A/N: Thanks for the reviews, folks! I hope this chapter is ok…I'm not great at action stuff, but I tried. Please let me know if this sucks or not!

Oh and LittleTree, I couldn't avoid the cop-out! ;-) Sorry!


PART 11: Riders on the Storm

Streaking through the sky, Rogue came crashing down into the snow and mud hard. She left a long trail in the mud as she slid to a stop. Jean and Wolverine helped her up quickly before all three of them shielded their eyes from the rain.

"She won't let me get close enough!" She called to Jean and Wolverine over the noise of the storm.

"And it's impossible to penetrate her mind when she's like this." Jean said loudly.

"We need t'stop her before she destroys half of Salem Center!" Wolverine shouted, looking up into the sky.

Storm was a small dot above them where the weather raged around her. Two trees were smoldering from the lightening. Shingles were flicking off of the roof from the wind and it was only a matter of time before the windows came crashing in.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Rogue shouted.

"Scott took them in town to run errands!" Jean answered, calling up a telekinetic orb to protect them from the elements.

"Take about bad timin'." Rogue commented, ringing out her hair.

"Jean, can you get us up there?" Wolverine asked, shaking the water out of his hair. "If we can distract her, maybe Rogue can nail her."

"I think it's our only option at this point." Jean replied. "Rogue, do you have an extra elastic?"

Rogue smiled and dug deep into her jeans pocket. She tossed Jean a black elastic and Jean quickly swept her hair from her face.

"Alright, gang, let's take care of this gal!" Rogue said, hovering above the ground. Jean nodded and formed an orb around her and Logan.

Suddenly the doors to the mansion opened and a small figure came rushing towards them. It was Jubilee, dressed in her yellow trench coat.

"Can I help?" She shouted, looking up to Ororo.

"Get inside!" Logan growled.

"No!" Jean said, looking at Jubilee. "She can help us distract Storm!"

Jubilee beamed and looked up again.

"Shoot up some fireworks, try to get her attention!" Jean instructed. "We're going up to give Rogue as much help as possible!"

Jubilee nodded and plasmoids began swirling around her hands.

Their plan finally set, the X-Men took to the sky while Jubilee began sending up fireworks as high as she could.

"STORM!" Jean yelled as they approached her. "Please, stop this!"
Storm looked to Jean and narrowed her eyes. Wolverine was with her.

"Ororo, darlin', you gotta stop!" Logan shouted.

Suddenly colorful blasts of fireworks exploded all around them and Ororo turned her head from side to side, looking for the source. She looked down and noticed Jubilee standing on the lawn, shooting more blasts into the sky. She raised her hand and pointed to the young girl on the lawn. A gust of wind violently threw her to the ground.

"Ororo! That was Jubilee!" Jean yelled in dismay. "You need to calm down!"

Jean concentrated and tried to wrap Ororo in telekinetic ropes. Storm saw her and scowled in anger. She directed lightening towards them and it slammed into the telekinetic orb Jean had constructed. Rogue seized her chance and grasped Ororo's face with her bare hand. But the damage had been done.

"Shit!" Jean cried, losing all of her concentration. Wolverine only had a second to realize the cushion of telekinetic energy was gone before he grasped onto Jean. They began falling fast and Rogue seemed stuck in a chaotic field of electrical energy as she drained Storm.

Logan pulled Jean on top of him and waited for them to crash into the ground. Jean closed her eyes in concentration, slowing their descent. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop their fall. They slammed into the ground with a loud thud. Jean's head slammed into his chin and he cringed. While Logan took the brunt of the impact, Jean was knocked unconscious from the collision.

Shaking his head, Logan squinted and looked up. Rogue was flying towards them with Ororo limp in her arms.

"Ah'm gonna try t'calm this weather down!" She shouted, laying Storm next to them. "Are y'all ok?"
"Yeah, we're fine!" Logan replied, slowly moving Jean aside.

Logan stood up, wincing in pain. They had hit the ground at a high speed even with Jean's efforts. He wouldn't be surprised if she had a broken rib from the fall, along with a serious concussion. Shaking off the pain, Wolverine picked up Jean and carefully hefted her onto his shoulder. Moving meticulously, he managed to get Ororo up on his other shoulder. Grunting from the added weight on his already sore body, Logan went to find Jubilation.

She was standing up, holding her head with one hand. She looked unsteady on her feet and Logan wondered how injured she was. He saw blood trickle down between her fingers and growled. If he was angry with Storm before, now he was beyond furious.

"That sucked." Jubilee moaned, looking at Wolverine.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Just a scratch." She mumbled, moving her hair out of the way so he could get a better look. The rain washed the blood into her face but he could tell it needed stitches.

Suddenly, the rain stopped and the wind calmed down. They looked up to see Rogue giving a thumbs up. She landed gracefully next to Logan and took Ororo from his arm.

"Let's get the gals ta the infirmary, Logan." Rogue said, leading them towards the front stairs. Jubilee limped next to Wolverine but didn't complain about her leg.


Logan sat in front of Jubilee with a needle in his hand. While Hank was the resident doctor, Logan knew he far share of simple medical procedures. He didn't want Jubilation losing any more blood than necessary, so he had tossed her in a chair and got the stitching materials out.

"Do I really need stitches?" She asked nervously. Logan nodded and then held her chin with his free hand.

"Hold still. This'll numb you up." He instructed, carefully injecting the Novocain into her wound.

Wolverine then proceeded to carefully sew her wound up. On the other side of the room, Rogue was hooking up Jean to a monitor. Ororo was unconscious in the bed next to her.

He finished closing up the gash on Jubilee's head and then began wrapping her ankle. Jubilee remained quiet while he tended to her and kept glancing at Ororo. Rogue's eyes were still entirely white while she tended to her teammate.

"I think Jean needs an X-Ray." Rogue said to Logan.

"I'll do it." He replied as he finished wrapping Jubilee's ankle. "Yer all set, darlin'."

Jubilee gingerly stood up and looked in the mirror next to the bed.

"Gross." She grumbled, lightly touching the stitches.

"Go clean up." He said, patting her arm gently. "I'll bring up some pain meds once the Novocain wears off."

Jubilee nodded and slowly hobbled to the exit. "You guys don't need help?"

"No, child, we're fine." Rogue assured her. Jubilee smiled at how Rogue talked, realizing she picked up Ororo's speech patterns.

Jubilee turned and left the Med Lab.

"I can't believe this." Logan growled, hooking up the portable x-ray.

"What happened?" Rogue asked while she draped the lead jacket over Jean's chest.

"Had a fight and she went nuts." Logan said simply. He placed the machine over Jean's ribcage and Rogue stepped back into the other room as he took the image. Radiation had no effect on Logan, but he doubted she needed to be so cautious. These portable machines weren't as powerful as the non-mobile ones.

He pulled the film from the machine and held it to the lights.

"It's safe." He called over his shoulder.

Rogue sauntered back in and checked on Ororo. Her pulse was regular and her eyes reacted to the light like normal.

"Ororo should be awake in an hour or so." Rogue said, walking back towards Logan. "What does the film look like?"

"She has a cracked rib." Logan replied, pointing to the film. "I think we should check her skull, too."

"Shouldn't we wait for Hank for that?" Rogue asked doubtfully.

"I think we can handle it." He replied, opening Jean's eyes. "Can you bring her into the other room while I set up the CAT scan?"

"Sure."

Rogue picked up Jean and brought her into the room that contained the CAT tube. She carefully placed Jean on the table, strapping her unconscious body to secure her. She taped Jean's forehead down and walked back to join Logan in the observation room. Rogue pulled the door closed behind her and sat next to Logan.

Wolverine was setting up the program confidently. Rogue watched him closely, hoping he didn't mess anything up.

"Here goes nothin'." Logan said, hitting a button.

They watched as Jean got pulled into the machine and the machine began to hum as it came to life. A few minutes later, the table came back out and the images were popping up on the screen.

"Well?" Rogue asked, looking over his shoulder.

"I gotta look at 'em." Logan replied, looking at each picture. "Why don't you put her back in bed?"

Rogue nodded and followed his request easily. Ororo was still knocked out when she placed Jean carefully on the bed next to her. Realizing both women were soaked through, Rogue fished out some scrubs from the drawer.

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Logan was still in the other room, Rogue peeled off Jean's clothes and carefully pulled on a dry set of clothes. Once she was changed, Rogue placed her on a new bed and balled up the wet sheets. It took about fifteen minutes before she began to undress Ororo. By then, Logan was just finishing up in the other room and walked in.

Rogue didn't hear him behind her as she pulled Ororo's wet pants off carefully.

"Need help?" Logan offered.

"Don't you have any sense of decency?" Rogue snapped, stepping in front of Ororo. "Get outta here!"

"I've seen her naked plenty." Logan replied, amused.

"Oh…um…right." Rogue said blushing. "Yeah, Ah could use a hand."

Logan nodded and quickly slid the dry pants up her legs. Rogue watched him, amused.

"Looks like y'all have done this before." She commented.

"Yeah, you could say I got experience."

She laughed and pulled a dry top over Ororo's head. Soon, she was in a new, dry bed as well.

"Sound like yer accent's comin' back." Logan said, checking Ororo's pulse.

"Yeah, she should be comin' around soon."

"I need to find Hank." Logan finally said, looking over at Jean. "She cracked her skull."

Rogue gasped. "Want me t'go and check Harry's Hideaway? Ah think he might've gone theah with Bobby."

"Yeah, that'd be good. I know he left his com-badge here." He said, pointing to the circular disk on Hank's desk.

With a nod, Rogue flew out of the Med Lab just as Ororo's eyes fluttered open. She looked around and slowly sat up. Logan looked at her, but kept his distance.

"Logan?" She said weakly. "What happened?"

"You did." Logan replied sharply.

She winced at his tone and leaned back on the pillows behind her.

"I don't remember." Ororo said, rubbing her head.

"Do you remember our fight?" Logan asked, checking on Jean's pulse. His back was to Ororo as he waited for her answer.

"Yes." She answered.

Logan sighed and looked over at her. Ororo looked upset as she tried to call up a wind to dry her hair. When it didn't work, she looked down at her hands in surprise.

"You maxed out yer powers pretty good." Logan said, walking over to her. "Ya probably tapped 'em fer the time being."

She sighed, knowing he was right.

"I'm sorry." He said, sitting on the end of her bed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you in the car."

Ororo met his eyes and reached out for his hand.

"No, Logan, it's my fault." She replied. "I should know better than to push you like that."

"Push me?" He laughed harshly. "All you did was ask a question, darlin'. Ain't no harm in that."

Ororo smiled at him and kissed his fingers.

"Is Jean alright?" She asked, looking to her best friend.

"I'm not sure." He replied. "She cracked her skull on my chin when we fell."

"Fell?"

"I'll fill you in later."

Ororo nodded, confused.

"Jubilee just has a cut and a sprained ankle."

"Jubilee was hurt?" Ororo gasped. "I hurt her?"

"Yeah, but she's fine." Logan said. There was a flash of anger in his eyes as he spoke.

"You have every right to be angry with me." She said, seeing the look in his eyes. "I acted like a fool and hurt my friends."

"You should see the grounds." He said. Logan stood up and checked on Jean again, using the time to push down his feelings. If she was talking to him again, he didn't want to screw things up again. They could deal with the repercussions of tonight another time.

Rogue flew into the lab shortly after he stood and landed, out of breath.

"Hank's on his way." She reported to Logan.

"Good." He said. "She needs a doctor."

"How're you feelin, sugah?" Rogue asked, walking over to Ororo.

"Tired, but I'll be fine." She replied. "I am sorry for causing such trouble this evening."

"It happens, honey." Rogue said. "No worries."

"Yeah, darlin', it'll be fine."

"Ah'll go bring Jubilee her drugs." Rogue offered.

Logan nodded and stepped over to the medicine cabinet. Knowing she wasn't allergic to codeine, he pulled out the bottle and poured out two pills.

"Just give her these fer now. They'll knock her out so she can get some sleep."

"Sure thang, Wolvie." Rogue said, taking the two pills from him.

Rogue again took to the air and flew from the Med Lab. Wolverine was always amused when she flew in the house. It just looked so strange to see her floating through the hallways.

Ororo slowly stood up and walked over to Jean. Logan watched her carefully, half-expecting the weather witch to fall down.

"Take it easy." He warned.

Before Ororo could reply, Hank came through the sliding doors.

"Logan, what's happened?" He demanded, stepping towards Jean.

Logan told Henry everything that happened and then showed him the test results from the scan he had done. Ororo stood by, listening intently and felt tears on her cheeks as Henry starting evaluating the images from the CAT scan.

"I need to run some tests." Hank muttered under his breath. "Logan, thanks for doing this."

"No prob, doc." He replied, watching Ororo.

"Take Ororo to her room." Hank said, not really paying attention to them. "I need to run some tests."

Logan looked at him and glanced at Ororo.

"Are you alright?" Ororo finally asked.

Henry looked up at them and it was as if he just noticed they were there.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." He replied, waving them off. "Go on now."

Shrugging, Logan led Ororo out of the room. They walked together, holding hands, as they approached the elevators. The metal doors slid open and they stepped in. As soon as the doors closed, Ororo quickly stepped towards and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Shocked but not one to argue, Logan kissed her back and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her hands clutched his head and she kissed him fiercely. Logan's hands pushed up her shirt and he ran his fingers down her spine. Ororo moaned into his mouth in return and raked her nails through his hair.

The doors slid open on the third floor but they didn't notice. They closed again, leaving the lovers inside.

Logan turned his attention to her neck and she moaned again. Ororo leaned into his warm body and pushed him against the wall as she claimed his mouth again.

Breathing heavily, Logan pulled back and ran his finger down Ororo's cheek.

"Let's go upstairs." He said. His voice was deep and husky, causing Ororo to kiss him again.

Logan slowly pulled her closer to the door, hitting the button to open the doors. They almost fell out of the elevator but Logan held her up. Their lips were still locked until they heard a very distinct "hem-hem!".

Their heads whipped around to see Jubilee standing there leaning on a cane.

"You guys so need a room!" She said, making gagging noises.

"Sorry, Jubes." Logan said, laughing as he pulled Ororo down the hall towards the loft door.

Jubilee rolled her eyes at them and laughed. She turned to see them open the door to Ororo's room.

"Goodnight, guys."

She didn't receive a response as the loft door slammed shut.


So, what did you guys think?? I'll be working on the next chapter tonight and probably tomorrow morning, so I hope to have it up soon!

PAF
Jubes