Disclaimer: I don't own the rights toanything Marvelor the song that I use in this chapter. I am but a 17 year old girl, if you sue...I just hope you don't, please:::Bats Eyelashes: Oh, as for the 'Foghorn Leghorn' thing towards the end of the chapter, I have to give credit to my mother as she does that when we play cards. And while we're giving credit, the joke in the last(?) chapter, my sister came up with it. Being sleepy and pregnant does weird things to your mind... Oh, right, the story! Keep reading and please enjoy!

Two days later, I was feeling better enough to join everyone for our monthly staff meeting. I sat down in one of the armchairs in a corner off by myself, sipping a cup of hot green tea with honey and a lemon-honey cough drop dissolving at the bottom. All of the other staff was seated across the room from me, a little nervous about getting sick.

I watched the door to Professor Xavier's office swing open as Logan walked in. He looked over the room and strode over to where I was seated. I didn't look straight at him, giving him only a casual smile as he pulled the armchair that was a few feet away from mine, closer to me.

We hadn't spoke since I had poured out my thought about him in a semi-drug-induced state. I hadn't remembered everything that I said, I just remembered when I woke up I had a small crush on him.

"Any better?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little bit," I said quietly, pulling my sweater closer to me and taking a sip of my tea.

"Is that stuff not makin' you sick to smell?" he asked, nodding to my cup.

"No, the only time I can smell is when I'm drinking it, but it's not as strong to me as it is you. You don't have to sit so close if it's making you sick,"

"I'm fine," he said just as Professor Xavier started the meeting.

He spoke for nearly an hour about the classes, Christmas vacation and the staff Christmas party. Apparently, the older teenagers would watch over the kids that were staying there at the school for the holidays so that the teachers could go out for one night. Then he brought up the subject of Secret Santa. He wrote down everyone's names, put them into Scott's baseball cap and let everyone draw out a name, as he and Jean went last, since they had an unfair advantage.

Scott walked over to me, holding up the hat so that I couldn't see, but could just reach into it. I pulled out a slip of paper, unfolded it and tried to bite back my distaste as I read the name 'Marie' written in front of me.

"Who'd you get?" Logan whispered to me from his chair.

"Rouge, you?"

"'Ro," he answered quickly.

"Care to trade?" I asked.

He quirked an eyebrow at me. "That's against the rules, darlin',"

"Oh, like you never break the rules," I snuffed, sticking the small slip of paper into my sweater pocked and taking another sip of my tea, drinking the last of it.

"I'm tryin' to be on good behavior," he said with a wink.

"Jerk," I grunted.

"Hey, I'm the only one who'll even sit next to you while you're sick, you better be nice to me,"

"I am being nice to you, you're the one who's being mean," I retorted as the Professor started speaking again.

He explained the few rules of the game. We were to give the gifts to the names of the people that we had drawn, but were not allowed to tell them who we were until we gave them their last gift. We weren't allowed to exchange named (blah), spend more than one hundred dollars on all of the gifts and we had to buy at least three gifts, one for every week until Christmas.

Looked around the room, watching everyone's thoughtful faces as they all went to work, thinking of ideas for presents. I tried to think of something for Rouge, but what in the world was I supposed to get her? Even though we didn't quite try to outdo each other as much as we had to begin with, we still didn't get alone very well. I didn't know anything that she would want, but I had to think of something, the first week of December was only a few days away.

I woke up late on the last day of the first week in December. I had already given Rouge her first present, so I wasn't worried about anything. I had bought her a beautiful pair of vintage, off white opera gloves that I had considered keeping for myself because they were so pretty, but I had given in and left them outside of her door on Tuesday, earlier that week. I had gone ahead and bought her three, vintage, silk scarves and a beautiful set of earrings with a matching necklace.

I climbed out of bed, rushed through a quick shower and then pulled on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and wrapped up in a sweater. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and slipped on a pair of house shoes.

I was hungry, so I was hurrying, trying to get downstairs for breakfast. I opened my door and nearly stepped on the present that was sitting in front of it. I looked around, but there was no one there. I picked up the present, went to my bed, sat down and ripped the paper away to reveal a gift package of Lime Coconut Bath and Bodyworks perfume, lotion and bubble bath. I was going to enjoy that gift; it was my favorite scent.

"Perfume," I thought. "So it must be a woman; Jean, Ororo or Rouge,"

I spritzed some of the perfume on me before heading down for breakfast. I took the elevator to the first floor, went down the hallway and entered the dining room. I walked to the staff table where no one else was sitting, and sat down.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal, and just as I was our milk over it, I felt a hand brush against my neck and I swear, if I had been standing, my knees would have given out on me.

"Good morning, Logan," I managed to choke out as he sat down across from me.

"Morin' darlin'," he said, pilling a stack of six pancakes onto his plate, then pausing he sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"

"What does it smell like?"

"Coconut…and limes,"

I gave a small laugh. "That's me, my first Secret Santa gift was perfume," I said, blushing slightly. To admit something right now; no man had ever mad me blush, ever, but it seemed as if every time he spoke to me, I did. "When I was younger, I used to call this cereal 'dog food cereal'," I said to Logan, pointing to my Cracklin Oat Bran, though I'm not sure why.

He looked up at me from his plate. "Why?" he asked, blinking condescendingly.

"Because it looks like dog food," I said simply.

There was something about him that made me want to tell him my most random thoughts, anything that just popped into my head, no matter how crazy or odd it was.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Fair enough," he said. We sat quietly for a few minutes. "What are you doin' tonight?"

"I'm not entirely sure, why?"

"I was gonna' go shot some pool, if you wanted to come?"

"Oh, well, Jason and I were supposed to be doing something tonight, but he was supposed to call me back yesterday and make sure that I wasn't busy," I said, biting my lip as I thought about what I should do. I liked Jason, he was a really nice guy, funny, cute but he wasn't Logan. I felt slightly guilty about it, but I couldn't deny the fact that my crush on Logan had grown. I craved more time with him; I longed to see him and would often sneak outside during his classes to watch him while he taught. But my crush on Logan was not Jason's fault, so I couldn't hurt him over it. "No, I better not. I'm sure there's a reason why he didn't call, so I'll just stay here in case he does,"

"You don't have to wait around on him,"

"I know, but I like him, so I don't mind all that much,"

"You like him?"

"Yeah, he's…sweet,"

"Sweet?" he repeated.

"Yes, do you know what 'sweet' means? He's good to me, I figure if nothing else, that's at least respectable,"

"Bein' good to you ain't respectable, it's a given,"

"Don't forget that I've seen you with woman, Logan, were you good to them, since it was a given?"

"That's been a long time ago and those women weren't you,"

"That's right, I'm better than those women, aren't I?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"You are," he said.

I looked up at him from my bowl, where I was pushing around the cereal that was left, with my spoon. "How am I any better than them?"

"They were just a bunch of whores,"

"You didn't seem to have a problem with that at the time,"

"I still don't, but you're not a whore,"

The conversation had suddenly turned a corner, becoming slightly more awkward the longer it trudged on. The blush that I had felt in my cheeks earlier had returned, spreading like a flame back across my cheeks and up to my ears, which felt like were on fire as I could hear the blood pounding in them.

I looked away from him, biting the edge of my lip as I thought, one of my bad habits. I suddenly realized that while I had been engrossed in our conversation, everyone else had left the dining room and it was just Logan and me.

"What am I, then?" I asked, looking back at him.

Truth was; I wasn't a whore, I knew it and so did he. I had never done anything that would even allow me to be related to the name, but that wasn't what was playing though my mind at that time, I was waiting patiently to hear what he thought about me.

"You're smarter than them, you're stronger, you're more beautiful, you're not some stupid woman who sleeps around with men from bars because you're better than that, you're my darlin',"

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were caught in my throat. His darlin', I was his. He said it and I heard it. He thought I was smart and strong. He thought that I was beautiful.

I tried to fight it back, but I couldn't, and a tear escaped my tightly closed eyes. I opened them to look up at Logan and it felt like a dam broke, sending a flood of tears streaming down my face. I was torn between staying there and crying from the love he was showing me, or melting into a pool of pure giddiness.

"Do you mean that?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I mean it,"

I smiled, giving out a small laugh through my tears. "Thank you," I said.

He didn't try to comfort me, he didn't try to keep me from crying, and I didn't want him to. I wanted to be allowed to feel the overwhelming joy from belonging to someone, from belonging to Logan. To know that he had more love for me than ever I did for myself at that point. I was filled with so many emotions and I didn't have a clue about what I was going to do with myself, so I sat there, crying. Which, in itself, would have been a big deal with my therapist years before, but to be crying because I was happy was more than I knew how to handle. To be happy, to be loved: to be happy that I was loved, it was a revelation that destroyed my world and brought it back again. It shook my world, however cheesy and clichéd it sounded. I had never had anyone love me and profess it as he did since my mother had died. I was excited to have found someone who loved me and so terrified that I would lose it.

Jason had called me that afternoon and we went to see a movie together that night. After the movie, however, we went out to eat. I talked him into going to some small barbeque place instead of a stuffy, nicer restaurant. I didn't want to have to worry about getting food on my hands or being quiet.

While we were eating and talking, some older man went to the jukebox, selected a few songs, went and sat back down in his booth by himself. The first two songs were some old country songs that I didn't know too well, but were extremely sad. The first one was a song called 'He Stopped Lovin' Her Today,' and the second one was 'Crazy'. When the music for the third song started, I didn't pay much attention, that is, not until I heard the first few words and I was paying it my full attention, even though Jason was talking to me.

'Hello darlin', nice to see ya,

It's been a long time.

You're just as lovely as you used to be,'

"So, I was thinking that for the holiday's maybe you could take some time off and we could go to my parent's house for Christmas,"

'How's your new life? Are you happy?

Hope you're doin' fine,

Just to know means so much to me,'

"I know that it's a big thing to meet my family, but I really want them to meet you. I know that they'll love you as much as I do, and you know that I am so in love with you, don't you? I want you to know that no matter what, I love you,"

'What's that darlin? How'm I doin'?

Guess I'm doin' all right

Except I can't sleep

And I cry all night till dawn

What I'm tryin to say is

I love you and miss you

And I'm so sorry that I did you wrong',

"I guess sometimes it's just hard to say because I get so caught up in everything, that's why I want us to spend Christmas and New Years together, so that there's nothing between us, so that we can learn everything about each other. I want you to know everything there is about me, all of the good and the bad,"

'Look up darlin'; let me kiss ya,

Just for old time's sake

Let me hold you in my arms one more time'

"Chloe, I see you all the time and sometimes you look like you're just in so much pain, I don't want you to hurt anymore, I want to take you away from all of this. Just the two of us, I'll take care of you and you'll never have to worry ever again,"

'Thank you darlin', may God bless you

And may each step you take

Bring you closer to the thing you seek to find,'

"Why don't we just get out of here? We can be whoever we want to be, you can have whatever you want. You can get rid of that beat up old truck and you can get something that you don't have to get that teach friend of yours, Logan, to fix for you. You can have anything you want, we can go anywhere you want to go, all I want is to be with you. I know I tried the music thing and I'm doing the acting thing right now, but I found that what I really want to do with the rest of my life is be with you,"

'Goodbye darlin, gotta go now

Gotta try to find a way

To lose these memories

Of a love so warm and true

And if you should ever find it

In your heart to forgive me

Come back darlin',

I'll be waiting for you,'

"I guess what I'm trying to say is; Chloe Shree Rynolds, will you merry me?"

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone's talking to you but you haven't been listening to everything they've said and then you catch the very end of it and you feel very confused? That was sort of what happened to me right then.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked lamely.

He looked at me and took a deep, shaky breath. "I said; would you please merry me?"

My heart stopped for a handful of beats, my mouth suddenly went dry and every sane thought that I once ever had fled my mind. I sat, staring at him dumbly, trying to make a mental connection between his words and their meanings, and failing hopelessly in doing so. I tried to work out what he had said in my head and kept some to the same conclusion; he had asked me to merry him, which I didn't want to do. Now, the problem was communicating that in a polite, gentle, yet very clear way, one of which no one had ever briefed me on.

"Jason, I…I…" I tried to say 'I love you', but I couldn't. Explanation as to why? I could only think of one; I didn't. "Uh, I really…think that you're great, but…I don't think I'm it for you,"

"But you are it for me,"

"Okay, but you're not…for me," I said tactlessly.

"Wow, I fell…stupid," he said, pushing himself back away from the table and standing. He pulled out his walled and fished out a twenty dollar bill before tossing it down on the table. "I thought that we really had something, we had passion and love, but I guess it was all just a façade,"

Actors; so dramatic.

"Jason, you need someone that you don't have to assume with, get a girl who will spill out all of her thoughts to you, a girl who has as much…passion, I guess, as you. You deserve it," I said to him just before he walked away, leaving me with the closing notes of the song 'Bluesman'.

It didn't take me long to decide what to do after that, so I paid, grabbed a cab and heading back towards the school. But, remembering my conversation from earlier, decided to take a small detour. About twenty minutes off my original course I was standing inside a smoke filled bar, searching for a familiar face. When I finally saw it, I thought about turning right around and leaving. I saw him taking a long pull from a tall beer bottle and playing pool with a cheap looking, bleached blonde woman, who had on tight leather pants and a leopard print top. Everything about her looked fake. How could he give me a lecture about being better than them and then turn right around just to ignore everything he said and flirt with her.

I quietly watched from a hidden area, knowing that with all of the people and all of the smoke, he wouldn't be able to catch my scent. I watched him as he tried to line up a shot to have her come up behind him and whisper something in his ear. I couldn't hear it, didn't want to hear it, because when she made him miss his shot because of it, I knew it had to be something he wouldn't even he would say to me.

He looked up and our and our eyes met, but I decided that I had seen too much and just wanted to go home. I left the bar and began walking though the parking lot in an attempt to go to the main road and find a cab. I was about mid-may through when I felt and hand gently, but strongly, grab my wrist.

I turned around and saw Logan. Since when did my knees turn to jelly every time he touched me? I fought to keep standing.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your date," I said sarcastically, biting back tears.

"She's not my date,"

"Well the two of you looked awfully friendly," I said, wringing my arm from his grip and continuing my trek towards the highway.

"Where are you goin'?"

"I'm going home,"

"Get in the car, I'll take you,"

"No, I'm taking a cab,"

"Don't be stupid, kid, get in the car,"

"Don't call me stupid, Logan," I said angrily as I picked up my pace,

I thought he had stopped, went back inside to spend the rest of his night with the cheap blonde, but soon he was right in front of me.

"Can you at least tell me what you're mad at me for?"

"I don't know, considering I'm not real sure myself, but I think it might have something to do with that woman who was blowing in your ear and saying things to you that, quite honestly, I'm glad I didn't hear,"

"Why is that any reason for you to be mad at me?"

"Because it was just this morning when you were calling woman like her 'whores', but apparently you don't care. You didn't mean a word you said to me today, and so if you don't mind, I would like to go home and sleep, because getting out of bed today has been a waste of my time,"

"You're not mad at me, you're mad at him,"

"Who?"

"Jason,"

"Why would I be mad at him?"

He got close to me, too close. I could see every fleck of brown in his eyes as he stared down at me. He could smell anger, he knew whom I was mad at, he just chose to ignore my angry for him at that moment. Let it never be said that Logan is not clever; he knows exactly what he's doing, and at that moment, I felt like a small rabbit being trapped by a large wolf. We were standing in an open parking lot but I felt like the only way out was behind him and there was no way that he was letting me through. Yes, Logan is a clever man and animal.

"I don't know what he did to you, darlin', but it's not my fault,"

"That's it? You go through all this predatory, animal hunter crap just to tell me it's not your fault? No, it's not, because the only thing that he did was ask me to merry him." I said, gathering up enough courage to push past him.

"He did what?" he asked from behind me.

"My word Logan, I thought your hearing was good? I said that he asked me to merry him,"

"What did you say?" he asked, following behind me.

"I don't believe that that's any of your business,"

"I think it is,"

I spun around to face him, the words from that morning suddenly taking a new tone. He said that I was his, but I didn't belong to him; I didn't belong to anyone.

"You don't own me Logan; my love life is my business, none of yours,"

"Did he give you a ring?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, he didn't,"

He swore, calling Jason a name. "That dead-beat kid can't even buy you a ring and you're gonna' merry him?"

"Maybe," I lied.

"He can't take care of you," he yelled. "What are you gonna' do, pop out a few kids and move to California so he can get some stupid acting job that ain't gonna' pay enough for you to even pay rent?"

"It's my life, I can do what I want," I yelled back.

"Let me ask you something; did he tell you he was gonna' take you away from all of this so you never have to worry again?"

"So what if he did, what if he promised me something to look forward to? If you have such a problem with who I'm dating then why don't you step up and be an example?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you show me how a boyfriend should act, show me what it's like to have someone be in love with me? You can't do that, though, can you, because you don't know what any of that means,"

"You're not takin' a cab home, so just get in the car," he said to me quietly but sternly.

"You can't tell me what to do, don't you get that? I don't have to listen to you,"

"You're actin' like a kid,"

"It's because I am!" I said, waving my arms around. "I'm twenty-two years old. Did you know that your brain doesn't fully develop until your twenty-five? That means that my decision-making skills aren't developed either, but guess what; all you get to do is stand by and watch me screw up if I do, because this is what I've earned to do with my life,"

"That's just great, Chloe, screw up you life because you're pissed at me for bein' in some bar with some woman that neither of us knows,"

"I'm not pissed at you for that,"

"Then why are you?" he asked, staring right at me. I felt like he could see into my mind and could hear my thoughts. Even though I knew he wasn't psychic, I tried to clear my mind so that in case, but some odd chance, he had suddenly inherited some weird, telepathic gene.

"Foghorn Leghorn, Foghorn Leghorn, Foghorn Leghorn," I thought over and over, hoping to fight down the absurd feelings welling up inside of me, but for the second time that day, I started crying.

"Just take me home," I said, finally giving in.

He did and neither of us spoke for the whole ride. When we finally got to the house and pulled the car into the garage, I had fallen asleep. I woke up slightly when I felt Logan lift me from my seat.

"I can walk," I mumbled sleepily.

"I know darlin',"

"Then put me down so I can," I said, but curled up closer to him instead, laying my head on his chest.

"I wanna' carry you, just let me hold you for a little bit," he said.

He carried me all the way upstairs, down the hall and to my room. He laid me down on my bed, pulled off my shoes, went to my closet, got a blanket and covered me with it. I felt his hand run across my cheek, making me quiver. I reached up my hand and covered his with my own, keeping it there on my face.

"I saw you with her and I was just so mad," I mumbled.

"Why?" I heard him ask near my ear.

"Because I, I think…I think I love you,"

He planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight Chloe," he said, moving from me, but I grabbed his hand.

"Don't leave, stay in here with me," I said, more asleep than awake.

He moved back, took my hand and lightly kissed it. "I can't do that, darlin',"

"Why not?"

"Goodnight Chloe," he said again, placing my hand down beside me and then left.

As soon as the light from the hall disappeared behind the closed door, I fell right back to sleep.