saga/title/fandom: Orpheus (X-Men)

author: Kristy

rating/genre:(R) - drama, romance

warnings: het, sexual content, violence

summary:Logan's life has always felt empty. He felt dead inside and with Jean's rejection, Logan spent his time feeling more alone then ever before. One night, he stumbles upon an injured stranger and takes her to the Professor. A meaningless promise becomes Logan's link to the powerful mutant. The more time he spends with her, the less alone he becomes, as though she's breathing new life into his lonely soul. Attraction becomes passion and passion leads Logan to find love and strange connection with his past. Nightmares are altered to reveal a truth that could damage his future. (Wolverine/OFC)

comments/disclaimers: Standard disclaimers. This falls post X-1 but there is a small X-2 reference about Logan and Bobby's parents but the events that took place in X-2 have not happened. Right now it's PG but it will become more graphic later between R and NC-17.

"Ah, I was wondering how long it would take before some one asked that question," The Professor laughed and let out a chuckle as well. She had impressed the Professor with her skills and even though he had given her some rigorous test, she found herself much more able to control her powers under his supervision.

"Are you telepathic?" Storm questioned. That was everyone's assumption, Storm had just been the one to ask it.

The Professor shook his head. "The surprising thing is that she's not telepathic with humans," Everyone just sat there with a glazed looked, all questioning what that was suppose to mean.

"So what? You like talk to trees or something?" Logan answered, sarcastically.

"Animals actually," Naomi looked at him.

"That explains how she was able to talk to Logan," Scott mumbled under his breath. Jean smacked him on the shoulder. Scott and Logan were always at it. A snide comment like this from Scott was nothing new. It usually continued with some sort of threat from Logan and then the Professor put a stop to it. Despite Logan's total dislike of Scott and his problems with authority, he respected Professor Xavier enough to stop when he said to.

"You got something you need to say, Scottie boy?" Logan shot back, glaring at him.

"Knock it off you two," Storm ended it before the Professor even had to open his mouth.

"Thank you, Storm. Now, if you children are through..." Xavier looked from Scott to Logan, neither spoke or looked at him. "Good, anyways Naomi has a telepathic ability with animals and apparently in mutant with any animal characteristics or genes," The Professor said. Naomi remained quiet but nodded. "Although that's not nearly half of her ability. It's quite remarkable actually," The Professor couldn't help but feel excited as he was saying this.

"Well what is it already?" Logan said, getting impatient. Naomi looked over at the Professor who nodded to her. Her gray eyes ran over each of the X-Men facing her. Scanning them, it looked like. Logan became uncomfortable when her gaze fell upon him. Uncomfortable but compelled to look at her. Suddenly he felt like he could just unload his entire life, his darkest secrets to her. There was something in her eyes that he was so drawn to. Was that her gift? To make people share their fears with her? She simply gave him a small smirk and then her eyes were on Jean and Scott. But the feeling lingered. He wanted to talk with her, to know her. Logan found that he was very attracted to her.

Logan was tossed from his thoughts. The Professor just stood up and began walking across the room. Logan, along with the others stared dumbfounded as the man who was in a wheelchair only moments ago, was now pacing the room. To further add to the shock, the Professor began to skip around the room, skipping away as though it was apart of his daily routine.

"Professor?" Jean's voice was shaky when she spoke his name.

"Jean..." Scott tugged at her sleeve. In front of him, an image of Jean and himself were staring back at him. Jean was wearing a beautiful wedding gown. It was strapless with a long train. Her red hair hung down over her shoulders and back. Her wedding veil was pulled back. It was so long that it reached the floor. She was holding a bouquet of white roses in her right hand. Scott stood next to her, wearing a black tux. His hand wrapped around hers. They were both smiling brightly at the real Jean and Scott as they stared, mouths gapping at the imagine.

"What is this?" Jean said a voice barely above a whisper. She wanted to touch the image but felt too scared to fully reach out her hand.

Scott tore his eyes away from the image of himself to see if Storm and Logan were looking too. Storm seemed too preoccupied with her own image.

On the floor in front of her was a little girl, playing in a sandbox. The girl had snow white hair that hung down her back. The girl sat happily in the sandbox, building a sand castle and singing to herself. "Oh my god," Storm leaned closer to further examine the child. "It's me..." She said in utter amazement. "I must have been about 5. But I remember this, I was living in Egypt at the time with my parents. We had a sandbox in our backyard. I used to play in it every single afternoon..." Storm relayed the details behind the image to the others. Although she was too focused on the image to tell if the others were even listening.

Logan stared from one image to the next. The Professor was now amusing himself by dancing on the desk, Scott Summers and Jean Gray were still staring at Mr. and Mrs. Scott and Jean Summers, newlyweds and Storm was completely engulfed by her childhood self sitting in a sandbox. Logan's eyes met Naomi's. She smiled at him and said nothing. Logan continued to look at her. Her breathing pattern was normal and her heart was beating at a steady pace. She seemed completely calm despite the going ons around her. Her attention belonged to Logan completely as she held his gaze. He wondered if she was reading his mind, but it didn't feel like she was. Why? If she could read his mind then why hadn't she. He could tell by the way she was looking at him that she wanted to know more about him. She could easily know every fear, every doubt, every detail of his painful existence and yet she made no attempt. Logan wasn't sure if he appreciated this or not.

Professor Xavier who had officially been "getting down with his bad self" as he had put it, stood up straight and spoke. "Alright Naomi, that's enough," He broke in. Her gaze was pulled from Logan's and the images around them vanished. The Professor was once again in his wheelchair, as though he had never left it at all. Jean. Scott and Storm were still dumbfounded but what they had seen and it obviously lingered with them.

"What...?" Scott started.

"Naomi's ability let's her create holographic images from the minds of those around her," Charles cut in.

"Wait? What does that mean? You can just make up images?" Scott questioned.

Naomi shook her head. "I take images already embedded in your mind," She answered.

"She can manipulate them to make them as real or as fake as she wants. In my case, making it appear that I was actually dancing around," Professor Xavier said.

"Can you do this with any image?" Storm looked at her.

"Yes," Naomi replied. "Only if it's an image that you see. I can't create anything that isn't already there," She said.

"But Scott and I aren't married..." Jean started.

"But that's how you have pictured yourselves. A strapless, flowing gown, white roses...you can't tell me that you haven't imagined it," Naomi interjected. Jean stood there, speechless. She couldn't deny it at this point. "Don't feel silly...you should have seen the wedding night he pictured," Naomi gestured towards Scott with her head.

Jean looked down at her boyfriend. His face was growing a deep shade of red. He looked up at her and shrugged. "I...uh..." He tried to explain.

"Don't be embarrased. I won't tell," Naomi gave him a reassuring smile. Scott's cheeks flushed a deeper red.

"Anyways," The Professor cut in, helping to take the focus from Scott. "I understand that this is a bit overwhelming right now. But I've invited Naomi to stay with us. She'll be safe here and this allows me a chance to work with her and find the extent of her abilities. Not only that, I believe that she maybe a vital addition to the X-Men,"

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