Chapter 2 – Unintelligible little words

"I'm sorry Rogue, I simply cannot allow it." The Professor stated. Marie was slumped in an armchair in the plushly decorated headmaster's office. There were rugs and soft furnishings as far as the eye could see. Even the walls were completely lined with thick wood, muffling any real-world noises. She felt ten feet underwater hopelessly drowning in numbness, wishing she were deaf.

"I allow him into my school, my home. He takes advantage of my hospitably and then one of my students." Marie had barely been able to tell the professor she was pregnant and as soon as she did, the whole staff seemed to be present. Damn Jubes and her big, loud projecting thoughts.

"It's not like that, it's never been like that." She sobbed, Jubilee rubbed her back in slow circles. Jean sat the other side of Marie, crouching on the rug and holding her quivering hand.

"There is a special place in hell for people like him and name for what he has been doing to you. He knows young women like you are easy to control, easy to manipulate. He raped you."

Marie viciously shook her head, "No! We're in love, we love each other."

"If he loves you so much then where is he now?" Scott sniped. "If he loves you so much then why didn't he learn to put on a condom to save you going through all this?"

Hank cleared his throat uncomfortably. The professor closed his eyes and rubbed his temples like he had a headache, letting Scott continue his rant.

"He doesn't age Rogue, what's knocking you up going to change. As soon as he gets bored, he's going to leave you in this mess and you'll have to sort it out yourself. No education, no job and a little mouth to feed? Maybe 10 years he'll stick around for, then you'll be too old for him and he'll be sniffing around the bars for someone else. Young, fresh meat."

"Scott!" Jean exclaimed. He made a frustrated sound and turned away.

Marie could barely control her sobs, her breath coming out in sharp pants. "Please, you don't understand."

"Rogue, Sweetie, listen to me." Jean soothing voice took over and the redhead kneeled down to be at eye level with her.

"I know what Logan is like, he can be very.. persuasive when he wants to be. He'd do or say almost anything to get what he wants, trust me." she shot a glance over at her husband who was persistently staring out the window.

"He doesn't love you. He's just taking advantage of a young girl with a crush because it's easy. You're always here and willing to please, he doesn't have to take you out and buy you a drink first because he knows you'll do anything for him."

"That's not true." Marie wined into her free hand. She couldn't even look at the woman, trying not to think of how she knew all that.

"Think rationally Rogue, you know what he is like. We all know what he is like. He can't stick around for a month let alone to help you raise this baby. Of course we'll be here for you but it will be so much easier for you when he is out if the picture. You need someone less.."

"Immature? Unstable?"

"Scott!" The Professor interjected.

Marie pictured Scott rolling his eyes behind the quartz lenses, "Believe me there are a lot more adjectives where they came from."

"He's not right for you sweetie." Jean wiped a tear from Marie's cheek with her thumb. She always thought the redhead had a crush on Logan, enjoying the attention he used to lavish on her. Marie had seen images of her in Logan's memories. Jean coyly looking up at him through her lashes, teasing him with her long legs and flirtatious smile.

Marie knew what Jean was saying, that she didn't have enough experience to deal with Logan. That she was not mature enough to be in a relationship with someone older than her. That she was still a child.

The professor spoke up, "Logan can stay until Rogue has the baby, then he has to leave."

Marie worried about Logan for the rest of the day, thinking over and over the conversation she'd been an inconsequential part of in the Professors office. She lay in his bed crying and alone until it was almost midnight. She finally gave in and text him, asking when he'd be home. He didn't reply but was making his way quietly through the door twenty minutes later.

"Baby, what's wrong." He wrapped her in his arms as she trembled. He smelt so familiar, smoke and leather and Logan. Her fingers traced a path over his rough jaw, over his ear and up to where his hair was softer at the back of his head. She kissed his furrowed brow, tasted salt, thought of all those little things she was going to miss when he decided he didn't want her anymore.

"Nothing, I just missed you."

He smelt the tears and her anguish through the lie, "Bullshit, tell me what's the matter baby."

"Do you ever think about our future?"

"All the time," he brushed a strand of hair away from her face, looked at her with troubled eyes.

"And what do you see?"

Logan paused a few moments, trying to figure her out. Her lip wobbled when a minute passed and there was still no answer. "You're still pissed at me," he sighed.

She shook her head, looked away. That was it? That was all she got? The fears she's been having all day were being re-founded in his lack of an answer. Can't he see she needed this? How much she needed him to be enough.

The tears that had been threatening the whole time now burst out uncontrollably, falling quickly onto his bare skin.

"Baby, shhh. It's okay." But it wasn't okay, because she finally understood what she had to do to get through this.

"Marie, baby? Fuck, you know I don't mean to.. you know I'm shit with words." He could do nothing but stare in wide-eyed confusion and hold her close, waiting for her tears to subside enough so she could form a sentence.

"They know. I couldn't help it, the pressure was too much.." She sniffed, wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

Logan should have been there, been there with her to hold her hand while she told the headmaster and teachers she was underage and pregnant with child. He should have been there when she walked into the doctor's office, seventeen and alone. How could he be so selfish? But you didn't even tell him. He's not a mind reader.

He pulled back, tilting his head as he analyzed her. And she knew if he stared at her in that way too long he'd either figure her out or she'd break and tell him everything. All the terrible, blasphemous things Scott and Jean had said, the way the professor had made her feel, unworthy and childish. The way her friend had looked at her, horrified when she told her. And the new secret she was hiding from them all.

So she leaned up and kissed him hungrily on the lips.

Logan lay down pulling her on top of him, groaning at the feeling of the inside of her mouth. It had been a while since they had been together like this. More recently sex was frenzied, squeezed in before her lessons or before he left in the morning. The quick trysts did nothing to quell his needs and he left feeling more unsatisfied and more defeated than ever. This was what he'd been missing, love.

She sat up enough to pull her t-shirt off over her head, revealing her very naked skin underneath. Logan stared up in awe for a quick second, taking in the sight of her glorious breasts that had swelled with pregnancy and the small bump that started at her lower belly. He grinned a wolfish kind of grin, careful to keep control of himself before leaning up and capturing one of her tender pink nipples in his mouth. She let out a low moan, igniting that lost spark within him. He needed to keep that beast locked away for good now; he could never be allowed to darken his mind again.

Logan maneuvered underneath her, lining up their cores, creating a delicious friction that almost had him come on the spot. But he wanted this to be about her, Marie's needs and desires before his own. He barely remembered to pull down his pants before pushing up into her, burying his face into the soft skin of her neck.

She cried out softly on entry, jolting at the feeling of being filled so quickly. Would she ever get used to the feeling of being filled so completely? Would she ever forget it?

Marie kissed his forehead, his hand, his cheeks, feeling her heart beat loud in her ears keeping a steady rhythm. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Logan covered her with his arms and steadily rolled Marie onto her back, studying her with a confused expression as he fucked her gently; wondering what was going on in that head, why she would smell like that? Of despair and loss and hopelessness.

Wished he could try harder to understand her, wished he wasn't so much of a fucking animal that couldn't focus on more than one emotion at a time. He couldn't help that instinctual need to mark her, fill her up no matter what the consequences. It was selfish. It was disgraceful. It was ingrained in him.

He wanted to see her eyes, hidden from view by her scrunched lids. He needed to see that she didn't hate him. That she hadn't worked out he was a no-good son-of-a-bitch who only deserved to be kicked to the gutter. He needed to know.

His pace increased until they were both quivering on the edge of release. A savage growl sounded from somewhere in his chest and she felt a sharp pain as his teeth sunk into her neck. The pain must have triggered her mutation because all of a sudden she could head the cacophony of his mind, Logan brutally beating back the animal trying so hard to break loose.

All the pain and confusion he had been feeling. The constant lingering thought of never being good enough. They weren't words but blurred colors and noise. Rage and remorse, guilt and gratification, shame and obsession. And one constant theme, her name. Images of her face swam into view, lit in a pure white light. And then a word, repeated like a prayer over and over; Mine mine mine mine.

Marie lay boneless and quivering on top of the quilt, even though the evening air washing over her from the open window was warm. Her heart had settled back into its normal rhythm but she could have sworn it had been ripped out: all she could feel was the empty ache where her heartbeat should have been.

"Sorry, I need to go. I'm real tired."

Logan stared at her questioningly, frowning. "Okay baby," he replied, kissed her head ever so softly and her heart leapt in her chest, proving it was still there after all. "I love you," he whispered against her, giving her a small vein of hope amongst the blackness that maybe everything would turn out okay.

"I love you too."

Marie tip-toed down the corridor without being seen. Her old room felt like a vast empty wasteland, she didn't spend much time here anymore. Objects that once were so simple and familiar felt like the belong to someone else; a small pink teddy bear that Bobby had won for her at the fair, a bottle of drug store perfume she'd brought on a trip to the mall with Jubilee and Kitty. Photos of a smiling girl with brown hair and dark eyes, laughing with her friends.

She almost didn't recognize herself amongst the faces she'd been seeing less and less of. Logan was like an all-consuming supergiant, using up all her time and energy. Through it all, she loved him, she loved him more than life itself. He was embedded in her so deep that the pain of him leaving her would be too great to bear.

She slid to the floor, unable to cry. The loss was so great she felt empty already.