Disclaimer: Lena, Caleb, Annie, assorted bar patrons and fastfood clerks are the products of my fevered imagination. Everyone else in the story is property of Marvel. Uncredited song lyrics are from the Golden Palominos.
The music changed early that night. That's how Logan knew when to visit her in the lab. When Caleb was working with her, they listened almost exclusively to dance music. Nothing wrong with it really, held its own attractions. Namely an opportunity to watch Lena swing her hips to Latin rhythms. Occasionally, Caleb would lead her in a tango or a mambo and Logan could indulge in the sweet torture of wondering what it must be like to move Lena's tight, strong, curvy, little body through a dance.
As much as Lena enjoyed Latin music, she also liked a lot of things that Caleb refused to listen to, mainly Honky-tonk, early rock and roll, and the Blues. If Logan wanted to be sure Caleb wasn't going to be around for a while, all he had to do was to wait for the music to change. Right now, Lena was playing Bob Dylan and the Band's Basement Tapes. That definitely wasn't the boy's cup of tea. It wasn't that he had a problem with Caleb, just that Lena tended to use him as a shield.
Lena was singing and she could really sing the hell out of some of those songs. Kinda pulled at him like a magnet whenever he heard it. If he managed to behave himself, she'd keep singing. He just had to remember not to let her catch him staring holes into her, not let on that he'd really like to grab her up in his arms and lope off into the woods and maybe eat her whole. Keep the whole thing light; that was the ticket. Sing along with her, that always put her at ease. Then they'd just be friends sharing a good tune, no harm in that. Soon now, he'd be getting what he wanted. He could see it in the way she reacted to him. Just had to mind his manners for a little bit longer.
He opened the door and walked in. Forge was around somewhere but nowhere near Lena, so far so good.
"Hey who is that up there?"
"It's me, Lena. How'd you hear me over the music?"
"Didn't. I heard the music change. The echo's different when the door's open." She looked up from her monitor and smiled at him, "Hey Logan."
"Hey Lena." He smiled back and narrowed his eyes a bit. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You can ask."
"And what? Maybe you'll answer?"
"Yup."
"Do you have enhanced senses?"
"No, not really. They tried to give me infrared vision but they messed it up. Now I can see in the dark but I can't see in bright light. Not exactly an enhancement if ya ask me." She paused and gave him a puzzled frown. "Why'd you ask?"
"Sometimes the way you act, the things you notice, makes you seem like you do."
"Yeah that's probably just from years of climbing around in guys like you. Makes me more aware than a regular person but I don't hold a candle to you."
"Better be careful with the praises there, Lena. Yer gonna give me a swelled head."
"I'm not dignifying that with an answer."
"I meant ya might give me a big ego, Lena." He raised an eyebrow at her. "What'd you think I meant?"
She shook her head and smiled. "You mean to tell me that you had to come all the way down to the basement to find a girl to flirt with?"
"If I wanted to listen to good music at the same time, yeah."
"Guess I'm stuck with ya then."
"Looks that way." He settled down into one of the extra chairs. "Lena, did you have another name when you were in the Program?"
"Why, did you remember something?"
"Yeah, they used to call you Gail or something. Right?"
"Galatea, it wasn't my name. That was my machine's name." She didn't move. She just stared down at her hands on the keyboard.
He winced at the misstep. "Lena, I'm sorry if I brought up something painful. I didn't mean"
"It's okay Logan," she reached out and squeezed his arm, "it's a memory and that's a good thing. It's not your fault if the memory is bad."
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. "I just don't like to see you go through any pain."
"Better be careful, Logan. People are gonna start figuring out that you're softhearted under all of the tough-guy posturing."
"It ain't a posture, Lena. My heart's mostly hard, I just have a few soft spots for a few special people."
She smiled at him and tried to want to pull her hand away, but it just wasn't happening. Damn you Logan, she thought to herself, why do you have to be so charming? She thought again about how easy it would be to get lost in his eyes. But he deserved so much more than she could give him. She wouldn't, she couldn't let him down in that way.
"Hey Lanie, we got another memo. Jer not gonna believe this one." Caleb called out from the doorway. He ran into the lab, vaulted the banister and landed a foot away from them.
While Logan silently cursed Caleb's timing, Lena read the memo. It was sent out to all residents and it was about Horseplay and Roughhousing in inappropriate areas. It was from Scott.
"Jesus Christ! Does the man have nothing better to do with his time?"
"I hope yer not askin' me to defend him, darlin'."
"Put it with the others, Cay Cay."
"We gonna need a bigger corkboard, Lanie."
"He's gotta be nearly done by now, I don't think I have any other vices left. If he bans coffee drinking, I'll rip his lungs out."
Caleb walked over to one of the equipment lockers. On the inside of the door, they had posted the entire collection of recent memos. The memos dealt with such topics as refraining from using profanity in common areas, respecting the noise curfew, and driving safely in the parking lot. They were posted on corkboard so that Lena and Caleb could throw darts at them. In the center of their little gallery, Caleb had hung his own drawing of the Grinch wearing a ruby, quartz visor.
"I do not feel the love here." It was hard for Lena not to take it all personally since the memos seemed to come out every time Scott noticed her or Caleb engaging in the proscribed behavior. Lena wondered how she was ever going to get Scott to trust her when she spent half her time just wanting to deck him. How Jean managed to put up with him was a mystery to her.
"Don't let it worry you, guys. Scotty can't handle people who don't color inside the lines. I'm just glad you've taken his attention away from the rest of us."
"Yeah, I can't help but notice that there aren't any memos about smoking."
"And I'm sure I speak for Gambit too when I thank you both fer not smoking." He grinned as he lit a cigar.
"Who the hell is Gambit?" Caleb asked, puzzled.
"He means Remy." Lena explained.
"What the hell kinda name is Gambit?"
"It's his code name. When they're out on missions, they don't use their real names."
"No shit? Hey Logan, Jou gotta code name?"
"Yeah, it's Wolverine."
"Jeah, I heard people call you that. What is that? Like a badger or a ferret or something?"
Logan unsheathed one set of claws and waved them menacingly at Caleb. The boy immediately freaked out, dancing frantically out of what he thought was Logan's range. "Fucking Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that shit man?"
"Those're adamantium claws. I got three more in the other arm. Wanna see how fast they cut through bone?"
Caleb raised his hands. "Whoa Jefe, I'm from Puerto Rico. I don't know nothin' about the wildlife up here. Sorry if I offended you."
Lena was laughing pretty hard and when Logan judged that he'd put enough fear in Caleb, he sheathed his claws and joined Lena in laughing.
"I told you not to push him, Caleb. You're gonna get yer head handed to you one of these days if ya don't start figuring out how far you can go."
"You gonna be okay, son? Do ya need to go change your underwear?"
"Yeah, yeah, very funny. You two are gonna have to find somebody else to pick on now. My ears are gonna start to bleed. Jesus, Lena, where do you get this shit?"
"You don't like it, you know where the door is. I play your music all day long. The nights are mine."
"Whatever, I gotta go anyway. Jubilee wanted help with her calculus homework. Who knew all that crap you drilled into my head would be useful someday, huh?" He leered at his sister.
"Out!" She beaned him on the head with a stuffed animal, one of her wide arsenal of corporate logo toys.
"Thought you said you liked his sense of humor?"
"I like it a lot more when it's directed at somebody else." She observed, smiling wryly. "I think he was just trying to cover up for loosin' his cool. I hadn't thought about it but I guess I never mentioned the claws."
"Spooked him pretty good, didn't I?"
"Ahh, he handled it a lot better than I would've."
"Yeah, I noticed you jumped. How come? You knew I was just kidding, right?"
"Yeah, but I know what those things can do and well, I guess I've been expecting to see them for such a long time and not under nearly such pleasant circumstances."
She broke eye contact and looked down at her hands. He put a hand under her chin to bring her eyes back to his. She tried to resist but he merely purred, "Lena, look at me," and she did. Something in the tone of his voice and the rush of his skin mesmerized her. The intensity of his gaze surprised her. "I would never do anything to hurt you. Tell me you believe that."
Her eyes widened and she sputtered for a moment, "Oh Logan, of course I believe that. I don't have to believe it, I know it."
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. His hands trailed back along her cheeks to hold her face up. If he bent his elbows, he would be kissing her. She wouldn't stop him. She couldn't. He pulled her forward. Her expression broke, the brow furrowing and her eyes filling with pain. With a conscious effort, he stopped himself. He leaned his head softly on her shoulder, took a deep breath and centered himself.
"Logan, I uh"
"Shh, s'okay, darlin'." He didn't lift his head from her shoulder. Finally, with a quick breath in and out, he straightened up and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I better get out of here while I still can. Goodnight, Lena." He stroked her cheek lightly and turned towards the door.
She shook her head, trying to clear it. It had to be the skin. That had to have something to do with it. She couldn't understand why it kept happening. She used to be much better at controlling her reaction to his touch. She'd never been any good at denying him but this was ridiculous. What she wanted to do, she wanted to do for his own good. Logan deserved a woman, a real woman, not some broken little experiment gone wrong. How could he break through her resolve so easily?
Once he was out of earshot, he slammed his fist into a metal wall, denting it. He leaned forward, resting his face on the wall, feeling the cold metal on his hot skin. Every fiber of his body screamed for release, tugged at him, pulled him back to her. She wouldn't have resisted him. She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. He knew that wasn't enough.
He knew if he rushed it, he would never get what he wanted. He wanted what he couldn't have with Jean because of Scott and what he'd never had with Mariko because of honor. He wanted all of her, body, soul, everything. So he couldn't push her; he couldn't force it. He had to wait for her to be ready. It would have been a lot less frustrating if he had any idea why she fought it. She'd been so close back in the lab. So close, he mused, drawing in the scent of her skin and hair still lingering on his hands. He stopped himself abruptly as he realized that he was walking back to the lab. Sooner or later, he wouldn't be able to stop because the beast inside of him had her scent, too. And the beast wanted far more now than just to put its head in her lap and purr her troubles away. He prayed that he'd find a way to break down her walls before that happened.
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