Fender Benders And Consequences

It had been a month since the fender bender that changed both their lives.

Marie's friends were happy that their friend had finally pulled herself out of the despair that had surrounded her for too long following the plane crash. Of course, they never got to see her anymore as she spent all her time with Logan. Nobody complained - they understood. Even Ororo seemed pleased for them. They appeared to be good for each other she had to admit.

By some miracle, they had managed to keep Scott in the dark. They just hoped their luck would hold. Marie knew the deadline for the deal she'd cut with Ororo was fast approaching, but she no longer anticipated it with fear and dread. Scott would come around. She was happy. That's all he wanted for her, right?

Meanwhile, Logan and Marie were settling into a comfortable routine. They had reached a compromise with the location issue - weekday nights were spent at Logan's suite at the Plaza, so that he wouldn't be late getting to work every day. As Marie's job was voluntary, she adjusted her schedule to go into the shelter later in the morning, allowing her the time needed to make the drive without having to get up any earlier. Weekends were spent at Marie's house in Westchester. Although, they might as well of stayed in the city as Saturday's and Sunday's were mostly spent in bed anyway, so they could've been anywhere. Rogue made the trip back and forth with them. Rogue had fallen in love with Logan, too, cuddling on his lap at every opportunity. Logan commented that one day when he owned a house, he'd like to get a dog and asked Marie if she thought Rogue would get along with a dog. Marie was secretly thrilled at that question, because it meant Logan was thinking beyond tomorrow, he was contemplating a future with her.

Agnes was still the only one at Summers International who knew about Logan's relationship with Marie. No one even suspected that Logan had a new love; they just accredited his euphoric mood to finally being free of popsicle Jean.

They also failed to notice that Logan had not resumed chasing after everything with a uterus after his breakup with Jean. Agnes was quickly amassing quite a nice collection of 'goodies' for herself that Logan graciously allowed her to buy every time he sent her out shopping for a special little gift for Marie. Logan was treating both ladies in his life very well and both were very pleased with him.

For their one-month anniversary, Logan suggested 'Tavern on the Green' restaurant in Central Park. The plan was for Marie to meet him at the office at 7:30 pm, long after everyone else had gone home.

Marie was sitting perched on the edge of Logan's desk getting a thorough kissing from Logan, when Scott casually strolled by on his way to his own office, having returned because he'd forgotten a file he needed to review that evening.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING?" Scott furiously screamed at the top of his lungs.

Logan and Marie sprang apart in shock. Scott stormed into the office, his eyes blazing with fury. He was about a minute away from killing something or someone.

"I THOUGHT I WARNED YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

"Scott, please calm down. I can explain," Marie pleaded in vain.

"There's nothing to explain, Marie. I have eyes, I saw what's going on," he said tightly.

"Please, Scott," Marie tried to continue

"Don't, please Scott, me. I'm not interested in any lame-ass explanations"

"Scott," Logan began

"You, shut the fuck up, Logan. I don't wanna hear a word out of your fucking mouth."

"It's not what you think, Scott, please just listen to me," Marie begged

"Listen to what, Marie? Listen to you attempt to explain how he's turned you into his latest whore?"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER A WHORE!" Logan screamed

"If she's been slumming with you, that's what she is now! You've soiled her you ASSHOLE!"

"I'm not soiled, Scott, I'm in love. We're in love."

"He doesn't know the definition of that word, Marie, don't kid yourself."

"You don't know me as well as you think you do, Scott."

"I thought I warned you to keep your fucking trap shut!"

Scott stalked up to Marie and grabbed her by the arm. "You're coming home with me, right now."

Logan stepped towards Scott menacingly "She's doing no such thing, Scooter."

Scott put his hand on Logan's chest and gave a hard shove. "You wanna place money on that bet?"

"Logan, maybe I should just go with him, so we could talk. I'll meet you back at the hotel later."

Logan didn't like the idea of leaving Marie alone with Scott so that he could possibly talk her into ending things. But he trusted Marie and what they had, enough to finally agree.

"Fine, but you're wasting your breath, Scott. You won't talk her into walking away from me."

With a firm grip still on Marie's upper arm, Scott escorted her out of the office. Marie blew Logan a kiss as the elevator doors closed. Logan grabbed the next elevator down and was in the parking garage just in time to see Scott's Lexus drive past him on the way to the exit. Marie waved sadly and he waved back, his heart sinking in his chest. He hoped and prayed Marie would be strong enough to hear Scott out and then tell him to go fuck himself.

Scott had a death grip on the steering wheel and was blind with rage. He pulled the Lexus out of the garage and onto the rain slicked road, not seeing the oncoming pick-up truck until it was too late.