"C'mon, Logan--it'll be fun! You know, fun? That thing people-who-are-friends sometimes have together?" He scowled at that. There were other things people-who-were-friends could do together. Some of those things could also be classified as fun, he supposed. He'd already bartered enough of his dignity by attending the damn carnival in the first place, just so he could be with her and see her smile for a few hours. Goin' to some fortune teller in an incense-filled tent to hear that his future was cloudy wasn't his idea of fun. Marie probably just wanted to hear she had some tall dark and handsome guy awaitin' her.

Wait a minute. Wait just a damn minute. He was tall and dark, and maybe not handsome but he didn't have seeping boils all over his face or nothin'. Maybe hearing that from some crystal ball gazer would get her thinking about him as more than just a person-who-was-a-friend... "Okay. Let's go in."

Marie clapped her gloved hands together and gave him a little hug. "Yay!"

Inside, the tent was lit by a few small lanterns. A small table in the center held a large crystal ball. The fortune teller was sitting at the table, her eyes closed. "Ah... two souls, in turmoil and confusion. You have come to the right place. Please be seated and open your minds to the crystal."

They sat and Logan groaned internally. This was gonna be worse than he thought.

"Join hands and gaze into the ball," the carnival gypsy said. "Concentrate on the problem you've come to me about." She took Logan and Marie's hands in hers, creating a circle around the table. "Open your minds."

Logan raised his eyes to look at the gypsy. She sat, eyes closed, humming softly. Suddenly she opened her eyes and he saw she was some kind of mutant.

"Yes. I see the way," she said. "Close your eyes, both of you." She glared at Logan when she said that. Logan snapped his eyes shut and for a minute he felt like his body was humming. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he felt a quick twisting sensation.

---

"Damn," Marie said. "That was somethin', huh, sugar?" She opened her eyes and felt a flash of panic. Logan was gone, and in his place was someone who looked like her. Exactly like her--same clothing, even. "Logan?" she said, looking around anxiously. She felt funny. The fortune teller was still holding her hand, only it was her left hand now. Her bare left hand, in the gypsy's bare hand. No pull, she thought. There's no pull. She dropped the gypsy's hand and stood, really panicking now.

"Where the fuck is Marie?" the Marie copy at the table stood up and slammed her fists on the table. "And who the fuck is that," she said, gesturing at Marie. "It sure as shit ain't funny. If you hurt her..." It seemed almost like she was trying to growl.

"I'm Marie," Marie said. "Where is Logan?" She looked down at her bare hands. Her very large, rough, bare hands. She was dressed differently, too. Jeans, boots, flannel.

Oh, God. "Logan?" She looked at her doppleganger warily. "Is that you?"

They contemplated each other for a minute. "Marie?" Logan--it was Logan, even though it looked like her--said tentatively.

Together, they turned to the gypsy. "What the fuck did you do to us," Logan asked, doing his best to glare with Marie's eyes.

"I've merely found a pathway to your future," she replied. "Once you've discovered the way, things will return to normal."

"Can't you put us back now?" Marie said, tearing up slightly. She made a move to tuck her hair behind her ear, discovered she didn't have hair that needed tucking, then spent a few seconds patting the wild pointyness of her hair in fascination. She'd always wanted to touch his hair.

"I'm sorry, my dear. It's discover your true path together or... wait a week. It'll switch back in a week. But I highly suggest the true path method!"

---

They exited the tent and walked aimlessly for a while. Marie's head ached and her nose itched. Everything smelled awful. "Is this what things smell like for you?" she asked. "All stinky and gross?"

"Not everything."

"Just this place? Why didn't you say you didn't want to come? It's too loud, too."

Logan looked at her. Him. Her. "You wanted to come. It doesn't seem so bad with your nose."

They made their way back to his truck. After grumbling and swearing at the seat, trying to adjust it to fit his new, shorter Marie-legs, Logan finally jumped in and started the engine.

"Seatbelt," Marie said absently. She pulled hers around and buckled it--she had to pull a lot more out. Logan grabbed his and jabbed it in the buckle. Marie glanced at him. Her. Him. He was squirming and pulling at the belt as he drove. "What's wrong?"

Logan laughed. "Besides the obvious, darlin'?" He slipped one hand between the seatbelt and his torso. "It's kinda-- uh, it's... Your damn boobs are in the way!"

Marie giggled and clapped her hands together. "Oh... I could say a few words about having to, um, adjust myself every five minutes. How the hell you ever get used to external genitalia is beyond me!"

The extremely disturbing sight of himself giggling and clapping his hands like a teenage girl--fuck, Marie wasn't even a teenager anymore (not for two months, at least), why'd she have to act like one?--was enough to distract him from what she'd said for a moment. "Careful, kid, I want everything in one piece when we get back to normal."

"You too, sugar, no tattoos or body piercings," Marie said, settling down. She started holding her arm up and letting it drop on the seat three or four times. "Everything's so heavy."

"I was just thinking how light my--your body felt."

"Logan...?" Suddenly shy, Marie shot a sideways glance at him. "How do you... I want-- how do you make the claws come out?"

"Shit, Marie. You don't wanna feel that."

"I-- I think I do. Please tell me?" She was rubbing her knuckles. "I have some of your memories about how to do it, but it's not working right."

Fuck. "It's like... clench your fist, and kind of push forward with the muscles in your hand. I dunno, I just do it."

She was clenching her fists now, punching out as she did. Nothing happened.

"Be careful, darlin'. Don't try it around people when we get back."

Marie turned to him, serious. "You, too. Don't forget about the skin. Please."

"Right. Won't forget."

"And try not to piss off all my friends," she said grinning.

---

They arrived back at the mansion around ten--after dinner, but still early enough for people to be milling around the halls. Hesitating outside the front door, Marie looked like she was about to say something. "Uh, Logan... Um, we don't have to tell everyone about this, do we? I mean, it'll be over in a week, or sooner, maybe..."

Logan paled to think of what Scott would make of their situation. "Sounds good. No need to make a big deal."

"Why don't we just go right upstairs? We can raid the fridge later."

---

All hopes of reaching their respective rooms unnoticed were dashed when Marie spotted Remy putting the moves on the visiting music teacher in a darkened hallway. She stomped over to him angrily. Logan hung back, in the uncomfortable position of watching a train wreck occur without being able to stop it.

"Hey, Remy," Marie yelled. "What do you think you're doing? One week you're all over m--er, Rogue, and now you're drooling over this little..." She flapped her hands at the new woman. "You can't just treat people like that. You could have shown a bit of respect and told me--um, Rogue you weren't interested anymore."

Remy stared at the person he thought was Logan. "But-- but last week, you tell me to stay away from Rogue. You say, she's for you an' she always will be, so Remy don' stand a chance." He watched in amazement as Logan narrowed his eyes and turned back down the hallway, where Rogue was waiting for him. He strode with purpose and anger, clenching his fists at his side. When he reached Rogue, he thrust out his arm, releasing the claws and plunging them into the wall beside Rogue's head. She just stared at him, looking a little embarrassed.

Logan's menacing attitude was seriously undermined when he pulled his claws out of the wall, clutched his knuckles and exclaimed, "ow! ow! ow! Damn, that hurts!"

Remy shook his head. Those two were engaging in the strangest courtship dance he'd ever imagined. Sure, sometimes the chase turned out to be the most interesting thing--but not for these two. The chase was making them lose their minds, he thought.

---

Marie was furious. Beyond furious. How dare he presume to-- and damn it, these claws fucking hurt! First things first. She set her jaw and spoke slowly. "How do you retract them?"

"Uh, you gotta relax the..."

Marie cut him off. "No. No, wait. I'll just figure it out--I can't talk to you right now. I just can't. Not with you looking like me and acting like you. I can't be around you now... I'm too mad." With that she walked away, leaving Logan in the hall.

She almost made it to her room. Almost.

"Logan!" Jean's voice stopped her as she was turning the doorknob. "How was the carnival?" Jean's eyes drifted to her hand, claws still out.

What would he say? How would he say it? Get away, Scooter, 'cause Jean's for me, too? "Uh, fine." She shook her hand, trying to loosen it up--the claws retracted slowly.

"Is Rogue in her room?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, not to be nosy... but maybe you should wait till she gets back before you go in there. Everyone needs a little privacy, and she might not take kindly to having hers, um, made light of?"

"That's exactly what I-- uh, right. Okay." Thank you, Jean! At least someone around here understands about boundaries and space. Of course, normally Marie thought Jean was the epitome of the term 'nosy-parker,' but in this case she was on the money. Marie tried to look dour and Logan-ish as she crossed the hall to his room.

Okay--I can deal with this, Marie thought. It's just Logan's room, which I've been in a million times. Never by myself, but it's not different. Now is the time to respect the privacy of others, which means no peeking in the underwear drawer. She sat gingerly on the edge of his bed. His very large bed.

She breathed in. Everything smelled like him. God, this must be the ultimate form of narcissism, she thought, looking down at her long, masculine legs. Maybe Logan's body needed to take a shower, she mused with a wicked grin.

---

Logan stood in the hallway, watching his Marie-inhabited body stomp away. Shit, he'd messed this up. Shouldn't have stuck his nose in Marie's business. But... seeing her with that-- that-- man-who-wasn't-him made him act irrationally. More irrationally.

He frowned. Gotta fix this, he thought, walking after her. Gotta get her to understand before she went and did something rash with his body. He was rounding the corner on the way to Marie's room when they accosted him. Her friends, the yellow one and the quiet one. Okay, so he knew their names, but it annoyed them when he acted like he didn't, so he did it all the time.

"Rogue!" they screamed in unison. "Come on, we need every single detail," said the yellow one, grabbing his arm and pulling him into Marie's room. He barely had time to notice that she wasn't there before Jubilee assaulted him again.

"Okay, spill," she said, slapping his arm. "I want details, and make them juicy. Did you go on the tunnel of luuuuuvve with grumpy bear?"

Grumpy bear??!

"Uh, no."

"You spent the whole day alone with him and nothing happened? Rogue, you're totally hot for his bod, and I know he's not staying home on weekends to do needlepoint. He wants you, girl. If you want to spend the rest of your life pining for him 24/7, be my guest, but don't act like it's 'cause he's not ready to play."

Hot for his bod??!

"Uh..."

"You should just show up at his door naked some night."

Logan coughed, and Kitty said, "Jubes!"

"I mean it," Jubilee went on. "At least it'd get through that dense skull of his better than throwing yourself at Remy."

Logan's mind was spinning. This was a lot of stuff to process. Good stuff. He opened his mouth to reply, hoping for more good stuff about Marie being hot for his bod when Jubilee, on a roll, cut him off.

"Get over here, chica," she said, tugging him towards the closet. She flung open the door, revealing the full length mirror on the inside. "Look at yourself; you can totally make him crawl for you. You should stop wearing that Amish-nun-mummy stuff."

Logan didn't think the Amish had nuns, let alone practiced mummification, but he wasn't about to interrupt. Besides, he kind of liked Marie's clothes. They made him think about what was underneath them.

"Don't give me that deadly skin rap again, either," Jubilee continued. "It doesn't have to be shapeless to cover your skin; hence, the concept of 'skin-tight'." With this, she took hold of the loose tee-shirt Logan was wearing and pulled it tight across his abdomen. "Damn, girl... where you been hiding those?"

Open-mouthed, Logan gaped at his--Marie's--reflection. Where had she been hiding those?

"Look, uh, Jubes, Kitty..." Logan said, trying to remember how Marie sounded when she talked to her friends. "I, um, I have a headache. I need to be alone."

"Whatever. You just stick that head a little deeper in the sand, okay?"

When they'd left, Logan returned to the mirror. Feeling a little guilty, he pulled the shirt tight again. No doubt about it: Marie was stacked.

Releasing the shirt, he thought briefly about taking a bath in Marie's body, figured that'd probably piss her off more, and decided to talk to her before things got too out of hand.

He walked across the hall, disconcerted that he wasn't hearing or smelling the things he usually did. He stood outside his door, straining to hear signs of life within. Nothing. Turning the doorknob, he heard water splashing in the bathroom. Marie was taking a shower. With his body.

If she's gonna do it... he thought, closing the door softly.

---

After the shower, Logan stepped into Marie's bedroom, glimpsing her naked body reflected in the mirror. He made a vow, then and there, that he'd see it again after things got back to normal.

His stomach rumbling, he threw her silk robe on and left to raid the kitchen. He left her gloves on the bedside table.

---

Let's see, Logan thought, beer, a little chicken, maybe a sandwich...

"Rogue?" Scott's voice startled him. Damn, didn't hear him comin'. He stood up quickly, illuminated by the refrigerator light.

"Scoo-- Scott?"

"I think you've got about a year before you should think about raiding Logan's beer stash," Scott said, amused.

"In Canada, the legal age is eighteen," Logan said, angry at Scott's amusement.

"Well, here it's twenty-one, and you've got a year to go." Scott was practically laughing now. Logan got the feeling he'd had this conversation with Marie before. Reluctantly, he put the beer back on the shelf. He could always come back later. He shivered at the cold, and noticed Scott's head was angled down. Logan dropped his eyes--the cold from the fridge had made its presence known and Marie's nipples jutted through the thin silk of her robe. Logan growled. Scott was checking Marie out.

"Hey, bub," he said. "Her-- my eyes are up here." He emphasized his point by jabbing his index finger on Scott's forehead.

Oh, fuck.

Scott fell to his knees; Logan felt his eyes tingle and burn. It felt like Scott's life was forcing itself into him--the pain was clear and intense. He twisted his head away from Scott, not wanting to hit him with his own power, but nothing happened. He must not have touched him long enough. "Scott? You okay?"

Scott nodded weakly. "Okay. Rogue-- what are you doing without your gloves?"

"I, uh, I guess I forgot 'em." Marie was going to kill him for sure.

"Just... it's okay," Scott continued. "Just don't forget them again. I won't tell."

"Thanks, Scott." Logan actually meant it. He'd better get back to his room before anything else happened. He was suddenly aware of the amount of bare skin he was showing--everything not covered by Marie's little robe.

---

Toweling off after her shower, Marie made a promise that she'd see Logan naked many times after everything went back to normal. Pulling on a pair of sweats and a tee shirt, she perused his room, looking at everything that was in plain sight. She didn't open any drawers or poke under anything. She didn't mean to, honest, but when she put his coat up she felt his wallet in the pocket. Taking it out, just to leave on the dresser, she couldn't help it if it fell to the floor, open.

She picked it up and, with a guilty sigh, looked in it. Except for some money and a picture, it was empty. She stared at the picture for a long time. It was her, laughing in the sun. Somebody--Bobby?--had taken it last summer, after a long day of lounging around the lake, doing nothing. Her head was thrown back, her mouth wide with laughter.

A knock at the door broke her concentration. "Who is it?"

"It's me."

The door opened and Logan stepped in, wearing her thermal underwear and a pair of gloves. "I-- I touched Scott," he said.

"Oh... Oh, Logan, I'm sorry you had to feel that," she said.

He looked at her quizzically. "You're not mad?"

"I guess you probably won't do it again," she said with a little smile. "He's okay, right? You didn't come in here to tell me you killed him?"

"No. No!" A shot of anger flew through him until he realized she was teasing. "He's in my head a little, though. It's... weird. I didn't know he-- felt the way he does about some people."

"You mean he likes you more than you knew?" She was grinning now.

Logan grimaced. She was right. Scott's thoughts, brief though they were, had shown that he was aggravated by Logan a lot, but underlying all the male posturing was a strong layer of respect and concern. "I suppose." He sat on the bed. "Marie... I'm sorry about that Remy thing. I shouldn't have butted in like that."

Marie smiled, thinking of the picture in his wallet. She sat next to him. "I'm for you, huh?"

"Heh. Uh, so, tell me about the tunnel of love?"

"I'm going to strangle Jubilee," Marie said, taking a deep breath. "Look, Logan, here's the deal... You like me. And, uh, I like you. So, maybe we could, um, like each other, together?"

"I'd like that," Logan said, his chest tightening.

Marie laughed and tossed a pillow in his direction. "Um, do you want to... kiss me?"

They leaned close simultaneously. Marie's sideburns brushed Logan's smooth cheek. "Wait," she said, stopping. "This is just too weird. Can we wait until this wears off?"

"Yeah. That's probably a good idea. I know I'm good lookin' and all, but I'm really not my type," Logan said, chuckling.

Taking it as a given that they'd be spending the night together, they got under the covers and switched the light out. "Logan," Marie said in a teasing tone. "Honestly, how can you men walk around all day with this-- thing between your legs? I mean, no amount of being able to pee standing up is compensation for this. It's so... out there."

"Let's see if you're saying the same thing in a week or so," Logan said, poking her ribs. "You wanna talk out there... How come you've been hiding these melons from the world?"

Marie snorted in exasperation. "What I do with my... melons is my own business. God, I wish it was that time of the month."

Logan blanched. "That's okay, darlin'. I'll pass."

---

They joked and teased for a while, sleepy, but not wanting to sleep. Just as they were about to drift off, Logan spoke softly and seriously. "Marie?"

"Hmm?"

"I think I might like you more than just like."

"Oh... Logan? I'm pretty sure I like you more than just like."

"Okay. Good. So, um, we-- I guess, maybe, we love each other?"

"Yeah."

They scooted close together and fell into an easy sleep.

---

Marie woke first, her head resting on Logan's flat chest. His hand cupped one of her breasts gently.

His flat chest. Her breast.

She sat up suddenly. Logan opened his eyes. "Hey, beautiful," he said, grinning.

"I guess we found our true path?" Marie said, a glint in her eye.

"Any path with you on it is the true one for me," he said, running his fingers through her hair.

"Mmm... for me too, Logan. Me too."

"Hang on a sec," he said, digging under the pillows and pulling out a thin, sheer scarf. "What?" he said to her raised eyebrow. "You didn't tear my room apart looking for dirt? I know you peeked in the shower..."

"Stop talking and use that scarf," Marie said.