Author's Chapter Notes:
*Not much action, lot of thinking, promise more of the fun stuff soon.


She wanted to wipe the smug grin from off his face.

Glaring at him she growled, arms across her chest from where she stood, leaning against the wall of the quarantine unit.

He was unphased and the smirk on his face just got bigger, “You can’t still be angry with me. It worked.”

She heard a snort from the other side of the clear barrier and turned her glare over to the big blue mutant leaning over a microscope. “How could you let him come in here to see me Hank? You knew he’d do this!”

Hank leaned back sighing. He was probably tired of hearing her and Logan bickering back and forth, but she was in a fury and didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

“Logan had promised me he wouldn’t touch you. ‘Cross my heart, Doc.’ I believe were his exact words,” he narrowed his eyes at Wolverine a moment before returning them to her, “I assure you I originally had no intentions of letting him enter, but he surprised me by begging very openly. I admit I was shocked and perhaps a bit too soft hearted.”

“The big, bad Wolverine actually begged?” she asked, turning back to look at Logan, both unbelieving and taunting.

The smile on his face drooped for just a moment before returning, “Got me in didn’t it?”

She frowned at him. “Logan, you could have died! I could have killed you!”

“I didn’t. You didn’t. So why are we still arguing about this kid?” he said gruffly. He was laying on the medical bed, hands behind his head, legs crossed over one another. A man without a care in the world. Quite a feat for someone who could very well have a mutant killing virus making its way through his system right now. She sighed.

Why was she still arguing this with him? It was like beating her head against the wall trying to get him to understand anything. How hard was it to get thru that thick adamantium plated skull of his that she couldn’t live with herself if she killed him and it was about as simple as that.

Maybe direct and to the point would work. She stomped to the middle of the room pointing a finger at him. “Don’t EVER fucking touch me again,” she growled. His eyebrow shot up. That’s right sugar, I used MY nonnegotiable voice.

She watched as he stood up slowly and walked to stand right in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of him radiating on her skin, arms crossed over his chest, the smirk now replaced with a frown, muscles tense. The Wolverine was barely contained. He hated being told what to do almost as much as she did. “Let’s get one thing clear Rogue. I do whatever I want when I fucking want and if I want to fucking touch you, I’m going to touch you.” His voice dropped at the end and a fury was burning in his eyes.

Her breath caught in her chest. She couldn’t help herself, the growl in his voice was like liquid fire flowing thru her and without meaning to she found herself leaning into him. His chest rumbled suddenly in amusement. “Sure you don’t want me to touch you?” And if that statement wasn’t just dripping with all sorts of promises. Looking up she saw the smirk had returned on his face. Damn him. And now the Wolverine in her head was all “Mine, Mine, Mine” and that wasn’t helping her mood any.

She growled and pushed him hard enough to send him crashing into the wall. He stood up, looking at her a moment before cracking his neck and walked over to resume his position on the medical bed. “If your hurt and I can fix you, I’m going to do it. Just the way it is kid.” And it was as simple as that to him.

A loud “Hmmmm” diverted her attention back to Hank who was looking thoughtfully at a petri dish. She watched as he scratched his head a moment and then grabbed for the hot cup of coffee sat on the desk next to him, sipping it gingerly as he contemplated whatever was on his mind.

“So what’s the verdict?” Logan’s voice loud from behind her shoulder, causing her to jump. She shot a glare at him, but he just smiled. It was unnerving that he was able to sneak up on her like that. She must be more distracted by events then she realized.

“I am afraid, while she is obviously notably improved, the Legacy Virus is still within Rogue, though it has appeared the addition of your healing ability has somehow stopped and even reversed the virus’s mutation. It is presenting only as its normal, original strain. It is very…peculiar.”

Rogue didn’t know much of anything about science or medicine, but she knew enough about people to tell from the tone of Hank’s voice that this wasn’t something that should be happening or should even be possible.

“What about Logan?” she asked. The only important question in her mind.

Hank glared at Logan a moment, obviously still put out by the stunt he pulled. “It seems that his foolish gallantry has provided perhaps some benefit, as indicated by your much improved condition and he has luckily escaped from being infected himself. Though there are traces of something, I am unable to define what at this time, forming in his cells. It could be that the virus is just taking longer to assimilate in his body due to his extensive healing capabilities. For the time being, he’ll need to remain quarantined and I would like to perform some more tests.”

She heard Logan grumble behind her. Tests. Something neither of them enjoyed.

Hank spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening running them both through all sorts of machines and taking enough blood between the two of them to fully stock a small blood bank. He was lucky to survive the entire process with only a few claw marks and a black eye. Sometimes it was hard to stop reflexes that had become so deeply engrained from time spent in a lab.

When he finished, Hank had an extra cot brought in, after Logan adamantly declared that he didn’t need his own room, and enough food to feed a small army, though neither of them touched it. The tension of the entire situation had her stomach so tied up in knots just the sight of the meal had made her nauseous. The good doctor had also made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that no one, except himself, was to visit the patients. He probably feared one of Wolverine’s groupies might try to break him out. Hank definitely wasn’t one to be fooled twice, though to look at Logan sprawled out happily on his cot, you’d have guessed he was enjoying this confinement.

The soft sound of his breathing a few feet away normally would have been a comfort, but tonight it just seemed to set every nerve on edge. She growled and turned so she was facing the wall. Since Hanks announcement they hadn’t said a word to each other. The silence was grating, but she wasn’t about to break it. She was still too angry at him for risking his life, especially when she had just tried so damn hard to save it.

She had known nothing in her life but pain, hate, and deceit, had never had anything remotely close to what one would call a friend and she knew what she and Logan shared ran much deeper than that. He was the one person who had proven time and time again that she could trust him, depend on him. If she was fiercely protective of that, of him, could anyone blame her?

She owed him so much really. It had been his touch that had healed her body from the damage the lab had caused, allowing her to regain control not only of her skin, but also of her mind. For that alone she could sacrifice herself a thousand times and never feel like she’d properly paid him back.

Then, he had come after her, not just once, but twice; when the breakout had happened at the lab and when Sabertooth and Wild Child had kidnapped her and the comfort of knowing he was there, that he cared enough to risk his freedom and his life for her, there were no words for what that meant to her. Add that to the emotions he brought up inside of her, feelings she had never felt before, could hardly begin to properly define; desire, want, need, love? And one emotion she could define; fear.

She sighed, rolling over to stare up at the dark ceiling annoyed. It was easier to stay angry, to stay mad. She could rely on that to protect her. These other emotions, she was unused to them, but it was the fear that caused her the most distress. She was afraid for herself, for him, of losing him, of what losing him might do to her. She had somehow become so insanely dependent on him, without even meaning to. It was like suddenly her small world that she had held so tightly and fiercely protective to her chest for as long as she could remember had somehow expanded, just slightly, to allow him into it. For once in her life, she was no longer alone.

“Logan.” The whisper seemed to echo loudly off the walls of the quite room. She didn’t want to say it, to be the first to break the silence, to let go of that anger, but she knew she had to, it was the least he deserved, for everything. She drew in a breath, a breath that was allowed, that came to her without any pain or hardship, thanks to the mutant laying a few feet away from her and the next words seemed hardly adequate, but they were all she had. “Thank you.”

A moment of quiet. “Anytime kid.”

And just like that the tension released out of her body and finally sleep was able to descend, pulling her under into dreams.

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