NAME GAMES
"James..." Rogue said slowly, seeming to taste the name as it rolled off her tongue.
"Yep," Logan replied. They were sitting in a booth of an old family restaurant called the "Cookshed". It was located on a decrepit side-road that wasn't too far from the mansion. The place was noted for its delicious and spectacularly greasy fried chicken - quite possibly the best fried chicken in the state of New York. Logan and Rogue loved the place, but the others tended to avoid it. Kitty called it the "Cholesterol Shed."
In other words, it was a place where Logan and Rogue knew they wouldn't bump into any of the other X-Men. It was their place for private conversation.
Rogue put down a gnawed-bare drumstick, wiped her face and hands with a paper napkin, and leaned back in her seat. She obviously wasn't entirely sure what to say and was trying to gather her thoughts.
"And Mystique said that's your real name?" she asked finally.
Logan wordlessly nodded as he used his teeth to shred flesh from a chicken breast. Rogue could tell that he was trying to look unperturbed. And he was doing a pretty good job. However, he was talking to one of the few people on earth who knew him well.
"Do you believe her?" Rogue asked softly.
Logan paused and seemed to think that over. And then he shrugged.
"Mostly," he answered laconically.
Rogue watched him closely for several seconds before she spoke again, "How does she know all of this?"
Logan tossed the remnant of the chicken breast onto his plate.
"We were both part of that 'Weapon-X' thing," he said gruffly. "We worked together doing black-ops dirty work. Then they tried to do something to her like they did to me - and I busted her loose. Once she told me about that I began to remember some of the details, but not all of them. It's still hazy, but I know that at least some of what she told me is the truth."
Rogue nodded, still staring at Logan, "And that's all?"
Logan glared at Rogue and then took a long drink from his beer, "Rogue, are you sure you ain't got at least a little bit 'a telepathy?"
A brief smile flickered onto Rogue's lips, "Only where you're concerned, sugar."
Logan's face acquired a somewhat martyred "I'm in hell" expression, then it went away.
"Mystique says she and I were close back then. Real close," Logan said, looking Rogue in the eyes as he did.
Rogue blinked. Then she said, "Wow."
Logan nodded and picked up a wing.
"And?" Rogue probably.
"Probably true," Logan supplied. "I've always thought she was kinda hot. And those bits and pieces of memory I got back... some of it... well..."
Logan hesitated.
"You and her?" Rogue supplied, both of her eyebrows were raised as she spoke.
"It gives the words, 'blue movie' a new meaning," Logan said drily.
Rogue pursed her lips and let out a breath that was half-sigh and half-whistle, "How do ya feel about that?"
"Weird. There are some people in the world that you'd never think would like to be spanked."
Rogue firmly told a fantasy to sit down and shut up. This was about Logan, not her.
"So where d'ya go from here?" she asked curiously.
Logan smiled slightly, "Step one: talk to a friend about it."
Rogue smiled.
"Step two: file it and wait for the next shoe to drop."
The smile faded away. "That's it?" Rogue asked incredulously. "For Pete's sake, Logan! If she knows your first name, then she probably knows your last name! Talk to her and you might be able to sort out your past!"
Logan shook his head, "I tried, but she didn't want to talk about it. She says I'm not the man I was back then."
"So?!" Rogue exploded loudly. At several nearby tables, heads turned.
Rogue glared at everyone - and they promptly went back to minding their own business. Then she turned back to Logan.
"What Mystique said bothered me at first," he said calmly. "But then I got to thinking. We did a lot of really dirty stuff at 'Weapon X'. Maybe what she's trying to say is that I really don't want to know. Or maybe she's saying she doesn't want to remember it either."
"Or maybe that bitch is just jerking you around," Rogue half-snarled.
"Maybe, but I think I gotta give her the benefit of the doubt on this one."
You do, but I don't, Rogue thought to herself. She'd track down Mystique and...
"Let it alone, darling," Logan said softly, interrupting that particular chain of thought.
Rogue smiled wryly at him, "Why, Logan, are you sure you don't have at least a little bit of telepathy?"
Logan chuckled, but didn't say anything.
"Anything else?" a young waitress asked. She was looking at them a bit warily.
"Another couple of beers," Logan said calmly.
"It means 'holding the heel'," Rogue said as soon as the waitress left.
Logan blinked in surprise, "What?"
"The name James. It's a variation on the name Jacob. That's Jacob from the Bible. He was born holding onto his twin brother Esau's heel. So Esau was the older brother, but not by much. But Jacob sort of ended up eclipsing him anyway."
Logan gave Rogue a long look.
"Hey, I payed attention in bible study," Rogue said defensively.
Logan nodded. "And Marie is another version of Mary," he said. "In Hebrew it means 'beloved'."
This time Rogue gave Logan the long look.
"Got curious one day. Looked it up," Logan said shortly.
The waitress put a couple of condensation-sweating bottles in front of them and then quickly walked away.
"It isn't as simple as that," Rogue said once the waitress was gone. "Mary is a pretty old name. Some people think that the Jews adapted it from an Assyrian name."
Logan nodded as he picked up his beer, "Yeah, I saw that when I was reading the Wikipedia article, but I stopped at 'beloved'. That made the most sense to me."
Suddenly concentrating on her beer bottle, Rogue asked, "So... do you still want me to call you Logan? Or James?"
Logan made a 'meh' gesture with with his upper body, "Let's stick with Logan for right now."
A Gaelic name, thought Rogue. It was more often used as a last name than a first name. And it meant "hollow".
She didn't see any reason to say any of that out loud. Particularly the last part.
"And how about you?" Logan continued. "When do you become Marie again - instead of Rogue?"
"Never," Rogue's reply was so flat and vehement that it surprised even her.
Logan picked up his beer and gave her long, steady look, "Marie's a pretty name. And it fits you."
"That girl is gone. Long gone," Rogue said sharply.
Logan nodded slowly as he continued to examine her.
"No, she's not," he said quietly.
And Rogue realized to her horror that she was blushing.