Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel's characters, I wouldn't even take them if they gave them to me...well... I might, if you have an extra Wolverine hanging around somewhere, I suppose I could take him off your hands for you? Or not. This is the second to last chapter, so get to readin' ya'll! Giddyup!

The party was pretty fun, although no one did get drunk, I somehow managed to embarrass myself when I not only dropped a bit of my food on myself but also spilled some of my water on my dress. Fortunately, the food didn't stain and the water dried by the time Jean came through, taking my picture with Logan.

I danced with Scott a couple of times and contemplated asking Bobby to dance when I saw Rogue flirting with Logan, but I decided against it considering that I would be doing the same thing as her, but worse since they were married and Logan and I weren't even dating. By the time we left, I was so glad that I hadn't worn my heels because my feet were slightly hurting in my flats just from dancing.

It was almost ten o'clock when we got back to the school, but I couldn't go to bed right then.

"Where are you goin'?" Logan asked as I started towards the den.

"It's Christmas Eve; I have to watch 'A Christmas Story' before midnight,"

"You have a lot of traditions, don't you?" he asked with a condescending stare.

"Yes," I admitted, continuing my walk to the den.

"Why?" he asked, following me.

"Because no one that I ever lived with cared too much about the holidays, except for my Aunt Linda, she was weird about Saint Patrick's Day,"

"Good day," I heard him laugh from behind me.

"Yeah, she thought so, too. Anyway, I celebrated everything by myself, so I just started my own traditions. It made it seem less sad, but thanks to you now they sort of do…seem sad," I said, muttered the last bit.

I walked into the empty den, turned on the TV, flipped it over to the 'A Christmas Story' marathon on TNT, pulled of my sweater, kicked of my shoes and curled up on the couch to watch it.

"You're gonna' watch TV in that dress?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow as he sat down beside me.

"There's no time to change; the movie's about to start,"

"It's a marathon, and you've seen it before, I don't think they've changed the plot on you," he deadpanned.

"Yes, but I have to watch the full movie before Christmas day, no bathroom breaks or anything,"

"I worry about you sometimes, darlin',"

"There's probably a good reason for it, too," I said just as the movie started. "Have you ever seen this movie?"

"No,"

"Watch it with me,"

"I am,"

"Okay, I didn't know if you were going to leave me or not,"

"No, I'm not gonna' leave you," he said. It took me a moment to feel the weight of his words and realize what he meant.

I looked over at him; he was sitting at an angle, with his feet propped up on the coffee table and his left arm slung across the top of the couch, just staring at me, burning into me with his fiery gaze.

"Why are you so good to me?" I asked and he looked away doubtfully. "You really are, Logan. I'm always so…sarcastic, and rude and I yell and fight with you all the time, but you…you never seem to care. You're always nice to me…well, not always, but for the most part. I know that you're not always so keen to say how you feel, unless you're telling someone where they can go when they piss you off, but I want you to know that it means a lot to me when you do,"

He let out a long breath and turned his eyes downward for a minute. "Chloe, do you think…" he started very cautiously, trailing off.

"Do I think what?" I asked, cocking my head to the side in attempt to meet his eyes.

He looked back to me. "Do you think…when I saw you in the bar at Drake's bachelor party, do you think that you would have talked to me if I had come in by myself?"

I bit my lip, thinking. I knew that wasn't what he was going to ask; he had been trying to ask me something for the past few days but would always change his mind at the last minute. Nevertheless, I decided to answer him anyway. "I don't know, because I wanted you to remember me instead of having to tell you who I was,"

"I knew who you were as soon as I saw you; you wouldn't have had to tell me,"

"So why didn't you say anything to me?"

"I didn't think you would want to talk to me,"

"Why not?"

"I thought you'd still be mad at me,"

"Did you really feel that guilty after six years?" I asked.

"Yeah,"

"But why?"

"I don't know,"

"Yes you do, you don't feel bad about something for that long without knowing why,"

"'Cause I wanted to take care of you, I wanted to take you away from that bar and I let my temper get in the way of doin' that,"

"You were just protecting yourself, though; it's not as if it just came from no where,"

"I had been fightin' there for three months and for over two years at other places, why did I need to use my claws?"

"Because you were being threatened, you were caught off guard and your instinct is to take care of yourself, that's what you do to survive, Logan,"

"I know but all I had was half an hour before I was leavin' to get you and I couldn't even keep myself under control for that long,"

"You still feel guilty," I stated, shaking my head.

"You've been through more than you should have and I could have stopped it,"

"And it still isn't enough for me to blame you. I was upset that you left me until I found out why. Why did you feel guilty about me living at that bar if you didn't even know that I would say yes to living with you? I would have, but I was going to ask you. The only thing that's bothered me all of these years was that I didn't get to tell you goodbye properly, that's all that bothers me now. I don't blame you for anything that's happened to me, you know that, I've told you that I don't, but what am I supposed to tell you to make you believe me?"

"I don't know,"

"You mean the world to me, Logan, and I mean it, I don't want to sit and watch you do this to yourself because it breaks my heart and makes me feel like I did something for you to feel that way,"

"You didn't,"

"But that's how it feels. I don't want you to feel guilty about anything bad that happened to me because when you were around back then, for the majority of the time, I was happy, and that you can take credit for," I said and then looked away. "I don't understand how you can be so easy to love me but when it comes to you, you beat yourself up over something so stupid. Why do you do that? Why can't you see what I see when I look at you?"

"What do you see when you look at me?" he asked in a dropped voice.

"I see…" I paused.

"An animal?"

I looked up at him. "No…no, Logan, that's not what I see at all. What I see in you, what I've always seen in you, is that you're the only person who has ever taken care of me without it being your job to. You saved me life, I would have died if you hadn't been there, I owe everything I have to you, and I don't understand why you can't see that?"

"Because goin' in there and gettin' you after he hit you is something most people would do if they would have heard your scream,"

"But not everyone would have followed me to make sure that I was okay and you did. You followed me, you came in and saved me and you made sure that he wouldn't come after me again. Because of you, I don't have to be scared when I walk down the street, or when I go out by myself. I don't have to worry about anyone coming after me, I don't live in fear because of you, Logan, you. Animals don't do that, they wouldn't care, but you did. You could have gone home, I could have died, and that would have been it. But for some reason you came and found me, why?"

"Because something didn't feel right when you left and I got worried about you,"

"So you came after me, you took care of me. You let your temper get the best of you once but you listened to your instincts that night and that's when it counted," I said as a tear ran down my cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and cupped my face in his palm. I held it there, leaning into his touch.

"Come here," he said, pulling me to him, holding me against him with my head at his heart. I could hear its fast pace and was glad that mine wasn't the only one feeling like it was pounding out of my chest just from being close to him.

We were quiet for a while, both of us reserved to our own thoughts. I was having quite a hard time trying to concentrate on the movie with his strong arms wrapped around my bare arms and shoulders.

"Hey Logan?" I sniffled.

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about Golden Retrievers?" I asked with a laugh.

I could see his face but I could tell that he was blinking the way that he did when he was confused. "They're alright, why, do you want one?"

"I used to," He kissed the top of my head and that was the end of our serious conversation for the night.

We watched the rest of the movie together and just as it started again, I fell asleep. When I woke up next, the blue light of the early winter morning was spilling into the den through the window high on the corner wall.

I lifted my head and saw that Logan was still holding me and he was asleep as well. I decided not to wake him but to slowly get up alone, instead. I carefully moved his arm from around my shoulder, immediately missing how it felt. Before moving, I took him in, inhaling him deeply. I loved the smell of his cologne, and it was strong right on his neck, which I was slightly nuzzling with my nose.

Logan let out a small, low growl. "That tickles," he mumbled, sounding still half-asleep.

"Sorry," I smiled.

"What are you doin'?" he asked, shifting his body slightly.

"You smell good," I answered simply.

"I'm glad you think so," he laughed and I could feel it rumble through him. "What time is it?"

"I don't know, but pretty early, I think; it's starting to get light out.

He lifted his right arm and looked at his watch. "It's after five in the mornin', we better get upstairs, breakfast is gonna' start soon,"

"Okay," I said, sitting up and then standing. I grabbed my shoes and sweater from the floor. Logan looked at me, scratching the back of his head and smirked. "What?"

"You sleep like a rock, kid,"

I laughed. "I'm not the only one; you didn't wake a bit when I moved your arm,"

"Are you sure about that?"

"You were awake that whole time and let me sit there and make a fool of myself by sniffing you?"

"It doesn't take long," he said, his smirk still plastered across his face.

"Well, that answers my question as to whether you wake up sarcastic or if it takes a little while for you to get that way," I said. "Oh, and by the way; you have lipstick on your shirt,"

He looked down at his shirt and saw the red lipstick that I had smeared on it while I was sleeping. "I didn't like it anyways," he said.

"I can get it out for you,"

"Don't worry about it,"

"I like it on you, it looks nice,"

He nodded his head. "Thanks," he said standing up beside me. "Let's go get some food,"

"I've got to change first; I don't think this is appropriate attire for Christmas breakfast,"

"Me too, now that you've messed up my shirt,"

"I thought you didn't like it?"

"Well, since you like it I thought I might oughta' keep it,"

"You're as sick as you are lovely,"

"Excuse me?"

I laughed, a smile springing to my lips. "It's a song; 'you're as sick as you are lovely and I wanna' help you,' or something like that,"

He quirked an eyebrow, scratching his forehead. "I can see why guy proposed to you, you're awfully charmin' kid," he said to me sarcastically.

"He only proposed to my because he was thirty years old, working in a book store, trying to get into movies and his mother threatened to cut off his 'allowance' if he didn't get married and settle down. I don't have a family, I have a good job and you were right; he just wanted to merry me and move out to L.A. so that he would still be able to get money from his parents and act at the same time." I said.

"I'm sorry,"

"Well, I think you told me that I could do better, so don't worry about it. I think I can survive, I've been through worse," I said with a smile.

Have you ever had one of those moments where something just clicks and you finally realize that what you've been trying to figure out is so obvious and right in front of you? That's what was happening to me right then, but instead of having what I wanted in front of me figuratively, it was there physically. In that moment, I couldn't deny or fight all of the thoughts that were surging through my mind. I had been trying to tell myself that Logan was off limits, he was just my friend and that I couldn't have a crush on him. Sure, I found him attractive, most women did, but to make a conscious decision to act on my feelings, I had banned myself from allowing my mind to even play with the idea. Until then. Something inside of my insisted that I needed him and I could no longer keep myself believing that I just saw him as my someone to play with. I loved him and I knew that I had to do something about it.

"I can't believe you cried," Logan said to me.

"It was sad!" I defended.

"It was a musical!" he said back.

It was New Years Eve and we were driving back to the mansion after seeing the show. Logan was making fun of me because I had cried while the character Elphaba sang 'I'm Not That Girl', 'As Long As Your Mine', 'No Good Deed' and was bawling my the finale. It was the best musical I had ever seen, obviously, as it had reduced me to tears. It had also been the best present I had ever received and was willing to tell Logan as soon as I found a spot open in his mocking to interject it.

"But it was still sad, did you not feel the least bit of emotion the entire show?"

"Aside from being annoyed at the whole thing, no,"

"Well, I'm sorry that you're such a heartless man, but don't make fun of me because I'm capable of feeling more than anger and annoyance,"

"It wasn't real,"

"So?"

"Why are you crying over things that aren't even real?"

"Because it's natural for normal people to react to the things that are happening in front of them; my body doesn't know that they're acting, and so when I feel sad it lets me cry,"

"Well the next time we go out I get to pick where we go, alright?"

"Alright, deal," I said with a smile. He said that we would go out again and my heart melted.

The majority of the ride was spent with him making fun of me and me defending myself, until I turned on the radio to an oldies station that was playing Elvis' 'Hound Dog'.

"Is he talking about a real dog or is it a metaphor for a woman?" I asked.

"Well, since he's talking about them never catching a rabbit, I would think it's a real dog,"

"Or a very odd woman," I added.

"I doubt it,"

I changed the station and put it onto another one that was playing Joan Jett and The Blackhearts' 'I Love Rock And Roll' to which I began to sing along to the music. He looked over and shook his head, smiling at me. If my heart hadn't been in a puddle from melting earlier, it would have melted right then.

It didn't take too much longer for us to get back home, and when we did, it was nearly midnight. Logan went to the kitchen to get a drink, but said that he would be right back. As the clock got closer to the hour, I became slightly more anxious. My plan was to bring in the New Year by kissing Logan and to tell him how I felt about him. That was the plan, at least, which completely relied on my not losing my calm and involuntarily throwing up on him. However, I was sure that wouldn't happen…fairly sure…okay, I was hopeful.

"Hey, have you seen Marie, we've got like a minute left," Bobby asked, come up to me.

"I think I saw her go to the kitchen," I said.

We both walked down the hall.

"Thirty seconds," someone called out.

We rounded the corner and were only a few feet away from the kitchen door when the count down started.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,"

We walked up to the door and he pushed it open. Logan and Rogue were both standing there talking. There was no way that I could get to him without looking conspicuous.

"Five, four, three,"

Rogue pulled the scarf she was wearing up to her mouth.

"Two, one,"

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. She kissed him, and she continued to kiss him for what was, in actuality, probably only three to five seconds after the counting had stopped, but to me it seemed far much longer. As I was watching it happen, it felt like it was going on forever and the only thought running through my mind at that moment was, "That is not why I bought her that scarf!"

You know in movies when something tragic happens to one of the characters, then everyone starts moving in slow motion and the sound in the background is almost muted because all they can see is that horrid event taking place in front of them? This was far, far worse than that.

"Marie!" I heard Bobby yell from beside me, but the sound still wasn't coming in clear.

The yell jerked them apart and I'm not sure what happened between Bobby and Rogue right then because Logan saw me for just a moment before I took off for my room. I don't know if you can look heartbroken, but if you can, I did. I was heartbroken, devastated, livid, jealous, angry; angry with whom, Rogue, Logan, myself? I didn't know, but I fled the room and headed for the stairs.

"Chloe, wait, Chloe," I heard Logan calling after me, but I didn't stop, I didn't want him to see me crying.

He followed me as I went to my bedroom. "Goodnight, Logan," I said in a shaking voice, closing my door.

"Chloe, why are you mad at me?" he asked, opening my door and following right behind me as I pulled off my shoes, putting them into my closet and then hanging up my sweater.

"I'm not mad," I lied, sniffling back tears. "I just wanted to go to bed, I had a long night. Thank you for taking me out, I had a very nice time,"

I heard him close my door and walk over behind where I was standing. He gently turned me around to see him, tilting my face up with his hand to meet his eyes. "Why are you jealous of her?"

"Of who?" I asked, trying to hold back my tears.

"Marie,"

"I'm not," I lied again.

"Then what was that about just now?"

"I told you; I'm tired and decided to go to bed,"

"So you ran up here?"

"I figured Bobby and Rogue needed to talk, so yeah, I left pretty fast, I wouldn't say I ran, though,"

"Why are you crying?"

I wiped away the tears that were still left on my face. "I was thinking about that show and getting all emotional again," I said with a forced smile.

He pulled me to him lightly; I could feel his beard against my face through the curtain of my hair that separated us. One of his hands was softly placed on my right shoulder and the other one on the small of my back, holding me to him.

I'm not sure how it happened, but I soon found myself kissing Logan, one hand at his shoulder and the other holding his face. He was kissing me too, but then he pulled away abruptly, swearing.

"Kid, what are you doin'?" he asked.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry," I apologized. Why was I apologizing? It was what I had been wanting to do since I had seen him my last night at Taryn's bar. "No,"

"No what?"

"No, I'm not sorry, I meant to do that," I said. "Logan, the reason why I got mad down there was because I wanted to be the one to kiss you at midnight,"

"Why?"

I paused for a moment, trying to keep my nerve going as I breathed slowly. "I like you, and…I thought maybe that you might like me, too?"

"Chloe," he started and I knew it was going somewhere that I did not want to go. "I can't do that,"

"Why not?"

"Because you're just a kid,"

"I'm twenty-two; I've grown up since you last saw me as a kid,"

"That's the problem; you have grown up. I need you to still be that sixteen year old little girl because I can't think of you like this,"

"Why?"

"Because you're off limits,"

"What if I don't want to be off limits, what if I give you permission right now to see me as an adult?"

He swore again. "Chloe, I think you're beautiful, you know that darlin', but I can't let myself do this. I've worked too hard trying to keep myself from doing anything about how I feel or what I think to start right now. I don't want permission to see you as an adult because I can't look at you like that and not do something about it,"

"Then do," I all but pleaded.

He looked at me and shook his head. "No,"

"Please,"

"I don't do well with woman and I can't stand to see you hurt so I'm not going to do this because I can't hurt you Chloe, I can't do that to you,"

"You won't,"

"Yes I will, just ask 'Ro,"

"I'm not Ororo, Logan,"

"I know that," he said, letting out a deep breath. "Look, one of these days you're gonna' find someone who deserves you a lot more than I do, alright?"

"Wow, I feel like an idiot right now," I said with a bit of a forced laugh and wiping the tears from my face. "I just thought that you…I don't know, I guess I was wrong,"

"Chloe," he started.

"No, don't," I said, stopping him. I knew he was going to say that he was sorry, but I didn't want to hear it. "Uh, I had a good night, so that you, but I'm tired so I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight,"

He looked at me and I knew he felt bad, but not as bad as I did. "Goodnight," he said and then walked to my door and left my room. He left me all alone.

I changed from my dress into my pajamas, washed off my makeup, brushed my teeth, pulled my hair up and away from my face and then crawled into bed. It was only then, when I was lying still and trying to go to sleep, did I realize what I had done. I had single handedly, within five minutes, managed to damage my relationship with Logan. We were a team, we did everything together and somehow I had screwed that all up. I suddenly understood why he had felt so guilty about losing his temped that night in Tom and Viv's bar; I had had a crush on Logan but I had kept myself from doing anything about it and that night all I had to do was fight my urges for just a few minutes longer. Because after New Year's I would have had to have thought of another plan and would have either come to my senses about the whole thing or lost my nerve to do it, but I didn't control myself.

I cried and cried and cried until I felt sick. I heard a few people pausing outside of my door as the part downstairs slowly wound down and they were going to bed, but no one came in to check on my, I didn't want them to. I was inconsolable at that moment. What got me wasn't that Logan didn't like me; it was that he did, but he refused to do anything about it. Looking back now I realize that not only was that hard for him to do, but it was also the most respectable thing that any man had ever done for me, but hindsight it twenty-twenty and right then I was completely devastated.