Three months later Westchester, NY Kitchen
Logan was sitting at the table, brooding with a nice Molson beer in front of him and a cigar in his hand. He was entitled to all three, he thought.
After he, Marie and their cub had returned home from North Carolina, they had taken their old room back. But their relationship had changed.
Marie was sharing a bed with him, yes. But sleeping, watching TV, and reading parenting materials was all the action that bed saw. Sex was sadly non-existent in Logan's life. He hadn't gone this long since he and Marie first started dating. But it wasn't the lack of mattress dancing that Logan was brooding about now.
Marie wouldn't marry him.
It had been lurking in the back of his mind since before their first date, the idea that he and the waif he had rescued on the side of a north Canadian road would join their lives legally as well as emotionally. She was already his mate. He felt the urge to make it binding in the eyes of Lady Law.
He'd bought her ring the week before the break. He'd been planning on asking her the night after she had run.
Now she was stalling. "We're not ready yet. I'M not ready yet."
He growled softly. They both knew she was his, his mate, his love. And he was hers. Why didn't she want to cement that bond?
He was frustrated. He wanted to be her husband before the baby was born.
//How can she not be ready?//
//Do you really need to ask that question, Wolverine?//
He looked up. Angelica stood there, a lopsided smile on her face. She and Ryan had come up to visit Westchester yesterday and would leave in two days. She wanted to check on both of her friends.
Logan smiled. "Did I wake you?"
"Yes and no. I was hungry anyway. Your emotions just finished the job of waking me up. Want to talk?"
"I don't know."
Angelica nodded. "Fair enough." She went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of Ben and Jerry's. She sat down on the opposite side of the table. For a moment they sat in silence, one eating Chunky Monkey, one drinking Canadian beer, allowing the night outside to speak to its inhabitants.
Logan spoke first. "Has she REALLY forgiven me?"
Emote paused, reading Marie's sleeping emotions. ~Happiness, contentment, hope, joy, smugness~ She laughed at that last one. Logan quirked an eyebrow. She cleared her throat.
"Yes, she has."
"Then why--?"
"Logan, she's trying to repair the cracks in the foundation first."
"Huh?"
Emote sighed. She'd had a session with each of them today when she arrived, at their insistence. She opened her memories to her and Rogue's session.
"Your relationship…for lack of a better word… splintered so easily because of, in Rogue's belief, `moving too fast'. She thinks you and she jumped into love too quickly. Or rather, changed your roles in each other's lives without pausing. She's just trying to cement her belief that she's worthy of love before committing herself to the formality of marriage."
Logan was puzzled. "But she IS worthy of love. Why…?"
"Logan, she knows you love her. The way she's told me you're working on rebuilding your love…She's just trying to make SURE that dreams can't hurt either of you again…and that's all I can tell you," she said of his look.
Emote was, by profession as well as gift, a counselor. She had only told the couple what was needed to help them fix the cracks in their relationship.
Logan sighed. "So what do I do now?"
"Don't push her anymore. She needs time to heal what hurt's left. Ask her to marry you a month from tomorrow. She should be more secure then."
Logan growled, then softened. "Thanks Angelica."
She leaned over and rested her hand on his. "You're welcome."
Two days later
"Did you tell him what I said?"
"Uh-huh. Now get Jubes, Kitty and `Ro to help him. You want it to be nice."
"Yes I do. I want him to make an effort this time, not just grunt, `You wanna, you know, get married?' I deserve actual fear from him."
"You are evil, Marie."
"That I am." Both girls giggled. Marie sobered. "Am I doing the right thing, making him wait? Does he see it the way I need him to, or is it hurting him?"
Angelica softened. "Marie, he loves you. He is TERRIFIED that he'll lose you. But he knows you love him. You would have taken the easier road if you hadn't. He'll jump through the hoops for you to prove he loves you…for now anyway. Just don't give him too many to jump."
Both women got a mental picture—Logan, cigar in his mouth, shirtless, jumping through hoops like a trained seal.
They started laughing. Marie added to their mirth. She clapped the backs of her hands together and said, "Arf, Arf!"
When their men found them, they found the women, red-faced from giggling, holding onto one another.
All the prying in the world would not get WHY they were giggling out of the two women. For one simple reason.
Neither of them looked good in claws.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Dedication: To Gina, Cathain, Rhion and Moonbeam, and K Marie. Due to these five, the stories will continue. Take a bow, people! (To the others who've given feedback, you've gotten your dedications already!) And to my dad, who'd have faith in me if I wrote like a cabbage. I miss you, Daddy. //telepathic// ~feeling~