Logan’s favourite thing-- besides Marie --were showers. He loved taking showers. Though, for him to properly enjoy it, Marie had to be in there with him. It was the simple things that he loved about showers, the best of which being Marie washing his hair. The feel her of her hands massaging the exotic smelling suds into his hair relaxed him in a way that nothing else could.
Logan’s least favourite thing was also centered around that same space in the bathroom that was attached to their apartment in the mansion. When filled with water, the bathtub terrified him. The first time he had seen it filled to capacity was on the third night he’d been awake. He’d just come back from getting a snack in the kitchen and found Marie submerged to her throat in water.
“Hey, sugah, wanna join me?” Marie drawled, raising a dripping arm in his direction.
The words were barely out of her mouth when Logan was hit from all sides by images and sensations that all passed too quickly for him to grasp. One thing was for certain, though. He felt as though he were surrounded on all sides by water. Drowning. Gasping for breath, Logan collapsed in a heap, shaking all over. It was all too much for him. He’d just barely wrap his mind around one image when there would be another one to take it’s place.
It faded eventually and Logan found himself sobbing in Marie’s arms. In her rush to get to his side, she hadn’t even bothered with a towel. Had he not been in such a fragile state of mind, he probably would have taken advantage of such a situation. As it was, all that he felt was comfort as she held him so tenderly, yet so protectively, in her arms.
After that night, the bathtub was never filled with water.
The only other thing Logan didn’t like were the nightmares that seemed to plague him every night. At first, he had always slept with his back to Marie, refusing to stab her accidentally if he woke up too quickly. In the end, though, Marie won the battle. After proving to him through trial and error that the only time he had nightmares severe enough to warrant the unsheathing of his lethal claws was when they weren’t wrapped in each other’s arms as they slept, Logan had conceded to her point. Logan slept almost peacefully every night after that discovery, content in Marie’s arms.
Life for them began to take on a sense of normalcy. There was rarely a moment when they were not at each other’s side. At first, everyone thought it was odd to see Marie and Logan together so often. Most of them hadn’t been around when Logan had first been at the school and didn’t know Logan on sight. But they knew the stories. Logan and Marie’s arrival at the school five years before was legendary.
Logan nearly had a panic attack when he learned what had happened the first night he and Marie had been at the school.
“I sta-stabbed you?” Logan stammered, jerking violently as she placed her hand on his arm. “How could...? Why did....? Oh God! Marie, I’m so sorry! I can’ believe that I....”
“Breathe, Logan,” Marie commanded, trapping his face in her hands. “Calm down before ya start ta hyperventilate. Ah’m fine. No lastin’ harm. Not even a scar. It’s like it didn’t even happen.”
“But I stabbed you,” Logan lamented, his eyes falling shut.
Marie attempted to pull him into her arms then and Logan reacted instantly. He flung himself away from her, cowering in a corner. As far as Logan was concerned, he didn’t deserve to be anywhere near her.
“Logan, it’s all right, sugah,” Marie whispered as she slowly crept towards Logan’s hunched form.
“I could have killed you, Marie!” Logan shouted, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were soaking his cheeks. “I stabbed you through the chest. That proves I’m dangerous. I shouldn’t be allowed near you or anyone else.”
“That’s not true, Logan....”
Shaking his head furiously, Logan turned and bolted down the hallway. Wearing only jeans, a black t-shirt over a grey long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of well worn boots, headed straight for the nearest exit and disappeared into the forest. The snow was several inches deep on the ground, but Logan paid it no mind. He trudged through it, clutching his arms against his chest in an attempt to keep warm.
Logan was disgusted with himself. He had hurt Marie. The one person who made him feel safe and loved and he’d nearly killed her. Logan glared down at his hands, cursing whatever forces had decided that he needed the metal skeleton running through his body. If he hadn’t already discovered the futility of trying to rip his claws out, Logan would have tried it then. He had never hated the claws more than he did at that moment.
“Logan! Where are ya, sugah?” Marie called from what seemed like miles away.
Rather than answering her, Logan curled in on himself as much as possible, his back pressed up against the rough bark of a tree. Logan pressed his face against his knees, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. He was freezing cold, but couldn’t care less. He deserved to be cold. He had hurt Marie.
“Yer healin’ abilities aren’t what they used ta be,” Marie whispered from right next to him.
Whimpering slightly, Logan clutched at his legs tighter. He started to tremble when she wrapped an arm around him, draping something warm across his shoulders. Logan tried to shrug it off, but Marie wouldn’t let him.
“It happened over five years ago, Logan, an’ Ah forgave ya for it instantly.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” Logan mumbled.
Marie began running her fingers through his hair, pressing her warm body as close to his as possible. “Yer too hard on yerself, Logan. Everyone knows that it was an accident. What happened that night was as much mah fault as it was yers. Ah shouldn’t o’ been in yer room.”
“But you were just trying to help,” Logan insisted. “And I almost killed you for it. Nothing that you say is going to change that.”
Marie pulled away from him then and Logan was convinced that it was all over. She was never going to want to see him again. There was no doubt in his mind that Marie hated him for almost killing her.
Cupping his face in her hands, Marie lifted his head and placed a tender kiss on his lips. “What’s not gonna change is that Ah love ya. Now how ‘bout we go inside ‘fore ya get sick?”
“I’m not cold,” Logan insisted.
“Then why are yer lips blue?” Marie countered, arching an eyebrow. “Last time Ah checked yer lips were a nice pink colour.”
It took about another ten minutes, but Marie was eventually able to convince him to go inside. He was half numb by then and spent the rest of the week in bed with the chills, but for the first time he wasn’t ashamed of his claws. Marie had given him that and Logan was incredibly grateful to her for it.
After about a month, Logan was becoming content with his life. He could still remember nothing about his life save what came to him while he slept, but his waking hours more than made up for it. He was training daily in the Danger Room to build up his strength and endurance. Marie worked out with him, teasing him with little flashes of skin while he pounded away on a punching bag or went through the Tai Chi routines she had taught him.
“I thought you said this was about concentration,” Logan reminded Marie as he watched her strip out of the tanktop she was wearing.
Marie grinned at him and tossed the top in his direction, missing him by mere inches. “Ah am concentratin’, Logan. This is a dance that Jubes taught me. We’re doin’ it fer Bobby at his bachelor party.”
“And what does Kitty think of this?”
Marie shrugged her shoulders and continued swaying to a beat that only she could hear. “Kitty doesn’t know ‘bout it. Remy an’ John came up with the idea. They get strippers without havin’ ta pay.”
“WHAT?” Logan roared, his eyes blazing. “There’s no way I’m gonna let you strip for a horny group of college boys!”
Before Logan could go on a rampage and let loose his claws, Marie was directly in front of him, his face in her hands. “It’s not what ya think, Logan. It’s goin’ no further than this. Only difference is Ah’ll have a skirt on instead o’ my shorts. No touchin’. Just dancin’. Ah swear, Logan.”
“They shouldn’t be seeing you like that,” Logan protested, rubbing his nose against hers.
“Sugah, Ah wear less than this when Ah go swimmin’. You’ve been with me an’ know it fer a fact. ‘Sides, ya’ll be there an’ can get all territorial if ya don’t approve.... Ah can also give ya a private session when we’re done in here.”
Logan’s interest was perked. He gave her a crooked smile and slipped his arms around her waist. “Is that so, little girl?”
Grinning from ear to ear, Marie nodded her head. “Ya know it, sugah. See there’s this one part Ah’m not so sure Ah’m gettin’ right. Ah was hoping ya could help me with it. Make sure Ah got mah moves down.”
Logan started to whine low in the back of his throat. “You’re killing me here, Marie. I’m only human.”
“Ah’m glad ta hear it,” Marie teased, sashaying her hips sensually and waving her hands above her head. “Ah don’t normally do this fer non-humans.”
Logan growled and clutched at her hips tighter. “You’d better not be doing this for anyone but me.”
“An’ what if Ah am?”
“Well, first I’ll have to go and beat up whoever you’ve been dancing for,” Logan drawled, beginning to move to the beat her hips were. “Then I’ll take you up to our room and not let you leave for a week.”
Marie arched an eyebrow. “A week? Ya sure ya got enough stamina fer an entire week?”
Logan nipped at the air inches in front of her face. “You know I do, darlin’.”
Logan and Marie continued their sensual dance in the centre of the Danger Room, completely unaware of anything that was going on around them. There was no music, but neither of them noticed. They were happy.
It was as simple as that.
Logan thanked whatever higher powers had graced him with the passionate pixie that he held in his arms and he thanked them daily. He could not even begin to image what life would be like for him without her. More often than not, she knew what he was thinking before he even opened his mouth. Since most of the time Logan couldn’t even figure out how to put what he wanted to say into words it meant so much to him that there was someone who knew him so well. Someone who knew his heart and his mind completely that she could interpret every look and gesture.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be more than vocal with anyone who tried to touch his Marie at the bachelor party.