| Part 6 ******************* Go to Part 7 ******************* Dance with me, Darlin'," Logan demanded as he walked up to Rogue. Rogue smiled. "I'd rather dance with Fred here." "Uh, it's Frank . . ." the guy said timidly. Rogue rolled her eyes. "Whatever." "I'm sure Fred wouldn't mind." "It's . . .it's Frank." Wolverine snarled and Frank cowered in fear. "Never mind..." Frank said in a meek voice. "You're dancin' with me." Wolverine said. Rogue stood up. "Fine. But I'm pickin' the song." "You got it." Rogue sauntered over to the jukebox and looked over the selections. She reached into Logan's pocket and got out a coin, responding to Logan's gasp with a wink. She put the coin into the jukebox, pushed a couple of buttons, and the song began. Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me That's okay, let's see how you do it Put up your dukes, let's get down to it! Hit me with your best shot! Why don't you hit me with your best shot! Hit me with your best shot! Fire away! Wolverine pulled Rogue against him as they moved on to the dance floor. "Did ya really come here just to tell me to get out of your life?" Logan asked. Rogue did her best to look innocent. "Of course. Why wouldn't I have?" "In that dress? All I could think when I looked up and saw ya in that thing was 'oh hell.'" "What makes you think I wore it for you, Sugah?" "Who else would you have worn it for? Fred?" "I think his name was Frank." You come on with a "come on," you don't fight fair But that's okay, see if I care! Knock me down, it's all in vain I'll get right back on my feet again! Hit me with your best shot! Why don't you hit me with your best shot! Hit me with your best shot! Fire away! "Well, whoever you wore it for, it looks damn good on ya, Darlin'." Logan moved closer and whispered in her ear. "Bet it would look even better off ya." Rogue's heart leapt into her throat. "What . . .what did you say." "You heard me, Darlin'. C'mon. Leave with me tonight. I want you, Marie." Marie started to wonder if maybe she'd gotten in over her head. She'd wanted Logan to notice, to realize what he'd turned away, but this . . .She hadn't expected this. "Logan, I don't know, I mean . . ." she started, her voice faltering. Logan grabbed her arms and pulled her to his lips, kissing her with enough passion to make Marie go limp. "C'mon, Darlin'. You know you want to. It'll be all right." Marie simply nodded yes. Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me Before I put another notch in my lipstick case You better make sure you put me in my place Hit me with your best shot! Come on, hit me with your best shot! Hit me with your best shot! Fire away! Hit me with your best shot! Why don't you hit me with your best shot! Hit me with your best shot! Fire away! * * * Rogue woke in a panic the next morning, unsure of where she was. She tried to sit up, but found that something heavy was holding her to the bed. She realized that is was an arm draped around her waist and then it became clear as to where she was- with Logan! Marie smiled in delight as she moved closer to him. Finally, she had the man of her dreams! She felt Logan stirring behind her. He kissed her hair. "Mornin' Marie," he said, the sleepy-husky sound of his voice making Marie shiver. "Mornin' Logan. Sleep okay?" she asked, realizing that she didn't quite know what she was supposed to say in her current situation. Logan's kisses trailed from her hair, down the side of her face, and across her shoulder. "Slept great, Darlin'. Didn't even have any nightmares. For the little time we were sleepin' that is." Marie blushed as she thought over the previous night. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought anything like that could ever happen between her and Logan. But it had, and here she was, wrapped up in his arms. She wanted to tell him she loved him- sober this time- but she was too afraid of scaring him off again. Logan stopped for a moment, then rolled Marie over so she was facing him. He looked into her eyes and frowned. "You okay, Marie?" "Of course, Logan! Why wouldn't I be?" Logan stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Last night. You're okay with what happened with us?" "What happened last night that I might not be okay with." "We had sex, Marie." Marie laughed. "I sorta noticed that, Logan. I just don't see why I'd have a problem with it." She frowned. "Unless you have a problem with it." Logan pulled her to him so her head was resting on her chest. "Last night was great, Darlin'. Meant a lot to me." Marie smiled at him and suddenly the words just tumbled out before she could stop them. "I love you, Logan." He blinked back, looking surprised, but then leaned down and kissed her forehead when he noticed her wince. "I know, Marie. And it's all right- really." It wasn't quite the answer Rogue had wanted, but she figured it was better than, "Uh . . .that's nice . . .look at the time," or something similar. She decided to change the subject. "You don't have anything to eat, do you?" Logan grinned, remembering back to when he'd first met her. "Well, about all they have at this place is stale doughnuts and weak coffee. But there's a little place down the road that makes breakfast all right. No beef jerky though, I'm sorry . . ." Rogue giggled. "That'll do. I'm not quite hungry enough this time to actually eat beef jerky." "Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with beef jerky." "Sure, when you've got teeth as sharp as yours!" "I didn't see you havin' any problems with it." "You'd be amazed what you can pull off when you're starving." "So are you starvin' now- or could you wait a little while?" "Depends. What you have in mind to distract me from my hunger." Logan grinned and moved over her, and Rogue knew her stomach wouldn't distract her again for quite some time. * * * Neither Logan nor Marie said anything for a long time as they sat together at breakfast. Marie picked at her eggs, suddenly too nervous to eat. She looked over at Logan and noticed he seemed distracted, too. What if now, in the light of day and out in the real world, he was seeing things differently. What if he thought the night before was a mistake? "Ain'tcha gonna eat, Darlin'?" Logan asked. Marie looked up at the sound of his voice. "Yeah." She took a bite of toast, but didn't attempt to eat anything else. Logan frowned. "What's wrong?" Marie forced herself to look into his eyes. "Are you going to send me back home now?" Logan's brow furrowed. "What makes you say that?" Marie looked back down and shrugged. "Well, you left after I told you I lo . . .after I said that stuff when I was drunk, and I just thought maybe you'd want me gone now that we've . . ." The feel of Logan taking her hand made Marie stopped short. "Marie . . .Darlin' . . .don't think what happened between us was just a one night stand. I know I panicked and left before when ya said you loved me, but that doesn't mean I don't care about ya. When you said that, it just took me by surprise and made me have to sort out a few things, that's all. But last night meant something to me. Don't think it didn't. I couldn't stand to think I'd hurt you like that." Hope gleamed in Marie's eyes. "Does that mean I can stay here with you for a little while, Logan?" "Yeah, Darlin', it does." "Logan, I . . ." "Eat your eggs, Marie." Marie just smiled and finished her breakfast. * * * Logan watched as Marie sat on his bed, painting her toes some girlie shade of pink. "Don't spill that Pepto-Bismol lookin' stuff on my sheets . . ." Marie rolled her eyes. "The color's called cupcake, Logan." Logan grinned. "Sorry. I should've known that." "Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?" "Sure, you do every day. But then again, you're still sleepin' in my bed, so you must just be makin' it up." "No, you're just sexy and damn good in bed, so I figure that outweighs all your annoying qualities." "Well, I'm glad I can be forgiven." Marie giggled. Logan smiled at her. "You're cute." "Thanks." "Really. Sitting there, painting your toes like that . . .you're adorable." "Then why were you picking on me about it?" Marie asked, paying more attention to her feet than to Wolverine. "Because it's fun." "Gee, thanks. I'm glad to know that tormenting me amuses you." "Doing other things to you amuses me, too," Logan said, wagging his eyebrows up and down. Marie sighed. "You're incorrigible." "And you want me anyway." "I do? Why?" "I think this goes back to the whole me being 'sexy and damn good in bed' thing." Marie sighed. "Oh, yeah . . ." Logan came over and sat on the bed with her. "The paint job does look nice, though. Good color for you." "Thanks." "Hey, Marie?" "Yeah?" "I've liked havin' ya here with me. It's the first time in a long time that I haven't been lonely at all. You make me happy." Marie looked away from her toes. "Thank you, Logan. That means a lot to me." He reached out and held her face. "And you mean a lot to me, Marie." She blushed. "I . . .I . . .I don't want to smear the polish." Logan chuckled. "All right, Darlin'. We won't then." "Logan?" "Yeah?" "Do you really like having me around?" "Of course I do. If I didn't I would've left that first night, two weeks ago." "Are you going to leave?" "When?" "Ever." "I don't know." Marie focused back on her toes again, feeling a stab of pain in her stomach that Logan didn't just automatically tell her that no, of course he'd never leave her. She tried to focus on the fact he hadn't told her that he was definitely leaving either, but still, it hurt. "Marie . . .Marie, look at me . . ." She forced her gaze upwards. "Marie, I'm not the sort of guy who can make any promises about his future. I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, or the day after that. Hell, I don't even know what's gonna happen five minutes from now, but I can tell you that I will never leave you completely Marie, no matter what." "I know that, Logan. I guess what I'm really askin' is, are you gonna run again?" "Why do you have to ask stuff like that?" Logan asked as he got off the bed and started pacing. "Isn't right now good enough for you? Why do you have to ruin a perfectly good moment by dwellin' on the bad things that could happen?" Marie put the top back on her nail polish and set it on the dresser. "I'm not 'dwelling on the bad things that could happen,' Logan. I'm just worried. Things have been good these past couple of weeks, and I'm happy with you, but I never know where things stand, whether or not you're gonna be there when I turn around. Yesterday when I woke up and you were in the other room, I panicked. I thought you'd left me again, and I didn't know what to do. How can I live with uncertainty like that hanging over me all the time?" Logan stopped, facing away from her. "I . . .I don't know, Darlin'." Marie got up, careful not to smear her toes, and walked over to Logan. She ran her hand tentatively down his shoulder blade, then wrapped her slender arms around his waist. "Logan, please . . .I don't want things between us to be hard on you, but I don't want them to hard on me, either. And you're right . . .what we have now is great and I'm enjoying it more than I ever have anything else, but I don't want this to be all there is for us. I love you." Logan turned around, wanting to say something, but found all his words lost in her deep brown eyes. He leaned in and kissed her, savoring the taste of her mouth, the feel of her body molding to his, and wanting to give her so much more than he could. He led her over to the bed and loved her in the way that often felt like the only way he knew how. |