Chapter 28: There's More Than One Way To A Dragon's Heart

True to Gavin's little moment, he took some time off from school to get his head together. Everyone else (minus Kai and Jamie) protested, but when Charles revealed the reason with Gavin's permission, everyone was horrified before it swiftly turned into outrage. Kurt couldn't stop himself from feeling ashamed of being related to Mystique, not that anyone blamed him.

Rogue didn't hesitate to throw her arms around the pseudo vampire and hug him tightly, which Gavin honestly returned before he started crying his eyes out.

Bast wanted to personally hunt the blue skinned shapeshifter down and claw her eyes out, but Gavin told her not to bother.

Devin had to muster every amount of willpower he had to keep himself from going after Mystique, if only to give her a scar for she had done to his brother.

Chelsea's reaction was the most explosive. She nearly went full dragon in a fit of murderous rage had Logan not calmed her down… though a few small fire breaths did escape her mouth to make her anger known.

Currently the blonde was stomping around the courtyard in a huff while both Jean and Ororo stood there with Bast and Kai to keep her from going nuts.

"Chelsea, I know you're angry, but this just isn't the way to go about it." Ororo told her as the dragoness just kept stomping back and forth, causing several depression marks in the grass.

"I can't help it. Mystique did that to Gavin, and we're just… GAH!" She tried to say before throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"Trust us, we're not happy about it either." Jean stated.

"What we should really be worried about is what she's gonna end up doing with the kid once it's born." Bast noted.

"I just hope she won't hand it over to HYDRA." Kai said with a shudder.

"If she does that, then she's as good as dead." Chelsea growled. Though a second later she stiffened, her ears picking up the faint sound of a voice.

"Help! Help!" It said.

"You guys hear that?" She asked the other women. They just looked at her in confusion.

"Hear what?" Kai asked.

"A voice. It sounds like it's coming from…" The Dragoness trailed as she followed the sound of the voice, the others following as well, they went into the woods until Chelsea came upon a small box tortoise that was flipped over on its back and couldn't get up. The voice was coming from it, and apparently, only Chelsea could hear it.

"Help me! I can't get up!" It squeaked, which caused the blonde's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Um… What?" She muttered in confusion. Deciding to test the figurative waters, she flipped the tortoise upright to see what would happen.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'm so happy to be back right side up again." It said in a cute squeaky voice before nuzzling it's head into Chelsea's hand. "Thank you, nice human lady." It squeaked again.

"Um… You're welcome?" She replied awkwardly. After that the tortoise started walking away. "Okay that was weird."

"What?" Bast asked.

"I… Think I can talk to reptiles now." The woman replied. This caused the others to blink as they looked at each other in confusion.

"That is weird." Kai agreed.

"I… I need to go take a shower, a cold one. This is way too heavy for me." Chelsea said as she put her hand on her head and started heading back to the Institute.

Once she was inside, she grabbed the robe she had gotten when she moved in and removed her clothes before putting it on and going into her personal bathroom. As she entered, she discarded her robe and looked at her currently naked form.

Her hand then drifted to the spot where her tracker used to be as she turned around, and in that spot on the back of her shoulder blade: There was a spot where the scar tissue made it clear that part of her flesh had been completely removed.

This caused a memory that Emma had suppressed to resurface, which luckily was very, very rare.

(Flashback)

Chelsea was strapped down to a metal examination table face down in the same lab room that Rowner kept bringing her into and a massive syringe full of some sort of green liquid hung over her as Rowner stood there with a control device in his hand.

"What are you planning on doing this time, Rowner, you sick son of a bitch?" The woman hissed.

"What you ask? I intend to mark you as our property, of course." The man said as he pressed a button and the syringe lowered over her left shoulder. "This contraption here will engrave your flesh with a permanent reminder of who you belong to, HYDRA. Think of it like getting a tattoo, but instead of ink, we're using acid."

With a push of the button in his hand, the syringe dove into Chelsea's skin and started injecting the acid into her while moving around, forming the HYDRA symbol on the back of her shoulder.

Throughout the whole procedure, Chelsea screamed in pain.

(Flashback End)

Chelsea shook her head. That was not something that tied her down anymore. The day she tore that chunk from her shoulder was the day she discarded HYDRA's claws.

With that she crawled into the shower and washed herself off, cooling herself down. About a half hour later she got out and got dressed in a new pair of red jeans and a grey tank top that she had bought a few weeks earlier. After she got dressed, she went down to the garage and saw Logan there having a beer, and the scraggly man immediately took notice of how his blonde companion looked, shaken up and all.

"You look like something shook you up." He noted.

"A couple things did, yeah." She nodded.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" The man questioned while drinking the beer in his hand. "Not to be nosey or anything, but your mood's kinda cramping the atmosphere of my drinking."

"Gimme a drink so I can stop doing that, then." She shot back.

"Okay, no need to bite my head off." Logan said as he handed her a beer. "But seriously, what's eating at you?" When she looked at him like she wanted him to shut up, he looked at her with firm eyes. "Scales, come on, you know you can tell me."

Chelsea looked at him before she sighed tiredly, something that didn't sound right in Logan's head.

"It's three things. The first is what happened to Gavin, which I'm actually still pissed off about. The second thing is I just found out I can talk to reptiles, and the third is…" Here, she sighed again. "That memory Emma suppressed resurfaced." She finally said.

"Which one?" Logan asked firmly, placing his hand on her shoulder.

The Dragoness sighed as she turned around, showing him the scarred area on her shoulder. "The memory of when that bastard Rowner tried to brand me by etching HYDRA's symbol in my back tattoo style with acid."

"... What?" The man snapped as he gripped his bottle tightly.

"Yeah, but I removed that thing by ripping out my own skin, sure it hurt like hell, but I wasn't about to let those monsters brand me like I'm cattle." She snapped back.

"I swear if I ever come across any of them I'm going to tear them limb from limb." Logan spat while taking a long draw of his beer.

"Pretty sure Gavin would want in on that." The blonde chuckled.

The scraggly mutant gently ran his hand over the scared area of the woman's flesh. "Does it still, ya know, hurt?" He asked.

Chelsea shook her head in response."Nah. It stopped hurting ages ago." She replied with a shrug. "It's a real eyesore though, makes me wish I had a better healing factor."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. Trust me, I've seen worse." The man told her while looking at the scar. He wasn't entirely wrong, the scar was hardly noticeable, it just seemed like she had a slight divot in her skin.

"I… guess you're right." She said reluctantly, though the way he subtly complemented her made her blush.

"Hey, why don't we go to Hogan's to get your mind off of things?" He asked her. She looked at him before she nodded.

"That'd be nice." She replied with a small smile. As they got on Logan's motorcycle to leave, Gavin closed the door which he had cracked open. His face had a look that promised death to those who received his ire.

"That. Is the last. Fucking. Straw!" He growled as he stormed off.

(Elsewhere)

-Hogan's Streetside Bar-

Logan and Chelsea had spent the last few hours drinking and playing pool together, and the blonde haired woman was now starting to feel a little tipsy, so her clawed companion was keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, or no one would take advantage of her. He already saw one person he cared about have that done to him, so he wasn't about to let the one person he understood the most to go through the same bullshit.

Unfortunately though, fate had other ideas… As the blonde had finished yet another glass of brandy, Bud, one of the usuals at the bar and a six foot muscle bound biker sleaze ball, walked up to her and started flirting with her while she was still very much inebriated.

"Hey there Goldie locks, how's it goin'?" The man asked her while leaning against the bar.

"I dunno, what do you think?" Chelsea slurred with a drunk smile. Logan looked at Bud and growled.

"Back off, Bud. She's with me." He told him with a glare.

"Aw come on Logan, ya can't just hog all the women to yourself. Save some for the rest of us." Bud said while looking back at Chelsea. "So, sweets, what say you and me go somewhere else and shoot around a few rounds?" He said this while raising a hand to her hair. "I mean look at you, you're not too big, not too lean, just right, and this hair… It's just the perfect reason to bring you along with me."

That got Logan to react. He immediately grabbed Bud's hand tightly and sent him a death glare. "I said, hands off." He growled.

Chelsea looked at him in drunken confusion. "What's got you all hot under the collar?" She asked him.

"Nothin', Chels. Just morons who don't know when to take a damn hint." He replied, growling the last part out.

Bud gulped slightly, Logan was known for starting viscous bar fights when someone pushed his buttons too much. So he backed off. "Alright Logan, I can take a hint. Sheesh, if you two were already dating ya shoulda just said so." The man shrugged while backing away.

The metal boned man calmed down before turning to Chelsea, who was still downing glass after glass. Knowing full well that this situation would most likely repeat itself if they stayed longer, he decided to stop her from drinking.

"Alright, Chels, I think that's enough for tonight." He told her, paying the tab she had racked up.

"What? Aw~ come on Logan! Why youuu gotta be such a buzzkill?" She slurred as she tried to snatch the drink he took from her, only to stumble and was about to fall on her face. Acting fast, Logan reached his arm out and caught her by her stomach.

"I rest my case." He deadpanned. He then slung her over his shoulder and then started to carry her out of the bar, though a bunch of the other patrons were making wolf whistles and catcalls at the woman the whole way. This pissed off Logan even more than he already has, in fact he felt something that he hadn't felt in ages: protective jealousy, the same kind a guy would have when his girlfriend was being hit on.

"Piss off, all of you!" He shouted at the other patrons, making them clam up and go back to what they were doing. Satisfied, he left the bar with Chelsea and went back to the Institute, though in hindsight he kinda regretted choosing his motorcycle instead of a car.

Once they got back to the Institute, Logan helped the blonde dragoness into their usual hangout area of the garage and let her collapse on the couch in the room.

Chelsea sighed as hiccups started to plague her. "Heeey Logan? *hic* Ya wanna know something?" She asked in a drunken voice as she laid there on the couch.

"What?" Logan sighed, figuring it would just be the booze talking.

"Come here and I'll tell ya." She told him. Sighing, the man walked over to her and kneeled down so she could whisper in his ear. "I wanted to thank you for helping me back there. And helping me with HYDRA, being there when I need someone to talk to, and helping me get used to things around here, it really means a lot. And I also really want cha to know that… I like you… I like you a lot." She whispered.

Logan looked at her in shock, but before he could dismiss it as the booze talking like he initially thought, Chelsea suddenly pulled him to her and kissed him on the lips.

The man tried to do his best not to fumble around like some awkward teenager who was caught off guard, but failed miserably as the blonde's currently forked tongue weaved it's way through his mouth. By the time the two separated, Logan was ready to ask her what the hell that was all about, he saw that she was fast asleep.

Logan looked down at the sleeping woman in shock. Did he really just hear her right? And did really just do what he thought she just did? Or was he dreaming? Shaking his head, he decided to head back to his room to crash for the night.

(The next day)

Waking up with a groan, Chelsea looked around and noticed she was in the garage. She then remembered what happened last night before she blushed hard when she realized that she had kissed Logan. For some reason, she didn't really mind.

"Why the fuck did I say all of that all at once? Did I really get that drunk last night?" She asked herself as she took some medicine.

After that was done, she headed to the dining room for breakfast. When she got into the kitchen, she saw Logan sitting on the counter reading the newspaper while drinking some coffee.

"Ya know you can just watch the news station to see what's going on, right?" She asked him as she got some coffee as well and sat next to him.

"Yeah, but it doesn't give you time to process anything." The scraggly man replied as he took a sip of coffee.

"Fair enough." The blonde nodded as the two fell into a, luckily, in awkward silence. "So… Logan, about last night, I just wanted to say that-" she started to say before Logan cut her off.

"It was the booze talking, right?" He asked.

"..." Chelsea was silent for a few minutes. "I wish…" She whispered underneath her breath.

The others started to take notice of their conversation as well. "What are they talking about?" Kai asked Amara.

"Shhh! Let's listen." The girl told her roommate.

Logan's trained ears picked up Chelsea's whisper. "Wait, you mean that was all for real?" He asked with a bit of surprise.

"I mean, yeah? Maybe? I don't know, it's honestly kinda confusing me right now honestly." She answered.

"Yeah, you and me both." The clawed mutant replied as he scratched the back of his head.

"Listen, let's not talk about this until we're both sure, okay? Way too much drama going on here as it is." The blonde told him.

"Sounds like a plan." Logan nodded in agreement.

A few weeks passed since then and the two were able to basically go about things like they usually would without any awkwardness, and both had been thinking about how they felt towards each other for a bit to see where they stood on the matter of them… 'liking' the other. Chelsea was able to figure it out rather quickly since she'd always liked Logan from the get go. However, Logan was a bit slower to decide on how he felt. Though that didn't stop him from still constantly getting angry when other guys tried to hit on Chelsea, which made the Dragoness feel both flattered and offended.

"Ya know, I know you're jealous, but you do realize you don't have to start a bar fight with every douchebag who tries to come onto me, right? I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She told him as they arrived back at the mansion after the third outing turned bar fight that particular week.

"I'm just following my instincts. Not my fault it's hard to ignore them." Logan shrugged. "And who said I was jealous? Last I checked we ain't exactly a couple yet."

"Yeah, about that, I think it's time we finally discuss it." Chelsea stated. "Seriously, I think we've had plenty of time to think about it."

Logan looked at the blond dragoness before he sighed. "Alright. Let's head somewhere private." He told her. She nodded before the two made their way to their hangout spot in the garage.

"So, what conclusion did you end up coming to?" Logan asked as he sat on the couch with Chelsea beside him.

"... I'm just gonna say it. I've liked you from the get-go." The blonde replied bluntly. "I mean that as in I pretty much liked you as a friend at first, but as time went on… Well, let's just say that us getting so close and having so much in common kinda made me like you way more than I originally thought."

"Well at least you were able to figure it out pretty quick. Me, though…" Here, the scraggly man sighed. "I don't know why, but I'm having trouble sorting this out on my end." He said. When Chelsea seemed to take this as a rejection, he decided to clarify. "What I mean is: every woman I've ever been with has either betrayed me, died because of me, or left because they couldn't understand or just couldn't get past my faults. But you, Chels? You're probably the only woman who I ever really got along with and still was able to understand what I've been through. And I can say for certain that it's the same way with you."

Chelsea listened as he talked. "Alright…" She nodded.

"What I'm trying to say is, I've lived long enough to know a woman that's not a good fit for me, and you, Chelsea?" He said before he chuckled. "Well, you're probably the only woman I've met in my life that was a better fit than all those women from my past put together." He then turned back to her and looked her in her emerald green eyes. "So to answer your question? Yeah Scales, I like you. Probably more than I should, but I like you. And I don't really think that'll change with how things are going."

Chelsea smiled at him with a pretty happy look on her face before she pulled Logan in for another kiss, this time being sober. The wolverine was easily able to return the favor and kiss her back even harder, the two falling back on the couch as they did so.

Two broken souls that had been able to mend had just joined together. A greater whole had been formed. Whether it will stay that way or not? Well, only time would tell.