ALPHA/OMEGA

Book Two

TWELVE

The X-Men gathered in Professor Xavier's office. No one commented when Logan perched on the arm of an armchair occupied by Carl, though the Professor did smile knowingly at them.

"Well, then," the Professor began. "Scott, Kurt?"

"We went back to the caves. There were fifty-two bodies in the large cavern." Scott glanced at Logan and Carl. Carl's hand went around his silver crucifix and held tight. Scott continued, "We buried them all within the confines of the cavern system. None of them had any sort of identification on them."

"Ve said prayers for each," Kurt assured Carl, who nodded.

"There are probably files in the database recovered from Magneto's lab," Carl said. "We can search for more information there, see if we can figure out whom to notify. We owe them that much, to let their families know what happened to them."

"What about Magneto's experiments?" Professor Xavier asked.

"It'll take me a while to comb through the data," Carl replied, running a hand through his hair. Logan shifted, and briefly laid a hand on Carl's shoulder. Storm's eyebrows arched at this display of affection, but refrained from saying anything, due to Logan's challenging stare. "Basically," Carl went on, "he was trying to develop mutant were-creatures, operating under the flawed assumption that mutants would be more in control as weres than regular humans. On the contrary, the were-venom reacted even worse in mutants than it did normal people, creating weres utterly out of control, and with unpredictable abilities. A mutant with extra strength didn't necessarily make an extra strong werewolf. I don't know that I'll ever be able to predict results as Magneto wanted, and I can't say I'd wish to. But, there's a pretty good genetic matrix for the venom. We should be able to use that to synthesize anti-venom and get it to, er, the right people."

Xavier frowned. "You're not thinking of going back, are you, Carl?"

Carl shook his head emphatically. "No way! But, I know of some people, who would respond as we want, if we use, um, the right names." He glanced up at Logan, who frowned in turn.

"We'll discuss it." He said to Carl, who shrugged.

"So, do we consider this issue closed?" Storm asked. Kurt looked like he wanted to ask a number of questions, but the Professor shook his head.

"Until Magneto's next scheme pops up," Scott said wryly.

"One can hope that he'll take some time off," Xavier answered, with a smile of his own. "We could use some downtime. Our students are suffering from our inattention."

Carl smacked himself in the forehead. "I have essays to grade!" The others groaned as the redhead launched himself out of his armchair and headed for the door.

----------------

Snow fell steadily from the January sky as Carl fumbled with the doorknob to the apartment. He and Gabriel had gotten the Professor's permission to turn the unused rooms above the garage into a living space for themselves. Though Scott and Jean had lived in the school buildings, neither Carl nor Gabriel was comfortable living that close to everyone else. Instead, they'd built a fairly comfortable place for themselves separate from the rest of the school's living quarters.

"Gabriel? I'm back!" Carl called as he kicked the door closed behind him. Balancing the multiple grocery bags in his arms, he climbed the stairs to their apartment. "I got that beer you wanted. Took me three different stores to find it, in the snow, so you better be grateful! Gabriel? Logan?"

He suddenly realized he smelled something burning. Quickly setting the bags down, he hurried into the kitchen, only to be greeted with a site out of a comedy.

Logan stood by the sink, chewing a cigar and cursing as he ran water over a still smoking pan. Smoke also emerged from the oven, and two separate pots were boiling over on the stovetop.

"Jesus Gabriel!" Carl exclaimed. He reached over and turned off everything, shifting the pots. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to cook dinner!" Gabriel snarled.

Carl blinked in confusion. "But, you can't cook. You never cook. You've never cooked in all the time I've known you. I've always done all our cooking."

Gabriel dropped the pan and chucked the gnawed stogie into the trash. "I know, I remember. I just wanted to, to do something--"

"Let me guess. Rogue put you up to this."

Gabriel shrugged.

"What did she say?"

Gabriel muttered something.

"What was that?"

Gabriel scowled. "I said it's our anniversary."

Carl's jaw dropped. "Oh dear god no, Gabriel, PLEASE tell me she didn't talk you into some sappy thing! It's only been a few months!"

"No, not now. Since then."

"Huh? You've lost me."

"Do you remember the date the day you died?"

"Yeah, so? Oh, wait." Carl mentally did some math, and then smiled at Gabriel. "THAT."

He grinned at Gabriel, who gave a lopsided smile in return. The larger man stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Carl, burying his face against his lover's neck and sniffing deeply, inhaling that scent he remembered no matter what had befallen him. Carl dug his fingers into Gabriel's back, reveling in the feel of that body against his, holding tight to the man he'd essentially come back to life to be with. He kissed Gabriel's neck and whispered, for the first time since Gabriel awoke in the clinic, "I love you."

"I love you too," Gabriel immediately replied. He kissed Carl back, working his way up the redhead's jaw line to claim his lips. After a moment, he pulled back and said, "So, now what do we do?"

Carl grinned wickedly. "Skip dinner."

They began to make their way to the bedroom.

Logan. Carl. I need you in my office right away.

"I HATE it when he does that!"

END

Thanks to everyone who read, everyone who reviewed, and anyone who so much as peeked before wrinking their noses and going 'This sucks!'. Big shouts out to regular reviewers Verona D (you so totally rock!), Kydasam (I still wanna grow up to be you!), blackwolfs900, and Lindiel (urk, no, must avoid LOTR crossover! grin). I have had a FEW ideas about a sequel, but nothing concrete and nothing soon, sorry. Though, anyone with a suggestion for Carl's X-Men codename is welcome to email me with it! Any interested VH fans, keep your eyes out for me over in the VH postings for ficlets coming soon, plus a VHRP with CrystalDragon79 over at LordsOfTheSlasheddotCom.