Changes

Title: Changes



Author: jjblazer



Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, not a blessed thing



Archive Rights: Tell me where, I'll say yes



Feedback: Pretty please??



Rating: NC-17



Summary: movieverse (kinda….)





Changes - 04

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It took them a long beat to even register the intrusion - but a modicum of sanity and all its beastly little accessories, like reason and judgment and common sense, grabbed Logan by the balls and he bolted upright, pushing Marie away from him somewhat.



She teetered on the end of his knees, her hands shaking where they rested against his chest. She darted a look over her shoulder to see Jubilee’s outline thru the murky glass that ran the length of the door and breathless, she tried to stand up.



Her arms flailed and she went over backwards, landing with an undignified whump on her butt.



“Marie?” More banging. “Marie? Open up!” Jubes could hear some commotion inside, a muffled thump, and she grew increasingly alarmed. Damnit! She shouldn’t have left Marie alone with Logan. She’d gone off to pick up some dry cleaning just to kill some time, but found the place closed. In a way, the unexpected note in the window, some barely legible excuse about ‘family holiday, open tomorrow’, was welcome. Leaving Logan to his own considerable persuasiveness, even for an hour, suddenly seemed way too long and she hurried back to Marie’s.



Man oh man, some friend she was turning out to be, leaving Marie alone with the one man she most insisted she didn’t want knowing where she had gone. Jubilee grabbed for the doorknob. It was unlocked.



Logan was attempting to get his speaking faculties into gear. He scrubbed a hand over his face and focused to see Marie dumped on the floor, leaning back on her elbows and looking at him with an expression he couldn’t for the life of him interpret.



“Baby? You ok?” He scooted off the couch and knelt over her just as the door flew open.



“What the hell is going on here?” Jubilee stared at the two of them on the floor and instantly jumped to the wrong conion.ion.



The rotten bastard! He was supposed to ‘talk’ to her, not jump her. Just because she was now touchable didn’t mean she was open game. Jubilee had had far too many dates paw their way over her to see the situation as anything other than a man taking advantage of something he shouldn’t. It pissed her off in the extreme.



he hhe hadn’t even considered the possibility of something like this happening. Logan had in the past scrupulously avoided any kind of physical contact with Marie; well, anything that could be remotely construed as ‘inappropriate’. Looked like the son of a bitch had changed his mind. 



“Damn you, Logan! Get off of her!” She came and grabbed him by his t-shirt covered shoulder and yanked.



He turned his head to look up at Jubilee as the collar of his shirt about strangled him. She was pulling him up with all the strength she had. He grabbed at her hand and twisted, and with a yelp she let go of him. He rose slowly to his feet, glaring at her.



It was tough, but he managed to bite the words out. “Just what do you ‘think’ is going on here?”



Jubilee rubbed at her sore wrist and her eyes shot to Marie. She was trying to sit up and she looked horribly upset. Her lips were full and dark, her face flushed. Logan had been kissing her, rather heatedly she was certain. She was ready to kick herself for bringing him here.



“It’s rather obvious, isn’t it, Logan? What, didn’t get enough last night? Gonna rough her up some more?” The more she talked, the angrier she got.



Logan went sick from the inside out as Jubilee’s assessment of him sank in. He knew he had a terrible reputation where women were concerned. Not all of it deserved, by any means, but he never made the effort to clarify that for anyone. It gave him an easy out for not pursuing what he really wanted. It was a convenient cover. The only one that ever seemed to see through it was Marie, though she kept her mouth shut about it and let him hide behind his seemingly rotten character.



He shot a cautious glance at Marie and a shovel seemed to hit him square in the chest. What if she thought the same thing? Saw him as nothing more than a predator, moving in on what was now attainable? True, she had been the one to initiate things between them, but he sure hadn’t resisted very hard. He hadn’t gotten a chance to explain himself, to tell her anything about how he felt.



Marie could tell exactly what he was thinking and her heart sank. He would use his own self-doubts as an excuse to call this whole thing to a halt before it even got started. 



She snaked an arm around his leg from where she sat on the floor and hugged for all she was worth. She didn’t quite trust her legs to support her if she tried to stand up. Jubilee, the big mouth, had it all wrong. Marie felt it imperative that she shut her up, right this minute.



JubiJubilee, it’s not what you think.”



“Oh, really,” Jubes shot back sarcastically. 



Instant anger got Marie moving. Dragging herself up Logan’s jeans, she got to her feet. Even as her anger flared, the effort to explain any of this proved too much and her voice broke. “Jubilee, just – just -”



Logan’s arms came around her as she stood up and without thinking, he scooped an arm low behind her knees and picked her up. She instantly clung to him and turned her face into his shoulder. The topsy turvy ups and downs of the last
twenty-four hours shredded her last ounce of keep-it-togetherness, and hating herself for her weakness, she began to cry.



Logan stepped past an open-mouthed, astonished Jubilee and sank onto the couch, holding Marie tightly on his lap. His voice low and quiet, he shushed her and soothed her. “Hey, hush, darlin’. Come on, baby, don’t cry.”



Jubilee’s astonishment leapt up by an order of magnitude. Logan? Comforting someone? Being ‘tender’? She honestly didn’t think he had it in him. She’d never, ever, heard him use that tone of voice before.
Just exactly who was this guy?