Taming a Beast

When we made it home, Jean used her telepathy to move Scotty to the hospital while Storm chaperoned me to my room to make sue I didn’t do anything stupid, I guess. I had been known to runaway from home when I was younger, but I had grown up and was a little offended when Storm told me Xavier wanted her and Rogue to keep an eye on me from now on. Rogue was on the second plane home, which meant that Storm was my babysitter for now.

She sat on the edge of my bed and put a comforting hand on my knee. “Talking does help, as cheesy as that sounds. Keeping it bottled up inside isn’t going to help anything or anybody.”

“I mean, you saw pretty much the whole ordeal yourself,” I said, shifting my body on the bed so I was more comfortable. “Everybody always talks about this demanding, violent Logan as if he’s the only that exists. But I’ve never had to personally deal with him when that attitude was aimed towards me, and it was not a pleasant experience. Also, it is not my fault that Magneto got out! I’m not trying to pin this on anybody else, because taking him prisoner was my idea, but we should’ve been better prepared for a power failure.”

Storm watched me with a sympathetic expression, nodding in all right the places as I went on my little rampage. When I was done talking, she said to me, “First of all, you were not only right in taking Magneto as a prisoner, you were brilliant. Although we try to keep our missions secrets from the kids unless it somehow greatly affects them or until they’re complete, they do manage to get out, and this one was no exception. By your actions, you taught the kids that there are other ways of finishing off somebody than killing them, and that’s very important. Second of all, you’re right, we should’ve had a back-up generator or something, especially for the hangar. I was surprised to find out we didn’t. Third of all, Logan. You know him. He gets angry easily, and he is probably the biggest sore loser to ever walk the face of this planet. So when he loses, he will blame the first person he thinks of... even if it is the girl he loves.”

I blushed, ducking my head. “He doesn’t love me. If he did, he wouldn’t bark at me.”

Storm quietly laughed. “Logan would bark at his grandma, given the chance. He has slight anger issues, and nobody can control that. I’m assuming he’s never told you he loves you?”

I quietly admitted, “No.”

“That is a bit of a surprise considering everybody can see that it’s true. Nobody, not even Jean back when they dated, could really calm him down like you can. Back before you came, I don’t know if anybody told you, but Scotty and Hank both have scars to prove that Logan used to be much, much worse as far as controlling himself was concerned,” Storm said, wincing. “The point being, if it’s not love, it’s a very strong feeling that will eventually turn into love. I know I’m suppose to be one of those best girlfriends who’s all ‘He’s a douche bag, let’s go TP his house,’ but if Logan asks for another chance, please give it to him. Logan letting his guard down is very hard, and if you turn him down, it’ll be even harder.”

The way the Storm was talking almost made it sound like was she was pleading with me. When I saw the desperation in her eyes, I saw I was right. A few months ago, Scotty and I had a conversation similar to this, back before I left. I told him I planned to break up with Logan so he could do whatever he wanted to while I was gone, but Scotty insisted that he would stay true if I was gone. It was especially weird that Scotty was defending him considering the two pretty much hated each other, but it finally struck me: they were all relieved when Logan found me, because I did calm him down. And they didn’t want psychopathic Logan back.

There was a light rap on the door and Rogue said, “Rogue reporting for service!”

Storm reached over to take me in her arms and give me a tight hug. She met my eyes squarely and said, “Think about what I said, Shiloh. Don’t do anything you don’t feel comfortable with, but please, just think about what I said.”

She got up and went to the door, opening it to reveal Rogue standing in all her cuteness, followed by Gambit and a large, extra bed. I was assuming that the plan was for her to sleep over, and she had brought loads of candy and ice cream, as well as some comedy and action movies, my favorites. Gambit pushed in the bed, which was set upon wheels, with ease, then came over to me and kissed my forehead.

“Feel better, cherie,” he murmured, looking into my eyes before he left us alone. Rogue fell onto her bed and beamed at me. I had to smile back; her grin was truly contagious.

“So, I’ve got all the goods for tonight,” Rogue said, lifting up each thing as she named it. She popped in Kick-Ass and handed me the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream, one of the few things I could eat forever and be absolutely fine with it. We ate, talked about anything but Logan and the fight that had just occurred, and watched movies. Soon enough, Rogue was passed out on her bed and I was nearing sleep myself when I heard a knock on the door.

I got up, pulling on a sweatshirt as I opened the door. Before I could close it, Logan reached inside and grabbed me by the arm, surprising me as I gave a little gasp. He pulled me to the wall and looked down at me, saying, “I’m so sorry.”

I looked up into his eyes and could tell that he genuinely meant it. I didn’t say anything as he continued by saying, “I’m so sorry that I flipped out. I was frustrated because we lost him, and my mind just decided that you’d be a good person to blame considering you were the one who thought we should just imprison him. I’ve had time to think and get yelled at by Rogue, and I decided that you were right and I was wrong. It would’ve been stupid to kill him. It would’ve made the Brotherhood angrier and possibly brought a civil war onto our hands, which is the last thing we need right now. Also, it would’ve sent the wrong message to the kids: kill. And I know you don’t think I care about those kids, but I do. Because once upon a time, I was in their position, except with no guidance, and look how fucked up I ended being.”

I couldn’t help it-- I let a chuckle escape. Logan smiled but said, “You weren’t supposed to laugh.”

“I know,” I said, sighing. I looked up at him and said, “Logan, it wasn’t so much that you accused me of making everything go wrong, it’s that the way you said it was so rude, and it wasn’t a side of you I had ever had to deal with before. Everybody always talked about this monster-like Logan that existed whenever I wasn’t around, and I told them I didn’t believe them. Boy, was I a fool.”

“I know, and I’m honestly sorry for flipping out on you like that,” Logan said, his voice down to a warm murmur. His hands were on my hips like they always were, whether he meant to have them there or not. “But I want you to believe me when I say that being with you has calmed me down so much and has somehow managed to keep my rage somewhat under control, despite a few fits like the one you were just victim of.”

I laughed a little bit again, saying, “That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

He smiled, looking down into my eyes. “I think its appropriate considering that one burst almost ruined our relationship in a few minutes flat.” We both fell silent, thinking about what could’ve happened had we stayed apart and never gotten back together. I shuddered at the thought.

Logan tipped up my chin, met my eyes, and asked seriously, “Can I say that I’m forgiven?”

Looking into his eyes, I saw another reason why Storm wanted me to stay with Logan. It was because yes, we did love each other, but beyond that, I was immensely good for Logan. I kept his temper under control, yes, but I also filled some kind of a void that had always been in his life, the one in which nobody had ever loved him.

I caressed his face in my hands, before I slowly leant up and pressed my lips to his. When I pulled away, I told him, “You’re forgiven.”

The smile on his face was unexplainable. He grinned wide before leaning down to smother my lips with his again, before it got to the point where I pulled away and told him that kids snuck through the hallways all the time at night and weren’t looking for Logan and I making out in a dark corner by my bedroom. He laughed and agreed, kissed me one more time, then left back to his room.

I entered the room again, waking Rogue up. She sleepily asked, “What’d I miss?”

I could tell she wanted nothing more than to go back to bed, so I patted her arm and said, “Nothing, we’ll talk about in the morning. Just go back to bed, Rogue.”

And she complied.