"Logan! Come watch me dive!"

"Coming!" Logan called, extinguishing his cigar and walking out of the shadow of the mansion towards the pool party. Xavier was throwing a graduation/summer break party for all the kids. Logan'd figured it'd be safest if he just stayed out of the way. Teenagers and water didn't mix well. Still, Marie had called him, so here he came.

"Ok, darlin', I'm here." he said, as he reached the edge of the olympic-sized swimming pool.

Marie smiled and climbed up the ladder to the low diving board. She executed a perfect swan dive, hardly making a splash as she entered the water. When she came to the surface, Logan called, "That was great, darlin'."

She swam over to him and he helped pull her out of the pool, her body-covering swimsuit protecting him from her deadly skin.

"Jubes taught me that one. Hey, lemme show ya another one."

"Ok."

He watched as she hurried back to the diving board. She turned and smiled at him, but then her expression changed to one of alarm. Time slowed down. He could hear Cyke yelling, "No running around the pool." He could hear the slapping sound of bare feet hitting wet concrete and then a slipping sound. A young man screamed, "Look out!" as a body slid into him, knocking him off balance and into the water in front of him.

Then, all sound was muted by the water pressing in all around him. He fell to the bottom of the pool. Looking up, he saw them through the water, the scientists in their bio-protection suits.

'No!' Logan thought, squeezing his eyes shut. 'I'm in the pool. I'm not there anymore.'

He had to get out of the water. He pushed off and swam, straining with all his might, but he couldn't reach the surface. He didn't have enough buoyancy.

He opened his eyes again to see the man with the square-rimmed eyeglasses, the one they called "Professor," leaning over him with a scalpel. Then pain blossomed throughout his body.

Logan screamed, the bubbles floating past his face up to the surface of the water. Then, when he took a breath to scream again, his lungs filled with liquid and not the metallic-tasting air he'd been expecting.

Marie was so happy she'd finally been able to lure Logan over to the party. He was far too quiet these days, preferring his own company to anyone else's, except for her and Jubes, that is. Ever since his flashback at the party almost eight months ago, he avoided every social event, preferring to remain at the mansion. In fact, the only times he left were to go drinking or go on a mission.

Now that she had him here, she was eager to show off what Jubes had been teaching her. Jubilee had been a gymnast before the whole blow-half-your-house-up, powers-discovery thing. Jubes knew a thing or two about diving, too, and Marie was loving every minute of the lessons.

She had just aced her first dive and was going to show Logan one of her twisting dives, when she heard the commotion. John and Bobby were chasing each other around, Bobby throwing snowballs and John melting them. Mr. Summers was yelling at them, but they didn't pay any attention, and then John crashed into Logan, knocking him into the pool.

Marie's heart filled with dread as she saw Logan fall into the water. Some half-hidden memory told her that Logan and water just didn't mix. She left the diving board and ran around to the side where everyone had gathered. At first, the kids had laughed at the sight of Logan falling in, fully clothed in his jeans and T-shirt. However, when he didn't come back up right away, the laughter died down. When the bubbles came floating to the surface, the mood turned downright grim.

Marie dived in after him. He was struggling in the water, clawing at unseen attackers, then he went limp, his claws jumping back into his arms. Marie grabbed him and tried to swim to the surface, but the metal surrounding his bones was just too heavy. Forcing herself to release him, she broke the surface yelling for Ororo.

"Help him, 'Ro. I can't get him out. He's too heavy."

The water started to move of its own accord as 'Ro's eyes turned milky white. A wave shoved Marie aside as Logan's body rose out of the water and washed onto the pool deck.

Jean immediately went into action. Turning him onto his back. She was just leaning down to give him mouth-to-mouth when Logan started coughing up water in her face.

As he coughed, he rolled over onto his side, curling his legs up to his chest and grasping his head in his hands. Marie climbed out of the water and went to Logan's side. By now, his body was shaking slightly, as his hitched breathing filled the silence that had fallen on the party.

Jean closed her eyes for a moment, and then announced. "Ok, everyone. Logan's fine. Let's go back to the party; give him some breathing room."

Marie didn't leave. She sat by his side, stroking his wet hair and whispering calming noises as he shook.

'*@^&#$! Have to get control of myself,' Logan mentally reprimanded. Once he was out of the water and could smell Jean and Marie there, he knew he was safe. He was still afraid to open his eyes, though. Irrationally, he knew that if he opened his eyes, he see the Professor's square-rimmed glasses looking back at him.

'*@&#@$, stop shaking. Not in front of Marie!' Logan thought as he tried to control his movements. After what seemed like a few hours, but was probably less than a minute, he forced his eyes open. The only face he saw was Marie's, looking down at him in worry.

"Logan?" she asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he rolled onto his knees and forced himself up to a standing position. Slowly and shakily, he walked back to his room.

Jubilee had been in the kitchen when the pool incident happened, but she hurried out to the patio as soon as she heard. Everyone was talking in low whispers and Rogue was sitting by the pool, looking back at the mansion.

"Heard what happened, Rogue? Is he ok?"

"I don't know. He's acting weird, almost like he's scared."

"I'll go talk to him."

"Thanks, Jubes."

Jubilee knocked on the door for the fifth time in a minute. "If you don't let me in, I'm just gonna paff the lock."

The door unlocked with a click, but it didn't open. Jubes opened the door herself to see Logan, in a fresh set of clothes, packing all of his belongings.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Time to move on."

"This have anything to do with your swim?"

He froze.

"It happened again, didn't it?"

"Nothing happened!" Logan yelled, dropping the shirts he'd been folding. "It's just... I've never been in a place for more'n two weeks at a time before. I have to go for a while."

"Yeah, just keep telling yourself that... Running doesn't help, ya know. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to face what they did to you."

"I did. I didn't run last time. I faced it, and it's still happening."

"You didn't face it. You closed in on yourself. You ran without actually going anywhere."

"I ain't no coward."

"I'm not saying you are, but you know you need help."

Logan sat down on the bed, head in his hands. "No one can help me."

"Not true. You know that until you deal with this, you're still their prisoner. You're still back in that laboratory like you never escaped. They still control your life. I know this gal; she's a real good listener. She helped me. You wanna meet her."

Logan nodded sadly and Jubilee grabbed his arm. "C'mon."

"What? Now?"

"No time like the present."

Logan sat in the waiting room next to a still wet-haired Jubilee. She'd only taken a second to throw some clothes on over her swimsuit and they were gone. He still couldn't believe he'd let her talk him into this. Still, if there was any hope for a better life, he was ready to try. *&@#$, if he could just stay asleep for an entire night, he'd be happy.

"Logan?" a brown-haired woman asked from the office door. She was short, only about 5 foot, and a little pudgy, but she had an honest, open face. "I'm Dr. Claire Richards. Jubilee tells me you'd like to talk."

Jubes gave him a nudge and he got up, walking into the office while Jubes stayed in the waiting room, wondering how long the shrink would survive.

On Dr. Richards' invitation, Logan sat in a comfortable chair before the huge, wooden desk. Claire sat by her desk, notepad and pen in hand.

Logan decided to test the good shrink, and pulled out a cigar from his jacket, proceeding to light it. He watched as she stared at his action, but stayed silent. Relaxed a bit by the tobacco effect, he felt more at ease. He had marked his territory, and she didn't argue. Good. That meant she wasn't a hostile.

Claire stared at Logan for a second, then scribbled something on her pad.

"So, Logan.... I can call you Logan, right?" she asked.

"Call me Love, and I'll jump ye right here on yer desk," smirked Logan. He had to impress her.

"So Logan it is. Are you comfortable?"

"What d'you care?" he retorted.

"I am here to help you. You came here for me to help you," she bluntly stated. She was used to all sort of characters in her profession.

"I came here cuz a teenager tricked me into it," he pointed out.

"I see." She noted something again on her pad before she continued. "Could you tell me what made your friend bring you here today?"

"Dunno," he shrugged.

"Don't know, or don't care?" she asked.

"Pick one."

Dr. Richards noted something on her pad once again.

"Tell me about you, Logan," she invited.

Logan leaned over the desk, staring at the good doctor. "Look, miss. I don't need medical attention," he stated.

"Of course, and I'm not exactly a doctor. Still, something happened to make you come here today. I mean, besides your friend *tricking* you to. What happened, Logan? You can confide in me; I'm here to help you," she calmly said, leaning back in her leather chair.

Logan shrugged. "Almost drowned in the pool," he gave as the only explanation.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why? Cuz some brats pushed me in!"

"Why did they push you?"

"Cuz they're dicks."

"Why do you think of them as dicks?"

"Cuz they are!!!" he shouted.

"Why are you so aggressive, Logan?"

"I AM NOT AGGRESSIVE!!!!!!!!!!"

SNIKT!!!!!

Dr. Richards, familiar with mutants having treated some of the students and teachers at Xavier's School, didn't react. She had already experienced many mutant's powers. Once she got almost toasted alive by that young Scott when she asked him about his sexual preferences. Another time, she had flown out the window, experiencing the young Ororo's temper when she asked her if she really believed herself to be a goddess. And having Jean Grey telepatically guessing her thoughts all the time had been the worst. So some nine-inch-long metal claws didn't scare her a bit, even in six-pack.

"Where did you get them?" she asked, pointing at Logan's claws.

"Dunno," he simply answered, sheathing his claws and sitting down again.

"Why don't you know?" she pushed, taking some more notes.

"Cuz... they wiped my memory," he explained.

"I see," she said automatically, still again taking some notes. "Who did that to you?"

"Dunno."

"I see." More notes. "What did you experience when you fell into the pool?" she asked more to the point.

"Flashback."

"Describe them for me, Logan," she invited.

Why would he tell her, dammit? Shrinks, they are just like doctors, aren't they? Only they don't mess with your body, but your mind.

"You really want to know?" he asked, deciding to scare her.

"Of course, Logan. I am here to help you."

So he told her all about the champagne, the military brass standing around cheering while he was tortured with this freaking medical procedure. He told her in grotesque detail about the huge needles, the laughing doctors, and the water tank.

She took more notes now that he had really, finally, gotten to the point.

Jumping from his seat, he grabbed the notepad and shoved it in his jeans' pocket. "You take one more note, and I'll shishkebob you," he warned.

"Why would you do that, Logan?" she asked, not impressed at all. Being thrown out the window by Ororo had been way more scary.

"Ask *why* one more time, I'll slice n' dice ye," he snarled.

Dr. Richards leaned back on her chair. Time for therapy. This guy was so nuts, letting him walk around was a danger to every living being. 'I wonder where Xavier recruits his staff. Should have their license removed and fast,' she thought.

"Logan. Here is what I suggest. You have to desensitize yourself to what causes these flashbacks. To do so, you must expose yourself to all the things that trigger them. For instance, you will first work on champagne," she prescribed.

"What?"

"I suggest you have as many people as possible drink champagne around you, within secure surroundings, of course. While they are drinking, you will tell yourself that this is real and not the past."

"So I have to get people to drink champagne and stay cool, right?"

"Exactly. You will ask a person to stay with you, reminding you of the reality. As long as necessary, the others will drink champagne and then you will feel more in control."

That was for the first task for Logan. Get *desensitized* to champagne.