Day 19 - Unexpected Guests
Dawn...
It was a time that always made him feel alive, even when he didn't want to be. When night had met its day, and darkness had no choice but to surrender its transient hold on the cycle of the heavens. It was a time when the world sighed its relief and welcomed the sun's warm embrace once more.
Logan was no different in his appreciation this morning, although it hadn't always been that way. Looking forward to a new day was something of a foreign concept to him. For as long as he could remember, time meant nothing, offered nothing but a racing, numbing, blur of bitterness fuelled by overwhelming rage.
Time had meant pain and he had no desire to endure it.
But life itself, time's co-conspirator in crime, twisted the knife in deeper. Wouldn't grant him the escape he yearned. Nature had the last laugh as it played its mocking games with his DNA.
Logan clenched his fists but quickly allowed them to relax and uncurl. He had come a long way. In the past, just thinking about his mutation would have resulted in him doing some serious damage to whatever objects were closest.
He managed a flicker of a smile. So it was ironic that he was now laughing right back, *thanking* nature for the one thing that had stopped him from escaping the torment that was his life.
Correction...that *had* been his life.
Because he realised that he was wrong. Had been wrong all along. That it wasn't dieing that would grant him peace...
All it took was...
He closed his eyes, bare feet pressed firmly into the rainforest's lush vegetation, wondering if his heightened senses could pick up her breathing above all the other stirring forest sounds. He doubted that they were quite that acute but allowed his imagination to come into play, just this once.
His smile tugged a little wider. Yeah...there it was...soft and even and reassuring.
His Marie.
*She* was what made him feel alive now. She was his new day.
Suddenly wanting to be there when she awoke, he decided to take a rain check on his meditation and headed back to the shelter.
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"Wake up sleepyhead."
Still caught up in the last remnants of dream, Marie frowned at the sound of Logan's voice. It seemed achingly distant, as if he was speaking to her from a mobile phone with a very poor reception.
"Logan?" Her inner voice tried desperately to reach out to him, to pull herself out of sleep's heavy darkness and into the light of a new day.
She felt a tickling sensation on her forehead as she finally stirred awake. To her surprise, a strangely exotic perfume permeated up into her senses. Quickly bringing her hand up to investigate she met with a soft velvety texture.
"Hey, careful! You'll crush the damn thing!" Logan's voice seemed more amused than annoyed, however.
Blinking open her eyes she instantly met with a pair of intense hazel ones.
"What's this?" she murmured sleepily and lifted the object from her forehead. She let out a little gasp.
It was the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. About the size of her fist, with burnt orange elongated petals, black spidery veins and light terracotta tips. She sniffed - the smell was divine - hinting of an appealing combination of citrus and jasmine.
When she looked at Logan again, he smiled at her - that same, gentle, heart-stopping smile from a few days ago.
"An apology for laughin' at ya yesterday," he announced, seeming a little awkward.
She smiled back, her insides positively melting, but to her disappointment he stood up before she could thank him.
She sighed quietly beneath her breath. It was typical of Logan. The gesture was sincere but he had no intention of having it dwelt upon too analytically.
"I'll make breakfast this mornin'," he added, as he ducked out of the shelter and into the sunshine of what appeared to be yet another beautiful day.
Marie sat up in her sleeping bag and peered wistfully down at the flower, caressing one of the petals tenderly. Who'd have though the Wolverine could be so romantic? Surely this meant something more than just friendship? He had never given her flowers before. Even when she had been ill with a virus last spring, it had been a fruit basket he had plonked on her bed rather awkwardly, and not a bunch of flowers.
Practically tingling with delight, she placed the flower carefully by her side and stretched long and pensively - images of Logan's deep dark eyes and adorable smile continuing to linger in her thoughts.
At the same time her stomach rumbled loudly and peering down in amusement she was amazed that even after yesterday's major pig out, she could still feel hungry today.
She grinned. Ah! Yesterday! What a day! What a crazy but gloriously perfect day!
After her unexpected dip in the cave pool, she and Logan had hurried back to the shelter to get dried off and investigate that box, although throughout most of the journey Logan had teased her unrelentingly:
"So, ya were gonna keep all the loot to ya'self?"
"No, Logan. I was intending to surprise you with it!"
"Yeah, right. I believe ya."
"Honest!"
"Although I think it was worth all the deceit for the entertainment factor at the end."
"That *wasn't* funny!"
"Was from where I was standin', darlin'!"
In hindsight, perhaps that flower had been well earned after all, she decided. The plunge in the pool had definitely been worth all the humiliation to be woken in such a beautifully romantic way.
Once they had changed into fresh clothes they had wasted no time in opening the box (cue six eager adamantium claws), and it had not disappointed, for her or Logan. Despite his annoying choice of location, she had quickly reinstated her belief that the Professor was a sweetie - to their relief, he had insured it was watertight!
For Logan, after being deprived of beer and cigars for two whole weeks, it was as if all his birthdays (if he had known when they were!) and Christmases had come at once: a six pack of Molsen, a further six pack of the finest Cuban cigars, and a bottle of quality bourbon for good measure.
For herself, there were three bars of luxury Belgian chocolate: one white, one milk and one dark; a bottle of her favourite red wine; the latest copy of Cosmo and a travel sized bottle of shampoo (she had been forced to use the meagre bar of soap they used for washing, up until now, and spent most of her time with her hair tied back in a pony-tail to hide the dreadful condition!).
Finally, for them both, there had been a huge bag of Pirate Booty (pun intended, she guessed), two tins of good quality cooked meat, a box of savoury crackers and a couple of packets of choc chip cookies.
With that lot at their disposal she and Logan had ending up having one of their best afternoons yet!
He had been quite happy to continue the shelter modifications (plus one cigar protruding, almost comically, from his mouth, and a beer keeping cool in a saucepan of water!), and she had been quite happy to alternate between watching him work and reading her magazine as she stuffed herself silly with chocolate and biscuits.
The evening meal mainly consisted of meat and cheese biscuits, the former of which suited Logan fine, even if he did slightly frown upon the fact that the meat was tinned. When she had put in that at least it hadn't been Spam...or beef jerky...he had laughed and agreed.
That was another thing she had noticed about being here.
Logan laughed.
And, to her pleasant surprise...it sounded *incredibly* sexy. Sent a whole torrent of shivers running down her spine.
She would never have believed that a man's laugh could turn her on so much!
Another surprise had been Logan's insistence that they should save the wine and bourbon for a later date. He had even given her one of his few beers to compensate. She had been too full of junk food to protest and the beer gave her a nice enough buzz to end the day anyway. Why he wanted to save them was a mystery...although it made her feel kinda positive for some reason.
The day had ended rather quickly after that, the alcohol and extra food making them both sleepy. She could remember sitting on the beach watching the sunset with Logan and saying how beautiful it was, and she thought she could recall him pulling her into his chest and saying something along the lines of: "not as gorgeous as the woman sittin' beside me." But she honestly didn't know if that had just been dream and could remember nothing more, falling into a blissful velveteen darkness - warm and safe and smelling of Logan and the salty tang of the surf. She guessed that he must have carried her back to the shelter and put her into the sleeping bag.
The thought made her giddy with anticipation.
"Ya porridge is ready!" she suddenly heard him call out and she realised that she must have been sitting daydreaming for a good ten minutes.
"On my way!" she called back happily.
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When she returned from washing up the breakfast things at the well, Logan was sat, cross-legged, on the edge of the shore and at first she assumed he was meditating. He did that often, said it helped still his mind, and had even taught her a few basics, like selecting a suitable mantra and focusing upon it. She didn't quite possess his steely discipline but found it helpful to keep those extra identities, including his, in line within her head.
He twisted around, however, as she stepped from beneath the canopy of trees, as if he had been waiting for her. When she had dumped the string bag in the shelter and turned, he was already walking towards her. Grinning, he gestured extremely devilishly with his index finger for her to come over to him. The simple action made her mouth go dry - he looked dangerous, sexy and cute all rolled into one.
She regarded him warily. "What?"
"Come'ere."
"Why?"
"Come'ere!" he repeated, somewhat impatiently now.
She approached him nervously, checking that she could see *both* his hands, concerned that he might want to deposit some gross jellyfish on her head.
She was only a short distance from him when he suddenly roared, making her scream out in shock, grabbed her, flung her over his shoulder and made a run for the ocean.
"Logan! What the fuck are you doing! Put me down!"
"Thought ya wanted to go swimming!"
Struggling in his arms, secretly loving every minute of his hands being so close to her ass, she continued squealing. "Not like this! Logan, don't you dare throw me in!" As the shelter grew smaller and smaller she began to panic. "Please Logan!"
He was splashing through the surf now, sending water spraying out in all directions. "Logan! I'm getting wet!"
"Thought that was the idea, darlin'?"
When the water reached his thighs and she could practically reach down and touch the surface, he stopped, although he continued to hold her tight. Her heart pounded in her ears, still recovering from the shock of his spontaneous actions more than anything, and she clung to him desperately. "Please don't drop me, Logan!"
He finally relented, releasing his grip slightly and allowing her to part slide, part wriggle, down his body. When she fleetingly caught his gaze, feet not quite on secure ground yet, his arms tightened around her again holding her in place. His eyes burned into hers. "Don't ya trust me?" he whispered, voice low and deep.
She could barely breathe as their gazes locked. "I've *always* trusted you," she returned softly.
Please, damn you - kiss me! she begged into the silence of her mind. And for a split second the world seemed to stand still when she realised that he was about to do just that.
Which was why she didn't quite expect what *did* happen next.
"Holy shit!" he hollered, almost deafening her in the process, hauling her roughly back over his shoulder again and this time unintentionally grabbing her ass in his alarm. "Shark!"
Shark?!
Her first-kiss-bubble promptly bursting, Marie felt terror gurgle up into her throat and passively allowed Logan to carry her, like a rag doll, back to the beach. When he dropped her unceremoniously onto the sand and turned to quickly look back out across the ocean again, she did the same, searching the sparkling waters for whatever had spooked him.
Sure enough, a fin was snaking its way menacingly through the water, the dark shadow of a sizeable fish gliding beneath.
"But the Professor said that sharks are rarely sighted around here!" she protested breathlessly, trying desperately to calm herself down now that she was safely on dry land. She shrugged her frustration. "Something to do with water current anomalies, I think!"
Logan was shaking his head. He looked sheepishly amused.
She found herself staring at him in bewilderment as that sexy laugh of his began to flood her senses once more. "Christ, I feel a right pansy-ass now!" he howled. He pointed at her and scowled. "Don't ya dare let on about this to anyone!"
She wondered whether she was still dreaming. This was all just a little too bizarre! "What *are* you talking about?"
His pointing finger swept around to gesture to the ocean. "It's a fuckin' dolphin! Look!"
Wide eyed, she scanned the water, just in time to catch the fin submerge once more. "A dolphin?" she gushed, grinning ecstatically when its head peeked out through the calm surface. "Oh my god! It is! It is!" She knew that she sounded like an over-excited child, she was literally jumping up and down in delight, but she couldn't help it - she had always adored dolphins and had never seen any in the wild.
She suddenly felt Logan's hand slip into hers and she looked across at him in shock.
"Let's go say hello, shall we?"
She gaped at him in disbelief. He was suggesting that they...swim with dolphins? "Is it safe?"
"You ever heard of anyone getting eaten by a dolphin?"
"Er...no," she admitted.
His hand closed around hers reassuringly and she relished the warmth of his skin against hers. He had only held her hand once before, during a mission, when they had to climb over a wall and he had given her a pull up. But they had both been wearing gloves that time. 'An' I promised ya a swim. C'mon."
He tugged her forward with him giving her no time to protest and they waded tentatively back through the water, slower this time, so as not to frighten the dolphin.
Marie looked about her, disappointed. "I think he might have gone."
"He'll be back," Logan insisted. "I've heard that they like interaction with humans."
Marie grinned. "Hope he won't mind the mutant variety."
For a fleeting moment Logan looked bitter but then contentment settled into his eyes. "That's what I like about the wilds, animals don't judge. They either just accept ya..." he smirked mischievously. "Or eat ya!"
Marie clicked her teeth. "Thanks for making me feel at ease!" But then she suddenly caught sight of that dark shadow again, skimming impossibly fast through the ocean about a hundred metres from where they stood, hip deep in the water. "There are two of them!" she gasped, spotting a second, smaller shadow by its side.
She could sense Logan's smile. "There sure is, kid." And she had never heard such awe in his tone. He seemed as overwhelmed as she was.
She squeezed his hand apprehensively and shuffled nearer to him. "They're moving closer, Logan. I'm...I'm a little scared."
"Just relax, Marie; let 'em check us out."
She took a deep breath. "Ok."
In the next instant one of the dolphins poked its head out of the water a short distance away. It appeared to watch them for a few seconds before diving again, tail slapping the surface on its way down.
"They always look as if they're smiling," Marie blurted animatedly, feeling as if she had taken a hit of something. Despite standing doing nothing, her adrenaline was pumping as hard as if she were working out in the Danger Room.
Logan looked at her and winked. "Perhaps they are," he teased.
"Oh look - here they come again!" Marie braced herself as they cut effortlessly through the waters straight for them, changing direction at the last minute to swim around instead.
Marie turned as fast as the restricting water would allow her to, not wanting to lose sight of them. "Are they trying to scare us?"
Logan shook his head. "Nah, they're just playin'."
And play they did.
For the next hour and a half, Marie was in a constant state of wonder as she and Logan swam (he *could* swim!) and kidded about, sometimes with the dolphins near by, sometimes alone. At one stage the larger of the dolphins even moved close enough to allow her to stroke its smooth head. When they finally disappeared off toward the horizon Marie found herself choking back emotion, feeling as if she had connected with something truly amazing. First the cave...now the dolphins...whatever next?
As they crossed the beach and headed for the shelter Logan gently touched her arm. "Hey? You OK?"
She smiled across at him, barely able to focus through the held back tears. "Just a little overwhelmed," she admitted. "It's not every day you swim with dolphins." She swiftly composed herself. "How about you? How did you feel swimming...it didn't remind you...?"
"It felt good," he cut in. "An' was easier than I thought it would be." He shrugged, trying to retain a casual air. "The dolphins were a bonus."
"A bonus?" she spat in mock disgust. "The dolphins were *amazing!*" she corrected, dreamily. "Just amazing!" Her eyes widened hopefully. "Do you think they'll come back?"
"I'd count on it."
"Would you...would you come swimming again if they do?" She was eager to repeat their session in the water. Besides spending time with the dolphins and exploring some of the breathtaking reef, Logan, being Logan, had insisted on teaching her some combat tactics should she ever find herself facing an enemy in water...
In fact, he had seemed so intent on coming up with excuses to innocently touch her that she had been very sorry to have it all end.
Unfortunately, she didn't have a healing factor like his, which compensated for the dehydration effect of the salty water, and after only an hour was dangerously close to turning into a human prune.
"You can count on that too," he promised, voice taking on a huskier tone, and his eyes seemed to say that he was sorry that the touching had to end too.
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