“Hank!” Logan screamed as the elevator door slid open.
“Not Now!” Hank returned as he entered the med lab carrying a long pale body. .All Logan saw was a bloody hand as the large metal doors slid shut and sealed. Logan slid to a stop outside the door, he pounded it with both fists and growled loudly. Leaning his forehead against the cool metal  door he closed his eyes. He knew it would happen someday, this was a war they were fighting, but he still wasn’t prepared when the call came in…
* “ Two down! We’ve got two down! “ Screamed into a comm badge “Remy and Ro… looks bad…”* The words echoed through his head. A hand on his shoulder made Logan jump back from the door.
“ Damn it Jeannie! You were messin’ in my head! I couldn’t see how bad it was! I need to be in there!” Logan screamed as he waved at the door, he was inches from his friend’s face.
She’d forgive him.
She understood.
“ Logan, you’d be in Hank’s way. I’m sorry, I had to stall you.” , Jean said ,trying to calm him… trying to calm herself. In the back of her mind all she could think was It could have been Scott.
“Why don’t ya sit down Logan, from the looks of the swamp rat it’s gonna be a while.” Rogue said as she walked up to them. Logan could barely stand to be in the same room with the girl since finding out the truth about Antarctica. His trust in her all but gone since she decided to be Judge, Jury, and Executioner to his lover there. Maybe the kid asked for it, but she sure as shit should have had enough damn sense to say no.
“ I don’t wanna sit , back off.” he growled. He was close to losing it, he hadn’t felt this out of control, except in battle, since the kid sauntered into his life. Jean squeezed his shoulder and gently led him to a row of chairs in the hallway.
“ Sit down.”
“ I DON”T want to sit down!”
“ Wolverine, back off.” said Cyclops  from down the hall.
“ Lay off Cyke, I’m not in the mood.”
Scott walked up to his wife and hugged her tightly. He kissed her hair softly and they  held each other for a long moment. Logan stared at them a second, there was a flash of guilt as he wished it was Scott behind those doors. He spun, and started pacing the hall stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the drops of his lovers blood on the floor.
“ I gotta get outta here” he mumbled as he headed for the nearest exit. Once outside he lit a cigar and looked up at the sky. When had he lost control of the
situation, he made a promise to himself a long time ago never to care this much again. It always ended the same way, it hurt too damn much.
He shook his head and sat down on the steps. He knew he never had a chance as soon as he admitted to himself that he was half in love with the young thief. Then the cajun flashed him that lopsided grin and it was all over. Remy brought out a side of him he hated to admit exist. He was Wolverine, the ancient warrior, tougher than anyone and the best there was at what he did. Somehow though, when he was with Remy he became Logan, a man he thought died long ago.
Logan had deep feelings, Logan cared,
Logan could be hurt.
He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Putting out the cigar against his palm Logan rose from the step to make his way back to the Med lab. Maybe there was some word.
 

The whole team was in the hall, but no one came near him where he sat. Sometimes he wished they were more like his lover. Remy  would never let anyone sit out here alone. Logan didn’t think anyone but he and Ro ever noticed how generous and thoughtful Remy truly was. The young thief had a hard life, one hard time piled on top of another. Remy’d never let anyone suffer alone, he knew only too well what that was like.
Everyone’s head snapped up as the door opened. Jean came out slowly, Ororo leaning on her for support. When they reached Logan they stopped. “I am sorry Logan, I could not protect my brother” Ro said quietly as a single tear made it’s way down her dark cheek. She raised a shaking hand to wipe it away. “ He was trying to protect me, I was separated from the team, I pray the Goddess is watching over him.”
Come on Ro, you should rest.” Jean gently guided her away to the elevator. Logan stared at the place they had been standing, then his eyes were once again drawn back to his lovers blood on the floor.
 Hours passed, Logan was alone now, he paced and growled and every once in a while he’d stop, scream and punch the wall. Finally, a weary looking Beast emerged from the Med lab. He caught Logan’s eyes and sighed. “ He’s alive Logan, but they nearly beat him to death. Come on in, we’ll talk.” Logan’s feet were glued to the floor for a moment. He’d half expected the kid to come waltzing out and say “miss me?” He finally realized that Hank was holding the door for him and quickly joined the blue doctor.
“Sit down Logan,” Hank said as he sank into his chair behind the desk. He removed his glasses and with his eyes closed, sat back in the chair, pinching his nose a moment. Taking a deep breath he sat up and replaced his glasses.
“The FOH cornered Storm, she probably would have been fine, but we both know how much our young Acadian loves her so he pushed her away and told her to gather the rest of the team. I don’t know how many of them there were. When we found him…” he closed his eyes as he remembered finding the young thief, “ they must have thought he was dead. We came right home.”
“ Tell me,” Logan could barely speak past the lump in his throat ’ damn cajun, he thought to himself, ’ always trying to save everyone on his own.
“ They must have sprayed pepper spray in his eyes…I’ve rinsed them and I’ve bandaged them… I don’t expect any permanent damage but we will have to wait and see. His eyes are so unique. He’s got broken ribs and broken bones in his right hand. They must have kicked him repeatedly in the back, his coccyx bone, um, the tailbone is broken and another vertebra cracked. Both hands are badly cut and bruised, he fought back as hard as he could. His spleen was damaged and both kidneys are bruised. They must have taken a lead pipe to his left knee, he has detached  ligaments and tendons . I doubt he will fully recover, he’s going to lose mobility. Probably have a permanent limp. He’s got a concussion ,there was a lot of internal bleeding…I lost him…
“Lost him…”
“the shock to his system, the blood loss. I’ve been trying without luck, to stabilize  his heartbeat. For now, he is holding his own.”
Logan swallowed hard. He stared at Hank not knowing what to say or do. The chair creaked loudly as Hank got up , breaking the uncomfortable silence in the small office. “ Come on my friend,  let’s go see how he’s doing.” He waited as Logan slowly rose from his chair, moving like a robot as the extent of damage started to register in his brain.
 

Hank stayed behind as Logan entered the small room. Logan’s breath caught in his throat when he saw the battered body on the bed. He looked so young and fragile. The man who kissed him so passionately this morning, the man who could bring him to tears of ecstasy in the middle of the night couldn’t possibly be the same broken boy in front of him. His skin was almost as pale as the bandages that covered his gorgeous eyes. His face was swollen and bruised. Blankets hid the bandage over the surgical site on his abdomen.  There were several IV’s attached to his pale arms. His left hand was heavily bandaged, his right in a cast . His left leg was elevated on pillows. A heart monitor beeped quietly, sometimes slowing, sometimes racing. Logan pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down, he searched for a place he could touch without causing more pain .He settled for brushing auburn silk back away from bandaged eyes.
“ I’ll get ‘em darlin’…I’ll gut every one of them for ya. Ro’s okay, a little  shaken but she’s fine. She’ll come by tomorrow and say hi, I think Hank gave her something to make her sleep.” he whispered to his lover. It had been decided long ago that he and Remy wouldn’t go on missions together much the same way Scott and Jean didn’t. Emotional ties were too strong.  Judgement could be impaired.
“ Damn it Cajun, that was a stupid thing you did. Ro can take care of herself, hell , she coulda flown above ‘em. She’s not a kid anymore darlin’, you don’t have to protect her anymore.” He sighed and bent close to his lovers ear, “Damn you for getting’ hurt,…damn you for makin’ me love ya so much that I could get hurt. A tear made it’s way down his face. His hand shook as he stroked back the soft hair. “I ain’t good at waitin’ darlin’, you just better heal up fast cause as soon as yer up to it we’re goin’ into the danger room and we ain’t comin out until I teach ya how to get out of these situations. Yer never puttin’ me through this again, ya hear me?”
Hank entered the room quietly and began checking IV’s and monitors. “ I’m going to try to wake him. If he is coherent I want you to talk to him, assure him that he’s going to be fine. From what I know about our young friend’s past this could possibly bring back bad memories from his child hood. He may experience nightmares for a while. Try to make him understand that he is safe now.” Logan rubbed his hands over his face, he already dealt with the nightmares. Back when he and Remy were just exploring this new relationship. Over time the nightmares stopped, but they were strong and dark and held great power over his young lover. Logan hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with that again. It actually frightened him to see Remy so terrified. Remy could never put words to the horrid pictures in his mind, he just shook and cried against Logan’s broad chest. When the fear passed he would fall back into a fitful sleep. It took months for the nightmares to end.
Remy moaned quietly and Logan’s head snapped up to look at his lovers face.
“ Remy?…Remy,  It’s Hank, can you hear me? Do you know me?  Can you nod  for me if you do? “ A very slight nod and another soft moan. “ Do you remember what happened to you? “ Another small nod.
“ How ’bout me darlin, do ya remember me? “ A tiny turn of his head and with great effort Remy tried to raise his hand. Logan caught it and kissed it gently, “ yeah, you remember me. “ He rubbed his cheek gently against the bandage. He lifted his hand toward his face, this time Hank caught it. “ Your eyes are bandaged but you’re going to be fine. Go back to sleep, I’ll have to wake you again in a bit, you have a concussion.” Remy seemed to relax back into the mattress and fall asleep. “ His readings have improved a bit.” Hank said as he wrote on a chart.” He’s hanging in there.”
“ I’m staying with him.” Logan said in a voice that left no room for argument.
“ Fine, I’ll be doing blood counts  periodically , don’t be alarmed by the blood in his urine, it’s from his damaged kidneys. Let me know at once if he vomits , I would need to re-evaluate his head wound. He will have to practice  deep breathing exercises and we will have to watch for signs of infection or pneumonia. He felt Remy’s head and rechecked IV’s before leaving to update the rest of the team.
“ Lo…gn?”, a very soft whisper.
“ I’m right  here darlin’” Logan carefully held  the battered left hand.
“ hurt…”almost a sob
“ I’m sorry kiddo”
“can’t…see…eyes burn…”
You’ll be okay, Hank’s got yer eyes bandaged. Don’t talk okay? Try to sleep.”
Remy nodded slightly and immediately  regretted it because it made him dizzy and  nauseous. He tried to take a deep breath to calm his stomach but that caused fire in his ribs. He gasped at the pain.
“ gonna… be … sick…”
“ Hang on darlin’..HANK! “
“don’t yell… hurts…”
“Yes, Logan?”
“kid thinks he’s gonna be…”
Just then Remy lurched to the side and vomited. They carefully rolled him back and cleaned him up. He whimpered at the pain that caused in his entire body. Logan couldn’t stand it anymore, the kid was in obvious agony.
“ Watch him for me. I’ve got business to take care of.” He left the room, Hank followed shortly after.
“ Logan…” Hank opened his mouth to say more but Wolverine stopped him.
“ Save it, Blue, They nearly killed him! It’s about time I started acting like Wolverine again.”
“ Logan, please don’t do this. It won’t solve anything.”
“ Hank, even if I didn’t love the kid, AND I DO, I’d kick their asses for hurting him so bad.”
“ Logan, “ Hank said calmly, “ Remy’s  asking for you. Please don’t do this . I need him as calm, quiet, and still as possible.  Do you think he can do that if he’s worried about you. Logan, he’s hurt and scared and he needs you here. Now.” Hank’s words struck home and Logan cursed, popping his claws out and in, out and in, out and in. Finally, he took a deep breath and headed for Remy’s room.
“ Hey kid you should be asleep. Feelin’ better?” Logan said from the doorway. Remy startled a little, then winced in pain at the movement “ Cher… hate this… need you…”
“ I want you to listen to Blue, I gotta go.”
“ NON! ” Remy reached out blindly, Groaning as pain shot through his entire body.”
“ Remy, please, you have to stay still “ Hank said as he took his hand and gently placed it back on the bed. He rechecked  the IV lines and watched the heart monitor closely.
“ Listen, go to sleep. I’ll be back as soon as I do what needs to be done.”
“ Non… Logan, Cher,…Need you…please…” There was a hint of real fear in the soft, shaky voice. Logan sighed and bent to kiss Remy’s brow, as he brushed back soft hair he said “ sure kid, I’ll stay. “
“merci “ barely a whisper as he drifted off again.

TBC