“Would… You… Move… Already!” She screamed and yanked hard. Root she tried to pull up refused to budge, her grasp from it slipped and she fell on her back. For the good part of an hour she had tried to tend small patch of land behind her home. She was going to start growing herbs. Most of everything she knew she would need she could gather from the woods outside of Salem, but there were some plants she hadn’t found yet, and rather than spending all of her free time looking for them she had decided to buy seeds from the marketplace and grow them by herself. Land looked fertile, but previous owner hadn’t taken care of it, and now the whole yard was filled with small bushes with very thick and persistent roots.
She sat up from her sprawled position and wiped off the sweat beading on her forehead.
“Digging a grave?” She smirked and turned to look at her left, where Mick stood at his yard, leaning against the fence separating the two lots of land.
“Yes. Had an unpleasant customer, and now I have to stash the corpse to somewhere!”
“Here. Use these. You can return them when you don’t need them anymore,” Mick said and dropped a shovel and a pickaxe to her side of the fence.
“Thank you!” She sighed.
“But I have to warn you, it might take some time before you see your precious tools again. These roots are unbelievable hard,” she continued standing up and brushing her hands clean to her thighs. Mick nodded.
“I could come and help you up later. And I think Annabel talked about some seeds she had stashed away.”
“Oh, I couldn’t…”
“Oh, hush. What good are neighbors if you can’t expect them to come to your aid when you need them? I’ll just finish up those horse shoes I was hammering and come over there after,” Mick said smiling and disappeared to his shop.
“It’s always nice to watch somebody else working, isn’t it?” Annabel asked smiling. Marie nodded and took a sip from her tea. She had taken a small break from her garden project to eat, when Mick and Annabel had appeared to her doorstep, Annabel carrying a variety of seeds, and Mick annoyed scowl over his features. She had ushered them to the backyard. Annabel had asked her to sit down with her to go over the seeds she had brought. Mick had taken the shovel.
It soon became clear that Annabel expected Mick to finish clearing the ground for Marie’s behalf, and even if Mick made his best to mutter angrily and scowling at them, it was quite clear that he rather enjoyed working.
She felt almost guilty. The whole time Annabel spent chatting about different plants and flowers she kept staring at Mick. He had discarded heavy, protective clothing he had worn earlier. Now He had on only soft looking leather pants, and soft-soled boots made out of same material. Both Mick and Annabel were great deal older than her, they probably could have been her parents, but hard work had kept Mick in good shape. She couldn’t stop the sudden pang of jealousy towards Annabel when Mick straightened his back and stretched. Muscles rippled under tanned skin, small beads of sweat rolled down over planed surface of his body and disappeared to the waistband of his trousers.
“Dad?” She turned to look. Young man, probably same age as her stood leaning against the fence. He had called Mick dad. Must be Alaric, she realized. Spitting image of Mick. And suddenly her jealousy rose tenfold.
“Yeah?” Mick asked.
“Murdoch came with his horse,” young man said. Mick cursed and turned to look at Marie.
“Duty calls. But…” He turned towards his son.
“You. Come over here and make yourself useful.”
“This is Alaric. He’ll make a garden for you,” Mick introduced them after younger man had climbed over the fence.
“But dad…”
“No buts. And be nice to Rogue. Annabel, ready to go?” Mick asked, holding his hand out for his wife. Annabel stood up hastily.
“I’ll leave these all to you. You can use what you need and then bring back the rest,” she said, pushing the basket with seeds to Marie’s lap. Before she could even thank them they were gone, and she was alone with Alaric.
“I… I could help you with that…” She said when he took a firm hold from a root his father had tried to dislodge earlier. Alaric huffed.
“Dad would have my hide if he saw I let you help. Better just sit back and enjoy the view…”
“Okay…”
Earlier jealousy faded soon, turning to sadness. Every move Alaric made, every noise and cuss that left his mouth brought back memories of Logan. The way he had been before. Enjoy the view? Perhaps she could have appreciated it, if Alaric hadn’t reminded her of him, but soon she had to excuse herself.
Alaric stayed outside. She could hear shovel hitting rocks and roots. Noise wasn’t loud enough to cover completely another voice. It took her a while to realize what it was. She was crying. First time in weeks she had parted ways with Logan she was finally crying. She hadn’t allowed herself that relief earlier. Now it was impossible to keep tears at bay any longer.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000