The next morning, when she awoke, Marie felt as though she were still dreaming. Nothing felt real at that moment. It wasn’t until she rolled over to Logan’s side of the bed that she remembered what had happened the day before.
As it all came flooding back to her, Marie grabbed hold of Logan’s pillow, holding it to her chest as she curled her body around it. At that moment, she craved for nothing more than to be able to hold Logan in her arms. To have him close and know that he was safe. It was a simple dream, but one that Marie knew would be difficult to fulfill.
“Please come home to me, Logan,” Marie whimpered into Logan’s pillow. “I need you here.”
All that answered her was silence and that only made Marie cry harder. Reaching for the chain around her neck, Marie grabbed hold of Logan’s wedding ring which she had taken from the men’s locker room. She stared intently at the white gold band, her mind returning to the day that she had first placed it on Logan’s finger. Logan had been so happy that day, a broad smile on his face for the entire week while they were honeymooning in Alaska.
“Momma, you aww wight?”
At the sound of Braeden’s quiet voice reached her ears, Marie plastered a smile on her face and turned over to face the door. She lifted the blanket, silently inviting him to join her in the bed. Braeden readily accepted, sprinting across the room and vaulting into the bed. Marie couldn’t help but smile as Braeden nestled himself in Marie’s arms, taking the place of Logan’s pillow.
“Is Daidee back yet?” Braeden asked while shifting to find the most comfortable position.
Sighing deeply, Marie shook her head. “No, squirt, Daidee’s not back yet. But he will be as soon as he can manage it.”
“Long as he don’t miss hockey. Daidee hates missing hockey,” Braeden said matter of factly.
Though Braeden’s words made her laugh, Marie could once again feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes. Hockey night Saturday was a family affair for the Hunters clan. The four of them would gather in their small living room and watch Hockey Night in Canada. There would be all sorts of snacks set out on the coffee table and Kristyn and Braeden would be allowed to stay up until the end of the first game. Or until they fell asleep, depending on what they had done that day. Hockey night Saturday was a tradition that Logan and Marie did everything to avoid missing no matter what was going on in the never-ending human/mutant battle.
“You know what, squirt?” Marie asked as her eyes drifted towards the clock on the bedside table. She waited for Braeden to look up at her before continuing. “I think that you’re up way too early for Momma’s standards. You should be sleepin’ for another hour at least.”
“What time is it, Momma?” Braeden asked her. The toddler had recently become interested in the concept of time and had come to learn that when the clock on the VCR read “8:00” that it was time for him to go to bed and not a moment before or later.
Rolling Braeden over to face away from her, Marie pointed to the clock. “Well, squirt, accordin’ to my clock, it’s only eight minutes after six. You’re not supposed to be awake until seven o’clock.”
“So how much wonger do I have to be sleep?” Braeden asked, completely serious.
“You have fifty-two minutes, squirt, so I suggest that you use your time wisely,” Marie informed him, already snuggling back into her pillow. Being the time conscious person that he was, Marie had no doubt in her mind that Braeden would decide to go back to sleep.
Holding her baby tight in her arms, Marie let out a contented sigh and drifted back off to sleep. It wasn’t the same as being able to hold Logan in her arms, but for Marie it ran a close second. At least this way she was holding onto a part of Logan. Marie would have felt better if she had both Braeden and Kristyn sleeping with her, but Kristyn had rather peculiar sleeping habits and would not take well to them being interrupted. At the moment, Kristyn had decided that the only way the monsters wouldn’t get her was if she slept in the exact middle of her bed with the covers pulled over her heard. It was only after Hank assured both her and Logan that Kristyn wouldn’t accidentally suffocate herself during the night that the two stopped worrying. Hank had also advised them to allow Kristyn to sleep in her bed the way she wanted to. The little girl just had an overactive imagination and was doing no harm to herself.
“I do not appoove of this.”
Cracking her eye open, Marie grinned at Kristyn who was standing in the doorway, her hands planted firmly on her hips. “Then get over here and hop in, sweetheart.”
Kristyn flashed Marie a brilliant smile and sprinted over to the king size bed. She scrambled up, not disturbing Braeden in the least. Rolling over onto her back, Marie held her arm out so that Kristyn could burrow herself against her other side. Being surrounded by both her children, Marie felt almost normal. Like Logan was just in the next room and not at some unknown location, possibly being tortured by Magneto.
Rogue, we have a lead on Magneto’s location.
At Xavier’s words, it was all that Marie could do to keep from bursting into tears of joy. She knew that it wasn’t exact confirmation of where Logan was, but, at the moment, it was the best there was.
Carefully pulled her arm out from under Braeden, Marie turned to face Kristyn who was still awake. “Sweety, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Braeden. Katrina is just down the hall if you need her.”
“Are you gonna go get Daidee now?” Kristyn mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
Leaning over, Marie smoothed Kristyn’s rumpled hair from her face and brushed a kiss against her forehead. “I’m gonna do my best, sweets. So you keep your fingers crossed and I’ll do my best to find Daidee and bring him home.”
“Good,” Kristyn yawned, already mostly asleep.
Not bothering to change out of her sweat pants and tank top, Marie kept a sedate pace until she reached the hallway. As soon as she was out in the hallway, Marie took off at a dead run towards the elevator on the main floor. Her bare feet didn’t make a sound even when she reached the marble floor of the foyer. Marie was running so fast, in fact, that she stumbled as she came to a sudden stop when she reached the elevator.
The elevator ride was the longest of Marie’s life. It was worse than anything Marie had ever felt before. She and Logan had been separated countless times during their marriage, but this was different. When he was on a mission, Logan was always able to get ahold of her and let her know that he was all right. He had always been just a phone call away.
This was infinitely different.
Finally, the doors opened and Marie sprinted down the metallic corridor towards the conference room where Marie knew the Professor would be waiting. Jean was in the corridor also, slowly making her way from the medlab to the conference room. The redhead was walking leisurely down the very centre of the hallway and Marie shoved her aside without a care. Since she was barefoot, Jean hadn’t heard her approach until it was too late. Marie simply continued on without glancing back at the other woman.
Marie’s collision with Hank was less successful. As she turned into the open door of the conference room, Marie failed to notice the presence of the hulking doctor. It wasn’t until she slammed into Hank’s massive chest and was sent hurtling backwards that she realized he was there.
“My stars! I had not even heard your approach, my dear,” Hank exclaimed as he helped Marie to her feet.
“Logan!” Marie gasped, staggering into the room. “The Professor said he’d found Logan!”
Xavier guided his wheelchair over to Marie, his smile strained. “I am sorry that you took my message that way, Rogue, but we do not have a definite confirmation of Logan’s location. All we know for certain is that there’s a great deal of activity at a previously dormant facility under Magneto’s control. It has only been operational for the past nineteen hours which leads to a high probability that Logan is there. Storm and Cyclops will go on a preliminary examination of the site to determine whether Logan is there before I send the whole team.”
In an instant, Marie’s notorious temper was at full boil. “No! No fuckin’ way are we doin’ this like pansies! It’s Logan that we’re talkin’ about! I am not gonna sit here while you go check for him! There is no checkin’! We go, get Logan and bring him home!”
“Now, Rogue....” Scott started to placate her.
“NO! I don’t wanna hear it, Scooter! We are goin’ to get Logan and that’s all there is to it! Now tell me where he is!” Marie demanded, jabbing her finger in the centre of Scott’s chest. Marie felt a hand on her arm and looked over at Ororo who was standing beside her, a calm expression on the weather goddess’s face.
“You need to calm yourself, Rogue,” Ororo said gently. “It is not good for the children to see you like this.”
“But Kristyn and Braeden aren’t here,” Marie reminded her, her anger quickly changing to sorrow. “Neither is their father and that’s something I can’t stand. I want Logan here. With me.”
The older woman pulled Marie into a hug, resting her head on the brunette’s shoulder. “You will have Logan back with you very soon, Rogue. I am certain of it.”
“I am goin’ with Scooter and ‘Ro,” Marie announced to no one in particular. “I promised Kristyn that I’d bring her Daddy back and I plan on doing just that.”
Realizing that there would be no point in arguing with her, Xavier consented to her joining Scott and Ororo on the reconnaissance mission. Giving Xavier a grateful smile, Marie all but an from the room towards the locker room so that she could change into her undamaged uniform. Not wanting to be parted from her wedding ring, Marie slipped it onto the chain that already carried Logan’s dogtags and wedding ring. Feeling their combined weight resting between her breasts was oddly comforting.
“Let’s get the hell outta here,” Marie announced as she stalked back out into the corridor. “I want Logan home by lunchtime.”
Without pausing to see if anyone was responding to her, Marie continued towards the underground hanger where the Blackbird lay in wait. She didn’t know where Logan possibly was or how long it would take to get there and, quite frankly, she didn’t care. All that Marie really cared about was getting Logan back. She wanted him home, with her, as soon as possible.
If she had known how to fly the Blackbird, Marie would have started up the engine and probably would have even taken off had Scott and Ororo not entered only a few seconds after her. So while Scott took his position as pilot and Ororo joined him up front as co-pilot, Marie took her customary seat in the high tech jet. A small part of her had been tempted to sit in Logan’s seat, but that would be going against tradition. Instead, she turned her attention to the picture in front of her. It had been taken at Braeden’s last birthday. There had been a party held for him on the mansion’s expansive back lawn with Braeden as the centre of attention. However, by the end of the party, Braeden was all but asleep on his feet. The same went for Kristyn. Kitty had snapped the picture of the small family as they were heading back into the mansion. Marie was holding a sleeping Braeden while Kristyn blinked owlishly from Logan’s arms. With the sun setting in the background it had turned out to be a very beautiful picture. Even if Logan’s shirt was covered with grass stains from his and Scott’s wrestling match earlier in the day.
Marie had been staring at the photo so intently that she wasn’t even aware of how much time had passed. In truth, she wasn’t really aware of anything that was going on around her.
Until Ororo appeared at her side.
“Scott’s got a visual on Logan,” the older woman said softly. “He’s in the centre of a rocky outcrop about a hundred yards away.”
Marie was on her feet in an instant. A mistake because almost as soon as she righted herself, she was thrown back into her seats by one of Scott’s famous landings. For the life of her, Marie couldn’t figure out how Scott hadn’t learned to land the jet considering how often he flew it.
Once she was able to stand up again, Marie bolted towards the exit of the jet. She complete ignored the warnings Scott and Ororo were shouting her at, only wanting to have Logan in her arms once again. Even her mind was attempting to warn her of the possibility of a trap. It certainly wasn’t like Magneto to let Logan go so soon after abducting him. It had been less than a day since Logan had been taken. Marie’s mind kept shouting at her that it was a trap, but her heart overruled her mind’s cautiousness. In her heart, Marie saw only one thing.
Logan.
“Logan!” Marie shouted as she stumbled across the rocky plain. She was perhaps twenty feet away from him and was incredibly worried by the fact that he wasn’t moving. “Logan, wake up! I’m here, sugah! Logan, please!”
Marie tripped suddenly and went crashing onto her hands and knees. Ignoring the stinging pain where smaller rocks had cut into her palms, Marie crawled forward, closing the distance between herself and Logan. It was only when she got closer that she could see the way his chest moved when he breathed. At least he was alive. Whatever Magneto had done to him, Marie didn’t care about. She had Logan and, to her, that was everything.
When she was close enough, Marie pulled Logan into her arms. He moaned softly as she turned him over onto his back, his head lolling to the side. Holding him as close as possible, Marie began peppering his face with kisses.
“I’ve got you now, Logan,” Marie murmured, her lips brushing against his ear as she spoke. “You’re safe now. I promise. I won’t let anything hurt you anymore.”
Groaning quietly, Logan turned his head towards her, burrowing his face against her throat.