They made a good team. They always had. Somewhere along the way, she forgot how good they were together. It had been a sign to her when she was younger about how much they belonged together. Now, years later, fighting by his side, brought those feelings back. She didn’t -want- them back. She really, really didn’t.

She cursed when she took a bullet to her arm, the searing pain pissing her off. She fought the feeling though. Anger would only cloud her mind and she needed to be clear-headed. Concentrating briefly, she brought Logan’s healing to the surface. The wound healed quickly, and she turned in time to take Scott from Wolverine so he could take out some grunts that were guarding the exit.

When she breathed in the crisp night air, she felt herself smile. They ran for the surrounding forest, heading for his truck. Marie took to flight as to not injure Scott further, but when she looked down at him, she cursed and stopped.

“Logan!” He quickly ran to her side as she lowered Scott to the ground.

“What is it?”

“He’s not breathin’.”

“Shit. Know CPR, darlin’?” he asked, his body tense.

She nodded, “I’ll do the breaths if you do the compressions.” He hesitated for a second and she growled. “Fucking grow up, Logan!”

He frowned at her and moved into the proper position to do the compressions. After working for a few minutes, she cursed and moved away. “It’s not workin’.” Logan sat back, his posture defeated. Marie took a deep breath, her jaw working. “I’m gonna do something. I need you to be ready to catch me.”

“What?”

She shook her head and focused on Scott. “I’ve never failed before. You ain’t ruining my average, Scott.” With that, she placed her lips on his and focused on all of her stolen healing abilities. She forced herself to push out instead of pulling in.

She knew it was working when she started to feel faint and the coppery smell of her blood reached her nose as her earlier wound opened. When Scott took a breath against her, she smiled slightly before the world went dark.

As Marie woke, all she could feel was blinding pain all over her body. “oh, fuck.” she whimpered.

Cool hands lightly touched her brow, soothing her. She heard words spoken, but couldn’t make them out. It wasn’t long before she found herself drifting off again, a drug induced haze clouding her mind.

She felt as if her body was hovering, a different feeling than flying. She felt peace she hadn’t felt in years surrounding her. Unbidden, everything came back to her. The love she felt for Logan, the pain of his betrayal. The loneliness of all the years alone, then the acceptance as she resigned herself to her new life. But mostly, the guilt of all her years of killing hit her all at once. She cried out as she felt as if her heart were being ripped out.

“Damn it, Jeannie! Do something!” Logan watched helplessly as Marie thrashed violently on the table.

“I’m trying! I never had a chance to fully research her mutation. I don’t know what will help her and what will hurt her!” she cried out, her hands moving over Marie’s body swiftly. She couldn’t find any injuries, and knowing what she had done for Scott didn’t help at all. By all accounts, she should now be fine. But instead, she struggled violently.

Jean met Hank’s gaze over her body and saw that he was as confused and helpless as her. Just then, Marie sent Hank flying across the room. Logan moved to hold her down as Hank shook his head to clear it and once again approached the table. He flinched when Marie started to scream, the sound filled with pain.

Jean grabbed the sedative she had used earlier, pushing it through her usually invulnerable skin. Marie calmed slowly, the only sign of her previous stress muscle spasms across her entire body. Logan slowly released her, his worried gaze following the rapid, jerky breaths she took. He dared a quick look at her heart monitor, his own sinking as he took in the erratic beeping.

“We don’t have much time.” Jean said softly, “We have to find out what’s wrong with her.” She and Hank moved to the machine beside the table, pouring over the readouts. They talked softly, but quickly, combining their medical knowledge.

Logan tuned them out and moved to Marie’s head. He took her hand and brushed the hair from her face. “Please don’t do this, baby. I know you’re mad at me, but you’re stronger than this. Come on, I know you still wanna kick my ass a few more times.” he kissed the back of her hand and pressed her palm to his face. “I’m sorry. For all those women. I knew it hurt you, but…I just didn’t know how to deal with my feelings for you. They fucking scared me Marie. Every day I looked at you and saw my future. Kids, the white picket fence, even a damn dog.

“And when I accepted my feelings, I did everything all wrong. Whenever I thought about telling you how I felt, I stopped because I felt guilty. You were so young and being with me would have taken all that from you. But I thought that if I got you to come to me instead, I could forget the guilt because you’d made the decision on your own.” He stopped and looked at the monitor, a feeling of dread coursing down his spine as the already erratic beeping started to slow.

“No! Don’t you fucking dare Marie! Please, darlin’.” He kissed her softly, “We’ve already lost so much time. Don’t leave me when I just found you again. I love you. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. Please.” There was no difference and Logan could feel hot tears running down his face.

In the face of losing his mate, the Wolverine did what he did best. He got mad. “Damn it Marie! Don’t you do this. I’ll follow you. I swear to fuck I’ll find a way. You gotta come back so I can kick your ass for running out on me. Then I'll make sure you spend the next ten years pregnant and barefoot cooking for me.” he ignored the gasp of feminine outrage from Jean in favor of Marie’s strengthening heartbeat. “That’s right baby. You wanna kick my ass now, don’t you?”

When he felt Marie’s mutation flare, leaving him weak, he smiled. He placed one hand on either side of her face and kissed her intently. It wasn’t long before he collapsed, but he was smiling.

Logan woke slowly, an unfamiliar stiffness in his limbs. He sat up slowly, stretching. Looking around, he saw he was still in the med-lab. When he saw Marie on the table beside him, he frowned and moved to her. Her breathing was steady and calm, and the rhythmic beeping of the monitor soothed his nerves instead of annoying him. Brushing a hand across her face, he found her skin warm and soft. When he heard the door open, he turned to see Scott, fully healed and smiling. When he saw Scott without his glasses, he shot him a confused look.

“What the hell, Scooter?”

“Nice to see you too, Logan.” he said wryly. He cocked his head to the side, “You are one ugly son of a bitch, you know that?”

“Screw you, Scott.” he said grumpily, but with affection. “What happened with your glasses?”

Scott gave a slight shrug, “Jean thinks that when Marie gave me her power, she also gave me control.”

“Congrats.”

“Thanks, Logan.”

They both turned back to Marie and Scott moved to hold her hand. “She woke up for a few minutes a couple of hours ago. Didn’t say much, but she smiled at me.”

Logan grunted, “I was wonderin’.”

“She’ll be okay, Logan. I heard you two have a lot to talk about.”

Logan glared at him, “Go fuck your wife, Scooter.”

Scott smirked and with a mock salute, left the room.

Logan turned back to Marie and ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “I know you’re awake, darlin’.”