I know my reputation. I know what the kids call me. The Fearless Leader. Hard Ass. I know I am not famed for being the most relaxed mutant around, but as Team Leader, I have a lot on my shoulders and I tend to take my commitment to the team and to The X-Men seriously and for that you will never hear an apology from me.
However, I am more than The Fearless Leader.
I am a man.
A man that knows what it is to love a woman with all his heart and mind and soul.
I know people wondered about me and Jean at times; I know the age difference was a touchy issue for some and I know that Logan couldn’t understand how Jean and I were compatible.
He thought I was too young.
He didn’t think I could sooth the fire that lingered in her, just beneath that cool and calm exterior she showed the world.
He was wrong.
Jean told me once that there had always been something restless inside of her, a sort of wild drive that made her feel always on edge and anxious.
She said I calmed that.
She said I gave her peace.
She did that for me, too.
After my mutation manifested, I was considered a freak, a guy that could kill someone just with a single look.
Most people wouldn’t come near me.
But Jean did.
When I first got to the school, she and Charles were both kind to me, but Jean, she was this beautiful voice I could hear saying my name in this gentle tone and I knew that she had to be a beauty.
Then I got my visor.
She was more than beautiful.
She was perfection.
And she fell in love with me.
It was as simple as that, she and I found something in one another, we each possessed something the other needed to sooth away our fears and hurts and in ways that I can’t explain, she and I simply fit together heart to heart, soul to soul and mind to mind.
Kind of like Logan and Rogue.
Wow. And people think I have sight issues.
Those two took forever to figure out that they are in love.
Jean knew it from the start, she told me Logan flirted with her to distract himself from Rogue, but I wasn’t sure until recently.
But I can see it now.
The way he looks at her and the way she looks at him.
The way he growls and looks ready to claw someone anytime one of the boys around here so much as smiles at Rogue.
Hell, he growled at me yesterday cause Rogue hugged me when she found out she had aced her history test.
And I thought Rogue might suck the life from Kitty when she caught her staring at The Wolverine’s rear end when he was leaned over the pool table.
If these two break into a Me Tarzan and Jane Dance I swear, I won’t be surprised and I have a feeling that right now, Jean is looking down on all this laughing her ass off.
I also have a feeling she would want me to step in and give Logan the little shove he needs, since she and I kind of went through the same shy dance when we were each trying to figure out how to voice our feelings.
So here I am, about to walk into the Rec Room where Logan is sitting on the sofa with a six pack, the remote clutched in his hand the way Jubes clutches the professors credit card when there is a sale at the mall.
Jubes would fight to the death for that card.
I got a feeling Logan would do the same for the remote.
Sometimes, I feel like I live in a house of crazy people.
Jean, if you are listening, I get major points for this, babe.
Drawing in a breath, I walk in and sit down next to him even as he growls.
“We need to talk.”
“Not now, One Eye. I’m watching the game.”
Without hesitating, I take the remote, turn off the television and toss the remote to the chair across the room.
“You want to get fucking clawed, Scooter?”
“No, I want to tell you to get off your fucking ass and do what you have to do because life is dam short and wasting some much as a second of it is insane.”
I can tell I have his attention, his scowl actual seems to ease a bit and I sigh, deciding to just lay it out there.
“Look, you and I might not be best friends, but I know what you are going through now, because I have been there, Logan. I know how it feels to wonder if you are enough and if you have a right to feel what you feel and want what you want…I know what it is to question yourself and your own worth and beyond that I know how it feels to be afraid to say the words.”
“Scooter…”
“You have to tell her Logan. It’s as simple as that. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Don’t let a fear of the unknown cause you to hold back, cause I can tell you now, that girl loves you as much as you love her, so just tell her Logan and then take her in your arms and do not ever let go.”
“You realize what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying you love Rogue. She loves you.”
“She is eighteen.”
“She is eighteen, but she is your soul mate, she is your other half, she is the one with the means to calm your restless nature and give you peace and that is something special and wonderful and I know, cause Jean and I had that together, Logan, and what I had with Jean and what you have with Rogue is special. It is rare and it’s not something just everyone finds in life, only the ones that are blessed or lucky, so get your ass off the sofa and go to her and just say the words. Just tell her. She doesn’t need anything fancy, she doesn’t want you to be a poet or any shit like that, Logan, she just wants you to be you, just like you just want her to be her.”
“You don’t have a problem with that? With me and her?”
I can’t help but smile, cause I can’t really believe he cares what I think one way or the other, but I can tell he is surprised.
“Logan, love doesn’t take things like age into consideration, it just happens where it is fated to happen and that’s the deal with you and Rogue like it was with me and Jean so yeah, I am cool with it and so is Charles and everyone else.”
He stares at me for a second, the half smiles. “I do love her.”
“Well no, shit Wolverine, I know that, so don’t sit here and tell me, go and declare your feelings to the girl that needs to hear them.”
At that, he actually laughs but he stands and nods, looking like he suddenly had what courage he needed to go into battle.
Crazy. Man can face down Sabertooth and Magneto, but telling Rogue he loves her is enough to make those metal lined knees shake.
I understand though.
Love can be a scary thing.
“Hey, Scott.”
I turn to look at him where he has paused by the door.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
I nod and smile. “You’re welcome, Logan.”
He leaves then, but I know where he is going and I smile, thinking about how happy they will make one another.
Like Jean made me happy.
Like her memory still makes me happy, even if she isn’t here.
I know how I am perceived around here. I know what others think. I know I am viewed as the most controlled mutant at the mansion…I am cool and calm and I try to look at all issues with a rational eye.
I am the serene goddess.
I am Storm and I am not prone to intense emotions.
Or so they say.
They are so wrong.
I feel emotions intensely…more intensely than most.
And I know emotion when I see it.
And I see what is between Logan and Rogue.
They are in love.
She loves him and he loves her, but for some reason, they have yet to confess as much to one another, which is why I have decided to speak to Rogue.
I am going to tell her it is time.
She must put her feelings into words.
She must not waste time.
She must realized she is blessed, because the man she loves, loves her in return.
Such is not the case for me.
The man I love does not love me back.
He never has.
He never will.
His heart belongs to another.
His heart belongs to the woman I called best friend.
The woman that died at Alkali Lake.
Of course, no one knows about my feelings for Scott; no one knows that I loved him the moment I met him, that I knew I would never be able to give my heart to another cause he owns it and always will.
Only he does not know that.
And he never will.
He loves Jean. He has loved Jean from the beginning.
He will always love Jean.
Just as I will always love him.
But I shall never have the one I love, fate did not intend for Scott to be mine, but that is not the case for Rogue and Logan and I must make her realized that she can not miss out on the chance to be close to her love.
To have him in her arms.
I knock on her door and her soft voice tells me to enter.
She is sitting on her bed, a book in her lap, but she smiles when I come in and I move to sit beside her.
“It’s time, Rogue.”
She frowns a little, clearly confused. “Time for what, Ro?”
“It is time for you to admit to Logan that you love him.”
“Ro…”
I hold up a hand and she falls silent.
“I know it can be frightening, to feel so much, to need someone so much, to love with so much you feel as if that love consumes you mind, body, and soul, but I assure you, my child, that you do not need to fear because Logan loves you as much as you love him and he always will.”
“I want to believe that.”
“Believe it. I see it in how he looks at you. How you are his everything. And that makes you lucky, Rogue, because not everyone is blessed enough to be able to have the one they love, love then in return and you must not waste another moment on fear that you will be rejected, because that will not happen. He loves you and you love him and that is a gift you must not allow to pass you by, because I would give anything to have the one I love feel for me what Logan feels for you.”
“I do love him. So much.”
“Then tell him. Say the words. It is so simple. It does not have to be hard.”
“You really mean that?” She smiles, looking surprised. “For some reason, I kind of thought it would be hard for everyone to deal with what I feel when it comes to Logan.”
“You will find, Rogue, that truly wise people realize they can not stand in the way of what fate intends.”
“And you think fate wants me and Logan together.”
“You know as well as I do that fate wants you and Logan together.”
She grins at that, her eyes suddenly bright as she springs from the bed and I smile.
“Thank you, Ro. Thank you.”
I nod, pleased for her as she raced from the room.
As she raced to find Logan.
To find the man that loves her.
I sigh and smile, my thoughts turning to Scott and how I know his love for Jean will never fade…he will never have room in his heart for me, but that is a reality I accepted a long time ago.
It is a reality I live with.
And it’s okay.
It has to be.
And even if he never loves me, I love him, quietly and from a distances, yes.
But there is no denying that I love him with all my heart, just as strongly as Jean did.
Just as strongly as he will always love Jean.
He pause going up the stairs.
She pauses as she descends them.
For a moment, everything stops; for a moment, neither of them breathe and later she will say she felt her heart stop…to him it felt as if the world came to a standstill, as if the universe were waiting and watching to see if it would finally happen.
To see if they would finally cease being two lost halves and become one complete and grounded whole.
She is the first to smile, slowly and easily, her eyes bright with need.
He feels himself returning that smile…he feels the weight of fear and worry lift from his shoulders and disappear into the mist.
She whispers his name softy.
Logan.
He whispers hers back.
Marie.
And then, at the same time, they said the words.
The magic words.
The three beautiful words.
I love you.
I love you.
So simple, so easily, the words pass their lips and they move again, at the same tender moment.
She moves into his arms.
He moves into her arms.
They hold one another close, heart to thundering heart.
And they each say the words again.
I love you, Logan.
I love you, Marie.
And just like that, so easily, so naturally, the mystery is solved.
And their hearts are free.
THE END
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
Sequel to "A Mystery."