Logan sighed happily, as he hauled the grocery bags out of the car boot. Marie had woken that morning, complaining of a headache, so he had taken Emily to kindergarten, and stopped to do the grocery shopping on the way home. He never would have imagined such a mundane task could have brought him such peace and contentment.

He couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he thought back on his life, it seemed he hadn't been able to do that for at least the last five years, not since he stood at that altar with Marie when she said the words that made her his wife. Five years they had been married, four years they had been mommy and daddy to little Emily, their surprise 'accident' baby girl. His life was amazing, not perfect, nothing ever was, but it was so much better than he ever could have imagined when he had picked that sassy little brat up off the side of the road ten years ago.

He was putting the groceries away in the kitchen as quietly as he could, hoping Marie was still asleep and not wanting to wake her. The headaches had started when she finally managed to get a hold on her mutation, or started to. Her control, the Professor explained to them when they were at the mansion for one of her sessions, was like a muscle, it had to be exercised to reach its full potential but that exercise was done inside her brain. At the beginning, even short periods of control had left her with a splitting headache. As it got stronger though, they both agreed it was worth it, especially after the first time they were able to make love without any barriers only two months prior. She was now able to hold her control solidly for over a week before the headache hit.

"Hey Logan," a soft voice caught his attention from the doorway.

"Hey baby, you should be resting," Logan murmured, making his way over to her and dropping a kiss on her hair. "You feeling better?" he asked.

At Marie's half-hearted hum in response he frowned a little, it wasn't like Marie to be so quiet. Shrugging it off as the headache Logan set breakfast in front of her, he had picked up her favourite while he had been out. By the time he had put away the last of the groceries Marie was still picking listlessly at her breakfast, a small, sad frown on her face.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Logan asked, straddling one of the bar stools opposite her.

"... Have you ever... looked back on your life and wondered... what if? Thought maybe... something was missing? Like maybe you rushed things... and missed out on some things?" Marie posed in almost a whisper.

Logan hadn't been prepared for that, the feeling like he had just been sucker punched in the gut sent a wave of nausea over him as he wondered, had Marie been feeling like that? Did she think she had made mistakes? Did she think she had 'rushed things'? ... Did she think he was one of those things she had mistakenly rushed? Shoving the sheer terror at those thoughts aside, he settled instead on answering the questions as they had been posed.

"Have I looked back on my life and wondered? Yeah, and honestly, it would have turned out shit compared to what I have right here, right now, I've got you, and we've got Emily, and that is more than I ever could have dreamed of having in my life, I haven't missed out on anything, nothing that's more important than this at least," he answered softly.

"... I wish I felt the same way," Marie replied, after a pause for thought.

He stopped breathing at her words.

"D-do you regret this Marie? Do you regret us, and Emily?" he asked, trying to decipher exactly how he was feeling right now. Was he hurt? Angry? Terrified?

"... Yes and no, I love you, and I love Emily but... I regret not doing certain things, not having more independence before I settled down... I mean, sure I hitchhiked for a few months in my teens, that's pretty independent but I spent all that time terrified and trying to hide and not die... then I was at the mansion, and the rules were crazy strict and we never really got a chance to be teenagers and go wild and have fun... and we were always kind of unofficially together, I never had boyfriends, and teenage sweethearts, and mess around, then we moved in together and a year later I was a mom... I never really got that 'me' time... you know?" Marie haltingly stated.

"No, I don't know..." Logan started, trying to hold back the anger that was trying to take over as the dominant emotion as she spoke.

"You do damn well know what I'm talking about, hell, how many hundred women did you fuck around with before me, huh? You had freedom, you could go where you wanted, when you wanted, with nothing to tie you down--" Marie replied, her voice louder with just an edge of her own temper.

"Marie, that life was shit, it was empty and lonely and held absolutely no meaning or--" he interrupted, only to be interrupted himself.

"At least you got to come to that conclusion all by yourself, me, I had nothing else, I never got to make that choice, I never got to have that freedom," Marie shouted, slamming her fork down on the counter-top beside her barely touched plate.

"You made that choice the day you married me, Marie!" Logan roared in reply, anger finally taking over in reaction.

"How can I make a choice when I don't know what the alternative is!?" Marie yelled back. "...I regret my choice," she whispered a moment later.

Immediately Logan felt the anger drain out of him as the terror and heartbreak set in, he slumped back down onto his seat, which he had stood from only moments earlier. "What are you saying Marie?" he murmured, his voice thick as he forced the words past the lump in his throat.

"I'm saying, I need that freedom I missed out on," Marie replied decisively. "I want a chance to go out there and live my life, to screw up, and have carefree fun, so I can decide if this is really what I choose," she clarified.

"You want a divorce?" Logan asked plainly.

"Just a separation, for now," Marie replied, refusing to look him in the eye as she set out the plan she had clearly already made. "I've got an apartment in the city, Emily can stay here with you, it's closer to her school, I'll come and see her on the weekends if that's okay with you, basically I just want you to stay out of my life and let me know what it's like to live without your shadow constantly hanging over me," Marie said bluntly.

Logan considered what she was saying, if she already had an apartment ready to go then she must have been planning this for a while. Then another thought hit him, and the anger returned as he sneered at her, "So, I was just convenient then? The only sucker dumb enough to risk your skin and you took me as, what, a consolation prize? Now you can touch, anyone but me huh, now you've got the bugs out of the control... you were just fucking using me?"

"No, no Logan, I love you, I want to be sure I love you for you, and not just because you were the only one who would touch me," Marie answered, though he wondered if her arguments sounded as weak to her as they did to him.

"Fucking bullshit," he fumed through gritted teeth as he left his seat again to pace the kitchen, though all he wanted right now was to tear the place apart in fury.

"Think what you want," Marie shrugged nonchalantly, as she too stood. "I'll see you on Saturday," was all she said as she left the room. She returned mere minutes later with two suitcases.

"So, this morning's headache was a ruse to get me out of the house so you could pack? What else have you been lying to me about Marie?" he asked, though it was obviously rhetorical as he continued without giving her chance to respond. "If you walk out that door, you and me are done, you can come back to see Emily, you'll always be her mother, but you break your vows to me and we are over, I won't be picking up the pieces when you realise just how badly you've fucked up once a dozen guys have used you up and left you wanting, I love you Marie but I won't do that, I can't do that... how would I ever trust you... how can I ever trust you again." As the anger began to ebb away again, he turned, and stalked up the stairs to their bedroom.

He was standing silently in the middle of their room when he heard the front door click shut, a moment later he heard Marie's car start. Grief was the new emotion that saturated him as he collapsed to his knees, and for the first time in his life he cried, clutching the shirt Marie had been wearing to sleep just that night, one of his, that smelled like her, like them. He didn't move again until he heard the alarm going off, to tell them it was time for Emily to be collected from school.

"Oh god, Em... what do I tell Emmy?" he asked the empty room, wishing Marie was there to give him the answer.
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