+ + + + +
"Hey, Rogue, get up,"
Rogue groaned and finally sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Y'know, y' ahre the most annoying person fer wake up calls," She grumbled.
"An' good mornin' t' yeh too, darlin'. First dibs on the shower."
Rogue flopped back down to the mattress.
"Forget it. Ah'm going back t' sleep."
"No way. 'S long as I'm still breathin' yeh'll get up!"
Rogue grinned wickedly.
"Then we'll just hafta fix that, won't we, shugah?" She said, tackling him down.
He wrestled against her arms helplessly, his strength of lifting eight hundred pounds puny in comparison to her impressive records of ripping nine inch steel with her bare hands.
"Say 'Uncle'," She said, watching him squirm.
"Grr! Never!" He growled, his claws sliding out as he attempted to outmaneuver her.
"Say it!" She hissed, tightening her grip on his wrists.
"Ow! Ow! Okay! Fine! Uncle, uncle, UNCLE!"
She let go with a satisfied grin.
"Y' didn't have t' squeeze em so hard," He said, rubbing his forearms with a pained frowned.
"Oh, ah' sorrahy, shugah. Ahre yah hurt bad? Lemme take a look."
She leaned over to examine them.
With a snarl he lashed out and pinned her to the mattress, sliding his claws through it and locking her in a way that was impossible to escape, seeing as that she could not start flying on her back.
"Now, say Uncle!" He growled, his face inches away from hers.
"Nevah!" She cried.
"Fine then," He said, withdrawing one set of claws.
"Y' wouldn't," She gasped, seeing the meaningful look in his eyes.
"I would," He said.
He shoved his fingers up her shirt and began to tickle her mercilessly, making her shriek with uncontrollable laughter as he found her ticklish areas.
"Stop! For---hehe—gawd's—ahhh----sake!!! Logan! Yah cahn't---tehehe—do this to---gah---maih!"
He grinned and moved up to her neck.
"No! No! Stop it! Ah give up! Uncle! UNCLE!"
He stopped, a satisfied grin on his face.
Rogue sighed, relieved, until she realized what he was doing.
"Logan!" She gasped, pushing his hand out of her shirt. "Mah skin!"
"What---Oh!"
"Y' coulda been killed," She said, her face white as she realized the possible results of their little fun.
"But I wasn't," He said, shrugging.
She grinned suddenly. "It's mah automatic tickle defense system. No one tickles meh an lives to tell!"
A chase ensued, ending with a chaotic pillow fight in which Logan somehow ingested half a cushion of downy goose feathers.
"Bleah!" He gasped, spitting them out. "That's awful!"
Rogue laughed hysterically.
"Oh, shugah, if onlay Bobbey coulda seen thaht!" She gasped between spasms.
They both sobered at the mention of their dead friend and teammate Bobby Drake, aka the Iceman.
"C'mon," Logan said, still removing feathers from his mouth.
"What?" Rogue asked as he pulled her towards the bathroom.
"Shower," He said. "I really gotta rinse my mouth."
She giggled.
"Aren'cha supposed to remove th' feathahs before y' eat the goose, shugah?"
Logan growled.
"Shut up," He said for lack of a better response.
Once in the bathroom, Logan headed straight for the sink and began to cleanse his mouth, listening to Rogue as she stripped her clothes and jumped in the shower.
"So wheah ahre we going, shugah?"
He had to think for a moment.
"How 'bout somewhere in Canada?" He asked between swishes.
His sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of a shampoo bottle being squeezed.
"Wheah in Canada?"
Now she was lathering.
"Somewhere in the woods. Up north, y' know. We'll stop when we find the right place."
He found his feet inching him closer and closer to the edge of the shower curtain.
"Whaht about fuel?"
His fingers where gently easing it away from the wall.
"There's gas stations."
Now his eyes where adjusting to the steam of the shower, picking out her form as though they were specifically looking for her.
"Oh, raight."
She turned around and shrieked with surprise.
"What the hell ahre y' doin'?! Pervert!"
Logan jumped back, startled out of the strange trance that had overcome him.
"I'm s-s-orry," He gasped, suddenly feeling trapped within the walls of the shrinking bathroom.
"Sorrahy?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
"Sorrahy ain't gonna fix it!"
Suddenly they both realized that Rogue was still standing naked in the shower.
Logan tried to will his eyes away, but they couldn't seem to move as they took in her still-water-shiny figure, wouldn't stop traveling down from her eyes.
"I gotta get somethin'," He said, wrenching himself away.
"Yeah, that'd probably be good," Rogue said, watching him leave with raised eyebrows.
+ + + + +
Rogue pushed her stuffed suitcase into the school's truck with ease, the incident with Logan replaying itself over and over again in her head.
"Ready t' go?"
Rogue started back into the present.
"Ah guess," She said, suddenly overcome with the realization that she was leaving her home, probably never to see it again.
"Ah cahn't believe it, Logan," She whispered, looking up at the stately mansion.
"This was mah home. Now it's all gone---everyone ah cared about is gone, all gone. Ah'll nevah see any o' them again."
Logan lowered his head.
"It's hard, darlin', but it's what we gotta do. Survival first."
She nodded and struggled down the hot tears that were waging war to break free.
"Okay. I think we're set. In y' go."
He opened the door on the passenger side of the cab, motioning her to climb inside.
"Thanks," She murmured as she floated into her seat.
Logan went around the truck and climbed in beside her at the controls, watching with a grin as she did up her seatbelt.
"Y' wear that thing?" He asked with a humored tone.
She scowled at him.
"Don't yeh, shugah?"
He chuckled.
"We're both healers, Rogue," He said. "An' yer invulnerable. Why y' need a seatbelt?"
She shrugged.
"Ah…ah dunno. Ah guess it's just a habit from way back when ah didn't have Carol in mah head."
He started the engine, still grinning.
"So, how long is 't gonna be?"
He leaned back.
"We haven't even pulled out th' flamin' driveway an' yer already askin!" He said.
"No," Rogue said, feeling somewhat injured.
"Ah jus' wanted t' know how long it'll be."
He shrugged.
"However long we feel like it, darlin'. We'll stop when we see a good place."
She nodded in agreement.
"Y' just relax. We'll take turns drivin' an it'll be no time that we find a home."
Rogue sighed and leaned her head against the window.
"Got anahy musaic?"
He shook his head.
"Radio's out."
Suddenly remembering a trip she had taken long ago with her friends, the other X-chicks, she flipped open the glove compartment to reveal a shining row of CD cases.
"We do now."
She ran her gloved fingers over the backs of the CDs, reading the titles aloud.
"Britnahy Speahs…Mandahy Moore…Madonna…Bahre Nahked Ladahys…BSB…"
"BSB?" Logan asked.
"It's shoaht fer th' Back Street Boahys, shugah. Haven'tcha evah watched MTV?"
Logan raised an eyebrow.
"An what's that?" He asked in a grinding tone.
"It'sa musaic channel on tv."
Logan ohhhh'd and glanced at her face with a grin.
"What kind o' music you like?"
She shrugged.
"Anythang, really."
He pressed her on.
"Off th' top of yer head?"
She thought for a moment.
"Well…ah laike Holly McNarland…Celine Dion's good too…"
He snorted.
"Y' listen t' mush like that?" He asked mockingly.
"It's not mush," Rogue said defensively.
"It's beautiful stuff. Y' should listen t' it some taime. Yeh'd laike it."
He rolled his eyes but let the topic rest.
"Oooooooh! Look! Ah found one o' Enya's!"
Logan glanced at her for a moment.
"Enya? Who in hell is that?"
Rogue sobered.
"Was that, shugah. She was a great artist. Listen t' this."
She popped the album into the tray and turned the volume up slightly, then settled back in her seat with a grim smile as the music started.
"Ah remembah when ah put th' albums in heah," She whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Kitty an Jubes were with meh…an there was this dispute between us about musaic choices. Jubes wanted t' put in lotsa Britnahy Speahs, but Kitty an ah didn't want t' put much."
Logan sighed and patted her on the knee.
"Don't cry, darlin'. If y' miss em that much then I'll fight t' put in Britney what's-her-name."
Rogue giggled through her tears.
"Yeh'd hate it laike hell, shugah. It's all bubble-gum an pop queenish. Definitely not Wolverine material."
Logan shrugged.
"If it'll make yeh feel better," He said, grinning.
"Thanks," She said softly, then began to hum along to the song currently playing.