Note: Hey, if anyone's interested, I'm looking for a beta. PM me if you'd like to proof read for me please. XD

I'm so sorry, I only just noticed I hadn't finished this chapter. Corrected now -.-

2

The ride was quiet which was good, but the best thing about the ride was the heater. It kept Rogue warm. Warmer than she had been while she sat in Dolly's bar waiting for this guy to arrive. It had been warmer than being outside and Rogue's clothes had dried up some while she was at Dolly's, but now her clothes were completely dry and warm because of the heater. The heat though still did nothing to help her dry cough or her aching sides. Rogue had gotten a little sleep in the truck, but had slept light as always as she didn't trust the guy driving her. Especially not if Dolly knew him. She didn't want to think what those two got up to (or what he might think he could get up to with her).

The truck came to a halt, which woke Rogue up and her wide eyes searched the outside window. There was still snow layering everything and a darkness rolling in. The village just looked like all the other villages Rogue had been to while she'd been driving through the outskirts of Canada. She'd chosen Canada, not just because she planned and wanted to go, but because the snow and cold gave her an excuse to be covered up from head to the and being on the outskirts meant less people. But as Rogue got out of the truck and went her separate way from the driver, Rogue noticed that there seemed to be one person that she just kept bumping into.

Rogue saw his truck before she saw him. It was parked outside of another pub where yells could be heard coming from. As the door to the pub opened, Rogue caught eyes with the man she'd saw for the three or fourth time now, locked in a metal cage with his shirt off (again) and just about to light a cigar when he saw her. His hands fell away from his lips and he just stared at her. She stared back at him, moving more inside as she did. finally, in an irritated jolt, the man got out of the cage and moved towards the bar where she was walking to. "You following me or something strips?" He said while taking the cigar out of his mouth and taking the money he'd earned from the bar keeper.

Rogue just stared. Still annoyed he'd left her for dead. "Ain't my fault I keep runnin' inta your ugly mug. Must be a curse." Rogue said, still staring at him from where she stood.

The man shuck his head and moved towards the door. He had a hard eye as he pointed at Rogue and told her "Don't follow me!"

That got under Rogue's skin. Again! He was leaving her again! Why it bothered her, she didn't know, but if she was to guess, then it would be something to do with his claws. Rogue followed him to the door as the man climbed into the truck and started the engine, he looked at Rogue (still giving her that warning look). It sparked a fire in Rogue and just as he turned away from looking at her, Rogue made a dash for the wagon. She jumped, throwing her duffle bag in before she, herself, could climb in.

"Fuck!" She heard the guy yell from the front of his truck.

Just as Rogue got her balance and breath back in the wagon, the guy had come around and yelled at her, "What? What is it you want from me?"

Rogue was silenced for the moment as she saw true furry in his eyes worse than she had ever seen. The black of his eyes had hardened and enlarged as he growled at her with his teeth showing.

"I just want a ride." Said Rogue quietly.

The man stepped back to fully look at her, a look of confusion and disbelieve filling his face as he shook his head from side to side. "A ride?" He asked, as if trying to make something impossible and stupid seem reasonable.

Rogue nodded her head. "A ride."

The man growled. Rogue was glad his eyes weren't as big and scary as they were before but he still looked pissed at her.

"If I give you a lift to the next village, will you leave me alone?"

Rogue nodded her head. She thought it was rather strange and coincidental that they had run into each other three times in three different villages, but she thought it couldn't happen a forth time.

The man let out some kind of low growl as he turned to look at the front of his truck. "Get in." He said to Rogue as he moved to the front of his truck.

Rogue wasn't completely sure what he meant. She watched him walk to his door and made a guess of what he meant. He climbed in the drivers seat and opened his window. Through the review mirror he looked at Rogue. "You prefer sitting back there?" He said.

Rogue turned to grab her duffle bag as she climbed out of the wagon and ran around to the shot gun seat. Before she even shut the door, this guy had started the engine and was driving off. He was still pissed off, so Rogue let there be silence between them for a little longer. While there was silence Rogue's eyes racked over this man's seemingly prefect body. The man growled and Rogue was brought back to looking in his face. He didn't like her eyeing him up. So, she, instead, pulled down her hood and started the conversation she'd been wanting to have with him for quite a while with an ice breaker.

"You don't have anything to eat, do you?"

The man growled. Rogue thought he wasn't going to even say anything to her, so when he reached over and tossed a large chocolate bar at her from the drawer in front of her, Rogue was shocked. She ripped off her gloves and dug into the chocolate, scoffing it down and enjoying the sweet sweet taste it left in her mouth. The man watched her with a rasied eyebrow as she scoffed it down. He took this moment to look her up and down, but that coat hide most of her body. Rogue catch him looking at her, before he turned to look back at the road. She took that time to take in his body again. Her eyes were catch and brought back up to something shining around his neck. They were Dog tags with the name 'Wolverine' on them and numbers underneath them.

"Were you in the army?" He looked at her with that half confused, half pissed off look. "Doesn't that mean you were in the army?"

He growled low and tucked them away in his shirt. Rogue turned back to eating her chocolate just like he turned to his cigar. Rogue thought about what it could mean if this hot tempered man was (or had been) in the army. Rogue could defiantly see him being a solider from the way he got into fights. She didn't know why he was here and not with any family (if he had any), but she guessed it came down to his anger issues. Knowing him though, someone like her, and knowing that he'd had a job sort of made Rogue question herself and her own life.

Rogue broke into yet, another dry coughing fit which lasted just over a minute. The man, Wolverine, eyed her from where he sat. "You ain't gonna die on me are ya?" He asked.

Rogue shook her head, glaring at him as he turned back to look out the front window. Rogue turned in her seat, looking around to see more of how this man lived in comparison to how she lived. In the back of the truck she could see a shabby mess of some kind of room.

"Wow." She gasped.

"What?" He grouted.

Rogue spun around, not realising that she had spoken. She meant his irritated stare, then turned back to eating the chocolate. Rogue thought that she'd hate to live in a place like that, but then again, her living conditions weren't much better. At least he had somewhere to turn to when no one wanted him and he couldn't find a bed for the night. He had a make shift one right with him and a heater to keep him warm. 'That must have been nice', thought Rogue, 'cosy.' She doubted she would ever be able to have something like this.

Rogue turned to look at him once more. Her eyes again, drawn to his chest and remembering the name that was on the dog tags under his shirt. "I'm Rogue." She said.

He said nothing. Rogue looked down at his (incredibly in-shape) body again, until her eyes followed his hairy arms towards his fists that gripped the stirring wheel. Rogue's reason for being drawn to this man came back to her in a haunted antagonising way. "When they come out do they hurt?" She asked, thinking of what it might fell like to have claws like he did.

He didn't look pleased as he glazed down at his fists. Rogue thought he wasn't going to answer again. She thought about a way to get him to talk about what he was and how he was like this. Maybe she could learn something more about herself through him. "When...When I touch people, it hurts."

Wolverine looked a her pointedly, his cigar resting between his teeth. Rogue's eyes were drawn from his knuckles to his eyes. "I hurt others too." Rogue said quietly.

Wolverine looked away from her, taking his cigar out of his mouth and breathing out a large cloud. Rogue felt exposed and uncomfortable having told him about her skin and not getting anything from him. She decided she was going to drop the whole thing just encase he decided she was a freak and kicked her out in the middle of no where like he had last time.

"Every time." He mumbled.

Rogue saw that he was looking longingly at his knuckles. "Was-was you born like that?"

For a moment he just drove. Then shrugged. "Yeah, guess so."

"When it's winter, does the metal get cold?"

"What?" Wolverine said, sounding annoyed that he was confused.

Rogue thought that it may have been a stupid thing to ask, but she was just thinking about how cold it was and how much colder touching metal was. "Oh, I-I was just wondering if your, erm, claws get cold in he winter. You know, 'cause metal gets freezin' cold in the snow."

Wolverine turned back to look out the window. He shrugged. "Never bothered me." He stated.

Rogue was about to ask another question when he said, "Look, will you stop with the fifty questions shit. It's getting annoying."

Rogue didn't say anything and figuring she wasn't going to get much more out of Wolverine, she turned her body so she was looking out the window and had her back a little to him. Rogue pulled her hood around her and tightened the grip on her coat to try and keep her warmer. Ages passed where they just didn't say anything to each other. Rogue fell asleep watching trees pass.

XXXXX

Rogue was awoken by a loud banging on the window in front of her. She jumped a little as she saw a hairy man right in front of her. It took her a while to figure out it was Wolverine. Rogue sat up stair, flexing her neck and back she'd developed another harsh knot in her neck. The door besides her was opened by Wolverine and she stopped her stretching.

"We're here." He stated. As Rogue was just figuring out what he was saying when Wolverine said, "A deals a deal strips, now get out and leave me alone."

Rogue was somewhat stunned and taken back. She hadn't expected to arrive in the next town so fast. How long had she been out for? "Out!" Wolverine reinforced.

Rogue hopped down out of the truck grabbing her duffle bag as she left. Looking around it was early morning. The village was covered in snow, worse than all the other villages she'd visited and had seemingly all ground floor houses. The door slammed shut behind her and she saw Wolverine swiftly move to the other side of the truck to climb back inside. Rogue stood there, bewildered; she didn't even know where she was or what the village was called. The truck engine started. Wolverine had not looked at her once while starting the truck but as it started moving she saw him peek at her out of the corner of his eye. Rogue stood watching as the dirty, somewhat noise truck left her behind once again, but a deal was a deal.

Rogue sighed and turned back to the village. Pulling her duffle bag more over her shoulder, Rogue moved forwards into the village, hoping to spend as much time here as she could to let that moody foul tempered animal out of the way.

XXXXX

Rogue ended up in a small bar again, where she got asked a lot of questions by the local folks who'd never seen her face before, and knew everybody in the village as it was so small. Rogue had lied, saying she was travelling from home to go see her cousin in the next town. She'd gotten carried away with the lie and inventing some kind of meaning and importance in her life that she just couldn't stop when she started. She told the bar keeper that her cousin was more like a brother to her and was sick and close to death but their families had had a falling out, but she wouldn't let them stop her from seeing her sick cousin and nursing him back to health. She got a free beer out of it which was great and better than just drinking water all the time. Rogue did get questioned more about her parents, and them calling the police (they didn't want to get into trouble - the bar tender) and about money and how foolish her plans had been.

"And ya ain't even got money for a hotel to sleep in? Girl what were you thinking leavin' without no trace of a single dollar."

Rogue took a large gulp of her drink, finding the plum and curly blonde haired woman's accent rather intriguing and reminding her a bit more of the south. "As soon as I heard the news, I didn't think. Just acted. I packed a bag and with the twelve dollars I had in my pocket, I got a bus to take me as far as it would take me till I ended up h-here." Rogue said, covering her mouth with a fist as she broke into another coughing fit.

"Damn girl, you even gotta cold travelin' all the way out here? Girl you're either increibly heroic or stupid." Said the sassy woman.

There was a gruff snort from behind her as a familiar voice said, "Yeah, if you consider hitch hiking trucks as your twelve dollar bus." Rogue turned in her chair, surprised totally to see him again; Wolverine. "How 'bout a beer over here bub."

Rogue didn't believe it. She blinked, then blinked again. He was here. He was here in the same village with her in the same bar when he'd made a big fuss about giving him space and to stop bumping into him. Rogue felt her mood turn slightly pissed at him for changing he's freakin' mind and if he said anything about her following him, when he'd left her here, then she was seriously going to deck him and give him hell.

"Hitch hiking? I thought you got here by bus?" Said the plum woman.

Rogue turned in her seat, almost having forgot she was talking to the woman. "Errr, yeah, well I had to start caching lifts to get down here. Turns out twelve dollars won't get you that far."

The bar tender had given Wolverine the beer and the sound of him taking off the metal cap with his teeth rang through her. Rogue turned to see him sat down two chairs away from her, gulping down this full bottle of beer.

"Oh well, I'm sorry for all the trouble ya've had to go through. When you see that cousin of yours you tell him all 'bout what you've done to get to him, ya hear." Said the plum woman before she left. Rogue shot her a smile, before turning back to Wolverine.

He'd almost broken her story there. She wanted to demand answers from him, but didn't want him coming out with something that'd have her story blown. For some reason, she saw Wolverine as little smarter than the average person and believed he'd seen through her tale. So Rogue turned to face straight ahead in her chair as she finished off her drink. A harsh coughing fit seized her just as the drink was about to touch her lips. She covered her mouth and coughed into her fist, trying to find a way to get air into her lungs. The drink wasn't making her poor dry mouth any better.

"Aren't you under age?" Asked Wolverine, irritated by her coughing.

Rogue took another sip of her drink to clear her throat, grimacing as she did. "It's just one drink. Besides your not a cop or my parent so how's it any of your business?" Rogue said, adding the cop and parent part in to calm the wary bar tender.

Wolverine snorted and ordered another beer. Rogue wanted to demand why he was back then and there, bothering her, but instead turned around to look straight forwards again. He was in her past. She didn't care about him or want to know anything about him. She was just going to pretend he didn't exists.

"So, this sick cousin of yours, he got a name?"

The first name that came to Rogue's mind hurt her a lot, but she said it anyway to get him off her back. "Cody."

"Cody, huh? And you love him?"

"Yep."

"Travelled all this way to see him?"

"Yep."

"And your parents didn't approve."

"Yep."

"Hmmm, sounds more like insist to me. But you southerns are into that stuff a lot aren't you!"

Rogue lost it with him, glaring at him she said in a low, yet dangerous voice. "Excuse me?" Rogue said outraged. "Do you mind not insulting me or ma inheritance. 'Sides, think even if I were to go with ma cousin, which is just plan out wrong and disgusting, least we'd have a better child then your parents ever had."

Rogue downed the rest of her beer, before standing up. She felt a little dizzy in the head from standing up so suddenly, but she brushed it aside and pretended she didn't feel anything while the Wolverine's eyes were on her. She wanted to get out of there before he could say anything more disturbing and upsetting. Shed meet some nice people here and now Wolverine had showed up, he'd just taken that away.

Rogue heard someone call, "Excuse me!" to her, but Rogue ignored them, thinking it may have been Wolverine, not taking that insult laying down. "Excuse me!" Rogue shivered as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned around to see that it wasn't Wolverine, but instead the bar tender. "Here. I managed to call a friend for you. She says she'll be able to put you up for the night, but no more after that I'm afraid." Rogue took the folded up little tourist map that he was passing to her and wasn't sure whether her heart was singing or melting. Rogue looked from down at the map, back up to the bar tender. Rogue smiled. It was an awkward smile that hurt her facial muscles from having not smiled in a long time, but it was worth it.

"Thank you." Rogue said to him.

He nodded. "Just ask for Catherine and she'll get you set up." He saluted her then left back to his bar.

Rogue smiled down at the map in her hand. Yep, this was one of the nicest villages she'd been to. She just wished she didn't have to lie to them to get them to help her like this.

Rogue followed the directs on the map to what seemed to block of flats. She found the main desk and entered it. There was a red checked brunette behind the desk who smiled at her. "Hello." She said.

"Hi, erm, I'm looking for Catherine."

"That's me. You Cody's girl?"

Rogue was confused for a moment how she knew about Cody, but Rogue soon put two and two together and nodded.

"Alright then." She the Catherine. "Let's get you a room. But, errr-" The girl said, losing her smile and looking nervous. "Erm, ya see, my boss doesn't know I'm doing this and if he found out he'd hit the roof."

Rogue nodded her head, understanding what she meant and this was a get in, get out sort of deal.

"Yeah, sorry about this, but you can stay till ten am tomorrow. My boss gets back from visiting his daughter tomorrow at eleven. I'll need an hour to clean the room you see and make sure he doesn't notice any financial differences."

Rogue nodded again as she followed the brunette out of the shed like reception building and to one of the upstairs block flats. The brunette opened the door for Rogue. "Here we are, erm, if your going to start a fire or use he shower, please can you only use little amounts. I don't mean to sound so-"

"It's alright Catherine. I understand. I'm just grateful and thankful that your putting your neck on the line ta help me. I can't thank ya enough."

"Oh don't worry about it. OK, I'll leave you to it. Have a good night." Catherine smiled at Rogue one last time before waving goodbye and walking away. She was a very nice girl. Rogue entered, taking the key out of the lock in the door and closing it. Rogue turned around and took in the room. It had a nice beige and sandy brown colour to it. The bedding looked plump, fluffy and warm and Rogue spied even a small tv and a small door that led to the wash room. Rogue smiled thinking how cute this room was and how much people sometimes took icky brown and crème stripped carpets could be. But Rogue lost her smile. She wasn't staying here forever unfortunately. Life had cut her a break for one night. One night she wasn't going to waste enjoying.

Rogue took to the shower and was in and out in ten minutes. She wanted to stay in it longer and let the heat just continue melting away the knots and roughness of her muscles, but she didn't want to get Catherine in trouble. Rogue got out of the shower and changed into some, unfortunately, dirty pyjamas that had been in her duffle bag. Rogue actually got an idea from this.

Rogue filled the sink up with water and soap and placed all her clothes in the sink. Water splashed everywhere, but it was called a wet room for a reason. Rogue even stripped off the night wear and underwear she had now and soaked them. It took seconds for the water to turn black from mud and other shit on her clothes, but Rogue tried not to care and scrubbed at her clothes with her nails to try and get them clean. She was starting to feel a draft which began the light shivers of her body.

After emptying the sink of it's dirty water and twisting the clothes till all the water she could get out of them was out, Rogue moved into the main room still shaking cold, closed the curtains and moved towards the log wood fire place. Rogue found a lighter and a stick on the side to getting the fire going and once she did have the logs burning, she took her clothes from the bathroom one at a time and held them up in front of the fire place. It was like waiting for your hands to dry with a blow drier; slow and never actually got them dry, but she needed to do this so they'd be ready to wear for bed tonight and tomorrow.

Though she thought sitting near the fire place would help warm her up, Rogue's body just wouldn't stop shaking. The shivers were small, but still present and her dry cough hadn't left her.

After twenty minutes of drying clothes, Rogue decided that her night dress was dry enough for her to sleep in and the other clothes could just hang in the wet room. Rogue turned off the fire, tying to save Catherine from getting in trouble and turned to her bed. Rogue pounced on her bed. She was giggling at how soft the fluffy pillows and covers were against her skin. Rogue put on the tv and searched the channels for something to watch. She'd missed this. Being in control of what she watched instead of having to just stand by in pubs and let the bar keep decide. She was still shivering under her nighty, so got under the covers where she was still shaking, but was more comfortable. Rogue saw there was a Romanic comedy on at ten. Being respectful, Rogue turned off the tv and waited. There was a book in the draw besides the bed she found. but she left it there, humouring herself by just thinking how nice these people were and how she wished she'd come up with a better lie so she could stay in the village longer. But then again, she knew this room was a one night offer and so was the free beer. She waited till ten when she put on the film and settled down more in her warm covers watching her chosen movie.

XXXXX

Rogue had woken up around nine am that morning to a coughing fit. Rogue's head felt heavy and dizzy and she wondered if this was a little hang over from the beer she'd had She didn't know she was such a light weight.

She got up, got changed and made sure that she did whatever she could to clan up the room for Catherine. After packing all her stuff away, Rogue was just walking out the door when she bumped into Catherine outside. She gave Catherine the keys back and Catherine thanked her, extremely grateful that the room was clean and fresh as if no one had slept there last night. Rogue nodded then took off.

As she walked away though, Rogue looked down to her shivering hand. She hadn't stopped shaking since last night. Pulling her coat closer around her Rogue walked to the long road where she knew any passing trucks would pass by. As she was walking down along this road though, she saw the familiar dirty truck that Wolverine owned. Rogue raised her eyebrow. Was it destiny that they just kept running into each other? She turned on the stop and began walking up road, not wanting to see or talk to Wolverine and have him say something cruel and horrible.

But it turned out he knew she was there. The door to his truck opened and he called after her.

"Hey. Thought I told you to leave me alone."

Rogue's somewhat good mood from the good nights sleep had been ruined. She turned on her heel to face Wolverine. "Yeah, that's why I was walking in the other direction. What you doing back here anyway? I thought you took off to the next town to get as far away from me as possible. Looks like I'm not the only one who fucked up our deal." From practically screaming this, Rogue's head spun as if someone had just justed her after she'd spun around a stick twenty times.

Wolverine had stepped out of his truck and was walking towards her. Rogue took in his chest that was shirtless. He had a typical cigar in his mouth and a bad attitude as he came to stand right in front of her. "Listen strips! You don't tell me what to do or where to go, got that?"

Rogue simply rolled her eyes at hearing this, flushing away the dizziness. He took a drag of his cigar and looked her up and down for that moment. His head jerked in a pointing direction. "Get in." He said.

Rogue raised her eyebrow confused. "Excuse me?"

"I'll give you a ride to the next city."

Rogue felt utterly flabbergasted. She felt anger and outraged that he'd avoided her three times, gave her a lift under circumstances and now was bossing her about like he owned her. "Ha." She actually laughed. "You think I'm jumping back in this shit hole of yours any time soon? Forget it! I'll find another rid. One where the driver isn't a complete and utter ass hole."

With that Rogue turned on her heel and stormed off. "I've been by the roads all night and morning. Nothings passed Darlin'. 'fraid your not gonna get fair waiting for a truck to pass by here. It is a little village as well. Not many people will be driving by it."

"I'll take the cold streets to you any day." Rogue called back over her shoulder.

"Why you being difficult about this?"

"Why are you all of a sudden taking an interest?" Rogue spun round and shot back.

"'cause I guess I overreacted without thinking much about you being the only mutant in a long time that I've meet."

"Oh, now you realise that do you. Not when I was trying to reach out to you those three other times you denied me a lift and not while I tried bringing up our curses in the truck?"-

Wolverine shrugged. "I don't have that good a reputation with people."

"I can see that!" Rogue yelled flustered, regreating that desition for the sack of her head.

"Look are you coming with me or not 'cause I'm moving on soon."

Rogue debated her options. Growling in her throat, Rogue pulled the duffle bag more over her shoulder and stormed over to the shot gun side of Wolverine's truck. Wolverine soon followed her, stopping to reach into the back of his truck first to pick out a wife beater, then climbing into the drivers seat. Rogue looked out her window, not wanting to even look at the man this time as he started the engine and drove off. Rogue watched with sad eyes as they drove passed the little pub of whom she had grown fond of the people living inside it. The pub soon left her sight though and trees took it's place. Trees that had its branches merge together scarily to look like dancing brown spider leg patterns on a white sky background.

But then something strange happened to the trees.

"Strips?"

The spider legs turned darker and darker, stretching and reaching up, out and around, encirling the truck in darkness while Rogue could see faintly little silloettes of black figures dancing in the shadows.

Rogue hadn't heard Wolverine's call, but when she felt his touch on her shoulder. She fliched and realised he'd been calling her name. Rogue turned to face him, scared that she could see his sharp black eyes looking... almost animal like. Rogue had figured already that whatever was happening to her must have been a nightmare or something. This man, Wolverine, wasn't really growing large teeth that he glowled at her with. His face wasn't really turning into a black furry snout and his fingers weren't really turning into harsh piercing claws stabbing into her shoulder. The dark spider legs were moving around, making everything dark, except Wolverine's snarling wolf face and the sharp claws gripping tighter and tighter around her shoulder. It shouldnt have been real. She shouldn't have believed it. But the pain in her shoulder and the feeling of having a stone in her throat stopping her from breathing making her hyperventale told her different.

"P-P-Please d-don't-t-t h-h-hurt me. Please don't 'urt me." Rogue muttered over and over again as she felt tears trail down her hot pale check.

Rogue was shaken and felt herself drift into the spider's dark web as the wolf in front of her rose above her, moving closer to her until his jaw opened wide, his paws landed on her hands and she cried out a scream as the wolf went to eat her.