Rogue couldn't look at Logan as they took the elevator up from the
mansion sublevels to the floor their rooms were on. Rogue was
still completely strung out and hyped up from the fight. It had
been brutal and bloody but they had won, but not without some
casualties. Storm was down in the med lab with a concussion and a
broken arm and Scott had to get stitches from where a bullet fired
from some FOH bastard had grazed his shoulder. Rogue was bruised
and limping but nothing serious, you would think the invulnerability
would cover bruises but it could be damn selective at times.
Bullets – Check. Knives – Check. Big fat contusion running down
the side of her body from getting juggernauted into a building –
No. Stupid invulnerability.

Next to her Logan looked like he always did even though Rogue knew
for a fact he had been shot at least twice. But with that damn
healing factor of his you would never know it. "Wish I had a
healing factor," she thought as she clenched her hands into fists to
resist the urge to reach over and run a bare finger down the curve
of Logan's cheek just to take a quick hit. They had done it before
but hurting him felt a hell of a lot worse than some stupid
bruises. Instead Rogue just stood there trembling with want, and
adrenaline, and so much frustration she thought she would scream.

When Rogue and Remy were still Rogue and Remy this would be one of
those nights where they would have go at it until they passed out.
With her skin he was always more careful and hesitant than she
wanted him to be but the sex was still good and at least took some
of the edge off. Tonight had been the first serious mission since
they had broke up for good three months ago and she was on edge.
She needed to kill something – or fuck them – or both. Logan looked
to be in about the same condition and she wondered if this was going
to be one of the nights that he took off into town to find a bottle
and a willing woman. She briefly considered asking him to take her
with him. Instead she took a deep breath and thumped her head back
against the paneling of the elevator as she struggled to get her
body under control.

Without opening her eyes or even acknowledging Logan's presence
beside her she tossed out like a live grenade, "One night, my bed,
no strings."

The unexpected offer hung in the air between them. They were
sparring partners, drinking buddies, and best friends but never
this. When Logan had come home after leaving that first time on his
endless search for his past they had fallen into an easy camaraderie
born from perfect trust. She held every secret of his soul while he
was the only one who knew Marie, and not just the brash and sassy
southern belle that kicked ass and took names. He looked at her and
saw the tension running through every inch of her frame. He could
clearly smell the frustration and arousal on her – they were so
alike. He knew what she and that damn Cajun of hers used to do
after missions like this. He was only a few doors down from her
room and the sounds coming from behind her closed door had often
driven him out of the mansion and into the city on his own quest for
release.

Logan didn't know if Marie was just a naturally carnal person or if
it was the echo of his own personality fueling her sex drive. He
did know that he loved her, maybe the only woman he ever had loved.
Sure there were plenty of women that he had wanted and lusted over
but none that he would die for as readily as the woman beside him.
He knew he was a coward for never telling her but he didn't want to
fuck up the one thing in his miserable life that made him glad he
was alive. He didn't know what he would do if she ever walked out
of his life. He frankly didn't want to think about it. What he did
know is that he had never been able to deny anything she asked of
him – mostly because she had only ever asked for one thing in the
entire course of their relationship and even that was only after he
had already offered.

Come on, I'll take care of you.

You promise?

Yeah, I promise.

Even now she wasn't asking, she was offering, giving him the choice
to do what he wanted. And what he wanted more than anything was
her. He was lost.

As the silence stretched between them she turned her head and opened
her eyes to find intense hazel ones looking back at her. He
searched her face and at length asked tightly, "You sure darlin'?"

She could only nod in reply. The ding of the elevator was
unnaturally loud as the anticipation built between them. They
finally came to a stop and the doors opened. By way of reply he
took one of her gloved hands in his own and pulled her down the
hallway to her room.

------------ The next morning----- ------

Logan woke up slowly, completely and utterly at ease. He lay in bed
and savored the feeling of contentment. He breathed in deep filling
his nose with the tantalizing scent of sleep, sex, and Marie.
Heaven. His eyes flashed open as memories of the previous night
came back to him, and then widened comically at sight greeting him.

The room was completely trashed. The mattress of the bed they were
laying on was half off the frame. One of Rogue's nightstands had
been reduced to kindling, while the dresser was overturned and the
bathroom door completely off its hinges. Clothes, sheets, and used
condoms littered the floor.

Jesus.

A hint of blood tinged the air but he couldn't tell if it was his or
hers. He slowly pealed the sheet from Marie's body to check for
damage but found only miles of gloriously pale, unmarked skin clad
only in a pair of sheer black opera length gloves. His body
instantly hardened at the sight of her sweet naked body but instead
of waking her up and taking her again he tenderly tucked the sheet
back around her before kissing her hair softly and slipping out of
the bed.

Sidestepping the broken door he slid quickly into the shower and
scrubbed a hand over his face. What the fuck had he done? He knew
at some point last night, sometime between the door breaking and the
dresser smashing, the wolverine had completely taken over. It had
been inevitable. His feral counterpart had been presented with the
woman it wanted most and had shoved aside his human host to fully
take what was his.

It had been a night of the most satisfying, uninhibited sex he could
remember. And it hadn't mattered a damn that they couldn't touch
skin to skin, he had always known it wouldn't matter. It was Marie,
and nothing else could compare.

He hoped she was ok. He hoped he hadn't totally ruined the most
important relationship of his remembered life. As he shut off the
shower he winced to recall her offer in the elevator. He should
have been stronger. He should have been stronger and turned her
down flat. But he had wanted her for to long to deny himself what
he had dreamed so long of having. Now in the cold light of day he
wondered what they were going to do now - and what he would say to
her when she woke up.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___

Marie came awake with a contented smile on her face and stretched
her arm out to caress Logan. Finding only a cool mattress instead
of her passionate lover of the previous night she sat up and looked
around. Seeing the state of her room she could only laugh as she
looked around. She shook her head ruefully. Oh man. Even the bed
frame was a goner. Several sets of distinctive claw marks now
adorned the wooden surface. How she would explain them she had no
idea. She could imagine the conversation now, "Why yes Scott there
was a big scary spider running all over my bed and I asked Logan to
kill it." Christ.

~Well, I had been wanting to redecorate~

She wasn't too surprised to find Logan gone and she tried to reign
in the ache his absence caused. That had been the deal after all.
~Me and my stupid ideas. One night, no strings. What the hell was
I thinking?~ Just as she was on her way to regret she heard the
sound of the shower running. Thank god – he was still here. Hope
flared in her chest at the thought that maybe she hadn't trashed
their friendship as thoroughly as they had trashed her room. She
lay back on the bed and covered her face with one arm and tried to
think of what to do next.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___

Fresh from his shower Logan walked out of the bathroom and back into
the wreckage that was Rogue's bedroom where he set about the
unusually complicated task of finding his pants. Holding a towel
securely in place around his hips he kept his eyes trained on the
floor for a tell-tale flash of denim. He gingerly dodged shards of
glass, broken mirror, pieces of a ceramic lamp, trashed body suits,
assorted scarves, bits of wood ~shit was that part of the
headboard,~ discarded condoms *lots* of discarded condoms, and
assorted other debris. Once again he wondered just what the fuck
had happened last night and dammit where the hell were his pants?

Standing in the middle of the room he made a full turn before
finally looking up to find Marie's sparkling green eyes looking back
at him. ~Holy Shit. She was awake.~

------------ --------- end part 1----------- --------- -----