Disclaimer: I own none of the X-Men characters, although I wouldn't mind owning me some Wolverine. Rawr...yeah, sorry...I'm a dork, enjoy the story.
I woke up to the sound of machines beeping, whirling and hissing. My eyes soon fluttered open and I became more aware of my surroundings. I was in a hospital bed, in a hospital room.
"Hey," I heard someone say. My eyes scanned the room, I saw Logan sitting in a chair beside my bed.
"Hey," I managed to reply weakly, "what happened?"
"You passed out; they said it was from lack of blood. You had some pretty deep cuts on your arms and your forehead, too."
"How long have I been here?"
"Almost a day,"
"Have you been here with me the whole time?"
"Yeah," he said, pausing. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" I asked.
"I should have been paying more attention to driving instead arguing with you."
"You should have been wearing your seat belt." I said with a laugh.
"I didn't mean what I said yesterday."
"Forget about, it's fine." I said, not wanting to start another argument, even if it did start as an apology. "How long do I have to be stuck here?"
"A few more days," he said, adjusting himself in his seat.
"What are we doing?" I asked after a bit of silence.
"Sitting in a hospital room," he said.
I let out a small laugh. "That's not what I meant. I mean what are we doing, what's going on between us?"
"We've only know each other for four days, I don't think there is anything going on."
"Okay, I just wanted to know." I said, the pain medication catching up with me, as I fell back to sleep.
I was released from the hospital after a week and went back to the mansion. Logan helped me out of the car, handed me my crutches, and followed beside me as I hobbled inside. Scott greeted us at the door, giving me a hug.
"You scared me, Anna,"
"I'm sorry; I know this hasn't been an easy couple of weeks,"
"I would have gone crazy if I had lost you, too." He whispered in my ear as he hugged me tightly.
"I'm okay, I'm right here." I whispered back to him.
It was past two in the morning and I couldn't sleep. The pain in my leg was bothering me, not to mention that the cast was itchy. And considering the cool, fall weather, I was un-naturally hot. So, I decided to go down to the living room and watch TV. I got out of bed, grabbing my crutches, and made my way out of my room. As I was hobbling down the hall, I heard a door open.
"Hey, where are you going?" I heard a deep voice growl from behind me. I turned as quickly as I could, given my current state, to see Logan leaning against his door frame.
"Down stairs to watch TV,"
"Can you not sleep?"
"No, I set my alarm clock for two-thirty in the morning so I can fit in the infomercials that I miss during the day." I said sarcastically. "This stupid cast is bothering me beyond belief."
"Only six more weeks," he said with a cockeyed grin.
"Shut up, you should have been in a full body cast and then I would have laughed at you."
"The TV's not going to help ya sleep,"
"I know, but it'll give me something to do while I'm awake."
"Let me show you something that'll help." He said, exiting his room and coming to my side.
"I don't need any help," I said as he offered his arm to me.
He walked beside me as I slowly made my way to the elevator. We both walked into it, and my stomach dropped as the elevator made its way down two stories.
"So, what is this that you're going to show me?" I asked as we stepped out into the first floor hall.
"You'll see," he said.
I followed him through the quiet school. Memories of my own teenage years played in my mind like a home video. They seemed so close and yet so distant from me. I was a different person than when I had first come there. Soon we were at the double door as the very back of the school, which led out into a small garden area. Logan unlocked and opened one of the doors, stepping out onto the grass.
"I can't go out there, I'm barefoot." I said.
"I am too, and it's only one of your feet, c'mon."
I sighed loudly but followed him anyway. I followed him past a small water fountain over to a spot beside a rather small tree. I watched as he lied down on a patch of grass.
"Are you serious, this is what you had to show me; the Professor's garden?"
"Shut up and lay down,"
I did as he said, and with a small bit of help from him, lay down beside him.
"I haven't done this since I was a teenager," I said.
"I walked out here one night in my sleep, and I woke up looking up at everything. I sleep better after being out here for a while."
"I don't know if I've ever been out here at night before. But, it is beautiful; it reminds me of the south a little bit."
"I'm leaving tomorrow?"
"Why?" I asked, looking over at him.
"I told you about Stryker, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but I thought he died in the flood?"
"He did," Logan told me as he continued to look up at the sky, "but he had to have left something behind about his experiments, I need to find it."
"How long will you be gone?" I asked, now turning my gaze by to the night sky.
"Probably two or three months,"
"What if you don't find anything, will you just keep looking?"
"I'll come back here and see if the Professor won't help me anymore." He said. "Will you be here when I get back?"
"I don't know, I just came here to help Scott out, but I seem to be doing more harm than good." I said with a laugh.
We both laid there in silence for a while, and I'm not quite sure what Logan said next because I fell asleep out in the garden.
I woke up the next morning in my bed; Logan must have carried me up there. As I laid there thinking about him, I remembered he said he was leaving that day. I stumbled out of bed, and with a bit of effort, I pulled on some clean clothes then made me way into the hall once more. As I was hopping along, I saw Logan emerge from his room with a bag slung over his shoulder.
"Are you leaving now?" I asked.
"Yeah, I was gonna tell Rouge bye and then head out."
"Well…be careful and I hope that you find what you're looking for." I said.
He stood there for a moment then walked up to me and gave me a small kiss.
"I guess I'll see you when I get back, if you're still here."
"Yeah, okay," I said as he gave me another kiss, "just please be very careful."
"I will." He said. Then I watched him walk away.
Two months later I received a phone call that my grandfather had died, so I caught a plane home to attend his funeral. Then I went to my grandparent's house to help my grandmother clean it out. She was going to sell it and move into a retirement home. So, we both say in her attic cleaning out box after box, deciding what to sell and what to keep.
"So, tell me about this man you've met, is he a good one?" She asked as I opened a box full of my grandfather's Army and war stuff.
"There is no man," I said shyly.
"Oh, don't tell me that, I know there's a man. You're happy and glowing. You've been thinking a lot about him this week."
"We met when I went back to New York for my friend Jean's memorial service. He just someone that's at the school, he helps out with the kids."
"Why didn't you bring him down with you?"
"He went to Canada a couple of months ago,"
"He didn't ask you to go with him?" My grandmother pushed.
"No, we didn't know each other that long before he left. Besides, it was personal business he had to go work out and I would have just gotten in the way."
"Did he say that or you?"
"Me but…this was something I knew he had to do on his own."
"What's his name?"
"Logan," I said.
We both sat quietly for a moment, looking through each of our boxes. I pulled out a photo of my grandfather in his service uniform. The picture was folded down the middle and very old, but my grandmother had taken good care of it and it was still clear. I unfolded it, expecting to see one of his friends from the service, but instead who I saw surprised me. I dropped the photo and let out a small gasp.
"What is it, honey?" My grandmother asked.
I tried to remain calm, "There was a spider on this picture," I lied, picking up the photo and handing it to her. "Who is that with grandpa?"
"Oh, that's just one of his old war buddies; I think the even shared a foxhole together."
"What was his name?"
"I don't rightly remember, actually. But I do know that he was one of them…mutants. Your grandpa said he would get cut and shot at and there would never be a scar nor scratch on him. They might call him a mutant but I think he made a bargain with the Devil."
The man in the picture, with his arm around my grandfather's shoulder, smiling back at me, was Logan. I was so confused, how could he be in that picture? It was taken during World War Two. He looked as if he was only in his thirties to me, it just didn't add up. But, she had said he was a mutant, and she would remember that; she hated mutants. That's why my family never told her or my grandfather about me. She also said that he never got hurt, he could rejuvenate, it had to be Logan, I just didn't understand how.
"Was grandpa close to him?" I managed to ask.
"To begin with, they were the only two married in their troop. They were both so young, neither of them were in their twenties yet -"
"He was married?" I asked, cutting her off.
"I'm fairly sure," she said, "why?"
"Just wondering," I lied, "they were both so young…they were still kids."
"Honey, is there something wrong?" She asked, looking at me.
There was, there was something terribly wrong.
"Something bad is happening…" I said staring off into the attic.
"Anna, what are you talking about?"
A sharp hot pain ran through my body, one like I had never felt. My hands felt like they were on fire, right at my knuckles.
"Something's wrong with Logan," I said, a tear escaping my eye and running down my cheek.
"I'm calling an ambulance; I'll be right back sweetie." My grandmother said, turning to leave the attic as I fell to the floor, doubled over in pain.
I felt like I was being cut and stabbed, but there was no blood. My vision soon blurred and I found myself looking through someone else's eyes. I couldn't see him, but I knew that I was seeing, and feeling, what Logan was seeing and feeling.
I woke up in a hospital bed and saw my grandmother pacing the floor in front of me. She looked over and saw that I was awake.
"Are you okay, sweeties?" She asked, coming to the side of my bed and sitting down.
"No, I need a phone, I've got to call the school and talk to the Professor."
"Just lie down; everything's going to be okay,"
"No, I need to talk to the Professor, I need to know if Logan's okay."
"Shush, everything's fine, I'll get you the phone." She said, handing me the pea green phone and base receiver. My fingers shook as I died the numbers to the mansion.
"Hello?"
"Professor, this is Annaliese, I need to –"
"Hello Anna, are you feeling better?"
"Yes, but I need to know about Logan, do you know if he's okay?"
"You felt that tremor too? Logan's fine, he's on his way back from Canada as we speak."
"What tremor are you talking about?"
"It's not safe to speak on the phone; we'll speak more of it when you return, I'll tell you all about it then."
"I wasn't planning on coming back,"
"May I make a proposition? You're out of a job and we need another teacher. By this summer you should be able to take course at a university here in the city, if you like. You won't have to be alone anymore."
I thought about it for a while, since Jean had died they were short a teacher and it would be much better for me to live there. Almost all of my own family was gone and my grandmother was soon going to be in a retirement home. They were my family, too. Scott, Ororo, the Professor…Logan. I could do something to help give back to the Professor, give the kids that were there what he had given me when I was a teenager; Hope, family, faith, a life.
"Thank you, Professor." I said. I didn't have to say yes, he already knew what my decision was.
"We will see you here soon, then?" He asked.
"Yes, I'll be there by tomorrow," I said with a smile.
"All right then, goodbye."
"Bye,"
"Where will you be by tomorrow?" My grandmother asked as I hung up the phone.
"Back at school in New York,"
"Why are you going back? I thought you were going to stay here and finish college?"
"The Professor offered me a job with them; I can work there and then go to college in the summer. I should be done in three more years, but this way I'll have I job I know I won't lose."
"But you're not a teacher,"
"I know, but there will be something I can do there,"
"And that boy, Logan, he lives there too?"
I laughed; he was probably older than her.
"Yes grandma, he works there, too."
"Will he be there when you get back?"
"I don't know, the Professor said he was on his way back from Canada right now, but I don't know what part he was in."
"Well…you need to tell him how you feel about him."
"What are you talking about?"
"You need to tell him that you're in love with him."
"I'm not in love with him!" I said.
"Sweetheart, I was in love with your grandfather since the day I met him, I know what love looks like."
"You don't understand, this is different,"
"What's there to understand? You're in love, you should tell him. That's how it works. I may be old but I think love's still the same as it used to be."
"He's the man in the photo." I blurted.
"What man in what photo? I'm not following you, sweetheart."
"The man in the picture with grandpa, from World War Two, the one that we were looking at and I was asking you about, the one you said," I dropped my voice into a hushed whisper, "the one you said was a mutant, that's Logan."
"You're dating a ninety year old mutant?" My grandmother asked with a panicked and confused tone.
"No…I mean yes…I think. He doesn't look ninety; he's barely aged since the photo was taken. He looks about fifteen years older."
"How is that possible?" She asked, shocked.
"His powers are so that he can heal fast and rejuvenate; he doesn't stay hurt and barely ages."
"How can you date a mutant? They're evil, dangerous people,"
"No they're not,"
"Yes they are, I've seen them before, Anna, and they're all bad."
"Some of them are evil and dangerous, but so are some normal humans."
"No, they're vile, filthy, evil creature."
"No we're not, not all of us. Some are mean, evil people, but there are a few of us that are good and help protect people."
"What do you mean 'we', Anna?" She asked, starting to grasp what I was saying.
My eyes filled with tears, "I'm sorry grandma, I never told you because I know how much you hate us, and I didn't want to disappoint you."
"No, no…" she said, getting up from my bed and back away from me, "this isn't right, you're lying to me, why are you doing this to me? It's not funny!"
"I'm not lying," I said, getting out of my hospital bed.
"Yes you are, no one in my family is part of those disgusting creatures, no one!"
"Grandma, please, just listen to me,"
"No, stay away from me!" she screamed.
"Please don't do this to me," I begged, "you're all I have left."
"No, you are evil and you're not part of my family," she said, leaving my hospital room. That was the last time I saw her. I would call to check on her every once in a while but she died a year later.
After signing myself out of the hospital I went back to my house and packed most of my clothes and things that I wanted for myself right then. I went into each room knowing that it would be the last time I saw the house that I had grown up in. I went into my parent's room and sat on their bed. My mother had died in the very bed, with me right beside her. My father had shot himself there, clinging to a picture of our family. I would have the rest of my things sent to me later, and then I would set up an estate sale from New York to sell the house to use the money for college. Even though there were some sad memories in that house, they were mine and I was sad that I had to let them go but relived all at the same time. I had to leave; my plane was going to take off in half an hour. So, I said goodbye to the small southern town that I had grown up in, and made my way back to my new home in New York.
