After driving for two days straight across the United States and Canada with only short breaks for new gas, taking a bite in a diner and bathroom stops – they had taken turns with driving and sleeping – Logan finally steered their silver Jeep past the old and hardly readable sign of the small town in the Canadian Rocky Mountains that was their destination.

It had taken Rogue a huge amount of concentration and mental strength to worm the town's name out of her inner Victor – he was pissed that she didn't tell Logan that he'd played matchmaker for his little brother. But as soon as its name had left her lips Logan began to remember the place he'd spent some peaceful years with Kayla so long ago. Smiling the brunette noted the growing excitement on Logan's face as he drove along the main street past the town's center and bent into a road that led through the woods, the whole route recalling from his slowly returning memories.

A quarter hour after leaving downtown and crossing a small bridge near the end of the woods Rogue's brown eyes fell upon an old wooden cabin and a small hut adjoining it near a cliff. When the car finally came to a stop she noticed a new unknown emotion flicker over Logan's features as he remained in the driver seat, his hands held the steering wheel in a tight grip his knuckles whitening and his gaze never left the building. At first Rogue was unsure of this emotion, she had never witnessed it on her love's face before, but a few minutes later – Logan was like glued to his seat – she came to the conclusion that her Wolverine was indeed afraid of what might be waiting for him in his previous life.

Tentatively she covered his hand with her gloved one squeezing it lightly. Slowly this broke the spell her Logan was under and his hazel eyes met hers taking strength from her encouraging smile. A moment later the Canadian leaned forward and captured the young woman's lips in a gentle kiss, breaking away when he felt the pull on his life force start. He shook the dizziness from his head before an insecure smile found its way on his lips. "It's no use sittin' here any longer, darlin'."

= We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you =

As they stepped away from their car and approached the porch, walking by the two windows of the wooden front side of the cabin and finally rounded the corner Logan took in the back side with its large glass windows that covered the whole wall from top to bottom. Suddenly he slowed his pace and came to a halt staring into the bedroom, the old dark green and grey checkered curtains partly blocked his view. Rogue was by his side as always and entangled their fingers gazing up to his hardly readable face. "Ah like it, sugah."

Slowly Logan met her sparkling brown eyes telling him she indeed loved it.

"It's like Ah have imagined. This screams you." A large smile found its place on her lips. "This wooden cabin in the middle of the Canadian wilderness with so much space around it… and this breathtaking scenery!" She spun around never letting go of his hand and her eyes glittered with joy as they roamed over the giant canyon and the mountains beyond. "Ah wanna watch the sun rise and peek slowly over the snowy mountain tops!" She heard an amused chuckle and her Wolverine's arms move around her waist from behind. "It's so peaceful." The brunette leaned back against his broad chest, her hands rested on his on her middle and she felt him place a kiss on her dark head.

They stood there in comfortable silence, their thoughts wandering off along with the slight wind until Logan murmured. "I never thought about how or where I would want to live… There was no time for that with my search of my past… of the place I might have lived in as a completely different person." It slipped past his lips before he could grasped that he had indeed spoken those words out aloud.

= No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start =

Rogue shook her head rubbing it onto his chest before she turned around in his embrace and met his shy gaze. "Sugah, seeing this place and having some of your memories of your former life… Ah told ya mah Logan begins to remember too… Ah don't think that deep down James Howlett and Logan are so different."

A smirk plastered his features wondering on how well this young woman knew him – if he wouldn't know it any better he would think her a telepath. "Thought I was your Logan."

"Ya are, sugah. Don't change the topic." Her hands rested on his shoulders and her chocolate eyes drowned in his. "Ya always showed this other side of ya to me and only me. Your kindness and care… your love. They were always there and Ah think, sugah, this part of ya was James Howlett coming to the surface."

He didn't know what to say on that - this might be something to nag on in a sleepless night - and an annoyed growl rumbled in his throat.

"Too slobbery for mah Wolverine?" Grinning Rogue encircled his neck with her gloved arms and tip-toed to reach up kissing her Wolverine hard on the mouth.

After breaking away to avoid the drain of his life-force Rogue snuggled her face into his chest breathing in his unique scent of tobacco, leather and wood. "It's so beautiful here."

"No. It's nice here, you're beautiful, sweetheart."

Her dark eyebrow raised in surprise as her cheeks blushed. "Sweetheart?"

"Don't like it?" An eyebrow cocked he watched her smiling lips crush on his in a silent reply. "Thought about the vast collection of pet-names that exists." He added with a smirk when he let finally go of the brunette and slung one arm around her waist leading her back to the wooden side of the cabin where the entrance lay. "Let's have a look inside."

= And Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
A Wonderful journey =

Their eyes fell in unison onto the lock of the oak door. "Ya don't have the key by chance, sugah?"

With a smug grin Logan slid one of his Adamantium claws from his knuckles and drove it through the lock, turning his hand to break the metal cylinder within the security device and the door soon gave way with a creak.

"Ooh, mah man is a housebreaker." Rogue joked with a grin and watched him retract his claw.

With as much care as Wolverine could give an inanimate piece of wood he slowly pulled the door towards his body, the old and rusty hinges screamed under the sudden movement and revealed a swollen doorpost due to water damage over the past two decades. To don't strain the already damaged hinges any more Logan left the door only half open, enough for him and Marie to have a look into the dusty room. Stepping inside his nostrils caught the foul smell of mold and noted his love's grimacing features behind him; she also smelled it though she still stood on the porch.

Tentatively he switched on the light, but as he already had guessed there was no electricity and the room remained covered half in darkness, the only light fell through the large glass wall on the opposite side of the room. But this was more than enough for his enhanced sight to have a good look of this old and abandoned cabin.

On the furniture all over the room lay a thick grey layer of dust, in the middle of the large living room - kitchen combination beneath the fireplace made of stone was a heap of small branches, rotten leaves and dirt reaching up all the way into the chimney. Growling Logan inwardly cursed the bad condition his cabin was in, but then again it were almost two decades.

Meanwhile Rogue had entered the old building noting with distaste the cobwebs almost everywhere and her eyes finally locked onto a rather large spot in a corner. The entire parquet and the adjoining wooden walls in that spot were swollen and deformed, mold was growing in the gaps of the wood.

"You still like it, baby?" His eyebrow was cocked.

Rogue kicked a heap of rotten leafs with her boot revealing more white and black mold beyond. "We have to clean it a little."

He faced her startled. "A little?!"

"'K, we need a tsunami roll through the house." Switching on the torch light she had taken from their car, Rogue pointed the small light ray over the dirty floor and eventually up the damaged corner, silently cursing that Logan's enhanced senses had already left her. As the ceiling was finally covered in light, she took in the awning that peaked through a soccer ball big hole of the wooden roof. She frowned at the makeshift repair. "That's weird."

Logan looked up from tattered couch – the cushions on the timber frame were torn and the fluffy filling pulled out on virtually all ends. "Whatdaya mean?"

Stepping closer Marie inspected the corner more closely. "The roof… it was fixed. But rather sloppy." She heard her love approach and pointed her index finger up.

Narrowing his sharp eyes Logan noticed the swollen roof-parts surrounding the repair and the dried water damage of the adjoining walls. "You're right, darlin', that's weird." Had someone taken care of this cabin in the last years? But why only repairing the worst damage and not renovate the entire hut so you could use it? A loud stomp of Rogue's foot onto the parquet ripped Logan's eyes from the ceiling and back to the brunette next to him, squashing something under her boot. A second later she lifted her foot again and thundered it back down onto another spider crawling obviously over the floor.

Rogue felt his gaze on her and looked up with a smug smirk. "Thought Ah would shriek like a little girl?!"

Grinning he shook his head. "Nah. Otherwise the poor spider on your shoulder'd have a heart attack."

The brunette's corners of her mouth fell downwards as her eyes widened in disgust and she began to smack her shoulders with her hands and torch light in panic. "Eeek, where! Kill it, Logan!" After a moment of terror her ears caught the dark laughter of her Wolverine. Stopping her strange dance she glared at the man with burning eyes, several auburn strains torn from her ponytail and sprawled about her face, mixing up with her white streaks. "Jerk!"

'She's so cute when she's angry.' Logan thought unable to bite his chuckles down.

Annoyed the young woman turned on her heels and stormed across the living room. With her arms crossed over her chest she let her gaze travel out the large windows over the breathtaking scenery of the Rockies and then back in over the small dining table with its two chairs placed directly in front of the overwhelming panorama. Dust and dried plant parts covered the tabletop around a tiny vase and she began to wipe them off the table absently.

Logan had approached one of the two doors leading to other rooms within the cabin and was now entering the bedroom. His eyes fell upon the king-size bed, and then swiftly swept along the walls and the ceiling, thankful that no water damages were visible.

"Odd… the bedroom is rather clean. There are almost no cobwebs in here." He called, so Rogue would hear his findings. "And the dust layer isn't as thick as in the main room."

The brunette made her way over to the smaller room and took a not so deep breath as her gaze inspected the furniture. "It even smells better."

"No mold in here." The Canadian explained rather surprised and neared the nightstand and the framed picture on it.

"But therefore a happy face is craved into the wall." Her fingers ran over the scratches and she wondered if this hut was a secret hide-out of the local teenagers. Her suspicion was strengthened by the heap of butts gathered in a mug. With a sigh her eyes left the makeshift ashtray and wandered over to her love. He stood there like frozen with his back to her holding something that had caught his full attention. She wasn't sure if it was sorrow or hurt she felt coming from him, but decided to support and sooth his troubled emotions with her closeness.

= I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you =

Her shoulder brushed against his upper arm as she caught sight of the two people in the picture Logan was holding. "She was beautiful." Rogue stated and a small smile formed on her lips as she studied the old photo. In it Logan's face was soft and relaxed with a loving smile – an expression he showed only to his Marie normally – his arm holding Kayla by the waist pressing her tightly to his body. "You two looked happy together." Rogue didn't feel jealous seeing this evidence of his former life and love, but was glad that Logan finally has found his lost past and the knowledge that he weren't such a monster, Stryker had told him he had been. And that there was someone, who had loved the scared soul of his.

"It feels kinda unreal." Logan eventually murmured, tracing the glass of the frame with his index finger before tearing his gloomy gaze from the picture and met his Marie's kind eyes.

Seeing his face Rogue noticed the tears shimmering in his hazel eyes, threaten to fall any moment. She saw his struggle and lifted her hand to his face, running her fingertips down his temple and over his sideburns. "It's fine."

Those words were all that was needed to give into his sorrow about his forgotten past and before he knew it, Logan found himself in a comforting embrace while long overdue tears streamed down his cheeks. Burying his face in Rogue's salt-and-pepper hair, his arms wrapped tightly around her petite frame, the picture pressed to her back while she just held him and caressed his back soothingly.

= We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you =

But instead of giving into his sadness Logan lifted his head and locked his watery gaze with the young woman's, holding her pressed to his chest. "Nah, Kayla is my past. You are my future." He told her fighting his tears again.

The brunette shook her head, feeling her own eyes at the brim of tears. Her heart ached for the man in her arms, whom wasn't only his identity denied for so long, but also the right to mourn what he had lost. "But ya never had a chance to close that chapter of your life. To grieve." She felt her inner Logan's misery wash over her as his flesh and blood counterpart finally surrendered to his emotions.

= I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
I know that my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart =

Half an hour later, Logan's eyes were still red and puffy from his tears, as he opened the door to what he now remembered to be the bathroom and took in the rather good condition the walls and ceiling were in. The mold restricted only to the windowsill and the frame of the milk-tainted glass. Despite the thick layer of dust on the toilette-seat, the huge corner bath-tube and the sink the room was pretty clean and he dared to give the tabs a try.

The mutant watched expectantly as his sensitive ears caught a gurgling and rumble, praying that the old pipes weren't broken. Suddenly the gargling noise subsided. Just as Logan was about to give up and turn it shut, a low growl vibrated in the metal parts of the sink and a blast of a brown broth thundered against the white ceramic, splattering there. Without delay he turned the tabs down, but it didn't lessen the ferocity the dirty soup was thrown into the basin, spraying onto Logan's white tee shirt. "Jesus!"

Wolverine snarled at the mess before him, his nerves thinning. Then with a last roar the flow steadied suddenly and the broth was finally tamed. Opening the faucets to their fullest again and watching the brown sauce disappear in the drain open, Logan grunted through his teeth. "We have water! If ya wanna call it that way..."

"Eww." Rogue had approached the other room and stood in the doorframe her eyes observing the mess in the washbasin and on her love's shirt. "Ya're a piggy, Wolvie." He shot her an annoyed glare – he wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Uhu, it becomes clear!" Rogue exclaimed as the water lost its brown shade.

"That's promisin'." The Canadian faced his girl with a grave expression. "But don't think 'bout drinkin' it."

"Ah might hear voices in mah head, but Ah'm not nuts!" The brunette shot him a disbelieving glare and walked over to the small window, opening it – making the way free for fresh air.

Worry flashed over Logan's face as he observed her movements. "Gonna buy you new gloves, baby. Those are contaminated."

Startled she cut in on breathing in the fresh air and faced the man behind her. "Huh?" Following his gaze she noticed the dark patches of mold and other grime on her blue opera gloves. "Another pair ruined." Sighing she returned to the bedroom and sank down on the mattress.

Running her hand over the white sheet beneath her – silently cursing as she left black streaks of mold doing so - her chocolate eyes fell upon three parallel slices. With a chuckle on her lips she sprang back to her feet and clutched the cloth. "Your lively nightmares aren't somethin' new, sugah."

Scowling Logan leaned in the doorframe his arms crossed over his chest, a bewildered glance sparkling in his eyes. "How-" His question was already answered by Rogue holding a torn blanket before her body. "Seems so."

Giggling the young woman tossed the fabric back onto the bed and approached the nightstand curiously. Opening the drawer she looked in it, finding an old motorcycle magazine, a few cigars, a debt obligation – telling some guy called Doug owed Logan 20 bucks for poker – and a card, she immediately picked up. "Ah found your ID." She read out loudly, a smile on her lips. "James Logan Howlett. Born in Alberta, Canada. So Logan is now officially your middle name." She laughed and heard her love approach. "Your ID is a little expired. Only for 17 years."

His own curiosity got the better of him and he snatched the card from Marie's fingers, sucking in all dates presented by the paper. He wondered if the birth-date and birthplace were correct or made up, but a feeling told him they were accurate, except for the year of his birth, of course. Eventually he eyed the picture of him. "Stupid photo."

"Nah, cute.", chirped the brunette next to him, peeking over his biceps onto the ID.

"As I say: stupid."

She watched him shove the card into his jeans' back-pocket. "Ah like that haircut."

Logan only huffed in reply, inwardly smirking on the idea to see the faces of his fellow X-Men if he would abandon his trademark hair spikes. He assumed everyone, except his Marie, thought them part of his feral mutation, but in truth – and that would astonish those geeks even more – he used toiletries. His year long use of mousse had shaped his hair into its two pointy ends by now, so even a shower couldn't completely deform his hairstyle so easily.

X X X X

The small closet in the bedroom only revealed next to dresses, skirts and other clothes that had once belonged to Kayla, several blue jeans, flannel shirts, wife-beaters and tee-shirts, causing a hysterical laughter from the brunette and a comment about his clothing style being apparently tied to his genes.

Back in the main room the two of them approached a second door and a wave of sickly foul stench met their noses as soon as Logan opened the door. "Breath through your mouth."

"Ah'm doing this the whole time!" She snapped back annoyed. "That reeks like a rat's decaying!"

"Cuz there is." Logan gestured over to a corner. Maggots and flies colonized the rotting flesh of what once was the body of a rat.

Disgusted Rogue averted her gaze and struggled with the gagging reflex. "That with the rat was a joke…"

The intense smell made Logan's stomach clench and his head squirm, nevertheless he neared the corpse. He was glad to notice a broom, dustpan and hand brush in another corner. Fetching the smaller cleaning tools he crouched down next to the rat and its fellow lodgers and swept them up onto the miniature shovel and carried the mess over to the trash can deposing everything into the garbage bag. Lifting the plastic bag up, he fastened it with knots before opening the window.

Rogue gave him a look of gratitude and waited a moment till her stomach had settled again and the fresh summer air had eased her breathing. She watched Logan's gaze sweep over the desk and decided to join him. "Oh, mah granny had such a thing on her desk!"

"That thing is a typewriter, Marie." His voice was edged with annoyance and disbelief.

With curious eyes the young woman scrutinized the machine. The different keys had a thick layer of dust on them, but the letters on them were still recognizable and the whole compilation reminded her on a keyboard. "Ah know, sugah. It's like an ancient computer."

"I give you ancient…" Logan muttered under his breath inspecting the swollen panels framing the bookshelf. Carefully he dug his fingers in the small gap between shelf and wall and began to pull it towards his body. Before he could have a good look on the backside, his nostrils picked up on the unique stench of mold and wet, rotting wood. Daring a glance behind the shelf the Canadian took in the wet grey mold that covered the backside of the bookshelf and the swollen wall.

Meanwhile Marie's attention was wrapped up by the old writing utensil. Remembering her mother used to have a more modern typewriter than her grandmother, she looked for a power cable, but found none. Curiosity got the better of her and while noting a single sheet of paper in the machine she pressed the 'h'-key. "Ooh, it doesn't even use electricity!" She exclaimed with a brilliant smile forming on her pink lips as she resumed her typing, finishing the word 'hello'.

Logan rolled his eyes and heard his Wolverine snicker in his mind. Deciding that the entire wall behind the shelf needed to be replaced, he let a low growl of annoyance loose, before returning to the main room he closed the window again.

Instead of hearing Rogue's light footfalls on the wooden floor behind him, the clicking of the typewriter continued. Turning around he shook his head on the brunette in amusement. Who had thought an antique writer would catch the young woman's undivided attention? "The museum tour is over, kid." He chuckled as he saw her shoulders twitch in surprise and he resumed his way to the other room.

With a pout she left the study, closing the door behind her and examined the main room once again. "No TV? Weren't ya a hockey fan back then, huh?" She knew something had bothered her the entire time: Logan and no hockey, unbelievable in her opinion.

"Dunno, but I doubt there was television reception this far in the wilderness 20 years ago."

"True. Gonna try if mah notebook has DTT reception here."

Logan shot her a smug grin and watched her open some drawers in the kitchen. "I'm not the only hockey fan here, huh?" He joined her and opened a cupboard revealing a few cans. Growling again he picked one can of kidney beans up.

"We'll need some boxes to sort stuff out." Rogue heard a grunt from her love and continued. "The plates, mugs and cutlery just need cleaning. And the books in the study weren't damaged."

Her last comment made the Wolverine snicker, the girl was such a bookworm. "We'll also need garbage bags and somethin' to get rid of the dirt gluin' to everythin'. Bleach or the like."

Rogue inspected the old gas stove. The interior was only a little dusty, but all in all it was in a good condition and might actually still work. Closing the oven with a light thud she approached the fridge and her hand immediately enclosed the holder. The door wasn't even fully open when the brunette already regretted her decision to examine the inner of the old machine. The stench that was invading her nostrils burned her nose's mucosa and brought a stinging pain to her forehead. If the reek hadn't already made her stomach turn and twist, the view of the black broth streaming from the inner of the fridge and gathering in a puddle on the wooden floor, would have.

Throwing the door shut with more force than intended, Rogue struggled again against the gagging reflex, but was sure she would loose this time and hasted through the half opened front door to the porch. One of her hands clutched her middle, the other one tried to stroke her white and brown locks from her face as she had a reunion with her lunch.

Logan swore never before in his life – he now knew that he had wandered the earth for far more than one and a half centuries – had he ever inhaled such an awful and strangling smell as he did in that very moment. His chest was burning, tears sting at his eyes and his head ached while he prayed his enhanced senses would go numb at once. Holding his breath he saw Rogue rush out of the cabin, away from the terrible reeking soup on the floor. Logan's head began to cloud by the obtrusive stench that penetrated his nose and his survival instincts told him that sometimes retread was the best option left, when faced with an overwhelming opponent. Hence Wolverine followed his girl out of the hut and away from the smell.

With a last cough Rogue wiped her mouth with the back of her dirty glove and finally looked up to see the other mutant lean both his hands flat against the wall next to her, catching his breath. His red eyes burned with anger into her. "W- why in fuckin' h- hell did you open that d- damn fridge?"

"Sorry!" The brunette spit back at his growling accuses.

"Curious idiot!"

"What!" Her eyes widened in disbelief, through it wasn't the first time he had called her an idiot, but never in that annoyed tone. "Come again!"

"Jesus! Whadya expect in a fridge after two fuckin' decades without electricity!" The Canadian heard her growl in frustration and finally added "Idiot!".

"Asshole!" Pulling her ruined gloves from her hands the younger mutant stomped towards their car seething with anger.

A few minutes passed, in which Marie leaned against the Jeep and kicked stones to vent her anger. Eventually Logan approached her, his face as gruff as ever and his agitated hazel orbs locked with her chocolate ones in an instant. Both stared the other straight in the eyes, their gazes never wavering while neither of the two hardheads thought about backing down.

A small eternity later Rogue still held the feral's glare, her lips formed a cocky grin. "If we keep to exposure the floor to that smoldering broth long enough, the cabin'd have a basement in no time."

His anger vanished and a snicker escaped his lips. "Not gonna try this."

Marie pushed away from the car and her grin widened, their little argument already forgotten. "We could wait till the stuff in the fridge is mutated enough to walk out of the cabin on its own…"

This comment made Logan chuckle and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing her petite frame into his broad chest. "Let's have a look into the garage 'fore headin' into town to get some supplies." She nodded slightly and he leaded her over to the smaller wooden hut.

After opening the garage door with some difficulty their gazes fell immediately on a beat up pickup truck, an old Harley, a chainsaw propped up in a corner and a counter with the adjoining wall harboring a large variety of tools, ranging from screwdrivers to saws and two axes. When Logan approached the tools to inspect the condition the utilities were in, two rats scampered through the small hut before scurrying out into the wilderness, making Rogue jump. "Argh!"

The brunette saw the smirk on her love's face, but decided to ignore him for the moment. She neared the motorbike with huge eyes, scrutinizing the battered machine. The knowledge about mechanics she got from the feral brothers told her that a lot of work would be needed before the bike could hit the road again.

"Most of the tools are fine. No need to buy new stuff for the repairs of the cabin."

"Good to hear, sugah."

Logan walked over to the pickup, inspecting the rust on the doorframe and the sides. His fingertips traced over the cool metal as he went over to the hood. His sharp eyes immediately caught sight of the five scratches in the cover. "What is it with Victor and always damagin' my cars?" Wolverine growled annoyed.

Marie approached him and the damaged car when she heard the older feral's voice in her mind. "Hey, with that shitty camper I did humanity a fuckin' favor!"

"What favor?" Her inner Logan barked back.

"The only use for that thing was to get smashed with a tree trunk and blown to bits!" Marie burst out into a fit of laughter, earning a startled glare from the real Logan. "See even your girl agrees with me."

The brunette tried to concentrate on formulating a whole sentence in her mind, when she heard Logan's snarl. "Sorry, sugah… but that camper was a dump."

"Face it, you lived like a pig, Jimmy!" Victor took to teasing his brother like a duck to water. "Always bought second hand crap. Spendin' your time screwin' garbage cans on wheels than women…" This made Marie laugh even more and she leaned on the hood of the car for hold.

"Ain't true. Found the time for both…uhu, Marie, darlin'…" His uneasiness about his slip of tongue only fuelled the brunette's hysterics and she clutched her stomach while tears sprang to her eyes.

"You'd still wallow in your own smut, if the runt wouldn't look after you!" Victor was so right sometimes.

Despite her first impression of Sabretooth years ago, with his rough and uncombed long hair, she had learned through the brothers' memories that Victor was the one to favor a clean and luxurious hotel room over a cheap and filthy fleabag or even a night spent camping in the wilderness – not that he would have problems to live in the dirt, whereas Logan indeed didn't give a damn as long as the prize was right and he had a roof over the head and a bed to crash on. This was one of the insights into the brothers' personalities that surprised Marie the most.

Logan watched the girl laugh like a loon, his brow hitched in his trademark style and his arms crossed over his chest. "What's so fuckin' funny, Marie?"

"Ooh, … nothin'… they're just arguing again…" She tried to calm down, shoving the brothers' voices to the back of her mind, where they would hopefully remain for a while.

His brow rose even higher, if that was possible. "Usually that would make you everything else than laugh." Her amused face made him even more curious. "What're they saying?"

"Nah…" She shook her head vehemently and fled out of the hut and to their Jeep. While waiting for her Wolverine to return, she caught her breath and stripped out of her thin dark green camisole top, revealing a white spaghetti top, and packed it together with her dirty gloves away in a spare plastic bag, they kept in the trunk for laundry. Afterwards she fetched another thin but long-sleeved jacket and a new pair gloves from the duffle bag.

Logan eventually joined her at the car, glad to see she had stripped out of the most likely contaminated clothes. "The damn rodents had gnawed on the pick-up's cables. Had hoped to use the old girl to transport the construction supplies."

"Old girl, huh?" Rogue grinned in mock irritation and slid into the passenger seat.

The Canadian was about to revive the engine, but then glanced over to the young woman next to him. He reached out with his callused hand and cupped her face through her hair gently. Marie leaned instinctively into his warm touch as her eyes searched for his.

"Wanna give you a share of my healin', darlin'." Before she could argue back he continued with a serious expression. "Not a chance in hell I let you catch an exotic disease from that bacteria incubator." He saw her contemplate his words. "Along the way we might add to my immunity to your skin, babe." This did the trick and she nodded.

Logan bent forward and captured her soft lips into a long and loving kiss, concentrating his attention on her warm skin and sweet taste than the pull of life-force and the pain.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X

They were in a grocery store in downtown, the shop seemed to be a family business, but wasn't that small like most of the convenience stores were, she knew from her hometown. It offered a vast range of different brands and no-name-articles and their cart was already stuffed full with two six packs of Molson, two bottles Pepsi and a few packages beef jerky next to two large bottles of bleach, three packages of plastic garbage bags and rubber gloves in two different sizes.

Marie eyed the different kinds of cleaners – for the kitchen, the parquet, the bathroom and windows. "Ya think three bottles of each will be enough?"

"Take the whole box, Marie. For each." Logan answered as he rearranged their cart's contents, so the four boxes had enough room.

"I wanna look for a trailer. We need something to transport the fridge and the building material with." He said while they finally neared the check out counter.

Only an elderly woman was before them in the row and Rogue began to place their groceries on the counter's conveyor, contemplating if they got all necessary items. "Oh, cleanin' rags!"

"I'll get 'em."

The beer was the first thing on the conveyor and Rogue smiled as the other customer had left and the clerk, whose name tag read Ben, greeted her. She felt like a kid at Christmas morning. She may be too young to buy alcohol legally in her home country, but here in Canada she was old enough. "Do ya need to see mah ID?" She smiled at the cashier, how she had always dreaded this question back in Westchester.

"Nah, won't be necessary. Your …" The young man paused a moment before gesturing with his chin after Logan. "He looks old enough."

The brunette was a bit upset and cranky about his answer. 'Damn. Now Ah wanna show mah ID and he doesn't want it!'

Logan returned with a box of cleaning rags. "Got you your Oreos, honey."

Rogue instantly forgot about her ID and beamed at her love. "Ooh, thanks!" Snatching the box from the stack of cleaning rags in his arms, she handed it the young man on the other side of the counter as her gaze centered on the chewing gums on its surface. "May Ah have those?" Her chocolate eyes met Logan's hazel ones, silently asking if his sensitive senses could put up with the smell today.

"Yeah, but not those lemon ones. Those stink awfully." He grunted and began to reload the boxes into the cart.

"Ya're the best." The brunette beamed at him and decided for cherry flavor, handing the chewing gum to Ben.

The gruff man with the sideburns and the battered leather jacket looked so familiar, but Ben couldn't put his finger on where he might have seen him. "Do I know you, bub?"

Startled Logan looked up from his purchases and mustered the stranger. "Possible." He replied after a long moment and then decided that this man might indeed know him. "I used to live here a long time ago."

Ben suspended to scan the next articles and eyed the older man closer. Suddenly he remembered the face, one in his memories the man didn't wear that dark scowl and that odd hairstyle. "Oh yeah, you're Ms. Silverfox's boyfriend. Always picked her up after school."

"That's right." Logan's eyes widened. The guy indeed knew him. "You knew Kayla, bub?"

"I was one of her students." Ben's smile grew, before he frowned slightly. "It's now 19… 20 years ago? The two of you suddenly vanished from the earth's surface." The man held a what-happened expression.

Wolverine's gaze darkened in pain and traveled down to the counter. "We had an accident and … Kayla died. I lost my memories… it will be 19 years soon."

"I'm sorry t' hear that. The kids loved her." His sympathy was genuine, Logan could tell by scenting the air. "So you're back now?"

"Yeah, hopefully this place will help me with my memory gaps."

"The town has changed a great deal in the last two decades. Grows every year." Ben finally resumed with his work. "But some places never change. Hope your stay will help you."

Logan nodded in thanks and paid for their groceries. "Do ya know where the next second-hand car dealer is?"

"Down the main street, the last branch to the right. You can't miss it."

"Thanks, bub." The mutant shoved his change back into his wallet. He had decided that he liked that guy Ben, who gave him helpful and short answers, just the way Logan liked it. "Is here some kind of accommodation opportunity? My old cabin didn't cope so well with the years as I did."

"There's an Inn down the street. The light yellow house." Ben informed him and saw the two off, wondering if the girl was Kayla's and Logan's daughter. She seemed to have the right age…

They hadn't slept quite well in the car the last two days and though her nightmares would probably haunt her tonight, she was too exhausted to stay awake while sharing the bed with Logan. Healing from virtually everything is fine, but his body still needed sleep, which he had lacked of in the last few days.

After the supplies were safely stowed away on the Jeep's backseats, Logan suggested to call it a day. He'd get up earlier tomorrow and look for the trailer and fetch breakfast while Rogue would still sleep.

As soon as they stepped into the small foyer of the Inn, an elderly woman greeted them with a genuine smile from behind the reception desk. The two mutants approached her – Rogue taking in the waiting area, consisting of a couch and armchairs in front of a fireplace. Logan met the woman's gaze his usual grumpy face relaxed a little, after all he was here to get in touch with his past and scaring away the residents of his former hometown wouldn't be helpful in that matter.

"Welcome."

"Hello, we need a room for at least…" Logan contemplated a moment the condition of his cabin. "… the next five days."

With a smile Rogue added quite fast, "With two beds, please." Wolverine knew why his girl voiced this request and his tired body and mind thanked her.

The woman's fingers flew over the computer's keyboard and her smile faded somewhat. "I'm very sorry, but we have only rooms with one bed left." After a pause she clarified. "It's tourist season."

The Canadian only shrugged as he threw a glance at his love next to him while digging for his wallet in his jeans' back pocket. "Then we've to get creative, Marie."

"But all our rooms have a couch." Their host explained and retrieved a key holding it to the brunette, who lifted her gloved hand beyond the counter and accidentally revealed a box of snacks she was holding. The girl blushed caught and clutched her Oreos to her chest like a young child would with its favorite teddy bear. "It's fine, honey." The elderly woman smiled again. "I'm Helen Sheridan. My husband and I are the owner of this lil' Inn. As long as you don't start cookin' up in your room, you can take your sweets up to your room."

"Thank ya." Rogue's blush still wouldn't fade from her cheeks. This was a hotel and not one of the crappy motels, they used to stop.

"Breakfast is inclusive. From 7 till 9 am." Helen read the signature on the paper, she had slipped towards the man for the contact information. "Have a nice stay, Mr. Howlett."

"Thanks."

Her eyes darted back to the paper and the name. "Logan Howlett… I knew I've seen you before!" Helen's face lit up in disbelief and excitement. "My son Rick used to work with you at the loggin' side." Her enthusiasm died down when she saw the man frown in puzzlement, his eyes holding an odd mixture of hope and pain. "I'm sorry. I must confuse you with someone… It's you just look so much like him."

"No, ma'am. You might be right." Logan wasn't one to throw around with private information or his trauma about his lost past, but this town symbolized a turning-point in his search for his identity and he needed to give those people something in order to gain more aspects about his former life. "Had an accident and lost my memories." The Wolverine inside him snarled about the pity he saw in the woman's features, but Logan ignored him. "Only recently… I found out 'bout my name and where I used to live."

"Oh, dear." Helen watched the brunette clasped the man's large hand and squeeze it reassuringly. "You used to work as a logger. Your girlfriend was a teacher at the local elementary school. Her name…"

"Kayla Silverfox." Logan put in as a faint picture of Kayla and him driving to work appeared before his mind's eye.

"Oh, yes Miss Silverfox… If I remember correctly the two of you vanished twenty years ago…" Her words trailed off when she saw the hurt flicker in his hazel orbs.

"Kayla didn't survive that accident back then." The Canadian gripped the strap of the duffle bag on his shoulder tighter when he heard Rogue's steady voice.

"We're here to jog his memories. But the drive here was long and we need rest." She could feel his exhaustion. The visit of his past is taking its toll at her love. His life had always consisted of pain and loss and even the strongest man could deal with such information only in small doses at a time.

Their host looked bashful. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I got carried away." She gestured over to the stairs leading upwards. "Your room is on the second floor at the far end of the corridor."

"Thank ya. " The young woman smiled at her and she and Logan made they way to their room, while Helen wondered about the kind of relationship her two newest visitors stood to each other.

X X X X X

The room was clean and homey furnished. The sun fell through the curtains onto the couch on the opposite wall and the king-size bed in the middle of the room. On each of the two pillows rested a small bar of chocolate, to sweet the welcome. Logan opened the door to the bathroom, noting with a smile that it harbored a bathtub next to a small shower-cabin. He usually enjoyed the warm drops sprayed from a shower onto his tensed muscles, kneading the stress away, above a bath, but at the moment the chance of a relaxing bath sounded alluring.

Rogue flapped onto the bed, kicking off her boots, making one of them hit the dresser on which the small TV was positioned. "So people remember ya, sugah. And they do in a good way." Her head titled to the side, meeting Logan's gaze as he approached her and set their bag onto the sofa.

"Seems so." A faint smile tugged on his lips. It felt still so surreal that he was finally in touch with his long lost past. He had always been on the hunt for leads to his former life, always expecting to find his answers slowly and with much effort. But now everything lay before his feet and he just needed to put the puzzle together.

The words Stryker had told him at the raid of the mansion had always haunted and scared him. That his past might have been darker and plastered with more corpses than the last 19 years of his miserable existence were. But at the moment his past had its shady sites and he surely had committed a lot of injustice and massacres, but all in all it seemed James Logan Howlett wasn't such a despicable person he dreaded he might have been.

Howlett had lived a pretty normal and peaceful life with his girlfriend in their cabin in the Canadian wilderness. He had a job as logger and seemed to have friends among the locals, who still held fond memories of him and Kayla. Maybe his Marie was right and there was no need to fear James Howlett, since he wasn't that different from his former self.

Rogue had already fetched one of the chocolates and was sucking on it with pleasure. He unwrapped the second sweets and plopped it into his mouth earning a pout from the beauty spread out on the bed. She had hoped to also get his.

With a teasing smirk Logan crawled onto the mattress and leaned over her body. He saw her swallow her chocolate and bent down to capture her lips into a passionate kiss, his tongue was granted access immediately and found its dancing partner in her hot mouth. She tasted sweeter than ever and he cursed her mutation as it stepped into action and he had to break away reluctantly.

Marie smiled up at his face. "Thanks, sugah." And she let the second piece of chocolate melt on her tongue.

Placing a peck to her lightly swollen lips the Canadian rolled off of her and leaped to his feet. "Gonna take a long bath, darlin'. Now is your last chance to use the toilet."

"Huhu, afraid Ah would get a glimpse of your naked ass, sugah. Never thought ya the prude type." Marie slowly got up from the soft beddings and neared the bathroom. She knew he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or push her. This all was so new to her and her returned mutation wasn't a hindrance for the Wolverine as he had already told her about a possibility for them to become intimate.

X X X X X

Rogue had showered after her love had finally left the bathroom almost an hour later. If it wasn't for his healing factor she'd have worried that he might had hit his head and lay bleeding on the floor or that he had accidentally drowned. But she figured he needed the time alone in the relaxing water to brood over their findings.

When she entered the main room dressed in her pajama shorts and a sleeveless shirt, the brunette noted that the pillow and blanket she had placed onto the couch for her to sleep there, have already wandered back to their former spot on the bed. On the one nightstand stood a half empty bottle of beer, on the other Rogue's Pepsi. They had smuggled the drinks in their duffel bag into the room.

Logan wore his usual night attire: His battered blue jeans and his wife-beater. "Logan." Her voice held understanding, but also worry. She approached him at his position looking out the window. "One wrong touch and Ah could kill ya during sleep." Her eyes were fearful.

He turned around to face the troubled girl, his eyes kind and reassuring. "You know how dangerous it is to be near me during a nightmare." His hands wandered to her waist.

"But ya would never hurt me on purpose."

He saw the concern for him in her chocolate eyes. "Neither would you!" His gaze switched quickly to the bed, then back to Marie. "There's only this one bed and I refuse to believe that I will never be able to sleep with you next to me." This might happen if his plan with becoming immune to her skin wouldn't work.

Logan stepped forward slowly, making her walk backwards towards the bed. When her legs touched the mattress his eyes began to twinkle with a predator's lust. "We are both dangerous in bed." His hot breath tickled against her lips before he kissed her pushing her carefully down on the bed. He broke the kiss only shortly avoiding the pull on his life-force. She immediately responded to his soft lips, her bare hands tangling in his dark mane. After a few of those resumed kisses Logan finally pulled away looking straight in her brown eyes. "You won't leave my side tonight, my love." With a quick peck he rolled off of her and stretched out on the bed next to her slender frame.

Panting hard Rogue sighed and titled her head to the side to see her love. "That's torture." She wanted a long lasting kiss, the opportunity to explore his mouth with her tongue, and not those teasing glimpses.

"You say." Lifting an eyebrow he stood up and left the room. "I'm gonna take a really cold shower."

The brunette giggled about the bulge in his pants and rolled off the bed and headed for another pair of pj pants – long ones and fetched Logan's red button-up from the floor shrugging it on.

X X X X X

It was still early and the sun just peaked up behind the mountains when Logan woke up feeling Rogue's warm body snuggled next to his. He wore a long sleeved shirt she'd talked him into the night before, but somehow he sensed warmth coming directly from her skin to his hand. Frowning he looked down. Rogue's glove had slipped a little down and her bare wrist was in direct contact with his hand – nothing separating them.

His bewildered gaze rested for a small eternity on their touching skins. But soon joy replaced his puzzlement and a smile of true happiness graced his lips as he carefully - to not wake the beauty - tugged on her glove. When the disturbing fabric was gone – he had thrown it across the room onto the floor – he gently laced their bare fingers, savoring the feeling of her warm and soft palm against his large one.

His plans to get up early thrown in the wind, Logan eventually broke their contact and slid away from her frame. Stripping off his shirt he then concentrated on pulling her glove from her other hand, tugged under her belly in her sleep. He held his breath in apprehension as she groaned and rolled to her side, but her even breathing told him she was still deep asleep. When he had finally freed her hand from her glove he slid back to his former position next to his love and she immediately snuggled into his side. Her head shifted so her bare cheek rested on a spot on his hairy chest above his heart while she draped her arm over his abdomen and her fingers caressed the flesh of his side in her sleep.

He saw an adorable smile form on her pink lips and he wrapped his uncovered arms about her slender form tightly, making her moan lightly. Nuzzling her thick hair he kissed her head lovingly. "I love you so much."

X X X X X

"Good mornin', my love." He greeted the waking beauty in his embrace with a wide smile, his fingers caressing her bare back tenderly - his hands had found their way under her layers of clothing a while ago.

Still half asleep Rogue smiled back, not realizing his shirt was gone as were her gloves. "Morning, sugah." Taking a deep breath she moved her bare fingers through the dark curls of hair on his chest. She nuzzled further into his broad chest and placed a quick kiss onto his warm and naked skin beneath her cheek, sighing contently. 'Ah don't wanna wake up from this dream.'

'You already have, runt.'

'Stay out of mah dream, Victor!' She growled at her mental passenger. Then it hit her. He couldn't invade her dreams this way. "Logan!" Suddenly the brunette pushed herself away her eyes widened in shock. "Are you nuts?" With blazing anger about his recklessness she took in his bare torso and her uncovered hands.

"Calm down." Logan sat up in bed a content smile on his lips. "I held you like this for the last hour, Marie." His voice was calm and his hazel eyes kind and full of joy.

"What?"

The horror in her tone was hard to miss, yet he ignored it and shrugged. "It's possible to completely turn off your powers. You did this in your sleep." He saw the surprise in her agitated features as she processed this information, still disbelief, fear and anger dominant in her chocolate orbs. "I think it's your own fear lockin' you up under all that layers of cloth." He mused aloud, watching her reaction from afar. Logan knew better than to approach her – bare skin or not – in such a mood and situation.

Rogue glared down on her bare hands for the friction of a second, before staring daggers at the Canadian. 'Mah own fear? … How dare he!' He might know her like nobody else did, but this audacity was too much to bear. "Don't go all Freud on me!"

Before he could go on with his musings the brunette had jumped to her feet and bolted over to the bathroom, fetching her clothes from a stool on her way.

X X X X X

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

X X X X X

CHAPTER 3

Her scent coming from the closed bathroom told him that Marie was still angry and confused, but had already calmed so far that she was now most likely pondering on this new information. Logan decided to give her the time she'd need to make up her mind and accept that it might be her subconscious fears to hold her captive in that vicious circle. With a sight he fetched the remote control from his nightstand and revived the TV.

Half an hour later Rogue emerged from the smaller room, clad in her jeans and a long sleeved shirt. She let her pajamas and Logan's button-up – everything neatly folded – fall down on the couch, before staring back at the other mutant lying on the bed. "That was reckless, Logan." She simply stated her arms crossed over her chest.

"It wasn't. I could have pulled away at the first sign of your mutation." He left the comfortable bed and closed the distance to the still annoyed brunette, placing his hands on her hips. "That's a point to start workin' on, darlin'."

Rogue scoffed, her arms still wrapped about her own body. Her body language signaled plainly that she wasn't in the mood to hug and make up so easily. "Whaddya mean? That Ah don't kill people in mah sleep?"

Logan rolled his eyes about her stubbornness and sarcasm. "As long as you relax and don't think 'bout your mutation, it's turned off or at least down." He slowly sneaked his hands around her waist, his fingers meeting at her back. But he withstood the temptation to pull her body flush against his own. In moments like this it was for her to make up her mind and come to him for comfort, not like back in the hospital when she was too petrified to let anyone close and he had to force his way to console her.

"Turned down?" This got her attention. It was true that the only success in her year long sessions with the professor had been a slowing down the intensity of her draining somebody. This was the reason why she was able to touch John for long moments and control the fires he had caused in the Drakes' garden, without sending the boy into a week long coma.

The Canadian felt her relax her tensed muscles somewhat. "Last time you freaked out 'bout me touchin' your bare skin, back at the motel you remember. Then I had several seconds till your abilities kicked in and even then, the pull was much lighter and slower than usually."

She really hated it when he was right about issues concerning her mental state, he had figured out before she did.

'You know, runt, Jimmy's right.'

'Shut up, Victor!' After a moment she added. 'Ah ain't giving him the satisfaction with telling him he might be right.'

'Might be?' Her inner Logan chimed in. 'Sounds pretty valid to me.'

'Oh, fuck off, Logan! Ya're such a pain in the ass sometimes!' Especially when he shoved the fact right into her face that he was right about something and she was not.

Logan watched his love space out for a moment. Her scent told him that her inner conversation did the opposite to calming her temper and despite knowing it better he pulled her closer to him and placed a peck onto her lips, snapping her out of her inner world. "Hey, don't let Victor get under your skin, Marie."

Rogue blinked a few times and pushed her hands flat against his chest, bringing more space between them. "It's not only Victor, you ain't any better." She grunted out between gritted teeth while tuning the feral brothers in her head out.

He groaned and decided to drop the topic for the time being. His hands left her waist and slung them about her neck, tangling his fingers in her dark locks. "Hey, I could hold you… stroke your bare skin… was nice." His kind hazel eyes searched for her chocolate ones and their gazes eventually locked.

Sighing, the brunette understood his offer to bury this issue, since both of them knew he had a point and she wasn't ready to admit it. "Yeah, it was nice... Really nice." She suppressed the pleased grin that struggled to form on her lips when she thought back to the moment waking up snuggled to his naked chest. Still annoyed, it took her a moment to give into his gentle lips kissing her softly and returning his kiss. When they broke away due to her mutation, she half smiled into his kind face, before pushing free from his embrace. "Get dressed, sugah. We're actually in time for breakfast."

Chuckling he placed a peck onto her forehead and walked over to the bathroom. "9 a.m. is too early for us, babe, isn't it?"

X X X X X

When Logan returned to the main room showered and only wearing his battered jeans from the day before, he approached the fresh washed wife-beater, tee shirt and flannel that waited for him on a stool. Snickering he picked the fabric up and his gaze traveled over to the brunette sitting on the bed watching the news. "You know this is another couple thingy we've goin' on for months now, baby?"

Rogue faced him startled. "Whaddya mean, Logan?"

"You placin' the clothes you want me to wear out for me." A lop-sided grin plastered his features.

Rogue blushed slightly. It was true, she had never really gave a thought about it when she began to lie fresh shirts and jeans onto his bed every morning a few weeks into their mutual travel. A shy smile sneaked its way to her red lips. "Ya want me to stop?"

"Nah, Marie. I ain't complainin', darlin'. Just pointin' out." He slipped the tee shirt over his head and watched the brunette turn the TV off and slide from the bed with a content smile on her features.

X X X X X

A few minutes later they entered the small dining hall on the first floor of the Inn. Marie's gaze swept over the breakfast buffet, relishing in the smell of scrabbled eggs, bacon, pancakes and hot coffee, though she wasn't a coffee drinker, but she liked the aroma. Her eyes wandered over the tables with blue and white flowers in vases on them. Only one table was occupied by a family with two rather bored and tired looking teenage girls.

With a grin she caught her love grasp a plate and hurry over to the meat, while she made her way over to the pancakes. From the corner of the eye she saw Helen leave another room that looked like a small kitchen and approach Logan and her with a warm smile on her lips. "Morning."

"Good morning." The woman greeted. "What would you like to drink?"

Usually Logan would growl at such good tempered morning-people like Helen obviously was, but he thought better of it and flashed her a half smile. "Mornin'. Coffee would be great and hot chocolate for the sugar addicted girl." He smirked as he heard the old woman giggle when she watched Marie drown her breakfast in maple syrup.

Rogue blushed a little and stopped the flow, acutely aware of the amused stares she received from Logan and her host. She approached one of the empty tables while Helen returned to the kitchen. Suddenly a colorful teen magazine caught the brunette's interest and she snatched it from the neighbored table while placing her pancake-syrup-soup onto the wooden tabletop.

Logan had taken his time to move all bacon onto his plate and then bury the mountain of meat under scrambled eggs and two slices of toast bread. Walking over to the table Marie had chosen he heard one of the teenagers whisper to her sister while pointing her index finger towards his jam-packed plate. His scowl darkened for the split of a second and both girls froze in fear before returning their gazes to their cereals. "Found somethin' interesstin', kid?" He grinned down at her just as Helen placed a mug of hot black coffee in front of his seat.

Rogue smiled at the elderly woman while looking up from the magazine. "Thank ya." Then her gaze swapped over to the other mutant with a playful grin. "Just a little reading material for tonight."

Helen returned to the kitchen from where her husband emerged with new bacon to refill the buffet. His eyes immediately fell onto their newest guests, his wife had told him the evening before and he could hardly believe his eyes. The hair was different, but it was indeed Logan Howlett sitting at his table with a girl. Mr. Sheridan almost envied the other man about his still young looks – time hadn't been this generous with him.

When he made his way back to the kitchen, he found his wife peek through the open door. "You're right. It's him." He placed the empty plate onto the counter and beckoned Helen to stop her spying.

"The girl is really his daughter, Frank." She closed the door behind herself. "The age of the teenagers is hard to tell nowadays, but I guess she's about 18. Kayla must be her mother."

He calculated silently and came to the same conclusion. "Likely."

X X X X X

Rogue's chocolate eyes still roamed over the forest green motorbike leaning against the car retailer's office wall. The bike was a piece of junk – she didn't need the feral brothers' expertise to know that, but that old vehicle had caught her interest. "Momma would get a heart attack." She murmured under her breath and tore her gaze from the machine when Logan emerged from the office.

"Thanks, bub." The mutant nodded to the other man and made his way over to his new trailer, his love on his heels, not missing her look on the old motorcycle. "Get the cardboard boxes and the cleanin' stuff we bought yesterday into the trailer while I attach it to the Jeep."

"Yes, sir." The brunette gave him a mock salute and hurried over to their car.

X X X X X

Logan had already begun to sweep the rotten leaves and dirt with the old broom out the front door while Rogue changed into her mold contaminated clothes from the day before. With a grunt he breathed in the clean summer air on the porch, grimacing at the persistent stench of the decaying organic material and the rubber gloves he wore. Not that he had to fear to catch a rare disease, but when he had the choice Logan preferred to not touch that filth with his bare hands.

Rogue stood in the middle of the cabin's main room, her gaze wandering over the cupboards of the kitchen, the fireplace and then landed on the couch. The sofa consisted of a wooden frame, which looked quite intact and tattered cushions. With a sigh the brunette approached the pillows and decided that too much damage had happened to them to get them fixed again and so she lifted one cushion up in order to bring it to the trailer.

But as soon as she had removed the pillow, a rustling resounded from the seating cushion and something was moving beneath the fabric. Before Rogue could guess what might hide there two big brown rats scurried out from under another pillow on the couch and jumped in fear onto the couch-table, then the floor and one eventually hid under the kitchen's boards while the other jumped right into the heap of wet and rotten leaves in the water-damaged corner.

A high pitched shriek rang from Marie's lips as she dropped the pillow in shock and hurried over to the large windows that gave the impression of freedom and refuge. "Logan! Do something!" The Canadian had just reentered the cabin when all hell broke loose and was now watching her with his trademark eyebrow. "Get them out!" She exclaimed while hopping onto the tabletop and sitting down on the round table, her feet hanging in the safe air. "Kill them! Doesn't matter what! Just do something!"

The chuckle, he couldn't bite down, left his lips as he neared the couch shaking his head. "I don't get you sometimes. What's so damn scary at rats that you'll twist your panties?" Now she was staring daggers at him and he couldn't stop his taunting – she just looked so damn cute. "It's like a big hamster with tail."

Her eyes widened in disgust as she watched him scent the air – what didn't help with all the other smells lingering in that room. "A long naked tail! It's just eww!" She shuddered at the mere thought, but gathered enough courage to slide down from the table and step closer to the rat home ignoring the laughter in her mind. She had her pride and she kept telling herself that it were just rodents, some people even had as pets.

The brunette watched warily how Logan lifted the tattered fabric from the seating pillow, the one the moving and now also squeaking came from, revealing a nest in the fluffy cushion-fillings. Rogue's features relaxed somewhat and she bend down to get a better view. "Ohh, Logan look, baby rats!" Meanwhile the pissed off rat mother stood on her legs and began to grit her teeth audibly when Wolverine reached down towards her cubs. "Don't ya dare and kill them!" The girl screamed determined and grasped his wrist almost forcefully.

"What? You just said I should get rid off them!" His puzzled gaze met hers.

She stepped closer to the rate family, her expression a mixture of pleading and exasperation. "But that's a mommy with her babies! Take them carefully and bring them to the garage."

"Alive?" He asked uncertain if he had understood her order correctly.

"Yes! How else?" Rogue barked, her eyes widening. A moment past by, in which she contemplated the situation. "Ya'll take the mother CAREFULLY and Ah'll carry the cushion with her babies."

Shrugging about his girl's change of mind Logan eyed the still threatening rat with a predator's look in his darkening orbs, before his hands shot down towards the small animal with lightening speed. The rodent had never had a chance and was now squeaking in his grasp, before she turned her head around and sank her sharp teeth into his index finger. "That fuckin' brute bit me!" He almost sounded disbelieving, how such a small animal would dare and attack the mighty Wolverine. But he had to ignore the pain and the urge to forcefully remove the shark like mouth from his flesh. "Think got even down to the bone!" With his now free hand he eventually got a grip on the animal's neck and caused her to lighten her bite on him.

"Don't be such a baby, Logan!" Rogue furrowed her brows on his antics and bent down to pick the cushion up when another rat fled from the sofa. 'They're more afraid of me than Ah'm of 'em.' She told herself calming her nerves and watched the new rat race into the leaf heap to the other.

While carrying the nest, she scrutinized the about a dozen cubs in it. She had to smile involuntarily when one of the half naked babies began to crawl over its siblings, but failed to do so and rolled onto its back. The downy brown fur was much lighter on the stomach and Marie noticed that the dark skinned tail – that wasn't so disgusting on a closer look – had a light patch on its tip.

Shaking his head about Rogue, the mutant opened the garage with some difficulty, the rat still clinging to his finger. "So what now, Marie?"

The brunette pushed past him and observed the room until her eyes fell upon a small hole in the wall beyond the counter. With a grin she walked over and gently placed the nest down in front of the opening to the Canadian wilderness.

Grunting Logan let go of the rat, which still hang on his hand with its teeth for a moment before she realized that she was free and let herself fall to the ground and hurried over to the old bike, hiding there. The Canadian saw the disapproving glare of his love. "What?" The brunette rolled her eyes and left the garage. "Great, now I've rodents room in my garage."

"Ah already have an idea. Will ya just stop the sulking and catch the other rats in the living room?"

He narrowed his eyes on her when they returned to the cabin. "I ain't sulkin'!" But she ignored his comment and vanished into the study with a cardboard box. A few minutes later the girl returned with four wooden boards, Logan first wondered where she had gotten those from, but then noticed the empty bookshelf in the study behind her. He followed her to the smaller hut with another rat tasting its way to his Adamantium bones.

From her peripheral view Rogue saw the rat mother had returned to her cubs and she approached her carefully picking up a hammer and nails from the counter. She saw Logan's curious gaze on her, after he had placed the rat down on the floor.

When he returned a little later with another animal in his hands Logan saw that his love had already connected the four boards to two walls and was now carefully position it around the nest, so the cushion was encircled by wooden walls on all four sites and the only way out was the hole in the wall. Fine, they could probably climb over her makeshift barricades, but they would find some grate to close this window to freedom - or rather to the garage.

He walked over to the new rat home and placed the male rat down next to the cushion observing Marie's work. "Good job, kid." He eventually praised her and began his hunt for the animal he had placed on the garage's floor a few minutes before.

Grinning the brunette stood up and made her way towards the exit. "Thanks, sugah. Now convinced that Ah'm able to help ya with the repairs?"

"Never said I wouldn't think you capable of using a hammer, darlin'." He cursed colorfully when his prey evaded his hands and hurried under his old pickup. The last he heard from his girl before she left the hut was her giggles about his failed hunting attempt.

Logan had eventually captured the rodent and placed it to the others and was now on his way back to the cabin to catch the rest, he almost walked right into Rogue, who carried the cushion fillings, a cookie and a cup. "Whatchaya doin' with the Oreo and the water?"

"They're for the rats." She saw his eyebrow quirk upwards. "What? They'll need something."

He couldn't suppress the snicker. "They lived almost two decades on their own."

Rogue pursed her lips and would have crossed her arms if they hadn't been full with stuff. "And?" Wasn't like she needed his permission to feed the animals.

"Do whatever you want, darlin'." Chuckling he walked back to the cabin and resumed the cleaning of the floor while watching out for more rats.

X X X X X