Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.
"Jubes..." Marie said with a yawn.
"Yeah Roguey?" Jubilee replied likewise.
"Can you bait my hook?" Marie asked, holding the squirming earthworm in hand.
"There's an off colour joke in there somewhere but sure. Trick is to just grip nice and tight and ew, try not to stab yourself doing it." Jubilee said as she slid the earthworm onto the fishing hook.
Quickly throwing her line over, Marie didn't see herself being able to do that anytime soon. They'd been out on the lake for an hour now with nothing but sunfish and stuff too small to keep caught so far, the pair sitting in the canoe casting their lines and tugging at the nibbles. Off on the shore they could see Logan and Pete sitting on the dock in deck chairs while Illyana wandered the shore catching frogs.
"Ya have any more nightmares last night?" Jubilee asked though her eyes were intently watching her line as the slack was tugged.
"Nah, just...I don't know. That one I had, it didn't feel like no ordinary nightmare." Marie confessed, yanking her line and reeling in her catch.
"Remember what I told ya what Pete told me, gotta give it some line and then set the hook when it's going for it." Jubilee remarked to the sight of Marie coming up with a bare hook and a mass of seaweed.
"I swear I'm gonna git ya, ya damn thievin' bastard!" Marie yelled to the lake in general.
"Give me a sec and I'll hook ya up, hah...I made a funny." Jubilee said, noticing her unintended pun as an afterthought.
Waiting as her line was pulled off her spool, Jubilee gave a yank of her pole and started to reel in her catch. The whine of the reel was heard as line was stolen again, the fight between lady and the lake taking long minutes. Watching, Marie saw the first flash of scales catching the risen sun as something under the surface dove back to the murky depths. A glance to the shore had her see their audience, Pete and Logan both looking at them with hands over their eyes from shield the low hung sun.
"Oh this ones a fighter, c'mon, c'mon...let me land you and show up the boys." Jubilee spoke to the fish on the end of the line.
"You want the net?" Marie asked, finding it in the bottom of the canoe.
"Yeah...just wait till I say, gotta make sure ya got all the fight outta him or he could still spit the hook. That's it, c'mon up." Jubilee said, reeling in her line with a series of herks and jerks.
Brought to the surface, a large mouth bass thrashed and slapped, Marie scooping it up in the net at Jubilee's nod. Quickly they worked at getting the hook out of the mouth of the beast, Jubilee feeding the hook from a stringer through it's gills and securing it. Holding up her catch in boast to the boys, she let it fall back into the water at their thumbs up given.
"Well, now just gotta catch some perch for Yana. That baby will be a heathy fillet for the each of us tonight. Here, lets get ya baited." Jubilee said with a smile set upon her lips as she hummed away.
Sometime later after Marie landed her first fish that she accused to be 'The Bait Theif' and a stringer full of perch, a scream from shore drew their attention with both looking sharply to the dock. One indignant looking Illyana was stalking off with Logan laughing to himself, Pete even looking to be chuckling too. Straining their sight, they could see some curious object in the young blonde's hands that she eased into the lake and gave a stomp near to, something jumping into the lake to vanish.
"What tha heck?" Marie asked.
"Frog, way I hear it Logan used to prefer them for bait but Yana put an end to that. Probably was threatening to use one of her 'pets' to catch some dinner." Jubilee explained, waving off to their young friend.
"Ew, how would ya even...?" Marie asked though she wondered if she really wanted to know the answer.
"Hook it right through the nose is the uh, kindest way. Pete told me his grandfather would chop off the legs and use the rest, saving them for dinner." Jubilee replied though she wrinkled her nose at the story Pete had told her.
"I'm with Yana on that, poor froggies." Marie grumbled.
"Just hope she doesn't bring one into the cabin, ya ever try sleeping with a ribbit ribbit from some sneaky ninja frog hiding somewhere? Worse than crickets." Jubilee groused at the memory.
"Remind me ta check that girl's pockets before we let her back inta the cabin." Marie conceded, lounging in the canoe with more than enough fish for everyone caught.
"So what was your nightmare about anyway?" Jubilee asked as she too got comfortable.
Marie threw an arm over her eyes to shield them from the sun, hoping to hide some of the gloom the fell over her at the question. As much as she wanted to forget the whole thing, something about it wouldn't let her, wondering if it was that Logan had suffered one as well or that he had played such a large role in her own vivid tortured dream.
"Just one hella a messed up bad dream, thanks for sharing the bed last night." Marie replied with a sigh.
"Hey, no problem. Ya need an ear, ya got one. Only fair what with you listening to all that blubbering about Stryker." Jubilee answered, her foot lightly kicking Marie playfully.
"Jubes...that wasn't blubbering, I even got makin' a few calls to talk to some o' the rest of those kids. Sound of things you were skipping out on the sessions the Professor wanted to have with you all after that. One thing they all told me though was that you were the one that kept sayin' they'd come to save ya all." Marie said softly, kicking her friend in the butt.
"Yeah, well...between you and me I never liked talking to the Prof too much about anything. Mind reader or not, I...liked having some things I could pretend he didn't know, made it easier to try and forget them, that they were all just a bad dream." Jubilee whispered with her voice growing sombre.
Gently stroking her friends leg with her toe, she wondered at her mood but more importantly that she had 'things' she didn't want known. The original tough luck girl herself, Marie knew when someone was hiding something painful, though the girl across from her had proved already just how stubborn she could be.
"Ya need an ear, ya got one Lee." Marie echoed with a sad smile.
"Maybe when we get back...this is supposed to be a vacation, fun time. Lets go get these guys tied off to the dock and then go do some exploring with Yana." Jubilee said with her mood brightening a touch with a heavy sigh.
"Oars closest to you." Marie pointed out.
"Fine, but tomorrow you can bait your own hooks." Jubilee spat sticking out her tongue, easing herself up to row them to shore.
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Watching the ladies walk off with Yana held between them, often yanking her off her feet as they hefted her together, Logan smiled and threw a wink to Pete seeing his friend sporting the same. Raising a finger to his lips, he eased a frog from his shirt pocket held it in his open hand with the hook held before it. Looking down to the little leopard frog, he noticed a scar on its nose, instead of hooking it just setting it down on the dock. Threading a worm on instead, he broke a bit and set it before the little frog, a single gulp making short work of the meaty morsel.
"Not using him for bait?" Pete asked with a sideways glance, casting his lure into the lake.
"Nah, look o' that one he's done a tour of duty as bait. Figure he's done enough." Logan rumbled, waving his rod sharply with a flick of his wrist that had the line cast far out into the lake.
Hearing the chatter and laughter of the ladies fading into the forest, Logan enjoyed the peace and quiet with just him and Pete at the end of the dock. Thinking of the company he shared there the night prior had him smirking and wondering just what Pete might think of that bit of news, wondering if a certain someone had told him. Feeling something nibbling at his hook he waited for one good strike, yanking his rod back and swearing as he let it go slack to run yet finding no fight. Taking in his line, he found sure enough the only thing on the end of it was a snag of seaweed and one bare hook.
"Prick." Logan growled, finding another worm to thread on.
"So far they've beat us." Pete pointed out, leaning over to look down to the stringer tied to the dock, their own just having a catch of perch and a catfish while on the other two sizeable bass with the stringer full of perch too.
"Day's still young Petey, plenty of time left." Logan said with eyes lost to his line.
Hot with just a hint of sweaty humid air, the day was shaping up to be a fine one to spend down at the beach again, maybe even take a trip around the lake with a certain someone in a canoe Logan mused. Tugging at his line and reeling it in a bit, he let it sink to bottom hoping to entice something to bite, losing himself to his thoughts.
"Pete?" Logan asked after a time.
"Yes Logan?" Pete asked as he cleaned some weeds from his hook.
"You ever get worried you might hurt Jubes?" Logan asked quietly.
With no answer coming quickly, expecting an answer and having been denied, he looked off to see Pete looking out to the distant shore with his rod held tip down to the dock. Feeling an idiot, he was a breath away from telling him to forget it when Pete looked to him with a piercing gaze that didn't suit the easy moment of two men fishing.
"To answer your question Logan, yes. But I think you have your own worries friend." Pete replied, slashing his rod through the air and sending his lure to smack into the calm waters.
"Last night...I, I had one o' my nightmares. Been a while and let me tell ya, this one was a hell o' a one I ain't ever had before. I thought I was gonna pop my fucking claws...just thinking what I could have done to her..." Logan whispered, a hand raised to his eyes to rub at them as he fought the fear.
"What happened?" Pete asked, jigging his line at feeling a weak strike.
"Got outta bed and was damn near ready to go wait for the sun to come up with a bottle o' Jack when she came tumblin' out lookin' half outta her mind. Thing is...when she looked at me, she looked like she was the one worried o' hurting me." Logan replied.
"Have you talked about it?" Pete asked.
"What the hell am I supposed to say to her? Sorry babe, 'fraid I'm gonna kill ya in my sleep. Again..." Logan growled with his voice taught with frustration.
"And now you wouldn't be able to let her take your power to heal..." Pete whispered, staring out at his lure bobbing on the surface as he let his reel go silent.
"What if I hurt her Pete..." Logan asked, his voice fraught with pain.
The silence stretched between the two, Pete drawing in his line for another cast as Logan gave a few jigs of his own. Both looked up at the sound of a fish breaking the surface, splashing down hard against the glassy water as if taunting them. Looking to another they found the will to chuckle and smile, roused from their dour spirits by the challenge that had been thrown against them. Checking his line and finding another bare hook, Logan reached down to attach a spoon lure to his and joined the fight.
"Just after we started dating and had moved to sharing a bed, one morning I woke to find Jubilee already in the washroom though she normally sleeps in. She wouldn't answer me when I called her, so I threw the covers free and made my way to her. She was putting make up on." Pete started.
"What? Motor mouth never wears that shit in the morning." Logan said and felt all too loud seeing how torn Pete looked.
"No, she doesn't. She was trying to hide something, I turned her to face me and gently washed it clean. Logan, she was trying to hide a black eye." Pete continued.
Growling Logan wondered if the prick at the bar hadn't been the first to be too intent on winning her affections, but a look to Pete told a different story. Holding his tongue he threw another cast of his line and gave his friend the quiet he looked to need to tell his tale.
"She didn't have it the night before I was sure, and she wouldn't meet my eyes. Kneeling down before her and holding her head in my hands she told me something that hurt. It wasn't my fault." Pete whispered.
"Shit, I'm...fuck me, I'm sorry Pete, I didn't mean ta..." Logan started, a hand raised silencing him.
"She said I was tossing my sleep and smacked her as I clutched for the covers, that it wasn't anything. But that I had hurt her was enough, it horrified me and filled my thoughts with what I could have done had I been shifted, what harm I could have done to her. I was half way through telling her maybe we shouldn't sleep together yet when she..." Pete said softly, pausing to give a yank of his line to find no fish as he reeled it in.
"What did she say?" Logan asked after his friends next cast, Pete's chuckling surprising him.
"She didn't say anything, not at first anyway, she punched me and said we're even. All I really mean by this Logan is that I understand your worry and fear, but also...maybe I'm not the one you should be talking to." Pete said.
"Thanks Pete, really. Gave me something to think about." Logan replied.
"Also, unless we want perch for dinner perhaps we should try and catch that lively one we saw." Pete said in a more playful voice.
"Not even worried about that Petey, more worried about the flak I'll be takin' from the ladies if we don't beat 'em." Logan chuckled, promising to talk to Marie later as much as he promised himself to find some answer to his fears.
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"How did I not find this last year?" Jubilee asked.
"Ju Bee and Piotr sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G." Illyana teased in a sing song voice.
"Oh...yeah." Jubilee replied with a blush.
"Ya sure about this Jubes?" Marie asked.
"Dude, barns and warehouses are great places to find neat stuff." Jubilee replied.
"It's more of a woodshed." Marie added.
"Pfft, whatev. I saw something in there, and this lock looks ancient, I'm talking like from the sixties man." Jubilee replied.
Marie had to shake her head at her friends definition of ancient, watching her aim the rusted axe she had scrounged up at the equally rusted lock. As much as she had to agree it looked as if no one had been in the woodshed in years, she felt wrong about just breaking in even if she had once lived by the alias of Rogue.
"Okay, Yana...go stand way over there, you too Roguey. Ready? Three, two, one and...Banzai!" Jubilee yelled, hefting the axe against the lock in a crash of metal and sparks.
Peeking from her place behind a large tree with Yana, already Jubilee was nowhere to be seen with the shed door thrown open. Rushing up with the younger girl, she peeked in and spotted her friend tearing at a dusty canvas tarp. The squeal deafened her for a moment, clutching at her ears and wondering if another spider had turned up.
"Come to Momma!" Jubilee cheered.
"What?" Illyana asked curiously as she skipped up.
"This Yana is why you always go snooping in places that have Moldy Oldies written on them, this is a barn find. Some poor, lonely and...oh my god it's a Harley! Logan's gonna flip!" Jubilee cheered dancing around, taking Illyana into her arms and swinging her about gleefully.
"Don't listen to her Yana, you should always ask first before going into someone else's property." Marie said with a ruffle of the younger girl's hair.
"I know, Pappa and Mamma and Piotr always told me the same. Ju Bee's in trouble." Yana chirped.
"Spoil sport, hey...why don't you two go to the house and get me some sammiches. I don't care who owns this baby, it's crying for some genuine T Lee C right now." Jubilee said, giving Illyana a hug before letting her go.
Wandering back to the cabin with Illyana, more than once they stopped for her to play with her camera taking photos of flowers and rotten stumps and a few snaps of Marie daring to evoke the allure of models she had once seen in a book. The girl was a natural it seemed, hardly a surprise with her big brother as an example, just looking to need to learn more of her camera with the few blurry photos as evidence.
"There's Logan and Piotr, here...sit there Marie, let me get you all!" Illyana said, patting to the rock that overlooked the pair below.
Settling down Marie looked to them and smiled, enjoying the friendship the two shared so easily. Pete was always just so dependable and reliable, a match for her other friend if far more grounded than Jubilee. Logan had a vulnerable side he tried to hide, but she had seen it often enough to know his bark was just bluster, as scary as he sounded she could never fear him. Hearing a faux shutter, Marie looked to find Illyana beaming at her camera, eagerly running up to show a picture that captured herself looking fondly down to her distant friends sitting on the dock.
"That one's a keeper, I'm gonna have to get a few copies made up of it." Marie said, kissing Illyana atop her head and loving just how the girl blushed at the compliment well earned.
"I want one!" Illyana cried eagerly.
"You get the very first one Sugah, now how about we go get Lee her sandwiches, what ya think? PB and J for her sweet tooth?" Marie asked as she crept to her feet to take her hand.
"I want Tuna please." Illyana said.
"Crust on or off?" Marie asked thinking of another young girl with a picky preference.
"On, and can I have a pickle on top? On a toothpick like at the restaurant?" Ilyana asked.
"Of course Yana, what's a sandwich without a pickle." Marie replied.
"A sammich!" Illyana teased.
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Walking into the kitchen with their collected catches he looked to his bass against both of theirs and knew he wouldn't hear the end of it. Running the tap for the sink and throwing them in, they livened up at the fresh water not knowing how short the stay of execution would really be. Illyana was with Marie fixing a platter of sandwiches, a pitcher of lemonade on another with the tin of frozen concentrate sitting empty beside it. Snapping the tap shut, he walked off to the pair and gave the youngest a tickle of her back before resting his chin on Marie's shoulder.
"Lunch?" Logan asked, snagging one of the tuna sandwiches.
"Hey, that one's mine!" Illyana growled, turning on him full of fury.
"Sorry kid, didn't know. I don't think ya want it back now though, fishy fingers." Logan said as he wiggled his fingers, Illyana wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"I'll make ya another Yana, I'll even get an olive with the pickle if ya like." Marie said with a chuckle.
"Ew, no olives. They're gross." Illyana groused, skipping over to the fridge to get the jar of baby dills.
"Wanna whip Pete up some salmon while you're at it, he's out choppin' some wood for tonight. Where's Lee at?" Logan asked, kissing Marie before walking off to the bath to wash his hands.
"She's out in some woodshed out back in the brush, found a bike out there. Said you'd flip over it." Marie called with the sound of her struggles with the camping can opener.
"Guess that'll keep her from bein' bored for a bit, she send ya for 'sammiches'?" Logan asked with a sniff of his hands, wondering if they still stunk or if it was just still his refined sense of smell tormenting him.
"Yep. We'll make Pete some and get him set up, go and make sure she hasn't torn the whole thing down won't ya Sugah? I don't wanna go addin' destruction o' property to her B and E." Marie teased.
Leaving them to it he followed their scent through the woods following a trampled trail through the brush. Here and there he caught their scent lingering on berry bushes, snagging a few for himself and popping them leisurely as he wandered along. Resting a hand against a tree, he shook off the sense of deja vu that gripped him looking to the distant woodshed. Music played inside, a song he knew but couldn't place off the top of his head. Even from here he could catch the scent of old gas and oil in the air, figuring Jubilee must already be mucking about.
Walking up to the doors, he picked up the broken lock laying in the dirt and turned it over in his hand rubbing a thumb over the battered bolt. Gripping it tightly he pressed it to his brow, something so strangely familiar about it as he shoved it in his pocket. Stepping in he saw Jubilee sitting on the bike giving the start a kick, a sputtering cough the only answer from the bike. The music was playing on her phone set on the bench, the words coming to him unbidden.
"I guess Kookookajoo got screwed..." Logan whispered, gripping his head in his head as he wondered at what he had just said.
"I thought it went goo goo g'joob, but then again I always thought Jimmy was off to kiss some dude so whadda I know." Jubilee replied, working the throttle and trying the bike again.
Stepping in he looked to her on the bike again, undoubtedly a Harley but what make and model he couldn't tell for the dust, some innate knack of always telling the make and model at a glance failing him in this moment. Words came again that gripped him in a spell, compelled to speak them though he knew not why.
"I had a 48 Pan head straight off the line..." Logan said as he looked down to the bike before him.
"That is so fucking hot, wait...what?" Jubilee asked turning to him with her eyes staring at him curiously.
"I...I don't k now...I just, what song is that anyway?" Logan asked as he tried to force his way through the confusion.
"Uh, Beetles, I am the Walrus? Koo Koo Ka Joo?" Jubilee asked, using his odd play on the song.
Bracing himself against the workbench as the smells of the wood shop gripped his mind, he lost himself to images of the dream that had tormented him the night past. Somewhere a beast was growling and in a shock he realized it was him, some sense of danger filling him as he sat in the dusty old wood shop. A snap of a twig broke his horrid revelry, looking to the door to see a woman standing there with a platter of sandwiches and cans of pop. Fear and panic gripped him as he leapt at her, throwing her to the dirt with the sound of a gunshot ringing out.
"Get down!" Logan yelled as he protected her prone body with his own, looking back to the wood shop.
The scene was different, an elderly man laying dying near a different bike, gone in the blink of an eye to see Jubilee racing to him instead. She was screaming something that he couldn't hear for the hammering of his heart in his ears, turning to look to the woman who lay beneath him and feeling his stomach turn as he looked on a fearful Marie. Glass shattered with a wet splash in the ground nearby, turning to look to see Illyana looking worried at him.
"Logan?" Marie asked quietly with her voice wavering.
"I'm...I'm sorry Mare, I just...I don't know...something, I thought something was gonna happen." Logan whispered as he eased off of her and crouched before her.
"Logan?" Illyana asked softly with her voice gripped by fear.
"I'm sorry squirt, sorry I scared ya." Logan replied as soft as he could.
"Don't worry Yana, totally my bad. I told him I saw a bear." Jubilee lied as she took Illyana's hand.
"That's not nice Jubes." Illyana scolded.
"Nope, bad joke is bad. Just like when I was teasin' ya about snakes when we were swimming. C'mon, you can let me have it as we go make some new sammiches okay?" Jubilee replied with a grin that didn't reach her eyes as she looked back to the pair.
Watching them walk off Logan sat before Marie and felt his heart twist and having done the thing he had feared, having hurt her. She curled up before him with her legs crossed and an unspoken question in her eyes. Behind them the songs of the Beatles played on with one last goo goo g'joob.
"There was no bear Logan was there?." Marie whispered.
"Nope, and Lee wasn't playin' no jokes either." Logan replied quietly.
"What happened?" Marie asked softly as she looked to him and held his gaze.
"I, I don't know Mare. It...it wasn't here, but I think. No, I know that someone around me died because of me, just bringing in a tray o' food along without an ounce of bad in her heart." Logan whispered as he fought to hold onto the memory stirred.
"And you thought I was her?" Marie asked offering her hand for him.
He took it and held it tender yet tight in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles and felt all the fears he had the night past strike in full force. He loved her, that he could so easily hurt her terrified him. With his eyes closed tight struggling with the painful thoughts he felt her fingers trail along his cheek stroking him gently, filled with a promise of forgiveness and care as he snapped his eyes open to look to her. Her hair was mussed and she had a scratch on her cheek, but she didn't look at him with an ounce of fear in her eyes.
"Don't push me away Logan, don't. We said it last night, we said it together that we love another. You're not in this alone." Marie whispered to him with the promise given voice.
"I, I don't want to hurt you Marie." Logan replied with his voice aching.
"Push me away and you will, if you...if you need space just ask, just don't try to run off because of that man's ghosts." Marie replied, crawling up to him until she pressed against him.
"I coulda hurt you last night..." Logan said so quietly.
"But you didn't, maybe I lead too quickly just the same." Marie answered with her fingers reaching to run through his wild hair.
"Maybe I just wasn't ready, ya think Jubes would mind having ya bunk with her again while I get this under wraps." Logan asked as he wrapped an arm about her to draw her close.
"Nope, don't think she'd mind. Just...tell me about it when you're ready alright? Just promise me that." Marie asked.
"I promise Darlin, soon as I get it all nailed down I'll tell ya it all." Logan swore, taking in a calming breath with her scent heavy on it.
"I didn't hurt you did I?" Logan asked with his mind back to the present.
"Nothing a back rub won't fix, maybe just before bed tonight so I have something for some sweet dreams." Marie replied with a saucy grin finding her.
"Why stop at just the back?" Logan growled with his hands already roaming her battered flesh.
"Logan...not...oh god that feels good. Not now, Illyana...Jubes would kill us." Marie whispered throatily.
"I could die a happy man." Logan teased, taking her lips in his own to savour.
"I'm not dyin' a virgin Logan, so you just...ahh...just keep your hands to yerself Mister." Marie growled, biting at his lip lightly before letting go.
"Can't argue with that notion." Logan replied, holding her tight instead and waiting until he caught sight of a blond head bobbing through the woods calling an end to their time alone.
"Wanna run interference on Yana so I can thank Lee?" Logan asked with one last kiss, nuzzling his nose through her hair.
"Sure, but I think she knows just the same. C'mon, lets get this mess cleaned up before we really bring some bears around." Marie replied, nodding to the filthy tray of sandwiches laying in the dirt.
Leaving her to the filthy sandwiches, he picked up the broken glass in the soaked earth and forced down the image that came with it, blood soaking into the thirsty dirt. The ghosts were howling and memories were prowling at the edges of his mind looking for a smell or a touch to strike, a song or a moments distraction. Words came to him then as he thought to how long he had gone looking for his past, ironic as he thought of it now, be careful what you wish for.
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"Who knew Lee could cook more than flapjacks." Logan remarked with another bite of his fish.
"Hey, I make good fish and chips! Learned from a genuine Englishman ta boot, he told me his dad owned a shop back in some village on the coast or something way back in the day. I think half the time the old gals brought their cars in to the shop just to talk to Jeff. Of course they'd be all, Oh Jeffery, my cars making a noise, take me!." Jubilee replied with a theatrical faint and her hand against her brow.
"What is it with women and accents." Logan growled.
"Pfft, says the dude hot for Miss Southern Belle there." Jubilee argued with a grin to Marie.
"I'm not the one with an accent." Marie argued with a pout.
"Nope, just the rest o' us." Logan said, a hand thrown over her at the dinner table before giving a kiss.
"Pete's totally hot when he starts talking Russian, remind me to thank your Pappa for keeping that in the family next time I see him." Jubilee purred with a kiss to her beau.
"Ew, PDA much." Illyana groused, stuffing her mouth full of a piece of fish and doing her best to look like a chipmunk.
"Yana, dear sweet Yana. You're gonna give your big bro and your Pappa heck and a half soon enough, once you start bringing home boys." Jubilee teased.
"I already got a boyfriend." Illyana asserted with a nod.
Pete started coughing on his water while Jubilee just brightened with a devious smile, hunching over the table to whispering range of the young blonde. Marie wondered just what the girl meant by boyfriend, giggling at the thought of young puppy love.
"Oh you liar, Bobby doesn't count and you know it, even if he was dancing with you last summer during my favourite national holiday." Jubilee accused, tickling her young friend.
"But it was funny watching Piotr." Illyana giggled.
"Just imagine what it'll look like when you bring home a real one." Jubilee whispered conspiratorially.
"Jubilation, you are trying to give me a heart attack, yes?" Pete asked, reaching to tickle his girlfriend in all those secret places that had her screaming and laughing loudly.
"Uncle, uncle, I can't breath!" Jubilee cried, her lips taken in his as he relented.
"Now that's some mouth to mouth..." Marie whispered to Logan alone.
"You're lookin' a little blue there Darlin'." Logan replied before kissing her.
"I'm gonna go have my dessert if you're just gonna be sucking face." Illyana grumbled, stalking off to the kitchen where trays of pudding sat topped in whipped cream and strawberries.
"Poor kid." Marie replied.
"My heart's breakin' for her." Logan whispered back with a chuckle.
Dinner finished and forgotten, they ambled off to the fireplace and settled down together to wind down the day listening to music on the radio and the hiss of wet logs on the hearth. Keeping up his promise of a back rub, Logan sat with Marie down on the rug with the fire warming them, working away at her shoulders to trail down her spine looking for any taught and tight muscles that struggled to melt at his efforts.
"Yana! Can you bring me my pudding?" Jubilee whined as she lay in Pete's arms too content to leave.
"Only if I can have your strawberries." Illyana offered with her fee set.
"Oh fine, after I even let you lick the bowl you sneaky munchkin." Jubilee pouted, everyone brought their bowls out to find their strawberries missing with their waitress for the evening sporting red stained lips.
"Ya can have mine squirt, ya know I don't like sweets." Logan said, waving off his bowl much to her glee.
Never understanding ladies in their chocolate, Logan was more than content to watch Marie enjoy her bowl, right down to the satisfied sigh she had at the end just melting into his arms. Though he longed to be able to carry her off to their bed, the night past haunted him as he felt his eyes growing heavy and caught her more than once nodding off to sleep.
"Well, I guess we should all hit the hay. Don't worry, we'll let ya all sleep in tomorrow." Logan remarked with a yawn.
"Good, otherwise I'd just have to go and catch a bigger fish again." Jubilee whimpered, snugging against Pete before finally and so reluctantly slipping away with a kiss.
"I get to sleep with Piotr again?" Illyana asked as she was woken from her curled place in a chair.
"As your Pappa would say, Da. Roguey and me are having a girls night, all sorts of gossip. See ya in the morning." Jubilee said with a smile.
Standing at the frame of his door Logan looked to Marie as she darkened the doorway to the room she was to share with Jubilee again. With a dream offered and a promise sworn again, he watched her shut the door and lingered there for a long while until he heard her breath grow even and quiet with sleep taking her.
"Sweet dreams Marie." Logan whispered, shutting his door to find his nights rest.
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