Slouched into a soft, indestructible couch, Logan brought his icy beer to his lips with one hand and continued flipping through channels on the remote with the other. 12:37 on a freaking Friday night, and there's nothing on. Logan growled.

You've heard of origami, the ancient Japanese art of folding paper. Now, it's time to try hairagami, folding hair.

Infomercials for products that did everything except chew your food for you, Logan thought it disgust. Click.

Oxyclean cleans with the power of pure oxygen.

Urgh. Click.

Call Miss Cleo now for a free tarot card reading. I see love hidden in plain sight.

Cleo. Logan pressed the button quickly. Don't trust anyone with an accent, especially lousy fake accents, he thought as his ultrasensitive ears heard the underlying Bronx in her voice.

Damn Chuck for takin' out our Playboy channel. Just because St. John thought Jubilee should tryout some of the stuff they'd seen on TV. Didn't those kids know television wasn't real? And here he was suffering because of their stupidity. Everyone knew if you were going to try stuff like that, make sure the freaking mansion is empty. It's hard to explain the allergic reaction to body paint to Jean. Especially when it's all over the kitchen appliances. Logan shook his head, never really figured that one out. He'd never needed electrical help, he thought with a snicker.

12:40. ESPN Classics. Damn. Just reruns of stupid game shows. Replays of the games, not bad, especially since he couldn't remember a lot of the earlier stuff they showed. But the game shows, nope. Couldn't watch those. Not even at 12:42 on a Friday night, well, Saturday morning he corrected himself.

Bored, Logan grabbed a magazine from a pile that Marie's friend Jubilee had left downstairs. How to seduce an older man. 10 ways to bring your honey to his knees. 12 sure-fire signs your lover is getting his lovin' from someone else. Logan snorted, almost sending a stream of beer out his nose. No wonder Jubilee seemed like a fruit-cake. Who'd believe any of this crap? But he couldn't go anywhere until all the little darlings were home and accounted for, he flipped open the magazine.

12:53. Damn those kids, Logan thought as he sent the magazine sailing across the room. Why'd they start breaking curfew anyway? He paced the room as he drew out a cigar and clamped it between his teeth. Didn't want to light the thing. Needed to be able to smell the thievin' brats sneakin' in. So they hadn't stolen anything, but Chuck got his panties in a twist when he found out some of the older students had been sneaking in and out of the mansion pretty much at will.

Everything had been fine until the night Jean decided to check on Marie. She'd been down in the infirmary asking for something to help her sleep. Jean turned her down. Idiot didn't know what it was like not to get a night's sleep for more than a week 'cause of the damn nightmares, Logan thought.

Apparently Jean felt bad and went to Marie's room to give her something. Only she found Marie and the whole gang gone. No sign of them. Since Rogue wasn't going to sleep, they decided to stay up with her. When one of them suggested going down to the lake to sit on the dock and stare at the stars, the whole gang traipsed right out the front door, turning Chuck's state of the art security system into chopped liver. While trying not to break a rib laughing, Logan pointed out that it took several highly trained mutant teen-agers to do it, but somehow the professor didn't see the same humor in it.

The juvenile delinquents had been rounded up, and the next day Scooter decided it was time to start enforcing curfew. There'd always been one, just not much need to do a bed check. That ended right then and there. And kids being kids, they decided to make Scooter's life hell. They'd be at bed check and then sneak out (apparently there was a reward system for the most creative way to sneak out.) At least that's what Marie told him when he asked about the stuffed fox that showed up on her bed one day.

They'd been hanging out since he came home a few months before. Just good friends. He went to her when the nightmares were really rough, that's when he found the fox. He slipped in bed with her to find something furry attacking his feet. He almost woke up the whole place, but Marie clamped her hand over his mouth and introduced him to Sly. Sly went to whoever the group thought had the best escape of the week. They voted on Fridays. It kinda worried him that Sly seemed to be a permanent fixture in Marie's bed.

Once Scott realized the kids had outwitted him, he turned the tables on everyone. The adults would take turns staying up all night, making sure no one snuck in or out. And all the adults had to take turns. Logan prided himself on the notion that no one had ever snuck in or out on his nights. Marie had chuckled one day when he'd gloated. "Whatever you think, Sugah."

Logan sighed and plopped back down on the couch. 1:03. His nose twitched. Someone was coming. A smile formed on his face. Marie. Oh, this was going to be fun, he thought slyly, quickly flipping off the lights and plastered himself flat against the couch.

He was so intent on surprising her that he almost missed it. The smell. THE SMELL. Not like any other smell. And on Marie. He fought back the growl. SEX. Marie smelled like sex. Logan felt the tearing of his flesh as the claws popped out.

What the hell was Marie doing smelling like sex? As he felt her move by the couch, he flipped on the lights and glared at her. "Out for a walk?" he asked sarcastically.

"Logan," Marie let out a long breath. "I'm glad it's you. It's been a rotten night. See you later." She sauntered to the stairs, until Logan grabbed her arm and jerked her back into the rec room.

"No. You're gonna tell me where you've been. NOW." He pushed her down on the couch before sitting next to her.

Rogue glared at Logan. "Who do you think you are? I don't have to answer to you."

"You sure as hell do unless you want to tell Scooter and Chuck where you've been until 1:13."

Rogue ran her gloved fingers through her hair. Looked like her bad night was gonna get worse. Logan had decided to act like a responsible adult. How uncool.

"Look, Logan. Kyle took me out to dinner and a movie. Then we took a walk down to the lake. We just lost track of time. Nothin' more. I swear."

Logan glowered at her. "Then why do you smell like sex, Marie?"

Rogue turned fire engine red and buried her face in her hands. She finally looked up. It was Logan. She knew she could tell him anything - even this. "Fine. If you must know, Kyle and I were making out and he got a little too excited and had, what you might call an accident. And since his jeans were on the grass beside us, some got on me. Once he got cleaned up some, we talked. I had to try to convince him this wasn't the most embarrassing moment of his life."

Rogue stared at him, waiting for Logan to say something, anything.
Logan felt the rage building in him. She was making out with a guy who didn't have pants on? What the hell was that about? His Marie was too young. Then he focused on her other words, 'he got a little too excited.'
When the laughter burst from his chest, she folded her hands across her chest and glared. "Logan, this is not funny."

"Yeah, it is." Logan was laughing so hard he was having trouble breathing.

Rogue tried to stay stern, angry at Logan for laughing at such a traumatic moment, but she couldn't. She broke and laughed with Logan, laughed until tears streamed down her face. "Logan, this shouldn't be funny."

"But it is." Logan threw an arm around her should and drew her close. "So damn funny."

Rogue settled into his warmth. Her eyes slid shut for one moment while she reveled in his touch.

She opened them again when he took her chin in his hands. At some point he'd slipped on a pair of gloves. He always seemed to have some handy. "Marie, why do you go out with losers like him?"

Rogue felt her heart catch in her chest and took his face in her silk-covered hands. "Because you've never asked. And I'm not gonna wait forever," she said softly before grazing his lips with a lightening
fast kiss. Logan, slack with shock, made no effort to stop her as she bounded up the stairs. He just sat on the couch watching Marie walk away.

Miss Cleo wants to know, whatcha gonna do about da love staring you in da face?