IX: GETTING

She didn't realize until later that he'd never actually said what was bothering him before—that night, that day, even before he discovered she was sleeping in her own room. But he dropped the watching, and he was no longer smoking, and he didn't object to her morning runs. So, she guessed it was ok?

She moved in with him, and it was every bit as cramped as Rogue had feared. No room for her clothes, her books, her things, and when they'd hefted the third load in and had to leap over things to get to the door, she'd given Logan an old-fashioned look.

But Logan was pleased, stopped in the middle to 'christen' the room, and she'd had to interrupt him and tell him that 'christen' was one of the least sexy euphemisms for sex she'd ever heard, and then he, nipping her in retaliation, had come up with a whole host of phrases he could have used, like 'poppin' 'n 'lockin'' and 'ridin' the jimmy bean' and 'the one gun salute', and through the laughter and the nuzzling kisses and nips, she'd been seduced. And it had been surprisingly tender, considering the multiple references to Logan's 'jimmy bean'.

Apart from that, everyone was preparing for the school year. Scott was back as full-time faculty member, taking the senior gym class, Ororo's two math classes, and a physics course from Hank. Scott gave everyone a little extra breathing room, so everyone was pretty good-natured and cheerful. And talking to her again.

Scott himself was just busy. He didn't have his old neurotic energy, and seemed to move a little ponderously. But he was sharp, and he was decisive, and he was catching up quickly.

Rogue was helping him out quite a bit, as the 'floating fellow'. The online courses didn't start for a few more weeks, and she was the only fellow who hadn't been assigned to someone already. So it only made sense.

She told Logan so, in a hard, determined tone, and he'd blown in her ear in that way that startled and aroused her, then covered her mouth with his, and they hadn't discussed it since.

No one else thought it a problem. She was in the office (helping with the admin stuff she'd become familiar with last year), and faculty, fellows, recruits would chat while she found them a form: 'Logan and Scott are getting along so well.'; 'So great to see the rivalry has ended.' Was it, though? Was she the only one with eyes, or was she reading too much into this?

Because she didn't think it was over, precisely. More in abeyance. Logan was stiff, arrogant, very lord-of-the-manor; Scott was laconic, dry, superior. It might have been funny, if she hadn't been in the middle.

The first quibble, and it wasn't more than that, was actually hers. Logan had dumped the gym lesson plans on her lap, sneered to give it to 'Scotty', and she'd had to remind him about how this had played out once before. 'Logan!' she called sharply, pointedly.

He swiveled back round.

'Logan, we talked about this before,' she wagged the file at him meaningfully.

'Oh, sorry, darlin',' he'd husked, swaggering back and leaning in to kiss her. And his hand snuck over to second base.

'Logan!' she whacked him with the lesson plans. 'We're in an office, and that's not the point.'

He'd chuckled, winked, sauntered out with a whistle. What the hell? Her hands were still raised in exasperation, and she made an impotent noise of irritation.

Scott poked his head out of the office next door. 'Does he usually behave like that?'

She chuckled a bit in mortification, waved him off, pretended she wasn't red. 'He has his moments,' she observed sardonically. Don't we all.

'Hmm,' Scott mused, stepping forward, hands in pockets, staring in the direction Logan had gone. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

She didn't know that—scratch that—she did know she did not want to discuss her relationship with Logan with Scott. So she pasted on a placating smile and busied herself with more typing.

Scott approached her at her desk, and Rogue ignored him for several long minutes, but she was mistyping a growing number of words, when Scott sighed, observed, 'Logan can be…'

'He was behaving like a dumb ass,' Rogue charged, surprising a crack of laughter from him. She put her head down, typed some more. 'I'll get him back later,' she continued absently. And Scott took the hint and left.

And she did get Logan back later (it was rather fun, actually), and, after trying the innocent routine, he did promise not to do it again, or at least to try. And that would have been the end of it. But the next day she needed Scott, had tracked him down to the fitness area, where Scott and Logan were cocked towards each other with the lesson plans for gym before them.

'Why were you doing that?' Scott questioned narrowly.

'Teaches 'em how to fight people who aren't afraid to get dirty,' Logan returned meaningfully.

'Yes, but are they more likely to need that or an overall knowledge of fitness?' Scott prevaricated, his tone pedantic.

'Your students have had to know a hell of a lot more in the past,' Logan volleyed back.

And Scott clamped the plans shut with a snap, and both men sized each other up, and Rogue tripped over, seizing the opportunity.

'Scott, sorry to interrupt, but I need to know whether these need to go out today,' and she thrust a pile of letters at him. She smiled reflexively at an unresponsive Logan. Scott rifled through the papers, commented on a few. 'And sign these, please, so I can mail them,' she indicated.

Logan was rocking back on his heels, arms folded as this went on, but he observed indolently, 'You should ask Rogue about some of those lesson plans. She wrote some of them herself.'

Scott glanced up, flipped papers absently. 'Yes, I can see she's very talented.'

'She could teach the class,' Logan asserted.

'Guys,' she waved a hand in front of them.

'I understand that's why she's taking courses this fall,' Scott returned evenly, his pen pausing, and Rogue tried to call attention to it.

'Too bad she'll be too busy to help you then,' Logan commented.

'We'll see,' Scott smirked. 'I'm going to need some help during the year, and I think I'd be quite happy with Rogue.'

Logan swelled at that, leered blackly.

'Guys,' she inserted harshly, shoving Logan firmly back a step, planting herself between them, turning to Scott. 'Wait until I leave, alright. Scott, hurry up and sign.'

He did so, stopping to glower at Logan as he did so, and Rogue had to slap the papers, bark his name to get him to pay attention. When Scott was done, he handed the pen back to her indolently, a look of challenge aimed over her head; she was glad she had her back to Logan.

'God, boys, get over it,' she tossed darkly as she left.

Of course, that was not the end of that.

Because the reality was she hadn't been assigned as anyone's fellow, and Scott now had need of one.

And Scott pointed this out, reasonably, in faculty meetings. And Rogue was informed that she'd been assigned. That was what she knew. That and the look on Logan's face when she'd been informed.

So her first thought was whether she could get out of this. Logan would have been happy to trade her out with Trey, back after spending the summer with his folks; even Trey would have been happy with that arrangement, but—no one wanted Trey.

Rogue asked Jubilee if she would be willing to switch positions, but Jubilee liked her job, handling calls and dealing with publicity for Xavier. He'd done a series of interviews over the summer (had barely been at the school, actually), and now that the school year was starting, a number of them wanted the 'mutant-back-to-school' exclusive. 'Shit outta luck, chica,' she commiserated. 'Besides, if we switched, how would the rest of us get our entertainment?' And Rogue chuckled hollowly.

Kitty was working with Storm, and that had seemed like a good match from the start. So she wasn't really surprised, just disappointed, when Storm told her that this was Scott and Logan's problem, not hers. That they'd eventually get over it.

And it wasn't even that she didn't doubt that. She'd been expecting a little friction; she just didn't want to be involved. And being Scott's fellow meant she was involved. And it was all day, too. She was with either Scott or Logan all day. She felt like the rope in the tug of war—not really the object of contention, just the handy scorecard.

When Logan wasn't there, she actually enjoyed working with Scott, more than she enjoyed working with Logan, actually. He had a sense of humor. He was witty. He was appreciative, never forgot to ask. It didn't ever make her feel uncomfortable or put upon or resentful to take orders from him. It was just plain easier to work for someone you weren't also sleeping with.

And when Logan let himself forget Scott, she enjoyed being with him, too. He was growing more affectionate, more demonstrative. In public, too, actually, though that could feel calculated and possessive, but he was sweeter, easier to tease, easier to read.

But it was goddamn awful if they ran into each other during the day. If Logan walked in when Rogue was there, Scott would spend the rest of the day making assy, pompous comments about him, expecting her to agree. If Logan spied Scott, at lunch or in the hallway, he'd pick a fight with her or pepper her with questions about—well, nothing. And then he'd apologize at the point when she began to snipe at him (he seemed to notice anger at about the time curse words made an appearance), and he'd want to make it better with sex, and…unfortunately, that was usually effective.

She spent her days engineering ways to keep the two of them apart; maybe a 50 success rate.

She was glad she had online courses now. The classes she was taking, and there were only three, were intro, not difficult at all, but she spent a lot of time in the library 'working' on them. It was actually the most she'd ever studied for anything in her life.

She told Scott to shove it first.

They were in the office, and he was glancing down at a list of items left on the agenda, dictating to her, and Logan breezed in, ignored Scott, flagged her down with a wave: 'This evening. Drop by at 5:00. Need your help,' and left.

She nodded wordlessly, shrugged it off, because yeah, Logan could be brusque, but that was Logan, and it did no good to get upset about it, not when he didn't do it to hurt. And it wasn't a big deal, but, goddamn, she didn't like Scott seeing, and she focused with a sliver of hope, more dread, on her blinking cursor and hoped this wouldn't be a thing.

Silence. She finally turned, found Scott with a moue of distaste, and his nostrils flaring. 'Considerate, isn't he?'

Her eyes drifted closed for a second, but she gritted her teeth, read the last item on the list again, with a questioning prod. He didn't respond, and she twisted to look at him.

Scott was shaking his head, a twisted and dubious expression on his face, and he continued, arms folded prissily, 'I don't know how you can—'

'Scott,' she told him, and his name was ringing with warning and something else. 'SHUT IT.' He was shocked into baffled silence. 'Stop. Stop putting him down in front of me.'

He looked chagrined, said pleadingly, 'Rogue—'

'No,' she continued firmly, 'I'm with Logan right now, Scott. And you're not thinking about what it's like for me to hear this every day.'

His expression was arrested for that split second, and then he copped to what she had suspected all along. 'I just don't think he's good enough for you,' he said, hands gesturing in supplication. Yeah, and that was completely none of his business.

'Logan's faults are well-documented,' she reproved, and she paused with a bit of a bite, 'As are yours.'

He had the decency to blush, and she figured she had pushed enough. 'You two have a thing, fine, but don't put me in the middle. I see both of you, at your best and worst.' She turned back to the computer. 'When you're together, at your worst.'

She made herself focus on the list again, rattled off the last item, and she was met by more silence, but she was damned if she was turning around to discuss this more.

'I'm sorry, Rogue,' she heard low, and it did sound heartfelt, and two people were at fault here. Alright, three. She should have done this before.

'I like working for both of you, like both of you,' she admitted, contemplating the keyboard. 'But you could both make it easier on me.'

Another pause. 'Agreed,' was the quiet reply, so she turned and aimed a small smile at him. And he was better after that.

And, because Scott made the effort, Logan was actually better, too, and Rogue enjoyed a few weeks of healthy antagonism and needless male posturing without the darker side effects.

The idyll was broken, actually, by something she had thought would improve relations. One night, Logan was griping good-naturedly about some of the asswipe kids in his class, complaining about how they'd forgotten everything he'd taught them last year. And she was laughing while washing her face, putting on her lotion at the counter.

And he sidled up behind her, grabbed her hips. 'You know,' he grinned rakishly at her in the mirror, 'I could really use someone to help me run the other station.' And he nudged her playfully.

'Logan,' she teased gently. 'Are you asking me for something?' She raised an arch eyebrow.

'How much time ya have, darlin'?' and his expression was serious, assessing, in the mirror.

And because it was, the smile on her face was more serious, too. She returned softly, 'I probably have time enough for one class.'

'Yeah?' he asked uncertainly, nuzzling her neck; then, teasingly again, nosing behind a ticklish ear, 'What about two?'

She laughed, turning in his arms and putting her arms round his neck, settling into him comfortably, 'One. Let's see how much time I have after my first midterms.'

He ran a hand up her back the way she liked, cupped her head. 'Good,' he whispered, pressing a kiss lightly to the corner of her mouth.

'Yeah,' she breathed back, and stood up on tiptoe, kissed him this time.

And—anyway—Rogue had thought it a good thing: that Logan had asked and so sweetly, that she'd help him as well as Scott during the day, that they go back to a setting that had worked well in the past, positive time outside the bedroom, all that. And maybe Scott would take his antagonistic asshat off and see that Logan could be a good guy, too.

Foolish, naïve thoughts. Because she had to change her work hours around to fit in Logan's class, and Scott disapproved and was a bit put-out by the 'why' of it. And unfortunately, the schedule was such that she worked for Scott right before and right after Logan's class. And she should have known that couldn't last.

Because she couldn't win, whether she left on-time, showed up late or early; there was this look from both men, every time, like, 'Fine, sure, go to him,' and then an answering look from the other on arrival, like, 'So you deigned to show up, eh?' Get a LIFE, you two! Driving her nuts.

But, and maybe she was hopelessly optimistic, but she'd hoped that they'd all let it slide. Then one day she and Scott got a bit behind and were working overtime into the early evening, and Logan had come searching for her, on a bit of short fuse, and found them together.

And Scott was joking lightly at the end of a long day, stupid puns about paperwork, and Rogue was chuckling robustly in the way you do when you're tired but nearly done and…

'What the fuck are you doing?' Logan exploded, and it spewed out to encompass both of them. Sapped the laughter right out of the room. And she was really going to have to talk to him about using obscenities as greetings; this was a school.

'Logan,' she held out a warning hand. 'We were just finishing up, ran a bit late today.'

Scott stepped out from behind her, a ready stance, but remained silent, and she surreptitiously swept a guarding hand in front of him. She didn't need him involved.

But Logan wouldn't leave him out of it, was advancing to Scott with incrimination, with antagonism. 'You don't get to monopolize her time. She's a student. She has a life.'

'Logan,' she warned low, hoping to get him to look at her, and she pushed against his chest, a futile effort, as he drew closer.

But Scott wasn't having it, either. 'Says the man who has her working a class he is more than capable of running by himself,' Scott replied coldly.

Logan snarled, swiped a hand and shoved Rogue out of the way. 'You don't know anything about it.'

'I know how you treat her,' Scott raised his voice. 'I've got eyes.'

'Scott,' she shouted, offended by the tenor of this conversation, and she stomped round Logan again and approached them from the side, facing Logan still, trying to enter his consciousness.

'That's none of your FUCKING business,' Logan snarled. 'I'm with her, not you.' Guess that attempt failed.

'You treat her like she's one of your TRAINEES,' Scott sneered, and she saw Logan's fist curl back, saw Scott brace himself. Fuckfuckfuck, she was rapidly losing control of this situation.

'SCOTT,' she tried, putting out an arm. No luck there, still glaring at Logan for all he was worth. In a lower tone, 'Logan.' Ignoring her, too.

Fine, then, she was getting out of this. She backed off, stomped off, trembled as the door slammed behind her, and they weren't even aware of her leaving.

She was fuming, more upset the more she thought about it. It was settling into a hard, cold pit of anger in her stomach, and no, part of that wasn't anxiety or dread.

How dare they? How dare they bring her into this, make it about her? Because this was a fight from a year ago, from three years ago. Jean was dead, they'd all moved on. It was different. Get OVER it!

How was she supposed to do this? She didn't need this. She could live a normal life. God DAMN it, X-men be damned! She wouldn't do this, not if she was always going to be in the middle, the source of friction, second best.

She wanted this resolved. She wanted this over. She wanted—

Logan slunk in, dragged himself in just as she was rejecting a sandwich for her dinner.

'So was it another dirty fight?' she demanded, a touch of scorn coloring the words. He skirted round her, swiped her sandwich. She eyed him as he chewed. 'What did you do to him?'

'To him!' he asked, slamming a hand down on the table, and it was clear he was angry too. Still, evidently. Yes, they were going to fight.

'You're walking. You've got a healing factor. How is he?' she asked fiercely.

He ripped off another bite, mumbled something into his sandwich.

'What?' she asked sharply.

'We really didn't get that far,' he repeated, clearly but cantankerously, and in his eyes she could see that spark, that flash. He was really upset. But he didn't know how to handle it.

Well, neither did she. 'What does that mean?'

He jerked a shoulder, might have been a shrug at another time. 'The office. Xavier,' he grunted.

She could feel herself trembling a little bit, couldn't stop. 'Xavier stopped you,' and she was shaking her head in such irritation, such weariness. Why, why couldn't this be over already?

She stood, and he shoved back the sandwich, stood up, too, and she was making him angrier, but she couldn't care. 'What is this, Logan?' she reamed, waving her hands about wildly. 'The leftover battle? Jean, Part II?'

'No,' he grated out, rough and cracking with emotion. He was suddenly pacing smartly back-and-forth, as though confined, stir-crazy, perhaps plum-crazy. 'This time it's about you. Scott and you.' Flared nostrils, wild eyes.

Wh--? Oh, for heaven's sakes! For fuck's sake!

'He's not interested in me, Logan,' she informed him flatly. This was ridiculous. 'He's never done anything that's indicated otherwise.'

He looked at her like she might be nuts, thrust a finger in her face. 'Yet. He hasn't done it yet.'

'Oh, come on! What—it's some plan? Coming back after all this time to see if you'd hooked up with anyone, just to lure them away?'

'Not a plan, no,' Logan rasped. 'You're attractive. It's enough.'

'Flattering as I find that, sugar,' Rogue replied witheringly, shook her head, disgusted and done and feeling the tingle that was anger, too. 'You are the one who is not getting over it, over you and Scott and Jean.'

'I'm over it,' he snarled, pacing even faster, flashing her sidelong dirty looks.

'Yeah, you really look it.'

'I. Am. OVER IT!' he ROARed, nose-to-nose with her, and they remained frozen and eyeing each other with twin expressions of resentment and lurid anger.

'If you were,' Rogue spoke tautly, so low it barely registered, 'you wouldn't be upset even if Scott were interested in me.'

His eyes flared, his teeth bared. 'FUCK THAT, Marie,' he slapped her hand away, spun away. 'You don't get to fucking tell me how upset to be when someone hits on you!' His face, when he turned back, was twisted and bitter. 'Not when you're not doing the First FUCKing thing to stop it!'

God damn it, Rogue had never felt so full of impotent rage before, and she was squeezing her hands into fists so tightly that her hands were shaking. How dare he blame this on her! 'What the hell are you accusing me of?'

'You LIKE it,' he hissed, pacing, but leaning in belligerently at every pass. 'You like it when he flirts with you.' And he was rubbing his knuckles, and his pacing was frenetic now.

'You think I'm interested in Scott?' she aimed at him challengingly, trying to get a read on his face as he zipped back and forth past her.

He muttered something she didn't catch, and she saw his hard frown, the one that said he was stubbornly not listening anymore, cross his face.

Rogue grabbed an arm as he made a pass, and he was able to shake her off easily. She pursued. 'Do you really think that I would be interested in Scott?' she repeated, incredulous and irate and indignant now.

He made an agitated swiping motion, drew himself up. 'YOU told me,' he bellowed, and his eyes were fierce, and his gestures wild. 'You said before—he got two things. Well, I didn't have Jean, and I don't get the school.'

His gaze narrowed, pinning her to the floor. 'I get you.'

Her mouth dropped open, nearly laughed inappropriately. 'Get me?' she choked out.

'I picked you up. I found you first,' he insisted, stepping closer, towering over. 'I get one thing. Mine.' His fingers curled slowly round her shoulders. 'I get you.'

'I—I,' she spluttered, stumbling back a step, afraid to let him see. What a—complete rewriting of history there! 'Look, I'm—I'm not interested in Scott!' She didn't know how she'd pushed him so far.

'Fuck Scott.' Well—ok, then, she was out of ideas. Advancing on her.

'So y-you…get me?' The word stuck in her throat. 'That's what this is!' Being backed up in a corner, bumping into the wall, Logan right there.

'Yeah,' he rumbled, curled hands in her hair. 'That's what this is.'

And maybe she had a problem with that, with being 'got', his thing, his fucking substitute Jean. But…

'Marie,' he commanded, but softer now, light hand at her hip, gentle one in her hair. His eyes were gentle now. He wanted her to agree.

And, this close and in spite of everything…this close, she could see. That 'got' was not proximity, or convenience. Not pity. Not just a good fuck. And not a mistake, a lesson, leftover from when she'd angered him so much.

She'd kept herself from asking—and it was more than she thought she'd get…

'Marie?' he insisted, a little nervily this time. He'd stepped back, too, taut and tense, but she caught the flash beneath—doubt. Want. Need? Maybe he needed her to agree.

And…maybe it wasn't p.c. or empowered, not perfectly everything. Not the answer—for them or for this fight. But she'd take it—what she wanted, what he needed. She'd take what she could get.

So…step forward, light hand on his panting chest.

'O-ok,' she agreed, and she could feel the coil in him, the heat of him, the beat of his heart beneath her palm. 'Ok,' she declared, because she was pretty sure they were about to have raw, hot, needy sex, and it was what she wanted, too.

'Ok,' she breathed as he slowly lowered his head, then slammed it down to hers, hauling her hips and arms and tangled legs flush into him.

It was more than ok. Would be. Scott, the X-men, the school…everything—whatever. Logan—she could take it, take him. Because if he got her…she'd make sure was getting him, too.

End to prequel.