winds of change ~ wolverine

eight

LOGAN'S POV

Bailey didn't relent her gaze until the Professor sighed quietly. "Then the matter is settled." He said and I thought he sounded as disappointed as I felt at the decision. "Jean, when she is ready to go, will you please arrange for Bailey's return?" 

Jean wore a visible frown, but nodded to the request. "Of course, just let me know when you need to go." She said to Bailey.

"Then if no one has anything further, this meeting is concluded." He said finally. I never took my eyes off Bailey. She was making an unbelievably stupid decision and it was going to get her killed. The matter was by no means settled in my eyes.

When the team began to file out, the Professor spoke again. "Logan? A word, please." 

As the room emptied of the last of the X-Men and the door was closed after them, I turned to Charles. "You never said if you agreed with sending someone to protect her." I said.

"No, I didn't." He concurred.

"Well why not?" I shot back impatiently.

Charles sighed softly. "Because I needed you all to come to your own conclusions, without any influence. If it was agreed that she would be protected, it would not have been me to be at her side, but one of you. I have no interest in making your decisions for you."

"Respectfully, that's complete bullshit. You've dabbled your fair share with executive decision-making in the past."

The wrinkles on his weathered face seemed to pronounce themselves more clearly then. A small, knowing smile graced his lips. "My mind may be a powerful force, Logan, but my body is not. I am an old man, and death will come for me, likely sooner than later. And when I go, the X-Men must be capable of surviving me. That can't happen if you are all still dependent and cannot decide things for yourselves."

I scoffed again, but it was muted at the sobering thought of the Professor's death. "Sure we decided, but it was the wrong choice. If we send Bailey back out there alone, it's only a matter of time before the brotherhood picks her up."

"Then what will you do?" Charles asked, that little coy smile back, like he already knew the answer to his question even before Logan thought of it himself.

"I won't let her go back alone."

BAILEY'S POV

An hour after the meeting, I was unbuckling my seatbelt as Jean landed the jet on a rooftop a few minutes from my apartment. She'd been tensely silent the whole way over. As I approached the lowering ramp, she finally spoke. "Bailey, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

I looked back a little startled at the question, but nodded resolutely. "There's no way they know who I am. And if they do, I'll deal with it." She didn't look remotely convinced, so I sighed, making my back up to the cockpit and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to be okay Jean... if anything goes wrong, I have Logan's number. I will call."

She nodded, still frowning faintly as she lay her own hand on top of mine. "Okay, Bailey. Just stay safe alright?"

I turned to walk down the open gangway, calling over my shoulder with a smile. "Will do, captain."

The ramp whirred lightly as it began to close again and I heard Jean's voice calling from inside. "And good luck with your exams! You better graduate this year!" A laugh was my only reply as I stood back and watched the jet lift off the roof and shoot back into the sky, going invisible again in the time it took me to blink.

I sighed to myself as I made my way off the roof and started the short walk back to my apartment. I had a few hours before my mom was due and she was a huge neat freak so a complete clean was needed.

Unlocking the door and dropping my bag on the cluttered coffee table, I regarded the small apartment with a small frown. I couldn't believe that just twenty minutes ago I'd been back at the mansion and even more so that I'd accepted the offer to join the X-Men. I was beyond grateful for my last few months of normality and, at the same time, I almost couldn't wait for them to be over.

After shooting my roommate Hanna a quick text to say I had a guest coming, the next four hours were spent utterly cleansing the apartment. And that's not to say that me and Hanna were particularly messy people. I'd learned from experience that my mother couldn't handle any kind of clutter. It stressed her out and when she got stressed out, a fight usually followed. 

I wanted tonight to be perfect. As much as I'd accommodated my life in her absence, I would give anything to have her back as my mom, and even more to have her back as my friend. When the small living room and kitchen was clean, I moved on to my room, racking up two bin bags of meaningless clutter throughout it all.

Lugging the trash out to the elevator and down outside the front of the building, I absently noticed a truck parked a little bit down the street that I'd never seen there before.

LOGAN'S POV

I'd watched Bailey cleanse her entire apartment through the window from the rooftop across the street until the sky began to darken. When everything was spotless and tidy beyond reason, she slowly opened the fridge, hesitantly pulling out two bottles of liquor. I watched her stare at them for a moment before shutting the fridge door and searching around the apartment.

She eventually took the bottles into the room she hadn't cleaned, what I guessed was her roommate's, and left with empty hands, closing the door behind her. I wondered why she needed to hide her liquor as I watched. Was her mother an alcoholic or something else? When Bailey had excused herself to take the phone call from her this morning, I didn't miss the hesitant frown she'd worn.

Disappearing into the bathroom and coming out a while later with her dark, curly hair freshly wet, she walked towel-clad to her room and didn't emerge for a full hour.

When she did, my brows raised a bit in surprise at how nicely she'd cleaned up. I realized then that I'd only ever seen her dress for college. While the light makeup she wore made her look stunning, I found I liked it just the same amount as I did the way I'd met her. Dressed like a hobo you'd avoid on the street. 

Or maybe I just didn't like how nervous she looked. Her clothes were modest; loose black jeans and a sleeved red shirt that subtly hugged her figure. She'd worn silver earrings, and kept her rings, but painted her nails. Bailey looked great, but she was clearly uncomfortable, pacing in her socks, fluffing the pillows unnecessarily, dusting the already dusted TV screen, fiddling with her clothes and trying to pull her neckline a little higher to cover more of her collarbone. It started looking more like she was expecting a visit from her boss than her own mother.

When her nervousness seemed to completely wear her out, Bailey slumped down onto the couch tiredly, rubbing a hand over her forehead to smooth out the creases. Some time passed before the sound of a knock at the door reached my enhanced ears. She immediately shot up, glancing around the apartment scrutinizingly as she smoothed down her clothes and turned her rings over her fingers.

The traffic in the street separating us was too loud to listen that closely, but I knew if I was closer, I'd hear the manic thunder of her nervous heart.

Reaching the door, Bailey took a deep breath and pulled it open. She smiled warmly at the person on the other side and stepped aside to allow them in. When her mother came into view, Logan noticed the hijab and immediately figured out why she'd hidden the alcohol. He couldn't believe he hadn't put it together earlier. 

Bailey kissed both her mothers cheeks, then pulled her in for a tight hug. Facing me, I could see her eyes had begun to glisten and she closed them, blinking fiercely before the hug ended to hide any trace of the unshed tears.

Her mom pulled away, smiling at Bailey brightly and gesturing for her to sit. When Bailey complied, waiting for her on the couch, the mother approached the windows, pulling down the shutters one by one until all prying eyes were blocked from watching the apartment, including Logan.

Only, he could have sworn that with her back turned to her daughter, he saw Bailey's mothers' eyes flash a familiar reptilian yellow.