Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or any of the X-men. The same can be said of the wonderful world of J.K. Rowling. I am not making any profit, but simply having fun. I did however create Emma Winter.
Memories and dreams are in italics.
Edited in March 2021 during lockdown.
Logan didn't listen to the very angry witch that was seething that he was carrying her like an invalid back to the cottage. Why Emma was so angry she didn't know, but she had yelled, cursed and even tried to wiggle out of his arms even though nothing seemed to work.
There was no way that Emma would admit to herself or how much discomfort she was really in by being carried around like a sack of potatoes. Her heart was beating erratically with the sudden anger that coursed through her body like wildfire and she hit his back with her fists causing her wand to fall to the ground not far from the cottage.
"You better put me down this instant! Bloody Neanderthal!" Emma hissed at Logan as he marched hurriedly towards the cottage in the darkness.
"I'll put you down in one minute when we are inside the cottage. Don't wanna you to be on your feet in your state," Logan replied gruffly as he took a firmer hold of Emma's squirming form as she tried to escape yet again from his steely grip. His patience was running thin, it was like the woman was possessed and that she didn't understand that he was trying to help her get to safety as quickly as possible.
"Put me down now! I refuse to be treated like this!" Emma snarled, refusing to admit aloud just how painful it was to be carried over Logan's shoulder and how humiliated she was about the entire scene. The entire night had been one big disaster; nothing had gone the right way ever since she had woken up to Logan's growl earlier.
Logan had slung her with great ease over his shoulder; it had been the simplest way for him to carry the witch back to the cottage. Nevertheless, hanging upside down was not helping Emma much with her discomfort. Blood was rushing to her heard and it made her want nothing more than to be put down on the ground so she could try to control her stomach that was doing summersaults with every step that Logan took.
Logan grumbled something deeply and took an irritated, deep breath before he calmed down enough to answer her, "I'm trying to help you darlin', I'm trying to make things right with you."
"Hanging upside down is painful, you bloody oaf," Emma snarled as Logan walked in the door of his cottage. At that moment anger was a much more preferable option than giving in to the pain that was burning in her wounds making her want to scream into the night.
Logan didn't realize until too late that the witch had lost control of her temper; the mutant had walked a few paces into the living room when he realized that something was off with the witch. Emma had suddenly stopped screeching and was completely silent for the first time since he had slung her over his shoulder in the forest. The burning cinnamon scent attacked his nostrils only a split second before a surging current of electricity seared through his body and nailed his feet stuck to the floor where he stood.
An instinct made him grab his load tighter, only fuelling Emma's pain and the wild magic that cracked in the air like electricity. Logan was zapped again with uncontrolled magic; that time Emma unintentionally used more power that would certainly have killed any normal person. Logan was not prepared for the immense power that paralyzed his neural system in only a few seconds.
His large body gave way and he crashed down to its knees. Logan stubbornly held Emma even tighter to him, refusing to let her go even though he knew the pain would disappear as soon as he would be freed of her. Still, the mutant wouldn't let her go, anything the witch would throw at him, Logan knew he deserved it, and he would happily take it all if it would make her feel better even if only for a moment. As Logan's burly arms tightened around Emma's torso, she gave up fighting her pain. The anger disappeared as her mind registered the surging pain of her wounds and replaced the anger with white, hot pain.
"Can you stop being a fucking bitch so I can help you?" Logan growled before shaking her, seemingly getting ready to throw her into the next wall to make her stop the attacks.
Hearing Emma groan with pain awoke Logan from his fury and he carefully let her go. Emma didn't wait a moment but quickly scurried a few steps back if she wasn't what would happen next. Even though her actions had not been on purpose, she had could have easily killed him none the same. Logan seemed to agree with Emma's assumption as he glared at her angrily while his nostrils flared showing just how fuming mad he was.
He got up slowly and cat-like, assessing Emma as if she was his potential prey and rattling the witch in the process. Emma knew herself that she hadn't gone a little bit over the line; she had sprinted past it into uncharted territory. Then again so had Logan.
Finally, it was the scent of Emma's blood that helped Logan to rip himself from the rage that welled within him as he spat at her, "if you ever do that again I will kick your ass."
"And if you ever manhandle me again, I will burn your whiskers off," Emma sneered doing her best Severus Snape impression and failing miserably. Her bravado was diminishing fast as dark spots started to swim around in her eyesight, a tell-tale sign that she wasn't far from losing consciousness. The witch realised that she desperately needed to be seen by a doctor.
One of Logan's eyebrows shot up in surprise as if he could not believe what she had just said. Then before she could say anything else Logan chuckled humourlessly, "darlin' if I ever get you with my claws again you can do a hell of a lot more to me than burn my chops."
The witch didn't reply to him as her face turned ashen before his eyes as if the last drop of blood in her body had suddenly disappeared. Her eyes seemed to darken in contrast to the ghostly complexion that donned her skin.
"Em?" Logan rumbled warningly and when he didn't get any response, he moved towards her in strides to where she was sitting on the floor. It had been no secret to Logan that at some point Emma would go into shock; he had hoped that he could get her to the mansion before that would happen. That wouldn't happen, and he would need to get Hank to the cottage as soon as possible.
No later was Logan by her side than Emma's body started to shake, and her pupils widened dramatically showing the distress her body was under. In one fluid move, Logan grabbed her into his arms and carried her to the cot where they had been sleeping earlier that evening. He could see pearls of sweat rolling down her forehead as the witch struggled to stay alert and focus her confused eyes on his face looking for comfort.
The mutant was concerned that the shock was hurting her even more than he had. By the look on her pale face, it was clear that the witch wasn't far from passing out and that it was just plain stubbornness that was keeping her still somewhat alert. In some ways Logan wished she would pass out, so he could move her easier without causing her more pain.
"Lay down on the cot, face down," Logan ordered, leaving no space for protests and for the first time that day, Emma did what he asked without complaints. Almost immediately she started to feel better, the dark spots started to disappear from her vision. She did not feel great but at least she was conscious.
Logan went and got a towel before sitting down beside Emma and moved her hair to one side before staring in horror at the three gashes that begun by her shoulder and ended by her hip. Logan had to suffocate a sudden need to run from the pain and guilt. The beast within tended to opt for running when something went bad in his private life and injuring a loved one was high on the list for running. The human side of him seemed to agree with the wilder side but he couldn't even if he wanted to. At least not until he would make sure that Emma would get the help she needed. After that, he would do whatever was necessary.
Logan reached out and started to dry the blood carefully away to see better what they were dealing with. Emma flinched and hissed in pain as soon as the rough material touched her wounds.
"Hang in there darlin', I have to see how deep the cuts are," Logan said as he focused on cleaning the blood the best he could without hurting her too much. Emma hissed with every touch, but she didn't complain and for that he was grateful. It was selfish but the guilt was eating him up inside. Emma wasn't Rogue and was unable to draw in his powers as his pseudo-daughter had been able to do to save her life. How he wished that Emma had that power, it would have made things so much easier.
"They are not deep enough to have caused as much of a damage, but you'll need stitches. A lot of stitches," Logan grumbled in a serious tone as he continued his work. The wounds were relatively clean, and the claws had cut straight through her skin but luckily not too deep to damage any internal organs.
He felt like an animal watching her sliced up like that after him, "look kid, I'm sorry. I would never want you to get hurt. I hope you know that."
Emma sighed and turned her head and watched him from the corner of her eye. "I know, it's my fault for trying to wake you. It's ok Logan. Sorry about that whole magic thing."
"I'm gonna call Hank and get him to come here," Logan grumbled not wanting to fight with her even though he wanted to tell her where she could shove her apology. She had nothing to apologize for.
"Does he know about the cottage?" Emma murmured remembering what Logan had once said that no one knew about it.
"He will now," Logan said seriously and when he saw that Emma was going to protest, he said, "It's the least I can do Em, Hank won't tell anyone."
Logan grabbed his much-hated cell phone and called Hank's number to get the residential doctor to come to the cottage. He had no choice; Emma needed stitches and probably a lot of them. There was no way he could travel with her in the bad shape she was in, so it was a choice between getting Hank to the cottage or calling the professor to send the X-men. The second was unneeded, Hank was more than able to patch Emma up.
"Hank. Emma got injured, will need stitches. Possible shock. Ask Chuck for directions to my cottage and come right away," and with that, he ended the conversation and stared at Emma with concern as he saw her float in and out of consciousness.
"Hang in there darlin', Hank is coming," Logan said more to reassure himself than her before covering her naked body in a thick blanket to keep her warm until the doctor would arrive.
It didn't take Hank long to reach the cottage and to Logan's surprise, he didn't ask many questions. Perhaps it was quite obvious what had happened, after all, everybody in the mansion had heard of how he almost killed a student and the three claw marks on Emma's back were not something he could deny were his making.
The look on Hank's face was filled with surprise when he saw the extent of the injury and later understanding as he saw Logan pace back and forth in the little room plagued by the worries. After injecting Emma with pain medications Hank started to clean the wounds and began the long process of stitching her up.
Meanwhile, Hank was sewing Emma up; Logan went out for a much-needed smoke and stood in the door watching as Hank finished the stitches. Logan had gotten dressed before Hank came over, the mutant knew there would be even more questions if he would still be naked when the blue mutant would arrive. Emma was naked, however, with Logan's scent all over her and Hank would be able to scent that as he had a feral side just like Logan did.
"There will be most likely a quite obvious scarring. I hope that won't bother you too much?" Hank said in a chatty tone to Emma who had awoken in the middle of his stitching and had hardly uttered a word since that time. She had been staring into space most of the time not uttering a word. At Hank's comment, her eyes found Logan by the doorway and noticed that his gaze was glued on her face studying her intensely.
Emma could see an intense look that Logan had on his face and a warm feeling spread at the pit of her stomach to see him so concerned about her. She knew he was worried sick and that he was plagued with unneeded guilt. The way he had fuzzed over her was a huge sign of his worries. Logan never fussed like a mother hen over anyone, and it had shown her just how much the difficult mutant cared about her.
Logan was experiencing something odd as well. Hearing Hank's words he realized that Emma would forever be marked by him, that as far as the Wolverine saw it, the witch would be forever his possession. The beast loved that thought, the animal in him saw it as a natural thing to mark the ones he loved. Seeing Emma accepting the news of the scars with a stoic calm made the beast within want to roar in earnest at the primal feelings that were coursing through his body.
As a warm twinkle sparkled in Emma's eyes while she studied Logan intently and he felt a white-hot emotion course through him. Lust washed over him and Logan groaned inwardly before leaving the doorway immediately to stand outside. Seeing the witch marked by his claws made him want to take her right there on the cot and mark every inch of her body as his. At the same time, the human side of him felt disgusted for feeling aroused by marking Emma like that.
A little while later Hank finished his work and Logan quickly managed to convince him that he should return to the mansion with Emma in his car. The two men agreed that none of the staff or students should know about what had happened that night. Of course, Xavier already knew after Hank's frantic need to get directions for Logan's cottage.
However, neither Emma nor Logan wanted anyone to know why they had been sleeping together in a cottage that hardly anyone knew about. Some things they just wanted to keep private, their relationship was something they didn't want anyone to know too much about. They were still trying to understand their feelings for each other and didn't want other people interfering in their bond.
Hank and Emma had left the cottage to return to the mansion after Logan had given her some of his clothes to wear. His old sweatpants, t-shirt and flannel shirt looked so alien on the witch that on any other occasion he would have laughed seeing her wearing clothes that looked so odd on her.
Logan was struggling with his upset mind when he finally got the privacy to think about what had happened and what could have happened. Guilt was tearing him up inside as he felt the tantalizing scent of Emma's blood constantly in his nostrils that only confused him further. He wouldn't fool himself; it was pure luck that he hadn't killed Emma in his sleep as he had fought his nightmare. After nearly killing Rogue in a very similar way Logan was upset with himself as he wondered what would have to happen for him not to react in that manner. On top of having scared and scarred Emma for life, Logan felt disgusted at himself for the emotions he had felt when watching the claw marks on her back.
When he had stared at her with blatant want the witch had stared at him back with absolute adoration that had rattled him to the core. Feelings of the heart were complicated, especially when they were reciprocated by the young witch. Watching the marks on her back had changed something primal within him and he realised that Emma Winter was the one for him, the one he wanted as his mate until his heart would stop beating. The thought terrified him, especially since he probably scared her away by accidentally hurting her.
"Goddammit!" Logan hissed to himself as he raked his hands through his wild hair. The paranoia had to stop, if not he would do a runner as he always did when things went down the toilet. Logan knew he couldn't hurt Emma by disappearing from her life simply because he was a chicken shit that couldn't face the consequences of his actions.
He quickly grabbed his jacket and headed out the door of the cottage. Even though it was early morning he was headed to the nearest bar, a momentary solace from his thoughts before he would head to the mansion to check how Emma was doing.
"Have you seen Logan today?" Emma asked Ororo quietly at dinner two weeks after the incident at the cottage. The witch hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Logan as he was running from her. In the beginning, she had understood the confusion, but then deep hurt set in as she realised that the mutant had decided to ignore her. She had seen his hazel eyes watching her when he thought she didn't notice, but never had the mutant come to her to clear the air; and if Emma tried to talk to him, Logan was always too busy for her.
"Scott asked him to change the oil on the cars, that way he's out of our hair for a while since he's been driving us all crazy lately," Ororo said pointing towards the very obvious foul temper that had tortured the Wolverine for a while.
Emma turned to walk away and was stopped by Ororo's hand taking a hold of her arm, "is there anything you want to talk about Emma? Did something happen between you two?"
"Ruffled feathers, nothing too bad," Emma replied vaguely even though thankful that someone was concerned enough to ask. She liked Ororo a lot, but she was the gossip queen of the house and Emma was not ready to let the entire house know what had happened between her and Logan at the cottage. The witch was thankful that Hank and Xavier had kept the lid on the events, so no one knew about the accident.
"All right Emma, remind him that Scott wants him to change the oil on the bike as well," Ororo said grinning and waved as Emma left the kitchen to go to the garage.
Logan had been snappy, angry and sarcastic to whoever was stupid enough to come close to him over the last weeks. Worst was it when the residential witch came into the same room as he, everyone noticed how Logan bristled and a wild look appeared into his eyes as he looked for an exit to get away from her.
For a while, Emma tried to understand why Logan felt so uncomfortable around her. Talking to Xavier had made her understand his extreme reaction a little bit better. The professor had told her about a time when Logan had accidentally gorged Rogue through the chest as she tried to wake him up. If it hadn't been for her unique mutation she would have died within moments.
A rational part of Emma tried to explain Logan's response as a perfectly reasonable reaction to the whole claw in her back incident, however, a small part of her couldn't help feeling greatly hurt at how the mutant was behaving. It was understandable that he had freaked out at that but feeling so rejected by someone she had shared a bed with made her want to spit with anger. The patience she had tried so hard to keep was disappearing and every time Emma saw Logan she had to fight the urge to strangle the bulky mutant that seemed to always run from those he cared about.
The only real sign of Logan's presence since she got the stitches had been that he had returned her wand the same afternoon as they returned from the cottage. Emma had dropped the wand outside in the snow when Logan had been carrying her back inside the cottage and couldn't retrieve it as Hank had been breathing down her neck the entire time until he drove her back to the mansion after patching her up.
Nevertheless, Logan had made sure that Emma had been sleeping before sneaking into her room and silently pushing the wand under her pillow at her usual hiding place for it at night time. Emma hadn't noticed anything until later that evening when she woke up with one arm under her pillow, clutching onto her wand as if it were a child's security blanket. In a way it was, she had been sleeping with the wand under her pillow since she was eleven years old.
As Emma opened the garage door, she could hear a loud metal clamour in one corner and Logan cursing like a sailor. The witch closed the door quickly, to give them time away from prying eyes. Logan's had been because of her, she was certain of it.
The witch was correct in her assumption; if Logan had been more alert he would have heard Emma long before she reached the garage. Instead, he had been surprised by her arrival and by the sound of her determined steps the witch meant business. Emma headed towards him and sat down on the floor close to Logan without getting into his space. The mutant glared at her and then continued to work on the bike hoping she would just go away but knowing deep down that she wouldn't do that, she was way too stubborn to back down like that.
"Are you going talk to me or continue to ignore me?" Emma said stiffly after a while, not being used to Logan treating anyone like that, especially not her. She missed him, missed his friendship and the relationship that had been brewing between them. Without him, life at the mansion was dreadfully boring and bland.
"Pick one," Logan replied coldly trying to get her to leave him alone. It was not the injury that had spooked him so much even though he didn't like that he had hurt her. No, it was the love he had felt and the terror that had tormented him when he realised that the witch might leave him. For that reason, Logan had kept away from the witch as he felt awkward and ill at ease while he was figuring out what to do.
"Who's being a pansy now?" Emma asked icily knowing full well that she would get under his skin by using his favourite word for the losers in his life. One of Logan's favourite pansies was Scott and then basically the rest of the world followed after Cyclops in line alphabetically.
Logan felt his temper flare up and before he knew it, he had slammed the wrench on the floor next to him and sat up to glare at the woman that was sitting close to him.
"I ain't being a pansy and you don't have to throw shit at me to get me to talk to you. That is not a very good idea with a feral mutant. Not even if you are a witch," he spat and glared at her from under furrowed brows. He wanted to make peace with her too as he missed Emma, but she was rubbing him in all the wrong ways with her aggressive behaviour as it flared up the guilt that had been chewing on his guts ever since the incident. Logan felt like shit for trying to stay away from her and obviously, she wasn't too happy about it either.
Emma realized that the plan wasn't working the way she wanted it to; the witch was only pushing Logan further away with her anger. If she would continue to push, Logan would distance himself even further, she was certain of it. It was time to change her strategy; aggression wasn't working so the witch realised that she needed to open up her heart to the mutant. She had to behave kindly and find out what the hell was on his mind that had made him run from her.
"Logan, if you want nothing to do with me then just tell me. You are ignoring me, and it has hurt me deeply. I'm at my wit's end. A part of me wants to leave because it's so painful to be so rejected by you after everything we have shared. I can't stand feeling used by anyone, especially not by you," Emma said before looking at him with serious, dark eyes that pulled at his heartstrings.
Logan realized just how much he had been hurting the witch by staying away and he felt a pang of regret hit him in the chest. The witch considering leaving because he made her feel used had never been a part of his plan. Logan sighed deeply in defeat and at that moment Emma knew that the worst was behind them. The drama was over, at least about the claw incident. There would probably be other dramas; it was just in their nature to blow up on occasion.
"I fear I will only end up hurting you as I have done to everyone in my life who has dared to come too close to me," Logan murmured and sighed deeply when he noticed the witch wipe away tears from her face. He had done that to her.
"So you run away from me, the woman that has fallen in love with you?" Emma whispered emotionally and the mutant stared at her in shocked silence before reaching out and wrapping his arms around the witch before pulling her onto his lap in a tight embrace.
The witch stared shocked at his face and Logan murmured heatedly, "I run because I love you too much to see you hurt by me, you don't deserve that."
"You do realize what we just said to each other," Emma whispered as her eyes filled with tears. Love was a wonderous emotion, even more so when two hearts connected so profoundly.
Logan grinned widely and kissed her heatedly with all the passion that was in him, trying to explain to the witch just how much she meant to him. Emma responded with vigour, her fingers scraping the back of his neck making the mutant growl with pleasure. When the kiss broke, the two looked at each other with soft smiles on their faces.
"Please Logan, never again. Either you're in or you are out. No running from me," the witch murmured, and the mutant nodded in agreement before trailing kisses on her face as an apology for hurting her feelings.
"I'm in as long as you want me darlin'," Logan murmured before they kissed again with passion. The witch had never fallen in love before, but she knew she was in it for the long haul since she knew that Logan had deep feelings for her as well.
"I wanted to tell you how sorry I was for my part in the events that evening, I lost my temper," Emma confessed, and Logan laughed at that. Only the witch would apologize for a little magic after being physically harmed by a feral mutant.
"It was an accident darlin', we both fucked up," Logan finally offered and couldn't help chuckling at the smile that tugged at her lips and the joyful sparkle that lit in her eyes at the peace offering. Logan buried his face in Emma's hair and scented the cinnamon that he had missed so terribly.
"How are they healing?" Logan asked a while later, trying to fight a possessive growl in his chest when he could scent her want for him. One day Logan would claim the witch as his mate it would happen as soon as the witch was ready to face the feral side of him.
"The cuts?" Emma asked and got a nod of acknowledgement from Logan.
"They are healing well, Hank is happy with the result so stop fretting," Emma replied as she noticed the worried crease between his eyebrows and concerned hazel eyes that seemed to be studying her intently.
"They are my first scars and I'm quite fond of them," the witch said softly. It was true, having scars was a new thing to her but certainly not unpleasant. The experience had not been fun but the marks themselves were nothing she worried over.
"How can they be your first after all the shit you've gotten into?" Logan asked shocked. He had seen the witch repeatedly injured in her memories; she should have been marked all over her body from her experiences in the magical world.
"Magic potions and spells fixed me right up when I got injured at Hogwarts. Even though I can't use a healing charm to save my life there are thankfully many good healers out there," she replied with a soft smile at the shock that was on Logan's face.
Logan sighed, "how can you love me after what happened?"
"It was an accident," Emma replied with a soft tone to her voice before reaching out to stroke his whiskered cheek tenderly and kissing him softly on the lips.
"I'm sorry Emma for the whole thing. You have no idea how I've beaten myself up over this whole mess," Logan admitted seriously and completely stunned that the witch could stand being around him after what happened.
"I know you are Logan and I have apologized many times as well. Can we now move on? I think we should go to the cottage and celebrate our love," Emma said cheekily before winking at him mischievously.
"I agree, let's go," Logan rumbled happily. Both of them got up and Logan turned around to hand Emma a helmet. Moments later they were headed away from the mansion and towards their little haven away from it all to celebrate a very unusual love connection between a witch and a mutant.