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“Hey ‘Ro.”

“Logan,” she greeted back, her demeanor relaxed, her breathing even.
“Whatcha doing?” He grunted in usual gruff manner, settling down next to her. Neither of them commented about the distance or lack there of, as he stretched his long legs and rested on his elbows.

“Nothing, just watching the sunset,” the leaned her head towards the horizon, gesturing towards the red ball of fire disappearing over the edge of the world.
“Hn,” his noncommittal grunt showed either his disinterest or his curiosity. Taking the second option, she ran with it, both for general conversation and due to the camaraderie, the closeness that had developed between the two mutants and fellow teammates.

“It brings me peace,” he arched a shaggy eyebrow at her. Now, that showed his interest. He wanted to know how could a freakin’ waste of good drinkin’ and brawlin’ time, watching the sun go down or come up, could bring peace. As far as he was concerned, peace was something that had eluded him for years. However, lately, it seemed to be not slipping away as fast as it used to earlier. Maybe there was some science behind this shit….or maybe he was finally getting as pansy assed as Scooter. Brrrrr. ‘Just kill me.’

“Watching the sunset, helps me center myself,” she carried on her explanation, her calm and soothing voice sounding even more rested….and at the same time arousing as hell. “Helps in my meditation.”
“Meditation, huh,” he nodded his head as if having some inner conversation. “Good shit.”

--

Knowing him and his propensity for colorful if sometimes rather crude adjectives, the weather witch did not correct him. However, surprised at his answer, she did ask him about that. “You know about meditation?”
“What is that supposed ta mean?” His brow crinkled at answer. What did she take him for? A no good, beer guzzling, ass-kicking, slashing, whore fuckin’ son of a bitch.

“Nothing, nothing,” she understood his defense mechanisms and this was one of them. Trying to stop it before it slammed up completely, closing him off, she grasped for an explanation. “Its just that, I’ve never seen you….”
“Yeah, well, I don’t do it fer show,” the last few words were just for payback.

“What is that suppose to mean?” Bingo. It pushed the right buttons.

However, unlike her, he did not give any clarification or peace offering. He, in his usual style, just grinned his lop sided grin, one that told her that she had been had.

“Very funny Logan,” she shook her head, causing a few of her long white tresses falling from her shoulder and curtain around her face.

--

“Hey, ‘Ro,” his leaned in further, his voice different from before, almost soft.
“Yes Logan,” she did not raise her head to meet his heated gaze. Her heartbeat had jumped up a couple of notches, maybe even more, its thumps sounding clear in her ears.

“You know what is even better than seeing the sun go down?” His ‘go down’ carrying a unique tone, one that both unnerved and aroused her.
“What?” Her voice was barely above a whisper as he hooked a finger under her chin and lifted it up to look into her deep blue eyes.

“This….”

-SNIKT-

“Logan! No, Logan. Please.....NNOOOOO….”

KHUCCCHH!!

------

“NNOOOOO…..”

“’Ro, ORORO, SOMEONE HELP…..Ororo. Snap outta it.”

A light yet firm slap across her face snapped the sweat soaked, screaming at the top of her lungs, Ororo out of her nightmare haze. Her hands protectively wrapped around her midsection, Ororo’s eyes blankly spun around the room….the tent, she realized moments later as comprehension came back to her.

In front of her was the familiar, head to toe covered form of Rogue…no Logan, no Rogue, uhn, she was still too out of it to correctly identify who or what it was. The same way she did not try to make out who the dark shadows crowding the unzipped ‘door’ of the tent were.

“What happened?” A dripping wet Henry and Bobby blurted out the same instant. Both of them were sharing a tent, with an almost recovered but still weak Kurt. The other three tents housed Remy and Piotr, Kitty and Jubilee and a single Ororo, respectively. Rogue or more correctly the Logan inside her had taken up residence at the back of the truck. Being in Rogue’s body, he did not want to take a chance with touching anyone, especially Ororo in his sleep. While Rogue was well adapted to sleeping with others while taking care to not touch any exposed skin, Logan wasn’t and had thus adopted the easy way out. If he weren’t near them, he wouldn’t touch them. Simple as that. However, even then, he/she always parked the truck in such a way that Ororo’s tent wouldn’t be a couple of seconds away from him.

“Ororo? Are you okay?” Kitty Pryde’s phased body leaned in from the side, her worry and her sleep written clearly on her face. She too, just like Henry and Bobby, was drenched to the bone.

Still unable to form proper words, Ororo numbly nodded her head, accepting the water that Rogue held out to her.

“She’s okay,” Kitty leaned back, her head poking out of the tent to speak to the person or persons standing outside, next to her.
“Whew,” that was Jubilee.
“Stormy?” Remy sounded worried, his gloved hand resting against the tent, as if trying to get inside. The next instant, phased by Kitty, he and Jubilee too appeared, well, just to their shoulders, into the six-by-eight tent.

“I-I…ughh,” Ororo cleared her throat, her voice coarse to her own ears. “I am well. Just a nightmare,” was the only explanation she offered, her eyes deliberately not meeting Rogue’s.
“Are you certain Ororo,” Henry has fished out his glasses and put them on to get a better view. “Do you….”
“Thank you Henry, everyone,” she said, ending any further help offers. “Its nothing to worry about.”
“She’s fine big guy,” that was Bobby, to Piotr who was the only person left out in the rain.
“Then we shall take your leave,” Henry and Bobby both stepped out and started for their tent.

“Hey, ‘Ro,” Jubilee had one last comment…a request rather. “Can you, uh, ummm…” she jerked a finger towards the sky. “It wasn’t supposed to rain, let alone pour.”
“Oh, sorry,” both Jubilee and Ororo neglected the scowl on Rogue’s face as Ororo brought herself and also the errant weather under control, ending the deluge and clearing up the sky within seconds. All the x-men knew Rogue/Logan’s aversion for Ororo to stress herself in any way or form. She wasn’t allowed to lift anything heavy, no look out duty, not even cooking, something which she had found a loophole in. She used to instruct whoever had cooking duty that day and serve as an official taster. It was the closest that Rogue or any of the other her other teammates for that matter were allowing her to get to anything even resembling even mild labor, let alone strenuous.

----

“Logan,” she raised a hand to the halt her retreating teammate. The others had left and Rogue/Logan was the only one left and even she/he was on her/his way out.
“Yeah,” came the quick nod.

“I want to talk to Rogue,” she stated evenly, taking in the surprised look on the other woman’s face.
“What dya mean ‘Ro?” Large brown eyes narrowed in an effort to hide the surprise in them. “This is…”
“I want to talk to Rogue,” Ororo reiterated herself. “….to Marie.”
“’Ro.”
“I know she is in there,” Ororo patted the space next to her, managing a tight smile. Fresh from her nightmare, it was still unnerving for her to see Logan’s mannerisms in the young woman. “I saw you two talking yesterday.”

----

//Flashback (conversation)//

“Hey kid.”
“Hey Logan.”

“You wanna come out now. There ain’t no one here.”
“….”

“Kid, you gotta come out sooner or later.”
“….”

“Marie, darlin’. I can’t keep on running things fer ya. You gotta come out.”
“Why?”

“Why? Because its yer freakin’ body. That’s why?”
“And you are keeping it just fine. Safe. Just like you saved me.”

“Marie….”
“No Logan. I can’t. I already hate myself. The others also hate me. Don’t make me…”

“Hate yerself? Why the fuck would you do that? An’ which son of a bitch hates ya? Gumbo?”
“…” (head nod)

“He doesn’t hate ya darlin’. Don’t have the hate smell on him. Its just his stinkin’ Cajun smell.”
“…” (soft smile) “He doesn’t stink.”

“Yeah, maybe not to ya. To me, its only ‘cause o’ ‘Ro and ya that I let the fucker live. Otherwise, fer what he did ta ya…”
“What about Ororo, Logan? I am sure she doesn’t like me….not after I killed you.”

“Na, darlin’, ‘Ro doesn’t hate ya. You and me, we both know, she ain’t like that. Fuck, even after what I did….fuck, even after that she fucking kissed that bod of mine before we chucked it down the hole. She….”
“But I killed the father of her baby.”

“No ya didn’t. The father of her baby, namely this fucker, myself, he did himself in and for a very good reason. It was my face and my body that reminded her of what I did to her. Every time she saw me, I could smell the fear rolling offa her. Besides, it ain’t like I am dead. I am still here, inside you.”
“….why can’t I stay inside and you on tha out. We’re doing okay. Also, yah are tha only one who knows where we have t’ go.”

“No, I ain’t.” (growl) “You know it too. You have all my memories now. You know how ta get to across the border and where to go frem there.”
“But what about you?”

“Me….I….hey, I am still here.”
“….”

“Shit kid, what dya want me to say? That I shoulda let you die. I promised you Marie. I promised that I’d take care of ya.”
“And what about your promise to Ororo?”

“What dya mean?”
“What about the promise that you made to her when she was…..well after….what about that one? You promised to take care of her and the kid too. Shit, Logan, you even told her that you’d make a better life for…”

“I know dammit.”
“Then what about that promise?”

“Marie….kid….”
“…..”

“Marie….listen to me….”
“….”

“Hey, don’t hide….dammit. Gone.”

//End Flashback//

----

“I want to talk to her,” Ororo requested again, resting a gentle hand on Rogue/Logan’s gloved covered one.
“I-I…I tried ‘Ro,” the growl seemed very out of place when coming out from the girl. “She…fuck, she ran away and hid inside. Don’t know how she does that. I’ve been tryin’ to get her out….after all, its her body. Me….I…hmph.”

Had this been in any other situation, Ororo would have surely have laughed, but not now. Not when she needed to get the girl who was a ‘deliberate’ prisoner in her own body, to come out. Taking a deep breath, she started a different play.

“Rogue,” she addressed the girl and not the man. “I know you think I hate you, but I don’t. However, I will, if you keep hiding yourself from me. Now, until you come out and talk to me, we are going to keep sitting here….and in my current state, that will not be a healthy, either for me or for the baby.”

“’Ro….”

“No, Logan,” Ororo actually sounded as if she was talking to two different people. “I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to Rogue.”

“….”

Nearly five minutes passed before anything worthwhile happened. Ororo sat calmly, watching as an internal argument raged within the woman in front of her. The varying facial expressions, head nods and shakes and hand expressions told her that…and more, as slowly but surely, the squared shoulders started to droop a little, the body relaxing…..until…

“Hey Ms. Monroe, Ahm here.”

----

At the same time, some place else,

“ORORRRRROOOO…..”





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