CHAPTER IV

It was two nights later that Angel got a call from Giles wondering where Spike was. The Watcher wasn't thrilled about the news that Spike was living with Angel now. Apparently Buffy and the Scoobies liked to use his childe for patrols and a whipping boy when they had a bad day. Well, Angel told Giles it was too fucking bad and 'his' childe was staying with him. He also told him how unhappy he was with how underfed and bruised Spike had been. Buffy tried to get on the phone and talk to him then but he hung up on her.

Rogue meanwhile, was settling in nice, as was Spike. Between the two of them and Angel patrols was a breeze. They kicked serious demon and vampire ass. Rogue was a natural and her flight ability really helped with the larger baddies. Before they knew it three months had gone by.

Right now they were relaxing in the hotel. Angel was sketching, and Spike and Rogue were watching an old horror flick marathon on AMC. They got on like siblings, Angel noticed. He was sketching them both. Rogue felt more comfortable around him and Spike than the others too. It was like the tension just left her as soon as Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn left the building at the end of the night. She even took off her gloves in their company. Angel knew it was because she knew she couldn't hurt them, her skin didn't work on vampires. During the day, though she was always on her guard, always careful not to get too close to anyone but he and Spike, even if she was covered up from neck to toes.

Then the phone rang and Angel got up to answer it. "Angel Investigations, this is Angel," he said.

"Is Rogue there? This is Jubilee," a perky teenage girl's voice asked back.

"Yeah, hold on a minute," he turned and called to Rogue, "Baby, phone for you. She says her name is Jubilee."

Rogue got up and walked over. "I had to call Jubes and tell her I was okay. She won't give the number to anyone else," she explained. He just handed her the phone and kissed her forehead.

"You don't have to explain, baby. It's your home now too," he smiled then went back to sketching.

"Jubilee, what's up?" Rogue asked.

"Girl, you really need to get up with Logan. He's been looking for you non-stop since you left. I overheard Scott and Jean arguing about it. Scott said and I quote, 'Jean, the guy was crying like a fucking baby. He drags his ass back here looking like he's been run over by a train every other weekend and then he's back out again looking for her. We have to tell him where she is.' Chica, I've seen him the couple of times he's come back to beg the Professor and Storm for your whereabouts. He looked destroyed," Jubilee told her. "At least call him and talk to him. Let him hear for himself that you're okay. I know you have his cell number."

"You were the one encouraging me to give him up and move on with my life," Rogue reminded her.

"Yeah but I didn't know he felt this way about you. I mean, when I gave you that advice I was talking from the perspective of your best friend. He was making you miserable, crying yourself to sleep every night and all. But now, I don't know. I think I was wrong," Jubilee replied quietly.

Rogue chewed her lip thoughtfully then sighed and said, "I'll think about it, Jubes. Thanks for calling."

"Okay, chica. Keep in touch," Jubilee said. Rogue agreed she would and then they hung up.

Rogue stood staring at the phone afterward for a whole five minutes before Angel's hand on her shoulder made her jump and startled her out of her trance.

"Hey, you okay?" Angel asked concerned.

"Yeah, I just – Jubilee thinks I should call Logan. He's been looking for me. Apparently he took it badly when I left. She said that he looked destroyed the last time she saw him and that Scott said Logan had been crying when he found out I left. I – don't know what to do," she explained nervously. "Maybe I should call and just let him know I'm okay?"

Angel frowned thoughtfully and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I'm afraid that I'll hear his voice and I won't be able to tell him no if he wants me to go back. I'm settled here. I'm happy here," she explained. "No one looks at me with pity here. I don't have to go around wrapped up all the time. You and Spike are awesome. I'm not constantly reminded how worthless I'm not compared with Jean or Storm or anyone else there. I hate the thought that he's hurting, though, and it's my fault."

"If he had realized what he had a long time ago neither of you would be hurting," Angel stated gruffly. Then he sighed and cupped her face in his hands. "Do what your heart tells you, baby. You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to, though. If he wants to come here and see you then he can but make it clear that you have no wish to return the school. If he really cares for you and wants to be with you then it won't matter where you live."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "Can I use your office?"

"Sure," he smiled and kissed her forehead then left her alone again. Rogue went into Angel's office and closed the door for some privacy, settled in his chair then dialed Logan's cell number.

Logan was sitting the motel room he'd gotten for the night in a little place outside Memphis. He came here because he was out of options and Marie had always mentioned that she wanted to see Graceland one day. The girl was a diehard Elvis fan. He was alone. He hadn't been with anyone in a long time, well before she had left the school. But then she didn't know that, did she?

His cell phone ringing on the nightstand drew his attention and he picked it up, recognized the Los Angeles area code and answered it out of sheer curiosity with a rough, "Hello?"

"Logan?" he heard Marie's sweet honeyed voice ask on the other end and he forgot to breathe a second. Then his heart was hammering and his blood was pounding in his ears.

"Marie," he whispered getting hold of himself and sitting up on the bed. "Baby, is that you?"

"It's me, Logan," Marie said softly.

"Where are you? Darlin, I've been looking everywhere," he asked hurriedly.

"I'm in Los Angeles but sugar, I'm okay. Jubilee said you were looking for me and I thought I should call and tell you that I'm all right," she told him.

"Marie, tell me where you are and I'll come and get you," Logan said.

"I'm not leaving here, Logan. I'm settled here. The people I'm with are great. They accept me. I'm not going back to the school. I wasn't happy there. I don't belong there," Marie told him firmly.

"Then tell me where you are so I can come and see you. I miss you, darlin. I – we need to talk, Marie, and not over the fucking phone," he said hating the pleading and desperate note in his voice.

There was silence on the other end a moment then she said, "I'm at the Hyperion Hotel. It's not a hotel anymore though. We use it for our home and base of operations for Angel Investigations. It's pretty easy to find."

"I'll be there in a few days, darlin. I'm in Memphis right now," he told her. "You always said you wanted to see Graceland."

"I didn't think you'd remember something like that," she whispered in disbelief.

"I remember everything you tell me, darlin. I was awake that night, Marie. The night before you left when you came into my room, I wasn't asleep," he confessed and heard her suck in a breath in surprise. "Baby, Marie –

"We'll talk when you get here, Logan," she said cutting him off.

"Okay, darlin," he whispered in resignation. Then they hung up and he immediately got up and started packing. He got his bags loaded in his truck, his bike secure in the back, then headed toward California.

Rogue walked back into the living room where Angel and Spike were and retook her place on the sofa beside Spike.

"He's on his way here," she told them.

"You okay?" Spike asked her. Angel had given him the heads up while she was on the phone. He couldn't say he was all that thrilled about it.

"I don't know yet," Rogue admitted. "What if he just feels guilty about hurting me and wants to let me down gently so we don't lose our friendship?"

"It doesn't sound like you two were ever just friends, pix, no matter how he liked to pretend otherwise," Spike pointed out.

Angel nodded in agreement. Honestly he wasn't happy about this development at all. He had been slowly falling for Rogue since she arrived and the thought that Logan may come and take her from him did not sit well.

"Do you still love him?" he asked. She looked startled at the question.

"I'll always love Logan," Rogue said slowly. "He's part of my soul."

That wasn't the answer he wanted. Scowling at his sketch pad in his lap he muttered, "I don't see how you can just forgive him so quickly."

"I don't either," Spike chimed in glaring at the television. "You've been happy here anyway. You don't need him anymore. Trust me, pix, I know all about being the doormat in bad relationships. You're better off without him."

"So if Drusilla came begging you to come back to her?" Rogue inquired raising a brow at him. He met her gaze steadily.

"I'd tell her to go talk a walk in the desert and say hello to the sun for me," Spike told her. "She'd probably do it too, daft bint she is. Besides, number one for Dru was always gonna be her 'Daddy' sitting over there."

Rogue giggled and looked at Angel in shock, "She called you Daddy?"

"He likes it," Spike informed her cheekily. "Peaches is as kinky as they come in the bedroom, love. I really doubt there's a form of pleasure or pain he hasn't tried at least once."

"You know, Spike," Angel ground out through clenched teeth, "Some things are private. Rogue's a little innocent to be hearing all about our debauched past, don't you think?"

"Please," Spike rolled his eyes at his sire and shook his head. "If she went out and screwed half the city I'd say it'd do her a world of good. Plus, it'd show this Logan ponce that she doesn't need him. There's millions of men who'd be more than happy to take his spot in her bed."

"I think you two are forgetting something," Rogue frowned and they both looked at her. "I can't touch anyone except vampires. Even if Logan wants me I still can't touch him. I can't give him what he needs."

"I thought you and Peaches had been working on your control thing with those meditations," Spike said. She nodded then rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but it's not working. Logan already tried meditating with me anyway. I admit I never really paid much attention because I was too busy peeking at him but still, these ain't working either," she explained. "That's part of why I let go of Logan and moved out here. He deserves someone who can touch him, who he can touch, who can give him babies and everything that I might not ever be able to. I love Logan more than anything but maybe he's better off without me."

"Bloody hell, Peaches, she sounds like you did talking about Slutty," Spike muttered lighting up a cigarette then pointing at Rogue and Angel. "The two of you are way too much alike; only she's prettier."

"I don't know about that," Rogue grinned impishly at Angel. "You gotta admit, Spike, no one in the world is ever gonna have a smile like his again. It's kinda like Elvis's looks and voice. You just know they'll never be another one as perfect."

Angel actually blushed then and cleared his throat shifting uncomfortably in his chair. He was flattered though. Maybe he should try out her attraction for him and see how far he got with her. The charming bastard he used to be was still inside him and unknown to the others he had his soul permanently anchored to him after that thing with the actress Rebecca Lowell last year. He just hadn't told Buffy or anyone else because he didn't want her showing up wanting him to come back. That chapter of his life was over.