"God damn it Marie, this is not up for debate, I'm healing you and that's that!" Logan was heard saying, again. The pair had been arguing for almost an hour since Jean had given them the news that the test was successful.
"I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU LOGAN!" Rogue shouted back, with the most energy she had had in a week.
"Then you're letting me touch you, now," Logan demanded. The moments silence following that statement was filled only by Rogue's confused frown, before Logan continued. "The thought of losing you is hurting me more than Magneto using me as a human dart, Sabretooth tearing the shit out of me, stabbing myself through the goddamn chest, and healing you after the statue kid, all of it, combined, doesn't even come close to what I'm feeling right now, just thinking I might lose you," Logan murmured. His words were just for Marie, he knew everyone else was eavesdropping in the room next door, he didn't care if they overheard but he felt his statement would mean more if it wasn't shouted.
Marie just stared at him for several minutes, until she began to sob. For the first time in an hour she let him approach her, and he carefully gathered her into his arms, as she rested her head on his chest.
"Darlin, I know you don't want to hurt me, I don't consider you using your mutation on me, to save your life, you hurting me, you'll hurt me infinitely more if you leave me, especially when I know there's a chance I could save you, let me try Marie," he murmured softly to her, as he felt her arms wrap around his chest. He could feel her nod against his chest, finally giving up her objections, and he sighed in relief as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
For the next half hour, they sat in silence until Jean entered the room, taking the lack of arguing as a sign they had finally come to an agreement; she knew Logan had won by the relaxed look on his face. Quietly she set up everything she would need to monitor the procedure, it wouldn't be much, before she turned back to the pair. "Ready," she softly commented to Rogue, who was watching her apprehensively from where she was still curled up in Logan's lap. It took a few more minutes before Rogue nodded in reply, to say she was ready too.
Silently, Logan stood, not letting go his hold on Rogue as he carried her over to the bed. Taking a seat on the edge, he waited as Jean fit a pulse monitor to his wrist, and one to Rogue's, before laying back. He tucked Rogue up next to him, so she was lying half on top of him, like she had been earlier in the day. He lay still, watching her, until she reluctantly raised her head from his chest to look up at him.
"Ready?" he clarified, looking down at her with a soft smile.
"... Yeah," she breathed in return, a moment later.
Moving his head the fraction of an inch needed, he pressed his lips against her forehead and waited for the pull to start. Sluggishly he felt the prickling sensation begin, quickly growing in intensity. He grit his teeth but made no effort to move, until the heart monitor beeped warningly. Immediately he moved back, resting his head back against the pillow behind him, as Rogue shifted to rest her head back on his chest.
It took a few minutes for his senses to come back fully, and the odd weightless fog that had enveloped him to disappear, before he murmured softly, "See, nothing to it darlin." Marie chuckled as she hugged him tighter. Though he could hear her sniffle back tears she said nothing in response.
Jean gave them ten minutes, then took a post procedure blood sample from Rogue for testing. She said she would take another in an hour, to see if the one transfer was enough, or if they would need to do more transfers. Then she left them alone again to rest.
--
"Alright, after an initial reduction in damaged cell presence from transfer to about two hours post, by four hours post, the levels are holding steady, there's no further reduction, but no increase, so... I propose, for the next week, we do a small transfer every three hours, from six am until nine pm, you should be okay to at least hold steady overnight but we can confirm that over the next couple of days, what do you say?" Jean proposed, several hours later.
"Will Logan be able to handle that?" Rogue asked worriedly. Sure he hadn't passed out this time around from her touch but that didn't mean he would be okay with having her stealing from him so much. "And how is this affecting his healing for him? Are there any negative side effects for him?" she pointed out, everyone had been fussing over her but no one, even Logan himself, had been considering him.
"I'm fine kid, so long as we both get plenty to eat, and plenty of sleep, we should both be fine... if that changes Marie, we can change the frequency of transfers, I'm more worried what this is doing to your head, not so sure you need more of my shit up here," Logan added, ruffling her hair.
"I barely got more than surface thoughts," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Maybe because I'm tired, I don't know, I may as well practice seeing if I can control it I suppose, see if I can just draw out the one thing, cause I gotta say, no offence, but I'm not going to be able to stand that smell, at this level, for much longer," Rogue chuckled with a blush, ducking her head to avoid looking at a certain person.
"What smell?" several people asked simultaneously, as Logan chuckled.
"It's Jean's perfume, it's a little strong down here without anything to cancel it out," Logan replied.
"Lo-gan, I wasn't going to call anyone out," Rogue said, with a shake of her head, even though she was grinning broadly, "Sorry Jean..."
"Oh, sorry, I suppose I should have thought about that," Jean responded, with a grin of her own, "I'll wear something different tomorrow," she promised. "That aside, we'll do another transfer now, then another at nine pm, then you should both get some sleep, I'll be down to check on you for the morning transfer, I want to be present for all of them, for the first few days at least, just to monitor how everything is going, we'll have to continue the blood tests too, just to make sure the levels keep dropping."
With a plan of action sorted, they set out to do the next transfer, this time Rogue sat by the bed, while Logan lay down alone. He had to hold onto her hand to keep them in contact for long enough for a decent length transfer, though she scowled at him the whole time before eventually wrenching her hand away when his grip faltered. While Logan rested to catch his breath, and wait for his head to stop spinning, Rogue busied herself, first making sure he was comfortable, then moving on to pick a movie for them to watch to fill time.
They were now both confined to Rogue's 'recovery room', so Scott brought them down dinner, and camped in the corner on a beanbag. He wasn't keeping an eye on them or anything, he just hadn't seen this movie before... recently... He wasn't fooling anyone, least of all Logan and Rogue, who would whisper conspiratorially to each other just to see Scott squirm over not knowing what they were saying. It was much more entertaining than the movie.
--
Over the next week the regular transfers continued, both parties getting so good at timing the draws that Rogue even stopped insisting Logan lay down in preparation for each one. By the end of the week Rogue was recovering at a steady enough rate that Jean calculated she should be fully recovered within three months, all damaged cells purged, and Jean was comfortable to discharge her from the lab, so long as they continued the transfers, which she no longer insisted on supervising. It was obvious too that Logan was suffering no negative effects, in fact, if anything, he seemed to be adjusting to the energy draw and was being left barely winded from the exchange now.
Every day Rogue had to go back to the lab for a follow up blood test, but that was the most contact she had with the doctor most days, aside from seeing her in passing at meals. It was however enough for Jean to see the colour coming back to her skin, her headaches disappeared, she smiled more, and put back on the weight she had lost. It looked like they might be out of the woods now.
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