Marie looked into the mirror above the sink, disgusted. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery and her nose was raw and pink. She sniffed, adding what she couldn't see in the mirror to the list of reasons she felt like shit: a mild headache was setting in and her whole body ached.

I hate being sick she thought with frustration.

She walked into the bedroom and cast a withering look at the sleeping form of Wolverine. He was dozing in the bed they shared, the early morning light making him look almost peaceful. The bed they shared... That made her feel a little better. Damn him she thought suddenly, all loving feelings temporarily shrouded by the fact that she felt like hell.

With that, she snatched the two downy pillows from under his head and pounded them on his face with a roar of effort.

"Wague ubp, you!"

His arms flew up, claws shooting out with a metallic shink. The feathery pillows were reduced to bits of fluff as he flailed his arms in front of him and tumbled out of the bed, landing on the floor with a heavy thud. He was on his feet in seconds glancing and shuffling around quickly, as close to confusion as he would ever be.

"Wazzamadder," he half-shouted in a voice still thick with sleep. He paused as his bleary hazel eyes focused and he saw Marie standing before him looking very put out. What's wrong with her? She looks like hell...

"I hade you."

"Huh?"

"I hade you...You nebber ged sigk."

A powerful sneeze, no doubt caused by the bits of shredded feathers floating in the air, made her double over, her dark hair flipping over her face. When she rose up again, he took a step back--she didn't look like the woman he was in love with, she looked like a mad witch.

"Is that all? I thought I'd forgotten something again."

His shoulders sagged with relief and his claws retreated. Logan recalled the time he'd forgotten the first anniversary of the first time they had kissed or hugged or watched a movie together or something... She had been so mad at him and wouldn't speak to him or touch him for a whole day--it had been such a torturous experience that he'd gone out and bought a pocket planner. He'd also taken the ultimate step: he asked Scott Summers to show him the best way to write everything down so he'd remember it all. Planner lessons from the King of the Tight-Asses... Shit, he loved Marie that much. So much...

Apparently, an unsympathetic "Is that all?" was not what she had hoped to hear. Marie was obviously pretty hacked off because her normally pretty eyes narrowed at his apparent relief.

"What'd I do?"

"Didden you listen? You were asleebp while I was sigk. I'mb laying negs to you hardly able to breathe and your asleebp!"

"That's what people do at night," he said in an exasperated, high-pitched voice. Some of the time at least he added to himself. The thought made him smile a little, which didn't quell Marie's increasing annoyance.

"You cand sleebp if I cand."

"O-kay...," he said, confused once again.

"If you're going to try and sleebp in front of me, I thingk you should go do id sombwhere else!"

"That's unfair, now," he shouted indignantly.

"Undfair! Undfair! Loog ad me! I cand hardly see, my head hurds, my body hurds, and my nose is all stuffed ubp."

Logan rolled his eyes. Her vision couldn't be that bad seeing as she'd nailed him with those pillows.

"Just come back to bed... Please?"

"Ndo."

"Oh, come on..."

"Don'd 'Oh comb on' me ," she said, "You're jusd going to sleebp in frondt of me again."

"I promise I won't sleep."

Her aching body and headache were starting to get the better of her, so she relented.

"All ride...," she replied. As Logan moved to place a hand in the small of her back, she whipped around to face him, swaying a little at the sudden movement.

"Budd I'mb still mad ad you."

"All right, all right...," he said, hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.

Marie crawled back into bed and made a point of hogging all the pillows. Logan settled beside her, his warm breath on the back of her neck comforting in spite of her irritation. He placed his hand on her shoulder. She decided to ignore it.

Slowly, he moved his hand down to her lower back and massaged lightly. His fingers hooked under the edge of her shirt pulled it up a little, exposing soft skin and taut muscles. She felt his breath leave her neck and suddenly felt his stubbly face on her spine. His lips were cool on her fever-flushed skin, making her shiver.

"Oh no you don'dt," Marie sniped trying to pull away. A muscular arm shot around her waist, anchoring her to the spot.

"Whaddoyou thingk your doing?"

"I promised I wouldn't sleep."

"Budd whadderyou doing?"

"Just trying to stay awake is all."

His whiskers raked her skin as he smiled and kissed her back again lightly. A few more times, moving up a little each time, and he asked,

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes."

He kissed her another time...and another.

"Still mad at me?"

"Maybe I'mb gedding a liddle less mad."

Smiling stubble tickled her back again as he continued on his upward path, ending with gentle kisses on the nape of her neck.

"How 'bout now?"

She didn't say anything, merely snuggled closer. He lifted himself up and buried his face between her neck and chest while sneaking the arm around her waist underneath her shirt, slowly rubbing a rough hand on her smooth abdomen.

"And now?"

"I subpose I'm gedding less mad."

In a sudden movement that made her gasp in surprise, he flipped her onto her back and gingerly kissed her forehead, then the soft eyelids of her puffy eyes, then her swollen little red nose.

"What about now?"

"I'mb gedding a lot less mad."

This time she smiled that smile that always made his heart leap. Finally, he captured her lips with his own and kissed her as deeply as he could, tongue sweeping through her mouth. She pushed him off with surprising force.

"What now!?"

"Oh, ids not you...," she said timidly, "I jusd couldend breathe."

He laughed his low rumbling laugh and she giggled her girlish giggle. Then, she nestled into his chest and grabbed a pillow from her own stack and offered it to him. He took it with a grin.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"Nobpe."

"Are you just going to stay in bed all day, trying to sleep?"

"Yebp."

"Can I stay with you?"

"Uh-huh."

"We might have trouble falling asleep, now, though..."

She grinned, giggled, and blushed all at once before snuggling against him more deeply.

"We'd bedder."