[The Diner]
The intimacy in the shower made the morning easier in a lot of ways but harder in others. Both of them were aware that Marie hadn't found her pleasure. That still felt too uncomfortable, too scary. But she'd enjoyed Logan's pleasure immensely. It was a quiet enjoyment. The tension between them had eased slightly.
They had eventually parted. Marie dried him gently with her towel. He tucked a dry towel around his waist and lay back on the bed, boneless and loose while he watched her dry her hair and admired her magnificent ass.
She frowned when she got to her pack. Yesterday's clothes smelled like stale smoke and her other change of clothes was spotted with blood from when she'd sliced her hand on his claws. She was out of underwear, too. Normally she washed them in the sink the night before, but last night she'd just come in and crashed. She really wasn't in the mood to shop for more or to hit the coin laundry on the way out of town. They'd need to eventually, but not today.
That didn't leave a lot of options. Shrugging, she pulled out a pair of opaque black tights and shimmied into them before putting on her bra and pulling on a soft wrap dress in deep kelly green. It was clingy and comfortable. One of her favorites. It barely took up any room in her pack and it was made of some sort of material that was impossible to wrinkle no matter how poorly she treated it. It was the kind of look that could be dressed up or down. With her hair up and a pair of heels, she could blend into any swanky crowd. With boots and her scarf, she wasn't out of place at the bar with her heel on the barstool and a beer in her hand. It wasn't really warm enough for this weather, but it would hold her for today.
She slipped into her boots and wound her favorite scarf around her neck, it was white and soft, shot through randomly with silver threads. Gloves next, black like the tights and boots. She pulled on her jacket last before rounding up the last of her things into her pack.
Logan was still on the bed. He was awake but his eyes were closed and his chest was rising and falling evenly. They opened as she sat on the bed.
"So? Breakfast?"
He took in her attire. "You look nice. Got a hot date?"
"Yep. And I'm out of clothes, too. It's either this or start stealing yours. There is a downside to traveling so light." She didn't want to think about wearing his clothes. That felt too intimate for where they were right now.
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. It faded as he noticed her pack on her shoulder and the absence of her things from the room.
"Goin' somewhere?"
"I'm starving, sugar. There's a diner across the street. You want me to bring back some breakfast for us?"
"Nah. I wanna go but I need to meditate first. It's been too long." It had dawned on him last night that it had been a week since he'd last meditated. He hadn't gone that long in years, even in the field he almost always made the time. No wonder he felt out of sorts.
"You want me to wait?"
That was the real question, wasn't it? He wasn't ready to share meditation with her. It was intensely private. That was too much intimacy too fast. He'd barely survived the shower. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of her taking off with her pack.
Shit.
"I'm not gonna run," she said softly.
"Didn't think you were." He was surprised to discover that was the truth. He didn't really think she'd run. Not anymore. He still didn't like the idea but it didn't scare him as much now.
Fuck. Like a Band-Aid, bub. One rip. All in.
"You go on ahead, darlin'. I shouldn't be too long. Thirty minutes."
"Take your time, sugar." She waved her phone at him. "I haven't caught up with the world in a few weeks. I'll just have some coffee and catch up a little. Take as long as you need. There will probably be about a thousand messages from Jubes. You could be in here all day before I get finished reading them." She wasn't ready to tell Jubes about Logan. She didn't even know how to explain what was happening between them just yet. But she knew there were bound to be dozens of texts and voicemails piled up by now.
"Heh." She was not wrong. That girl could talk. He could tell she wanted to touch him but something held her back at the last minute. He caught her hand. "Hey, don't do that, okay?"
"Sorry," she said, meaning it.
"I get it. I do. But just stop it, okay? If you wanna touch me, then touch me. Don't hesitate. Don't ask if it's okay. Just do it."
Touching him without provocation was different than what had happened this morning. His soul had been crying out for touch. That was not the same thing as touching him randomly just because she wanted to.
"I'll try, okay? It still stings a little."
"That ain't whatcha said earlier. You said the only way to fix things was to work hard on things."
"That's right, I did say that."
"Work harder."
"I will if you will, sugar."
"I'll take that deal." She stuck out her hand. He looked at it and raised one brow. "Nope. I ain't your business partner. I'm your lover, darlin'. I'll take a kiss."
Her mouth curved into a smile.
"Anywhere in particular?"
Logan waved his hand. He was only wearing a towel. There was a lot to choose from. "Anywhere you like."
The look in her eye told him she was definitely going to kiss him, even though he could tell she was still a little uncomfortable. He wondered where she'd choose. His lips? His palm? Knuckles? She had a thing for that spot on his neck. His forehead maybe? Somewhere silly? Big toe? Elbow?
She reached for the knot in his towel and his eyebrows nearly jumped off his face. It was almost cheating. Almost. Sex was still easier than tenderness and true intimacy that wasn't also about gratification.
He groaned softly at the way her scent changed as she looked at his body; the tangle of dark hair at his groin and the heavy droop of soft, spent flesh. She bent to him. Her hair tickled his skin. When she whispered, he could feel it.
"You shouldn't dare the Rogue, sugar."
She kissed the soft, pink tip of his penis. It was only the barest brush of her lips, but she took the last, lingering, pearly drop of ejaculate with her. She savored him quietly with her eyes and her tongue on her full bottom lip before she covered him back over with the towel.
When she moved to sit up, he caught the nape of her neck in his hand and sat up to kiss her mouth. Softly. Deeply. And then he bit her bottom lip with a little growl before turning her loose.
Her fingertips went to her lips and she had a strange expression on her face. One he couldn't read.
"Baby?"
She blushed fiercely.
"What?" he said, more softly this time.
"It's embarrassing."
"You just watched me get off, darlin'. How bad can it be?"
"That was my first real kiss."
He sat dumbstruck for a moment. "What?"
"I kissed Bobby once. And I kissed you." He remembered. Once to say a chaste goodbye at the lily pond. Once in anger to use her gift on him. "But nobody's ever kissed me before."
"Never?" He couldn't quite wrap his mind around what she was saying. Her words from the train came back to him. 'The first boy I ever kissed ended up in a coma for three weeks.' That definitely didn't count. But nobody? Ever? Goddamn.
"Never. I never liked the thought of kissing someone through a barrier. It's... weird and uncomfortable."
"Not even when you had the Cure? Or after Carol?"
She shook her head.
"Why the hell not?" That he was indignant for her felt strange and kind of nice, too. Even though she could tell some part of him liked it.
"Because none of them were you."
"Jesus, kid. C'mere." He pulled her close. Her soft admission humbled him. He felt bad for her. He'd never wanted that for her. He'd kissed Jean. He'd kissed his wife. There were few others over the years. He'd put his mouth on a lot of women, but it had rarely been to kiss them. At least not on the mouth. He was a little surprised when he realized he understood a bit more than he first thought about why she might have done that. There was sex and then there was intimacy. They'd both had far more of one than the other.
He kissed her again, slow and soft. His head spun. Christ, she smelled so good. Her first kiss. He'd given her her first real kiss. Didn't that beat all? He felt about ten feet tall.
When they parted, she touched her lips again. "Wow."
"Heh." He looked pretty smug.
"I like kissing you."
"Back atcha." He kissed her again, more playfully this time and then he pulled away to smack her on the ass with his wide palm.
"Now get goin'. I'm hungry and I needta clear my head before round two, baby."
She winked at him from the door, and he was pleased to see she was a little breathless. "Ding, ding, sunshine. I'll be waiting."
~ooOoo~
After she was gone, Logan got up and cranked the heat warmer before stripping off the towel and folding it up. He dropped it to the floor and knelt on it, rolling his neck with a smile. He was looking forward to this. It had been much too long.
He closed his eyes and let go, feeling his breath lengthen and deepen as he gave himself over to that boundaryless sensation. Here he wasn't Logan or the Wolverine or a woman's lover or a hard man who lived on the shadowy side of life. Here he was a part of something greater. Something that emptied him and filled him up again.
It was the first time he'd ever meditated where the Wolverine was already integrated into his consciousness. For years, meditation had been about only that. Learning to find balance with that wilder part of his nature. To enter into this place already in harmony was a unique experience. Usually it took quite a while to center himself. Today he tipped easily into the abyss.
Without boundaries the pain was always sharper at first and as it receded, there was something more than peace. There was clarity. Brilliant and pure and so sharp he could taste it. It was glorious.
Sweat dripped from him, tickling along his spine and beading on his face and chest. The hair at his nape and temples was wet. He'd only lost himself like this a handful of times in all the years he'd been meditating. He wouldn't have been able to sustain such deep concentration without his healing. The drain was too much. While he was physically exhausted, he was mentally exhilarated; refreshed and centered, deeper than he had ever been before. He felt good. Better than he had in a long time. Everything seemed so clear now.
He became aware of the world in slow degrees. The hardness of the floor under his knees. The hunger in his belly. The creep of sweat on his skin. The ticking of the heater. The howl of the wind outside and the lingering, citrusy scent of his lover. His eyes opened and he shook his head in surprise as he saw the clock. It had been nearly two hours.
While he couldn't quite feel bad for the profound experience he'd just had, the awareness that Marie had been waiting on him lit a fire under him to move. He dressed quickly, wiping the sweat from his neck and chest before pulling on his clothes and boots. He was out the door in minutes and jogging across the street to the diner, still a little breathless and sweaty.
The Blue Goose was one of those comfortable down-home places; lots of locals, lots of families, the counter was full and half the tables were filled. He found Marie at a little booth by the window. Her phone and an empty cup of coffee were in front of her, but her attention was out the window, looking towards the west. He wondered what was going on in her head.
Her whole demeanor brightened when she saw him. There it was again, that soft tender look that just made him damned glad neither of them had ever really given up. An uncharacteristically warm smile split his face wide open. It touched his eyes, too.
Happy. He was happy.
He slid in next to her and put his hand on her thigh as he gave her a light kiss on the forehead.
"Hey, kid."
"Hey, sugar. You good?"
"Better'n good. Tired but filled up, you know?"
"I know."
"Sorry I'm late. You ever have one of those sessions where you just get lost in it?"
"Once or twice."
He squeezed her leg, glad he didn't have to explain.
"To hell with the cow. I could eat the whole farm."
She giggled. "Sorry, but I couldn't wait. I already ate. But I've got room for more coffee and maybe a piece of pumpkin pie."
He raised a brow at her.
"Hey, don't give me that look. It's got veggies in it. Pumpkin's healthy."
Logan rolled his eyes.
The cherub-faced, white-haired waitress zoomed by with hot black coffee and a ready smile. It got bigger as he ordered the biggest breakfast on the menu despite the fact it was closer to lunch. A massive steak and eggs, hash browns, double sides of bacon and sausage, and an order of biscuits with extra gravy. She might have even tittered a little toward the end. Marie got her coffee and pie.
"What's with her?" he mused aloud as she left.
Marie's eyes sparkled. "She told me I was too pretty to be sitting here by myself and I told her I wasn't by myself. That I'd worn you out this morning and you'd be along when you could manage to drag yourself across the street." She giggled. "The more you ordered, the wider her eyes got. I think the biscuits pushed it over the edge. God only knows what she thinks I did to you."
A laugh rumbled in his chest. He could imagine her saying exactly that. She was a little vixen at heart. Always had been.
"What did you get?"
"The garden scramble with a slice of coffee cake."
They talked quietly while they waited, holding hands and discussing travel options.
His food came and he dug in, surprised when Marie stole a sausage link off his plate. He'd been wondering about that. She'd eaten bacon and egg sandwiches yesterday and they'd had roast beef sandwiches for lunch. He hadn't felt comfortable asking about it until now.
"I thought you were a vegetarian, kid."
She shrugged lightly. "I tried to be after Carol. It didn't quite work out. I'm still a Buddhist, but I need the meat now."
That didn't surprise him. She was a predator now. Of course she'd need meat. He didn't expect her to say more but she carried the conversation between bites of pie while he ate heartily.
"I got really sick afterwards. So gaunt and pale. It took Hank a while to figure out what was happening with me. I mean, invulnerable skin and healing, right? Makes being sick pretty improbable, you know?"
He knew. He nodded.
"Apparently the healing does a number on the metabolism."
Logan looked at his half eaten breakfast and grinned. "Hell, darlin'. I coulda toldya that."
"I just couldn't maintain a healthy weight eating that way. Veggies are yummy but not really calorically dense a lot of the time. I just couldn't eat the sheer volume of food required to keep up with the new industrial furnace burning in me 24/7."
"Sorry, baby. I know you'd rather not be eatin' Bambi."
It was teasing on the surface, but she could hear the sincerity underneath.
"It's not your fault. Besides, it comes with some pretty awesome perks, aside from having some of you in me. Getting to eat cheesecake and pie more often than not is certainly no hardship, sugar."
He grinned. The waitress came around again and refilled their coffees. Logan ordered a huge piece of chocolate cake. Her eyes widened and she gave Marie a curiously wry smile and a look that communicated she thought Marie'd really gotten the job done there. With interest.
When she brought his check there was a note in her loopy scrawl scratched onto the back of it.
Mister-
She didn't eat nearly as well as you and she's a nice girl who tips well. Next time see to it she's hungry enough to order the steak, too.
XOXO
Linny
He showed it to Marie and enjoyed the resulting giggle. Taking the pen from the little book the check came in, he tucked her note away in his wallet for posterity and wrote on the back of their copy:
Linny-
I aim to make it my life's work.
L
Logan grabbed his wallet again. Bypassing the blood-spattered twenties, he tucked a crisp hundred into Linny's book, closed it and pushed it to the end of the table. When Linny came around to refill their coffees one last time and pick up the check, he favored her with a rare smile. "Thanks, darlin'. Keep the change, huh?"
She smiled brightly and nodded at Marie. "You best hang onto this one, honey. The rough ones always need a firm hand in the beginning but they make the best partners, in bed and out."
"Jesus, woman. I'm sittin' right here." His eyes twinkled. "And it was the shower not the bed."
"Hush up, sugar."
Linny smiled. "See? A firm hand, sweetie. Like I said. Remember that..." She topped off their coffees and nipped away to another table.
"Heh. She was kinda fun."
"I agree. What did you write back to her?"
"You really wanna know?"
"Yeah."
"I told her I aimed to make takin' care of you my life's work."
He saw her touch her neck briefly where he'd bitten her. "Oh." It was the softest gasp of surprise.
His smile sharpened. "In bed and out, baby. Whatever you need." He felt good. Relaxed. He wanted to tease her. To see her smile. He was surprised when her smile faded a little. Her expression was still open, but wary now and her delicate brows were drawn together.
"Hey, hey... what's goin' on in there, kid?"
He noticed she was fiddling with her fork. She'd absently folded it up accordion style, with the same amount of effort most people used to fold a paper straw wrapper.
Damn. It was too easy to forget how strong she was now.
She blushed to the roots of her hair when she realized what she'd done and she set the fork down on the table. It was rumpled and bent, barely a few centimeters long. She hid it under her palm and he could feel Magneto's power thrumming through her. It made his bones resonate unpleasantly. When she removed her hand, the fork was perfectly straight. Even the slightly bent tine it had arrived with had been fixed.
"Sorry," she murmured. "I haven't slipped that way in a long time."
"What's up with you?"
"I'm just nervous about what you said. About the future."
"Listen, kid. I can tell you I know it 100 percent. I've never known anythin' as confidently or as sure in my life. You're the one, darlin'. Whatever happens, from here on out - good and bad, it's you and me."
He saw her hand leave the table and then she hesitated.
"Do it," he whispered. "I told you, you wanna touch me, then touch me."
Her warm fingers slid into the hair at the nape of his neck. The touch was chaste and yet startlingly intimate. She stroked his hair, ruffling it in her fingers. It was still slightly damp and it was longer than he usually wore it. It brushed his collar, falling back from his face in thicker waves that made the wild points a little less distinct. She liked it. It made him look a little wilder.
"Mmm..." His eyes closed. "Feels nice."
She felt his body relax against hers.
"You wanna go back to the room and sleep a little more?" She understood the kind of exhaustion that came with such deep, introspective meditation.
"Nah. I checked us out. Stuff's in the truck."
"You want me to drive? Let you doze a little?"
Normally he covered every weakness. Any little sign of vulnerability or softness was crushed down or stamped out before anyone saw it. But for once, he just let himself be completely honest.
"Yeah. That'd be real nice, baby."
The bell on the door jingled as they made their way outside. His hand was at the small of her back. The day was cold and clear. The wind was sharp but he could feel the sun on his shoulders. His woman was at his side and the open road was before them. Climbing up into the truck next to her made him feel warmer still.
When Marie looked over, he had a strange look on his face.
"What?"
"Nothin'. Just somethin' you said to me once. I was thinkin' on it a little."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. That night by the lily pond. You said you hoped I'd find some place with the sun on my face."
"I remember."
"Well, I'm finally here." He put his hand on her thigh. "And it feels damned good, darlin'."
Up next: The Confession: "One part takin' care of you. Three parts takin' advantage. All parts possession."