"So..." Logan commented one afternoon, as Marie reclined on the swinging chair in the cool shade of the gazebo they were in. Logan had opted to sit on the floor, leaning against the balustrade, periodically nudging Marie's chair to keep it swinging gently. He wasn't convinced the chair would hold his weight or he would have joined her but here, where he could feast his eyes on her, was just as good.
"So?" Marie prompted, when he didn't say anything further for several minutes.
"Well, we covered off the things you've done, the finishing high school and stuff," he started, puffing on the cigar stub he suddenly decided needed to be smouldering. "What's next, where are you going from here, what are you going to do with your life?" he asked curiously.
"Hm, not really sure," Marie answered honestly. "School is boring, so I don't particularly want to go to college, I had planned my epic road trip to Alaska for 'after high school', I never did end up getting there... maybe now is the time to go. To be honest, I kinda just feel like drifting for a while, you know, seeing if I can find somewhere I belong, I don't belong here, don't get me wrong everyone's great, and I've made great friends but there's just something missing... at least there was, until you came back, I didn't notice at first, I guess the whole 'hey you're gonna die again' line kind of distracted me... for the first time in a long time I've felt like- like I could just sit, right here, right now, forever, and I'd be perfectly happy with that, with you."
She had spoken her words softly, a dreamy smile on her face, as she seemed to stare right through everything, until suddenly a wall of uncertainty crashed down over her eyes, and she blushed pink. "Sorry, I don't know where that came from, I guess--"
Not wanting to hear her hedge her words, hide behind propriety, Logan interrupted her. "I know what you mean, I know how you feel... I've wandered a lot, in the life I can remember, and I've very recently come to the conclusion that it isn't a place you belong to, it's people, sometimes even just- one person, I'd be happy to wander with you though, until you come to your own conclusions, it's a long way to Alaska, you never know, you might like the company," he not so subtly suggested.
"I don't know... you and me, traveling together, we don't have a terribly good track record so far, I mean, your camper got totalled, that train was toast, on the jet you were as good as dead," Marie grimaced as she thought back to every time they had been in a moving vehicle together.
"You know what they say, 'when you reach the bottom, the only way to go is up', I'd say dead on a plane is about as deep as you can go," Logan replied with a grin.
For a moment Marie just watched him, seeming to be absorbing what he had said, and interpreting his meaning. Slowly her glowing smile returned, until with a final decisive nod she replied, "I guess so, it couldn't get any worse at least."
"That's the spirit darlin," Logan chuckled, before taking another draw from his cigar. As he slowly released the smoke, he silently began to work out what he would need to keep Marie comfortable on such a trip. A new camper was definitely top of the list, something a lot nicer than the last hunk of junk to be sure. He idly wondered what Xavier and his precious X-Men would think if he ran off with Marie, quickly deciding, he didn't really care. It's not like he had agreed to stay at any point, he hadn't promised to return for any of them, and they couldn't expect Marie to stay here indefinitely- some of her high school classmates had already left to begin preparation for starting college in the fall.
Yep, their opinion really didn't matter at all, only Marie's, he just hoped he could convince her to let him join her on her next adventure. If the last seven months had taught him anything it was that he didn't want to travel alone anymore, and the last month had confirmed for him who he wanted to travel life with.
--
They were lounging on Logan's bed, watching a movie, waiting for nine o'clock to do the last transfer for the day.
Over the last several week, others, namely Scott, had begun to make noise about the amount of time the two were spending together, almost at the exclusion of all others, according to Scott. Logan would have interrupted his argument with Jean to point out how incorrect that statement was but Jean beat him to it, advising Scott that Rogue spent most of her days with her friends, those of whom were still at the institute not having gone away for the summer or left entirely, and helping to entertain the younger students while classes were largely stopped. Sure, Logan was generally found wherever Rogue was but that didn't mean anything, not really, he was just watching out for her, he cared for her a great deal.
When Jean had suggested that she was certain that, for some unknown reason, Logan had bonded with Rogue, and she was the closest thing to family he had, Logan couldn't help but hope that maybe she understood. Scott had smarmily queried just what sort of familial relationship a man had with a woman, who wasn't his mother, or sister, or daughter, making his insinuation clear. Jean had ended that argument by stating that, even if that was the pairs relationship, they had no right to interfere. She 'knew' Logan wouldn't push Rogue into anything she didn't want, and if Rogue chose him, that was her choice. As Logan had listened to Jean walk out on whatever objection Scott might have been about to voice next, he felt a small measure of relief. Someone understood.
It didn't stop Scott from trying to interfere fairly regularly though, including by interrupting their private movie nights. Thankfully tonight, the one-eyed wonder was out of town, with the Professor and Jean, at some political event that was meant to run the rest of the weekend, so they would be left in peace for the night.
That thought turned him on more than it should, especially when Marie was snuggled up next to him, head resting on his chest, and hand resting just above his belt buckle. He wasn't pushing Marie into anything though, he wasn't. So, he spent the next hour of the movie trying to will away his erection, and trying not to think about how perfect the girl in his arms smelled.
He couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was about her scent that was different but something had changed recently, maybe she had just switched up her shampoo, she no longer wore any perfume, and she had changed her deodorant early on because the old one upset her current sense of smell - heightened as it was by his regular touches. Damn it, he wasn't thinking about how she smelled!
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