Ch.4: A Temporary Truce
Notes: FOH is friends of humanity, a name I believe another author invented but it got stuck in my head as canon – sorry to the original writer!
After reporting back to Professor X about the details of the previous night’s fight (highly edited and showing greatly in The Wolverine's favour. Until he was beaten), Logan staggered to the bathroom, cursing and bumping into furniture on the way. The feeling of a bad hangover was not one Logan had ever experienced before. But after being touched by Rogue twice in one night he felt the two probably not dissimilar; dizziness, nausea, a pounding headache and the feeling that he had been trampled by Sabertooth wearing steel boots several times.
Having performed his morning routines, attempting to shave and generally making a lot of noise, Logan picked up the jeans he had been wearing the night before only to throw them back onto the chair in disgust; the smell of Rogue was all over them and only served to make him angry, reminding him of his defeat. He stomped out of the room to grab some coffee for himself and Jean, musing on exactly what had gone wrong. Reluctantly he allowed himself to admit that he had underestimated Rogue slightly. A treacherous part of his brain added 'greatly' and he growled, causing a small man carrying three cups of hot tea with difficulty to leap into the air, throwing the hot drinks all over his head. The sight of someone else's misery cheered him up a little but not before he made a promise to himself to track Rogue down and find her (maybe accidentally starting a fight that he, of course, would win) and drag her back to Westchester, New York whether she liked it or not.
Contrary to her earlier statement to Cyclops, Rogue was currently weighing up the pros and cons of going with Wolverine and his red headed girlfriend (for that had obviously been what they were going to ask her before Cyclops had pissed her off). The cons were that she would be easier to find by staying in one place, she would be surrounded by annoying school kids, and finally, would have to wear more layers as there were so many more people in this school place that she could possibly suck the life out of. However, after some thought she decided the pros outweighed the cons: somewhere to stay without having to worry about the next motel and real food or fighting FOH all the time; a chance to control her mutation if Cyclops was to be believed, a place where she could consider her options for the future with access to all of this professor’s contacts. There was also the plus that if Eric and the Brotherhood ever decided that letting her go had been a mistake, there were people to cover her back if she decided they were trustworthy enough.
She made a quick check with the memories she had drawn from Wolverine to find out where they were staying, then slung her duffle onto her shoulder and took off from the snowy motel roof she had been sitting on whilst thinking. With a grin she thought of what Wolverine's reaction would be on seeing her arrive at their motel ready to go back with them.
Ten minutes later Rogue landed quietly on the roof of Wolverine's (or rather, 'Logan's’ as she had discovered from her brief glance at what she had drawn from him) room, watching him stomp through the snow in what seemed to be an exceptionally bad mood, carrying two coffees. Shrinking back from the edge of the roof when he stopped, sniffing the air seemingly suspicious, she waited until she heard the door slam before floating down and landing right in front of the door.
With a quick smile and kiss, Logan handed Jean her coffee as she stretched on the bed, hair still mussed from their night of activity, and he sat down next to her. Whilst walking back to their room he could have sworn he had caught Rogue's scent in the air, but decided he was being paranoid and had merely smelt it on himself. So when they heard a knock on the door the next minute, his head shot up and he glared at it suspiciously, then looked at Jean who had immediately done a quick scan of the person outside the door. Shrugging, she said quietly
"It must be Rogue; she's the only person I know of with that many personalities in their head."
He stood up, growling at the door, not caring if Rogue heard him.
"Probably here to gloat."
Wrenching the door open, Logan glared at Rogue, blocking the door and in doing so covering Jean who was climbing out of bed to put a robe on. Unknowingly using the same words as Rogue had done previously he folded his arms, looking down at her.
"Whaddya want, Rogue?"
Rogue smiled up at him sweetly, seeming to ignore the open resentment radiating from Logan.
"Now, sugar, is that any way to talk to your future housemate?"
His mouth dropping open in undisguised surprise, Logan stared at her
"Housemate?"
Sighing, Rogue patted him on the arm condescendingly and in doing so pushed him out of the doorway none-too gently.
"Yes, housemate. But if you don't mind, I'd rather talk to someone who doesn't repeat everything I say."
Standing in front of Jean, she looked her in the eye (although from a few inches below) and crossed her arms, wanting to put across her conditions for coming with them.
"Ok, this is the deal; you agree to the conditions I'm telling you now and I come with you without causing any trouble and we get on as well as can be expected. If you don't, I leave right now and you won't see me again until Eric decides he's going to use me a weapon against you and your x-kiddies, in which case you'll seriously regret refusing me. Understood?"
She felt the light telepathic touch of Jean around the fringes of her mind and glared up at her, mentally shoving her out, making Jean stagger back with a hand to her head.
"And no creeping round in my head without my permission!"
Recovering quickly and waving a dismissive hand at Logan who had moved towards her ready to defend her against Rogue, she nodded curtly.
"Good. I thought you were smarter than claw-boy over there."
Rogue went ahead listing the conditions on her fingers, ignoring Logan's warning growl from his resumed position leaning against the door with his arms crossed, apparently 'relaxed'.
"One, I don't get forced into fighting anyone for anyone, no matter what the circumstances. Two, I don't have to join the X-men even if you all see it as a repayment for your 'kindness'. Three, I have my room away from all the kids; I have enough to deal with, I don't want to have to worry about people touching me all the time. And four, even if I do join the x-men (which I doubt), I don't have to wear one of your stupid, bondage-style, leather jumpsuits. Got it?"
Smiling slightly, Jean nodded.
"Got it. Truce?"
Rogue raised an eyebrow as if thinking it over and gave a small smile
"Temporarily."
Scowling, Logan went round the room picking up his things and throwing them into his bag.
"Well, if the touching peacemaking is over, can we get a move on?"
"Oh really Sugar, lighten up - you got what you came for, me, and from the smell of this room a lot extra from Jean."
Grinning, Rogue walked out of the door with her bag, deciding to wait outside. Not realising she was being a touch hypocritical, she added;
"I think someone has a little attitude problem, hmm?"
Logan gave Rogue's back a particularly vicious growl, hefting his own and Jean's bags onto his back and gave the room a final check to make sure he hadn't left anything; after one mission, he had left one of Chuck's expensive, multi-functional communication devices at a run down old motel. Surprisingly, after that, he'd only been given a regular old cell phone. Having made sure nothing had been left behind, he went out after Rogue, closing the door behind Jean.
A10 minute hike back to the jet in awkward silence was followed by a loud 10 minutes cursing from Logan when they discovered that something, most likely a bear, had run straight into the jet without seeing it and left a large dent in the right hand side.
In an attempt to placate Logan, Jean stroked his arm soothingly as she spoke, but trying at the same time not to be patronising.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you and Scott will be able to fix it when we get back to the mansion, right?"
Huffing, Logan muttered 'S'pose so' and glared at the huge dent as he opened the door, letting Jean and Rogue go in first the looking round to make sure no one had seen them before getting in himself.
Unbeknownst to the jet’s passengers, a young man with smoked glasses and bright white hair watched them from a distance, atop a pine tree carefully chosen upwind. So, they were back together again after all this time? Well, something would certainly have to be done about that.
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