A/N: Hello loves. I'm in an update mood and today a few of my stories are getting a well-deserved update. This one needed one for the new year and I had to do a short one because my mood is out of whack. Forgive me for the shortness, but I had to try something. Enjoy while you can.
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Scarlet stretched her body out, feeling relaxed and at peace but realized that she was pressed against something. No, someone. And that someone shouldn't have been there. Or rather, she shouldn't have been there and this was probably a bad idea from the beginning, but she hadn't put up a fight when he had suggested it. She had wanted to do it. Her body had wanted it and what was worse, her heart had wanted it.
She opened her eyes and followed the arm that was wrapped around her to the face that was near hers. Hazel eyes met hers and were full of sleep and warmth. Logan offered her a half smile and ran a hand over his face, yawning.
"Sleep okay?" she asked, trying to make this less awkward.
"I slept great," Logan said, running his hand over her hip. "I think you slept fine too, judging by the way you kept still all night and smiled before you woke up with the grump on your face."
Scarlet made a face. "I don't have a grump on my face."
"Darling, you tend to get a grumpy look on your face."
"Are you saying I have resting bitch face?" Scarlet asked, resting her chin on his pec.
Logan thought about it for a moment. "Not that I know of. I just think you can get grumpy at times and let it carry on your face."
"Uh-huh. What do you want from me? More smiles?" Scarlet asked, arching an eyebrow. "Because I don't think I'm capable of them right now."
"I think you're capable of a lot of things, Maria," Logan told her, smoothing his hand over her side. "You just get your head stuck in the past and you hold onto it so fast that you can't let yourself live in the moment, for tomorrow." He looked into her scarlet eyes. "Your past was really that messed up that it's hard to let go for a second, isn't it?"
Scarlet lowered her eyes from his and stared at his chest. "It was pretty bad. Going to places just to see what powers I could absorb, hurting people in freak accidents, killing kids and erasing memories and moving on because no place be called home. Logan, I'm not the kind of person with a happy backstory and it haunts me all the time. It's not something that you get to forget and people like to remind me of it by rubbing it in my face." She sighed and rested her cheek against his chest. "Maybe it's not supposed to be forgotten."
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Logan placed his hand on Scarlet's back as she talked and felt his heart ache as she sighed again. "Maria, you can't let your past shape your future anymore. Take it from the man that can't remember his past. You've outlived the horrors and you're growing stronger than you were back then. You've faced your demons and you've flipped them the bird."
Scarlet flipped him the bird at that and Logan chuckled, smacking her hand down.
"Yeah, just like that, darling. You've gone a long way to get where you're at now and I think it's time for you to let go."
"Can't," Scarlet muttered against his chest.
"Can," Logan argued.
"How?" Scarlet asked, looking up at him again as she rested her chin on his pec again.
"You gotta let people in and try to work with them," Logan told her. "Stop fighting with everyone and stop putting up that wall around yourself. I know you're scared to let people in, but not everyone here is your enemy."
Scarlet stared at him for a long moment in silence, not blinking in that curious way that she could. Logan stared right back and rubbed his hand along her back, wishing he could tell what was going on in her complex brain. Was that scared voice talking in her head again? Making her think thoughts that he wished he could wrestle into submission and banish forever. He didn't want her to be afraid anymore. He wanted her to trust him and be strong and goddamn fiery like her attitude could be at times.
"Are you going to help me?" Scarlet asked, watching his eyes.
"I already said that I was going to," Logan said, skimming his hand lower but stopping at the small of her back. "I'm like that annoying friend that you can't get rid of and you're going to get tired of me at any point now, darling."
Scarlet rolled her eyes and gave him a tiny grin. "Like you can be any more annoying than Addison."
"You're right, no one can be more annoying than Fishtail. But I can get on your nerves, Maria."
The teen looked away from him and down at their feet which were tangled together. Her brow furrowed like she didn't know how they had gotten that way, but she didn't try to disentangle her feet from his. Logan waited for her to say something, to snap at him for keeping her in his arms longer than necessary, but she looked back at him and sighed again.
"So I guess with the way that I'm feeling, you're not going to put me through a Danger Zone training session anytime soon," she said softly, scarlet eyes looking sad.
"I can't risk it without Red's permission," Logan told her, wishing he had a different answer. "We don't know what your body can take right now. And the last thing I want is for one of my claws to go into you and you to bleed out because you don't heal from it. We'll train for hours after you get your strength back, Maria."
"You promise?" Scarlet asked, holding his gaze.
"It's a promise," Logan said, keeping his hand still.
Her lips twitched at the corner, but didn't form a full smile. She looked at the door for a moment and sighed again. Logan didn't know if she wanted to leave him or not, but he hoped that she didn't because he knew chances were, she would avoid coming back.
"Can we go somewhere else?" Scarlet asked, meeting his gaze once more. "I'm hungry and I would like to get something to eat…even with you, Funny Hair."
"Even with me," Logan repeated, giving her a half-smile. "Are you that tired of me, darling?"
"Meh," Scarlet said, burying her face against his chest.
Logan forgot about his last thought of the night before and popped her on the ass for her choice of words. Scarlet's eyes peered at him and held a fire when he laughed at her.
"Told you not to use that word around me, Maria," Logan reminded her, laying his hand flat on her butt. "I'm not afraid to throw you over my lap and pop you one until you stop using that word."
Scarlet stuck her tongue out at him and he popped her on the ass again. "Logan, no!" she laughed, rolling onto her back to keep him from getting to her butt. "No more booty pops. And no, I'm not going to behave either, so don't get ideas about me listening to you."
Logan rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow so he could look down at her. "You ticklish?"
Scarlet's eyes challenged him. "I'm not telling you where."
The older mutant scanned over her body and then met her eyes again. "I think I can figure it out. Given enough time."
"Logan, no!" Scarlet exclaimed, twisting under him as he began to search her body for ticklish spots.
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Scarlet stretched her legs out in the back of Logan's truck and took a sip from her vanilla Coke. They had grabbed a bunch of tacos from a taco place and bought a bunch of other things from a gas station before driving out to a place to watch the skies. Logan munched on a taco next to her and wiped the grease of the meat off his chin, trying to remain somewhat decent. Scarlet rolled her eyes and picked up another taco, wishing that she had had the strength to do more than just eat and relax all day.
"Sometimes it's good to just relax," Logan said as if just reading her thoughts.
"Uh-huh," Scarlet said, taking a bite of her taco. "I'm not used to relaxing though. I'm used to being active and moving around all the time."
"Maybe that's why your body isn't handling the evolution so well," Logan mused, throwing his wrapper into the box. "It's needing a break and you're not giving it a moment to recharge. You're just going and going and going. And it needs to shut down once and a while to get itself adjusted to what you're bringing into it."
Scarlet frowned. "I don't know how to relax."
"Take naps, eat good food, live a little, do the things that make you happy – besides fighting people," Logan told her, giving her a look. He put a hand on her knee. "You're going to figure it out, Maria, and your body will adjust to it. You just need to give it some time, darling."
"Uh-huh." Scarlet picked a tomato chunk off her taco and tossed it at him.
Logan lifted an eyebrow at her and said nothing until she did it again. "Maria…"
Scarlet stuck her tongue out at him and threw a chip at him next. A smirk touched her lips as she looked away and took a bite of her meal. Logan threw a chip at her and Scarlet let out a surprised sound. She threw a handful of wrappers at him. Before she knew it, they were in a full-blown food fight until the food was gone and she was jumping from the back of the truck with him chasing her.
Scarlet laughed as she ran around the truck and looked over her shoulder at him, dancing just out of reach. She moved to the side as he lunged forward and watched him fly past her.
"Missed me," she laughed, bouncing back on her feet.
Logan's eyes were full of laughter and fire as he turned to face her and he moved in front of her, looking like he was going to charge her again. Scarlet darted to one side and then the other, faking him out. She circled him, but he caught her in his arms and held her against his chest. Scarlet kicked her legs out, laughing and then calmed down as she felt the vibrations of Logan's laughter rumbling in his chest against her back.
She turned her head slightly and looked at his face in profile so close to hers and smiled at him. Logan squeezed her around the middle and looked up as the sky opened up, sending rain pouring down on them. Scarlet let out a surprised sound, blinking against the rain. She looked down at her skin as it lit up with fire under her skin and wished that it didn't make her seem like a freak.
Logan turned her face up to meet his gaze and held her stare with his hazel eyes. His hands were soft and warm on her fiery skin. "You look beautiful," he promised softly.
And in that moment, Scarlet knew two things: she was safe and she was doomed.
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A/N: Let me know what you think, please. And know that my update schedule will remain weird because I happen to be a weird and busy person. I love you all and I have not forgotten about you or this story. I have ideas and I will use them. Much love and thank you. -Scarlet