Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to the X-Men or any recognizable characters herein. No monetarily gain is made from this story.

Author's note:

Hey guys! This is my first ever X-Men story and I'm really excited to share it with all of you!

This first chapter is a prequel and takes place during X3. I'm not going to go into any details of how Marie learned to control her skin, so let's all just assume that the Professor taught her to control and understand her mutation before he died.

As a warning, I'm a dessert first kind of gal, so there is a bit of lovin' in this first chapter... Enjoy and please review!

Marie marched down the main hall with her packed duffle clutched tightly in one hand. She tried to hold back her tears as she made her way towards the front doors.

After all I've done, it wasn't enough, she thought. Just moments ago, Marie stood at her window and watched Bobby and Kitty at the fountain below. It crushed her to see how easily he took Kitty's hand in his own. Everyone at the mansion felt the grief of the Professor's death- including Rogue- and yet it was Kitty that Bobby went to and comforted. And he did it without flinching away from her touch.

Marie now had control over her deadly mutation, but she still saw the panic in her boyfriend's eyes whenever she reached for him. He rejected her. He went to Kitty.

It was a dramatic reaction to leave, she knew. And if she was honest with herself, she didn't really love Bobby. Lord knows, she didn't master her mutation just for him, but it still hurt. And it wasn't just Bobby. For most of the students at the mansion it had become a subconscious habit to shy from Rogue. In a place built for freaks, she was still an anomaly. And she was tired of convincing herself that she belonged.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see Logan appear from a doorway.

"Need a lift, kid?"

Marie turned to him and lifted her chin. "No."

He noted her bag and asked, "Where you goin'?"

"Ya don't know what it's like ta be afraid of your powers. Ta be afraid ta get close ta anybody."

"Yeah, I do." Logan's face softened.

"I wanted ta be able to touch people, Logan. A hug. A handshake. A kiss. And now that I can-," She broke off at a loss for words.

"I hope you're not doing this for some boy."

She avoided his gaze. "I always hid behind my mutation. I used it as an excuse. Because of that, nobody here knows who I really am. Most of the mansion wouldn' even notice if I left."

Logan stepped towards her and cupped her face in his hands. Marie noted the gentleness he seemed to reserve only for her. "I know you, Marie. I would notice if you left. I'd even go after you, darlin'."

She closed her eyes and focused on the way Logan moved his thumb over her cheek. "Because you made a promise to a lost kid, years ago."

"No Marie, because I care about you. I made you that promise because you were the first person, in all that I can remember, to care about me too." He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin. He smelled like the woods and she found it soothing. "I'm not your father, so I can't tell you to go upstairs and unpack, but I am your friend so I'll ask you to stay."

She choked out a sob and buried her face into his neck, embarrassed by her own emotional reaction. "Bobby and Kitty-"

He shook his head and his scruff scratched across the top of her hair. "I saw them, darlin'. They're just ice skating."

"No. Bobby is still afraid of touching me. It's been weeks and he won't touch me."

Logan growled out, "Iceboy's an idiot."

Marie tilted her head back and looked at the unusual tenderness softening the Wolverine's expressions. A longstanding attraction to the man stirred her emotions, and she watched him lean forward to place soft kisses on her fluttering eyelids.

"He doesn't know what he's missing, Marie," he murmured against her skin. The rumble of his words vibrated through her and settled in her belly.

She had long ago convinced herself that she was over her teenage crush, but her breath caught when he moved his feathery kisses to her cheeks, her chin, her forehead. One sensitized kiss to her jawline sent her forward to capture his lips with her own.

They moved slowly, intimately. She moved her lips hesitantly against his, tracing and memorizing the texture of his lips with her own. He moved more confidently, but kept her pace. Marie had no experience kissing like this before, but could only describe it as sensual. With Bobby, he sought to somehow sate his hormones before her mutation kicked in.

While she felt like she could kiss him forever like this, something grew within her and pleaded for more. The thought that she needed to taste him somehow flashed across her mind, and she flicked her tongue out to lick his bottom lip.

In an instant, Logan broke the kiss and moved so he was holding her again. His body was tense and she waited a moment as he panted in her ear.

"Stay," he growled to her.

She nodded to his chest and he took the duffle from her hand. With his free hand, he took one of hers and tugged her back down the hall to the stairs. She had to jog to keep with his pace.

As they reached his door, the tenderness he displayed before vanished and he all but tossed her in the room. She stumbled in surprise and landed on his bed, splayed on her back. Before she could sit up, he covered her body with his own. He used his powerful legs to lock hers in place between his, and propped himself up on his elbows around her face. It was his turn to taste, and he thrust his tongue past her lips to massage her mouth.

When she needed to breathe, he nipped his way to her ear and down her neck. She let out a yelp in surprise, jolted by the sensations. He mumbled an apology against her throat and tried to pull back, but she fisted his hair and brought his mouth to hers once again. Feeling bolder, she sucked on his tongue when he plunged it back into her mouth. Logan growled and jerked his hips against her. Her name escaped his lips in a whispered plea. She wasn't sure what he was asking her for, but in that moment, she was sure she would give it to him.

A familiar sensation pooled between her legs, and she rubbed her thighs together to try to relieve the tension. Logan noticed the movement and wedged his thigh against her center. She moaned as she felt his body heat radiating through his jeans, and reflexively worked against it. One of his hands moved to angle her leg better around his waist, and the other expertly worked open the buttons on her top.

Logan growled as he tore her bra off impatiently, and Marie trembled under the look of intensity he gave her. She wondered if she had ever seen anyone so naturally masculine. He worshiped her breasts with his lips and teeth and Marie let her eyes roll back, giving in to the pleasure.

"Oh God, Logan!" She cried after she felt a particularly sharp bite to the underside of her breast.

"You taste so good, darlin'," he replied to her cry. He took his time running his tongue down to her pant button, not missing a single inch of her salty skin.

Aware of just how far this would go, Marie propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at him.

"Don't do this just because you feel sorry for me," she blurted out before she could stop herself. The buildup of insecurities and emotions of the day were reappearing in her mind. She had wanted Logan like this for a long time, but she wouldn't take him out of pity.

He narrowed his eyes at her and moved back her body, putting his face a inch from hers.

"Don't do this just because of that Ice-shit."

Reassured, Marie softened her gaze and kissed the corner of his frowning mouth. Without breaking eye contact, she gently opened his shirt one button at a time. He remained immobile when she scraped her nails down his abdomen, so she locked her ankles behind his back to rub against his erection until he was reassured too.

Marie peeled off the remainder of their clothes and surrendered herself to Logan completely.

When he entered her, he swallowed her cry and kissed her tears. They moved together in perfect unison, chasing each other to paradise in a long-recited dance. Lost in one another, they allowed themselves to forget their grief for the professor and Scott, their worries about Jean, about Bobby and Kitty. Nothing else existed.

Afterwards, Marie turned on her side and landed her sated gaze on the man beside her. She watched his chest expand as he pulled from his cigar. Her own tightened from something else. She opened her mouth to voice her emotions, but he leaned forward and captured her lips with his own and moved his body over hers again, silencing her for the rest of the night.

It was in the early hours of the morning, after another round of love making, that Ororo called them to the jet hanger. She told them to gear up and prepare to leave for Worthington Labs at Alcatraz Island.