It was the middle of the night and raining when Logan returned to the mansion. After six months of riding around Canada on Scooter's bike, the only things he thought about while shaking himself dry in the front hall were a shower and spending several hours comatose in a real bed. Much as he hated to do it, he would have to put off flirting with Jeannie and taunting Scooter until the next day.

So to say he was kinda surprised to spot Marie walking out of the rec room with a guy in tow would be pretty accurate. She was laughing and tugging at one of the arms of the guy's trenchcoat, and the guy made a sweeping bow and was beginning to gesture something when he was stopped by Logan's low growl. Why're they up this late?

Marie snapped around and paused for a second, stunned. Then she ran to him and wrapped him in a tight hug before he could so much as greet her. He embraced her for a moment, and grinned when it took her a second longer to let go than it should have. She may have been a kid, but damn it was good to have someone care he'd shown up.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Chere?" And that guy interrupted. He seemed a few years older than Marie and a little shifty. Logan tensed slightly, and Marie was a bit highstrung as she made introductions.

"Logan, this is Remy LeBeau, or Gambit. Remy, I've told you about Logan." The two men shared a handshake just this side of a challenge, and Remy raised a single sculpted eyebrow as he agreed that she had told him about the Wolverine. And just what the hell does that mean, anyway?

Never taking his eyes off Remy, he asked Marie, "So, why're you two up so late?"

"Oh, we were watching movies." He glanced at her, and she gestured towards the rec room door. "A bunch of us." Sure enough, a few more kids around Marie's age came out right then, and he could hear laughter from inside the room signalling the presence of more people within. Marie continued, "The guys wanted to see Van Helsing and the girls wanted to see Almost Famous so we watched both, but it took longer than we thought it would."

Logan was only half listening to her as he watched Remy put a gloved hand on her arm. "Chere, 'tis late, and we all must rise early tomorrow?"

Marie nodded earnestly, explaining, "Thursdays Mr. Summers takes us on an early morning nature walk for Biology. We're supposed to be up in-" she glanced at the clock and winced, "five hours." The clock struck one at that instant, and more teens came out of the rec room, most not noticing them.

Logan said a quick goodnight to Marie, promising to see her the next day, and started off down the hallway she pointed him towards. After he was sure she was far enough away, he turned and quickly followed the shifty guy in the trenchcoat.

After a few moments he caught up, and Remy had no warning he was being followed until he was against the wall, three inches of adamantium resting against his Adam's apple. "M'sieur?" came out a bit more squeakily than Remy probably would have liked it to.

"Bub, you know if you hurt her, I'll kill you, right?"

"Mais oui, m'sieur. Jamais. I could not." Logan raised his eyebrows at that. "She is not mine to hurt." Remy looked at the older man pointedly, and Logan let the claws back in.

"What?" What?

"She does not love me, m'sieur." Logan growled again, and Remy slipped back into French. "Et j'ne elle aime pas aussi."

"Mais...." Logan tilted his head in the direction of the front hall.

"Oui, m'sieur. We flirt. She is, you say, sad you are gone, and la petite chere should smile, no? So we flirt. Mais de rein, m'sieur. D'accord?"

Logan thought about it, and nodded. He'd get the real story from Marie tomorrow, anyways. He turned and began to walk down the hall to his room.

"Et vous, m'sieur?" The cocky brat tossed after him.

"Laisse faire et crisse moi patience!" He had no time for snotty Cajuns, he had things to consider.

***

Translations: Most should be obvious from other Xmen fic, I think. So the less common phrases:

Et j'ne elle aime pas aussi.= And I do not love her, also.
Mais de rein, m'sieur. D'accord?= But it is nothing, sir. Okay?
Laisse faire et crisse moi patience!= Forget it and leave me alone!