The next night, Rogue didn't know how she lasted an entire day with Logan in Room 6. They slept beside each other on the bed, had a late brunch, and now they were watching TV. It was like her non-working day with Scott, only weirder, because even before the whole fiasco, she and Logan always fell into a routine whenever they were together. They would laugh at movie characters, ask each other useless questions, ask one another for more beer, more chips, etc. Now, it was the same, only that they managed not to sit too close with each other. They were being careful, but at the same time, they were waiting for one of them to lose it.

Or maybe it's my paranoia, Rogue thought. Because Logan was really just comfortable with her no matter what the situation was. He was always so cool and she always loved that about him. She was actually thankful that he didn't look like he was about to bolt back to New York. Speaking of... "Don't you want to go back to the mansion?"

Eyes on the TV set, Logan shrugged. "Nah; never was my thing."

Rogue couldn't help but raise a brow with that response. "Hard to tell."

Logan had the audacity to chuckle, as if she was implying something stupid. "Other than my business with Chuck, I did actually return for you." He turned to her, face serious. "Not for Jean."

Her heart sped up with that sudden remark. Were they really going to talk about this now? Feeling all sorts of uncomfortable, she yawned. "I'm hungry. Do you want me to go out for food?" She wanted him to say yes, but she had a notin that he would just ignore her attempt to change the subject, and he did.

"I loved Jean."

The green monster reared its familiar ugly head right between her ribcage. If only she can make her stomach rumble or his head explode. She rolled her eyes and she wished he saw it.

"Lika a friend," Logan added. "With flirtin' benefits." He chuckled. "A pissed off Scooter is good as gold too."

Ok, now that she didn't expect, because Rogue felt speechless. Was she supposed to believe that? One wrong word from her and they might be caught in an argument, or fucking, or whatever. She wanted to tell him to shut it, but somehow, she wanted to hear it herself. Was it just an excuse? A part of her also just wanted her heart to break. But Logan's face was contemplative, like he had been trying to get his head around this particular issue for a while already.

"Before I... stopped the Phoenix, I told Jean I loved her," he said slowly. A frown was etched on his face. "I said it because Scott couldn't say it for her -he was dead as far as we knew then. The Professor would have said it to her, just as her students would have too. But I never really understood it for myself. And when she was really gone... I knew that I lost someone important in my life. I lost a best friend."

Maybe now was a good time to smack him on the face, Rogue thought, although she understood what he was trying to say.

Logan shot her a grin. "Now, I'm not telling you I didn't find her attractive. You'd know from my memories I was more than willin' to bed her, but I never did love her. She was the best friend to talk to when I was down. Scott was always such a whiney bastard then, always insecure with my presence around Jean. Hank is always too serious and Ororo is too kind. Chuck was too pokey in the head department. And you..." he sighed. "You had a life to live."

Talk about something else, Rogue ordered herself mentally. "Do you want to know anything about your past? I can access Victor's memories if you want." But instead of nodding and agreeing, Logan just blinked at her and shook his head.

"No."

After always leaving me in the mansion to search for your past, you say no? Rogue grit her teeth. "Why not?"

"It's not as urgent as I thought it was," Logan said casually. "When you're immortal, and you've got what you need right in front of you will take your time now and then."

"Is that what you did with me? Take your fucking time?" Honestly, she didn't mean to sound so irate. But she couldn't help it. She felt a little satisfied when Logan flinched.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Logan said. "But the thing is, you... you're my most urgent, Marie. All I know is, we're going to be in this for the long haul. And I want to make sure we're on the same boat before we start doing, uh... other stuff." He turned away to look at the screen.

The emotional mood efficiently destroyed, Rogue's eyes glinted mischievously. "Things like what?"

Logan wiped a hand over his face, then his hair. A part of him felt dejected with the sudden shift of topic. In terms of friendship, they were still great together, but the line he was so careful not to cross was definitely gone. For so long he had considered her his friend, the little sister he might have had in another life, his constant. Marie was his reminder that there was still hope in this world. Now all he could think about was bending her over wherever. Sure, he still wanted to talk, wanted to sort out through their baggage and all that, but she was making it so hard for him, pun intended. "Marie... I'm not sayin' we shouldn't do it again, but why are you rushing?" The disappointment darkened her gaze but he had to be reasonable, somehow. "It's not that I'm deciding for both of us -we both know you're no longer a kid, but..." He groaned. "I want you to understand we're still new at this whole relationship thing and..."

He paused when he felt a hand on his bicep. He looked at her, the typhoon that upturned his boat, and yet the float that spared him his life. He knew she was still far from convinced, but somehow, she was looking up at him with something in her eyes, like she just had an epiphany, like she'd just seen the light.

"Logan... will you marry me?"

The sounds from the television were drowned out instantly. All he could see were her eyes, all he could hear was the beating of their hearts. It was thrumming in one rhythm, and it was beautiful as it was fatal. He wanted to kiss her, but he was frozen, the reality of everything dawning on him like he was-

Her laughter filled his ears, and the commercials from the TV began pounding back into his senses. "OH MY FUCKIN' GAWD! I should have caught your face on cam or something!" She wiped the tears from her eyes while he just stared at her. "Logan!" she called his name, tapping his cheek lightly with her palm. "I was joking."

Logan gulped. "Marie…"

Marie smiled sweetly at him and kissed his cheek lightly. "We've been so serious and I wanted to bring us out of that boohoo moment."

"Kid, that was not funny."

"Why, sugar, afraid of me?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

"I might…"

"OH! SHIT!" Marie exclaimed, jumping back to the floor. She went to the drawers and got some clothes. "Come with me, sugar, I have to show you something..."

Rogue sat him somewhere in the back of the bar. Logan was sipping his beer quietly, but he knew he was feeling fidgety all over. He said she would be showing him what she did for a living, and when he asked if she waited tables, she just glared at him and told him to shut up and enjoy the show. He was even more worried when she said 'show'. If Marie was stripping for money... letting so many men eye her with their hard dicks, he would unleash Wolverine in a blink of an eye. He was torturing himself with these thoughts, but deep inside, he was thinking of something else.

Marry Rogue, his Marie?

Logan took another big gulp of beer. Wolverine was laughing at his distress. Because Logan was excited.

A ZING from the stage interrupted his thoughts, and Logan's eyes zoomed up front. There stood his woman, a shiny electric guitar in her hands, and after one careless strum, she began to move her hand. Her fingers zipped and ground against the stringed-instrument, grinding out pure rock and roll. Her eyes were focused on her rift, intense and occupied. Sweat dripped from the sides of her face, glistened like tiny crystals on her creamy collarbone. She was playing that guitar so easily like a pro and she looked damn right sexy. Hot. Instant erection in his pants. This was his Marie? Then, in the middle of her piece, she stopped.

Everyone was still entranced, and the silence extended when she started to strum an acoustic song. She leaned closer to the microphone, those red and pouty lips he loved parted to sing. Her voice came out breathy like a moan. Woman.

"Hello
I've waited here for you... Everlong
Tonight I throw myself into
And out of the red
Out of her head she sang

"Come down
And waste away with me
Down with me
Slow how
You wanted it to be
Over my head
Out of her head she sang

"And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

"Breathe out so I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now I know you've always been
Out of your head, out of my head I sang

"And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

"And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when..."

Marie ended the song with her eyes closed, and when she returned back to earth, the place was loud with applause and whistles. She felt her face heat with the attention, but mostly it was because she knew that she sang that song for him. She smiled at the adoring audience and waved goodbye, handing the mic back to Koren. She stepped down and went to the backstage for a while, feeling the adrenaline still pumping in her veins. Music made her feel this way, but it intensified because of Logan. She knew he heard her pour her soul out not only with her playing, but with the song.

When the band started to play without her, she felt the heat of his gaze from the darkness. She smiled shyly at him, leaned back against the wall for support, feeling her knees would give away soon. "Always felt like that with you, you know? Waiting for you, everlong."

Logan took a step closer.

She watched him curiously. "Did you like what I played-"

Logan trapped her in a rough lip-lock, but the way he coaxed her into it felt like a gentle, slow burn to her. He was kissing her like it was their first time. She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. He licked her tongue with his own, and she moaned, her body wishing for more. She wanted to grind herself harder against his for more heat, but all he did was kiss her passionately. The heat exploded in her belly, and it's a strange mix with the way her heart is bursting with love, and she knew it was all for him, all for this man.

"I love you, Marie," Logan whispered hoarsely as he drew back. He pressed her against the wall, his arousal evident between their bodies, but he just stared at her like she had been lost and he had found her. "I've loved you the same way you've been waiting for me. Everlong." He didn't know when it started, but he knew it was never going to end.

Blinking back tears, Marie sniffed and buried her face in his chest. He kissed the top of her head, and she thought he would kiss her again or drag her out of the bar for that much-awaited love-making, but he just stared at her lovingly.

"Marie, please marry me."