Choices and Consequences

Title: Choices and Consequences

Author: Karen

Email: **Not mine, but I'd probably sell my soul to the devil for one night with a certain hot Aussie.**

Archive Rights: Dolphin Haven.

Rating: PG-13

Category: Angst

Pairings: Logan/Marie, Logan/Jean and Marie/Scott

Feedback: Would be wonderful.

Summary: Choices are made and consequences must be dealt with.

Author's notes: This is in response to Khaki's latest opening line challenge.

Thanks to Taryn and Terri for previewing this.

Dedicated to Jonas in honor of his 30th birthday.

Choices and Consequences

He should have seen it coming once he finally got Jean in the sack. Logan should have known there'd be bitter consequences. Marie had been in Chicago with Kitty and Jubilee, visiting Kitty's family and Logan had inadvertently gotten his dates mixed up as to when the three were returning. So instead of still being safely eight hundred miles away while Logan was pounding away into Jean, Marie was obliviously unloading her luggage downstairs in the garage. The sight that greeted her as she opened the door to their suite was not the welcome home she'd anticipated. Marie was understandably devastated while Scott was just pissed. Their going to bed together in retaliation could've almost been expected. Logan figured she'd get her revenge and then they'd kiss and make up. What he hadn't expected was for Marie to enjoy it so much. She told him that she forgave him for being such a complete bastard for shagging Jean, but she was going to continue sleeping with Scott.

Marie moved into Scott's room, effortlessly replacing Jean who'd been unceremoniously booted out right after she'd been discovered in flagrante delicto with Logan. Jean had contemplated moving directly into Logan's room, but he wasn't interested in anything more than their one time together. He wasn't even sure why he'd done it other than the challenge, with the added bonus of sticking it to Scott at the same time. It certainly hadn't been about any genuine desire for the redhead as he'd gotten past his initial attraction to her long ago. Jean had been far too easy to lure into his bed and he had no respect for any woman who'd whore herself so willingly. Meanwhile, he'd utterly blown it with the only woman he'd ever truly loved and in the end it hadn't even been worth it as Jean had been a shitty lay – literary just lying there letting Logan do all the work. Marie on the other hand had been a willing pupil and Logan the consummate teacher and now Scott was benefiting from all those lessons.

As Scott and Marie's room was only a few doors down from his own and with his enhanced hearing, Logan was treated to a nightly symphony of their lovemaking. It seemed a fitting penance for making the biggest mistake of his life. The knife that had lodged in his heart was driven in a little deeper whenever he saw Marie stumble into the kitchen in the morning disheveled from Scott's attentions. After all of their combativeness for alpha male dominance, it was Scott who'd one-upped Logan in the most ultimate way by claiming Logan's most prized possession – Marie.

Logan made yet another poor choice when he tried to distract himself by drowning his sorrows in some of the seedier dives in the wrong part of town and allowing himself to be picked up by drunk, horny women. First he'd only gone home with brunettes in some weird attempt to substitute Marie, but when that proved too painful he switched to a blondes-only policy, eliminating redheads, too, for obvious reasons. That may have been less tormenting, but it was also equally unfulfilling and the consequences of those latest erroneous decisions were quick to be exacted. When word got back to Marie about his nightly excursions, she caustically told him that she'd been right in dumping his sorry ass. Logan didn't really want anyone but Marie – in his bed and in his life, so he abandoned the bars in favor of drinking himself into a stupor quietly in his room and plotting ways to get her back.

One morning Marie, Jubilee and Kitty were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and discussing their favorite topic, their love lives. Approaching the kitchen, Logan overheard Marie share with them how good Scott was in bed, although he already knew that from her moans of delight he'd heard coming from their room. His heart sunk when Marie revealed that she thought Scott was planning to propose on Valentine's Day. However, he had a ray of hope when Marie confessed that she wasn't sure if she could don the long white dress and pledge to love Scott for all time while she still harbored lingering feelings for Logan, despite his indiscretion with Jean. Logan realized that he still had a shot at making things right between them after all.

A few days before Valentine's Day Logan replaced a flu-bug bedridden Storm on a mission with Scott that should've been boringly routine, but turned out to be anything but. They'd been sent to retrieve a mutant whose parents had contacted Xavier about placement at the school, but walked right into a Friends of Humanity trap instead. Scott made a mission decision that two against one hundred were not particularly good odds even if Logan had a raging case of I'mgonnakickmesomeass-itis. They attempted to retreat back to the Blackbird through the thick woods to the north of the ambush site; planning on circling back south as soon as they could shake their pursuers.

With the disadvantage of being unfamiliar with the area, they soon found themselves at the edge of a precipice. They were trapped with a sheer drop in front of them and bloodthirsty mutant haters behind them. A single shot rang out and Scott took a direct hit in the shoulder, which pitched him right over the edge. Logan rushed to the edge and saw Scott clinging to a narrow shelf just below the lip of the cliff, barely hanging on with only one hand. He was quickly losing his precarious grip and was only moments away from plunging to a certain death. When Scott cryptically told Logan that he'd finally get his chance to get Marie back because he'd be conveniently out of the way, Logan decided that if he was going to win her back it would be in a fair fight and not by default, so he reached down for Scott. Not returning from a mission was always a distinct possibility; however, today was not going to be that day. They were both going home - let the games begin.


End file.
