Marie watched for her expected new neighbors a week later. She was just finishing up her rewritten “Cinderella” story when she heard someone pull up in front of the building. She got up and stretched, then went over to the window overlooking the street and peered out.
A moving truck sat there, and a black convertible pulled up behind it not a minute later. Logan and Storm got out of the car at the same time as two men opened the truck’s doors. Bobby and St. John went around to the back of the truck and released the catch, allowing the door to slide up.
Marie’s breath caught when she saw St. John. It’d been years since she’d seen her friend. He definitely looked older and a lot more mature than he had at sixteen. Seeing him brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad, that she’d avoided in these last few years.
With a weird sort of perception, both Logan and St. John looked up to see her staring down at them. Logan frowned and turned away, but St. John grinned and almost waved before remembering that he wasn’t supposed to know her, that he was, in fact, supposed to be a mover. It was the sort of thing that made St. John who he was, and Marie laughed a little to see that at least some things hadn’t changed.
For the rest of the day she went on with her normal activities. She wrote, cooked, cleaned up a little, then wrote some more. Finally, around 10 pm she was tired enough to sleep.
Marie never went to bed until she was sure she’d be gone the second her head hit the pillow. It was too hard, lying awake in the dark, cold and alone in a bed built for two. She never stayed in bed if she couldn’t sleep. Instead, she’d get up, make herself some hot chocolate, and watch late night TV until she really was tired.
This was not a sleep-as-soon-as-your-head-hits-the-pillow night. Marie realized very quickly that she was in no state to go to bed yet, despite how tired she was, so she got back up and went into the kitchen to make her hot chocolate. As she watched the cup spinning around in the microwave, her thoughts drifted to what she was about to do.
It would probably mean at least prison for Remy. Those humans who kidnapped mutants had gotten sentences of imprisonment when they’d been caught, mostly because there were enough mutant supporters in the government to push the charges through. Of course, there were more supporters of the new Humanity First political party, as it was on the rise in mainstream politics. If Remy were to be caught and convicted of kidnapping humans, the consequences would not be pretty.
Marie sighed as the timer on the microwave went off. She retrieved her cup and went into the living room, deciding to curl up on the couch and think some more. Once she got started on pondering her life, it was often difficult for Marie to stop.
Her mind slipped back to the days when she’d first become a Shadow. All of the teens hiding in the run-down building were runaways, and all were mutants. Each had experienced some sort of trauma when their power exhibited itself full force, causing them to break away from the lives they’d known.
She hadn’t been sure whom to trust back then. She’d been so afraid that her parents would find her, would make her go back home and then institutionalize her or something worse, that she’d decided not to be Marie anymore. That’s when she had become the Rogue.
As the Rogue, she was a scout for the Shadows, making sure that all of the jobs they did were secure before, during and after. She’d killed only once, but that violent death had convinced her that she never wanted to do so again. She avoided any job that seemed more dangerous than the usual sort after that.
No one in the Shadows was there to make friends, but it happened anyway. Rogue came to cherish her friendships with Pyro and others like him. One girl, known as Cara by everyone, was an especially frail mutant who raised Rogue’s protective instincts. She made sure that Cara had enough to eat and drink every day, and that no one messed with her.
Rogue’s first meeting with Gambit was the night of Cara’s death. She gone out with two other Shadows to rob one of the richer jewelry stores in town, an old shop owned by a human who foolishly thought that it could be protected by a less-than-state-of-the-art alarm system. Rogue had filled her bag with fine diamonds, sapphires and rubies and was just getting ready to leave when she saw the most beautifully delicate emerald-encrusted butterfly. The bejeweled insect had made her think of Cara, so she picked it up and slipped it into her pocket quickly on the way out.
Rogue didn’t have a chance to give Cara the pendant, though. When they reached the set of abandoned Victorians that the Shadows had made into their homes, Rogue went up to Cara’s room to find her friend lying cold and still on her cot. For some reason, Cara’s mutation, the ability to freeze particles of air into shards of ice, had gotten out of her control. She’d frozen the air in her own lungs.
Rogue was kneeling on the floor beside the dead girl, weeping hysterically, when Gambit had found her. He picked her up, ignoring her frantic cries to put her down so that her skin wouldn’t hurt him, and carried her to her room. On the way, he told one of the other Shadows to get rid of Cara’s body.
Although she refused to talk for almost an entire week, Gambit stayed with her, making sure that she ate and telling her parts of his own story. Other friends also watched over her, but it was Gambit she came to feel the most grateful for. And that was how their relationship began.
Looking back, it was a pretty sorry reason to go out with someone, but he was one of the few men she was attracted to who was actually willing to touch her, who didn’t seem to care about the fact that her skin could drain the life out of him in seconds. That made her attraction to him all that much stronger, Marie supposed.
Marie was finally ready to go to bed. After putting her cup in the sink, she walked heavily to her room, crawling under the sheets and pulling them tight around her. Thankfully, sweet oblivion caught her up as soon as her eyes closed.
Their first meeting was spontaneous enough, at least on Marie’s part. She’d spent the last few years so much alone that she’d almost forgotten how to deal with all of the social niceties of friends, but it all came back to her rather quickly. To her surprise, after a quick knock on her door and pretend introductions, she found herself laughing at her small kitchen table with Jubilee and Kitty, each with a cup of hot chocolate in front of her, being regaled with stories of growing up at their school for mutants. It reminded her of the better days she had spent with the Shadows, when they’d managed to scare up enough for everyone to eat well and relax for a week or so.
More visits followed, with Jubilee and Kitty “introducing” her to Ororo and Logan. Soon they were getting together every few days for dinner or a night of movies watched on the TV in one apartment or the other. Marie learned more about each of them, some of which she even believed, and she began to feel close to the other women. Logan, and her reaction to him, was another story. Marie couldn’t understand how he did it, but every time they were together in a group he managed to say something that would put her guard up, some sarcastic comment, and she’d shoot back at him. She was pretty proud of the fact that she usually gave as good as she got. There would be a moment of silence, and then Jubilee or Kitty or Ororo would pick up the conversation again as if nothing ever happened. Logan also wasn’t nearly as forthcoming about his past as the three women, and they were never alone together.
Marie learned that Ororo had an amazing ability with the weather. There were times when her control was a little off, such as the day they learned that a mutant down the street had disappeared and storm clouds quickly gathered in the sky above their building, but she usually kept a tight grip on her powers and rarely used them in overt ways. Jubilee was another story. She enjoyed showing off her “sparklies” whenever the opportunity presented itself. Marie did make the rule that no sparklies were allowed near her precious computer. Kitty’s ability to walk through walls--and other objects like sofas if she wasn’t careful--was kept as quiet as possible. They saw no need to worry the neighbors. They were after bigger fish, after all.
Logan remained a mystery to Marie as the weeks passed. She had no idea what his mutation could be, although she was sure he had one. The older she got, the easier it was to spot mutants. They all had ways of reacting to hide whatever it was that made them different, if they could. Logan tended to be careless with sharp objects but moved deliberately at all times, as if he was more aware of what his body was doing than any other person she’d ever known. There were times that she saw something almost feral in his eyes, especially when she mentioned her husband, so she avoided that topic as much as possible when they weren’t discussing their “mission.”
It felt good to be part of a group again, even if it was only for a little while. They went over their plans in Jubilee and Kitty’s apartment. Marie was sure that Remy didn’t have their apartment bugged, but they decided that there was no reason to overlook what might be a necessary precaution later on. So far, the five of them had decided that petty thievery was out. Remy would never believe that Marie suddenly had the itch for that after so many years of being content with the life he was providing her with. Ororo suggested gray market dealing in items she could provide from her own country. She thought that such a business would be a more logical one to have lured a young, lonely housewife into, and Marie had to agree there. Still, she wasn’t very comfortable dealing with something less than legal if it wasn’t a matter of survival. Only the reminder of what they were trying to stop persuaded her to go along with that plan.
Logan settled onto the couch in the apartment he was sharing with Ororo. While they had one time enjoyed a quick fling, it had settled into as deep a friendship as he ever permitted himself. They hadn't been physically intimate in years, but they were comfortable around each other and able to live in the same space without driving each other crazy, especially if duty called for it, which it did in this case.
As Logan let himself relax into the cushions underneath him, he closed his eyes and tried to block out the night noises around him. Sirens echoed in the distance but close enough for his ears to pick up. A baby cried somewhere a few buildings down. And one floor below him, a woman was crying. Logan growled and turned onto his side, resisting the urge to let his claws snap out.
Every time he thought of Marie—never Rogue anymore, really, and always Marie—he couldn't help the frustration that built up in him. What had happened to that woman to make her think that what she had was the best she could get in life? Every time he turned around, there she was, acting as if a lonely apartment and a computer were the only things she needed, wanted. Then some nights, like tonight, he would hear sobs that felt as if they ripped into his soul and pulled it towards her. He didn't want that. He didn't want a connection with her, but damn if one didn't seem to be forming despite both their attempts to antagonize each other.
Maybe it was her eyes. He was beginning to realize that Marie carried her whole soul in those eyes when she actually allowed you to see it. They were deep and dark, something he thought maybe she was sometimes. Kitty and Jubilee had been able to draw out more about how her mutation affected her and those around her. It seemed that she kept a part of the psyche of each person she touched permanently imprinted in her mind. Maybe she wasn't as lonely as he thought, if she had all those personalities up there, although they probably weren't much of a substitute for simple human—or mutant—kindness. The smiles she would give the women sometimes, when they did something nice for her or initiated a hug or a squeeze of her hand...those smiles were just beautiful. They lit up her face, and for a few moments she seemed truly, deeply happy. It was enough to take Logan's breath away. Usually he reacted to this by becoming gruffer even though he hated to see that smile fall when he blurted out some sarcastic remark. However, the spark that burned to life in her eyes when she came up with a good retort was almost worth losing that smile. It added a dimension to her that he really didn't want to know, a spitfire who could take care of herself.
Logan often had to remind himself that she had taken care of herself. From what they had learned from St. John and her own admissions, she'd been alone since she was sixteen, three months after putting the first boy to kiss her into a coma. For four years she had run with that Shadow gang, and from what St. John said she'd been more than able to hold her own. Sometimes he saw flashes of that when they were discussing their mission or when she got angry with him for some stupid remark, but then other times she seemed to soft and sad that he wanted to gather her in his arms and reassure her that she wasn't alone. He'd had his fill of reaching out to women who belonged to other men, though, so it was safer to keep his distance.
Distance was on his mind, and distance was what he hoped for, as his mind slipped into dreams. Instead, Marie was there, dark hair draped across a pillow, smooth skin suddenly touchable, shining eyes watching him as he ran his hands over her body. She moaned, pulling his mouth down to hers with soft hands. Their lips met and seemed to burst into flame. Tongues dueled, wet flesh sliding together and apart, teeth nipping and stinging. The feel of her, pliant and soft beneath him, drove him crazy. His hands found her round breasts, his mouth captured her moans as he pinched her nipples. He felt her body arch into his, press into him. He used one thigh to part hers, growling when he felt the moist heat there. His hands slid down to cup her buttocks, drawing her closer as her legs fell to either side, inviting him.
He pressed kisses to her jaw, her neck, his tongue worshiping the planes of her collarbone before he finally let his mouth find one of those tempting peaks. She screamed when he sucked strongly, her fingers tangled in his hair. She moaned when his mouth left her and then screamed again from the pleasure as his mouth found her other nipple and lavished the same attention on it. Meanwhile, he took one hand from her hip, slid it over to dip between her legs, playing with the curls there for a moment before he simply had to feel the heat of her, the slick folds that told him she was more than ready. She made the sexiest little sound in her throat when he rubbed her sensitive nub, a sound that transformed into a strangled cry when he slid first one, then another finger into her, swirling his fingers expertly. His thumb pressed on her clitoris, and she was bucking and screaming for him, holding him tightly.
After she came down from her orgasm, she ran her hands over him, exploring his chest as his mouth played with hers. Her fingers followed the trail of hair down his stomach, and then her hot fingers were wrapping around him, pulling him down to her. He growled as she guided him into her, feeling relief at the moist welcome of her body. Then they were moving together, and the only thing he felt was how tight she was, how right she felt even as she convulsed around him in her second and third orgasms. Then he found his own heaven in her arms, crying out her name. When he came down from his high he rolled off and held her in his arms as they both drifted off to sleep.
Logan woke slowly. He could swear his arms were still full of willing woman for half a second, and then he realized that it was morning, he was alone on the couch, and there was a large wet spot on the front of the sweatpants he wore in deference to Storm...or so he told himself. If he were being honest, he wasn't sure he could handle her waking up before him, coming into the main room of the apartment and seeing him with a raging hard-on. He really, truly hoped he wasn't calling out Marie's name in reality as well as in his dreams.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Some pondering, some plotting, and a dream...I think you'll like it. ;-) Apparently I can't keep these things clean for anything these days, though!
Chapter End Notes:
So, how did you like Logan's dream? ;-) Told you they'd be drawing together, just the way they should be!