Chapter 7

Apparently, Jane wasn't as asleep as her parents thought.

"Honey…" Jean started, wanting to protect her daughter from any more pain the events had caused.

"I heard Grandpa, Mommy," the five-year-old stated matter-of-factly. "There isn't much you can do until you know what happened."

"It's a pretty brave thing to do," Logan agreed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, where he was more at eye level with Jean and Jane.

" Logan!" Jean admonished.

"We were in our room, minding our own business, playing with Aunt Marie and then Mr Summers and Miss Frost came in to offer us ice cream. Michele wanted some and Aunt Marie said it was okay so we went to get our coats, but I couldn't find mine so I took longer and when I poked my head out to see if Aunt Marie had seen it, I saw her lying on the ground and Michele was in Miss Frost's arms not moving so I hid. They were arguing too over what to take with them, but I stayed hidden and quiet, just like Daddy told me to. Then they left and they took Aunt Marie and Chell, with them," Jane spewed getting it out as fast as she could, tears blurring her vision again.

"You did the right thing, Angel," Logan encouraged as Jean pushed hair away from the anguished face.

"I could have helped her," Jane countered.

"No, sweetheart, your father's right," Jean assured. "Can you answer a few questions?"

Jane waited a minute, checking her composure, then nodded.

"Do you remember anything that Mr Summers or Miss Frost said?" Jean asked.

"Something about a magnet needing bait to catch a phoenix. And needing to be careful about a wolverine, but I didn't understand."

Jean and Logan certainly did.

"Do you remember anything else?" Logan asked in a soft rumble. Jane shook her head.

"I waited until I was sure they'd gone before going to Mommy." She looked doubtfully between both parents. "Will that help you find Michele and Aunt Marie?"

"Yeah, Jane. You've helped a lot," Jean promised.

"What happens now?"

"Now we get Michele and Marie back," Logan said, already popping his knuckles.

"How?" Jane inquired curiously, watching her mother place a gentle hand on her father's to stop the popping.

"We have to talk to Grandpa and Aunt Ro about it," Jean replied carefully, not wanting to tell her daughter about the violence that would most likely occur.

"Are you going to get hurt?" Jane asked, sliding carefully out of Jean's lap to sit between her mother and her father's back.

Logan moved up until she was sandwiched between him and Jean. "We hope not," he told her honestly.

" Logan!" Jean exclaimed sharply.

"We can't baby them forever, Jean," he replied, turning back to Jane. "We'll be really careful."

"But you've both been hurt before," Jane said smartly.

"It comes with what we do," Logan answered candidly. "Sometimes we get hurt.

"You fight people. Why?"

"Look, I'll make you a promise," Logan said, feeling Jean's irritation at the conversation on the end of their link. "When we get back, I'll sit down with you and Michele and we'll talk about it."

"Are you going to find Michele?"

"Yeah, Angel."

"Both of you?"

"Unfortunately, honey, we have to go," Jean answered, pressing a kiss to Jane's temple.

"Can't I come?"

"No," Logan and Jean said in unison.

"But…"

"No, Jane. We can't focus on Michele and Marie and keep you safe all at the same time," Logan told her, his tone telling her not to argue.

"I can take care of myself," Jane stated.

"Exactly why we're trusting you to stay here," Jean replied.

"But Mommy—"

"No, Jane," Jean said firmly. Then she felt the wave of fear from her daughter and almost buckled.

"Jean," Logan warned.

You go ahead, she said, not wanting her daughter to hear their discussion.

You need to be there, he told her sternly.

And I will be, but my terrified daughter comes first, Jean responded sharply. The fact that her other child was missing was starting to grate on her nerves and the stress was starting to show.

I'll let Chuck know, Logan conceded, kissing them both on the forehead. Jane clung tighter to her mother when the door closed behind him.

"Jane, honey, I need you to loosen up a bit," Jean groaned out, Jane forcing the air from her lungs.

"You can't go too," Jane whined.

"I have to, Jane," Jean responded softly. "I have to go."

"Then Daddy has to stay," Jane said petulantly.

"Neither of us can stay here."

"Why not?"

"Because Michele is our daughter too, just like she's your sister," Jean answered. "As her Mommy, I have to go get her."

"But as my Mommy you have to stay here.

Jean pulled Jane so she was sitting on Jean's thighs, then cupped her face. "I know you're scared, sweetheart. You've been really brave so far. We just need you to be brave a little while longer," she almost begged. "Grandpa Charles will be here, you'll get to spend the time with him."

"But I want to spend it with you! You promised only one of you and Daddy would be gone at one time."

"And in any other situation that promise would stand true," Jean swore, "But this is special."

"Mommy…" Jane whined, flopping against Jean and holding on tight.

Jean? Logan had opened their link for the meeting.

I'm listening.

Logan lounged back against the uncomfortable chair as best he could.

"With the computerization of the mission logs we were able to take an organized look at all of Cyclops' missions since he started," Bobby was saying, having taken control of the information side.

"Cut the eloquence and let's find my daughter," Logan growled.

"We found them," Kitty picked up. "Up to Cyclops' mission with Wolverine in Korea, all Brotherhood missions were completed successfully. After that, his success rate declined significantly in all Brotherhood missions and his reports slowly began to contradict those given in by his partners."

"How is that going to help us?" Logan asked impatiently.

"Patience, Logan," Xavier said calmly.

"Patience? My daughter and Marie could be goin' to their deaths and all you can say to me is patience?" Logan exploded.

Logan! Calm down! Jean's mental voice screamed at him. You're not going to help us anymore by fighting with them about it.

She was right and he knew it. Without another word, he sat back down in his recently vacated seat. There was a moment of silence to see if there would be another outburst, but Logan just growled quietly.

"We have reason to believe Scott has been working for the Brotherhood," Bobby finally said, cutting to the chase. "The kidnapping of Michele and Marie was no coincidence either."

"What did Jane have to say?"

"Magneto wants bait to lure Jean," Logan condensed. "He wants her on his side."

"Naturally," Ororo said scathingly, though not in reference to Jean. "Power hungry bastard."

"Jean has the power to wipe out anything she sees fit," Xavier pointed out. "She would be a valuable asset to Magneto's side."

"This is what you meant when you said Magneto could manipulate. You knew there was a chance that they could all be in danger," Bobby said in awe, looking at Logan.

"Anyone in this place is in danger," Logan pointed out, Jean in his head calming him enough to be rational. "No offence, Chuck, but because this is where we work from, anyone who sets foot in this mansion could be bait for any of us."

That's not telling us where they could be, Jean's voice echoed in all of their heads. Can we focus on one thing at a time? You all agree I have enough power to do extensive damage, so let's not debate it and let's focus on finding them.

"She's got a point," Kitty said, pulling up a map of North America. "Theoretically, they could be anywhere around this area. I doubt Magneto would take them far, but you never know."

"What strongholds do we know about?" Logan asked, settling his elbows on his knees. "Where is the most logical place to take them?" In his mind, he felt Jean flinch and immediately understood.

" Alkali Lake," he said, at the same time Jean said it in his mind.

"Why there?"

"They want Michele and Marie to be found, right?" Logan questioned. "That's the most obvious place."

"The entire thing is under water now," Kitty responded.

"Jean's been back almost ten years," Logan countered. "That's more than enough time to rebuild some of the things destroyed by the water."

" Logan makes a good point," Xavier stepped in. "The most logical place for them to look would be Alkali Lake, but I will check Cerebro when the meeting is adjourned, to make sure."

"It still doesn't make sense to me," Kitty said honestly. " Alkali Lake? Where your worst memories are?"

"Exactly. The last place Jean and I would ever want our children to be," Logan spoke softly.

Ororo stood gracefully, facing her teammates with a fierceness in her eyes that meant war. "We find my niece and we bring her home," she stated strongly. "That is our only mission."

One by one they filtered out of the room, Ororo's words signalling the end of their meeting. Logan made his way up to the room he shared with Jean, finally feeling the emotion of losing a daughter weighing on his shoulders. He found the redhead looking out of the window and immediately wrapped his arms around her from behind, dropping his chin to her shoulder.

"When do we leave?" Jean whispered strongly.

"You'll be able to handle this?"

Jean smiled turning to face him and placing a hand against his cheek. "We have to do this, Logan. Both of us."

"That's exactly what they want," Logan growled back. "They want to be able to harness your power and have me out of the way, so I can't stop you."

"I was listening, I know. They don't understand the can of worms they've just opened."

Suddenly, Logan could hear the power in her voice and feel it humming under her skin. He was immensely proud of the strides she'd made through the years in control and in the way she handled herself. She wasn't the lost little girl any more. She was a strong woman, who knew who she was and understood the power she wielded.

"We leave when Chuck gives us the okay."

Jean nodded, allowing more of her power to flow through her blood. Logan still didn't let her go, even though he could see objects around the room react to the power. Unexpectedly, Logan spun her to face him. Jean instantly boxed the power back up to look at him with furious green eyes.

"Whatever happens, Jeannie, I want you to remember one thing," he whispered to her ferociously, searching her eyes for the normally calm and collected Jean Grey.

"What?"

"I love you," he swore to her. "I will always love you."

The anger in Jean's eyes faded, replaced by an uncertain mother who was worried for the well-being of her children. "I want them to be okay."

"You'd know if they weren't," Logan promised. "So would Jane."

"She fell asleep about half way through the meeting," Jean said, looking over his shoulder at her lone daughter and where she was curled up against Jean's own Bedtime Bear.

"Dreamless?" Logan asked worriedly.

"I'm trying," she responded. "The trauma of this afternoon fights really hard."

Logan kissed her forehead. "Chuck was goin' to check Cerebro to see if he could better pinpoint where Golden Boy was takin' the girls."

"Let's go find him."

Okay, so I took thirty seconds on my computer (loss of battery because I don't have my power cord) to update. I hope you enjoy!