TITLE: North Bound and Down

SUMMARY: Marie reflects about her life with Logan and is picked up by a trucker FEEDBACK: Feedback Monster says: Yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah, me looooooove feed back, me love feed back as much as me love COOKIES!!!!!!!!!! (pretty cute, huh?) DISCLAIMER: *sigh*I don't own them, Marvel and Fox do, but if I did, Logan would be ALL MINE!!!!! Allright, I'll warn ya, I sat around on my day off watching the Smokey and the Bandit movies back to back therefore the trucker in this story does resemble Jerry Reed and I even took the name of his character and pasted it into this story. I don't own Jerry Reed and I don't have ANY claim whatsoever to the Bandit movies as well, I just thought it added a touch of flavor to the story line. And now, my friends, enjoy!!!!!

Marie walked along the lightly snow covered road, shivering against the bone chilling breeze as she sighed heavily. *Where am I? I've got to be close to New York somehow* she thought as she looked up at a lone snow covered road sign. She dusted it off a bit and read it out loud. "Milford--ten miles, Port Jervis--30 miles", she said then gasped, "New York State line--50 miles! Logan, Ah'm comin' home!" she jumped up and down. In the distance, she could hear the rumbling of 18 wheels on the gravel and snow. She quickly turned around and stuck her thumb out to get the truck to stop. It lumbered to a halt near her and the passenger side window went down. She got up on the running board to peek inside and she was greeted by a bassett hound who licked her face then barked.

"Settle, Fred!", she heard a thick southern accented male voice say. The man in the driver's seat smiled warmly at her, "He don't bite--hard", he grinned, "where ya headed, youngin'?" he asked her. "West Chester, if ya could", she said shyly. "Well, you in luck, darlin', hop on up", said the man as she hopped off the running board and he opened the door. "Move over, Fred", the man said as Marie climbed in and shut the door, and the truck started up again. The inside was littered with burger wrappers and a few unpaid tickets. The man side glanced her, "the name's Cledus. What's yours, Gal?" he asked. "Marie", she said. "Well, Marie, pleased to meet ya. So what's a gal like you doin' out in the Pennsylvania mountains? You runnin' or somethin'?"

"Of sorts, Ah left my boyfriend. Things were getting a bit too much for me", she said as a matter of factly.

"Is that right?" he raised an eye brow at her, "then why you gon' back?"

"Because, Ah realize that Ah love him, and why am Ah tellin' you all this?" she looked at him quizzically.

"Because I figure it's because you ain't had a person to talk to in a long time. How long you been out here?"

"About 6 months or so. Ah lost count".

"Ain't that just like a woman, takin' up all the time in the world to decide on whether she in love or not. They teach 'em early don't they?" he said as she looked her over.

"Just drive, would ya?"

"Yes, Ma'am", he said to her as they drove on. Marie looked out the window and watched the trees and powerlines fly. As she did, her eye lids started to get heavy. She rested her head against the door and drifted off to sleep.

**She woke up with a jolt as she surveyed her surroundings. Candles everywhere, soft music coming from the stereo. Where was she? All of the sudden, she could feel it, light feathery breath on her skin. "Logan?" she gasped. "Mmhmm?" he breathed, "I'm so glad you're back, darlin'. I missed you...every inch of you", he said as kissed her against a sheer scarf. Her mind was reeling. Was this a dream? Well, damn if this was a dream she sure as hell didn't wanna wake up! She reveled in Logan's kisses as he dropped them on her neck and nibbled on her ear through the scarf. But something was a miss. It felt like Logan, panted like Logan, until.....**

"FRED!" boomed Cledus's voice that woke Marie up with a jump. "Git back there where you belong! Bad dog! You know betta, Fred, shame on you", he scolded the dog. Fred just whimpered at him. "I'm so sorry, Marie, here", Cledus said as he handed her a napkin to wipe off the dog drool on the side of her face. "It's, um, it's all right, really", she replied as she wiped her face. "He wasn't at that too long was he?" she asked.

"Nah, just a few seconds. Why ya ask?" he looked at her.

"No reason. Just curious. Um, where are we?" she asked, changing the subject quickly.

"We been into New York State for an hour or so now. You said West Chester, is that right?"

"Yes", she said, her eyes almost lighting up at the thought of being so close to Logan again.

"We got two more hours left and then you'll be home", he said.

"Thanks, Cledus. Ah do appreciate this".

"Don't mention it. Although, ya could mention why ya left your boyfriend. I do know ya said because things got too heavy for ya but there's got to be somethin' more to it then that. You can't fool ol' Cledus".

"Cledus, if you knew Logan, you'd see where Ah'm comin' from. He leaves at the drop of a hat. Anything doesn't go his way, he's gone. So Ah beat him to it", she crossed her arms.

"Do you think that's made ya the better person?"

"Well, it's made me *A* better person. Ah've come to realize that no matter how hard Ah try not to think about him, Ah always end up thinkin' about him. And Ah miss him terribly. And Ah feel like a fool for leavin' in the first place. And Ah can't wait to get back home to him!"

"Well! Feel better?"

"As a matter a fact I do".

"Hungary any? There's a choke and puke half a mile down the road a piece".

"Choke and puke? Sounds great", she said as they pulled into a rustic truck stop and got out for a bite to eat.