Logan examined himself in the brightly lit mirror of the bathroom. It had been a long time since he'd given any thought to his appearance. At this point, he might fit into a line up of Duck Dynasty.
Taking a second look at his hair, he reassessed that. He looked more like a crazy cousin. Well, there was something he could do about that. How in the world had Marie even put up with this for so long? Impeccable manners, that's how. That and a temporary arrangement.
Parting ways was something he'd tried not to think of. Until recently his life had fallen into a pattern. As far back as he could remember, back when the Hudsons found him newly escaped from Weapon X, death and destruction surrounded him. It wasn't just Jean, though her death was the final straw as would any of the X-Men family have been. He suspected death had been a part of his life since the beginning. Only with Marie had the pattern been broken.
Logan had always focused on survival, soldiering on through whatever life threw at him. Little time was left for grieving for a fallen comrade. With Jean it hit home; he'd built himself a family of sorts in the X-Men, even if her death saved other lives. Seeing how it affected everyone and knowing he was the one that brought that pain... It was best to drift rather than be met with the overwhelming weight of what he'd done.
Yet leaving hadn't changed what he felt and alone he couldn't find a way past it. Marie held the key to moving on. He didn't know if it was because her life had been touched by grief too. Or just that she showed him that life still held meaning and that he'd best pick up his sorry ass and get back to living. Either way, he only had a few more days with her and he wanted to put his best foot forward.
Finishing in the bathroom, he stood at the edge of the bed, hesitating to wake her. Not only because they hadn't actually slept until late in the night but he'd found himself watching her more and more. Logan wasn't sure he wanted to part ways with her, yet he didn't think it was a good idea to ask more of her.
"Hey," he said quietly. "Your turn."
He was out of the bedroom before he thought better of it and called back to her. "Taking a couple of things out to the SUV, then I'll fix breakfast." With a little effort, maybe they could make the rest of the trip without a preponderance of misunderstandings.
When he came back coffee was brewing and he could hear the shower running. They'd be able to eat and be on the road in close to an hour. He heard her packing just as he finished cooking breakfast.
Rogue dropped her duffle by the couch and almost tripped over her feet when she caught sight of him. It was quite the change. She hoped she'd recovered nicely by the time she sat down at the table to eat.
Logan had shaved and cut his hair, a completely different look than he was sporting last night. His hair definitely did its own wild thing, even short. The beard was gone, replaced with carefully sculpted sideburns. The other look wasn't terrible, but this was a unique look that he wore well. The touch of gray at his temples added to the overall image and she couldn't stop smiling
"What?" he asked before finishing off his eggs.
"I like it. It's," she paused, indicating his hair and felt the heat burn her face. "Sexy."
He returned her smile. It was nice to know that she could still blush after all the sex they'd had yesterday.
The smile he gave her reached his eyes and she couldn't resist the urge to tease him, "Before you know it you'll be smiling all the time."
Snorting, he cleared the table and started the dishes. She joined him, drying and putting things away. Once again he was wondering about their long-term compatibility. Even though they stood there working well together Marie didn't need to be tied to an old cuss like him. On his best days, he was still too jaded for the likes of her.
When they were finished they both took a quick tour around, making sure that everything was put back where they found it. Logan finally turned to her, "Ready?"
Rogue looked at the couch where they'd napped together, then at the rug in front of the fireplace. Someday she would save up enough money to get a rug exactly like it. She'd stepped into this cabin days ago dead set on her goal of Alaska, with a man unsure of his future. Now they were leaving, Logan seemed to have found his footing and she'd been set adrift in uncertainty.
She knew what she wanted, to stay here in this cabin; just the two of them. Yet that was an impossibility and selfish thinking of the girl she used to be. People can't be bent to her will and if she wanted to be an adult she needed to face those facts. "Yeah," she sighed.
Logan followed her to the door. He reset the alarm and closed the door securely. At the vehicle, he stared back at the little cabin with some regret. Shaking his head free of nostalgia, he climbed into the SUV to fulfill his part of their bargain.
The last four days had been spent back on the road and that evening they'd be in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The bumps in their relationship (and there she was again calling it something it wasn't) had smoothed out. Besides her wanting him something fierce, outside of the one act she did a couple hours ago, he'd kept his hands to himself once again.
It was the one thing about him she couldn't figure out. The most she could come up with was he wanted to make their separation as easy as possible. Back when he drank his meals and played at grieving hermit she knew she would have to move on. But with each passing day, she saw more and more of the man he used to be and her heart was being torn in two.
The best thing to do was work on collecting all the memories she could. The feel of his firm sure grip as he held her, the differing growls he used, even memorizing his profile as he drove. She'd also determined that she would try to get a few questions answered to straighten out his memories that lingered. Possibly help her keep that little spark of him in her mind alive forever.
"Logan, can I ask you something?"
"Just did," he answered with a smirk.
Rogue smiled, she was going to miss the teasing that he'd taken to. "Actually, I have a few questions."
"Questions?" He was slightly uncomfortable with the idea. It would end up being an awful game of twenty questions that left them both on edge.
She shrugged, assessing his willingness and offered an alternative. "Or we can take turns asking questions. You can even go first."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "What kinda questions?"
"Uhm..." She cleared her throat and tried to use a deep voice, "So, Rogue-"
"Marie," he corrected her.
"Right." She nodded and started again, "So, Marie-"
"I don't sound like that," he said trying to act offended.
Laughing, she continued, "What part of the South? Then I'd tell ya', Mississippi. Too hot in the summer, and only remember seeing snow once."
He nodded, not necessarily what he would ask as he'd never been one to set store by where people came from. Waiting he wondered what about him she didn't have answers to.
"Ninjas?" There was a piece of a dream that completely puzzled her.
"Hate'm. Undead ones are the worst," his voice held a lot of conviction and signaled that was all there was to that subject.
They sat in silence for a minute before she prompted, "Your turn."
He went with the first thing that popped into his head, "Had enough snow yet?"
Rogue laughed, "I suppose I should've but there's something about it that makes me think in the middle of the summer I'll be looking forward to it again."
He nodded in agreement and she asked her next question. "What's in Japan that you like so much?"
"Nothing anymore." When she drew her eyebrows together in consternation, he elaborated, "It's orderly and polite. The country has a beauty all it's own. Except the Ninjas."
"Of course," she said with a smile at his dislike of Ninjas.
"What happened with Eddie's wife?" Logan noticed she talked about them, but nothing about the wife after Eddie died.
"Savannah." She swallowed down the large lump forming in her throat. "After the funeral, she took to drinking." Rogue felt the tears sting her eyes. "It got bad and I couldn't help her. I..." With a sigh, she swiped at a tear. She'd gone to Savannah's pastor before she took to the road, hoping he could look after her. There was too much there to talk about and she was glad Logan didn't press the issue.
He didn't say anything and it surprised him even more that she stuck with him after the obvious feelings she had. It was her turn to ask a question and he waited until she was ready.
"Redheads?" she asked after composing herself.
He grunted then smiled, "Old story."
"If you don't..."
"No, it's fine," he said. It would be no more uncomfortable than her talking about Eddie and Savannah. "After Weapon X, this couple found me. Mostly feral. Heather, she saw the man underneath it all even when others didn't. When I first joined the X-Men, Jeannie was the same way."
"Oh," Rogue blinked, that explained a lot. "Both redheads."
"Yep," he confirmed.
"So why me?" There had been vague images in his memories of both women; she definitely didn't fit that type.
"That's two questions," he reminded her.
She rolled her eyes, "Like you're a stickler for rules." One thing she'd seen in his memories was that rules were more of a guideline than something to live by.
Logan shrugged, "Guess it's not just redheads." Another pattern Marie had broken for him. The next question was his, "The blowjob earlier, why?"
Her face turned scarlet, eyes widening as she stared out the windshield. Out of the blue, she'd persuaded him into letting her do that for him while he drove. Well, it was supposed to be while he drove but he'd had to pull over so he could watch her; that and she was distracting him from driving. He'd never worried about that in the past. She might be embarrassed now, however, he was getting hard just thinking about it.
Rogue noticed him adjust himself and her embarrassment faded. "Cause you enjoy it," she said looking him in the eye. While they were on the subject, "Why haven't you touched me since the cabin?"
"You don't have to pay for the ride," he stated firmly. He meant it; she shouldn't feel like she owed him anything even if he did like to have her touching him.
"Was I?" She was genuinely curious about why he thought they were having sex. Rogue, herself thought it was because it felt good. There were other reasons but she didn't want to think about those that would only complicate the bargain.
"No."
"Then tonight..."
"Yes," he said to establish the fact that they would be engaging in sex if she wanted to. He was relieved that they had gotten that discussion out of the way and was already thinking about getting to a motel. Silence reigned once again as they both became lost in their own thoughts.
~*~
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