Marie settled in after a month or two, the lessons weren't as hard as she'd thought, the people were a little weird but then what could she expect from a school of mutants? Everyone was used to the new arrivals that happened through out the year, some staying like her
others passing through on the way to somewhere else.
She'd been a little lonely at first after Logan had left; Bobby had tried to make her feel special, trying to get close to her. However, the tags around her neck would gain weight as if they were turning into lead pulling her down to the ground everytime Bobby got close to her. She could see he wanted her, hell she could smell it all over
him, the hormone scent that upped every single time she entered the room. Reaching into the messed up thing that passed for her brain, she could sense the information from Logan and Magneto. They both had told her, in no uncertain terms, that this was a `bad thing', the whole hormonal driven boy thing was definitely something to avoid. So she had, she'd withdrawn a little, pulling herself inward ever so slowly until she spent most of the day alone apart from her lessons.
Even her room was a single now, she'd moved into Logan's old one, the thought of her bumping into someone in the dark when she was half asleep had filled her with terror. Storm had suggested that she move into Logan's old room, knowing she was feeling the loss of the one person she knew, more than anyone here really knew or wanted to see.
She'd dealt with it in odd ways, she found herself going outside in the middle of the night, just to look at the stars wheeling overhead. The glow from New York obscuring most of them but the brightest were still visible to her sight, now that was something else she'd retained along with Logan's sense of smell. It was as if her entire
body had had an upgrade, her hearing wasn't as acute, but her nose and her sight were sharper. She'd found a towel Logan had used and it still smelled of him, it was under the pillow helping her to relax and sleep.
Marie didn't hold any illusions about how Logan felt about her, she knew he cared about her but he didn't love her like everyone else thought he did. She was his responsibility, he'd made a promise and he'd keep it, the tags hanging around her neck were testament to that. He'd told her he'd be back and he would be but he'd be coming home for more than the pieces of metal hanging at her throat. The things she'd taken from him when he'd held her on top of Lady Liberty were still jumbled, she'd tried to sort them out in her own way but it had just caused her more headaches.
Magneto had been easy to sort, he wanted power and the rest of the world to recognise him for the great mutant he was, and he wanted them to fear him. It was almost sad when she looked through his memories and found the uniform he'd based his own on, she wondered if he'd ever given it much thought. It looked like an SS uniform to her
without the insignia, even down to the black fedora, history repeating itself. History had been fun with him in her head, she'd managed to give an accurate account of the clearing of the Warsaw Ghetto before someone had pointed out to her that maybe she should pick a different subject to study.
It wasn't as if she could control it either, things would just pop up, like the bike incident, she'd been passing the garage where Scott was building a new bike for himself. He'd walked away for a moment when she'd broken out of her little crowd of study buddies and just
replaced a piece of the machine. Scott had been about to ask her what she was doing when she'd just turned looked him in the eye and said, `Scooter if you put that pansy ass thing on there you'll lose torque before the engine even gets warm.' Scott had just looked at her with confusion until her gaze had cleared and her own shock had
come through. She'd apologised, Scott had been good about it and she could see that she'd freaked him a little, thing was she'd been right.
Having two men in her head was a bonus and a curse, especially when it came to gym; Logan in her head was all over the sight of naked female flesh. She'd even growled a few times before she knew how to keep a lid on it, Magneto was no better although he tended to agree
with her own hormones. Making her wonder what it'd feel like to have Peiter's dick buried deep inside her and her own hand on her own erection, although that was where their separate minds diverged. So the entire gym thing was cancelled, she trained alone so she could concentrate and wear as little as she could without worrying about
killing anyone. Scott had made her a training regime to follow and she did it every other day, filling her time with the study and training she didn't feel all that alone until the letter arrived.
The postmark should have given her a clue, Mississippi; her hands had shaken while she'd opened the letter alone in her room. The faded blue flower that had fallen out of the pages coming from the garden she'd left behind over a year ago. Her aunt had written to her, telling her of the break up between her mother and father, how she'd gone to live there with her mom. She'd found the letter from Xavier's Institute and she'd replied to both her and Xavier.
Marie had put the letter down half –finished her heart pulling apart at the seams, knowing she'd never be able to go home now. It killed all hope she'd ever had of trying to see them later, when she was more together.
Rolling up on the bed she'd pulled the towel out from it's hiding place and just felt herself break apart, she felt alone, entirely alone, a freak of freaks in a world where they killed what didn't fit. She withdrew a little more over the next few weeks and this time no one noticed.
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He'd just rolled over when he felt the tickle on the back of his skull, the same as before when Xavier had looked inside his skull before he'd gone. The leggy blond in his bed was still sleeping and he didn't feel like moving her out of it just yet, part of him was upto a repeat of last night. He just hoped she was.
The insistent tickle didn't stop and it forced him to concentrate on it, a request in his head, the number of the place he was in. Turning over he looked at the phone by the bed, the number on a piece of battered paper by the side of it. Half a minute later the thing rang,
hefting the receiver he heard the voice of Jean on the other end, "Logan?" Her tone was wrong, there was something wrong back there, a nasty thought occurred to him and he voiced it immediately.
"What's happened to her?" He didn't add, `what did you do to her?' even though when he'd left he'd seen her fear at him leaving her behind. She'd wanted to go with him, feeling safer where he was but he hadn't needed the extra baggage to be honest. Where he was going it wasn't safe for her and he needed her to be safe, it was important
to him but what if he'd left her somewhere she wasn't safe?
Jean's voice was tired but her tone was friendly as if she was trying to deal with a difficult patient, "It's about Rogue." The silence from his end didn't make things easier for her and he was determined to make it as difficult as possible for her especially if Marie was
hurt.
"She's run again. We thought she'd head north, you know trying to follow you, Scott and Bobby went after her but they couldn't find her. We think she's using a different name and way of travelling, staying away from large groups of people. Charles has tried looking for her but we've had no luck, we were…"
Logan interrupted her.
"What happened?" The phone was silent and he could hear Jean breathing knowing she was trying to get her story straight, "JEAN! What happened to her, what did you fucks do to her!" Rage filled him as he stood up tearing the cover off the bed revealing the naked body of the blond, who was still managing to sleep through his outburst.
Suddenly disgusted with the body laid on the bed he snatched the phone and took it into the bathroom, he could concentrate there without his dick getting in the way.
"She had a letter from home Logan, we didn't do anything to her. She just left a while after that." The words she used weren't right and Logan pulled her on them.
"What do you mean `a while after'? Don't you know when she left?!"
He could feel himself getting wound up, he'd fucked up, he'd left her with people he'd thought would be able to help her, cope with her mutation and help her get through it. Now it looked like they didn't even know where the hell she was most of the time.
"Logan she kept to herself most of the time and we thought because of the skin issue she should be by herself instead in a dorm."
The words sank into his stomach as he realised exactly what he'd left her with, the look of good-natured nastiness on their faces as they'd explained to her just how dangerous she was. How she had to be careful not to be too near anyone just in case, Jean interrupted his thoughts, "She was staying in your old room." The tone was one of disapproval and dripped of unknown conversations between her and Marie. There was no point trying to talk to Jean right now, he just wanted to rip the fuck out of something. It was his fault she'd run he'd left her alone there, he'd thought it through weighed the risks he was supposed to be the adult here. He'd fucked up big style, Jean was talking again and he wasn't really listening until he heard the ice-kids name mentioned in the same sentence as Marie's.
"What?"
"I said Bobby was concerned for her when she stopped coming down to dinner but she liked to eat in the kitchen she said. Least chance of someone bumping into her while she was eating." Logan listened as Jean told him her routine, lessons, then gym, eating alone and studying, usually in her room. It was only after three days that
anyone really noticed she was gone, he could hear the plastic of the receiver creak when Jean told him that.
"We don't know where she's headed, we thought you might have a clue We've already been to her old home, the response we got wasn't positive." There was something else she hadn't said underlying her even tone, something had gone on there but he didn't have the patience to try an find out about it now. He had an idea of how she
might be travelling but he wasn't going to tell them anything, he didn't even answer Jean, he just put the phone down on the sticky vinyl floor.
A few minutes later, the itch was back and he just growled loudly until the itch went away, his anger enough to show Xavier he wasn't in the mood to be contacted.
It took him ten minutes to be packed and gone, leaving the blond sleeping in the motel bed he'd paid for. The stars were out and he stopped to look up at them shining down on him, a wish on his lips as he dropped his head to start the bike, `God, please let her be safe.'
Knowing from experience that it was unlikely, especially if she was using the way he thought she would. He'd done it himself more than once and it was no way for a lone girl to go cross-country.
**********************************************************
She'd gotten herself wedged in, a knife in her left hand hidden under her coat just in case. The cattle carts weren't guarded overnight and the seals were easily broken and redone, she'd managed to get out of New York on a paper recycling pod. Hiding under the cardboard had
kept her warm as it had travelled south, she'd just hopped onto the cattle truck when it started moving. Knowing she'd have to be quick or she'd be dog food, the train was headed for Richmond, then Greensboro.
Quickly getting herself settled in, the cattle not giving
her any trouble as she wedged herself between their feed bags and hay. The soft flatulent warmth lulling her to sleep, as the train pulled out, she was going home, there was nothing else left for her to do. She needed to see her mom, to find out if she wanted to see her to know her, Logan's memories had provided the way of getting
there. All she had to do was find the right freight train and she'd get home, going south was a good bet for now and she let the memory of other cattle carts fill her mind as she tried to sleep. Magneto's own fond memories of being held by his mother, rocked to sleep by the
movement of the train, not knowing what was waiting for him at the end of the journey, only enjoying the touch of his mother.
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He'd been in Meridian for two weeks, she'd told him where she'd come from but not where she'd lived. So he'd just let himself wander the streets, searching for a clue, always taking in the freight yard every night just in case. He'd gotten a room in a low rent block near the railyard, knowing she'd come home, his instincts were telling him this was the way she'd come.
He was rewarded on his third week of waiting; a dishevelled figure was climbing over the fence. Her coat instantly recognisable to him as was her scent, mixed though it was with the smell of diesel, animals and dirt. He was down the steps and out before she'd finished coming down the fence, standing across the road from her he waited for her to see him. She straightened up and stopped, sensing something she turned and saw him, her eyes went wide as he moved over the quiet street toward her. Watching her, as she couldn't decide what to do, where to go until he wrapped himself around her, letting out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding in. When her arms wrapped around him finally he felt her shudder with relief, she was thinner than he remembered. Probably stealing as she went, a person without money or food had to do what they had to to survive. Her scent was full of emotion as he held her, just rocking back and forth with her in his grip knowing it was enough for now. They'd talk later but for now, she needed someone to hold onto.
He took her back into his small apartment, the area well known for people not to ask questions of what they saw just to accept it. He shuffled her indoors watching as she just stood there, keeping a few feet distance between her and him. The very act of being in such a small place with him making her nervous, seeing her eyes dart to the
small bathroom and kitchen trying to find some space she could hole up in. "Marie? I'm not going to hurt you, you know that." Her gaze rested on his for a moment and he saw her relax a little.
"Ah know. It's just been a while since anyone's been this close to me." She moved to the small sofa and perched on the end, trying to keep the dirt from marking the pale cream fabric. Logan watched her move, she was tired, thin and worn, she wasn't the same kid he'd left behind at Xaviers, something had died in her and he blamed himself
for it.
Taking a spot on the bed directly across from her he looked at her face, her eyes were ringed darkly and she looked tired. Her whole body was tense even her jaw was clenched tight, she was beat and he didn't know how she'd managed to get here intact. Sighing he just pulled her up off the couch and stripped her coat from her; she was
about to protest when he spoke, his tone annoyed. "It stinks Marie and I'm not spending time in a room with it if possible."
She was quiet after that watching him bundle the coat up and throw it in the tub in the bathroom, "We'll wash it tomorrow." He looked at the rest of her clothes, they were just as bad, going over to the bed he reached underneath and pulled out his own duffel. Searching through he pulled out a set of long johns and a red plaid shirt, "Here, go get a shower. I'll order some food. You still like pizza?" She just blinked and nodded to him as she shuffled to the bathroom, listening to the door lock click into place. The sound worrying him for some reason, he kept his eye on the door as he ordered.
The feeling of panic rising as he put the phone down, the sound of water running was the only thing he heard. No breathing, no slide of soap on skin or padding of wet feet on the bath bottom, smashing the lock open the scent of blood met his nose. Rich and deep, the red stream from her open arm mingling with the flow of the warm water, the small knife laid on the green of her coat. It's fabric drenched with water and blood, swearing Logan grabbed her using the coat as a shield. Lifting her head to see if she was still there, her eyes were rolling back
into her head and if he didn't act fast he'd lose her. Resting on the floor next to the bath he touched her cheek with his bare palm, the link roared open. Pain bloomed up his nerves as she took his healing from him, the edges of his vision clouding to grey as her eyes rolled back down. Their deep brown fired with something like anger, grinning as the world turned black he felt himself slip to the floor. The last thought on his mind was that he'd brought her home, he'd caught her again and this time he wasn't going to give her away.
Marie waited until Logan's breathing had steadied before moving him; she'd finished showering first keeping one eye on him. Her gaze going to the knife she'd used and half considering using it again until she'd remembered that, his mutation would stay with her for a day at least. So she had no out that way, if she ran he'd find her and drag her back she `knew' that without a shadow of a doubt. The new Logan in her head was pissed, royally pissed at Xavier and the rest of them and even a little at her for not talking to him. She'd always been honest with him from the start and he was upset as to why she felt uncomfortable with him now. He didn't know the changes she'd allowed herself to undergo the gentle gradual withdrawal into herself, the calmness it had given her until the letter had come.
Then it had opened the whole complex issue she hadn't been ready to deal with, and being alone she had no one she could have turned to. So she'd run, the decision coming over the lonely days and finally weeks, seeing that no one really noticed her anymore, letting her have her space, getting on with their own lives and so she'd slipped away.
Putting Logan on the bed wasn't as easy as it looked so she dragged the covers off and piled them up under his side and rolled him onto the pile. She curled up on the sofa dressed in the shirt and long johns, her bare feet tucked under. Watching him breathing, the slow rise and fall of his chest, like the sea, the sound comforting to her as she felt sleep approaching. Too tired and worn Marie let her head hit the arm of the sofa, she'd nap a while check on Logan in a little bit and she'd stay awake. He'd want to talk to her when he woke up, the Logan in her head was insisting on it and she wasn't going to get him even more riled than he would be already. Eyelids dropping Marie closed her eyes, feeling safe and wanted for the first time in months.
**********************************************************
He was on the floor, snapping awake he looked at the dark room, he could hear Marie breathing, seeing her body curled up on the sofa. Going over to the lamp he switched it on, the light casting everything in a soft warmth. The knock on the door startled him until he smelt the familiar smell of pizza wafting through the door, going
over he checked through the small spy hole first. Satisfied he paid for the pizza closing the door and bolting it shut, she wasn't going to bolt on him tonight, even if he had to hold her while she slept. She wasn't stable and she'd proved that in the bathroom earlier,
putting the food in the kitchen he thought about her actions. She wasn't like that, or at least she hadn't seemed like that, had he gotten it wrong, was she really that fragile or had it been staying with the X-geeks that had done this to her?
Whatever it was he still felt he was to blame for most of it, if he hadn't left her she wouldn't have been treated the way she had been, like a pariah. Dishing out the hot food he took their plates back into the room, seeing her nose finally get the scent of melted cheese and meat. Seeing her move awkwardly as he came closer, "Here, eat."
He didn't say anything else just yet, he was just going to let her start talking, she'd taken from him and as such, she'd know what he wanted to hear from her. Like why had she tried to kill herself when he was in the next room and if she'd asked him he'd have done it a lot faster and less painfully too. His eyes met hers and she blushed a little as she accepted the plate from his hand careful not to touch his skin.
Eating in silence, they demolished the entire 15" pizza, Marie looking brighter and more herself the more she ate. Pleased to see her appetite had returned Logan waited for her to speak to him, he knew she'd have a new version of him in her head. Knew what he wanted to hear from her and he didn't have to wait long, "Ah'm sorry."
Quirking an eyebrow he just let her continue as he kept his seat on the end of the now bare bed. "Ah didn't want them to drag you away from your search, ah thought they wouldn't know ah'd gone." She curled her arms around her knees trying to make herself as small as possible, she was trying to blame herself for his lack of care, he'd
stop that right now.
"They don't know I'm here and as far as this concerns you, it's none of their god damned business." His tone was flat and strong, her eyes widened a little as she heard him answer her, "As far as they're concerned I'm still looking for you and have been for nearly a month." He watched the information enter her watching and scenting
her changes as she realised that they'd already given up looking for her.
"Ah see." It confirmed what she'd felt when Logan had left her there she didn't fit, never had. When Jean had talked to her about her mutation and the risks it placed on the other residents she'd known then that no matter what the people at Xaviers said it would always make her feel an outsider there. Tears sprung even though she'd known they really didn't care about her; it had been a nice dream though for a while, that was until she'd been given the guestroom Logan had stayed in.
The way it had been suggested had replayed in her head all the way down here, the way Storm had made it sound so good for her. That she'd be close to Logan still, that she'd feel more at home there, even though it had been the place she'd hurt him. It had been her refuge for a while until the loneliness had entrenched itself in her heart, when the very sight of the bed reminded her of the night she'd come to help him only to end up nearly killing him.
She'd slept on the floor her last week there; she couldn't bear to sleep in the same bed as he had. She'd been alienated from him as well as everyone else, Logan's voice in her head had faded in time until the doubts and insecurities had whispered the loudest. That even he hadn't cared for her, that he'd saved her because it had been the only way to stop Magneto.
Jean hadn't helped her thoughts either she'd taken her aside to `talk' to her about Logan, about her little mannerisms that she'd adopted from him. Her looks at the other girls had been noticed and commented on by others, she'd thought she'd kept herself under control. Thing was was the thought that Jean was trying to hit on her in someway, as if she was trying to get her to open up the small store of Logan she'd had in her head. Trying to get her to reveal it so she could find out if he really was interested in her or if it was just a knee-jerk reaction to her being an attractive woman.
Everything Marie felt she wasn't, Jean would look at her after a rough night of nightmares and know she was looking inside her head. The familiar tickle of her mind was something she'd had to force out of her head more than once, feeling it searching through her memories. The single comfort she'd had of feeling Logan with her when
she'd awoken sick to her stomach and retching, him apologising and trying to comfort her had been stripped away by Jean.
She'd been thinking about the Logan in her head comforting her when she'd heard the derisive snort leave her perfect nose. Turning round to see Jean trying to hide a smile as she'd spoken to her, telling her she was projecting her thoughts and did she really think Logan would care about something he knew nothing about. She'd closed that part of Logan off in her mind after that and had withdrawn further.
Logan could sense her fear of being here with him, she was frightened of getting it wrong, of annoying him and making him even more upset. It was as if she didn't know him or he hadn't risked everything he'd had to bring her back from the dead. Whatever they'd done to her had been progressive and on purpose an for that he'd be going to visit Westchester after Marie was settled and have a few `discussions' with the residents. His growl slipped out and he saw Marie twitch nervously, he cleared his throat and moved off the end of the bed toward her. She tried to dig into the back of the sofa as the tears slipped free of her control, "Logan ah'm sorry, ah never meant to
hurt you, or drag you here. Ah know you want to be somewhere else, you don't want to be dragging around a kid."
Her head was lowered and he held in the growl he wanted to shout out, diverting himself he grabbed his duffel and threw on a shirt, his gloves as well. Standing over her he pulled her off the sofa, wrapping himself around her, feeling her struggle for a moment trying to get free. "Stop Marie, I'm not gonna hurt ya. Tell me what happened; tell me what they did to ya. I'm not mad at you, it's them I want to carve into." Her arms slowly wound round him and held onto him like he was the last
standing piece of life in the world. Her tears were soaking into his shirt and he could smell the relief coming from her, as he gently rocked back and forth with her like he'd done in her head. Soothing her until she was ready to face the reasons why she'd run and why she
was here, he wasn't the most patient of people but for Marie he'd wait.
It took ten minutes of holding her until she was capable of stringing a full sentence together, his shirt took most of the tears but his temper still wasn't settled. It wouldn't be until he got to the bottom of what had happened since he'd left nearly nine months ago.
He pulled her into the blankets and the covers that were still on the floor, wrapping her up first and holding her through the warmth. "Why are ya here Logan?"
He had to think about it for a second before giving her the truth.
"You need me." It was the truth plain and simple, she'd needed him there and he'd been chasing ghosts for the first three months and drifted for the rest of it. Pissed off at the world for not giving him what he wanted, being a child about it instead of going back and seeing how she was.
She moved a little to look at his face, "How long have you been here?" inside she knew he'd remembered what she'd told him about her home. The times she'd been happy before things had gone wrong and she'd skipped town with only fifty dollars and a few pieces of jewellery stolen from her mother.
"I told you, I've been here a while waiting for you. I knew you'd come this way so I just waited."
"You knew huh?"
"Yup."
She was silent for a while as her mind filled in the blanks for herself, looking around the small apartment she could see the signs of occupation. He'd been here a while, a couple of weeks at least if the amount of wear on the carpet near the window was any judge. She knew he was a pacer, if there was something on his mind he'd stick
near the place he needed to look at and wait. Changing position every hour almost on the hour, she'd done it herself over the months until his presence had faded inside her mind until he was just a set of habits she'd clung onto. He'd been waiting for her to arrive and he'd
known just how she'd come too, "You knew I'd be coming by train?"
Logan nodded and his gaze went outside his arm hugging her to him.
"I knew it when I left, after they'd told me they couldn't find you. Best place to get lost is in a place filled with other minds, cattle may be stupid but there's more than one. Easy to hide in and warm."
He felt her relax a little more into his grip on her, her breathing settling down as she fought sleep. He had some news though, something she had to hear just in case she wanted to go home, he didn't want her walking into something unprepared. "Marie?" Her face surfaced out of the calm warmth and fug it had settled into.
"Hhhmm?"
"There's something you should know, Xavier sent someone here to find you. They went to your home." The words made her tense and her eyes go wide in something between anger and fear.
"They…they went…" her voice was shaking her scent turned to terror and she withdrew again.
**********************************************************
The letter that was now paper mache in her pocket of her green coat came back to haunt her, the words on the paper burning into heart. Her mother had found God, believing in the words of the religious right, that she had been punished in the eyes of God. Her child was a demon and should have no rights in the kingdom of heaven or on earth, her aunt had tried to convince her that she was wrong. That the words she was hearing from the preachers were against the teachings of Christ, that he taught tolerance and love not hatred and anger. But her mother had lost everything and it had seemed that they had all
the answers and prayers, she'd found a new family in their thoughts and embrace.
Her aunt had asked her to come home, to show her that she really wasn't a monster that she was still her daughter, still human. She had nothing left at Xaviers, no one would miss her and she knew the whole place would feel more relaxed without her there. Logan was following his own past, trying to piece together whatever he had left
and she'd known she couldn't be a part of that either. So she'd gone, hoping against everything else telling her that she could find something to hold onto back home, that there was part of her life that wanted her still.
When she'd seen Logan she'd thought they'd sent him to bring her home, to find her and hand her over to the fake smile of Jean and the well meaning talks from Xavier. She couldn't let him do it, not after she'd taken all the risks to get here, the nights of hopping trains of waiting for the right connections under platforms. Listening to the conversations of people and crying herself to sleep when the pain of loneliness ate too deep into her, knowing she had to make it home.
Yet, when she'd seen him she'd hoped it had been a dream that he wasn't real that she'd made him appear out of her memories. His touch on her had solidified everything, his hands his warmth as he'd held her, his scent telling her he was real. An if he was real then they'd found her and she'd be made to go back to Westchester, she belonged
to Xavier now, she had no place else to be, nowhere else wanted her.
Listening to the words Logan had told her, that they'd been to her home before she had, she could almost see the porch and the way Scott and Jean would've handled it. Being polite but firm asking about her and finding her not there, her mother answering the door and her face souring as she realised what they were and who they were. It shattered her brittle insides, she'd kept the hope of being the first to see her mother alive, but they'd ruined that as well.
She knew what Jean was like when she came upon people that she thought of as bigots; she'd be nasty, manipulative and cruel. Scott would just look superior, backing up his wife, trying to look the better of the two, his own silence telling the recipient that he was the alternative to discussion. The threat implied by his silence and demeanour, making Logan look soft by comparison. If they'd been there she couldn't go home, not now, it had been worthless, the entire thing had been a waste of time. No matter where she went they'd reach out and touch her life, staining it in someway and making it impossible for her.
She wanted to die, her last hope gone she clutched at the arm wrapped around her, feeling the solid muscle and knowing the death it held within. "Logan."
"Yeah kid?" She lifted her face to see his looking at her and she knew he could sense what she was going to ask him, his eyes grew hard and he shook his head. "No. We go see first, I'm not going to let this stop you. You've come this far and I'll be coming with you. You're not alone Marie, not anymore."
His eyes softened as he said it, sensing his own guilt at her state she let him make the decision. He deserved that much from her, after all, he'd saved her again when he didn't have to, she could feel him inside telling her she was safe now. She had nothing to worry about he wasn't going to leave her behind, she was his and he'd take care of her. The shattered parts of her ego were wrapped around that thought, that maybe Logan was the only person who gave a damn about her. The one person who actually cared about who she was and how she felt, a small chuckle left her mouth as she thought about the irony. Wolverine, the bad-ass king of the cage worried about a girl who'd he'd only known for a few days but had risked his life to save four times now. Settling into that meagre warmth she fell asleep, her body wrapped up safely in a blanket her head resting on his shoulder listening to his heartbeat as she fell away into darkness.
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She slept well but he didn't, he kept going over what her reaction to him had been, as if she'd expected him to just hand her back over to Xavier. Her fear of him and her desperate attempt at freedom had closed every avenue concerning them for him. If she thought dying was a better option then she'd never be going near them again, he just wondered exactly what could have happened to her for that to be her response.
Angry his mind went through the information Jean had given him over the phone, realising it wasn't enough he had to know. Glancing at the clock, he read the dial, 11.30pm, that would be 10.30 at Westchester, there'd be a good chance that someone would still be up. Pulling over the phone he dialled the number on the back of his wallet, he'd written it there just in case. He wasn't going to leave himself without a back up plan and Chuck had told him he'd be welcome back. The phone rang three times before it was picked up; the cheery voice on the end of the line sounded a little drunk, "Yes titanic engine rooms how can I help you?" The sound of laughter rankled him and he moved the phone to his other ear, leaving Marie sleeping on his thigh his gloved hand resting in her hair.
"Is Jean there?" The noise rose and the voice shouted out for Jean, the shouts of the party were grating on him further and he almost put the phone down. The voice returned and he could almost hear the bottle being emptied by the side of the receiver.
"I'm afraid we don't have a Jean here at the moment but we do have a Kitty, a Andrea, a Jubilee and a very drunk Annabel." His patience snapped.
"Listen you little fucker, get Cyclops or fucking Jean on this line right now and I might forget your voice when I finally get round to coming home!" The silence on the other end was almost palpable and he could hear the smash of glass on the floor on the other end.
"Wolverine?" The voice was timid and suddenly the shouting stopped in the room behind the voice as the word settled out across the room.
"Fucking `A – star', well done! Now where are they?!" The voice trembled on the other end of the line, swallowing quickly.
"Erm, they went out on a rescue mission, there's no one here except the older students. Even the Professor went with them." Logan grunted, if he'd gone with them, then it must have been important.
"Get this number down and tell them I want someone to ring me as soon as they get back, its IMPORTANT." He was about to give him the number when he heard someone call the listeners name, `Who is it Bobby? Is it the Professor?' Logan seethed as he finally put the voice and face together. Blond hair, blue eyes, that vacant middle class stare and the preppy attitude, growling he ground out his words.
"You're Bobby?" The voice on the other end was silent but he could hear the heartbeat increase, "If I find out you hurt her in anyway bub I'll be coming back to visit you. Personally, privately." He heard the breathing on the other end cease, "You still there kid?"
The voice answered shaky and now very sober.
"Yes sir, I'm still here."
"Good, now get this number down," he rattled off the number of his phone making Bobby repeat it three times to be sure he had it right. "You personally stay up until they get back and I want your voice to be the first one I hear when this phone rings. Understand me, boy?" He emphasised `boy' and his tone was understood, just
before he put the phone down Bobby spoke up, his voice a little stronger, a little eager.
"Did you find her, have you found Rogue?" Logan rested his hand on her head wondering what she'd think if she heard him saying what he was about to say.
"Why? It's not as if you kept looking, it's none of your business if I have or I haven't." He could hear the start of an argument behind Bobby, someone was having trouble with the ending of the party, a crash sounded out and he heard Bobby's voice shout out `Will you
please shut the fuck up! Jesus John, I'm trying to find out if Rogue's been found!' Logan dropped the receiver when he heard that and he could almost see the young man looking at the dead phone in his hand and wondering if he should dare to ring him back.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This one came from the depths of my own life, the loss of acceptance in a place where you expected to have it given freely. Marie has someone to catch her when she falls thankfully.