Terri's Peep Hut ~~ Fiction Archive

Home For The Holidays

Title: Home for the Holidays

Author: Terri

E-mail: xgrrl26@yahoo.com

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these very entertaining mutants. Rats.

Archive: WRFA, Mutual Admiration, Dolphin Haven, Peep Hut - anyone else, please ask and I will gladly say yes ;)

Feedback: Please? With a christmas cookie on top? Good, bad, and ugly welcome..

Summary: Logan makes it home just in time for Christmas, much to everyone's surprise, except Rogue.

Comments: First off, whoever flung that bunny about doing holiday x-men stories at me - darn you! Darn you to heck! (That's as upset as I can get in the comments for a PG-13 story) It gripped my butt, locked it's jaws on, and won't let go, even now that I've written this meandering little piece to try to satiate it's horrid, evil bloodlust! It's demanding other holiday stories, the little furry demon. Sigh. I guess I'll just resign myself to that fate, but if this is your bunny, please step forward and claim your prize (which is credit when the story gets posted to the website - sorry, cash poor at the moment) and I'd love it if you'd take the bunny with you too ;) Second of all, I would like to just say that my obsession with motorcycles (oh, I so totally get why Logan took the bike) rears it's ugly but seldom-seen head here. That's leftover from a motorhead high school boyfriend, I can't really help it. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Pretty much everyone at the mansion thought that Rogue was being overly-optimistic. Sure, they'd all been surprised (some pleasantly, some not) when Logan began calling, writing, and sending packages to her from Canada, but when Rogue started insisting that he'd be home for Christmas, well, everyone politely nodded and said "I'm sure he will" while internally shaking their heads and tsk-tsking about how disappointed Rogue was going to be when there was no Logan on Christmas Day.

The only people who shared Rogue's conviction were Scott, because he firmly believed that Logan would return just in time to spoil his planned announcement of a wedding date at Christmas Dinner, and Bobby, because he was sure that he was destined to have Rogue snatched away from him just as he was making some progress in finally getting her to like him. They'd had lunch together for a week straight, which meant a lot to Bobby. They were out of school now, and she didn't *have* to have lunch with him anymore. Bobby was thrilled by the new development, even if he didn't quite understand why Rogue insisted on having Kitty tag along all the time or why Kitty kept looking at him with big, mooney eyes.

So it was with some surprise that Logan was greeted when he arrived a day ahead of schedule on Christmas Eve afternoon. He even came bearing gifts - some messily-wrapped ones, presumably for Rogue (or Jean, Scott thought darkly) and one unwrapped but very welcome gift for Scott - the safe return of his bike. He settled in to the room next to Rogue's, and exchanged hellos and hugs with her before shutting the door for some quality time alone. Rogue seemed unperturbed by it. In fact, she seemed downright gleeful just to have him back.

Right before dinner, Rogue changed into her favorite outfit. It was a short (too short, as Scott usually reminded her) black knit skirt, black tights, short black boots, and an emerald green turtleneck sweater. The sweater had been an early gift from Logan, arriving about three weeks after he left and ten days after his first phone call. He hadn't sent any kind of note with it, and there was no return address, so Rogue simply thanked him when he next called, a few days after she received the gift. He grunted in reply and said something about having promised to take care of her then skipping out and that the least he could do was make sure she was dressing warmly enough.

After completing her outfit with a pair of sheer black gloves (gift from Logan), some makeup, and her boots (also a gift from Logan), she ventured out into the hall, intending to rouse Logan for dinner. Before she could even shut the door behind her, though, Jean hailed her from the top of the stairs.

"Rogue, coming to dinner?"

"Mm-hmmm," she answered quickly, hoping to avoid a conversation with Jean. Those were always very strained and hardly ever any fun.

"I'm so glad for you that Logan came back." Jean tried for a smile, but it came out somewhat incomplete. She never felt at ease with the young girl, and she knew that Rogue saw her as some kind of threat to the relationship she had with Logan. Jean didn't think it would quite do to come right out and tell Rogue that she loved Scott, and, while she enjoyed Logan's attentions and found them only natural - they were both attractive people, after all, and Jean was well-used to being on the receiving end of male attention - she didn't have any intentions of acting on that attraction. Besides, Jean thought, just because I don't want to have sex with him, it won't mean that he'll automatically fall in love with Rogue. Not by a long shot. I shouldn't mislead the poor girl, Jean thought.

"Mmm-hmmm," Rogue repeated, finally closing her door shut and giving Jean an unmistakable 'is there anything else?' look.

"I'll see you downstairs, then," Jean gave in. She would have to make it a new year's resolution to do better with Rogue. She didn't want the girl always feeling so worried and inadequate just because Logan had chosen Jean over her. There were plenty of fish in the sea, Jean thought, and a lot of those guppies were much more well-suited for Rogue than Logan was and much more accepting of the fact that Jean was not about to give them a tumble.

Rogue let out a breath as Jean brushed past her in the hallway. Schooling herself to think happier thoughts than those her encounter with Jean had induced, she took the few steps to Logan's door and knocked on it lightly. Hearing a soft 'come in,' she opened the door to reveal him sitting on the edge of the bed with a tense expression on his face. She smiled sweetly and offered, "It's just me," as she shut the door behind her. Something told her to stay put and not to sit down next to him, though. He was acting very twitchy.

He eyeballed her for a few seconds, then abruptly burst out with, "Look, I, uh, brought ya a coupla presents. You know, since it's Christmas and all. Here." He gestured to a pile of about six or so packages that it was obvious he'd wrapped himself. Using duct tape.

"Thanks," she said genuinely, making no move toward the pile. "Can I open them first thing in the morning? It'll be Christmas then." She tried to keep a calming smile on her lips - Logan seemed to be getting more and more agitated by the second.

"Sure. Sure. Right. Christmas." He seemed a little disappointed along with the agitated, so Rogue revised her earlier statement.

"You know, it is a tradition to open one on Christmas Eve. If - if you'd want to pick out which one I could open now, I'd love to do that." When he just kind of looked blankly at her, she prompted, "What do you think?"

"Yeah, sure. Uh¼¼¼¼this one." Logan awkwardly fetched the largest of the packages from the bottom of the pile and thrust it out in her general direction. She widened her smile and sat next to him on the bed, gently taking the gift from his hands in the process.

She looked down at it, shook it a little, then looked up at Logan with a mischievous glint in her eye. "It sounds like clothing."

"It is, uh, kinda," Logan confirmed. Marie began carefully undoing the duct tape and removing the wrapping paper. She finished stripping the box of its accoutrements in short order and slowly lifted the box lid to reveal her present.

"Oh, Logan, it's beautiful." It was a thick wool coat - a Navy-style pea coat. "I - I don't really have a good winter coat, just my cloak. Thank you. Thank you so much, it's perfect." She caught the relieved smile on his face as she leaned over to carefully hug him.

"You're welcome kid." For the first time since he'd set foot on the mansion grounds, he seemed to be relaxing a little. Rogue decided to take advantage of that to tell him a few things.

"I'm really glad you came back for the holidays. I like having you here. I missed you a lot." Logan gave her a little squeeze in response. She always said that on the phone, that she missed him, and he never quite knew what to say in response. Hearing it in person was no different. Rogue filled the conversational gap, though, much as she did on the phone. "I got you a present too, but just one. It's going to have to wait until Christmas, OK?"

"You didn't hafta get me somethin'." Logan began to notice that Marie wasn't breaking the embrace. He raised a quizzical eyebrow at that, then experimentally shifted her a little to nestle her closer to him. She let out a contented sigh, then responded to his statement.

"I know, but I wanted to. And I think you'll really like it. It's - it's kind of a fixer-upper present, but I think you'll probably like that part of it too."

"What is it?" Logan asked, taking a deep breath. She smelled happy, he thought, but not exactly just that. He couldn't quite sort the smell out.

"If I tell it won't be a surprise tomorrow," she argued lightly, shifting her head just a little to lay nicely on his shoulder. "Do you want to go down to dinner?"

"Not really," Logan answered honestly before he could help himself.

"We don't have to go, you know. We could raid the kitchen while everyone's in the big dining room and have our own little dinner, if you'd like." Marie lazily lolled her head to one side so that she could look up at him. Her warm eyes and the gentle smile that played across her lush lips fascinated Logan and he sat there transfixed for a moment before answering.

"They'll all wonder where ya are." Marie gave a small shrug. Logan couldn't resist touching a lock of her platinum hair. "You've done real good here, kid, everyone likes ya a lot."

"But I like you best," she purred. "And I don't get to see you that often." When they'd talked about him coming home, he'd promised to stay through the new year, but he hadn't said much beyond that.

"You got all dressed up." His hand was still twined through her hair and he had a sudden urge to lay her back on the bed with him. He let himself have just one more moment more before ending the embrace. Coughing and straightening up a little, he said, "Come on, let's go. You and me - we can hang out after, OK?"

Marie parted from him a little, grinning. "OK. As long as I can have you all to myself for a while, I suppose I can share you a little." She stood up, extending her gloved hand to him in invitation to follow. He took it, and allowed her to lead him out of the room and downstairs, not letting go until they sat down at the dinner table next to one another.

Dinner held carefully polite conversation and more than a few hostile looks for Logan. The looks were mostly from Scott, but Logan also noticed Bobby, Remy, and St. John casting unhappy glances in his direction. He got the distinct gut feeling that those looks were somehow related to Rogue, and he didn't like that one bit.

Rogue herself seemed oblivious, and not very hungry. Logan watched her push her food around on the plate without actually ingesting very much of it at all. All kinds of possible causes for that ran through his mind - maybe she was sick, maybe she was nervous, maybe she didn't like ham. Logan mentally evaluated the potential threat to Rogue from each possibility, and resolved to get to the bottom of it after dinner. Yes, he would *have* to spend time with her tonight, perhaps lots and lots of time, as long as it took to solve the mystery of Rogue's lack of appetite. He was prepared to do whatever was necessary. By the time dessert had been served - a dessert which Logan noticed that Rogue had *still* not eaten very much of, and what were the odds that she didn't like ham *and* pineapple upside down cake, anyway? - Logan was itching to get Marie out of there and somewhere safe, somewhere where he could get to the bottom of things.

After dinner, it was he who grabbed her by the hand this time, leading her up to his room. He took several sniffs at her on the way, trying to flush out any hint of sickness or nervousness. He could find neither, but maybe that just meant that she was hiding it very well so as not to worry him. That would be something Marie would do, he thought.

Marie just followed along willingly, trailing him as he opened the door and swung her around by her hand to deposit her on his bed. She landed on it with a bounce, then watched Logan as he paced to the door and shut it - locking it too, Marie noted. Logan leaned back against the door, thinking of how to attack the appetite issue.

"Dinner was nice," Marie ventured, smoothing at her skirt a little.

That gave Logan a perfectly good opening. "You didn't eat much of it. Is somethin' wrong?" Marie just shrugged instead of saying no. That put Logan on alert. "What's wrong, what is it?" He took a few steps toward her, eyeing her intently.

"Oh, nothing's wrong, I guess. I just wasn't that hungry. I don't much go for ham - Erik was Jewish, you know, and it icks him out." She swung her feet up and down a little as she answered. "Plus, I guess I'm just excited, you know, to have you here for a while, to get to spend some time with you. I never get hungry when I'm excited about something."

"You gotta eat," Logan stated, in a tone that left no room for argument. "They shoulda thought about the ham thing, dammit."

"Oh, it's dinner for thirty people, Logan, they can't change the menu just for me. Besides, I - I don't really like to talk about the head stuff with them." She blushed and looked down. The combination of her flushing skin, and her giddily happy but slightly embarrassed smell drew Logan to sit beside her on the bed. "I'll have a big breakfast," she offered, still not quite meeting his eyes.

"Do you want me to go getcha somethin' else to eat? Somethin' with no ham?" He felt a familiar, overwhelming urge to do *something* to help her, to make sure she was OK. You know, getting her more food, saving her life, whatever.

"Maybe later. I was thinking that - that maybe we could just hang out for a while and talk." Logan's expression shifted at that. Talking - that could lead to bad things. Talking led to saying things and he never quite seemed in control of the words that popped out of his mouth when he was with Marie. Things like promises and nice words came out, and he wasn't sure whether Marie wanted to hear those things or not. Maybe they scared her. Maybe she didn't really care one way or another. Maybe they sounded stupid. Maybe - "Or - or we could just do whatever you'd like. Did you have something in mind? A - a walk or something?"

Walking - yes, that was definitely preferable to talking, Logan thought. "Yeah." His eyes drifted to the window, seeing a light snowfall make its way through crisp air. On the other hand, maybe walking was a bad idea too. It would be cold, and that meant that Marie could get cold. Cold led to being sick or frozen or any one of a number of other bad things. He suddenly had a flash of a blue, pneumonia-ridden Marie lying in a hospital bed - that made up his mind. "But, uh, it's a little too cold for that tonight. We could - we could just stay inside where it's warm."

"OK," Marie said agreeably. "Mind if I take off my shoes?" She was already unzipping the boots and preparing to make herself comfortable on Logan's bed. The slight tangy, sweaty smell of her feet hit him and grinned. He knew that smell would stay on the bed, along with a lot of other Marie-smells. She wiggled up to lean against the headboard, and he broke out of his reverie long enough to go around the other side of the bed and sit beside her.

They sat together in silence for a few moments, with Logan staring resolutely ahead at the blank wall opposite them. He was bound and determined not to be the first one to talk. He had no idea what she might want to talk about, and any one of the aforementioned awkward promissory or nice things could spring out. Finally, Marie offered, "I had a couple things I thought we could talk about. Want to hear them?" Logan turned just enough to face her and gave one gruff nod.

"I wanted to say thank you again for calling and sending letters while you were away. I'm really glad you did. It made me feel a lot less alone here and - well, I'm just glad I could know you were doing all right. I know you don't like to do stuff like that, and I wanted to make sure you knew I appreciated it." This wasn't anything new. Marie had said similar things each time they'd talked on the phone. Logan gave his usual reply now - a short grunt and nod. He reflected that at least in person, she would see the nod and know he wasn't just grunting at her. That was much better.

"I wanted you to know too that you don't have to send me presents. I mean, I love every single thing you've gotten me to pieces and they're all so perfect - just perfect choices for me. You really know me, inside and out. But - but I don't want you to feel like you have to or like I like getting the presents more than hearing from you." Most of that wasn't new either, but that last part was, and Logan gave her a questioning look.

The presents had all started because he'd overheard a barroom waitress complain that she never got presents - not from her boyfriend, her parents, or her friends. They were all too poor, she'd said, or too thoughtless to remember her birthday or other special days. Logan had gotten to thinking - what if Marie feels like that? What if she's never gotten a present? Upon realizing that he had no idea when her birthday or any other important days in her life might be, he immediately set about finding a present for her. The first one, the sweater, just struck him as something she might like, so he sent it. He hadn't known what to put on a card or note, so he left one out. When he heard how excited she was over the phone - and especially when she mentioned that it was the only not-second-hand clothing she had - he resolved to grab whatever else he might find that was Marie-like and send it her way. She'd always received the presents with excitement, but also always cautioned that he didn't have to get them. It had never dawned on him that the excitement he heard on the phone might have more to do with the fact that he'd called than with what he'd sent to her.

"See," Marie continued, "Every time I got something in the mail, I knew it meant that you were OK and safe - at least safe enough to be sending a package. It was reassuring to me, a lot, and that's why - well, that's probably why I didn't discourage them as much as I should have. That, plus - I just loved them all so much. But - but you don't have to always be buying me things. That's not really a part of the whole taking care of me deal. I have enough stuff and I'm doing OK. I really love the presents, but instead of sending me something maybe - maybe next time you could call. I like that a lot too." She cast her eyes down and blushed all over again as she said it.

"OK," Logan answered absently. He was too busy looking at her and thinking about what she'd said to say anything more.

"Good," Marie sighed. She took a deep breath, gathering herself for her next chosen topic of conversation. "Another thing I thought maybe we could talk about was the fact that I'm, you know, over 18 and done with school now." Logan began to fidget, and Marie almost dropped the whole subject right there. But she'd tried to make herself bring it up the past few times he'd called, and she knew if she didn't get it out in person, she'd never be able to do it. "I don't know if I'll be joining the team or not yet - Scott thinks I should try out - but I think I'll be staying here for a while."

"I don't wantcha on the team, Marie." Logan's brow furrowed at that. He didn't know how he'd cope with the thought of Marie in constant danger. He just couldn't take that.

"I know, I know. But I feel like I should pay the Professor back for - for putting me up here and helping me finish school and - "

"I'll pay him back whatever those things cost. I'll pay. You - I don't wantcha on the team." He found himself gripping her by the shoulders and looking into her big brown eyes.

"But - "

"But nothin'. You live here, I'll pay. I got a lotta money, and you can't be costin' 'em that much." Logan began mentally calculating what a fair figure for room and board for Marie might be, and how many fights per month extra he'd have to undertake to bring in the money.

"Logan," she interrupted gently, placing a small hand on his chest. "I can take care of myself, I can support myself. I've made money working for Hank. You don't have to be responsible for all that. And - and it wouldn't be forever, just a few years on the team until I felt like - "

"Years? Oh, no way. No way, Marie. Uh-uh."

"But - "

"No." Marie harrumphed and pursed her lips, obviously searching for some argument that would convince Logan. He took a deep breath and eased his grip on her shoulders. "Look, kid, I don't want that for you. That's not the kinda life you should have, OK? The only reason I left ya here was that you'd be better off than you'd be with me. Dontcha think I woulda taken you with me in a heartbeat before lettin' you be on the team?"

Logan had some expression of resigned agreement, but instead, her eyes began to well up with tears. "But I'm not better off without you," she whispered before lowering her head to avoid his gaze.

That tugged at Logan's heart, and he drew her into his embrace. He never could stand Marie-tears. "What I've been doin', goin' out and pokin' into my past - sometimes shit pokes back at ya, Marie, and I didn't wanna put you in the middle of all that." He said the words very gently but held her to him very tightly.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" It was the only time she'd ever asked about it at all. Never once during all the phone calls had she brought it up - she'd only asked if he was all right and safe, and when he thought he might come back.

"Nah." He heard her sniffle at that. "But I'm done lookin'." He felt her move in his embrace, twisting up to look at him with teary eyes. "Look, I dunno what you want for yourself, for your life, but I wantcha to have the chance to pick. I don't wantcha to feel like ya gotta be on the team or you gotta pay Xavier back. That's - that's on me, Marie, not you. I was the one that decided for the both of us, I was the one that hadta go out and do stuff that you couldn't do with me. I was the one who took away that option."

Marie's lips trembled and Logan suddenly knew what she was about to ask. He didn't quite believe it, that it was what she would pick for herself out of all the choices available to her. He didn't know why she would pick it, and he wasn't at all sure she knew enough about what she might be getting into. But, somehow, he knew with precise certainty what she was about to say. "Can I go with you now? When - when you leave here, can I come too?"

"If you wanna," he answered, letting out a long breath. "I'll take care of ya if you do. I promise." There I go again, Logan thought, making promises. Marie nodded enthusiastically and gave Logan a swift, tight hug before pulling back to look at him once more.

"I'll take care of you too. I promise that too." She said it so sincerely, so earnestly, that Logan almost kissed her. He caught himself, though, and hoped she hadn't seen the look that passed across him. He felt nervous again, all of a sudden. He tried to smile and change the subject. Anything so that Marie wouldn't be looking up at him with all that affection - it could definitely lead to not only saying things, but to also doing things, things that neither one of them seemed quite ready for.

"Well, that's settled then," Logan said a little unevenly. "Anythin' else to talk about?" Marie didn't answer, she just sunk into him, and he lay them both back against the headboard. Eventually, she fell asleep, and Logan lay awake for several long hours, watching her.

"Holy hell, Marie, do you know what this is?" Logan was standing in the garage, mouth agape. Both he and Marie were still wearing the clothes they'd had on the night before. As soon as she'd awoken, Marie had prodded Logan awake and dragged him to the garage so that he could see his present. After making him keep his eyes shut as she walked him into the repair bay and duly apologizing for not having been able to wrap his gift, she finally let him take a good look at what she'd gotten him.

"Well," Marie said seriously, putting one finger to her chin and tilting her head as though in deep thought, "it looks like an Indian to me. In fact, it looks like a 1939 Indian Chief, model 339BM, with the special Bonneville motor and the 74 cubic inch engine and the four speed transmission and a black and Chinese red paint scheme. Sure, it needs some work and possibly some new tires, but that's your basic 1939 Indian Chief right there."

"Holy hell," Logan repeated. He'd been looking for a '39 Indian for most of his remembered life. He was so obsessed by the bikes that he was sure he must've owned one at one point, must've had some attachment to this particular kind of bike.

"It's actually not too bad. It mostly just needs a good cleaning, and maybe some new oil lines, brakes, that kind of thing. I thought about doing all that, but - well, I thought you'd like to." Logan finally tore his eyes from the bike to look at Marie. She was smiling broadly, obviously enjoying Logan's reactions. Still a bit stunned, he did the only thing he could think of to thank her - he opened his arms wide and she obligingly bounced into his embrace. "I knew you'd like it."

"It - it must've cost a fortune. And where the hell did you find one?"

"It cost a little bit of money, sure, but I've been working part-time for Hank and I made some investments with that money and then I got out just before the market tanked and, well, I had just enough to cover it. I found it on the internet. Oh, I looked all over and it took months to find one in any kind of reasonably decent condition at all. At first, I didn't think that - "

Logan pushed her back from him a little. "Marie, this hadta cost, like, thousands of dollars. Even if they're not restored, they ain't cheap. You're - you mean to tell me you're walkin' around, wearin' second hand clothes and shit, and you spent money on a bike for me?"

"Well, yeah," Marie replied, nonplussed. "I knew it was one thing that would be sure to make a good present." Actually, she knew from the parts of him in her head, that he'd never received a present of any kind, and she wanted to make his first one memorable. "Plus, I knew you'd give Scott's bike back eventually. I mean, I'm pretty much the reason your last bike got blown up, so - "

"You shouldnta done this, kid," Logan shook his head at her and frowned. All he could think about was her working, scraping together every little bit of money to get him this bike.

"You don't like it?" Her expression fell. "I'm sorry. I was - I was sure you'd like it." She blinked a few times in confusion, reaching for the part of him still lodged in her head. He was hiding at the moment, like he usually did when the real life version of him showed up.

"I love it," Logan assured. "But - but - you shouldnta done all that for me." He tilted her chin upward with one gloved finger. "Marie, you shoulda spent that money on yourself. You coulda bought a lotta stuff with that."

"Or one antique bike. I wanted to buy you the bike." She said it as though it should be self-evident. "Besides, I had a little money left over. I put it into a savings account. There's still $124 there if I ever need anything." Logan brought both hands up to frame her face and looked deeply into her eyes. It unsettled her a little, but she liked it too. "I wanted to give you a present," she said softly. "A good present, one I knew you'd like. You gave me, you know, my life, so I really wanted to get you a very, very good present. Please say you'll take it."

"Marie," he whispered, caressing her face. She just kept on looking at him imploringly. "It's a good present," he finally managed gruffly. "Thank you."

Those two simple words painted her whole face in joy. Logan found himself smiling a little too. Marie's expression became sprinkled with playfulness. "Now what about my presents?"

"Let's go, darlin'." Logan didn't even notice the endearment slip out - he just put one arm around Marie's shoulders and steered her toward the stairs. Marie noticed, though, and reflected that the $18,000 she'd spent on the bike was well worth it.

Marie was having a great time opening her remaining presents from Logan, almost as good a time as she'd had giving him the Indian. So far there had been thermal pajamas, a very pretty and very sheer white scarf, a very nice silver pen, and a book - the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Marie had mentioned once in passing during a phone call that she liked the book, and wished that she hadn't had to restrain herself from marking up the school library's copy. She hadn't thought that Logan would remember that, and was very pleasantly surprised, and more than a little flattered that he had.

There was one more box left, and Logan had been holding it in his hands the whole time she was opening the other presents. He seemed hesitant about giving it to her for some reason. She sat across from him on the floor, and tried to think of something to say to make him more comfortable about giving her whatever the last present was. She couldn't imagine that she wouldn't like it, whatever it was. "Is that one for me too?"

Logan nodded, but didn't make a move to surrender the box. "I just wantcha to keep in mind that I saw it, and I thought you'd like it. That's all. That's all it means."

"OK," Marie agreed cautiously.

"You don't hafta keep it if you don't like it."

"OK¼¼¼"

"I can take it back if you don't want it."

"All right." She reached out a hand toward Logan, hoping that would nudge some progress. He frowned one last time, then handed the box over.

Like the others, it was wrapped in garish, Christmasy paper and duct tape. She unwrapped this last gift as carefully and patiently as she had all the previous ones. The outer wrapping had concealed a small black velvet box. Her first thought was - jewelry. She was soon proven right as she cracked open the lid of the tiny box to see a set of earrings and a pendant. They were beautiful - the settings and chain were silver and she didn't think she'd ever seen this type of stone before. "Oh, Logan, it's just beautiful. What - what are they?"

"Earrings. And a necklace," Logan added, less than helpfully. "I know you're wearin' the tags, and I didn't get this to say I wanted 'em back or anythin'. I just saw these and I thought you'd like 'em and I thought you might wanna have somethin' prettier than a banged up old dog tag hangin' 'round your neck. That's all, really."

Marie smiled at him and gave his arm a gentle swat. "No, I mean the stones, what are they? I've never seen anything like this before." They appeared to be mostly green, but they also seemed to reflect traces of blue, gold, red and brown.

"Oh. It's ammolite."

"Ammolite?"

"Yeah, it's a real rare stone, only found in Alberta. Actually, I read this little pamphlet at the jeweler's that said it was one of the rarest gems in the whole world, a lot rarer than diamonds, even." That was one of the reasons he thought it so appropriate for Marie. He saw the delight on her face, and couldn't stop himself from telling her a little about what he'd learned about the ammolite. "See, about 65 million years ago, these little squid-like creatures that had a crunchy outer shell swam around in the ocean, back when what's now just southeast of the Alberta Rockies was underwater. These little squids got eaten by bigger animals, dinosaurs and shit, and their shells sank to the bottom of the ocean and got fossilized, and, there ya go, 65 million years later, earrings and a necklace for you." Marie smiled at that, which was the intended reaction. "There's more to the story, too."

"Tell me," Marie encouraged, already listening with rapt attention.

"Well, the natives call it Iniskim, or the buffalo stone, and accordin' to the legend, it attracted the buffalo to the Blackfoot when there was a big famine. It's a symbol of power, wealth, good health. Some people say it has supernatural powers or that it's absorbed all the energy of the world for the millions of year's it's been sittin' around. The stuff's only a few millimeters thick, actually - they bond it to some other crap to make jewelry. The best kind shows a buncha colors. I got you the best kind."

"It's just beautiful. I've never seen anything like it." Marie gingerly took the necklace out of the box, holding it up in the light. "Would you mind very much if I gave the tags back to you and wore this instead? It's - I'd really like to wear this one."

"Sure." Logan watched as she placed the necklace on her lap and carefully removed his tags. He took them from her, then placed them back around his own neck. Marie fastened the chain around her neck, and tucked the pendant beneath her turtleneck, just as she had worn the tags.

She noticed that Logan was watching her very intently. "I want to have it next to my skin. It's - it's not that I don't want to show it off or anything, it's beautiful. But I'd like to have it right next to my skin."

"Sounds good to me," Logan said a little dreamily. He'd bought the jewelry for Marie not knowing how she'd react - not only to the implicit suggestion of replacing his tags, but to the very concept of, well, doing so with what was a much better, much more important and substantial necklace. A necklace, a serious necklace - that was a weighty gift, a bonding gift, a man-woman gift. It was one step away from a ring, which was definitely a serious gift. Rings went with a ceremony and necklaces - well, necklaces had always been kind of a ceremonial thing between the two of them, part of their own little ritual. Maybe it didn't quite mean as much as a ring, but it meant a lot to each of them. He'd hedged his bets a little by including the earrings - he could always say it was a set, and the serious necklace just happened to come with the not-so-serious earrings - if she'd reacted badly. He was thrilled with how she'd reacted so far.

"The earrings are perfect too - oval, just right for my face." She took off her plain, cheap earrings and replaced them with her new ones, setting her old ones carefully back in the box. After putting her new earrings on, she took a moment to show off for Logan, to enjoy him looking at her and liking what he saw. "Thanks for these. For all the presents, really. But for these especially."

"You're welcome, darlin'." Marie grinned happily at the second 'darlin'' of the day. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I bet you got a lotta presents waitin' for ya down there."

"OK," Marie said, rising to her feet and watching Logan do so as well, "But none of them are going to be better than these."

"Wait. Wait. You're saying that Rogue bought you an Indian?" Scott was incredulous and, Logan noted with some satisfaction, jealous. He'd come over to half-apologize, half-gloat that Logan didn't have any presents waiting under the tree - no one had really believed that he was coming back. Now, Logan decided to twist the knife a little more. He never really had liked Scott very much.

"Yep. And I bought her a necklace." Logan folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall, watching as Rogue sat on the floor with her friends, opening presents. Several people had commented on the fact that she was still wearing yesterday's clothes as was Logan. Scott hadn't picked up on that yet, though.

"What year?"

"What?"

"What year is the Indian?" Scott asked with some irritation. He couldn't believe that Rogue had done something like this - wasted thousands of dollars on something for a man who would never show her an iota of appreciation for it.

"1939." Scott exhaled a sigh of relief at that - there *were* more expensive model years out there. Plus, his own fantasy bike was a 50s Indian - any model, any year, he wasn't picky - and he couldn't stand the notion of Logan owning 'his' bike. "It's a beauty, too."

"How can you accept a gift like that? Don't you realize she must've spent every cent she ever made and then some on that bike? Oh, God, she didn't use a credit card did she?"

"Shut up." Logan's fun was beginning to be outweighed by his irritation. Scott hadn't even reacted at all to the necklace comment.

"Seriously, Logan, what did you get for her, hmm? Matchbook from some bar? Hairbrush left behind by your last hooker?"

"Didn't I just say I got her a necklace? And I think I also just said, 'shut up.'" Yes, irritation definitely outweighing fun now, Logan surmised.

"A - a necklace?" Scott stammered. "You got her a necklace?"

"Yeah." Wait a second, Logan thought, there might be some fun left here yet. "A real nice one. She's wearin' it underneath her top. Wanted it close to her skin. She liked it a lot."

Scott moved to place himself squarely in Logan's line of sight. Logan could've sworn Scott's eyes narrowed even though he couldn't see them behind the visor. "Just what kind of necklace did you get her?"

"You really don't listen for shit, do ya? I said, I got her a nice one."

"No, what kind - gold, silver, diamond, what?"

Logan chuckled. It seemed that Scott was finally picking up on the significance of the necklace gift. "None of your goddamn business, One-eye."

"You're leading her on!" Scott bellowed, causing everyone in the room to look at him - everyone except Rogue, who just looked down at the package in her lap, embarrassed. "You son of a - "

Logan cut him off by grabbing a fistful of his shirt and yanking him forward so that the men were nose-to-nose.

"What the hell is wrong with you, huh, bub? It's none of your goddamn business." Marie chanced a look over at the arguing men. Heaving a sigh, she reluctantly put her present down and headed toward them. "I swear to God, if you go and ruin her Christmas, I'll - "

"Logan," Rogue interrupted softly, putting a hand on his forearm. "It's OK. Scott's - Scott's just looking out for me. It's OK." Logan let go, but angrily held Scott's gaze.

"Rogue, you don't know what you're getting into here," Scott began. Rogue could tell it was meant to be the beginning of a long, and probably quite loud, lecture. She decided to try nipping that in the bud.

"I think I do," she said softly. "And in any case, I'd like not to discuss it right now."

"Rogue - "

"Not now, Scott," she said, a little louder and a lot more firmly. "It's not your business. Leave it alone." She could tell by his bearing that Scott wasn't about to let it go, so she stormed out of the room, forgetting her presents. Logan gave Scott a growl, then followed. Scott would've followed them both, but Jean arrived on the scene, and headed him off.

"Scott, didn't you want to announce our wedding date?" She'd been waiting for this moment for a long time - she wasn't inclined to let a little teenage trauma ruin it.

"But, Jean - "

"Scott, let it go. She's not going to listen to you. For God's sake, she's eighteen, she's not going to listen to anybody."

"Did you know she bought him a bike, an Indian? And he - he bought her a necklace. A necklace, Jean! That's one step away from a ring. The Christmas before we got engaged, I bought you a necklace! I have to do something!"

"Yes," Jean said levelly, "Yes, you do. You have to announce our wedding date. Well, if you ever really do want to get married to me, that is." Scott huffed. "Let it go, darling. Today is supposed to be our day. Just let it go." Scott frowned, but Jean could tell he'd made up his mind. "Come on now, let's spread the good news."

Logan found Rogue in her room, sitting on the bed, not looking terribly upset but not terribly happy either. "You OK?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm - I just didn't want to have a big scene, you know?"

"Your presents are still down there." Marie just shrugged. "We can go back down. There won't be a scene, I'll make sure of that."

"Do you love Jean?"

"What?"

Marie paused, then looked directly into Logan's eyes. "Do you love Jean?"

"No," Logan answered, a little stunned.

"I didn't think so." Marie crinkled her nose up and her eyebrows drew together. "But Scott kind of does."

"Yeah, well, he's wrong about a lotta shit," Logan observed bitterly.

"He's wrong about you. He doesn't know you, not really, Logan." That caught Logan's attention. Marie was trying to comfort him, when it should really be the other way around.

"He doesn't know you either." That wasn't exactly what he'd meant to say, but it just popped out.

Marie sighed. "I really don't know how he sees me. I used to think he was protective, that I was like some kind of surrogate little sister, but lately......."

"What?" Logan pushed, crossing the room to sit down beside her.

"Maybe - maybe he just thinks I'm stupid or clueless or that I don't know what I'm doing, you know, generally. The way he talks about me being on the team - giving me discipline, teaching me to be more mature - I just get the impression that he doesn't think I'm all that bright, you know? Or maybe it's that I'm young and silly. I don't know. I just - I realize I'm only eighteen, but, you know, I've got a lot more mileage than your average eighteen year old. I'm not some idiot who fell off the turnip truck yesterday."

"Turnip truck?"

"It's an expression - you know, like - I was born at night, but it wasn't last night." Logan chuckled at that one, and Marie smiled too. "I guess I shouldn't worry about it. It doesn't really matter, it's just - I guess it's just an irritant."

"That's the definition of Scooter, darlin'." That was the fifth such endearment today. Logan finally and abruptly realized with that fifth one what he'd said. "Uh....." In the next second, he noticed that Marie didn't seem to mind. "Right."

"Just don't buy in to how he thinks about you. Just remember he - he doesn't know you that well. You're a good guy."

"Right," Logan repeated softly.

"So you're not upset?"

"Right," Logan said one more time.

"Good. I really don't want anything to ruin today. I want it to be a good Christmas for the both of us."

"Yeah." Logan scooted closer to her a little. "Did I say thanks for the bike?"

"Yeah," Marie said, looking at him closely. Something was off, all of a sudden, she thought. Not off, she self-corrected a moment later, just unusual. "I'm glad you liked it," she said slowly, still assessing him.

"I did. I liked it a lot. Hey, Marie - what we talked about, you comin' with me after New Year's, that's still on, right?"

"Uh-huh," Marie answered, nodding. Something was definitely unusual here. Logan was grinning like a schoolboy. Unusual didn't even really begin to cover it. "Still on. Is there something - "

"You wanna take a trip up to Alaska then?"

"Alaska? I - I - "

"Yeah, I know January ain't the perfect time to visit, but if you wanted to see snow, it's a pretty good time. We could go if you wanna."

"Well, yeah, I want to," Marie blurted out excitedly. "Anytime. Anytime. January's good." Now she was the one grinning madly.

"Well, it's settled, then. You and me are goin' to Alaska. Now we just gotta, uh, plan for what we'll need." Logan's mood shifted noticeably, and he cast her a sideways glance. Trying very hard to appear casual, he continued, "You know I got a new camper, but, ah, there's just stuff in there for me. If you want other stuff for you, we probably should start gettin' that."

Marie knew he was really asking her about something more than her camper living needs, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Scooting over to him so that their hips were touching, she brushed her hair back off of her face and braced herself with a hand behind Logan's back as she leaned close to try to smoke him out a little more. "Like what kind of stuff?"

"Sleepin' stuff." Logan met her eyes, gazing deeply into them. "If you want separate sleepin' stuff for you - maybe like a sleepin' bag - then we gotta - gotta - " He trailed off as his hand crept up her arm, caressing it lightly as his hand found her white locks. Plunging his fingers into her hair, he gave up talking altogether in favor of looking at her and stroking her platinum curls.

"Oh," Marie said softly, watching him watching her. She let him go on for a moment, then blinked and looked down. Her cheeks slowly pinked with a blush. "We can share sleeping things. That - that would be OK." Marie kept her eyes down, not checking his reaction. "I'll be careful with my skin, really careful."

"I'll be careful too," Logan whispered, tilting her head up to see her face.

"Is that what you wanted to know?" Marie asked seriously. She couldn't imagine that Logan would need assurances of how she felt about him.

"Yeah." Logan's entire body relaxed, and he wrapped both arms around Marie, laying them both back on her bed.

The mansion inhabitants, predictably, did not take the news of Rogue's departure with Logan well. However, to their credit, both Scott and the Professor had stopped trying to persuade her not to go and had stopped threatening Logan by the time New Year's Eve had rolled around. Jean still tried to talk Rogue into staying, but, given that she had so much to do to plan for her own upcoming nuptials, she didn't really put all that much time or effort into it. Jubes and Kitty thought it was romantic. Bobby was heartbroken (but Kitty was in the process of developing a plan to comfort him), Remy was miffed, and St. John started flirting with Jubilee.

Rogue herself seemed eager to go and had already said her good-byes before the New Year's Eve party began. She'd wanted a little time alone with each of her friends, while they were still sober, and she wasn't interested in attending the loud, raucous event. The little bit of Logan's senses left in her didn't mix well with noisemakers and flashing party lights.

Rogue also wanted a little time to herself tonight, a few moments to take in all that she'd been through and to ready herself for all that was to come. She was excited about going, to be sure, but she knew it would be a big change and the fact that the x-men seemed so sure she was making a mistake did gnaw at her a little. She did remind herself that she and Logan had planned to leave first thing in the morning, and that no one would be awake and sufficiently recovered from the party at that hour to give her any resistance. That lifted her spirits some. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was finally free, finally able to begin a new, good chapter in her life. It had been a long time since a big change in her life had been a good one.

"Darlin', you in there?" Logan's voice was so soft that Rogue almost didn't hear it.

"Come in." She paused her packing efforts and devoted her full attention to her visitor. She noticed that lately, his eyes always darted to her neckline, checking for the ammolite pendant he'd gifted her with. She always wore it, just as she had the tags, so his search never ended in disappointment.

"You all packed?"

'Almost. I think I'm going to fit it all into two bags." She gestured to the small duffel bags that now held most of her earthly possessions.

"I still beatcha there - just one bag for me." Logan had a gleam in his eye as he crossed the room to stand close to her. "Got one more thing for ya."

"What?" Marie now noticed that he'd been holding one hand behind his back. She leaned a little to the side to try to see what he was hiding, but he leaned too, blocking her view. "Logan.."

"Take a guess." His hazel eyes were warm, and Marie found herself smiling and playing along.

"Hmmmcookies?" Marie asked hopefully.

"Heh. No."

"Gloves?"

"Nope."

"Oh, come on, give me a hint." Marie bounced up and down on her toes a little, which froze Logan for a moment - bouncing Marie-parts were a very good thing. He recovered when he noticed that she was still looking at him expectantly.

"It's a New Year's thing, a tradition." He gave up the game, bringing the slightly ragged sprig of green out from behind his back. "Mistletoe." He lifted it over her head and drew a scarf out of his back pocket.

Marie looked at him warmly. "That's Christmas, not really New Year's." Logan frowned and his expression deflated. "But the mistletoe kissing thing is good through New Year's Day, if that's what you were thinking." She rose up on the tips of her toes and leaned toward him. The smile was back on his face, and he gently lay the scarf over her lips. Cupping her face and holding the scarf in place, he lay one soft kiss against her lips, then let her go. They heard a commotion rise from the lower levels - noisemakers, shouting, and then Auld Lang Syne began to play. "Happy New Year," Marie said.

"Yeah, it will be," Logan concurred, kissing her one more time on top of her head before giving her a parting wink and leaving her to her packing. It would be a good year, he thought as he returned to his room, the best one yet. It would be a year full of Marie, and that would be a very good thing.