Marie was just opening the door to the room she shared with Jubilee and Kitty when she heard someone call her name. Right away she knew the source of the voice. Plastering a fake smile on her face, Marie turned to face Logan.
“Hey, Logan,” Marie said softly as Logan jogged towards her. The first thing she noticed was that he was barefoot which made his approach silent. The second was the knowledge that there was probably nothing between him and the sweats he was wearing.
“You sure bolted out of there pretty fast,” Logan commented as he came to a stop beside her.
Marie shrugged non-committaly, refusing to meet Logan’s eyes. “Jean wanted ta examine ya so Ah got outta the way.”
Without thinking, Logan placed a hand on her arm causing Marie to jerk slightly. Even after she had almost killed him, Logan still touched her without fear that she would drain him to the point of death. It touched her deeply that Logan treated her normally like that. Ever since the night Logan had accidentally stabbed her and she had been forced to absorb his powers in order to survive people had been nervous to get within five feet of her.
“Come on, kid, I wanna talk to ya, but I think it would be best if we did it in my room. No interruptions that way,” Logan suggested, gently steering Marie down the hallway towards his room.
Marie was very uneasy about going into Logan’s room but followed him anyway. The last time she had been in Logan’s room, she had nearly killed him. Granted, he had almost killed her first, but the place still had bad memories for her. That was completely ignoring the fact that every time she was alone in a room with a man she ended up almost killing them. Her track record spoke for itself, but Marie trusted Logan to be careful.
“So are you going to tell me the real reason you ran back there?” Logan inquired as he shut the door behind them. “And don’t try feeding me something about doctor/patient confidentiality, cause I’m not going to buy it.”
Flopping down on the bed, Marie smirked at the hulking man. “Ya mean besides the fact that ya’d just bared yerself completely ta me? Ah think Ah was allowed ta be a little flustered.”
Logan sat down next to her, their arms brushing against each other’s. “Sorry about that, kid. I wasn’t aware of the fact that Jeanie had taken it upon herself to get me completely naked. Now that you mention it, though, we were in the middle of a conversation when Jeanie took it upon herself to interrupt us. You asked me if there was someone who would keep me around here.”
Marie nodded her head, fiddling slightly with her gloves. “That Ah did, Logan. An’ ya told me there was. Dare Ah ask who ya think is so important that ya’d risk becomin’ a regular here?”
For the first time that she could remember, Marie saw Logan hesitate. It took a great deal to make the mighty Wolverine hesitant about something so Marie knew that this was very big. Marie began to tremble slightly as Logan reached out and ran his fingers through the shocks of white hair that were intermixed with the rich auburn. The intensity of Logan’s gaze was equally unnerving. He was looking at her as though she held the answer to his forgotten past.
“I made a promise to protect you, kid. I mean to keep that promise,” Logan whispered huskily, lightly tracing the curve of her jaw through the bleached strands of hair. He gently turned her face towards his so that their eyes met.
“Ah think savin’ mah life cleared ya o’ that debt, Logan. There’s no need fer ya t’ stay cause o’ that,” Marie murmured, her eyes never leaving Logan’s. She closed her eyes as Logan’s face drifted closer to hers. “Careful, Logan. Ya don’t need ta have the life drained from ya again so soon.”
“You shouldn’t have to worry about people touching your skin, Marie. You should be able to touch others,” Logan said softly and Marie felt her skin tingle at his extreme closeness. She was sure that if she turned her head even a fraction of an inch that her cheek would come into contact with his.
“Ah have memories of mah life before this happened,” Marie told him, a shiver running up her spine as she felt his hair brush against her forehead. “Ah can remember a touch. It would be worse if Ah’d never known another’s touch, but Ah do. It’s worse for ya, Logan, cause ya can’t remember what it was like not ta have metal in yer body. In the place o’ yer memories all ya have are those wretched nightmares.”
“But you have them too now,” Logan breathed out. “I’d spare you them if I could. You shouldn’t have to suffer from them like I do.”
“The only part o’ it Ah can’t stand is that ya had ta suffer by yerself fer so long,” Marie whispered, her lips nearly brushing Logan’s cheek as she spoke.
“I loathe them just as much as I treasure them,” Logan informed her, his breath warm against her throat.
Marie opened her eyes a fraction and saw only to top of Logan’s head. “How could ya treasure somethin’ as awful as that?”
Logan lifted his head so that he was once again staring deeply into her eyes. “I treasure them because they prove that I had a life before I can remember. If I can figure out these dreams, I might be able to figure out who I was. They’re my link to my past.”
“Ah wish ya had more,” Marie whispered, raising a gloved hand to cup his cheek. “Ye should know where ya come from.”
There was a slight twitching at the corner of Logan’s lips and Marie could almost believe that he was smiling a ghost of a smile. “I’ve survived fifteen years without a past, I can survive a little more.”
Marie watched as Logan stiffened slightly, his eyes darkening. He growled then and Marie jumped back in fright. When he caught sight of the fear in her eyes, Logan’s features softened and he reached a hand out to cup the back of her head.
“I’m sorry, kid. Chuck just used my head as an answering machine,” Logan explained, his fingers weaving in her hair. “He wants me to go down to the map room.”
“Well then ya better get goin’,” Marie told him, locking her hand around his wrist and pulling it from her hair. “It must be important if the Professor is broadcastin’ in yer head.”
Jumping to his feet, Logan spun around on his heel and held a hand towards Marie. “Will you come with me?”
Marie’s eyes widened in surprise, staring at Logan’s hand in disbelief. “Are ya sure, Logan?”
“I wouldn’t be asking otherwise,” Logan told her, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling him to his feet. “Just let me change into something resembling my own clothes and we’ll go. You will stay here, right?”
“Ah’ll stay,” Marie confirmed with a slight nod. “Just promise me ya’ll be changin’ in the bathroom.”
Logan smirked at her, arching an eyebrow. “If you’re sure about that. Give me a minute.”
Marie watched silently as Logan grabbed some of his clothes from the drawers and disappeared into the bathroom. As soon as the door shut, Marie flopped back down on the bed. Her entire body was tingling from what had happened earlier. It was the most sensual thing Marie had ever experienced and it didn’t involve the touch of skin.
“Gawd, what the hell just happened?” Marie whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth and another over her heart. She fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling as she waited for her breathing to come back under control.
“You ready to get outta here?” Logan asked as he emerged from the bathroom.
With a startled yelp, Marie scrambled to her feet, brushing her hair away from her face. She caught Logan’s amused grin as she struggled to get herself in order and stuck her tongue out at him.
Logan held a hand out towards her. “Come on, kid. Let’s get going.”
Marie nervously brushed some hair behind her ear with her free hand. She wasn’t sure what she was getting herself into, but she couldn’t say no to Logan even if she wanted to. It just wasn’t in her, especially not after what she had just learned. Logan was staying because of her and not Jean like she had originally expected.
“Do ya have any idea what the Professor wants ta see ya for?” Marie asked as they descended the staircase to the main floor.
“I’m not too sure,” Logan said, shrugging his shoulders. “I think it might have something to do with the deal we made.”
Marie glanced up at him, a confused look on her face. “What deal would that be?”
“He said that if I stuck around here he would try and find out what he could about my past,” Logan said indifferently. “I guess that he figured out something after all.”
Marie tried not to let it bother her, but, the fact was, she knew that Logan was going to leave. It didn’t matter what he had said before. Logan had a chance to find his past out now and she knew that he wasn’t going to give it up.
So he’d go, and she’d be left alone with people who were afraid to go near her.