A/N: So sorry for the late posting. I'm kind of a busy-bee these days, what with just getting out of school and filling out forms and stuff. Anyway, I made this chapter extra-long for you guys to compensate for all the waiting. I'll post the next chapter pretty soon if you guys review!

Chapter Three

Blackmailed

My phone ringed.

Jubilee.

Yes, even though I had left the mansion for these eight months now, Jubilee still remained my one and only connection to the place. She wanted me to come back home, but of course that wasn't possible.

Home is where Logan is.

I think I've grown pathetic with time. God, why can't I get him out of my bloody head?

It was still seven and I was working. My shift was on and I was filled up to my head with growling, demanding customers who wouldn't stop leering at me. It was embarrassing and irritating. And I for one knew that I was no Penelope Cruz (which according to me is the most beautiful actress I know of). So why wouldn't they just quit it? I had dropped enough things here to get me fired, just because I felt nervous with all the staring. I wasn't used to this. I guess during all this I was only able to hang on to my job with the help of Ethan's powers which were slowly but definitely leaving.

I guess if they would have had first hand experience touching me like Remy, they'd probably stay away.

Unfortunately, Remy had done no such thing. Ditched me, I mean. Right now, I think we maintain a good friendship, as a relation. And thats all I want from him I guess. I mean, my head was filled up with Logan, though I'd refrain to accept it in front of anybody, and with another guy, I'd probably go insane.

After a dinner with him when I first joined here, we had set things straight. He knew only the most basic things about me, like where I lived before I came here, the stuff I did. In return, I got only the basic things. Remy, who was also called Gambit by some, possessed the ability to manipulate kinetic energy. He also confessed that he had a hypnotic charm (I was sure that was it the first time we met when my eyes kept going back to him!) and could do well with a staff in a combat, if things came down to it.

He didn't of course confess that he was a professional thief, something that I had learnt when I touched him along with a couple of other things. But the contact was very brief to say anything. And the fact that he was seeking redemption from his past made me realize that he was a friend just like all others at the mansion. After all, from what I see of it, the mansion was a place where many had confessed taking advantage of their powers over humans. I also realized that Gambit (though I like calling him Remy) is fiercely proud of his Louisiana heritage.

Now, I refrained from touching him all together. I was back to gloves and all of me was covered except my face, which I think I cannot mask.

Focus, Rogue.

Jubilee was still on the other line. I had of course told her just what was really important – like I was fine, working and happy. I hadn't given her any of the deeper details, like where I worked, what I actually did or where stayed these days.

"Hey sugah," I said, on the phone, "You know I'm working right now and I can't really talk. I've got custom–"

"Where the hell are you?" Logan's voice growled from the other side of the phone.

I almost dropped the phone from the shock of hearing his voice. My heartbeat increased and I felt myself hyperventilating. I took a couple deep breaths trying to calm myself down after hearing that voice for the first time in almost two years now. "L-Logan?" I stuttered.

God, if he was using Jubilee's number, then he was obviously back home. Back at the mansion, I mean.

I looked up to see Remy's eyes on me as he sipped his drink, something he wouldn't tell me about. Only Stacy made him drinks. Right now, he was taking his break from work. I could see people howling behind him, exclaiming on their winnings. Well, without Remy, they could sure as hell use those fifteen minutes.

"You bet, bub!"

"You're back?"

"Would have been back sooner or later."

I was still reeling from the shock of hearing Logan's voice. What was he doing calling me after all these years? Where was he was the past couple of years?

"What do you want?" I said, recovering immediately. If I was on the phone for too long, he might as well track my call. I mean, I had changed my number, begged Jubilee, the sole person in the mansion who knew my number, not to trace it. Maybe, Logan talked her into letting him talk to me. But how could Jubilee do this to me?

"Marie, come on–"

"Rogue."

"What?"

"Rogue, call me Rogue."

"What are you sayin' kid?"

"If you've got nothing better to talk about while you track my call, then I'd better say goodbye."

He growled. "Marie, you wouldn't dare!"

Yeah, that'll be a blow to his huge ego, right? Marie, a mere kid, hanging up on him.

"You bet, bub" I said, using his own words, "I'm not coming back, Logan, whatever you say. You did what you wanted, I'll do what I want."

"What are you talkin' about kid?"

I sighed. "You left without a word, remember? I merely followed your footsteps."

"Marie—"

"Rogue," I corrected.

"Marie," he said, as if in controlled voice. "Come back home. Wherever you are, come back. I'm warnin' you kid. You're gonna regret it otherwise."

"Right. Goodbye, Logan."

"Marie, don't you hang up on me. I swear—"

That's when I disconnected the call.

I looked back down at the phone, my eyes fixed on 'Call ended' that was displayed there. Suddenly, the text vanished replaced by my phone's wallpaper. It was a scene of Winter, ice and frozen trees — a symbol of the kind of life I lived now.

I cursed myself. Why didn't I disonnect the call the moment I heard his voice? I threatened disconnecting the call but I couldn't until he started all his swearing and 'kid'ing me. That got me really angry to finally realize what I was doing — helping him track me down.

But hearing his voice, after so long… how could I? How could I stop listening to all his swearing that I was so used to, that it was an almost normal speech with him?

And the only conclusion I knew was that I had it bad for this guy. After so many years, after telling myself to get over him night after night, after telling myself everyday to stop thinking about him, I was still stuck where I began from. I was no more farther from him than I was two years back. I was still gullible sixteen year old, little Rogue who couldn't take care of herself and had fallen hard for the Wolverine, who wouldn't return her feelings, who didn't even know she had feelings for him, or maybe he knew and chose to ignore? There were so many unanswered questions, so much I wanted to know, and yet, everytime I turned around to ask him for answers, he was never there.

He is never there.

God, I'm loosing it.

Calm down, Rogue.

I bit my lower lip as I considered my situation. Logan probably had tracked my call because of my sheer stupidity. Well, I deserved it right if he did. How could I be such an idiot to keep talking to him for so long? Even if he might not have the exact location, even if he had just the name of the town, he would come to the Billy's. I was so sure.

After all, we met here for the very first time.

Or maybe, I was over-estimating things. Logan didn't care for me, right? Why would he come back here then? But then, this place had cage fights and Logan would do anything for a cage fight. If he knew there was a place in town that had that particular perk, I was so sure he would drop by.

Maybe I chose the wrong place to hide, after all.

Hiding? Where did that come from? God, I wasn't hiding. Not from Logan. Not from anybody.

Or was I?

No, I wasn't. I'm definitely not hiding.

Anyway, I had enough money to travel south. For weeks now, I had been thinking about finally breaking this to Remy and Stacy. I wanted to leave. Staying at one place for long wasn't what I had planned before. All the more, I wanted to meet more mutants out there and know about them. It was fun. Weird huh? But I don't know, I wanted to know more people of my kind, probably help them. Besides Remy, I had met a few more mutants at the bar in the past few months. Remy told me how there was a chance of ten mutants in every hundred humans, which was quite a number of people who were mutants out there.

I knew that many of them didn't even acknowledge themselves as mutants, hid their identities or cried at nights due to it. Once, I was one of them. Today, I'd want to help people like those and probably send them to the Mansion for Professor's help.

"Are you okay, chère?" Remy said, softly, bending ahead.

I nodded. "Yes," I lied. I wasn't okay. I wasn't okay AT ALL.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded again.

"Chère," he said, smiling, "I know something's up. But if you don't want to talk about it right now, its okay. Anyway, did you by any chance, say Logan? As in…the guy with claws?"

My eyes snapped back to him from the phone's screen, which I kept looking at. "You know him?" I asked.

He nodded. "I do, actually."

"How?" I asked, in spite myself.

"We… uh, we went on this mission together. We worked together on it."

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded. "Saved a few kids back then. Our kind."

"Oh."

Why was I so interested in knowing everything about that stupid Logan? Why couldn't I just quit troubling myself with him? Why should I care what he wants, what he does, where he goes?

I knew I had to break this to Remy and Stacy sooner than I thought. Probably tomorrow? I don't know. Just soon. Until then, I know I wasn't hiding and if-if Logan reaches here, I knew Remy would always be around to give me a hand against Logan if I needed.

Though of course, even when put together we wouldn't stand a chance against him. Unless I used my powers. Which I wouldn't even think of doing.

There was one thing though. I wouldn't obey Logan like a kid, whatever it took. I wasn't Marie, for Lord's sake and I wasn't going to behave like her. Logan already bled her to death. Now, there was only Rogue and Logan would have to deal with her.

"Does he want to… uh, harm you in anyway, chère?" Remy asked me, a serious note to his voice.

"No," I shook my head. "It's just… a bit complicated. Of course he wouldn't hurt me. You know I'm capable of taking care of myself, right?" I asked, smiling at him.

"Of course," he said, smiling back at our secret joke.

The joke that my life is.

"Okay, I gotta go back," he said, finishing his drink. "Gotta crash their dreams," he nodded back at the people winning cards. I nodded as Remy got up and back to the table. I was so sure I heard a collective groan. I smiled again as Remy sat down on his chair, watched him playing like a pro with the cards, shuffling them, dealing them. And winning, oh, nobody could defeat Remy while I served the customers and got their mugs.

"Beer," growled a rough voice from somewhere behind me. I almost froze in shock. Yes, I did freeze when I heard his voice on phone. But this time, I knew it was real. Like really real. Because I could actually feel goose-bumps. Especially on my neck and my back, where I was so sure, he was looking.

I turned my head to face our new customer.

"And you thought you could run away so easily," he said, smiling.

It was merely a day since that phone call. How could Logan find me so easily? Was I such a failure at hiding myself?

Again that word! God, I was not hiding from anybody!

"Logan," I said softly, as if in a trance. He smiled some more at me. A couple seconds later, I snapped out of it, blinking my eyes a couple more times than necessary. It had been a long time since I had last seen him, but he seemed same as forever. The grim line for a mouth, hair messed up, eyes as black as midnight and of course, he was handsome as ever, not a day older.

My traitor heart started beating faster and I blushed madly, turning my face around to look at the rows of alcoholic drinks. A particular bottle of red wine caught my eye and I stared into its red depths, trying to calm myself down. I had forgotten how I felt with him, how my heart beat at his sight, how I drank his words, his orders before. I knew that Logan could probably hear my heart beating.

Damn him for everything he could do — make me stare at him, make my heart beat faster, make me want to hug him close to myself, lay my head on his strong muscled shoulder—

Rogue, stop. Shut up.

Finally, I turned around, not exactly facing him. I saw him run an eye over me and I felt the blush retreating. I shut my eyes for patience and moved a bit to looked behind him at Remy. He was dealing cards and involved in playing. Instinctively, Logan looked back to see where I was looking at.

I turned back my attention to him quickly, getting him his beer. As I slapped the his beer-mug down on the bar, his attention snapped back from Remy to me. I looked at him silently, my hand still on his mug, as he lit a cigar. The familiar smell of his cigar hit me and I looked at him, while he continued to look back at me, straight in the eye, now smoking.

I was about to say something to him, when a customer, a blonde haired pretty woman, a little farther away from Logan demanded a shot of vodka. I quickly poured her her drink and shuffled back to Logan, making up my mind about how best to convince him to leave me alone.

"Logan, I thought I made myself pretty clear," I said angrily, looking straight back into his black eyes. "I don't want to come with you, or in fact anyone."

"Marie, I told Professor that I'd bring you back. I promised Jubilee and Storm. I'm not leaving without you. I have a responsibility, that I intend to-"

I looked away, trying to calm all my anger down. It wouldn't help to be jobless for the two weeks I intended to stay here. But when he mentioned 'responsibily', I couldn't help but scoff.

"Right. Responsibilty. What would you know about it?"

"Don't try to be over-smart with me. Drop the act. Lets go, kid."

Shit, that word over again. It made my hands twitch. "Just stop calling me a kid!" I said, a little louder. People around me stared at us. I lowered my voice. "I'm not a kid anymore, Logan. What do I have to do to prove it to you? Can't you understand? I'm-I was a part of X-Men, I've fought so many people, I've absorbed just as many identities. You can't imagine how much I know and understand. You've never seen me as anything but a mere kid. I'm not a kid anymore! And you, definitely have no right to call me that."

"Look, Mar—"

"No, you look," I said a bit more forcefully than I intended, "I don't really have any patience with you. Please leave to take care of myself. I free you from the responsibility that you feel towards me. I no longer need a baby-sitter. I wish you would leave me on my own as soon as you finish drinking that beer of yours, so we don't create a scene here."

Then, I turned around to leave, but Logan got a hold on my hand. I glared at his hand and then back at him. With a jerk I freed my hand. I felt all tingly where he had touch me but I gave no attention to it. "Leave me alone," I said, this time exasperated.

God, was I intimidated by him? Because I was so not intimidated by him. I had thought about this. I had rehearsed it over and over in my mind. When he called me yesterday, I did think how I would shout at him and make him regret all that he had done to me. Make him regret that he left me. I thought I would face him with my face livid and my voice full of the anger that I felt for him. Right now, my voice was barely a squeak.

But that was probably because I hadn't thought I'd have to meet him today! The very next freaking day I had the shock of hearing his voice the first time in two years!

"Marie, you don't look a day older since the last time I saw you," he said, grimly, a slight concern in his eyes. "Have you grown at all? What's your weight?"

I looked at him, irritated more than ever. All my thoughts about being patient with him flew out of the window and I glowered at him. "Are you shitting me, Logan?" I shook my head, clutching the edge of the bar. "I freed you. I just did. I'm adult. I have a house, a job, a happy life. But you have to act like a father to me all the time! What is your freaking problem? Take your ass outta here before I kill you!"

Maybe killing was a bit exaggerated but he didn't have to know. Though he probably did know.

God, was he kidding me? I bloody well loved him and he was asking me about my weight? Maybe if I kissed him square on the mouth, he'd probably think I was kissing him to wipe something off his face!

But really, he couldn't be that dumb, right? He was with women. He'd been with so many of them. So why did he have to act all blunt with me?

"Come on Marie," he said. "I'm not acting like a father. Just a friend. I mean, you don't seem to have grown at all. Shouldn' that be a compliment for you girls, huh?"

When I merely glared some more at him, he continued, "Don't be like this. You know I care for you. And you know that the Mansion is the best place for you to be."

"I'm going nowhere," I said determinedly. "Don't you get it? I want you to leave. Just leave Logan before this gets out of hand."

"You are not getting rid of me that easily Marie."

"Really? I always thought it was real easy on your part. I thought you could ditch me whenever you liked."

"Marie I was out for a while— "

"A while?" I scoffed. "A while? Logan you don't age, people around you do. Maybe that was nothing for you, but those were two years of my life. Two freaking years." I said, interrupting him. "Anyway, that place is not home for me, Logan."

"Funny how you used to refer to it as home."

"Used to. Past tense. I almost killed a kid back at the mansion, Logan. He woke up a month later. I'm not going back so that I can harm more kids."

"We'll keep watch Marie," he said, his eyes suddenly soft. "I'll keep a watch. Nothing like that will ever happen again."

"You will have to be there to keep a watch, Logan" I hissed.

"Marie— "

"Enough," I said, angrily. "I'm not going back. I'm tired of that place. I'm tired of you and everybody else. I want a life for me, for once. And I'm very happy living it, doing a job that I enjoy and living life the way I want."

One of the customers called me for a refill and I quickly filled his mug. I replayed all the things I did for him in my mind, how I acted pathetically like a love-sick puppy to an asshole like him. I thought about how I waited for him, while he never came back. I served a couple of orders on some tables, while Stacy took over the bar.

Remy caught my eye once and looked at me questioningly. I smiled at him, as if to tell what's up? Back at the bar, I noticed Logan following my every movement.

I refilled another customer's mug, who made a silly joke and then made a pass at me. By the time I was back to Logan, I was seething. I became angrier as I noticed his raised eye-brow.

"What?" I asked, glaring at him.

"This is where you work?" He asked, angrily. "This is the job you enjoy doing?"

I flushed slightly, knowing that he had heard everything with his super-sensitive hearing. Damn him.

"And who's that guy who keeps throwin' you glances? Whom you keep smilin' at?"

"A friend."

"Right. And what kind of friends this place has to offer, I can very well see."

"What do you mean?" I said, angrily.

"You have a place to live, eat and sleep back at Mansion. People who call you family and love you. And you choose this over that?" He said, quirking an eye-brow.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm not happy with all that love, Logan," I said, making an indirect reference to him. "Maybe I don't need them to love me. Maybe I something more than filial love. Maybe I don't need anybody to tell me what to do, to kid me around."

He looked at me all confused, so I just quit trying to work this out with him. Logan and me, we'd never work.

"Okay, I'll say this straight. I'm not leaving. Neither do I want to discuss this. I want nothing to do with you or anybody else from back at the Mansion. I'm not leaving this place just so that I could go back and you could skip over to your merrymaking again! I'm no more the child you took on yourself to protect and you are no longer the man who offered that protection. Hell, you never cared. Because you never were there, Logan. For me. Or even for the sake of that promise. So get the bloody well lost!"

Logan looked at me, blinking. "I wasn't merrymaking, godammit! I was in grief!"

"Then please go and continue your mourning. For as long as you wish. Just leave me alone."

"What has happened to you, Marie? You—"

"Exactly," I said, thumping the table a bit to prove my point. "I'm not Marie! Call me Rogue. I'm Rogue. I don't know why I stupidly told you to call me Marie. Because I'm Rogue and that's what I like to be called!"

"I'll call you Marie for as long as I wish and I'd like to see you stop me. And you are coming with me. That's final. Enough with your act. As soon as I finish this," he said, raising his mug, which was almost finished, "We're leaving!"

"No, we are not," I said, glowering back at him. "I will do as I wish, Logan. I will do what I want. I'm an adult. You're not my parent or guardian. So stop behaving like one."

"Are you even of age for bartenderin', kid?" He said, matching my glare, and bending a bit forwards over the bar. "Does the Manager know? I don't think so."

"Logan, don't," I said, sensing danger. "I'm almost twenty one. Its legal even at eighteen in some states. I swear, if you create a scene here—"

"Manager!" Logan shouted, cutting me off. Then he lowered his tone and added, "No, Marie, its illegal. You are under twenty one. And I think that your Manager doesn't know. And if he does, I swear I'll make him regret employin' you. What will you do then, huh?"

"Don't you dare, Logan," I hissed at him.

"Oh, you'll see what all I can dare to do!" He said, smiling in a lethal way.

"Free beer from me. Just keep your mouth shut."

"Really? You think beer can keep my mouth shut?" Then, raising his voice he shouted again, "Manager!"

"A pack of cigar," I said bending closer to him, almost begging him to shut up. For a second, my eyes traveled down to his lips and then, back to his eyes, which were dark like the sky at night. Hopeless. "Please shut up."

For a second, that smug smile was off his face as he looked into my eyes. He licked his lips, then, looked at me. I found myself bending even closer to him, towards his lips.

Before anything could happen though, he stood up. "Maybe you really can buy me off," he said, smiling as if nothing had happened.

I looked at him shell-shocked, rejected again. Michael came hurried now.

"Yes Sir?" He asked Logan.

"Um, what?" Logan tried the innocent act, which didn't suit him at all.

"You did call me, right?" Michael said.

"Oh yeah," he said, smiling. "Good service."

"He's drunk," I supplied automatically, finally straightening up.

He smiled sweetly at us and turned to Logan. "Very well, Sir."

Just then Remy reached us and Michael, who was leaving, glared at him. "You just had your break!" He hissed at him.

He complained, "But, Sir, I need to talk to Rogue. I'll just— "

"Get back to the table."

"But, sir—"

"Get back to the table, Gambit."

Remy didn't look at Michael, only at me. All of us knew that Michael wouldn't fire Remy if he didn't want some heavy loses at his hands. I nodded at him to tell him that everything was under control. Then, he looked at Logan once and returned to his table.

With that, Michael left.

"You and me are going to talk. Now."

"Just give me a few minutes," I said, numbly.

I knew that this was fucking blackmailing but I also knew I couldn't do a thing about it. If I didn't talk to him, he would make me loose my job, something that I wasn't ready to stake at any cost.

"Okay. I'll be around till then," Logan told me, gulping down the remains of his drink in one go.

And then, I couldn't help as my eyes took him in. He was wearing a white shirt coupled with brown jacket and blue jeans that hugged him perfectly. My eyes traveled back to his eyes and I saw he was looking right back at me. Caught staring, I looked away and saw another customer, who was waiting for me to bring him drink.

I nodded at Logan and went to serve him as Logan got up, took his jacket off and tossed it to me. Then, he turned around and went to the crowd cheering for the cage fights. Oh well, I knew this would happen. He would fight and win every single one of those damned fights.

Still holding his jacket, I looked at him. He was still in my line of vision as I considered running away. But I knew he would catch hold of me again, even if I did try. I served that customer and finally decided that I'd watch him fight like the old times. Anyway, it wasn't sensible to work with him around. He already didn't like the place much, for me anyway. For his part, I knew he had been to worse places. I just didn't want him provoked into doing something that would cost my job as I served, in case he noticed the worst part of the job – the harassing customers.

Yes, I said I wouldn't follow his orders, but I was everything exactly the way he wanted. And after being rejected by him over again. I guess I was used to this rejection. Because somehow, it hadn't stung as bad as it did before. Maybe two years away from him had helped me after all.

I reached Michael with Logan's jacket tucked under my arm, and asked him if I could wind it up for the day. It was almost dinner time anyway. "Michael, do you mind if I take off for today? I've a got a…" What? Frenemy? "A friend, whom I met after a long time."

"There are lot customers around Rogue," Michael said, shaking his head, looking around. "I don't think we would be able to work without you here."

Forced again to use Ethan's powers, I focused all of the remaining power on convincing Michael to let me go. Finally, he agreed and I changed into my clothes – a white blouse and black jacket, blue jeans skirt coming to an inch above my knees, below which, I wore pantyhose. Along with these, I was wearing black boots.

I had stopped wearing skirts until the cure. After the cure failed, well, I couldn't exactly quit wearing them, so I started wearing pantyhose along with them.

I reached the staff's lockers, Logan's jacket still with me. Suddenly, I realized I hadn't let go of it since Logan had given it to me. Cursing myself, I left his jacket along with my uniform in the locker and went towards the cheering crowd.

Since I had started working here, these eight months, I had avoided this part of the bar completely because of Logan. This place was so much of a reminder of him that I preferred to stay away. Anyway, the shouting and sight of sweaty men was too much for me. I chose to remain at the calmer side.

Pushing my way through the taller ones, I came closer where I saw him standing inside, fighting a man, who was probably twice his size. An onlooker might have placed his bets on Logan's opponent due to his size. If so, they were loosing sorely because Logan was clearly winning.

His opponent was panting, leaning against the cage, his hand on his sweaty chest. He was fighting in shorts, as compared to Logan who still had his shirt and jeans on. His shirt was almost wet with sweat. As if listening onto my thoughts, suddenly Logan took his shirt off carelessly and threw it away. From the opposite side of the cage, I saw three girls cheer loudly at his stunt, hands flying, eyes in awe, while I bristled.

My breath hitched as he turned around to look directly at me. I looked down at his chest, my eyes traveling down to front of his jeans. Ashamed, I quickly looked up and still saw him looking at me, his face expressionless. I blushed madly, looking away. God, he had caught me staring his jeans-front.

I gulped and my heart-beat picked up again as I looked up to see Logan still looking at me. Suddenly, I saw the fat man advance towards Logan from behind.

Before I could stop myself, I shouted, "Behind you!" as several eyes focused on me and then, back at Logan. Maybe, I should have let him get hit. A little revenge from me?

But of course Marie wouldn't do anything wrong. God I was sick of goody-goody Marie. I desperately needed to have Rogue in my life.

Logan was already on his opponent again, beating the pulp out of him. Punches after punches rained upon him as Logan gained in on him, people cheering loudly around us.

With a final kick, the man was on the ground as Logan still looked at him for any sign of movement. I looked at his back, rippling with muscles. For a second, I imagined what it would be like to hold him close to me, my hands around his chest.

Shit, naked Logan was getting to me. Presuming that he knew I was ready to go, I quickly turned around and went towards the staff's lockers again, retrieving Logan's jacket and telling Stacy that I was leaving. Then, I walked towards Remy who was dealing the cards. Most of the people thought I was Remy's girlfriend and didn't mind the bartender of the bar, talking to the guy who defeated everybody at cards every freaking day. Because of this, I had to take everybody's messages to Remy. Even Michael conveyed his orders to Remy through me since it seemed less suspicious relating to the whole Remy-working-for-the-bar thing.

"Uh, Remy?" I said, as he looked back at me, raising an eye-brow. "Can I have a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," he said, getting up and moving away a bit from the cards' table.

"Stacy wants me to tell you that she needs a ride back home."

He nodded.

"And Michael, he's really angry with you. With your mutiny back there."

He smiled and nodded again.

"And I'm, uh, leaving for tonight."

"Early?" He asked, looking up at me. "With Logan?"

"Yeah. Um, Logan's here and he wanted to talk, so…"

"Hmmm. You're sure he's safe, right?" He asked, with concern in his voice.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"I mean, I was so certain that you were… you were going to kiss him," he said, looking away.

"Yeah, pretty freaky, huh? Guess I drank too much."

"Rogue, you hardly drink at all," he said, his eyes back on me.

I looked up at him caught. "That's not true. I do drink."

"Yeah, but never to drink enough to kiss random guys."

I shrugged, looking away. "I guess I'm probably loosing it then."

Suddenly, Remy hugged me. Just like that. Out of the blue. I felt his hands pressing against my back and pulling me close. Like he was really concerned about me. As if we were hugging for the last time.

And well, I hugged him back. He smelled so good and clean and masculine. I smiled as we left one another finally.

"You're pretty sure about him not being dangerous, right?" He asked again.

"Trusting a man with Adamantium claws sure could be a little difficult. But trust me. The most he could do is drag me home."

Remy looked at me skeptically and I added a 'Just kidding' before finally moving outside the bar, where I was joined by my blackmailer a couple minutes later.

The three girls who were cheering for him had followed him out and were standing in the doorway. I looked back at them, feeling like going and punching their faces in, with the way they were giggling and pointing at him. I mean, they were barely eighteen from the looks of it.

"Ready, kid?" He asked as I shook my head. He would perhaps never quit calling me kid.

"You've got fans following you now," I said nodding my head to the girls.

"Well, I am a star after all," he said, as I blistered again and threw his jacket at him. "Don't you remember the days when you were one of them?"

I looked up at him disbelievingly. "Will you shut up?" I said angrily, leading the way.

Of course this was a joke for him. Poor young Marie hanging onto every word he said, following him like a love-sick puppy.

"What, you can't take a joke now?" He said, grumpily.

I turned around, my eyes blazing. "Sure. My whole life is a joke for you, isn't it Logan? I regret the day I climbed in your van now more than ever. Wherever else I would have been, I would have been in a better state than this."

And before I lost control over my tear-glands, I quickly walked ahead.

A/N: Thanks to tanya2byour21, LuckedClover, BlackDog616 and Ileah for reviewing.

BlackDog616: Here's what you were waiting for, right? Logan's entry. I'll be posting his view too, but a little later.

Ileah: I'm sure I won't make Rogue look bad, believe me. (:

So what do you say about this one? Review it and tell me!