Logan walked to the refrigerator and grunted happily as he reached for a cold beer. It was Sunday night and hours away from the one-month anniversary of Rogue's arrival. He snapped the bottle cap off and looked at Beast. "What do you want, Hank?" he asked and leaned against the kitchen counter.
The first month of Rogue's arrival had been bumpy for everyone, especially Logan. No idea how to raise a kid, his patience was brittle. Take tonight, for example. Dragged around a carnival for three hours straight with a bunch of screaming kids and Rogue who scowled at every ride. The only time saw her smile was when he'd been forced to take part in the Strongman game. When he picked up the mallet, he smirked and slammed it down. The puck shot upwards and smashed the bell to pieces. The astonished owner of the game asked Logan what prize he wanted. He'd chosen a forlorn-looking brown teddy bear and handed it without a word to Rogue. He could've sworn he saw her smile again.
Now Logan wanted to enjoy a beer and unwind, but Hank had something on his mind. "I want to talk about Rogue. We all know what it's like to be new here, but she's repeatedly upset Eddie. He's still recuperating from her attack, and she spread a rumor about his sleeping arrangements."
Logan looked around for the kindergarten teacher Hank mistook him for. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "How about I let her finish the job and you can pick out his casket?"
"Jokes are meant to be funny, Logan. I thought you would understand my concerns for my patient," a disappointed Hank said and turned to leave.
He looked at Hank's retreating back. "I hear you, but I don't understand you."
After a few minutes, Logan climbed the stairs and decided to take the responsible route back to his bedroom and check on Rogue. He opened her door and snorted at what he saw. She had curled her arms around the teddy bear as she slept. He walked over to her nightstand and switched her lava lamp off. She needed her sleep because it would be a busy day tomorrow.
After he left Rogue's room and closed her bedroom door, he looked down the corridor and smirked. "I thought I could smell you," he said.
Raven sauntered towards him with a smirk that matched his own. "I missed you too," she replied. "I need help unzipping my dress. Do you think there's anyone in this corridor who can help me?"
His smirk deepened and he looked at the zipper that crept from her back and swept all the way to her ass. "I can think of someone," he confirmed.
"Can you send me in their direction?" she whispered in his ear, and he inhaled her scent.
Growly lowly, he snaked an arm around her waist and kissed her neck. "Yeah, but be warned, he's an impatient son of a bitch who'd love to get you out of that dress." He continued to wear the smirk and walked in the direction of her bedroom.
"Are you going to ask me about my trip?" Raven questioned him, crossing the threshold of her room and coaxing him inside with a kiss.
He broke the kiss and rested his bottle of beer on her dressing table, then he nudged the door closed with his boot. "How'd your trip pan out?" He started to kiss her neck again while one of his hands drew the zip down toward her perfect ass.
"You have no interest in anything I say," she complained, welcoming his rough touch.
He stalked closer to her bed with his arms still snaked loosely around her hips. With a smirk when her dress fell, he quirked an eyebrow. "There's something I'm real interested in, Ray."
#
After a plea to the Professor, Rogue eas enrolled at Bayville High. She always hated present-day high school, but sixties high school made her rethink her hatred of classes and classmates. She watched the secretary at the desk tap away on a typewriter over the constant tick-tock of the clock. When she grew bored of people watching she settled on a chair. "Ah don't need ya here," she told Logan.
Logan eyed her with a snort, and he sat down beside her. "You knew all along this was part of the deal. I let you attend school; you keep your attitude to yourself while I check the place out."
"Ah've been here before and ya didn't chaperone meh then," she pointed out and checked to see if she had all the stationery in the world inside her bookbag.
"If I'd done everything right the first time you wouldn't be here," he pointed out and lit a welcomed cigar.
Rogue glared at him and thought his parents must have dropped him on the head as a baby. She was nervous enough over her first day without him acting like an ass. "Ya can't smoke here, ya gonna give everybody lung cancer," she snapped.
"You've got a real fixation with death kid, and watch the attitude," he said while he pointed his cigar in her direction.
With a huff, her gaze settled on the secretary again. The tap tap tap tap of the woman's fingers on the typewriter keys continued to fill the room. She checked the clock again and started to fidget. How nervous could she be on her first day? The truth was, she was close to a real good fainting fit.
"You okay?" Logan asked her after a while, his eyes on her while he smoked.
"Ah'm fine," she answered and waved the cigar smoke out her face. "But Ah'll develop lung cancer when Ah'm older and ya gonna cry real tears when ya have to pay mah medical bills."
Logan opened his mouth to respond but the secretary told them the principal was ready to see them. Rogue jumped to her feet and glared at Logan. "Ah don't need ya followin' meh inside that office, ya hear? Ah'm fifteen and Ah can handle this." She steadied her nerves, knocked on the office door and entered the room.
With the last puff on his cigar, Logan walked into the office just as Rogue sat down on a chair. She glared at him, and he reached over her shoulder to snuff the cigar out in the ashtray on the principal's desk. With a smirk in her direction, he sat in the chair next to hers and rested his hands in his jacket pockets. "The kid don't want me here," he told the principal.
The bespeckled principal had a grey wavy combover that Rogue kept staring at, and his black-rimmed spectacles slid down the oily bridge of his nose each time he spoke. "Well, you are her guardian, Mr Howlett," he said, reading through a file.
Rogue glared in Logan's direction again. "Mah what?" she mouthed silently at him because she couldn't imagine him being the guardian of anything apart from a pack of cigars.
"Yeah, I'm her guardian," Logan confirmed, comfortable in the plush chair. He looked at Rogue with a quirked eyebrow. "You got a problem with that, kid?"
"Yeah, Ah'm fifteen, not five," Rogue answered with an honest tone and a scowl.
"Then act like it," Logan growled at her and looked at the principal again. "Is this gonna take long?"
"I just need to cover the formalities, Mr Howlett." He read through the file again and paused on an aspect that troubled him. "You do know a fundamental school policy advocates the use of corporal punishment. We pride ourselves in using a paddle to teach our students right from wrong."
She stared at the principal's face instead of his hair. "Ya what now?"
Logan nodded at the man. "I get it, I support it, but I ain't letting you paddle her. If she gets out of hand, give me a call and I'll tan her hide when she gets home."
Rogue nearly died in her chair and scowled at Logan. Her gaze could easily have killed him on the spot if that had been her power. She started to grip the zipper of her bookbag with a tight pinch and grit her teeth for a second. She would have welcomed death instead of this meeting.
The principal nodded and signed the bottom of the form. He slid the papers over for Logan to do the same. Rogue's eyes darted to the paper and read the top few lines. She scowled again and slumped in her chair.
When the meeting finished, Rogue stormed in the direction of her new locker. She fought to open it and punched the difficult lock twice.
Logan snatched the key from her and opened it in seconds. "You keep that attitude up here, you won't last until lunch."
"Ah don't need ya help!" She snatched the key off him and stuffed some books inside the locker. "Ya embarrassed meh in there, Logan. Ah wanted to die rather than sit there and listen to ya talk to mah principal."
"Quit being dramatic," he told her, hands deep in his pockets.
"Ya never listen to meh, and where do ya get off tellin' them mah real name's Anna Marie! Ah told ya that because Ah trusted ya. Then ya go adding the Howlett to it without even askin' meh!" she raged and slammed the locker shut.
He watched her with a frown. "We couldn't enrol you without a full name," he answered and watched her carefully. "You sure you're gonna be okay here?"
"Yeah 'cause Ah'll be away from ya," she sassed and slammed the locker shut again to make herself feel better. After she had locked it, she stomped away in search of her first class of the day.
Logan sighed and lit another cigar. He thought his surname had suited her. As he walked in the direction of the exit, he looked over her shoulder and watched her hesitate outside a classroom door. He turned back and walked towards her. When he reached the spot where she stood, he glanced at her. "You best get in there before you inhale too much cigar smoke."
She gave a small, nervous nod and gazed at him when he rested a hand on her shoulder. "What if everybody hates meh?"
"They won't hate you Stripes, now get your ass in there and show them what you're made of," Logan answered and patted her shoulder.
Rogue took a deep breath and walked inside the classroom. With a smile, he stalked to the exit and puffed on his cigar.
#
When the last bell of the day sounded, Rogue waited outside the school and held a scrap of paper in her gloved hands with a phone number scrawled across it. She read it so many times she had almost memorized it. While she hid the paper in one of her homework books, she heard the honk of a horn.
Logan pulled up in his truck and honked the horn for the hell of it. He grinned at the embarrassed look on Rogue's face. "I ain't got all day," he called to her out the open window.
She walked over to the truck and started to glare at him. "What's wrong with ya!" she snapped.
He chuckled as she got in and settled alongside him. While he steered the truck away from the school, he watched her fiddle with the radio on the dashboard. "How was your first day?"
"Okay," she answered and focused on finding a radio channel she liked to listen to.
"How were your classes and teachers?" he asked her next and headed in the direction of Xavier's.
She shrugged and looked at him. "Okay, Ah guess," she said with a bored tone.
He looked at her for a moment. "What about the other students? They give you any hassle?"
"They were okay too," she muttered and gazed out the window. "Ah'm feelin' a little homesick. All that time Ah thought Ah hated mah life and now Ah miss it. Ah even miss the normal stuff like seein' mah friends and hangin' out in places like coffee shops or bars."
With a frown, Logan stopped at a red light. "I let you hang around in bars?"
"Ya didn't know much about it," she muttered and shrugged. "Ah weren't drinkin', Ah just liked the company. The folks there never treated meh like a kid."
"You are a kid," he growled and pointed a finger her way. "I ever catch you in a bar before you're twenty-one, you'll be going over my knee and you won't be sitting for a month of Sundays."
She rolled her eyes and watched the light turn green. "Way to go for makin' meh feel like Ah can't talk to ya about nothin'."
"I'm not here to be your friend, kid," he told her gruffly and used a one-way street as a shortcut home.
"Ya used to be mah friend," she muttered bitterly and folded her arms.
The talk in the truck died for a while until they reached the gates of the mansion. Logan reached his arm out the open window and typed in the code. Rogue watched him and hoped she could remember it. She looked away by the time the gates swung open.
Logan parked in the garage and heaved a sigh. "You still want to celebrate your anniversary tonight? It's been four weeks since you joined us here."
Rogue shrugged and wondered if this was his way of being less like an asshole and more like her friend. She gazed at him and thought about it. Seconds later, she nodded. "Are ya sure ya want to take meh out to dinner?"
"You act like I've never been out for a meal before," he said and locked his truck before following her to the kitchen.
She stopped by the fridge to grab a soda. "Ah dunno, Ah just feel like ya tryin' to be nice to meh."
"That's because I'm trying to be nice to you," he told her and patted her shoulder as he walked by. "Be ready for eight, Stripes."
#
Rogue waited at the bottom of the main staircase at seven-thirty. She fidgeted with her dress and scowled at her reflection in the mirror. "Ah hate the way Ah look in this," she muttered and continued to pull at the green fabric until it fit her slender frame a little better. Every time she tried to find clothes she liked, she watched her reflection and thought she looked old-fashioned. Then again, the clothes were fashionable right now and she was the one out of sync.
When a couple of students walked by, she could hear the tail end of their conversation. "I saw Logan kissing someone last night," one of the girls said. "I was so upset. I've always had a crush on him."
Rogue felt sick and tried to stop eavesdropping. She looked at her reflection again but when she heard the next line of the conversation her gaze snapped back to the girls as they gossiped.
"I bet he was locking lips with Mystique again," the other girl complained. "I wish my legs were as long as hers. Have you seen the way he watches her in the danger room sessions? It's like he's going to faint."
"He would never faint unless he was close to her bed," her friend said. "He went into her room last night. They were kissing like that couple in front of us at the movie theatre last week."
Rogue interrupted the girls. "Hey," she called out to them, and they looked at her. "Ah just heard what ya said and Ah wanted to ask ya somethin', is Mystique real blue and usually called Raven?"
One of the girls nodded. "We only call her Raven when she's in her normal human form," she explained. "Do you know her?"
Gazing at her own reflection again, Rogue shook her head and blinked the bitter tears away. She focused on her outfit again and huffed to herself. "Ah've never met her in mah life," she lied and walked away.
The girls watched her storm upstairs and they returned to their gossip. Rogue searched through her book bag and found the scrap of paper with the number written on it. She grabbed it and headed downstairs before she could change her mind. "Fuck Logan and his dinner," she muttered and snatched the phone in the hall from the receiver. She stared at it and missed her cell phone. Eventually working out how to dial the phone number, she waited to hear a friendly voice on the line.
#
Logan cupped Raven's ass cheeks and smirked at her. They landed in her bed, and he slid his hand under her dress. "I've got somewhere to be at eight," he growled in her ear. "We'll have to make this one quick."
"You know I hate to be rushed," Raven replied and brushed her lips across his. "Have you forgotten you promised to fix my wall, Logan?"
He glanced at the wall behind her headboard and turned to smirk at her. "I guess we'll have to be more careful next time," he warned, his hand gliding across her panties.
Raven smiled at him and welcomed his touch. "Are you certain you can't miss your appointment?" she asked while she straddled him confidently.
"Nah, I can't miss this one, darlin'," he answered gruffly and rested his hands on her hips.
"Then I'll need to make this one count," she whispered down to him and pressed her lips to his.
Twenty minutes later, Logan headed to his room to shower and change. He cursed at the time and reached the bottom of the staircase by eight-ten. He looked around for Rogue because he could smell her, trailing after her freshest scent took him to the phone in the hall. He frowned and followed it further until it weaved out to the grounds through the doors and headed straight down the drive to the gates. "What the hell is she playing at?" he growled and headed to the garage.
#
Rogue settled in a seat opposite her four new classmates. She looked around the smoky bar and nodded every time they asked her if she agreed. No idea what the hell they were talking about, she didn't want to sound even more like an outcast. They all had fake IDs and she had nothing but five cents in her pocket and a look of worry. She still ignored their conversation while she took another cautious look around the bar.
"What do you think, Anna?" Donny asked from across the table. "Hey Anna, I'm talking to you."
"Yeah, Ah like it," Rogue answered quickly and looked at him.
"Good, you can steal it then," he said, looking at his friends. "I told you she wouldn't let us down. Thanks, Anna, none of us dared to steal it from the principal's office. I knew you would pull through for us, that's why I gave you my number."
His twin sister Sandy agreed. "It's really cool of you to help us destroy the worst rule in the whole school. They're going to chant your name in the halls of Bayville High for the next forty years."
She had no idea what they were talking about. She glanced at each of the students and looked confused. "Can ya tell meh the plan again?"
"Don't be silly," Sandy said, standing with her purse. When she realized Anna wasn't joking, she smiled. "I need to powder my nose, but we can talk in there."
Rogue followed her. "Ah can't touch any drugs," she whispered to the girl. "If ya want to stick white powder up ya nose, that's fine with meh. Ah ain't touchin' it even though Ah'm kinda tempted to."
Sandy walked into the restroom and looked at her. "You're strange," she said and went to use the toilet.
Facing the wall of mirrors, Rogue watched her own reflection. She knew she was strange. "Is the plan strange too?"
"It's really simple. Me, Donny, Darla and Linda are going to set the fire alarm off and when everybody heads outside, you're going to steal the paddle from the principal's desk."
Rogue thought it sounded like a stupid plan with her name in the middle of it. "Why does it take four of ya to set the alarm off?"
"We don't have the balls to sneak into his office, but when you told Donny you used to be a thief before you came here, we knew you'd be the perfect choice to help us," she explained, going to wash her hands.
She should have known that lie would come back to bite her on the ass. "Sandy, Ah can't get suspended."
"Then don't get caught," Sandy replied, leading the way out of the restroom.
Rogue sighed and followed her back to the table. She started to try and figure out a plan to get herself out of the paddle theft, but when she reached her chair, she found somebody sitting in it. Logan glared at her and she stared at him until she found the courage to talk. When she opened her mouth, she decided to snap it closed again because the thoughts failed to flood her with confidence.
"This is Logan," Donny said with a grin and pointed over to him. "He's telling us all about the Korean War. Can you believe he fought in it? I'm a total nut for war stories."
"I led the counteroffensive," Logan admitted gruffly and lit a cigar. He looked at Rogue. "You gonna grab another chair?"
She muttered under her breath and dragged a heavy chair over to the table. With a glare at Logan, she sat next to Sandy and shuffled in her chair because she failed to get comfortable.
He gave her a gruff look. If she felt uncomfortable in her chair, she better count her current blessings because he planned to tan her hide until she bawled. He looked at Donny and continued to tell him about the battle he led across enemy lines.
After thirty minutes, Rogue yawned for the tenth time, but the other students were captivated by Logan's story. "What happened next?" Donny asked.
Logan crushed his cigar in the ashtray. "I'll save that story for another time," he answered and pushed his chair back. When he stood, he looked at Rogue. "It's time to head home."
"You know him?" Donny asked with a grin.
A reluctant Rogue stood up and gave a nod. "Kinda," she muttered and refused to look Logan's way.
"She's my kid," Logan answered with a growl and studied Rogue's friends' faces. They looked pretty young to him, and he would bet his last buck they used fake IDs.
"I wish our dad was cool enough to let us drink in bars," Sandy said. "He would kill us if he knew we were here." She glanced at Rogue. "Is he the one that bailed you from that juvenile detention place?"
Rogue dug her fingernails into the loose change in the pockets of her long-sleeved dress. She could feel Logan's scowl directed at her and it made her take a closer step to the exit. "Kinda," she lied and went to leave.
Logan grabbed her wrist before she had a chance to say goodbye and walked her in the direction of the bar. He only spoke when he spotted the manager. "You've got four kids sat over there who are underage. You best call the cops and report it before they shut this place down."
While the manager busied himself with talking into a phone on the wall, Rogue glared at Logan. "Why would ya do that? They're gonna get in trouble."
"You should be worrying about your own backside, not theirs," he growled at her and dragged her out to his truck.
#
Dressed in her long, striped nightshirt, Rogue lay on her bed and watched her lava lamp. Her eyes followed the goops of green that floated in the sea of yellow. She heard her door open and ignored Logan until his scowl got the better of her. "Ah'm not talkin' to ya," she said, both pissed at his behavior in the bar and his relationship with Mystique.
"I thought we'd made progress," he growled at her and sat down on her bed with his trademark scowl. "You got anything to say for yourself before I turn you over my knee?"
"Ah told ya Ah'm not talkin' to ya," she answered back, more interested in the lamp. "Ah hate ya right now, ya've stabbed meh in the back and Ah thought ya were mah friend."
"I'm not your friend, kid," Logan reminded her and hauled her over his knee. He pulled the back of her nightshirt up and landed the first swat on her pantied behind. With a dark scowl, he landed another rough whack. "And I better not catch you in another bar, you hear me?"
Rogue grit her teeth when another round of swats landed across her butt. Her anger climbed and then crashed when she started kicking her socked feet. "Ah hate ya!" she hollered with tears in her eyes.
"I don't care," Logan answered with a snarl and whacked her backside until she started to cry with pain instead of anger. He kept up with the swats until he heard the familiar sobs. For the last four minutes, he landed rougher smacks and targeted the seat of her panties. "You'll stay the hell out of bars, Anna Marie Howlett. If I catch you again, I'll take my belt off at the goddamn table and tan your hide in front of those stupid friends of yours, you understand me?"
Logan's heavy palm continued to land across her backside and Rogue sobbed. She hated him. She really hated him! After another round of swats that left her howling in pain, he dumped her on the bed and gave her a moment. "C'mere, kid," he said and held his arm out to her.
Tears poured down Rogue's face and she hated him enough to refuse his offer of a hug. "Leave meh alone!" she wailed into her pillow.
He heaved a sigh and patted her back. "Come see me when you're ready to talk," he told her and left her bedroom.
#
An hour later, Logan settled on his bed and scowled in the direction of the desk. He watched Raven trace her fingers over the carved word in the wood. While he lit a cigar, he mulled over the kid's behavior. He couldn't work her out. One minute she wanted them to go to dinner, the next minute she disobeyed him and took off to a bar. "Why would she tell those kids she's part of the juvie Hall of Fame?"
Raven approached him with a smile. "She's a teenage girl, Logan, they want to fit in with their friends," she replied, sliding into his bed, and brushing a hand across his belt buckle. "Why has she gotten under your skin? She's a silly girl with even sillier behavior. Ignore her for tonight and we can relax."
He sighed and looked at her. "It ain't as simple as that, Ray. I can't let her run around town."
"She's in her room, we're in yours and I want to relax with you," she replied and massaged his shoulders to convince him. "You're so tense tonight, do you want me to ride it out of you? We haven't had the chance to dent your walls since you had them replastered."
He failed to grin at her weak attempt at humor. With a grunt, he left the bed and walked to the door. "Maybe later," he said.
Raven sat up and watched his retreating back. "Where are you going?" she asked in a clipped tone, stunned that he had turned her advances down.
"Where do you think?" he answered gruffly and walked away.
Logan headed to Rogue's room and knocked softly on the door. When he failed to get an answer from her, he opened the door and peered inside. He saw her sleeping on her back, the teddy bear on the carpet. Her arm hung from the side of the bed and her fingertips almost touched the ears of the bear. He snorted to himself and walked over to her. He shifted her into a more comfortable position to sleep in and watched her curl on her side. While he tugged her sheets up to her chin, he reached for the bear and settled it beside her in the bed. He watched the bear topple against the wall and he shook his head because he'd grown soft in the past four weeks. "Goodnight, Stripes," he muttered and left her bedroom again.
#
The next morning Rogue glared at Logan across the kitchen table. He quirked an eyebrow while she continued the silent treatment. She still refused to speak to him, even when he asked her if she wanted to head to a diner after he picked her up from school. He watched her push her untouched plate of breakfast away and he scowled when she stood. "Sit your ass down," he ordered her. "You're not leaving this table until you finish every scrap of food on that plate."
Rogue glared at him again and her eyes narrowed when she spotted Mystique. She could never forgive her for what happened in the future but noticed she looked a little younger. With a roll of her eyes, she realized her thoughts were dumb. Mystique would always be younger; they were in the past.
"I told you to sit down, Rogue," Logan said with a growl.
With a scowl, Rogue sat on her chair and watched Mystique huddle close to Logan. She picked up her cutlery and scraped them across the plate, tempted to attack the food before she threw the plate across the table.
They spoke quietly to each other, and Mystique smiled in Rogue's direction. "I don't think we've been introduced yet," she told the girl. "My name's Raven."
Rogue glared at Logan again and turned the same look on Raven, and stabbed the yolk of the egg with the blunt knife.
Logan raised an eyebrow and wondered what the hell had gotten into her. "You're being rude, Rogue."
Raven hushed him. "I'm not offended, Logan," she replied with a smile. "She's obviously a little jealous. I would be jealous too if someone interfered in our relationship. Give it a few weeks and I'm sure she will come around."
Rogue's cutlery landed with a crash on her plate. She left her chair, grabbed her bookbag and stormed out of the room. She kept walking, even when Logan yelled at her to come back and eat her breakfast.
"Goddamn it!" Logan said, throwing his newspaper on the table. He stalked after Rogue with a scowl and headed to the garage. When he reached the doors, he watched Rogue climb inside a car with a handful of Xavier students. "Hey, we had a deal," he told her with a growl and watched her scowl at him.
The alarmed driver looked at Logan. "We're going to be late, sir," he said.
Logan grumbled and still wanted to drive Rogue to school. He soon relented when Raven stood beside him and kissed his cheek. "Let her go, Logan. It's a positive step she's making friends with the students here," she murmured in his ear.
He gestured for the kids to get going and watched the car drive away. "What the hell's gotten into her?" he muttered.
#
Two hours later Rogue sat outside the principal's office while the fire alarms still blared. She rolled her eyes at the sound and watched the secretary scurry back to the desk. "He will see you in a minute!" she shouted over the shrill sound.
"Ah'm not deaf!" Rogue sassed and folded her arms with a defiant look.
"I will be if they don't switch it off soon!" she cried and collapsed into her chair.
Five minutes later, the fire alarms were switched off and the secretary who had been straightening the pictures on the wall sighed in relief and shuffled back to her desk. "Thank goodness for that," she said in an almost self-congratulatory tone.
Rogue ignored her and looked in the direction of the principal's office. She strained her ears and thought she could hear muffled cries and the smack of wood greeting flesh. Sandy soon left the office and rushed past. Rogue thought she saw tears on the girl's face and watched her walk out to the corridor.
"The principal will see you now," the secretary told her.
Rogue stood up and knocked on the principal's door, then entered the office. She watched him drop a wooden paddle into his drawer and then slam it shut. "Please take a seat, Miss Howlett," he said and pointed to a chair.
She sat down. "Why am Ah here? Ah didn't do anythin'."
"Drop the act of innocence, Miss Howlett. Sandy has told me everything about your participation. In fact, she was very keen to stress you were the ringleader. I suppose you're rather annoyed your plan failed?"
Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward. She was sitting in math class when the alarms sounded, and she filed outside with the rest of her class. After an hour spent on the grass outside in the gloomy weather, she was ordered to the principal's office. "Ah haven't done anythin'."
"Well, we'll see what your guardian has to say," he said and walked toward her with a smile. "It's a shame I won't have the opportunity to paddle you myself."
Twenty minutes later, the door swung open, and Logan stood there with a cigar hanging from his lips. He walked in without an invite and settled in the seat next to Rogue. He frowned at her, and she returned his look. "What did she do?" he growled to the principal.
The principal explained the situation and once again Logan thought he had been mistaken for a kindergarten teacher. "You called me all the way down here because you almost lost a lump of wood?"
"It's a flagrant breach of school policy, Mr Howlett," he said, pushing his spectacles to the top of his nose before they fell to the floor.
Logan watched the principal open the drawer and remove a paddle. He scowled when he was offered it. "Like hell I am," he grumbled and left his chair. He looked at Rogue. "Grab your stuff, you're leaving early today."
Shocked, Rogue stared at Logan while she picked up her bag. He hustled her out of the room with a scowl directed at the principal and walked her out to the truck with the cigar still hanging from his lips.
The principal stood there in shock with the paddle in his hand. He had never encountered a parent or guardian like Mr Howlett before. With another read through the girl's file, he returned the paddle to the drawer and sat down. If she made a single mistake, it would be her downfall at Bayville High. He would never be disrespected by her or her guardian again.
#
Logan watched Rogue wolf down half a stack of pancakes. He pushed the tall jar of maple syrup over to her and waited for her to talk. The noise around them in the diner did little to pull his attention away from her sulky appearance. He drank his coffee, rested a cigar between his lips and struck a match to light it. "You gonna spend the next thirty-eight years giving me the silent treatment?"
Rogue glanced at him and poured the entire jug of maple syrup over the last of her buttermilk pancakes. She picked up her knife and fork again and poked at them. They looked like they had drowned in a bath of sticky fakeness.
"Thirty-eight years is a long time to stay mad at someone. Hell, you've kept it up for fourteen hours so far. You think you can go the full distance?" he asked and breathed cigar smoke in her direction.
She wafted the smoke away with her gloved hand and scowled at the pancakes. She put the knife and fork down and pushed her plate away. Now she felt sick because she had eaten too much.
Logan was surprised when she failed to chew him out for his smoking habit. He called the waitress over and asked for the check. When the woman walked away, he eyed Rogue again. "I'm not good at this sort of thing, kid. Tell me what I did wrong, and we can talk it through."
Rogue finally looked at him and the level of hurt in her eyes took him by surprise. He thought he cracked her stubbornness, but she shook her head at his half-plea to talk and left the table. He grumbled, paid the check with a hefty tip, and followed her outside to the truck.
#
When they reached the mansion, Logan had grown tired of Rogue's sulky silence. He hatched a plan and forced her to head downstairs to attend one of the danger room sessions with a handful of the X-Men. With a smug look, he stood beside Raven and shared his plan with her while Beast and Banshee fought in front of them.
"You're gonna face off with her, Ray. We'll give her a workout until she cracks and spills what's on her mind," he muttered.
Raven gazed at him. "Are you certain this is one of your better ideas? I wouldn't want to harm her; she seems so out of place in here."
He watched Rogue for a second or two. She stood there with folded arms and a scowl while she watched the fight. "If this plan fails, I'll have to wallop it out of her." He looked at Raven. "That don't mean you throw everything at her when it's your turn to fight. She's still an inexperienced kid."
"Is that your way of telling me you want me to go easy on her?" Raven questioned him quietly.
He grunted. "She makes it sound like I took her out on missions and made her some kind of X-Man," he snorted. "Maybe it's bravado and her trying to save face. I ain't somebody who would let a kid tag along on a mission."
"You can smell lies," she reminded him with a sigh.
"It ain't a lie if she's exaggerating and believes it," he answered her and scowled when Banshee was thrown from the circle. "Rogue, you're up next. Get over there and stand in the circle"
Rogue continued to glare at him and figured her opponent would be Beast. When she reached the circle, she frowned when Raven approached her. She uncrossed her arms and started to pull her gloves off.
"The rules are simple," Logan barked roughly. "This is hand-to-hand combat, nothing else. No mutation, no powers, no tricks. That means you keep those gloves on, Rogue."
With a huff, Rogue left her gloves alone and observed her opponent. Raven's smile gradually turned to a smirk. Rogue watched her move closer until they started to spar with loose movements and shoddy skills.
Logan looked a little impressed by the kid's fearless nature. "Tighten up those moves before you both crash over the lines."
Raven continued to work at a careful pace but started to gain an advantage. She almost pushed Rogue from the circle, but she suddenly felt the power of levitation almost fling her across the line instead. Her eyes narrowed at Rogue. "Now you have my attention."
"Ah don't want it," Rogue answered back and replayed in her own head every last bit of pain and hurt Mystique ever caused her.
Logan failed to notice the slip of Rogue's powers because he turned to talk to Beast for a second. When he looked back at the fight, all hell had broken loose. He watched Raven flip Rogue in the air and kick at her. His eyes narrowed. "Ray, I told you to go easy on her!"
Rogue frowned as she narrowly stopped herself from falling over the line and she landed awkwardly on her feet. She glared at Logan, determined to teach them both a lesson. When Raven turned to reply to Logan, Rogue started to growl. "You were right Logan, she really needed me to treat her with kid gloves," Raven said.
With her borrowed powers, Rogue attacked Mystique and almost knocked her over the line. They grappled with their hands and faced each other with Raven taunting her. "I won't be beaten by a jealous, little girl. I suggest you give in before I embarrass you," she whispered in Rogue's ear.
The anger and resentment Rogue carried for years suddenly erupted and she lost her temper. With the powers she had stolen from Eddie, she catapulted Raven high in the air. Bones claws broke through her knuckles, and she leapt towards her. Seconds away from impaling Raven with a set of sharp claws, Rogue had victory snatched from her by Logan. He tackled her and knocked her out of Raven's path. Raven landed several meters outside the circle and the room fell silent.
Logan's mood darkened when he looked at Rogue's claws. He kept a tight hold of her even when she fought against him, and he glanced over at Raven. "You okay?" he called to her.
Raven climbed slowly to her feet and sighed. "I've had rougher treatment at a spa," she replied dryly and sauntered from the room.
"The rest of you are dismissed," Logan barked at the other X-Men and watched them leave. He then scowled at Rogue. "What the hell were you thinking, Anna Marie?" She growled at him, and he growled right back. "You want to take me on, huh? Go right ahead, but I'm not going easy on you."
He released her and she took a few decisive steps back and started to circle him. His eyes followed her with a growl, and she ran at him with the bone claws. The fight lasted less than five seconds. He grabbed her mid-run, hauled her off her feet, and slammed her against the wall with three adamantium claws pointed at her throat.
Rogue stared at his face and her bone claws vanished. The tears started to pool in her eyes, and she tried to squirm out of his grip.
He kept her pinned to the wall. "You about ready to tell me what that tantrum was about?" When she refused to answer, he started to snarl. "I ain't playin' here, Stripes. You were fighting to kill, and I want to know why." She looked at the floor instead of his eyes and his grip on her tightened. "You best answer me before I do something we both regret." When her tears started to fall, he knew he had won but kept her still with the claws still aimed at her. "What's with all the silent treatment and hate?"
"Ya sleepin' with the woman who used and abused meh!" Rogue snapped at him, the tears rolling down her face.
Logan's claws sheathed and he dropped her gently to her feet. He looked confused for a moment. "You know Raven?" he said and reached for her gloved hand, but Rogue pulled away from him and ran from the room. "Damn it," he muttered and watched her run.
#
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Raven asked while she stepped from the warmth of the shower and reached for her clothes in her bedroom.
Logan stood there with folded arms and a gruff look. "How well do you know Rogue?" he demanded to know and continued to mull over the kid's confession.
"You introduced me to her this morning and I'm not her number one fan," she replied with a frown as she dressed.
His eyes never left hers, even when she dressed and tossed a towel his way. He caught it and dropped it in the laundry basket. "You sure you've never met her before now? She's been here four weeks and I haven't been with her every second of the day."
"You know I haven't, I spent most of the month abroad," she sighed and faced him. "What's this about, Logan?"
"She says she knows you and she ain't lying," he growled at her, still confused because Raven had told him the truth. "Which means you do something in the future to harm her."
"I'm not surprised," Raven replied and slipped her dress on. "Can you zip me up?"
"This is serious, Ray," he grumbled and helped her with the dress.
Raven rolled her eyes and attempted to put his worries to rest. "I have no intention of harming her, I don't even want to speak to her."
Logan zipped her up and took a step back. "This ain't gonna work out between us, not until I'm sure you'll leave Rogue the hell alone."
"Don't be ridiculous," Raven sighed dramatically.
He growled at her and opened the door. "I'm warning you now, you try anything, and you'll see a different side to me."
Raven scoffed and watched him leave. "He'll be back," she murmured and slammed the door shut behind him.
#
Rogue dumped a handful of random belongings in a duffle bag she had stolen from Logan's bedroom. With a quick look under her bed, she grabbed her pajama pants and ditched them in the bag. She zipped it up and ran for the door. This would be the last time the X-Men ever saw her, she decided. They could all go to hell until she calmed down. She reached the bottom of the stairs before she heard footsteps.
Logan's stormed after her and caught her before she reached the door. "Where the hell are you going?"
She glared at his hand on her wrist and swung the bag at her side. "Ah guess Ah'm busted big time, but ya ain't stoppin' meh leavin', Wolverine. Ya can shove Mystique up ya ass." Without a word, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her up the stairs. "Logan!" she yelled, clinging onto her bag. "Ya better put meh down if ya know what's good for ya!"
Logan snorted at that and shook his head. At least she was talking to him. He carried her all the way to her room, dumped her on her bed and sat down beside her. "You keep this behavior up you won't live to see sixteen," he warned her and hauled her over his knee.
Rogue grimaced when heavy swats landed on her ass. "Quit it!"
His palm slammed against its target and continued at a steady and powerful pace. "You and me are due a long talk," he snarled and flipped her skirt up. He rained further swats down on her pantied backside. "I ever mention how much I hate kids who take off because they think they run the show?"
"Ah do run the show!" she sassed back and then instantly whimpered when he swatted her. "Ow!"
He cracked his hand down on her butt again and the sound echoed around the room. With a growl, he continued to wear his hand out on her backside until she bawled. Even when she cried and pleaded with him, he spanked her with a heavy hand and a scowl. "I catch you trying to run again, you're gonna wish I'd finished you off in the danger room, you understand me?" He stood her up and growled at her. "I said do you understand me?"
She took too long to answer, and he dragged her back over his knee for the second round of swats. Her feet kicked in the air, and she sobbed every time his hand connected with her butt. He whacked her until she started to promise to be good and carried on until she bawled a word he had never been called before. "Daddy!" she wailed with a flood of tears. "Ah'm sorry!"
Logan's eyes narrowed with surprise, and he scooped her into a sudden hug. With a patient rub to her back, he waited for her to talk again.
Rogue cried heavy tears and buried her face against his shoulder. She sobbed in his arms until her upset faded and her head hurt. While she wiped the edge of her sleeve across her eyes to capture the last of her tears, she was angry she'd gone and broken the promise to herself to give him the silent treatment.
He came to realize she failed to notice the name she called him. With a grumble, he cleared his throat and launched into the rules he'd meant to share with her for some time. "I can't have you running off, that's rule number one," he told her gruffly. "You don't run the show, you never have done, and you never will do, that's rule number two. You don't keep secrets from me, even if you think they'll cause the shit to hit the fan, that's rule number three. You stay out of bars, and you stop lying, that's rule number four and five. You don't give me the silent treatment, that's rule number six. You drop the attitude and treat me with respect, that's rule number seven. When you've got a problem with me, you come tell me, that's rule number eight. You don't fight to kill in training sessions, that's rule number nine. You ask my permission to leave the grounds, that's rule number ten."
She rested her head on his shoulder and yawned tiredly. "Yack, yack, yack," she muttered with a sorry sniffle.
"Am I keeping you up, Stripes?" he asked her, standing up.
"Kinda," she muttered against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Logan turned her sheets down and dropped her gently on the bed. While he tucked her in, he carried on with his list of rules and handed her the teddy bear. "You'll listen to me from now on, that's rule number eleven. You eat three square meals a day, no excuses, that's rule number twelve. Every morning you train with me in the danger room, that's rule number thirteen. You keep this room clean, that's rule number fourteen. I ain't letting you skip any more days at school, that's rule number fifteen. You have a seven pm curfew until you earn my trust, that's rule number sixteen. You don't answer back, that's rule number seventeen. You behave your ass at school, that's rule number eighteen."
He stopped and frowned down at her when he noticed she had fallen asleep. With a sigh, he switched her lava lamp off and walked to the door. Taking one last look at her, he lit a cigar with the strike of a match and shook his head. "That kid's gonna be the death of me," he grumbled and stalked out of the room.