~*~

His grip was starting to crush her arm and her first impulse was to jerk away, but she remembered how unsteady she had been when trying to stand after they landed.  She decided to endure the pain until he dumped her at Jean's feet for multiple stitches and possibly a head scan of some sort. 

She squints in confusion when he steers her past the medical unit and into the elevator.  The dizziness returns as the elevator starts and she leans heavily into Logan for support.  Even in her dazed state she knows the hard set of his jaw means there is no discussion about what he considers the best plan of action.

In minutes, he's shoving her into her room, slamming the door behind them.  There's no time for reasoning or even protesting, not that she wants to, before his mouth covers her own.  At first it's forceful and crushing, like his earlier grip.  It's not how she imagined her first real kiss in years to be like.  She tells herself that beggars can't be choosers and eagerly grabs for him.  He brings her up short, pinning her to the wall until her mutation takes hold.  Anger seeps through and she sees this for what it is: First Aid, Logan style.

Blocking out his rage, she instead focuses on the healing being offered.  She makes herself relax and except the inevitable, because no matter how much she wishes, this won't be followed by declarations of love.  Things like that only take place in daydreams and romance novels.  This is about Logan's need to protect his reputation.  He doesn't deal well with failure and she would be his biggest; after all he was the one training her.

Just as abruptly as the 'kiss' began it ends.  He makes sure she is standing on her own two feet before staggering back a step.  "Better?"

"Uhm…" she turns her head in both directions and feels for the cut in her side, "…much."  He stares a moment longer, "Thanks?" she mumbles in afterthought.

"Good," and he's gone.

Making her way to the bathroom, she peels off gloves made too tight from drying blood.  Idly she wonders if she'll be responsible for hosing down her seat in the jet.  She takes a few minutes to examine herself in the mirror.  Hair is clumped together on the top of her head.  She's pretty sure she didn't blackout from the blow, but she's having trouble remembering how it happened.  Maybe later she'll pick through Logan's memories to find out.  For right now she just wants to get clean.

Her boots are next, followed by a struggle with the top half of her uniform.  It's always difficult to get the leather off once she has sweated in it, but it seems even more so today.  Not until she has her right side off does she see the reason.  Blood.  And lots of it.

She hadn't realized how much blood she lost; it had only felt like a trickle.  Now the blood was drying and caking to her and the uniform, making her attempts to undress even more complicated than usual.

A low growl makes her spin around to see Logan in the doorway.  From all appearances he was already cleaned up.  He also seems unimpressed with her slow progress.  Turning, she watches as he starts the shower. 

"You better be stripping, cause you do not want me to do it for you."

With his prevailing attitude, she is pretty sure what method he would choose in removing the rest of her uniform.  He is right; she doesn't want him to do that.  She had shared many close and private moments with Logan over the years, but this was still Logan and standing naked in front of him was a little too personal.  At least, she thought as she peeled off the bottom half of her uniform, training gave her a body she shouldn't be embarrassed to show off.

"All of it."

She stifled a sob that was caught in her throat.  He was being overly callous, but she doubted sympathy would make her feel any less like crying at the moment.  With a heavy sigh she looked down at her bra, wondering if she'd be able to get the blood out of the fabric.  Aware of Logan's growing irritation, she unceremoniously dumps both bra and panties into the trash.  Then trying hard to keep her back to him, she reaches the safety of the shower.

No sooner, does she let the hot water begin to relax her then Logan steps in behind her.  She can only stare in horror at him in his boxers.  This was truly some fantasy gone wrong.  He orders her to face away from him so he can wash the blood from her hair.

Two shampoos and one stinging scalp later she is on the verge of breaking down.  She is positive that Logan wants to scrub her hair again, but settles for good enough as she bats away his hands.  It's nothing like any of those hair-washing scenes in the movies.  There is nothing sexy about his technique and it is in no way turning her on.  She can only hope he is satisfied enough to leave her alone.

A sob breaks free when he starts to scour her.

"Don't even think about starting that shit."  His voice is rougher than the washcloths he is using.

"I…" the tremor in her voice makes it impossible to continue.

He hesitates a second, trying to keep his temper in check before speaking.  "Next time I tell you to do something, you better fucking do it.  I don't care what you think is best, you don't have enough experience to be calling the shots."  He guides her further back into the water to rinse off.  "Look Marie, hate me if you want.  Think I'm some kind of cruel bastard if that makes you feel better, but you're not invincible."

"Neither are you!"

He pauses, "No, but close enough that I can take the chances you can't."

He finishes scrubbing her, leaning back to scrutinize her flesh for cuts or spots of blood.  Wordlessly he steps out of the shower.  He hands her a towel as she turns of the water.  Then walks out of the room into the next so that she can dress in peace.

She thinks about hiding out in the bathroom until he leaves, but picks up the faint smell of cigar smoke and knows he is staying.

"Marie?" his voice has softened some from his earlier tone.

Exiting the bathroom she mumbles something about wanting to go to sleep.  She occupies herself with the covers, trying to hide her red blotchy face and her embarrassment. She can feel his gaze boring into her from the chair he is straddling across the room.

"I'm fine, you can go now."

He exhales heavily, making no move to leave.  Finally she rolls over to look at him.  His cigar is forgotten on the edge of the ashtray she keeps for him at the desk.  He is raking his hands through his hair, brow furrowed in thought.

"Why didn't you leave me at the med bay?"

"I…" it was his turn to stumble around for words.

She suddenly sits up, hugging her knees, unsure of the original rush of anger she felt from him.  "Logan…your not mad at me.  Are you?"

He lifted his eyes to her, looking more tired than she had ever seen him.  "No," came the flat reply.  "I don't know what I'd do if you…" trailing off, he hung his head. 

Fluffing a pillow and propping it against the headboard, she pats the bed next to her. "Come here."

He raises an eyebrow and she pats the bed again.  When he is settled in on top of the covers, she carefully lays her head on his t-shirt clad chest.  After a few minutes the tension drains from his body and he begins stroking her still damp hair.

"We'll have to figure this out."

"We always do," he agreed.

~*~

Logan waited impatiently after knocking on the door. He sighed and went over in his head all the ways he had fucked up yesterday.

Why had he kissed her? He could have simply offered to heal her instead of forcing a kiss on her. Which she responded to and at that moment he'd wanted to let her drain him dry for just a kiss. But the dumb ass he was, he had to go and show her that it was about his need to heal her.

She'd scared him the way she'd recklessly thrown herself in the melee. Like some kind of bad dream where everything happens in slow motion, he couldn't get to her in time and had to watch in horror as she was hit in the head with a pipe. She'd had been down for only a moment and made it back to the jet under her own power, but he could tell, even a full row ahead of her, that there was more damage than she'd admitted. As a result he'd been unusually harsh with her after the mission.

And why a kiss? Freud would probably have fun with that analysis and so would Marie if she probed his memories deeper than she had last night.

Pushing all those thoughts down, Logan knocked on her door again. He knew she was still in bed, he'd heard her flip over when he knocked the first time. Knowing her like he did, she'd probably pulled a pillow over her head too.

It was already 6 A.M. and if Marie didn't get up the day would be shot. Logan opened the door and entered her room without waiting for an invitation. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before and she'd returned the favor more than once at his door. "Get up Marie. We got places to be."

"Logan!" Came the surprised voiced from under the pillow. Marie lifted the pillow and tried to focus a glare on him. "We don't all have healing factors."

Logan ignored her and went straight to her closet. He pushed around her neatly hung clothes; grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt he remembered seeing Marie wear a couple of times. He threw the clothes on her bed and turned to leave. "You've got ten minutes. Meet me in the garage."

"Wait a minute," she started to protest, but Logan was already out the door.

Rogue jumped from her bed. You didn't get second chances with Logan very often; besides last night's lesson of 'do what I tell you' was still echoing in her head. Quickly she shucked her nightshirt and pulled on the clothes he'd flung on her bed. She wrestled her hair into a presentable ponytail after brushing her teeth.

Five minutes left. She wanted to wear her favorite chunky boots Logan had gotten two years ago, but she didn't have the time to lace them up properly. Instead she settled for pulling on the sneakers she'd left by the desk.

There was enough time to make it to the garage if she hurried. She knew Logan well enough to realize this was probably part of some plan he'd cooked up to apologize for the aftermath of yesterday's mission. He didn't really need to apologize anymore than he already had. Not that he'd said the words, "I'm sorry", but he'd held her and ran his fingers through her hair. Rogue had fallen asleep feeling loved and that was enough.

---

Logan leaned against the sedan, checking his watch. He suppressed a self-satisfied smile as Marie came jogging into the garage. She had put on the clothes he selected. It pleased him far more than he was comfortable with.

Marie's ponytail swung with each sway of her hips. His hands ached at the memory of the fullness of her hips under his hands in the shower. How her perfect breasts had been so tantalizingly close.

What the hell was wrong with him? He'd been scrubbing her raw in an attempt to wash away his guilt. No way on God's green earth should she ever think of him as anything but the brute he was last night. He knew he was lucky that Marie was so forgiving.

Rogue noticed an odd expression on his face before it turned to irritation and he wrenched open the driver's door. She'd seen him wear that emotion more often lately when he thought she wasn't looking. With the fresh dose of Logan's memories, it might be prudent to take a peek.

Within an hour they were seated in a booth at a diner eating breakfast. Marie stole a strip of bacon from his plate while drenching her waffle in maple syrup. Logan didn't mind her taking some of his bacon, but felt the need to point out that she could order something else. "If you want, I'll pay for a side of bacon."

She licked the syrup off her fork. "I'm trying to be a cheap date," she said teasingly.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "We aren't on a date."

"Whatever." Marie added before stuffing more waffle into her mouth. She smiled inwardly, she and Logan had always flirted, but he was having none of it today. He appeared to be still smarting from the way things went last night added to the seriousness of this task he'd currently set for himself. Give him a few days and they would be back to normal.

He couldn't help watching her pink tongue dart out trying to catch the syrup at the corner of her mouth. He had to look away, guilty with the thoughts the image stirred up. Seeing her naked had only made those images he already of her even more vivid. Unfortunately, because he was a jackass and had treated her poorly, he would probably never get another chance to see her naked.

This plan had seemed so simple when he'd decide to apologize to Marie for being so callous the night before. Now though, his plan was going to require more patience then he previously believed. The past few months Logan had problems keeping her in the kid category. Everything she did screamed available woman and he'd tried unsuccessfully to ignore the change he saw. They had done more flirting and though he was serious, she continued on as light-heartedly as ever.

"So, where are we going?" she asked, putting a fork into one of his sausages, winking saucily at him as she did it. Marie was hoping to lighten the mood, and she was rewarded with a raised eyebrow. If he were dead serious it would have been a scowl. Maybe he wasn't as grumpy as she thought.

"We're going to replace the stuff you had to throw away last night." Her forehead scrunched up in thought. "Your…" Why on earth was this word causing him problems? He'd seen women in their undergarments, seen them out of them too. But Marie wasn't any of those women. "…underthings." Thankful she didn't notice his struggle.

"Oh, good. Jubes said there was a sale at Victoria Secrets." Rogue wanted to say more, poke fun at his discomfort, but this was new. Logan using the word underthings was almost funny. She had his memories; the man could give names for said underthings in three different languages at the drop of a hat. Why was he having problems saying bra and panties to her of all people?

Logan said nothing else as she continued on about the mall. He listened while eating his breakfast, letting her have half of his hash browns.

---

Rogue gave him a curious look when they pulled up in front of several old storefronts in a residential area. Over the years, living in a mansion with a handful of adult women, he'd overheard a thing or two about finding a well-fitting bra and it had little to do with rummaging through the sale bins at the mall.

Logan opened the door for her to the shop simply labeled Charlene's. A middle-aged woman who turned out to be Charlene promptly greeted them. She motioned for Logan to have a seat in an area at the front of the store as she whisked Marie off to the dressing rooms.

He heard Charlene assuring Marie that her skin condition wasn't an issue to taking good measurements. Logan wanted to step outside for a smoke. His plan hadn't encompassed listening to the discussion of sizes, what colors were best for Marie's complexion, and matching bra and panty sets. This had to be one of the toughest tasks he'd set for himself.

An hour later, Logan heard Marie at the cash register deciding which sets she wanted. He moseyed over to hurry along the process. Since she'd obviously found items she liked, all that was left to do was pay for her selections.

"I don't need all these." Marie was telling Charlene.

"Dear, my guess is that you're wearing chain store, ill-fitting, mis-matched sets. That is no way for a young lady like you to start out life." Charlene said with a note of finality.

There were eight or ten sets on the counter that Logan could see, which he thought was more than reasonable. "Ring'em up," he told Charlene. Then he coolly laid out five, one hundred dollar bills on the counter. He took his change, tucking it back in his wallet. When Charlene pulled out tissue paper and began individually wrapping each set, Logan made his exit trying to ignore Marie's flushed face.

Marie was unusually quiet on the ride back to the mansion. Logan noticed she kept nervously playing with the string handle of the blue and pink shopping bag. He'd known last night that Marie had been disappointed in trashing her matching bra set. He thought replacing them was a good idea and he didn't mind laying down the money for what she wanted.

Perhaps she thought she'd have to pay him back, which was nonsense. Logan knew women were more particular about these type of things then men. It didn't seem unreasonable to him that Marie have one set for each day of the week and a couple extra.

Maybe she thought it was too much money, but Logan had heard Jean and Storm say more than once that a decent bra wasn't cheap. Besides the things Marie did for him, there was no way he could repay her. How did you put a cost on friendship? Logan certainly couldn't pay her back for the patience and understanding she'd shown last night.

"Consider it an early Christmas present," he said, breaking the silence. She looked over at him and he quickly added, "Not like I could put that gift under the tree for you to unwrap in front of everyone."

Rogue felt the flush warm her cheeks. "Imagine the eyebrows that would get raised," she said finally with a laugh. It wasn't like they ever left gifts for each other under the tree; those gifts were for the kids that didn't have a place to go over the holidays. She and Logan always exchanged gifts privately on Christmas Eve. "But-"

He cut her off. "You're a poor college student who can barely afford to get her hair cut every couple of months and I made you throw away your favorite underwear. The least I could do was replace them."

She stared at the bag at her feet. "This is way more than what I paid for those." Rogue knew he never expected her to spend the money he did on their gift exchange. Those boots he got her were way more expensive than the old fashioned razor she'd bought him. Even though he used the razor all the time, it didn't come even close to what he spent on her.

Logan turned his full attention to her. "Look Kid, it ain't about the money. You do all kinds of things for me, let me do this for you."

"Okay." It wasn't like they could return any of the merchandise. She would die of embarrassment trying to return things to Charlene.

Anyway, what was he talking about, the things she did for him? Keeping the best cookies for him when she baked wasn't exactly worth the hundreds he'd laid out today.

They were both deep in thought when they pulled up to the mansion's garage. As they were exiting the vehicle Jubilee came into the garage.

"Girl, where have you been?" Jubilee asked, cracking her gum. "I saw you two pull up. You weren’t answering your phone." She cracked her gum again. "Hey, Wolvie."

Logan nodded at Jubilee. He knew that explaining his thoughts to Marie further would be impossible now.

"Oh, yeah. I was in a hurry and forgot to take it." Marie said apologetically.

Jubilee took Marie by the arm. "Rogue, you we're supposed to help me." She said, dragging Marie from the garage.

Logan sighed, he'd hoped they'd at least get a little time to talk. Not that he'd figured out what to tell her yet.

He looked up when he heard hurried footsteps coming toward the garage. Marie stopped in the doorway. "Logan, I…um…" She looked down at the bag in her hands and blushed prettily. "Thank you."

"It was nothing." Logan was thinking of what else to say when Jubilee called for her.

"Hold your horses, Jubes." Marie turned back to him, with a smile. "I'll see you later."

"Sure Kid," he said, returning her smile.

Logan took another swig of beer and pouted. No, the Wolverine didn't pout, but Logan sulked. He told himself he was comfortable with sulking.

Marie had been so busy as of late that he was afraid she was going to miss their annual Christmas Eve gift exchange. True, she'd already received the gift from him, but she always had something for him and he would be damned if he was going to let the exchange go the way hockey night had.

Hockey night had become their tradition shortly after he returned the first time. Saturday nights, for three years running, during hockey season they met in his room and watched together. It hadn't mattered what else might take place later, but they watched hockey together before going their separate ways afterward. The only time either of them had missed before now was due to a mission. And he could count the number of times that happened on one hand. Now though she was too busy.

Ever since… Logan tried not to think about it. In fact, he spent just over a month trying not to think about the way she strutted around the mansion, since that fateful day he'd taken her to Charlene's.

Marie had a new confidence in her appearance. She used to wear multiple, loose fitting layers. A single form-fitting layer that left little to the imagination had replaced those layers. Left little to his imagination.

At first he didn't want to believe the difference was due to better undergarments. But more that once he'd seen patterns, peeking out from the neckline of Marie's shirt, he remembered from the cashier counter at the boutique.

Logan wasn't the only one noticing the change in Marie. Every man in the mansion was giving her a second look. He'd caught her more than once flirting with several individuals. Logan didn't know why it distressed him so much.

Marie was entitled to flirt with whomever she wanted. He certainly never thought of her in a sexual manner. Sure he'd noticed her nice figure back when they first met, but she'd been scared and in need of help. Yet now he couldn't look at her and not notice her fine figure. Curves in all the right places that he wanted to lay his hands on.

For several months now, even before the shower incident, his mind would drift off. The bra-buying plan had only fueled the fire where Marie was concerned.

Logan finished off his beer and went to get another. Marie and bras. He didn't want to think of Marie in a bra. Marie without a bra was better. No, that wasn't right. Or was it?

Damn it, that wasn't the point. It was Christmas Eve. Their night. He would fight tooth and toenail to keep their night.

He slumped back down on the couch again, sulking. Marie wasn't a child who could be dictated to. She had her own life to live and didn't need him demanding things of her she didn't want to give.

Logan was surprised when Marie entered his room. He cursed himself for sulking and not paying attention to his surroundings.

"Sorry, I'm late. I just got finished." Marie took her customary seat beside him, placing a wrapped package on his lap.

Relief flooded him. He wouldn't have to fight for this night to remain theirs, not this year. He took a good look at her. She was in an oversized jersey and sweatpants. Thank the Lord. He wouldn't have to spend the night looking at pert breasts or adverting his eyes from silk covered cleavage.

"Since we've established my poor college student credentials, the thought of making something for you was really appealing." She smiled brightly at him. "Go ahead open it."

Logan set his beer on the side table and carefully unwrapped the package to reveal a scarf. Huh. Not something he thought she would give him. However, he didn't want to disappoint her, she was practically bouncing on the cushion next to him. Which, even he could see that bouncing did all kinds of interesting things to her chest under that oversized shirt.

The paper slid to the floor as he put the scarf around his neck. Holding up the ends, he raised a questioning eyebrow at her handy work. One end was neat and tidy; the other was a mess of unevenly spaced, lumpy stitches that left the end oddly warped.

"You should've seen the first half dozen or so attempts," she laughed. "The more I worked, the more it reminded me of us."

"How so?" he asked, running his hand along the scarf from the misshaped end to the area where it gradually smoothed out. He could see that Marie had put a lot of time and effort into this project. This was what she had been so busy doing the last month. Maybe giving up a hockey nights for a little while wasn't a complete loss.

"Our relationship started out like this sad end over here," she said, pointing to the warped side. "There was a connection, but no real idea of how we fit together. With time and patience, we slowly figured out how to smooth out the rough spots so it all holds together nicely."

When she put it that way, he gave her a lopsided grin. "I like it."

Rogue laughed with delight. This might be easier than she thought. As long as he didn't pull a jackass move like he was prone to do when confronted with his feelings for her. "It will hang beside your coat and never get worn."

Logan snorted. "True, but I like that you made it for me." He fiddled with it a minute more, before asking, "Why a scarf?"

Her face turned scarlet red and she looked away from him. "Uhm…There was a thought, or maybe one of your memories about a scarf." She peeked up at him. "It only dawned on me later that my idea for the intended use and your thoughts were complete opposites."

He stared at her, eyes wide. There had been inklings about Marie and her many scarves, but he'd buried those deep in the back of his mind.

Rogue brushed passed his surprised look, trying to avoid a jackass moment. "Anyway, that's not your only present."

Logan eyed her, then looked behind her toward the other end of the couch and the door. He hadn't seen her bring anything else in. Admittedly, he'd been sulking, so it was possible. His eyes slid back to her face. Marie's smile was secretive and there was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Her smell was off; it was alluring, but that wasn't new. A little bit of apprehension thrown in? This next present must be a big deal for her to give.

"Lean back, get comfortable, and close your eyes." He complied with her commands. Rogue took a steadying breath. Most likely he could sense her nervousness; but if she could pull off this next part and get him to give up his stubborn ways, it would be a good Christmas for them both.

She scrutinized his muscular frame. It would be better if his shirt were off, though that could be fixed later. "Hmm…can you stretch your arms out further?" Opening one eye, he peered at her, resting his arms along the back of the couch. "Perfect."

"How big is this gift?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing you can't handle," she said as she stood up. "And no peeking!" He smiled and closed his eye again. She would die of embarrassment if he caught her mid act and the failure rate would be higher.

Logan could hear her bare feet on the floor and the muted sound of fabric being moved. Usually he wasn't big about being on the receiving end of a surprise, but for Marie he didn't mind as much.

"Ya' know I realized something while I was making that scarf." He felt her weight dip the cushion next to him. "We're pretty much on the same page about things."

Her hand landed on his shoulder. There was a slight pressure as if she were keeping her balance. "Marie?" It was a questioning whisper, left thick and heavy between them as he felt her straddle him. He pressed his eyes shut even tighter when she settled her weight on his lap.

So far, so good. Logan wasn't so thick headed to not have an idea of what was going on and he hadn't said anything more or made a move. Those were hopeful signs, because her 'gift exchange' depended on his participation. A lot of participation.

She carefully leaned forward for a kiss. Remembering the 'healing kiss' from a month ago, she tried to make this one as unlike that as she could.

Her warm lips covered his. They were soft and pliant; Marie was making no demands of him. It was a simple invitation he didn't know how he should respond to. He knew he wanted to respond and could already feel himself growing hard, but was that what she wanted? Or was this simply a kiss, nothing more?

Rogue backed away and whispered, "I hope ya' don't mind, this present isn't wrapped."

Logan's eye flew open. Don't look down, don't look down, don't…too late. On his lap sat a naked Marie. No oversized jersey or sweatpants in site. She wasn't even sporting any of the bras or panties he'd bought her.

His mind raced. He should say something, do something, but what? The thing he knew would be expected of him, would be to tell her to stop. But he was afraid she might.

He could pick her up and move her off his lap. To do that would require touching her pale, soft, deadly skin. He weighed that out a second. Passing out as a result of touching the untouchable would be worth it. Or not, because if he passed out, that would be the end of the gift exchange. He shifted uncomfortably beneath her.

Marie sat up straight, making her breasts jut out nicely. Creamy flesh with taut, pink nipples were staring him in the face. His eyes followed her hands as they came to rest on her hips, then travel further down to the dark curls and her parted thighs. "I'm a dead man," he mumbled.

"Could you repeat that, Sugar? I don't have your enhanced hearing."

Letting out a breath he'd been holding, Logan rolled his shoulders to relieve the tension building there. He cleared the lump from his throat. "I'm a dead man," he repeated waving a hand at her naked body.

"Not if my calculations are right." She laughed lightly at his confusion. "Why I never rummaged through the memories of people in my head for how they control their mutation, is beyond me. Turns out it is akin to releasing and retracting your claws."

Rogue saw his jaw take on the hard set of a decision being made. She was suddenly fearful this last step had been too far and too fast. Though if the flare of desire was anything to go by… "I'm sorry did you want to be wooed? Or maybe you'd like me to run and get some mistletoe?"

He growled and a pleasant rumble went through her. "Just trying to make up my mind of where to start."

She grabbed the hem of his t-shirt. "While you decide, let's get rid of this." Logan let her pull it up and over his head then toss it on the floor behind her. "These can go too." She unbuttoned his jeans and he raised his hips as she scooted down his legs pulling the denim with her. When Marie was done, she settled back on his legs where she'd been. She splayed her hands across his chest biting her lip as he rested his hands on her hips.

He could sense her trepidation, she'd been very bold to this point, but now she seemed at a loss of what to do. Pulling her down for a kiss, he took his time carefully exploring her luscious mouth. They'd had their rough patches and he wanted to make sure things were smooth from here on out.

Rogue pulled back invigorated, yet still uncertain how to proceed. She'd envisioned her actions up to the point of getting Logan to acknowledge he wanted her; the rest was a little fuzzy on details. At this point it seemed like cheating to peek at his thoughts; besides those ideas were over a month old. What did he want now?

"Marie, are we still on the same page?" he asked, gliding his hands up and down her sides. She nodded, "The big challenge was getting us both naked at the same time. The rest, I thought, would take care of itself." Shrugging, she played with the hair on his chest. "As much as I want you, this is all new to me."

Kissing her again, he said, "Maybe it would be better to slow down and wait."

"Wait for what? There will never be a better time." Rogue didn't like the set of his jaw. He was trying to reason out a decision he was making that would only complicate things. Reaching down between them, she tentatively explored the head and shaft of his cock with her fingers. She had his complete attention. "You want this, don't you Logan?" she asked, making experimental strokes and noting the way his hips began to move with her hand.

"Yes," he hissed out, letting his eyes slide closed and his head rest on the back of the couch. Leaning forward, she placed a series of kisses to his throat. He rumbled in pleasure, relaxing even further. Rogue made the final decision to make this happen and stopped the slow strokes she'd been making. His hands moved to cup her breasts, when she positioned herself above his cock.

Logan grit his teeth at the achingly slow progress. He didn't want to hurry her, but this was not helping his self-control. Her soft hands alone had been overly stimulating. Now that she was lowering herself, inch-by-inch, it was almost too much. He tried to concentrate on rubbing her hard nipples between his fingertips. That and breathing. Slow, deep breathes.

Finishing her descent, she pressed herself up against him. He moved his hands to skate up and down her backside. It was possible she needed a couple minutes to rest. No matter what he wanted, Marie had indicated this was her first time, and he'd do everything he could to restrain his libido. Think happy thoughts, he told himself. Only at this moment, happy thoughts lead back to Marie and how well their bodies fit together.

"Marie, can I…" He moved carefully underneath her.

Rogue giggled, the discomfort had passed quickly. She'd stopped to savor their coupled bodies and then thought about seeing how long Logan could take sitting like they were. It was wicked, she new it, but couldn't resist testing his control. "Is there something else you want to do, Sugar?" she asked, teasingly.

He growled and quickly maneuvered them so they were stretched out on the couch with her on the bottom. Her giggles turned into a squeak, though a smirk settled on her lips and he decided to kiss it from her mouth. Readjusting them for better leverage; Logan set a slow pace, grinding into her every time he buried himself. Her lips were so close to his that he breathed in the small puffs of air she exhaled.

She was watching him intently, moving with him, pulling him deeper. Rogue was losing focus; she'd wanted to see the moment he lost control. To watch his eyes squeeze shut in ecstasy, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to fight the pleasure that was washing over her. Finally, she gave up the struggle and let the tight spiral coiling in her to explode outward.

She was vaguely aware of Logan loosing his rhythm and going still as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. When she could focus again, he'd collapsed on her. Resting on his elbows above her, he was placing kisses across her face. She wanted to laugh; maybe later she would request a second chance with their shower scene. Who knew you'd work up such a sweat during sex? She'd take this workout over the Danger Room, anytime.

In the early morning, she stretched under the blanket Logan had pulled over them from the back of the couch. He stirred behind her, rubbing his stubble on her neck in an attempt to kiss her. "Merry Christmas," Rogue whispered, happily.

"Want to work on making it joyous?" he asked, gliding his hand across her stomach.

She laughed in response, pressing her bottom into his groin. "This has been the best gift exchange yet."

~*~