After going to dinner and seeing a movie, Anna and Heidi retired at her house catching up on what had been going on in one another’s lives. After telling Heidi about her divorce Anna was interested in knowing what had been happening in her best friend’s life.

      Heidi remembered the few dreams she had been having about Anna being in danger and was reluctant to tell her much more about Logan or the Mansion, and Anna seemed to notice she was holding back. “Heidi you can tell me,” she said, breaking Heidi’s thoughts.

      “Oh, well I guess I can,” she finally said; her mind made up. “I’m currently not employed Max as it turns out has been funding a project he calls the Sentinel Project.” Heidi told her about that and about getting taken to his estate. She told Anna about Logan and the X-men, and realized after she had talked it all out she felt better, almost.

      “So what is this Logan like?” Anna asked hoping that maybe her friend had found someone special.

      Heidi smiled and thought about Logan, and the last time she had seen him. She thought about his kiss, and how she wished she would have stayed in his arms just a moment longer. As she thought about that she put her hands to her lips and shut her eyes trying to remember just how she had felt when she heard Anna asking her if something was wrong with her lips. That brought her out of her thoughts and she laughed. “I’m sorry Anna, I was just thinking about something he said to me,” she lied not ready to admit out loud that he had kissed her; sort of ashamed she had let her thoughts get the best of her.

      “So you like him?” Anna asked.

      “I don’t know, he’s got his own life, sort of like me, and speaking of life, I need to get going to bed. I need to go to my apartment in the morning and download a few things off of my computer and then I need to look into moving someplace where Max doesn’t know,” she said as she began to mutter to herself.

      “Wait, he’s still after you?” Anna asked not liking this any at all.

      “No no, I just I need to go on to bed,” she said as she stood up. She left the room in a hurry, going up to the guest room Anna had prepared for her. She didn’t want Anna to worry about her, and felt guilty she had let that part slip out. Anna had enough to take care of in her own life, she didn’t need to be adding her problems in the mix, at least that was how Heidi felt about it. As she settled in to bed, Heidi found herself thinking about Logan, about the several physical encounters she had with him. The first time they met he had held her in his arms, and she found herself wondering what it would be like to be in his arms without any cloths to burden them. “Oh god, get a grip,” Heidi said as she pulled her mind out of those thoughts. “You don’t need him or anyone else,” she said as she got up and walked into the hall. She went into the bathroom and turned the water on cold splashing her face, as if to splash those thoughts out of her mind.

      When Heidi returned to bed she tried not to think about him but as she slipped into a much needed sleep she found herself lost in a dream about the two of them, and in that subconscious state she didn’t seem to mind thinking about him, not at all.

      Not pleased with what had happened with his Sentinel, Max had his top men working on a better design; a bigger robot with more fire power was what he needed to destroy the mutants known as the X-Men. As he sat in his home office, Max remembered his childhood. He remembered his stepfather Ben, a mutant who could move things with his mind; someone who hated him simply because he didn’t have any ordinary abilities. Max remembered when he killed him just after his 18^th birthday when Ben had hit his mother for the very last time. When he met William Stryker after making his first Million on a building which now stood in Paris France, Max hadn’t minded funding the man’s cause. Of coarse he was dead, but that didn’t mean his work had died with him. There were other’s carrying on his work, and Max even in the past two years had taken an interest in a special project, something he was more proud of than his Sentinels. Now all he needed to do was find out where Subject Omega 1 and her child had run off too.

      The city with all of its hustle and bustle was someplace Logan felt almost at home. He hadn’t spent too much time here on his own, but today he was becoming familiar with the rules of the road and the inhabitants known as New Yorkers. Logan spent most of his day in a small tavern enjoying the dark smoke filled room, and the drink. He was surprised that such a hole in the wall could have such a wide selection of beer on tap, and had drunken his fair share all without the drag of being drunk. His unique makeup prevented him from the clumsiness that came with having to much to drink, just as it prevented him from developing cancer from his love of the Cigar which he took a puff from every now and again. When it finally began to get dark and more and more patrons were coming in to drink their problems away, Logan left leaving a generous tip for the Red headed waitress. Any other time he would have likely left her more than a tip, but Logan had someone more important to take care of. As he left the small tavern he thought about that, about how he was truly starting to care for Heidi, and how for some reason the thought of taking care of her didn’t feel like an obligation, but more something he should do because she was a part of him. He unchained the bike from the light post in front of the tavern putting the parking ticket he had found taped to the seat in his bike in his jeans pocket before he headed off to Heidi’s apartment.

      Finding her car gone from the Garage worried Logan, and when he got to her apartment he knew without having to knock that she wasn’t there. With great ease Logan slid one blade out of his knuckle and picked the lock. Inside her apartment he realized she had not been there since the last time he had been with her. Logan was all about privacy, but in this case he needed some idea of where he could find the stubborn woman. He walked around her apartment and then went over to her desk. The first two drawers he opened didn’t have anything in them, but the last one he tried had an address book. Without feeling guilty Logan flipped through it finding names of people he had never heard her talk about. He was about to toss the book aside when he found a page with a picture on it. It was of a woman with short strawberry blond hair holding a bouquet of flowers. Under the picture, was her name and address and a phone number. Logan found piece of paper and wrote all of that down before he put the address book back in its place.

      Well past 1am, Logan stopped the motorcycle in front of a two story home. He shut off the engine and sniffed the air, satisfied that at least for now the two women inside weren’t in any sort of danger. He looked around the street seeing other houses of similar size and build as the one he was sitting in front of and realized he really didn’t have a good place to stay, at least not in the front. Getting off the bike, Logan pushed it up the short driveway and found a small yard. He parked the bike along side of the house so that it wasn’t visible on the street. In the backyard he found a tree to sit against and began his guard duty, ready to protect Heidi and Anna if anyone came snooping around.

      The next day Heidi made a call into work talking to Wendy, who had informed her that Max had been telling everyone in the office she was on sick leave. That disturbed her, but Heidi played along telling her assistant she would be back in a few weeks. After hanging up with her, Heidi left the house locking the doors. She got in her car and headed back toward Manhattan, needing to get some things from her apartment. During the drive she found herself thinking about Logan and Heidi found that extremely irritating. She needed to move on, needed time to find a different job. Maybe she thought, she would just leave New York all together and move to another state, Maybe Chicago, or Los Angeles; anyplace as long as it was far away from Logan.

      By the time Heidi arrived at her apartment it was taking all of her free will not to get in her car and go back to the mansion, find Logan and kiss him with wild abandonment. The day went by at a snails pace and Heidi spent most of it on the phone with temp agencies that didn’t have any jobs she was interested in. Finally evening arrived and Heidi was sitting in her living room flipping through a phone book while at the same time talking to Anna. “No, I’m all right. I just need to spend the night here and get my head on straight. I promise I will call you, just make sure you lock up and look out your peep hole if someone knocks. Okay take care.” Heidi hung up as she found a page devoted to a bar, a Karaoke bar not even seven blocks from her apartment that advertised free drink night for the ladies tonight and an 70s and 80s them. Having groan up in the 80s and needing a place where she could get her mind off of Logan Heidi circled the address, and got up, leaving the phone book open on the couch as she went into her room. 

      In her closet Heidi pulled out a silk royal blue blouse which fit her like a second skin. As she took it over to her bed she fingered the tag, amazed that she was actually going to put it on. Wearing the blouse was a big step for her, because until tonight she had never really wanted to catch the attention of a willing man. Now she wanted that, wanted to find someone just so she could get her mind off of him. Heidi knew that wasn’t fair to whoever took an interest in her, but didn’t care. After cutting the tag off of her blouse, Heidi laid it on her bed. She went back to her closet and pulled out a pair of dark slacks and her black dress shoes, taking both of those back to her bed.

      An hour later Heidi walked out of her apartment feeling totally self conscious. Her long brown hair fell down her back in soft waves. She was wearing her mother’s opal ring on her middle finger and a gold bracelet which snaked up her arm. The blouse was short sleeved, and brought out the blue in her eyes. As she walked out onto the street she found she was already catching the eye of some passers by and tried not to feel nervous about that, after all that is what she wanted.

      When Logan arrived at Anna’s house, this time much earlier he realized at once that Heidi was not there. Without thinking twice he went up to the door and knocked three times. In a moment he heard a woman’s voice asking who he was and he told her he was Heidi’s friend.

      Anna asked his name and when he told her Logan, she opened the door for him letting him inside. Logan was a head taller than she was, and even through the layers of his clothing, Anna could tell he was well built. She led him into the living room and had him sit down. “So you’re the man that has made Heidi realize she needs someone,” Anna said.

      Logan was about to leave when she said that and realized that she wasn’t going to let him go without finding out a few things about him. “Do you know where she is?”

      “At her apartment, we just finished talking, but I think you need to give her time,” Anna said.

      “She doesn’t have time lady, she’s in danger and I need to get to her before her boss does.” Logan stood up ready to leave when Anna stood up and grabbed his hand.

      “Heidi has done just fine without any man trying to set limits for her,” she said now put off by this guy. She knew her friend better than anyone and already this Logan didn’t seem like the right sort of man for her.

      It was the first time a woman had ever really stood up to him and Logan felt a bit unnerved by that. “I don’t think your friend really knows what she needs,” he said as he sat back down. “Maybe you could tell me why she seems so confident on the outside but when it comes to men she seems so stubborn and irrational.”

      Anna looked at him, trying to decide if she should tell him anything. She looked in his eyes and saw the compassion there as well as the worry. “She hasn’t had much luck with men and she had to grow up pretty fast. When I met her it was a year before her parents were killed, and after that she just closed in on herself. She told me she would never let anyone get close, I guess because she didn’t want to go through that sort of loss again. Then when were out celebrating her 21^st birthday she met Bryce, and for a while there I really thought he was going to help her open up. He seemed like a really great guy, until they started to fight. Heidi got a great job offer, but Bryce didn’t like it because it meant they wouldn’t have enough time together. They got into this really big fight and he hit her,” Anna said watching Logan squeeze his hands together. “Don’t worry she broke his nose, and he never came back, but after that she just closed up again, and since then she has thrown herself in her work. If you are going to love her Logan then you have to commit to her. I don’t think she can handle falling in love again only to be pulled apart, and I won’t let that happen,” Anna said as she stood up. “She went back to her apartment, so that would be a good place for you to start.”

      They walked to the door in silence and as Logan stepped out he turned around. “You don’t have to worry about me hurting her.” Then he was gone.

      Jasmine’s Oasis had a line extended half a block and Heidi found standing by herself, was more unnerving than having men looking at her. AS she was about to turn around and head back to her apartment a young man walked up to her. He was a little taller than she was with his hair parted on the right side. In a way he looked almost like a nerd, but in a handsome sort of way. 

      “Hi, I’m Chase,” he said.

      “I’m Heidi,” she said as he stood beside her. They started to small talk. Chase told her he worked for a Graphics firm, and was in town on business, and Heidi told him where she worked. They talked about what kinds of movies they liked and she found he liked a lot of the same movies she did. When they got inside they found a table near the front. There was already a woman singing Wind beneath My Wings, and before Heidi realized it Chase had ordered two margarita shots for both of them.

      “I hope you don’t mind,” he said as the shot glasses of Lime juice and vodka were set in front of them.

      “No not really, so do you drink one and then the other?” she asked.

      “Not exactly, this is sort of a couple’s drink. I’ll tilt my head back and you dump them in.” He said. 

      Heidi got up feeling really awkward about doing this but did as he said. She poured the drinks into his mouth and watched as he swallowed all of it in one gulp. 

      Back in her seat Heidi tilted her head back and after mentally counting to three she opened her mouth. The mixture was poured in her mouth and Heidi managed to swallow in two gulps trying her best not to gag.

      Back in her apartment Logan found it once again empty, but knew it hadn’t been all that long ago since she had been there. He found the closet door in her bedroom open and on her bed a pair of scissor and a tag. Back out in her living room Logan went to her desk and didn’t find anything a miss. It looked like he was just going to have to sit down and wait for her. As he was about to take a seat on her tan sofa he found an open phone book and saw the page with the circled address. Knowing that a Karaoke bar was the last place she needed to go Logan left the apartment and her building with purpose, going there to drag her out if he had to in order to save her stubborn ass.

      When he arrived at the bar, the line Heidi and Chase had encountered was no longer an issue. As he walked into the large establishment Logan instantly realized this was not the same kind of atmosphere he was used to. The taverns he liked were generally small, and dirty smoke filled rooms. His digs were not the sort of places people went to for anything other to drink and play a good game of pool or participate in a cage fight. This place was relatively clean, and though it was dark it was more modern. Logan didn’t have too much time to reflect because as soon as he walked into the main entertainment room he heard a familiar voice. To his dismay and astonishment he found Heidi up on stage singing a song he had never heard. It was a slow song that seemed to reflect what he guessed was her true desire, not really wanting to be alone. Logan watched her finding that he could not take her eyes off of her. The outfit she was wearing brought out her natural curves, and as he began to scan the room Logan realized that every other man was taking an interest in her as well. He had to fight not to let his blades out, not to go cut out everyone’s eyes, but Logan knew that he couldn’t make a scene and for now he found a table in the very back and sat down ready to protect her should she need that.

      Chase’s Margarita shot had her feeling good. Heidi had no hesitation about being on stage and when she finished Celine Dion’s All by myself, the men began to clap and whistle at her, wanting more.

      “Okay it’s time to shake this place up. For my next song, I need a willing man,” Heidi said. Several men stayed standing but Heidi had the one she wanted to perform with her and signaled to Chase. 

      It had not been his intention to perform but something about Heidi made Chase want to be close to her and after taking another shot of Vodka he joined her.

      “Do you like the movie Greece?” she asked covering the microphone with her hand.

      “One of my favorites, what do you have in mind?” he asked seeming to know what she was going to pick.

      “How about Summer Nights?” Chase agreed, and she spoke into the mic. “Alright I need some audience participation,” as she said that the introduction of song was already playing and everyone seemed to know what they needed to do. In the back of the entertainment room Logan held his hands under the table with his blades extended, wondering what in the world she was doing. She needed to be someplace safe, not up on a stage singing a song from an old seventies movie. Logan watched as the boy standing a little to close to Heidi began to sing the first verse of the song. Heidi began to sing her lines facing him, and it took all of his control not to go up there and haul her off of the stage. He wondered how much she had drunk before going up there, and just watched as the song progressed.

      When they arrived at the chorus the audience enthusiastically sang their part. And as the song progressed Logan couldn’t decide which was worse, the touches Heidi and her partner were now doing as a part of their performance or the chorus which he knew he would hear for days on end, “Tell me more Tell me more.”

      The song ended and the whole crowd, even the ladies wanted them to sing more. Logan was relieved when the two finally stepped down off of the stage and he stood watching as the boy got their things and the two of them started to walk out of the building. Heidi was clinging to his arm, and Logan was ready to put a stop to that. 

      Outside a cool breeze sent shivers up and down Heidi’s arms, and when Chase put his coat around her she suddenly felt herself feeling nervous and unsure.

      Behind them Logan was keeping pace and waited until the two of them were waiting for a cab before he moved in behind the boy. “I’ll take it from here kid,” he said pulling the boy away from the woman he loved.

      Chase turned around ready to tell this guy off but the guy was much taller and didn’t look like the kind of guy he wanted to mess with. “Tell her she can have the coat,” he said as he took off.

      A taxi arrived and Heidi turned around to tell Chase this was where they needed to say their goodbye. Instead of finding him there she found Logan looking at her. She could see the anger in his eyes, but instead of being worried she thought it was funny and began to laugh. “Maybe we should go in and get you more drinks,” she said as she laughed harder.

      Logan knew he needed to get her back to her place and after she finished laughing he put his hand on her back and gently pushed her to the right, going toward his motorcycle.

      Heidi let him guide her, and a couple of times he had to catch her before she hit the concrete. She heard him ask her how much she had to drink and stopped. “A shot, um vodka and lime juice,” she said as she started to laugh again.

      When they arrived at the bike Logan had to help her on and drove with one hand keeping his other hand behind him so she wouldn’t try to get off. He could tell that he was going to have to keep her away from drinking, and when they arrived back at her apartment she wasn’t laughing much anymore.

      In the elevator Heidi suddenly realized that he shouldn’t have known where she was, and asked him about that. “How did you know where to find me?”

      “Your phone book was a dead give away,” he said.

      Heidi quickly became angry. She stuck out her finger and poked it on his chest as she talked. “You had no right to go into my apartment and looked through my things,” She emphasized that last part by hitting his chest with the palm of her hand.

      “I wouldn’t have had to if you would have said something before leaving,” he pointed out.

      Heidi turned away from him and when the door of her elevator opened she walked out quickly arriving at her door. She was angry at him and at the same time she found that she wanted him to kiss her. After digging the keys out of her purse Heidi got the door of her apartment opened and walked in. She threw the keys and purse down and turned around. Logan entered the room and she walked up to him grabbed the sides of his leather jacket and pulled him closer. She stood on her tip toes puckering her lips expecting a kiss but when he didn’t she let go. “Logan kiss me, I need that right now,” she said, feeling her body warm up at the thoughts she was having of her.

      Logan could tell she was aroused and had to fight to keep himself from answering her call. “What you need is a shower and a bed to sleep in,” he said, knowing that if he acted he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from taking advantage.

      Heidi turned around. “I don’t need you to tell me what I need. I need to kiss you, and you didn’t seem to have any trouble holding back the other day,” she said as she spun back around to face him.

      Logan remained calm as he talked to her. “That was different, you weren’t drunk.”

      “I’m not drunk, I just feel really good right now and I want to feel your lips on mine so I don’t see what’s the problem,” she yelled. He stayed where he was and Heidi ran into her room slamming the door.

      As soon as she ran to her room Logan guessed that she would not be coming out, and after a little bit of looking around he found an extra pillow and a blanket. He moved the coffee table a little away from the small sofa and spread the blanket out on the floor between the two pieces of furniture. After taking off his boots Logan settled down on the blanket listening. All he could hear from the other room was her steady breathing, which was a relief because if she would have come back out to him, Logan knew it would not have been as easy to resist her as it had been the first time.

      Morning arrived with the smell of coffee brewing, and Heidi opened her eyes puzzled for a moment before she remembered the night before and her anger at Logan’s treatment of her. She lay in bed thinking about the evening, and part of her was thankful that he had refused her advances, though she wasn’t going to tell him that. Mostly she was angry that he treated her like a child, that he hadn’t trusted her to decide what was best for her. After a little more time wallowing in self pity, Heidi got out of bed and got dressed. After dressing she found a small yellow duffle bag and packed more of her things realizing that she was going to have to go back to the mansion, not sure how she would manage seeing Logan everyday.

      In Heidi’s small kitchen Logan poured two cups of coffee and was taking them to the table when Heidi walked out of her room carrying a duffle. He continued on to the table and put his cup of coffee down next to his plate of toast and her cup of coffee down next to her plate. “Toast okay?” he asked as he pulled out her chair. Logan watched as she walked to another chair and sat down, not surprised that she had done that, but avoided making a comment about that. He started to slide her plate to her but she leaned over the table and got it herself, as well as getting her coffee. Breakfast was eaten in silence, and Heidi finished first taking her things and his to the sink before she began to gather other things she wanted to take with her back to the Mansion. “Need any help with that?” he asked as she took apart her computer.

      “I’ll manage,” she said avoiding his gaze. When she was ready Heidi allowed Logan to carry her computer screen, but everything else she got on her own. The walk down to their vehicles was silent and after loading the computer screen in the car Logan got on his bike and road away. Heidi sat in her car for a few minutes lost in thought. She knew she hadn’t given him an easy time just a little big ago, but then again maybe he would start leaving her alone. Knowing that she had a bit of a drive on her hands Heidi drove her car out of her parking garage and headed out of Manhattan, not realizing that a few blocks behind her Logan had been waiting and was pursuing her at a slower pace.