Title: “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Notes: Set after X2.
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The mission hadn’t been particularly tough, just odd. Magneto had been up to his old tricks again, building machines and making little gadgets to try and kill humankind and make mutants the superior race.
“God, the man could give Hitler a run for his money,” Marie whispered to herself as she stepped into her bath. The water was way too hot, but she didn’t care. She liked the sting it gave her skin. Her muscles were sore, and she craved for them to ease. The heat would help.
They had taken the site easily from the mutants Magneto had left behind to guard it. The Logan in her head had commented that it was too easy, but Scott had simply put it down to good planing and excellent intel. That seemed to annoy inner-Logan even more.
She smiled to herself at the thought of Logan, then she frowned. They had been having a secret fling for about two months. Well, it was completely secret apart from the Professor and Hank: the Professor because they didn’t think it was right to try and lie to a telepath, and Hank because he caught them having a heavy kissing session in the X-Men locker room. They hadn’t made love yet, but she knew that Logan had wanted to. They had done nearly everything else, but they still hadn’t taken that final step.
They’d asked both men to keep it to themselves because even though they knew they wanted to be together, they weren’t sure where it was all heading. Marie knew; she knew she loved him, knew that she wanted it to last forever. But Logan, well, Logan didn’t know, because he was a guy and guys never know.
But then again, that was before he left. In the middle of the day, Xavier had given him some information about his past, and he took off without so much as a goodbye, see you soon. He had called once, but she had yelled at him before he had a chance to apologise. He hadn't called again. That was nearly three and a half months ago.
She didn’t think it was a good start to their relationship. She had never had a serious relationship before. Bobby didn’t count. She’d been a kid and so had he. Remy certainly didn’t count. She had dated him for 4 months when he first arrived on the team, and literally five minutes after she slept with him, after she gave him her virginity and her trust, he had changed. He had turned nasty and cruel, telling her spiteful things and walking away with a smile and a cocky ‘thank you for a good lay.’
She had been too shocked to do anything but cry. The next day was another matter altogether. They had all been asked to run combat scenarios with Logan and Scott. Scott had paired her with Remy. Scott asked Remy to demonstrate a chokehold on her.
As Scott talked about the hold to the rest of them, Remy had whispered in Marie’s ear that she was the best fuck he had had in years, and he had some friends who would gladly pay for the same. Marie had lost it and let Logan out of her head to play. The end result was severe bruising to his groin, six stitches across the top of his left eye and a broken arm.
She smiled again as she eased her head back against the bathtub, the strawberry smell of her bath oil filling her senses. She looked at the bathwater and shook her head. It must have been a botched batch because every time she used it, it turned the water a deep red colour, like blood.
She didn’t mind too much because the smell was so relaxing. It just looked a little disturbing seeing her body half submerged in blood. She giggled to herself and closed her eyes, letting the heat from the water soothe her aching muscles.
She retreated into her mind, and her inner-Logan began to give her a rather detailed fantasy about how the real man might feel seeing her right now. The sight and especially the smell of blood always had him immediately close to the edge.
It would be desire, raw emotion, and primal need. It would be rough. There would be long nails tearing hard tanned skin, blunt teeth marking milky white flesh. Soft cries and gasps of pleasure that would build into screams of ecstatic abyss.
He showed her how the water would feel against her sex, how his fingers would feel soothing her desire and releasing her of her need. How he would enter her brown curls submerged in the thick water and bring her to the point where the world outside no longer existed while whispering crude things in her ear. She was so lost in the images before her, she never heard the Harley pull into the driveway.
Logan was fast on his way to see Marie. According to Scott, she had taken a beating, not bad, but enough to make him want to check her over. He entered her room and smirked at the strawberry smell combined with the thick musky scent of her arousal coming from the bathroom. He knocked on the bathroom door but didn’t get any answer. He knocked again and walked in.
She was in the tub, a pale hand hanging limply over the edge. The water was deep red. “Oh God, No!” He ran to the tub and grabbed her hand and yanked her hard from the water.
She woke up with a start, being hauled unceremoniously out of her bath. “EEPPP!” She pushed on his chest, and he finally put her down.
“Jesus Christ, Marie! I thought you were dead!”
She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her to cover her nakedness. “What the hell were you thinking? Could you smell blood? Did you not hear me breathing?”
“I’m sorry, but I just saw you there lying in what looked like a pool of your own blood and panicked!” He got close to her and put his gloved hands on either side of her face. “You alright?”
She pushed him away. “Get out!”
“Marie…”
“I. Said. Get. Out! NOW!”
He got close to her face. “FINE!”
“FINE!”
She jumped as her door slammed, and she could hear him muttering and swearing to himself as he stomped off to his room. She dried herself off roughly and got dressed. She looked at herself in the mirror and took in what she saw. Baggy jeans and a sweater.
“No, let’s make him see what he’s been missing.” She changed into her best black jeans; they looked like they were made specifically to cling to her skin. She put on a long-sleeved black top that cut off just below her breasts exposing a deadly wide strip of skin. She straightened her hair, put on minimal make-up and her best short leather gloves.
She didn’t bother knocking, she just barged in and started shouting at him. Only thing was, he wasn’t here. Leather jacket on the bed. Duffel bag on the floor. Freshly opened box of cigars on the nightstand. “Where the hell is he?”
“Scooter, for the last time, the scratch was already there. I haven’t had a crash or done anything to your precious bike.” The Professor smiled at both men as he wheeled himself behind his desk.
“Well, I don’t remember that scratch on the tank.”
“For fuck’s sake, it’s minuscule. It will probably just polish out.” He had been back for an hour, and already he had had enough. Marie was pissed as hell at him, and now Scott was being anal again. “You’re anal retentive.”
Scott smiled confidently and wagged a finger at Logan. “Anal retentive? No, detail-oriented.” He smiled again, and Logan actually laughed out loud. So did the Professor. Jubilee was already giggling on the plush couch as the two men traded insults.
Jubilee added. “It’s good to have you home, Logan.”
Marie marched into the garage and found it empty and silent, apart from a few pings from Scott’s cooling bike. She muttered to herself as she walked off back to the mansion. She was getting angrier by the moment and was slowly losing her ability to think rationally. “I’m going to kill him!” She heard Logan’s laugh as she passed Xavier’s office.
“Come in, Rogue.” Scott, Jubilee and Logan looked towards the door as it opened. She hadn’t even knocked, but Charles knew she was there.
She put on her best sarcastic tone. “Well, look what the cat dragged home! Nice trip? Thanks for the postcard, and the letter, and the phone call. Oh and the explanation that you were leaving in the first place and not forgetting the actual goodbye, you selfish bastard!”
He looked her up and down. He could smell the pure anger pouring off her, and it made her look sexy as hell. He couldn’t help but smirk smugly at her. If she was angry, it meant she cared. “Well, that wasn’t exactly the homecoming I was hoping for, darlin’.”
“Oh!” Without any warning, she slapped him hard across the face. His check blazed red for a split second and then went back to its natural tan. “That one work better for ya?”
If he didn’t want to nail her right now because of the pure energy, the anger in her, the passion and the way she was dressed, then he sure as hell did now. He may have even said he was in love. But Wolverines don’t say that.
He turned his face to hers and tried to match her anger, finding it difficult as all the energy in his body started to head south. “You think I would let just anyone get away with that?” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see ‘Ro with a shocked hand over her mouth.
Marie snorted a short laugh and put her hands on her hips challengingly. “And when exactly have I ever been afraid of you? Last time I checked, when it comes to me and you, you’re the one who always ends up decorating a table in the med lab.”
“God, you’re sexy when you’re pissed off!” With that, he snatched her quickly and kissed her. Her mutation kicked in and started to suck him in. He was on his knees in a second and then vaguely registered Marie and Scott helping him up.
Marie tried to sort out the quick fix she got from Logan. She got a mix of things. His mixed emotions over leaving straightaway. How he had been sad and rejected after she shouted at him over the phone. He had found a woman from his past, but she was dead. How good he felt when he rolled back into the front gates and the absolute joy and sexual possessiveness he felt when she walked into the room looking like original sin. It all gave her a lot of questions. “What is wrong with you? Do you want to spend the rest of the day in a coma?”
“Worth every second, darlin’.” He sat on the edge of the Professor’s desk with a dazed and smug look on his face.
Scott turned to the other occupants of the room and shrugged, looking confused. “Why do I get the feeling that we’ve all missed something?”
Marie laughed. “I’m sure ya’ll catch up eventually.” She walked over to Logan on the edge of the desk and hugged him. He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. “Welcome home, sugar. You have some explaining to do.”
“All in good time. For now I think maybe you and Scott should take Logan down to Hank for a quick check over.” Marie smiled at Xavier and nodded.
“Come on, you big idiot.” She grabbed Logan’s arm and pulled him away from the desk. He wobbled slightly, and she smiled again.
As they walked down the metal looking corridor, Logan rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. Jubilee and Marie were directly in front of him, chatting aimlessly. He looked at Marie’s back, her neck and her ass, then down her long legs. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from growling at the sight of her in sinfully tight jeans. He kept wondering where the hell she got those jeans from and where he could buy more pairs.
“So how long have you been seeing her?” Scott was walking next to him and had been asking stupid questions ever since they got into the elevator.
“Awhile.”
“So how do you….. you know?”
He smirked to himself. They hadn’t had sex, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t thought up a thousand ways that they could. Most were to do with silk bodysuits, scarves, gloves and lace tights. “I’m an imaginative guy, Scooter.”
Scott looked thoughtful. “She would have to be covered from head to foot. I can’t imagine how you could…you know, if she’s all covered…and what about…?”
“Scott, would you just shut up? We’re not…yet. This is none of your goddamned business!”
“Fine, sorry. God, I was just curious.”
“Yeah, well curiosity killed the cat, and I’ll gut you, so shut up.”
As they all entered the med lab, Hank looked up from his research papers and smiled at each of them. When he saw Logan, he got up and walked over to him ready to shake his hand. “Welcome home, dear boy. I trust your trip was fruitful?”
“Yes and no.” Logan looked at his feet, and Hank got the message that he didn’t want to talk about it right now.
Hank looked around at all of them excitedly. “Actually I’m glad you’re all here. I need some help with a little experiment with one of these contraptions.”
“What contraptions?”
“The mission this morning. We hijacked a bunch of gadgets from Magneto. They’re all a little weird. Hank’s been playing with them.”
“My dear Rogue, I have not been ‘playing’ with them. They have been under my scientific scrutiny.”
“Well before any of that, the Professor asked if you would check Logan over. He kissed Rogue, and her mutation gave him a little kick.” Scott still looked a little confused over the whole thing.
“Oh, yes, of course. Logan, please sit down.” Logan sat on the edge of the exam bed while Hank began to take his blood pressure. “So you and Rogue have made your relationship public now?”
“Hang on, dude, you knew? Rogue, girl, I’m your best friend. How come I’m the last to know?”
“We just wanted to keep it private for now, that’s all. Now you all know. Me and Logan are an item. You know, if he can manage not to run off without telling me again.”
“And what about that smack, darlin’?”
She smirked at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “What about the whole leaving me in the middle of the day? Never telling me you were leaving? One little smack, sugar. I think we’re even.”
“I’ll make it up to you.” He gave her his best lecherous stare while Hank was listening to his heartbeat.
“Damn straight you will, cowboy!” She bit her bottom lip. Hank had to open Logan’s shirt and lift up his wife-beater to listen to his heartbeat, and she was currently enjoying the view of his chest. Wide and muscular, tanned with a light covering of hair. She brought her eyes up to his and blushed when she realised he was watching her with dark lustful eyes.
God, she needed him. He had been away for what felt like years. She couldn’t deny it anymore. She wanted him, in every way. Because of a quick kiss, she knew that he wanted her too.
“Well you are, as usual, in perfect health. Your healing factor has taken away any ill effects that Rogue may have caused.”
“Thanks, doc.” Logan hopped off of the exam table with a confident smirk and closed in on Marie straight away. He put both his hands on her firm bottom and pulled her into his body. He smiled as he felt every one of her curves up against him. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything. I’ll explain all of this later when we’re alone.” She nodded.
Jubilee was sitting on the end of Hank’s desk and had a silly grin on her face as she watched Logan apologise. Scott was sitting next to her on the desk chair and looked like he was going to throw up. Hank coughed to get everyone’s attention.
“Now that we have established that Logan is in perfect health and that he and dear Rogue are indeed seeing each other, can I ask the four of you for some assistance?”
“Sure Hank, what’d ya need, furry dude?”
A wide grin spread across his face. “Follow me.” He led them through to another room behind the med lab. It housed all of his scientific equipment. Logan and Scott had been down here with him many times, but Marie and Jubilee hadn’t.
“What is all this stuff?”
Hank was fiddling with a strange machine. “Most of it is medical and genetic research equipment. This is where I investigate substances that we acquire on missions and investigate individual mutations, DNA, things like that.”
The machine that he was fiddling with was on a wooden pallet that had wheels on it. He pushed one side and positioned it in the centre of the room and locked the wheels. The machine itself was made out of a metal looking material. It was square and sticking out of each corner was an oval metal control panel that looked like a small steering wheel with a couple of rectangular-shaped buttons and a slot for a person’s hand to fit into.
“Now then, I have been looking over this machine and I haven’t been able to find any kind of use for it. It has removable panels underneath which contain a power cell. So whatever it does, it needs power, and it has power. I have tried about two hundred different combinations on the control panel buttons, but nothing makes it work.” He picked up his clipboard from the desk and walked back over to the group. “Also you will notice that each control panel has a hand impression. I have been able to determine that this is some kind of scanner, whether it digital or biological, I don’t know.”
“So what do you need us for?” Logan had taken a cigar out of his pocket and was chewing on the end.
“Well, I would like to test the possibility that in order to make it operate you have to push the buttons and use the scanner simultaneously. Obviously I only have two hands and I can’t press everything at the same time. So, if you would each kindly take a position behind a control panel?”
“You want us to test it?”
Hank picked up his clipboard and looked at Jubilee a little sheepishly. “If you wouldn’t mind, I think I would be better fitted to cataloguing the event and evaluating the machine’s power and capabilities.”
They all looked at each other and then at Hank. The pleading smile on his face made them sigh and take positions next to the machine’s control panels.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Scooter, you’re wrapped so tight, you have a bad feeling about everything.”
“I am not!”
“Scooter, you’re wrapped tighter than an airport sandwich.”
Both the girls laughed at them. “It’s taken less than two hours for you two to be sniping like an old married couple again.” Jubilee put her hand over her mouth to cover the giggle that was threatening to escape, but Rogue carried on talking. “I mean come on, the pair of you are, like, like…Oh god, Jubes, what are those two English interior designers called? You know, the gay ones?”
Jubilee couldn’t hold her laughter anymore and collapsed against her friend, snorting loudly. Scott crossed his arms across his chest and scowled while Logan pointed his finger at Marie. “You, little girl, are asking for trouble.”
“That a threat or a promise, sugar?”
“Pick one!” Marie smiled at the old reference they shared. It’s what he had said to her after he found her in his trailer. The difference between then and now was that this time she knew that he wasn’t really pissed at her. She knew how to read him now.
“Right then. If you would each take a position behind a control panel. I will count down from three. On my mark, everyone press both the buttons, and place your hands onto the scanner. All clear?”
The group nodded from their positions, Scott was the only one who spoke. “I still don’t like this.” Logan’s was to the left of Marie, then Jubilee, then Scott.
“Oh, button it, Scott. Come on, dude, what’s the worst that can happen?”
Marie threw her hands up in the air. “God, Jubes, don’t you know anything? You never say ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ because the worst thing always does happen.”
“Everyone ready?” Hank drew their attention again, and they nodded. “Good. Three, two, one, mark!”
All of them pushed their buttons and placed their hands onto the scanners. The machine started to hum loudly, and the metal began to vibrate under their hands. The hand scanners began to illuminate a beam of green light that swept down each of their hands. Then the light turned red.
White light took their vision from them and a hot electrical pulse filled their bodies. Each of them where thrown backwards against the walls of the room. Hank stood in the middle unsure of who to run to first. “Oh, my!”
***********END OF PART ONE
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary: “God, Jubes, don’t you know anything? You never say ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ because the worst thing always does happen.”