"I'll stay," Jubes replied.

"Jubilee, it's perfectly fine for you to leave. I'll..." Jean started to say.

"No, it's ok. I'll stay."

"Ok, I'm just going to go check on Logan. I'll be right back," she said, unlocking the door, stepping into the main room, and relocking it behind her.

"Thanks, Jubes," Rogue said. "You gave him a lot to think about."

"It's about time he started thinking."

"Look, kid, I don't need you..." Rogue paused. "Sorry, getting sleepy. Will you talk to Remy for me tomorrow?"

"What do you want me to tell him?"

"Tell him... tell that little prick to keep his hands... You know what to tell him, Jubes." Then Rogue drifted off to sleep.

Jubilee stayed through the rest of the morning, sleeping fitfully on the uncomfortable chair for a few hours.

The next day, Jean re-sedated Rogue so that all of the medical tests on her new mutation could be performed. Rogue allowed Jubilee to leave for an hour to go get something to eat as she fell back to sleep. In the kitchen, Jubilee ran into the Cajun.

"Chere, how be Rogue?"

"She's doing... ok."

"Don' lie to Remy, chere."

"Ok, she's doing lousy. She absorbed a lot of Logan, and he's messing with her head. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Remy goin' ta see her."

"No, Remy. She can't... she doesn't want to say anything she can't take back. She wants you to stay away for a while, but she wants you to know that she loves you."

"If chere be in trouble, Remy be dere."

"No, it would hurt her more to see you right now. Trust me on this one, ok?"

Jubilee decided to return to the Med Lab to see how Rogue was doing. Hopefully, by this time, she would have lost a little bit of Logan in her head.

She made her way into the main room where Jean was studying some charts and readings. The doctor was obviously very tired, but the main expression on her face was definitely worry.

"Hey, is something wrong?" asked Jubilee as she entered the room. "I mean, like, wronger than usual?"

"I'm not sure, Jubilee." The bipping sound of one of the machines hooked to Logan started to accelerate in rhythm. "Hold on." Jean rushed to the monitor and examined the readings.

"Does that mean he's coming around?" asked Jubilee.

No answer.

"Hey, doesn't that mean..." Jubes tried again.

"Dammit!" Jean pushed a few buttons, then rushed to the drawers to pick up a syringe, which she filled with medication.

Jubilee stared in silence at Dr. Summers as she forcibly injected the dose directly into Logan's heart. That must have been effective, since the bipping returned to a normal rhythm after a few seconds.

Jean stared at Logan, angry. She addressed him directly, although she knew he couldn't hear her. "Dammit, Logan. You try that again, and I swear..."

"Hey, he's ok now, right?" cut in Jubes.

Only then did Jean seem to notice Jubilee's presence. Sighing, she sat heavily on a chair by Logan's bed. "Twice. He's done that twice in an hour," she explained.

"He'll get better. I'm sure..."

"No, Jubilee. You don't understand," interrupted Jean. "He was getting better last night, but now... now he's giving up. It's so obvious on the charts. All the vital signs just drop off one by one... As if.... I don't know. As if he's fighting his own recovery. Something must have happened..."

"It's not as if he could..." started Jubilee, thinking aloud.

"Could what, Jubilee?"

"Well, I was just thinking... but that's probably impossible..."

"Jubilee," sighed Jean.

"Switch to private channel here?" asked Jubilee, motioning a finger to her temple.

~ Now what, Jubilee? What's your point? ~ telepatically asked Jean.

~ I was thinking, that if last night he heard the bit about Rogue loving another guy... ~

~ He already knew it, I guess ~

~ Yeah, but does he accept it? ~

~ Any suggestion? Because, you know, I doubt I will be able to keep him alive much longer, ~ mentally sighed Jean, her exhaustion apparently even in her mental voice.

~ And Rogue will be stuck with him in her head. Great. I could try to talk to him.~ That wasn't a question, but a statement.

Tired of discussions, even telepathically, Jean unconsciously stroked on the young woman's mind to get the whole picture. What she saw in Jubilee's mind was probably a good a plan as any.

Jean slowly stood and nodded to Jubilee. "I'll be right in the other room. Call me if anything changes, especially the bips on this monitor." She didn't wait for an answer but added telepathically ~ I'll keep that *private channel* open for safety* ~

Jubilee nodded and watched Jean exit the room. Then, she sat on the same chair the doctor had occupied.

Jubilee took Logan's hand in hers. She started talking and talking, as only the Jubes could.

"... and there was blood everywhere... And then, I had to go to that creepy cemetary... I hated that... Everyone was tellin' me to tell them goodbye... and all that crap... All I wanted was..."

Jubilee tried her best to refrain from crying, but talking about the deaths of her parents had never been easy.

"All I wanted..." she choked on the words. "To... have them back... even for.. for a second..." She paused.

She didn't believe it then, when people had told her that it would take a long time to get over it. Years after she had lost them so dramatically, she knew it was true. It took time, and she wasn't over it yet.

"But they... they didn't come back.... of course... what's done is done, right?" She paused again, wiping her eyes with the bed sheets.

"Anyway," she continued, always holding Logan's hand. "I made it. See, I'm alive and kicking. More kicking sometimes, but hey. You'd think the bastards who did it to my parents would get to me, too? No sireeeeeeeeee. I am Jubilee!"

Despite all her bravado, she couldn't stop from crying openly. She let her head drop on the side of the bed, and sobbed for a while.

"I still miss them. I'll always will..." she continued after her sobbing had subsided. "There's no going back in time, y'know... I have to live without them... even if it still hurts like s***... But they taught me how to love... and be loved. I know you don't buy that loving crap. Maybe cuz you never let anyone love you."

"Y'know, sometimes I envy you. Hey, no memories! I mean... of lost loved ones. As for the bad memories, we've probably both got more than our share, no problemo. The past can be such a bugger! I know what being trapped in it is like. I often dream of them, y'know."

She gently rubbed the back of his hand. "It's hard to feel lonely. Sometimes, I think of myself as a night butterfly. Do you know how they act?"

Of course, Logan didn't answer.

"They fly to the light at night, any light they can spot. They fly to it, thinking it's the sun or something... and in the end, they burn themselves to death. Stupid, huh? But you know what I mean?"

No answer, of course.

"Sometimes, I wanna take a smile someone's given me and pretend it's love, 'cuz I need it. But I know that ain't love, just me feeling all alone and sorry for myself. 'Cuz I might feel like a night butterfly, but I'm not one. I'm Jubilee."

She gently stroked Logan's hand. "And you, you are Logan. You can learn to fly away from the light in the night. You can learn to fly in the sunlight."

She smiled. "I could teach you. Hey, we could learn together. I won't tell anyone."

She giggled. "I promise I won't talk all the time!"

She took a more serious tone. "No kidding, Logan. Rogue loves you and all, but not the way you want. She's happy, you know. You gave her the best chance in her life, and she thinks of you like she would a best pal. I know you don't want to hurt her, and deep down, you don't wanna die."

"You just want to learn to fly," she whispered. "C'mon, I'll teach you. Gratos."

At that point, the monitor started bipping faster. Jubilee stood with a start, Logan's hand still in hers. The door to the other room swished open and Jean Summers rushed to Logan's side.

"I'm sorry... I tried..." babbled Jubilee.

Jean didn't look at nor answer her, completely focused on Logan.

"I think he's decided this time, huh?" asked Jubilee, more sorry than worried.

"He's coming around," announced Jean.

"I tried all I could..." continued Jubes, tears in her eyes.

"Jubilee, he's coming back," insisted Jean, to no avail.

Jubilee didn't seem to register Jean's words. She felt so bad that the guy was dying without trying harder. If he could have just learned....

The cold hand in her own stiffened, oh so faintly. She looked at Jean, a question in her eyes, then down at Logan.