Logan jumped to his feet, bringing Rogue with him and shoving her behind him, instinctively protective.
"Why is she out of bed? What are you doing? This is not acceptable! This is...is...this is..." McCoy's words began to back up in his throat as he took in their flushed faces and disheveled appearance.
"Logan," the Professor spoke more calmly, "explain what is going on."
Rogue suddenly stepped in front of Logan, pushing him back as if to guard him. She scowled viciously at the intruders before curling her hands into fists. All three men stared in confusion before her intention struck Logan.
"No!" He grabbed her by the waist as she made to attack the other two men. He wasn't strong enough to hold her, but his meaning seemed to get through. "They're okay. They're okay," he repeated.
She stopped, her body still stiff and humming with anger. Her eyes stayed trained on them dangerously, but she didn't advance.
"This is as lucid as we've seen her," Xavier said in amazement.
"Rogue?" Hank moved to approach her and she bristled at the big, blue doctor.
"Just a moment, Hank." The professor put his arm out to block him and tried to reach out, telepathically to her instead.
~Rogue?~
~Stay out of here! Keep him away from me! Let me go! You can't have me! We don't want you in here!~
Spurred on by the fact that there was some pattern to her thoughts, Xavier spoke to her.
"Rogue, we want to help you. We want to help you control what's going on. We want to understand. You can't let these forced mutations control you. I can help you."
She stared at him blankly. They watched each other in such a long silence, Logan wondered if they were still communicating telepathically.
Finally, she spoke. "You can't control me."
Logan interrupted, "Is she using telepathy to communicate with you?"
"Not control you Rogue, help you." Xavier peered over her shoulder at Logan. "She has no telepathy that I'm aware of. That mutation does not seem to be part of her make-up."
Then how is she in my head, he wondered.
Rogue looked back and forth between both of them. "Don't talk about me as if I'm not here," she said, a darkness crossing her pale face.
"Perhaps, Rogue, you would like to sit down somewhere so that we may talk? We only want to help. We are your friends, your teammates...even if you don't remember us yet," Hank said, wanting to be encouraged.
****
Logan laid in his bed, restless and irritated. They'd kept Marie in the medlab for two days now and she constantly had a chaperone. At least she was no longer strapped down, he reminded himself. In the last 48 hours she'd seemed to regain some memory and her actions were a lot more...sensible. He wouldn't go so far as to say anyone trusted her at this point, and she definitely didn't trust any of them. However, they weren't as worried that she was an immediate threat to herself or anyone else. Logan threw his arms behind his head; obviously some worry must remain since she was still confined to the medlab with both Hank and the Professor watching over her. Was their solution to keep her locked up forever? No way was that gonna fly with him.
They'd eventually talked to her alright. The whole damn team had sat down in a conference room and talked plenty, but what Rogue said didn't add up to more than ten words. It was like sitting in a room with...himself. He'd given his account of what occurred at the hospital, as far as finding her, her condition, her trying to run from them. He left out everything at the end and Chuck didn't push. Rogue sealed up about the whole thing like a steel trap and she wouldn't whisper inside his head either. She only responded to questions about whether or not she was hurt, if she remembered anything while in the hospital, if she understood that they wanted to help her.
With a disgruntled sigh, Logan flung his legs over the side of his bed. Sleep didn't look like much of an option tonight. He pulled on his jeans and t-shirt, boots, and grabbed a cigar; heading for the sanctuary of the great outdoors.
He was only strolling the grounds, enjoying some fresh, if somewhat cigar scented, air; so why did it feel like he was pacing? Pacing like one of those caged animals at the damn zoo, he thought.
Logan had gotten a nice little reprimand, if you could call it that, about the 'behavior' in the med lab. Hank and Chuck were discreet, so no one else knew about it. However the whole damn team had seen them in the hospital, which meant everyone in the house knew about it second hand. There were few secrets in the mansion, and if he hadn't gotten disapproving looks before, he was sure getting them now.
Oddly, there was little guilt for what happened with Rogue in the medlab. He didn't even care so much that they'd been caught or that people blamed him for her behavior at the hospital. What he and Rogue had done didn't bother him, but she bothered him. In the extreme. They'd obviously both wanted what happened, but what else did she want? She'd wanted him, but what part of her had wanted him? He couldn't shake the image of her in that hospital, astride his waist, pulling the life out of him; but she'd attempted nothing like that in the medlab.
Logan took a long draw on the cigar. Since when did he worry so damn much about her intentions? This was Rogue...Marie, not some fucking stranger - regardless of how many people were sharing her head. The lure had always been there between them, so now - regardless of current motivation, he could handle it. Rogue couldn't hurt him because he wouldn't let her. God, under normal circumstances, concerns about fornication and Rogue wouldn't even exist. These were about as far from normal circumstances as it got, though; but he could still control a situation. So why the hell didn't it feel like he was the least bit in control?
"Shit," he grumbled, throwing the cigar down, the flickering embers making tracers in the darkness. He drove the steel toe of his boot into the burning end and condemned his thoughts as pointless. All that mattered was that they'd rescued her. She was here and safe and eventually she'd find herself...she had to.
*****
Trudging his way back through the mansion, he had to run into the one person who was still up at this hour. Bobby. He was sitting in the kitchen, eating ice cream, and Logan thought to just keep moving and avoid the boy all together.
"Logan!" Bobby called out to him.
Logan grumbled to himself, wondering if he should just keep moving and plead hard of hearing. Not a likely story since everyone knew he could hear a mouse squeak from the other end of the hall. He paused, and turned to enter the kitchen.
"Yeah, whatcha need?" he asked begrudgingly.
Bobby studied the older man, then looked back to his ice cream. It reminded Logan of another time the boy had brought up an uncomfortable topic and his instincts told him he should've gone with the hard of hearing plea.
"You seen Rogue today?" the young man asked without looking up.
"Briefly, yeah."
"How is she? I mean, does she seem to be getting any better?"
Logan knew that technically, the kid had been Rogue's boyfriend when she disappeared. But he also knew that it was more friend than anything else and in her absence, Bobby hadn't hesitated to take up with the other petite brunette on the team. Still, he recognized genuine concern when he saw it.
"She's fine. A lot better actually, more - coherent. You could go see her for yourself probably."
"No," Bobby shook his head. "Professor said limited visitors and that she'd probably be released from the medlab tomorrow anyway."
Logan flinched. It was the first he'd heard of it; apparently the Professor hadn't seen fit to include him in the loop.
"But you certainly get to go down and check on her plenty though. Don't you Logan?"
If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn there was a challenge in the little blonde kid's eyes. Logan cocked his eyebrow in response.
"You hoping maybe she'll climb on top of you again, like in the hospital?"
Immediately, a highly deadly hand was in Bobby's face, a finger pointed directly at him.
"Watch it kid! Don't talk about shit you don't understand," he growled. He knew Bobby couldn't know about what happened downstairs, but the poor kid had seen everything at the hospital with his own two eyes.
Bobby was on his feet immediately, but moving towards the door. "I understand that I saw you and my EX-girlfriend humping each other in front of God and everybody. She's completely messed up in the head Logan, what's your excuse?!"
With that, he was gone from the kitchen before Logan could grab his neck. He contemplated chasing the boy down and beating him to a pulp, but knew the kid wouldn't be a satisfying foe. The fight would only whet his appetite; an appetite already growling needily in frustration. Looking down at the left behind canister of melting ice cream, Logan cursed both it and Bobby for being so soft. Definitely a good night for the Danger Room.
********
Rogue entered the dining hall for breakfast, her eyes sweeping the staring crowd. Hank had escorted her in, but the dozens of faces looked only at her. She recognized very few of them. Rather than sit with strangers that she was supposed to know, she found a seat at an empty table. She could sense the crowd's relief that she had spared them the awkwardness as well.
"It's okay, Rogue," Hank said quietly. "Give yourself time. Give them some time as well."
The blue doctor had been very kind to her, and Rogue didn't have the heart to tell him she didn't care...not at all. She knew what they thought about her, she could hear their whispered comments even now. They weren't comfortable with what she'd become. Those that didn't avoid her, looked at her with pity; like the pretty young blonde man this morning. It was apparent that she'd had some link to him in the past, but she couldn't continue that now. He'd been polite and she'd smelled the sympathy on him, but it was mixed with fear and uncertainty. She was a freak among freaks. Her skin had been unique enough, but now she had other mutations, stolen mutations, some beyond her control.
Charles Xavier had told her about how they'd found her in that hospital, but he didn't have to explain what happened to her there. She remembered it all; every last mutation and conscience that was forced upon her, every hour spent caged up because the good doctors couldn't reign in their creation. Rogue had some power over the others inside her, but while locked up, she hadn't cared enough to try. Everyone of them was still there now; angry, greedy, wanting more, wanting out, vying for power. Sometimes she gave up, hid herself away and let them win, sometimes she fought. She'd fought her own teammates because that was that was their only way to survive. The nice people at the mansion, she hadn't even recognized them and she'd hurt a few of them her attempt to escape. She didn't feel bad about it now, because what was done was done, but now they were hesitant to let her in. The people around her didn't know her, they didn't trust her, but it didn't really matter. These people weren't her concern. They weren't her enemy. Rogue had other, more important things to think about. She ate her food silently until he came into the room.
Looking directly at him, she willed him to come sit next to her. Him, she knew; he was very familiar. He had helped her, comforted her - many times. The look, the feel, the smell of him. Logan. Wolverine. Once she'd recognized him, she'd remembered him. He was as marked by her as she was by him and she wondered if he knew it. She'd had him twice before and she'd wanted him again; wanted that pull where everything he was flowed in and they became one. Her body and heart craved him as much as her mind did, and she'd tried to show him that while she took him. His identity, his persona, had permanently embedded and separated itself inside her. The others didn't like it very much, but she liked it. She liked it very much. Logan had not liked it either though; he'd been very angry with her and for that reason, she must not do it again.
Logan saw Rogue sitting with Hank at a round table on the far side of the dining hall. They were well separated from the rest of the group, which suited him perfectly. He felt everyone's eyes on him while he crossed the room. He knew what they were thinking about, visualizing. There was an inner voice that wanted to defend himself and her actions like she was his high school girlfriend, but for the most part he didn't give a damn what anyone in that room thought. Fuck them!
He didn't care what people thought of him, but to play it safe for her, he slid into the seat next to Hank. He felt, rather than saw, Rogue cut her eyes at him. With no hesitation and complete disregard for appearance, she stood up and moved her food and drink over to sit beside him. Underneath the table, her thigh rubbed and pressed firmly against his. Logan tried not choke on his water, watching her finish her food while devouring him with her eyes. He thanked God that no one else in the room had his senses or else they'd know that her hormones were bouncing off the walls, surrounding the room, in response to him. In reaction, his were doing the same. Logan cursed his sudden lack of self control. Some students and team members were shooting them inquisitive looks, making him wonder if maybe it was still obvious without hyper senses. Smothering in the scent of her, he leaned in so Hank could not hear.
"Marie? You need to stop...doing what you're doing."
Suddenly she looked very confused and equally as hurt.
"No - you're not...just...not here, okay?"
Rogue glanced at him innocently, but nodded her head in agreement.
"I'll try," she whispered.
******
After breakfast, Hank had escorted Rogue to the Professor's office when all she really wanted to do was wander the mansion. She wasn't interested in its inhabitants, but their information. There was information everywhere and some of it had to pertain to that hospital and the people that had kept her there. It wasn't a need to know why that plagued her, but a need to know where...and who.
The Professor probably knew all, but he was too clever for his own good and telepaths were, by their nature, very nosey. All he wanted to do was talk about her feelings, how she was managing. She was growing stronger each day and managing just fine, but even when she wasn't - it didn't matter. No matter who took over, they were all a part of her. They were Rogue; she was the only one. He didn't get it though and she wasn't going to explain it. It was easier if they didn't understand it anyway. Everyone was better off thinking Rogue was still a confused, helpless little girl.
The majority of them couldn't get past the compromising position that she and Logan had been found in. Rogue could not understand why it mattered to any of them. She and Logan belonged to each other, so how could it not be obvious to everyone else? She'd even heard someone allude to it as Logan taking advantage of her, but most wondered if she was some kind of succubus, about to seduce them all, then drain them dry. She laughed bitterly at that image of herself, receiving an odd look from the Professor. No need to worry that he would read what she was thinking. The tangled barbs of her mind would cut him to bits if he ever made it past the perimeter.
Regardless of their misguided thoughts, the residents of the mansion weren't bad people, they were mostly, innately good...just too wrapped up in their own existence to get the point. Unlike her, they'd never had to share their existence with almost a dozen other people.
The Professor was still dronning on about 'assimilation' and 'barriers' of personas. One of the others in her mind found the entire concept extremely funny, one wanted everyone else behind a barrier, another was offended at the idea of needing a barrier, still another wanted nothing more than wrap it's hands around Xavier's neck and squeeze. She scowled inwardly at them, warning them to behave. ~Stop it! Stop or I'll end it, I swear!~
The Professor flinched at her outward projection.
"Rogue - was that..."
"I want to look around," she interrupted the Professor mid-sentence. "Maybe a familiar setting would help me get back more, sooner," she added more sweetly.
********
Logan walked the halls of the mansion, watching as people carried on in their usual evening rituals. He'd spent the day teaching a couple of classes, working on his bike, but otherwise avoiding people as much as possible. The team was supposed to run through a few drills that evening. Logan had no desire to make an appearance. The only convincing arguement had been that Scott found out more information on the hospital that was testing on mutants. The remaining powers that be had pulled up stakes and left after being cornered by the X-Men, but the cocky bastards had only relocated - not shut down completely. Awaiting more information, the team was planning another raid. This time, with more permanent results. The idea of getting his hands on the assholes that were using mutants like guinea pigs, the sons of bitches that screwed with Rogue's head, well that was more than enough to make him endure the team's scrutiny.
There had even been talk that maybe he shouldn't go. Not because he was some kind of pariah, but because if he had a taste for revenge, things might get out of control. This needed to be a clean sweep, a tidy operation...and blahdy blah. Logan did his best to communicate that he only wanted to help the team take down a danger to all mutants, not persue a vendetta in Rogue's name. Of course it was complete bullshit, but the team seemed to buy it.
After being dismissed by their Fearless Leader, Logan had made a search for Rogue - casually of course.
Earlier that day he'd seen her making the rounds with Xavier, then with Hank. Sharing only pleasantries, they'd had a brief encounter, but never allowed any privacy. He wasn't sure if that was for her protection or his, but it was more than a bit demeaning either way. He wanted to talk to her, one on one, suprising even himself with the wish to carry on a conversation. They hadn't had a chance to really talk at all, and this was Rogue after all. Talking to her was different.
Frustrated after not picking up the sight or scent of her anywhere, he figured she'd been isolated back down to the medlab under lock and key. He could go down there and talk to her, but only with a guardian looking over their shoulder. No thanks. It was still very early for him to retire to his room, but the idea of a cold beer and some serious alone time sounded too good to pass up.
Logan closed his door and locked it without turning on any lights. Darkness wasn't a deterent to his keen eyesight, and with a near full moon highlighting the sky, he could clearly make out everything in his room. As he turned around he saw the distinct outline of someone lying in his bed.
Rogue sat up with her back arrow straight. She clutched the sheet in front of her, but by the profiled view of her bare back, Logan knew she was naked beneath his blankets. No nervousness or apprehension shown on her face, just like it was a common occurence for her to be there...like that.
Her eyes followed him closely as he moved further into the room.
"What...," there was a catch in his throat. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting for you," she answered.
"I was looking for you."
"But I was here."
"I see that now," Logan replied, almost wanting to laugh - but this was no laughing matter. "I meant, what do you think you're doing here, like that? This is...this isn't right."
Rogue leaned her head to the side, confused. "Yes it is. This is what you want, what you've wanted. I want it too."
He moved towards the bed, looking for something to cover her with, but she slid her legs smoothly from the blankets, letting the sheet fall away. Logan stopped, knowing he should look away but completely unable to do so. Placing her bare feet on the floor, she seemed to glide towards him.
"God...Marie. What're you doing?"
Rogue stopped a few feet infront of him. ~Why are you asking? Tell me you don't want this.~
~It would be lie.~
~I know.~
Logan drank in the sight of her, shamelessly naked in front of him. She was exquisite. Her pale skin appeared iridescent in the moonlight, making her all the more surreal. He figured this had to be one of his better sexual fantasies.
~I'm real Logan. Touch me.~
~Everyone thinks I'm taking advantage of you - of the situation, that I'm hurting you.~
~But you know it isn't true. This is what I want too...and you won't hurt me.~
~How are you in my head?~
~I'm not. I'm talking to the you that's in my head. You can feel it. You're a part of me, surely you know it.~
Rogue stared at him intently as her hands lightly touched her abdomen and ran up and over her breasts, the nipples hardening, then back down her sides. Their primal reaction to each other was permeating the room, lancing through them and everything around them. She approached him, feeling the heat from his body.
"You sense us in the air too?" he asked, his voice sounding rough.
She nodded.
"Why is...that never happened before. It didn't happen with you before."
Rogue leaned her body into his, tossing her head up to look at him. "It's only stronger now." She deftly unzipped his sweatshirt, pulling it off of him.
He grabbed both her wrists, commanding her attention, laying her even more bare with his gaze. "Go slower," he told her and placed her hands on his chest. She obeyed and ran them along the rippling planes of his torso, relishing the feel of muscle and flesh. Rogue knelt down to remove his shoes, then his pants.
Their eyes locked again.
"Put your hands on me," she murmured.
Logan reached for her and roughly pulled her against him, the hard length of his erection pressing against her stomach. He felt a tightening in his groin when her hand dipped down and wrapped around him. Their lips met and he thrust his tongue inside, a very basic urge to plunder and dominate. She coaxed him with her hand on his cock and her lips on his tongue, her mouth emulating what she was doing to him below the waist. He moaned against her mouth and pulled away.
The look in his eyes was communication enough. The animal residing inside Rogue's mind told her he needed control now. She'd have to sacrifice a little of hers. Trusting him completely in this, she relaxed. Her neck fell back in an ultimate show of surrender.
Logan worshipped the site before him. He wanted to bury himself inside her, wallow in her scent, hold her helpless in his arms. He eyed the tiny blinking red eye suspiciously.
~I won't let them hurt you.~
And he knew it was the truth. Buring his face in her skin, he kissed and licked and suckled his way down her body. His Marie was soaring somewhere above them, he could feel it...and he would send her higher. She gently pushed away from him and crawled onto the bed, giving him the perfect view of her slick core. Tossing her hair back, she tilted her head giving him a look that needed no interpretation, then rested on one hip.
He crawled over her, lowering his head and spreading her legs. She needed to be more prepared for him. Caressing every fold, he dipped his tongue inside her, encircling and encouraging her. When her hips arched high, he grabbed them, lifting them higher and drank from her as if she were the cup of life. Rogue's nails were clawing for something to anchor her and when her climax made her cry out, Logan thrust into her, deeply.
Holding her there to let her body accept him, there was no hesitancy or doubt.
~It's you. It's always been you. I won't hurt you. Only you. Only.~ And they were both saying it.
He moved inside her, each stroke his undoing. Her eyes were wild in ecstacy. Reaching between them, he pushed her higher into the heavens. Rogue was flying now, holding his muscular forearms as her link to earth. Logan gripped her hips and moved harder inside her. The constriction started at his spine.
"Marie," he moaned, spilling out inside her, his body as helpless as hers.
*****
Rogue loved the feel of his heavy weight on top of her; the warmth, the sweat, the protection it lent. In the dead of night they had mated again, and again. Logan was rough, then gentle, completely domineering and at times so gentle and giving. Inside of her, he felt so right. Inside her body and inside her mind. He was a part of her, he belonged to her and her to him. It was right.
~No! We belong to no one. I belong to no one. He belongs to me. There is only me.~
She could take him with her; have him always and he'd never leave. He made her stronger in so many ways, to have all of him would be perfect.
No! That wasn't right. He was perfect the way he was and he took care of her. He had cut her loose from the prison, he understood, he knew her. Logan was her mate now, he loved her.
~He'll leave, he always does. But I can keep him here. I can make him stay forever. Take him. Take him.~
*****
"She's gone! Logan, wake up!"
The incessant banging on his door roused Logan out of the most peaceful sleep he'd had in years. Scrubbing his face with his hands and leaning up, he recognized Scott's frantic voice.
"What the hell is your problem One-Eye!" he barked.
"Get your ass downstairs Logan! Rogue's disappeared again. The Professor can't get a trace on her anywhere."
Logan stifled a laugh as his eyes fell back to the bed. The empty space next to him made his blood run cold. He knew it then with absolute certainty, with a dark foreboding that hadn't proved him wrong yet. He knew it the way someone knows their own flesh. She was gone.
Rogue wasn't speaking in his head either. She wasn't anywhere near the mansion, but she hadn't been taken. No. Marie had left him. But she'd left because of them. The people sharing her mind had forced her to go...or she'd left because of them. It should've made him furious, enough to unleash the beast within. He could sense its bloodlust, its need to rage against the loss of its mate. Instead, Logan drew on that darkness, the primal strength empowering him until only one thought remained. Her. He would find her; seek and destroy, hunt and kill to reclaim his mate. His Marie.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
At first I thought this would be three chapters, but I couldn't find a good place to divide it up. It's a little longer, but not too bad. Special thanks to laenwyn for beta and advice. Any mistakes that remain are my own. There will be one more story to follow this one and round out this trilogy for Dark!Rogue.