Running. Running and avoiding the bullets. Those were her only thoughts at the moment. Both essential to keep her from hurting any more and both essential to fulfill her objective. The stench of burned flesh, fresh blood and gunpowder kept invading her nostrils making her lungs burn even more than the loss of oxygen from running. Flashes illuminated the night sky and the bangs of shoots growled through the valley. She kept running towards the hostile lines her machine-gun in a hard grasp ready to shoot. Suddenly a sharp pain exploded in her chest, expanding into her entire body making her legs unsteady. Gasping for air the muddy soil came her way when her feet refused to move.

Blood. She could taste her own blood in her mouth as she tried to push herself up again. But suddenly there was a not so gentle hand at the back of her uniform's collar, pulling her body rather effortless back to her feet. As fast as the support came as fast her helper was already a few feet in front of her continuing their way towards the enemy. The stinging pain in her chest subsided as her body began to move again. Bullets rained from the sky like hailstones. One after one of her comrades screamed in agony doubling over unable to continue their assault. She felt new pain but kept moving. It would lighten as it always did; just to be replaced by new ache. After a few seconds the only two soldiers to finally reach the opponents were she and her former helper. Everyone else, everyone of her comrades she had joked or talked a few hours before were gone. It was only her and her brother. As always. Then all of a sudden something exploded next to her and a new wave of sharp agony rushed through her entire body.

With a start Rogue woke from her horrible dream. Sitting up in her bed her still clouded gaze met Logan's concerned eyes when he wrapped his warm arms about her shivering frame holding her in a safe embrace. Cold sweat glued her nighty to her back and her ears were still filled with the noise of bullets being fired and the screams of dieing men when a faint voice in the distance called her name.

X X X X X X X X X X

Logan cradled Marie in his arms rocking her back and forth while stroking her sweaty hair and her back. "Shh. Marie. It's fine now, darlin'. It was just a bad dream." He kept repeating his mantra till he felt her finally slump against his chest. Sobbing she buried her face in his shirt and he continued to rub her back in gentle circles. "You're not alone, Marie. I'm here, my darlin'."

Her desperate cries had pulled him from his sleep and his heart broke at her fearful features when she turned and tossed in her bed. He'd carefully caressed her cheek, her dark hair protecting him from her deadly skin and called her name.

Now after holding her for long minutes her tears subsided slowly and the brunette pushed gently a few inches away so his worried expression could meet her tear streamed features. Lovingly he removed his hand from her back and lifted it up to her huge brown eyes wiping a salty tear away, carefully to keep the touch of bare skin brief.

Tentatively Rogue placed her slightly shaking and glove covered fingers on his sideburns caressing his jaw-bone with her thumb, still taking staggered breaths as she calmed down. "Logan." The word was just a whisper. A small smile made its way on her lips when her breathing and her heartbeat rate returned to normal. "Thank ya, sugah."

Logan felt her completely push away from his chest and he ran his hands up and down her covered arms. A loving smile plastered his features and he looked deep into her brown eyes. "It's been a while since your last nightmare, darlin'." His eyes grew sad. "I'm sorry, Marie."

Rogue knew he meant his nightmares she was having now once again. "Don't be, sugah." She slid a little farther away from him on her bed and lifted the blanket. Out of habit he grasped his long-sleeved shirt throwing it on. Without further thought or hesitation Logan slipped under the waiting cover and slung his arm around her waist, his hand resting protectively on her stomach while the brunette snuggled her back into his chest. His chin rested on her head and her gloved hand wandered down to his, their fingers entangling.

They lay there a half eternity relaxing in the other's touch and presence. "Ya're right it's a while since ya had to climb into mah bed." A soft grin made its way on her lips. "Normally Ah have to comfort the Wolverine." She felt his growl built in his chest before it could reach his lips and his index finger poked into her stomach – playfully.

Though that with the beds was rather a new thing. Back at the mansion Rogue got the habit of sneaking into his room when she had had a bad dream. He always wondered that the girl hadn't learned to stay away from him the first night she had walked up on him during one of his nightmares and had ended on the other end of his claws. That was one of his newer nightmares, together with the events of the following night and he was sure that her bleeding body at the mall would hunt him sooner or later in his dreams.

Somehow, maybe with the help of his presence in her mind, she seemed to could tell when he was caught in one of his bizarre dreams and would wait within a save distance for him to rudely awake form his torment. Then she would embrace and hold him for a little while till the shadows of his nightmare would have left his hazel eyes. Afterwards they would snuggle together on his bed and one of them remained awake watching over the other's sleeping form. At the Institute he would wake Rogue around four in the morning or the brunette would carefully leave her sleeping Logan on her own and silently sneak back into her room she shared with Jubilee and Kitty.

Logan liked the feeling of her being there for him taking care for him; he had never thought that sharing his weakness with anybody would make him feel well, complete. But after all Marie wasn't anybody to him, she was his Marie.

The thing with the bed had changed during their journey. She would still climb into his bed after one of his terrible dreams, but the two times her demons had hunted her at night Logan had moved over to her bed. He could tell that she enjoyed waking up next to each other without having to sneak away in the middle of the night as much as he did.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

There was that persistent knock again, but Marie didn't seem to mind. With a content smile on her lips she lay fast asleep next to Logan, her head using his arm as pillow and her gloved hands held his fingers in a firm grip. "Marie? Wake up, my darlin'." It was no use. The same went for his attempt to pull his arm from under her head, she just deepened her grip on him.

And that knock sounded again through their cottage. Logan finally rolled his eyes. "It's open!"

"What are ya screaming, sugah?!" The brunette eventually mumbled and moved from laying on her side to a position on her flat stomach.

Logan saw the D'Ancantos enter and he wasn't surprised about the gasps he heard as soon as the visitors' eyes caught sight of the couple in the bed. "Would you let go of my arm, Marie?"

"No, still … so… tired." She snuggled deeper into him. "Get up, Logan… Ah wanna sleep." Her free hand, that one that didn't hold his arm, smacked him on the chest before resting there.

Wolverine sighed and he could swear her parents were close to a heart attack. "That's what I try for the last half an hour. But to do so, I need my arm." Smelling the anger and shock of her family brought a smug grin on his face. "Marie, get up."

Her answer was a disapproving growl.

"Okay, you wanted it this way." He placed his free hand on the small of her back and pushed her body towards the edge, securing her upper body with his arm she still clutched. With a thud her legs and butt landed on the wooden floor next to her bed and a yelp escaped her lips on the impact.

Her grip tightened on him preventing her from sliding completely down to the floor when she felt his other arm wrap around her chest pressing directly onto her breasts as he pulled her up to her feet. Sleepy she stood there a moment her eyes barely open and her mind still clouded from the lack of sleep the previous nights. Yawning she took in the shocked faces of her family and wondered slightly why they were in their cottage. "Mornin'." She managed when she heard Logan's feet padding on the wooden floor.

Mr. D'Ancanto finally found his ability to speak anger boiled inside him. "What's going on here?!"

The brunette walked a few steps still drowsy and let herself fall upon Logan's empty bed hugging his pillow to her chest and falling back to sleep. An eyebrow arched Logan ignored the other man with a smug grin as he watched Rogue breathing in his scent from his cushion with a faint smile on her lips. He saw her father step closer to him but managed to control the urge to shot some remark back that would sure make the other man rush at him, not that Wolverine had any reason to fear the human – it was more for Marie's sake and her re-building relationship with her family. The growing dislike of each other was mutual but Logan thought better than to hurt his love, her emotional state was bad enough and she needed as much ties as possible. "Mornin'." Logan finally greeted startling her family further when he retrieved his red button up from the chair his and Rogue's clothes lay in a neatly folded heap together and walked over to the small bathroom.

Mrs. D'Ancanto heard the shower being turned on and finally stepped forward and took a seat next to her daughter on the bed. She saw the anger in her husband's features and prayed he wouldn't do something stupid to enrage that animal the blue mutant had called Wolverine. "Marie?" She asked placing her hand tentatively on the brunette's head stroking her hair. "Marie, would ya mind to explain?" But her daughter only buried her face deeper into the pillow and growled lightly making her remove her hand.

Barely ten minutes later Logan stepped out of the bathroom dressed in his red button up over his white t-shirt, his hair still damp but his trademark spikes were already in their place. He slipped on his socks and then in his boots always aware that Marie's family was watching his every move from over the small table they were all seated around. Ignoring them he walked over to his bed. "The bathroom is waiting for you, darlin'." He bent down and carefully stroked a white strain from her cheek. "Marie, c'mon. You can sleep in the car." The only reaction was a low growl. His voice held a hint of annoyance now. "Darlin', wake up. Or I have to bring a bucket of water to help you." He knew bucket was exaggerated but a glass would do the trick.

"No, not again. Ah'm awake." Rogue crawled a few inches till the edge of the bed, but then she was back in dreamland again. Upon hearing the ripple of water her head shoot up and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Ah'm awake! Ah'm awake, Logan!" Finally she took in her surroundings and her family sitting at the table. 'That wasn't a dream after all… No wonder dad looks so pissed.'

Josh couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Oh, too bad! C'mon, Marie go back to sleep! Ah wanna see this!" But Logan's pillow crashed already in his face, his sister obviously proud on her good throw.

Her mother shot her son a disapproving view when he threw the pillow back at his sister, then glanced at Logan. "Ya wouldn't really do that, would ya?"

"My threats are never empty." Wolverine picked Rogue's clothes up from the chair and watched her crawl out of his bed finally wide awake.

The brunette smirked at her best friend and took her clothes from him. "Course he would. He had already done that twice!"

Logan returned her grin and placed a strain behind her ear. "But only speaking about it works wonders now, darlin'."

"Funny that ya never learned it." On his puzzled expression she continued chuckling before entering the bathroom. "Victor used to wake ya that way. Even had to do that during your time fighting in the Civil War." It was weird how some of their memories popped up in her mind. She could hardly tell if this memory was from Victor or Logan, but she guessed Victor since she felt amusement about Logan's wet and astonished face.

"Civil War?! Now I feel old." Logan arched a brow remembering the afternoon before when she told him about his brother and his age going towards 180.

"Civil War? The American Civil War?!" Her father's eyes widened. "The one taking place in the middle of the 19th century?!"

Logan was chuckling when he saw the dumb folded expressions of the D'Ancantos. "Was there more than one? Yeah, I think we're speaking of the same." He walked over to his bed, shaking the blanket out and folding it onto the mattress, before doing the same with Rogue's bed. Afterwards he fetched his black Motorola cell-phone from the nightstand and shoved it into his jeans pocket scanning the room for any of their belongings.

They had packed everything the evening before and stowed their bags in their car ready to leave in the morning. Shortly after arriving at their cottage from the hospital they had learned that the D'Ancantos also intended to leave in the next morning and they would share a two hours long drive – though not in the same car. For Marie's sake Logan had suggested to have a last meal together before their ways would part.

A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and Rogue stepped into the room carrying a duty bag and her pyjamas while brushing her hair. "There's nothing of us left in there, Logan. Ah packed your stuff into mah bag." She bent down and opened the zipper of the duffel bag on the floor putting in it their remaining belongings.

"Thanks, darlin'." Logan retrieved a paper bag with sandwiches from the fridge, Rogue had made for their breakfast in the car the evening before and offered the brunette one.

Taking a bite from her peanut butter sandwich Rogue fetched her dark green Motorola cell phone glazing on the small outer screen. Her eyes widened. "It's almost noon!"

Logan only smirked. "We wanted to be half way to Canada by now, darlin'."

"Ya could have waked me!"

"Nah, that would have been too cruel. And impossible." That earned him a playful slap on the chest.

Her father didn't like it one bit what he saw: his daughter sharing one bag with that man, giving each other pet names, touching each other and on top of all they share the bed! "Would ya finally tell us, why ya two slept in one bed?!" He approached his daughter, who still had her hand on Logan's chest.

Rogue saw the anger in her father's eyes and quickly searched her mother's features for another kind of emotion but only found the same. 'Boy, they are prude!' Shrugging she removed her hand from Logan and faced her father. "Ah had a nightmare." She answered as if this would explain why she slept curled up to Logan.

Wolverine noticed the building tension in the other man's features. "She hadn't slept quite well the last nights at the hospital. Had always nightmares."

"When Logan's with me, Ah feel safe and can finally close mah eyes without those terrible pictures returning."

This brought a smile on Logan's face and warmth to his heart. He knew she felt save with him, but to hear it was a great thing though.

Rogue rolled her eyes when she saw her parents' expression remaining the same. "We talked the half night." She could see the silent question of her mother and widened her eyes in disbelief and annoyance. "We could hardly have done anything?!" A beat later she saw the need to clarify her words. "Mah mutation forgotten?!" Somehow this didn't work either to bring her parents to their senses. "Stop looking like that! If he would want to take advantage of the situation he would have done so long ago during one of the nth moments we shared the same bed and Ah was cured!" Her temper – a little shortened by the presences of the two feral brothers in her mind and the lack of sleep - got the better of her and she gripped the strap of the duffel bag firmly and slung it up onto her shoulder.

Logan saw new horror in her parents' features. "You know that doesn't make it any better, Marie?!" Somehow their features amused the Wolverine.

Rogue made a few strides towards the front door before she turned around once more. "Even if something had happened, Ah'm an adult and can sleep with anybody Ah want! But don't worry: Ah'm all untouchable girl again and will remain that way till the day Ah die!" With those bitter words she stormed out the cottage and down the few steps to the car.

"Great! Now she goes down that road again! Her night was horrible enough without your senseless accuses!" Logan growled in his gruff voice as new fear for his Marie encircled his heart. With an angry glare he ushered the D'Ancantos out of the hut. Before he locked the door Logan's piercing eyes dug into the parents. "And for once and for all. Nothing ever happened between your daughter and me! I'm neither her boyfriend, nor her lover! I'm only Marie's friend!" He took a deep breath. "Despite her young looks, Marie is much more mature than other girls her age. If she were that hormone driven kid you think she is she would have jumped into bed with the first boy she crossed ways the day she had taken the cure!" His temper cooled a little and Logan wanted her parents to finally understand what person their daughter is. "A simple touch is something sacred to Marie. She would never give into the temptation to have sex if she hadn't thought about it long before and her heart wouldn't be behind her decision." He slipped the keys into his pants pocket and turned to walk to his car. "Hope this topic is closed now."

Logan smirked when he saw his Marie sitting in the passenger seat, the door still open, but the brunette was already fast asleep while the raspberry jelly dropped down from her toast onto her jeans.

On her mother's face suddenly wandered a mixture of worry and sympathy. "Poor girl, she is really tired."

Logan was about to approach Rogue when his ears caught a distressed whimper and her forehead wrinkled into a troubled frown. Without delay he covered the short distance between them and cupped her pale cheek with his hand, her brown hair separating them. "Shh, it's just a dream, Marie. I'm here with you." Her features immediately relaxed and her breathing slowed when her mind left the unpleasant pictures.

Her mother watched in awe the mutant stroke her girl's head gently. "Amazing." Then her motherly worry returned to the front of her mind. "How often does she have those nightmares?"

"Every night." Logan simply stated and removed his hand from her face and fastened the seatbelt on Rogue. "Her nightmares were almost gone the last months. Now they're back as bad as they were in the beginning after we'd met. Will be a long way till she can sleep through the night again all by herself." Before closing the car door Logan took the sandwich from her gloved hand and wiped the jelly from her pants before licking the yam from his finger and took a bite from her breakfast. Facing her parents' one last time before walking over to the driver side of the Jeep Logan observed them. "I still have to pay and return the keys. My offer to spend a last meal together is still up. A chance to say goodbye without screaming at each others would surly be in Marie's interest."

Mr. D'Ancanto traded a view with his wife then he answered with a small smile. "There is this place on our way. We never were in there, but it should be the last chance to get something to eat before our ways part."

"Fine. You lead." Logan slid into the driver seat and started the engine.