All things considered, perhaps Logan coming back unannounced after no word for six years, was not the wisest thing he had ever done. They were still repairing the damage Rogue had caused. Who knew she had it in her?

Logan sure as hell hadn't.

Logan hadn't expected them to welcome him with open arms when he returned, but that's what he got. Well, mostly, anyway.

When he had walked through the front door, Ororo was there, showing a small group of students the wonders of some plant. She looked up, disbelief crossing her face, and then a smile.

"Logan!" she said, moving forward. She embraced him, then took a step back. "Kitty?" she asked over her shoulder, "go tell the others that Logan has returned."

Kitty nodded and quickly disappeared into a wall.

Ororo turned back to Logan, who still looked uncomfortable with her warm greeting. "Did you find what you were looking for, Logan?" she asked softly.

Logan nodded slightly. "Mostly."

"I'm glad that you have some answers," she said as they moved from the entrance to the hallway.

"Logan," a warm baritone said from behind them. He turned to see Xavier coming up to him, Jean and Scott behind him.

"Professor," Logan replied, tipping his head slightly. "Hello Jean." A warm rush of feeling accompanied the sight of her.

"Welcome back, Logan," she said in a low voice, holding out her hand. He took it, glancing at her left hand. 'Well, that answers that question.' "Congratulations," he said, looking toward her ring. Surprisingly enough, he meant it. He frowned slightly at the thought.

"Thank you," she replied, sensing his sincerity.

He smiled and turned to Scott. "Summers."

Scott grinned. "Good to see you again, Logan."

Logan snorted. "You're a crappy liar, Cyke."

Scott shrugged. "Believe what you like."

Xavier regarded Logan thoughtfully. The lack of turmoil in Logan over the discovery of Scott and Jean's marriage was surprising. 'Even to Logan himself.' Instead, Logan seemed to be focused mostly on-'Oh dear. This should prove to be most interesting.'

Logan looked around at the school. "Seem to be doing well, Professor. Must be nice-" he started with a grin, then stopped when he saw two figures round the corner of the hall. They stepped forward and Logan saw one of their faces clearly.

Marie.

Rogue came around the corner, talking to Remy. They slowed and stopped when they saw the figures gathered together in the hall. An achingly familiar one stood among them.

Logan.

A blast of emotions went through Rogue at the sight of him. That was to be expected. What she didn't expect was that the single, overriding emotion would be pure, unadulterated anger. It swept through her, causing her body to stiffen, her face to close up.

"Rogue? You okay, chere?" Remy asked, seeing but not understanding the change in her.

"Bastard," she whispered, before turning on her heel and walking away.

Logan blinked, trying to comprehend what the hell had just happened. Marie had just spun around and left. He started after her.

"Logan!" Xavier's voice commanded. Logan stopped and turned.

"What?" he demanded angrily.

"She's not the same person you left, Logan." Xavier warned. "She's changed in ways you can't imagine."

Logan looked around at the pensive faces looking back at him. "I know she's grown-"

"Jesus, Logan, she didn't just grow up!" Scott snapped.

"Many things have changed," Ororo's calm voice broke in, her eyes flicking over to the remaining figure standing in the hall. "Remember that, Logan."

Logan just nodded and went down the hall.

Remy looked at the approaching form. Leaning back against the wall, he regarded the man thoughtfully. Only one man could make Rogue that angry.

"Hello dere, Logan."

Logan's head snapped around toward the voice that came from the darkness. "Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Remy," the figure said. He stepped out into the light. Logan looked him up and down. Red hair, red eyes and shuffling a deck of cards.

"Outta my way." Logan said harshly.

Remy shook his head. "Not yet. I gotta talk to you about dat girl you jus' upset."

Logan growled low in his throat. "What do you want?"

Remy grinned. "Jus' one thing." He took a few more steps forward, stopping inches from Logan. Rogue's scent swirled around them. "If you hurt her," he began in a low voice, "I don't care what healin' power you got, how big your claws are, or how good you can track; I will hunt you down and make sure you suffer." His eyes glittered with knowledge and promise.

Logan's eyes narrowed. "Just what are you to her?"

"Just a friend. But dat don't mean I can't be sometin' more." Remy replied, deliberately goading the man standing in front of him.

A flash of jealousy went through Logan. "Stay away from her," he growled.

Remy shrugged. "Not really my decision, is it? Rogue's a big girl, no," shaking his head, "Rogue's a woman. She make her own decisions. If she wants me around, I stay around." He stepped back. "Which is more than you can say."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Logan bit out each word. Remy turned slightly and Logan strode past him. As Remy looked after him, Ororo's voice floated up from behind him.

"What are you thinking, Remy?"

He shook his head. "Dat we should have just whipped 'em out and been done wit' it."

Scott gave a short bark of laughter. "Maybe I should have tried that."

"Hello Marie."

Rogue's head moved slightly at the sound of Logan's voice behind her. "How did you find me?" She grimaced as soon as she said the words. She could imagine the quirk of his eyebrows when he heard her question.

"I haven't forgotten your scent. It's not hard to track. Besides," he shrugged, looking around at the formal gardens, "you didn't exactly go very far."

Rogue turned and looked at Logan. She gave him a small, cold smile. "It's good to see you again, Logan."

He sighed, jamming his hands in his pockets. "Don't do this, Marie."

"Do what?"

"This isn't how I thought it would be," he growled.

"How did you imagine it, Logan? That ah would come running to you, shrieking with joy? Or was ah even there?"

"What?" Logan asked, confused by her sudden attack.

Rogue turned away from him. "You're inside of my head, Logan. Ah know how you feel about Jean. Ah don't blame you. She's quite beautiful. She's also warm, funny, kind and, of course, taken, but that didn't stop you before."

"Marie, look at me."

She turned back to him and Logan studied the woman in front of him. Slightly taller than when he left her, her slender figure had ripened. Her face had matured, no longer pretty, but beautiful. Her long, auburn hair swirled around her in the wind, the shock of white hair clearly visible. And her eyes...

"Your eyes are green," he said abruptly.

"Ah held on too long," she replied. "It's only one of the things ah gained."

"Marie-"

"Don't call me that!" she snapped. He drew back, surprised by her words.

"Marie-" he tried again.

"No!" she shouted, turning and walking up to him, her face a mask of fury. "You don't get to call me that!"

Suddenly, Logan tired of her cold shoulder and started to get angry himself. "Jesus, I had to go, Marie! I needed to find out what happened to me, who did this!"

"You think ah don't know that?" she hissed. "Ah told you, you're in my head, Logan! Ah can't get you out of there. Ah know how important this was to you. Ah woke up with your nightmares every night for six years. Every damn night for SIX YEARS!" she shouted, punctuating her last statement with a jab to his chest with her finger after each word. "And did ah hear anything from you? No! NOT ONE DAMN WORD!"

Logan looked at her incredulously. "You're angry because I didn't send you a postcard?"

She punched him across the jaw.

When he came to a few seconds later, he rubbed his jaw gingerly. 'Thank God for mutant healing factors.' Something sharp was poking him in the back. 'What the hell? A brick?' Logan looked around him, his eyes widening in amazement.

She had punched him into a wall surrounding the formal gardens.

Or rather, she had punched him through it.

He heard her coming up to the wall and then watched in amazement as she floated up above the wall, flew over to him and landed gracefully.

"Got more than the green eyes, huh?"

"With a little of your temper thrown in," she said, still seething.

Logan looked at her as he rose to his feet. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"What for? It's hardly your problem."

He walked up to her and tentatively reached out a hand to stroke her hair. His heart clenched when she jerked away from him. "They're my memories, my pain. You shouldn't have to be burdened with them."

There was silence for a few moments as she considered his words. "You know, ah wasn't expecting weekly status reports." Rogue said finally. "Ah don't need you in my head to know not to expect that of you."

"You wanted monthly reports instead?"

"Ah wanted something. Six years is a long time to have no word. A post card, a phone call, hell, even a voicemail." She stopped suddenly. "We've already been through this."

"Yeah, I remember." Logan said, rubbing his jaw.

She winced at his movement. "Did ah hurt ya bad?"

"Nah. Just surprised the crap outta me. You got strength, huh?"

"It comes in handy sometimes. Remy can be pretty determined at times," she joked. Logan tensed at the sound of the man's name. He choked back a comment about him, not knowing her feelings for the man.

Rogue noted the pained look on his face and smirked. "Ah told him you wouldn't like him," she said as she moved past him.

Logan watched her go into the house, then looked back at the destroyed wall.

"Damn."

Rogue awoke to the feeling of someone watching her. In the moonlight, she spotted a pair of glittering eyes in the corner of her room.

"Have you taken to breaking into women's rooms in the middle of the night recently, Logan, or am ah an exception?"

Logan moved from the corner toward the bed. Rogue sat up, her hair tumbling down around her.

"Why are you here?"

Logan was still silent as he climbed onto the bed and stretched out in front of her. Rogue's eyes widened as she saw that he was wearing only jeans. He mind moved back to her recent conversation with Remy and 'Ro. 'Here's your chance to thank him, Marie,' she thought a bit hysterically. Logan continued to look at her as she regarded him a little nervously.

"We never finished our conversation," he said finally.

"Me punching you through a wall is hardly a conversation, Logan."

"We were talking before and after that."

"When did you become so concerned with conversation?" she asked suspiciously. "Ah know that you hate talking about your feelings."

"You ever stop to consider that your version of me that you got floatin' around in your head is six years old?" Logan asked easily.

Rogue blinked. No, that hadn't occurred to her. She shook her head. "Well, no. But still, six years isn't enough to turn you into Sensitive Man. It's not who you are," she finished, shrugging.

"True," he allowed. "But things can change."

"So the man ah am looking at now, who just broke into my room, and broke about a dozen other rules getting here no doubt, is a kinder, gentler Logan?" she said derisively.

Logan flashed a feral grin that reminded Rogue exactly who she was dealing with. "Not exactly."

Rogue ran her hand through her hair. "Logan, ah told you, ah understand that you need to find answers, ah really do. It's an awful thing to not know who you are. And ah knew that it would take some time to find out these things. Ah'm not angry about that."

"Six years without one damn word." Logan said, quoting her.

"You picked up on that, huh?" she asked, then paused and whispered, "You promised to take care of me."

Logan sat up quickly. "C'mere darlin'." At Rogue's hesitation, he motioned impatiently. "Come here."

Rogue crawled slowly over to him and settled down. He gripped her covered shoulders tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch, I'm sorry it took so long, I'm sorry that I didn't come back before now. I-" he broke off, his eyes widening. Rogue looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"You kept them," he said, his voice thick.

Rogue followed his eyes down to the dog tags resting on her chest. She felt her throat tighten.

"They were all ah had left of you," she whispered, her voice carrying her pain and longing.

Logan looked wonderingly at her. He reached out with a finger, slowly tracing the metal. She closed her eyes at the contact.

"Logan," she breathed.

"Let me stay here tonight," he said in a low voice.

"What?" Rogue's eyes flew open.

"I missed so much. I need to find out about you all over again, Rogue."

"Marie," she corrected softly.

He smiled slightly. "I'm allowed to call you that again?"

She lowered her eyes in embarrassment. "Ah'm sorry ah ever said that."

He waved off her apology. "Don't worry about it, darlin'."

A smile lit up her face. "Go get a shirt on, Logan."

An eyebrow went skyward on his face. "Why? Afraid you'll be unable to resist my manly charms?" he teased, leaning in to her so that only a few inches separated their bodies.

Her breath quickened. 'Don't you know it.' "No, ah'm afraid ah might drool in my sleep." But it was too late. He had noted her increased breathing and grinned.

"I'll be right back, darlin'."

Marie watched him move silently out of her room, then looked down at the bed.

'What the hell am I doing?'

'What the hell am I doin'?'

Logan considered the question as he pulled a sweatshirt over his head. 'I'm goin' to share a bed --fully clothed-- with a beautiful, sexy woman. And we're going to talk till we fall asleep. That's all. Easy.'

Logan's mind had other ideas as he replayed the night's events: Marie sleeping, her lips barely opened; Marie looking around for him, hair falling around her, eyes still drowsy; Marie crawling towards him; the heat of her skin warming the dog tags as he touched them; her scent as he leaned into her.

'Oh yeah. Real easy.'

Marie had just finished putting on her gloves when Logan walked in.

"Oh good, you put on socks," she said brightly.

"Yeah..." he said, puzzled as he walked toward the bed.

"In case ah wrap my legs around you," she said innocently.

Logan froze. 'Is she...?'

Marie smirked. 'Gotcha.' "Ah don't like wearing socks to bed,' she explained, sticking out a foot as proof. "Ah'd hate to suck the life out of you because my big toe touched the top of your foot."

Logan shook his head. 'You're a dirty old man, Logan.' Then he saw the laughter in her eyes. 'So, she wants to play, huh? Well, not tonight, Marie, but soon,' Logan vowed silently. He walked to the bed and slid under the covers, one arm open in invitation.

Marie sidled up to him and she laid her head on his shoulder as he curled his arm around her. Her hand moved to his heart and she concentrated on its slow, steady rhythm.

Logan looked down at the head resting on his chest and smiled. His other hand moved to stroke a lock of white hair.

"So tell me about yourself, Marie."

They talked long into the night and well into the morning. They talked about Rogue and they talked about Wolverine. They talked about Logan and they talked about Marie. They talked about all the sort of things two people who hadn't seen each other in six years and hadn't seen the changes in one another should talk about. And as the sun peeked up from the horizon, the two people, still wrapped in each other's arms and on the verge of sleep, shared the same thought.

'I'm home.'