"Who the hell does he think he is?"

Jubilee remained silent and simply continued to wait for Rogue to resume walking once again. They'd been outside for at least an hour, briskly walking the mansion's extensive garden paths and stopping every now and then for Rogue to have an angry outburst that made no sense to Jubilee. Every time she'd begun to ask what she was talking about, Rogue just shook her head in mute frustration and started walking.

This time, however, seemed to be different. For one, their feet seriously hurt from walking in heels, and for another, it was growing dark. Rogue sat on a stone bench overlooking a small pond and looked expectantly at her friend.

"Well? Don't you want to know what he did?"

Jubilee sat down beside her, popping off her shoes and stretching out her aching legs. "With Logan, God only knows."

Rogue made a noise of agreement. "This goes beyond all the shit he's done before to piss me off. I mean, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him. No, I know I won't be able to. Ever."

"Whoa, dude." Distressed, Jubilee peered at her closely and noted the absolute desolation in her eyes. "What did he do? Is it a woman? Did he -"

"No, nothing like that," Rogue sniffed, a prelude to tears. "Oh, God, I - I don't even think I can say it."

Jubilee's mind was racing through all sorts of possible reasons for Rogue to be this upset. "Did he try something with you that you didn't like? Ask you to do something funky with him?"

"No!" Rogue looked vaguely shocked at the mere suggestion. "You know it ain't like that with us. I've got a boyfriend; you keep forgetting all about Bobby."

"Maybe that's because half the time you forget all about him, too."

If she'd been someone else, she'd have a catfight on her hands in all it's hair-pulling glory. But Jubilee could get away with it because she was her best friend. Also, there was some truth to what she said.

And Rogue knew it, too. With a slight sigh, she said, "This ain't got nothing to do with Bobby."

"Then what the hell is it? What did he do?" Jubilee demanded, her patience wearing thin. "Would you just tell me before I lose my damn mind?"

There's a few moments of silence before Rogue answered, partly because every time she opened her mouth to speak she'd get choked by the lump in her throat. Finally, she said, "You know how some students enroll here and their parents pay for their education, their room and board?"

"Yeah," Jubilee nodded slowly, not quite following along. "And the ones that don't have parents willing to pay their way end up on the team in exchange."

It was unspoken but true. Professor Xavier never asked those students to stay on after graduation and join the team in exchange for living off his charity. Both girls knew that if they truly did not want to be X-Men or teach at the school that he wouldn't be anything but unendingly pleased with them, if just a bit disappointed.

"Well, I went to the Professor's office after the graduation ceremony this afternoon," she began. "And I sat there and I told him that I appreciate all that he's done for me and how much his kindness has meant to me. I told him that if he'd help me work out going to college with my skin, that I'd like to get a teaching certificate and that I'd like to train to join the X-Men."

Jubilee nodded, wanting her to get on with it. All of the graduating seniors in their situation had sought out the Professor and said much the same thing and made the same offer. Where was the devastating trauma in that?

"Well, he thanked me and then he asked me if there was something else I'd rather do with my life," Rogue told her, picking at the material of her gloves. "Did he ask you that?"

"No," Jubilee answered, frowning. "What else did he say?"

"He said that he was sure that I wasn't fully aware of my entire situation. That while I would make a wonderful, valuable addition to the school staff and the team itself, that he wonders if I made the offer out of a sense of debt."

Jubilee shrugged in confusion. "All I got was a faint mind-probe to see if I was serious when I said I wanted to teach and join the team. Then I got a big hug and a thank you. He didn't say any of that to me."

"There's a reason he didn’t," Rogue said. "He said that he doesn't want me to join the team and risk my life because I felt I owed him for everything I've had since I got here. I was about to protest when he told me, flat out, that my finances have been taken care of from the get-go."

Jubilee sat there, stunned silent for a moment.

Then she stood up, pissed as hell. "That's why I've walked my damn feet off? That's what's got you all twisted up? Because Logan paid for your education? Shit."

"You don't understand!"

"Then explain it to me, girlfriend! Cause it sounds to me like you're bitching about something you have no right to bitch about."

Rogue grabbed her hand and yanked her back down to the bench. "Don't you get it? I don't want to live off Logan. Not like this."

Pulling her hand back, Jubilee folded her arms across her chest. "So you're just fine with living off the Professor, but you go apeshit at the idea of Logan paying your way?"

"It's different." Rogue shook her head stubbornly, fresh anger rising.

"How?"

Rogue threw her hands up in irritation. "Because! What do you think Logan did to earn that kind of money?"

"I-"

"He must have done a hell of a lot of cage-fighting up in Canada all those times he's been gone," she spat out, answering her own question. "I'm bitching because he drives around in a broke-down pick-up truck and I wear nice clothes and have nice things because he's fought and hurt and bled so I could have them."

Jubilee was quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she spoke. Rogue brought her out here for more than just companionship while she stormed around the gardens; she wanted her advice and her help. Jubilee didn't want to screw it up.

"I get where you're coming from when you put it in that perspective." And she did. She might not always get along with Logan, but the thought of him getting beat on didn't exactly thrill her. "You don't want him to get hurt and I understand how that would piss you off to know he went out and did just that in order to pay your bills. But chica . . . did you stop to wonder why?"

Rogue shrugged her shoulders without looking away from the pond. "All I can figure is that he feels obligated. And I feel so stupid, because I made him feel bad for taking all those trips to Canada."

Jubilee deliberately kept her tone neutral and calm when she said, "Maybe he did all that because he doesn't want you on the team, because he can't bear the thought of you getting hurt, either."

Small shrug in response, so she kept going. "Maybe it's because he wanted you to have the chance to make up your own mind about what you want to do with your life. He wanted to, you know, give you choices you didn't have before. So you wouldn't feel like you had to join up just because your family balked at the idea of paying your tuition."

"Then why wouldn't he tell me that himself? Why has been so distant with me for so long now?"

Again, Jubilee took her time before throwing her opinion out there. "Do you think maybe he didn't tell you for kind of the same reason? He probably didn't want you to join the team just because you thought you had no choice. What if he didn't want you to know because he thought you'd feel like you had to be with him in exchange, like you had no choice?"

"But he knows I'm with Bobby . . ."

"Please, girl," Jubilee snorted. "Even Bobby knows you're just biding your time with him until Logan comes around. Which is probably why he hasn't been as close to you as you'd like; it seems to me like he's been trying to give you space and time to grow up and have normal teenage things, have a boyfriend and a life of your own that has nothing to do with him."

Rogue said nothing to that. They sat there quietly for awhile as the sun finally slipped below the horizon, casting the sky in varying shades of pink and gold and clear blue.

"I thought about all that on my own, but I just . . . I can't seem to believe it," she says after awhile. "He's always treated me like I’m some kid that attached myself to his leg when he saved my life. He's made it clear on several occasions that my feelings for him are irritating."

Jubilee winced slightly, saying, "I don't think I helped much there. Operation Get Logan worked his last nerve, big time."

"I did make a fool of myself, listening to your half-baked ideas on how to snag him." Rogue laughed, but it faded rather quickly to a puzzled frown. "And still he paid for everything I have. I don't get it, Jubes. I just don't."

"Looks to me like he cares an awful lot about you, chica," she said, bumping Rogue's shoulder with her own and winning a slight smile in response. "And from what I've seen of his life, that seems to be a rare thing for him."

"I thought about that, too," Rogue confessed. "And I want to find him and thank him and tell him that I'll pay him back even though he'll tell me that he doesn't want that. I'm just so mad, though."

"Why?"

"It's just, I can't stop thinking about how much money it must have been. Must still be," she answered. "I mean, you know how each of us has an expense card to use in town for personal stuff? He's paid it off on the fifteenth of the month since I got here."

"You gotta stop telling me this shit," Jubilee told her. "It's making even me have the warm fuzzies for him."

"Every single thing I have, he's paid for," Rogue continued as if she didn't even hear her. "He gets all pissed off when I flirt with him, but I wear underwear paid for with his money. He doesn't want to be with me, but he sure doesn't mind owning me."

Jubilee slung an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe you're looking at this wrong."

"How else would I look at it?"

"I don't know, chica," Jubilee said, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "But I think you need to talk to him."

Rogue shook her head at that idea. "Nah, I think I need to cool off for a for a day or two before I deal with him. I don't know what I'd say."

"You’d better figure it out quick," Jubilee laughed, raising her hand and pointing out Logan's approach.

Both girls watched Logan across the sizeable duck pond. Rogue sighed deeply, saying, "You think he'd catch me if I run now?"

"Bet on it," Jubilee replied, standing up again and shaking out her sore calves. "I'm gonna head on back to the party. You gonna be alright with Wolvie?"

"Yeah." Standing too, she pulled Jubilee into a tight hug. "Thank you for ditching the party to speed-walk in heels with me. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Blushing as she let go, Jubilee grinned and said, "No worries, chica. Just take it easy on him, you know?"

Logan must have caught the tail end of their conversation, or hell, with his hearing, maybe the whole thing. As he approached he said, "Who are you and what have you done with Jubilation Lee?"

"Bite my ass, buddy," she replied with a quirked eyebrow. "You know you're in deep shit when even I'm trying to dig you out of it."

"That bad?"

Rogue didn't look up so Jubilee answered.

"Well, let me put it this way," she began as she walked toward him and away from Rogue, heading for the graduation party. "You may have paid for her bed, but you sure aren't gonna be waking up in it anytime soon."

"Jubilee!"

"What? I'm just sayin' . . . "