The kids were eager to help, the lessons on foraging were quick and easy to get through to them. Having a few extra hands to process the actual plants was a bonus, Pete and Logan had gone to the town to raid for storage vessels. They'd brought back much more than that, new blankets, warm clothing, boots for the kids, even a bright yellow slicker for Jubilee.
The weather was turning fast and the natural resources around them were having trouble keeping up, so much so that the rut was held in three inches of snow. The older elk that were having to plow through snow to chase younger males away tired quickly. Logan found two that
had died from exhaustion, the meat had been divided quickly between the two camps equally.
Over the weeks Marie noticed the skin of the kids fill out again and a air of normalcy overcame them. Hank was still trying to get as much equipment he could scavange from the local area. They already had solar panels and a wind turbine, something that Marie had been happy to let Hank provide for their own cabin. Hot water was always
a premium but now it was provided by the low voltage system they had that relied on light not direct sun. So even in winter they'd have power and battery cells to store what they didn't use. The day she'd turned on the old cd player Logan had found and brought back up her
heart had leapt at the sounds coming from it. Music, real music was playing and she hadn't realised how much she'd missed it until it was there again.
More things came into their home, making her realise that yes she'd survived but they too had been surviving, not living. With the small amount of pleasures she had she was living again, really living again. As herself, as Marie not Rogue; she even went with the last raiding team, when the snow was just beginning to become heavy
signalling the last time they could move out of their respective camps before spring. Logan was concerned with necessities but she wanted some sort of luxury, exactly what she didn't know until she found it. Christmas was a couple of months away but it was in her mind as she looked around the large store. Grabbing a rucksack she
just pushed in things that she knew would be useful, bath salts, moisturiser and her hands were just piling into the rest of the toiletries when she saw 'it'.
The thing was perfect, beautiful, simple, complete and she just grabbed it shoving it to the bottom so Logan wouldn't know what it was. Smiling to herself she went and got some things for the kids too, bath toys, sponges, games for winter nights. She was happy, really happy for once, she had Logan and she had a family of sorts.
It still hurt to see the kids flinch when a noise they weren't used to happened, making her remember when they'd first popped corn by the open fire. The sounds so much like gunfire that they'd all paled until Logan had just told them to calm down, no-one was around but them. The kids trusted him, especially Frankie; she'd been found at
a truck stop, they'd stopped to get water and she'd been tied to the sink inside. A man was dead in the front of the small shop his body decayed and dried but the cuff she had on her wrist could have slipped off easily but she'd remained. Too shocked to move except for water, she'd taken to Logan when he'd been making their home.
She'd watched him work too, the little dark eyed gaze never leaving his body until he'd come over to her to go home. Only then did Frankie look away, a sadness filling her and making her own heart ache with it.
She'd asked Jube's about her and the tale wasn't a good one, she was about ten, they weren't sure because Frankie wasn't. All she remembered was being left behind there by her dad and the man she was left with owned her. He never gave her his name so she called him Harry, she'd had a friend once called Harry and he said he was her friend. Every time her 'friend' came to see her he'd touch her,
show her how to do things he liked and finally how to react when he did something 'nice' for her, like feed her. So now when anyone did anything nice to her she just got in the position she understood, only when she saw her do it to Hank after he'd given her a package of clothes and food did she really understand what Jubilee had meant.
Frankie had just knelt down, her face lookng upward to Hank and she could see the tears in the large mans eyes as she did it. He told her to get up but she didn't she only turned on her knees and offered herself to him. Lifting her skirt to show her now plump naked pink backside to him, they'd tried to get her to wear underwear but she didn't use it. Harry had gotten that habit out of her, Anne was the one who'd rescued Hank, she'd just picked up Frankie and told her she didn't have to do that anymore. Hank wasn't like Harry, he didn't want that from her, all he wanted her to say was 'thank you'. Frankie just smiled at him and said her thank you,
walking away still unsure with the package just for her. Hanks look on his face was one of rage mixed with sorrow, the same one she'd seen that day on Logan's face when they'd walked home from their camp. Now she knew why, she'd seen it for herself and she understood why he'd been more willing to help them all.
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The camps were safe, Logan had been working hard on keeping their profiles low in the terrain. Even the wind turbines were locked onto sturdy trees so they wouldn't be noticed unless you were looking for them. Now that had been a marvel to see again, to see hot water and
electricity get put into the small home he'd provided to them all.
Marie's reaction to the hot water had been to bathe and drag him with her. That had led to some fun that had left both of them wondering how they'd managed without it for so long. But the best had been seeing her face when the music had started, the cd player was old, nearly an antique in the old world but it worked. Her face had woken up, something inside her had shifted and he knew she was nearly home, nearly back to what she had been before everything had taken over her life.
Her skin had settled down, she still had to be careful touching but if she put her mind to it the only thing she did get was the surface thoughts of someone, not their powers. His own thoughts on what they'd do next in spring made his heart troubled, would they move on or would they stay? The homes he'd helped build would get them through the winter safely but they'd need reworking if they wanted
to stay for longer.
Their own relationship had shifted, his and Marie's; he wasn't her protector anymore, he was her partner in all but law. They made love as often as they could, hell Pete nearly walked in on them once but he'd heard the man coming up the ridge and he'd been loud on purpose. Pete had hung back waiting until they'd both been ready for
a visitor, he appreciated the man's quiet thoughtfullness in everything he did. He was kind to the kids, played with them constantly, taught them things they needed to know without losing his temper.
When his weight had come back a little he even showed
them what his skin looked like, making all of the kids look in wonder at him. Anne was the one who showed them it was okay to touch him like that and the fear of his new look soon went away. He'd used his claws on the building of the houses and the kids didn't shy away
from him, maybe it was that reason they didn't. They'd only seen him use them for good, to build something, to make something. He never let them see him hunt, there was something inside him he wasn't comfortable showing them yet. If they stayed maybe he would but if they didn't he wouldn't burden them further.
Marie was looking at the kids a little differently and he could sense a shift in her; she was looking ahead of her now and that meant kids of their own. Would she want kids with Hank here, having a doctor on hand is always useful and if he wasn't here he doubted he could handle everything himself.
He saw her coming out of the store looking for the sleds, him Hank and Pete had been loading up with more dry supplies and tinned stuff. She'd wandered the aisles alone so he didn't know what she had with her but the grin on her face made his own smile grow as she came up to them all. "Hey beautiful, got what you need?"
"Yup, and I got stuff from the store too." The words made his heart hitch a little, she never stopped surprising him with her words. Now she felt more secure in herself she'd been sharing more of what she thought with him.
It didn't seem much but to someone who only used words when he needed to it was a huge step in the right direction. Squeezing her to him she got herself settled on the sled, she'd be better riding than trying to go through the drifts. Getting everything tied down they pulled their respective sleds away from the town.
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