Next morning, Rogue didn't show up on time. Logan waited five minutes for her, then gave an impatient sigh and went out looking for her. He sniffed in the main hallway; she'd been here. He followed her scent to the dining room, but the trail ended in yellow.

"Hey, Wolvie! Whassup?" Jubilee asked him.

"Don't call me that, kid. Where did Rogue go?"

Jubilee shrugged and shoved a forkful of pancakes into her mouth before answering, "Ha'n't seen 'er yet to'ay."

Wolverine scowled. He could have sworn he still smelled Rogue's floral-scented shampoo. He stomped off, still sniffing suspiciously.

When he passed the lounge, he caught a whiff of Rogue's strawberry-vanilla-scented soap. He followed the scent to its source, but found only Kitty sitting on the couch studying. "Hey, half-pint. Where's Rogue?"

Kitty looked up nervously. "I, uh, don't know. She missed breakfast. Have you checked her room?"

Logan glared at her. "Well, yuh!" he said. Turning abruptly on his heel, he stalked off toward Rogue's bedroom. As he neared it, he heard some odd sounds coming from behind her door. If he didn't know better… but no. Rogue couldn't have sex even if she wanted to, not with her skin. But it did sound like it, with all the gasping and moaning. And thrashing.

Logan shook his head and knocked heavily on the door. Then opened it and cursed. He ran to the bed. "Rogue? Are you okay?"

Rogue was sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath, her skin pale and her eyes wide. She didn't respond. Logan grabbed her shoulder and gave it a little shake, then passed a hand rapidly in front of her eyes. No response. "Rogue? C'mon, kid, work with me here." She smelled frightened and not like herself.

Rogue blinked, and focussed on Logan. He sighed in relief. Good, good, this was good. She didn't look at his face, but at his pocket, which contained his silver lighter. Oh. Bad. She jerked her hand and the lighter flew out of his pocket. It hovered in midair between them. Rogue twitched a finger and the tiny flame sputtered up from it as it hovered.

The flame grew taller. Rogue reached out a tentative hand toward it. Wolverine could feel its heat; Rogue would be burned in a second if she got any closer. Frowning, Logan reached out and fleetingly touched her face. He almost didn't feel the pull of her skin, it was so quick, but it was enough to break her concentration. She blinked again, and the lighter dropped.

Logan caught it in midair, shut it, and put it back in his pocket.

Rogue burst into tears and collapsed against him. Logan pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair as she cried. He murmured soothing words, promised her everything would be okay, told her that he was here with her and that he would help her. What finally got her calmed down enough to smile through her tears was when he offered to find Pyro and Magneto and kick both of their scrawny Brotherhood asses.

Rogue sat up and wiped her face roughly, impatient with her own tears. "Sorry," she said, hating how her voice trembled. "Didn't mean to fall apart on you. It's – it's kinda scary though. It's like suddenly – 'watch out, everyone! Rogue suddenly has a whole new way to kill people by accident.'"

Wolverine grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "No way, sweetheart. When you kill someone, you should always mean it."

"Yes, but how can I control it so I don't hurt people by accident? I almost killed you yesterday at the pond, Logan. Anyone who didn't heal like you do could have been seriously injured!"

He shrugged. "Just do what I do. If you kill someone by accident, just tell people you meant to."

This startled Rogue into a laugh, and she swatted playfully at him. When he blocked the teasing blow and then took her gloved hand in his larger one, she realized how close to Logan she was still sitting. She shifted away and tried to take back her hand, but he kept a firm grip. "You probably shouldn't be touching me, Logan. I honestly have no control over who I hurt, at the moment. I could seriously damage you by accident."

Logan gave her hand a little squeeze. "That's bull. I don't damage easy. And don't tell me I shouldn't be touchin' ya. I trust you. You trust me. So don't worry about it, darlin'. We'll solve this."

Rogue looked up with a little mischief in her watery eyes. "You promise?"

Logan grinned, knowing she was quoting herself. "Yeah, kid. I promise." He pulled his sleeve down over his hand and wiped her face with it, then shifted his weight away from her. "So, you wanna answer a question for me?" She nodded. "You wanna tell me why the the whole downstairs smells like you, when you haven't even been down yet?"

Rogue giggled.

Logan scowled ferociously and went on, "I go into the dining room this morning, ready to chew you out for missin' my lesson, and all I find is the yellow rose of Xavier's, stuffin' her face. Fine, I think you musta just left. Then I smell you in the lounge, but there's just a timid little Kitty doin' her homework. So I start to think you're afraid of startin' your combat lessons with me, and you're trying to avoid me or something. Which is stupid, 'cause you had to know I'd find you anyway." He sniffed deeply, and looked puzzled. "Come to notice, you don't smell like usual. You smell like… I don't know who you smell like, but it's different. What's going on?"

Rogue explained. "Well, I still kinda have your mutation after what happened yesterday. Your sense of smell and everything. So when I tried to take a bath last night, all of a sudden I couldn't stand the smell of my bath stuff. I gave Jubilee my shampoo, and Kitty wanted my body wash. I already had some unscented soap, but all the shampoos have some kind of floral scent, so –"

Logan sniffed again, deeply, trying to place her present scent. He knew it was familiar, but… Rogue blushed, knowing what he was doing. "So, um, Logan? Please don't be mad, but I… snuck into your room last night while you were watching the game after dinner and stole some of your shampoo. That's probably what you're smelling."

The look of recognition in his eyes reassured her. "That's it," he exclaimed, hitting his thigh with one fist. "I knew I recognised it, but just couldn't place it."

He leaned closer, sniffing, and Rogue laughed a little. "Are you mad? I knew that you of all people would have a shampoo that didn't stink too much."

Logan was a little distracted by the way she smelled. It did something odd to him, knowing that she bore his scent; impacted him on a primal level. Oh. Wait a second; she had spoken. Asked something. If he was mad. "What? Oh, no, course not, darlin'. You know you're welcome to anything I have."

"Good to know!" Rogue replied with an impish smile. Then the smile fell away and she glared at him. "Hey, what did you mean, avoiding you? I was busy having a mental breakdown, thank you very much. Afraid of your combat lessons, hah! I'm not afraid of you! Never have been, never will be." She scowled and crossed her arms.

Logan grinned, glad that her mood had improved. He played along. "Oh no? Let's see if you can still say that when you're a walking bruise, eh?" He got up and headed toward the door.

Rogue reminded him that she still had his healing factor, and promised to be gentle with him for his first time. He laughed out loud as they walked down the hall, earning himself a glare from Bobby and a strange glance from Jubilee. Kitty just scrunched down further into the lounge's sofa.

Wait till you see their sparring scene; they really kick some mutant butt. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow.