Logan could tell right away that she was nervous. All of a sudden and for no reason that he could figure out, Marie got nervous. Not only could he smell the change in her emotions, but he could feel the almost imperceptible trembling of her hand as he held it tight within his own. At first Logan couldn’t figure out why she would be nervous then, just as quickly as Marie’s mood had changed, it all made sense to him.
Marie thought that he was going to leave.
Despite his earlier reassurances otherwise, Marie fully believed that he was going to leave once Chuck gave him the information he needed. Logan didn’t know how he was going to convince Marie otherwise, but he was certainly going to try. The kid had little enough to trust in her life and Logan didn’t much care about adding himself to the list.
Giving her hand a quick squeeze, Logan allowed a brief smile to tilt the corner of his mouth. “You’d better not be planning on running, kid.”
Marie looked at him as though he were mad. “Me leave? Fer some reason Ah think that yer the one who’s most likely ta leave.”
“That so? And when did you come to this startling conclusion?” Logan teased. Truth was, be was actually very curious to see if he was right about her assumption of his imminent departure and was determined to convince her otherwise.
“Well Ah figure that if the Professor has information ‘bout yer past yer gonna go see if it’s real,” Marie told him, her eyes glued to the carpeted floor.
“We’ll just have to see about that,” Logan said cryptically earning a startled look from Marie.
They continued the rest of the way in silence, Logan casting glances at Marie out of the corner of his eyes from time to time. For some reason, she seemed incredibly interested in the floor. Her gaze never wavered from the ground they were walking upon. Logan was just relieved that she had stopped shaking by that point. He didn’t want Marie to be afraid around him. Especially since he had no intentions of going anywhere that she wasn’t. He just had to convince Marie of that.
“You hailed, Chuck,” Logan declared as he and Marie entered the map room located deep within the bowels of the mansion.
Chuck seemed to be slightly annoyed with Logan’s greeting, but smiled amicably nonetheless. “Logan. Rogue. I am glad to see that you have both recovered from your ordeals.”
“I heal fast,” was Logan’s quick response.
“In some cases it would see,” Chuck said under his breath, but due to his enhanced hearing, Logan picked it up as well. Logan was going to let the comment slide until Chuck’s next statement. “If you’ll excuse us, Rogue, I would like to speak to Logan in private.”
Snarling slightly, Logan clutched tighter at Marie’s hand. “The kid stays, Chuck. Whatever happens to me effects her just as much as it effects me.”
“Is this true?” the Professor asked Marie.
“What he said,” Marie mumbled softly, her eyes still on the ground.
Before Logan had a chance to talk to Marie, Chuck typed in a code on the digital map’s console and a 3-D image appeared before them. As soon as he saw it, Logan felt the tingling of something in the back of his mind. There was something about the image on the map that called to him.
“What is this place?” Logan inquired, releasing Marie’s hand in order to place both of his on the structure surrounding the map. He leaned in closer, trying to pick out details.
“There’s an abandoned military compound at Alkali Lake in the Canadian Rockies close to where we found you,” Chuck explained. “There’s not much left, but it could be what you’re looking for.”
“Thank you,” Logan said absently, his eyes never leaving the map. He could feel Marie beside him and blindly reached out to take her hand in his.
For the first time every, Logan had an actual location to begin his search. A starting point for him to begin his search for his past. Glancing down at Marie, Logan caught the awe struck expression on her face. She seemed to be as excited about the find as he was.
“So, kid, what happens now?” Logan asked, giving Marie’s hand a light squeeze.
Instantly, her eyes were glued to his. For several long minutes she stared at him as though she were mad before she was finally able to form a coherent thought.
“Yer kiddin’ me, right, Logan? You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me. There’s no way Ah can make that decision,” Marie rambled, her dark brown eyes wide and uncomprehending. “Yer the one who needs ta decide what’s gonna happen, Logan. It’s yer past.”
“Logan, I really do think that it is you who must make the decision,” Chuck interrupted.
Logan growled deep in the back of his throat, the threatening sound echoing off the walls. “I have obligations to Marie which means that she has as much a say in this as I do. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go discuss this.”
With that, Logan turned and stalked from the room, pulling a willing Marie behind him. The condescending tone of Chuck’s voice had all but sent him over the edge. The older man had no right to question Marie’s role in his life. What he did with his Marie was their business and no one else’s.
Logan, don’t do anything rash.
Stuff it, Chuck, Logan snarled internally, unconsciously clutching Marie’s hand tighter in his own. This is our business not yours.
Rogue is a pupil here, that makes whatever effects her my business, Chuck elaborated, his voice infinitely calmer.
Outta my head, Chucky. This is between the kid and me. With a final shake of his head, Logan expelled the Professor’s presence from his mind.
“Come on, kid, let’s go grab our coats. I feel like going for a walk,” Logan announced as they stepped out of the elevator onto the main floor of the mansion.
“Ah could certainly do with a little fresh air,” Marie said softly.
Logan noticed that Marie had gone back to being silent and didn’t like that one bit. Over the past few days, Logan had begun to feel responsible to someone other than himself. And, even more surprising, it didn’t frighten him in the least. Logan was actually very grateful for the connection he had formed with Marie. Logan felt a tie to reality for the first time in his life. He could almost believe that his life really mattered. There was a purpose to it beyond the continual haze of alcohol, cigars and fighting.
“So, kid, what do you think?” Logan asked as they started towards the forest at the back of the mansion.
“About what?” Marie inquired, attempting to avoid the question.
Logan, however, would not be put off. “You know what I’m talking about, Marie. The compound up at Alkali Lake. What do you think about it?”
“Well... Ah think that ya should go. Ah know how much findin’ yer past means t’ ya, Logan,” Marie told him, coming to a stop and staring up at him.
Logan reached a gloved hand out and traced a finger along her jaw. It wasn’t the same as skin to skin contact and Logan resented that. Marie deserved better. Still, Marie let her eyes drift shut and turned her face into his touch. There was a faint smile on her face which produced a mirror image on Logan’s face.
“If I’m in Canada, where are you going to be?” Logan murmured, his finger continuing its path along her bottom lip.
“Here, of course,” Marie said as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Logan shook his head, his wandering finger now moving against her temple. “I can’t allow that, Marie. I promised that I’d protect you. I can’t very well do that if you’re thousands of miles away.”
“You’ve kept yer promise, Logan. Ya saved mah life,” Marie insisted, opening her eyes so that she could meet his intense gave. “Ah think that clears ya o’ yer promise.”
“When I promise something, I promise it for life,” Logan told her. “There have been very few people in my life that I’ve trusted enough to give them my word about something. In fact... you’re the first. So I mean to keep this promise.”
Logan was barely able to register the broad smile that appeared on her face before she flung herself in his arms. Marie held him tightly, her slender arms wrapped around his waist. Logan slid one arm around her shoulders and buried his other hand in her luxurious hair. Marie was so small that she fit perfectly in his arms. The soft curves of her body melded exactly with the hard planes of his.
“Ah don’t wanna be a burden t’ ya,” Marie whispered against the supple leather of his jacket. “Ah’d rather stay here then cause ya trouble.”
“You won’t be any trouble,” Logan assured her, smirking against the top of her head. “If anything, you’ll be keeping me out of trouble.”
“That so, sugah?” Marie teased and Logan could hear the laughter in her voice.
Logan nodded jerkily, the endearment catching him off guard. He’d heard her call him it before, but there was something different about it that time. Marie’s voice was so much softer, gentler, when she said it. The word, simple as it was, sent a warm ray of light to his normally permafrost covered heart.
“This mean ya’ll come with me?” Logan asked, struggling to keep his voice calm against the slew of new emotions coursing through his body.
There was a slight pause then Marie nodded her head. “Only if ya want me ta, Logan.”
“I want you to come with me,” Logan said without hesitation. “I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”
“Glad to hear it. When do we leave?”
“How soon can you get packed?”