YOU'RE LOSING ME ✦ WOLVERINE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH — 2007

A FEW WEEKS later, the air finally chilled, and Clara broke her sweaters and jackets out of her closet and set up her coat rack again.

"You need a scarf," Logan said a couple of nights before, and Clara retorted, "You need a scarf."

Then, two days later, Logan came home from a local shop with two scarves. One yellow for him, one blue for her.

They spent their days together in a simple schedule: they would have breakfast, then head downstairs to individually work, or sometimes Clara would finish her work early, and come out to the garage to help Logan. They'd listen to music together, and then make dinner together upstairs, before heading over to Jerry's.

Because of the kids visiting, they paused their fights and workouts entirely. But now that the kids had both returned home, they picked it up again, working out twice a week together, and finishing off the week by having one big, grand, fight. They'd celebrate the winner at Jerry's with drinks.

Clara hadn't heard from Kiera more about her visit. So, she assumed that must mean she wasn't coming. She was pretty content with her new day-to-day routine with Logan, and as more time went on, he opened up more about his life. She did, too.

He told her all about the years he spent as a cage fighter, and admitted he still had a bit of trouble remembering things from his past, before he became the Wolverine.

She told him about how she had to repair her relationship with Kiera, and how, even now, it wasn't back to the way it had been before Kiera had found out about Clara's past. The first few years she spent on her own, after the attempted assassination. What her mother had been like, before she had died.

One day, Clara and Logan were down in the garage, giving little tweaks to their own vehicles. Logan had discovered that Clara loved working on her car—it was why she had been working on it so much for so long. She also loved working on Scott's motorcycle, treating it with care and respect.

Seeing her treat it with such care would cause Logan to talk to her about Scott. Clara was sitting on the seat of the motorcycle, tinkering with ignition switch, trying to make it smoother for the key.

"Scott was so prickly," Logan said, chuckling and shaking his head. "He was nice to pretty much everyone in the mansion, except when it came to people. And me, I should say. Man, did he have it out for me. But to be fair, I had it out for him too, always chasing Jean like I did."

Clara looked up from her work, watching him take a drag off of his cigar. "Random question, it just popped into my head," She said. "But when did you get into smoking cigars?"

"Oh, man," Logan leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "It would have been...So long ago. I would've still been old. But much younger than this."

Ever since Clara had learned his age, she had taken to poking fun at him all the time. "I've never tried it," She admitted. "Do you think I'd even like it?"

"I don't think you would," He truthfully replied, then grinned. "But I'd love to see you try."

Clara felt the challenge, and straightened her shoulders. "Then, give me," She said, and he smirked, ashing it, and then handing it over to her. She lifted it to her mouth, inhaling, and then took it out of her mouth, sputtering coughs.

Logan, for the first time she'd ever heard, sat back and laughed at her. He leaned forward to take the cigar, Clara still sputtering out coughs, when a voice said, "Clara?"

Looking up, Clara saw Kiera standing at the opening of the garage. "Oh, shit," She wheezed, getting off the motorcycle. She gave the cigar to Logan, and grabbed her water bottle off the desk, chugging it.