Night and Day: Until the Evening
Chapter 9
by
Mo
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Alpha Flight belong to Marvel. The movie belongs to Fox. 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. I do feel like Scott and Logan are a little bit mine since I've been borrowing them for so long.
I saw little of Logan the rest of that first day in Saskatchewan. When I did run into him he was busy - mixing herbs in the kitchen, drawing plans for something in one of the workrooms, meeting with Jean-Paul on financial matters.
He did join us for dinner. Conversation flowed well and everyone seemed quite comfortable. I couldn't see any aftereffects of the morning's fracas evident in Logan's manner towards Wendy, or hers towards him. He still didn't seem too enamored of Warren, though.
"Logan, I called Laura," Wendy said. "She's flying into Regina on Thursday. I don't know how long she's staying and we don't really need another rental car here, so I thought I'd go there and pick her up. If I take the van I can also pick up some things we can't get in Prince Albert. Is that okay with you? It means I'll be gone all day, but I'll take April with me, so Arthur should be free to work."
"It's fine," he said. "Jean-Paul, you and Wendy put together a list of things we need." Then, after a pause, "But I really don't want you going to Regina by yourself, Wendy. I saw lots of those 'No Mutants Allowed' signs last time I was there. I think you need some sort of protection."
"It's okay, Logan. Nobody's going to know I'm a mutant."
"I hope not, but I don't want to count on that."
She looked like she was going to argue with him some more, but Arthur stepped in. "Logan's right," he said. "You're particularly vulnerable alone with the baby. I don't want you and April going alone. I'm sorry to miss a day's work, but I'm going to have to go, too."
Logan didn't look too pleased with that. "I really hate to lose you both for a day. Scott, could you go with her?"
I hesitated, not sure I wanted to leave the outpost for a full day in the short time I'd be here. Warren stepped in. "I'll go. Wendy and I can reminisce about old times. And I'm curious to meet Laura. I don't remember her - she must have come to Siberia after Diana and I had broken up." Then, with a look at Logan, "That is, I'll go if it's okay with you."
"Oh, I think we can spare you for the day, Worthington." The look that went with that would have withered most, but Warren just smiled and thanked him.
Conversation became general again. There was some discussion of the Belarus situation. Both Warren and Arthur seemed to have strong personal feelings about what was happening there. Warren said that he thought he would be "dead meat" if he had been in Belarus, since his wings would be easily discovered. Arthur offered the perspective of one who thought he could keep his mutation hidden indefinitely but ended up being found out. Wendy took his hand when he said that. I told him I thought he had behaved courageously and was sorry that their neighbors hadn't proved themselves more tolerant.
There was a kind of awkward silence following that. I broke it by offering regards from the folks back home. Jean-Paul asked about Oliver, saying he often thought of him.
"He talks about his time here - and about you and Logan - all the time," I told him. "He's doing really well. He seems to have made a lot of friends. He's an excellent student. Oliver has adjusted really well, all things considered. Still really misses his family, I think, but he doesn't generally like to talk about that."
"I could kill them for what they did to him." Everyone looked at Logan, who had said nothing since his remark to Warren, in surprise. Seeing my expression, he added, "Yeah, I know. My usual way of dealing with conflict. Not so much lately, though. But it burns me up. Just the idea of throwing away your kid like that. And a kid like Oliver - anybody would be lucky to have a son like him. He deserves better parents - people like Arthur and Wendy here," nodding towards them. "Can you imagine ever doing anything like that to April, no matter what she grew up to be?" he asked them. They agreed that they would never abandon their daughter. Wendy, in particular, looked pleased at Logan's praise of their parenting ability and dedication.
Later that evening I decided it was time I stopped avoiding my interview with Logan. I knocked on his door and he yelled "Come in." He was sitting on the bed with floor plans spread out in front of him.
"Do you have a minute?" I asked. "I think we should talk a little about what's going on here, what happens next. I'd like us to be on the same page when we're talking to the rest of them, when we're discussing the idea of adding new residents."
"Sure. Come on in. Have a seat." He gestured towards the arm chair next to the bed.
I hesitated. "Do you think we could go somewhere else to talk?"
"People want to talk to me in private, this is where they come, Cyclops," he said, gruffly. And then, with that sardonic smile I knew so well, "Besides, if you want us to talk somewhere you and me haven't fucked, we're going to end up standing in the middle of the road out there."
I laughed at that and sat down, asking him what he was working on.
"I'm trying to figure out where to put everybody. I think it *is* a good idea to add to the group here. Things seem better between Jean-Paul and the others, lately, but I still think it's too small a group to get through the winter without really falling apart. But I need to get a lot of the inside renovations done this winter. It's the only way we're going to get this done with any speed. So, I'm trying to see how we can have living quarters for ten or so and also have room to work on the place. I think we can do it, but we might have to move around a bit." He pointed to the floor plan. "See, we can use this part of the house as living quarters while we work over here. And then just switch it. We have to keep the work areas real separate with a baby in the house - got to watch out for lead exposure. Oh, and if you're sending another family it would be good if they're like Wendy and Arthur - keeping the kids with them at night. I can't really spare any rooms just for kids."
"Wendy and Arthur are part of what I wanted to talk to you about, Logan. Wendy, mostly. I gather what happened this morning isn't the first altercation you've had with her."
He snorted at that. "Well, that was bloody stupid even for her, telling that Laura where we are. But, yeah, we've gone at it a bit before. Maybe not every day but close to it."
"What do you think the problem is?"
"I don't know. She loves to fight or something. You should see her when she gets all worked up about something. I had no idea when I met them in Westchester. You wouldn't know it to look at her, but when she gets mad, watch out."
"She does seem fairly benign to look at. 'O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd! She was a vixen when she went to school; And though she be but little, she is fierce.'Is that Wendy?"
"Yeah, that's her," he said, smiling. "Little but fierce. You wouldn't know it to look at her," he said again.
"Well, same with Heather and she's tough as nails. I guess, based on our sample of two, that Bryn Mawr turns out tough broads with delicate appearances. I can't wait to see what this Laura is like.
"But, getting back to Wendy and Arthur: do you want me to send them back to Westchester? It's your project. You need to have people here you're compatible with. I'm sure we can use them back home. I could present it in a positive way."
He was looking at me with alarm. "Oh no, Scott. I need them here. Don't go by what happened this morning. Wendy and I fight but she really knows what she's doing. You should hear her on design of multipurpose spaces.
"Look, I'm thinking when this place is operational we're going to have maybe fifty people here. But if you ever have to evacuate the Westchester school, we'll have to accommodate a lot more. I'm thinking we plan on everyone getting out alive - that's unlikely, but you still got to plan for it - and picking up a few other mutant refugees, too. I'm planning for 150 people here on a semi-long term basis. We do that and don't have them killing each other, it's got to be planned out right. I need Wendy and Arthur for that - I'm glad to have them here. Lucky to have them. I didn't think you'd find me anybody like them."
"And you think you can work with her?"
"Yeah, she's okay. Not a whiner. She handled it fine, before, you know. Didn't get all defensive or start crying or anything. Owned up to what she did wrong, tried to make amends. She's not one to give in when she thinks she's right - God, she can argue you to death - but when she knows she's wrong she admits it. And she can take it. Did you notice? Didn't give me shit for yelling at her. More than I can say for your boyfriend, by the way."
"He's not my boyfriend, Logan." Neither of us said anything for a minute.
"Do you think we will need to evacuate? Sometimes it just seems so impossible - I've lived there since I was sixteen. It's hard to imagine the school not being there, just like it always was."
"I don't know, Scott, but it could happen. I'm going to work on this as fast as I can. Well fast as I can, not sacrificing quality or secrecy. I sure as hell hope you never have to. But things are heating up in lots of places. Stuff like what happened to Wendy and Arthur; that "mutant cleansing" in Belarus; those "No Mutants" signs in public places here and in the States - it's all part of the same thing. I'm worried. And glad we're doing this. I hope you never need it. If you do, I sure hope you get out safe." He looked at me so intensely when he said that. "And 'Ro and Marie and Oliver and Jeannie and the professor."
"Me, too, Logan. I hope we don't need it and we all get out if we do. Although you're right that it's unlikely we all would. " Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. "About Oliver - I wanted to say more about him than I felt comfortable saying in front of everybody at dinner. It was a good experience for him, Logan. I should have trusted you on it. He needed it. He learned a lot. And he needed to be away from me for a while, too. It gave us a chance to kind of start from scratch, gave me a chance to be honest with him and work with him on dealing with all that. It was a good idea. Sometimes you are the one who's better on the 'interpersonal shit'."
He smiled at that. I asked him how he felt about Laura's impending visit.
"Well, right now I'm thinking it gives me a whole day without your boyfriend around," he said with a smile. And then, seeing my expression, "Yeah I know, he's not your boyfriend. Just an old high school buddy who's occasionally in your bed in the middle of the night." He paused. "In you, too, I guess," looking hard at me.
I didn't say anything and he went on. "I think you're right to have her come here, and right away. It sounds like she hasn't had time to really think about what we're doing here or pass on any info to somebody else. And then we can see where we go from there. Do you think you could use her?"
"Oh, yes. It's really hard getting updates on what's happening to mutants all over the world when there's a language barrier. The whole Belarus situation, for example. I've got names, phone numbers, email addresses, but I can't make the contact we need to find out what's really going on there. We've never had anybody who speaks Belarussian. Most people in Belarus speak Russian, too, but it's easier to win the confidence of the mutants there if we've got somebody who can speak their native language. And with Pyotr gone I don't even have anybody who's fluent in Russian. I hate to bring in outsiders to do translation these days. I used to feel like I could just go to the local community college or something and get someone to translate, but now I really don't know whom I can trust. And we never know where the next Belarus is going to be - I could really use someone who could communicate with anyone like that."
"Well, I'll try and be on my best behavior and not scare her off."
"Thanks. Logan," I said, kind of tentatively, "I've been thinking a lot about what you said last night. You were right about the 'somebody else' thing. I do still love you. I do still want you. I've been trying not to, though."
"Why, Scott?"
"I just got hurt so much. It's not just the leaving without telling me, you know. I'm almost getting used to that part. It's all that time you wouldn't even talk to me. I knew I'd hurt you, I knew what I'd said was wrong. I wanted so much to make amends, to try to undo the damage I'd done. And you wouldn't even take my calls. And then I find you were off fucking other people. I know we had no commitment that way - you'd agreed to just tell me and you did that. You lived up to our bargain - I can't fault you. But it just hurt, to think that I was longing for you, wanting you so much. Not just wanting you for sex; wanting to make things right between us. And then I find that you had just moved on already."
"I didn't move on. I got hurt, too, Scott. I thought I'd feel better if I did that. I thought sex with some guys I didn't know, didn't care about, would help." He looked away from me. "It didn't help. I'm not doing it any more." He looked back at me again, the sardonic smile back on his face. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not waiting for you to change your mind - not saving myself for you or anything. Just trying to figure out what's going to feel okay. Picking up guys at a truck stop and fucking them wasn't feeling okay. Well, it was feeling good when I was doing it, but afterwards it was just kind of making me think more about what I was missing. It wasn't like being with you."
"Could you have told me how you were feeling? Why you were doing that? It would have made a difference to me."
"I'm not so good at talking about things like that."
"I've noticed." He laughed. "Hey, Logan, part of why this happened is because I said too much, said that stuff about Oliver when I should have just kept my fucking mouth shut. And part of it is because you said too little, didn't tell me how you were feeling. Don't you think?"
"I guess so. Seems typical. You talk too much, I don't talk enough. Maybe we were good for each other. Maybe we evened each other up a bit."
I took a deep breath, cringing a little thinking about what Charles would think if he knew what I was going to say. Still, I knew I had to say it. "Do you want to give it another shot?"
He smiled at that, broad and genuine. "Yeah, I do. What did you have in mind?"
"Right now?" He nodded, still with that great big smile. "Sucking you off." He moved over, sitting on the edge of the bed. I got on my knees in front of him. "I'm hungry for your cock, Logan," I told him.
"Can't let you go hungry, now, Cyclops," he said. "Not with you being my guest here and everything. It wouldn't be polite."
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