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Surprises Author: Terri E-Mail: xgrrl26@yahoo.com Rating: PG Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these lovely mutants. Darn. Archive: DH, Peep Hut – anyone else, please ask :) Summary: Logan is feeling a little out of sorts on Valentine’s Day, but Marie has known what she wants for a present all along. Comments: This fooflet just demanded to be written (pushy little holiday bunnies!) and I think my Kitty muse was also putting in a rare demand for some action ;) I hope they are sated by this. The idea for it was influenced, in part, by how my husband proposed to me, and our dating history. I’m not going to spill the details, but suffice it to say that the way he asked me to marry him was unique and although sometimes he says he wishes he’d done it differently, I don’t – it was unbelievably sweet, and it’s something distinctive to us, so I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. We also never went through the angst or miscommunication or will-she-won’t-he dynamics that some people do when falling in love. Speaking for myself, I knew I wanted to be with him right off, and I was never shy about telling him how I felt or doing things to try to show him ;) This Marie has a little bit of that in her, and although this Logan doesn’t bear much resemblance to my husband, he finally comes around too ;) Lastly, credit for the ‘Kitty Inquisition’ goes to Karen, who is one of the fabulous people who beta my fic and take on the risk of exposing themselves to it in its (sometimes *very*) raw form! “So, this would be good, right?” Logan squinted down at the jewelry case, eyeing a very pink sapphire ring, the kind that seemed in line with Marie’s occasionally-seen girly streak. Overall, she was the kind of woman who was womanly, not girly – feminine not frilly - strong, and certainly not a fragile Southern Belle no matter what the accent might lead you to believe. Kitty gave him a look. “It’s a little gaudy, don’t you think?” Logan shrugged. He wasn’t sure why Kitty thought it gaudy – it seemed perfectly tasteful to him. Just…..big. And shiny. But that’s what women liked in jewelry, right? “And it’s going to stick out on her finger a lot – she won’t be able to put her gloves over it easily. It’d be……uncomfortable.” Logan frowned at that. He hadn’t thought of that at all. Of course it would be uncomfortable – and moreover, nobody would ever see it. Marie wouldn’t be able to show it off – another trait he knew women liked in their jewelry - that’s for sure. “What about a necklace? She’d like that, right?” Kitty shrugged. “Not to be blunt, but don’t you think a ring would be more appropriate?” When Logan just looked at her, she huffed and decided to go for ‘very blunt’ – Logan was one of her best friends at the mansion, but he was seriously dense sometimes. “You know, an *engagement* ring……..” Logan’s nose scrunched up. “No.” Frankly, that surprised Kitty – according to Marie who was her *very* best friend at the mansion, things had been going very well between the two. And while Logan’s reputation had never suffered from accusations that he was too quick to commit, he’d seemed happy too. They’d been living together for nearly a year, and Kitty had thought this would be the next logical step. “No?” “No.” Kitty looked at Logan and she looked back at him. “Look – leave it, OK?” “Is something wrong?” “If somethin’s wrong, why would I be gettin’ her a present?” “If nothing’s wrong, why don’t you want to get engaged to her?” “I didn’t say that. I said no ring.” “So you *do* want to get engaged?” “No.” Kitty rolled her eyes, stomped her foot, and put both hands on her hips. “Why the hell not? Please tell me you don’t still think you’ve got a shot at Jean or something……..” “Don’t want a shot at Jean.” “Then why don’t you want to get engaged to Marie?” “’Cause I don’t wanna go through all that shit – I wanna be married to her, sure, but all that – engagements, flowers, dresses that cost more than my first truck – that shit can go.” “Whew. For a minute I thought something was really wrong.” “I toldya that nothin’ was wrong for Christsakes, now help me look for a necklace, OK?” Logan let a little of his irritation show. He wasn’t a man of many words, but the ones he did say, he meant. Kitty should’ve known him long enough to realize that by now. And she should know he wasn’t planning on skipping out on Marie. If nothing else, today’s shopping excursion ought to have told her that – he didn’t hang out at malls and sparring, not shopping, was how he liked to spend time with Kitty. The girl was a fast learner in the Danger Room, but she still had a lot to learn about human nature. Deciding to just forget it for now, he looked back down at the jewelry case. “What about this one?” “Why don’t you just get her a wedding ring, then?” “’Cause I haven’t asked her to marry me yet. What about the necklace, here, huh?” “Logan…….you know, maybe it’s different in Canada or something, but here, in America, among humans, you buy the ring first, then ask. When she screams ‘yes!’ and jumps into your arms, then you lay the ring on her.” “I don’t wanna do it that way. Now would ya look at this damn necklace and tell me what you think, huh?” The saleslady gave him a look, and he gave her a hard one back. This was supposed to have been a quick, easy shopping trip to get something Marie would be sure to like. It wasn’t supposed to be some kind of interrogation by the Kitty Inquisition. “The necklace should definitely be bigger if you’re not going to ask her to marry you.” “Hmph.” “Logan – seriously – if you don’t want the ring and the whole big deal, what do you want? I mean, you’re planning on marrying her sometime, right?” “Not just up to me.” Logan stabbed one thick fingertip at the jewelry case. “This one’s big. And it’s a diamond.” Kitty looked down. “Whoa,” she whistled, distracted from the conversation at hand despite herself. “That’s freakin’ huge. It’s got to cost – ” “I brought a credit card and I got the money to cover it.” Kitty watched Logan as he motioned to the somewhat skittish saleslady. She knew he had money beyond what Xavier paid, which wasn’t all that much in addition to room and board, his reputation as one of the world’s wealthiest men notwithstanding, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know where it came from even if he would ever be inclined to tell her, which he wouldn’t. She wasn’t sure that even Marie knew. But she was sure, she realized with a start, of one thing about the both of them. When Logan was done with the details of the sale and waiting for the saleslady to wrap up the jewelry, she leaned close to him and spoke softly. “Look, I know that you like to do things your own way – that’s fine. Whatever. But I also know that Marie loves you more than anything in the world, and I know that you love her. So I don’t get what the hold up is – life is short, you know? Why not get married if you’re both in love?” Logan sighed. It would be nice if it were really that simple. “I don’t wanna talk about it, OK? You’re right – I love her more than anythin’ in this world. But things take time and sometimes shit needsta get worked out before other shit can happen. Just keep out of it, OK?” That was a nicely as Logan could put it, and Kitty knew she was treading on some dangerous territory. “OK.” She smiled at the saleslady as she approached with the gorgeously gift-wrapped box. “Let’s go look at the computer store then.” Logan rolled his eyes, but he was clearly in a better humor – she always dragged him to the electronics store on the rare occasions they were here, and he always bitched and moaned but deep down she thought he liked checking out the latest video games. He pocketed the necklace and followed her lead. “The restaurant is really nice,” Marie commented with warm eyes and an even warmer smile, glancing up from her wine glass and into Logan’s eyes. As usual, his gaze never wavered from her. “Better than last year, huh?” “Last year was nice,” she argued good-naturedly. He’d taken her to a drive-thru burger joint and then parked to look up at the stars. It wasn’t fancy, but she’d loved it. And she thought he had too – until the mansion residents began giving him crap about the ‘cheap’ Valentine’s Day date he’d given her. She never really thought he cared what the other X-Men said or thought about him – and he’d certainly ignored their flak when they first got together and for weeks all he heard was how he was taking advantage of her youth and innocence. “At least ya get a good meal in ya this year, somethin’ nice.” “I like burgers, you know, they just don’t like me – specifically, my hips.” She hoped the small joke would take his mind off of whatever was still sticking in his craw about last year. “Your hips’re fine.” Logan took a swig of his Molson. “You look real good tonight.” “Thanks. So do you. You know, we should do something like this every other year – we should trade. One year, fancy restaurant, next year, nature.” “Whatever you like, darlin’. Valentine’s – it’s really a girl’s holiday, you know? It should be what you like.” Marie shrugged. “I think of it as kind of a ‘love’ holiday, a couples’ holiday, not just for one person.” “Trust me, it’s a girls’ holiday.” He took another swig and felt uncharacteristically nervous. “No man would ever think up half the froufy shit that goes with this whole thing.” “Well, it doesn’t have to be froufy – we can do stuff that you like too, you know. It doesn’t have to be all about me.” Logan shrugged. “I don’t mind takin’ ya someplace nice every now and then.” “You look good in a tie, sugar.” “Eh.” He tugged at it. “I can live without ‘em, but one night’s not so bad.” Marie looked at him, eyes narrowing. “What’s up with you?” “What?” “What’s up with you – you’re acting a little mopey and weird.” “Mopey?” The word earned Marie a raised eyebrow and a skeptical look. “Yes, mopey.” She waited for his mock-glare and then went on. “Come on, what’s going on in your brain?” Logan sighed. “I been thinkin’ about somethin’ Kitty said today.” “What?” Logan waited a few moments before answering, not because he wasn’t going to tell her what was on his mind, but because he wanted to give her some warning that it was important, and not easy for him to say. “We were talkin’ about marriage.” “Oh?” Marie leaned forward. “What about it?” “Why you and me aren’t in it yet.” “Oh.” She leaned back. Frankly, she wondered the same thing herself sometimes, but she long ago resolved to let Logan move the relationship along at his own pace. She knew he was not a man who could be pushed or rushed into things, and she had always scrupulously avoided the subject of lifetime commitments. For Logan, and for her, thanks to his transferred healing powers, a lifetime promise was a much bigger thing than it was for most people and she didn’t blame him if he felt a little uncertain about jumping into it with both feet. After all, he could do a lot better than her, and even if he seemed happy and content and loving and settled and satisfied, it didn’t mean that she was all he would ever want. But then again, there were times when he looked at her and she thought…… “What did you say?” “Said it’s not just my decision, you know?” “It kind of is,” Marie blurted out before she could stop herself. Great, she thought, that won’t sound at all desperate. No, not at all. I’ll just say – Logan, I’m ready anytime you are. That will sound great and completely not-desperate. “Huh?” Marie swallowed. She waited a moment before continuing, not because she wasn’t going to tell him the whole embarrassing truth about how she felt on the subject, but to give him some warning that she was going to open herself up pretty completely and that he probably should be paying attention to this. “Look, Logan – I’ve never tried to hide how I feel about you. I love the hell out of you. You’re the best, and most important, thing in my whole life and I’d love to be married to you. But I also know you. I know it might be too much, or not what you want. I can wait until you decide what you do want. I can wait because – well, because I’m having the time of my life. It doesn’t get any better than this, you know? I love every minute of being with you, so, you know, take your time.” Logan reached across the table for her hand, grabbing onto it with both of his. “Marie – I know you love me, I really do know that. And you know I love you. But…..you’re young, darlin’. Yeah, this is right and the best thing now, but you got a lot of life ahead of ya. Who knows what you’ll want or find later on.” Marie gave his hand a squeeze. Suddenly, a lot of things made sense to her. “Logan – is this why you – is this why you didn’t want to date me right away?” “We never dated, darlin’. I just jumped ya one day and then moved in.” “Yes, yes, I know – but is that why you waited? Because you think I’m too young and you weren’t sure whether I’d ditch you down the road?” It sounded harsh and crass to her own ears, but she knew Logan wouldn’t appreciate or need any candy-coating. Not about something this important. When he shrugged in response, she had her answer. “You are so off base. You are so wrong about that it’s not even funny.” He shot her a look. “You are!” “Maybe. I know you think that now. But, Marie – ” “Logan, don’t you think I’ve noticed that I’m only 21 years old? Don’t you think I know that there are a lot of people I’ll meet in my life, a lot of things I haven’t done yet, a lot of things I might want to do? I know all that, Logan. I know all that and I know one more thing – I know that whatever comes down the road, you’re the man I want beside me for it. Good, bad, scary, happy, interesting, boring, hard, fun, whatever – I want to go through it with you for my partner.” His eyes said she’d reached him, at least a little. His gentle, steady rubbing of her hand was a good sign too. “How can you be sure?” “Because I’m not some namby-pamby idiot who doesn’t know what they want and who falls for every new and shiny thing that comes along. Think about it, Logan – I stick with what I love. My jeep has a couple hundred thousand miles on it, my dog is a pain in the ass but I love her, and Jubes – well, she’s not dead yet, and I think that speaks volumes.” That got the intended laugh out of him. “Because – well, maybe I’d better just show you.” She freed her hand from his to rummage in her purse. “It’s in here somewhere……..” “Whatcha lookin’ for?” “Your present.” “Aw, Marie – you didn’t hafta get me anythin’.” “You always say that but you know I always get you a present.” She was still looking – and cursing a little beneath her breath. “Yeah, but – ” “Aha! Here it is.” She produced a small, unwrapped jewelry box and extended it to him. “Go ahead, open it.” Logan was always touched when she got him presents. It was very true that he always said not to; and, when it came to other people at the mansion for holidays like Christmas, he meant it. He usually hated what people got him and he wasn’t good at pretending he didn’t. Rather than have a pile of crap he didn’t want and only the hurt feelings of friends who’d tried to please him, he’d rather just avoid it altogether. But Marie – Marie always seemed to get him not only something he actually *liked* but something that was exactly the right thing for the occasion. He smiled, then opened the small box, eager to find out what this right thing this time was. He couldn’t have been more surprised. It was a gleaming silver ring, a simple one, smooth with no fancy edging or designs. “I was going to ask you – well, I wasn’t really planning on asking you to marry me, but I was going to ask you if you’d wear it, you know, kind of like how I always wear the tags. That’s – that’s what I consider my binding relationship jewelry anyway, I don’t need a ring. And marriage – it’s a big thing, and I wasn’t really sure where you stood on that, if you were thinking of it, so I was going to ask you to just wear this as a – well, as kind of a ‘you’re mine but not in a bad or stifling way’ kind of ring.” “I didn’t know they sold it in jewelry stores.” “Smartass.” She was a little stung at his trite reply, but before all the hurt of it could catch up with her, he spoke. “No, I mean – it’s not silver. It’s titanium, isn’t it? I didn’t think they had those kinda rings in jewelry stores.” Marie sighed, smiling tightly because she still felt a sting even though she knew he hadn’t meant to produce that reaction. “It’s not titanium. It’s adamantium.” That snapped his head up. “That lab that Stryker had? The Professor kept some of the adamantium for our side, just in case we needed it for something down the road. I asked him for a little, and he said I could have it if I could figure out how to get it into its molten state again to make anything out of it. Well, that was……..I guess three years ago.” Logan’s jaw dropped. Three years ago – they hadn’t even been together then. Not quite, not yet. “I’m a slow learner, and frankly, science hates me,” Marie shrugged. “I’d still be working on it if Hank hadn’t come to the mansion last year……..” “Why’d you do that? Why’d you wanna make me a ring all the way back then?” “Just in case,” Marie said, averting her eyes. “I knew what I wanted, Logan. I was waiting for you to decide what you wanted.” “Marie……..” “Logan, it’s never been me that’s been unsure. It’s never been me that’s wanted to wait, or that’s had doubts, not about whether we belonged together. I know – I realize, Logan, that it’s not just me that’s got a long life ahead and a lot of things to discover, it’s you too. All those things you said, all those reasons why you didn’t want to get married – those apply just as well to you. And yeah, you’ve experienced a lot more than I have, but I – I just don’t wonder, you know? I don’t wonder what’s around the next corner and how it might affect us. I know – I really *know* that whatever it is, I will feel the same way about you as I always have. But you were right – it’s not just up to one of us. You have to decide too.” Logan sat back in his chair, heavily. She was right about a lot of it. He’d been more than a little blind about how she really felt. Maybe Kitty wasn’t the only one who needed to be a bit more observant. But Marie hadn’t been right about everything. Logan reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out two small boxes. “What you said, Marie – I wantcha to know that I get it now. I get it. And I know what I want too. Here. Open ‘em.” She took both packages, opening the unwrapped one first. It was a necklace, with a big, emerald-cut diamond dangling from the end of it. “Oh, Logan, it’s beautiful.” He couldn’t suppress a smile at the sheer awe and delight in her voice. “This is – this is gorgeous, but it had to cost – ” “Eight thousand and some change.” Marie gulped. “But that one ain’t the big present. Go on and open the other one.” Her eyes were wide and she looked almost afraid to open the other box, but she did, undoing the gorgeous but slightly rumpled wrapping. Her fingers revealed a small diamond-encircled band. It couldn’t have been more than half a carat, total – the stones were small, delicate. They’d lay flat under her gloves, in fact. “Logan……..” “After what all Kitty said, I started thinkin’. And I thought – well, she might not be ready. She might change her mind down the road. She might meet someone else who’s better. But I want her. I want her so goddamn much. And I wanna give it a try. I thought – even if she ends up breakin’ me, the ride’ll be worth the kick in the ass. I wanna be married to her.” Marie’s eyes began to tear over, and she bit down on her lower lip. “So I got the ring too, and put it in the nice wrapping. I got cold feet, ya know, sittin’ here. But when you told me……….well, I know what I want too. No doubt in my mind.” “Good,” Marie whispered through happy tears. “Good, because I want to be married to you too.” “All right, then,” Logan said, gently taking the ring from her fingers and sliding it on the appropriate one, over her black form-fitting opera gloves. He solemnly took the ring she’d given him and handed it to her to do the same. As she did, their eyes met. “There,” Logan breathed. “We’re married, then.” Marie smiled broadly. “I think there’s some paperwork and possibly a minister that have to be involved later, but yes, we’re married now.” Logan grinned back at her. “The trimmings can wait. In fact, I say we go right on to the honeymoon. Whaddya think?” That made her smile more than anything so far. “I think we definitely should. And I have the perfect exotic location in mind.” Logan reached out to take her hand again. She knew by the way he held it that he wouldn’t be letting go again this evening. “You do?” Marie nodded. “It’s cozy and intimate, but you can see the whole world from it.” “Yeah? Where’s that?” Her impish smile made his chest feel warm. “Your truck. In the front seat. Parked beneath the stars. What do you think?” “Sounds good to me, sounds real good.” He gently tugged at her hand to get her to rise, while fishing out some cash from his pocket to cover their meal with his other hand. Marie picked up the diamond necklace with her other hand and as gracefully as she could manage, looped it around her neck. It sparkled and drew more than a few glances from the other diners. But Marie’s eyes were on the ring slipped over her gloved finger. |