The only thing I own is any characters you don't recognize.
Based upon the bar scene with Logan In Season 2 Episode 7 On Angel's Wings
The cold December air whipped around my cheeks, eliciting shivers to run up and down my spine. I normally hated walking in the cold but being Christmas Eve in Bayville New York, everywhere you turned there was magic to be found. The snow was falling gracefully onto the sidewalk, blanketing everything it touched in a soft white powder, and the Christmas lights of nearby houses and building twinkled in the eyes of wide eyed children, pressing their excited faces into the store windows to gaze at the magnificent window displays. There was magic yet in this world.
After spending nearly twenty minutes walking, I finally made it to the lonely bar, hidden down a deserted street. It was a local place, frequented by only small town natives and regulars. On a good night we would get maybe twenty to thirty customers at most, tonight however we were down to three. Two regulars whom were there to get their usual after work drink, and one semi-regular, who blew into town every so often.
"Merry Christmas Ya'll." I called stepping into the warm room, hanging my coat and scarf up as I moved towards the empty bar.
"Merry Christmas Gwen." Jim, the owner of the bar, and the closest thing to a grandfather I've ever had, called out from behind the counter.
Jim had taken me in nearly five years ago when he had found me lost, alone, and cold in the streets, begging for a few dollars to bum bus fare back to the south. Jim and his wife Helen took me in, gave me a job, and offered me the room above the bar for just a few measly dollars a month. They were good people, probably the best I'd seen in a long, long time.
Giving him a warm smile, I moved over to the wall and plugged in the lights to the makeshift Christmas tree I'd stapled to the wall to try and give the place a bit of a festive feel, not that anyone besides myself would be here to see it. Jim had offered to find room to put up an actual tree but I didn't think our regular customers would like it if we moved the pool table over to make room.
Once the lights were plugged in and twinkling away, I grabbed my apron from underneath the bar and settled into my regular routine of refilling drinks and checking to make sure everything was in place, as it needed to be. Five months ago Jim had consented to letting me handle the books which included ordering and ma+king sure we had enough, but not too much of our supplies in stock. It also meant less responsibility for him and more time spent with his ageing wife.
"Are you sure you don't want to come over and spend the evening with Helen and I?" Jim asked me once I was finished with my duties.
"We've talked about this Jim." I smiled, "I want to be here tonight. You never know when a lonely sole just might need a bit of company, and besides, you and Helen need to spend some time with your son. It's been nearly three years since Daniel's been able to actually come home for Christmas."
Daniel had spent the last ten years in the military, Marines actually, and in that time span had only been able to be home for Christmas three other times, this being the fourth. Helen was ecstatic and though I knew he wouldn't say it, Jim was as well.
"The offer remains open if you get bored." He reminded me giving me a pat on the shoulder before going to grab his coat and gloves from the back. "Oh and Helen baked you a pie, I took the liberty of putting it upstairs for you. I do believe its apple."
Mmmmm apple is my favorite and Helen knows it.
"Wait Jim, don't forget your presents!" I called running over to him before he could close the door. I handed him two neatly wrapped packages, they weren't much but I knew they would mean more to Helen and Jim that they came from the heart than if they cost a fortune.
"Thank you sweetie, now have a good night, and don't forget about that pie."
"I won't." I promised closing the door behind him against the biting cold. It would be a harsh night tonight and I'd hate to see anyone caught out in it.
I went back to the bar and continued to straighten up for another ten minutes before Keith and Marcus both paid their tab and left, leaving me with only one customer.
Setting the rag I had been using to spot clean the bar down, I dared steal a glance at the lone man. This certainly wasn't the first time he had been in, and I doubted it would be the last. He was short, reaching 5' 3" maybe 5' 4" at the most, still a good two inches taller than me at any rate, but what he lacked in height he certainly made up for in muscle. Black hair, brown eyes, and an irate grimace completed the rough and gruff look. From the past interactions I'd had with him, however little they were, I had come to known him as Logan, and that was as far as my information ever got. Logan the loaner. Logan the gruff and ruff. Logan who appeared to have nothing better to do on Christmas Eve than play pool and drink beer.
Catching me staring at him, he raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his half empty beer. Smiling I moved over to refill it.
"Merry Christmas Logan." I muttered sweetly, handing him the refilled glass. "You don't have somewhere to be tonight?"
"Nope" he replied gulping down a quarter of the glass.
"Surely you have someone, somewhere waiting for you back home."
"Nope." He replied again moving away from me and towards the pool table.
Okay I can take a hint, someone wanted to brood tonight, and I could handle that so for the next hour Logan, I want to brood and don't have a last name, played pool while I pulled out a book to read.
Half an hour later and my stomach was beginning to rumble. Time for some apple pie.
"I'm going to head upstairs for a minute." I called placing my apron on the cabinet. "Try not to frighten any potential customers while I'm gone."
Logan grunted but didn't say anything, which I took as a good sign.
After a quick pop in the microwave to warm it up, I was carrying a steaming homemade apple pie back downstairs with two forks in hand.
"Care for a slice?" I asked waving the yummy pastry under my lone customer's nose. "It's homemade and delicious."
I could see the want in his eyes, I mean, who could resist a warm homemade apple pie? If he turned it down I was planning on taking his temperature to make sure he wasn't sick.
"If it'll get you to leave me alone." He grumbled grabbing the fork I was holding out to him.
Smiling in victory, I led him over to the bar where I placed a slice on a plate and handed it to him.
"So Logan," I questioned after taking a few bites of what was probably one of Helen's best pies, "What's your story?"
"Ain't got one." He sniffed taking a bite of pie.
I could see the look of pure joy at first tasting one of Helen Mclain's pies in his eyes. Casually I slid another piece onto his plate, earning a nod of appreciation from him.
"Now that's a lie." I grinned, "Besides, I gave you some of my wonderful Christmas present, the least you could do is humor me."
Logan growled in annoyance before pushing away his plate. "What do you want to know?"
"Well, for starters, why are you sitting here with me, eating this delicious pie, and not at home celebrating Christmas with your family?"
"I'd rather be here." He replied, turning in his seat to face me. "It's quieter than where I'm from."
"Loud mouth wife?" I asked.
"Ain't married."
"Kids?"
"No…not really. Least not my kids."
"But you treat them like they're your kids." I observed.
"Something like that." He replied drowning the remains of his beer.
"Hmmm…." I muttered pulling on my imaginary detective hat, "Kids but not your kids must mean you work with them. Teacher?"
"Something like that." He repeated. "It's…complicated."
I refilled his empty glass and grabbed myself a bottle of water before resuming my place in the stool beside him. By now, he'd finished nearly half of the pie and was quickly working on yet another piece.
"Okay, I won't pry." I said placing the glass in front of him.
"What about you? Ain't your husband going to be antsy waiting for you to come home?"
"Now Logan you know I'm not married and that I live above this bar. It isn't that hard to figure out."
"No parent's then? Brother? Sister? Boyfriend? Anyone?"
"Nope, just me, myself, and this apple pie." I replied glancing down at the remaining piece.
"It's good." He finally said, pushing away his plate and leaning back a bit.
"If that's a thank you Gwen for sharing your wonderful pie with me, than you are most welcome." I said gathering up the empty plates and throwing them in the nearly empty trash can.
"Yeah something like that."
"You really are a man of few words aren't you?" I finally questioned walking over to him and poking him in the arm.
"I'm not fond of talking kid, or people in general."
"Sorry…I just thought that since you came to a public place maybe you were looking for a little company tonight." I replied walking away. "I know I am." I whispered after I was out of earshot.
Logan stiffened then, as if he had heard me, but that was impossible right? No one could hear a whisper like that. Could they?
We spent another hour in silence, with only the occasional signal for a refill coming from him. It didn't take long for the hands of the clock to reach past twelve, and Logan to begin to gather his things.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to." I said walking over to the door he had half open.
"It's closing time ain't it?" He asked glancing at the clock on the wall.
"It doesn't seem you have anywhere to go and I…don't mind the company. Sometimes it's too quiet at night for my liking, and not the best thing for keeping away nightmares."
"Alright Kid," Logan growled placing his black leather jacket back on the bar, "If it means so much to you, I'll stay."
"Gwen" I muttered, "My name is Gwen, and I would appreciate it if you would call me that instead of kid. Consider it my Christmas gift."
"Alright…Gwen….now get me another beer would ya."
I smiled and laughed under my breath before refilling his glass. I swear he could probably drink the keg dry before he stopped asking for refills. Funny enough in all the time I'd seen him in here, he'd never left drunk, and I'd seen him drink a lot.
"Why don't you ever get drunk?" I questioned taking my place next to him again.
"High metabolism." He replied setting down his glass. "Now I wanna know something about you, now I've known Jim a long time, and I ain't ever seen him take in anyone before. Why you?"
"I don't know." I shrugged. "I guess he took pity on me. I was alone, and far from home with no way to get back…not that I really wanted to go back. I don't really have anything to get back to. I guess…I don't know, maybe he saw something in me that I didn't see. Maybe it's the same reason he lets you come in here whenever you want and stay until after hours. He's a good man."
"Can't argue with that."
"Tell me about the school you work at."
"I can't really do that darlin'. It's….complicated."
"Yeah, you said that." I huffed. "But it doesn't have to be complicated if you'd just tell me."
"They're a…gifted bunch of kids, being taught to…utilize their abilities by someone who…understands what they're going through."
I don't know why but somehow it hit me then what he was talking about.
"I…think I know what you're talking about." I said quietly folding my hands in my lap. "My…brother was special like that."
"I thought you said you didn't have a brother."
"He died." I whispered. "He didn't have the help he needed with his…abilities and it killed him."
Logan was silent after that, and I was too.
"Max was only five when he first encountered his gifts. He was always so happy go lucky and cheerful, but when he started having nightmares that made him scream out in pain saying the monsters were after him…well let's just say the happy go lucky boy was replaced by a scared little boy who didn't know what to do and at the age of ten…jumped out the window of a three story building." I'd never talked to anyone about my brother, but for some strange reason, I knew I could trust this mysterious stranger with my past, something I'd been running from for a long, long time.
"I'm sorry about your brother." He growled after we sat in silence for a moment after I'd finished my confession.
"It happened a long time ago." I replied. "There's nothing that can be done about it now."
"If it's any consolation there are people out there trying to prevent something like that from happening again."
"That's…good to hear."
"Are you?" Logan began hesitantly.
"Like my brother?" I supplied. "No. I'm completely normal. Well, maybe not normal but no I don't have any special abilities. What about you."
"Yeah, I got a few." Logan replied staring down his empty glass.
"Will you…show me?" I asked hesitantly. It's not every day you ask a guy to show you something that most don't know how to even begin to explain.
"I don't think you want to see it Darlin' it's not really that people friendly."
"My baby brother woke up each night terrified that the monsters in his head were going to get out and hurt someone. I don't think there's anything you can show me that will hurt me worse than that did."
"Don't say I didn't warn you." He sighed before a sharp ripping sound penetrated the silence and there in front of me was Logan holding up a hand with three metal claws protruding from in-between his knuckles.
"Dear God." I murmured reaching out to run my hands over the sharp objects, earning a paper cut. "What happened to you?"
"Don't really remember." He replied retracting the sharp objects without a hint of pain. "Lost most of my memories sometime in the 60's, kind of a big blur before that, I get a few pieces of World War II but before that not a lot."
"Wait a minute…World War II? There's no way you're that old." I gasped in astonishment. "The 60's I can kind of understand but the 1940's is a bit of a stretch."
"Believe it Darlin'." He chuckled. "I've kinda got this healing thing. Prevents me from aging."
"That's kind of awesome." I smiled, "You're like a walking history book."
"Like I said, my memory ain't that good. There's a lot of holes in it."
It didn't take long before I could no longer contain the yawns I'd been trying to hide for over an hour, and I let one escape.
"Looks like you'd better get to bed Darling." Logan said nodding at me.
"Where will you go?" I asked looking up to catch his gaze.
"Home I guess." He replied.
"You…can stay here if you really want to." I whispered. "I don't mind and I don't think Jim would care either, I have a couch. It's yours if you want it."
"Nah, I'd best be getting home."
"Please Logan, I'd rather you didn't end up a giant frozen Popsicle because you tried to ride your bike home in this storm."
In the hours that we had been sitting there talking the light storm that had started outside soon became a roaring blizzard and I was fairly certain visibility was at a zero.
"I'll stay down here in the bar then." He sniffed. "At least until it's clear enough to see out there."
"The offer still stands if you get tired of sitting on the hard stool. It's not the most comfortable couch in the world, but it's better than a bar stool. I'll leave the door unlocked in case you change your mind."
Having said what I wanted him to know, I set out to lock the door and make sure the lights were off in the back. As an afterthought I returned to where Logan was still sitting nursing the beer I had poured for him before leaving.
"Goodnight Logan," I said gently leaning over to kiss his cheek, "And Merry Christmas."
"Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too Gwen." I heard as I climbed the stairs.
Smiling softly I unlocked my small apartment and flicked on a few lights while I made my way over to the closet I kept the spare blankets and pillows. I grabbed a set of each and placed them on the couch just in case he did decide to come up, before proceeding to my own bedroom where I feel into a restless sleep.
It wasn't even an hour before I heard the door open and close and a soft groan as the couch springs creaked. I smiled to myself, seems like someone finally took me up on that offer. I was grinning when I finally drifted back off to sleep and was smiling even more when I woke up to find the metal clawed walking history book still snoring softly on my couch. This could be an interesting start to an unusual…friendship.
This originally started out as a sing story but I feel like I can go farther with it. No promises but I do have a few ideas stashed away, if my brain decides to let them out.