It was Marie's birthday. He knew he was supposed to do something, but damn him if he didn't know what to do in these kind of situations. Which was the main reason why he had been avoiding her since he had come back from his past-searching in Canada. 30 square miles of wilderness, lake, and burned out husk of a military complex. Dead end, just like the rest of his life. Except for Marie -- she was the one thing that actually looked it might lead somewhere which, should he ever admit to it, scared him to death.
So back to the topic at hand. Jubilee and Kitty had taken Marie to the local mall for a shopping spree as their gift. They were still there now and had left this morning. Ororo had planned a subdued cake and ice cream party for tonight. Everyone had gifts and here he sat with his thumb up his ass not knowing where to start. The items he ran through in his head seemed all wrong. Flowers were too temporary, jewelry too serious, he had no idea where to start with clothes, girly-smelly stuff was inconceivable, and lingerie was completely inappropriate.
It was now 3:30 in the afternoon he had maybe another half hour to an hour before the girls arrived back at the mansion. With a new air of determination, Logan headed to find Scooter. Then changed his mind. No way was he taking advice of One-eye. Ororo might help but she was at the store buying supplies for tonight. He proceeded to cross out Bobby, John, and Remy. He was leery about approaching Jean because every since he had come back, she had been a little bitchy towards him. So that left only two people. Hank and Chuck. Making a quick decision he headed toward the med lab. Instinct told him that the furry blue doctor would be more adept to helping him than an over 30 telepath.
"Hello, Logan. What can I do for you?" Dr. McCoy asked genially reading a stack of papers.
"It's Rogue's birthday."
"Yes, Logan I have already been informed about the party tonight."
"No. What I mean is..." Logan trailed off as the words to ask for help escaped him.
"Oh, I see. You are at a loss at what to present young Rogue with for her 18th birthday." Dr. McCoy finally put down his stack of notes and gave Logan his full attention. He had another 30 pages to go in his newly received Scientific Journal but Logan sounded desperate.
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm guessing you've probably already ruled out all the obvious choices then."
"Yeah, nothing seems to fit." Logan found it was easier to just answer questions then ask them.
"I see. This is just a suggestion now, but maybe you may not need to get Rogue anything tangible."
"What?" Dr. McCoy took a moment trying to find the right words.
"Maybe the reason nothing 'fits' is because what you should give her is nothing you can physically give."
"I'm still barely following you, doc."
"Words are the greatest achievement of mankind. And the old cliché 'Actions speak louder than words' still holds some value." Logan stood there turning what the doctor said over in his head for a few minutes before he nodded.
"Thanks, doc. That helps."
"Glad to be of service, see you tonight."
A few hour later, after the party had wound down and most people had wandered off for bed. Logan approached Marie as she slowly stacked dirty dishes to be washed in the morning. Logan didn't know how to open the conversation so he just decided to wing it.
"Hey, kid."
"Hey, yourself," Marie cautiously replied. For the past 30 days, not that she was counting or anything, she was so used to Logan running away from her that she didn't know why he would suddenly seek her out.
"Guess you're an official adult now."
"Yeah something like that," she said as she finished with the plates.
"I haven't given you your gift yet."
"You got me something?" She couldn't help some of her surprise that colored her voice.
"Of course. Here follow me." Soundlessly, he led her out the back door of the kitchen to the gardens. Her heart beat rapidly as her imagination began to create scenarios of what Logan was going to give her.
Outside he took her hand and pointed at the sky.
"See those three stars in a line? That's Orion's belt. And if you follow those down you see his legs and then up is his body and bow." Marie listened transfixed seeing the stars that vaguely gave the shape of a man. "When I first awoke in the forest and had no idea who or what I was the first thing I recognized was Orion the Hunter in the night sky. Ever since then, whenever I feel hopeless about my past all I have to do is look up and see the great hunter and I remember that if I can remember a constellation, then the rest will come too." Logan cleared his throat. That had been hard to tell but the next part was even more difficult.
"Because I don't know who I am or even how old I am, I haven't had a birthday in ages. So, I know this is kind of a weird present, but I was wondering if you would mind sharing your birthday with me." He stood there staring at the sky almost scared to look Marie in the eye. He didn't know how his request would effect her and he didn't want to see her loathing.
Surprised at what Logan was asking, Marie took a minute to respond. He hadn't been this personal with her in a long time. She knew her silence was causing him even more discomfort so she quickly made her decision.
"I would love to share my birthday with you." Logan smiled with relief and finally looked at her again. She was so beautiful in a way few people ever would be. Pure even in the most awful of situations.
"But," Marie asked her eyes sparked with mischief, "how old are you going to be? 22? 50? 81?"
"No. Definitely not 81," Logan growled defensively.
"Oh?" Marie answered nonchalantly.
"I think 30 is a good number." Marie tilted her looking at him and thought about it.
"OK. You look 30 so that seems a good place to start."
Impulsively, Logan threw an arm around Marie in a quick squeeze. "Happy Birthday, Marie." Marie only hesitated briefly before returning the hug fully.
"Happy Birthday, Logan."
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Story Notes:
Okay, warning because this was written for the 30th birthday challenge the number 30 comes up frequently. I thought is was a cute idea and I believe it is done as tastefully as possible.