Fiction TGoM- Chapter Seventeen

Title: The Glory Of Manticore

Author: Restive Nature

Rating: up to NC-17

Disclaimer- I in no way, shape or form own the characters of Dark Angel or X-Men or anything related to them. I simply like to play with them for a short while.

Summary: Max is once again on the run. But this time a safe haven awaits her in the form of Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Children.

Pairing: M/L

Chapter Seventeen

“Ready darlin’?” Logan asked.

Max felt the last drops of her cola slipping down her throat. She lowered the pop can and looked to the man who’d just spoken to her. His voice was low and gravelly, no doubt from the dust accumulated on their drive up to New York. They’d stopped at the halfway point to grab something to drink. Granted it wasn’t a long trip, but it was a small moment. As soon as they’d arrived, Logan had hopped off the back of her bike, asked what she’d preferred and signaled to Scott, who’d pulled in behind them with the car.

He’d returned from the small Mom and Pop convenience store, giving Jean and Scott their drinks first before returning to her side. She’d drank quickly, not sure how fast the others would be. She knew that Scott wouldn’t need to fill up, nor did she. They’d used the private reserves of the school gas tanks before they left. And gas was ridiculously high at this store.

“Just about,” she answered with a smile. Logan nodded as he pitched his empty Dr. Pepper can in the garbage can. She wondered if he was as eager to get back on her motorcycle as she was. There were few things in her life that could compare to the freedom of the ride.

“I’ll tell Cyke,” he muttered and moved away to do so. Max watched him cross the parking lot, avoiding a car pulling out with ease. He moved with a lithe grace that she hadn’t seen since her youthful days of Manticore. It was easy to see, but difficult to categorize. The closest analogy that she could come up with was a powerful animal on the hunt. Always aware of everything around him. Maybe that was why she was enjoying this motorcycle ride more than others she’d endured with passengers.

The more she thought about it, the more she knew she was right. In days gone by, whenever she’d given a ride to a friend, she’d always had to be very careful. Most people didn’t understand the theory of riding a motorcycle. It was not, contrary to what a lot of people thought, like riding a bicycle. There was physics involved that the general populace gave no thought to. As a result of that ignorance, Max generally told most people just to hang onto her and let her do the work. There were a few times she thought she’d take a spill when someone decided to help her out by leaning into curves, or getting too nervous and doing just the opposite. But that was not true with Logan.

Somehow he sensed every move before she made it on her baby. As if he understood how the bike had become a natural extension of herself. Of her soul. For every move she made on the road, he was there countering in just the exact manner that kept them balanced perfectly. To her, it made the ride that much more enjoyable, more sensual. A chill ran up her back as she acknowledged that. It had been a long time since she connected with another being on a deeper, more esoteric level. But true to her nature, she shunted it aside, unready, unwilling to analyze it. For now,she would just enjoy it while it lasted.

*****            

“What are you thinking about?” Scott asked, slowly running his finger around the rim of the iced tea that Logan had provided him with. He’d been surprised by the other man when they’d pulled off the road for a pit stop. Scott didn’t think that Logan had ever paid attention to what he liked to drink. But the wild mutant had it down to brand and flavoring. It could have been a fluke, but Scott didn’t think so. Underneath that devil may care attitude, he knew that Logan was an extremely perceptive… animal, for lack of better word. Every movement, positioning, word said, it was all noticed and cataloged somewhere in that damaged brain of his.

“What?” Jean asked distractedly when she realized that Scott had been talking to her. He chuckled and she dragged her eyes away from the scene that was playing out in front of her. It wasn’t much, just Logan and Max standing beside her motorcycle, drinking their respective beverages.

“As if I needed to guess,” Scott teased. Jean sighed and mentally rolled her eyes. “Thinking about Max and Logan?”

She was thankful that he’d included Max in there. She didn’t want to have to go through this again with him. She nodded. “A little,” she admitted.

“What were you thinking about them?” he asked,m now that he had a subject to warm up to. She glanced again at him, then turned to stare straight ahead. “Jean?”

“Oh,it’ll probably sound silly,” she huffed quietly. Scott said nothing, just patiently waited. Jean picked at a non-existent thread on her pants. “I was just wondering which one of them was dominant?” she got out in a rush. She almost wished she had been looking at Scott when she heard him choke on his iced tea. She turned her head a fraction to late. He was wiping off his chin now.

“That doesn’t sound silly,” he declared. “That sounds… kinky. Why were you wondering about that?”

“Not that kind of dominant,” she giggled, looking younger than she was. Scott decided that embarrassing himself slightly in private was bearable if it brought smiles like that to her face. “Although it might apply somehow. No, I meant who is the more powerful of the two.”

“But Max isn’t a mutant,” Scott stated. “Or at least the professor said she wasn’t.”

“I know that,” Jean agreed. “I’m talking every day normal human and mutant terms. Dominant and submissive in instinctive ways.”

“Human and mutant, huh?” Scott tried to join in, but he had inly the vaguest notion of what she was referring to.

"Meaning which one of them has the control of the relationship," Jean continued. "I mean, I always considered Logan to be a dominant personality. Just look at the way he clashes with everyone around him at some point or another."

"I thought that was just good old fashioned pig-pigheadedness," Scott grinned. Jean threw him another little look.

"But now," She continued after a moment, "with Max here and seeing how he is around her... It makes me wonder."

"Wonder what?" Scott asked gently, eying their traveling companions again.

"Well," Jean sighed, "he seems to be constantly deferring to her, allowing her to take the lead. And did you ever think that Logan would be content to sit back and let someone else drive?"

"Never really thought about it," Scott murmured, his lips pursed thoughtfully. He did so now, a slight frown marring his face. He tried to fit in Jean's current supposition with what he himself had seen.

"So that makes me wonder," Jean concluded, leading the conversation back around to the original point. "Which one of them is dominant."

"Maybe they both are," Scott blurted out. Jean turned her head towards him once more and cocked her head to the side, waiting for an explanation. "I mean, you said that Logan clashes with a lot of people. He's certainly clashed with Max over a few things. We've all heard them... But, I think maybe..."

"What?" Jean encouraged softly. She could see that Scott was rapidly forming this opinion in his mind and while he understood it there, he couldn't verbalize it as well as he might like until he had more time to think it over. But until she was invited in, she'd let him say it.

"Do you think that maybe they're both dominant and passive when they need to be?" Scott pointed out. "I mean, Logan takes the lead when the subject is something he knows about. But he steps back if he has no experience with the matter."

"That's a good point," Jean nodded.

"And maybe there's a territory thing going on," Scott grinned. "Although not much of one. I mean he had no problem stealing my bike."

"But maybe he has a little more respect for Max's property because she's female?" Jean grinned as Scott nodded. He clammed up for a moment as he watched Logan approaching from across the parking lot. He took another hasty sip of his iced tea as his free hand rolled down the window, waiting for the other mutant to get there.

Logan squatted slightly at Scott's window, including both Scott and Jean in his glance. "You guys about ready to go?" The couple glanced quickly at each other. Yes, essentially they were, they could certainly carry on their conversation in the car as Scott drove.

"We can go whenever," Scott replied easily with a grin. "But if Max needs a little more time..."

"Nah," Logan gave them a broad grin. "She really likes riding that bike of hers."

"And I'd say you don't mind it overly much either," Scott teased. Logan's eyes narrowed as he searched swiftly for a perceived slight, but Scott's easy smile and open face convinced him that there was no harm intended. "But you know, if either you or Max get tired, we've got room in the back seat."

"I'll pass that along," Logan grunted. "But I doubt Max'd take you up on it. Nobody drives her baby but her." Scott nodded as Logan clapped on hand on the door of the driver's side as he raised up. He gave Jean a grin and both of them a wave as he moved back towards Max.

Scott waited until his window was completely rolled up before he picked up the previous thread of conversation. "And maybe, did you think that Logan's attitude isn't so much about being dominant, than it is about protection?" Jean's head whipped around to stare at her lover. "I mean, it seems to me that the force behind Logan's personality is that he doesn't ever want to let anyone he cares about get hurt. If that person or persons are in danger, that's when, forgive me, but the animal within takes over. You know? If it doesn't involve someone he cares about, then it doesn't involve him. And when he's not involved, I don't think there's any dominance or passivity in him at all. He just is."

"And you think he cares about Max?" Jean clarified, stunned by the depth that Scott understood the other man who had admittedly, until very recently, been a rival.

"Based on all evidence gathered," Scott grinned at her as he started up the vehicle. "I'd say out of everyone here, with the possible exception of Rogue, and that's because she's still a kid, I'd say he cares most about Max."

Jean nodded slowly as she thought those things over. Remembering and cataloging certain little incidents and behaviors, comments and looks. It was starting to fall into place. She watched as Logan enthusiastically climbed onto Max's bike behind her. Again, it wasn't something she had thought that she would see of Logan, but he was doing it. His larger bulk blocked Max from view and Jean could see how he was curving his body slightly around the other woman's. Almost as if he were protecting her. Saying with actions that he literally had her back. She smiled softly. This was an interesting new development.

"So I have a question," Scott asked jovially as they pulled back out onto the highway.

"What's that?" Jean asked, a little distracted.

"Between us,' Scott sounded even more amused, "which one of us is dominant?"

Jean's head snapped around to look at her boyfriend even as there were warning lights and censors going of in her head that warned of treacherous territory here. What could she say? "Um, I refuse to answer that on the grounds that I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings."

Scott chuckled as he reached to settle his drink in the appropriately designated space and then caught up her hand. "In other words, you think you're the dominant one and you don't want to make me upset, even though since I'm a man, I'd probably think that I was the dominant partner."

"No," Jean frowned. She had the quick sense that Scott had just thrown the gender bias in there to throw her a little off balance. "What I mean is, you have given me a lot of things to think about today with your astute observations and I would rather reorganize my thoughts in private than end up arguing about this with you when I'm not sure exactly what I think anymore."

Scott turned his head just enough to catch her hand as he lifted it to his lips. "Very diplomatic answer there, Dr. Gray," he chuckled.

*****                 

"They're all ready to go," Logan reported as he returned to Max's side.

"All right," Max nodded as she slid her leg over the seat, aligning herself properly to allow room for Logan behind her. "What d'ya say we kick it up a notch?" she demanded with a grin. A slow, lazy smile spread over Logan's face before he carefully took his place behind her. As he fit his body against hers, realizing that she had left precisely enough room for him, no more, no less, he leaned forward.

"Darlin' we can go just as fast as you wanna," he breathed huskily into her ear, noting with satisfaction the shiver that she swiftly brought under control. With both legs still on the ground, he nevertheless slid one arm around her midsection, careful where he let his hand lay. Too much one way or another and it'd be a distraction. Logan knew he had little to fear by way of accident. Hell, he'd had a few over the years. But he really didn't want anything happening to Max. But still, his hand against her body felt awful good and he wasn't going to give that up easily.

Max started up the Ninja, checking the entryway to the gas station to make sure her way was clear. She edged out onto the road, going slowly so that they both could balance themselves as needed. Once they were going, she brought her legs up to the machine, resting comfortably so that her legs wouldn't cramp as she straddled her baby. A moment later, she felt Logan imitate her, though his feet rested back from hers. And that was all. Thighs torso and arms were all aligned against her body, molding themselves against her, though he kept his face a few scant inches from hers. She'd deliberately left her hair inside her jacket so that it wouldn't be blowing and whipping into his face. Another moment and she felt something, his breath, words perhaps, whisper across her cheek. She felt more than heard what he wanted.

"Open 'er up."

With a joy filled smirk, Max revved the throttle, tearing away with startling accuracy from Scott and Jean's car. The laughter that rumbled through the body behind her brought a swift satisfaction to the playful kitty cat inside and she laughed as well. It took her seconds only to discover that like the previous rides, Logan could definitely handle this. She added a little more speed, nibbling her lower lip a little as the thighs cradling hers tightened in response.

Yeah, this trip was definitely off to a good start.

Chapter Eighteen