Time to Live
Almost forgot the legal disclaimer part...don't own them, wish I did, but gonna make them jump through hoops anyway.
Summary: After X3, Rogue took the cure, and Logan has to heal. Rogue decides to live her life, and it leads her on an adventure of discovery and pain until she finds her way home.
CHAPTER 9
Rogue walked slowly back to the dorm after class, almost six weeks since she'd seen Logan, since...and she'd gone from being angry to sad, and now she was just depressed. Kurt was trying to keep her cheered up, popping in every evening. Last week he'd nearly gotten killed trying to keep Victor out, until they explained. He still wasn't happy with the whole Sabretooth as a 'step dad' idea, but he at least was able to carry on a conversation with the feral.
Victor had taken her to dinner last night, and told her he'd been in contact with Logan, that Logan wanted to talk to her, but he was in the middle of something right now. She'd just nodded and told him not to worry about it.
If he wanted to talk to her, and Victor knew how to get a hold of him and he hadn't found her, then he really didn't want to talk to her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. He was probably in the middle of getting as much sex as he could to forget Jean. She wiped a tear. She should have expected it. She knew she was just a kid, someone he just felt responsible for when he was sober, and that he'd fucked drunk.
She dropped onto a bench along the sidewalk. She had to stop this, she was already facing failing a class if she didn't concentrate, and now, with her powers trying to come back she was really getting scared. Maybe she should go back, let them wrap her in leather and combat training and forget. She doubted he'd go back, not for a long time so it was the last place she'd have to worry about running into him right now.
"Chere, are you alright?" The damned Cajun was back.
"Jes' leave me alone, ya damned swamp rat." She snapped at him.
"Chere, de Wolverine, he's not wort' dis." He took her bare hand and she felt a whisper of a pull.
"It AIN'T LOGAN!" She shouted. "Ah don't want ta talk about it." She said quietly as people around them turned to look.
"Let me walk you back to de dorm, Chere, you need rest." He held out a hand again to help her to her feet, she ignored it, and just stood up. He walked along with her.
"I've met him, before all dis...back years ago." She glared at him as they walked. "I was jes de enfant, barely seventeen. I'd escaped from where dey were experimenting on mutants and I didn' wanna go back, but he convinced me. I helped him, an' dat place, it was eliminer...but he didn' know me when I wen' in ta get him out. I don' know what happen to him in der, but it wasn' good."
"You knew him sixteen years ago?" She looked at him. "You don't look much older than twenty-four or five." He grinned at her and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips quickly, kissing it.
"You are too kind, Chere." She pulled her hand back, both because of his audacity, and the pull she felt, the whisper in her mind.
"Anyway, de Wolverine, he ain't got nothin on his mind but killin...lest dat's all he had back den."
"Ah don't need you ta tell me about Logan." She said softly, a tear streaking down her face. He stopped at the dorm building door and she walked in.
"Chere, der's others that could love you, widout all dat pain." He whispered as she ran for the elevator.
She opened the room door and Raven and Victor were sitting there.
"I think its time, Rogue." Victor said, softly.
"I don't. I think she needs more time, to look at other options." Raven said, snapping at Victor.
"I don't. " Victor snarled.
"Time for what?" She asked as they bickered, dropping her books on her desk.
"To talk to Jimmy."
"Who's Jimmy?"
"You call him Logan. A name I hate by the way." Victor growled.
"You can't tell her..." Raven started, but Rogue was already face to face with Victor.
"Why...and why did ya call him Jimmy." She heard the door swing open behind her and Raven's hissed SHIT!
"Cuz its my name, Darlin."
She turned around. He was standing there, hands in his pocket, and something about him was very different. She wanted to run to him, wanted to slap him, wanted to kill him, but most of all she just wanted to cry.
"Out, both of ya." He snarled, and even Raven jumped. "And don't think you're skating on the fifty grand ya owe me Myst." She watched her mother blanch, and that was when she realized what was wrong. He didn't look lost anymore.
"I'm not leaving her." Raven said, standing up to him. He moved quickly, his hand around her throat. She winced.
"Don't think I won't kill you, bitch. I remember EVERYTHING!" He whispered the last word and it was like a bomb in the room.
"Let her go, Jimmy, you and the kid need ta talk." Victor said, taking Raven's arm. She yanked it back from him, and he growled at her. He pushed her out of the room and pulled the door shut with "I'm right down the hall, Rogue, if he gets out of line."
Logan snarled a minute, and then pulled his hands out of his pockets and ran them through his hair, then held one out to her.
"James Howlett, nice ta meet ya."
