Marie stood behind her daughter helping her braid up her long dark hair. The fifteen-year-old girl's hazel eyes sparkled as she watched her mother in the mirror. She wore a cute blue top and a white skirt, a silver necklace with a charm in the shape of a dog tag around her neck and dangling silver earrings. Marie's eyes met hers as she finished. She turned with an arm around her shoulders and held her out at arm's length for a moment, her brown eyes growing misty with the thought of her little girl going out on her first date. This was such a special moment.
“You look beautiful, sugar,” Marie said, kissing Charlotte on the cheek and giving her a big hug, thankful for the thousandth time that she had learned long ago to control her power-draining mutation. The young girl's slender arms wrapped around her waist and they stood like that for a moment, mother and daughter both the same height and general build, both with long dark hair and fair skin. If it weren't for the faint wrinkles at the corners of Marie's eyes, you would think they were sisters.
“Thank you, Mama,” Charlotte replied happily. Marie could see the excitement shining in her eyes.
Just then the doorbell rang. Marie heard her husband yell, “I'll get it.”
Marie and Charlotte looked at each other.
“Should we rescue RJ from Daddy, Mama?” Charlotte asked, her eyes widening with sudden apprehension.
A moment's thought decided Marie. “No. If your Daddy makes him sweat a little, all the better. Men, and boys, need to learn that they can't have everything their way all the time, and better sooner rather than later. I can keep Daddy from being too rough, sugar.” If I want to, she added silently.
It wasn't that Remy Junior was a bad boy. Sure, he'd inherited more than his fair share of Remy and Jubilee's rather...interesting personality traits, but having watched him grow up, Marie knew he had a heart of gold, just like his parents. It was just that Marie knew the way adolescent boys, not to mention adolescent girls, thought, and while she didn't object to a little kissing and cuddling for her daughter, she sure as hell wanted that boy scared enough that he wouldn't try pressuring her to go too far too fast. If anyone could manage that, it would be Logan.
So Marie kept Charlotte busy for a few moments, fussing with her make-up and adding a few silver spangles to her wrist. Then she led the way down the short hall of their small cottage on the estate of the Xavier School for Gifted Children, stopping just before the door to the living room and motioning Charlotte to do the same. Raising a finger to her lips, she indicated that they should listen to what was going on.
“So, RJ, you're taking Charlotte to the movies, are you?” Logan's gravely voice was only made scarier by being overly cheerful.
Marie peeked around the corner and saw Logan and RJ sitting, the older man in his favorite recliner and the younger, back ramrod straight, on the couch. The poor youngster's spiky red hair, inherited from his father, looked to be standing straight up without any use of hair products. Marie had to keep herself from snickering and pulled back so that she could enjoy the coming chat in comfort.
“Yes, Mr. Logan, sir, that is, we're going to go see the one she's been talking about. It's a remake of a really old movie called 'Hellraiser.' Charlotte says she loves the ones that make her blood curdle, and this one's supposed to live up to the original, according to the reviews.” RJ was babbling. Marie could hear the slight note of panic in his voice. Now what could be causing that? She peaked again. Ah. Logan had popped the claws of one hand and was idly cleaning them. Not that he needed to, but it seemed to be making for a good intimidation technique.
“'Hellraiser,' huh? I saw it in theaters. It was a decent horror flick,” Logan said flatly. Marie grinned. RJ probably had no idea how old he really was. Hell, no one did know how old Logan was, but he only looked to be in his mid-thirties at most.
The gulp was audible. This was just getting better and better.
“So you like my daughter, RJ? Marie and me, we think she's pretty damn special ourselves. Good to know that someone else sees what a fine, intelligent, sensitive young lady she is. I'm so glad that she didn't decide to date some jerk who wouldn't give a damn about leaving her heart lying in pieces on the ground because he couldn't get his head out of his ass,” Logan commented calmly.
That's when the babbling really started. “Of course, Mr. Logan, I do think Charlotte's great, she's the prettiest girl in school, she's so nice when people want her help with homework, and they all want her help because she's so smart, I don't think I would like it if anyone hurt her feelings either, the whole school would probably be pretty pissed.”
That's when Marie smelled singed leather and sighed. Perhaps two people with a fire-affinity to their mutation really shouldn't have had children, although all of Remy and Jubilee's kids were pretty cute up until they hit the stage where their mutations kicked in. That's when all hell broke loose for at least a year. So far there had been three of those years, including RJ and two of his younger sisters. Marie shooed Charlotte back a few steps and said loudly as she began walking towards the living room entrance again, “Now, Charlotte, you have a good time tonight with RJ. Don't forget that you have your first combat class tomorrow morning, though, so staying out late probably isn't the best idea.”
They entered the living room. Logan's claws had disappeared, but there was a hand-print shaped scorch mark on the brown leather sofa. Despite that, Marie gave RJ a big smile and a hug. “Why, RJ, don't you look nice! All Charlotte's been able to talk about lately is this movie. It's so sweet of you to take her. Make sure you give your Mama a kiss from me and let her know I'll see her tomorrow, okay? We all want to be there for your class,” Marie said wickedly.
RJ's face paled for a moment at the reminder, then he turned to Charlotte. His eyes lit up until they matched the glow in hers. He stammered a greeting to both of them, and then Marie took pity on him and subtly hurried the two youngsters towards the door. She and Logan stood in the doorway and watched them get into the backseat of Jubilee's canary yellow SUV. The parents waved to each other and then Jubilee drove off.
Logan reached up to rub the back of Marie's neck, already smelling the tears welling up in her eyes.
“She's growing up so fast, Logan,” Marie said softly. “Then it will be Jimmy's turn, then Jean's. It's not fair, how quickly they grow up.”
“I know, darlin'. Look at it this way, though. After the way I scared the fire out of that boy, at least little Charlotte won't be growing up too fast, too soon!” The grin Logan shot her was pure evil. Her returning grin equaled his.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
I had the idea for this while listening to the song, "Cleaning This Gun" by Rodney Atkins. I could just picture Logan doing this! And this may not seem like humor to some, but I know the mental picture sure had me laughing!
Dislaimer: Marvel owns the canon characters. I own Charlotte & RJ. Yippee!
Dislaimer: Marvel owns the canon characters. I own Charlotte & RJ. Yippee!