Logan had been back for two weeks and still she couldn't decipher if he was planning on staying. She hadn't asked out right which would be the simple thing, she was afraid of the answer. He'd been gone three years, three very long years and seeing him walk back in the mansion unannounced had shocked her more than she'd been willing to admit.

Before he'd left that young eager Marie would have run up to him and squealed her happiness at seeing him again. This Marie however, three years wiser and far more cautious had stood back leaning against a doorjamb observing his interactions with the others. She'd waited for him to notice her first. It had pleased her to notice it hadn't taken him long, a flare of his nostrils a subtle tilt of his head and his eyes had met hers. She'd smiled said hello and then left the room surprising not only everyone in the room but herself as well.

Since then she'd maintained a careful but friendly distance, only speaking to him when others were around making sure they never had a chance to be alone together. It hurt of course her feelings for him had remained unchanged in the years since he'd left but she was smart enough to know that a man like Logan could not be pushed. He hadn't been interested when he'd left no reason to believe he'd be interested now and she wasn't fool enough to torture herself. A lot had changed for her in that time. She'd grown not just in body but in mind, having Magneto and Wolverine in the back of her head had made that inevitable. But her powers had changed as well. She could control her skin; she could nearly fly and thanks to Logan could heal somewhat faster than others. What hadn't changed was her distance from the others. It had bothered her at first the way they would maintain that careful distance, now it empowered her, she reveled in her solace. The Professor worried for her but if nothing else good had come from having Magneto in her head she was now able to create a stronger barrier in her mind, thus only allowing people in when she wanted them there.

But now Logan was back and the feelings she had stored away threatened to push away all her carefully crafted control. Stepping out of the Mansion she grabbed the keys to her bike, the motorcycle she had built from the ground up and the others had frowned about but never outright refused she have. She needed the air around her the freedom from the feeling of the walls closing around her. She'd go where she always went a lake nearby, staring at the water helped, it wouldn't be enough but it would have to do.

Logan heard the roar of a bike and glanced out the window to see Rogue speeding off into the early dusk of late afternoon. Glancing back at Scott he grimaced. "You let her ride that thing?"

Scott grinned and looked at Jean who rested a hand on the gentle swell of her stomach. "No one let's Rogue do much of anything. In case you hadn't noticed Logan she's an adult. She graduated, she helps teach, lives here by choice you've been gone a while. And frankly ever since Liberty Island she has much of your temperament; it's not exactly successful to argue with her."

Storm laughed "A slight understatement but true."

Logan rubbed his neck, he hadn't needed it pointed out she was an adult it was hard not to notice. Gone was the child he'd left behind to protect himself and her. In the child's place was a woman. One with luscious curves and a need he could scent even when she wasn't in the same room. Yet, she avoided him at every turn.

"She seems lonely, have none of you attempted to do anything about that." He really wanted to ask if there was a man in her life. He couldn't catch the scent of one on her but that meant nothing.

Storm sighed. "She prefers it that way; she gets uncomfortable if too many of us are around. When we push the issue she gets angry. An angry Rogue is not a happy Rogue so we let it be." Storm wanted to point out that the one person Rogue wanted was Logan but it wasn't her place. Since his return Rogue hadn't been acting the way Storm would have expected. It made her hold back from sharing what she knew of Rogue's feelings for him.

Logan mentally cleared his throat and tried to keep emotion out of his voice before speaking again. "She doesn't seem real interested in talking to me, I'm guessing I upset her."

Scott snorted and grabbed another beer from the fridge slamming the door when he was done. "You guess?" he glared at Logan ignoring his wife's warning in his head.

Logan gave the same look back "What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you can pretend you don't know Logan than you are an idiot." Scott saw Logan turn to him with fury in his eyes. "You are in her head have been ever since Liberty Island Logan, did you ever wonder what she could read from the mind of yours, how much of you and your thoughts are in her head. And then you left. Can you honestly say she would have no reason to be angry?"

Logan clenched and unclenched his fist wanting to get up and leave the room but something in Scotts words kept him rooted to the table. He remembered what he'd been thinking when he'd desperately tried to save her that night, what Wolverine had been shouting in his mind. He thought back piecing it together.

Ours, save ours. Logan had heard the words being screamed in his head, a howl from Wolverine begging him to reach Rogue in time.

Ours? He'd asked even as he'd fought to reach her.

Our mate, my mate must save her. The words had been primal Wolverines harsh demand to Logan fueling his strength to reach her. When Logan thought he'd been too late Wolverine had screamed in his mind crying out for his mate again and again.

Coming back to the present he caught Jean's knowing look and knew she had to have caught wind of those same thoughts and shared them with Scott. It made him feel naked and angry. He wanted to lash out but her words stopped him.

"I would never have said anything but Rogue was hurting I was trying to find a way to help her, I needed another opinion."

Scott spoke still angry but less so now "She has that knowledge in her head Logan, and still had to watch you walk away. So yeah I'm guessing she doesn't want to be around you."

"She was a child Scott you can't tell me you would have approved if I had stayed and…If I had stayed I cannot guarantee I could have controlled Wolverine. I had no choice but to leave." Logan did stand and paced furiously, hating having to have this kind of conversation with them.

Scott couldn't answer that statement so he just sipped his beer. Jean and Storm were both silent beside him and the painfully smug look Logan wore made him flinch just a bit.

"Where did she go?"

Storm bit back a grin and answered. "The lake that's about ten miles from here."

Logan had no more words and walked out of the Mansion.

Rogue lay back on the grass watching sunset fight the night for the sky. This was her place, the quiet helped soothe her mind and watching the water could be almost hypnotizing. The hearing she'd gained from Logan told her he was coming long before he ever arrived. She didn't for a moment believe it was someone else. She could have left, but she knew he was intent on forcing this meeting and the part of her she wanted to ignore was eager for it. So she remained lying on the grass, even as he parked and walked toward her.

Logan looked down at her and yet she refused to meet his eyes, so he let his gaze wander over her. The black tank top did little to hide the fullness of her breasts or the flatness of her stomach, jeans as dark as hades clung to her like a second skin tracing the gentle flare of her hip the way his hands wished to. That damn bewitching hair fell nearly to her waist, as though she hadn't cut it since he'd left.

Inside him Wolverine growled out one word ours

He reached out a hand snagging her wrist guiding her up off the grass, noting she didn't fight him. His nostrils flared when a scent hit him and scared the hell out of him. "Marie what the hell happened?" He looked over her arms, her neck.

Rogue froze trying to understand what his apparent panic was about, "Logan what, ya goin on about."

Logan scented it again as she moved and felt Wolverine shift inside of him. "You're bleeding what the hell did you do to yourself?"

Rogue cocked her head. "I didn't do anything Logan, I'm not.." then she stopped unable to prevent the blush that crept over her knowing it would be easily seen on her fair skin even in the dim light.

Logan heard her denial but didn't understand it until he saw the blush on her cheeks and drew in an even deeper breath of her. Her scent was sweet and the beast inside of him knew it instantly. Inside him Wolverine growled out a mating call so strong it broke through his throat and silenced the nature filled air around them. He watched Rogue startle and then her eyes flutter briefly close and knew she had enough of him in her mind to know exactly what that sound meant. Another scent reached him and it took any last control Logan had over Wolverine and seized it.

Rogue knew the instant when Wolverine won the battle Logan was fighting with him and the woman she was sighed in pleasure. Wolverine had wanted to stay, Wolverine considered her his, Logan had left. It took only a second and she felt her body pulled tight against his leaving no doubt as to how much he wanted her. She couldn't stop the cry as she felt his erection against her belly and his mouth trailing along her collar bone; he eased her to the ground his hands roughly pulling the strap of her tank top away from her shoulder.

Logan was sharing the moment with Wolverine knowing he should try to stop him, but when Rogue cried out in pleasure at the feel of his body against hers he couldn't find the will. Wolverine was driven to claim his mate; Logan felt his incisors lengthen knew what Wolverine wanted next and nearly came in his jeans. Wolverine gave a low growl as his mouth found Rogue's shoulder just above her collarbone at the softest part of her neck.

Rogue could feel Logan trying to temper Wolverine and almost hated him for it. Letting her hands wander under his shirt she let her nails flex deep into his skin, only then did she feel his mouth against her skin. Her body responded growing even wetter than she would have thought possible and he knew. The growl that rumbled out of him was feral and wild. It wasn't until she felt his teeth sink deep into her shoulder that she felt her world spin out of control. She'd never had an orgasm before but that didn't mean she didn't know what it was when it hit her.

Logan knew Wolverine was claiming his mate as he'd been prevented from doing for so long, he doubted he could have stopped him. Still he was shocked at how his own need to do so was equally as strong. Even more shocking was her response, she came apart in his arms, growling out her response as only Wolverine's mate would be able. The scent of it washed over him and he almost lost the last of his control. So intune was he to her that he found that somehow their minds met. It was almost as stunning as her orgasm had been.

Wolverine caught onto the connection quickly and spoke to her

Mine

Rogue heard him in her mind felt a comfort like she hadn't known before and responded the only way she could.

Yours

Rogue felt his teeth sink deeper and the pain caused more ripples of pleasure to flash through her. Her eyes blinked open and she saw Logan looking down at her. Wolverine in her mind, Logan watching her, it became too much and she pushed him away abruptly. Staggering she stood up taking numerous steps away from him, trying to regain her equilibrium. She saw Wolverine's anger he stood claws flashing out, catching the light of the moon that now hung in the sky. Despite her anger she still felt herself

responding to that display of ownership, shuddering in need. Somehow she pushed it down, even as she watched Logan regain control over the beast inside him. Still, inside her mind she heard him whispering to her mine.

Logan took rough deep breaths hardly recognizing the Rogue before him. She straightened her tank top, gently caressing the mark he'd left so vividly on her shoulder, then shook some grass out of her hair. She watched him with angry eyes all the while attempting to soothe Wolverine with her mind.

"Stop it Marie. He and I are the same." Trying to calm himself he ran a hand through his hair "I didn't come here to do this."

Rogue laughed bitterly. "Then you are not the same, because that was his intention all along." Stepping closer to the water she sighed trying to get back some of the calm she so needed. "You are not one or you would never have left, he wanted to stay. You can try to deny it but I have too much of you in my head. Even before just now."

Logan lit a cigar and watched her, her anger was real but so was her hurt and both made him feel like an ass. Wolverine grinned in satisfaction. "You were a child Marie, I couldn't stay. I had to go. Besides, how was I to know that it wasn't just something momentary, a crush?"

Rogue hated his words, hated the truth behind him. She, hated even more that she could understand his reasoning. He went to step closer to her and she hovered away slightly.

"When the hell did you learn to do that?" Logan froze more than shocked.

"While you were gone, in fact I learned a lot of things while you were gone Logan." Rogue knew it was wrong but she let her words give him just enough doubt as to what she was referring to.

Logan caught the meaning in those words and felt Wolverine's Rage as his own. He couldn't stifle the growl that came from him.

Rogue heard their anger in her mind, knew she'd pushed them both too far.

Logan breached the space between them pulling her body against his "Who?"

She shook her head "You have no right to ask."

Logan grabbed a handful of hair and none to gently pulled her head back letting his tongue slide against his mark. "You just gave me the right."

Rogue felt him push into her mind, a force she couldn't fight. In this moment he and Wolverine were the same, demanding, claiming.

Who dammit who.

Rogue looked at him wishing she could push him out, knowing there was no way.

No one damn you, there's been no one.

Wolverine growled out his pride, Logan felt her shame. That shame hurt him made him step away.

"I came back because of you Rogue, because I couldn't stay away any longer. I left because it was the right thing to do, because if I had stayed Wolverine would have had his way and you were far too young for that. You needed time, time to find your way. You can deny it you can even hate me for it but I did it because I had too never because I wanted to."

Rogue sensed more than heard the truth in his words. For a moment she could almost forgive him. "And yet; you never wrote, never called not one word in over three years. Am I not supposed to be angry about that?"

Logan couldn't answer her he'd stayed away hadn't called because he'd known that just the sound of her voice or her asking him to return and he would have come back. Instead he'd tried to lose himself in fighting, alcohol and other women. He heard her make a sound and knew she'd caught the images in his mind. Damming himself he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Bastard."

Rogue felt her stomach lurch and practically flew to her motorcycle, ignoring him calling for her she rode off into the night, letting the rush of wind clear her mind.