Disclaimer's: I DON'T BLOODY OWN THEM, OK?!?!?!

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You know that urge to shred something? Well, it's worse now. MUCH worse. Storm doesn't think I love her enough. The key word here is enough. She knows I want her, she's just insecure about how long it will last. There's no way to know! For all we know, she could break it off with me first!

There's really no way to convince someone of any of this, so... I've done all I can. It's up to her now. I just hope giving her the decision to make the next move works....

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4 hours later, after dinner...

Damn it all to Hell! How long does it take to make a move with this kind of thing? She's had all afternoon to think about the situation. Granted, she had to teach and...

Maybe she just doesn't want to think about it right now. It might be too painful. She's avoiding the subject. That's OK. I'm patient. I can wait...

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2 days (and many beers and cigars) later...

Screw being patient. I mean it. I need to know what's going on. Wait, who's to say she's even thinking about me? I didn't tell her to think it over and she probably wouldn't even if I did. Great. I've been torturing myself waiting for her and she's not even trying! This is just spit on your neck, kick you in the crotch, knock you down unconscious fantastic...

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I am calm. I have calmed myself. Granted, the forest around the school is missing a few of those huge spruce trees, but, who cares? At least it wasn't a person I turned into toothpicks...

I need to talk to Storm. They say the 3rd times the charm and maybe it is. I don't know. But maybe we should do less talking. They also say actions speak louder than words...

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Here I was knocking on Storm's door. What a sense of deja vu... She opened the door.. and tried to close it. I hot my hand out and stopped the door.

"Storm, darlin'," I said, "We need to talk and we need to both listen without thinking anything until the other person's done."

She opened the door, "Logan, we've been through all of this and I don't think-"

"Exactly," I said, "Don't think; Just listen. This won't take long. Then you can have a turn."

She let me in.

I kissed her. See if she can ignore this...

She pulled away in surprise. To my surprise, I saw tears in her eyes. Damn it!

"Logan, please leave," Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"'Ro, listen to me," I said, "I don't know how else to get it through to you that I really do love you. You won't listen to me, or at least you don't hear what I really mean. I'm sorry if I've upset you, but you're upsetting me, too."

I got up and walked out of her room. I am such a bastard...

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"Logan, what did you do?" Cyclops burst into my room. Didn't bother knocking or anything.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him wearily. I didn't have the patience for this right now.

"Storm just took off running out the door and into the woods," he said, glaring at me, "And when the Jean and the Professor mind searched for her, you were plastered all through her brain."

"So, that means I did something to her?" I asked, "She could've just been thinking about me."

"She was crying," Cyclops said, "Explain this now."

I got up and walked towards my door, "Look, Cyke," I said, "I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, at least not intentionally, so why don't you let me go hunt her down with my handy heightened sense of smell and we'll figure out what's what?"

"Because, if you did something to make her cry," Cyclops said, "Then she won't be very happy to see you. We should all go."

"And if there's nothing wrong, embarrass her to death?" I asked, "Let me go, that way if she is mad at me, then maybe I can fix it. God knows, I get on enough people's nerves. Maybe I did something without realizing it."

Cyclops looked doubtful, but said, "Fine, but report back here if you have problems finding her."

"Leave it to me," I said, "I'm sure I can handle one female out in the woods."

"You spend enough time in the woods yourself," Cyclops remarked, "You probably know them best. Go ahead."

"Yes, sir," I said sarcastically.

"I mean it, Logan," Cyclops said, "If you have problems, come right back. We don't know why she ran off. It could be she needed to be alone or she could be doing something foolish."

I didn't need to ask what that meant. If I upset 'Ro enough to kill herself and I didn't get there in time or call for backup quick enough, I was in deep shit.

I got my coat and headed towards the door. Jean came running after me, "Logan! Wait!"

I stopped, "What's wrong?"

"Storm's headed to the left of the mansion," she said, "There's nothing there but more forest. She can't have anything good to do out there."

"Maybe she just wants to be alone," I said.

"Maybe," Jean said, "It's not like she has to worry about freezing to death. If she gets cold, she can warm the weather up." She looked at me, "Logan, what did you say to her?"

"Nothing," I said truthfully. I kissed her, not said anything.

"All right," she said, "Then just find her and bring her back safely. That's all we ask." She walked away.

Yeah, well, I thought as I walked out the door. That's a lot to ask. What if she doesn't want to come back?

And what if she can't...

It'd be my fault...

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Well, isn't this a switch of events? Storm still doesn't understand Logan's true feelings towards her and now she's disappeared into the woods. Why? What's she doing? And will Logan be able to bring her back safely? I don't know, do you?

Ja ne! The Management