By the time school restarted in early September, almost 2-month-old Sophia was fairly settled in a routine. Marie had packed, and repacked her school bag, a repurposed baby bag, half a gazillion times to be sure she didn't forget anything. She was more concerned about forgetting the breast pump, bottles, breast pads, and change of clothes, than she was about forgetting her books, pens, and laptop.

When the morning finally dawned for her to head back to school, Logan made sure to have her up in plenty of time so she could get ready and say goodbye to baby. He had finished cooking her breakfast before he noticed, she still hadn't come downstairs from where he had left her to shower. Wandering upstairs he was debating whether she was held up because Sophia pee'd, pooped, or puked on her... but she wasn't in their bedroom getting changed like he assumed. The next logical place of course was the nursery.

"Marie, baby what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, as he rushed into the room to where Marie was standing sobbing over the crib.

"I can't - I can't do it Logan, I can't be gone all day every day, I need to be here, I'm going to miss so much, what if I miss the first time she rolls, or when she starts to crawl, or..." Marie sobbed against his chest as he pulled her close.

"You're not going to miss anything babe, if she tries any of that shit I'll growl at her and tell her she has to wait until mommy gets home, okay?" Logan replied, trying to tease a laugh out of her.

It worked; Marie giggled as she wiped her eyes. "You know as well as I do that that won't do anything, she'll do a stink eye and stare you down while she keeps going," she commented.

"Now that will be a sight, my two girls, the only ones that can get away with sassing me, god I've turned into such a pussy, " Logan chuckled in return. "I know it's going to take some getting used to," he added in a more serious tone, "But it's not for long, and it's for the best, I'll keep you updated on every goofy little thing she does, and if you miss the first time of something, there will be plenty of other times, just focus on your studying and you'll be done with school before you know it, and know this, I am so, so proud of you Marie, you are stronger than anyone, even me, gives you credit for, and you can do this, I've got your back. "

"Thanks sugar," she mumbled, voice scratchy from her tears and muffled where her face was buried in his chest as she hugged him tight.

"Now come on, baby and mommy need to be fed before you go, your breakfast is downstairs," he let Marie go with a final kiss on the end of her nose, which always made her scrunch up her nose and giggle, before she turned to pick up and gently wake up Sophia.

Marie ate one handed while she fed baby, finishing both meals at about the same time. Logan burped baby, so just in case she puked she wouldn't mess up Marie's clothes, while Marie tidied her hair, braiding it loosely to fall over her shoulder. Her hair had gotten quite long since they had first met, and now hung almost to her hips when loose, but she hadn't mentioned cutting it, which Logan was happy about; he loved her hair.

When they got to the school Logan decided to push his luck and turned into the driveway, after all, at the end of last term the agreement was that he dropped Marie off at the front door, so long as he didn't leave the driveway, or talk to the students. He had no doubt Marie's friends would all be eager to meet Sophia, not all of them had been able to stop by their home, in secret, to meet her over the summer, but every other condition he could keep.

As they pulled up to the front door, sure enough, a small crowd was gathered and waiting, several girls began jumping up and down squealing when they saw them coming.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Jubilee announced as soon as the truck came to a stop. "Oh! She's so little!" she squealed, from where she had her face pressed up against the window, looking into the back seat of the vehicle, where a surprised looking Sophia stared back at her mutely.

Logan spied Scott approaching so leaned over to quickly kiss Marie goodbye, he wasn't going to push his luck too far by getting out of the vehicle just now.

"See you at three thirty, bang on, right here?" Marie asked worriedly.

"That's the plan, unless he changes it," Logan replied, minutely inclining his head in the teachers direction. "If anything changes, I'll call you," he added, as she hopped out of the car.

Moments later the back door of the truck popped open, as Marie gave in to the begging to introduce baby. She obliged, gently extracting Sophia from the car seat and lifting her out of the car so everyone could get a better look. Scott, who was by now standing right behind the group, allowed this for several minutes before announcing classes were about to start and everyone should head in. Most of the group scattered but a few of Marie's braver friends waited for her to resettle Sophia in her car seat.

"Bye-bye baby, mommy will see you this afternoon, okay, won't be so long, you'll see, you'll spend most of that time asleep you lucky little thing," Marie chattered cheerily to Sophia, despite the fresh wave of tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, as she buckled her into the seat. With a final strained smile at Logan she shut the door and waved to him, before turning and hurrying inside, her friends close beside her, a couple of whom waved to Logan as they led Marie inside.

"You're supposed to drop her off at the gate," Scott snapped angrily, as soon as Marie was out of sight.

"My most recent arrangement with the Professor was for me to drop Marie to the door, if that's changed, though I don't see any reason why it should have, he can tell me that himself, otherwise, I'll be back to pick her up this afternoon," Logan replied bluntly, "Besides, she wanted to introduce her daughter to her friends, or is our child a pariah too? You bitch on one hand about Marie being 'isolated' with me, then at the same time you isolate her from interacting normally with her friends, make up your mind. Now if you don't mind Summers, Sophia has to get home to bed."

He wound the electric window up in Scott's face before he could say another word, and the truck began to roll back down the driveway. He had no doubt Summers would head straight to the Professor's office, and demand he inform Logan, immediately, to stay off the property. He would wait, with bated breath, all day for the phone call, he knew it.

--

Scott stalked into the foyer, intent on giving the Professor a piece of his mind about Logan. The guy was pissing him off even when not here, whether it was his team mates suggesting they bring Logan in on missions, or him turning up to drop off the poor girl he still felt guilty about not realizing the man was corrupting, or how he had won over said girls parents in less than twenty four hours. Mostly though, it was the fact he had been proven wrong. Not only was Logan still happily around, not having ditched Rogue and taken back off to Canada, as he had been certain he would, but he seemed to be thriving in the role of fatherhood from what Scott had heard through the gossip mill.

A brief thought, that all may not be well in paradise, gleefully shot through him when he spied Rogue standing off to the side of the hall crying, a couple of her friends and her first period teacher standing with her.

"... and it's the first time I've been away from her for more than a nap, I feel like a horrible mother for abandoning her... what if she needs me, what if she doesn't like the bottles, what if Logan runs out of milk, what if--" Rogue was sobbing between sniffles.

"Rogue, what you are feeling is perfectly normal, you are a great mother, an absolutely fantastic mother, Logan is right, this is a small sacrifice that needs to be made, for your good and for Sophia's, she will be fine while you're away, it's only for a few hours, and you've said what a great father Logan is, trust him," Ororo interrupted gently, as she hugged the girl before her.

"I do trust him, it's me I'm upset with..." Rogue admitted.

"And why are you upset with yourself?" Ororo asked softly.

"I feel like I've let Sophia down, I should have worked harder and graduated earlier, and then I wouldn't have to leave her," Rogue answered, the pain of separation being lessened by the hint of bitterness in her voice.

"You're almost there Rogue at the rate you're going you are going to graduate with the winter class, so it's only a few more months, and don't be upset about that, you spent half a school year on the road and not only managed to catch that up but get ahead an extra six months, two years work in only a year, that's impressive Rogue, not many people can do that, and you did it all for Sophia, didn't you?" Ororo replied, releasing her from her hug so she could look her in the eyes.

Rogue smiled and nodded in reply just as the bell rang, and the small crowd moved on to their respective classes, with final hugs and words of encouragement to Rogue, promising to meet up at lunch before they split up.

Scott stood silently, contemplating what he overheard, could it be true that Logan was the one making Rogue continue with her education? With how hard Rogue was working Scott had just assumed Rogue was one of those rare kids that enjoyed school. He had assumed Logan was only allowing her to continue with school to keep up appearances, and to get her out of his hair when he wanted a break from screwing her. Was it possible that he had misread the situation, that maybe Logan was actually somewhat decent?

"Is everything alright Scott?" the Professor's voice came from his left, he realised then he was standing right outside the Professor's office, his legs having moved of their own accord to his target destination.

"Yeah, yeah everything's fine," Scott answered after a pause. What could it hurt for Logan to drop Rogue off at the door really. With a final goodbye he continued on toward his own class.

--

At lunch Jean spotted Rogue out on the lawn with her friends, enjoying lunch in the sunshine. She was on a cell phone, which reminded Jean that the school didn't have a policy on phones. She was too far away to hear what was being said, so she sneakily eavesdropped telepathically through one of the other students. Irritatingly it turned out Rogue was talking to Logan, getting updates on the baby Jean had yet to meet.

Poor Logan, was the next thought that occurred to her, the guy was being given the third degree by the young mother about when baby ate, how much she ate, when she slept, had she pooped. Instead of getting angry at being second guessed though, Logan just chuckled, answered all her questions tolerantly, and even texted her some photos of baby. Maybe Ororo was right and Logan really was serious about being content with this situation, it just seemed so unlike him...
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