*Whum whum whum whum*

JAMIE: Oh, it's cool, that's just my time paradox. His name is Phil.

PHIL: Sup?

JAMIE: Phil's here to take care of that pesky 'Remy's way too old for Rogue' thing. You see, with this time paradox we can just say, for argument's sake, that Remy was 10 when he first met Logan. Right Phil?

PHIL: Yup.

EVERYONE: …Maybe you should get some more sleep Jamie…

JAMIE: Nonsense! I have another chapter to write!

Rogue knocked away his hand again as he toyed with the white bits of her hair. Again.

"You are no fun, chere."Remy pouted as they watched their bus pull up.

Rogue elbowed him slightly, wrinkling her nose. "I'm just tired." She said. Which was true. She was absolutely worn out. Three days without sleep will do that to you.

Remy bowed deeply as he took her gloved hand and helped her up the stairs of the bus. Rogue could almost hear the swoons of the dozen or so girls that had had their eyes on him. He continued with this chivalry nonsense as he escorted her to a seat next to a window, to which he promptly sat beside comfortably. She jutted out her chin defiantly unwilling to admit that she probably wouldn't have been able to make the journey by herself.

"I think they're gonna hunt you down." Rogue said, indicating his newly acquired fan base out the window to distract from her obvious discomfort.

"The ladies love me." He shrugged with a chuckle and slung his arm around the back of her seat so he could more easily play with her ponytail.

It was almost as if he could hear her heart double pace as his fingers went closer to the exposed skin at the back of her neck because he quickly withdrew his arm and offered a quick apology in French.

"It's alright," She assured him despite the fact she didn't know exactly what he had said. She found herself shrinking away more towards the window and trying to think of some way to cover up the back of her neck from now on. "What is a Louisiana boy like you doing in Baltimore?" She changed the subject.

"What's a Mississippi girl like you doing runnin' away from home?" He countered, obviously pleased that she had recognized his accent.

"Nobody said I was runnin'!" She glared at him.

"Oh, please," He rolled his eyes and felt comfortable enough to throw his arm back around her seat. "No money, no place to stay, no resources, awful thieving skills. You obviously haven't had the best hand with luck lately."

"That doesn' mean Ah was running!" Her accent spiked as she became more irritated with how much he had noticed.

"I'm gonna go ahead and guess it's Bobby's fault, 'cause you sounded too damn happy when you talked to Logan." Remy waved his hand in the air in a noncommittal sort of way.

"Your powers are pink." Rogue huffed, unknowingly confirming it to be true.

"Magenta!" He said defensively.

"You didn't answer my question, swamp rat." She sniffed.

"Which question was that, river rat?" He shot back almost immediately, not at all deterred by her prickly demeanor.

"What are you doin' in Baltimore?"

Remy hesitated a moment, internally conflicted between the lie he had prepared, and telling her the truth.

"Business." He compromised between the two sides.

Rogue stared at him skeptically for a moment wondering if she should push it.

If he didn't push my powers, I'm not going to push this 'business'.She rationalized with a nod.

Remy was disappointed as the conversation faded to nonexistence when the bus roared to life and started it's trek north, but the girl looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion.

With her forehead pressed against the glass her eyes started drooping dangerously.

He lightly nudged her shoulder with his fingers and she swayed slightly until her head crashed into his shoulder and she fell into a silent, peaceful sleep.

He smiled, content with his trick as he looped his arm around her and leaned back, sleep not sounding like a bad idea.

They could stretch their legs outside in about an hour.

He watched her steady breathing and decided that if he every met this 'Bobby' who had made this girl turn away from the things that made her smile, driving her to stealing and running, he was going to blow him up.

Normally, it would take roughly three and a half hours to get from New York to Maryland. That is, if you are using speed limits or even driving on roads.

Logan was doing neither.

In fact, he avoided both if at all possible.

That landed him at a little less than a two hour trip. He would have been proud of his new personal best if he hadn't been busy sniffing. Rogue trail was fresh and a welcome relief from the stale ones he had been trying to follow for months, but it wasn't alone. There was another trail that tangled with hers and followed her to the bus station. It resembled some odd mixture of sin and smoke.

It was strangely familiar…

…Like something he had known in a different life time…

He shook off the feeling, firmly telling himself that he was going to figure it out later, but his first priority was to get the kid.

"Uh…" Someone said from behind him. "Can I help you?"

Logan realized that a man crouching down in the middle of a bus station, sniffing the air might look a little weird to someone else. Not that he cared, but it was an observation.

"Hi," He turned to the woman who was giving him an odd look as he straightened up to his full height. "I'm looking for a girl with brown and white hair. She was here earlier. She was with a man."

"Oh," The woman's face brightened up. "She was the girl with that hunk of a man! They were so cute!"

Logan cringed at her choice of words and wondered if he was going to have to kill this 'hunk of a man'.

"They left about an hour ago." She continued with a perky smile, unaware of Logan's violent thoughts.

"Which bus did they take?" He asked. She handed him the pamphlet with the bus listing on them and pointed out the one they took.

"It has three stops along the way." She said. "I don't know which one they would get off at. Sorry I couldn't help more."

"Thank you." He smirked. The next stop was about an hour away.

An hour away if you were using speed limits or driving on roads, that is…

As Logan hopped on his motorcycle he let his thoughts wander back to Bobby goddamn Drake.

This was all his fault.

Logan wouldn't be contemplating the murder of a man he didn't know while hunting down the girl whose life he had saved upon several different occasions if Bobby hadn't been and idiot. Next time he saw that kid he was going to stab him.

Bobby Drake was sitting at his desk, studying Greek and Roman architecture for his next quiz in his early civilization class.

His head suddenly snapped up and he was overcome with a feeling he had gotten the day before Logan had returned to the mansion for the first time since Jean and the Professor died.

It was the feeling one gets when they're due for an ass kicking in the near future.

"I'm being silly," He tried to discourage the feeling. "It's not like I've got some dangerous people after me." He chuckled nervously…

…And then checked under his bed and in his closet…