NOTES: All right. The next chapter is gonna be a blast, it has some of my very favorite characters to write- but don't hold your breath. I'm having to train on something new at work and everything is just insane right now, so- it's written in my head, but who knows when it's going to come out of my hands. Damn responsibilities, adulting is overrated sometimes. All the time? Anyways, thanks for the ongoing support, and enjoy!
DAY 4 (PART II):
I opened my eyes, my head throbbing. There were strong arms holding me, keeping me safe. Blinking as my blurry vision cleared, I looked up into the eyes of ... Scott Summers?
"Scott what are doing? Put me down," I said, too disoriented to be cross. That was when I noticed the look he had on his face wasn't exactly tender either.
"Where's Echo?" I asked, ignoring his scowl as he set me down on shaky legs. It took me a moment to regain my balance.
"I should be asking you, 'who the hell is Echo,'" Scott replied tersely, "Although I'm pretty sure I've got it figured it out by now. Believe it or not I'm not as stupid as you think I am. The little girl is with Logan, they stayed in the car."
"They...what?" I asked, rubbing my head. I realized Scott was in pretty rough shape himself. Half his face was black with soot, his uniform was ripped and there were some bandages hastily applied to his arms that he'd already bled through. His visor was cracked and part of his hair was singed off. And even with his eyes shielded, it didn't take a telepath to tell he looked pissed.
"What...what happened?" I asked him, finally feeling myself steady on my feet. He had an arm around me, but it was clearly there to support me physically from falling and nothing else. The rest of his body language was stiff. When I spoke those words, he immediately turned to face me, teeth on edge.
"What happened? Don't you really think I should be asking you that question, Jean? Why don't you tell me what the hell's been happening these past months? Were you cheating on me before we even decided to open up our marriage? How in the hell did you hide the fact that you and Logan have a goddamn child, together I-" Scott's face was red, he was breathing fast, and he stopped speaking. I could tell he was disconnecting himself from his emotions, regaining composure. "I need a moment. I need a moment to pull myself together Jean," he said, holding up a hand.
He kept the supportive arm around me, which I was grateful for, considering I still felt dizzy, and Scott looked the other way, taking deep breaths.
"It's not what it looks like. It's so much more complicated," I attempted.
"Well then by all means, Jean. Tell me. Enlighten me, what is this really," he asked me, his voice tinged with sarcasm.
"Well for one thing, I didn't even know I had a child until last week. I never even knew I was pregnant. If you think I somehow managed to hide an entire nine months of pregnancy from you Scott, you've lost your damn mind. I was being played in this game as much as you are," I responded.
"But you lied about Logan. You two are still together. You were, and you are." Scott asked me, point blank.
"Yes. I lied, I'm sorry about that too. You know that it was complicated, there was that lawyer and.."
"What else did you lie about? When else did you lie about him?" Scott quickly asked, cutting me off. "Before I had the psychic affair with Emma? Before the resurrections? Before that?" he asked, his voice rising in pitch. "Before our marriage? Has it all been a lie, Jean? Us?"
"No...I..." I started to reply and stopped. I didn't even know the truth. I didn't want to do this right now.
That faint red glow of his visor met my eyes, held my gaze fiercely. I looked away. I didn't want to have this conversation right now, it wasn't the time or the place. I felt that Scott sensed it too, because he paused, and then went on as if that little dialogue between us had never happened.
"You got knocked out during the fight," he explained, voice now calm and even. "Logan couldn't take you and the kid both, so I took you, he took the kid and we went to the only safe place as far away from Krakoa and without any kind of mutant surveillance that I could think of."
"Wait a minute" I said, blinking my eyes looking around for the first time at where we were, at the neatly trimmed lawn, and the familiar chipped paint on the front door. "Are we... Scott..you took us to my PARENT'S house?" I gasped.
"I was thinking on the fly, Jean," Scott replied, sounding frustrated. "And it wasn't a bad decision if I say so myself. It's not the first place they're going to look for the two of you, you know they'll probably check Logan's dives and underground ties first, so it'll buy you a little time. It's a suburban neighborhood, so unlikely to use anything from Otherworld here outright. There are no gates anywhere near here, hence the car."
"Whose car..?" I began.
"God knows, Logan hotwired it right outside the gateway," Scott sighed. He turned and looked behind us, "Speak of the devil,"
"Hey Jeannie, you doin' okay?" I heard a voice behind me and turned; it was Logan, getting out of the car, which was parked right behind the little yard gate to the house, Echo in tow.
"Nice to see your face grew back," Scott said to Logan in a tone that told me he would've been quite happy if Logan had remained a blob of cooked flesh and metal. "I told Logan to stay put so he wouldn't scare the living hell out of your parents. He wasn't exactly looking...presentable," Scott explained to me, removing the hand he'd been using to steady me. I did see Logan glance at the hand, but he said nothing.
"Is she okay?" I asked Logan, and Echo smiled at me as if she hadn't just been through her first epic alien battle.
"Better'in the rest of us," he replied, shrugging. Logan was basically half naked, the top of his costume completely shredded, cowl ripped halfway off his head, and Echo was in his arms beaming. "Hey I think she's a daddy's girl, she hasn't let me put her down since I picked 'er up," Logan said rather proudly, jerking a thumb at the little smiling face. Scott's scowl deepened.
"Oh my!" a very familiar voice said, and the three of us whipped around to to see my mother, standing in the open doorway.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you knock! Scott dear, always a pleasure to see you. Oh, what's happened to you! You look... you look like you had a hard day. Come on in. You and Jean must have so many adventures to tell us about. I wish you'd told me you were on your way, your father is upstairs working on his manuscripts."
"I .. uh.. it's good to see you too, Elaine," Scott said awkwardly, as my mother took him by the arm, tutting at the bandages, ushering him inside.
"Mom... I um, Logan is here too. And uh, this is Echo." I said, stepping aside and gesturing to Logan and Echo, who were standing on the porch behind me looking very out of place in a middle class suburban neighborhood.
"Oh, yes. Mr... Wolverine, is it? I should let you know, Jean was very very sad you couldn't make it her wedding."
My face reddened. "Okay, mom that was a long time ago. A very, very long time ago." I said, putting a hand to my forehead. "Why on earth would you bring that up?" I muttered mostly to myself.
"Yes, well, I just remember it upset you very much," My mother said to me, giving Logan a stern look. "Very much. I just don't like to see you look so heartbroken, not on your special day Jean dear," my mother replied primly, with a smile.
"Uh, it's um, it's nice to meet ya ma'am. Jeannie's said all good things," Logan lied, ignoring the wedding comment and shifting Echo to his other arm and holding out a hand to shake.
"What a beautiful child," my mother cooed, ignoring Logan's hand and reaching out for Echo. "Is she yours?"
"Yeah! She's mine," Logan answered proudly, as Echo clung to him, refusing to leave his arms.
"Um... mom...?" I started, glancing nervously between Echo and Logan.
"Yes dear?" She asked, holding out her necklace and letting Echo giggle and grasp it in her fist. "Are you and Scott thinking about children yet? You know me and your father would just love some sweet little grandchildren."
"Well, I have some um... I have some really great news for you then," I said quietly, with a grimace.
"Pardon?" I mother said, letting Echo grab her finger. "I didn't quite catch that. Jean dear you know I'm a bit hard of hearing these days, you'll have to speak up."
Or not, I thought. Or I could be a coward and avoid all this a little longer. "You know what? Let's go inside," I said hurriedly, and we went indoors.
My mother brewed tea as my father came downstairs and in an oddly incongruent moment, the four of us- three of us war torn, bruised and exhausted and one of us happily clinging to Logan's leg as she navigated cruising along the coffee table, sat down and had tea while my mother got dinner ready. We were all famished.
"I'll stay to eat, and then I need to go. Emma and Erik have been handling the situation on Krakoa but for how long I can't say. They need me," Scott said to us in low tones as my mother went to refill the teapot, and myself and Logan nodded. Scott refused to look Logan in the eye, and I could tell Logan knew it. It made me sad. For a moment there, they'd been a team again. The schism had been momentarily healed, all for the sake of me. In the name of family. Then just as quickly, the old wounds had reopened, and here there were again, still at an impasse. And again, because of me.
"Thank you Scott," I said again, quietly, as I heard a clatter from the kitchen and the clink of china as my mother poured more tea. "For all of this. We appreciate it."
"You're welcome," he responded tightly, and the tension between the three of us in the room was palpable. "KRAKOOO! KRAKOA! KRAAAAKOOO!" Echo yelled at the top of her lungs. Logan scooped her back into his lap as my mother brought out the tea.
"You father will be down in just a bit, he's just finishing up his work. So how is married life, you two? Was it very odd, being... you know.." she mouthed the word "dead," as if saying it aloud was going to make a marker start moving across a Ouija board somewhere, and then continued, "Or is it all just back to business as usual? Oh we were over the moon when our Jean came back. I can only imagine you two have been enjoying all kinds of getting to know each other again, falling in love all over again and all that goodness," My mother said, smiling broadly.
Scott and I both glanced at each other, then stared straight ahead, uncomfortable. My mother looked back and forth, obviously feeling she had made some kind of a faux pas, but unsure why. Looking slightly flummoxed, she changed the subject.
"Uh...well then...Mr. Wolverine, are you married? I'm assuming so with that lovely child."
"Not yet. Workin' on it," Logan replied, grinning despite himself. And I almost heard the sound of Scott's teeth grinding.
"Yeah well, good luck with that Logan," Scott replied, staring into his teacup as if he were staring down the void. "Marriage isn't exactly the walk in the park you think it might be," he said, words quiet but seething.
"Oh dear," my mother replied, brow furrowing. "I didn't realize there'd been so much trouble between you two. I certainly didn't mean to pry. Perhaps we should change the subject to-"
"MAMA!" Echo said, slowly scooting her way down the coffee table towards me. "MAMA! MAMA!" She said, turning towards me and raising her hands up towards me.
There was complete and utter silence, interrupted only by a tinkle as my mother's tea cup slipped from her hand and shattered against the table.
Scott was the first one to break the silence.
"Listen, thanks for the offer of dinner Elaine, but I'm going to have to decline. I have business to attend to. Best of luck to your daughter and Logan and I mean that. Give my regards to John," Scott said, standing up abruptly as I lifted Echo up to make sure she wouldn't step on any broken china.
"Ah... I uh... so...," My mother said, mouth open, completely unaware of the shattered teacup at the moment. "Ah..uh..there have been a lot of changes, then?"
"Yeah mom," I said tiredly, giving a huge sigh, and Echo started fussing and pulling at my top. "I'll love to tell you all about it. You don't mind if I breastfeed right now, do you?"
And thus, we had perhaps the most awkward family dinner in history.
I tried to explain everything, and by explain everything, I of course glossed over the majority. In this new tale of events and half-truths I'd manage to spin basically on the spot, Scott and I had separated, Logan and I had gotten together, had a child, and were engaged to be married. They really didn't need to know anything about the open marriage, the salvaged embryo, or the fact that there was in all likelihood an entire demon army trying to hunt us down right now. Keep things nice and simple.
The hard part was that because I was lying, I was basically leading the show, and Logan was trying desperately to follow me without many cues. I felt lucky for once that being silent type came naturally to him. Logan saw dinner as an opportunity to eat, rather than talk, and it was a relief.
"Healthy appetite on that one, eh?" My father said, watching Logan inhale his third helping of dinner rolls and chicken breasts.
"Ah, yeah," Logan said, shrugging and reaching for more gravy. "It's the healin' factor. Anytime I got damage to repair it takes a lot of calories. Somethin' like 6,000, per square foot damaged, Charlie calculated it once for fun."
"Healing factor?" My father responded, looking surprised. I sighed. My parents were the kind of people who quite literally lived in a little bubble. Among the women's bridge club and my father's golf outings, I wouldn't be surprised if the only X-Factor my parents knew about was the TV show.
"Wolverine. Logan is Wolverine, dad," I said, stopping myself from rolling my eyes, as that wasn't polite and it wasn't really his fault.
My father adjusted his wire rimmed glasses and stared at me with a benign, confused expression. "I'm so sorry, you know I have trouble keeping track of all your friends, dear. There's so many, and with so many different...talents."
"Mutation isn't a dirty word, you know," I mentioned, eating a forkful of creamed spinach.
"No, no of course not. And you know we love you just the way you are very much," my father said, smiling at me gently. "I just meant I'm not too up to date everything, I'm just getting old I suppose."
I sighed. "Logan has healing factor, dad. He heals quickly if he's injured," I explained, sending Logan a sorry in his head. But he seemed completely nonplussed, and much more interested in inhaling all of the food within his reach.
"Ah, a healing factor!" My father said. "Marvelous. That's such a wonderful talent. I have to say, I like that better than some of those powers that can be so violent. I'm just not comfortable with that."
Logan paused from a chicken leg long enough to look up at me, look at my dad, and make the decision to continue devouring the chicken rather than speak up. Smart decision.
"Wait dear-Isn't he the one with the...with the knives in his hands?" My mother asked, wiggling her fingers around, raising her eyebrows and sipping her glass of wine. I was seriously starting to question if Scott's decision to drop me off here was less strategic mastermind to keep us safe and more well-timed revenge to teach me a lesson.
"Er... yeah," Logan replied slowly, looking as if he were trapped in a corner with Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike closing in fast.
"Oh well, excuse me! What a terrible thing for me to say!" my father sputtered, backpeddling. "When I said I wasn't comfortable with...with violence.. I didn't mean...you see, I didn't mean to imply...Jean darling, I'm sorry, I thought he was the one with the glasses," he finally spat out.
"The what? The glasses?" I asked narrowing my eyes. "Dad do you mean Hank? Beast? My friend who is literally blue?"
"Ah yes, well, I was wondering about the color change. I thought maybe that was... I don't know, some other mutation. But Wolverine, he's the scientist, right?"
"Still thinking about Hank, dad," I said, resisting the urge to just smash my face into my plate and be done with the humiliation. I could tell Logan was holding back a smile.
"So how long have you two...been...seeing each other?" My mother asked quickly, trying to cover for my father. Usually, I could judge how good or bad dinner with my mother was going by how many glasses of wine she had poured. When it got to three, it meant situation critical. This was number four. Logan glanced at me with a silent plea for help.
Two years, I replied, and use your fork.
"Two years an' use your fork," Logan replied, quickly realizing what he'd said as soon as it came out of his mouth. "Uh.. I mean.. two years," he corrected himself, setting his dinner roll down and picking up his fork.
"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend," my mother said, wide eyes, quietly putting down her spoon and picking up her fork. She poured glass number five.
Possibly the only positive of the night was that my father happened to mention during the meal that as a history professor, he'd studied ancient Japanese culture, including their martial arts and weaponry. Logan practically lit up like a Christmas tree at this, and it was well timed because there was literally nothing left on the table for him to eat at that point. The ensuing boring, detailed conversation between him and my father regarding blades, scripture and war tactics gave me a much needed break from my evening filled with half-truths and floundering silences as I spoon fed Echo a plate of mashed potatoes that she gobbled down enthusiastically. My mother sat next to an empty wine bottle, looking somewhat shell shocked.
At last we retired from dinner as my mother showed us to the upstairs rooms. She was definitely tipsy by now and the sooner we could get to bed, the better.
"We've got these two guest rooms," she said politely. "All fixed up! You should both be very comfortable."
"Mom," I said, raising one eyebrow at her. "Logan and I have a child together. One room will do just fine."
"I know you and Mr. Wolverine-" my mother started.
"Please, it's just Logan," Logan said. Echo was riding on his shoulders on the way up the stairs, doing her damndest to pull out his hair, but Logan didn't seem to mind. Considering he'd had his face melted off several hours earlier, a baby pulling his hair was probably a walk in the park.
"Mr...uh, Logan. You're the one the knives, yes?"
"They're actually claws," Logan corrected. I could tell the idea of showing her exactly what they were crossed his mind, and then he made the wise decision not to go that route. "Yeah, that'd be me."
"Darling," my mother said, turning to me, "I'd just feel so much safer knowing you weren't sleeping next to... well, weapons."
"Mother!" I responded, face flushing, sheer tiredness making me irritable. "You were fine when I was sleeping next to a guy who could open his eyes and blow my head off with optic blasts, but you don't want me with someone fully in control of himself-" Logan cleared his throat and I glared "-with fully retractable claws? Seriously. Mother. I'm a grown woman, you don't need to protect me from the man I'm engaged to. I'm safe. Echo's safe. Logan, if anything, just makes us safer."
Logan stared at me like that was the first time anyone in their lives had said those words.
The tension between myself and my mother was palpable. I loved her, but she knew how to push my buttons and she managed to every time we were together for more than a few hours. Between that, and the fact that my head still hurt from the fight and my ears were ringing, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for ten hours. I didn't want to have this fight.
"No- no, yer mom's right," Logan chimed in. "Listen ma'am, that's just fine," Logan said, easing the tension between us, lifting Echo off his shoulders and handing her to me. I could tell she was starting to get sleepy, she kept yawning and her eyes were slowly opening and closing.
"I'll just sleep in the room next door," Logan continued. "I'm sorry we showed up like this- situation was a little crazy, but I appreciate yer hospitality. And just so ya know, I love your daughter more than anything on this Earth. I'm gonna marry her, I'm gonna protect her and treat her the way she deserves to be treated. You have my word."
My mother had an odd glassy-eyed expression, not quite a smile on her face as Logan was talking. After he finished she seemed to be turning something over in her mind.
"Mr. Logan...you know, maybe it's just Pinot Noir talking, but you really remind me of someone I used to know, a long long time ago. I didn't realize it before because I'd only ever seen you with your-" she put her hands up to her face. Definitely drunk. "With your little yellow mask on. But now that I see your face, it's simply uncanny. Simply uncanny."
"It's definitely just the Pinot Noir mom. Time for bed," I said hopefully, trying to nudge her back towards the stairs. I was not going to indulge my mother on one of her wine drunk rants after a day like this one.
"He was a fellow I knew in high school," she continued, ignoring me, still staring at Logan in a way that made me strangely uncomfortable. "A bit older than me; said he went to a different school. A bit rough around the edges but a handsome devil and ... oh in those days we called them 'bad boys.' He was known for roughing up anyone that got in his way, but he was always so sweet to me."
"That's nice mom. Listen, we're both really, really tired. How about we-"
"I only saw him a few times, it was never anything serious, but he brought me roses once and oh, I was quite smitten with him," she said, one hand to her chest, face flushed from the wine. I hoped it was from the wine. "Then one day he just up and disappeared, wouldn't you know! Never saw him again," she said wistfully. "I started dating your father shortly after that. What was that man's name? It's escaping me now. Oh, yes, I believe it was James," my mother said with the same dreamy stare, as my heart dropped fully into my stomach.
"That's a fascinatin' story, Mrs. Grey," Logan said, using one arm to gently turn my mother around and guide her towards the stairs. "But listen, Jeannie's dead tired. She's had a hard day. If you don't mind, we're just gonna turn in now."
"Oh, that James. I'd forgotten all about him," my mother sighed. with a little twinkle in her eye. "One room is really fine dear. I don't mean to overstep my bounds, you know that," she said, taking one step down the stairs and giving me a decidedly cheeky grin.
"GOODNIGHT MOTHER," I said, perhaps a bit too loudly.
I promptly turned around and shut the door behind me, leaving Logan alone in the hallway. Echo was dozing, and blinked her blue eyes sleepily at me as I rocked her to sleep.
"Baby girl, you would not believe the day I'm having, " I said softly.
A few moments after I laid her down on the bed, there was a knock. I walked to the door and opened it a half-inch, peering at Logan, eyes narrowed.
"Er... hey Jeannie. Can I come in?" Logan asked, sounding sheepish. He grinned at me through the crack in the door and I did not return it.
I raised my eyebrows at him. "I don't know Logan, you tell me," I replied.
"Can I come in if I promise ya I never slept with your mom?" he tried.
I opened the door an inch wider.
"How in God's name are we having this conversation right now?" I asked, putting my face in my hands, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"I dunno babe, but I'm tired, and I don't care, I'll apologize for somethin' I'm pretty sure I didn't do forty years ago if ya just let me in."
I opened the door, and Logan came in.
"Seriously though," he told me, taking me by the waist. "I saw all those family portraits on the wall. Didn't ring a bell. I know my memory's not the greatest, but your mom was a real looker back in the day and I bet I woulda remembered if-"
Logan saw the expression on my face and shut his mouth.
"Just get in bed with me, I'm too tired to argue," I sighed.
I was on one side of Echo, and Logan climbed in on the other, and I pulled the large old quilt up over us, dimming the lights. Finally. What I'd been craving. Home. A warm bed. The three of us, together for the first time as a family. My heart swelled with it, but at the same time, it was almost too much to process.
"Does all of this ever seem unreal to you Logan?" I whispered in the dim light, looking down at Echo's dark eyelashes gently resting again her cheeks, her small chest rising and falling with each breath.
He looked at me and snorted quietly. "All the damn time."
We both watched Echo breathing softly.
"We got a little girl," Logan said in wonder.
"Yeah," I replied, watching her curl of the little fingers on her hand, the wisps of black hair falling against the sheets.
"Cyke's pissed," Logan whispered to me, and I squeezed my eyes closed.
"When isn't he," I replied. "He wants to know... he wants to know when we started."
"Mmm," Logan said, gently brushing some of Echo's curls out of her face. "Whatcha gonna tell him?"
"What should I tell him?" I asked, Looking back at Logan.
Logan's face, Logan's smell, the way he touched me, the intensity of his love, his humor, his hate. They all did something to me. They'd always done something to me. I'd ignored it, I'd danced around it, I'd flirted with it. And I'd been dishonest, and disloyal to Scott. I'd never owned it. I never really had. That was on me.
"Logan..." I whispered. "I loved you the first week I met you. I mean... I was terrified of you. I couldn't get away from you fast enough, especially when you caught me while we were alone. And I hated you. I hated the way you made me feel because it ruined this whole illusion I had about who I was, what I had. I was a good girl, I was with a good boy. I was the shiny teacher's pet and I got all As and I was the role model for everyone, the loving public servant, the ever-faithful wife, but when you looked at me... when you spoke to me... you ruined it. You ruined me."
"Yeah, I know," Logan replied. "Jeannie, you gotta understand, bein' me. Smell, sound, they're like a second language. And you always said no, but the way your body reacted. Nearly goddamn killed me. It fucked with my head somethin' fierce and I always had to remind myself to listen to you. Your words. Else I woulda done a lot of things I would've regretted," he said quietly, eyes still settled on a sleeping Echo.
"You could smell me?" I said, finding this oddly humorous.
"God yes," Logan said, a glint of laughter in his eyes, "Your smell darlin'. Especially when you're aroused. You're worse than any drug, Jeannie. More intoxicatin' than anything I've ever had to drink."
"I wanted you to want me like that," I admitted. "I could feel when I set your mind on fire, and I liked it. I liked it way too much," I admitted.
"Yeah? Then how come you never let me get past second base 'til last month?" Logan asked, and we both laughed. Echo stirred in her sleep, and I quickly smothered my laughter with my hand.
"It was wrong," I said, sadness creeping into my voice. "The way I thought about you while I was married to Scott was wrong. I know that what he was doing was wrong too, but it doesn't make what I did right."
"Yer not the only guilty one," Logan replied, and I was surprised. "I knew you were a married woman, and hell...Scott's been my worst enemy but he's been my best friend too. You know how it is. I tried to respect yer marriage, but when he started messin' around... 'specially when he started ignorin' you. I used that to justify us bein' together, and I shouldn't have done that either."
We looked at each other silently.
"Shit. Can't believe you got me over here apologizin' to Scooter," Logan said, and we both laughed again.
"Don't swear so much around Echo, Logan," I gently chided.
"She's asleep!" he protested quietly.
"Not for long if we keep talking," I replied. "And if you wake up this baby, you will feel my wrath," I promised.
"Joke's on you Jeannie, I like your wrath," he said, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Stop making me laugh!" I protested.
"Doesn't matter how much I gotta apologize for it," Logan said, "All those times we crossed the line...all those times we almost went too far.."
"Yeah I know, they were hot as hell, Logan," I said, grinning. "Still are."
"Damn straight Jeannie," Logan said grinning back.
"I like seeing you happy," I mused, feeling the warmth of sleep slowly start to creep over me.
"I dunno, it's strange to me. I ain't felt it in so long, I don't... I don't feel like I know what the hell I'm doin'. I don't wanna fuck this- 'scuse me, mess this up."
We both went silent, and I felt... I felt something different happening in Logan's mind. Like he was working, memorizing.
"What are you doing?" I asked, blinking.
"Whattya mean?" he asked.
"Your...mind... you're...I don't know how to describe it," I said, confused.
"Oh, that," Logan said, voice a quiet rumble. "I'm just trying to remember."
"What?" I asked, knitting my brow.
"I keep a stash o' memories," he explained. "Ones I've tried hardest not to lose. Ones I can turn to when I've taken a lot a damage, or I'm goin' through a world o' pain. Things that keep me grounded, keep me stayin' alive. I wanted... I want this one."
I looked across at him. Resting next to me. I reached across and touched his forehead, lightly.
"What're you doin'?"
"There," I replied. "I made a safe box, for this moment. Your memory of this is safe. And I'll be damned if anyone knows how to get past my psychic defenses. "
"Swearin' around the baby?" Logan asked, eyebrow arched.
"Shut up Logan," I said, smiling.
"Not gonna mess this up, Jeannie," he repeated, face serious once again, as if saying it enough times would make it come true.
"I know, Logan," I said. I put a hand to his face, brushed his rough sideburn. Echo made a little whimper in her sleep and he kissed the side of her face, looked up at me with pain in his eyes. But I'd had enough reality for now. I just wanted to take this sweet slip of time I'd been given and hold on to it for dear life. The future could wait.
"Shh. Sleep, Logan," I said. "After all you're the best it is at what you do. You did this," I said, looking down at our daugher.
"I love you," Logan said to me, voice a rough whisper.
"I love you too," I said.
In the warm cocoon, the three of us together for the first time slept. Maybe it wasn't a lasting peace, but, like Logan had said, it was a memory that once made couldn't be stolen.
