Chapter 27)

Wolverine wiped the sweat out of his eyes and irritably swiped the huge white feather away from his chin. Fluffy was treading on thin ice. "You keep tryin' to tickle me with that thing an' I'll make sure you go into early molt."

Warren simply laughed and shook his head as he helped lever another two by four up the mammoth tree they were working in. "Merely trying to get your attention." He nodded towards the ground. "Your lady is waving at you."

"I see her," Wolverine leaned over and waved at his girl. Her hair was blowing out behind her as she rose in the air. When she was level with he and Fluffy he arched an eyebrow, "There a reason you didn't just come up to begin with Beautiful?"

"Couldn't tell where you were until I saw Warren." Marie admitted. "Which from a strategic standpoint is probably good."

"Inconvenient if you're on the ground though." Logan smiled at her, "You come to give us a hand?"

"I've got a few minutes," She helped Warren with a few more beams. "But I wanted to tell you that Victor is on his way back. Should be here in a coupla hours."

"Good." Wolverine chuckled. "She won't admit it but Kitty's been frettin' herself sleepless about him." His brother and Kitty still hadn't gotten together which was fine by him. Taking it slow was better than rushing into something and screwing with the pack dynamic. Kitty was still working through her issues and Victor was slowly getting used to being around people again. Both of them still had their good and bad days but they were evening out slowly. Eventually the good would outweigh the bad.

"She just needs time." Marie smiled, "And with her healing ability finally emerging she's got more than enough."

"Yeah, who knew?" He shook his head as he wedged a support into place. "Girl half drowns herself and alla the sudden she's got healing." He was glad for his brother's sake and Kitty's. Kitty's lack of healing had been one of the things holding Victor back. The last woman Victor had been close to had died more than a century ago. The emotional trauma had resulted in a violent, bloodthirsty and often cruel Sabretooth. Healing was no guarantee of immortality but it gave Victor some peace of mind and softened his personality a bit once Kitty's mutation kicked on completely.

"Self-preservation is a wonderful thing," His woman commented dryly. "I gotta get back. I've got bread in the oven."

"Right." He grabbed for her and wasn't surprised when she didn't even try to evade his kiss. "Love ya Beautiful."

"Love you too!" Her answer faded with the distance as she flew away towards the house.

Rogue stretched and pushed away from the desk with a groan. Big hands came down on her shoulders and began to press and knead the stiff muscle before she could stand and she sighed in pleasure. "Hmm... you can stop that sometime in the next year or so sugar."

Her mate bent over to kiss her nose. "You're workin' too hard," he reprimanded her gently. "But the layout looks good from a strategic standpoint."

"Yeah. Warren's point about mutants who can fly being able to use higher hides as sniper nests and scout points was a good one." Rogue groaned as his fingers found a knot and eased it gently smooth.

"Vic said he's found a coupla more folks who won't quite fit in at Xavier's," Wolverine murmured as he slid his hands down her spine warming and soothing her aching back. "John and Chris are havin' a helluva lot of fun figurin' out where to put the traps."

Rogue chuckled as her mate scooped her up and laid her out flat on the bed, cutting her clothes off so he could massage her skin without impediment. "Hmm... that's another pair of jeans you owe me sugar."

"Bill me." His mouth was following his hands and pretty soon she didn't care about clothes or how many shreds they ended up in as his mouth and fingers teased her. By the time he slid inside her she was ready to combust. The feel of him, pressing her down to the bed, his chest against her back and hands sliding beneath her body sent her spiraling into oblivion quickly and ecstatically.

His rough chuckle in her ear brought her brain back into focus eventually. "Hmmm...what brought that on?" She forced the words out with an effort.

"Missed you. Been a long week," Wolverine rolled so they were on their sides and he could cuddle her without crushing her. She could never convince him her skin would keep him from suffocating her and at this point in their relationship it didn't matter.

"Been a long year." Rogue sighed happily. "But we're all doin' good. Even Victor seems like he's finally...calming some."

"He ain't ever gonna be civilized, but that's just Vic." Her mate agreed with a smile in his voice. She knew he was incredibly grateful, without cause in her opinion, for her acceptance of his brother. What was she supposed to do? Insist that a man who'd grown up without any trappings of civilization beyond four walls and a roof learn society table manners and formal etiquette? That sort of expectation was ridiculous, especially in the first year of freedom he'd had in decades.

"He does fine. And he's more likely to learn what he needs in order to impress Kitty than because you and I want him to behave." Rogue reminded him. Sabretooth had found Kitty interesting from the get go and lately she was cautiously returning his interest. She wouldn't admit anything yet, but her worried face and scent whenever Victor was gone was evidence enough for any feral around.

"He's bein' a lot more patient than I ever thought he'd be," Wolverine admitted.

"Because she needs him to be." Rogue shrugged. "They've got time to figure it out. And it's not like Victor's pushing her. They've both got issues. Victor needing to sleep outside most nights regardless of weather is the mildest of his problems."

"Yeah...but like you said, they got time, and they're both movin' in the same direction now." He kissed her again. "C'mon, I got a little surprise for you."

The thing he liked best about the house they'd built was the fireplace in the bedroom. The big bed had a headboard the size of a wall that partitioned the bed off from the area they'd turned into a sitting room. With a fire going at night they could see the reflections in the windows if they were in bed or they could sit on the loveseat before the fire and just hold each other.

Now he'd gotten his mate wrapped in a soft silk robe, the firelight flickering over her hair burnishing it in red flames and settled her into his big chair near her desk. He was conscious of those big green eyes watching him curiously as he moved towards the closet and the safe inside it.

Her lips had tilted into a half smile when he emerged from the closet. "Logan you haven't gone and bought me something else have you? You're spoilin' me rotten."

"No'm not," He grunted and shook his head before he handed her the box. "You just open than and you'll understand."

Waiting the long slow moments as she pushed open the blue box and stared at the rings inside was one of the hardest things he'd done. "You gonna gimme an answer?" He growled the question a bit impatiently but damn he was suffering here. The box had two rings in it. One a wedding band that matched her engagement ring. The other, another ring that would mesh with the other two. "You gonna marry me or not Marie?"

"Of course I will," Marie was holding her hand protectively over the ring on her finger like she thought he'd take it away. "But I love the ring you gave me. I don't want to change it."

"Ain't takin' it back," He took the bigger ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger, showing her how it matched up and locked in with her engagement ring. "I'm tellin' you that I don't know how much longer I can wait."

"Then let's get married next week. All the guys will be here. We'll get Storm, and Jean and Hank to come visit and we'll get married." She kissed him gently. "I didn't need another ring to convince me of that."

"I could get you a mine fulla diamonds and emeralds and it still wouldn't be enough to thank you for all you've done for me," Wolverine kissed her. "By the way," He grinned at her. "What kinda name is Rogue?"

Her gasp of happy surprise was one of the sweetest sounds he'd hurt. "I dunno sugar, what kinda name is Wolverine?"

"It's mine, just like you," He wrapped her in his arms. The memory of how he'd met her, a little hitchhiker who'd stolen a ride in his trailer and tried to save his life was one of his most treasured recovered memories. There were only a few missing now, but the other important one, the promise unspoken that he'd made to Rogue in Xavier's garage was another only recently regained. "The one sure sabbath of the heart." He murmured to her and heard her breath catch again. "This is marriage, this is love."

You and I by this lamp with these
Few books shut out the world. Our knees
Touch almost in this little space.
But I am glad. I see your face.
The silences are long, but each
Hears the other without speech.
And in this simple scene there is
The essence of all subtleties,
The freedom from all fret and smart,
The one sure sabbath of the heart.

The world - we cannot conquer it,
Nor change the minds of fools one whit,
Here, here alone do we create
Beauty and peace inviolate;
Here night by night and hour by hour
We build a high impregnable tower
Whence may shine, now and again,
A light to light the feet of men
When they see the rays thereof:
And this is marriage, this is love.

-Ludwig Lewisohn

Author's Note: So I know folks were really hoping I'd start pairing folks up but I wanted to leave it a little vague and up to your imaginations. Victor and Kitty seemed to fit together in my head and but I hadn't really thought very far ahead for the rest of the refugees and team members. This was meant to be a story primarily about Wolverine and Rogue and how they end up together and settled. References to some of the refugees disliking Rogue or problems in the future are meant to hint at a bigger picture without going into too much detail as to what happens. Logistically I couldn't figure out how to deal with a lot of the obvious problems that would come up without turning Rogue into a Mary Sue or having an all out war start up.

But we have come to the end of our tale and I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear your thoughts.