To Bestow and bend an ear

[Ember]

McGinty's Port Tavern was still alive and in full swing by the time that Aideen and Logan called it a day and left the tavern. The giant bar brawl was not anywhere close to calming down, in fact it seemed to double in the next hour. Now there were women involved in the brawl and every once in awhile someone shot off a pistol or drew a blade, but no one got seriously hurt. At least that's what it looked like when they left. They didn't leave empty-handed though, for Pat gave them a homemade six pack of the house brew and a bag of Wild Strawberries for Aideen that he picked just the other day when he went to the country. The elderly man wished them well, inviting the two to come back soon. He always showed his appreciation to good patrons, and he liked that they didn't cause any trouble.

Aideen wasn't ready to just go back to garage and deal with more people, and she knew that Logan would agree with her on that. Instead from over his shoulder she directed him to Carson Beach, another place that was practically owned by the Clan, but somewhere that would be totally deserted at this time of year. It may have been an exceptionally nice day for spring, warm with the sun shining brightly on them and not a cloud in the sky, but the wind was still pretty hard and strong. The water would be beyond freezing, something that was usually a turn off for most people to come to the beach.

"Park right over by that shack," Aideen said to Logan as they came upon the deserted beach, the only person in sight was an old woman further down the beach that walked with a walker and a nurse by her side. When he turned his hog off, Aideen took off her helmet and shook her thick hair out as it fell down her back. The wind whipped against the harshly, sending a slight chill to her warm skin but nothing she couldn't deal with.

"This is my favorite time of the year to come here. Its cold, but there aren't any people to be seen or bother you. And I don't get a weird look for not wearing a swimsuit," Aideen said with a small smirk, grabbing the bag of wild strawberries and leaving the home brew for Logan to grab. The sand wasn't the nicest, it was a light tan color and the tide was getting higher and higher as the day went on, but other than that the setting wasn't too bad. Aideen used to come here to meditate or practice her Tai Chi at sunrise. She hated the water, not able to take the cold weather for long since her mutation came out, let alone the cold ocean water.

"Not the warmest place, but that can be changed." She stopped in front of a charred fire pit that still had a large pile of wet wood in it and sat down in front of it, merely staring at the pile and watching as the moist spots on the wood disappear. Truth was Aideen was prepping herself for what to say, what to expect. She never planned to tell him flat out anything she planned to do for something that happened long ago. And with one explanation came the need for another one. Analyzing the explanation was making her tense up at how to find the words and how to word it correctly. It didn't even click in her head that it wasn't some stranger she was talking to, her problem of not knowing where to start or what to say was causing too great of a conflict at the moment. A battle in her mind ensued while Aideen's dark chocolate eyes stayed trained on the fire, watching at the wood heated up.

[Wolverine]

"Not warm in more ways than one." Logan looked around and tried to imagine the girl having fun here. Hardly a heartbeat passed before he realized this was not a place for having fun, this was a place for being alone. "Always training, eh? Even when ya came to the beach you trained yerself ta be alone, ta shut everyone out."

He took a few steps and kicked a loose rock that had strayed from the edge of the firepit. "Ya know y'aint alone anymore don't ya? I'm here..." he looked at her as he walked up on her and pulled her up by her arm to stand facing him and looking into his eyes. "...right here darlin, and I gotta tell ya I don't like bein shut out. It's not a feelin' I want ta feel from you."

The whistle of the wind cut the tension like a straight razor as Logan saw the bite of cold have it's way with his lady. "Get that fire goin while ya tell me what ya got planned, cause if I got a chill on me then I know you do too." He knelt down beside her as she got to work and watched her face in profile as her attention was on the wood. He knew in that instant that if anyone was ever to mar the elegant beauty he called his, that their end would be slow and agonizing. Her features were so perfect to his eyes that he could not help himself from reaching his hand out to brush her cheek.

[Ember]

Dark eyes flutter closed at the touch of a rough callused hand on her cheek, a soft breath leaving her lips. This was new for her, new and difficult. She never spoke of her past or any of her demons. Her Uncle would tell her that inner demons should be forgotten or let out through prayer and repenting. She never been close enough to anyone to share it, and even when she was it was completely foreign territory. The smell of the sea and burning wood hit their faces as the moisture left the wood and it sparked on fire.

"You remember back at the garage, there are all those pictures on the walls of that light haired boy that always worked on the cars or bikes? That's James. He was my second friend ever that I met at the start of high school," Aideen said softly, taking it from the beginning. If she was going to do this, it had to be everything. "He was extremely smart, too smart for the life he had and the friends he kept. He was a Clan member, running an outlet under Stones. You've seen what those guys, majority of them are idiots who think a metaphor is a cleaning product. James though, he could quote Aristotle from the top of his head, knew Plato back and forth and could relate any situation to any movie that ever existed." A small smile ghosted her face, thinking of her friend from long ago.

The fire crackled as it sprung to life, growing bigger and bigger the more Aideen stared at it instensly, need something to concentrate on so her conditioning wouldn't get the better of her as she re-lived a memory. "Despite that he could be the eptiome of machismo when he wanted, we struck a friendship. He was the one who brought me into the world of racing, the Clan's world so to speak. Looking back I suppose that I became apart of it because of that one and only need of rebellion I had against my Uncle's rules. Regardless, that's how I entered that world, and despite my efforts to get out, you never truly leave it."

A short laugh came from under her breath as the fire roared and warmed the two, the wind unsuccessful in it's attempts to blow it out. "Its how this world works, but I don't need to tell you that, you know it. This life also has a way of getting to your head, and I watched it happen to James. The Clan does no wrong in this town, any member can get away with murder, literally, and no one will even blink. Cops are paid off, Feds would come in and get nothing. A year after I met James, he had a grip of that power and invincibility that came with leading an outlet. He started hustling some of the wrong people, including Italian Mafia in this town. I won't lie, it was fun when I tried it, but he went a bit overboard. In the end, he had hustled the mafiosos out of nearly a hundred grand. I warned him to watch his back, that they wouldn't take that sitting down," Aideen said softly and and now turned her head to look at Logan with a soft smile. "I don't know the spy business, but I know the nature of people and organization. Covering your basis on every angle is essential, and James thought that the Clan was enough."

She shrugged and turned her head to stare at the glowing fire, the reflection of the flame dancing in her eyes. That was the most words she ever uttered about a personal part of her past, and it was difficult, yet there was still more to be said. "I'm telling you all this so you would understand perhaps a little bit more on my reasoning, but there is more," she added in a soft voice and wrapped her arms loosely around her knees. "Then one night, a rare night for me for Uncle was out on business and instructed me to finish my training and leave my schoolwork out for him to check over. I was out and at the outlet's building that night, working on James' bike while the others sat around and dealt with Clan issues. One minute I threw a wrench at one of the guy's crotch for getting in my person space and then next thing the power was out, and we heard the sound of the doors being barricaded. Everyone started panicking, and the smell of gasoline was overwhelming. Then the guys that James hustled just the week before came to the window and began shooting the place up. I know how to take care of myself in something like that and come out clean. When they ran out of rounds, they threw a bottle of gasoline in there, and shot at it. With the doors barricaded, it was one of those things that you are either burned alive by the fire if you didn't die from being shot."

Her voice was emotionless, talking about it all as if was nothing more than a story she read in a newspaper. It was a defense mechanism though, she knew the only way she'd ever be able to tell him what he asked was if she took on an objective view on it. "It was a signature execution. Barricading the doors and lighting the place up after shooting a couple of rounds is a guarantee that there won't be any survivors or forensic evidence. To make a long story slightly shorter, I was the only one who made it out. I was immune to fire even then, I just didn't know exactly why. I don't think the Italians know I survived it, and when I told Stones he said that my word isn't enough proof, and the Mafiosos are good for business," Aideen said the last part in an almost bitter tone, still harboring a slight anger to that whole thing.

"That's when I got out of that life, but that didn't change anything. Six months later, the new reported of another mysterious fire that killed all the occupants inside because the entrances being barricaded and rounds recovered from the scene. I leave Boston for several months to go to the Amazon only to come back and find out yet another occurred in the same style." Aideen turned her head and looked down the beach at another site. "Do you see that space there between those two buildings? The one with that has a pile of burned rubble and the alter of flowers and pictures in front? That's from last month, same as the others and those kids were barely in high school." She looked back at him now, steadying her breath and keeping the courage to look him in the face. "I say there is going to be one last fire. Tonight. And then there will be no more after that. Its... its not for revenge, not exactly. You could argue it being a crack at vigilantism, but... I don't know its more than that."

Aideen sat back in the sand and ran a slender hand to her hair, pushing the hair out of her face as the ocean wind tousled it. "I know what its like to lose a close friend, or rather the one person that doesn't make life seem so grim. Look at Cecil, James was his entire life. He fell apart after that, and so many others did too. I'm watching the news and see all these families in tears, all these vigils being held in memory. All this happened because of money and the overgrown egos of a greedy group. They play God too much, and I'm done with it. Tonight 'the Blazers' as they call themselves are having their monthly meeting at the leaders house. That's what I was talking to the informant about earlier." She reached into her jacket and took out the manila envelope. "These are the blueprints to that house, with every security code and measure marked. I... I admit that I would have come this weekend had Mason asked me or not, but it was convenient because its a good alibi. It makes it easier to cover my tracks, and keep everyone else out."

Still holding the envelope, Aideen stood up and moved to stand in front of Logan, kneeling down to be at eye level with him, her knees hitting the soft sand gently. Slowly she held out the envelope to him, not hesitating, but still slightly nervous. "I'm... I'm new at this. I've never shared anything like this, and I don't quite know how all the time, but I'm trying," she said quietly, her dark eyes searching his face carefully, every line and glance and analyzing the look in his eyes, the windows to the soul. "I don't mean to shut you out the way others may, I just never knew another way. Please don't be upset with me." Aideen swallowed a bit and broke eye contact to look down. She knew she needed to let go of a good deal of barriers and habits she had with people, and it was happening, just possibly not as fast as it should.

[Wolverine]

He softened his features slightly, letting her get her story out without interruption as he sat there with the sound of the wet wood hissing and popping mere feet away. Hmmm her heartbeat's slow telling this, well mostly slow. Just heard a spike here and there. She's still trying to keep me out but she ain't got the full conviction to do that anymore. It's like she's telling me a story she read in the newspapers, no real connection...cept for that kid James she mentioned. Her breath caught in her chest when she said his name, he was way more'n a friend.

Logan took it all in. Not just her words, but her body language, her heartbeat, the subtle sounds of her breath and the hesitancy she showed in saying certain words. Everyone had their tells, their little idiosyncrasies, and the more time spent with a person the easier it was to catch their tells. Wolverine had an edge though, he had exploited it since his black-op days, and he didn't need time spent with a person to know when they were lying or under stress in saying something. This was not a pack of lies, but Aideen was certainly under stress from the telling of it all.

Trying as hard as she was to 'be beyond it' to be 'untouchable' by the whole thing was like a signpost pointing to her in neon saying help wanted and Logan knew it. He could have offered to help. He was going to help anyway, and she probably knew it just from the way he was acting. She might not be as practiced at reading someone as he was, or have senses like a wild beast, but she knew the man sitting before her on the sand and she had his tells down herself... at least all the ones he wanted her to know. No, offering to help would not do, there was something of her obligation to this cause, be it noble or foolish she was committed to it now.

He looked at her long and hard as the sea air kicked the tops off of the tiny sand dunes made from the impressions of footsteps. A glance again to the burned rubble and the flowers standing stark in the landscape of industry. A testament to mankind, who's gift to the world seemed to be encroaching on every bastion of nature, this shoreline included. In the grand scheme of things did a few families even matter? Would the children be missed long enough to count?... Logan wondered... but looking into her eyes he knew he didn't care about any of that. It was enough to know that she did.

It didn't matter who started it and for why. Nor did he deem it important that this sort of thing would continue on as it always had. He could try to impart some bit of wisdom, make a stand for her no longer being a part of all of this, try to bend her will. Rubbing his hands together and holding them out to the heat of the fire he took a moment more for quiet contemplation and to feel the warmth on his palms. What he came up with was far from noble, even though he considered himself Samurai, but it was fitting and he realized it would make little difference one way or another. Like any other storybook monster he knew cutting off this one's head would only give it cause to grow another. But he knew also that heroes needed quests, and causes befitting their station.

A curl of a smile brought all of the warmth of the fire to his face and his eyes showed her he was not upset. He decided how to include himself without including himself. It was her vendetta, her information, bought with her hard earned dollar and he respected that. It had to be by invitation, at least that was how he felt she would want it, so assuming he was invited along was out of the question. "Ain't upset with ya Angel Eyes. In fact I think that was a damn good stab at openin up, s'pecially for a first time." He reached out to cup his calloused palm to her cheek, her chocolate eyes like pools of sincerity as he stared into them. "So what's yer plan...?" he said softly raising an eyebrow.

[Ember]

A soft long breath she didn't realize she was holding left her lips, her face relaxing into his hand. That was one of the hardest things that Aideen ever had to do, but it was worth it. She didn't know if she felt better or not about saying it out loud, but she didn't want Logan upset with her or in the mindset that she was keeping him out on purpose. Her face turned to nuzzle his hand, her soft lips brushing lightly against the warm rough callused palm as her dark eyes fluttered down and her hand came up to rest on his cooler forearm, slender fingers kneading the muscles with the lightest of touches, taking comfort in touch in a manner that she never practiced until a couple of months.

Pressing her lips gently onto the rough skin, a small sign of affection before continuing. "I can hack into their security system," Aideen said softly taking his hand from her cheek and settling it on her lap and slid her elegant fingers across his palm. "I'm not an expert, but I was taught certain methods that allow me to hack into just about any security system that's privately made. Government systems are much harder and not something I could ever master, but from the information I have with the security codes, I shouldn't have a problem. Uncle had me learn from one of his colleagues when I was sent on an independent assignment..." She cut herself off there, her conditioning kicking in and she needed to take a breath to bring down the feeling of sickness that came whenever she edged on anything to do with her missions and assignments.

It was a large part of her mental conditioning that her Uncle perfected within her after years and years of careful methods practiced and put in effect. Whenever she spoke of any assignment or was about to, her body made itself sick, and if pushed her mind would shut down in a coma like state temporarily. There were certain missions that if she so much as thought of saying a word about it, her body would contort in excruciating pain and it would be physically impossible for her to get a word out. It had been implemented in her since her Uncle took her in, and not something that Aideen ever mentioned.

After a couple of deep breaths to calm her stomach, she went on as if nothing happened. "I can open that window to let myself in unnoticed in the end, and then disable them to keep help from coming in case one tries to call..." She opened the envelope and looked at the detailed notes on the back of the plans. "The security system is rigged by satellite, meaning I need to melt the satellites they have around the property and use the security codes to put it in maintenance mode offline, diverting suspicion. I can do all that from a netbook near the area." The sea wind whipped her hair forward in her face, sending a slight shiver as it hit her back. Aideen looked over her shoulder at the fire and with a glance, the flames roared up fiercely against the strong ocean wind.

"That's the last thing I would do, but probably the most important. I'm going to stop by a pet store and pick up a large cage of rabbits ordered under the Clan's name. If I set them loose in the back area covered with motion detectors, they'll need to shut the system down and let the dogs chase them off. With the motion detectors offline, I could melt the actual signal and mimic it in the main system." Her voice was soft and professional, retelling information that took months of meticulous planning from her own experience and the assignments she had been sent on. She wasn't telling him only because he asked, but she knew that if anyone saw a flaw in her plans, it would be him. "Outside the area of the motion detectors where the dogs will be, I'm placing several globs of half cooked meat with peanut butter mixed in. On the inside center will be a mixture of cayenne pepper and vinegar, and as they nose the meat, it will numb their sense of smell long enough to keep me off their radar. Once that's in place, I plan to follow their MO to the letter, but there will be no guns. Just me," Aideen said looking up at him again and sliding her hand into his again.

"I know... I know that you probably don't get exactly why I'm so set on this, its not the most sensible action. I thought about it too when I first decided. It could be for closure, it could be me being fed up, I don't know exactly." This part was said in a more relaxed manner than before, emotion bleeding through her soft delicate voice, a surrender she forced herself into after reminding herself that this wasn't just anyone who heard her words and saw through her image. "All I can think is how I have been trained for so long to be a weapon, nothing more. I had no set of right and wrong, only knowing that my orders were to carried out no matter what. They weren't... they weren't always pleasant, or something I would do with my choosing, but I had no choice. I have that choice now though, and for once I'm doing a mission of my own choosing, on my own terms. I learned all these things, all these lessons and abilities... and yet I was never permitted or given the chance to use them to perhaps do something that I believe in."

Her dark cocoa eyes reflected the flames that danced behind her as she studied his face and eyes. "Am I being foolish? Is a taste of freedom and the attachment that I felt to old friends clouding my mind and turning me into a common simpleton who is fueled by emotions?" Aideen looked at him earnestly, her eyes searched his face for any sign of emotion, or anything that would clue her in on what his thoughts were of her. She never used to care, never had a reason to, but she did now, and was holding that reason as a top priority.

[Wolverine]

His eyes looked into her, past all the words but not discounting them. "I know ya think ya got it all planned out, almost sound a bit overconfident, but beware. I'm not gonna tell ya all the holes in yer plan, I can't see the future but I been right where you are now. Just know that the best layed plans of mice and men crumble to pieces when realty puts it's spin on them." He knew she wanted more, he saw it in those eyes, so he gave her a little reality check.

"I'm just gonna take a guess and say trusting animals to do what ya want em too is probably where yer plan will start to fall apart. After that it'll be a crap shoot what will go wrong next, but somethin always does." It hurt to tell her how it would be, but she was a big girl and she needed to know that she had to have contingencies. Logan's plan B was always the same... kill everything that moved. "Ya gotta be ready with a Plan-B, and a Plan-C sometimes too. I always went with the 'Kill em all and let God sort em out' back-up plan, but I never really had to worry about making things look a certain way and when I did I just never let that bother me."

"But you Angel Eyes? You got yer work cut out for ya, that much is true... it sounds to me though, and it's just cause I knopw ya so well, but it sounds like yer not really sure about all of this. Like it was a 'seemed like a good idea at the time' sorta thing and now ya gone and put a little more thought into it." He took both of her hands, one at a time and gently brushed them clean of sand. Raising her hands to his lips he held them there inhaling the smell of her as he felt the warmth of her skin. A kiss on each and he pulled her to himself gently wrapping her in his arms as they watched the blaze.

"Ya know about diggin two graves when you set out for revenge right? Well, it's not because ya might die, contrary to popular opinion... it's because a part of ya always dies in this kind of a thing, no matter what." He rocked her softly as he spoke to her. "Doing this thing won't bring your James back to ya, won't bring any of those kids back. It won't end any feud that is brewing, hell it might make things worse. I can't tell ya what to do, only you can decide that, but ya didn't ask me what to do so I guess yer mind is made up.... You asked me '-why?-'."

"Funny thing about 'why' darlin. 'Why' don't really give a shit if ya like the answer, it's just somethin ya gotta be brave enough to face." He turned to look at her in the light of the day and the flames crackling and popping nearby. "The question 'why' is the route to the source of everything. Truths reveal deeper truths, we peel them off one layer at a time...like an onion as we keep asking ourselves why. Deeper and deeper, peelin layer after layer, and just like peelin an onion, sometimes we weep. I don't think you have got to the real answer yet, maybe ya got a few more layers ta go... I can't help ya answer yer own why's, but I sure can sit with ya here while you do. The key to it...? If ya wanna know... patience."

He kissed her forehead and then he turned back to look at the flames. Knowing she would come to her own answers in time. Knowing she was able to discern for herself her own inner workings. As long as she was patient with herself the answers to her why's would reveal themselves to her. And knowing even now that He would be her 'Plan-B'.

[Ember]

"I know it won't bring them back," Aideen whispered after a couple of minutes of staring at both the fire and the ocean waves crashing into the shore violently. She had lost herself in thought for a moment, her body relaxed into his as it warmed from contact. "I learned that lesson before, and I'm not the kind that needs to learn the same thing more than once to understand." She sighed and let her head roll to the side so her forehead rested against the base of his neck.

She didn't know what to do, how to figure it out. It wasn't the first time doubt crept into her mind in regards to the basis of why she set out to plan it all out. At first it was under the mindset that that group had no right to play judge and jury, particularly so close after a time she was sent to rid a similar group who played by the same rules. As the months progressed and the faces of the grieving families were shown on the news her reasons made a slight shift. Aideen never pretended she could compare to the losses they felt, but she remembered how empty she had felt when her Sergent left, how she felt when James was gone, and how it felt even at the school that brief period that Haven and Wolverine were gone. It wasn't a good feeling and Aideen didn't like it in the least.

The more she thought on it now though, the more she understood why her Uncle had discouraged emotions of any kind be brought into her life. They intensified decisions, either giving them more of a reason or not making them as simple as they should be. She switched her perspective then, taking on a more objective outlook and what about her idea would be it beneficial. It would be a hard hit on the Mafiosos, get rid of the group that gets too fire happy in that unit. Possibly send the Italian Mafia as a whole into financial troubles as well, and those were concrete reasons. Aideen just didn't know if they were enough to enact that one last and final act.

It was a long moment before she spoke again, and the words came out in her usual soft voice with a resigned lilt to them. "I wanted to hit them hard, the way they hit me," she admitted. "I don't do retaliation, at least not for myself. Just... I am so tired of the same thing over and over again. I know it's not my place necessarily, but I don't know who else would take on something like that, and I know I could do it." Her graceful recherché fingers stroked his arms with her light touch, skimming the dips of the muscles carefully.

"Maybe I'm still upset that they took the second friend I ever made away from me, when it wasn't something that had to happen," Aideen said slowly. "I cannot think of other reasons than those, and I don't know if they are enough. I'm not looking for a justification, what I want... something to let me know that I will feel right when all is said and done." A soft breath left her lips while a small smirk formed. "I suppose Thomas Hobbes was right all along about people being innately selfish and wicked. In the end it all comes down to me feeling better about being cheated out of another friend," she whispered and shook her head at herself.

"I know that I can do it, the dogs taking the meat is only a precaution, I'd be covered head to toe in Ink, so they couldn't sniff me out anyways. Those imbeciles inside think that they are untouchable and their egos are inflated enough to lead the St. Patrick's Day Parade." A curt soft laugh escaped her then, biting her lip slightly at a though. "You met one of them yesterday, though not part of the group I'm after, but Italian Mafia all the same. My uh, good friend DeSoto? The really ugly one that I had pinned under knife point and you took out his eyeball?" A deeper smirk came on her face at the memory, and how worked up the whole scenario got her. "That's the typical example of the bunch."

Aideen moved her head across his shoulder to look up at him. "I have no doubt that I'd get out of it alive and everything would be done. They aren't the biggest fish I ever set off to fry, and they're not the brightest. I spent months studying that outlet and the members enough to know their moves and personalities to gauge a reaction. I would never go into something like this blindly. I just don't know if in the end after everything, it would be enough for me." She placed a light kiss on his jaw before moving her head to settle at the base of its neck in its original position. It was an odd feeling to experience the calmness that came with talking about something so internalized with another person. It wasn't the first time that happened with Logan, but she never took it for granted.

[Wolverine]

"There is no feelin right over it Angel Eyes, sorry ta say it but yer friend died over money. At least if he'd been killed for a cause ya might be able to justify it but it wasn't that way. Greed brought him to his end, his own greed and the greed of other men. That's never easy to deal with." He kissed the top of her head and looked back to the fire. Leaning his head over onto hers slightly he sighed.

"But if ya want some assurance that in the end you'll feel all warm an fuzzy about it, no can do. There are no guarantees with this kind of thing so remember who yer talkin to." He rubbed her shoulder gently as the fire crackled. "Seem sure yer gonna pull it off without a hitch too, no worries huh. Yer confident yer plan is perfect and ya got no need to rethink any of it? Yeah, keep trustin in it, you go right ahead... but I was talkin about the rabbits." He chuckled soft and warm at the thought of a plan relying on rabbits and how adorable the lady at his side was in all of her toughness and bravado, but still in all she was his sweet young thing.

"It musta been a while back when ya studied em, wasn't it. Cause I don't remember you bein gone, I'm pretty sure a trip to Boston I woulda heard about, but it doesn't matter. It might all go as planned and then again who knows, the whole thing could be a set up." He knew stranger things had happened, and from the look of the informant in the bar he was almost certain the guy was playin both sides of the fence. "So call it what ya want, but it sounds like revenge to me. I guess that's as good a reason to go and die as money, but what do you think?" He knew she was able to take criticism, she wasn't prideful. But she was young, and as practiced as she thought she was the Italians had been at the Mafia game for a long time. Long enough he knew to have a few tricks up their sleeves, tricks that she would have no training in dealing with.

"I'm just playin devil's advocate here, but I hope yer gettin the point. Underestimatin these guys, just like underestimatin anybody ya face is bad for business." He didn't want her to wind up like so many of the women in his life. He knew she could handle herself, but it was always when things were going good that fate had a tendency to come up and kick him square in the shin. "Ya mean a whole lot to me Angel Eyes. I just don't wanna wind up missin the best thing that ever happened to me for not tellin it like it is. It's time to put all our cards on the table darlin', I been around and I know ya can handle yerself. I seen ya do it, but y'ain't got all the answers and it only takes one mistake to wind up a corpse...." He took a deep breath "I don't want that to happen. Call me selfish, but I want ya around for a long long time."

[Ember]

Her dark cocoa eyes peered up at him, studying the angle of his face then, the lines heavy with worry and cobalt blue eyes that made her heart flutter with just a glance were swirled with different levels of emotions that didn't settle well with her. Aideen lapsed into silence for a while, lost in her thoughts. She knew that there was a risk in this, that's why she had intended to keep it to herself. However, her will and emotions were not as infallible as they once were, not after the last three months. The Xavier School may have its problems, but there was just something about that school that was unlike any other place in the world.

Her life had been all over the place before the school, in fact one can argue that she had no life before. She was the perfect weapon, a rare kind trained and conditioned from the earliest age. Bred to be a killing machine among so many other things. Her Uncle saw her as a ward of his house, doing with her as he saw fit. He advanced her education at a young age, telling her often that there will be no simpleton commoner living under his roof. While other children were learning to read Curious George and Dr. Seuss, Aideen was reading Ivanhoe and Moby Dick. By the time she was six years old, she had read all the works of Nietzsche and the works of Shakespeare and was mastering throwing stars and learning how to handle daggers. She was fifteen years old the first time she smiled, and not until very recently did she ever open up to another human being.

Everything changed when she got to that school though, and they were changes she never even imagined she experienced. Had someone told her a year ago that she'd be in the position she was now, Aideen would have thought them to be mentally challenged. Yet here she was, wrapped in the arms of the one person that took on the challenge of understanding her and winning her trust to give her a whole new lease on life. After eighteen years of missing out, she wasn't ready to give up all the progress she made and the happiness that came with her new life for anything. Furthermore, it did something strange to her at the shift in Logan's voice that came a moment ago, and she didn't like it. She may be new to the whole business of emotions and feelings, but she knew enough to know what felt nice and what didn't.

"I think..." Aideen began in a soft quiet voice after a while of silence with only the sounds of the crackling fire, the whistle of the wind and the sound of the waves crashing into the shore. "...that I made you a promise that you would relax this weekend, and I would never break a promise I made to you. It wouldn't be very relaxing for you to worry for me." She sat up a little in his arms to turn around to face him and raised an elegant hand to his face, urging him to look down softly to meet her eyes, eyes with no walls and no secrets. "I'm not going anywhere, not for a long long time," she said quietly. "I found my way back to you before, and if I ever need to I'll do it again." She had an idea that he had his own scars of the heart, just because she recognized the signs on a different level. Aideen didn't plan to add to those scars, and would do what was necessary to never let such a plan rise.

"After dinner, we'll do whatever you want to do. Doesn't matter how simple or how crazy." She smiled softly and sat back against him. "I'm fine with anything, and we been doing pretty much things that I wanted. So you're choice. Oh..." Her elbow went back and jabbed him lightly in the stomach, a more playful smile came on her face. "That was for teasing me on the animals. You weren't specific," Aideen wanted to lighten the mood and get that sadness out of the air. They didn't come out here for that. They didn't leave the school behind to come to another place with it's own set of problems. Her vendetta could wait, the Mafiaosos weren't going anywhere, and she was a very patient person.

[Wolverine]

"Anything huh?" he said after a moment. The jab in his ribs not too fierce, he knew she was playing. He pulled her into him just that little bit tighter. The intoxicating aroma of her body lotion and her hair, he inhaled as he enjoyed the moment. Truth be told this was good enough for him, any time with the girl who was so much more a woman than any other woman he had ever known, spent in any place on earth or beyond was exactly what he wanted.

The rhythmic collapse of each wave on the shore in time with the popping and hissing of the wet wood as it burned played them a song unlike any other. To his ears though there was more and the beat of her heart and the soft slowing gentle breathing of his lady let him know she had found peace if only for now. He knew she would need to find closure, and as a warrior she would eventually seek out the path she turned away from, for him. He would not stop her again, if she so chose what he expected then his place would be at her side and he would make sure she knew she could ask him.

As two warrior hearts sat beating in time with the sea the sun began it's plunge in the sky. Logan would listen intent as the night went rolling on in it's way and should he find his Angel Eyes wanting for something intangible he would know it was this that she sought, simple righteous revenge, and he would oblige her. In fact, after a hoity toity evening in a monkey suit he might relish going after some mafia firebugs. "Anything ...hmmmm, I'll remember that." He lifted her face gently, rough strong fingers under her chin, and kissed her lips. Drinking the moment, and the sweetness of her in.