"Remember last week, when Scott's glasses fell off while we were at the pool?"
Jean remembered. She'd been next to him when it happened, laughing at a story he'd been telling of something that had happened at school, when he'd shaken his head to shoo off a fly and his glasses had flown off, clattering to the ground. Scott had been horrified, and was still touching his glasses at odd moments, worried they'd fall again.
"He was looking towards Mr Logan, and," she stuttered, "I could totally see his spine, he had a hole right through him! I could see Scott through it," she started to cry, tears slipping down her cheeks and clogging her voice, "and Mr Logan's spine was made of metal! Why does he have a metal spine? And, like, he didn't even say anything, he just got up again when he'd healed! Are we all gonna end up like that, where we get hurt so much we don't even react anymore?"
Jean hugged her tightly, pressing her cheek against Kitty's hair. "We're not, Kitty, I promise we're not."
"I know something awful happened to Mr Logan, with, you know, whatever chip was in his head, but, like, would someone do that to me? To any of us?" Kitty was starting to gasp now, the delayed terror hitting her hard. "Just because we're different? I, like, didn't ask for this!"
Professor!Jean mentally called, holding Kitty closer in the vain hope it would help her calm down.Kitty's really panicking, I think she needs to talk to someone.Someone who was not her, because she had no idea what Kitty was talking about.
She felt the Professor in her head, viewing her memories of what had just happened, and it felt calming. The Professor always knew what to do - he'd be able to handle Kitty much better than she could. All she could do was hold on to her and listen as she cried.
And sometimes, that's all that's needed, the Professor said warmly, and she felt his affection brush against her.But this time, it may help Kitty to talk to Logan. I'll send him down.She felt his amusement at her doubt that would work, then his presence retreated, returning to the light awareness she was used to feeling whenever she was in the mansion.
Logan must not have been far, because seconds later he was coming through the door, just as Kitty's gasping tears grew into actual sobbing. "Hey, half-pint, what's the matter?" He came closer, touching Kitty's shoulder gently.
She gasped, instinctively phasing, then re-solidified and turned to fall into his arms, too distraught for words.
Jean shook herself slightly, trying to get rid of the crawling feeling of having Kitty phase partially through her, then said to Logan, "She saw Scott hit you with his optic blasts at the pool last week."
"That all?" Logan stared at her, grey eyes narrowed. His arms tightened around Kitty, stroking her hair as she sobbed. A wet patch was slowly growing on his shirt.
"She saw you have a metal spine." She didn't ask why he had a metal spine, or how Kitty knew something horrible had happened to him. That something had wasn't entirely a surprise, but why did Kitty know? Jean had seen Logan come and go for years and still didn't know anything more personal about him than that he preferred scrambled eggs over fried for breakfast.
"I'm, like, right here, you know!" Kitty's voice was shaky, but she lifted her head slightly, tears still dripping down her cheeks. "And it's notaboutthat. But Mr Logan, what if whoever did - whatever they did - to you comes after us as well? Are we just gonna keep having to hide our entire lives, so nothing likethathappens? Like, is that even possible?" Her eyes filled with tears again, and she returned to hiding her face in Logan's shirt.
"Nothin' like that's going to happen to you, kid. Not to any of you." He gently coaxed her face up to look at him. "Any of them tries to get to you, they're gonna have to get through me."
"But, like, I don't want you to get hurt either, you know?"
Her sincerity, and the naked shock on Logan's face, were enough for Jean to feel painfully awkward to still be standing there. This had gone long past her ability to help, but she still didn't feel right leaving until Kitty at least wasn't crying anymore. And if she was hoping to hear a little more about Logan's mysterious past, the Professor was the only one who would know, and she just had to hope he wasn't paying attention.
"Pun'kin, I've been around for a long time, plenty of time to make enemies. Getting hurt's just part of that. But none of them are going to touch you, alright?"
Kitty stared at him for a long moment, then nodded, her breathing slowing to a more regular rhythm. "But are we going to have enemies like yours one day? Not, like, the stupid Brotherhood, but real ones?"
"Yeah, you keep doing what we're doing, you will." Somehow, even as long as she'd known him, Logan's brutal honesty still surprised Jean. "But like I said, I've been around a long time. You kids have a while to go to catch up."
"But even the Professor doesn't have as many enemies as you, and he's like,oldold!"
Logan looked almost amused. "Believe me, kid, as old as Charles is, I'm older."
Kitty scrunched her nose disbelievingly. "No way. The Professor's got to be, like, sixty. You're not as old as that."
"Wanna bet?"
Kitty still looked disbelieving, but didn't ask any further questions. Jean was a little disappointed - If Kitty had asked, Logan might have actually answered, and she'd always been a little curious at the way he never seemed to age.
"Oh! I ruined your shirt!" Kitty looked to be on the edge of tears again, overemotional from her crying jag.
Logan glanced down at it, then shrugged. "Had worse."
His unbothered reaction seemed to be enough to calm Kitty again, her shoulders untensing. "That's, like, so embarrassing," she sniffled, wiping at her eyes with one too-long sleeve. "You're like my teacher or something."
"You said we were friends, half-pint. You revoking that now or something?"
From Logan's expression, and Kitty's little snort of laughter, it was clearly a reference to something they both knew, even if Jean had no clue. She didn't know Logan had friends - outside of maybe the Professor.
She backed silently out of the room, suddenly eager to go and spend some time with Scott. Kitty would be alright - she had Logan now