A sudden pounding on the front door caused the few residents of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, who were up and about early on a Friday morning, to jump in fright. Heads peered out of the kitchen and rec room doorways toward the front door. No further knocking was heard, and whoever it was clearly didn't know that the door was always unlocked, as odd as that may seem to outsiders. People began to wander away again, assuming it was a prank someone was playing, and no one wanting to be on the receiving end of a bucket of water or bag of flour by opening the door. That was until a high-pitched, piercing wail began on the other side of the door.

Eyes widened in shock as several teens rushed for the door simultaneously, wrenching it open suddenly to reveal a baby capsule sitting on the stoop, a large fluffy blanket hiding the tiny wailing child within from view until it was pushed back.

"Someone go get a teacher!" One of the kids nearest the front of the gathered crowd, called to those still inside. The direction was followed by the heavy pounding of feet as several people ran, some for the teachers’ wing, others ran for the dorms to spread the news of the baby found on the doorstep.

A crowd had gathered by the time a procession of adults wandered down the stairs.

"Alright, everyone out of the way, what do we have here?" Scott asked, making his way through the crowd, which parted enough to let him through while the kids at the back continued to crane to try and see what was happening.

At the centre of the crowd was a tiny squalling baby, waving its arms around as it screamed, obviously unimpressed that it wasn't in its cosy bed, or its mothers’ arms. Despite the young girl beside it, trying to shush it by gently rocking the carrier, it continued to scream unabated.

"We should get it down to the med lab," Jean said, staring in wide eyed shock at the infant.

Scott picked the baby carrier up and began to work his way back through the crowd, toward the elevator to the underground medical facility. "'Ro, go check the security cameras and see if you can get an ID on the mother,” he instructed. She nodded in response, and joined them on their trek below, heading to the security office.

--

Logan stepped out of the locker room, giving a final swipe at his damp hair before lobbing his towel back into the room, in the direction of the laundry hamper. If it missed someone else would get it, that was part of the reason he always took the earliest DR session. The other reason was that it was helpful to work off whatever memories had assaulted him overnight.

He was heading for the elevator when a high-pitched wail filtered down the hall. As he got closer he realised it was a baby, a very unhappy baby.

"The fuck is going on in here?" he asked, over the sound the tiny infant was making, as he walked into the med bay. The baby was in a capsule, on one of the exam tables as Jean was untucking a large fluffy blanket from around it.

"I'm going to assume the little one is a boy," Jean smiled. The baby was dressed in a little blue all-in-one, and snugly wrapped in dark blue knitted mittens, booties, hat, and hooded jacket. Whoever had left the baby had done their best to make sure he was warm and cosy for as long as it took for him to be found.

Logan grimaced as the child's cries increased in volume, as Jean lifted him out of the seat. "I'll get filled in later," he called across the room before turning and walking out, sighing in relief as the door slid shut behind him, muffling some of the noise from within.

"Wait, Logan!" Jean shouted suddenly, just as the elevator door slid open before him. She rushed out of the med lab, screaming baby in one arm as she waved a piece of paper at him. "This was in the capsule, it appears to be addressed to you," she said confused. Noting Logan's pained grimace, she tried to bounce the baby in a soothing manner, to hopefully calm him a bit, as she moved back into the med bay to put some distance between the two of them.

Logan turned the paper over in confusion. His name was written in a neat script on the front, the paper folded into an origami envelope to seal its content from prying eyes. Untucking the paper carefully Logan pulled it open to read the short, personalised note.

'Dear Logan,

Yes, I know your name, the bit of you I absorbed is really nice even if he was a little annoyed with me at the beginning, not as much as you'd expect for what I did but we've come to an understanding about that. He's told me a lot about you, which is why I trust you to do what I can't, and I trust you not to hold what I did against baby.

I never meant for this to happen but I opted to keep him, the Brotherhood didn't know, I went dark which is why you haven't seen me around. I don't know how they found out but they know now, and because of that our son is in danger. I can't protect him, you can.

I named him James but he is only two weeks old, so he probably doesn't know it yet if you would prefer to change it.

Please, please, take good care of him for me.

Rogue'

Staring at the paper in front of him Logan slowly followed the path Jean had taken, back into the med bay. He went directly to the baby capsule, ignoring the cries of the infant who still hadn't quieted. He grabbed the blanket, it would hold scent best, sure enough he could detect Rogue's familiar scent. Shocked, he turned to the baby, realizing when he did so that Jean was trying to talk to him.

"... it say? Logan are you alright?" she asked. "Logan...?"

He didn't respond as he dropped the blanket and moved over to Jean, gently plucking the wailing child from her arms. To everyone's even greater surprise the baby suddenly stopped his yelling, his tiny little baby nose twitching, before his eyes opened and he stared directly up at Logan. After a few shuddering breaths baby snuggled down in his arms and went to sleep, his little face buried in Logan's shirt as he scented him while he slept.

"What just happened?" Jean asked.

Before Logan could answer, Ororo walked into the room. Subdued and teary eyed, she said softly, "You guys need to see this."

They all followed her to the security room where she hit play on the CCTV playback, a second later an obviously female hooded figure walked into the frame, carrying baby in one arm, and the capsule in the other. Gently she set the capsule down on the mansions front step, she sat beside it, carefully unwrapping the baby from the fluffy blanket. For a few minutes she sat, holding the baby, rocking him gently, until, with a gentle kiss, she laid the sleeping baby down in the capsule before she tucked him in. Standing silently, they watched as the hood fell away, revealing familiar two tone hair. The girl silently wiped away her tears, then with one last look at the baby, she knocked loudly on the door before turning and bolting out of frame towards the treeline.

"Oh my god," Jean said, tears in her own eyes proving she too wasn't unmoved by the mothers’ emotional farewell to her child.

"Why would Rogue bring her child here? Surely, she would leave it with the Brotherhood. It does explain why we haven't seen her for a while though," Scott began to theorize.

"Logan, what was in the letter?" Jean asked, as she pulled herself together and back into doctor mode. Without a word he pulled the letter out of his pocket and handed it to her, before turning and walking away. There were things the X-Men didn't know, they were about to find out, and he really didn't want to have to deal with the fallout, not right away at least. He passed the Professor in the hall, directing him into the security room as he walked away.

About twenty minutes later everyone filed back into the med bay where Logan was sitting on the exam table watching the baby sleep in his arms. He braced himself for the inevitable questions to begin.

"What did Rogue do that she thinks you're angry about?" Jean asked softly, indicating to the letter.

"I'll give you a hint, it made a baby," Logan replied, nodding to the child in his arms.

"This was when the Brotherhood had you prisoner?" she queried.

"Mmhmm," Logan replied. All he had previously told them about what had happened during that time was the information the Brotherhood had been after, and that they had used Rogue to try and suck it out of his head. He hadn't told them exactly how she had done that, and really, he couldn't be that mad at her, given the circumstances they'd found themselves in, for taking advantage of her situation.

"It wasn't consensual was it?" Jean continued.

"Well I didn't bother saying no," Logan sarcastically responded, "Adamantium cuffs to a concrete floor make that kinda pointless." He hoped that was enough information for them to stop asking questions.

After a few moments Jean smiled sadly before asking with forced cheeriness, "So, shall we take a look at the little guy and make sure he's on track? I'll get some starting info on him so we can monitor his growth." She quickly moved around the room to begin her check-up.

Logan had to put the baby down for Jean to do her exam but every time he let him go baby would begin to grizzle again, so he kept hold of baby's hand to keep him quiet. Turning to the Professor while he waited, he asked, "Can you find her? If she's right and the Brotherhood are after her for the baby they're going to be pissed as hell when they catch up to her and find out she's handed him over all ready, we need to find her first."

"Certainly, I will do my best, though you know Rogue is as hard for me to track as you are, I can't guarantee a quick result," Charles advised, before he left to begin his search. They needed to find her first.

~~ He felt himself drift back to consciousness slowly, a pounding in his head despite the fact the head injury he had sustained must have been well healed by now. The fuzziness he could feel all over reminded him of the after effects of tranquilising drugs, he'd been out long enough to be moved, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume whoever had him had drugged him.

He quashed the momentary thrill of panic that welled inside him as he realised wherever he was he was tied down, and damn well to. He appeared to be lying on the floor, cold hard concrete behind him, with heavy cuffs securing all four limbs spread eagle to the floor. Focusing himself to gather as much information on his surroundings as he could, he was interrupted by a soft voice out of the darkness above his head.

"Hi Wolverine, don't worry, it's only me and you down here."

"Rogue? That was the fucking Brotherhood?!" he commented, mostly rhetorically, in response.

"Yep, it was indeed," came the voice again, "You're a real hard man to take down so they needed to catch you alone, took the whole damn lot of them to get you too." There was a spark of awe on her voice as she told him that.

"Great, what do you want?" he asked irritably. How had he managed to get taken by surprise by that bunch of buffoons?

"What do I want? Oh sugar, we aren’t here for what I want, though..." she started coyly, stepping into his line of sight to give him an appraising once over. "You have information, and I've been tasked with getting that information, I'm sure you can figure out how that is going to go, so why don't we do this the easy way and you just tell me and we can spare you the pain and humiliation of having your brain ripped out through you skin, hmm?" she asked, a bitterness entering her tone as she detailed her part in this nefarious plot.

"That all depends darlin, what do you want to know?" Logan asked, he probably wouldn't tell her, purely on principal, but he knew things that really shouldn't get back to the Brotherhood - he might be able to hide from telepaths but from Rogue, he wasn't so sure.

Rogue answered nonchalantly, as she twisted a lock of hair around one dangerously un-gloved hand, while she seated herself delicately on his chest, running her free hand a hairs breadth away from his skin, tracing his face.

"Sorry darlin, can't help you there, wouldn't have a clue," he replied. If he was lucky she might just believe him, because that was a piece of information that really shouldn't be ending up in their hands.

"Damnit Wolverine, why did you have to lie! I don't want to do this anymore than you do, just give me the goddamn information so I can let you go!" The bitter edge was back to her voice, indicating to him she was telling the truth, though he didn't know her well enough to know how good she was at lying, he wasn't going to fall for it if it was a ruse.

"Sorry sweetheart, can't give you info I don't have," he grunted past the weight on his chest.

She stood up furiously, stalking the cell angrily as she was obviously considering her options.

"Xavier's not going to save you," she said suddenly, turning back to him. "We know he can't track you, that's why you were picked, we know he can't track me either, that's why me and you are the only one's here sugar, there's no one else to attract his attention. I have orders to do whatever is necessary to get this information out of you, all the way down to sucking the very last piece of your mind out of your head, do you really think you'll survive that? As anything more than a vegetable?" she queried.

"Do you think you will?" Logan asked, he had to admit he was curious about how his mutation would react to hers, at the same time he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy - and she was far from that - the images in his head.

She faltered for a split second, before steeling herself. "I guess we'll find out, to the victor go the spoils... but now I have a dilemma, how, oh how am I going to do this...? I think I need more options first, what do you think?" she asked, as she pulled out a switchblade.

He was confused for a moment, he knew she wasn't going to torture him physically, there would be no point, it had already been tried before and he wouldn't break, she must know that. His confusion was cleared up a moment later when she used the knife to begin slowly cutting away his clothing, steadily exposing more and more of his skin ready for her touch. It didn't take long for him to end up fully naked, she'd giggled as she peeled off his pants and appreciatively commented about going commando.

"Well fuck it, if I'm doing this I may as well have fun doing it, right?" she commented, kneeling over his waist as she slowly ran her hands over his bare chest, giving him the first taste of her mutation. "Let me know if you remember the answer to my question," she purred, as she continued to touch him, alternating covered and uncovered touches, giving him time to recover between drains so he didn't pass out.

He could tell she was simultaneously trying to keep his mind on her question, at the same time as distract him with her touches. When her hand closed around his cock, he jerked sharply, though whether it was from shock that she would actually go there, the stab of pain that shot through his core from her mutation, or the fact that his traitorous flesh proudly rose to the occasion, he wasn't quite sure.

Her touches changed then, though it took him a while to notice, she was no longer so intent on draining him, not through his skin at least, as her mouth closed around his cock. The drain stopped when she removed her hands, her hot little mouth apparently didn't drain. A brief thought about mucous membranes and the surface tension of liquids momentarily distracted him, before he locked down his mind again to try and stop any stray thoughts transferring to her.

She crawled up his body a minute later, smiling sweetly at the growl he released at the loss of stimulation. "Patience Wolverine, behave yourself and you'll get a little treat, want a taste?" she teased, as she sank down onto him, rolling her hips to crush his cock between them.

"Fuck!" he grunted as he struggled to keep himself under control. She seemed to sense his weakness, lifting herself up she retrieved the switchblade and cut a small hole in the crotch of the leggings she was wearing. Positioning herself over him she slowly began to lower herself onto him, he growled at the bizarre feeling of being drawn into her, both into her wet heat, and through her skin as she held his cock in place, until she released her hold on him and sank to the hilt.

"Oh God," she moaned loudly, freezing for a moment to adjust to his size. Slowly she began to undulate on him, seeming to forget she was supposed to be draining him, giving him time to recover from her drains so far. It didn't last long before her hands began to run over him again. "You haven't forgotten the purpose of this exercise I hope," she panted, as she moved against him.

"I was kinda hoping you had, this would feel a lot better if you weren't draining me," he grunted between gritted teeth. "Fuck you're so tight," he panted, when she moved her bare hands away from him again.

She increased her pace as she moved over him. "Fuck it, we can keep going later," she murmured, as she moaned loudly and began to ride him harder. Her cries were echoing around what must be a bare concrete room, turning him on even more; god he was so fucked up to be getting turned on by this.

He felt her start to come before she collapsed against his chest, missing the beginning of the drain as her skin came in contact with his again. As her internal muscles began to clench around him as she came, he gave up all pretence of playing the passive role, he couldn't hold her but that didn't stop him from bucking up into her hard several times until he... ~~

He woke with a start, hard as rock, his body begging for release. James was stirring in the box crib he'd set up for him earlier that day, from the smell of it he needed a fresh diaper. With a groan, and a pained wince, he got up to collect what he needed to take care of baby first, he'd sort himself out later.

Rogue ran through the underbrush; it had been relatively clear and well-kept for the first several hundred meters after she had run from the mansion. Leaving her baby was the hardest thing she had ever had to do in her life, she swiped angrily at a fresh fall of tears as she continued to jog to where she had hidden her car earlier.

Logan was inside her head, telling her to go back, she didn't have to leave James, the X-Men would protect her, he would protect her. She couldn't bring herself to believe that, she was their enemy, some of the things she had done in that capacity were terrible, though none worse than what she had done to Logan. He was better off without her; James deserved a better mother than her.

When she got to her car she climbed in and drove, her route was pre-planned, she had planned it over a month ago when Mystique had tracked her down. Her sizable round belly had immediately given away her reasons for leaving, it hadn't taken Mystique long to realise who the father was. The look of evil glee on the older woman’s face as she began plotting how they could draw Wolverine in, using his child as bait, had sickened her even more than usual.

She lamented the day she'd allowed herself to fall into the Brotherhood's hands, it would have been better for everyone if she had let Sabretooth and Mystique kill her right back when they first found her. Hiding out in that abandoned warehouse to escape the rain had seemed like such a good idea, little did she know the pair were going to use that very warehouse to stage a 'suicide' that same night. Fighting back had been the most logical choice at the time, when she had wanted to live. Unfortunately it told the pair she was a mutant, and when they had offered her food and shelter, as opposed to rape and death, she had chosen foolishly.

Now though, she no longer cared, she hadn't for a long time, even before that horrible mission where she had inadvertently absorbed Wolverine's nightmares. She didn't blame him for that, he couldn't control what she had taken from him. The images had driven her to attempt to kill herself twice, however, both times she still had his healing factor rattling around inside her, and his determination, despite what she had done to him, to not let her die. It was two months before she realised she was pregnant, whether he had known that or not, he was happy that the revelation stopped her from attempting to kill herself again.

That was when she decided she had had enough. She packed and left that night, leaving a note to say she needed a break, using the excuse that her mutation was going haywire and she needed to sort her head out. Then she ran, trying to hide, moving regularly, and covering her tracks as best she could. Logan helped her every step of the way, though he continually pushed for her to seek out the X-Men.

When Mystique found her, she was sure she would kill her for her betrayal but she seemed too distracted by her plotting to acknowledge that fact. She encouraged Rogue to stay hidden, they didn't want Wolverine to find out about the baby until they had it in their hands.

Because she knew who the father was, Mystique knew when the baby was due, Rogue was terrified that she would come back to collect the baby before Rogue could escape. She would have left the place she had been staying the day after Mystique did but she had gotten to the point where she couldn't travel any longer. Her belly stopped her from fitting behind the wheel of her car, she couldn't sit down for long periods, and the stress was making her sick. Given the circumstances, it was a relief when James was born early. She had spent the first week sleeping and feeding baby, gaining her strength and health back quickly, then she had run. As fast as she could, without drawing attention to herself, to the one place she knew James would be safe.

If she was lucky it would be another two weeks before they realized she was gone, she wasn't counting on being lucky.

--

Three days later her luck ran out, she had rented a room in a run-down roadside motel, in a small backwater town in the middle of nowhere Arizona state, and had just collapsed into bed to sleep when the room door had splintered off its hinges. The hulking form of Sabretooth filled the opening, a black void backlit by the starry sky behind him. All she could think as he approached her was, thank god James was safe.

--

When she regained consciousness, she was surprised, she had expected him to kill her outright, not take her prisoner but a prisoner she was. Her hands were cuffed, the chain of the cuffs hung from a hook in the ceiling of what appeared to be a box truck, that she was shut inside. Knowing Sabretooth’s modus operandi there was no point screaming for help, the truck would either be in an abandoned industrial area, or somewhere deep in the desert. She stood up straighter, trying to relieve some of the pressure from her aching arms, she must have been hanging for a while as her hands were completely numb.

Within minutes the box truck door opened, she got a quick glimpse of moonlit desert, before both Sabretooth and Mystique entered the cargo area.

"Rogue, Rogue, Rogue, I am so disappointed, I thought we had an understanding, you would hand over the child and I wouldn't kill you, I would have even let you raise the little parasite if you had kept your part of the bargain, instead you screwed us over, now I just have to determine how badly," Mystique stated angrily. "Where is the child?"

Rogue breathed a sigh of relief, her ruse had worked, they didn't know where she had left him, he was safe for a while longer. Hopefully the baby could hide among the population of the mutant school, without fear of the Brotherhood ever picking him out. For his sake she hoped so.

She felt Sabretooth’s clawed hand close around her neck. He had held a grudge against her for a long time, so she didn't doubt she'd be able to goad him into killing her fairly easily. He hadn't liked her since she refused his sexual advances right from the beginning of their association, even going so far as to drop him with her mutation on more than one occasion. It hadn't helped their working relationship when she had suggested to Magneto that Sabretooth may have been the one to leak Wolverine's location, when the X-Men rescued him less than four hours after they had managed to take him prisoner.

She had only quite rightly pointed out that Sabretooth was the only person to know where she was holding Wolverine, and given the difficulty Charles Xavier had tracking the latter two the most logical leak would have been Sabretooth. She didn't bother revealing that Wolverine's memories had enlightened her to the fact he had been wearing a tracking device, sewn into his belt, for that exact reason.

"You were asked a question, girl," Sabretooth growled menacingly in her ear, as his other clawed hand moved over her body to paw at her breast.

She hissed in pain. She had breastfed James as much as she could, knowing it would be important for him to get the best start after being born early. She had been trying to express off the excess milk until her supply could dry off, now that James was no longer drinking it. Clearly it had been a while since she had had a chance to do that, if her painfully heavy breasts were any indication.

"Can't have been away from the little whelp for long," he chuckled, squeezing her breast again. The stimulation causing a release of sticky, sweet smelling fluid, that soaked into her shirt as it dribbled down her stomach.

"Where is the child?" Mystique asked again, stepping right up in front of her.

"Somewhere you will never find him," Rogue replied defiantly.

"Wrong answer," Mystique replied, slamming a fist into her stomach, sending her diaphragm into a spasm.

As Rogue gasped for breath, she tried to think of things to say, as soon as she was able to speak again, to goad Sabretooth into finishing her off. Twenty minutes, and countless blows, later Rogue finally managed to string together the right combination of words for Sabretooth to swing a clawed hand in her direction. His claws ran deep, deep into her body, separating flesh and spilling her blood. Mystique's reaction immediately told her she was as good as dead, as the woman began to frantically try and get her to give them James's location, as she tried in vain to stem the bleeding.

With a soft, satisfied smile Rogue let herself drift on the wave of weightless nothingness that was her coming death. She didn't feel the sudden gust of cool air against her skin as the truck door opened, or hear the furious and shocked shouts of her captors. Neither did she feel the strong hands that lifted her limp body off its altar, and gently lay her on the floor.

"Come on Rogue, you can do it." She heard Logan's voice through a haze.

Assuming it was the piece of him inside her own mind she replied, "I did my best to protect him, it's your turn now."

"No sweetheart, you're not done yet, James still needs you." Came the distance voice again. This time it was followed by a sharp pain in her gut, a burn that grew steadily stronger, as the voice got louder. She cried out audibly, as a weight collapsed on top of her as more feeling came back, she cracked open one eye to see a familiar mop of black hair resting on her chest.

"No!" she screamed. "Move! Get off! Logan stop touching my skin!" she begged, as she tried ineffectively to push him away. A second figure appeared. It could have been Sabretooth for all she cared right then, so long as it was someone who could shift the enhanced bulk of Wolverine off of her and break the connection with her skin. "Help me, please, I can't get him away from my skin," she said through sobs.

His weight was rolled off of her quickly and she hurriedly pulled herself up, barely noticing the pinching and tearing of newly healed flesh as she moved. "Logan! Logan are you alright? Please, please be alright, " she sobbed, into his leather clad chest as the soothing voice inside her mind coaxed her to lay still and heal, promising he would be fine. She lay still, crying softly onto his chest as they both slowly healed. She could hear the sounds of fighting raging around them, the fight having spilled out of the truck into the surrounding desert. Mystique and Sabretooth appeared to have switched tack from trying to fight, to now trying to escape, either way she didn't care what happened to them, so long as they never bothered her again.

After a time, she felt the form below her groan quietly, she turned to regard him just as Logan opened his eyes to look down at her in return.

"It worked? You're okay?" he asked softly. She nodded, not trusting her mouth to be able to form words right now. With a smile his hand lifted to her face and he gently smoothed her hair back, before sliding his thumb over her cheek to brush away her tears. "Good, I'm glad," he continued.

"How did you find me?" she asked eventually, as she lay in his arms waiting for his strength to come back enough for him to move.

"Xavier couldn't find you, so he was tracking Sabretooth and Mystique, hoping that if they found you first, we could get to you before anything bad happened, we've been trying to find you since you left James behind... why didn't you stay? We could have protected both of you," Logan said, gently stroking her head as he recovered.

"I- I didn't know how the real you would react to me, I needed to keep James safe, if that meant sacrificing my life for his safety then so be it, I couldn't risk being thrown out, having him thrown out," Rogue replied sincerely.

They lay in silence until the sounds of fighting outside died away to nothing, at which point Logan slowly rolled to his feet. They helped each other stand gingerly before making their way outside, Logan's senses telling them both that Sabretooth and Mystique were gone.

Nervously Rogue followed Logan into the night, he seemed to be okay with her, even accepting of her, but would his teammates feel the same way?

"Don't be shy sweetheart," Logan coaxed with a grin, as he led her after the rest of the team toward the large black jet she hadn't even heard arrive. He led her on board, without a word, and buckled her into a seat, before buckling himself in next to her. The plane lifted off the ground within minutes, and they headed back to New York in silence. As soon as the jet touched down Logan had both their seat belts off, and he hurriedly pulled her down the gangway, and across the hangar.

“Where are you taking me?" she asked, suddenly unsure about just what his intentions were.

"James," was all he said, pausing to look back at her with a worried, pleading look until she nodded and continued after him again.

The sight that met her eyes, as they stepped into the medical area, caused her heart to skip a beat as she gasped in shock. A red-haired doctor was standing beside her son, rubbing her eyes tiredly. James was laid out in a tiny incubator, tubes and wires running haphazard all over his tiny, fragile looking body.

"What happened?" Rogue cried, rushing to his side, dropping Logan's hand in the process.

"We're not entirely sure," the doctor replied, looking surprisingly relieved to see her. "It seems he can't digest synthetic milk, when Logan started him on formula it began with vomiting, when it was obvious he wasn't keeping anything down we had to install a feeding tube but it still all kept coming either up or straight through the other end. I've had him on goat milk for the last twelve hours which he seems to be able to tolerate better than the synthetic milk but he is dehydrated still, we really need to get him back on breast milk as soon as possible, are you still able to feed him?" the doctor asked.

Rogue nodded, quickly, detangling herself from the torn and blood-stained clothes she was wearing, a moment later she had James in her arms. Gently she wiped her nipple across his lips, watching his little nose twitch adorably before he sluggishly opened his mouth and made an attempt to grab it. It took three tries for him to latch on properly but once he had it, he began to suck steadily. Rogue was so focused on her baby that she didn't notice the other X-Men filter into the room, or Logan move to stand protectively in front of her as she suckled their infant.

Everyone remained silent as she fed, not wanting to interrupt the reunion of mother and child, or upset Logan who had, understandably, been prowling around like a bear with a sore head since it had become obvious something was wrong with the baby.

After about ten minutes James released her nipple with a wet pop and burped, laying contentedly for a minute, eyes closed and a slight grin on his tiny little face, until he began to fuss and search out his food again. He didn't want the same breast, so she turned him around to offer him the other. This time he latched on immediately and began to suck hungrily, his strength, what little a baby possessed, was coming back quickly, to which both she and Logan let out relieved sighs.

As she began to contemplate the situation she was now in, now that her immediate worry was subsiding, she couldn't help the touch of sorrow at the thought that Logan had only been worried about her because he had been worried about James. Oh well, at least she had been right in her assessment of his behaviour towards the child, he had accepted him readily despite everything. She ignored the Logan in her head that was telling her she was wrong; he had been worried for her for a long time and was glad he had finally been able to get her somewhere she was safe. That it helped James was an added bonus, and he hoped it would be enough to keep her at the school long term.

When he was confident the parents were ready turn their minds to other important matters the Professor spoke, addressing Rogue calmly he introduced her officially to the X-Men, teachers at his school for mutant children. She didn't bother mentioning that she knew who they all were, knew a few rather embarrassing facts about each of them too thanks to the Logan in her head. Once the introductions were complete, he began to gently grill her on issues that had been concerning him for some time.

She explained her whole sorry story to him, from being turned out of home at fifteen when her mutation surfaced, living rough for two years, before being accidentally discovered and drawn in by the Brotherhood. She ashamedly revealed some of the things she had been made to do in the four years she was with them, apologising profusely for the things that had impacted negatively on the X-Men. When she got to the point in her story that concerned Wolverine's capture she clammed up. She was ashamed of what she had done but she also knew he was an intensely private person, he wouldn't want the others to know, as much for her sake as for his.

Thankfully the Professor didn't ask her about what had happened during the capture, instead he seemed most concerned about whether she had gotten the information the Brotherhood had been after.

"I got the information, yes, I also got a detailed ‘what if’ scenario of what would happen if the Brotherhood got their hands on that information. I told Magneto I didn't get it, that Wolverine either was being honest when he said he didn't know, or was really good at hiding the information and I hadn't been able to get deep enough to find where he was hiding it. Sabretooth tried to call me on that lie but I managed to turn the situation around to make it look like he was the one who was hiding things or trying to double cross the Brotherhood," Rogue answered, she was rather proud of herself for that feat.

"How did you do that?" Logan asked curiously.

"He was the only one who knew which of the secret lairs I had you at, because he had to get you there - you're heavy as fuck you know that-" she grinned at him cheekily- "So, I just forgot to mention the possibility you were wearing a tracker, and hypothesized about how Xavier might have tracked us down when he can't track either of us, Magneto bought it, believed me over Sabretooth, who proceeded to make my life a living hell after that because he knew damn well I'd lied."

"What happened after that?" the Professor pressed for more information.

"I had a pretty hard time getting my head back together after absorbing so much of Logan, I got his nightmares... when I found out I was pregnant it gave me the reason I needed to try and get away; I didn't want them to get my baby. I left a note to say I needed to get my head in order and left, I thought I'd done a pretty decent job of covering my tracks but Mystique found me, somehow, by then I was almost at the end of the pregnancy, I couldn't run... She told me to stay in hiding, she'd come back when the baby was born, they planned to use him as bait to try and coax Logan to their side, I couldn't let that happen. James was born several weeks early, once I got my strength back, I hightailed it out of there before Mystique could get back... I left him here and ran, as far and as fast as I could hoping they wouldn't figure out what I had done. They still hadn't figured it out by the time you guys chased them off," she finished with a smile, as she stroked her sleeping baby's face.

"You realize he killed you?" Logan queried.

"Yep, I goaded him into it, if I was dead, they couldn't keep torturing me for an answer, it would keep him safe," she explained, not taking her eyes off her child. She was surprised when Logan took another step toward her before wrapping her in his arms.

"He's safe now, and so are you," he murmured into her hair, which he used a moment later to nudge her chin so she was looking up at him. "You're not alone sweetheart, we can protect him together." She closed her eyes as she returned his hug, burying her face in his chest so no one could see her cry.

--

Both Logan and Rogue spent the next few days in the med bay with James, until Jean was satisfied he was strong enough to return to regular life. There was no point keeping him there any longer for monitoring, as Rogue insisted he spend as much time as possible skin-to-skin with one of his parents, which threw off the heart monitor readings. He definitely did seem to prefer that contact, to being in the incubator under the heat lamp though. Her heart had melted just a little when she had come into the room one morning to find Logan, in the armchair she had had brought down, Rogue asleep in his lap, her head resting on Logan's chest, as James slept soundly against her chest, both of his parents resting a protective hand on his tiny naked back.

--

"This is it sweetheart," Logan commented, as he opened the door to his room and ushered her and her precious cargo inside.

Rogue looked around curiously, the room was tidy but largely unadorned, aside from a few books there was nothing of personal note in the room, she supposed though that made sense with how private she knew he was. There was a huge bed, a TV on top of a dresser, a couch, mini fridge, and a crib tucked into the corner farthest from the window. She smiled softly, Logan hadn't dumped the baby on someone else but had actually taken it on himself to care for their child, that thought made her happy.

Placing a soft kiss on the sleeping baby's head she lay him down in the crib, tucking him in and just watching him sleep for a while. She dashed away a tear before she turned back to Logan.

"So... where's my room?" she asked uncertainly.

"Here," Logan replied with a shrug, "Make yourself at home, there's some clothes in the wardrobe and the second drawer of the dresser for you, you can get some more later but Ro grabbed the basics for you for now. And the bathroom's through there, if you want to have a shower or something there should be some shampoo and stuff in there, anything else you need let me know."

"But- but this is your room," she replied, confused, after pausing for thought.

"Now it's our room, all of us," he smiled down at the sleeping baby before adding, "Think I'm going to have to ask Chuck for an upgrade though, little guy's going to need his own room before too long."

"But why would you want me- hell why would you even want me in the same building, let alone the same room!?" she asked incredulously.

"Why not?" Logan returned, "Besides, last time you and I were in a room together, alone, we ended up having all kinds of fun," he growled, as he slid an arm around her waist, tugging her back against him.

"Yeah, sure, being chained to the floor and having the life sucked out of you, while being raped, is so much fun," she commented bitterly, as she shrugged off his arms.

"You don't hear me complaining, do you?" Logan replied with a chuckle. “Seriously, I don't blame you, I know why you did it, all the reasons why, it's not easy finding someone who will accept you, all of you, even the parts that might accidentally kill them, would you have still wanted me if these had been a factor?" he asked, sliding a handful of lethal looking blades out of one fist.

Rogue was surprised to find that not the slightest thrill of fear shuddered through her, as Logan used the blunt side of the wicked looking blade, to brush a lock of hair over her shoulder before sliding it away again.

"You wouldn't hurt me," she replied, "But I hurt you, I used my power to hurt you."

"You did what you had to do sweetheart, I'm the last person on earth who will begrudge someone doing horrible things to survive, hell, you've seen inside my head, you know some of what I've done through the years, to survive, in the name of work, sometimes even just for fun, I will never hold what happened against you, especially not when it got you away from the Brotherhood, and it got us him," he replied, whispering the last part into her ear from where his chin had come to rest on her shoulder, as they both watched the little chest rise and fall as their son slumbered.

"So, what do you say, shall we give this a shot, see how badly we suck at being parents, if we're lucky we won't fuck this up entirely, and if you're lucky, or ask nicely, I'll show you what would have happened if I hadn't been chained to that floor," he finished with another growl, as he placed a kiss on her shoulder.

Rogue watched in open mouthed shock as Logan stalked silently across the room, grabbed himself a beer out of the small beer fridge by the TV, before sprawling on the couch. He was watching her with a grin before he nodded to the bathroom. "Go get a shower then get some sleep, you look wiped," he said gently.

With a final smile and a nod, she moved into the bathroom, peeling off the school issue tracksuit she'd been wearing for days before she stepped into the flow of warm water. She eyed the bath longingly but she really was tired, the last thing she wanted to do now was accidentally drown herself. She exited the bathroom twenty minutes later, wrapped in a towel, and went looking for clothes. There was a long-sleeved nightie laid out on the bed obviously waiting for her, Logan however was gone. With a shrug she pulled the nightgown on, before depositing her towel back in the bathroom. She crawled into bed with a yawn and quickly fell asleep, listening to the soft snores of her sleeping child across the room.

Rogue woke in the deep of the night, a pleasant solid warmth pressed up against her back and a heavy arm laid over her waist.

"I've already changed him, he's hungry," Logan murmured in her ear, as James grizzled quietly again. He was, unsurprisingly, very adept at telling baby’s cries apart.

Extracting herself from the bed Rogue moved over to the crib with a smile, she picked up the tiny boy as his big blue eyes opened to stare at her. She climbed back into bed, propping her pillow up against the head board before she sat back to feed baby. Logan shifted closer to her as she did, resting his head on her thigh, right next to James, while he suckled.

In the two weeks since she had been brought to the mansion, and then been promptly moved into Logan's room, they had gotten a lot more comfortable around each other. Or rather, she had gotten more comfortable around him, true to his word he didn't seem to have a problem with her. Logan showered her with affection, soft touches, gentle words, like he was trying to gain the trust of a skittish wild animal. It had worked, they were almost like any comfortably in love couple, she could almost forget entirely what had led to them ending up in this situation, though she could now admit, the end result hadn't been half bad.

Once James was back in his crib, snoring away again softly, she crawled back into bed with Logan. Since his initial statements alluding to their time in the cell and his thoughts on the matter, he had made no further move to engage her physically. At first, she had been uncertain, thinking he hadn't meant what he had said, until the Logan in her head quietly admitted he was waiting on her, trusting her to let him know when she was ready to take things further. She couldn't argue with the logic of that idea, though if he had tried to take her that very first night, she would have let him, not because she wanted it, but because she thought she owed it to him for what she had done to him.

Now though, now she wanted it, she just wasn't sure how to initiate without the guilty feeling returning. Silently she rolled over until she was facing Logan in the cage of his arms, he watched her curiously as she did, a small smile tugging at his lips. As she slid her hand up his covered chest and over his shoulder, her leg slowly slid up to rest over his hip. It didn't take long for him to catch on to what she was trying to do.

Gently his lips came down to meet hers, pressing soft quick kisses to her lips, quick enough not to get zapped by her skin. She jumped when his hands slid under her shirt, until she realised he was wearing gloves. That was another thing that had taken some getting used to for her, since her mutation had manifested it had always been up to her to protect others from her skin by covering up, even around other mutants. Not Logan though, he made sure he was clothed and gloved, and encouraged her often to strip off extra layers, especially when she was holding James, the only person she knew she could safely touch.

It wasn't long before all other thoughts fled and she could only focus on the feelings being stoked inside her. She tried to object when she felt him gently begin to undress her but stopped when he shushed her and whispered, "Trust me," before continuing. Using his gloves, and strategically placed pieces of fabric, Logan soon had her trembling and gasping as she came down from the high that was a spectacular orgasm.

She mewled in disappointment when he moved away from her but he was back quickly, rolling them over so she was on top. Slowly he moved her to sit astride him, noting the sudden shameful look on her face as she took in their positions, the only difference this time around was that he was clothed and she wasn't; that and the fact he wasn't chained down and unable to get away from her this time.

"Don't look like that sweetheart, you look beautiful up there," Logan murmured, his hands skimming up her waist to fondle her breasts, careful to avoid too much stimulation to the lactating tissue, though she had just fed baby so they should be fairly empty. He coaxed her into moving, placing his hands on her hips to grind her against the straining erection still in his pants, it didn't stay hidden for long.

"Please... I need more," Rogue whispered, biting her lip as she tried to stifle a moan so as not to wake the sleeping baby.

Boosting her up a little to give himself working room, Logan carefully cut a slit in the front of his sweatpants, before shoving his dick through the hole, and pulling her back into place to straddle him again. He stopped guiding her then, waiting and watching as she struggled to make the next move. "Come on Rogue, you know you want it, it's all yours sweetheart," he encouraged.

"M- Marie," she stuttered, tears in her eyes. She hadn't told anyone her name in years, but now, for Logan, she was ready to be Marie again. She wanted to be the sweet and kind and compassionate girl she had been, not a tough as nails hard-ass who was secretly terrified of everything around her. "My name is Marie."

Logan smiled up at her. "Hi Marie, nice to finally get to meet you," he replied, his hand on her thigh, stroking her softly.

Returning his smile with one of her own Marie slowly sank down onto his length, both of them moaning quietly at the sensation. Her hands came down to rest on his covered chest, as she rode him in a maddeningly slow and gentle pace that had them both wishing for more. His own hands however moved to her hips to stop her from increasing the speed of their movements, both enjoying the connection as old wounds healed. Eventually Logan guided her hips to change the angle of penetration, thrusting into her harder, though at the same casual speed.

Just as she felt herself begin to come Logan pulled her forward, claiming her lips in a heated kiss, swallowing her moans as he thrust into her jerkily, joining her in bliss. When she came down from her high, she was lying against has chest, head resting over his still hammering heart. They lay still for a moment before Logan rolled them back over to lay side by side on the bed again, with a grin he claimed her lips again, this time kissing her long and deep. It took several moments for them both to realise nothing was happening.

Glancing across at her curiously Logan had to ask, "Can you control it?" The X-Men's intel on her had suggested otherwise, a fact which Marie confirmed a moment later.

"I can understand why I can touch James, he's part me after all, but why you?" she wondered aloud.

"Well, he's part you but he's also part me, maybe that's why?" Logan suggested.

"But my mutation worked on you before, in the desert, that was after James was born and I could touch him..." she reminded him.

"Yeah, but you were badly injured then, maybe your mutation over rode the recognition because it knew I could fix you," Logan replied. "Regardless of the whys and wherefores," he added with a mischievous grin, "It means I can do a lot more of this." His lips claimed hers again for another searing kiss, before he pulled away breathlessly and tugged off a glove with his teeth. He began to methodically explore her naked body with his own bare skin, they didn't get much sleep for the rest of the night.

After a particularly loud gasping moan was wrenched from the woman now under him, baby James jumped awake and began to wail. "Definitely need to talk to Chuck and get the kid his own room," Logan groaned, drawing a giggle from Marie.