Scott had just finished some improvements on his motorcycle and I wanted to take it out for a spin.  I had been searching all over the mansion for Marie, hoping she would go with me.    Her voice drifted out of the kitchen as I was walking down the hallway.

"I can't tell him, Jean.  He'll freak if he finds out.  Ya have to promise not to say anything."

I wondered if Marie was talking about me and kept walking closer to the kitchen.

"He's going to find out eventually, Rogue.  It would be best if Logan heard it from you before he finds out some other way," Jean said.

"Ya promise not to tell him?" Marie begged.

"All right, Rogue, but you have to talk to him," Jean insisted.

Marie's footsteps told me she was leaving the kitchen through the other door.  It was a good thing too because I was too stunned to hide my presence.  My brain was stuck repeating her words.

'I can't tell him.  He'll freak.'
'I can't tell him.  He'll freak.'
'I can't tell him.  He'll freak.'

A minute later, Jean came out of the kitchen and almost crashed into me.

"Oh, sorry, Logan," she apologized.

Still in a daze, I just nodded and went back upstairs.  The motorcycle was completely forgotten as I opened the door to my room. I went inside and fell back onto the bed.

Marie and I had been together since I came home about six months ago.  I have never been able to understand what Marie sees in me.  Marie always assures me that she knows me and she loves me.  No matter what I may think of myself.   My heart pushes me to show Marie how much I need her when we make love.  My brain on the other hand insists that I protect myself from being hurt, because eventually Marie will realize that she could do a lot better.

Apparently that day had arrived; it only took six months for her to get tired of dealing with me.  Marie must have found someone else and she's afraid to tell me that it's over.  I mean, what else would I freak out over?  Marie being in danger, but she obviously isn't in danger.

Over the next few days Marie got that "deer in the headlights" look whenever I came into the room.  She found a hundred and one things to do some where else.  In other words, she was avoiding me like the plague.

I must not have hidden my feelings on the matter too well.

"Logan, would you like to go for a drink with me?" Scott asked.

"A drink with you?" I repeated stupidly.

"I thought we could have a drink and maybe you could talk about whatever is bothering you," he suggested.

"Well, we can have a drink," I conceded

Scott grabbed the keys to a car and we headed for town.  As we pulled up I sighed in disgust at Scooter's choice in bars.  How was I supposed to drink myself into a stupor at a pansy ass place like this?

I headed straight for the bar to get a glass and a bottle of whiskey.  I wasn't even sure if a bar like this served whiskey, their usual customers didn't look like they could handle it.  Finding a table away from everyone, I sat down and poured myself a glass full.  Scott sat down with whatever weak ass drink he ordered.  He didn't talk until I was most of the way through the bottle and feeling a little loose.

"You've been moping around for a few days now," Scooter said.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged.

"You want to tell me what's bothering you?" he asked.

I just stared sullenly at the table for a while, picking at the wood grain with a finger nail.

"Do you think Marie would ever cheat on me?"

"Cheat?  Are you kidding me?  Logan, why would you even think that?" Scott asked incredulously.

"I - uh... I overheard her talking to Jean the other day.  Marie was sayin' she couldn't tell me something because I would freak.  Jean said that she should tell me before I accidentally found out.  Marie made her promise not to tell me."

"You were eavesdropping!" Scott exclaimed.

"No!  I can't help it if I can hear people talking from down the hall." I muttered with a frown.

"She could have been talking about anything, Logan.  Why don't you just ask her?"

I just stared at him blankly for a moment, wondering if that foofy drink of his had killed off an important brain cell.

"Oh sure.  Hey, Marie.  You cheatin' on me?  Ya know, cause I was listening in on your private conversation the other day and was just wonderin'"

Scott sighed in exasperation.  "That isn't quite what I had in mind."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Well, I was thinking you could tell her that you've noticed she's been acting differently and you want to know if something is bothering her."

The liquor must have been wearing off because Scooter had made some sense.

I don't remember the ride back to the mansion.  My brain kept yelling I told you so, while I spent the trip staring out the window, wondering if Marie was about to rip my heart out.  I went upstairs to my room and got ready for bed.  There wasn't much sleeping going on that night, mostly I stared at the shadows on the ceiling.

Eventually the sun rose so I showered and dressed.  I had to talk with Marie first thing, if she was going to destroy me I wanted to have plenty of time to pack and get on the road before dark.

"Marie?" I called as I knocked on her door.

I knocked again when I heard a sleepy groan inside.  Sounds in the room told me Marie was getting up and shuffling towards the door.  Suddenly the door was jerked open, and a rather grumpy and rumpled Marie stood there squinting at me.

"What do you want, Logan?" she grumbled.

I'll admit that going to talk at six-twelve in the morning may not have been such a great idea.  All sleepy and rumpled, she was damned cute though.  I smiled as Marie rubbed her eyes and shuffled back to bed, then I remembered why I was there.

"Uhm..."

My power of speech seemed to have fled to scene.  I looked around her room desperate for a life preserver.

"Come on, Logan.  I want to go back to sleep.  Get into bed." she said yawning.

I looked at her bed and wondered if anyone else was being invited to sleep in it.

"Marie, I - I uh - I need to talk to you.  You've been acting strange lately and I..." I trailed off when Marie stared up at me with wide brown eyes.

"I guess I had better tell ya now.  I've been puttin' it off cause I knew ya'd get upset," she sighed.  Marie patted the bed beside her, gesturing for me to sit down.

I sat down cautiously, ready to flee at any moment.  Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I stroked my knuckles nervously and avoided eye contact.  The axe was about to strike and I couldn't bare to watch.

"Logan, I'm going to start training to join the X-Men," she blurted out with a grimace.

My head snapped up and my mouth fell open as I stared at her in disbelief.  Marie was going to join the X-Men.  That's why she had been avoiding me.  That's what she was afraid to tell me.  I started to laugh and crushed her against me, relieved beyond measure that she wasn't leaving me.

"Logan?  What -" she began.

The shock was enough to make my brain join my heart in wanting her to know how much I needed her.

"I love you, Marie.  I love you," I said into her hair.

Marie pulled back, looking very confused.  This obviously was not the reaction she had been expecting from me.

"Logan, are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah.  Yeah, let's go back to sleep now, okay?" I yawned.

After being awake all night and plodding through several days of stress, I was exhausted.  Laying back on the bed, I pulled Marie down with me.  Then I wrapped myself around her and immediately went to sleep.  Marie was gone when I finally woke up late in the afternoon.  I went downstairs to look for her.

"Hey, you seen Rogue?" I asked some kids in the game room.

"She's down in the gym, Wolvie," a girl answered.

I didn't even growl at Marie's irritating little yellow wearing friend for calling me Wolvie because I was in such a good mood.  Scott caught up to me in the hallway on my way to the gym.

"So, did you talk to her?" he asked.

I nodded.

"What happened?  What did she say?" Scott demanded impatiently.

"I gotta go.  I'll see ya later," I smirked, turning to walk away.

"Hey, come on, Logan!" he grabbed my arm.

"Thanks, Scooter.  Ya know, for the drink."

I left him standing there, gaping at me.  Scooter is more clueless than I am, and I'd like to keep it that way.
 

The End