A little after one the next morning Marie was woken by the bedroom door noisily opening, she had pushed the dresser up behind it so no one could sneak in but Logan's flying bulk was able to push it out of the way with no trouble. He immediately slammed the dresser back up against the door, shoving the couch over too for additional security.
Marie was out of bed immediately, pulling on her jeans and a jersey before Logan was finished barricading the door. "What's going on?" she asked worriedly.
"We need to go, and we need to go now, I can't find the transponder but-" he held up a medical file- "I know where the chip is, I need your help to cut it out." He pulled Marie into the bathroom with him, slapping the file down on the counter he flipped to the page that showed the chip, implanted at the base of his brain.
Marie paled. "Cut it out... with your claws? Logan you could kill yourself!" She exclaimed, fear lacing her words.
"It'll put me down for a while, I can't see a way to get it out without some damage to the spinal cord but it will heal, it'll just take time." He could see Marie was still apprehensive. "Marie, there is no other way, Xavier is working with the military group that has me, you were right, there was a reason they weren't trying to get me back but this group is planning on taking me back, and you too, they don't know about Niamh but they're expecting us to make a baby soon, and they want us back in their lab for when that happens, we have to go, now.
"I need you to help me get the chip out, don't destroy the chip, hide it somewhere in this room, then I need you to take this file, your pack, and Niamh, and leave. Listen very carefully. Get out of the mansion, head west through the woods until you hit the highway, flag down a long-haul trucker heading north, head for a town called Malone. Once you get to Malone head east on highway 11 wait for me in a town called Ellenburg, find a motel and stay there until I catch up to you. Got it?" Logan set out a plan for her.
Marie stared at him in shock as she realised, he was telling her to leave, without him, she threw her arms around him. "No, no I'm not going without you, I can't do this alone," she said with a sob.
"You can Marie, you can do this, you have to do it, Niamh needs you to do this, we both do. I'll catch up with you before you know it baby, hell I might even beat you there," Logan replied, as he hugged her to him tightly for a moment. It's not like he wanted to send her off alone but he had no other choice at this point.
She let out one final shuddering sob, squeezed him tightly then let him go, steeling herself for her task. He made her repeat back his directions before he let them continue.
Marie had to position his hand correctly to get as near to the spot of the chip as possible, once she'd done that, he shot a single claw out, cutting into his own neck. He immediately fell limply to the floor, having nicked his spinal cord. He was unable to move as Marie immediately dug her hand into the grisly wound, before it could close, and dug around for the chip. The odd sucking sensation when she pulled her hand away told him she had found the chip, tearing it out, along with the thin wires that tied into his nervous system.
With her unbloodied hand she opened the cistern of the toilet and dropped the chip in, it had a tracer so it ideally had to be close to his body, for now, so they wouldn't suspect he had removed it. Marie washed her hands quickly before dropping to her knees beside him, she was crying freely but not letting her tears slow her down.
"I love you," she whispered, dropping a kiss on his lips, he managed to choke out a return of her sentiments before she stood and walked away.
Logan watched from the bathroom floor as she pulled out her pack, shoving the last of her clothes into it, though her last remaining pair of gloves she pulled onto her bare hands, followed by the last of Niamh's clothes, except the snowsuit. Quickly she put the little onesie clad baby into the snowsuit before buckling her into the baby carrier. She pulled her boots on next, tying them securely, then fitted the baby carrier around her chest. She pulled her jacket on, zipping it closed around the carrier, then hefted her pack, securing the hip strap, before unzipping her jacket again so she could see baby.
With a final look back to Logan she smiled tearily at him. "I'll be waiting," was her parting comment, before she shut the door and hurried down the hallway, before she could change her mind.
She took the passage all the way to the ground floor, she would need to enter the main mansion to get outside but at this time of the morning she shouldn't encounter anyone. As luck would have it though, Jubilee walked into the kitchen just as she was pulling open the back door.
"Have you been inside the mansion this whole time?" Jubilee asked, sounding confused.
"Yes, but you don't know that, and you didn't see me," Rogue replied in a whisper, "I'll explain one day, when it's safe, in the meantime, don't ask questions, or you're likely to end up in the same trouble I'm in."
"Fair enough," Jubilee replied with an understanding shrug. If there was one thing you could trust Jubilee to do it was keep her mouth shut when it needed to be. "Thanks for the chocolate by the way."
"You're welcome," Rogue replied, with a grin and a wave, before she disappeared into the darkness of the night.
She dashed across the lawn and into the forest, thankful for the full moon and the cloudless sky to light her way. After a half hour hiking through the woods she came out on the highway and turned north, she stayed back from the road, so the passing cars wouldn't see her, until she spied a truck approaching. The first truck she tried to flag down didn't stop but the second did. As she slipped her pack off, and deposited in the foot-well while she climbed up into the truck, the pudgy man in the driver's seat asked how far he was taking her.
"As close to Malone as you're going," she replied, as the truck began to roll down the shoulder, picking up speed to pull back onto the highway.
"You're in luck little lady, I'm passing right through there, I'll drop you right in town unless you'd like me to drop you somewhere sooner?" he offered.
"Town would be great," she responded with a tired smile. She settled back in the seat, her hands coming to rest over her sleeping baby.
The truck driver was watching her oddly as he drove, it wasn't her first time on the road, and she really hoped she hadn't picked a creep. She was pleasantly surprised when instead of propositioning her the driver instead asked if she needed to call anyone. "You're obviously running from something, someone-" he pointedly looked at the baby carrier and its cargo- "If you need to call family, one of those women’s shelter places, hell even the police, I've got a phone if you need to borrow it," he offered.
"Thank you but no, I'm okay, I've got someone waiting for me," she replied, smiling down at baby.
"So, you're not running from the kid’s dad?" the driver clarified.
"No, running to him," she replied, after trying to figure out how to phrase it, she was going to where Logan would be after all.
"Who are you running from then?" he asked confused.
"Well... I guess you could call them my guardians, they're trying to... sell my baby, so, I had to leave," she replied softly, baby was beginning to stir and she would be hungry when she woke.
After a few minutes Niamh's fussing could no longer be ignored, as discretely as possible Marie maneuvered her out of the carrier and into a more comfortable position to feed, the driver gave her as much privacy as the cab allowed. Once baby was fed and burped and, on her way back to sleep, he spoke again.
"How old is she?" he asked.
"Today is her third day," Marie replied, as she gently rocked the infant.
"She's tiny even for a newbie, if you don't mind me saying," the driver continued, "Got three kids myself, oldest two are in their twenties, youngest is four, I guess you could call him a surprise."
"She was a definitely a surprise, didn't even know I was pregnant until she decided she wanted out," Marie admitted, "She is little but she's got a healthy appetite, she'll grow fast."
After a moments silence the driver added, "You're probably exhausted, new baby, and now you're hitchhiking, the bunks free, we aren't going to hit Malone for a good five or six hours, you should get some sleep."
Marie thanked him as she took up his offer, moving into the back of the cab she removed her jacket, making it into a little cocoon for Niamh, before she removed the baby carrier from herself and lay down next to baby. As she drifted off to sleep, to the soothing hum of road noise, she said a quick prayer, to a god she'd stopped believing in years ago, to keep Logan safe, and bring him back to her.
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