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.
There was one thing that the couple fervently disagreed upon and that was hockey. As much as Emma loved Logan's company there was no way that the witch could watch a whole match of ice-hockey with him. Logan loved hockey, a fascination he had picked up over the years and a trait that Emma was certain was somehow connected to the fact that he was Canadian. There was no other explanation that could prove to her why on earth Logan would ever spend that amount of time watching such a brutal sport.
Sports were never Emma's interest, not even at Hogwarts when the Quidditch season was in full force. Compared to hockey, Quidditch suddenly sounded a fantastic way to spend one's afternoon.
Logan once made the mistake of inviting Emma to watch a whole match with him. It wasn't that Logan needed company while watching a game; someone who enjoyed the game was welcome to spend time with him, eat pizza and be silent.
Emma had a huge problem with the silence part when she was watching the only match she ever watched, as soon as the witch started to ask questions Logan tried to ignore her. The second time she asked, Logan replied but not the way she thought he would.
"Darlin', sit here and shut the hell up or leave and let me watch the game in peace."
For a few moments, Emma felt offended before she realized that Logan's words gave her the perfect way out from an excruciating mind-numbing afternoon. She laughed before kissing him softly before walking out of the room without another word and felt immensely happy to have made her escape from a boring afternoon of hockey.
When the match finished Logan found Emma in the kitchen with Ororo chatting merrily over a cup of coffee. The two women were laughing and having a great time as they chatted up a storm.
"How was the match?" Ororo asked smugly as Logan entered the kitchen.
"Fine," Logan answered gruffly not sure how Emma's mood after he threw her out to watch in peace.
"He means after I left," Emma said laughing before trying to sound like Logan with a British drawl, "shut the hell up."
Looking at Logan's stunned face Emma even added teasingly, "Nice language bub."
Logan looked at her suspiciously but didn't notice any anger from the witch; she was more playful than he had seen her before.
"So we're good? No drama coz I told you to get out?"
"It's fine Logan," Emma said warmly, "you'd better find another hockey buddy as I don't have a hockey-loving bone in my body."
"No shit? Not even pizza shut you up," Logan retorted and felt warmth spread inside his chest at the cheerful laughter and the dark sparkling eyes. There were not many people that could make Logan crack jokes, but Emma was beginning to dig herself into his heart and he realized he liked it. It was nice to have someone in his life that wasn't scared of the feral mutant and dared to stand up to him.
Logan shook his head with mirth before going out for a cigar. He still hadn't been able to break Charles Xavier when it came to cigar smoking in the mansion. It was still very much frowned upon and breaking the rules wasn't worth the scolding he would get from Ororo if he would.
"Marvellous how uninteresting sports are," Emma said grinning to Ororo before refilling their cups with more coffee. To Emma's joy, it didn't take long until Rogue took up spending Sunday afternoons with Logan watching hockey. It made Emma happy to get out of the forced watching, Logan was more than happy to have the company of someone that knew how to shut up and Rogue was more than happy to spend a little time with Logan. All in all, everyone was happy with the little hockey arrangement.
Things had been somewhat quiet at the mansion for a few weeks. Everybody did their job, including the children who were busy with school and the X-men had only had a handful of missions giving the team and Emma spent most of her time in the arms of Logan as their love grew and blossomed.
At the beginning of December, Charles Xavier called for a staff meeting. Something he rarely did as communication was quite good between the staff members, it certainly helped that the headmaster was a telepath. If something was off, then he tackled it immediately.
Xavier looked over the staff and couldn't help smiling with affection at them all. Ororo sat on a chair close to his table and Hank stood directly behind her with a hand on her shoulder as if showing the world that she was his possession.
In another chair, facing Xavier's desk was Emma. On her right was Scott, sitting on the armrest and on the other side was Logan. Xavier couldn't help grinning at the annoyed glances that Logan gave Scott as he and Emma continued to talk together in hushed tones. The Wolverine was used to be the centre of attention for the witch and didn't like it much when Scott, who he hated, tried to get to him by talking to the witch.
It felt that things were finally heading towards some kind of normalcy in the mansion after the sudden death of Jean; it had been difficult for everyone to accept it and especially for Scott whom Xavier had been very concerned for. Finally, the balance had been resumed within the mansion, the teachers and students were not as restless as they had been, and sorrow wasn't the first thing on everybody's mind as soon as they got up in the morning. It was true that things were still difficult, and many matters still needed to be discussed but Xavier tried to have his door always open for any who needed to talk.
"The reason why I asked you all in here was to discuss how the preparation for the exams is going and how the students are reacting to the pressure?"
Ororo was the first to answer, "so far all seems to be going well. The students are nervous of course, but nothing too bad. We have seen it worse here."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Charles said and smiled friendly at Ororo who had been one of his first students back in the days when he and Eric founded the Institute for gifted youngsters. Of course, that friendship had died quickly when Eric realized that Charles would never understand his view on superiority over non-mutants.
"Scott, how are things going with your classes?" Xavier asked carefully to his most troubled staff member. It was no secret that Scott hadn't bounced back as quickly as everyone would have hoped. The wound of losing Jean was still too fresh. The strong friendships he had with Xavier, Ororo and the others had helped him to go on after the heartbreak, but Scott still struggled.
"They are on the right track; Kitty is a little too anxious now and then but as long as she doesn't affect the others with her nervous behaviour it should be all right. I will keep an eye on her in case something changes."
"Logan? How are your classes going? You never say much about them," Xavier complained and his pale blue eyes pierced into Logan's. A just complaint for sure, since Logan wasn't someone that wanted to discuss his students, he that the kids should learn to settle things between themselves without the teachers interfering too much. It was a rule that Xavier highly disliked and he was quick to point that out at every teacher meeting they had.
"The kids are doing fine. If they do well, they will pass and if they don't they will fail. Simple enough for them to understand," Logan said annoyed at the third degree. At the end of every semester, Xavier grilled the faculty wanting to know if any problems were rising but in a self-defence class of mutants there were always problems. Logan never thought the kids were ready enough, that they would ever be able to defend themselves properly in a real fight against Magneto or others like him. One thing he was completely against was Xavier's idea of putting Rogue, Bobby and Kitty on the team as soon as possible. In Logan's mind, they were simply too young and inexperienced to be added as part of the X-men.
"Emma, what about you? Everything all right in the history classes?" Xavier questioned after deciding to let Logan off the hook. It wouldn't do them any good to fight in-between themselves; it would only put more tension in an already tense household.
"Certainly, as much as it can be when so many exams are coming up. The teenagers are nervous, grumpy and agitated much like us, the staff, are. I think we all need to get a little break and I cannot wait for the Christmas holiday," Emma said and received many nods of agreement from her colleagues. It had been a difficult semester, and everyone was ready to relax for a while, hang out with friends, have late nights and enjoy the holiday season.
"Indeed I think we all look forward to the break. First, we have to think of our annual Christmas dance here at the mansion that will be held this year on the fifteenth of December. Are there any volunteers in helping Ororo to put everything together?"
Xavier looked around smiling widely when he saw Scott, Logan and Emma look away instantly, indicating their lack of interest in helping out with the dance. The professor had known that those three would need an extra enticing factor for them to help, they were too introverted to be interested in prancing around at a dance filled with joyful teenagers. Charles chuckled when he noticed that the witch even tried her best to cover her body from view by hiding behind Logan's bulky frame.
"Hank? Certainly, you will volunteer this year like always?" Xavier asked hoping that his relationship with Ororo might stimulate the Beast in helping. There were many things men did for their women, including trying to impress them to melt their hearts.
"Surely you will help as you are the tallest of us all, and can reach the ceiling without a ladder?" Xavier said in a persuasive tone trying to coax Hank into helping out with the decorations. Out of all the staff, Hank was the most likely to take on the job of helping Ororo, the others seemed not interested in the task.
"I already promised Ororo that I would help," Hank said cheerfully and smiled a fanged grin to Ororo who had a smug look on her face. The private swaying lesson had paid off; Hank had kept his end of the deal. Logan snorted revolted at the look on Ororo's face and even Scott looked a tad disgusted with the obvious female glee of getting what she wanted.
Xavier turned towards Emma, Scott and Logan and said in a cheerful tone, "We just need one of you three to pick out the music. Whoever does that won't need to be a chaperone on the night of the ..."
"I'll do it!" Emma interrupted swiftly; there was no way she wanted to be at the dance, and she grabbed Xavier's offer hastily. Using her quick mind the witch managed to interrupt the professor and grab the job for herself mere moments before the other two would.
"That was quick. Seems Ororo knows exactly how to stimulate you three," Charles said laughing at the murderous glances that Emma was getting from the two mutants and especially Logan who was known for hating public settings, particularly the dances.
The witch looked at the two men grinning wickedly and patting them both friendly on their knees as if they were children that just lost a soccer match, "you snooze you lose, isn't that what the kids say?"
Logan rolled his eyes at Emma and she gloated back at him knowing full well that she had won that prize fair and square. There was nothing that Logan could do; she had won.
"Indeed," Xavier said grinning at the witch who so enjoyed teasing her co-workers. He had noticed that her discreet friendship with Logan was helping her to open up to her co-workers. In only a few months Emma had turned from a very timid person into one that dared to talk in front of them all to express her opinions and concerns. That was a huge step for someone so introverted as her and Xavier knew that Logan's forwardness had somehow triggered that reaction in her.
"I've never been to a dance this side of the pond so I will need a few hints from you, Ororo about what music to pick out," Emma said and peeked at her friend from behind Logan's bulky frame. She had to stretch her neck to see her friend at the other end of the room.
Ororo smiled warmly at Emma and replied, "No problem, last year I took care of the music and I'm sure I have the list somewhere so you can use it as a reference."
"Efficient," Logan said sarcastically to Ororo who glared at him at his words. It was no secret that Logan hated to work in a team and more than anything he hated organization and any kinds of lists. He respected Ororo a lot as a person and also as an acquaintance. On the other hand, her curiosity and lose tongue had often gotten the better of Logan's nasty temper. The clashes often resulted in epic arguments between the two and the team was not interested in reliving them any time soon. There was one problem with Logan's temper, when someone managed to annoy him like that it was really difficult to get him to change his opinion of that person.
"It's good that some of us are efficient," Scott said aggravated throwing a mini torpedo Logan's way. Just the mere presence of the Wolverine was enough to bring out a side in Scott that he hadn't even known he had.
"How should you know Scooter, haven't seen you do much lately but wallowing in your shit," Logan growled back at the younger man. It was true that Scott had not been too active in finishing his job that semester, but every staff member had volunteered to fill in for him whenever needed. All that is but Logan who thought Scooter just needed a firm kick in the ass.
"What do you know Logan? You have your head so securely up your ass that you don't know which way is up anymore," Scott bristled and the rest of the staff members started to roll their eyes in annoyance at yet another fight between the two. The most uncomfortable one was Emma who was now sandwiched between the two who looked very much as if they wanted to attack each other. The only problem with that was that neither of the men seemed to remember that Emma was still wedged between the two on the small chair.
Logan growled at Scott trying his best to pick a fight with the frustrated mutant, "look if anyone needs a kick in the ass it's you Scooter. You are so fucked up that..."
"Gentlemen!" Xavier's voice boomed in the room; annoyance evident in his tone. It seemed that every time that Scott and Logan were in the same room something like that happened. They were opposites, instead of attracting each other; they pushed each other further apart every time they saw each other.
"This is neither the time nor place for this, if you two have something to talk about it shouldn't be here," Xavier said indicating to the other three teachers that were watching the sparring contest with considerable interest.
"Good luck with the preparations. I have a class so if you will excuse me," Xavier said indicating that the meeting was over. Emma quickly got up and away from the two men, if they wanted to argue she was not going to get involved. The witch simply didn't want to get in the way of any blasts or claws, Emma had already tried that and it hadn't appealed much to her.
The witch walked with Hank and Ororo talking about the dance. It gave Logan a golden opportunity to walk up to Scott to say, "danger room tonight?"
Scott nodded in agreement to Logan's words but ignoring the feral mutant in another way. The two would never admit that their regular sparring matches in the danger room were actually helping them to get their aggression out and helping them to get over the death of Jean.
It was a week before the Christmas dance and Emma was in Ororo's room to get the music list that Ororo had made the year before.
"This is the list; I gathered that you would need about six hours of music all in all."
"Six hours? That's a lot of music," Emma said feeling a bit intimidated. Perhaps it hadn't been such a clever idea to snatch the music job after all. A worse candidate was harder to find than someone who knew absolutely nothing about muggle music. Emma was a specialist in a fantastic magical band called the Weird Sisters, who had rocked at one of Hogwarts Yule balls but somehow, she doubted that their most famous song 'do the Hippogriff' would be a success at the Christmas dance at Xavier's.
"Relax Emma, it's not that bad. You can split the time into special themes, so it won't be as overwhelming to you," Ororo said friendly and patted Emma on the shoulder as if she was one of her students and not one of her co-workers.
"What kind of themes?" the witch asked suspiciously while grabbing a pen to scribble down all the information that Ororo was freely giving her.
"The first two hours can be jazzy dinner music, the next hour like rock oldies to warm the crowd up, two and a half-hour of party music and then half an hour of slow dance music to end the dance with."
Emma scribbled down furiously what Ororo said. The more information the witch could get from her friend, the easier it would be for her to do the music job without coming off like a total idiot, or even worse, as the witch that she was.
"You mean slow music so the students can snog a little bit?" Emma asked her voice filled with laughter. That was a tradition not unknown to her. Every Hogwarts dance had ended with a few slow songs, a fuming potions master, embarrassed students when caught by Snape and then followed by a long list of detentions for the new semester.
"Well not only for that of course but I'm sure that some of the couples will jump at the chance," Ororo said grinning at Emma who laughed merrily.
"I'm sure that Logan will love to see Bobby snogging Rogue on the dance floor in front of the entire school," Emma said ironically knowing that Logan would be more likely to break something in Bobby's body than dance with happiness. The mutant had great fatherly feelings for Rogue, which included wanting to protect her because he thought she was too young for a serious relationship.
"Yes err, about that. I was wondering if you could be our chaperone instead of Logan? We don't need the Wolverine in a protective mode dragging Rogue away and treating her like she's a child. If that would happen Bobby would freak out, we would have a major drama on our hands and honestly, after the year we have been having we just don't need that. The kids have to be able to have fun without Logan snarling at them."
"Me? But I got music so I would be certain that I wouldn't have to go the dance," Emma said defensively, feeling not too thrilled with Ororo's idea. There had been a reason why the witch snatched the music job so quickly. She had never felt comfortable at school balls as a student at Hogwarts and had been more than a little happy to finally get out of them. As a teacher at Hogwarts she had been excused from her duties as Dumbledore had understood her reluctance to be surrounded by teenagers who were often a little bit too enthusiastic for their own good.
"Look Emma, think of it like this. By doing this you would be doing Logan and the rest of us a huge favour. I know you two are getting serious, so you might want to keep him out of jail for murdering Bobby," Ororo said trying her best to convince Emma to take on the job even though the young woman looked less than thrilled to take it on. It was proving to be a bigger challenge than Ororo had initially thought. Using the relationship against Emma had been the last straw, a dirty trick but by that point, Ororo was ready to try anything.
Emma snorted at Ororo's words; sure Logan might kill Bobby but jail? Not bloody likely, "please tell me the name of a prison that could hold the Wolverine because I think that place doesn't exist."
"You're probably right. But don't you want Bobby and Rogue's last Christmas dance to be one of enjoyment and not of disappointment?"
Emma recognized emotional blackmail when she heard it; it was after all Dumbledore's favourite pastime. Nevertheless, the witch thought back on Logan's frustrated face in Xavier's study and realized that she should do Logan a favour. There had to be some real reason why Ororo was so unhappy with Logan attending the dance, "Of course I do. I don't want Logan to make a scene and mortify the children."
"Good, thank you. I was thinking that you could tell him that you had never been to a dance in the States. That you would like to go to see and could just as well take over his duties."
"But why can't I just tell him the truth?" Emma asked surprised, honesty had always been the key ingredient in her friendship with Logan. He detested lies and those that lied to him never got his respect or friendship.
Ororo wondered just how innocent Emma was, it was a known fact that Logan never reacted well when he thought people (especially her) were stepping on his toes and trying to control him in any way. It never ended well, and usually with three adamantium claws going through something or simply the Wolverine leaving the mansion for a while. Logan couldn't leave as they were so understaffed and therefore Ororo thought it was best to try to keep the snarly mutant calm as much as possible.
"Look Emma. I don't like lying to Logan either, but I am not going to tell him that we don't want him around the kids when he's in a nasty mood like he was before. I can't imagine that going well for any of us and I'd hate to see you leave the mansion with claw marks on your body."
If Ororo had been paying attention to Emma she would have seen the young woman visibly pale at her words but like so often she was trying to do too many things at the same time and therefore missed the stunned expression on Emma's face. Ororo had no idea how right she had been, and Emma would never admit how close she had come to the truth. It was more than a slight possibility that Emma would walk out of Xavier's with claw marks on her, it was a certainty since they were already on her person.
"It would be true though, I never been to a dance here. I haven't had any time to go to dances while here at Xavier's," Emma said quietly while trying to mask the shock she had gotten by Ororo's perceptive words. The witch knew she had to go to the dance now, if not for anything else than to have the goddess of weather stop talking about Logan as if he were some animal. Logan might have been a feral mutant, but there was more humanity in him than in most people that Emma had met during her lifetime.
"Then consider it an experience you won't forget," Ororo said smiling victoriously. She knew exactly what dress she would lend Emma. The woman had a sneaking suspicion that Emma would flat out refuse to wear something so glitzy.
The two had just had the last session of the year. Emma had not been able to pull anything new out of Logan's memory and he had been too frustrated to see any of her memories. Instead, they had decided to continue in the New Year when the holidays would be close to an end.
As a substitute, the couple was sitting on the veranda of the cottage late in the evening, enjoying the crisp winter air. The silence was wonderful and so needed after the students had finished their exams. The joyful sounds of exuberance were sometimes too much for the more reclusive members of the staff who didn't enjoy waking up at all hours to what at first appeared to be tortured but were in reality play fights in the TV room over the remote.
"I finished my compilation for tomorrow. It's all ready," Emma said happily feeling relieved to have finished her crash course in the musical history of muggles all over the world. The witch still had many holes in her muggle music education, but she could at least hum in tune with some songs without embarrassing herself too much.
"Good darlin'. Now you're done and don't have to show up for the piece of shit torture fest that happens tomorrow night," Logan answered sullenly, feeling sorry for himself for being forced to attend something that he disliked so much.
"Is it that bad?" Emma asked alarmed. It was difficult to be offering to go to a dance that sounded more like torture than anything else.
"Nah it's just an annoying hormonal festival. With my senses it freaks me out being there," Logan said honestly shuddering to think of the horny boys and the lusty young ladies. When he could feel the scent in the air he just wanted to scream with annoyance and the Wolverine didn't function very well with large groups of people when exasperated.
Knowing that Rogue was one of the kids freaked him out even more. Ever since the teen had managed to control her power enough to kiss Bobby, there had been little else she did do. To smell teenage lust from her and Bobby would certainly make him throw up. It would be nightmarish to sit through that, and Logan had been secretly dreading that ever since Xavier announced the Christmas dance.
Logan looked to his right and noticed that the young witch was staring at him with interest and more than a little bit of concern. Emma stroked his hair affectionately and Logan leaned into her touch with a smile on his face. Those little touches meant the world to him.
"I'm sorry Logan. I had no idea that it affected you like that," Emma said gently and continued to ruffle his hair so it looked even wilder than usual.
"It's ok darlin', there's nothing you can do about it anyway," Logan said trying to sound optimistic about the whole thing and enjoying the attention the witch was giving him. Without realising it the witch seemed to know how to deal with Logan when he was agitated, simple touches could change his mood in an instant.
" I will be a chaperone instead. You should have told me earlier that it made you feel like this, I would have traded with you at the meeting without a hesitation," Emma said honestly and meaning every word.
"Now darlin' don't get all soft on me and start pitying me. I don't need it from no one and especially not from you," Logan said proudly while standing up and lighting the tattered cigar that he had been chewing since that morning.
"I do not pity you Logan! I love you and I want your life as easy as possible," Emma said determined and quickly continuing when Logan looked as if he was about to protest to her words.
Logan closed his mouth quickly and almost suffocated on a puff of smoke and getting a bad coughing fit as a result of his surprise. Who was he to stop her from going to the dance if she wanted to? He for the life of him couldn't understand why she would want it but that was her choice. If it was a favour to him because she loved him, then he would accept her proposal.
"But I have to tell you something and you can't get mad at me," Emma said seriously, there was no way she could lie to Logan about that she had been asked to take over. That wasn't how their relationship worked; the witch had never lied to him and wasn't going to start with a lie for Ororo about a school dance. If Emma ever lied to Logan it had to be about something important, not about Rogue snogging Bobby.
"Don't tell me what I can and can't get mad at, just spit it out," Logan said coldly, his hazel eyes glaring at Emma with suspicion.
"Ororo asked me to take over as a chaperone for you," Emma confessed and tried to hide her embarrassment over the whole fiasco. It had been a horrible idea from the start and Ororo should never have tried to put her in such an awkward position. Emma cherished Logan beyond anyone else and she didn't want to hurt him.
Logan looked at her suspiciously and chewed his cigar deep in thought, "then why not say that? And why did 'Ro want that?"
Emma not only looked guilty, but she also smelled like a child who had been caught with its hand down the cookie jar, "Logan, I'm trying to be honest here because I thought you would appreciate it. Ororo was worried that you would make a scene seeing Bobby and Rogue snogging and we know those two will be glued together on the lips as they have been the entire semester."
"Yeah, so?" Logan said not fully trusting where the situation was headed and how Ororo had managed to mix Emma into one of her schemes.
"It's their last Christmas dance. Ororo didn't want them to remember it as the dance when the Wolverine had a fit and killed Iceman."
"So she decided to be sneaky and use you because we are together?" Logan asked starting to get angry about the whole thing. He hated sneaky people and especially he hated Ororo when she was plotting. Her schemes had often included the other staff members, usually Hank or Scott, but never had she dared to step so close to Logan as to use Emma before.
"She did try to be a little sneaky, but I had already decided to say no to her. I was quite happy to stay away after I saw what kind of fuzz she is making over the whole thing. But that was before tonight; before you told me it gave you discomfort to have to go. I don't want you to feel that if there is anything I can do to prevent it. Plus I have never been to dance here," she said smiling softly at him feeling totally out of her element as a truth-loving Slytherin.
"It's not that bad darlin', you don't have to give up your spare time for me," Logan said brusquely. He was not angry at her any longer; her scent told him that she had been telling the truth and had wanted to be upfront with him as that was the essence of their friendship. Ororo on the other hand was in a world of trouble.
"You don't understand what I mean, do you?" Emma asked puzzled at why Logan was so angry at her for wanting to do him a favour. She got up and stood next to him. It had taken a few fights with him before Emma had realized the closer she got to him during the first stages of an argument, the shorter time it took to sort things out.
"What do you mean? Talk in a way that I can understand instead of always speaking in riddles and hints," Logan snarled at her question. It wasn't that she was a foreigner, more like it was the magical society that gave her an entirely altered point of view from what he was used to.
"It's not a chore Logan or something that I have to do. No, it's my pleasure to help you and relieve you from an uncomfortable situation. I love you, silly mutant," she said before wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching up to kiss him.
"Fine have it your way," Logan said grinning teasingly before nipping her neck teasingly. Praise whoever ran the cosmos, for having sent him a witch crazy enough to love him and for tolerating the mutant so easily when he bristled up in anger.
"Oh, I insist!" Emma said smiling widely at him feeling relieved at how well he was taking the news of Ororo's plotting. The witch had worried that he would run straight home and kick some serious ass, instead, he had simply growled a little bit. That to her was admission enough of how bad he wanted to get out of the dance, even Ororo's plotting wouldn't annoy him for any length of time.
"So what will you be doing instead?" Emma asked curiously even though she could more or less guess what he would be up to.
Logan figured that saying that he would be getting laid would be the wrong thing to say, so he picked the Disney version, "waiting in your bed for you to return to me."
"I will hurry back to you," the witch murmured and the way her eyes twinkled with mirth up at Logan made him feel butterflies in his stomach. In a relatively short time, the witch had ensnared him with her laughter and quick wit. Logan tickled her with his whiskers and the witch laughed merrily into the night air.
The staff had their private dinner at the mansion on the evening of the dance while the students went to the nearest pizzeria to celebrate, before arriving later at the mansion for the ball.
Logan and Scott had been at each other throats the entire meal, agitating the others who were trying to have a quiet evening before their duties at the dance. Scott was very annoyed by the fact that Logan suddenly didn't have to go to the dance anymore and that Emma had agreed to Ororo's ridiculous plan.
"Do you realize that Ororo didn't want you at the dance? That she asked Emma to relieve you of your duties because she didn't trust you to behave like a normal human being?" Scott said angrily in a snide come back to something that Logan had said to him.
A pregnant silence followed as the staff expected Logan to rip Scott into pieces and then maul Emma for lying to him. To everyone's surprise, nothing even close to that happened. Logan sat relaxed in his seat under the verbal torrent from Scott and puffed his cigar before finally saying "I know everything. You ain't telling me any news; Em has already told me the truth."
Logan kissed the witch quickly on the lips, for the first time in front of the staff who stared at the mutant who had never seemed like the affectionate kind. However, with Emma, he seemed to be softer and more patient than ever before.
"What did you hear?" Ororo asked stiffly wondering what the hell Emma had said to the Wolverine and how she could fix the damage. Going behind Logan's back was never a smart idea, going behind his back and getting caught was an even worse idea. It was something Ororo had experienced before and the result had been a lot of snarling, adamantium claws, broken door of the Blackbird and Logan's refusal to work with the X-men for a few months.
"I told him the truth, that nobody wanted to see him freak out over Rogue kissing Bobby," Emma said warily, not enjoying the situation very much. She had suspected that Logan would confront Ororo for what she did but had hoped that she wouldn't be there when that happened. The witch was not embarrassed for telling Logan, no it was simply part of the bond with him. Being targeted at the dinner table as the residential snitch was however not very enjoyable and was something that Emma would have wanted to miss as an experience on the whole.
"Freak out? That's the understatement of the century," Scott muttered under his breath slightly shocked that Emma had dared to tell Logan that he was not wanted. Shocked that she had had the guts to do that and shocked that Logan had taken it like a man. Perhaps it was different when the bad news came from a pretty, young female than if they came from someone like Scott whom Logan had detested since he entered the mansion for the first time.
"Emma told me and I was happy to not have to work. She has figured out something vital when it comes to me, be honest and we will never have any issues."
The way Logan looked at Emma with pride made her blush, especially when the others started to look at her question in their eyes. Everybody seemed shocked but Xavier who knew exactly how close the two odd ones in the mansion were getting. The faculty had known that there was romance blossoming between the two but were seeing that the two were in a committed relationship.
Loud chatting from the hallway signalled the end of the meal as the students poured into the mansion after what seemed a successful meal.
"All right, it's time to go to work people," Ororo chirped happily and left the table hand in hand with Hank who was like her shadow most of the times.
"I'm outta here," Logan mumbled, already feeling like a caged animal. He grabbed Emma's shoulder tightly for a moment on his way out of the room to show his appreciation and then he was off through the back door. Later he would sneak in through Emma's window after the dance was finished.
Emma was in bed after a very long evening at the dance. The destined time had been midnight but after whining and begging it was changed into one a.m. and it had been much harder than Emma had anticipated.
It was two a.m. and she had finally cleaned up with Hank, Ororo and Scott after ushering the last of the kids from the ceremony hall. She had decided to shower and was finally in bed.
Finally, she was in bed and rest after an excruciating evening of chasing after teenagers while wearing high heels that Ororo had provided for her to go with the golden, glitzy dress she had pulled out from somewhere. Emma had been amazed at the loveliness of the dress; it wasn't often that she liked to dress up but it had been a special occasion. It wasn't until a few hours into the dance that she realized how utterly impractical the high heels were.
The first thing she had done when she got to her room was to kick the shoes into the furthest corner of the room and vowing never to wear such disgusting torture devices again. She stumbled into bed completely exhausted and sighed. There were few things better in the world than to lay down after a warm shower.
The sound of her window opening woke Emma up from her slumber, it was Logan who came in surprisingly gracefully for his large size.
"Hey darlin', I was waiting for you to get back," Logan said smiling widely at the tired witch that looked completely spent on the bed, her arms open and waiting for him. The mutant crawled into bed with her and held her tightly.
"How was the dance? You look worn-out," Logan said gazing at Emma's sleepy face as she struggled to keep herself awake long enough to talk to him. The warmth of his body was comforting after a long evening.
"They had fun and even managed to get one hour more from Ororo."
"How did your first American dance go?" Logan asked with sarcasm remembering her lame excuse to take over his chaperone position for the evening.
"I think I'm too old for teenage dances. My feet are killing me after those bloody high heels that Ororo lent me and I had to walk in them all evening. I don't understand the fuss and by the end of the dance I just wanted to sit down and have a cold beer with you," Emma said stretching to get more comfortable, it was difficult as Logan was spread over half of the bed. Her long legs finally ended wrapped around his while the witch sighed contently.
"How can you feel too old?"
"Inside, I feel old inside," Emma answered tiredly with her eyes closed and as she enjoyed listening to Logan's voice.
"You're still so young darlin'," Logan said, it always annoyed him when Emma said things like that even though he knew she was merely telling the truth. It made him powerless to see someone so young feel so jaded. The witch wasn't supposed to feel like that and he would make it his mission to make her feel better over time.
"How was your night?" Emma asked to change the subject from her to him while relaxing further into his embrace.
"It was fine, I missed you," Logan said before noticing the silence in the room. He looked over at Emma who was fast asleep, her breathing even and she looked even younger as she slept peacefully in his arms.
"Nite darlin', I owe you one," Logan whispered before he kissed her cheek. A little while later he was fast asleep as well.