Warning: Contains themes of sexual assault.
Almost two months into her life in nineteen-sixties America, Rogue sat outside her school building in Logan's truck. She watched the rain bounce on the hood and sighed to herself. The excitement had faded and she felt more like an outsider in 1963 than she did in 2001. She glanced at Logan. "Just ask meh already."
Logan raised an eyebrow while he watched her. Even he had noticed she seemed different lately. She would run out on conversations and never wanted to talk about school. He thought maybe she wanted to deal with it alone, but he had started to grow suspicious. "You sure you're okay, Stripes?"
She nodded and watched other students walk inside the school. "Ah'm okay," she muttered, glancing at him again. "Stop lookin' at meh like that."
He shook his head at her attitude and turned to watch her school. "When I was your age, schooling stopped for me what I turned nine," he muttered and watched the students climb the steps.
"That's really early," she said and glanced at him. "Ah couldn't imagine ya in school, ya were probably paddled every day."
He snorted at that and looked at her. "It was a leather strap back then," he told her. "Hurt like hell."
"Nobody listens to meh and everybody's a creep," Rogue told him suddenly, the first true words she had shared with him since he had stopped the truck. "Things are too different, and Ah hate it. Ah don't belong here, Logan."
Logan patted her gloved hand and reached over her to open the truck door. He pushed it open and settled back in his seat. "Right now, you belong inside that school," he said.
Rogue rolled her eyes and scooted closer to the rain. She grabbed her bookbag and looked at Logan. "Ya never listen to meh when Ah want to talk."
"I'll listen to your problems when you're not late for school, Stripes," Logan grunted and struck a match to light another cigar.
She shook her head and left the truck with a huff. "Ya don't listen even when it's just ya and meh standin' in a quiet mansion," she argued angrily. "Ya don't care about meh, Logan. That's why Ah have to always fight mah own battles."
Logan inhaled cigar smoke and watched her for a moment. "You don't have any battles to fight, just a bad attitude," he answered and pointed his cigar at her.
Rogue's eyes narrowed and she slammed the truck door shut. She stormed in the direction of the school and swung her bag while she crossed the street in the rain. He had no idea what her battles were because he never listened to her even when she tried to ask him for help.
#
The next day, Rogue was sat in a diner and carved a hole through her stack of pancakes. She looked at Logan across the table when he lit a cigar. "Do Ah need to tell ya again about how smokin' kills?"
Logan looked right back at her. He tapped the watch on his wrist. "Eat up. You're gonna be late for school."
She shrugged and gazed around the diner. People were bustling about, noisy, and cheerful, and she almost felt at home. The world she lived in sometimes felt uncomfortable, but she realized she spent more time with Logan here than she did in the future. Her gaze focused on the waitress who poured coffee into the mug of a trucker and she watched the trucker's hand grope the waitress on the ass.
Glancing from the pages of the newspaper, Logan looked across the diner too and chuckled when he watched the groping trucker. He returned his attention to the article he had almost finished reading.
"What's funny about that?" Rogue asked him with a scowl.
"Nothing, it's an article about diamond mines," he answered gruffly, his eyes reading the text on the page.
She reached forward and pulled the newspaper away from him. "That wasn't what ya were laughin' about. He touched her, and she didn't even ask for it. Ya know what that's called in mah time? It's sexual assault."
"Stripes," Logan grumbled, grabbing the newspaper from her, and searching for his article again. He found the page and settled the paper on the table. He sighed when she continued to scowl at him. "This happens with every generation. Hell, things considered normal today would have got my ass killed when I was your age."
Rogue pushed her plate forward and refused to drop the subject. "That waitress pulled away from him, Logan. She didn't like it."
"You're gonna be late for school," he grumbled, in no mood for a debate before he had finished his first cup of coffee.
"How would ya feel if he did it to meh?" she demanded to know with a stubborn look when he ordered her to drop the subject.
With a heavy sigh, he closed the newspaper, folded it, and tucked it under his arm. "That's different," he said, leaving money on the table. With a grunt, he left the booth and nodded in the direction of the exit "Come on, you're gonna be late."
Rogue followed him out to the truck. "How's it different? Don't ya think she has family out there who care about her? Women should be able to go to work or the store or anywhere they want to go without bein' assaulted."
Logan kept his thoughts to himself and climbed into the truck. He waited for her to join him and drove in the direction of her school. He had often groped women whenever he felt the need and he had thought nothing of it. "You're too young to understand," he told her with a growl when she continued to lecture him.
"Don't ya go pullin' that card on meh," she scolded him like a little kid. "Ah'm the one in the right here. If he had done that to meh in that diner ya would have broken his nose."
"Enough already," he growled at her with a dark look.
"Ah haven't finished," Rogue said angrily when he parked outside her school. "Ya should have got ya ass out ya chair and helped that waitress. She was real uncomfortable and ya just laughed at it. What kind of guy are ya, Logan?"
Logan scowled at her. He pointed to the school building. "If your ass ain't out this truck, up those stairs and in that school in the next thirty seconds I'm gonna tan your hide. You hear me, Anna Marie? I've heard enough."
Rogue matched his scowl. She had avoided a spanking for almost four weeks straight and this was the first time she and Logan had argued since she had tried to run from Xavier's. "Ya've just shown meh what kind of guy ya are," she muttered, disappointed in him. Leaving the truck, she slammed the door shut and marched towards the school.
#
Before she reached her first class, Rogue headed to the nearest restrooms and locked herself in one of the stalls. She hung her bag on the back of the door and started to strip, her hand reaching inside it for another dress. She tugged her gloves off and shimmied out her pantyhose. When she pulled her new dress on and slipped on her shoes, she smiled a little and left the stall. She carried her bag to the mirror and stuffed her old clothes away beside books and stationery.
She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection for the longest time. One week ago, when Logan had gone on a mission, she had wandered the halls at night and come across a locked room in the basement. A key she had found in the Professor's study fitted the lock. All she had wanted to do was look, but when she opened the door and rifled through the cupboard, she had found something that looked familiar. It had been Forge's experiment. No, it had been the device she thought had been Forge's experiment in 2001.
With a smile at her reflection, she gazed at her short dress and bare legs and arms. "Ah'm normal," she whispered and headed to the door when she heard the bell ring. She collided with another student when she left the bathroom, their bare skin touching. Panicked at first, Rogue smiled to herself. Nothing happened because she was normal.
#
At midday, Rogue stood in the principal's office and sighed while he read out a list of tardiness. That damn hall monitor, she owed him a kick somewhere real unpleasant. She eyed the principal's hair again while he spoke. The combover looked fuller and she slowly worked out it was a wig.
The principal stopped reading from his list and took a ruler from the desk. He glanced at the girl. "Now, let's see," he said and walked toward her.
She dropped her bag to her feet and watched him. "What are ya doin' with that?"
"I like students who don't talk back, Anna Marie," he said sternly.
"Ah like principals who don't carry rulers," she sassed him and folded her arms.
He paused in front of her, rested the tip of the ruler at her feet and then pushed it against her dress. His eyes roamed across her bare legs and paid too much attention to the hem of her tight dress.
Rogue grew uncomfortable and took a step back. She grabbed her bag and hugged it to her when his eyes focused on her chest. "Ah don't want ya doin' that," she told him quietly.
"I need to measure the length of your dress to see if it complies with school regulation," he replied and reached for the hem of her dress.
She jumped back and her body struck the doorknob. It made her wince and she rubbed at her sore arm. "Ah don't want ya near meh."
"Well, I'll have to call your guardian then," he warned her. "It's such a shame I'm still not allowed to paddle your behind."
She reached for the doorknob and kept her eyes on the principal. As she slowly opened the door, her gaze focused on the calendar on the wall. It was November 22nd 1963. She forgot her dread for a moment because that date felt significant to her. Her eyes suddenly widened, and she looked at the principal. "Ya don't have to call him, Ah'm goin' home!" She ran out of the office and down the corridor, glaring at the hall monitor when she raced past him. "Go to hell!" she called over her shoulder when he ordered her to stop.
#
Rogue had used three payphones to call Xavier's and nobody had picked up. With a quick scowl, she changed into her old clothes in the toilet at a grocery store and rushed out into the busy street. She checked the time again in a nearby electronics store window and her heart sunk. It was too late to save him. She dragged her feet to a local taxi rank and asked them to take her home.
When she reached the mansion, she entered through the kitchen and found it empty. The silence made her feel uneasy and she searched for Logan. She found him in the men's locker room readying himself for an urgent mission.
He sniffed the air, scowled, and swung around to face her. With a finger pointed in her direction, he growled. "I don't have time for you right now."
"He's dead, isn't he?" she asked quietly, walking over to him.
With a sigh, he nodded and headed to the door. He paused for a moment and scowled in her direction again. "I'm gonna tell you this once, Anna Marie. Take that disobedient ass back to school and stay there until it's chucking out time. If I find out you disobeyed me again and didn't go back to class, I'm gonna wear my belt out on your hide."
"Logan, ya don't understand," she said, stepping closer to him.
"I don't want to hear it," Logan snarled loudly. She had raised hell for three weeks straight over attending school and he had promised her the punishment of a lifetime if she cut any more classes.
She gulped and gazed down at the floor. "But Logan, Ah need to tell ya somethin'."
He closed the distance between them and hauled her out of the locker room, cracking his hand down on her backside every single step he took. "Get your ass to school!" he roared, punctuating his words with a further four whacks of his calloused palm that sent her stumbling forward.
Rogue fled to the elevator with a sob and a bad-tempered Logan stalked down the corridor to head to Dallas, Texas, with the other X-Men.
When she reached the dayroom, Rogue brushed her tears away and turned the TV on. She heard the rumble of a jet leaving the grounds and on the small black and white television screen a news anchor read the latest bulletin. "We have sombre news breaking in the United States of America this afternoon. President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy has been shot this afternoon in Dallas, Texas."
She switched off the TV and dragged her bookbag along the polished floor to the kitchen. With a sniffle, she left the mansion and returned to school.
#
Rogue stood in the principal's office again while he read the second sheet of papers listing her misbehaviours. She dropped her gaze to the floor and sighed. She had never hated a Friday as much as this one.
"Running home during a school day is very immature for a student your age," the principal said. "How many minutes of studying do you think you missed today?"
She shrugged in response and looked at him. He opened the drawer of his desk and produced the paddle. She frowned when he approached her with it. "What are ya doin'?"
"In cases where parents or guardians don't answer telephone calls promptly disciplinary measures are at the principal's discretion," he replied with a smile.
Rogue took a step back when he reached for the hem of her dress again. "Ya stay away from meh, ya creep," she whispered and missed her mutation.
"Your filthy mouth needs washing out with soap, Miss Howlett," he replied and carried the paddle closer to her. Every step he took forward, she took one back until he had her cornered.
He had creeped her out for weeks and she had tried to avoid attending school. When she felt her back bump against the wall, her mind went blank, and she forgot about her training. His hand dipped under her dress while his other hand groped at her chest, she panicked and managed to squirm out the way. With tears in her eyes, she ran for the door. When she threw it open to escape, the principal had shouted to the startled secretary that the girl was simply a student who wanted to avoid punishment. Rogue grabbed hold of the doorframe when he tried to yank her back inside and the look of terror on her face was that great, the concerned secretary left her chair and walked closer to them.
The principal had his attention drawn to the secretary for a moment and Rogue's foot collided with his ankle. He yelped and let her go. When he reached for her again, she was no longer there. He watched her sprint from the room and while he attempted to rush after her, she had fled by the time he reached the exit.
#
Logan traipsed out the elevator with a silent Raven by his side. They had kept their minds focused on the mission. Now they were back at the mansion, Logan sighed and looked at her. "How you been keeping?"
Raven stepped out of the elevator at the same time as him. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you suddenly care about me now, Logan?"
He rolled his eyes. "I ain't looking for conversation that needs an attitude adjustment. I get enough of that with Rogue," he growled at her.
"Whose fault is that?" Raven responded with a frown and marched ahead of him.
Logan watched her ass with a sigh. He liked it when she walked at a slow pace, it gave him ample time to study her body.
Raven had slowed down because her curiosity had been drawn to a group of students who stood outside a bathroom. She watched them pound on the door and shout. Logan tried to talk to her again, but she hushed him sharply. "Be quiet, I want to know what's happening over there."
"Who cares," he answered gruffly, with no interest in teen dramas.
"Rogue, we need to get inside!" one of the students shouted.
Logan suddenly cared and stalked in the direction of the students with Raven following him. He pushed his way to the front and scowled at the loud kid. "What's going on?"
"She's been in there for hours," the girl complained. "All we can hear is crying and the shower running."
Growling, Logan pressed his ear to the door. He heard the tears and the water running. He pounded on the door. "Open up, Rogue," he ordered and frowned when he heard little movement. His fist thumped on the door again. "Open up before I break the door down."
Raven looked appalled and pushed the students away until they left. She pushed Logan too. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed.
"Hey, I know what I'm doing," he growled back at her and pounded on the door again. "Keep your nose out of this, Ray."
With a frown, Raven pressed her ear to the door and looked worried. "You have no idea what you're doing," she told him. "Shut up and let me do the talking for you."
With a growl, Logan looked at her. "You think it's that easy? Go right ahead, she's a pain in the ass. If she thinks shutting herself in there's gonna help her avoid a tanning, she's got another thing coming."
Raven frowned at him again. "I told you to shut up, Logan."
He heaved a sigh and waited for her to do her thing. She would learn soon enough what kind of teen Rogue could be and then he would have to slice the lock off the door and deal with it.
"Rogue, can you hear me?" Raven asked with a gentle knock on the door. "We're worried about you. Are you okay?"
With a roll of his eyes, Logan waited impatiently. "Tell her to get her ass out here."
Raven hushed him again. "Ignore him, Rogue. I know what he's like. You should have seen him when I first took him to the best restaurant in the city. He used a champagne flute as a gun holster."
Logan scowled at her. "That was sixty goddamn years ago and you still go on about it every chance you get," he growled. "My healing factor kicked in minutes later and -"
"Yes, I know. You said the whisky was too strong for you," Raven snapped, speaking over him. "Rogue, can you unlock the door? I know it doesn't feel like it, but Logan's bad-tempered right now because he cares about you."
With a sigh, Logan started to grow more impatient when he continued to listen to her tears. "Tell her I'll wait in her bedroom," he muttered and hoped she would unlock the door if he left them to it.
Grumbling to himself, Logan started to question whether he was fit to be a parent. Rogue hated him and he had spent most of the day angry at her. Maybe she was better off with somebody else? When he reached her bedroom, he went to take a seat on her desk chair until he noticed a strange scent. Stepping closer to the laundry basket, he inhaled deeply. He could smell Rogue's principal on her clothes mixed with her fear. He tensed for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and he stormed to the garage.
#
During Logan's drive to the school, every piece of the puzzle fell into place. He gripped the steering wheel and felt it cave slightly. He had a suspicion all the troubles Rogue had thrown his way about school were connected to her goddamn principal. His temper frayed until he could barely think straight, and he parked outside the school and spotted one lone car parked close to the entrance. With a deep snarl, he stalked towards the building and pushed the doors open. He thundered down the hall and walked by Rogue's locker, his fists tightened, and he felt the familiar itch under his knuckles. When he reached the office, he scowled at the principal behind the desk.
The man appeared unconcerned by the unexpected visitor. "Mr Howlett, my secretary tried several times to contact you today. Unsuccessfully, I might add," he said, picking up his paperwork. He used a paperclip to file it together, then glanced at his visitor. "Unfortunately, I had to take matters into my own hands."
"How many times?" Logan growled and walked towards the desk.
"I'm sorry, I don't follow you," he said and stood to return the file to the cabinet on the other side of the room.
Logan could still smell Rogue's fear in the office. He blocked the man's route to the filing cabinet. "I asked you how many times?"
"Well, she was late this morning, her incredibly short dress failed the school's strict code, her temper was violent, she ran from the school, and when she came back, I'm afraid I had to threaten to use the paddle on her. She ran away before I had any success."
Stepping closer to the man, Logan loomed over him with a growl. "How many times did you touch her?"
"Touch her?" the principal said with alarm and looked furious. "That's slanderous and I'll see you both in court."
"This ain't reaching a courtroom," Logan snarled and lifted the principal clean off his feet. He slammed him against the wall two foot from the ground and three adamantium claws slid towards the man's throat. Growling again, Logan studied the trembling man's face. "How many times did you touch her?"
The panicked Principal started to stutter. "I don't know what she's told you but she's a liar, Mr Howlett. I haven't laid a finger on her, I swear!"
His claws started to pierce the skin across the principal's neck. "How many times did you touch her?"
"Three times!" the principal admitted in a shout, his eyes wide with terror.
Logan unsheathed his other set of claws. "Three times it is then," he snarled darkly.
#
Smoking a cigar under the dark night's sky, Logan watched the flash of blue lights circle the school. He leaned against a tree and raised an eyebrow when a black jeep parked beside his truck.
A man in black combat gear jumped out and marched over to Logan. "You picked the worse fucking night for this! I mean, for fuck's sake, how do you expect me to explain this one to the medical examiner?"
After a minute or two, Logan looked at him. "Mark it down as a suicide," he suggested gruffly.
"Did you see how many stab wounds he had?" the man demanded to know and nodded toward the crime scene.
"Yeah, three," he answered, snuffing his cigar out on his hand.
"And what's 3x6?" the man muttered with a sudden interest in math, readjusting the military cap on his head. "How many claws do you have again, Logan?"
"Your girls still attend that school, Jerry?" Logan asked him with a scowl.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said in an annoyed tone and folded his arms. "I don't know what I can tell that idiot medical examiner about this, he's bound to notice all the wounds, even he can't miss them."
With a heavy sigh, Logan glared at Jerry. "Make sure the cops open up an investigation," he said, walking to his truck.
"Into what?" Jerry called after him, frowning.
"He couldn't keep his hands to himself," Logan grunted and climbed into his truck.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked, approaching Logan.
With a curt nod, Logan stuck the key in the ignition and looked at Jerry. "I'm saying he put his hands where they didn't belong, so I paid him a visit. Get 'em to open up an investigation into the charges and this will all go away."
Jerry revaluated his stance and started to calm down. "Are you sure he was guilty?"
"He was guilty alright," Logan grunted and looked Jerry's way. "Give them enough info to open the investigation. I'd bet my last buck on there being a ton of victims in this town."
#
Several hours later, Logan had showered, dressed, and disposed of his old clothes in the mansion's incinerator. He stepped out of the elevator and walked over to Raven. "Any luck?" he asked her as she continued to stand outside the bathroom door.
Raven gazed at him and studied his eyes for a moment. "You've seen Jerry," she replied, studying his face again.
"Quit reading me like a book and get that door open," Logan grumbled at her in no mood to be analyzed.
"I'm not asking you for details, but I think it's connected to Rogue's tears," Raven told him smugly because she was always right.
Grumbling, Logan looked at her and led her away from the door to talk in private. "I've been acting like an asshole for weeks."
"Try decades," Raven replied, her smirk fading when she noticed his concerned face. "What are you hiding from me?"
They stopped further down the hall and Logan sighed. "I told her she didn't have any battles to fight, and when she came to me for help, I wouldn't hear her out. Hell, I scared her into going back there today. I ain't fit to be her guardian."
She frowned and brushed a gentle hand across his arm. "How are Rogue's tears, your temper and Jerry's contacts connected, Logan?"
He growled as he answered. "The Principal of Bayville High, he was groping her every chance he got."
Shocked for a moment, Raven glanced from Logan to the door. "But her powers?"
"The way I punished her when she used them against me probably had her too scared to use 'em to protect herself, Ray," he said gruffly.
Raven gazed at him again and shook her head. "This isn't your fault, Logan. She loves you; she won't blame you for this."
The bathroom door opened, and Rogue walked past them wearing a fluffy and vibrant green dressing gown. She went in the direction of her bedroom, and Logan watched her with a sigh. He didn't know what to do for the best and looked at Raven.
Raven smiled with reassurance because she could read the worry in his eyes. "I'll talk to her for you," she promised him.
#
Rogue settled on her bed and watched her lava lamp. She had cried that long in the shower she had come to believe all the water had been made from her tears. When she heard a soft knock on her door, she thought Logan had inherited a lady's touch, but it soon became apparent when the door opened that the knock belonged to Mystique.
"Well, I didn't expect to be welcomed with open arms after our fight in the Danger Room," Raven said, walking into the room.
"Try tomorrow and mah scowl will be darker," Rogue muttered and turned back to her lava lamp.
Seating herself at the desk, Raven gazed around the room. It was threadbare and oddly designed. "Hasn't he taken you shopping yet?" When Rogue didn't answer, she continued to talk as she shared a personal story. "I went to the mall last week and when I took my purchases from the shopping cart, a man touched my behind. I was so angry, I kicked him in the chest, and he flew straight across the counter and struck the wall with such a force he broke several bones in his face."
Rogue gazed in her direction but still didn't say anything. Raven took that as a cue to continue the story. "The staff were appalled, and they called the cops. I thought, well, he was the one in the wrong, so I stood my ground, and do you know what happened while he was carried into the waiting ambulance?"
Still watching Raven, Rogue shook her head. "Ah weren't there so how would Ah?"
"They tried to arrest me," Raven responded, annoyed. "He assaulted me and when I protected myself, they tried to place the handcuffs on my wrists. I later discovered he was the manager of the store with a long track record of being a pervert. I couldn't tell you how many times men have touched me without permission. I despise it, I loathe it, I detest it, I always fight it, and I'm wise enough to know when I need to talk about it. Logan was the first man I met who wasn't cruel about my mutation and he also didn't cross certain lines with me. He's a good man when you give him a chance, Rogue."
Feeling as though she had missed something major, Rogue looked at Raven. "What makes ya think Ah don't trust him?"
"He didn't listen to you. Fathers do that sometimes, they fail you or abandon you completely, but Logan's not that like that and he proves old dogs can learn new tricks," Raven said, frowning in disgust when she used the corny phrase.
"Yeah, ya can stop now," Rogue said, leaving her bed. "Ah'm not used to us talkin' like this."
"So, we do know each other in the future?" Raven asked, watching Rogue walk to the door.
Rogue paused for a moment when she opened the door and she looked at Raven. "What happened when the cops went to handcuff ya?"
"I kicked every one of them over the counter until I could leave the store with my unpaid items," Raven replied with a smirk.
With a smile, Rogue left her room and thought about Raven's story as she went to find Logan.
#
Logan settled on his bed and puffed on his second cigar in a row. He had the radio on and listened for any further breaking news. Most of the coverage focused on JFK's death, but he waited for the crime scene at the school to be mentioned. He heard Rogue coming closer and left his bed to switch the radio off. He reached the bedroom door and opened it for her.
When Rogue entered his room, she acted more nervous than normal, and he wrapped his arms around her protectively and pulled her into a hug. "Here's what I'm suggesting," he told her. "I'm gonna give you a twenty-four window with no punishments. Think of it like a reset. You can come to me, tell me anything and I won't overreact or tan your hide. I think maybe that's what we need right now, Stripes. We clean the air; confess our sins and we can move on stronger."
Rogue thought he knew about how she had sneaked into the locked room and tried an experiment again. She sighed as he continued to hug her. "That could work," she muttered.
He couldn't understand why she still smelled nervous. "I'll go first," he said, patting her back. "I should have listened earlier before the mission. You didn't deserve those swats."
"Yeah, Ah did," Rogue muttered and closed her eyes for a moment to think of a way to come clean.
"No, you didn't," Logan growled and sat down with her in his arms. "Look, I'm still not good at this kind of thing kid, but next time I'll hear you out before I lose my temper."
"Is there goin' to be a next time?" she asked him softly.
He growled to himself and looked down at his hands. "There better not be."
#
Twenty-three hours later, Logan slept while Rogue paced outside his room. She thought about the reset he had suggested and knew if she wanted to get away with what she had done, she needed to confess in the next hour. Even though she knew he had promised not to punish her, she still felt sick with nerves. After fifty-something minutes of working her tension out by walking up and down the hall, she finally pushed Logan's door open.
Rogue wandered closer to his bed and tapped his sleeping arm with her bare hand. Nothing happened and she was almost sorry about that. "Logan, Ah need to talk to ya," she whispered.
He grumbled and opened his eyes. As he switched his lamp on, he eyed her with concern. "What is it, Stripes?"
Glancing at Logan's clock, she realised she had less than two minutes to confess. "Ah've kept somethin' major from ya and Ah'm really sorry Ah haven't told ya sooner."
Logan felt relieved she would finally tell him about her principal's behaviour. He sat up ready to listen to her words and hug her if it was needed.
Rogue gazed at his face and shuffled from one foot to the other nervously. "When ya went on a mission last week, Ah found a room in the basement that was locked. So, Ah borrowed a key from the Professor's study, unlocked the room, and Ah found one of those experiments Ah thought was Forge's in the future." She started to explain faster because the twenty-four hours was almost up. "Ah used it because Ah knew it would make mah powers vanish for a while. It worked and Ah've been usin' it almost every day so Ah can go to school and dress like Ah'm normal." With a smile, Rogue turned to walk out of the room. "Thanks for listenin', Logan. Ah feel better now. "
A dumbfounded Logan sat there for a while until he started to growl. The only device that fit that description was the, no, she couldn't have. But the longer he mulled over her story, the worse it had sounded and his growl grew louder. He scrambled from his bed, pulled on his shirt and sweatpants, and followed her scent to her room. He shoved her door open and scowled at her. "Where the hell is it?!"
Rogue's eyes narrowed at him, and she sat on her bed. "Ya said ya wouldn't yell or be angry at meh if Ah told ya somethin'."
"I'm not angry!" he yelled at her and started to search her belongings.
"What ya doin'?" Rogue snapped, getting up and making a grab for her bag. "Ya invadin' mah privacy!"
Logan growled at her and let her keep the bag. He hustled her straight out the door and shook her roughly by the shoulders. "Where the hell is that device you've been using to zap your powers?"
"Mah closet," she answered, scared of him.
"Get your ass outside to the boathouse and stay there until I come get you!" Logan ordered with a snarl and listened to her feet run down the hall. He checked the entire top shelf carefully before he stooped to search through the boxes on the floor of the closest. If she had handled it several times maybe it had stabilized since the last time he had checked it over. When he spotted it inside one of the boxes, he considered his next move. While his hand slowly reached towards the device two lights on its face started to flash red. "Damn it," Logan grunted.
"You're not doing it alone, are you?" Raven called from the bedroom doorway, her hands on her hips.
"Get out of here, Ray," he muttered, his hand still moving toward the device.
She entered the room and stood behind him. "I spoke to her as I promised, and she gave you another chance, and what do you do, Logan? When I leave you alone to parent, you shout that loudly you probably woke half of Bayville and she will never trust you again."
"She's keeping a bomb in her goddamn closest. What do you expect me to do, congratulate her?" he growled.
Raven kneeled beside him and gazed down at the box. "I doubt she understood it could explode," she replied and glanced at him. "How are we going to do this?"
"Why are you still here?" Logan grumbled and looked at her while he tried to form some kind of plan.
With a smile, Raven gazed at him. "I can't ride the tension from your body until we return the device to its rightful home."
Chuckling to himself, Logan shook his head and returned his attention to the device. "You remember the last time we tried this? It knocked down every wall in that house and buried us under the rubble."
"I hated that house," she sighed and rested her hand on his to steady it.
"So did I," he agreed and looked at her face. With his firm nod, they both reached for either side of the box and slowly lifted it. "We're just lucky we're the only ones in the mansion right now."
"Well, you did send Rogue running from the mansion in tears," she replied with a frown and helped him carry the box to the door.
Logan scowled at her and backed his way to the elevator. "She's kept a bomb in her closest for over a week, Raven. She's lucky she's able to run and cry."
"You know as well as I do, she didn't know it's a bomb," she replied. "The only reason we kept it was because it suppressed mutations."
Logan reached the elevator first and pressed the button. He couldn't understand why she failed to see the danger in Rogue's actions. "She kept a bomb in her closest, Raven. It could have killed her, and even if she had survived, it would have taken half the mansion down on her head."
Raven joined him in the elevator and they both stilled their hands and kept the box as stable as possible. She gazed at him for the longest time. "She used it to suppress her mutation because she feels exactly like I did at her age."
"She could have blown half the mansion up," he reminded her with a growl. "Hell, she could still blow both of us up if we don't reach the basement in time," he warned gruffly and led the way once they reached the correct floor.
They used slow, careful steps and gentle shuffles of their feet to finally reach the heavily fortified and bomb-proof room. When they lowered the box onto a shelf in the cupboard, they watched each other, and Raven smiled. Logan pulled her gently from the room and locked the door. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at her. "Finally, some good luck," he muttered.
She gazed at him and watched as he moved closer. "Luck or perhaps expertise and hard work?"
Logan snaked his hands around her hips, and he inhaled her scent. "I've been thinking we should try again, Ray. You and me, we make a good team."
They kissed for what seemed like an eternity and Raven sighed. "You accused me of being a future murderer," she reminded him while he turned his attention to kissing her neck.
"I never said murder, Rogue told me you were shady in the future," Logan grunted between kisses and cupped her ass. When he thought about Rogue, he suddenly remembered he had sent her outside thirty minutes ago in her nightshirt to wait in the boathouse. His eyes narrowed with worry and took off in a run to the elevator.
"What's wrong with you now?!" Raven shouted at his retreating back.
"Get some hot water bottles heated up," Logan ordered her and made his way outside.
#
A half-frozen Rogue slid down the wall of the boathouse and wiped her tears away. She felt like she couldn't do anything right. Now Logan hated her again, she hated Logan too, and she almost liked Mystique. It had been a long time since a full week had treated her this unkindly. Her tears fell until she heard footsteps and the grumbles of Logan's words.
"You're gonna catch your death out here, Stripes," Logan said with concern, walking over to her and scooping her up from the cold ground. He hugged her close and carried her back to the mansion through the snow and icy weather. She shivered against him, and he scowled because he had once again proved he made a lousy father.
When they reached the mansion, Raven busied herself as she filled hot water bottles and placed them in Rogue's bed. While he waited, Logan continued to hold the cold Rogue. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently. Then he dragged the desk chair close and sat there with his gruff concern showing on his face. Raven left them alone and he sighed. "About the last few weeks," he said.
Rogue sniffled and the fresh tears fell down her ashamed face while she looked at Logan. "Mah principal touched meh," she said. "He's a creep, Logan. He scares meh and Ah don't want to be in the same room as him. Ah'm sorry Ah didn't tell ya sooner"
He reached for her bare hand and held it between his own, trying to warm it faster. "You're not the one who should be sorry," he told her. "Hear me out, okay? I thought you were rebelling because you didn't want to go to school, then I come back here and you're crying in the bathroom and your clothes in the hamper smell like your fear and his scent." He squeezed her hand gently. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry."
Tears fell and she gazed at him. "What did ya do to him?"
"Let's just say they'll be looking for a new principal because he's got some questions to answer," Logan explained gruffly, sticking to the story of the investigation. He squeezed her hand gently again. "How long you been keeping a bomb in your closest?"
"Ah didn't know it was a bomb." Rogue's eyes widened and she stared at him in shock. "Is that why ya were angry?"
He shook his head. "That weren't anger from me, Stripes. I found that device back in 1939 inside a German warehouse. They were gonna ship it to every battlefield and corner they could find until my unit took the warehouse down with dynamite. I kept that last device in case we ever had to fight something similar in the future. The way you used it weren't what they had in mind when they created it. You know how many mutants served in the wars?" Rogue shook her head and he continued to talk. "Too many for the enemy to make any solid ground. They came up with that device to lay in the paths of mutants, with a suppression field that stripped powers away."
"So, they couldn't use their mutations to fight back?" Rogue said quietly and watched Logan nod. "Ah thought ya had sent meh outside to punish meh."
"I sent you outside to keep you safe," Logan answered with a scowl and wondered how he acted in the future to make her think that way. "How'd we meet in your time?"
"When mah mutation started ya and the X-Men came to help meh but Ah was scared instead," she explained and avoided telling him why. "Then ya saved meh and another student on a school trip. Meh and the student had been attacked in a cave and we were on this huge drop, and ya came along on a jet with ya claws out and took the mutant on. She flew away as a bird and ya hauled us inside the jet."
Logan's eyes narrowed for a second or two because he knew who the mutant shaped like a bird was. "What happened?"
She smiled at him and yawned tiredly. "Ah asked ya if ya were goin' to throw meh out the jet if Ah didn't want to join the X-Men. Ya closed the hatch and said ya didn't work that way."
He grunted and squeezed her hand again. "Get some sleep, Stripes," he said and kept a vigil at her bedside.
#
The next morning, the kitchen had a frosty atmosphere and it had little to do with the weather outside. The last of the X-Men returned from Dallas but issues remained between Logan and Raven. They spoke very few words to each other over the breakfast table and Logan concentrated on page one of the local newspaper. He read about the recent suicide of the Bayville High Principal after an investigation had been launched into sexual misconduct at the school. With a grunt of approval at the disgust the townspeople were sharing in letters sent to the paper, he looked up from the page when he smelled Rogue. "What are you doing out of bed?"
Rogue smiled at him and walked over to the fridge. "Ah'm fine," she told him.
"I'll be the judge of that," he growled protectively. "You've had enough scares the past few weeks, you need your sleep."
"Ah've slept for ten hours straight," she answered back and snapped open her soda.
He growled at her because she was acting stubborn. "Then go rest for a while longer."
Rogue gazed at him for the longest time and felt nervous again, but she had thought it through and felt he deserved an apology. Last night had been tough and she realized Logan had risked his life before almost ending hers in the snow. "Can we talk a minute?" Folding his paper to hide the story about the principal's death, Logan stepped outside with her. "Ah've been thinkin' and it was wrong of meh to take that device thing and store it in mah room," she admitted.
"Yeah, it was," he agreed with her and watched her face while she tried to find the right words. Tilting her chin up, he looked down at her face and could guess where the conversation was headed. "Just spit it out, Stripes."
She shuffled her feet again and gazed at him with worried eyes before she chickened out the conversation. "It's nothin'," she said, embarrassed she had even thought of it and turned to leave.
Logan grabbed her arm before she could get far. "Go change back into your pyjamas and get ready for bed."
"It's midday and Ah've just woken up," she argued with him, scowling.
"You want a tannin', I'll give you a tannin'," Logan confirmed and pointed to the stairs. "Get your ass to your room and get ready for bed. I'll be up after I've finished reading the paper."
"Ah never said Ah wanted a spankin'!" she argued, her face flushed red. "Ah just felt guilty because of what Ah did. Hey, we haven't finished talkin'."
Logan returned to the kitchen without a word and left Rogue stood at the bottom of the stairs. She folded her arms and glanced in the direction of her feet. Why had she bothered to bring anything up? He was an asshole with a whole 'e' at the end. She made her way to her bedroom and changed back into her pyjamas. With a huff, she jumped on her bed and switched her lava lamp on.
By the time Rogue heard Logan's footsteps, her lava lamp had fully heated, and the green shapes danced and stretched in the ocean of yellow. She scowled at him when he knocked and entered her room. "Ah wasn't askin' for a spankin'."
"Could have fooled me," Logan grunted and sat down on her bed. He looked at her and she scowled again. "You really want to keep that attitude up right now?"
"Ah don't have an attitude and Ah don't want a spankin'. Ah felt guilty, that's all. Ah wanted to tell ya Ah was sorry," she told him and focused on her lava lamp while she waited for him to leave. "Why are ya still here?"
He watched her for a moment and reached for her arm. "You don't need a guardian, you need a father figure, kid," he told her.
"How did ya get that from mah words?" she demanded to know as he dragged her to him.
He dumped her over his knee and tugged her pants and panties down. His palm slammed down against her backside, and he found a steady rhythm of swats as the room filled with her cries.
"Logan! Ow! Can't we talk about this?!" Rogue whimpered, wriggling over his knee.
"I'm talking and you better be listening," Logan growled, bringing his hand down with a smack, whack, smack, whack, whack.
She started to dig her toes into the carpet with a pained expression each time his hand landed with a louder swat. Her butt wriggled, her teeth clenched and eventually the tears fell down her face. Her feet were soon kicking in the air, and she whimpered each time his hard hand landed with a thunderous whack. "Ah'm sorry!" she cried, almost jumping off his lap when he swatted her with the same force several more times.
With a growl, he kept her in place and got back to work spanking her disobedient backside. He landed SMACK after CRACK while he lectured her with a gruff snarl. "Not sorry enough, Anna Marie Howlett. The next time I'm away on a mission, you're gonna keep away from the basement, you hear me? I catch your scent near that door again you'll be bawling every night for a month!"
The crying Rogue couldn't help herself and she glanced over her shoulder. "Ah'm already bawlin'!"
"No you ain't, and get that goddamn look off your face!" Logan growled, landing another series of loud and painful swats. He knew what it meant when she carried that look in her eyes and he would make sure she understood that part of the basement was out of bounds.
More tears fell from her eyes, and she kicked her feet even harder. With a whimper and a sob, she kept telling him she was sorry, and he still carried on spanking her. Her pleading turned to promises that she would never do it again, then she sobbed until she bawled.
His palm landed time and again while he focused on swatting her thighs until they turned the same shade of deep red. "And this is for keeping the goddamn device in your room for a week and using it to zap your powers away," he said, starting the spanking all over again. Rogue kicked her feet until her legs tired and she soon bawled like the little girl she felt like.
Logan's calloused palm kept landing across her bare backside, and she bawled until she stilled over his knee and took every last painful swat he delivered her way. Logan landed the last round of swats and tugged her pants and panties up again. He scooped her into a hug and listened to her cry against his chest. "You gonna behave from now on?" he grunted and rubbed her back while she worked through the tears.
"Ya know Ah will," she wailed against his shirt, and he gave a satisfied grunt because he knew she meant it.
After a while, Logan put her in bed and gathered the sheets to her chin. "Your ass stays in that bed until the morning, you hear me?"
The sniffling Rogue desperately rolled onto her tummy with a tearful wince. "Yes," she said in a small and tearful tone.
He patted her back and walked to the door. With his hand on the doorknob, he looked in her direction when he heard her talk to him.
"Ya promised ya wouldn't punish meh if Ah told ya somethin' in those twenty-four hours," she muttered tearfully into her pillow.
With a raised eyebrow, Logan snorted at that. "Count yourself lucky I didn't take my belt to you. Without that reset, this would have been a full thrashing twice as long and twenty times more painful. Now get some sleep, Anna Marie."
Rogue listened to him leave and she brushed the last of her tears away. The past week had been tough and when she thought Logan was far enough away, she reached to her nightstand and turned the radio on low. While she laid there, in pain and feeling sorry for herself, she listened to the spoken words from the radio until something she heard made her reach for her teddy bear. Her principal had died. She cuddled the bear and switched the radio off. As she blamed herself for his death, her eyes started to drift closed. She thought of taking up swimming, maybe artic swimming would cool down her sore butt, and while her thoughts continued to cheer her up, she fell asleep, well-spanked, but knowing Logan had her back when it came to bombs or groping men.