On the fifth day of Jubilee’s visit, Logan and Rogue were ready to tear their hair out. While Jubilee had refrained from any overtly hostile comments about Logan or his relationship with Rogue, her clipped greetings and chilly manner made it clear that she was still harboring feelings of anger and suspicion. About what and why was still a mystery to Rogue.
“I just don’t get it,” she said to Logan as they were getting ready for bed.
“What? Jubilee’s bitchiness?” Logan asked calmly as he pulled his shirt off.
Rogue snorted. “Yeah.”
“She’s jealous of you,” he said with a shrug.
Rogue was momentarily speechless, both from Logan’s words and from the site of the muscles in his chest, shoulders, and arms bunching and releasing smoothly with the shrug.
“Marie?”
She started at the word and felt her cheeks burn with a blush when she realized Logan had caught her staring.
“Uhh,” she said, her voice sounding strangled, “yeah?” She forced her eyes away from Logan’s chest and looked at his face. She saw the amusement in his eyes and her blush deepened. “Um,” she tried again, “Jubes is jealous of what, exactly?”
“Of you. And the attention you get from men.”
“Huh?” Rogue asked blankly. Her attention was now thoroughly fixed on the conversation. “Jubes doesn’t exactly suffer from a lack of male attention herself, you know.”
Logan laughed as he pulled on a clean tee shirt to sleep in. He would change his jeans for a pair of sweats in a minute. With a brief thought to how much more comfortable he would be sleeping without a shirt, as he normally did, Logan tried to think of a way to explain to Rogue about Jubilee.
“I know she’s got plenty of men interested in her - she’s pretty, there’s no denying that - but they’re not necessarily the men she wants.”
“Well, if she doesn’t want them, why does she bother with them?” Rogue argued logically as she flipped back the blankets on the bed.
“Because she can’t have the ones she really wants.”
Rogue climbed into bed with a frown. She settled herself comfortable against the headboard, saying, “Then we’ll just help her get the one she wants and she can stop being so crabby.”
Logan shouted with laughter. He flopped onto the bed beside Rogue and looked up into her puzzled face.
“What if I told you she wants me?” he asked with a smile.
Rogue’s mouth dropped open.
“What, you think I’m lying?”
“I…no, but…she…you….” Rogue closed her mouth with a snap of teeth. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “And how, exactly, do you know she wants you, Logan?”
“Because she said so.”
“When?” It was an outraged shriek.
Logan grinned toothily. “About five minutes after she saw us practically having sex on the car.”
“That…that hussy!”
Logan didn’t bother trying to hide his laughter.
“And what the hell were you doing to invite such a confession, Logan?”
The censure in her voice cut him off mid-laugh.
“Huh? Nothing. I swear,” Logan said seriously, holding his right hand up in a pledging gesture.
“Uh-huh,” Rogue said doubtfully.
“No, really, kid. She was being all protective of you, wanting to make sure I wasn’t stringing you along, and we got to talking about how she had wanted Bobby when you were kids and - ”
“Wait,” Rogue cut him off, her eyes wide. “She wanted Bobby?
“Yeah.”
“But she never said anything!”
“When would have been a good time? When he was dating you? Or Kitty?”
“Well, no. But why is she angry about that now?”
Logan shrugged. “Beats me. I don’t have a clue how women think. But I figure since she thinks you beat her then, and she probably thinks I never gave her a chance because of you, she’s just all bent out of shape about everything now.”
“But that’s stupid.”
Logan shrugged again.
“You really think she’s being this nasty just because she’s jealous?”
“Stranger things have happened,” Logan returned dryly.
A thought flitted through Rogue’s mind, making her frown. “If I hadn’t made you promise not to…to be with another woman before we’re married, would you have…hmph?” Rogue asked, lifting her eyebrows.
“Would I have ‘hmphed’ Jubilee?” Logan asked, amused.
Rogue smacked him in the face with her pillow.
“Oof! No,” Logan said hastily as Rogue pulled back for another swing.
Pausing with the pillow hefted over her shoulder, Rogue tipped her head to the side. “Seriously?”
“Of course I wouldn’t sleep with Jubilee. Shit, kid, she was a student.”
“Hmm. Really? The only reason you wouldn’t sleep with Jubilee is because she used to be a student here?”
“Well, that’s not the only reason, but it’s the main one.”
“Logan dear.”
“Hmm?” he asked, cautiously pulling the pillow out of Rogue’s hand and propping it beneath his head.
“I was a student here.”
Suddenly sensing danger, but not sure why or how to avoid it, Logan responding intelligently, “Uh…yeah. But you’re you. That doesn’t count.”
“How do you figure?” Rogue asked with sugary sweetness.
Thinking fast, Logan barely kept from snapping his fingers as the answer came to him. “Because I knew you before you were a student, so you’re in a different category.”
“That’s sweet, Logan, really. But I was still just a teenager then. That wouldn’t have kept me off limits?”
Confused as to how the conversation had devolved into a defense of his attraction to Rogue and non-attraction to Jubilee, Logan said again, “Uh…”
A timid tap at the door saved him.
“Come in!” he invited with undisguised relief.
Ignoring Rogue’s arched eyebrow that told him she was mentally bookmarking their conversation, Logan watched the door creep slowly open.
“Mr. Logan?” a little voice asked as the head of a shadow peeked around the door. Logan sat up abruptly.
“Jacie? What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately worried. The girl had never come looking for him before. At least not in person.
Jacie followed her shadow into the room. “I need to talk to you, Mr. Logan.”
Frowning, Logan said, “Sure, kid. What’s up?”
Remaining mute, the little girl eyed Rogue intently.
“Oh.” Sudden understanding filled Rogue’s voice. “I’ll just step out for a moment, shall I?”
“Thank you, Miss Rogue,” Jacie said politely, dropping her eyes to the floor.
Rogue patted the girl’s shoulder as she stepped around her and out into the hall.
Logan waited until the door latched quietly behind Rogue. “What’s goin’ on, kiddo?” he asked softly. Jacie looked up at him slowly.
Tears hung for a moment on her lower lashes before spilling silently down her cheeks.
“Jacie?” Logan moved quickly and dropped to his knees in front of the girl. He grasped her thin shoulders gently. “Tell me what’s wrong, sweetheart.”
Jacie’s chin wobbled slightly. “I…I heard what you and Miss Rogue were saying in the library the other day.”
“And?” Logan asked cautiously, uncertain which day the girl meant and thus clueless as to what she might have overheard.
“Oh!” Jacie said anxiously, “And I’m sorry, Mr. Logan, I know I’m not supposed to eavesdrop on people with my shadow.”
Logan chuckled at Jacie’s earnest expression. “I wasn’t prompting you for an apology, kiddo. Just finish tellin’ me about what you heard.”
“‘Kay.” Nodding earnestly, Jacie took a deep breath and blurted, “I heard about the baby and I just have to know, Mr. Logan -- you wouldn’t really let me die if we were both in trouble at the same time, would you?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
If you didn't see my message in the latest Gauntlet chapter, here it is again: I'm sorry it's been so long, but I'm back and both stories will continue. Thanks so much for reading.