Chapter 10 "Delicate Touches"

Rogue braced herself, not knowing what kind of villain she was about to face. I don't have my knives, she thought, feeling her body tense up from panic. That's okay, she tried to soothe herself, you don't need them. You're trained for hand to hand combat, you'll be fine. She heard Logan release his claws as the scene around them began to change. She got into her battle stance.

Rogue nearly choked on air as they saw what the scene had changed into. They were on a dirt leaf littered path in a dense and dimly lit forest. Few rays of sunlight cut through the canopy, giving off a spotlight effect on their surroundings. Logan sniffed the air and strained his ears to try to smell or hear anything abnormal, but all was calm in this simulated forest.

"Anything?" Rogue asked, her voice still tense.

"No," Logan said in disbelief, his claws slowly slipping back into his hands, his posture relaxing just a bit. "It's just a forest."

"Why the hell would they put us in a forest?" Rogue asked, following Logan's lead and relaxing a little, taking in the scene around her. She had to admit that it was a gorgeous place.

"No idea," Logan shrugged. "We might as well check out what's down this way."

Rogue and Logan walked slowly down the dirt path, each contemplating their reason for being trapped in this type of simulation. It didn't seem like a combat training exercise seeing as there were no drones or cyber Mystique's coming out to try to blow them up or rip their heads off. Rogue sighed heavily, mentally shrugging. Just wait and see I guess, she thought.

"Are there any animals?" Rogue asked Logan for the sake of conversation. Logan took a deep breath.

"Yep," he grumbled. "A lot."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't have to be an ass." She snapped.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my day!" Logan growled deeply. Rogue realized that they'd stopped walking.

"Oh yes," Rogue hissed sarcastically. "This is exactly the way I wanted to spend my goddamn day!"

Rogue noticed Logan wasn't looking directly at her, but right beside her. When she'd calmed down to realize that it was because he was actually looking at something else---not just avoiding looking at her out of spite--- she whirled around to find out what was so damn interesting.

It was two deer, a doe and a buck to be exact, just walking calmly, weaving around the trees, looking happy as could be. They didn't seem to mind the yelling. Rogue continued to look around and started to see the forest come to life right before her eyes…in pairs. She noticed two squirrels chasing one another playfully up in the tops of trees, two birds circling above them, even two foxes running and jumping gaily about. Well, Rogue thought, Jubilee was never one to be subtle.

"I think we're gonna have to work together on this one." She said, looking up at Logan, who was looking around at the wildlife, looking confused.

"You mean like a teamwork simulation?" He asked, honestly not getting the point. Rogue wanted to slap herself.

"Logan," she sighed heavily. "That is a buck and that is a doe. That is a boy fox and that is a girl fox. That is a boy bird and that is a girl bird." Rogue explained, praying that he'd understand because her patience with this whole shebang was wearing very thin.

"Oh!" Logan said in a 'I'm surprised but don't really get it' type voice. And then he thought about it. Rogue nearly laughed aloud as she saw the lights come on behind his eyes. "Oh.," he said as he finally got it. "Oh… shit."

………0………

"So how long do you think they'll be in there?" Kitty asked Jubilee, Storm, and Scott as they were all sitting around eating their lunches in the cafeteria.

"Oh, it shouldn't take them too terribly long to figure it out," Jubilee said flippantly, crunching into her spicy taco. "I put in a few subtle clues."

"And, even when the figure out the purpose of the simulation, they wont be able to end it anyway," Storm said, casting a stern look toward Jubilee, wondering what type of "subtle" clues she'd added into the simulation without telling anyone. "I put a timer on it. They'll have to spend one night in the forest. As soon as they awaken tomorrow, the simulation ends. They have to spend the night regardless"

"Um," Scott coughed uncomfortably. "What if they wake up in a…compromising position?"

"SCOTT!" Storm exclaimed, shocked that he'd even bring something like that up in front of Jubilee and Kitty, though it wouldn't surprise Storm if Jubilee were more experienced in the areas of sex then all of the X-Men combined.

"Well, Jubilee isn't SUBTLE!"

"That doesn't mean that they'll…"

"Well, I did add a very romantic log cabin with a big fireplace and a very rough thunderstorm…"

"JUBILEE!"

"What? You want them to sleep in the dirt?"

Needless to say, Storm had to make a minor adjustment or two to the timer. As soon as Rogue and Logan awoken and were fully dressed, the simulation would end.

………0………

"Where are we going?" Rogue muttered to herself, absently thinking out loud.

"I smell water."

"You can smell water?"

"I can smell everything."

"That must get annoying."

Rogue was bored, anxious, and this was very apparent. They had been walking in this simulated forest for almost an hour, just walking down the path hoping to stumble upon something, anything, that seemed like the right place to be.

To avoid the awkwardness of his latent discovery of the motives behind the simulation, Logan immediately started a fight with Rogue, trying to divert their attention elsewhere, like to their tempers and her idiotic best friends. They'd yelled and cussed at one another for a good ten minutes before they were both out of breath and had forgotten what they'd been yelling about in the first place. That was when Logan started walking.

That's how Logan kept from thinking about the reason that they were there. He walked, smelled, and he kept a look out for anything that could distract him for even a moment.

Rogue, on the other hand, was dealing with it by talking. She knew she was probably pestering Logan but she didn't much care at that point. She was confused, pissed off, upset, and nervous to boot.

"I smell a lot of water." Logan mumbled.

"Oh shut up about the water already! Just find it!"

"I'm trying to find it," he ground out. "It should be over this hill. I can hear running water…"

Rogue was thirsty and decided that simulated water was just what she needed. She began to run up the small hill that was in front of them, anxious to reach the other side, despite Logan's cries of protest.

"There is nothing here Logan. I keep telling you, it's not that kind of simulation." Rogue called from over her shoulder. She stood on top of the hell, her hands on her hips, looking at one of the most beautiful sites she'd ever seen in her life.

There was a waterfall cascading over the top of a ride, with a rock jutting out into the center of a large lake. The water was crystal clear and beautiful.

"I'm goin' swimmin'" Rogue announced, walking briskly toward the water.

"This ain't no time for swimmin' Rogue." Logan chastised half heartedly. "We gotta' figure out a way to get the hell out of here." But Rogue wasn't listening. He saw that she'd already taken off her gloves and was getting ready to jump in.

Rogue's body slid through the water effortlessly. The water was cool and refreshing against her skin, and when she opened her eyes underneath the water, she could see everything around her. As she surfaced she saw Logan standing near the waters edge, a smile dancing on his lips.

Rogue looked at his face and couldn't help but flash a brief smile. He was perfect in her eyes, he always had been, and no amount of time had changed that. She swam over to where he was crouched down slowly. She lifted herself up onto the rock and sat next to him, her clothes soaked. He couldn't help but notice how the wet top clung to her every curve and tried to avert his eyes.

"You should give it a try. The water feels great!"

"No thanks," he muttered. "I don't want my clothes to get…"

Rogue didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. Split second decisions made her jump on his back and push them both into the cool water. As the surfaced, Rogue was almost choking from laughing so hard. Logan pushed his hair out of his face and gives Rogue a mock glare.

"All my cigars are wet!" He exclaims, pulling the soggy and now useless contents from the inside of his jacket pocket.

"Good," Rogue laughs, twisting around to float on her back. "I hate the smell of those things anyway."

"Good huh?" Logan growls, and lunges for Rouge in the water. They begin a tiny water fight, dunking one another, splashing, and laughing until they both think they just may drown. Until Logan's hand nearly brushes the side of Rogue's face.

"Logan, my skin!" Rogue exclaims, swimming toward the shallow end of the lake. She stands in the waste deep water, panting, trying to keep the panic down that was rising in her chest. Logan slowly swims over to the shallow end and stands up, not getting too close to Rogue's trembling form.

Logan didn't know what to say. He remembered what Charles had told him about her wanting him to be the first person to touch her since she'd gained control. If that was true, then why was she freaking out? Was Charles wrong? No, mind readers can't be wrong, Logan reasoned.

"Rogue…" Logan began wading closer to her, and she lifted her eyes to meet his, her face now fully composed. And that was when they heard the first rumbles of thunder.

"It's gonna storm." Rogue muttered, straightening up and willing herself to stop shaking.

Logan sniffed the air. It's gonna be one hell of a storm, he thought. He could already smell the electricity in the air.

"Let's get out of this lake. It's gonna start lightning," he suggested. They scrambled out of the lake as they began to feel the first sprinkles of rain on their faces.

"What are we gonna do?" Rogue yelled, running for her gloves and putting them on quickly. It didn't take long for the rain to start pouring down. The thunder was so loud that Rogue could of sworn that she felt the ground shake.

"Hurry, lets go down the path a little ways more and see what we see. Surely they didn't stick us in the middle of a thunderstorm without some sort of protection!" Logan grabbed Rogue's hand and they raced down what was once a dirt path. Rogue nearly slipped and fell in the nearly ankle deep mud and she silently cursed her two best friends.

"Look!" Logan shouted, pointing about a yard away at what seemed to be a small house. The window was aglow with a warm light that Logan knew to be fire light.

They ran excitedly the rest of the way until they came to the steps of a beautiful log cabin. Rogue barely had time to register the large wraparound front porch before Logan began jerking her up the stairs.

"Let's get in there, it's freezing," he grumbled. He was really going to kill Scott and Storm for this.

They stepped up onto the front porch, grateful to be out of the stinging rain. Logan and Rogue gave one another questioning looks, neither sure if they really wanted to enter this cabin or not.

"You go first." Logan suggested.

"Me? No way, you go. You're bigger."

"It was your friend's idea in the first place!"

"Prove it."

They were at a standstill. Finally, Rogue took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob. The reason they didn't want to enter the cabin wasn't out of fear of what could be inside. It was because they both knew why that cabin was there in the first place. This was their friend's way of forcing them to come to terms with the way that they felt for one another. They had both tap-danced around the issue so much that they just didn't know how to approach it. Neither one of them wanted things to go back to the way they were when Logan had first arrived at the mansion after all those years of being gone. Rogue was afraid to let her guard down and allow Logan into her heart because she didn't want to be hurt again. Logan was afraid that Rogue would decide against the whole ordeal, afraid of rejection.

Rogue began to turn the doorknob when she saw Logan place a hand over her gloved one.

"We're in this together…no matter what happens." Logan said softly. Rogue looked up into his amber eyes and smiled.

"No matter what happens," She repeated, and they both opened the door just as darkness fell upon them.

………0………

"So, they should be in the cabin by now." Jubilee said at the dinner table. It had just gotten dark outside and that was when Jubilee had planned for the storm to start getting pretty nasty.

"Logan's gonna' rip you limb from limb when they get out of there." Bobby said to Jubilee, chewing on a piece of chicken.

"Rogue's gonna' use you two for target's in her archery class." Pete added, digging into his dinner.

"Or they'll both thank us for our brilliant intervention!" She declared dramatically.

"I just hope they don't both murder us in our sleep." Kitty muttered.

"Oh, if ole' Wolvie has his boxers in a bunch he'll take it out on Scott, not us. Now Rogue…well, we may have to move her out of our room before she comes back…maybe we should put her junk in the Wolverine's room!"

"NO!" Shouted Kitty, Pete, and Bobby at the same time.

"What? You don't think it's a good idea?"

"NO!"

………0………

"Wow, this storm's lookin' pretty bad." Logan called to Rogue from the bathroom that he had stumbled upon while exploring the cabin. They had let themselves in and found themselves inside of a cozy warm place. They walked into a large living area with a beautiful fireplace in its center, a fire roaring inside. They discovered a cozy little bedroom in the room next to the living area, a kitchen, and a small bathroom in which Logan was in search of towels.

"Doesn't look like it's gonna be lettin' up." Logan said, walking back into the living room and handing Rogue a towel. They were standing on a gorgous fur rug that was placed just in front of the hearth. Rogue felt badly for dripping water all over it, but then she remembered that it was only a simulation…

"It's too bad this isn't real." Rogue mused, toweling her hair a little. "This is the type of place I've always pictured myself in."

"Really?" Logan cocked an eyebrow. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me out of a Southern Belle like yourself." Rogue swatted him with the towel.

"I'm serious! I've told Jubilee and Kitty a million times that I wanted to live in a small log cabin someday. That's probably why they added this to the simulation…" Rogue looked up at Logan. She'd never told her two friends that every time she'd ever pictured herself in her cabin, she'd always pictured Logan in it with her. "It's too bad this isn't real." Rogue muttered again, continuing to towel her hair and watch the fire intently.

Logan had peeled off his flannel shirt and had slung it over the shower curtain to dry. He stood there in his white undershirt, tight jeans, and socks (they'd taken their muddy shoes off before entering the cabin) and Rogue wanted nothing else except to reach up and touch his face. Their eyes met again, Rogue so stunned by the look of longing and love burning deep within his eyes that she dropped her towel. She bent immediately for it but Logan had already bent down to retrieve it. He bundled both of their towels together and tossed them aside, not paying attention where they landed.

"Rogue…Marie… look at me," Logan's voice was soft and deep, a tone Rogue hadn't heard in so long. She couldn't help but look at him. "Touch me…" He whispered. Rogue shook her head.

"I can't Logan…what if I…"

"You won't," he shook his head. "I trust you Marie. And I need you to trust me." Rogue continued to shake her head. "I want to be the first…no, the only man you ever touch Marie."

Rogue's eyes went to his face and then down to her still gloved hands. She wanted Logan to be her first, she always had, but things were so different now. She wasn't that young girl that she once had been. But she loved him, and she knew in her hearts of hearts that he felt the same way too.

Rogue took a deep breath and began to slowly peel the gloves away from her hands. She handed them to Logan who in turn tossed them in the same direction that he had discarded the towels. She held her hands out in front of her, the firelight giving them an orange glow. They were small hands with dainty looking fingers, but they were also strong hands, and Logan knew what those beautiful hands were capable of. They had broken his nose, after all.

"Please Marie…" Logan whispered his voice full of wanting. "I won't touch you until you ask me to… I'll take it as slow as you want. Just one touches Marie…"

Rogue's hands were shaking as they reached toward his face. She hesitated for a moment before gingerly touching the sides of Logan's face. He closed his eyes, reveling in the softness of her skin. Her fingers roamed as if memorizing every inch of his face. Logan gasped as he felt her thumb trace his lips.

It took all of his will power to keep his arms at his sides and not reach for her. He didn't want to scare here away, but he longed to touch the rest of that soft pale skin.

Rogue's hands began to travel down Logan's neck. He let his head fall back, enjoying the sensations running through him. Her hands left his neck and slid down his chest and stomach and began to tug at the bottom of his undershirt. He lifted his arms and she slipped the shirt off his body, and then ran her hands down his broad muscular chest. She was amazed at how good his rough skin could feel.

Rogue began to walk around Logan, touching his upper and lower back, causing him to shiver. When her hands had thoroughly explored his back, she stood in front of him, running her hands down the length of his arms until they reached his hands.

Their hands were so different. Hers small, pale, and delicate looking and his large, calloused, and dangerous. And yet as she laced their fingers together they found that their hands were a perfect fit for one another.

"I'm scared Logan." Rogue whispered, almost angry with her feelings for betraying her.

"I am too Marie…" Logan admitted, nearly chuckling. Rogue gave him a questioning look. He sighed. "I'm afraid I won't be able to give you everything that you deserve. I'm a man with no past. I have no idea what I've done, who I was, or why I've wound up here… but I thank the stars every day that I picked you up on the side of that road, even though you were just an annoying snotty nosed kid then." Rogue smiled and shook her head.

"Then why did you leave me Logan? Why did you ever leave me?" Her voice was shaking, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"I was a damn idiot, that's why." Logan told her about Mystique appearing to him in his tent, and of the feelings that it had stirred inside him. "You were with pop-sickle boy, and I thought you were better of without me trying to complicate your life. You were still in high school, for Christ's sake." Rogue nodded.

"I understand now… I suppose it would have been impossible for you to stay then… but I still want you to know," Rogue took a deep breath. "That I loved you then, as young as I was; I loved you more than anything." And then, for the first time in a very long time, Marie came bursting through the walls, and spoke three magical words to Logan for the first time. "And I love you now. I love you."

"And I love you. I swear, I'm never going to leave you again… not ever Marie."

"Kiss me Logan," Marie said. "Please kiss me."

Logan moved a hand to her hair and a hand around her waste, her placing her hands on his chest, letting him pull her toward him. He ran his hand through her hair, inching closer and closer to her, until finally their lips were only an inch apart. Marie closed the gap, and their lips met, finally, for the first time.

Kissing Logan felt like taking a breath she'd been holding. She felt as if she'd been under water all these years, and now finally, she was resurfacing. Logan's kiss was surprisingly soft and tender, and as he deepened his kiss, Marie knew she was done for.

They laid down on the rug in front of the fireplace, Marie praying that even if the cabin wasn't real, she prayed that the love they were about to make would be real. And it was real. The most real thing either of them had ever felt.

………0………

Daylight shone through the windows of the cabin, casting shadows on the two forms still lying in front of the fireplace. The fire had long stopped burning but the warmth it had emitted still lingered throughout the cabin. Marie awoke first, having to think twice about where she was, until she saw Logan's sleeping form next to her. He had an arm slung lazily over her stomach, a smile dancing on his sleeping lips. Marie smiled reaches over, and pushed some hair out of his face.

"Morning," he half muttered, half slurred.

"Good morning," she smiled. He leaned up and planted a sloppy kiss onto her shoulder before stretching.

"I guess we better get dressed and find out how to get out of this." Logan said gruffly, knowing that neither he nor Marie wanted to leave this Heaven that they had found.

"Yeah," Marie sighed heavily, letting Logan help her off the floor. "I wish we didn't have to though."

"That makes the two of us darlin'. Now, where did my pants get off to…"

The two took their time dressing, wanting to prolong leaving as much as possible. They knew that as soon as they figured out how to end the simulation that they would have to face the people that trapped them there, them probably knowing everything that had transpired there.

"So…what happens now?" Marie asked as they both approached the front door.

"What do you want to happen?" Logan asked, almost afraid of her answer.

"I don't want you to leave!"

"Marie, I swear I'll never leave you again." Logan pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead tenderly.

"So…we're a couple?" She asked. It was strange, thinking of Logan being anyone's boyfriend, nevertheless hers.

"Yeah," Logan laughed. "I guess we are." Marie smiled.

"I like the sound of that." Marie purred, leaning up to give Logan one last kiss before they left their cabin. After they broke the kiss, the put their hands on the doorknob and turned it together.

Whatever they were to face on the other side of the door, they would face together, just as they would face their lives from now on. They knew that they were in it for the long hall, and that they were never gong to leave one another's sides again. They were in it together no matter what.

THE END

Authors Note: YAY, we're done! So, leave me lots of love, and beg me for another story! I've got another idea in the works. I think it will be much better than this story! Its been an honor writing this story for ya'll, and I really hope you enjoy this final chapter. Thank you all for all the reviews and support you've shown me. I hope you'll all come back and read future fics!