Looking at the rest of them sat around in the rec room, their faces excited and open about the few days they were going to have free. Jubilee was going either to finally get herself organised and sort out the junkyard she called a closet, Jean had told her she sorted what she had or she'd do it. Jean's cleaning was usually throw
everything out that was on the floor, there was an incentive, and Jean was going to take her shopping for an evening gown in New York.
Jubilee had already started sorting clothes in her head and was asking Kitty if she would like to have first pick of the rest. Turning her thoughts inward she gave her apologies, left the room, she had a lot of work to do herself, and the sooner she got started the better.
He'd been thinking about heading home since the first blizzard had hit him on the road to a small out of the way dot on an old military map, a gift from the Professor earlier that year. He'd stopped about five miles from his goal and just turned around, he'd find nothing that wouldn't wait until next spring. Shifting the backpack and
shaking the new snow off his tired bones, the winter had come fast this year, hardly a month between the brilliant autumn colour and the first snow fall. It'd be a hard winter and it'd probably last into the first weeks of March if he'd understood the signs well enough.
Taking out the battered map he looked for the most direct route home, it'd take about a week if he kept moving, sleeping only when he needed to. Looking at the heavy clouds of the storm above his head and the snow that was already swirling down knowing he'd have to move now or he'd be stuck up here for the duration.
Replacing the map in his leather, not noticing the wind that snatched the worn photograph out of the battered inner pocket. Flying upward into the wind, its surface pitted by grime and too many nights of being handled in the near darkness of shattered nightmares. A warm
southern smile and green eyes hidden behind a cascade of auburn and white, a private moment snatched by chance, ripped away by the Arctic winds, lost in the white of winter. The only sound heard over the wind being the roar of an engine, pushing hard into the teeth of winter, the passenger unaware of his lifeline cut free and lost to
the wind.
November
She'd sorted everything in the few days she'd had; talked to the Professor, told him she was going to take a small holiday for a while. Not until spring but she was definitely going before she made any choices about her college applications. He'd smiled at her words, giving her the use of a car if she needed it and offered her the use of several apartments he owned across the eastern states. Smiling she'd taken him up on the offer knowing he probably knew why she was telling him everything, it was hard to fool a telepath, even one that wasn't reading your mind. Body language said enough for you.
When she'd left, she'd felt a relief almost, as if she'd
finally grown up enough to state what she'd really wanted for herself. She'd taken to spending a few hours everyday in Logan's room, using the peace and quiet in his room to meditate. It suited the Wolverine in her head; he approved and so kept quiet while she concentrated on
the exercises she was trying to do. The sublimation of her own nervous defences, the reaction her skin had to anyone touching her.
It had been put to her by Hank and the Professor that her skin was something she should be able to control eventually but she had to overcome her own fears first. Therefore, she'd used the time to acclimatise herself to his scent again; she'd wanted to gain the easy attitude she'd had with him before her relationship with Remy had
destroyed it.
When she'd first entered the room her body had reacted as she used to when she'd swung too high on the swings her father had erected in her childhood home. The sensation of losing control, of feeling the ground rushing past you and the weightlessness of your limbs before the plunge back into gravity's grip. Touching the things he'd
left behind, leaving her gloves off so her own scent would be left behind.
Every day she was there, she used the shower, letting the warmth take the tension from her, gaining confidence in the small tiled room until it felt like second nature. If she was going to spend as much time as she could with him, she'd need to be able to cope with every room he was in, even this one. She wanted to be calm when she saw
him, knowing the first few glances he sent her way would tell her everything and she had to work out the language before he got here.
Listening to the sleet hit the window of his room knowing it wouldn't be long now he'd be here within the week.
She'd even cloistered herself off from everyone over the last few weeks, even Ororo had diverted her friends attentions after she'd tried and failed to express her needs to them. To be left alone, to concentrate on the goal ahead of her knowing how important it was, a
last chance, something everyone seemed to understand but her friends.
She couldn't blame them though; they didn't have a man in
their head that refused to communicate in normal ways. He'd show her in movements and gestures, what he wanted, what he'd hoped for everytime he'd come home. The language was so subtle so difficult it was a wonder Logan didn't go mad in the mixed gatherings they held over
Christmas. Understanding now why he kept out of the way, reading people's true intentions while their minds and voices said the absolute opposite. He'd once accused a man of stealing at the large winter ball; she'd dragged him down out of his room thinking she'd been doing him a favour. The ruckus that had come from the whole thing had made Logan disappear for a few days while the Professor
smoothed things over.
Point was he'd been right, the man had been stealing information and passing it onto the government, Logan had been right; his senses tuned so fine to every cue and scent that he'd read the man without realising. He'd avoided her after that for a while, although truth be
told she'd been too busy seeing who Remy had lined up to take her place to really notice how much she'd hurt Logan. Now when the thought opened up she could see how much she had caused the rift between them by her own thoughtless actions and desires.
Determined not to make the same mistake she watched the sleet turn to snow, as the first fall of the year landed on the bare trees. Knowing he'd be driving through this to get home, smiling to herself as she understood exactly what she had to do when he got here.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Marie begins to learn the language she's been ignoring.