Title: Southern Wishes

Author: Autumn

E-mail: eddievedderismylife@hotmail.com

Distribution: WRFA, XMFFC, Mutual Admiration, Logan'sMarie, others please ask.

Rating: PG-13 There's nothing terribly upsetting in this one.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, do you really think I would have ended the movie the way it ended?

Pairing: Logan/Rogue

Summary:  Uh, stuff happens, then things progress.

Category: Light and Fluffy Angst, sort of, but I'm not really the best judge of that now am I?

Author's Notes: Inspired by the U2 song "Heartland."  On a side note, I think everyone and their dog should pick up a copy of 'Rattle and Hum'.

See the sun rise over her skin

Don't change it

See the sunrise on her skin

Dawn changes everything

And the delta burns bright and violet

Logan rose in the early morning light, subdued and unlike his generally grumpy self.  Naturally it all figured, on why he was up so early and who it was for-Marie.  A ghost of a smile flitted across his face as he recognized that she still had enough influence over him to drive him from his bed at 6 a.m.

He donned his dark apparel and walked out in the hall to meet the rest of the X-geeks as he so kindly refereed to them.  He was thankful for their support and help, moving shit halfway across the country was hard to do by

yourself.  He silently thanked Marie for having the foresight to insist that she and Logan have the house built months before they planned to move.

Logan twisted the metal band on his finger and sighed in resignation. That woman could get him to do anything; it didn't matter how far away she was.

The Wolverine had long ago been tamed by the untouchable girl.

Mississippi and the cotton wool heat

Sixty-six the highway speaks

Of deserts dry, of cool green valleys

Gold and silver veins-shining cities

The flight up had been without incident.  Loading the Blackbird with various pieces of furniture had been interesting, and an experience neither Scott nor Logan wanted to repeat again.  As expensive and equipped the

machine was it sucked as a cargo plane.

Unloading had been a lot easier, and thankfully they were finished by the time the Mississippi humidity kicked in.  Marie had repeatedly warned Logan about that. He recalled her explaining it as walking into a well-steamed sauna.  Not that he really remembered what a sauna was, but he figured

in time he'd discover what she meant.

In this heartland

In this heartland

In this heartland

Heaven knows this is a heartland

Heartland

Heartland

Marie had always wanted to return to Mississippi, just not to Meridian.  She had been so happy when Logan agreed to move there shortly after they became engaged.  Hell, he would have volunteered to live on the moon if it would have made her happy.  Logan recalled she'd immediately began

searching for property and finally found a place thirty miles outside the town of Glendive.  They bought it up, and Marie moved on to planning the architecture of the house.

It had taken a little over 18 months to build the house, but Marie had been so excited about it.  The house was finished a month after the wedding.  They were supposed to move into their dream home immediately following their return from honeymooning in Scotland.  Of course, fate had other plans.

See the sun rise over her skin

She feels like water in my hand

Freeway like a river cuts through this land

Into the side of love like a burning spear

And the poison rain brings a flood of fear

Through the ghost ranch hills, Death Valley waters

In the towers of steel belief goes on and on

Friends of Humanity terrorists became increasingly violent in the spring of that year.  Attack after attack was made and the X-Men showed at every conflict.  The list of casualties on both sides was staggering.  Kitty Pyrde, Bobby Drake, and Remy LeBeau had all fallen in the line of duty.

The mansion still felt the loss of those irreplaceable and well loved team members.

Then Jubilee had been taken and held hostage.  The team had launched a plan of attack that was dangerous, but was the most sure-fire way to get the resident firecracker back.  Unfortunately, it had cost them another well-loved and indispensable teammate.

In this heartland

In this heartland

In this heartland

Heaven knows this is a heartland

Hear land

Heartland

Scott Summers said his farewell and lifted off with the now empty Blackbird.  Meanwhile Logan walked down the shaded path to the gated area of the backyard.  Southern through and through, Marie had vocalized her wish to be lain to rest in the backyard of her family property.

Never one to deny his wife anything, Logan had made the arrangements he.  So here he was a beautiful new house, and the person he was meant to share it with resided 1/8th of a mile from the master bedroom.  Fate had an ironic sense of humor.

He sat in front of her headstone and began talking to her.  He told her about the laundry chute, and the walk-in closet.  He chatted earnestly about the townsfolk and told her how much she would have loved it.  He talked until his voice grew horse and the sun was gone from the sky.

Logan pulled himself from the cold ground and slowly walked back to his empty house.  The Wolverine was alone once again.