Whatever Hank used to clean the wound burned like hell, but Jean didn't make a sound. It was Logan who seemed to be in pain.
He held Jean's hand as if she were seriously ill.
"Logan, it's really not that bad," Jean smiled.
"I don't like it when ya hurtin', Jeannie," Logan said.
"Alright, and now for the hard part," Hank said as he prepared to start stitching.
This hurt more than the cleaning process.
Jean grinned in pain, but quickly relaxed her face. She didn't want to show pain. Not in front of Logan.
She wasn't fooling him though, he felt how she tensed up, and how much she had to hold back from squeezing his hand.
"Oh, Jeannie..." Logan sighed.
"Oh my God..." Hank said as he rolled his eyes.
"Really, Logan, it's not that bad," she said. She wanted him to tell her how he knew her, but she wasn't sure if she wanted Hank to know. At least not yet. Did he know Hank as well? He said he knew all of them...
"How are you doing, Jean?" the professor said as he walked in.
"Fine, but this one here is taking it a bit hard," she said tapping Logan's hand.
Professor laughed. "How do you know Jean?" he asked Logan.
"We met when Apocalypse kidnapped ya," he said.
"That's not how you know me," Jean thought. The Professor overheard the thought. He looked from Jean, to Logan, and back to Jean.
Hank kept stitching for a few more minutes, then he dressed Jean's wound. Jean exhaled deeply. It was all over.
"Be careful in the shower; no rapid movements for at least week; I'll check how it's healing in a few days," Hank told her.
Jean nodded.
"Hank, can you leave us for a moment? I have something to discuss with Jean and Logan," the professor said.
"Of course. See you all later," Hank said, and closed the door behind him.
"Glad to hear that. I have something to discuss as well," Logan said. Jean frowned, and looked at the professor. Was Logan mad at him? He almost sounded like it.
"Alright, let's start with you first," the professor said.
"How often does Jean use her powers in the danger room?"
"She just used them a little while ago."
"Not that one. The OTHER one."
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Charles!"
Yes, he was mad at him for sure. Logan knew Charles was about to read his thoughts. "No need to get in my head, I'll tell ya everythin'."
"Did you know Jean as well as you knew me?" the professor said.
" 'As well as you knew me', how do you know each other?" Jean said with a higher pitched voice than intended.
"We met when I time traveled. Although I knew him before that," Logan said.
Jean opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was "Time...trav...whoa...huh.." When she knew she wasn't going to get anything out, she stopped struggling, and gestured for Logan to go on.
"There was a war on mutants. The sentinels nearly wiped us out. Many of us died. Nearly all of us. I went back in time to fix it," Logan said in one breath.
Jean's jaw dropped. Logan waited for Jean to process all this before he continued, "Everything started when Raven killed Trask - the creator of the sentinels. She had every right to kill him, but the humans didn't know that. They thought we were all evil and had to be dealt with; they started a war on us. I went back in time and found Charles...professor. He talked Raven out of killin' Trask, which changed the past and hopefully, the future."
"What happened to you afterwards? I was looking for you, but I only found you recently. You weren't very happy to see me," the professor said.
"Son of a bitch, Eric, nearly drowned me. Raven helped me, but then I got caught by Striker. He experimented on me, tortured me, turned me into a weapon."
"Weapon X," Jean whispered.
"Then Jean showed up. She gave me back my memories, the ones from this timeline. I didn't remember the old one, or how I time traveled when you found me. I didn't even remember you, Charles."
"What made you remember?" Jean asked.
"You told me about Apocalypse and...fire...inside you. I've seen ya use it, Jean."
Whatever he's seen her do wasn't good. That much she knew from his tone. Then there were also her nightmares. She wasn't having them as frequently, but she still dreamed of fire and death from time to time.
"Logan, what did I do? What happened to me?"
Logan swallowed a lump in his throat. How can he tell her what happened? That she lost control and he had to kill her?
"Tell me!" Jean insisted.
"You were afraid of your powers. We all were. Charles decided that the best thing to do was to block that power from you, to push it deep down, so ya never get to use it again. But..."
"I've harmed people, haven't I?"
"Yes..." he took a breath to continue, "you harmed people. Including Scott and the professor..."
Tears ran down Jean's cheeks. Logan was able to stop the war from happening, but what about her powers? Was the same thing going to happen anyway? Was she going to kill the ones she loved?
"What happened then?" Jean's voice was barely above a whisper.
"It took control over you. You begged me to save you. You begged me to..." he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. All the pain he felt in that moment came back. How he held her lifeless body in his arms...
"I had to kill you, Jean," he whispered. He was afraid to look at her. How was she going to trust him when he just told her this? How were they going to stop it from happening again?
"Logan? Logan, look at me," Jean said, "You kept me from harming more people. You did the right thing."
Logan took both of Jean's small, delicate hands in his own.
"We gotta do it differently this time, Charles. We let her down last time," Logan said.
"But we've managed to keep it under control until now," the professor said.
"Blocking her powers for a short time isn't controlling them. It'll come out. Trust me, I've seen it. She needs to learn how to control it."
"You're right, Logan. Don't worry, Jean, we will not let you down this time."
"If it takes control over me, I need you two to take care of me," Jean said with no traces of emotion.
"Jean..." the professor said.
"I do not want to hurt anyone. If it comes down to it, you have to stop me."
Logan put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. "You will not harm anyone. We will help ya learn to control it. D'ya hear me?"
"Thank you," she said to both of them.
"No need to thank us. I'll be outside," Charles said when he sensed they wanted to be alone.
"How 'bout I tell ya some fun stories from the other timeline, Red?" Logan tried to cheer her up.
"You have fun stories from the other timeline as well?"
"Sure do. Wanna hear 'em?"
"In a minute..." she said as she pulled him close to her and kissed him.