AN: Thanks for the two reviews I've gotten so far :) I got put on like 14 story alerts and a couple favorite stories, would completely appreciate if those people who did that would leave a review. :)
Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it! Fixed one continuity issue at the end of the chap.
O o o o o o o o o O
Marie took several deep breaths as she walked back into her classroom, trying to focus again on Shakespeare, not the man who was now walking away. Her students had all rapidly returned to their seats, trying to avoid getting in trouble.
"Was that Wolverine?" Kelly, one of the newer students asked. Obviously they had all heard stories about the previous X-Men and Wolverine was not a subtle character in the stories.
The blush remaining on her cheeks, Marie nodded, but forged on with her lesson, "Yes, but we were talking about tragedies and comedies. Let's go back to that. While the body count is obviously bigger in tragedies, comedies tend to be in pastoral settings. Who wants to explain what a pastoral setting is?" She did her best to push Logan out of her mind for the remainder of the hour. He promised he would be there when she got done and she had to trust that he would be.
O o o o o o o o O
After finishing with Scott, Logan went out on the balcony to smoke. He was still shocked at what had happened to the other man. Part of him wondered if Scott knew that he had finally been the one to kill Jean. Probably, the kid wasn't totally stupid. What a completely and totally fucked up situation it was. He leaned back against the railing and took a deep breath of the clean air he was now polluting.
It was good to be back. It was nice to have a place to call home, as much as he hated to admit it. He watched as kids started to wander by the French doors of the balcony, figuring that meant classes were over.
He stubbed out his cigar on the railing, putting the remainder of it in his inside jacket pocket for later. Marie must be done by now, time to go find her.
O o o o o o o O
When class ended, Marie paused. She wanted to talk to Logan, but decided that she should talk to Scott first and see how he was doing. She and Scott had become close friends since his return.
When he had first come back, she took care of him a lot. She had already left the team and wanted to feel useful. It was an odd bond, her trying to cope with the loss of power and the loneliness inside her head, and he trying to cope with the loss of his fiancée.
She was worried that Logan's return would upset him. There was no way in the world she would want Logan to leave, but maybe she could make the tension between the two better. With that thought, she hurried off to find Scott.
O o o o o o o O
"Come in," a tone of annoyance in his voice. He was trying to work, but he had to admit that Wolverine's presence was knocking him off-balance and he had gotten nothing done since Logan left. The tone of annoyance left his voice though when he saw Marie was the one at the door. "Hey. How are you?"
"I'm good...how are you?" she asked carefully while walking into Scott's office.
Cyclops shrugged, "I'm ok. We talked. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. He brought back my bike in one piece." They both laughed at that. "How are you?" He looked at her more carefully.
Marie perched on the edge of his desk. "I'm ok, really. It's weird and all, but good to see him. Didn't think I ever would again."
Scott muttered under his breath, "You'd think the man was a cat for the number of lives he had." That also caused Marie to break out into laughter.
"I'm not a cat." Wolverine growled at the doorway, tamping Marie's laughter into quiet snickers.
He glared at her and she stood up quickly, looking back at Scott. "I'm going to go catch up. I'll be back later." She gave him a wink and a smile and grabbed Wolverine by the arm to lead him out the door. Logan shifted his glare from Marie to Scott, as the little prick just sat there with a smug smile on his deformed face before Logan allowed himself to be relocated.
O o o o o o o O
"What's going on with One Eye?" Wolverine almost growled, his eyes now back on Marie, who still had his arm, even though he didn't need to be dragged anywhere.
"He was injured by Ph…" Marie cut herself off, not wanting to upset Logan by mentioning his dead love, changing phrasing, "He was injured and well…" This was not going well by Marie's standards. She led Logan through another doorway, into a room not too far from his where there was a bed, a couple of armchairs and a desk. "Just wanted, you know. Make sure he was ok," she finished lamely. Saying "I wanted to make sure he wasn't freaking out that the man who also was in love with his fiancée and was the one who ultimately killed her was back in the mansion" was not very tactful nor conducive to keeping Wolverine around.
"Yeah. I know." Logan frowned, that wasn't exactly what he meant, but he wasn't going to push it. He looked around appraisingly, "This your place?" She gave a nod, which he returned, "Nice."
"Thanks. Have a seat?" she motioned to one of the comfy chairs, taking one herself and folding her legs under her.
He sat down in the other chair, watching her tuck her legs under her. "So, what all have I missed?"
"Well, that depends, how far out of contact were you?" she asked curiously.
He thought for a moment, then asked, "Who's the president now?"
Marie laughed again, he loved to hear her laugh. "Alright. Well, the Mutant Registration Act passed." She said this full of disdain and disappointment. "I've been working publicly to fight it." Jean's old position, left unsaid. She cleared her throat to continue. "It's tied up in litigation right now. We're still refusing to register, citing it's unconstitutional."
The edges of a smile came to Logan's mouth that she still included herself in the mutant group, even though she was no longer one. "Good. We all know what they'll do with those lists."
Marie nodded. "Yeah, we do. Mutants that volunteered for registration have been disappearing. There's always excuses – a aunt that needs cared for overseas, retirement away from the public eye. But they're just that, excuses."
"So are they killing 'em or recruiting 'em?" Logan broke in, frowning at either option.
Marie shrugged, "We're still trying to find out. It's also possible they're being killed by vigilantes and covered up by the government to protect the 'normals' from prosecution." She sighed, "It's not happening quickly and they're covering their tracks well." Her nose wrinkled in frustration.
"What else is going on?" He nodded to her. "You still doing ok? Still seeing that Bobby kid?" Logan never tried to hide his disdain for Bobby before and he didn't now either.
She smiled at the question. "I'm ok. It's hard sometimes. You wouldn't think I would miss voices in my head so much, but I do sometimes." Her eyes lost focus for a moment before she continued, "And I sometimes miss being on the team. Silly, huh?"
"Why aren't you on the team? You still are a good fighter, powers or no." He crossed his arms in front of himself, not happy that she was being excluded.
"My choice." She motioned to the thin scar on her collarbone and the burn scar on her arm. "I was still on the team when I got those. I couldn't protect myself well and I just…didn't have the instincts for it anymore."
Logan grunted, "You always had good instincts. Don't underrate yourself."
"No," she said firmly. "You had good instincts and you helped me. Without you, I couldn't do it." She looked down at her hands, the cause of so many issues within her life.
Logan realized she didn't mean him physical presence, but rather the mental presence in her mind. "I'm sorry. I still think you could do it on your own."
"Maybe I could. But I also realized that people were spending too much of their time protecting me in the field. I'm no hothouse flower and I never wanted to be. I don't want to be a liability," she said fiercely.
Logan couldn't help but smile at that declaration. "Fair enough."
"Damn straight," she huffed. "Anyway, I can do more good out of the field than in it now. So, I am fine, even though I miss it." She shifted, changing topics quickly, "What about you? What made you come back?"
He looked out towards the window, "You, actually." His eyes cut back to her face to see her surprised look. "What? Why are you so surprised about everything? You seemed shocked I came back at all." His tone was almost accusing.
"You walked out with barely a goodbye. A lot had happened. We were reminders of all that." She shrugged, then stood up, annoyance clear on her face. "You don't owe me anything, Logan. I'm not some kid you need to protect anymore. I can take care of myself."
He held out his hands in a surrendering motion, "Calm down, Marie," he said gently.
"I am calm, Logan. I just want to make my position very clear."
"And I hear you, loud and clear." He stood up, putting his arms around her, "I didn't come back because of that, ok? I'm sorry."
Marie closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest, calming down and accepting the apology. "I'm sorry, Logan. I'm just…surprised to see you."
"Let's just leave it at that, then. We're both sorry creatures." He grinned down at her and she returned it after a moment.
"I am glad you're back."