“Goddamned fuckin’ pansy! Have you lost your fuckin’ mind, Scooter?!”
“Look, I know--”
“You know shit all, One-Eye! Did you do that on purpose or have you just completely lost your mind? Fuckin’ coward!”
Scott straightened at that, slipping instantly into his role as fearless leader. “I understand that you’re upset. You have every right to be. What you need to understand was that there was no time. We couldn’t mount a second offensive because there were a dozen Sentinels closing in on our location. We had to leave.”
“Well I don’t except that,” Marie growled as she stalked back and forth across the interior of the Blackbird. “You let Magneto and his goons walk out of there with Logan and didn’t even put up a fight! You know what Magneto can do to you! You’ve seen it yourself, Scooter, an’ I’m not about to let you sacrifice Logan to save your own hide! Now turn this plane back around!”
Marie felt a pair of large hands rest on her shoulder and steer her towards the back of the jet. “Come along, my dear Rogue, I need to tend to the gash on your arm.”
“We have to go back,” Marie moaned even as she allowed Hank to lead her away from the cockpit. “Logan’s back there.”
“But Kristyn and Braeden are forward at the mansion,” Hank reminded her as he helped her to sit down on the examining table in the portable medlab on the Blackbird. “Had we remained behind after the Sentinels arrived we ran the risk of your children losing both their parents. I assure you, as soon as we have regrouped, the team will venture back out to recover Logan.”
The only reactions Marie was capable of then were a series of quiet whimpers as Hank began to cut away at the tattered remains of her sleeve. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten about her children. Kristyn and Braeden were the most important people in her life along with Logan. Marie felt sick to her stomach that she could have so easily forgotten her babies. Seven year old Kristyn and three year old Braeden were always on her mind in some form or another. In the Blackbird itself, there was a picture of the pair attached to the backs of the chairs in front of Logan and Marie’s customary seats. It served as a reminder to Marie and Logan about what they had waiting for them back at the mansion.
“I want my babies,” Marie sniffled, running her free hand across her face. Her left arm was held stationary in one of Hank’s massive hands while he cleaned the jagged gash that ran from her shoulder to just above her elbow. “Gawd, how can I tell them that I let the bad guys take their Daidee? They won’t understand it, Hank.... I don’t even understand it.”
“Kristyn and Braeden are very intelligent children. I am quite certain that they will understand that you did everything in your power to keep Logan from the hands of the enemy,” Hank was quick to assure her. “Now I would suggest that you brace yourself as I have been told this stings a little.”
“That’s always confortin’,” Marie murmured as she snaked her hand into her hair, pulling it away from her face. “Talk to me, Hank.... I need to keep my mind workin’. If I start thinking, I’ll starting thinkin’ of Logan and I don’t want to do that right now. I don’t want to worry. I can’t. I’m liable to lose my mind.”
“Well I daresay that Logan would be most vexed if we allowed you to lose your grip on reality,” Hank said lightly as he proceeded to stitch close the deep wound. “I have always been of the opinion that he prefers you to be the sane one in your union. Your accent has already been lost to too much time away from the South so it would undoubtedly be best for your sanity to remain.”
“Well Ah’m not exactly a proper Southern lady now, am Ah?” Marie asked, slipping easily into the drawl that had begun to fade dramatically since Braeden’s birth. “Proper Southern ladies don’t go ‘round in skin tight leather fightin’ bad guys. They tend t’ sit ‘round an’ knit or talk gossip with each other.”
Hank chuckled quietly, his brilliant yellow eyes flitting up to Marie. “I would not hold out any hopes for Kristyn to behave like a Southern lass. She has far too much of Logan in her to be proper as I am sure you were raised to be.”
“If Logan had it his way, Kris woulda had a motorcycle for her first bike. It was bad enough that he bought both of them leather jackets when they were babies,” Marie said softly, smiling at the memory of seeing her daughter dressed in a leather jacket when she was barely a week old. Marie felt a few tears slip down her cheeks and did nothing to halt them. “I can’t bear the thought of Logan not bein’ there anymore. If Magneto hurts one hair on his head I’m gonna make that old man pay. He will suffer if anythin’ bad happens to Logan.”
Despite all of Hank’s efforts, he was unable to distract her. A part of Marie had known that he wouldn’t be able to take her mind off Logan and what he could possibly be going through at that very moment. Logan was so much a part of herself and had been for so long that it was impossible for her not to think of him. Logan was always on her mind. Jubilee had once jokingly commented that it was as though they were meant to fit together. As far as Marie was concerned, it was close enough to the truth. There was so much of both of them that had been broken. Marie and Logan had both been through so much in the time they had known each other-- and even before --and every crisis only brought them closer together.
By the time she made her way out of the Blackbird and into the underground hanger, Marie felt numb all over. For the first time she could remember, Logan wasn’t by her side. Even on that long ago night when Marie had almost been killed in Magneto’s machine, Marie had been at Logan’s side the entire time, eventually having to be forced away by Jean who insisted that she get some rest. Under normal circumstances, Marie wouldn’t have listened to her, but she had been so busy trying to process all of the new memories that she had received in the short span of time from both Logan and Magneto.
“Momma! Momma! Momma!” Kristyn cried, running into the hanger. Kristyn had lived her whole life knowing what her parents did in their spare time and was used to seeing them in the leather uniforms of the X-Men.
Separating herself from Hank and the others, jogged towards her daughter, desperate to hold the little girl in her arms. As soon as she got close enough, Marie leaned over and scooped Kristyn up into her arms. Marie held her tightly, greedily inhaling ht scent of Kristyn’s strawberry shampoo.
“What on earth are you doin’ up this late?” Marie asked as she pulled back to gaze into her daughter’s wide brown eyes. “You shoulda been asleep hours ago.”
Kristyn sniffled, burrowing her head under Marie’s jaw. “I had a bad dream and couldn’t fall back asleep. You and Daidee weren’t there to make the bad dreams go away.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Marie murmured, brushing a kiss against Kristyn’s forehead. “Daidee and I had a long talk with the bad dreams before we left and told them to stay away from you. Guess we’ll have to ground them.”
At the mention of her father, Kristyn lifted her head from Marie’s shoulder and peered back towards the Blackbird. “Where’s Daidee?”
The question itself was an innocent one. At least under normal circumstances it would have been. Kristyn was daddy’s little girl so there was no surprise on Marie’s part that she would ask after Logan. This time, however, it brought tears to Marie’s eyes.
“Sweetheart, could you do Momma a big favour and go back up to your room?” Marie asked as they headed towards the main corridor of the lower levels. “I need to change and right after that I’ll go upstairs and held you deal with those bad dreams. Okay, sweetheart?”
Kristyn frowned, rolling the idea over in her mind. Marie could tell from her expression that Kristyn was less than impressed about what was going on. Eventually, though, she nodded her head and squirmed out of Marie’s arms.
“You come up as soon as you’re done,” Kristyn told her before spinning about on her heel and walking down tot he opposite end of the corridor to where the elevator was.
“She has so much of Logan in her,” Ororo commented as she came up behind Marie.
Marie sighed deeply, nodding her head. “They’re like two peas in a pod. If she wasn’t my daughter I might have to be jealous of her.”
Moving as though in a trance, Marie went into the woman’s locker room and peeled herself out of the tattered remains of what had once been her uniform. She asked all over a, though she had taken a good pounding from Magneto’s goons, Marie knew that it wasn’t entirely physical. It was a soul deep pain that Marie was feeling at that moment, made ever worse hen she reached into her locker and pulled out her wedding ring.
“I know I’m probably gonna sound like Scooter, but you mean everything to me, Marie. You really do. In the whole fifteen years I can remember before I met you, I never once thought about getting married or doing anything else that involved giving two shits about another person. ‘Course then you stowed away in my trailer and turned my world upside down. Nothing’s been the same ever since and I’m glad for that. I love you, Marie, more than anything and I plan on spending the rest of my life with you.”
It still managed to catch Marie off guard that she and Logan had been married for eight years. At times it felt like only a few weeks, months at the most. It was nine years, though, almost ten when she added the time they had known each other before their wedding. Logan was her constant and without him Marie felt so lost.
“I want Logan back as soon as possible,” Marie announced to the other women as she headed out of the locker room dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt. There was a large part of Marie that just wanted to curl up in bed and disappear.
However, that wasn’t an option. If anything Marie had to stay strong for her children. As acquainted as Kristyn and Braeden were with their parents extra curricular activities, this was the first time that both had failed to return. There had been one close call when Marie had almost gotten sliced and diced by Sabertooth. But Logan had saved her from the madman before he did any damage and Logan desire to keep her close had resulted in Braeden’s conception later that night.
News of Logan’s capture must have beat them back to the mansion because people would avert their eyes away from Marie as she made her way though the main floor of the mansion. A few of the braver ones would place a hand on her arm and tell her how bad they felt for her. Marie felt like screaming at them, reminding them that Logan was still alive. That he hadn’t been killed. Marie just didn’t know where he was at the moment and that was what pained her most of all. The not knowing.
By the time she arrived at the suite her small family called home, the numbness was fading, leaving only the pain behind. Marie still didn’t know how she was going to tell Kristyn and Braeden that she didn’t know when they were going to see their Daidee again. This would be the first time in either of their lives that Logan hadn’t been there to say goodnight to them. Even when he was on a mission, Logan would call home at bed-time in order to say goodnight to Kristyn and Braeden. Logan’s eleven o’clock calls were definitely not for the kids to hear.
As soon as she stepped into the living room, Marie was met by a hyperactive Kristyn who was practically bouncing off the walls. On the couch, Braeden lay half-asleep, barely paying attention to the video Kristyn had put in to keep him occupied.
“H’lo, Momma,” Braeden mumbled sleepily, having caught sight of Marie before Kristyn did. “Something wrong?”
Marie smiled sadly, amazed by Braeden’s insightfulness. Ignoring Kristyn’s incessant chatter for the moment, Marie walked over to the couch and scooped Braeden up into her arms. He wound his tiny limbs about her, nestling his head under her chin as Marie sat down in the centre of the couch.
“Momma, where’s Daidee?” Kristyn asked again, coming to stand directly in front of Marie. “He’s s’pose to be here.”
Dutifully holding back her tears, Marie held an arm out to her eldest. “come sit next to Momma, sweetheart. I have somethin’ to tell you and Braeden.”
“Daidee go bye-bye?” Braeden inquired, lifting his head up towards Marie.
Marie leaned forward and brushed a kiss against his forehead. Pulling Kristyn as close to her as possible, Marie steadied herself for what was to come. “You two know how Daidee and I have to go out and fight bad guys?”
“Like Spiderman!” Braeden shouted, perking up instantly.
“Like Spiderman,” Marie agreed, reaching out to smooth some of Braeden’s wild hair from her face. “Well, tonight somethin’ happened and Daidee can’t come home right now. The bad people took Daidee so we have to go and get him back as soon as possible.”
“How come you didn’t go get him now?” Braeden asked, turning his eyes that were identical to Logan’s on her. “Yer s’pose to go get Daidee now.”
It was all that Marie could do at that point to keep from sobbing out her anguish. Later, when she was alone, Marie would let her emotions out. For the moment, though, she had to concentrate on her children. Kristyn and Braeden needed their Momma more than anything then which meant she couldn’t wallow in her grief.
“If I had it my way, runt, I wouldn’t have let anyone take Daidee away,” Marie assured him. “There were just too many people and we had to go away. As soon as we know where Daidee is, we’ll go back and get him. He’ll be home very soon.”
“Are they gonna hurt Daidee?” Kristyn whispered, staring up at Marie with wide eyes.
Even though she didn’t say it, that though scared Marie more than anything else had that night.
“MARIE!” Logan screamed in agony as he felt the flesh at the base of his skull being sliced open.