Dawn was just starting to break when the roar of a motorcycle broke the still of the forest. The bike roared down the road, the driver seeming to not care about the danger. And he didn't. The only thought going through his mind was how he was a fool to have left.

You fool. If you hadn't left, she would be okay right now. Instead you are racing back, trying to make it before... He wouldn't let his mind linger on that thought. He thought back to how he had promised to protect her. He had failed. He had run because he couldn't trust himself around her. Everyone thought that he left to find his past, but instead he had left to hide from the feelings that a little slip of a girl had awaken inside of him.

"I should have been there," he growled to himself. Because he had been afraid and ran, he could lose her forever.

"Marie!" Logan yelled into the wind.

---

"Jean, how is she?" Scott's voice seemed so loud in the silent infirmary. Jean looked up with red-rimmed eyes. She'd been working all night and crying for most of it.

"Not good and I don't know what to do." Her frustration was evident in her voice. "She hasn't given any sign of waking up. Her vitals are steadily going down. I can't get any response to any stimuli. It is like she isn't even there. Like she is already dead."

"She is still here, though. We should be grateful for that. She could turn around tomorrow."

"I don't think so, Scott." Jean wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Have you gotten a hold of Logan?"

"He's on his way." Scott looked over to where Rogue lay, looking so very fragile. He better hurry, he thought to himself.

---

Logan was relieved to see the gates of the mansion come into sight. Not even slowing down to turn in, he sped down the drive, parking the bike right at the front door. Hopping from the motorcycle, he rushed up to the door. Not bothering to wait for someone to answer, he barged right in. Storm had to jump back quickly to keep from getting hit with the door.

"Where is she?" he growled, barely noticing that Storm's face was pale and her eyes red.

"She's downstairs, Logan. In the infirmary..." Storm's voice trailed off as Logan stormed down the hall, not listening to her.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever. Finally he reached the lower floors. Moving quickly, he made his way to the infirmary. Striding through the open door he came to a dead stop, his heart seeming to stop.

There, lying on an examination bed, lay Marie. Moving silently, he approached her. He looked down at her, noticing that her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. "Oh god, Marie. I am so sorry. I should have been here." His voice broke as a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Logan, I am glad that you could make it." Jean spoke from behind him.

Wiping his tears away before turning, Logan greeted Jean. "How she doing, Jeannie?"

"I won't lie to you, Logan. It doesn't look good. She isn't responding to anything we do. I am at a lost as to what to do. Nothing I have tried has helped." Jean's voice faded as her frustration at not being able to help overwhelmed her.

"I know you're trying. You must be tired. You should rest. Maybe if you sleep it will come to you. I am here now, I'll watch over her."

Jean could tell that he wanted to be alone with Rogue so she agreed to his suggestion. "Call to me if there is any change."

"I will." Logan put a hand on Jean's arm to keep her from leaving. "Thanks, Jean. Thanks for everything you have done."

Jean felt her eyes fill at the sadness that was there in his eyes. "I just wish I could do more."

Logan turned back to Marie and sat down beside her bed. Slipping on a pair of latex gloves, he took her hand in his while his other hand brushed her hair back. "Hey kid. You know, you didn't have to go to these measures to get me to come back."

Anger filled him. Anger at the rest of them for not protecting her, anger at himself for not being here and anger at her for taking the chance that landed her in here. "What were you thinking? Why would you have done such a stupid thing?! Didn't you think about the dangers? Did you even think of how this would affect people?" How it would affect me, he added silently. "Damn you, Marie! Why?!!"

---

Jean returned to find Logan slumped in his chair, a gloved hand holding tightly to Rogue. She grabbed a blanket from a cabinet and covered his sleeping form. Hearing Scott enter the room, she turned and held a finger up to her mouth to signal him to be quiet. Quickly checking the monitors that were attached to Rogue, she made her way over to where Scott stood.

"Any change?"

"Not that I can tell." Jean looked over at the sleeping Logan. "He loves her, you know."

"I know."

---

Logan woke up and straightened quickly in his chair. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. Noticing the blanket, he figured that Jean had checked in while he was asleep.

He looked over at Marie again. There didn't seem to be any change. What was she thinking? he thought to himself. She should never have been in that fight...should never have faced Sabretooth on her own. He knew that the others were beating themselves up for not being there when it happened. He no longer blamed them. He understood that they'd been fighting their own fight when it had happened.

Running a gloved finger down the gash on her arm, rage filling him at the thought of her being hurt in the fight. If Sabretooth had been alive he would have killed him in a heartbeat. But he wasn't alive. Marie had finished him. She had held on to him, pulling him into her. And now she was on this examination bed and no one had any idea why.

"What happened, Marie? Why are you lying here?" Logan's anguished voice asked of her still form. He lowered his head, letting it rest on her side.

He jumped when he felt a hand touch his hair. There was Marie, looking at him.

Fighting the tears, Logan took her hand in his and brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Hey, kid, you had us scared there."

"Sorry. Are you okay?" Rogue asked, commenting on his red eyes.

"Am I okay?!" Logan asked.

"Yeah you look like shit..." Rogue said with a little smile.

Logan's face broke into a smile. "Can tell you are feeling better. So thought you were tough enough to take on Sabretooth did you?"

"Well, I won, didn't I?" she said with a smile.

"Yeah, you did. Jean has been trying to figure out why you were out of it."

"It overwhelmed me, Logan. He filled me up so much that I got lost. And he was sick, Logan..."

"You don't need to tell me that," Logan joked.

"No, I mean really sick. He was dying, Logan. Now I am. Because I took him in."

"Don't say that! You're not dying! Here, let me touch you. My healing can fix whatever is wrong," Logan said, panic filling him, as he tried to get the latex off.

"Don't, Logan. Don't touch me. Just let me go. I can't stand being in the world, not being able to touch, not able to be touched. I want to be kissed, Logan, without worrying about if the guy is going to go into a coma."

"Marie...please...don't do this," Logan begged.

"Promise me, Logan. Promise me not to touch me," she asked.

"Don't make me...Marie, please, don't ask this of me." Logan no longer stopped
the tears from falling.

"It will be okay, Logan. You just have to let me go. Please. I have never asked anything of you. Please do this for me," she pleaded with him.

"Okay. I promise." The words seem to have been torn from him.

A peaceful smile came across Rogue's face. "Thank you. You know...there is something I never told you."

"What is that?"

"I knew the reason that you left...really." Rogue's face lost its smile. "I'm tired, Logan. I am so tired."

Logan squeezed her hand tightly. "No, Marie! Don't close your eyes! Stay with me!"

Rogue's face shone with her smile. Logan thought for a quick moment that she looked like an angel. "I will always be with you. I love you, Logan."

"I love you too, Marie." Logan's voice cracked. And with those words, Rogue's eyes closed. Her breath left her in a slow exhale. Logan never noticed the tears the fell from his face onto her hair. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, "I love you, Marie."

---

So? Told you you would hate me. The line that was the direct quote is "Just let me go. I can't stand being in the world, not being able to touch, not able to be touched." My aunt died of cancer and it had gotten to the point that she was in pain whenever someone touched her. She said those words to my uncle as he cried, asking her to stay with him. Let me know what you think. -- Tanya