She returns to the school several days after the raid. While Marie had high hopes of spending some extra time with Logan on the road, she couldn’t miss her final exams. They arrived at the school two days before the start of finals week. Even though she missed all the pre-test reviews, Marie is still confident she will excel on these tests. With her excellent study habits, she expects to compensate for the few missing days of class with little issue. Plus she felt good during the tests themselves, and now there is really nothing left to do but wait for the results.
Sitting on her bed, with the latest news droning in the background, Marie takes a brush to her hair with long slow strokes. After that night in Bogota, Marie’s tentative plans to spend more time with Logan, hoping to explore their budding relationship is falling apart before her eyes. The Professor had hoped by exposing that large mutant experimentation lab would settle the debate on the MRA once and for all. That was not the case, especially if she is going by the talking heads currently arguing on her TV. The operational tempo is expected to be as high as ever and that means Logan will go on more missions than ever before. And with the sudden announcement of a summer trip she is not expecting to see him at all for the next several weeks.
At least Marie can console herself with one positive outcome. While support has not decisively shifted in one direction or another, visibility of the mutant issue has risen significantly, helped along by fuzzy videos of the pitched battle that took place right outside that lab. When the first video was released, Marie almost panicked. The thought that she might be on national television, her identity for all to see was terrifying. Even though Logan had assured her that all footage of their activities was destroyed, it still didn't completely alleviate all her worries. In this day and age, all it takes is one person with a cell phone. Logan turns out to be correct so far, now more than a week later, not a single footage of any action inside the lab surfaced.
Just as Marie finishes with her brushing, before she can even set the brush down, Kitty suddenly bursts into her room. Marie looks on with some shock as Kitty runs past her to the bed and throws herself onto it, burying her face into the comforters. A sob breaks out, and from the motions of her shoulders, Marie knows that Kitty is barely holding it back. Jubes follows Kitty in several seconds after, slamming the door shut, a dark expression on her face. Speeding past Marie, Jubes stomps out towards the balcony only to stop at the door and double back. Now that she has a clear look at Jubes' face, Marie realizes that this is no ordinary missing a sale anger, Jubes is livid. Since they are both here, Marie is relieved to know that their anger is not directed at each other.
“I knew Johnny was an asshole! Knew it!” Jubes starts pacing back and forth in the room fist clenched tight as if she is ready to hit someone at any moment. “And Bobby, that stupid idiot!”
Kitty starts sobbing in earnest at the sound of Bobby’s name, confirming Marie’s theory. With some relief, Marie walks over to her bed and sits down next to Kitty. She places a hand on Kitty’s shoulder and gives it a light squeeze. Now that Marie is certain the problem has something to do with Bobby, and she has a fairly good idea what it could actually be, she wracks her mind for ways to comfort the poor girl. Still just to be sure she asks Kitty directly, “Okay, will someone please explain to me what is going on?”
“We were in Bobby and Johnny’s room.” With Kitty still sobbing away, Jubes is the one to answer, after she finally stops her rather agitated movements. Letting out a deep breath, she walks over to Marie's mini fridge and grabs a soda for herself and sits down at Marie’s vanity before explaining, “Kitty finally worked up the courage to talk to Bobby about that night, and I tagged along, you know just in case.”
Marie nods along, so far so good; this is what she is expecting. She pulls a chair next to the bed, bringing her and Kitty a drink. Jubes waits a bit before she continuous, still shaking from her anger. “Then out of nowhere Johnny barges in. Right in the middle, heard part of it, and did the most disgusting thing ever!”
“He shrugged, looks at us straight in the eye then said and I quote ‘Hey, I can’t help it if she is easy.’." Can you believe it! Easy!” Jubes leaps up from her seat and starts to pace again.
“And Bobby just stood there and said nothing?” Marie is genuinely surprised if that is the case, Bobby of her memories was at least a nice guy if not much else.
“He didn’t need to, the way he looked at Kitty said it all!” Suddenly Jubes stops right in front of Marie, looking right into her eyes. “Marie, what would happen if someone called you easy in front of your man?”
Wolverine’s presence surges in her mind; the anger is palpable at the mere thought of anyone calling her that. And that echo of him almost relishes in showing her exactly what would happen to anyone that would actually dare to. Marie shakes her head clear of those thoughts and rubs Kitty’s back soothingly, “I expect him to do unpleasant things.”
“Right? Frenchie would never have stood by.” Marie didn’t start noticing till recently, there is a different look in Jubes eyes, and even a different tone in her voice, whenever she speaks of Remy. If it weren’t the for the fact that pretty much everyone else also assumes that Marie finds Remy attractive, which she does, and is interested, which she is not; Marie would think that it is Jubes personal interest in Remy that's fueling her efforts to pair Remy and her off. It could be their similar backgrounds, or some kind of natural affinity since the both of them had to survive on their own in the streets. Or maybe Remy is simply Jubes' type.
“Right... Remy… he would definitely have done... something.” She is not exactly sure what Remy would have done, but she is sure it won’t be as satisfying or decisive as what Logan would have done. She knows Remy loves games, it shows in the way he courts his women and shows in the way he deals with men. Eventually, the offender would have realized that Remy played him, and perhaps for some women that is exactly what they would want.
That is not what Marie wants, not that she is not patient, but perhaps because of the world, she is brought up in. And the fact that she has seen and had to let so much of these slights go so often because of decorum. That the instant gratification of watching Logan punching someone out is just so much more appealing, so much more liberating.
“Look if Bobby is too stupid to appreciate what he has, then you should just ditch him, Kitty.” Marie did not realize she kinda zoned out till Jubes starts to speak again, the edge receding just a bit from her voice.
“That's not it!” Kitty speaks for the first time since she came into Marie’s room, her voice hoarse from crying. They both wait but Kitty buries her face again sobbing. Eventually Kitty sits up, sending a look at Jubes then taking the handkerchief offered by Marie. “It's easy for her to say, she doesn’t have a boyfriend or anyone she really likes.”
Marie holds her tongue, Jubes has her own issues with men, and it is not her place to reveal it. As the silence wears on Marie can feel Kitty nervousness fade. “That night, right after, Johnny asked me to run away with him, leave all this behind and just be together.”
She's had her suspicions of Johnny and Bobby from the first moment she laid her eyes on them. It turned out beyond anything Marie could have expected. Johnny always had a dark streak in him, but he's never been one to run from trouble. And Bobby, his callous response, that is another surprise. This could all be for the best though, a chance to have Kitty break it off before she gets any more involved with either of them. “Kitty…”
“What would you have done Marie?” Marie could barely hear the question from Kitty after she buries her face down into the comforters again.
Kitty’s tone is strange, but it wasn’t a very difficult question, even if Marie didn’t think Remy would be so crude. “I’d ditch Remy in a split second if he did that.”
“No, if you had to choose?” Marie is taken aback by the real question; she might have underestimated Kitty’s awareness and her situation. Marie pushes aside the thoughts about how much Kitty might really know, to calm herself.
Their situation isn’t all that dissimilar, not really, while Kitty seems torn between her two men. Marie’s feelings for Logan are much stronger than what she feels for Remy. Even though this Logan is so different than the Logan she remembers, she knows one of her paths is with him. She remembers the moment she made her choice in that other life, the moment she lost him. Even though he was devastated, he still wanted her safe and happy, with or without him in her life.
While Marie wasn’t sure why she made that choice then, now in hindsight she knows exactly why she chose as she did. She didn’t choose between Remy and Logan, she chose between her friends, her family, her ideals, and Logan. She chose hope, she chose to believe in the cause, to believe in the Professor. While she is certain she would have been happy living a simple and isolated life with Logan, she would always want more for this world. Logan couldn’t offer her that, and Remy could. Logan understood then, just she is sure this Logan would understand now if she were faced with the same choice. What a great decision that turned out to be, years alone in the labs, years of tortures, abandoned by the man she had chosen.
Finally, the question made sense. Just like the choice, she made then, Kitty’s choice is not so much between the two men as what they represented. Kitty is asking how would she choose, not just between two people, but two paths, two lives. Kitty is staring at her, waiting; her eyes seem to see straight into her. Marie smiles at her and lets out a breath she is been unconsciously holding. “I would have done the same, but I’d wish he would stop me.”
Jubes is just staring at them silently now, having become aware that this is not quite what it seems. Before anyone else could say a word, Emma enters the room. She is dressed for a night out, a tight blouse, matching mini skirt and heels. Marie can Ms. Grey lingering out in the hallway similarly attired. Emma looks over the scene once, taking in Kitty’s red eyes and running nose, Jubes' outraged expression and gives Marie the look. It is the one Emma always gives whenever she's planning to take charge, and in a tone that brooked no argument Emma made a decision, “I think this calls for some ice cream.”
It is pretty obvious that Emma and Jean had planned on a night out on the town, most likely to blow off some stress after the rather harrowing Colombia mission. While all the girls, with exception of Ava who can't stay up past her bedtime, found the prospect of an impromptu ice cream party exciting, Marie could tell that at the very least Ms. Grey is not too pleased with the change in plans, at least until Emma assures her that alcohol is still on the menu.
Less than half an hour later, Marie and her friends find themselves sitting around the low round table Jean levitated in from the cafeteria, watching in awe as the sizeable collection of sweet, icy treats are laid out before them. Emma had the ice cream delivered, something Marie made sure to remember for the future. The ice cream arrived in these small fancy containers, looking more like an assortment of artisanal desserts than the ice cream even Marie is used to eating. Some are made into cakes, others like fruit or candy, finally, a special stash laced with liquor reserved just for Emma and Jean.
Unable to hold back, Marie looks over at Emma, silently asking for permission. Nodding back Emma gives her a smile. Reaching over for one of the treats, Marie bites at the tip, finding a delicious mixture of vanilla ice cream, strawberry and crunchy chocolate, gushing into her mouth and sighs in pleasure. Next to her, both Jubes and Kitty can’t hold back their own appreciative moans.
“So Allerdyce, huh?” Emma asks after swirling her tongue over a spoonful of pistachio praline ice cream.
“I know, I know.” Kitty looks up from her own tall glass of ice cream sundae, licking her lower lip and laments, “If my mom found out, she’d ground me for life.”
“Wait but I thought you chose Bobby in the end.” Wiping her mouth with a napkin Jubes manages to look genuinely shocked, perhaps as shocked as Marie is at the admission. Sensible, proper Kitty should be the last person they expect to be interested in someone like Johnny.
Putting down her spoon, she exhales before muttering, “I like Bobby too...”
“Too?” Jubes eyes get even wider, though Marie is not sure if it because of what Kitty said or the dish of sea salt cashew and butterscotch gelato she just found.
“Come now, Jubilation, you’ve never fancied more than one man?” Jean comes to Kitty’s rescue, setting another set of desserts in front of herself. By the tone of her voice, Marie is certain Jean is speaking from experience when it comes to this subject. She just hopes Logan is not one of those men that Jean is interested in.
It must take a great amount of skill to be able to eat so much ice cream while keeping up with the conversation. A skill Jubes has obviously mastered, unlike Marie who so far has chosen to enjoy her dessert over participating in the conversation “Fancy sure, but when Kitty says that she actually means-”
“Can we just drop this, please.” Kitty is clutching another sundae in her hands, mixing a handful of smaller confections into it. “I know I screwed up!”
“You did not screw up Kitty, you made a choice, Bobby or Johnny. They are the idiots who screwed up by being assholes.” Marie too comes to Kitty’s defense. She can relate, even discounting her memories she has been sweet on several men. She is still sweet on several men, even if they all pale when compared to what she is feeling towards Logan.
“You should listen to Marie, tall, dark, and dangerous is her thing,” Emma chimes in with a mischievous smile, having produced a glass of wine from somewhere.
“Emma!” Marie can only groan in response, in her attempt to remove the spotlight from Kitty, she unwittingly stepped under it herself.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Emma continues, locking eyes with Marie, swirling her glass of wine in her hands. Emma’s smile morphs into one of smug satisfaction. “You can’t, can you?”
Marie knows it's pointless to challenge Emma on this, aside from being a telepath, Marie and Emma have had extensive discussions on men. If there is one woman who comes even close to understanding what Marie feels about Logan, Emma is it. “Well, they’re not all bad.”
“Well, let's see… Remy, for instance, has probably slept with more women than there are students at the school.” Emma starts to count with her free hand “And don’t think I don’t see the way Erik looks at you, plus don't even get me started on Logan.”
“What about Logan?” Not even the mentioning of Magneto could divert Marie from tidbits on Logan, just like during the jungle raid Emma seems to hint at something about Logan and his women.
“Logan is… can be very scary, I’ll just leave it at that.” To Marie’s disappointment, Emma seems to catch herself before she spilled any of his secrets. But the way Emma said it is strange, this is not the first time she has heard this about Logan.
“I don’t think he is scary.” Finishing her drink Jean jumps in suddenly, pouring herself another glass of wine. Marie fights off an urge to glare at the red-haired woman, instead she schools her expression to one of curiosity. Not that Jean would have noticed, by the color on her cheeks and the slight wobble as she sits, this is obviously not her second glass of wine.
“That’s because you're not thinking with your head. Scott is already head over heels for you, what more could you want?” Emma looks away, staring out the balcony door, there is a hint of wistfulness in that look, a fleeting display that Marie is not sure if she imagined it.
Twirling her red locks in her hand, Jean sighs, her mind obviously wandering to someplace far away. “Is it too much for a girl to want some excitement once in awhile.”
“Scott is not exciting?” Another strange question from Emma, she had made her preferences very clear to Marie over the years and Scott is about a far from it as possible. While that in itself could be telling, Marie is unsure what it could mean. This is one of the few occasions that even those memories couldn’t give her any clues.
“If you call predictable exciting.” Jean takes another gulp of her drink and huffs, “Week after week it's the same thing over and over.”
Marie can relate to that, Remy feels similarly predictable. But their situation could not be more different, Remy is using a well tested playbook to get into Marie’s pants, it is only because she or her other self has encountered it, and fell for it that she is able to read him so well right now. Yet even that is changing, she can see practically in real time, how Remy adjusts his flirting to her.
“You two have known each other since high school, pretty hard for him to surprise you at this point.” Jubes and Kitty are now paying rapt attention to the conversation, Kitty is happy that the attention is finally and firmly shifted away from her, and Jubes is always hungry for more gossip.
“He could make more of an effort!” Jean’s gripe is both intriguing and alarming to Marie. While nothing is official, Jean and Scott are considered to be the couple of the school, looked up to by many students. Marie is happy that the seemingly perfect lady of the school has some cracks in her armor, but at the same time, she fears what Jean’s wandering eye might do to Logan.
“How about Remy?” Emma suggests offhandedly, the tray of ice cream dessert seems to have morphed into platters of fruit a cheese. “Remy should be exciting.”
Jubes perks up even more, sending a look at Marie. She is of no mind to respond, Marie is deep in thought considered the various scenarios where Jean might lure Logan away, and how to prevent it from happening.
“For who he is, I guess,” Jean seems to seriously consider the question, and Jubes looks more worried by the second. “But I prefer men that are more... interesting.”
“Remy is interesting!” Jubes blurts out, jolting Marie from her thoughts.
Jean sniffs disdainfully, her mind already made up. “Hmph, he is what 27, 28? Far too young to be interesting.”
“Young men can be interesting!” Kitty joins into defending younger men, especially since the two men she is currently worrying over are even younger than Remy
“Young men are by definition not interesting,” Emma agrees with her longtime friend, this is something Marie expected of Emma, even from her observation alone Marie knows that Emma prefers men that are older than her. “They can be charming, sexy, cute even, but never interesting.”
“I don’t know. I find Bobby and Johnny pretty interesting,” Kitty objects, but the conviction in Emma’s voice seems the shake Jubes and Kitty's confidence in their own arguments.
Emma glossy lips curls slightly before replying “Are you honestly telling me that if you can have your pick of any man in the world you would still pick Bobby or Johnny over someone like Logan or Victor?”
“Oh! Victor cleans up real nice,” Jean cuts in, and Kitty blushes furiously at the mention of Victor’s name, she is practically wilting under Emma’s penetrating gaze. Marie can’t help but agree when properly groomed like he has been over the last few days at the school, Victor does have his appeal. But going by Kitty’s reaction this is not just simple appreciation for the male form. Considering Bobby and Johnny this whole blond thing might go really deep for Kitty.
“And the whole if he will ‘fuck you or kill you’ thing,” Jean more or less moaned out the last part. And even though Marie would not wish Victor no matter how well groomed on anyone, she does just slightly wish that Jean would focus her need of excitement on anyone else besides Logan.
“Jean! There are students here.” Emma reaches over and snatches the wine glass out of her hands. “And you’ve definitely had enough for tonight."
Jean doesn’t resist in the slightest and sinks down into her chair. “What? Like I said, a girl can use little excitement!”
“That's a lot more than a little, Jean, trust me.” Emma gets up and starts to pick up the mess they made, Marie rises to help her. Glancing over at Jean slumped into her chair, Marie can’t help but feel that this happens more often than she might suspect.
After everyone else finally left her room, Marie lies down on her bed and sighs. Here, tonight, spending all that time with all her friends is enlightening. She got a chance to glimpse into each one of them, to see their insecurities, their desires and their hopes. It puts so much of what she has experienced into context. She wants Logan and given the recent events, she is pretty sure that he wants her as well. She would give her utmost to hold on to what they have, but given all that is happening in her life, all that will happen in her life, she is not sure if her utmost will be enough.
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Chapter End Notes:
Up next, unexpected consequences.