Even exhaustion couldn’t win over the intense feeling of relief Marie was experiencing now that Logan was awake. She had been deathly afraid when he had fallen unconscious in the back of Jack’s truck. He had been so still that it had been hard for Marie to tell whether he was even breathing or not. The failure of all her attempts to wake him up hadn’t helped much either.
It had been a huge relief when Logan had woken up.
A conscious, fully alert Logan was so much better than an unconscious one. When he was awake, Marie could see his beautiful hazel eyes. From the first moment she had seen those eyes, Marie had fallen in love with them. And with Logan.
All they had to do was wait for Logan’s tests to come back and they could leave. Marie was confident that they would all come back saying that Logan was in perfect health-- minus his injuries, of course. Hopefully they would come back soon because Marie could clearly see signs of Logan’s healing factor kicking in. Al small cut near his left temple had all but disappeared since Dr. Mathis had left twenty minutes ago.
“Ya’ll be all healed up real soon,” Marie murmured, lying her head down next to Logan’s on the pillow. It was very tempting to just close her eyes and drift off to sleep, but Marie had decided that she was goin to stay awake until they were out of the hospital. She hadn’t said anything to Logan, but she trusted the doctors just as much as he did and that wasn’t saying a lot.
“You should sleep,” Logan told her, his right hand reaching out to rest on her arm. “You’ll feel better once you get some sleep.”
“Ah feel fine,” Marie tried to tell him, but it was obvious to both of them that she was exhausted.
“Please, Marie, I need you to rest,” Logan pleaded, squeezing her arm lightly.
“Ah promise ya that as soon as we get outta here Ah’ll rest. Just let me stay here an’ make sure that yer all right,” Marie promised him. A grin appeared on her face and she raised a hand to stroke one of Logan’s long sideburns. “Ah want ya t’ rest, though. Ya’ve had a pretty rough couple o’ days and need t’ rest. So sleep an’ Ah’ll wake ya up when Dr. Mathis comes back.”
It surprised Marie that Logan actually listened to her. He relaxed against the pillow, his eyes falling shut. He must have really been tired because Marie knew that under any other circumstances, Logan never would have given up without a fight. It just wasn’t him.
Marie sat up to watch as Logan drifted off to sleep. She ran her hand up and down his chest, humming a lullaby under her breath. Being Logan, though, he gave into sleep reluctantly. Tossing and turning, mumbling under his breath about things Marie couldn’t understand.
Eventually, though, exhaustion won out and Logan was able to sleep. For a while, Marie simply sat there and watched him sleep. Watched his chest rise and fall with even breaths and his eyes flicker back and forth under closed lids. Marie hoped that whatever Logan was dreaming about was peaceful. She wanted him to not have any more nightmares. From experience, Marie had seen how terrifying Logan’s nightmares had been. If she had it her way, Logan wouldn’t have them anymore. But it wasn’t up to Marie.
Once she was sure that Logan was asleep, Marie rose from her chair. She was going to need something if she planned on staying awake until they left the hospital. Something jam-packed with caffeine that would keep her from drifting off as she watched over Logan while he slept.
“Ah’ll be back in a few minutes, sugah,” Marie whispered, leaning over to kiss Logan on the temple. “Ah’m just goin’ t’ get mahself a coffee or a pop. Ya won’t even notice Ah’m gone.”
Marie pressed a quick kiss over his heart before standing up. Marie didn’t want to leave Logan, but it would only be for a few minutes. Less than that if she hurried. Pulling out some of the money that Thomas had stuck in the pocket of her jeans, Marie counted it quickly. Thirty dollars. It wasn’t much, but it was more than what they had started with. Marie planned on conserving the money as much as possible and warranted the seventy-five cents she was going to pay for coffee a worthwhile venture. If she had coffee, she would stay awake. If she stayed awake, she would be able to protect Logan.
“Ah’ll be back real soon,” Marie promised once she reached the door. She had turned around and was now staring at Logan’s sleeping form. He looked so beautiful, so peaceful. Marie longed to reach out and touch him and knowing that she couldn’t caused an ache in the pit of her stomach.
Marie walked briskly down the hallway, wanting to get to Logan as soon as possible. Not knowing where she was going slowed Marie down a great deal. Marie was less than trusting of people which made finding a candidate to ask for directions very difficult. She found a nurse that didn’t scare her completely and asked for directions.
“It’s very simple, my dear, you follow the hallway you’re on right now till you get to the elevators. Then you go down to the main floor. The cafeteria will be the first thing you see on your right,” the nurse told her.
Marie smiled her thanks then headed towards the elevator that the nurse had directed her to. As she neared it, Marie was all but running. There were too many people in the corridor and it was making her nervous. Her shoulders were hunched and she pulled the sleeves of her shirt down as far as possible to hide as much of her skin as possible. Still, Marie felt very uneasy and couldn’t wait to get back to Logan.
The elevator offered a bit of a respite from the masses of people. Marie’s luck had timed it so that she was the only person in the elevator. It gave her precious few minutes of solitude until she was surrounded on all sides by people.
Whimpering slightly in the back of her throat, Marie eased her way between people towards the cafeteria. She didn’t care what people thought about her odd behaviour, but avoiding them the way she was kept her from knowing first hand what they thought of her behaviour.
By the time she got into the cafeteria she was a nervous wreck. She was visibly shaking and her eyes were constantly darting around in order to search out people that needed avoiding. Marie got a few curious glances, but that was about it.
“Can Ah have a coffee, please?” Marie asked, pulling a five dollar bill out of her pocket.
“Sure, darling,” the cafeteria lady said, turning around to get Marie’s coffee. “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you look like you’ve seen better days. You worried about something.”
“Mah boyfriend,” Marie murmured, smoothing some of her wild hair behind her ear. “We were attacked when we were campin’ an’ he got hurt real bad.”
The cafeteria lady spun back around, her eyes wide. “That’s awful! Did they catch the people that did it?”
Marie sighed deeply, shaking her head. “Not that Ah’ve heard. That scares me ‘cause Ah don’t know where they are or if they’ll come back.”
“Well don’t you worry, darling. Anyone that tries to come after you will have to get through our security guys and I can assure you that they’re the best out there,” the cafeteria lady said, handing Marie her coffee. When Marie went to hand her the money, the older lady shook her head. “This one’s on me, darling. You just go back to that boyfriend of yours. Take care of him.”
Marie flashed the woman a brilliant smile as she slipped the bill back into her pocket. “Thank ya so much. Ah’m real grateful fer this. Our expenses are a little limited right now an’ this means a lot t’ me.”
“It’s just a cup of coffee, darling,” the cafeteria lady protested.
Marie’s smile didn’t falter one bit. “It still means a whole lot t’ me. It’s been a long while since someone was so nice t’ me. ‘Cept fer Hugh, o’ course.”
“Well how about this, darling. I get off at six. Why don’t we have dinner together,” the cafeteria lady offered. “My name’s Doris, by the way.”
“Mah name’s Anna an’ Ah’d be glad t’ have dinner with ya.”
Doris returned Marie’s smile. “All right, Anna, I’ll see you then.”
“Thanks again fer the coffee,” Marie said as she turned to leave. “Ah’ll see ya later.”
Her conversation with Doris put Marie in a much calmer state. She wasn’t quite so frantic as she had been before, but still made sure to keep her distance from others. Marie didn’t want to bring any unwanted attention to herself or Logan. As long as no one found out they were mutants they would be safe.
Marie smiled at the nurse who had given her the directions to the cafeteria. “Thanks fer the directions.”
The other woman nodded her head. “No problem. You’re not the first person to get lost in here and I doubt you’ll be the last.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, Marie continued down the hallway towards Logan’s room. About halfway there, Marie noticed something that made her blood run cold.
The door to Logan’s room was open.
Placing her cup on the tray of a passing nurse, Marie bolted to Logan’s room. She had closed the door behind her so if it was open it meant that someone else was in the room. Someone who may or may not mean Logan harm.
It took everything that she had not to scream Logan’s name as she burst into his hospital room. She scanned the interior of the room, terrified by what she would find.
Logan wasn’t in the room.
“Miss, what’s wrong?” a voice called from behind her.
Marie ignored the voice as she ran towards the closed door of the bathroom, hoping against hope that Logan was in there.
Marie flung the door open and came to a sudden stop.
“Oh mah Gawd!!”