Title: Lost Souls, Epilogue: Dog's Eye View
Author: Jamie
Email: madjm@mac.com

Category: Fred POV. AU Logan/Marie.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: X-Men and its characters are owned by a bunch of people. Sadly, I'm not one of them, or I'd have money.
Summary: Logan comes home. Fred tells us about it.
Note: Yeah, OK, so dogs probably have thoughts more along the lines of "want food, want to play, want sleep." Big deal. It's just fanfiction, people. :)

Three months later

Marie is sad.

I can still make her laugh by jumping around and acting stupid, but her smile isn't the same. She still scolds me for chewing on her shoes, but her heart isn't in it. She still takes me for walks around the estate, but her step is heavier even though she's lost weight. We both have a lot of new friends, but the new can't replace the old.

She misses the other one. Logan.

And to think, I liked the guy.

Why are people so stupid? They know what they want, but they're afraid of it. That's why he left. I could smell it on him. He was afraid of caring for Marie. I don't know why. Love's not something to philosophize or obsess over. It just is.

He's stupid. But she misses him anyway. So you'll understand I was pretty happy to see him when he finally showed up. Walking up to me like he'd never left, scratching that perfect spot behind my ear. You'll forgive me if I got distracted for a minute or two, since hardly anybody knows the best scratch spot. Only Marie.

So, I jump all around him excitedly, wagging my tail, and start to lead him to Marie's favorite spot in the garden.

"Do you know where Marie is, boy?" he asks.

Duh. What am I, a cat or something? Am I jumping around like this for my own entertainment? Geez. People can be so dense sometimes. So, I lead him to Marie, and she just looks shocked to see him.

"Logan?" She stands up from the bench, and I can see him frown at how much weight she's lost. Ha! I hope you enjoy seeing your handiwork, bub.

"Marie." He steps closer to her and raises a hand to touch her. "You're still here."

What a rocket scientist! Of course she's still here, moron. Waiting for you.

"I ... the professor hired me," she tells him. "I'm his personal assistant."

"You're still here," he says again, and before I can howl at how dense he is, he continues. "You lost your chance."

"My chance?"

He steps closer. "To run. I know ... I'm not the best for you. You deserve someone better. So I figured, if you were here when I got back ..."

Oh, heaven help us. He thought she could do better? Doesn't the man understand they're soul mates? I mean, I'm not exactly a romantic kind of guy, but it seems obvious to me that their meeting was fated.

"So you left for three months?" She sounds as amazed by his stupidity as I feel.

"Three months," he agrees, brushing his hands over her hair. "Eight days. Twenty two minutes ..." He leans in to kiss her, yelping as she smacks him upside the head.

"You idiot!"

That's my Marie. You didn't think I picked her out for her looks, did you?

"You complete idiot!" Now she's pacing back and forth, and Logan's looking a little stunned. That probably wasn't the welcome he was expecting. "You gave me three months to come to my senses? It didn't take me three minutes to realize how much I missed you!"

Then she kisses him, hard. When she pulls back, he's still looking stunned. Say something, doofus.

"I ..."

Real brilliant.

He tries again. "I missed you, too. I love you, Marie."

OK. That was pretty good. Marie seems to think so, too, because she kisses him again. I try not to roll my eyes as this goes on for a while. Get a room, people.

Finally, he leads her to the bench and they sit down. "So, you're happy here?" he asks.

"Yes," she says. "I like working for the professor. And I'm in therapy for ... everything. And Fred loves it here."

Logan looks at me and smiles, and I start to remember what I liked about the guy. I guess, as long as he's making Marie happy, I could put up with him. I do like it at the mansion. There are people everywhere. Nice people. And they always want to pet me or play with me. And the cook always has table scraps for me in the afternoon ... in fact, it's getting to be about that time now, but I'm not sure if I should leave Marie alone with him yet.

"He's actually gonna be a daddy," Marie says, smiling at me. I smile back and wag my tail. Did I mention I found my own soul mate here? Muffin's her name. A little smaller than me, brown and white coat, big brown eyes ...

"Apparently, Fred's never been fixed," Marie says, and that ends my grin right there. Fixed? Nu-uh. No fixing for this boy. I ain't broke, I don't need to be fixed.

I see Logan wince, and I figure I have an ally on this issue. Boy, it's great to have him back.

Well, then they start getting all mushy again, and it doesn't look like they're gonna take my advice about the room when Marie's shirt flies off and lands in a bush.

Humans. They have no control.

As for me, I have a date with the cook, who would be crushed if I didn't show up for the table scraps. Then some of the kids will be expecting me to show up after classes let out. And Scott will probably want to play some fetch later. And then maybe I'll have some quality time with Muffin.

It's a dog's life.

THE END