Fic: Happily After? Spring Blossoms 1/?
Author: Lucinda
Rating: Pg this part
Pairing: Spring Blossoms will be Logan/Marie
note: this is in response to Rebecca's Challenge.
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from the X-Men movie or comics.
Distribution: please ask first.
It was spring when Logan returned to the mansion in
Westchester. Charles Xavier had promised him almost a year and a half ago that he
would have a home here as long as the mansion stood. Logan felt in need
of a place that he could feel safe. He had gone looking for his past.
He had wanted answers to what had been done to him that had left him with
metal claws, no memories of his past, and horrible nightmares.
He had gone to place the Professor had told him about, a
facility located by Alkali Lake. It had been abandoned. Nobody was there
when he arrived. However, whatever had happened, they hadn't had time to
take everything with them when the had left. There had been a cell that
had traces of his scent lingering in it. Another had traces of the
mutant called Sabertooth. There had been almost a half dozen cells with
traces of almost remembered scents.
There had still been filing cabinets in a storage room. He had
found a medical file on himself, as well as files on the other people that
had been confined here. He had papers and documents that said exactly what
procedures had been done on him. He had been able to understand
some of them. He had also learned that he had once been Major John Logan, a
decorated military officer.
He had no idea why he had been chosen.
The personal information he had found on himself had been
fragmentary, bits and pieces left almost intact after a fire had raged in the
office they had been stored in. He had been left with the impression the man
in charge had liked to gloat over his subjects.
They had created something in this lab. It had escaped their
control, and had nearly destroyed the compound as it tried to escape. Doors
had been torn from their hinges, shelves and cabinets hurled across rooms,
shattering observation windows. There had been the remains of long
dead laboratory technicians and a few doctors left to moulder where they
had been struck down. One torn hinge had caught a bit of golden brown fur.
They had played god here. Unsurprisingly, their creation had
rebelled, and rose up against them. They had fallen, bleeding and shattered
to the floor. Alkali Lake held nothing more for him.
His discoveries had brought back the nightmares. He slept,
and they once more slashed his body open for their experimental testing.
They traced his bones as he was strapped naked to a cold metal table. He was
dropped into a cold tube of a slimey fluid......
He hoped the nightmares would slow once he returned to
Xavier's. Once he was surrounded by people that knew nothing of the torments of
labs. The murmur of so many ordinary lives should help keep him aware that he
was in now, not the tormented then.
Perhaps he could even find a special someone to be with.
Someone to help him banish the loneliness of being a man without a past, a
wandering enigma. Someone he could build new memories with.
end part 1.
Logan returned to the mansion quietly. He found the gates
standing open, and drove the motorcycle inside. He left it parked in the
garage. He quietly went into the house, and up to the room he had been in
all those months ago. Logan took a shower, locked the door, and went to sleep.
Scott had found the bike. Now, whispers were circulating that
he had returned. Some of the students remembered that he had been here.
He had stabbed Marie in he chest during a nightmare. It was the only thing
he'd done here that he felt really guilty about.
Marie found him sitting in the garden under a large maple
tree. She sat down beside him, and asked if he was planning to stay.
The year and a half that he'd been away had changed her in some
ways. She wasn't the slender, nervous girl he'd met in Canada. She had
grown taller, and her figure had grown noticeably more curved in some
places. Marie was defiantely a woman in that regards. She also seemed to be
less hesitant. She seemed more certain of who she was, and that she had
a place in the world.
Most surprisingly, she had decided that she knew what she
wanted in life. She wanted to be an X-Man, to fight for the future. She also
wanted him to be a part of her future. To stay with the team, and perhaps,
here she looked up at him through her long dark eyelashes, he could stay with
her?
Something inside Logan's heart began to flutter wildly when she
made her offer. Marie had grown into a lovely woman. She seemed to have
found the answers to who she was, and what she wanted from life. She
wanted him. She wanted them to have a future together.
Even if they still hadn't found an answer to how her powers
worked. But Jean and a new doctor, a big blue furred mutant named Hank McCoy
were looking into the matter. They were hoping to learn how she absorbed
people, so she could learn not to absorb them. Some aspects of a future
together would have to wait. Maybe wait a long time.
Logan could be patient. He could give Marie as much time as
they needed to build a future together. Besides that, there was more to
a relationship than just the physical aspect of things. They could
begin building the foundation of a lasting relationship.
Spring was the time of hope after all.
end part 2.
Logan had decided that if Marie wanted to spend her future as
an X-Man, she needed to know how to fight. He had only intended to
teach Marie, but somehow, word had circulated, and now he had about a
dozen people showing up in the mornings for lessons in hand to hand combat. He
had been a bit surprised by this development, but had decided that
it would be good for the others to learn good fighting techniques as well.
Most of the people that remembered Logan from his earlier
visit were astonished. He had ended up teaching a class on self defense and
basic fighting. Logan was teaching patiently, and he hadn't lost his
temper once with any of his students. The only people not taken completely by
surprise were Storm and Xavier. Xavier had only commented
that Logan was a man of hidden depths.
There had been many many tests on Marie and her abilities by
Dr. Jean Grey and the new Doctor, named Hank McCoy. He was the first doctor
that Logan had met, in his memory at least, that didn't cause a 'gut him
or run' response. Dr. McCoy was surprised and delighted to
finally have a patient that seem d unconcerned by the fact that he
was six feet tall, covered with blue fur, and had the claws and fangs of a
beast.
They had a few theories about how Marie's ability to absorb
worked. To the dismay of some of the students, they had come to the
conclusion that any further information would require monitoring Marie
while she absorbed someone. There hadn't been any volunteers.
Logan (he still thought of himself as Logan, even knowing that
he'd had an actual first name) had listened to all this as Doctor McCoy
explained their studies of Marie's unusual ability. He decided, when the blue
doctor had finished, to tell him some of what he had found.
"The Professor told me about a former research base that he
thought might have some clues to my past. He was right." Logan paused,
seeing that he had the attention of McCoy. " I still don't really know who I
used to be. I don't know when or where I was born. I still don't know why
I was selected to be worked on. What I do have is a folder full of
records on what they did to me. There are charts and diagrams, and stapled
stacks of scientific papers. It might make more sense to you than it did to
me. One other thing - the place they did this to me, I wasn't the only one.
They also had Sabertooth, and a few other people I ought to know but
can't remember. I brought the medical files on them with me as well. I
can bring those down here after lunch."
Logan thought a bit about the difficulty in researching Marie's
mutation. She didn't know how to control her power because nobody
knew how it worked. They didn't know how it worked because nobody would
volunteer to let her drain them while the doctors studied it. This meant that
Marie had a limited future, without real human contact.
"If you still need someone to help study Marie's ability, I
can help. I have a healing factor, so I should be able to recover just fine.
Marie deserves to be able to have any future she wants, not just what she
can make without touching people." Logan's voice echoed slightly in the lab.
" Gracious, are you volunteering to be her.. hmm ..partner in
experimentation?" Hank looked at Logan in surprise. This was an
entirely unexpected offer. "One might almost suspect that you have feelings
for Marie, making such an offer."
To his surprise, Logan was looking determinedly at his toes, a
faint blush on his face. "Marie is a real sweetheart. I want her to have
a happy future. Maybe a future with me, maybe not. Thing is, I know how it
bothers her that people are afraid of her. No matter what, she'll be
happier if she can touch people safely. I want to help her get that future."
The mystery was cleared up a bit for Hank McCoy. Logan was
definitely sweet on Marie. He was wiling to be observed by scientists in what
could be painful experiments to offer Marie a chance for something like a
normal future. He hoped to be part of her future. He paused to consider
the possible future of Logan and Marie. He couldn't quite picture them
happily married, with two children and a dog.
end part 3.
Marie and Logan had sat down by a small stream on the mansion
grounds and had a long talk about relationships. They had taken a picnic
basket full of food with them, so that they would be able to talk as long
as they needed.
Logan had confessed his concern that Marie might decide he was
to old for her, that she wanted someone closer to her own age. He had
worried that she might want someone that had a complete past, that knew when
their birthday was. He had been afraid that because he was lacking a
past, she might judge him less of a man. He had been worried
that she could get hurt, and he would be unable to protect her, that
he would fail her somehow. He had been worried that she might want
someone that had never been drafted as an experimental test subject.
Marie had been expecting some of this, having had long months
while he was away to consider all the benefits and disadvantages of pursuing a
relationship with Logan. She told him that the guys her own age
needed to take some more time growing up. She wasn't worried about his past,
because they could make a future. They could choose any day he wanted and
call it his birthday, and have cake and ice cream and presents. He had not
failed to protect her in all the time they had been together, she didn't
think he would fail her now. She had swore to him that his past, whatever it
might hold, didn't matter to her.
For her part, Marie had been afraid that Logan would think she
was to young. That he would want someone older, more exotic, more like
Jean. She was afraid that he would think she was to inexperienced, that she
hadn't learned enough about life. Afraid that he would secretly be
comparing her to Jean. She had been afraid that nobody would ever want to be in a
relationship with her because of her mutation.
Logan had pulled her into his lap, hugging her close to him.
He had told her that the only reason he had flirted with Jean - other than
because it annoyed Scott, was because he didn't trust her. When Marie had
given him a puzzled look, he had explained that he didn't trust doctors, or
medical labs because of his past. He preferred to keep them
away. He had figured the best way to keep Jean back was to make her
think it was all her idea. So, he flirted with her. Jean found him to
intense, to something, and tried to keep him at arms length, not realizing
that that was exactly how he wanted it.
He told her that he understood how much traveling on her own
from Mississippi to Canada had aged her, not outside, but inside where it
counted. Besides, she'd had a few other people in her head, and
even if the memories had faded, it would probably leave her a bit wiser in human
nature.
Then, he had told her that he had volunteered to work with Hank
to help unravel the mysteries of how her mutation actually worked. Then,
she would be able to learn how to make it not work. She would be able to
touch people, and live a normal life if she chose. Or to just do some
normal things, like shake someone hand when you meet them.
She had been moved to tears by that, knowing how much Logan
disliked labs. She had had nightmares of labs and painful things done in
them for weeks after the fight with Magneto, when Logan had risked his life
to save her by having her absorb his healing ability. She couldn't remember
everything she had absorbed, just memories of memory. And the
knowledge of how to strip and clean a rifle.
With tear filled eyes, and hope shining in their hearts, they
decided to try to have a loving relationship. One that was better than the
fairy tales, because it was real.
end part 4.
As the days passed into weeks, Logan and Marie were often seen
taking long walks together. They would just go meandering in the woods,
spending time together and admiring nature. Logan would point out and name
the may songbirds, and Marie was often carrying wildflowers
in her hands when they returned.
It was incredibly sweet.
The more difficult part of their budding love came in the form
of the testing to help study Marie's powers. They would hook up monitors
and wires to Logan and Marie, so that the doctors would monitor every
fluctuation of either of them. They had their heart rate, and blood pressure, and
brain waves and various other bodily functions all making graphs and
numbers on a small horde of monitors and machinery. The lab
gave Logan an unpleasant nervous feeling that wasn't helped by the
wiring in the slightest.
The most immediate discovery that had resulted in all the
testing was that Marie's absorbtion wasn't instantaneous. The longer she held
contact, the more she absorbed. Brief contact left Logan wobbly, but still
standing, and accelerated Marie's healing a small degree. Longer contact
rendered Logan unconscious, and Marie had his healing factor at full power.
Sometimes, touching Logan made all her senses sharper, so that she
could hear everything. The memories were the last to be absorbed. The
briefer the contact, the fewer memories she absorbed.
Jean had started monitoring the sessions telepathically as
well. It turned out that one aspect of Marie's abilities was actually similar
in some regards to telepathic ability. Her mind reached out, and pulled
memories from Logan's mind. That was how she was able to remember things
that had happened to people she had absorbed.
Jean and the Professor had decided to try teaching her mental
shielding, focusing on how to keep other minds out. They had
thought that this might slow or prevent her from absorbing the memories of
someone she touched. It was tedious practice, and gave her frequent headaches.
Amazingly, it was helping. She was now able to not absorb the
memories or aspects of the personality of someone she touched.
They had even managed to get a few other people to volunteer
once or twice to help test Marie's progress. She had briefly been able to
shoot optic blasts like Scott. They hadn't repeated that experiment,
having had to repair the wall of the med lab afterwards. There had been better
luck and safety involved when she borrowed the abilities of
Bobby Drake, and later of Jubilee, a girl that could generate explosions.
As for the more physical aspects of her absorbtion, Dr. McCoy
had concluded that she had a specialized metamorphic ability, actually
reshaping her body to duplicate the abilities of others. He was still trying
to figure out exactly how her body made all the changes.
They had been very hopeful that she could eventually learn to
control her powers, using them only when she choose. Frustratingly, while
they had figured out some of the how, Marie still couldn't control the
absorbtion of people's physical abilities. She was consoled
slightly by the fact that she didn't end up with other people's
memories in her head anymore.
Marie was impatient for the day that she and Logan could really
touch each other.
end part 5.
As the time passed, Marie and Logan were more often seen walking
together. They were now starting to make some progress on
controlling her powers. She still had to work some on the concentration it required
to contain her power, but she was learning. Logan had compared it to
learning to hold her temper.
The Professor was of the opinion that this relationship was good
for Logan, drawing him more into the group, making him feel like part of
a family. Marie had seemed very sincere in her desire to be in a
relationship with Logan. Hopefully things would go well for her and Logan. She
had become much more self confident already.
Ororo was not offering Marie her congratulations as easily as
everyone else. She would offer wishes for 'their happiness', but she would
rarely stay to talk about Marie's relationship. She had seemed to be
troubled by something lately, but refused to share any details, saying only that
it was a personal matter, and they could not help with it.
Hank McCoy was a bit concerned about the idea of Logan and Marie
together as well. On the surface, it didn't seem quite so bad,
Marie was old enough now that she wasn't a minor, she legally could do what
she pleased in a relationship. But he wondered how seriously she took
what they had. Was Marie actually ready to commit herself to a future with
one man, and only that one man? He could tell that Logan wanted a future
with someone. Logan might not want to settle down in a little house and
get an office job, but he obviously wanted a special someone
that was there for him, someone that he could cherish. He was
willing to go to such lengths to help Marie, to try to build a future.
Hank only hoped that Logan wasn't building a foundation on
shifting sand.
end part 6.
Ororo wanted to be happy for Logan, she really did. He had
found some answers as to his past. That had to count for something, although
she could tell he didn't really feel like he belonged anywhere, as if he had
no roots. Logan wanted to make a future, to make up for his lack of a
past. Ororo understood that, having partly come to the X-Men to make herself a
future.
She only wished Logan's future wasn't with Marie.
Ororo had concluded that she was attracted to Logan when he had
first come to the mansion. He was fit, and had this magnetic appeal, and
he lived with such intensity. She had been afraid to act on her feelings
when he was first there, instead focusing on the crisis with
Magneto, and tending to Senator Kelley. Logan had been gone before
she could bring herself to consider a future with him.
When he came back, Marie had swooped after him like a falcon,
snatching him up for herself. Ororo couldn't blame Marie for wanting Logan.
Nor could she blame Logan for wanting a future. She had to admit that
she hadn't given him any indication of her feelings, how would he know
that she was even an option for him? Her penance for that reluctance to risk
exposing her feelings was to see him with Marie.
She had to admit that Logan had appeared to be happy. She
almost wished that he wasn't, so that he wouldn't be with Marie. But that
would be petty. She didn't want Logan to be alone and separate from the
group. Nor could she see the harm in Marie learning to control her abilities.
Once Marie had control of her powers, there wouldn't be any
reason she and Logan could not be together in every sense of the word. A
tremor passed through Ororo at the idea. She wanted Logan to be happy. That
didn't mean she had to be here through all of it. She would go speak to the
Professor. Perhaps he could find her a mission away from the mansion's newest
couple.
end part 7.
Logan was feeling fairly good about life. He was accepted
here. It didn't matter that he wasn't normal. He had a future ahead of him
with a charming woman that wasn't afraid of the secrets in his past. They
were discussing the future, trying to cover the possibilities of life
together.
Sometimes, it seemed like she wanted to go away somewhere, to
live just the two of them, and start a family together. He was positive that
Marie would have adorable children. Other times, she wanted them to stay
at the mansion, part of the X-Men, and not risk bringing children into a
world that would fear and hate them. He was certain that if they stayed
together, with love and trust, they could manage whatever the future held for them.
He was supposed to be meeting Marie tonight. They had dinner
reservations at this french place in town. Logan suspected that
Marie had planned something. He was looking forward to finding out what it
was.
Marie had just been cleared for having managed reasonable
control of her power. Jean and Scott had been testing her in the med-lab,
under the observation of Dr. McCoy. They had concluded that she could hold
her powers even under distraction of strong emotions. She could have a normal
life. She could have Logan, in every sense.
* * * *
Ororo Munroe departed the mansion, traveling to New Orleans to
investiage some mutant activities in the area. She wasn't certain
how long she would be gone, or what she would find. She was only confident
that it would be easier on her heart than watching the man she cared for in
the arms of another.
end Spring Blossoms.
Author: Lucinda
Rating: Pg this part
Pairing: Spring Blossoms will be Logan/Marie
note: this is in response to Rebecca's Challenge.
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from the X-Men movie or comics.
Distribution: please ask first.
It was spring when Logan returned to the mansion in
Westchester. Charles Xavier had promised him almost a year and a half ago that he
would have a home here as long as the mansion stood. Logan felt in need
of a place that he could feel safe. He had gone looking for his past.
He had wanted answers to what had been done to him that had left him with
metal claws, no memories of his past, and horrible nightmares.
He had gone to place the Professor had told him about, a
facility located by Alkali Lake. It had been abandoned. Nobody was there
when he arrived. However, whatever had happened, they hadn't had time to
take everything with them when the had left. There had been a cell that
had traces of his scent lingering in it. Another had traces of the
mutant called Sabertooth. There had been almost a half dozen cells with
traces of almost remembered scents.
There had still been filing cabinets in a storage room. He had
found a medical file on himself, as well as files on the other people that
had been confined here. He had papers and documents that said exactly what
procedures had been done on him. He had been able to understand
some of them. He had also learned that he had once been Major John Logan, a
decorated military officer.
He had no idea why he had been chosen.
The personal information he had found on himself had been
fragmentary, bits and pieces left almost intact after a fire had raged in the
office they had been stored in. He had been left with the impression the man
in charge had liked to gloat over his subjects.
They had created something in this lab. It had escaped their
control, and had nearly destroyed the compound as it tried to escape. Doors
had been torn from their hinges, shelves and cabinets hurled across rooms,
shattering observation windows. There had been the remains of long
dead laboratory technicians and a few doctors left to moulder where they
had been struck down. One torn hinge had caught a bit of golden brown fur.
They had played god here. Unsurprisingly, their creation had
rebelled, and rose up against them. They had fallen, bleeding and shattered
to the floor. Alkali Lake held nothing more for him.
His discoveries had brought back the nightmares. He slept,
and they once more slashed his body open for their experimental testing.
They traced his bones as he was strapped naked to a cold metal table. He was
dropped into a cold tube of a slimey fluid......
He hoped the nightmares would slow once he returned to
Xavier's. Once he was surrounded by people that knew nothing of the torments of
labs. The murmur of so many ordinary lives should help keep him aware that he
was in now, not the tormented then.
Perhaps he could even find a special someone to be with.
Someone to help him banish the loneliness of being a man without a past, a
wandering enigma. Someone he could build new memories with.
end part 1.
Logan returned to the mansion quietly. He found the gates
standing open, and drove the motorcycle inside. He left it parked in the
garage. He quietly went into the house, and up to the room he had been in
all those months ago. Logan took a shower, locked the door, and went to sleep.
Scott had found the bike. Now, whispers were circulating that
he had returned. Some of the students remembered that he had been here.
He had stabbed Marie in he chest during a nightmare. It was the only thing
he'd done here that he felt really guilty about.
Marie found him sitting in the garden under a large maple
tree. She sat down beside him, and asked if he was planning to stay.
The year and a half that he'd been away had changed her in some
ways. She wasn't the slender, nervous girl he'd met in Canada. She had
grown taller, and her figure had grown noticeably more curved in some
places. Marie was defiantely a woman in that regards. She also seemed to be
less hesitant. She seemed more certain of who she was, and that she had
a place in the world.
Most surprisingly, she had decided that she knew what she
wanted in life. She wanted to be an X-Man, to fight for the future. She also
wanted him to be a part of her future. To stay with the team, and perhaps,
here she looked up at him through her long dark eyelashes, he could stay with
her?
Something inside Logan's heart began to flutter wildly when she
made her offer. Marie had grown into a lovely woman. She seemed to have
found the answers to who she was, and what she wanted from life. She
wanted him. She wanted them to have a future together.
Even if they still hadn't found an answer to how her powers
worked. But Jean and a new doctor, a big blue furred mutant named Hank McCoy
were looking into the matter. They were hoping to learn how she absorbed
people, so she could learn not to absorb them. Some aspects of a future
together would have to wait. Maybe wait a long time.
Logan could be patient. He could give Marie as much time as
they needed to build a future together. Besides that, there was more to
a relationship than just the physical aspect of things. They could
begin building the foundation of a lasting relationship.
Spring was the time of hope after all.
end part 2.
Logan had decided that if Marie wanted to spend her future as
an X-Man, she needed to know how to fight. He had only intended to
teach Marie, but somehow, word had circulated, and now he had about a
dozen people showing up in the mornings for lessons in hand to hand combat. He
had been a bit surprised by this development, but had decided that
it would be good for the others to learn good fighting techniques as well.
Most of the people that remembered Logan from his earlier
visit were astonished. He had ended up teaching a class on self defense and
basic fighting. Logan was teaching patiently, and he hadn't lost his
temper once with any of his students. The only people not taken completely by
surprise were Storm and Xavier. Xavier had only commented
that Logan was a man of hidden depths.
There had been many many tests on Marie and her abilities by
Dr. Jean Grey and the new Doctor, named Hank McCoy. He was the first doctor
that Logan had met, in his memory at least, that didn't cause a 'gut him
or run' response. Dr. McCoy was surprised and delighted to
finally have a patient that seem d unconcerned by the fact that he
was six feet tall, covered with blue fur, and had the claws and fangs of a
beast.
They had a few theories about how Marie's ability to absorb
worked. To the dismay of some of the students, they had come to the
conclusion that any further information would require monitoring Marie
while she absorbed someone. There hadn't been any volunteers.
Logan (he still thought of himself as Logan, even knowing that
he'd had an actual first name) had listened to all this as Doctor McCoy
explained their studies of Marie's unusual ability. He decided, when the blue
doctor had finished, to tell him some of what he had found.
"The Professor told me about a former research base that he
thought might have some clues to my past. He was right." Logan paused,
seeing that he had the attention of McCoy. " I still don't really know who I
used to be. I don't know when or where I was born. I still don't know why
I was selected to be worked on. What I do have is a folder full of
records on what they did to me. There are charts and diagrams, and stapled
stacks of scientific papers. It might make more sense to you than it did to
me. One other thing - the place they did this to me, I wasn't the only one.
They also had Sabertooth, and a few other people I ought to know but
can't remember. I brought the medical files on them with me as well. I
can bring those down here after lunch."
Logan thought a bit about the difficulty in researching Marie's
mutation. She didn't know how to control her power because nobody
knew how it worked. They didn't know how it worked because nobody would
volunteer to let her drain them while the doctors studied it. This meant that
Marie had a limited future, without real human contact.
"If you still need someone to help study Marie's ability, I
can help. I have a healing factor, so I should be able to recover just fine.
Marie deserves to be able to have any future she wants, not just what she
can make without touching people." Logan's voice echoed slightly in the lab.
" Gracious, are you volunteering to be her.. hmm ..partner in
experimentation?" Hank looked at Logan in surprise. This was an
entirely unexpected offer. "One might almost suspect that you have feelings
for Marie, making such an offer."
To his surprise, Logan was looking determinedly at his toes, a
faint blush on his face. "Marie is a real sweetheart. I want her to have
a happy future. Maybe a future with me, maybe not. Thing is, I know how it
bothers her that people are afraid of her. No matter what, she'll be
happier if she can touch people safely. I want to help her get that future."
The mystery was cleared up a bit for Hank McCoy. Logan was
definitely sweet on Marie. He was wiling to be observed by scientists in what
could be painful experiments to offer Marie a chance for something like a
normal future. He hoped to be part of her future. He paused to consider
the possible future of Logan and Marie. He couldn't quite picture them
happily married, with two children and a dog.
end part 3.
Marie and Logan had sat down by a small stream on the mansion
grounds and had a long talk about relationships. They had taken a picnic
basket full of food with them, so that they would be able to talk as long
as they needed.
Logan had confessed his concern that Marie might decide he was
to old for her, that she wanted someone closer to her own age. He had
worried that she might want someone that had a complete past, that knew when
their birthday was. He had been afraid that because he was lacking a
past, she might judge him less of a man. He had been worried
that she could get hurt, and he would be unable to protect her, that
he would fail her somehow. He had been worried that she might want
someone that had never been drafted as an experimental test subject.
Marie had been expecting some of this, having had long months
while he was away to consider all the benefits and disadvantages of pursuing a
relationship with Logan. She told him that the guys her own age
needed to take some more time growing up. She wasn't worried about his past,
because they could make a future. They could choose any day he wanted and
call it his birthday, and have cake and ice cream and presents. He had not
failed to protect her in all the time they had been together, she didn't
think he would fail her now. She had swore to him that his past, whatever it
might hold, didn't matter to her.
For her part, Marie had been afraid that Logan would think she
was to young. That he would want someone older, more exotic, more like
Jean. She was afraid that he would think she was to inexperienced, that she
hadn't learned enough about life. Afraid that he would secretly be
comparing her to Jean. She had been afraid that nobody would ever want to be in a
relationship with her because of her mutation.
Logan had pulled her into his lap, hugging her close to him.
He had told her that the only reason he had flirted with Jean - other than
because it annoyed Scott, was because he didn't trust her. When Marie had
given him a puzzled look, he had explained that he didn't trust doctors, or
medical labs because of his past. He preferred to keep them
away. He had figured the best way to keep Jean back was to make her
think it was all her idea. So, he flirted with her. Jean found him to
intense, to something, and tried to keep him at arms length, not realizing
that that was exactly how he wanted it.
He told her that he understood how much traveling on her own
from Mississippi to Canada had aged her, not outside, but inside where it
counted. Besides, she'd had a few other people in her head, and
even if the memories had faded, it would probably leave her a bit wiser in human
nature.
Then, he had told her that he had volunteered to work with Hank
to help unravel the mysteries of how her mutation actually worked. Then,
she would be able to learn how to make it not work. She would be able to
touch people, and live a normal life if she chose. Or to just do some
normal things, like shake someone hand when you meet them.
She had been moved to tears by that, knowing how much Logan
disliked labs. She had had nightmares of labs and painful things done in
them for weeks after the fight with Magneto, when Logan had risked his life
to save her by having her absorb his healing ability. She couldn't remember
everything she had absorbed, just memories of memory. And the
knowledge of how to strip and clean a rifle.
With tear filled eyes, and hope shining in their hearts, they
decided to try to have a loving relationship. One that was better than the
fairy tales, because it was real.
end part 4.
As the days passed into weeks, Logan and Marie were often seen
taking long walks together. They would just go meandering in the woods,
spending time together and admiring nature. Logan would point out and name
the may songbirds, and Marie was often carrying wildflowers
in her hands when they returned.
It was incredibly sweet.
The more difficult part of their budding love came in the form
of the testing to help study Marie's powers. They would hook up monitors
and wires to Logan and Marie, so that the doctors would monitor every
fluctuation of either of them. They had their heart rate, and blood pressure, and
brain waves and various other bodily functions all making graphs and
numbers on a small horde of monitors and machinery. The lab
gave Logan an unpleasant nervous feeling that wasn't helped by the
wiring in the slightest.
The most immediate discovery that had resulted in all the
testing was that Marie's absorbtion wasn't instantaneous. The longer she held
contact, the more she absorbed. Brief contact left Logan wobbly, but still
standing, and accelerated Marie's healing a small degree. Longer contact
rendered Logan unconscious, and Marie had his healing factor at full power.
Sometimes, touching Logan made all her senses sharper, so that she
could hear everything. The memories were the last to be absorbed. The
briefer the contact, the fewer memories she absorbed.
Jean had started monitoring the sessions telepathically as
well. It turned out that one aspect of Marie's abilities was actually similar
in some regards to telepathic ability. Her mind reached out, and pulled
memories from Logan's mind. That was how she was able to remember things
that had happened to people she had absorbed.
Jean and the Professor had decided to try teaching her mental
shielding, focusing on how to keep other minds out. They had
thought that this might slow or prevent her from absorbing the memories of
someone she touched. It was tedious practice, and gave her frequent headaches.
Amazingly, it was helping. She was now able to not absorb the
memories or aspects of the personality of someone she touched.
They had even managed to get a few other people to volunteer
once or twice to help test Marie's progress. She had briefly been able to
shoot optic blasts like Scott. They hadn't repeated that experiment,
having had to repair the wall of the med lab afterwards. There had been better
luck and safety involved when she borrowed the abilities of
Bobby Drake, and later of Jubilee, a girl that could generate explosions.
As for the more physical aspects of her absorbtion, Dr. McCoy
had concluded that she had a specialized metamorphic ability, actually
reshaping her body to duplicate the abilities of others. He was still trying
to figure out exactly how her body made all the changes.
They had been very hopeful that she could eventually learn to
control her powers, using them only when she choose. Frustratingly, while
they had figured out some of the how, Marie still couldn't control the
absorbtion of people's physical abilities. She was consoled
slightly by the fact that she didn't end up with other people's
memories in her head anymore.
Marie was impatient for the day that she and Logan could really
touch each other.
end part 5.
As the time passed, Marie and Logan were more often seen walking
together. They were now starting to make some progress on
controlling her powers. She still had to work some on the concentration it required
to contain her power, but she was learning. Logan had compared it to
learning to hold her temper.
The Professor was of the opinion that this relationship was good
for Logan, drawing him more into the group, making him feel like part of
a family. Marie had seemed very sincere in her desire to be in a
relationship with Logan. Hopefully things would go well for her and Logan. She
had become much more self confident already.
Ororo was not offering Marie her congratulations as easily as
everyone else. She would offer wishes for 'their happiness', but she would
rarely stay to talk about Marie's relationship. She had seemed to be
troubled by something lately, but refused to share any details, saying only that
it was a personal matter, and they could not help with it.
Hank McCoy was a bit concerned about the idea of Logan and Marie
together as well. On the surface, it didn't seem quite so bad,
Marie was old enough now that she wasn't a minor, she legally could do what
she pleased in a relationship. But he wondered how seriously she took
what they had. Was Marie actually ready to commit herself to a future with
one man, and only that one man? He could tell that Logan wanted a future
with someone. Logan might not want to settle down in a little house and
get an office job, but he obviously wanted a special someone
that was there for him, someone that he could cherish. He was
willing to go to such lengths to help Marie, to try to build a future.
Hank only hoped that Logan wasn't building a foundation on
shifting sand.
end part 6.
Ororo wanted to be happy for Logan, she really did. He had
found some answers as to his past. That had to count for something, although
she could tell he didn't really feel like he belonged anywhere, as if he had
no roots. Logan wanted to make a future, to make up for his lack of a
past. Ororo understood that, having partly come to the X-Men to make herself a
future.
She only wished Logan's future wasn't with Marie.
Ororo had concluded that she was attracted to Logan when he had
first come to the mansion. He was fit, and had this magnetic appeal, and
he lived with such intensity. She had been afraid to act on her feelings
when he was first there, instead focusing on the crisis with
Magneto, and tending to Senator Kelley. Logan had been gone before
she could bring herself to consider a future with him.
When he came back, Marie had swooped after him like a falcon,
snatching him up for herself. Ororo couldn't blame Marie for wanting Logan.
Nor could she blame Logan for wanting a future. She had to admit that
she hadn't given him any indication of her feelings, how would he know
that she was even an option for him? Her penance for that reluctance to risk
exposing her feelings was to see him with Marie.
She had to admit that Logan had appeared to be happy. She
almost wished that he wasn't, so that he wouldn't be with Marie. But that
would be petty. She didn't want Logan to be alone and separate from the
group. Nor could she see the harm in Marie learning to control her abilities.
Once Marie had control of her powers, there wouldn't be any
reason she and Logan could not be together in every sense of the word. A
tremor passed through Ororo at the idea. She wanted Logan to be happy. That
didn't mean she had to be here through all of it. She would go speak to the
Professor. Perhaps he could find her a mission away from the mansion's newest
couple.
end part 7.
Logan was feeling fairly good about life. He was accepted
here. It didn't matter that he wasn't normal. He had a future ahead of him
with a charming woman that wasn't afraid of the secrets in his past. They
were discussing the future, trying to cover the possibilities of life
together.
Sometimes, it seemed like she wanted to go away somewhere, to
live just the two of them, and start a family together. He was positive that
Marie would have adorable children. Other times, she wanted them to stay
at the mansion, part of the X-Men, and not risk bringing children into a
world that would fear and hate them. He was certain that if they stayed
together, with love and trust, they could manage whatever the future held for them.
He was supposed to be meeting Marie tonight. They had dinner
reservations at this french place in town. Logan suspected that
Marie had planned something. He was looking forward to finding out what it
was.
Marie had just been cleared for having managed reasonable
control of her power. Jean and Scott had been testing her in the med-lab,
under the observation of Dr. McCoy. They had concluded that she could hold
her powers even under distraction of strong emotions. She could have a normal
life. She could have Logan, in every sense.
* * * *
Ororo Munroe departed the mansion, traveling to New Orleans to
investiage some mutant activities in the area. She wasn't certain
how long she would be gone, or what she would find. She was only confident
that it would be easier on her heart than watching the man she cared for in
the arms of another.
end Spring Blossoms.