Finally, the tears ran dry and Logan simply lay in Kiara's arms. Shivering, and feeling torn apart inside in a way that his mutant abilities could never heal... He could feel Kiara shift and then gentle hands were pushing him upright. Her warm hands (so warm...) enfolded his and slowly drew him to his feet. It was all he could do to stand there in front of her, trembling still and staring into her eyes in mute pain. A sad smile crossed her face and she reached up to stroke his cheek. A low moan escaped his lips and he closed his eyes and leaned into the compassionate gesture. Then the hand was gone, his eyes opened and she was leading him slowly back along the path of destruction that he'd left in his flight through the forest. Broken branches littered the snow and, still wrapped so tightly inside his grieving mind, Kiara had to physically guide him around them. After what seemed like an eternity of stumbling and slipping in the icy snow, they finally reached the cabin.
Sitting Logan down on the bed and wrapping a blanket around his shivering body, Kiara silently fed logs into the stove until heat began to radiate through the interior of the cabin. Heat that still somehow failed to reach the frigid wasteland inside him... Numb with shock, Logan could only watch while she placed pot after snow-filled pot onto the stove to heat. As the melted water reached a boil, she emptied the pots into the tub, refilled them with snow and placed them back on the stove. She continued with this until the tub was finally full and steam rose above its edges. Then, and only then, did she turn back to Logan. Again, her gentle hands drew him upright and the blanket slipped from his shoulders. Led him to stand beside the tub.... Patient, soothing hands stripped him of his soaked jeans and urged him into it... As the hot water rose to cover sore, aching muscles, Logan let his eyes slide shut and his head fall to rest on the edge. The silence, though.... the silence weighed too heavily on him and he opened his mouth to speak. Needing to know...
"How.... Kiara, how can you be so calm..." A soft finger on his lips silenced him and he opened his eyes to see her kneeling beside him, a brief expression of loss fleeing across her face before it vanished into a tender smile.
"No, Logan. No questions now. No past... No future... Simply *now*. Here. This moment. Don't think of what happened, or what *will* happen. Simply *be*. Close your eyes..." The intensity of her voice cut through the ice around his soul and he obeyed, letting all thoughts drift away as he relaxed into the steaming water. He could hear Kiara get up and move away from the tub for a moment, before returning again. The sound of something being dipped into the water and then the sensation of a soft wet cloth dabbing away at the dried blood on his face... Logan's eyes flew open to find her once again leaning over the edge of the tub, a tender smile on her lips as she gently bathed away the evidence of his pain from his skin. The swirling steam brought her warm, spicy scent to his flared nostrils and he drank it in - wrapping it around him like a balm against the grief. In silence, he watched her face, as she slowly drew the cloth down the side of his neck and across one shoulder. Those eyes, those incredibly beautiful eyes.... God, how he had missed them... Kiara ran the cloth across his broad shoulder blade and towards the back of his neck. Unbidden, Logan bent his head forward, baring the sensitive skin to her attentions. Through the damp cloth, he could feel her strong fingers massaging the muscles there and he sighed into the sensation. The unfamiliar sensation of being the object of such care, such tenderness...
Another movement and Kiara was leaning further over the tub, as she reached behind him to wash the other shoulder. Bringing her own neck to hover close to the side of his face. Unable to resist, Logan turned his face into her and inhaled deeply. The soft sigh that escaped her was almost too low for even him to hear but catch it he did, and the muscles in his stomach tightened in response. The icy shroud of grief that had smothered him since the moment he'd remembered what was done, was rapidly thawing against the steady fire that was building inside. Finished with his shoulders, Kiara drew back and met halflidded eyes that continued to watch her in deceptive silence. She motioned for him to raise his arm out of the water and he slowly obeyed, resting it on the rim of the tub. Eyes still focused on her... With gentle strokes, Kiara drew the washcloth down the length of his arm and then back up to his bicep. Fingers massaged into the sculpted muscle and Logan let out a small groan. She didn't look up, but a small smile quirked her lips as she continued to wash away the dried blood that marred the now unblemished skin. With a slight, betraying tremble of her hand, she brought the cloth down onto his bare chest and the warm, spicy scent that was uniquely her became so strong in the air that Logan found it almost intoxicating. The wry grin that started to develop on his face died away as her motions became more prolonged, more deliberate. What had been gentle, efficient strokes now became slower, teasing... Until she stopped, her hand resting on his chest, and raised her eyes to meet his. The desire he saw there was unmistakeable and the air in Logan's lungs suddenly seemed harder to expel. Leaning forward slowly, he raised shaking hands to frame her face and she breathed in deeply at his touch, turning her face to plant a delicate kiss on the palm of one hand. With that one single kiss, all remnants of the numbing pain inside burned to ashes and blew away in the face of the hot wind of desire that swept through him.
With an intensity and tenderness that he had never thought himself capable of, Logan brought his lips down on hers. Eyes closed against the sensation of those soft, sweet lips that parted as he felt her body press into the side of the tub... His tongue ran gently across her lower lip and he could feel her moan into his mouth. Feeling more than slightly drunk on the taste of her, Logan slid his lips off hers and gently kissed a path down her jaw to her neck, pausing a moment to nuzzle into the hair behind her ear. A low gasp and fingers running through his hair drove him onwards. With light, feathery kisses, he made his way down the line of her neck to her collarbone, where he sucked and nibbled at her skin. Another groan, louder this time, and Kiara arched her head back as she submitted to him. Across her collarbone to the hollow of her neck and then back up to her mouth, which met his in a passion that demanded more. Those same soft, sweet lips slid off his jaw and kissed their way down the column of his neck, and Logan groaned aloud as she made her way back up to the sensitive spot just behind his ear. When her tongue reached out and sucked his earlobe into her mouth, Logan rose up out of the bath with a roar, taking her with him to the floor. Hesitancy was lost as his wet body covered hers, his mouth kissing a fiery path down her neck to the collar of the shirt she still wore. Logan stopped and looked up, only to see her staring back at him. One eyebrow raised in question... and she nodded.
"Off..." Her voice was sudden and harsh in the silence of the cabin, but it sent a thrill down Logan's spine to hear her breath catch in her throat, as his warm hands reached up to slide the offending shirt over her head. Looking down at her, as she lay there before him, wearing only her underwear, Logan felt his heart swell with emotions he'd long since given up on. Wanting to share with her what she was doing to him and unable to find the words, he bent down and placed a tender kiss on her lips. Her hands tangled in his hair as he continued to kiss his way down to her breasts, taking one into his mouth as rough hands rose to caress the other. Kiara's back arched underneath him and the long, drawn out moan that escaped her lips almost drove him out of control. Hanging on with all his will, he continued down her lean abdomen until his kisses reached the line of her panties. Her breath was coming faster now and, never one to take the long way around, Logan slid one claw out and cut them from her body in a single movement. Dipping his head again, his tongue flicked out to taste her and she cried out, fingers tightening in his hair, as she writhed beneath him.
"Logan.... please..." Hearing the desperate plea in her voice and knowing his own self-control was hanging by a thread, Logan drew himself back up her body until he lay looking down into her eyes, his hands cradling her face.
"Is this what you want?" Every part of him, from his heightened senses to the depths of his soul knew it was, but he still had to ask.
"Oh God, yes... please..." With her answer, restraint disappeared and he slid inside her. Bowing his head, he kissed feverishly at her neck as they joined together in a rhythm as old as time. Until all pain, all anguish disappeared into the blinding waves of pleasure that crashed over both of them and finally left them lying still on the hard floor. Entwined and filled with a contentment that neither had felt for a very long time...
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