Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or any of the X-men. The same can be said of the wonderful world of J.K. Rowling. I am not making any profit, but simply having fun. I did however create Emma Winter.

Memories and dreams are in italics.

Edited in March 2021 during lockdown.

After Emma and Logan married, they had continued their legilimens sessions but that Friday evening they simply wanted to chat. They had both felt better as if the burdens of their pasts had relived immensely through the sessions. Even if they still did do legilimens sessions now and then, the need was not as dire as it had been at the beginning. Instead, sessions were often replaced with date nights, when the two went out for dinner together. Before they got ready to go to the closet pub for burgers the two sat on the sofa chatting about everything and nothing.

"Did I tell you how Rogue and I ended up here at Xavier's?" Logan asked after a long silence, being almost certain that he had never mentioned it to Emma. It was imperative to him that Emma knew why the young mutant was so important to him.

The witch fixed her dark eyes thoughtfully at him before answering gently, "No you never told me how you two met."

"A few years ago I used to cage fight a lot. It was easy money. I had my route and on it was Laughlin city."

"Where is that?"

"In Canada," Logan answered shortly before getting engulfed in his memories of the time when he met Rogue. The little spitfire had made a lasting impression on the jaded mutant that had thought he had seen it all.

"After a fight, I saw this scrawny little kid sitting by the bar. She was a runaway that much I could see; no other type of kid would have been caught dead in that seedy bar. The bartender could see it too for he hid the tip jar before she had a chance to steal it," Logan smirked at the memory of the younger Rouge. There had been no mystery that the kid had been starving as her big brown eyes had stared at the tip jar as if it had the solution to all the world's problems.

Emma was intrigued; it was not that often that Logan discussed something from his past, especially about how he got to know other mutants. Logan had noticed that Rogue hadn't been very impressed with Emma, mostly due to jealousy and it had strained the relationship he had with the young mutant. The witch was his mate, and Rogue would hopefully settle into things sooner than later when she would get over her teenage crush on Logan.

"Was it Rouge that you saw?"

"Yeah, it was the kid. Her mutation had just kicked in not long before that and her parents had kicked her out. She is from the Deep South and had this romantic idea that seeing the snow in the north would be a great adventure," Logan said sarcastically and took a long drag on his cigar before pushing the smoke out of his nostrils. Anyone who had suffered through a northern winter knew what folly that was; it was crazy to dream about the bitter cold of snow that could so easily be lethal.

"I left the city after a fight with some sore losers, and it wasn't long until I heard sounds that weren't normal for my RV. I found the kid at the back hiding as a stowaway. At first, I tried to ditch her, but it didn't feel right to leave her behind, I didn't want another life on my conscience, let alone a life of a kid with a whole life ahead of her."

Logan gave a wary glance at Emma as if he expected some teasing remark from her about his soft-heartedness, but the witch was engulfed in his story and waited patiently for him to continue. Emma could understand why Logan wouldn't leave Rouge behind; she had been just an innocent kid. No matter what people thought of Logan, no one could accuse him of mistreating children. The feral mutant was deep inside a kind man who tried to do the best he could with the resources he had, sometimes his best intentions weren't enough but often Logan managed to surprise himself and the others who were around him.

"I got her to sit in the front with me even though she felt uncomfortable at the beginning. I fed her coz she was starving; you should have seen the way she wolfed down the beef jerky I gave her. For a fourteen-year-old she had the foulest mouth and the nastiest attitude I have ever seen on a kid," Logan said affectionately and smiled warmly at Emma who was grinning with mirth. The witch could very well believe that Rogue had had a sharp tongue; Emma had after all been on the receiving end on more than one occasion when the two bumped heads around the mansion. The young mutant had been furious when she had found out that Logan and Emma had married, and she had used every opportunity to show her dislike of Logan's choice.

"And even after seeing my claws Rogue still treated me the same, nothing seemed to change. It wasn't until the mansion that I realized how bad her mutation was, at the beginning I thought she was just being careful, being alone and all," Unconsciously Logan reached out to play with a loose curl that had rebelled out of Emma's long braid. Every time Logan felt self-conscious talking about something he instinctively reached out for the witch in some way, either playing with her hair or holding her close. Emma had no idea how much comfort Logan got from her company or how her presence and scent calmed the beast within.

"I liked her even though she was mouthy, and I promised myself I would make sure she would be safe," Logan said letting Emma's dark curl go and grinned as it snapped back to its original place.

"We had driven a while when our car was attacked. I got knocked out and the kid was stuck in the car. That was the first time I met Victor Creed, or so I thought at the time, now we know better," Logan said gravelly and Emma nodded in understanding, the two had spent a lot of time together raising havoc around the world.

"What! Victor Creed attacked you? He didn't say anything to you acknowledge you after you two spent years, even centuries, in each other's company?" Emma asked shocked that Victor Creed had given no sign that he knew who Logan was. After all, the bond between the two mutants seemed to have been set in stone.

"I didn't know, and Victor acted as if he didn't know who I was. He simply acted as if he wanted to rip my head off and I fought Victor with all I had. Perhaps he has some score to settle, but what it is I have no idea, seems to me that it's rather the other way around since he killed Kayla. Before we managed to slaughter each other the X-men came to save the day. Scooter enjoyed every moment of it," Logan snorted with the irony of being saved by Scott who had been his rival for Jean's attention. The two had never seen eye to eye, not even when they were grieving for Jean. Perhaps they were too alike to be friends or perhaps they were like oil and water, simply didn't mix.

"That's how you and Rogue ended up at the mansion?" Emma asked curiously, she had always wondered how the two had decided to seek shelter with Xavier. The witch had especially wondered about Logan's decision as he was an introvert, to say the least, and liked things his way. Being under the constant scrutiny of Xavier must have been real torture at the beginning for the feral who certainly had a wild streak.

"Yeah," Logan nodded in agreement, "Chuck offered Rogue a place to call home and promised to help me to remember my past. A promise he has yet left to fulfil."

"So you two crafted such a strong bond in a short amount of time? Seems like mere hours before the X-men met you," Emma said affectionately and was thankful for fate leading Logan and Rogue to the mansion. The witch would never have met Logan but for him picking up a young hitchhiker in Canada.

"Yeah, I don't understand it myself," Logan admitted sounding just as surprised as Emma was at that discovery. The Wolverine didn't like to bond with people, usually, people became a liability down the line, but still, he had bonded so quickly with a lost kid.

"Rogue almost ran away from the school once, I managed to stop her and get her to stay promising that I would take care of her and I mean it."

Emma watched his profile affectionately as Logan chewed on his cigar, a tell-tale sign that he was engrossed in his thoughts. The witch felt warmth spread at the bottom of her stomach when Logan turned his head to gaze at her, his gaze too strong to break as he looked searchingly into her eyes. Emma blinked a few times as if to get out of the daze she was in before saying, "I know you care about her Logan; I can see it in how you treat her."

"She's a good kid and deserves a childhood without people looking down at her coz she's different."

Emma studied him silently for a while, understanding that Rogue's happiness was profoundly important to him, Logan wanted her healthy and happy. Emma realized that it must have caused him sorrow to hear that she and Rogue didn't get along and she didn't want that for him.

Finally, Emma said to him determinedly, "I will try better Logan. She and I don't see eye to eye, but I will try. For you, I will try my best. I want you to be happy, and not to worry about Rogue and myself."

Logan looked at her intriguingly before grinning wolfishly at her, pulling her tightly to his side and wrapping a heavy arm around her waist before kissing her roughly in appreciation of her words, "Thanks darlin' I don't want my two favourite girls hating each other."

"I don't hate her Logan, I think she just didn't take the marriage very well," Emma said, the witch had noticed the animosity from the girl soon as she and Logan had struck up a friendship. After Logan told Rogue about the marriage, the young mutant showed her profound dislike of the witch at every chance she got.

Logan pulled Emma closer into his embrace and the witch melted into his touch. There were not many people that had shown her love in her life and Emma was getting used to Logan's spontaneous bear hugs. They were rough, protective, and sincere just like the man himself. Affection had been mostly cut from her life, especially after the war and Emma had a sneaking suspicion that Logan kept mostly to himself. Emma nestled her head on Logan's shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. For the longest time, they didn't say another word, they simply stared into the horizon deep in thought and clung to each other as if they were each other's lifelines.

"Rouge seems to be getting serious with Bobby," Emma at long last said to Logan remembering seeing the lovebirds snogging outside the school earlier that day. The two teenagers were adorable together and even though Rogue had a very difficult mutation, it seemed that Bobby did his best to make her feel comfortable and loved.

"She's too young," Logan said sternly before almost choking on his words as he realized how fatherly he sounded. He had never particularly liked Bobby and certainly not liked him after the Iceman started putting his paws all over young Rogue.

"Rogue is only three years younger than I am," Emma said grinning teasingly at her husband after realizing that Logan didn't seem to realise just how close she was in age to her students.

"Really?" Logan asked taken aback, his gaze burning her face as he studied her intently as if to look for any sign of ageing on her alabaster skin. Logan was astonished at Emma's revelation; he had never connected the dots between Emma's age and the age of the oldest students. Gazing at her youthful face, Logan realized just how young the witch was.

"You look much older than Rogue," Logan finally said determinedly, after looking at her with eerie scrutiny as if he was looking underneath her skin. No one had ever been able to give her as powerful, soul searching looks as Logan did. When he looked at her so intently, the witch felt herself being locked in his gaze. No one had ever stared at her like that, with such a profound presence as Logan had.

"Thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it," Emma said ironically at his extraordinary choice of words as her attention finally snapped away from his face. Logan had his way with the ladies, but compliments weren't always up his alley, especially not when it came to the witch.

"Come on don't get insulted darlin´," Logan said laughing at Emma's retort and saw bright blush come over her face before she stuck out her tongue at him in retaliation.

"No, no, I'm just an ugly old crone," the witch pretended to sniff and brushed away a fake tear that made the mutant chuckle with humour.

"No, you're not. The difference is that she is a kid and you're a woman. A very good-looking woman that I fell for and married," Logan said winking at her and enjoyed seeing the witch flush crimson at his words.

"Oh hush, you don't have to go overboard with the flattery," Emma said waving a hand at him dismissively and smiling embarrassedly. Emma was certainly not used to smooth talk in her life, and it was a mystery to her how to accept a compliment without sounding like a total idiot.

"You know nothing darlin´," Logan said knowingly before finishing his glass of whiskey with one last swig. From Emma's memories, the mutant had learned that she wasn't very experienced when it came to men, that opinion was verified with how shy she got when Logan tried to compliment her.

"So what junk food did you pick for us to eat tonight?" Logan asked Emma curiously a while later. The witch grinned at Logan who had heard her stomach growl a moment before. Heightened senses were useful in life.

"I was thinking a cheeseburger with fries," the witch answered avariciously admitting to herself that she was getting way too attached to food that had cheese in it. Emma had never in her life eaten a hamburger until she had one with Logan very early on in their friendship. It had opened a whole new world for the witch that had up to that point had never tasted a cheeseburger in her life.

"Sounds good to me darlin´," Logan replied happily that they could drive to the nearest diner to grab something to eat. Emma knew Logan wasn't a picky eater and probably would wolf down anything that she would suggest to him.

"Let's go," Emma said quickly and kissed affectionately his whiskered cheek. Logan was loved to feel her soft lips on his cheek but before the mutant could work on seducing his wife, the witch had stood up. Food was more important to her than continuing kissing her husband. Logan sighed deeply; the witch would be the death of him and what a sweet death it would be. Logan sat on the bike and started it hurriedly. A second later Emma wrapped her arms tightly around his waist as they sped off.

"Ororo why is this tension between Logan and Scott? Most of the times it looks like they hate each other," Emma asked curiously after yet another argument by the dinner table at the mansion. The two men had gotten into such a heated argument that Scott had retreated to the danger room while Logan had opted for some good old cage fighting which his wife was not interested in witnessing.

"They are so different, like black and white. Each dislikes the other for the differences that stand between them," Ororo said mysteriously to Emma and a little bit too Dumbledore like for her taste. Vague answers didn't serve any purpose but to confuse people further and Emma Winter was tired of being kept in the dark by those that felt that she should be protected.

"True, I could not think of two people that would be more different than those two," Emma commented deep in thought.

"Logan likes to push Scott's buttons but after Jean died it calmed down a lot," Ororo said feeling the grief for her friend turn more bittersweet every time she spoke of her. She missed her friend greatly; nobody could ever take the place of Jean who had been so important to her friends and students at the mansion.

"It was worse than it's now?" Emma asked shocked, how on earth could it be worse than it was? The two men were at each other's throats all the time, driving the other residents of the mansion up the walls.

"Why because of Jean?" Emma asked curiously. She knew what she had seen in Logan's memories, but they had never really discussed his feelings for Jean. It had felt improper to barge into, what was obviously, a very sensitive subject to Logan.

"Oh yes, it was horrible at times. Logan liked Jean more than he should have and never hid that from her or Scott. It seemed that Logan wasn't very used to a woman saying no to him, he took it quite badly," Ororo said dreamily thinking back on the months of drama at the mansion.

Ororo looked at Emma quickly with an embarrassed smile, "It's a bit awkward to discuss your husband's former fascination with another woman."

"We both had lives before we met. Whatever Logan did in his past, or whoever he had feelings for once upon a time, does not bother me as I know he adores me," Emma said calmly and Ororo nodded in agreement.

"You two seem to fit together, strangely as it seemed in the beginning," Ororo said thoughtfully. In the beginning, she had been shocked that the Wolverine had fallen in love with Emma Winter who seemed so young, and innocent compared to the feral mutant. However, the two seemed to understand each other on a profound level and Ororo couldn't deny the love she saw blossoming between the two.

"I've seen pictures of Jean, she was gorgeous," Emma said calmly, it was true after all. Jean might have been one of the most beautiful women that the witch had ever seen.

"She was, not only on the outside but a wonderful person and a dear friend," Ororo said nostalgia in her voice as she thought back on the good times she had spent with her dearest friend.

"You sound as if you miss her immensely," Emma noted looking at Ororo who was battling with tears that seemed close to falling.

"Yes, she was my best friend."

"I'm sorry Ororo. I would have loved to meet her. Everyone speaks so highly of her."

"You would have loved to know her, everyone did," Ororo said with admiration in her voice, she had always looked up to her and often came to Jean with her problems.

The witch felt the mood was getting too nostalgic for her taste and was happy to see Scott come into the room and sit on the sofa next to her. The young witch hadn't spoken much with Scott since she had connected with Logan, and she felt slightly guilty for it. Scott was a friendly guy who was a bit quiet and reserved, at least to her. He was still grief-stricken even though a year had passed since Jean´s sacrifice.

He was staring at her from behind his thick sunglasses, making her self-conscious. It was extremely uncomfortable for her not to be able to see his eyes but there was no way she would ever see Scott without his glasses off. Ororo had warned her to run like the wind if he ever did not have his glasses on.

"You two want to come to the movies? I don't want to spend another night cooped up in here," Scott said unusually restless. Emma and Ororo stared at him in surprise, usually, he locked himself in his room after dinner and not to be seen again until the next morning when he would come out to teach classes. Both of the women nodded in agreement and Scott smiled happily at them.

"Let's go find Hank and get him to come with us," Scott said ushering them out the door.

Emma didn't know how Logan had managed to squeeze himself behind the walls of protection that encircled her constantly. Growing up, her defences had always been high up and keeping everyone out. For a long time, Emma had deceived herself into thinking that she was only helping Logan when in all honesty he had helped her to face her past. The numbness and deep darkness that had engulfed her like a thick blanket, ever since the final stand against Voldemort, had started to dissolve around her little by little, without her even noticing.

It wasn't until months after arriving at the mansion, that Emma realized that she had changed immensely in a short time. Even Xavier took notice as he pointed out slyly, that she seemed more carefree than upon her arrival. Sure enough, life was not all unicorns and butterflies and never would be, but Emma felt more willing to engage with people around her and even try to have a little fun while working at Xavier's.

Logan was at the foreground of this drastic change in her, that much she could admit to herself. His stubborn way of drilling himself into her heart had disarmed and startled the young witch in the beginning. Coming to Xavier's had changed her life in just a few months. Letting a hairy, old mutant into her life had possibly been the best decision of her adult life.

Emma stood by the kitchen window, sipping on a coffee and watching with a glint in her eye as most of the staff and students enjoyed a surprisingly sunny day so early in the year. Logan stealthily sneaked up on Ororo who was talking to Kitty paying no attention to things around her. The man quickly grabbed the unsuspecting woman into his arms and then jumped into the pool with her screaming with anger at getting her clothes wet. Hank snorted with laughter at their antics and Ororo was less than impressed as she splashed water angrily at Logan, who had a devil may care grin on his lips as he observed the hissing woman in front of him. Emma felt herself laughing heartily at her friends who had become so dear to her in such a short amount of time.

Emma had forgotten that not far from her were two mutants, with super senses, that could hear fantastically well. Only moments after her laughter erupted from her, Hank and Logan looked around locating the sound and looking directly at the window where she stood. Hank waved a large blue hand and Logan quirked his eyebrow with a sly grin on his lips.

"Mutants and their super hearing," Emma grumbled under her breath hoping that the two troublemakers would just look away. Hank and Logan looked at each other and laughed as if they had heard what she had said. It took her a few moments to realize that they had.

"Come on Em, wanna take a little dip like 'Ro?" Logan called out mischievously pointing at Ororo that was busy crawling out of the pool, her wet clothes making the task much more difficult. Emma shook her head in denial and laughed loudly when Ororo used her powers to blast Logan with a small tornado. The feral mutant yelled angrily when the water ruined his cigar.

Such moments would happen quite frequently as Emma's life progressed at Xavier's. It was a real wake up call for the witch to enjoy her life, and the friends she had made at the mansion.

Emma watched stunned as Logan's memory unfolded in front of her eyes. She had seen many gory things, but this was one of the worst. Total carnage: those were the only words that could fully explain the situation she was seeing. There were bodies scattered everywhere, body parts around and smoke filled the air. Dead bodies were being thrown at an open fire and the scent made the witch gag with disgust.

The colonel was talking to Logan when a woman's scream was heard close by. Logan stopped in the middle of a sentence and his head snapped up before his gaze locked on a hut close by. The mutant pounced towards the hut where the wailing came from, his face looking extremely alarmed. He ran into the hut to see a Victor Creed attacking a terrified young woman that looked as if she had been through a meat grinder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Logan roared as he attacked the enormous man who seemed too focused on the woman to pay attention to the angry mutant that was after him. Logan jumped on Victor and vicious fighting and snarling ensured. After only a few seconds there was nothing whole left inside the hut, everything had been broken and destroyed. The two men looked as if they wanted to kill each other. Victor looked furious that Logan had pulled him away from his prey, so furious that he was trying his best to stab his sharp talons into the chest of his opponent.

"You're a fucking monster Victor," Logan snarled as he sunk his bone claws into the other man's side. Victor brushed him away looking better than he should have after being stabbed.

"Now Jimmy if I am one what are you then little brother?" Victor snarled in a condescending way to Logan and grinning sadistically when his younger brother growled at him in anger before attacking again.

The vision ended abruptly, and Emma sat opposite a furious Logan. His nostrils were flaring as he inhaled in sharp breaths, showing just how upset the mutant was over the horrible things they had just witnessed. Fighting for control of his temper ended abruptly when he saw understanding in Emma's eyes. It seemed that the witch understood perfectly why he was so shocked and angry.

"Creed, Victor Creed is my brother?" Logan was livid, his nostrils flared and the vein on his neck was protruding alarmingly out in his fury. His wife eyed him silently, there was nothing she could say to that. That was the bond the two feral mutants shared, blood, and that was the reason why Logan had tolerated Victor so long while the other mutant spun out of control with bloodlust.

"Goddammit!" Logan finally bellowed in frustration; his face filled with fury as if he wanted to tear the cottage down with his bare hands. He looked around wildly before turning his back on Emma, storming out of the cottage and slamming the door loudly behind him.

"Logan?" Emma called but was quite certain that he didn't want to listen, not this time around. He was too angry to think straight, let alone stable enough to be able to have a conversation with her about what they had seen. He would need time to blow off steam.

Emma ran out and saw Logan stomping to his bike, the witch ran in front of the bike with her hands out to stop him.

"I am your wife, and you bloody better tell me where you are going!" Emma snarled at Logan who looked at her shocked. Even without her wand, the witch looked formidable, with blazing eyes and a snarl on her face. The cinnamon scent dragged him out of his fury, his mate wanted to know where he was going. The one he loved needed answers and she would get them.

The mutant took a few deep breaths trying to control his temper. His wife deserved some answers, his time of running away without explanations was over. That much was clear in how the witch had put her foot down.

"I'm gonna hunt Victor down and kill him," Logan said calmly, "wanna come with me?"

"No thank you. I have seen enough death to last me a lifetime," Emma said curtly to Logan who opened his arms for her. The witch threw herself into his arms and kissed Logan heatedly. When the kiss broke, Logan pressed his forehead to hers, trying to make her understand why he needed to leave.

"I will hurry back to you. I give you my word," Logan murmured, knowing in his heart that it was probably the last hunt he would have before Emma and himself would move away from it all.

"Don't get lost in the hunt. I will miss you," Emma murmured and hugged him tightly. She could feel his lips kissing her cheek roughly before her husband let her go. A few seconds later his bike started up, the powerful engine roaring to life before Logan hurried away from the cottage, the need to hunt overriding anything else in his being.