“I have never been so terrified ever in my life as I was in just the few hours you were missing... and when I finally found you... and when your skin wouldn’t work to start with... ... After I woke up, and I was told it worked, you were alive, the Professor and Jean explained to me how your mutation worked, they told me you got a piece of me in your head... I was upset about that, I didn’t want my darkness tarnishing you, you didn’t need my bullshit in your head... thankfully you seemed to settle again once I was awake, my ‘charming personality traits’ – as Jean termed it – seemed to die off, I hoped the piece of me in your head would too, but, there was something else... something I didn’t tell anyone...

“See, I got a little piece of you in my head too,” Logan admitted, his eyes shifting to her face to gauge her reaction. “I knew how you felt about me, that you’d felt much the same about me, when you first saw me, as I felt about you... I knew you were a little more than the ‘little taken with me’ Jean revealed. I'll admit, that scared the hell out of me... mostly because I wanted the same things you did... I wanted the sweet, soft, gentle companionship, I wanted someone who wasn’t afraid of me, who didn’t shy away when I got close, I wanted someone to hold – like I held you on the train – with no further expectations than just comfort... so I ran, took the first opportunity for escape, like the coward I was.

“I tried to tell myself I was doing what was best for you, protecting you, from me, the part of me that wanted to hoard you away only for me... and then that little piece of you inside me started to fade, and I realised I couldn’t live without you in my life in some way. I figured I had a chance, to be the good guy, to be the hero you had tried to convince me I was. I still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being—that intimate, with anyone, let alone you... hell I felt like the world’s biggest pervert the first time I dreamed about you, and we didn’t even do anything... much. So, that’s why I wasn’t bothered when I turned up and you introduced me to your boyfriend, I figured you’d got over me but you still wanted to be friends, I thought that was good, I thought that would be enough, and it was... until I thought I’d lost you for good.

“That was when I realised what an idiot I’d been, wasting precious time I had with you on—sensibilities, worrying about what other people would think, worrying about all the ways I could fuck up, instead of trying not to... I want to try, I know you’re young, and neither of us is really experienced with—relationships, but I promise I’ll try, to be the good guy, to be your hero,” Logan finished in barely a murmur, bringing her gloved hand to his lips and placing a kiss on her knuckles.

Marie smiled, even as a tear slipped past her lashes. “You’ll always be my hero, and you already are a good guy, and I love you so much... I tried to bury it, I thought- thought you might be... I don’t know- embarrassed by me, see me as some kind of obligation, a burden, I know I just kind of threw myself into your life uninvited but I had hoped you would come back into my life somehow, some way. I’m glad I get to show you how much I love you now,” she finished, leaning forward to press her lips briefly against his. Breaking away when she felt her skin start to tingle, she gasped in surprise when Logan dove back for another kiss, and another. Barely breaking contact each time her skin flared but it was enough to start the clock again, and again, and again.

“Let’s move this into the backseat?” Marie suggested cheekily, with a quirk of her brow and a mischievous twinkle in her eye, when they finally broke apart to both catch their breath.

“Marie!” Logan exclaimed in mock shock. “What part of ‘I’m trying to be the good guy’ did you miss? I’m not having you for the first time in the back of some car, like a teenage prick with too many hormones and not enough brain cells. Put your seatbelt back on,” he added, as he pushed her back into her seat and restarted the engine.

They pulled into the parking lot of a relatively upscale hotel not too much later, and they didn’t return to the mansion for several days...

The End :)

Sorry I had to load it all in Chapter Notes again; the Story Text box isn't working properly again.