Important Author's Note:
I'm giving all of you a special homework assignment. Go to YouTube and search for the song "Again" by a singer named John Legend. Listen carefully to words. The song came up on my playlist in the car the other day and it suddenly clicked that it perfectly described the type of relationship that I imagine Logan and Marie would have. This is the first time that I will be including song verses in a fic, so you know it had to be pretty meaningful!

Story Takes place after X Men 1.

Logan came and went for two years after their initial arrival at the X Mansion.

When the professor really needed him for a mission, he contacted him via Cerebro and sent the jet for him.

His stints at the mansion were never longer than a couple of weeks at a time, but while he was there, he watched her.

They didn't speak much, but he spent his time watching over her as she talked to friends, played foosball in the rec room or sat in class.

He wanted to make sure she was settled...happy even.

When he made the promise to look out for her two years prior, he took it seriously. Logan had never promised anyone anything...until that night on the train while he held her crying in his arms.

That night on the train, he was prepared to fight for her...to lay down his life for her...and that hadn't changed.

At first, he was confused about his feelings towards the girl. She was a strange creature.

Most young girls, mutant or not, were afraid of the Wolverine after one look at him...let alone after seeing the claws that protruded from his knuckles. But this girl actually stowed away in the back of his trailer in an attempt to hitch a ride with him.

After that, she challenged him, questioned him, made fun of his name, attempted to start up small talk, then tried to tell him what to do.

She wasn't afraid of him at all, and that intrigued him.

Marie.

He remembered the first time they told each other their names the same way other people remembered their first kiss or their first date.

There was a definite spark of intimacy in that moment, and it shocked him that it had nothing at all to do with sex. Well...not at the time.

He didn't realize his strong desire to protect her had evolved into something more until one of his visits a few months ago.

Logan had been sitting on one of the second floor balconies overlooking the front lawn of the mansion, watching her play frisbee with some of the other students.

He watched as she jumped into the air in an attempt to catch the frisbee, then land oddly on her left ankle and crumple to the ground. No sooner had she yelped in pain did he grab a hold of the drainage pipe beside the balcony and slide down to the ground before running to her aid.

When he reached her side, her ankle was already swollen. The kids had gathered around, but none wanted to touch her...the girl with the poisonous skin.

He reached to touch the injured ankle, but she jumped and hissed, "Logan! No! Your hands!"

Logan was surprised that, even in her state of pain, she was more concerned about his well being than anything else.

"It looks like a nasty sprain. I'll get ya inside", he said as he effortlessly, and fearlessly hoisted her into his arms and carried her into the mansion.

He felt her nervously shake in his arms and quirked a brow as he walked, "Are you cold, kid?"

Marie shook her head, "I'm scared I'm gonna accidentally touch you."

As they boarded the elevator, he started to say something, but shook his head. She noticed and cocked her head to the side, "What is it?"

"Nothin'."

Marie let out an exasperated breath, "Spit it out, Wolverine."

"The professor's been working with you for over a year...and the most you've been able to manage is a quick hand shake. I think you can't touch because you're constantly afraid of it...ever think that that might be the key to your powers? Just let go of your fear and see if that can help you unlock your control."

By now, he was setting her down on an examination table in the med lab as she stared at him thoughtfully, "Thanks..."

"Don't mention it...I'll see if Jean's around so she can take a look at that ankle."

"Alright...see ya around...and thanks again..."

He gave a nod as he left the room.

The following night, he knocked on her door.

"Come in", she called from inside, prompting him to open her door and step in.

Marie was sitting up on the bed with her bandaged ankle propped up on a pillow. Surprisingly, she was gloveless...in fact, she was "less" quite a lot. All she wore was a tank top and extremely short shorts.

He almost forgot how to talk. He'd never seen her show off so much skin before. He suddenly found himself angry at her mutation. It forced her to cover up all of THIS...

"Hey Logan. What are you doin' here?", she said with a bright smile.

"Hey kid. I was just checkin' on you...er...your ankle...I just wanted to see you...er...how your ankle was doing."

Logan was relieved when the sentence finally ended and he was able to shut his pie hole. He knew he must have sounded like a bumbling idiot, but who could blame him?

Marie's cleavage and thighs were staring him directly in the face. This was flesh he'd never seen before...and it was amazing.

The feelings that were flooding his brain weren't normally reserved for Marie...these feelings were usually reserved for random bimbos he wanted to bang...or Jean. Not his precious Marie.

She was just a girl.

She was forbidden fruit.

But by the looks of her pert breasts and creamy thighs, he could guess that that fruit tasted damn good.

"Well thanks, darlin'...I'm alright. It's just like you guessed. A nasty sprain."

Logan gave a nod, "Good to know. Right. Well, it's been two hours since my last beer so..."

He turned to leave, but stopped when she called his name.

"Logan."

Logan turned back around, "Yeah?"

Marie nervously, and absentmindedly, rubbed her thigh, drawing further attention toward the sumptuous slab of skin as she looked down, "I thought about what you said...about letting go of my fear...and I think you might be on to something..."

He gave a nod, "You should talk to the professor about it, kid."

"I will. I just want to try to live a normal life one day...I wanna hug someone without them bein' afraid I'll kill 'em."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, "I'm not afraid when you hug me."

Marie smiled up at him, "That's cause you're the Wolverine...you're not afraid of anything."

"Yeah. You got a point there."

She laughed softly before looking down, "Do you think a guy will ever want me...as I am?"

He looked into her eyes for a moment and nodded. He knew a guy would want her just as she was...because he certainly did.

Marie blushed, "I'm sorry I'm talkin' to you about this. I bet you're thinkin' that I have Jubes and Kitty for all this girly crap, right?" Before he could answer, she continued, "Truth is...no matter what, I'll always think of you as my closest friend."

He quirked a smile and flicked a strand of white hair out of her eyes, "Yeah...guess that's what happens when you absorb part of someone's personality and they save your life a coupla times, huh?"

Logan remembered leaving her room imagining what her lips felt like, then panicking internally because he ended up having to go straight back to his room for a cold shower.

Marie was sitting in the library, studying for a physics test when she heard the faint sound of a motorcycle engine approaching the mansion.

She hesitated for a brief moment before slamming her book shut and jumping up to run to the front foyer.

It had been six months since his last visit and she found herself aching to see him...and it wasn't just because of the recent development of nightly sex dreams starring the one and only Wolverine...Marie could now touch, and it was, in part, because of him.

She and the professor had been searching for the key to her powers for over a year, and it turned out that Logan had been right. Fear was the key.

Once she stopped being afraid of her powers, she gained control of them.

By the time she stepped out the front door, Logan was halfway up the stairs to the mansion. When he took a look at her, he seemed a little surprised.

She wore fitted jeans and a scoop necked tank top...no gloves or scarves in sight.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes", she said with a half smile.

Logan walked further up the stairs to stand just two stairs below her, "Heya kid...long time no see."

"I'll say...six months is quite the stint. Guess you didn't miss us geeks enough to grace us with your presence."

He gave a shrug and looked down at her hands before motioning to them, "This mean what I think it means?"

She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers in front of his face, "Sure does...I'm a regular, touchable girl...and it's thanks, in part, to you."

"Me?" he said as he walked up the last two stairs to stand before her.

Marie nodded and looked up into his eyes, "Fear...I'm not afraid anymore."

He got lost in her deep brown eyes and nodded, "Good."

The sound of Storm saying his name broke them out of each others intense gaze. The professor and Hank followed, taking the time to greet Logan and unintentionally separating the two.

Marie backed into the doorway and started to walk inside, but not before she connected eyes with Logan once more.

Minutes later, she plopped down onto Jubilee's bed as her two best friends rummaged through a pile of clothes in an attempt to find something to wear on their double date later that evening with Peter and John.

Jubilee gave a turn in the full length mirror, "Roguey, do you like this dress?" When Marie gave no response, Jubilee snapped her fingers in front of her face and waved her hand, "Helloooooo! Where's your head at, girl?"

Kitty smirked, "If she had her way, it'd be in Logan's lap."

"Kitty!" exclaimed Marie.

Jubilee raised a brow, "Oh...so His Royal Hotness is back...no wonder you're completely distracted."

Marie rolled her eyes, "So yes...my night in shining armor is back. Is it so wrong to be excited?"

"Well girly, I suggest you start lookin' for more age appropriate prospects. As hot as he is, there's no way you two could make it as a legitimate item. It just doesn't make logistical sense."

Kitty nodded as she rummaged through the pile of clothes, "I have to agree with Jubes, hon. Your little crush on Logan was cute last year, now, it's holding you back."

Marie furrowed her eyebrows, "What is that s'posed to mean?"

Jubilee plopped down on the bed next to her friend, "Last year, you couldn't touch, so a real relationship was kinda out of your reach, but you had that crush to keep you company. Now, you can touch. You can have a normal future with a good guy who is your age and has the ability to be monogamous and wants the white picket fence, dog and 2.5 kids. Let go of your little Logan security blanket and embrace real life."

Within two days, Marie had a date with Warren, thanks to Jubilee and Kitty's meddling.

Warren was a perfect gentleman who was polite, easy to talk to and handsome.

During their date, she couldn't think of one reason why she shouldn't go on a second date with him.

When she went down to the kitchen later that night for a midnight snack, one big reason was sitting at the island, wearing a tank top that showed off his muscled physique. He was nursing a soda and looking a little annoyed that it wasn't a beer.

"Hey", she smiled.

"Hey kid, what are you doin' up this late?"

She shrugged and motioned toward the refrigerator, "Just a little hungry."

He grunted as she made her way to the refrigerator. When she turned her back to him, she didn't notice his hungry eyes roaming over her scantily clad body. She was ready for bed, so, as usual, she was wearing a tank top and shorts.

Logan watched as she tapped her barefoot on the tile floor while she searched the fridge for her snack.

When she gave up and grabbed a soda, she closed the refrigerator and turned around, showing that her nipples had hardened as a result of being exposed to the cold.

Logan, who was in mid-sip of his own soda choked and began coughing.

"You ok, darlin'?"

After another fit of coughs, he nodded, "Wrong pipe." After he recovered, he sighed, "So, I heard you had a date with that Warren guy."

"How'd you hear that?"

He shrugged, "Firecracker was yappin' about it at dinner. With her mouth, I couldn't help but hear."

Marie rolled her eyes, "Yeah. I had a date with Warren. It was...nice."

"Sounds like you wanna say 'boring'."

She ran a hand through her hair and leaned back against the counter, "How long are you stickin' around this time?"

Logan shrugged, "Dunno. Chuck says Mags has been busy, so he might need an extra hand around here permanently."

Marie fought her desire to perk up at that news, "Is the Wolverine capable of staying in one place for more than a month at a time?"

"Maybe."

Logan couldn't help but allow his eyes to travel down her form. When she started to take notice of his gawking, he cleared his throat and stood to move out of the room, "You should think about wearin' a robe kid. You'll catch a cold runnin' around this drafty old mansion like that."

When she had first seen him checking out her bare legs, she felt flattered, but that statement had quickly deflated her pride.

As she walked back to her room, she thought about what Kitty and Jubilee had told her. She realized that they were right...Logan was nothing more than a crush. There was no way she could ever have anything more than a friendship with him.

That night, he crept into her room to watch her sleep for a few minutes.

Wanting her the way he did was so wrong...it had to be. She was a teenager who'd barely had the chance to live and he was a emotionally barren loner who had no idea who he was...but damned if that didn't stop him from wanting to possess her.

Review! And YouTube John Legend's song "Again" and tell me what you think of the words of that song and how it applies to Marie and Logan!