Mystery/Mystery Solved

Title: A Mystery
By: Lisa
Summery: Logan and Marie ponder a mystery.
Disclaimer: I do not own them.
Feedback: I am a slut for it. I feel no shame in admitting that.


He never thought it would happen to him.

He never dreamed it was something he would have to worry about.

He was, after all, The Wolverine. He was a loner. He was a bad ass. He was a man most people just had to look a to know that he could be dangerous, maybe even deadly, if push came to shove.

Hell, he made his living beating the shit out of men stupid enough to face down the ‘King Of The Cage’.

No one with a brain looked at him and thought ‘good guy’.

Until Marie.

He had to give the girl credit. She had brass balls. After seeing him flash the claws at an asshole in the bar, she had the nerve to crawl into the back of his truck and then she had the nerve to challenge him when he told her to get the hell out.

Then she fired at him ‘What kind of name is Wolverine?’.

And he thought to himself, this girl in something.

But he didn’t think she would end up being ‘something’ to him.

But she did.

She became more than something.

She became everything.

She became the one person in the world he offered a promise he intended to keep.

She became someone he nearly died to save, not once, but twice.

She became someone that drew him back to her when he told himself it was best for her if he stayed away.

Of course, he knew the truth.

He had wanted to stay away because he had no idea what to do about the way she made him feel…he told himself to stay away because he had nothing to offer her when he knew in his soul she deserved everything good and decent life could provide.

He told himself that the Ice Kid was good for her.

He laughed after he told himself that, cause he knew the Ice Kid could never support or challenge or love Marie was much as he did.

He knew when he held a crying Scott on the plane, after the events at Alkali Lake, that he would sooner die a thousand agonizing deaths rather than face one lifetime without Marie at his side.

So he made up his mind.

He decided he would have her.

After all, it was only fair, seeing that she had held his heart and soul in her hand from the moment she looked at him with big brown eyes that rendered him powerless to resist giving her anything she could have longed for.

He just didn’t know how to tell her what he needed to say.

Feeling love was new to him, after all.

How to say it was a mystery


********************


She never thought it would happen to her.

She never dreamed it was something she would have to worry about.

She was, after all, The Rouge. She was a loner. She was the girl that could kill with just a single touch. She was a girl most people avoided at any and all cost.

Hell, she had nearly killed the first guy who had ever dared kiss her.

No one that knew about her toxic skin looked at her and thought ‘that’s the girl I want to put my arm around’.

Until Logan.

She had to give him credit. He had brass balls. Or metal ones. After she nearly sucked all the life out of him, in his room, he followed her to the train station and he set beside her and when she began to cry, he put his arm around her and he held her close.

He touched her.

Willingly.

Easily.

He touched her without fear even though he knew what she could do.

He touched her more than once.

When she was nearly dead in his arms, drained by Magneto’s machine, Logan held her to him…he pressed his face against hers and he willed the life and the healing to flow from his body into hers.

He was lodged in her mind.

A part of him was in her.

She could hear his voice from time to time.

She could feel his strength and when she was most afraid, she could tap into the well of his never ending courage.

He was her inner guide.

He was her best friend.

He was her everything.

He was the man she loved.

She knew others thought it was a crush, a teenager girl feeling nothing more than hero worship for the man that had saved her life.

Those people were wrong.

She knew better.

She knew it was love.

And she was fairly certain he loved her back.

Yeah, he flirted with the doctor, he even stole a kiss.

But he had not nearly died for the doctor.

The doctor wasn’t the one he looked to when he needed a friend.

She was the one that gave him peace…she was the one that set next to him on the jet as he held a crying Scott.

And it was then, that she decided.

She knew what she had to do.

She had to find a way to tell him.

She needed him to know she loved him.

She needed him to know it was real love, true love, deep love; she needed him to know it was the kind of love that would last forever.

The question was how?

How to do it?

How to say it, and not scare him away?

Feeling it was so strange and just a little frightening.

She was still not use to it.

Feeling it kind of terrified her.

How to say it was a mystery.


********************


Title: Mystery Solved (Sequel to A Mystery)
By: Lisa
Summery: Scott to the rescue
Disclaimer: I do not own them and I am kind of staring to resent the people that do.
Feedback: YES!!!


I know my reputation. I know what the kids call me. The Fearless Leader. Hard Ass. I know I am not famed for being the most relaxed mutant around, but as Team Leader, I have a lot on my shoulders and I tend to take my commitment to the team and to The X-Men seriously and for that you will never hear an apology from me.

However, I am more than The Fearless Leader.

I am a man.

A man that knows what it is to love a woman with all his heart and mind and soul.

I know people wondered about me and Jean at times; I know the age difference was a touchy issue for some and I know that Logan couldn’t understand how Jean and I were compatible.

He thought I was too young.

He didn’t think I could sooth the fire that lingered in her, just beneath that cool and calm exterior she showed the world.

He was wrong.

Jean told me once that there had always been something restless inside of her, a sort of wild drive that made her feel always on edge and anxious.

She said I calmed that.

She said I gave her peace.

She did that for me, too.

After my mutation manifested, I was considered a freak, a guy that could kill someone just with a single look.

Most people wouldn’t come near me.

But Jean did.

When I first got to the school, she and Charles were both kind to me, but Jean, she was this beautiful voice I could hear saying my name in this gentle tone and I knew that she had to be a beauty.

Then I got my visor.

She was more than beautiful.

She was perfection.

And she fell in love with me.

It was as simple as that, she and I found something in one another, we each possessed something the other needed to sooth away our fears and hurts and in ways that I can’t explain, she and I simply fit together heart to heart, soul to soul and mind to mind.

Kind of like Logan and Rogue.

Wow. And people think I have sight issues.

Those two took forever to figure out that they are in love.

Jean knew it from the start, she told me Logan flirted with her to distract himself from Rogue, but I wasn’t sure until recently.

But I can see it now.

The way he looks at her and the way she looks at him.

The way he growls and looks ready to claw someone anytime one of the boys around here so much as smiles at Rogue.

Hell, he growled at me yesterday cause Rogue hugged me when she found out she had aced her history test.

And I thought Rogue might suck the life from Kitty when she caught her staring at The Wolverine’s rear end when he was leaned over the pool table.

If these two break into a Me Tarzan and Jane Dance I swear, I won’t be surprised and I have a feeling that right now, Jean is looking down on all this laughing her ass off.

I also have a feeling she would want me to step in and give Logan the little shove he needs, since she and I kind of went through the same shy dance when we were each trying to figure out how to voice our feelings.

So here I am, about to walk into the Rec Room where Logan is sitting on the sofa with a six pack, the remote clutched in his hand the way Jubes clutches the professors credit card when there is a sale at the mall.

Jubes would fight to the death for that card.

I got a feeling Logan would do the same for the remote.

Sometimes, I feel like I live in a house of crazy people.

Jean, if you are listening, I get major points for this, babe.

Drawing in a breath, I walk in and sit down next to him even as he growls.

“We need to talk.”

“Not now, One Eye. I’m watching the game.”

Without hesitating, I take the remote, turn off the television and toss the remote to the chair across the room.

“You want to get fucking clawed, Scooter?”

“No, I want to tell you to get off your fucking ass and do what you have to do because life is dam short and wasting some much as a second of it is insane.”

I can tell I have his attention, his scowl actual seems to ease a bit and I sigh, deciding to just lay it out there.

“Look, you and I might not be best friends, but I know what you are going through now, because I have been there, Logan. I know how it feels to wonder if you are enough and if you have a right to feel what you feel and want what you want…I know what it is to question yourself and your own worth and beyond that I know how it feels to be afraid to say the words.”

“Scooter…”

“You have to tell her Logan. It’s as simple as that. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Don’t let a fear of the unknown cause you to hold back, cause I can tell you now, that girl loves you as much as you love her, so just tell her Logan and then take her in your arms and do not ever let go.”

“You realize what you’re saying?”

“I’m saying you love Rogue. She loves you.”

“She is eighteen.”

“She is eighteen, but she is your soul mate, she is your other half, she is the one with the means to calm your restless nature and give you peace and that is something special and wonderful and I know, cause Jean and I had that together, Logan, and what I had with Jean and what you have with Rogue is special. It is rare and it’s not something just everyone finds in life, only the ones that are blessed or lucky, so get your ass off the sofa and go to her and just say the words. Just tell her. She doesn’t need anything fancy, she doesn’t want you to be a poet or any shit like that, Logan, she just wants you to be you, just like you just want her to be her.”

“You don’t have a problem with that? With me and her?”

I can’t help but smile, cause I can’t really believe he cares what I think one way or the other, but I can tell he is surprised.

“Logan, love doesn’t take things like age into consideration, it just happens where it is fated to happen and that’s the deal with you and Rogue like it was with me and Jean so yeah, I am cool with it and so is Charles and everyone else.”

He stares at me for a second, the half smiles. “I do love her.”

“Well no, shit Wolverine, I know that, so don’t sit here and tell me, go and declare your feelings to the girl that needs to hear them.”

At that, he actually laughs but he stands and nods, looking like he suddenly had what courage he needed to go into battle.

Crazy. Man can face down Sabertooth and Magneto, but telling Rogue he loves her is enough to make those metal lined knees shake.

I understand though.

Love can be a scary thing.

“Hey, Scott.”

I turn to look at him where he has paused by the door.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

I nod and smile. “You’re welcome, Logan.”

He leaves then, but I know where he is going and I smile, thinking about how happy they will make one another.

Like Jean made me happy.

Like her memory still makes me happy, even if she isn’t here.


********************

I know how I am perceived around here. I know what others think. I know I am viewed as the most controlled mutant at the mansion…I am cool and calm and I try to look at all issues with a rational eye.

I am the serene goddess.

I am Storm and I am not prone to intense emotions.

Or so they say.

They are so wrong.

I feel emotions intensely…more intensely than most.

And I know emotion when I see it.

And I see what is between Logan and Rogue.

They are in love.

She loves him and he loves her, but for some reason, they have yet to confess as much to one another, which is why I have decided to speak to Rogue.

I am going to tell her it is time.

She must put her feelings into words.

She must not waste time.

She must realized she is blessed, because the man she loves, loves her in return.

Such is not the case for me.

The man I love does not love me back.

He never has.

He never will.

His heart belongs to another.

His heart belongs to the woman I called best friend.

The woman that died at Alkali Lake.

Of course, no one knows about my feelings for Scott; no one knows that I loved him the moment I met him, that I knew I would never be able to give my heart to another cause he owns it and always will.

Only he does not know that.

And he never will.

He loves Jean. He has loved Jean from the beginning.

He will always love Jean.

Just as I will always love him.

But I shall never have the one I love, fate did not intend for Scott to be mine, but that is not the case for Rogue and Logan and I must make her realized that she can not miss out on the chance to be close to her love.

To have him in her arms.

I knock on her door and her soft voice tells me to enter.

She is sitting on her bed, a book in her lap, but she smiles when I come in and I move to sit beside her.

“It’s time, Rogue.”

She frowns a little, clearly confused. “Time for what, Ro?”

“It is time for you to admit to Logan that you love him.”

“Ro…”

I hold up a hand and she falls silent.

“I know it can be frightening, to feel so much, to need someone so much, to love with so much you feel as if that love consumes you mind, body, and soul, but I assure you, my child, that you do not need to fear because Logan loves you as much as you love him and he always will.”

“I want to believe that.”

“Believe it. I see it in how he looks at you. How you are his everything. And that makes you lucky, Rogue, because not everyone is blessed enough to be able to have the one they love, love then in return and you must not waste another moment on fear that you will be rejected, because that will not happen. He loves you and you love him and that is a gift you must not allow to pass you by, because I would give anything to have the one I love feel for me what Logan feels for you.”

“I do love him. So much.”

“Then tell him. Say the words. It is so simple. It does not have to be hard.”

“You really mean that?” She smiles, looking surprised. “For some reason, I kind of thought it would be hard for everyone to deal with what I feel when it comes to Logan.”

“You will find, Rogue, that truly wise people realize they can not stand in the way of what fate intends.”

“And you think fate wants me and Logan together.”

“You know as well as I do that fate wants you and Logan together.”

She grins at that, her eyes suddenly bright as she springs from the bed and I smile.

“Thank you, Ro. Thank you.”

I nod, pleased for her as she raced from the room.

As she raced to find Logan.

To find the man that loves her.

I sigh and smile, my thoughts turning to Scott and how I know his love for Jean will never fade…he will never have room in his heart for me, but that is a reality I accepted a long time ago.

It is a reality I live with.

And it’s okay.

It has to be.

And even if he never loves me, I love him, quietly and from a distances, yes.

But there is no denying that I love him with all my heart, just as strongly as Jean did.

Just as strongly as he will always love Jean.


********************

He pause going up the stairs.

She pauses as she descends them.

For a moment, everything stops; for a moment, neither of them breathe and later she will say she felt her heart stop…to him it felt as if the world came to a standstill, as if the universe were waiting and watching to see if it would finally happen.

To see if they would finally cease being two lost halves and become one complete and grounded whole.

She is the first to smile, slowly and easily, her eyes bright with need.

He feels himself returning that smile…he feels the weight of fear and worry lift from his shoulders and disappear into the mist.

She whispers his name softy.

Logan.

He whispers hers back.

Marie.

And then, at the same time, they said the words.

The magic words.

The three beautiful words.

I love you.

I love you.

So simple, so easily, the words pass their lips and they move again, at the same tender moment.

She moves into his arms.

He moves into her arms.

They hold one another close, heart to thundering heart.

And they each say the words again.

I love you, Logan.

I love you, Marie.

And just like that, so easily, so naturally, the mystery is solved.

And their hearts are free.

THE END