Marie found Logan in the gym following his Danger Room workout with Scott. He was sitting on a bench, sipping on a bottle of water when she walked in, "Hey..."
She smiled timidly and motioned toward the bench, "This seat taken?"
He shook his head and watched her as she sat down, "Is it true?"
Marie breathed out, "Is what true?"
"What the ice maiden said. Was I like a father figure to you? I mean, if it's true, the way I was talkin' to you was pretty fucked up and I should probably apologize."
Marie laughed and shook her head, "It's NOT true...not true at all."
Logan let out a sigh of relief, "I knew it..."
"You did?"
He nodded and took another sip of his water, "I dunno...my instincts just told me differently. I don't think I'm stupid enough to make a girl like you think she's like a daughter to me...you're too hot for that."
Marie laughed and shook her head, "Thanks..."
"You seem unconvinced every time I tell you you're hot...your boyfriend doesn't tell you that very often, does he?"
She cleared her throat, "Um...I guess he doesn't think he needs to say it all the time."
"So he shows you..."
Marie shook her head and briefly held up a hand, "Can't touch, remember?"
He watched her as she stood and walked over to the opposite side of the room to idly pace in front of the weight rack and ran a finger over the dumb bells.
Logan scratched his chin, "How badly would it hurt if I touched you?"
She laughed and crossed her arms, "Well...I rendered you unconscious both times, and I'm pretty sure I induced a seizure one of those times. You told the professor it felt like I nearly killed you."
"Hm..." he said as he stood and began slowly walking toward her. Just like the previous day in the med lab, she backed up...but this time, her back met a wall and she had no place to go.
He leaned down a little, "Sounds like it's worth it."
Marie smirked a little and stared up at him, "What are you doin'?"
Logan slowly moved his hand up to her neck, but allowed his fingers to hover barely a centimeter over her skin. She closed her eyes and breathed out as he leaned closer into her face.
Marie shuddered as she felt his warm breath caress her lips. His fingers almost itched to touch her as they continued to hover over the soft flesh of her neck...he wanted to kiss her so badly...
She whispered, "Logan..."
"Marie..."
She slowly opened her eyes to stare up into his before moving her hands to his chest and gently pushing him, "I don't want to hurt you..."
He refused to budge. It was obvious he still enjoyed flirting with danger, "I thought you said I was virtually indestructible..."
"To everyone...but me."
Logan smiled a little "So I guess I've met my match." She breathed out as he took a step backwards, making him laugh a little, "You seem almost relieved."
She looked down, "I don't wanna betray my boyfriend."
"Then break up with him and call someone else your boyfriend...like someone who's actually willing to risk their life just to kiss you."
Marie smiled and brushed over his chin with a gloved finger, "I gotta go..."
The following day, Marie was at Worthington Labs, having her blood drawn. Afterwards, she was taken to an office, where a team of scientists explained to her how her suppression device would work.
One of the scientists sat in front of her, "Once we've combined your DNA with Leech's sample, we'll insert it into the device and seal it shut. It'll take a couple of days to complete. After that, we'll put it on your wrist and lock it in place so it won't slip off...then perform a few tests to see if it's working."
The only person who knew about the fact that she was there was Hank. She didn't want to tell anyone...especially Bobby. She was afraid he'd get his hopes up that they'd finally get to do "it".
When she returned to the mansion, Bobby greeted her with a brief kiss to her gloved hand, "Hey, where have you been?"
"Just ran a couple of errands, why?"
He put a possessive arm around her, "I just feel like Logan's monopolizing your time."
She raised her eyebrows, "Well, he did just have his memory erased...again. I don't want him to become that angry guy he used to be before he came to the mansion. He needs to know he's not alone."
Bobby led her toward the kitchen, "Yeah...but he seems to be a little bit too friendly with you now."
Marie bit her bottom lip, "Bobby, I'm faithful to you...you know I'll do anything for you."
"Even stop hanging out with him?"
She stopped and moved from beneath his arm, "No."
He looked both ways down the hall before pulling her into an empty classroom, "Why not? He's not your problem, Rogue. He's got the professor, Storm...and we all know he has Jean."
"I can't even believe I'm hearing this. You know how much his friendship has meant to me. He's saved my life and was the only friend I had during the most difficult period of my life and I'll be damned if I'm about to abandon him when he needs me most."
Logan, who had been listening on the other side of the door, rushed away when he heard Marie move back toward the door. He smirked as he slipped out of sight and listened to Bobby stutter apologies to Marie while chasing her down the hall.
After dinner that evening, he was happy to realize he was getting used to his enhanced senses and actually using them to his advantage. He memorized various smells around the mansion and made sure to keep Marie's soft scent front and center in his mind.
He heard light footsteps approaching and sniffed the air...it was Marie. A smile spread across his lips when he heard a light knock on his door.
He opened the door, "Hey there."
Marie smiled, "Hey yourself...thought you could use some dessert."
Logan looked her up and down and raised a brow, immediately realizing that her hands were empty, "Are you the dessert? If so, I'm starvin'."
"Just get your ass downstairs..."
He chuckled as she grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of the room.
A few moments later, he was sitting on the other side of the island as she recounted one of the many, hilarious Logan vs. Scott stories he, unfortunately, didn't remember. She was busy mixing ice cream together with cookies, milk and chocolate syrup in a blender.
When she poured their homemade McFlurries, she slid it across the counter to a slightly apprehensive Logan, "No offense, but it looks kinda like dirt and milk."
"Try it. You liked it before..."
He sighed wistfully, "Turns out, there's a lot of things I liked before that I don't particularly care for now."
Marie took a sip from her own glass and raised a brow, "Oh? Wanna talk about it?"
He smirked, "Don't play dumb, kid. You know exactly what I'm talkin' about...or should I say 'who'..."
She let out a little "hmph" and watched as he took an apprehensive sip from his cup. He raised his brows in surprise, "This is good..."
"Told ya! See? There are some things that stay the same."
He took another sip before sitting his cup down and looking at her thoughtfully, "So...you wear my dog tags, everyone tells me we were friends, Jean tries to tell me we were like father and daughter and your boyfriend wants to keep you away from me..."
"You heard that, huh?"
Logan nodded and crossed his arms, "If people are goin' through all this trouble to keep us separate, does that mean we had something that would make them worry about us getting too close?"
She bit her lip and shook her head, "I told you...we were close friends.."
He stood and slowly made his way around the island to come face to face with her, "I know...but if I'm this hard ass loner everyone keeps tellin' me I am, why would I give you these?"
Logan gently flicked the tags that hung around her neck. She clutched them protectively and looked up into his eyes...he was so close...
"You gave 'em to me and promised you'd be back for 'em...I guess you wanted me to keep 'em safe for you."
"Maybe...or I wanted to give you something to remember me by."
Marie nodded nonchalantly and took a small step back before turning around to clean off the counter.
She suddenly halted all movement when she felt Logan's hands on her hips and his breath against her hair.
For some reason, she completely forgot how to speak. When she finally did regain her ability to talk, she whispered with a trembling voice, "Logan...what are you doing?"
He slowly ran his hands up the sides of her stomach as he whispered against her hair, "I think I know why I gave you those tags. I gave 'em to you because I wanted to mark you...everyone knows it...that's why they're afraid of what'll happen if I get close to you...isn't it?"
Marie's eyes rolled closed as his hands suddenly cupped her breasts. He quickly pressed himself against her from behind and whispered, "Marie..."
She was a millisecond away from throwing caution to the wind and risking it all (including his life) in order to experience the sensation of his bare body against hers, but the thought of betraying her boyfriend stopped her.
Marie shook her head and pushed away, "Logan...I can't. I'm with Bobby. I...I'm sorry...I want-I mean...I can't. Ok? I don't cheat."
Logan sighed and shook his head, "Marie...nothin' feels normal to me...hell, I don't even know what normal is, but you...you feel normal to me. Being with you feels natural...it just feels right. In this crazy world I've been forced into, without my memory, without my sense of self...that means everything to me..."
She bit her bottom lip and gently patted his chest, "I'm here for you...but I can't cheat, ok?"
He stared in her eyes for several moments before finally nodding, "Alright...fine."
Finally, the day came...
It was time to return to the lab to get fitted with her bracelet and test it out. It felt like Christmas morning, her first day of school and opening night at a stage play all in one.
It felt like she sat there for hours, but in reality, only thirty minutes had passed when they entered the room and began fitting her with her adamantium bracelet.
One of the scientists smiled, "I hope you don't mind mice, Marie."
"No...I kept my cousin's pet snake for a week. I had to feed him live mice."
The scientist approached with a small, white mouse, "Great! You should be right at home with this little guy then."
Marie held her hand out as he placed the mouse in her palm.
It felt like everyone had held their breaths as they waited to see if the mouse would die from touching her bare skin. She trembled slightly as she watched the mouse crawl around on her hand. A few tears formed in her eyes as she brought her other hand up to allow the mouse to roam over her palms.
It was touching her bare skin...and it was just fine.
By the time she left the lab, she had done tests with multiple mice, then finally began shaking people's hands. One particularly nervous lab assistant was instructed to hold onto her hand for several minutes.
Everyone was relieved that they both felt nothing but awkward at the prolonged contact.
It was dark out when she returned to the mansion, so she took a shower, slipped into a slinky nightgown, put on a robe and headed to Bobby's room to surprise him.
There wasn't any light emitting from underneath his door, so she figured he was asleep...it would be the perfect opportunity.
As soon as she opened the door, she sensed something was wrong. The air was thick and soft moans were coming from the direction of the bed.
She slowly reached over and flipped on the light to find Bobby in bed, on top of Kitty.
The two stopped in mid stroke and scrambled off of each other as Bobby covered up with a nearby blanket, "Marie! What are you doing?"
"Me! What am I doing! What are YOU doing? Kitty! You're supposed to be my friend!"
Kitty's bottom lip trembled as she struggled to put her clothes on, "I'm so sorry!"
Marie was sure they said more, but she didn't stick around to hear it. She simply slammed the door and ran down the hallway.
When she rounded the corner, she almost slammed face first into Logan's chest, but he braced her arms and let out a surprised breath, "Whoa! What's the rush, beautiful?"
She felt like she was hyperventilating as she shook her head, "He...he...Kitty...he...cheated!"
Logan's claws almost took on a mind of their own as he watched her collapse against his chest in a blubbering pile of tears. It took him a moment to get his anger under control enough for him to concentrate on pulling her upright and guiding her to his room. He set her on the bed and rushed into the bathroom to grab a wad of toilet paper.
He handed it to her and watched helplessly as she dabbed her eyes and sniffled, "Asshole...I knew it...he's a man. Men can't go without sex. They're all nothing more than animals. Sex depraved animals."
"Uh...ok..."
She looked up at him and shook her head, "No offense."
"None taken...sorry you're goin' through this, darlin'."
Marie wiped at her eyes some more and grumbled, "I knew it...I even tried to give him an out, but noooo...he had to put on a fake show of chivalry and 'stick with me'...GOD I'm so stupid! He's a guy! What did I expect?"
Logan didn't quite know what to say, so he just sat beside her and rubbed her back as he watched her attempt to control the rapid flow of tear drops from her eyes.
He cocked his head as he looked at her bare hands, "You're not wearin' your gloves..."
She quickly crossed her arms and shoved her hands into the sleeves of her robe, "I forgot 'em."
Logan looked into her eyes and reached over to brush a tear out of her face, but she jumped backwards and stood, "Thanks for the company, but I kinda just wanna be alone right now."
She rushed from the room before he could say another word.
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