Logan stood amongst the tree trunks, just watching her. Early afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees, dappling her face and body, bringing glints of copper and gold to the fall of her streaked hair. She was singing softly — her honey-thick voice carrying on the breeze to him in fits and starts, but he knew the song well.
“Pack up all my care and woe...Here I go, singin’ low...Bye bye blackbird...”
She stopped, her full bottom lip caught between her teeth, her brow furrowing for a moment as she studied the painting in front of her. She seemed to reach a decision and leaned forward again, the brush caressing the canvas decisively.
“Where somebody waits for me...Sugar’s sweet, so is he...Bye bye blackbird...”
He saw the moment she caught his scent. Her head tipped up, her eyes scanning the trees as her lips tilted at the corners in a secret smile. He let a twig crack under his foot and her eyes snapped to his. He watched as the smile spread across her face, warm and wide, making something equally warm blossom in his chest. Every damn time, he thought to himself.
He saw her eyes drift down toward his knees, and then back up to his face in question. He winked, and she smothered her smile, turning back to her canvas, appearing engrossed in the painting again. He smiled to himself as well, watching her subtly shift her weight, bracing her legs.
“Make my bed and light the light...I’ll arrive late toni — ”
“Grrrr!” A small dark shape streaked from the tree line at her side, tackling her knees.
She stumbled back a few steps for his benefit, her voice breathy in mock alarm.
“Oh my goodness! A bear! I’ve been attacked by a bear!”
Logan loped towards them, grinning, making it to their side in time to see the small face peer up at her.
“Not a bear, mommy. It’s me! I was jus’ purtendin’,” the little voice said earnestly.
“Are you sure?” Logan felt the warmth in his chest spread as Marie dropped gracefully to her knees, careless of the dirty ground. “Let me see. Hmmmm...this seems like the hair of a little boy, not the fur of a bear.” Her slender hand ruffled the dark unruly hair, so like Logan’s own.
“Let me check some more. These seem like the ears of a boy, not the furry ears of a bear...” She tugged on his ears as he giggled. “And these seem like the hands of a boy, not the paws of a bear.” She took his tiny grubby hands in her own, examining them closely. “There’s just one more thing I gotta check to be sure.”
He squealed in delight, squirming and wriggling as she picked him up in both hands, rucking up his shirt and blowing a raspberry into the tender skin of his belly.
“Hmmmm...definitely the belly of a little boy. Why, I guess you’re right. You’re not a bear after all!”
“Tol’ ya,” he giggled with satisfaction, snuggling close into her side as she set him down. She wrapped her arm around him and smiled, her honey-tinted eyes looking at Logan, sharing her delight. “Did you guys have your snack already?”
“Yep,” he chimed up before Logan could answer. “We eated it unner’a tree! An’ y’know what?”
“What?” Marie asked, widening her eyes at the boy, their mouths identical with smiles of anticipation.
“We founda seff...seff...”
Logan dropped to his haunches by their side. “Sett,” he supplied helpfully.
“Seft! For badgers! An’ we’re gonna go out in the night an’ see ‘em an’ it’s gonna be a surprise!”
“Well, that sounds like a lot of fun,” Marie answered, her eyes bright with amusement and shared memories as they met his.
“Remind me to tell you the definition of ‘surprise’ some time little man,” Logan rumbled, straightening to his feet and swinging his son up on his shoulders. The boy crowed with delight, fingers tightening painfully in Logan’s hair as he leaned down, taking Marie’s hands to help her to her feet.
He held her hands a moment longer than he needed to, his right thumb swiping over the slim band on her ring finger. A habit he had picked up, he didn’t know why — almost as if he needed the tactile confirmation that all of this was true, that she was really his. Her hand tightened on his fingers as if she knew what he was thinking and she leaned up, her breath warm on his neck for a moment before she placed a kiss on his jaw.
That habit was her own, and he was suddenly thrown back in his memories to that day, only a week after arriving at the mansion. They had finally sought out Hank, worried that Marie’s continued sleepiness was some afteraffect of Proteus’s destruction, and instead got a diagnosis that had shocked them both — pregnancy.
Hank had carefully explained that birth control pills were apparently no match for a healing factor as Logan’s heart thudded painfully in his chest. Logan had turned to Marie, his stomach sick with regret, ready to stammer his apologies, the words stopping up in his throat at the look on her face. Surprise, and a little bit of concern, but most of all joy. Joy shining in her eyes, curling her lips even as she looked at him for his response, one hand stealing down to cradle her flat belly. She wants this, he had realized in stunned wonder. Wants a baby with me. And suddenly, fiercely, he had wanted it equally as much.
She must have seen the answer in his eyes, read his possessive pride in the tightening of his arm around her. She leaned up and placed a trembling, shaky kiss right in the curve of his jaw — too shy to kiss his lips in front of Hank but needing some outlet for the love that was flooding out of her, filling his senses and making his chest feel so full that it was a wonder he could even breathe...
“I don’t wanna nap!”
The shrill voice, hovering on the edge of tears, cut through his reminiscences, bringing him back to the present.
“I know you don’t, button, but you gotta. Jus’ for a little while, an’ then we’re goin’ to the mansion for Lily’s birthday party. You remember, we got her a present an’ all?” Marie’s voice soothed.
“I wanna present,” the voice answered, only slightly mollified.
“Well, when it’s your birthday you’re gonna get some. Way too many, I would guess,” Marie said with a smile.
Logan bounced his son on his shoulders a little, enjoying the soft heavy weight of him, potbelly pressed against the back of his head as the sturdy legs dug into his chest. “C’mon, little man,” he said, reaching up to loosen the little boy’s grip on his hair. “Maybe if you’re really good...” He grinned at Marie. “Mommy will tell us the story of how mommy and daddy met.”
There was a thoughtful silence from above his head as he started toward the house, pulling Marie against his side as they walked, breathing in the sun-warmed scent of her.
“I’m really good,” a plaintive voice finally said, making them both chuckle.
“Well then,” Marie said, her eyes warm on Logan’s as her hand snuck into his, holding tightly. “It all started when mommy was livin’ in the woods, all on her own, an’ one day she looked up an’ saw this guy, jus’ lookin’ at her through the trees...”
“Daddy!” the high voice exclaimed in triumph.
“Yep, it was daddy. But he didn’t say anythin’ that day, he jus’ ran away...”
Logan felt the soft drawl of her voice wash over them all, telling their story. The familiar glow of warmth and pride spread, filling him up until he thought it might burst right through his skin, as he ushered his family into their home and shut the door gently behind them.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
What's fluffier and more sickeningly sweet than a thousand baby bunny rabbits covered in cotton candy? This ending. Oh well, I can't help myself. I just love these two characters so much, and if a shmuck like me can get a happy ending, they can too. They deserve it. And so do you. ;-) I had no idea when I started this story that it would be so long, so thanks for sticking with it, and especially all your comments. I hope it was worth the journey.
Chapter End Notes:
Please review! :-D