Beautiful Claws by: Tauriel Rogers

37) Stubborn Decision

I woke up to feeling Logan's fingers gently grazing my shoulder, sliding down to my elbow, and then back up to my shoulder again. I shifted my head so that I was looking at his face. "Good morning," I said with a tired smile. 

"Hey," Logan smiled back, just as tired as I was. "We need to get up. I overheard Storm say that they wanted to get an early start to the day for the mission," Logan informed me. 

"Can't we snuggle a little longer?" I asked, wrapping my arm around him. 

"I wish we could, but duty calls. When this is all over and we go back to the school, we can spend more time together," he said. 

"Alright, I'll get up then," I whined. Logan gave me my privacy so I could change, but it was really cold since it was a morning in the forest. I hugged myself to keep warm as we boarded the jet to go over our mission plans. Mystique and Magneto were looking at her and laughing, making me feel very uncomfortable. 

"What's so funny?" I asked defensively. 

"Oh, we were just saying that we love what Rogue's done to her hair," Magneto answered. Rogue tried to go after them, but Bobby held her back making Mystique laugh harder. I shook my head completely annoyed by their lack of respect. Bobby led her away from them towards Logan. He was putting on a set of black gloves. 

"Where's ours?" Bobby asked excitedly. 

"They should be on order for a few years," he answered. Rogue rolled her eyes and I started laughing. 

"What is with everyone today?" she muttered under her breath. I frowned as I watched her angrily walk away with Bobby on her heals. I caught Pyro having what looked like an all too friendly conversation with Magneto. 

"I hope he knows what he's doing," I thought. 

"Here," Logan said, handing me his leather jacket.

"Thank you," I said happily putting on. It was huge on my small frame, but kept me nice and warm and I loved how it smelled like Logan's cologne. As he straightened his gloves out, I noticed how sharp he looked in his X-suit and wow, did it fit him in all the right places. Logan smirked when he saw me staring him up and down. 

"Aren't these nice?" he playfully asked. 

"I'll say," I answered blushing. I couldn't even meet his gaze or else I'd just blush a deeper shade of red. When I stole a quick glance up at him, his cheeks were slightly pink. "Didn't know it was possible to make him blush," I thought. 

"Is everyone here now?" Storm asked. 

"I think so," Jean responded. 

"Then let's get to it," Storm started the meeting and explained how Stryker wanted Professor X to control his own version of Cerebro to wipe out all the mutants. We figured out that Stryker's secret military base was underground at Alkali Lake, where Wolverine keeps his memories from. He glanced at me uncomfortably a few times because he'd never really talked about it with me before. I wasn't going to hold it against him because I'm sure I would've kept it secret to if I had been in that situation. Our mission was to sneak in through the spillway tire tracks to rescue Professor X, find Scott, and destroy Stryker's Cerebro. It sounded easy enough, but nothing ever goes as planned and there's always complications. They needed someone to go in as a distraction for the others and Logan volunteered. 

"What will you do, scratch it with your claws?" Magento mocked him. I tensed up and used my powers to quickly dry out his throat, causing him to go into a coughing fit. I smiled smugly to myself, which earned a dark glare from Mystique. I shrugged it off. 

"I'll take my chances," Logan stood up to him. 

"Perhaps we could still send what appears to be you?" Magneto offered after composing himself and sending me a surprised look. We looked at the old man confused until he pointedly glanced at Mystique and then it all made sense. If Mystique went in disguising herself as Logan, then if something happened to her, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. 

We flew over to the lake in stealth mode to hide our tracks and to keep from getting caught before we wanted to. I put Logan's jacket in the clothes cupboard and got an X-jacket. "Where do you think you're going?" Logan asked. 

"I'm coming with you," I told him. 

"No."

"Why not?" I challenged. 

"Can you talk with her outside please?" Storm asked quietly, sending both of us an apologetic look. I followed him down the ramp to a tree across from the jet. 

"I can't have you there because, it's too dangerous. You've never been on a mission before and if something goes wrong, I can't be by your side to protect you," he explained. "I don't want you to get in crossfire of whatever it is from my past that's waiting for me on the inside. I'm not ready to share that part of me with you yet," he lowered his voice. I could see the truth and worry in his eyes and sighed, staring down at the ground. 

"Fine, but don't think I won't run after you if I feel like something is wrong," I warned. He abruptly hugged me tightly to him. 

"I just don't want you to get hurt, do you understand?" Logan whispered into me ear. I hugged him tighter. 

"Yes." 

"Come on, we better get back in there so when we get the signal, I can go," he rushed. We returned getting several concerned glances from the team. I sat down next to Rogue who draped an arm around my shoulders. 

"It's ok Anna, the three of us have to stay behind to," she told me and then suddenly, I didn't feel so bad knowing I wasn't the only that would have to sit this one out. Soon enough, Mystique reported that she was in. 

"She's good," Logan commented, clearly impressed. 

"You have no idea," Magneto thought aloud. Logan caught the disgusted look on my face and I made a puking gesture. Logan smirked and chuckled, getting a raised eyebrow from Jean. Logan cleared his throat as she looked between the two of us disapprovingly. 

"Time to move out," Storm announced, creating a thunderstorm to cover their tracks. I grabbed Logan's arm, tugging him away from the group. 

"Be careful," I told him as I wrapped my arms around him. Logan quickly kissed me and gently pulled my arms away from him. 

"You don't need to worry about me," he said with a small smile and then disappeared down the ramp. I took a deep breath shakily and sat back down, trying to keep myself from following them. No matter what song I played in my head or how many times I played chop sticks with Rogue, Bobby, and Pyro, I couldn't keep my mind off of what was going on in the base. I pushed the ramp button to open it as I zipped up my jacket to just under my chin. 

"What are you doing?" Pyro asked. 

"I can't stand just sitting around here when they're all inside there. I have to do something!" I exclaimed. 

"Anna!" Bobby called. 

"Don't try to follow me," I shouted back at them as I ran to catch up with the others. I knew I was probably being incredibly stupid, but I didn't care. I felt like I had to pitch in my part of the mission to and I couldn't do that from the jet.