"Aw, poor kid's a little confused, seems to think you're her dad, as if the runt had the balls to fuck her mom, speaking of who, where is the bitch, all I want is another round," Sabretooth taunted.

"There's more to being a dad than supplying genetic material, and raping little girls isn't the socially accepted method for supplying that genetic material. I know damn well what you want with Rogue, that's why she's not here, and you're never getting your hands on her again, she's mine, so is Lydia, you should have left well enough alone," Logan growled in response, as his claws slid out in response.

Lydia chose that moment to let out a little sound, that sounded almost like an ‘Uh oh’. A rather ominous sound in the circumstances.

Sabretooth attacked a split second later but Logan was ready, throwing him back across the room to get him as far away from Lydia as he could. As the two closely matched mutants tussled, Sabretooth continued to try and goad Logan into losing his shit, telling him about what he had done to Marie, how she sounded when she screamed, what she tasted like when she bled... Marie sat at the console sobbing as she tried to push the memories away. She didn't want to think about that, she couldn't think about that, she needed to be sure Logan was okay, she needed to help him some way. She felt so useless sitting in front of a screen watching it all play out.

All of a sudden, she realised Sabretooth had Logan pinned, he had managed to distract Logan with some comment in his rambling. Marie knew she had to act fast, she had to do something, before Sabretooth had a chance to put Logan down. Flipping on the outgoing comm Marie spoke, "I love you Logan," was all she could think to say. It seemed to have the desired effect; he growled a deep rumbling growl before, with brute strength, he broke Sabretooth's hold.

The next scene played out in a blur of movement, and a confusing jumble of sound, but it ended in a victorious roar, as Logan stood over the mutilated body of his opponent. Sabretooth's head was several feet away from his body, and his entrails spread across the floor. As Logan surveyed the carnage he commented darkly, "Heal from that you son of a bitch," before turned back to the crib.

Lydia smiled up at him brightly, holding her arms up as she chanted, "Dada, dada, dada," excitedly.

Picking her up, heedless of the blood he was covered in, Marie watched as he hugged the little girl to himself and heard him murmur softly, "I love you so much bubba ... we go see momma now?" Lydia squealed again excitedly, as Logan made his way out of the room, and out of the building.

Rushing to the hatch Marie waited until she could see Logan approaching, the rest of the team falling back behind him, before she hit the release to open the hatch. He was on board before the ramp was even fully down, shoving Lydia into her arms before Marie could move.

She broke down as soon as she had baby in her arms again, falling to her knees as she hugged and kissed the little girl as she sobbed gratefully over her. Lydia seemed to think it was great fun getting mama hugs. It took a moment for Marie to realise Logan wasn't with her, he had continued past her and taken his seat, ready for the team to catch up and leave. Before Marie could move toward him, everyone else flooded on board and she was bustled into a seat of her own for take-off.

No one spoke on the return trip, when they landed, the first to speak was Jean, bustling Marie and Lydia to the med lab. Marie saw Logan heading toward the elevator, still in his leathers, and called out to him, he didn't acknowledge her as he stepped into the car and punched the door close button, leaving her alone with Jean and Lydia.

"Is everything okay?" Jean asked gently, as a single tear dropped down Marie's cheek.

"Oh Jean..." she broke off as she began to sob, "I said something... I didn't mean it the way it sounded, I really didn't... I hurt him, and I don't know how to make it better," she whispered, as the other woman pulled her into a hug.

"This is Logan we're talking about, he loves you more than anything Rogue, let him wind down from the fight, then talk to him, he's had just as rough a time as you have today, he'll be okay once he's calmed down," Jean tried to reassure her.

Marie nodded absently, before she handed Lydia over for Jean to check her all over to be sure she was unharmed. An hour later they were released and Marie made her way up to their suite, expecting to find Logan. All she found was a pile of shredded leather on the shower floor.

Now that Lydia was back with her mommy, she seemed to remember she had missed her nap and yawned widely. With a sigh, knowing it would throw off her whole routine, Marie climbed into her own bed with Lydia. She fed her, a little early but the girl seemed to enjoy the special treatment, until she fell asleep at the breast. Marie lay down to sleep with her baby, not content to let her out of her sight just yet. She placed a kiss on the little girls’ head as she slept, "Mommy loves you baby, so much, and so does daddy."

--

Hours later Marie woke, she and Lydia had done nothing but sleep and feed through what was left of the evening. Now it was pitch black. Marie could hear someone moving around in the suite, a momentary thrill of fear went through her, even as she prayed it was Logan, back from wherever he had disappeared to.

Wedging Lydia into place, with a pillow on either side of her, Marie got up. Throwing on her dressing gown she went to see who it was.

Logan was sitting on the couch, elbows resting on his knees, head hanging, an almost empty bottle in one hand. He didn't give any outward sign of acknowledgement to her approach but Marie knew, even drunk – or as close to it as he ever managed to get – he was fully alert, and knew she was there. She approached him slowly, kneeling down in front of him she ducked under his head, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her face in his chest.

For a moment he didn't move or make a sound, then he grabbed her suddenly, crushing her tightly to his chest, a sound like a sob breaking the silence as he held her. "I love you Marie," he whispered into her hair.

"I love you too Logan, so much, so much more than I can ever put into words, I'm sorry I spoke without thinking, I'm sorry you took my words in a way I truly, truly, didn't mean them Logan-" she pulled back a little so she could look up at Logan's face - "Lydia is just as much your baby as she is mine, you've been there for her, for both of us, her whole life, right from the moment we knew she existed, I'm glad she has you as her daddy."

"I love her so much Marie, I'm sorry for what you had to go through for us to have her," Logan replied, pulling her back to him again. After several minutes Logan picked her up, scooting back on the couch and pulling her up onto his lap. "I'm sorry I left before, you needed me and a bailed and... that wasn't right, forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me for speaking without thinking," Marie replied.

"I do," Logan told her, "You're a mommy, and you were worried about your baby-"

"Our baby," Marie interrupted.

"Our baby," Logan replied with a chuckle, and a peck on her cheek. "Speaking of which, you missed her first word, sorry, when I found her, she got real excited to see me and yelled 'dada' at the top of her lungs. Pissed Sabretooth right off let me tell you," Logan chuckled fondly at the memory.

"I heard," Marie replied, with her own soft smile, "I was spying on you from the jet."

Before they could say anything more a frightened shout from the bedroom was heard.

"Dada!"

Quickly they both jumped to their feet and rushed down the hallway. Lydia was sitting up, surrounded by her wall of pillows, looking around her calculatingly. She smiled and giggled when she saw them, clapping her hands together and reaching for Logan. "Dada," she crowed, wrapping her chubby arms around his neck when he picked her up.

Moving the pillows, Logan climbed back into the bed, after stripping off his jacket and belt, taking Lydia back down with him. He gestured for Marie to follow suit, not satisfied until she was tucked tight against his side, her head resting on his shoulder.

Lydia wriggled over, until she was lying on both of them, her head resting on Marie's chest, and her legs kicking gently on Logan's stomach. "Mama," she announced, reaching a finger up to touch Marie's lips, she often did that while she was suckling, giggling when Marie kissed her finger tips. "Dada," she added again, reaching back for Logan.

She eventually ended up sliding down between the two of them when they shifted to flank the little girl. She fell asleep again in minutes, one hand tangled up in mommy's necklace, the other sleepily scratching at daddy's facial hair, until she went limp in sleep.

"I love you," Logan reiterated, as Marie began to drift off to sleep again.

"I love you too, forever and always, even when you're annoying, I still love you," she replied, with a sleepy smile.

"Me? Annoying? Never," Logan murmured, placing a kiss on her forehead as she giggled and drifted off to sleep.

He joined them a short time later, both girls wrapped in his arms as they slept, his family, his home, his life, his future.
Chapter End Notes:
The End

P.S. Sorry if the fight scene disappointed, my muse just wasn't interested to drawing that out, I tried to rewrite it several times but it just wasn't happening...
You must login (register) to review.