Scott stirred at the sound and through the haze of sleep he felt the hairs on his neck stand on end at the familiar voice. In his half slumbering state he felt his fist clench a she became aware of the presence of the Wolverine.
He had never forgiven the man for his pursuit of Jean. Scott could of course forgive the attraction – after all, Dr. Jean Grey was both a beautiful and brilliant woman. No, it was the blatant disrespect of the mutant, the long, lingering looks directed towards his wife, the smug arch of an eyebrow that drove the normally passive Scott into a rage.
Admittedly, Logan hadn't been so obvious since his return from the Canadian wilderness. In fact, Scott realised, there had been no real pursuit, nothing more than polite conversation and respectful glances. But despite this, Scott refused to forgive or forget. For him, the name of Wolverine would always be synonymous with the word 'rival'.
As the last remnant of sleep faded, Scott became aware of two things: that Logan's voice was not, as he first hoped, in his head, and that Marie was lying in his arms. Snapping open his eyes, he was shocked to discover Logan kneeling by the bed, his eyes level with Marie's. She still lay entwined in his arms, and realising the inappropriateness of their positions he felt the need to extricate himself from their embrace. But first he would have to let the other two know that he was awake.
Clearing his throat, Scott watched as Logan lifted his gaze from Marie and saw the surprisingly tender look in his eyes immediately replaced by a hard anger. Scott was used to cold stares from Logan – it was no secret they didn't get on – but the hate that filled the wild man's eyes shocked him, even frightened him a little. In response, he hurriedly drew his arms away from his young charge and leapt up off the bed, smoothing his rumpled clothes.
But however stunned and unnerved Scott was by Logan's appearance by the bed, he was even more shocked when he realised what he was witnessing. Kneeling by the bed, Logan tenderly stroked Marie's hand as they stared at each other in awed silence. Shocked not only because Logan was stroking her hand with a gentleness that Scott could never have imagined, but because neither of the pair's hands were gloved.