A/N: Thanks to the readers! This is my first fanfic so I hope I'm doing okay. Let me know! Flaming is okay to a point just keep it to a minimum.
Maid of the Mer: I like blue berry muffins thanx! Hehehe Thanks for the review!
Mm4ever2gether: Thanks for not burning me and the relationships between Blaze, Logan, and Spenser, well, you'll just have to read on! ;)
Chapter 4
'What in the world was he going to show me? Why should I care? But the anger is tearing me up inside and I know it isn't healthy.' Wiping her face with the back of her hand she dried her tears and threw on a pair of her stretchy jeans and stepped out into the hall. "Alright, now what are you going to show me that's so important that I see it right now?"
"The kids call it the Danger Room. I want to show you what it can do for you in anger." He grabbed her arm and led her down the hallway. They entered what looked like a studio booth with a glass wall that looked into a larger room.
"What is it?" she asked him as he started messing with some dials and knobs, obviously setting some program for them.
"Well, it's a training device for the kids but I use it to let off some steam in this stress house. Come on." He said leading her through another door that led into the larger room. All the walls were white except the glass wall. There were two stands in the middle of the room, spaced apart with simulation goggles with cuffs next to them. He put a set of the smaller cuffs on his wrists and the larger set around his ankles. He nodded at her for her to do the same. "Are you ready?" Blaze nodded, not really knowing what to expect. "Put the goggles on and we'll begin." Blaze quickly put the cuffs on and slid the goggles over her eyes. They actually reminded her of Scott's goggles that he wore when he didn't have his shades on. "Okay, I'm starting you out easy just to see what you're made of."
Blaze smirked, 'So this was his test of her? Okay.'
She saw Logan standing there in front of her on some street that she's never been to before. "Where are we?"
"In a program. Get a feel for it first. Try and kick me." Blaze went to kick him but Logan caught her foot. 'But we're too far away to actually touch one another?' "Now the cuffs that you have on make it feel as if you have resistance when you kick, punch, lunge, etc. And when someone punches you, you'll feel pressure. Understand?"
"Yes I do. Totally." She smiled to herself. She had played one of these types of games in an arcade once. Oh course she knew that this would be different, but it had the same concept.
"Great now let's get started." He said smiling to himself and nodding. Blaze approached him with a left hook followed with a right hook that he dodged both swiftly. Blaze backed up a bit so he couldn't reach her, but she saw him extend his claws and stood in defense stance. 'That's a bit unfair.' "Okay now on weapons, you won't get hurt but your character will. If you look at the top, you'll see your life and the amount of time we have left. Just think of your power and your character will obtain it without you, yourself catching the real me on fire. Okay?"
"Alright. Let's get started." Logan nodded and advanced on her with his claws pointed at her. Blaze knew somehow that he would do that and so she held him in midair telekinetically. She approached him, smiled, and then kicked him in the head with a round-house.
"Damn it!"
"What's wrong Logan. Hate being beat by a girl in another sport of yours? I thought you were a pro at this?" She cocked her head to the side. "Come on, hun. Show me what you've got. I've got some steam to blow off."
"Oh you don't know what you're up against, darlin'." He came at her with all he had, of course not showing it, but she was pretty good, almost too good. Kicks, punches, neck grabs had no affect on her. She always managed to slip out, shake it off, and turn around and kick his ass instead. She finally did him in when she sent him the third sucker punch in the stomach, low stomach, almost too low. He keeled over to catch his breath, and other things, when she decided to break the silence.
"Old age catching up to you, hm? Well that's too bad because I'm actually starting to enjoy myself. Don't you have something a little harder?"
He looked up at her, shaking his head. "You have a temper with a wild spirit. Darlin' you need help or a good ass kicking."
"Maybe I need both. Let's try it." He looked at her, not quite sure of what she meant. "Come on. Set up the program for something harder." She was starting to grow impatient.
"Okay okay. Just hold on to your horses. Geez, and the team thought I was bad." He unbuckled the cuffs and took off the helmet and headed into the office to change the program. Instead of moving it one level up, he moved it three levels up. "That'll take care of her. Maybe she'll slow down enough to use it right so she won't hurt herself." He muttered to himself as he turned the dials and flipped a few more switches. "Okay, it's starting up right now. Get ready." He said over the com.
"Thanks, buddy." She said sarcastically. The program started like Logan said it would, only the opponent that appeared was rugged looking, heavily built, scary looking. Logan could see the fear on her face. It only last a few seconds but he caught it none the less. He saw her tense up and prepare for the worse. She saw the man she named Bob in her head slowly stepping up to her, testing her reactions. The burly man fisted his hands and swung at her and making contact, sending her 'flying' across the street. Blaze hurled over from the blow and snapped up from an upper hook that Bob threw at her. "God damn!" She tried to surprise him with a round house like she had with Logan, but Bob knew she was going to do that and caught her leg, spun her around, and kicked her in the stomach once she fell to the ground. After only a few minutes of this, Logan shut off the program and walked into the room. He looked down at her, sprawled on the floor, panting and moaning in pain. Nothing was broken he could guarantee because the program couldn't do bodily harm, only the pressure could leave bruises that would heal.
"Is that challenging enough? I could go put it on a higher level if you want. You look like you could put up another fight…" He started to walk back into the control room. When the words 'higher level' slipped from Logan's mouth, Blaze's head popped up and she shook her head quickly.
"No...more…" she moaned. "I can't feel my legs, my arms, head, my whole body." Logan smirked and shook his head. She tried to uncuff herself but her arms were too heavy and they fell beside her. "Help, please." She put on her pouty look and lifted her arm to have it fall next to her again. He bent down next to her, his face getting closer and closer to hers.
"Now…" he said almost whispering, the space getting between them getting smaller. Her breathing hitched. "Did you get that all out of your system?" He looked into her eyes. The look on his face that made anybody tell the truth, out of fear or out of awe, he couldn't tell and he didn't care. She nodded frivolously again. "Good, now I brought you here on a chance that I could help you train so you could let off steam properly. If you can't do that, I will restrict you from this area of the gym. Understand?" She nodded in response. "Good. Okay, let's get you up." He gently picked up her arms and uncuffed them along with her legs. Her helmet/goggles had fallen off sometime ago, sometime between the end of the program and when she fell to the ground. He peeled her off the floor and scooped her up in his arms. Just the shifting of her uncontrollable pain made her moan and see spots in front of her eyes.
"Knock out another one, Logan?" Ororo passed him in the hall, peering at Blaze.
He shrugged, "She didn't listen to me. She learned, quickly." Blaze moaned and slowly nodded her head up and down. "Uh, she's going to be in pain. Could you help her?" Ororo raised an eyebrow, and smirked.
"You wouldn't want to do it yourself. Talk about your selflessness, Logan. I think you're improving."
"Shut up. Never mind. I'll have Flux do it." He continued walking down the hall.
"Logan, you're so stubborn minded. Of course, I'll help her." She continued muttering to herself as she walked into Blaze's bathroom in her room. "I've got hot water running right now. I have to go get some soothing cream for those bruises. I'll be back in a second."
"How many layers of clothing do you have on Blaze?" She laughed but saw the seriousness in his eyes.
"Two. Shorts and tank top underneath." She muttered under her breath.
He nodded, "Turn around."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it." She could hear the aggravation coming out in his voice. She nodded and faced her back to his front standing in front of a mirror. He placed his hands on her hips as he grabbed the seam of her shirt. She watched the expressions that passed over his face as he started to pull up her shirt to reveal her camisole. Half way up, her arms couldn't go any higher because of sore muscles. "Here let me help." He said looking at her through the mirror. She nodded and he massaged her back slowly lifting her arms as the muscles relaxed until they were above her head and he pulled the shirt over her head. As he was massaging her back, he caught a glimpse of joy, pleasure, and some pain in her eyes, but mostly he saw lust. Lust? Did she feel that for him? 'Something to ponder on tonight.' He said to himself. He stood there for a moment, just staring at her staring back at him. She looked at them, up and down as he was checking her out, up and down. Finally he snaked his arms around her waist, pulling up closer to her, smelling a mixture of sweat and perfume, Adidas for Women. Blaze rested her sore back on his strong chest as he leaned into her back. He slowly undid her top button on her jeans and slowly unzipped her jeans. He started pushing the jeans down as she moved her hips so they would slide off. He bent down and helped her step out of them just as Ororo came back into the room.
"Thanks Logan. I've got it from here. Ouch! Those look painful." The bruises on her back and stomach were turning a sickly green and some of them were puffing up into welts.
"Yeah but they don't hurt as bad as they look. It's just a few of them." Ororo gave her the 'Are you kidding me?' look. "I promise." She said holding up the Scout's Honor symbol with her fingers. Logan looked skeptical but nodded and walked out of the room, shutting the door harder than he expected. He had to figure out what they were going to do for dinner. He did lose a bet and he was never one to back out of a bet.
"Poor thing. He's still in mourning over Jean." Ororo shook her head as she helped Blaze to the tub and discard the rest of her clothing. Blaze looked back at her. 'That's not the face he just had on his face.'
"Why do you say that?"
"He's constantly moody. He'll be nice and caring one minute and snappy the next. Well, he's always been like that but now it's more constant. I don't know what we should do about him. He'll be leaving in a few days to go into the city."
"What does he do in the city?"
"I don't know. No one ever asked him. As I said earlier, he's moodier now that Jean is dead. No one can actually carry a civilized conversation with him anymore. The professor can't even get to him anymore." She said as she added bubbles to make the bath extremely bubbly.
"But he has classes and he's not like that with them."
"Oh, of course not. They didn't do anything to him. He blames us, the team, for Jean's death. He feels we should've done something for her, but we couldn't, she wouldn't let us. Depending on his mood, he can either be the nicest person you can ever meet or the most hostile person you want to get away from."
"What about Scott? He seems to be extremely hostile with him. What's with that?"
"Jean was engaged with Scott but was taken by Logan. Logan flirted openly with Jean and it pissed Scott off that Jean would worry herself over him. But once she died, I don't know, something snapped and Scott became the number one opponent to Logan and from the first day of meeting him, Scott returned the hate. Well, now that I've said all of that, I've realized that I've said too much. You should just really forget all about it." Ororo nodded and helped her washed her hair. Once that was all done, Ororo left her on her own for her privacy. Blaze had brought a portable CD player in the bathroom and hooked it up to some Linkin Park Live in Texas. She sang along with the first song which was "Somewhere I belong".
'When this began I had nothing to say
And I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me
(I was confused)
And I let it all out to find that
I'm not the only person with these things in mind
(Inside of me)
but all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
(Nothing to lose)
Just stuck, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own
And the fault is my own
I want to heal, I want to feel
What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I want to heal, I want to feel
Like I'm close to something real.
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
And I've got nothing to say
I cant believe I didn't fall right down on my face
(I was confused)
looking everywhere only to find that it's
Not the way I had imagined it all in my mind.
(So what am I)
What do I have but negativity
Cause I cant justify the way everyone is looking at me
(Nothing to lose)
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own
And the fault is my own
I want to heal, I want to feel
What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I want to heal, I want to feel
Like I'm close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
I will never know
Myself until I do this on my own
And I will never feel
Anything else until my wounds are healed
I will never be
Anything 'til I break away from me
And I will break away
I'll find myself today
I want to heal, I want to feel
What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I want to heal, I want to feel
Like I'm close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
I want to heal, I want to feel like
I'm somewhere I belong
I want to heal, I want to feel like
I'm somewhere I belong
Somewhere I belong.'
She had the volume up high, so high that she didn't hear the door open and close. 'She sings pretty good.' She had her head resting on the head of the tub, waiting for the next song to start. There was a scented candle, sugar cookie, burning right by the tub filling the bathroom with the aroma.
"It's my favorite scent. It's relaxing after I've had the crap beat out of me thanks to you." She opened her eyes and looked up at him and raised an eyebrow up at him. "What can I help you with Logan?"
He shrugged and sat on the toilet seat. "Just wondering where you wanted to go for dinner."
"Anywhere where I don't have to wear anything skimpy. I would prefer to stay covered up tonight." She smiled.
Logan played as if she shot him in the heart. "Oh man. I have to miss that? Well that blows the plans that I had."
Blaze laughed and blushed a bit. She felt really exposed only being covered by a layer of bubbles. "Well, to other people it might look like you beat me regularly." She giggled.
His eyes got serious, "I would never do that you know." She nodded and smirked a bit.
"You wanna get my back for me. I couldn't reach even if I wanted to."
He nodded and wetted the washcloth. She hissed as he hit a sore spot. "Sorry."
"No it's okay. It'll heal."
He laughed, "Well I've never really had this problem."
"Yeah yeah yeah. Hurry up because the water is getting cold." To add more emphases to hurry up, her stomach growled.
"I think the water vibrated on that one."
"Are you done?"
He shook his head. "Not quite." He leaned down and started to kiss her behind her ear, slowly moving down to the nape of her neck.
'When I pretend everything is what I want it to be
I look exactly like what you had always wanted to see
When I pretend to forget about the criminal I am
Stealing second after second just 'cause I know I can
But I can't pretend this is the way it'll stay
I'm just trying to bend the truth
I can't pretend I'm who you want me to be
So I'm lying my way from you'
"Lying from You" was blaring through the headphones. "Logan." Blaze looked at him. A struggle was going on inside of her. 'Go through with it or push it off for Spenser.' He looked at her hard, and finally nodded. "I'll be down in five minutes. Promise."
He stood up and walked out of the bathroom closing the door behind him. He was getting mixed signals from her. It was starting to get annoying that she would go so far and then pull back. Like him, but not the same. He went up to his room and changed out of his gym clothes. 'Okay so something simple. The bar and grill sounds good enough for me.' He grabbed his jeans, T-shirt, and his boots and headed to the showers.
'What am I going to do?' she asked herself as she got out of the shower. I like Spenser, well, he's my age and he knows to a point what I'm going through as a young adult, wanting to have fun. But Logan had me from "hello", and he knows what it's like to be rejected and abandoned. Our birthday is in a week and a half, and I don't know who I want to spend it with. Maybe I should think about this tonight and not now. Where are we going to eat? Logan never told me.' She dried off and grabbed her robe and set off in a search to find Logan.
"Hey where are we going for dinner?" She knocked on his door and heard him walking around behind the door. "Um…hello? Anyone home?"
The door opened and he was shirtless with his jeans on. Tight fitting she also noticed.
He looked her up and down, standing in front of him in nothing but a robe. "Yes?" a small smirk formed on his lips.
"Uh…" she stuttered a bit, not quite able to form words. "Uh…where are we going for dinner?"
"A local bar and grill. Anything else I can help you with? Like getting dressed?"
"Um…no, I think I'm good on that. Thanks. I'll be ready in five minutes."
"That's what you said ten minutes ago!" he yelled down the hall after her. She flipped him the bird and walked into her room and shut the door.