As Peter soared through the air, chasing after his girlfriend, Marie, his mind wandered back through the past couple of months, at just how things had come to this. The two of them had traveled all around, working to help anyone they could, and promote equality for mutants.
At some point, they had met a man and his son, at a homeless shelter in New York, who was trying to find a way to raise money to return to his home in Peru. Peter immediately agreed to transport him there, and to help out any way he could. However, shortly after arriving there with the two men, and Marie, a small, local civil war had erupted over a local group of drug traffickers. At first, both Peter and Marie had done everything they could to stay out of the fighting, Peter only using his healing powers to help out anyone with serious wounds. Later, however, the drug dealers, and those who sided with them, had begun using stronger and stronger weapons; recently, they had even begun using tanks and helicopters.
Marie began trying to explain to Peter that he had the power, and therefore, the responsibility to help end this battle.
Peter had responded by saying that this wasn't his fight, and it wasn't his place to interfere that way.
That conversation had occurred only a few hours ago.
"Fine!" Marie had said, "I may not be as powerful as you, but at least I can fly! If you won't help, I will!"
Then, later this morning, while walking through the main street of town, they had seen a man throwing a grenade into the house of an innocent young mother and her daughter. Before Peter could stop her, she had lept into the house, and a painfully long moment later, she shot back out of the house, just as the bomb exploded. The blast burned off most of her clothing in back, and singed her skin. She quickly set the two women down, before pausing on the ground, cringing from the pain.
"Marie!" cried Peter, rushing towards her. However, before he could reach her, she quickly flew into the sky, making off towards the forest up in the mountains.
Now Peter flew behind her. He felt simply horrible. How could he be so stupid, so cowardly!? He was supposed to be the strong one! He was over 20 years older than her, and SHE was the one taking action, SHE was doing what he should have been bold enough to do on his own, DAYS ago. And now, here was the punishment for her latest good deed. She was hurting, both inside and out. That injury, having burned off much of her clothing, had not only scorched her skin, but in a region where women never even wore pants, had deeply penetrated her pride, as well. Peter, having never seen his beloved nude before, tried his best not to look upon her now. Not now; least of all, now. No, the first thing he wanted to do, after healing her wounds, was to wrap her up and hold her. Finally, she seemed be finished fleeing, and softly landed by a tree.
"Go away, Peter!" She shouted, without turning around to face him, "Leave me alone! I don't want you to talk to me, now!
"No, Marie!" came Peter's firm, caring reply, beginning his dissent, even as he began removing his own shirt, "I will NOT leave you, EVER!"
By the time Peter reached the tree, Marie had made her way back around to the other side of it, and stood with her back against it. When Peter tried to come around to her, she pushed him away.
"Stop, Peter! Get away from me!" She screamed in desperation, but Peter grabbed her firmly by the arm, and pulled her to him, while at the same time quickly wrapping his shirt around her. Once this was done, he took a step back from her, and held her shoulders with both his hands. By now, she was openly crying, and held her head down towards the ground.
For several moments, Peter just stood there, allowing her to let out her emotions. Finally though, he slowly knelt down in front of her to look her in the eye, but still, she turned her face from his sight. A few moments later though, she slowly, carefully, began to turn back towards him, her eyes still filled with tears.
"Marie, listen," said the shirtless mutant, speaking softly, "I am so, so, sorry! I feel like such a coward!" He then paused to allow her a reply, but clearly, she still wasn't ready to respond, verbally. So, after a few moments, he continued.
"Marie, I….You shouldn't be the one who has to do things like that!"
Finally, some of the light returned to her eyes, and it quickly turned to a bit of a fire, even through the moisture that still clouded them over.
"And why SHOULDN'T I, Peter? These people are DYING! SOMEONE has to do something! And WE'RE the ones with this power… "these gifts," as you called them."
"I KNOW, Honey, that's what I'm trying to say! WE Shouldn't be just standing back, LETTING things happen. We both agree, and I still believe that God gave us these powers for a REASON. I just…."
He lowered his head in shame.
After a few moments, he slowly looked back up into her face.
"Marrie, I'm so scared to lose you. You mean everything to me. Don't you know that? I love you so much, and if I ever lost you..."
Now HIS eyes were filling with tears.
"You are my world, Marie. You're my true guide, to where I'm supposed to go. Me, I'm always trying to find a way to do something that matters, but you show me just where I can best help. I have so many abilities, but it's you that has the real strength, Marie. We came down here to help these people, and I can't even step in to make things better when they need me most. But just now, you risk your life, you take an explosion, just to save a family of complete strangers. More than anything I've ever known, you're the kind of person I've always wanted to be like, to fall in love with. Marie, I want to live for you, and with you, forever…"
By this point, Marie was beginning to become short of breath, she wasn't sure she really believed what was happening. Was this handsome, sympathetic, man, she loved more than life, kneeling before her, really about to..
"Anna, Marie, Clemons," He said, gazing up into her eyes, and grasping both of her hands with his own, "Will you Marry Me? "
Then, Marie did something did something Peter never would have expected-tilting her head back at the sky, she broke into a loud laugh. Peter's heart sank into his feet, and his mouth dropped open. But then, before he could say anything, Marie grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet, planting a harsh, passionate kiss on his lips, literally sweeping him off of his feet, and ascending into the air.
By the time they finally ended the kiss, they were several hundred feet up.
"What was that?" Said a confused Peter, looking into her eyes. "You laughed, and then…?"
"Yes, Sugah! Yes! YES!" She exclaimed, pulling him into another kiss, which brought them another thousand feet into the air.
"I'm sorry Peter, for laughing." She said. Her eyes, having just dried of her tears, began to well up, once again. "I just…. When I was a little girl, I never would have thought that when the man of my dreams asked me to marry him, it would be, in the woods, in some foreign country, in the midst of a civil war."
Peter grinned back at her. "Bet you never thought you'd be floating in the air, kissing said tall, dark, handsome man, huh?"
Marie gazed into Peter's eyes, smiling, but then, all of a sudden jerked to catch Peter's shirt as it tried to slip from off her waist.
"Hold on now," said Peter, "or else my shirt's about to end up falling off YOUR back!" He then looked down at her, concerned. "Which reminds me…"
He then slips his hands around beneath the shirt, cupping her sore, bare, cheeks.
Marie opens her mouth, to let out a small, soft, barely audible moan, enjoying the sweet relief of having her burns healed. Unfortunately, it came to an all-too sudden end, as peter quickly pulled his hands away, looking in the direction of where they heard helicopter blades.
"I'm afraid we'll have to cut this short," He said, with genuine regret.
"It's ok, Peter. I'm pretty sure we've got some ointment back at the hideout. But, I'm more concerned about YOU. Are you really sure about this, sugah?"
Peter just grinned at her.
"Baby, there's only ever been one thing I'm more sure of."
Rogue grinned back at him, her blush beginning to return.
"It's like you said, Rogue,"
He added, just as he was finishing retying the shirt around her, "We have these powers for a REASON. "It's time for me to step in. And this looks like as good a place as any, to start! Listen, I need you to spot me. I may need you to catch a couple of bodies from out of the helicopters."
"Ok," She nodded. Then, she suddenly grabbed his head, pulling him in for another quick kiss.
"For Luck."
Peter smiled and flew off towards the helicopter.
"I love you, Honey!" She called after him. He paused for just a moment, to turn around and blow her a kiss.
With that, he quickly headed off towards the approaching helicopter
A moment later, as he approached the helicopter, he is fired on by a barrage of bullets, which he causes to phase through him, safely. After another few moments, he has reached the vehicle. The first thing he did is latch onto the underside of it. Then, reaching up, he grabbed one of the occupants by the feet, and hurled him off the helicopter, praying that Marie would be able to catch him. He waited several minutes, watching Marie dispose of the victim; after roughing him up a little, she finally leaves him stranded somewhere in the woods. It was up to God and Mother Nature what would become of him, now. But either way, he would think twice about going back to this line of work again. Once he saw Marie coming back up, he quickly jumped up into the helicopter, and using his telekinesis, sent the man out of the other side of the ship. His job was almost finished; however, there had been one last man that Peter had not accounted for: the Pilot! A moment later, Peter found a knife wedged into his gut, making him double over in pain. In his panic and frustration, he set the man on fire before hurling him out of the copter.
'oh no!' he thought to himself, as his heart sank, 'what have I done? Marie won't even be able to catch him!'
Moving quickly, he dove out of the copter towards the man's painful, screaming cries.
Once he finally reached him, he produced water to douse the flames and save the man from burning to death. He looked around, but Marie was nowhere in sight. He quickly contacted her telepathically.
'Marie. Listen, I have gotten the last man out of the copter, and it is about to go down. Make sure you aren't in its path when it comes down.'
Peter's telepathy, even after 20 years, was nowhere near strong enough to control something as large as a helicopter, but he could guide it. Rogue had, by this point, sapped the other men, such to render them unconscious, and looked up for where the helicopter would be going. A few moments later, she saw the large, dark figure of the helicopter, as it quickly descended into the trees, going up in a flaming explosion when it collided with the ground.
Over an hour later, Marie sat in silence in the little dugout hideout she and Peter had made- about 1 mile from the village, and 50 paces from the creek. The only furnishings it had, were a small table, and two straw rugs. Here she sat, with a single candle upon the table, watching the door, anxiously. Finally, she heard movement from just outside the door. Her body tensed up in anticipation, hoping it was Peter, but knowing it might not be.
Bringing in the last of the men WITHOUT killing them, had taken more out of Peter than he expected. Once he was finished, he immediately went to go find Marie, back at the hide out. He had never been so anxious to see his bride-to-be, and quickly teleported himself to just a few paces from the hideout, coursing himself for forgetting that it was night time, and now he would have to stumble around in the dark to find the entrance.
A moment later, a broad grin passed over her face, and she nearly knocked over the candle getting over to Peter to pull him into a tight embrace. He wraps his own arms around her, planting a big, wet, steamy kiss on her lips, while one hand grasps the back of her head, holding her against his face, as they made out for several minutes, before finally pulling back.
"MMM, I'm glad to see you, too," He said, before twisting his face into an odd sort of expression that she couldn't quite place.
"So, what're we having for dinner?"
"EXCUSE me?"
A look of frustration and disappointment crossed Peter's face, but Marie could CLEARLY make out his sarcasm, even in the dimly flickering candle light. Still, Peter had made up his mind to push his luck to the lengths of this little joke.
"I can't believe this. I go out, work hard. I fight the villains, and I can't even come back and expect a hot meal to be ready when I get home. Ya know, this is NOT a good start to our marriage."
"Oh, that's it, Mr Petrelli!" She quickly wrapped her arms around him, and forcefully tackled him to the ground on the other side of the tiny room, where she began tickling him mercilessly. Peter had been caught off guard by her sudden display of force. He wondered if he ever would get used to her now having super strength. Currently, he laughed and giggled uncontrollably, as she tickled him all over.
"That's right, Peter! We may both have super strength, but I know your WEAKNESS!"
The tickling assault continued for just a few more moments, before leading right back to more passionate kissing. When they finally took a break, Marie glared at Peter with mock seriousness.
"Peter, you really are a JERK, sometimes!" She said, smacking him hard on the butt.
"Yeah," he grinned, "but you still love me."
"You Damn right, I do!" She exclaimed, planting her lips back on his, where they locked for several more minutes, cuddling, and rubbing each other. After several minutes, Peter had a hand inside the hole over in the seat of Marie's pants, grabbing her cheeks with his bare hand, and soon, he felt one of her hands gradually creeping down the front of his pants.
Even though his heart and body reveled in the touch, he felt conviction, and knew deep down it was wrong. Drawing from his inner most strength, he forced himself.
"No," he said softly, grabbing her firmly by the wrist, even as his own hands quickly pulled away from her bum. Then, he slowly, gently, pulled her hand up to his mouth, and kissed it.
"Hold, Amore. Soon, my love, soon."
Marie looked up at her fiancé, her expression one of both frustration and admiration, and after a moment, she let out loud groan, before a grin began to spread across her face.
"Dangit, Peter! Sometimes, I wish you WOULDN'T be quite so NOBLE!"
She then wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.
"I just want make sure we stay true, and that our marriage is everything it's meant to be… for YOU, Amore." His tone then becomes lighter, "Believe me, it's not easy; GEEZE, you're hot!"
"You're one to TALK," she said, grabbing his thighs, firmly, and rubbing her hands down them.
"Superhero!"
Peter struggled to suppress a snicker from accompanying his response.
"Mississippi Queen..!"
"Peter Petrelli-don't you DARE start doing the song… I swear!"
Peter just chuckled, and tickled her ribs a bit, for just a moment.
"Seriously, though. I really AM starving. Do we have anything left but jerky?"
"Probably," she replied, matter-of factly, "Let me go find you something. Consider it my first "wifely duty," and my apology for starting without you," she said, with a subtle, yet notable hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Ya know what," he said, "Let's get out the water tank, first. SOMEONE seems to have gotten my lips and mouth all parched…"
"Hmm, mine is, too… I wonder.."
The two lovers grin at one another in the dim candle light.
