It was midday when the silver sedan pulled back into the driveway of the Connecticut house. Logan was in the garage working on an old motorcycle he was rebuilding, it would be his second bike, the first he'd finished fixing up several months earlier. Marie had looked at him oddly when he'd brought the second home, asking why exactly he needed two motorcycles. She'd almost looked disappointed when he had admitted he was fixing the second one up because; one, he had nothing better to do with her at school all day; and two, he planned to sell it once it was done. Seeing as how he wasn't intending to return to cage fighting, he needed some level of at least intermittent income to keep their cash reserves up.
He waved to the couple as they pulled up, he had expected them to stay out most of the day, do some shopping, sightseeing, something. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of having to entertain or socialise with them alone, not that he had anything against them, they seemed nice, but he couldn't help the feeling of judgement he got from Marie’s father every time he was in view. It was probably because he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, if it was his daughter in Marie's situation, he would not be handling it anywhere near as well.
He was relieved when the pair simply waved back before heading inside the house, it looked like they had gone shopping, for groceries. About an hour later he heard the sound of footsteps approaching down the stairs, a gentle tap on the door told him when his visitor arrived, the scent telling him it was Marie's mother. He dropped his tools, having finished fitting what he needed to, and pulled a grease stained rag out of his back pocket to wipe the worst of the smudges off his hands.
"Lunch is ready," Eileen said to him, trying to stifle a chuckle, she couldn't hold it for long before she pointed to his face, "Your war paint's spreading."
A quick glance into the nearest reflective surface showed a grease smudge across his forehead and a little sweat infused trickle running down his temple. Grabbing a second rag he scrubbed it off as best he could, he'd shower later.
Once Eileen was satisfied he was clean enough to eat her meal, she made her way back up the stairs, Logan following behind her. Owen was in the living room, thumbing through a book with interest, until his wife harassed him to the table as well.
"We spoke to Professor Xavier when we dropped Marie at school," Eileen began as they started their meal. "He said he would ring you but I assume he hasn't yet, we added our voices to Marie's current situation, specifically that she's pregnant and can't be expected to walk up and down that driveway twice a day, poor girl can barely make it to the end of the hallway, she really should be on bed rest," she huffed, getting temporarily side-tracked.
"The doctor has suggested that but I'm sure you know your daughter well enough to know how stubborn she can be, thankfully the school year ends in a couple of weeks, I'm hoping to get her to take it easy after that," Logan responded with an amused chuckle.
"Boy do I ever know how stubborn that girl can be, ever since she was a tiny little thing, so independent, made everything take three times as long as it needed to all because she insisted on doing it alone, you better hope you get one of the sweet easy little ones," she replied.
"Yeah, I'm going with 'there's no chance in hell' on that count," Logan laughed, "We're both a little too hard-headed to make a kid that's anything but."
"Marie mentioned you stabbed her one night while you were asleep," Owen stated suddenly, bulldozing his way into the conversation... it was still bugging him.
Logan grimaced uncomfortably. "Yep, that was the first night at the school, she tried to wake me from a nightmare, I didn't wake up until my claws were through her chest... good thing she was thinking because I totally froze - I've always worried something like that might happen, it's why I used to always sleep alone behind a locked door, unfortunately that particular door didn't have a lock. She reached out and touched me and I was thinking 'what the hell, she's dying and her last thought is to get all handsy', then it hit me, then I hit the floor, woke up the next day to be told she was okay... then she promptly ran away, then she got kidnapped, then she died... she really is a handful," Logan chuckled softly and affectionately.
"I - I don't mean to offend but ... what do you mean by 'claws', I'm having trouble picturing that..." Eileen asked nervously.
With a sigh Logan moved his fist to a position it would be at peak visibility, and slowly slid a handful of sharp, shiny metal into view.
"Oh dear lord, that must hurt!" Eileen barley breathed, eyes wide at the sight of the three wicked looking blades now protruding from his clenched fist.
"You know, that was one of the very first things Marie asked me-" he commented, regarding the sharp shiny blades- "No one ever gave a shit before, most people still don't, so long as you follow their rules, slice and dice the things they want you to, they'll tolerate you but that's about as far as it ever goes, until Marie. Marie's always been different though, when most people would have gone screaming in the other direction that crazy girl thought it would be a swell idea to follow me and try and steal a ride, she didn't have a clue where I was going, who I was, what I would do when I found her, just jumped in my trailer as I was pulling out; she's lucky I found her when I did, another twenty minutes all exposed like she was and hypothermia would have set in.
"I hauled her out of the trailer when I found her, she must have moved or something and the trailer shifted, knew something was going on, I was going to leave her standing on the side of the highway, stupid kid thinking she could steal a ride from a stranger in the middle of nowhere, underage runaway spelling all kinds of trouble - I was right there - but I couldn't do it, hell I'll be the first to admit I'm an asshole on the best of days but leaving little girls to freeze on the side of the highway... that's too low even for me apparently, so I picked her up, and everything promptly went to shit. Best decision of my life," Logan finished decisively with a satisfied grin, snapping the claws away suddenly, causing both guests to jump. "You still do that though," he added, "Sorry, they hurt less the faster they go in and out."
"Marie says that, despite you already having stabbed her once, you wouldn't ever do it, again," Owen posed next.
"That's correct, I'd know Marie's scent anywhere, even in my nightmares now, if I scent her it's enough to wake me up and calm me down, it will never happen again," Logan assured the older man, "I would die for your daughter, I have died for your daughter, I never want to hurt her, in any way--"
"Except getting her pregnant at sixteen?" Owen pointed out tersely.
"I'll admit, that wasn't intentional, none of it was intentional, we did take precautions, it happened anyway, neither of us are upset about though, it's not ideal but it's our life, we plan to make the best of it, it's not all been sunshine and rainbows and it's not going to be from here either but that's just life in general, we've both had enough shit thrown at us that we can handle that," Logan replied. With a sigh he added, "I know you probably don't like me much, not least of all for 'what I've done to your little girl', but it means a lot to Marie that she sees us getting along, so please, for Marie's sake at least play the part, hate me on the inside, fine, just don't let Marie see."
"Maybe I'll just pack her up and take her home with me instead?" Owen suggested.
"No, you won't, you wouldn't have come back if you were even considering that idea, besides, even if you did, you know as well as I do that Marie would come straight back here, you won't do that to her," 'I hope,' he added silently.
Owen sighed in resignation. "As much as I would love to have her back home, with her family, where she belongs... you're right. We spoke to Professor Xavier and he's agreed for you to drop Marie off and pick her up at the front door of the school, provided you don't leave the driveway or talk to any of the other students," he informed Logan.
"Thank you," Logan replied, truly grateful.
"And I don't hate you, you saved my little girls life, on more than one occasion by the sound of it, I'm a little annoyed with you but like you said, what's done is done, I'm just glad you're man enough to stick with her, she loves you, and you love her too, even I can see that," Owen relented.
"But... maybe when Marie's done with school... we live in Colorado now," Eileen said hintingly.
Logan grinned, catching her hint. "That's all up to Marie," he replied, "I don't think we'll have a hard time convincing her."
--
Marie’s parents stayed for the rest of the week, eventually heading home happy, satisfied their daughter was safe and happy. That her parents hadn’t kicked up a stink about Logan and Rogue’s relationship annoyed the X-Men immensely but they could do nothing but ignore Logan for the next few weeks. A task he made as difficult as possible by dropping Rogue off right outside the front door, and picked her up from the same place, every day until the end of the term. Making sure someone saw him, but not his smug grin, helping her in and out of the truck, and kissing her tenderly every chance he got.
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