‘How did you know all that stuff, Logan?’
It was dinnertime and he’d thrown together a venison stew from some of the dried deer meat and jarred vegetables that lined the shelf on the back wall of the kitchen. She’d napped fitfully after he left, waking up too many times to count because of the afternoon heat and the way it’d settled over her body like a wool blanket. As she lay in bed, boiling, both literally and figuratively, she’d tossed and turned in her mind everything that he’d told her and the more she analyzed, the more questions she had.
Through the thin walls of the cabin, she could hear him working in the backyard. For a little while, it was the sound of wood being split that helped keep her awake, and after that, she heard the grating, metallic scrape of the axes and knife blades being sharpened against the grindstone. After he'd come inside and put the soup together, the cabin was quiet and she could only assume that he’d decided to take a rest.
When she finally willed away some of the dizziness that had lingered on since her fainting spell, she got up out of the bed to check on her laundry, only to find him dozing in the rocking chair on the front porch, his worn and heavy boots propped up against the railing.
When she came back around the house, laundry in tow, he was awake, his frown heavy and his mood considerably darker than it had been not a few hours earlier. She'd started to say something to him, but he stood up abruptly and walked off the other end of the porch, disappearing behind the corner of the small hovel. She'd dealt with him before when he'd been like this, and with the situation as it was, she decided to leave him alone and finish up her work.
Now they were at the two person table near the tiny front window and she was buttering a day-old biscuit. He still hadn’t answered her.
‘Logan?’ she prodded, knowing he’d heard her, but not allowing him the leeway to just ignore what she’d asked.
'All of what stuff?' he growled back, avoiding her gaze under the guise of eating.
Marie shrugged. 'Everything. I dunno - you just seemed to have gathered a lot of information since you've been gone and I -'
‘Been on the inside,’ he interrupted gruffly, his head and shoulders bent over his bowl of soup, shoveling the meaty liquid into his mouth with what she could only describe as a caveman-like fervor.
She sat her spoon down, letting it rest on the edge of her bowl. ‘On the inside? What exactly does that mean?’
He glanced at her through hooded eyebrows and broke off a piece of his bread with a mighty snap of his jaws. 'What the hell does it sound like it means, Marie?' he asked around the mouthful of food. 'I told you I was goin' ta get some intell. The only way ta know for sure if what I was gettin' was true or not was if I got it myself, right?'
'A-are you okay? I mean - they didn't - are you all right?' she sputtered out, taken aback at the sudden revelation and the sorts of implications it brought. Her mind kicked into overdrive, flaring up memories she'd long buried, long tried to forget. She could feel more than hear the hiss of liquid metal as it was poured into her flesh and the breath she'd been taking caught in her throat. She shuddered.
His only answer was a snort, and while he continued eating, she pulled enough composure together to formulate another round of questions.
'So those rumors you were talking about? With the people that'd been released? That wasn't exactly hearsay.'
'They're rumors, all right, but that don't mean they ain't true. I saw 'em release 'Ro - she's been 'modified,' I think they called it. I dunno about Scott. Told me he got out on his own, broke free.'
Her heart skipped a beat. 'You saw him? Met with him?'
'Yeah.'
She didn't understand - this was wonderful news. Storm and Cyclops were alive and yet, from the tone of his voice, one would've thought they'd been lost in the melee as well. Marie frowned. 'But you don't believe him?'
'I don't know what ta believe, Marie,' he answered with a sigh, leaning back in his chair while balling up the rag he'd been using for a napkin. 'I want to. I didn't smell a lie on 'im.'
'But...'
'But that don't mean he's tellin' the truth. It ain't gonna smell like a lie if he believes what he's sayin'.'
'The brainwashing.'
'Exactly. I couldn’t...he didn’t smell any diff’rent, but I could smell the lab on him - I know that he’s been in there. I just have no idea what’s been done to ‘im...if anything.'
'Well what about 'Ro? I mean, if she's been tagged, then how're we supposed to be able to help her without leading them straight to us? You said they monitored the people they’ve modified...' She was worried about her friend, but the more he divulged, the more hopeless the situation seemed. She didn't even want to think about how they'd manage to get the Professor freed.
'I haven't the slightest clue. I been rackin' my brain the entire time I was drivin' back, but the best bet I could come up with was for me an' you ta work together an' get some o' the others out first. It's tough goin' gettin' in there, but it'll be even worse tryin' ta get out. From the ones I've seen, they're all on lock-down pretty much twenty-four-seven and ain't a piece o' cake ta get by. They're not messin' around this time.'
'Sounds like Fort Knox'r somethin'. With all that security, how'd you manage to get in an’ out all by your lonesome?' she asked coyly, letting her Southern accent slip a little more with the friendly flirtation.
He stood up from the table and flashed her a wolfish grin that settled some of her fears and reminded her just exactly who it was that she was talking to. 'Because I'm the best there is, darlin'.'
***
Later that evening, when the sun had settled and there was no point in trying to do anymore of the odds-and-ends-type of chores around their lodge by light of an oil lamp, Marie slid off to bed, saying 'good-night' to Logan before she left him, puffing on a cigar, on the front porch. She thought about what he'd said over dinner, about Scott and how he didn't know if it was safe to believe him or not. She refused to let her mind wander around the possibilities of what had happened to Ororo.
What if he really had been modified and let go? How in the world would they ever even be able to know? Logan's senses were as keen as was possible and if he couldn't tell...
Her heart ached, literally, at the thought of what had happened to their lives. Each and every one of them had been blessed with the good fortune to fall under Xavier's benevolent wing, but that was all ripped away before their eyes. With a mental shake of her head, she wiped all those thoughts from her mind, denying the chance for it to dwell on the past.
The future had looked bleak, but Logan was back now and she trusted his ability to make things right again. She wasn't fool enough to think that it would be easy, but having him on their side tilted the odds back to even.
She looked up then as the curtain was pulled back, allowing only a small amount of light into the room before it was blocked by Logan’s wide frame.
‘Ready for bed, sugar?’ she asked, scooting over a little to make room for him.
The first few nights they were there together, he’d slept on the floor on his roll-mat until she’d finally been able to convince him that it was all right, she didn’t mind if they slept in the same bed. He'd held out for a bit, telling her that he was sure the bed wouldn't support his weight until he realized what kind of effect it was having on her. She was sure that his reluctance had to do with a fear of her skin and told him as much before quietly rolling over and going to sleep.
The next morning, she awoke to find him curled around behind her, a quilt in between their bodies as an added precaution. At some point during the night he'd realized that, yes, a lot of things had changed, had been taken away from both of them, but there was still one thing that they could hold on to - their friendship. Things had never been weird between the two of them before, so why should they be now? If anything, the stage they'd been thrust onto should've brought them even closer together.
She held the blanket up so he could slide under, leaving the sheet down so it would act as a barrier against her skin, but he didn’t come any closer to the bed. Instead, he walked over to the far wall and began digging around in his bag that he‘d tossed in there earlier.
Marie sat up, worried at his silent entrance - most of the time she’d at least get a grunt in return. ‘Logan?’
He still ignored her, his hands moving faster through his wadded up clothes as the seconds ticked by until he sat back on his heels with a relieved sigh.
This time it was Marie’s turn to be silent as she watched him finger the object - which she was assuming was his dog tags from the silver glint they gave off in the moonlight - between his thumb and index finger. The chain clinked dully as he lifted his arms to fasten it around his neck and only then did she feel like she could interrupt him.
‘Logan? You okay? You gonna come to bed?’
It was at that moment that he looked up, seeming to really see her for the first time since he’d crept into her room. He pushed himself to his feet awkwardly as he got his legs back under himself and took two steps toward the bed, where Marie was waiting, blanket still upturned.
‘Think I’m gonna take a walk,’ he answered hoarsely, reaching up to rub at his neck. ‘I’ll be back in a little bit - need to check some things out first.’
She started to answer him, to tell him that she’d wait up for him, but he was gone before she could get the words out of her mouth. ‘O-kay,’ she whispered slowly, still a little perplexed by what had just happened. She heard the front door creak open, then closed as he went outside, to start in on what she could only imagine was his ’grounds check’ that he’d always done at the mansion.
Whenever he couldn’t sleep, or was bored, he would patrol the grounds, checking and rechecking tirelessly all the security precautions that he and Scott had made on the large school. As much as she wanted to take comfort in that, to relish the bit of normalcy that his protective nature brought, she still couldn’t quite shake the feeling of unease that she’d had since he’d gotten back.