Logan never really thought much about it. He simply came back to the mansion, and moved in with Rogue.

Technically, he supposed, she moved in with him, but it was all the same.

There were no big discussions, no angry shouting matches or angst-filled nights spent weeping into pillows.

He came back from Alkali Lake, and she was already living in the room they'd assigned him the first time he'd stayed. Said it was easier to get her studying done without four other girls chattering away about stuff she'd never get to have, like sexy clothes and boyfriends and normal lives in the outside world.

Silence was something she valued highly. With the chattering going on in her head, she needed it.

Rogue learned the value of silence the hard way, and Jubes and Kitty hadn't yet. Logan doubted they ever would.

Rogue would never be mistaken for taciturn, but she didn't chatter on anymore, and she understood why he didn't.

So they lived together chastely those first few weeks, as rumor ran rife in the mansion. But Xavier gave them no trouble, and even Scott let it slide, after threatening Logan in a thoroughly convincing manner. That made Logan smile, secretly. One-Eye wasn't a bad guy, just a little uptight, and it was too damn much fun baiting him for Logan to stop.

Even he could see how much happier Rogue was, living with the one man who didn't seem to mind her quirks or her skin.

The first time they made love, he let his body do his talking, much the way he always had, and her response thrilled him. It was everything he could have ever imagined, and more. She fit him perfectly, and though no words were exchanged, he was sure she understood.

She glowed under his ministrations, and even he lost some of the hardness around his eyes, the persistent loneliness that had dogged him for fifteen years.

When she told him she loved him, it was all the more overwhelming, since he knew she meant it, body and soul.

When he gave the words back to her, her eyes were not exactly dry, but she simply led him to the bed and lavished kisses all over his body, letting her eyes and her actions tell him how she felt.

Other people might need fancy speeches or loud cries of passion.

Logan and Rogue found contentment in the silences, which made their words all the more meaningful.

end