The weak morning light on his eyelids brought Logan slowly up out of sleep. For a moment, as his waking mind fought to piece itself together, he was puzzled by the feeling of a warm body pressed against his. And then the memories of the past few days filtered their way past the drowsy fog surrounding his brain. Kiara. A piece of his life from *before* the experiments. Not a figment of his imagination. But real. Alive. Here, in his arms... A warm smile stole across his face as he gazed down at the dark haired woman who still slept curled up against his chest. And for that one moment, that one crystal clear moment, he knew absolute peace. Happiness. And a contentment that soaked through every pore, every cell of his body down to the depths of his soul. Love... yes, that's what that feeling was, he realized with some surprise. Something that he'd never thought he'd been lucky enough to have before he'd undergone his hellish transformation into whatever it was that he had become. Something he was damn well sure he *hadn't* experienced since then. Since they'd stolen his life and his memories... Chasing on the heels of that thought, came the suddenly overwhelming fear that what he'd found could be taken away again. Could be torn away again... His arms tightened possessively around the sleeping Kiara and he buried his face in her hair, breathing in deeply. Trying to slow the pounding of his heart, trying to quell the panic that threatened to steal the breath from his lungs... Kiara stirred, snuggling closer to him, and he could feel her eyelashes flutter open against the bare skin of his chest.
"Morning..." He crushed the fear down, burying it inside again and masking it from her with a tender kiss on the top of her head.
"Hmmm....... morning...." Her voice was fuzzy with sleep as she propped herself up on one elbow to look into his face. The sight of those beautiful golden eyes staring into him, filled with such utter, uncompromising love made him want to sing. Which would be a very bad thing, considering you can't sing for shit, asshole... The sudden image of himself trying to serenade her from beneath some balcony started a chuckle, which turned into a full blown laugh by the time it reached his lips. Kiara raised an accusing eyebrow at this sudden outburst.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Your hair is sticking straight up from your head..." Well, it was...
"It can't look *half* as bad as yours does, honey..." she smirked, planting a kiss on his lips before rolling out of bed and heading for the bathroom.
"Hey!" he cried out, in mock outrage, before another laugh undid him. "Where are you going?" She smiled at him impishly from behind the half opened door.
"I strongly suspect that the hot water is limited, and I intend to get into the shower first..." He growled at her, and she laughed, shutting the door firmly. He heard the water come on, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. While a cold shower wouldn't kill him, the temptation of a hot shower.... with Kiara... was too much to resist. Her only response, as he climbed into the shower stall behind her, was, "Logan, shut the door - the water's getting all over the floor..." To which he replied, "Shut up..." It was a good fifteen minutes before either of them actually remembered the reason they were suppose to be in there, and another ten before they actually reached for the soap and shampoo. By which time, the hot water had long since grown tepid, but neither complained...
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Kiara was waiting by the bike, when Logan finally came out from settling their tab. She smiled as he leaned into her, both hands resting on her hips.
"You are an evil woman, darlin'..." he whispered, before kissing her roughly. When he finally drew back, she laughed.
"Well, the water was getting too cold..."
"Bathroom carpet looked just fine to me..." Another soft kiss on the bend of her neck, and her knees were threatening to give way. She giggled, and pushed him away.
"Need I remind you who was insisting that they wanted to be there before nightfall?" He breathed out a ragged sigh, and the harsh, warm breath against the side of her neck made her shiver.
"Yeah... I know...." he muttered, raising his head to look at her. The corner of his mouth lifted up in a sly smile, and he whispered against her ear," Besides, the beds at Xavier's are probably much more comfortable..." With a satisfied smile at the glazed expression on her face, he swung his leg over the bike and patted the seat behind him. "Come on, we're wasting good travelling time." She laughed and climbed onto the leather seat, wrapping both hands around his lower waist. Purposefully curling her fingers around the belt he wore.... eliciting a very distinct groan from Logan.
"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually grateful to Cyke..." he muttered, starting the bike and pulling out onto the highway. Before Kiara could have the chance to ask him what he'd meant, he hit the button that pushed the bike into hyperdrive and they were roaring along the highway at a breakneck speed. The satisfaction he felt at the rapidly diminishing distance to their destination doing battle with the distracting way Kiara was clutching tightly to the waist of his jeans...
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By late afternoon, Logan was carefully weaving the bike through the winding streets of Westchester, towards Xavier's School for Gifted Children. The weather in New York, although chilly, was considerably warmer than that in Canada, and he'd long since stuffed his leather in the bag and unbuttoned his denim jacket. With each turn the bike took, he could feel the tension in Kiara's body increasing. Could feel her heart pounding against his back, even through the rough fabric of his denim jacket. He'd known she was uneasy about this trip but damn, it felt like she was on the verge of a heartattack. He took his right hand off the handle of the bike and slid it comfortingly over hers. Her hand latched onto his with a surprising strength, and he spared a quick glance down at it. Only to see white knuckles gripping his hand, the silouette of metallic claws just visible beneath tightly stretched skin. Damn... He gradually slowed the speed of the bike until they came to a stop alongside the road. A quick sniff at the air confirmed what his eyes had already told him - they were within three blocks of the mansion. Kiara's tremulous voice over his shoulder reminded him sharply of why he'd stopped.
"Logan? Why are we stopped?" He twisted around on the bike until his upper body faced hers, and brought both hands up to cradle her wide-eyed face.
"Because you're upset." Kiara blushed and tried to duck her head, but his hand under her chin brought her eyes back up to meet his.
"It's nothing.. really..." Even without the fact that her scent was fairly screaming that it was *not* nothing, that she *was* upset, he could see the lie in her eyes.
"What's wrong? I told you - they're good people. We can trust them, Kiara." The softness of his voice brought a nervous smile to her face and she sighed into the palm of his hand.
"It's just... well... what if they don't *like* me, Logan? They know you, they don't know me. I'm a stranger who's about to ask them a very big favor. Who's going to ask their leader to root around inside my head..." She dropped her eyes, the tension and fear in her scent flared up, and he knew that he'd found the main issue that was making her balk. She was afraid of letting Xavier inside her head. It was a fear he understood, but it was also the only hope they had of getting any sort of ID on the bastards who'd done this to them. And that was something he just couldn't let drop.
"Look at me..." Only when her eyes had met his again, did he continue. "Kiara, they won't hurt you. I won't *let* them hurt you. Don't you want to find out who did this to you... to us?" The tension bled out of her expression a little, and she nodded slowly. "Well, this is the only chance we've got. And they can be trusted, Kiara - I swear it. Once you've met them, you'll understand better, okay?" Another nod, more resolute this time, and he turned back to the front of the bike. Felt her hands slide back around his waist, and her cheek resting against his shoulder. The bike kicked up some gravel as he brought it back onto the road, and he sighed into the wind. This was not going to be as easy as he'd thought...
In a matter of minutes, they were outside the mansion's gates. The scanner identified Logan as authorized and the huge wrought iron gates slid soundlessly open. As the bike roared up the long, winding road to the mansion's front door, Logan felt a curious sense of comfort, of coming home. The irony of the thought that the place where they'd had a hard time convincing him to stay six months ago now seemed like home, made him laugh out loud. He was still smiling as he helped Kiara off the bike and they climbed the steps to the front door. He'd barely raised a hand to knock, when the door swung open to reveal a smiling Jean. Who's smile faltered as soon as her eyes fell on the figure of Kiara, half sheltered behind Logan's body.
"Logan... welcome home." The smile was quickly back on her face, almost as soon as it had vanished, but Logan caught the distinct, sharp scent of jealousy in the air and had to suppress a smile.
"Jeannie, how's things? This is Kiara," he said, putting an arm around Kiara's shoulder and drawing her forward to stand beside him. "It's a long story, but we need to see the Professor." He could almost see the questions flickering across Jean's face, as her eyes went from Kiara, to him, back to Kiara, until she finally held the door wide and motioned for them to enter.
"Well don't just stand there, Logan... Kiara... come in. The Professor's in his study - I've informed him that you're here and he's asked that you join him there." As they moved past her to enter the mansion, Logan let his arm drop to rest around Kiara's waist and he knew that Jean hadn't missed the possessive way he touched her. He couldn't help it - it might not be nice, but it sure felt good to see the shoe on the other foot for a change....
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