Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
Waking with a stiff neck, sore back and her leg asleep, Marie screamed in surprise when her elbow found the horn. Remembering where she was she looked to the back seat to see Abby laughing at her and Layla just holding her daughter, smiling and quietly chuckling. Hearing the laughter and seeing the smile that she knew belonged on the young girl's face, her resolve was set that she wouldn't dwell on the things that had her leave the mansion after her short return after the cure.
"Who's up for a road trip?" Marie asked.
"Where're we going?" Abby asked eagerly.
"To see some friends, why don't we go for a walk first though cause it's gonna be a long drive." Marie replied.
Climbing out of the car, everyone broke out into a fit of groans and stretches filled with yawns. Looking out to the lake, the grass before it was misted in dew and the sun cast on the waves left them sparkling in amber light. Thinking of last year when they had camped out after watching fireworks, the morning after then had looked just as serene. Stretching her legs, she broke out in jog along the path that ran through the park with Abby chasing after her ahead of her mother.
By the time they all got back to the car they had worked up an appetite, breakfasting on the poptarts she had hastily packed. As much as she wanted a shower she knew it had to wait until later, helping to pack everything back up before heading back out. With the radio playing, she let her mind wander back to the choice she had made those years ago after thinking she had found everything she had ever wanted with the cure. It had been a week later when she had met Jimmy and found out the truth, that she could touch again because someone had treated him as hardly more than something to be studied, just like Logan, even if his cage had been a gilded one.
In the wake of everything that had happened, the school felt different to her, from the whispers of some of the kids as she walked past to go to class, to finding his office quiet with just the empty chair sitting there. While never a large school, with only Ororo and Logan she could see the struggle they had on their hands caring for all the kids that came. Sitting alone with Bobby in her room, she had resolved herself to her painful choice. The next night she had crept out as quietly as she had once before, this time leaving a few letters around for those who she felt she owed an explanation to or an apology.
Sliding his under the door, it opened and she found herself looking up at him with her backpack thrown over her shoulder. She had thought he might try to change her mind, or get angry as she had done so pettily that time after the Danger Room session she had seen them together. He had just held out a hand to her, helping her up and taking her into his arms. With one last kiss he told her to be safe and let her go, a sad smile the last thing she remembered as she took that final look back before vanishing down the stairs.
She had been ready to hitch a ride to the nearest town and catch a bus, but walking out the front door she found him there leaning against the school Jeep smoking a cigar. Holding a door for her, she climbed in. She didn't say much, it reminded her too much of the day they had met. Standing outside the bus station, he had given her an envelope with some cash in it, just looking into her eyes for her to see understanding in his. The thing he said before driving off stuck with her, Call me if ya need me.
She had, and he hadn't disappointed. Pulling into town and looking to Abby in the back, she heard the girl singing with her mother who had her eyes closed in thought. Pulling out front of a pawn shop to get the money Logan had sent, she was just about to turn off the car when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't go Marie!" Abby said looking scared.
Reaching to brush her hair she smiled to her, trying to calm her. Layla wrapped her arms about her and pulled her back gently and whispered in her ear. Something in Abby's eyes though left her feeling a touch of that fear she had heard in the poor girl's voice.
"What is it Abby?" Marie asked softly.
"I, I can hear him. He's waiting, he wants money. I don't like him, he won't be quiet." Abby said growing more frantic with every thing said.
With her heart in her throat Marie looked around the street and saw so many men just standing around. She started noticing just how down on their luck a lot of them looked. Pushing it aside she looked to Abby who curled in her mother's arms.
"I'm gonna ask you to be brave Abby, is he alone?" Marie asked, the girl nodding with her eyes clenched tight against the tears that spilled down her cheeks.
"He's got a knife, he's done it before. I don't like him, make him go away!" Abby cried.
Leaning over the seat and taking the girls face gently in her hands she pressed her head together, whispering promises that she was going to do just that. Marie recalled everything she had ever learnt in her life, from the dirty tricks Logan had taught her, her time in the Danger Room with Ororo, to the kick boxing she had taken in her free time. Abby opened her eyes looking amazed, Marie just smiling at the trust she saw.
"You remember when we used to play with your lego?" Marie asked, Abby looking at her in that way only teen girls could when they thought themselves so much more mature.
"I know you're a little old for them now, but I want you to imagine you're building a wall outta those legos. You're doing it right over that mean man, you do that and I'm gonna make him go away." Marie said while hugging Abby.
"Layla, you just pop up and drive this car somewhere safe okay? You'll know right when you need to call the cops." Marie started as she climbed out of the car leaving it running.
"What are you doing Marie? We should just go..." Layla cried fearfully thinking of what her daughter had just said.
"Don't worry about me, nothin' bad is gonna happen, trust me on this. But I just can't let this go, you know that..." Marie whispered and found her friends hand to give a strong squeeze.
Standing there at the curb and pulling out her phone, she scrolled down until she saw the number she was looking for, Logan. Thinking that he was just a phone call away helped her find her courage, thinking how frantic she would have been if it had bene Layla getting mugged. Stepping into the pawn shop she made a show of the money, counting it out just like you weren't supposed to really do as she had learnt in that self defence class she had taken before getting into kickboxing.
Leaving the shop and catching the reflection cast from a window she looked down the road to see Layla at the wheel with her phone held in her hand, the car still running. From across the street she saw a man who had been leaning against a wall, looking all too watchful she had thought, start to cross the street. Marie made it look as if she had forgotten something at the pawn shop and turned back, feeling a hand in her shoulder after only a few steps.
"If you don't want to get hurt, give me your cash." The voice said quietly.
Her blood was racing with her heart hamming in her chest, not out of fear but the anticipation of a fight she was well used to. Going stiff she let her purse fall and saw him reach for it. It was his mistake and she was going to make him pay for the rest he had made in his life. Slamming her elbow into his head she pressed her attack, lashing out with a kick that threw him to the ground. The knife clattered away down the pavement as he struggled to get to his feet. Falling on him with her knees at his throat, she pinned him and held a fist poised right over his fear filled face.
"Holy shit, I give, I give up Officer!" The man babbled, Marie realizing he must think her an undercover cop and feeling her ego stroked.
From the pawn shop the store keeper came out with a bat and some handcuffs, helping Marie twist the man's hands behind his back and cuff him. Looking up to her would be saviour she saw a tattoo on his arm, Semper Fi. Pushing sixty, he looked like he could still kick some arse.
"You okay?" The store keep asked helping Marie up.
"Sure thing Sugah, thanks though, I mean it." Marie said, shaking his hand and listening to the sound of police sirens grow near.
With statements given and her information taken, Marie finally found herself free to head back to her friends waiting for her. Layla looked shocked while Abby just looked at her in awe. Climbing in the back and feeling the crash after the rush of it all, she let out a shaky breath and put on a strong face.
"Who could use a cup of coffee?" Marie asked, pulling Abby close and hugging her having done just as she said she would, making the bad man go away.
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Trusting in her phone's GPS and Laya's navigating of the road map they had bought, by all means they figured they were just about an hour away from Xavier's having taken every back road and length of gravel that tried to pass itself off as one. Heading out of town after a trip to the grocery store for some snacks and lunch for later, they hit up a donut up shop and got some coffee and a whole dozen donuts having let Abby pick them all out. Taking turns at the wheel, they never left her alone in the back seat, playing road games of old and watching her play on her DS.
Then of course their luck had to run out, the car dying with what she feared was smoking spewing out from under the hood. Marie knew she was going to have to make that call she didn't feel ready for yet, knowing she'd have to tell Logan about what had happened in town when she went to pick up the cash he had wired. Handling a guy with a knife was easy compared to staring down the engine of a car, needing Logan's help in the end.
"I'm sorry Marie, I...don't know anything about cars." Layla said beside her.
"Ya ain't alone in that girl, don't worry. I'll go call a friend and see if he can't help figure out what's wrong." Marie said between finding her phone and taking a deep breath.
Letting it out she realized she really had run out of luck when her call to his phone went straight to voice mail, rubbing her eyes and swearing she'd have to give him shit if he had let the battery die like she remembered him doing. Scrolling through the list until she found it at the very bottom, she hit the call button and waited. Five rings in someone finally picked up.
"Xavier's, sup?" The voice asked, a girl clearly.
"Uh...can I speak to Logan?" Marie asked trying to place the voice.
"No, he's busy, said he didn't want to get bugged. But with more swearing." The girl answered flatly.
Marie took a breath and struggled to keep her cool, having worked herself up for this call only to be told she couldn't talk to who she needed to.
"Whose this?" The girl asked.
"I was about to ask you that actually." Marie said trying to be diplomatic.
"I asked first, got dibs." The girl said, Marie still struggling to figure out why it sounded familiar.
"Marie. I need help, my friend's car broke down, could you get Logan?" Marie asked trying to keep her temper for the sake of her friends around her.
"Oh...hey. What's wrong with it?" The girl asked sounding a touch softer now, Marie figuring she must know her.
"Uh..it stopped and looked like the engine was smoking but I guess it's steam as I don't smell anything burning." Marie related the little she understood.
"Sounds like it overheated, hope it's not a pump. Check under the engine, ya see anything dripping?" The girl asked with the sound of her settling down in a chair.
Peeking under the engine with Layla following her lead, she saw something green dripping and felt her worry rising. Leaning against the engine she wondered what it was.
"Something green is dripping." Marie explained over the phone.
"Looks like radioactive kool-aid? Sounds like you have a leaky rad. You got any fluid? If not water will do in a pinch, just let it cool for a bit then you're gonna pop that cap off the thing that looks like the ass end of an air conditioner. Just find a rag and make sure you're clear, if you don't let it cool enough ya might have some steam built up." The girl explained nonchalantly with a snap of gum.
Following the instructions, with Layla at her side they rummaged the trunk and found a jug of radiator fluid with just a few drops left in it. Taking a walk through the brush with Abby, they found a stream and filled it up along with their empty pop bottles. Filling it up, they turned it on and let it run just like the girl said before topping it up and filling up the overflow to the mark.
"Thanks, really. You're a life saver." Maire said, still wondering who the girl was but feeling foolish to ask now.
"No problem, just make sure you got some water with ya or if ya see a gas station grab a jug of rad fluid. If you see the temp getting hairy, pull over for a bit and let it cool down. Top it up as needed, oh...hey...sec..." The girl said, her voice growing distant and hearing Logan in the background.
"Who is it?" Logan asked.
"Someone callin' triple A, here." The girl said passing off the phone.
"Hello?" Logan asked.
"Hi Logan...tried to call ya on your cell but...well anyway I had a problem but it's fixed now." Marie replied, trying to find the courage to tell him about earlier.
"Dammit Lee!" Logan yelled after taking the phone away.
"Sorry Mare, what was wrong, you Okay?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, turned out Layla's car has a leaky rad...that was Jubilee? She...sounded uh, different." Marie said thinking of the girl she knew in passing back from her days at school, never really a friend.
"Long story, I'll fill ya in when ya get back. You sure you're okay?" Logan replied, his worry clear.
"I promise Logan...I, got a story to tell ya when I get back too. But I swear I'm fine, just trust me okay?" Marie said, unable to tell him now but at least hinting at it.
"I always trusted ya Kid...I'll see ya when I see ya, any more problems just call. I'll go get my phone off the charger, sorry about that." Logan said sounding apologetic.
"Thanks Logan, we should be there soon. Might just have to try and show ya I ain't a kid so much now too." Marie teased.
"Free to try, see ya soon Mare...I got someone I gotta go give a talkin' to." Logan said, hanging up.
Feeling Layla pull her into a hug left her feeling wholly better after the call, joining her and climbing back into the car. Taking her turn to drive the rest of the way, she found it strange how the school felt both so close and still so far away. Turning the radio on, she searched for that station she used to listen to back then, still playing the same crappy music but feeling a touch nostalgic then as she pulled back out onto the road.
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