Author's Note: Well this part is a little fluffy and I had a hard time liking it, so it took me forever to post it. If you prefer John as a white knight character you may not like this story (he makes such a great evil charcter). Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadians! Everyone please review, it is a writer's fuel.
Scott was up early that morning hoping to get some work done before he had to teach his classes. He passed by Marie's room and couldn't resist the urge to look in on her. Maybe some of Logan's paranoia was wearing off on him. He opened the door just a crack, enough to see Marie was still sleeping peacefully despite the pain her burns were probably causing her. Unfortunately he opened the door just enough to also catch Logan's dirty glare from his spot across the room, the guy seriously needed to chill out. However Scott felt some relief knowing that first, Logan had kept his eye on Marie all night long and second, that his eye was probably all he had put on Marie, since he was still fully clothed.
Scott had found himself thinking more and more about Marie lately. In fact he often found it difficult not to think about her. This morning was no exception. Clearly, work was not a viable option. He would have liked to have sorted through some of the newest surveillance files that had arrived yesterday from a few of the professor's international contacts, but his concentration for such a task was shot. Scott instead took the elevator to the underground floors of the mansion and headed for the locker room outside the danger room. A good workout might just do the trick.
Marie slowly opened her eyes, acutely aware that someone else was in her room. His smell was unmistakable; pine and well-worn leather.
"Logan, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Well, it looks like I am sitting in a comfy chair, but appearances are deceiving. I believe what I am actually doing is trying to ignore the three hundred or so muscles that have taken the time to cramp up and cause me great discomfort while I wait for you to wake up. You hardly need beauty sleep, darling, so don't you think that eight hours is a little excessive?"
"Well that will teach you to watch someone sleep! I don't know how you do it; it's got to be the most boring activity ever." She carefully stepped out of bed, wearing only a black T-shirt and her underwear. She was not used to having someone see her with so much skin exposed. Not that she entirely minded. It was kind of nice to flaunt her muscular figure, even if it was first thing in the morning, no one's most flattering time of day.
"Did you sleep well?" Logan asked looking down at something, anything, on the floor.
"You tell me." She slipped on some jeans, a grey sweat top and a pair of grey silk gloves over her bandages, her bra would have to wait until later. Was Logan avoiding her gaze? Seriously, the guy had poor timing! Marie had just gotten used to the idea that she was not built for the whole relationship thing, and here was Logan, acting like a school boy trying desperately to resist looking in the girl's locker room!
"I gotta go." Marie was frustrated. She couldn't understand this man's intentions at the best of times. Why on earth would he find it necessary to watch over her all night?!? She was more than capable of defending herself...Cause that was so apparent yesterday when I passed out in the fire! Yeah, right, she thought, no wonder he felt the need to watch over me!
"I really need to talk some things over with you Marie. There are just some things that need to get sorted out between us, some things I need you to know," Logan said.
"Okay, shoot...." Marie waited for the answer she knew was never coming. "...Maybe later then, I guess?!"
Logan still didn't speak but his eyes spoke a thousand words. Maybe it was better that they didn't have the "talk" at this particular point in time. Marie definitely didn't feel ready to face any sort of emotional discussion. So instead, she quickly left the room. She felt vaguely like she was suffocating and needed some air. She practically flew down the stairs and would have made it out the front door in no time flat if she hadn't of ran smack into Ororo.
"My, aren't we in hurry!" Ororo managed to grab the wall in time to prevent a complete wipe out. "You know you don't have any classes to teach for the rest of week, right? The professor thought it would be best if your burns were given proper chance to heal. Kurt really wanted to attend your art class too, but I'll try to keep him busy...somehow..." Ororo was lost in thought, but the smile on her face was priceless.
"Thanks. I've...I've just got to get some air... I think." Marie knew exactly where she wanted to go.
She headed out of the mansion, and towards the hanger on the opposite side of the grounds. The older blackbird waited there for her. It was rarely used as it was an older model and was not as fast or advanced as their current blackbird, which was located under the basketball court. The "old bird", as it had been affectionately named by most of the X-Men, needed to be taken out and set free, and Marie was just the person to do it.
As she approached the older machine, she ran her hand along its smooth black belly.
"Don't worry; we'll just go for a quick trip. I know you've felt neglected, but today we're both going to be set free, even if it is only for a little while."
She made soft circles with her fingers across the metallic surface as she paced down the length of the plane. "You and I, were not so different... we're filled with possibility but we have been locked away too soon. We still have so much left in us, right old girl?...So much energy, fear, yet so much still to experience...if only someone would just take a chance on us."
"I'm willing to take that chance." Scott stood by the hanger door. He was hesitant to invade on her space, but he just couldn't help it, he had spoken before he had a chance to stop himself. She needed to know and who was he to keep it from her?
Marie was speechless. She just stared at him as he slowly approached the blackbird. Soon he was so close to her that she could see a small bead of sweat run down his forehead. His movements were slow but precise and Marie didn't dare say a word in case any sudden movement might alter the course he was choosing to take. Scott took her gloved hand and carefully turned it in his. Slowly, he removed the glove and brought it up to her face. He gently touched her face with the soft satin of the glove. As the satin brushed across her lips, he kissed her softly through the material.
As quickly as he had come onto her, he left her alone again. He backed away leaving the glove in her open palm. Scott only smiled back at Marie as he ducked out the hanger door, leaving her to her thoughts once more.
Marie let out the breath she had apparently been holding. Slowly she turned, and walked up the ramp of the blackbird. She plopped herself down into the captain's chair and buckled up, flipping various switches bringing the aircraft to life.
There was a light wind across the desert cooling down the hot sand. Marie sat against a large rock sheltered from the wind and watched as the clouds rolled by. She wished that she had brought some art history papers to mark while she relaxed in the shade but instead settled for just relaxing. She wouldn't stay too long, but since she had given her piloting skills quite a run with all the loops and dips, she definitely she needed a break.
Logan grabbed a pop from the fridge and wandered into the TV room. Some of the younger students were huddled around the TV working on homework, waiting for suppertime to be called. Logan hadn't seen Marie all day and was beginning to wonder if there were places to hide in the mansion that he hadn't yet thought of.
Well desperate times call for desperate measures, Logan thought. He headed up the stairs in search of Scott.
Scott was not in his room across from Marie's. He hadn't been in the Danger Room, or in any of the offices on the top floor. Logan had even checked Marie's room for him, knowing that if he had been in there, he may have done some redecorating with his claws. One last place to look: the room on second floor, past the children's wing down at the far west side of the mansion, the room that had been Scott and Jean's.
"Scott..." Logan slowly opened the door to find Scott sting on a neatly made king size bed, holding Jean's picture in his hands.
"I just miss her so much. But sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the idea that she isn't really gone." Scott said.
"I, uh, I...I'm just looking for Marie." Logan wondered what it was like to actually lose someone like that. If Marie was ever...the though sent shivers down his pine. "Look man, just tell me you've seen her, and she's okay, and I'll leave you alone."
"Marie had to get away for a while. I don't blame her, I think I kinda acted irrationally, and have confused her even more." Scott put the picture of Jean back down on the bedside table.
"Yeah, I know. I really need to straighten things out with her and let her make some choices that I will respect – Wait! You did what?" Logan didn't generally get along with this man but respected him as Marie's good friend. One more person to look out for Marie was always a good thing. He couldn't have purposefully hurt Marie. Maybe he had lashed out at her by accident or maybe the opposite had happened... But wasn't this man was still grieving? Scott had been in love with Jean since they had been teenagers...Logan's mind was going a mile a minute.
"Logan – don't worry. I'll talk to her and work it out. It's nothing really," Scott said. "Besides Marie will be back by day's end. She didn't bring anything with her as far as I know so she'll be getting hungry and tired. She's fine Logan, just relax."
"Where did she go Scooter? I'm not in the mood to be consoled!"
"She likes her privacy just like you do Mr. Goes-mysteriously-disappearing-every-night!"
Logan felt a little silly for worrying but he couldn't shake the nasty feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. However he concentrated his efforts on looking for someone else for a while. As long as he could find John and interrogate him for a while, Logan would probably feel a little better about the Marie situation.
Marie awoke with a start. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but had clearly been asleep for quite a few hours as the sun was low over the horizon and a deep pink was flooding the desert sky. But what had woken her up? Suddenly she heard it. Something or someone was moving around inside the blackbird. Did she have a stow-away, or did some sort of desert animal go exploring up the ramp and into the aircraft?
Rogue quietly stood up and approached the blackbird. Whoever it was, was being absolutely still now. Even with the increased sensitivity of her hearing she couldn't detect any movement. Rogue looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. She grabbed a fist size rock over lack of anything else. She removed her gloves, but unfortunately her skin wouldn't be great weapon right now as most of the skin along her hands and arms were wrapped in white bandages.
Dammit! She thought. What a great time to be wrapped up like a mummy!
Rogue slowly climbed the ramp, with the rock in hand. She couldn't very well wait for the intruder to exit blackbird. If it was a stowaway, they may know how to fly the aircraft and leave her stranded in the desert. Cautiously she checked the cockpit first; it was the smallest area of the old plane, and the easiest to clear. If she could clear that area, she could be more defensive knowing the space behind her was safe. Nothing was different about the cockpit, it remained the way she had left it. Slowly she proceeded to the back of the plane where the medical supplies were kept. There were also a bunch of weapons kept there that hopefully the intruder hadn't discovered.
Great! My heart is beating a mile a minute, Marie thought, over probably nothing more than a hungry rat looking for food.
Suddenly someone leapt at her from behind a stack of supplies in the far back of the plane. The attacker pounced on Marie knocking her to the ground square on her back. Instinctively, she grabbed at his bare skin with her hands, but to no avail. She had momentarily forgotten that her hands were too covered by the bandages to have any effect. Instead, she placed both feet squarely on his chest on kicked him off. But it was too late. The delay in her actions had given her attacker enough time to stab her thigh with something. The empty needle still clung into her muscle. Marie yanked the needle out as she finally got a good look at her intruder.
Ya know I thought it might have been a rat rustling around in my plane, and looks like I was right!" Marie's vision was beginning to get blurry, but she continued to focus on her intruder. Her muscles were already in a state of paralysis, so if she couldn't get in the last punch, she would definitely get in the last word.
"Man, you kick hard! Who would have thought that a desert flower such as yourself actually has some bite to her?" Pyro slowly picked himself up off the floor. His chest ached from where she had kicked him, and blood trickled down the back of his head where he had hit his head on the cupboard door he had landed on. Thank God he got the needle in when he did, or he would have ended up severely beaten. Of course he would never admit such a possibility...
"Save your energy Marie," he continued. "You're going to need it, cause we're going for a little trip."
"John, why.. are... you ..doing this? You have a home with ...us at Xavier's." Marie was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. "Logan...Logan... I need you....Logan." As she heard the engine of the black bird come to life, blackness engulfed her mind.