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Author's Chapter Notes:
Guess who's back?

I just want to say thank you to all those of you who have encouraged me; your posts really warmed my heart!

I can promise you two things: I will finish this story and I WILL give my very best to make it worth your while.

(Bowing to the ground) At your service,

Free
Marie was at a loss for words. Her eyes riveted to the glass window through which she could see Logan...or Wolverine more likely. Slowly, she splayed her fingers on the cold glass, almost falling off the wheelchair she was sat on, trying by sheer force of will to phase through that window that separated her from her mate. Oh, how she wished she were Kitty right now...But if she were, then she wouldn't be in what could only be described as a predicament.

Rogue's true situation came crashing down on her as she looked on, the world suddenly narrowing to Wolverine, her babies and herself. She was barely 19, lab escapee and pregnant...with twins, no less! And now that she needed him the most, Rogue realized that the man she loved was in no state to be able to do anything for her. For the very first time she realized how much she'd been counting on Logan ever since she was brought to the lab. Even when he was feral, she'd been counting on him to give her strength to hold on, strength to go on.

And now...

She burst into tears at the thought. Logan, or Wolverine, or whatever his name could be, HER mate needed her more than anything else. He was locked once again, scared and hurt and she couldn't let things happen anymore. She was back, in a place safe enough for her to fully concentrate on her family. A family...

Not even in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined that she would have one; not since her mutation hit.

Trying her best to regain her composure, Marie took several deep breaths, concentrating on the here and now and digging deep inside herself to find back her courage, her true self. Oh, but the lab had broken her, they'd managed to do that, the last straw being the shaving of her head and the dog tags around her neck. She still had them on. No one dared taking it away from her while she was 'asleep'. She'd been sleeping long enough. Two full weeks according to Storm. Well now was the time to push the past away and move on.

With numb fingers Rogue wiped away her tears, sniffling a little. Coming back to the world she was still in she turned to the weather goddess still kneeling by her side.


"Storm. He needs me. Please, let me in. He won't hurt me."

Rogue's voice was soft, her southern accent suddenly gone.
To make her point, she started to stand up, legs heavy and uncooperative. Once, twice, failing but trying again. One step. Then a second and a third. She was shaking, yes, but she was up. Ororo, seeing the determination in her former student's eyes, could do nothing but comply. She stood up and helped Rogue walk to the Danger Room's double doors. Typed the code and led the way to where the prisoner was.


"I'll be alright now. Thank you, for everything. You don't know how much this means to me...and to him." The last words catching in her throat as it constricted violently, warning for an approaching torrent of tears.
But it never came.

Rogue wiped again at her face, hearing the retreating footsteps of her former teacher.


************************************


He'd caught her scent even before she arrived, despite the sedatives, the pain and the fear. His body was covered with red scars from the shooting that befell him as he tried to protect his mate and cub. He remembered everything, every second of agony was engraved in his brain, forever.

He thought he would never see her again, that the lab had taken him again, that he'd never find freedom. He was aware that it was a different facility, that the people weren't the same, that there were fewer doctors but a lot more prisoners, though he had never seen any of them. He'd just smelt them, but the strange thing was that they didn't smell scared or hurt, like him. If he had to give a name to their scent, he'd say that they smelt...happy?


No, that couldn't be, he was losing it!


Red rimmed hazel eyes looked, filled with pain, too tired to hope, too tired to realize. But she was there. The white-haired female was gone and he was alone with her; his mate.

He looked as she raised a trembling hand and trailed it down his face, cool fingers disappearing in his hair-covered cheeks and resting there.

That's when he believed. A touch from her, that's what it took to make the pain vanish, make the shivering stop and take away all the bad memories that kept him awake nights and days alike.

Soon her other hand joined its twin in its soothing caresses. Smoothing his long bangs out of his eyes, moving down his cheeks and climbing back up, trailing down again until the wetness in his eyes dried.

He was watching her intently, gathering a courage that had deserted him, a strength he knew he didn't have, pushing his will to the very limit, he lifted up a hand.
He touched her too. He wanted to do a lot more than that, but that simple, gentle gesture robbed him of physical strength. Slowly, softly, he trailed his own fingers down the soft skin of his mate's face, trying to remember the good things, the rare good things of the time when they were together in the cell. The memory of her tightly surrounding him made the stinging in his eyes come back. He couldn't control it, he knew he should but all of a sudden, it didn't matter so much anymore.

Her voice...She was saying something to him. That word...he'd heard it before. In the cell. It was a good word, a word he wanted to say back to her, to connect with her on that level; the talking.
It was hard and unnatural to him but he tried. God he tried. Long broken sound coming from his throat, that magical word that make the darkness in his mind go away:


"Looo-gaann."
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