Disclaimer: Lena, Caleb, Annie, assorted bar patrons and fastfood clerks are the products of my fevered imagination. Everyone else in the story is property of Marvel. Uncredited song lyrics are from the Golden Palominos.
"Hey Lanie, we're back!" Caleb called up to his sister as she walked down the stairs.
"Cool, is that the last trip then?" Lena stopped for a moment to twist her hair into a clip. She wore her usual work outfit, cargo pants (olive drab that day), a black tank, black tennis shoes, and a black utility vest.
"I hope so. I'm getting sick of carrying things." Caleb set the cardboard box he was carrying down in the foyer while he updated his sister. Logan came in from the opposite direction, going for another load from the truck. As Lena came closer to Caleb, she noticed a familiar smell. Grabbing the lapels of his jacket, she sniffed at his chest. When she was sure what it was she gave him a wild grin.
"Whoohoo, hot iron and gasoline, ain't no better smell in the world! I hope for your sake ya brought mine down too."
"What jou think, I'm that kind of crazy? I had to ride mine 'cause we only had a trailer big enough to fit one. They both in the garage now, all safe and sound."
"First thing I'm gonna do when I get done with this damned house arrest is get on that baby and lay serious rubber." Lena enthused. Henry had refused to let her off of the school grounds until he was sure of her recovery. She'd only been cooped up for three days but it felt like an eternity.
Logan joined the conversation. "Those are some beautiful rides you two got there, Lena."
"Ain't they just? Can you believe that this one," she indicated Caleb with a nod of her head, "wanted to buy some piss-ant little crotch-rocket before I showed him the light?"
"Wolvie! There you are. I've been trying ta find ya all day." Jubilee called out from the upstairs balcony. She practically flew down the stairs and tackled Logan in a big bear hug.
"Hey Jubes, I'd like ya to meet some new arrivals. Lena, Caleb this is Jubilee. Jubilee, this is Lena and Caleb."
Caleb couldn't believe how pretty the girl was. He clarified, "I'm Caleb Rafael Miguel Cruz Infantas."
"Jones," Lena added.
"Pff," he blew out his lips, "Sez you, Lanie"
"Me and the state of New York, Cay Cay."
"Uh Mi'ja, I'm tryin'a talk to this pretty chica here and jer cramping my style seriously," he whispered down to her ear while indicating Jubilee with his eyes.
Lena smirked, but relented, "right Cay Cay, I'm gonna go play with my bike. It's nice to meet ya, Jubilee. Guess I'll be seein' ya later." She rolled her eyes heavenward and walked out of the room.
"Jubie are ya stayin' for dinner?" Logan asked.
"If yer gonna be around I am. Otherwise it's the food court at the Mall."
"I'll be here. We can catch up then. Right now I'm gonna go see if I can sweet talk Lena into letting me take her bike for a spin."
"Lotsa luck, Jefe. Jou gonna need it. I'm the only other person in the world she lets near it."
"Yeah well, I still gotta take a shot. Don't I?" Logan ruffled Jubilee's hair. "Good ta see ya, kid. I'll catch you later."
"Gee thanks, I guess I'll just stay here and feel like chopped liver then." Jubilee called to his retreating back.
"You sure don't look like chopped liver, chica." Caleb moved closer to her. "So ah, El Jefe, is he like...jer dad or something?"
"No!" Jubilee huffed, "He's my partner."
"Really? Jou and the big guy, huh?" Caleb let out a low whistle. "Jou mus' be pretty tough then. Guess I better be careful 'round jou." He smiled at her and cocked his head to one side.
"Ya, ya'd better." She snapped her fingers and a small burst of blue light popped in front of Caleb's eyes. He started back from the surprise but didn't miss a beat. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. A pulse of electricity shivered up her arm.
"Jou gotta lotta fire in you, Jubilee, I like that in a woman." Now they were both smiling. "Well, I better get the rest of this stuff moved in. But I'm gonna find jou later, don't try an' hide from me, it won't do you any good and it might jus' break my heart." He winked at her, grabbed his box and strolled out of the foyer.
"This could definitely get interesting." Jubilee said to no one in particular after he was out of the room. The smile stayed on her lips and just the hint of a blush rose to her cheeks.
-------------------------------------
"Hell-o sweetheart! Did'ja miss me?" Lena inspected every inch of the motorcycle with the loving care of a parent. The 1947 Indian Chief was probably her most prized possession. Tricked out in glossy maroon and cream paint with a dark brown, leather saddle, it seemed to shine with its own light. She had spent countless hours and dollars restoring it. When Caleb had talked about getting some slick, fast, modern bike, one spin on her beloved Chief was all it took to change his mind. His black, 1948 sat next to hers in the cycle section of the garage. She noticed with some satisfaction that the group at Xavier's tended towards the substantial as well. Two nicely maintained Harleys sat near the Chiefs.
"Where did ya ever find two Chiefs in such good condition?" Logan asked, coming up behind her.
"Pfhh," she snorted, "Neither of them were in good condition when I picked them up. There's more than a little bit of my own sweat and blood in both of them. Well, Cay really did most of the work on his, but I kept him pointed in the right direction."
"You two restored them? I'm impressed."
"So which Harley is yours?"
"Howd'ja know I had a motorcycle?"
"Smelled exhaust on your jacket. People who drive cars never smell like that."
"Howd'ja know it was a Harley?"
She smiled at him. "I took a wild guess. What else would a guy like you drive?"
"A super cherry, fully restored '47 Chief?" He grinned at her.
"Ha! When you pry the keys from my cold, dead fingers you will!"
"Oh c'mon Lena. Just one spin around the parking lot?"
"No way, cowboy. If I let you ride it; everybody's going to be bugging me for a spin. Anyway, I can't even take it out at the moment. I got work to do." She sighed wistfully and whispered to her bike, "Soon sweetheart. I swear." She tore her eyes away from the bike and walked over to the truck that still contained the things Caleb, Logan and Remy had brought down from the apartment that morning. She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on, a fairly large computer tower.
"Hey Lena, that's too heavy for you. Let me get it."
"No it ain't, Logan. Ya know yer really startin' to drive me batty."
"Why 'cause I don't want cha to hurt yerself?"
"No 'cause you think I could hurt myself from carrying this. I hate to break it to ya but this stuff didn't grow legs and walk up the steps to my apartment."
"But Lena you've been through a lot lately."
"Don't 'But Lena' me. You guys are gonna be the death of me if ya don't start lettin' me pull my own weight here. I been on my own for a long time and people doin' for me just makes me itchy."
"Lena nobody minds givin' you a hand"
She suddenly looked distracted and held up her hand to silence him. Her hand hit a switch on the cell phone she had clipped to her belt and she began speaking to the person on the other end of the line. She spoke in fluent Japanese. Logan was impressed with her command of the language, not just the pronunciation but the nuance. It was very clear to him that the man on the line wanted Lena to come to Tokyo right away and that Lena very much wanted to put off the trip. Of course, since it was Japanese, neither of them spoke of such things. They referred to it only obliquely by discussing the beauty of different seasons. He spoke of the cherry blossoms just coming into bloom. She talked of her love of Tokyo in the autumn. Each of them was pushing for their own timeline. She finally relented a bit and mentioned that her associate, Travis, had never seen the cherry trees in their glory and that perhaps it would be acceptable if he could stay on in Tokyo for a few more weeks. Certainly, he would be happy to assist the gentleman's company in any way while he was there. That seemed to appease the man and Lena quickly, but graciously, ended the conversation. She flicked the phone off again, pulled the ear bud out of her ear and rubbed her temples.
"Sorry about that, Logan. I had to take it. I've been trying to get through to Sakai for two days solid now."
"Yer just full o' surprises aren't you. When were you in Okinawa?"
She looked momentarily puzzled. Then she caught his meaning. "I have the accent, don't I?"
"Sure do. Still, it's better than havin' an American accent."
"Yeah well, the fellow who taught me is Okinawan and I'm a pretty good mimic." She started to lift up the tower again.
"Lena, really, let me carry that." He tried to take it out of her hands but she angrily yanked it back.
"Dammit Logan," she put the tower down behind her and glared up at him, "you have got to stop tiptoeing around me like I'm some sort of china doll. I'm better now and I'm stronger than you think, a lot stronger. I know you've only seen me when I'm sick and it's gonna take a while for you to get used to me being healthy. But, you've gotta at least try to wrap yer head around the idea. Especially since we need to start" She trailed off, trying to find the right words.
"Need to start what, Lena?"
"Start seein' about getting yer memories back."
"You can do that?"
"I can sure as hell try. Some of the damage might be permanent but some of the blocks if I can remove the mechanisms that keep them from being healed away well your body might just kick in and do the rest. Ya gotta let me try, Logan."
"Should I bother asking you if it's risky or should I just get the truth from Hank?"
She shook her head and looked down. "There are risks for both of us. For me, it wouldn't be anything more serious than a nosebleed. For you well there's no physical danger but your memories I kinda doubt they're all pleasant. You might not want some of them."
"Lena, I want them back, the good and the bad. Whatever else they might be, they're mine and without 'em, well there's always gonna be an empty place inside of me where they should go. If you can do it and," he stared down at her, "if it really isn't a danger to you, then yeah, I'd like to give it a try."
"Okay then," she met his gaze," as soon as Henry gives it his blessing, we'll get started." With a short nod of her head, she went back to picking up the tower.
"Lena, please"
"Logan, I'm carrying this tower my own damn self, even if I have to deck you with it first. Got it?" She finally picked the tower up and headed toward the door. "If you really want to help, get the other tower. It's a lot heavier than this one."
"Fine then," he grunted, somewhere between being angry at getting hollered at and impressed with her spirit. "Ain't my fault ya look like a china doll."
"You of all people should know better than to judge by appearances." Lena chided him. She stopped to hoist the tower onto one shoulder so she could grab the doorknob. Logan was surprised to see the muscles of her arms and back jump out as she hefted the tower. She wasn't kidding about being stronger than she looked. He grabbed the other tower and followed her.
-----------------------------------
"Hey, Chere, that's too heavy for you." Remy put down his coffee mug and ran to Lena's side.
"God Dammit!" Lena pulled the tower out of Remy's grip and practically ran it into Logan's stomach.
"Careful, Cajun. She's itchy."
"Don't you start again, Logan. Hey Caleb, this tower goes on the second tier. Can I hand it to ya?"
"Wait a sec." Caleb unhooked the cable that held him to the narrow catwalk and walked closer to Lena. He reattached the hook and leaned over to grab the tower.
Lena had gotten Forge to lend them some space to set up a computer lab. Since there wasn't a lot of free horizontal space in his workshop, Lena and Caleb had decided to maximize the vertical as much as possible. Eventually they would put in stairs but currently they were using climbing gear to get around. The lab was now a 30-foot-tall steel frame that held various servers and storage devices.
"Hey Lena, Hey Caleb. How's everything going?" Forge called down from the upper level of the workshop.
"Hey Forge. It's going pretty well. Got the coffeepot plugged in and the stereo system hooked up. Now that I have all the essentials, I can put the rest of this jury-rig together." Lena flashed him a smile as she hooked herself into a harness and started to climb.
"So what is it that you two do for a living anyway?"
"We're computer consultants. We do network security mostly." Lena called down as she disappeared over the railing of the second level.
"You build secure networks?"
"Sometimes, usually we break them. People'll pay a lot of money to make sure that their data is safe."
"Jou remember the movie, Sneakers? I'm Robert Redford." Caleb offered from the third tier.
"Yeah, kinda like that, except we don't usually bother with physical break-ins anymore. Never know when yer gonna run into some overzealous security guard."
"So what do you think of the system here?"
"Hard to say, Scotty's stonewalling me on the schematics. Can't say as I blame him but it's frustrating. It's one of the main things I could be doing to help out here. I feel like I owe the Professor at least that much."
"Well, I'll talk to Scott for you. You might try calling him Scott. He's not fond of the nicknames."
"I'll remember that, thanks, Forge." Lena turned towards her brother. "Hey, Caleb. Any special reason we're operating under radio silence here?"
"No Lanie, I just figured jou'd wanna pick the first CD."
"Concrete Blonde, Still in Hollywood then."
"Jou got it."
By the time Logan and Remy got back with the next load, Lena was fully in the swing of working and singing along to the music. Logan had heard her voice all the way back in the garage. If her speaking voice was appealing to him, her singing voice was absolutely devastating, a rough sweet contralto that shivered up his spine. As she sang, she continued to work on the construction, connecting and verifying various parts of the network. Everything she did went in time to the music. Occasionally, she would accent the song with a gesture or a toss of her head but then she would pick up exactly where she left off. It was mesmerizing to watch. The song was a coy declaration of independence and Lena played it up. Pouting and posturing, she became the character of the song.
"Well I don't know where I'll wind up tonight,
Any place with a bar an' a bathtub's all right.
I got a burnin' yearnin' for some new sounds and smells and sights,
An' if I never see your face again, well, I don't care,
'Cause I know a hundred games of solitaire."
As Lena finished up the last verse she looked down to see three male faces watching her intently. She laughed and stared right back at them. "You boys all need to get a hobby."
Forge smiled nervously and turned away. The other two were bolder and kept staring.
"That's some voice you got there, Chere."
"Thank you, Rem but I was just singing the song the way it's supposed to be sung. I don't mean nothing by it. Don't you go getting all love-struck on me."
"You don't make it easy, Chere."
"Aah, big, strong fellas like you all oughta be able to resist." She turned back to her work, consciously trying not to dance or sing to the next song. She repelled down to the floor and fired up her main computer. As she was logging in, Logan moved to stand behind her.
"Where'd you learn to sing like that?"
"Used to work sound for shows for a living. Sometimes the band couldn't find back-up singers and I'd get drafted."
He leaned over her back and whispered right into her ear. "Gotta be careful how you use a voice like that. Cajun's right, guy could get the wrong idea."
She found herself shaking a bit, drawn up short by his closeness, the heat of his breath in her ear. "It it'll be okay, Logan. I got you around to set 'em straight."
He put his hands on her shoulders. "An' just what would straight be, Lena?"
"Straight would be that Lena's too mean to date. She sends all the boys home crying." Caleb's head poked down from the second level.
"Yeah, what he said." Lena smiled nervously and backed away from Logan, standing closer to her brother.
Damn that kid's timing, Logan thought angrily. "Maybe ya need to stop datin' boys then, Lena." He looked her full in the eye before turning on his heel. "That's everything from the truck. I think I'd better track down Jubilee." He headed out.
"Lanie's got a boyfriend." Caleb sang to her under his breath.
"Oh hush up, Cake. Logan knows better than that." Or at least, she hoped he did.
All references to characters belonging to the X-Men Universe are (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials in any form is expressly prohibited. No money is being made from this archive. All images are also (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities; they are not mine. This website, its operators and any content used on this site relating to the X-Men are not authorized by Marvel, Fox, etc. I am not, nor do I claim to be affiliated with any of these entities in any way.