(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

So much had happened. Marie had trouble even wrapping her head around it all.

To think that just a couple of days ago, she had been so elated to have Logan back at the school, back home where he belonged. In her head, she saw this great reunion, the development of that something special she just knew was between them. It really hadn't worked out too well at all.

His first night back, the school had been attacked by William Stryker. The name meant nothing then, but now she knew more about him than she ever wanted to. He was the one to make Logan what he was now. Who abused his healing abilities and covered his skeleton, complete with claws, with adamantium. Marie thought she had it tough, and she did, in her own way, but as much as she hated her so-called gift sometimes, at least it was no-one's fault. What she had came naturally to her. Much of what Logan had to deal with had been done to him.

She wanted to be there for him, but comfort and kindness were forced to wait. The Professor and some of the kids had been taken. Together with the X-Men, Logan, Bobby, John, and herself had to be the rescuers, and at times, they needed to be rescued themselves too.

Marie would be forever grateful to Kurt for saving her life when she fell from the plane. She even had to think Magento wasn't all bad, since he fought at their side this time, against Stryker. Unfortunately, even with all that help, even though they did manage to save almost everyone, there was still a price to pay, a loss to endure.

Dr Jean Grey was dead. She had given her life to save everybody else, used her powers to the point where they burnt her up completely. There wasn't even a body to bury, no chance of a real funeral or to say goodbye. She was completely and irreversibly gone for good, and in the blink of an eye.

Scott was heartbroken. It was understandable, given the circumstances. Everybody knew how in love he and Dr Grey were. Of course, the astute among the students also noticed that there was a little something between her and Logan.

Of course he was upset by what happened. As much as she hated it, Marie knew she couldn't expect anything else, and she was bound and determined to be there for the guy who had been there for her in every possible way when she most needed a friend. Someday, she still hoped for more than that from Logan, but not now, not today. It just wasn't the time.

Checking nobody was paying attention, she crept up to his room, taking a deep breath to prepare herself before she knocked on the door. There was no answer at first, though she knew he must be in there. She was about to try again, when suddenly the door opened up just a crack.

"Hi," she said, giving him a half-smile. "I just came to check on you. See if you were doin' okay."

He looked sad and drawn, not as happy to see her as she might usually hope for, but Marie understood. She could hardly expect a man to be doing cartwheels when he just faced off with the man that almost destroyed him, and then watched someone he cared so much about just disintegrate before his eyes.

Logan looked out over her shoulder into the hall, then tilted his head, encouraging her to come inside. Marie didn't hesitate, squeezing past him into the room and looking around for a good place to sit. Since there were no chairs, she perched on the edge of the bed.

When Logan turned around from closing the door, he looked startled to find her there. Shifting awkwardly, he eventually moved further along the wall opposite her and leaned back against it, his arms folded across his chest.

"So..."

Marie wasn't sure what she really wanted to say after that. She planned to offer support, comfort, sympathy, and understanding. The problem was, she never had to do this before. Nobody close to her ever lost anybody they loved like this, and she was grateful to be able to say she hadn't been in the position herself either. As invincible as Logan was, he may very well have lived through a great many deaths in his time. Maybe she was stupid to ever think she could help him at all.

"You know, maybe I'll just leave you alone if-"

"No."

The second she started to suggest going and began to rise from her place on the bed, Logan shifted towards the door and urged her to stay. It was tough not to smile about it, but Marie certainly tried. Now was not the time to be grinning like a fool.

"I, uh... you know me, not much for company, but right now, I could use somebody to talk to. About anything but her."

Marie swallowed hard and nodded her head. Don't mention Jean Grey, that ought to be easy, and yet when she tried to come up with any other topic, absolutely nothing sprung to mind.

Maybe it was selfish, but somehow, she needed to have Logan talk with her about what happened, about how he was feeling. It was wrong and unfair, she knew that, when she was dressing up this visit as a way of helping and comforting him, but she couldn't help it.

"It's so weird," she said eventually. "When she was here, I'm not sure I even liked her much, and now she's gone. She saved all of our lives and she's gone. Doesn't seem right."

Logan sighed, rubbed at his forehead, and then came over to perch on the bed a couple of feet along from Marie. Maybe he was mad at her for talking about the one person he wanted to forget, but Marie wasn't convinced. If anything, she was pretty sure there was something he very much did want to say. It wasn't long before he proved her right.

"When I first met Jean, I thought she was beautiful. I mean, she was, and smart with it. Add in her powers and she was a pretty impressive package," he explained, seeming to stare through the opposite wall, never once looking at Marie. "Then Scott warned me off her and that was it. People always want what they can't have or shouldn't have, right?"

When he looked to her then, Marie shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess, maybe," she agreed half-heartedly, though she ought to know he had a point - didn't she want just exactly what she couldn't or shouldn't have in him?

"It was easy to make believe I really cared about, loved her or something real like that," Logan went on, shaking his head and wearing a sad smile. "Now, I see how broken Scott is and... it's not the same thing. I care that she's gone. Obviously, it hurts, but it's not the same. The way Scott feels, that devastating blow that knocks you off your feet, keeps you from breathing. I know that pain. I felt it once. On the top of the Statue of Liberty."

He only looked at her again on those last few words, meeting her eyes as if needing her to really listen and completely understand what he truly meant by them. Marie knew and the realisation of just exactly what he was telling her completely took her breath away.

Could he really love her like that? God, she hoped so, and was sure Logan wasn't the type to even imply something so serious unless he truly meant it. Leaning in closer, Marie dared to dream she might be okay just risking one brief, sweet kiss.

A sudden and loud knocking sound made her spring back from Logan, just as he looked to the door. He was on his feet in a second, pausing with his hand half-way to the doorknob as he glanced back at Marie.

"Who is it?" he called.

"It's me, Logan," said Professor X from the other side. "I wondered if I might have a little talk with you about a few things?"

Knowing that the moment was broken, at least for now, Marie got to her feet and moved up beside Logan.

"I should probably be going anyway," she said softly, opening the door for him and smiling politely at his next visitor. "Professor," she said, nodding her head at him, glancing back as she walked away. "Goodnight, Logan."

"Yeah, goodnight," he called behind her.

Marie walked away, grinning from ear to ear. It had been a brief conversation and it hadn't ended quite how she wanted it to, but Logan had given her one precious gift tonight that she was bound and determined to hold onto - hope.

It was late the next day when Marie saw another chance to get Logan alone. Though classes were on hold for a few days while everything at the school was set straight again, there was still plenty to be done. Repairs to the building after the attack, group therapy sessions to ensure no-one was suffering too badly from the strain and stress of the whole ordeal, and a plan being pulled together in which some of the X-Men and students alike might pay a visit to the White House very soon.

As the sun went down that night, and the group involved in the proposed Presidential visit filed out of Professor X's office, Marie caught Logan by the arm and asked if they could talk some more. It hurt when he pulled away from her so quickly and told her gruffly that there was nothing to talk about. She had to disagree on that and told him as much, giving chase even as he strode quickly away.

"I'm not messing around here, kid. Just leave me alone," he told her crossly.

Marie blinked hard to keep the tears at bay, determinedly continuing to pursue him into the empty hallway that led directly to his room.

"Oh, so, I'm back to being a kid already?" she asked him, just as mad as he was by now. "That's not how you were looking at me last night. It can't be what you thought when you said-"

"Never mind what I said!" he growled, turning on her so fast that she almost jumped a foot in the air with the surprise of it. "Just... just forget it, okay?" he told her, clearly realising too late that he might genuinely be scaring her.

Backing off some, his angry expression melted just a little and his tone was more even when he spoke again.

"Look, you're a student here in this place. That means you're a kid, or you should be," he told her frustratedly, "and since Scott won't be able to do his job until he's over the worst of the grief, yours truly has been drafted in to sub. I'm gonna be a teacher here, Rogue," he told her, making her wince with the use of her alternate name as much as the way he was seemingly dismissing her and all the feelings she knew damn well existed between them. "God knows how I got fast-shuffled into it by the damn Professor and his mind games, but that's how it is. I'm the teacher, you're the student, so nothing is gonna happen here. You read me?"

It hurt so much to hear him say that, to have him talk to her like she was a child, when she knew he couldn't really see her that way. Not after what he said last night, it couldn't be true. Still, Marie had to see his point, in a way.

Logan had agreed to be a teacher at the school and as grown-up as she was at almost eighteen, she was still a student. Anything happening between them right now, it'd be beyond inappropriate. She wished she could say she didn't understand that, but she did. She only hoped he wasn't using it as an excuse to pull away from her right now. She was not going to allow that to happen.

"Fine," she said, lifting her chin as she met his gaze. "For as long as that's the way it is, I won't push," she promised him, "but when things change, and one day they will," she said firmly, "I'm gonna be ready for it, Logan. I'm gonna be ready for you."

To Be Continued...