Chapter 32: Hauntings
He had the nightmares. Water closing over his head, the agony of the hundreds of cuts on his body, the adamantium injected to line his bones—he woke up gasping for breath and yelling in terror.
And then he realized he wasn't alone. Rogue was sitting up, holding him in her arms and stroking his hair. His head was on her shoulder, the softness of her bosom under his cheek. "Shhhh," she told him. "It's just a nightmare, sugar. You're safe now."
He clung to her, gasping, for a while until his heart stopped hammering in his chest. The adrenaline began to dissipate, leaving behind a sense of comfort and security that he didn't remember ever having felt before.
He took a deep breath and grinned, rubbing his cheek against her breasts. Maybe it was an infantile instinct, for a man to seek comfort at a woman's breasts, but he'd never had it work quite so directly before.
"You okay, sugar?" Rogue asked him.
He nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. I sometimes get these… well…"
"Yeah," she replied softly. "I remember. I used to get 'em too."
"Oh, yeah? What stopped yours?" he wanted to know. Did she have a secret for getting rid of nightmares?
She lay back down, nestling close. "I got you out of my head. I haven't had one of your nightmares since I pushed you back into your own head."
"What?" he sat up sharply. "You had MY nightmares?"
She nodded.
Logan lay back down, feeling like scum. "Aw, shit, honey, I'm sorry."
She shrugged, which looked odd in her lying-down position. "Small price to pay for you savin' mah life, sugar. Now go back to sleep, will ya? Tomorrow's going to be a big day for me, and Ah want you rested!"
Grinning in spite of his shock, he gathered her close again. "Yes, ma'am."
They slept.
xxxXXXxxx
It was close to dawn when Remy LeBeau knocked on the door of the mansion. Jubilee, always first to rise in the mansion, answered it. "Hi, Remy," she greeted brightly, with a hint of flirtation. "I thought you'd left!"
He flashed her a killer smile. "I couldn't stay away from you, cherie." He came in and put his arm around her. He leaned in close and whispered, "I've seen how you look at me."
Jubilee grinned, unabashed. "That just means you've got eyes, dude! But I thought sure you were only looking at Rogue."
"The girl who cannot touch?" He ran a partially-gloved hand down Jubilee's arm. "And what would I want with a girl who cannot touch?"
His voice went low and silky, and Jubilee swallowed. "Uh, Remy… you're going to want to go tell the professor you're back. Maybe later we can go have breakfast or something?"
"Perfect," he purred. Tipping her face up to his, he placed a lingering kiss on her lips. Then, giving her a devilish smile, he turned and swept down the hall with his trenchcoat billowing out behind him.
"Whoa," was Jubilee's well-considered summation of the encounter. It was followed by a squeal of excitement as she raced up the stairs to wake up Kitty and tell her about it.