Boys Don't Cry

“Are you comfortable, Natalia?”
“As comfortable as I can be sleeping in a laboratory. Wha-what’re you doin’ with that needle?” I don’t do needles. Despite all the tattoos I have, I don’t do needles that go in my veins.
“We have to sedate you.”
“You can’t give me fuckin’ Ambien?!” By this point I was backing up to the door and ready to run. I had my hand on the doorknob when somebody on the other side opened the door. I fall into the persons arms and look up. It was Logan.
“Where ya goin’?” He asks a little concerned.
“Logan, could you please stay here with Natalia as we monitor her sleeping?” I look at Logan with a pleading look. I wanted him to get me out of this place.
“Sure, bub.” Logan walks with me to the horrendously uncomfortable bed. I lie down and Jean walks over to me, needle in hand. Logan sees the uneasiness on my face and grabs my hand as she puts the needle into my arm. She finishes injecting the cold liquid into my veins and looks at me.
“I, uh. I need you to take your shirt off so I can put these censors on you.” I look at her and then at Logan.
“Fine.” I mumble. I take off my Misfits shirt and expose my skin to the cold of the laboratory. Jean puts the sensory receptors on my chest, arms, and stomach. “You should start to feel a little tired now.”
“Logan...” I mumble as the drugs took effect of my body.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t…leave…” I trail off as I slip into a deep slumber.

***

I was in a tank. In what liquid I do not know. I heard voices. So many voices. The massive amount of pain I was in is beyond words or explanation.
“Is there a heartbeat?”
“I don’t know! Will you shut up so I can listen?” There was a long pause before I heard another voice.
“Experiment XII is a success.” I hear cheering and a bunch of ‘Congratulations’ from various men. I felt my body seizing and an uncontrollable rage came over me.
“What’s going on?”
“I-I don’t know.” Still in the viscous liquid, I thrash every which way. I come up out of the tank and-
***
“Natalia! Natalia!” I jolt up from my resting position to see Logan and Jean holding me down.
“What the hell?!” I felt beads of sweat fall down my face and my hair was wet with perspiration.
“You were jolting and thrashing everywhere.” Jean says while she and Logan let go of my shoulders.
“You had a nightmare, didn’t you?” Logan asked.
“Yeah.” I say while trying to catch my breath.
“What did you see?” Jean asked while taking the sensory receptors off of me.
“I- I was in a tank filled with some kind of liquid and I could hear people talking. Then I started seizing everywhere and I jumped out of the tank and…and I woke up…Can I go sleep in my room now?”
“It’s 12:00 in the afternoon.” Logan gets up and walks over to the coffee pot and got a cup of coffee. “He hasn’t left your side since you went to sleep.” Jean told me. Externally, I showed no emotion. Internally, I was dancing with joy. “I’ll leave you two now.” She says smiling. I get out of the bed, but my legs are still weak. I start to fall to the ground when Logan runs over and catches me. I laugh weakly and he helps me stand up.
“Sorry. Narcotics always make me this way.” Logan chuckles and sits me down on the bed. He grabs my shirt off the chair and hands it to me, trying to not look at anything but my face. “Thanks.” I pull the shirt over my head and sigh. “I feel dead.”
“How?”
“I dunno. I guess it’s just the drugs.” I get up again and this time I succeeded at walking. There was a long silence before any of us spoke, and of course, I was the one to break the silence. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He says rubbing his eyes.
“I think you need some sleep.” I laugh.
“How’d you guess?” He smirks.
“Here, I’ll walk you to your room.”
“Why?”
“You stayed in here with me all night. The least I could do is walk you to your room.” He looks at me and smiles.
“Okay, darlin’.” He gets up out of the chair he was sitting in and walks with me.
“So, why’d you stay all night in the laboratory with me?”
“You asked me to.” He smirks. I look at him and give him a big hug. He didn’t know how to react to it at first, but then I felt his muscular arms wrap around me.
“Look. It’s Wolverine and Lady Wolverine.” Logan and I release from our hug and look up to see John leaning on the wall near Logan’s bedroom.
“I told you to never call me that again.” I gnash through my teeth.
“And what the hell are ya doin’ near my room, bub?”
“I knew you guys would eventually come here.” He smiles deviously. Logan and I both look at each other with a panicked look. I somehow knew this was going to happen.
“What do you mean ‘you guys’?” I ask. I could feel the adamantium start to make its way through my skin.
“The whole place is buzzing about you guys. I figured I’d find out for myself. Looks like the rumors are true.”
“Take that shit eating grin off your face. I have only been here for two days!”
“Doesn’t take long for rumors to start, now does it?” That was it. That was the final straw. The adamantium made its way through my skin and I didn’t take my eyes off of John.
“Natalia, don’t!” Logan pleaded. I look at Logan and retract the metal.
“You’re not worth it.” I spit at John. He laughs and saunters off. I look at Logan and storm off.
“Natalia!” He calls after. But I ignore him. If I’m going to break these rumors, I’m going to have to sacrifice our relationship. At least the public one.