Title: Unconditional 8/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse./AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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“Remember us?”
They both had the decency to look embarrassed, caught out for their childish bickering. Marie wondered, as she looked at their sheepish faces, how on earth the two of them had become friends in the first place. They were so different.
“Fine, you two have a plan, that’s great. But while you’re storming the castle and killing the bad guys, where are Warren and I gonna be?”
Logan rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Scott, who shrugged his shoulders. “Um, we need to find somewhere safe for you to stay while we wrap this up.” He looked at Scott again. “Any ideas?”
“No. We can’t leave them here. We can’t take them to your place or mine. We could take them back to the precinct, but I don’t know if Markham had anyone else in on this. It might not be safe… I can’t think…”
“The diner!” They both looked at her. She was bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet, happy she had come up with the solution. “It’s always full of cops. Taxi drivers sometimes, but mostly cops. Who in their right mind would attack a diner full to the brim with police officers?”
“Good idea, darlin’. Let’s go.” They moved to the car, and Scott opened the driver’s door. Once again Logan stopped him. “I’m driving.”
Scott let go of the door and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
Scott moved round to the other side. Logan caught her arm before she opened the rear door. He smirked, and his lips came in quickly taking hers and making her moan. His free hand came up. He swept it across her collar bone and round behind her neck into her hair; she moaned again. He pulled away, sucking on her bottom lip as he went. Her lips glistened and reddened at the contact. She smiled shyly and turned away to Warren. He wanted to growl, shout, howl, sing at the feelings she gave him and the pure sexually energy that she brought out in him. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy and this turned on just from kissing someone so simply.
“Warren, get in the car. We’re going.” Warren looked up and watched Logan and Scott get in the car. He grabbed his bag and ran to the car where Marie got him in and tried to put on his seatbelt, but he batted her hands away frowning and mumbling that he was old enough to do it himself.
She tried to explain what was going on. “Logan and Scott are going to take us to the diner. We’re going to stay there for a little while, ok?”
“Ok. Are they going to get dad?”
Marie visibly winced. “Yeah, sweetie, they are.” She pulled him close to her, kissing the top of his head. “Warren, your dad isn’t a very nice man, and he’s been hurting people, innocent people…”
He moved to look at her face. “Like when he kidnapped me?”
“Yeah, like that. So you see, they’re going to arrest him.”
“I don’t have to see him again, do I? I don’t want that, mom.”
“I know. You won’t have to see him again. I promise, this will all be over soon, and we can go home and get on with our lives. You can get back to school and….”
“Arrr mom! I kinda like being off school.” He peered at her shyly trying to make her feel better, then he looked down again. “And I want to just be with you for a while.”
She smiled at him knowingly. “Ok, maybe you can have a little time off, but you’ll have to go back eventually, young man.”
He hugged her close and whispered to her. “Love you, mom.” She bit her lip and closed her eyes, momentarily overwhelmed with emotion and love for her little boy. He was so brave, and despite only being young he understood, completely and utterly.
Logan had listened to what she had said to her boy and found himself getting wound up by it. The kid was so with it, so together. His own father had been bad, but he hadn’t put him and Jean through half of what this kid had been through. Logan was still angry with his father, still not willing to let anyone close just in case they deserted him like his father had. He had never blamed his mother. She couldn’t help getting ill; she couldn’t help not being able to hold on any longer. But his father - he could have been there for them; he could have taken an interest instead of leaving them with their Aunt and leaving Logan to pick up the pieces for Jean. He had never dealt with losing his mother or being abandoned by his father. He had just buried it so he could help Jean.
He sat agitated in the car. The diner where Marie worked was less than five minutes drive from the docks, but they had got stuck in the lunchtime traffic. He knew why he was getting upset: he was jealous. Jealous of a ten-year-old boy, for having someone who gave a shit. “Why now, why now, does every person in Brooklyn want to be on the same road we do?” Logan’s patience was wearing thin, and he had leaned on the horn more than once in the last five minutes.
He looked at the traffic ahead: gridlocked. Looking to his left, he could see the park. The diner was just on the other side. He looked ahead again and then back to the park. You weren’t allowed to drive through the park; the road was purely for park services only and at this time of day it could be dangerous to people. But hell, this was an emergency.
He put the car into reverse and backed up about half a foot or so, narrowly avoiding the vehicle behind him. “Logan, what are you doing?”
“Put the light on the roof, Scott. We’re taking the park.”
“Logan, you’ve got to be kidding. There’ll be people everywhere!” The car lurched forward as Logan took off through the park road. After a lot of cussing, Scott got the magnetic red police light on the top of the car and flicked it on.
They raced through the narrow winding road through the park, Logan concentrating fiercely on the road ahead and the obstacles in his way. Joggers, mostly woman in twos, darted out of the car way. A dog walker with five Afghans on leads dove out of the way onto a patch of grass. As he fell, he let go of the dogs, and they all ran in different directions. There were people in suits just trying to enjoy the sunshine on their lunch breaks; they moved as far aside as they could and stared at the BMW with disdain as it roared past. A few graced Logan with some choice language and hand signals, but he was too caught up in steering the car to notice.
Warren sat in the back of the car hanging on to the seat, a huge grin plastered on his face. As Logan narrowly missed a girl on roller skates and she sailed sideways into a rather prickly and vast-looking rosebush, he laughed. “Cool!”
Marie glared at Warren but then had to secretly admit that it was very exciting. They exited the park, and the tyres screeched at the change of road surface. As they pulled into the small parking lot of Roly’s Diner, Scott flicked off the light and replaced it into the car. “You’re completely crazy, Logan. You could have killed about forty people just then.”
“Oh relax, would ya? We’re here, aren’t we?” He turned to Marie in the back seat. “I’ll take you two in and make sure it’s all clear…” He looked at Scott, determination written all over his face. “Then we’ll get moving.” Scott nodded.
Marie took him round to the rear entrance, and they went in that way. The minute she walked in, Jubilee spotted her. “MARIE!” She rushed her with a hug. “Oh God, I’ve been so worried. I tried calling, like a thousand times. In the end, I went to your apartment, but it looked like you haven’t been there at all.” She noticed Logan behind her and looked back at Marie with raised eyebrows.
“I haven’t. Look, this whole thing is really complicated, and I’ll explain later. Warren and I need to stay here for a while.” She looked over at Hank who had just come through the doors into the back room. Logan went through to the front to look around. “Is that alright?”
“My dear, it is fine. You are one of the family, and young Warren here - I have a surprise for you.” He went out and came back in with a small plastic aquarium.
“EARL!” Warren grabbed the tank and set it down on the floor, inspecting Earl immediately.
Jubes laughed. “I went to your apartment, and I saw it in his room, looking bored and hungry, so I brought him back here. Though I’m getting to think it always looks like that.”
Logan came back in and rubbed her arm. “I’ll be back for you when this is over and done with. You be ok?” She took in his face; it was wrapped with concern and uncertainty.
She smiled up at him, trying to reassure him. “Yeah. We’ll be fine, go.”
He was about to kiss her, but he caught Warren looking at him from the corner of his eye. “Hey kid, you mind if I kiss your mom?”
Warren shrugged with a smile on his face. “Nah, ‘bout time someone did.”
“Warrmmmmmph!” She forgot what she was about to say, all words impossible as he once again took her breath away with nothing more than a perfect chaste kiss. “Be careful.” She breathed the words out as he pulled away.
“My middle name, darlin’.” With that, he was out the door and gone. She blew out a breath that she hadn’t realised she was holding and smiled as the heat rose in her cheeks.
Logan got back to the car and found Scott rummaging around in the trunk. “What ya doing?”
“Seeing what we got. There’s about five clips for each of us and a shotgun, but I don’t have any shells for it.”
Logan laughed. “You have a shotgun in your car, but you can’t ever use it because you don’t have any ammo? Scott, that’s just great. Priceless in fact! What kind of person keeps a shotgun in the car, but not the ammo?”
He was still laughing when he heard the diner door go, and he saw Marie running towards them. “What, everything ok?”
“Yeah, I’m coming with you.”
“No!” Both men were adamant.
“Yes, I am. You have no idea what the boat looks like or whereabouts in that marina it’s moored. By the time you’ve trooped around the whole thing looking for it, someone would have shot you both! So I’m coming.” She hated the idea of leaving Warren behind, but she was torn. Warren was safe for now, he was with Hank and Jubes and a diner full of police officers. If Ethan was dumb enough to try and get to him then he would be in for a deadly surprise.
Scott sighed. “Logan, she does have a point. If she can at least point it out from the boat yard, then we have a better chance of getting closer before we’re seen.”
“No, no fucking way am I having you in danger.” He couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to her now.
“I’ll stay in the car. I swear on Warren’s life that I won’t willingly get out of that car, I promise. You really think I want to be stuck in the middle of a shootout?”
He stared at her for a minute or two, then looked at Scott. He sighed. “Fine, but you stay in that car, Marie. I mean it. I can’t tell you enough how much you need to stay in that car!”
“I will. I promise.”
He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face; he was getting too old for all this worry and strife. “Get in the front. Let’s go. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this!” She got in the car, while Logan got in to drive, and Scott shut the trunk and jumped in the back.
As he drove at an even pace, this time he watched her bite her fingernails and fidget. He kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to tell her to relax, to breathe a little easier, but he knew she wouldn’t. The outcome of the next couple of hours would determine whether or not she spent the next few years looking over her shoulder and waiting for Palmer to come and get her.
He decided to put a reassuring hand on her knee instead. Then he moved it with a huff once he spotted the ‘you’re-whipped’ look he was getting from Scott in the rear view mirror.
Marie smiled to herself when his hand landed on her knee. She hoped that she wasn’t just fanaticising, but she was sure that he felt very strongly for her. She chewed on her thumbnail: what if she really was imagining it? Every time he looked at her, she thought she could see it wasn’t just sex or infatuation, let alone the things he had said to her this morning. But there was still a little nagging feeling in the back of her mind. Once the excitement was over, he wouldn’t be interested anymore; it would be over. Feeling tears suddenly well in her eyes, she turned to look out of the window and kept them under control. After all, it wasn’t like he had actually told her he loved her. But he had, in so many words, said that he wanted her to live with him, be with him, her and Warren. She cursed herself for being so unsure. One minute she was so certain of his feelings as well as her own, and then she felt it all slipping away from her.
She sighed. Her son needed to be the priority right now. Thinking about whether or not she had a future with Logan shouldn’t be at the forefront now. She hoped that she had made the right decision to leave Warren at the diner. She definitely didn’t want him to go along, but she did feel guilty leaving him. No matter how much he said that he understood or that he was fine, she knew the last two days had been very hard for him. His own father had tried not only to kill her, but also to take him and possibly force him into some kind of sex work. She still couldn’t get her head around that, not only had she almost lost her son, but she had almost lost him into the child sex industry.
Leaning her head against the window, she watched the houses, apartments and offices roll past her without interest. She was so wound up, so awake and alert. If this went the way they wanted it to, she would be free. She would never have to worry about Ethan again. Whether he would be looking for her, waiting for just the right time to kill her. All she could think is that if something happened to her, what would happen to Warren?
Logan slowed the car. They had been driving for about forty minutes and had arrived at the small marina. “We’re here.” He drove past the entrance and turned the car around, driving back towards it and pulling into the boatyard next door. He parked the car in the corner of the yard, slightly hidden, but with a good view of the moored boats.
“Ok, darlin’, you’re up. Which one is it?”
She leaned over to his side of the car and looked out of the window. She was so close to him, he could smell her. She had obviously used his soap and toothpaste this morning, and he decided that he kind of liked the smell of him on her. He had a brief image invade his thoughts about her naked and rubbing herself with *his* soap.
Her arm rushed against his chest as she raised it and pointed to the left. “It’s the big one over there, the one with the huge blue canopy.”
Logan nodded and took her hand, shaking himself out of his naked thoughts. “Ok, you’re gonna stay here?” Scott was getting out of the car and to the trunk to get the spare rounds for their guns.
Logan knew from previous experience that she wouldn’t stay in the car; she would let her curiosity get the bettor of her, and she would get hurt for it. He couldn’t let that happen, not now. Not now he knew he was in love with her.
She smiled and nodded at him, all too innocently. “I promise I’m not going anywhere.” She didn’t notice him reach to his right side. She simply watched his face, mesmerised by his intense gaze.
“I know you won’t.” He brought his right hand forward and snapped the cold metal cuff onto the wrist he was holding, then yanked it towards him slightly, and wrapped the other cuff round the steering wheel.
“LOGAN, no! Come on, you have to be kidding?” She rattled the cuffs slightly, and the smile faded from her lips. “Oh my God, you’re not kidding. You’re really going to leave me cuffed to the fucking car!”
“You’re staying right where you are. And be quiet. You’ll get us shot.”
“Logan, you can’t do that. I’m not going anywhere!”
He opened the door and got out, leaning back down to kiss her quickly. “I know you’re not, darlin’!” He shut the door and took his spare rounds from Scott. Scott looked at Marie who crawled into the driver’s seat and started pulling on the cuffs, cursing loudly.
They quickly crossed the boatyard to a small hut that served as the marina office. Scott spoke to the man inside, explained that they were NYPD and there to arrest a dangerous criminal. He was soon running off to his car and leaving as quickly as possible.
Logan and Scott stood in the empty office and watched the boat that Marie had pointed out. The boat was a huge three-cabin yacht, and Logan wondered how many people were hidden on it. There was no movement on the top of the boat by the canopy.
“What do you think?” Scott was close to Logan, and they looked out through the window.
“I’m still hoping he’s only got Creed and Palmer with him. That yacht is big enough to get a load of goons on.”
“If we can get close enough, we have a chance at surprising them.” Outside the office was a wooden platform that led out onto two interlinking jetties. The yacht was on the outer jetty furthest away from the wooden platform.
“Yeah, *if* we can.” He pointed to the far jetty. “Look, if you take that jetty out to the boat, use the small yachts and fishing boats as cover. I’ll take the water and try and get up onto the boat.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“Hey, I was on the swim team,” he replied, giving Scott his best smug grin.
Scott huffed at him. “You only joined the swim team to impress Elaine Flank!”
Logan turned to him. “Worked, didn’t it? I had her panties nailed to our dorm wall within a week of seeing me in a pair of speedos.”
Scott chuckled at the memory of what they used to do in college. Every time they had sex with a girl, a conquest, they would take their panties as a token and nail them to their bathroom wall. Logan’s was the left wall, Scott’s the right, and by the time they graduated, you couldn’t see the tile on Logan’s side. He also remembered the day they left. They stood in the bathroom for about an hour trying to decide what to do with all the panties nailed to the walls. In the end, they decided to leave them where they were, a bit of a challenge for whoever had the room after them. “Maybe I should enlighten Marie to your old ritual.”
Logan was still looking out of the window. “My old ritual? Tell her, I’ll tell Jean you used to do it as well. Just before you met her, we were level-pegging.” He turned, took off his badge and threw it on the table. Scott did the same. “This could go badly.”
Scott smiled and adjusted his red shades. “I know.” He held out his hand. Logan took it and shook it with a chuckle. “Let’s do it then.”
Marie watched from the car. She saw them enter the little office hut and then the man leave and head for his car. She turned back to the cuff around her wrist. She had been trying to pull it over her hand but couldn’t, and her wrist was already red and scratched from her efforts.
She looked back at the hut just as Logan and Scott headed out. Both were slightly hunched to give themselves the best cover possible, and both had their guns drawn. Scott took the farther jetty and used the small boats for cover. She watched Logan shed his jacket and holster his gun. His t-shirt was stretched over his muscles, and she smiled, biting her lip. Using his vast upper-body strength, he silently lowered himself from the wooden platform into the cool water of the marina.
From her position in the car, she couldn’t see either man anymore and decided to go back to concentrating on getting the cuff off her wrist. As she swore softly to herself and was about to give up, the car door open quickly and a large hand clamped over her mouth, forcing her head back against the headrest. “Need some help with that, bitch!” She stared up into Creed’s evilly dark eyes and wished that she had stayed with Warren.
***********END OF PART EIGHT
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary: She smiled and nodded at him, all too innocently. “I promise I’m not going anywhere.”