"It's ok, sugah, I'm here," she said, stroking his arm. His speech was so garbled that she could barely recognize her name. Jean had predicted this, but Marie was far from prepared for facing the reality. She turned and rubbed at her eyes, not wanting him to see her cry.

Jean came rushing into the med lab hurrying up to stand next to Marie. Seeing his open eyes, she said, "Logan?"

"Whuuuh... haapnnnd?" he asked.

"Logan, you were injured on a mission," Jean said in a calm voice. "Do you remember?"

Logan took a moment to think and then shook his head no, wincing at the pain of the movement.

"Logan, you've been badly injured. Try not to move," Jean said, turning to adjust the controls on the IV stand. "There. I've adjusted your morphine drip. That should help take the edge off the pain."

"Wwwhhyyyy, ccaaa... caann..."

Marie watched Jean close her eyes, obviously using her telepathy to catch his meaning. "You can't speak very well because you've had a complication, Logan. During the surgery, you suffered a brain infarction, setting off an ischemic cascade. We were able to stop further damage from occurring by administering neuroprotective agents, but..."

Seeing his confusion and growing annoyance, Marie cut her off. "Logan, sugah, you had a... a... well, you had a stroke, but you're gonna get better. We'll work really hard and do everything we can. You will get better."

Marie saw the shock and disbelief in his face, an echo of her own expression the day before.

"Logan," Jean said, "as your doctor, I think you should know that there is a possibility you might not recover completely..."

"Don't tell him that!" Marie interrupted. "Logan, we're gonna get through this. It'll be ok. You'll see. You'll be back on your feet in no time."

"Rogue, I don't think you should be sugar-coating this. There are serious..."

"GGEEEEOOOU," Logan said in exasperation.

Both women turned to him, their argument forgotten for the moment.

"What did you say, sugah?" Marie asked, leaning closer.

Logan closed his eyes to concentrate and then slowly said, "Geeeeeet... ouuuut."

"You want us to leave?" Marie asked, incredulous.

"Logan," Jean began again, "we need to discuss your condition. It is imperative that we explore treatment options..."

As Jean prattled on, Marie looked into her husband's eyes. They were pleading to her to follow his wishes, and she suddenly understood. He needed some time alone to absorb what was going on. While he was unconscious she'd been able to mull over the implications, but the diagnosis was new to him.

"I'll be back in two hours," Marie said, leaning down to lightly kiss her husband's bandaged cheek. "Jean, let's go," Marie said, grabbing the other woman and pulling her out of the room.

"Rogue, I can't leave. Who will take care..."

"Hank can watch over him for another hour or two," Marie replied, turning to face the other woman in the hallway as the door to the Med Lab closed. "Having us arguing over him wasn't doing Logan any good. He needs time to think about what's going on."

"That's just the point, Rogue. We need to do tests to see how the stroke has affected his comprehension and memory."

"We were upsetting him, Jean. The tests can wait an hour."

"We were upsetting him because we were arguing. If we discuss treatment options and mutually decide on a strategy, we will be able to proceed much more efficiently."

"He wasn't ready, Jean."

"No one is ever ready when the news is this bad, Rogue. You just have to face it."

The door at the end of the hallway swished open and the two women turned to see the Professor exiting Cerebro.

"Ah, Rogue, Jean, how is Logan this morning?"

"He's awake," Marie said, trying to focus on the positive.

"He's already showing neural deficits," Jean added, in a quiet voice.

"I see... When is the last time either of you has eaten?"

Marie couldn't remember. She'd been offered food a couple of times during the surgery, but she'd had no interest in eating. She'd either been with Anna or Logan for the rest of the day yesterday.

Could it have been that long? That couldn't be good for the baby.

When the Professor asked, "Would you care to join me for breakfast?", she nodded and followed Jean and him to the elevator.

Minutes later, they were all seated at the small preparation table in the kitchen.

The professor looked up from his oatmeal to say, "Rogue, I want you to know that any treatment Logan needs, he will get. Whatever course of action you two decide to pursue, I will support you wholeheartedly."

"Thank you, Professor. I just... I don't want to make the decision without Logan."

"How is Anna taking this?"

"I don't think she understands how bad things are. I tell her that Logan's injured, and she thinks he'll heal in a couple of hours."

"That's the way it's always been in the past. Perhaps if she went to visit Logan?"

"No. He just woke up, and with all the bandages. I don't think he'd want her to see him that way. Maybe in a when the stitches come out."

"Rogue," Jean said in a calm voice. She didn't want to upset her any more, but she felt she could help. "I've had some experience with this sort of thing in my residency. It's always easiest if the kids come sooner rather than later. Right now, he looks bad, but without the bandages, he'll look much worse. There will be a lot of scarring."

Marie started to sob, pulling her napkin up to her face to catch the tears. She hadn't considered that. Everything was moving so quickly. Logan was injured horrendously, then he had brain damage, now he'd be scarred for life?!?

"I'm just..." Jean continued, trying to comfort the other woman. "I'm just saying it might be easier if Anna knows about this sooner. Logan can't hide from her forever."

"Jean, do you think... the scarring... will it..." Marie hiccuped through her sobbing.

"When his healing factor comes back, it will take time, but the scarring will most likely disappear completely."

That statement caused Marie to cry even harder, this time in relief.

"I just..." Marie said when she regained control of herself. "I just can't take any more of this. Do you have any good news for me, Jean?"

"Yes," Jean said, surprising Marie with the quickness of her response. "His speech is better than I'd expected."

"What? I could barely make it out."

"Yes, but at least he was trying to form the correct words. Sometimes with aphasia, the patient will say completely understandable words, but will mix up their meanings, leading to incomprehensible speaking." Seeing Marie's confused expression she added, "Like if I were to say to you, 'Bicycle wings bread run get.' instead of saying 'Please pass me the milk.'"

"You mean it could've been that bad?"

"Yes. I won't know until we do further testing, but in Logan's case it seems that he just has problems moving the speech-related muscles to talk properly. That can be aided with physical therapy. Also, and most importantly, he seems to comprehend what we are saying to him. He can understand speech."

After breakfast, Marie took a walk outside around the lake. Dawn was just breaking when she reached the place that she and Anna had picnicked the other day. If only Logan had stayed with them instead of going out on that mission, he'd be fine now. She sat on the dew-damp grass for a few minutes, wishing that the day had gone the way they'd planned it.

She remembered Scott's description of the battle and figured that if Logan hadn't been there, Scott, Jean, St. John, and Jubilee would have died, maybe even the whole team. She didn't know what she felt about that. Deciding she didn't like thinking about it anymore, she got up and headed back to the mansion and their room.

Upon entering, she found Kitty burping little Bobby, Jr. in the rocking chair. Peeking into Anna's room, she saw her daughter was still blissfully asleep.

"Thanks for doing this, Kit. I know you've got your hands full with B.J. there, but your door was on the way, and I was so frantic."

"No prob, girl. We're all worried about Logan. How's he doing?"

"He's awake, but... it's just..." she sighed, "It's going to take a while.... Dammit, Kit, I feel so helpless."

Kitty rose, cradling B.J. in her left arm so she could hug Rogue with the right. Rogue clung to her friend, crying out all the rage and helplessness that had built up over the past couple of days, holding back nothing. She realized she was babbling between hitching breaths, but she didn't have the strength to stop herself anymore, just letting it all come out. Kitty for her part, patted her friend's back and made comforting noises, like you would to a crying baby.

Marie didn't know how much time had passed by the time the tears dried up and she was able to breathe normally again.

"I'm sorry to dump all of this on you, Kitty."

"It's ok, Rogue. Listen, I'll watch Anna. Why don't you go down and talk to Logan now that he's had some time to himself?"

Marie nodded and, after washing her tear-streaked face in the bathroom, headed back for the Med Lab. She was so preoccupied, she didn't notice the sound of a door opening and closing or the quick, light footsteps behind her.

"Nnnnnnnooooo."

"Logan, I know you don't want her to see you like this, but it's going to take time to heal. She's already asking for you. I can't keep her away forever."

"Duuunnnwaaaanneeerrseeeeelllliiiiiiiiisss."

"I didn't catch that, sugah."

"Nnnnno!"

Marie heard the Med Lab doors whoosh open and assumed that Jean had returned. She steeled herself to hear the more of the woman's therapy arguments. Couldn't she understand that she and Logan needed time to discuss it and decide together? Instead of Jean's voice, though, she heard a small, uncertain voice say, "Mommy?"

Rogue spun around to see her daughter, still in her Winnie-the-Pooh pajamas, standing at the entrance. When she'd turned, she'd moved her body back and it no longer blocked Logan's face.

She saw the shock register on her daughter's face as she gasped and whispered, "Daddy?"