Lair of the Stealth Bunnies | home
History Chapter Eight
HISTORY
Chapter Eight
Logan met them in the Med Lab. Jean had wrapped Eve in a blanket and floated her there with her TK. Scott started to block Logan’s way through the door with some well-intended words about letting Hank work -- until he remembered who he was talking to and decided he really didn’t want to spend the next few days in one of the other beds in the Med Lab. He let Logan pass.
Jean, on the other hand, was another matter. “Outta my way, Jeannie,” he growled. “I promise not ta get in Hank’s way.”
“You do, and I’ll kick you out myself. Those claws of yours are only good if you can reach me, and I’ll punt you out with my TK if I have to.” Then her face crumpled. “She’s badly hurt, Logan.”
“I know,” he said gruffly. “I saw it.”
Jean looked in his eyes, and he wasn’t fast enough to block it. She read the whole thing, everything he had seen on the videotape. She went pale and stepped backwards, as if distancing herself form him would deny what she had seen. She pressed her hands against her mouth. “Oh, Logan...”
He looked past her, to where Hank was moving so quickly around the bed that he was almost a blue blur. “I know, darlin’. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’ve let you see that.” He caught her hand, pulling her closer. *No one else needs ta know, Jeannie,* he said in as quiet a mental whisper as he could. *Unless it’s Hank, for medical reasons. Ain’t no one else’s business, really. The know she’s hurt, there’s no hidin’ that. But they don’t need ta know everything.*
*She’ll need counseling. Rape crisis management. _Something_>*
“Chuck’s answer to everything,” he said aloud with disgust. “Let’s get her body fixed first.” He let her go and moved to the side of the bed. He found Eve’s hand under the blankets, the one that wasn’t hooked up to the IV and kissed it gently. There wasn’t any response in the fingers. “Hank?”
“Do you wish the complete medical details?”
“In English, Doc. And in words of less than five syllables, if you can manage that.”
“I’ll endeavor to try.” The Beast removed his stethoscope and set it aside. “Her leg is broken in two places, probably when the horse fell on her.”
“I know what _happened_ to her, Hank. If ya need ta know details, you can ask Jean, ‘s’long as it doesn’t leave the Med Lab. Now, is she gonna be all right or not?”
Hank brushed Eve’s hair out of her eyes with a soft paw. “She will heal. She’s lost a lot of blood, though, on top of being malnourished. Fortunately, the wounds are mostly external, with nothing affecting the organs.” He smiled without any humor. “Sabretooth knew what he was doing. I’m mostly concerned about the blood loss right now, as her body was already in a weakened state.”
“Can ya give her a transfusion or somethin’?”
“Yes, but we don’t have any of her blood type on hand.”
“Can ya get it?”
“The fastest way would be from you.”
Logan blinked at him.
“You’re the same blood type. That’s why we don’t have any on hand. You’re the only other person here with that blood type, and with your healing factor, you’ve never needed a transfusion.”
Logan rolled up his sleeve. “Take as much as she needs, Hank. My body’ll replace it.” He touched her face, careful not to disturb the set of claw marks on either cheek. _So ya think a’ me, whenever ya look at her_, Sabretooth had said.
_An’ I’ll be sure to pay it back, too, Creed. With interest._ “Hurry it up, Hank. The scent’s gettin’ cold.”
“You are _not_ leaving,” Jean said as she moved to help Hank.
“I don’t have time to argue with ya, Jeannie. Every minute I’m here, Creed’s gettin’ farther away.”
Jean jabbed the needle into his arm with considerably more force that was necessary. *For once, you are going to take the time to listen to me, Wolverine,* her mind-voice snarled. *Right now, that woman needs you a hell of a lot more than your skewed sense of justice and revenge. She’s broken and bleeding, and you are _not_ going to run off on her.*
“I’m the best chance we’ve got of findin’ him. I ain’t gonna let him get away with this. Not this time. The longer he’s alive, the more he hurts the people I care about.”
*Let me clue you in on something. Creed isn’t going to vanish forever. He will be around, and there will be other chances for you to tear him apart. But Evie needs you _now_. And you’re going to stop taking the luxury of being angry and think about someone else other than yourself for once.*
“That’s what I’m doin’, Jeannie. I hafta get him before he hurts someone else.”
*Then let me tell you something else, too. The rest of us can hunt him down. You’re not the only X-Man capable of it.*
“I’m the best one for it, Jean.”
*No. Right now, you’re the best one for Eve. Logan, I’ve watched you run off and abandon people to hunt down the ones that hurt them, all under the excuse of helping them. And I’ve felt the hurt when they realized you were gone. But I’m not going to let you do that to Evie.*
“You gonna stop me, Red?” he snarled softly.
*No.* Her eyes were bright with tears. *But if you abandon her, I’ll make sure you are never welcomed back here again.*
Logan started to stand up, to rip out the tubes and needle, to storm out of the room... then looked down at his fist, clenched around the tubing. He stared at the pouch of blood collecting for Evie. He had been ready to rage out, without even caring if she had the blood she needed.
Jean was right.
“Listen, Logan,” she said aloud and soft, “when she’s better, if we haven’t found Creed yet, I’ll help you search to the ends of the Earth and back again for him. I’ll set you slice him into little pieces, unless Eve wants to do it herself. But right now, she _needs you_.” Her eyes blazed with fire.
Logan forced his fist to unclench and watched blood flow through the tubing. “Yeah, Jeannie. You’re right. I’ll stay.”
Jean sighed in relief and pressed her forehead against his. *Thank God.*
He knew, though, she would have carried out her threats. It would have killed her to do it, though. And giving into his anger would have caused the hurt of even more people he loved.
But _dammit_, he _still_ wanted to go. Wanted so badly it was hard to think, hard to sit still. Instead, he took Eve’s hand again. This time, her fingers curled slightly around his, and he looked at her face.
Her eyes were cracked open slightly. She mouthed, “Hi,” her voice not working.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said softly. “Hank?”
The Beast came to his side. His face crinkled in a smile. “Well, I see our animal-tamer is back among the conscious.”
“Barely,” Eve said, and there was sound behind the word this time. She closed her eyes for such a long moment that Logan thought she had gone back to sleep. Then her eyes opened again. “I should be hurting a lot more than this.”
“Hank’s got ya pumped full of one of his cocktails,” Logan said. “An’ he’s about ta add my blood ta the mix, too. Seems we’re the same type.”
Eve tried to smile, but it tugged at the gashes on her face and she winced. Apparently that hurt, too. After a moment, she whispered, “if I suddenly sprout claws, I’m gonna complain to the management about their blood bank.”
“You go right ahead an’ do that, darlin’,” he told her, resting his hand on the top of her head.
“Evie?” Hank asked. Eve looked at him, rolling her eyes in an effort not to move. “I’m going to give you more painkillers now. They’ll put you to sleep. I’d rather you were not awake when I set your leg and treat your wounds.”
“I’d rather not be awake either,” she agreed. Hank adjusted the IV and they could tell when it began to take effect. “Don’t fight it, Evie,” Logan said as she tried to keep her eyes open.
“Ya goin’ afta’ him?” she whispered.
Logan felt Jean’s gaze lock on him like steel. “No, darlin’. The others’re going. They’ve prob’bly left already. I’m stayin’ right here, ta help ya get better.”
Her fingers tightened around his minutely. “Thank you,” she whispered, and then she was asleep.
“Now, Logan,” Hank said, “since I think we have enough of your blood, and since I will not risk injury to anyone in this room by asking you to leave, if you could just move away a bit?”
“Sure, Doc.” He stepped back out of the way of Jean and Hank’s productive hovering. He leaned against the wall, trying to convince himself that they were _not_ hurting her worse... but he felt completely helpless. And he was not allowed to go out and kill Sabretooth, which would at least make him feel un-helpless. It was almost unbearably frustrating, watching someone hurt so much, when he himself healed so quickly.
His eye fell on Jubilee. She was sitting on the floor in a corner. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees. Her blue eyes were enormous and haunted.
He went over and sat on the floor next to her. “Jubes?”
“I found her, Wolvie,” she said, in a voice not much louder than Eve’s had been.
He stroked her hair.
“He left her in the cabin, Wolvie. In your bed.”
His hand tightened briefly in her hair. He forced it to relax.
Jubilee took a deep shuddering breath. “It’s my fault, isn’t it? I mean, if you hadn’t promised to go away with me, you’da been here.” A tear rolled down her face.
Logan caught it on his fingertip. “Ain’t your fault, darlin’,” he said hoarsely. “At least, if you’re gonna place blame, everyone here will take some of it. And it ain’t gonna fix it now. I can tell ya, Jean’s upset because she didn’t sense anything. Hank’s feeling guilty because he let her go riding. Remy and Rogue are prob’bly wishing they had stayed around instead a’ goin’ ta the movies. And I’m blamin’ myself, because I shoulda killed Creed years ago. And if anyone here shoulda known not to put all our trust into alarms and gizmos, it shoulda been me. And I’m sure Cyke’s blamin’ himself, because he’d blame himself if the weatherman said it would be a sunny day an’ it rained on his picnic.” That drew a smile from Jubilee, as he hoped it would, and a mental glimmer of amusement from Jean, that he hadn’t expected in the slightest, but made him feel a little better about blowing up at her earlier. Jubilee nestled against him and closed her eyes. He knew she wouldn’t fall asleep, couldn’t fall asleep, but he let her take all the comfort she would from it, and they listened to the sounds of the monitors and murmurings from Jean and Hank as they worked to put Eve back together again.
