Disclaimer: I wish i owned Logan...but if i did, i wouldn't want to share him at all...so i guess it's a good thing that i don't...however, i do own Angela, Buzz, Sam, Totem and Chasca, along with a few other periperal characters that pop up from time to time...so don't touch them, they don't like it!

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Chapter 18

(Angela)

Halloween came and went with its usual fanfare. The older kids somehow convinced Buzz to run the RnR program in the Danger Room for a bit of a party while the younger kids played games in the lounge under the watchful eyes of Sam and Scott. What I hadn't expected was the "guys night out" that ensued after the festivities. It seems that Logan owed Sam a beer from their Danger Room session that left Logan a little dented, so they decided to go after the Halloween party was over and the kids were all tucked away. After begging, pleading, cajoling and finally signing over his life in blood, I reluctantly let him borrow my car so they could settle the debt. Kurt and Scott went with them, which left me upset that I wasn't a guy. I like beer as much as the next person and it would have been worth it to see if Scott could unbend enough to enjoy one beer, much less the dozens I knew my lover could put away.

Nonetheless, I couldn't sleep a wink until I knew my baby was home safe and sound and I don't mean Logan. He could survive just about anything. My baby was merely steel, glass, rubber and leather and far less resilient. I hated letting anyone else behind the wheel and I was deathly afraid that Scott would try to be the "designated driver" as an excuse to drive her. As it turns out, I needn't have worried.

I didn't realize that Sam and Logan would give each other such a run for the money in the drinking department. I knew Logan's tolerance was legendary, since his healing factor treats alcohol like any other toxin and he throws it off as soon as he drinks it. I also knew Sam had an extremely elevated metabolism as part of his mutation. He would have to, since it seems like he was always eating yet he never gained a pound. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him without a bag of chips or a sandwich in his hand, munching away. I hadn't realized that it extended to alcohol as well.

When they finally returned home, it was a little after three in the morning. I could hear Kurt laughing and mumbling something in German, Logan laughing at whatever he was saying and Sam grumbling to himself. I padded into the foyer and gasped when I saw the state they were in.

"I hope this doesn't have anything to do with my car." I said in all seriousness. Sam was sporting a black eye and there was a smear of blood on Logan's forehead. Kurt was limping slightly and there was a bruise on his cheekbone, appearing as a darker blue spot on his indigo skin. Scott was out like a light with a similar bruise on his cheek.

"No darlin', your baby is just fine." Logan said, pulling me into his arms.

"So what's up with all the bruising?"

It took me about half an hour to pry the story out of Logan and Kurt, with Sam joining in some time after he poured Scott into bed. It seems that they found themselves a bar that served good import beer, but still had that redneckity atmosphere that Logan's drawn to for some ungodly reason. Since it was Halloween, no one looked twice at Kurt or Scott, just figuring they were in costume or whatever. Everything had been fine until someone stepped on Kurt's tail.

Scott had already been several sheets to the wind by that time, which I'm sure was directly related to testosterone poisoning. Not wanting to be seen as a lightweight, he'd tried to keep up with the other three, who had either a racial or mutation advantage in the drinking department. Scott was no better than a normal human at holding his liquor, but apparently gave it the old college try. They'd just finished a round and it was Kurt's turn to get the next one when Scott fell off his chair, totally passed out. They'd barely gotten out of their seats to leave when a guy roughly the size of a Mack truck stepped on Kurt's tail. The combination of many beers and being startled caused him to bamf a few feet away and Mr. Mack Truck turned on him.

"Fuckin' muties!" He'd yelled, bearing down on Kurt with clenched fists. Logan instinctively went on the defensive, clenching his own fists in preparation to pop his claws. However, Sam merely put an arm across his chest to stop him. "Let me." He'd said, standing between Kurt and the would-be assailant. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see it as he described the scene…

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"Let me." Sam said, restraining Logan from dealing with this asshole personally. He stepped up to the guy, towering over him by at least fifteen inches. "My friend, this is a fight you simply can not win. Walk away."

"Fuck you!" The guy retorted, his breath reeking of whisky and cheap cigars. "Fuckin' mutie lover! We don't like freaks around here!"

"Really? I would think with a face like that, they'd be more than used to them by now." Logan snorted with laughter behind Sam. He'd never known the giant had it in him. The guy sputtered with anger and took a swing at Sam's face. His fist never connected, as Sam simply grabbed his hand in mid-swing and squeezed. A sound like twigs breaking filled the room and the guy cried out in pain. Sam released his broken hand and crossed his arms. "Now, my friends and I are going to leave here and we'll forget this ever happened, all right?"

Unfortunately, tactics like this only work in movies and the trio found themselves surrounded by many angry bar patrons, all of which were looking at them with pure hatred. "Fuckin' hell." Logan muttered, once again clenching his fists. "Angela's gonna kill me."

"Not if they kill us first." Kurt replied. "I have a bad feeling about this."

No one had a chance to say anything else as the mob descended upon them. Logan let out a roar and waded into the three drunks in front of him, fists flying, eyes blazing. Kurt was using his acrobatic skills to dodge the guys in front of him, his tail acting as an extra limb to grab one person and toss them into someone else. Sam was barely moving, using well-placed flicks of his hands to simply throw people across the room, just hard enough to disable them. It was around then that Scott decided to wake up again.

"What the hell you guysh think yer doin'?" He slurred, stumbling into a drunken attacker. Without thinking, he pushed the guy aside and grabbed Logan by the sleeve of his flannel shirt. "Logan, what you call thish?"

"DUCK!" Logan yelled and Scott gave him a confused look. Logan simply pushed him to the floor, where he landed with an audible "thud". At the same time, Logan grabbed the wrist of a guy who was wielding a broken beer bottle and had come mere centimeters from slicing Cyclops across his scalp. With a roar, he took the bottle away from the guy and tossed it aside, laying the guy out with an elbow to his nose. Scott stumbled to his feet and looked around in dismay. "Damn it, Cyke! Get your ass down!" Logan shouted. "You're no good right now!"

"Yesh I am!" He yelled back, wavering in place. "I'll take on all theshe fuckin' bashtardsh!" Logan was so shocked by hearing Scott say "fuck" that he left himself open just long enough to take a flying bottle to the forehead. This shook him out of his reverie and he leapt back into the fray, cutting a swath through the crowd to the point of origin of the flying bottle.

In the meantime, Kurt was leading a pair of particularly insistent foes on a merry chase through the bar, bamfing and reappearing behind them to land punches and kicks to the backs of their heads. On several occasions, the two found themselves the unfortunate victims of friendly fire, finally succumbing to a flying chair and a thrown beer mug respectively.

Sam had decided enough was enough and had started grabbing people at random, punching them in the face to knock them out and moving on to the next person. At one point, he grabbed Logan, who checked his own fist just before he shattered Sam's nose. They grinned at each other and jumped back into action, making quick work of the remaining patrons.

Through it all, Scott stood there and tried in vain to engage someone in the brawl before finally passing out again, flat on his face.

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I was in tears by the time the story was done, laughing so hard that oxygen was starting to become an issue. "So, you're telling me that the bruise on Scott's face is where he FELL on it?" I managed to squeak out between gales of laughter.

"Ja, mein freund." Kurt replied, grinning. "Ve had forgotten him in all the excitement and vhen ve looked for him, he vas face down on the floor."

That set me off again and it took several more minutes for me to calm down. "Oh gods! Oh he is so never hearing the end of this!"

"Now, be nice to him Angela." Sam said mildly. "The poor guy doesn't get out much."

"Try not at all." Logan muttered under his breath.

"Ah, don't sweat it." I said, still giggling. "I won't pick on him…much." Sam just glared at me and I gave him my best "sweet and innocent" look. "Ok, ok, I surrender! I promise I won't pick on him for at least a week. After that, I make no promises."

"I'm holding you to that." Sam replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something I need to finish downstairs."

I watched him until the elevator door closed then turned back to the others. "I should be very angry with you." I said, crossing my arms.

"Now why would you want to do somethin' like that tiger?" Logan rumbled, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close to nibble on my ear. I shuddered. "We were just defendin' ourselves."

"And Scott." Kurt added. "He vas unable to defend himself, after all."

"That's why I should be angry with you." I replied, pushing away from Logan. "It's not like he stood a chance at keeping up with you guys. Especially if you were drinking good beer."

"You think I vould drink that stuff you Americans call beer?" Kurt scoffed with a snort. "I vould not be caught dead vith an American beer!"

"Don't mind her, elf. She's got better taste than that." Logan said, nuzzling me again. "Wouldn't even sell it in the bar she owned back in Detroit."

"Damn straight." I muttered. "I had a reputation to protect."

"I knew there vas a reason ve got along so vell." Kurt said with a grin. "But I think ve vill have to continue this conversation later. The Volverine looks like he vants to ruin your reputation."

I didn't have a chance to reply before Logan swept me over his shoulder and carried me off towards our room, waving over his shoulder to Kurt. I could hear him laughing as he made his way back to his own room. I giggled and made some weak protests at him for carrying me off like a caveman, but he just grunted playfully and tightened his hold. Once at our room, he shoved the door open and carefully tossed me down on the bed, pausing just long enough to close and lock the door before pouncing. He held me down and feathered kisses up my neck, tracing a path to my mouth. He kissed me hard enough to make me gasp, but I melted into him just the same. When he stopped, I was breathless.

"Damn, I should let you get into bar fights all the time." I whispered with a half smile. "I'm really liking the after effects."

"Mm, this is just the beginning." He growled and proceeded to slowly undress me, kissing every inch of flesh as it was exposed. Everywhere he touched felt like it was on fire, but he kept holding back, teasing me until I was on the verge of begging. After what felt like hours, he stood and peeled off his own clothes, tossing them aside and stretching out on top of me. I wrapped myself around him and he looked deep into my eyes, one hand cupping my face and stroking my lips with his thumb. "I love you." He said then proceeded to show me how much.

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Less than a week later, the weather took a turn for the worse and the kids were all driven inside by the unseasonably cold weather. Neither of us had ever experienced winter at the mansion and after two days of putting up with the din we were quite ready to go mad. I blame it on our basic feral natures; we instinctively wanted to hibernate and that requires quiet. Logan blamed it on cabin fever, since he had spent fifteen years on the constant move and was never cooped up in one place for too long before coming here. Either way, the combination of teen angst and hormones was certainly a crazy-making combination for us.

At least we still had Danger Room sessions with the teams that we could use to vent some aggression. Both Alpha and Beta teams had finally passed our worst-case scenario by taking out Logan and I with a minimum of fuss and no serious casualties to either team. I'm sure at least some of it was because Buzz had watched extensive footage of the two of us in the Danger Room, both solo and with teams and had programmed the scenario with a virtual Hellcat and Wolverine that acted and reacted just like we did. It was a beautiful piece of programming and I suspect that he'd been slowly upgrading the system. The AI was far more clever than it had been in the spring, not that I'm complaining. At any rate, I think as soon as the teams knew they wouldn't be attacking the real us, they managed to get past their mental blocks against hurting us to dish it out the way we wanted them to. Still, I toyed with the idea of running it the old way one more time, just to see if my theory held water, but I could hold out on that for a while. It was enough to see that they could do it.

Another thing that happened was the end of the mystery of Storm's secret admirer. She'd continued to receive small gifts every couple of days, little things that made her smile. Between me, her and Rogue, we still had no clue who it could be. Rogue thought it might be Scott, but it didn't feel right to me. I know Scott loves Storm, but that's more of a sibling relationship than a romantic one and I just didn't see it happening. But the mystery solved itself the morning that Scott finally felt ready to go back to Alkali Lake.

Having Sam around had been exactly the cure that Scott needed to work through his grief. I had no idea they'd been that close during their school days. Apparently there had been an incident at one point that Logan had gotten the bare bones story about. The whole thing was a little more complicated. It seems that Sam had had a crush on a fellow classmate (he wouldn't say who) and his roommate had gotten wind of it. Boys being boys, the guy started to pick on Sam about it and eventually Sam put him through the wall. The roommate? None other than Alex Summers, Scott's brother. You would think that after an incident like that, it would make them instant enemies. But Scott had also been on the receiving end of Alex's taunting when he first started dating Jean, so he understood just how Sam felt. After an initial confrontation outside the infirmary, the two of them became pretty fast friends. Once Alex woke up and apologized, the three of them became pretty close. Alex was in the Air Force now and had only been able to get a few days leave after Jean's death, leaving Scott feeling pretty alone in his grief.

I was still confused about that. After all, Storm and Charles had cared a great deal for Jean as well, but he hadn't felt comfortable talking to either one of them about it. I know if anything ever happened to Logan, I'd probably turn to Rogue first for comfort, since I know she'd be feeling just about as crappy as me at that point. Apparently Scott didn't believe the old adage that grief shared is grief halved and didn't want to add to the grieving of his two closest friends at the mansion. Either way, it didn't matter anymore because he finally felt it was time to go back to Alkali Lake and say goodbye to her.

Sam was going with him, which I pretty much figured would happen. They'd spent a lot of time together just talking, remembering things they'd done or pranks they'd pulled on their classmates. But mostly they'd talked about Jean, how Scott had fallen in love with her at first sight, but she'd been reluctant to admit any feelings for him for a long time. From what I gather, he'd been quite the charmer, wooing her the old-fashioned way with gifts of flowers, long walks at sunset and the whole nine yards. She'd eventually realized that holding back on him was plain dumb and they'd been together until the day she paid the ultimate price to save those she loved best.

Storm and I were waiting in the hangar bay for them to show up, both of us wanting to give Scott support for different reasons. She was there because he's her friend, her brother and they both loved Jean for a very long time. Mine were a lot different, because Alkali Lake is the only grave the people we loved the most will ever have. Scott knew this and would understand. After about fifteen minutes they finally showed up.

"Angela, Ororo, have you come to see us off?" Sam said with his irrepressible grin.

"You know we have, big guy." Storm replied with a smile of her own. She boarded the jet with him to help him through the pre-flight routine.

"Angela, thanks for coming." Scott said quietly.

"I had to." I murmured. "I understand how hard this is for you, more than anyone else possibly can." A sudden lump formed in my throat and I had to fight back tears. "After all, my best girl is there too."

We just looked at each other for a second before moving into each others arms. There was nothing romantic about the gesture, but a sharing of pain that he hadn't done yet. For that matter, neither had I, not really. I'd gone to Alkali Lake alone to say goodbye to my daughter, since I'd had no one to go with me. Perhaps I would have to go back someday with Logan and do it all over again. Right now, it wasn't time. This was Scott's time and he deserved to do this under his own terms. We stood there for a few minutes, needing no words to understand the other. He let me go a little reluctantly and gave me a weak smile. "Thanks for everything, Angela. I owe you…well, more than one, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do." I said, running my fingers through my hair. "And you don't. Owe me one or however many, that is. You've given me so much here, I'm the one who owes somebody something."

"We'll figure it out when I get back, ok?" I nodded and he reached over and gripped my shoulder for a second before boarding the jet. A few minutes later, Storm came out and the ramp went up, which was our cue to get out of the hangar. Once in the hallway, she turned to me and I was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Storm, you ok?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, wiping her eyes. "It's just…I wish I could go with them, you know? Say my last goodbyes too."

"You'll go back when it's your time. This is his, let him have it." She nodded and we made our way back upstairs. As we parted in the hallway to go to our own rooms, I was stopped by a sound of surprise that she made. I retraced my steps and met up with her outside her bedroom door, where there was a fairly large box wrapped in white paper on the floor, a card taped to the top. "What's that?"

"I don't know." She bent over and tried to pick it up and grunted with the effort. "But it's heavy. Figures my mystery man would leave me a big heavy thing when Sam's gone. I'll have to find Piotr."

"Will I do?" We both turned towards Logan as he came into the hallway.

"Yeah, I think you can handle it." Storm said. She opened her bedroom door as Logan hefted the package off the floor. We all went in and I stopped for a moment to look around. I'd never been in her room, but it was decorated pretty much the way I thought it would be, a combination of native African art and nature prints on the walls, hand woven rugs on the floors and fresh flowers next to her bed. On top of the dresser stood the various gifts she'd received over the past couple of weeks, except for the flowers, which had been carefully dried and sat in a vase that looked to be one of Sam's pieces. She cleared a space on her desk and Logan set the box down and stood back.

She didn't make a move to open it for a long moment and the anticipation was killing me. Logan shifted in place, his impatience showing more than mine. "Ro? You plannin' on openin' that thing or are we gonna stand here and wait to see if I can ever die of old age?" He quipped.

"I'm sorry, it's just…I'm almost afraid to open it." She replied, staring at the box.

"Why? It ain't tickin' and it don't smell funny, so whatever's in there ain't gonna kill you."

"Come on, Storm!" I said. "You know who it's from! So maybe now we'll KNOW who it's from."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of." She whispered, then shrugged and removed the card. She opened it then handed it to me. It had a picture of a perfect sunset on the beach on the front, but the inside had only three words written in it: "Now you'll know". My curiosity was piqued, that's for sure.

I handed it over to Logan and watched as she tore the paper off and carefully opened the box. She looked inside and gasped, her hands coming to her mouth. After a moment, she turned to Logan with a smile. "Hey, can you lift this out for me?" She asked and he moved forward without hesitation. I saw his shoulders shaking and I knew he was laughing at what he saw. He carefully removed whatever was in there and stood back. I gasped, then laughed myself.

It was a statue, unmistakably Sam's work, of Storm in full flight, her hair and cape flowing behind her. It was worked mostly in alabaster, except the base, which appeared to be blue glass or crystal and had a slight curve to it. On closer inspection, there was a pair of hands on either side of the base and I realized they represented Sam. After all, his code name IS Atlas.

"I'll be damned!" I said, still laughing. "And all this time we thought it might be Scott!"

"You girls are pretty thick, you know that?" Logan replied and we both turned to glare at him. "Hell, I've known for weeks it had to be Sam."

I smacked him on his shoulder as hard as I could and he flinched. "And you didn't say anything? You are in so much trouble, mister."

"Hey! It wasn't my place to say anythin'! Besides, it was funny watchin' the three of you try an' figure it out."

"How did you know?" Storm asked, running her fingers over the sculpture.

Logan lifted a finger to the spot on his head that Sam had inadvertently dented a few weeks prior. "Danger Room. I wanted to see what he could do and I tricked him into a session. He stood back and let me take down the virtual Iceman without a second glance. But as soon as I took down the virtual Storm, he went berserk, almost as bad as I do. That's how I got this." He shook his head and stuck a cigar in his mouth. "I ain't stupid, ya know. I did the math."

"Rogue is gonna flip her lid!" I laughed. "I don't think Sam's name came up as a serious candidate in all the speculation." I looked at Storm, who was still running inspecting her sculpture. "Did it?"

"He always was something of a romantic." She replied with a smile. "In fact, a lot of the things Scott did to get Jean were his ideas. I'm pretty dense not to have remembered that when the gifts started coming."

"Yeah well, love can make you do the crazy." I whispered and glanced at Logan. "But the real question here is, what are YOU going to do about it?"

She stood there silent for a moment before turning to me. "I think that you and I need to go shopping and talk to the cook. I believe a nice, romantic dinner in the rose garden is in order as soon as he gets back."

I squealed with delight and hugged her. "Storm, this is so great! We have so much to plan!"

"Which you can start on tomorrow." Logan said and grabbed me around the waist. "I think we'll leave her alone right now to take this all in."

"You're right, I know. I'm just so excited!" I hugged Storm again and was a little surprised when Logan hugged her too. He'd really changed a lot over the past months and it lightened my soul to see him opening up to other people. We said goodnight and made our way back to our room. I locked the door behind us and stripped down to my tank top and panties before climbing under the covers. Logan sat heavily on the foot of the bed and pulled off his boots, then sighed and just sat there. When he didn't move for a couple minutes, I sat back up. "Lover, are you ok?"

"Do you ever wish I was more like that?" He asked, looking over his shoulder. "Like Sam, with all the flowers and stuff?"

"What? No! Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're a woman and I always though women kinda expected all that stuff."

"Logan, I fell in love with you in the least romantic setting I can think of. I don't need you to give me things to prove how much you love me back. You've already given me the most important thing and that's enough for me."

"Darlin', all I've given you is action, mayhem and bloodshed, a lot of it yours."

I slid forward and wrapped my arms around him. "That's not true. You also gave me a ring, a little stone cat and you brought my car back to me. But none of that matters compared to this." I placed my hand over his heart, feeling the steady beat of it beneath my palm. "You gave me your heart, twice now, and I know it wasn't easy for you either time. You gave me your trust and your love. What more could a girl possibly want?"

He turned and kissed me, burying his hands in my hair. "I love you, Angela. I'll never leave you. I'm yours, forever."

"Me too, lover. Now come here and love me right and proper."

He did.

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AN: Three chapters to go...are you excited:) Special thanks to everyone i usually thank...i'm being lazy again today...:) Now review already!