At that moment, Marie wouldn’t heave minded being deaf. If she could hear then she wouldn’t be able to hear the sounds of the heart monitor and life support machines that were keeping Logan alive. Though Jean and Hank wouldn’t admit to it, the machines were all that were keeping Logan alive. Marie knew. She could feel it. Every fibre in her being was telling her that Logan was barely even alive. He was going to get better, though. Logan would heal and everything would be fine. Their life would go back to being perfect.
“Ah’m still tryin’ t’ figure out why ya did it. Why ya went in there when the girl was obviously flippin’ out an’ gonna do somethin’ dangerous,” Marie said to Logan, lightly stroking his hair. It was the only place she could touch him where she wouldn’t hurt him. “Then again, that does sound like ya. Ya would do somethin’ like that. An’ as much as Ah hate it, Ah know that it was somethin’ ya had t’ do. It’s who ya are. No matter how much ya bitch an’ complain ‘bout it, Ah know that ya like helpin’ people.”
On the table, Logan was completely unresponsive. Wrapped like a mummy in bandages, he lay completely unaware of what was going on around him.
“Ah still haven’t figured out what Ah’m gonna tell Chase an’ Hunter,” Marie told him, sighing deeply. “Ah’m gonna hafta figure it out soon, though. They’ll start t’ notice yer not there in the mornin’. It’s Saturday an’ the three o’ ya have cartoons t’ watch. So that means Ah’ll hafta go away fer a little while when they wake up. Ah won’t be long, though. It’ll be hard enough fer me t’ actually leave a like this. Ah don’t want ya t’ be alone.”
Letting her eyes fall shut, Marie rested her head next to Logan’s on the table. She didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to feel. Marie only wanted to absorb Logan’s presence and let him absorb hers. Marie knew that, on some level, Logan knew she was there. At least she hoped that he did. She didn’t want Logan to think that he was alone. Not after everything had happened to him.
“If Ah think hard enough, Ah can almost believe that we’re in our room an’ Ah’m just watchin’ ya sleep,” Marie said wistfully, shifting her head on the thin pillow under Logan’s head. “Ya’d be surprised how often Ah watch ya sleep. Yer real beautiful when ya do. Ah could watch ya sleepin’ all night long. Ah have, too. Ya just don’t know it.”
Marie opened her eyes, staring at Logan’s face in profile. “When Ah open mah eyes, though, an’ look at ya, Ah can see that yer really not all right. Ah can see how much ya got hurt an’ remember how close Ah came t’ losin’ ya. How close Ah still could come....”
Marie heard the door behind her open and spun around in time to see Hank enter. She gave the blue furred man a weary smile, her hand resting lightly a top Logan’s. “Mornin’, Hank. Ah hope yer arm’s okay.”
“Fear not, my dear, I am fully intact,” Hank assured her as he checked over Logan’s charts and the various machines attached to him. “Though I must admit that I was never aware you had such power.”
“It’s not power,” Marie informed the doctor. “That was fear. Ah was completely terrified that Ah was never gonna see Logan alive again an’ just reacted. Ah’m not even completely sure what happened.”
Hank nodded his head and pulled up a stool to sit next to Marie. “That’s understandable, Marie. Your husband was inside a building that had just collapsed. You were in a state of complete shock. It’s only natural that you weren’t thinking clearly and that you would do everything possible to get to Logan.”
“Ah just couldn’t let him die....” Marie sobbed, scrubbing vigorously at the tears which were now sliding down her cheeks. “The thought o’ livin’ without Logan is... is somethin’ Ah just can’t comprehend. Ah don’t wanna, either. All Ah want is fer Logan t’ wake up an’ be all healed up like nothin’ happened.”
Marie could see the regret in Hank’s eyes when he shook his head. “I’m afraid that is not a likely outcome. It may take some time for Logan to return to his normal state. Even with his healing capabilities, the fact remains that Logan was inside a building when it exploded. And it wasn’t a small building either. This casino was indeed many stories high and it was a miracle that you were actually able to get to Logan.”
“So yer sayin’ Logan’s good as dead,” Marie interrupted, her voice barely above a whisper.
“No! Of course not! Logan will be fine,” Hank rushed to assure her. “It will just take some time. Logan is in very critical condition and needs time to allow his body to repair itself. All that I am saying is that this won’t be as speedy or instantaneous as it would normally be. Even Logan’s healing abilities has its limits.”
“Ah don’t care how long it takes, Ah just want Logan t’ get better,” Marie whimpered, running her fingers through her tangled hair. “Ah want us t’ be happy like we were before we left yesterday. When everythin’ was still perfect.”
“Perfection is only achieved through struggle. Any perfection you and Logan experience after this will be greater since you will have had to fight so hard for it,” Hank told her, placing a hand on her arm.
Scrubbing at the tears which stained her cheeks, Marie turned her attention back to Logan. “Ah hope yer right, Hank. Hell, at this point Ah’d settle just fer Logan t’ open his eyes.”
After checking a few more readings, Hank left Marie alone with Logan once again. Hank’s visit had actually done some good. Instead of the all-consuming despair, Marie actually felt a bit hopeful. Hank wasn’t prone to lying so if he believed that Logan was going to be all right then Marie was going to allow herself to believe it as well. It gave her something to hope for.
“Well, Logan, ya heard Hank. That means ya hafta get better,” Marie ordered, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. “Ya really don’t have much of a choice. Chase, Hunter an’ Ah won’t let ya stay sleepin’ ferever. See, we’ve become kinda partial t’ ya bein’ awake an’ talkin’ t’ us. So if ya could get yerself up t’ that point Ah’d be incredibly grateful. Even if ya just open yer eyes Ah’ll be happy.”
Still, Logan didn’t even flicker an eyebrow. He remained completely unresponsive, his chest rising and falling due to the air being mechanically pumped into his lungs. It was a truly unnerving thing for Marie to watch. It was just too unnatural.
Very carefully, Marie cradled Logan’s hand in her own and brought it to her lips to kiss. “Now is really not the time t’ be stubborn, sugah. What Ah need is fer ya t’ wake up. So how ‘bout ya do that?”
Rogue, the boys are up and asking for you, Jean called, interrupting her thoughts. I’m sending Hank to stay with Logan.
“Ah’ve gotta go now, Logan,” Marie said softly, brushing a kiss against Logan’s forehead. “Ah’ve gotta go tell the boys that somethin’ bad happened t’ their Daddy. Still don’t know how Ah’m gonna do it, though. Ah really don’t. So Ah guess this means Ah’ll just hafta suck it up an’ tell them that their Daddy was being very brave an’ got hurt in the process.”
Kissing him one final time, Marie rose from her seat and headed towards the door that led out to the main corridor. It was killing her to leave Logan like that, but she needed to explain things to Hunter and Chase. While Logan recovered, things were going to be very different for the small family.
The journey up to the private suit the family lived in seemed to be taking forever. The further she got from Logan, the more ill at ease she felt. She couldn’t stand being away from Logan. Not when he was hurt. Truth was, she hated to be away from him at all. Ever since he had come back to her after his five month stint in northern Canada they had rarely even been separated. Especially not when one of them was sick or hurt. The entire twenty-six hours she had spent giving birth to Hunter and Chase, Logan had been by her side. It was a running joke around the mansion that she and Logan were attached at the hip.
“Mommy!”
Hearing Hunter’s loud cry, Marie spun to her right in time to see both of her boys racing down the stairs towards the main floor. Marie plastered a fake smile on her face and knelt down in time to scoop them both up in her arms. The dark-haired youngsters were both wearing their favourite pajamas. Chase was wearing his Superman pj’s complete with cape and Hunter had his Spiderman ones on. The two knew about their Mommy and Daddy’s extracurricular activities and liked to pretend that they were superheroes as well.
“Oh, mah boys. Mah beautiful boys,” Marie murmured, pressing kissing into the unruly spikes that covered their heads. “Ah love ya both so much. Remember that, all right? Ah love ya so very, very much.”
“What’s wong, Mommy?” Chase asked, pressing a finger against the tears that were still on her cheeks.
Hunter shared his twin’s pout, staring at her tears with the same intent that Logan would. Even his left eyebrow was tilted up the same way that Logan’s would be. “Mommy? How come yer sad?”
Marie tried to smile, but it ended up being little more than a smirk. “Ah’m not sad, sweety. Ah’m just worried ‘bout Daddy.”
“Did somethin’ happen to Daddy?” Chase asked, doing his best not to show how scared he was.
A watery smile on her face, Marie tapped Hunter on the tip of his nose. “Well, sweety, y’ know how Daddy an’ Ah sometimes hafta go out on the big plane an’ help people?”
Hunter nodded his head vigorously. “You save the good guys!”
“That’s right, we do. An’ ya know how sometimes Daddy or Ah come back with an ouchie? Well, Daddy has a real big ouchie right now,” Marie told them, deciding to get right to the point and not skirting around the issue.
Chase’s lower lip began to quiver. “Is Daddy gonna get better?”
“Of course Daddy’s gonna get better!” Marie cried, gathering both her boys up in her arms. “It’s just gonna take a little while longer than normal ‘cause he got hurt real bad this time.”
“Can we go see Daddy?”
Marie shook her head. “Not right now. Maybe once he wakes up.”
Rogue, get down here now! Logan’s waking up!