Logan shifted his gaze back to Marie after making the right turn she’d pointed out onto one of the main streets of Meridian. It looked like any of the other towns they’d passed through, but Marie’s reaction that was hardly ordinary. She’d begun fidgeting as soon as they had crossed the state line and she’d dug a pair of gloves out almost reflexively; he’d unceremoniously plucked them from her hands and tossed them out the window.
To which, her eyes had gotten as big as saucers and she’d gasped out that they’d, ‘cost her a month’s worth of allowance and besides didn’t he know they hung people for litterin’ in the south?’
Logan had met her fluttering anxious eyes and retorted, “Well, Darlin’, if they can find a rope strong enough to string me up it’ll be one hell o’ a surprise when I just keep on kickin’!” The near hysterical giggle that escaped, he assumed at the thought of a lynch mob staring at his struggling purple face, had taken the edge off her tension, but it was still there ready to ratchet up another notch.
“Ya see that light,” she pointed ahead and he barely kept from muttering only a blind man could miss it, but instead he’d grunted an affirmative. “Ya’ll need to get in the turn lane, but the next turn is a right so ya gonna have to stay to the right or ya’ll miss it.”
Logan nodded and flipped on his blinker, getting in the turn lane they waited for it to change. When it did the tension exploded from Marie’s side of the SUV. “Calm down, Darlin’, you said your mother was happy to hear from you.”
“She was,” Marie rung her hands.
Logon thought about that a minute if it wasn’t seeing her mother that was the source of all that angst then, “You worried about what your dad will say?” It was just a guess, but the way her shoulders had straightened and then slumped answered for her. “He the reason you took off?”
“No,” Marie twisted her fingers together and then indicated that he should make the next left. “When it all happened the doctor’s thought it was somethin’ wrong with Cody, but Ah new it wasn’t. Ah wouldn’t let anybody get near to me Ah pretty much refused to leave mah room, but one night Ah heard mah momma cryin’ and mah daddy was tellin’ her it would be okay. They was talkin’ about sellin’ the house and movin’ somewhere else. Mah Daddy’s been preacher at the church since mah granddaddy retired and before him mah great granddaddy was in the pulpit. Ah remember Ah was standin’ there in the hall, mah bare feet cold on the wooden floor, and Ah just knew Ah didn’t belong there anymore, Ah’d have to leave so they could stay where they belonged.”
Logan heard the sorrow in her words, but he couldn’t help but think that her parents had driven all the way to Westchester, New York to get their daughter back. “I think,” he murmured as he stopped at a stop sign, “they love you, Darlin’, and I’m betting your dad will just be happy you’re home.”
“Good because that house there on the left is them,”
Marie told him, her eyes challenging as he jerked in surprise. “Not feelin’ so confident now are ya?”
“Hell, Darlin’ they’re gonna love you, but if my baby girl came home draggin’ the likes of me behind her, well death would be a service I’d provide for free.” Easing away from the stop sign Logan pulled up to the house she’d indicated and put the SUV in park, pocketing the keys. “You ready to seal my fate,” Logan asked with a smile as he got out of the driver’s side and rounded the car to her door; opening it he stood waiting for her to step out when she didn’t immediately move Logan leaned in and took her hand. “Come on, baby.”
Once she was on the curb Logan shut the car door and turned back to where Marie stood, nervously twisting her fingers. Stepping close to her Logan smiled down into her upturned face; taking her hands in his he kissed her knuckles and then stepped toward the house leading her up the front steps.
________________________________________
“Was that a car,” Owen sighed, placing his open Bible face down on his side table. This was the fourth time she’d questioned the sound of a passing car and he’d gotten up every time to appease her. “It sounded like a car stopping out front,” Priscilla dithered as she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dish towel.
Pushing the curtain aside Owen peered out and indeed there was someone parked in front of the house; it was a fairly up-scale vehicle, well kempt and at odds with the man rounding the front to open the passenger door.
Frowning Owen moved to drop the curtain, but stopped when the man reached into the door and helped his Marie from the car. “Is it Marie and her young man?”
“Well,” he said, not sparing a glance for his wife as he watched the man pull his Marie’s hands to his face and kiss them gently. “It’s Marie, but I don’t think her ‘young’ man is as young as we thought he’d be.”
“What do you- Oh my,” the sound of his wife’s voice wasn’t only that of shock at the man’s age but also appreciation and Owen decided right then that next Sunday’s sermon would be on covetousness and lust.
“Thou shalt not salivate over other men in front of your husband,” he groused, “I mean really, Priss, it isn’t bad enough that you inveigled me into letting our daughter and her ‘young’,” he made air quotes around the word to emphasize his sarcasm, “man sleep in the same bed, and yet I have to sit by and watch you ogle him, too?”
“So, you’re sayin’,” Priscilla turned to him with an arched eyebrow and her sarcasm met his tone for tone, “all those times we ended up at Hooters after Sunday service was because you really like their wings?”
“I- well-I-uhm…” Owen had to admit he was caught there, “The kids like the wings, is all.”
“Sure they do, Sugah, that’s exactly why they go with ya.” Shaking her head with a laugh she snapped her towel at his backside and ordered, “Pluck the log from your own eye before you preach about my splinter. Now, go open the door and be nice to Logan.”
Owen grumbled the whole way to the door and decided that the next sermon would be on husbands being submissive to their wives; he stop hand on the door handle and shook his head sadly at the mess that was that thought. Maybe he should just let Priss preach this Sunday.
Pulling the door open and pushing the screen door outward he forgot about everything as he found himself face to face with his baby girl; not thinking he reached for Marie as he cried, “Lady Bug, where have you been?”
“Daddy,” she exclaimed, and she allowed him to hug her to him.
“We were so worried,” Owen informed her as he tightened his hold and then released her. “What were you thinking?”
“Ah was mostly fine,” Marie defended her choice, “Ah couldn’t let y’all throw everythin’ away for me.”
“Anne Marie,” her mother chided as she pulled Marie into a fierce hug, “You know full well that ain’t an excuse for hightailin’ it with nothin’ but a note.”
“Yes, Mamma,” Marie murmured, and when her mother released her there were tears on both women’s cheeks.
The man called Logan stepped forward placing a hand at the small of Marie’s back and met Owen’s eyes as he extended his hand, “Name is Logan Howlett.” The handshake was firm, that was good, and there was no shiftiness in the man’s eyes as he introduced himself; it didn’t make up for the fact that the man was old enough to be her father, but at least he appeared on the up and up.
“I’m Owen and this is my wife, Priscilla, we’re glad to meet you.” The look of surprised, hopefulness that flickered in the younger man’s eyes briefly gave Owen pause, to think that maybe just maybe Logan was more of a decent sort than he’d first thought. “We got dinner on the table out back; Marie why don’t you and Logan get your things and settle in your room.”
“Yes, daddy,” she turned to comply, but Logan stopped her.
“You go on with your folks,” he smiled gently at her tucking one of her blond streaks behind her ear. Owen wondered when she’d gotten into dyeing her hair in such an odd way. As ritzy as that boarding school was he wondered that they didn’t seem to have a dress code. “I’ll find you when I’m done besides I need to make a call.”
“Thanks,” she murmured with a big smile, digging a small cell phone from her pocket and handing it to Logan. He took it bending down to briefly brush his lips over the silk of Marie’s hair. “Our room is the one to the right of the stairs, Sugah.”
Owen watched as Logan turned toward the truck and
Priscilla pulled Marie into the house the two of them chattering like they always used to do. Instead of following after his women folk he stayed on the steps for a few minutes and watched Logan as he rounded the back of the SUV with the cell pressed to his ear. Waiting a minute longer he stepped down onto the sidewalk and slowly made his way to the vehicle.
“Listen, Bub,” Logan was growling into the phone, “I know things are heating up, but Rogue is my only concern. So, Xavier made a mess and he made more than a few enemies that ain’t my concern; what is my concern is getting me and mine out the other side of this shit storm alive. So, me and Rogue will return when I think she’s good and damned ready for the fight. She’ll stay alive no matter what.”
Owen listened while Logan growled a few responses to whomever was on the other line and he felt his fear for his daughter ratchet up a notch. Who was Rogue and what sort of enemies did that man, Professor Xavier have? Owen’s mind was so intent on puzzling out Logan’s phone call that he nearly jumped out of his skin when the man called out gruffly, “You got somethin’ you want to say to me?”
Rounding the vehicle Owen found Logan sitting in the open storage compartment with an unlit cigar clenched in his teeth. Taking a few minutes he just studied the other man; he could tell by the whitening of Logan’s knuckles he wasn’t as relaxed as he outwardly appeared. The man also appeared to be making sure Owen new all his bad qualities; it was behavior he was used to now, they all made sure he knew just how unlikeable they were.
“What’s your mutation,” he asked and Logan’s eyes narrowed, before he lifted his right fist and three metal blades shot from it. Owen knew his eyes widened, nine inch blades, which were impressive even for a man that dealt with mutants every day. He watched as the retracted and the man’s hand healed up immediately.
“I heal,” Logan watched him with keen eyes and Owen nodded. “The claws, well there part of my mutation, but Uncle Sam supplied the up-grades.”
“You were a soldier,” Owen asked, the way Logan said Uncle Sam made him think he resented the improvement.
“I was,” he growled, pulling the gnarled cigar from his mouth as he spoke. “Then I was just an experiment.”
“It’s true then,” Owen swallowed, “What the kids have been saying?”
“Depends,” Logan stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. Idly, Owen thought Priss would enjoy that display. “What kids and what have they been sayin’?”
“After Marie left,” Owen sighed, “I went looking for her and it seemed like I almost caught up with her a couple times, but what I noticed while I was lookin’ for my girl was that I was findin’ everyone else’s kids. Some had been rejected by their parents and others were like my Marie, scared and on the run. Anyway, when I realized the need I started bringin’ them back here if they’d come. Priscilla and I have converted the back buildings of church into dorms of sorts. We call it Haven and anyone is welcome to spend time there mutant or human.”
“How many,” Logan asked.
“Today we have fifteen,” Owen met Logan’s eyes with a frown, “but we’ve been as high as thirty; usually Xavier or his doctor lady comes by and gives a sales pitch scooping up a few here and there, but mostly the kids are free to go if they want. Some go to the Massachusetts Academy, Miss Frost operates it, she had a bit of a hate/hate relationship with Xavier and they tended to avoid each other.”
“I didn’t know Emma had a school,” Logan frowned.
“Yeah,” Owen nodded, wondering how he knew the flashy woman in white. “It’s smaller than Xavier’s place and they only just got their doors open about six months ago.”
“I know her parents,” Logan provided without prompting. “And the kids have been talking about bein’ experimented on?”
“None of the children we have now, no, but a year or so ago we had a boy, Jimmy, with us your professor wasn’t interested in him, as I recall, he disappeared a few days later. We haven’t heard from him since.”
“What kind of mutation did the kid have,” Logan frowned. “Xavier was a dick, but he didn’t turn away kids, at least I didn’t think he did.”
“Jimmy was younger than most and he was a bit slow his mutation was kind of like Marie’s I guess, only he didn’t put anyone in a coma, just left them a little weak, he could leech the other kids powers if they were close enough.”
“Yeah,” Logan nodded, “that ain’t a power a man like Xavier would want around. He’s used to walkin’ around in everyone’s heads getting what he thinks is for the best. He didn’t tell Rogue you and her mom had come looking for her; thought she was too dangerous to lose track of.”
“But he said,” Owen felt a bone deep anger building within him. “Are you sayin’ my little girl was in that school against her will?”
“Not in so many words,” Logan growled, his eyes turning flinty. “The bald bastard had her convinced she was a danger and would never have control enough for touch. Fucker, better be glad his prized pet put him six feet under before I got my claws on him. The bastard had what she needed locked away because a Rogue out of his control was unthinkable!”
“Xavier is dead,” Owen asked with a grimness that matched Logan’s. He might be a preacher but he was human and you just don’t mess with a man’s little girl.
“Unless you can get every molecule scattered over a block radius and live through it,” Logan gave a feral smile, “he played around once too often and it came back to bite him in the ass.”
“And how exactly did you meet my daughter,” Owen’s change of topic didn’t seem to through Logan, the man just shrugged and turned lifting to bags from the back of the SUV.
“I was cage fightin’ in a bar in Canada and she was at the bar when I got finished up for the night,” Owen felt all the blood drain from his face at the thought of his little girl hanging out in rough and rowdy bars. As if away of what he might think Logan continued, “Was winter and the only place to get out of it was the dive bar.
Anyway, one of the guys I’d beat earlier made a fuss and she saw ‘im coming and called out a warning. I popped my claws and took off I was about three miles down the road when I heard something and there she was as pretty as you please huddled up under my motorcycle cover.”
“She just hitched a ride without asking,” Owen frowned.
“Well, it was betta’ than sittin’ in that bar waitin’ for ‘em to figure out Ah was a freak, too.” Marie’s voice startled Owen so bad his heart nearly stopped.
“God Bless America, Marie, don’t sneak up on me that way!”
Marie just giggled and went to Logan’s side wrapping an arm around Logan, “Did Ah scare you, Sugah?”
“Nah,” he grinned. “I smelled ya comin’.”
“Well, momma wants y’all in for dinner before it gets any colder.”
Logan smiled and kissed Marie’s temple giving her a squeeze, “We’re almost done here, Darlin’, you tell your momma that fried chicken smells like heaven and nothin’ will change that, even if it was cold as ice.”
“Okay,” Marie grinned, “but only because y’all have been talkin’ so civilized.”
“Go on,” Logan laughed, “get out of here.”
“Be nice,” Marie cajoled, with a wink, “won’t ya, Daddy?”
“Sure, Lady Bug, whatever you say.” She winked at him and put her hand on his arm as she left and Owen felt like crying.
“She’s a good girl,” Logan spoke softly as he shouldered their bags. “She’s precious and anyone that wants to hurt her will have to go through me first and I guarantee they won’t live through the experience.” Owen met the man’s eyes as he moved to shut the hatch and he could see utter determination in the man’s eyes as he spoke, “I’ll take care of her or die trying.”
“You’re just a man, Logan.”
“No, Owen, I’m a mutant!”
“Mutant’s die every day,” Owen admonished.
“Some,” Logan replied cryptically, “die more often than others.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just what I said,” Logan moved up the walkway as he spoke over his shoulder. “I said what I had to say and the question you haven’t asked yet ain’t any of your business. So, we ought to get on into supper before Marie takes it in her head to come looking for us again.”
________________________________________
Dinner was a quiet affair with only a few inconsequential discussions taking place. Logan sat back in his chair beside Marie when he’d finished eating and let one of his hands tangle in her hair, massaging the nap of her neck. He could feel the knot the earlier tension left behind and he wanted to sooth her, besides he liked touching her, it ‘soothed’ him. “Dinner was great,” he murmured to Priscilla. “It ain’t often we get home cooking.”
“Thank you, Logan, Ah’m glad you enjoyed it.” She smiled as she got up and began gathering dishes.
“I’ll get those,” he offered, deciding a little gallantry might go a good ways to breaking the silence that enveloped the room when he and Owen arrived; Logan stood up and took the piled plates.
“Thank you,” she smiled, handing the dishes to him. “Your momma taught you right Ah see.”
Logan just pasted a smile that he knew didn’t reach his eyes on his eyes and nodded he’d exposed every other dark piece of his life to Marie’s father; he wouldn’t get into this, too.
“Ah’ll get the dessert,” Marie stood and moved to the oven.
“Be careful, Marie, the cobbler might be a little-,” her mother didn’t get a chance to finish as Marie hissed in pain. The sound barely left her lips before Logan was at her side; he could see the blistered skin, from where the juice from the cobbler had splashed her unprotected wrist, was already healing.
“Marie,” he muttered, pulling the glass dish from her hands he ignored the burning pain and shoved the cobbler onto the stove.
“Marie, Sugah, do ya need the first aid kit?” Priscilla asked her voice horrified.
“She’s fine,” Logan assured Priscilla over his shoulder. The sink was across the room, so Logan wrapped an arm around her and hurried her to the sink turning on the cold water rinsing her skin, “it’s okay, Darlin’, already healed.”
“Ah can still feel it,” she whimpered.
“I know, Darlin’,” Logan spoke softly as he smoothed her hair from her face. “Burning always takes longer to heal than anything else does.”
“Is Marie okay,” Owen asked, and Logan heard the question buried in that simple question, but he wouldn’t be answering it, that was Marie’s to answer.
“Ah’m fine,” Marie smiled, “see good as new.” She showed them her once again peaches and cream skin. “Let’s have dessert Ah ain’t had cobbler like momma’s since Ah left.”
________________________________________
“RRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHA-A-AHHH!”
“What was that,” Priscilla pushed herself up on her elbow in alarm.
“I don’t know, but it sounded like it was coming from Marie’s room,” Owen was out of the bed and headed down the hall before he finished speaking. As he neared the room he could hear panting and gasping. He was three strides away when he heard Marie’s voice over the noise.
“Logan,” her voice, closer to the door, was pitched low, like she was trying to calm an agitated animal. “It was just a dream, Sugah.”
“M-Marie,” Logan’s voice was broken, lost, like he was unsure of his whereabouts. Then Owen heard the sound that accompanied those metal claws Logan showed him earlier, “Oh, God, Marie! Did I hurt you?”
“Not even a scratch,” she soothed, and it sounded as though she was moving back toward the bed. "But the sheet didn't get so lucky."
“C’mere, Baby,” there was the rustling of sheets and the squeak of bed springs.
“Tell me,” Marie’s voice was a muffled command; Marie must get that from her mother, Owen thought.
“They took you,” Logan’s voice was strained, “I tried to keep you safe, but I was too late; the government got you. They put you in the tank made you like me.”
“Logan, you always keep me safe,” she murmured.
“That what you call what happened on the Statue of Liberty,” his voice was a growl filled with self-loathing.
“You came for me,” Marie’s voice had a smile in it as she spoke. “You came after me and ya saved me! Logan, Ah was dead and ya didn’t give up. Ah know ya won’t ever let anything happen to me if’n ya can help it, but Baby, Ah ain’t gonna blame ya if ya can’t keep every bad thing from happening to me.”
“I need you safe,” he growled.
“Same as Ah need you safe, Sugah.” She was laughing a little as she added, “Its cause Ah love ya.”
“God, Marie, I love you, too.” Logan’s voice was muffled as he replied, “so much.” They must be holding tight to each other. Priscilla chose that moment to wrap her arms around his waist and lay her head against his back.
“That means you’ll give in and make love to me now, right?” Marie’s voice was a purr and Owen felt sure no man should hear his daughter talking like this, but he waited to hear Logan’s response to her query.
“Marie, you’re killing me here!” He sounded exasperated, but it also sounded as though he were giving in because her reply when it came sounded confident; a little like when she’d wrangled something out of him when she was younger. “Oh, Sugah, Ah ain’t gonna kill ya.” Owen almost felt sorry for Logan, almost.
“Fuck,” Logan groaned, “Marie, baby, you gotta stop.”
“Fine,” Marie huffed, again sounding like his little girl, “So, no sex…Then, I guess, you can tell me why you’re havin’ nightmares after six peaceful nights.”
“I told your dad about the experimentation,” he sighed.
“Did ya tell him everything?”
“No, Darlin’, I couldn’t quite figure out how to tell your father that the man stealing his daughter is old enough to be her great-great-great-grandfather, not just her father.”
“Ah think he’s handlin’ all this pretty well,” she answered.
“Sure Darlin’,” Logan said as though he were humoring her.
“You don’t think so?”
“I think he’s probably outside the door right now trying to figure a way to kill me that takes.” The comment, oddly insightful,though spoken in jest surprised Owen and he grabbed Priscilla’s hand and headed for their room.
Calmly shutting the door behind them Owen turned to his wife with troubled eyes. The wench just laughed and wrapped her arms around him as she murmured, “You sure he ain’t a mind reader?”
“No,” Owen grumbled, letting a smile steal over his features as he gave his Priss a loving push toward the bed. “I think our little girl has him wrapped around that little finger of hers though.”
________________________________________
Logan smiled as Marie’s parent’s scurried away. Unlike Marie, he’d noticed the sound of their breathing closer than it should be; Logan made a mental note to add that to Marie’s training. It could be dead useful knowing when the enemy, or the father of your girl, was within striking distance.
“What are ya smilin’ about,” Marie asked, just before the door to her parent’s room clicked closed down the hall. The sound made her eyes bug out and her mouth formed a startled ‘O’; then her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that the reason ya said no to makin’ love to me?”
“No,” Logan said, his eyes turning dark and his voice rough as he pulled Marie under him, “here just ain’t the place, but believe me Marie, it’ll be worth the wait.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This had to be cut in two parts.