You Know Me

Marie didn’t wait to hear what Jean had to say, satisfied rather with seeing her mouth hanging open in shock that she‘d finally been stood up to. She marched out of the kitchen and down the hall to the stairs, climbing them quickly and feeling imminently satisfied with herself. She’d been itching to tell that woman a thing or two for a long time and it felt good to finally spit it out.



Logan couldn’t help smiling at the gumption that Marie had shown in confronting Jean Grey. The woman HAD become a bit of a bitch over the years, and had always treated Marie with condescension and disdain, but he’d never noticed that Marie had even picked up on it. She’d always turned the other cheek to the older woman, seemingly ignorant of the jibes.



In Marie’s bedroom she turned to him and hiked a brow as if waiting for the hammer to come down so she could deal with it. She picked up the ping pong paddle and waved it at him. “Logan, you ever get in between me and that bitch again when she has an ass chewing coming and it’s going to be ME beating YOUR ass with this thing, you got it?”



“Jean is a dangerous woman these days, Marie. I don’t want you tangling with her.” He shrugged, “Since she and Scooter parted ways she’d been like a bear with a sore paw.”



“I’ve tangled with a lot worse than her and I’m sure I will again. You can’t get in the way of my defending myself, Logan, even if it is just from a miserable bitch’s overloaded mouth.” She growled angrily. “I can take Jean Grey and you know it.”



“Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t mean that you should. Sometimes it’s better to just bite your tongue and let those hostilities stay under the surface rather than running your mouth and bringing them out into the open.”



She couldn’t help laughing a bit sarcastically. “YOU are preaching to me about keeping MY mouth shut? Have you listened to yourself when you speak to Scott, Logan? You can’t have a civil conversation with the man after ten years of having each other’s backs in more fights than I can count. You’ve got a nerve lecturing me about speaking my piece!”



Logan growled to himself. “I wasn’t lecturing you, Marie, but I think you might want to think about the fact that we all live in the same house! Sometimes these things are better served by biting your tongue, that’s all I’m saying.”



“I think you can go sleep in your own room.” She muttered as she headed for the bathroom.



“Like hell I will!” He roared angrily. “You are about two shakes from pissing me off, Little Girl!”



“Look, I’m not in the mood for this tonight. I just want to go back to sleep and try to forget about all of this garbage.” She groaned as she turned on the faucet, intent on brushing her teeth, on anything but continuing to argue with Logan.



“I’m not sleeping without you, Marie.” He murmured quietly from the doorway. “The only way I’m going to my room is if you’re going with me.”



Marie stuck the toothbrush in her mouth and brushed like a madwoman for at least two minutes as she did every night. After she spat and rinsed and wiped her mouth she sighed heavily as she turned to Logan. “I don’t want to argue with you, sugah, but you’ve got to get it through your head that I’m an adult and fully capable of taking care of myself. And I have every right to call Jean Grey out for being a bitch if I want to. I don’t have to sit idly by while she makes little bitchy comments to me and not say anything anymore and I won’t. You’re just going to have to get used to that. I’m sorry if it doesn’t sit well, but that’s just how it is.”



“Alright. I’ll stay out of the way there, but if she ever hurts you I’ll kill her, so please just keep that in mind.”



“I will as long as you respect my right to stick up for myself.”



“Deal.”



“Okay.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Can we go to bed now?”



The slow grin on Logan’s face told her that what he wanted was far from going to sleep. “Shall we adjourn to the rec room?”



“You mean the pool table.” She replied a bit too coolly.



“Well, if you’d rather not.” He shrugged.



“I’d love to, Sugah, but there are no classes in session right now and the kids have a habit of staying up later than usual when that‘s the case. I’d rather not have to deal with the repercussions of being caught bent over the pool table, if you don’t mind!”



“I forgot about the kids not having classes.” He frowned. “You DO know there’s another pool table in the shop out back, don‘t you?”



She grinned. “There is?”



“Yeah, it’s got to be re-covered because the felts getting a bit thin in some places, but it’s still not in too bad of shape. We could rack up a few balls and have a game out there. Some of the kids have been sneaking out there on Saturdays.”



“Should I wear my jeans?” She grinned.



“Better make it a pair that you don’t mind getting ruined, Darlin’.”



Marie went to her closet and changed into a pair of old jeans that were comfortable and clung to her curves in all the right places, but were scruffy enough that she didn’t mind getting holes in them. “I hope these are okay. I don’t have another pair that I don’t mind getting ruined.”



Logan took noted of the way the jeans clung to her ass and swallowed. “Damn, Darlin’. I don’t know if I want to ruin those jeans. Your ass looks pretty damned hot in them.”



Marie grinned and wiggled her butt a bit before going back into the closet and removing her top to pull on a tiny little t-shirt that left her waist and hips exposed.



She slipped on a pair of shoes and her gloves and followed Logan out of the bedroom. He led the way, stopping once or twice to wait behind a corner when they encountered someone. When they stepped outside he tossed her over his shoulder and broke into a run for the shop building.



“Logan!” She gasped with a giggle and clung to him for dear life.



He slid to an abrupt stop about half way to the shop and sat her gently on the ground, pressing his finger to her lips in the darkness to keep her quiet. She could hear him sniffing at the night air, concentrating on something. He was tense and at full alert.



“What is it, Logan?” She whispered as quietly as she could.



“Mystique.” He growled quietly.