A/N: Special thanks to Dreaming Haven for the lovely reviews throughout :)

(For disclaimer, etc. see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

It had been a long couple of days. Not that Logan was even sure on the number of days or hours that had passed. The last truly coherent, grounded memory he had was talking with Marie in the hall and then watching her leave, with plans to get the so-called cure. Everything after that was a rush of adrenaline and violence that Logan didn't even want to remember, though he had a feeling he would never forget.

Leaning into the window, he stared out into the gardens below. It was empty and quiet for now. All the kids whose families either accepted them for what they were or didn't truly understand their gifts had them home for the summer. There were just a handful of students left, plus a few of the older teens that now made up the lower ranks of the X-Men.

It was amazing that they had all come through the fight. To think that the promise of a medication to help those who struggled most with their mutations could've led to such a mess. None of them ever should've underestimated just how damned stupid and determined Magneto could be.

Of course, he took the move as an attack by the regular humans of the world. Hell, maybe he had a point. Logan couldn't say for sure. All he did know was that when he saw people getting in line for the cure being attacked, he panicked for Marie's safety. When Magneto declared a war was coming, the X-Men had to stand up and fight. These days, that meant Logan too.

Even a battle that size couldn't keep him from thinking about her. Marie was forever on his mind, pretty much from the first day they met. She told him once that ever since she used his powers to heal herself, she could feel him inside her head. He never did tell her it was the same for him, though somehow, he doubted it had anything to do with either of their supposed gifts. This was something else entirely, something a lot simpler to explain, that had placed her completely in his head and also in his heart.

He thought about asking the professor to look for her, to use Cerebro to track her down. Once the fight was over, the Brotherhood defeated, Magneto shot up with the serum that took his powers away, and the kid it came from saved from danger, there was no reason not to ask for a favour. Xavier would do it, most likely, but Logan never asked, and though the thought occurred that he could just go looking for her himself, Logan didn't do that either.

He questioned why. Why would he not want to find her in any way he could? The answer made him shiver with a kind of cold he never wanted to feel again. The Wolverine didn't have many reasons to be afraid, but Logan couldn't help but fear the loss of someone he cared for this much. If he sought out Marie and found her gone from the world, it might just kill him, invincibility be damned.

Sinking down to sit on the end of his bed, Logan grasped the dog tags that hung around his neck. The same ones he had put into Marie's hand once, promising to come back for them. He kept that vow, knew that no matter how much he tried to tell himself it didn't really matter, he could never have broken it. No matter how many awful things he did in his life, to disappoint her would be the worst thing he could ever do.

She had checked he would still be there when she got back, which at least meant Marie had intended to return. How fast was another question, plus there was the chance things had changed since then. The world was different, the battle at the Worthington Labs had changed things. Maybe it had changed Logan, at least making him reconsider his priorities. The way the universe usually treated him dictated that it was probably all too late now.

Getting up with a purpose, Logan had every intention of throwing his stuff in a bag and just leaving, unsure where he was going, unsure what he planned to do next, only knowing that sitting on his ass thinking so much wasn't doing him any good and never did. His hand stilled half way to the closet when a knock came on the door. It was easily ignored and he meant to do it, but suddenly, Logan got the strangest feeling. If he still believed in such things, he might have called it hope.

Crossing to the door, he wrenched it open, eyes wide and heart seeming to stop for a moment in his chest when he saw her standing there.

"Hello, Logan."

"Marie."

The look on his face when he saw her confirmed to Marie that she made the right choice in coming back. There had been a moment, maybe more than one in the last couple of days, when she considered running in the opposite direction. It was true that she would be leaving a large part of her heart behind, but in the circumstances, given the way things had been with her and Logan lately, she thought about it.

When it came right down to it, she had to at least give it one more shot. Even if he told her all over again that it could never happen, she had to at least try. Marie knew she would always wonder if she didn't. She got a little more confidence the moment Logan opened the door and saw her there, not exactly smiling or anything, but looking pleased to see her. Actually, more like relieved, she supposed.

"I wasn't so sure you..." he started to say, shaking his head and moving aside to let her in then. "So, did you...?"

He didn't need to say more than that. Marie was well aware what the question meant. Did she get the shot, the so-called cure? Dumping her bag on the floor, she turned to find him hovering awkwardly by the doorway. If she didn't know better, she would've sworn he was afraid to know the truth. He actually seemed to be shaking as she approached him, pulling at her sleeve to reveal a bare hand, she came to stand before him, reaching out to entwine her fingers with his own.

Honestly, she expected him to flinch and wouldn't have blamed him if he had, but it was still nice to realise that he didn't, not at all. That showed trust, something she had always had in him from the very beginning. It wasn't a bad feeling, knowing he felt the same. In fact, there was no small amount of elation to have him grip onto her hand as if he never wanted to let go. It was an incredible feeling, just holding hands, skin on skin contact, neither of them having to fear what harm it could do.

She expected him to say something, not that there were really any words necessary at a time like this. Marie felt as if every single one she had ever known left her brain at first contact. If she had known any single thing she might have wanted to try to say, it eluded her the moment she shifted her gaze from their joined hands to his smiling face.

"This is..." he began.

Marie nodded. "I know," she assured him, smiling back, tripping forward when he pulled a little on her hand. "I've waited way too long for this," she said with a sigh, her free hand going to Logan's cheek as she shifted up on her toes and took her chance while she had it.

He didn't disappoint her. Marie never really expected Logan to be anything but an amazing kisser, but it was more than that. A part of her feared another rejection, worried he would try to tell her it didn't change anything, not really. That there were still too many obstacles to overcome. She stopped concerning herself with such thoughts when he kissed her deeply until her head started to spin.

Certainly, the fact the door was still open didn't occur to her or to Logan either. At least not until several childish voices chorused 'Eeew!' accompanied by gagging noises and laughter.

Marie almost pitched over onto the floor when Logan suddenly let up his hold on her body and turned growling to the door. Slamming it shut on the kids, she heard them run screaming and laughing down the hall. It made her laugh too, or maybe that was just the sheer elation of this moment. Getting the chance to be close to someone, at last, and not just any random guy, but the one she had wanted for far too long and wondered if she could ever really get a chance to call her own.

"So..." he said, turning to face her again.

"So," she echoed back, pushing her hair from her face. "You know, not so long ago, you were real set on telling me how this could never happen," she reminded him, emboldened by the fact she now knew, without question, that he returned the feelings she had been harbouring for such a long time. "I mean, is it just...?" she faltered, half-afraid to ask her next question for fear the answer would be what she most dreaded to hear. "Tell me I'm not crazy. Tell me you're not just letting things happen because... because they can happen," she said, hands held up to demonstrate the point she was trying to make. "I can touch anybody now, if I want to, but there is nobody else, not for me. You get that, right?"

When he didn't answer immediately, she swallowed hard and braced for the worst. When Logan's hands finally wrapped around both of her own and held on tight, she relaxed a little, ever more so when he moved in closer and smiled again.

"Is a side effect of that stuff they shot you up with that it knocked all the sense out your head?" he checked, smirking some. "You know how I feel about you, Marie. Hell, you seemed to know before I did."

He let go of her fingers only to bring his hand up to her face and cradle her cheek. Her eyes shut on contact, all the breath seeming to leave her body, heart thudding in her chest, as his fingertips trailed over her face, then ran back through the white strand in her hair. She barely got a breath in before he was kissing her again and Marie found she didn't care at all.

This had all been way too long in the making and Marie wasn't wasting a second now she had just exactly what she had always wanted. With their arms around each other, she and Logan went stumbling over to the bed and landed awkwardly on the edge, forced apart a little by the sudden drop.

She was all for diving right back in, except it seemed Logan, usually the man of action, had something he needed to say for a change.

"So, now you're all 'cured'," he said, smirking as his finger ran down her cheek, "that mean you don't wanna stick around here? I mean, I'm pretty sure they'd still let you be on the team. Make you a real X-Woman."

Marie rolled her eyes. "I don't know about that. If you're staying, I guess I can too, or if you wanted to get out of here, that might be okay too," she said happily, practically giggling, she was just that happy.

She was completely caught up in the twin thrills of being able to touch and be touched, as well as having the chance to finally make some kind of plans for the future, and with the man she loved, no less. It was all pretty intoxicating, truth be told.

"I really don't care where I end up, Logan," she told him sincerely. "Just so long as you're there, I'm good. That's what you want too, right?"

He stared into her eyes for a really long time, before finally, slowly, he smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I want too," he promised, leaning in to kiss her one more time.

Marie felt herself tipping backwards to lay down on the bed and went willingly, being sure to pull Logan along with her and keep him there.

The future couldn't be certain, she was well aware, but they had some kind of plan. They were going to be together, come what may. That was just about as good as it got, for people like them.

The End