Logan lifted one leg then another as two furry critters followed closely by two hyperactive toddlers crawled past him. Popping his beer with a smirk, he leaned back and settled his feet again firmly on the expensive Persian rug the kids were in the process of tearing up.
"You know, it's really not healthy to give them that much sugar this late in the day."
Logan glared at his fellow babysitter and took a drink in response. No point in cursing out Scooter in front of the kids. But then that only meant he wouldn't stop nagging. It had gotten better actually. When he and Marie asked Scott and Ororo to be Jonathan's godparents, Scott was beside himself. He even hugged Logan and that was really saying something. It took him a whole week to stop gushing every time he saw them. But that was a while ago and thankfully for everyone involved they were back to easy antagonism once again.
In all sincerity Logan really respected the guy and knew that he could trust his son with him, but that didn't mean the Scooter's habits weren't insidious. Jonathan was already watching one too many talking animal programs a day. So even when it was technically not his day to babysit, Logan would sneak over to the playroom and keep watch during his security rounds. It was unnerving to spend so much time together with Scooter, but since Jonathan and Charles were best buds, it was inevitable. With a beer and a hockey game, Scooter and he could bond fairly well - if Scott (Scooter) didn't start nagging.
"And there are healthier alternatives to candy you know."
Still silent, Logan snuggled back into the recliner and fixed his smirk in place. Here we go, Logan thought.
"I just finished reading this excellent book that……"
"You know One-eye, I couldn't care less."
To prove the point, he raised an eyebrow at him and shifted a little to reach into his pocket. In an instant, both Charles and Jonathan perked up. Forgoing their experiments to see if ferrets fit in a lego bucket, they scampered over to Logan and quieted down. Each resting on one jean clad knee, they looked up at him expectantly, all big eyes and pouty expressions. Logan made a production of taking out two tootsie rolls reverently from his pocket and watched with amusement at the two kids practically bursting with tension. They had a heck of a lot of control all things considered. Extending his hand in front of them, he opened it slowly. Both kids looked up at him for the signal. The minute Logan's lips twitched to a smile, they grabbed the treats with chubby fingers and hasty ‘thank yous’ and went to sit on the rug.
Looking up at Scott, who just rolled his eyes, Logan chuckled and watched them devour the candy while petting Ororo's ferrets and talking in the broken language of three year olds. He didn't like having animals around since he could smell them so sharply, but the kids loved them and so he compromised with Marie to get a goldfish. It didn't smell at all but he could have done without Jonathan naming it Remy. The kid was apparently fascinated by the Cajun's red eyes. Jonathan ran to Remy whenever he saw him and begged for card tricks. Remy was actually really good with the kids, but Logan knew it was also a strategy to get to girls. Lost in thought, Logan looked up when the phone rang. Scooter put down his Child Monthly magazine and reached behind himself to the corner table. Logan watched him carefully.
"Hello, oh hi Rogue…yeah in a few minutes…sure…okay…bye."
Logan frowned at the younger man.
"What the hell was that?"
Scott buried his nose in the magazine again.
"That was Rogue and watch your language."
Logan put down the empty beer can. She had been gone for nearly three days with Beast and the Professor to talk at some conference and he was itching to see her. They hadn't spoken since that morning's phone call, and now Scooter wanted to play games.
"I know who it was, why the…why didn't you give me the phone?"
Scott shrugged and Logan fumed. He threw a glance at the kids who were wearing ferrets on their heads now and slumped back into his seat. Someone scored a goal on the Rangers game on the television, but Logan was too far gone to notice. Watching little Charles maneuver Gaia on his snowy white hair, Logan tried to hold out for a few minutes, but it was a losing battle. Curiosity got the better of him.
"So what did she say?"
Scott grinned behind his magazine, fully intent to get into a nice argument over the whole thing but before he could answer, his wife walked in.
"Hey, how are all my handsome boys doing?"
Ororo leaned over the couch and gave Scott a kiss before bracing for two toddlers running at her at full speed.
"Fine." chimed the toddlers.
The couple grinned at each other and Logan snorted.
"Hi Logan, when's Rogue coming back?"
Logan threw a deadly glare at Scott who hid behind his magazine again and watched the goddess get overrun with both kids and ferrets wanting to great her. Scott spoke out with a grin.
"Tonight. She just called from the plane."
Ororo smiled and gave little Charles a smacking kiss on the cheek. The ferrets automatically found their way into her jacket pockets. She pet them absently through the fabric and smoothed back Jonathan's thick brown hair. It was always kind of wild and pointed in all directions. Logan didn't believe in frequent haircuts.
"So what did you boys do all afternoon?"
Both Jonathan and Charles began a broken string of explanations. Ororo tried to discern the babbled speech and gave Scott an amused look. He filled her in.
"We colored then watched Arthur and took the ferrets out." He gave Logan an annoyed look. "And Logan gave them candy. Twice."
The boys giggled in conspiracy and Ororo gave Logan her disapproving look. Not immune to it no matter how many times Marie gave it to him, Logan squirmed a little.
"Honestly Logan, it's so late."
He looked over at Scott who chuckled outright. Logan growled, which caused the ferrets to peak out of the pockets. They knew a predator when they smelled him, and they were always wary of Logan. Caring greatly for her husband's life, Ororo straightened out with a kid in each arm and deposited them to their rightful fathers.
"Well, I suppose it didn't hurt, but it's time for bed, boys."
She got whines of disapproval and mumbled excuses. Jonathan sat on Logan's lap and looked over at his playmate.
"You'll see Charles tomorrow, Chief."
Jonathan gave Charles an unsure look and rubbed his eyes a little. Logan outstretched his arms to him with a smile. Jonathan immediately grafted himself to his father with a full body hug. Logan pet his hair softly. By eight in the evening, he knew the kids were exhausted but the two lived to see each other, so goodnights were a little hard sometimes. Jonathan waved sadly at his white-haired playmate, who was sprawled on Scott's chest in a similar fashion. Ororo looked up from where she was gathering legos into a bucket.
"If you want, we can take him tonight."
Logan lifted Jonathan's chin.
"You wanna sleep over, kid?"
Jonathan drew his eyebrows together in thought. His mother did the same thing when she was concentrating.
"Momma coming today."
Logan beamed at his son and stood up with him still wrapped around his frame.
"Yeah, maybe tomorrow ‘Ro."
Scott walked over with a lifeform attachment of his own and smoothed down Jonathan's hair.
"In that case, goodnight kid."
Ororo followed with a kiss. Jonathan had the outright audacity to blush. Ororo gave Logan a look before walking off.
"This kid is going to be a heartbreaker."
Logan huffed and figured he needed to have a talk with Remy. Jonathan had been spending too much time with the Cajun.
"Say goodnight Chief."
The boys waved at each other from the respective shoulders they were leaning on and Logan watched the other family walk away. Turning off the television and grabbing the two empty cans by the recliner, Logan walked to the kitchen where he took out two more replacements from the fridge by the plastic rings they were attached to. Jonathan yawned widely and tucked into his neck even further. Logan walked up the stairs and to their suite quietly. An idea occurred to him.
"Hey kid, you wanna take a bath?"
Jonathan looked up immediately. Nothing got him excited like bath time.
"Yes Daddy."
Logan grinned at him and continued the walk to their suite. He could tell Jonathan was exhausted, but the kid perked up right away at the sound of the door being opened.
"Lemme down."
Logan complied and watched the kid storm into the bathroom.
"Hey! No runnin'."
Setting his beverages by the window to stay cool, Logan pulled the t-shirt he was wearing over his head and flung it onto the messy bed. Walking into the bathroom, he found Jonathan already sitting on the big oval rug in the center, pulling off his sneakers.
"Need some help there, Chief?"
The boy threw him a wary look and Logan kicked off his boots and started the water running before joining him on the floor. The kid was at a stage where he wanted to do everything on his own and since Logan occasionally did listen to all the shit Scooter went on and on about, he simply unlaced one then the other. Finally able to take them off by himself, Jonathan gave his father a lopsided grin of accomplishment.
"I did it."
Logan raised his eyebrows in exaggeration.
"Yeah, you did kiddo."
Next came the buttons. Unhooking the two metal clasps on the shoulders to his denim overalls, Logan wisely got up to let him do it on his own too and moved to turn the water off before it spilled over the tub. Already, the room was fogged over in steam. He looked at the assortment of toys that littered the tub edges and looked back at Jonathan, who was moving as fast as he could to get out of his clothes.
"Trucks or boats?"
Jonathan responded sagely without looking up.
"Dinosaws, Daddy."
Logan smirked at the colorful Superman undies and took down the bright yellow mesh bag that held what Beast assured him was a correct representation of Cretaceous and Pre-Jurassic animals.
"Dinos it is."
Dropping the bag in the tub, Logan slipped out of his socks and undid his jeans. He slipped into the oval tub by the controls so Jonathan wouldn't fiddle with them and raised his hands to call to him. Seeing that his father was already in the water without him, Jonathan squealed and ran to the tub forgetting that he still had one sock on. Jumping in with a loud splash, he laughed at his father's face when the water line rose dangerously to the edge.
"Wow. Watch it Chief, it's slippery."
"Daddy, soap!"
Logan smiled at the boy's eagerness. Reaching behind himself, he brought out the latest bottle Marie had gotten. It was kid sized so he just handed it to him and watched as Jonathan placed an exuberant amount of very berry purple goo in his hands and started rubbing it on himself. Knowing that all those kid soaps were shampoos as well, Logan squeezed some on his head and rubbed it around a little. The kid had hair like his mother and it always smelled as nice, too, thanks to her shampoo fetish. He worked the hair up in sections.
"There you go, nice and spiky."
Jonathan giggled and bobbed in and out of the water. It was shoulder height to him, but only chest high to Logan. He brought his foot above the water with his mouth shaped into an O. Logan yanked the wet sock and tossed it to the tiled floor with a splat.
"Daddy, you!"
He raised an eyebrow and stared at the kid at the other end of the tub like he was crazy.
"No way."
Jonathan knew that expression. And he knew how his mother got what she wanted out of his father too. He opened his eyes real wide and turned his head to the side.
"Pull-ease?"
Logan rumbled and took the fish shaped bottle from him. Might as well. Testing the strange viscosity of the purple goo in his hands before bringing it to his head, he grunted while Jonathan laughed. At least it lathered well.
"Spikes! Spikes!"
Logan rolled his eyes with a smile and pointed clumps of his hair to match his son's. That elicited more laughter and Logan relaxed and watched him open the dinosaur bag and pull out floating monstrosities happily, all traces of sleepiness forgotten. Remembering the little yellow waterproof radio by the soap dish, Logan eased slightly out of the water to turn it on. Finding a station he liked, he slid back in and watched Jonathan bang dinosaurs together. Amazingly the three year old knew some of the names by heart. Sort of.
"Tricerapops……Velocopapter……Tiranerous rex."
Logan nodded with a grin and figured it was a good thing to let him spend time with Beast. The guy was smarter than a lot of people he knew. But then there was the matter of Jonathan's musical education. Jubilee and Bobby had them listening to inane amounts of peppy weird stuff all day long. Logan was sick of singing animals already. He preferred the basics. He turned up the radio a little louder and turned to the boy.
"That's Johnny Cash."
Jonathan repeated absently and kept soaping up his toys.
"Johnee Cash."
Logan grunted an approval and let the tension he felt at not having Marie around slowly pull away. Three days. Too damn long. He was craving a cigar, but he knew better. He could wait. A few songs later, he looked up at the sound of Jonathan's yawn. He had calmed down a lot and figuring that the water had cooled already and that Marie would kill him for keeping him up past his bedtime, Logan clicked off the radio and reached for the portable shower head.
"Come `ere kid."
Jonathan dropped his toys and scooted forward, eyes clenched exaggeratedly tight. Checking the water first, Logan smoothed out Jonathan's purple spikes before doing the same to himself. Jonathan stopped him midway.
"I do it."
Logan handed him the shower spray with a smile and hoped the stuff really was tear free.
"Go nuts kid."
Jonathan laughed in delight and busily worked the lather off his father's head. After a few minutes and a few bumps, he declared his father clean. Taking the spray back, Logan took the plug out of the tub. He rinsed Jonathan off while he busily gathered his beasts back into the mesh bag and the purple water disappeared. Lost in his task, Logan was surprised when the boy stopped his dinosaur ranting and looked up at him.
"Momma home?"
Logan paused and put the shower spray back in its cradle.
"You miss her."
A nod.
"You'll see her tomorrow kiddo."
Jonathan smiled widely and Logan stood and reached over the tub edge for two towels. Scooping him up in a huge fluffy white deal before he could catch a chill, he planted him firmly on the plush carpet and secured one around himself before lifting him again onto the counter by the sink. Logan quickly picked out the insanely bright toothbrush with the enormous handle and put on a dab of toothpaste on the end.
"Stay awake?"
Logan took a flap of towel and rubbed his head lightly. Marie liked to blow dry it, but Logan preferred the natural look.
"Nope. Momma will hurt Daddy if I keep you up. I'll wake you up when she comes."
Jonathan smiled tiredly. Logan could see the plan pleased him.
"Open up Chief."
On cue, the boy grinned to show all his teeth and Logan gently covered all of them like Marie had taught him. It was funny in a way, cause he really liked doing it. At first when Jonathan was just a baby, he shied away from holding him too much. He touched him all the time, but mostly when Marie was breast feeding or changing him or something. He was just simply afraid of how tiny and fragile he looked. His entire head fit in the palm of his hand, and Logan felt inept and scared that he could hurt him.
It was only after he was one that Marie started taking extended trips and going out on missions again. In the time she was gone, Logan had to deal with his fear and become more hands on. And it was easier than he had ever thought. Soon afterwards, Jonathan preferred his daddy to do the little things; getting dressed, brushing teeth, feeding. It was amazingly rewarding and in those little tasks, Logan found a calm and satisfaction he never had in his whole entire life. Jonathan felt it too, he could tell, and Logan wallowed in the adoration his son gave him whenever he caught him looking up at him with wide chocolate eyes.
"Go on."
Jonathan spit out and Logan filled his fish cup with water and brought it to his lips. He rinsed, but there was still some foam at the corners of his mouth. Jonathan wiped them away with a face towel and looked up.
"Very good."
Jonathan beamed and Logan figured Scooter was right about at least some things. After all, he had read enough baby books to earn a PhD in child development already. He gave Jonathan a quick kiss to the forehead and ruffled his hair some more. It was starting to flatten.
"Ready?"
Jonathan shook his head no and stuck a finger out to touch Logan's chin. Logan crossed his arms and considered the request. Jonathan's eyes got real wide at the flexed muscles. He knew with certainty that his daddy was the strongest man in the whole wide world.
"It's already past eight thirty. You want Momma to hurt Daddy?"
Jonathan giggled at the thought and knew what he had to do. He tilted his head slightly.
"Pull-ease?"
Logan sighed heavily and opened the medicine cabinet. He was so whipped. Pulling out the can, he gave it a shake. Jonathan pulled out from his towel cocoon and stuck his hands out eagerly. Logan put a hefty amount of shaving cream onto them and bent over to face him. The boy quickly dabbled it all over his face, managing to even get some in his nose and an eyebrow, but avoiding the long sideburns like daddy taught him.
"Done!"
Logan looked in the sweaty mirror with a smile he could see no trace of under the white covering most of his face.
"Well, at least you're thorough."
Jonathan laughed and squirmed to get into a kneeling position on the counter. Logan eased him up a little and swiped a clear spot on the mirror in front of them. Jonathan quickly dabbed the white menthol smelling foam on himself too. Turning on the water and checking it first, Logan rinsed Jonathan's hands.
"Look like you."
Logan nodded in agreement. Nothing like that look of total love to make everything all right with the world. He moved to the cabinet again and withdrew two shaving blades. He handed his son the one without the actual blade in it and waited for him to settle down before beginning.
"Ready?"
Jonathan nodded excitedly. The thoughtful nodding that his mother did too.
"Okay, going down, nice and slow."
He began with his chin and looked over. Jonathan was catching his every move, even rinsing under the faucet when Logan did. Then the cheeks, then above the lip, then the sides and finally under the chin. Logan looked over. There was still an insane amount of lather on him, but he understood the general principle.
"You did real good Chief."
He handed him the towel and they wiped off the rest. Then came the best part. Opening the cabinet ceremoniously to watch him get even more excited, Logan took out what Jonathan considered the holy grail itself. Unscrewing the cap slowly, Logan looked over one last time.
"You sure about this?"
Furious nod. Logan repressed his laugh and splashed some perfumed aftershave on his hand, quickly bringing it to his face. Grimacing slightly at the burn, he looked over at Jonathan whose eyes could not get any bigger. Taking a little more, he tapped at his little face too and watched the boy mimic his reaction.
"Ahhh."
Not able to hold off any longer, Logan laughed out loud and swooped the kid up in his arms, placing a kiss on his moist hair.
"You're a trip kiddo, let's go."
Jonathan immediately latched on in his full body hug and together they left the haze of the bathroom, walked through the main bedroom and past the doorway that Logan made years ago into his smaller room. Depositing Jonathan on the fenced in bed, Logan picked up the space pajamas that they hadn't bothered to fold for three days. He figured it was a bad habit to teach the kid, but he had to offset Scooter's influence somehow. Plus nobody would know anyways. Giving his drying hair one last rubdown, Logan stood him up and put on his shirt top, without even opening the buttons.
"I could."
Logan remembered and stepped back, letting him do the rest. He moved over to the nightlight and switched it on.
"Hi or low?"
"Low."
Logan walked over with a pair of socks and gave them to him. He glanced at the clock, quarter to nine. Good forbid Marie walked in now and caught Jonathan still awake. Logan walked back to his room and threw on a pair of sweats. Next, he turned off the lights and dragged the seat by Jonathan's bed a little closer and settled in. Finally finishing his struggle with the socks, Jonathan leaped over his bed rails and tumbled into Logan's lap. His hair was drying sticking up all over the place, but Logan liked it that way. As a matter of fact, he ruffled it up a little more.
"Book or story?"
"Story, daddy."
Logan was about to ask about what, but his son beat him to it.
"'Bout Momma."
Logan smiled and popped open his beer. Jonathan yawned tiredly.
"Okay kiddo, I'll tell you how we met. How's that?"
A nod against his chest. Logan cleared his throat and figured the abbreviated version was better, without the Scooter saving the day bit either. The kid was halfway gone already anyways. His voice was a notch above a whisper.
"So your old man was kicking butt in the ring up in this place in Canada and this beautiful girl, your Momma, walks in. She sits at the bar and I walk over, I mean she's beautiful remember?"
A half giggle against his chest.
"So we're kinda looking at each other and I'm thinking about what I'm going to say to her, when these guys try to start trouble with me. She gets all worried and yells at me to look out. Well, they couldn't get to your old man, ‘cause he's that good, but I was so pissed I left in a hurry, forgetting all about her. What I didn't know was that she was traveling all alone and needed help. So halfway up some road I notice her scent and I kicked her out of my truck hitch. I know, I know, pretty stupid, but I was angry you see. And nobody else ever asked for my help before. That was totally new."
Logan looked down at his son. Eyes already closed, breathing regular and starting to deepen. He took a minute and continued more for his benefit than for the child's.
"But the little common sense I did have, made me stop. She had the nicest brown eyes. I didn't know it then, but I fell for her on the spot. So innocent and true they were. Felt like home."
His voice was now a complete whisper.
"The smartest thing I ever did was stop that truck. I fucked up plenty afterwards, but that was the best thing I ever did…… definitely."
He looked down at the innocent features that were so relaxed and calm. Giving him a soft kiss on the head, Logan eased off the chair and stretched Jonathan out on his small bed. Covering him in the blankets, he gazed at him a little longer, taking in his heartbeat, his breath, the small little hands that loved to hold his.
"Definitely."
Overwhelmed, he stepped out and closed the door behind him, wondering what he had ever done right to deserve a kid like him. Taking the two beers from the window ledge, Logan gave the clock one last look before taking out a fresh white t-shirt from his drawer and a cigar. Stuffing the cigar into his mouth and a lighter into his sweats' pocket, he left the room barefoot and stepped into the hallway.
The corridors were clear, but he could make out the noise and bustle from the collected bunch in the television rooms below. Wondering just how long it would be, Logan unlatched the window to the gable roof and swung his legs outside. It was where he and Marie ate whenever they had a minute alone. And that had been some time ago. It was hard to believe but thinking back to the last time, Logan realized that it had been weeks. Since before they left on their anniversary vacation. They were just so busy with Jonathan that they hadn't had time.
Enjoying his beer in the still warm September air, Logan leaned his head back on the rolled up blanket they always used and thought back to all the changes his life had undergone in the past two years. It had been rough, but it had been worth it. Withdrawing his lighter, Logan flicked it on and lit his Cuban. With Jonathan around he rarely smoked during the day anymore, but he savored his nights when he could really indulge. Logan closed his eyes and puffed slowly, letting the thick aroma penetrate every space in his lungs.
Looking up at the bright twinkling sky high above him, Logan wondered if their new baby would be a boy or girl. Ever since they decided to expand their family two months ago, they had been at it like rabbits. Not that it was necessary, because Marie had conceived while still in Tahiti, but it was fun just making sure. That stopped about two weeks ago when the morning sickness began. That was a totally new experience that more than terrified Logan.
He was not there for the first six months with Jonathan, but he had seen what Ororo had gone through and it was not pretty. Jubilee brought up the wedding chili incident up to this day. Logan grinned. That was something else. But Marie had been extremely brave about the whole thing. He hated seeing her sick, but at least Scooter had shared some survival secrets. Trying to remember if he put the crackers away, Logan heard the car pull in. His lips curled into a slow smile along either side of his cigar.
Seconds later he heard two doors slamming, some broken voices and the faint whirl of the Professor’s chair ramp in the van. He wondered if he should go down to meet her, but he heard a giggle and some bright clicking up the marble entrance. Heels. She was wearing heels, which meant skirt, which meant suit, which meant some fun.
Logan stayed where he was, a plan forming in his head and popped his last beer. A minute later, he heard the heels' muffled ascent up the carpeted stairs and down the hall along with her wheeled suitcases. Then they both stopped, then only the heels moved forward again. She had seen the opened window, or maybe smelt the cigar. He looked up just as she leaned out over the sill.
"Hey theah, handsome."
Logan snuffed out his cigar and grinned like a fool. She looked as beautiful as ever.
"Hey yourself, gorgeous."
Marie smiled her thoughtful smile. It had been forever since they had been out on the roof together. The sex marathon could wait, might as well do some reminiscing first.
"Ya mind some company?"
Logan shrugged noncommittally.
"That was the plan."
Seeing the mischief in his eyes, Marie straightened out and tried to lift her leg, failing the first time. She looked up, coloring slightly.
"Skirt."
Logan smiled and eased a hand to the back of his head to watch as she lifted the navy skirt up her thighs, hopped onto the sill and swung her legs over to the slight incline of the roof. He stared a little. Couldn't help it, three days was a long time. She walked up to him and cleared her throat.
"If ya don't mind."
Instead of moving over on the blanket, Logan pulled her by the hand and she came tumbling down over him.
"Logan!"
She swatted his arm playfully and Logan stretched her out next to him. He looked at her laughing lips hungrily.
"So you wear those heels just for me?"
Marie smirked and inhaled his scent deeply. The combination of aftershave, alcohol and fragrant tobacco was making her heady, but first things first.
"How's Jonathan?"
Logan moved a hand to grip her waist, the other already running through her hair at the back of her neck. Marie leaned up on her elbow and traced Logan's lips.
"He missed you."
"Not as much as Ah missed him."
Taking her time, Marie kept up her careful exploration of his features with her red nails. Logan stared at her half closed lashes as she traced the outline of a sideburn with a finger and a crooked smile.
"An' ya smell like very berry."
Logan smirked. He would be smelling it for days on himself too.
"We took a bath."
Marie smiled and leaned forward, planting small little kisses along his jawline. She spoke against his smooth flesh.
"And ya shaved too."
The grumbling started low in Logan's chest and his hands automatically tightened on her possessively. His voice dropped an octave.
"Tell me you missed me, Marie."
She smiled against his neck and pinched at his nipple through the t-shirt.
"How ‘bout Ah show ya instead?"
Logan grinned and pushed her back by the shoulders. Laying her flat down to the blanket, he smirked at her before descending down to her lips. Pressing firmly into her, he brought a leg between hers and raised his knee to press at her core. Marie gasped and allowed herself to get lost in the kiss. When they could barely breath, Logan pulled back and her swollen lips curled into a smile that her eyes mirrored perfectly.
"Let's go."
Logan raised an eyebrow and didn't remove his weight off her.
"I have a better idea."
Marie's smile faltered and her eyes got bigger.
"Theah's people still up."
"We've never done it out here, and it's dark baby, come on."
The smile came back when Logan started pressing into her again. Marie could feel the hardness right through his sweats. Three days was a long time. She gave the open window above them a timid glance and figured she didn't like the suit she was wearing all that much anyway.
"Okay, but real quick. `Member last time Scott walked in on us in tha Conference Room?"
Logan frowned and reconsidered things. He almost had to kill Scooter that time, but looking down at Marie's glimmering eyes in the moonlight, he figured it would still be worth the risk. And the hand she was twirling in his hair was too irresistible. He chuckled and shifted his weight so that he was wedged in between her legs and leaning on an elbow. He crushed into her mouth again for a sweltering kiss. With his free hand, he parted her jacket to feel along the silk blouse she wore underneath.
Frowning slightly when he realized she wasn't wearing a bra, Logan pulled the blouse from where it was tucked into her skirt and eased his hand in to cup her breasts, suckling her through the fabric. Moaning slightly at the feel of his hands kneading her, Marie slid his sweats past his hips. Logan pushed into her grasp and feeling him unbearably hot under her touch, Marie felt along the length with her long nails and cupped the tip with her palm. Logan sucked in his breath and decided quicker was better. Pulling back to reassess the situation, he opted for the direct approach.
"Marie baby."
She smiled up at him devilishly and understood exactly what he meant to do. After three days of abstinence, she knew they had little time for formalities. Bracing against her heels, she lifted her hips slightly and watched him ease her skirt up to her hips. Withdrawing a claw with a snarl he knew she thought was sexy, Logan swiped her pantyhose and her underwear from front to back all in one. Closing her eyes at the feel of the dull side of the claws tracing her skin, Marie smiled. Most people would never imagine it, but the metal was warm from being in his body all the time and it never failed to excite her to think how dangerous it was and how deliberate he had to be when he cut her clothes away.
As quickly as the blade came out, it slid back in and Logan swooped down again. Feeling the hot heavy breath on her neck, Marie turned and clasped her hands on either side of Logan's face. Finding his tongue, she held him in place while he fiddled with their bunched up clothes for a sec before finding her. Swallowing her gasp, Logan moved carefully to slowly lubricate the friction between them. Knowing by the tightening of her hands on his shoulders that she was ready, Logan eventually opened his eyes and looked down at Marie's hitched breathing.
"I missed you, darlin'."
Marie's eyes fluttered open.
"Me too, sugah."
Logan gave her panting lips a quick kiss before starting to slide in and out of her in earnest. Withering under the onslaught of pleasure, Marie clutched at her husband tighter and moaned his name in broken syllables over and over for endless moments. Feeling that she was close to climax, Logan braced himself. When she did, he clasped a hand to her lips and buried himself in her fragrant hair. It didn't help his control when she ran her tongue across his fingertips, but he held on and felt the blood in his body turn to fire when she shuddered all around his member.
When her heart rate slowed, Logan began to move inside Marie again, distantly aware of the voices he heard from inside the house. She soon matched his movements and they continued under the rising moon until the overwhelming ache in their bodies feverently begged for release. Driving closer to it with every thrust, Marie arched her back when she felt it overcome her. Logan's body responded violently.
He pulled back to sit on his haunches and brought Marie up with him. She wilted in his arms, but he held her tight, gritting his teeth with a growl while grinding up into her. Marie felt the hot seed fill her and tightening her legs around his waist, she clutched at his shoulders and rode out her orgasm. Logan gradually stopped moving and relaxed back to a sitting position, still tangling Marie's hair with one hand and pressing her to him with the other at her back. Wanting to feel all of her still, Logan found her lips again gave her an all consuming kiss. Instantly feeling Logan begin to harden again inside her, Marie pulled back with a hazy smile and hurried breath.
"We should take it inside, Logan."
He looked up from where he was pressed against her neck with a raised eyebrow.
"Just you in the heels this time."
Marie smiled with a slight blush and Logan thought to himself, sex marathon officially in progress.
"Deal. Just ya in tha sideburns."
Logan came awake with the sound of jumping bedsprings and a yell. For a minute his thoughts flashed to the previous night, but he quickly dismissed the thought as he recognized the squealing laughter that accompanied it. Marie bolted upright next to him.
"Baby! Mamma missed ya ta pieces. Did ya get bigger or something?"
Logan readjusted his position to better focus on the two other residents of his bed. Jonathan was hugging his mother frantically and babbling on and on about his activities with Charles the previous three days. Marie was making his explanations difficult between all the kisses she was covering his face with. Caught up in the rapture of the scene of mother and child reunited, Logan abandoned his typically grumping disposition when Jonathan came to wake them at six in the morning and leaned his head on his hands to watch.
Marie glanced at him briefly with a luminous smile, between her frantic hugging. She never believed him, but she was gorgeous in the mornings, when her hair was all messy and her eyes a little swollen. His heart swelled with passion for them both. They were everything to him and softly twisting the platinum ring he wore where his hands laced behind his neck, Logan wondered what exactly was in store for them now.
Seven months and there would be another name added to the band. The thought terrified and excited him, but he waited for the moment when he would welcome his new son or daughter with awed anticipation. He had never planned on a family, but the idea seemed so right now. Two kids, Marie and him. Perfect.
Logan was snapped out of his thoughts when Jonathan suddenly remembered that daddy still hadn't been jumped. He launched himself at Logan next, losing a sock in the process and possibly contusing a few of his father's ribs.
"Mornin', Daddy!!"
Grimacing slightly, Logan hugged the kid and raised his eyebrow at Jonathan's ongoing outburst. Only Jubilee spoke faster, and that was saying something. Marie settled to her side and watched the two interact just as Logan had been doing with her.
"Easy baby, yer father's getting too old."
Logan threw a glare at Marie's giggling and ruffled Jonathan's hair. It had flattened a little in his sleep. When he finally got a chance, he put in a question edgewise.
"You want to go see Charles?"
Jonathan paused in his rambling and shook his head violently.
"Well then, why don't you get dressed Chief?"
That got an immediate response. The three year old hugged his father in his full body way one more time then jumped to his mother's side, giving her a smacking kiss, before leaping off the bed and running off into his room. Logan glanced over at Marie.
"No matter how many times he jumps us at six in the morning, I just can't get used to it."
Marie giggled again and rubbed her stomach lightly. Logan picked up on the gesture right away. He drew her close, kissing her head tenderly, while all kinds of banging sounds were coming from Jonathan's room.
"Just wait for those two am feedings. Ya always loved those."
Logan snorted in remembrance and reached down to gently rub her stomach.
"Feelin' sick babe?"
Marie sighed deeply and Logan frowned.
"Just ah little."
He settled her back against the headboard and moved to get up. He reached for the Tupperware on his night table. In the adjoining room, Jonathan had put on his alphabet tape. The music was jarring and Jonathan's singing took after his mother's. Marie laughed at Logan's pained expression.
"Did ya give him sugar last night?"
Logan stopped in mid action, then tried slipping into bed as nonchalantly as possible. Maybe she would let it go.
"Have some crackers, darlin'."
Marie took them and started nibbling. It always made her morning sickness better. If she was lucky, she wouldn't have to throw up today.
"And did he go ta sleep on time?"
Logan quirked an eyebrow and looked at the clock. Six-thirty. Their trusty little alarm clock was half an hour late waking them up. Busted. After the sex marathon, he was hoping she had forgotten.
"It's not like it's that important."
Marie kept nibbling with a smile.
"And it's not like he doesn't take a nap anyway."
More nibbling. Logan looked at her uncertainly.
"Are you mad?"
Marie put down her crackers and tried to stand. Her thin nightgown fluttered down to her knees. She stretched on her two feet experimentally. Food still down. She turned to look at Logan still waiting with eyebrows up.
"Nope. Ah'm taking a shower."
Logan grinned and wondered if Jonathan was still busy. He looked over at Marie, who so far was having a good morning. She sensed his thoughts from across the room with a giggle.
"Don't even think about it Logan, we're running half an hour late."
Logan jumped up and rushed to the bathroom before she tried to close the door. He managed to slip in and swept her from behind. He turned her and pressed her to the door, planting soft caressing kisses along her neck. Her giggling vibrated his lips on her skin.
"How `bout after your first class, darlin'?"
Marie giggled and fought the urge that pulled at her. Second period was her prep period, but priorities were priorities.
"'Kay, Ah'll meet ya up here at quarter ta nine."
Logan gave her a gentle nip for good measure and pulled back.
"Deal. I'll get Jonathan ready."
Marie smiled coquettishly and walked to the shower stall, pulling her nightgown over her head and tossing it back at him. Knowing better, Logan stepped out without looking back. He walked straight over to the closet to pull on a t-shirt and jeans over his shorts. He ruffled his hair back and pulled on boots. Done. Logan took pride in the fact that he could get dressed in two minutes flat.
Now came Jonathan. That was a little trickier. Heading over to Jonathan's room he took a deep breath at what awaited him. Mittens and his bathing suit. Could be worse. Walking in and snapping off the annoyingly cheery alphabet tape, Logan set to dressing his son for preschool. By the time he was done, Marie was already showered and dressed. She took Jonathan on for the all important teeth brushing ritual and Logan did the beds. Now that Marie was there, beds took on importance. Small price to pay.
Emerging from their suite at seven thirty, the Logans made their way down to breakfast on schedule, Jonathan still busily chattering in his mother's arms in an effort to catch up on three days, Logan looking on at the two with a smirk and Marie trying to steady her stomach and kissing her son whenever the urge overwhelmed her.
Meeting up with Ororo and Charles at their regular table, Logan watched his son consume cereal in colors that never occurred in nature and watched the two women chat easily between two booster seats. Normally not very verbose at meals, Logan contentedly shoveled down his enormous, bacon laden breakfast in silence. Despite his protests, Marie only had some toast. Remembering how much he loved following her around with food when she was pregnant, Marie smiled at him warmly. It was almost at the end of the meal when Jonathan jumped up and announced that they had forgotten to feed Remy.
Stifling the giggle that arose in her every time she heard the goldfish's name, Marie got up and handed Jonathan over to his father's arms with a kiss and a tight hug. She wiped at invisible bits of food with a napkin.
"Please take him ta tha nursery sugah, Ah'll run upstairs ta feed Remy and then go ta class."
Logan ruffled up Jonathan's hair, since Ororo had smoothed it down and gave Marie a meaningful look.
"After first period."
Marie glanced around in embarrassment before answering.
"Sure thing."
She looked at Jonathan next, still wiping things Logan didn't see.
"See ya later baby. Momma loves ya."
Logan gave Marie a warm smile before walking up to catch up to Ororo and Charles. Jonathan looked over his shoulder and waved at his mother. Logan kissed his head and assured him he would see her later for lunch. He seemed to perk up after that and knowing that it was play time with Charles and the others, Jonathan willingly ran into the Mansion nursery like only happy three year olds can. Giving Jubilee and Bobby the small bookbag that carried some raisins, some dinosaurs and his favorite blanket, Logan stood looking at his son from the door window with Ororo and Betsy until the first eight am bells rang.
Like everything else at the Mansion, the nursery was astounding in size and how well supplied it was. It housed the six preschool children that lived at the Mansion during the day hours when their parents worked. Bobby and Jubilee ran it and parents could come visit whenever they had a break during the day. Living and working in the same place definitely had its merits. Giving fellow parents, Ororo and Betsy a nod goodbye, Logan headed outside to begin his daily rounds checking the Mansion's perimeter laser grids.
As part of his job as security coordinator, he did constant monitoring of all the security systems on the Mansion grounds. Completing his main building check just as it was eight forty, Logan bounded up the main stairs and whistled his way to his suite. They only had a forty-five minute period, but that was enough for what he was planning. Opening the door, he kicked off his boots and jumped up on the bed to begin his wait. Five minutes later he pulled them back on and went downstairs to the teacher's lounge in search of his wife. She couldn't have simply forgotten.
"Have you seen Rogue?"
St. John looked up from the chemistry tests he was grading and shrugged.
"I saw Scott talking to her earlier. He went to get her from class. They broke a few minutes early."
More confused than ever, Logan went down to the lower level elevators, pushing the elevator buttons repeatedly out of increasing impatience. Scooter had missed breakfast which means he was doing fearless leader stuff and it involved Marie. Curiosity turning to anxiety, Logan stomped down the underground hallways to Scooter's office. Almost there, he stopped cold at Marie's plaintive sounding voice. Something was stressing her.
"Scott, ya don't understand. It's more complicated than that."
"Xavier's been monitoring this underground group for a while now. It'll be a slaughter and he owes them as much. We have to move quick and we've already wasted ten minutes discussing this."
A few seconds of silence, where Logan could practically feel Marie thinking.
"Yer right, just let me be tha one that tells him."
A few shuffling sounds that he could tell was Scooter straightening out. He heard footsteps and the crush of fabric that signaled a hug. Completely baffled about what was going on, Logan chest constricted at Scott's voice, which was low and full of emotion.
"Look Rogue, it'll be fine, you'll see."
That scared him more than anything. Finishing the last few steps, Logan paused at the office door and knocked. Marie wiped at her face and stepped away from Scott, who refused to look at either of them. Not a good sign.
"What's wrong?"
Scott cleared his voice and grabbed his communicator and his keys. The ‘let's get the jet and the leather' keys.
"I'll leave you two alone. We take off in fifteen minutes."
He closed the door behind himself and Logan bore into Marie's eyes. She perked up for his benefit, but the apprehension was still there.
"What's going on?"
She leaned over the desk edge and sat down on it. She tried to make her voice as all business as possible, but her hands betrayed her nervousness.
"Tha Friends of Humanity are planning an attack on ah small band of mutants meeting underground up in tha Northwest. Xavier has tried repeatedly, but he couldn't notify tha leader of tha group. Theah in for ah big surprise. The FOH is on ah slash an' burn operation and these are just ordinary folks that don't stand ah chance. He wants us ta go out theah right away for reinforcements."
Logan crossed his arms and processed everything. She was holding back.
"Sounds like a routine back-up and rescue, why the big deal?"
Marie swallowed hard and looked down at her shoes. Reasonable teacher flats. And now she had to go put on the shit kickers and help save the day.
"Logan, umm, tha leader of this underground movement is Mike."
She ventured a look up. Logan's face was a mask of conflicting emotions. Blinking a few times, Logan tried to discern what that meant. He knew of Mike, but it couldn't be what he thought. His voice was a low croak, full of confusion and something else – hurt maybe.
"Jonathan's father?"
Marie jumped up from the desk, eyes glistening and livid.
"You're Jonathan's father. Mike was just……"
Marie struggled for the right word, but mercifully, an announcement boomed overhead. The soothing female computer voice did nothing but perk every resident in the Mansion. Even the younger kids understood that it was a call for a mission.
~~Gambit, Rogue, Beast and Wolverine, please convene in the map room in five minutes~~
Marie stepped forward to Logan. She could tell he was still processing, but the tension in his body was clear as day. She grabbed his hands in hers.
"Look Logan, we have ta go. Ah know this will be ah little awkward, but we have ta help these people and we have ta do it quick. Mike is just ah coincidence in all this."
Logan looked into her eyes. He wanted to cry, scream, throw a fit maybe but she was right. The FOH had stepped up its lynchings and anti-mutant terrorism lately and they had to lend a hand, even though it meant coming face to face with the one person he never thought he could possible let near his wife again. He knew she would go, with or without him and despite everything, jealousy had no place when a mission had to be done.
He looked down at Marie's wide eyes, trying desperately to read them. She loved him. Always had, even when he was too stupid to know it, and he loved her back. Nothing could come between that. He pulled her into a stiff embrace. He loved her, she loved him. It would be enough.
"Let's go."
Marie watched Logan fidget in his uniform and generally look uncomfortable from where she was dressing in the back. Pulling the zipper to her leather suit up to her chin, she snapped on her belt and holstered a weapon to her thigh. Folding the clothes she had on, she stuffed them into the locker chest by the ammo depots and slowly walked back to the front of the jet, where Scott was still debriefing the rest.
She had her com piece in her ear while she readied, but snapped it off when she came into range up front. Squelching the anxiety that swirled in the pit of her stomach, she slid into her seat by Logan, praying that he didn't smell the doubt and fear in her. Thankfully, he took her hand and briefly remembering a time when they could only touch with gloves on, she gave him a faint smile. On her other side, Remy lifted her seatbelt without a pause in his one hand shuffle.
"Chere?"
Marie took it silently and clicked herself in. Knowing the team was fully assembled now, Scott switched the Blackbird controls over to Hank, his co-pilot, who was humming Beethoven's first. He turned off his com piece and turned to face the others. Scott's gaze quickly swept over Logan and Rogue. He didn't have a doubt that Logan would come, but seeing the couple holding hands was an added bonus. He had to give Logan credit for being mature about things.
He himself still couldn't stomach the sight of Forge and Ororo even talking together and he faintly wondered how Jean was still around at all. At times the Mansion seemed more like Mutant Melrose Place than anything, but one thing was certain, Marie and Logan had been through the most together. Images of him carrying her, muddy and unconscious, out of the forest that day flashed through his mind. This was just a slight bump in the road and because he loved them both so much, he would make sure of it.
Pushing buttons above him and inserting the disk he had brought along into a slot at the controls, Scott flipped on a holographic map of the United States in a haze of see through green and began to outline their mission objectives.
"We're presently over Jersey, should be in Oregon in little over an hour and a half."
The map focused in on the Pacific Northwest and turned on it's axis to reveal the northern mountains connecting into Washington. Scott pointed through the three dimensional green map with his gloved fingers.
"The FOH are based here……and have a stronghold here……Xavier's intel says they plan to attack the mutant meeting here……in the town of Newberg. What we know is that they meet on a monthly basis in an old cranberry juice factory in the outskirts of town."
Marie swallowed hard. It must have been the same factory she worked in to get her old truck out of the pound. She came home with red stained hands every day. Nothing stained like raw cranberries, but the smell was heaven, a cross between cotton candy and potpourri. She had completely forgotten. Unconsciously moving her second hand to grip Logan's arm, she leaned her head on his shoulder. Logan's heartbeat kicked up in response. His insecurity about the whole thing jumped up a notch at the feelings he was getting off her.
He had heard the faint, muffled tinkering of his metal tags between Marie's breasts. He didn't recall seeing her put them on that morning and wondered if that's what she had run back up to the room to do when they were getting suited up and boarding. She said she had forgotten to feed Remy, but he didn't smell fish flakes on her hands when she came back. But he did pick up the muffled metallic sound in her uniform when she came to sit down next to him.
He wondered what that meant. Why did she lie? Did she put them on for Mike's benefit or as a reminder to herself? Logan squeezed his eyes shut and banished the thought from his head. He trusted her. She loved only him. They were happy. She would no longer run. He tried to concentrate on what Remy was asking with a sinking stomach. This was not the time nor the place.
"An' why risk a meetin' dis early in de day, in de open?"
Scott shook his head grimly.
"Apparently anti-mutant assaults in the area have gone up these past few days, since the FOH have been holding rallies. Someone was hung two towns down and they're desperate I suppose. Plus, most of them work there."
Scott flipped his bangs back like he always did and Marie saddened at the look that crossed his young features. Despite the whole fearless leader bit, Scott was one of the most sensitive people she knew. He carried a staggering amount of responsibility and took it very personally whenever he wasn't there to prevent someone from getting hurt. He fussed with the consol and continued in a more concrete tone of voice.
"We're in for a standard infiltrate and reinforce. The FOH had some rally last night, so they won't be a factor. But if they do happen to be there first, we break into double flow formation. Remy left, Hank right, Logan behind me."
Marie looked up from Logan's shoulder. Scott didn't even pause in his briefing.
"You're pregnant Marie, so don't even think about it. You stay in the jet and man tactical."
Marie went to open her mouth but Logan raised an eyebrow with a grumble. Swallowing sheepishly, Marie chose silence and leaned her head on his shoulder again. They were right, and if she hadn't begged Scott to come along, she would have been back at the Mansion, completely miserable and worrying to no end. She would count her blessings and keep quiet.
As much as the idea of Mike and Logan meeting unsettled her, she knew Scott would call Logan first for a mission like this, and she had to come along. She wasn't sure why exactly, because she was still processing the idea of seeing her ex again, but she knew with a certainty that she had to be there.
Fleeting thoughts of Jonathan came back to mind. It was almost time for his nap. She usually ran into the nursery between third and fourth period to give him a kiss and tuck him into his cot. Logan almost always made it there before her. Ororo would have to fill in for today. Marie looked down to Logan's leather clad hand in hers. He loved the boy so much.
Marie jumped slightly when Remy nudged her side and interrupted her thoughts. Logan frowned at the Cajun, who just shuffled expertly with one hand and smiled as he fanned them open. Marie flicked a choppy strand of white behind her ear and swallowed the lump in her throat. She hadn't noticed that Scott had finished and was at the controls again.
Everyone was silent, even more so than the usual before a mission. She was sure that Scott had told them something about the situation since everyone knew that pregnant X-Men were not allowed on missions. It embarrassed her slightly to have Hank and Remy know about Mike, but they were all close and she trusted them.
She pinched a corner of a blue card in the middle of the fan and looked up at Remy's expression. He smiled wider, so she let it go and went for another one and slid it out. Logan huffed behind her, threw his head back and closed his eyes. He would never let on that he found the card hustling interesting. Marie flipped the card over, already knowing that it was the queen of hearts.
She smiled tightly at her friend and offered him the card back. He always did that little trick when she was bummed out. It had become a ritual of sorts and despite having done it about a thousand times over, she never once failed to pick out the queen of hearts. They didn't call him Gambit for nothing.
Remy took it back with his characteristic flair and a charming smile. Momentarily mesmerized by his one handed shuffle Marie watched him fold the deck expertly and slip it into his trenchcoat. Scott was so adamant about not personalizing their uniforms, but somehow Remy got away with wearing his trenchcoat all the time. Tucking back into Logan, Marie let the faint smile fall from her lips as everyone tried to catch a short nap.
Without warning, the nausea that Marie managed to curtail that morning, came back full fledge. Swallowing hard against the bitterness she felt rising in her throat, Marie closed her eyes and began some meditation exercises in hopes that she could at least relax. Whenever they went out on a mission, the X-Men rested as much as possible before the shit hit the fan.
The only sound was the whirl of the Blackbird's massive engines and Logan's breathing. Even Hank had stopped humming. Logan could sleep anywhere, sometimes even snoring loudly, only she knew he was wide awake and like her, thinking of the many possibilities of what they would find in Oregon. They spent the entire trip in silence, each concentrating on the other's familiar heartbeat and sorting through feelings long thought settled and stored away forever.
Logan gave Marie one last unsure look before clicking on his com and tugging at his high collar. Not able to resist a stab of guilt in her heart for the insecurity he was probably feeling, Marie pressed a kiss to her gloved fingers and extended them to him. Three yards away by the bay doors with Hank, Logan twitched a smile and pressed two fingers to his lips in response before turning in a slightly tensed stance.
Hearing Scott give the okay through her com piece, Marie held her breath when the hangar doors opened and the brightness of the day framed all four of her teammates in light. Muttering a quick prayer for their safety, she turned in the pilot's swivel chair. When she heard the jet doors clamp shut behind her, she activated the cloaking systems and closed the front glass openings.
It was a typical Oregon day. Cloudy, humid and slightly warm. Flipping on the monitor in front of her, she watched it split into four long sections. Four coordinates, life stats and weapons counts blinked on. She switched them on one by one and adjusted the volume a little higher on her earpiece, trying hard to forget the fact that it was almost mid-day and she would not be there to make sure Jonathan ate all his food.
"Rogue requesting roll call."
"Beast here."
"Gambit here."
"Cyclops here."
"Wolverine here."
Marie turned to slide in the disk Scott had used earlier into the overhead consol. Instantly, a holographic map of the surrounding area materialized before her.
"Affirmative transmission. Holographic interface up an' runnin'. Looks quiet, boys."
Marie leaned in and ran her fingers along the smooth surface on the pilot's chair armrest that allowed her to manipulate the holographic picture. She was picking up life stats all over. They had landed in a clearing about a quarter mile from town and not too far off from the cranberry factory the mutant group was meeting in. She could make out eleven people inside. Their skeletons were outlined in blue to contrast everything else that was outlined in green.
"Enter on tha west end. Over sixty life signs scattered everyweah. Concentration on tha second level factory floor. Eleven, maybe more, mutant biosignatures undahground in sub basement two."
Scott's voice crackled to life in her ear. He wasn't out of breath, but she could tell by the heartbeats and pressures up on the monitor screen that they were jogging through the trees that led to the factory's backside where trucks came in to load and unload.
"Roger that. Movement up ahead."
Marie moved her index finger slightly on the 2 square inch bit of black glass to get a closer view. Spinning the 3D image almost at a 90 degree radius, she did a quick mental calculation of the distance they had covered.
"ETA five minutes. Slow down ah little boys. Action straight ahead. Three trucks, two cars. Only one is unloading crates. Five men. One on forklift, two standin' by."
"Roger that. We'll move towards the west end."
Marie watched the four blue skeletal outlines that made up her team moving in an equally spaced triangle formation, appear into the picture of the factory she was evaluating. They stood off at the border of the treeline, only fifteen yards from the men busily unloading the plastic jars that would house Oregon's Best. One among them was one almost black in color. It was the one coated in adamantium. Knowing they were waiting for her signal, Marie tore her eyes from the skeletal outline that meant everything to her and regarded the others.
"On my signal………go."
She saw the four outlines dash into the west end docking portway. Luckily for them there was a truck between the portway and the workers, which offered some cover. Marie breathed out nervously and continued to whittle down the holographic picture more and more as the four skeletons weaved their way through the less populated parts of the factory. She hated daytime missions, especially one that involved civilians and FOH.
She sat up in the leather chair and concentrated on all the movement going on. It was of the utmost importance that they avoid civilians at all costs and being that the place was crawling with workers on the factory floor, it would be difficult. In her memory, she recalled the eight hour days she used to put in transporting vats of pulping juice from one huge cooking container to an expressing machine. It was hard, incredibly hot work, but gloved and away from people, Marie was content in her simplistic drudgery. It wasn't teaching, but it wasn't running either.
"Corridor ta yer left, down three doors……service elevator on tha right."
She watched as the four outlines came to a sudden stop and got smaller. Manipulating the hologram some more, she managed to cut away the top portion of the building. Since they were underground, there was no way to look at things from the side, only from above, which gave her less of a detailed view. They were descending into a tangle of aging machinery that sputtered steam and generated electricity two floors down. A wave of sadness washed over her at the thought.
When she met Mike almost five years ago, he was living in secrecy. Despite his prominent position in town, he had managed to keep his mutation hidden. It twisted her heart to think he had been meeting in dingy basements just to organize and protect his fellow mutant population. He was not a fearful man at all, but he was always on alert, cautious of every movement, wary of what everyone in a room was doing. She attributed that to the slight paranoia every mutant faced. On the road and in public, she was like that too.
It wasn't until now that she realized that it was not just fear for himself. He had been on the lookout for others. That's how he probably recognized other mutants in hiding and banded them together. How he sought her out as well. Marie thought back to that night she was in jail and he brought her dinner for two. After talking and observing her for hours, he showed her his mutation on a champagne glass. A sad smile curved her lips. She had never asked, but he had probably never told anyone before her. She could tell by the way he looked at her when he told her his story and the lovemaking they did afterwards. Both were full of something so liberating. It was akin to relief. It was a horrible thing to live in fear and hide your entire life.
"Rogue, do you read?"
Marie faintly heard Scott's voice, but Logan's gruff words quickly jarred her out of her daydream.
"Darlin', you okay?"
"Umm, yea, yea. Ahhh……down corridor……stairs on left……should lead ta tha back boiler room. Bingo."
She watched the four blue outlines approach the boiler room door cautiously and heard Scott's introduction over his com. The outlines on the other side immediately jumped up and scattered. Only three faced the door and only one walked up to it. The outline's arm was outstretched. Her breath caught when she realized what that meant. Mike was Newberg's sheriff, so he would be the only one with a gun. She tapped her earpiece nervously. There was yelling she could pick up on Remy's com that she was sure was his voice. He was panicked.
"One armed, facing door. Proceed with caution. Repeat…"
She was interrupted by Scott. What he said made her turn white.
"We are the X-Men from New York! Rogue's friends!"
Holding her breath, she watched in surreal dizziness as the outline slowly put down the gun. She could not make out his muffled question because Remy moved back and away from the door, but she could make out Logan's growl clearly. His com was clipped to his chest and she could feel his anxiety go up without having to see the life stat readings up on the monitor.
"Yes, she's with us! You can trust us!"
The blue skeletal outline, slowly stepped to the boiler room door. Marie heard the bolts being opened from everyone's com and stopped breathing altogether when the door swung open. She faintly heard Scott and Hank begin explaining who they were and what they were there for and barely saw the ten mutants inside slowly come out from hiding because her eyes were transfixed on the darkest of all the outlines still standing by the door.
Logan hadn't stepped in with the others and from how his body was turned, she could tell he was looking at only one thing in the room – Mike. The low drum of his heartbeat on the monitor increased slightly, but Marie didn't notice that either. Wanting to run to him, to fling her arms around him, to kiss every spot on his face and assure him that he was the only man she ever loved, Marie even failed to notice that two floors above, four jeeps and three pickups had arrived with over two dozen, heavily armed Friends of Humanity mercenaries. They had gotten an anonymous call from someone claiming they suspected mutants hiding among them. Not needing anything more, the skinheads assembled and headed out to Newberg, hell bent on destroying the freaks they despised so much.
Logan was boring his gaze into the man that introduced himself as Mike to Scott. They were doing the typical leader routine and sizing each other up with hasty introductions, when something deep inside of Logan's memory clicked into place.
The man before him was around his age in his early-thirties, but he looked younger, well at least less gruff and intimidating. He was taller, thinner, and spoke up with conviction and honesty. He was someone he'd probably have a beer with under any other circumstance. That frightened him a bit. He could actually see what Marie would find in him. This was not a pretty boy like Scooter or a smooth talker like the Cajun. This was a typical guy, a less jaded and more normal version of himself.
He was wearing a cop's uniform, but he was military. Logan knew that right away by the way his shirt was tucked in, by the way his shoelaces were tightly woven, even by the crew cut his sandy hair was in. He had been an Army Ranger as a matter of fact. He knew this because he had seen his pin, wrapped up in a piece of velvet Marie kept her good jewelry in, tucked away in a shoebox in their closet.
Logan stared at the man as he spoke in seeming slow motion. It was the night that they had made Ororo and Scooter Jonathan's godparents. The baptismal was in a church two towns over where mutants were welcome, a few weeks after he was born. Marie had pestered him into wearing a shirt and tie and she had the most beautiful blue dress on. He remembered that she spent all morning trying on dresses.
She didn't want to wear the blue, even though it matched the baby's blankets, because she said it made her look fat, but Logan had loved it. Even though she was back down to her normal weight in a few months, the extra fifteen pounds after the baby suited her well. They added fullness to her breasts, a nice little curve to her belly and a wideness to her hips and backside that made him crazy. It was making love in that dress that had made them late that day.
She had been nursing Jonathan when she told him to fetch her earrings. He withdrew the little bundle from where it was tucked in a shoebox, and emptied the contents on the rumpled bed. He found the two little diamond studs quick enough, but among the trinkets was an Army Ranger pin. The brass was polished but stood out as clunky and heavy among the delicate little rings and things. He caught it in his fingers and turned it around. He figured it was her father's or something. He had been military, she had told him once.
Watching her come out of the nursery, struggling with the baby fussing in his white outfit, blankets and the all-important diaper bag, Logan dropped it without any further thought and tossed the little suede pouch back into the shoebox. Wrapped up in so much to do, he never thought about it again - until now.
It hadn't been her father's pin. He knew that with certainty. It was his. Mike. The father of her child. Jonathan's real father. The one standing just feet away. The one who was obviously more important than he had thought. Why else would she have his pin with all her valuables? The things he gave her for Chistmases and anniversaries and mother's days and birthdays.
She had mentioned him once, when she told him everything that happened those two years she ran, but that was it. She never mentioned the pin, she never mentioned how much Jonathan looked like him, never mentioned why it was okay to give herself to him without love. Maybe that was a lie too. Marie wasn't the type of girl to just be so casual. She had lived with him for almost a year. Maybe she had loved him. How else could they have been together that long? You don't sleep with someone that long and not have it mean anything. Not her. Not Marie.
Feeling an inexplicable anger rise in him, Logan wallowed in his hurt and jealousy. She had kept something of Mike's. A reminder. Only it wasn't the only one. He had taken some pride in that the boy looked like him, even growled and had spiky hair like him. But that was nothing compared to the set of his nose, the color of his skin, the sweep of his chin. Jonathan and his father were identical, and that was Marie's biggest memento. How could she not think of Mike when Jonathan was a constant, walking, talking reminder?
Claws barely easing out of his skin, Logan closed his eyes to banish the thought from his mind, but he wasn't reasonable anymore. Needing to know, needing to release his hostility and make it clear to the whole world that they were his and his alone, he took a step forward. Remy caught the movement from his peripheral vision. Scott had told him to keep an eye on him, and turning around to block his way, Gambit was about to ask his teammate what was wrong when Rogue's voice screamed into their ears. A split second later, a spray of bullets wracked them both and sent them all tumbling to the ground.
Marie watched in horror as all hell broke loose in the 3D image before her. It was all her fault. Looking in at the action in the sub-basement had deterred her from noticing what was going on above ground. Instead of staring at the screen like an idiot, she should have been monitoring the building once the team made contact with the mutant group. Frantically moving the controls to better follow the spurt in action and yelling directions into everyone's com, Marie made a whimpering sound in the back of her throat when she saw that Logan was down and not getting up. He was partially blocking the door and taken dozens of shots. She looked at the monitor with the life sign readings. Flatline. Shattered by bullets, Logan's com had fell silent too.
Turning when he felt a large hand grasp at his collar, Logan snapped back into consciousness with a start. He growled at Hank, who was dragging him along the ground to a spot behind a large piece of machinery. Letting go immediately, Hank ducked behind the machine and kept firing at the oncoming wave.
"Welcome back, dear friend. Perhaps you would like to join in our little fray."
Logan grimaced at the feel of his back muscles stitching together again and jumped into a crouching position. His claws were out in an instant snikt as he scanned the blur of activity in the room. Gambit was hit in the arm, but was doing well with Cyclops on the other side. When the FOH stormed in, he had caught most of the bullets since he was blocking the door, which turned out to be a lucky thing for the Cajun. Still surveying, Logan's senses went into alert at the sound of a woman screaming not that far off. He turned to the huge furry doctor, who was busy pelting an opposite wall where FOH were hiding behind a furnace.
"Cover me!"
Without waiting for a response, Logan ran across the room to the place where two FOH were dragging a middle-aged woman out from under machinery by her shirt collar. One was already cocking his gun for the kill. Behind him, he felt the whiz of bullets. One managed to catch him in the calf, but he charged forward, not letting it slow him down one bit. Catching the man who was holding her in the back with all three claws, he spun him around to use as a shield when the second turned to fire at him. The woman screamed and fell away, leaving room for Logan to attack the other, but Remy got to him first.
A charged card hit the second man in the back, dropping him instantly. Logan nodded at the Cajun, who already had another three cards glowing and ready in his hands. Amid the haze of the steam that the machines were releasing into the confined space, they glowed an eerie red. Turning to the bald merc still impaled on his claws, Logan withdrew them so that he could fall away. Logan then looked to the blazing firefight spilling onto the larger furnace room outside.
Hank was hanging off the pipes on the ceiling and jumping to help people get to safety. Remy was providing cover against the dozen or so FOH still around, but Scott was nowhere to be found. Catching a glimpse of red light outside the cavernous boiler room, Logan made a beeline to the door, stopping only to disable two men.
Once in the larger, expansive, underground storage, Logan tuned into his senses again. He could make out a hand-to-hand fight taking place not too far off. Scott's handy little eyebeams were cutting through a second wave of FOH that seemed to be coming out of the woodwork by a series of crates and boxes that were stacked to the left of him. Seeing that Scott was okay, he ran up the short flight of metal stairs towards the fighting sounds, and staggered when he saw who was there.
Marie let out a yelp of pain when the FOH skinhead sent his fist into her back. Grimacing slightly, she used the momentum that the blow caused to arch her back and grab his arm. Using the technique Logan had taught her, she didn't break the motion. In a fluid movement, she ran him into the wall wrestler style and drove her knee into his stomach before he could recover.
Satisfied at the grunt of pain she elicited, Marie stepped back and reached for the gun he had dropped. In her panic stricken mind, she only wanted to get to it and foolishly turned her back to the mercenary for too long. Knowing his survival depended on it, the man lunged at her, bringing them both down to the concrete floor. Marie cried out in frustration as her fingertips brushed the strap of the automatic rifle, and fought his iron grip wrenching her arm back. About to turn and drive her free fist into his face, she was stopped short when a growl tore through the air. In a flash, the man's weight was off her and she barely had enough time to turn over when she felt the hot splatter of blood on her lower legs.
"Logan!!"
Marie scrambled to her feet and not knowing quite how to still the dizziness she felt, leaned against the stair door and clenched her eyes shut. She was so relieved to see that Logan was okay, but she couldn't watch him gut the man. The morning sickness that was kept at bay all morning, hit her at once and she leaned her head on the cinderblock wall for balance and clutched her stomach as the man screamed. The sickly sweet smell of cranberries and gunpowder intermingling didn't help any. She heard grunts and shuffling behind her and still smelling the blood in the air, slid down to the floor. A few seconds later, she felt Logan's hand on her shoulder. He was slightly out of breath and his uniform was pelted with an insane amount of holes.
"Marie, baby."
She clasped his hand with her own and jumped up to her feet with tears in her eyes. She really hated missions sometimes and no matter how she justified it, she despised the fact they almost always took lives a million times over.
"Ah'm okay, Logan. Tha others."
Logan gave her an unsure look before extending his claws again and barreling down the stairs with her in tow. He hated to see her in combat situations, but she was safer at his side. Still feeling shame that she had to turn when he finished the merc, he ducked with her behind a stack of crates and turned to hand her her weapon.
"How many above ground? Did you see?"
Marie nodded, checked her magazine clip and tried to recall what she had seen before she bolted out of the Blackbird in a blind panic. She tapped on her com to make sure everyone received the transmission as well.
"Rogue heah. Second batch coming in ah copter. Caught it with GPS, should be heah within twenty minutes. Heat sensors indicate heavy artillery. Four more trucks. Ah sealed both tha elevator doors behind me. It's chaos above ground. Workers scramblin' ta get awa……"
She paused when Logan pushed her down again at the sound of an explosion. It was above ground and it sounded huge. Logan grunted in frustration and scrambled to his feet again. He ran with her back to the boiler room where the others were still tying up a few stragglers. Despite the uneven numbers and the element of surprise, the mutants and the X-Men had beaten them back successfully. The only problem now was that they were trapped underground with more FOH on the way. Scott was at the epicenter of the activity, barking out orders. When he saw Logan and Marie, he paused in his screaming.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Marie switched her weight from one leg to the other. She knew it was best just to keep silent when Scott was on an overprotective streak. True to form, he immediately shook his head to clear his thoughts. He took a deep breath at the expression she wore.
"Look, just go help Beast okay?"
Marie nodded guiltily at him and squeezed Logan's hand.
"Ah'm sorry."
She ran to help Hank bandage some hurt girl by the wayside. Logan noticed how dizzy she was and felt lousy, knowing she only came to keep him in check and was now smack in the middle of an ugly conflict because of it. Feeling similar frustrations for underestimating the FOH and not being more prepared, Scott placed a hand on Logan's shoulder, who was still sniffing to see if Marie was hurt.
"Wolverine, slice that piping and use it to help bar the door."
Logan nodded and took off. Scott took a second to calm the unsteadiness he felt and turned to the others in full leader mode.
"Is everyone in here?? Good!! Seal the door!!"
Marie sighed heavily at the loss of blood the girl she was tending to had suffered. The others had varied injuries but none this bad. Her light yellow shirt was drenched in dark blood. Her crying was frantic at first, but she was quieting down as she slowly slipped into shock. Marie noticed the girl's hands were bright Cranberry red. Even her nails were stained. An older woman had her head in her lap and was smoothing back her hair. Hank withdrew a shot of morphine from his backpack and put it straight into the girl's neck vein, before moving to see Remy's shoulder. Marie knew that meant she was dying.
"Keep her warm."
The older lady looked up with tears in her eyes. They trailed down her face, washing some of her heavy make-up away. Marie placed a hand on the woman's shoulder in compassion. It took her a moment to realize that underneath the concealer, she was another color. Marie took up a white gauze square and wiped some of the tears away, revealing a beautiful orange and purple design underneath. The middle-aged lady that Logan had saved earlier, brought her hand up in shame to cover her exposed skin. Marie saw her worn cotton gloves and blinked back her own tears.
"It's okay sugah. It's okay."
The lady stared at Marie for a few moments before breaking down in sobs that shook her entire body. She continued petting the unconscious girl and leaned into Marie's shoulder to cry out her grief.
"Sh-she's my…only friend…I love her…s-s-so much."
Marie swallowed her anger and cooed soft words into the bandana the lady covered her graying hair in. She reminded her so much of Pia. That twisted her heart again. As much as she wanted to hate humankind for persecuting innocents over a simple difference in DNA, she had to admit to herself that some had hearts big enough to love unconditionally. Tuning out the sounds of the men working in the background to reinforce the door, Marie's thoughts dwelled on the life growing inside her. What kind of world was she bringing another innocent into? It seemed so unfair. Her thoughts were interrupted by an explosion above them. Little bits of worn paint rained down from the ceiling. Scott's orders got louder. Feeling the lady straighten out, she offered her the gauze again.
"What's yer name sugah?"
The lady looked down timidly and continued to wipe away her pancake make-up.
"Dorothy."
Marie smiled thoughtfully.
"Rogue. Stay with her. Tell her."
Dorothy nodded, her hand never ceasing the soft petting of the blonde girl's hair. Knowing how much it meant to her from so many years of personal experience, Marie leaned over and gave Dorothy a kiss on the cheek, purposefully on her bare skin. Dorothy startled, but whispered a soft thank you. Marie squeezed her shoulder before getting up off the floor and turning to see what she could help the others in. Wiping at her own cheeks and slipping her own gloves back on, Marie skidded to a stop at seeing a familiar set of eyes drinking her every move in. Mike stood slowly from where he was tying and gagging four captured FOH members. Not able to make her voice work, Marie settled for a tight smile.
Mike Conners swallowed once and stepped forward to the girl he remembered so fondly, temporarily forgetting that they were smack in the middle of an all out attack. Not quite believing that she was in a uniform like the others, he curved his lips into a smile before covering the short distance to her. Catching her in a stiff embrace, Mike stuttered to find a voice. He pulled back roughly and stared down into her equally shocked face.
"I though I'd never see you touch, Roguey."
Marie grinned at the nickname. He had a bleeding shoulder too and looked tired and sweaty, but as handsome and friendly as ever. Those eyes, that face – so familiar.
"Finally learned some control Ah guess."
Mike's smile faded.
"It's what you always wanted."
"Yes."
Knowing by the look in her eyes that there was a massive story behind it, Mike changed topics and motioned at the leather in an effort to lighten the mood.
"A superhero huh?"
"Ah mutant underground leader?"
Watching him rumble in laughter, Marie took her arms back from his grip and tucked a stray strand of white back behind her ear. He understood her sentiment and took a half step back.
"Though we could have met under better circumstances, Roguey."
Marie wondered just how scruffy she looked in her combat ponytail. Logan always teased her that she only wore ponytails on missions. Suddenly waking up in realization, Marie glanced to the door where the men were working to move a huge piece of machinery to block the entrance. She immediately spotted Logan's eyes boring into hers. There was something there she couldn't quite place.
She swung her gaze back up to Mike who looked at her awkwardly. He had noticed the other man right off. He was a dangerous and volatile character that fought fearlessly and brooded silently. There was no doubt in his mind who he was. They had spent so many nights in bed talking about him. He wanted to ask her, he really did, but he knew it wasn't the right time. Not if he was right about Mr. Dark and Brooding anyway. He didn't want to ruin things for her and he had no right. It could wait.
"Umm, I…"
Marie stopped him with a raised hand and cleared her throat, very well aware that Logan was tracking her every move with a hunter's precision from afar. It dawned on her that he could hear their every word.
"Ah'll see if they need help."
Mike nodded in unfamiliar awkwardness.
"I'll check up on the others, I'll catch up to you."
He side stepped her with a warm, understanding smile. Marie went to say something, but he just patted her arm and walked off, leaving Marie alone in the center of the room. She took a deep breath and turned, walking quickly towards Logan's intense gaze. They were done with the door and Scott now turned to survey the damage. Remy was giving him a full report of the wounded and the amount of ammo they had all together. Marie still had her eyes glued to Logan's and was about to slip in next to him when another explosion rocked everything around them.
One of the girls screamed and everyone struggled for footing. Logan clutched at Marie as she stumbled and brought her down to her knees in a protective crouch. His hands pulled her by the waist into an embrace and he kneeled behind her. He was angry, frustrated and jealous, but none of it was her fault. He had never been that type of man before and he wouldn't start being it now. They were in a bad situation and it could wait. He tuned into what Scott was saying, perfectly aware of Marie's accelerated heartbeat and Mike appearing across from them to hear Remy's report.
"An' ‘bout fifteen rounds of semi, an' three grenades, homme."
Scott mulled over the possibilities and everyone waited with panting breaths for his next command. The team and Mike's group formed a circle on the floor around him.
"They'll breach the freight elevator doors in moments and we don't have enough for a conventional one on one. I severely underestimated their firepower and we need out, quickly. Rogue, what the hell are they using?"
Marie tried to recall the sound of the last blast. Mike stared at her with raised eyebrows.
"Umm, c-4, double plug activator, remote trigger."
Scott nodded and looked at Mike next.
"Some of your group work here, what's directly above us?"
"The vats. Huge boiling pots. Too dangerous for grenades."
Scott mulled that over.
"We'll use my optic beams. They're more precise. Beast, can you determine which of these foundation beams holds the building up?"
The furry mutant looked over at the ten cement beams surrounding them and started taking out his little portable computer.
"Already working on it. Give me five minutes."
Another explosion shook them all. It was the closest so far. Logan's sensitive ears resonated painfully. Marie grimaced with him and placed a hand on his thigh. They would be at the door in minutes and with c-4, the FOH could blast through their barricade easily.
"You got two minutes! Mike, get these folks up on those machines on the far side. I'll most likely hit the vats of liquid and I don't need anyone burned. Gambit, distribute the ammo evenly, then get those sorry FOH sons of bitches up on the machines too. Beast, stay on the ceiling and help people the minute the coast is clear. Rogue, be ready to man the jet immediately. We're making a dash through the factory and to the jet. We move tight and fast, it's only a quarter mile. Logan, you go up first and clear the way. I'll bring up the rear and carry the injured girl."
Looking around at the dozen faces to see if they got everything, Scott was about to stand and spur everyone into action, when Dorothy spoke up unexpectedly from the corner of the room. She had stretched out her young friend's body and covered her face with the handkerchief she had tied around her hair. The gray wig was lying in a heap beside her. Marie's heart turned at seeing the older woman in her complete and colorful splendor. She had hidden so well. The thought brought a tear to her eye. Her only friend was dead and her voice quivered in sorrow.
"That won't be necessary. Eileen's gone."
Everyone in the steamy room held their collective breath. A moment of reverent silence that probably was the only rite Eileen's body would have, held until automatic fire started pelting the boiler door. With his hands trembling slightly, Scott finally stood and blinked behind his visor.
"Let's do this! Move, move, move!!"
Everyone jumped into action, but Marie fixated on Dorothy. Logan pulled her up by the shoulders, turned her around and planted a tender kiss on her forehead, reminiscent of the night up on the Statue, so many years ago.
"Go help her and stay close to me Marie."
Marie nodded, too emotional to respond and brought his gloved hands to her lips. Kissing his knuckles lightly, she turned and ran off to pick Dorothy off the floor. Beast had figured out the architecture and declared the south side the safest bet. Logan jumped up on the closest boiler with Scott and caught the automatic and the revolver that Gambit flung at him.
Helping Dorothy and another man up onto a compressor, Marie turned and watched Scott brace himself against Logan. Because of his healing ability, Logan was always on the frontline. The thought made Marie anxious but behind them, the weapons fire and yelling had finally ceased. It meant they were setting up an explosive and backing away. They had to move quickly.
"Everyone ready??"
Not waiting for a reply, Scott turned the dial on his visor to the highest setting and held his breath along with everyone else. In an instant, the optic beams opened and the room was bathed in red light. They tore straight through the reinforced ceiling, traversed four stories of metal and concrete and emerged through the roof of the ancient factory almost instantly.
Everything around them shook and trembled and as expected, tons of brick and mortar came tumbling down along with a rush of hot, boiling cranberry pulp that washed down into the basement like a scene out of ‘The Shining'. The hot liquid splashed on everything it encountered, but nobody was seriously burned. It brought with it a sickening sweet smell and sheets of hot steam, which instantly shorted out the lights and drenched everyone with vapor.
Not counting on that particular factor, everyone panicked and a few people screamed until something began to glow brightly. Marie gasped and turned to Dorothy in shock. Her orange and purple marbled skin was shimmering a metallic glow. The lady looked up timidly.
"It's my power."
Marie grinned and flung her arms around her new friend before Scott's voice caught everyone's attention again. Logan smiled in the dark, always amazed by how quickly his wife bonded with people.
"Let's go!!"
Everyone jumped into motion, precariously leaping from one piece of equipment to the next, trying to avoid falling into the foot deep boiling liquid. Hank was already hanging from the pipes by the gaping hole Scott had made, pulling Logan up by the arms while the others hustled as best they could. Marie held her breath when she saw him disappear into it, praying that the FOH were not waiting on the other side. Losing her concentration, she tripped on a piece of loose concrete and almost fell into the liquid when a hand grabbed her from behind. She almost tripped again when she saw that it was Mike.
"You okay?"
Marie nodded furiously and straightened out again.
"Y-yes."
Scott was yelling from where he was helping everyone up. They moved a little faster, knowing that their life literally depended on it. Still using Dorothy's shining face as a beacon, Marie helped another man along until it was her turn and she was face to face with Scott.
"Remember, tight and fast."
Marie nodded at him and extended her hands up to Hank. Scott picked her up by the waist and the acrobatic mutant pulled her past the rubble to the next floor where Remy was helping to pull everyone up. She breathed a gulp of fresh air outside the hot basement in relief. Spotting Logan keeping a watchout further up ahead on the factory floor, she helped usher everyone else along.
"Com'on folks, we gotta move."
Looking back to see Scott, Mike and finally Hank pull up through the hole, Marie tapped on her com and gave Remy and Logan the go ahead to move forward. They disappeared up the stairs and at almost precisely the same moment, everyone was thrown to the ground when another explosion shook the building. Knowing it was the boiler room door under them and that the FOH must have seen their escape route already, Marie urged everyone to run faster. Making it to the stairwell leading to the main floor, Marie cringed when she heard Remy's voice in her ear and heard gunfire up ahead.
"FOH resistance in de front lobby!! Gambit be needin' some help non?"
Marie swung around to see if anyone else heard, but Hank, Scott and Mike were busy fighting off the FOH pouring out of the hole. Knowing they had to push ahead no matter what, Marie left Dorothy to keep the group low in the stairwell and went to go help up ahead.
Pumping her legs as fast as she could, Marie weaved through the main floor up to the reception area where there was a full fledge firefight going on. Waiting for a cease in fire, Marie gripped her automatic rifle tight and checked her shot count, before swinging into the main reception area blasting everything in red barets and armbands. Ducking a grenade that swung past her, Marie dove behind a receptionist's desk, terrified to see that Logan was out in the open. He was being belted by bullets and still managing to fight some assholes off, but he wouldn't last long and they were severely outnumbered. He must have been caught out in the open and run out of ammo. Behind her, the grenade exploded under a bench, sending splintered fragments of wood raining down on everything.
Gambit was further up ahead by a plexiglass partition, getting a few skinheads in between the hail of bullets, but they were advancing and Logan needed help. Breathing rapidly, Marie looked around frantically for something – anything. Seeing a stack of `Oregon's Best' labeled round marble paperweights in a box under the desk, Marie grinned and whistled at the Cajun. His red on black eyes looked at hers questioningly, the automatic fire was deafening, but she tapped on her com and yelled `catch.'
She threw one then the next, until the dozen paperweights had been kinetically charged and thrown like grenades at the firing crowd. They made a serious dent in the FOH offensive so checking that she had only twenty-three shots left, Marie charged forward with a scream, using short controlled burst of firepower to fend the skinheads off her husband. It was a risky move, but it was all she had.
Luckily, Scott and the others had joined the party and the FOH were somewhat on the retreat when she sprinted through the lobby. Trusting her team explicitly, Marie ran straight through without pause. Everyone that made a grab for her was taken out by a red beam or interestingly enough, a kinetically charged stapler or something. By the time she reached Logan, the lobby was completely under control, unfortunately, the mercs behind them were only slowed and still on the pursuit and Logan was bleeding profusely.
"Logan!"
Logan automatically retracted his claws at Marie's scent and tried to sit up.
"Babe."
"I'm fine sugah, com'on let's go."
Logan grimaced as his wounds rippled, bled and healed. Marie smoothed back his sweaty hair and tried to help him to his feet. Hank came up to help carry him along just as another explosion alerted everyone to the fact that the sealed stairwell had been breached and they were being pursued once again. The group exited the factory and made a dash for the treeline, hoping to reach the jet in time, but shots were fired just as they entered the tree cover making another fight inevitable.
Logan clung to Marie as Scott, Remy and Hank went back and Mike ushered his group to the jet he was told was straight ahead. Dorothy hesitated when Logan and Marie fell behind, but Marie urged her to keep up with the others. Feeling better with every step, Logan came to a stop when they could see neither the mutants ahead of them nor the X-Men behind them.
"Does it hurt too much?"
Logan heaved breath into his still hole riddled lungs and scanned Marie's tired body for injury. He was about to ask her if she was fine, but the gunfire at the rear stopped him. Marie read his thoughts and grabbed his blood slippery arms.
"No Logan! Yer still not healed enough!"
Logan shook his head and pushed her away with a raspy breath.
"Get to the jet, Marie, and then make a sweep."
Marie looked at Logan in wide-eyed fear. She didn't want to leave him, but it was true. The jet was the best weapon they had. What Scott had wanted to avoid by separating the group was now happening, but she had no real choice. She could fly the jet and she could help them. No choice. She swung the thick strap of the automatic over her head and gave Logan her weapon. The counter read that there were only twelve shots left. At least he was looking better. She could tell that most of the flesh under the ripped leather was whole again.
"Just please be careful. I love you."
Logan grinned at his exhausted superhero wife and threaded a bloody hand to the back of her head to draw her into a passionate kiss. Without another word, both turned in the sparse woods and ran off in opposite directions.
Mike ground to a stop when he saw the sleek blackness of what the X-Men had referred to as the Blackbird. The blue guy had given him a little beeping gizmo to track it down, but that really was redundant now. He tossed it to a kid next to him that was still starring in awed wonder. Feeling the nine other persons behind him do a similar double take, he snapped out of his boyhood fascination with all things aviation and looked impatiently in the direction they had just come from. It worried him that the others hadn't caught up yet. He turned to the friends that had become his family in the past year for the simple reason that they shared mutant genes.
"The blue doc said you can't touch it guys. Some sort of forcefield in place, but keep under it until I get back. Peter, stay sharp, only three shots in it. Safety's off, so just point and shoot."
He threw the young man who worked in the town video store, his standard issue handgun. The sixteen year old took it with trembling hands. Mike gave him a reassuring grin and looked at Dorothy. She was staring at the awesomeness of the jet with solemn, moist eyes, no doubt thinking about Eileen. He wanted to say something to her, but the words caught in his throat. He never had a family and more often than not, he thought of Dorothy like a mother. It absolutely tore him up to see her in pain. He ran a finger down her luminous face and wondered why he'd never seen it before. She was beautiful beyond words.
"I'm so sorry."
Dorothy snapped her gaze down and patted his hand lovingly.
"I know, Michael. She's in a better place now."
He swallowed with a sad smile and turned to run off, leaving his friends to duck and hide under the jet's shadow. Refusing to cry over sweet, little Eileen, Mike hurried into the forest again. He was almost sure he heard a helicopter, but he hadn't heard the X-Men mention it and kept going. Almost within hearing range of the gunfight still taking place at the edge of the forest line, he caught sight of something moving towards him.
Spotting his khaki uniform before he saw her black one, Marie yelled out to Mike. Recognizing his name, Mike lowered his gun and rushed to meet his former lover.
"Mike!"
Marie clutched her side and kept going. Her stomach had taken so much abuse, she wasn't sure it could take any more. Mike gave her a hasty embrace and looked over her head.
"Roguey, where are the others?"
Marie shook her head and grabbed his arm.
"Com'on we hafta get going."
Mike fell into step by her, still looking over his shoulder. She was not looking too good. The absurdity of being on some mission with little Rogue struck him so odd all of a sudden. It was surreal even. The last thing he expected when he woke up that day was to run across her again, never mind be chased down by purist fanaticals. The question burned in his mind, but he was still reluctant to ask. Were it not for the explosions, skinheads and firefights, he was sure she'd tell him, but it was just too awkward to ask yet.
"The others?"
"They're keeping the FOH back. Ah can fly tha jet, we gotta get everyone outta heah. It's tha only way."
Mike struggled with his conscience.. In the army, they never left anyone behind. Plus these people, these X-Men, had done more for him than he could ever recall anyone doing. When Rogue said superheros, she wasn't kidding.
"We can't leave……"
Marie shook her head vehemently. They were just yards from the clearing.
"Ah'm comin' around……"
She stopped in her tracks and pointed up. Mike stopped too and cocked an ear. He had been right. There was a helicopter and it was real close. Breaking into a sprint simultaneously, Mike and Marie broke through the clearing just as the FOH chopper started pelting the Blackbird with bullets.
"Rogue, get down!!"
Marie skidded to a stop and retreated back under the tree cover. Mike pulled her back and crouched next to her. He could make out his friends' wide, scared eyes clearly.
"Don't move!"
"Just stay theah, yer safe!"
She turned to Mike and withdrew a little device from her thick belt. Just then, the chopper passed again, raining bullets on everything. None of them even scratched the shiny finish. Mike blinked at her incredulously.
"It's bulletproof?"
Marie smirked at his reaction. He always did have a thing for planes and stuff. Collected models even. She sighed heavily again. He would have to run now. They all did. There was just no going back. She fiddled with the gadget until she finally got the right screen on the little square inch screen and pulled her leather glove off with her teeth. Mike stared at the ring she wore.
He had been right. She had gotten everything she wanted. There had been others after her, but none that he could share like he had with her. In a way, he supposed he subconsciously thought that she would someday come back, but he knew her heart belonged to another. He was just holding it in the meantime. He knew that from day one and accepted it. The question rose in him again.
Marie kept working, not noticing the regard. Finally punching in the right code, the jet's hangar doors opened slowly. The shields still protected it though, and despite it's efforts, the FOH hail of bullets couldn't harm it. She turned to Mike.
"We don't have any defense, so when they circle again, Ah'll make ah run for it. You follow and get ta them. Keep them calm and still. Theah's ah hatch underneath. Ah'll get that open and then we can blast that little bug out tha air. Got it?"
Mike nodded with a half smile. He wanted to offer to go instead, but he realized Marie wouldn't go for it. He felt an inexplicable pride well in him. The question lingered at the tip of his tongue, but it definitely wasn't the right time or the right place. He looked over at his friends a few yards away and made a gesture for them to stay in place. They were all looking at Rogue like leather clad salvation.
The humor in that quickly faded when the chopper circled around. She was timing her dash and he could tell it might not be enough time. It was at least eighty feet and the chopper was moving down in concentric circles. Feeling panic surge in him, Mike was about to suggest another tactic, when Marie suddenly took off. She ran hard and was halfway to the jet doors when he stared in slow motion as a man rappelled down from the chopper with an automatic in his arms.
Knowing that she was going to get his group out to safety, that the X-Men were depending on her for a pick up, that she was the best friend that he ever had, that she had a ring on her hand that matched the Wolverine's, and most importantly that she was the mother of his child, Mike ran from his spot to her just as the line of bullets cut a line in the grass to her. Using all his strength, he leaped with a yell just as the bullets reached her.
Throwing his much bigger frame on her, he shuddered as at least a half dozen tore through his back and legs. Marie screamed and tried to turn, but she could barely budge. She struggled against tears, rage and gravity. Her revolver still had two shots, and she withdrew it from her thigh holster with lightening speed to take down the man that was responsible, but it was unnecessary as the man was already dead.
In a grief stricken blur, Marie scrambled and turned her head in time to see Dorothy holding out Mike's police gun from where she was kneeling under the jet. All three shots rang out, but she kept pulling the trigger until a young boy took it from her. Everyone's screaming stopped. Tears were rolling freely down her beautifully colored face but it's expression was unmistakable. It was revenge. Cold hatred and revenge.
Shutting her eyes again just as the rappelling man's body hit the ground with a thud, Marie scampered from Mike's gurgling grasp, dropped her revolver and lunged for the automatic the man had in his clutches. Ripping it from his hands just as the chopper ascended in an attempt to circle again, Marie fell to her knees and leaned back almost parallel to the ground. Clicking the magazine in place, she pulled the release with her palm and emptied the entire eighty rounds into the belly of the retreating chopper with a guttural scream.
Catching more than a dozen bullets in the gas tanks, the FOH helicopter weaved and bobbed just feet over the treeline until it's engines gave out. Sputtering and smoking, the machine dropped out of the sky and landed in a fireball in the forest. Even from the distance where she was, Marie could feel the heat of the explosion swell over her.
The empty chambers still clicking hollowly like Dorothy's had done, Marie slowly came back to her reality. People were shaking her, asking her with teary faces if she was alright. Remembering that Mike was hurt, Marie blinked and stood up. She almost choked when she saw him stretched out in the grass, bleeding to death. Running to his side, she slapped a hand to her mouth to hold back her sobs.
He was still alive, sputtering blood from his lips, but still alive. Rogue shushed him as his friends applied pressure to his wounds. She realized nothing could be gained from her freaking out. She fluttered her hands over his face, not sure where to touch him first.
"P-please don't talk, sugah."
Mike's lips twitched slightly at the familiar word. He loved hearing it, but she was crying. Over him. Her white streaks had blood splattered on them. His, no doubt.
"You ……get them……out."
Marie clutched at his hand. The blood made it slippery. It seemed like every inch of him was drenched in it. But his words hit home. He pointed at her platinum ring. The one he had no idea his son's name was written on.
"Go."
Marie closed her eyes and let the flow of tears bathe both their intertwined hands. Yes, she had to go, but she couldn't go without letting him know. He had given her so much and he deserved to know.
"H-his name is Jonathan. He's very smart an' s-sweet an' loves dinosaurs. He has yer chin an' yer nose an' he's……beautiful."
Mike smiled in his pain. He knew it had been a boy. He wasn't sure how, but when he thought of Rogue, a continent away with her superhero friends, he always pictured a boy. Even in his dreams of them, he always pictured a boy.
He pressed into the ring once again before fading into unconsciousness. Marie understood. She sobered up quickly and placed his hand over his heart. She had things to do. Patting Dorothy's hand on her shoulder, she stood and faced Mike's weeping friends. They all looked up to him so much, that seeing him dying made them simply want to quit.
"Theah's ah stretcher inside. We hafta hurry."
Nobody moved. Marie wiped her face and made her voice strong.
"He's still alive. If we move, we can get him help…he wanted ya'll, us, ta live."
Giving him a last furlong look, Marie sprung into action. Slowly the others did the same. They took Mike and settled him into the medbay while Marie revved up the engine jets and prepared for take off. Luckily, one of them was an empath and was helping ease Mike's pain somewhat.
Not wasting time with a pre-flight check, Marie opened the deck view and quickly located the four mutant bioscans through the holographic interface. Seeing them still fighting at the edge of the treeline with about a dozen armed human outlines, Marie wiped her face, raised the landing gear and dropped the dual machine guns the jet was outfitted with. Flying past the haze of smoke the burning FOH chopper made, she moved to where the fight was still raging on.
Laser targeting the trucks the FOH skinheads had come in, she blew them to smithereens and followed by laying down rapid fire to quickly dissuade whoever remained from sticking around. Retreating to relative distance, the X-Men left the area clean for her to sweep in merciless firepower. Seeing the human scans safely scattering, Marie dropped the landing gear once again and hovered the jet close to the ground, allowing the X-Men to board.
On a trajectory to New York only a few minutes later, Scott relieved Marie at the controls while Remy manned the co-pilot's seat. Neither was in good physical condition to fly, but Hank was busy with trying to hook Mike onto life support and Marie was too distraught to do anything.
She sat in between Logan's drawn up knees on the floor, watching Hank work in morbid curiosity. She hadn't shed a tear or said a word, but Logan could sense the grief that enveloped her. He was uncomfortable with it to say the least, but she was hurting, and that always took precedence over everything else. He would deal with implications later, all he knew was that his wife needed him now. Brushing her sweat soaked hair away from her face, he held her and thought and wondered.
Marie remembered little of the flight home. Staring at Mike's still face for nearly two hours, she faintly recalled that they landed with a muffled bump under the basketball court. Logan must have been the one that picked her up and said something to her, but Marie could not recall what that was. He started to walk her to the Medlab exam rooms, when Jean rushed up to get her, again, saying things she just couldn't remember. The doctor settled her down stiffly in a chair in triage and then ran to Hank to work on Mike, who was a bigger priority. Marie stared at the closed eyes from afar blankly, until a med assistant came to take her to a smaller room. Standing up suddenly, Marie twisted from the girl's grasp and finally spoke up.
After so many hours of silence, all Marie said was that she wanted to stay with him. Logan was helping a limping Remy along to go see one of the lab assistants, but stopped cold at hearing her words from across the triage room. He let out a growl that stopped everyone in their tracks. Only Marie didn't hear it, she was too enthralled by the sight of Mike bleeding on that exam table to have noticed. Knowing the potential for trouble, Scott was the first to move and went to say something to him, but Logan tore away from his grasp and stomped off, unzipping his uniform angrily as he went. Marie did heard the slamming he gave the door and the clash of metal inside the locker room, however, but she didn't budge. She really did have a need to see Mike. The guilt she felt in his sacrifice was tearing her apart, but she couldn't let him die without knowing the truth. All else would have to wait. She closed her eyes and sat down slowly again. All else would have to wait.
Scott had called ahead from the Blackbird and so the welcome wagon was out to greet the ten refugees right away. They were very good at what they did. Kitty was the head of that committee and she made sure everyone always received the proper medical attention and felt safe in their new surroundings until The Professor made formal introductions.
Unfortunately none of the new guests felt very much like taking the grand tour. The one responsible for keeping them alive for the past two years was laying in the underground Medlab, struggling with life and they assembled outside in the waiting rooms to wait. Wait for what, they weren't sure. But they waited. They weren't allowed in the critical unit, but they knew that the Rogue was in there with him and he was not alone. No-one except Dorothy, quite understood what the connection between the two was, but they didn't hold any grudges. Mike was a noble guy and would have done the same for any of them. The Professor sat with them, explaining where they were, who he was and comforting them the best he could. Eventually they all retired to their new rooms as night fell and tiredness caught up with everyone.
Scott and Ororo watched sadly as Marie sat by Mike's side for hours, hands folded neatly in her lap, eyes dry and voice silent, still in her tattered uniform. Jean and Hank had operated on him to stop internal bleeding and all that was left to do was sit and hope that he recovered. When it was already late and she could no longer stand by and just watch, from the door window, Ororo padded in softly and knelt before Marie. As one of her best friends, she knew a little of the story of Mike and her, and she was worried. Logan had been gone since he stormed out of the hangar that afternoon and that was never a good sign. Everyone had tried, but having put the kids to bed and settled everyone new in rooms, Ororo had come to try one more time.
"Rogue?"
"Rogue honey, please say something, it's me, Ororo."
Marie blinked at her friend. The tears were right there, precariously building in her eyelids, but refusing to fall. Ororo's heart turned at the turmoil she saw there.
"Why don't you go and take a shower? Maybe eat a little something. You have us all so worried."
Marie shook her head almost imperceptibly. The memories she was reliving in her mind, refused to let go. Ororo wiped at her own tears and looked at the sandy haired man that was Jonathan's biological father. They looked so much like each other. She idly wondered what would happen if he woke up. She closed her eyes and corrected herself - when he woke up.
"Jonathan made you a macaroni necklace. He painted it green, your favorite color. Little Charles made me a bracelet. We left it on your dresser. He was so excited for you to see it that he could barely sleep. Jubilee had them……honey……are you okay?"
Ororo briefly cursed herself for mentioning Jonathan. Marie had raised her hand to cover her mouth. There were still no tears, but she made a sobbing sound. Ororo looked at her in growing agitation. She reached out to clasp Marie's free hand.
"I'm sorry Rogue. I didn't mean to……please don't feel bad, I……oh goddess."
Marie looked at her friend in agony. Her voice was low and full of remorse.
"Ah didn't put him ta bed. Ah promised him yesterday no more trips fer ah while."
Ororo shook her head frantically, ecstatic that Rogue had spoken but dismayed that she felt so terrible.
"No honey, he understands. Really. He had a fun day and you could see him tomorrow……or right now if you want."
Marie's eyes brightened a little. Ororo felt a stab of hope.
"Do you want to do that? Go see him?"
Marie nodded blankly and Ororo sighed in relief.
"Okay then, just……come along……I'll take you."
Ororo stood slowly and pulled at the hand she still had in hers. Marie lingered behind her, giving one last look at Mike. The machines around him beeped and blinked. She looked at his closed eyes for a long time before finally turning. The thought of them never opening again tortured her to no end.
"Ah wanna come back."
Ororo felt a stir in her stomach but agreed quickly.
"Yes, you can come back."
Placated, Marie nodded and let Ororo pull her away. Holding on tightly to each other, they walked up to the upper levels in awkward silence. Deciding that she might respond again to talk of Jonathan, Ororo filled Marie into what went on that day, successfully eliciting an occasional smile from the numb woman. Nearing her door, Marie tightened her grip on Ororo. Thoughts of Logan swirled in her mind, torturing her even more, but Ororo gently reminded her that Jonathan was inside.
Marie swallowed painfully and walked on. Once inside her suite, Marie let go of her friend's hand and walked of her own accord to Jonathan's room. Entering slowly, she smiled wanly at the beautifully angelic face sleeping peacefully and kneeled by his bed, leaning her face on his protective bed rails. Fixated on the long eyelashes that curled over his cheeks, Marie pressed a kiss from her lips to her fingers to his forehead and ruffled his soft hair. His closed eyes looked so much like the one's she had been staring at all day. Ororo watched from the archway and barely caught her faint voice.
"Momma loves ya, baby."
Marie stood watching him a long time, silently seeing his little chest rise and fall until Ororo wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep. But eventually Marie stood, walked back to her own room, and closed his door behind herself. Her eyes were full of emotion and knowing that she needed time to think, time to sort it all out, Ororo took the robe that hung from the closet door and handed it to her slowly.
"I'm going to go get you something to eat, Rogue. You should take a shower. Though I could stay if you want."
Marie looked up at the pause in her words. There was a question, so an answer was expected. She placed a nervous hand up to her forehead. The headache there had been throbbing incessantly for hours.
"Ah……thank you."
Ororo looked at her questioningly. Marie took the robe and walked towards the bathroom with intent. Figuring she would be okay, Ororo sighed and left. Marie walked straight to the sink, where she dropped her robe and stared at the collection of bright toys that littered the edges. She picked up a purple cup, stamped all the way around with brightly hued fish. It was Jonathan's favorite cup. Thirsty, she opened the water faucet all the way and brought cool water to her lips. Taking a long drink, Marie inadvertently caught her reflection in the mirror. She slowly put the cup down and stared at the hollow looking eyes staring back at her. After a few minutes, she burst into laughter, which of course, a few minutes later, turned to tears.
She looked awful. Sticky with dried sweat, blood, tears, and dirt, she was a god-awful mess. But inside, she was worse. The pain and horror of everything that happened that day fell on her at once and she sobbed whole-heartedly into her hands. Weeping uncontrollably, she held onto the edge of the sink unsuccessfully before falling to the tiled floor on her knees. So many thoughts whirled in her head. Thoughts of running and dogtags and her family and a promise made ages ago in a camping tent. Thoughts of sacrifice and love and death. Thoughts of Jonathan and Mike and Logan. Logan, who had run away when she needed him the most. Logan, who she'd selfishly hurt beyond words because of so much unfinished business. Logan, who she needed more than anything.
Logan staggered out of the bar when he saw the bartender call the owner over. After about two bottles of Whiskey, they were getting a little concerned. Well, a lot concerned. Far from sober, but knowing full well he needed to avoid trouble if he was to keep from killing someone out of misplaced aggression, Logan dropped a few bills and hastily swaggered out before the owner could come over and start asking questions.
Once outside, he took a redeeming breath of fresh September air and thought over the strategy. Oh yes, very simple– get drunk until he passed out. His tried and true favorite. Logan smirked crookedly and ambled over to his bike. That was a long time ago, though. It was back when he was still mourning the loss of a woman he knew he didn't deserve. When he was too stupid to actually realize that he loved her, and never appreciated the fact that she loved him with everything in her soul. When he slept with someone else and ran her off for good……into someone else's arms. The same man she was with right now.
Jarred into reality, Logan swallowed the pain he felt despite all the booze and leaned his head into his hands were they rested on the handlebars of his bike. He had gone to three bars and drank close to his breaking point, and still it was there.
Aching and twisting and burning inside his chest in jealous rage. It coalesced in his heart and lured what was hidden there out into the open. The primal part of him that lived on pure instinct. The one that didn't understand how to hide his feelings or look at differing perspectives. This was a more basic thinker. The one that took over when reasoning was no longer an option. This was his namesake, the Wolverine.
Logan clutched a hand to his chest. The jealousy that burned there ached for release. Only it was more than jealousy and he knew it. It was also guilt. Guilt at wishing Mike just died and never bothered his family again. And that was just wrong. If she did love him more, if he did wake up fine and she realized that she was married to an animal and that she deserved a man, if she left him and took his son, no Mike's son with her, Logan should be happy for her.
Only he didn't want to be mature or understanding or sympathetic. Fuck no. He wanted her, wanted them. They were his. Only his and he would make him, this guy, see this. She carried his child. His. He would make her see too. Intoxicated to the point where little rational thought was left in him and the Wolverine took over, Logan picked up his dizzy head from his hands with determination and kicked his bike to life with a grunt.
He was in no condition to drive, but he had done it a hundred times before. Back when she ran away, that was all he ever did. Every day he took his body to the limit, wanting to punish himself, wanting to die. And he never did. Crashed pretty bad once, but he was built to last if nothing else. And he realized there and then that he really didn't want to die. No. He wanted her. He made sure he would live to see her again and now that he had her, he wasn't letting her go.
Ripping through Salem Center's back roads, Logan made it too the Mansion in under fifteen minutes, sobering at an astonishing rate. But he was still a little slow and uncoordinated from his binging. He couldn't get the front door to work the first two times, growled at some kids still up in the hallway, stumbled up the stairs once and completely failed to smell Marie's distress until he was practically in front of his door. He stood there for a split second before realization set in. She was crying, and her heartbeat was fast. Too fast. Barging in with a kick to the door, Logan ran to the bathroom, to see Marie gasping for air on the floor.
She startled when she saw him, but was too far gone to really care. She was hyperventilating in a panic attack and hearing a faint fetal heartbeat match hers in response, Logan swooped down to pick her up and sat her down on the toilet seat. She struggled a little against his hands, but he shook her to try to make her take a breath. Her lips were staring to pale.
"Marie!! Shit, Marie!!"
Logan snarled in frustration. She looked like she was about to pass out. Logan was about to call for help when Ororo appeared at the bathroom doorway. Too focused on Marie to have noticed her, Logan whirled around to face her when she gasped, with outstretched claws.
"Logan! It's me, I brought……Goddess, she's hyperventilating."
Careful to stay just outside of reach, Ororo circled wide around Logan to reach Marie's side. Sniffing for danger and finding none, Logan growled for good measure while he watched Ororo smooth back Marie's hair and bend her over so that her head was between her legs.
"Please, Rogue, just try to calm down……yes……take deep breaths."
Logan fumed in the corner, still drunk and feeling utterly useless. He thought she was with the other one, but she was in trouble. Because of him. He eyed the other woman carefully, but eased off a little when he heard Marie start breathing again. Before long, she was crying softly on Ororo's shoulder. Logan flexed his hands, not knowing quite what to do, but feeling very anxious by her tears. It was when Ororo looked up at him again that the claws slid out slowly. Knowing full well that he was more Wolverine than he was Logan at the moment, Ororo started slowly.
"She's exhausted. She didn't let Jean patch her up after the mission and she needs some attention."
Logan bared his teeth a little. Maybe the woman was a threat. She was his, and he wouldn't let her out of his sight.
"She's mine."
Ororo sighed visibly, still stroking Marie's matted hair. She hadn't seen Logan like this in years, but it was always best not to upset him too much. She wondered briefly what Scott would do.
"Yes, yes, but she needs to get cleaned up a little. She needs to rest."
She paused, to let his muddled mind work. The reply was more grunt than anything else.
"I'll do it."
Ororo stared at him a little, just to prove her point. Marie had stopped crying and was now sniffing softly, almost asleep in her exhaustion.
"Be very careful with her."
Ororo patted her stomach to see if he remembered. Logan's eyes actually softened and she knew that he did. Taking advantage of his agreeable state, Ororo moved slowly to lean Marie's head carefully on the sink edge. He hesitated and then cautiously took Ororo's place, kneeling on the floor in front of the toilet to help Marie support her weight.
Ororo straightened out and gave them one last look. Logan growled at her for good measure. She didn't look like a threat, but he faintly recalled one time when she fried him good for tearing up her whole garden in a fit. The white haired woman was a danger when she wanted to be. He went to the north woods after that to do his tearing up. Knowing she was doing the right thing and that Logan would never ever hurt his family, Ororo gave Marie a mournful look before patting her stomach again to remind him and leaving, closing the door behind her.
Logan turned his gaze back to Marie. She was sleeping deeply in exhaustion and worse, she smelled like him. The other one. The one that threatened all that was Logan's. His blood and therefore his scent was on Marie strongly. Grimacing slightly, Logan picked up one of her hands and sniffed. They smelled like Jonathan and the woman that just left. The one that could zap him. His inner animal roared in triumph. Marie hadn't touched the one that wanted to take her from him, but the scent was still heavy on her and all wrong. She was his and another man's blood on her wouldn't do.
Standing to his feet, Logan carefully leaned Marie back. Kicking off his boots and peeling his t-shirt and jeans off, like he had done with Jonathan the day before when they were anticipating her return, Logan started the shower, nice and hot like she liked it. Remembering the cranberry factory and deciding hot wasn't always that good, he cooled it off a little to make the water tepid.
Still slumped on the toilet seat in a deep sleep, Logan moved to Marie next, yanking off her boots and socks with some effort. Moving back up again, he slowly unzipping her leather suit, only to find his tags between her bare breasts. He had been right. Logan traced the oval shape with his name before standing her up against him and pulling the rest of the suit down along with her underwear. Fully naked now, he swept her up into his arms next and stepped into the shower stall. He held her up by pressing her against the tiled wall with his body.
Feeling the cool water sharply, Marie startled from her sleep and struggled a little. Logan held her tight to his chest, not letting her out of his grip. Marie blinked at him under the spray of water, not really remembering how she got there.
"L-logan?"
His chest grumbled underneath her. Giving another small shove, Marie managed to stumble out of his grasp and stand on her own. She looked around in the small space, not able to meet his gaze, once again sobbing quietly.
"Ah…Ah thought ya were mad at me."
Logan's growling stopped. He was mad at her, yes, but watching her shivering in the corner of the shower, erased it all away. Marie's bangs were hanging over her face, making it hard for her to see.
"Are ya m-m-mad at me?"
She was hiccupping softly from her sobs, and fearing she would start choking again, Logan pressed into her again, moving forward until his body met hers and they were flush against each other again. He moved her wet bangs away from her face. She still didn't look at him, so he brought her face up by her chin. The water intermingled with her tears, making them indistinguishable.
"Love you. You're mine."
Marie slid her hand to her mouth to cover her sob. She was sure there was more to it because the issue was far from settled, but that much was true, because the Wolverine never lied. He was incapable of lying and that's what he was at the moment. He reverted to it whenever he hurt so bad, he could no longer think like a man. She had seen it only twice; when she almost killed him and finally learned to turn off her mutation and when Morph, his friend, was killed on a mission. For the millionth time that day, she felt guilt for what she had put him through.
Without her really noticing, he had started to grumble again. His chest moving closer, Marie looked up, eyes and soul tired from crying.
"Ah love you too Logan. And yer mine also."
Logan starred at her, sniffing for truth. Marie stopped shivering, because his heat warmed her. He traced a finger across her lips, hypnotized by what he heard. The tears he shed, were now the ones being disguised by the water.
"Again." He growled.
"Ah love you."
The grumble deepened and he closed his eyes, savoring the words carefully.
"An' you'll always be mine too."
Opening his eyes slowly, Logan brought Marie's face up to his and pulled at the band that held her hair in a messy ponytail.
"Touch me."
His words were a growly whisper against her lips. Marie turned her hands against his chest to have them flat against him and moved them up to his shoulders. Spreading them open, she moved them up his neck and into his wet hair at the back of his head.
"Mine."
The growling was now a purr as he pushed down on her lips with force and opened her mouth to him. They kissed for a long time, savoring each other hungrily, until Logan pulled back. He was practically holding her up again and he could feel her tiredness in the way her body was slumped forward. She needed to get to bed quick.
"Tired."
Marie nodded and clung to him, no longer able to make words. Her eyes ached in time with her headache. Unfortunately, it was nothing in comparison to her heartache. She was so tired. Logan moved his lips down to her neck and kissed the chain of his tags against her skin. Even though he wanted her, the protectiveness he felt superceded lust. He decided to make good on his promise and take care of her.
Clearing the shelf of products with a single swipe, Logan lifted Marie to sit on the carved out niche in the shower wall. Grabbing a bottle and then deciding that it smelt too much like berries, he flung it out the shower and tried another. Finding one he used, he started with her hair, shampooing it and rinsing out the blood and dirt that clung to it. Marie leaned into him, vaguely enjoying the feel of his hands and partially asleep in the spray of water.
Next came the soap. With this he cleared her body of the sweat that clung to her slowly, taking an inventory of all the bruises taking on funny shades of green and blue. The biggest was on her back, where he remembered some skinhead asshole had kicked her. Logan smoothed the area over in lather, growling angrily at the thought. This perked Marie up again, but Logan quickly placated her again with a soft kiss and finished up quickly.
When he was done, he stepped out first, wrapping Marie up in a towel, and then picking her up in his arms. Walking to their bed, Marie settled into the sheets and smiled up at him hazily. Logan knew she was tired, but this was important and therefore necessary. She was clean and free of the other one's scent, but it wasn't right yet.
He began with her face, rubbing his cheeks on either side of her and biting and licking at her neck. Next came her shoulders, where he rubbed on her like a cat, sometimes going back to sniff at her skin to see if she smelled enough like him. Occasionally muttering ‘mine’, he parted her towel and moved past her breasts languidly with his mouth. Next, he rubbed past her stomach, arms, hips, legs and even her feet.
Marie let him perform his ritual with no resistance whatsoever. It was something the Wolverine did whenever he felt a need to claim her. Truth was, it was amazingly erotic and as he parted her legs, she was genuinely surprised by the gentleness he was displaying. He always took her from behind when he was like this, but this time he positioned himself over her. He wanted to watch her, to hear her say it, so he asked again and again if she loved him while pumping into her slowly. Marie assured him that she did and still crying guilty tears that he quickly kissed away, closed her eyes to better savor his feel against her.
Still muttering that she loved him as he withdrew from her after they climaxed, Logan made Marie as comfortable as possible and kissed every spot on her face. Hearing her breath and heartbeat slow into a steady rhythm, Logan continued to kiss down her body to assure his scent was on hers, even stopping to lap all traces of her wetness from her core while Marie moaned softly of her love for him and ran lazy fingers through his wet hair. Satisfied it was true and she was his completely, Logan curled into a fetal position by Marie's form, laying his head on her breasts to hear her heart more clearly. She was still wearing his tags and content that she was sufficiently marked for him, Logan fell into a deep sleep too.
Marie twitched in her bed as she approached a familiar juncture in the rainy landscape of her mind. Despite not having had it since before Jonathan was born, it was a dream she knew well. Only it wasn't exactly how she remembered. Many things were different but a few key ones were the same.
The rain. It pelted down on her mercilessly, chilling her down to her very bones and rendering her clothes heavy and sodden. The mud. It was thick and moist, making her steps difficult and precariously slippery. The branches. They whipped painfully, catching in her clothes and yanking her hair. The lightening. It thundered above, straining her ears and splitting the sky violently. The were all familiar in their terrible nature. A combination that her most horrible nightmares were always made of.
But one key thing was different. It was perhaps the most important thing of all. She wasn't being chased by the monster. No. Nothing was howling behind her. Not this time. The whole thing hadn't started with a loud scream and a flash of red neither. It was more of a gasp and a deluge of red. The gasp was the same one Mike let out when the bullets tore through his body. The red was not from optic beams. It was a flood of red. Cranberry red as a matter of fact, and as soon as Marie thought this, the rain changed.
It was red now, a deep red that wasn't quite blood, but almost. It fell from the sky in torrents, making dark little puddles everywhere, tainting the greenery red and bathing her pink baby on board shirt bloody. That was odd too. She was pregnant, but not that far along yet, but there it was, an enormous belly sticking out before her, as irrefutable as day. Marie in the dream, ran hands over her stomach frantically and repeated something to herself over and over.
~~ Ah stopped runnin', Ah stopped runnin', Ah stopped runnin' ~~
Opening her eyes with a yelp when thunder boomed over her, Marie stopped her chanting and brushed her white bangs back. The cranberry red rain made it hard to see, but she could faintly make out the trees around her. They looked the same in every direction. Turning round and round, Marie tried to stop her sobbing and make a decision as to what to do. She was always the main protagonist in these dreams and something was expected of her. But it wasn't supposed to be happening at all. This was wrong. She had stopped running and this was wrong.
Marie started to move in the mud cautiously, knowing she was in the north woods and trying to find something familiar to set a direction, but nothing seemed recognizable. As a matter of fact, things were changing. Marie stopped in her tracks, sinking slightly into the muddy blackness and slapped a hand over her scream. The trees were closing in on her. The realization was horrible beyond words. Every time she turned around and then looked back, the same tree that had stood ten feet away, now stood only six.
Still screaming, Marie began to run frantically at full speed. She didn't know which direction she was headed, but she really didn't care. Experience told her that she would either come out onto the Mansion lawns or the smooth black asphalt of the I-95 eventually. Praying the forest she was in had edges and those things still existed in this new dream, Marie ran harder, trying to abate the panic that threatened her. The going over the tangled forest floor was difficult. Marie was good at this once. She would do it every night and do it well. The irony was sobering. She was out of practice.
Picking up her pace as the space between the trees inexplicably shortened, Marie wailed in desperation. This was wrong. She was once again caught in her familiar nightmare, without any explanation why. Unused to the added weight of her stomach, Marie moved clumsily slow. In one bad step, she stumbled and fell to her knees, grimacing in the pain that bolted through her, but refusing to look up. If she did, the trees would slide closer to her and that was too horrible a thought. Staggering to her feet with panting breaths, Marie looked straight down and ran blindly with outstretched hands, bumping into living trunks and getting scratched mercilessly by reaching branches. The stitch in her side was becoming disabling. Limping slightly, she kept pushing ahead until thunder cackled above her again, she stopped cold and slapped her hands over her ears and cried out to God.
~~Please, please, please make it stop!! Make it stop, please!!~~
Marie fell to the ground again, her stomach too much to bear, her side too painful to continue and cried bitterly as dark red pooled around her. And then it became clear. This wasn't a dream of running. She had found her demons, named them, and slain them all. She promised herself she would never run again. This dream wasn't about running. It was about being lost.
Anxiety escalating, Marie ventured a look up. As expected, the trees were slowly moving towards her, but she had seen something among them. It was a flash of yellow in a landscape of melded greens awash in red. Jumping to her feet and weaving through the trees before they reached out and touched her, Marie chased after the blur of yellow. She was no match to keep up with it, but it had stopped some yards ahead, allowing her to catch up.
In her disoriented panic, Marie failed to notice that it had stopped. Marie slid to a stop when she realized it had turned around to face her. It was a man. It was Mike. Her heart turned in it's place because his eyes were shut. He didn't have bruises or scratches, but he had been moving with them closed. Marie tried to scream, but it caught in her throat. She noticed with horror that the trees around her had moved once again. Only they had formed a clearing around them this time. They stood watch in a perfect circle. They didn't have eyes, but something assured Marie that they could see nevertheless. She took a few shaky steps back but Mike matched them by stepping forward.
"Don't go."
Marie blinked widely at the ghost of her former lover before her. She wanted to wake up desperately, but Marie in the real world, was too exhausted to break free from her slumber. Her face and hand twitched by Logan's side, but it was not enough to rouse her completely. Marie in the nightmare, knew she was on her own. She spoke up in a wavering voice, when it became clear Mike would not say another word until she did.
"W-w-what do ya want?"
To her horror, he took another step forward. Marie sunk back in her place. Faintly knowing that if she tried to run from him, the trees would block her way. As it were, they were only inches from each other, a very effective blockage to any attempt she could make to get away.
"I think you know, Roguey."
Marie shook her head frantically, watching in fascination how Mike's favorite college jersey didn't stain red in the rain. She still did not look up at his face. The closed eyes were more frightening than everything else going on around her.
"Ah d-don't know."
"I think you do." He paused for a moment and Marie faintly wondered what was behind his eyelids. "I think you've always known."
Marie swallowed hard, the rain tasting like cranberries before boiling in sugar – tart.
"Ah don't think……Ah'm, Ah'm……"
"In love with another man."
Marie sobbed quietly. She hadn't stopped crying since she woke up in the nightmare, but it kicked up at hearing his words.
"Its okay Rogue, I always understood that. I just needed to tell you, cause I might not get another chance ever again, and the only thing I ever regret is not having told you."
Marie finally looked up at the face that was so much like Jonathan's. She had stopped breathing.
"I love you. I always did and even though we were only supposed to be friends, letting you go back to him was the hardest thing I ever did."
Marie choked at the revelation. It was too much. Too much.
"We never…ya couldn't…"
"No, Rogue. You loved me too. I know you never stopped loving him, but at some point, you did love me. At least a little. Our son was conceived in love and you have to admit that into your heart."
Marie slipped down to the ground again. The mud was strangely soothing in a way. She sunk slightly in it, not caring how it seemed to be alive too. She placed a hand to her throbbing head. Her voice was a whisper, barely audible above the pelting rain.
"Ah love Logan. Ah always have. Even when, when he didn't love me, Ah knew it since Ah was seventeen. He's……everything ta me."
Marie looked down at her hands. The skin was tainted red. Nothing stained like cranberries, her foreman at the factory used to say. Lost in that memory, she failed to notice that Mike had moved. He kneeled down before her. She jumped when his big hands clasped around hers. They weren't stained at all. She looked up and the eyes were still closed.
"I know, Roguey. I just had to tell you. I never did before."
Marie gulped at his softened features and the wry half smile. He didn't lookk frightening anymore. He looked familiar. So familiar. It was the thing she liked about him the most. How he always looked friendly, approachable. He let go of her hands and stood up halfway through her contemplation and was about to walk away when she called out to him.
"Mike! Ah……"
He turned slowly and Marie felt her cheeks burn hotly. She wanted to say it. It was what she wanted to tell him all those hours that she sat by him in the Medlab, watching him breathing, but it was so hard. A flash of lightening cut her stammering short, illuminating the perfectly round clearing and she gasped at what it showed.
There was a rock outcropping from the ground where there was nothing just a few seconds before. It was Logan. He was sitting there with a grim set on his features. His expression was a tortured one as he stared at Marie with deep hazel eyes. She was on her feet in a second, but Mike drew her attention again. Mike was walking away. The trees parted when they saw him approach. Marie looked at Logan frantically, searching for understanding in his hazel eyes. He just looked down in defeat. Torn between running to comfort Logan and running to stop Mike, Marie yelled out.
"Wait!"
Mike turned just as he reached the edge of the clearing. Marie's eyes widened to finally see his hazel-green ones. She instantly knew what it meant. The thought thrilled and terrified her at once. She watched in awe as Mike smiled warmly and slowly lifted his arm, pointing to where Logan was sitting. Marie turned to see and gasped in surprise. Logan was holding a baby. It was naked and mewling, but unmistakable. Just like Mike favorite jersey, the baby was pale in the night, untouched by the rain's dark tint. Her hair was dark and pointed, just like her father's and she was alternating between purring and gurgling. Logan looked up from where he was cradling her. The adoration she saw in his eyes astounded her.
Marie took a step forward towards her family and only then realized that her bulging stomach was gone. She gaped at where it had been, not sure her heart could take many more surprises.
"How?"
Marie turned to where Mike had been, but he was already gone and the trees were on guard once again. Only his voice lingered behind. Faint in the downpour, but definitely there. It repeated the same words that he told her the day she left to head back to New York. A promise that he asked for their child that he now asked of an entire family.
~~Love them unconditionally. Always~~
Marie smiled through her tears and looked back at Logan and the child she would see in seven months. They were both gone as well, but it was okay. She knew what she had to do. She hadn't been able to tell Mike what she had to, but she could now. She was no longer lost. It made all the difference in the world.
Closing her eyes, Marie turned her face up to the sky and reached out past so many layers of her unconscious psyche to find her physical self. The Marie that was lying naked next to her husband in the bed they had shared for four years.
That Marie opened her eyes instantly, with a faint tartness in her mouth and a new purpose. Holding the dogtags to her chest so that they wouldn't jingle, Marie leaned over to Logan and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead like she had done with her son hours before. Smiling at the look of him and their daughter still fresh in her mind, Marie slipped out of bed and into a pair of jeans and a shirt. Brushing her hair quickly, she stepped into her slippers and grabbed the apple from the tray Ororo had brought up earlier. It was almost six in the morning and giving Logan one last look before jotting down a quick note and placing it by her pillow, Marie slipped out of the suite and headed downstairs to see Mike, who just moments ago had opened his eyes.
Logan was jarred back to the world of the living by high-pitched squealing and squeaking bed springs. That was strange, not because it was unusual, but because there was only one person giggling. He looked up to see Jonathan jumping up and down in his pajamas on his mother's side. Which was empty. The note Marie had left for him, had inadvertently slid between the headboard and the mattress to the floor with Jonathan's jumping. Logan stared at the pillow that was still warm from her body and reached up to rub his temples.
Despite contrary belief, he did get headaches. Particularly after going on a bender like he had the night before. Only it wasn't the alcohol that screwed him up, because that he could take. The headache meant only one thing, that he had reverted to being an animal once again. He could never remember anything he did or said when he was like that, but he imagined it wasn't pleasant and would bet money that that was the reason Marie was gone. And he knew exactly where she had gone. She was with the man that treated everyone so kindly, the one that didn't have a shady past, or nine inch claws, or a temper that could revert to brutality at a moment's notice. The one that had sacrificed himself selflessly for her. She was with him.
Logan turned to see Jonathan, who was still jumping and chattering on the bed, with a lump in his throat. The chin, the nose, his entire face actually. The boy looked so much like his father. Hurting beyond comprehension, Logan stretched his arms out to him.
"Com'ere, kid."
Jonathan stopped his explanations of why ferrets were better than trucks mid-way and launched himself at his father. Logan held the boy, who was attached in his full body way tightly, ruffling up the hair he loved so much.
"Daddy loves you."
Jonathan giggled brightly. Of course his father loved him, that was a given.
"Me too, Daddy."
Logan fought the tears that wanted to betray his feelings and pulled the boy back. Jonathan had his mother's sensitivity towards people and immediately stilled, sensing his father had something serious to say.
"Just remember that, Chief. Whatever happens, we're buddies."
Jonathan nodded solemnly. Logan was lost in the depths of his deep brown eyes, still stroking the boy's hair with his huge hands.
"Where's Momma?"
"She had to go see someone. You'll see her later."
Logan sniffed. Jonathan was really worried now. His daddy was the bravest, most strongest person he knew. It was scary to see him so sad. The boy cocked his head to one side.
"Belly rub, Daddy?"
Logan smirked at the boy's precociousness. It was Marie's standard issue `pick me up’ for Jonathan when anything hurt. Even scraped knees felt better after a belly rub. Logan threw his arms to the back of his head and leaned back on the headboard.
"Go ahead, kiddo."
Jonathan perked up and moved to rub his father's stomach, even humming like his mother did. Logan watched him move with a half smile. After a minute, Jonathan looked up, feeling considerably better himself. Belly rubs worked both ways.
"Good?"
Logan grunted an approval.
"Real good. Thanks, Chief."
"Yer welcome, Daddy."
"Now get ready, it's time for school. And don't forget to feed Remy."
Jonathan jumped up again, and ran off into his room. The banging of drawers and falling of things started almost instantly. The alphabet tape went on a half second later. Logan sat and listened to the early morning ruckus Jonathan never failed to provide, with a heavy heart. He loved the boy so much. It was a joke between Marie and him that neither of them was a morning person but that Jonathan clearly was. It never really occurred to him before, but now he knew with certainty that Mike definitely was too. He wondered what other traits they shared.
Logan's lingering gaze then moved to the empty place by him. Marie was gone. He looked down at his hands in shame. She never really told him what he was like as the Wolverine, but the bruises on her the next day were always telling enough. Not willing to feel sorry for himself and knowing he had to be strong for Jonathan, Logan stood slowly from his bed, wiped his cheeks and got dressed. Whatever happened, he was going to face things head on, like a man.
Twenty minutes later, father and son walked downstairs to the dining hall. Both Ororo and Scott looked up at the pair, each trying to veil their disappointment at not seeing Marie with them. Jonathan begged to be put down, and flew to his booster chair by Charles. Logan watched Ororo fuss with them, never letting up her smile. He handed the goddess Jonathan's little bookbag and explained that he had to go do something early.
Jonathan looked at him a little sadly, but Logan assured him, he would see him later. Pleased, the boy went back to eating his cereal and Logan kissed his head before smiling tightly at Ororo and walking off quickly. What he didn't expect was Scott following him into the hallway.
"Wait up!"
Logan turned slowly, all hopes of being discrete dashed.
"What do you want, One-eye?"
Scott ignored the jab and stared at him levelly.
"What exactly are you planning to do?"
Logan ground his teeth together. This wasn't something he wanted to discuss with Scooter.
"None of your damn business."
Scott snorted and moved to block Logan's way down the corridor.
"If it involves Rogue and Jonathan, it is my business."
Logan glared at the taller man. It was true that he was like a brother to Marie, and he more than once stuck up for them, but this was different. It was personal.
"Look, One-eye, I appreciate you tryin' to help and all, but this is private between Marie and me. So fuck off."
Logan went to move around him, but Scott surprised him by grabbing his arm.
"Bullshit. I'm not letting you ruin everything again because you're too fucking stupid to realize."
Logan seethed at his words and yanked his arm away.
"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time…"
"I heard you, and I know that you're planning on leaving."
Logan stared at Scott's red glasses, trying to read the expression behind them. All hostility he had, drained from his body instantly, confirming Scott's suspicious. The younger man laid a hand on Logan's shoulder and spoke in a low voice.
"You can't leave them. They need you."
Logan shook is head sadly, defeat shown in his craggy features.
"She's made her choice. I don't want to complicate things."
Scott snorted in amazement and raised an eyebrow high above the stylish red glasses he wore.
"You don't know that. Have you even spoken to her? Have you even asked? You love to fight, but you're willing to just run away and give up on this one?"
Logan crossed his arms, and clenched his jaw. Scooter was right, but he couldn't do it. This was a fight he couldn't bear losing.
"If she leaves me, I, I don't know how I could live."
Scott dropped the arm he had on Logan's shoulder with a chuckle. His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"I know Rogue pretty well, and she loves you more than anything. How could you doubt that? You're willing to loose your family out of petty jealousy?"
Logan snapped his head up, tension immediately filling his body. People were leaving the dining hall at the end of the hallway, but Logan didn't pay them any mind. The entire Mansion knew it was best to avoid the two X-Men when they were at each other's throat, even though no one remembered seeing them arguing this intensely before.
"Didn't you see them together? See how he still wanted her! How she wouldn't leave his side in the Medbay! How she snuck off to be with him now! What more proof do you need?"
Scott shook his head angrily.
"That's not fair and you know it! Of course she cares about him, but what you're basing this on happened a long time ago. What the hell do you think it feels like for her whenever she sees you with Jean? Haven't you ever heard of trust?"
Logan staggered back defensively.
"What the hell are you talking about? That was years ago. There's nothing there!"
"Exactly."
Logan's mind reeled. Scott's words had hit home and Logan wondered what he had missed. Did Marie honestly think there was something there? That was impossible. His voice was softer and almost heartbreaking in his doubt.
"We're okay. That was a long time ago and Jean's our friend now."
Scott's demeanor also softened. The whole Jean thing was still a raw subject with him too.
"We're more than that. We're all family, but don't think Rogue doesn't occasionally feel a tinge of pain because of it. She accepts you having coffee and talking with Jean almost every other day, and you owe her the same trust with Mike."
Logan visibly cringed at the name. The thoughts in his head contorted even more into confusion. It pained him to think that Marie suffered because of that little mindless tryst. It never occurred to him to even ask. She was always gracious about the whole thing, but he never even asked. He bet Scooter did. He was always more sensitive about things like that. Marie would spend all goddamn day talking to Scott and Ororo if possible.
"What has she told you?"
Scott tightened his lips. No matter what he felt about Logan at times, he deserved happiness. They both did.
"What she's always told me. That she loves you. You and Jonathan and this new baby are her world. She needs you right now. With her, not running away from her."
Logan stared at the eyes he could barely make out behind the red. He hated Scooter sometimes, but mostly the kid was right. Especially with all the interpersonal shit. And he did care for Marie. Always did.
Logan flexed his hands in indecision, mulling over Scott's words in his mind. Scott gave him time. They stood in silence for a while, until Logan looked up with more conviction than he had felt in days. Swallowing tightly, Scott offered Logan his hand. Logan took it with newfound respect for the fearless leader. They were family and he wouldn't run away. Scott moved to the side awkwardly and Logan silently stomped away to do what he knew he had to.
Marie reached Mike's room just as he was fully realizing that he was in some sort of medical facility. Remembering all of Rogue's stories about the underground of the X-Men Mansion, he figured he was in good hands. He moved his head slowly to the side. His hazy eyes focused just as Marie came running in. His lips curled into a wan smile at seeing her. He wanted to talk, but his throat was dry and constricted. Marie shushed him with her hand on his lips.
"No, please don't talk. Ya need ta rest."
Mike tried to shift his legs. His entire body protested the effort. He grimaced in the pain. Marie's eyes widened.
"Oh gawd, yer in pain. Ah'll get help."
Mike grabbed her hand before she could run off to the intercom to call the resident doctors.
"Don't go."
Marie swirled around, visibly shaken that he had used the same words that he said in the dream. She brought her other hand to circle his and took in his expression. He looked calm, almost peaceful in a way. She wanted to cry, but the dream had left her tearless. She offered him a smile instead.
"Ah wish ya hadn't done that."
Mike drew his breath in slowly. He knew from experience that one of the bullets had ripped through his lung. In Desert Storm, he took one in the left side, but this was different. He wasn't twenty two anymore and the ammo the FOH were using were armor piercers.
"I had to, for Jonathan."
Marie tightened her grip on his hand, careful not to disturb the needle taped to his wrist.
"Thank you. Ah'm sorry that……that I never wrote you about him."
Mike shook his head slightly. The pinch in his lung alerted him to the fact that something had ruptured deep inside. The heat spread slowly in his chest.
"It's what…what we promised."
Marie smoothed the sandy hair away from his forehead.
"Ah still should have done it. It hasn't been fair on ya."
Mike swallowed painfully.
"I made you promise…'cause I didn't want to…interfere. You were happy."
Marie nodded sadly.
"But it was unfair."
Mike shook his head again and grimaced in the pain it caused. Marie's hands were immediately at his cheek to still the movement.
"He's safe here with you."
"Yes. Ah'll always fight to make him safe."
Mike smiled widely. The warmness in his chest spread and deepened.
"Superhero."
Marie colored slightly in embarassment.
"Ah guess." She looked at his pale face. Despite the transfusions, he had practically bled out twice. "But, not good enough."
Mike saw Marie's eyes glisten in guilt and squeezed her hand even harder.
"No…you saved everyone…you did good, Roguey."
Marie looked down, gathering the courage she needed to say what she couldn't in her dream.
"Mike, Ah had ta tell ya, that umm, that Ah did love you."
She glanced up at to catch Mike's reaction. His expression had darkened and now his eyes glistened too. The pressure in his heart increased a little.
"An' Ah know we promised ta never say that. That we were friends an' all, but……but it was more. Even though, Ah never stopped lovin' Logan, it was more."
A tear finally fell from Marie's eyes down to Mike's hand. Mike smoothed it over with his thumb. Of course he loved her. How could he not? But he was never sure that she loved him back. It was so revealing to hear her say it. Especially since it plagued her with so much guilt. He could see it clearly etched on her face. But she had nothing to feel guilty about. Their time together had passed and she had a new life now. Mike knew he could never compete with what Marie felt for Logan. It was impossible
When they met, they both had had a need. She needed stability and a semblance of normalcy and he needed a friend. Mike had spent a life alone, never trusting anyone with his secret. He was disowned as a kid for it and then joined the military, and then became a cop. He was always among people, but always hiding, and always afraid. That is until Marie came along and gave him what no one else had. Friendship. Company. Another human being to not be afraid around.
He treasured that time immensely and let her go because he loved her and because he could never make her happy like Logan. That company was all he had ever wanted and he was so happy that she had loved him back a little at least. It was enough to make him trust again. To go and seek out others like him as well. Rogue had taught him that it was worth the risk to care again, and it was enough. It was all he needed.
Mike tried to convey all this with his smile. He saw that Marie understood, because she smiled back and they dwelled in each other's eyes, sharing the memories they had in a time that had past. Reliving moments buried until now. It was only when they heard footsteps inside the room that the spell was broken.
Marie looked over and was startled to see her husband. Moving slowly, Logan crossed the space and reached out to her. Seeing the understanding and the love in the hazel depths, Marie let go of Mike's hand and circled her arms around Logan's waist. They held each other for a long minute, feeling better than they had in days, trying to show how much the other meant to them by touch alone.
Logan had heard their exchange from the door and instantly knew that he had done the right thing. Trying to find a way to say this, he looked up when something else caught his keen hearing. Logan pulled back and Marie saw the concern in his eyes. She turned to look at Mike, who had closed his eyes once again. Marie ran to his bedside and shook him a little.
"Mike, Mike, please Mike, wake up."
He opened his eyes slowly and smiled through the pain.
"Just tired."
Marie turned to Logan.
"Get Hank and Jean, he needs help."
Logan was about to respond, but Mike spoke first. He grabbed Marie's hand in his again with a strength that surprised her. The heat in his chest was cramping down on his heart. He was close to the end and Logan saw this. He placed a hand on Marie's shoulder in quiet consolation.
"It's okay Roguey, It's okay."
Marie looked at the calm acceptance in Mike's eyes and then at the concern in Logan's. She didn't know what to say, or do or think. She barely heard Logan's low voice.
"I brought him."
It took a second for Marie to register what he was saying, and her eyes widened a little. It couldn't be what she imagined. She opened her mouth to form a question, but Logan had turned and stomped to the door. She watched him motion to someone outside and gasped when Dorothy walked in with Jonathan in her arms.
"Momma!!"
Jonathan reached out from Dorothy's arms. Marie ran to catch him and brought her lips to cover his face in kisses.
"Baby! Momma missed ya."
Jonathan's giggling stopped abruptly, when he saw his mother's tears. He traced them with short fingers that still smelled like play-dough.
"Theah happy tears, Baby. Momma's so happy ta see ya."
Marie turned to see Logan's solemn expression. She was awed by his selfless act and reached out to take his hand. Slipping it into hers, Logan pulled her to where Dorothy was softly caressing Mike's face. They both looked up and Mike held his breath at the sight of his son. Dorothy held her soft sobs with her brightly colored hand and stepped away. Marie balanced Jonathan on her hip and turned him to face Mike, her voice wavering in emotion.
"Jonathan sugah, this my friend Mike. He wanted ta meet ya very much."
Looking a little unsure from his mother's tears to the stranger, Jonathan smiled shyly and repeated what Bobby and Jubilee had taught him.
"Pleased ta meet you."
Mike extended his hand, trying hard not to cry tears of joy. The pressure in his heart increased painfully, but he hardly noticed because all of his attention was on Jonathan's every movement. Logan did notice however, and his hand tightened on Marie's waist.
"Hey there, big guy."
Jonathan decided that he liked the stranger and fussed to be let down. Marie placed him on the edge of the bed and the boy shook the stranger's hand, feeling very grown up.
"Are you sick?"
Mike chortled a little and moved his hand to smooth over Jonathan's shiny hair. Deep brown, just like his mother's.
"A little bit, but I feel better……with you here."
Dorothy moved away from the bed and went to the corner of the room to blow her nose. Wiping her own tears, Marie prompted in Jonathan's ear.
"Why don't ya tell Mike what ya did this mornin' in preschool?"
Having all the permission he needed, Jonathan jumped right into broken explanations of making clay dinosaurs with Charles and of his favorite puzzles and of raisins and his goldfish Remy. Looking at him chatter away in complete awe, Mike slowly tried to picture all the things he had missed in the last three years. He occasionally looked over at Rogue and the man that hovered protectively behind her, not knowing how to thank them in words.
Mike tried to listen attentively, but his movements were slowing down and the monitors around him were starting to beep. Dorothy went up to them discreetly and turned them off, so that Mike could better hear what Jonathan was saying.
Marie wept silently into Logan's chest while he rubbed her back softly. At some point, Scott and Hank appeared at the doorway, the machines having called them down, but knowing that there was nothing they could do, solemnly turned away and went to notify The Professor.
Logan watched Jonathan chat with his biological father for a good ten minutes, until the gaps in Mike's heartbeat begin to lengthen dangerously. Knowing he was the only one that could literally hear it, Logan cleared his throat, stepped forward and addressed Jonathan with a shaky voice.
"Hey Chief, Mike is tired and has to rest now, why don't you say goodbye."
Jonathan looked around at all the somber faces in confusion, but promptly agreed. His father had promised him ice cream and he was eager to get that done. His only regret was that Charles wasn't with him. He patted Logan's sideburns and stood up on the bed so that he could climb up on him easily.
"Kay, Daddy."
Marie's breath caught at the word, but Mike just smiled and raised his hand slowly to Logan.
"Thank you……for loving him……take care of them both."
Surprised at the gesture, Logan looked down at the shaky hand a second before looking up at Mike's half closed eyes.
"It's been my pleasure. They're the best things that ever happened to me. I'll take care of them always."
Mike smiled and Logan fought back the swell of emotion that rose in him. Marie stared at the exchange in admiration. Logan never failed to amaze her, but this was the most wonderfully selfless thing she had ever seen him do. Jonathan hastily shook Mike's hand too before jumping into Logan's arms. He waved at the stranger in the bed.
"Bye Mike, you can see my fish later."
Mike smiled wider and nodded hazily.
"Maybe……later."
That pleased Jonathan, and latching onto Logan in a full body hug, reminded him of his promise.
"Ice cream, Daddy."
Logan gave Marie a crooked smile, but his eyes revealed all his emotion. Marie understood how close Mike was to the end by that look. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the forehead. Almost crushed between his parents, Jonathan gave her one too.
"Coming, Momma?"
Marie smiled brightly for her son's sake.
"Sure baby, Ah'll meet ya theah."
Sighing heavily, Logan turned and walked to the door while Jonathan debated with himself what ice cream flavor he wanted and waved at Dorothy from over Logan's shoulder. Turning at the door to give Mike one last nod, Logan walked out with his son. Marie turned back to Mike, who was now dangerously pale and could barely keep his eyes open. Dorothy moved to his side too and gave him a tender kiss, telling him in soft words how much she loved him.
"He's……beau…tiful."
Marie nodded and also gave Mike a kiss on the temple.
"Yes he is."
Mike smiled slowly at the two women and closed his eyes. The pain in his chest had numbed and it didn't seem as hot anymore. Succumbing to the pressure, he took a few more shaky breaths before passing away with images of his son filling his every thought. Mike had struggled to stay alive to ask Marie to see him, and he had fulfilled that mission. He was loved, he had a wonderful son and that was all he had needed to know. He could die happy now. The fact that Logan had brought him, made it even better. The man loved Jonathan beyond words, that much was clear. Jonathan would not have a life of persecution and fear. He would not have a life like his. In this enormous house, he was safe and loved and wanted. That thought repeated in Mike's mind until the very last moment when all life left him.
Marie stared at the closed eyelashes and comforted Dorothy silently. The two women held each other for a long time. Eventually, Hank, The Professor, and Scott showed up. Scott led Marie away in his arms, while the Professor talked to Dorothy, leaving Hank to disconnect Mike from the machines. At the door, Dorothy held out a hand to Marie. Marie looked at the beautiful woman and smiled, taking the marbled hand to her lips tenderly.
Dorothy never had children, but in a one day span, she had lost both Eileen and Mike, who were the closest she had gotten to having family. The thought was staggering, but she knew she had Rogue. Mike spoke about her endlessly, and Dorothy already felt love for the girl with stripes. She had never believed in love at first sight, but that is exactly what it was like. The Professor had asked her to stay and she accepted whole-heartedly. Mike's son needed a grandmother and she knew she would never leave his side.
Smiling through her tears at Marie, Dorothy tapped her hands gently and moved back to The Professor's side to watch Mike's body a little longer. Scott looked down at Marie, before resuming their walk. Whenever she was overwhelmed, she couldn't really verbalize, but he knew that Marie was going to be okay. She would talk when she was ready. He handed her a tissue silently and together they made their way upstairs and to the kitchen.
Seeing Logan on a stool watching Jonathan making a mess, while eating ice cream on the counter, Scott gave Marie a kiss on the head and walked away. Marie watched the pair interact quietly from the doorway. Jonathan was feeding Logan, getting more chocolate double chunk on his sideburns than in his mouth. Logan was grumbling in mock annoyance, but that elicited only more laughter from the boy, who just scooped up some more and ate happily from his bowl. Having probably smelt her, Logan turned around, face half covered in chocolate.
"Momma!"
Marie walked up to the two and gave Jonathan a smacking kiss. He returned the favor, getting a good portion of ice cream on her face in the process. All three chuckled as Marie slid into a stool by Logan.
"Want some?"
Marie nodded, still looking deep into her husband's eyes. There was a sadness in their quiet exchange, but also an understanding. Oblivious to everything and happy as a clam, Jonathan began feeding his mother as well. Marie opened her eyes in exaggeration.
"Ummm, that's yummy."
Jonathan giggled and moved to his father next. Logan took the spoonful, still looking at Marie intently. Reaching for the roll of paper towels by him, he ripped one out, leaned forward and cleaned a spot on Marie's cheek. She stared back at him, trying not to cry, before taking the napkin and doing the same to Logan's face.
"What ya did…"
"Was what I had to do."
Marie gulped. Jonathan lost interest in feeding his parents and turned towards feeding himself, wondering if ferrets ate ice cream too.
"It was still amazing. Ya made Mike so happy."
Logan used the same napkin to catch a heavy tear that rolled down Marie's face.
"It was the least I could have done after what he gave me."
Marie smiled. She felt the same exact way. Jonathan was a gift and it was a shame Mike hadn't gotten to know him better. She absently pulled Jonathan's sleeves up a little more on his arms. There was ice cream all over his clothes, but it was a hard habit to break on her part.
"Ah just needed ta thank you. Ah know this has been real hard on you."
Logan thought back to what Scott had told him.
"You're my family. I'll do anything for you."
Marie reached under the counter and laid a hand over Logan's thigh. He brought her closer to him with an arm around her shoulder. Marie buried her sticky face into his t-shirt. It was already covered in chocolate anyway.
"You've done more than enough, Logan. More than enough."
Logan leaned against Marie and sighed heavily. Jonathan never missed the opportunity for a group hug, so he dropped his spoon, whipped his chocolaty mouth on his arm, before Logan could wipe it away with a napkin and crawled on all fours to them.
"Hug?"
"Sure kiddo, com'on."
Logan opened his arms and welcomed his son into his embrace. With Marie on one side and Jonathan on the other, he figured everything was okay. They had a lot of things to work out, but time was on their side. He made a biting motion at the chocolaty fingers leaving prints on his chin. Marie smiled at Jonathan's laugh and then at the mess they had made. It was almost time for his nap and Jonathan was beyond filthy. They all were. She straightened out and made a suggestion.
"How bout we hit tha tub, guys?"
Jonathan perked up immediately. Logan smirked and put him down on the floor before he spontaneously combusted. Jonathan immediately started running for the room. Logan stood slowly and waited for Marie to walk to his side. Sadness rolled off her in waves, but she would be okay in time. With an arm around each other, Logan and Marie followed their son up the stairs.
"About last night,"
"You were great."
Logan looked down at Marie. She looked sincere, but he wasn't sure.
"You were. And you were right."
Logan raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"About what?"
"It's ah girl."
Logan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Marie.
"A girl?"
Marie nodded and reached up on her toes to give Logan a kiss. Jonathan stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down in exasperation. His parents were moving too slow.
"Hurry!"
Logan pulled back with a smirk on his lips.
"A girl?"
Marie patted his back and started up the stairs.
"Ah girl."
Jonathan saw they were making progress and ran ahead. A bath time this momentous called for preparations. He was going to need both his trucks and his dinosaurs for this one.
PROLOGUE
Logan yanked at his tie for the dozenth time, unsuccessful in making it look normal. About a second away from slicing the damn thing off, he growled at his reflection in annoyance. Marie ran past him, still in her slip.
"Marie."
She looked up in exasperation. Logan was near the breaking point, but then again so was she.
"Ah don't have time Logan, at least yer dressed!"
Logan grumbled and decided to forget the tie. It was already past his ears when Marie dropped her shoes and pointed at him threateningly.
"Don't ya dare take that off, Logan! Ya need ta look presentable!"
Logan stopped begrudgingly and yanked the hated tie back down on his neck. At five months pregnant, Marie was a bundle of emotions that he knew were volatile to say the least. Plus she was about ten seconds away from crying and that was not good. Scooter was forever harping about keeping her happy, and she was anything but at the moment. Logan walked to where she was sitting on the edge of the bed and picked up one of her shoes, the frustration he had just felt, melting away instantly.
"What are ya doin'?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
Marie sighed, feeling childish and emotional, but unable to control herself. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.
"Sorry sugah, just that we're late an…"
Logan fiddled with the tiny little clasps on her shoes, wondering how the hell she got them on even without the stomach in the way.
"And I'm partially responsible for that, so just relax."
Marie smirked at her husband. It was kind of annoying how he always wanted to do it when they had to go out, but she wasn't complaining. Logan caught her look and smiled himself, before standing up. Marie struggle up to her feet with Logan's help, but he stopped her when she stepped towards the adjoining room.
"Just relax and get dressed. I got it."
"But Jonathan is still not dressed an' if we're late…"
Logan gave her a raised eyebrow look that shushed her again before unlocking the door to Jonathan's room. True to form, there was a whole lot of ruckus going on as Jonathan ran from one place to the next in his undies. Logan walked straight to the bright tape player on the shelf and clicked the alphabet song in the second verse. Jonathan stilled immediately, knowing daddy meant business.
"Remember how we talked about Momma."
Jonathan giggled.
"Sarah."
Logan grinned. Jonathan loved talking about his little sister to be. He was in awe of his mother's growing belly and even adjusted his six am attacks to be a little more subdued just for her. He had even named his new goldfish Sarah, though it was a little disturbing for Logan to accept Remy swimming around with Sarah.
"Yeah, Sarah. Now we gotta get going cause if we're late, Momma will get upset and that's not good."
Jonathan nodded with wide eyes and ran to get the clothes his mother had laid out. Logan helped him get into the little outfit in record time and had him out by the time Marie was done with her dress. Logan smiled at Marie's expression.
"Wow, look at my two handsome men!"
Jonathan squealed in delight and ran to hug his mother's legs. Logan sauntered over, drinking in her shape in her new dress. The green fabric curved over her belly nicely and he could never get enough of her smelling so incredibly fertile. Had he known, he would have made her get dressed beforehand. Oh well, he had an agenda for later on that night. He planted a kiss on her lips.
"You look great."
Jonathan giggled and Marie did too. To Logan there was no better sound in the world than the two laughing together. Marie yanked at Logan's tie and undid the monstrosity of a knot Logan had done.
"Ah'm fat an' ya know it."
Logan raised an eyebrow.
"You're not fat, you're beautiful. Ain't that right, Chief?"
Jonathan nodded in all seriousness and Logan withdrew a mint from his pocket. A gasp shortly followed and the boy ran off to unwrap and eat it. Marie gave Logan's tie a final tug with a disapproving look.
"Yer never gonna quit that, huh?"
Logan kissed Marie's full lips again just as someone knocked at the door.
"Nope."
Marie smirked and went to open the door. It was Dorothy. In the three months after Mike's death, she had become The Professor's personal secretary and one of Marie's closest friends. After Mike's funeral, everyone else had pretty much moved on to safe places The Professor knew of. Dorothy and three others had stayed, finding peace and work among the Mansion's growing population of children.
"My, you look beautiful."
Logan chortled from where he was gathering his jacket and Marie's purse. He opened the green bag and added some crayons that were lying around on the dresser. Jonathan liked to keep busy at all times.
"Told you so."
Marie rolled her eyes and straightened out Dorothy's blouse collar.
"Thank ya, sugah, ya look good yerself."
Marie turned and took the purse Logan handed her. Jonathan had already finished his candy and ran to greet Dorothy. Paintings of her colorful face decorated entire bulletins in the nursery.
"You coming??"
Dorothy took Jonathan's little hand in her marbled one, gave Marie a smile and started walking down the hall with him, where Scott, Ororo and little Charles were leaving their suite as well.
"Sure am. I wouldn't miss going out with such a handsome little man for the world."
Jonathan giggled and pulled her forward to meet Charles, who waved at them from where he was draped on his father's shoulder. Marie stared at her growing son in wonder until a hand at her back startled her. Logan helped her into her long coat and brushed a kiss to her temple.
"Are you okay, darlin'?"
Marie nodded happily. She was more than okay. It took a while, but with The Professor's help, they had worked out all their issues the last few months. And there were plenty. Her guilt over feeling she had betrayed Logan by having loved Mike. How that led to her being too afraid to ever talk about it or seeking him out and how that conflict manifested in her dream that night. Logan also worked through his feelings of guilt and anger and jealousy which all stemmed from the fear that he wasn't good enough and that he would loose his family because of it. It was a trying process, and they still saw The Professor once a week, but it had been well worth it. They had love. An overwhelming, all encompassing love and so the rest would fall into place eventually. They had a stronger marriage for it and they were tighter than ever before.
"Ah couldn't be happier, Logan. Thank you."
Logan found Marie's hand and led her out the room. Closing the door behind them, he yanked at his tie to loosen it a little before laughing at the scene of Scott trying to balance both Jonathan and Charles in his arms. Marie leaned into Logan and chuckled with him.
"Hey give him ah little room ta breathe, fellas."
Ororo winked at Marie at being successful in her quest to get Logan into a tie.
"Nice tie Logan."
He grumbled in response, causing Scott to look over at him too, his own tie being rumpled beyond recognition by the two squirming kids in his arms.
"At least you weren't late this time."
The woman laughed and Logan grumbled a little louder. Jonathan couldn't miss the opportunity of his father being so close and leaped into his arms. Logan caught him with a grunt and set him down on the stair banister, giving Scott one last dirty look. The younger man took it in stride and started to walk down the stairs. Dorothy withdrew her keys.
"I'll drive. We'll meet you at the chambers, Logan."
Ororo interlaced her arm with Dorothy's and together they left quickly, leaving Marie a little confused. She looked at Logan, who suddenly looked a lot more nervous.
"What's going on? What chambers? Ah thought we were going out ta dinner."
Logan cleared his throat and dug into his pocket.
"We are, but first we have to stop by Judge Diaz's office."
Marie's eyes widened in understanding. Logan continued with a grin.
"The adoption papers came in three days ago and we just have to go to sign them and make everything official. Judge Diaz will perform a short ceremony."
Marie stood in shocked silence for three seconds before flinging her arms around Logan. Looking up from where he was untying his shoelaces, Jonathan perked up at the thought of a group hug. Those were the best. Marie didn't wait for him to ask though, moving to him next and planting kisses on both.
"That quick? This is so great Logan! Why didn't ya tell me sooner?"
Logan colored slightly at his wife's regard. The love in her eyes shown so brightly, it was staggering.
"Wanted it to be a surprise. And Xavier knows everybody, so it was a piece of cake."
"Well, consider me surprised."
She turned to Jonathan and drew him close.
"Did ya hear that, sugah? ‘Member what we talked about?"
Jonathan nodded, though he didn't quite understand why his daddy needed a paper to say he was his daddy. But it seemed important to them.
"Well, we're going down right now ta get all tha papers."
"Then we go get ice cream?"
Marie grinned at Logan. They had taken to experimenting with ice cream some nights themselves.
"Sure baby, we'll get ya some ice cream afterwards."
Marie then went to help Jonathan get down, but Logan stopped her.
"Wait, one more thing."
He nervously took out what was in his pocket. Jonathan looked at his father excitedly.
"Chief, I got something for you."
Marie gasped as she saw what was in Logan's palm when he opened it. Jonathan stared at it a minute before picking it up and turning it in his little hands. It was a heavy piece of metal that looked kinda interesting. He wondered if Charles had one.
"It's an army pin. Do remember Mike?"
Jonathan nodded. Marie still hadn't taken a breath.
"He went away."
"Yea he did, kiddo, but he left this for you. He was a soldier once and he won this. I think he wanted you to have it."
Jonathan cocked his head, evaluating the item as well as his father's words.
"Put it on?"
Logan swallowed tightly. He had been planning this for days, but he was still nervous. He glanced over at Marie. She was silent and close to tears, but they were happy tears. He knew he was doing the right thing and he was glad for it. Logan took the Army Ranger pin and secured it on Jonathan's sweater. He felt the boy perk up with pride.
"There you go, Chief. All set."
Jonathan grinned and tugged at his mother's coat sleeve.
"Look nice?"
Mari swallowed, not sure she could speak, but willing to try.
"Ya look beautiful, baby. Beautiful."
Jonathan giggled and started to get down. Logan lifted him into his arms. Jonathan immediately grafted himself onto him in his full body hug. Logan turned to Marie and kissed her gently on the lips.
"You okay, darlin'?"
Marie nodded.
"Yeah. Happier than Ah ever been."
Logan looked into the chocolate depths of her eyes. It was true. Marie was happy, and he was the one that had done it. The love in Logan's heart swelled to a point where it threatened to overwhelm him. He could make her happy and it was something he'd never, ever stop doing. He hooked his arm around Marie's shoulder and descended the steps with his son in his arms and his wife at his side. The ceremony was important to him, but just like his marriage, Logan really didn't need a certificate to tell him Jonathan was his.
Marie was his the minute he touched her up on the statue that night to make her live. Jonathan was his the minute he took his first breath in this world. And Sarah was his, the minute two cells united to become one. The paperwork was all good, but they were just words. It was love that made a family and that they had in spades. They belonged to him, he belonged to them. It was all that mattered.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Susan Keller, for asking so nicely - this fic’s for you.
Ack'mnt: Special thanks to my spanking new beta line-up. You guys are the best and have really helped out this newbie. Thanks.
Author's Notes: Set two months after the ending of Run 1. Please read the first to better understand this one. Also, at Bart2371's request, Zeus and Gaia make a cameo.
Ack'mnt: Special thanks to my spanking new beta line-up. You guys are the best and have really helped out this newbie. Thanks.
Author's Notes: Set two months after the ending of Run 1. Please read the first to better understand this one. Also, at Bart2371's request, Zeus and Gaia make a cameo.