Saints and Sinners – By Darlin

A/N – First let me apologize for taking so horribly long in getting this chapter up. I lost chapters five and six while working on the last story that I just finished and I only just recently found them. Good news is that I'm typing chapters six and seven right now. So I'm finally getting my act together and I'll try to update at least on a weekly basis. Thanks for your patience.

Secondly, thank you all who reviewed – Amber Myst, chica, Coffee, Dark Topaz, Grey8, ice mage1014, Isis Aurora Tomoe, JamesGirl0512, kravitzkid, orlimoon, Rage5368, Shadowface, storms-rose, and finally to Viral – your review meant a lot to me.

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Chapter Five – An Infuriating Interlude


If Ororo felt strange the next day she said nothing least of all to herself. She'd slept in as it was her wont to do and something the Professor only allowed up until ten in the morning during the summer months. When she finally rose, showered, and dressed it was nearly noon. She knew almost everyone would be in the kitchen getting lunch but she had no desire to see Hank so she opened her window, summoned a breeze, and floated off with the wind, her loose ponytail flying out behind her.

Down below Logan looked up at the sound of the window opening. He'd been watching her window for two hours now wondering when she was going to leave. He knew she would be avoiding Hank and possibly even avoiding him, and when she was avoiding Hank the window was her escape route. Knowing that he'd been right and seeing her fly through the air so gracefully made him smile. He looked around quickly to see if anyone had seen him but there was no one in sight. His thoughts went back to last night.

Last night had been fun and weird too. He was still getting used to having these little TV night get-togethers with everyone. At first he'd thought he'd feel strange, even awkward but after last night he was actually looking forward to next Wednesday night. Spending time with Ororo and the others had been an unexpected eye opener. He'd wanted to kiss Ororo and knew she'd wanted him to but something had stopped him. That had never happened before. When he saw something he wanted he'd always just grabbed it without thinking about the consequences.

There weren't usually any consequences with the women he'd known. He hadn't really known any women for a lengthy amount of time though. Not until Jean. Jean had been different in that respect and he knew that was one of the things that had kept him so into her even though he hated to admit it. Well if he knew anything at all it was that Jean and Ororo were nothing alike. What he'd done with Jean he couldn't even see himself trying with Ororo. That gave him pause. Why hadn't he just gone ahead and kissed her, he wondered? It hadn't been because of Jean that he was sure of. He was over her – finished, and when he was finished he never looked back.

It had taken a long time out in the wild for him to realize what a whipped fool he'd been. Forgetting honor and forgetting self respect all for the thrill of bagging a virgin. It had gone to his head. The funny thing about it was that he didn't even like girls with short hair, liked them with long hair, long and white he thought as he saw Ororo in his mind. Realizing what he'd just been thinking he felt something in his heart that disturbed him. He wanted Ororo to respect him and like him because the way he saw it, in her eyes he wasn't a pathetic loser or an unredeemable killer. He felt that she understood him though he had no idea how she could. He'd never met a girl or a woman that could relate to him, accept him, and still like him or at least not judge him.

And then he realized that her judgment meant a lot to him if only because she didn't judge him as he was so used to being judged by everyone he came in contact with. That alone intrigued him even though he was trying hard not to be intrigued by her. It would've helped if he still had the hot's for Jean – things would still be the same and he wouldn't have paid much attention to her but now that he'd started to get to know Ororo he wondered at his blindness. There was simply no comparison between the two. Jean was childish, immature, and a little bit of a flirt. Ororo on the other hand was much more mature even hardened by her past which was something they had in common though he knew their pasts couldn't compare. She was a fighter like him and she didn't dwell on the past any more than he did either. Another thing that he liked about her a lot was that she didn't flirt and she didn't have to. She was confident within herself, something that Jean wasn't even near to becoming.

And that was another thing that kept bugging him. Jean. She was acting stranger than usual. He knew her powers were out of whack, knew the power she held within her was probably more powerful than Ororo's if Jean ever got a handle on it but that was a glaring difference between the two girls. Jean wasn't able to control her powers without the Professor's aid apparently while Ororo didn't have that problem. Ororo continually tried to work at controlling her powers but Jean, sheltered by Xavier, seemed to have no desire to overcome her limitations. Teacher's pet, he thought with scorn. He frowned as he thought about Xavier and Jean. He had the good sense to be wary of them because with their combined powers no one in their right mind would want to underestimate them.

But Ororo – she was altogether different. She was definitely a power hitter, strong, and in control but what you saw was what you got – confident but vulnerable, brash but gentle, harsh but caring – a fascinating enigma. She was honest and forthright and didn't play games. Not too girly but unbelievably feminine. She was an alluring beauty that any man in his right mind would be crazy about. He supposed he'd have to admit that he had been crazy there for awhile although he told himself he didn't like her like that. Actually he'd thought that Peter and Bobby liked her but after last night he'd given up that idea. It made him wonder what they were thinking but Bobby was young and just wanted any girl to kiss him and Peter – well he couldn't figure Peter out but at least it seemed as if he'd do all right by Kitty. That made him grin too – just remembering Ororo's good intentions and the way she'd cheated to help out a friend. He admired that.

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Much later that day Ororo returned by taxi laden down with bags once again. Conveniently lurking outside, Logan watched her curiously. He wondered what compelled her to shop at such a rate. If he had to take a guess he'd say she was trying to satisfy some unconscious need. Maybe she shopped to get over Hank? He didn't recall seeing her shop as much as this before. Usually the only time she'd gone shopping was when Jean dragged her along but to go shopping in an attempt to get over Hank? He shook his head. It couldn't be that big of a deal trying to forget the Beast he thought.

Still watching her he saw her take something out from a little gold bag and pop it into her mouth and he wondered what it was. Squinting, he was able to read the lone name 'Godiva' on the bag and he snorted. Girl had expensive taste he thought but then realized he wasn't altogether right about that. She dressed simply despite the amount of clothes she'd been buying lately. She didn't seem to have a lot of high priced clothes or at least from what he could make out from what little he knew about clothes. She wasn't vain. She just seemed to like the best in whatever she purchased and especially when it came to food. With that thought he suddenly knew where she'd gone.

D'Artagnan on East 46th Street was currently one of Ororo's favorite restaurants in New York. His guess was right on the money for Ororo had indeed enjoyed a delicious and substantially huge lunch by herself. She had then spent a pleasant day at the mall shopping rather mindlessly. Now she dropped the tiny gold bag into one of the larger bags then reached up as if she were going to stretch. Instead her hands went back to her ponytail which she freed and ran her hands through the mass of snowy white hair. She then shook her long mane out languidly to and fro. In essence she put on quite a show all the while thinking that Logan should have a little bit of a clue that she was knew he was watching her. Deciding that that was enough she picked up her bags, gave a final toss of her hair, and let herself in.

After the intriguing and tantalizing display of Ororo's beautiful hair swishing back and forth Logan was wondering what she was up to although he didn't make an effort to follow her or assist her this time. Shutting the door behind her Ororo went up to her room without giving Logan another thought. Upstairs in her room she laid out her new clothes then began trying them on alternately frowning and smiling as she reassessed her purchases. Finally finished she put the clothes away then fell onto her bed in a state of exhaustion.

It didn't seem to matter to her brain that this was exactly what she'd strived for. Exhaustion or no, her thoughts immediately turned to everything and everyone that she had tried so hard not to think of. A soft groan of despair escaped her lips and she pulled a pillow over her face. Shopping had meant no time for serious contemplation and even having lunch away from everyone had distracted her as people watching was one of her favorite pastimes, but now she was at the mercy of her over excited mind.

When she was away from the X-Men even when she was being stared at while she was shopping she could forget that she was a freak or at least considered that by many humans. She could forget how Hank had hurt her and she could forget that she and her best friend weren't exactly on the best of terms nowadays. The one thing she could never forget though was the troubling presence of Logan. As a professional thief it hadn't taken her long to figure out that he'd taken to spying on her. That in and of it self was strange but at least her gut instincts were telling her his intentions weren't sinister or lewd. She didn't understand his actions but neither did it disturb her overly much.

What she'd like to know was why was he following her? She knew he was trying to make up for his lack in judgment regarding Scott but she couldn't understand what she had to do with it or why he was so interested in her now. Even if she was the sole believer in his change of heart stalking her wasn't going to help him – it made no sense. They'd never been even remotely close – had nothing in common, and had barely spoken two words to each other before now. In fact, back when he had been with Jean Logan had given her the creeps and she'd made it a habit to sleep with a very sharp knife under her pillow.

Maybe her feelings had changed now but it was a little disturbing to think that Logan was turning into a stalker or maybe even transferring his affections from Jean to her. The worse thing and the saddest thing about the whole situation was that she couldn't deny that she found him attractive if only in an undomesticated kind of way. She was disgusted with herself more than she was with Logan, after all he was mentally off balance to some degree and couldn't help but be misguided but she didn't have an excuse. She felt a little pathetic.

A hard rap at her door startled her out of her reverie. She tossed the pillow aside and sat up. To answer or not was the question going through her mind when the door was suddenly opened. Logan peeked in at her and grinned.

"So you finally got back, eh?"

". . . Yes."

He stood at the door looking at her. Ororo wanted to get up and slam the door in his face but she decided to wait him out.

"Um, I thought we oughta talk about what happened," he said.

Ororo's face twisted unpleasantly. The way she saw it absolutely nothing had happened so they had absolutely nothing to talk about.

"You okay?" he asked when she didn't respond.

"I'd like some privacy," she said bluntly.

"Bad day, eh?"

"Bad company," she said sharply and immediately regretted the harsh tone.

"Hank find you?" Logan asked with look of understanding completely misunderstanding her.

"Hank's not the one stalking me," she said glumly.

He actually laughed at her comment. Ororo fumed silently, amazed at his audacity. He strode into the room leisurely and sat down beside her without waiting for an invitation.

"So you wanna talk about what happened?"

"Nothing important happened," Ororo assured him.

He watched her turn away and flop down onto her stomach. They sat there, or rather he sat and she laid there for some time without speaking. Ororo was counting silently to herself willing him to go away. She thought it was working when Logan started to get up. Logan had figured out that she didn't want to be bothered and he didn't want to be where he wasn't welcomed so he was ready to leave but something made him change his mind and he sat back down. Now that he was there he decided that he wasn't going to let her run him off.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Ororo asked after a little while, her voice muffled as she spoke half into her bedding.

"I can think of a lot of places I'd like to be right about now," Logan admitted as he looked over Ororo's slender yet shapely backside.

Ororo wasn't prepared when she suddenly felt his hands on her neck. She started to twist around and smack him hard but he had her pinned to the bed with his heavy body weight and her muffled protests went unheeded. His strong hands kneaded her neck for a few seconds then began expertly massaging her tired shoulders and back. At first startled and upset, Ororo could only sigh with contentment now. She gave points to Jean for training him so well because she couldn't see him knowing anything about aching shoulders and feet – oh yes, he was massaging her feet now!

What had she been thinking, she wondered? Oh, right, how else could Logan know a woman's aches and pains after a thorough day of shopping? Although now as she thought about it, she'd never noticed him going shopping with Jean before.  Of course she'd never seen much of Jean when Logan had taken up all of her time and they'd been going at it like rabbits on speed back then. Now that was a thought she definitely wanted to erase!

"Penny fer yer thoughts," Logan asked out of the blue.

"Oh . . . no, you wouldn't want to know."

"Why not?"

"Girl stuff."

"You got yer period?"

"Eww! Can you please not go there?"

"You're the one that said girl stuff."

"Girl stuff doesn't always mean that!"

Logan shrugged as he continued his massage.

"So, um, why are you being so nice?" Ororo asked.

"You're hot."

She rolled her eyes. Typical male, she thought.

"An' different."

"Yeah, I'm original – the one and only Storm."

"Beautiful too."

"Definitely."

"An' feisty."

"You mean bitchy, right?"

"That too."

"Oh, thanks."

He laughed. "An' yer the only one talkin' to me."

"Oh."

"Well I gotta go," he said as he stood up dropping her foot so that her leg hit the bed and bounced once or twice.

Ororo turned and sat up. "Well . . . thanks. That was . . . nice and . . . thoughtful I guess."

"Yeah, Jean always liked a good massage after she came home draggin' the whole mall back with her."

Ororo's face fell. She tried not to show her disappointment but Logan couldn't help but sense it and he grinned.

"Just kiddin'. Jean an' me didn't – we never even went shopping. It was just a joke. Stupid – sorry."

"Oh. Right."

Some joke, she thought without appreciation.

"Guess I'll see ya around," he said cheerfully as he took his leave.

Ororo nodded vaguely wondering what had just happened. Had the notoriously wild and wooly Wolverine just come into her room, ask to talk about the kiss they'd shared, given her a massage that included her feet, and then up and walked out on her? She knew she wasn't crazy – she hadn't just imagined what had happened. She just couldn't understand why it had happened. Even so, the biggest question was why did she even care? It irked her that she did. Logan heard her scream of frustration as he ambled down the hall and he chuckled. This was starting to be fun –messing with the little spitfire.