AN: Sort of an interlude chapter before we delve into Logan's missing past.

Chapter 6: Reminiscing

November 23, 1994: Remus stared curiously into the dining room. The large room was full of a group of younger students eating breakfast, watched over carefully by Logan and Kurt. "Does he do this often?" he asked Rogue as he watched Logan help one of the smaller kids pour some milk from the heavy plastic carton.

"Every couple of days," said Rogue. "All the teachers take turns with the little ones' breakfast rush a few times a week." She glanced over at the feral mutant, who was trying to maintain a gruff façade while being hugged by a tiny, blonde girl with pigtails. "It's always surprised me how good he is with them, but if he's really our dad…it kinda makes sense."

"He was a great dad," said Remus softly, his eyes full of wistful reminiscence. "I used to dream that he wasn't really dead, that he was there for all the important moments in my life, especially the first few years he was gone."

"Ah sense a but in there," said Rogue knowingly.

"Yeah, but then I'd wake up and he'd still be dead," said Remus, his eyes sharpening to something cold. "Uncle Chris tried, but he just couldn't replace him as my dad."

"I see you two are getting along," said Ororo, stepping into the kitchen at the tail end of the conversation and smiling at them. "How do you like the mansion, Remus?"

"It's beautiful," said the werewolf, staring at the cocoa-skinned woman with stars in his eyes.

"It is, isn't it?" said Ororo, staring back at him with a similar look.

Rogue cleared her throat loudly, startling the two adults and causing them to jump. "If y'all are done flirtin' now…" she trailed off at the bright blush that was spreading across Storm's dark cheeks and the guilty look in Remus' strange amber eyes. "Hey, Storm, you wanna join us on Remus' tour of the mansion?" she asked suddenly.

The smiles that spread across both their faces were surely worth the awkward flirting she was sure would ensue once she heard Ororo say, "Of course; I would love to."

"Great," said Rogue. "Where do you want to start, Remus?"

XXXX

Rogue and Ororo led Remus around the upper levels of the mansion, showing him all the classrooms and the dormitory wings, the libraries and the study halls. They didn't stop in anyone place for long, preferring to show him as much as possible before lunchtime (though they did have to practically pull him out of the largest library, which had been with the house since the Professor's father had built it back in the 1920s). After that, they took him on a tour of the main level, which held the kitchen, dining rooms, game rooms, art and music studios, and several common areas. They then gave him a tour of the grounds. The werewolf was particularly impressed with the large track-and-obstacle course and the vast tracts of land that were left wide open. The two women also showed him the pool, the pond, the basketball court, and the multi-purpose sports field. Rogue made sure to only briefly show him the garages and work rooms that were attached to them, as that was usually where Logan liked to spend his free afternoons.

"How would you like to see the underground levels now?" asked Ororo. "I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind."

"Sure," said Remus, shrugging. "Sounds, fun, I guess? There's nothing illegal going on down there, right?"

The smile that crossed Ororo's cocoa colored face was part excited, part predatory. "Nothing illegal, no," she said. "But you really have to see it to believe it."

XXXX

"Charles, do you have a moment?"

The Professor looked up from the papers on his desk to see Minerva's head floating in his office fireplace. "For you, Minerva, always," he said, wheeling closer. "What can I help you with?"

"I've found a healer to take a look at your Mr. Logan," said Minerva crisply, getting right to the point. "I'm having her floo over to your office in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, Minerva," said Charles, relieved.

Minerva smiled softly at him. "You're quite welcome, Charles," she said. "Now please excuse me, but I have classes I must be getting back to. The students have a tendency toward chaos when left alone too long… especially Miss Tonks."

"Of course, Minerva. Take care."

"You as well Charles," said the witch before her head disappeared from the fire.

XXXX

Promptly fifteen minutes later the fire flared again and this time spat a woman out. She was tall and dark skinned, with her long black hair worn in a tight French braid. She brushed the soot off of her black jeans, cream blouse, and red robes with the brisk efficiency of long practice. "Are you Professor Xavier?" she asked without preamble, straightening up and fixing the bald man with her chocolate eyes.

"Yes," he said, holding out a hand for her to shake. "I take it you're the healer Minerva sent?"

"I'm Regina Jordan-McGonagall," the woman replied.

Charles raised an eyebrow. "You're related?"

"I'm her daughter-in-law," she said. "I married Pietro oh, about three years ago now."

"Minerva never mentioned you by name, I'm afraid," said Charles regretfully.

"I actually prefer it that way," said Regina. "This is my second marriage and the first ended in a rather bitter divorce. Besides that, Minerva was my teacher for seven years and I'm still rather getting used to having her as part of my family. She does dote on the twins, though, and has taken to treating my other children as if they were her own as well."

"Minerva's a good woman," agreed Charles. "Now, did she fill you in on the situation here?"

"Briefly," replied Regina, switching over to professional mode in an instant. "She mentioned that you had a colleague who had lost his memories and you were interested in exploring magical means to recover them."

"That pretty much sums it up, my dear," said Charles. "Let me take you down to the lab and I'll let Dr. McCoy fill you in on the particulars."

XXXX

Remus looked around in awe as Rogue and Ororo took him on a tour of the restricted, underground levels of the mansion. He was particularly impressed by their descriptions of what the Danger Room could do; it would be perfect, he thought absently, should he find himself still here at the next full moon. Their last stop was Dr. McCoy's labs. "He's been grooming Jean to take over for him," said Ororo. "Hank's been thinking about going into politics for a while now, but he won't leave the Professor without an on-call physician."

Ororo led their little group around the corner and stopped dead in the doorway of the lab, blocking Remus and Rogue from viewing the inside. "What's wrong, Storm?" asked Rogue curiously, peering around the black woman. "Oh," she said, understanding dawning on her pale face.

"What is it?" asked Remus.

Rogue pulled back to look at her brother. "Maybe we should come back later," she suggested, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"There's something in there you don't want me to see," he observed, his eyes hardening.

"Very astute," said Ororo. "What are the chances you'll just walk away from this?"

Remus sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "I'll probably regret this, but slim to none," he said.

Ororo nodded. "I thought as much." She stepped to the side, clearing the doorway of the lab.

Remus stepped up and peered inside, instantly regretting it. Inside the high-tech lab sat a shirtless Logan, talking to a dark skinned woman in familiar red healers' robes while the Professor and a blue-furred man stood by. He quickly backed out of the room, hoping to avoid notice, but he misjudged his movement and stepped on Rogue's foot. The girl yelped, causing the four occupants to turn their heads to the door. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

"Remus? What the bloody hell are you doing here?" asked the woman, whose skin was several shades darker than Ororo's, surprise evident in her voice.

Remus' amber eyes widened in recognition. "I could ask the same of you, Gina," he said, a smile creeping across his face. "Long time no see."

Regina snorted and rolled her eyes at him. "You had dinner with my family last Sunday," she said dryly.

Remus shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, well, my way sounds better. Besides, I wasn't expecting to see you here, of all places."

"McGonagall called in a favor and so here I am, trying to help this guy," she waved a hand toward Logan, "regain his memories."

"So he wasn't lying when he said he didn't remember anything before fifteen years ago."

"I don't know about exact dates," said Regina, "but, yeah. His mind has most definitely been tampered with. It's holier than Swiss cheese."

"Well at least he's not a liar on top of everything else," snarked Remus.

"Watch it, bub," snarled Logan.

Regina raised an eyebrow and looked at Storm. "Am I missing something here?" she asked the white-haired mutant.

"Remus believes that Logan is his father," said Ororo.

Regina blinked and looked back and forth between the two men. "Well that explains a lot," she said. "They have the same stubborn attitude and hey, look, they have the same glare."

"We do not," snapped Remus, throwing his arms in the air and glaring angrily at his friend.

Regina rolled her eyes at him. "Remus, I've known you since you were eleven," she said. "You two are glaringly similar. I've only known Logan here for what, ten minutes, and I can already tell you that."

Remus grumbled and crossed his arms across his chest like a sullen child. "Whatever," he grumbled. "So can you fix him or what?"

"What the kid said," snapped Logan, flexing his hands as if itching to release his claws. "Can you get me my memories back or what, Doc?"

"First off," said Regina, turning to face Logan and raising her pointer finger in the air, "I'm not a doctor, I'm a healer; there's a big difference. Second, the brain's a delicate organ, Logan. I can't promise immediate or complete results, but…I'm fairly confident that I can help you get some of your memories back."

"Sounds better than nothing, Doc," said Logan. "When can we start?"

The grin that Regina gave him was positively predatory. "Right now," she said. "Let's get started then, shall we?"

XXXX

Regina, barking orders, had the lab re-arranged exactly how she wanted in under ten minutes. "I just need you to hop up on the table here, Logan, and we can get this show on the road," she said crisply, motioning to the cushioned metal table that had been cleared on all sides by at least three feet. "Okay, everyone who isn't Logan needs to clear out now; this is a private operation. I don't need any distractions in here while I'm working on healing his brain. Yes, that means you too, Remus." Remus pouted in protest, but Regina simply glared at him and pointed to the door. Rolling his eyes childishly, the werewolf obeyed, slamming the door shut behind him with more force than was strictly necessary.

"Whatcha gonna do now, Doc?" asked Logan, masking his nervousness with his usual gruff machismo.

"We're gonna take a trip down memory lane, Logan," said Regina, grinning a strangely maniacal smile. "Are you ready?"

Logan smiled grimly. "Bring it on, Doc," he said.

AN: Regina Jordan-McGonagall is a sort of non-OC OC of mine. Basically, someone has to fill her role, even if she's not mentioned by name, so I just created a character to fill an empty space. She is Angelina Johnson's mother and Lee Jordan's aunt (Angelina and Lee being cousins is part of my head cannon). The first husband referred to here is Angelina's father, Alvin Johnson. At this point in the story, Regina has 5 kids: Paul Black (10), Angelina Johnson (9), Rowena Lupin (5), and the twins Norah and Jude McGonagall (2).

Please drop a review to keep the plot dragon-muses well fed. (No flames please.)