Chapter 9

Logan found her mentally whipping rocks at a large tree far away from the mansion.

"Red?"

"Give me a minute, Logan," Jean grumbled in reply, picking up a much larger rock and deliberately missing the tree by inches.

Mentally, Logan did an inventory of the emotions Jean had gone through thus far: she'd been calm and rational, she'd been upset, she'd gone through blaming herself – though he was sure she was still doing it – and had now plunged head long into anger. At least, he reflected, she was working constructively with the anger and not taking it out on a team mate. His respect for her sky-rocketed, as if there was the opportunity for it to grow.

When he re-emerged from his mental catalogue, Jean had taken a seat by a nearby tree, her head on her knees.

"Red?" he tried again.

"How could I let this happen?"

Points to him again. She hadn't stopped blaming herself in the slightest. "You didn't let anything happen."

"I trusted Scott, didn't I?"

"You didn't have reason not to," Logan pointed out rationally. As much as he hated Scott, it wasn't fair to impose his feelings onto someone as independent as Jean. Especially since those opinions hadn't stuck in the slightest.

"You suspected him."

"Darlin' I'd been around him longer, I'd seen the changes in him," he replied soothingly, taking a seat beside her and bringing her head to rest on his shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for things you didn't know."

"I should have been able to sense something wrong," she returned crossly. "I'm a damn telepath!"

"And you're not perfect," he returned. "Chuck didn't know anythin' was wrong."

"I'm stronger than Charles," she pointed out. "I can get deeper than he can with a simple surface probe."

"And Golden Boy was probably trained by Magneto. He's been gone for a long time, Red. It gave him enough time to be taught things under Magneto's wing."

"Remember when I told you that it was possible to shield your thoughts but you couldn't fake them?" Jean asked softly, both of them having fallen into a few moments of silence.

"Yeah."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"What are you sayin'," Logan asked carefully.

"I couldn't even tell he was a double agent. He found some way around the telepathic probe, Logan. What good am I if I can't even find out a simple thing like someone's intent."

"Don't do this, Jean. Don't start questioning' your abilities now, not when we've come so far."

"If I'd have found it back then, we wouldn't be having this problem now, would we?" Jean asked scathingly, physically picking up a rock and tossing it at a nearby tree.

"Scooter could have been shieldin', you know. Givin' you a false sense of what he was doin'," Logan tried, his mind trying to come up with ways Scott could have avoided Jean's telepathy.

"His mind wasn't a blank, Logan," Jean returned, strong hatred in her voice. "Mind, the thoughts were about as clear as mud, but they were there, and they were completely focused on the mansion and the things and people in it."

"Includin' you."

"And Charles, and Marie and you… I wasn't special in that."

"You are damn strong, Darlin'," Logan started, steering the conversation from her self-deprecating reflection. "You can do things that Chuck can't do and that a million other mutants couldn't do together. You've got to believe that."

"Then I should have been able to save my daughter."

Logan, realizing this train of thought wasn't going to convince her of anything, changed course. "This isn't gonna help her, Jeannie."

She shot him a sarcastic smile. "Gave up, huh?"

"There's no arguin' with you on this. I'm cuttin' my losses," Logan returned with his own small grin.

Jean nodded absently. "It is my fault, isn't it?"

"Even if I tell you 'no' you're not gonna care," Logan pointed out, his voice soft and therefore the scathing comment slid off of Jean's back.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she snorted, curling into his body. Logan pulled her across his lap, settling her against him comfortably enough to hug her close.

"I have all of the confidence in the world in you, Jeannie," he told her unnecessarily.

"We should have left," Jean whispered, curling further into Logan's chest.

"What do you mean, Darlin'?"

"This whole kidnapping thing… that's exactly what I'm talking about Logan. I didn't want the girls involved. I wanted to move out of the mansion, fly under the radar for a bit so that people didn't know, so Michele and Jane could have a childhood without worrying about the consequences of being our children," Jean said, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes.

"We decided not to do anything, Jeannie," Logan said carefully. "At the time, it was the right decision."

"And now it seems like the complete opposite," Jean replied scathingly. "We should have protected them better."

"We didn't know, Jean," Logan emphasised, the words puffs of air into her ear. "We had no idea Scooter was on his way to ruin everythin' we had."

"That's just it, Logan! Everything has gone downhill now, and I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to do."

"We're going to rescue Michele and Marie," Logan said, his tone of voice conveying his confusion at her statement.

"How? If we couldn't protect them, how can we protect ourselves enough to get them out? If we couldn't protect them the first time, how can we protect them the second time?"

"We know the enemy here, Red," Logan pointed out. "One-Eye can't pull anything on us now."

"He's desperate," Jean countered. "He's proven that by kidnapping our children."

"But we don't have to question his loyalties. We know he's Brotherhood," Logan replied.

"And that's a totally different ball of wax," Jean said, trying to hold back the tears that had again sparked to the surface. She'd thought she was done crying after Jane had fallen asleep and she'd allowed herself to break down. Apparently, that wasn't true.

"I know you want to know what happened, I know you want to blame yourself," Logan began carefully, not willing to offend her. "You have to remember he made his own choices, Darlin'. He decided to join with the Brotherhood and that's that. Summers can be as stubborn as you or me when he wants to."

She had to give him that. Scott had always been stubborn. "I still can't help but feel slightly responsible for it all," she whispered.

"Why? He was the one that shut you out. He was the one that ignored you. He was the one that turned around and expected you to still love him after he put you through hell and back."

"He was also the one that left when I told him I didn't love him. He was the one that fell for a mirage of me when he was in Korea that made him switch sides."

"You're trying to blame yourself," Logan told her bluntly. "You are a great person, Jeannie and an awesome mother. We aren't going to be able to protect them forever, and we're not going to be able to keep an eye on them at all times. Instead, we have to work with the time and the resources we have. We'll get her back, Jeannie, you know we will."

They were silent for a few moments before Jean spoke again. "What if Phoenix comes to play?"

"Then we deal with it. We've done it before, we can do it again, Jean."

"Maybe I should have had Charles put the barriers in."

"Don't say that," Logan growled passionately, pulling her into his body. "You are who you are, Jean. Nothing Chuck or you or I could do would ever change that."

"Sometimes, I wish it could."

Neither of them saw or heard the small child race off through the trees.

Magneto had been to visit Michele numerous times since their capture and Marie wasn't exactly sure what to do. He'd been nothing but good to the little girl and hadn't attempted to abuse her in the slightest. Marie still hated him, truly hated him, for what he'd put her through, but an impressionable girl like Michele may have developed a different idea. It didn't stop Michele from crying herself to sleep over and over, though she invariably managed to put on a strong face when their captor came patrolling.

"Let us share," Marie asked him during one of his visits. "She's crying herself to sleep."

'"But she's strong, aren't you Michele?" Magneto deferred to the five-year-old. Michele nodded solemnly, though Marie could tell by the look in her eyes she was feeling anything but.

"She doesn't need someone to watch over her."

"And I'm not," Marie promised. "She's old enough and knows enough that she doesn't need someone to watch over her, but she's five and this is the first time she's been away from home."

"She's close enough to a familiar face," Magneto stated, seemingly enjoying the conversation.

"Damnit you twisted bastard!" Marie exploded, ignoring the surprised look on her niece's face. Marie made a habit not to swear in front of the twins. Still, Magneto's maniacal laughter haunted her and echoed off the walls as he made his sweeping exit.

So here's the next one and I really hope you all enjoyed it. It feels a little bit shorter than usual and for that, I apologize (If it's not then yay for me).