Disclaimer: I don't own Logan, much to my dismay...I also don't own any other X-Man stuff, people or locations...20th Century Fox and Marvel get all the cool stuff...

Chapter 5.

(Logan)

The sound of the waterfall is so very soothing. She leans against your chest and you put your arms around her, feeling for the first time in so long that everything just might be ok. A sudden breeze blows a fine mist from the waterfall into your face and you close your eyes, turning your face into its cooling embrace. You sigh and kiss the top of her head. "Darlin', do you think it's safe out there yet? For us?"

She turns to look at you. "I don't know. I hope so. I mean, we ran into the teeth of the worst blizzard that area has seen for years and no matter how hard we are to kill, I'm sure they were hoping it did their dirty work for them. And you heard the reports; they're still finding bodies. I'm sure they're hoping two of them will be us. We left that cabin in the exact state we found it and we left while it was still snowing hard enough to cover our tracks. We've not settled in one place long enough for anyone to trail us and we've doubled and tripled back on that trail as much as we can. But we don't know everything they did to us. For all we know, they invented some kind of tracking technology and stuck it in us somewhere and all they have to do is ask the right satellite and they'll have us again."

"Nah, I don't think they did that. We wouldn't have made it out of the woods alive if they had, you know that." You sigh again. "Angela, there might be a day where we'll have to split up, make it harder for them to get us both. One of us has to be out here, away from them. There's still so much I don't remember, you're the one with the information, so I'm willin' to bet they'll want to get their hands on you before they worry too much about me."

"Gee, thanks for the shudder. When I want to be depressed, I'll remember to ask you."

"I'm serious darlin'. There are times when it's damn hard for me to even remember how the hell we got outta there, much less how we made it here. I can do things but I can't remember where or when I learned them. The part the really scares me is that I can do things that I just know I learned before they got me. How did they do this to me? More important, why? I know you have your 'ultimate weapon' theory and I'm sure that's at least part of it. But why would they want me to forget how to use all those weapons?"

She turns to you and kisses you gently. "Logan, whatever it is you were before all of this, I have no doubt in my heart and soul that you were, you ARE, a good man. You are not a born killer. I'd say you're more like a born protector. Just look at the things you've done to ensure my safety over yours. Would a heartless killer ever do something like that?"

"Sure, to lure his prey into a false sense of security while biding his time for the perfect moment to take her out."

She gives you a playful slap on the shoulder. "Bastard. You know what I mean. Logan, I don't know what all they did to you, I didn't see most of it. I had other things to keep me going and as soon as they were gone, I was just as off the deep end as you were when we escaped. But whatever it was, it's still working on you at least a little. There are things they wanted you to forget, forever, and I think I know why. If there is an 'ultimate weapon', then it would be you."

"I thought you were s'posed to make me feel better about myself, sweetheart."

"Just shut up and listen. I might have the knowledge, but you have the power. I can be killed, we both know that. I normally come back, but what if my heart was missing or my brain? What if they got me, cut me open and just put all my parts in jars? Would I still come back? Deep down inside, I know I wouldn't. I have to be intact, all my parts where they belong or else I'm really done for. My ninth life is gone and I think they know that. But you? I've seen you get shot point blank in the face and come back. Remember that op in China? You fell 7 stories into a concrete parking lot and you walked away. I don't think you're hard to kill, I think you're IMPOSSIBLE to kill. Yeah, I have their secrets. But you have the power to hunt them all down and make them hurt very, very much. So it's better for you to forget what they did, who they are, because they're afraid that if you remember, they're done for."

You sit back and contemplate what she said, wondering if she might just be right about this. The sun is warm, the day beautiful and even though tomorrow you may die, today everything is perfect.

"Well, we'll have to see what happens, won't we?" You say, shifting your weight and standing up. "Right now, everythin' is perfect and I wanna make sure we can remember that in the future, that we did have one perfect day." You slip a camera out of your pocket and find a nice rock shelf to put it on. You set the timer and rush back to her, putting your arms around her. She leans her cheek against your chest, right over your heart, and you smile and kiss the top of her head. You hear the click of the camera, freezing that moment for eternity.

You retrieve the camera and stuff it back in your pocket, then return to her side and wrap your arms around her again. "I just want you to know that I owe you my life. And part of me believes that as long as I have you, everythin' will always be all right." You pull away and look into her eyes. "I swear, I will always take care of you, no matter what happens. I don't think anythin' will be able to keep us apart, no matter what happens to us after this."

She smiles and kisses you soundly. "Yeah well, I owe you my life, too. I wouldn't have made it outta that forest alive without you. Hell, I wouldn't have made it out of a lot of things alive without you. I love you, Logan. If you never remember anything else, try to remember that."

"I'll do my best, you got my word."

One perfect day.

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I woke up slowly, a little disoriented, aware that someone had just rolled over and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist and snuggled into my back. I was also aware that we were both naked. I groaned and rolled over, opening my eyes. Angela just smiled and snuggled into my shoulder. "Mmm, what time is it?" I asked, pulling her close.

"A little after 6, I think, why?"

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, that's unholy!" I said with a groan. "Birds ain't even awake yet."

"Yes they are." She replied, then sat up. "Sorry if I woke you. I'm not used to having company. Makes me sleep light."

"Shit darlin', I'm sorry. That was the best sleep I've had in a long time. First time in ages I haven't dreamed about what they did to me." I settled back and smiled. "I could get used to this."

She ran a hand through her hair and yawned before turning to me with a smile. "Glad to be of service." She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "Go back to sleep. I have so much shit to do today, I was gonna get up pretty soon anyway." She got up and put on a very attractive red silk robe with a dragon embroidered on the back. "By the way, my offer to trash my apartment is now rescinded. Try not to break anything before I get back."

I mumbled something to her, then rolled back over and closed my eyes. Whoever this woman was, she certainly had a good effect on me. I vaguely heard her leave the room and close the door softly behind her.

When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming through the window leaving a bright patch on the floor. I hadn't really paid attention to the room when we came in here last night, so I took stock now. The same silvery gray carpet was on the floor and the walls were just a touch lighter, but the rest of the room was done in rich jewel tones of ruby, emerald and sapphire. It made me wonder why she confined all the color in her life to the place she probably spent the least amount of time. I made a mental note to ask her later.

I lay there for a few minutes before the smell of coffee permeated the room. I tried to ignore it, but it kept insinuating itself into my consciousness until I couldn't ignore it any more. With a sigh, I got up and found my jeans after a few minutes of searching. I made my way to the kitchen where the coffee pot was just finishing up and saw a note taped to the front of it.

Logan,

Hope you had a good sleep. If memory serves, you'll be a lot more cheerful once you drink this coffee. There's stuff in the fridge, help yourself to anything you want. If you feel like it, give me a call later and I'll show you my pride and joy. Ricky should be in the bar by noon, he can give you directions.

Angela

Her cell phone number was written at the bottom of the note with a little heart drawn next to it. I chuckled a little at that. Such a girly thing to do for someone who was a lot more like her code name than I'm sure she realized. She'd left a mug next to the coffee and I poured myself a cup before raiding the rest of the kitchen for breakfast.

Once I was finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, I decided to take a good long shower. Her bathroom continued the monochrome theme as the majority of the apartment, but she managed to keep the place from being bleak in spite of that. It was also a bit larger than I expected and I wondered if she'd remodeled this place as well as the bar downstairs. Otherwise, I don't know how she would have fit the huge tub and the separate six-jet shower in there. I stripped off my jeans and climbed in there, turning on the water as hot as I could stand it. I stood there for a long time, eyes closed, just letting the water pummel me.

So much had happened in the past couple of days. I'm still not sure what made me decide to cross into Canada at Windsor instead of using the Buffalo crossing when I left the mansion. A poet or a priest might have called it fate, but I am neither of those things. I just had a strong instinct to come here to cross the border. Maybe there was something buried in this twisted thing I called a brain that was trying to be remembered. I still don't know to this day.

I opened my eyes and looked around the shower. She had an impressive collection of bathing stuff, which is something I'll never understand about women if I live to be a thousand years old. I mean, it's a shower for fuck's sake, it's not like you need more than one kind of soap. It wasn't until I was rummaging through all this crap that it hit me. Almost everything she had in here was either unscented or had natural fragrances to them. I cocked my head to one side, wondering if she was allergic to the scented stuff, but there was something prickling in the back of my mind. I stood there in the steam, head cocked to one side with a bottle of shampoo in my hand, straining to bring it to the fore. However, no matter how hard I tried, it stayed put in the dark and refused to come out. I shook my head and finished my shower. Now that I felt (relatively) human again, I went back to the kitchen and gave Angela a call.

"Hey sexy, you done hibernating?" She said as soon as she picked up.

I laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Where you at?"

"My club downtown, going over some stuff and trying really hard not to plot the demise of a couple asshole cops." She said and I could tell she was pissed.

"What happened?" I asked, immediately on the defensive.

She sighed (and I'm willing to bet she ran her hand through her hair). "Oh, I came in today and there was some really ugly anti-mutant graffiti on my building. I called the cops and they sent a couple asshole rookies to take care of it. Except they weren't going to take care of it because they're obviously bigoted assholes. I'll bet they're racist, too."

"Did they threaten you?"

"No, not as such. But I threatened them and they backed off and did their jobs."

I leaned against the counter and pinched between my eyes. "You threatened them." It was not a question.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I didn't try to beat them up or anything, but the chief is a friend and I said I'd make life difficult for them if they didn't take my report." She chuckled. "Don't tell me you're worried about me?"

"Listen, if you're like me in any way, then hell yeah I am. I know what kinda trouble follows me around. I don't even want to think about the trouble that follows you on top of that."

"Hey, give me some credit here! I've taken care of myself this long!" She laughed again. "The chief said he'd take care of it, I'm sure it'll be all right."

"If you say so. But if I run into them, I can't promise they'll come out of it with all their limbs intact."

"Just as long as they're still attached, I could give a shit." I heard her juggle the phone around before continuing. "Listen, why don't you come on over here. See what made me the most popular club owner in Detroit."

I hesitated. Everything in me was screaming that I should really just leave and let this woman get on with her life. Sure, the night before had been amazing and not just the sex, but I couldn't help but feel that there was no place for me in the life she'd built for herself. "I dunno. I really shouldn't stick around much longer."

"Oh no you don't. I just got you back here, you're not leaving again!" She said, a note of panic in her voice.

"Hey, we split up all those years ago for safety, what makes you think comin' together again now is a smart idea?"

"Because no one's come to look for me in 7 years. I'm betting no one's come close to you in even longer. I have people all over who keep me anonymous and it's worked so far." She replied, still sounding panicked. "I have other people who can hack into any computer and find out anything I want to know. If anyone in North America was still interested, we'd both know it by now. They'd have caught us."

I closed my eyes and thought about this. On the one hand, she was right. I hadn't run into anyone who knew who I was until Stryker showed up at the school a couple weeks ago. She hadn't had a run-in in a while, though it sounded like there'd been at least one. For the first time that I could remember, my instincts were telling me 2 different things. A small part of me thought that sticking around would only end badly, but the greater part wanted to stay, at least for a little while. "All right, I'll give it a few more days at least, but then we'll have to talk about it, deal?"

"All right, it's a deal. Now get your ass over here, you'll love this place." She hung up her phone. I stood there for a few more minutes, still debating the wisdom of this decision, but I knew I wouldn't be leaving any time soon. I checked my watch and was surprised that it was already after noon. I must have slept longer than I thought.

I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. When I opened it, I heard a tinkling sound and saw 3 keys hanging from a nail in the center of it. I grabbed them and when I tried them in the deadbolts, they worked. I laughed a bit at that. I'd been here one day and already I had the keys to her apartment. Whoever this lady was, she trusted me completely. I pocketed the keys and went down to the bar.

Her bartender Ricky was there, restocking the shelves when I came in. His head snapped up but when he saw it was me he relaxed. "Hey man. Have a good night?" He asked with a half-smile on his face.

"None of your goddamn business, is it?" I growled back. He just smiled wider and continued his work. "Angela says you'll tell me how to get to her other place from here." He nodded and gave me quick directions. Not bothering to thank him, I left through the front door and went to my motorcycle.

All right, it's not really MY motorcycle it's Scott's. But it's a sweet machine and I'm sure it's wasted on that uptight asshole. Something with this much power belongs underneath someone who can truly appreciate it. I'm sure if he took time to think about it, he'd realize that I was right and just stop giving me shit about it. I could hardly wait to take Angela for a ride.

I made it to the club in about 15 minutes. As I pulled into the space next to her car, I couldn't help but notice the graffiti she'd told me about on the phone. Subject matter aside, it was actually quite a piece of work. However, since it proclaimed "All Muties Should Go To Hell and Die" in letters 5 feet tall, I could understand why it upset her so much. If I ever saw the punk responsible for it, I'd have to teach him a lesson. Nothing permanent, maybe just break his spray-painting hand. I heard the side door open and Angela waved me inside.

She led me into the club and I turned slowly, taking it all in. After The Dive, I certainly wasn't expecting what I saw here. The carpeting was black, the dance floor was partly wood and partly Plexiglas (which probably lit up). There were black leather sofas in two of the far corners, the rest of the furniture being black painted steel and chrome tables with chairs. The bar took up one entire wall and it was mostly chrome and Plexiglas with neon tubing running through it. Instead of the normal mirror hanging behind the bar, it was a shattered mirror that had been reassembled mosaic style. I turned to the front wall last, only to be met with the snarling image of a huge wolverine with what appeared to be silver claws. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, practically bouncing in place.

"Damn. After your other place, I wasn't expectin' this!" I gestured to the mural. "Is that what I think it is?"

She smiled. "This place is my baby, my money maker. The Dive is really my side project, a place to relax when I get off work." She walked over to me and nodded at the mural. "And yes, that is exactly what you think it is."

"Isn't that being a little…I dunno…obvious?"

"Hey, this is Michigan. No one thinks twice when you give a little love to U of M." She grinned at me, mischief written all over her face.

"And that's the only reason?"

"Of course not." She snorted, then lowered her eyes. "I always held out a little hope that you'd maybe find your way somewhere close enough to this place to hear something about it. As far as I know, no one else has anything like it." She shrugged. "I know I decorated The Dive the way I did because it reminded me of the bars we used to stop at after we left that cabin, when we dared to go into civilization for more than a few hours. I should have known you'd find that before you found this place."

"Well, the other one is more my style." I pointed out. "But it sure looks like you've done good for yourself here."

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure. And you'd never believe the crap that I had to go through just to keep all the gangbangers and drug dealers out of here. But I run a straight business, the chief of police comes in once a month or so to check things out and otherwise, I'm left pretty much alone." She walked back to my side. "This is the happiest I've been in ages."

I nodded and slipped my arm around her waist. "So, what's up with the extra artwork out there?"

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Do not get me started about that. I mean I doubt that it's personal. I'm positive no one knows I'm a mutant, except maybe Ricky. I usually get at least one graffiti a month and as long as it's not racist and it's nice to look at, I'll leave it up for a while. That big blank wall out there is just too tempting, I suppose."

"You sure that's all it is?"

"No, of course not. But I'm not going to waste my time worrying about it either. My painter will be here soon enough and it'll be gone by the time we open tonight." She looked at her watch and cursed softly. "Which reminds me. If I don't find a DJ for tonight, I'm screwed." She took my hand and led me up a set of metal stairs to an office. "Just sit anywhere, I have to make a couple calls."

I sprawled on a loveseat she had in there and leafed through a magazine. I was still thinking that I should be moving on, but I really didn't know where I was going to after this. I hadn't really thought much about a destination when I left the mansion, but I sure as hell hadn't planned on staying in Detroit for any length of time. Finding someone with a serious connection to me was unexpected and I wasn't sure what to do about it.

Angela finally finished her phone calls and turned to me. "Ya know Logan, I've had this place for a good long while."

"Yeah, and?" I replied, looking over the edge of the magazine.

She walked over to me, took the magazine out of my hands and tossed it over her shoulder before stretching out on top of me. "Well, it just occurred to me that I never gave this place a proper christening."

"Oh really?" I said and wrapped my arms around her. "We'll just have to remedy that now, won't we?"

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Before I knew it, over a week had gone by. I hadn't asked her any more about what she called "The Bad Old Days" because I could see it was a very painful subject for her. Yeah, I wanted more answers very badly, but I didn't want to force her. I figured she'd tell me more when she was ready to talk about it.

There's also the part where she is the owner of two wildly successful bars in a major urban center. She had Ricky to handle most of the day-to-day crap at The Dive, but she didn't trust RnR to anyone else. There were days that I didn't know where she found the energy to work at both places, but she did. And it's not like we were getting that much sleep, either.

After the first few nights, my dreams started again. Mostly, it was brief flashes of things that didn't make any sense to me. I saw something about being in a jungle with a thunderstorm; another night I saw a man with a knife to Angela's throat in the middle of another forest. Sometimes I saw us fighting side by side against unseen enemies. But I also dreamed about Jean and Alkali Lake a couple times.

It must have been nine or ten days when it changed. Before, I just kept seeing it over and over again and I knew it was a dream but I couldn't seem to wake myself from it no matter what I did. I didn't want to say anything to Angela about it because I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it anymore. The more I spent time with her, the more I questioned how I'd felt about Jean in the first place. Don't get me wrong, Jean was a beautiful woman and she always made me feel like a real person, not someone to be afraid of. Just being in the same room with her was enough to drive me crazy and the one time I kissed her still burned in my mind. But Angela was something different and not just because she was someone who had known me before. I felt a really strong connection to her that made what I had felt for Jean pale by comparison. I wasn't sure what it meant and to be honest, it confused the hell outta me.

But that last time, the dream didn't go exactly like it actually happened. I saw the whole thing happening all over again, down to the last detail. I saw her standing outside the plane as she held the water off and lifted the jet out of harm's way. I watched as flames began to consume her just before the water closed over her. At the moment she lowered her hands to accept her fate, the scene froze and I was the only one still able to move. To be fair, it felt perfectly natural, it being a dream and all. But no matter what I did, I still couldn't get outside of the plane to pull her back inside with us where she would be safe. I was helpless to change anything, even in my own mind and I didn't like it one bit. I found myself on my knees in the jet, beating my fists against the control panel and screaming "I'm sorry" over and over. I looked out the window and Jean was standing there, looking at me with a sad smile and it was then that I finally had the courage and strength to say goodbye to her.

That was all it took for me to finally pull myself out of the nightmare and back to the real world. I sat straight up and saw that Angela was awake and standing next to the bed, clenching her robe at her throat.

"Logan, what's wrong? Are you ok?" She asked, holding out her hand.

"Wha…Angela?" I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come back to bed."

She slipped back under the blankets, but instead of lying down she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me. "What was it? What did you see?"

"It's nothin'." I replied and pulled her close to me. "Just go back to sleep."

She gave me an icy stare. "Don't give me that shit. Who's Jean?"

I swear, my heart stopped for a second and I gave her a hard look. "No one you need to worry about."

"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about you." Her look softened. "Come on, tell me. Who's Jean?"

I sighed and looked at her. "Until a week and a half ago, I would have told you that she was the finest person I'd ever met."

"Why not now?"

"Because that's when I walked into your bar, darlin'."

She smiled and snuggled into me. "Ah, I see. So, tell me about her. What happened?"

So, I told her everything: Stryker invading the mansion, kidnapping some of the kids, the return to Alkali Lake to rescue them. I told her about that little Oriental broad and what I had done to her. And I told her about Jean and how she sacrificed herself to save us all. It was hard to do and I heard my voice breaking as I told her. "I loved her, or at least I thought I did. But she was in love with someone else and chose him over me. She made me want to be a better man and 12 hours later, she was gone."

Angela chewed on her lip, looking down at her hands. "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…I didn't want to hurt you."

I chuckled. "This from the woman I killed once."

She gave a bitter laugh and looked at me. "Well, she must have been a hell of a woman."

"She really was. But now that I look back on it, it wasn't Jean that I wanted so badly. It was her strength, the way she made me feel like I wasn't some fuckin' animal. It was that part of her…it always reminded me of somethin', but I could never figure out what." I rolled to my side and pulled Angela close. "But these past few days have made me realize that what it reminded me of was you. Hell, I could tell from the first moment you sat next to me with that beer that you weren't afraid of me, not even a little. You just treated me like any other guy and you know what I'm capable of more than anyone."

"I've never been afraid of you, Logan."

"I know and neither was she, not even when I woke up in that infirmary of hers, not knowin' where I was and I was about an inch away from puttin' my claws through her skull. I mean, Rogue's not afraid me either but she's just a kid with a crush. But Jean was different. She'd seen inside my head and she still trusted me."

"At least she was smart enough to know the same things I've always known."

"Whattaya mean?" I asked, confused.

"It's not who a person was that matters, it's who that person is now. You did terrible things while we were at Alkali Lake, we both did. But can you look at me now and call me a killer?" I shook my head. "I'm not going to say that I wouldn't kill someone again if I had to. And I'm not going to deny that there were times when I really enjoyed doing it. But it's not who I am, not anymore." She looked hard into my eyes. "And neither are you and she knew that."

"Yeah." I lowered my head, suddenly feeling like I couldn't breathe. "Losin' her was a fuckin' nightmare. Everywhere I went in that damn mansion reminded me of her, so I left. Rogue even made me promise to come back, but I really didn't plan on it."

I felt her hands on my face as she lifted my head to look at her again. "Well, if that's what you really want, I won't try to stop you. You have to follow your heart." She looked like her heart was breaking.

"I know. And I am. It's why I haven't left here yet." I leaned in and kissed her. "I might not remember lovin' you before, but right now that don't matter to me. I'm startin' to love you just fine right now and if the rest comes back someday, then I guess I'll love you all the more."

I certainly wasn't expecting her to cry when I said that. Women are so damn confusing. "Logan, you have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that again."

"Hey, don't cry darlin'. This is supposed to be a happy thing."

"It is, you big dope. Come here and love me right and proper."

It is a damn good thing we both heal well. Damn good indeed.

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AN: Thanks to everyone who's reading and special thanks to everyone who reviews! The happy dance is improving with every review...:) Keep up the good work:)