleep with you if I didn't"
He nodded thoughtfully and was silent. Minutes passed before he spoke again.
"I love you too," he said in a low rumble.
"I know," she smiled.
When Carolyn woke just after five that morning, Steve was still there. Her eyes struggled to focus on the face beside her, pain radiating from her abdomen making her eyes go wide.
"Are you in pain?" he asked in a bass rumble.
"Steve?" she asked, her voice raspy.
"I'm here," he reassured her. "Is your belly hurting?"
"A little," she admitted, her breath coming in shallow pants
"I'd say a lot considering you won't take a deep breath. Logan's gone to get Storm."
"What happened?"
"You had a stomach ulcer perforate. You lost a lot of blood"
"You were there," she stated, her mind still fuzzy. "You held my hair back so I wouldn't vomit on it."
He nodded. "You had me scared to death."
"Sorry," she said, hissing in pain. "Didn't mean to."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," he told her. "I can't say the same. I'm sorry Carolyn. I hurt you and I shouldn't have. I should have discussed my fears with you first. I thought you'd be safer if I went away. It took Logan's fist in my face to see the truth. You mean too much to me to trust anyone else to keep you safe."
Storm bustled in just as he finished speaking so she didn't have a chance to respond to the startling statement. He stepped out to allow her privacy while Ororo changed her bandages and gave her pain medication. He joined Logan in propping up the wall next to her door.
"You tell her ya love her ?" Logan asked.
Steve looked at the smaller man in askance. "Have you told Storm?" he countered.
"Yeah."
"I need to wait," Steve told him. "I don't want her to think I said it because I feel guilty about what happened."
"Yer probably right," he grunted. "Women got a funny way of thinkin'."
Steve gave a small snort of laughter. "I'll tell Ororo you said that."
"Ya won't if ya want ta keep all yer limbs," he growled.
"You won't," Steve said confidently. "If you hurt me, you hurt Carolyn, and the last thing you want to do is hurt her."
He grunted but said nothing. They stayed there in companionable silence until Storm came back out of the room.
"She's asleep," she informed them. "Why don't you two get some food and sleep. I'll stay until Jean gets here at six."
The two men looked at each other then at her.
"We can't leave her unprotected," Steve protested.
"What am I?" Storm demanded. "A basket of kittens?"
Rather than continue an argument they knew they'd loose, they both fled the med lab and did as she suggested.
The next six weeks went about as well as could be expected for someone who had nearly died from blood loss. She was very weak, physically, but her mind was as strong as ever. That was proven the day Sinister paid a surprise visit along with his Nasty Boys. Carolyn was alone in her room changing her clothes when they intruded on her. She was able to knock them all over and call for help from the X-Men without overtaxing herself. Logan, Steve and Remy deposited them on the front lawn and called for a trash pick up from S.H.I.E.L.D..
Nick Fury once again tried to get them to turn her over to him for her own safety.
"Considerin' that I don't have any trouble gettin' in and outta yer place, I don't think it's too safe fer her," Logan sneered. "She stays here."
"You of the same opinion, Cap?" he asked Steve.
"Yes, sir," Steve replied stiffly.
"I could order you to take her into custody."
"And it would be the first time I have ever disobeyed a direct order."
"You win," he sighed. "But neither she or her body can fall into enemy hands Cap."
"I know, sir. Carolyn and I have discussed the possibilities. We have contingency plans."
"I'll leave her to the X-Men then. Keep me informed." He climbed aboard the transport and was gone.
Logan had willingly served a two week suspension from active duty for his roll in the attack on Carolyn but what surprised him was that Scott was punished as well. As soon as Logan was finished with his suspension, Scott began his own. Charles had said that, as the leader of the X-Men, Scott should have tried to stop the plan. Instead, he had fully participated in it, endangering the life of a valuable asset to the team. Logan felt guilty about being glad that Scott was suspended. During the time he was off duty, command fell to Storm, delaying her return to XSE and Logan happily took advantage of the situation to spend more time with his lover.
Carolyn and Charles attempted to wake Selene from the mansion but were unsuccessful.She told him that the tendril of emotion she held the Black Queen with had ben cut when she severed the others. The reason for the coma wasn't because she was holding her. EEG's showed the woman was trapped in a series of nightmares. Carolyn believed they were sent by Selene's vengeful master. Either way, she remained in the coma.
Eight weeks after the attack, Carolyn and Steve were on a picnic on the back lawn. The others had made themselves scarce when Logan asked them. Carolyn was wondering where everyone had gone when Steve dropped to one knee and begged her to marry him. She was so stunned that she couldn't speak for a moment but then, tearfully agreed. Jubilee and Rogue were hiding in a tree near the lovers and heard everything. Rogue flew them back to the mansion where they cheerfully spread the news. By the time the came in from their date, everyone knew. Champaign flowed freely that night.
It was two days later that the letter arrived at the mansion. She was walking from the kitchen, on her way to the gym for a workout when she noticed the pile of mail on the table. The top letter had her name on it. She hadn't received any mail the entire time she had been living with the X-Men. Her curiosity made her look closer at the letter.
Her heart began to pound and nausea threatened to overwhelm her. She quickly squashed her fear and picked up the envelope.
It was from the Vatican.
