In less than two days Logan had reached Niagara Falls and was taking a short break when Xavier contacted him. Logan? The voice said in his head.

"What do you want, Charles?" he asked gruffly.

Logan, you don't have to speak aloud. Just think your answer.

Logan shook his head. He'd never get used to these "telepath calls." Fine, Charles, I'm thinking my answer. What do you need?

I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to accept an assignment when you return. Rogue is going to be doing a little travelling, and has requested your presence as a sort of bodyguard if you're agreeable, Xavier said.

What? Where the devil is she going?

She is having some trouble adjusting to St. John's presence in her mind, and is planning to seek him out. Xavier bit back his mental chuckle at Wolverine's psychic stream of profanity. He'd expected such a reaction.

Is she insane? No, you must be the crazy one, for letting her. Doesn't she know Pyro's joined up with Magneto?

She is legally an adult, Logan. And as both Pyro and Magneto are both inmates in her psychological prison, I would say she probably has a better idea of what he is thinking than most people. In any case, Logan, will you go with her? Or shall I send Scott?

Logan growled again, recognizing that Xavier was straightforwardly manipulating him. I'll go, Chuck. Tell her I'm on my way.

Oh, there's no rush, Logan. Rogue specifically said that she would be happy to wait until you were completely finished with whatever business sent you up north.

Xavier didn't think he had ever had anyone actually grunt at him before during a telepathic conversation. I'm finished up here. Tell her it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Now get out of my head and let me get goin'.

Very well. We'll see you in a few days, then. And Xavier's presence left Wolverine's head.

Logan grinned, realizing that Xavier didn't know where he was. A few days? Try three or four hours! He'd be able to surprise his girl by getting home early.

Wait a minute. There were a couple different things wrong with that last thought. Technically, his home was the tiny cabin he had just left. He'd never really felt "at home" at Xavier's, so why was he beginning to think of it as home? And the second thing: since when was Rogue "his" girl? She was still Bobby's girl, even if Wolverine didn't think much of the little ice cube. She was Logan's friend, sure, but that didn't convey ownership of any sort. She'd even given back his tag.

He scowled as he kicked his bike to life and started out again.

Rogue spoke with Xavier right after he finished talking to Logan. It was weird, Logan's saying that it didn't take him as long as he thought it would. They both knew he had gone up there to mourn Jean in privacy – why would he be coming back so soon? She shrugged, and guessed she'd ask him in a few days, when he returned.

Her mind felt a little strange now that Xavier had given her that giant mental "block" to hold in Pyro. She was a little relieved, but not totally secure. She felt sure that he wouldn't be contained for long. She had a few mental conversations with Erik and Wolverine, telling them to be on their guard for when Pyro was able to escape his psychological stone prison.

Her meditation sessions were not having the effect that Ororo and Xavier had wanted, though. Instead of spending time trying to discover what parts of her psyche were the original Marie from Mississippi and which parts were others, she found herself spending more and more time with her "inmates" as Xavier called them. For herself, she preferred Beast's term, "tenants." She had experimented quite a bit more with using their mutant gifts, until David complained that she never spent any time with him anymore because he wasn't a mutant.

She tried not to think about Pyro at all, because the more she thought about him, the more she strengthened his presence in her mind. She didn't want a strong Pyro. Not only would he freak out anyone who was cooking, but a strong Pyro might also be able to escape from his holding cell.

The more she tried to separate herself from her "tenants," the more she realized how much she'd miss them if they were gone. She kind of liked who she had become, with their help. Without them and their memories, she felt as if a large part of herself would be missing – she'd be no better, or older, than the frightened little teenager who had stowed away in Wolverine's trailer. Although she had friends her own age there at Xavier's, she rather enjoyed the feeling of being too old for them. It was rather fun to be able to call Xavier by his first name when she was in a Magneto mood, for example, or to give Jubilee a Loganesque growl when the chatterbox was being especially irritating.

And now they wanted to make her an X-man! Her, Rogue. Not Bobby or Jubilee or Kitty. Just her. They recognized that there was more to her than met the eye. She admitted to herself that she'd probably do it if she could ever get her head on straight, whether Wolverine became an X-man or not. Of course, it would be very cool if he did!

Rogue had started her training to join the team. So far it had only been some lessons on field medicine with Hank and some half-hearted combat training with Scott. Ororo planned to take her into the flight simulator tomorrow, though, along with Kurt. That should be fun. She liked Kurt.

Logan arrived at Xavier's in the mid-afternoon, but the gates were closed. He swore, and wheeled the bike up to the intercom. He guessed Xavier wasn't taking any chances regarding security after the Stryker attack. Pressing a button, he said "Hello?" A flat electronic voice asked him for his identification. "Uh, Logan. Wolverine."

"Logan, codename: Wolverine. Password, please?"

Logan was getting impatient. He just wanted to get off this bike and flex his wrists a little. Four thousand kilometres of open throttle was enough to leave even a guy with a healing factor a little stiff. He couldn't think of what password Xavier would have assigned him. "Uh, open up."

"Password incorrect. Password, please?"

"Stryker? Alkali Lake?"

"Password incorrect. Password, please?"

Logan was getting annoyed. He aimed an irritated growl at the intercom, thinking that if the third one was wrong, he would simply claw out the circuits and get in his way.

To his shock, the voice replied, "Wolverine. Password confirmed. Welcome, Logan," and the gates swung open. He gave a snort of disbelief, and put the bike into first. Who on earth had programmed his growl to be his password? Whoever came up with that idea knew him a little better than he was comfortable with.

Author's note: All right, folks, message received. It'll be W/R... but I should warn you that I don't do NC-17 scenes at all, and they're likely to continue as much in character as I can make them.

Please, though, do keep reviewing! More reviews make me upload faster; keep that in mind. I still don't have an ending, though, so please accept my apologies in advance if I finish uploading the completed chapters and then have a bit of a delay while I try to bang out a satisfactory ending. Y'all won't lose faith in me, now, will you? I will finish this, I promise! And if anyone wishes to give me any ideas on an ending in their review, I'll take them into consideration. I have it roughly outlined in my head, but it's fairly rough. Feel free to offer suggestions when you click that magic little blue button below.