Marie stirred when she felt the hand she had been desperately clutching for the last three hours twitch, tightening its returning grip on hers. Her eyes flew open as she lifted her head from where it was resting on the strong shoulder of the man laid out before her. She watched, heart in her throat, as he tried to take a breath around the breathing tube. Calling for Jean as she saw his eyes pop open, in shocked surprise when he struggled, Marie tried to calm him.

Jean appeared immediately, and quickly removed the tube while Marie kept Logan still. Jean then offered him a drink, once he had stopped coughing at the offensive feeling of the tube evacuating, before she did a quick vitals check.

Logan almost cringed as he watched Jean walk away, catching the furious look Marie was now glaring at him. With a sigh, he turned to his fate.

“Have I ever told you, you’re gorgeous when you’re mad, darlin,” he quipped, aiming for the angelic smirk that always got his daughter out of trouble.

Marie’s stubborn silence continued, her glare still trained on him.

“It was an accident baby, thank you for being here when I woke up,” he tried.

“Don’t bullshit me Logan!” Marie declared forcefully. “I watched the videos, you were free and clear, and everyone else was out of danger too, and you went back to engage them for shits and fucking giggles... meanwhile I’m stuck here, the size of a fucking whale, unable to even see my own feet, worrying over what stupid stunt you’re pulling now, then having to... to see the state you come in in,” she stuttered as she swallowed a sob.

“It’s not fair Logan... I know shit happens and sometimes it’s unavoidable but I should be able to trust that you aren’t going to intentionally go looking to put that ‘til death do us part’ portion of our vows to the test,” she muttered angrily.

With that she flung his wedding ring at him - he never wore it on missions, it didn’t agree with his claws and he didn’t want to lose it - then she stormed out of the room, leaving him still too weak to leap from the bed and run after her.

It took him another hour to convince Jean to release him from the med lab. He tried to make a break for it secretly but she locked him in telekinetically, ignoring him when he snarled menacingly in response. When she finally let him go she told him, under no uncertain terms, he was on doctor ordered R&R until further notice, and off the team roster for at least the next month. Still no amount of raging would change her position – damn he was losing his touch!

Heading for their apartment, intent on tracking down Marie, he paused on shutting the apartment door when Rosalie glanced up at him from where she was seated at the kitchen table. She was five years old now but boy was she precocious, a perfect mix of the worst traits of both her parents, topped off with a smile sweet enough to melt the hardest of hearts. Right now, she was shooting him his own cocked eyebrow as she regarded him coolly.

“You fucked up,” she stated, in a tone that made him want to simultaneously chuckle at how cute she sounded, and wash her potty mouth out with soap.

“Is that so?” Logan returned, refusing to back down from a blatant challenge, from his own damn offspring.

“Uh huh, you done this big mess up,” she added, stretching her arms out as wide as they would go.

Logan cringed, even as he grinned at her. “Mommy still mad at me?” he clarified.

“You made her cry,” Rosalie replied sadly, almost looking like she wanted to cry herself; she hated it when either of her parents were upset, especially when they were upset with each other. Thankfully that didn’t happen often.

“Wow, I did mess up, huh,” Logan said, moving over to her and wrapping her in a hug. “Should I go try to say sorry again?” he asked.

Rosalie nodded adamantly. “And you got to give her kissies, and feed her chocolates, and rub her feets,” she instructed.

“Alright, I’ll go do that now shall I?” Logan replied, following Rosalie’s directions to where he had hidden some of Marie’s favourite chocolates; and how did she know where he had hidden those... Dropping a kiss on her dark-haired head, Logan left Rosalie amusing herself with her homework as he slipped into the master bedroom.

“I bring a peace offering,” Logan offered, as he tentatively approached his scowling wife.

“I don’t want chocolate, I want to not have to spend three hours sitting at my husbands bedside watching his body trying to put itself back together,” she responded, turning her attention back to her book.

“Marie... I’m sorry darling, yes, I took a risk, I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry I worried you... there’s got to be something I can do to make it up to you Marie,” he desperately offered, the more she ignored him the more worried he became. He had never seen Marie this mad, ever, she was even more upset than that time she caught Remy cheating on her.

“The only thing you could possibly do is finally get it through your thick skull how I feel, but I don’t know how to make you see that,” Marie replied, finally turning her scowl back on him.

“I think I’m starting to get the idea,” he murmured uncomfortably.

“No, I don’t think you are,” Marie responded. Suddenly she began to pregnant belly shuffle – as she called it – trying to stand up from the bed, Logan quickly moving to her side to help her.

Once she was up, Marie moved to the dressing table, and picked up a folder.

“These are from the mission, and from the med lab after,” she informed him, holding the file out to him. “They’re all in black and white, so not terribly clear, I want you to draw these for me, in full detail, and full colour,” she directed.

Logan opened his mouth as if to object after he opened the folder and started leafing through the six images.

“You sleep on the couch until it’s done,” Marie threatened. From the look on her face when she said it, Logan knew better than to push back.

With a nod, he acquiesced. “Can I have a kiss before I get started?” he asked cheekily, pushing his luck even as he saw Marie’s own longing reflected back at him. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him soundly before snuggling into his chest. Just as he was starting to think he might be able to talk his way out of trouble after all, she pushed him away and towards the door.

Damn, she really was serious.

Marie stayed shut in their bedroom for the rest of the night, while Logan spent the same time working his way through the images Marie had requested he draw. As much as he wanted to rush them through half assed – even he didn’t like looking at a few of them – he knew Marie wouldn’t let him get away with that, he would just be prolonging their agony.

Morning came, and Marie left with Rosalie to take her to her classes. They didn’t return until bedtime, and Logan found himself worrying the whole time as he waited, and worked, even though he knew they were on the mansion grounds all day.

Finally he was done. Not wanting to waste another minute separated from his wife, he let himself into their room where Marie was restlessly laid out in bed, also not able to sleep.

“I uh- I finished, like you asked,” Logan murmured. “You don’t want to look at these,” he said, almost desperately, as she reached for the sheaf of papers.

“You’re right, now hand them over,” she replied, not backing down an inch. How did he end up married to such a hard-ass anyway.

Reluctantly handing the images over, he watched in shame as she leafed through them slowly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took in all the gory details. From the one of him being chewed almost in half by the Sentinels machine gun (a new upgrade apparently). Right through to him, bloodied and broken, being stitched back together (enough to resemble one more or less whole piece) in the med lab. Finished off with an image of Marie, crying over his mechanically assisted body in the med lab.

The stink of grief and fear hung heavy in the air, until he couldn’t help but lean toward her and wrap his arms around his wife comfortingly.

“I’m sorry darlin,” he murmured into her hair, even as she pulled herself together and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Now I need you to do one more thing,” she told him. “Take these pictures, draw them again, but this time reverse the roles,” she stated bluntly.

Logan stared at her in confusion, that fast gave way to horror when he realized what she was asking for.

“NO!” he declared, “No way in hell, shit I can’t even picture that, I don’t want to picture that,” he shuddered, his skin taking on a decidedly green hue as he shook his head in adamant refusal.

“Why? If I have to look at it in real life why shouldn’t you have to look at it, even in imagination,” she challenged.

“Marie... I just can’t Marie, I—I’m so sorry baby, I’m sorry, I swear I will never go looking for a fight again, fuck I’m tempted to throw in the towel with the X-Men to avoid even having to think... I’m so sorry darling, you don’t deserve the shit I put you through, it won’t happen again,” he declared emphatically, feeling his own tears threatening to fall as images of Marie’s hypothetically broken body flashed through his minds eye.

Marie was in tears again, as she lay down the images in question. “I’m keeping these to remind you of that promise,” she challenged him openly.

“I promise,” he murmured softly, pulling her closer, before laying them both down in bed to hold each other.
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