Logan waited while Rogue gathered together her books, then the two of them left the library and started down the hall to Ororo's solarium classroom. The halls were empty, and the classroom wasn't far...they had walked only a few short steps before they rounded the corner outside Ororo's room, just before the sunny front doors of the mansion.
"Uh-oh," Rogue murmured.
Logan scowled blackly. Forge was standing beside the door, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked through the window set into the wood. He looked up briefly as Rogue and Logan approached.
"Um...excuse me," Rogue said softly. She cast a small glance at Logan, then slid past Forge into the classroom and took her seat, the door closing quietly behind her and leaving Forge and Logan alone in the hall.
"Logan," Forge acknowledged quietly.
Logan didn't answer. Instead, he leaned casually against the paneled wood of the hall, his arms crossed over his chest. From where he stood, he could see Ororo through the glass pane set into the door, could even hear her soft voice as she told the class to "turn to page 142 in your textbooks."
Forge watched Logan in silence, as if trying to gauge his mood.
"What are you doing here, Logan?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, bub."
Forge raised an eyebrow. "If you must know, I was waiting to finish my conversation with Ororo." He crossed his arms, unconsciously mimicking Logan. "We were interrupted by the start of her class."
Logan glared at Forge, his mouth set in a thin line as he mulled over the implications of Forge's words.
"You're not gonna let this go, are you?" Logan growled.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do," Logan replied darkly. "You've been sniffing around 'Ro ever since you got here."
Forge's lip curled in a slight sneer. "That's a vulgar comparison," he said.
"How's this for vulgar, bub?" Logan growled. "Fuck you."
Forge blinked in surprise, but he regained his composure quickly. "Ororo needs to know she has...options," he said, his dark eyes showing the barest flicker of anger.
"What? Like you?" Logan's knuckles were beginning to itch, and it took all his control to keep from raising his voice in a snarl.
"I don't harbor any illusions about what you want from her, Wolverine," Forge said, using Logan's other name like an insult. "And if Ororo can't see it, then it's my duty as her friend to open her eyes."
"Some friend..." Logan laughed shortly. "I think Ororo might disagree with you, pal."
"Why is that?" Forge asked. "Ororo doesn't belong to you. Do you honestly think your hold over her is that strong?"
"I never claimed to have any kind of hold on her."
"Then, perhaps you think your...sexual...prowess will be enough to keep her?" Forge laughed without amusement.
"Now who's getting vulgar?"
"My point exactly," Forge said. "A few moments in your bed...or hers, for that matter...and what else do you have to offer her? Nothing. Nothing at all."
Logan scowled...Forge was cutting a little too close for comfort.
"I don't see you making her a better offer," Logan said.
"Then perhaps you're not watching very carefully," Forge replied, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Ororo needs to know that another man could satisfy her just as well...probably more."
Logan's knuckles were absolutely burning now. Forge was deliberately goading him, but he'd be damned if he was going to give this asshole the pleasure of seeing him lose it.
"Yeah, maybe so," Logan said instead. "Too bad you'll never have the chance to find out."
"Maybe we'll just see about that," Forge hissed.
Aw, hell...it was finally more than Logan could stand. His claws were out in a flash...Forge's eyes widened slightly and he backed away, nervously watching as Logan brought the dangerous weapons level with his face, inches from Forge's flat, black eyes.
"You lay one hand on her, bub," Logan said, his voice dangerously soft. "And I'll hand your liver to you on a plate."
Forge's eyes flicked from the claws to Logan's face. "I haven't time for this," he said coldly.
"Then maybe you should get goin'," Logan replied.
Forge glanced toward the door, back to Logan's claws...then he shrugged. "Fine," he said. "I didn't like the company anyway, so I'll just come back closer to the end of class."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Forge glared at him once more, then turned and left quickly, his long legs taking him down the hall and out of sight in a matter of seconds. Logan scowled after him from beneath his eyebrows...his claws retracted with a smooth click as he slowly got himself under control.
The wounds on his hand closed up, just as they always did, and he rubbed his knuckles absently as he thought about what he'd just done. Dammit to hell...Forge shouldn't be able to get to him like that. Losing his temper...it hadn't been a good move, he realized with an internal sigh.
He peeked through the window into Ororo's classroom to make sure she hadn't noticed the confrontation...nope, she was facing the blackboard, writing some dates in her graceful, flowing handwriting. Good...he'd just behaved like a possessive, jealous asshole, and in retrospect he was glad as hell that Ororo hadn't witnessed it.
She turned around now, talking to the class, and Logan pressed closer to the door with ears pricked to listen. Her voice was like soft music, soothing, calming...his face softened slightly as he watched her move among the desks, gesturing with a piece of chalk in one hand as she discussed the works of...who was the poet today? Oh, yeah...Lord Byron. He'd helped her with that one, too, but he had to admit that Ororo no longer needed his help. She was a quick study, and now literature came as easily to her as it apparently had to Logan, once upon a distant time.
He watched her lean over one of the students, pointing out something in the kid's textbook, her white hair falling around her face in soft waves. He still found it hard to believe that she wanted him, that she was his for the asking. Mine and mine alone, he thought. That he could possess something this beautiful...but that thought made Logan frown a little.
His possession...wasn't that what this was all really about? He possessed her, heart and body and soul...it wasn't enough, though. He had to be willing...
Willing to be possessed in return?
Logan looked through the window again, then he turned away and began walking slowly toward the garage, his forehead creased in thought.
* * * * *
Ororo never noticed Logan and Forge outside her classroom door, and they were both long gone before the end of class. The kids had done very well, she thought with a smile, especially since most of them hadn't read that day's assignment until thirty minutes before class.
Once class was dismissed, Ororo watched the kids leave, laughing and poking each other as they always did, and then she gathered her books together and left the room as well, the heavy door closing silently behind her. The hall beyond was empty...Ororo made her way briskly down its length, then entered the library long enough to drop off some of the books she was carrying. Hmmm...two of the volumes of poetry she needed to keep. She would need to review them for tomorrow's class...maybe Logan could help her with them, if he wasn't busy.
Logan...the thought of him made her frown slightly as she gathered the rest of her books and left the library. She'd been unnecessarily mean to him earlier...it was rather obvious, the more she thought about it, that Logan had absolutely no clue why she'd been upset. Forge was at least partly right...Logan didn't understand, and probably couldn't understand, why her feelings had been hurt. And, truly, even in the face of Logan's seeming insensitivity, it was she who had been in the wrong.
Poor Logan...she knew he loved her, in the only way he knew how to love anybody. It had been unfair of her to expect more...
And, deep down inside...maybe she didn't deserve more. Wasn't it enough that Logan wanted her? Maybe that was all she was destined to have...but that thought made her throat grow a little tight, her vision blurring.
Life wasn't fair.
But maybe she could live with that. Where Logan was concerned...maybe it was better than nothing at all.
"Hello again."
She looked up, surprised from her thoughts, to see Forge leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, watching her with a small grin. The look on his face made her sigh internally...she really did want things to be settled between them, but apparently Forge was making her forgiveness out to be more than what she meant.
"Hello, Forge," she replied. She nodded politely, smiled, then continued past him...or at least she tried to.
"May I walk with you?" he asked, falling into step beside her before she could reply. She kept her smile as best she could...her state of mind right now wasn't the best for fending off Forge's advances, but she also didn't want to let him know that.
"Certainly...I'm just on my way to my room to drop off my books."
"Please...let me carry them again for you," he said.
"Um, no...that's okay." She quickened her steps slightly, forcing a short laugh. "I'm not a schoolgirl anymore, Forge. I can carry my own books."
He frowned. "I didn't mean it like that, Ororo."
She gave him a slightly angry smile. "Are you sure?"
"You're unhappy with me again."
"No, I'm not," she said with a sigh, stopping in the middle of the hall and turning to face him. "However, Forge, my forgiveness doesn't imply fawning servitude from you."
He spread his hands innocently. "I wasn't trying to give you that impression."
"Are you sure?" she asked again, but this time her smile was more gentle.
He grinned. "I'm sure."
"Good."
They looked at each other for a minute, then Forge's face split in a grin, his teeth flashing against the nut-brown of his skin. He was still as handsome as he ever was, handsome and dark and dashing, like a knight out of a fairy tale...if you ignored his preferred method for ending relationships...
Now, Ororo, she told herself. Don't start that again. You've forgiven him...so let it go.
They started walking toward the stairs again, and Forge glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
"What are you going to do after you drop off your books?" he asked.
Find Logan, she thought silently. Find him and let him know that it's all right...that I understand and I'm not mad at him anymore...but something stopped her from saying it aloud.
"I...I'm not sure," she said instead. "I really didn't have any plans, to be honest."
"Then let me take you out to dinner this evening," Forge said.
She gave him a funny look, trying to figure out what his motive was. Forge only looked back with his black, glittering eyes.
"I...I don't think that would be a good idea," she said quietly.
"Come on, Ororo..it will be fine," Forge said. "Just friends...I swear."
Just friends...Ororo looked back over her shoulder, down the hall the way they had come, and felt suddenly guilty for even considering it. Still, she had forgiven Forge...and they HAD been friends once, and...
"I don't think...I don't think Logan would like it," she said finally.
Forge blinked and gave her a little frown of disappointment. "Listen, Ororo," he said. "I don't pretend to know exactly what kind of relationship you have with Logan, and honestly I don't want to know." He shrugged. "But unless he has made it clear that you two are a "couple" or whatever, I don't see why you can't go out with an old friend for dinner."
Still she hesitated...somehow this just felt wrong.
He read her reluctance accurately. "All right then," he said. "If you won't go out to dinner with me, will you go for a walk with me after dinner, here at the mansion?"
"A walk? Where?"
"Around the grounds," Forge said. "We can go over to that little lake on the far side of the orchard." His voice softened a little. "You remember that lake, don't you?"
Remember? Of course she remembered...it was where Forge had asked her to marry him, so long ago.
"Why, Forge?" she asked.
"I just want a chance to talk to you, privately," he replied.
"Why?"
"Because," he said. "Because...I want a chance to get to know you again...please?"
Ororo thought about it. A walk was better than dinner...still, she couldn't shake that vague feeling that she was doing something wrong. Something that Logan wouldn't like.
Of course, Forge was right about one thing. She didn't belong to Logan...he claimed he didn't want to share her with anyone, implying a relationship...but Logan needed to learn that sex did not a relationship make.
With a small smile, she nodded to Forge, her decision made...at least for now.
"A walk would be lovely, Forge," she said.
Forge smiled, obviously pleased. "Great! They usually serve dinner around here at six. Would seven o'clock be okay?"
"You make it sound like a date."
Forge looked a little startled, and almost guilty, but he recovered quickly and gave her a soft smile.
"Would that be so bad?" Forge asked gently.
Ororo didn't know how to answer that. She looked at him for a second, then turned and walked down the hall to the stairs.
"Seven o'clock it is then," she said over her shoulder.
Forge watched her walk up the stairs. She paused once on the landing, glancing down at him, then she disappeared into the shadows of the second floor. Only when she was out of sight did he allow the mask of warmth on his face to slip a little.
Finally...he'd found the chink in that snow queen armor of hers, and now he would win her back, one way or the other. As for Logan, well...he'd be fine, once he found another innocent to warm his bed.
Hmm...maybe that little Rogue would do. She seemed to be pretty close to the arrogant bastard...the thought made Forge smile as he walked away.
By the time he reached the kitchen again, he was whistling.
* * * * *
Logan spent the afternoon in the gym, alternating between a jog around the indoor track and a few punishing bouts with the punching bags. The exercise was therapeutic...he pounded out his frustration and confusion on the heavy bags, then ran off the residue of those emotions, the feel of the cool air against his sweat-slicked skin helping to clear his mind, making it easier to think.
He'd been at it a few hours, when on one of his track laps he looked across the gym and saw Rogue sitting on one of the benches, watching him. She wasn't dressed for a workout...curious, he slowed down his pace and jogged over to where she sat.
"Hey, kid."
"Hey."
There was a towel on the bench next to her, and he picked it up, wiping the dampness from his face and neck. "Whatcha waitin' around here for?" he asked gruffly.
She shrugged and gave him a grin. "Forge said you were in here, and that you were pissed about somethin'."
Logan stopped and stared at her. "Forge said that?"
"Yup. He said Ah should come an' check on you."
Logan's eyebrows came together. "Since when has Forge given a shit about me?"
"Well, he did save your life, or so Ah heard," Rogue said. "You could be a li'l nicer tah him."
Logan gave her a speculative look...apparently Forge did a good job keeping his aggressive side to himself. Either that or...Logan permitted a small smile to cross his face...maybe he was the only one that made Forge's aggressive side surface. That was a pleasant thought...
"What's so funny?" Rogue asked, tilting her head to the side in that cute little way she had.
"Nothing." He let the towel hang loosely over his shoulders. "And he didn't save my life...any more than you did, darlin'," he continued with a rakish grin.
She folded her arms over her chest. "Well, Ah thought Ah did at the time. Ah didn't know about your healing factor."
He laughed and put a companionable arm around her shoulders, beginning to walk with her to the door of the gymnasium. "I know you didn't, kid...and your heart was in the right place."
"So was Forge's."
"He wasn't trying to save me. He was trying to save 'Ro."
Her look was accusatory. "You don't know that!"
The altercation with Forge outside the door of Ororo's classroom came back full force...as well as Forge's heated words to him on the mission. "You're wrong, darlin'...I do know."
She was silent for a minute as they stopped by the door, Logan bending down to retrieve his T-shirt from the floor.
"You sound almost as if you hate 'im," she said finally.
"I guess I'm not trying hard enough then."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I want to sound *exactly* as if I hate him," Logan replied with a short laugh.
"Logan!" Rogue exclaimed, shocked. "He's one of the X-men...a teammate!"
He gave her a dark look from under his brows. "Not my teammate."
"What is it with you an' other men?" she asked in exasperation. "Can't you get along with anybody that has testosterone?"
"I get along with Scott."
"Ah seem tah remember you not likin' him too much either."
"That was a long time ago, kid," he replied. He pulled his T-shirt over his head. "One-Eye is an idiot...but that doesn't mean I don't like him."
"It's the same thing, though," Rogue said. "You didn't like him 'cause he had Jean, an' you wanted her."
"Give it a rest, kid."
"It's true."
"No, it's not," Logan said evenly. "I didn't like Scott at first because I thought he was a pretentious dickhead."
"An' Forge?"
Logan gave her another dark look. "You figure it out."
He stalked away from Rogue without a further explanation. She watched him for a second, then she shook her head and ran lightly to catch up with him as he walked through the door and into the hall.
A glance at the grandfather clock against the far wall told him at was half past seven. Damn...he'd lost track of time in there. In a second Rogue caught up with him, her small gloved hand slipping lightly around his arm.
"Don't be mad at me, Logan," she said.
"I'm not mad at you."
"Then why are you actin' funny?"
Logan sniffed the air. Pizza...damn, that smelled good. The scent of warm, fresh pizza was wafting from the open kitchen door, just down the hall, and Logan felt his mouth water. He hadn't eaten since lunch, and his workout had only increased his appetite.
"Come on," he said to Rogue. "I smell food."
She frowned a little, unwilling to let her question go unanswered that easily, but when Logan began walking away from her toward the kitchen she sighed and followed.
There were a dozen boxes of pizza scattered here and there in the kitchen, all of them open and most of them empty. Rogue caught the scowl on Logan's face and laughed.
"That's the other reason Ah came tah find you," Rogue said. "You always lose track of time in the gym, an' Ah knew that there wouldn't be anythin' left if Ah didn't come an' get you."
"Thanks." He poked at one of the boxes and gave her a lop-sided smile. "At least there's some pepperoni left."
"Ah made Bobby an' Mr. Summers save you some," Rogue said. "Ah knew it was your favorite."
"Thanks, kid." He snagged a piece of pizza and began to eat it, just as Jean came into the kitchen.
"Hi, Logan," Jean said. She threw away a paper plate and began rinsing out her glass in the sink.
"Hey, Red," Logan replied around a mouthful of pizza. "You seen 'Ro around?"
"She was here earlier, when the pizza first came, but then she said she was going for a walk," Jean replied.
"It must be nice out tonight," Rogue said casually, getting another piece of pizza as well. "Forge said he was goin' for a walk too."
It took a moment for Rogue's words to sink in...but when they did Logan suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore. Rogue seemed oblivious to the effect her words had on him, but Jean looked up and gave Logan a funny look from where she stood at the kitchen counter.
Mine and mine alone...yeah, right.
Logan finished his pizza slowly and in silence, then he left the kitchen without a word.
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