“Do you remember what aromas that you picked up before you felt that experience?” Logan closed his eyes and tried to remember the scents.
“Burning wood and coal. I had another when we rode through the jungle landscape on the way to New Orleans Square. I was lookin’ out into the landscape and there were bamboo stalks and trees of various kinds. The rain forest scent comes to mind and it reminded me of the jungles in Asia. Then I saw Victor Creed with a gun in uniform.” Logan closed his eyes again and hung his head. “I had a gun and in the same colored uniform. I heard a voice yelling and then a sudden flood of sounds, men, women, and children screaming. Then gunshots and I suddenly popped back out of it as the recordin’ played that we had arrived.”
“So far, it sounds like the visions you had are definitely memories. Please go on.”
“We had just finished that Pirates of the Caribbean ride and wandered into a store. I picked a toy sword up out of a barrel and held it in my hand. I don’t remember a scent involved here. I was wearin’ a black gi and sword fightin’ with someone. Couldn’t tell if I was practicin’ moves or in a real fight. There were several men around me with weapons ready to attack. I couldn’t see their faces but, they were in black from head to toe. Marie grabbed my free hand and I came back. I could see by the look in her eyes that another flashback had happened.”
“Interesting,” Charles said, knowing full well that Logan had remembered some of his time in Japan, Asia, and the American Civil War. “Were there more episodes after?”
“Yeah, after dinner. Marie and I took the train back around to the main gate. Low clouds had set in through the trees. The night felt eerily still but, a slight breeze rustled the leaves. Darkness closed in around us and I felt like I was home, in Canada I mean. Marie asked me as much and I smelled Marie’s hair. Then suddenly I was runnin’ through the trees. I was in my pajamas and robe. I don’t remember who I was runnin’ with but, the kid told me to run. We had to get away because something bad had happened.”
Charles wrote down a few more notes as he listened to Logan.
“Marie was rubbin’ my hand when I came back that time. I told her the smells were different than in Canada but, the river and the trees reminded me of that night I was runnin’.”
“What did you feel after each of the events?”
“Scared shitless. I was afraid I was going to lose control while I was having them.”
“Do you think you might be able to trigger them again?”
“I suppose, if I saw and smelled the same conditions as California. I haven’t thought about the episodes since they happened.”
“If you decide to, please inform me of any new episodes that come forth. I’ll see to it that you get a copy of the motion picture but, please come to see me before you view it. I might be able to help lessen the severity of the damage in your mind before you watch it,” Charles looked visibly pleased.
“Agreed and don’t keep anything else from me, especially when it comes to Marie.”
“Understood. Now, you have an evening to get started and I have to finish all this on my desk before I have to go invite Moira to dinner.”
He didn’t dare tell Logan the secret that Moira had shared in California about the genetic lab testing they were doing for Marie so that she might be able to not pass on her mutation to any offspring she might have with Logan.
“Right, I should go. I’m glad we got things straight. No more hiding, got it Chuck?”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Good afternoon, Logan.”
“Afternoon,” Logan said as he closed the door behind him on the way out.
The Wyle Home
San Diego, CA.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
9:30 P.M.
By nine-thirty, Lara had packed a small luggage bag on wheels that could double as a backpack if needed, and had made her flight plans. First thing in the morning, Frank would take her to the airport and see her off. Now, she and Frank were out in their back yard under the stars, sitting around their fire pit. She was sitting with her legs curled up under her, her back against Frank’s chest. Her mind racing with what if’s, doubts, and right, wrong.
“Do you think Logan will accept me for who I really am once he knows?”
“Lara, honey, don’t beat you up over it. If he doesn’t, then he’s an idiot and you’ve got me, and don’t forget you’ve got Anna Marie Caldicott to whip him into flying right.”
Lara smiled as she let the tiredness in her body spring forth.
“Yeah, you’re right. She reminds me of me, a very long time ago. She’s good for him; I could tell just watching them in California.”
“Is everything really all right with you?”
“It will be, once I go back to where my life here in the states started.”
“What’s there?”
“Memories and several lifetimes,” Lara told him a half truth.
She had to keep some secrets to herself… Because she wasn’t just protecting herself from people discovering her real age, she believed that she was protecting someone very special. She didn’t want anyone to find out about Lily Hart. Lara yawned about an hour later, decided that it was time to go take off her mask.
“I’m tired. I’m going to go get ready for bed.”
“All right, I’ll be along in a bit.”
Lara went into the house and into the master bedroom. She headed right for her antique make-up table. She pulled out the floral patterned, plush padded stool, and sat. She looked at herself in the mirror. A long time had passed since she’d lived without the modern age enhancements and make-up. Her mask hid her journey from cowboys and store keepers to an internet salesman. The brunette wig came off first, to show her shorter dark chocolate hair done up to hide it under the wig. Lara reached for her neck and began to peel away the rubber addition over her throat to make her neck look more aged. Next, went the rubber jowls and the rubber nose. She went on removing everything until she was bare. She didn’t look at herself in the mirror as she got up and went into the bathroom. She washed her face and padded it dry before she then took the time to really look at herself. She almost wanted to cry. Looking back at her was a one-hundred and sixty-four year old woman, with all the appropriate blessings that came with looking thirty–three. Lara suddenly felt even more tired but, it was over. She didn’t have to hide anymore, now that Logan and Anna Marie had found her, she felt that after meeting Logan, that he would take care of Lily if anything happened to her. Frank couldn’t because he knew nothing about Lily and he didn’t have Lara’s advanced healing mutation. Aside from her ability to talk with cetaceans she had advanced healing from her father. Lara slipped on her night gown and didn’t notice Frank had been standing behind her naked body before she put the gown on.
“Baby, you make me feel like a randy teenager,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and placed a kiss on the left side of her neck.
“And you make my heart glad. Come, let’s go to bed.”
Lara took Frank’s hand and led him to his side of the bed. She gave him a kiss and went around to her side of the bed. She slipped in between the sheets and turned off her light on her night table. Then she rolled to face Frank’s side of the bed. She watched her husband undress and slip between the eggplant colored flannel sheets. He took her hands in his, kissed the backs of her hands, and then a good night kiss. After the kiss, she curled up to his side, fell asleep listening to his breathing, and heart beat rate.
Marie’s Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
4:00 P.M.
Once Marie got upstairs, just sitting around waiting for Logan to finish his meeting with the Professor didn’t sound like a good idea to her. She knew it would drive her crazy. So, she went to her room and changed her clothing to a black full skin-hugging body suit made of a material so thin, it allowed her skin to breathe; more so than any spandex or tights. She decided to work off some of the anxiety by going to work out in the gym. Hopefully, Logan would come find her after the meeting, if things went well. If they didn’t, she tried to promise herself that she wouldn’t panic. She went looking for her silver iPod from the top drawer of her dresser. It mysteriously wasn’t where she’d remembered she’d left it. She started tearing apart her room looking, floor to ceiling for it. It was nowhere to be found. Marie decided to go look in Logan’s room because it’s where she spent the most time recently. She grabbed an iPod off of Logan’s night stand, thinking it was hers.
She was soon to discover it was Logan’s when she put the ear buds on. Logan didn’t talk much about his musical tastes and so she decided to check his playlists out. She scrolled through his playlists and found one named, Marie. Her inner Logan made her eyebrow go up in snooping surprise as she hit play. The slow sad song of VAST’s, Flames began to play. She listened to the first minute and the music did something to her. It touched her deeply inside and made her almost want to cry. She immediately changed her plans. Marie went back to her room and sat down at her desk in front of her laptop. She downloaded Logan’s playlists to her computer. She took his iPod back to his room and left it where she’d found it. She spotted another one on Logan’s dresser and grabbed it.
Then she went downstairs as she originally planned to do. What had Logan been trying to say with that song? She decided that she needed to listen to the whole song later to get a feel for the lyrics and music. Marie turned on her iPod and put it on Hotness Training. She began to stretch and warm up. Then she hit the treadmill.
Logan’s Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
5:00 P.M.
Marie finished her workout and went to her room. She picked up Tigger and his travel supply of food. He had an extra food and water bowl over in Logan’s Room. She just made it to the room before Logan left the meeting with Xavier. She set him down after she placed a kiss on his head. Then he scurried off to his favorite hiding spot, under Logan’s bed. He wasn’t too happy with her when she had come in after they got back from California. He was worried about her and hissed at her when she tried to pet him. He was upset because she didn’t let him know she was going to be gone. Marie was a talker. She liked to talk to him when she was frustrated about this or that, so he’d gotten used to her voice. And when he didn’t hear her for two whole days, he worried. She got him over it with a couple cat treats, scratch the back of his head, and under his chin, and she was forgiven. Marie filled his food and water dishes before she opened the bathroom door for him.
Logan’s Room
Instructor’s Wing
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
5:10 P.M.
Logan finished up with the Professor and went to seek out Marie, hopefully in his room. He arrived at her room and smelled a recent flair of Marie’s scent slowly fading. He opened the door and she wasn’t there. It didn’t really matter anyway. He needed to prep things for later. Logan picked up Marie’s scent trail on the way to his room. It was strong and he stopped a moment, it also smelled feline, and sweaty. He opened his door to see Marie bent over, with her ass to the door, as she had just bent down to put the travel cat food bag in his bottom dresser drawer to keep it away from Tigger.
“I should come home to this view more often,” Logan teased. Marie suddenly stood up and turned to him.
“What view?”
Logan gave her the eyebrow and let his comment slide.
“Ain’t you gonna hit the showers?” He said picking up her sweat laced scent again.
He gave her a quick peck and went to his small in room refrigerator for those late night Molson cravings. He opened the door and noticed Chloe forgot the Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, entirely all the better for him. He put it in a hand towel from the bathroom and put it on his bed.
“Ah thought we could take a bath tagethah latah. What are your plans for tonaht?”
“Top secret and you don’t have clearance.”
“Well fahn but, ah need ta know what ta wear.”
“You ain’t gonna be needin’ clothing, darlin’,” Logan wolfishly grinned.
“Weah goin’ out nekkid tonaht are we,” Marie teased.
“No. And don’t play twenty questions to get answers outtah me. I need to check my email and get us outtah here tonight.”
“Fahn, ah’ll go grab a change-a clothing anyway.”
“I’ll pick you up in a few minutes.”
Logan happened to look up from his computer on his desk to see her wiggle her buttocks at him before she left his room. He smiled and began to research more restaurants to make reservations for the proposal night. Since he had started at the beginning of December, he had been running out of luck finding a place to eat… Just about all the places he checked out and called were either closed for the holidays or they had a waiting list to get in. So, Logan turned to Hank once more.
To: labratambassador at XavierSchool.net
From: theotherartteacher at XavierSchool.net
Re: Proposal Plans…
Hank, I need help. I need to find a place to eat close to the proposal site. Everything’s closed or packed, got any ideas? Money is no option, palate is open. Please get back to me at your soonest. Thanks, L.
Logan was surprised to see a window pop up on his computer screen, an instant message window on X-Messenger, a program invented by the Professor to be able to give himself a telepathic break on days when he was too tired to listen in to thoughts.
HankLabRat: If you don’t have an aversion to Middle Eastern food, I recommend Mama Ayesha’s Restaurant. They have delicious food.
HankLabRat: I have already called and got you our table, after your email earlier. Ororo and I eat there quite a bit when we are in town. They have set me aside a table for when I visit. I will explain that you and Marie will be going in my stead.
Hank and Ororo spent quite a bit of time at Mama Ayesha’s Restaurant. The food was traditional Middle Eastern food and the place was always busy.
HankLabRat: I’ll get it to you by the end of today.
HankLabRat: TMI Logan.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
More tirade... Proposal Hints.
Sorry for the wait.
Sorry for the wait.
Chapter End Notes:
Well, how'd I do? Thanks for your reviews! One more chapter to go!