You know, when that truck driver I had hitched a ride with dropped me off in Laughlin City, I just kind of figured, okay this is it. I am fucked. I mean, I had been on the road for a year at that point, I had made it from Mississippi to Canada, which was quite a feat, I admit, but I had suffered some nasty scrapes along the way. The kind of scarps that left me with more voices inside my head, to keep poor David company, cause he was still freaked out that he was even up there at all, that the girl he had known all his life had turned out to be a mutant.

A mutant that had nearly killed him with one kiss.

Sorry, David.

Out of all the ones I had hurt with my skin, David was the one I felt the worst about, cause he had been an accident. I had been kissing him when my mutation decided to come into play, so he was just unlucky, but the others, I had touched them on purpose, because I needed to.

I had to.

It was a matter of self preservation.

The first guy was someone who offered me a ride outside a diner and he seemed nice enough. He said he had a niece my age, that he could get me as far as the next town, if I wanted…he was driving as SUV and he had a business man look about him, a kind of aura that made it easy to believe he was all respectable.

Ten miles into the ride he offered me, he pulled over and everything changed.

He attacked me, started ripping at my blouse and calling me a whore, so I managed to tug off one glove and I touched his face.

Held on long enough to put him out and I ran like hell.

The second and third guy were more of the same.

They helped me learn more about who to trust and not trust and while I hated having all their sick and vile thoughts, their voices faded pretty well into the background, for which I was grateful.

Then came Carol.

Did I ever misread her. I really believed it when she came to me and said she wanted to be my friend, that she could tell I was scared, that I was pretty much a kid even if I was eighteen.

She told me she could senses I was a mutant, but it was okay, cause she was one too and she knew how frightening it could be.

She told me she knew a man that could help me, a man named Eric.

He was a mutant too.

She made him sound like a savior, a man that could help me with my skin and give me a safe place to hide.

If I hadn’t accidentally brushed against her skin, I would never have known the truth; I would never have known that Eric really called himself Magneto and he had a plan to turn humans into mutants.

But he needed me to do it.

He needed to transfer some of his power to me, because he knew that operating his machine would kill him and he would rather see me die than actually bit the dust and he had sent Carol to bring me into his fold.

Of course, as my luck would have it, the slight brush of my skin didn’t knock Carol out, and she took one good look at me and she knew I knew about the grand plans she and her boss had for me.

I tried to outrun her.

But that wasn’t possible, cause Carol had super human strength, she could fly and heal from anything and when she attacked me, to try and subdue me there was no question that she had the upper hand.

Which left me with no choice.

I had to use my skin…I held on and held on but she wouldn’t just pass out and she was using my scarf to strangle me…I was frantic…I concentrated on draining her, which I had never done before.

I had never thought about what my skin was doing, it just sort of did it.

But Carol was different and by the time she went out, I realized she was out for good.

She was dead.

She was dead, physically.

But her voice, her pissed off and unhappy voice was inside by head, screaming up a storm.

For a while, I thought she would take over, but after a month, I managed to get her under control and I even got a handle on her power of flight, but I didn’t like using it all that much cause my control wasn’t so great.

Of course, absorbing Carol help me find the switch to my skin, which was a blessing, it meant I didn’t have to walk around in gloves all the time, covered from head to toe.

It just meant Carol’s voice cropped up every now and then to annoy me and tell me I might think I was safe, but I was still a freak among freaks with voices inside my head.

And I was still a target.

She felt certain Mag’s would still want me to battery his machine, which compelled me to do one thing and that was keep moving, stay below the radar in little out of the way places like Laughlin City.

Laughlin City.

Looking around the so called city, I shook my head and sighed, deciding I could let my guard down for a little while.

After all, what kind of live changing event could happen in such a rundown shithole of a town?

---

You know, by the time I reached Laughlin City after leaving Chuck and his merry band of do-gooders long in the dust, all I wanted was to return to life prior to my failed effort to be one of the ‘good guys’ out to save mutant and mankind alike. Just wanted to drink and fight and naturally, find a woman to fuck senseless, cause cock tease Jeannie had never actually given it up to me, though I could clearly smell the pure arousal rolling off her in waves anytime we ended up in the same room.

Nope, no doubt that red had wanted it and wanted it bad.

But she had held out, saying she loved Scott…she was gonna marry Scott cause he was a true ‘good guy’ that a girl could depend on and trust and I was just a man looking for a fuck.

A man that wouldn’t stick around come morning.

Well, no shit, darling, I never tried to pretend I would hand over a ring and ask for a long life of happily ever after.

Course, Jeannie couldn’t be blamed for me leaving, she didn’t have that much power over me even if my cock did rise to attention whenever she walked by.

But hell, my cock, he’s a friendly guy and he takes to rising anytime a woman with nice legs and a killer ass wondered into my line of vision.

No, I left old Chuck’s cause the last mission I went on with the geeks proved I wasn’t up to playing their little game by their rules. I couldn’t keep on pretending that Chuck’s old fashioned peaceful approach would work, cause I could tell with each day that slipped by that the anti mutant sentiment seemed to be getting worse, not better and after we decided to raid that lab, I lost it.

Fucking went insane.

Scooter said he thought I had gone off the deep end for good, and while I never did like The Fearless Leader, not for a second did I try and deny to Chuck how it went down and how I knew I would do the same thing again in a similar situation.

I told him I felt no remorse in killing those doctors.

I told him I wish I could had made it more painful, after I saw those mutant kids huddled together in dirty little cages, long past benefiting from any help we could offer.

There were ten of them in all, none over the age of fifteen, as far as Jeannie could tell, from what was left.

Told Chuck right after that I was gonna go, cause I knew he was pissed about my just killing those doctors and he said it was for the best, but he wished me well and told me he hoped I could find some peace one day.

Right. Fuck that. Man like me will never find peace.

But I could just go back to what it was before, just me doing my thing, making it from day to day, fighting and fucking and not giving a damn about anyone.

That was the plan.

That’s why I went to Laughlin City, cause I knew some good fights went down there.

Went in, picked up where I had left off, as ‘King of the Cage’ and made a killing for two nights in a row, before deciding it to move on, follow the circuit to the next town and maybe just be able to forget being a ‘good guy’ cause I would never fit the bill the way Scooter and the Ice Kid did.

I was just The Wolverine…the fucked up mother fucker that had metal lined to my bones and claws thanks to a stint in a lab that left me unable to remember much of anything about who and what I was before the government fuckers got me.

Scooter once called me uncivilized.

He was right.

Ain’t know one knows that better than me, and that’s what I was thinking about, sitting at the bar, nursing a bear after the last fight when I caught a look at the girl walking in and I did a double take.

Any man would.

She was a number, young looking, but a knock out in a kind of sweet way with brown eyes and full lips and ivory skin that looked good with her long dark hair.

And white streaks?

Figured that must be some sort of fashion thing, but it looked good on her, like her ass looked good wrapped in tight black jeans and her breast demanded attention even beneath a somewhat baggy green sweater.

One look at that girl had my cock asking Jeannie who.

Knew if a flash I had to have her.

Somehow.

Someway.

Knew right off that little girl with those big brown eyes and fuck me lips was gonna help me escape my unpleasant memories for a while.

Question was how to make it happen, cause she wasn’t the normal fight groupie or bar fly looking for a lay.

She was different.

She was young, maybe on the innocent side.

And anxious as hell, could smell that coming off her in waves, as she set down at the far end of the bar where she ordered a glass of water.

Water?

Decided to offer to buy brown eyes a drink.

Sometimes the classic approaches were the best.

Had no clue that approaching that girl would change my world, but I was about to find out that sometimes unexpected encounters are the best ones you can have.

The bar was a shithole. Rundown. Kind of dirty looking. And musky as hell. Beer mingled with smoke and sweat…the aroma was enough to make me sick, but I settled at the bar anyway, cause I figured it was the best location to scope out the place and see if I could spot someone that I could bum a ride from without too much fear. Someone that I would haven’t to beat the shit out of for getting fresh…someone that didn’t seem like a total nut job.

Right, Marie. The world is filled with nice guys looking to help a girl and expect nothing in return for his efforts.

God, I just wanted to find a place to settle down, stop running…I was tired and alone and sick of the voices in my head.

And the guy just a few stools down from me looked hot as hell, but buddy did he have some intense eyes coupled with a staring problem.

Course, the fact that a guy that hot was staring at me was kind of flattering…he was the kind of hot a girl couldn’t help but admire.

He was rugged, almost hard looking, with hazel eyes and some seriously wide hair.

And for some reason, he looked familiar.

But I was sure I didn’t know him.

Them it hit me who did.

Carol.

Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Carol knew this guy.

Carol had tried to kill this guy and more than once.

Turning back to my water, I brushed over her memories, learning that Mr. Hot Body was better known as The Wolverine.

He had been in a lab.

He had healing and metal claws and a nasty ass temper.

He had fought with a group called the X-Men, when Carol had known him.

He had been on the opposite side from The Brotherhood.

He had really hated Carol.

If he found out that part of Carol was trapped in me, living on in me, would that make him hate me, too?

And why did I care?

That, I decided, was a good question, as Mr. Hot…The Wolverine…moved from his stool to settle on the one beside mine and the smile he gave me could have melted ice in two second flat.

That smiles sure as hell melted my insides.

Carol’s voice whispered that she had always liked that smile, that she had thought this man was sex on legs and if their paths had crossed under different circumstances, she would have fucked his brains out.

Oddly, she was encouraging me to do just that.

Shut up, Carol. Get back in your box.

“Hey, darling.”

Oh, shit. What a voice. Lord help me.

“Hi, sugar.”

Sugar? Sugar? Where the hell had that come from? Since when did I call strange me in bars sugar?

“Drinking water tonight?”

“It’s good for you.” Lame comment, but I didn’t feel compelled to explain to
that I did not have a dime to my name and the bartender didn’t seem like he would be all that inclined to give a girl a free be.

“Sometimes indulging in something not good for you can be interesting.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Can I buy you a drink?”

No. No. No.

“Really?”

“Anything you want, darling.”

“That’s an open ended offer.”

Hello. I wanted to blame that remark on Carol, but I knew she was in her box, so that was all me.

All Marie.

Shit.

“Name it, darling, and it’s yours.”

---

Sassy. Wouldn’t have thought that. Figured her to be shy, but girl made it clear right off that she knew how to hold her own and I realized I liked that about her. Wasn’t all that often I found someone I could verbally spar with, but this girl…she was something, that I could tell right away and it made it easy to smile at her again as she finally said that she would like a beer and I nodded at the bartender.

“You’re not too young for that, are you?” Not that I cared.

“Nineteen as of last month. Not to young in Canada.”

“Not too young at all.”

She blushed at that, which was cute, cause I didn’t think women blushed anymore, but it seemed somehow right that this one did.

“What’s your name, darling?”

“Rogue.”

“What kind of name is Rogue?”

“I don’t know, what kind of name is Wolverine?”

That brought me to a cold halt there, cause I knew I had not told her my name and the way her eyes went wide told me she had just realized she slipped up.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I reached out and clamped down hard on her arm, with a grip that should have been at least a little painful, but she didn’t wince.

“No. I’m no one. I’m really sorry. I’ll just go.”

“You ain’t going nowhere till you tell me who you are.”

Fuck, I realized she could be anyone, FOH, Brotherhood, the government…I could have just walked into a trap all cause my cock thought this could be a sweet piece of ass.

Damn, I can be a stupid mother fucker sometimes.

And hell, was I caught off guard when she pulled her arm from my grip like it took no effort at all.

Stronger than she looked.

“Listen, I know you’re thinking I’m…well, I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I swear, I’m not here to cause any kind of trouble and I…I just came here looking for a ride and she recognized you…”

“Who recognized me.”

She winced and looked around and finally sighed, as if she had just made up her mind to lay it all on the line and hope for a decent outcome.

---

Shit. She had a story to tell. A long story and a shitty one, but I knew by smell that every word she said was true, she was a mutant with toxic skin that could kill and whenever she touched someone they became part of her.

If they were a mutant and she killed them, she got their powers forever.

She had killed the Carol bitch in self defense, something I would have had no trouble believing even if I hadn’t had any sense of smell, cause I had seen Carol in battle and I knew she was a loon.

Couldn’t say I was upset to know Carol was no longer around and I was kind of glad this girl now had her powers, cause I could see she was just a little thing and strength and healing could come in handy, on the road.

Course, I had already decided this girl wasn’t gonna be on the road any longer.

She was gonna be hanging with me.

Not sure at what point during her story I made that decision, just suddenly knew that I had to keep her close to me, cause something about her was special and I liked the idea of having something special in my life.

And we were a lot alike, I decided.

I told her that, that I could relate to all she had been through and she got real shy and she told me she was sorry for what had happened to me in the lab.

I could tell she meant it.

We were sitting in my camper/truck then and when she said it, our eyes held and there was something there…some kind of connection or understanding and I smiled before reaching for her hand.

---

Lucky for me, The Wolverine turned out to be a pretty understanding guy and he even told me he was sorry about a lot of the shit I had faced. Said I was pretty tough, to have endured it all, he even said it was good that I had Carol’s powers to give me some extra strength and he didn’t want me feeling any guilt that I had to kill her, cause he had known how deranged she could be. He seemed to feel that I was lucky to be alive, and I was inclined to agree as we set in his truck with him holding my hand and he way caught off guard when he up and announced that he thought it would be a good idea for me to stay close to him for a while.

Said he could help me out, teach me some fighting skills to go with my strength and since I seemed to be just wondering around aimless and he was doing the same, it kind of made sense for us to become a team.

He even told me his real name. Logan.

Told him I was Marie.

Found out I really liked how he said my name, in this sort of possessive tone that made shivers run up and down by back.

Had never had that happen before, even when David kissed me, before the whole life draining thing kicked in.

Kind of knew in an instant that it meant something, that Logan could give me shivers that were nice, so it was an easy thing to agree, to hanging around with him, roaming around the country until he figured out what to do next.

Course, he told me all about the X-Men and why he had left and I could say I
blamed him or anything, cause I don’t believe that humans will ever just take the live and let live mindset when it comes to us mutants, but like Logan, I don’t want to be involved in a war or any shit like that. I just want to do my thing, live my life and stay away from the trouble that has haunted me for too long…I just want to blend in and be happy in my own right and Logan made it clear he wanted the same, so it was easily decided that we would hit the road together.

Also knew in the back of my mind that the road wasn’t the only thing that Logan and me would be hitting together.

Knew the first bed we saw, we would be falling in it together.

Boy, did I want to find a bed soon.

Of course, as my shitty ass luck would have it, before me and Logan could find a bed, something else found us.

---

Sabertooth. Mystique. Brotherhood minions. Carol recognized them right off and so did Logan, but by the time either of us knew they were there, Sabertooth was ripping the door off Logan’s truck, dragging him out while the chick with the blue skin tried to get me in a chock hold.

Kicked her ass easily.

Guess she didn’t count on me having Carol’s healing and strength.

Decided to go help Logan out with the big, hairy guy, cause he looked like a tough joker.

That’s when the people in the leather uniforms showed up.

X-Men, Carol supplied.

Some guy with an odd looking visor fired beams from his eyes and seeing that, old Sabertooth ran for the woods with some woman with white hair flying after him and me, I just ran to Logan’s side.

“Oh, God, Logan…” I could see he had a nasty bump on his head, but it seemed to be healing up okay.

“I’m fine. You?”

God, the concern, the worry in his eyes took my breath.

“I’m okay. Confused, but okay.”

Course, with my luck being what it is, I should have guessed the confusing would get worse as someone went to tend to the blue skinned woman, that was still out of it and a lady with red hair and a frown came and knelt beside Logan.

Bitch started running her hands all over him, lingering in places she didn’t have any right to allow her hands to linger and I was considering telling her as much when Logan brushed her aside and stood, pulling me with him.

Me, Red, me. Got that.

“Logan, we came to find you.” Redhead ignored me and looked at Logan.

“What the hell for?”

“We think Sabertooth and Mystique were sent by Magneto to find you.”

“Actually…” I tried to speak, but Red only gave me a dirty look.

“Excuse me, this is a private conversation, little girl…”

“Excuse me, but I was attacked as well, not so little girl, and if you would stop your yammering for five second, I can tell you that this Mags fellow ain’t after Logan, he is after me.”

That got me a look filled with serious doubt. “And what would he want with you?”

“Long story, but I can tell it if you can shut up long enough to listen.

---

The fact that Jeannie wasn’t impressed with Marie was obvious, but it seemed to me that the feeling was mutual, but in Marie’s case, I couldn’t blame her, cause Jean did nothing but make snide comments all the way back to the mansion. She even tried to suggest that Marie, or Rogue, as she called herself when the X-Men asked, had killed Carol for the hell of it…she tried to suggest that maybe Marie was lying, that she was a part of The Brotherhood, but I finally told her to shut the hell up, everything ‘Rogue’ had told her was on the up and up and when we related it all to the professor, it was clear he agreed with me.

Which only served to piss Jeannie off more, something even Scooter picked up on, I think, given the look he gave Jean when he found her with me in the kitchen later, telling me I was a fool for hooking up with a nineteen year old kid. She was saying that I was the kind of man that needed a real woman, that I would get tired of Rogue really quick, but I made it clear that she was wrong, that I had known right off that I had found something special in Marie.

I had found my mate.

Jean thought that was funny, I wanted to knock the shit out of her, but I left her to deal with Scott, so I could head up stairs to Marie.

She was the only woman I was interested in being with.

Found her in my old room, fresh of a shower, wearing nothing but a t-shirt that brushed her knees.

She looked up when I came in the door, and our eyes locked.

God help me, those eyes were perfect.

I knew in an instant that I didn’t love just those eyes, I loved that girl as well and I knew it was the kind of love that would last a lifetime.

---

Snuggled next to Logan in his bed, I realized that sometimes, you can find really nice surprises in little shithole towns.

I sure as hell had.

Christ, I had no idea it could be like that…he used his hands and mouth to drive me over the edge again and again and I was out of my mind with need, by the time he had me his and there was no doubt in my mind that I was his.

I wanted to be his.

For life.

Forever.

The possessive look in his eyes told me it was the same for him, he had found in me the same thing I had found in him.

We had both found a home.

Take that Red.

Course, Logan explained to me why she was pissed, that she had thought he loved her or some shit when it had never been anything more than him flirting and yeah, he would have fucked her, if she had agreed to it, but now that he had me, he had no interest in Jean.

And she knew it.

Which meant as long as we were at the mansion, I could expect her to me a bitch.

Of course, me and Logan both agreed that we didn’t want to be at the mansion for long so when the professor told us the next morning that Mags had been arrested, he and I decided we wanted to leave right away.

The professor tried to talk us in to staying, told Logan he could use us both on the team, if Logan was willing to work on his anger issues when it came to
people running the labs that raided from time to time.

Logan told him that wouldn’t happen.

He was done with hero work, he just wanted the most normal life two mutants in love could find, so the professor, or Chuck, as Logan called him, told Logan he understood and since Logan’s truck was ruined, he gave us one.

Jean didn’t like that either.

She cornered me in Logan’s old room while I was packing and she told me that I was a fool if I thought Logan would stick with me for more than a few weeks.

She said he would fuck me for a while then move on.

I turned and looked at her with a smile and I told her she was wrong, she was the one Logan would have fucked and left.

Me, he would stick with me for the long run and she just needed to get use to
that and then work on holding on to what she had, cause it was my guess a guy as good looking as Scott could trade her in anytime he decided for someone a hell of a lot more nice and pleasant to be around.

She looked like she wanted to say more, but I gave her a look that dared her to do it, and she finally turned and left the room in a huff.

Me and Logan hit the road a few minutes later and I was glad to go.

Logan smiled and asked me where I wanted to go.

I smiled back and told him it didn’t matter, we could go anywhere the road took us, so long as we were together.

He said he was cool with that.

Especially the together part.

The rest would fall into place along the way.

THE END