This chapter came more easily than I thought it would.
Thanks to those who have reviewed, hopefully others will follow your example. And please feel free to review again, I do love to get those notifications, as I'm sure you all know!
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"What do you mean, he left?" Marie asked in shock. She was sitting with the other teachers and X-Men at the dinner table when Storm mentioned that Logan had taken off the day prior. She hadn't seen him, but she hadn't thought anything of it, they were both busy people, and the mansion was a big place.
Storm's tone was gentle, "You know how Wolverine is. He just took Scott's bike and went off."
"I think it's fair enough to call it Wolverine's bike now," Scott said drily, then regretted it instantly when he saw the look on Marie's face.
Marie frowned and stood up abruptly, "But…He just left?" She looked at Scott for help on this concept and saw only sympathy in his eyes. She backed away from the table, shaking her head.
"Marie, are you ok?" Storm asked with concern. Scott placed a hand on Ororo's arm and shook his head just barely, asking her to leave Marie alone.
Marie walked away from the group, the expression on her face of such deep confusion and hurt. She barely knew where she was walking, she just needed to walk. "He just came back," she thought to herself.
She knew Logan liked to leave and be on his own, but, "He just came back," she said quietly to herself. He didn't even say goodbye this time. He had even said goodbye to her after Jean's death.
None of this made sense to her, and the pain she felt in her chest was sharper than the memory of his claws in her chest, once upon a time. She found herself in the same position she had been that fateful night, standing in his room, next to his bed. The room looked empty, but he also had just come back, it wasn't like he had redecorated anything.
She finally sat down on his bed and put her head in her hands and cried.
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Scott, for his part, was furious. He knew this was going to happen; the only thing that surprised him was how quickly. Logan couldn't even swing it a full month in the mansion before running out, and from the hurt and confused expression on Marie's face, it didn't take a telepath to know that he hadn't told her of any of his plans.
"Bastard," he muttered under his breath. He knew Logan was only going to hurt Marie and it pissed him off how easily it was done. Was it really that much to ask for Logan to have told her that he was taking off again? He had to have known how attached Marie was to him.
He knocked gently at Marie's door, receiving only silence in response. Scott thought a moment then walked down the hall to Logan's room, hearing quiet cries from inside. He decided to forgo knocking this time and just walked in.
His heart broke a little when he saw Marie sitting on Wolverine's bed and crying. She looked up at him with watery eyes and said, "I'm an idiot."
Scott quickly sat down next to her, putting his arms around her, "You are not an idiot. Ok, you are a little, but he's a much bigger one, alright?" The joke did not crack a smile from the younger woman. He wanted to say the words that would make the pain go away and make things right, but he knew no one had those words.
He held her for a while, finally leaning back against the headboard and making themselves comfortable. "I'm sorry, Marie."
She sighed, the tears having stopped finally, "I knew it was stupid. I mean, what kind of man chases after another man's fiancée?" she asked rhetorically. "Or is so anti-attachment, he refuses to even accept a family?"
"I don't know," he said honestly. Internally though, he could almost accept Logan's pining for Jean. She was so amazing, so full of love and life…A few tears starting slipping down his own cheeks at the images he conjured. He didn't know why every man in the world hadn't been pounding down her door. Yet, she picked him. His mind flashed back to a scene between him and Logan.
"She did make a choice, Scott. It was you." Wolverine's voice was full of anguish as he admitted that, but the words meant so much to the grieving man.
He shook himself out of the memory, trying to concentrate on the issue at hand. "You are a wonderful woman, Marie." He stroked her hair as he spoke quietly. "He's just a very broken man." Those words were definitely true, but he had to admit he didn't excuse Logan for that; they were all broken in their own ways, including Marie.
She sighed, resting her head on his chest, "Aren't we all," her thoughts echoed his own.
He just held her, the letting her doze against his chest while he internally plotted how to kill the unbreakable man.
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"Logan!" The professor's voice in his head was shocked.
Wolverine growled quietly, "Is something wrong?" He spoke out loud, knowing that anyone who saw him speaking would know exactly what he was doing. He was just pulling into the garage with Scott's bike, cigar clamped tightly in his teeth.
"No. I am just surprised you are back. We thought you had gone."
Wolverine snorted, the psychic was surprised. "I had to go do something. Do I have to leave an itinerary?" he said in annoyance. He had just returned to the mansion, why would he run off so quickly? Plus, he hadn't told Marie he was leaving, so that should have clued people in that he was just on a quick trip.
Charles's voice came to him again, now concerned. "Perhaps you should go speak to Marie."
Logan frowned, his steps lengthening to speed his pace. He hadn't really meant for anyone to know he had gone; he just needed a day of quiet without the possibility of his mind being read to think about what Scott had said.
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Logan sat astride the motorcycle that had become his through the years, feeling the wind on his face as he pushed it to go faster and faster. Scott had made a good point, damn it. It wouldn't be right if he was only interested in her because she was not his.
Every mile that passed, he thought about it, thought about what drew him to her. She was a beautiful woman, but there were lots of beautiful women in the world. Her kindness was something completely foreign to him and had taught him how it felt again to care about someone other than himself.
He knew how hard it was for her when her parents had rejected her after her mutation manifested. He also knew how hard it was for her to come back to the mansion after taking the cure, knowing that most of the people there wouldn't understand and would be upset by her choice.
She was so powerful and independent, but yet there was a vulnerable streak that ran deep in her soul. He loved that she would stand up for herself and make her own decisions, no matter what other people thought, and yet he knew she could be hurt so easily and he wanted to protect that soft spot and keep it from the world that could be so harsh.
Of course, he was harsh himself, he had to admit. He feared attachment and commitment, as they had only brought pain and death to those he cared about. But she even understood about that. She knew him better than he knew himself some days, he had to admit.
She had told him that when she absorbed people, they stayed in her head and spoke to her. He knew from how she said it that his voice was a loud one. The way she so often knew what he was thinking, how he was feeling, without him having to say a word.
He realized that must have been why it was so hard for him when he left after Alcatraz. She no longer had the voices in her head; she no longer had him in her head. Even with his fucked-up psyche, deep-seated issues, and his desire for another woman, she had understood him and cared for him. That wasn't something a person could find every day, even when they lived for over a hundred years.
Before he could even make the conscious decision, he was heading back to the mansion, at least sure that what was going on inside him wasn't because he only wanted what Scott had.
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He scented the air to find her quickly, surprised when this led him past her room. He frowned when he smelled the not-right scent of Scott as well. He had realized that Scott smelled wrong because of the skin grafts and that wrongness irritated some primal part of his brain.
"Logan!" Storm looked at him as he strode by, shock evident on her face.
He grunted as he passed her, the beast in him in full-on tracking mode.
His surprised led to shock when he realized that Marie's scent was leading to his own room. He opened the door and saw Scott holding a sleeping Marie on his bed. She was curled up next to Cyclops, tearstains running down her cheeks. A dangerous growl formed deep in his chest.
Scott immediately noted Wolverine's presence, not bothering to disguise his unhappiness, "Get out of here before she wakes up," he whispered harshly.
"Get out of my bed," Logan responded, keeping his voice down though, not wanting to disturb Marie yet.
Scott gave him a hard look, "You left; it's not your bed."
In response, Wolverine's claws came out with a soft 'snikt'. His jaw clenched tightly. "I said, get out." His voice and growl were louder now, and Marie stirred from Scott's chest.
"Logan?" She asked, confused both at seeing him when she had just been mourning his leaving, and seeing him with his claws out and looking like he was ready to kill.
"Sorry for waking you, darlin', but I need to talk to you, and I really don't want to do it with you and Scooter snuggling in my bed." He made a conscious effort to reduce the hostility in his tone, to try and not upset Marie.
"What?" She realized what Logan meant and sat up, still confused about what exactly was going on, but unconsciously scooting away from Scott. "We weren't…"
He interrupted her in a suddenly quiet voice, "I know. You don't need to explain." And he did know. Scott was the good guy. He was the one comforting Marie when she thought he had left. As much as he hated to admit it, he was glad someone had been able to. He also vowed silently that it wouldn't be necessary again.
Scott was shocked on several levels himself. He had been sure that Wolverine had walked out again, yet here he was, barely a day later. And the way he was talking to Marie was so very unlike him. He stood up fluidly, glaring at Logan, "You didn't leave?"
"Of course not. My stuff's still here, and I didn't tell Marie I was leaving." He motioned his head to his closet, his voice dark and unhappy.
Scott admitted to himself that it wasn't exactly like they had done a thorough search of Logan's room, they had just assumed. "Fine." He passed by Wolverine, knocking into his shoulder purposefully, "I hope you know what you're doing." The words held more than a hint of threat.
"I don't, but I'm doing it anyway," Logan muttered, his eyes still on Marie.
Scott's jaw just tightened in frustration, wanting to protect his friend, but knowing there was nothing he could do to stop this. And so, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Logan and Marie to talk.