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“Logan…”

Marie growled, ran a hand through her stripes. Swung the dish-rag at his legs and slapped his feet. She really didn’t wanna have this conversation. “Logan,” she repeated, sighing, “Get your Goddamn feet offa mah coffee table.”

Logan, being Logan, didn’t budge.

Just glanced up at her, kinda smart-assed. For once not puffing on a stogie cos he knew she hated the stench inside the house. Beside him little Beccah was trying to crawl onto “Uncle Logan,” like he was her own private monkey-puzzle, her black-and-red eyes lit up with glee. The former Wolverine had been her favourite from the moment she set foot in the mansion, and by the looks of things the feeling was mutual. Logan pretty much adored her daughter, taught her everything from kicking ass to fixing cars whenever he had a chance. She was the only seven year old Marie’d ever met who could take apart a carburettor while swearing in Japanese. Loudly.

Mentally Marie glowered and shook her head.

Maybe it was the look on her face, maybe it was a small, niggling sense of guilt which occasionally overtook him, but Logan picked Beccah up and set her down beside him then. Tussled her head and whispered for her to give her Momma a moment and let the grownups talk. The little girl rolled her eyes and blew air through her lips, the image (Marie suspected) of herself at that age. Then marched out of the room to find her brother Olivier, someone else she could torture for fun. Because “Uncle Logan,” had been such a good influence there, Rogue mused dryly. And speaking of-

He stood, crossed his arms then. Cocked the eyebrow more, like that was gonna help. “So, is it true?” he asked. Eyes smouldering. Marie mighta been his kinda, sorta foster daughter, but even she had to admit the sight was- Well, she didn’t wanna think about what the sight was. Remy hadn’t been gone more’n two years, and she was still wearing her wedding ring. Couldn’t bring herself to take it off. “Is it true?” he growled again. “What they’re saying about you ‘n’ Jeannie?”

Marie rolled her eyes, aware that she probably looked exactly like Beccah had, and bit her cheek. Annoyed. She was proud to see a touch of worry flicker across Logan’s face at the action, and it was nice to know he was still a little scared of her famous temper, even now. But when she spoke her voice was even. “That depends, sugah: What did ya hear?”

He kept his eyes on her face, serious, but his lips were clearly trying not to twitch into a smile. She wondered idly whether Hank and Bobby had been gossiping. “The third floor window mighta been mentioned,” he drawled eventually. “Some kinda throw-down, the Danger Room bein’ shot to Hell.” Marie snorted like a teenager, and the twitch turned into a grin. “Apparently Storm and Hank had to intervene, pull ya offa her,” he continued, mock innocent. “Cyke’s nerves are so shattered, he’s leaving to go work for Norman Osborne. Or the Peace Corps. Or maybe Barry Manilow, I’m not really sure which-”

Despite herself, her own lips twitched grin-wards. “It’ll be nice t’see Scooter finally livin’ the dream.”

He snorted. “Like Jubes’ll let him off his leash that long.”

“Ah don’t think he’d be running from her, with a leash on him. Those two-”

“Please, Marie!” He interrupted, hands held before him. “I don’t wanna even think about Slim and my Jubilation like that. I’d haveta gut him and Jubes’d be moody for weeks.”

Her smile widened. “Still scared of a fire-cracker?”

“Hell yeah, ain’t you?”

“Nah, Ah know where all the bodies are buried. Knowledge is power, an’ all that.” And again Marie felt a twitch of a smile. “And she likes me.”

A beat.

“So, ya done with the pouting, Kid, or am I gonna have to shake it outta ya?” he muttered eventually. Threw her another smile to take the sting outta his words, and once again she reminded herself that they were practically family. Abruptly she pulled away from the memory of that last argument with Gambit, before the Blackbird went down- “I know that something did happen, darlin’,” he continued, rescuing her from her memories. “So why don’t you stop dancing around the issue and just tell me what the Hell it was.” Another twitch of a smile. “Or else I’ll have to go get it from Kitty, and neither of us want me to do that.”

She narrowed her eyes then. “Low blow, Logie Bear,” she muttered.

He shrugged, looking close to angelic as he ever got. “Don’t do any other kind, Roguey.”

Marie sat down then, admitting defeat. Since the sweet Lord Jesus only knew what spin Kitty’d put on events if asked. Pryde still retained some damn weird notions regarding her and Logan, despite her marriage to Remy and his (now broken) engagement to Mariko Yashida. And the, ahem, “incident,” with Elektra Natchios. But then Kitty of them all was a born romantic, and settling down with Pyotr had done nothing to knock that tendency outta her. Even if it was still damn embarrassing. The silence stretched out until eventually Logan stood up, about to walk out the door and make good on his threat, and she blurted-

“Ah’m not sorry Ah did it and Ah never will be and you can’t make me say Ah am-”

Which was not, needless to say, how she wanted to start this. But got to the heart of her feelings nevertheless.

“So you did get in a fight with her?” he asked dryly. Hazel eyes lightening once more in amusement. Despite herself Marie felt a twinge of relief that he wasn’t yelling at her for taking on Jeannie: She’s thought for sure he’d take the telepath’s side.

“Well, it wasn’t so much a fight-” His cocked eyebrow raised higher, he knew she was lying- “As a smack-down.” She cleared her throat in embarrassment. Repeated Jubilee’s description. “An old-school smack-down, kinda like you an’ Scott usedta have back in the day.”

“And this was necessary, why?”

Marie shrugged. “She was bein’ a pain in mah ass.” Which was pretty much the long and short of it.

“But I thought you liked Jeannie?”

“Ah do,” Marie muttered. It was the truth: she’d been helping the other woman settle back in since she had arrived five months before. “Ah just don’t like everything she says, is all.”

His smile grew so wide then, it shoulda been illegal. “Now what on earth could that mean, darlin’?” he inquired, and not for the first time in her life Marie wished just an ickle bit that she had claws. He was enjoying this way too much. But then this was the lightest she’d seen him look since Mariko kicked him to the curb, and that being the case she could stand a little embarrassment. For his sake. Though this was still making her uncomfortable as all get out.

“It means,” she bit out, aware she sounded testy, “That she should get it inta her head that you’re over her. That ya moved on with your life and that the universe does not Goddamn revolve around Jeannie “Marvel Girl,” Grey.” Marie was surprised at her own vehemence.

His smile turned downwards. “What?”

Marie crossed her arms, her body language switching as the Wolverine in her head came to the fore. When Logan did it, it looked terrifying; When she did it, it looked cute. Pissed, but cute. “It means, sugah, that she should get it through her skull that ya moved on with your life,” she all but growled, pacing. She wasn’t sure why, but now she was saying it out loud it was making her mad as Hell. “We all did: We didn’t have much choice. Ah get the thing with Scooter: That musta bin a shock. None of us saw that coming, much less Jubilee. But the bullshit she was spouting, about how you couldn’ta possibly been serious about Mariko-chan-” She felt her lips slide back from her teeth into a snarl, as if of their own volition, “Well, that was just insulting to you, and onee-san-” She’d really liked the Japanese business-woman right up until she’d broken her Logan’s heart- “And maybe, yeah, Ah was mad at her fer hurtin’ ya darlin’, nobody gets to do that to you without hearing from me an’ the girls, especially not some cowardly, yellow-bellied ama-” She was really getting worked up if the Japanese insults were coming out- “Who didn’t even have the strength to stop herself, who left you t’do the hard work-” And abruptly she stopped, running out of steam at the look on his face. Because in all the time he’d known her, that was probably the maddest he’d ever seen her- And he’d seen her go berserker on Sabretooth’s ass once or twice- But never in all that time, had she mentioned that Jean had used him as her last ditch back-up plan. That he’d had to kill her (with her blessing) in order to save the world.

Kuso, baka, she thought then. Hadn’t really meant to say that.

Logan had this expression, this carved-in-granite, anguished facial expression that he occasionally wore when the shit had well and truly hit the fan. Only time Marie’d seen it had been the moment, two years earlier, that he’d come down to New Orleans to wake her in the middle of the night and break the news that Remy was dead. Nobody else had had the balls to tell her, so of course he’d volunteered. It made him look haunted, and helpless, and about a thousand years older than he actually was. And he was staring at her with it now, or maybe its ghost, that craggy forehead drawn, his lips pursed and the light gone from his eyes like she’d snuffed it out.

Suddenly Marie wanted to use every swear-word she knew, in every language she knew about herself. Because she felt like she’d stomped on that fractured, wounded heart of his, and she’d sworn after Jean died the first time, she’d never let anyone do that again. Without even thinking she crossed the space between them, reached out her gloved hands to him like that would make it okay. “Ah’m sorry, Logan,” she muttered. “Ah’m so sorry-Ah shouldn’ta mentioned-”

He cleared his throat gruffly, looking down now. Knuckles tightened as he stared at his hands. “I asked,” he pointed out.

“And Ah shoulda thought before Ah opened mah big damn mouth,” she retorted, closing one of his hands in both of hers. She thought he might pull away but he stayed put. “Ah just- Ah just don’t like what she did to ya, cher,” she muttered, Remy’s endearment rising easily to her lips now. Again she shook away a thrill of unease. “She shoulda had the strength- It was just so damn unfair. Ah’d never let that happen. Ah’d never make you make that choice for me.” And she shook her head, aware she was being incoherent. Unable to stop the truth from pouring outta her mouth.

And still kinda wishing she could beat on Jeannie and make this better, since nothing she’d tried so far was doing the trick.

His tired chuckle surprised her. As quickly as it had come, his heart-sick look was gone. Well, for the most part. And for the most part was good enough for her. “I made my peace with it years ago, Marie,” he muttered. “I had to. Me and Mariko, it couldn’t have gone anywhere if I was still carrying that around.” He smiled dryly, running the hand she wasn’t holding through his hair, dragging at the back of his neck. The hazel eyes flicked up to hers and without warning he tucked one of her platinum streaks behind her ear, a gesture he hadn’t indulged in since- Since before her wedding. For some reason it froze her, though she knew he meant nothing by it. After all, they were still almost kin… “It’s not like I don’t appreciate major property damage on my behalf, sweetheart,” he continued softly, “But ya don’t need to beat on Jeannie just because she screwed me over, once upon a time.”

“What if Ah want to?” she muttered, chagrined. Fascinated suddenly with the floor.

“Fight it.”

“Can’t,” she retorted, and at his raised eyebrow, “Ah got you in mah head, barking to take no prisoners every time Ah lose mah cool.” His hand felt warm in hers now, the adamantium giving it weight. “And besides,” she whispered softly, “She’s gotta learn she ain’t the centre of your universe any more. Is she?”

She really shouldn’t have said that.

The moment sputtered, fractured. Suddenly he took his hand from hers, smiling to make it look less awkward. But Marie was suddenly aware of a chill. She wasn‘t quite sure why she‘d said that. “Oh, I think she knows, darlin’” he grinned, trying to sound unconcerned, though he was backing away from her. One thing about her Logan, he always had an exit strategy. Today was no exception.“She didn’t look at all pleased when I demanded she explain herself, for punching my Marie-” he quipped.

It took a second to hit her. And then, she was actually thankful she didn’t have claws, because she’d have filleted him. But even if he was dodging her, Marie realised with a sinking feeling she’d be better off playing ball.

“You mean you knew what happened?” she demanded, balling up her fist and thumping him good and hard. Making sure her own voice sounded carefree. Still not sure why she‘d asked about Jean. “You knew and you let me go through this-”

“I had to make sure you weren’t homicidal, sweetheart-”

“If Ah wasn’t before Ah am now!” And he backed away, smiling. She picked up the dishcloth she’d threatened him with earlier, playing along, and starting chasing after him. His laughter loud enough to tip off Beccah and Olivier that Uncle Logan was in the house. The two kids poked their heads out of their bedrooms, Olivier shyly, Beccah gleefully and joined in the chase. Climbing all over him like he was their own private monkey-puzzle, their laughter filling the house until hers was no longer fake but real. Marie knew he was giving her an out from her melt-down, knew instinctively that he was side-stepping what had happened. Because truth be told, she’d never seriously considered kicking Mariko’s ass for hurting him. Just Jean’s. And if they were to talk about that, then they would have to talk about a whole lot else. Like Remy, and the children. Like why he’d stopped tucking that strand of white hair behind her ear. And she just wasn’t ready for that. Marie was grateful he’d let her walk away from it, at least for another day; She couldn’t face it, not when she was still wearing her wedding ring.

But that wouldn’t last forever, a voice suddenly whispered in her head. Nothing does, not even Jean Grey.

His laughter and her children’s rang through the mansion as she chased them then, sounding younger than she’d ever heard him, where five minutes ago he’d seemed ancient and drawn. His grin brimming over with affection, the happiest she’d seen him since he and Mariko split. Dammit, why did he have this effect on her? she groused. And why should Ah care that he does? Because for the first time in nearly two years Rogue felt like laughing. Felt like tomorrow, awkward as it was gonna be in the Danger Room with Jeannie, was worth it if it meant this moment here. She ran after her kids, her family, smiling. This mother of two for the first time in a long time really feeling like a Kid. But then Logan always did that to her-

She saw him then, smiling at her. Saw his hands twitch towards her silver stripes. But she wasn't ready for it, neither of them were. Not while she was still wearing her wedding ring.

Though three days later, Jeannie noticed it. That Marie had taken to calling him cher.