Author's note: I'm sorry that it took so long with this one. I had pre-written the first four pages since I posted the last chapter but I didn't know how to go on writing it. : ( Thanks to sammy-girl again, who wrote the part with the green-eyed monster for me and had some other ideas, I managed to finish this one here. : ) Thanks!!! Hope you guys like this one here and please let me know what you think!!!
Love and Pain lie close together
By now they already lived for four months in the mountains together. They hadn't heard anything at all from their former teammates or any authorities, but still they weren't convinced that they weren't looking for them. During the months Logan had done his best to train her in her control. It surprised him how much she was in control of her powers. She'd told him that she could still hear Phoenix's voice in her head from time to time, but she wasn't fighting anymore. He'd told her that it was the same with his animal. The Wolverine was still there, but since he lived with her his negative wasn't fighting that hard anymore. She'd said that she'd already noticed that he was more at peace with himself and he'd guessed that it was probably their dark sides reacting to each other.
Sitting on the roof while he worked on the aerial, Logan squinted against the glaring white snow around him. It was so cold today that his breathing was visible in the air. A sniff told him that lunch was nearly ready and he smiled. As far as his memories reached back, he couldn't remember sharing his life with someone. At least not longer than for one or two nights and he'd never taken anyone with him to his cabin. It had always been his private shelter, something he'd never shared with others. He'd also never believed that he'd actually like living with someone or that he'd be able to cope with it. Logan concentrated on his work again when underneath him the door went open and he heard her stepping outside.
"Logan?" Jean called and looked around through half close eyes since it was too bright to have a proper look. Feeling the difference in temperature all of a sudden, she wrapped her arms around her body.
"Up here," came the reply and she stepped into the snow, shielding her eyes with her hands when she looked up.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like, darlin'?" he replied with a smirk. "I'm fixing it…"
"You can fall down…," she scolded him worriedly. "Please come down…"
Chuckling he finished his job up there and let the tool box fall down to the ground. "I can't break my bones, Jeannie."
"But you can get hurt, so please," Jean begged him and watched how he jumped of the roof.
Landing in the soft snow he noticed the look she gave him. Smirking he raised both hands and turned around his own axis. "See? Stoll one piece!"
"You're like a big child," the redhead said and shook her head sighing when she turned around. "Incorrigible…"
"Jeannie…," she heard him saying and turned her head again just to be hit by snow square in the face.
Wiping the wet stuff out of her face while he gave her a smug grin, she nodded at the tool box. "Don't forget that one." Cocking an eyebrow at her suspiciously, Logan turned around to get the boy from the ground as he suddenly heard a rumble above him. Still with one eyebrow raised he let out a yelp as she sent the whole snow of the roof crashing down on him. Growling he got up and glared at her. "If the child is done playing now," she said with a slightly amused undertone. "Lunch is ready." Hearing him cursing behind her, she smiled ever wider. "Get rid of the snow first. I just cleaned the flo…," she began and let out a shriek when he put some snow into the back of her shirt. "Damn you!" He only laughed and closed the door while she tried to grab the snow on her back. "Wipe it off!"
Smirking he pulled her shirt up a bit and cleaned her back, feeling her shivering under his touch. "Payback's a bitch, huh?" Only receiving a look from her sat down at the table. "Do we still have enough food?"
She filled his plate and put it in front of him. "For approximately a week maybe," she replied and he nodded. After she'd sat down in front of her plate she watched him eating for a moment. "When will you go to the village again?"
He shrugged and sipped on his water. "Tomorrow or the day after."
Nodding the redhead ate a bit. "Can I come with you this time?" She noticed the look he gave her. "I need to get out of her, Logan… To see something else. I just can't sit here and wait for you so long…"
Thinking about it he met her gaze and looked into her green eyes for a moment. "You sure about it?" he asked and she nodded. He understood how frustrating it was for her to see nothing else than snow and mountains if she wasn't used to it as he was. "Can you shield us from them? I mean like…making them forget that they saw us?"
"Yes, I think so…" Jean nodded.
"Then let's leave after lunch," Logan suggested with a smile. "We can stay at a hotel then. So we don't have to put ourselves under stress tomorrow."
Smiling she nodded again. "Thanks…"
"No problem," he smiled back and they went on eating in silence.
It was nearly 7 p.m. when they reached the village. Exhausted after such a long walk through the snow, Jean wanted to go and get something to eat and drink, while Logan decided to check into a hotel first and get a room. Ending up in a small hotel, they dropped their backpacks on the ground and the redhead quickly changed her clothing before her led her to a pub where they could eat something. "When do you want to buy new food? And where?" she asked him while she tried to manipulate the other guests in a way that would make them forget that they'd seen the two mutants.
"Dunno. Best thing we buy something tomorrow on our way back. In that way we can also get some fresh stuff," he shrugged.
"Sounds good. I can't see tinned food anymore…"
Chuckling he nodded at her soda. "Want a new one?" he asked and got up when she nodded. "Be right back."
"Logan?" Jean quickly said and made him turn around a questioning look on his face. "I always wondered… Why can you pay for everything? I always thought you had no money…"
Smirking he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Thought I was a thief, eh?" he joked. "Cage fights are the answer, darlin'."
"Cage fights?" she asked in disbelief and he nodded.
"Explain it later." With that he turned around ad walked towards the bartender. She watched hoe he leant against the counter and waited for his new beer and a soda for her. After a while she let her eyes travel around the bar and she immediately thought it suited him. The whole room practically screamed bad boys only at her and she quickly looked away as three men on a table nearby grinned dirtily at her. It disgusted her what she could read in their minds. What they wanted to do with her, how they wanted to see her… She was more than thankful that Logan was here with her. Her green eyes fell on Logan again and Jean began to frown. She watched how a brunette and blonde woman, that practically had tramp branded in their foreheads, laughed and flirted with him. But the thing that somehow angered her the most was the he shamelessly flirted back. Not being able to tell why she felt that way, the redhead looked down in her hands; not noticing that one of the man was approaching her table.
"Hey sweetheart," he said and made Jean's head jerk up. "All alone? Why don't you come over and keep us some company?"
Lowering her gaze she shook her head. "No thanks…" Startling when he suddenly grabbed her arm roughly she started at him with widened eyes; smelling the strong odor of alcohol on him.
"It wasn't an offer, bitch," he hissed and suddenly crashed into a table next to her.
"That ain't an offer either, bub!" Logan growled and glared at him. "Go back to your table and leave my girl alone!"
Watching how the man got up angrily and his two drunken friends joining him, Jean swallowed hard. "Or what?" the fat and also drunken man in front of Logan hissed, clenching his fists in anger while his friends cracked their knuckled.
Making a step forward, Logan faced him. "You'll see…"
"Logan… Can we just go, please?" Jean asked and got up, giving him a look. "Please?"
"You're coming with us, baby," a man on her right said and licked his lips provocatively. "We'll be nice! I promise!"
Grabbing his collar Logan pulled him closer. "I'll be nice, too, promised!" he growled and threw him into one of his friends. Seeing how the fat man wanted to attack him, he growled even lower. "Ya keep this up, ya gonna lose somethin', bub!" he hissed and the man stopped when he took a closer look into his opposite's eyes. "Piss…off! Now!" Watching them, Jean didn't know what to do, as the man suddenly turned around and went back to his table. "Ya alright?" She heard him asking and nodded. "Come on, let's go. We eat somewhere else," Logan said and grabbed her hand quickly, ignoring the two glaring women at the bar.
Walking for a while on the snowy street he realized that he still held her hand in his. "Ehm…," Logan said and let go of it while he stopped to take a look around. "Ya in for a pizza?" he asked calmly with a brief look at her but only received a nod. "Hey, you're not mad now, are ya?"
"No," Jean replied and looked down the street, avoiding his gaze on purpose. Silently she followed him over the street first and into a small restaurant a few meters further down the same. After entering, Logan took her jacket and led the way to an unoccupied both in the far corner. The small restaurant was cosy, a few candles burning here and there, casting flickering shadows onto the walls. A few other couples and a small family were scattered around the restaurant, enjoying their meal. After taking a seat across from each other, Jean still kept her eyes cast away from his, plucking on her fingernails. She could clearly feel his gaze burning into her body. Uttering a sigh, she finally got her composure back and managed to return his gaze. "I'm really not mad or anything." He only answered with a raised eyebrow. She rolled her eyes, adding another "Really!"
Silence stretched between them, Logan still with his eyebrow raised and finally, he couldn't suppress a smirk anymore and shook his head in amusement.
"What?" she asked him suspiciously and watched hoe he leant back in his seat with a knowing look on his face, accompanied by a smug smirk.
"It's really funny, this so called green-eyed monster, don't you think?" he asked her with an even wider smirk.
"What?!" Jean said again and he chuckled when her cheeks turned red.
"Someone's jealous, huh?"
"I'm not!" she immediately replied and took the menu to read it. "What makes you even think that?"
"Right…," Logan nodded and took a menu of his own, still smirking knowingly. "I don't like plastic tramps anyway…," he added with a mumble, knowing full well that she heard it.
Glaring at the menu, which shielded her face from him, she let out a brief snort. "I've seen that…," she hissed in barely more than a whisper and made him grin in satisfaction.
After they'd eaten in silence it was already dark on the outside when they left the restaurant again. Shivering due to the sudden difference of temperature Jean began to wrap her arms around herself. "Cold?" Logan asked her while he put on his leather jacket and received a shake of her head. "Of course not…," he mocked and put an arm around her to pull her closer. "You wanna go back to the hotel or do ya need anything from a store?"
"Maybe a magazine to read or something…," Jean replied calmly and looked away while her heart was racing.
"Girl's stuff, huh?" he asked and nodded. "'Kay, come on." Leading her down the street towards a small store which sold magazine, books, different snack and drinks, but also cigarettes and cigars, Logan waited at the check-out and nodded at the cigars.
"Finally back in town, Logan?" the older man asked the mutant while he handed him a package with cigars and received a nod. "And a new girl, I see." Smiling at the woman, who still looked through the different magazines first and briefly stopped to get something to drink, too, he nudged Logan briefly. "And, as I might say, finally a fine lady, huh?"
"Whatever," Logan grunted and cocked an eyebrow when Jean put down three magazines, an US newspaper, two sodas and beers and some sweets and chips onto the counter.
"What?" she asked him since she'd noticed his look.
"Nothin'," he waved off and paid for the things. "See ya, Tom," he added with a nod at the old man, who nodded back with a smirk and watched the two leaving.
"Hope the two of you have a fun night," the man added with a wink and made Jean blush instantly. "And I hope to see that lady again, Logan! Don't even dare to show up tomorrow with another one!"
"Yeah, yeah," this one grunted and left, leading the way back to the hotel. Reaching their room again he dropped the bag on the bed and locked the door, realizing once more that she was awfully calm. "Jeannie, come on! Don't tell me ya still think about those two chicks in the bar!" he said and got rid of his jacket while she got a pyjama out of her backpack and headed for the bathroom. Sighing he heard her shutting the door and soon the water began to run in the shower. Only able to shake his head, Logan got rid of his clothes and laid them onto a chair near the bed before he jumped onto the bed only with his black boxers on and examined the magazines she'd bought. "Girls…," he grunted and gave the Vogue magazine first, and the Cosmopolitan one next a cocked eyebrow before he suddenly smirked. Throwing both women magazines onto a pile he began to read in the one she'd gotten for him and let out a sigh as his eyes caught one of the newest Harley Davidson bikes on one page. From afar he heard how she opened the bathroom door again and gave her a smirk. "No Playboy for me?" he teased her and hoped that she would at least smile a bit, which she thankfully did.
Coming closer Jean put her clothes onto another stool and placed the bag onto the ground before she grabbed the sweets and a soda out of it, switching the television on mentally. "I doubt you need one…"
Smirking he put the magazine onto the bedside table. "Is that warm enough?" he asked and nodded at her black top and short panties.
"Yes," Jean mumbled while she chewed her sweets and had her eyes fixed on the movie on television.
"Do we have to watch that one?" Logan asked and cocked an eyebrow at the screen, but she only shrugged. "Don't tell me ya actually like Gone with the wind, darlin'…" Sighing he got up to use the bathroom next, leaving her with a smirk on her face on the bed. As soon as he was gone and the water ran, she switched programs to the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy. Moving onto her belly, she grabbed a magazine next and began to read in it while she absently ate her sweets and listened to the television. Stopping briefly on a page with the title Is your partner an animal in bed?, she gave the bathroom door a brief look, but shook her head and put the magazines to the ground, accompanied by the sweets and her soda. Sighing, Jean ran a hand through her face and moved under the sheets, pulling her pillow into a position that gave her a good view on the screen.
A few minutes later, Logan came out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him, drying his still damp hair with a towel. Smirking he stopped next to the bed and gave the sleeping woman an amused look before he switched off the television and let the towel carelessly fall to the ground. Moving under the sheets with her, he had to hide a grin as he read the title of a specific page in a magazine that Jean had been reading before she must have fallen asleep. Giving it an amused look he put it down to the ground too and bent over to pull some strands out of her face. "Try me, darlin'," Logan whispered and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, which made her stir a bit in her sleep, before he switched the lights off and pulled her close.
Okay, that's it for today. ; ) Sorry again for the delay! Hope you guys liked it and thanks again to sammy girl!! See ya!!