Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.
Sitting outside the Danger Room, Marie hadn't expected to find anyone there having woken early to once again look at the little video they had on everything that had happened. Instead she found not only was she not alone, that Jubilee herself and Logan had beaten her there. Listening to them talk over coffee, Marie knew now whose idea of a breakfast the sugary cereal had been when she had settled for some oatmeal herself. Smiling at the banter between them, it grew quiet all too quick.
"You wanna get back to work?" Logan asked, Marie noting the touch of worry she could feel in his voice.
Marie could hear no answer to his question, listening to his heavy steps echoing down the halls. Hushed voices she strained to hear broke the quiet of the moment, worry growing in her chest thinking she heard Jubilee ask something of the school she thought, her voice sounding pained. The gravely voice of Logan murmured a reply, the words lost to the distance between them but filled with care. Wishing she had his keen sense of hearing then, she hugged her knees to her chest and let her head rest against the wall as she listened to Jubilee, her voice growing frantic with the words becoming clear.
"...oh god what if I hurt someone? What if I hurt Marie or Kitty, or god even the kids?" Jubilee's voice carried a hoarseness to it with the first sputtering sobs sounding.
Daring to deny the tears that welled with her own guilt, feeling the blame was her own at finding that curious scenario, Marie heard the crying muffled and the soft hushed whispers of Logan carrying. Emboldened to steal a peek, she saw him there on the floor holding Jubilee in his lap, the two lost in a tender embrace as she saw a side of Logan she adored, his caring heart usually hidden under his bluster and barking. Listening to him as he managed to get through their friend's thick skull, Marie sniffled at the realization of how alike they really were, letting the tears fall without a care if he knew she was there now.
The pep talk seemed to work, a calm returning to Jubilee with thanks given for helping her through it. That he had her promise to visit her and take sometime to talk about everything that had happened left Marie thankful, a promise to drag the girl in kicking and screaming now moot.
"...I'll get ya set up with a few, then I'll go get us some fresh coffee and I won't forget the sugar this time." Logan's voice called, carrying into the hall.
Feeling silly at the thought to maybe hide or at the last look as if she were just stumbling down the hall, Marie simply sat there and waited, Logan walking past with a look to her once he cleared the door. With his hand in offer he helped her to her feet, Marie finding she had to wipe at her eyes again. Drawn into his arms for a hug that surprised her, she settled into the embrace with her chin resting on his shoulder as he gently rubbed her back.
"Thank you Logan." Marie whispered.
"C'mon, lets go get her some coffee before she gets cranky." Logan teased, a kiss shared between them before he guided her on back to the elevator.
By the time they made their way to the kitchen, the first stirring of the school for the new day was sounding. Trampling feet and showers in the floors above, the televisions in the den and the rec room competing with another in a cacophony of chaos. Coffee was brewing in the staff kitchen, Kitty sitting at a table with Theresa, both breakfasting on a fruit salad they shared.
"Hey, you two ready to start fixing up the DR some more before Lee gets up?" Kitty asked, a laptop beside her that she punched away at on occasion.
Sharing a look with Logan, Marie slipped away to the coffee pot finding some mugs and a try. Logan settled in looking for the sugar, grabbing even the bottle of honey and chocolate syrup that still sat beside the Lucky Charms. Placing them on the tray, he turned to look to Kitty who looked perplexed if not annoyed at waiting for their reply.
"Way ahead o' ya Kitten. Though if ya wanted to beat Lee ya should have gotten up a couple hours ago." Logan replied, a hint of a smirk on his lips.
"What!?" Kitty asked, spraying her juice.
"Why ya so surprised?" Logan asked, noticing the look Theresa and Kitty shared.
"Oh shit..." Kitty whispered.
"What?" Marie asked, setting the urn back on the burner.
The answer came in the sound of curses and complaints sworn in a Scottish accent, vanishing with the swish of the elevator to the lower levels. Looking to another, Marie and Logan turned back to Kitty and Theresa for answers.
"Doctor MacTaggert said she was going to check on Jubilee, tell her to stay in bed today just to be safe." Theresa explained looking sheepish.
"Oh crud." Marie swore, the tray of coffee forgotten as she joined Logan racing to the elevator.
Pressing the button and wondering how long it took to honestly travel back up the one flight despite how deep down it might be, the door finally opened with a soft ding, both rushing in. With two choices, the lower level or the hangar, they hit the B for Sub Basement and waited anxiously for it to drift down. As the doors opened, they could hear the good Doctor swearing again, the sound of Jubilee joining her with protests and worse.
"Ow, ow, ow, lemme go!" Jubilee whined.
"Ach, if ye think yur fine enough to go playing mechanic ye daft girl, then ye be fine enough ta be the first for her physical!" Moria shouted, dragging Jubilee along by the ear in a matronly if menacing gesture.
Rushing in, Marie saw Jubilee sitting on the bed from the night before rubbing her tortured ear, Moria already getting dressed in her lab coat before walking off to a closet. Pulling out a medical gown, she looked to Marie herself and grabbed another, throwing one to both young women.
"Mister Logan, ye can kindly let the door hit yur arse on the way out, I'll get to ye soon enough. Miss Marie, ye might as well join us since ye be here, might make my stubborn patient here a bit less likely to dare to run off." Moria said, turning on Jubilee.
Looking to the garb in hand, it was just like any other hospital gown, the kind that robbed anyone of their sense of dignity. Giving a pointed look to Logan and the smirk he sported then, Marie couldn't help the childish gesture of a stuck tongue then, turning her back on him to hear the door close.
"You said I was fine." Jubilee growled, slipping behind a curtain to change.
"I said ye weren't injured, fine in the sense o' goin' to bed for some rest. Since ye can't do that, it's time I get to the business that brought me here." Moira prattled, typing on a computer to bring up what to Marie appeared to be medical records.
Marie found a curtain to change behind herself, slipping into her gown and setting her clothes on a free bed. Stepping out and feeling a draft as she tugged at the hem of her gown, she saw Jubilee was already on a bed with the good Doctor examining her. At the sight of a needle for a blood sample, she cringed, Jubilee going pale as it pierced her skin.
"Still afraid of a wee little needle I see." Moira teased.
"Stuff it Dracula." Jubilee hissed.
Marie chuckled, the bedside manner of this woman gruff enough that she figured even Logan would fall in line, watching as she tenderly placed a bandaid on Jubilee's forearm and even gave her a lollipop drawn from her jacket pocket. Begrudgingly taking it, Jubilee sucked on it looking too much a petulant child.
"Now I won't go asking ye about just what ye've been eating as I know ye'd just lie to me. Still getting plenty of exercise I see." Moira asked, pinching Jubilee's thigh.
"Ow! Yeah, still keeping in practice." Jubilee grumbled.
"Good, let me check yur pressure." Moira said, wrapping the band about her arm.
Settling near her friend on the same bed, Marie looked past to spy the computer, seeing a picture that made her cringe. Sixteen all over again, she could tell it was her medical record from years before when another lady Doctor with a far gentler bedside manner and soothed her fears of being dressed in so little of a gown. Jean never once showed fear at tenderly touching her and asking questions, just making her feel a normal girl fearful of a needle herself. She hadn't been given a lollipop, but the tea they shared at the end with some idle chatter had soothed her frayed nerves. So lost in thought, she yelped in surprise as Kitty ran straight through the closed door.
"Oh hey, I was looking all over for you two, what are you gu...oh crap, bye!" Kitty said, one look to Moira had before she raced back through the wall.
"Ye can run Kathrine Pryde, but ye cannae hide!" Moira shouted after her, turning back to her present patients.
Sharing a laugh with Jubilee at their friend's retreat, Marie soon found her under the tender care of Moira with a needle drawing blood. It hurt, but nowhere near as much as Jubilee had made it look, a bandage and a lollipop dangled for her with the blood work done.
"This isn't your first time?" Marie asked thinking of how her friends reacted to Moira.
"Nae, Ororo and Henry alike asked me to lend a helping hand, given my friendship of Charles I could nae refuse. I come whenever things be slow on Muir Island, though this time it just may be much longer. Some blasted daft fool has it out for my research and slipped into a bill a bit o' a witch hunt that could well see my funding cut. He thinks a human researchin' mutants sets the wrong impression." Moira hissed.
"Sorry I was giving you a hard time Moira." Jubilee mumbled sullenly, her cheek puffed with her lollipop.
"It's alright lass, just glad to see ye being full o' piss and vinegar again after last night." Moira assured.
"As for ye Miss Marie, I need to take one more blood sample, I just remembered that bit o' muckety muck ye got from Worthington Labs. I cannae fault ye looking at yur history, I just wanna make sure ye still be fit as a fiddle." Moria said from the computer, scrolling through the pages displayed on the screen.
Feeling a bit of fear at the mention of the Cure, Moria came back with another needle and a kindness in her eyes. Biting her bottom lip as her other arm was swabbed and the band drawn about, the pierce feeling more painful and putting it off to her apprehension.
"There...isn't anything wrong with it, is there?" Marie asked, Moira looking up and genuinely smiling in reassurance.
"I won't lie to ye, what with them giving them out like flu shots I dunnae know how many people honestly took them, so the sample group is a bit small. The few I've come across haven't shown anything but being hale and healthy, the inhibition of their X-factor intact." Moira explained.
"Oh..." Marie whispered.
"I just want to be makin' sure, dunnae fret." Moira softly said, tenderly stroking Marie's cheek.
Dressed after the poking and prodding and pointed questions, Marie joined Jubilee in a couple of chairs waiting for their leave. Busy with putting everything away, Moira tore off her gloves with a snap of latex, tossing them into a bin.
"If I see anything odd I'll be sure to tell ye both, but as far as I can see ye both be the picture of health. You, Jubilation, I will be talking ta later once I find out how far off from the diet ye have strayed that I gave ye last time. Marie, as soon as I've had a look at yur X-factor I'll give ye the word but as I said lass, dunnae fret." Moria said, a pointed look to Jubilee and a hug for Marie.
Feeling herself assured that everything was fine with Moira going as far to give a motherly kiss to her cheek, Marie was pushed out the doors with Jubilee. Standing down in the depths of the mansion's secret sub basement, they looked to another a bit sheepishly.
"Diet?" Marie asked.
"Yeah, she said that eating like an eight year old boy wasn't healthy. Wanted me to get off the junk food as she called it." Jubilee grumbled as they walked on to the elevator.
"Lucky charms and chocolate syrup? I...have to agree with Moira on that one." Marie said, chuckling at the glare Jubilee threw her.
"Don't knock it till you try it." Jubilee said a touch indignant.
"Sugah, I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week if I did, pass." Marie teased.
"Wait a minute, who told you?!" Jubilee asked, Marie holding her tongue as the elevator came to take them back to the school proper.
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Pete had stolen up his girlfriend as soon as she stepped out of the elevator, Marie giggling at the sight of Jubilee looking so content in his arms as he carried her off. The staff kitchen was empty aside from some students doing the dishes, one blonde muttering and mumbling the whole while. Fetching a tea towel, Marie helped them out for a time, getting to know them all with some chat and good natured banter. With the first bell ringing for the days classes, most thanked her and raced off, Marie left alone once more.
"Ya know, that was meant to be a punishment." Logan said from the door that lead off to the garage.
Having not noticed him, she wandered up and took note of his greasy jeans and a white T that had him looking a tad bit like James Dean she mused. Behind him she could see his bike out with a littering of tools and parts about it.
"What did they do?" Marie asked, her curiosity getting the better of it.
"Tabitha was playin' with her bombs again, blew up a toilet upstairs, rest were just her audience. Lucky Pete was around to cut the line, girl is gonna get to play plumber after class." Logan growled, playfully tweaking her nose with a greasy finger.
"Logan!" Marie spat, rubbing her nose and staring at her greasy fingers, thinking of how she must look.
Leaning in, he kissed her upon the tip of her nose, walking past to the sink to rummage beneath for some creamy and gritty soap. The mess he made of the sink had her wondering if the kids in question didn't have another round of chores scheduled as part of their punishment then.
"No class this morning?" Marie asked, treading up to him and wrapping an arm about his waist.
"Nah, just catchin' up on some paperwork and gradin', was doing something fun first." Logan said, a head tilted to the garage.
"Ya get behind a lot?" Marie asked, thinking of his desk hidden in the back of the garage.
"Eh, ya might say I stay just far enough ahead. Though gettin' all caught up for next week when Irish plays sub. Pete, myself and company are headin' to a cabin for a bit o' camping. By the way..." Logan said, pausing to lean closer to whisper in her ear, "Yer company Darlin', bring the bug spray."
Loving the sound of his gravely voice so soft and close, she smiled and rested her head against his shoulder. Flicking water at the counter in one final touch to the mess he'd made of the sink, he wiped his hands on his shirt and walked with her out to the garage. Settling down in the beat up leather chairs, she savoured the aroma as he lit up a cigar.
"What else should I bring, and who else is company?" Marie asked, throwing her feet on the edge of the desk as she stretched back in the chair.
"Probably some o' your girly books, no television at the cabin's we tend to rent, just don't seem right. Ya fish?" Logan asked, settling into his paperwork.
"Never have, I could give it a try." Marie mused.
"Nice lake up there, this time o' year the water should be warm. Bathin' suit, beach towel. Don't tell Yana, but Pete bought her a camera for the occasion. Just think o' the stuff ya could do if the power went out and ya had a candlelight evenin' ahead o' ya." Logan rumbled, a wink at the last bit that left Marie's stomach fluttering.
"So, who else is company?" Marie asked, thinking of Illyana and enjoying a bit of time to get to know the sweet girl better.
"Pete, Yana and Lee. Me, and you." Logan said, his attention back on his paperwork.
"So it's a bit of a couples thing?" Marie purred.
"Is now, started off as just a bit o' time for Pete and me to enjoy the great outdoors, then o' course Yana popped along. Lee wormed her way in last year just in time. Seems right that I invite ya along now, don't it?" Logan asked, looking up with his trademark eyebrow.
"Seems plenty right, especially that bit about couples." Marie said with a smile that Logan met from across the desk.
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Author's Note : As always thanks to everyone. Ink, you might have noticed a little bit in this chapter inspired by you ;) Thanks to JayLaw and Reina, and I remember fondly that issue you mentioned Jeannie as well as all the nostalgia. Toodles!