This is a story I've been working at on and off for ages. I've restarted it a few times. Once it was from Logan's perspective, but I eventually settled on Rogue.

I've always been kinda fascinated by the Wolverine/Rogue relationship dynamic, more based on the movie than the comics, necessarily. Some people ship them outright, some instead choose to focus on their bond in a sort of surrogate father/daughter family sense, and I think both have their appeal.

I've decided to keep it a little ambiguous with my own foray into their relationship. I think I leave it subtle enough that you *could* read both into it, if you chose, or whichever you prefer, and I'm going to try and keep it like that. Make your own mind up where they stand, sort of thing. Logan isn't the particularly vocal, forthcoming sort, and Rogue herself is quite conflicted and emotionally challenged, in some ways, so their testimony isn't necessarily to be taken at face value.

I don't have any immediate plans to continue this...but never say never. Maybe I'll come up with something if people are into it.

That said, enjoy my flawed musings on the subject.

Rogue gripped the edge of the low wall with her hands, leaning back. She kicked her legs idly, as much as her knee-length, black skirt would allow, while she waited.

She was waiting.

"Please be careful of my roses, Rogue." Piotr warned, kindly.

"Sorry, dude." She glanced over at the Russian giant. He was knelt part way behind her, in a pair of scruffy cargo pants and a sweat-stained white vest that stretched over his…impressive physique.

She might have lingered on that image a little.

The wall ran across the front of Xavier Mansion, by the main drive. Behind it, ran a long row of Piotr's carefully-tended rose bushes.

She leaned further forward, instead, this time knocking her heavy black boots against the wall.

When had he said he'd be back? Two in the afternoon?

"That is not ladylike behaviour." Piotr added, while he clipped at one of the bushes, paitiently.

"I'll be sure'n let the first lady I see know that." Rogue smirked, throwing him a grin.

Piotr looked up from his roses with a dry grin of his own.

"Happy birthday, Rogue." Piotr chuckled, in his thick accent, then got up and moved away.

Rogue turned back to the drive, smiling a little.

Eighteen today. Kind of a big deal, she was told. It felt like one, with the way everyone had been talking about it that morning. Chuck-

She stopped, shaking her head clear of that little bit of Logan which had bubbled to the surface.

-Charles…Professor Xavier…had talked to her that morning. A lot of the usual spiel about responsibility and maturity and choices and her future. Gave her a lot to think about, but it was pretty clear he cared, and it was nice being reminded of that.

You could kinda forget, sometimes. In a massive house…school…whatever, like this, full of kids who'd been like her, were like her. Lost, afraid, alone…sometimes you felt like you got forgotten in the mix, especially since she'd been there longer than a lot of the kids here, now.

And especially if the only way you could safely show most people you cared was to keep them at arm's length because getting too close to you was dangerous. Sometimes it felt like she lived in a bubble, not quite in the same world as her friends, her peers, the rest of the team.

She'd broken things off with Bobby because of it, in the end. Her choice, before things got so bad there was no choice.

So…it was kinda selfish, but it was nice to be told people cared, once in a while, even if you already knew.

Some more than others, maybe. She liked to think. She checked her watch. Gone two now.

Rogue pulled her short, black leather jacket tighter around her, as a sharp wind blew through.

The sun was shining, but despite that there was a slight chill in the air. It was nearly Christmas too, on top of everything else. The mansion was alive with a tense, excited air. The younger kids had spent most of the morning rushing around, supposedly 'helping' Jean and Ororo putting up decorations, but mostly getting glitter everywhere.

…everywhere.

She held up her gloved hand, seeing little sparkles light up as she rolled it over, caught by the sun.

Kids.

She'd had to get outside. Partly for fresh air. Partly because she just wanted to be out here for when Logan arr-

"Hey moody."

Rogue jumped, seeing Jubilee had somehow materialised beside her on the wall.

Most people thought that was an ability exclusive to Kitty, or Kurt, but they just didn't know Jubilee. She was…insidious.

And also one of her best friends, but still.

"Are you sure you don't have any kind of…teleportation power or anything?" Rogue asked, wryly.

"Like I'd need 'em." Jubilee smirked. "Anyway, what're you doin' out here on your lonesome?"

"Waiting." Rogue turned back to the drive, staring down the road that led out of the grounds. She toyed with her loose ponytail.

"Ohhhhh, I know what's eatin' you."

"What?" Rogue shot her a look, more defensively than she'd intended.

"Daddy Logan's comin' back, isn't he?"

Rogue winced, feeling her cheeks flush slightly. She'd regretted confiding that little bit of information to her friend, a year or so back. It wasn't that she didn't trust her, Jubilee wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone…but she had no issue using it to take the piss on a semi-regular basis.

"Don't call him that, Jubes." Rogue replied, a touch reproachful.

"Bet that's why you weren't sleepin' last night too." Jubilee shouldered her, playfully. "You always get so antsy whenever he's due back."

"I wish I'd never told you that." Rogue sighed.

"Don't be like that, girl." Jubilee bumped shoulders with her again. "I get it. You've been through a lot with the guy, and he's looked out for you, checked up on you an' stuff. Who wouldn't look up to someone like him after…uh…how many years?"

"Three, I think." She replied, slowly. "It sounds stupid when you say it out loud." Rogue admitted, kicking the wall with her boots again.

It was true though. She'd never told Logan, probably never would to his face, but considering what a bitter, depressing, catastrophe her own family had been, on finding out about her powers, her mutation, and her own father's reaction…her own father…

…yeah, Logan had kinda…filled in a gaping hole she'd had in her life for a long time. Not that he probably knew.

And not that she'd ever tell him. How fuckin' weird a conversation would that be?

It wasn't the kind of thing they ever talked about. It definitely wasn't the kind of thing she'd ever thought of Logan as talking about. It wasn't his…style.

"Just say somethin'." Jubilee shrugged. "What's he gonna do, chew your…er…" She trailed off, remembering they were talking about Logan.

"Yeah." Rogue shot her dry look.

"Aw, c'mon. He'd never hurt you." Jubilee grinned. "He actually likes you." She sniggered.

Rogue shrugged, looking back at the drive.

"Ain't that simple, anyway."

Also true.

Her feelings were…complicated.

"Never is with you, Rogue." Jubilee puffed out her cheeks, leaning back on the wall.

One part friend, one part confidante, one part comrade, one part protector. It had taken her a couple of years to realise he'd filled a particular void in her life, intentionally or not.

Their relationship had always been…different. They'd never really defined it, but they played by a specific set of rules, of a sort. Maybe that was why it had worked? Would calling attention to it, would looking for that definition unravel everything?

She wasn't sure she could face Logan not being a part of her life.

"Who're we waiting for?" A voice chirped, right behind her.

Rogue and Jubilee nearly fell off the wall, turning angrily to see Kitty leaning forward behind them, smiling.

"Fuck, Kitty." Jubilee growled.

"Happy birthday, Rogue." Kitty beamed. "You look nice."

She had dressed up a bit. Just a bit. More than usual. Cropped black leather jacket, red long sleeved top, black elbow-length gloves, black knee-length skirt, dark tights and her nicest boots. She'd even put a bit of make-up on, and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail.

"Piotr's gonna kill you if you've stepped on his roses." Rogue frowned, settling herself on the wall again.

"Who's stepped on any roses?" Kitty smirked, sort of gliding through the wall and lowering herself onto it, solid again.

Rogue and Jubilee shared a look, rolling their eyes.

"What're you guys doin' out here anyway, the decoratin' in there is a riot." Kitty chuckled.

"We're not-" Rogue started, when Jubilee interrupted.

"We're waitin' for Logaaaaan." Jubilee cut in, in a sing-song voice.

"We, ain't." Rogue scowled at her, her southern twang becoming thicker the more annoyed she got.

"I guess that explains why you were up pacin' most of last night." Kitty mused.

"I was not." Rogue argued, her accent gaining in prominence again.

She suspected it would always be with her, but over the years it had thinned in casual conversation. Except when she got angry, or upset, or sad, and then that drawl returned with a southern vengeance. Rogue sighed.

"She totally was." Jubilee loudly whispered behind her, to Kitty. "She tried calling him a few times, too."

"I did not!" Rogue insisted, crossing her arms and hunching over. Strands of her fringe fell in front of her face, including the white streak she'd picked up years ago. She tucked it behind her ear, irritably.

She fingered her choker, distractedly, her hand idly slipping down to the thin chain underneath, connected to the dog tags hanging on her chest.

Rogue hadn't always been sure what they'd meant, when she was younger. But now, she understood a little better. They'd been a promise, and one Logan so far had managed to keep.

He'd given them to her to 'look after', saying he'd take them back one day. But he hadn't. It had been his way of…connecting. Leaving something of him behind, giving him a reason to come back.

Logan came back for other reasons, not that he'd ever admit it to the others. She knew he'd come to respect the rest of the X-Men in one way or another, and appreciated having a place he could at least temporarily call 'home', but he always came back for her. He just hadn't known how to say that, after everything with Magneto and Liberty Island.

He left, but he came back. He always came back.

Sometimes he was gone a few days, a few weeks, a few months.

Sometimes he stayed a few days, a few weeks, a few months.

Rogue suspected he'd never settle. He'd been around for a long time, a really long time if she believed some of his memories, the ones floating around in her skull left behind by the times he'd touched her skin.

Rogue realised it had gone quiet. Kitty and Jubilee were grinning at her, she let go of the dog tags hurriedly.

"What?" She asked, looking between the two, nervously.

"You're adorable." Jubilee smirked, sliding an arm behind her back.

"Absolutely." Kitty agreed, sliding her arm around the other way.

"What do I have t'do to get you to leave me the hell alone?" Rogue huffed.

"Dress up like this next time we sneak out for a drink?" Jubilee chuckled.

"Jubilation Lee." Rogue growled, narrowing her eyes pointedly.

"She even sounds like him." Kitty hissed ominously, behind her back.

"Kitty!" Rogue snapped, turning sharply the other way.

Her two 'friends' laughed, then stopped when they all heard the low rumble of a motorcycle approaching.

"You know we're only teasin', right?" Jubilee said, suddenly.

"Yeah." Kitty added, nodding emphatically.

Rogue laughed now, as her friends beat a hasty 'retreat'.

Logan had that effect on people.

"What, you're worried I'll tell on you or somethin'?" She smirked, stepping off the wall and turning back to face them.

"Hey," Jubilee grinned weakly. ", I don't mind admittin' that Logan…Logan scares the piss outta me, girl." Jubilee got up, brushing off her leggings.

"Same." Kitty smiled, phasing back through the roses.

Rogue crossed her arms, still grinning.

"I'll catch you guys later." She nodded.

"Have a good time. Say 'hi' for us." Jubilee waved, jogging around the wall after Kitty. "And don't be late f' your own damn party!"

Rogue watched them bustle inside, leaving her alone. She turned back to the drive as what had once been Scott's motorcycle rolled up and rumbled to a halt in the gravel.

Logan kicked out the stand stepped off the bike, pulling off his helmet.

Rogue bit her lip distractedly, trying to put her hands in her pockets and remembering she didn't have any. She settled for crossing them again.

Logan turned around to face her, rucksack slung over one shoulder, already fumbling in his old, weathered, brown leather jacket's pocket for a cigar. He made a show of looking somewhat surprised to see her standing there, as he plucked one out and stuck it in his mouth.

He always did, even though she always was.

He strolled closer, taking in the mansion behind her and nodding, as if approving of something, before stopping in front of her. He glanced down, lip curled in a half-smile.

"Hey, darlin'."

Rogue couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face and she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his chest. She felt his arm wrap around her back, rubbing circles in it.

She breathed in, caught in his heady aura. The familiar smell of old leather, smoke, oil and whiskey. In her mind, it was indisputably 'Logan'.

"Missed you." She mumbled into his chest. The rough flannel of his shirt scratching her cheek.

"I know." Logan, chewed the cigar, his other arm sliding around her shoulders. "Missed you too."

Logan was the only one who wasn't really afraid of her, or her skin.

She didn't blame anybody, not even her closest friends for always being somewhat wary of her. She'd rather they were cautious, as cautious as she was. She'd never forgive herself if she hurt Jubilee or Kitty or anyone else at the mansion. But it stung sometimes, knowing that deep down even those closest to her were a little bit afraid of her.

The risk was still there with Logan, but…he just wasn't afraid. She'd never felt that hesitance, or that careful distance with him, over the years. It…it made a difference, to her.

"Y'look good." He mumbled around the cigar.

"Thanks."

"Meetin' someone special?" She could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"Don't you start makin' fun a'me." Rogue retorted, looking up at him. "I've had Jubes an' Kitty ridin' me most of the day."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He replied. "Happy birthday, darlin'."

"Feels more like it now." She mumbled.

Rogue heard the front door open behind her, and the low, electric hum of a small motor.

She turned around, letting go of Logan to face the newcomer, but she noticed Logan kept his arm around her back as he did the same.

"Good afternoon Logan." Professor Xavier greeted from the porch.

"Afternoon, Chuck." Logan nodded, taking the cigar out of his mouth.

"Running a little late, aren't we?" Xavier raised one brow, smiling slightly.

"You oughta see the traffic further south." Logan growled. "You'd think it was the end of the world."

"Or worse, some would say." Xavier went on, nodding. "It's nearly Christmas."

Logan chuckled at that, putting the cigar back in his mouth.

"I see Rogue has found you already." He smiled at her, briefly.

"Instincts." Logan's arm moved up her back to her shoulder. "Good ones." He patted it lightly.

"They'd better be." She quipped, shooting him a look. "A lot of 'em are yours."

"I just stopped by to say there's been a bit of a…delay with the decorating, Rogue. It seems Jean and Ororo really should have kept a better watch on that glitter with the children in such high spirits. So you and Logan have some time to catch up, before this evening." Xavier explained, catching her eye. "And of course, welcome back, Logan. Your room is as you left it."

With that, the old professor left with a nod, and went back inside.

"What was that about glitter?" Logan asked, glancing down at her.

"You don't wanna know." She held up a gloved, sparkling hand.

Logan chuckled, gruffly, pulling out a lighter and holding it to the end of his cigar.

"Guess we've got some time till they spring your party thing then, what you wanna do, kid?" He paused, a funny look on his face. "Sorry, Marie." He corrected, grinning slightly.

There was a time when she'd have risen to the bait. Bitten it hard. It'd always bugged her when he called her 'kid', but now she was finally older, finally an actual adult, almost…she already felt like she was missing it.

The fact he'd corrected himself made her feel just a bit older. Like the past was just a bit further away.

"Force of habit." Logan shrugged, mistaking her lack of response for annoyance.

"I don't mind." She said, slowly, glancing up at him briefly.

He chuckled at that, slightly. Low and rumbling.

"You been chewin' me out for years f'r doin' just that."

Rogue shrugged, looking away again.

"I don't know if it'll make y'feel any better, but you'll always be a kid t'me." Logan rubbed her shoulder, squeezing her close.

"Not sure yet." Rogue replied, cheering slightly.

She let him guide her back toward the low wall, where they both took a seat. He took a drag on the cigar, blowing out a stream of smoke.

He didn't say anything else for a minute, since this was where Rogue normally filled him in on everything she'd done, or learned, or that he'd missed while he'd been away. So she did. For the next twenty minutes, or so.

He never interrupted her. Just nodding once in a while, watching her from time to time. He'd ask her questions afterwards.

"…and I'm thinkin' about colleges I guess. The professor suggested some…but I-…we, Jubes an' Kitty an' that, are thinkin' we might take a year out. Maybe travel around a bit, y'know?"

"Y'don't sound very sure on the college thing, I noticed." Logan said, suddenly.

Rogue looked at her feet.

Truth was, she wasn't.

It wasn't that she didn't want to carry on with school, but being who she was, and what she could do to others…

"I'm dangerous, I know that. We all do." Rogue said, quietly. "How'm I ever gonna be able to go away to a college, with normal people? I thought the professor would say somethin', I know he knows it's a problem."

"Marie. It's not his job to tell you guys what you can't do." Logan rumbled in reply. "He's here to give y' options. Choices. You gotta make 'em yourself."

He was the only one who ever really used her name. Most went by her moniker, and she was fine with that, from most that was all she wanted. But Logan knew her past, and he'd known her before the X-Men, if only a little. Marie existed, to him.

"I don't have any choices." Rogue muttered. "He offered me a way to continue on here, too. Ways to do college courses without leavin'."

"Ain't that a choice?" Logan took another drag on the cigar. "Y'ever thought that was Chuck's way of tellin' you he wanted y' t'stay on?"

Rogue mulled it over. Along with Logan's words about what Charles tried to do for them all, giving them options and information and choices. It occurred to her that if he had just asked her to stay, it would kinda defeat the point.

"I'll think about it."

"Still takin' a year out, right?" Logan bumped her shoulder. "Y'got time to think. So use it. Take it easy."

She realised she'd been carefully avoiding the topic of her and Bobby, but news travelled fast in the mansion, and she realised she didn't want him to ask later, after hearing it second hand. Or even worse, have him not ask, but know he knew, and was specifically not asking about it, because that was the sort of thing Logan did.

"Me and Bobby broke up, earlier this year."

"Your call?" Logan asked, eyes lingering on her briefly.

"Yeah." She nodded. "It wasn't…I mean, we couldn't…I couldn't…y'know." She held up her hand a wiggled her fingers, hoping he'd get it.

He nodded, understandingly. That familiar, heavy arm slid around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze.

"Sorry, kid."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, enjoying the proximity. Logan didn't flinch, or tense, or anything. It was something he could give her that nobody else could in quite the same way.

"Couldn't ask Bobby to keep pushin' somethin' that wasn't goin' anywhere." Rogue went on, eyes fixed on the treeline across the lawn. "Wasn't fair to him. Or me, I guess. Still hurt though."

"If it didn't, I'd be worry'n about you a lot more." Logan replied. "I'm…proud of you, for what it's worth." He added, hesitantly.

"It's worth a lot." She admitted, leaning into him a little more.

Logan gave her shoulder another squeeze.

Rogue thought again about talking about their…relationship, whatever it was. But she'd already put him on the spot a lot and he'd only been back half an hour, and it was pretty evident it wasn't something he was always comfortable with.

Even if he always seemed to know exactly what to say, or do, for her. However little.

"Guess we've still got some time to kill." Logan said suddenly, stamping out his cigar.

Rogue looked back at the mansion. For a moment, she swore she could hear the shrill screams and laughter of the younger kids.

"Yeah. Reckon so."

"Wanna go for a ride, darlin'?" He nodded toward the motorbike, with an easy smirk.

Rogue grinned.

"Hell yeah, sugar."