The weather changed quickly, the trees became bare and stark from the loss of their leaves, and the sky was grey more often than blue.

Halloween came and went, and outside of a few missions rescuing adolescent mutants, things were like before. Wolverine reclaimed his position of Combat Instructor, freeing up Scott to return to English, Dr. Hank McCoy to Biology, and Ororo to Mathematics. Kurt was content teaching World Religions while Professor Xavier continued to teach Ethics and Philosophy. Rogue was a mentor to the youngest students as she took college correspondence courses. The remaining house staff was fellow mutants, cast off by society but finding a place there, in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

Kitty and Jubilee visited on some weekends, both having chosen to go to college in upper New York State and Bobby and Piotr spent Thanksgiving with the X-Men, away from their West Coast colleges. Presently, the fulltime X-Men were Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Beast, Wolverine, and Rogue. And everything would have been perfect except for one thing.

Wolverine did not want Rogue to be an X-Man.

He argued that Rogue was too young and too inexperienced, but the other team members knew the real reason. Putting Rogue in dangerous situations went against every instinct Logan had, despite her arguably being the strongest of them. The discord began to create a rift between them.



*****



“Lay off, Wolverine!”

Rogue stormed out of the Blackbird, ears roaring as she tried to keep a lid on her temper. Logan followed close behind.

“How can I ‘lay off,’ kid if you keep makin’ stupid mistakes that get ya hurt! “ He was yelling, not in the least concerned about keeping a lid on his own temper.

She stopped abruptly and faced him, causing him to almost smack right into her. Eyes narrowed, she yelled back, “Ah do not make stupid mistakes! You need to stay out of my way!”

He leaned down into her face and snarled, “What you need, is someone to keep ya in line. Yer too cocky, Rogue.”

She pulled back, offended, raising her clenched fist to deck him. But her arm was caught by a big, blue, furry hand, and it strained with some effort to hold her back. “I apologize dear Rogue, but I must insist that you refrain from striking Wolverine, however warranted.” Both Wolverine and Rogue glared at Beast, and growled.

Wolverine turned sharply and gave Rogue a questioning look. She ignored him and stomped off, tearing off her gloves as she made her way to the women’s locker room.

“Wolverine.”

Logan continued to stare after Rogue, ignoring the X-Men leader.

“Wolverine!” Cyclops repeated loudly, causing the remaining X-Men to jump. Logan turned to Scott, scowling.

“Follow me. Now.” Scott instructed tersely, brushing past him down the jet’s ramp. Logan didn’t move for several moments before releasing a frustrated growl.

I don’t have time for this, he thought testily as he strode after Cyclops.

Scott led him into the men’s locker room and Logan followed his lead as they took off their uniforms in silence. Logan was working hard to calm himself down and Scott waited until the larger man’s breathing returned somewhat to normal before speaking.

“You have to stop Logan.”

Logan continued to undress, ignoring him. Scott wrapped a towel around his waist and stood in front of Logan, arms folded across his chest. “Rogue is a fully accredited member of the X-Men. She was an X-Man long before you came back.”

That got Logan’s attention. “I don’t recall voting her in Slim.”

“You weren’t here.”

“You shoulda waited.”

“Rogue was well on her way to becoming an X-Men whether you were coming back or not Logan,” Scott informed him. “I wouldn’t have allowed you to stand in her way.”

Wolverine stood nose to nose with Cyclops and said slowly and menacingly, “Gettin’ in my way is a really bad idea, bub.”

Scott refused to let Logan goad him, despite the telling tic playing along his jaw. “Your inability to trust Rogue while on a mission can become a liability to this team Wolverine. It’s my responsibility to ensure that each member puts the team’s needs and safety above their own personal agenda. Wolverine, I am instructing you to stand down.”

Wolverine was angry, and was getting more so with every word that Scott threw at him. “Or what, Cyke? Are ya tellin’ me that if I don’t accept Rogue as an X-Man, I’m off the team?”

Tense moments passed. The younger man’s shoulders slumped resignedly. “The X-Men need you Wolverine. But Rogue needs you to see how hard she worked over these past few years to earn that X on her uniform. You can’t lose your place on the X-Men Logan, but you can lose your place in Rogue’s life.”

He walked away to the showers, leaving Logan frowning.


*****




Rogue was in pain.

She was desperate to walk away from the team as quickly as possible to allow her time to heal before Logan could determine the full extent of her wounds. The leather of her uniform didn’t let too much blood escape. She knew Wolverine could smell her blood as soon as they boarded the Blackbird so she fanned his anger as a buffer to keep him away from her during the short flight home.

She peeled her uniform off and jumped into a shower stall. She watched with abject fascination as a copious amount of blood flowed from her body down into the drain. The gash in her side began to close, the puckered skin self stitching itself. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Super healing or not, it still hurt like a bitch.

Rogue was still battling with her anger, furious at Wolverine for constantly doubting her, for not trusting in her abilities. She was done being hurt by his lack of confidence in her. Now she was just plain mad.

After a few minutes, she began to wash the mission’s efforts away, noting that Storm had already made her way into a neighboring shower stall. She let the hot water pulsate down onto her head, and absently returned Storm’s goodnight wishes when the other woman finished her shower and left the locker room. Rogue stayed under the water for a long time. She was bone tired, physically and emotionally.

She finally stepped out of the shower and dressed into her familiar, shapeless long sleeve t-shirt and leggings. She pushed her damp hair back with a simple hair band, pulling on her gloves when she exited the locker room. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to notice the man leaning against the hallway wall as she walked towards the elevator.

“Hold up kid.”

Startled, she spun around and barely managed to keep her bone claws sheathed as she crouched into a fighting position. Wolverine lifted his hands palms outward, surprised at her quick reflexes. “Hey, I ain’t the enemy.”

Rogue slowly straightened up, her eyes cold. “Could have fooled me.”


Oh, she was spitting mad, his Marie.


He inhaled deeply and found himself enjoying the smell of her fury. Startled by his reaction, he snapped at her, “Stop actin' like a baby and grow up.”

Her eyes ignited in anger. She pushed him against the wall, holding back just enough to prevent him from crashing through it. “Ah am this close to showing you just how grown up Ah really am Wolverine,” she spat at him.

Rogue could be the strongest on the team, but Wolverine was still the quickest. He retaliated by throwing her over his shoulder onto the ground and holding her in place by placing his body on top of hers, taking advantage of his heavy frame. One large hand held both of hers above her head and she immediately panicked. Her exposed throat was too close to his bare arm, her face too near his own. Eyes wide with fear, she whispered, “Please Logan, Ah don’t want to hurt you.”

He looked at her puzzled, at first not understanding, still a bit winded. When he realized what she meant, he stood up, taking her with him, his hands reassuringly gripping her gloved ones. “I’m careful Marie, I wouldn’t have got hurt.”

She closed her eyes and nodded quickly, willing herself to calm down. She felt herself become less tense as she let her anger go. Looking into his eyes, she asked, “Why can’t you accept me Logan? That this is my life now?”

He was silent, taking in the clean, fresh scent of her, caught in the deep sea of her eyes. Logan felt the animal in him stir and he abruptly let go of her.

“Because as much as you want to play at bein' an adult,” he told her harshly, “ya ain’t.”

She looked at him, trying to understand him, trying to forgive him. Deep disappointment laced itself together with sadness. With that reflecting in her eyes, she said softly, “Good night Wolverine.”

She stepped into the elevator and took one last look at him, but he kept his face in profile. She turned away as the doors shut closed.



*****




She was avoiding him.

Instead of using the Danger Room early in the morning like she usually did, she was there when Logan was busy in the gymnasium for his close combat classes. Instead of eating an early breakfast, she ate her breakfast on the go and had a late lunch. Dinner was spent by herself, or visiting Jubilee and Kitty at their college dorm.

She was everywhere and nowhere. It was frustrating the hell out of him.

He always missed her by mere moments, her scent still strong in the air whenever he entered a room, so sure to find her there. This went on for days, and it was getting annoying.

Then the Louisiana swamp rat showed up. Ororo brought him back with her from a mission, an old friend of hers, who went by the name of Gambit. He got under Logan’s skin more than Scott did, with his creepy red eyes, and his lazy manner of speaking in a Cajun accent. This Remy LeBeau just screamed trouble.

And this trouble was setting his sights on Marie.
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