It was nearly midnight when he had stopped off at a local bar he used to go to. Nothing like getting piss ass drunk to try to numb your emotional pain right? The neon beer signs in the windows gave off a glow that stretched over the concrete in front of the entrance. He had just stepped onto the curb when someone was being thrown out the door and crashed down at his feet.
"AND STAY OUT ASSHOLE!" Logan looked toward the burly man who had hurled the sloppy drunk from the establishment and raised an eyebrow. The man heaved in breath after angry breath and went back into the bar. Logan looked down for a moment, pitying the poor guy who was passed out on the concrete he'd been that guy several times, before stepping over the man and following the burly guy inside.
The place wasn't as small as it looked. Classic Canadian bar. He did a once-over of the inside, surveying how many people were in the room before turning to the bar. "Logan! How've you been man? You haven't been around in ages!" Marty's voice echoed over the juke box and the laughing drunks that filled the space around it.
"Hey Marty." Logan gave a rare smile before taking his leather jacket off, putting it on the back of the chair and raising himself to sit on it. "I know it's been a while. Have been sorta busy." Okay, that was the biggest lie he's told in a while. He's been fuckin' bored out of his mind for the last year and a half. Initially he went back to his cabin in Northern Canada to find that someone had broken into it and trashed the place. While cleaning up the pigsty that those fuckers left for him, he decided that he should expand the cabin by several rooms. For shits and giggles he took his sweet ass time with the project, he finally finished it after 26 months. Everything was finished, the wood inside was replaced and stained. He even hand crafted the furniture
Since then he had been doing nothing but drinking himself into a stupor. He felt empty. Like there was something huge he was missing in his life. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, the feeling that was tearing his heart was too painful to ignore anymore. He missed her. But he wanted to give her a chance to grow up, experience freedom before she ended up tied down to the power-crazy Wolverine... "Whatcha been up to lately ol' boy?" Marty's voice tore him back into reality. He hadn't realized that the friendly bartender slipped his favorite beer into his hand with the cap already off.
He took a long sip of the amber liquid and sighed. "A little of this, a lot of that. Fixed up my Cabin up north. That was a bog ass job." Logan snorted.
Marty was carefully drying a few glasses and then flopped the towel over his right shoulder. "I'll bet."
"How's the business been?"
The Bartender's smirk at how full the bar was on a late Saturday night. "Business has been good. Obviously. So Good that Jaime and I might expand a little."
"Really?" Logan's interest was only slightly peaked. Most of it had to do with the fact that his mind was wondering about how Marie was doing and how damn good the beer tasted.
"Yeah. Jaime's pregnant. We're gunna have twins here in about 5 months!" His face was beaming with pride.
The news was initially a shock, but he was genuinely happy for Marty and his wife. "Congratulations Bub. You guys deserve it. Haven't you guys been tryin' fer a few years now?"
"Yeah, for about 6 now. But now we're finally gunna get to have the little bundles of joy." He was grinning like an idiot. "When are you going to settle down and have a baby of your own, Man?"
Logan was drinking the end of his beer when he said it and it almost made him spit the beer all over the wooden counter. Instead it just made it go down the wrong pipe. Wolverine sputtered. He coughed and after about 30 seconds he was fine. Marty's worried expression seemed to fade as he gave his old friend a glass of water. "I guess that means not any time soon huh?" He smirked and shook his head.
"I ain't saying no... I just think I need to find the right girl damnit." Logan was scowling and he drank down half the glass of water he was given.
"If I can recall correctly, you were almost head over heels for some gal a few years ago. What was her name? Marcy?"
"Marie." Logan growled low in his chest. Was it that noticeable? Thinking about her was painful enough on his own. Having someone else bring her up was just like putting a bow-saw into his chest and turning it on.
"Yeah! That girl. Weren't you datin' her for a while? She seemed to be the apple of your eye for a while. What happened?"
"I left." Logan finished the end of the water and motioned for Marty to give him another beer.
Getting the hint, he grabbed another one for Logan. "Well why the hell you do that?" Marty twisted off the cap and handed him the bottle, a look of utter confusion on his face.
"She needed time to grow up." Logan slipped the top of the bottle into his mouth and started to tip it, letting the frosty liquid wash into his mouth.
"Well, you've been gone a long time my friend. Maybe she moved on by now."
It hit him like a bag of rocks. What if she had moved on? He knew that her feelings for him ran deeper than any abyss could... but what if she got tired of waiting around for him? She was still a kid... a mere 21 years old. Wait.
"Marty what day is today?"
The middle aged man looked at his watch. "April 27th. Technically has been for over an hour."
Shit. He missed her birthday. She was 22 now. Surely she should be old enough by now for him to come back. She wan't going to be happy about his return. But he could have her. Fuck the 'could'. She was going to take him back, even if she didn't want him anymore.
Logan got up suddenly and chugged the rest of the beer. Grabbed his wallet, he threw 20 bucks on the counter in Marty's direction. He nodded to his old friend. "Thanks Marty."
"Where are you running off to now?" His eyebrow rose up in curiosity.
"To go see my girl." Logan gave him a devilish smile as he turned and walked away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a hard journey but after almost 7 hours of riding, he finally made it back to the mansion.
The roar of the engine finally ceased as he parked outside of the garage. Logan rose, making the motorcycle raise from the sudden absence of his weight, threw over a leg and strode up to the door. Without bothering to knock, he walked in to find the mansion to still be at ease. It was too early on a Sunday morning for anyone to be awake. He took his time making his way to the kitchen. If he was going to face Marie after 4 years of being gone, he needed a beer. And if she wasn't here... then damnit he was going to need a beer.
During the 7 hour drive, his thoughts were dominated by Marie. The only thing he could think of was why he left and as much as he wanted to justify the fact by telling himself that she needed time to grow up and experience life, he knew in his heart that that was a bullshit reason to leave. The truth of the matter was: He didn't want to be 'tied down'. The big bad Wolverine was tired of having to have the responsibility of caring for someone else, knowing that they were going to eventually die and he would live on. What changed? He realized that he would much rather spend the time that they had together, instead of wasting it away and running from happiness. At the end of the day, he was tried of knowing that he was alone. He was tired of knowing that he would never let himself have the opportunity to start a family. He was tired of forcing himself to detach from the people he cared about. He was tired of running. The Wolverine may want to be free for right now, but the man behind the feral mutant wanted a family. Logan didn't want any other woman. Logan only wanted Marie. His Marie.
When he walked into the kitchen no one was there. He grabbed a beer from the back of the refrigerator, surprised that they even had some and sat down in a chair at the table. He got a light scent of his Marie, the testosterone scent that clearly radiated from Hank, and a smell of someone he hadn't had the pleasure of sniffing yet. He chugged half of his beer when someone happened to *BAMPH* into the kitchen, his blue tail being seen from above the large granite top island. His attentions were obviously buried in the fridge.
"Hey Kurt."
With a crash the half empty gallon of milk that Kurt was holding crashed onto the floor, it's contents seeping from the broken plastic. Kurt was found on top of the refrigerator, staring at the man he didn't know was in the room accusingly and full of fear. "LOGAN! I didn't know you ver going to be here mein freund..." His eyes kept shifting as he continued to look around in uncontrollable panic. "Ven did you get here?"
He jumped off of the fridge and over to the sink where he grabbed a towel to start cleaning up his mess.
Logan rose an eyebrow at Kurt's hasty actions. "Just a few moments ago."
"Oh. Did you have a safe trip?" Kurt started to soak the milk up with a towel and then brought it to the sink to ring it out before soaking it again. It was a decent attempt to look busy, but Logan saw through it anyway.
"If you can call a boring one safe, then yes." Logan sipped his beer again trying to avoid the frustration building inside of him..
There was a few minutes of silence while Kurt cleaned up the milk spill. The silence was enough to make him lose his temper.
"KURT! What the HELL is going on?" Logan's patience was running thin as he watched his old friend throw away the broken milk container after salvaging the last portion of it into a small child-size glass.
"Vat do you mean...?" Nightcrawler looked like he was going to shake all the leaves off of a tree.
"Why are you so damn jumpy? You've never really been afraid of me before! I'm not gunna hurt-" Logan's inquiry was abruptly brought to a halt.
"Kurt what is taking so long with Draven's-" Hank's voice was soft and dwindled to a stop when his eyes met with Logan sitting in a chair at the table, looking like he was going to pop a vein in his neck. He had been letting Draven hang from his left arm playfully as the child giggled madly until Draven noticed the sudden tense silence in the room. Hank lowered his arm the little boy's feet touched back down to the ground and the child detached himself from him, not going far.
It was like looking at a mini version of himself. The child had his black hair, most of his facial features... but there was something about those eyes... he had bright green eyes. And he was very pale...much like someone Logan knew. Then it dawned on him. "You have got to be shitting me." He slipped the words out before thinking.
Hank vocalized in a stern tone, "Nice to see you too Logan. Would you please take into consideration that we have a very impressionable child present and watch your profanity."
Logan stared at the child dumbstruck, his mouth hanging open slightly.
Draven reached up and gently tugged at Hanks lab coat, enough to get his attention. "Hank... Hank... Who's that man?" The child couldn't help but point in Logan's direction.
McCoy's eyes met with the child's innocent and curious ones. "He's a friend of your mother's."
"Oh... MOMMY WON'T BE HOME FOR A LONG TIME!" Draven yelled it across the room, as if Logan was deaf. The ringing in his ears confirmed that he wasn't.
Yeah. He was going to need a lot more beer.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan has an epiphany and comes home to get the shock of his life.
Chapter End Notes:
I'm very proud of this chapter and I am eager to know what you guys think!