I wanna breeze and an open mind
I wanna swim in the ocean
Wanna take my time for me
All me
Maybe Tomorrow - Stereophonics
Everything hurt.
Ororo blinked back tears as she opened her eyes and the dim light in the hotel room made her headache worse. "Logan?" She cried, trying to sit up but failing miserably. She was no longer in the motel room. Something was not right. She had ...
Realization and dread struck her and it was just as worse as the beating Victor had given her.
"Logan?" she called once more and she let out a breath of relief when he stepped out of the bathroom in pair of faded black jeans that clung to him. He was wrapping his hand and he looked down at her.
She was swallowed in darkness once more.
Though he would have loved more than anything to celebrate right now and perhaps push Victor's lifeless waste of a body over the balcony, he did not have time for that. Once Ororo had shot Victor and passed out, he immediately carried her to the bed. She only had enough energy to complete that one task. He looked down at her and sighed, turning back to look at Victor, who now sat against the railing, staring at him.
"Fuck," he whispered.
The blue muscle car had to be Victor's. He was sure of that. Victor was too damn cliche to do anything simple. Ororo was a crumpled bloody mess and there was no way they could stay here and nurse her back to complete health. He looked back at Victor once more and then back to Ororo.
Act first, ask later. That was the rule when it came to cage fighting.
Logan dashed over to Victor and reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of car keys. The rain did not ease, he noticed bitterly, but it did not stop him. He ran down the stairs two at a time and tested the keys on the door. He gave a little yelp of success and ran back up the stairs just as fast and lifted up Ororo with ease. She cried out in her unconscious state but that did not stop Logan.
"Don't worry baby," he whispered to her, "I'll take care of you."
She coughed a bit of blood up and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Don't forget - the bag," she whispered, holding on to him tightly. He nodded and ran down the stairs, now able to pass up Victor without finding it unsettling. With the back door being opened, he slipped Ororo into the backseat and laid her down. He thought grimly of how Victor would react to the blood being on his seat then thought with a deadly satisfaction that wherever Victor was, blood on his backseat was probably the least of his problems.
He ran back up the stairs and grabbed not only the duffel bag but Ororo's suitcases. He looked at Victor once more and frowned. Something was in his hand. Kneeling down, he swore loudly at Ororo's passport clutched in his fingers. The entire time they fought, he held on to her passport? He snatched it from Victor's hands and without looking back, he made his way down to the car.
Tom had told Logan that in case of emergency...
The engine revved and Logan pulled out of the parking lot and sped off.
The ride to the cabin was relatively safe. Fate seemed to be on his side because on his way to the cabin he did not pass up one policeman. Honestly, he and Ororo were the good ones compared to how ruthless Victor Creed had been.
The smartest thing that Logan could think of was running away from the scene as quickly as possible. He drove into the clearing with the headlights off. The rain had settled down a bit now and Ororo was no longer moaning or whimpering as she slept on. Logan had no idea how he was supposed to fix all this now. Ororo had killed Victor on her own but that did not stop the fact that he was involved in this just as much as she was. It was true. He considered everything past and present involving Ororo as a part of his history now.
... the future.
Once he had gotten her inside, he laid her down on the bed. She was either still unconscious or a very good pretend sleeper because she did not stir when he laid her on the bed that they had once made love countless times.
He knelt down next to the tub and turned on the water, plugging up the drain and letting warm water fill the tub.
"Lo-gaaan," Ororo cried and he stood quickly but stiffly and walked over to her bedside. He sat her up and forced himself not to look at her. He had seen some terrible things in his life but he never thought the idea of seeing a woman he had loved so much it hurt bruised and battered would affect him so. He smoothed back her platinum hair and pressed the side of his face against her side. She hissed in pain and he pulled back immediately.
"'Ro, maybe - maybe I should take you to the doctor." She shook her head and held up a hand to argue with him and it fell back weakly at her side. Logan didn't say anything else. He simply lifted her up in the bed and began to undress her. He had to rip her shirt open to get it off without hurting her and he winced as he spotted the bruises. He stopped counting after the fourth one and tossed the blood stained white tank aside. Unclasping her bra, he tossed that aside as well and laid her back down to unbutton her jeans. He pulled them off slowly though he could not do it tenderly enough as she still gave a sharp cry of pain. He slipped off her boots and pulled her jeans off completely.
He cupped an arm underneath the back of her knees and cradled her in his arms and carried her to the bathroom.
Sitting her down in the tub, he let her lay on the cool porcelain tub.
He grabbed the cup sitting on the corner of the tub and dipped it in the water. He was on his knees now, hovering over her. He looked at her and she determinedly kept her eyes closed.
Slowly pouring the water over her, she let out a strangled cry and Logan wanted to kill Victor Creed all over again.
"Let it out," he told her, not able to look at her. Her strangled cry became a hoarse one and soon she was screaming. Screaming so that her nose began to bleed and Logan did not stop her. He continued to bathe her, washing away the blood from her face and back of her head as she screamed a raw, throaty scream, hot tears spilling down her cheeks.
Everything was dark and Ororo awoke with a start. The body next to her stirred and she turned on her side in the darkness to wrap an arm around him.
"Logan?"
"Hmm?"
She was surprised that he hadn't been asleep.
"You didn't have to - "
"Yes, I did."
She sat up and the pain in her side made her lay back down.
"Don't try to sit up on your own. He cracked your ribs. I wrapped them the best I could." She could see his features in the moonlight and she lifted a hand to caress his face. His jaw was swollen and she bit her bottom lip and looked down.
"Hey. Hey, don't you dare feel guilty about this. He deserved what he got. Besides, he would have killed us both before you could say 'ruthless bastard'." Ororo chuckled softly at that.
"Logan?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry."
"Be quiet and get some rest. You don't have anything to be sorry for. Ain't nobody on God's green earth perfect. Well, he broke the mold when he made you but we ain't talkin' about you, are we?"
"No, we were talking about Victor."
There was a silence.
"Logan?"
"Hmm?"
He continued to answer her patiently. There was no sign of irritation in his voice.
"Where are we going to go now?"
"Well, I have a piece of land in Canada. I was figurin' maybe we could settle there or somethin'. When I told ya' I had money on the side, I don't think I told you just how much. Besides, I'm pretty good at building things. You know, I could build a house for us and maybe we could..." he didn't finish the sentence.
"Have a family," she finished for him.
"I never had much of one to begin with."
"Tell me about it," she whispered, snuggling closer to him.
With no hesitation and much to his surprise, Logan began to tell her the story of his real name, how he had killed his father. He told her of how his mother had ordered him out of the house and how he had found out his brother was killed by a bullet that had not been intended for him. He told the entire story of his life and soon they had both fallen asleep, hanging on to one another.
They had no access to the television and the radio wasn't exactly the best source for news. Logan and Ororo both agreed that neither one of them gave a damn about the rich actress crying about spending two weeks in jail for hitting an old man while she was drunk.
So, Logan decided that if one of them were to be caught or considered suspicious, it would be him and he headed into town and headed to the first bar he could find.
He blended in with the corner quite well and thanked the barmaid that had come over and asked him what sort of drink he'd like. No one seemed to be interested in any dead drug dealers and that was pretty good news for him. Just when he was thinking about making his exit...
"Man, did anyone hear about that drug dealer that was killed in the motel?"
Someone replied with - "People are murdered every day, man, tell us something new."
"No, but did you see his girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend?"
A few men let out low whistles.
"She disappeared or something, apparently. He was found murdered in a motel room."
Logan leaned forward a bit.
"The police are probably glad she killed him. This bastard had a record that would scare even the shadiest of cops here. He had killed his partner, raped some kid in an alley ("Murdered her, too!" Someone yelled), and robbed and killed another drug dealer. That's just the fucking half of it. As if we need more crime in this
city."
There was silence.
"But did you see his ex-girlfriend? I'd fuck her brainless. Shit, as ugly as her ex-boyfriend was, I'd run away, too."
Logan's knuckles itched at the comment directed at Ororo but he did not have time to pick fights. He needed to get back to her so they could get the hell out of here.
And soon.
When Logan had made his way back to the cabin, he looked around to make sure that no one had been snooping around. Tom said this cabin was pretty safe and he believed him. It was practically hidden in the middle of nowhere.
An ear-splitting scream made him run up and force the door open, almost tearing it from its hinges.
He couldn't hold back the horrified yell that had come from his throat as he found Ororo doubled over in the bedroom, blood everywhere. There was just so much blood. Where had all the blood come from?
He ran over and lifted her up, cradling her while she held on to her stomach, crying and bleeding.
"Where does it hurt?" He asked.
"Professor. Call the - Pro - I need a doctor!"
"We have to go to the hospital, Ororo!" He said it sternly.
"No!" She let out a high pitched scream and Logan nearly dropped her when he saw that the blood was coming from between her legs.
"My bag - " she whispered, beads of sweat on her forehead. "The black bag with all the m-money... on the ... s-s-s-side, there is ... a card ... a card with a num -"
Logan laid her down immediately and ran over to grab the black bag. He frowned at the name "Charles Xavier" but did not hesitate to pick up the phone and call it.
He feared that if he was not soon enough, she would surely die.
