Disclaimer: I am but a poor girl, so if you sue me you will get nothing. I do apologize if I muck up the polictics a bit, I'm a home-schooled 16 year old so I don't know all that much about it. But it is fiction, so just act like I'm right about it all, even if I'm not.

Sidenote: More lyrics in italics, keep a look out that for them and know it's not actual dialog. Please enjoy!

The weeks in the mansion from the time of the speech until Christmas had been tense. I knew that Scott and Ororo thought that I should tell my father about myself in hopes that he wouldn't pass the law. All of the students were scared and nervous about it. Rouge and I talked about it all the time, she was terrified that the school would have to be closes down and that she, and all the other students, wouldn't have anywhere to go. I was loaded with guilt that Logan tried to keep off of me, but it came to a head on Christmas Eve when all of the teachers and Logan were in the Professor's office having a meeting. From things I had heard earlier that day, I assumed it was about my situation and me. So I waited until everyone was inside his office before I crept down to the front door, invisible. I pressed my ear against it, straining to hear what they were saying, and prayed that the Professor wouldn't acknowledge my being there, or that Logan wouldn't hear or smell me. Soon the voices became clear as my hearing adjusted to the wood between my ear and the people I was trying to hear speak.

"But we can't make her leave," I heard Storm say.

"Yes we can," Cyclops chimed in.

"She's not leaving," Logan argued.

"If she's putting mutants in danger that she will, we're not closing this school because you have a crush on her. And shouldn't there be a rule about bringing mutants home when you pick them up in bars? Look what happened last time with the Liberty Island attack."

"If you have a problem with me we can take this outside, and if that's what it's about then let's leave her out of this, alright?" Logan said, raising his voice.

"Well you sure move on pretty fast, wasn't it just a few months ago when you were crying over Jean?" Scott quipped.

"It's not my fault I treated her better than you did,"

"You don't know how to treat woman, you sleep with them and leave. You especially don't know how to treat someone like Jean, I loved her and she loved me, not you,"

"If that's what you want to think," Logan shot back.

"Gentlemen!" I heard Professor Xavier yell, calling their attention. "This is not that time, nor the place for this sort of behavior. You will not act like this inside of my house. We need to focus on what I called you in here for; Logan believes that it will only cause more problems if she goes back to her family and Scott believes that it will solve our problems. Now, I would like to here Ororo's thoughts on the matter,"

"I agree with them both to a point. I don't know if it would solve our problem if she went back or not, but I think to some degree we should try. On the other hand, if she does tell her father about herself then he could lose his position because of it. And if that happens then we pretty much lose," she said.

"How do we know he would lose his position if it were to come out that she's a mutant? How is anyone even going to know about it but him?" Scott asked.

"It's not as simple as her just telling him. He is the President and there are security precautions, even more so now, I assume, after Stryker's attempt for Kurt to attack him. With that much security someone is going to hear it besides him. And he could be taken out of office from withholding information about their lives, even thought it is Holly and he didn't know about it. Being a mutant is looked at as being worse than committing a murder. Also, as Ororo said; if he's taken out of office we lose our biggest influences on the public and judicial systems." The Professor said. "And I'm quite terrified about what Erik might do if he were to find out about her. There's not telling what he might come up with if he thought he were capable of getting his hands on her. So I do believe she is much safer here."

"I agree," said Storm.

"What? This could be our only hope at stopping this stupid law from being passed and we're just going to say no because she's safer here? What about us, what about the rest of the kids, how safe are we?" Scott asked.

"Scott, we cannot just tell her that she has to tell her father the truth about herself. I do believe that you know how hard it is to tell someone about it, and I trust that you will not press the subject any further until she wants to talk about it. However, let us just wait until we see what the out come of the vote is, we can deal with it from there and take action if needed." The Professor decided

I assumed that the meeting was over, or nearly that. Therefore, I crept back upstairs and went to my room. It was only a matter of moments after jumping into my bed that I heard Logan's footsteps coming down the hall. I held my breath, waiting for him to pass my door and go into his own room. Instead, he stopped right outside my door. I wondered if I should act as if I was sleeping or not. However, I figured that he would know the difference so I flipped on the lamp beside my bed and grabbed my book off the side table, flipping it open to its marked page. I waited for him to move, not sure of what he was doing. I breathed a sigh of relief as he finally knocked on my door.

"Come in," I said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

He opened my door slowly and leaned in. "Hey," he said.

I looked away from my book that I was pretending to read and smiled at him. "Hey," I said back. I sat up in my bed, folding the corner of my page back over and placing it back on my bedside table once again. "Here, sit down," I smoothed the covers down so that they were not lumpy and he could sit.

"No, I'm fine," he said.

"Alright, was there anything you want unparticular or were you just on your way to bed?"

"I was actually going to ask you what you were doing next week?" he asked, running his hands nervously through his hair.

"I don't think I'm doing anything, not important anyway. What is next week?"

"New Years,"

"Oh yeah, no, I'm not doing anything. Why, are you? Because if you want to go somewhere that's fine with me, assuming that that's what you were asking?"

"Actually I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me?"

"Like a date?"

"Yeah…sure,"

I really didn't like going out in public but I figured that everyone would be focusing on the New Year instead of looking for me. "Alright, yeah, that sounds like fun," I smiled. It was going to be our first, official, real date.

"Alright, I'll figure it out this week then and tell you what we'll do, I guess."

"Sounds good to me," I said, smiling at him. He smiled back but something about it seemed less than happy and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine kid, just tired,"

"Well you better get some sleep because I'm waking you up early in the morning," I said, continuing to smile, hoping that I could break through my feeling that something was off.

He smiled and nodded his head. "Watch out, I sleep naked so you might want to knock first," he said with a wink.

"Gross," I said, shaking my head in disapproval. "Just sleep as late as you want, I'd rather see you when you're clothed,"

"Goodnight," he said to me.

"Goodnight Logan," I said back. He began to walk towards my door but paused and turned back around, walked back to my bed, leaned down and kissed me. He was soft and gentle and a way that I had never felt before. He slowly pulled back, taking my breath away. "Wow,"

"I'm not gonna' leave you, kid, and I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise," softly whispered in my ear. I didn't know what had come over him, but I had never before had I seen him act like that.

I placed my hands on the sides of his face, "I know that, I trust you," I looked deep into his eyes. "What are you not telling me, though?" I asked.

He nuzzled his nose against mine, his lips grazing my own, tempting himself to kiss me once more. "My heart belongs to you, don't let anyone try to tell you it does," he said, holding my hand to his chest. I could feel his heart beating fast, he was nervous.

"I won't, I promise," I said, still looking him deep in the eye. I waited for him to say something else, but he didn't. "I love you, Logan,"

At that, he returned my stare, gazing into my eyes. He lightly kissed my bottom lip and with my hand still against his heart he softly whispered, "I love you, too, Holly,"

To hear him say my name was rejoiceful in its own right. He wasn't calling me kid or Jewel, he was telling me, Holly that he loved me and those words and the feelings attached to them would never fade from my mind. I didn't learn whether he was joking about sleeping in 'the buff' or not because he didn't leave me that night. He just stayed with me and held me. We didn't talk all that much, he didn't say anything and I didn't want to ruin our moment. So I let the silence fill the room and with my hand against his heart, I allowed the feeling of true happiness to wash over me. I softly hummed the lullaby my grandmother had always sung to me before bed when I was younger, and with the words dancing in my head I began to drift off to sleep. 'Let me call you sweetheart, I'm in love with you. Let me hear you whisper that you love me, too. Keep the love light glowing in your eyes so blue; let me call you sweetheart, I'm in love with you.'

"Holly, do you want to come down and watch the kids open their presents?" Storm asked, walking into my room. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know. I'll leave,"

It was Christmas morning and I had asked Storm to come and wake me before the kids started opening presents because I wanted to watch. However, because I hadn't planned for Logan to stay all night with me, I didn't think about what everyone else would think if they saw it.

"Oh no, Strom, it's not…uh…let me talk to you outside for a second," I said, getting out of bed, leaving a sleeping Logan by himself. I grabbed her arm, steered her out of the room, and closed the door behind me. "I know that this probably looks bad, but nothing happened. I mean, that's it, we just slept together…well, not slept together, but you know what I mean, right?"

"Holly, its fine, there's nothing wrong with it and as long as you're not a student there are no rules against it. I'm happy for the both of you,"

"Really?" I asked skeptically.

"Yes,"

"Okay, could you do me a favor, though?"

"Sure,"

"Don't tell Scott,"

"I don't think he would have a problem with it,"

"I know that he really doesn't like Logan, for reasons I can understand, and if he finds out about this then I'm afraid…I don't want it to hurt him or anything. I know that Logan sort of had…a thing for his wife, or whatever, and I just think it would be better if he didn't know about it," I arguably pleaded.

"All right, I won't say anything, I promise,"

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," she said with a smile. "Oh, and if you want to come down everyone's eat breakfast and they're about to start opening presents."

"Okay, I'll be down in a little bit."

"Alright," she said and then walked away.

I waited until she was out of my sight before I went back to my room. As I closed the door behind me, Logan woke up, pulling himself up from my bed. He looked around groggily until he saw me, then he fell back down, his face turned towards me.

"Hey," he said.

"Good morning," I replied.

"What time is it?"

"A little after six," I said, glancing at my watch. He mumbled something that involved 'too early' and swearing. "What?"

"You snore," he said.

"So do you," I smiled. "Do I really?"

He smiled at me, "No,"

"I didn't think so," I said, walking back to my bed. I crawled in behind him, wrapped my arm around him, and rested me head on his back, kissing his shoulder.

"Is everyone else already awake?" he asked.

"Yeah, Storm said they were all eating breakfast right now,"

"Storm?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah, she came to wake me up," He swore and rolled out of the bed. Caught off guard, my face nearly hit the mattress. "What's wrong?"

"She saw us?" he asked, hovering over me.

"We weren't doing anything, why does it matter? Besides, she said she wouldn't tell Scott and I assumed that the Professor would find out about it on his own," I said, sitting up in bed.

"But she knows," he said.

"So? Did you not want anyone to know anything was going on between us?"

He ran his fingers through his slightly ruffled hair. "No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?

"Nothing, it doesn't matter,"

"No, you can tell me,"

"Just forget about it,"

"Do you and Storm…did the two of you ever…"

"No," he snapped quickly.

"Alright, just asking," I defended with a smile.

"Sorry," he apologized with a sigh, "I'm not used to this?"

"Use to what?"

"This sort of thing,"

"Are you going to get irritated if I ask what sort of thing?" I asked sheepishly.

"No," he said smiling at me, "I don't do this, I don't…sleep in the bed with a woman without…" he paused, trying to be delicate with his words.

"I understand," I said, trying to relieve his nerves.

"And I don't hold a woman in my arms all night either,"

"You still don't. Somewhere around two in the morning you nearly knocked me out of bed," I smiled.

He raised his eyebrows, "Sorry,"

"It's fine,"

"And I don't…I don't, uh…" he said, running his hand through his hair again, nervously.

"You don't what?" I asked.

He looked right at me and I knew what he was going to say. "I don't tell woman that I love them."

"What about Jean?" I asked.

"What?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it rudely or sarcastically, I'm being sincere, did you love her?"

He stared at me as if I had gone mad. He was telling me that he had never treated a woman like he had me and I was asking about whether or not he was in love with someone else.

"I never told her," he said.

"But you did love her, right?"

He let out a long sigh, "Yeah, I did,"
"Then why didn't you tell her?"

"Because she was with Scott,"

"So, if you loved her, then what harm would have it done to tell her?"

"She knew and she chose him over me,"

"I'm sorry," I said sympathetically. "I know that's not something you can always get over, not easily anyway. If you ever want to talk about her you can, it's fine with me."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement, but I knew that the likelihood of him actually talking about her was slim, he wasn't that kind of guy, but I just wanted him to know it was okay.

"I'm hungry, you wanna' go eat?"

"Yeah, okay,"

The dawn is breaking,
A light shining through.
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you.

Yeah

I'm open, you're closed.
Where I follow, you'll go.
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again.

Even the best fall down sometimes,
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide

Logan and I walked to the nearly empty dining room together, to see most of the older kids still eating. I did not want to sit at the X-Men table, I felt out of place with them and after Logan's argument with Scott the night before and Ororo's discovery that morning, I thought it might feel slightly tense. So Logan followed me as I sat down at a table, across from Rouge and he sat down beside her.

"Hey guys, Merry Christmas," she said, smiling as we sat down.

"Hey kid," Logan replied.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," I said, grabbing a plate. "I'm surprised there's still food left."

"None of the other kids really ate, they just wanted to open their presents," she said. "Oh, that reminds me Logan, I got you a present, I'll give it to you later,"

"Alright," he said, taking a bite out of a biscuit. I rolled my eyes. "What?"

"Just wondering if no one ever told you not to talk with your mouth full or if you just don't give a care?"

He ran his tongue across his teeth. "I don't care," he said, "why, does it bother you?"

"No, not at all," I lied.

"Does it make you sick to watch people talk while they're eating?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, it doesn't. I just think it's rude, that's all," I lied again.

"So this doesn't bother you?" he asked while taking another bit of his biscuit.

I looked down at my plate and used my hand to shield my eyes. "You are so immature, I swear,"

"You shouldn't swear, kid," he said with a laugh, proud of himself for being quick enough to think of it.

"I'm glad you at least find yourself humorous, because no one else does," I smirked.

"I'll remember that,"

"For what, when I'm laughing at you? The only time I have ever been interested in something funny you were saying was when you were trying to tell me the rest of the 'There Once Was a Man from Nantucket' joke and Scott stopped you before you got to the ending. So here's a little clue Logan: no one thinks you're funny,"

"She's laughing," he said, pointing to a giggling Rouge.

"She's humoring you,"

"I don't think so,"

"It's true; she's just being polite,"

"I think you're just jealous,"

"Oh what, your humor, because I am much funnier than you,"

"No you're not,"

"Yes I am. I'll have you know that all of my father's friends thought that I was quite quick-witted and humorous,"

"And what's their jobs again?" he asked sarcastically.

"That has nothing to do with it," I said.

"I think it does,"

"Whatever," I said, "you're just a sore loser."

"So I'm immature, not funny and a sore loser?"

"And ill-mannered, but yeah, that sounds right to me." I said playfully, smiling.

"Has anyone heard anything else from the President lately?" Rouge asked after a few moments of silence.

"No, but I was watching the news last night and they said that they're expecting an answer by next week, so I would say some time just before or after the new year," I said.

"What do you thinks going to happen?" she asked, worried.

"I don't think it'll get passed," I said to her, stabbing the sausage on my plate with my fork.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean if the proper evidence is shown then I don't think it will. The numbers of registered mutants that have not committed crimes are equal to those that have, so if they are truly concerned with it then they will realize that it doesn't stop mutants from committing crimes, the ones that commit them are going to do it no matter what. I think if they carefully think about it then they'll see that the only thing that would come from a registration is possible violence from the humans, not us."

"I'm just really scared," she said.

"Listen, you shouldn't worry about it until we hear for sure what's going to happen. If they pass it here in the states then we'll go to Canada," Logan said.

"You and Canada," I muttered, shaking my head.

"Do you have a problem with Canada?"

"No, it's a lovely but lovely. I just think that you have an un-natural obsession with it,"

"What's un-natural about it?"

"I actually think you were comforting Rouge, weren't you? Or were you just talking to hear the sound of your own voice?"

"No, that's you," he said, cutting into a stack of pancakes.

"Yes, because we all know how much I love myself," I said sarcastically.

"About as much as Logan loves Canada," Rouge chimed in, giggling, and I laughed so hard that I snorted.

I was happy that Rouge was joking around a little bit. She had become so serious over those past few weeks. As I was sitting there, I was hit with a sudden rush of guilt. Rouge had a huge crush on Logan, though she never actually told me, everyone knew about it. Same situation as me; she ran away, he rescued her and she was smitten. The only difference between judging the outcomes lied within our ages. Rouge was only just eighteen, versus my twenty-two, already old enough when I met him to know what I was getting into. I hadn't told her about the two of us, and I was slightly worried to. I didn't want her to be mad at me for it but it was something that I felt strongly about. I was sure that she knew anyway, though. Out of everyone else, I expected her to catch on faster. Although the truth was that, we didn't really act any different with each other in public then we ever had. Picking, flirting, and making fun of each other was something we had done since we had met, so I wondered how obvious our relationship seemed to everyone else. Was it completely evident that I was in love with him and him with me? Or was it the same since I had been in love with him since I had met him, anyway?

"Jewel," I heard as my attention snapped back to the conversation.

"What?" I asked.

"I said do you wanna' go watch them open their presents now?" Rouge asked.

"Oh…yeah, let's go," I said, standing.

"We'll see you later Logan," Rouge said, pushing her chair back to the table.

"Yeah, okay," he said. He was still eating.

As Rouge headed towards the door I turned to Logan and mouthed 'I love you,' He gave a small smile and continued to eat his pancakes.

"Here, this is for you," I said, handing Rouge a present, "Merry Christmas,"

"Thanks, here's yours," she said, handing me a fairly large box. We were sitting in the living room, which had become rather empty once all of the kids decided to go try out their new toys. We were away from all of the other students, sitting by the fireplace. I watched as she opened her box and smiled. "Thanks." I had bought her five pairs of vintage opera gloves, the kind that went all the way up the arm.

"I thought you might need them in case you wanted to dress up," I said.

"Open yours,"

"Okay," I said, carefully pulling back the wrapping paper on the box. I lifted the lid, pushed the tissue paper away and gasped. "Oh my word…"

"I couldn't remember if it was the one you said you wanted or not?"

"Yeah…this is it. I can't believe you bought it for me, thank you so much!" I gushed. What Rouge had bought me was a dress from the same vintage store where I had bought her gloves. I had been obsessed with it since I had seen it in the store window a couple of months back when she and I were out with the other students shopping. I hadn't bought it because A; I didn't see the point in spending so much money on a single dress when I was still trying to save my money, and B; I didn't have anywhere to wear it.

"I thought that Logan might like it, too," she said quietly.

"He might not fit into it too well," I joked, then looked up at her from the dress and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to be mad at me. I am really sorry, though."

"I know, I'm happy for ya'll…is it alright if I still like him, though?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that's fine with me.

"And can I still give him his present?"

"Rouge, you've known him longer that I have and you're friends with him first, if you want to still be friends with him it's up to you, whatever you feel comfortable with," I said.

"Really, you don't care?"

"No, I don't care,"

"Thank you," she said with a small smile.

"Thank you as well, it means a lot to me that you're not mad,"

It was nearly midnight when I heard a light knock on my door. I hadn't heard anyone walk up because I had been reading and trying to finish the book that I had started weeks before. I wasn't quite sure that I had actually heard it so I waited. When I heard it once more I called out; "Come in," Only seconds later was Logan pushing open my door and stepping into my room. "Hey, what are you doing still up this late?"

"I didn't get to see you much today," he said. He was standing in front of my open door, wearing a pair of blue jeans with a solid green color flannel shirt and a white wife beater underneath.

"Well come sit with me then," I said.

"No, you're reading,"

"I've been reading it for like, two months; I don't think it'll be a problem if I stop for the night,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I want you to come sit with me," I said, folding over the corner of the page in my book, and then placing it on the nightstand right of my bed. He closed the door behind him, came, and sat down on my bed beside me. He sat up against the headboard and I snuggled up to him. He wrapped his arms around me and held me why I lay my head on his chest. I listened intently to his heartbeat as it made a steady drum, matching my own.

"Did you have a good Christmas?" he asked.

"Yeah…how about you?"

"It was good," he said, playing with a piece of my hair. "Is this the first time you haven't been with your family for it?"

"Yeah,"

"Do you miss them?"

I let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I do. A lot actually,"

"Are you ever gonna' go back?"

"I don't know, I had never really thought about it. I just assumed that I would always stay here, but I guess when my father's run in the office is up it would be fairly safe to go back. I'm not sure, though,"

"This can be your home, you know?" I pulled away from his arms and looked into his eyes. I lightly kissed his lips.

"As long as you're here, it will be," He kissed my forehead and I could hear him inhale my scent. I lightly grazed his pursed lips with my fingers. "I don't see how you could have ever thought that this could take something away from me?"

"I don't want to lose you," he said, touching my face.

"You won't, I'm yours, you can keep me," I whispered by his ear, kissing his neck. "Will you promise me that you'll keep me?"

He nuzzled my neck with his nose, "Yeah, I promise,"

I lay my head on his shoulder. "I do love you,"

"I know darlin', me too,"

I was tempted to ask him whether he meant that he loved me or if he loved himself, too, but I didn't. Instead savored the moment, listening to him breath, feeling the warmth of his skin against mine, the smell of cigars and his same old cologne, feeling his arms wrapped around me as he held me tightly, knowing that I could live the rest of my life like that and I would be happy.

I drifted off to sleep, my face buried into his chest. When I woke the next morning alone, I wondered if what had happened the night before was just a dream, when I sat up and saw a small box sitting on my bedside table, which was poorly wrapped. I picked it up and slowly unwrapped it, wanting to take care of the paper so that I could keep it. I carefully pulled the lip from the box to see a small cross, attached to a beaded necklace, and under it was a piece of paper. I removed the paper and unfolded it, written inside was; 'You have saved me from who I was and what I was becoming,' I kissed it and held it to my heart. I then placed it back into the box, removed the necklace and sat the box along with its wrapping paper inside of an empty drawer of my nightstand. I took off the rosary that I had worn since it had been given to me months before and replaced it with the necklace that Logan had given me. I had only given him a Zippo lighter, not knowing what to buy him, but I knew I could give him something more. I quickly got up from me bed, pulled on a sweater and walked over to Logan's door. I tapped on it light, not wanting to wake anyone else around our rooms. I waited patiently as I heard him walk to the door and open it.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I said back, smiling. "Why did you sneak off?"

"I thought you might not want me trying to kick you out at two in the morning, so I let you sleep."

I nodded lightly, looking at the ground. "Thank you for my present," I said, looking back at him.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't give it to you yesterday," he said, ruffling the back of his hair.

"No, it's fine; I actually have something for you, too,"

"I thought you already gave me mine?"

"I did, but this is something else," I breathed deep and let it out before holding out my hand. "Here, it's not much but someone gave it to me once to repay me for something good that I had given them, it's supposed to keep you safe and since it led me to you, I want you to have it."

He reached out his hand and accepted the rosary. "I can't take this from you," he said.

"What you've given me is something bigger that I could ever repay you for, all I can give you is my prayer for protection over you," Even though it was simple, something so small, something that otherwise wouldn't have made us turn our head to look at, that's why it meant so much. There was something material that represented how we felt; lost and happy to have been found, to have been rescued, to have been saved. From others and ourselves, and to be with the one person who we knew understood everything we felt, not having to explain it to them, just knowing.

"All I want from you is to love me and let me protect you," he said.

"Well, I think you've had my love since I met you, so you don't have to worry about that," I said with a gentle smile.

He pulled me to him and kissed me. My emotions swirled all around me and all of the guilt, fears, anxiety, shame, hate it all faded away to only leave joy, safety, forgiveness, kindness and love. On that day at that moment the ground felt strong enough to stand on, I could open my eyes and see hope. I could taste the feeling of hurt and pain melting away and leaving just the two of us standing there, knowing that no one else would ever be able to match how intensely passionate we were for each other, and never wanting anyway to be able to prove us wrong. I placed my hand against his heart, feeling the rhythm of its beats. He slowly pulled his mouth away and I could feel the sting of his hot breath against my sensitive lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me to him, burring his face in my hair. We stood there holding each other so tightly, fearing that it we ever let go we would lose one another.

"I won't let another happen to you, darlin', I promise," he breathed into my ear. And with everything I had in me, I believed him.