Chapter 6

Just as the chime of the bell drifted off into the escalating crowd noise, Charlie came forward, glaring at Wolverine with beady, narrow eyes and raising his fists in preparation. With an expression that was suppose to invoke fear in his opponent; Charlie lurched a fist forward in attack. But Wolverine looked far from intimidated. The watching crowd suddenly roared their approval as Charlie made to strike, but Wolverine's oncoming fist swiped away the limb with ease and made way for a swift uppercut with his other knuckle. The cheers were suddenly transformed into surprised shouts and moans of disapproval. Through the standing audience, he could see Anna, alone in her worry as she watched with concern.

But he had his attention on her for too long, for her eyes had suddenly widened and he realised just why when he felt a foot kick his sharply in the gut; and cause him to double over with a grunt. The same foot pressed into his side, sending him stumbling into the wire fencing of the cage where the closest of the watchers were cheering again and rattling the mesh in a frenzy.

The kicks continued, aiming for his weakest points. Each time he tried to block he was receiving another kick elsewhere. He was knocked off balance as he felt a knee come crashing into his groin and the surge of pain was replaced by a boiling wave of fury. He span round, his foot moving swiftly with him to hit heavily against Charlie's side. The force send the man stumbling and Wolverine only stopped him falling to the floor by punching him into the fencing instead.

The audience was progressively getting quieter as they saw the formidable Charlie being beaten.

Charlie defiantly pushed to his feet, heavily winded and blood trickling from his lips. He made a run towards Wolverine, throwing a fist his way. But Wolverine blocked it with a sudden impact of his knuckles, freezing the man still with a pained yowl. Wolverine secured his grip on the man's wrist and within seconds he was excruciatingly floored – and going nowhere under Wolverine's heavy foot.

Wolverine raised his head slowly, staring imposingly at the crowd surrounding the cage. Almost half heartedly they came into counting down the second, but there was one voice leading them. He saw that Anna had stood to her feet, face in shock, but she was clapping and counting down heartily.

Even as she reached number one, Charlie had no plans to move of his own accord. Wolverine took his foot off the man's chest, he groaned quietly, but did little else. The MC was coming into the cage, directing his men to remove the injured Charlie. He stared at Wolverine, clutching a wad of notes in his hand so tightly as though it might prevent the fact they were going to leave his sweaty grip. He thrust the microphone upwards. "The winner," he muttered quietly. He was getting back into his stride and raised a triumphant fist to the audience, "And a new champion! The Wolverine! The King of the Cage!"

His promising cries geared the crowd back up, even though they had lost their bets, they began applauding and cheering. Charlie had been removed from the pen, and the MC was stood at the gate talking to Bill in undertones. Wolverine continued to glare around at the crowd, but showed no signs of approval to their growing support. He remained surly, stretching his muscles and cracking his neck.

"Hey, what are you - ?"

Wolverine quickly looked towards the gate to see a blur of a running figure before he felt a warm grip and a gentle scent of pine surround him. He looked down to see that Anna had grabbed him around the middle and was holding him tightly as she chattered excitedly. "I thought you wouldn't be able to do it! Not Charlie! I was the only one to bet, Wolverine, imagine the odds! You were right!" She pulled up, beaming up at him with a delighted expression.

As brusque as he was for the crowd, he couldn't help but give Anna a genuine grin. He was about to reply when a large frame bustled towards them.

"Mm, yeah," the MC came towards them, his microphone gone. He was looking at a grubby notepad and flicking through a few pages. "Anna Thompson, the only one to bet on Wolverine." He looked up at her with a regretful air, as though wishing he had got against the norm himself. "Come into the back room, we'll sort out your winnings. You too," he said to Wolverine. As the man ambled off into the smoky atmosphere, Wolverine made his way to his chair, pulling his button up shirt loosely over his sweaty form and merely carrying his vest. Anna swung his jacket over her arm and the pair descended from the cage, making their way through the crowd to collect their winnings.

The door of Anna's home swung open, a blast of cold wind wheezing inside. Wolverine encouraged Anna to step in over the threshold where she slipped a little and sunk up against the wall in fresh giggles. Since their win, Anna had gone against her plan on driving the pair back alcohol-free, but Wolverine was harder to affect with alcohol and so had to take his initiative and drive them home. Whilst she wasn't too badly affected, she was certainly in high spirits and seemed to be consistently smiling about something or other.

"You completely flattened him," Anna reminded him cheerfully for the sixth time that evening, moving towards him once he had closed and locked the front door. The reflection of the moonlight on the snow cast a ghostly light into the dark house, leaking in through the windows.

He attempted to give her the house keys, "I know," he said, smirking a little at her manner.

But Anna ignored the keys that dangled in front of her. "I reckon," she began poking his chest with a finger, "that you could take on anyone!" She nodded impressively before blinking at the keys as though just noticing them. She turned her head up to his face, having misjudged her perspective, her nose bumped into his and they both pulled away in surprise.

Realising the keys weren't going anywhere; he relented in his task of trying to give them to Anna and slipped them into his jean pocket. "Maybe I could," he replied at her comment.

"Yes!" She insisted cheerfully, smiling. "And you'd win every time!"

"You're cold," said Wolverine quietly, then attempting to usher her towards the fireplace. "Go and sit down and I'll light a fire."

She moved over slowly, balance more or less intact as she reached the rugs. Instead of a chair, she lowered on the spot, comfortably tucking her knees besides her. "What time is it?" she asked, pulling a foot towards her and untying her boots.

Wolverine followed over, kicking his own boots off before he dropped to sit on the rug besides her. "Half past one."

Anna made a quiet sort of groan, "Oh well," she concluded, "It's not like I have to get up for anything, really." She idly watched as Wolverine set about lighting the fire, arranging the logs for a moment first. It wasn't long before a gentle fire was flickering before them, lighting up the darkness of the room. There was a comfortable silence for a while, before she spoke again, "Are you always going to be called Wolverine?"

A little startled by this question, Wolverine jerked his head to her, "It's not like I have anythin' else to be known as."

"Don't you want.. a normal name though? Like Fred?"

Wolverine laughed quietly, "Fred? Do I look like a Fred to you?"

The corners of Anna's lips twitched into a smirk, "Alright then, you think of something."

But Wolverine shook his head a little, "I can't really think of anything. What do you think suits me?"

"I think," began Anna quietly, turning serious for a moment, "that you should be called Logan."

Wolverine frowned, that name was familiar. Then it hit him. "But, isn't that – "

" - My father's name, yeah."

Then was a silence in which Wolverine and Anna watched each other, as if waiting for the other to speak first. Finally, Wolverine tilted his head, "Are you sure?"

"You've got the same qualities as him. You deserve to be named after him," announced Anna defiantly with a nod.

Wolverine smiled slowly and nodded his head slowly, "Alright," he murmured softly. "Logan." He glanced to the fire slowly, "Thanks."

Anna returned the smile, shuffling up a little across the rugs so that she could rest against his side. Wolverine found this rather unexpected, and turned his head down to peer at her. His original instinct had been to move away, but he didn't want her to fall. Then, another instinct came over him. This one causing him to gently place his nearest arm about her shoulders. He realised what he's done too late! But he can't suddenly pull away! That'd draw attention to himself.

However, Anna didn't seem to find anything to complain about and she seemed rather relaxed like that. "We should go back at the weekend," she said softly as she watched the dancing flames cast flickering shadows around the side of the fireplace. "Seein' as you're so good at it. Only if you want to," she pulls back a little, smiling up at him.

Wolverine had to admit, there was something very satisfying about the fight he had. As though it accounted for releasing his stress and anger built up deep inside that he had no plan on unleashing upon Anna. "Alright, seein' as we get some cash for it too," he had no qualms about getting money for Anna, after everything she had done for him. He slowly turned his gaze back to the fire, which was dying down a little. "I'll go and grab some logs," he said quietly, gently releasing her and pushing to his feet. He departed from her side after ramming his boots on. He made his way through the kitchen and out the side door whilst ramming his denim jacket on. He stepped out into the snow to fetch a few of the logs that he had chopped up recently.

The night sky gleamed down upon Wolverine; it's smooth canvas of inky black winking scattered stars down at him. He hurried across the thick snow, his heavy weight sinking with each step much more than a normal body wound. He managed to get under the canopy of the shed where the snow hadn't fallen and makes his way towards the reasonable pile of chopped logs. He was just counting out a few when he heard the snow crunch behind him. He turned slowly, looking suspicious for a moment before he saw that Anna had followed him.

Unlike him, she hadn't pulled her coat on, only her shoes and she quickly made her way towards him with a shiver. He was puzzled as to why she had followed him out.

Anna seemed to read this from his expression, since she gave a smile and gestured to the logs, "I've come to help you," she answered gently.

But Wolverine didn't look convinced. He needed help carrying a few logs? He didn't see the point in her coming out when it was so cold. "I'm fine," he watched her for a moment, a hand lightly touching her bare arm. She was freezing! Becoming concerned, he pulled his jacket off her form and draped it over her shoulders instead. "You should go inside," he said softly, rubbing at her now covered arms.

"Perhaps I should," replied Anna with no real conviction in her voice.

There was a lengthy pause in which Wolverine stood and watched her, merely admiring the effect the ghostly glow of the reflecting moonlight had on her face. And it was then, in a moment of confusion and instinct that he leant forward and met her lips with a gentle kiss.

Please review this chapter! (: