Chapter 2

Logan looked over at his sleeping companion. The kid had been
sleeping off and on all day. He woke briefly for lunch but had slept
through a breakfast stop. It was nearing dark now and they had been
on the road for over 12 hours.

Logan thought about the team and the home he left behind. What were
they thinking about him and the kid taking off in the middle of the
night with no word. Well, that was not entirely true. He saw Remy
leave a note to Ororo. He said he could not leave without at least
telling her why. He owed her that. Logan sighed. Looked like the
kid had left behind the only friend he had in this fucked up world.

"No" he said out loud. Not one friend. "Ya got two friends, kid. Me
an' Ro."

Logan sighed again and looked over at the sleeping boy next to him,
reaching out to stroke his hair. Logan mused on how many times
he "accidentally" touched the kid's hair. It was soft like cascading
water, or spun silk. He could not get enough of touching it. There
was one occasion where he actually wrapped the hair around his wrist
under the guise of keeping the kid still. He didn't let go until the
smiling Cajun reminded him that he was still holing on. Logan smiled
at the memory as his fingers wound themselves in the long strands.

"`course Ro never wanted to peel your clothes off ya and make love to
ya till ya screamed her name over and over" Logan mumbled to
himself.

" you tryin' t' tell Remy somthin' mon ami?" Logan jumped at the
voice but didn't pull his hand away.

" How long you been awake, gumbo? " Logan tired to sound angry but
couldn't.

Remy kept smiling at his friend as he answered. "Soon as I felt y'
in my hair, homme" Logan went quiet as he lost himself in thought and
Remy kept smiling at the older man.

After a while Remy spoke softly to his friend " Uhm, Logan? Much as
I love the feelin' of y' hands in my hair…. I really need to change
m' position."

Logan reluctantly removed his fingers from their silky confines and
Remy adjusted in the seat and stretched, arching his back and neck as
Logan watched approvingly out of the corner of his eye.

"We be stopping soon, Cher? Remy feelin' a bit hungry".

"Yeah we'll be stopping soon, kid. Jus lookin for a place to sleep
with food nearby. Need a rest myself from drivin' ".

* * *

Scott approached Ororo as she was heading to the dining room.

"Ro? I found this in Remy's room when I went to find him for
dinner. Looks like most of his things are gone. Know anything about
it?" Ororo took the note from Scott.

" No, I have not spoken to my brother since his return from his…" She
looked at the leader of the X-men with a slight grin. "excursion of
yesterday."

Looking back at what Scot had given her, she opened the envelope. "
You were quite harsh, you know. He felt he was doing the right
thing, for Logan". Scott rolled his eyes at his friend. " Your
brother, knew that the area was off limits. He put himself in danger
going there and he needed to be reminded that orders are orders. He
was flippant to both the professor and myself when questioned and I
did what I felt was necessary to remind him of the need for following
orders." Ororo shot him an angry look.

"Ok, ok, I'll talk to him and see if I can smooth over any hard
feelings. Sometimes I feel like I inherited a little brother along
with you " Scott sighed.

"You will not get that chance, Scott" Ororo's eyes reflected bot
sadness and a hint of mirth. " My brother has left the X-men."
Scott could not keep his jaw from dropping at the news he just
heard. " I seems that Logan has asked my brother to accompany him on
a rather lengthy journey of discovery. Logan's last assignment had
made them both reflect on their roles in the X-men and neither one
was happy with what they were asked to do for the cause and so it was
decided that a… How did my brother put it?" The weather goddess
looked back at the note in her hands. "… road trip was just the
thing they needed to figure out what they wanted." Ororo smiled at
Scott as she made her way to the dining room. "I think it is just
what they needed." She stated as she passed through the door.

* * *

They found a Holiday Inn with a restaurant attached and pulled in to
eat and sleep for the night. Logan ordered his dinner and was
surprised at the amount of food his younger companion had ordered.

"Storing food for the rest of winter, kid?" Remy smiled.

"Non. Logan guess I just hungry, must be the connection to a certain
hollow legged Canadian, oui? Remy feel like he could eat a herd a'
horses right now, yeah?

Logan looked hard at the young man across the table from him. "Rem?
How long have you has this disassociative behavior thing and how can
I help ya break it?"

Remy almost choked on his water at Logan's statement.

"Disassociative behavior? You been talkin' to Henry, Logan?"

"Maybe" Logan mumbled as he suddenly had the urge to check out the
other patrons in the dining room. Remy laughed lightly.

"First ya like my hair, then ya wan' me nekked an now ya talkin' to
M.Bete `bout me. Any other surprises you wan ta spring on Remy
tonight Cher?"

Logan looked back at Remy.

"Nothin to say, Gumbo. Like ya hair and I worry bout this third
person thing. First it annoyed the hell outta me then after talkin
to Hank I got to worryin' about it. And yeah I thought about nailing
ya to the floor a few times. So what? Most of the people in the
mansion have at least once. C'ept maybe Ro. Then ya had to go an
follow me to that fuckin cave. Make me feel like I was someone worth
worryin about, ya know? And then the empathy. Feeling you inside my
head, feeling the animal back down. I can't explain the feeling of
peace, the feeling of one. Of being one person. I know its still
there I know it will surface again but right now? I love this
feeling. And you. I think maybe I love ya too Gumbo. Think maybe I
have for a while now. Guess that's why I talk to Hank and sometimes
even to Ro about ya."

Remy stared at the older man not knowing how to respond even as the
food was brought out and placed in front of him.

"Love?" He finally spoke. Logan looked at him.

"Yeah kid, Love." Remy looked down at his plate and Logan was afraid
that he just said the worst thing possible to the boy. Then he
noticed a smile appear on Remy a big bright smile that if the kid
looked up from his plate would brighten the entire room. Logan
grinned to himself and started in on his dinner.

"Yep" He thought to himself. " Leaving was definitely the right
answer".

TBC