Foreign Correspondence: Priority Handling
Chapter 1
by
Mo
Archiving and forwarding: Certainly, just ask. Alternate file formats are available upon request.
Sequel/Series: This is a 10-part story series, the final series of five in a saga that began with the 7-part "I Know What You Are". These are the series in order:
I Know What You Are - 7 stories
We're Not What You Think - 10 stories
Canadian Nights - 15 stories
Night and Day - 10 stories
Foreign Correspondence - 10 stories
Scenario: The Movie Universe. I have borrowed concepts and characters from assorted Marvel comic book titles as well but have not tried in any way to make the stories consistent with the comic books (as far as I can tell, Marvel has despaired of making the comic books consistent with each other). Similarly for the novelization of the movie and for other X-Men books. I've looked on all of those resources as fodder for ideas but have felt bound only to be consistent with what is presented in the movie and with the events and characterizations in my previous stories. In addition to movie and comic book characters, I began the introduction of original characters in the third series, "Canadian Nights". Original characters from "Canadian Nights" and "Night and Day" are featured in this series, as well as some new to "Foreign Correspondence".
The action in "Foreign Correspondence" begins the morning after "Night and Day" ends and approximately 2 years after the movie ends. I have worked with a consistent timeline throughout, but this is the first time I have made the timing explicit. This story takes place, as will become clear, in 2008. That seems to me to be consistent with a reasonable, although certainly not the only, interpretation of the movie occurring in "the not too distant future".
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Alpha Flight belong to Marvel. The movie belongs to Fox. Hotmail belongs to Microsoft. Belarus is an independent country and belongs to its citizens, mutant and otherwise. Bryn Mawr is a private women's college founded in 1885. It belongs to the women, mutant and otherwise, who have lived and learned there for the past 116 years. The Miami Herald is a real newspaper but AFAIK has never had an Adam Greenfield on staff. I do feel like Scott and Logan are a little bit mine since I've been borrowing them for so long.
Notes on literature in the stories: A separate literature guide will be posted after the stories themselves. It contains spoilers so should be read afterwards. Literature guides to the previous series are also posted on the archived sites.
Notes on locations in the stories: Except in the first series, which all takes place at Xavier's school in Westchester, my characters move around a lot. All of the locations, save one, are genuine and described as realistically as I can manage. I have been to some, but not all of them. The one invented location is one I was stuck with by Marvel - there is no town in Westchester County called Salem Center, although there is a North Salem.
Acknowledgements: Much thanks to SW and LS, who served as research team, beta readers, and so much more. They have offered wonderful suggestions to improve the stories; have found out information I despaired of ever finding; have read so many versions and listened to all my contradictory and confused ideas on where the story was going; have inspired many of the scenes and plot elements; have listened to me ramble at length about back stories that never find their way into the plot; and have generally hung out with me and made the whole experience much more fun. The stories are much improved for their input. Any mistakes are mine alone.
Additional note: Who are those mutants and what are they doing in Saskatchewan?I hope that this story series can stand on its own, although there are many references to events from the previous four series. To make it a little easier for those jumping in, though, here is a brief rundown on dramatis personae introduced previously:
Scott and Logan: I'm assuming anyone reading these stories already knows who they are. It's worth noting, though, that they have had an on-again, off-again sexual relationship in this saga. It's a very complex relationship and I won't try to explain it in a paragraph here. After having broken up some time ago they reconciled at the end of the last series.
Logan is living in a remote part of Saskatchewan, where he is heading up a joint X-Men/Alpha Flight project to build a secret mutant school and residential community. The idea is that there will be a permanent community of mutants in the Saskatchewan outpost but also that the outpost can serve as a refuge in case anti-mutant violence (which has been intensifying for some time) forces the evacuation of the Westchester school. Scott is visiting the outpost to assess how the people working there are doing and whether or not it would be a good idea to send more resident workers at this time.
Wendy, Arthur and April: Wendy and Arthur are a mutant couple who had a home renovation and construction business in a small town in Vermont. They had to flee when they were found out to be mutants and they are working with Logan on the Saskatchewan outpost. They plan to live there indefinitely when it is finished. Wendy is a college friend of Heather Hudson's (co-director of Alpha Flight). Heather and Wendy are part of a network of women friends who first met at Bryn Mawr and refer to themselves as the "Mawrter Mutant Underground". Wendy and Arthur have a young daughter named April.
Jean-Paul Beaubier: Jean-Paul, codename Northstar, is Alpha Flight's representative to the Saskatchewan project. He is also Marvel's first openly gay character.
Warren Worthington: Warren, codename Angel, was one of the original X-Men. He is visiting the Saskatchewan outpost with Scott, who is trying to convince him to rejoin the X-Men after many years away.
I woke up alone. Like deja vu all over again, in the words of the immortal Yogi Berra. Well, this time I was pretty sure he hadn't gone far. He lives here, after all - this time I'm the one who's visiting. Still, I wished he were with me, for practical more than emotional reasons. I couldn't find my glasses.
I always feel for them with my hand when I wake up, just to be absolutely sure that I have glasses or sleep goggles on before I open my eyes. They weren't there. At first I thought they must have just fallen off in the night. Then I remembered taking them off. I'd just put them down next to me on the bed, which is totally unlike me. I'm usually so careful about where I put them and painfully aware of where the glasses or visor are at all times. But it had been kind of a strange night and I'd done a few uncharacteristic things. Logan had, too, I thought with a smile.
Other than the glasses, it had been a good night. Really good. I wasn't sure what I was going to say to everyone I'd told so adamantly that Logan and I were not getting back together. Still, I was awfully glad that it looked like we were. I felt like we had a ways to go to get to a point where we were sure of each other, like I didn't quite know yet what to expect from him. But there was no mistaking his enthusiasm last night. He wanted this every bit as much as I did, was even willing to let me top him. Why had he let me? Did he want to show me I'm special to him, that he lets me do things he doesn't let anybody else do? Maybe that's part of why I'd asked him, to see if he would.
I just lay there for a minute thinking about fucking Logan, remembering what it had felt like. Moving inside him, feeling him under me, pushing hard against me. Hearing him telling me he loved me, telling me to go harder and faster, saying he loved what I was doing to him. It had been fun with Warren, but it was something more with Logan. Was it a one-shot deal, I wondered? Was he regretting it this morning? I shook off that idea, telling myself I should take a page from his book. Stop agonizing over where this was going or whether the relationship had a future. Sometimes it is a good idea to live in the moment, just enjoy what's going on now.
Of course the problem with living in *this* moment was that I didn't know where my glasses were. I figured they had to be somewhere in the bed. Either that or they must have fallen on the floor. So I started methodically feeling all around the bed, careful not to drop them if they were entwined with the covers. No luck.
I got down on the floor and started feeling around next to and under the bed, getting more frustrated by the minute. Love may be blind, but I prefer it when I'm not. Of course, I could go back to my room and get my spares, but I didn't know where my clothes were, either. I might find it a bit embarrassing to be seen wandering the hall naked, feeling my way to my room. I figured I'd stay in Logan's room and just keep feeling around until I came across either my glasses or my pants.
As it turned out, I didn't have to find either. After a few minutes of fruitless blind searching I heard the door open and Logan saying, "They're on the nightstand. You left them on the bed. I thought they might break."
"Thanks," I said, putting them on, sitting down on the bed. "I don't usually lose track of them like that."
"I know. You got carried away." He was smiling. "I thought of leaving you a note saying where they were, but I didn't think that would help much." He came over to the bed and sat down next to me.
"No, not much," I agreed with a chuckle. "Have you been up long?"
"Hours. We've been working in the basement. I thought it was time for a break. Plus, I heard you waking up."
"From two floors down. I forget sometimes just how acute your hearing is."
"Yeah, don't do anything in this house you don't want me to know about."
He kicked off his shoes and pushed me down onto my back on the bed. Then he got on top of me, pushing his tongue into my mouth, his hand reaching between us to stroke my cock. "I really want to fuck you, Cyclops," he said after a minute. "I've been thinking about it all morning. We still doing that?"
"Yes. Of course we are. Nothing's changed, Logan. Not as far as I'm concerned."
He got off of me, pulled his clothes off quickly. "Turn over," he said.
So much for foreplay. He seemed in kind of a strange mood, or maybe he was just really eager to fuck. Got out the lube, got ready, was on top of me and in me so quickly. And without another word. He took both of my hands in one of his, holding me by the wrists with my hands over my head. I wondered what that was about. His other hand was flat on the bed, sort of anchoring him as he pushed in and out with deep, slow strokes.
I was feeling really hot and started trying to move a little under him, hoping to get some friction against the bedclothes under me. I wasn't very successful. Logan wasn't helping me any. Mostly he was holding me still - pushing down on me, still holding me by the wrists. And still not a word since he'd told me to turn over.
Usually he talks to me when we're having sex. Except when he's blowing me. He's not the most civilized guy I've ever met, but he does know not to talk with his mouth full. The rest of the time, he'll tell me what he's feeling, ask me what I want. That kind of thing. I know he started doing that because I like it; I have always loved the sound of his voice. It makes it more intense for me if I can hear him while we're doing it. But I think after a while he got to like the talking for its own sake. Sometimes he'd say it made him hotter to talk about it, to hear me telling him what I'm feeling, too.
Not this time, though. He was moving faster and harder now but still not saying a word, although he was growling a bit. Still holding me immobile with his body and his hand. And then he was holding onto the back of my neck with his teeth, too. Right at the base of my skull, not hard enough to break the skin but holding my head in place. It was getting pretty uncomfortable like that, my face pushed into the mattress. I tried to move a little, to turn my head and tell him it didn't feel good like that. What I was trying to say got pretty much swallowed by the bed under me. Still, after a while Logan realized what I wanted and released my neck, letting me move. I turned my head to the side and I could feel his breath in my ear. Then his warm, wet tongue, licking all around the outside of my ear and then finally pushing inside as he pushed his dick hard into my ass.
"Hey, Logan. Can I have my hands back, do you think?"
"You don't need your hands, Scott. I'll take care of you." He took his left hand off of the bed and reached under me, pulling on my cock. He wrapped his fingers around me, moving up and down the shaft with his fist, working on the head with his thumb. He has the most amazing hands - so powerful yet such smooth, soft skin. He can't form calluses any more than he can scar. And his heightened senses include a touch sensitivity that gives him a degree of control when he's stroking and rubbing that I don't think anyone else has. Certainly no one else who has ever touched me. His hand on my cock, his body all over me, his dick in my ass, his tongue in my ear - it all felt glorious. I didn't mind being held still. He was taking care of me, just like he said. I found myself wondering how I'd managed without him, how I'd ever thought I could do without feeling like this.
Logan was fucking me hard and fast now, matching the movements inside me with long, hard strokes with his hand. And now he was talking to me, too, right in my ear, stopping to lick round the rim of it every once in a while. "You like a big dick in your ass, Scott?" he was whispering. "You like my hand on you?" I could barely answer, but I think he could tell by the sounds I was making that I liked what he was doing. Finally he set my hands free, using the hand he'd held my wrists with to reach under and across my chest, rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger while he kept stroking my dick - harder and faster now - with the other hand. "You gonna come for me now, Scott?" he growled.
"Yes. Oh, yes," I answered, coming even as I said it. Feeling me come seemed to get him humping harder, pushing into me so forcefully that the creaking of the bed sounded alarmingly loud. He had both arms round my chest now, holding his upper body against me as he moved in and out. Pretty soon I could feel him coming inside me, pressed hard against me all over now, panting in my ear. And then just lying there on top of me, the side of his face pressed against my back, saying "God, Scott. That felt good." After a couple of minutes he pulled out of me and lay back on the bed.
"I'm really glad we're back together," I told him. He didn't say anything, but he smiled. "Should I move my stuff in here?" I asked.
"Nah, I don't think so. Stay in Oliver's room. You can come see me here. Or I'll come there. But I don't think we should spend the nights together."
"Why not?"
"I don't think I'm safe. I had a nightmare the other night - woke up with my claws out. I don't think we should sleep together."
"What about last night?"
"I moved after you went to sleep."
"You didn't have to do that. I don't want to kick you out of your bed."
"It's okay. You looked pretty settled."
"Logan, do you have any idea why you had a nightmare? Did something happen to trigger it?"
"Well, I ran out of the sleeping herbs. Didn't realize until I was going to bed and I just thought I'd go a night without them. Maybe that's why or maybe it's just a coincidence. But I can't really tell if it was just a fluke or if it's starting up again."
"I'm sure you'd know it was me if you woke from a nightmare. And I'd be right here to help you afterwards. Let me stay with you, Logan." He just shook his head. "What was the nightmare like?" I asked. "Was it the old stuff again - Weapon X?"
"Some of it. I don't remember all of it, but there was some other stuff, too. Some things I don't remember dreaming before. You know, I'm not sure it's such a good idea to take these herbs. I love being free of the nightmares but dreaming really was helping me remember stuff. Maybe I should lay off that stuff for a while. Or take less or something."
"I guess you could experiment with dosage. Hey, maybe you should write down your dreams when you wake up. Just so you have as complete a record as you can. You could keep a dream diary. And then try to match whatever elements of the dream seem to be based on reality to what you know about your past. Maybe reading them over will help with the whole recall process."
"I'm not much of a writer."
"So tell me all about it and I'll write it down. Maybe I can start trying to reconstruct what we know of your history and then I could fill in the pieces as you remember stuff. I'll be Boswell to your Johnson."
"I don't know what a boswell is but I like what you've been to my johnson so far, Cyclops. So, I'll give it a try." I laughed. He added, grinning, "And you can be my biographer, too, if you really want." Then the grin disappeared and he got a really serious, intense look on his face. "There's some stuff I haven't talked about, Scott. Some of it's hard to say. Maybe starting with dreams would help. But there's one thing. It's got to be just between you and me, okay?" His hand was gripping my arm, his eyes boring into me.
"More than okay, Logan. I can keep your secrets, too, you know. You can trust me. You do know that don't you?" He nodded, slowly. "Do you want to tell me what you remember about the dream from the other night? I could start with that one - write it down and then later we could talk about what parts of it might have been real."
He nodded again. Then didn't say anything for a minute, looking like he was trying to figure out where to begin. Finally, he opened his mouth to answer but we were interrupted by Warren's voice coming from somewhere downstairs. He was yelling in a tone that sounded either very excited or really upset. "Scott! Get down here - right away!" I pulled on my pants and dashed down the stairs, zipping them up as I went. Logan was right behind me.
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