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"I think I'm hurt."

Scott tensed and froze, the book his was holding halfway in its new home on the bookshelf. He forced himself to take a deep breath and finish putting the book up. Then he turned. "Oh?" he said, voice steady.

Logan was leaning against the threshold of the door, looking at him through heavy-lidded eyes. "Yeah. I'm gone two weeks and you move to a whole different floor. It took me five minutes to find you. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to hide."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Scott answered, "I thought I'd test your reputed tracking skills. I'd be remiss as a leader if I didn't see what you could do."

"I see." A smile twitched the corners of Logan's mouth. "Have I passed?" He slowly began walking towards Scott, which made him feel as if he were really being hunted.

"I don't know. I don't know how accurate a test this was. Half the students helped me move up. For all I know, they told you, and all that tests is your ability to ask for directions."

"I never ask for directions."

"Why am I not surprised? You really don't seem the type."

Logan was practically onto top of him now. Heart pounding, Scott tried to take a step back, but was stopped by the bookshelf behind him. Trapped, he raised his chin, meeting Logan's eyes.

Logan placed his arms on either side of Scott's head and leaned in. "I would have helped."

"I know. But I had to do it myself. The kids ... the kids just sort of appeared when they saw me lugging the boxes up here. I couldn't say no."

"I could have been there for you."

Scott swallowed. "I didn't think you'd want to."

"It's not ..." Logan frowned and looked away briefly. He dropped his hands and pulled away from Scott, body closing off as if someone had hit the off switch or something. "It's not just physical," he said after a moment.

Relief made Scott's knees weak, but rather than admit it, he said instead, "I didn't think it was." He reached out and touched Logan's arm gently.

Logan turned. "Oh?"

"This was something I had to do. Alone. Which I did. I spent the night by myself packing and separating. Trying to figure out what I wanted to save, and what should go into storage. I just ... Packing was something I needed to do alone. The rest, like I said, just sort of appeared."

"They miss her too," he said, and Scott could hear the, 'I miss her, too' in his statement.

"I know."

Logan pulled away from him and looked around the room. "Not bad. Is it just me, or do all these rooms look the same?"

"It's not just you. But they all feel different."

Logan smirked. "Wouldn't have noticed. Although, now that you mention it, the room I hurt Rogue in does feel different from the room I'm in now. The new one has ... pleasant memories in."

"I'm glad you think so." Scott hesitated, and then said, "So far, this one's blank."

Logan threw him a smile that made his stomach clench. "Good to know." He went over to the bed and sat down.

Unsure of what to do--was it an invitation, or was he just sitting down, and what did Scott want it to be--Scott bent over and picked up another book. "Uh, how did the mission go?"

"Fine. It was pretty routine, according to Storm. We found the kid hiding in a storm drain, and spent some time bailing him out of the trouble he'd gotten himself into. Bobby was a help; he and the new mutant are pretty close in age."

Scott nodded as he continued to shelf books. "I think Bobby is going to be a good addition to the team. And he looks up to you, so I think I'll have you work with him some."

"Excuse me?"

Scott turned. "What?"

"I haven't officially signed on to your team, Cyclops."

"But we need you, Wolverine," Scott replied, stressing his name. "We need someone of your background and abilities to help us."

"But ..."

"Look, where are you going to go? Alkali Lake is gone, and unless you can breathe under water, or are planning to scuba dive, I doubt you'd find anything if you went back. I don't think the computers survived anyway. And, yes, there might be information in other places, but we need you here. The world needs you here."

Logan shook his head. "Do you remember what I said about you have an over inflated sense of self-importance?"

Scott forced himself not to get angry. Anger wasn't going to help here, and he needed Wolverine to understand.

"I don't get you. A month ago you were telling the president that we'd be watching him. Now, you're saying you're not part of the team?"

"I'm saying ... I don't know what I'm saying."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Look," he said softly. "I want you. The kids look up to you, Storm and I have faith in you. You're strong, you're good in combat. Your only real problem is that you're always running off to do your own thing, but we can work on that. You can work on that. You think fast under pressure, and don't let yourself freeze. We need people like that. And over inflated sense of self-importance or not, I know what my place in this world is. I've sworn my life to help mutants, but not at the expense of human life. There's a war coming, but to be honest, I don't know if it's a war between humans and mutants, us against Magneto, or us against humans while protecting them from Magneto. But whatever the war, we need good soldiers." Scott stepped closer to Logan. "You know the score. You are on the inside track, and you can't just turn your back on all this."

Logan clenched his jaw and looked away. "Come here."

"Excuse me?"

"Come. Here."

Bemused, Scott obeyed. He crossed the room, allowing his arms to fall at his sides. "What?" he asked, stopping in front of Logan.

Logan put his hands on Scott's hips and tugged.

Taken off guard, Scott stumbled forward, allowing Logan to somehow flip him onto his back on the bed. Before Scott could regain his equilibrium, Logan was kissing him with such intensity, his head spun.

"Logan," he managed to say, but Logan's mouth took his again, swallowing his words.

Scott moaned, head falling back. Right away, Logan began kissing down his neck. He sucked hard at a pulse point, causing fire to race through Scott's veins.

This was insane. His body wanted this, and, yes, it was overriding his head, but he had to think. Scott couldn't let this get out of control.

"Logan, stop. Now!" he said sharply, pushing at Logan's shoulders.

With a heavy sigh, Logan pushed himself up. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

Logan quirked an eyebrow. "Do you really need it explained to you?"

Scott sighed. "Yes, Logan, I do." He sat up, pushing Logan off him. "Did you come here to have sex?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

He hesitated. "Did I already use the line about your ass looking good in a uniform?"

"Yes." Annoyed, Scott climbed off the bed and crossed the room to close the door. He was very glad he'd moved to a floor that was sparsely populated. In fact, most of the floor was empty rooms; only Xavier and now Kurt stayed up here. It wasn't that he was ashamed that he and Logan had been making out in full view of anyone who might walk past. It was just ... embarrassing.

Once the door was closed, Scott turned around and faced Logan again, arms tightly crossed around his chest. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Logan ... One minute I'm trying to explain to you why I need you on the team, and the next you have me flat on my back, trying to push me into something I'm not ready to do." Oh. "Oh," he breathed.

A look of annoyance flashed across Logan's face. "Oh, what?"

"You did it on purpose. You're not ready to commit to something bigger than yourself, and because I'm pushing you, you decided to show me what it was like."

"Oh, please! Spare me from the amateur analysis of the leader of the X-Men. Maybe I kissed you because I missed you. I haven't seen you for two weeks."

Scott cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe. Yes. No. I don't know." He cracked his knuckles, and then his neck. "I'm not good on teams."

"How do you know? You've spent fifteen years alone, and then the two times you joined a team, I'd say you did pretty damn good. Heck, Logan, you speared yourself to save Rogue."

"Right, to save Rogue. Not to because I cared that Magneto was trying to turn everyone into Mutants with that machine-thing."

"You don't know what you would have done."

"Sure I do. I would have left."

"But you didn't, okay? You stuck around, and you stuck around at Alkali Lake, too. You came back for us, to get us out. You choose us, and you can't back out of that now." Forcing himself to uncross his arms again, Scott walked slowly across the room. His heart was pounding, but he had to get Logan to see this. "Look. Maybe it won't work out. Maybe none of this will. But you can't decide beforehand that it won't, just because it's something that you haven't done before. It used to be different. You used to be alone. You're not anymore. And you won't ever be." He stopped in front of Logan, his hands trembling. He clenched them, determined not to let Logan see how nervous he was.

"You're not going to quit, are you?"

Scott swallowed hard. "I'm just asking for a chance."

"Why?"

"Because I have faith in your potential to be a great X-Men, even if you don't." Then he shrugged and quirked an eyebrow. "And, your ass looks really good in a uniform."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

"Come on. You gotta know how great you look."

"Yeah, I know." He rose, stepping into Scott's space. Running his knuckles over Scott's cheek, he said, "I really did miss you, you know."

His breath caught in his throat. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Logan bent down and kissed him gently. "Sorry about that. I do know you're not ready."

Scott swallowed and licked his lips. "You know ... you do realize that you're under no obligation to ... I mean, I don't know when ..." He broke off and sighed. "I don't know what I want from you."

"I don't know what I want from you, either." His thumb traced over Scott's lips. "And, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to stick around for awhile."

"You're sure." God, he hated the uncertainty in his voice.

Logan kissed him again. "Yeah. I'm sure."

Relief made Scott dizzy, so he fell into Logan, arms around his waist. "Good. Then you'll try out the team?"

He sighed. "I went on a Goddamn mission for you, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Scott said, smile tugging his lips. "You did."

"Tell me. Do you ever go on these routine pick-ups? I mean, last time, it was Jean and Storm. This time it was me, Storm, and Bobby. When's your turn?"

"I picked you up, didn't I?"

Logan's arms tightened around him. "Yeah. I guess you did. Didn't think it was very routine, though."

Scott shrugged. "Well, no. But I do go on them. I just didn't on this one because, well, the professor and I aren't sure if I was ready."

"Probably a wise decision." He looked up and glanced around the room. "So. This is your room."

"Uh, yeah."

"It's nice." He kissed Scott's forehead and pulled away. "Want me to help you finish moving in?"

Scott smiled, and watched as Logan went to the box of books, pulling one out like he wasn't sure if he should touch them. "Yeah," he said, going over to him. He took the book, checked the author, and put it on the shelf in the right place. "I'd really like that. Thanks."

Logan smiled and kissed the nape of Scott's neck. "No problem, kid."