Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction. The here fore used characters belong rightfully to Marvel and I just borrowed them. The only profit I hope to achieve with this is the pure pleasure of the reader, so no copyright infringement intended. Please do not sue me, I don't have money and won't be getting some from this story.

Author's notes: This story takes place some time after A study in Romance-An epilogue and it changes in storytelling between the thoughts of Jean and Logan and the story. It can be seen as set in the movieverse, for all of the others are set there too, although that is of no importance for the story.

What can I say, rumours of me stopping to write about Jean and Logan are highly exaggerated, so enjoy this one, who knows, there might be more coming out of my lonely mind.

Please let me know what you think, I am always grateful for any feedback or comments I'll get.

Every heart needs a home

by Belladonna

It was in the late afternoon, almost evening and the sun disappeared slowly beneath the horizon in the distance, while it painted the whole sky in a deep red. Behind the huge mansion on a small hill in the vast gardens sat two people, who had just recently confessed their love for each other although the had known it for so much longer. They were watching the vanishing sun and in this moment they were probably the two most happy people on the planet. Around them the birds were singing and everything else was so peaceful, like seldom before and a more peaceful place like this none of them could imagine of.

Logan had put his arms around Jean, she snuggled deep into his embrace and into him. In this moment she forgot everything, what happened around her, all the things that were on her mind besides him and she enjoyed this moment, she really did. For this moment she could be only herself, who she was without having to apologize for what she was or felt. Here in his arms she could be truly herself and she wished for this embrace would never end.

Logan ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her softly. He inhaled her scent deeply, filled his lungs and senses with her and felt her heart beat, felt how its heartbeat rose steadily when she was near him just like it did right now as she was as close to him like she was seldom before. He enjoyed this sunset like he hadn't done for a long time, he wasn't even sure if he had once felt this much joy in his life. But since he was with her, he had changed and that he was with her was the only thing that mattered now.

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I feel her, feel her heartbeat and her long hair underneath my fingers, her soft skin as she pulls closer to me. She truly is the only woman for me, that has become clear to me a long time ago. But always when I am able to feel these short moments of true pleasure and joy with her then I truly feel it, then I truly feel that I am free when I am with her and that I really belong here, belong here with her.

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When I am with him, then I feel safe, then I can let go and be myself, for that is it he loves me for and for that I will always be in his debt. The sun is so warm on my skin and everything is so peaceful. As long as I can be with him I know that I will never regret what I have done, that I will never regret the choice I have made even if I know that I have caused a great pain in another with it. I know that Scott has left because of me, although he had never said anything. I can understand him and I am so sorry for the pain I did to him but it is something I cannot change and in a certain way I don't want to change. On evenings like this one I can forget all this and can only be myself. I had to follow my heart, I have always done that and have to go wherever it leads me to, no matter where this might be. It was right what I had to do, for it would have caused so much  more pain and hurt if I hadn't done it. I know that now and I do not regret it.

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Jean crawled even deeper into the embrace with Logan and he pulled his arms around her, pulled her closer to him. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, that was all he ever wanted and he didn't want it to end. The light of the setting sun made her hair shine even more redder than it did usually and it felt soft and warm under his fingers. In moments like this he knew that it had been right to come back, to her, for he knew that it was here that he belonged to, that it was here where his place and home was, with her.

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I know that Scott has left because of me. Jean might not know it but I knew that he was in the hall when we kissed for the first time, when she confessed her love to me. That was the most wonderful moment in my life, the woman I loved told me she felt the same. But nonetheless it was not that a happy moment like it should have been. I know that it was because of him, that she had cried then but I never told her. I also know that it was because of me that he finally left, he'd gone not long after that. He has left without saying a single word and I can't blame him for that. But Jean has made her decision. Also, if I am honest, I feel a bit sorry for him. I really do. He did love her honestly and truly from his heart and he still did, I could feel the pain when he left. Jean will never know but I saw him go as he left in the middle of the night. I hope that he will find a place again, he will belong to, though I never wanted him to go. Maybe my love for Jean has opened my eyes and my heart for me and lets me see all things through different eyes now than I saw them before. It certainly changed a lot of things for me, including myself, of that I am sure. In the night he left I had wished him luck, even if he didn't see me then. I've wished him as I still do that he will find somebody again whom his heart will belong to and a place he will find his home again, but he is always welcome here, when he wants to come back to us. I truly never wanted him to go, although we didn't get along with each other so well. I have changed now. But I know that he will probably never return to the mansion, not as long as I am still there. I will always remind him of what he has lost.

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I feel Logan slightly stiffen behind me, as if he would think about something unpleasant. I know exactly how he feels, I feel the pain too since Scott left. I never wanted him to go, and I never wanted to hurt him. But I cannot make it undone, cannot make my feelings undone and for this I will never apologize. I love Logan more than I love Scott now and I am glad that Logan has returned to me. I wouldn't have known what to do if he hadn't. I have finally found the strength and courage to tell him what I feel, to confess my feelings to him and that has freed me, set my heart free.

Logan has never told me where he'd been, to none of us as he has never told me what made him come back, really made him to come back to me. I have never asked him this but now I want to know. I'm asking myself for a while now why he has returned to us, to me, after the whole time he was gone, knowing that I probably would not have changed my feelings towards him. But he had risked it, risked to be hurt again by a refusal and I still do not know whether he would have gone then, if my feelings would not have changed. I do not know whether he would have truly gone then, forever.

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Jean turned around to face Logan and she looked him in the eyes. This was the moment she had secretly feared but the question was burning on her heart. She wanted to know whether he only had returned because of her or if there was so much more beneath it, whether he would have loved her that much that he would have stayed no matter what her answer would have been.

"Why have you returned, Logan?" she asked silently and looked him directly in the eyes. "Would you have stayed even if I wouldn't have felt the same for you like you do for me?" She didn't know how he might react to this question but she had asked it and could not take it back now. Logan returned her glare, looked into these green warm eyes that glittered in the evening sun. He thought about what he could answer to this, for he had not thought about it himself. He too had only followed his heart and had left the decision only to it. He simply had done what his feelings asked him to do, what he thought to be right. He had returned because he didn't want to loose the woman he loved and for her he wanted to risk that he could possibly not hold her. Then he thought about what he had wished Scott in the night the other man had left and he still wished him to find one day. He wished him to find what he had found long ago here.

"Yes, I would've stayed, no matter what your answer might've been", he answered after a while.

"Why?" Jean wanted to know and cast her glance down. Logan took her chin tenderly between his hands and pulled her up to face him, so that he could look in her eyes again.

"Because every heart needs a home, a place where it belongs to and I have found this place here, with you, Jean for I truly love you."

~fin~