Chapter 27: Medical Updates and Gossip
Next morning, Hank's handprint was still there on Logan's shoulder. He spent most of the day down in the med-lab being monitored. He took the time to catch up on his reading; even Hank was impressed by the number of volumes Logan devoured while he lay propped up on the bed with sensors attached to him.
"Logan, I had no idea you were such a voracious reader," he said with a toothy smile. All of Hank's smiles were toothy.
"Gotta be, when you're reading such a prolific writer," Logan replied. He held up the dog-eared copy of Great Expectations that he had borrowed from the professor's library. David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, and Bleak House lay in a stack on his tray table. "Man got paid by the word, and it shows."
"I'm surprised he appeals to you, since you're so laconic yourself," Hank said. He was a little impressed, not only at Logan's reading choices, but at his vocabulary as well. The Wolverine gave off such an aura of base instinct that he hadn't thought the man had had much of an education.
Logan turned a page, never lifting his gaze from the book. "Don't have to use a lot of words to be able to read 'em," he remarked. Then he put his finger in to mark his place and glanced up at Hank with a raised eyebrow. "They don't all have to be sixty-four-dollar words, either."
"What?" Hank grinned innocently. "You were keeping up with me in that department!"
"Yeah, but I don't like to," Logan told him, returning to the book. "Ruins my image."
Hank merely laughed and told him his secret was safe.
Rogue spent the day trying to avoid her former roommates. Jubilee was completely smitten with Gambit, the Cajun guy that Rogue had nearly burned to death down by the pond. Unfortunately, the Cajun guy seemed fairly taken with Rogue, and kept sending smouldering glances down the dinign room table at her. She chuckled to herself, thinking how very close she had been to setting him smouldering in a literal sense!
Jubilee and Kitty cornered her after breakfast. "Chica, you have got to tell us what's going on with you and the new guy!"
"Yeah," Kitty added, "And what about Bobby? And what's the deal with Wolverine? Hon, you've been acting weird ever since you got back from that mission, you know. Come on, spill!"
"There's not much to tell," Rogue said. "Bobby and I were headed towards a break-up anyway. He was just too possessive, and with all the junk going on I my head I just couldn't handle his insecurities. And Remy? You're welcome to him, Jubes. I can't stand the guy. And Logan's promised to gut him if he bothers me, so y'all might want to warn him off me."
"No problem, Roguey," Jubilee grinned, smacking her gum.
"Speaking of Logan, what's up with him lately?" Kitty asked. "He's been marginally less growly lately. He eased up and only scared me half to death the other morning when he was looking for you."
Rogue told them about Hank's serum, and his using Logan as his guinea pig. Then she made the mistake of telling them about Logan's late-night visit to tell her about it.
Then she worsened the mistake, by telling them about his bruised shoulder.
Kitty stopped her "Waaaaait a minute, here, Rogue. How did you see his shoulder?"
"Well, he took off his shirt and turned around and showed me. How did you think I saw it?" Rogue could already tell where this was going, and she groaned inwardly.
That was all it took to set Jubilee off. "Holy shit, you saw him with his shirt off? He came to your room, woke you up, sat on your bed, and then took off his shirt?"
"Sure," Rogue replied, trying to maintain the innocence of the conversation. "How else was he going to show me his shoulder?"
"Then what happened?" Kitty asked eagerly.
"Well, then he told me about Hank's serum; we talked a bit more, and then he left."
Jubilee groaned. "Rogue, Rogue, what am I going to do with you? The Wolverine comes to your bedroom at night, takes off his clothes on your bed, and all you do is talk with him? Girl, I gotta get you some sex-tinted glasses or something. You didn't know what he really wanted?"
Rogue stifled the urge to roll her eyes. This was why she didn't like hanging out with teenagers—they were always so damned young! "Jubes, last time I checked, my skin still kills people," she said shortly. "And just 'cause his healing mutation was suppressed doesn't mean he had a death wish! Has it crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe, my friend Logan just wanted to tell me about the serum and show me that it worked?"
Rogue was starting to get a little miffed at their assumption that she was on the same page they were regarding "boys." Did they think she was born yesterday, or that she didn't have the psyches of three different men living in her head? Enough was enough. "Listen, I gotta go. I still got some meditatin' to do." She stalked off.
Jubilee turned to Kitty. "Five bucks says she heads down to the med-lab."
Kitty smiled. "No bet. Oh, there's Bobby! See you later, J."