xp_logs | Logan, Marie, Mac & Heather Hudson: Every Time I Turn Around

Friday evening, Logan and Marie go to Mac and Heather's condo and Marie gets to meet Heather. Heather complains that the last time she saw Logan was when he was on his way to Alkali Lake. The end is prophesised, but it's not clear what it will be the end /of/. Logan is comfortable, Heather makes rugelach, and promises for a future visit are made. When they get back to the hotel, Logan and Marie have an argument over the nature of sacrifice. They both win.

Friday evening, after changing into more comfortable attire, Logan and Marie went out again, this time to a condo in the city. Again, Logan didn't bother knocking before he opened the door.

Marie could see a flash of blonde hair just before Logan called, "Honey, I'm home!"

The blonde hair became a tall, beautiful blond woman, rushing toward them. "Logan!" She threw her arms around him and squeezed. "You came back!" She punched him, then, in the shoulder, and Logan winced. "Damn you, it's been a /year/ since you went to Alkali Lake! A /year/, Logan! What the fuck were you thinking, not getting in touch with us in so long?"

"This is Marie. Marie, this is Heather, Mac's wife," Logan said as an attempt at distraction. Heather gave him a look that said he hadn't got away with it.

"It's nice to meet you, Marie," Heather said kindly, shaking her hand. "Come in, let's see if we can't find you some tea." She sighed. "And beer."

Marie laughed at that, approving already of anyone who didn't hesitate to let Logan know exactly how annoyed they were with him. "Nice to meet you too, Heather." She cast Logan a 'look' tempered by a very affectionate smile. "A whole year without getting in touch?" she asked him dryly, in a low voice. "Nice to know it's not just me." She slid her arm around Logan's waist and followed Heather inside.

Heather lead them through into the family room, offering them a seat before heading into the kitchen to make tea.

Logan tugged Marie down onto the sofa beside him. "They're busy," he said guiltily, as if that, on its own, was supposed to explain why he hadn't gotten in touch. "She's Alpha Flight, too, second in command."

Marie snuggled close, looking up at him with a gentle expression. "And I think you're lousy at remembering that you matter to people," she pointed out without recrimination.

Logan nodded, freely admitting that she was right. "Yeah. S'pose I am, at that."

"I can keep reminding you." She put her chin on his shoulder and gave him a little smile. A few white locks strayed across her cheek, uncooperative as always.

He reached up to tuck the white strands behind her ear. "Might take awhile t'stick," he teased.

"I can't resist a challenge. You know that." She turned a little to kiss his hand as he withdrew it. "Besides, I have the rest of our lives. I think you'll get it."

Heather walked in just in time to see Logan smile down at Marie as though she meant the world to him. "Tea," she called out quietly.

"And beer," Logan reminded her, looking up with a grin.

Marie laughed and shook her head. "I'm sure she didn't forget," she said, poking Logan in the ribs. "Thanks, Heather." She gave the older woman a smile, looking over Heather's features and comparing them to the memories in her head.

Logan took his beer, twisting off the cap and flicking it into the ashtray Heather had just set down on the coffee table. "How y'been? Mac says them FoH fuckers've been playin' havok with yer peace'n quiet."

Heather took a seat across from them, sipping at her own tea. "Mmhm," she said, nodding. "They've been keeping us busy, lately. Mike just keeps saying "the end is coming", but he won't say the end of /what/."

Marie pondered the fact that she was quite certain that the end, in general, wasn't any time soon, given how far off Nathan's Askani visions were. She let the cup in her hands warm her slightly chilled fingers, sorting through to see if she knew who Mike was at all. This wasn't something she liked to play with, usually, but she felt fairly safe delving into the imprint of Logan's now familiar mind. She put her head on Logan's shoulder and listened, weighing the interaction between him and Heather, letting them talk.

"Always was too damned vague t'do any good, when 'e did spells like that," Logan said, shrugging. He stroked Marie's hair absently while talking to Heather. "How's Puck?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "The same. Ever the Casanova, of course." She grinned. "Last I heard, you still owe him a poker game."

Marie glanced up to see Logan's expression at that comment, sure it would be pleased. He loved to play and the idea that he had actual friends to play with made her suddenly, overwhelmingly happy.

A grin played over Logan's features. "Next time I'm up this way, I'll give 'im a call. Tell 'im it's suicidal kings wild." He glanced down at Marie, still grinning, and a blush heated his cheeks.

Heather looked on, amused. "I'll deliver the message. I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"And it won't be a year between visits this time, right?" Marie prompted gently.

Logan sighed guiltily. "Nope."

Heather laughed quietly and turned her head back toward the hall as a lock clicked open. "Mac's home."

Mac walked into the family room a few seconds later, shrugging his raincoat off his shoulders and dropping into an armchair. "So, you /did/ stick around for the cookies," he teased.

Logan eyed Heather. "She ain't brought 'em out, yet."

Heather laughed. "Impatient, are we?"

"Always," Marie said dryly, knowing full well that there were times he wasn't but that those times were just for her. "Hi again, Mac," she said, turning to Mac with a warm smile.

Heather stood, walking into the kitchen to collect the promised cookies.

Mac smiled at Marie. "Was Logan nice enough to show you around our fair city, after lunch, or has he been keeping you locked up?"

Logan snorted at Mac, but didn't respond to the dig.

"We had a very nice walk this afternoon, thanks," Marie answered. "It is a pretty place. I rather like it up here. Westchester's a little white bread, you know? And New York's only fun in doses."

Mac nodded, thinking how much younger she looked, now, in her jeans and hoodie. And how much younger she seemed, when she wasn't focused on the FoH. "New York was never my cup of tea," he agreed, then grinned. "Logan never much cared for the place, either, that I remember."

"It stinks," Logan grumbled quietly. The city smelled of too many people, was too noisy. It made it difficult to think, to breathe, if he wasn't in the right frame of mind.

"Yes, dear." The answer was affectionate and spontaneous and she patted Logan's thigh soothingly. "New York also means shopping. That could affect his judgement these days as well." She gave Mac a smile and then glanced up at Logan, her expression turning a little impish as she met his eyes.

Logan snorted, wrinkling his nose at Marie. "Y'can go shoppin' all y'wanna. Buyin' that damned suit was enough of an experience t'last me another six months, at least."

Marie laughed at him. "Did you go with Ali?" If anyone could handle Logan while shopping, other than herself, it was Alison.

Logan gave her a dry look. "After last time, y'think I'd let her do it alone?"

"Here we are, boys and girls. Rugelach." Heather placed a tray covered in crescent-shaped, jam-filled cookies on the coffee table, then took her seat again, smiling.

Marie's expression was indescribable as the two worlds of Alison shopping for her and Alison shopping for Logan collided in her mind. "No sense of adventure," she murmured in mock-disapproval. "Thanks, Heather, those are gorgeous."

Logan and Mac leaned forward at the same time, both reaching for rugelach. Logan mmmed his approval, sitting back and offering Marie a bite of his cookie. "Want some?" he asked, wiggling it at her mouth.

Marie gave Logan another one of those vastly affectionate looks, recalling a distant conversation about sharing cookies. "Yes, please." She took a bite of the proferred cookie, touched and amused by his willingness to be completely himself in front of these people.

"How's Lil?" Logan asked around another bite of cookie.

"Still cranky as ever," Mac said, laughing. "Keeps talking about how things would be easier if she didn't have to follow the rules, that the laws just get in the way."

Logan snorted. "'s Lil a'right, She ain't never gonna change." It would be an insult, but for the amusement in his tone.

Marie knew the litany of complaints, and didn't blame Lil, whoever she was. Rules were bloody annoying and laws could be landmines, at least down in the States. The amusement in Logan's voice made her smile. She wondered if he realized precisely how awful he was about abiding by the rules at times. At second though, she was sure he knew, and probably relished it. As happy as she was to be here, it was a little stressful, she noted, suddenly aware of her ongoing lack of appetite. Curious, she filed it away for later, to investigate what it was that worried her.

Heather picked up a cookie for herself, Logan waved the rest of his cookie at Marie, and they settled in to chat about the team and old times.

----------

Mac put his cup of tea down on the table and grinned at Logan. "Come on. I want to show you something."

He stood and Logan rose after, still holding his bottle of beer. He glanced down at Marie. "D'ya wanna stay in here, or d'ya wanna come with?"

Heather, it seemed, was content to stay in her seat, sipping tea and munching on a rugelach.

"I think I can manage on my own," Marie said, swatting lightly at his hip to get him moving. "Go on. Can't talk about you when you're here."

Logan frowned at her suspiciously, then turned and followed Mac out of the room.

Marie giggled at the dire look, totally undeterred, and shook her head as he left. "Silly man," she said fondly.

Heather laughed. "He is, yes." She tilted her head curiously. "How long have you known him?"

Marie brought her attention back to Heather and thought about this for a bit. "Not quite two years," she answered. "But he's been away a lot of that time, with one thing or another." It felt like forever, really, a lifetime. In a way, it had been.

Heather nodded, understanding. "He's like that. Wanders a lot, but he always comes back to the people he cares about."

"When he can," Marie said very quietly, looking to the doorway where she'd last seen him. She didn't even realize that she'd said it aloud, her mind skipping like a stone back to the fall, back to the Middle East, the way they'd found him there.

Heather watched Marie, taking in the distance in her eyes, the tone of her voice. "Somebody got him, hm?"

Marie nodded, sipping at her tea again. "Last fall. He should bloody well learn to call so we'd know when to worry," she said with definite irritation in her voice. Then she shrugged and smiled at Heather. "If wishes were horses..."

Heather laughed again. "It's a recurring problem, yes. I could tell similar stories." She waved at the cookies. "Please, help yourself."

"Oh, thanks," Marie said, reaching out to take one. "I'm sure you can. He forgets that people remember him and worry." She scrutinized Heather again, measuring her against the flashes of memory once more.

Heather noted the scrutiny and wondered at it briefly before shrugging it off. "So, you're one of Xavier's?" Xavier's /what/, she didn't specify, but it seemed enough, for Heather, that Marie belonged to Xavier.

"That pretty much sums it up," Marie admitted. "I've been at the school since Logan dropped me off there and it's home now, probably indefinitely."

Heather eyed Marie with a bit more scrutiny, then. "How old /are/ you?" she asked, then covered her mouth, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask like that."

Marie laughed and shook her head. "Eighteen. And it's okay, I don't mind."

Eighteen. Jesus. How old was Logan, again? Heather's eyes widened, and then she shrugged. Logan knew what he needed and, from watching them together, Heather could see that this girl -- woman -- was it. "Are you still a student, then?"

"No, actually, I'm teaching now," Marie said, taking in the inevitable moment of shock with a little curiosity. "The official title is graduate student. I'm studying while teaching two classes and doing substitute teaching as needed."

Heather nodded, slowly getting used to the idea. "And you're on their team, too, right?"

"Since I turned eighteen, yes." Marie settled into the couch a little more. "I'd been working for it since I walked in the door."

Heather nodded again. "Do you mind if I ask what your mutation is?" she said carefully, knowing that Xavier's was almost all mutants and that all of the people on the team were mutants.

"Yes, but I'll tell you anyway," Marie said honestly, with a wry smile. "My primary mutation manifests through my skin. I steal people's lives, memories, thoughts, souls, if I touch them. Thus the gloves. If you're human, it doesn't take long. With mutants, it varies, how long it takes, because I take their mutation as well. They can't use it, I can, for as long as it lasts. If they die, it becomes mine." She sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. "No matter who I touch, though, I keep a piece of them. Different people last longer than others, some fade to ghosts and others to whispers. Some stay forever, with their voices and opinions and loves and hates, all up here." She tapped her temple. "That's the primary. I can also fly and I'm exceptionally strong, among other things. Those came from someone I killed in an accident." Her voice was dark with regret now. "So there you have it."

Heather's expression moved quickly from curiosity to sympathy. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Curiousity is what makes me good at my job, but it gets me into trouble, a lot, outside of work."

Marie shrugged. "I don't keep secrets, when I can help it," she explained. "Since people can't keep them from me. It seemed the fairest policy to adopt."

Heather nodded. "That's very generous of you." She was silent for a moment, sipping her tea. "The next time you visit, I'll try to make sure you get to meet Lil," she said, seemingly randomly.

"That'd be nice, whoever she may be," Marie said, looking into her teacup. "I'm rather unused to Logan liking people," she said then, with a laugh. "In any way, shape or form. This is all quite interesting."

Heather grinned. "We're a special case, I think. Logan's not really a people person, but he..." She trailed off, thinking for a second, then started speaking again. "He sort of grew up knowing us, knowing these people as friends."

Marie nodded. "I thought it was something like that. Typical of him never to say anything. It's nice to put names to the faces, though."

Heather realised what Marie meant by that, and filed it away for future reference. "I think he doesn't like to admit it, anyway, when he /does/ like people," she said with a grin.

"You do kind of have to go by the reduction in growling more than anything else," Marie said mischeviously. "But you and Mac are different. I haven't seen him this comfortable around other people... ever. It's nice."

"We've known each other for a long time," Heather said with a fond smile.

"It's good to know there's a place he belongs, where he feels welcome." Marie's eyes were sad as she thought of the mansion and she shook her head to clear the melancholy cloud, wishing that Logan would come back and ground her again.

"He'll always be welcome here," Heather said definitively. She wasn't happy to hear that he didn't feel welcome at Xavier's, for that was surely what Marie was implying. She'd have to have a talk with Mac about that.

"They can't do that," Logan said, walking into the room behind Mac.

Mac laughed. "Sure they can. It's what they do." He settled himself back in his chair and picked up his now-cool cup of tea. "Hello, ladies," he said by way of greeting, as Logan sat back down on the sofa beside Marie.

Marie shifted, leaning into Logan, unconsciously seeking out his warmth and shelter. His appearance was a relief; not that she didn't like Heather, but the revelation of how he could be as opposed as to how he was at home was damning at best.

----------

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Marie asked the minute the hotel room door closed behind them. She turned around, hands on her hips, glaring at Logan.

Logan's mouth, much like that of a fish, opened and closed rapidly, over and over. "...what?"

"What are you /doing/, you idiot?" Marie yanked her gloves off angrily so she'd have something to throw, and then threw them at him. "Are you /insane/?"

He caught both gloves, one in each hand. "What? What the fuck did I do?"

"Why..." She was lost for words for a moment, she was so furious. "What the hell are you doing at Xavier's, Logan?"

Logan wasn't sure how to answer that, the answer was so obvious, so he just stared at her.

"How stupid are you?" She was shouting now, careless of any guests in adjacent rooms. "These people /love/ you, they fucking /care/ about you. What the /fuck/ are you thinking?"

Logan watched her as though she were possessed, and sat down in a chair near the door. "I was thinkin' y'wanted me around. An' that I wanted t'be around ya." His voice wavers between cold and confused.

"I do, I do, I love you, but Logan, this isn't just about now, about the last few months. There's all that time before and, hell even if it is about now, I do love you but it's not that far from here to Westchester, and the plane's even faster, and Logan, this is... this is your /family/. You're so /you/ when you're with them... I can't stand the difference."

"I can't hide out in their guest room just 'cause Mac'n Heather like me," Logan said, as though that explained everything.

"Don't you be so goddamn obtuse, Logan." Marie's eyes flashed and she wished desperately for something else to throw at him. "That's not what I mean, it's bullshit, and you know it."

"How's it bullshit?" he asked, shrugging. "I'm not gonna burden 'em with me, just 'cause they wouldn't mind it. /I'd/ mind."

"Burden? Fuck that." Marie shook her head angrily. "You're a grown man, Logan, with skills and abilities you can put to use for anyone. From what I heard, you quit, they didn't decide they didn't need you. Your choice. They /know/ you and they like you, for who you are. And you... you are so... so fucking human, so fucking real and natural and you... if I didn't love you, I wouldn't give a shit. Don't come back. I don't care where you go, but I don't want to look at you at Xavier's and know that you're living like that because of me."

Logan's expression was icy and a growl laced his tones. "Y'can demand all y'want, but I ain't yer inferior an' y'ain't orderin' me t'stay away from /anyplace/, much less Xavier's." The growl was full-on, now. "Y'don't hafta fuck me, but yer sure as hell not gonna stop me from bein' near ya."

"Do you ever..fucking..think?" she spat back, unintimidated by the growl, tears of anger streaking her cheeks. "What are you /doing/? Do you ever think that maybe I want to be near you as bad as you want to be near me? Do you think for a second that I'd tell you to go away if I didn't think it was the /right/ thing to do? Did you miss the part in there where I love you? I cannot /stand/ the thought of living there with you, knowing what you're giving up because of me."

"Stop." Logan's voice was still cold, but the growl was gone. "I can't stay here an' I don't wanna. What'm I doin? I'm bein' with you, or tryin' to, and wearin' th'leathers in th'meantime ain't a bad gig. I get my kicks an' Chuck gets his dream."

"You're an idiot," Marie said flatly, knowing full well she was being utterly irrational. She turned her back on him and stalked over to her suitcase, flipping it open with a bang as the lid flew up and hit the back of the chair it was sitting on.

Logan shrugged. That, he couldn't argue with. "Thought I was cute," he said with a snort.

That caught Marie off guard and she laughed in spite of herself, putting her hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter and tears. "I hate you," she said petulantly. Unzipping her hoodie, she began to peel it off slowly, trying to calm her breathing.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Logan said, shrugging again. "'s okay. Y'love me, too, so it all works out."

"You're so goddamn... you have no sense of self-preservation." She wiped her tears away angrily with the back of her hand. "Fuck that, you just have no sense, period. Didn't you ever think to ask me to leave with you?"

"Of course I did," Logan admitted with a sigh. "But y'love the mansion an' I don't wanna take that away from ya. Y'believe in Chuck an' y'care 'bout the people. I don't wanna ruin that for ya."

"And you think I love you that little?" She looked over her shoulder at him; eyes dark, cheeks flushed in her pale face.

"No. I love you that much."

Marie was in his lap the next moment, kissing him fierce and angry, as though she could punish him with it. "You're not the only person who can give things up, you know," she whispered between kisses.

"You've given up enough t'be with me," Logan said firmly, then kissed her, hard and deep, his hands tangled in her hair.

"I've given up nothing," she retorted, when he let her breathe again. "Nothing, you hear me?" Her fingers knotted in the collar of his shirt, pulling him close to her.

She'd given up a lot. Enough. He stroked her hair, holding her close, and murmured, "I love you."

"I love you so much," she whispered in his ear. "You're everything to me."