It was almost three in the morning. Mae had been dozing on the couch after putting the children to bed, where Logan normally slept, and barely heard the motorcycle run into the driveway and the garage door opening. She woke up, rubbing her eyes, but she jumped up immediately, thinking the worst had happened. She smelled smoke and heard voices outside. She was fearful that people had followed Danielle and Logan home, but there was no indication that those people burning mutants were close by and were threatening them.

Mae walked to the window, not turning the kitchen light on. She saw nothing by darkness. When she turned her head to look at the garage, where the voices were coming from, she saw the light on there, but only heard two people laughing. She sighed with relief, knowing it to be Logan and Danielle, and went to the door to unlock it. Turning the porch light on, she watched as the two came to the steps a few minutes after closing up the garage, both adjacent to each other, but not touching the other, and backed away when they opened the door. Danielle immediately locked it behind her after they entered, surprised to see Mae.

"What are you doing up so late?" she asked the older woman.

"I heard some voices," Mae replied carefully, watching Logan as he went to the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of beer (as if he didn't retch of it already). "I wasn't sure, since those burnings started."

Danielle nodded in appreciation. Mae then took her jacket lying on the island and started for the door, keys to the truck pulled out. Confused, Danielle stopped her, trying to understand why she was leaving, but Mae waved her away.

"Roger is expecting me home," Mae explained, sighing again, but this time in exasperation. "I am already expecting some sort of lecture on something or a clue about his plans, but nothing more. Besides, it's more interesting."

"Were the kids that great?" Danielle asked, suddenly weary and wondering why it seemed her sons were always in some sort of trouble.

"No, more of the quiet I crave." Mae was silent for a minute, opening the door. Then, suddenly remembering something, she turned back to Danielle. "Oh, by the way, I cleaned out your mother's room and moved all of your things back into your room. It's all finished. You should see it! Roger did a great job renovating it these past few weeks."

"Yeah," Danielle said with cold lips, echoing a positive sentiment she could not feel. "Yeah. Thank you. And tell Roger the same."

"I will," Mae promised, finally leaving.

By the time Logan had hit the bottom of his bottle, ignoring the exchange of both women, he realized that Danielle had left in a hurry upstairs, leaving behind no farewell for her elderly sister-in-law. He put the bottle on the counter, satisfied that he had enough alcohol to drink for the night (as if the pitcher wasn't enough), and went upstairs.

~00~

Dazed, Danielle made her way upstairs in the darkness. She barely remembered what she did, but that she somehow was standing in front of her bedroom door, closed against her. She felt that the best night of her life in a while had quickly turned sour, that she did not want to face the final humiliation that was given to her. She was quick to avoid the bedroom for months, comforted by an invisible presence that was in her mother's room. Now, she had no choice. She had to face this fear…or start to believe that all of them would come back, just like this one.

"Hey." Logan stood behind Danielle, turning her around. Danielle did not resist, putting her arms around Logan's neck.

"Hey." Danielle felt lonely for the first time in a while, trying to scale the wall and breach it, but was not successful. She could not bring herself to word her anguish.

No, not this time.

"Mind if I join you?" Logan asked, unsure of why he did. "I figured you needed some company for the rest of the night."

Danielle looked up at his in surprise. "I suppose so," she replied uncertainly, wanting to push Logan away…and bring him closer at the same time. A tug of war match seemed to be going on in her mind…and one side was losing quickly.

Logan detangled himself from Danielle and went downstairs. He came back up with his boots and some clothes, putting them on top of an empty bookcase near the bedroom door. He then opened it for her, allowing the cold air to come out. From a corner of the room, he took out a heater, going inside the bedroom first to plug it into an outlet. After a couple of minutes, he poked his head out, flipping on the lights.

The motion seemed like an invitation. Danielle followed in as Logan turned around, basking in the light, and closed the door behind her. Uncertainly, she almost begged Logan to look away with her eyes, but she was lucky, as he was busy in another corner stripping off his dusty clothes. Uncharacteristically (and it was comical for Danielle), he threw them in the hamper, this being some years after Danielle had nagged at him to. He then proceeded to get dressed in front of her, his back facing her.

Now was Danielle's chance. She threw off her tank top and jeans quickly, catching the heels on the jeans and not caring as she threw them under the bed messily. She grabbed onto the first thing in her grasp – a nightgown laid out for her, most likely by Mae – and put it on. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up, feeling strange as Logan laid next to her, but did not get under the blanket with her. It was familiar and comforting, but in an odd way, it seemed. He also seemed to be respecting her space.

Danielle said nothing about the arrangement, like it almost was before, but reached for the light switch and turned it off without another word, shaking as the shadows danced with the firelight so close outside. She curled to her right side, smelling nothing but clean sheets and laundry soap, and felt Logan roll over and get comfortable. Within minutes, he was breathing like he was sleeping, leaving Danielle more alone than ever before.

The feelings of the last few months overwhelmed her. Danielle went from angry to scared and defensive all in less than a year's time. Even though she felt sneaky in doing so, she kept so many secrets from people, things that she couldn't even speak of at the moment, including her fourth lost child, conceived in rape. In a little more than four months' time, a long and steady routine had kept her from going insane and had kept her family close by, even Logan, who was bound to leave soon anyway.

However, even if time had healed most of the physical wounds, Danielle would still feel the emotion, tight around her underneath the confident and cocky teenager that started controlling her decisions in a more mature manner nowadays. She still could feel the fragile life slip from her body, the beatings and the puppet strings. She could remember doing things she did not want to do. Even her last holiday before Logan showed up, Thanksgiving, had been a farce, but it was one that promised her peace for a little while…until Peter showed up just before the New Year, almost killing them all.

Tears suddenly rolled down Danielle's face. It was very liberating, of course, but it was also a godsend to her. She closed them, squinting to get the last of the water out, but it was coming down faster than she could manage, something she could not recall feeling in a long time. Before Danielle knew it, the room had turned cold and her feelings of despair seemed to be dripping from the walls like water, rolling down like droplets of rain. Even her bedroom turned into a shade of blue and silver.

Logan sensed the changes immediately and was up and awake, claws out, but he drew them back just as quickly. He found Danielle lying on her side of the bed, muffling a noise he had heard in many women before, but not her. He saw the same colors on her as the walls and reached for her, almost stung by the coldness her body threw out. Healing from what seemed to be frostbite, he tried again, pulling Danielle upward in a sitting position and staring into eyes that were black as onyx. Shaking her, he tried getting her to see him, but kept losing himself in a black pool, and one that had tears trailing down her face.

Seconds later, Danielle realized her error and transformed back to her normal self. The walls and her body were no longer blue and silver, but Logan could still see the two wet lines running down her face. He took his thumb and tried to wipe them away, but Danielle turned away when he attempted to. He reached for her once more, succeeding in his goal somewhat, but it only pushed Danielle away more. She stayed still, unsure of where she should be, but said nothing. When she finally dared to look into Logan's eyes, he reached for her again and was able to take her into his arms.

Logan pressed Danielle's face back into his shoulder, feeling the heavy sobs that started again. While nothing magical seemed to happen as it did before, it was relieving to know that Danielle had the same feelings as any other woman did and could release them. However, even Logan was surprised, recalling words Jean had said to him years before. He dimly remembered that she mentioned that tears from Danielle were rare and haunting and it was something you could never forget.

You were right, Jean. And I'll never forget that.

~00~

Mae returned home, not surprised to see the kitchen light on, but the house dark and uninviting. Unlocking her door with the key and locking it again behind her, she saw Roger leaning against the cold counter, waiting for her with arms crossed. He said nothing yet, but Mae was sure that he needed some information, he felt that nosy this night.

"Have you even slept yet?" she asked him, expecting a negative. When there was a headshake, she sighed. "Jesus Christ, Roger, what do you want then?"

"How did the night go?" Roger asked her instead, uncrossing his arms.

"How should I know?" Mae went to the counter and pulled a mug out of the cabinet, pouring herself coffee from the morning before. Stirring in sugar next to her and some milk from the refrigerator, she added as she sipped her coffee, "I didn't see anything that indicated that something went wrong. I would have known. The two appeared too…I don't know, happy, I guess."

Roger rubbed his chin, thinking.

"Oh Roger, leave them be," Mae begged, seeing the scheming behind Roger's eyes. "Give it a few days. If Teller promised men and resources, it's possible that he'll change his mind. They had a good night. Don't spoil it with this silly business."

"In war, there is no privacy and time," Roger declared. "Tomorrow, I'll pay them another visit. We'll see how effective Danielle and Logan were. If we see men from Teller's in time and they're staying with them, we'll know we have some chance. If not, we'll have to do the best we can with whatever we have."

"And how you do plan on getting the extra men in if they come?" Mae asked.

"They're not going inside the camp," Roger replies sharply. "That's all you need to know. The less told, the better off you'll be."

Mae shrugged her shoulders, too used to the talk. Roger had been saying that to her for years, yet she was more aware of the situation than he was with many of the characters of the charade. She knew about the relationship between Logan and Danielle and how it was slowly simmering into something closer than what they previously had. They both were too scared to say things, but were edging towards the slow crawl to redemption and forgiveness. It would take both of them to put aside many things, prejudices of others included, and work together as a team.

Mae also knew how well Peter, her cousin, functioned and his love of revenge to mutants. If word was whispered that something was going to happen to this Dedication Day of his, then things would go badly for everyone, especially those in the camps who were being tortured in many ways already. Not to mention, it would be more than a pleasure to have Roger, Danielle and Logan as prisoners in those camps too, prizes that were sought for years by both Leon and Peter both. The three would be worth more than the rest of them, her and Hank McCoy included, and Mae knew it well.

"And where do you suppose I'm going when all this is going down?" Mae finally asked, tired of being pushed around.

Roger glared at her with little apprehension, but it quickly passed. "You'll know when the time comes," he only said. "Information is too high of a price these days, Mae. Locations are key nowadays, especially to those who resist."

Roger then left Mae, blockading himself in his study for the rest of the night, it now seemed. Then, Mae heard the familiar buzzing of the phone and Roger's muffled shouts to someone on the other end, but was not sure what was now happening. All she knew was that the time was less than a month away, she had too many things to accomplish and that they could be captured at the best, dead at the worst.

Mae yawned and stretched her arms and legs, watching as the first rays of sunshine hit her face from a window. She faced it, wondering what the day would bring next. If everything went right, she reasoned, the Professor and Magneto's plans were take the next step. For now, it would be brute force that would liberate their friends, but it would soon be all that they have in order to survive in a world full of hate.

Damn, maybe Roger isn't the only one getting too old for this. Maybe I am too.