Wearily Logan trudged through the worn door of the run-down motel unit he was staying in today. The three months since he'd left the mansion had been a bust, he'd made a beeline to the abandoned military complex he'd been pointed towards, hoping to find something, anything, that could point him in the direction of who he had been 'before'.
Hindsight was a great thing; hindsight rolled its eyes at his unrealistic hopes and dreams, and gave him an extra kick when he was down, after discovering absolutely zilch.
He hadn't called Marie for almost a month after giving up on the base, she knew how much he was hoping this might finally be a break, she would be equally as devastated. When he had finally called, she hadn't asked about the base, when he finally mentioned it, he could hear the pain in her voice as she admitted to him that she had assumed as much from his lack of contact, before hopefully, and shyly, asking if that meant he was going to come home now.
With a sigh he had reminded her, he promised he would come back, and he would never, ever, break a promise, but he wasn't ready to come back just yet. She'd extracted another promise from him then, to call more often, at least once a week. He had agreed with a chuckle, and since then they'd spoken every few days, he had even gone out and bought himself a cell phone so he wouldn't have to rely on finding a payphone, or a motel that allowed long distance calls. It also meant she could contact him, if for any reason she needed to.
It was Marie, and his promise to return, that saw him where he was now, a shitty motel just outside of Montreal. He was so close to her but still hadn't decided if he was ready to go back yet. He missed her like crazy, hearing her voice so often was the only reason he didn't immediately hightail it back to the school. His feelings for the girl were confusing him, he was starting to think this might be what people called 'love'. In which case, the rational part of his brain was telling him to stay far away; he didn't need love, and she was too young for him to be any good for her. At the same time, he couldn't stay away.
He'd slowly made his way East and had been uncertainly hanging out, near enough to the school that he could get back there quickly if she needed him but not close enough to draw attention. He'd worked his way through every cage fight in lower Ontario and Quebec, even into the states a couple of times in Michigan and Maine, but so far had studiously avoided New York state, he knew if he crossed that border that was it, he was going back, and this time it would be for good.
He hadn't been able to find a fight tonight, instead he'd tucked himself into a dark corner of the shittiest bar he could find and attempted to drink himself into oblivion. It took the bar tender throwing him concerned looks and hesitating to give him more alcohol before he realised, he'd probably drawn a bit too much attention to himself. He'd staggered 'home', just on the edge of drunk, and now he was collapsed on the stinking, saggy, excuse for a bed he'd been provided. Too wound up to sleep, even though he was tired, he just lay there and stared at the ceiling, which swayed slightly as the alcohol slowly worked its way out of his system.
It took a minute before he realised the annoying chirp he was hearing, wasn't a sound in his head but was, in fact, coming from the room. It took him a few seconds longer to remember what made that noise.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, jumping up suddenly, ignoring the dangerous tilt of the room as he moved. He dug around frantically in his bag looking for his phone, only one person had that number, and Marie wouldn't call at three in the morning unless it was an emergency.
"Marie!?" he exclaimed, as he answered the call. He was met by silence. "Marie are you there?" he asked, concerned by her lack of immediate response. He heard a breath, that sounded like a sob come down the line. "What's wrong Marie, talk to me kid," he pressed worriedly.
"I need you Logan," she said in a whisper, another choked sob filtering down the line. "Please... I need you."
He paused for a split second, his mind screaming over everything that might have caused her to call him for that. "Consider me there darlin, I'll head out now, I should be there by breakfast but what's going on Marie, what's wrong?" He began haphazardly throwing his belongings into his bag as he talked, he was not drunk anymore.
"Not on the phone," she replied with a sniffle. "Please hurry, I - I'm scared, I need you," she repeated, as she began to sob in earnest.
Logan whined unconsciously at the raw pain in her voice before reassuring her, "I'm on my way darlin, is there someone there who can stay with you until I get there?" He was tying his pack to the back of Scott's liberated motorcycle now. She sounded bad, whatever had happened it had affected her badly, he didn't want to hang up and leave her alone in that state but he had to hang up to drive back to her.
"No!" she replied, sounding suddenly anxious, "No, just you," she repeated firmly.
"Alright-" he slid his room key under the locked front door of the motel office before jogging back to the bike- "You're at the school though, right? You're safe?"
"Yeah," she replied, "Just hurry, please."
"I'm hurrying darlin don't you worry, bikes all packed and ready to go, I have to hang up to drive though, will you be okay until I get there?" he asked directly, if she promised he knew she would be fine, she would wait for him before doing anything rash.
"Yeah," she replied, he could hear the hint of a smile in her tone, "Yeah I'll be okay, just get here quick."
"I'm about five and a half hours away darlin but you can guarantee I'm hurrying, gonna set a few new land speed records on the way," Logan replied with a grin.
Marie giggled tearily in response. "Be careful too," she added, "See you soon." A muffled click signalled the line closing, he instantly zipped the phone into a jacket pocket as he mounted the bike and kicked it to life. He roared out of the parking lot seconds later and headed south.
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