Logan walked in the dimly lit bar with a cigar in his mouth. He decided to have a beer or two before he went back to the mansion. He had a lot on his mind, and he didn’t want to face anyone until he sorted some of it out.

"I’ll have a beer, Joe," Logan told the bartender. Logan had been in and out of this place for months, and the bartender knew what he liked.

"Here you go Logan. How ya been doin’ lately?" Joe asked. He placed the beer in front of Logan.

Logan took a long swallow and shook his head, "Not so good."

"You got another phone call today didn’t you?" Joe guessed.

"Yeah, she wants me to meet her down in New Orleans, but I don’t think I’m gonna go," Logan told him.

"Why the hell not?" Joe asked in a raised voice. He knew Logan’s story pretty well. They had become good friends over the last four years, since Logan first walked in the door. He knew Logan trusted him and that Logan was a mutant, along with the rest of the kids that came from Xavier’s place. Joe never had second thoughts about serving mutants, and was glad to have Logan on his side when there was a fight in the bar.

Joe also knows who has Logan so distraught. It’s the girl he brought in for her twenty first birthday. It was the same night Joe thought he was actually gonna have to kick Logan out because of all the fights he almost started, or finished. It was the girl that everyone else called Rogue, but Logan called Marie.

"I don’t know if I could restrain from guttin’ the guy she’s with," Logan said. Then he silently added, "Although he didn’t do anything wrong."

"She hasn’t mentioned the guy the last two times she called. How do you know that they are still together? Maybe this is the chance you’ve been looking for," Joe said walking away to get someone else a drink.

He left Logan thinking things over. He thought about the all the times he came back from searching for his past, and Marie would be there waiting and smiling. They would go out and do things together. She was his sweet comfort when he was in need. ::Now it’s all gone straight to hell:: thought Logan.

One day when he arrived, he couldn’t find Marie anywhere. Instead of asking where she was he just went to his room that was kept for him and tried to get some sleep. This trip had been a bad one for Logan. He found out that he was some type of killer, an assassin. The worst part was that he actually volunteered for the job. He just wanted to talk to Marie and get it off his chest, but she was nowhere to be found.

When he got to his room he threw his bag on the floor, and fell back onto the bed. He could smell the faint scent of Marie in the room and looked around to see if she left a clue as to where she was. That’s when he noticed a piece of paper stuck on the mirror of the dresser.

Dear Logan,

I’m writing this to let you know that I’ll be gone for awhile. I met a
guy a month ago,

and he’s taking me on a tour of the world, so to speak. His name is
Remy, and don’t

worry you won’t like him. I’ll most likely be back by the time you get
this, if not I’ll be

keeping in touch. Take care of yourself. Bye, Logan.

Always,

Marie

After that Logan stayed at the mansion not wanting to leave in case Marie came back. She would call and tell Logan where she was and what she had been doing, but the calls were becoming few and far between. Logan thought he was never going to here from her again, until she called today.

"You want another one?" Joe asked.

"Sure," Logan replied.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I’m not going. I’ll just wait for her to come back here,"

"And what if she never does? What are you gonna do?" Joe asked.

"Well I guess she’ll never know how I feel about her," Logan said.

Joe had enough, "Logan your just as much of a pansy ass as Scott! I can’t believe your gonna let a woman like Rogue just walk away."

"It’s not that simple!" Logan yelled.

"Sure it is, just go down there and tell her you want to be more than friends. Then you take her and kiss her," Joe told him.

Logan couldn’t help, but smirk at Joe, and the way he was gesturing wildly with his hands. "Just like that huh? What about the guy she’s been traveling the globe with for the last four months?"

Joe reached across the bar and smack Logan on the head. Logan responded by jumping up and growling at Joe, "I don’t take pleasure in hitting men over fifty, so what the hell did you do that for?"

"That’s what you need to the other guy," Joe said not flinching at Logan’s demeanor. "He’ll piss in his pants that’s for sure!"

Logan just raised an eyebrow at Joe and put money on the bar to pay for his beers. He turned to leave when Joe called out, "Where are you going?"

"I’m going to New Orleans. And you better not hit me again, ya dumbass," Logan said with a sideways grin.

"Just tryin’ to knock some sense in you that’s all!" Joe said, as Logan walked out the door.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Logan!"

Logan turned his head in to search out the person that was calling him. He couldn’t locate her in this crowded street.

"Logan over here!"

Logan was getting aggravated. He began to wonder why he agreed to meet on the busiest street in the city.

"Logan!" Logan looked to his left and held his breath. He saw Marie trying to squeeze in between people to get through. He took a second to get a good look at her. She was wearing tight black top with faded jeans, and thin green gloves. Logan noticed that she didn’t have a scarf on, which was odd. She wore scarves like she wore gloves. Logan noticed that her hair had gotten longer since the last time he saw her. He was happy to see the white streaks still in her hair.

"Logan! Oh mah gawd! It has been too long," Marie said. She stood up on her tip toes and threw her arms around his neck.

Logan slowly put his arms around Marie. He took in the scent of her hair, which smelled like heaven compared to the smell that seem to linger in the air of New Orleans.

"It’s been almost nine months. Ah’s say we have a lot to catch up on sugah," Marie said. She pulled away from Logan and looked up at him. He stared at her with his face expressionless. He just seemed to be taking her in slowly.

"Logan are ya gonna say anythin’, or am Ah the one that’s going to have to talk the whole time?"

"Hey," Logan said with a thin smile.

"Hey yourself. Come on let’s get out of here. Ah know a place that’s not so crowded where we can have lunch," Marie told him, as she grabbed Logan by the hand and began to lead him in certain direction.

"What have you been up too?" Marie asked as they sat in booth of a diner.

"Nothing, just hanging around at the mansion," Logan replied.

"How is everyone?" Marie asked.

"They’re good. Jubilee and Kitty said to tell you hello. I think they’re planning to come down for Mardi Gras."

"Ah hope to be gone by then. Order what ever you want for lunch, it’s my treat," Marie said, when the waitress walked up.

After they ordered Logan asked, "How are you going to pay for this? I thought you were just traveling around."

"Well the Professor gave me some money and a credit card, but since Ah’ve been gone for awhile Ah felt funny about using the Professor’s money. So, Ah found ways to make money."

"Like what?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"Ah’ll show ya later. How long are you goin’ to be down here?"

"I’m not sure. I don’t have to be back to the mansion until next week, Scooter’s covering my self-defense classes. I’ll probably have to go back and re-teach them everything all over again."

"I didn’t know you were teaching? I thought you had to be a resident there," Marie said.

"I am now, I haven’t left the mansion in over three months now."

"Really? You don’t go out searching for your past anymore?"

"It’s not that important to me."

Marie looked at Logan trying to search his face, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. She has deep regrets leaving the mansion while Logan was away, but she couldn’t wait on him forever. In all honesty she secretly hoped that when he saw that she was gone he would come after her. But as time passed he never hinted that he wanted to come after her, so Marie gave up on the thought of her Logan ever being more than friends.

When they had finished lunch, Logan and Marie remained sitting at the booth and catching up on things. "Thanks for lunch, kid," Logan told her.

"Your welcome. Maybe you can buy my dinner tonight."

"Sure, I’d love too."

Marie looked at her watch and said, "Oh shit! Ah’m going to be late."

"For what?" Logan asked.

"You’ll see," she said. Marie took a pen from her purse and wrote something on a napkin. "Will you meet me here at this address between six and seven tonight?"

"Yes. Are you leaving now?"

"Yeah, Ah have somewhere Ah need to be," Marie said. She handed Logan the napkin and grabbed his hand when he reached for it. "And Logan please where something besides jeans," Marie said giving his hand a squeeze. Logan smiled and agreed that he would. As they left the building together Marie said, "Ah promise Ah won’t run out you so quickly next time."

They stood facing each other on the sidewalk as people passed them by. Logan reached out and played with one of her white streaks of hair. "Good because I still have a lot more to tell you, " he said.

Marie raised up on her feet and kissed him on the cheek. "Ah’ll see you later Logan," she said turning to walk away.

Logan watched her until she was out of his sight. He hung his head and started walking back to his hotel room. He started replaying the everything Marie had told him today, and it occurred to him that she hadn’t mention Remy at all. Logan wondered if telling Marie was going to be a lot easier than he thought.


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Logan stood outside the place Marie wrote down on the napkin. He adjusted his collar out of nervousness. He could see the place was crowded, and that they were drinking out of champaign glasses. He looked through the windows to see if he could tell what was going on. He could see women in fancy dresses and a lot of jewelry. The men were in suits and ties, this caused Logan to look down at his choice of dress. He wasn’t wearing jeans, but he might as well compared to what some of these men were wearing.

Logan noticed that there were several art pieces hanging on the wall, and that they seem to be the key to this whole event. He looked around to see if he could spot Marie. He heard her laughter coming from the left side of the room, and turned to see if he could see her. When he spotted her his eyes went wide. She was wearing a maroon slim fit dress. She had on gloves that were sheer and black. They almost reached up to her shoulders but showed no sign of sliding down. Her hair was in loose curls that fell down below her mid back, cascading all around her. ::Pure perfection,:: Logan thought.

He turned to walk inside, but was stopped by the doorman, "Name?"

"Logan."

"First or last?" the doorman asked.

"Just Logan," replied Logan. He began to grow anxious.

The doorman searched the list flipping the page back and forth. Finally he said, "Okay your clear."

Logan walked in and spotted Marie talking to a few people in the back of the room. He began to walk his through the crowd towards her. A waiter passed in front of him carrying a tray full of champaign glasses, he grabbed one and gulped it down. Marie looked towards him and waved him over.

"Ah’ll will talk with guys later," he heard her say. Logan smiled back as she began to walk towards him.

"Ah thought you were gonna hang out by the window all night," Marie said, as she approached Logan.

Logan laughed at the thought of being caught lurking. "I had to check out the place first, you know how I am about these ‘black tie’ events," he said.

"That is exactly why Ah didn’t tell you what was happening tonight," Marie said smiling.

"So what’s this all about?" Logan asked.

"Well this how Ah make my money."

"What showcasing art?"

"No, making art," Marie said anticipating his reaction.

"What? You mean.... you did all of these?" Logan asked walking over to inspect the nearest painting hanging on the wall.

"Yes. While Ah was in Europe Ah realized that people actually wanted to buy my art, so Ah started selling. Then one day a dealer came up and said he had some galleries around Europe and the States, and would like for my art work to be in them," Marie said. She watched as Logan went from painting to painting wondering what he was thinking when he looked at them.

"I notice that you use Rogue as your signature," Logan said.

"Yeah, well, only one person by choice knows me as Marie, and Ah like it that way," Marie told him.

Logan looked at her with a genuine smile, feeling privileged that he was the one that Marie was talking about.

"Come on," Marie said taking Logan by the hand, and leading him across the room, "there is one Ah want you to look at."

Marie led Logan to the back of the gallery. He saw that there was a cubical type room and a painting on the back wall. It seem to be the only one in the room. Marie stopped at the entrance before entering, "Now Ah want your honest opinion, no bullshit."

"Okay, I promise no bullshit," Logan grinned.

They walked into the room and stood before the painting. Logan studied the picture carefully. He wasn’t good at looking ‘beyond’ what the artist had done and seeing the meaning. He wanted to make sure he took in each detail before commenting.

The painting was abstract, but Logan could tell that there was a very muscular man on his knees, who had his face turned away from the viewer. In the man’s arms he was cradling the head of a girl, whose face was covered also. The white speck above the curve of the man’s arm gave it all away. This was Marie, ::And me?:: Logan thought. He walked closer to inspect the picture better. ::Holy shit!:: he thought when he saw the guy was wearing dog tags.

"So what do you think?" Marie said. She walked over to stand beside him.

"It’s your best one that’s for sure, but why me?" Logan asked turning towards her.

"Because, you’re my fortress of solitude. When Ah need to feel safe, and comforted, Ah close my eyes and see you." Marie said looking down.

"Mar.." Logan began, but was interrupted.

"Rogue! There you are. I have been looking all over for you. There is a man talking to Mike right now wanting to buy five pieces, but he wants to talk to you first," the man paused and noticed Logan for the first time, and looked him up and down.

"Logan this is Charlie. He’s my dealer’s assistant. Charlie this Logan," Marie introduced them.

"The pleasure’s all mine," Charlie said as he shook Logan’s hand. "Now Rogue you have got to get out there. This is a really big purchase, and he might throw in five thousand extra. Now go!" he gave her a "shoo shoo" and pushed her out the door. Charlie turned and heaved a heavy sigh. He looked up at Logan and asked, "Now who are you?"

Logan raised his eyebrow at the geeky kid before him. "I’m Logan."

"Oh. Oh! Your Logan, the Logan," he squealed.

"I guess," Logan said turning his attention back to the painting.

"This is Rogue’s best piece by far. She just won’t give into selling the damn thing. We once had an offer of 250,000, but she turned him down," Charlie said.

He continued to ramble on and on, but Logan excused himself to see if Marie was ready to leave yet. He walked into the main room and found Marie talking to a girl that was about her own age. "Logan this is Sarah, she is one of my traveling buddies," Marie told him as he walked up to them.

"Hi, I have heard a lot about you," Sarah said shaking Logan’s hand.

"Ah was just telling Sarah that Ah was leaving. Ah figured you were ready to go and Ah wanna leave with you."

"Are you sure, because I can hold out for a little while longer," he lied.

Marie just laughed at his attempt to be nice. "Ah’m sure sugar. Ah’ve had enough of all this for one night."

"Okay let’s get outta here then."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So how did your deal go back there?" Logan asked as they walked back to his hotel.

"It was good, he did throw in an extra five thousand."

"Did you paint the one of the lily in Chuck’s office?"

"Yes, he was my first customer," Marie smiled.

"Your really good, and talented," Logan told her.

"Oh Logan your so sweet! You’re my good ‘kind friend,’" Marie said leaning onto his shoulder. She let out a big yawn and stretched, "Man, Ah’m tired."

"You wanna go back to your room instead?" Logan asked.

"No, Ah don’t wanna miss out on seeing you. Ah miss the way we used to hang out in your room talking and watching movies."

Logan smiled with pleasure at the memories of him and Marie in his room, and the fun they had together.

"Marie, there is a pair of sweats and a shirt in my bag if you wanna change," Logan told her as they sat on his bed. They had been playing cards and drinking for an hour and a half now.

"Ah just might do that," Marie said getting up and digging through Logan’s bag.

"Let’s watched the movie now and then I’ll take you home," Logan suggested, when Marie walked out of the bathroom.

"Sounds good to me," Marie said laying back onto the pile of pillows.

Neither of them lasted long and both fell into a deep sleep.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan checked himself over in the mirror, and then silently cursed himself for being ‘whipped.’ It had been four blissful days, since he fell a sleep with Marie. Part of Logan was frustrated because Marie hadn’t caught onto any of the hints he had been giving about his feelings towards her. And tonight was the night he was going to tell her, ::Even if you have to take Joe’s crazy advice,:: Logan thought. It was defiantly going to be easier now that he knew Marie had gained control of her skin. He found that out the morning they woke up together. He had lost his shirt somewhere in the middle of the night, and woke up with Marie’s bare arm draped across him. She apparently had pulled her gloves off sometime in the night also.

Logan heard a knock at the door and went to answer it. When he opened it his expression turned to one of worry. Marie was standing there with her bags packed, and on the verge of tears.

"What’s the matter?" Logan asked. He moved aside and let her pass by into the room.

"Ah’m on my way to the airport," Marie said sitting on the bed.

"What?" Logan asked sitting next to her.

"Mike sold my contract to a big San Francisco dealer. His gallery is apparently the super bowl of art if you know what Ah mean."

"He did this with out talking to you first?"

"No, Ah agreed with him that it would be a good deal. My plane leaves in hour and Ah was wondering if you would take me."

"Sure," Logan said silently. All his plans being kicked out the door. He didn’t know what to do now. They rode to the airport in silence. Marie shedding silent tears, and Logan contemplating on what to do. He didn’t know whether to let her go, or tell her ten minutes before she had to leave.

Logan stood at the window and watched a few planes take off. Marie sat in a chair waiting for the announcement of her flight. When she heard the announcement, she stood up and walked over to Logan.

"Well, Ah guess this is it," she said sadly.

"Yeah, take care of yourself," Logan told her.

"Ah’ll be sure to call you from time to time," Marie said.

Logan shook his head and looked down at his feet. He knew his window of opportunity was about to shut.

Marie looked at the ticket counter when they called out final boarding call. She look back at Logan giving him a small smile, "Bye Logan. Ah’ve had a great time with you. Ah’m gonna miss you so much," she said wrapping her arms around him in a fierce hug.

"Me too, darlin," Logan said. He rubbed his hands up and down her hair. "You better go."

Logan watched Marie as she stood in the line and gave her ticket to the lady behind the counter. His whole body was in agony over not walking over there and keeping her from leaving. With one final wave goodbye, Marie walked through the door and onto the plane. Logan swallowed the scream that wanted to come out his throat, and turned to walk away.

"Logan wait!"

Logan turned to see Marie running towards him. He began to run towards her, so he could meet her half way. When he reached her, Marie threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed, "Logan you’re my best friend ever. You’re a good guy, no matter what you did twenty years ago. You’ll always be the one who saved my life. Ah love you." Before Logan could respond, Marie kissed him on the cheek then turned and ran through the closing door to her plane.

Logan stood there in shock. He had to tell Marie how he felt. He found a pay phone and placed a phone call to Westchester.


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Marie walked off the plane, and took in the salty air of San Francisco. She had spent half the flight in tears over leaving Logan. She had planned on making known her true feelings to him at dinner tonight. After finding out, she was about to leave though, she couldn’t do it. As Marie got her luggage, she looked around the airport. So many people, yet she felt so alone. There was supposed to be a limo driver waiting to take her to dinner with her new dealer, but she didn’t see anyone. Marie looked around the large crowd and saw no one holding a sign that had her name on it. Suddenly Marie spotted Logan walking briskly towards her.

"Logan?" she could barely call out.

Without a word Logan walked up to Marie, and put and hand on her cheek, using a thumb to wipe away a tear rolling down her face. Logan leaned down and kissed her for all he’s worth. Marie responded and began kissing Logan back.

"I decided that I want to be more than friends," Logan said as he pulled away from Marie’s lips.

"How did you get here?" Marie asked.

"The Blackbird is hell of a lot faster than public transportation," Logan grinned. Then he bent down and began kissing Marie again.

"What made you decide to come?" Marie asked between kisses.

"I couldn’t live with myself for letting you walk away without knowing how I felt," Logan said resting his forehead against hers. "Besides Joe said I was being a pansy ass for not telling you already."

"Joe? He had something to do with this?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"Let’s just say he knocked some sense in me."

"Well, Ah’m glad. Ah decided that after this meeting, Ah was gonna fly back to Xavier’s and tell you myself."

Logan grinned and then turned serious, "Marie, I don’t tell people how I feel about things unless there on the verge of getting there ass kicked..."

"Well consider your ass on the verge of gettin’ kicked," Marie smiled.

"I love you, and I’ll do anything to keep what we had going for us. If that’s what you want," Logan looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Ah want to be more than friends too. Ah’ve wanted it for a long time."

Logan kissed her again, then said, "What do you say about us getting out of this airport? I took care of your meeting tonight, so your free to come with me."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Marie said wrapping her arm around Logan’s waist.

They both walked out of the airport with smiles on their faces.


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Hey Kind Friend by Indigo Girls

hey kind friend
I don't know when I’ll see you again
on a ferry boat bound to victoria
laying down to hide from the wind

big dipper hangin over the city
you know everything now is different for me
and it ain't no use in
explainin the scenery

I said
kind friend
help me forget where I been
kind friend
remember who I am

I was too late in spokane
so I caught a ride through the cascade range
I saw the sun die in olympia
running down on capital lake

now I ask you for some relief
it's one true root that you bring to me
it's 3 am
and it's good company

I said
hey kind friend
help me forget where I been
hey kind friend
help me remember who I am

hey kind friend
don't know if I’m gonna see you again
it's okay friend
it's okay friend

(it's so hard when they all have to face going away)

so I’ll meet you in new orleans or I’ll see you around
cause I don't know if it's worth coming down
hey I’m calling youfrom a goldrush town

and I say
hey kind friend
help me forget where I’ve been
hey kind friend
help me remember who I am

hey kind friend
I don't know if I’m gonna see you again
it's ok friend
I’m ok friend

I said I’m ok friend
I’m ok friend

(see ya later)