Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to anything, but please don't sue; I am but a poor, seventeen year old girl with no job, you really wouldn't get much if you did. I hope you guys are liking the story so far, it's only got a few more chapters left and then I'm working on another story, perhaps a sequel, so I hope you like this chapter, enjoy!

I woke up the morning of Christmas Eve quite excited; it was the day we were supposed to find out who our Secret Santas were. I jumped from my bed and ran to my door, certain to see my last gift, but upon opening the bedroom door, I saw no present in the hall as I the other two had been. I was a little disappointed but decided that I could wait for a few more hours before confirming my suspicions of Jean being my Secret Santa.

I had woken up at nearly three that morning, needing to go to the bathroom and decided to sit Rogue's present out in front of her door. As I was quietly padding back to my room, Logan popped out of his room to see what I was doing up. My heart froze when I saw his sleepy frame taking up his doorway. My thoughts turned to wondering how he could roll of out bed and still look so beautiful. His hair, funnily, looked more attractive when it looked more unkempt than usually, to me at least.

"I was putting my last gift out for Rogue," I whispered to him, not wanting to wake anyone up.

"At three in the morning? You really don't have any patients, do you darlin'?" he had smirked at me, with his arms across his chest, leaning against the doorway wearing just sweatpants and an A-Shirt.

"I was already awake, so I decided to go ahead and get it over with, actually,"

"What's wrong with your hair?" he asked.

"I straightened it; I thought it would look good for the party tonight. I feel a little left out sometimes, I'm the only one without straight hair,"

"I like it better the other way,"

"Really?"

"Yeah,"

"No other guy that I've known has actually liked my hair curly; I think you're the first,"

"I always liked it curly,"

I looked away, blushing. "It used to be more frizzy than curly, but I appreciate it all the same," I said, looking back up at him with a smile. He just nodded his head at me. "Well, we've got a big day tomorrow so I guess I'll go to bed and let you go back to sleep,"

"Yeah,"

"Goodnight Logan," I said, turning to go to my room.

"You got a date to this little party tonight?" he asked and I turned back around to face him.

"Uh, well…no, I'm just going to go stag, I guess. What about you, I bet you've got a hot date all lined up, right?"

"I'm workin' on it,"

"Working on it? The party's tonight, you had better get on it. What's wrong with this chick that it's taking her so long?"

He smiled at me and then let out a little gruff laugh. "Why don't you go with me?"

I hoped that I looked good in pink, because my face sure seemed to stay that color around him. "Won't that other girl get upset?"

He kept smiling at me and ran his hand through the back of his hair. "No, I don't think she would mind if you went with me,"

"Alright then, yeah, we can go together," I grinned, mindlessly giddy.

"Alright, goodnight darlin'," he said, watching me walked back to my room, and I smiled at him before closing my door.

I waited to hear his door close before I proceeded to jump about happily and attempted to muffle my excited cries. Then I went back to bed and fell back to sleep, looking forward to the next day even more than I already was. Therefore, even though I was a little disappointed about not having my present first thing in the morning, the thought of my date with Logan that night made me giddy all over again.

I went down for early breakfast and saw that Rogue was the only one sitting at the staff table when I got there and I felt slightly awkward to sit with her since she knew that I had been her Secret Santa.

"Good morning," I said, sitting down a little further down the table than she was.

"Good morning," she said, her thick southern accent covering the words as the formed in her mouth. "Thanks for the Christmas presents, they were really nice,"

"You're welcome," I smiled weakly, pulling two waffles onto my plate and smothering them in syrup and butter. One of the things I missed about Canada the most; we had fantastic maple syrup.

I saw Bobby walk into the dining room, come to our table and sit down. "Good morning, ladies," he said.

I smiled and gave him a small wave, as I couldn't reply because my mouth was full. He laughed and gave Rogue a quick peck on the cheek before filling up his own plate.

It wasn't much longer before Jean and Scott came in, with the Professor right behind them, and then soon Storm was following. However, by the time I was through eating, I had yet to see Logan, so I decided to go back up to my room. I needed to rewash my hair and let it be curly since he liked it better that way.

On my way upstairs, I noted how creepy the mansion felt with more than half the kids gone for the holidays, and the rest sleeping it. It was all too quiet and I had grown accustomed to hearing them all in the dining room, or rushing through the halls between classes. I had not only gotten used to, but also could barely sleep without, the sound of them talking and giggling at night.

I took my time walking to my room, pausing to look over the balcony to look down at the beautiful, and absolutely massive, Christmas tree that stood out in front of it.

"Not hungry?" I heard a deep voice ask from behind me. I turned to see Logan in jeans and flannel shirt standing just behind me.

"No, I already ate," I said. He come and propped himself up on the banister beside me. "You know, rumor has it that you've jumped from this thing before,"

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "That ain't no rumor," he said with a smirk.

"Really? So why did you throw yourself from the second floor balcony, to prove your love for Dr. Grey?" I joked.

"Not quite. When Stryker's soldiers came and invaded the school I was up here fighting. Marie, Bobby and another student, John, were down there," he said, pointing to where the large tree stood. "They broke down the door and I heard Marie scream, so I came over here and I saw them, there were four of them, they all had guns. The only way I could get down there fast enough was to jump from here,"

"What happened to the soldiers, did they run away?"

He shook his head at me with a look of 'duh' on his face, but smiled. "I killed 'em, all of 'em,"

"Oh, well…I suppose that would be the appropriate retaliation against an invasion," I said and he laughed at me. "What's so funny?"

"Have you ever talked like someone your own age?"

"I do talk like people my age," I defended.

"No you don't,"

"Well, I guess not, then," I said as we both stood there quietly for a while. There was something about his body being so close to mine that made my heart rate kick up a few beats.

"Hi Chloe," I heard a voice from behind me say. I turned and saw Sarah, the girl whom I had met on my last interview before the Professor had made me take a break, standing at the edge of the stairs.

"Hey Sarah, good morning," I smiled.

"Are you okay, your face is all red?" she asked, pointing to me. I reached up and felt my hot cheeks, trying to cover them from Logan.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied.

"Okay, see you later," she said as she went down the stairs.

"You better go get breakfast before Scott eats it all," I joked.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head and standing up straight. I watched him walk to the top of the stairs and then turn back to me. "You do look a little red, darlin'," he said with a wink, and then laughing at himself he went down the stairs, leaving me blushing even brighter.

As I was going to my room, I saw Ororo and Bobby speaking to each other. They must have gone up in the elevator. I smiled at both as I walked past, but I couldn't help myself from stopping for a second or two when I heard Storm thank Bobby for her Secret Santa gifts. Logan had told me that he had drawn Storm's name. He lied to me just because he didn't want to switch names; what a jerk.

I went on in to my room, fuming a little bit. I was so busy looking through my wardrobe that I nearly missed the small box on my bed. I went over to it, picked it up and opened it. Inside there were two tickets to the New Year's Eve production of the Broadway musical 'Wicked', and I flipped out; I had wanted to see that show since it had opened. My excitement was only a little damped when I saw that my Secret Santa had not left a note to reveal them to me. At that point, I was wondering if it were Jean or Professor Xavier, he would know my taste and someone like him would have been more likely to understand and appreciate my love of musicals. So, although I didn't know who bought them, I was extremely happy with my presents, but wondered whom I would take to the show with me. No one but the Professor would want to go with me, I assumed, so I thought that I would take him. It would be a nice little date for the two of us.

I went to work, doing my hair, my make up, getting all dressed up. I hardly ever dressed up, the most I did was when I was wearing a skirt, but that night I wanted to look nice. For Logan.

I heard a knock on my door at a quarter to five, and then heard it open slightly.

"You decent in here?" I heard Logan call to me.

"Yeah, come on in." I called back from my bathroom. "I'll be out in just a second,"

I had been trying to find the right shade of red lipstick. I hated woman who could wear it so effortlessly. I thought it was beautiful and I had tried on around fifteen different shades before finding one that didn't make me look funny. So, I slicked on a little bit of lip-gloss over it, because if I wasn't wearing chapstick I needed gloss, and then I walked out from my bathroom and saw Logan looking through my movies.

"I'm ready," I said and he turned around.

I had thought of Logan as a friend, my family, someone for me to play with, and I had just assumed that he thought the same of me. However, that first look, his instant gaze proved to show another emotion from him than I had never seen aimed towards me. There was attraction in his eyes, and though he had told me that he thought I was attractive, to see that he actually believed it gave me all the confidence I needed to feel good in the red dress I was wearing. Of course, I was feeling too confident when I took another step, walking towards Logan, and tripped in my shoes. I grabbed the bedpost before I fell and straightened myself out.

"I hope you don't mind having a short date, but it's better than a dead date and I'm going to kill myself if I wear these shoes," I told him, pulling off my high-heels that I had foolishly thought I could wear because he was taller than me and I thought I could get away with it.

I went to my closet and pull out a pair of nice black flats, slid them on and when I looked back at Logan, I was no longer the sexy woman he was ready to go eat with, no, I had gone back to just being Chloe.

"Are you ready now?" he asked.

I reached up and checked my hair, checked my earrings and looked over my dress, making sure that I had everything.

"Yeah, does my hair look okay?" I asked.

He gave me a smile that was borderline smirking and ran one hand through the back of his own hair. "Yeah, it looks fine,"

"Okay then, let me grab a sweater and my purse then we can go," I said as I pulled a sweater from my closet and slipped it on over my dress. It was red, strapless and had a fuax-corset lace up in the front and back (It really zipped up on the side, but we won't tell anyone that!). It came just below my knees and had a small, matching red tulle trim at the bottom. I had bought it around a year and a half before because I had seen it and fell in love with it, and had to have it, even though I didn't have anywhere to wear it to at the time. After seeing the look on Logan's face, I was glad that I had bought it when I did.

I had pulled my hair into a lose bun, letting a couple of curls fall in front of my face. I was wearing a pair of pearl drop earrings, which had belonged to my mother and had been one of the only things that I had gotten of hers before I had been shipped off to live in Canada. I had kept them hidden, tucked away so that no one else could see them, and that night was the first time that I had ever worn them.

I walked past my mirror to get my purse and stopped as I saw my reflection.

"Are you alright?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I thought I was going crazy for a second there,"

"Why?"

"I thought I saw my mother…then I realized it was just me," I said, trying to play it off with a laugh.

"Did she look like you?" he asked softly, surprising me with the tone of his voice.

"Yeah, sort of, but I always thought she was so pretty, she looked like an angel. Even if I look a little bit like her, she had these amazingly beautiful blue eyes that I always wanted mine to be the same color as, instead of just…boring brown,"

"Your eyes aren't boring,"

"Thanks, but I think they are, no one likes brown,"

"I like them, I think they're pretty," he said and I, of course, blushed.

"Well, why am I wasting my time dating other guys for? You like my hair, my eyes, watch 'The Three Stooges' with me, I think you're my soul mate," I joked.

"Maybe one day, kid," he said with a wink.

I paused for a moment, looking him over. He was wearing the same outfit that he had worn to Jean and Scott's anniversary party: blue jeans and a black dress shirt. His hair and sideburns looked a little neater than usual.

"We better go or we'll be late," I said, grabbing my purse and heading for the door, but he wasn't following me and so I turned around to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"If your mother was beautiful than you must look more like her than you think,"

"You know, you are the only person I've ever met who knows how to compliment me without ever actually saying it," I smiled. "And thank you,"

"No problem, let's get out of this place, I'm starvin',"

"Now that's something I can agree with you on," I smiled.

The ride to the restaurant was nice; Logan and I rode together in his car after he finally convinced me that there would be no point in me driving my truck.

"So, does anyone get drunk and embarrass themselves during these little shindigs?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, Chuck gets smashed every year and sings karaoke," he said sarcastically, glancing over and smiling at me. I smiled back at him and gave a smile laugh. We didn't say anything for a few minutes. "What are you thinkin' about?" he finally asked.

"I was just wondering…" I said, slightly trailing off and biting the edge of my lip.

"Wonderin' what?"

"How do you do the name 'Chuck' with the Name Game song?"

He thought for a second and then a grin spread across his face. Personally, I was impressed by the fact that Logan actually knew the Name Game.

"I guess that's when he would prefer to be called Charles," he smiled.

"So, did you find out who your Secret Santa was today?"

"Yeah, Jean. You?"

"No, but I think it was the Professor,"

"Why?"

"My last present was two tickets to a Broadway show; I'm just not sure why he didn't tell me it was him,"

"Did you get what you wanted?"

"Yeah, they were all great, how about you?"

"Yeah," he said and then there was another pause in our conversation. "The Professor didn't get you that stuff,"

"Really, then who did?"

He didn't say anything for a second, but instead seemed oddly focused on the snow-dusted road. "Me," he muttered, barely audible.

A grin spiked my lips. "You bought me perfume and tickets to a musical?"

"And the Three Stooges," he added.

"Oh, that is too brilliant. That's why you wouldn't switch names with me?"

"Yeah,"

"So you know what this means, right?"

"What?"

"You have to go to the show with me!" I exclaimed.

"Oh no…no, no, no, you can take Chuck or 'Ro, or someone who actually cares about that musical crap,"

"No, you bought them for me, I get to pick who I want to go with me and I pick you,"

"No,"

"Yes, those are the rules,"

"They're bad rules,"

"I don't care, that's what they are and you have to follow them,"

He looked over at me, the look on his face just short of a scowl. "You're serious about this?"

"Dead serious, you have to follow the rules,"

"Where are these rules written at, I wanna' see 'em?"

"That's not how it works,"

He let out a long breath that sounded as if it wanted to come out as a growl. "Fine, I'll go,"

I smiled triumphantly. "Good, you'll have fun, I promise,"

"I doubt it,"

"Why didn't you tell me that it was you when you gave me my gift today?"

He gave me a wicked grin. "Keepin' you on your toes, darlin',"

"Like I really need the practice," I said. "I'm not exactly the brightest bulb, Logan, need you keep reminding me?"

"As long as I have to go to that stupid show,"

"Oh shut up, I bet you're really a closet musical fan. You probably sing and dance in the shower. Yeah, you mock me but I bet that you were the one wanting to actually see it and thought that this way it would look like I made you,"

"You got me, kid, I guess my punishment should be not goin', it wouldn't be fair,"

"Well, there was this guy I met down at that used book store that's been talking to me, I guess I could take him,"

"Who is he?"

"His name is Jake,"

"Do you go out with anyone whose name doesn't start with a 'J'?"

"No, actually, but purposefully, though,"

"Look, I don't know anything about this guy, and it's not safe for you to go by yourself…so I'll go with you,"

"How very noble of you, you're my hero Logan," I said sarcastically with a small smirk. The only thing that he didn't know was that I meant it; he was my hero.