When they woke up, it was because the guards came in yelling, "Rise and shine you pathetic shitheads!" and switched the main lights on.

He didn't move all night, and didn't appear like he planned to now. He raised his head and looked at her.

"Hey, darlin'." he said.

Although he had called her that last night, she smiled at him calling her darlin', "Hey, big guy."

They heard the guards coming and sat up. The guard that passed their cell and slid in their breakfast was not the same one from last night, she noticed.

"They have different ones for feeding us and cleaning our clothes and sheets and stuff." He said, as if he'd read her mind. "Hanson and Parker are the ones they use to move us place to place, they help experiment on us, and act like assholes to us."

"I noticed." she replied, as she moved to grab their food trays and handed one to him.

"Did they mean what they said yesterday?" she asked. "About poking, and proding, and cutting me open... I mean... is that what they do?"

He looked at her sadly, and shook his head, "I don't know what they're gonna do to you, darlin'."

"But, you know what they do to you." She said.

He shook his head again. "But it could be different for you. They could want you for something different, then what they want me for. They do something different to everybody in here."

"But we have the same mutation, so it could be similiar... Please, tell me. I wanna know what to be prepared for. Ya know?"

He got up and started pacing. The thought that they were going to come in here and take her, was starting to severly piss off his inner wolverine, and his eyes started to turn yellow. "I won't let them take you!" he growled.

"You can't stop em' big guy," she said, getting up and reaching for his arm to stop his pacing. "But you can tell me what they could do to me."

He closed his eyes, "If they do to you... what they do to me, I..." he trailed off and didn't finish.

"Hey, it's ok. I heal remember. Just like you." she said.

"But it's the pain, while it's there. I don't like the thought of you being hurt."

"I'll be ok. I'm sure I've been through worse."

"I don't know about that." he responded. "When they take me... they don't just experiment on me. Sometimes they... they use me as an organ donor for some of the others. Cut me open take whatever they need out and wait for the healin' to kick in. Then usually they just toss me back in here. The experiments aren't all that bad compared to that. With those it's usually just a needle or a physical test of ability. Those are better for you and I, cuz most of the drugs and things they use on everybody else, don't work on us. Guess that's why I'm not quite as mental as most people in here."

"You're not mental, love." she said.

"Some people'd argue with ya' on that." he said grinning. He wasn't sure if he was grinning cause she called him 'love' or cause the thought of himself being mental was actually quite amusing to him.

"Maybe." she grinned back. But then it faded, "I'll be ok. Don't worry about me."

"I'm not really sure I can make myself not worry 'bout you." he responded.

"I know... but don't get yourself in trouble for my sake... That'll make me worry about you." she said the last part quieter.

Then they heard Hanson and Parker coming their way, and they both tensed.

"I see you two animals didn't kill each other. Looks like we get to have some fun today, Parker." Hanson said as he and Parker walked to the cell door.

"Lucky us." Parker said with an evil smile.

They had the rods and they opened the door to come in.

He pushed her behind him, and into a corner, and snarled at the guards. She was well protected by his big body, compared to her small one, but it would only work for so long.

They hit him over and over again with the rods, until he fell to his knees howling. She jumped away from them and growled loudly.

"Come on kitty, we just wanna play." Parker laughed.

They hit her until she fell then cuffed her hands and yanked her out of the cell. Leaving behind a very pissed off, very aggressive wolverine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour later a pain filled scream mixed with a wolf like cry filled the air, followed by two more. He howled and let out a long keening sound.

It wasn't until late afternoon when they threw her back in the cell. Having to fight off and hit Wolverine several times over with the rods. When they left he knelt down beside her shaking form. She was curled up next to the wall. He nudged her neck with his nose and curled up against her. He let out a small whine and nuzzled her hair.

"Just give me a minute, I'll be ok." she said, not sounding to convincing.

Her shirt was gone and she was left in a black sports bra. The smell of blood, her blood, was hanging in the air. He looked at her stomach, and saw the still healing wound across her stomach. He let out another keening sound, picked her up and carried her over to the bed. Then once again curled up against her, and buried his face in her hair.

Once her breathing slowed, she turned to face him. His eyes were still yellow, and worried. She knew that the animal in him was in control now. It didn't worry her, especially since the he seemed to care for her, but right now she needed the man.

"Hey, I'm ok," she said, revealing a completely healed stomach. "See?"

His eyes darted to her stomach back to her eyes. He nuzzled into her again and just held onto her tighter.

"Look at me..." she said, and he lifted his gaze to hers. "I need him back." her voice was weak. She was asking, The Wolverine to step back and let the man take over again. She knew that if his inner animal was like hers, that it wasn't going to happen easily. But she needed to talk rationally, and wolverine was just going to say and do whatever the hell he wanted.

"He's here." he growled slightly. "But I need to know you're ok. That you're not goin' anywhere. Because I need you here. Last night you made me feel like I matter. And I wanna protect you. l don't wanna lose you." When the wolverine was in control he always spoke what was on his mind. No matter what he might say.

"I'm ok, I promise. Just a little tired is all." she said.

He leaned down and kissed her with a need that felt so strong, she was surprised he could stop himself. She found herself not wanting him to stop. But he pulled back, burried his face in her hair and took a deep breath.

When he looked her again his eyes were back to brown. "Sorry," he whispered. "Usually I have control. But this time I couldn't stop him."

She smiled softly at his apology. "I don't mind him. Seemed pretty sweet to me." she said. "Though I'm sure he's not always like that."

He smiled a little back and said, "Well it's definitely not always like that. I don't think anyone has ever called me 'sweet' before. But that's probably because I haven't been before." His smile faded a little.

"What'd they do to you?" he asked. He still looked worried.

She shrugged a little bit, and tried to get closer to him. "Exactly what you said they do to you."

His grip on her tightned, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hey... stay with me, big guy." she said, cupping his face. He started to shake from anger. He was angry at the guards, at this place, at himself for letting them take her.

"It's ok. You couldn't of done anything to stop them. Ok? Just... talk to me." she said.

He looked at her then. "About what?" he asked weakly.

She thought for a minute then asked him, "What should I call you? I mean ya' know other than Wolverine. Sometimes it doesn't sound right callin' you that." She didn't know if he would answer, but it was worth a shot.

"My name's Logan." he said.

She grinned at him and he grinned right back. "What about you?" he asked.

"It's Brooke."

He smiled at her, "I haven't told anyone that in forever." he said.

"Me either." she smiled back at him.

She layed her head on his chest and they settled into a comfortable silence for about half an hour before he broke it. "Thank you." he whispered.

"For what?" she whispered lazily.

"Last night. I... I don't... That's never happened before, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize for needing comfort, Logan."

"I've never needed it before. I just take it all in stride. Move on with my life." he said, his voice rising.

She lifted her head to look at him. He looked almost dissapointed at himself for breaking down.

"Sometimes, it's harder to move on then you'd think." she said.

"Yeah..."

He lifted her chin and kissed her. Then they heard the dinner cart coming and their food was slipped in, though they were in no hurry to get up and get it.

"Thanks again, darlin'."

"Anytime, love."

"Hopefully it won't happen again, and I won't have to take you up on that offer. You shouldn't have to worry about me."

"But I do worry about you. Just like you worry about me. You look after me, I look after you. Deal?"

He gave her a small smile and said, "Deal."