Second Chances

Chapter 14

BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeP

"Don't leave me!" someone screamed. He struggled harder, trying to break through.

Suddenly, he was on the other side of the room, naked and whole. He looked around wildly, confused and disoriented. A tall, brown haired woman in a white body stocking was leaning against the Med-Lab door, smiling at him.

"Disquieting, isn't it?" she asked, her voice smoky.

He attempted to trigger his claws, intending to capture her and find out how she got into the lower levels, but found that they refused to respond to his commands.

"Who are ya, lady," he growled, "and why can't I trigger my claws?"

"I am known by many names," she told him as she pushed herself away from the door. He backed away from her as she walked toward him. "As for why you can't use your gift..." She nodded toward the occupied tables.

He walked forward. Jubilee was on the first table, her left leg covered with blood, Jean leaning over her with a look of intense concentration. He gasped. The wounds looked very familiar. The deformed collar bone, the bloody puddle under the bed and the holes in the fabric of her uniform. These were the same injuries that nearly killed her a year ago. How could it have happened exactly the same way?

"And the other bed," the woman said.

He looked over and felt his knees go weak. It was his own body lying there, the large blue doctor trying to remove large a clump of metal so his healing factor could close the wounds. The puddle of blood under Jubilee's bed was large. The one under his was huge. No one was moving.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"At this nanosecond in time, yes." she told him.

"And Jubilee?"

"She is alive."

He stopped to think, struggling over what he wanted to know and how to say it.

"How could this happen the exact same way twice?"

"It didn't," she told him. "The last year has not taken place yet. This is the second time we have met. The first time, you wanted to know what your life would have been like had you told Jubilee you loved her. I gave you the chance to see that."

"Ya mean none of it happened?"

"The injury that took her career has already happened. I can't change that. She will be dismissed from the team. The rest never happened."

"The bond?"

"The bond is still in place but your death will not kill her directly. You have not sealed the bond with a physical joining. But there will be other, lasting effects."

He gave a small sob of a laugh. "The happiest year of my life and it never happened."

"What have you learned?"

He looked up at her, his eyes filled with pain. "I didn't know I was supposed ta learn anything."

"You learn something new every day if you watch," she told him. "What did you learn from the year that never was?"

He looked over to Jubilee's anguished face as she looked at his body at the moment of his death.

"I love her," he said quietly. "more than I ever thought possible. She's the part of my soul I've been missin' all my life." He walked over and ran his fingers through her soft hair. "She accepts me as I am, but I'd change eveythin' about me ta please her. I'd dedicate my life ta makin' her happy. She needs me ta watch over her but not ta smother her. She wants ta make her own mistakes and learn from 'em. When she's with me, she's unpredictable but not careless. She wants me and kids so bad she can taste it. She loves me but she won't let me walk all over her. She's my mate and I won't ever find another ta match her."

"Would you choose to put down your burden and stop fighting? Would you choose to know everything about who and what you are? Or would you choose to return to her and live a life of chance and danger, with no guarantee that things would work out the way they did in the year that never was?"

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"I know the name of everyone living now, in the past and in the future," she told him.

Something Patrick Martin said flashed through his mind, making him gasp.

"Are you God?" he demanded.

"I am known by many names. God, Vishnu, Allah, Gia and many more." She told him.

"But yer a woman," he objected.

"Gender is irrelevant." She said. "What is your choice, stay or go?"

To stop the fighting. It sounded so good. He would find out everything he had been searching for. Peace at last. Answers to all of the questions that had been banging around in his head for decades.

But to leave Jubilee. That would be the cost. He would loose his mate for her lifetime. He would have to wait for her death to rejoin her. To loose the possibilities she represented.

"If I go back, what will I remember?"

"The year has not happened," She told him. "You will have no memories of the events of the past year and you must win her again."

"We mean too much ta each other," he said. "I wanna go back ta her."

"Who are you?" the woman asked, her voice booming.

"Logan," he replied instantly. "Mate of Jubilation Lee and the X-Man known as Wolverine."

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"I don't understand. What do you want to know?" he cried.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?"

The voice blended into the beeps and clicks of the Med-Lab. Voices thundered in his ears and suddenly, he knew what she wanted to know.

"Logan?" Jean's voice was loud in his ears.

"Howlett," he murmured. "My name is James Howlett."

Jean gasped in shock. "You remember?"

"Yeah," he gasped, pain radiating from his chest

"Jubes?" he asked.

"She has shrapnel in her leg and a fractured collar bone but she will be fine," Hank assured him. "I will need to operate and remove the bits of metal as soon as you are stable."

"I'll be fine," he told him. "Do what ya need ta fer Jubilee." Hank nodded and turned away.

Logan reached out and grabbed Hanks wrist in a surprisingly strong grasp. Hank turned back, a question in his eyes. "Don't let her die," Logan begged. "I won't survive if she dies." Hank looked in his eyes and nodded. Logan released him and slumped back of the bed.

"Logan?" Cyclops stepped up to the bed.

"I'll be okay," he reassured his leader. "What happened, Cyke?"

"A riot in Albany," he told his teammate. "We had gotten control of the situation when some yahoo came up with a rocket launcher. He was aiming at Jubilee for some reason. You threw her up in the air and dodged the rocket but it hit a dumpster behind you. The shrapnel from the rocket and the dumpster flew everywhere. Ten people were injured but you took the brunt of the explosion. It happened too fast for Jean to shield you. She barely was able to shield herself.

"You had twenty-seven holes in you chest, thirteen went through your heart, the rest through your lungs and back. Your left kidney was destroyed and you had huge holes in your intestines. You flat lined on us twice. Shit, Logan, I thought you were going to die this time. I don't think I've ever seen you hurt so bad."

"I died?" Logan gasped as a new wave of pain washed over him. "Does that mean I get some time off?"

"Don't push it," Scott said with a lopsided smile. "You're going to have to help Jubilee during her recovery."

"Scott, Hank likes to sugar coat things. I know you'll tell me the truth. How bad is she hurt?"

"It's pretty bad," he sighed as he sat in the chair beside the bed. "She took several large pieces of metal in her leg. Her femoral artery was ripped up in a couple of places. If Hank can't rebuild it, she will loose her leg."

"Oh God," Logan whispered. "Ya can't let that happen, Cyke. It'll kill her."

"I know," he said, looking at his hands. "I have Rogue looking for Worthington. He may be able to help her."

"I'll give her the blood," Logan told him desperately.

"You don't have any to spare," Scott protested.

"I don't give a shit," he growled. "She can't die!"

Scott's expression bloomed with dawning comprehension. "You love her," he whispered.

"Yeah, I do," he admitted. "As soon as we're well enough I'm askin' her ta marry me."

"You're kidding me." he said suspiciously. "Why the sudden change of heart? You and Jubes have been snapping at each other for months."

"Somethin' happened ta me," Logan told him. "I can't remember exactly what went on but I know I need ta have her with me. I think we bonded somewhere along the line."

Scott's communicator chirped for attention. He listened intently to the voice in his ear. "Rogue found him," he told Logan. "They're on their way back. They should be here in just under an hour. I'm going to let you rest. As soon as they get here, I'll send Warren down." He got up and started for the door.

"Cyke," Logan stopped him. "Thanks fer telling me the truth."

"How are you going to bring the subject up to Jubilee?" he asked.

"Not sure yet," he admitted. "I'll think of something."

He must have passed out after that. The next time he opened his eyes, Worthington was sitting in a chair beside Jubilee's bed, his head in his hands, looking very pale. Hank was standing beside his bed looking expectant.

"Welcome back, my feral friend," he said cheerfully.

"How long?" he rasped, his throat dry.

"Thirty-one hours," Hank told him as he held a cup of water to his lips. Logan took large, thirsty gulps and nodded his thanks.

"How's Jubes?" the pain in his chest diminishing quickly.

"Much improved," Hank told him. He began to remove the IV lines and monitor leads. "I wasn't sure Warren's blood would help after so much time but it seemed to do the trick. Her artery has repaired itself and the fractures have completely healed. She should be up and in trouble in a few days. Now, if I could get Warren to go to bed, everything would be precisely as I want them."

"I'll help ya," he said sitting up. He had anticipated a shaft of pain and was surprised when it didn't happen. He rubbed his chest, wondering why he would have thought that he would have any pain almost two days after the injury.

"I'll take care of him," Hank told him.

He walked around the bed and lifted the tall mutant into his strong arms. Warren woke with a start and began to struggle.

"Logan is awake," Hank told him. "We will watch Jubilee while you sleep." He took the protesting man over to a bed on the other side of the room and placed him gently down. "Stay here. If you get up, I'll give you a taste of the sedative I've developed for Wolverine." Warren gulped and nodded. He knew his healing factor wasn't as effective as Logan's. Anything developed for Wolverine would keep him out for several days. Beast smiled in satisfaction and returned to Jubilee.

"Ya really have somethin' that can put me out?" Logan asked in a low voice.

"No," Hank replied in the same voice. "But he doesn't know that."

"Wolvie?" Jubilee's weak voice called him. He turned and sat in the chair beside her bed and took her hand in his.

"I'm here darlin'," he told her.

"My leg aches," she complained.

"I can take care of that," Hank said as he opened a drawer next to the bed.

"What happened?" she asked. "Last thing I saw was the fire escape coming up on me.

"Rocket launcher," Logan told her. "I threw ya up in the air ta get ya out of the way. I didn't get ya far enough away and ya got some shrapnel in yer leg." She paled and flipped the sheet off of her. Dressings covered the healing wounds but her leg was intact. "Bird-Boy gave ya some blood."

"Was it that bad?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Yer artery was damaged. Hank thought ya might loose yer leg."

"This will take care of the pain," Hank said as he injected a syringe of clear fluid into her IV line.

It took about two minutes but the pain in her leg began to fade. "Bless you Hank," she sighed in relief. "Keep me comfortable and I'll have your children." Logan began to growl, dangerously.

"I think Wolverine might have something to say about that," Hank laughed as he walked away.

Jubilee watched the play of emotions over Logan's face. "Wolvie?" she drew his attention. "What's wrong?"

"Ya scared me ta death," he told her. "I thought ya were going ta die on me." He pulled the sheet back over her and added a blanket to keep her warm. "I almost lost ya, Jubes."

"I'm not gonna die on ya Wolvie," she said, her eyes drooping. "I haven't given ya gray hair yet." She gave a huge yawn. "I gotta sleep." Her eyes closed and her face relaxed. Within seconds, she was in a deep sleep.

"I'm gonna go take a shower and change," Logan told Hank as he got up. "Can ya keep an eye on Jubilee while I'm gone?"

Hank gave him a look that said 'Like I'd ever ignore a patient'. Logan had the grace to look chagrined as he turned and strode out of the Med-Lab.

He showered and changes clothes quickly then went in search of Storm. He wanted to ask Jubilee to marry him and he wanted to do it right. He needed a woman's point of view.

He found her in her attic room, reading a book. She gladly put the book down when he told her he needed to talk to her.

"I wanna ask Jubes ta marry me," he told her. "Yer a woman. How do I do this and make it special?"

"I am glad you realize that I am a woman, Logan but why would you wish to marry Jubilation. She is too young for you."

"Why would ya say that?" Logan was astounded.

"Goddess, Logan," Ororo swore. "She's only eighteen."

"Yer missin' a few years, 'Ro. She's twenty-three."

Ororo gasped. "She cannot be!"

"If anyone'd know, it'd be me," he told her. "She's old enough fer me and I love her. Ya know how much she likes kids. If I wait, she might take inta her head ta marry someone else so she can have one o' her own."

"But you don't even know your name. How are you going to give her a name you can't remember?"

"My name is James Howlett. I woke up after getting' hurt knowin' it, don't ask me how."

She sat down on the bed, hard, her mouth open in shock.

"We've bonded 'Ro. She belongs with me and I belong with her. She understands me and she doesn't want ta change what I am. She's the only one who never ran away from me."

"But you've run away from her," Ororo observed.

"That's 'cause I started havin' feelin's fer her. I ain't runnin' no more."

"But..."

"'Ro, do ya know what it means fer a feral ta bond?" Ororo shook her head. "It's a life bond. It's a connection so deep that our lives literally depend on each other. If Jubes dies, I do too and if I die, so does she."

"And you want that for her?"

"I love her, 'Ro, more than I did Mariko or Silver Fox. I'm gonna make sure she lives to a ripe old age and when she dies, I get ta follow her. There's finally an end fer me. I can't think of a better person ta share my life and my death with."

Three days later, on Ororo's advice, he booked the Danger Room for a romantic evening picnic with Jubilee. When he asked her to marry him, the shock on her face nearly made him regret moving so fast. Then she threw herself into his arms and started crying "Yes, yes, yes". He felt much better about what he was doing. By the time the picnic was over, however, she wasn't feeling very well and he had to rush her back to the Med-Lab.

As soon as Beast said that the healing accomplished by Angel's blood was reversing, he had such a staggering feeling of deja vu that he was lightheaded. He shook his head hard. She was going to be okay. He had faith in her to recover and thrive, no matter what happens.

He smiled at the rest of the team. "She'll be fine," he told them. "A little extra surgery and a longer recovery but she'll be okay. We have a weddin' ta plan."