A week after Logan left the mansion, to search into the possible link into his past given to him by the professor, he called for the first time, to check in on Marie, just to be sure the X-Geeks were treating her right. He had made it clear to Charles, before he left that Rogue wasn’t just another ‘mutant kid’ she was special and she needed to be treated as such and if anyone failed to do that, Logan would make certain they answered to him. He hadn’t been kidding, when he had told Marie he would look out for her, he had made her a promise, one he intended to keep, no matter how many miles stood before them and Charles had assured Logan that he had no reason to worry, Rogue would be fine at the school.





“She needs this, Logan.” Charles had said. “I know she seems much older, but the fact is she is just eighteen years old and she needed some time to simply be a child and have some freedom.”





It was a brief speech, but one that had made sense to Logan, at the time, but he began to question his mental state for having listening to anything anyone at the damn mansion had to say when he called and asked the kid that answered for Rogue, only to have the snot nosed brat put Scooter on the phone instead.





“You’re bike is fine, dickhead, so just get Rogue on the line.”





“Logan…”





“I mean it, One Eye. I ain’t in the mood for your shit.”





“Logan, we have a small problem.”





Those six words made Logan’s blood run cold. “What do you mean a problem?”





“Well, about a day after you left, Sabertooth and Toad broke into the mansion to try and get to Rogue, and during the battle, Rogue…well, she touched Sabertooth and she killed him, Logan.”





“What?”





“She drained him dry. Held on till he was dead. We tried to stop her. I ordered her to just let him go, once he was out, but she ignored me, and it was obvious that she knew just what she was doing.”





“She was fucking defending herself, One Eye.”





“X-Men don’t kill…”





“Fuck you and your little X-Men beliefs, Scooter, and tell me if Rogue is okay.”





“She’s fine. She got Sabertooth under control easily, but…well, Jean insisted that she’s a little worried for the sake of the other students, since Rogue killed Sabertooth and she said she thought Rogue needed to be locked up…”





“What?” He growled out the one word question.





“Well, Rogue heard that and she ran, Logan.”





“What do you fucking mean she ran?”





Scott sighed. “She’s gone. We can’t find her.”





“What about Chuck and the room…”





“It no longer works on her, because she has so many different voices in her head,

it’s just about impossible for Charles to concentrate on her and pinpoint a location.”





“Son of a bitch.” His rage finally exploded and the claws sprang from his hands to slice into the standard motel room bed. “You bastards, all of you, you’re gonna pay for this in ways you can’t imagine.”





“Logan…”





“I’m gonna find that girl myself, then I’m gonna come back to the fancy school and I swear, I’m gonna gut all of you, starting with that bitch you love so much.”





“Logan, I understand you are upset, but Jean was worried…”





“Shut the fuck up, Scooter. Ain’t nothing you say I’m interested in.”





“You might be. I think I know where Rogue is headed.”





“Well?”





“Before she took off, she told her roommate, Kitty, that she wanted to go back and do it again, start from where you to met and make sure neither of you ended up here, cause here was where all the bad happened.”





“She’s fucking right about that.”





Saying nothing else, he slammed down the phone, knowing in his gut that Scooter had been right, Marie would go back to where she had first met him, back to Laughlin City, to where it had all began.





Mentally calculating, he figured he was about two hundred miles from there, which meant he could easily get there ahead of Marie, even if she did have a few days starts, since she was coming from Westchester.





“Hold on, baby.” Logan whispered out loud as he grabbed his bag and the keys to the bike and headed out the door. “Just hold on, Marie. I’m coming.”





****************************************************************************************************





He figured that going inside the bar wasn’t a great option, considering how the old man that ran the place had reacted last time, following the claw flashing. Yeah, he did, and would heal, but getting bit by a bullet wasn’t a hell of a lot of fun and he didn’t want to be bleeding all over the place when Marie showed up. It would upset her, and he was willing to bet she was already upset enough over the Sabertooth encounter and the shit she had overheard Jeannie saying.





A low growl lodge itself in his throat at the thought of the redheaded doctor he had flirted with so openly. He could kick himself for that now. Even if most of it had been just a way of annoying Scooter, he had thought Jean was hot, but now, after the way she had handled Rogue, Logan suspected there was no good in her and since leaving the mansion, he had finally admitted to himself that it was Marie that his heart really rested with, he had just been afraid to face it, cause of her age.





That had been a mistake.





Leaving her had been a mistake.





One he assured himself he wouldn’t repeat as he set in the shadows of the parking lot, carefully watching every truck that pulled in, his senses on high alert for any trace of his Marie.





After three hours, it finally happened, a truck finally pulled up and even before the passenger side door opened, he was overcome with Marie’s sweet scent.





“Marie.”





Stepping from the shadows, he called out her name, his heart racing as she looked around for a moment, her eyes falling on him and the moment they did, she dropped her duffel bag and ran into his arms.





Christ, but she felt so good, so soft and so perfect as he buried his face in her hair.





“Marie, sweet Marie, I am so sorry.”





“Logan…” She locked her arms around his waist and he could smell tears.





“It’s okay now, darlin. I swear it. I’ll never leave you again.”





“I was so afraid…he was loud in my head, but I got him under control and Jean said I was unstable and dangerous and…”





“It’s okay, baby.”





“I did it, Logan. I did kill him. I couldn’t let go. I had to do it…”





“It’s okay. I’m glad he’s gone. I’m glad you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”





She eased back to look up at him. “You aren’t angry?”





“Not with you, but I am plenty pissed with the geeks.”





“I couldn’t stay there, I couldn’t let Jean convince everyone to lock me up.”





“I know. I know. And I’m glad you came back here.”





“How did you know?”





“Scott said you told Kitty you were headed back to where it began.”





She smiled at that. “I just wanted to get back here, cause I knew I could find you, and I want it to turn out different this time…I don’t want to end up anywhere but with you forever.”





“That’s the way it’s gonna be. I swear it. You and me.”





“Are you sure?”





“Always. I swear, it’s you and me forever.”





She snuggled back into his arms. “I love you, Logan.”





“I love you too, Marie.”





He felt her smile. “I don’t ever want to go back there.”





“We don’t have to. Means I can’t kill them, but we won’t ever go back.”





“Good.”





“What’s say we hit the road, kid. I still got Scott’s bike for now, but it will do.”





Again, she looked up at him. “It’ll do fine. It’ll give me an excuse to hold on to you.”





“Darlin, I am yours to hold on to forever, and you should know, I’m gonna be holding on to you right back.”





“Promise?”





“Forever.”





She hugged him tight and he pressed a kiss into her hair, knowing that with her, forever would be *forever* and truth be told, not even eternity with Marie would be near long enough to suit his taste.





THE END