*****

Remy was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the
pillow. He was physically and mentally exhausted. Hank
finally got him to agree to an IV on the way to the
lab. He'd been in such a deep state of shock that his
body practically shutdown, and it was just to get some
fluids into his system he explained to his young
friend.

A deep shuddered breath from the young man made Hank
reach out and brush back his hair in a sympathetic
gesture. This would hurt Remy badly once he woke up
and REALLY had time to think about it.

He was so happy with the Logan. He coudn't contain the
grin on his face when he told Henri about their first
meeting. Hank sat with a matching grin as Remy talked,
he hardly seemed to pause to breathe. He saw a spark
in his friend's glowing eyes that he'd never noticed
before. He remembered silently cheering them on as the
Cajun went on to repeat every word of his first
conversation with the older man. He remembered patting
Remy on the back and telling him he was happy for
him...

His thoughts suddenly turned to Cyclops. It was so
unexpected, so totally unlike the straight as an arrow
team leader to DO this! He'd need to run a complete
mental health scan on the man the moment he was found.
Had there been signs that he'd missed? Was there any
earlier indication that he was even REMOTELY
interested in Wolverine? No. No, he loved Jean! But
why then would he throw it all away, purposely HURT
her...

Hank sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he
needed coffee. He groaned when he reached his office
and found his pot empty. No problem, the rest of the
team was surely in the kitchen whispering and
spreading HUGELY exaggerated stories by now. Poor Remy
would, of course, be SOMEHOW responsible. He grabbed
his pot and left the lab.

The figure in the shadows smiled, the lab would be
the PERFECT place to end it...

*****
Scott watched as Remy's eyes slowly opened, but he
seemed too out of it to defend himself, even so, he
could probably pin him to the bed easily. That smile
grew brighter as the needle was placed into the rubber
seal of the insulin, and some of the contents being
pulled into the needle, almost filling it to full.
"You're a sick man, Gambit," Scott said, his voice
sounding so cold, so vengeful."You're nothing more
than a whore... Logan never loved you, he only loves
me, you know that? You are just something in the way
of my happiness. Now I'm just going to have to get rid
of you... just like how a person gets rid of an
unwanted animal. That's all you are, Gambit, a damn
animal... a bitch always in heat. But that's all going
to end, now..."

Before the young Cajun knew what was going on, Scott
injected the needle's contents into his IV. He could
feel something cold rushing into his veins, and then,
he couldn't breath, he was choking and his body
shaking rather harshly, until the shaking turned into
violent jerks.

Scott smiled at the agony Remy was in, watching the
young man sweat and hearing him gag was like a turn
on. Almost as good as being touched by Logan. He
quickly placed the needle and insulin into his pocket,
and hit the intercom, trying to sound as worried as
one would be during such a thing. "Hank! It's Remy,
something's wrong, he can't breath! you better get
down here!" Now Logan would think of him as a hero,
trying to save the young man... and this would draw
Logan to him like a moth to a flame.

It had to.

He loved him.

*****

Logan could not believe his eyes as he rushed into the
medical lab. Hank and Storm were surrounding Remy, as
he was going into what looked like a seizure, and a
rather painful one at that. Hank was checking his
eyes, while Storm helped to hold him down, as his body
continued to jerk about in bed. He growled, and looked
over at Scott, who was now calmly standing against the
wall. He turned towards him, grabbing him by the
collar of his shirt and growling loudly, "What did you
do to him!?"

"I didn't do anything! I just found him like this, I
swear, Logan! Why do you care so much for him, anyway?
He's just a whore! He doesn't love you, like I do!"
Scott frowned, looking Logan straight in the eye
through his ruby red glasses. Why couldn't he see it?
Why couldn't he see that Remy was and always will be a
whore and a traitor. He could not and would never be
capable of loving Logan like he could. He grabbed the
older man's hand, gently stroking the knuckles in a
sickening display of affection. "Come on, let's go.
He's probably going to die, anyway. He's better
off..."

*****

Down at the boathouse Jean woke from a fitful sleep
with a gasp, " Remy!"

Charles was still there beside her bed and he placed
his hand on her shoulder, " Remy is fine now Jean. He
came out of shock hours ago, don't you remember?"

Jean brushed off his hand and placed her feet on the
floor, " No! He's in trouble. Scott...SCOTT!"

She stood too fast and swayed on her feet, " Jean, you
need to lay down-"

" I don't know how he's blocking you but he is! He's
still after Remy! He's there now! Why can't you sense
it?! I have to get up there..."

*****

"Storm, hurry and wheel over the respirator... he
can't breathe!" Hank was shouting at the top of his
lungs, unable to hear the fight Logan and Scott were
having. Right now, he could care less, Remy was
getting worse. The young man suddenly stopped
breathing and made choking sounds. He could be choking
on his tongue from the seizures he was having, or
something in his brain shut down, making it so he
couldn't breathe at all. "Damn-it, I'm going to have
to intubate him! Remy hang in there... please!"

*****

Remy's eyes widened, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't
remember how to breathe! He saw Hank and Storm above
him, but they just seemed to be moving farther and
farther away from him. Everything was growing darker,
and he could barely make out the sounds of Logan and
Scott fighting. Scott was still in the room... he
injected him with something that did this to his body.
Why? What did he do wrong? All he did was love one
man... for the first time in his life, he was in love,
and happy. But Scott took that all away from him, and
now... now he felt like he was dying.

*****
 

Storm quickly handed Hank a scope and a tube which
connected to the respirator. She could not believe the
sight before her, Remy was shaking so violently and
his body jerking badly, his eyes nearly rolled back
inside of his head, and his skin turning blue from the
lack of oxygen. In all of her life, Storm had never
felt so helpless, so useless to her brother.

She had to turn her head away when Hank pride open
his mouth, then cursed because Remy's tongue was
blocking him from getting the tube down his throat so
he could breathe.

Long seconds, seconds that felt more like hours passed
before Hank finally screamed, " I'm in!" Remy's chest
slowly started to rise and fall once more, and his
shaking finally stopped. His frantic eyes closed in
what Hank hoped was just sleep. He was over the
initial danger, but seemed to be unable to breath on
his own anymore.

"Goddess... is he alright, Hank?"

Hank took a deep breath and looked at his hands, they
were shaking now that the immediate crisis was over.
Though he didn't like to admit it, he was as
frightened as she was. "I'm not sure. I don't know
what caused the seizures. He was FINE when I left!
I'll run a few blood tests to find out, but right now,
he can't seem to breathe on his own... " He took his
pen light and shined it into Remy's eyes, checking
them once more, and seeing they were dilated to the
point where there was almost no red in them. "Storm,
get Scott and Logan out of here while I run some
tests... I'm going to have to do a few more things to
Remy, and I don't want them to see it... for Remy's
privacy."

*****

Jean pushed through the large double doors of the med
lab, followed by Bishop and Bobby.They were just in
time to see Storm ushering Logan and Scott out. " My
God Scott...What have you done?"

The field leader just smiled at her, " Why is everyone
accusing me? I was the one who called Hank!"

Fire started to dance in the Phoenix eyes, " You may
have found a way to block Charles, HUSBAND, but you
can't completely block the link we share." She tapped
her temple and smiled coldly back at the stranger in
front of her.

He laughed, it was a sick sound in the silence of the
cold hallway. "No I can't... but it was worth it to
feel you when you touched my mind. When I was driven
to the best damn orgasm I've EVER experienced! Logan
can satisfy me like you never could! Now that the damn
Cajun is out of the way-"

Logan's hand was around his throat and cutting off
words and air, his voice was a low growl, " Cyke...
you better damn well pray you got an alien inside yer
brain. Cause if Hank and Chuck check you out and say
yer clean," he looked at the faces of everyone
present, " there won't be enough o' you left for
Jeannie to fry."

Charles came around the corner as Logan forced Cyclops
up against the wall, harder this time. "Logan...
Bishop, would you see Cyclops down to the containment
cell?"

Scott turned to Charles, "Containment cell?"

Bishop towered over the man he respected as his
leader, " Please come with me Sir." This was the
hardest thing he could remember doing. Cyclops was a
legend. Legends never fell like this...

Charles held out his hands as Bishop grabbed Cyclops
by the arm to keep him from advancing on the
Professor,
" You're sick Scott. Henry and I-"

" I'm not sick! He was USING Logan! Can't any of you
see that!" He stumbled as Bishop began pulling him
away, "Come on Logan, he's useless now. Just let him
stay with them, come with me... "

"SIR!" Bishop's deep baritone voice silenced him as
they continued down the cold white hallway.

"You are sick, you fucking bastard!" Logan shouted
out, slashing his fist out to Scott and striking him
down with a single punch. "You purposely wore his
clothes, did everything to smell like him, then made
me screw you! I never loved you, I never could! It
wasn't like that! You took away what meant most to me!
You are the sickest, most sorry excuse for a creature
I ever laid eyes on! Hell, even Creed looks more sane
than you, bub!"

Logan almost felt pity for the deranged man. Scott
started shouting back at him as Bishop drug him away,
" I'm not sick! You belong to me now Logan! I'm not
letting him near you! You love me!

You. Love. Me!"
 

*****

Forty-five minutes later Hank finally came out, a sad
yet angry look came across his blue face when he
turned to Storm and Logan specifically, "I found a
large amount of insulin in his body, it threw him into
the seizure. Even Remy's metabolism couldn't break it
down fast enough. It would have been fatal to anyone
else on the team. Right now, Remy is alive, but in a
vegetative state. He was without oxygen for an
extended amount of time so I'm going to run a CAT scan
to see if, and how bad, any brain damage is. For now,
I placed a catheter and a feeding tube into his body."
Hank noticed the devastated looks coming from
everyone's face. "I'm not sure if this state is
permanent or not, but until I find out how he ended up
with an overdose of insulin, Remy is to be watched 24
hours a day. Visitations with him will be monitored at
all times, and will have to be cleared by ME. Do you
ALL understand?"

The other's present nodded and walked away, all except
Logan, Jean, Charles and Storm. " Thank you Henry,"
Charles said, "Please keep me informed. I would like
you to accompany me when I talk to Scott."

Logan growled at the mention of his name. Hank nodded,

" Of course, but I'll need some time, Remy..."

" I know you care for him," Charles added with a small
sad smile. " Scott isn't going anywhere this time,
we'll find out what happened."

" Thank you Charles, now if you would all excuse
me..."
 

Logan was about to say something when Storm stood and
cut him off with a look, " I wish to sit with my
brother for a while."

" I'm coming too Storm," Jean said as she walked
slowly up to her best friend. " Maybe there's
something I can do to help." She glanced at Logan as
she passed him, he thought he saw a hint of
understanding in her eyes.

" Ro..." There was so much he wanted to say, so much
he needed to hear...

Storm turned when she reached the door and looked back
at Logan, " I can not talk to you now. I STILL can not
believe that you, of all people, would hurt my
brother. If I find out that you had any part in this
... this attempt on his life, there will be no where
on Earth for you to hide." She turned and walked
through the doors without giving him another chance to
respond.

*****

Hours... minutes... time meant nothing to Remy where
he was. It was quiet and dark and there was no pain,
but he felt himself drifting slowly back from the
perfect stillness that surrounded him to somewhere
else. He didn't know why, only that something
important was waiting there for him....

... The first thing that returned was his sense of
touch. He was aware that he was lying on a bed, but it
wasn't HIS bed. It was harder, narrower, and the
comfortable dip that fit him perfectly was missing, as
was the comforting scent of his lover... There was
something in his throat that blocked his airway yet he
was still breathing...wasn't he? He felt beaten and
battered and bruised from the inside out...

Hearing came next. The hiss/whoosh of the machinery
that forced air into his lungs, the beep-beep of the
monitors that guarded his heart and other vital
organs.

Smell and taste returned after that. Chemical...
metallic... bitter... the med lab. He wanted to shiver
but it seemed too much of an effort.

His sight was a long time returning. Dark shapes and
flashes of light. Fuzzy objects that turned into
concerned friends talking in whispers across the room
as if he was already dead.

He couldn't make a sound, but he remembered what had
happened to bring him to this point and silent tears
left his eyes. A monitor changed cadence and a flurry
of activity ensued. He felt them around him, he heard
their encouraging words, he saw their tears and
smiles, but he was lost in a hellish memory...

Why Logan?

Why?

*****

Bishop stood at attention outside the cell that held
his Team Leader. Cyclops, the leader of the X-Men, was
sitting in a containment cell? A cell he put the man
in? The events of the previous seventy-two hours were
still weighing heavy on his mind. How had Cyclops
turned into the pathetic man before him? He sat in the
corner of the cell, his knees bent, his head buried in
his arms, talking of loving Wolverine?

Cyclops was the Hero he came to worship as a small boy
under the watchful eye of the Witness.

Cyclops was the Best of the Best.

Cyclops was a Legend.

Legends weren't supposed to fall.

He looked again at the shattered man on the floor of
the cell, and his perfectly ordered world fell apart.

Maybe... maybe sometimes they did...

*****

Logan sat, forgotten and alone in the cold hallway
outside the medical unit. Time had passed, but he was
unaware of how much. He stared at the floor between
his feet and tried to make sense of the last few days.
He loved Remy more than his own life, that was a fact.
He shifted his gaze toward the heavy door that
separated him from the kid. Inside that room, his very
soul was battling to survive.... because of a moment
of weakness, his Remy ... Yes damn it, HIS Remy had to
be kept alive by a machine. He looked to the floor
again, hoping to find the answers to the thousands of
questions floating in his head. Only one thought would
be acknowledged...

He had to leave.

He had to be gone before Remy woke up. He couldn't
face the kid, couldn't bear to see the hurt and
betrayal in those BEAUTIFUL eyes.Could never in a
million years tell the boy how sorry he was that he
hurt him. Could never HOPE to make this up to him.

He had to leave.

He had to be gone before Hank, or Storm, or Jean came
out and said... and said there was nothing more they
could do. They wouldn't want to let him see Remy to
say goodbye. The bigger problem was how on Earth COULD
he? How would he live through looking at his Heart and
knowing he killed him?

He struggled for a moment before he finally found his
feet. He had to get moving, but there was one last
gift he had to give the young Cajun before he left and
was out of his life forever. He had to pay a little
visit to Cyclops.

It was payback time...

TBC