Terri's Peep Hut ~~ Fiction Archive

Summary: Logan stumbles across a mixed-up Marie and decides to make her his houseplant, kind of, even though certain other red-headed doctors think she's an assassin.

Comments: Thanks to Allison for flinging the plot bunny of Logan 'finding' a kind of feral Marie and keeping her to himself and mucho thanks to Tiffany for helping me write this (hers are all the good parts) and betaing. I was in a very weird, cold-medicine-induced mood when I wrote this, and it shows ;)

I coulda sworn I smelled somethin' out here, somethin' bad. Smelled like a person, but someone who hasn't seen soap in a helluva long time. And I thought I heard - oh yeah, there they are. Don't think I can't see ya hidin' behind that bush. "Come on outta there. Now." Now, whaddya think the odds are that this one don't speak English? I kinda think she's just hidin' to piss me off. "Come out, dammit, now!"

Whoa, that got her movin', but she's runnin' in the other direction. At as slow a pace as I've ever seen. I wonder if somethin's wrong with her. "Stop!" Yeah, that worked about as well as I thought it would. What the hell, I'm up for a little chase. This is gonna be a damn short one, but still, it's a chase.

"Ooomph!" Yep, bet gettin' tackled by someone twice your size hurts a little. Now we're just gonna pin ya down nice and good so I can see what we're dealin' with here.

"Hey, you're just a kid." Fuck me if she's even eighteen. And she looks like hell - she's got some scars and bruises you can see even under all the dirt. Damn. "Are you in trouble? Are you hurt?" Just lookin' at me blankly. Well, maybe she don't speak English. Or maybe she got all fucked up and she don't speak at all. Shit, she's wearin' one of those plastic bracelets, the kind they put on ya in a hospital. Or a lab. Damn. In any case, she's turnin' blue in spots and she's ice cold. "Look, don't go anywhere. You're freezin', kid. I'm gonna give you my jacket, OK?" She's noddin' at that, so I guess English is a go. "Here ya go. Put it on."

See, she looks much better in my jacket. Those shredded-up jeans and little t-shirt can't be very warm. There. Now she's not shakin' so much any more. "Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Hey! Stop!" Why's she takin' off her glove like that? It's almost like she's gettin' ready to punch me or fight or somethin'. No, she's just reachin' out to touch my face. What's she - "Aaaaaughhhh!"

That's a helluva thing. Jeannie said it musta been her skin, some kinda mutation. Must be a helluva mutation if it put me out like that. Nothin' hurts me. Jeannie and Chuck - they think she's some kinda assassin, but I dunno. Assassins ain't usually starvin' and half-frozen. I bet she's just some kid, some kid who got outta the lab and got lost. Well, they won't hurt her when they find her, they'll bring her in for questionin' and then they'll see. I hope. They're kinda dumbasses when you think 'bout it. I wonder if -

Heh. I knew there'd come a day when she'd give in. Thought it might be today, the way I woke up to her runnin' her hands all over my body in the medlab. I mean - Scooter? Come on, be serious. He's not enough for a hot-blooded woman like Jeannie. No way. Well, I've got the upper hand now, darlin'. "Told ya you'd come beggin' for it Jeannie."

"Marie." What the fuck! How the hell did she get in here? This just won't do. If they get a hold of her, they'll question her. And somehow, I think she could do without that just now.

"Marie." Great. That's very fuckin' helpful. Maybe I should get Chuck. I mean, even these geeks can see that she's no assassin. She only knows one word. "Logan."

Whoa. Whoa. How'd she know my name? "Who told you that?" Pointin' to me. "I never said what my name was." Pointin' to her head. What the fu - oh, shit. Oh yeah, I get it now. She musta snagged that outta my head when she touched me. Jeannie said it could be some kinda mind-suckin' thing, that she coulda been sent here to get information.

"Oh no, kid, you can't stay in here. You gotta go. I don't have room in my life for this. Out you go!" One nice little shove toward the door oughta get the picture across to her. She can go back to wherever she came from and -

"Sorry 'bout that. But you gotta - " You know, I'm the first person she knows who's probably ever tried to help her at all, and now I'm turnin' my back on her. Just like Shelia did to me. You get used to being treated like shit, but ya always remember the first one. Well, I'm not gonna be that first one for her. "You gotta keep quiet, understand? They think you're some kinda bad guy." If they do question her, it might clear her in their minds, but it'd probably be too damn scary for her to go through. Nobody'll notice if I keep her in here for a while. "You're gonna hafta stay in here, OK? You. Stay. Here. Got it?" Noddin'. Well, I guess I got me a roommate.

I hate to say it, but she looks cute in my sweats. She *really* needed a bath, so I'm glad we got that taken care of. Smells a lot better now. I think we'll just burn those clothes. I'll hafta do that tomorrow.

"Yeah, you're Marie, and I'm Logan. I think we got that established. Let's hit the sack, huh?" 'Cause it's 3 in the fuckin' a.m. and I hafta be up at 9 to teach that damn self-defense thing. Crap. I shoulda never said I'd take that mornin' class. I shoulda just told Chuck - look, baldie, I -

"Oh no, oh no ya don't!" You're sleepin' on the other side of the bed, facin' that-a-way. That way we can pretend it's completely normal. "Move over, Marie. You stay on that side. Turn over that way." I'll just scoot her around a little so she gets the picture.

"OK, OK, just - just keep facin' that way." It'll be safer if she faces away from me. But now she looks kinda sad. Like she don't like that, but she's gonna do it. Probably 'cause she don't want me to try tossin' her out the door again. That was kinda harsh. Maybe - maybe I should just do somethin' to make it up to her a little. I guess it'll be okay if I just wrap my arm around her a little. She's pretty covered up in the sweats and - damn! She needs to eat something soon. Man, her backbones are pokin' me in the chest, and I can see her hip and rib bones through the sweats. That can't be good. She's gotta eat. First thing tomorrow.

"Logan." She's got a limited vocabulary, but I swear she's got about a dozen different ways to say my name already. That one says I was right - she is a snuggler and she likes bein' snuggled up to somebody nice and tight. I bet she's a smart kid, you know, bright. Before they got to fuckin' with her. "Logan."

"Listen Marie, I gotta go to work. Here's the remote. It works the TV. You stay here. You stay here. You. Here. Got it?" That'd be just what I need, her wondering around the house. I think she gets it. "Bye kid."

Whew. Can't believe Chuck let me off that easy. Old baldie - he's really gettin' soft. In the old days, I would still be sittin' in his office, hearin' him read me the riot act. But not today. And I do believe that I have plans for this evenin'. I believe I have a date with ESPN. Sportscenter, then Detroit vs. Colorado. Yeah, that's a definite blood bath waitin' to happen. Heh. I think I got everythin', and Marie's sleepin' on the bed, she won't mind me watchin' a little ESPN. Nope, she won't even notice. She looks pretty out of it - must still be pretty exhausted, the poor kid. Well, let's see - what all do I need? Remote -check. Beer, Molson, of course - check. Pretzels - check. Beef jerky - che- hey!

"Damn, who ate all my beef jerky?!" Oh, shit. Marie. Marie did. And I woke her up yellin' 'bout it to boot. Dammit, I can't believe I forgot to get her food!

"Logan?" And now she's wonderin' if I'm pissed at her. Yeah, this was a great idea. What was I thinkin'? I can't even keep a damn houseplant alive, much less a teenage girl. "Logan?"

"It's OK. I was just wonderin' where all this food went, but I'm guessin' it's in your stomach now." Blushin'. Cute. "That's all right. I know you were hungry. Uh, do you like beer?" Beer. I'm offerin' the starvin' kid beer. Oh yeah, good one Logan.

"Wanna have some pretzels? I'm gonna go get more food and somethin' besides beer for you to drink from downstairs. You stay put. You. Stay." Noddin'. I think she's got the 'stay' thing down. Yeah. "I'll be right back."

"So you see, that's why you gotta be able to kill the power play if you're gonna play physical hockey." Noddin'. I dunno how much of this is actually gettin' through, but I'm kinda havin' fun, teachin' her hockey. And I think she kinda likes hearin' me talk. She's said a word or two that I said, you know, 'stay' and 'that' and 'dammit'. Shit. I'd better be careful not to swear so much. Don't want her pickin' up nothin' but swear words.

"Mph." What's she - oh. I get it now. She's huggin' herself to me, layin' her head down on me. She wanted to fall asleep right next to me. Got it. Well, that's OK. I'll just put the beer over here and put an arm around her. Bet she'll fall right asleep now. "Logan"

"Hey, hey wake up. Wake up. You're safe now. You're OK." Whoa. Shot up real fast once I touched her. OK, I'm not gonna think about what that means, what bad things she mighta been through before, 'cause that'll juts piss me off. And that'll just scare Marie more, which will be not good. "Settle down. It's OK. You're with me. Logan, remember?"

"That's right. You're safe with me. Nothin' bad's gonna happen here. You just relax a little." Poor little thing. She's shakin'. If she's been on her own for a while, just wanderin' around, well, I guess she hasn't had anybody to tell her it's OK when the nightmares hit. That sucks. I know. Been there, done that. Still usually do that. "See? That's better. We're just gonna go right back to sleep, just like the bad dreams never happened. You're gonna feel all better in the mornin', you'll see."

"Thanks." Another new word. You know, I think all she really needs is a place to hang out, get better. They probably drugged her to high heaven while she was in there, but if she can calm down and let it run outta her system, I bet she'll get a lot better. Yeah, that's all she really needs is a safe place and one safe person. I can do that.

She's kinda cute when she's sleepin', you know? I don't like it when women sleep over after sex, so I don't really have a baseline to compare it to, but I think she's pretty up there on the cuteness scale. I'm gonna let her sleep in. She can use the rest.

And since it's rainin' out, I might as well stay in today. You know, see if I can teach her some new words. Maybe feed her some more. Yeah, that'd be good. There's probably college football on today, so we can watch TV some too. I can explain to her what a touchdown is. That'll be fun. It's kinda nice havin' her around.

"Mmmm" I think I know why she's a snuggler. When she comes outta sleep, just a little bit like that, if she feels somethin' warm and breathin' next to her, she's comforted, and she falls back asleep. When there's nothin' there, she probably figures somethin's up. It means whoever usedta be there ain't no more and I can see how that would probably be a bad thing from how she was livin' before. Well, I don't mind the snugglin', not really. I can put up with it if it makes her feel better. She needs all the breaks she can get, right?

"I'm just sayin' lemme take a look, 'cause I can smell blood on ya. Ya gotta be hurt somewhere, Marie. Lemme see." Shakin' her head no, a lot, and lockin' her legs together. Wonder if that's where she got hurt, somewhere on the leg. I sure as hell dunno how it happened - I just left her alone for a few minutes to get us some breakfast (thank God everyone thinks I just eat like a horse, no questions asked) and when I come back, bam - blood smell. "It's OK, really, just lemme see."

Well, she stopped shakin' her head, and she's gonna relax those legs so I guess that's a good - oh. Oh. Oh, hell, I didn't think 'bout that. The blood - it's not an injury, it's comin' from between her legs and it's just her, uh, time of the month. Wonder if she understands how that works. "Uh, it's OK. You're not hurt, not really. This happened before, huh?"

"Yeah." I guess when you're, you know, not eatin' good and all stressed out and bein' experimented on, you're not, uh, regular. But what do I do now? It ain't like I keep a stock of feminine supplies on hand. Shit, it ain't like I'd even know what she needs in that department. On the other hand, I guess somethin' would be better than nothin' here. She's already stained my sweats and that's gonna leak right through onta the bed as soon as she goes to sit down on it. Damn. Damn. "You know what? You stay here a second. You stay. I'm gonna go see 'bout gettin' some, ah, supplies to take care of that." I think she got all that, but she's still lookin' at me a little funny. Hell, why shouldn't she be? I'm about to go on a female thingie hunt, who wouldn't look at me funny?

"Hey, I've been looking for you." Shit. Shit. Wait - keep calm. Don't panic. Jeannie don't know nothin' and all the thingies are in my pockets. Be cool. You can do this.

"You know, you haven't been around much lately." Wouldn't you know it, it's just my damn luck. She never purrs at me like that when I'd actually be able to slam her up against a wall and fuck the bejesus outta her. No, she hasta do it now, when I'm carryin' concealed, uh, female thingies for Marie. "I've missed being flirted with. Even married women like attention, you know."

"Uh-huh." And on top of it all, she's checkin' me out. She never checks me out. If I'd have known goin' a few days without chasin' her was all it took to get her chasin' after me, I woulda done it ages ago. "Well, answer me one question before you go - is that a banana in your pocket or are you happy to see me?"

Je. Sus. *Christ.* "Banana." No way I'm tellin' her that I got female thingies in my pocket. "Gotta go, Jeannie." Gotta go before I break down and start nailin' her right here, feminine thingies be damned. Sure, I bet she'd be a little surprised by seein' maxi pads comin' outta my clothes, but I don't think even that would stop me if this keeps up much longer. I'd better get the hell outta here.

"So, uh, then, that's it. Those things will be under the sink if you need 'em and by next month - well, by then you'll be ready to handle everythin' all on your own. Right?"

"Right." Whew. The last hour and a half of my life is somethin' I don't ever care to go through again. Explainin' female things to confused girls - not my specialty. Definitely not. But she's all situated now, and I think she gets the whole deal. Like I said, she's probably a bright girl, deep down. "TV?"

"Yeah. Yeah. TV. TV with lotsa sports on it. Sports with men. Football. Yeah, football played by big men. That'll work." Whew. Manliness, I'm comin' back to ya.

"Yeah. And the lame-ass ref didn't even catch it, I bet! The calls never go right - two refs - what's that supposedta help? Now you juts got double the lame asses on the ice."

"Don't be shy, say what you really think." Heh. I like that - jokin'. That's fairly new. Past coupla days or so. It's cute. And I think it's a good sign. "Are you going down for snacks at intermission?"

"Yeah. Want some more nachos? I can nuke some up for us." Noddin'. She really likes my cookin', I swear. She's probably the only person on the face of the planet who thinks throwin' shredded cheese on some chips is cookin', but hey, it's cute. "I'll get more beer too." She has learned to like be-er, my Marie. Well, Molson. She's learned to like Molson. Won't touch other stuff, no way. Especially not Scooter's lame-ass Miller Lite, not even when it was the only thing in the house. I taught her good.

"Logan, I want to say something now." I told her to warn me first before she launches inta any big thing. She did that, a coupla weeks ago, and she just started lettin' out all these words that didn't make much sense and weren't in much of a logical order. Which wasn't a problem, except she got all frustrated when I wasn't catchin' on to what she was tryin' to say. I mean, I finally got that it was basically 'thanks for takin' me in' but it took me a while. Now, she warns me so I know to just wait until it's all out before I go tryin' to make any sense of it. "This is good. Here. Here is - it's safe, here and with you, and I feel - I feel a lot better now, you know?"

"Uh-huh." She sure seems a helluva lot better now. Still scared to go outta the room, still don't like it when I hafta leave her alone, but she talks and acts pretty normal now.

"And - and I know you said it was OK that I stay here and do stuff and, you know, just stay here, but I was thinking that I wanted to maybe think about talking to you about possibly going, you know, downstairs. With you. One day. Not - not today. Not without you. But one day. Downstairs. With you. With you the whole time. If it's OK. If it's safe, because I don't - I don't want to go back to the bad place. I really don't. I don't want to go back."

"OK. OK. One day - you lemme know when it is, you just give me a little sign or somethin' - you and me will go downstairs. How 'bout to the kitchen, for food, then right back up?" Yeah, that's about right - she's got a big, relieved smile on her face now. "Sounds good. And hey - no worries. You're not goin' back to the bad place. Not ever. You're gonna be safe now. You just stick with me."

Sometimes, I gotta remember that she tends to take things literally. Now she's gonna be plastered to my side until intermission. Well, I did say 'stick with me'.

I know Logan's still out on that pick up, but I'll just wait for him in his room. I know it's late, but he'll be home soon. Something's been up with him lately. He's seemed so distant, so removed. Even more than usual. I wonder if he's found himself a little girlfriend. Well, if he has, I'm sure he'll change his mind after he finds me waiting for him.

I guess I've played hard to get enough. I mean, we both want it, so why not? We're all adults. Logan just needs a few clues. Subtle clues. Something he would hardly notice, but something his subconscious might pay attention to. Hmmm. I bet he won't notice if I'm just relaxing on his bed and my skirt rides up just a little. I bet he won't notice that I've taken off Scott's ring. It's such a small thing. He won't...wait...who's that?

"Logan?" It's the assassin! She's waiting up here to ambush Logan! God, why didn't the Professor or I sense her up here? And look - she's stolen Logan's clothes to boot! I know how sensitive he is about people borrowing his things - he won't even lend me his sweater, much less anything else.

"He's not here. You're not going to get the chance to hurt him, do you understand? You're busted, missy, and you're coming with me." Head-shaking and backing up into a corner isn't going to get you out of this one, you wretched thing! Just have to remember to be careful of her skin. I know - I'll use telepathy to knock her out.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" Our little assassin is quite the drama queen, isn't she? All that screaming and fainting when I know very well it didn't hurt one bit. Play-acting won't get you out of this, my dear. You've got a one-way ticket to our holding cell, missy. It's the least you deserve, given how you've ruined my plans for the evening.

"Logan! I'm so glad you're here. I was so worried for you." Huggin' me? I know she's been gettin', uh, friendlier lately, but what the hell? "I'm so glad you're all right."

"Didn't the Professor tell you? We discovered an assassin in your room, just minutes ago." An assassin? Couldn't be Yakuza, not their style. Couldn't be Brotherhood, they'd never get past the security. "We've got her over here." Her? Oh, fuckin' hell - Marie. Marie. They musta found her in my room. Dammit! "Don't worry, she won't touch you with her skin again. We've got her in restraints. She's - "

"You gotta let her go. Let her go right now." God, she looks panicked. They've got her strapped down to an examination table and she's even gagged. What the fuck were they thinkin'?

"And I said you let her go right fuckin' now!" I can see it and smell it now too - Marie's goin' crazy with terror. She can't move, can't get away, and she don't know what they're gonna do to her. Godammit, why'd they hafta find her and do this?

Just gotta get inta Marie's line of vision. She'll see me and calm down. She knows I'm a safe person. "Marie. Marie. It's me, Logan. Hang on. Just hang on, darlin', it's gonna be OK. I'm here now."

"She's not a fuckin' assassin, Jeannie, she's just a kid." One. Two. Can't cut 'em fast enough. Those eyes - those big brown eyes of hers are still sayin' panic. Gotta get her out.

"Wouldya shut the fuck up, huh?" Last one. Done. "Come on, come here." I'd have thought she'd jump on me hard enough to bowl me over, but she's just sittin' up, eyes dartin' everywhere, frozen. "Marie, it's me, Logan."

"Yeah. Gotta go. I'll talk to Chuck later." Every second she's here is just gonna make it worse. Once I get her back to our room, I can talk to her and calm her down.

Well, Chuck can kiss my ass. I know he don't like it, but he can kiss my ass. If he wants me to be on the team, this is just how it's gonna be. Marie lives here, in my room, and everybody leaves her the fuck alone or they get a claw mark to remind 'em better next time. Period, end of story. If Chuck don't like it, he knows what his choices are. I'll be happy to take Marie and move on.

"Logan." She's reverted back to just one word at a time now. Fuckin' Jeannie, messin' with her head like that. She don't know what kinda crap Marie mighta been put through in the lab, she don't know what the state of her head is, and she goes pokin' 'round in her brain anyhow. Christ.

"Logan" Yeah, she's cuddlin' up to me. This'll help. This'll be good. She'll - she'll get better. She has to. She will. She'll get better, just like she was before.

"OK, OK, one more. Lay down. I'll get the gloves." You know, if she didn't like these backrubs so damn much, I'd get a lot more hockey watched. On the other hand, they calm her down a lot, make her feel a lot better. And I can still kinda see the TV while I'm workin' on her.

"Under." She's been askin' for that - under her shirt - a coupla times now. Believe me, I'm not gonna pull anythin'. But I wonder what it means that she's askin' for it. I wish like hell she was bouncin' back this time as good as she did the first time around. She's not really up to whole sentences yet. And she's still been hidin' in the closet whenever I hafta leave for a mission. I don't leave her anymore, except for those. "Mmmmm."

OK, I'll admit to the occasional, ah, excitement when she's pressed up against me or when I happen to see her naked. And I'm sure she caught that and a stray kinky thought or two when she accidentally brushed up against my skin a coupla days back. It's not that I don't wanna. It's that I wouldn't do anythin' to fuck her up. She's still gettin' better, and even if we do decide on the big relationship later on, now is not the time. Question is - how do I tell her that without hurtin' her feelin's? "I know there's, uh, thoughts in there, but - "

"OK, probably feelin's too. And they're - you're not wrong about them, OK? But they're just - they gotta wait a while. Until you're a little older and feelin' better. Marie, are you even eighteen?"

"See? That's what I mean. You're kinda young still, and that's fine, but it's makin' for kinda a tricky situation. Plus, I know you're still gettin' your head together. You gotta finish up with that before we go off and do other stuff. I'm not goin' anywhere. You - you take your time. But we gotta put that other stuff on hold until then." I hope that came out OK. She don't look too upset.

"Yeah." Mostly because I'm fairly sure she's at least sixteen now and that would make her definitely seventeen, the age of consent, and maybe even eighteen, legally an adult. Yeah, so I've done a little research, so sue me.

"OK." This is why I could have the big relationship with her someday. Conversation's over, just like that. We talked about it, we agreed, and boom, it's done. She's ready to fall back asleep now. No naggin', no sneaky little manipulative tricks, nothin' like that. She's a very above-board kinda gal, my Marie. I like that. And it's somethin' that compensates for wakin' me up at all hours of the night to have a serious talk.

"Logan, I'm so glad to see you." Whoa there - a little touchy, aren't we, Mrs. Summers? "I was just trying to explain to Marie here that I needed to get something out of your room - that book I loaned you on people with severe psychiatric disorders." Pointed look at Marie. Fuck. I know what's been goin' on here. "I don't think Marie understands. Maybe you can explain it to her, Logan."

"See? There's just no talking to her." Jeannie hangin' all over me and blinkin' big eyelashes at me. Well, this has gone on long enough. Just gonna shove her offa me nice and easy.

"She understands, Jeannie, but she's sayin' no, you're not allowed to come inta the room. Get it?" I forgot how her whole face turns ugly-lookin' when she's cross. "I don't want people in there when I'm not there with Marie."

"Oh please, Logan, don't be so over-reactionary. You've gotten my word and the Professor's that she can stay in your room for - well, whatever you two are doing together."

Uh-huh. That's definitely enough. "Stay right there. I'll get your book." It's right on the dresser where I left it after she shoved it at me a coupla days ago. "Here ya go." Look at Marie, standin' her ground. Good for you, darlin'. Don't let anybody scare ya offa your home. Jeannie's standin' her ground too, tryin' to think of somethin' else to say. Well, I can fix that. "We're gonna head in now. Good night, Jeannie. You give your husband our regards, huh?"

"Oooooh!" Heh. I think she picked that up from me - growlin' and fussin' when she's upset. "So - so - so - pissed!" Yeah, she definitely got that from me. "She's - she's all 'you don't understand' and all hangy and all - all touchy!"

"You gotta ignore her. She's a cranky person." Or she has been ever since the Marie incident. Guess she was a little surprised that I'm not entirely led around by my dick. "And she's jealous 'cause you get me all to yourself." Oh yeah, the I-surprised-one-outta-her Marie-laugh. That's a good sound.

"It's OK. Everything's OK now." But she's not scared, she's just huggin' herself to me, tight as you please, sayin' what I usually say to her when she wakes up screamin'.

"Uh-huh." Squeezin' me to make sure I know, to make sure I feel it and hear it all at the same time. God, she's such a good thing, you know? Such a good thing, especially for my life.

"It's time." Oh, my. Look at that smile. And her eyes are all big and sparkly. I don't think I've ever seen 'em glow like that. She looks so peaceful all of a sudden, as peaceful as I've ever seen her. And happy, really happy. So excited she almost can't keep it in. God, that's one beautiful sight right there. Really beautiful. And on toppa all that - she's right. It's time.