Summary: After Jean's death, Logan runs again. He returns to find everything's changed once more. Logan/Marie, Marie/Scott

Warnings: It's rated R. Expect everything that comes with that warning.

Author's Note: Thanks again for your lovely reviews! Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger like that, but…I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with the story next, thus the long wait for an update. Actually, there is an alternate version of this chapter, but it was way too dark and explicit for this early in the story. If you wanna read a tiny, tiny excerpt from that version, I did post it. It's called "Stained." Anyway, this was my second try, and I like this one better. Let me know what you think!

Marie froze as Logan lept out of the trees to her left, claws at the ready. Before she could blink, those claws were at her throat. Shocked and hurt that he would threaten her so, she looked into his eyes as tears began to stream down her face again. She'd never seen him look like that before, not even when he was killing. His whole body was tensed, ready to react to her slightest move, his lips were curled back into a snarl, and his eyes were wild. They didn't even look human, those eyes. He looked more the Wolverine than ever…and she wondered (not for the first time) if there was more to that name than the claws. After a few moments of locked eyes, Marie saw Logan's look change. He relaxed…his eyes softened…he looked normal again - as normal as Logan ever got, anyway.

Recognition came over his face, and with it, horror. He tore his claws away from her throat and whipped around, about to run again. But he stopped when he heard her voice behind him. "Logan…don't go," Marie said softly, pleadingly.

Without turning, he said, "What do you want me to do, Marie? Stay here and hurt the one person I've ever truly loved? Become exactly what your man back there accused me of? Maybe he's right - maybe I am just an animal."

Marie's face fell. "Oh, Logan, no…you, you're so much more…" she said.

He turned on her again. "So I am an animal? Is that what you think, Marie?" he muttered.

"Yes, and that's part of what I love about you!" she cried.

At the mention of the word love, his face hardened. "Don't love me, Marie. I understand now - my love can only bring you pain," he replied.

Marie's eyes widened as she heard her own words repeated back to her, for hadn't she said the same thing to the professor not a half hour ago? "Do you think I can just tell myself to stop loving you? It's always been you, Logan, since the beginning!" she said.

"Oh has it?" he asked, sounding dangerous again. "I don't think the man you'll go back to when this conversation is over would agree with that. Or are you just using him? God knows he'd be easy pickings after what happened to Jean." Immediately, he regretted saying that, as he saw he had sparked her anger. "God Marie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But it just proves my point - we're terrible for each other. It would just be pain…"

Her voice took on a hard tone now. "Maybe you're right - Logan and Marie might be bad together - but there's more to us than that. You can be Wolverine and I'll just be Rogue and we'll just go away from this whole mess…" she said.

Closing the distance between them, Logan smirked and said, "It's tempting, isn't it?" And putting both of his muscular arms around her waist, he pulled her tightly to him - excitingly close. "So tempting…" and he kissed her, hard, crushingly, possessively. She melted into his arms, terrified and thrilled at what she was doing. Heat spread through her like wildfire, drugging her with passion. All too soon, Logan broke the kiss and pushed her away, looking troubled. Without meeting her eyes, he said, "Stay away from me, Marie. I can't give you what you deserve, and I wasstupid to think I could. You'd only regret it." And despite all her efforts to keep him there with her, Logan turned and sped off once again into the night.

It was morning when Marie finally picked herself up off the ground and made her way back to her bedroom. Scott was awake and pacing nervously when she walked in. He looked terrible, his bandaged face full of worry. As soon as he saw Marie, he ran to her and grasped her in a tight embrace. "Oh God, Marie, are you all right?" he asked, relieved to see her in one piece.

Tired and cranky, she snapped back at him. "Of course I am! Do you really think I'm that weak? God!"

Scott looked hurt. "That's not what I meant, love…I know you're strong enough to protect yourself…I just worry about you, that's all…" he said.

"Well, don't," she said, and headed toward the bathroom. After lying on the ground all night, she desperately needed a hot shower.

Grabbing her arm, Scott stopped her. "Marie, what's wrong? If I did anything wrong, I'm sorry…I love you…" he said.

Turning slowly, she looked into his face. "Oh, Scott, I love you too…it's just…oh, I don't know. I guess I'm just still in shock from last night," she said.

"Speaking of last night…where exactly were you?" he asked curiously.

Marie looked away. "I was talking to the professor," she replied.

"All night?" Scott asked.

"Yes, all night," she answered. "Why?"

"Well, I just wondered why you have grass stains on your nightgown…and leaves in your hair…" he said.

"I went for a walk, ok?" she said evasively, turning again to head toward the bathroom. God, she just wanted to get in the shower and forget it all for a while….

"Marie, you know you're a terrible liar. What were you really doing last night?" Scott asked. She didn't reply. He was right - she couldn't lie to anybody. Suspicion came into Scott's face. "Don't tell me…you were with him…you were, weren't you?" he said accusingly. She kept her silence. Grabbing both of her arms now, he turned her to face him fully. "Marie, answer me! I won't hold anything against you…I love you…just tell me the truth!" he demanded.

She was crying again…she felt as if she'd been crying non-stop since last night. Maybe Logan was right about only bringing her pain…that's what he'd brought her so far…that and one perfect, amazing, life-shattering kiss. And now, here was Scott, staring at her withsuspicion onhis face. She sighed heavily. "Yes, Scott, I saw Logan last night…but just to talk to him. What I said about talking with the professor was true…he was worried that Logan would do something stupid in his anger…"

"Logan? Doing something stupid? What a concept!" Scott said sarcastically. Marie glared at him, and Scott shut up.

"Anyway, he wanted me to go talk to Logan, try to calm him down some. It took me a long time to find him, and when I did, he was too far gone for anything I said to make a difference. And then I came back here. End of story. Happy now?" she asked. "Oh, and could you let go of my arms? You're hurting me."

Scott let her go quickly. His grip had tightened unconsciously at the thought of Logan and his girl out in the forest together, while he slept. Anger flooded his emotions. It wasn't anger at Marie…he really did love her, and he trusted her. But Logan…for Logan to come in and try to steal her away…it was unbearable. And then Scott saw the four identical tiny marks on Marie's neck, and that was too much. Scott let out a roar of his own and slammed his fists against the nearest wall. "Oh, so you conveniently leave out the part of the story where he threatened you! If I ever seen that son of a bitch again, I'll kill him! Why would you protect him like that, Marie?" he shouted.

She looked back at him as calmly as she could through her tears, and her voice trembled as she said, "Because I knew you'd react like this! And if you try to hurt Logan, he'll kill you! And I love you, Scott. I don't want anything to happen to you. Promise me that you'll leave Logan alone!" He shook his head fiercely. "Promise me, Scott! Please!" she begged, taking his hands in her own.

Scott looked into her dirty, tear-streaked face, and saw the desperation in her eyes. How could he deny his beloved Marie something she wanted so much? "All right, love. If that's what you want. But if he tries to get near you again, I won't be responsible for my actions," Scott said.

Sadly, slowly, Marie answered. "Believe me, he won't."