Turning slowly to face Logan, she watched as he closed his eyes. He did not have to answer her question for it was written all over his face. The one person, the one friend that she had was nothing more than a joke. This past week had been nothing more than a man making good on a bribe.

Without another word, Marie turned and headed back into the mansion. As she passed Jean, she heard the woman laugh. Marie’s steps faltered as she fought against the urged to drain the bitch dry. She needed to get to her room before she lost all control.

Coming towards the stairs, she saw the front door open as a group of kids strolled in. She watched as the Jubilation Lee or Jubes looked over towards her. “Rogue,” she called out.

Marie didn’t want to face anyone at the moment as she turned to run up the stairs.

Getting to her room just in time, she slammed the door behind her and slid to the floor. She did not cry. There were no tears big enough to express the emptiness she was feeling. Marie felt that she should been used to such things by now. She was a freak among freaks and no one would ever accept her. If only she wouldn’t have allowed herself to know what it felt like to have a kindred spirit in this world, then she wouldn’t have known what it was like to lose something special.

There was a knock on the door and Marie jumped back as if burned. “Marie, let me in. We need to talk.”

Logan was the last person on this earth that she wanted to talk to. She would rather face Eric than have to deal with what just happened. “Go away!” she said through clenched teeth.

There was a deep sigh as she heard Logan’s soft voice coming through the door. “You can either let me in now or face me in the morning…either way I’m gonna camp out beside your door.”

Getting to her feet, Marie unlocked the door and pushed it opened. She turned around and walked towards the window. Facing him right now would do nothing but bring the river of tears flowing out of her. She heard him walk in and close the door behind him. Neither one spoke for what seemed like an eternity to Marie.

“Marie…I’m…” She turned around, hatred and pain radiating off of her in waves. “Don’t you dare say it Logan. What are you sorry for? Are you sorry for lying to me and destroying what little faith I had in this place, or are you sorry that you got caught? Either way it doesn’t help your cause at all,” she said heatedly.

Marie watched as Logan deflated. His shoulders slumped as his large frame sat on her bed. He looked every bit the lost man that she had dreamed about the night before. “I’m not saying I’m perfect Marie. I’m even an asshole but I swear to you that I gave the money back. Did I take it from Xavier? Yeah I did. I’m not denying that. I took it before I really knew you and I gave it back after I realized you were the only real thing I had in this place.”

She cursed the tears making an appearance. His words rang true yet she couldn’t see past the hurt and pain. Everyone had gotten off so damn easy, in this place, when they hurt her. Logan, the one person that she thought she could trust was no different from everyone else. She refused to let him off as easy. She had held him to a higher standard and he had let her down.

“You should have kept the money Logan because you have nothing now,” she sobbed.

The look on his face as he brought it up to meet hers would be etched in her memory for years to come. “You don’t mean that,” he whispered.

All of the things she told him, the hurtful, painful memories that she had confided in a man paid to listen to her burned into her mind so heavy that she felt rage in its purest form.

“It was probably all a lie, wasn‘t Logan…all of the horrible things you told me about yourself? Did you take a day to just think that up so I would open up to you? Did you tell me those things just to get me to talking? Did you leave that night with some good laughs at my expense?”

She jumped back as he stood up abruptly, staring angrily at her. “Oh that’s real good Marie. Every…single…thing I told you that night was the truth. How DARE you even question that,” he yelled.

Marie stared at Logan’s angry face and realized she had gone too far. In her anger she wanted to make him hurt just as much as she was. She had dug into the wounds that were Logan’s and poured salt everywhere. “Please just go,” she whispered.

“FINE!” He screamed as he walked to the door.

As he opened it, he stopped and turned towards her as he spoke, “I know what I did was wrong. I know I hurt you and I wish that I could take it back. I gave that money back because for once in my life I found someone that meant more to me than my own self. I’ve never been a good person Marie, maybe it’s one of the reasons I took that money, but I found something that made me want to be a better person.”

Looking over at Logan, she saw a sadness, which took her breath away. “It’s only fitting that that one thing be taken away from me as well. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.” She wanted to stop him from leaving, but all she did was watch him go.

Long after Logan had left, Marie sat at her window looking out into the emptiness of the night. She wondered several times during the long hours why she continued to stay. It would be so easy to just pack up her things and leave. No one would know she was gone…no one would care. The fact that Eric wanted to kill her didn’t even play into her mind. She was dead either way. No one could live like this, isolated from the world and its inhabitants. Marie knew that she would never truly be welcomed here or any other place so what was the point.

There was just one problem…each time she got up to pack her things, she heard a little voice in her head saying ’I’ll take care of you’. No matter how mad she was at Logan, she couldn’t get past the soft voice telling her over and over that someone was willing to take care of the untouchable girl.

Ray’s of sunlight streamed in through the window and warmed Marie’s face as she welcomed another day. She wasn’t looking forward to what she was about to do. Marie realized that she would have to face the professor sooner or later and it made her sick to her stomach. Getting up from her makeshift bed, Marie headed towards her door. She was still wearing the thin long sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants that she was wearing the night before but she didn’t care.

Making her way to Xavier’s door, she didn’t bother knocking. Pulling the door open, she walked in to stare at the man. What caught her eye, made her take a step back. Logan sat on the professor’s couch looking as if he had stayed up all night. He was still in the same clothes like she was.

“Good morning Rogue. I am glad you stopped by. Seems we have a lot to talk about and I have a few things to apologize for,” the professor’s deep voice said. Logan stood up to walk out but the professor stopped him. “Logan, I think you should stay since this involves you as well.”

She turned away from Logan as he stared at her. “I don’t think my presence is welcomed right now Chuck.”

“Rogue, I am truly sorry that you had to find out about our arrangement the way you did.” Marie looked sharply at the professor’s choice of words.

“Arrangement? That’s a good word to use for it Xavier. I could think of a few more things to call it as well,” she said angrily. “Did you really think I wasn’t worthy to be accepted here? You had to start paying people to be friends with me?” Marie shed no tears today. There were none left after last night.

“Rogue that is not why I did it. I needed someone that wouldn’t judge you before meeting you. Everyone was either scared or upset that you were here. I thought that if I could get Logan to talk to with you it would help the others to follow suit since it’s very hard to earn Logan’s trust.”

“And you believed it wouldn’t have happened naturally…without the bribe?” Marie scoffed. “You know what, don’t answer that. I think I already know the answer,” she said turning towards a quiet Logan.

“You don’t know anything,” she heard him whisper.

“Excuse me?” Marie asked turning her whole body towards Logan, Xavier fully forgotten. “Then tell me Logan, would you have given a damn about getting to know me or even given me the time of day without something in it for you?”

‘I’ll take care of you’, she silently whimpered at the voice that whispered in her head.

“I don’t regret receiving the opportunity to get to know ya darlin’, just the way I went about doing it,” came Logan’s response.

“Rogue, find the strength to forgive and put this behind you. We both made a mistake to which we are very sorry. I should have allowed you two to meet and become friends on your own. He did not keep the money Rogue. That has to count for something.”

“She already knows all of this Chuck. It doesn’t matter to her and I guess it shouldn’t,” Logan spoke.

Marie watched him quietly turn and walk out of the office. A part of her wanted to run and stop him, the other part wanted him to soak in his sorrow. These two sides waged war inside of her as she stayed where she was. Xavier’s deep sigh brought her out of her internal war and she turned to look at the man. She could see all of his years weighing heavily upon his shoulders.

Walking towards one of the chairs in front of his desk, Marie sat down defeated. “It’s not really about the money Xavier; it’s more about the fact that I’m not sure that I know him. The real him,” she whispered.

“Rogue, I think you are the only one that has ever been close enough to know him. All I did was offer him money to talk to you that one night, not to befriend you. That, my dear, was something that Logan did himself. The fact that he let someone get close to him speaks a lot about you and what he feels for you.”

She let that sink in. Why would he not tell her that bit of information? All he was paid to do was talk to her not make her feel like she had a friend. “He never told me that,” she said confused.

“Maybe he was hoping you would figure it out on your own…or maybe that you would have already realized it. Besides, would you really have believed him if he would have told you?”

“Damn,” Marie breathed.