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Rogue

And just like that, we had our rescue.

Steaming hot water sluiced the accumulated layers of filth and dried blood from my body. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more, gingerly gliding over the newly healed bits and pieces of me. Most of the injuries had been superficial, but the reddened skin was still tender and shiny where blaster bolts had sizzled my softer parts. I sighed and rested my forehead against the slippery white tiles of the shower room's wall, stood under the water until I couldn't stand anymore, the heat causing the blood to rush to the tips of my ears. The etched glass stall door slid open easily in a cloud of hot vapor, and I patted myself dry with a thick white towel, inhaling its fresh, clean scent before I wrapped it around me. I took a deep shaky breath to try and calm my surprisingly strangled nerves.

It was a struggle not to feel confined within the walls of the ship. It still didn't feel real. So much time, so much pain, and it was all over in the blink of an eye. I was beyond grateful to our teammates, our family, for coming to our rescue, and to Korvus and my sort of former crew for playing host to us all, but after so much time in the great wide open I was as twitchy as a scared rabbit being penned inside, no matter how homesick I had been. I already missed the sky, the wind, the smells. If it was this bad for me, I could only imagine what it was like for Logan. I sighed louder this time, a dull ache squeezing my heart in my chest like somebody making a fist.

Things had moved so fast from the moment Lila's portal materialized on the deck of the ship's storage bay. Had it only been a couple of hours? Korvus and his crew were few in number, and most of them had been asleep when we landed or were otherwise occupied. I guessed we arrived on their nighttime hours, but Korvus, always a warrior, greeted us in a comforting crush of salutations and congratulations. One second I was cocooned against Logan's chest, the next he dropped me like I had scorched him, and I found myself passed excitedly from alien to X-Man, and back again, but pulled further and further from him. Logan had let me go, just like that, like the time we had spent together hadn't mattered a lick to him. I fought the urge to break my fist against the gleaming white tiles. He had let me go, then he had walked out of that storage bay without me, without even a backwards glance, and I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since. I had been too overwhelmed in the wash of noise and lights and vaguely antiseptic smells that were the collected stimuli of the vessel to chase after him when a limping Hank had grabbed my arm and forcibly shuffled me out the door and down the hall to the ship's sick bay.

"I'm fine, Beast, other folks are injured, too." At the time, I had objected rather loudly, but his grim face told me he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"I'll get to them next. Humor an old man, Rogue," he said, his smile pained. He had taken quite a big blaster hit himself and was plainly hurting. He motioned for me to sit on one of the room's examination tables and, wincing, pulled a crash cart towards us. I shrugged out of Remy's jacket and hopped up on its chilly surface. Hank pulled a futuristic looking syringe from a drawer.

"Oh, no," I said, scooting down the table as he filled the phial with a clear liquid. "Told you, I'm fine. You can keep that needle to yourself."

"Excellent idea." I jumped when he jabbed the needle into his own arm and pushed down the plunger. His sigh rumbled deep in his throat and he rolled his eyes back in his head. Painkiller. He had been hurt worse than I thought. I opened my mouth to protest again when Sam burst into the room, carrying an unconscious Lila. I caught the scent of musk and spice mixed real heavy with worry, saw Remy's agile form filling the doorway, Korvus behind them all supporting a visibly shaken and bloody Rachel.

"How are you feeling, girl?" Sam asked me and made to lie Lila on the other table. Hank stopped him, oddly unconcerned about her current comatose state or about our obviously injured telepath.

"Samuel, Remy, Captain, can you please take Lila and Rachel into the next room?" Hank's voice was steady, but I could tell the effort to remain that way was wearing on him already. "I will get to them momentarily, I would just like a moment alone with Rogue." I swallowed hard, and my fingers flexed nervously against the slick surface of the examination table. Remy's concerned eyes zeroed in on mine, but it was all I could do to stop myself from screaming. Where was Logan? I was drowning. Hank's worried gaze swept over me, and his furry paw found my shoulder. "I realize we are all a little worse for the wear, but I really must insist on privacy to conduct my examination. Captain, I trust your field experience is more than adequate to administer to Rachel for a few minutes without me." Korvus didn't look too happy getting ordered around on his own ship, but tightened his grip around Rachel's waist and dipped his head curtly.

"Very well, Doctor McCoy. A few minutes you shall have." Each word was like spitting razor blades, but he went with the program.

"Seems like you're the one who's the worst for wear, mon ami." Remy was talking to Hank, but his ruby eyes burned a trail down the length of my body, like he was searching for answers to a question he hadn't yet formed. Hank stepped between us.

"Please do not make me ask again," he growled. Remy's jaw tensed, but he nodded silently and helped Korvus take Rachel back into the hallway. Sam looked like he wanted to disagree, but instead he shifted Lila in his arms so he could kiss the top of my head on his way by.

"All right, I'll take Lila next door, and you can check on her after you examine Rogue and Rachel. Then, it'll be your turn on the table, Doc, no complaining." He smiled broadly. "Good to have you back, girl."

I let out a shaky breath I hadn't realized I was holding when it was just Hank and me.

"Thanks, sugar." I smiled ruefully up at him while he began his examination. "It's so good to see them, but this is all a bit…much right now." He laughed a short bark of a laugh that didn't reach his eyes. I bit my lip as he pulled out a fresh needle.

"I'm afraid this particular needle is for you, Rogue," he said and swabbed my arm with an alcohol pad. "I need a sample of your blood for a variety of tests." I didn't even feel the poke but watched the ampoule fill with crimson.

"Is Lila okay?" I asked. Hank pulled the needle from my arm and replaced it with a rather old school looking blood pressure cuff.

"Yes. Merely exhausted." He entered information onto the touchscreen of a tablet. "I am certain we have numerous stories to share, copious notes to compare concerning the last nine months…" The number socked me like a fist to the gut.

"Nine months?" I whispered weakly. The room spun awkwardly in front of my eyes.

"You were unable to track the number of days?"

"At first I counted, but it was so hard…there were more than a few times we lost days…" I leaned over and buried my head in my hands to steady my breath. How far had we come? I read a blog once where a man had walked across the U.S. in six months. Had we spanned an entire continent? Hank's paw was warm on my shoulder again.

"How long have you been sharing Logan's powers?" I froze.

"The claws were a dead giveaway, huh?" I mumbled weakly.

"Rather difficult to ignore your skin currently sealing itself." I raised my head and he gestured to the long jagged slash, courtesy of one of those bladed staffs, slowly disappearing from the length of my calf. "Would that we all were so fortunate." I laid a hand on Hank's fuzzy arm.

"Are you okay? You got nailed pretty hard…" Those blasters at full strength had knocked me and Logan half a football field across the forest floor, and Hank had taken one center stage. He rubbed his chest and exhaled slowly.

"It hurts, but nothing is cracked, broken or bleeding. Judging from the damage the blast inflicted on my countenance, one could surmise it was, fortunately for me, not fired at full strength. Despite this divine providence, it most certainly feels like I will be not only blue tomorrow, but dappled purple with contusions." He gestured for me to scoot over and wearily sat next to me, his bulking weight tipping the table his direction. "You blatantly ignored my original question," he pointed out, leaning his massive frame against my side. I sighed loudly.

"Yeah, I know." He raised an eyebrow expectantly, and I sent a breath hissing out through my teeth. "Pretty much since we landed. Three, four times a day. Sometimes more. He saved me, Hank. I never would have survived. It made the days a little easier on the both of us." Hank whistled long and low.

"Rogue…Anna…I can't even begin to postulate what the long-term repercussions of your actions may be. We know from past…incidents… that prolonged physical contact can cause a permanent transfer of powers, but we have never studied the effects of repeated, regular exposures…" My face turned red, angry, but I worked to remain calm.

"We didn't have a choice. And it's not like I haven't borrowed Logan's powers before, repeatedly. He's probably the one of us I've absorbed the most. Besides that, I don't think it's permanent," I said hoarsely. "It can't be. There was a stretch where he was injured, bad, and I couldn't bring myself to use my powers on him. It was days, and his powers…went away. I got hurt. This isn't permanent." Hank put his paw on my knee.

"I am not accusing you of anything, Anna. There is no need to become defensive. I understand there were extenuating circumstances, but I am merely exploring the possibilities. Concerning the incident you are describing, are you certain his powers were completely gone?" I opened my mouth, but popped it right back shut and furrowed my brow. The last few days had gone by in such a blur that I hadn't had time to process the chain of events. That creature had chewed his guts out, and I had been a wreck, but I swore they were gone, that I had been imagining the feel of bone claws waiting in my forearms, but I had survived a fall into the river, a hundred feet straight down into icy water with a head injury to boot. It may not have been just dumb luck. Hank loped a burly arm around my shoulder and squeezed.

"I've taken enough preliminary data for one night. We will return to Earth tomorrow when Lila is rested, and, when we are back at the school, we can attempt further analysis and study." I felt oddly numb as the thought took root in my brain. Permanent? "At any rate," Hank continued, and stood gingerly, grimacing and stretching his big furry chest. "Given that you have already healed your own injuries, I find no further reason for you to remain in sick bay. I can doubtless keep the rest of them occupied for a few hours if you need to take some time for yourself and get cleaned up." I crinkled my nose.

"Sorry, Hank. I know I'm a hot mess." Nine months. Nine freaking months of bathing in river water using soap that was barely worthy of the name, brushing our teeth by chewing on tree branches and minty tasting plants, wearing the same nasty, destroyed clothes…Hank laid his palm on my cheek, a sweet, gallant gesture made comical by the sheer size of his paw.

"You're beautiful, Anna." To my surprise, he blinked back tears. "As I said, when you are more rested, we will exchange our stories of the last nine months. It should prove very illuminating. But, for now, I for one am extremely comforted to have the two of you nestled back in the X-Men's metaphorical embrace." I jumped up and hugged him, careful to avoid clutching him too hard.

"Thank you." I simply said, at a loss for anything more eloquent.

"Go." He pointed towards the door. "I'll run interference. The bathing facilities on board really are top notch, though I have a sneaking suspicion Korvus and his ragtag band of former lawbreakers are perhaps a bit more into 'hot-tubbing' than I cared to know." I giggled and stepped towards the door. Hank called after me. "Please send your hairy partner my way if you see him, won't you?" I stiffened, but nodded my goodbye.

Now finished with the greatest shower of my life, well, maybe the second greatest shower, I swiped the condensation from the mirror and took a hard look at my reflection for the first time in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised to not find an absolute ghoul staring back at me. Hank hadn't just been trying to spare my feelings, I looked pretty damn good. I knew it was vanity, but I had been a little scared at what so long living rough like we had would do to me. I knew I was skinnier, my ribs and hips stood out sharper than normal, and my body was more heavily muscled than I usually liked, but I really couldn't complain. Logan and his powers had truly saved me. And now, just like I had feared, I had lost him. Our rescue had snapped him back to reality and away from me, even after everything we had just been through. Despair rolled over me so thick it crushed my chest and throat. I sank to that smooth floor and crumpled into a ball, sobbing uncontrollably.

The arms that wrapped their warmth around me, though familiar, weren't the ones I had been hoping for.

"Anna," Remy's husky voice was a breath in my ear, sending confused shivers down my spine. "Everything's gon' be fine, chere. You're safe now."

"Don't…" I struggled against him, but his strong arms held me close on that steamy tiled floor. I was too exhausted, physically and emotionally, to fight him, so I gave in and collapsed against his bare chest. He stroked his long, beautiful fingers through the tangled wet curls on my head and whispered to me in French. Some of it I caught, some of it I didn't, but I let his safe and comforting presence soothe me. I stopped shaking after a fashion. He pulled back and cupped my face in his hands.

"I keep praying this isn't a dream," he murmured, the corner of his mouth tugging up in that melt your butter smile of his, his thumb lightly tracing the outline of my lips. I let myself drown in those ruby globes he called his eyes, but I found something else hidden in their depths, a heartbeat of hesitation that surprised me. It disappeared quick as it came, and those red on black orbs burned like hot coals in a furnace of desire. Before I could stop him, he bent his head to mine and kissed me. He was a good kisser, and his attentions took the blood from my body and liquefied my insides, stirring up a colossal conflict within me. My muddled brain screamed at my body to stop, but my skin reminded me, rather heatedly, that I had never gotten enough of his kisses in the time he was mine. I knew to my soul that letting him go in the first place was truly my fault, and our relationship ending the way it did, not seeing how I had hurt him, was something I would have to live with, but deep inside the tangled mess I had become my heart shrieked that I no longer had any right to hold on to him when I loved someone else.

Despite my inner conflict or maybe because of it, I answered his lips. Like I said, it was hard not to, he was a really good kisser. Kissing Remy had always been an all-consuming sensual experience. He was gorgeous, angular features, full lips, tall and lithe, his body possessed the graceful musculature of a dancer with the power and passion to match. He didn't so much move as glide, his touch fulfilling every unspoken promise evident beneath those bewitching eyes of his. With one hand, the man caressed every single nerve of your body, enveloping you in a warm bath of melted lust. When you were with him, he made you feel like the sun rose and set around your orgasm, like you were the only woman who mattered, the only woman who had ever mattered. We both got a little hot under the collar, but there was something off, and not just with me. His lips on mine were hitting all the right notes, but it felt like he was just going through the motions, playing the part he was supposed to play. Was I foisting my own emotions onto him in order to relieve myself of the remorse that was beginning to press down on my chest? I pulled my lips away from him, and his face was a conflicted mix of fear and guilt.

"Remy, what is it? What's wrong?" I caressed his cheek, rough with the stubble that had haunted my dreams, hoping my hand wasn't trembling. What was I doing? What did I want from him? Did I want us to keep going? My heart and mind and body still didn't know which way was the right way to turn. What I needed to do was push Remy away, to find Logan and tell him that I loved him right then and there, throw myself to my knees and beg his forgiveness. But Logan had let me go, had walked away, and these last few days he had never promised me anything. Part of me wondered if I should beg for Remy's forgiveness as well, for all the wrong turns we had taken. Anguish washed over his handsome face and he opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it right shut. He looked away and clenched his jaw. "Remy…" His eyes swung back to mine, his expression suddenly determined.

"Say the word, Anna," His fingers dug painfully into my shoulders. "Say the word, and we start all over again. We can make it work, I know we can." His words were firm, like he had come to a decision on this, on us. He was just waiting for me. Like always in our relationship, he wanted me to take the lead, to tell him which way to go. My heart ached at the damage our love had inflicted on each of us, and it hit me that we would only keep repeating the same pattern if I allowed it to continue. We were so broken, and I didn't know how to fix us. We had loved each other, but he deserved better than this, better than us, and he would never find it if I kept tugging him back with promises of a future I wasn't prepared to give him. He was pouring his heart out to me, and I was truly, desperately in love with another man. I couldn't keep us spinning on this sick merry-go-round anymore. One of us had to end this, or we would just keep hurting each other.

"Remy," I breathed out slowly and steadied myself in his arms, determined to have it out. "Logan and I…all this time stranded on that planet, we were…" He looked at me expectantly, his hands running softly up and down my arms. "Our life was so hard every day…living like that, it changed me. Logan and I…Remy, we…" Oh, god. My voice caught in my throat. I started shaking, feeling very much like I was poised to shove a dagger right into his heart. He would hate me forever, but, resolute, I pushed down on the hilt of the spoken blade. "Remy, I love Logan. I love him." It was the first time I had said it out loud. Remy's fingers stilled on my arms and I looked at the ceiling, the walls, anywhere but at his eyes.

"You love him?" he whispered. "What do you mean, you love him?" I heard the sound of his heart jack-hammering in his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Remy. I never meant to hurt you…we never meant it to happen. I thought at first that we were just lonely. It was just the two of us against this alien world... Every day was so difficult and terrifying, we had no one else to turn to, to rely on. We were so desperate, and I thought at first that was all it was…desperation, isolation…but, it wasn't..."

"You…you're serious? You and Logan…do you mean you…" I swallowed thickly.

"I understand if you hate me." I finally looked at him, prepping myself for a huge helping of his rage and revulsion. I had certainly earned it. The look on his face was more shocked than angry as the puzzle pieces fell into place for him. Improbably, a smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Remy, I'm so sorry…" He swallowed my apology with his mouth against mine; I pushed back hard against his chest. "Remy!" He moved from my mouth, raining kisses on my cheeks, my forehead, then worked his way down and nuzzled into my neck. He wrapped his arms around me in an affectionate embrace. It wasn't the reaction I had anticipated.

"Oh, you silly, beautiful woman…" He mumbled silkily against my throat. "Don't you know by now that I could never hate you?" He sighed and released me from his arms. His expression was…relieved. An irrational emotion bubbled to the surface of my jumbled head. What was I missing here? I had just told the man who claimed to be the love of my life that I loved someone else, and he almost looked...happy. Maybe it was my turn to get angry. I raised an eyebrow warningly and crossed my arms.

"Spill it, Cajun." He held up his hands defensively and had the good sense to look slightly abashed.

"While you been gone…me and Ororo…" I didn't follow him until he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. I gasped.

"Shut the front door!" I slapped at his chest and he ducked his head, grinning. Oh, Jesus H. Christ. Even light years away we found new ways to wound each other. It was so ridiculous, I just had to laugh. "How did that happen? Is it serious? Are you serious?" He smiled broadly.

"Happened just like you said, only put our names in place of yours." His beautiful eyes turned wistful and he stroked my cheek with his hand. "I do love you, Anna Marie Raven, with all my heart. You know that, don't you? I never meant for things to happen this way, either…" I turned my face and kissed his palm.

"I know. I love you, too, Remy. I just can't keep doing what we're doing anymore. I hurts too much. Love shouldn't be this hard." He bowed his head and nodded, kissed the top of my head.

"I still want you in my life, chere. Even if it's just as friends, I don't want to live my life without bein' a part of yours. These last months have been hell without you. Lot quieter, though…" I rolled my eyes and tried to untangle myself from his arms, but he snaked them around my back and pulled me into another embrace. I let him, and exhaled a shaky breath into his smooth chest.

"I don't want to lose you, either." We were quiet in each other's arms for a moment. "Can we do this?" I asked finally. "Can we just be happy for each other?" He sighed into my hair.

"We can try."

"Excuse me…" Rachel's vocal intrusion was hardly a welcome one. I raised my head and Remy dropped his arms from around me. She stood in the doorway, a sour look on her usually pretty face. "I came to check on you, Rogue," she said flatly, lookin' tired and peeved. "Did you have a nice shower?" Her tone was real impolite for someone barging in unannounced, and that kind of rudeness got the south in me mighty riled up, but when I opened my mouth to tell her so, Remy touched my arm gently. He shook his head imperceptibly. I scowled and kept my mouth shut. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but there's food ready, upstairs, if you want it." She leveled a death glare at Remy, then turned and stomped out of the room.

"That was rude. Figured she'd loosen up a little once she got some alone time with Korvus. Why'd you stop me from telling her off?" Remy elegantly stood and helped me to my feet.

"Ororo and I aren't a secret back home," he grimaced. Oh.

"Get a little flack for that?" I knew the answer and was real sorry for it, especially considering me and Logan had been doing the same thing on a planet far, far away.

"Yeah. Especially from that one and from your pal, Bobby Drake."

"Bobby?" I snorted. "He's never liked you, sugar. He's just always on the lookout for new ammunition." Remy shrugged.

"I was a dirty, stinking cheater."

"Cheater? Last time I checked, we weren't together. We hadn't been for months. You don't owe me anything."

"I don't know about that, cherie, seems like I've got a list somewhere…" he smiled seductively and winked. "Your friends, they were just defending your honor. Rachel took it real personally. It was all we could do to be civil for this little rescue mission. Then, mission accomplished, she walks in on this cozy little tete'a'tete…us tangled on the floor, you in that scandalously tiny towel you got barely wrapped around your naked, heaving bosom…" His eyes took their time looking me up and down. Same old Remy, always landing on his feet. "To her, it probably looked like I was having my wicked way wit' you…" His finger traced across the top of my towel, raising goose bumps on every square inch of me. We were gonna have to work on this friend thing.

"I'll set her square, sugar." He kissed my forehead.

"So…you and Logan, huh?" I smiled nervously. "That joker love you back?" My stomach did a back-flip.

"I don't know, Remy."

Logan

"I had wondered where you were hiding yourself."

I took a long pull on whatever bottle the crew had stashed in the kitchen's liquor cabinet. It burned a fire from top to bottom and settled itself angrily in the pit of my stomach.

"Not hiding, Hank," I glared over my shoulder. "Just giving everybody their space." I grabbed the crystal glass I had gotten out but hadn't bothered using, and poured Hank a round of the amber liquid as he painfully hauled his burly form onto the chair perched across from me. I slid the drink across the smooth metallic counter. "You're limping." He wrapped his paw around the glass and sniffed at its contents.

"Yes. I find it rather ironic that I have been on the receiving end of my healing ministrations on this little escapade." He swallowed the shot and choked, sputtering uncontrollably. "Smooth," he croaked. I chuckled bitterly.

"It gets the job done," I said and raised the bottle. "Cheers." I gulped half the contents in three flaming swallows.

"I didn't think that it did." I raised my eyebrows behind the bottle. "'Get the job done', you said. I didn't think that it did. You aren't able to drink enough to actually become intoxicated, are you?" I slammed the bottle down and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Not even when I want to." My sigh turned into a snarl. "But, I'm working on it." I offered to pour him another, but he shook his shaggy head and covered the mouth of the glass.

"Thank you, but no. Mixing painkillers and libations can truly be a dangerous notion, and I have more charting and testing to do while things remain fresh in my mind. On that train of thought, you were supposed to come to sick-bay for an examination. Didn't Rogue find you?" My hand flexed on the bottle, nearly shattering it in my hand.

Anna. Not enough booze on this ship to dull that ache in my chest. I had let her go. We had materialized on the deck of the ship's storage bay...one second I had been holding her against me, the next I had dropped her from my arms and stepped back. Why the hell had I done that? The last few months, we had grabbed ahold of each other so fiercely, so desperately…I didn't want her to feel obligated to me. I wanted her, so bad it was tearing me up inside, but I needed her to be sure, to have no regrets. Dammit, I had let go of her. Why had I let go of her? I had been holding her tight in that bright light, and his smell had been all over her...Was that what she wanted? It was all I could do to not beat the hell out of him right there, to take what I wanted, but what if she hadn't been mine in the first place?

I had needed to get away, not just from her and him, but from everybody and everything onboard, before I snapped. The animal in me couldn't jump right from the heat of battle to the clinical cold silence of the spaceship. Adrenaline had still been jacking its way through my veins, my senses frying and sizzling my brain in overloaded sensations. After so many months under endless stretches of sky, alien or otherwise, I shattered inside. I hadn't had that feeling, that wild desperation, for a long time. Hank had been right; I ran and hid like a bitch. I hadn't been on this ship before, didn't really know the crew, but even in my state managed to find a vacant set of quarters where I got myself under some semblance of control and showered up while I healed. Despite everything, it was nice to be cleaned up. I almost felt human. Almost. The rescue squad had brought a uniform for each of us to wear home, but spandex up the crack of my ass hadn't sounded that appealing, so after my shower I had scrounged and found a pair of linen drawstring pants. Logan the man, not Wolverine the animal, had greeted me in that shower room mirror. A man. Not some animal that spit and snarled and took what he wanted no matter who got hurt.

I didn't want this to be over, but if all I had been to her was a warm body in the dark… If she still wanted her happy ending with LeBeau, I wouldn't stand in her way.

"We need to talk about Rogue." I started in surprise, Hank's voice cracking me back to the here and now. I took another swallow. "Or, more appropriately, what you did with Rogue." It was my turn to choke, and the booze that shot through my sinus cavity burned the hair out of my nose. "Are you all right, my friend?" Alarmed, he grabbed hold of my arm.

"Yeah." I shook my head to clear my suddenly blurry vision. "Wrong pipe." Hank gave me a chastising look and wrenched the bottle from my grip.

"The two of you made a very irresponsible choice, Logan. One that will have far reaching, as yet undefined, consequences." What? How the hell did he know about us? Had Rachel opened her big mouth, or had Anna talked about it? Hell, did everybody know?

"It's none of your flamin' business, bub," I crossed my arms defiantly. Hank settled his glasses on his nose, his stance mirroring my own.

"It most certainly is my business. Your actions affect the entire team. I understand the need that had arisen. In the heat of the moment, it would be very easy to give in to temptation. But, really, Logan, three and four times a day? Even you had to have considered the possible danger inherent in this kind of reckless experimentation." My jaw dropped open, dumbfounded.

"Reckless experimentation?" I managed to croak out. Had I hurt her somehow? My mind raced.

"Yes, Logan," Hank slapped his hands on the table, exasperated. "As I said to Rogue, I have no idea what the repercussions of her repeated power absorptions will be on either one of you…" I inhaled sharply and leaned back in my chair, scrubbing my hands roughly down my face.

"Her powers…" I said raggedly, trying to swallow my heart back into my chest.

"Yes! You two took it upon yourselves to use her abilities in ways we've never even imagined. We have both seen firsthand the consequences of her powers unchecked. Your healing and senses may have been negatively impacted, and Rogue may have gained your powers permanently!" I laughed.

"Doesn't seem like a bad thing to me," I quipped.

"Are you certain? My friend, do you view the longevity granted by your abilities as a blessing, or a curse?" I glared at him, but chewed on the thought.

"Both." It was a simple answer, but the truth. My healing powers had given me an unnaturally long-life that, barring some tragic injury, was nowhere near over. I had survived things I had no right to survive, the process generally involving more pain than my life was worth. I had outlived lifetimes' worth of friends, family and lovers, and now he was sayin' I had possibly gifted that to Anna. But, if it was permanent, I had also saved her, would save her, from innumerable injuries. She may hate me in the end, but she would carry part of me with her until that end. Hank kept up with the steady stream of his lecture.

"I understand your need for space in our current enclosed quarters, but as soon as we return to the school, you will submit yourself for testing. If not for yourself, than for Anna…" He halted midsentence and frowned at me. "Wait…You were surprised that I was talking about her powers? What did you think I was referring to?" I stood and slapped his arm.

"Finish the bottle for me, will you, Hank?" I waved over my shoulder as I walked away from him towards the sliding doors.

"Logan, what did you two…? Oh, my stars and garters…!" His face was priceless.

The cool, recycled air of the still hallway made my skin prickle. I inhaled, searching for her scent. My stomach lurched. I had to deal with this, deal with her. I had been a coward for not having the conversation with her already. McCoy had been right, what we had done would have consequences not just for us, but for the entire team. Before she made her choice, she needed to know how I felt. I tracked her smell down the cold metal passage.