Logan was a little surprised to find Melissa already there. He noticed right away that she appeared to be thinking about disappearing. He was not going to let her get away this time. If she needed to return to Lucy, then he was going to go with her. The past five weeks had been hell for him. Not knowing what she was doing or what was being done to her. If the creep who had Lucy had hurt either one of them in any way... again, Logan was surprised at the depth of the rage that filled him whenever he thought about Melissa being hurt. He didn't want to examine his feelings too deeply, he was afraid that he cared too much. Caring for a woman like Melissa could be his downfall.

As he brought the powerful motorcycle to a stop in front of her, Melissa sighed brokenly and looked up at his angry face.

"Logan, please understand. I couldn't contact you right away. Lucy..."

"Save it, Doll face." Logan talked over her. "I'm just glad you finally did call. Are you okay? You look very tired."

Trying not to laugh, because it hurt too much, Melissa replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Lucy's not, though." As soon as Melissa had regained consciousness she'd been told, by a very smug Jerintex, that Lucy was in a coma. When Melissa passed out from the blows she'd received, Jerintex turned to Lucy to rid himself of his anger at having to wait for Logan's suspicious nature to be fooled by Melissa's, very obvious, sensual charms. He was counting on Logan being just like every other red-blooded male on the planet, wanting a woman that called to the very maleness of his nature. How Melissa hoped she could be the one to kill Jerintex, when the time came. "We need to move this along very quickly. Jerintex has told me that I now have one month, instead of two, to get him his money."

"I take it, that that's going to be extremely difficult?"

"Yeah, the three thousand dollars were in Civil War bonds. Confederate War bonds. They weren't worth the paper they were printed on back in 1862. They are definitely not worth anything now. Have you talked to your business associates about this?"

"No. Thought they might have some questions that I couldn't answer. I would have gone ahead and then made them wait for you, but since I didn't know when I'd see ya again..." Logan gave a little one shouldered shrug.

"Again, I'm sorry. Jerintex beat Lucy so badly; she was in a coma until yesterday. She'll be all right, I think. Logan, this has got to end now!" Melissa exclaimed with tears in her eyes and a stomp of her foot.

Logan looked at the face of the woman before him, and wished he could just take her away from all the bad things in life. He wanted to slay dragons for her, which was something that none of his other women had ever been able to make him want to do. He was falling in love with this five foot nothing of a woman so fast that his head was spinning. "Okay, Angel eyes. Let's go meet the team."

As Logan drove out of the city, he began to wish that he had at least told Jean about her. Jean could be a very good ally against Scott, sometimes. He just hoped that everyone understood about Melissa. He would allow no one to hurt her. That included the X-men. If they so much as looked at her cross-eyed... he didn't know what he'd do. The one that he really had to worry about hurting Melissa, though, was Jubilee. He had a feeling that she had a crush on him.

When they arrived at the manor, the house was dark.

"Have they all gone to bed?"

"Nope. Probably out back at the pool. They like to be outside as much as possible."

After parking the Harley in the garage, Logan led Melissa out to the pool. As they rounded the corner, a blue streak flew passed them, almost knocking her off her feet.

"Hey! Watch it, Elf! Next time look before you turn a corner that fast."

"Sorry, Logan. Didn't see you. Hello, I'm Kurt Warner. And you are?"

"Melissa Adams. I don't think I've ever seen a mutant like you before."

"Yeah, pretty unusual. Uh-oh. Gotta go." And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, just before a girl wearing the smallest bikini Melissa had ever seen, came tearing around the corner.

"Wolvie! When'd you get back?" She asked as she threw herself at Logan. He seriously thought about not catching her, then decided that he couldn't let her hurt herself. "What no kiss?" That got her dropped to the grass at his feet.

"Jubes, I'd like you to meet Melissa Adams. She's an old friend. Be nice."

As Jubilee got to her feet, she eyed the other woman. 'Hmm, she couldn't possibly please him for long. Too small, too skinny.' She thought.

"I don't think I'm skinny." Despite the pain, Melissa had to laugh at the look of utter outrage on the younger woman's face. "Did I not mention that I'm a telepath?"

"Okay, Melissa. Enough. Let's meet the rest of the team." Logan had a twinkle in his eye that only someone who knew him well would have recognized as humor. Still chuckling softly, Melissa allowed Logan to lead her around the still sputtering teenager and around the corner where sounds of merriment could be heard. As soon as they were visible to the people frolicking in and around the pool, silence dropped like a bomb.

"Everyone, this is my friend Melissa Adams. She needs our help. Scott, can we have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning? Melissa needs to sleep."

"Uh, sure. Logan, after you get her settled, come see me." As a request it sure had a lot of bite. Melissa was sure that Logan would take offense at the tone of the younger man, but all he did was nod his head.

It was a little after two in the morning when Logan heard a sound that he could have lived the rest of his life without ever hearing again, Melissa's scream. She was having another nightmare. He wondered if it was the same as the ones she used to have twelve years ago, or a new horror brought on by the kidnapping and beating of her sister.

As Logan ran to the room he had given to Melissa, he noticed that everyone else had also been awakened by her screams. Jean and Scott were already in her room, as their room was right next to hers.

"Logan? What's going on?" Jean asked as soon as she saw him.

"Nightmares. Used to have one or two every night. Was kinda hopin' she'd out grow 'em. Guess not, huh?"

As Logan approached the bed, Melissa sprang out of it and ran to hide in a corner. She was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering. "Wolverine, help! He's killing her! Make him stop! Make him stop!" Melissa sobbed over and over the same heart breaking words. He didn't know how to help her out of the grip of this nightmare. Every time he reached for her, she flinched away from him. Finally, she slumped to the floor in exhaustion. He hesitated only a moment before carrying her out of the room and into his. He knew from experience that she would sleep better with the warmth of his body next to hers.

He'd been right. The next morning Melissa awoke feeling a little better than she had in five months. In fact the last time she could remember waking up feeling almost normal, was the day Lucy had called and delivered Jerintex's warning. She shivered as she remembered the hopeless rage she'd felt as the words she had hoped to never hear were spoken by her hysterical sister.

"Are you cold?" Asked a sleep roughened voice that made the pillow under her head bounce. She lifted her head to discover that what she'd thought was a very hard pillow, had in fact been Logan's stomach. She had one hand tucked under his hips and the other clenched in a fist on his upper thigh. When she realized all this, she sat up so fast all the blood ran from her head, making her dizzy. He sat up and caught her shoulders as she started to sway. "Hey, you okay? Angel eyes?"

"Oh, would you stop calling me that stupid name? You know how I hate it!" She managed to slip from his grip and the bed.

"Do you remember anything about last night?"

"Yeah, you put me in a different room. What happened? You decide to move me in here while I slept, thinking that I wouldn't bitch about it?"

"No, you had a nightmare. You called me Wolverine, something you only did when you were really scared. I need to know about the last twelve years, Melissa. Everything. I couldn't even touch you, you were so frightened." As he spoke Logan got out of the bed and began getting dressed. Even though Melissa had seen more of him before, than he showed while putting on his clothes, she still turned her back.

"You know I never remember my nightmares upon waking."

"Bullshit, Melissa! You think I can't tell your lying? Dammit! I wanna help, but not if you lie to me. You know how I feel about liars. The truth, Melissa. Now!" Logan had never yelled at her like that before. The arguments they'd had those last six months had been nothing compared to the rage building inside of him now. Melissa wished for the umpteenth time that she could tell him the truth, but if she did... he would hate her. There was no way she could live knowing that he hated her. So she smiled and gave him the lie that she had made herself believe as the truth.

"Do you have any idea why this Jerintex says that Lucy stole these bonds?" Scott was the first to ask questions after Melissa finished repeating the story she had told Logan just minutes before.

"Because one of his men says he saw her take them from the safe. He believes everything they tell him. These bonds were the only ones to survive the Civil War. There is no way to replace them. I offered to buy him an equal number of U.S. bonds, but he says that his great grandfather gave them to him. Kinda makes them irreplaceable. Can you help?"

"Sure. But first, I want Hank to examine your abilities. I like to know who and what I have fighting beside me."

"No need for that, Summers. She ain't fightin' with us. She'll stay here with the professor."

"You're crazy if you think that you can get into Jerintex's hideout without me. I'll comply with whatever you need, Scott."

"Melissa..."

"Back off, Wolverine. Did you forget that I can be just as stubborn as you? You need me to get you in. Besides, I'm not going to let you go in there blind. I know Jerintex. I can get you around all his security. And I want to make sure that Lucy's protected." Melissa and Logan were standing nose to nose yelling at each other. "Either you do this my way or I walk out again. So what's it to be, Wolvie? Include me or never see me again?"

Logan knew he had no choice. Melissa mad was a force to be reckoned with. He hadn't see her this angry since that last day twelve years ago. The thought of that day still had the power to make him shiver. "Fine! But you stick to me like glue. If I can't see you, I can't protect you. Do you understand?" Melissa did, but the others were a little confused. Logan was showing feelings for this woman. None of them thought he ever cared about someone the way he obviously cared for Melissa. As they made up, his face softened. It didn't actually lose any of its hardness, but Melissa obviously softened the rough edges of Logan's personality.