Summary: Logan POV with unexpected talents Rogue and my own take on the classic how-they-met story. Thank you for reading.
Categories: X1,
AU Characters: None
Genres: Shipper
Tags: None
Warnings: Not Beta Read
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 8
Completed: Yes
Word count: 13370
Read: 49497
Published: 02/24/2013
Updated: 04/21/2013
Story Notes:
My first fanfic, it's from Logan's point of view and features introspective Logan, unexpected Rogue and my own take on the classic how-they-met story. Massive thanks to Terri for inspiration and encouragement. Thanks for reading.
1. Chapter 1 by Ms Brin
2. Chapter 2 by Ms Brin
3. Chapter 3 by Ms Brin
4. Chapter 4 by Ms Brin
5. Chapter 5 by Ms Brin
6. Chapter 6 by Ms Brin
7. Chapter 7 by Ms Brin
8. Chapter 8 by Ms Brin
Author's Notes:
My first fanfic, it's from Logan's point of view and features introspective Logan, unexpected Rogue and my own take on the classic how-they-met story. Thanks for reading.
"Gimme Molson".
It's damn cold tonight, been boring too, they got to scrounge up some better challengers because it's just not, y'know, satisfying or something.
Just standing' there, holding back the whole time and, hey, whose comin' in now?
Fights over, bar just closin'. It's some woman, no, some girl by the looks of it. Looks real young, must be 20, 21 maybe, eh but it's all young to me. Look at her, she must be freezing, covered in snow, how far's she walked in this?
Y'know now I am lookin' at her, I see I'm not the only one. The bartender is lookin' her up and down and the few other men in here, truckers and fighters getting one for the road before heading out into that snow, they're all starin' at her too. She don't belong here, I can see that from here. Bet they're wondering what they can get outta her or some shit. Dunno how she got through that snow, cos I didn't hear a truck pull up or nuthin'. It's bad tonight, even for way up next to the arctic circle, Dawson City, hah, nothing here but roughnecks, and ice.
You don't see one like her every day though, she's got a long fur coat on, reaching down past her knees, she's hanging it up now. What's she doing, leavin' a valuable fur like that just lyin' around? How's she got by not knowin' what's what? She's young yeah. But she's got no right to be wanderin' around like outta a fairytale or some shit. And would'ya look at that, a dress on under it. I mean a proper dress, a long dress down the the ground, sort of a soft pink colour, like a sunrise or some shit. she's just wearin' battered old boots under and her dress is all dripping an' dirty round the edges from trailing in the snow.
Now what do you suppose someone like her is doing somewhere like this? You can see she's quality just from looking at her. And that dress, those boots, I don't know shit about women's clothes but even I can tell they were worth something once. How'd she get so down on her luck? Dunno how she wound up here, maybe she's lost, but some girl like her shouldn't be in a hundred miles of a place like this. She should be at symphonies or dancin' at a ball or some shit.
And why I'm staring at some slip of a girl but she's good you'know, you can smell that on her. Most a' the women round here, they're jus' fight groupies or hookers. But this girls wearing this long old dress, hides all her legs and ass but I can't take my eyes offa her.
She's walking up to the bar an' even in that dress I like her walk, it's the way she moves, you'know? An, that long skirt swaying' an brushing up against her legs, I can hear it, making me wonder what she looks like under it. She's got long long dark hair, down to her ass nearly, an fallin in waves down her back. Two white streaks framin her face, you don't see that every day. Big, big eyes, she looks tired but bright somehow. Like as though she faces the world expecting' it to do right by her. But how she could end up here in the ass end of nowhere, smelling all sad and hungry an still think there's good in world, I dunno. That's something else that is.
She hopped up onta the bar stool right next to me. Little gloved hands holdin' onto the bar to hop herself up. Huh, gloves, long, white, classy gloves, with little pearl buttons at the wrist, all up her arms to the top. I wonder how those gloves'd feel on your skin? Seeing that tiny hand grasping the bar as she straddles that bar stool, it's doin' something to me. So innocent, she don't know what I'm thinkin'.
And, look, that guy checking out her ass from across the room. He needs to back off, asshole. Lady can walk up, get a drink without assholes leerin' at her all night. She is a lady, dunno why I'm thinkin' bout her like this, woman like her is just pit-stopping here, she don't need no bad ass like me. Bet she's got some rich husband or something, but if she's got a husband what's he lettin' her do wandering all way out here looking all ragged and cold and all? Maybe she needs someone to look out for her for a bit.
"Excuse me, sir".
Sir to the bartender! Sir to that toothless old man who ain't washed since Regan by the stink off of him. Her accent too, trying to place that, deep south it sounds like. She rolls over those letters in her mouth, real soft she got a soft sort of voice you could imagine her whispering to you up close and real gentle or something.
She showed her southern lady manners there and no mistake. I can just imagine her as a little thing at charm and etiquette classes and shit, bet she never thought she'd be using them all the way up here near the toppa the world mind. She asked him, real polite for a glass of water and I can smell her real good, sitting' up the bar just a few stools from me. She smells hungry too, and something else, it's nagging at me. I've just got to shake it off, what is all this? In fifteen years, I ain't never got like this about a women. Never seen a woman quite like her in the those fifteen years either I suppose.
She turned to me as I ordered another bourbon, and she smiled. Now no one ever smiles on seeing me. Is my bad assness on the fritz or something? I acted like some idiot too, smiling and saying good evening to her and blushing probably too, oh hell.
Bartenders talking to her now,
"Where you from then, honey?"
"Ah'm from the US, sir"
Well, that's obvious, with that accent, and cagey too, not tellin' him where she from properly or where she's goin' neither.
"Yeah, I can hear that honey, but what's a southern belle like you doing out in the sticks in a place like this?"
"Ah'm lookin' for a ride, I was dropped off by a trucker, uh, close, close by and I saw the light and thought I might be able to get a ride here."
"It's a bit late for that honey, most of the truckers have cleared out by now, we're fixin to close soon, see."
"Uh, ok. Umm...can I ask, if I can't get a ride now, if I might be staying here a few days, do you happen to know sir, where I might be able to pick up some work?"
He's lookin' at her like she's crazy and I don't blame him, what kinda work could someone like her do out here? There ain't nothing but truckers and fight bars and if you ain't sellin' sex or washing dishes there ain't much to do. Dunno what she could do, what skills she has, I know what he'll think, he'll think she wansta strip or something but it's not that, I can smell, she ain't thinkin' like that, she's -
"I can wait tables, cook, clean, and type fast, I can mend cars too and, uh, do you ever have performers in here?"
"We have strippers if that's what you mean, girls that dance in the cage, but you don't want to be doing that honey. You sing? Or play guitar or something?"
He's trying to help her out, I never seen a performance but strip dancing in ona these places but look he's actually being decent. Who'd a thought it?
"No, no, you are right, I don't, actually I...."
"Hey, baby you can strip for me, I bet you'd look real good"
Uh, what an asshole. I'm gonna get up offa my stool, just be ready if the bartender don't slap him down and woah!
Wonder who taught her to fight like that? There's years of training in every one of those moves, it's like she just switched, you know. You could see it click over in her head and she was in another zone. I've seen it before in the spec ops guys, but she is good.
Now who woulda trained a young thing like that to be so dangerous? Damn, I hope she ain't with the government, or the military. She's good lookin' enough for them to recruit as an agent provocateur, but you know, she's so fancy, that ain't their style. They'd want undercover and this girl she sure as hell stands out.
Huh, and she looks beautiful as she did it, it's getting to me. He grabbed her from behind, asshole slapped her ass then reached around and got a hold of her wrists on toppa those long white gloves she's got. She looked up and the switch or something flicked over in her head, every muscle stilled, every sense heightend I could smell it on her, no fear, just confidence and retribution.
She stopped back on his toes with the heel of those old boots and flicked her foot up, catching him right in the balls and the force she used it made me wince. There was no pulling or struggling against his arms, she just lifted her arms up and out, like she was stretching or something, and it bent his arms the wrong way and broke the hold. But she grabbed his right arm as it fell from her left and slammed him into the bar as she flipped to face him. He's looking damn scared now, and she's still in a fighting stance.
Wonder if she's armed? She looks like she must be packing, under that long skirt or something 'cos there's not a bit of fear on her and I can't get over that, tiny thing like her being such a hard core badass underneath.
"Do you recognise me?"
She's interrogating him, huh, whys she think he might recognise her? She some famous person, some actress or something, or something underground, a merc maybe. I always heard they used to recruit them from the best families, espionage agents too.
"Nah, lady, I never seen you before, never."
"So you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"
"No, uh, no, what's this about?"
"You didn't confuse me with your wife or lover, for example?"
"No, look, let me go ok? I'm sorry ok?"
"No"
"No? Whaddya mean no?"
"I mean, no, not ok. If you haven't mistaken me for a woman married or partnered to you, then what in the hell, gives you the right to approach me, let alone touch me?"
"I dunno, look, I dunno, I'm sorry ok? Look, lady, I dunno what you are, but just... I'll go, ok, I'll just go"
"Do you understand why you can't touch random women?"
"Uh, look, uh..."
"Women do not belong to you. I am not yours to play with, you thought I was young, vunerable, small and unprotected, you thought you could get away with touching my body intimately without my permission. You, sir, were very, very wrong on all those counts."
"Look, lady, just, ok, ok, no more touching' women, right just"
Bartender gonna intervene now,
"No, come on now miss, he said he was sorry, we all heard him and I think he's learned his lesson. How about you just let him up and we can all go home now, yes?"
"Fine"
She don't look like she wants to but she's doing it. She's right though, he shouldn't touch women, just here to get a drink, mindin' their own business. She's not famous then, just messin' with him. Good, no government agent or nothin', still wonder how she can fight like that. Shit, this little girl just walked into this bar and she's got me wondering all over her.
"So, about the work, the performance, I'm a writer, and I do performance poetry"
Aww, fuck, he's laughin' at her, I think they're all just scared of her now, think she's some kinda freak, she won't be gettin' money or a ride here now, damn. But I could you know, I ain't scared and I can you'know, I...
"I'll take you"
"Excuse me?"
"I'll give you a ride, uh, you headed west, cos I can take you on that way?"
"Yes, yes I am, thank you, sir, thank you so much."
Oh that smile turned right on me, that's a feelin' that is, and there aren't words.
End Notes:
Many thanks for reading. Constructive criticism welcome, but it is my first fic, so please be gentle.
Author's Notes:
Thank you SO much for all the hits and lovely lovely reviews.
I don't have a beta but if anyone wants to volunteer you would get my gratitude and as many Marie/Logan-plot-bunnies as you like!
Not so much action happens here, and Logan is more ruminative. But there is more action coming up. Stay tuned and enjoy trying-to-keep-his-eyes-on-the-road-Logan!
Chapter 2.
There's something about this one. I know it. I mean there's damn few things I know in life, damn few I'm sure of but this here is one of them. She is special, you meet one like her maybe once in a lifetime, if you're lucky. I know it. But I don't know if she knows it.
Look at her, smiling up at me, even leaning into me as we're comin' outside and the snowstorm is hitting us. It's hard to push through this, don't know how we'll drive through it but I'll try and get a few miles between us and this flea pit town.
Always like to move on after a fight. The men out here, sometimes they loose hard, and they ain't always that bright with it. And I don't need assholes waking me up at night trying to fight for their money back. Most of them know they caught a lucky break to get away without internal bleeding but there's always some who lost too much, money, reputation, pride, it's always something. Once back a few years ago there was one asshole who came back and kicked the door down of my motel room and started waving some shotgun around like he knew how to use it. He was just talking big and besides that idiot could pepper me with bullets and it won't put me in the ground. Would get me kicked off the fight circuit though and I make good money and don't wanna loose this. Scared the hell outta the woman I had in my bed too, I comforted her though heh heh. Anyways, I got the camper now and I always move on every night.
Aw, look at me just standin here, thinkin while she's still freezing in the doorway. She, uh, she grabbed a hold of my arm when I started heading into the snow. Her hands are tiny, and so y'know, delicate. Like a fine tree branch or something. Graceful, like, in the wind but I know she's got strength and power, got that inner core, I've seen that tonight. Maybe that's why I picked her up and. No Logan, come on, focus, less pansy-ass dreamin and more pushing through this damn blizzard and getting the girl safe in the truck.
There we go, I took that hand and tucked my arm around her. I'm almost shaking, I, no, I'm not Scooter, I'm a badass and I, well, shit, it moved me ok? Having a woman like that in my arms even if it's just for a second to pull her through the snow and lift her up into the truck.
Shit, better put the heater on quick it's colder than Siberia in here. Don't want her to get sick or something, she's so small and,
"Thank you so very much."
"What?" I can't hear her properly over the heater blowing.
"Ah said thank you so much for giving me a ride."
"Uh, s'ok. I'm goin in your direction and I don't mind"
"Ah can give you gas money, Ah'll work, Ah'll pay my way. Ah know Ah owe you right now but Ah'll work it off and you can trust me. Ah'll appreciate it, Sir, truly, um, Ah appreciate you goin out o' your way, takin a chance on me especially after that... scene.... in the bar."
That voice, oh baby that voice, she don't even realise it an it just makes me want to eat her up and shit, what am I doing thinking shit like that? Come on Logan, get it together. Think with the head, don't think about her voice, don't think about her offering to....
"Uh, yeah. Um yeah, I mean it's ok. I've got gas covered and you just come along for the ride, ok?"
I'm helping her out, doing a good thing. She's not a project, it's not a job. It's, I dunno but it's not that.
"I'm sorry about that, in the bar, those guys were assholes."
Shit, why's she blushin now? She looks all kinds of good like that, her cheeks all pinked up, a little flush down her neck to...
"Ah know, Ah know they were laughing at me. They are, uh, what you said."
Huh, you telling' me a woman like her is put off by a little cussin? Even with all that shit she pulled on that guy in the bar? She's a trip, all innocent and good and yet so hardcore all at once. I know she came from money but how did she get so far like this? I suppose if you can fight like that it's easier to keep your innocence on the road, and your manners too by the looks of things.
"That's just cos they don't know jack. I mean, I thought what you said sounded real interesting. You said you do performance art. What's that like acting or singin? Or you a writer?"
"Oh, Ah do spoken word art, it's poetry but performed."
I dunno what to say to that, it sounds real good, but real cultured and I don't know nothing about that shit.
"You know when you read a poem, or the words to a song, and written down, well they're ok but when you hear them out loud they just come to life? Well, that's what I do, I speak the words, like singing just without the music"
I think I know. I know with songs sometimes I've been saying the lyrics over and over.
"There's some songs it's like they said just what I'm feeling. Just right there in that song on the radio. I know that"
"Yes! It's that, I write what's inside me and well, I can show you one day if you like"
"Well, there's this one;
I know the gunshots were miles away, yet somehow, they left a hole in me.
Before this, I'd only known what blood looked like on the news but now I felt an intimate, bitter knowledge of the pain, the iron taste in the air, the shock as the wound blossomed lush and bright under the flat grey skies.
Even though I only ever saw it through her memories, I knew salty, sticky details too much for my own comfort. How the dog howled, that time didn't slow down, it just sped up until everything she recalled from that day was a blur of colour, scent, sensation and the shock of the rapport that ended her world as it was.
She told me afterwards it reminded her of her wedding day. Shouts and swirling feet, tumultuous emotions that left a vague impression afterwards. The photographs, she recalled, were like peering into another country. Into someone else's life. She hadn't remembered that her mother wore that hat or that the hyacinths were in flower behind them when they stood beneath the arbour covered in baby pink and soft lemon confetti.
I went afterwards, kicking through the freezing snow, iced over now and clinging grittily to my boots, to see where it happened. There was no chalk on the ground, no crime tape, no flowers even. It felt lonely."
Jesus Christ. I don't think I breathed during that. Couldn't take my eyes offa her, not that you can see much on the road in this damn storm anyhow. Damn me, how did she do that. We're in this little cab and she's wrapped in that cut up old fur and somehow she just transformed. Pulled herself up and spoke like she was performing in front of the damn president or something. Damn me.
And where the hell did she learn all that shit anyhow. Blood and gunshots and how it all feels. She's got it all right too, I've been there, felt that and it's nothing like what those damn Hollywood films say, expect the bit about sex after.
They got that right, you get hot as hell after coming out of a situation like that. Somethin about knowing your still alive and the adrenaline and I wonder if she's ever felt like that and who she was with or if she was too good....
Come on Logan, eyes on the road, not on her dress, even if the frost on it is melting now and I can see it clinging to her through her open coat. Right. Eyes, road.
She's like two people though, this innocent little debutante chick and then a damn hard bad ass fighter. Lethal. But good all the same. I wonder which of those she'd be like in bed. Oh man. She's one of a kind. Douches in the bar didn't know what they were missing, but I'm glad I picked her up, glad I got her and they were too stupid to see.
"Uh, you're a little quiet."
"Damn." I'm just not used to having company and I'm damn struck by all she said.
"Ah'm hoping that's a compliment."
"Yes, yes it is, it, how do you know all that shit anyhow?"
"It's a long story."
"Well, we're driving ain't we, ain't got no place else to go."
"Look, Mr, uh, Ah'm sorry, we haven't been introduced, Ah don't know your name."
"Wolverine."
"Oh, what kind of a name is Wolverine?"
"It's my name, ok?" I know I'm not fancy like her, but I am what I am.
"Oh, Ah didn't mean to offend, it's just real unusual. Ah like it, my name's a little unusual too. Well, Ah'm called Rogue, most people call me but I wasn't laughin at you really Mr Wolverine, look, you can call me Marie."
She said that, said her name like it was a secret. I get that. But sharing it with me? That's crazy? But then hitching through a snowstorm in a girls ball dress and gettin in fights in bars with bad ass ole boys is crazy too. And I picked her up. And what the hell, she can't call me Mr Wolverine, not when I'm trying to check her out through her wet dress, I can see a little you know, the rose colour is a little deeper in two spots if you know what I mean.
"I'm Logan."
"Well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Logan."
I know I'm not good enough for her, I know that. But I'm here now, givin her a ride, she needs me for now I could do this for her. And that's enough you know? That's something pretty big to me.
End Notes:
Thanks for reading. Constructive critique and reviews welcome.
Gently, thank you!
Author's Notes:
And so we continue. This chapter includes my first ever attempt at writing Marie POV and a mid-chapter POV shift (I know, you are excited already, I can tell). This is still unbetaed, but I am looking for a beta and will pay in gratitude and plot bunnies. Constructive criticism is welcomed! Thank you for reading. This chapter is brought to you via laryngitis, large amounts of pain, and concern for my relatives in hospital. Well, at least we know challenges fuel me to create (other realities). I have been lurking as I read some amazing fics on this site (by people like Drg, Sare Liz & others) and began to freak out over why I am imposing my badly written fiction on the world. But, this story wanted out, to get better, I need to write and we have 2 chapters to go after this and then I head back to 'They Should Have Known It Would Be a Love Story'. With Rogue laying down the law and Logan letting his mind wander there are some fun and explanations here.... enjoy x
Oh no, Ah know this silence, Ah know this feelin and Ah know jus what's coming next. It's going to be tell-me-your-story-time. Ah just hate that part, Ah really do. It's ain't never turned out good yet and Ah'm jus so tired and cold. Out here, miles from anywhere, Ah don't wanna get kicked out again.
Ah dunno, maybe he is thinkin something's up already, cos he keeps lookin at me sideways, all these little glances. Ah know its not for mah face or mah figure, Ah'm just a hot mess tonight with my raggedy clothes and cheeks all chapped up from that snow.
This truck ain't that warm either, an Ah think the dampness in mah gloves is re-freezing, darn it! Ah'm just gonna take em off and drape em over the heater a little. My that heat feels good on mah fingers. It's amazin really how sensitive they get, all mah skin really. I suppose Ah'm so used o feeling the world through a shield of silk or leather that everything feels like the first time to me.
"Look, you get warmed up, I'll turn the heaters up ok? Just keep your hands there right, cos shit, I mean, uh, uh, aw, well look, Jesus, anyway your fingers are going blue alright!"
"No!"
Oh mah Gawd, oh mah Gawd, he jus grabbed my hand! He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled my hands towards that darn heater, Ah was so close to his skin, I could feel the heat from him burning through mah coat, radiating from his hand to my bare skin, just a breath apart. Ah should never have taken mah gloves off. How can Ah be so darn stupid? And now Ah gotta say something, cos he's looking all hurt that I screamed and flinched back, but Ah'm just too tired to explain it all now....
"Uh, ok. Ok Marie. I won touch ya ok? Jus, stay there, try an take a breath darlin, can ya? I just want ya to be warm an look, I got some jerky here in the glove box, here ya go..."
Ok, ok, ok, I can do this.
"So what darlin, uh, did someone hurt you? Cos, you know we can take care of things like that."
"No! Well, yes, but that's not it. Look, oh Gawd, it's just I'm a little different, is all, ok? My skin, just don't touch it, Logan. Don't touch my bare skin, it, it could hurt you. That's all I'm saying."
And now he's looking at me, and he looks surprised, not angry, that's so funny, not many people react well to mutant hitchhikers, even ones with my unusual skills.
"So, how did a southern magnolia like you wind up in the great white north huh?"
Well there's an unexpectedly welcome change of subject, the first time I've ever been happy to roll out my sorry little story. It's so prosaic, and I've told it too many times, it doesn't affect me now. It's just boring, the words, the reactions I always get. But why isn't he scared about my skin? Doesn't he get it yet? He sure is smart enough to.
"Oh, well, Ah'm from Mississippi, an really all I wanted was to see the snow. So I came on up here."
Now he's giving me 'the look'. Ah admit, Ah don't know what look it is, but is is A Look, all capitals and that's for certain.
"Look, baby..."
Darlin? Baby? Ah jus told him Ah could kill him with a fingertip! What is happening here in this man's head?
"Look baby, you got your skin, I got these claws, I can tell you're lying' so let's just start again shall we? Because you ain't no ordinary runaway and I don't like the sound of untruths comin' from your lips."
Oh holy, claws, he said he has claws and there they are. Extending a few inches from his knuckles, there's shiny, metal, curving claws. That razor point on them too, and that's sure something.
"Do, they hurt, Logan, do they hurt when they come out?"
"Every time, Marie."
"Thank you. Really, thank you."
I know it might seem crazy, thanking the man whose just shown you one of the many ways he could probably kill a person but Logan has just done me a real favour, because Ah am too tired. Ah'm so tired I can't even puzzle over my luck at us both meeting up, two mutants running, and finding each other. All Ah care about right now, is that Ah am warm, Ah feel safe for the first time in weeks, and Ah can sleep. Ah don't have to guard anymore, to lie anymore.
"What the hell you thanking me for Marie? Shit, don't you know what these things do?"
"Logan! Ah came up from Mississippi after my mutation came on. Ah ain't got no money and Ah ain't got no friends now, because no matter how rich Daddy is, no kind of money can buy acceptance in my home town."
"Now the reason Ah look like Ah fell out of a old time magazine, is because Ah grabbed all the clothes Ah could when Ah ran and that wasn't many. An now Ah been running for a long time. So Ah'm wearing just what's left, which is the coat Daddy bought me to go to Europe that one time, and if you'll believe it, my debutante dress."
"Now don't laugh, Ah earned what Ah could and Ah spent it on food and gas money. An Ah'm not ashamed of that. Now you hush up, cos Ah am tired, and hurting an, fixin to go right to sleep. Goodnight Mr Logan."
And there she goes, curling up, snuggling down into that sable of hers an goin right to sleep. Huh, she's a little spitfire that one.
She told me, put me in my place. Well, I'll be damned. Sweet southern runaway in her ball gown. It's not a story you hear everyday and somehow I believe it. She's all curled up now, just out, deep sleep. I gotta lotta good here, girl like her, smellin so good, letting me watch over her as she sleeps.
The way she did it all, just flipped into a temper and told me straight her whole story and then, no discussion, she's going to bed. Good night Mr Logan and that's all she wrote. But damn me, another mutie. What are the odds on that?
An the way she was with the claws. No ones ever asked me that before, if they hurt. Most women, they're running, ain't never had one hang round long enough to ask a question.
She's a good person, she smelled that way right from the start.
She's lookin sweet when she sleeps. Her face all smoothed out and those cheeks all pinked up from the cold, she smells good when she's sleeping too, warmer somehow, softer. I ain't never smelled a woman sleeping before, not that I can remember anyhow, I used to kick em out if they ever tried any of that, I ain't looking for a Mrs. and most of the woman I'm knocking about with know that too. But she looks good. An we got a long drive ahead of us.
Huh, she's shifting in her sleep, slipping her little feet outta those too-big boots. Ain't it funny she can't touch, cos right now, if she was a normal woman, and I was a normal man. I'd pull her close to me, wrap her up against my shoulder under my jacket, sharing heat, feeling her heart against me, the rhythm of her breath, murmurs in her dreams. But we ain't normal. She's got skin that maims and some serious quasi-military training in that sweet head of hers and I'm older than rocks and twice as hard.
She wouldn't wanna be all pulled up to a man like me anyhow, an I wouldn't risk scraping something so beautiful with the claws. Scrapping or worse, impaling more like. But then, if she can hurt me and I can hurt her, then maybe equally matched there would be ways around it, I mean it's not like I have to touch her bare skin to hold her...
I tell you, when she flinched back from me earlier it was like confirming every bad thought I've had and every bad thing I done.
There I was, trying for a little redemption, here at everlast point, as close to the end of the road as I might come, for my soul anyways. Just trying to give a little kindness to a real live angel and she threw it right back at me. That's what I thought. Damn stupid, I should've trusted her. She's a good woman. She had her reasons.
I was glad when she told me cos the smell of a lie offa this one is more than I can stand. I preferred to hear the truth no matter how bad it is, comin offa her lips. An those lips, she looks like some princess, but those lips have me thinking things I know I shouldn't. I don't know what I did to get to see this girl but whatever it was I'm finding out and doing it over and over.
Now I gotta stop thinking about her lips, an her scent, and how she accepted me, reached for me, showed caring for me, and how she jus saw the claws and went right on, setting' me to rights, reading me the law and tellin me how it's gonna be. An I gotta stop thinking about other times that fire might come out in her because it felt damn good to be on the receiving end of it this time, and I can't exactly stop for a little relief with her right next to me, even though she does make the cab smell so damn good, and her soft lips saying my name is playing over and over in my mind, an my jeans are feelin five sizes too small, I can't because she could wake up and....
Ok! That's is, let's change the subject. Think something else, z, y, x, w, v.....
End Notes:
Thank you for reading, do let me know any feedback or constructive criticism, what you liked, where and how I could improve -with gentleness please! I must say all the hits and reviews on this story just have my squeezing in delight. Gratitude x
Author's Notes:
So the good news is that my voice is coming back. The bad news is that even though I wrote a 2000 word article this morning, replied to 20 emails, planted beans and peas, made a mushroom log for the garden, and dinner of sweet potato soup with spiced peppers and southern corn bread, as soon as I have 10 mins not working my only desire is to write this fic! Am winding down for bed by writing this and doing 45 minutes of yoga. It's not normal. Oh, well, I'm corrupted now so on with the fic goodness.
"The light's wrong."
She's curled up on my chest and that's the first thing she says as she starts coming to. It's morning and the sun's not high but it's reflected off the snow, off the bonnet and dazzling us pouring in. I guess it ain't like southern light. I wonder what that'd be like. Thick, I'd think, thick and hot like honey and cream.
How we ended up tangled together in my seat is a question I just know she's gonna ask when she comes to but for now, she's still sleepy for now and I wanna stay here. Holding this girl, well damn it to hell, it sure don't feel like anything else. No one can accuse the Wolverine of being a gentleman and I certainly know what to do with a woman when it's dark outside and she's warm and willing in my arms. And I can't say I haven't been thinking of her since back at the bar. The way she moved, that walk that just radiated innocence and made the sway of those hips even more enticing. Something about her just making me hungry and I couldn't even see her legs.
Now I know what I like, and it's a woman with long legs and long hair. Red heads do it for me, and I want women who know what they want and know how to give it too. I ain't got time for little girls who want a crack at the King of the Cage, I got no time for any inexperienced fingers fumbling round me, I want to get off and I don't want no tears after nor Papas waving shotguns.
So why I'm holding this girl all cradled up against my chest I just don't know. I can feel her breath warm on my neck. She just went flat out last night, she whipped me out with that speech and then tucked up and tuckered out. When it got too late I pulled over and she was just so lonesome over there. No, wait, I am the Wolverine and I don't even think words like that. God dammit, oh shit. Got to stop with the growling, I'm gonna wake her up again.
Who knew she'd talk in her sleep? Soft little murmurs all night long. Like seein into her dreams or some shit. I dunno. It was good anyway, felt good.
So she was there all cold and I got a sleeping bag but she ain't. I hate the cold anyway, with all the metal in my I can't stand it, gets right into my bones and it ain't gonna kill me but it hurts like a bitch. Course she'll freeze without a bag so I just y'know, put us in together. I know about her skin but who gives a shit? With us both wrapped up like mummies it didn't make no difference. I just turned my collar up a settled her down on my chest so her head was on my pecs rather than all up on my shoulder. She's so tiny an I ain't a small guy it's like she fitted there anyways.
Huh, I don't sneak a peek or nothin, not even when she's fidgeting and fussing in her sleep, rubbin up and down me. Aw, god damn those little noises, but there's something else here. I dunno, I think it's her smell or something it makes me feel, like calmer or some shit, she's soothing. So she shuffled and snuggled her way up in the night an as much of a treat as that was, her lips pressed close to my neck now, with just that long old hair of hers in between us. I can feel her breath moving, taste her, know she's breathing me in, taking my scent as her waking breath. That's something better than all the sweet wriggles and long legs in the country.
Huh, she's gone all tense, every muscle in her taunt, hard. All the softness of her, the warmth and the brightness of the snow light flickering over us - gone. It's business now. I can tell in her scent, she is on the alert, I'm starting to pick up on her and this one is when she feels threatened. Damn I'm stuck between heaven and hell now.
What the dammit to hell are you supposed to do when you've got a messed up military woman who can murder with a movement tucked up over your body like a sweet kitty cat?
I'm gonna go with disarmament,
"Hullo darlin' ",
And maybe it ain't playing fair that I cut that one with a nice growl and I know she felt those vibrations, she's pinned up against my chest and if I'm not mistaken, she really felt them. And being as close as we are it's not the kind of thing I can be mistaken about it you get my meaning.
What the...?
I'm up against the door on the other side and she's looking right at me. I don't know who's in those eyes but it ain't Marie.
"Hey, baby, I'm sorry, it's ok. It was safe, you were just cold, while you were sleeping. It was dangerous, you could get sick. I wrapped you up and held you next to me. Marie, it's me, Logan, I gave you a ride, remember?"
"Logan"
"Yes, Logan, that's right baby. Darlin, come on.", It's a flashback. I can see that, it's not her in there, or she isn't here now, just barely. She smells of rage not terror. This is a girl who likes her control. And ain't that a thought, especially with the strength she has, I've never met a woman who could.... No. Brain in gear, no fantasising in life threatening situations.
"Logan"
"Marie, how bout you let me down darlin, I'm gonna be over here, and you'll be there, we can get on driving in a minute and get on to the next town. How bout some breakfast there then huh? Coffee and pancakes, huh?"
She switched and just slumped forward. Oh baby, what happened to you?
"Marie, listen darlin, I ain't sure what's goin on, but I ain't gonna hurt you, darlin you need to know that."
"Ah know. Logan, it's not, Ah can't control it always, it's a reaction. Ah do, Ah trust you."
She's gathering herself, drawing herself together, and there's shades of martial arts in there damn that girl is a mystery and she'd be a trip to spar with too. Oh yeah..
"Logan!"
Trusting me. Trusting. Me. I don't think I've ever had that before. I don't know what to do with it, how do I do that?
"Logan, Ah'm sorry, Ah...."
"Sorry baby, just uh, distracted a little."
"Ah, ah was travelling at first, and I hitched a ride with some boys travelling back from one of the southern bases, they were army guys and they were heading north home. Ah, thought Ah'd be safe with some of our armed forces. They're defenders you know?"
Aw damn, this girl just glowed with naivety. She must have been a glowing beacon and life just rained dickheads in her path.
"So Ah hitched a ride an told them Ah was visiting my aunt in Minnesota. Ah thought Ah could get over the border there. They were young the guys, Ah thought they had just come out of basic training but they hadn't. They were specialists."
"Spec ops, black ops, baby?"
Paused, "Yes, there was one. He, he.... I have his powers now. He wasn't a mutant but when he touched me he wouldn't let go and now Ah have him in my head and all he knew and so now Ah do this, things like this. The training Logan, you wouldn't believe it, it's not human, it makes you into a machine. You know one day Ah was hitching and Ah heard the bullet. The silencer was on, it was just men shooting at strange cars, bad neighbourhood you know. But Ah heard the bullet release and Ah threw myself backwards and snapped the car seat in half. That's him, he knew."
Oh no, it's all familiar, all too familiar. She don't look like a weapon but she sure carries herself like one. That's how she can walk into that shithole of a bar like that. I've heard about how they train those guys, it's into killing machines. Most of them don't live past 30, they get used up, the tension, or on the missions.
"I would believe it Marie."
"What? You're not..."
"No, I'm not military, well, I'm not now, maybe I was."
She looks confused, I'll show her the tags. I don't want to tell her this story, don't wanna dirty her with it. But, she understands, she deserves to know. After all, she showed me hers.
"Marie, I don't remember nothing more than 15 years back. I woke up in the snow with claws, healing a feral side that won't let go and more military knowledge than the forces out together. They made me this Marie, I don't know who but it all fits. I was built as a weapon."
"Oh Logan."
That's warmth that is, her gaze feels like fire. I dunno what to do, I feel all, I dunno. I wish she'd stop staring at me, it's making me wanna do stupid shit like grab her and kiss her. Tell her she's the first woman to accept me, to get me, and I wanna have her. I wanna have all of her, all she has I wanna take it and then together we can be more. I...
"Ah just wanna live my life. Ah wanna be free to be safe. Ah want to, ah don't know. To paint and plant flowers and buy shoes and make mistakes and figure things out and not have to run and not know how to kill people and Ah don't know how Ah can have that. That's why Ah keep moving Ah guess. Lookin for home, huh, a cliche to the last..."
I'm just gonna take her hand, well not her hand she still ain't got the gloves back on, take her wrist and just hold on to her a minute cos I have to touch her right now I have to. Her dream that's, that sounds good. I know she's moving on, I know she's a fine woman and she has options even if she don't know them but a sanctuary, a place where she can get her feet under her, I know a place like that. I'm mean New York ain't that far away...
"Hey Marie?"
She's all curled up again now, trying to pull fingers through all that hair, slipping her little stockinged feet inside those boots, settling into her self, she was so brave then, so vulnerable. This has been a big morning for both of us, I think we need some space.
"Marie, how about breakfast?"
It's not all she asked for, I have to think on that but, breakfast is good too. She's smiling and that lights up everything. I'm gonna put the truck in gear and get going now. Still a long drive to the dinner and I got an itching to see how she does with pancakes, I can just see her licking syrup offa those sweet fingers...
And that's when all hell broke loose.
End Notes:
Reviews are very welcome as always! Gratitude x
Author's Notes:
It's shorter but good. Featuring Dreamy!Logan, and friends who come to play but do not play nice at all. Also more swearing (Logan gets cross). Enjoy x Thank you especially to GoodKarmaPlease and WitchBaby for their super-dedicated reviews. All the reviewers are giving me ideas and helping make this story better. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 5
You don't expect an assailant on the roof. You should but you don't, not when you are busy lookin' at the sweet girl next to you. Not when your head is full of dreams of maple syrup and hot coffee and her scent across the booth with those little stockinged feet slipped out of her boots next to you under the table. Imagining that and her smile and the sunlight on her cheeks....
You certainly don't expect the assailant to be a fucking bear. Bears can't fly, dammit.
But it wasn't a bear was it? It was that blue bitch Mystique. Bear sure gave Marie a fright though.
So sitting in the truck next to Marie, and thinking about her and the breakfast we're gonna have together and I'm wondering is she's the kinda girl who orders a lot of food and really enjoys it, or the kind that says no to waffles and then steals them offa your plate. Lookin up at ya, and smiling in between the bites. Watchin' her lips closing round the fork...
Anyway... I was, I'll say it straight, a little distracted by all these thoughts, they preoccupy me y'know. She's a girl that gets in your head and stays there. An' I didn't hear those bastards sneaking through the snow behind us. An' with Marie having been all curled up on me all night long I was full of her scent and not lookin' out for the mangy Sabretooth stench, or that slimy mix of Mystique. She's just bad that woman, she smells rancid and slick like oil.
So one minute, it's Marie and pancake thoughts and the next minute it's fucking bear on the truck roof. An almighty crash, then claws come through the ceiling and I'm taking my eyes an' thoughts offa Marie and putting them to work where they're needed, on our survival.
I grabbed my keys and threw the truck into gear thinking to just drive and try and knock this freaky-ass bear from the cab roof when the idiot Sabretooth looms up in front of the windshield and I realise not only are we in an ambush but I got Marie to protect now. An' it's a Marie who has kicked off into military mode at the attack.
What to do? I wanna take that bastard Sabes down right now. I owe him one from a long way back but I'm next to a girl in a rose pink dress who just grabbed my chain from under the seat an' is winding it around her forearm. Huh, she's good. Doin' it like that means she can move without it clinking and pack a weight behind her punch.
I know she's a damn good fighter but she ain't feral and she ain't a healer. She can't go up against those two with nothing but her borrowed training, it ain't fair.
Shit. Ok, ok, think Logan. Look, it's Mystique and Sabretooth, they're not exactly the greatest minds you know? I can do this. They're probably just looking to settle old scores and I'm ready for a good fight, I been so frustrated recently and at least these two are worthy contenders.
But I don't wanna dive into a proper go-round with Marie here. 'Specially as she'll wanna join in.
Best just to get outta here.
Truck in gear and step on the gas, forget Sabretooth, this is a big truck, I'll just run him outta the way. And if he don't like it, I got some adamantium here he'll like even less. And we can shake the damn bear offa the roof. Mystique, she's a twisted one, comin' afta me with Marie here, but those lot ain't got no morals.
Ok, good, we're goin' now. I felt Sabretooth go under us and I think the bear fell off a ways back. Damn straight. No one's gonna get to us now. They shouldnta threatened us in the first place. Assholes. Hey, how's Marie doin'?
"Marie?"
"Marie, how you doin' baby? We got away, those dicks are gone now darlin'."
"Yes, Ah...Ah should've.."
"It's ok baby, we are safe now, we gotta breakfast to pick up don't we?"
Probably won't be able to sit in the dinner with her now. Damn them to hell. We just threw 'em off, didn't take 'em out or nothin'. Probably on our tail. Dunno where to head now, damn it, think...
"Logan!"
Well fuck me.
"It's ok Marie, darlin' I'm ok."
Dunno what happened there, I just flew straight through the glass. Right through the windshield. I'm full-length in the snow, glass everywhere. God damn, I just went flying. Get up Logan, shake it off. That was freaky.
"Well, good morning, Wolverine."
That ain't good for sure. Aw damn.
Pinned up against a tree ain't bad, I like the outdoors, y'know, and I can imagine situations where I might not mind being in this position.
But Magneto using the metal in my bones to pin me half way up a hell of a tall-ass pine tree is something else y'know?
An' the sadistic son of a bitch is twisting at me too. He's playing with me. I can feel all the bones in my, everything shaking and quivering. Even my damn teeth are shaking with the strain he's puttin' on me. This ain't good, I thought we'd got away. This ain't old scores. What's he come here for?
That's just audacious. Turning his back on me. Why, if it were anyone else, he wouldn't have a back left to turn, I'd have torn his spine from his body. But where's he looking? Oh no, Marie!
"The reports were not exaggerated my dear."
She's good, not speaking, not moving, just watching him. But what's he talking about? What reports? Oh, I got a feeling this situation about to dive from bad times into full on cluster fuck territory...brace yourself baby.
"Yes, you may be surprised, but I have heard many tellings of your beauty, your aptitudes, your prowess, and of your virtue too. It is unkind to be so un-generous child, especially when you have so many admires and such ample bounty to share."
That fucking, dirty...
"Wolverine, if you growl like that and interrupt me again I shall be forced to punish you. I detest people interrupting and I do so hate to teach them manners so do not try my patience. Those claws will do you no good and if you threaten me with them once more, I shall tear them from your body, are we clear?"
"I've been following you for some time you see. The Rogue, the rarest, but I caught you. And with just the right guard dog too. This one is simply riddled with weakness. Metal, its 'll through him and the mastery over it, that's my gift."
Bastard! There he is drivelling away, who knew he was hunting her? Damn it, following her and why....oh, fuck. I'm just catching snatches of Mags's words now - he's got my bones rattling so much, but I cannot believe what I just heard him say. I mean, I've done some work, and I can't say different but my Marie, an assassin? That's Mags big plan? Damn coward, can't even make his own kills.
Well question is, how the hell are we gonna get out of this now?
End Notes:
I'm sorry for the cliffhanger! The next chapter will be up sooooon. I can't believe we are only 2 hits away from 1000 views. Gratitude for support, reads and reviews!
Author's Notes:
Thank you everyone for reading! This is my first fight scene and it's all from Logan's POV but don't worry, we are going to hear from Marie soon and she really has some opinions to share. I got quite stuck with this chapter - hence the delay. But it's finally here and now the cliff hanger is resolved so on with the fic...
Oh god dammit, the stakes have just been upped and we are gambling everything here on this fight. I know God ain't given me any miracles before but I need one now.
That bastard Sabretooth is prowling around Marie, so as far as I'm concerned, the need to end this messed up situation now and get the hell out of dodge is 3 feet high and rising.
Look at him, stepping up to her, trying to intimidate her by gettin' too close. I don't know if he's showing' bravado or idiocy, don't he know 'bout her skin? He's got healing like me though, so I suppose if he touched her it wouldn't kill him, not right away, I don't think. I ain't seen anything that could kill me yet and it ain't for lack of lookin'.
Aww, damn. I just can't think about him touchin' her - I can't breathe up here, I can't get out, can't help her, can't stop him running his fingers over her hair, those grimy claws down her neck, that asshole needs to take his hands offa my...uh offa Marie.
I dunno what she's playin' at. She's just standin' there. Come on baby, stay strong. I just dunno, she can't run, can't fight back, can't call anyone for help, she's only got me and I'm stuck up this tree like a damn Christmas fairy. I ain't protectin' her like I should. Dammit all.
Mags is still blabbering on at me. He ain't lookin' where I'm lookin' and oh shit, that's done it. Sabretooth just snuck his paws down her back an' by the looks of her jumpin' and lettin' out that little scoff of disgust, I'm guessing the dickhead tried to cup her ass. But it looks like I ain't the only one who flipped into blind rage at the sight of that.
Magneto took his attention from me and stepped back to Marie, protecting his prey I suppose, we all know Sabertooth plays rough with his toys.
Mystique is heading over there too. You know I heard on the grapevine those two were havin' it off. Sick thought, but it looks like that might be so as Mystique is one pissed off mutant an' she's ova there tugging her man away from my girl. Thank Jesus.
* * * * *
Goddamn that girl is something. So that sicko Sabretooth was...well, anyway my girl wasn't gonna stand for that and she's smart. So when Magneto rushed over to stop Sabretooth mauling his new assassin-to-be my Marie reached up and musta touched Magneto under his cloak collar, I think, cos he dropped like a god damn rock. Well that was all well and good but it gave me a nice 50 foot drop from this pine tree. I healed pretty quick though, luckily bucket head hadn't bent my bones around this time so it was jus' the drop I was recovering from.
Well I jumped right into it and made up for lost time. Mystique stepped up and took me on first, I was just gonna claw her and carry right on because I owed Sabretooth a slow death for even thinkin' 'bout touchin' Marie but Mystique changed didn't she? Bitch turned into a bear again and this was a bear on steroids I'm tellin' ya.
But Marie, she was so quick. She looped the chain out from under the sleeve of her coat and I saw her throw it towards the damn bear. Now a chain, even a heavy one, won't knock out an animal that size but the chain, it flew up and wrapped itself around blue bitch's throat, choking her. I can't say that didn't do my head for a second before I realised it was Marie controllin' the chain. Turns out she gets mutants powers too an' she got a handle on Magnetos. Well Mystique transformed didn't she. But all creatures have to breathe and Marie kept that chain there and put her down for the count.
'Course, that left Sabretooth for me to deal with. Now I can take that mangy son of a bitch any day of the week, but here's where I got clever, or lucky, one or the other. See I knew just what he was after. I could smell it on him that he was very interested in Marie. He was transfixed, an' it made him reckless.
You'd think when I saw him goin' for her that I'd turn berserker or somethin' but ferals, we ain't stupid. You gotta ask yourself, what would help Marie in that situation? Sabretooth threatened my mate, so what would keep her protected - well, it ain't me gettin' my frustrations out in a go'round with that overgrown cat, that's for certain. Marie was the priority in all this, got it?
I ain't gonna relay it blow-by-damn-blow. But I cut his ass up and laid it down in the woods. Scattered all the pieces 'round too. He might heal, I dunno. But he ain't gonna be fighting us for a time that's for sure.
But Marie, she was so good. She told me how she tapped into her training when she absorbed Magneto, looked at him as a resource and jus' pulled out what she needed.
She said it was like stripping a corpse or claiming supplies from a conquered town. She sounded so I dunno, distant when she said it, like it was just part of the fight and didn't hurt her, but I dunno, I've made corpses an I've taken what I needed from them an I can't say it was practical or matter or fact. Didn't make for good sleep at night either, and she may have this training in her head but she's still just a girl really.
Shit. I don't know what to do with stuff like this, she needs someone who gets it. Who can help her y'know, understand and process this shit. Someone who knows how to be comforting.
All I did was pull her over to me across the truck an keep holdin' on to her.
Marie.
We made a good team there, she fits me well like she's made, like a ma... Like a mate, I .... In the fight, I recognised, I said. Oh damn. Oh hell, no. She's a good woman, she don't need no broken old messed up bad ass like me.
But really now, it's gone too far for that. I don't think we got an option anymore. Not really. I want to give her the option, I do. I mean, I can want her, but it's her choice. If she chooses me. Damn me, didn't remember tears, they sting, shit, look away, look away Logan, get it together.
I know I wanna keep her close but, it ain't safe now. Not when they're after her as some world class assassin. Not when they got Mags an' he can take me out any time he likes. I can't have her go through that again, absorbing assailants. Seein' me helpless pinned up a tree, not bein' able to stop that dirty....
Ain't it ironic, just when we asked for a safe place, God or whoever gives us a fuckin' ultimatum like this. With me she'd be runnin' all the time an never safe then. But it don't have to be like this.
I know somewhere she can go, they can help her there, help her with all those people she told me she got her head, with all the trauma and shit.
An I can go hunt down Mystique an I gotta find a mercenary for Magneto, we gotta take him out somehow.
I don't wanna do it, I don't but she's gotta go to New York.
We can't fly, an I ain't drivin' they know the truck and we ain't got time to forge the papers to get a new one. God damn, I'll have to sneak her onta a train.
But if I'm gonna be lettin' the geeks do Marie sittin' for a while, we're gonna need some funds. Funds for the travel, for her to keep her safe when she's down in New York. I ain't relyin on Xavier, I'm lookin' out for Marie. Then I need some serious cash to go hunting those bastards. Mercenaries ain't cheap either, an once I'm underground there's no poppin' up to play King of the Cage every 6 months. I got some money socked away but we need to get Marie outta here quickly.
Hey, she's shakin'. She's -
"Marie?"
"Come on darlin, we can't stop now, we gotta haul ass to the province line and get on outta here. Now baby, don't worry but we gotta get you outta here so we need cash money and we need it now. I don't wanna take ya in some dive bar, but darlin' I gotta fight so we're gonna make a stop on our way outta Dodge ya hear?"
Oh hell, that ain't a good look on her, no sir.
End Notes:
I was going to make them go together but a certain reviewer said she hoped they didn't separate, and that put the idea in my head! Sorry.
Author's Notes:
It's a little late. I went to write on Sunday and just fell asleep and slept through till this morning. My body needed it but my goodness it made today full of work. Still happy Easter, we wish you peeps (no, not plot bunny infested ones, safe ones). As always thanks for reading, reviews are very much appreciated! New beginning updated - I thought the last chapter was a bit short, I'd missed a whole section in posting - that'll teach me to post fic at 1.30am, won't it?
Disclaimer: No profit is made, all characters and everything is owned by Marvel and 20th Century Fox. No copyright infringement here.
This isn't boiling rage, mah feelings aren't bubbling, roiling or simmering through me. This is far beyond that. I am effervescent, incandescent with anger. I'm surprised I ain't got sparks comin' off the ends of mah hair.
"Logan! Ah can't believe what Ah'm hearin'."
"I know darlin', it ain't fair Magneto an' all comin' along now and I know we only just met but darlin', I gotta keep you safe an' New York's gonna be safest right now."
"Logan, you shut your mouth right now! Where the h-e-l-l do you get off tellin' me you're gonna ship me off to some 'friends' of yours like a lost little dog or some parcel you picked up some place?"
"Ah am a grown woman an' let me tell you Ah spent 19 years gettin' by perfectly well without the big bad-ass Logan ridin' to mah rescue."
"Ah even got from deepest Mississippi all the way up to Canada all on mah own."
"Look Marie, it ain't safe, it's different now, it's my job to protect you. I gotta get you safe then hunt down those fu... y'know Mystique an' Magneto."
"Logan, you are not goin'" "Marie!"
He's growlin' now, the words are comin' out all snarled up.
"Marie, you jus' don't understand, I know it seems like an adventure to you darling' and I know you wanna stick with me but some things....you're jus' too young to understand. I gotta to this, for our sake"
Too young? Too young? The nerve, is that what he thinks of me? Well, I'll show him.
Ah'm jus' gonna sit here tight and let him stew. Ah ain't speaking to his sorry self, listening to him justify why he wantsta ship me of across the country to his fancy babysitters.
******
Ah guess some people are just born waiting to be killed.
We walked into that bar, it looked burned out nearly from the outside, but the lights were on and there sure were people inside of it.
Ah could tell Logan was still antsy from our fight and still itchin' to talk. It was heart battling pride there, that was plain to see but Ah wasn't going to back down. Ah think from how he was that he was regretting what he said to me but Ah just don't care.
So both smartin', we walked on inta the club and Logan just got more an more het up from the moment we entered.
I don't know if anyone else would notice he was so tightly wound, he sauntered up to the bar an greeted the bar tender, casual. Got me situated on a stool at the bar. Helpin' me up which was nice. He is a good man, even if he does put those big feet in his mouth from time to time.
He was shootin the breeze with the bar tender, sippin on the beer he'd ordered, trying to keep the conversation to a minimum, Ah could tell, an still get in as a late contender in the fight.
Ah was sippin' on mah whiskey. When Ah tried to order a simple beer, he shot me a look like Ah should be havin' a glass o' warm milk an maybe some animal crackers alongside.
Ah'm sure Ah bridled so much, it must have been visable clear across that crowded, smokey room.
If he thinks Ah'm so darn young, what's he doing checkin' out mah ass every time Ah have to walk to the bathroom? An all those not-so-covert glances at mah girls? An if the man 'adjusts' himself much more Ah'm gonna have to ask him if he wants me to step out for a minute so he can have some alone time. Honestly.
We're sittin' at the bar, waiting for the fights an along comes some low woman. She's got a dress cut up to her panties and the bodice cut down to near her nipples. She coulda had a sign round her neck but that dress said it all. As did her brassy hair an' streaky fake tan, ugh.
She slides on up, wobbling in her cheap 6 inch heels, an lookin' at Logan like ain't wearing a stitch.
She leaned on the bar an' gave him an even better view, running her fake nails up his arm and tryin' out a pathetic excuse for a sex kitten purr.
Ah am a Christian woman an' Ah will be patient with a lot of things. But lookin' at mah man like he's something on a plate served up with parsley and potatoes? Oh no.
"Excuse me ma'am"
Oh yes, it ain't just manners, she's sure as sugar old enough to be ma'am.
"Ah think you need to turn yourself around, we are having a private conversation here, thank you very much."
She looked at me like a puppy had bitten her.
"Oh baby, me and your Daddy here, we just got a lot to talk about. Why don't you run along huh?"
Oh no, oh no, what is it with these people? Ah am 19 years old and not a baby, Ah'm certainly not her baby.
Huh, she's got Logan riled now too.
"Listen doll, I'm not interested alright? I know we maybe fooled around before and I know you're into the cage an all but I'm here with this one tonight, got it?"
"Oh honey, she's just a girl, she don't know what you like. You want an experienced woman, like me. Why she's just a virgin, you won't be able to go properly, it'll be all tears and 'hold me' and never getting off..."
Well, like I say, with some people it's a natural result of their stupidity, an this one, she was gonna get herself killed pretty quick by the looks of things.
"You shut that ugly mouth!"
She should have known better than to push him. Ah myself don't know what to do with a nasty piece like her. Ah am sitting right here, how can she just ignore me so?
"I'm sorry, I know it must be hard for you when you haven't been neutered yet but you must try and keep it under control, get a leash or something because you are not just embarrassing yourself, you are embarrassing all of us too. He'd never look at you anyway."
**********
God - Marie, just then. I know that woman was hangin' offa me, practically grinding up against me right here at the bar, and the smell offa her, Jesus.
Still, somehow I like that she gets all territorial of me, feels good somehow, it fits. I'm so angry now though, do up I gotta get in the cage soon, work some of this off, get the money, get Marie safe. Yeah, that's the plan.
An now dammit, on toppa all these assholes checkin' out Marie (I know they think i cant see them lookin' sideways at her, droolin' into their beers but I can smell and see and wanna gut every last one of them). On toppa all that, now I got an uppity Marie wanting to earn money with a performance.
Hell, don't she understand, they don't want her kinda performance here. The only kind these assholes are interested in is under her dress dancing. Look at them all panting after her...
Shit, that's the click of a gun being cocked, Marie! Right, turn round, slowly.
"Oh sugar, Ah ain't scared of that little pistol."
Great, just great. Oh God, give us a break, while I been busy eyeballin' all the bastards wantin' in Marie's panties, Bleach Blonde who Marie insulted has come back an she's brought back up in the form of a gun levelled at Marie's head.
Marie of course, bein' a crazy woman I love, is not scared. No, my little bad ass is bendin' down - God dammit baby - an drawin' up her skirt.
All eyes in the bar are on us now an some joker shouting,
"What's she hiding under there? A Kalashnikov?"
Fucker, but I can't move - need to concentrate on Marie.
Damn me, as she pulls up those skirts every man in the joint swallows and shifts in his seat. That's how hot this is. I'm just grateful to be seeing it and so angry that it's not for me alone.
She didn't even realise she was getting' off so many men at once, it could have been a record.
She bent from her waist, drew up her skirts, layers and layers of lace and satin pulled back to reveal legs that went on forever and made you thank God you were alive to see them.
She's a work of art.
Right up, past the tops of her stockings and oh fuck, a creamy suspender belt and she's got a little hunting knife tucked into her garter.
Now what do you suppose she's planning to do with that? There ain't much you can...
Well, I suppose you can do that. That girl's got balls and no mistaking it.
She threw the knife right at Blondie and pinned her big ass hair-do to the wall of the bar. Blonde is waling an dropped her little pistol.
Marie...I suppose what should I expect from a woman who was holding a man twice her size up against the bar the first night I met her. Damn good woman.
She must have been something at cotillion I'll tell ya that.
I'm gonna take her arm, back us outta her slowly then run like hell. No money now but gettin' my girl away from a bunch of riled up locals is the next step.
*******
Ah appreciate that Logan protects me, an he seems to like that Ah got a little territorial myself with that woman sniffin' round him.
He's twitchy now,
"I dunno how to say it ok? But this is something."
"It was giving you a ride then all the attacks and shit an now, Marie I'm thinking of you as mine ok? I mean, uh, I like you an uh. I wanna stick together. I know you deserve better an got better options but shit, it's like life's thrown us together an I want to protect you, I wamt you to know, ok?"
Oh God, did he say that? Oh God. Logan...Ah'm breathless.
"Logan, Ah can handle myself but Ah ain't lookin elsewhere."
"Ah liked you from the beginning, and Ah will till whatever ends me. Ah know it might sound morbid but it's what Ah can give. Ah think together we got a good shot of making it work too."
"Ah like you so much even when you're bein a pigheaded fool, or trying' to fuss me about shipping me off to some place in New York City. That Ah still ain't going to."
"But you shouldn't have to handle yourself, I wanna make us a home Marie, darlin', I want us to be safe together, a team, a home."
"Darlin', it's tearing' my heart up but I can't be selfish. I can't keep you where its dangerous, you should, you need to go away for now..."
"I can't keep you with me just because I want to, you deserves better."
Here comes the angst again. This man!
"Ah could say mah skin it too dangerous but you don't see me puttin' obstacles in our way, we will work it out and Ah ain't leavin."
He's pullin the truck over now, stopping to turn to me.
"I'm tryin to let you be independent darlin, trying to give you some space to choose."
"I gotta to after Mystique, gotta find a way to take out Mags cos they're never gonna give up on you baby, you need to know that."
"Ah don't want you to go."
"Look, darlin,"
He's pullin me towards him, it's all blurry with my tears now but Ah'm tucked into his chest, half pulled on his lap. Listening to his voice rumbling, his scent, his heartbeat. He's taking big breaths too, this is hard on him too.
He's shifting me up an pullin at his collar...
"Darlin', here, I'm givin' you my tags, so you know you're mine and the rest of em know too ok. You'll always have this of me to hold onto, and I'm comin back for em."
End Notes:
Thank you for coming on this story with me (yes please to reviews)
xxxxx
Author's Notes:
Final chapter!
I know, it's been an age - we've had visitors and struggles and tons of work, and lots of other things you don't want ton know about because you are here for Rogan!
I'm making it up to you with a love scene and hope I'm forgiven.
Thank you so much to GoodKarmaPlease, WitchBaby, and all of my reviewers. You made writing my first fic so much fun! Thank you to Terri and LachlanRose for the encouragement and such amazing stories.
On with the fic. Once again, reviews are welcome!
"Ah don't want you to go."
"Look, darlin,"
He's pullin me towards him, it's all blurry with my tears now but Ah'm tucked into his chest, half pulled on his lap. Listening to his voice rumbling, his scent, his heartbeat. He's taking big breaths too, this is hard on him too.
He's shifting me up an pullin at his collar...
"Darlin', here, I'm givin' you my tags, so you know you're mine and the rest of em know too ok. You'll always have this of me to hold onto, and I'm comin back for em."
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Curled up on Logan's chest, well, it's not like there are a lot of other places Ah'd rather be. So why on this earth is mah mind wandering now? Ah'm just playing over all he said in mah head, like Ah'm looking for the gaps. But the man doesn't make mistakes an' it's hard but Ah just don't wanna go down to New York.
Hold on. Choice. He said he wants me ta make the right choice. That means its not all as cut an' dried as he's trying to tell me.
"Logan!"
Huh, that woke him up.
"Wait just one cotton pickin' minute. Mah Lord, you had me there, Mister"
"Marie, I mean it, I...."
"You said choice."
"I what? I, oh, yeah"
"That's right, choice, that means Ah have a choice and mine is to stay with you"
"Goddammit Marie! I'm takin' ya to the train station now. I can't risk drivin' ya down now. Not now those bastard have seen the truck. We ain't earned enough money for a new one."
"All that in the bar, Ah know Logan, but Ah ain't sorry, she was wrong to do what she did an' she knows it now"
"Marie the whole damn province knows it now. Ya think you could be any more conspicuous darlin? Let off some flares or somethin?"
He's smiling through. Ah know he's not mad really. Ah think he might be a little proud to tell the truth.
"Ya say ya can take care of yourself so it's train Marie."
Ah ain't gonna cry, An ain't. Ah ain't gonna argue now either, just gonna savour this time with him.
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Crappy train station. An that old engine don't look like its gonna make it out the town limits let alone across a damn country. Aw shit, this was a bad idea. But look at it, the alternatives ain't any better.
Just gotta keep her safe. I'll put her the the carriage with the guard and take him for a little talkin to first, just so he knows to keep his hands offa her.
I stopped off a few towns back too, told Marie I was lookin' for cigars and I found some dumbass an scared him into givin me his rifle. I'll stash it in the train with Marie. That should get her safe to Westchester. An I know she's a fine shot.
Damn it gets to me sometimes, comes over me all sudden. Girl can move like hot butter meltin' an shoot like a sniper. She's a hell of a woman.
Oh fuck.
Wait, I smell blue bitch on the breeze.
"Oh baby, Marie I'm so sorry darlin'"
"Logan, what?"
"It's Mystique, she's here. There is no other option now baby, we have to run."
Get goin' darlin, come on. Shit, she's too slow, I know Mags'll be here any minute. We can't get caught again, we might not make it alone. I'm not ready, shit, shit.
Ok, grab Marie, grab the bags, the rifle, run.
Back in the truck, we gotta burn rubber.
"I'm sorry baby we gotta go hide out. I got a cabin, right up in the mountains. No one knows about it an it's a damn hard climb to get to but we can make it if we move now."
"I can't get your safe to New York now. I'm so sorry Marie, I let you down. But I gotta be smart an if I take on Mags again right now, he might get you before I can stop him. Shit, I'm sorry Marie but they took our choice away, the decision's made for us now."
"No, Logan. I made the decision right back at the beginning. I aways wanted to stay with you."
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Ah woke up all at once.
When Ah woke up Ah was on already, all tingling. I glanced over at him across the white sheets, sun sapping his face through the trees outside our window. Watched his smile, felt his fingers running up and down my spine. Trails of tingling pleasure spreading out over my whole body. Nerve endings alight in delight.
He pulled me towards him, hands over my hips, my sides. It was all panting, sounds, sensation, feeling him against my back, the thrill of anticipation.
Suddenly Ah flipped on top and started moving over him. Ah know what he likes. It's all new to me, sure. Mah gloves trailing over his chest, watching his eyes flit across mah body under the filmy nightgown. We got it special mail order and dropped off at the post office in the nearest town. Course nearest town is nearly 75 miles away, an it takes a days drive an hike. But we got some good stuff an been having some good fun.
You'd think it'd be hard with mah skin and his claws but it's just us. It's the only type of love both of us have known an it's workin just fahn for us thank you.
His claws, Ah like em. We figured out he can touch me on mah bare skin with this claws. Ah love it most when he pulls down the straps of my gown and runs the blunt side of his warm, smooth claws over the tips of my breasts. Mah oh mah.
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Lying over her, her scent, the smells, her smile, it's all consuming.
My mind just fills up with images - Marie's body moving, Marie smiling up at me, under me. Marie next to the fire, eating across the table from me, licking cream off her cheek, pink tongue darting out. Marie, in the bath in front logs fire, blushing from the heat and from my gaze.
Tasting her, the sounds I wring from her lips, she's a little kitten and wild too, I love both. Moving inside her, soft, hot, and that moment she looks at me, and flies apart in my arms. She comes over for me, and gives it all to me with. I follow.
After in my arms. This is love and I don't mind saying it. We had to run up to the cabin but we made it before the winter snows. It's just us here now, tucked away. We ain't got bored yet either, heh.
I make her take the tags off in bed, there's no need for them here. No need to mark her, she knows she's mine and I'm hers.
I bury myself in her body.
The curve of her neck, scent of them there, the place of us.
End Notes:
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