Rogue sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping back against the chair. “Stupid essay,” she said quietly to the laptop screen in front of her. She re-read half of what she had previously written, more than six pages. What else was there to say about the ‘American Empire’? She was about to start typing again when there was a knock on her door. “Who is it,” Rogue asked from her chair.

“Logan,” the rough voice called from the other side of the door. It opened a little and Rogue turned around to see Logan half step into her doorway. He continued, “Can I come in?”

Rogue couldn’t help the smile. If it had been anyone else’s room, he would have just barged in without knocking. He wore his leather jacket over his jean jacket. “Yeah, you can join me in the torture they call homework,” Rogue said, smiling at him. He smirked and fully came into the room, closing the door behind him. He moved to her bed and sat down, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen.

“Since when is America an Empire,” Logan asked.

“Since we became a mega-power in the world,” Rogue replied, looking at him. Logan looked back at her, smirking. Rogue smiled at him, then looked at the screen again. “Ten more pages to go,” she said with a sigh.

Logan stood up, saying, “Take a break. Go out to lunch with me.”

Rogue looked up at him. She wanted to go with Logan. They hadn’t talked in a while, ever since Jean died. She sighed and pushed her chair away from the desk, standing. Logan smiled crookedly at her. “Where’re we going,” Rogue asked.

“Just a diner in town. Not a bad place. Good coffee,” Logan said.

/Always short answers,/ Rogue thought. She smiled and replied, “Sounds good to me.” Logan nodded, leading the way out of her room and down the main stairs. It was a semi-nice day out, so the foyer was empty. Logan walked into the garage, grabbing the keys to the motorcycle. Rogue followed in silence, not wanting to protest taking the bike. She looked at the thermometer on the wall. /What’s he thinking? I’m going to freeze my butt off out there./ “Um, Logan,” she said, her voice almost questioning.

“Yeah kid,” Logan said, turning his head to look at her.

“Isn’t it a little cold out for the bike,” Rogue asked.

Logan stopped, looking at her lack of warm clothing besides her jeans. “Oh, right,” Logan said. He looked around the garage quickly, but nothing caught his attention. He shrugged out of his leather jacket and handed it to her. “Here, use my jacket.”

Rogue looked at it for a second then took it, saying, “Thanks.” Logan gave her a quick nod of the head. She pulled the coat on, his body warmth having heated the coat up already. It smelled like him; cigars, woods, gasoline and something that was just Logan. She smiled a little, then continued towards the bike. Logan swung his leg over and started the bike, the roaring noise of the engine filling the garage. Rogue sat behind him. She wrapped her arms around his stomach, more of his body heat seeping through her clothes. She bit her lip, a nervous habit of hers that she could never seem to control when she was around Logan.

“Ready,” Logan asked just loud enough for her to hear.

“Yeah,” Rogue replied. With that, the garage door started its ascent and Logan shot through the space between the floor and the door, his head just barely missing the bottom edge of it. Rogue looked behind them as the garage quickly fell behind much faster than she thought it would. She clutched to Logan’s jean jacket a little tighter. They drove through the main gate to the mansion and they headed straight for town.

Rogue’s fingers were going numb as the frigid wind bore down on her bare hands. She pressed her fingers against Logan’s warm clothes and she rested her cheek on his back. The buildings flew by as they drove. Rogue tried to keep from shivering. Despite Logan’s warm body and his jacket, the rushing wind chilled her. Another fifteen minutes and Logan pulled into a parking spot in front of a small diner.

Logan turned off the bike and sat there. He raised an eyebrow when Rogue didn’t move. “Uh, kid. Are you going to let go of me or do you plan on having me walk in there with you hanging off of me,” Logan asked. She could hear the smile in his voice.

Rogue blushed a little as she let go saying, “Sorry. You’re warm.” She stood up, pulling the leather coat tighter around herself. Logan swung off the bike and looked at Rogue who was shaking the stiffness out of her legs. He chuckled, shaking his head. Rogue looked at him and stuck her tongue out. Logan just shook his head, saying, “That’s mature.” He turned and walked into the diner, Rogue quickly catching up with him. The warmth of the interior of the diner hit her like a ton of bricks. She took a deep breath and the scents of burgers and other foods entered her nose.

Logan immediately moved to a booth that looked out a window. Rogue followed, eyeing the other customers and waitresses. The redheaded waitress had a huge grin on her face. She had a walk with a little hop in it, which made her red, wavy hair bounce on her shoulders. The waitress looked at Logan and Rogue. She had a slightly tan complexion. Her skin looked young, pulled tight over high cheekbones. Her green eyes looked gentle and sincere. She reminded Rogue of Jean.

That tore at her heart a little. Rogue missed Jean, the Professor, and even Scott. After absorbing Logan, Rogue had a serious dislike for the man, but as Logan’s traits faded a little, Rogue had come to respect the leader of the team. He was funny… sometimes and he never let anything break his spirits. Until Jean died that is. It was like the man she had come to see as a brother was gone. No smiles, no cracking jokes… nothing. He was a mess and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Logan sat down at the booth and Rogue followed suit, sitting across from him. She hoped to God that the redhead wasn’t their waitress. Low and behold, the woman came to their table, a smile spreading across her face. Logan glanced at her, then quickly looked away. “My name’s Genelle. I’ll be your server today. What can I get for you to drink,” the waitress asked.

Rogue looked up at her and said, “I’ll have a sweet tea.”

Genelle scratched that down on her pad of paper with her pen then looked at Logan, “For you, sir?”

“Beer,” Logan replied, not looking up at her, but keeping his eyes on the table. The waitress scribbled that down.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and the way her hair bounced made it seem like she had hopped in order to do so. “Do you two need a few minutes to look over the menus, or are you ready to order your food,” Genelle asked.

Logan looked at Rogue, questioningly. Rogue glanced from him, then up at the waitress. “I need a couple of minutes,” she said.

Genelle nodded, replying, “I’ll come back to get your order.” She bounced away to another table that a three woman had just sat down at. Rogue looked through her menu, occasionally glancing at Logan. She found something she wanted, then closed her menu and set it aside.

Logan looked up at her and saw her watching the redhead. “I’m not crazy, am I Marie?”

Rogue looked at him, frowning. She shook her head, replying, “No Logan. Why on earth would you think that?”

“Because I stuck around,” Logan said.

Rogue’s shoulders dropped and she frowned sadly at him. “No,” she said, “Logan, you’re a better man for it. I like having you around. So do a lot of the others, they just don’t know how to let you know that.”

Logan sighed, looking out the window again. Genelle came back to the table with their drinks and set them down. “Ready to order,” she asked. Rogue nodded. They both ordered, Logan still avoiding looking at their waitress. Once she was gone, Logan sighed, his broad shoulders heaving a little as he did.

“Kid, did it ever bother you… me going after Jean I mean,” Logan asked, his voice low.

Rogue’s eyes widened slightly. /Yes it bothered me. First off, you were chasing some other man’s girl. Secondly, I wanted you to look at me like you looked at her./ “No,” Rogue replied, her voice level.

Logan looked at her. It felt like he looked right through that lie. Rogue knew he had. He could smell it on her. She moved her eyes away from his face to study the water droplets dropping down the side of the glass in front of her. Logan continued to watch her for a few more moments before picking up his beer and taking a drink from it. He put it back on the table and turned his head slightly to look outside again. She took this time to study him. His mutton chops were still the same, if not a little thicker than normal. There was no gray in his hair anywhere. /I wonder how long he’ll look like this. He looks around his late thirties or early fourties./ The expression on his face was unreadable, as usual. She wished at times that she could read the emotions there, but he kept them so well guarded. That was probably safer this day and age. You can’t show emotion. It was a weakness now. His eyes were a rich, dark brown color. They had always seemed haunted, but now that Rogue looked, it seemed they were more haunted looking than usual.

“Why’re you staring at me,” Logan asked. Logan hadn’t even turned his head to look at her. He sounded amused, but that could have been her ears playing tricks on her. Rogue quickly averted her eyes elsewhere and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, biting her lower lip. She glanced back at him to find a lopsided smile on his face. His eyes were brighter when he smiled and Rogue liked seeing him like that. She smiled back at him.

Over dinner, they talked. Mostly, they talked about casual things. Logan asked Rogue about her and Bobby. He was a little pissed to hear that Rogue felt like Bobby was going to end the relationship because she was still uncomfortable with the whole touch situation. Rogue just shrugged and told him that she was feeling like she wasn’t as interested in him anymore. “He just seems… less mature than what I’m interested in anymore.” Rogue was silent for a moment, then she looked up at Logan. “What happened on the island?”

“Didn’t Kitty and Bobby tell you everything,” Logan asked, suddenly putting his emotion shields back up.

Rogue bit her lip, then continued, “Only what they saw.”

Logan frowned, taking another long drink of his beer. He drained it and set the bottle back onto the table. He remained silent. Rogue should have guessed he wouldn’t want to talk about it. She mentally kicked herself for even asking. /Stupid! That was so damn stupid! Why did I even bother asking?/

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business,” Rogue mumbled.

“Don’t apologize Marie. I’ll talk about it, but just not right now,” Logan said, glancing around at the other customers. Rogue nodded, understanding that he wanted a more private setting to talk about something that had hurt him so badly. She continued eating her food. Their conversation became less serious once again and they exchanged banter. Rogue even got Logan to laugh a few times, which made her beam at him. If Logan wanted to wait to talk about what happened, Rogue could wait.

Once back at the mansion, Logan led Rogue out to the woods. She knew he hated talking about his feelings. It really wasn’t his strong point anyway, but she also knew he needed this. He needed someone to listen to him and give him comfort, whether he denied it all later or not. That’s one thing about Logan. He would never admit to talking about his feelings except to Rogue.

They came to a small creek that had a fallen tree laying nearby. Rogue sat down on it, watching the water. She didn’t want to push Logan. He would talk in his own time. The water was clear enough for her to see the muddy bottom. She felt Logan sit next to her, closer than she was used to, but she didn’t pull away. Rogue leaned into his body heat, which made their shoulders touch. It was silent except for the chirp of birds and the quiet gurgle of the creek.

“I killed her,” Logan said. Rogue turned her head and stared at him. His words almost seemed to echo in the quiet forest even though he had said them almost in a whisper. Logan didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes forward, darting back and forth between the trees. “Told her I loved her, then I killed her. She begged me to do it,” Logan said, his voice wavering, “I was the only one who could.”

Rogue opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. To be honest, she didn’t know what to say. Sorry didn’t seem like it was enough to try and help ease his pain. She wrapped an arm around Logan’s arm closest to her and pulled that hand into her lap. He looked down at his hand when Rogue interlaced her fingers with his, then his eyes traveled to her face. Rogue gazed right back at him, sympathy written clearly on her face. He squeezed her hand a little, sighing, then looked away again. “I didn’t want to do it. I almost thought I couldn’t.” He paused for a long moment. “Then I thought about you and all the other students here. If I let Jean… Phoenix live, it’d be the end of everyone here, and it’d be my fault.”

“We wouldn’t have blamed you, Logan. I mean, you loved her. It has to be hard to end the life of the person you care about most,” Rogue said.

“See Marie, that’s the thing. She isn’t the person I care about most. I realized that when I killed Jean. If it had been… you… in Jean’s place, I couldn’t have done it.”

Rogue stared at him, shocked by his words. She knew he cared, but she never knew he cared more about her than he did Jean. “What?”

“I loved Jean and I cared a lot about her, but you were always on the top of my list. You changed the way I lived, Marie. For fifteen years, I fought, got drunk and slept with any woman that was willing. Then you hid in my trailer and turned that all upside down for me. You made me want to change, kid. You made me want to care and to want a place to come back to.” Rogue looked down at his hand that was still in her lap. Logan pulled his hand away from her only to wrap that arm around her shoulders and pull her into a hug. Rogue turned towards him a little more, wrapping her arms around his chest, tucking her head under his chin. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head, sighing.

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

Rogue sat on Jubilee’s desk chair, lost in thought. Logan cared more about her than he ever did about Jean. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it still made Rogue feel happy. The fact Logan had to kill Jean didn’t, but just the fact that she was the most important person in her life almost made her skin hum. It was then she realized Jubilee was waving a hand in front of her face.

“Heelloo! Earth to Roguey! Can you hear me,” Jubilee asked.

“Sorry Jubes. Got a lot on my mind,” Rogue replied.

Jubilee gave her a smirk and wiggled her eyebrows. “Thinking about Wolfman, aren’t ya? I bet he looks amazing naked too.”

Rogue looked up at Jubilee and smiled slightly. “I’m sure he does, but that’s not exactly what I was thinking about.”

“Oooh… you were thinking about him half naked on a stripper pole then?”

Rogue burst out laughing. “No! I did /not/ need that image in my head.”

“Oh come on chica. You know you’d like to see it.”

“That’s beside the point.”

Jubilee rolled her eyes and popped the ever present gum in her mouth. Rogue smiled at her friend, shaking her head. Jubilee knew her a little too well. Sure, Rogue wanted Logan, but she knew he didn’t want her in the same way. She was his kid sister, his friend. Their relationship would never be anything more than platonic. Rogue could handle that. As long as Logan was in her life, she’d be happy.