“No, no, no...” From a numbed distance he heard his own voice rasping the words, helplessly, hopelessly, as Marie’s stunned eyes met his for a moment before her eyelids fluttered shut.
Azazel had misjudged -- Logan’s claws had pierced Marie’s body entirely and twisted deep in Azazel’s belly -- but Logan could find no satisfaction as Azazel shoved himself backwards off the blades with a gurgling groan, collapsing to the ground.
Logan retracted the blades as carefully as he could, catching Marie before she could fall, his mind still screaming denial. “Marie...please...”
He pressed his hand to her face, but it was no use. She was unconscious. “Baby, don’t leave me, please...” He felt the panic bubbling up inside him, squeezing the breath from his lungs.
“Hank!” he roared, scooping Marie up and dodging through the smoke and skirmishes, searching for the blue-furred mutant. He pressed her tightly against him, feeling her breathing grow shallow, her pulse growing thready.
In moments, Hank appeared at his side, kit already in hand. “Lay her down.”
Logan watched helplessly as Hank ripped Marie’s shirt open, pressing a stethoscope to her chest. Hank’s grief-stricken expression made Logan’s heart lurch. “I’m sorry, Logan. I think...it nicked an artery. She is bleeding internally, too quickly. She won’t make it back to the jet.”
Logan grabbed Hank by his collar. “Just get her conscious -- I’ll heal her. I don’t care how you do it, there has to be a way!”
Hank detached Logan’s hand from his collar, holding it in his own furry paw, his eyes sympathetic. “Even if I could bring her to consciousness, Logan...her wounds are too severe. She could drain you completely and still die. It could kill you both.”
Logan felt the desperation overtake him. “I don’t care...Hank, please.” He was begging, he knew, but he didn’t care, gritting the words out through clenched teeth as his breath rattled harsh in his lungs. “I love her, Hank. Please -- I have to try. Please.”
He saw the inner struggle reflected in Hank’s expression, and then finally he nodded. “You’ll only have a few moments, at best. Be ready.”
Logan dropped to his knees beside Marie, holding her face tight between his palms, as Hank pulled a large syringe from his kit. His movements were brisk and efficient as he pulled the cap and pressed the plunger until a little clear liquid leaked out.
Hank nodded to Logan and then pushed the needle hard into Marie’s chest, directly into her heart. He pressed the plunger and the effect was instantaneous. Marie gasped in a gurgling breath, shaking, her wide eyes meeting Logan’s.
“That’s it, darlin’...stay with me...” he breathed, praying that the adrenaline would last long enough. He felt her body shaking under his hands as the tingle turned to a buzz. He forced all his fear and panic away, pushing one thought to the front of his mind. I love you, darlin’. Stay with me. Relief washed over him as the excruciating pull began, seizing his own muscles and dimming his vision until blackness overtook him.
___________
He was burning, burning alive. His blood was molten, the pain unbearable, beyond imagining, beyond comprehension. Dimly, he felt himself flailing, trying to draw breath, but thick viscous fluid flooded his lungs. He opened his eyes and a through the glass of the tank he could see them. Smiling, laughing. Toasting glasses of champagne, while he drowned and suffered and burned...
“Marie...Marie darlin’...shhhh...shhhh...wake up darlin’...”
She frantically gasped air into her lungs, trying to cough out the fluid that wasn’t there. She felt his arms around her, his hand gently rubbing her back. Who is he? Who am I? She knew somehow this was familiar, that she had to wait...Don’t panic, just wait...
She saw in her head a roulette wheel, and her consciousness was the little white ball, spinning and spinning, and then...finally, with a slight clatter, falling into the right slot. Marie. I’m Marie. And he is Logan.
With the realization came the knowledge of what to do. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly in through her nose, and out through her mouth. She focused on the scent of him, his hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, his voice in her ear. Marie. Logan. Safe.
She opened her eyes, avoiding her own spooked gaze in the bureau mirror and looking instead at him. She felt the fear and helplessness start to ebb as she looked at his concerned face, his warm golden eyes. She leaned her head into his chest, grounding herself in the reality of him, and with a deep rumble he gathered her up against him.
“Better?” he asked, and she nodded against his warm chest.
“One of mine?” She hesitated, but she wouldn’t lie to him. Couldn’t even if she wanted to, he already knew the truth, she had seen it in the haunted look in his eyes when she woke. She nodded again, comforted by the scratch of his chest hair against her cheek, the joy of skin-to-skin contact still unexpected and amazing to her.
“Goddammit.” She hated this, the bitter self-recrimination in his voice.
“Sugar...don’t do that.”
He made a gruff inarticulate sound deep in his throat. “You’re hurtin’ so bad, darlin’, and it’s my fault.”
She pushed back, tugging his hair a little to force his gaze to hers. “Your fault that I’m not still under Sebastian’s thumb? That he’s not using me to destroy the world right now? Or your fault that I’m not dead, because you risked your life to save me?”
She kissed him -- a little roughly, still angry at how easily he blamed himself. He growled into her mouth, nipping her back a little before his lips softened on hers. The flash of her anger melted away as his kiss turned tender, his hands on her body infinitely gentle. He held her as if she were precious, breakable.
She sighed, nuzzling into his neck, searching for the words that might convince him this time. “It’s just a nightmare every now and then. What they did to you, and that we both dream about it now, it isn’t your fault. I hate that it happened to you, but you can’t keep blaming yourself.”
She met his eyes again, trying to share her conviction with him. “In any case, it’s worth it. It’s so worth it. I love being here with you. I love having you in my head -- having you with me all the time. I love you, Logan.”
She forgot sometimes how much he needed to hear it -- the depths of insecurity he hid beneath his steady, decisive exterior. How he responded to her love as if it were sunshine in the darkness. Even now, she felt him relaxing under her hands, a happy rumble welling up in his chest.
He eased them both down until she was lying sprawled across his body as he pressed his face into her hair. “Worth it, huh?”
She smiled, and then kissed him soft and deep. “Worth every minute.”
___________
Marie crept along the hallway of the narrow outbuilding. Everything was still, she could have sworn that she was alone, and yet...
She smiled, looking up at the ceiling. “We playin’ hide ‘n seek?”
He was lying flat along the ceiling beam like a panther, his eyes golden, his body coiled to spring. She watched as he relaxed, his voice a discontented grumble. “Dammit, Marie. What the hell are you doin’ here?”
He swung down, hanging for a moment before landing softly right beside her.
“I heard you needed some rescuing,” she teased.
A new variety of growl from him...injured pride? She added it to her mental collection. “From what, boredom? That’s about all I’m in danger of around here.”
She almost giggled at his wounded expression. To make it up to him she put some extra honey in her voice, running her bare hand through his hair and down his exposed throat. “So, the part about being entirely surrounded, bad guys closin’ in from every side...”
He flashed her a wolfish grin. “Just another day as an X-Man, darlin’.” He snagged one finger in her uniform belt and tugged her a little closer, his voice growing low and husky. “Although I do love to see you in the leather...”
She let him pull her into his body, his kiss deep and warm and leisurely as his hands made a thorough inspection of exactly how closely the leather was hugging her every curve.
She smiled against his mouth. “Plenty of time for that when we’re back at the jet, sugar. But for now...Scott didn’t send me in to alleviate your boredom.”
He pulled back, his eyes wary as he caught her meaning. “Nuh uh. Don’t even think it, Marie. I’ll hack my way out of here, thank you very much.”
She made an exasperated noise. “What part of ‘covert operation’ don’t you understand, Logan?” She looked at his mulish expression and sighed. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.
Time for a new tactic. She smiled, looking up at him from under her eyelashes. “Lo-gan...” she cooed. She popped the tab at the top of her uniform jacket, exposing the zipper.
She watched as a reluctant interest started to overtake his stubborn expression. She grabbed the zipper and slowly pulled it down an inch or two. “Su-gar...” Seemingly unconsciously, his crossed arms fell to his sides as he leaned in a little closer.
She pulled the zipper down another few inches, the jacket parting to reveal the swell of her breasts, pale skin glistening in the dim light. She watched with amusement as the sweep of his lashes revealed the direction of his gaze, slanting down to her cleavage, a rumble rising up reflexively from his chest.
“C’mon, sugar...All you have to do is step on close to me, and put your arms around me...and when we’re back at the jet I swear, we’ll barricade the door to the cargo bay and scandalize the whole team...”
He watched avidly as she lowered the zipper a little more, adding a little shimmy for good measure, and then stopped teasingly. Another growl -- she categorized this one as sexual frustration combined with reluctant acquiescence -- as he pulled her close, kissing her deeply before yanking the zipper back up.
“None of those bastards deserve an eyeful of my Marie, darlin’. You save that just for me.”
She wrapped her arms around him, breathing in his scent and warmth. “It’s a deal. Oh, and Logan?”
“Yeah, darlin’?”
She pulled back a little so she could look at him. His beloved face, his ruffled hair, his warm golden hazel eyes. She let everything she was feeling show in her own eyes -- all the love and affection she had for him, all the joy that he gave her. “I’m so glad I found you.”
She watched a slow smile spread across his face, her love and joy reflected back in the warmth of his expression. He tilted his forehead to touch hers, in a tender gesture she had learned he used when his emotions were too strong to be expressed. “I’m glad I found you too, darlin’.”
A rumbly, happy growl from him as he pulled her tight against him, tensing his muscles in readiness. “Now get us back to the jet, darlin’, so I can show you exactly how glad.”
“Sure thing, sugar.” An odd thwucking sound, a puff of smoke, and they were gone.