Scott’s hand automatically went to his visor as he took in the aggressive stance of the man standing behind Rogue. “Scott! Logan!” the Professor’s crisp voice snapped out, as Logan reached out and yanked Rogue behind him. Scott paused, suddenly making the connection. He lowered his hand, taking in the changes in the man he had last seen naked, blood-spattered, and feral.
Scott had felt from the start that it was a bad idea for Rogue to be given sole charge of the obviously dangerous man at the lake house, and those fears had been confirmed when the military had come hunting Logan. Although Hank had tried to reassure him that Rogue seemed to care for the man, he had been haunted by guilt worrying that Rogue had been coerced into accompanying Logan on the run. A few days ago, when the Professor had no longer been able to track Rogue’s course using Cerebro, he had feared the worst. Seeing Rogue manhandled by the large mutant spiked his anger further.
“Jesus, guys, settle down!” Rogue said, stepping between them again.
Scott took in her appearance. She was rubbing her arm. She looked thinner than she had seemed only a few days ago, and exhaustion had left dark smudges under her eyes. “Did he hurt you?” he asked curtly, ignoring the angry growl from the man behind her.
Rogue shot exasperated looks at both of them. “Of course not,” she said. “Logan, this is Scott. I told you about him, he’s our team leader. Scott, this of course is Logan.” She didn’t seem to be afraid of Logan, but Scott knew that above all things Rogue was good at disguising her feelings.
Professor Xavier spoke up again as the two men eyed each other warily. “Logan, please keep in mind that your memories of Scott are confused. He was trying to extract you from the experimentation facility, in the only way he saw possible.” He turned his attention to Scott. “Scott, Rogue is in no danger from Logan.” Another comment, sent directly to Scott’s head. They care for each other, Scott. Do not anger either of them with your assumptions.
Scott looked at Logan in surprise and suspicion. Rogue -- caring for this man, after just a few days? If anyone was guarded in her personal relationships, it was Rogue. If this man had some hold on her, he did not believe it was one of affection.
Apparently dismissing both men from his attention, the Professor spoke to Rogue. “I think, my dear, that we had better get started. It will take some time and meditation to accomplish this task.” He spoke once more to Scott. “Perhaps you can take Logan to your room and brief him regarding General Stryker. We will join you there when we have finished.”
Scott watched as Logan visibly brought himself under control, relaxing his stance, flexing his hands and cracking his neck. Scott was not fooled, he could see the anger still burning in the man’s eyes. He tensed as Logan took a step towards Rogue, pulling her into a rough hug. Rogue had always been careful of her personal space, even after gaining control of her skin. Christ, was the man smelling her? Dressed and groomed or not, he was still feral, and Rogue had been alone with him for days. Scott bristled as Logan seemed reluctant to leave Rogue’s side. Was he intent on protecting her, or controlling her?
Logan followed Scott along the hall to his room, the tension in his body rising with every step he took away from Marie. He knew his hostility towards Scott was somewhat misdirected -- he did owe the man for getting him out of that lab. But goddammit, he didn’t even know him and his first thought was that he had hurt Marie? It riles you because it’s true, he thought bleakly.
Everything Marie had gone through was because of him. He had watched Scott assess the changes in Marie, and seeing the inventory of damages through someone else’s eyes had opened up a sick emptiness in the pit of his stomach. He had told himself that if he stayed with Marie he could protect her, but he had fucked that up as miserably as everything else in his rotten life. He looked out the window at the city lights as Scott shut the door to the room firmly behind them.
“She’s just a kid,” Scott said.
Logan’s eyes narrowed on Scott’s reflection in the picture window, but he refused to turn around. “Marie?” he said, mostly to irritate the other man. Of course he knew who he was talking about.
”Rogue,” Scott snapped. He knew Rogue’s other name from her records, but to be honest he had forgotten it. It rankled him beyond belief to hear Logan use it so easily.
Logan found himself slipping easily into the character of the heartless bastard Scott took him for. “She sure looks grown to me,” he said with a smirk. For a moment he thought he had managed to goad Scott into a fight -- he heard the man’s sharp intake of breath as the smell of his rage grew thick in the air. Logan’s fists clenched and his blood sang with the idea of finally getting a target for his frustration over the last few days. Scott had more control than he thought, though, damn him. He deliberately took a deep breath, and then sat down in a chair facing the window as well, the lights of the city reflecting off his visor.
“Did you know I was the one who found her in that lab?” At that, Logan did turn around, his throat suddenly dry as Scott continued. “She was...what -- seventeen? Half naked, half starved.” Scott was looking past Logan now, at the city skyline. “She looked like a mongrel dog someone had chained outside and forgotten about. Wouldn’t let me near her at first, just kept screaming, ‘Don’t touch me!’” Scott smiled bitterly. “Not that that was unusual for some of the girls we had rescued before -- we know what happens to them there. But she was the first one to scream it in five languages, and to be talking to herself half of the time.”
The urge to fight left Logan, and he just felt empty instead. He owed this man more than he had realized.
“Even after she was better, she was still -- fragile. I didn’t want her going on missions at all, but Charles thought it would help her, to have a focus. She’s been with our team for two years, but I try to keep her in the background. She wants to feel strong, but she’s not. She can fight all right, but her powers -- they are just not practical. She can’t use them without hurting herself. Any time she accesses a personality, or God forbid absorbs another, she threatens the stability of her mind.”
From the tilt of his visor, Logan could tell Scott was looking him in the eye, now. “What are you playing at?” Scott asked him roughly.
Logan tensed again. “You’re in dangerous territory, bub.”
“Knock it off,” Scott said almost tiredly. “I could blast a hole in you before you got within claw-reach, and I don’t even have to feel bad about doing it because you heal. And I want to know what you mean by messing around with Rogue. She’s...”
“Not that kind of girl?” Logan suggested sarcastically.
Scott’s voice was icy. “Yeah. Not that kind of girl. And we both know that. So what are you up to? What is she, to you -- a matter of convenience? An easy target? A challenge?”
Logan’s knuckles itched. He was starting not to care exactly how much he owed this bastard. “You don’t seem to have a very high opinion of either of us,” he growled.
Scott refused to rise to the bait. “No, I understand how it may be for Rogue. She’s naive. She has zero experience with relationships. She’s vulnerable. But you -- I don’t know what you’re getting out of this. What’s your plan? Are you going to drag her on the run forever? Drop her by the roadside somewhere when you get tired of her? Settle down with her at the mansion? Are you the kind of guy who sticks around?”
Logan felt every word like a punch in the gut. Scott wasn’t saying a thing that he hadn’t already told himself, lying in hotel rooms in the dark and feeling the trusting warmth and weight of Marie pressed against his side. He had no plan, and whatever he did from here -- hunt or be hunted -- it was only going to get more dangerous. He had no idea what he felt for Marie -- his feelings for her were so complex they were completely outside his frame of reference. All he knew was that he wanted her -- not just wanted to fuck her, but wanted her. Wanted to keep her with him, hold her to him. Wanted to protect her and possess her. Wanted to mark her and own her, and didn’t that just confirm what a fucking animal he was.
He looked at Scott again. These people were Marie’s friends, ones she had known for years. They were doing the job of fixing the damage he had caused, protecting her where he couldn’t. She would be safe with them, and far away from the destruction and despair that tainted everything that he touched. Whatever obligation and concern Marie had felt for him as a fellow lab-rat would fade, and she could go back to her normal life, a life so different from anything he had ever known that there was no place for him in it.
Scott nonchalantly reached down, and pulled a file from a briefcase at his feet. He dropped it on the table, giving it a little spin. “Stryker’s file. Everything you need to know.” Logan felt the eyes behind the visor burning into his. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you the kind of guy who sticks around?”
Logan felt a rush of bile at the back of his throat, and swallowed it down. He reached out and slammed his hand down on the file, stopping the lazy spin. Without a word, he took the file, and walked towards the door. His acute hearing picked up Scott’s comment, soft as it was. “I didn’t think so.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This chapter is dedicated to the amazing story "A Change to Color" by jenn. I have been loving the nuanced portrayals of Scott in some of the stuff on this site, and that one stands out as one of my favorites. I doubt I was as successful, but I hope it's clear in this chapter that Scott is not just being an ass. He's just doing what turns out to be the wrong thing (for Rogan fans at least!) but for the right reasons -- care and concern for Marie.
Chapter End Notes:
Think Marie is going to let Logan get away with that? ;-) Thanks for reading, and reviewing!