After driving for two days straight across the United States and Canada with only short breaks for new gas, taking a bite in a diner and bathroom stops – they had taken turns with driving and sleeping – Logan finally steered their silver Jeep past the old and hardly readable sign of the small town in the Canadian Rocky Mountains that was their destination.

It had taken Rogue a huge amount of concentration and mental strength to worm the town's name out of her inner Victor – he was pissed that she didn't tell Logan that he'd played matchmaker for his little brother. But as soon as its name had left her lips Logan began to remember the place he'd spent some peaceful years with Kayla so long ago. Smiling the brunette noted the growing excitement on Logan's face as he drove along the main street past the town's center and bent into a road that led through the woods, the whole route recalling from his slowly returning memories.

A quarter hour after leaving downtown and crossing a small bridge near the end of the woods Rogue's brown eyes fell upon an old wooden cabin and a small hut adjoining it near a cliff. When the car finally came to a stop she noticed a new unknown emotion flicker over Logan's features as he remained in the driver seat, his hands held the steering wheel in a tight grip his knuckles whitening and his gaze never left the building. At first Rogue was unsure of this emotion, she had never witnessed it on her love's face before, but a few minutes later – Logan was like glued to his seat – she came to the conclusion that her Wolverine was indeed afraid of what might be waiting for him in his previous life.

Tentatively she covered his hand with her gloved one squeezing it lightly. Slowly this broke the spell her Logan was under and his hazel eyes met hers taking strength from her encouraging smile. A moment later the Canadian leaned forward and captured the young woman's lips in a gentle kiss, breaking away when he felt the pull on his life force start. He shook the dizziness from his head before an insecure smile found its way on his lips. "It's no use sittin' here any longer, darlin'."

= We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you =

As they stepped away from their car and approached the porch, walking by the two windows of the wooden front side of the cabin and finally rounded the corner Logan took in the back side with its large glass windows that covered the whole wall from top to bottom. Suddenly he slowed his pace and came to a halt staring into the bedroom, the old dark green and grey checkered curtains partly blocked his view. Rogue was by his side as always and entangled their fingers gazing up to his hardly readable face. "Ah like it, sugah."

Slowly Logan met her sparkling brown eyes telling him she indeed loved it.

"It's like Ah have imagined. This screams you." A large smile found its place on her lips. "This wooden cabin in the middle of the Canadian wilderness with so much space around it… and this breathtaking scenery!" She spun around never letting go of his hand and her eyes glittered with joy as they roamed over the giant canyon and the mountains beyond. "Ah wanna watch the sun rise and peek slowly over the snowy mountain tops!" She heard an amused chuckle and her Wolverine's arms move around her waist from behind. "It's so peaceful." The brunette leaned back against his broad chest, her hands rested on his on her middle and she felt him place a kiss on her dark head.

They stood there in comfortable silence, their thoughts wandering off along with the slight wind until Logan murmured. "I never thought about how or where I would want to live… There was no time for that with my search of my past… of the place I might have lived in as a completely different person." It slipped past his lips before he could grasped that he had indeed spoken those words out aloud.

= No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start =

Rogue shook her head rubbing it onto his chest before she turned around in his embrace and met his shy gaze. "Sugah, seeing this place and having some of your memories of your former life… Ah told ya mah Logan begins to remember too… Ah don't think that deep down James Howlett and Logan are so different."

A smirk plastered his features wondering on how well this young woman knew him – if he wouldn't know it any better he would think her a telepath. "Thought I was your Logan."

"Ya are, sugah. Don't change the topic." Her hands rested on his shoulders and her chocolate eyes drowned in his. "Ya always showed this other side of ya to me and only me. Your kindness and care… your love. They were always there and Ah think, sugah, this part of ya was James Howlett coming to the surface."

He didn't know what to say on that - this might be something to nag on in a sleepless night - and an annoyed growl rumbled in his throat.

"Too slobbery for mah Wolverine?" Grinning Rogue encircled his neck with her gloved arms and tip-toed to reach up kissing her Wolverine hard on the mouth.

After breaking away to avoid the drain of his life-force Rogue snuggled her face into his chest breathing in his unique scent of tobacco, leather and wood. "It's so beautiful here."

"No. It's nice here, you're beautiful, sweetheart."

Her dark eyebrow raised in surprise as her cheeks blushed. "Sweetheart?"

"Don't like it?" An eyebrow cocked he watched her smiling lips crush on his in a silent reply. "Thought about the vast collection of pet-names that exists." He added with a smirk when he let finally go of the brunette and slung one arm around her waist leading her back to the wooden side of the cabin where the entrance lay. "Let's have a look inside."

= And Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
A Wonderful journey =

Their eyes fell in unison onto the lock of the oak door. "Ya don't have the key by chance, sugah?"

With a smug grin Logan slid one of his Adamantium claws from his knuckles and drove it through the lock, turning his hand to break the metal cylinder within the security device and the door soon gave way with a creak.

"Ooh, mah man is a housebreaker." Rogue joked with a grin and watched him retract his claw.

With as much care as Wolverine could give an inanimate piece of wood he slowly pulled the door towards his body, the old and rusty hinges screamed under the sudden movement and revealed a swollen doorpost due to water damage over the past two decades. To don't strain the already damaged hinges any more Logan left the door only half open, enough for him and Marie to have a look into the dusty room. Stepping inside his nostrils caught the foul smell of mold and noted his love's grimacing features behind him; she also smelled it though she still stood on the porch.

Tentatively he switched on the light, but as he already had guessed there was no electricity and the room remained covered half in darkness, the only light fell through the large glass wall on the opposite side of the room. But this was more than enough for his enhanced sight to have a good look of this old and abandoned cabin.

On the furniture all over the room lay a thick grey layer of dust, in the middle of the large living room - kitchen combination beneath the fireplace made of stone was a heap of small branches, rotten leaves and dirt reaching up all the way into the chimney. Growling Logan inwardly cursed the bad condition his cabin was in, but then again it were almost two decades.

Meanwhile Rogue had entered the old building noting with distaste the cobwebs almost everywhere and her eyes finally locked onto a rather large spot in a corner. The entire parquet and the adjoining wooden walls in that spot were swollen and deformed, mold was growing in the gaps of the wood.

"You still like it, baby?" His eyebrow was cocked.

Rogue kicked a heap of rotten leafs with her boot revealing more white and black mold beyond. "We have to clean it a little."

He faced her startled. "A little?!"

"'K, we need a tsunami roll through the house." Switching on the torch light she had taken from their car, Rogue pointed the small light ray over the dirty floor and eventually up the damaged corner, silently cursing that Logan's enhanced senses had already left her. As the ceiling was finally covered in light, she took in the awning that peaked through a soccer ball big hole of the wooden roof. She frowned at the makeshift repair. "That's weird."

Logan looked up from tattered couch – the cushions on the timber frame were torn and the fluffy filling pulled out on virtually all ends. "Whatdaya mean?"

Stepping closer Marie inspected the corner more closely. "The roof… it was fixed. But rather sloppy." She heard her love approach and pointed her index finger up.

Narrowing his sharp eyes Logan noticed the swollen roof-parts surrounding the repair and the dried water damage of the adjoining walls. "You're right, darlin', that's weird." Had someone taken care of this cabin in the last years? But why only repairing the worst damage and not renovate the entire hut so you could use it? A loud stomp of Rogue's foot onto the parquet ripped Logan's eyes from the ceiling and back to the brunette next to him, squashing something under her boot. A second later she lifted her foot again and thundered it back down onto another spider crawling obviously over the floor.

Rogue felt his gaze on her and looked up with a smug smirk. "Thought Ah would shriek like a little girl?!"

Grinning he shook his head. "Nah. Otherwise the poor spider on your shoulder'd have a heart attack."

The brunette's corners of her mouth fell downwards as her eyes widened in disgust and she began to smack her shoulders with her hands and torch light in panic. "Eeek, where! Kill it, Logan!" After a moment of terror her ears caught the dark laughter of her Wolverine. Stopping her strange dance she glared at the man with burning eyes, several auburn strains torn from her ponytail and sprawled about her face, mixing up with her white streaks. "Jerk!"

'She's so cute when she's angry.' Logan thought unable to bite his chuckles down.

Annoyed the young woman turned on her heels and stormed across the living room. With her arms crossed over her chest she let her gaze travel out the large windows over the breathtaking scenery of the Rockies and then back in over the small dining table with its two chairs placed directly in front of the overwhelming panorama. Dust and dried plant parts covered the tabletop around a tiny vase and she began to wipe them off the table absently.

Logan had approached one of the two doors leading to other rooms within the cabin and was now entering the bedroom. His eyes fell upon the king-size bed, and then swiftly swept along the walls and the ceiling, thankful that no water damages were visible.

"Odd… the bedroom is rather clean. There are almost no cobwebs in here." He called, so Rogue would hear his findings. "And the dust layer isn't as thick as in the main room."

The brunette made her way over to the smaller room and took a not so deep breath as her gaze inspected the furniture. "It even smells better."

"No mold in here." The Canadian explained rather surprised and neared the nightstand and the framed picture on it.

"But therefore a happy face is craved into the wall." Her fingers ran over the scratches and she wondered if this hut was a secret hide-out of the local teenagers. Her suspicion was strengthened by the heap of butts gathered in a mug. With a sigh her eyes left the makeshift ashtray and wandered over to her love. He stood there like frozen with his back to her holding something that had caught his full attention. She wasn't sure if it was sorrow or hurt she felt coming from him, but decided to support and sooth his troubled emotions with her closeness.

= I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you =

Her shoulder brushed against his upper arm as she caught sight of the two people in the picture Logan was holding. "She was beautiful." Rogue stated and a small smile formed on her lips as she studied the old photo. In it Logan's face was soft and relaxed with a loving smile – an expression he showed only to his Marie normally – his arm holding Kayla by the waist pressing her tightly to his body. "You two looked happy together." Rogue didn't feel jealous seeing this evidence of his former life and love, but was glad that Logan finally has found his lost past and the knowledge that he weren't such a monster, Stryker had told him he had been. And that there was someone, who had loved the scared soul of his.

"It feels kinda unreal." Logan eventually murmured, tracing the glass of the frame with his index finger before tearing his gloomy gaze from the picture and met his Marie's kind eyes.

Seeing his face Rogue noticed the tears shimmering in his hazel eyes, threaten to fall any moment. She saw his struggle and lifted her hand to his face, running her fingertips down his temple and over his sideburns. "It's fine."

Those words were all that was needed to give into his sorrow about his forgotten past and before he knew it, Logan found himself in a comforting embrace while long overdue tears streamed down his cheeks. Burying his face in Rogue's salt-and-pepper hair, his arms wrapped tightly around her petite frame, the picture pressed to her back while she just held him and caressed his back soothingly.

= We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you =

But instead of giving into his sadness Logan lifted his head and locked his watery gaze with the young woman's, holding her pressed to his chest. "Nah, Kayla is my past. You are my future." He told her fighting his tears again.

The brunette shook her head, feeling her own eyes at the brim of tears. Her heart ached for the man in her arms, whom wasn't only his identity denied for so long, but also the right to mourn what he had lost. "But ya never had a chance to close that chapter of your life. To grieve." She felt her inner Logan's misery wash over her as his flesh and blood counterpart finally surrendered to his emotions.

= I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
I know that my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart =