“Need a lift, kid?”
Marie frowned at the familiar question. Hadn’t they already done this a week ago? He was even wearing the exact same hooded sweatshirt zipped down to the center of his chest, revealing the singlet beneath. ‘Kid’ no longer sounded like a term of endearment to her ears. She thought that it was cruel for him to repeat that same question given the last time she’d heard it had been the most significant conversation they’d shared in months and even then it was just…
What had it been?
He’d neither encouraged her decision, nor tried to talk her out of it. Just made some insulting comment about taking the cure for ‘some boy’. And now what was he going to do? Make another non-committal speech about her leaving, and end it with ‘I’m not your father, I’m your friend.’
If he were really her friend he would have known that she didn’t need to hear that question again. He would have talked to her long before she left to get the cure. He would have cared enough to take a stance either way. He would have cared enough not to ignore her this past week.
Maybe that last part wasn’t fair. She’d heard about what had happened, what he’d had to do at Alcatraz. She’d sat next to him at Jean Grey’s funeral, seen the pain on his face. It should have counted for something that he was trying, that he was attempting to have some kind of conversation with her through his grief.
But it didn’t.
Without taking her hand off the doorknob, she turned to regard Logan. She looked down at the duffle bag she had in her other hand, then back up at him.
She didn’t bother hiding the anger in her voice, or on her face. “No.”
“Why not?”
His tone was neutral, but she saw the sadness in his eyes. It was the only sign she had that told her he wasn’t as well as he looked, that he was still feeling the after effects of the battle.
“Because.”
Logan arched an eyebrow, and for a moment she saw the old him.
“Ain’t much of a reason, kid.”
Marie bristled at the nickname. “Well, I ain’t much of a kid anymore.”
She turned back to the door.
“You running again?”
Marie clenched her jaw. Was he feeling nostalgic or something? She spoke without turning to look at him. “Don’t you have anything original to say?”
She missed the look of hurt on his face, but heard him sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Please Marie, let me give you a ride.”
She heard the unfamiliar note of pleading in his voice, and turned to look at him. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay.”
Logan gave her a small smile and walked up to her. Marie sucked in a small breath at his closeness, her eyes drawn to his. Logan didn’t break eye contact as he took the duffle bag from her, easily slinging it over his shoulder. Marie tried to hide her disappointment at the fact that his hand had never touched hers, not even a little. She’d taken the cure just for moments like these, and he had just denied it to her.
She looked away, clearing her throat. “Can we get going, please?”
Logan wrenched open the door, not even letting her go through first as he headed to the garage. Marie considered asking him if they could take Logan’s bike, that way she wouldn’t be able to talk to him; wouldn’t have to try and have a conversation with him, but she kept her mouth shut as Logan dropped her bag into the trunk of Cyclops’ old car. She silently got in the passenger seat, a weird feeling of déjà vu striking her as she remembered escaping in a very similar car, also belong to Scott Summers, after Stryker attacked the school. Her hand unconsciously went to her left wrist, disappointed when she found no tags wrapped around it. She looked up to find Logan’s eyes on her. He’d seen the movement. She tried to smile, but didn’t quite carry it off. She turned away so she could grab her seatbelt from behind her and avoid Logan’s intense stare.
Logan started the engine. “Where to?”
Marie replied as she clicked her seatbelt in place. “’Ro found me an apartment near NYU.”
She handed him a piece of paper with the address.
Logan looked at her. “You going to college?”
Marie chewed her bottom lip as she looked at him. She couldn’t quite work out if he looked offended or impressed. Funny how sometimes those two expressions were very similar when they appeared on his face. “Yeah.”
Logan gave her a curt nod before putting the car into gear. “Good for you.”
Marie nodded in agreement, not really knowing what else to say. She lost herself in thoughts of college and her studies, what it was going to be like on campus. She would be able to walk around without fear of killing anyone if they brushed up against her. She rubbed her bare arms.
“Cold?”
Marie turned her head to look at him. “No, just still getting used to having so much of me, you know, exposed.”
Logan nodded as he kept his eyes on the road, not bothering with a verbal reply. Marie turned to look out her own window. Silences had never been awkward between them, not like now. At least, she was pretty sure they hadn’t been. Maybe she just never noticed it before. She felt like all these unsaid things were hanging in the air between them, but if she tried to think about them, tried to work out what they were, they just evaded her.
Logan’s voice, though quiet, startled her.
“Would you have even said goodbye?”
Marie spoke before thinking. “Would you have even cared?”
She only felt a little regret at having said it, sparing a glance in Logan’s direction, quickly turning her attention back to her window when he started to turn his head to look at her.
“That’s unfair, Marie.”
The little knot of regret vanished, replaced again by anger.
“Is it? It’s not like you’ve spent any real time with me lately. Or even before—” She left it unsaid, knowing he’d fill in the blank. “I doubt you’d even have noticed I was gone.”
Logan growled in warning. “Marie.”
This time she turned her attention on him, staring at him as he kept his eyes on the road. “No, Logan. Don’t even try and deny it. Ever since Alkali Lake you’ve had fuck all to do with me and you’ve shown fuck all interest in me.”
“Don’t swear.”
She was disappointed that he hadn’t even tried to refute what she said. She turned to look out her window. “Fuck you.”
Even though she wasn’t looking, she could imagine Logan’s brows going lower, his teeth bared at her words. He didn’t say anything though, just kept driving. Marie frowned at this, thinking that he should be biting back. She wasn’t about to apologize though; she didn’t want to use kid gloves when it came to the man in the car with her. She shouldn’t have to—this was the Wolverine. She was sick of hiding her anger just because Jean was dead and he was mourning her.
Maybe she was being selfish, but where was he when she needed to talk about the cure, about how it could change her life? She’d had to work through that on her own, so he could now work through his grief on his own.
Marie sighed. What was she turning into?
Before she could apologize, Logan stopped the car in front of an apartment block.
“We’re here.”
Marie flinched at the harshness of his tone.
“Logan—”
She watched him close his eyes briefly as he exhaled through his nose. They sat in awkward silence, and again Marie was struck with the thought of the air being thick with things left unsaid. She wanted desperately to know what they were, but she wouldn’t get a chance.
She sighed as she undid her seatbelt. “Thanks for the ride, Logan.”
He shrugged. “My pleasure.”
Marie raised her eyebrow; Logan just returned the gesture, daring her to say something. She got out of the car as Logan popped the trunk. He came around to the back of the car and grabbed her duffle bag. Marie held out her hand to take her bag, but Logan held onto it.
“Not so fast, Marie. I want to check out this place of yours.”
Marie frowned at him, but dropped her hand when it was obvious he wasn’t going to give up the bag. She got her keys out of her pocket, and lead Logan up to the door.
When they were inside her apartment, Logan dumped the bag on the sofa, and then walked around. She heard him give the occasional grunt when he walked into each of the rooms. Seeing as there was only the one bedroom, bathroom and the dining/kitchen/living area, it wasn’t a very long inspection.
He came back into the main room. “Not bad.”
Marie shrugged, her arms crossed over her chest. “I like it just fine.”
Logan gave her a look that she didn’t know how to interpret. She suspected that if she still had him in her head, she’d know what it meant.
“Call me if you get into any trouble, okay?”
Marie gave him a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”
Logan frowned, a low growl coming from his throat. “Ever since you took that cure, you’ve been a real pain in the ass.”
Marie returned the frown. “Like you’d know.”
Logan gave her that weird look again. She really wanted to know what it meant.
“See you ‘round, Marie.”
“Bye, Logan.”
He gave her place one last look before showing himself out.
Marie sighed as he shut the door behind him. He’d never even touched her, or tried to. She had at least expected a hug goodbye. She grabbed her bag off the sofa and took it into the bedroom. Time to get unpacked and settle into her new life.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you to Jenn for the beta work.