They were lying in bed one night about a week later, both lost in their own thoughts.
Marie always slept with her back to Logan, he would often spoon against her, which she quickly got used to. The nights he slept on his back, or even facing away from her, she found herself feeling a little neglected, as much as she didn't want to feel any connection to him at all. One thing she had noted through their association was that he was always gone from the bed before she woke. She knew about the 'morning wood' phenomenon, from her teenage gossip sessions with her friends who had less strict parents, and she had begun to suspect that was why Logan was never around when she woke.
He seemed to be actively avoiding any contact with her that could be seen as sexual, aside from them sharing a bed. Though even that action was undertaken almost as platonically as one could imagine. As a result she had quickly found herself becoming comfortable, and maybe even a little curious. After all, what was there to stop her now, her strict religious parents had thrown her out, the collar the traffickers had slapped around her neck had taken care of her mutation, and she couldn't see Logan objecting if she approached him. Maybe she should wear that sexy silk nightie to bed tomorrow night--
"Marie?" Logan's voice suddenly sounded softly, interrupting her thoughts as his hand reached out and stroked her arm.
Here it comes, she couldn't help but think, here came the part where he got tired of waiting for her to crack, or maybe he thought she was comfortable enough she wouldn't resist, and now he was going to turn into the horrible piece of human trash she had known he was right from the minute she saw him bidding among the crowd at the slave auction...
"Darlin, do you want me to take that collar off?" he asked, interrupting her suspicious musings. "I probably should have offered before but, well, they said your mutation stopped your skin from being touched, and it wasn't controllable... I probably should have asked you about that though, how would they know after all..." Logan mumbled as he mused. "I can take it off for you if you want me to," he eventually reiterated firmly.
Marie rolled over and stared at him, glaring suspiciously at him. "Why would you do that? They told you my skin puts people into comas, why would you risk that?" she asked him.
Logan shrugged, a grin touching his lips as he regarded her in return. "My claws could- have, killed people, you trust me enough to sleep right there beside me, I trust you not to use your mutation on me," he replied. "Not like you'd get far even if you did, we're too far away from town for you to get there before you’d freeze," he added, referencing the sharp decline in the weather, including the steady snow they'd had for the last eighteen hours.
She observed him calculatingly for a couple of minutes, before she could accept the fact that he was being completely honest. He trusted her not to harm him with her mutation, even though he knew nothing about it.
With a soft, sad sigh she replied softly, "I wouldn't want to use on you but... I really can't control it, I don't even know what it is, what exactly it does just... when people touch my skin they- they seize, and sometimes go into a coma, and I can hear their voice in my head, see their thoughts, memories, sometimes they fade after a while, I think that's when the people wake up again... some of them have never gone away." Her eyes began to water, and eventually a fat tear dropped from one eye and slid sideways across her cheek until it disappeared into her hair. She wasn't surprised when she felt Logan's large, warm hand cradle her cheek as his thumb wiped away the tear track.
"Well, I can't claim to be an expert on mutations but I could help you practice controlling it if you want." At Marie's sudden startled look he added, "The claws aren't my only mutation, not even my main mutation, I heal, from damn near anything, I'd probably be able to stand your mutation better than any normal person." She still obviously didn't look convinced so he continued, "I could take it off really carefully so, if you wanted to, you could put it back on later?" he added to his offer.
Marie considered his comments, regarding him curiously before she said with a sigh, "It's not safe, what if Bella touched me, I wouldn't want to hurt her."
"Bella's big enough to understand, besides, it only works if you touch skin, right? Well, it's winter, your clothes are pretty covering, less chance of accidentally touching, me and Bella can cover up more too," Logan pointed out. "And you're never going to learn to control it if you don't try, it's like riding a bike, sure you're probably going to fall off at some point while you're learning, I'm happy to be here to catch you."
"I could kill you," Marie reiterated firmly.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Logan asked, smirking at her when she looked up at him startled. "Come on, I know you hate my guts, you've been so overprotective of Bella... I'll be honest, that's making me feel a little uncomfortable, I mean, I haven't done anything to suggest I might harm her, and I never would, but having you always appearing whenever she and I are together... I know you don't trust me but I don't know how many more ways I can show you I'm not a threat, not to you, and not to Bella... I figured you having your mutation available as a defence would help calm you down a little," Logan admitted somewhat sheepishly.
"Why haven't you tried to have sex with me?" Marie blurted suddenly, her thoughts moving back to suspicion.
"Marie..." Logan broke off with a frustrated sigh, that turned into an irritated sounding growl as he scrubbed his hand over his face thoughtfully. "Darlin, as I've said, I have no intention of laying a hand on you like that, if anything like that happens it's going to be by mutual consent," he paused for a moment, seemingly in thought. "Do you want me to-- ... Is that why you're so worried about me being around Bella? Do you think you not having sex with me means I'm going to try something with her?" he suddenly blurted out, as that terrible thought occurred to him.
The immediate aversion of Marie's eyes, and the light embarrassed blush that stained her cheeks obviously told him plainly that that was indeed one of her fears.
"Fucking hell!" Logan growled dangerously, throwing back the blankets as he leapt from the bed and began to pace the cold floor. "How the fuck-- why the fuck-- do you really think I would do something that sick and perverted!" he growled, his voice dangerously quiet.
For the first time since she had met him, Marie was truly afraid. His anger was so sudden and terrifying, and of course a stark reminder of the metal blades he kept hidden away inside his arms, that she knew he had, and would, use against people he felt slighted by. Right now that anger was directed at her, and she hung her head, almost cowering in her own apprehension.
"I'm sorry--" she tried to murmur.
"Sorry! Fucking sorry!? I've done a lot of fucked up shit in my life granted but never, ever, have I, or would I ever harm a child, and certainly not like that, that's- just- ... it's one thing hating my guts darlin but it's a whole 'nother thing accusing a man of something so fucking heinous, I risked my goddamn life for that girl, and for you, how could you think, for a second, that I would..." Marie flinched when she heard his voice crack, the emotion he had been projecting as he spoke had been growing to the point where it had cut off his ability to speak completely. Without another word he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Marie alone, and feeling colder than if she had been outside in the swirling snow.
When Logan still hadn't returned to bed an hour later, Marie tentatively rose, and went to find him. She had gotten over her fright at his sudden change in demeanour, and she could understand why he got so angry. Now she just had to get him to listen long enough so she could apologize, and explain.
The cabin was empty, Bella was asleep in her bed, but Logan was nowhere to be seen. With a scowl, Marie pulled on her coat and boots, and slipped out the back door. No sign of him there. No sign of him out the front either. Adding more wood to the fire, Marie settled down in the old leather armchair in the corner, wrapping a discarded blanket around herself as she settled in to wait for Logan to come back from wherever he had disappeared to. She didn't think she would sleep until she could talk to him.
She was still sitting in the armchair, staring numbly into the flames, when Bella climbed down the ladder not long after the sun had peeked over the horizon.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000