Second Chances

Chapter 13

Two weeks later, just like clockwork, Jubilee got her period. He knew it the second he woke up that morning. If the scent of her blood hadn't given it away, the sound of her sobbing in the bathroom would. He found her, sitting on the toilet with her head on her knees, crying her heart out.

"It's okay darlin'," he told her as he put his arms around her. "We can try again next month."

"I can't do anything right," she cried. "I can't even get pregnant."

"C'mon Jubes," he said reasonably. "We just got started. Maybe we need more practice."

"Right," she snorted. "Like we don't have sex often enough as it is."

"Ya can never have too much sex," he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"I'm serious, Logan. Why didn't I get pregnant this time?"

"I don't know darlin'. Maybe there was somethin' wrong with yer egg."

"But I have a healing factor now. Wouldn't it correct any abnormal cells?"

"Ya gotta remember, it's not yer healin' factor, it's mine. I don't have eggs. Maybe it's lookin fer the sperm and won't correct any bad eggs."

"I hadn't thought of that," she admitted. "Should we ask Hank or wait?"

"Why don't we give it a few months before we panic," he suggested "In the meantime, we practice every chance we get."

"Not today," she groaned. "I don't feel up to it."

"I know ya don't, darlin'," he chuckled. "We have plenty of time."

Jubilee returned to the team while she waited for their other activities to take hold. Jean was still off on maternity leave so Emma was responding to their alerts. She could see the happiness radiating from her former student. She watched as Jubilee and Wolverine worked together. It was like watching two parts of a single person. They always knew where the other was at all times. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn they were communicating telepathically.

Jubilee was definitely stronger and much faster than she was before the experiment. She seemed to be everywhere. Cyclops finally had to tell her so slow down. She was making him dizzy trying to keep track of her. She told him she already had a short, hairy bodyguard and she didn't need him to guard her too. Her paffs remained the same but she had more confidence in her ability to direct and control them. It wasn't unusual to see her standing on the top of a building, raining a barrage of precisely placed paffs all around the X-Men, keeping their opponents from getting a clear shot at them. Her control was so fine that even if they moved suddenly, no X-Man was ever hit by a paff. She had finally come into her own and both Wolverine and Cyclops were very proud of her.

Her twenty-fourth birthday came and went with the usual party. Several days later, Logan hunted her again. Two weeks after the hunt, she was disappointed again when her period started. She had agreed not to discuss her problems getting pregnant with Hank for six months so she redirected her feelings into taking care of Rachel Summers.

Jean and Scott's daughter was a squirming bundle of red hair and green eyes. Jubilee and Logan loved her to death. Logan always was one for the little girls. That he would be enamored of the baby wasn't surprising and Jubilee had loved children for a long time. The shocker was when Remy started stealing her from her crib and moving her to his room. Jubilee was initially concerned but when she found Rachel, lying on her tummy on Remy's chest, both of them fast asleep, she decided that the Cajun was having paternal cravings similar to Logan's. He needed a little pseudo Daddy time.

Remy and Rogue's relationship had been as rocky as Jean and Scott's has been smooth. Everyone knew the two southern X-Men loved each other but neither was willing to give when it came to anything. They argued about everything, even whether it was day or night. It was like living in the middle of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". After one particularly nasty and very public argument, Jubilee decided she needed to talk to one of them. She decided to take Rogue shopping.

They had a wonderful time cleaning out the mall and were resting in the food court when Jubilee brought up the subject of relationships.

"Rogue, I know you and Remy are having problems," she told her. "I want to help you if I can."

"Ya can tell that ol' swamp rat ta quit messin' with me," she hissed.

"Remy loves you," Jubilee insisted.

"He sure got a funny way of showin' it," she said angrily. "He cheated on me. He fucked that little whore at the Auger."

Jubilee grabbed Rogue's gloved hand and held on tightly. "Remy loves you but he's still a man. Until you can control your powers, he will need an outlet for his sexual needs. It doesn't mean that he doesn't want you. It means that he wants you so much that he has trouble controlling himself."

"Why doesn't he say that?" she demanded.

"Do you tell him that his whores hurt you?" Jubilee asked. "It seems to me that you wait until you can't stand it anymore and then you blow up at him. A relationship is built on trust. You can't develop trust until you talk to each other. And I mean talk, not yell."

"I don't know if I can do that," she admitted. "Remy and I have been hollerin' at each other fer years."

"Make the first move," Jubilee advised. "When he does something you don't like, tell him immediately. Don't let it fester like an infected wound. Don't accuse, just state the facts and how you feel about it. Eventually, he'll get the picture and start talking to you the same way. But the first thing you need to do is apologize for the argument you just had."

"I can't do that," she said, her anger returning. "I wasn't wrong."

"It doesn't matter who was wrong. All that matters is that you tell him you are sorry for yelling at him in front of the rest of us. You're not apologizing for being angry. You have the right to be angry but you don't have the right to belittle him in front of the entire team. You don't see Jean and Scott do that and you will never see Logan and me do that."

"How do ya do it?" she asked. "You and Logan are two of the orneriest people I know. Ya'd think ya'd never get along but ya do. I kinda expected ya ta run away from him after ya started sleepin' together."

"It's not easy," Jubilee admitted. "Logan sometimes tries to treat me like I'm a kid again. We spent three days ripping everything we had apart and putting it back together again. We got a lot of things out in the open that have been bothering us for years. We still have issues that we argue about but it's gotten better. We love and trust each other enough to say what's on our minds without getting ugly. I'm not saying it's going to be roses and candy all the time. It won't be. Sometimes it's dirty laundry and muddy shoes or leaving the toilet seat up, which is a problem for us right now, or even who has to sleep in the wet spot. A relationship is hard work but it's worth every tear you shed and every drop of sweat you put into it. And when you do get the roses and candy, you'll know it's because he loves you, not because he did something wrong."

Rogue rocked back in her chair and looked at the younger woman in awe. "When did ya get ta be so wise?"

"I had a hell of a mentor," she told her. "C'mon, let's go home. I need to see my husband."

Three weeks after her talk with Rogue, she and Logan were in the den watching a movie when Remy ran in and pulled Jubilee to her feet. Over Logan's growling protest, the ecstatic Cajun gave her a kiss that bent her over backward.

"Merci beaucoup," he whispered into her ear.

"You're welcome," she gasped. "I'm glad I could help."

He set her back on her feet and virtually skipped out of the room.

"Mind tellin' me what that was all about?" Logan growled at her.

She pushed him down on the sofa and climbed into his lap. "Communication," she told him. "I had a little talk with Rogue. Looks like it worked."

"Pew," he wrinkled his nose. "Ya smell like the Cajun now."

She smiled saucily. "Well, I guess you're gonna have to re-mark me."

The growls and giggles coming from the den kept the others away for hours.

Summer was over and the fall chill crept through the house. Logan woke cold and alone. Jubilee must have slept in the library, he thought. She had taken over the care and feeding of the mansion's vast library while she was off the team due to her injury and liked it so much, she remained in the position of librarian. The library was enormous, larger than some inner city branches. When she had started cataloging the books, she found such a disarray that she had closed the library to anyone except her. It took her over a month of hard work to catalog and arrange the books. Now, she had a checkout system so she knew where every book in the mansion was at all times and woe to the person who took a book without checking it out.

He threw on his robe and stumbled downstairs to the kitchen. Jean, Scott and Remy were already there when he grumbled through the door, aiming for the coffee pot. He caught a whiff of something familiar as he passed Jean that made him stop in his tracks. She was pregnant. Damn, it didn't take Cyke long to plow that field again. He shrugged his shoulders and continued on his quest for caffeine. Wasn't his problem if Cyke knocked up his wife. He was trying to knock up his own.

The first cup of coffee was gulped quickly. By the time he had poured the second, the burns in his mouth were healing and he slowed to appreciate the flavor of the hot, caffeine filled nectar. He was working on the third cup when Jubilee stumbled in looking for coffee.

She lifted the empty pot and glared at him angrily. "You drank all the coffee," she accused. "You drank it all and didn't make a new pot."

"Now wait a minute, darlin'," he objected. "I had help."

She opened her mouth to fire back when Remy interrupted.

"Don' get ta arguin'. Remy'll make de coffee."

"No!" everyone shouted.

"I can't hack the syrup you make, Gumbo," Jubilee told him. "I'll make it."

Logan felt a chill run down his spine. He had the oddest feeling of deja vu. As soon as Jubilee mentioned Remy's nasty coffee, he felt as if he'd done this exactly like this before. He made himself scarce before anyone could notice his unease.

The whole day was like that. Movies that he could have sworn he saw before, the pattern in a wrinkle across a piece of paper, the argument he and Jubilee got into. It was so strange. He was grateful when they were called to the War Room for a pre-mission briefing until the sit-rep started to sound familiar. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something awful was going to happen.

It was an FOH rally in the state Capital. A park near the Capital building was a mass of bright yellow shirts instead of the green it should have been. A ring of police cruisers surrounded the park, keeping additional people from joining the fray and restraining the protesters in the green-space.

A strong jolt of deja vu slammed into Wolverine's gut. He had been here before. Dammit, why couldn't he remember when? "Cyke, I gotta real bad feelin' 'bout this one." he growled.

Cyclops turned in his seat to look at his teammate. Wolverine was completely suited up, his winged hood mimicking his hair. His face was a mask of concentration but his eyes held a trace of something Scott never thought he would see in the older man: fear. Something about this mission had him spooked. He looked down at the seething mass of people and again at Wolverine.

"What is it, Logan?" Scott had learned over the years to pay attention to Wolverine's instincts. The short feral was usually right about his read on a situation.

"I feel like I've been here before," Wolverine told him.

"Of course you've been here before," Cyclops said. "This is Albany."

"No," Logan said, frustrated that he couldn't make himself clearer. "I've been here before in the same situation. I can't explain it but we need ta be very careful."

Cyclops looked at him and nodded. "Everyone, stay on your toes. Report anything unusual right away. Jean, keep a telepathic link on all of us. Don't take chances, people. You're no use to us dead."

"There's a group of six mutants below the stage being held by four men with guns," Jean informed him.

He flipped a switch and the rear door fell open. "Fliers out. Secure the hostages first, then we'll disperse the crowd. Don't get shot," he warned his wife. She smiled and blew him a kiss. Storm, Rogue and Jean flew out of the back of the Blackbird.

Cyclops concentrated on setting the jet down on the street outside of the park. When he had gotten green lights indicating touchdown and level park, he powered down to idle and flipped on the security net to prevent joyriders from stealing the plane.

"Show time," he said as he unbuckled his restraints. He felt the mind link activate as Jean linked the team together. He waited until they had all nodded, telling him that the link was complete before opening the front ramp and racing out.

Wolverine lost visual track of his teammates fairly quickly as the crowd reacted to the presence of the X-Men. A large number decided that they didn't have the stomach to tangle with high powered mutants and fled. The police were ready for them and were picking them up and searching them as they left the park. The pile of weapons confiscated by the police grew to alarming proportions.

Jubilee tugged her mask firmly in place. "Ready, Wolvie?"

"Locked and loaded, darlin'," he told her. "Be careful. There's somethin' screwy 'bout this."

"You watch mine and I'll watch yours," she yelled over her shoulder as she ran into the crowd.

'Dammit,' he thought. 'I thought I had that runnin' off shit trained outta her.' He began tossing bodies over his shoulder as he chased after his wayward partner.

It didn't take him long to catch up to her. "I can't protect yer back if ya run off on me," he told her as he took the legs out from under a FOH goon.

"Gotta keep up with me, old man," she teased, sending a paff toward a wall on the opposite side of the park. Wolverine had heard the request from Cyclops for Jubilee to take out the wall. The plasma ball wobbled slightly as she lost concentration when a large yellow shirted man grabbed her around the shoulders. Wolverine took him out with a chop to the back of the neck. When the beefy man fell, he knocked Jubilee down as well.

"Keep 'em busy till I get that paff where it needs ta be," she told him.

He nodded and for the first time since he entered the fray, the claws came out. Jubilee was protected on one side by the building behind her. The other three sides were protected by almost four hundred pounds of snarling Wolverine in full battle mode. The crowd scattered quickly. His reputation had preceded him.

He turned to see Jubilee, her eyes closed in intense concentration, trying to weave the paff through the crowd without hurting anyone. She opened her eyes and smiled in satisfaction as the paff exploded, blowing the low wall up and reveling the cluster of men hiding behind it. It was then that Wolverine's senses started screaming at him.

One of the men rose with a long, cylindrical object in his arms. Wolverine recognized it immediately: Rocket launcher. 'Oh God,' he though, 'it's aimed at Jubes.' She squeaked in surprise as his hands grabbed her waist and heaved her into the air just as fire exploded from the back of the launcher.

Wolverine couldn't risk watching her. He had to hope he got her high enough to get out of the blast zone. He needed to worry about the rocket now. A direct hit could kill him. Time slowed to a crawl as the rocket approached. He called on every reflex he had and twisted his body away from the projectile, feeling the heat of the exhaust as it passed him and slammed into the dumpster behind him. He could head Jubilee scream his name as the shards of metal raced toward him at blinding speed. He could feel Jean as she struggled to shield herself and him from the deadly rain but he knew she wouldn't make it in time. This is what happened one year ago today. He and Jubilee both were going to get hurt and very badly.

Logan was floating. He couldn't feel his body and was in total darkness. The only thing that kept him from panicking was that he could hear and smell so he knew he wasn't in a sensory deprivation tank. It almost felt like he was dreaming. He wanted to tell the kids to shut up so he could get some sleep but, for some reason, he couldn't open his mouth.

The sounds were a roar in his sensitive ears. He couldn't make out what everyone was saying. The beeping of monitors filled his ears, sounding like the gong of a large clock heard too close. Why didn't it hurt, he wondered. Noise this close and loud usually gave him a ringing headache. The scents were a muddle of people he knew and the Med-Lab. The one scent he could make out was blood; his own and Jubilee's.

He struggled against the darkness. Jubilee was hurt. He needed to be there and protect her. She just came back to the X-Men three months ago. She still needed him to keep her out of trouble. Wake up, stupid, he told himself. You can't sleep while Jubilee's in pain. She's your mate.

"Wolvie!" he heard Jubilee scream. He struggled harder. Somewhere, a monitor faltered, the rhythm irregular. Jubes was dying! He had to wake up!

"Wolvie, No!" she cried. He could smell tears. Come on, come on, wake up! He was beginning to panic.

BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeP