"Logan!" Warren yelled through the quiet lab.

Logan jumped up, unsheathing his claws when the blankets threatened there attack. Feeling foolish he took it out on the younger man yelling like a banshee. "Damn it Wings! Don't yell like that, you would thing the lab was full of God damn sentinels or somethin'!"

"Sorry Logan, but he was waking up and I couldn't reach you from here to shake you." Warren pulled on his arm and showed Logan Remy's hand, which was firmly holding on to his. "He hasn't let go for about twenty minutes now. He's still pretty damn strong for someone that's this sick.

Logan jumped of the medical bed and rushed over to Remy's side, next to Warren. He smiled brightly when Remy's eyes fluttered open. "Hey Gumbo, welcome home." The smile faded seeing the Cajun's forehead furrow.

"His throat probably hurts. Give him some water." Warren suggested while pointing at the glass on the nightstand.

Logan lifted off the oxygen mask and helped Remy drink from the straw. "Better?"

"Are.." Remy swallowed painfully and tried again. "Are we home?"

"Yea kid, were home. Your in Hank's lab." Logan looked at Warren and mouthed "Get Hank". He could smell the pain coming off Remy, there was something wrong.

"Why haven't you taken them off?" Remy whispered through short breaths.

"The wings? Remy we have taken them off." Logan became worried. Something was defiantly wrong.

"Then why does if hurt so bad?" Remy managed to get out through sobs before a sharp pain ripped through his back, causing him to scream in pain.

"Shit!" Logan tried to calm the young patient down while pressing the panic button on the edge of the bed. "Where the hell are you!" he muttered angrily while pushing the button again. "Hold on kid, Hank's comin'. We didn't know you would be in this much pain. Hold on." He saw Hank and Warren rush around the corner and ordered Hank to get something for the pain.

"Oh God! What's wrong!" Warren cried while coming back to the bed.

"He's in pain, whatever Blue's feedin' him isn't workin'."

Warren took Remy's hand and cringed when nails dug into his skin. He rubbed the knuckles with his thumb trying to relax the hand a bit. He was pushed out of the way slightly when the doctor arrived with a syringe. Feeling his retreat Remy's hand grabbed on harder, a silent plea for him to stay, Warren did.

"I am truly sorry Remy, I did not anticipate you being in such agony. I was not sure how much morphine to administer or a substitute."

"Morphine doesn't work." Remy whispered weakly before another cry ripped from his throat.

Wolverine turned to Hank and repeated the weak response. "He says morphine doesn't work!"

Hank's eye went wide. "My stars and garters! Remy, do you know something that works? I have never given you pain medication before. I was not aware morphine does not have an effect on your system, I am very sorry."

Logan leaned in when Remy whispered something. He shook his head not understanding and told Hank hoping he did. "He said Meperidine?"

Hank shook his head in return. "Are you sure Remy? A lot of mutants have allergic reactions to that."

"God Damn it Hank! Just give it to him! He didn't just come up with it off the top of his head, he obviously knows it works. Just give him some!" Logan demanded.

Warren cringed when the room filled with another cry. It was like being in the lab all over again. "Please Hank." Warren pleaded. He couldn't stand to watch this again.

"He will not survive an allergic reaction, I cannot administer something that could kill him!" Hank argued.

"He won't survive this! He is in pain! You have to try something, you can't leave him like this!"

"Are you allergic to it?" Hank asked Logan absentmindedly, trying to make himself more comfortable with giving the drugs to his patient.

Logan gritted his teeth. "No Hank, I'm not allergic to anything!"

Hank sighed and rushed to his lab when another cry filled the room. Logan was right he couldn't let Remy suffer like this. It could cause him to fall into shock again. He returned with another syringe and hoped he was doing the right thing when he plunged the needle into the IV. "This should not take long, it will sedate him as well, in theory. We must watch him closely, this is very potent and I have never witnessed it's effects on Remy. It is also highly addictive, so I want to find an alternative as soon as possible."

Remy calmed as his body slowly numbed. He followed his arm with his eyes and found a hand wound tightly in his. Continuing the trail up he was surprised to find it was Warren. He looked into his blue eyes with confusion and wonder. The gaze was returned with compassion and sympathy. Something he never expected from his winged teammate. Before he could manage to ask Warren his reason for being at his side the drug latched hold and pulled him into sleep.

Logan fell back into the chair with a heavy sigh after seeing Remy's eyes close into peaceful slumber once again. He hissed as he watched Warren pull Remy's hand away from his. There was deep marks where nails had dug deep into his skin. "Might want to have Hank look at that."

Hank's attention was quickly turned from the medical equipment by Logan's voice. He looked at Warren's hand and shook his head. "I am sure he did not mean to hurt you. I will go fetch some gauze and disinfectant. Try not to drip on the floor."

Warren took the seat next to Logan holding his hand over his lap. He looked at the older man with curiosity. "Why did he ask you if you were allergic?"

Logan inwardly cursed, he was hoping Warren missed that. He was going to kill Hank. "I don't know." he lied sharply.

Warren was about to question him when Hank reappeared with supplies and began cleaning his wounds. "I asked Logan if he was allergic because of the cross of your genes with Remy. If Logan or you were allergic to Meperidine in theory Remy could have an allergic reaction. I know that you are not, since I have used it on you before. Logan I had not." He gave Logan an apologetic gesture.

Warren nodded to the explanation, unaware of the lie it held. "Makes since. So is he going to be alright? This didn't hurt him more did it?"

"It seems he is taking fine to the medication, but there is still a chance of long term side effects. I want to be contacted as soon as he wakes. I am still not sure how large of a dose to give him. He will not wake in the pain he did before, but he may show signs of discomfort." Hank smiled while placing the last piece of tape on Warren's hand. "There you go my friend. I suggest you keep clear of those claws next time. They are obviously very dangerous."

Warren smiled and lifted his right hand. "Still have one hand left, I'll call you if I need it bandaged."

"You do that." Hank chuckled. "Well, I will be in the back office. This little episode has giving me a whole new batch of tests to run. He will be out for the rest of the day, if not part of tomorrow as well. I suggest you both take the time for some R&R."

"He's right kid, why don't ya run up and catch a shower and some food. When you get back I will do the same."

Warren looked up to Remy, scared to leave. "Are you sure?"

"I'm not going anywhere. If something happens I'll call ya. It ain't doin' any good watchin' him sleep anyway. Go on."

Warren reluctantly nodded and stepped out of the medlab. He didn't want to leave, but Logan was right. He could do with a shower and something to eat. Nothing would happen, he hoped.

----------

Logan waited in his chair for several minutes after the door to close behind the young man. After being sure Warren wouldn't return, he made his way to the small office where the doctor had quickly fled. He wanted to yell at Hank for the slip, but he had saved him, so he couldn't do that. He took a deep breath and pushed away the anger, biting his tongue when he reached the door of the office. "Thanks for the save, Blue."

Hank turned to see Logan leaning in his doorway. Glancing out the window he could see Warren had left. "No, if it were not for me you would have not needed to be saved in the first place. I am sorry for letting such a thing slip, but you understand, I did have to know."

"Yea, I understand. No harm done. Thought for a second there that Wings had caught on. He's the last person I want to know. He would spill it to the kid in no time."

Hank turned in his chair to give Logan his full attention. This was something he had been very curious about. "That is something I wanted to speak to you about. Why is Warren here?"

Logan shrugged innocently, as if he had no reason to believe it was odd for Warren to be by Remy's side. "He's just watchin' Remy, no big deal."

"Did you not just see what I did?" Hank looked over the rim of his glasses. "I just had to bandage Warren's hand because he was holding Remy's! Before you went on this mission we couldn't leave them alone in the same room in fear Warren would kill him. Now he refuses to leave his side. I find that very odd."

"It's alright, Wings is just having his way of thinking adjusted. I never wanted something like this to happen to Remy, but it opened Worthington's eyes. He realized that Remy was human just like the rest of us. That all the shit he had said and put him through actually hurt Gumbo a lot more then he thought. He feels guilty now, like he should." Logan grinned widely. "Of course I made sure to shove Remy on him to make his mind work a little faster."

"Do you think it is wise to push them together like this? Of all people I thought you would want them very far apart."

"Why not. I think it might be good for both of them. They have a lot in common when Wings gets his head out of the clouds and Gumbo stops hiding away everything. I know ya think I'm crazy, but give them a chance."

Hank smiled. "Like I was going to say before..."

"Stop it!" Logan barked, cutting Hank off. "One of these days you're gonna slip and say one of your little quotes in front of the wrong person."

"If you would just tell him we would not have to tip-toe around the problem now would we?" Hank was quite tired of playing this game with Logan and his secrets when he believed the solution was easy.

"No Hank! I know you're just dyin' to tell someone, but it's bad enough Jean knows. No one else!"

"The only person I want to tell is Remy, he deserves to know! This isn't fair to him and you know it. The longer you put this off the more it is going to hurt him when you do tell him."

Logan growled when he heard the front lab door open. "This is the end of this conversation! Warren's back and he is the last person I want knowin'. You promised me, so keep it to yourself!" Logan stormed off, not giving Hank the chance to argue further.

------------------

Warren pushed his still damp hair back and walked quickly to the bed. He stood close to the edge and wrapped his good hand around Remy's, again calmed when the hand reacted to the touch. Not finding either Logan or Hank on watch angered him slightly until he saw Logan walking from the office. The man looked pissed so he decided not to question his absence. "Everything okay?"

"Yea, peachy. Thought you would be gone longer then 20 minutes. That's record time for you."

"I took a quick shower. I didn't eat. Jean was already in the middle of fixing us both something, so I decided to come back down and just wait for it here."

"Good, gives us some time to talk."

"Talk?" Warren asked worriedly. He quickly went over in his head of everything he had done that day, trying to figure out what he had done to piss Logan off. Nothing came to mind. "What is this about?"

"It's about this overprotective thing you got goin' on." Logan pointed at their paired hands to make his point.

"Overprotective? I'm just concerned! You're the one that left him here alone just a minute ago!"

"Hey, I don't want to argue about this. I think it's great you're watchin' him. I just want you to understand that you can't get yourself wrapped up too deep and then want to rabbit the second somethin' you don't like surfaces. Just don't turn on him when one of the old issues comes up. What you hated him for before hasn't gone away, it's still there, along with a bunch of other things you still don't know. If you can't handle it like an adult then I want you to leave now."

Warren's eyes widened. How could Logan even think about making him leave! He grasped Remy's hand like it would save Logan from pulling him from the room if he tried. "You can't make me go! I understand I was wrong about the massacre and everything else I ever argued with him about. I was and idiot. I don't know what you want from me as proof, but I don't want to hurt him. I just need to be here. Please, I promise Logan."

Logan looked Warren in the eyes, weighing his honesty. He smiled when the man refused to break his stare. "You don't have to promise me kid, because if you hurt him again I'm going to hurt you back. Remy ain't stoppin' me anymore. I'm giving you once chance because I think you are being honest about wanting to be his friend. Don't prove me wrong! If you do you will never set eyes on him again, understand?"

Warren nodded.

"Good! I'm going upstairs and grabbing a smoke and a shower. I'll tell Jean to bring your food down. I have my com badge on me, so page me if something happens, but don't tell Scott I have it. He'll probably have a heartattack or somethin' and I'm not comin' down here if he's laid up in the lab."

Warren laughed. "Okay, promise, I won't tell a soul."

Logan glanced back before leaving the lab and saw Warren whisper into Remy's ear. He couldn't pick up what he was saying, but it was something he had seen him do several times when he thought no one was watching. He still had his worries about Warren, but he had to hope that everything would work out in the end. "Don't fuck this up kid...like I did." he whispered as the door closed behind him.

------------

Warren startled awake in his chair. He had dozed off again. He had slept plenty after Jean had brought down food, and it hadn't been long since he had been waken by Logan, but the lab was really boring when you were the only one awake. There was no one to talk to since Hank had gone up for the night and Logan was snoring loudly behind him. He wondered how he managed to drift off with all that noise.

He looked up at the clock and saw there was still several hours before he was to wake the man, so he would just have to listen to it for now. They had both set a pretty good schedule of taking watch, one sleeping while the other sat up with Remy. Too bad it was so boring. He thought about picking up a book, but with one hand wrapped in a bandage and his good hand permanently attached to the sleeping Cajun he knew that wasn't possible to hold a book. He reached over and grabbed one of the old science magazines off the small stand by the bed. It wasn't anything he was interested in, but at least it stayed open on his lap.

He scanned through it's pages, grimacing at the photos of some new illnesses doctors were studying. He couldn't figure out how anyone would want to be a doctor, it was gross. His attention was pulled from the article when he heard a small noise from the bed. Excited that Remy was waking from his long slumber, he quickly threw the magazine back onto the table. He was happy that the Cajun choose to wake up during his watch, it gave him time to talk to him. He had waited for Remy's eyes to finally flutter open and focus on the room around him before he spoke. "Hey Remy. Glad your awake. Are you ok? Any pain?"

"Non, I'm bein." Remy whispered in slight confusion. Why was Warren here he wondered. He had remembered the last time he woke seeing the winged man by his side, but he thought it was his imagination. He was sure the second they reached the mansion Warren would take off to his apartment or somewhere else, away from him.

"Good!" Warren smiled and reached over to move some hair from Remy's face, but quickly pulled back when the younger man flinched. "What's wrong?"

"What are y' doin'?"

"You had a piece of hair in your face, I was going to push it away from your eyes." Warren saw the flash of fear in Remy's eyes and remembered that he had been asleep all this time, or out of it. The simple gesture probably seemed down right wrong coming from him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just thought it might be a bit uncomfortable."

Remy raised an eyebrow to Warren's explanation. He must still be sleeping, or whatever Hank had given him must be effecting his mind. This was not the Warren he knew. "It's bein. I just thought y' were gonna hit me or somethin'."

Warren shook his head. "No! I wouldn't hit you!" He couldn't believe that Remy would think that. Then again, he probably would have a few months ago. "This must seem a little strange to you, me being here and all."

"Y' could say that. Figured y' would be back at your apartment with Betsy by now, not here."

Warren sighed. He knew this had to seem odd. He decided the truth was in order. If he was going to carve a friendship out of this he needed to be truthful at the get go. "Honestly, I was really worried, so I have been watching over you. You have been doing a lot of sleeping, so you probably didn't notice."

"So you were here earlier. Wasn't my imagination?"

Warren smiled. "That was me. I have been here since we got back." He held up his bandaged hand. "I have the scars to prove it."

Remy's forehead furrowed. No matter what his teammates thought he never wanted to hurt Warren. He couldn't even remember how he did it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't. You were in a lot of pain, and your nails dug into my skin. It's a natural reaction, it's not like you did it on purpose. I'm just glad I could be of some help, even if it was as your scratching post." Warren's spirits lifted seeing a small grin form on Remy's face. It was nice to see the Cajun feeling a little better.

"I still don't understand why y' are here. I thought y' hated me."

Warren bowed his head, ashamed to look the Cajun in the eyes. "About that. We have some things to talk about and I have a lot of things I need to apologize for."

"Warren, I have to admit I'm a little lost here. All I know is last time I was awake y' hated me being around y' and now y' are sittin' here tellin' me y' are worried about me and apologizin'. Did Essex mess with you're head on somethin'?"

Warren laughed. "No, there is nothing behind this but a lot of thinking. I know this probably comes as a surprise, but Logan told me in the lab that if I would stop arguing with you and get to know you instead, that we would be good friends, and I think he's right. I've realize that I know next to nothing about you, but yet I felt the right to judge you, and that was wrong."

Warren pulled the chair up to Remy's bed, feeling the need to be closer. He glanced down at the edge of the bed and saw Remy's hand still intertwined with his. He wondered if the Cajun even realized it. He decided not to mention it, afraid Remy would pull away, it was giving him the support he needed to continue. "Ever since the lab I have seen things in a new light, so to speak. Things changed in that cell, and it brought up questions, and a lot of feelings that confuse me. I'm not asking you to forgive me for what I did, just trust me not to do it again. I want to help you through this and hopefully get to know you a little better in the process."

Remy wanted to believe Warren, but it was almost too good to be true. It sounded sincere, but he had been hurt so many times before by him. Maybe he did mean it, but what would it cost him if he was wrong. "I don't know. It's hard to think that y' want to be my friend all of a sudden."

Warren understood, he was just throwing this all on Remy at once. He expected the Cajun would need time to come to terms with him being around. At least he hadn't demanded him to leave, so that was a start. "Listen, just think about it alright. I know this is coming out of the blue, but I have put a lot of thought into it. I just want to try and make it up to you, but I understand if I don't deserve that chance. I will be right here next to you until you tell me to leave, so no rush."

Remy nodded weakly against the pillow, too shocked to come up with anything to say.

"Now, I was suppose to tell Hank when you woke up, so I guess I better do that now. I just wanted to talk to you before I got pushed out of the way." Warren pulled his hand away from Remy's and noticed a blush fall across the Cajun's cheeks when he realized he had been holding his hand the whole time. He just smiled, deciding not to make a big deal about it. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to the intercom."

"Don't worry, I'm not goin' anywhere." Remy pulled his arm up and tucked it under himself. He couldn't believe everything that Warren had told him. Apologizing for what he said and did, saying he was worried about him, and what were these feelings that he was talking about? Why was he holding his hand? He didn't understand how his teammate could go from avoiding him to wanting to be his friend so quickly. He glanced over and saw Logan asleep in the other bed. He trusted him more then anyone in the mansion. If Logan was letting Warren stay then he couldn't be there to hurt him. He decided to let this go for now, watch and see what happened. Maybe Warren wasn't lying, as long as Logan was around, he wouldn't get hurt, so it was worth the chance. Wasn't it?

TBC