He watches her fumble with the seat belt before she finally gets it. He can't help but watch her. She is the woman from his dreams. He hates gaps in his memory especially since it's sporadic. Her wet dark hair shifts revealing her trembling jaw. The black bruise from the trucker staring back at him. Firing this new protective side of him. At least it's not broken. She quickly clenches her jaw griping her shaking hands tighter to hide it. Wolverine reaches over to put her hands on the vents but she jumps to the corner of the truck. Skittish might have been an understatement. It reminded him of a caged animal. She's practically sitting on the door he can hear her heart beating more rapidly.

"I won't hurt you kid. "He assures.

She sweetly smiles at him, returning to her seat. "It's not personal. I... I'm sorry." Is all that she can offer.

Wolverine grips the steering wheel, as thoughts invade his mind on what could have happened to her to cause her to react that way. And who is responsible. It wasn't the trucker. He never got the chance to hurt her in that way. And he saw the wounds that he sustained in their fight before Logan arrived. She would have won. She can hold her own. Wolverine shakes his head slightly. He has never concerned himself with thoughts such as these before. He was a criminal and a killer, but there is something about her.

***

"My name is AJ. " She says to break the awkward silence.

When she does not get a response from him she turns her attention to his hands. "Does it hurt when they come out? " She finally asks.

He glances at his hands then back at the snow-blanketed road. "Every time." Is all that he says. AJ looks over her shoulder into his camper. This is where he lives. There is a stove, a bench bed and clothes hanging from the ceiling to dry.

"Wow." She whispers.

"What?" He asks offensive once he realizes what she is referring to. "You know that I could pull over and let you out if you prefer the road." Angelina's eyes grow wide at the thought of hiking in the snow. "No. I like it. It's nice and cozy." She has no room to criticize anyone. She has never owned a thing in her life. Even the clothes that she is wearing were given to her. And the coat, she stole it from a woman who had three others. And now she doesn't even have that shedding it in the fight. She would be happy to have a place like this.

"So what kind of name is AJ?" He asks. Now it's her turn to let her defenses fly up. Up until three days ago she had never had a name. A number was her identity. She was no more than a thing that had to be cataloged for storage. She finally named herself Angelina, but uses AJ. The pain of her past had a nasty habit of creeping up on her, "Well, what kind of name is Wolverine?" She snaps back. His dark eyes dart at her. Perhaps she should have said something else. She quickly gestures to his dog tags. His eyes narrow as he shoves the tags in his shirt. She curses her self quietly for letting it slip that she knows his name. The only thing on his tags is Wolverine and a number. Hopefully he is too tired to have noticed or angry at her mention of that sore spot for him.

Three years ago he woke up in the snow and all that he had were the tags and a name. "It's Logan. My name is Logan." From the corner of his eye he catches a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Mine is Angelina." It suits her he thinks to himself. It's a beautiful name.

***

"How was it that I was able to hear you in my head?" he asks starting a fire in the stove.

He's not entirely ready to take her back to the Sanctuary of Xavier's school yet. He needs more time with her alone. Not to mention the fact that he's not sure how she'll react when she finds out that he's been looking for her all along. When he doesn't hear an answer he turns on his heel to face her. Seeing that there's not much room to speak of he finds himself knelt at her knees peering up into big blue eyes.

There's so much history and emotion wanting to get out but not sure how. He can almost feel it. Her lips part but she can't give him an explanation simply shrugging. She winces pain etched onto her beautiful face. His eyes drift to the dried blood on her pant leg to her neck. "Jesus. You hit your head hard." He says softly now on his knees between her legs he takes care in placing her hair behind her shoulder fallowing the line of blood with his finger tips.

"I'm fine." Angelina whispers trying to scoot away but finds it difficult with the position that he's holding. His hand stopped moving in her hair his eyes set on her, with disbelief in his warm eyes. "Angelina, there was a lot of blood. I should take you to a hospital."

"No." She mumbles fear brimming in her eyes. "Ahh." He groans gripping her legs in his hands to keep her from fleeing. "Look, I won't take you to a hospital…" She stills in his arms her eyes fixed on him aware that there is a condition to his promise. "…if you let me take a look at it." Completely still, AJ lets him place her where he wants giving her silent consent. Sitting beside her on the bench seat turning her back to him. Gentle, be gentle. Wolverine glides her hair along the nape of her smooth neck ignoring the silkiness of it and the tattoo he narrows his acute eyes at the wound that resides angry at the base of her skull.

"Jesus, maybe I spoke too soon."

Angelina bolts off of the seat knocking her head on the pipe in the roof lacking any grace. Before she can blink, Logan is beside her his hand on her head where she so gracefully smacked it gentle and comforting, "You said no hospitals Logan." Too tall for this small area, his head is ducked next to hers concern on his rugged face. His beard that is beginning to grow longer than he usually keeps it brushes against her cheek when he tries to look in her eyes to read her, "It's split wide open Angel."

The effect of the emotion welling in her eyes making them look as if they were two large pools of water is not lost on him. "There's a scab forming. It'll heal." She pleas her chilled hand holding onto his wrist. "Please." Logan closes his eyes resting her forehead on his chest taking in her body language. Fear. Her ragged breaths play on the unexplained desire that is twinkling in the back of his mind to take care of her. This is because of him. If he hadn't got caught up in the bar she wouldn't be sporting these wounds. "Ok. No hospitals." He holds onto her, feeling her legs that shivering against his weak. Logan holds her arms almost able to feel the goose bumps that hide beneath the thin fabric.

"We can at least get you cleaned up and warm." He says gently kneeling before her again watching her fiddle with the cloth in her hands. Wolverine glances at the abrasions and contusions on her knuckles. A deep seeded guilt begins to form, he should have been there. Peeking out on her one wrist is a black bruise darker in comparison to the one on her jaw, he must have held her down. "Here…"

Logan takes the damp cloth from her hands glancing at her face as he gingerly removes the blood from her neck, "Am I hurting you?"

"No."

The sapphire's disappear behind her thick lashes focused on the cuff of her sleeve that she's tugging on. He glances down to see her slip her thumb through a hole in the sleeve. She really needs better clothing, "You can wear my shirts. They'll keep you warmer than that holey thing." She twitches that tiny mouth tugging on the cuff. "I've done alright so far."

"Look, I know that it's not Calvin Klein but…" the humor in his voice fades her head tilted at him. Her beautiful face quizzical, "Who's Calvin Klein?" God, where have you been?

When he doesn't answer, Angelina drops her eyes using her sleeve to wipe away the blood that she got on his upper chest. "Sorry." She whispers cleaning the last bit away with her fingers. She holds back her smile at the warmth of his skin.

Wanting to smile was a wonderful feeling.

Jesus…her touch was intoxicating. Logan opens his mouth but the lump that she placed there was more difficult to wash away than he anticipated. Clearing his throat startles her back towards that place that she wants to hide.

"I won't hurt you." He whispers lightly touching her uninjured cheek with the back of his fingers. She lightly nods her palm resting on his chest as if it belonged there. A thought that he doesn't mind entertaining…touching the corner of her heaven sent mouth with his thumb, no. Don't do it.

"Seriously, who's Calvin Klein?"