winds of change ~ wolverine

twelve

As the hours wore on, I found myself growing more and more comfortable around Logan. He seemed to understand me, see me in a way that no one else had before. And maybe it was because he was one of the first people to ever discover my mutation, but I knew it was more than that. We were the same in many ways, even though I didn't always want to admit it.

When the sun was lower in the sky, I'd regained a little more control over my body at the cost of the majority of my energy. I turned to Logan as he cleaned up after our take-out dinner. "You think it's safe to head back to the apartment now?"

I spotted the hesitant frown almost immediately. "You sure you wanna go back so soon?" He asked in return.

"We can't camp out in a motel forever. And I'm sure whatever scene we left behind back there can't be traced back to us." He didn't look very convinced so I spoke further. "Not to mention you must be exhausted, you didn't sleep at all last night."

Logan sighed as he binned the the trash and turned to me with lightly crossed arms. "Fine, we can go." He nodded to me in question. "How're the legs feeling?"

I winced, a little disappointed with my progress. "Weak, but I'll manage. Would have been better if you didn't make me take a break every five seconds."

He scoffed. "You'd have put yourself in the hospital by now if it weren't for those breaks." He gathered up his jacket, shrugging it on and coming to stand in front of me, holding out an arm to help me up.

I took it, holding on to his forearm which he kept steady no matter how much weight I put on him. It felt like my legs had forgotten to walk and I had to reprogram them with every tentative step. "That's it, you've got it." Logan encouraged beside me.

I stumbled over an unresponsive foot and he immediately caught me with an arm around my waist. "You jinxed it." I grumbled halfheartedly. 

He just chuckled deeply, reaching around me easily to open the door before returning his hand to rest lightly on my back.

The car wasn't parked so far, but I felt like I was moving unbearably slowly and I was already drained from working my blood all day. The cool wind nipped at my bare right arm where Mystique had ripped off my own sleeve to gag me with. I looked mournfully down at the torn clothing. "I really liked this shirt, you know."

Logan shook his head lightly. "Oh yeah, because your ripped shirt is the greatest inconvenience to come out of last night."

I shot him a scathing look without much bite. "It's damn well one of them." He just smirked, looking purely amused.

LOGAN'S POV

The drive back was short and without traffic. I found myself wishing it was a little longer, if only to put off Bailey seeing what I'd done to those mutants last night to get to her. I cared about what she thought of me, she'd seen the blood on my hands last night and still said I was a good man this morning, I wondered if that would change if she saw where that blood had come from.

Pulling up to the apartment block, Bailey had to prove to the officers guarding the entrance that she lived there. I helped her duck under the police tape, catching her before anyone could notice when her legs gave out a bit as she stood back up.

Luckily, the few bodies had been removed, but the bloodstains were still there. Bailey eyed them shortly, but said nothing as we walked carefully passed.

"Excuse me," She called to attention the detective standing by her door. "I live here, could we just scooch passed you?" She asked, pointing to the door with a polite smile.

"You live here?" The detective echoed, looking at her in an accusative manner that set my blood on edge. I heard Bailey's heart picking up the pace beside me. "Where were you last night?" He immediately asked.