It was supposed to be a vacation. Actually, it was supposed to be a conference. However she'd been to several conferences before and they all went the same; they arrived the weekend before, went sight seeing and ate all the local foods. Oh sure they did a few hours of 'work' in the morning and a couple in the afternoon, but they had fun the rest of the time.

So when it was announced that this year's big conference was in San Francisco, she started planning. Rogue made her clothing choices carefully, started reading up on the local cuisine, and did lots of internet searches for the best places to visit. It didn't dampen her spirit when she found out that they wouldn't go the weekend before or that the conference schedule was tight and encompassed most of the day. She would still be able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, ride a trolley, and stop by Chinatown.

Now here she was hiding behind a building with Logan trying to avoid the Brotherhood. Apparently, the lower ranks of the Brotherhood were fighting amongst themselves and decided to do it the week she was in town. Then just her luck she'd drawn the short straw all three nights and was in the field while Kitty and Jubilee were out having a good time. Rogue didn't even get to sample any local cuisine; she'd been surviving on a couple of hamburgers in between the hotel breakfast and conference food. The school's cafeteria had better eats than both of those places.

To be fair, they weren't really hiding but doing a little strategic planning. She just wished she could plan a way to have a good trip. Logan turned back around, "Ready?"

Rogue nodded, feeling the bun in her hair fall apart as she did so. This was worse than the conference. "I hate San Francisco," she muttered.

He gave her his cocky grin, "Maybe we can go sight seeing later."

Rolling her eyes would be juvenile, but she did it anyway. Logan was having a good time; this was the type of sightseeing he loved to do. He hadn't really visited a city unless he got into an altercation. He'd been bored to death until they suited up.

Rogue took a quick peek around the corner. Still clear. They were to run to the end of this building, check the next 'alley' and continue on to the north. Hopefully, if they didn't run into any of the Brotherhood they could get out of this maze of an industrial complex.

Everything was going fine, well besides the fact that Logan had already admonished her for following him into this area, when halfway along the space to be covered she saw two shadowy figures appear at the end. There was a flicker of light from the shadows and Logan suddenly grabbed her pulling her into an alcove. No sooner had they reached it than a small explosion sent a shower of debris their way.

"Who the hell was that?" Rogue asked.

"One was Avalanche, never seen the other one." Logan tapped his comm. device to see if there was any chatter.

Glancing over her shoulder Rogue did a quick search for their new friends. "Nothing."

He shook his head in return, indicating there was nothing useful on the comms. "Everyone's off to the..." he trailed off with a puzzled look. He quickly tapped the device off and listened intently to the far off sounds of battle. "Fuck!"

Grabbing her, he twisted them around so she was against the back of the space with him covering her head and shoulders with his arms. Then she heard it, a rumbling of the earth and the sickening sound of a building on the other side cracking, splintering as the ground beneath it buckled.

Rogue buried her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Well, if she were to die in a building collapse at least she would be with Logan. All the other thoughts were lost in the sound of the building falling and the rush of air carrying fine grit.

The ground trembled and at one point something hit them, or more precisely hit Logan. His knees buckled slightly, but he didn't go down though she did hold onto him even tighter. When the dust settled she thanked the heavens they were both still alive.

"You okay?" he asked.

She knew he'd already known that answer from his great senses and guessed the question was more about comforting her than anything else. "Yeah. You?"

"Never better," he asserted, cocky grin in place. "Let's do something to get out of here, unless you like standing around holding me?"

Rogue felt the heat flush her face and she let go of him but hid her face in embarrassment. Trying to play it off she teased, "You grabbed me first."

He chuckled and tried to back away. A half step was all he accomplished. For the first time, he took stock of exactly where they took cover. It turned out to be little more than a recess where an older and newer building had been joined together.

A section of the building that collapsed came off in a slab, effectively blocking them in. Normally he'd cut his way out, even with the limited space it would just take more time. With Marie present his maneuverability was even less, not to mention the way the debris above creaked and moaned meant it was far from settled. He couldn't take a chance on having it rain down on her and put him out of commission.

Their only way out appeared to be up. After some careful negotiations, she was balanced on his shoulders ready to stand up. She promptly hit her head on a beam she couldn't see in the dark. Several minutes later with the aid of the light from her watch, she pronounced them sealed in tight.

Logan heard her fiddling with her comm. and talking with someone briefly. When she was back on the ground in front of him, she filled him in. "Think I got through, be 10-15 minutes before they can get Kitty and have her over here."

He could see her, well enough in the pitch black, his heightened senses filling in the rest. She was wearing that worried look, the one she had when she knew she'd bitten off more than she could chew. She was trying to keep from touching anything, which would be impossible for the time they had remaining. "That wall's solid, we'll be fine."

Rogue looked where his voice emanated from. She'd never been one to be afraid of the dark, but this confined space it felt almost oppressive, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. She would have to trust Logan and he'd never lied to her yet.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to let her other senses pick up more information. The debris surrounding them had quit making as much noise, which she guessed was a good sign. The buildings in this section were old cement and brick structures that had withstood the test of time, just not a powerful mutant.

Leaning back against the wall, she tried to give him more room. Really, she was giving herself more room, being this close to him brought things to mind she shouldn't be thinking about when in an enclosed space with Wolverine. She didn't need to think about being in his arms again, or the way his body moved against hers. No, that would lead to wandering hands and uncomfortably tight uniforms that rubbed in all the right places. Those things she didn't need to think about until she was in the privacy of her hotel room later.

The silence between them was palpable, which was unusual for them. It was the mumbling that finally did her in. "What?"

"Nothin'," he replied, his voice tight.

"No, it's something." No matter how well they got along, there were a couple of conversations they kept having in tense moments. "Obviously you have a problem with me being here." She didn't need to be able to see him; she could feel the heat of his stare.

"You're not ready. Don't give a fuck how much training you've got." One of their oldest arguments and he was pretty sure she just rolled her eyes at him. Not that it changed the fact that he didn't want her following him, learning to fight like him, learning to be callus like him. Marie was vibrant, full of life and he didn't want that drained out of her.

"I can take care of myself." And she had only minutes ago, right beside him. She might not be able to take down as many opponents as him, but she did a decent job with the one she dealt with and then his straggler. "While we're at it, why don't we discuss how I'm wasting my life?"

"You are. Hanging out with me, I scare all the good guys away." It was true and they both knew it, but she was just as stubborn as he was and refused to find another best friend. He didn't mind it, wouldn't mind more, but he was a mess romantically and wanted better for her. Round and round they went always rehashing the same points, causing him endless frustration, not to mention she was bound to get hurt some day following him into fights. "I don't need you to hold my hand, Darlin'."

Rogue couldn't believe this was how they were going to spend their time. Depressing the light button on her watch, she was hoping that time had flown by. She sighed heavily; only a few minutes had elapsed. It figured, with the light went her sense of time.

Her little watch light didn't show much of their surroundings, but she was getting an eyeful, however dimly lit, of Logan's leather clad chest. Once again he'd done a number to his uniform jacket and the zipper was damaged. It would be easy enough to change the conversation over to fixing the zipper.

Turning the light on again, she reached for the zipper pull and received a warning growl. The tone was different than she was used to; it was one she hadn't heard from him before. The soft blue glow of the light gave him an odd hue but she could still see the tenderness in his eyes that was only ever for her.

The light blinked out and they were left in complete darkness again. He could just make out the expression on her face as she jiggled the zipper. A look of concentration at first, then a little smile of amusement and a bite of her lower lip.

"What?" he asked gruffly.

"Nothin'. It's just..." she said with a tug of his zipper, "with all the uniforms you ruin, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they just send you out in the nude and save us all the trouble."

She giggled at the thought as she slipped her finger into his collar to get behind the zipper, but soon she had a visual of a very fierce, very naked Logan in her head, and her giggle faded. She tried to push the image out of her mind, her heart skipping a beat as she felt the warmth of his body and the soft tickle of his chest hair on her finger.

Even in the dark, he could tell she was blushing.

Concrete, brick, mortar, a thousand different smells that went into a building that took his mind off one, in particular. Marie's. Her sweet, pure scent engulfed him seeping into every pore of his body making it uncomfortable for him in more than one way. She'd taken off her gloves and her fiddling at his neck and jaw were not helping. He'd reached his limit and needed to warn her off. "Marie."

Rogue froze. The usual gruff, occasionally harsh voice was gone replaced with something else entirely. He was pleading with her, not to stop, or even change the subject. No, he was pleading with her to continue, to...she didn't know. This aspect of her relationship with Logan was unexplored; it was the only thing they never talked about.

Experimentally, she leaned into him as she worked on the zipper again. This time when he growled she was astonished by how it rolled out from his chest and vibrated through her body. Exhaling, she steeled herself to start a long overdue conversation they always avoided.

"Logan, I don't want to hold your hand." The zipper popped into place and slipped down. "I want to stand beside you and I don't care what kind of guys you run off cause I want you."

There it was done. His zipper was in working order, though undone, and she'd said what had been on her mind for ages. She stopped short of blurting out that she loved him, that would have to wait for the next near death experience.

She pushed his ripped undershirt up, running her hands over the hard planes of his stomach and through the hair on his chest. There was a small shiver on his skin at the tips of her fingers and she chased it with delight. This was so much better than arguing.

Logan quit trying to eradicate her smell and dipped his head to her neck, inhaling deeply. His hands settled on her waist holding her comfortably close. She squirmed, giggling a little, as his facial hair scraped along her skin.

He needed to occupy his mouth before he made a declaration that neither of them were ready to deal with yet. Placing a series of kisses along her jawline, he hovered at the corner of her mouth. He should tell her, warn her that if they started down this path there was no turning back. He didn't think he could ever give her up.

"Don't stop," she whispered into the darkness. "Don't ever stop." It was all the permission he needed as her mouth opened readily for him.

The kiss wasn't as hard and demanding as she thought it would be, though she could tell that was in him. She knew he was holding back trying not to dominate her. This kiss was warm, inviting her to do her own exploration.

His strong hands were roaming her body making her want more than just a kiss. She unzipped her uniform ahead of his lips trailing down her throat. Everywhere his mouth went was on fire.

Struggling with her uniform, she was only able to expose a shoulder and one breast; he took full advantage of what was offered. She gave a fleeting thought to the fact that she should have switched out her ancient one piece, back up uniform for one of the newer two-piece uniforms. That mistake would be corrected immediately upon returning to the mansion.

Rogue found herself straddling his thigh, shamelessly grinding into him. Her hand, that wasn't limited in mobility because of her clothing, had sunk into his hair holding him fast to her breast, spiraling the tension in her body.

Logan placed a hand on the small of her back to support her. His other hand was on her hip, to help provide the friction she needed. Her body was trembling in his arms and he could smell how close she was.

She arched away from him, gasping for breath. He could only smile, "That's it, Darlin'."

When they got out of this he wanted to make her do this all over again. He loved her intoxicating smell, the sounds she made, the way she felt in his arms, but he wanted to see her like this in the full light of day with a lot less clothing. Pulling her back to him he captured her lips, letting her cling to him.

He pulled away sharply as both of their comms crackled to life. Rogue watched him tilt his head listening to something and she took this as a sign that their time was up, Kitty was on her way. While Logan gave more precise directions she straightened her uniform as best she could.

Finally, she was reduced to using her watch light to make sure everything was presentable. She caught him smiling at her, one of his rare, content smiles. He brushed his lips against hers, "When we get back to the hotel, let's do something about your dislike of San Francisco."

The light went out but she knew he could see her smile in return. "Only if it has something to do with spending the rest of the time in your room."

~*~