Somehow Rogue was aware that it was a dream. Still, it was the most realistic dream she had ever had. And the most unexpected. Perhaps it was her surprise at the dream situation that made her realize it wasn’t really happening.
She was pinned under a shirtless Logan while his teeth scraped along the length of her throat. Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest and her breath was coming in short gasps as her fingers tensed and relaxed on his shoulders in response to the small bites on her skin. Logan made a deep sound of displeasure when he encountered the neckline of her shirt. Her fuzzy mind acknowledging the minor problem, Rogue expected that Logan would take care of it with a minimum of fuss. Nevertheless, she was startled when his warm hands caught the hem of her shirt and pushed it up under her chin, allowing him to skip her sensitive collarbone and shoulders in favor of a more direct path to the soft skin of her stomach and ribs.
The rough tickle of facial hair on her ribs made her giggle and she let go of Logan’s shoulders to wrap her arms around her middle in defense.
He lifted his head and eyed her strangely. “Kid, you all right?” he asked, his voice rough.
Rogue kept giggling and rocked back and forth a bit, confused when Logan’s hand descended on her shoulder and shook her.
“Kid?” he said again, louder this time. “Are you all right?” He shook her harder.
Irritated now, Rogue opened her eyes to glare at him, confused by the painful brightness that met her eyes. Hadn’t the room been dark just a minute before?
Blinking rapidly, she took in her surroundings, noting first that Logan had somehow donned a shirt while she was laughing. Her ribs still tickled and they were, indeed, bare, but she was covered by a blanket. Brilliant scarlet light spilled through the east facing window.
“I…wait,” she croaked hoarsely, “am I awake or still dreaming?”
Left eyebrow quirking in amused interest, Logan said, “Must have been a fun dream, kid. You woke me up with your thrashing and giggling. You gonna clue me in?”
Rogue hurriedly yanked the hem of her shirt down and sat up, ignoring the blush she could feel creeping up her neck. “No,” she said shortly.
“No?” Logan drawled, his own voice rough with the remnants of sleep.
Shaking her head, Rogue looked around the room in an effort to avoid meeting Logan’s gaze.
“Last chance,” he warned, waiting only a few seconds before pouncing on her.
Rogue shrieked with laughter and beat at his shoulders as he attacked her ribs.
“Gonna tell me?” he asked, still tickling her.
“Nooo!” Rogue wailed helplessly, tears of laughter streaking down her cheeks. In the midst of her hilarity, she wondered what had gotten into Logan.
***
Damned if he was going to stop tickling her, Logan thought to himself. He was afraid where his hands might end up if they weren’t occupied with her ribs. While he was curious about her dream, he was more concerned with buying himself time until his morning erection subsided.
Not that Rogue wasn’t aware that such things happened, he thought philosophically. They had shared a bed before and it was a natural occurrence for him. But he wasn’t sure how she would react this time.
With a mental sigh, Logan gave Rogue a moment to catch her breath - and a chance to confess her dream, which she didn’t take - before attacking again. It was only after her shrieks started up again that Logan realized how loud they were.
“Uhh, kid,” he said with a trace of worry in his voice.
“Logan!” Rogue yelped and thrust a hand into his face just as he was glancing over his shoulder at the door.
Logan grunted at the sudden pain and lost his balance, collapsing on top of Rogue.
A muffled oof escaped her as she was crushed beneath his adamantium enhanced weight.
“Shit, kid!” Logan popped up on his elbows almost immediately. He tasted the salty tang of blood on his tongue as the bedroom door burst open.
Jubilee stood in the doorway holding a lamp devoid of its shade. The metal column arced with blue electricity as she frantically scanned the room.
“What’s going on?” she yelled, finally focusing on Logan and Rogue in the bed.
Her eyes widened at seeing the blood at the corner of Logan’s mouth. Confused, she looked at Rogue, taking in her disheveled clothes and hair and the tears on her cheeks.
“You son of a bitch!” she yelled, advancing on Logan.
Storm appeared in the doorway just as Jubilee was swinging the lamp.
“Jubilee!” she yelled as Logan turned his body to shield Rogue.
Realizing with alarm that Rogue was in danger of being electrocuted along with Logan, Jubilee stopped the current running along the lamp. She didn’t, however, have time or strength enough to stop the downward motion of the makeshift club.
A sickening, muffled crack sounded from deep inside Logan’s shoulder and he growled in pain.
“Jubilee!” Rogue shrieked, clutching Logan to her as she sat up.
Jubilee dropped the lamp and shook her hands out. They were tingling from the force of the impact. Eyes wide, she asked, “I couldn’t have broken his arm, could I? There’s no way, right? I mean, he’s made of metal…”
Logan was cursing loudly as he glared at Jubilee. Through gritted teeth he managed, “No, my bones can’t break, you twit. But my shoulder can still be dislocated.”
Straightening up into a rigid line, Jubilee glared back. “That’s what you get for attacking her. You’re nothing but a damn animal after all, are you?”
Before he could respond, Rogue said with deadly calm, “He wasn’t attacking me, Jubilee.”
Storm, still in the doorway, cocked her head in interest. For the time being, she ignored the crowd of students gathering behind her, all of them peeking around her at the room’s inhabitants.
“Like hell he wasn’t!” Jubilee insisted. “I could hear you screaming from all the way down the hall, and he may have already healed, but I can tell you socked him a good one right in the kisser. So don’t try and tell me those are happy tears, Roguey.”
“Jubilee.” Rogue smoothed Logan’s hair back from his forehead, worried at the way he was still clutching his shoulder. “He was tickling me.”
The room fell silent. Even Jubilee’s angry breathing stopped. “T-tickling?” she stammered. “Wolvie doesn’t tickle people.”
Storm’s rich voice supplied the obvious answer. “Apparently he does, Jubilee.”
***
“Logan,” Rogue tried again, “she said she was sorry.”
He growled wordlessly in response.
“Oh come on, Wolvie. Your shoulder’s fine now. Hank said so.” Jubilee’s voice was irritated.
“That’s not why I’m angry!” Logan snapped, knocking back the rest of his beer. He was on his eighth bottle.
“Well, shit!” Jubilee exclaimed, pounding her fist on the kitchen table. “Then tell me what you’re angry about and I’ll apologize for that too.”
“Jubilee,” Storm admonished, nodding at the mistreated furniture.
“Sorry,” Jubilee muttered, “but he started it.”
Logan snorted in disgust.
Rogue cast worried looks between her two friends.
“Logan,” Storm said, “maybe it would help if you told us what else Jubilee has to apologize for.”
“You really don’t know?” Logan asked in disbelief.
“No!” Jubilee returned, exasperated.
Logan pushed away from the table. Before he had taken more than two steps, Rogue caught his arm.
“Logan,” she said softly. But he just smiled slightly and gave a minute shake of his head. Rogue let him go, her fingers trailing along his forearm and the back of his hand.
“What the hell,” Jubilee huffed, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest.
“Jubes,” Rogue said reproachfully.
“Not you too,” Jubilee groaned.
“Yes, me too,” Rogue said, anger stirring in the pit of her stomach.
“What the hell did I do? I thought I was protecting you.” The real frustration in Jubilee’s voice softened Rogue’s heart.
“You’ll never have to protect me from Logan, Jubes,” Rogue said in a soothing voice. “And you should know that by now. That’s why he’s still angry. And the small matter of you thinking he’s a rapist, of course.”
Jubilee’s mouth dropped open with gratifying shock. “Oh. Um, yeah. I can see why that might make a man angry,” she said with chagrin.
"Yeah," Rogue agreed. "Find a way to fix it, will you? I wanted you to be a bridesmaid at the wedding, but if Logan stays angry at you, it's not gonna happen."
"Really?" Jubilee squawked, smiling widely.
“Wedding?” Storm asked, her face blank.
“Oh…um, yeah. Logan and I are getting married,” Rogue said sheepishly. Her hands fluttered nervously in front of her for a moment before she consciously stilled them.
“Married,” Storm echoed.
“Um…yeah.”
“When?”
“In a few weeks.” Rogue’s voice was becoming progressively quieter with each answer. Jubilee looked back and forth between Rogue and Storm, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.
“Wait,” she said. “Does this mean I’m the first one you told?”
Rogue nodded silently, ignoring Jubilee’s whoop of triumph.
“A few weeks,” Storm said.
“Are you all right?” Rogue asked anxiously.
Storm blinked at her and began laughing.
Rogue leaned forward and gripped the older woman’s shoulder. “Storm? Storm?” she asked frantically, shaking her a bit. “Are you okay? Should I get Hank?”
Storm shook her head, but continued laughing, leaving Rogue and Jubilee with no choice but to sit back and wait.
Finally, Storm’s hilarity eased. She shook her head as a few last chuckles escaped her. Looking into Rogue’s worried face, she hurried to explain.
“I finally made sense of a conversation I had with Logan a couple weeks ago.”
“Oh?” Rogue asked cautiously.
“Yes,” Storm nodded. “It was most unusual, both in the nature of the conversation and the seriousness with which Logan took it. He was worried that he wasn’t any good with children,” Storm finished gently. She observed with interest the delicate blush that dusted Rogue’s cheeks and the slight upward tilt of her mouth.
Curious, Storm asked, “Are you already pregnant? Is that why you and Andy broke up? And why you’re rushing the wedding with Logan?”
Her face turning scarlet, Rogue burst out, “No!”
“Then what’s going on?” Storm asked. Jubilee nodded in support of the question.
Rogue sat silently, wondering how to answer the question. She and Logan had agreed to keep their arrangement secret, but they hadn’t gotten around to discussing what they were going to tell everyone. Her worry increased as she took into account how upset Logan already was. How would he react if she told Storm and Jubilee anything now?
“Spill, chica,” Jubilee said, a trace of stubborn threat in her voice.
Rogue swallowed hard, her mind racing while her heart frantically yearned for Logan to come and back her up.
Jubilee moved to block the doorway. Until then, Rogue hadn’t even realized she was inching toward it.
“Spill,” Jubilee said again.
Her escape route cut off, Rogue was out of options. Praying Logan would forgive her, she began to speak.
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