So this one is shorter but I think any longer and it would just feel forced. Please let me know what you think, comments and kudos are always appreciated.

Please be aware that this chapter contains NONCONSENTUAL CUDDLING, but it is done in a 'medically approved' manner. I don't know if that's an actual thing but in this story it is. If this is triggering for you, please don't read and just skip to the end notes for a generic summary as to why cuddling is being used as a medical treatment. You know you best, so please use your own judgement.


By the time they hit the bay doors, her shaking had subsided enough to where it didn't look and feel like she was having a fit but despite the obvious fever, her lips had started to turn blue and she had yet to regain any kind of consciousness.

"Jean!" His tone came across harsher than he intended but he didn't have the time for niceties.

"Logan!" The red headed doctor parroted back without looking up from her computer.

"Jean," He started less harshly, but more firm, "Help!"

The plea at the end got her attention and her head snapped up to see Fiana being cradled in the rugged man's arms, "What happened?" She asked as she quickly made her way around the desk and led the half awake duo to the exam bed.

"I don't know," He gently laid the unconscious young girl on the same bed she had occupied only a few hours before, "She was fine, tired, but fine. She went to take a nap, then when classes let out, she didn't answer her door for the rest of the gaggle so I went to check on her and found her under her covers shivering and chattering, complaining about being cold, which is insane because I can feel her fever from here. I thought you said she'd be ok?"

"Well apparently not," the usually composed woman snapped, "I was actually looking at her results when you came in."

Logan watched as Jean rolled up Fiana's sleeves and tried to get another IV started, 'That's gonna go over real well.' he thought. Fi's shivering had started up again and was making a tough go of it for the doctor.

"Logan, come over here and hold her still," Jean ordered, "I don't wanna miss her vein."

Following doctor's orders, Logan placed one hand on the shaking girl's shoulder and another on her exposed wrist, holding it down firmly, if not a little more carefully than he would anyone else. He could feel the heat from her skin through her sweater, like the fabric wasn't even there and the feeling of her bare wrist was so hot, it made him flinch internally at how high her fever must be. After a few moments, Fiana's jerky movements had slowed enough that Jean was able to get the IV inserted and secured.

"Stay here." She ordered, "I'm going to go get the Professor. Try to keep her as still as you can, the last thing we need is her ripping that IV out." She didn't spare a second look as she walked brusquely out into the hallway, the doors closing softly behind her.

"And just how am I supposed to do that exactly?" Logan muttered under his breath to the empty room. Straightening up from where he was still holding Fi's arm, he grabbed a chair from the corner and moved to get settled by the bed, but by the time he turned back around, her fits had started back up. "Shit." He cursed to himself and acting on instinct, dropped the chair and reached back out to the still unconscious ginger. He brushed the hair out of her face, some of it clinging to her sweat damp forehead. "Christ Hippie, you're trying to kill me aren't you?" He asked her rhetorically. "Come on now," he whispered to her, "I told those sisters of yours that you were gonna be ok," he hadn't actually told them that, but he figured a little white lie couldn't hurt, "Can't have you crapping out on me and making me look bad."

Fiana groaned softly, but didn't move or open her eyes; before Logan could say anything else, the doors opened again and Jean was back with the Professor in tow, "Is she awake? Has she said anything?"

He shook his head and stepped away so Jean could check her vitals again. "She groaned a bit but I'm pretty sure she's out for the count."

"She's definitely worse than she was earlier," Logan knew that she wasn't talking to him, so he righted his chair and sat back out of the way, "Her blood work is on the computer." She nodded her head towards her desk.

Charles took the cue wordlessly and wheeled over to the device. The silence stretched through the room and Logan shifted restlessly while the doctors worked separately. "It appears that you were correct Jean." The older man finally spoke, "There is no sign of infection or anything else. In fact, as far as mutant blood goes, everything seems rather normal."

"So, what's the problem then?" Logan couldn't help but ask, "I mean, she's obviously got a fever, she's burning up but she's shivering and turning blue like she's freezing."

Before either doctor could respond, the doors wooshed open again and a concerned voice broke in, "What happened?" Ororo strode into the room as fast as she could without actually flying, "She was fine. I mean, she seemed tired but she was fine." She looked at Logan for confirmation of her assessment and he nodded his agreement.

"We don't know yet my dear," Charles replied calmly, "Other than the obvious, we can't seem to find a medical explanation for her symptoms." The headmaster wheeled himself over to the head of the bed, Jean moving to the side to get out of his way. "I do have a theory however," he trailed off as he placed a hand on either side of the mass of red curls.

Logan couldn't help but roll his eyes at the dramatics and sat on the edge of his chair so he could keep watch on what was happening. As the room waited in silence, Fiana started to shiver again, this time even worse than before. It took a minute for them to realize it wasn't just shivering, she was shaking, hard.

"She's seizing!" Jean called out, "Ororo, grab the med cart! Logan, come hold her still as you can and Professor, whatever it is you're doing in there, hurry up!"

Jean was using her body to hold Fiana's chest and shoulders down, so Logan grabbed her legs tightly as she continued to convulse on the table. Ororo took Jean's place on the other side of the bed as Jean dug into the cart the other woman had wheeled beside her. She came up with a vial and syringe and measured 10 ccs of the clear liquid into the barrel, stopping only long enough to tap the air out before inserting it into the medicine port on the IV.

Ororo let out a panicked gasp, causing both Jean and Logan to snap their heads towards her, "Her nose," the dark skinned woman whispered, horrified.

Logan and Jean simultaneously turned to look at the small girl's face. Logan growled quietly as his eyes followed the small stream of bright red blood dripping down her paling face. "What the hell?"

"Professor!?" Jean yelled at the man, "That's Enough!"

The shaking slowly subsided as the professor opened his eyes and pulled back his hands. "What the fuck was that Chuck?" Logan spit out between clenched teeth. Normally Ororo or Jean would get on him about his language but as they slowly released Fiana from their holds, they both were looking at the professor expectantly.

"My apologies," he started, completely calm, "I just had to make sure."

"Make sure of what?" Ororo confronted him, "She was bleeding Charles!"

"It was not my intention to cause her any harm–"

"Just tell us why that was necessary," Jean cut him off, "Please?" she finished with a sigh.

"Miss Donnalley appears to be a rather strong mimic," He paused and rolled himself away from the table, "she appears to have a gift similar to Rogue's but she doesn't need physical contact, nor does she drain anyone. In fact, it appears that neither she, nor the people around her, are aware she's cloning their abilities. This absorption of powers might explain why she got her migraine and fainted earlier. Where she's been exposed to her siblings and perhaps others in public, she's never been around mutants en masse before, like she was today. She unknowingly was cloning multiple powers at a time and it overwhelmed her."

"What does that have to do with her fever? And the seizing?" Jean asked, trying to understand what was happening with her patient.

"From what I could see, her body is trying to process the influx of powers and that is causing a…" he thought for a moment, "a reaction of sorts."

Jean nodded along, humming in understanding while Logan and Ro just looked at each other in confusion. "How do we help her?" Ro asked, wanting nothing more than her young friend to be better.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do at the moment. We just have to let her body sort it all out on its own."

Logan couldn't suppress the rumbling growl that he released at the statement.

"You just wanna leave her like this?" Ro's voice raised an octave in distress at the thought.

"Maybe not," Jean answered, every other person in the room turned to look at her, "Her symptoms seemed to lessen at first, when Logan brought her down here. And then again when I had him hold her arm so I could start the IV." She started to pace around her side of the room, "One of Logan's mutations is an increased healing factor, so it would make sense that she wouldn't be as symptomatic around him." The professor was nodding along with her analysis, "You said she doesn't need to maintain physical contact to absorb their abilities right?" Another nod, "But, would direct contact speed up the absorption rate?" She stopped in front of the professor as she finished her question with a head tilt.

The man in the chair seemed to ponder the question before responding, "It might." He hedged, "It would probably depend on the type or contact, or rather the amount of contact, and the duration of contact. A brush of the hand versus sustained skin-to-skin contact."

Logan got the feeling that the two of them had forgotten about the rest of the room and cleared his throat, gaining their attention, "For those of us without an MD, if you don't mind."

"Sorry," Jean apologized with a blush, "We were discussing the possibility of prolonged, direct contact with someone would increase the absorption rate of her cloning ability, in this particular instant, you and your healing factor."

"Meaning what exactly?" Ororo asked impatiently, "He just sits and holds her hand until she gets better?" Her tone was incredulous and Logan seemed to agree as he scoffed at the idea.

"Not exactly," the Professor chimed in, "given the amount of abilities she's absorbed in such a short timeframe, it's created a rather intensive response. In a manner of speaking, her body is treating the influx of powers as an invading body and attacking them the same way it would an infection."

"So…" Logan was shocked and a little proud when Ororo cut in, getting antsy at the drawn out explanation.

"So," Jean took over, "She would need more than hand-to-hand contact. More like…" she hesitated, drawing a deep breath, "chest-to-chest, or back-to-front. The more skin-to-skin contact, the better."

"You want him to do what?!"

"You want me to do what?!"

Both Logan and Ororo exploded at the same time.

"Let me get this straight," Logan began, still reeling, "You want me to…strip…a 20 year old, an unconscious 20 year old girl, and climb into bed with her? Naked!?" He couldn't help the sarcasm and panic that laced his words.

"Of course not," Jean spat out indignantly, offended by the accusation.

"That's what it sounds like to me." Ororo broke in, concerned by the implication.

"Not naked!" Jean hissed out, "Just…" she sighed, "topless." She finished lamely.

"Because that's so much better." Logan drawled out, shaking his head in disbelief, "It's still creepy and technically assault, and I'm not doing it." He declared and Ro nodded in agreement.

"Logan, I understand your discomfort," a glare was leveled at the professor from both Logan and Ororo that screamed 'I don't think so!' "This is a difficult situation for everyone, I would never ask you to do this if I didn't think it was necessary. This could very well be the difference between a few hours and a few days, if not longer, of recovery for Fiana; and while I would prefer to do this with her informed consent, she is unable to give it at the moment, so we must act in her best interests until she can tell us otherwise."

"Listen here, ya bald bastard," Logan grumbled.

"Logan!" Jean admonished him before he could finish, "Ororo and I will change her into something that will allow for more skin-to-skin contact but she won't be completely bare. This isn't my favorite idea either but the professor is right; without this, we can't say for sure when she'll wake up or even if, depending on the number of powers she's cloned and how many she has left to absorb, she'll wake up." Ororo gasped and covered her face in distress, "The body and mind can only take so much." Jean's voice had fallen to a whisper with her last statement.

Logan clenched his jaw and shook his head slowly, "So you're telling me," he took a deep breath, "that either I sexually harass and assault her, while she's unconscious, or she could slip into a coma that she may never recover from?" He growled for what felt like the thousandth time today. Both Jean and Charles nodded solemnly, confirming his options. "Fine." He relented. "But, she's gonna be as covered as possible and you are gonna be the one to explain it to her when she wakes up. Got it bub?"

Charles nodded once and Jean went to a small cabinet on the back wall. Logan huffed and turned to face the opposite wall, catching a glimpse of the clothes Jean was pulling out but couldn't say for sure what they actually were.

He felt a bump on his shoulder and looked out of the corner of his eye to see Ro standing there, holding some gray shorts, "In case you want to be more comfortable." Her tanned hand held the shorts out in front of him, "I'm not ok with this either and if I could be the one to help her, I would in a second, but I can't and as uncomfortable as I am with this, I don't want her to get any worse than she is. So, I guess we'll both just have to suck it up." He just grunted in response. Ororo rolled her eyes at the typical response and glanced behind her. "Your turn."

He turned back around to see Fiana being lowered telepathically back to the bed by Jean, still covered by the thin sheet, and the Professor nowhere to be seen. Logan sighed, realizing he couldn't put this off any longer, and grabbed the hem of his shirt and frustratingly ripped it up and over his head. He sighed again when he also realized that Ro was right about him wanting to be more comfortable, denim wasn't the most restful material, and snatched the shorts she still held in her hands.

"Well, I"m not about to put on a free show," he motioned towards the doors, "this situation is bad enough, no peanut gallery required."

Ororo smiled and huffed sadly with a curt tilt of her head and Jean looked like she was about to argue but between his raised brow and Ororo staunchly waiting for her by the open doors, she just grumbled under her breath and gathered some papers off her desk. She reached the doors and turned around, prepared to say something but Logan just flicked his wrist at her and she just walked out with the other woman, the doors sealing shut behind them.

Logan decided against putting off the inevitable and kicked off his boots, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. As he let them fall to the floor in a heap with the rest of his clothes, his only thought was 'I really oughta start wearing drawers.' He pulled off his socks and pulled on the provided gym shorts, begrudgingly making his way to the still unconscious Fiana.

He let out a low groan when he saw that Jean hadn't put her in sweats and a tank like he had imagined in his head, instead she was in a soft sports bra and a pair of loose white shorts. "That's not covered Jean." He complained to the universe as he slid under the thin sheet onto the narrow medical bed.

He carefully maneuvered his arm to rest under her neck, moving her hair as he went, the red curls seemed to be getting more and more out of control the longer she was out of commission. He tried to get as much skin to skin contact he could while still keeping a respectful distance and started scooting down until he was laying face to face with the young woman, letting out an oof as she unexpectedly shifted and mumbled "So warm," as she curled into him and snuggling her face into his bare chest, throwing her arm around his middle and bringing a leg to tangle over his.

He froze at the sudden closeness, not even daring to breathe until she settled into her new position; something she seemed to do subconsciously because he noticed that she hadn't even cracked an eye the entire time. Releasing a sigh at his current predicament and cursing the Professor, Jean and just the world in general, he inspected the arm now residing around him, making sure that she hadn't ripped out her IV; seeing that it was still firmly place, he resigned himself to staring at the up at the silver ceiling for the foreseeable future and flopped his head back into the pillow.

'This is to help her,' he reminded himself when she tried to burrow further into him, 'the more contact, the faster she heals.' He just kept repeating that to himself as he wrapped his pinned arm around her shoulders and pulled her as close as he could, using the free hand to pull the sheet up higher when he noticed that she was still shivering ever so slightly. She let out a soft sigh and hummed contentedly at the warmth being wrapped around her.

"Might as well make the best of it, huh Hippie?" He asked quietly as he closed his eyes and let the soft sounds of her even breaths lull him to sleep.


Generic Summary: Fiana turns out to be a particularly strong mimic that just absorbs powers from those around her and being in a place with so many causes her to essentially fall into a light coma. Jean and the Professor come to the conclusion that direct contact would expedite the absorption process and since one of Logan's powers is an accelerated healing factor, they determine that the best and fastest way to get her well is for him to maintain as much direct skin contact as possible. While not happy or 100% on board with this plan, he doesn't want her to stay in a coma for however long and agrees, as cantankerously as possible.