Author's Notes: Thanks a lot for your feedback. I'm glad you are liking this fic. This is my own personal favorite chapter so far.

Chapter 9

"What the hell am I doing here?" Wolverine said standing up from his bed. "I'm going upstairs and I'm going to put an end to this. I love you Storm, and I'm going to fight for you. I don't care if right now you want him and not me. I will kick that bastard's ass out of your life even if you fry mine afterwards." Wolverine said walking to his bedroom door with determination. Not a second later the sandal wood scent that was very much hers reached his senses and he stopped when he felt her standing outside his door. He didn't understand what she was doing there; he only cared about the fact that she was there and opened the door. She entered his room without saying a word and he closed the door behind her. She turned around to look at him and he saw that her expression hadn't changed one bit after their encounter on the stairwell. What Storm, not another lecture? Get off my case would ya! He tried to speak, but she spoke first.

"Scott lied to you." In truth, he didn't have the slightest idea why she had come to his room, but still her remark was truly surprising.

"What?" He asked, taking a step forward.

"He lied to you about he and I having an affair. It is not true, and even though I understand why he felt the need to lie to you the real question here is, how dare you? Where did you get such an idea, Logan?" Wolverine looked at her surprised and then sat down on his bed hiding his face in his hands. He couldn't believe what she was saying. His mind started to travel back in time, then to the present and back again. He re-lived the day in a matter of seconds, looking to find the answers to her questions, answers he thought he had if she were lying, but he knew she was not. How did I dare indeed?

"I…" He started, still covering his face.

"You what?" She demanded. He lowered his hands and stared at the wall not wanting to look at her but aware that she was keeping her eyes on him.

"I saw things, heard things that at the time seemed unmistakably the characteristics of two people that were…" He looked at her. "You know. And then he just told me to my face." His words started coming out in a stutter, but ended on a furious note.

"What things, Logan? What was it that you saw or heard?" He stood up abruptly matching her intensity.

"He has been following you around all day like a love sick puppy. All the private moments, the touching, the hugging, the damn kissing!" He was numbering each word with his fingers trying to make his case.

"What kissing? We did not kiss!" Storm became defensive and wondered how their positions changed so quickly.

"I don't mean a lovers kiss. I saw him kissing your forehead."

"And from that you got an affair?"

"Well, and what about the other things? I heard him talking with you in whispers being very insistent. 'Ro I need this. It's got to be you. It has always been you and me." Wolverine said trying to mock Cyclops' voice accompanied by his own mannerisms. Storm remembered the conversation and realized that he obviously didn't hear the whole thing, otherwise he wouldn't have thought the worst. She was inwardly amused by his mimics, but was careful not to exteriorize it since she needed to maintain her attitude. She was mad at him after all.

"Even though I feel insulted enough as it is, I shall explain to you what you have seen and heard was all about." She noticed that he already looked apologetic. "After what happened at Alkali Lake, I had some things to deal with." His expression immediately turned preoccupied. "Scott was worried about me. I asked him for some time alone to meditate and find my resolve. Logan…" She sighed taking a moment to look at him. Even though he was looking at her, he seemed lost in his own reverie and she wondered what thoughts were behind his intense gaze. However, she also wondered how could she make him understand how important was for all of them to keep their unity, their friendship and their trust in each other. She wanted to make him see that now that he was one of them, he was not just another mutant trying to escape the hostile world outside. He was part of something much more important, something that started being a journey of learning and understanding who and what they were, and to try and find a way to fit in and co-exist. A journey that had become a fight between those with gifts they didn't ask for, and those who thought that life started and ended with them, even though they were all humans. "In Kenya," Storm said sitting down on his bed suddenly changing her mind about giving him explanations. Instead, she decided to make him see the bigger picture. "…the land of my mother, life was simple. Every sunrise did not bring fear and a struggle for survival, and every sundown was not a time to mourn. We were all equal, children of the earth. Nobody ever took more than what they needed but everyone had enough to live. We did not have mutants' haters; we did not even know they existed. This life," She extended her arms as she said it, like trying to symbolically embrace their surroundings physically, mentally and emotionally with the gesture. "…is so much different. I do not have to explain to you why. I had a lot to learn when I came here. Many times, I longed to go back to my land where this hate and this injustice could not reach me, but I stayed. I stayed for two reasons, Logan." Storm studied his face to see if she still had his attention and saw that he was totally concentrated on her. "First, I realized there is no escaping this hate and this injustice. It is everywhere mutants exist. It does not just find us, it seeks us, and the only way to survive it is to stand and fight. I rather find a way to make them understand that we have the right to exist and to be here, but so far they do not want to listen. I do not like violence, but if the words fail, I will still be standing here." Wolverine was completely taken with her honesty and her bravery. He sat by her side, not too close but not too far.

"And number two?" He asked her showing sincere interest and she smiled.

"Out here, so far from the place I called home for many years of my life, I found a second home with people, who little by little, became like a family to me. Through times of hesitation and doubt, when I did not understand this world and its customs and the whole city felt like a prison, I always had the support and comfort of Jean and Scott. The Professor was our guide and our teacher, and in many ways like a father to us all, so we became like siblings. We share a special bond. They are the best friends I have ever known. I would do anything for them and they would do the same for me. We love each other and we protect one another, and we will never betray the faith we have put in each other." Storm said the last sentence more emphatically reminding him of his terrible accusations. Wolverine lifted his hands at chest level adopting a surrendering posture acknowledging his mistake, and then rested his arms on his knees and lowered his head. Storm reached out with her hand and gave his arm a little squeeze. "Logan, give him a chance. Give us all a chance and you will know what it is like to always have someone there to watch your back, to share the good and the tough times or simply enjoy the comfortable silence. I told you before, you do not need to be alone." Wolverine took a deep breath. He was looking at her hand on his arm while she spoke and enjoying her soothing touch. He took that very hand in his and squeezed it just a little, the very way she has done before.

"I know that what you say is true. I'm really starting to get what you guys are all about and I really want to belong here with you." At that moment, he met her eyes trying to make his message more personal than it was general. "Storm, 'Ro, I am really sorry for thinking that something was going on between you and him. I should've made sure instead of thinking the worst. Knowing you should've been enough for me to know that that was impossible, but it's just that Cyke really gets on my nerves." He said rolling his eyes.

"He gets on your nerves? You were about to kill him!" Wolverine sighed knowing that once more she was stating the truth. "Would you have killed him?" He noticed that her calmer voice carried a hint of fear. Fear of what he might answered, but he decided to be honest with her.

"I don't know, but I sure am glad you stopped me." He let go of her hand and stood up again turning his back on her. She left the bed as well.

"But why, Logan?" Her question didn't surprise him just as he was sure his answer was not going to surprise her, but he wanted to know how she would take it so he turned around to face her.

"Because I have feelings for you." He said looking into her eyes. As he had expected she was not surprised, however, what he didn't expect to see was doubt in her eyes.

Storm wasn't about to deny to herself that she had been attracted to Wolverine from the start, but after all that he did to try and literally steal Jean from Scott, how could she be sure of his feelings or his words? She wanted to make sure of what he was really feeling before letting him into her heart. After all, the most devastating storms are the ones that unleash within.

"I thought you loved Jean." It was a simple statement, but they both knew it represented much more than that.

"I thought so too, but I guess it was just infatuation." He said sincerely.

"And how do you know that now you are not just infatuated with me?" He took a couple of steps closer to her and raised his hand as if to touch her, but held himself back.

"Believe me, I know." Just as Wolverine with his heightened senses could perceive how others were feeling, Storm's bond with nature allowed her to be more sensible and perceptive as well. His words were full of truth and she could feel it in every fiber of her being. She smiled inwardly but still she needed to know more.

"When did this happen?" Wolverine started to pace in front of her.

"I have spent the whole day asking myself the same thing." He massaged his neck as if he were still pondering the question.

"And?" Storm asked when he didn't continue.

"And, the best answer I got was that it's been happening here and there; every time we were in the same room and every time I saw you." He stood in front of her again and saw that she was slightly frowning, evidently confused by what he had said.

"How do you mean?" He knew that what he was about to say was going to answer the question for both of them. He sat on his bed again to calm his nerves and didn't bother to question why he was in such state anymore, for the reason was standing in front of him. Storm remained on her feet.

"There's no denying that you are a very beautiful woman. The way you carry yourself, you have this aura of…how was it Rogue put it?" He paused thinking a moment. "Regality. However, what really caught my attention were the details."

"The details?" She repeated.

"The details that lie beyond your beauty and your powers. The details that make you so special and invaluable to me, to everybody in this whole mansion, to those outside that front gate, even if they never meet you." Wolverine saw that his praises were causing Storm to become embarrassed and thought that that was yet another beautiful quality of hers, her humbleness. But he was far from done. "The way you keep a piece of your land in your loft, I'm sure those plants help you feel less homesick. The way the Professor and the others trust you out there in the field and at a personal level, how responsible you are with what you say and what you do." The details he was naming were said at random as if he were brainstorming. "Everything you eat is that healthy stuff and you give it to the kids too. I've noticed you stay up until you are sure they are all sound asleep. I see you in them; the way you teach them, talk to them or lecture them when is necessary. They look up to you and respect you so much. They also love you a lot. Don't tell Jean, but I think you are their favorite." He said smiling at her and she returned the smile shaking her head slightly. "Everything you do you do it with love. You have this faith in the Professor's dream and the strength to see it through. It's not wonder why no matter how bad things look, they don't give up hope because they have you." Wolverine fell silent. He thought about what he had just said and couldn't believe how much he had apparently been observing Storm. While his flesh was lusting after Jean in what it seemed to him at this point an attempt to satisfy a moment of blind and fruitless passion, unconsciously his heart was helplessly and happily falling in love with Storm.

"How did you come to notice all of this?" Storm was really amazed with all the things he knew of her, even though she always felt left out when it came to his attentions. Her words brought him back to the present.

"I wouldn't know how to answer that. Up until this moment, I didn't realize how much of you have stayed with me in so little time. The important thing is that I noticed and that I know how you really are. Even though I don't know too much about your life or about your past, something that I'm really sure about is how you make me feel."

They stared at each other intently, her silent question hanging in the air between them. She was hoping that he would answer it without her having to ask it. As if reading her thoughts Wolverine started talking again with his heart on his sleeve, his eyes never leaving hers. "When you enter a room, you make me feel the need to be in my best behavior. Your sole presence demands respect, like before in the stairwell, and it has nothing to do with your powers. Although I have to say you should be careful where you aim those things." He pointed upward referring to her ability to manipulate lightning bolts. They both chuckled. Then he stood up and walked towards her. "Seriously though, I'm not myself when I'm around you. You are so centered and full of calmness that no matter how I'm feeling, it soothes me every time. I consider myself a wild man. Stryker even called me an animal, but the way you are with me tames the beast that lives inside me and I feel nothing but human." Storm became very aware of his closeness but she never lost her composure. "You have so many wonderful attributes that are in perfect harmony with your external beauty." He took one of her hands and brought it to his lips kissing it softly. She opened her mouth a little as if to say something, but he continued talking not giving her a chance. "Your incredibly beautiful white hair," He lifted his other hand to feel the softness of her hair, touching a strand from top to bottom. "…and your perfect skin." His finger caressed her cheek and then he moved his hand to cup the side of her face. "The hypnotic sway of your body and that radiant smile born of these luscious lips." He caressed her lips with his thump as he finished closing the tiny gap between their bodies. "How can a man not fall in love with you?" Wolverine let go of her hand to cup the other side of her face and slowly lowered his face to hers longing to taste her lips. Storm placed both of her hands over his and saw him close his eyes. "How could I not love you?" At this point, his words were almost inaudible. Their mouths were so close they could feel their breaths battling in the air. With his eyes closed he failed to see Storm's getting white, negating him the chance to escape the painful jolt of electricity she sent through his hands and that engulfed his entire body. So painful indeed that he jumped backward away from her bewildered.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" He rubbed his wrists where she had touched him and wondered when his healing factor was going to kick in and get rid of the pain he was feeling.

"First, you think I am betraying my best friend by having an affair with her boyfriend. Then, you tell me you think the world of me, and now you just want to treat me like I am easy. By the goddess, you have a way with women. You sure have a lot to learn." Storm was very calmed in spite of her words. He opened his mouth to protest, but realized he had no right so he apologized instead.

"I'm sorry, you are right. I stand corrected."

"If we are going to do this, you better wise up. First lesson, Logan, if you want to touch me, you have to earn it." She quickly left, not giving him a chance to respond; not that he was ready to. Wolverine stared for a while at the closed door, processing as fast as possible the whole conversation between them, making the occasional pause to insult himself. How could he have thought that the woman everybody thought could do no wrong was actually doing the worst thing possible? He felt ashamed and was furious with himself for being so stupid. And to top it all off, he had made a pass at her. After all the apologizing he did, he somehow managed to screw up again so quickly. She is right. I do have a way with women. Too bad it is the wrong way. By all means, he had all the reason in the world to feel like a complete loser and yet, he found his face frozen with glee. 'If we are going to do this.' Of all the things she said, that one phrase was the most important. He looked up and mouthed a 'Thank you, guys.' He didn't know which deity was responsible for his luck, God or her goddess, but he needed to thank somebody. In all seriousness, he realized that he had poured his heart out to her and there was no turning back, so he made a promise to himself. He would do whatever it took to make the most of this second chance at a real life and at a true love so he one day could have a past worth remembering.

To be continued…