Second Chances

Chapter 2

Logan had a hard time sleeping that night. He had tried to return to the Med Lab but was waylaid by Rogue who said she had orders from Beast to keep him out until morning. He took it as well as expected. The Logan sized dent in the wall outside the Med Lab was testament to that He quit trying after Scott threatened to confine him to the Danger Room without program access for a week.

His mind kept going over what Cyke and Gumbo had said to him. Scott was the first one to claim he loved Jubilee. His comment got Logan thinking. He'd known her since Australia when she pulled him off of a cross. She was thirteen at the time. That was ten years ago. They'd been looking after each other off and on since then. He even ran five miles across the desert in New Mexico after he caught a whiff of her blood when the wind shifted. She was the only one of his teammates he trusted completely. She was the most like him. And the most unlike him.

He knew she was still a virgin. That wasn't something she could hide from his sensitive nose. He wasn't sure why she didn't take advantage of one of the boys she met at college. He had left her alone during her years in school in Boston thinking she'd find a nice guy and settle down. She'd gone out with a lot of guys while she was in school but every time she brought one home, he reacted very badly but that shouldn't have stopped her from sleeping with a guy if she really wanted him.

She was twenty-three now. Ready to be a wife and mother. He felt his heart contract at the idea. The thought of her making love to her last boyfriend popped into his head. He growled, threateningly. It had taken him a month of subtle and not so subtle threats to make him go away. Jubilee had been furious at him but he couldn't take the idea of her sleeping with him.

"She's mine, dammit," he growled. His eyes widened in surprise as he heard his own words. "Oh God," he moaned. "I do love her."

What was he going to do? When he marked her as his, Creed would be after her full time. The last time he cared enough to mark a woman, Creed had found her and viscously raped and murdered her. If that happened to Jubilee, he would never forgive himself.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't put her in jeopardy. He opened his closet and began to dig through it. I know it's here, he thought. I used it three months ago when I went to Canada . He started tossing clothes over his head, searching.

"You're running," Jeans voice came from the door.

"I hafta go," he said tugging his travel bag out from under the pile of laundry on the floor of the closet.

"Why?" she demanded. "Because you finally figured out that you love Jubilee?"

"Why does everyone think they need ta get in my business?" he growled at her.

"You and Jubilee have been growling or shouting at each other for the past six months," she said exasperated. "You drove off her last boyfriend with a variety of threats. For Gods sake Logan, tell the girl you love her. We can't take it anymore."

He flopped down onto his bed, defeated. "If Jubes and I get together, Creed will know and he'll try harder ta kill her. Jean, I can't stand the thought of her fallin' inta Creed's hands. I hafta leave so she''ll be safe."

"Bull shit!" she exploded. His head popped up in surprise. Jean ...cursing? She must be thoroughly pissed off at him. "You run away from her this time and I will flush your brain. You won't even be able to pee on your own."

"Shit Jeannie," he whispered.

"You know I can do it and don't think I won't. This team has had enough of the crap you two have put us through.

"Yes, Sabertooth is after Jubilee but if you leave, you make it that much easier for him to get to her. Ask her," she dared him. "Ask her if she would feel better with the dubious safety of you gone or the love and security of you here."

"I can't," he whispered. Her eyes narrowed in anger.

"You fucking coward!" she hissed. She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Her temper remained high until she got to the kitchen where her husband, Rogue and Remy waited.

"Well?" Rogue asked. "What happened?"

"I lost my temper and called him a coward," she admitted as she curled her form against her husband. "Actually, I called him a fucking coward," she said in a small voice.

Scott and Rogue gasped. "You didn't!" Rogue gaped.

"That may work," Remy said thoughtfully.

"How do you figure that?" Scott asked.

"Jean never curses," Gambit explained. "Hearing her curse may be enough ta make him do somethin'."

"A verbal knock up side his head," Rogue said thinking hard. "It may be enough."

"What was he doing when you got to his room?" Scott asked her.

"Searching for his bag," she told them. "He's going to run again. I told him I'd flush his brain if he did. I'm not sure he believed me."

"What's the homme doing now?" Remy asked.

Jean concentrated briefly. "Sitting on his bed, thinking."

"Do we have time to disable the vehicles?" Scott asked.

"Logan can be packed and gone in ten minutes," Rogue said.

"Dammit," Scott swore. "Not enough time. What are we going to do?"

"Hope he does the right t'ing," said Remy.

"No," Rogue told them. "We need ta get him involved in her recovery. Make sure she becomes dependent on him and him on her. No one is ta help, especially 'Ro."

"How are we going to get Storm to stand down?" asked Jean. "She refuses to help us get them together."

"Have you talked to her?" Scott asked her.

"Repeatedly," Jean sighed. "She thinks Jubilee is too young. She still sees her as a teenager."

"Cyke," Rogue said, "give her a month off to go home. That'll get her out of our hair. When she gets back, it'll be a done deal."

"Good idea," he told her. "I'll talk to after breakfast. Logan still in his room?" he asked his wife. She shook her head.

"On his way to the Med Lab," she answered.

"I think it's time to let the cat out of the bag, darling," Scott said to his wife. "It'll excuse you from physical therapy."

"Jean?" Rogue asked, her eyes narrow in speculation. "Are you pregnant?" Jean nodded happily. Rogue shrieked and carefully hugged the redhead.

"Congratulations, Cyke," Remy said as he shook his leader's hand. "'Bout time."

"Thanks Remy," Scott said with a grin.

"I'm about six weeks," she told them. "We were going to wait until I was about three months but I think we need to make the announcement now, for everyones sanity."

"You wouldn't be able ta keep it secret from Logan much longer," Rogue told her. "With that sniffer of his, he's bound ta smell it as soon as he gets his head outta his ass."

"Well," Jean said shyly, "he's had other things to occupy his mind."

"No shit," Remy said under his breath.

"Ah need ta head off Logan," Rogue told them. "You'll talk ta 'Ro?" she asked Scott.

"I'll grab her right after breakfast," he told her. "She's been wanting to go home for some time but we haven't had the manpower to give her leave. I'll get a hold of Sam and ask if he can do some TDY."

The meeting broke up and the conspirators left to their assigned tasks. Rogue met Logan in the hall outside the Med Lab. He had been visiting Jubilee and gave her a quick report.

"She's feeling much better," he told her. "Still weak though. Gonna need some therapy ta get her back in shape."

"That's what Ah wanted ta talk ta ya about," Rogue said, linking her arm through his. "Yer gonna hafta take charge of her therapy."

"Why can't you or Jean do it?" he asked. "I hafta leave."

"You can't go Logan," she told him as they walked back to his room. "Ah'm no therapist. Ah might hurt the girl with my strength. Ah wouldn't know what ta do anyway."

'What about Jean?" he asked desperately.

"Jean's pregnant," she told him with a smile. His eyes widened in surprise. "After last years miscarriage, Ah don't think she's a good choice ta take charge of a hyperactive Jubilee."

"What about Storm?" He was beginning to panic.

"She's going home fer a visit," Rogue told him. "She'll be back in a month. We can't hold off on Jubilee's therapy for that long."

"Cyke?"

"Someone's gotta run the place with the professor gone." Rogue was beginning to enjoy his discomfort. This was just too good.

"Gumbo?" his voice was getting higher.

Rogue cocked an wry eyebrow at him.

"Ferget I said that," he growled. "I don't want him near her."

He thought hard. "Popcicle'll let her play and ferget ta put her through the paces."

"You're the only one left, Sugah," she smiled. "If ya don't do it, she won't get the exercise she needs ta get her strength back."

Logan knew when he was out maneuvered. She had an answer for every objection he could raise.

"Ain't ya gonna tell me I need ta tell her I love her?" he sneered. "Everyone else has."

She decided to take a different path than her cohorts. She wasn't called 'Rogue' for nothing.

"Hell no," she growled at him. "You leave that child alone. Ah see y'all sniffin' around her and ya get the back of my hand."

His head snapped back in surprise. "She ain't no kid," he protested.

"She's too young fer ya," Rogue told him. "Leave her ta Bobby. He's closer ta her age."

"Never," he growled.

"Fer God's sake Logan," she exclaimed. "She's got ta be the only twenty-three year old virgin in the county. At least let her cure that little condition!"

"With Bobby?" he yelled.

"Why the hell not?" she yelled back at him. "He's a nice guy."

"He's not fer her," he hissed.

"Then who is? And ya better not say Remy."

He stood in front of her, his arms folded across his chest and an angry expression on his face. Rogue was undaunted. She knew that Logan couldn't hurt her. The opposite wasn't true, however. Rogue could most certainly hurt him.

"Face it Sugah," she said sweetly. "Yer the only one that can get her ta do what she needs ta do." She let go of his arm and walked back down the hall to the stairs.

"What about her 'little condition'?" he asked before she got to the first step.

"Did ya ever think that maybe she wants ta give it ta ya?" she asked. "Girls are kinda funny that way. We want our first time ta be with someone we love." She slipped down the steps before he could come up with another question.

He let himself into his room and closed the door behind him with a bang. Damn you Rogue, he thought. She was just enough of the wild woman to force his thoughts to move from his heart to an area a little further south. Damn her! And damn Jubilee for staying a virgin this long. It made him hard just thinking about the possibility of being her first.

"Shit," he ground out.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a virgin. He could always smell their innocence and gave them a wide berth when ever they decided he was the one to initiate them. Most of the time, they were jail bait. Jubilee, however, was twenty-three and well beyond the legal limit.

He flopped back on the bed with a grunt. He couldn't believe he was considering this. He's known her for over ten years. Hell, he practically raised her for the first three years after she manifested. She was a child, wasn't she? Or was she. He thought back to the first time he saw her. He was hanging on a cross in Australia and she was watching him. He remembered smelling her fear as she peeked out from the underground bunker she was hiding in. Why she helped him, he never understood. She would have been safer to remain in hiding and leave the battered and broken man to his fate but she didn't. She had helped him down and hid him until he was well enough to move around. She wasn't quite thirteen at the time. Her actions had proved her maturity. Jubilee hadn't been a child since her powers manifested.

She saved his life. For some reason, she stayed with him, even though he wasn't too stable mentally at the time. Hell, he wasn't stable mentally now. It was worse then. He kept talking to Nick Fury and Carol Danvers. They weren't there at the time but he still talked to them. Jubilee took it with a grain of salt and humored him. He dragged her to Madripoor where he nearly got her killed. Then on to Japan where he got her kidnapped.

"Crap," he swore. Between the messes he got her into when she was a child and Creed's hard on for getting to him by using her, she hasn't been safe since puberty. Now he was thinking of marking her as his mate. 'Smart move, shit head,' he told himself. 'Creed'll sniff her out in no time. Sleep with her, satisfy the itch we both have and I'll sign her death warrant.' He tried out his old reasoning that he was too old for her but the argument didn't hole water anymore. Memories had been creeping back into his mind for a while now. Several months ago, a clear memory of combat in Germany during World War II popped into his head. He couldn't play the age card anymore. He was older than any other resident in the mansion. Hell, he could be old enough to be Chuck's grandfather. Age wasn't an issue anymore.

He had to admit to himself that he wanted her. Cyke was right. He couldn't lie anymore, not to himself. He loved her. He couldn't act on it. Not yet. He needed to make her tough enough to be safe from his strongest enemies first. He needed to take over her training.

He bound out of bed, suddenly very hungry. He stretched to work the kinks out of his back. As he reached the apex, pain shot across his chest. He lowered his arms, gasping. Why was this happening? The pain should be gone by now. Had he been more hurt than they were admitting? He needed to find Cyke. He'll give him the truth.

He found the Fearless Leader in the kitchen, eating a sandwich.

"Cyke," Logan said as he entered the kitchen, "was I hurt worse than Hank let on?"

"Not as far as I'm aware," he said through a mouthful of ham and bread. "You were hurt real bad but I told you what he found. Why?"

"Seem ta be healin' kinda slow this time," Logan said, absently rubbing his chest. "I still got some pain in my chest."

"Well, you did die twice. Maybe you need a few more days to recover."

"Maybe," he agreed. "I'm stayin'. I want ta teach Jubes ta protect herself from my enemies."

"Why the change of heart?"

"Yer right, I love her," He admitted. "I can't do anythin' about it until she can protect herself from the monsters that'll come after her. I don't want her ta get killed 'cause she's with me."

"I'll help you as much as I can," Scott said. "You belong together, if not for your sake, then ours."

"Huh?"

"The last six months have been hell for the rest of the team. I've been drinking antacids like you drink beer."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Just do something about it and I'll be happy."

"I'm gonna be with her all day, every day. It's gonna get worse before it gets better."

"Oh, joy," Scott moaned.