He saw the people there in Nigeria and what he told Victor. He heard him call after him but he kept walking, kept going, and hitched rides until he made it to the docks. Once there, he stole a boat while the owner was passed out in the back of the boat. He was an older man about in his 60’s, with a beard and grungy clothing. The man had drunk himself into a long nap and a long trip. Logan got the boat out on the ocean and used the stars to navigate his way to Cuba. When the old man finally woke up, he fed him, but didn’t talk much about who he was or where he came from. He ditched the owner and the boat when they reached the beach at the Bahia Rio Seco in the middle of the night. He made his way up to Havana, staying in secret places. Once he made it to Havana, he was able to steal another boat, after a little bloody fighting because the owner didn’t want to give up his boat. Then Logan used the stars again and ended up docking at the beach at Galveston, Texas, United States of America. He’d made it to North America. Only a few thousand more miles and he’d be back in Canada. He hitched rides with truckers and other strangers on long drives. He took over driving some of their routes while they slept in the back of the cabs in sleepers or against the passenger seats.
About 11 hours later, Logan pulled into Canadian, Texas. How ironic… He parked the truck and went in for a piss-and-grab, which meant that he needed to use the toilet and he’d grab something to eat before hitting the road again. The owner of the truck did too. Only thing wrong with the picture was that by the time Logan came back out to go to the truck, the man had left him behind. Then he remembered he’d stolen some cash out of the man’s wallet while he was in a stall in the men’s room. It wasn’t his fault the man forgot his wallet on the sink counter. He’d found a bar in town and hired on as a bouncer for a few nights a week to earn some extra cash. Vern and Alice Turner owned the bar Logan worked at, The Chain Gang. His mind brought up the images of the couple and how they liked his work. They helped him get back on the road sooner than he had expected. Out of that job, he got his first truck. Like a flash, 28 hours went by. He pictured the day he drove up to the Canadian Rockies. It was in the spring by the time he reached the locale. Snow still on the ground slowly melted. He hauled his ass into the local land office and bought a parcel of land no one wanted. So remote that it took at least thirty minutes to get to town for supplies, an hour round trip. He plopped $75,000 Canadian cash for 5 acres on top of a mountain.
He bought supplies to survive and built a small one room cabin on top of his mountain. At least it didn’t leak. He had cut down the trees, stripped them, and felt a great sense of pride when it was finished.
Fortunately, he knew how to use an ax. He pictured hunting deer, elk, and rabbits for food… And that’s where his memories began to fade in his dreams to black. Logan fully fell into a deeper sleep there on the couch after his mind went blank.
The Stables
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
11:50 A.M.
Marie stomped her way into the stables and found the Professor with a couple dozen carrots in his pocket. He was feeding each of his prized horses. He’d been there when every one of them was bred and born, each one almost like his children as much as the students of the school were. He was at Orion’s stall when Marie caught up to him.
“Good morning, Marie. How goes it with our Wolverine this morning?”
“Hey Professor. It’s not a good morning, ah think.”
“Oh?”
“Ah could tell he was havin’ trouble and then he got angry that he couldn’t remember. Then he kind of shut down and shut meh out. Said he needed tahm alone… And… And ah didn’t wanna leave him,” she was close to tears.
Charles could see that Marie was having a rough time. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her like a father figure would.
“My child, shhhh. Logan will be alright I think. He is right to watch the movie in small segments. Since you both watched more of the film today, I will be expecting something to kick in somewhere. My major concern is if everything suddenly comes back to him at once. That could be devastating to his mind. So far as I can tell from what you’ve told me, he hasn’t been excessively violent, which is a good sign Marie.”
She pulled back to look at him, “Thanks. Ah just don’t want him to shut meh out. Ah feel lahk if he told meh what was wrong, ah could make it bettah for him.”
“But my dear, there are some things you cannot change for him. He needs to discover things on his own. I know it isn’t easy watching him in pain, Marie. He has to go through it, or he’ll never be happy with himself. He’ll never become the man you want him to be if he cannot piece together the past that has been hidden from him for so long.”
“Ah know. Ah really don’t wanna change him, ah just want him to be at peace for once. Stop lookin’ behind him and instead look to the future with meh.”
“Someday he will find it, Marie, I am certain of that. We knew going into this that it would be difficult.”
“True. May ah go feed Stark and Thor?”
“Sure, my dear. Just be careful with Stark, he’s a bit like his namesake.”
“What, frisky with the ladies?”
“Arrogant.”
“Funny, ah would have thought you wouldah said cocky.”
Both of them laughed as Charles handed her a couple handfuls of carrots from his blazer pocket.
“Thanks for everything.”
“No problem, Marie. I’m here if you need me.”
Charles watched as Marie went to the opposite end of the stables and found Thor. It didn’t take him long to come to the door and played around with Marie. She fed him two carrots and stroked his nose before she kissed it. Just a quick peck before she moved on to Stark in his stall. Yes, the horse had been a gift from Tony Stark and Charles had nurtured the animal into a fine piece of horse flesh. Problem was, the horse actually took on some of Tony’s annoying personality traits. He was a black Arabian stallion and could be quite a pain in the ass like his namesake when he wanted to be. Marie happened to catch him in a playful mood he could see. Stark was being vocal and making all kinds of noise, almost prancing in his stall. Charles moved on and took his time with the oldest horse in his stables he’d jokingly called Gandalf because he was a dark gray with a white mane and tail. He was a special bred Shire horse almost a mutant himself. He was a very gentle horse and almost as large as an elephant. Pretty much like his namesake.
Caldicott-Howlett Apartment.
Thornwood, NY.
12:30 P.M.
Marie couldn’t take waiting around the school for Logan to come find her so, she decided to go home to their apartment. She made herself a sandwich for lunch and pulled out her wedding notebook. She went online and looked up some interesting ideas for the wedding. She heard the key in the door and she got up to hide in the kitchen. She was about to pull out the small two bullet pistol she kept hidden under the dish towels when she heard Logan call out her name.
“How was your tahm alone?”
“I’m sorry baby, I just needed time to think.”
“Ah know…”
“Listen, I think I remembered some of my past. Stuff that wasn’t in the movie,” he spoke somberly.
“Really, sugah?” She kissed him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Yeah, I know how I got to Canada after that night I left Victor.”
“That’s wonderful and troubling all the same ain’t it?”
“You could say that again. I went to sleep and I had dreams that weren’t dreams, but memories I think. I should talk to Chuck and have him get it down for me.”
“What kind of things did ya see?”
“A lot of secrets, lies, blood, and death. I remembered the night I walked out on my unit and went AWOL. Victor never forgave me for walkin’ out on him that night. He wanted to kill innocents for some damn sacred meteorite fragments. I lost interest, it wasn’t why we’d signed up to work with Stryker to begin with. But, damn it, Victor loved the kill more than I did.”
“The adamantium was a meteor fragment? Ah wonder how many more meteorite crash sites Stryker had to chase down before he made enough of the compound to lahn your bones?”
“Enough of them I suppose, or I wouldn’t have these,” Logan spoke as he rubbed his knuckles.
“What else did ya discover?”
“I heard Vic call after me, but I was too mad. I kept going until I was able to hitch rides to get to the docks on the coast of Nigeria. When I got there, I commandeered a boat while the owner was passed out with a bottle of cheap tequila. He was older with a beard and dirty clothing. I fished and kept us fed while I navigated by the stars to Cuba. I left him at the beach in Bahia Rio Seco in the middle of the night. It was easier for me to travel at night. I made it to Havana by staying in abandoned buildings. In Havana, I stole another more suitable vessel, with a little gunfire. I used the night sky again and ended up at the beach in Galveston, Texas, United States of America. I’d made it to North America and they hadn’t come after me.”
“You were lucky ah guess.”
“I only had a few thousand more miles and I’d be home, in Canada. I hitched rides and sometimes did their jobs. I thought it was ironic when I pulled my last ride into Canadian, Texas. I took some money from the sleepyhead’s wallet he left on the counter while he was in the stall. He left me behind… Instant karma, I guess. I bought some jerky and something to replenish my fluids. I knew I would need more money if I was going to get back home. I hired on as a bouncer at this place. It wasn’t much. They had a room for rent. I think they had a kid too. They gave me a future. They helped me get my first truck… I rebuilt the engine. I had to do a bit of fighting then. They didn’t care that I healed. I brought in the riff raff customers to the bar and they handed me cash. I got back on the road sooner than I expected.”
Marie couldn’t help but place a couple tender kisses on his knuckles. She was saddened that he had to fight but glad that it happened because it brought him closer to the day she met him in Laughlin City. She wrapped her arms around him to show her support or was it because she felt sorry for him; she didn’t know for sure. Either way he didn’t seem to mind her being so close. She put her ear to his chest and listened to his heartbeat before she heard the rumble of his voice in his lungs.
“When I arrived at the Canadian Rockies. It was in the spring, snow still on the ground. I went into the nearest town’s land office and bought some property no one wanted. So remote that it took an hour to and from town to get supplies. I paid seventy-five thousand Canadian for five acres on top of a mountain.”
“Sounds dreamy.”
“It was. The view was killer. Very rocky soil though. I built a one room cabin on a kind of rocky mesa. Fortunately, it didn’t leak. Took me almost a month to finish it. I hunted deer, rabbits, and elk. I grew a beard and then my mind blanked.”
“You’ve had an interesting morning.”
“To say the least. I’m goin’ to see Chuck later.”
“Well, ah want you to come with meh and be with meh in Marieland for awhile.”
“Oh?” Logan’s eyebrow went up and a smug look showed on his face.
“Yeah, and ah’m gonna wrap you in mah care for as long as you can stand it,” she said as she walked her fingers up his chest.
“What did you have in mind, darlin’?” He spoke and his smug look turned into a smile.
Caldicott-Howlett Apartment.
Thornwood, NY.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
5:04 A.M.
Marie slipped out a piece of her personalized stationary set and took her white plume pen to inscribe a note to Logan before she headed for the school and her early morning workout in the danger room.
“Dearest Logan, ah cain’t wait to hold ya again and ah thought ah would send ya a kiss to tell ya how excited ya still make me. All my love, Marie.”
She kissed the piece of paper, folded the note in half, slipped it into the envelope before sealing it with a rose sticker, and another kiss. She slipped it into the top of his backpack. She grabbed her keys quietly as Logan slept in their room upstairs and slipped out the door.
Around 7 in the morning, Logan woke up to find that Marie was gone. Her side of the bed was cold so she hadn’t been back to bed recently. He got up and slipped a pair of battleship gray sweat pants on over his lower half before he went on the hunt for Marie. He couldn’t smell her in the bathroom. Her scent had faded while he slept.
“Marie,” Logan bellowed, but no answer came.
He went downstairs and she wasn’t in the kitchen. His head whipped over to the doorway, her keys were gone. He went back up to the bedroom and picked up his cell phone. Shit, he’d forgotten to charge it last night, it was dead as a doornail. He plugged it in and it turned on to let him know that it was charging, but that it wasn’t fully operational yet. That bought him time to get a shower and make coffee. By the time he got dressed and had two cups of coffee, black, the phone had enough power. There was a missed call from Marie and a new voicemail. He dialed the voicemail number and entered his code. Her sweet sound came into his ear.
“Hey sugah, good mornin’. Did ya miss meh? Ah can see ya noddin’. Ah’m at the school, all hot and sweaty. Ah just had a good work out… Gonna take mah shower now. Ah’m gonna be out with Ororo in the veggie garden if ya want meh. Mmmmwaah. That’s a kiss to get ya started. See ya soon.”
Logan opened his backpack without looking, distracted. He didn’t notice Marie’s note as he piled an extra flannel shirt to take to his room and covered the note. He grabbed the keys to the school’s SUV and headed off to the school.
Ororo’s Vegetable Garden
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
11:30 A.M.
Marie and Ororo were planting some of the plants Ororo had started in the winter for summer.
“’Ro, are you free for lunch?”
“Sure. Hank’s got plans with Charlie and his namesake for lunch so, no, I don’t have any plans.”
“Ah have some more ideas for the weddin’.”
“Oh good. Let’s clean up here. Then I’ll grab my purse and we’ll go.”
The two ladies cleaned up the trash and put the tools away in Ororo’s greenhouse before they went into the small kitchen. Marie made herself a sandwich and Ororo made a salad from her fresh ingredients from the garden. They each pulled out a seat and sat down. Marie pulled out her little pocket notebook from her jeans. She had her colors and pictures of her swatches for the wedding and handed it to Ororo so she could call Jubilee.
“Hey chica, Ororo and ah are goin’ over the weddin’ plans if you’re free.”
“Yeah Roguey, be there with bells on. Chloe is watching Cats and Dogs two with Tigger.”
Ten minutes later, Jubilee, five months pregnant wandered her way in with her own notebook for the dress ideas they had. Marie got up and pulled out a chair for her at the small kitchen table.
“What’d I miss?”
“Ah just handed ‘Ro mah othah weddin’ book for the ceremony and reception. You hungry?”
“Always, make me two of what you’re having. Thanks, chica.”
Marie got up, went to the refrigerator, made Jubilee a couple sandwiches for her, and the baby-to-be.
“There’s enough to start. It’s got the flowers, colors, and Logan and ah approved it. We want our colors to be forest green, earthy brown, and cobalt blue with roses of all kinds, not just red. Ah’ll decide the other flowers latah. We were thinkin’ ‘bout havin’ two ceremonies, the marriage and one to change the colors.”
“Change the colors, chica?”
“It has to do with our families. Ah’ll explain more latah.”
“Fine, do you have a minister yet?” Ororo asked before she took a sip of her tea.
“Logan and ah would like to have Kurt officiate.”
“That sounds great, chica,” Jubilee uttered. “Have you given any thought to whether you want a photographer or videographer or both?”
“Ah’ll run that idea by Logan. Ah know he doesn’t lahk to be photographed and stuff. Ah think it would be great to have both. Ah’m gonna try and change his mind.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
More of Logan's past...
There is one last chapter and it will be a bang to finish of this set of chapters. The sequel will be called Pandemonium... And for those that want a clue, it will be a very bad time for our couple and Victor is at the center of most of the problems...
I hope you enjoyed these two chapters to usher you into the weekend. Hugs!
There is one last chapter and it will be a bang to finish of this set of chapters. The sequel will be called Pandemonium... And for those that want a clue, it will be a very bad time for our couple and Victor is at the center of most of the problems...
I hope you enjoyed these two chapters to usher you into the weekend. Hugs!
Chapter End Notes:
Hugs to all. I am off to see REAL STEEL tonight! Hugh Jackman, the cure for whatever ails ya. He's a good destresser too. I can't wait to read your reviews! Thanks to everybody that has stayed in the beat-up old truck with me so far. There are more exciting times ahead! I promise... And the Wolverine keeps his promises!