Later on, after the remained hours of the day turned out to be annoyingly uneventful, Logan was just getting ready to settle down for a restless night of sleep. Rummaging through his already messy drawer, he grumbled incoherently about his day to no one in particular, as he was alone. "Damn that Nicole!" he growled, finally giving up the search for clean pajama clothes and ripping his shirt off over his head. Screw it.

As the shirt fluttered to the floor, he paused for a moment, thinking. Something was wrong with this picture. Reaching up to his neck, he realized he was now dog-tag-less. "Fuck!" with something of a muted roar he started tearing apart his room frantically. WHERE WAS IT!

After what seemed like hours of frantic rummaging, Logan finally gave up, plunking down on his bed amid the sea of overturned furniture and scattered belongings. He groaned, ruffling his hair. That dog tag was his only link to his past. Where could he have lost it! Suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks.

The pool… he vaguely remembered the thrashing and struggling both he and Nicole had done in an attempt to stay afloat. Great. His dog tag was lying at the bottom of the swimming pool. Or worse, it had been taken from the bottom of the pool and some random student was wearing it right now.

- - -

As Nicole and Katie got prepared for bed, Nicole couldn't quell the urge to examine the dog tag more closely. Who was "Wolverine"? She wondered vaguely, fingering the cool metal tag that lay just behind her nightshirt.

"Nicole, are you still playing with that dirty tag?" Katie asked, rolling her eyes.

"No!" Nicole lied, pretending.

"Its probably got AIDS." Katie replied, not buying Nicole's 'innocent act' at all.

"It does not have AIDS."

"For all you know, it could be Logan's and have spent hours pressed against his sweaty hairy hide! And now you've got it down your shirt. Good move Nicole."

Nicole scowled. "Well, is Logan's name Wolverine? I don't think so. Besides, that's far too many syllables for his tiny brain to comprehend." Nicole mumbled, not denying the fact that, if the tag were Logan's she wouldn't mind half as much as she should, that the tag had spent hours pressed against Logan's chest. Nicole's heart hammered in her chest despite her attempts to tell it to shut up. Secretly, she was almost certain that the tag was Logan's since she had found it after the incident in the pool, right under where Logan had been. Nicole decided that she really didn't want to discuss this matter with Katie anymore (who didn't seem to have any sympathy). Getting up she haphazardly tossed on pjs, and curled up on her side, one hand holding the tag until the name and numbers imprinted into her hand and fell rather soundly asleep.

Katie decided she was going to ignore Nicole back, as her friend probably needed sleep. Moving her pillows to hunt for the sleepwear she'd misplaced that morning, she found something entirely more interesting. Opening the small, red envelope with a tingle of anticipation, she carefully unfolded the rose-printed (mMm, rose scented as well) notepaper...

The paper made crisp crinkling noise as she unfolded it. The handwriting was small, and neat and elapsed into an attractive mix between cursive and print, with slightly larger, sweeping capital letters for the first word of each sentence. With rising anticipation Katie began to read;

Katie,

You are the most beautiful young woman I have had the fortune of laying my eyes on. Upon your entrance into a room, my heart skips a beat. Your image haunts my dreams. Like a reoccurring nightmare, though sweet and warm, my dreams of you set my soul aflame. Your face, so angelic and soft, haunts my mind. Thoughts of your creamy pale skin and crystalline blue eyes are the only ones that come to mind when left alone to think. Like a poison, though hot and sweet and not at all unpleasant, your voice sends chills down my spine, dragging me down into sweet oblivion. Though I wish not to scare you, when you are around I cannot take my eyes off of you, though you do not acknowledge my presence. My heart burns for you, my darling angel.

I expect I will write again soon, I did not wish to frighten you if I have.

I merely wished to make my feelings known to you,

Shade.

Katie gasped again, softly, trembling all over in pleasure. Oh! There was nothing more for her to think, lost as she was in the idea of someone thinking such thoughts about her. With a shiver she read and re-read the note again, absolutely floored in a most wonderful way. Already she wanted the next note, Shade's skill with words leaving her wondering how such an intelligent and passionate person could possibly be carrying the torch for her. As much as she yearned to know who this mysterious stranger was, she half-expected some sort of dreadful punch line. This was something far too wonderful a thing to be real...

"Psst, Nicole!" Katie hissed, leaning over, hoping her friend wasn't already asleep. Unfortunately, Nicole only made a muffled squeak, almost in fear, as though she was having a most interesting dream...