**Be Mine**
Violet was groggy from the drugs, but fought to maintain control. She held back her power, and refused to save the young man on the table beside her. He was awake, and staring at her. There was blood everywhere, and he reached out to her for comfort as he bled to death on the table. She mouthed the words 'I'm sorry,' as he touched her hand.
"She's not cooperating! She's fighting it! I'm losing the subject!" the technician yelled.
"Violet, stop defying me! Remember what happens to you when you don't cooperate," Stryker shouted at her. This was the third subject he lost because she refused to heal them. She was becoming a liability.
From the window, Gabriel watched her face. Not a tear. Not one single goddamn bloody tear. He smiled. Yes. Very good. She'll do just fine…
*****
Dani woke with a start. Unpleasant memories had hit her like a tidal wave. How could she have been so horrible. There could be no excuse for what she'd done. Even the warmth of Logan's strong arms wrapped around her gave her no comfort. What would he say if he found out? He always talked about how sweet she was. She wasn't sweet, she was a monster. How could Logan love a monster?
"Baby, what's wrong?" he asked her sleepily as he woke up. She was so tense.
"Nothing," she said trying to sound happy.
Lie, he thought. Oh, god! Things have changed between them.
"Okay," she said with a sigh, "I had a nightmare. It was a new one, but I think it was a memory. I need to talk to the professor," she couldn't lie to him. She could choose to not tell him the details, but she wouldn't lie.
Logan nuzzled the back of her neck affectionately. Honesty, good, maybe they were still okay. He nibbled at her earlobe, and then asked, "You want to tell me about it?"
Logan felt her body shiver involuntarily. She was really upset. No, not upset, terrified.
"I'd really like to talk to the professor first," she said. "I need to know just what it is I'm remembering before I tell you about it. I hope you understand," she said sincerely.
Logan stifled a growl of displeasure, "Sure, Dani, I understand," he said, but didn't really mean it. He knew her memories were bad; she didn't have to hide her past from him. His own past, at least what he remembered, was littered with regret.
"Thank you, Logan. I promise to tell you about it later," she said.
Logan's hands started roaming over her provocatively. "You don't need to go talk to him right now, do you?" he asked her huskily.
Dani moaned with pleasure at his touch. "No, no. No rush," she said breathlessly.
"Good," he growled playfully.
*****
Logan stalked into the lab to find Hank. He was the one man he thought he could get advice from without being embarrassed. Hank was the one man here that Logan could relate to. It was the inner beast they both struggled with that gave them such an understanding of each other.
"Hank, I need to talk to you," Logan said half growling.
"For a man who didn't emerge from a lady's bedroom until after noon, you seem to be in a less than cheery mood," Hank said dryly.
Logan smiled at the memory of the past night and morning in Dani's room. "I'm not in a bad mood, I just have something important on my mind," he said seriously.
Hank regarded Logan with sudden curiosity. He had a feeling this was going to be an interesting conversation.
"I was thinking about asking Dani to move in with me, or me with her. Doesn't matter which room, really, as long as its together," he explained nervously.
"I am assuming you are not asking my permission here, why are you talking to me about it?" Hank asked sarcastically.
"Do you think it's too fast? Will it scare her off?" Logan asked him.
"Logan, you are asking the wrong man about Dani's feelings. I simply don't know her well enough to give you an opinion. You should talk to Charles or Scott," Hank informed him.
"Scott!?" Logan nearly roared. "Why the hell would Scott know so much? Is there something I need to know here?" Logan immediately thought of the night he found Scott holding her hand. He never found out what happened between them. Maybe it was time he made Scott answer for that intrusion.
"Calm down, Logan. Scott is not the enemy, he just had a chance to talk to her, and he told me they sort of understand each other. It's a little sister thing with him, like you and Rogue," Hank explained.
Logan listened to Hank's explanation with a clenched jaw and a dark expression. Dani wasn't young enough to be untouchable like Rogue was. Scott was treading on thin ice. "I am not talking to One-eye about Dani," he bit out harshly. "I don't really want to talk to Chuck either," Logan said dejectedly.
"If you want my thoughts, I think you two need some time. You only met a little over a week ago," Hank reminded him.
Logan pondered that a moment. The furry man was right, but he didn't understand the way it was between them. Dani was his woman, his mate. "She's just so damned perfect," Logan said thoughtfully, more to himself than to Hank.
"You really love her, don't you?" Hank asked.
Logan didn't answer, he didn't have to.
Hank regarded Logan's sappy looking smile and just smirked. "You poor guy," he said laughing.
"I know, sad isn't it?" Logan answered with a chuckle. All this agony over a woman.
"So where is she anyway?" Hank asked.
"Talking to Xavier," Logan said. "She, uh, couldn't talk to me about it yet."
"Hmmmmm," Hank grunted thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Logan answered sharply. Yeah.
*****
Dani was standing in front of the door to Xavier's office. Just as she was about to knock, she heard him call her.
"Come in, Danielle," he said cordially.
She frowned, and opened the door. Scott was sitting on the couch across from the professor. She gave him a quick nod, and said, "Professor, do you realize just how disturbing it is when you do stuff like that?"
Scott and Xavier both laughed. "You'll get used to it," Scott said.
"Which one of us did you want to talk to?" Xavier asked with a knowing look. He didn't pry into Danielle's mind; he just figured it was about Logan.
"It is your office," Dani said sarcastically.
"Yes, but the subject doesn't necessarily require my help, and I have an appointment to go to," Xavier said as he headed out the door.
"Oh, well, I'll talk to you another time," Dani said and was about to orb out of the room.
"No, wait!" Scott said before she could just disappear.
"What?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"You can talk to me, I'm your friend, remember?" Scott said sounding a little hurt.
"Sorry, Scott, I sort of needed a telepath for this one. Thanks anyway," she said.
"Okay, okay," he conceded throwing his arms up. "So, how are you today?" he asked with bit of a knowing smile.
Dani couldn't hide her happiness, she grinned. "You might say that life is good," she said.
Scott laughed. "So, is Logan your boyfriend now?"
"I'm thinking that he would be upset if I said no," she said with a smile.
"So, what's bothering you?" he asked seriously.
"I don't know. I guess I just wonder where to go from here," she said. "Logan wasn't why I wanted to talk to the professor. No offense, but I really needed to talk to him," Dani said, starting to sound upset.
"Hey, its okay, whatever it is," Scott said with concern. Something was really bothering her. "Have you talked to Logan about it?"
"I can't talk to him about this, I just don't know what he would think," she said cryptically.
"Logan is very understanding, and he loves you. Go talk to him," Scott said sternly.
"You're probably right, Scott," she said, and got up to leave. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," he said.
Talk to Logan. Sure. How do you tell the man you love that you're a cold blooded killer?
*****
Logan was standing in the hallway waiting for her. He had heard the whole conversation and had decided to let Scooter live, for now. The twerp had actually stuck up for him. That was a surprise.
"Oh, Logan, I was just going to look for you," she said with a smile.
"You talk to the professor?" he asked as they walked down the hall together.
"No," she said sounding annoyed, "He left. I ended up with Scott trying to be all helpful."
"You don't say," Logan said dryly.
"What?" she asked him suspiciously.
"Why are you two such good friends?" Logan asked with a hint of jealousy in his tone.
"I guess I can just see where he's coming from, and he knows it," she said thoughtfully. "Not very many people seem to understand the guy. He's kind of lonely."
Logan thought about that and realized she was probably right. He would be sure to keep a close eye on that friendship, but he wouldn't break it up, so long as Scooter behaved himself.
"We need to talk," he said.
"I know, I promised to tell you about it, and I will. Just not where someone else can hear, okay?" she said nervously.
Logan could feel the sudden waves of tension radiating from her. She didn't really want to talk to him about it, but wasn't going back on her promise.
"You can tell me about that when you're ready, I wanted to talk to you about something else," he said with a broad smile. "How about we take a walk in the woods?"
She gave him a warm smile. "Lead the way, handsome."
Handsome? Hmmmm. He liked that.
Logan led her down the path to the gnarled old oak tree that she liked. They sat down together, leaning against it. Logan put his arm around her, and suddenly couldn't remember how he'd planned on wording his question.
"What'd you want to talk to me about?" she asked him brightly as she leaned closer.
"You know I love you," Logan began.
"And I love you," she said. Where is this going?
"I want to be with you all the time," he continued.
"I feel the same way," Dani assured him.
"I was wondering if…" he paused, trying to think of how to put this, "you'd like to share a room, permanently," he finally finished. Damn that was hard.
Dani leaned closer and put an arm around his waist. She pondered just what it was he was asking. It really was a loaded question. It wasn't just 'sleep with me every night,' it was more like 'Be Mine.' How could she say yes to him when he had no idea about her dark side? She had to tell him.
Uh oh. Overly long pauses usually mean no, he thought.
"Logan, I think I need to tell you something before you decide you want me," she said sadly.
"Dani, whatever it is, I love you," he said sincerely, but was suddenly feeling worried.
"My dream," she began, "I stopped helping them, and they died because of me." Tears started streaming down her face, but she had to finish. She had to make him understand what she had done. "I killed them. I wouldn't heal them and they died horrible painful deaths while I watched. I am a murderer, Logan, a filthy, rotten, stinking…"
"Stop!" he growled. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her. He understood why she hadn't wanted to tell him. But he knew why she'd done it. The poor souls were going to die anyway, she was just fighting back at her captors the only way she could, non-cooperation. She probably paid for it too.
"I understand if you change your mind about..." she started to say, but he interrupted.
"I don't care if you shot the goddamn Pope. What's past is past. You did what you had to in order to survive. No one here can hold you accountable for that. You were in a cage, remember?" he was not at all upset by her confession. If anything, he was proud she had the guts to stand up for herself. "Now, you were about to say yes, weren't you?" he reminded her.
"But,"
"No 'buts,' just say yes," he said firmly.
"Yes," she said, suddenly smiling. He doesn't care. He still loves me, he doesn't care.
Logan wiped the tears from her face and kissed her. "Well," he said, "that just leaves one question."
"What's that?" she asked him.
"Your room, or mine?" Logan asked with a chuckle.
"You mean ours," she said, and kissed him back.
