Title: Christmas Conversions - A Reasonable Doubts Prequel
Author: Gowdie
Summary: A holiday glimpse of how Logan and Rogue's relationship has evolved during the three years prior to the beginning of Reasonable Doubts.
Category: Logan and Rogue romance.
Rating: PG13 for language and amorous wishful thinking.
Archive: Everyone who has Reasonable Doubts. WRFA please take off of WR beta. Everyone else I will send you the full text as a single unit once all three sections are posted.
Disclaimer: Unless extreme amounts of giddiness and laughter have recently been declared material gains, then no I am not profiting from this story since I clearly do not own these characters.
Feedback: Yes please! I promise to say thank you!
Thanks: I have said this before, but I truly want to thank everyone who has read RD and suffered such a horribly long wait. Everyone who hasn't kicked me to the curb deserves, well, a lot more than I am giving them. I hope my gratitude can be enough. Thanks to Diebin and Donna for still being my friends even when I haven't been around much lately. Thanks to Nancy, for being her deliciously crazy self and sharing pictures of cute boys during the rough times. Once again, thanks to Narla for being my beta and keeping my dirty secret from Roomie. Thanks to Roomie, since I suspect she might suspect, but has never said the words "I know what you do on your computer at night!" out loud. May she never read this.
Author Notes: Yeah, you don't have to tell me, this is not what you were hoping for. I will say it one more time: I suck. I am sorry. There is no excuse. Well, I had excuses; I wrote exams, I moved, I had surgery on my ass and couldn't sit down for a few weeks, but all that has passed its expiration date I think. I know you want part four. I want part four. But this was in my head first. Sorry dudes. Blame all the people who said the flashbacks were their favorite parts of the story. I decided to write a whole unit of flashbacks. I will work on part four next. I swear. It will be finished. It will be worth it. Please just hang in there a little bit longer.
When to read this in relationship to Reasonable Doubts: I HIGHLY recommend you read at least part one of RD first. That part outlines where their respective head's are and when Logan comes around. It also includes the infamous dog tag exchange. This story merely stops in at the three Christmases along the way. It assumes you know why at Christmas number two Logan is still an idiot and at Christmas number three he and Rogue are at opposite ends of the relationship spectrum.
Note to PETS: Dudes, I'm not scared of you anymore, cause the more I write him, the more I lurv him.
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The First Christmas
Time line - 7 months past movie, 1 month after Logan's return, 2 years and 5 months before the weird surgical glove wearing sex debacle.
What does this timing mean? While Logan cares more for Marie than anyone else in the world, he is still suffering from lusty feelings for Jean. Translation: He was never very good at math.
Rogue knocked on the hard wood for the second time. "Logan?" No response. Cripes, why wasn't he up yet? She gingerly poked her head in the door. He was sprawled on his back, sheet at his waist revealing a bare chest. Interesting. Standing just inside, "Logan? Come on, get up."
He seemed to sniff at the air then all of a sudden he sprung up to a seated position. He scanned the room until his eyes landed on her. "Kid? Jesus. What is it?"
Rogue pointed behind her, as if that would provide an explanation. "It's, it's Christmas."
A nonplused, "Oh." He rubbed his face, then the back of his head.
Still slightly pointing in the desired direction, out the door, "We're supposed to go downstairs."
Rogue was relieved to see he was apparently going to oblige when he turned sideways and put his feet on the floor. He looked at the clock, it was just after seven. "Now?"
"Yes." He stood up. Boxers. Too bad.
Logan absently scratched his bare stomach and gave in. "Okay, just a second, I need to get dressed."
"No wait! You're supposed to go down in your pajamas." They both took a moment to look at the boxers he was wearing. "Okay, so maybe an exception can be made in your case. But you at least have to wear something pajama-like."
He frowned at her. "Pajama-like?"
"It's the tradition."
He sighed. "Fine, will track pants and a t-shirt do?"
"Can they at least be green?"
A definitive, "No."
She grumbled, "Fine."
Marie continued to stand by the door, anxiously shifting her weight from one foot to the other while Logan stumbled around, gathering his clothes. "Could you at least sit down or something, you're making me nervous." With an exaggerated scoffing noise Marie plopped down on the bed and started swinging her feet. Finally finding an acceptable pair of track pants Logan turned to the excited girl, "I'm gonna put these on and shave. I'll just be a minute."
"No!" She jumped off the bed. "No shaving! We need to hurry up and get down there."
He stood his ground. "What is wrong with you?"
Eyes wide Rogue waved him toward the bathroom. "Nothing! Can you please just hurry. I don't want to miss anything." That and she was going to just about die if she didn't get to open up his present soon. It felt like she had been waiting forever.
It was two weeks earlier.
Somehow it had become their ritual to spend the two hours between the last class of the day and dinner, together in her room. Rogue would take her place on her bed, surrounded by notebooks and texts and work away at whatever homework she had. Logan sat in her desk chair, feet (sans dusty boots) propped up on the bed by hers. While she studied, he would read.
It occurred to Rogue that if she hadn't taken the magical mystery tour through Logan's memories she might have been surprised in his choice of recreational literature. He mostly stuck to books by people long dead and buried. The few times she had caught him with something "modern" in his hands they had still been rather hard hitters like "Catcher in the Rye" and "The English Patient" which he insisted was much better than the pansy ass film. She didn't think anyone else was privy to this facet of his personality and she reveled in the fact she was the only one allowed in on the secret. Well, except for maybe Scott. A couple of times when no one else was around, Logan had dropped some appropriate quote or passage into the conversation. He pulled it off so casually Rogue didn't think she would have noticed except for the formality of the language. One time after Scott had left she gave Logan a questioning glance. He just smiled and said, "Have to keep old One Eye on his toes. Wouldn't want him to start judging people by appearances."
Rogue didn't think Scott, of all people, ever would. She told him, "I think he is judging by your carefully crafted reputation, not your belt buckle, Logan."
He shrugged, "Whatever." A pause. "Hey, just what the hell is wrong with my buckle?"
On this particular day though, while sitting in her room, Logan had finished his book early. That was when he started rummaging.
It started innocently enough. With a huge sigh he closed his novel and tossed it on the bed. Bored, he sat still for a few minutes, arms crossed in front of him and just looked around. It occurred to him he had never really taken in his surroundings before. He had been in this room almost every day, but he had just accepted it rather than appreciate the details. He pondered each poster individually and tried to measure how it fit into Marie's personality. Rogue noticed his intense gaze, but decided against interrupting his scrutiny. That was when he grunted, "I've seen that one before."
Rogue looked up at the poster he indicated. It was the black and white of the shirtless man holding the baby. She practically snorted, "Yeah, well it's pretty popular."
He frowned at her. "Why?"
"Pfft. Big strong man holding a little tiny baby, it's like every girl's fantasy."
He kind of smirked. "Is it yours?"
"Ha! Which part?" He just stared at her. She mumbled down into her book, "Yeah you're right, I probably want both."
He simply nodded, then pushed with his feet and rolled over to her desk. Item by item he went over the entire desk and the shelves above it. Occasionally he would pick an object up and examine it more closely. A few times he asked where something came from, but mostly he was happy being left to his own devices. The more he looked, the more his boredom grew into genuine curiosity. Ah, jewelry box, wonder what she keeps inside. Ah, jewelry, makes sense, but wonder why kind of jewelry. And on he went.
For her part, Rogue kept an eye on him, but she was happy to let him forage to his heart's content. The fact that Logan was finding her stuff this fascinating would be a source of secret pleasure for days. It did feel a little like he was walking through her brain, but really, she was relieved he was taking his turn. Their relationship was slightly unbalanced. She knew so much about him and he knew essentially nothing about her. She would tell him anything if he asked and she was pretty sure he understood that, it was just, neither of them knew where to start exactly.
He moved on to her dresser. Rogue racked her brain for a moment, then relaxed when she remembered all the really embarrassing girl stuff was safe in the bathroom. The first drawer was mainly gloves and scarves. He picked up a pair offhandedly and muttered, "I like these ones." Rogue gave a nonchalant nod, but made sure to register: note to self, wear burgundy gloves whenever humanly possible.
He reached for the second drawer and her brain suddenly screamed, oh oh oh! Underwear drawer! Underwear drawer! Alert! Alert! He opened it. Her whole body tensed. The freaking bastard, neither shock nor interest appeared to cross his features. The most she could possibly read off his face at that moment was maybe, "Hm, socks and underwear, check." She glared back down at her book and made a slight humph noise; he didn't seem to notice that either.
Finished with the dresser he stood in the middle of the room looking at little lost. Still perturbed by the non-incident with her underwear she certainly wasn't about to help him out and just kept reading. That was when he got down on his hands and knees and started pulling things out from under her bed. She looked down at him and almost laughed, he had crawled right under there and his ass was sticking up and out. Man, the guy just never did anything half way.
He snagged something of particular interest, emerged lightly covered in dust and waved a magazine in front of her face. "What is this?"
Ack! Totally calm and cool, "It's my Victoria Secret catalogue."
He stood and started flipping through the pages, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Isn't this the kind of thing I should find a boy's room?"
She made a scoffing noise. "Not unless the boy likes to mail order ladies' underwear."
He looked at her and frowned. "You like to mail order your underwear?"
Quietly, "Sometimes." He was still frowning. "It makes me feel pretty." His expression didn't change. "What? Just because no one is ever gonna see it means I'm not allowed to wear it?" Was he ever going to stop looking at her like that? "What? Would you have me wear cotton granny underwear for the rest of my life like some asexual reject?" She sat up and waved her arms around. "What? WHAT?!"
"I never said anything Marie."
Rogue thumped back against the headboard and made a sound of disgust. Logan sat down calmly and continued turning the pages. He was really going to do it. He was really going to sit there and look at pictures of scantily clad women in front of her. Her embarrassment started to turn to rage.
For his part, Logan was just trying to assimilate the startling new information that Marie, MARIE, spent time worrying about lingerie. That was until he landed on a rather distinctive ensemble. He paused for a moment, then tilted his head and grinned. "Huh."
Rogue couldn't take it anymore. She leapt off the bed and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. "Jesus Logan, what am I? Your dealer?"
He looked up at her confused. "What?" Then with an evil glint, "No, I was just thinking maybe I'd found a Christmas present."
She snatched the offending object from his hands and glanced down at the open page. A red lace teddy was being modeled by ... wait for it ... a woman with long dark red hair. She rolled up the magazine and used it to point at the door. "Get the hell out of my room."
He spread his hands innocently. "What?"
Whap! Rogue hit him on the head with the magazine and startled, he jumped to his feet. "I can sure as hell tell you don't mean for me and I swear to God, if you did give this to her and Scott didn't blow a hole in your side, I would suck you dry!" Whap! She hit him again which produced the desired effect of him starting to back from the room, his arms in front of his face in defense. "Get out of my room. This is MY room for Christ's sake. I don't need to be listening to this is MY room. Get out!" Whap! Whap!
Logan retreated. He had to retreat. Well, he couldn't very well hit her back could he? He might have snatched the magazine away, but he was too busy processing the fact that someone was actually hitting him, with a woman's periodical of all things. Finally, having been driven to the hall, Logan lowered his hands and demanded, "Can't you even see the humour in it?"
"No!" Slam.
"Marie? Oh for crying out loud kid, it was a joke." And it was. He would never seriously give such a thing to Jean.
Okay, so the first thought that had run through his head upon seeing the picture was just what Jean would look like wearing the delicious scraps of silk ... and then what she would look like as they slowly slid off her. But he had been sitting in a small room with Marie after all, as opposed to the privacy of his own shower, so he had quickly shifted gears and imagined the hysterical expression on Scott's face as Jean opened such a gift. In all honesty, when he had made the comment, he had been amusing himself with the image of Summers' spontaneous combustion.
However, even despite the hours of entertainment at Scott's expense he still wouldn't actually do it. Jean and Logan had come to a silent understanding. Silent because he had cut her off rather than allow her to embarrass him by spelling it out, but it was an understanding none the less. She had made it clear that despite any existing attraction, it wasn't going to happen. Her tone had also indicated it was time for him to back down, or otherwise things would become uncomfortable. To sum up, playful flirting was allowed, but serious gestures would be in breach of the understanding. And even if Jean realized he was goading old One Eye rather than courting her, he still suspected he would be crossing a very important line with her tolerance. There was a definitive difference between teasing Scooter with the possible attraction and making the suggestion access had actually been granted. Apparently all of these subtleties were lost on Marie.
He could hear the distinct sounds of tidying from the other side of the door. He could practically see her moving about the room, putting everything he had touched back in its proper place. "Jesus kid, just how big an insensitive prick do you think I am?"
The movement stopped for a moment. "Right now Logan, you do not want me to answer that."
With a sigh he rested his head against the hard wood. He was not an insensitive prick. He really wasn't. Well at least with Marie he wasn't, because even if he had been serious about the gift, he could think of another fifty reasons not to mention it so callously in front of her.
First, there was the issue of the possible crush. Though honestly Logan wasn't sure that was much of an issue at all anymore. Jean had told him Marie was taken with him. He hadn't really taken her that seriously, but then when Marie asked if he was running again, he could see it in her eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, what he had seen looked a bit like adoration. If he hadn't felt his insides wrench at the realization he was actually going to miss someone, he might have been amused. Sure women liked him, but no one had ever adored him before. He wasn't convinced he was adoring material. However, when he came back, that look was gone. Oh she seemed plenty happy and excited to see him, but he could no longer catch any telltale signs of a crush. Over the last few weeks she had acted like any normal warm woman who understood and cared about him and was delighted to have him around. Not that he had a lot to compare to, but he assumed that is what she acted like. However, just in case he was an idiot, or in case Marie was some method-acting wizard, he wasn't about to brandish his feelings for Jean in front of her. He was dealing with the fact Jean was relegated to fantasy, there was no need to hurt Marie with the residue.
Then there was the deadly skin issue. Charles had said Maire may be incapable of human contact for her entire life. Now while Logan didn't think that was entirely true, Marie was still young enough he didn't feel comfortable expounding on his theories just yet. He could just imagine it, "Yeah, so I was thinking, if you and that Bobby kid want to get it on you could try ..." Logan wasn't sure, but he was pretty suspicious that was the kind of thing that could get his ass kicked all the way back to the Rockies. And he wasn't convinced either of them would survive such a conversation. He would have to pace and stutter a lot and Marie would probably hide under the bed and then not be able to face him for a week. In the meantime, until Marie found her own sexuality, Logan wasn't going to go waving his under her nose. That was why Logan had instituted his "never in the mansion" policy. Not that he'd had opportunity to invoke the policy since he'd been back, but he tried not to think about that too much. To Marie, physical intimacy was everything, he be damned if he made her watch him treat sex casually. Friends just didn't pull that kind of shit with each other.
Logan decided to try a different, more practical tactic. "Kid, I don't even have my boots. I'm in my sock feet out here."
"You're a big tough man, suck it up."
He groaned a little and tapped his head against the wood. A low sincere voice, "Okay kid, I give. What exactly do I have to do to be allowed back inside?"
There was a pause as Rogue considered. She didn't have to think about what it was she wanted from him. She wanted some sign, any indication, that he thought about her for even a fraction of the amount of time he spent thinking about Jean. But she knew she couldn't be completely honest, that would just make her sound lovelorn and desperate. She searched for a way to convey the main idea without the direct comparison. Well, he called her kid anyway, she decided she might as well use it to her advantage for a change. "Maybe, if you actually spent two minutes thinking about my present, maybe, maybe I would let you in."
A smug grin took over Logan's face as he proudly declared, "Well then open the door kid; I picked up your gift months ago."
The door cracked an inch and curious brown eyes peeked through. "You bought my present months ago?"
Hands in his pockets he leaned back on his heels. "Yup."
She still wanted clarification. "On the road?"
A slight nod, grin still in place. "Yup."
He said it like it was obvious, but to Rogue the implications were huge. Logan had been deeply emerged in his quest to find his own identity. Somehow in the middle of that failed obsession, he had spared some time to think of her. Gentle thoughts on something that would make her happy. Trying to conceal her obvious glee, she opened the door wide. Then another teasing thought occurred to her. "Wait a second." She raised a hand to stop him. "You mean you carried my present around in your duffel bad with all your stinky unmentionables?"
Knowing he was about to score extra points he simply responded, "Well, I had to keep it from breaking somehow didn't I?"
She froze. A high voice, "My present is breakable?"
He raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Very."
Logan sauntered past Marie with a smirk. When he reached the chair he turned to her, raised his eyebrow even higher and sat pointedly on the bed. He leaned back against the headboard, swung his legs up and interlocked his hands behind his head, all with an expression which just dared her to say anything.
Rogue crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sitting."
"Oh really." Great, just great, now what was she supposed to do? The bed was her place. He knew that. In fact the cocky grin plastered on the bastard's face implied that this whole routine was precisely about taking her place. It felt like a challenge. Blech. If she sat in the chair, did that say she didn't want to sit with him? Or worse, did it reveal just how awkward sitting on a bed with him would feel, because she liked him? At the same time, snuggling up next to him certainly wasn't the right answer. Or was it? That would show being next to him was no big deal at all; perfectly comfortable and buddy like. Obviously his lap had to be vetoed. Too bad. Man, sometimes being a girl really sucked, way too much thinking involved.
Okay, compromise. Rogue carefully eased herself on the bed and sat cross-legged by his feet. Not really looking at him, "I'm kinda surprised. I didn't think you would plan for Christmas, especially not that far in advance."
"Why?"
A shrug. "I don't know. I didn't think that you... I mean..." Rogue picked at the pink checkered quilt and hazarded a glance up at him. "Well, okay, what did you used to do for Christmas?"
He smirked, "I thought you knew everything."
Nice teasing, good, that meant he wasn't offended. Rogue rolled her eyes, "I don't know everything. It's kinda like I got an overview, the big picture, with the important details, but not everything. Like I know you prefer steak and eggs for breakfast, but I can't tell you what you actually had on any particular day." She looked back down and continued pulling at imaginary threads. "So, you used to acknowledge Christmas?"
Man he could just about kill for a beer, this conversation had taken a serious turn for the sad and pathetic. He didn't know how to put an end to it without sounding defensive. "It's rather hard not to notice a day when the rest of the world shuts down."
Damn appearances. She crawled down the bed to sit next to him, under his arm. She thought it would be easy, she would fit naturally on the first try, but her shoulders were way too high and his arm pressed on her neck, bending her head down. She had to wriggle around a bit, slowly scooting down inch by inch, till she finally found a position where she was comfortable, head against his chest, arm around his stomach. Somewhat amused, he just let her experiment with the new arrangement until she finally settled. He wrapped his arms about her.
"So what would you do?"
She felt as well as heard his sigh. "Hole up in some hotel room with a six-pack and watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' on the tv."
She tried to crane her neck around to look at him. "Why did I never figure you for a Jimmy Stewart fan?"
He snorted. "Kid, when my choices are church services, cartoon Santas and five versions of Scrooge, which are all boring as hell, I pick Jimmy."
Quietly, "I'm glad you made it back in time, so you could be here."
"Aw, it wasn't all that bad. I might actually kinda miss him." And this was precisely the moment he would take a long drag on that cold beer he didn't have. Damn.
"I mean for me too. Last year was awful, it was the only time I actually went to a shelter." He squeezed a little tighter. "This will be my first Christmas with my new family, so I'm glad you're here."
Two weeks. Two weeks she had waited to get her hands on that mysterious breakable present and now he was taking his bloody time. Rogue pounded on the bathroom door. "Aren't you ready yet? You're being worse than a girl!"
Logan slowly opened the door. Okay, so he had been waiting for her to yell at him, but the girl comment was pushing it. "There's not going to be more singing is there?"
She gave a disgusted scoff, grabbed his hand and attempted to drag his immovable weight from the room. "No! They only do carols on Christmas Eve. This is strictly presents and breakfast. Now let's go!"
Standing firm he narrowed his eyes and asked, "How do you know so much?"
Rogue gave up on the pulling, squeezed past him through the door and attempted to push from the other side. "Logan, it's my first Christmas at the mansion, I have done my research. Now can we please go?!"
After a complex struggle of pushing and dragging Rogue finally managed to haul Logan out of his room and partway down the hallway. If she had given up, he would have walked on his own, but he was glad she didn't, nearly driving her to exasperation was way more fun.
All of sudden he became dead weight. When Rogue turned to him, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her up against the wall. Even as he moved to her side, giving an air of casualness, his hard look and firm hand remained, silently signaling her not to move. Confused as to why the game was suddenly over, she softly asked, "What?"
Just then Scott and Jean came around the corner behind them. Jean immediately gave a beaming smile and greeted, "Logan, Rogue, Merry Christmas!"
Rogue was about to respond, but Logan spoke first. "Jean. Mr. Jean."
Scott considered a reply but instead opted to look at Logan, give a pointed smile and nod to Rogue, and then turn back to the other man with a huge grin. When a quiet growl slipped from the Wolverine's throat he figured he had made his point. The nature of the relationship of the pair might be a complete mystery, but to Scott Summers it was at least very clear he was not the only man in the mansion wrapped around a delicate finger.
Seemingly oblivious to the exchange, Jean continued, "You two are headed downstairs aren't you?"
Finally Logan removed his hand from Rogue's shoulder to cross his arms. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get there eventually."
"Oh," another smile, "well you want to get a move on. I'm sure Rogue doesn't want to miss the presents. We'll see you down there." And the couple moved on.
Once they were alone again, Rogue slumped against the wall, sighed and asked with an utterly miserable expression, "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Well kid, a man's got to make his own fun and right now, you're the best show in town."
She turned to look him right in the eye. "Someday, somehow, I will have power over you and you will beg and plead and I will laugh."
A confident smirk. "I don't see it."
She glared, grabbed his hand, uttered, "I hate you," and once again started to pull.
Once they arrived Rogue joined her friends sitting on the floor. For his part, Logan decided to observe the ruckus from the edge; close enough to appear involved, but far enough away not to lose his mind, or get hit in the head with a stray ball of wrapping. Also, the straight back chair he was sitting in allowed him to move further away if necessary.
Amidst the furor of flying paper, Rogue found Logan's present. It was easily identifiable enough, being the only one addressed to "Marie" in block lettering. She also managed to intercept hers to him. She set the two aside to save till last. Once everything else was opened and thank you's exchanged she picked up the two gifts and made her way over to him. "You got Jean a red silk scarf huh? That is better than lingerie I suppose."
Logan crossed his arms. "Yeah and I gave Ororo a blue one, so I don't think Summers can find an excuse to blow any holes in me."
Rogue mock glared at him. "You realize that is my look you are farming out there?"
"Maybe I thought the ladies could take a lesson from you. You got some sort of patent on it?"
"Trademark."
"Whatever."
A pause as she looked awkwardly about the room. "So."
"So," he agreed. "You gonna pull up a chair or stand there all day?"
"Right." Rogue handed the two gifts over to him to retrieve a chair. Once she was sitting facing him, she snatched hers away again. Practically cradling her present in her arms she nodded at him, "You first."
Logan began to remove the plain forest green paper. After he tore the first strip away he was greeted with what was starting to look suspiciously like a powder blue t-shirt. He raised an eyebrow at Marie.
Total innocence, "What?" Okay, the explanation behind the eight dollar tee was the simple need to conceal the video hiding inside. A wrapped video is quite obviously a wrapped video. However the reason it was powder blue was Rogue's personal sense of humour rearing it's precocious head. That and finding out whether Logan would wear such a garment because she had given it to him would make a very interesting science experiment.
Finally, paper removed, hideous tee unrolled, Logan found the real gift. "'It's a Wonderful Life'?"
"I thought, maybe this year, we could watch it together." A pause. "After the big breakfast and other group stuff and the turkey dinner of course. But maybe then, we could do this thing of yours?"
Logan looked at the girl who was clearly demonstrating her interest to share in both his past and his future. "Yeah." He returned his gaze back to the box and ran his fingers over the shiny surface. After a few moments he realized Marie was still just sitting, watching him. He gave her a small smile. "It's your turn."
Rogue removed her gloves so she could carefully slide a finger under the tape. She didn't want to tear the paper. Wrapping removed and folded, she slowly opened the medium sized box. She parted the tissue and lifted out the heavy object inside with both hands. A perfect glass globe on an old fashioned mahogany base. Inside was a scene of hills and trees and dancing snow. It was beautiful, an odd choice perhaps, but beautiful. With wonder in her voice, "It's a snow globe."
"Pretend it's Alaska."
She gave him a charming smile. "It is my own little piece of Alaska?"
"It's a promise."
Rogue just looked at him confused. "I can't wait to hear it."
Logan held her gaze and stated seriously, "In a few years, if you still want to go, I'll take you."
Rogue shook the globe to make the snow swirl. Thoughtfully, "I have to wait a few years?"
Logan hadn't figured out why she had to wait, he just knew she did. Apparently he needed a reason. Struggling, "Well, you still have school."
She shook the globe again, her eyes never leaving it. "I start college next September and we have the whole summer before that."
Logan had suspected it the first time he saw her and he knew for sure after their first conversation, Marie was not the type to let anything go. "Look kid, I am the one giving the present so I get to make the rules and that's the deal."
Rogue tilted her head at him. At the very least, it meant he was promising to still be there in a few years. Then there was the trip itself. The two of them, traveling together ... alone. Ahhhh, fantasy material for decades that was. "I'll take it."
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Okay dudes, I am finishing up The Third Christmas and The Second Christmas is with my beta as we speak. So, the big game plan is to have Part 2 up in a couple days and Part 3 a couple days after that. See ya there!
Author: Gowdie
Summary: A holiday glimpse of how Logan and Rogue's relationship has evolved during the three years prior to the beginning of Reasonable Doubts.
Category: Logan and Rogue romance.
Rating: PG13 for language and amorous wishful thinking.
Archive: Everyone who has Reasonable Doubts. WRFA please take off of WR beta. Everyone else I will send you the full text as a single unit once all three sections are posted.
Disclaimer: Unless extreme amounts of giddiness and laughter have recently been declared material gains, then no I am not profiting from this story since I clearly do not own these characters.
Feedback: Yes please! I promise to say thank you!
Thanks: I have said this before, but I truly want to thank everyone who has read RD and suffered such a horribly long wait. Everyone who hasn't kicked me to the curb deserves, well, a lot more than I am giving them. I hope my gratitude can be enough. Thanks to Diebin and Donna for still being my friends even when I haven't been around much lately. Thanks to Nancy, for being her deliciously crazy self and sharing pictures of cute boys during the rough times. Once again, thanks to Narla for being my beta and keeping my dirty secret from Roomie. Thanks to Roomie, since I suspect she might suspect, but has never said the words "I know what you do on your computer at night!" out loud. May she never read this.
Author Notes: Yeah, you don't have to tell me, this is not what you were hoping for. I will say it one more time: I suck. I am sorry. There is no excuse. Well, I had excuses; I wrote exams, I moved, I had surgery on my ass and couldn't sit down for a few weeks, but all that has passed its expiration date I think. I know you want part four. I want part four. But this was in my head first. Sorry dudes. Blame all the people who said the flashbacks were their favorite parts of the story. I decided to write a whole unit of flashbacks. I will work on part four next. I swear. It will be finished. It will be worth it. Please just hang in there a little bit longer.
When to read this in relationship to Reasonable Doubts: I HIGHLY recommend you read at least part one of RD first. That part outlines where their respective head's are and when Logan comes around. It also includes the infamous dog tag exchange. This story merely stops in at the three Christmases along the way. It assumes you know why at Christmas number two Logan is still an idiot and at Christmas number three he and Rogue are at opposite ends of the relationship spectrum.
Note to PETS: Dudes, I'm not scared of you anymore, cause the more I write him, the more I lurv him.
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The First Christmas
Time line - 7 months past movie, 1 month after Logan's return, 2 years and 5 months before the weird surgical glove wearing sex debacle.
What does this timing mean? While Logan cares more for Marie than anyone else in the world, he is still suffering from lusty feelings for Jean. Translation: He was never very good at math.
Rogue knocked on the hard wood for the second time. "Logan?" No response. Cripes, why wasn't he up yet? She gingerly poked her head in the door. He was sprawled on his back, sheet at his waist revealing a bare chest. Interesting. Standing just inside, "Logan? Come on, get up."
He seemed to sniff at the air then all of a sudden he sprung up to a seated position. He scanned the room until his eyes landed on her. "Kid? Jesus. What is it?"
Rogue pointed behind her, as if that would provide an explanation. "It's, it's Christmas."
A nonplused, "Oh." He rubbed his face, then the back of his head.
Still slightly pointing in the desired direction, out the door, "We're supposed to go downstairs."
Rogue was relieved to see he was apparently going to oblige when he turned sideways and put his feet on the floor. He looked at the clock, it was just after seven. "Now?"
"Yes." He stood up. Boxers. Too bad.
Logan absently scratched his bare stomach and gave in. "Okay, just a second, I need to get dressed."
"No wait! You're supposed to go down in your pajamas." They both took a moment to look at the boxers he was wearing. "Okay, so maybe an exception can be made in your case. But you at least have to wear something pajama-like."
He frowned at her. "Pajama-like?"
"It's the tradition."
He sighed. "Fine, will track pants and a t-shirt do?"
"Can they at least be green?"
A definitive, "No."
She grumbled, "Fine."
Marie continued to stand by the door, anxiously shifting her weight from one foot to the other while Logan stumbled around, gathering his clothes. "Could you at least sit down or something, you're making me nervous." With an exaggerated scoffing noise Marie plopped down on the bed and started swinging her feet. Finally finding an acceptable pair of track pants Logan turned to the excited girl, "I'm gonna put these on and shave. I'll just be a minute."
"No!" She jumped off the bed. "No shaving! We need to hurry up and get down there."
He stood his ground. "What is wrong with you?"
Eyes wide Rogue waved him toward the bathroom. "Nothing! Can you please just hurry. I don't want to miss anything." That and she was going to just about die if she didn't get to open up his present soon. It felt like she had been waiting forever.
It was two weeks earlier.
Somehow it had become their ritual to spend the two hours between the last class of the day and dinner, together in her room. Rogue would take her place on her bed, surrounded by notebooks and texts and work away at whatever homework she had. Logan sat in her desk chair, feet (sans dusty boots) propped up on the bed by hers. While she studied, he would read.
It occurred to Rogue that if she hadn't taken the magical mystery tour through Logan's memories she might have been surprised in his choice of recreational literature. He mostly stuck to books by people long dead and buried. The few times she had caught him with something "modern" in his hands they had still been rather hard hitters like "Catcher in the Rye" and "The English Patient" which he insisted was much better than the pansy ass film. She didn't think anyone else was privy to this facet of his personality and she reveled in the fact she was the only one allowed in on the secret. Well, except for maybe Scott. A couple of times when no one else was around, Logan had dropped some appropriate quote or passage into the conversation. He pulled it off so casually Rogue didn't think she would have noticed except for the formality of the language. One time after Scott had left she gave Logan a questioning glance. He just smiled and said, "Have to keep old One Eye on his toes. Wouldn't want him to start judging people by appearances."
Rogue didn't think Scott, of all people, ever would. She told him, "I think he is judging by your carefully crafted reputation, not your belt buckle, Logan."
He shrugged, "Whatever." A pause. "Hey, just what the hell is wrong with my buckle?"
On this particular day though, while sitting in her room, Logan had finished his book early. That was when he started rummaging.
It started innocently enough. With a huge sigh he closed his novel and tossed it on the bed. Bored, he sat still for a few minutes, arms crossed in front of him and just looked around. It occurred to him he had never really taken in his surroundings before. He had been in this room almost every day, but he had just accepted it rather than appreciate the details. He pondered each poster individually and tried to measure how it fit into Marie's personality. Rogue noticed his intense gaze, but decided against interrupting his scrutiny. That was when he grunted, "I've seen that one before."
Rogue looked up at the poster he indicated. It was the black and white of the shirtless man holding the baby. She practically snorted, "Yeah, well it's pretty popular."
He frowned at her. "Why?"
"Pfft. Big strong man holding a little tiny baby, it's like every girl's fantasy."
He kind of smirked. "Is it yours?"
"Ha! Which part?" He just stared at her. She mumbled down into her book, "Yeah you're right, I probably want both."
He simply nodded, then pushed with his feet and rolled over to her desk. Item by item he went over the entire desk and the shelves above it. Occasionally he would pick an object up and examine it more closely. A few times he asked where something came from, but mostly he was happy being left to his own devices. The more he looked, the more his boredom grew into genuine curiosity. Ah, jewelry box, wonder what she keeps inside. Ah, jewelry, makes sense, but wonder why kind of jewelry. And on he went.
For her part, Rogue kept an eye on him, but she was happy to let him forage to his heart's content. The fact that Logan was finding her stuff this fascinating would be a source of secret pleasure for days. It did feel a little like he was walking through her brain, but really, she was relieved he was taking his turn. Their relationship was slightly unbalanced. She knew so much about him and he knew essentially nothing about her. She would tell him anything if he asked and she was pretty sure he understood that, it was just, neither of them knew where to start exactly.
He moved on to her dresser. Rogue racked her brain for a moment, then relaxed when she remembered all the really embarrassing girl stuff was safe in the bathroom. The first drawer was mainly gloves and scarves. He picked up a pair offhandedly and muttered, "I like these ones." Rogue gave a nonchalant nod, but made sure to register: note to self, wear burgundy gloves whenever humanly possible.
He reached for the second drawer and her brain suddenly screamed, oh oh oh! Underwear drawer! Underwear drawer! Alert! Alert! He opened it. Her whole body tensed. The freaking bastard, neither shock nor interest appeared to cross his features. The most she could possibly read off his face at that moment was maybe, "Hm, socks and underwear, check." She glared back down at her book and made a slight humph noise; he didn't seem to notice that either.
Finished with the dresser he stood in the middle of the room looking at little lost. Still perturbed by the non-incident with her underwear she certainly wasn't about to help him out and just kept reading. That was when he got down on his hands and knees and started pulling things out from under her bed. She looked down at him and almost laughed, he had crawled right under there and his ass was sticking up and out. Man, the guy just never did anything half way.
He snagged something of particular interest, emerged lightly covered in dust and waved a magazine in front of her face. "What is this?"
Ack! Totally calm and cool, "It's my Victoria Secret catalogue."
He stood and started flipping through the pages, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Isn't this the kind of thing I should find a boy's room?"
She made a scoffing noise. "Not unless the boy likes to mail order ladies' underwear."
He looked at her and frowned. "You like to mail order your underwear?"
Quietly, "Sometimes." He was still frowning. "It makes me feel pretty." His expression didn't change. "What? Just because no one is ever gonna see it means I'm not allowed to wear it?" Was he ever going to stop looking at her like that? "What? Would you have me wear cotton granny underwear for the rest of my life like some asexual reject?" She sat up and waved her arms around. "What? WHAT?!"
"I never said anything Marie."
Rogue thumped back against the headboard and made a sound of disgust. Logan sat down calmly and continued turning the pages. He was really going to do it. He was really going to sit there and look at pictures of scantily clad women in front of her. Her embarrassment started to turn to rage.
For his part, Logan was just trying to assimilate the startling new information that Marie, MARIE, spent time worrying about lingerie. That was until he landed on a rather distinctive ensemble. He paused for a moment, then tilted his head and grinned. "Huh."
Rogue couldn't take it anymore. She leapt off the bed and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. "Jesus Logan, what am I? Your dealer?"
He looked up at her confused. "What?" Then with an evil glint, "No, I was just thinking maybe I'd found a Christmas present."
She snatched the offending object from his hands and glanced down at the open page. A red lace teddy was being modeled by ... wait for it ... a woman with long dark red hair. She rolled up the magazine and used it to point at the door. "Get the hell out of my room."
He spread his hands innocently. "What?"
Whap! Rogue hit him on the head with the magazine and startled, he jumped to his feet. "I can sure as hell tell you don't mean for me and I swear to God, if you did give this to her and Scott didn't blow a hole in your side, I would suck you dry!" Whap! She hit him again which produced the desired effect of him starting to back from the room, his arms in front of his face in defense. "Get out of my room. This is MY room for Christ's sake. I don't need to be listening to this is MY room. Get out!" Whap! Whap!
Logan retreated. He had to retreat. Well, he couldn't very well hit her back could he? He might have snatched the magazine away, but he was too busy processing the fact that someone was actually hitting him, with a woman's periodical of all things. Finally, having been driven to the hall, Logan lowered his hands and demanded, "Can't you even see the humour in it?"
"No!" Slam.
"Marie? Oh for crying out loud kid, it was a joke." And it was. He would never seriously give such a thing to Jean.
Okay, so the first thought that had run through his head upon seeing the picture was just what Jean would look like wearing the delicious scraps of silk ... and then what she would look like as they slowly slid off her. But he had been sitting in a small room with Marie after all, as opposed to the privacy of his own shower, so he had quickly shifted gears and imagined the hysterical expression on Scott's face as Jean opened such a gift. In all honesty, when he had made the comment, he had been amusing himself with the image of Summers' spontaneous combustion.
However, even despite the hours of entertainment at Scott's expense he still wouldn't actually do it. Jean and Logan had come to a silent understanding. Silent because he had cut her off rather than allow her to embarrass him by spelling it out, but it was an understanding none the less. She had made it clear that despite any existing attraction, it wasn't going to happen. Her tone had also indicated it was time for him to back down, or otherwise things would become uncomfortable. To sum up, playful flirting was allowed, but serious gestures would be in breach of the understanding. And even if Jean realized he was goading old One Eye rather than courting her, he still suspected he would be crossing a very important line with her tolerance. There was a definitive difference between teasing Scooter with the possible attraction and making the suggestion access had actually been granted. Apparently all of these subtleties were lost on Marie.
He could hear the distinct sounds of tidying from the other side of the door. He could practically see her moving about the room, putting everything he had touched back in its proper place. "Jesus kid, just how big an insensitive prick do you think I am?"
The movement stopped for a moment. "Right now Logan, you do not want me to answer that."
With a sigh he rested his head against the hard wood. He was not an insensitive prick. He really wasn't. Well at least with Marie he wasn't, because even if he had been serious about the gift, he could think of another fifty reasons not to mention it so callously in front of her.
First, there was the issue of the possible crush. Though honestly Logan wasn't sure that was much of an issue at all anymore. Jean had told him Marie was taken with him. He hadn't really taken her that seriously, but then when Marie asked if he was running again, he could see it in her eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, what he had seen looked a bit like adoration. If he hadn't felt his insides wrench at the realization he was actually going to miss someone, he might have been amused. Sure women liked him, but no one had ever adored him before. He wasn't convinced he was adoring material. However, when he came back, that look was gone. Oh she seemed plenty happy and excited to see him, but he could no longer catch any telltale signs of a crush. Over the last few weeks she had acted like any normal warm woman who understood and cared about him and was delighted to have him around. Not that he had a lot to compare to, but he assumed that is what she acted like. However, just in case he was an idiot, or in case Marie was some method-acting wizard, he wasn't about to brandish his feelings for Jean in front of her. He was dealing with the fact Jean was relegated to fantasy, there was no need to hurt Marie with the residue.
Then there was the deadly skin issue. Charles had said Maire may be incapable of human contact for her entire life. Now while Logan didn't think that was entirely true, Marie was still young enough he didn't feel comfortable expounding on his theories just yet. He could just imagine it, "Yeah, so I was thinking, if you and that Bobby kid want to get it on you could try ..." Logan wasn't sure, but he was pretty suspicious that was the kind of thing that could get his ass kicked all the way back to the Rockies. And he wasn't convinced either of them would survive such a conversation. He would have to pace and stutter a lot and Marie would probably hide under the bed and then not be able to face him for a week. In the meantime, until Marie found her own sexuality, Logan wasn't going to go waving his under her nose. That was why Logan had instituted his "never in the mansion" policy. Not that he'd had opportunity to invoke the policy since he'd been back, but he tried not to think about that too much. To Marie, physical intimacy was everything, he be damned if he made her watch him treat sex casually. Friends just didn't pull that kind of shit with each other.
Logan decided to try a different, more practical tactic. "Kid, I don't even have my boots. I'm in my sock feet out here."
"You're a big tough man, suck it up."
He groaned a little and tapped his head against the wood. A low sincere voice, "Okay kid, I give. What exactly do I have to do to be allowed back inside?"
There was a pause as Rogue considered. She didn't have to think about what it was she wanted from him. She wanted some sign, any indication, that he thought about her for even a fraction of the amount of time he spent thinking about Jean. But she knew she couldn't be completely honest, that would just make her sound lovelorn and desperate. She searched for a way to convey the main idea without the direct comparison. Well, he called her kid anyway, she decided she might as well use it to her advantage for a change. "Maybe, if you actually spent two minutes thinking about my present, maybe, maybe I would let you in."
A smug grin took over Logan's face as he proudly declared, "Well then open the door kid; I picked up your gift months ago."
The door cracked an inch and curious brown eyes peeked through. "You bought my present months ago?"
Hands in his pockets he leaned back on his heels. "Yup."
She still wanted clarification. "On the road?"
A slight nod, grin still in place. "Yup."
He said it like it was obvious, but to Rogue the implications were huge. Logan had been deeply emerged in his quest to find his own identity. Somehow in the middle of that failed obsession, he had spared some time to think of her. Gentle thoughts on something that would make her happy. Trying to conceal her obvious glee, she opened the door wide. Then another teasing thought occurred to her. "Wait a second." She raised a hand to stop him. "You mean you carried my present around in your duffel bad with all your stinky unmentionables?"
Knowing he was about to score extra points he simply responded, "Well, I had to keep it from breaking somehow didn't I?"
She froze. A high voice, "My present is breakable?"
He raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Very."
Logan sauntered past Marie with a smirk. When he reached the chair he turned to her, raised his eyebrow even higher and sat pointedly on the bed. He leaned back against the headboard, swung his legs up and interlocked his hands behind his head, all with an expression which just dared her to say anything.
Rogue crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sitting."
"Oh really." Great, just great, now what was she supposed to do? The bed was her place. He knew that. In fact the cocky grin plastered on the bastard's face implied that this whole routine was precisely about taking her place. It felt like a challenge. Blech. If she sat in the chair, did that say she didn't want to sit with him? Or worse, did it reveal just how awkward sitting on a bed with him would feel, because she liked him? At the same time, snuggling up next to him certainly wasn't the right answer. Or was it? That would show being next to him was no big deal at all; perfectly comfortable and buddy like. Obviously his lap had to be vetoed. Too bad. Man, sometimes being a girl really sucked, way too much thinking involved.
Okay, compromise. Rogue carefully eased herself on the bed and sat cross-legged by his feet. Not really looking at him, "I'm kinda surprised. I didn't think you would plan for Christmas, especially not that far in advance."
"Why?"
A shrug. "I don't know. I didn't think that you... I mean..." Rogue picked at the pink checkered quilt and hazarded a glance up at him. "Well, okay, what did you used to do for Christmas?"
He smirked, "I thought you knew everything."
Nice teasing, good, that meant he wasn't offended. Rogue rolled her eyes, "I don't know everything. It's kinda like I got an overview, the big picture, with the important details, but not everything. Like I know you prefer steak and eggs for breakfast, but I can't tell you what you actually had on any particular day." She looked back down and continued pulling at imaginary threads. "So, you used to acknowledge Christmas?"
Man he could just about kill for a beer, this conversation had taken a serious turn for the sad and pathetic. He didn't know how to put an end to it without sounding defensive. "It's rather hard not to notice a day when the rest of the world shuts down."
Damn appearances. She crawled down the bed to sit next to him, under his arm. She thought it would be easy, she would fit naturally on the first try, but her shoulders were way too high and his arm pressed on her neck, bending her head down. She had to wriggle around a bit, slowly scooting down inch by inch, till she finally found a position where she was comfortable, head against his chest, arm around his stomach. Somewhat amused, he just let her experiment with the new arrangement until she finally settled. He wrapped his arms about her.
"So what would you do?"
She felt as well as heard his sigh. "Hole up in some hotel room with a six-pack and watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' on the tv."
She tried to crane her neck around to look at him. "Why did I never figure you for a Jimmy Stewart fan?"
He snorted. "Kid, when my choices are church services, cartoon Santas and five versions of Scrooge, which are all boring as hell, I pick Jimmy."
Quietly, "I'm glad you made it back in time, so you could be here."
"Aw, it wasn't all that bad. I might actually kinda miss him." And this was precisely the moment he would take a long drag on that cold beer he didn't have. Damn.
"I mean for me too. Last year was awful, it was the only time I actually went to a shelter." He squeezed a little tighter. "This will be my first Christmas with my new family, so I'm glad you're here."
Two weeks. Two weeks she had waited to get her hands on that mysterious breakable present and now he was taking his bloody time. Rogue pounded on the bathroom door. "Aren't you ready yet? You're being worse than a girl!"
Logan slowly opened the door. Okay, so he had been waiting for her to yell at him, but the girl comment was pushing it. "There's not going to be more singing is there?"
She gave a disgusted scoff, grabbed his hand and attempted to drag his immovable weight from the room. "No! They only do carols on Christmas Eve. This is strictly presents and breakfast. Now let's go!"
Standing firm he narrowed his eyes and asked, "How do you know so much?"
Rogue gave up on the pulling, squeezed past him through the door and attempted to push from the other side. "Logan, it's my first Christmas at the mansion, I have done my research. Now can we please go?!"
After a complex struggle of pushing and dragging Rogue finally managed to haul Logan out of his room and partway down the hallway. If she had given up, he would have walked on his own, but he was glad she didn't, nearly driving her to exasperation was way more fun.
All of sudden he became dead weight. When Rogue turned to him, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her up against the wall. Even as he moved to her side, giving an air of casualness, his hard look and firm hand remained, silently signaling her not to move. Confused as to why the game was suddenly over, she softly asked, "What?"
Just then Scott and Jean came around the corner behind them. Jean immediately gave a beaming smile and greeted, "Logan, Rogue, Merry Christmas!"
Rogue was about to respond, but Logan spoke first. "Jean. Mr. Jean."
Scott considered a reply but instead opted to look at Logan, give a pointed smile and nod to Rogue, and then turn back to the other man with a huge grin. When a quiet growl slipped from the Wolverine's throat he figured he had made his point. The nature of the relationship of the pair might be a complete mystery, but to Scott Summers it was at least very clear he was not the only man in the mansion wrapped around a delicate finger.
Seemingly oblivious to the exchange, Jean continued, "You two are headed downstairs aren't you?"
Finally Logan removed his hand from Rogue's shoulder to cross his arms. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get there eventually."
"Oh," another smile, "well you want to get a move on. I'm sure Rogue doesn't want to miss the presents. We'll see you down there." And the couple moved on.
Once they were alone again, Rogue slumped against the wall, sighed and asked with an utterly miserable expression, "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Well kid, a man's got to make his own fun and right now, you're the best show in town."
She turned to look him right in the eye. "Someday, somehow, I will have power over you and you will beg and plead and I will laugh."
A confident smirk. "I don't see it."
She glared, grabbed his hand, uttered, "I hate you," and once again started to pull.
Once they arrived Rogue joined her friends sitting on the floor. For his part, Logan decided to observe the ruckus from the edge; close enough to appear involved, but far enough away not to lose his mind, or get hit in the head with a stray ball of wrapping. Also, the straight back chair he was sitting in allowed him to move further away if necessary.
Amidst the furor of flying paper, Rogue found Logan's present. It was easily identifiable enough, being the only one addressed to "Marie" in block lettering. She also managed to intercept hers to him. She set the two aside to save till last. Once everything else was opened and thank you's exchanged she picked up the two gifts and made her way over to him. "You got Jean a red silk scarf huh? That is better than lingerie I suppose."
Logan crossed his arms. "Yeah and I gave Ororo a blue one, so I don't think Summers can find an excuse to blow any holes in me."
Rogue mock glared at him. "You realize that is my look you are farming out there?"
"Maybe I thought the ladies could take a lesson from you. You got some sort of patent on it?"
"Trademark."
"Whatever."
A pause as she looked awkwardly about the room. "So."
"So," he agreed. "You gonna pull up a chair or stand there all day?"
"Right." Rogue handed the two gifts over to him to retrieve a chair. Once she was sitting facing him, she snatched hers away again. Practically cradling her present in her arms she nodded at him, "You first."
Logan began to remove the plain forest green paper. After he tore the first strip away he was greeted with what was starting to look suspiciously like a powder blue t-shirt. He raised an eyebrow at Marie.
Total innocence, "What?" Okay, the explanation behind the eight dollar tee was the simple need to conceal the video hiding inside. A wrapped video is quite obviously a wrapped video. However the reason it was powder blue was Rogue's personal sense of humour rearing it's precocious head. That and finding out whether Logan would wear such a garment because she had given it to him would make a very interesting science experiment.
Finally, paper removed, hideous tee unrolled, Logan found the real gift. "'It's a Wonderful Life'?"
"I thought, maybe this year, we could watch it together." A pause. "After the big breakfast and other group stuff and the turkey dinner of course. But maybe then, we could do this thing of yours?"
Logan looked at the girl who was clearly demonstrating her interest to share in both his past and his future. "Yeah." He returned his gaze back to the box and ran his fingers over the shiny surface. After a few moments he realized Marie was still just sitting, watching him. He gave her a small smile. "It's your turn."
Rogue removed her gloves so she could carefully slide a finger under the tape. She didn't want to tear the paper. Wrapping removed and folded, she slowly opened the medium sized box. She parted the tissue and lifted out the heavy object inside with both hands. A perfect glass globe on an old fashioned mahogany base. Inside was a scene of hills and trees and dancing snow. It was beautiful, an odd choice perhaps, but beautiful. With wonder in her voice, "It's a snow globe."
"Pretend it's Alaska."
She gave him a charming smile. "It is my own little piece of Alaska?"
"It's a promise."
Rogue just looked at him confused. "I can't wait to hear it."
Logan held her gaze and stated seriously, "In a few years, if you still want to go, I'll take you."
Rogue shook the globe to make the snow swirl. Thoughtfully, "I have to wait a few years?"
Logan hadn't figured out why she had to wait, he just knew she did. Apparently he needed a reason. Struggling, "Well, you still have school."
She shook the globe again, her eyes never leaving it. "I start college next September and we have the whole summer before that."
Logan had suspected it the first time he saw her and he knew for sure after their first conversation, Marie was not the type to let anything go. "Look kid, I am the one giving the present so I get to make the rules and that's the deal."
Rogue tilted her head at him. At the very least, it meant he was promising to still be there in a few years. Then there was the trip itself. The two of them, traveling together ... alone. Ahhhh, fantasy material for decades that was. "I'll take it."
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Okay dudes, I am finishing up The Third Christmas and The Second Christmas is with my beta as we speak. So, the big game plan is to have Part 2 up in a couple days and Part 3 a couple days after that. See ya there!