Charles Xavier sat at the head of the conference table, looking at the group of individuals he considered his children, his friends. To the children attending Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters, they were called teachers. To the world they were simply known as the X-Men. Xavier started his superhuman group of heroes with his first three students: Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey, and Ororo Munroe (Storm).

Over the years his team of three grew to the twelve who sat before him. St. John Allerdyce (Pyro), Peter Rasputin (Colossus), Theresa Rourke (Siryn), Jubilation Lee (Jubilee), and Katherine ‘Kitty’ Pryde (Shadowcat) all graduated from the school at the same time and choose to become members of the team.

The newest members were recruited from various places in the world. From Illinois, Dr. Hank McCoy (Beast), a huge, intimidating yet brilliant and gentle man. From New Orleans, Remy LeBeau (Gambit), a handsome man who is very aware of that fact. From Germany, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), a shy, sweet, blue skinned mutant. And from deep in the woods of Canada, a man simply known as Wolverine, a man who is a mystery to others as well as to himself.

Charles cleared his throat to get the attention of his team.

“I will not keep you long. Just two matters to touch on. Then you can leave and enjoy this beautiful day properly. By the pool, in the gardens, the garage,” he gave a knowing glance at Scoot and Wolverine, “or even spending my money at the mall.” he smiled and gave a slight nod at Jubilee, who smiled back and gave him two thumbs up.

“The first order of business is in fact not business at all. I understand congratulations are in order for two of our own. It seems Colossus has proposed last night to our dear Shadowcat, and she has accepted. Congratulations to the happy couple.” There was a moment where everyone shook hands with Peter and hugged Kitty. Everyone except Wolverine, who wouldn’t be caught dead showing emotions. He remained seated and merely gave a faint nod to the newly engaged couple.

Once all the women had a good long look at the ring, and everyone was seated again, Xavier continued.

“On to the second matter at hand. Tomorrow our team will grow by two. A Ms. Georgianna Callasantos, also known as Feral. A mutant with enhanced senses and agility. A fierce fighter. Her mutation is feline in nature, resulting in claws, fangs, fur and a prehensile tail.” He took a deep breath before he went on. “She will be joined by Rogue.”

Everyone had a reaction at the mention of her name. Everyone except the four newest members who arrived at the mansion while she was away, never meeting the women everyone loved.

Jubilee let out a delighted screech. Kitty immediately started to clap her hands and almost bounced right out of her seat with joy. Siryn, who was a mixture of excitement and shock, grabbed hold of John’s hand, whose expression mirrored his girlfriends. Jean, Storm and Peter looked genuinely happy and thrilled. Scott, although was smiling outwardly at the thought of seeing his friend again, a girl he loved deeply as if she were his own sister, inwardly his heart was aching at the pain they had shared.

Jean sensing, rather than mind reading, what her husband was remembering, leaned over and whispered “I know, my love. I know.” He gave her a sad smile and nodded.

Xavier sat patiently waiting, while his team talked amongst themselves and digested the news. He himself had needed a moment when Rogue had called him last night and informed him she was ready to return. It had been three years since he last saw her and he missed her dearly.

“Excuse me, but who the hell is this Rogue?” Wolverine asked. He has been part of the team for two and a half years and was the first of the new recruits.

“Rogue was a very valuable and much loved member of the team for four years. Before that she was a very special student or ours.” He explained, remembering the girl who was everyone’s best friend, everyone’s kid sister. Her life was a series of heartaches and horrendous events that made her wise beyond her years. “Three years ago she left us. Temporarily. And now it seems she will be returning.”

“May I ask what her mutation is?” Hank, ever the scientist, asked.

“Rogue possesses the ability to absorb the powers and personality of anyone with whom she has skin to skin contact with. With humans it is extremely deadly. With mutants there is a miniscule window, before the pull becomes deadly. Plus some other unknown powers.”

“Fascinating.” Hank muttered.

“Why’d the chere leave?” The words that left Remy’s lips caused an uncomfortable silence among the nine who knew her. Cyclops closed his eyes behind his shades. “Was it something Remy said?” he asked noticing the change in atmosphere.

“Rogue is a unique individual. Unfortunately, life dealt Rogue a very rough hand. Four and a half years ago we lost a member of our team, who was very close to Rogue. Robert Drake A.K.A Iceman.” When the professor paused, Scott let out a sad sigh at the mention of Bobby. Bobby was his protégé. His parents had disowned him when they found out he was a mutant and Scott took it upon himself to lookout for the boy, become his mentor. He watched as Bobby became a teenager and then grew into a confident young man. When Bobby died, Scott was heartbroken. He had lost his son, his brother, his best friend.

“Shortly after she was forced to completely absorb a mutant. It left her with new powers she did not know how to control. She was grief stricken, confused, and had a new resident inside her head. She came to me, worried about inadvertently hurting her teammates. Asked if there was anyplace she could go to get herself and her new powers under control. A place that didn’t remind her of the horrible events. I suggested Paris. I have a friend, a fellow telepath, who runs a school for mutants there. She accepted and she left the very next day. We have not seen her since, wanting to give her her space.”

It was quiet for a moment, before Jubilee broke the silence.

“When does she get in?”

“Sometime tomorrow evening. But I suspect she will be tired from such a long flight and would want to go straight to bed. We will formerly welcome her back and welcome our new member, Feral, the following morning. That is all for today. You are dismissed. Enjoy your day.”

---

L’Academie Pour Les Individus Mutants was located at 21981 Rue de Grenelle, Paris, France. The school was slightly different than Xavier’s. Here there were practically no children seeking sanctuary. In this country mutants were widely accepted. The school serves the purpose of helping young mutants, new to their powers, learn to control them, and teaching what is ethically right concerning their ability. For example teaching a young telepath that it is not right to ‘convince’ their parents to let them stay up past their bedtime.

In her fifth floor bedroom, Rogue leaned against the window, taking in her unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. It was early in the morning in June and the sun was casting a gold tint on the world. She would miss this view, but she knew when she came here it would not be a permanent arrangement.

On her bed lay an open suitcase, mostly full. She was racing around her room gathering up last minute objects, when the view caught her attention and all thoughts of packing vanished. A knock on her door snapped her out of her gazing.

“Yeah. Come in.” Rogue instructed. She fast became friends with everyone here and all were welcomed in her room.

“You almost ready?” Polaris, the green haired beauty, asked. “Your cab will be here in an hour. What’s taking you?”

“Just a few last second things to pack. I was trying to get in one more breathtaking view before I left.”

“OK. Why don’t you tell me what to pack and you leave it to me. That way you can go downstairs and say goodbye to everyone, without being rushed.”

“Thanks. Just the stuff in the bathroom and on my desk.”

“See ya downstairs.” Rogue thanked her again and went to say bye to the women who helped her these past years. The headmistress of L’Academie. Emma Frost.

“Come in, Rogue.” Emma announced before Rogue had a chance to knock. She was used to it. Xavier did the same thing. Opening the door, Rogue found Emma standing behind her desk, dressed in her signature white. “The time has come were we must say au revoir.”

“Yup. I can’t express in words how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me. I learned to control the personalities in my head, even erasing them permanently. I learned how to use Carol’s powers. I even learned to control my own power. Thank you so very much.”

“You give me too much credit. You did all the work. I merely gave you the tools and offered support. You did the hard part.”

“Still. Thank you. You made me feel very welcomed here and I will miss you.” Emma held open her arms, and Rogue fell into them, trying very hard not to cry on her silk shirt.

“I will miss you too, child.” Sensing that they were both not far from tears, Emma pulled back from Rogue and held her firmly by the shoulders. “Rogue, you are a survivor. Now it’s time to close this chapter of your life and welcome the next. We will always be here for you. We will always be your friends. We will see each other again. Now get out there and say goodbye to everyone. They’re right outside waiting for you. LIKE I DON’T KNOW THEY’RE OUT THERE. TELEPATH, REMEMBER.”

Rogue laughed, whispered a ‘see ya’ and walk out the door into the hallway where, sure enough, the rest of the staff stood waiting. Feral had apparently just finished her goodbyes and was waiting to speak to Emma. Rogue gave a tight hug to Meggan, who cried so much she started to shape shift into a weeping willow (her powers being greatly affected by her emotions). Polaris, who finished with her luggage, skipped down the stairs and flung herself at Rogue. “I don’t care if there will be a sea between us. You’ll still be my girl.”

Psylocke and Quicksilver, both hugged her at the same time. “Take care of each other.” She told the newlyweds. Next was Havok, Scott’s brother. He knew Scott saw her as a sister, so he treated her the same way. Last were Cable and Bishop. They were the classic odd couple. They never agreed on anything yet they were the best of friends. They treated her as one of the guys and she loved them for it. “That’s right. Save the best for last.” They both said together. She was laughing, even as the tears fell, when she hugged them.

The door to the headmistress’ office opened and out walks Emma Frost and a teary eyed Georgianna. At the same time a horn honked from somewhere in front of the building.

“It’s time. Your cab is here.” Emma tried to stay strong but her voice cracked slightly. She grew to care for Rogue and Feral was like a daughter to her, and now they were both leaving her. But it was for the best. They were starting new chapters in life and she was proud of them.

The men packed the luggage into the trunk while the two girls got into the cab. They waved goodbye as the cab drove them to the airport.

“Gigi I’m sorry you had to dress up so much. It’s just New York is different than here. Not as accepting.”

“It’s fine. I understand.” Feral was dressed in jeans with a hole for her tail, a sweatshirt with a hood, a long black raincoat that covered her tail and gloves. “Thanks for lending me the gloves.”

“No problem. I have tons.”

“Hey, why are you still wearing gloves? You can control it now.”

“I know but I wore them for so many years that I just feel naked without them. When we get to the mansion I’ll wear them less and less.”

“Do you think I’ll fit in? At the mansion I mean.” Feral was very insecure at times. She spent her whole life in Paris, and even though she was accepted there, she always got the typical shocked first reaction because of the fur. She had finally gotten the guts to travel. See a city that was not Paris. She just hoped that she would be accepted in her new home just as well in her old.

“Of course.”

“Have you ever had a furry mutant at the school before?”

“Furry. Scaly. Webbed. You name it, we had it. We have a girl who can walk through walls, a boy who does not sleep. Just stays up all night changing channels with a blink of his eyes. We have a guy who can become metal. A solid piece of walking metal. And we have a girl who can shoot fireworks, from her hands. And for some reason, she loves the color yellow. Wears it every day. Yellow room, yellow everything. I’m starting to think it just might be part of her mutation.” She smiled at Feral and nudged her with her shoulder. Feral was feeling more relaxed.

“So you’re ready to go back. Got over everything?” Feral asked after awhile.

“No. Not over it yet, but I’m finally at a place where I can think about it without losing it.” Her mind quickly flashed to that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were fighting against the Brotherhood. She was fighting Arclight. Bobby was taking on Toad. The others were paired up, some one on one, others two on one. Bobby managed to defeat Toad, freezing one foot to the floor and his mouth shut. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, when out of the corner of her eye she saw Sabretooth. He was coming up behind Bobby and fast.

She tried to scream out a warning but it was too noisy, he couldn’t hear her. She tried to run to him, but Arclight jumped on her back, knocking her down. She took her eyes off Bobby long enough to knock out the women who attacked her. When she turned her attention back to Bobby, his eyes were wide with shock and blood was starting to poor out of his nose and mouth. She didn’t understand, until she looked lower and saw an arm coming around from his back. The hand on his stomach. The nails, thick, black and unnaturally long embedded into him. The other hand doing the same but to his back, tearing into his lung.

She screamed and ran to him but he was far from her. She saw as Sabretooth extracted his claws and stabbed him again and again. He was quick. By the time she got to Bobby, Victor had turned and ran in the other direction. She didn’t care about Victor right now. She could always get him later. Right now she was worried about Bobby.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! JEAN!” Rogue called out. The fight was ending. The Brotherhood was retreating but she didn’t notice. Bobby was trying to speak but all he managed was a whisper.

“It’s no use.” He choked out. His breathing was gurgled. She knew blood was rushing into his lungs.

“No. Just wait until Jean gets here. She’ll make you better.” Rogue was starting to panic. Tears were welling up in her eyes, her breathing becoming erratic.

“She ca- can’t” He winced in pain as he tried to draw breath into his pierced lungs. There were too many slices and he was quickly drowning in his own blood. Combine that with the damage done to his liver and stomach, he did not have long.

Jean arrived, closely followed by Scott and the rest of the team. Rogue looked to her, waiting for her to do something, but she just covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes as a tear slid down her face. She knew just by looking at him, there was nothing she could do.

Scott fell to his knees, feeling sick to his stomach. Jean held him as he watched Rogue hold Bobby, her uniform quickly being covered in blood.

“It’s ok. It’s -” Bobby broke off in a fit of coughs.

“Don’t speak.” Tears were falling down her face rapidly, splashing onto his blood covered chest. Jean did the only thing she could do to help. She took Bobby thoughts and transformed them into Rogues mind, acting as a telepathic telephone.

Rogue was overwhelmed with the thoughts she got. Love. Sorrow. Regret. Pain. So much pain. An idea came to her. A stupid idea. Bending low so her mouth was next to his ear, she whispered so only he could hear.

“I can make the pain stop. You could be here for minutes in pain before you go. I can make it go away. Now.” She prayed he understood what she meant.

His eyes widened, in pain or in shock of what she was offering to do, she wasn’t sure. But then he surprised her and nodded. She took a deep breath to steady herself. He turned to Scott, and tried to grab his hand but his arm merely jerk in his direction. Scott moved closer and held the younger man’s hand.

“G-goodbye” He said in a weak voice. He then turned to Rogue. “I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?” Scott asked panicked. Jean came up behind him.

“It’s ok. They thought this out. We can’t stop them.”

“Stop what?” He asked again.

“I lo-ove you.” Bobby gurgled.

“I love you too, sugah.” She choked out through her tears. She then lowered her head and kissed him. No barrier. Just the feel of her soft lips against his cold ones, slick with his own blood. It was a few short seconds before the hand Scott was holding became limp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rogue was nervous. She tried to hide it but knew she was doing a poor job when Feral reached over and held her hand. They would be arriving at the airport any minute. They have almost two hours before takeoff. Plenty of time to check their luggage, get through security and find their gate. Maybe have enough time to grab some food. Then onto the eight hour flight and the forty-five minute car ride to the mansion. A whole entire day dedicated to traveling, but it would be worth it. After three years away, Rogue was finally going back home.

Rogue and Feral sit in the back of another cab, this time headed away from an airport. It was only eight forty at night but they were exhausted. Their bottoms were numb from sitting all day. Feral, who has never flown before, found the seats on the plane small and uncomfortable. The first two hours of the flight she spent nervous, afraid of every little noise and shift the plane made. Eventually she relaxed, not enough to sleep on the flight, but enough to enjoy it.

They came to the gate of the mansion and just when Rogue was going to get out and used the intercom, the gates opened.

“I should have known.” a slight laughter to her voice.

“What?”

“That the Professor would have sensed our arrival.”

“Wow! When you said it was a mansion, you really weren’t joking. This makes our school look like a rinky dinky shack.”

The cab driver stopped the car in front of the main entrance and got out to remove the bags from the trunk. Xavier waited with a smile on his face and his hands folded on his lap as the two ladies got out of the cab, beside him was a teenage boy of about fifteen. He handed the boy money and he raced down the steps to pay the driver.

“I would have done that.” Rogue smiled as she walked up the steps to him.

“Ah. But it seems I beat you to it.” The Professor laughed. She bent at the waist and gave him a long hug. “Oh, how I missed you my child. As has everyone.”

“I missed you too. I missed everyone.” Her southern drawl had softened over the years but was still there. “Oh lord, where are my manners? Professor, this is Georgianna. Gigi, this is Professor Charles Xavier.”

He extended his arm to the women and they shook hands after she removed her gloves. She then removed her jacket and pulled down her hood.

“I am pleased to meet you and have you join our team. You do not have to call me Professor Charles Xavier though. I feel it is too formal and far too long. You can do what most of the resident do, just use any one of the three.” He smiled warmly at her and she immediately felt at home. “Follow me. I will show you to your rooms. I would assume after the day you both had you would like a hot shower and a soft bed.”

“Oh please, yes.” Rogue just wanted to sleep. No. Get cleaned first then sleep.

“What about our bags?” Feral turned and pointed at them.

“Oh, excuse me. Now it seems that I have forgotten my manners. This -” He waved his hand at the boy “is Jamie Madrox. He’s been a student of ours for two years now. We refer to him as Multiple Man.” At the mention of his mutant name, the boy multiplied. Now there was six of him and they each were carrying suitcases. “Jamie, meet the new staff members, Ms. Rogue and - What do you wish to be called by the students?”

“Uh… Ms. Georgie is fine.” She had the feeling this house was just full of surprises.

“And Ms. Georgie. Now Jamie can you all please bring their bags to the rooms I showed you early. Thank you. Follow me ladies.” Jamie said a quick hi to the new teachers before he -- they? -- ran up the stairs. Feral’s enhanced hearing picked up Jamie’s voice at the top of the stairs.

“Wait until the guys hear that we got two new hot teachers.” She stumbled. Did he really just say that? Did a student find her ‘hot’? This was the first time anybody found her attractive. She was going to love living here.

They stepped out of the private elevator that was for the staff members and walked toward the teacher’s corridor. They turned a corner and walked right past Bobby’s old room. Rogue’s breath caught in her throat as she remembered all of the firsts that happened to her in there. Her first boyfriend. Her first kiss. The first time someone told her ‘I love you’ and the first time she said it back. The first time she made love. She smiled sadly at the memory of it. Two awkward teenagers, nervous as hell, armed with a lot of scarves, a body suit and a box of condoms. But they loved each other and it turned out to be a beautiful act.

“This is it. Georgianna you’re on the end and Rogue your right before her. Your bags are already in your rooms. Good-” Charles was interrupted by the sound of two men arguing.

“Come on. I kicked your ass and you know it.” Said the smooth masculine voice.

“Hey if that’s true how come you’re the one wincing?” replied the deep, gravelly voice that was almost a constant growl.

“Because not all of us have that convenient healing factor.” Said the smooth voice again. The bodies that the voices were attached to turned the corner and Rogue saw it was Scott with another man. Big, hairy and looked like he enjoyed being intimidating. “Rogue? Rogue!” Scott jogged over to her, a smile on his bruised face, as she ran to him. He grabbed her in a bear hug and swung her in a circle.

“Put me down you fool.” She joked as she slapped him on the shoulders until he placed her back on the floor. “Damn I missed you”

“I missed you, too. How are you doing now?”

“Better. Not perfect, but better. I got a few surprises but I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. How have you been?”

“Good. Jean and I got married. I wanted you to be there but you wanted to be left alone with no contact so…”

“So that’s where Havok went when he took off for a few days last year. I’m sorry if I shut you out. I just need to be away completely for a while until I was ready. Congratulations though. Better late than never right? Hey I want you to meet someone.” She introduced him to Feral and he in turn reluctantly introduced her to Wolverine. She said ‘Hi’, he grunted a hello and then excused himself to bed.

After a few minutes of talk, Scott and Xavier both retired to their rooms and the girls took a long hot shower before slipping under their covers and get some much desired sleep.


Rogue woke the next morning and for a moment forgot where she was. She contemplated staying in bed all day before she dismissed the idea and got out of bed to go to the bathroom. While she was brushing her teeth, she let Bobby out of the mental box she had for him. No one knew she still held onto him after all these years, though she believed that Emma had her suspicions.

~Hey Rogue. ~

~Hey Bobby. ~

~What’s wrong? ~

~It’s just being back here is harder than I thought it would be. It’s my home and I want to be here, I need to be here, but the memories of you are so strong. ~

~You can get through this. ~

~Will you help me? ~

~No. You have to do this by yourself. Now lock me back up and don’t think about me, OK. And remember it’s alright to have fun and laugh. ~

As she went through the steps to lock Bobby back up she felt like crying. There were times when she wanted to get up and hang out and laugh and be happy but then there were times when all she wanted to do was curl up in bed all day with a big blanket and a crappy movie on TV, crying her eyes out.

She was still grieving, she knew that, but she didn’t want anyone to know it. Over the years she never got to mourn him properly. After he passed away she had a long stay in denial, then she was forced to absorb a women, then she left the mansion when her mind started to stray from her control and after that she spent years working hard at finding control of her skin and her mind.

Now she realized she moved past denial but had planted one foot firmly in anger and the other in depression… and she had no immediate plans on budging. If only there was one person who truly understood what he was to her. She hadn’t just lost a boyfriend that day. She had lost her best friend, the first person since her mutation arrived to see past the deadly skin, her Monday night date, her first love.

Just as she finished locking him up and putting his box deep into the back of her mind, there was a knock at the door. She put on a pair of gloves quickly as no one knew of her control yet and she wanted to surprise them. She wasn’t surprised to see Siryn, Jubilee and Kitty, standing in their pajamas, at her door.

“Ahhhh! Rogue! Like, where’s my hug, bitch?” Came Jubilee’s loud voice. Rogue laughed. It had been so long since she saw her friend and she was still as crazy as ever.

“God I missed you guys.”

“It’s about time you came back. It’s been so fucking boring here without you. I was this close to jumping a ride to frenchy land and dragging your ass back.” Jubes told her after she had gotten her hug.

“What she means to say is; we missed you too.” Kitty hugged her friend followed by Theresa.

Feral woke up when she heard a girl scream. Thinking it might have been Rogue having another nightmare about Bobby, she got out of bed to wake the woman. When she got to her room she noticed a small reunion taking place. Rogue, a tall woman with flame orange hair, a small fragile looking brunette and an animated Asian woman sat on the bed. They seemed to be looking at something on the small one’s hand. Not wanting to disturb them she turned her back to leave.

“Gigi.” Rogue called for her. “Where are you going?”

“I saw you talking and I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Don’t be silly. We were all just looking at Kitty’s ring. She just got engaged a couple nights ago.”

“Oh. Congratulations.” Feral told Katherine.

“Thanks. You must be Georgianna or do you prefer Feral?”

“Georgie or Gigi are fine.”

“Well, Gigi, you going to stand there all day. Come on in girl. I’m Jubilee, but call me Jubes. This little shrimp is Kitty as you might’ve guessed, and this tall drink of Guinness is Theresa, or Tessa.” She threw her arms around Feral and gave her a heartfelt hug. Feral, noticing that no one seemed bothered by her fur, hugged her back. “Come on, let’s hang out. We have a couple minutes before we need to get ready for our breakfast meeting with Xavier.”

By the time Feral left the room to dress for the meeting, she felt like she knew these girls forever. She couldn’t explain how she knew it but she was positive she had just made friends for life with these young women.

When she left her room after changing she found the four girls waiting for her.

“We thought, with you being new and all, that we’d be your personal escorts.”

“And by personal escort she meant the type that accompanies you somewhere, not the type that sleeps with you.” Jubes explained unnecessarily with a smile.

“Damn and here I was thinking I had an offer.” Feral surprised herself with her lack of shyness. The girls laughed all the way to the lower levels. Feral couldn’t get over how big this house was and was glad for her tour guides because she would have surely gotten lost. The five ladies were the last to arrive for the meeting. Rogue and Feral had seats waiting for them next to Charles.

“This morning’s meeting is simply a meet and greet.” Charles explained quietly to Feral, who sat wringing her hands nervously. “Relax, child. We don’t bite.” He then slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked around the table timidly, and was shocked to find a blue skinned mutant next to her and a big man covered in blue fur next to Rogue. They sat eating their breakfast for the next couple of minutes, talking quietly amongst themselves.

Feral talked with Kurt and she was surprised to find someone who was almost as shy as she was. Rogue was in a discussion of ethics with the professor and Hank. She found that she liked the blue mutant a lot. He had a big booming laugh, a million dollar vocabulary and instantly treated her like his favorite niece.

“May I have everyone’s attention, please? I would like to introduce you to our two new members. This is Feral and this, as most of you know, is Rogue.” Charles then introduced the members of the team and their abilities. “Right now I would like you to give your attention to Rogue.”

“Hey guys. I was told that everyone knows about my skin and about the incident with Carol, right?” Everyone nodded. “Well, while I was away Ms. Frost helped me the best she could but decided I needed a little more help. So every other weekend I flew to Muir Island to meet with Dr. Moira MacTaggert.”

“Who is she?” Storm asked.

“She is a leading authority on genetic mutations. I’ve worked with her before. A few times actually.” Xavier informed her.

“Yeah, so between the two of them, I was able to remove Carol’s presence in my mind permanently and keep her powers. I can now fly, I’m invulnerable to a certain extent and I’m strong. Really strong.”

“How strong?” Scott, his mind forever in leader mode, asked.

“I picked up a truck like it was a pillow. They say I could lift up to fifty tons.”

Jubilee said ‘Shit’, Siryn said ‘Whopper’, Kitty just stared with her mouth open.

“And just one more thing.” She glanced at Feral, who gave her a supporting smile. “I was able to finally get control of my skin.”

There was a moment where most of them did a quick impression of Kitty, before yelling out congratulations. The professor ended the meeting, shortly after and informed Rogue and Feral to be at the Danger Room at noon. The team needed to evaluate their fighting skills.

Feral was taken on a tour of the mansion by Kitty, Peter, Jubilee, Kurt and Storm. Hank and Theresa went to tutor some students that needed it. Jean settled into the medlab while Scott and the professor went to set up the programs for the Danger Room. Wolverine, ignoring everyone as usually, disappeared to his room. Rogue stopped John and gave him a hug. She teased him about settling down with one girl after he promised to be the mansion ‘playa’ as she walked with him and Remy. Remy tried to hit on her and she instantly made a silent promise to never date someone like him. He was so full of himself.

At noon, the Danger Room’s observation deck was full with every last member of the X-men. Feral was informed she was to take on Scott and Rogue was to take on Wolverine. While the first duo was fighting, Rogue went to introduce herself personally to the big brooding man, despite the protest of her friends. She extended a hand to him but he merely looked at it, his arms staying firmly crossed in front of his chest. She raised her eyebrow at him but did not lower her hand. Eventually he took it and shook it.

“See, that wasn’t too hard.” It was his turn to raise his eyebrows. “Good luck in there.” She told him and walked over to her friends. He couldn’t believe the audacity of the girl. Didn’t she know who he was? Who she was dealing with? She wanted to shake hands and be friends. He didn’t have friends. He had co-workers and acquaintances. Occasionally he would talk shop with one of the guys or have a drinking buddy to watch the game with for the night but that’s as far as it went. This girl needed to be afraid of him, like everyone else in the house. Once they got in the Danger Room and start fighting, he’d show her exactly who she was dealing with.

---

“Good fight.” Rogue told Wolverine when they were through. He snarled at her and stomped to his room, people jumping out of his way as he walked. “What’s his problem?” She asked.

“You won. Duh.” Kitty said.

“No I didn’t. We tied.” The match was a long and brutal one. Fist were thrown, feet were kicked, claws unleashed. At one point Rogue was able to pick up Wolverine and fly to the ceiling. He punched her in the face and she let him go. He landed with a sickening crunch. Finally the professor decided that the fight had gone on long enough, he had appointments he had to keep after all, and called it a draw.

“Chica, that’s the first time he didn’t win in the Danger Room. Or any fight for that matter.” Jubilee said impressed.

Rogue couldn’t help but smile.

Wolverine slammed the door to his room. Fucking bitch. She made him look like a fool. Every punch he threw she either blocked it or shook it off. Even though he was pissed as hell that she almost got the best of him, he was impressed by her. No one had ever lasted that long in a fight with him. Not only was she strong, thanks to her mutation, but she was a good fighter, a smart fighter. She would be a great asset to the team.

Now he was frustrated. There were only two things to ease the frustration. Fight, safe to say that wouldn’t work this time, or sex. It was time to call one of his many girls.

---

A few days later, Rogue, Feral, Kitty, Theresa, and Jubilee were sprawled out on every usable surface of the rec room.

“I’m so bored.” Jubilee stated for what felt like the millionth time, from her position on the floor.

“Tell me about it.” Kitty agreed from where she sat crossed leg on the coffee table, again.

“What are you complaining about? Go find that fiancé of yours. I’m sure the two of you can think of something to do.” Theresa said mischievously. Kitty was about to explain that he was tutoring when Storm ran in.

“Get suited up girls.” She said.

“Finally! Some action.” Jubilee exclaimed, jumping up.

“What’s wrong?” Theresa asked, ignoring Jubilee who was jumping up and down with her fist in front of her face, as if fighting someone invisible, which in the house they lived in, was very likely.

“Just got word the FOH is planning an attack on a family.”

“Who are the FOH and why are they targeting one family?” Rogue wondered.

“Friends of Humanity. They’re a bunch of mutant loathing humans, that try to do as much harm to mutants and mutant loving humans as possible. There is a family in North Dakota. They have many acres of land, a big house and no children. After seeing how many mutant children were unwanted in the adoption system, they decided to only adopt mutants. Over the years they became parents to over twenty six mutants. They are a leading example of humans and mutants living with and loving each other. Needless to say, the FOH doesn’t appreciate the image.”

“Damn.” Feral whispered.

“Exactly, this is why we need to hurry up. Can one of you get Wolverine, he’s still sleeping I think. I would do it but I got to get changed and get the jet started.” Then she left.

“Shit. Who’s going to go wake up sleeping Wolvie?” Jubilee wondered and then yelled out, “NOT IT.” This was quickly followed by Kitty, Theresa and Feral collectively yelling “NOT IT.”

“Chicken shits!” Rogue stuck her tongue out at them. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Then she ran up the steps, while the girls went into the elevator.

Stopping outside of Wolverine’s door, Rogue knocked. Then waited to the count of ten and knocked again. Nothing. Getting impatient, she opened the door. The sight that met her was not what she expected. Wolverine was shirtless, most likely naked, in bed with some blonde, who was definitely naked. Both were covered at the waist with a sheet, he was on his side, facing the door. The blonde, shocked, was scrambling to cover her exposed breasts. He was just pissed.

“Do you fucking mind?” He growled.

“Not at all. But if you’re going to finish, I suggest you make it fast. We need to go.” She crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to get up.

“No. You need to go.” He jumped out of the bed and she was relieved to see he had on sweatpants.

“No. We need to go. To the *basement* and then we need to go catch a *plane*. Now.” She stressed the words not want to come out and say ‘We have an X-men mission’ in front of company but he was starting to get on her nerves. There was a family in North Dakota that needed them and here he was trying to get laid. While they were talking the blonde got dressed and was slipping out the door.

“I’ll call you.” He yelled out to her before she closed the door behind her.

“You better be careful, you know how expensive those one nine hundred numbers are.” She said coolly. “Now hurry up. There is a family that needs our help or don’t you give a shit about mutants getting hurt.”

“Don’t you ever assume what I give a shit about little girl.” He spat. She muttered ‘whatever asshole’ and turned her back on him and didn’t see him charge her. He shoved her against the door and turned her around to face him. He was expecting outrage, or fear, hell even tears. He was not expecting a smirk.

“We don’t have time for me to kick your ass again.” She knew he couldn’t stand that they tied in that fight they had days earlier. He brought his face closer to hers and took a deep sniff. He smelt anger and frustration wrapped in a thick layer of sadness and hopelessness, but no fear.

“Did you just sniff me?” She almost laughed in his face from the absurdity of it.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” he asked slowly.

“No.” She stated matter-of-factly. She then wiggled out of his grasp; she didn’t need her abilities to assist her with it because he let her go. “But don’t take it personal. I’m not afraid of anyone.” She opened the door and stepped out of his room. He followed her without a word. He had never met someone who wasn’t scared of him and the first person who wasn’t was a young woman that barely reached his chin but that had a hell of a right hook. He smirked behind her back with respect for the woman; she was definitely a feisty little southern thing.

Everyone had finished showering and were already sleeping off their aches and pains they received in the fight. Well, almost everyone. There was still one person aboard the jet. Rogue was still in her seat, eyes closed, her blood boiling and her heart breaking.

The mission to protect the family was a success but the Brotherhood showed up, intent to show the FOH what happens when you messed with mutants. Rogue ignored them at first. Her priority was the safety of the family. Then her world was flipped on its head. She saw him. The bastard responsible for Bobby’s death. Sabretooth.

She wasn’t expecting to see him and it shook her. She didn’t remember much after that. Her body ran on auto-pilot. Once they landed back at the mansion, she didn’t want anyone to know she was upset so she hung back in the jet, pretending to look for a dropped earring. She finally got up, thinking enough time passed where she would have the locker room to herself. She wasn’t in the mood to continue to pretend everything was fine in her life.

---

Wolverine knocked out the last uniformed man and the hologram disappeared into thin air, signaling the end of the scenario. He grunted as he cracked his neck. He came to the Danger Room after the mission tonight. It wasn’t as satisfying as he hoped for. He was assigned, along with Rogue to be the personal guards to the family. The belief being that if anyone got through the first line, they would not get through the two unbreakable members of the team. Even though he agreed with the tactic, he saw virtually no action. This is why he made a beeline for the Danger Room. He needed the satisfaction that came with cracking skulls.

He was fully expecting to have the showers to himself but it seems he wasn’t so lucky. As soon as he stepped into the room he heard one of the showers running. He had every intention of telling whoever it was to get lost, show the claws if he had to, until he saw her. He was facing her profile and she was sitting on the floor, naked, under the spray of the shower. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs. Her hair was clinging to her back and face in a mess of chestnut and platinum.

He smelled the tears, rather than saw them. He didn’t think he had ever seen anything so sad and yet so beautiful before in his life. What baffled him was, for some reason, he wanted to go to her. Stop the waves of sadness and confusion and hopelessness that were coming off of her, choking him. He quickly dismissed the thought. He wouldn’t want to embarrass her. This was obviously a private moment. Then he mentally slapped himself for wanting to be considerate. He didn’t do considerate. Besides, what would he say? ‘Hey I smelled your sadness. Anything I can do?’ He quietly left and went to use the shower in his room.

---

“Georgianna.” Kurt called out to her as she left the kitchen.

“Hi Kurt.” She waited until he caught up with her before she continued walking.

“How are you doing? After my first mission I was a little overwhelmed.”

“That’s a great word to describe it. Overwhelmed. I knew that being over here would be different than Paris. Mutants are just people there and I knew we are not accepted here, but I was not prepared for the amount of hate they have for us.” She shivered as she remembered the look of rage the humans had on their face.

“Not all of them are like that.”

“I know but enough of them are to make me nervous.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you come then? Why leave such an accepting paradise to come here?”

She didn’t miss a beat when she answered, “Because I can help. I have a gift, my mutation, and I can use it to help others like me. Make it better for the next generation of mutants. That’s why.” They had arrived at the door to her room.

“Wow. Beautiful, smart, courageous and caring. Georgianna, you are quite the women.” Feral was thankful for her fur just then because it covered the massive blush that overcame her entire body.

“Thanks.” He bowed and parted company with her. She ran into her room and threw herself on her bed, a giddy smile spreading across her face.

---

It was two seventeen in the morning and Wolverine had not gotten a stitch of sleep. Once he had taken his shower and gotten into bed he couldn’t get the image of Rogue’s naked, wet body out of his head. And what a body it was. Athletic, without being overly muscular. Not an ounce of fat on her. A flat stomach and full breast that, even though he only saw the side of, could get him through a lifetime of nighttime alone sessions.

But it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do to have a one night stand with a member of the team. They were after relationships. He preferred women who were after the same thing he was; a good time and a late night. This is why he wouldn’t even consider the x-women, and he wouldn’t start now. At least that’s what he told himself.

Fed up with his runaway imagination, he decided to go get a beer or two. Slipping on a pair of track pants and nothing else he walked down to the kitchen. He smelled vanilla and magnolia before he even opened the door. Rogue. He went in anyway, for the beer… at least that’s what he told himself. She was sitting on a stool in a big deep green t-shirt and black short shorts. His body vibrated with a low growl, causing her to jump and turn around.

Her eyes opened wide in surprise at first and then quickly narrowed in annoyance when she realized who it was. Turning back to the table, she wrapped her hand around a bottle and took a drink. Noticing it was a bottle of Molson’s, his private stash, he stomped past her to the refrigerator, pulled it open and noticed three missing bottles out of one of his six packs.

“That’s my beer.” He pointed out.

“I didn’t see your name on it.” She brought the bottle to her lips and took a slow deliberate sip.

“Everyone knows that the Molson’s are mine.” It was an unspoken rule in the house. If the Wolverine bought it, liked it, or even looked at it with interest then nobody even considered it.

Rogue wasn’t in the mood for this. After crying her eyes out, having a long conversation with Bobby and then crying some more, she really didn’t have the energy for an attitude. She had no more fight in her tonight. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I’m sorry. I only drank three, but I’m having a bad night and I was hoping you could at least let me have one more. You have two whole cases in there.” Her voice was emotionally exhausted. He was considering it when she threw in a “Please. I won’t do it again.” He could tell she wasn’t the type of girl to say please often.

He pulled out the half empty case, making sure that he indeed have two additional cases in there, and placed the beer on the island as he sank into a stool opposite her.

“Here” he said as he handed her one. She took the bottle slowly and carefully, wondering what happened to the burly, mean and distant Wolverine she has seen in the mansion. “You want to talk about why you’re having a bad night?”

“No. It’s nothing.” She lied, picking at the label on the bottle.

“Bullshit, you were cry-” She snapped her head up so quick he was afraid she’d get whiplash, and by the look she gave him he knew he shouldn’t have mentioned the crying but it just slipped out.

“You were there? What were you doing, watching me cry?” She said like he was a pervert with a crying fetish.

“No. I was coming out of the Danger Room and wanted to shower. I didn’t think anyone was around. I saw you on the floor crying, decided you needed your privacy and walked out. If you want to talk about it, I’m not a problem solver but I’ll listen.”

“I don’t need pity.”

“It’s not pity.” Shit, he didn’t even know what it was but this woman just made him do things that was out of character for him, like offer to listen to her problems. “If you want to talk, I’m right here and if it’s boring, well I got twelve more bottles of beer in there, that’ll get me through it.” She smiled at him.

“It’s more depressing than boring.” She warned.

“The beer can help with that too.” And he smirked at her. It was the closest thing to a smile she has seen on his face. It made him look handsome in an edgy sort of way.

“OK. But you asked for it.” He nodded as she paused to drink from her beer. “I was crying because I saw Magneto and Sabretooth today.”

“You got a problem with buckethead and the overgrown cat?” He asked, twisting the cap off his second beer.

“You could say that.” She paused, furrowing her brow and tilting her head to the side. “What did they tell you about me?”

“They said something about you losing your friend and a little while after that you were forced to absorb someone completely.” She rolled her eyes at that “Said you had a rough life” Like it could have been that tough, he thought.

“Wow. That’s what they said? A friend? He wasn’t just my friend, he was my boyfriend. We were together for four and a half years before he died. He was my best friend in the world. As for having a rough life, I guess that’s true. But who gives a shit anymore? It’s the past.”

“Tell me about it.” He needed to know why she thought her life was so bad. Sure she lost her boyfriend but her life doesn’t look that bad from where he’s standing. Spent some time in Paris, lives in a mansion, everyone loves her. She was just another girl suffering from princess-itis.

“You see when I was fifteen I had a crush on this boy, Cody. One day we finally kissed, my first kiss, and that’s when my mutation decides to show up. I put him in a coma for a month. My father didn’t want the shame of a mutie daughter so he told me he was going into town for a couple of hours and when he came back he didn’t want to find any freaks in his house. So I packed up my shit and left. My mom didn’t even try to stick up for me. She didn’t even look at me.

“I was on the road for a couple months, managed to go from Mississippi to Canada hitching rides with truckers mostly and I was grateful for my skin because I knew it could protect me if I really needed it to. Even still, I had to let myself do certain things. Handjobs with my gloves on, a few blowjobs with condoms. It’s not like I wanted to do it, it’s just that I knew if I didn’t they’d get suspicious and if anyone found out I was a mutant I knew they’d try to kill me. Don’t tell the others, they don’t know how dark my past really was, but I had to survive on my own and I did the best I could.”

Wolverine was pissed that there were scum in this world who would use a kid like that. He had the urge to find them, have them beg for mercy and bury his claws deep into their stomachs. Why she was spilling her innermost secrets to the man in front of her that’d been nothing but a pain in her ass, was beyond her. All she knew was that once she started talking about her past she felt a little better and before she knew it she was confessing things she never told to anyone else.

“I was trying to make it to Alaska. Figured in a place like that people wouldn’t question about the long-sleeves and gloves I had to wear. When I was in Canada, I asked around and I found someone who could set me up with fake papers; ID, Social Security card, Birth Certificate, everything stating I was eighteen years old. But the bastard turned out to be a mutant who’s ability was sensing others abilities.

“Once he found out what I was and what I could do, he sold the information to Magneto. He wasted no time, showing up with his brotherhood to kidnapped me. Not that there was anyone who would miss me. He had me absorb him to the point that I could borrow his gift, he wanted me to be the battery for this machine that turned humans into mutants. It would have left me dead but the X-Men came.”

“Good thing he never got the chance to use it.”

“Oh, he used it. Believe me. The X-Men destroyed it before it started to work. It hurt like a bitch and almost killed me, not that I would have minded much seeing how shitty my life was at the time. That’s how I got these, something about severe shock.” She fingered the white streaks in her hair. “It was my turn to be in a coma then. When I woke up, I was here and I tried to fit in but no one wanted to be friends with the girl with poisonous skin. Except Bobby” She smiled as she remembered him and Wolverine felt an unfamiliar urge to have her smile at him like that.

“He made an effort to be my friend and to get people to see me for who I was and not the skin. It was because of him I have any friends at all. Then we started dating and it was great. I lost my virginity to him.” He smirked at her and raised an eyebrow at her “What? We were very creative.” She laughed and he grinned, the beers taking their effect. Then a thought occurred to her “You know I never told anybody that. I think they all assume I’m still a virgin.” She shook her head before she continued. “Anyway on with the pathetic excuse that is my life. Bobby and I were going strong, joined the team when we graduated and went on missions.” Her smiled faded and she took a deep breath before she continued.

“On our last mission together I watched as Sabertooth used his nails to stab him in his chest. He was in pain, drowning in his own blood and there was nothing anyone could do for him. I didn’t want for him to be in pain any longer so I told him I would put him out of his misery and I absorbed him. There wasn’t much to take only a small part of his conscience was left.”

“Shit.” He whispered, completely intrigued by her life. She blinked back tears that were starting to form.

“Wait. It gets better. I became depressed for a while, I’m talking locked in my room not wanting to eat or socialize at all. Scott finally told me that he missed Bobby too but I had to move on. I yelled something about him having Jean and I had no one, and how could he get over Bobby so quickly. I went out to try to cool down and saw Sabretooth sneaking around the school and I dropped him, held on until he passed out. But silly me so blind with rage I didn’t notice Mystique come up behind me. So now I was Magneto’s prisoner for the second time.

“He had me absorb a mutant. An experiment, I think. I never did find out why. She was laying on a bed sleeping, she had to been drugged. Then they forced my hands on her. It took a while but they used me to kill her. They knew about her flying ability because they shackled my feet to the ground before they used me but I don’t think they knew about her super strength because as soon as I knew what her powers were I broke free and flew away.

“Carol was strong in my head and was pissed I killed her. She didn’t care that I didn’t mean to do it. Sometimes she would take over completely. I felt like I was losing my mind so I went away to get help. And now I’m back. Great story, huh?”

“No wonder you got upset. It must have been hard to see them today. I don’t know how you didn’t just go over to them and kill them. Get revenge.” She looked at him for a second because out of all the times she’s explained these events he was the first one to voice her opinion on it, even encouraging it. “What?”

“You’re the first one to say that. Everyone usually tells me I’ll get over it or revenge won’t change things. But I don’t give shit. They fucked up my life. One took away someone important and the other used me as a weapon. You know how that makes me feel?” She was just talking, she never meant for him to answer.

“Actually I do.” He couldn’t believe he was about to tell her this but he felt that she understood pain. He jumped to the wrong conclusion about her. She wasn’t a spoiled princess; she was a tough as nails street smart women who survived a lot of heartache. She was tougher than all these geeks put together. “I was used by the government. I don’t know how or even why exactly only that the fuckers saw my healing factor as permission to do whatever they wanted to me. They fucked with me so bad I lost all my memory. I can only remember as far back as twenty six years ago. They drugged me, cut me open and pored adamantium over my bones and gave me claws. They wanted me to be their indestructible mutant killer.” She brought her hand to her mouth and gasped, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock, sadness and anger.

He popped out the claws and looked at them. At times he was disgusted by them, a constant reminder of the torture he was through. Other times he respected them because they helped him out of tight spots. At the moment he wasn’t sure how he felt about them. He snapped them back in and Rogue watched mesmerized as the skin between his knuckles stitched itself together.

“When they come out, does it hurt?” He was floored and didn’t know what to do. No one has ever asked him this. No one ever cared.

“Every time.” She seemed upset or sad by his answer.

“That’s sucks. They should rot for what they did to you.” She sounded disgusted.

“They did. They made the weapon and died by it too.” She didn’t look scared or revolted to be sharing a beer with someone who just admitted to killing people.

“How’d you feel afterwards? Did you feel better?”

“Honestly, not right away, but eventually I did. I know those people can’t hurt me or anyone else again. That doesn’t mean the government can’t start all over again but maybe they’ll think twice knowing the consequences. But it still doesn’t erase what they did to me.” She nodded thoughtfully.

“Shit. So you don’t remember anything at all? They wiped your memory completely clean?”

“I remember one thing.” He said cautiously.

“What?”

“My name.”

“Wait, Wolverine’s not your name?”

“No.” His hand went to the chain around his neck, fingers skimming over the name in the dog tag.

“But, everyone calls you Wolverine. Even the Professor-”

“He doesn’t know that I know it.” She was left speechless for a moment. She was trying to process if she heard him correctly. The amount of liquor she consumed combined with her lack of sleep might have been playing tricks on her hearing. But no, she heard him correct.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is it?” He hesitated for one second before he answered

“Logan.”

“I like it. It suits you. It’s funny, I guess we’re more alike than we thought.”

“Why?”

“Because no one knows my name either.” He gave her a surprised look. “I didn’t trust anyone when I ran away, so I used different names. When I was getting the new ID’s I put down Rogue. No one asked, which was good because I didn’t want to tell.”

“Not even Bobby?” He could have slapped himself for asking the question because she got real sad all of a sudden.

“No. Not even Bobby. I always wanted to tell him, but I just keep putting it off. I guess I thought I had time.” She sighed, then gave herself a little shake and planted a smile on her face as she extended a hand out to Logan. He took it faster than the last time she offered and they shook hands. “Hi Logan. Nice to finally meet you. I’m Marie.”

Logan groaned when he got out of bed, his body protesting loudly. He wasn’t hung-over, thanks to his mutation, but he still needed sleep and last night he barely got any. No, instead he stood awake almost until dawn spilling his deepest memories to Rogue. No. Marie, her name is Marie. She listened to him, really listened, not like most people who just sat quietly waiting for their turn to speak.

He didn’t know what got into him last night. He sat there and told her everything he could remember, which in all honesty wasn’t much. He even told her his name. It must have been the fact that she was so honest and open with him. Trusting him with things she never told anybody else. Her not being a virgin, her desire to get revenge on the men who hurt her and that she still has Bobby in her mind, even though she possesses the ability to erase him for her mind permanently. But then again she did have a few beers and she doesn’t have his healing factor. It is entirely possible she didn’t mean to tell him so much, it could have been the beer talking. What if she’s out there right now telling everyone all the things he said? Shit. He needed to find her and quick.

He didn’t find her in her room but he did catch her scent. After growling at a couple kids to move out of the way, he managed to follow it out into the hallway, into the other wing, through the kitchen they sat in last night, out the side door, past the garage and into the woods. He walked for five minutes before her scent got stronger, fresher. His blood started to pump faster when he knew he was close, she may not be a prey but he was enjoying the hunt no less. He knew where she was.

---

Rogue sat down on a fallen tree trunk, her half eaten burger and fries sat next to her. She used to come out her all the time in the past to relax, to be by herself, to have some space or to be somewhere quiet when the voices in her head got too loud. There wasn’t a spectacular view, no amazing sunset or sunrise could be seen from this point, no lake to see, but there was one nearby because she could hear the gurgling of the water. It was just a quiet place in nature with trees as far as the eye could see.

She had woken up with a mild hangover and needed the quiet and fresh air this morning. Needed time to think about last night. She really let her mouth fly off, telling him everything she held in from others for years. It had proven to be somewhat therapeutic. When she woke up this morning she felt great beside the headache, but she felt lighter, freer. There was someone in the mansion now who knew her name, who knew the young girl from Meridian and her struggles, at least a little bit.

“Hey” He had finally found her sitting on an overturned tree that he himself used almost daily, her back to him. She turned around and gave him a little smile.

“Hey yourself.” He was wearing a pair of blue jeans so tight that it couldn’t have been good for his little swimmers. Oh no, why am I thinking about his little swimmers, she thought.

“What are you doing in my spot?”

“Your spot?” She said, her eyebrows raised. He nodded his head. “Sorry to tell you this but this here is my spot. Been coming here since I was sixteen. You have been using my spot but I might let you borrow it every now and then.”

“Yeah sure.” He sat down on the tree making sure not to sit on her plate of food. “You’re a burger kind of girl?” he asked with mock disbelief. “I would have thought you would be the salad and a water type.”

“No sir. I’m a meat and potato kind of girl, even at ten in the morning.” She finished off her burger, stuffing a few fries in her mouth and washing it down with her vanilla milkshake. “What you doing out here anyway?”

“I was looking for you. I caught your scent and tracked it until it led me to you.” She wrinkled her nose at that.

“I have a scent?” He was going to tell her what it was when she put her hand up and stopped him. “No, don’t tell me what it is. I’m not sure I even want to know. Why were you looking for me?”

“About last night-” She cut him off, already knowing where he was going.

“I’m not going to tell anyone what you said. I’m not like that. Your secrets are safe with me Logan.” The way she said his name made a warmth spread through his body.

“Just checking, and just so you know your secrets are safe with me too Marie.” She tilted her head at the sound of her name from another’s lips; it had been almost nine years since she heard it spoken.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

---

“Rogue? Can I come in?” Feral knocked on her friend’s door anxiously.

“Yeah.” She barged into the room out of breath and beyond excited. “What’s up with you?” Rogue had never seen her act this way before.

“I was looking for you at breakfast this morning. Where were you?”

“I slept in and then I went out, why?”

“I needed to talk to you. I’m freaking out.”

“What happened?”

“Do you know much about Kurt?”

“No, he came here while I was in Paris but I hear he’s a nice guy. Why? Will you tell me what’s going on?” Laughter in her voice at the sight of her furry friend bouncing on her feet.

“He asked me out to dinner tonight.”

“Oh my God. That’s great.” Feral went from ecstatic to nervous. “What’s wrong?”

“Just look at us. I’m covered in fur and he’s blue. Where can we go where we won’t be considered freaks? I really don’t want to be called a mutie when I’m eating dinner.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. The Professor has a friend who owns a restaurant. He has a private section in the back for mutants that are dangerous or obvious. Sorry I couldn’t think of a better word.” Feral smiled, shook her head and waved it away. “I used to eat there all the time, back when I couldn’t control it.”

“Wow. I’m really going to go on a date.” She smiled dreamily for a moment before all air seemed to leave her body “I think I’m going to be sick.” Rogue ran to her side and forced her to sit on the bed.

“Put your head between your legs and take a deep breath.” She was wondering why she was behaving like this. Then a thought accord to her. “Gigi, is this your first date? Ever?” She didn’t lift her head, merely nodded from her place in-between her knees.

Rogue smiled sadly at that fact. Georgianna was a really great person; sweet, honorable, trustworthy, kind and a loyal friend. It was a shame not many guys wanted to get to know her. She was a unique individual whose outward appearance, unfortunately, hindered any romantic pursuits. Until now. Kurt, because of his own unique appearance, was able to look past the fur to the beautiful and funny women she was.

Now this woman was a bundle of nerves, butterflies in her stomach, because she was unsure of how to act on a date. Should she hold his hand? Be herself or a little more outgoing? Oh god, are you supposed to kiss each other at the end? That’s how the dates ended in the movies, right? She felt completely out of her element.

“Don’t panic. What time is he picking you up?”

“Seven thirty.”

“Plenty of time. I’m going to call the girls and first we’re going to have ourselves glass of wine to calm you down and then we’re going to raid our closets and find you an amazing outfit.” Feral finally lifted her head and gave a little smile.

Four hours later, two glasses of wine for Georgianna and several glasses for Rogue, Theresa, Kitty and Jubilee, there was a knock on Feral’s bedroom door.

“Who is it?” She called out.

“It’s me, Kurt. Are you ready?” Even though they couldn’t see him, they could hear he was smiling.

“Yeah,umm.. Just a minute.” She yelled out to Kurt and then turned around to talk to the girls. “How do I look?” She held her arms out to the side and twirled in place. She wore her own dark blue jeans, not too tight, black boots donated for the night by Rogue, a yellow shirt from Jubilee, a striped black and white cardigan found in the back of Theresa’s closet and jewelry from Kitty.

“You look great.” Rogue walked forward and hugged her. “Remember he asked you out because he likes you as you are, so be yourself.”

“And have fun.” Theresa advised.

“And don’t eat any onions, garlic or fish. Fresh breath is a very important thing on a date.” Kitty warned.

“I guess it’s my turn. I would tell you to make sure your legs aren’t shaved, it guarantees you won’t let him take it too far, but in your case I think that’ll be kind of redundant.” Feral giggled and shook her head, she loved Jubilee’s weird humor.

“Jubes, we’re talking about Kurt here, not the kind of guys you go out with.” Kitty teased.

“Yeah but in Jubes case, it’s not the guys who take it too far.” Rogue ducked as Jubilee hurled a pillow at her head.

“Thanks guys. I would still be having my mini panic attack if you didn’t help me today. It means a lot to me. Wish me luck.” She said as she made her way to the door and opened it. The girls looked on like proud mamas. When they thought the couple walked a good amount down the hallway, they ran to the door to watch them. When Kurt’s tail touched Georgie’s by accident, the couple blushed and moved several feet away from each other as Kurt apologized. The girls couldn’t help but think it was the cutest thing they ever saw.

“All right girls. I’ll see you later.”

“Rogue, where you going?” Theresa asked.

“Go for a run and maybe go to the Danger Room for awhile. Bye” They waited until they could no longer hear her footsteps before talking.

“She needs to get out more. Hang out, go dancing, flirt.” Theresa pouted.

“She needs to do the horizontal mambo finally.” Kitty rolled her eyes at Jubilee and ignored her comment.

“It’s been years since Bobby died. She needs to move on, she needs to be happy.” Kitty looked down on the ring on her left hand and smiled sadly, wishing her friend could be as happy as she was with Peter.

“Leave it to me. I got an idea.” Kitty sighed, when Jubilee smiled mischievously. Jubilee’s ideas never helped anyone but they always indulged her because her heart was always in the right place.

---

Rogue was sitting in the library, which was completely empty since it was summer, feeling a little lonely. Kitty was spending all her time between tutoring and Peter. Theresa and John were inseparable and when she wasn’t with him she would be whispering with Jubilee. Feral and Kurt hit it off and were often having lunch and dinner together or taking walks in the garden. She got so desperate for company that she even sought out Wolverine, but she was told by the Professor that he was out, he often felt the need to escape for a few days.

She understood the need to escape. She felt it a lot in the beginning when Bobby died. No one understood her or wanted to anyway. And if she was honest with herself she enjoyed the peace and quiet now. It was exhausting to pretend that she was happy go lucky all the time. That she was the same old Rogue, the one before Bobby died. That she wasn’t afraid of getting close to someone for fear they would be taken away.

Rogue was startled out of her thoughts and dropped her book when the doors to the library burst opened and Jubilee came skipping in followed by Theresa, Feral, and Kitty. Why did she feel like she was being ambushed?

“What are you doing tonight?” Jubilee sing-songed as Rogue bent to pick up her book.

“This.” Rogue lifted her book.

“No you’re not.” Rogue furrowed her brows in confusion.

“What?”

“Do you want to know what you’re doing tonight?” Jubilee smirked and wagged her eyebrows at her. Behind her Kitty look apologetic and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ and Rogue knew she was in for trouble.

“What am I doing tonight?” She asked cautiously.

“You, my sexy friend, have a date with an eligible bachelor tonight at seven o’clock.” Rogue sighed. She wanted to say no, she wanted to say that her and Jubes have completely different taste in men, but once she saw the look on Jubes face, the look that said ‘ain’t I so marvelous for helping’, she didn’t. Instead she gave in with a sigh.

“Where am I meeting him?”

“So I told him I won’t be a dishwasher. Come on, like I would stoop that low.” Craig Woods was the kind of guy she hated. The kind that are insensitive and full of themselves. Sure he was cute, probably why Jubilee set her up with him in the first place, but he was obnoxious and self centered.

“So what do you do for a living?” She was trying her hardest to be polite and get his attention away from her breast and somewhere in the vicinity of her eyes. She had liked the way she looked when she left the house with her new black jeans tucked into knee high boots, white cotton tank top, black bangles on her wrist and a black beaded necklace that came down to her navel. She thought it was perfect for her without being too sexy but now, with his eyes on her, she felt exposed and she didn’t even have a sweater to cover herself.

“Nothing right now but it’s fine, I live with my parents so it’s not like I need the money.” It took a lot of restraint to not yell ‘check please’ after that.

~Bobby, I’m going to smack him in a minute~ She had let Bobby out of his box two minutes into the date and was having a better time with someone’s conscience than with the man in front of her.

~Relax Roguey

~But he’s such an ass. Can I hit him? Just once? I won’t even close my fist.

~I know this guy’s an ass, but you can’t hit him, you have super strength. Just get out of this date now. This is definitely not the guy for you.

She excused herself to the bathroom; she put Bobby back in his box and set the timer on her cell phone to go off in five minutes. Back at the table, she sat through five minutes of self-absorbed talk and him staring at her breast again, before her phone went off.

She took it out, looked at it, looked at him, said “Excuse me but I really have to take this” and proceeded to put on an Oscar worthy performance.

“Hey. Is everything ok? Tell him he’s going to get into trouble if he wakes the little one. Is she feeling any better? No. Ok. I’ll be right there. Bye.” She closed the phone and looked at her date who looked disappointed.

“Sorry. It was the babysitter one of my kids is sick. I got to go.” She picked up the napkin in her lap and placed it on the table.

“You have kids?”

“Yeah. Five”

“Five?” All the color drained from his face and suddenly he looked thrilled to see her go.

“Yeah. Scott’s the oldest, then Kurt, the twins Katherine and Georgia, and the baby, little Jean. All my friends say I’m the most fertile woman they know. I swear if I even think about having sex, I could probably get pregnant.” She let out a little laugh. “If you want to continue this date at my house we can. It wouldn’t take that long to put the kids back to bed, especially if you help me. God, the kids are going to love you.”

“Actually. I have to be going home anyway, my mom doesn’t like it if I wake her up when I get home too late. Bye.” Then he got up and left as fast as his feet could carry him.

“Great, it worked so well I got stuck with the bill. Shit.” She muttered under her breath as she got the waiters attention.

She left the restaurant thirty-nine dollars and eighty-two cents lighter, which meant she didn’t even have enough money for a cab home. Sure, she could call someone and ask them to be at the door with money to pay for her cab or even to pick her up but she wanted Jubilee to at least think she gave the date a try. It was still light out at eight o’clock so she decided to walk.

She walked half a mile, cursing her heels, the unnaturally cool night for summer and her lack of jacket or sweater the whole way, before she sat on a curb and pulled her boots off wiggling her toes in relief. After a moments rest she collected her boots and continued walking. Her plan was to walk the several miles to the mansion and hide out at her spot in the woods until she was sure everyone was asleep and sneak in.

It was another half a mile before she heard a motorcycle, the first sign of life she heard since she turned on this road. She didn’t look at the bike as it drove past her, she didn’t even look up when she heard the engine stop but she did look up when she heard a gruff voice call out.

“Marie?” Her head snapped up and she saw Logan straddling a motorcycle that looked vaguely familiar. “What are you doing out here by yourself at this time? And why are you walking in your socks?” he looked at her slightly amused.

“Long story short, I was set up on a date from hell and these ain’t exactly walking shoes.” She was on a date. His hands clenched into a fist and he felt a pang of … actually he wasn’t sure what it was, just that he didn’t like it.

“He didn’t even give you a ride home? What kind of asshole does that?” She was sitting down on the ground slipping her feet back into her boots.

“Sure, like you drive all those ‘friends’ of yours home when you’re done with them.” She laughed when he gave her a hard look, “Relax, I was just joking. Not like you can call what you do with them a date. Booty call is more like it.” She giggled again, thinking that maybe she had too much wine, but then remembering she needed it to get through the date.

“You want a ride to the mansion?”

“I would but I don’t want to go home yet. I know the girls are probably waiting up for me and I don’t want to tell them it was a bust. Thanks anyway.” She waved and started to walk away but he didn’t want to let her go. He really enjoyed spending time with her which was different for him because he never liked spending time with people, he tolerated them, he didn’t intentionally want someone around him, like he did her.

“Wait.” She stopped and turned to him, “Get on, I want to show you something.” She looked at him, her head tilted slightly and her bottom lip between her teeth, debating if she should get on the bike. “Come on. I know a place that you’ll love.” He held out his hand and before she knew what she was doing, she took it and used it as leverage as she swung her leg around to sit on the bike behind him. “Hold on.”

Logan was thankful for the roar of the cycle because once she wrapped her arms around his middle he let out a satisfied growl right before he took off. He drove for a few minutes enjoying the feel of the woman on his back before he veered off the tar road and onto a dirt one leading deep into the woods. The ride became a little bumpier and Logan felt every shift and jiggled of Marie’s breast against him, he was in heaven.

After another few minutes the bike slowed to a stop.

“We’ll walk from here. It’s not long.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her behind him. She struggled to keep up to him as he weaved through bushes and trees. Soon the woods thinned out to a clearing and the view was breathtaking. It was about a twenty feet by fifteen feet clearing surrounded by thicket on three sides, the fourth side of the clearing was a cliff overlooking more woods and in the distance houses and buildings. The sun was more than three quarters of the way set and everything was painting in golds and oranges and fiery reds.

“Wow” she was awed by the sight.

“You like it?” She turned to look at him and she bit back a smirk, he looked like a three year seeking approval.

“You were right. I love it.” He seemed truly pleased by that answer. He walked right to the end of the cliff and sat down, his feet dangling over the edge of the very high drop, then patted the spot next to him as he looked up to her. She raised her eyebrows and gave him and expression that said “you got to be kidding me”.

“Just sit down, if it’s sturdy enough to hold my body with all the metal in it, it could definitely hold you no problems.” She shrugged her shoulders and sat next to him. They sat in silence for the next seven minutes as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, the full moon the only light for them to see by now.

“Damn. I can’t remember the last time I saw a sunset. I really should take the time to see them more often.”

“I try to see one whenever I can. The only thing better than a sunset is a sunrise, now that’s something.” He watched her for a second as she looked down at the drop. “You ready to go back yet?”

“No, but I don’t want to keep you. You can go. I’ll find my way back. I’m going to stay here for a while.”

“I got nothing better to do.” She muttered an ‘oh thanks’ that his hearing picked up. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you’re not keeping me from anything. I want to stay here with you.” There was a moment where they locked eyes and she tried to bite back a smile as she blushed slightly. “Stay right here, I’ll be right back”

She scooted back away from the ledge and removed her boots for the second time that night as she waited for Logan to come back from whatever he was doing.

“Why do you keep taking off those boots?” She didn’t look up from her feet as she rubbed them when she answered him.

“I haven’t broken them in yet and they hurt my feet.” She looked up to see him with a duffel bag in his hand. He sat down in front of her and rummaged through the bag.

“Here” He said as he removed a bottle of whiskey and handed it to her. Once she took the bottle he forcibly grabbed one of her feet, pulled it into his lap and began to massage it.

“What are you doing?” her face the picture of confusion.

“You said your feet hurt.” He never failed to amaze her. The corners of her mouth were raised as she whispered an ‘oh’.

“Thanks. What’s this for?” She lifted the bottle.

“I thought we’d drink it.” He spoke as if to a child. She rolled her eyes at him as she cracked the seal. Logan watched mesmerized as she brought the bottle to her lips and drank from it. She didn’t wince or make a face like most women he seen drink, she drank like a man and he wondered if he found himself a decent drinking partner. Time will tell.

She passed him the liquor and rubbed her arms, she really regretted not bringing some type of jacket. Logan noticed and put the whiskey on the dirt next to him, so he could shrug off his leather jacket.

“Here, put this on.” She grabbed the jacket and slide her arms into the oversized sleeves.

“Who would have guessed you were the chivalrous type?”

“Who knew you weren’t such a princess?” He smirked and decided she looked good wearing his jacket, covered in his scent. The jacket was several sizes too big for her but was warm, which was all that mattered. She pulled the sleeves up until she was able to use her hands. She thought the jacket smelled of evergreen trees, fuel, a distinctive smell that had to be pure Logan and tobacco. Speaking of tobacco, she searched through her purse for her cigarettes and lighter.

“You smoke?” He wasn’t judging her just asking, as he took a swig from the bottle.

“Sometimes but don’t tell anyone. I picked it up in Paris, everybody smokes there plus it calmed my nerves. If Scott finds out, he’d kill me.” Ok maybe not kill her but there will be disappointment from the fearless leader who believes in putting only healthy thing into the body.

“I won’t.” he then leaned over and felt around into one of the pockets of the jacket Rogue was now wearing, pulling out a cigar. She handed him the lighter and he passed her the bottle. “You and Scott are close, aren’t you?” She took another healthy shot of whiskey.

“Not at first. When I first got here, I thought he had a stick up his butt.-”

“Still does if you ask me.” She giggled before she continued.

“I hated how anal he was about, well everything. But after Bobby died we mourned together, became close. Bobby was a mixture of son and brother to him. That’s why he looks after me now. He feels he owes it to Bobby.”

They spent the next half hour in comfortable silence, which surprised the hell out of Logan. Any time he spent with other women, they always wanted to talk and when there was silence it sure as hell wasn’t comfortable. But this he enjoyed, they smoked and passed the bottle back and forth between them. He liked that he could taste her on the bottle, vanilla and wine but just barely.

She shifted so she was sitting next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. The liquor was affecting her ability to hold herself up, but still she said nothing, just grabbed the bottle away from him and drank. ‘I definitely found myself a drinking buddy’ he thought, but he found himself wishing it could be more. He didn’t know what to do with her. When she put her head on him, his body reacted in a way that surprised him, he felt warmth and contentment, but he also felt possessiveness. He’s never felt these things for someone before and it scared the shit out of him.

She liked the way he felt next to her. Warm. Solid. Strong. She felt safe when she was around him. But that was odd because she hardly spent any time with him and at first they couldn’t stand each other, yet here they were getting drunk together, truly enjoying each other’s company. When she first saw him she thought he was hot, sexy, attractive, pick you adjective, but she had standards. A guy had to be more than flat abs and a tight ass to keep her interest. Then she got to know him and he’s proven to be a good guy and she knew she was the only one who saw his redeeming qualities which left her with mixed feelings.

On one hand she thought it was a shame that everyone in the mansion saw him as a dumb, mean mutant, who was only good at fighting and scaring people. But on the other hand she liked that she was the only one who saw that part of him, made her feel special and it’s been a long time since she felt special. Since Bobby and that was… wow that was almost four years ago. Had it really been that long since she was with a man? In a relationship? Shit.

Logan was so unlike Bobby. Bobby was Mr. Prom King, as American as apple pie and baseball, could have easily been an Aeropostale model with his clear blue eyes, sandy blond hair and slim athletic body. He was a prankster, constantly the center of attention, a sneaky grin permanently on his clean shaven face, his heart on his sleeve.

Logan was almost the total opposite of Bobby. He’s big and muscular, black hair styled into two ridiculous points, that somehow works for him, thick muttonchops and hazel-gold eyes that you could get lost in. He’s the kind of guy her mama back in Meridian warned her about. He’s gruff and crass, some might even say vulgar, with a hair trigger temper. But he’s also thoughtful, smart, surprisingly caring, and funny in his own way. He had a strong sense of what was right or wrong for him and he stuck by it.

She tilted her head back to see his face, he was just enjoying the view the cliff offered to them.

“How c-come you’re not dr-drunk?” She hiccupped.

“Part of having a healing factor is it takes a lot to get me drunk.”

“Ssh-shit. That’s not fair. Next time w-we drink together, you have to take four shots every t-time I take one. Deal?” She sat up straight and held out her hand for him to shake. At least that’s what she intended to do. Her body was still not ready to hold her up and she ended up falling back, her outstretched hand slapping him in the face with more force than he was expecting until her remembered her super strength.

Logan smirked and shook his head, not wanting to let on how much it truly hurt, as she lay on her back, trying to apologize through her laughter. He leaned back on one elbow and turned to face her.

“You ok? You fell back pretty hard there”

“Oh my god!” More laughter. “I’m so sorry I slapped you.” Even more laughter. “I- I’m fine. I-” She stopped laughing when she realized how close his face was to hers. “Wow.” She whispered, suddenly feeling very warm.

“What?”

“I never seen eyes that color before. They’re beautiful.” If anyone else had used the word ‘beautiful’ to describe him, he would have punched them but coming from her, he liked it. She brought one hand up to run through his hair then brought it down, tracing his cheek along his jaw and across his lips.

He froze, his eyes wide his breath stuck somewhere in his throat. He couldn’t understand how a simple touch could get his heart pounding so fast and so loud he was sure she could hear it.

She mistook his temporary paralysis for fear and pulled her hand back quickly. Once her soft fingers left his skin, he was able to breath again.

“What was that for?” Not that he was complaining.

“I shouldn’t have touched you. I’m sorry. But you don’t have to afraid my skin was off.” He raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“I wasn’t afraid. I was shocked.” He needed to make her understand that he could never be afraid of her.

“Then why did you freeze up?”

“You don’t have to have poisonous skin for people not to touch you. I don’t exactly give off the touch me vibe now do I?” She smiled sadly at him.

“No I guess not but still to not be touched is a lonely thing. At least I had a legitimate reason” He felt something in his chest at that moment but chalked it up to heartburn or … something.

“Let’s get going, you got to be ready for bed.” He went to stand but she stopped him.

“Can we just stay here?” her voice soft almost pleading.

“You want to sleep out here?”

“Yeah, why not? You strike me as the outdoorsy type.”

“I’ve done it before but what about you, darlin’? A dirt ground ain’t the most comfortable place to sleep.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“You have to stop thinking I’m some princess or something. When I was hitchhiking I used to curl up where ever I could, including church steps, parks and dirt ground, especially if I couldn’t get a ride or if I didn’t trust to sleep around the person who was giving me one.” He wished he could have protected her from that and then immediately dismissed the thought. She made it out fine and she’s the person she is now because of it.

“Ok. Sleepover in the woods it is.” As she took off the jacket he gave her, he moved his duffel bag behind him and lay back using it as a pillow. Then he remembered that she had nothing to put under her head. He was going to offer his flannel shirt or maybe a rolled up pair of jeans he had in the bag, but she lower her head onto his chest and covered herself with his jacket. This is much better, he thought as he wrapped an arm around her.

He watched her as her breathing evened out and eventually she was sleeping. He was amazed that she was here, with him. She’s so unlike anyone he ever met. She was breathtakingly beautiful. There was no other way to describe it. His finger slipped easily through her deep brown locks, the bolts of platinum framing her face making her look unique, then he remembered how she got them and he growled, vowing to make metal-head pay for what he did to her.

He felt like a teenager (not that he remembered what it was like to be one), all awkward and unsure of himself. He’s been with other women but none that he ever felt like taking home or caring about. He soon fell asleep, his hand on her bare waist, feeling happier than he ever remembered being.

---

Rogue slowly woke up, not looking forward to the day because of the hangover she was feeling. The sun was far too bright for her liking and she brought an arm up to cover her eyes. She was surprised when the pillow she was using took a deep breath. Tilting her head back she saw it was actually Logan. She bit her lip, smiling thinking how even in his sleep he was sexy.

All of a sudden he whimpered, shaking his head back and forth and mumbling in his sleep. He seemed to be in physical pain. She put her hand on his shoulder and tried to shake him awake. He growled loudly, sending a flock of birds that were sleeping in a nearby tree soaring into the air, sitting upright in an instant, the ‘snikt’ of his claws coming out echoing through the clearing right before they sunk deep into her chest, coming out the other side.

She tried to draw breath but found she couldn’t, feeling like a fish out of water. She looked down and saw Logan’s three claws embedded in her chest. *Hmm, I guess my invulnerability has one weakness… Adamantium.* She slowly lifted her head and saw Logan’s beautiful eyes, panicked and slowly filling with tears.

“Oh God. I’m sorry.” Another ‘snikt’ and she jerked forward as she felt the blades pull out of her. “Oh God Marie. I’m so sorry.” This couldn’t be happening to him. He was having a nightmare about those fucking doctors and the unspeakable things they did to him and the next thing he knew, his claws where in her. God no, he just found this woman who was … well he didn’t know what she was to him yet except that she was special and now he – God no.

She wanted to warn him, she really did, tell him she could fix this, make herself better but that she had to touch him … with her skin on, but she couldn’t. She felt the blood rushing into her lungs, felt the rattle, or maybe waves is a better word, of the blood against the inside of her lungs as she tried to apologize to him, that she would only take what she needed but it would still hurt. She flipped the switch and instantly felt the buzz of her skin. The last thought that went through her mind as she brought her hand up to his face was ‘Dear God, this must’ve been what Bobby felt’.

Logan felt liquid cold rush through his veins the moment her fingers touched his face. Then the cold was quickly replaced by fire bursting open in his body and even though he never felt such pain, he was grateful that she had the wisdom to put her skin on and think about self preservation. He just hoped he could heal from whatever was happening to him. As his world faded to black and he started to slump back, he caught a glimpse of her skin knitting itself back together and heard her take a deep gasping breath. *At least she’s alright*

“Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.” She repeated in her mind over and over as she tried to catch her breath. Other than the slow movement of his chest barely rising he was deathly still. She quickly crawled over to her purse to find her cell phone and call Scott. Flipping it open, she noticed it was off and cursed herself for shutting it off last night because now she had to wait for it to power up. Once it was on she dialed the mansion and waited for someone to answer.

Ring. 'Pick up, pick up.'

Ring. 'Damn it, answer the fucking phone.'

Ri- “Hello.”

“Scott. I need help. It’s Logan.”

Marie stretched awake, groaning as her back cracked and cursing when she felt a knot in her shoulder. The oversized armchair in Logan’s room was clearly not meant to be slept in. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled letting her know she was being watched, something that happened a lot since she got a good dose of Logan’s senses. She tilted her head to see Logan, fully awake, watching her.

“Oh thank God. You’re ok.” She let out a breath she had been holding since she drained him. “You are ok, right?” Her eyes roaming over his body, checking for physical injuries she knew she wasn’t going to find.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How about you? You’re the one that was stabbed.”

“I’m fine.” He shoots her a skeptical look before suddenly moving his hand over to her stomach and before she register what he’s about to do, he lifts up the edge of her shirt. All she can think is, thank goodness I was too tired to take my bra off last night, because the shirt is lifted to the point that her green cotton bra is showing. He shows no interest in the underwear or what’s in them, just runs his finger softly over where he knew he hurt her. She shuddered slightly, not used to such an intimate touch.

“You see, I’m fine. Now can I have my shirt back please?” He looks slightly embarrassed and that got a smirk out of her.

“How long I’ve been out?” He was expecting a couple of hours, a day at the most, he was not expecting her to start biting her nails, looking guilty. “How long?” he growled.

“Well, you passed out on Saturday morning and it’s Friday morning. I’m so sorry.” He ran an unsteady hand through his hair. He’s never been taken out of commission before and the first to do it was this tiny slip of a woman. It was almost funny in a way.

“Shit you got nothing to say sorry about. You were just saving your life, if I hadn’t of hurt you in the first place. I’m sorry I stabbed you.” She gave a little laugh, thinking how funny that would look on a greeting card.

“It’ ok.”

“No it’s not. If it wasn’t for your skin you’d be dead. Shit! What if you couldn’t put your skin on in time? You could have died.” His voice was getting louder, less gently and more self-loathing.

“No!” She yelled, not liking where this was headed. “You don’t get to decide if I’m ok with it or not, and just for the record I am. Even if I would have died, I wouldn’t have blamed you. I know what you were dreaming about. I know why your first reaction was to attack first, ask questions later.” He was confused at how she knew and it showed on his face.

“I got you in my head now, Logan,” He was a very strong yet calming presence in her mind. When she first absorbed him, he kept telling her he wasn’t angry with her, that she made the right decision to turn her skin on. “I got your cravings for cigars, I got enough of your memories to know how to drive your motorcycle back to the mansion that day and I know what happened to you.”

She knew what he was dreaming of that morning and it was horrible. She got a good dose of it the first night she leaned back in the folding chair in the medlab to get some sleep. Flashes of being submerged in green liquid. Choking on it, drowning in it. The pain rolling through her as something sharp, a scalpel maybe, slices to the bone and some contraption holding skin and muscle open, stopping the body from healing itself. The searing, blinding white hot pain as liquid adamantium is poured onto bones, reinforcing it, making it stronger. The monsters in their lab coats as they toasted each other with champagne, congratulating one another on perfecting an unstoppable killing machine.

She tried her best to suppress the shudder that ran up her spine but failed. He noticed it and for the first time in his life felt like he was going to be sick. He had added another burden, another hellish ordeal to her life, and he was disgusted with himself. She again sensed his thoughts drifting towards guilt so she smiled softly at him and shrugged her shoulders.

“I stole your mutation, I took it without asking. I brought this on myself. And if it means I get to see another day, another birthday, live the rest of my life…then that’s a price I’m willing to pay. I just have nightmares. It’s you I’m worried about. You actually lived it.” He’s known her for only a couple of weeks and yet she cared more for him than anyone he’d ever known in his remembered life. “Anyway,” She said, deciding to lighten the mood, “some of your memories are actually interesting.” She smiled evilly at him, her eyebrow arched in a good imitation of him.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s just say I could teach porn stars a few things with the memories I got from your head. Oh relax. I didn’t look too close at them, I just saw some flashes mainly.” Yeah right. Shaking the thought, she got up and stretched again slowly, trying to get out all the kinks that a few nights sleeping in a chair gets you.

“How long you’ve been in the chair?”

“That chair,” she points to it “Since Wednesday night.” He shakes his head. “But before that I was using the metal chair in the medlab. Now that wasn’t a fun few days, my back hurting and my ass numb. I was so happy when you were moved in here.” He was about to ask why she stayed by his side, why she cared, but there was a small knock on the door.

“Rogue, are you up yet? I need to check on Wolverine.” Jean’s official doctor voice came through the door.

“Yeah, Jean. He woke up a second ago, I’m just saying my apologies, one second.” She yelled towards the door and then lowered her head to whisper in Logan’s ear. “Oh, forgot to tell you, I never mentioned the part where you stabbed me. Don’t argue with me, just go along with it. Everyone is already scared of you without finding out what happened. Now don’t go tell ‘em them truth, because you’ll only make me look like a liar.”

She had bumped into Scott outside of the medlab after they brought Wolverine. He questioned her on what happened and she answered as honestly as she could. Then she started to lie. She said that every morning before she sets out for the day she puts her skin on for a few minutes before she shuts it, just to make sure it’s really off. Wolverine was sleeping when she did it today but he woke up and touched her and then he just dropped. She was thankful she was smart enough to put his jacket back on and zip it up so no one saw the three slices and blood stains on her shirt.

She gave him a wide smile before she ran across the room and opened the door.

“He’s all yours Jean. I made my peace with him, thanks for waiting.” She brushed past the doctor and walked down the hall. Seeing the Professor, she waved at him and went straight into her room and the first time in a week slept in a bed.

“Thank you Wolverine.” Jean said politely as she took his blood pressure.

“For what?” None of the softness in his voice that he used with Marie.

“For accepting her apology and not making her feel this was in anyway her fault. She had a hard time with her mutation when she was growing up and she’s too young to be feeling guilty or sad about her it. Actually,” she said absentmindedly as she checked his reflexes “I have never seen her look this happy, not since Bobby.”

“Listen not that I’m complaining or anything but don’t you guys use the medlab for stuff like this? Why am I in my room?”

“You’ll have to ask the Professor. I was out on a pick up and when I came back you were moved into your room without my consent.”

“Yeah. Fine I’ll talk to Chuck about it.”

“You wish to speak to me, Wolverine?” Logan looked up to see Charles at the threshold of his room. “May I come in?” Logan nodded. “How are you feeling? You gave us all quite a scare, especially Rogue.”

“Feel fine. Can you call off the doc?” Jean narrowed her eyes at him, before the Professor telepathically told her to ignore it and to please leave them. She collected her things and left. Xavier folded his hands in his lap and waited for the younger looking man to speak. “Why am I in here and not the medlab?”

“You have Rogue to thank for that. She came to me and asked that you might feel more at ease waking in a setting that was not of a medical nature. She came to this conclusion after reliving some of your darker memories.” *Shit there she goes being all caring again.*

“So you know what happened to me? You know what I see in my head?”

“No, I would never look into your mind without permission, but Rogue does and I trust her judgment. She thought it best if you were moved and I approved the decision. You need not worry, I am sure Rogue will not tell a soul of your ordeal. She has a strong sense of morals that we all respect.”

Xavier did not move. He knew another question was coming and he had an idea as to what it would be. After Wolverine was brought in unconscious, the professor couldn’t help but acknowledge the feelings Wolverine was projecting. What he got was worry and great amount of care for Rogue. Xavier knew what really happened in the woods but he wasn’t telling, all that mattered was it was an accident and all turned out well. When Rogue came into his office days later begging for him to be moved, she projected her feelings about Wolverine.

“Red just said she never seen Rogue this happy, what do you think?”

“I just saw her in the hallway and indeed she seemed to have a smile on her face that all but disappeared after Bobby and Carol. She’s happy. Whatever is making her feel this way, I hope it continues.” He then gave Wolverine a knowing smile before he excused himself.

Logan sat on his bed, trying his best to hide his smirk. He made her happy. He put that smile back on her lovely face. It was the first time in his life that he did something good, something he was proud of that didn’t include fighting.

He didn’t even want to think about the memories of his sex life she got. There had been a lot of women. A lot. Some two or even three at a time. There was something about kicking a guy’s ass in a cage that got women’s panties wet. He knew he had a body to die for, he worked hard at it and was complimented on it tons of times, usually in bed. But now, with theses memories in Marie’s head, where she could see everything he did and with who, he suddenly felt ashamed and regretful. And that just made him feel uncomfortable.

He need to go a few rounds in the Danger Room to clear his head.

---

He had just got out of the shower and was putting on his sweatpants and t-shirt when there was a hard knock on his door. He knew who it was before he opened it. Scooter.

“What do you want?” He growled as he opened the door. A lesser man would’ve ran away, but Scott was the leader of the X-men, he was not allowed such luxuries.

“I heard you were up and I wanted to talk to you.” There was no kindness in his tone.

“So talk.” He spat out. Scott looked like he was going to suggest they do it in private but the thought of being alone in the Wolverine’s room changed his mind.

“I want to know what you were doing that night with Rogue.” Logan shook his head, amused by the fatherly tone.

“She was walking and I offered her ride, she said she didn’t want to go home so we had a few drinks, fell asleep and I don’t remember shit after waking up the next morning. Now if you don’t mind” He started to close the door in the younger man’s face when –

“Just stay away from her. She doesn’t need someone like you in her life.” The direction of the door was reversed and Wolverine grabbed Scott by the shoulder.

“What the fuck do you mean by that.”

“You have a reputation Wolverine. It wasn’t a problem, what you did in your spare time was none of my business as long as none of the kids see your ‘little friends’. But I’ve noticed the way you look at her and then she spent the whole week you were out cold by your bed. She never left, not even to eat, she had Georgie bring her up some food. I want to know if there’s something going on between you two.”

“It’s none of your business.” He said his mouth slanted in a half smile.

“It is my business if you’re trying to put the moves on her. She’s too classy for you. She’s not a ten dollar hooker like you’re used to. She’s special.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “You won’t be able to give her what she needs and if you try you’ll only hurt her in the end. You’re not her type, you’re not what she wants, needs.”

“If that’s the case, why are you so worried?”

The two men stared at each other, hate in their eyes. This is how Rogue found them, in a weird standoff that sort of reminded her of those westerns she used to watch with her father.

“Am I interrupting something here?” She looked at them warily. “Well?” She looked at Scott, but he quickly looked at his feet and backed up from Wolverine. She looked over to Logan, who had some sort of smartass remark but once he saw the look in her eyes, he raised his hands in surrender, shook his head and took a step back. She had to bite back a smile at the sight of big bad Wolverine retreating. “Give me a moment here.” She told Logan, who walked into his room, closed the door and preceded to hear every word they said thanks to his sensitive hearing.

“You want to tell me what that was about?” She asked softly.

“It’s just … You been spending a lot of time around him. What’s going on between you two?” Scott asked again.

“Scott. I love you. I really do, but I’m not a little girl anymore. I can choose my own friends without anyone putting in their two cents.”

“Fine. I hope you know what you’re doing.” Then he turned around and walked away, leaving Rogue to shake her head in annoyance. She sighed and turned to knock on the door.

“He took that well.” Logan said as soon as he opened the door, his body framing the doorway.

“I knew you would listen to us. You’re nosy.” She pushed passed him into his room, smiling. She couldn’t help it. She seemed to do it a lot around him.

“I heard what you did for me.” She gave him a confused look. “That you had me moved from the medlab because you thought I might not like waking up there. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Yeah but no one ever gives a shit about what I would like or want or how I feel, at least not that I remember. You do. I wanted to thank you for that.” She noticed how uncomfortable he was at expressing himself so she looked at the floor and whispered ‘you’re welcome’ as he cleared his throat and walked away from her. She felt a little sad that no one has ever cared about him before.

He seemed pensive and maybe even a little miserable. She didn’t want that so she tried to cheer him up.

“You know,” she started in a cheery voice “I would say your life story sucks worse than mine but you did have all that sex, so I win… or lose. Depending on how you look at it.” He laughed, well more like an amused snort and muttered ‘smartass’.

“What are you going to do about Scott and everyone else who get on your case?” He asked as he lit a cigar.

“Fuck ’em. I really don’t care what people think. I like hanging out with you. I just do. You make me smile and laugh.” Her face flushed at revealing her feelings.

“That’s a first.”

“What is?”

“Usually I scare people. Not make them smile.”

“I’m not scared of you.” She said so matter-of-factly, that he was taken aback.

“You should be.” He growled in warning. He felt something for her and he wanted to protect her, even if that meant she had to stay away from him. He could be a nasty, destructive, violent man. He didn’t want her getting hurt. “You don’t know how fucked up I am”

“I may not have experienced it first hand, but I *have* seen it.” She tapped the side of her head. “You’re up here now, memories and all. I’m not scared. Plus if you ever get out of hand, I’ll drop you. Don’t look at me like I can’t. Did you forget you were in a coma? Even with your healing factor, you were out for six days. I did that.

“Anyway, you may not believe it but we’re a lot alike,” She walked towards the door and opened it. “Except for all the sex you had. How you had time to eat or fight, I’ll never know.” She walked through the door and before she closed it she turned and tilted her head to look at him. “You know, you’re a big guy. Tall, pretty muscular. I would have never guessed you were that flexible.” She laughed out loud as realization that she had very vivid account of his sex life in her head wash over him.

“You said you didn’t look too close at my memories.”

“I lied.” She smiled. “Bye.” And she walked to her room.

She was right. They were both alike. They both had a fucked up past and more emotional baggage than should be allowed. They both just wanted… needed someone to take them as they were. He wasn’t sure if their relationship would progress but he was sure he at least had a genuine friend for the first time in his life.

There were only two topics of conversation in the mansion these days. The first being the scandalous friendship between Rogue and the Wolverine. The sweet, soft spoken, gentle, heartbroken resident pet was, from the looks of it, best friends with the big, brooding, growling resident maniac. They ate together, sparred in the Danger Room together, got drunk together and spent lots of time in his room. With the door locked. Just the two of them.

The second popular topic of conversation was the upcoming wedding between Kitty and Peter. They had decided on a short engagement and everyone was busy helping them prepare for it. It would be taking place at the end of the week. It was amazing what you can get accomplished when you flashed a credit card that had the name Xavier on it.

Rogue dragged her feet as she walked down the hallway to Logan’s room. She had just left her final dress fitting with the rest of the Maids of honors. Kitty couldn’t bear picking just one of her friends to be the maid of honor so she chose them all. They were all wearing the same simple dress but in different colors. Jubilee in yellow, of course, Siryn in caramel, Rogue in deep green and Feral, who was honored to be chosen, in orange. Kitty’s dress was a pale pink ball gown, right out of a fairytale, that probably weighed more than the bride.

Rogue knocked on the door before leaning against the doorframe, too tired to stand up straight. Logan pulled open the door and stood to the side, already knowing who it was.

“God, I’m so tired.” She said as she draped herself over the foot of the bed. Logan closed the door and sat at the head of the bed.

“What you do today?” He asked as he searched for the remote to mute the classic hockey game that was on. That was the big secret of what they did behind locked doors. They watched classic hockey games as Logan explained the rules of the game to her. Ever since she drained him in the woods that day she had a strong desire to watch men with sticks beat the crap out of each other.

“I had a mandatory session in the Danger Room with Scott, I whipped his butt by the way, then I was volunteered to pick up all the suits for Peter and the groomsmen, and when I came back Scott had to go somewhere with Jean so I had to bring the kids to the movies with Remy of all people.” Logan suppressed a growl at the thought of her alone in a dark theatre with that smarmy Cajun.

“Do you know how crazy that was? Twenty five kids hopped up on candy like it was crack and that idiot wasn’t helping because he kept trying to hit on me, but I casually mentioned that I could probably remove a certain appendage of his with little effort before he shut up.

“Then I come back and had to endure hours of dress fitting. To top it off I got roped into helping with the seating chart tomorrow, I got to pick up Peter’s family from the airport, I got Kitty’s bachelorette party and Jubes is moving in with me for a few days so Peter’s parents can crash in her room. Ahhh!” She growled and Logan shook his head, a smirk on his face. She’d been expressing a lot of his characteristics since she absorbed him and he secretly loved it.

“He’s just keeping you busy so you won’t have time to spend with me.” Logan stated.

“I know. Scott’s afraid you’re going to corrupt me. Apparently I’m twelve and can’t be trusted to make my own decisions. I swear I’m trying to be patient with him but he’s making it so difficult.” She sighed and moved around on the bed, stealing the remote and putting the volume back on. After several minutes her yell broke the comfortable silence. “Oh come on. That was clearly a penalty.” Logan smirked.

---

A few hours later Rogue stumbled into her room. She threw her pajamas on and jumped into bed. As she drifted off to sleep, hew mind wandered to Logan. Just the thought of his name brought a smile to his lips. It wasn’t like she liked him, sure he was gorgeous, sexy as hell but he was her friend. Nothing more.

She enjoyed spending time with him because he just let her be. Like Bobby used to.

Suddenly she sat straight up in her bed, feeling shocked and a little bit guilty that she hadn’t spoken to Bobby in weeks but even worse, she hadn’t even thought of Bobby in days. She quickly calmed herself down and closed her eyes, mentally searching for the compartment she kept him in. After ten minutes that felt like ten hours, she finally located him. It worried her that it took her so long to find him It never took her more than a few seconds, a minute at the most, before.

~Bobby?

~Oh Rogue. It’s been weeks.~ She wasn’t sure but she could have sworn he sounded disappointed to hear from her.

~I know. I’m sorry about that.

~I’m not. You were doing so well. Moving on. Laughing. Flirting even. Why did you come back to me?

~I have not been flirting.

~I live inside your head. You can’t hide anything from me. I know how you feel about Logan.

~ I don’t have feelings for him.

~You do. I feel them. You think you can love him. You think you can be happy with him, and you want to know something? I think you can be too. He’s a good man. He makes you smile and more importantly he makes you feel normal again.

~He does.~ She felt guilty for admitting it, but it was the truth and she had never lied to Bobby before and she wouldn’t start now. ~He’s actually really decent. It’s kind of sweet that I’m the only one he lets his guard down around.

~I think it’s finally time you do a favor for me.

~Anything.

~I need you to let me go.

~What?~ She felt panic start to overwhelm her.

~I know you have the ability to completely erase someone’s psyche from your head. I want you to do that with me.

~Bobby, no!

~I didn’t think me being in your head was a problem, but it is. I’m not helping you move on with your life. I’m the reason you haven’t made a real effort with Logan. Just because you let me go doesn’t mean what we had wasn’t real, it was, it just means you’re ready to move on.

~Bobby, I really did love you, I still do.

~I know you do. I died knowing that and I love you too but you have to let me go now. I want you to be happy. I want you to fall in love.

~I’m going to miss you.

~I know but you’ll get over it. You’re strong and brave and resourceful, that’s what attracted me to you in the first place. That and your beauty. Alright, no long goodbyes let’s do this, shall we.

~Bye Bobby.

~Bye Rogue.

~It’s Marie.

~Bye Marie.

She centered herself and went through the steps that Emma had taught her to purge her mind of unwanted passengers, except this time she was getting rid of the first guy she loved, the first guy that loved her. She told herself repeatedly that it wasn’t really Bobby. Bobby died that day in the battle. It was just the presence of him. It didn’t make her feel any better about what she was doing.

Once it was done she had a moment where she froze, staring into space, not breathing before she curled into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and cried until her eyes burned. She was finally letting herself mourn her first love. ‘Thank you for showing me love, Bobby.’ She thought as she drifted to sleep, face swollen, pink and stained with tears.

---

The next day, the moment she woke up, she knew she was finally over everything that happened with Bobby and she was able to smile as she thought of him. Not an ounce of regret. After a quick shower, she threw on a pair of grey sweatpants, adorned with the school logo, which she rolled up to mid-calf, a black t-shirt and her white sneakers.

Logan wasn’t much of a morning person, so she always ate breakfast with her friends. After her eggs and French toast, she and Theresa followed Kitty to her office to help with the seating plans. The simple task turned out to be a nightmare. Certain family members didn’t get along with others, you couldn’t sit ex-boyfriends next to ex-girlfriends and you had to make sure the people sitting at a table would be able to carry a conversation without trying to freeze, melt or blast each other to death. Who knew it was so stressful?

After they had finally written everyone’s name in on the seating chart… in pen, Rogue hopped into one of the school’s SUV’s and waved goodbye to Kitty and Peter, who were heading out to pick up her parents from the train station.

She arrived at international arrivals in Kennedy Airport at 11:06. From the slip of paper that Peter had handed her, their plane should have arrived ten minutes ago. She parked and walked inside to check if flight 5618 from Moscow had arrived on time. She was still trying to find the flight number on the screen when she heard someone address her.

“Rogue?” She turned to find a tall gentlemen, whose only sign of his age was a head of grey hair, looking at her. He was surrounded by an equally tall man around her age and four women, who although were shorter than the men, were still taller than her.

“Yes. You must be Peter’s family.” She extended her hand but he ignored it, choosing instead to give her a hug.

“Nice to meet you finally. Peter has told us much about you. He says you are good friend to him.” His accent was thick but still understandable and Rogue smiled at him. “I am Nikolai, Peter’s father, this is his mother, Alexandra. His sister, Illyana, his brother Mikhail and his cousins Larisa and Anya.”

Everyone had given her a hug and Rogue allowed herself a moment to be jealous of Peter. Her own family had disowned her for being a mutant yet here was his family hugging her like she was a member of their family. They had flown halfway across the world to be at their mutant son’s wedding to another mutant in a house full of mutants. She instantly fell in love with them.

It was a tight squeeze but everyone and their luggage managed to fit. The drive back was filled with chatter and laughter. Typical family noises.

There was an accident on the I-95 and it took them almost twice as long to get home. Rogue pulled into the garage to see Peter, Kitty, her parents and grandfather waiting for them. Jumping out of the car, she tried to rub some feeling back into her numb butt, before making her way towards her friends.

“Rogue I want to introduce you to my family. This is my pop-pop, Samuel, my dad Jacob and my mom Rebecca.” The short plump women came forward and embraced Rogue in a bone crushing hug.

“So you are Rogue. Our Katherine has told us all about you. You are the sister we never gave her. She talks about you often, though I must say you are more beautiful than she described.”

“Mom!” Kitty’s face was crimson as she stood behind her mother and tugged on her sleeve.

“Did you know she was lost here when you left to Paris? I told her you were doing the right thing. That you needed to put yourself first and she understood but she was so sad without you. Lord, I was amazed she didn’t fly down to move in with you.”

“Oh my god, Mom! Shut up.” Kitty begged, clearly embarrassed.

“Come on Becky.” Jacob said coming forward and moving his wife away by the arm. “You’re embarrassing Katherine. I can’t take you anywhere.”

There was an awkward silence between the three friends, as Rogue digested that piece of information before Peter broke the silence.

“Thank you so much for picking up my family. I want to apologize, sometimes they can get a little… boisterous.”

“It was no problem Peter. I was happy to do it. You know, they’re great. They really love you. I almost forgot what a loving family was like. I should be thanking you for showing me that, both of you.” He looked at her confused for a moment before taking a step forward smiling softly at her.

“Rogue, you may not have your parents love anymore but you do have a family. Right here. With us. You do know that, right? Don’t you know that we all love you?” Rogue sucked in a breath at his words and her eyes started to mist. A part of her felt different but in a good way, as if a piece of her soul was thawed by his words.

It took her a moment to realize she felt loved. It was a different type of love than Bobby gave her; that was a romantic love. This was different. This felt like she had a family, a real one. Rogue smiled at Kitty and Peter through her tears.

“I do now.” She hugged them both and for the first time told them she loved them. She pulled back wiping her tears away with a laugh when she realized they were crying also. She told them to get back to their families and promised to be ready for the bachelorette party before running out of the garage to find Logan. She needed to talk.

She found him in his room, watching some action film on the TV. He shut it off though when he saw the look on her face. She looked like she’d been crying.

“What’s up?” He asked as he scooted toward the end of the bed to watch her pace his room.

“I spend way too much time dwelling on the past and on the life I wanted instead of the life I have.”

“What brought this on?”

“Well, first Bobby hinted at that when I talked to him last night… when he asked me to purge him from my mind.” Wolverine raised his eyebrows and whispered wow as he brought his hand up to rub his jaw.

“Did you do it?” She nodded her head. “How you feeling?”

“Surprisingly well. It was time. I had to let him go so I can move forward. He told me he was holding me back but I think I was using him to be held back, if that makes any sense. Then just now when I bumped into Kitty’s mom, she told me how much Kitty missed me when I was in Paris getting my life together and Peter told me they loved me and they were my family.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I just can’t believe I didn’t notice it before. I know I had some horrible things happen to me and Bobby was the first person to see me and get me and love me but I can’t believe I didn’t notice he wasn’t the only one. Kitty, Jubes, Tessa, even Peter and John, I thought they only liked me because of Bobby. I didn’t think. Bobby only introduced us; they ended up liking me all on their own.

“I’ve spent too much of my life hating my past and hating Magneto and Sabretooth and my parents and my skin and those damn truckers that I just stopped moving forward. I got stuck. I got mad that no one understood my fucked up past but that blame is on me because I never told them. I didn’t trust them. I was afraid to; afraid they’d leave me like everyone else” She mentally promised to tell them everything about herself, after the wedding. She didn’t want to take any happiness away from the couple.

She was quiet for a good minute before she started to giggle. Then the giggle turned into a laugh that seemed to travel through her whole body. Logan looked at her like she finally lost it and seriously considered calling for Jean.

“Are you ok?” She nodded her head, still laughing. “Then why are you cracking up?”

“Because I’ve been in therapy with psychics and a genius scientist for years and it took my dead ex-boyfriend and a mom who was embarrassing her daughter for everything to click for me.” She managed to say through her laughter. “I have had a shitty start and the path I traveled may not have been the one I would have chosen for me but look where I ended up.” She waved her hand around her. “I live in a mansion that belongs to a man who is more of a father to me than my own. I teach kids who adore me. I save lives for a living like a superhero, how cool is that? I have great memories of my first love. I have friends who love me and I love them. I have a whole new family. I have you.”

He got up and leaned against his desk, arms crossed in front of his chest, before looking her in the eyes. She stopped laughing and felt very warm once she saw the intensity of his stare.

“And what exactly am I to you?” He never took his eyes off her as he spoke and she momentarily forgot her name. Coming out of her daze, she walked towards him slowly. He didn’t move, except to uncross his legs, as she walked to stand between them. She looked up to him, even half sitting, half leaning on the desk he was still taller than her, and searched his hazel eyes. She loved the color of his eyes.

She slowly lowered her eyelids as she stood on her tip toes and kissed his lips, softly, chastely, her tongue lightly caressing his for a moment before she pulled back from him a serene smile on her face.

“You’re-” She started but was cut off by a knock on the door that caused her to jump.

Logan was pissed and was ready to skewer whoever was on the other side of the door for interrupting.

“WHAT?” He roared as he yanked the door open and she heard Scott’s voice answer

“Is Rogue in there?” Logan stepped to the side, opening the door wider in the process. “Rogue, I need your help with something.” ‘oh not this again’ she thought.

“Really? What?” It was obvious from the look on his face he didn’t think his lie through this far. She saved him the trouble of coming up with something. “You know it’s good you found me. I wanted to have a talk with you anyway. Let’s go your office.” She walked out of the room, grabbing his hand as she passed him and dragging him behind her. “I’ll talk to you later Wolverine.” She threw over her shoulder as she gave him a flirty smile.

He shook his head, a faint smile on his lips as he shut the door. The girl drove him crazy… and he loved it.

---

Jean was sitting on the sofa in Scott’s office waiting to spend some time with him before she had to go get ready for Kitty’s party, when the door was kicked open and Scott tripped over himself as he was practically shoved in by Rogue.

“Oh Scott. What did you do?” Jean asked standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

“Me? She pushes me and you’re yelling at me?” He said straightening out his clothes.

“Yes I am. She wouldn’t be manhandling you if you didn’t do something. Now what was it?” After he kept silent, Rogue spoke up.

“I was talking to Wolverine in his room when Scott knocked. Apparently he needed my help with something.”

“Scott you didn’t. I told you to stop dumping things on Rogue. It’s obvious you’re just trying to keep her away from Wolverine.”

“He’s no good for her.” He told Jean before turning to Rogue. “He’s dangerous and he sleeps around a lot. He won’t be able to stay faithful to you.”

“Scott. You’re my brother, in every way but blood, so I’m going to say this calmly. I know him, everything about him. I had him in my head. I know that he’s a hell of a cage fighter, undefeated in fact. That’s what he was doing when you guys found him and gave him the whole ‘you’re special come help others like you’ speech. And I know he’s had a lot of sex. A lot of sex.” She said, both shocked and impressed, and Jean bit her lip trying to hide her smile. “It’s entirely possible he had more sex than everyone in this mansion put together, but that’s none of my business or yours. So drop it.”

“I don’t like this. You don’t act like this. You don’t drink or stay out all night. You-”

“You forgot smoke.” She interrupted. “Yup, that’s right Scott, I smoke. Call the cops and lock me up.” Jean gave a very unladylike snort. “Just for your information, I picked up all those lovely vices before Wolverine. I used to steal my daddy’s whisky when I was younger, I started smoking in Paris and I used to sneak out with John, Kitty and Bobby when we were sixteen all the time and come back at dawn.”

“What would Bobby say if he saw you today, huh?”

“Scott!” Jean chastised.

“No it’s ok Jean. I know exactly what he’d say because he told me. I had him in my head until yesterday.” Scott attempted to say something but it got lodged somewhere in his throat and he had to sit down before he fell. Jean’s mouth fell open. “I know I should have got rid of him when I learned how but I just couldn’t do it. It was Bobby. But last night he asked me to do it and I did. It seemed like the right time. But to answer your question, he loved that I had found someone who made me happy again. He actually liked Wolverine.” She walked over to Scott, perched on his desk.

“I know you loved him. I did too, but you were the one in the first place who told me I needed to get over him and Wolverine helped me do it.” She smiled at him. “Scott, I trust him with everything I have and I need you to trust me with my own decisions.”

“Does that mean I have to stop worrying about you?”

“No but before you go all overprotected dad on me, check with Jean first to see if you’re justified.” He smiled at her and gave her a hug.

“You two are so sweet with each other.” Jean sniffled before gaining her composure. “Rogue we have to go get ready for the party. You two ok?”

“Yes” He answered. Both girls gave him skeptical looks. “I swear. It’s your life and you’ve done a fine job so far. Just know that I’ll always be here for you.”

“You better be.” Rogue smiled.

The bachelorette party started off in a mutant-friendly bar and ended up in one of the rec rooms in the adult wing. Kitty, Jubilee, Theresa, Gigi, Rogue, Storm, Jean, Anya, and Illyana were all having a good time, they even had a few ‘boys’ show up: Jim Bean, Jack Daniels, Jose Cuervo and Johnny Walker Black.

Kitty was wearing a ridiculous veil covered in neon colored condoms and candies in the shape of a certain male appendage, a bright pink fuzzy garter and an x-rated scepter, that Jubilee got her. At first she was embarrassed by it but after a few drinks, she had no problem ripping off some of the candies from the veil and eating them. The girls were each given a feather boa and Mardi Gras type beads to wear. They played silly games of Pin the Hose on the Fireman and drank liquor out of obscene glasses. They opted to not have a stripper, much to Jubilee’s chagrin.

By the time the party wrapped up, Kitty was three sheets to the wind. Jubilee, Storm, Gigi, and Peter’s family stumbled to bed, leaving Jean, Rogue and Theresa to get the now singing Kitty to bed.

“Can’t you, you know, do your stuff to move her?” Theresa asked after the second time they dropped Shadowcat to the floor.

“I can’t walk straight and you want me to use my tela- telekanice- my powers?” Jean hiccupped in replied, and then blushed as she burped. “Oh. Excuse me.”

Rogue was just about to suggest she go find someone less intoxicated to help, when Hank rounded the corner.

“Oh my. What do we have here?” He tilted his head to look at Kitty, who was still on the floor where they dropped her, humming ‘Going To The Chapel’ loudly and off key.

“We kind of dropped her.” Rogue began.

“Again.” Jean finished as Theresa slapped a hand over her mouth to try to smother her laughter.

“Is she injured?” Hank asked as he bent down to check her.

“No, no she’s fine. She’s going to have a hell of a hangover but she’s fine. Can you bring her to her room for us?” Rogue asked, proud she could handle her liquor enough to not slur her words.

“Yes. Of course.” He gathered her up in his arms and started to carry her away.

“Hank.” Theresa called out. After he turned slightly, she continued. “With you here, does that mean the bachelor party finished?” He nodded before walking away. The girls could just make out the sound of Kitty’s snores.

“Well, I’m off. Going to find my man and play ‘the naughty fire starter’” Theresa smiled as she walked off.

“That was too much information, wasn’t it?” Jean asked Rogue as she watched Siryn stumble into the elevator.

“Definitely.”

Jean went to bed and Rogue walked to her room. Once she got to her door, she tried to open it but it was locked. And she heard noises inside. She strained her ears to listen and she heard Jubilee and… Remy.

“Ewww. In my bed.” She whispered as she turned around. “Oh girl, you so are buying me new sheets.”

---

Logan walked up the stairs, shrugging his jacket off as he went.

After Rogue had left him earlier, he grabbed said jacket and ‘borrowed’ one of Scott’s bike. He visited a bar he knew, not too far from the mansion, where he could get a few drinks and buy into a cage fight. He did both tonight. He made a killing but he didn’t care, he went to clear his mind.

She had kissed him and what a kiss it was, gentle and soft yet passionate. He never thought he could get hard just from a simple kiss. Ever.

As he reached his landing he smelled vanilla and magnolia and… whiskey. That’s right, he thought to himself, she was at the small one’s party and by the smell of it, she drank. He saw her, a few yards from the stairs sitting on the window seat nearest to his room.

“Rogue.” He called out to her.

“Hey Wolverine.” Her eyes were glazed, but her voice was clear and strong. He knew she didn’t ingest enough liquor to be drunk but she was severely buzzed.

“What you doing in the hallway? Shouldn’t you be in bed sleeping off the whiskey?”

“Now, you and I both know it takes more than a few shots to get me drunk.” He nodded. “Anyway, I was sitting here waiting for you. I need to know if my favorite chair is available.”

“It might be. Why?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest causing his shirt to tighten and she smiled.

“I need to sleep in it again.”

“What’s wrong with your bed?”

“Remy’s in it.” She purposely worded it that way to see his reaction. Her heart started to race when she noticed he was livid… and jealous.

“What the fuck is Remy doing in your bed?” She smiled at him.

“Jubilee.” He was confused and it clearly showed on his face.

“What?”

“Remy is doing Jubilee in my bed.” She laughed and was feeling free of the weight she had carried with her all these years.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled as he jerked his head towards his door. She followed him as he walked to his room, feeling giddy and electrified.

She took off her sweater once she was in his room and realized she didn’t want to sleep in jeans and a dress top.

“Umm.. do you have anything I can sleep in?” He nodded and walked towards the dresser in the corner of his room. Please don’t hand me some forgotten garment, some trick left here. That would suck so bad.

“They’re going to be big but it’ll work.” She sighed in relief as he handed her a pair of his black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt.

“Thanks. Can I- can I use your shower?”

“Sure. Help yourself.” He shrugged and watched her walk into his bathroom. He sat at the head of the bed and stared at the door. She was just behind it. Getting naked, getting into his shower, her hands soaping up her body as she cleaned herself. Shit.

He put the TV on hoping it would distract him from his thoughts. It didn’t so he turned it back off. The first time he saw her, he had been attracted to her, how could he not be? She was sexy as hell, even after spending all day traveling. But somewhere along the line she became his best friend and he knew everything there was to know about her. The one thing he didn’t know was if she wanted to be with him and at times he wasn’t sure if he wanted to start something.

He knew this was one woman he couldn’t just have a one night stand or casual sex with. If he was with her it would have to be for the long haul. But would she want that? Would she want to have a relationship with someone who never had one? Someone who, some would call a womanizer? Insecurity is a bitch, he thought.

He heard the shower shut off and soon she opened the door, emerging for the steam filled room in his clothes, covered in his scent and he growled low in his chest.

“Seriously, how you have time to eat and sleep amazes me.” She laughed as she removed her hair from the bun she put it in so it wouldn’t get wet.

“What?”

“I was looking for toothpaste and I opened your second drawer on the left.” His eyes got a little wide. “I never met someone with a drawer full of condoms before. Interesting selection.” She was teasing him. Sort of. It hurt to see how much of an active sex life he had. She wanted to be with him but she wasn’t the type of girl to have a fling. It was either she was his friend or have a relationship with him and goodness knows he wasn’t into those, so friend it was.

“Oh-”

“It’s fine. I was just teasing. So you have a healthy sex life. You should be proud.” He picked up on the slight jealousy in her voice and it gave him hope.

“Not lately.”

“Huh?”

“I haven’t needed them lately. Not since I woke from the coma and started spending all my free time with you.” She looked down, feeling guilty.

“Oh… I’m sorry. You should have said something. I wouldn’t have minded spending time with the girls or someone else so you can-”

“No.” She looked up surprised to see him standing right in front of her. ‘Damn. He’s got stealth down to an art’ “I like spending time with you. Better than spending time with those girls.” He was giving her that look again. The one that made her forget her name.

“What?” she mumbled.

“I don’t give a shit about those girls, most of them I paid and the others were drunken one-nighters. I ain’t- I ain’t too proud of that now.” He struggled to find the right words.

“Why?” he took a step closer and she had to look up to see his face.

“Because for the first time in my life, it matters what someone thinks about me. I – I don’t want you thinking I’m some no good guy who only uses women for sex. Your opinion of me matters. I need to know you don’t think I’m an asshole.”

“I don’t think that.” She brought one hand up to rest on his bicep. “You’re a good guy. So you had a lot of sex. Big deal. And you didn’t use those girls. You told each and every one of them that it was a one time thing. I saw your memories, I know. They knew what they were getting in to.”

“What were you going to say?” She furrowed her brows at him, confused as to what he was talking about. “Earlier, before Scott interrupted us. What were you going to say?” Oh.

“I was going to say… You’re my best friend.” He made a face and her arm fell to her side when he turned away from her. “Hey.” She reached for him again and she walked to stand in front of him when he would turn back to her. “I wasn’t finished. You’re my best friend and the one person who knows me completely. I trust you more than I ever trusted anyone before in my life. I love spending time with you because you make me feel whole again and…” she took a deep breath, figuring it’s now or never. “And… you’re someone I find myself attracted to. Someone I think I might have a future with.”

“Yeah?” He had a smirk on his face and she knew him well enough to know what he really said was ‘me too’.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” He walked closer to her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “Now, about that kiss.”

It was getting a little difficult to think when he was this close and touching her.

“What about it?” She teased. He watched as her tongue slid out to wet her lower lip. “I-”

His mouth was on hers before she could get out another word. His strong yet tender lips on her delicate soft ones. Her left hand clung to his shirt at his shoulder, her right coming up to play with his hair. His tongue slid into her mouth and he growled when her tongue began to massage his back. The kiss started off soft, sweet even but it quickly became about need and possession.

The hands grabbed at the edge of her shirt and pulled up. She raised her hands and broke the kiss so he could remove the garment completely. She put her hands over his and brought them to her waist again, snaking them into the sweatpants she wore and giving them a small nudge down. Knowing what she wanted from him he closed his eyes and pulled her pants down slowly, letting them pool around her ankles. She stepped out of them and kicked them away.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, he was hard as a rock and his breathing was becoming harsh and he hadn’t even seen her yet. His eyes slowly opened and he drank in the sight before him. She wore a deep green bra and matching boy cut underwear that he thought looked sexy as hell on her. She was biting her lower lip, looking nervous, wondering how she would compare to all the women he’d seen.

“Damn.” His voice was raspy and full of lust. She smiled and then he was on her in an instant, devouring her lips once again. As he kissed her, he steered her to the bed, bending low, not wanting to break the kiss, as she sat on the bed. Pulling back from her he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her to lie down. He swallowed hard as a wave of possessiveness swept over him; she just looked like she belonged in his bed. She looked right. She looked like… his.

She watched with heavy lidded eyes as he pulled off his shirt swiftly. She couldn’t help it when she let out a whimper. He was an Adonis. Sculpted chest sparsely covered with hair, tan skin, a dark strip of hair from his belly button trailing down into his tight jeans. He pulled off her underwear before crawling up her body slowly, kissing her thighs, hips, stomach, the valley between her breasts, her collarbone, and a spot behind her ear she didn’t know could make her whole body shiver. The feel of his skin on her was driving her delirious with need. She needed to feel all of him, every beautiful inch.

Her hand trembled slightly as she reached for his pants. She had a little trouble with the button but managed it, then brought the zipper down achingly slow. She grabbed the top of his jeans and pulled down as far as she could, then brought her feet up and kicked it the rest of the way down.

He pulled her up, just enough to get his hands around her to unsnap her bra and gently remove it from her body. The whole time he kept mentally reminding himself to go slow with her, to not hurt her, that this one mattered. He kissed that spot behind her ear again and she groaned in disappointment when he moved to kiss her shoulder. He kissed his way down to her breast and she gasped when she felt his tongue slid across a nipple. She was breathing hard, her mind assaulted by the sensations and emotions she was feeling. This was the first time she was doing this since she had control of her skin and it felt a million times better without a barrier.

She could feel the slight roughness of his tongue, the bluntness of his teeth as he nipped her and the soft scrape of his nails as his hands ran up and down her body.

His kisses traveled further down on her body. His breath was on her curls before he stopped. He waited until she locked eyes with his before he slowly licked and sucked at her. Her eyes slammed shut as she felt her orgasm hit, white golden light exploding behind her eyelids. She was panting, trying to catch her breath as he kissed his way up her body again.

She never had an orgasm hit her so fast and so intense before.

He looked down at her and thought he would do anything just to see her like this again. Her hair fanned out on his pillow, a flush across her skin and a satisfied smile on her face.

“Was it- you liked it?”

“Mmmm Hmmmm” She muttered. He groaned as she brought up her pelvis to rub against his, “More please.”

He let out a bark of laughter before kissing her, deeply and fully, while his hand searched his nightstand for a condom. Finding one, he ripped it open and put it on quickly. He positioned himself at her entrance and stopped to ask “Are you sure?” He prayed to an entity that he didn’t believe in that she would say yes because she tasted amazing and he could wait to have he wrapped all around him.

She opened her eyes to look at him and nodded her head yes.

As he pushed into her slowly, she grimaced at the feeling of being stretched but once he was all the way in, she gasped at the complete feeling. He was warm and hard and smooth inside her and it felt like small fireworks were going off inside her lower stomach every time he slid back into her.

He couldn’t remember a time when he almost came just at the sensation of being inside someone. She was wet and tight and perfect. She kept her eyes open and locked on his, which was another thing he never did. He never looked at who he fucked, kept his eyes closed or turned them on their stomachs, but then again this was more than just a fuck for him. There were emotions involved. This whole thing was new to him but he found he enjoyed it, needed it and wanted more of it.

She felt the familiar tighten and warmth in the pit of her stomach that came with her building orgasm. He was close himself, but wanted her to go over the edge with him. He snaked his hand in-between their sweat soaked bodies and rubbed a thumb against her clit. She arched back, tossing her head back but managed to keep her eyes open and locked on his as she cried out his name and came.

She became limp as he pumped into her twice more before growling out her name as he spilled himself into the condom. He rested his weight on his arms, not wanting to crush her with it. She smiled up at him and brought one hand up to caress his face. After he allowed himself to enjoy her touch for a moment, he pulled out of her to rest beside her.

“Damn. That was… damn.” She said out of breath still. She turned to him and gave him a big smile and he knew in that moment he could never live without her.

“I love you.” He felt his heart stop when her smile vanished from her face to be replaced with a shocked expression. She felt her mouth go dry and she swallowed hard. She was convinced she heard him wrong or this was some sick hallucination that happened after mind blowing sex or something along those lines because she knew him well enough, by talking and by seeing his memories, to know he never said that to someone before.

“What?” She was out of breath again, but this time it was at the prospect of having his love.

“I-” He started slowly. You big idiot. He tells you he loves you and you say ‘what?’.

“I love you too.” He was visibly relieved and she loved the smile that spread across his face, lighting up his hazel eyes. He held her close to him, her head on his chest and one leg draped over his. He listened as her breath evened out and she fell asleep.

He couldn’t believe his luck, he thought as he started to succumb to sleep as well. A few years ago, he had nothing but a truck, a fighting reputation and whatever he could afford with the winnings from the cagefights. But now… He had a career that he was proud of (not that he would admit it to anyone but Marie), a roof over his head and the love of a great women. He never thought he would be happy about meeting the X-Geeks, because they led him to his girl.

---

Everyone knew about the shift in the relationship between Rogue and Wolverine, no… Marie and Wolverine. She had shocked them all when she told them her real name but that she only wanted to be called Rogue. The only one who seemed allowed to call her Marie was Wolverine. The romantic turn in their relationship was apparent when she didn’t sleep in her room the night of the bachelorette party, or the rest of the nights leading up to the wedding.

Her friends were thrilled for her, except Scott, who although kept his word about keeping his mouth shut, didn’t exactly celebrate the couple either, not that she expected him to. Jubilee was the happiest of them, but she had ulterior motives, because with Peter’s brother, Mikhail, rooming with Remy, she now had a place to shack up with him.

Marie stood next to Kitty, her hands full with her own and the bride’s bouquets. Her attention was on Logan, though. She had managed to talk him into attending… sort of. He was leaning against the back door, arms and legs crossed, wearing tight blue jeans and a crisp black shirt, smoking a cigar. The wedding was held out on the school grounds under a huge white tent, sprinkled with lights.

He watched her as everyone else watched the happy couple say ‘I Do’. He watched as her gown danced around her ankles as the wind blew. He watched and listened, thanks to his enhanced senses, as she toasted the happy couple. He thought she looked breathtakingly beautiful in her deep green dress and her brown and platinum hair in wild curls.

After her speech, she slipped away unnoticed to the back door where Logan was sitting.

“Hey stranger.”

“Hey darlin’.” He replied, grinding out his cigar on a step.

“Glad you could make it… kind of.”

“I don’t do crowds.” He said after he took a sip of his beer.

“Good.” She smiled. “Now I have an excuse whenever I want to escape. Hey move over” She sat down next to him, the slit in her gown opening to reveal a creamy white smooth leg. His eyes were glued to it.

“Your dress is going to get dirty.”

“Well,” she began in a suggestive tone “If it does, I’ll just have to take it off then.” He growled then picked up his beer and spilt it on her chest.

“What the-” She managed to say through her laughter.

“It’s dirty. Let’s take it off.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him as he led the way to his room.

“Lead the way, sugar.” She couldn’t believe how happy she was now, how complete and normal she felt. Sometimes the path to happiness is the most unlikely one of them all.