Disclaimer: Marvel owns them. I just have my wicked way with them. :)
Warnings: Explicit sexual content and some violence.
Rogue's scream was still echoing through the cavernous halls of the mansion. Jean nearly collided with a student at a dead run and barely missed falling on her face. She could hear Professor Xavier calling out to her, but she couldn't stop. She could feel Logan in her mind, and something was terribly wrong.
She shouldered the door to the bedroom open and it slammed into the wall. Rogue had backed away from the bed, her hands covering her mouth. Storm was halfway out of her armchair. Logan was flat on his back on the bed, his body jerking violently. "Oh, my god, he's having a seizure," Jean said, more to herself than to Rogue or Storm.
Ororo stepped toward the bed and started to touch Logan's shoulder. "Don't!" Jean shouted. "He might attack you."
Storm stopped in her tracks, hands hovering over Logan. "What do we do?" she asked, her voice showing just how frightened she was.
"Bring me the medical kit from the hall cupboard now," Jean ordered, and Storm ran out of the room
Jean crawled up onto the bed and put her hand on Logan's chest, closing her eyes. "Jean! Won't he hurt you?" Rogue asked.
Jean shook her head. She somehow knew that he wouldn't hurt her. She tried to slide into his mind to calm him down, but the maelstrom of memories and emotions nearly suffocated her. Jean jerked back, falling onto her hands, and just as suddenly as the convulsions had started, they stopped.
Charles wheeled into the room with Ororo right behind him. "What happened?" he asked, immediately tasting the fear permeating the room.
Jean didn't say anything; she just crawled back over Logan. He was as still as the dead and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. "Oh, my god. Logan," she whispered, feeling for a pulse in his neck, "Logan, can you hear me?"
His pulse was thready and slow, but he was alive. "Do you need the kit, Jean?" Storm asked.
Jean nodded and took the box, cracking it open immediately. She pulled out a tiny penlight and clicked it on, shining it across his eyes one at a time. "His pupils are responsive and his breathing sounds all right, but his pulse is a little too slow for my comfort" she murmured. "We need to get him down to the sick bay. I'll run some tests and try to find out what happened," she announced.
"I'll contact someone to help you. I don't think that you'll be able to do everything," Charles said, closing his eyes.
"Professor. . . "
His eyes snapped open. "Jean, don't argue. You're too personally involved in this. We'll have a friend of mine examine him and then we'll see what happens. Agreed?" he said sharply.
Stung, Jean just nodded.
Professor Xavier's friend arrived at the mansion within fifteen minutes. Jean had managed to get the IV line in Logan's arm without provoking an attack, but that had worried her more. He hadn't flinched when the needle pierced his skin; there had been no reaction at all.
Jean looked up when the doors slid open and Charles rolled into the sick bay trailed by Storm and a woman Jean had never met before. She was about the same height as Storm, maybe five years older than Jean, with long, dark hair pulled into a loose braid and very fair skin. She wore a white lab coat over a pair of blue jeans and a sweater. "Jean, this is Dr. Autumn Millar. She's a internist. Autumn, this is Dr. Jean Grey," he said.
Dr. Millar stepped forward and shook Jean's hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you. Charles has talked about you quite a bit," she said, her accent Scottish. "Where's your patient?" she glanced around the spartan grey room, "Oh, there he is."
She stepped around Jean and walked to the bed, stopping beside Logan's head. "Can you tell me what happened?" she asked quietly.
"We were all talking, and then he just gasped, and his eyes went wide," Storm told her. "He fell onto his back and started convulsing. Then, Jean. . . Dr. Grey came into the room and touched him and he stopped."
Jean added, "He's been unresponsive since then. His pupils are reactive and his breathing is fine. His pulse was a little slow and irregular, but I stabilized it. I put an IV line in, but I was waiting for you to get here before giving him any drugs."
Dr. Millar nodded thoughtfully. "No history of epilepsy?" she asked, cracking her knuckles.
"Not as far as we know, Dr. Millar."
She waved a hand at Jean. "Oh, call me Autumn. Dr. Millar is too damned formal."
Autumn suddenly went stock still with her hands hovering over Logan's body. Jean moved beside the professor. "What's she doing?" she whispered.
"Autumn is a mutant. She can diagnose illnesses through a form of telepathy, and many times can repair internal damage through telekinesis," he answered.
"She wasn't at the school, was she?"
"No. I only met her a few years ago. She had learned to control her powers on her own, and she concealed them from everyone around her. None of her colleagues know that she is a mutant. They just know that her skills at diagnosis are remarkable."
After a few minutes of silence, Autumn came out of her trance and shook her head. Charles moved forward. "What did you see?" he asked.
"A lot of metal. What the hell happened to this man?" she said, then shook her head. "I'm sure it's a long story. I couldn't find anything physically wrong with him. He's as healthy as a horse, but there does seem to be an excess of electrical activity in his brain, centered mostly in his memory. I don't think it's neurological, though. It might be a psychic problem, and if it's a psychic problem, there's nothing I can do."
Charles nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "I can't help but think that he's had a memory burst."
"What do you mean?"
"Logan is missing most of his past. He only has memories from the past several years. It's quite possible that all of his past has suddenly flooded his conscious mind."
Jean nodded slowly. It made sense. "I must have picked up on the beginnings of the burst," she said. "He's lost in his memories. Professor, do you think you can help him?"
Charles regarded her very seriously. "I don't know if he will respond to me, Jean, but I'll try. I want you to stay very close by, in case something goes wrong."
Jean lowered the bed so that Professor Xavier could reach Logan easily. Charles touched Logan's temples and closed his eyes. Jean pulled a chair over and unobtrusively slipped into the professor's stream of consciousness.
FLASH
FLASH
FLASH
/fearconfusionterrorpainpainpain/
FLASH
FLASH
*Logan. Logan, it's Professor Xavier. Can you understand me?*
/getoutgetoutgetoutgetout/
*Jean, I don't think I can hold on to his thoughts. They're moving too quickly.*
*Break loose. Don't hurt yourself, Professor.*
Charles broke the connection to Logan and opened his eyes. "He won't let me in."
Autumn pushed away from the wall that she had been leaning against. "This isn't exactly my field of expertise, but may I make an observation? This man is very apprehensive. Every part of his body was just humming with tension. If he's lost in his own mind, he's going to be afraid and he's not going to let just anybody in. Who does he really trust here?"
Jean looked at Dr. Millar. "I guess that would be me. I'm the closest to him."
Autumn nodded. "And it helps that you're a telepath. Maybe you should try."
"I agree with Autumn," Charles said. "You and Logan already have a psychic connection. It might ease some of his tension to feel your presence."
Jean leaned back in her chair, biting her bottom lip. The thought of swimming through the terrifying whirlpool of pain again made her throat clench, but she needed to help Logan. She was the only one who could.
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