Swirling the bottle of beer on the table Logan stared at the label with a dark scowl. He hated this place, but he stayed because he promised Marie he would. Never one to make a promise on a whim he knew why he'd done it, he just couldn't admit it to anyone.

"Hey," Bobby Drake's soft voice had him glancing up sharply and uttering a low growl. "I know, you don't like to be disturbed.."

"Exactly, why don't you get what you came after and get back to bed?" Logan ground out angrily taking a long drink of his beer.

"I came to talk to you actually," Bobby said sliding onto a stool. "Man to man."

Logan snorted in what could be laughingly called humor at the boy's choice of words, "Man to man huh? What do you want kid?"

"I noticed you watch Rogue a lot."

"Yeah, so?" Logan shifted feeling like Bobby was getting set to make a point. "It bother you that I look out for your girl?" the sarcasm was so thick it could've been cut with a knife.

Bobby smiled sadly and shrugged, "You know she doesn't belong to me. Rogue is her own woman, one who's very much in love."

"News flash kid, I ain't gonna stop watching out for her so get over it," Logan snarled rising and grabbing a fresh beer before heading for the door, and his room.

"Do you love her?" Bobby demanded suddenly. "Do you really love her, enough to deal with the problems being with her would cause. Can you really run the risks; face the consequences any mistake you make will result in? You can't touch her, you can't even get close to her.."

"Just cause she's worried about your safety don't mean she's selfish kid," Logan snarled stopping and turning to face him. "That you're worried about it at all tells me you're being selfish. Ya gotta put her first.."

"Like you do?" Bobby asked sitting still, hoping the other man wouldn't smell his fear. "I've seen the way you touch her, the way you sit next to her. Play with her hair, tease her, in ways that no `friend' ever could. You touch her like a lover, not a daughter. You treat her like she's not a danger to everyone around her.."

"Look bub, just cause her skin's deadly don't mean her heart is. She's a woman, women need to know that they're needed, wanted. I can't help it if you're so stupid that you ain't figured that out by now!"

"Do you love her?" Bobby shot back, watching Wolverine's face flicker for a second before the dark, belligerent mask slid back into place. "Do you?"

"Fuck off kid," Logan snarled and whirled away from him.

"She loves you ya know!" Bobby said softly, "Loves you enough to relish the moments of your time you give her, the easy way you touch her. I tried to touch her tonight, to give her a kiss like you do and she just about freaked out. Said I should be careful. Why is that I wonder?"

"Maybe cause she cares about your ass."

"I hope not," Bobby said sliding off the stool. "Because as much as I like her, respect her, I don't love her. Not the way she should be loved, not the way a man loves the woman he wants."

Growling a low warning, Logan whirled to face the young man. Slamming him against the wall he held him there with one hand around his throat, fury choking at his throat, "You cocky sonuvabitch.."

"I can't love her," Bobby grunted struggling against Logan's hold. "You can't love someone whose heart belongs to another. Besides I love someone else, and I think Rogue's aware of that. Rogue loves you, enough to flaunt everything for you. Don't walk away from her Logan, because you and I know that it's not going to work. You can run all you want, but you'll keep coming back because she's here."

Dropping the pathetic little puke, Logan stepped back and turned to walk away from the truth in the young man's words. He would run, but regardless of the direction each path led back to the one woman he couldn't live without. Rogue had become the center of his world and he couldn't even feel a hint of resentment at that.

No he might hate where he was because of the people that surrounded him but he couldn't hate her. Couldn't wait for the few seconds he could see or touch her each day. Indeed he loved Rogue and he knew he couldn't stay gone. Fuck he hated that the little punk was right, and hated that it had taken the little punk to make him face his own fears, his own demons. Fuck he just plain hated this place.

The end.