A Different Brand of Comfort

[Ember]

Despite the scalding hot shower that would have made the average person pass out from shock after only a minute, Aideen still felt like her skin was crawling. The news story was burned into her mind, replaying over and over again and making her sick to her stomach. The situation was strange to her, as it was not something she would ever have pictured herself getting so upset over, but this past weekend changed her, and right not Aideen wasn't sure if it was for the better. It had been a gradual change that started three months ago and didn't come out until as recently as this weekend, but she didn't like it.

While combing her long hair out, she had tried to break down why it bothered her so much. She was so young, she had a family that cared about her, more than I ever had.... An argument broke out in her mind as she tried to make sense of the situation. He never flat out said he was responsible, but that doesn't mean he isn't guilty of it. No, Rumble's no idiot, he would never blatantly admit to it and put me in an easy position. Aideen didn't know what to think on the subject of whether or not he really did it, but it visibly shook her up that the girl looked so much like her and was brutally murdered, among other things. Nothing ever shook her up like this and left her torn as to what she should do.

The first thing that Aideen thought of was Logan. Giving him up wasn't an option, since he wouldn't let her and she didn't think at this point she could sacrifice her only true happiness. Then her mind was torn at going to Cyclops and telling him, but she knew if she did the first thing she'd have to do was resign as a student and resident of the mansion to keep Logan from getting in trouble. The trouble with that was that she was fairly certain that Logan would be furious with her for not talking to him first. The third option she had was taking herself out of the equation, just packing up and leaving. That wouldn't end well on any angle, though she did for a moment seriously consider it.

Damp hair tied up in a neat bun, Aideen emerged from the locker room, clean as could be with the cool air hitting her hot skin instantly. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself as she didn't want people to see her shaken up, even if it showed much more earlier. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and started down the hallway before she heard a banging sound and a voice she knew well cursing up a storm. Aideen froze at the sound, biting her lip in hesitation before turning on her heal and heading toward the Hanger.

Slipping through the unlocked doors, the tension in her mind and heart at an all time high until she spotted him. A frustrated Logan with streaks of grease and oil on him was taking apart an engine that she recognized to be from the bike that he won this past weekend. Without saying a word, she dropped her bag on the floor with a soft thud, though she was pretty sure he knew she was nearby earlier. Aideen walked straight up to him and without explanation just wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself close to him.

For once, she admittedly needed to be comforted, needed to just feel safe for a moment. "We shouldn't have come back," Aideen whispered into his neck, feeling some of the tension drain out of her as she dropped her facade and held on to him tighter, not wanting to let go. The softest of sniffles escaped her while molding herself to him and hugging him tight, as with the comfort in place, the guilt of what she heard feeling all that much heavier and shaking her up all over again.

[Wolverine]

"Wellheyynow.. what's all this?" Logan said softly into her delicate ear as he cradled her in his arms, not sure the source of the emotion but sure she was feeling somethin out of the ordinary. "Doll, ya smell amazing and I love holdin ya but I hear yer heart poundin ta beat the band. So what's goin on?" He had smelled her as she entered, actually before then but he wasn't keeping score, and the softness of her feet on the floor told him the weekend's delights hadn't taken her one step off her pace. She was still danger wrapped in sexy with ninja feet, though one thing was a bit off... her body heat.

She was still one hot little lady, but she was cooler to the touch. Her normally scalding flesh felt as if she was someone with a low grade fever, almost as if she was withdrawn for some reason and her heat had retreated as well. The hush of her voice, all she had said with the timid utterance of so few words, and her body temperature all contributed to his reaction. Spiked with a sudden burst of adrenaline, his fight or flight animal instincts barely contained for her benefit alone, he did all he could to keep his voice calm as he spoke.

"We knew things'd be hard Angel Eyes, but this seems like there's somethin more somehow. I don't think it takes senses as keen as mine to know somethin's twistin in your gut, so now that I got ya here in my greasy mitts, and you got my undivided attention, ya wanna spill it? ..or am I gonna hafta beg?" He gave her the slightest of squeezes as he nuzzled her with his scruff. The smell of oil and gasoline mixed well with the lingering aroma of cigar and beer that had been his lunch, his own muskiness tying it all together.

[Ember]

It took a couple of deep breaths for Aideen to just ever so slightly loosen her grip on him, the familiar smell that she just wanted to wrap herself up in calmed her tense body considerably. Her face peeked away from the skin on his neck, her head resting on his shoulder as she told herself it was alright, because with him it couldn't be anything but alright. Trying to find the words to say still made her swallow, the thoughts alone rattled her as to what she knew, what she was told, and it took significant effort for her to calm down. "I said I wasn't going to take anything from him anymore, and I meant it. He wasn't to touch me without losing a limb, but he didn't even lay a hand on me," Aideen said quietly, shuddering in his arms and nuzzling her face into his shoulder, not caring that she had a small streak of grease across her face now.

"I don't know if he really did it, or if he was just messing with my mind, which is working far too well, but it's just so uncanny and-" She stopped herself and took a deep breath, realizing how foolish she sounded. "I'm sorry. I'm not making any sense, I just... I don't know what I feel or what to do," Aideen whispered feeling another tremor go through her as she allowed herself a rare moment of vulnerability. The background noise of a hockey game made her look up at the television hanging over head a little bit away from them. "Here just, if I may change it for one moment." She untangled herself from him, knowing he was probably extremely baffled by her unusual behavior and who could blame him really, Aideen knew she wasn't acting like herself.

Grabbing the remote, her hands shaking in nerves and tension again, she was just barely able to flip through the channels before she turned to the Local News station. Just as Rumble said earlier, it was being covered almost nonstop, as even in New York City a brutal event like that shook people up. "Just watch," she said softly as she watched the same news story that she saw earlier play again. Aideen flinched softly when they showed the video of the mourning family, but a shudder shook her body when they showed the smiling picture of the deceased girl. It was almost like looking in a mirror, her stomach twisted in a sickly way as she stared at it before looking back at Logan.

"He said that it's a game between the two of us and if I bring someone else into it than so will he. Unless I give you up he said that stories like this might happen more often," Aideen said in a very quiet voice, her eyes darting back to the screen. "I didn't let him know it affected me, but look at her. She just turned sixteen... she looks just like me." She swallowed hard and looked back at him, biting her lip as she hugged herself slightly. "If he actually went after her because of me... I don't know what to do Logan, I don't know where to go or how to fix it, or anything. I don't take well to being helpless." Her large dark eyes closed as she tried to get a hold on herself with the news anchor talking about the story in the background.

[Wolverine]

"Hold on.." Logan said as he tried to follow what she was saying "you mean he claimed this as his own action? He told you he killed this girl! Brock did this thing?" Logan's blood boiled as he didn't need to look back and forth between the TV and his love. He knew his Angel Eye's features and the girl on the screen was almost a carbon copy.

"She's a spittin image of ya baby. C'mere." He reached a hand out to grab her around her waist and pulled her into him gently. Taking the remote from her hand he muted the sound from the news station and hushed her softly. "Shhh, shh. Don't worry 'bout what needs doin' and how ta fix it. It ain't somethin that can be fixed anyway so just breathe. Take it easy, there's only one solution an it's somethin I shoulda done a long time ago."

Logan had known Brock for enough years now to know the kid was nothin good and just short o'pure evil if ever evil existed, and the X-Man knew it did. The solution to the problem was simple, just as one cut out a cancer or destroyed infected livestock, Rumble needed to be culled from the herd. As the saying went 'one bad apple spoils the whole bunch', in this case the one apple was spoiled enough for the whole lot. "Shhhh now, don't do this. Don't rent that punk any space in yer head. It's what he wants, he wants you off balance.. wants ya second guessin yerself.. don't give him the satisfaction."

"Damn shame about that girl, but you didn't have anything to do with it so don't take any blame, don't even put it on yer heart in the least." He knew it had to be the hardest thing she'd faced in a long time. The way she was shaking in his arms was not something he could ignore, and not something he ever wanted her to have to endure. "You didn't do this, darlin' he did, and if it turns out he's just pretendin he did.. I'm gonna make him hate his mother for givin birth to him before it's all done."

He didn't want to soil her clothes or her hair with grease and engine grime, but they were already so. Placing a hand on her back and one on the back of her head as he held her to himself, he rocked her.. to and fro, gently until her shaking body warmed in his arms. All the while his mind worked on the 'how' of what his goal was. He knew what he needed to do, and he couldn't deny it's what he wanted to do for some time now, but how to do it without looking guilty of something premeditated was the question. Brock was no fool, and his family would want answers. Logan took the moments with Aideen in his arms to consider his actions and his fate.

[Ember]

Though there had been times when Aideen would tuck herself into Logan's arms for comfort, this was the first time she truly needed and wanted it. Reluctant comfort was very different from what she was experiencing now, her head tucked into his neck and she hugged him so close as if afraid he'll disappear. After several long moments and deep breaths, Aideen got a hold of her mind a little better. She had a lot of time to think about it in the shower, mull over the situation from all angles, or rather all logical angles in her mind. A thought, just a small fleeting thought at what was to come, struck her deep, making her stiffen in his arms again.

"Wait, Logan you can't," Aideen said looking up at him with wide eyes, her stomach twisting up as she realized another angle that Rumble would take. "No, he's probably planning on that. His family is the Van Alstyne's, they're right up there with the Rockefeller's and Freemason's. They'll go after you, and they have the power to do it. I can't lose you." The last part she said in a softer voice as her dark eyes searched his intently. Her hands, still shaking ever so slightly, moved from his shoulders to his face, her fingers weaving through his long sideburns in the familiar manner while gently pulling his head down so he could rest her forehead against hers. "He did it on purpose so that no matter what I lose you. I can't do that though, you are all I have, all I want, and I just can't give you up for anything." She held his eyes for a moment, swallowing hard again before her own fell closed.

Her head moved back to his broad muscled shoulder, her whole body rose and fell with the deep breath she took as her arms went around his neck and her eyes concentrated absently on his chest. "I can't not say anything about it, it's irresponsible of me to keep it to myself. I can't tell anyone without exposing us, and if I do, the first thing I have to do is resign as a student and a resident. The easiest thing would be for me to disappear from here, and he would concentrate on finding me rather than go after others. In all those choices though I lose you," Aideen whispered, pressing her face into his neck again and sighed as her arms tightened around him.

"It is my fault." Her soft tone now a daunted whisper as her lips moved against his neck with every word. "Look at her Logan. She looks too much like me, and I don't believe in coincidences. Somehow, that girl had to have been targeted because of me. If he did do it... I don't know, I just don't know." The shaken feeling that had been subdued in Logan's arms now returned as at this point, Aideen was pretty certain she was close to tears. And if it was close enough for her to be able to acknowledge that she may cry, she knew that she was seriously shaken. "I don't know what to do, there's no way to get out of it. I just wish we didn't come back." Her body pressed into his as much as she could and she nuzzled his neck, not ready to let him go yet. Aideen would never allow anyone else to see her in this state, but barriers were slowly becoming a thing of the past with the two of them, and for once she didn't resent it.

[Wolverine]

He looked back up at the screen, the sound muted, as scenes of the alley and the forensics unit doing their duty flickered past. Something struck him then, and at that very instant his head cocked off to the left just slightly. "Nah-" it couldn't be.. that looks like somebody else's handy work... Creed!. His mind was going now a million miles an hour, What the hell!?! How? No- but.. it has to be. I know what one a his kills looks like.. seen a hundred of em if I seen one and that.. that's got his signature all over it. I gotta get ta the bottom o'this.

He felt her shift in his arms, drawing his attention out of his own thoughts and memories and back to the present. "- like I said ..ain't your fault. And don't you worry I ain't gonna do anything stupid to lose you.. and I wont let you do anything stupid to lose me either. No! This is our home! Nobody's drivin us off if we don't wanna go, you just relax and trust in me. I'm gonna take care of it, you just take it easy and breathe."

The fraternity of villains, the global underworld, had a certain web of connectivity to it. Sure even though they all wanted to rule the world or have dominion over some chunk of it no matter how big or small, they were not opposed to doing each other the odd favor or two. It suddenly became pretty clear to Wolverine there was a number of way this whole thing could have gone down.

Either Sabretooth had done this all on his own, driven by who knows what and inspired by the 'one that got away'.. the gore and the description of the killing he had heard from the newscast pointed to his M.O. without a doubt, or Brock had gone about this thing in a manner that would implicate the big hairy bastard.. but the most logical scenario was one that had Van Alstyne spending money on the kill, and hand picking the target himself, with Creed his willing accomplice. In the very back of his head though there was the possibility that it was all just a coincidence since the world was not short on sloppy killers and vile rapists.

He held her for a while longer, breathing deep her sweet scent and listening to the beat of her heart. The feeling of her in his arms was more luxury than he should be allowed, and he knew he wasn't allowed.. not in the school.. not as things were, she a student and he a teacher. He knew they were in a common area and that meant anyone might find them there, but his senses would warn him if anyone approached so he left her to calm down and relax as he held on the dream of what the weekend was and the hope of better, brighter days ahead when the two of them could have peace. Wishing for a future that might not happen was different than what he was doing, for he knew he would do all he could to make things right for them so they could be open about their love and walk without targets on their backs.. or the fear of innocents cowardly targeted in their place.

"I know ya had plans for the day darlin', but maybe you wanna stay close by me instead. I'm gonna put this carburettor back together and then were gonna handle this, alright?" He wanted to go now! He wanted to just throw caution to the wind and common sense out the door with it. He wanted to choke the livin shit out of the Hellion dirtbag until he coughed out the truth.. and in a black & white, all or nothin world he could have, but that wasn't the world he lived in anymore. Now his world had subtleties and nuances, conditions and consequences, and penalties that he was no longer willing to pay. In his past he would have compromised his rights and freedoms and desires to clean this thing up quick and easy, but he had far too much to lose this time... and he intended on coming out of this thing a winner.

[Ember]

An elegant slender hand moved to his shoulder, tracing the panes of his muscles in a soothing and meditating ritual, something she had taken to doing when relaxing. Though Aideen was nowhere close to relaxing, she treated this ritual with the same reverence as she always did; the light touch of her fingers drawing an invisible pattern on his skin as her thoughts were soothed by the familiar action and situation to get a hold of herself. Her body relaxed slightly in his hold, the sense of normalcy returning to her with the simple gesture of remaining in his arms.

"I'm a big girl Logan, I can take care of myself you know," she said softly straightening up in his arms to look at his face, her eyes finding his instantly. "I can't just not do anything though, that's not how I work, I can't just sit by and have my problems taken care of more for me either." Aideen searched his face for a moment, her mind whirled in thoughts before her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm not being fair to you am I? I promised that I wouldn't keep all the weight of everything on me, and I hate to think that I would ever break a promise to you," she said softly as her hands moved down to his biceps.

The dark chocolate eyes, eyes that were passed down from centuries of a wild gypsy heritage, the line ending at the girl standing there in the hanger that studied the face of the man in front of her. "I just have a horrible feeling about everything, like we don't have all the pieces yet to know what's going on." Aideen paused for a moment and bit her lip hesitantly. "It's a gut feeling and it has yet to lead me in the wrong direction. Something just doesn't feel right, and I just feel like there is something I'm missing, I'm sorry I mean we're missing." She was making an effort to not shut him out of her problems and allow that dependency on him.

"I don't know Logan, I hate not knowing. But thank you..." A small sincere smile graced her features despite that she was still slightly shaken. "For being here." Reaching up with the intention to kiss him, Aideen jerked herself back as she remembered where they were and the restraints that now applied as the weekend ended. "Pardon me," she said softly, turning her head to softly kiss him on his bearded cheek, her lips lingering near the skin for a moment, before she moved away and reluctantly untangled herself from his arms. Sitting on top of the stool by the carburettor, her eyes drifted to the still muted television, a haunted look coming over her as she tried to piece everything together in her mind and ignore the feeling of dread at the pit of her stomach.

[Wolverine]

He didn't relish what he knew he had to do. The last thing he wanted to do right now was leave her here at this school, alone and unguarded, to go chasing down cold scent trails but his Angel Eyes was more than right to trust her gut. They needed more information and Logan knew he was the only one who could get it. He knew she was capable of protecting herself, but he didn't think she would stay back willingly and her going with him was out of the question.

Out there, in the world, he could be that target that he would no doubt be. He could handle himself no matter what happened, and maybe she could as well. If either one of them were alone they might survive it but together they were each other's Achilles heel, each other's Kryptonite. They would each willingly sacrifice their own life to save the other and that was just not something that ever helped while investigating a murder. Creed and Van Alstyne together made a dangerous mixture and he couldn't trust that they would play by any rules except their own. No, he was the one with the tracking scent, he knew what he was looking for at that crime scene, and he was the one who had to go.. alone.

The moments ticked past faster than he wanted them to, and stolen glances at one another as they put his bike back together were all they had then in those moments. Risking intimacy and kisses didn't seem right when someone had paid for it with their life and the possibility of their love being revealed hanging over them only made the ache for one another worse. He wished he had words to express more, but he could only agree with her and her gut feeling and keep his plans to himself. Too much was at stake, if she knew she would only want to be brave.. face the consequences.. and for this once he would protect her, as he had promised to protect her, from herself.