I'll Be There: Short Version

                Logan almost groaned as the guy in front of the mike started to mangle one of his favorite songs; Bon Jovi's 'Runaway'. He lifted his eyes from his glass long enough to pin the boy with a glance that would have killed him if Logan's eyes had been blessed with Scott's optical blasts. He snorted, and looked back into his glass again.

                He shouldn't have come here tonight. This was Jubilee's favorite bar; it had an open mike for anyone who wanted to sing. She would usually, once she got a beer into her, get up there and sing. She would never win any contests, but her voice was far better than the idiot standing up there on the stage. He wondered where she was now. Probably at that fancy restaurant with her new boyfriend, he assumed.

                He'd gone to her room to invite her out bar hopping with him, and found her pulling her hair up and wearing makeup, something she did rarely.  He'd asked her about her plans.

                "I'm sorry, Logan," she'd said regretfully (but not too sadly) when she'd heard him out. 'I promised Christian I'd go out with him tonight. He's made reservations for us at '21'." It was a posh uptown restaurant whose name he'd recognized from listening to Warren talk.

                "What's he like?" Logan winced at the subtle note of hostility in his voice. He had no right to be jealous, since he and Jubes had decided several months ago that their relationship wasn't going to work. She'd admitted to being attracted to this guy she'd met at some college seminar, and Logan couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, get over calling her 'kid'. He looked at her, and while his body acknowledged that she'd grown into a beautiful, desirable woman, his mind still saw the perky little fourteen year old she had been. That mental image had made physical contact difficult, and after a couple of tries they'd just decided to remain close friends. Logan had gone back to his old habits, and Jubilee had started going out with this boy named Christian Daniels.

                Jubilee hadn't missed the hostility. Her voice got a tad bit cooler as she said, "Nice. He reminds me of Remy, sometimes. I'll bring him to meet you sometime soon." And she'd picked up her jacket, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and brushed past him as she left, smelling faintly of roses and jasmine. He'd gone back to his room and tried to watch TV, but nothing caught his interest. He'd gone down to the Rec Room and played a couple games of pool with Gumbo, but that didn't hold his interest for long, and he finally decided to go out for a long ride on his bike to clear his head.

                That 'long ride' had ended here, in Maynard's Bar and Grill, his and Jubes' favorite spot. The bartender had greeted him enthusiastically, asked for Jubilee, then patted his arm sympathetically when Logan told the man Jubilee wasn't with him.

                He sighed again, stubbed out his cigarette and dug his wallet out to pay for the drinks he'd had. He was sorting out the change when a cheerful voice intruded on his ears. He looked up into the face of the last person he'd expected to see that night; Jubilee.

                She stood almost taller than he in high black strappy heels, in a red dress with thin spaghetti straps that exposed a great deal of her skin. A gold necklace encircled her throat, its ruby pendant winking in the dim light inside the bar. Her raven hair was swept back in a thick braid and wound at the nape of her neck, and her black dress jacket was draped over her arm. "Logan!" she said cheerfully. "Didn't expect to see you here! Thought you'd be home playing pool with Remy." She bent over and started to purse her lips to kiss his cheek, a greeting she'd always given him and one that he enjoyed, when the man beside Jubilee tugged firmly on her arm and pulled her away from Logan. Jubilee straightened up quickly, and turned to her date. "I'm sorry, Chris. This is my friend Logan. Logan, this is Christian, I've told you about him?"

                Logan stood and held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you." Actually he was not.

                At first glance Christian seemed pleasant. His blond hair was combed neatly back from his forehead, and cut short in a conservative crop that nevertheless displayed a lot of blond waves. His blue eyes were bright, and his firm chin topped off a face that would be called handsome by male standards, and 'drop-dead-gorgeous' by anyone of the opposite gender. Yet there was something about him that Logan didn't like. Maybe it was the rigid, stiff posture; maybe the hard, calculating expression in those blue eyes. Maybe it was the hard line at the corner of that mouth, a line that spoke of eloquent distaste for the bar they were in. Whatever it was, Logan felt an instant dislike for the boy. However, he tried to be civil, for Jubilee's sake.

                Christian took Logan's hand briefly in his own, which lay limp and cool in Logan's hand before he dropped his hand. "Nice to meet you," he said perfunctorily, almost automatically. "Jubilation, could we please leave? I've seen your favorite place, and I'm not really impressed. I thought you would have better taste." Jubilee looked momentarily hurt, and Logan narrowed his eyes. No, he definitely didn't like this boy.

                "It's not bad, really, Chris," she said, a pleading note creeping into her voice. "The bartender is a friend of mine, and the food's good."

                "We just left 21. That's good food, not this…rough fare." He looked at the plate of ribs the couple at a nearby table were eating, and his nose wrinkled. Logan could almost hear the word 'peons' running through the boy's head. "Come on, Jubilation. We're leaving." He nodded briefly at Logan and took Jubilee's arm. Jubilee gave the bar one last look, then said, almost apologetically, "I guess we're going, then. I'll see you back home, Logan?" he nodded, and watched the boy almost literally drag the clearly reluctant Jubilee after him. The entire encounter left a bad taste in his mouth, and he reached down and took a swig from his half-finished beer.

                The bartender came over and refilled his glass. "That the new guy?" he nodded at the closing door.

Logan nodded, grimacing. The bartender saw his face, and chuckled dryly. "I agree with ya there, pal. That boy's one of the richest in the city, and one of the nastiest, from what I hear."

                "Nasty?" Logan peered into the guy's face as a five appeared in his fist.

                The bartender saw the bill. "Keep yer money, man," he said. "I'll give ya this one for free. Christian Daniels is the heir to the Daniels stockbroker firm's fortune. He's also as stuck up a snotty little brat as you'll ever meet in yer life." Logan seriously doubted that; he'd met a lot of other people who were worse, but he kept silent and let Hal go on.

                "His family's got money, but they use it all the wrong way. They use it to bail him out of trouble most of the time. He's been known to hang out with mutie haters, and he loses no time in telling anyone who will listen that he doesn't like colored people either. He's a racist and a mutaphobe, and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him." Despite the grim topic, Logan had to smile. Hal was a short, balding man of about forty, with what could definitely be called 'middle age spread' around the middle. He looked barely capable of throwing a three-pound dumbbell, let alone another man.

                "Thanks," he said, turning away, but Hal stopped him.

                "I'd warn yer girl, pal," he said, his eyes serious. "It's been whispered around that he's got a mean streak with the working girls, and there was an incident a few months back where he was accused of beatin' up a stray dog. He's a rough one, under all that spit and polish and money, and I don't wanna see yer girl roughed up."

                Logan went very still. 'Working girls' were the hookers that populated Canal Street and the red light district of the city, and it had to be a very 'rough' customer who could raise an eyebrow among that jaded set. Very little shocked the girls, not a few of whom Logan knew personally (and who Remy knew rather better). "How bad?" he asked Hal.

                Hal turned and waved to an attractive waitress over by the bar. "Hey, Jen!" he hailed her. "Come here fer a sec, will ya?" The girl put her tray down and started to make here way across the bar to where Logan and Hal were talking.

                "Tell Logan 'bout what that skunk Daniels done to you," he said. "Logan's girl broke up with him for Daniels, an' I want him ta know what he gotta watch out fer."

                Jen was plainly hesitant, but when Logan smiled at her, she relented. "I was doing a party one night at some rich place out in Rockaway. Chris Daniels was at the party. I was about to leave when he caught me and asked if I would consider going to a hotel with him. I told him no, that I had to go home. Brady, my son, was waiting for me.

                "He got really mad that I refused him, and he grabbed my arm. The guy whose party it was protested a little bit, but Chris's friends egged him on. He dragged me into another room and pushed me on the couch while he started unbuttoning his pants. I told him no again, I almost screamed it, but he ignored me. I tried to get up and run for the door, but he caught me and tackled me. While I was down he kicked me hard a couple of times and punched my right eye, then he got on top of me. He finished with me, threw a couple dollars on my chest, and told me I wasn't that good. Then he left."

                Logan was alarmed by now. He was fairly sure Jubilee didn't know about this. 'I'm sorry," he said to Jen, handing her the five. "Here. And thanks for the heads-up." Jen nodded, taking the five at a nod from Hal, and went back to pick up her tray from the bar.

                Logan finished his beer off quickly and left.

                Jubilee sighed as she got out of Chris's car. The evening hadn't turned out the way she'd expected.

                They'd started off with dinner, drinks, and dancing at '21'. Chris had claimed Jubilee for six of the dances, and while Jubilee was flattered by the attention (Logan had never taken her out for dinner and dancing) she was also rapidly becoming bored. While she moved around the dance floor with Chris (stumblingly, because she had no idea how to dance) she had talked to him. He'd told her all about himself and his family, his family's money, his family's friends, his friends, his favorite hobbies (golfing was at the top of the list) and every little thing about himself that he could think of. Then he'd asked her about herself. Jubilee had told him about her past, her friends (mentioning only names, and never telling him about their exploits as X-Men) told him about the Massachusetts Academy and her time in college, and finally ran out of words. He'd gotten interested by her glowing description of her favorite place, Maynard's, and she'd talked him into going with her to see it. As soon as she walked in she'd seen Logan, and went directly over to see him. She'd tried to kiss his cheek the way she usually did, but Chris had prevented her, scowling. Jubilee had flushed, belatedly realizing how it must look to him, her kissing another man, and introduced him to Logan. She'd told him enough stories about Logan that he'd expressed an interest in meeting him, but Chris had seemed aloof and disinterested, and Jubilee hadn't pushed it. He wanted to leave soon after, and she had gone with him, though not without a reluctant look back at Logan, sitting by himself.

                They had visited Chris's idea of a bar; Jubilee tried to be polite and hide what she thought of a bar that had 'valet parking'.  Chris had sensed her discontent with the place, and had soon suggested they leave. Now she was getting into his car with no clue where they were going next…and no desire to, either. She wanted to go home.

                "Not yet," Chris told her. "I want you to meet my parents. After all, I met the man you say is the closest thing you have to a father, and I figure you should meet mine." Jubilee agreed reluctantly.

                They got out of his car and went up the steps of a large mansion. Jubilee studied the building with a jaded eye; this one was smaller than Xavier's mansion, and, when she went in, much less attractively furnished. There were so much furniture and ornamentation in the rooms that although nicely decorated, they seemed cluttered and overcrowded.

                He led the way down a short hallway, and stepped into a study that was ostentatiously furnished. Jubilee kept her expression open and politely interested as Chris talked about the paintings of long-dead people hanging off the walls.  He had been in the process of explaining how one particularly stodgy individual was related to him when the study door opened and a man walked in.

                Chris led her over. "Hi, Dad! I figured Jubilation and I would say hi before we went up to my room." Jubilee shook hands with the man, who smiled rather absently as he shook her hand and welcomed her to his house. Jubilee didn't even have a chance to protest before Chris was leading her up the winding staircase and up to his room.

                'Suite' was probably a closer description. Jubilee walked into a large room decorated with solid wood furniture and rich velvets. A low couch, a couple of chairs, a low table, and a big-screen TV sat in the middle of the room, while carpet runners showed the way off to doors on the left side of the room. Jubilee followed the runners through the doors, and stopped short.

                The bedroom was dominated by a huge, solid wood canopy bed big enough to hold three of her and still have room! It was neatly made with what looked like satin sheets and a thick satin comforter. She grinned at it, then turned as Chris opened the bathroom door.

                One end of the bathroom held the toilet and a small shower stall. The main part of the room, however, was full of a giant hot tub sunk into the floor. A maid was kneeling by the tub, pouring some sweet-scented bubble bath into the filling bathtub. Jubilee sniffed, and the scent of lavender filled her nose. She closed her eyes as she felt the warm steam envelop her.

                "Jubilation?" She opened her eyes slowly, to see Chris pulling off his jacket and untying his tie. "Care to join me in the tub?"

                Jubilee hesitated, wondering if she should. It was an almost blatant invitation to sex, and normally she didn't go for that kind of thing, but she and Chris had been going out for almost three months now, and she knew she liked him. And that hot tub!…

                "Okay," she said. The maid silently held out her hand for Jubilee's jacket, and she surrendered it cheerfully, her fingers feeling for the zipper in the back of her dress.

                The bath was every bit as delightful as it looked, and feeling Chris's hand under the water somehow didn't matter too much. Jubilee gave in to the touch willingly, almost eagerly. It had been a long time since she'd gotten intimate with anyone, and especially in such a romantic setting as a hot tub!

                The bed was even more romantic, especially when Chris pulled the curtains closed around them and proceeded to wring a symphony from her lips as he caressed her. There was a feeling of security in there, a feeling that the whole world was outside and couldn't intrude, and she gave herself over to pleasure completely.

                Afterward she found she was feeling too good to want to leave. "Stay," Chris said lazily, running his fingers through her hair as she lay in bed beside him. "Stay with me the night."

                "But my friends at home…" she started to protest drowsily.

                "You're an adult," he said carelessly. "You're twenty-three. You can do what you want to. What are they going to do if you don't come in, ground you?"

                Jubilee laughed and lay back. No, they wouldn't ground her. Jean, in fact, would be glad. She had been urging Jubilee to become a little more independent. No one would mind if she stayed out tonight…except maybe Logan.

                Well, it's not like he hasn't stayed out all night before, she thought to herself. Or Remy, or Warren, or Bobby, or any of the other guys. Even 'Ro, a few times. There was no reason she couldn't stay out.  Maybe she should call Wolvie, though, and let him know she was staying out tonight…

                Then Chris rolled over and reached for her again, and every thought but one fled her mind. Her last coherent thought was, I hope Wolvie won't be mad…

                Logan woke with a start as sun from the living room window touched his eyes. He cursed himself for falling asleep as he checked his watch. Seven o'clock!

                He sprang up off the couch and ran up the stairs toward Jubilee's room. She probably hadn't seen him in the darkened living room last night when she came in, and had probably gone straight to her room to sleep. She had to have gotten in really late last night…or really early this morning, whichever way you chose to look at it, because he distinctly recalled the last time he'd checked his watch it had been two in the morning.

                He tapped lightly on her door. "Jubes?" There was no answer. Maybe she hadn't heard him. He knew he shouldn't just walk into her room uninvited, but he really needed to talk to her, so he knocked again and said, "Jubes, I gotta talk ta ya. I'm comin' in." He pushed open her room door.

                He felt a mild sense of chagrin when he realized he'd been talking to an empty room. Chagrin turned to surprise. Why wasn't she in bed? Maybe she'd gotten up already?

                He turned at the sound of a footfall and saw Jean walking by the door. "Hey, Jean?"

                The redhead blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Kind of early for you to be awake, isn't it?" she yawned and stretched. "Where's Jubilee?"

                "That's what I wanna find out," he said. "Can ya call her, find out where she is?"

                Jean's eyes went vaguely unfocused as she reached out telepathically, then her eyes widened. "She's not home."

                "WHAT!?" Logan's shout woke everyone sleeping in that wing of the mansion.

                "Hush," Jean said mildly, slightly annoyed. "You'll wake everyone up. I said, she's not home."

                "Then where the hell is she?!" He started to pace her room floor.

                Jean sighed and crossed her arms. "She went out last night with her new boyfriend, didn't she? Maybe she's not back yet."

                "Then she shoulda called! I'm gonna wring her neck fer this!" He started to pace faster.

                Jean started at him, puzzled. "Logan, why are you so upset?"

                "SHE'S SUPPOSED TA COME HOME!"

                "You don't always come home every night," Jean said, so reasonably Logan wanted to strangle her too. "Why should she? She's twenty-three now, Logan, not thirteen. She can stay out all night if she wants to."

                "But she's--" Logan bit off the rest of what he was going to say. "Look, I went to Maynard's last night for a drink. Jubes came in with that fancy-pants boyfriend of hers briefly. I don't like him, Jean."

                "Oh my," Jean said, clearly amused. "I think you're jealous."

                "I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Logan roared. Jean watched him pace with a smile hovering around her lips. "It ain't funny, Red!"

                "Yes it is," Scott said suddenly, his head appearing in the doorway beside Jean's. "She's found someone else, and you're jealous."

                Logan took a deep breath, fighting down his temper. "I. Am. Not. Jealous," he said evenly, spacing his words out through gritted teeth. "The bartender at Maynard's tol' me this boy she's goin' out with has a rep for roughin' up women. I'm worried 'bout Jubes."

                Jean and Scott exchanged glances, then Jean said gently, "Logan, Jubilee's a grown woman. She can handle herself. She can fight with us against the Sentinels and all the other baddies out there; some little rich boy who thinks she's a delicate little hothouse flower will get an unpleasant surprise if they try anything. Trust her. If he tries anything, she won't hang around."

                They all heard the front door close hard on the heels of Jean's words. Logan didn't wait for Jean's warning hiss. He took off toward the stairs like he'd been shot from a cannon. "Where have you been!?" Scott and Jean heard Logan's bellow from halfway down the stairs.

Jean closed her eyes and hid her eyes with her hand. "Oh, boy," she said to Scott. "Do you think we should sell tickets?"

Scott shrugged, eyes twinkling. "No one would pay for them," he said, over the sound of Logan's tirade. "They can hear just fine."

                Jubilee closed the front door, sighing. Bed. She wanted to go to bed, curl up and sleep for a week. She yawned. Chris was an energetic lover; she'd lost count of how many times she'd woken up last night to feel his hand on her body. It was a little annoying, but at the same time terribly flattering to know that someone wanted her so much.

                She started to climb the stairs, half-asleep, running through the plans for the day to see if there was anything else she needed to do before she went to sleep. Like a Danger Room session? Try as she might, she couldn't remember Scott scheduling any such thing, and so headed up toward her room with a lighter heart.

                "Where have you been!?"

                The shout woke her from her half-asleep stupor. She stared stupidly up at Logan's angry expression, trying to figure out what he was yelling about. After a bit, his words started to penetrate her sleep-fogged brain.

                "…and ya shouldn' be out 'till all hours like that, ya had me all worried, why didn't ya call or somethin', I been worryin' that somethin' happened ta ya, and do ya have any idea what that's like?!"

                She waited for him to pause for breath, then said coolly, "As if I haven't sat awake more nights than I can count waiting for you to come home from one of your little trips! You don't call when you're staying out nights, and in case you didn't notice, Logan, I am not a little girl anymore! I don't have to tell everyone where I am at every given moment, and I don't have a curfew anymore!"

                Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Ya may not have a curfew any more, but it's still polite ta let us know where ya are, or at least call an' tell us ya ain't comin' home! Besides, yer goin' out with some stupid git I can't stand seein' ya with! Is it any wonder I'm worried 'bout ya?"

                There was a pause for a moment, then Jubilee exploded. "So that's it! You're jealous of Chris!" Her voice rose in volume. "Just because you don't want me doesn't mean others won't, Logan! Just because you can't force your stubborn thick skull to realize I'm a grown woman doesn't mean others can't see the same thing! You don't want me, so why feel bad if I find someone who does? Get over yourself, Logan!" She brushed past him and raced up the stairs. Jean and Scott barely had time to get out of her way before she hurled herself into her room and slammed the door with such force the boom echoed through the mansion.

                Logan stormed to that closed door and tried the knob. It didn't open. For a moment Jean thought he might actually break the lock on the door to get to Jubilee, but he just pounded his fist on the door and yelled, "Well if that's the way ya want it, fine! I got better things ta think about than a spoiled little brat!"

                "FINE!" Jubilee hollered from the other side of the door.

                "FINE!" Logan hollered back. He stomped away before Jubilee could get her last word in.

                Jean stared at the wall. "You think the mansion's going to survive them being angry with each other?" she asked Scott.

                Scott sighed as he looked at the slammed door. "It's survived so far," he said. "If it doesn't, Charles can always rebuild it. Come on, let's get some coffee."

                Logan finally paused in his workout, breathing heavily. The anger had burned off.

                He could never stay mad at Jubilee, not for long. His anger toward her was hot anger, gone as soon as the air cooled, although some of the things he'd said to her wouldn't be blown away quite as easily. He shouldn't have called her a spoiled brat, because she wasn't. And he hadn't waited for her to come home all that long, if you considered how long she would wait for him to come back from Japan, or Canada, or one of any other number of places he'd vanished to over the years. One night waiting for Jubes wasn't really anything, if you considered she waited months for him sometimes. And she was grown, and she didn't have to tell him where she was all the time.

                And he shouldn't have called her a spoiled little brat. Jubilee was the last person he could call spoiled.

                And yes, he was jealous. It was completely irrational; he had decided they should remain friends, not her. So he shouldn't be jealous now. Still, a vision of Jubilee with that little rich git was enough to stir up some extremely unwelcome thoughts. Thoughts of her, and Chris, and what they had been doing all night…because Logan had smelled his unfamiliar male scent all over Jubilee when she had come in, and the smell of sex was strong on her body. And the smell had awakened the animal instincts he tried so hard to repress much of the time. How dare that little immature puppy presume to touch what was his?

                But it wasn't presumption. She had every right to go out with, and invite to her bed, anyone she chose. He had no say in what she did or didn't do. That was probably why she had gotten mad at him, too. "I messed things up, didn't I," he said to the silent figure who had just walked into the gym.

                "Indeed," came Ororo's even voice. "I suggest that when she calms down you apologize."

                Logan stopped punching the bag and grabbed a towel from the gymnast's vaulting horse off to one side. "She's still mad at me?"

                Ororo nodded. "Logan, can you blame her? Look at things from her point of view. She came home this morning tired and intending to go to bed, and you went and yelled in her face and woke her up. The only thing she really understood was that you were upset that you had waited up all night for her. Logan, I understand it was the first time that she has stayed out all night, but surely you couldn't have been that upset about her not having come home?"

                "Jean didn't tell anyone, huh?" Ororo shook her head, and Logan sighed as he sat down on a bench. "I thought you girls told each other everything."

                "I have not spoken to her yet today," Ororo said quietly.

                Logan stared off into space as Ororo sat down beside him. "A girl down by Maynard's told me this Christian Daniels has a rep for roughing up women. He beat her up and raped her when she was doing 'entertainment' for a party some friend of his was throwing."

                Ororo considered this silently for a while. "I see. And you are worried that Jubilee will be similarly mistreated by this young man?" Logan nodded. Ororo was silent for another moment.

                "Logan, I appreciate the sentiment, and I am slightly concerned as well. But Jubilee is a grown woman, and she has faced many dangers both with us and on her own. Chris is not likely to be able to hurt her unless she allows it. And I doubt she will. Too many people have hurt her throughout her life. Of which you are one, but Jubilee realizes that although you have hurt her, you also have her best interests at heart, and she also knows that the love you offer is true, unconditional love. And having realized this, and knowing what it feels like, she will not settle for anything less from anyone she becomes involved with." Ororo let Logan digest this for a moment, then said, "Having said that, however, I suggest that you still speak to her about what you have discovered. Even if she is still too upset to forgive you for your earlier outburst, if what you said was true she will know what to look for should Chris become the violent man you have heard him accused of being."

                Logan tapped on Jubilee's open doorframe, once, politely, before walking in. Jubilee was in front of the mirror, brushing out her hair. A bag sat open on her bed, stuffed with a deep sapphire beach towel, book, sunglasses, and suntan lotion. She didn't bother turning toward him when he walked in. "Not done yelling at me yet?" she said tartly.

                Logan took a deep breath. "Jubes, I need ta talk to ya. Yer boyfriend, Chris…he ain't what you think." God, it was hard to think, seeing her wearing that turquoise string bikini top and cutoff shorts over her bikini bottom. "I talked to the new waitress at Maynard's yesterday after you and yer…boyfriend…had gone," and the word was forced past stiff lips; he didn't want to think of that puppy pawing over his Jubes. "and she tol' me she was doin' a party for some friend o' Chris's an' he took advantage o' her after she said no."

                Jubilee turned away from the mirror so fast her hair fanned out behind her. "Oh, come on, Logan, is that the best you can do?" she spat angrily. "You don't like him, so you make up something about him to make me stop going out with him?" She shook her head. "It's not going to work, Logan. Stop it." She tossed her hairbrush into the bag and zipped it up, then grabbed the handle and headed for the door. "Come on, Logan. Stop being jealous. It's not becoming."

                "I ain't jealous!" Logan protested, his temper rising again. Why couldn't she see he was being serious? "I'm just trying to…"

                "I know what you're trying to do," Jubilee said angrily. "So cut it out. It's not going to do you any good. I love Chris, and he loves me, and I'm not a little girl anymore, that you can tell me what to do!" She fished her sunglasses out of the bag. "He asked me to move in with him. His parents gave him an apartment in the city, and I was considering moving in with him. You just made up my mind for me, Logan. Thanks." She started to brush past him.

                Logan was alarmed at that piece of news. "Jubes, please. Please reconsider. Don't move out, not yet, not with him. Give it some more time, ya only been goin' out with him three months, an' it ain't 'nough time fer ya ta know ya wanna move in with him."

                "I know," Jubilee hissed, opening her drawers and taking out a handful of her underclothes, some of her clothing, and a second pair of shoes. "Believe me, I know. He's been telling me you all are too restrictive here, and urging me to move in with him for a month now. This morning was the last straw. Bye, Logan." And she left her room, slipping past him and slamming the door as she went by.

                Logan cursed as he stared at the door. What the hell was he going to do now?

                Jubilee got out of her car in front of Chris's mansion and grabbed her bag, slamming the door. She met Chris, coming down the front steps, with a similar bag in his hand, and she smiled as she ran up and kissed him. "Chris! Oh, I missed you!" She gave him an enthusiastic hug. After a moment, she disengaged her arms and fell into step beside him. "I decided last night. I'll move in with you."

                Chris stopped walking. 'You will? You really will? Oh, Jubilation!" he hugged her. "You've just made my day!" as they continued walking toward his car a little way down the drive, he asked her, "What made you make up your mind?"

                "Oh, just stuff," she said lightly, unwilling to tell Chris about Logan. "I got yelled at this morning when I got home for being out all night," she hedged. "It's not really fair. They treat me like I'm still a kid."

                Chris threw back his head and laughed, and Jubilee chuckled weakly. She didn't see what was so funny, but Chris did have a peculiar sense of humor sometimes. "I'm sorry, darling," he said finally. "I was just thinking…it's got to be destiny, because I just got this for you yesterday." He dug into his jacket pocket and produced a small black velvet box. Jubilee's heart nearly stopped when she opened it.

                Inside was a huge diamond ring. It had to be at least four carats, if not more, and was set in a whitish metal that Jubilee would have bet money was platinum. "Chris," she said, awed. It had to have been horrendously expensive. She struggled to find something else to say, some way to tell him she didn't like it, and couldn't.

                "Here," Chris took it out of its box and took her hand. Carelessly pulling off her middle finger the dainty sapphire-and-diamond band Logan had bought her long ago for her birthday, he put the diamond on the finger next to it. "Now it's official. We're engaged."

                "Uh, no, Chris," Jubilee said, suddenly uneasy,  "I think I want to wait on the engagement for a while longer." She started to pull the diamond ring from her finger, but Chris took her hands, preventing her.

                "It's okay if you want to wait, but go ahead and wear the ring," he said. "A pretty girl like you should have pretty things. As nice as your friends are, they don't give you much jewelry." It was true, they didn't, but it was because Jubilee didn't wear jewelry most of the time. The only piece of jewelry she wore on a daily basis was Logan's ring, and her small diamond stud earrings, a present from Ororo one Christmas.

                Chris put the sapphire band into the black box and closed it, and Jubilee started to reach for it, but he tucked it into his jacket pocket carelessly. "You haven't got pockets," he said to her. "I'll keep it in my jacket for safekeeping while we're at the club pool. You never know about the pool attendants, they might riffle your bag and steal it while you're swimming." Jubilee nodded slowly. Maybe it would be safer with him; she didn't know about these fancy country clubs. She resolved to ask for it back when they got to his apartment.

                Chris dropped his bag on a lounge chair in the sunlight, and then took her arm and showed her around. There was, in addition to the huge Olympic-sized pool in the back, a sauna, separate changing rooms and showers for both men and women, a weight room, and an open room with small tables and chairs where small groups of people sat and talked while they sipped drinks. It was all very posh, and expensive, and Jubilee tried to maintain an exterior of calm and cheerfulness while squirming inwardly. She wasn't comfortable with all this luxury.

                She was even less comfortable with the possessive way Chris held her arm and took her around. She felt as though he were showing her off to his friends and the other people there at the club, and it made her uneasy. She felt like Chris thought she was a trophy, and she was not happy with that feeling. Added to which, he hinted at the fact that they were engaged, when they weren't, and she was too polite to take it off in front of everyone and give it back to him.

The sun climbed higher, and relief finally came in the form of stifling heat. She excused herself from Chris's arm, collected her bag, and disappeared into the changing room. When she came out she was wearing her bikini and not wearing the ring. It was a little too big for her finger anyway, and she was afraid it would slip off her finger and she would lose it in the pool. She dropped her bag beside the chair next to Chris's, spread her towel out over the chair, and then dove gracefully into the pool.

She did a few laps around the pool, just as she did at home in Charles's pool, then hauled herself out and went over to the diving board. Chris was standing there already, and as she walked up he took her arm and said, "Where's the ring?"

"I left it with my stuff," she said. "Don't worry, I hid it in the bottom of my bag. No one's going to take it."

"It's not that," he said quietly through clenched teeth. "I bought it for you, that means I want you to wear it. I expect to see you wear it. Go and get it."

"It's too large," Jubilee protested. "I don't want to lose it in the pool if it slips off."

"If you lose it I'll replace it. I want to see it on you. Go put it on." He just barely softened his demand with a 'please.' Slightly upset but unwilling to make a scene in front of all these people, Jubilee went, retrieved the ring, and slid it on. It felt heavy and awkward on her finger, and she found herself twisting it nervously as she dove back in. She swam with one fist clenched, trying to make sure it wouldn't fall off. It was almost a relief when Chris finally came to collect her at the end of another hour and they got into his car to go to his apartment.

It was in a very posh uptown complex, and Jubilee felt just slightly nervous as she realized how far up the penthouse actually was. She closed her eyes and turned quickly away from the window as Chris locked the door and dropped his bag beside the couch. "Put your bag beside mine," he snapped at her.

Jubilee blinked. His sudden change in attitude was startling. "Chris?" she asked, walking over to where he has sat down in a chair and was taking off his shoes. "Chris, what's wrong?"

"Take off your shoes while in here!" he snapped. "I don't want the carpet stained!" Stung, Jubilee stepped on the heels of her shoes, pulling her feet out of them, then walked back to him. "Chris, what's wrong with you? Why the bad mood all of a sudden?"

"There is nothing wrong with me. There is, however, something wrong with you." He emphasized the 'you'.

Stunned, Jubilee took a step back. "Me? What did I do?"

Chris got up and paced angrily into his dining room, where he opened a cabinet and took out a tall glass bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a full glass, tossed it down, poured another one and polished that one off as quickly as he had the first, then poured himself a third and sipped it as he looked at her. Jubilee walked over, taking the glass from his hand and putting it down on the dining room table. "Chris, please, I don't understand what you mean. What did I do to make you mad?" She winced inwardly at the defensive tone of her voice.

Chris pushed her hands aside and picked up his glass again, refilling it from the bottle. "You refused to wear my ring. I got that especially for you, do you know that? It cost me nearly three thousand dollars. If I spend that kind of money on you I expect to see you wear it. I didn't notice you'd taken it off until one of my friends pointed out to me that my girl wasn't wearing the ring. He asked me if you were available. Do you know how humiliating that is?" His voice rose a notch. "It's humiliating, to have my friend ask about my fiancée. I want everyone who looks at you to know you're mine, and that you belong to me. I don't want to see you with anyone else."

Jubilee's eyes narrowed. "I have not promised to marry you yet, Chris. I only said I would move in. That's not being engaged. I want to think about it. And if I chose not to wear something that's my choice, not yours. You don't make decisions for me. I don't belong to you. I am not some piece of property you can haul around to make you look good, and then put up on a shelf when it's not convenient for you. And for your information, I know exactly how much you spent on that ring. I also know you bought everyone in your golfing circle Rolex watches. Five thousand dollar Rolex watches. The three thousand you supposedly spent on my ring is just chunk change to you." Jubilee turned away from him and went to where she'd left her shoes, sitting down on a low ottoman as she started to put them on. "I've changed my mind, Chris. I don't think I'll move in with you just yet." She slipped on her sneaker and started to tie it up.

The hand that came flying in from off to her left caught her completely by surprise. She gasped in shock as it connected with her left cheek with enough force to sweep her off the ottoman and send her sprawling to the floor. She blinked away the tears that filled her eyes at the unexpected pain and looked up.

Chris stood over her, fuming. "You don't get to change your mind, Jubilation," he said, his voice icy. "I've already told my parents you were moving in, and that we would be getting married. If you leave now it's going to make me look like a fool. And I refuse to look like a fool. Take off your shoe. You're staying."

"Absolutely not!" Jubilee spat out, getting up and fetching her other shoe. "In fact, I don't think I want to see you anymore. I thought you loved me, but all you really love is yourself. Grow up, Chris." She slid her foot into her other sneaker and stood up, walking…

Straight into a stiff left hook.

She blinked the stars out of her eyes as she stared at the ceiling. Her right eye felt like it was about to explode, and the involuntary tears that filled her eyes were a testimony to that pain. She knew she'd have a black eye later, and oh, what would Wolvie say?

I should have listened to you, Logan, she thought grimly as she dazedly tried to get up. I promise I'll apologize when I get home.

She didn't even get fully upright before a shoe came up and connected with her face, sending her back down to the carpet as a red haze filled her vision. It took a few more seconds for her to clear the stars from her head this time, and when she did, she realized the red haze was blood from her bleeding nose. She felt it gingerly, wondering if it was broken, and rolled over onto her stomach, crawling to her hands and knees. She was almost upright again when an impact with her side knocked the wind out of her and sent her to the floor again.

Chris waited for her to rise again, and kicked her on the other side. She went down again. "Stupid girl," he spat, draining his glass of whiskey. "Get it through your head, you're not going anywhere!"

"I'm gettin' outta here," Jubilee said grimly, getting to her feet again. She wasn't moving steadily, due to the blows to her head and the swelling eye, and so it was easy for Chris to knock her down again. She stayed down this time, sobbing from the kick to her stomach as she curled over and choked, and he took the opportunity to go back for his sixth glass of whiskey.

Jubilee saw her chance. Lurching upright, she headed for the door as fast as she could. Her hands fumbled with the locks, trying to get them open. She had the first one open when he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked. She went down, her forehead striking the door, and she reeled dizzily for a moment. He grabbed her ankle and yanked at it, trying to twist her shoe off.

Jubilee cried out as he twisted her ankle viciously. The anguish snapped her out of her pain-induced daze, and she pulled back on her ankle, getting her foot out of the shoe. A he stared at it stupidly, his brain slowed down by the whiskey he'd just consumed and all the champagne at the country club, She fumbled for the second lock. When her fingers couldn't get it open, she raised her hand and blasted the lock with her paffs, then shoved the door open.

Seconds later she was running down the hallway toward the elevator, reaching it just as Chris came charging after her. She pressed the button for the elevator, but he was coming too fast, and the elevator wasn't coming fast enough…panicking, she lunged for the stairs and escaped into the stairwell.

Her uneven footfalls thumped on the metal steps. Home. She had to get home. At least out of here. She took the steps two at a time, stopping to rest only when the breathless stitch in her side was too intense to continue, and running on when she got breath back. Ninth floor, eighth floor, seventh floor, and on down until she pushed open the door at the foot of the stairwell and came out on the ground floor. Directly ahead of her she could see the pavement outside, gray in the gathering twilight, and she made for it as fast as she could. She heard Chris come out of the elevator beside the stairs, and he shouted and grabbed a handful of her shirt. Desperate to get away, she brought up her hands and 'paff'ed him, feeling his hand rip part of her shirt away as he did so, and then she ran past him, out into the street. She turned a corner, blindly, and ran until she was sure that he wasn't following her. At which point she collapsed, unable to run anymore, in a doorway.

She hid there for a long time, shaking, afraid that Chris was going to come looking for her, but he never did. Finally she got to her feet and started wearily down the sidewalk, looking at the street signs through her one good eye until she found a familiar one that would take her home to the mansion. The streets were dark, and most of the passersby stared at her incredulously, then moved aside to let her pass before hurrying away. No one stopped to offer her help, and Jubilee stumbled on in a daze of misery.

She didn't think things could get any worse, but as she found Graymalkin Lane and started to walk up it, the skies opened up and began to pour rain down on her. Jubilee moaned in misery as she continued walking until finally her tired feet stopped in front of the mansion's tall gates. She wearily punched her code in, slipped between them, and dragged herself up to the front door. She pressed the doorbell, waited for it to open, and sighed when it didn't. She belatedly remembered that it was broken, and Charles had it disconnected until Scott got around to fixing it. Apparently Scott hadn't gotten around to doing so yet.

She leaned against the door for a moment, feeling the rain streak through the dried blood on her face. She raised a fist and pounded on the door weakly. "Open up, please open up," she cried, but a sudden clap of thunder drowned out her words and carried them away in the wind. She closed her eyes, her legs giving out under her and spilling her onto the doorstep.

Logan groaned as the sky opened up and started pouring rain. Perfect. He was hoping to go out and find a good brawl to get into to ease the tension he'd felt all day, and now it was going to rain. He shrugged as he got off his bike and took off his helmet. Okay, bar brawl out. He grinned maliciously as he left the garage. Remy and Rogue were going to have to ride home in the rain; Scott and Jean's romantic dinner at the Kiss Café's outdoor dining area was going to need to be moved indoors; Ororo…well, she was probably going to be hanging with her friends, and even Bobby and Hank had gone down to Harry's for the evening. He, thanks to the rain, was going to be stuck in the mansion alone. Chuck was out of town for some conference or another.

He wondered where Jubilee was now. It was Friday night; usually he and Jubes hung out on Friday nights. He'd come to think of it as 'their' night; until she started going out with this new boy. He missed her. He wondered what she was doing right now. Probably curled up with that 'boy' in his apartment. The thought made him grind his teeth.

The wind shifted, and a sudden whiff of scent made him pause. He stopped, took a deeper sniff of the moisture-laden air, and frowned. He could have sworn he caught Jubes's scent at the front door of the mansion. But what was she doing here?

He rounded the corner of the mansion at a run, and stopped short, stunned. Jubilee had fallen to her knees on the front doorstep. Rain soaked her clothing, she was missing one shoe, and her hair hung in lank, wet tangles around her face as she sobbed into her hands. Logan could also smell blood from where he stood, and that scent made him break into a run toward her.

His footstep crunched on the gravel, and she raised her head slowly. "Wolvie," she whispered, a soft sob following his name. "Help me…" He stared at her in shock for a moment, then went to her side. Picking her up easily, he carried her around the side of the mansion to the kitchen door.

He put her down in a kitchen chair and turned the light on, then slid a hand under her chin. One of her pretty blue eyes was swollen shut, and both cheeks were discolored by bruises. Blood and tears streaked her face, which he dabbed at with a damp paper towel. Her nose was still bleeding sluggishly, and he felt the bridge of her nose gently for breaks before applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Wolvie, I'm--" she started to say, but he hushed her with a finger placed gently over her lips. She fell silent, and didn't say another word until he was done tending to her face. He didn't say anything until he was standing at the freezer, collecting ice from the dispenser into a plastic bag and wrapping a towel around it. He came back to the table, handed her the bag quietly, which she placed over her swollen eye, and then sat down opposite him as he took her hand. "Jubes, what happened?"

"Chris…" Jubilee choked back a sob. "Logan, he was what you told me he was. We went to the country club, and he gave me a ring…look…" She held out a hand, and Logan stared at the diamond on it. "I told him I didn't want to get engaged yet, but he said I could wear it anyway…" and she went on to tell him about the club, the events at the apartment, and finally about her escape. Logan sat quietly through it all, holding her hand as she talked and finally took her in his arms as she sobbed. She put the ice down on the table, leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder, and started to cry. "I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you, Logan, I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me…"

"Ssh," he said, patting her back gently as she sobbed. "It's okay, Jubes, I ain't mad at ya, I'm mad at the stupid son of a--"

She yelped suddenly, and he froze. Pulling up the end of her ripped shirt, he flinched as he saw the huge black bruise on her lower ribs. "Jubes…" Without waiting for her permission, he pulled her shirt off completely until she was sitting in front of him in her wet shorts and bra. He stared at the bruises on her ribs and chest, traced the large one that covered her upper left chest and disappeared into her bra where Chris had kicked her; and sucked in a breath. "That boy's gonna have a meetin' with my claws," he snapped when he recovered from his shock. "Come on. Let's get you up to bed." He slung one of her arms across the back of his neck, and lifted her out of the chair. They made their way up the stairs to her room.

She sat limply down on her bed, too drained to move. Logan hunted through her drawers until he found her favorite pajamas, then stripped off her shirt, shorts, and helped her get dressed. He went to the bathroom for some ointment for the raw scrape on her forehead where she had collided with the door, and a bandage. By the time he got back from the bathroom, she was almost asleep on her feet. He lowered her gently into bed, tucked her in, and then cleaned, medicated, and bandaged the scrape on her forehead. By the time he finished, she was asleep.

He stood looking at her for a while before closing the door quietly. He went to the bathroom, replaced the supplies he'd used, then went to his room, stretched out on his bed, and lay staring at the ceiling for a long time, trying to come up with a suitably painful way of disposing of the insolent puppy who'd hurt his Jubes.

Chris emerged from the elevator and walked out to his car, parked a little way from the entrance to the parking garage. He was almost there when he saw that someone had slashed it up.

"What the--" he snarled as he saw the three parallel slashes up and down the side of his Mercedes. Whatever had done the damage had cut straight through the aluminum of the door panels and peeled the metal back, exposing the steel body frame of the car. "Who ruined my car?!" He ran his hand over the slashes, jerking his hand back as the jagged metal cut his hand, and cursed. He yanked out his cell phone, flipped it open, put it to his ear…and then froze as a sharp adamantium claw pierced the middle of the phone and gently dimpled the skin just under his ear. 

"Don't even think 'bout it, pal," came a rough, gravelly voice from behind him.

"Look," Chris said nervously. "I got money, you can have all of it, and hey, here's the gold Rolex I just bought. It's brand new, I just got it. Just don't hurt me, please--" And he shut up as the claw dimpled his skin inward, and a drop of blood ran down his neck.

"Give me one good reason why I oughtta listen to ya," he heard that gravelly voice say again. 'Ya didn't listen to Jubilee when she asked ya not ta hurt her, did ya?" The claw dug a little deeper into his neck, and he gave an involuntary whimper of fear. "Oh, ya want me ta leave ya alone, eh? Well, I'll make a deal with ya. We're gonna go upstairs an' yer gonna give me every scrap of anything that belongs to her that you might have. Then you're gonna promise ta forget she even exists. Once we're done that, I'll let ya have yer miserable little life! How's that fer a deal?"

"O-okay. Anything you want. Just don't hurt me, okay?" Logan snorted a little inwardly. Coward. He could beat up women, but he couldn't face a man his own size.

They went back into the elevator, and went up to Chris's apartment in silence. Chris opened the door, and Logan pushed him in on the point of his claw, then stopped. Jubilee's bag was right beside a large stain of blood on the carpet that must have come from her bleeding nose the day before. Seeing the blood made his anger rise to the surface again, but he controlled it with difficulty as he bent over, checked the bag to ensure all of Jubilee's things were in it, then prodded Chris again. "Where's her ring?" he asked.

"What?"

Logan slid his claw another millimeter into the skin of the boy's neck. "She was wearin' a sapphire band I gave her fer her twentieth birthday. Ya took it off her when ya forced her ta wear that ugly rock ya bought fer her. Which, by the way, she's gonna sell. She don't want it, an' she don't want you. Gimme her ring back, an' we'll be even."

Chris dug a black velvet jewelry box out of his coat pocket. "I was gonna go sell it," he whined. "She ought to pay me fer the damage she did to my carpet."

Logan slid his claw into Chris's neck another millimeter. "What about the damage ya done her?" he demanded. "What 'bout that? What 'bout her black eye? Her bruised rib? The scrape on her forehead? Ya thought bout that?" He snorted as Chris froze again. "I guess ya didn't." He slipped the ring into the bag, zipped it up, and took his claw out of Chris's neck. Blood flowed, but not as much as Logan would have liked. He snarled. "Don't call. Don't try ta see her. Forget 'bout her. Got me?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and left.

Jubilee was still in bed when he got home. Her ribs were badly bruised, hank had said when he examined her that morning, and he'd told Jubilee to stay in bed and take it easy for a while. Jean and Ororo had been indignant, and wanted Jubilee to press charges, but Jubilee shook her head. She just wanted to forget the whole thing.

She looked up with a watery-eyed smile as Logan came in with her bag. "Was everything there?" she asked as he sat on the bed in front of her and unzipped the bag.

"Got all yer stuff," he said, nodding, "Including this." He opened the little black velvet box and showed her the sapphire ring.

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she took it. "Oh, Logan." She slipped it onto her middle finger, where she'd always worn it, and looked at it there for a moment before leaning forward to hug him. "Thank you, Logan…oh, thank you, I'm so sorry, Logan, I love you…"

He hugged her back, his heart aching. "I love ya too, Jubes. Remember, no matter how bad it gets, or how mad I seem, I'll be there fer ya. I'll always be there…"

END

                The longer version of this is also posted; the reason I have posted the short version is so that I can enter it in the 'Long Shorts' fiction category for this year's X-Day competition. If you like it, please vote for it! For information about the competition, please go to www.xday.info. Thank you!