Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own anything...at all. Here's the last chapter and I hope you like it. It was emotionally taxing for me to write and worse for me when I typed it up, I hope it's worth it and that ya'll have liked the story. I enjoyed it and I hope that ya'll did too. Here's the last chapter!
Nearly a month had passed when I was sitting in the library studying. The Professor had let me take my job back, but ever since my little kissing catastrophe, I had been throwing myself into my work more than ever. I'm sure that Xavier was worried about it, but he didn't saying anything, no one did. That was the eerie thing about it. I knew that most of the staff knew what had happened; whether they knew about the kissing incident, or if they had just heard about me running from the kitchen as I had, I wasn't sure, but they were all too overly nice to me. Have you ever known a secret about someone that you weren't supposed to know and when you see them, you're afraid that they'll be able to just look at you and know that you know it? That's how the staff was acting with me, making sure that they picked their words very carefully. They would get all nervous if someone mentioned Logan, me or kissing all within a five-minute time span. Therefore, if I wasn't eating, on interviews or sleeping, I was in the library going through student files for future interviews.
"Are you ever gonna' come out of this room?" I heard from behind me. I craned my neck over my shoulder to see Logan standing a few feet away from me.
"Well, it seems to be the only place I can go and concentrate without all of the noise,"
"Do you mind if I sit down?" he asked, pointing to the chair beside me.
"No," I lied, trying to be polite.
He pulled out the chair and sat beside me quietly for a moment. "I'm goin' to Canada as soon as school lets out for the summer,"
"Well…I hope that you find what you're looking for, then,"
"I wanted you to go with me,"
I looked away from my books that I was staring at, trying to stay calm, to him, sitting in the chair next to me. "Why?"
He looked me right in the eyes, something he hadn't done in weeks. "You said that you had fun when we drove to Seattle, I thought you might like it a bit better if we were gone for a few weeks instead of a day,"
"Logan," I started.
"Listen kid; I'm sorry about that, but that's just what I had to do. You don't have to go with me if you don't want to, but that won't be a problem, we don't have to talk about it. It'll just be you and me for about four weeks, you can think about it," he said and then stood to leave. "Oh, Chuck wants to see you in his office,"
"Alright, thank you," I said as I started gathering and placing all of the files into my bag, taking my time so that I wouldn't have to follow right behind him.
He wanted me to go to Canada with him. Me. We had barely spoken to each other in those three or so weeks and all of a sudden, he wanted to go off, just the two of us, for about a month. Why?
I knocked on the door to the Professor's office after I got all of my stuff together and left the library.
"Come in," I heard him call from inside.
I opened the door, walked into his office and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "Logan said that you wanted to see me,"
"Yes, I wanted to speak to you about something,"
"Alright," I said, feeling slightly nervous.
"Logan has asked me about going up north this summer and the possibility of you going with him, I think that it would be to your best interest to do so,"
"Why do you think that?"
"I'm afraid to say that I feel as though you are in a bit of danger here, and I think that you would be much safe if you left for a few weeks. I have all faith in Logan that you will be perfectly safe with him,"
"What do you mean danger; can you be a little more specific?" I asked, definitely more than just slightly nervous.
"I'm afraid I'm not sure,"
"How can you not be sure? You're psychic!"
"Chloe, I do not think it's anything to be too worried about right now, I feel that you'll be safe until the summer,"
"You don't think?" I asked in a shrill voice.
"Miss Rynolds, you only have to leave the house for interviews, unless you would rather Bobby or Rogue take them over for you. I have talked to Logan and he will be going with you whenever you go out,"
"I have an interview tomorrow that I want to do but then I don't want to do anymore. But, it's during school hours, how is that supposed to work out?" I said, my voice much calmer.
"Logan will be excused from all teaching duties tomorrow,"
I took in a shaking breath. "Okay," I said, nodding my head.
"I have complete faith in Logan to protect you,"
"Yeah…I have faith in him, too,"
"So, did you talk to the Professor?" Logan as me that night after dinner as I was walking to the gym. I needed to work out my nerves.
"Yeah,"
"What did he say?"
"Well you talked to him, don't you know?"
"He only asked me to watch out for you when you went out,"
"And that's all he said to me," I said curtly.
"Why are you mad?"
I turned around and looked at him. We were right in front of the gym doors.
"Did you only ask me to go to Canada because the Professor asked you to take me with you?"
He looked slightly offended at me. "No, I respect him but I'm not Summers; I don't run and do everything he tells me to do,"
"So asked me because you honestly wanted to take me?"
"Yeah, I went to ask him if I could take the summer off and he knew that I was going to ask you and he told me that he thought it would be a good idea if you left for a few weeks, but I wanted you to go with me,"
"But why, we've barely spoken since New Year's Eve, what made you want to suddenly take me on a road trip with you?"
"I told you; since you had fun the last time we went somewhere, I thought you might wanna' go somewhere else," he said. "You don't have to go,"
"That's not the problem, I miss you Logan, I feel like I lost a part of myself when I…acted stupid and screwed up,"
"You weren't acting stupid, and you didn't screw up,"
"You weren't the one who went all emotional and made a fool of yourself in my bedroom, that was me,"
"You didn't make a fool of yourself and I'm sorry if I made you feel like that. If you had been any other woman-"
"If I had been Marie, you mean," I spat, cutting him off.
"No,"
"Why don't you just admit it Logan? You have a crush on her,"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not stupid, I see how you talk and flirt with her. I know that I'm not as pretty as she is, but do me a favor and don't treat me like a complete idiot, at least,"
"I want you to listen to me Chloe, because I'm not gonna' say this again," he said to me, trapping me between him and the wall, moving his face within two inches of mine. "I've seen Marie grow up and I told you that she reminded me of you everyday. Am I attracted to her? Yes. Am I gonna' do anything about it? No. Why? Because she's married now. Before then I didn't do anything about it because Marie is just a friend to me. I want nothing more than to kiss you right now but I've seen what that did with me and Jean and me and 'Ro. We're fine now but it took too long for us to get like that again for me to screw this up with you. I don't think you're stupid and you know that I think you're beautiful and that's why I don't want to do this to you. You were the only thing that kept me goin' back then, kid, you were the first person that I cared about and you were the only person who cared about me. Don't you ever think the reason why I'm doin' this is because I don't like you, darlin', because that's why I'm not,"
"Alright, I get that, but you have to understand that it's hard for me to listen to you say that you want the same thing as me but I can't have it. I…I tried so hard not to fall for you Logan, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to, but it happened. I just want for us to go back to before I kissed you, because now that's all I can think about. I do miss you, I miss being around you. You don't want to screw this up, but I already have. I'm so sorry, can you please forgive me?" I asked, tears escaping my eyes.
He put his hand up to my cheek and nuzzled his nose against mine. "No, there's nothin' for you to be sorry about,"
"But I messed this up,"
"You did what we both wanted to do, what I couldn't do,"
"You can, though," I said, closing my eyes to keep the tears from flowing.
"But I'm not going to,"
"I know,"
I felt his lips lightly press against mine, kissing me softly. I longed to kiss him back, but I knew that I couldn't or I would regret it. He slowly pulled away and I opened my eyes to see him staring at me. I wrapped my arms around him, pulled him to me and hugged him.
"I love you, Logan," said through tears, where my face was burred into his shoulder.
He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and stroked my hair with his free hand. "I love you too, Chloe," he said to me, continuing to hold me to him.
Maybe it sounds absurd, but I believe that the reason why Logan didn't want to have a real relationship with me was because he did love me, perhaps he was even in love with me, and he really didn't want to hurt me. However, whatever the reason was it didn't matter; it was the final decision. We weren't going to get involved with each other. Although it hurt, I was okay with it because I was going to get my Wolverine back. He was mine and I was never going to let him go.
"You ready in here?" I heard Logan ask from my open door.
"Yeah, I'm just putting my boots on," I called to him from my closet.
"Cowboy boots?" he asked, walking up to where I was standing.
I shrugged, pulling on my second boot. "So you rubbed off on me a little bit,"
It was the next day, Monday, and I was getting ready for my meeting that morning. I had decided to wear the outfit that I had worn when I dreamt that Logan and I were getting married, in hopes to make myself feel a little bit better. However, what would the odds be of him wearing the same thing that I had seen him wearing in my dream as well? Well, perhaps the odds wouldn't be so high, considering that he usually wore jeans with a white T-shirt.
"I think it's more than a little bit," he said with a smirk as he watched me pull on a sweater over my dress. He was finally back to being old Logan again and I realized then just how much I had missed him.
"Stop gawking at me Logan, you're going to make me late," I joked.
He let out a small chuckle. "Alright, come on, let's get this interview over with, I'll buy you lunch,"
"Oh, can we go to Tubbies?"
"I'll think about it," he winked.
"What do you think about me dying my hair?" I asked on the car ride downtown.
"Why would you do that?"
"I don't know, for a bit of change. I think I might look good as a redhead with my skin color and everything,"
"I think you don't need to touch it, it's fine the way it is,"
"You know, it's funny, back when you used to come into the bar you would take the bleach blonde, heavily made up woman out with you. However, now that I know you, I realize that you don't like all that. You like woman to be very natural and stuff,"
"I just think that woman don't realize that being a woman is enough to get a man to notice you. All the makeup and perfume is wasted on us,"
"Okay, first of all, you bought me perfume for Christmas this past year, and second of all, I don't wear makeup to impress men, when I wear it, I wear it because I want to,"
"I only bought you that because it didn't smell like all of that flowery crap,"
"Flowery crap," I laughed. "You are such a man,"
We argued over my hair and other woman things that irritated him until we arrived at the foster home.
"So, how long is this going to take?" he asked as we walked to the entrance together.
"I don't know, it depends,"
"On what?"
"How willing he is to talk to me," He let out a small, displeased growl. "Settle down boy, we'll get something to eat soon," I smiled at him.
"How may I help you?" the woman behind the front desk asked as I walked up to her.
"I'm Chloe Rynolds, I'm from Professor Xavier's school for the gifted and I'm here to see Lukas Sutton,"
"He's in the cafeteria, just go through that door on your right, go down the hall and it's the second door on the left,"
"Alright, thank you," I said, giving a small smile to Logan, who had plopped down in one of the seats in the waiting room and was flipping through a Home and Garden magazine. He cocked his eyebrow at me and then gave me a small wink.
I had never interviewed a boy before, the Professor generally liked to keep Rogue and I interviewing the girls and left Bobby to interview the boys, as the kids are more likely to respond to someone of the same gender.
I walked down the hall, passing by a few kids as I made my way to the cafeteria door. I paused briefly before going in, taking a moment to look at Lukas. He was sixteen and had been left in foster care by his two parents as they had both been incarcerated for running an escort service with a crack house underneath.
I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. I walked over to the table where he was seated. "Hi, I'm Chloe; do you prefer Lukas or Luke?" I asked, sitting down.
"Luke,"
"Alright Luke, do you know why I'm here?"
"You're from some kind of school," he said quietly. He looked fairly tall, around my height, had brown hair and blue eyes. He was different that the other students that I had talked to, he seemed angrier
"Yeah, I'm from a school for the gifted," I said and he let out a grunted laugh. "Look, I know that this may seem a bit awkward for you, you don't know me from Adam and I just come in here talking to you and you don't get much of a say in what goes on,"
"Are you a social worker?"
"No,"
"Are you a lawyer?"
"No,"
"Are you a psychiatrist?"
"No, I told you; I work at a school,"
"What do you teach?"
"I don't,"
"Then what do you do?"
"I do this," I said, leaning back in my chair and opening my arms.
"And what is this?" he asked with a condescending tone.
"I talk to kids and teenagers who my boss feels would do well at his school,"
"That's an awfully crappy job," he said.
"Only on occasion, I usually tend to like it,"
"What about right now, how much are you like it?"
"Well Mr. Sutton, as much as I'm sure you would probably like it, you're not the hardest person that I've ever talked to,"
"So what are you going to try and do at this school, make me all better?"
"I wasn't aware that there was anything wrong with you,"
"Yeah, I'm sure. This little 'school for the gifted', how many students go there?"
"At the moment, just under a couple of hundred,"
"And they all come from foster care?"
"No, most of the students attend with their parents consent,"
"You mean they ship them off to the school?"
"I'm not quite sure that you understand that it's an institute for learning, not a reform school,"
"Really, it's not a reform school? Because that guy you came in with doesn't look too much like a history professor,"
"That's because he's not, he teaches self defense,"
"Why is he here, in case you need some back up?" he asked sarcastically.
"Actually, no, he drove me down here and after this interview we're going out to eat," I said flatly. "And just out of sheer curiosity, how do you know what the guy I came with looks like?"
He raised his hand as though he was going to smack me across my face, and as he brought it forward, I put my own hand up to stop him, but his arm went right through it. "Well, is that the kind of gift you want at your school?"
"Yeah, it is,"
"I don't want to go to some 'mutie school'," he spat.
"Well, here's a bit of a newsflash; you are one of those so called 'muties' and I'm not sure why you have a problem with other people being the same,"
"Because this little school of yours is all about mutant unity, isn't it? All that stuff that's never going to happen because they hate us,"
"But at this school no one except for the students and staff know that you're a mutant,"
"So?"
"So, you won't have to worry about being hated because no one will know about you,"
"I don't want to listen about your stupid school anymore, okay? My parents are going to be getting out of jail soon and I'm not going to be shipped off to some mutant's rights and unity prep reform school when they get out. My life has been hard enough without my parents knowing that I'm a mutant and I'm sure not going to tell them now, I still want a place to live when they get out,"
"Oh yeah, I apologize, living in a crack house and being scared of people to know who you are, that's a much better life than living at a nice school, free of charge with a guaranty of being safe,"
"Don't you dare, you have no idea how my life has been, and some woman with a pretty face isn't enough to talk me into doing anything,"
"You're right, I don't have any idea how your life has been, but for all you know, I could have been through the same thing, or worse. I may have a pretty face but that doesn't mean that I don't understand some what of what your going through, so don't judge me,"
"Well, since you know so much about me, I think it's only right to tell me about you,"
"My life is none of your business,"
He smiled at me, but it wasn't a happy smile, it seemed devious. "Well, I guess this meeting is over with, then,"
"Yeah…I guess it is," I said, standing. "Thank you for your time Mr. Sutton," I pushed my chair back to the table and left the room.
I hated the smart aleck teenagers who thought that they had it all figured out. I wanted to smack them around and tell them to wake up, that they didn't know everything. Unfortunately, I would have probably been fired if I had tried that, and I liked my job far too much to lose it over some punk kid who thought the whole world was out to get them.
"Done?" Logan asked as I walked into the waiting area.
"Yeah," I said. "Let's go,"
"How'd it go in there?" he asked as we walked to the parking garage.
"Not so good, but I don't even care right now, I just want to get something to eat,"
He let out a small laugh. "Great to see you taking your job so seriously," he said sarcastically.
"I just hate talking to those brats who think we owe them an apology for having to go through the same crap as us,"
Logan slung his arm across my shoulder. "You have such a way with words, darlin'," he said with a smile that was almost a smirk.
I wrapped my arm around his back and lay my head on his shoulder. "I know, don't you ever forget it, either,"
We took the elevator inside the parking garage up to the third floor. When we got to the car, Logan's cell phone rang.
"It's Chuck," he said, answering it. "Hello…hello?"
"Go over there and see if you can't hear better," I said, pointing to a spot by the wall about forty or so yards away that he should have been able to get a better single from.
"Alright, you can go ahead and get in the car," he said, walking to where I had been pointing.
I went to the passenger's side door and pulled on the handle to find that the doors had been locked. So I went to the end of the car and lend up against the trunk, watching Logan trying to figure out his cell phone.
"Hello Chloe," I heard a voice say to me and eerie cold chills ran across my skin. I turned my head to my left to see my father standing a few feet away and walking closer to me.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" I asked in shock.
"Chuck, I can't hear what you're sayin'," I heard Logan say in frustration behind me as I moved to face my father.
"I thought it was time for a family reunion, I haven't seen you in seven years,"
"How did you know where to find me?"
I have…friends," he said, walking even closer to me. "You know, I spent thirteen years in prison for something I did to protect you and your mother, and you sit in court and call me a murderer,"
"You killed a little boy,"
"He was a mutant," he spat.
"That was no reason to kill him,"
"Did you say Chloe? She just got out of her interview, we're about to get something to eat and go home…I can't hear you, Chuck, talk louder," Logan said into his phone.
"I was protecting you,"
"How?"
"He was a mutant," he repeated, rage lining his voice. "And how did you repay me for trying to take care of you? You become one of them,"
My heart froze in my chest; how did he know that I was a mutant? I opened my mouth to yell for Logan, but I couldn't.
I didn't see it happen, I didn't see him move, all I heard was the sound after he pulled the trigger. But I felt, oh did I feel it.
I don't know if it was the blast of the gun or the shock of what had happened that made me deafened to the sound around me, but everything went quiet. I grabbed my stomach and my father looked at me. I realized that the reason why he had shot me was that I was his daughter; otherwise, he would have done something much worse, what he had done to that little boy. He thought he was doing the right thing, he thought that it was justified because he didn't understand us.
Everything was quiet but then, "Chloe!" I heard Logan yell distantly and then the sound came rushing back with a painful kick.
The speed picked back up as I watched my father run away and I fell back against the trunk of the car. I saw Logan running to me and I grabbed him as my knees went weak.
"I think my father shot me," I said as he lowered me to the garage floor and I saw the blood soaking my dress as it ran from the small hole in my abdomen.
"Help me, somebody help me!" Logan yelled out to the empty garage.
"Oh wow…it hurts really badly," I said through gritted teeth, grabbing a fistful of his shirt, trying to get through the pain.
"Chloe, just hang on baby, someone's gonna' be here soon," he said, stroking my hair.
"This is what the Professor was calling about, wasn't it? He knew something bad was about to happen,"
"Yeah, he called an ambulance, so don't worry about it, just stay with me,"
"Can you believe it…?" I said, trying to breathe through the pain. "After I finally find a family that loves me, my real father shoots me. How's that for ironic?" I let out a small laugh that shook my body and made the pain worse.
He ran his hand across my cheek, wiping away the tears that I couldn't fight back from all of the pain. "I'm gonna' find him and I'm gonna' take care of it for you," he said.
"No," I gasped. "I don't want you to get in trouble; I just want him to go back to jail. Promise me you won't do anything Logan,"
"Alright…I promise," he said, tears forming in his eyes.
I reached up my hand to wipe them away and saw the blood dripping from it. I tried to pull it away, but he wouldn't let me and held it to him with his own.
"I feel really cold," I said. He quickly pulled off his leather jacket and wrapped it around me. I could feel that my clothes were wet and sticking to my body. "I don't want to ruin your jacket," I said through gritted teeth.
"Don't worry about it darlin'," he said, pulling me up and kissing my forehead. "Just stay with me, I need you to stay right here with me,"
"I'm tired,"
"I know, but they're gonna' be here so, so just hang on until they get here and they'll take care of you,"
"Can I just take a nap until they get here?"
"No, I need you to stay away,"
"But I'm really tired," I said, tears running down my face.
"Come on baby, just keep your eyes on my, alright?" he said, staring right at me and looking absolutely terrified.
"How bad is it?" I asked.
"You're gonna' be alright, just keep looking at me,"
"Am I still going to be able to go to Canada with you?" I asked.
"Yeah, you're still gonna' be able to go," he said.
"Can we go to Niagara Falls?"
"If you want,"
"Have you ever been?"
"No,"
"Me either. My mother went and she said that it was beautiful. She told me that she was going to take me when I got a little older, even though I knew we probably never would. We always made vacation plans without my stepfather, but we never actually went anywhere, we would just talk about what we would do it we did go,"
"Well we're gonna' go, me and you kid,"
Another swell of pain passed through me. "I don't think that I can wait until the get her Logan," I cried, the sobs causing my body to hurt even worse, which made me cry harder.
"No, people like you don't like this darlin', you're gonna be alright,"
"It hurts so badly and I'm freezing and I'm so tired,"
"I know, what do you want me to do?"
"I just want you to hold me," I said. "I'm scared Logan, I'm so scared,"
"They're comin', I can hear the sirens," he said, pulling me to him and holding me. I squeezed his hand tight, but when I let go and stared off into the garage he followed my gaze, the look of rage suddenly filling his eyes, but then he looked back at me, looking scared once more. "What are you lookin' at?"
"My momma," I said weakly.
"What does she want?"
"She wants me to go home with her,"
"Tell her not yet, I still need you here with me, I'm not done with you yet, kid. You're gonna' go home with me, tell her that," he said, angry tears catching in his eyes.
"But I miss her; can't I just go with her for a little while?" I asked, gasping through the pain and tears.
"No…no, you're stayin' right here,"
"She misses me, she says she needs me, Logan, please"
"No, you tell her that I need you more, it's my turn right now," he growled.
"I'm tired," I said again.
"You're gonna' be okay, they're gettin' closer, they're gonna' be here soon," he said, holding me to him and kissing my forehead once more, as he unknowingly rocked back and forth. "I promised I wasn't gonna' let anything happen to you, so when you get better I'm gonna' take care of you, kid, I won't let anything else happen to you,"
He tried to comfort me and I was glad. I was scared, absolutely terrified and I wanted him, needed him, to hold me as close to him as he could. I need the feeling of his hand against my cold cheek, I needed to hear him telling me that I was going to be okay, I needed him, I always had. There were times when I thought I hated him, when I genuinely couldn't stand him, but he had been the first person who had taken interest in me for me, not what I could do for them. He had cared about and for me. Even when we both wanted the same thing he said no because he didn't want to hurt me. My Wolverine, the strongest person I had ever met in my life, was cradling me in his arms and crying, because even though he was telling me to hold on, he knew that I was as strong as he was and I couldn't do it. I had lost too much blood, I was far too weak and I kept hearing my mother's voice to come home.
I wondered how hard it must be for Logan, to watch people that he loved to die, when he himself could not even died. I wondered how many people he had loved that had died while he held them. As odd as it may seem, I found something morbidly romantic about dying in the arms of the only man I ever truly loved. Whether it had been as my friend and playmate or with a love much deeper than that, but I did love him, more than anyone else in my life.
I felt his entire body shaking. "Please don't do this to me, I was wrong, I love you Chloe, nothing can screw that up,"
"I love you too, Logan," I said quietly and then…it stopped, there was no more pain. "I'm just going to close my eyes until they get here,"
"No, don't close your eyes, look at me kid!" he demanded.
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore," I said as a hot, salty liquid fought its way up my throat.
I've heard people say 'Life sucks and then you die', which would have been my case, had I not met Logan. Life sucked, then I met him and it was okay. I was happy, me, that poor little orphan girl who knows how to fix trucks, play pool and make a mean cup of hot chocolate.
As I lay there I wondered if he would ever call another girl darlin', or if it was my name to keep, to take with me. I belonged to him, with all of my heart.
Easy is not the word in my vocabulary to which I would use to describe my life. However, I don't prefer 'pitiful', 'sad' or 'unfair' either. Perhaps the word best suited to describe my life would be…finished.
The End