Disclaimer: You know this already

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Interlude: The Pacific Northwest

The workshop was cloaked in very dim light and that was coming from the large oven in the western wall. A large figure stood before it, a long tube held in one hand with a bright yellow glowing ball affixed to the end of it. Taking a deep breath, he began to blow gently, expanding the yellow ball, turning it to keep it even. At one point, he pulls it away from the white-hot flames and rolls it gently on grooved metal plate near the opening of the furnace before continuing to blow. Once he had the piece the way he saw it in his mind, he lightly scored the piece where it joined the blowpipe. He opened the annealing oven and gently placed the piece inside. Lightly tapping the score mark he made earlier, he smiled when a crack appeared exactly where he wanted the piece to separate. He closed the oven and set the timer. He would have to wait for a few hours to see the finished piece. The annealing process could not be rushed. He looked over at the finished pieces on the shelf.

He reaches over and shuts off the gas jets in the furnace and then turns on the lights in the workshop. He wipes his face with a towel he keeps nearby, then turns back to the shelf containing his works in progress. As he makes his selection, he hears a sound outside the building, close enough to make things rattle in place but not so close that they break. Curious, he exits the building and looks around for the source of the noise.

Lowering itself from the sky, he sees a sleek black jet, one that he hasn't seen in nearly five years. He wonders what the occasion is to warrant a visit from his very old friends from his days in boarding school. The jet comes to a gentle landing, the engines powering down slowly. As the ramp lowers, he approaches the jet with a smile on his face. The smile grows wider as a slim figure emerges, her brilliant white hair a sharp contrast to the coffee-and-cream complexion of her skin. Her own smile is dazzling as she runs up to him.

"Sam!" She shouts, throwing her arms around the man. He leans over to hug her back, towering over her by nearly a foot. She smiles and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"Ororo, what are you doing here?" He asks, smiling down at her. "It's a welcome surprise, to be sure, but you usually call first."

Her face becomes serene as she glances over her shoulder. "Let's just say that something came up. You have time to talk?

"For you? Always!" He looks beyond to the jet and spies another slender figure making its way down the ramp. As she came into full view, the first thing he noticed about her was her hair, a mass of abundant dark brown curls with streaks of shocking pink. The next obvious thing was her demeanor, which was deceptively casual. However, having been trained as an X-Man, he saw the tell-tales of someone who was taking stock of the situation, looking for defensible positions and alternate escape routes. This woman was a warrior, regardless of anything else.

Storm took Sam by the hand and led him to the jet. The other woman gazed up at him with an impassive gaze. Storm gave her a small nod and made the introductions. "Sam, I want you to meet Angela, code name Hellcat." She said. "Angela, this is Samuel Levison, code name Atlas."

"Please, Ororo, you know I haven't used that name in ages." He admonished, holding out his hand to Angela. She gave him a firm handshake. "I'm very pleased to meet you." He looked at them both in turn. "So, what brings you here?"

"Business, I'm afraid." Storm said. He opens his mouth to protest, but she raises a hand to forestall his protests. "Please, hear me out before you say no, ok?"

He looks at her quizzically, but her expression remains closed. With a shake of his head, he offers her an elbow. "Well then, shall we go to the house?" He asks, smiling. She takes his arm and they make their way to the house, Angela trailing behind them.

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Chapter 13.

(Logan)

You're sitting at the end of the bar, nursing a beer and once again feeling the weight of loneliness weighing upon you. You're aware that your memory of her has been fading, bit by bit and the implications of that scare you. How long before you forget her completely? You've already lost just about everything from before those people caught you, only a few brief flashes of your previous life remain. Flashes that you can no longer make sense of no matter how hard you try. And now you're forgetting her, forgetting the woman you left on the road five long years ago. It takes you a moment to realize that you've actually forgotten her name, both of them. But you can still conjure up an image of her face, her wide eyes full of tears as you said goodbye and turned away. Your heart clenches as you realize it's only a matter of time before you can't even do that. Damn it! Isn't it bad enough those people had to make you into some kind of monster? A bigger freak than you were before? Now it seems they really did do something inside your head. At this rate, you won't remember anything except how to kill.

You grit your teeth in frustration, then dig some bills out of your pocket and throw them on the bar. There aren't that many people in the bar, but it's starting to feel like they're all watching you, closing in on you and the feelings this engenders are dangerous indeed. Maybe you shouldn't be around people for a while, just go into isolation until you can better control the animal inside you. You realize this means it'll lessen the chances that you'll find her again, but at this point you don't even know where to look. Maybe it's better for her this way, maybe she'll be able to put everything behind her and start a new life. She was always more human than you, anyway. You still don't know why she loved you or what she ever saw in you. But you will cling to the few memories you have of her for as long as you can. They're all you'll ever have.

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I woke up with strangled scream, sweat pouring out of every pore. In a lot of ways, that dream was a lot worse than the old ones of having my flesh peeled back and molten metal bonded to my bones. I'd rather be reminded of that than remember the day I forgot Angela's name. Of course, now that I was awake, the rest of the memory was as clear to me as the rest that I'd recovered up to that point. It only took a few more months before I couldn't remember anything about her, just an impression of someone out there, waiting for me to find her. In a lot of ways, my long years of wandering had been as much about that as it was the search for the rest of my past. Deep down, I think I believed that if I could find her, the rest would fall into place. In a way, it had. I knew there was something else keeping my memories at bay, another gift from Stryker to go with the claws and the metal on my bones. Another reason to be glad that he was already dead.

I threw on some clothes and went for a prowl around the mansion. I stopped in the lounge and said a brief hello to Jones, who gave me an absentminded wave before going back to channel surfing. I was amazed to also find the kitchen empty; usually I would find at least one or two of the older kids down here, raiding the fridge for a midnight snack. I made my way back upstairs and wandered through the kids' dorm, nodding briefly to Piotr who was doing a walkabout of his own. After all this time, they still felt better if someone was awake and actively patrolling the halls. I climbed a set of back stairs to the little-used third floor, where the servant's quarters would have been as recently as half a century ago. Now they mostly commuted from town, the few who lived here full-time stayed on the second floor with the rest of the staff. Not that anyone saw much of them, really. I think I'd laid eyes on the school cook twice and I once scared the life out of one of the housekeepers when I came out of the bathroom after a shower, in search of a towel.

So, the old servant's quarters had been mostly converted to storage. A couple of the rooms with the best light were used by the artistically inclined as studios. On occasion, some of the older kids would sneak up here for "privacy", although they were notoriously easy to catch before anything too intimate happened. The last thing anyone wanted was for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to become another statistic for teen pregnancy. Granted, our kids were a lot smarter than your average teen, but accidents do happen.

I was just about to make my way back down to the lounge to hang with Jones for a while when I felt a breeze whisper over my skin. I made my way down one of the smaller side hallways and noticed the window at the end was open. I let my claws slide out slowly and crept as silently as I could to the window. There was no sign of forced entry, so it had either been opened from the inside or by a telekinetic. The only one we currently had in the school was currently asleep, so I had to assume it was option one. I noticed that this particular window led out to the roof, so I pushed it open and stepped over the sill. I paused once I was outside, sniffing the air for any sign of recognizable scent. It only took a moment to acquire one: Totem.

I stalked silently around the roof, following his scent around to the other side near where the roof overlooks Graymalkin Lane. He was just sitting there in a classic pose of meditation. I slowly retracted my claws, crossed my arms and cleared my throat. He jumped immediately to his feet in a defensive crouch. I simply leaned against the frame of the window next to me. "What you doin' up here in the middle of the night?"

"One could ask the same of you." He replied, still crouching.

I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Decided to take a walk."

We stood there for a long time, sizing each other up. My pose was deceptively casual, given who I was facing. "Am I to be treated as a prisoner, then? I can not meditate where I am most comfortable?"

"I don't care where you meditate. That's not my problem with you."

He relaxed from the defensive posture, but I could tell he remained wary of me. "Ah yes. I am, as you say, the rival for Angela's affections."

"Yeah right." I snorted. "You ain't my rival. I know you talked to Chuck and I know he told you the truth about all that."

He shrank visibly, folding himself back into his meditative seat. "Yes, he did. It is not an easy thing for me to accept." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "That is why I am up here now. I am trying to search for the answers within myself."

"The only shit you'll find in there is what Stryker put in there. And since he was a lyin' bastard, you can't trust it."

He opened his eyes and looked at me curiously. "You sound as though you are concerned for me."

I sighed and sat down next to him. "I ain't gonna lie to you, bub. I don't like you, not one bit. But what that bastard did to us was wrong. He's already paid for that with his life, but we're the ones who have to live with it. So, much as I don't like you, I still know how you're feelin' about a lot of this. You got a whole lotta shit you have to work out and get rid of. And I hate to say it, but I'm about the only person who can probably help you with that."

"Why would you want to do that after everything that's already happened?"

"Because Angela believes I'm a good man in spite of what happened to me and the things I've done. Way I see it, if that's true about me, it might be true about you too. If I'm gonna be better than the bastards that did this to us, I have to at least try and give you a chance to prove her right."

"So you would help me for her sake?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"You have given me much to think about this night." He bowed his head to me and I took that as my chance to leave.

I stood and brushed my hands off on my jeans. "Oh, there is one other thing I want to make perfectly clear to you." I said.

"What?"

"When she gets back, she won't be left alone for any reason. If I see you within ten feet of her, I'll gut you myself." I turned and left without bothering to wait for a response. I went back into the mansion through the same window, closing it but not locking it so he could get back in when he was ready. I was bothered by the fact that, had things been different, I would have probably really liked the guy. He was a good fighter and had a deep sense of personal honor that I could identify with. I hoped like hell Chuck could get his head straightened out soon, even though gutting him still sounded like a pretty good idea to me. I made my way back downstairs to the lounge and flopped into an armchair. I looked over at Jones and grinned. "So, anythin' good on tonight?"

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I was awakened by the sounds of girlish giggling right behind me. I groaned and opened my eyes, leaning my head back so I could see who was standing behind the armchair. Big surprise, it was Kitty and Jubilee.

"Hey Wolvie!" Jubilee said brightly and I scowled. "Sleep ok?"

"Lee, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Wolvie'?" I grumbled. "You're now the proud recipient of extra laps in defense later."

"What? Oh, that's so unfair!" She complained, turning to Kitty. "Isn't it totally unfair?"

"Hey, don't get me in the middle of this!" Kitty said, hands up. "He's told you like a million times."

Jubilee pouted and the two of them started down the hall towards the dining room. Of course, she wasn't done ranting yet and she always forgets how good my hearing is. "I'm sorry, I can't help it! He's just so…so…Wolvelicious!"

She was going to be doing laps until she was forty for that comment. I stood up and made my way to my own room for a quick shower and better clothes for teaching in before going down to breakfast myself. As soon as I walked into the dining room, all the older girls (and a couple of the boys) turned to look at me and broke into more giggling. I scowled at them before taking a seat next to Kurt, who also seemed to be far too amused for my liking.

"Guten morgen, mein freund." He said, passing me a plate of bacon.

"Yeah, whatever." I grunted, reaching for some toast. I nodded at the giggling kids, which only made them break up more. "What the hell's up with them?"

"Ah, that. It seems you are responsible for a new addition to their vocabulary." I groaned in near-genuine pain and lowered my head to the table. Lee was going to be running laps until she was ninety. "You should be flattered. No one calls me 'Kurtalicious', after all."

"Don't push your luck, elf. Alpha team has Danger Room later." He simply grinned at me and we ate our breakfast in silence that was occasionally punctuated by giggles from Jubilee and company. Forget it, she had laps for eternity. I'd make a deal with whoever was necessary to make sure of that.

And that was just the beginning of my day. I made sure to impress upon the girls that use of the word "Wolvelicious" meant many extra laps and me as a sparring partner for class. Kurt thought I was being too harsh on them, but I was not amused by this new word and wanted to put an end to it as soon as possible. If nothing else, they did stop using it within my range of hearing.

Jubilee barely managed to keep her lunch down after the extra twelve laps I made her do. Once her legs started semi-normal function again, she almost seemed happy that I would be her sparring partner for class and strutted to the front of the class with a wink to her friends. I quickly taught her the error of her ways and after tossing her across the mats for the hundredth time, she begged me to just let her die. I told her she'd do a lot better to make sure certain catch phrases were never uttered in my presence again and she finally understood why she was being treated this way. I still make her do extra laps every day, though.

Evening came and I was sitting out on the patio with a cigar, like normal, when Rogue came out to join me. She'd been spending more time with Bobby, who was a candidate for sainthood at this point by my reckoning. How any teenaged boy could survive dating a beautiful girl and not even be able to kiss her was beyond my reasoning, but I'm not in his shoes. At any rate, she sat down next to me and smiled.

"Hey Logan. How ya holdin' up?" She asked. I grunted in response and she laughed. "Missin' Angela, huh?"

"How can you tell?" I replied, still staring out over the grounds.

"We're not blind, ya know. And you've been a right proper dick the past couple days. It doesn't take a genius to know why."

"If you came out here to cheer me up, it's not workin'."

"Nah, why would I do that? Just wanted to hang out for a little bit."

I nodded and we sat there enjoying the night air. I asked her about school and Bobby, to which she answered "fine" to everything. After a few minutes, we finally got around the topic of Jubilee. Rogue insisted that Lee had no idea her little "joke" would take hold so firmly and that she was genuinely sorry for it. Naturally, I disagreed. "Come off it, Rogue. You know as well as I do that girl has no internal filter when it comes to the crap that comes outta her mouth. It's like her brain and her mouth ain't even connected."

"Hey, that's not fair!" She exclaimed. "We're all just kids, Logan. We're allowed to screw up sometimes."

"Not at the expense of my dignity, you're not."

"Oh, so that's what this is about!" She grinned. "You should feel honored. Normally us teenage girls only make up words like that for our favorite movie stars."

"Oh great, I'm a legend in all your minds. Just what I always wanted."

Her face grew serious. "Logan, you saved my life, twice. You saved everyone in the mansion from Stryker's men, so you saved their lives too. And you saved Jubilee and the others from Alkali Lake." She put her hand on my arm and I looked at her. "Logan, you're our hero."

"I ain't no hero, kid. I just did what needed to be done."

"No, you are. There isn't a person in this school that wouldn't follow you to hell and back. I know you're not comfortable with it, but it doesn't make it any less true. And we're all starting to feel the same way about Angela."

I raised an eyebrow. "Whattaya mean?"

"Angela risked herself to save you. She treated me and Kitty and the others like real people, took us with her to help get you back. We already felt pretty safe having just you around, but with her here? I don't think anythin' short of a nuclear blast is gonna get past you guys. And she doesn't lie to us, she doesn't make it sound like if we get a good education and just act normal that the world is gonna be ok with who we are. She knows, she's been there and she doesn't hide it from us."

"I never lied about that either, you know. I wasn't completely cut off."

"No, but you were close. You're our hero because you protect us. She's our hero because she doesn't."

Before I could reply, I heard the sound of the jet approaching. A few seconds later, Rogue heard it and smiled. I stubbed out my cigar and headed for the landing bay, when she called out behind me. "Have a good reunion, Logan!" I didn't even bother to shoot a scowl over my shoulder, I just ran inside to wait for my woman to come back to me.

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AN: Interesting turn of events, i must say...:) Now, just in case you missed this last chapter, i wanted to remind everyone that i am doing two chapters per update as requested by other readers, so i can be finished with this story before i leave for vacation on August 7...my chapter hits are off and the only reason i can think of for that is people are skipping chapters because they don't know they're there...so if anything isn't making sense here, please make sure you haven't accidentally skipped every other chapter...:)

Special thanks to everyone...i'd be more specific but i had a rough night at work and i just want to get back to the next story and write about Logan beating people up...:) And for the record, we are past the halfway point on THIS story now:)