Later
by
Elizabeth Wilde



DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They are all copyright... Marvel and/or Twentieth Century Fox and possibly even other places or people. Point is, not mine. I make no money from this site and I don't have any to give, so there's no point in suing.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Basically, I wanted to get a little more out of Logan and Jean's final conversation. So I wrote it. I recently edited it a bit after seeing the movie again and getting the book. I had originally screwed up some dialogue.




Jean smiled to herself. She had always believed that everyone looked more innocent when they slept. Watching Logan's light breathing and relaxed face, she knew it to be true, for even he seemed lighter, the scars and losses so clearly visible in his eyes hidden and forgotten. As the seconds ticked past, she could feel him returning to himself. His consciousness drifted close to the surface now.

"That tickles." His eyes burned into hers. "Hey."

A smile slipped onto Jean's face immediately. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?" She already knew the answer, knew that even if he felt like he was about to die and was in intense pain, Logan would never let on.

"Fantastic."

"That was a really brave thing you did."

He took the compliment without acknowledging it. Jean knew he could care less about flattery. All he cared about was whether or not Rogue was okay. "Did it work?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Another smile found it's way to her lips. "She took on some of your more charming personality traits for a few days, but we lived through it." A very kind way of saying that Rogue spent a great deal of time cursing and ogling Jean. "You know, I think she's a little taken with you." Jean shook off a strange pang of something close to jealousy, an emotion certainly not appropriate or logical.

"Well, you can tell her my heart belongs to someone else."

Despite the sudden increase in her heartbeat, an annoying sign she knew Logan would notice, she began, "You know, you and I-"

"How's the professor?"

Rejection scared Logan more than Magneto or any other physical threat ever could. He was used to physical pain. He knew how to handle it. Emotional scars were different. They weren't something his advanced healing ability could care for. Jean sighed, hoping for a chance to explain at another time. "Good."

"Good." He kissed the back of her hand gently, the slight contact sending a shock through her body. Unable to react, knowing he didn't want to hear her explanations, Jean smiled softly, a bit sadly. "Do you need anything?"

A slight head shake and then, "No. I'll go talk to the professor." With Jean's help, he removed the monitor's and bandages, standing a few minutes later, clothes in hand. "We'll talk later."

"Right." She knew there was no chance of it happening. He would leave. Professor Xavier had already told her about the installation in Canada. Logan would leave immediately after talking to the professor, and Jean knew he wouldn't stop to say good-bye. "Later." Without another word, he turned and stalked from the room. As the doors slid shut, Jean whispered, "Bye, Logan," and tried to pretend there weren't tears standing in her eyes.



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