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Title:
Rule Number Three: Honor Thy Father and Mother
Author:
Terri
E-mail:
xgrrl26@yahoo.com
Rating:
PG-13, violence, swearing
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of them. Darn.
Archive:
Ask, and I will gladly say yes
Feedback:
Please! Pretty please? Good, bad, and ugly welcome.
Summary:
Sequel to Rule Number Two: Trust No One. Logan and Marie have a run-in
with one of Rogue's relatives. They don't make it to Whitehorse.
Comments:
First of all, let me just say that I personally have enjoyed Dawson's Creek
on occasion. As in all cases, the opinions of the mutants depicted
herein do not necessarily reflect those of the author. And yes, Dawson
Creek is a real place, and lies along the route Logan and Marie might take
out of Canada. Second, just to avoid any confusion, there's no Moonbeam
in this little world. She's had enough fun in the Eighteens and Alter-Eighteens.
Third, just a warning-Nat and Just Another Angel Lover have given me some
*outstanding* plot bunnies for this series that start showing up in the next
episode. I'll credit them later on as their bunnies hop into the stories,
but consider this an extra little thank you to them and to everyone who's
sent in a bunny, even if I haven't quite gotten around to writing it yet
:) And lastly, I personally have never believed in this commandment
all that strongly, although I do think you should be loyal and considerate
to your family. It's just that accidents of biology or circumstance
do not a family make.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- You know,
we're just not making good time. I figured three days to Whitehorse,
and it's been three days, but we're nowhere near Whitehorse. Not even
halfway.
"You up?"
And this is the problem right here. It's a lot nicer to be snuggled
up with Logan under a warm blanket than it is to be, you know, actually driving.
"Mmm-hmmm.
What time is it?" All the rain isn't helping either. It's de-motivating,
definitely. Yeah, that's a problem too.
"Clock says
10:13." I never used to sleep in too much. I always used to be
up by 8, 8:30 at the latest. Then again, I've never had anyone to sleep
with before. "You gonna get up now or sleep some more?" He punctuated
that with a little squeeze, so I bet he votes for sleep some more.
I admit, I'm kind of taking advantage of him. He doesn't seem to mind
my skin, and I've dreamed a lot about having someone like that around to
hold me like this, but I never thought I'd actually get it in real life.
Now that he's doing it, I want as much of it as possible. I'm greedy.
"I don't
know if I'll fall back asleep, but I don't want to get up just yet."
I think he likes snuggling up too. Even if he does have to be careful
of my skin, I bet it's nice for him to just have someone to hold him close
too, after everything he's been through. He hasn't talked that much
about it, really, but he's had four nightmares in three days. None
as bad as that first one, though. I think-maybe they're getting a little
better.
"I was thinkin'
about somethin'."
"Mmmm?"
As long as it doesn't involve moving from this spot, I'm all in favor of
it.
"What you
said about takin' some time to relax, maybe just get things settled-I think
that maybe just a couple more days of that might be good. If you don't
mind. I wanna get to Whitehorse and all, but this is good too."
He's gotten a lot more open, a lot more talkative in the past few days.
It's kind of weird, how we just jelled into this dynamic, this relationship.
But I'm glad we did. I didn't realize how lonely I was feeling until
he came along. I'm so glad I picked him up.
"Sounds good.
If you don't mind sleeping in the car a few more nights and just kind of
moseying along to Whitehorse, that's good with me too."
"Yeah.
This-sleepin' in back was a good idea. It's lots more comfortable."
We redistributed all the stuff in the back so that we could put down the
back seat and make kind of a little bed for us. I didn't mind just
reclining the front seat to sleep when it's just me, but now that there's
two of us, this makes a little more sense. Plus, there's fewer vital
automotive things for Logan to claw back here.
I don't
mind saying, he scared the crap out of me that first night. The poor
Jeep-the glove compartment is shot and the dash is permanently disfigured.
I don't think there's any way to repair it-it'll have to be replaced if it's
going to look any better. But I wasn't mad, especially after I saw
the look on his face. You could tell he felt so horrible about it.
"Marie?"
"Oh, sorry.
Did you say something?"
"Just that
I could drive a little today if you wanna move on down the road some.
Were you goin' back to sleep?"
"No.
Just thinking. That sounds good-you driving. Maybe we can make
a couple hundred miles or so then stop again. We're going to need to
get gas today."
"All right.
You go on back to sleep if you want." Maybe that's not such a bad idea.
After all, it is still raining. And I am pretty comfy right here.
"How'd you
do?" Judging from how many packages he's carrying, it looks like Logan's
first gas station convenience store shopping trip has been pretty successful.
"Good.
Got a lotta stuff. Here's the money leftover." He said he remembered
numbers and counting and adding and stuff, so I figured he might as well
give shopping a go. It's something he'll need to know how to do.
"Thanks."
Hey-there's twenty-four bucks left over. I gave him fifty and told
him to spend as much of it as we needed to. "You did pretty good-all
that stuff for twenty-six dollars?"
"Yeah."
That brought a little smile. I've noticed that he likes it when he
learns something new, when he does well at it. He was like this with
the driving and with pumping gas. It's horrible, absolutely awful,
what happened to him, how he lost so much of his memory, but it's kind of
neat to be able to teach him new things. "You want the stuff in back
for now?"
"Sure.
I-" Oh, God. Oh, God, no. It-it can't be her. It
can't be. How the hell did she ever find me?
"Hello, dear."
She always takes that form when she's trying to mix in, trying not to be
noticed. She looks like a perfectly innocent, average blonde housewife.
A little chubby, middle-aged. Nothing that would lead you to believe
she's an evil fucking shapeshifting mutant. Except that I know her.
Except that I know her and that she can't hide those flashing yellow eyes
for too long. Fuck. She's-I can't believe she found me.
She's got to be pissed as hell at me right now. I know she's planning
something. And she's standing right behind Logan, I-"I've been looking
all over for you. Naughty girl, running away from us like that."
I can't let her do anything to him. He doesn't know she's dangerous
and I can't let him get hurt.
"Shit."
I'll just grab Logan and pull him a little closer to me in case she tries
something. I wonder if-I wonder if she's alone or if he -
"That's
not nice. Don't you have anything else to say to your mother?
After all, it's been so long"
"Your-your
mom?" Logan looks confused as hell, and frankly I don't blame him.
"She's-she's
dangerous. Stay away from her." I can't explain the whole story
right now. Please, just trust me. "Get-get in the Jeep."
"Grrr"
Oh God, he knows something's up, he can probably tell I'm scared. He's
getting upset too. This-this is bad. We can't make a scene, we
don't want to call attention to ourselves, none of us do.
"Who's your
little friend? Don't tell me he's a boyfriend? Tsk, tsk.
You've been a *very* naughty girl, haven't you?" Shit, she's coming
closer. Fuck.
"Stay away.
Stop right there."
"Or what?
Or you'll touch me with that poisoned skin? Darling daughter, you know
it doesn't work on me. Come on, now. You've been away from home
far too long. It's time to come back."
"No."
She's not stopping and I'm going to have to do something. I won't go
back. I won't go back, ever. "Stay away." Maybe if I run-no,
Logan. She'd get him if I run. He doesn't realize-
"GRRRR!"
Oh, shit! His claws-he put his claws out! Everyone's looking
now. Shit.
"My, my,
that's impressive." She's mocking him, but she stopped coming closer.
"Stay the
fuck away from her." God, he's-he's all business. I think-he
might-he might rip her apart. Not that that would be a *bad* thing,
but we've got a lot of witnesses. Witnesses who could call the police
and the provincial authorities. And I can't let the government have
another chance at him. Or me.
"Logan, let's
go. Let's just go." She's seen the car and the plates.
Even if we get out of this somehow, we've got problems. Fuck!
"You're not
going anywhere, Marie. You're coming back home with me. Now."
I guess she decided that Logan's not a threat-she's coming closer again.
God, think, Marie. Think of something!
"Just back
off, Raven." She hates it when I call her by her name, but then again
I hate it when she does it too. "Back off right now or I'll let him
gut you, I swear." Maybe if I put an arm on Logan, that'll calm him
down a little, and let him know that I really don't want him to attack her.
Too many people to -
"Grrr!"
Or not. Have to try something else.
"I'm not
going back with you and I'll hurt you again if I have to. I don't need
my skin to do that." She should remember how I got away the last time-I
can kick some ass if I have to, even hers.
"Your step-father
and I miss you so much, darling. I'm not leaving here without you."
"Then you'll
be leaving here in a body bag." She shouldn't have mentioned him.
No way. That was over the line. She should know better than to
rile me up. I get feisty. And dangerous. And worst of all,
creative. I've got an idea.
"You can't
possibly think that-" Yes! Take that! "Oh!" Didn't
think I could get to the gas pump that fast, did you, mom? No matter
what you change into, being soaked in gasoline is going to make you pretty
easy to kill. "You little bitch!"
"Be nice.
Look what I've got." I don't smoke, but I do collect matchbooks.
Thank God there was one in the pocket of these jeans. She doesn't need
to know the matches have been through the laundry and probably aren't any
good any more. "Logan, get in the Jeep. Do it."
"Grrrrr."
"Do it,
Logan. Now." I don't mean to be bitchy toward him, I know he's
just trying to help me, but we've got to get out of here, and pronto.
This is a crisis situation.
"Don't follow."
Just going to slowly go over to the driver's side and open the door.
Can't take my eyes off her, not yet.
"You wouldn't
dare do it. You wouldn't - "
"You don't
think so? Because I was just thinking that I'd really like to know what
your burning flesh smells like." There. That stopped her.
She knows I mean it. Have to get away now. Now's our chance.
Just get in the car, Marie. Just get in and go. Fast. Now.
"I'm-I'm
really sorry about back there." A hundred kilometers through side streets
and back roads. Not a word from Logan, just staring.
"She's your
mom?" Oh, how I hate this part. I hate explaining this.
"Yeah.
She's-she's pretty much just a bad person, she's a criminal, and she's out
to get me. We're not at all close or anything. We're not really
family like that." I hope that covers it for now. I don't-I actually
would think about telling him the whole story, all of it, I trust him, I
do. But now-now isn't the time. We have to change plates on the
Jeep and keep moving. We have to just keep moving.
"You were
real scared."
"Yes, I
was. Come on, let's get going."
"Marie-the
claws-I-I didn't mean to let them out." Oh, God, that's why he hasn't
been talking. He thinks I'm mad about the claws. Well, we're
going to have to take a second or two to fix that, no matter what kind of
crisis we're in.
"It's OK."
He's really upset-I could feel him flinch a little when I hugged him.
"I'm not-I'm glad you were going to protect me. I just-we just have
to keep going. We're in trouble now. People saw all that, and
they know that we're mutants. I don't want the police or anybody like
that to catch up to us. We just have to keep moving for a while."
"We're not
going to Whitehorse, are we?" That just breaks my heart, the way he
said it and the way he's holding me so tight. I could just-no, no crying.
No crying, Rogue. You have to keep moving, you have to keep both of
you safe. No crying now.
"I'm sorry.
We shouldn't go into the cities. I'm sorry. Let's go."
I think
we've made a good run. I think there's good distance behind us, and
changing the plates helped. I wasn't wild about the idea of keeping
counterfeit plates in the car, but Remy was right, it did come in handy.
I guess that's one of the benefits of having a former thief as your art-dealer's
business partner.
Logan's been
really quiet. He's mostly been just looking at me then at the clawed-up
dashboard and then out the window. I know he's upset, I know I should
talk to him, but I'm still trying to pull myself together and just get some
more ground between us and that gas station. And I have to stay on
alert at least until we stop for gas again, which has to be soon. I
have to keep a lookout for the police, for Mystique, and for dear old step-dad.
I bet he broke out of prison. Just the way she talked about him-I bet
he's on the loose somewhere too.
"Hey, Logan-we
need gas again. I'm going to take that next road toward Dawson Creek."
It figures that there's no escape from bad WB shows even when you're running
from the law. I wonder we'll run into Pacey or Joey at the gas station.
That would be a perfectly surreal end to my perfectly crappy day.
"OK."
"Keep your
eyes open for any sign of trouble, OK? Don't-don't panic, but if you
see police, let me know. Or if you see-well, you might not be able
to spot Mystique. She changes shape, like I said." I'll have
to be the one to-
"I can smell
her. I can find her by smell." That's something I hadn't thought
of.
"Do you
remember what she smelled like?"
"Yeah.
It was bad. Very bad." Heh. Well, I shouldn't be surprised.
Just about everything about her is bad. "Marie-are you-are you sure
she's your mom? I mean, you smell pretty good."
Aw.
That's making me want to cry again. All those tears-as soon as we're
safe and I can breathe again, I'm going to just cry a river, I can tell.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I wish it wasn't true, but it is. I'm sure.
And thanks-I'm glad-I'm glad I don't smell bad to you." It's a little
thing, but at the moment, I'm really, really grateful for it.
"I'll watch
out for her. Police too. Don't worry." He's so-he really
would've protected me back there. He would've fought for me.
I don't know-I can't really process what that means to me right now, but
I already know it means a lot.
"OK.
Thanks."
"Marie?
Wake up, we're uh, we're coming up on the border. That sign said twenty
kilometers." Oh, no-fell asleep. We've been driving for almost
two days straight. I don't think he's slept hardly at all.
"OK.
Let's-pull over and let's switch places. Let's-I think we can take
the side roads to cross over. Let's get off 31 and give it a try."
I'm going to have to pray that we don't have to deal with a border check
and that they don't ask to see any ID for him if we do. The map doesn't
show one, but you never know. Thank God for AAA. They're so helpful
when you're on the run from evil mutants.
"OK.
Over here good?"
"Yeah."
No one will raise an eyebrow at that-not much traffic to begin with and lots
of people pull over to switch drivers. This should be OK. I'm
going to have to get in touch with Remy-he might still have some connections
that can get papers for Logan. I wonder if I should just head to New
Orleans now. "Thanks for driving for so long. If-if you're tired,
you can sleep for a while. It might actually be better if you're sleeping-if
we come up on a border check. You know what? If we do, just pretend
you're sleeping even if you're not, OK?" If the word's out, if they're
looking for Logan, that clawed up dash is going to be a dead giveaway.
Please God, no border check. Let AAA be accurate.
"OK."
He's just gotten more and more worried, more and more tense. I should
say something. Even if-even if I'm not really ready to have the big
talk, I should say something to make him feel better now.
"Once we
cross over, I'll feel a little better. Everything's going to be all
right." I hope I didn't just lie to him there.
"OK."
I don't think that helped much. Please, God, just let us get across
OK. "Marie-what's gonna happen?"
"Well, we
can stop and rest. I think that'll be OK then." There's a lot
of green on the AAA map-that means national forest. Perfect for finding
a little hiding place to pull into and rest a while.
"No, I mean-what's
gonna happen?"
"I don't
understand."
"What-what
you said before, about me workin' and us stickin' together for a couple months.
What's gonna happen with that?"
"I can't-I
just can't talk about it right now, OK? When we stop, we'll talk.
I'm sorry, but I just have to-I just can't talk about it right now."
If I tell him he has to leave me, that he'll only get in trouble if he stays,
I'm going to break down crying, I know it. And that'll just draw suspicion
if there is a border check. We can't afford that.
"OK."
He's definitely worried now. I'm sorry-I'm sorry, Logan. But
I have to get us through this first. I have to.
"I think
this will be a good spot-what do you think?" Just off a dirt road, a
little ways into the forest. I think that sign back there said Metaline
Falls. We're across, we're OK. I am going to send a long freaking
love letter to AAA one day, I swear.
"Looks good."
Over here, off the road, under some trees. We'll look enough like campers
is anyone wonders by. Campers that just decided to stay in the car.
It's starting to rain a little. That'll work.
"OK.
Let's-let's get the stuff out of the back and get the bed ready." Great.
Time to rest, time to-
"You said
we'd talk. You said we'd talk about what was gonna happen now."
Oh, yeah. I did. This is going to be really, really hard.
"I guess
we should. I guess I should tell you a little about my mom, about what
was going on back there." He's nervous, I can tell. His eyes
are really wide and he's breathing fast. He looks like he's almost
ready to panic. He's got to be freaked out by all this and what I'm
about to tell him isn't going to help. "Let me start at the beginning,
OK? My mom had me when she was pretty young. My father-well,
she's never admitted it, but I think she killed him when I was a toddler.
She raised me and got together with this guy-she always made me call him
my step-father, but they never actually got married. He wasn't a good
guy. She was-well, she was involved in some illegal things all along,
but he got her into even more stuff. They both joined up with this
little group of mutants-they call themselves the brotherhood. They're
basically terrorists-they attack non-mutants and stuff."
"My mom,
she always resented me, I think. I think I was just an accident, and
she was young, and she didn't especially like having me around. When
I got older, though, I could work and, you know, clean the house and stuff
and help her out a little. So maybe she liked having me a little better
then, I don't know. I just-we just never clicked. There was just
never that mother-daughter bond there. Never at all, not even from
the beginning." Here comes the really hard part. I don't think
I've ever told anybody this, but Logan deserves the whole story. "When
I was fifteen, my step-father made a pass at me. Actually, it was more
like an attack than a pass. He hurt me pretty bad. I've got scars
all across my lower back from it. But a funny thing happened-my mutation
kicked in. Just when I was almost out, almost unconscious and he had
me right where he wanted me, my skin turned on. I swear, as inconvenient
and awful as this stupid mutation is, there's never been a day that's passed
that I haven't thanked God for it because it saved me from him. It
kicked in just in time. And if I had to make a trade-living my whole
life this way for him never being able to touch me-I'd do it in a second."
"Marie."
He doesn't quite know what to say. And I didn't mean to start crying
already.
"Let me
finish, OK?" Nodding a little. He looks so sorry for me.
I should try not to cry yet. Or at least not so much. "I started trying
to run away from home then, a lot. But they always found me and brought
me back. My skin-my mom wasn't lying when she said my skin doesn't
work on her, it really doesn't. And my step-father, Victor, he learned
how to hurt me and avoid getting my skin. And they wanted me then,
they wanted me because they thought my mutation was powerful-I can absorb
the powers of other mutants with my skin, and they thought it could be useful
to them somehow, to their little terrorist group. My mom even-she was
even a little careful with me. She never let Victor hurt me too bad,
because she didn't want me dead or too damaged."
"Finally,
when I was sixteen, almost seventeen, Victor got arrested and thrown in prison.
The charges were arson and manslaughter, I think, and he got sentenced to
twenty years to life. That was about three years ago. When he
went away, my mom hooked up with another guy, Erik. He was older, and
crazy, just insane. He had this big plan to make everybody into a mutant.
He started building this machine that could do it, and as soon as he found
out about my power, he worked double time on it. He thought I could-I
don't know-make the machine really work well or something. My mom-well,
she was all on board with that plan. She wanted him to take me and
put me in the machine and everything. I didn't want to, and I kept
trying to run away, but they always found me and brought me back."
"When this
big machine was almost finished being built, she sent me to live with Erik,
so he could study me or something and make some final adjustments to the
machine. He kept me in a cell, with metal bars. He was-he was
a mutant too, and his power was that he could control metal. I started
trying to think of a way to escape, and I finally got a chance when they
left one night, the night they tested the machine. I think-I'm not
sure, but I think the machine would've killed me. And I was scared,
I didn't want to die. So I took a chance and fought the guy Erik sent
to watch me that night. I fought him and ran away. I wound up
down south. I found out later-weeks later-that my mom and Erik had
been caught, and arrested. My mom escaped before the trial. I
don't know how, she probably used her powers. I just tried to forget
I ever knew any of them. I was living on the street, day to day.
I started selling little drawings-you know, pictures of tourists or whatever-when
I got to New Orleans. This guy, Remy, he saw the drawings and had a
friend in art. That's how-that's how I started painting."
"Anyway,
it's a long story, but-but that's why she's after me. Even if Erik
is still in jail, I bet she's got some plan or something for me. An
evil plan, I'm sure." That was supposed to be a little joke.
He's not even close to smiling. "Logan, she-she's very dangerous.
I don't want to get you in any trouble, and I'm afraid she won't-she'll just
keep looking for me until she gets me one day. I have to keep running,
at least for a long while, at least until someone catches her and puts her
in jail or something. I think-I think you should leave and go on your
own so that you don't get all caught up in this. It's not your problem,
and you-you deserve a good start, a fresh start."
"No.
I don't wanna."
"I know
I'm the only person you really kind of know, but you could wind up getting
hurt if you stay with me, and I don't want that to happen."
"I could
help you. I could protect you." I know I'm crying and he probably
feels sorry for me. But I have to make him understand.
"You could
get hurt. You could-I'm afraid that if the police catch you or something,
you could get-the government could get you again. That can't happen,
right? You-you don't want that to happen, right?"
"No, but-"
"So we can't
take that chance. You're-you're doing pretty good now. You'll
be OK on your own. I'm glad-I'm glad I was in a position to help you
out, I'm glad I could do that, but you have to go on your own now, it's just
not safe for you with me."
"No.
I don't want that." Think, Marie, think. There's got to be some
way to convince him. If the thought of going back to that lab didn't
scare him off, what will, though? I have to-"Don't you wanna-I thought-I
thought you were OK with me. I thought we were gonna stick together."
"I am OK
with you, I would like that, but things have changed now that she's looking
for me. Things are different." Stop crying. Stop crying.
Stop crying. Stupid tears.
"No.
They're not different."
"But-but-"
Oh, God, I'm *not* going to be able to stop crying. I can't-I just
can't hold it all in any more. It's going to have to come out a little.
"Marie, I
don't wanna go off on my own. I don't. I know-I understand what
you're sayin' about your mom and all, and that it's dangerous, but I don't
wanna."
"I j-just
don't kn-know" I didn't expect this from him, not at all, and with
everything swirling around inside me, I-
"Marie."
Oh. That's-that's-he reached for my hand, just like I did the first
time we met, that first time he was in my car. He reached for my hand
and held it. I've never seen that look on him before-so intense.
He's really serious. He's really, really serious. He wants to
stay. "I don't wanna go off on my own. I can-I can find work
and I can help out and I can help you stay away from her. We can do
that together, right?"
"It's d-dangerous."
"Everythin'
is, Marie. That's the way life goes. I just-we both have a better
chance of bein' OK if we stick together. I'm-I'm pretty sure about
that."
I know it's
wrong to want to keep him with me, I know it's selfish. But I can't
think of anything else to convince him to go, and he kind of does have a
little bit of a point about us being better off together. I know I
should fight him on this, really fight him and make him go, but I think-I
think I'm just going to give up. I don't have the energy to fight.
And I really need-I could really use some help here, someone to help me get
through this. It's selfish, I know, but maybe he needs me a little
bit too. "OK, Logan."
Oh, God,
as soon as I said that, as soon as the words were out, it all just broke loose
inside. I can't-I'm *really* crying now and I can't stop. I know
shouldn't just collapse into his arms like that, I shouldn't. But I
really, really need it right now. Maybe - maybe he won't mind.
He put his arms around me, so I guess it's OK, at least a little.
"That's-we're
gonna do that then, right? No more-no more changing the plan.
We're just gonna stick together like we said and it's gonna be OK."
"OK."
I'm sorry, Logan, I'm so sorry. I should be stronger than this.
I shouldn't drag you into the mess that is my personal life.
"We'll-we'll
get to Whitehorse one day. I promise." Oh, God, that's just so-I'm
really breaking down now, just crying more and more.
"I'm s-sorry."
"It's OK.
You can-you can do that. It's OK." He's even rubbing my back
a little, trying to comfort me. I don't want to hurt him, I don't want
to take advantage. But this feels so good, so right "You don't hafta
be too sad, though, OK? 'Cause it's all gonna work out and we're gonna
stick together. We'll be OK together."
"OK."
Maybe I could just believe that. Maybe I could just decide to believe
that and be done with it, stop worrying all about it. "OK, you're right.
It's going to be fine." He's-he's relaxing now too, he's calming, I
can feel it. "Can we-can we go to sleep now? I'm-I'm really
tired, and you have to be too-I don't think you slept at all."
"I'll get
the bed ready. You stay inside. It's rainin'." Look at
that-he's already trying to help me out a little, already trying to take
care of me. I can't-I'm going to promise myself right now that no matter
what, I'm going to do everything I can to make things good for him and to
see that he doesn't get hurt. I'm going to make what he said true.
I'm going to make sure that everything is OK for both of us.
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