He felt like he got hit by a fucking fright train. He first concentrated on trying to move his head. After a few small rotations the metal inside him was finally loose enough that he could manage his classic neck
pop. Instantly his healing factor reared into overdrive and cleared the fog in his head that had been limiting his brain functions.

He tried to wipe his hands over his face but nothing moved. He jerked his arms again and found them tightly chained behind his back. 'What the fuck.' He pulled against the chains with all his strength but found that they not only held his wrists together but to the wall as well.

Finally looking around his surroundings he fought the rage clawing at his insides. He was in a god damn cage. The bars were a good five feet away from him. The cage was inside a larger room. It was dark and every surface appeared to be made of steel making the entire room bleak and gray. The only thing outside of the cage was a large metal table. He swallowed the lump in his throat and began praying to a God he didn't believe in that this wasn't a lab. He let out the angry scream that had been steady growing inside him.

What seemed like hours later he had finally exhausted himself trying to get free from the heavy chains that were now digging into his wrists. He let his head lay heavily against his chest, mentally searching his body for a little more fight. Although, if the ringing in his head was any indication he knew there wasn't any.

But fuck, he'd been wrong before and when he heard the large metal door squeak open he found a whole shit load of fight. All he could hear was the rattling of the chains against each other and the wall
as he thrashed. Somehow he just assumed the footsteps were heavy booted ones with a military gait.

"Well, if it ain't mah favorite X-Man," the voice instantly stopped his struggle. No longer was he filled with fear-driven hatred, just fierce annoyance.

"What the fuck am I doing here?" he snarled.

"Mystique wants some information from ya."

"And you're gonna get it?" he snorted a laugh.

"Well ah think the plan was for me to just suck it outta ya, sugah."

Yeah he figured that. But before he could tell her to fuck off she plopped down on the floor in front of the metal bars so she was eye level with him.

She glanced behind her at the door then turned to him again and practically whispered, "Alright, here's the game plan. When Mystique comes in you pretend ah touched ya. Twitchn' and the whole nine yards. You know the drill."

He just stared blanky at her in amazement. As much hate as he had for the girl he couldn't help but notice her sitting there indain style on the floor she looked like a little kid plotting how best to build a fort.

"So ah bought some more time sayin' ah couldn't do it all at once. Ah'd have ta do it one fact atta time or ah'd turn into a mini-Wolfette. Ahm pretty sure she bought it," she went on explaining, her eyes meeting his eagerly.

"What the fuck are you talking about, kid?" the 'kid' slipped out of his mouth completely by accident.

"Ahm tryin' to help ya out here," she said exasperated.

"Why?"

"'Cuz she don't need to know what she wants to know," she said, her accent doing no justice to how serious her voice was. "'Sides, it'd be a waste to drain a prime piece of wolf-goodness like yaself" she finished with a wink.

"Stuff it. I suggest you tell me what the hell is really going on here," he warned.

This time it was her turn for a light laugh, "Or what, sugah? You gonna growl at me from all the way over there?"

He narrowed his eyes at her and gave the chains a hard tug for show.

But instead of jerking back in surprise like he had hoped she would she just crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him, "Ya might as well cut that out. It's adimantium. All of it. Mystique ain't playn' around."

He repeated fuck in his head a couple of times and started working on his new escape plan. Not that he was too worried. The Brother Hood was a bunch of god damn morons as far as he was concerned. Mystique was the only one worth any shit. Which he wasn't real happy about at the moment.

"So ya got it? You hear the door, lights out." she repeated, glancing at the metal door several times.

"No."

She quickly jerked her head around in shock,"What? Why the fuck not? I'm tryin' to help ya here, asshole."

He cocked half his mouth into an evil grin, "As I see it, kid, you're gonna be in pretty deepshit when the blue bitch finds out you disobeyed orders."

She gawked at him, "You want me to suck you dry?!"

"Not particularly."

"Listen, 'oldman'," she sneered, "I promise to help ya get the fuck outta here with as little damage as possible and all ya gotta do is play the fuck along." She hadn't remembered saying this many cuss words before but he was starting to scare her. If he wasn't out when Mystique comes in she was beyond screwed. And she was running out of time to convince him.

"How 'bout you tell me why you're doing this then?" Damn this was too easy. He was chained up in a cage and was still able to get an upperhand on the kid. It was pathetic. Didn't they train any of these dumb fucks?

"Ah told you! Ah don't want her knowin' that stuff!" she tried to keep the desperation out of her voice.

"Why don't you want her to know?"

"She wants to wipe out the yer entire school! She said she's tired of ya'll stoppin her and wasten' all her time. She wants all the security codes and the hiding locations, all of it. She fuckn' planin' an X-Men genocide!"

He losted his concentration for a moment and glared at her. He could smell from her that she was telling the truth and she really was scared shitless. But he wasn't sure if it was for the X-Men or for herself when Mystique walked in. He figured it was probably the latter.

"So what's it to you?" he had to ask. Not only was she a fucking bad interrogater but a overall bad badguy. Which was just fucking sad. The poor kid couldn't do anything right.

"It ain't right," she said it like he must have been stupid to not already know that. "Ah mean. We're fightn' for mutant rights n' shit, right? It don't make no sense wipping out a bunch of em."

He realized right then and there what she really was. Just some kid that had been feed she'd been doing the right thing this whole time and she was just to dumb to know the difference. But he was still reluctant to trust her. He still owed her a good clawin' from the last time the little shit kissed him. He was in the medlab for five days. He hated the medlab.

He was pulled out of his deliberation by her pleading voice, "Please, just do it. She gonna be comein' any minute now! It don't hurt you none to just fuckn' lay there!"

Well, she had a point. If they thought he was out they'd probably just leave him the fuck alone. Which gave him more time to think about how the hell he was gonna get out of this. And he had to figure out how he got in it in the first place.

"Fine, kid. You're lucky I'm such a nice guy." He heard her snort when he closed his eyes and laid his head back again the wall of cage. He tried to sink as much as possible, which pulled his shoulder even further back. 'Not hurt, my ass' he said in his head.

Sure enough the next second the door groaned open loudly.

"Rogue, dear?" Mystique's deep voice cut through all the air in the room.

Rogue quickly jumped up and went to her, "Yeah, I'm here."

"Did you get them, dear?"

"Get what?" Rogue pretended not to understand and rubbed the side of her head.

"The security codes! Did you obtain the secruity codes to the mansion from him!" she screamed at the young girl.

Rogue clenched her eyes shut to imply that her volume had hurt her fake headache, "No." she answered quietly.

"No?! What the hell do you mean no?!" The blue woman grabbed her upper arm and clenched her tightly.

"He..um..he didn't know them," she tried, whincing when the pain only increased.

"What do you mean he didn't know them? Of coarse he knows them!! He is Xavier's most trusted member!"

"Evidently Xavier changes the codes every thursday. Today's thursday. So he wouldn't know the new ones," pain was evident in her voice but she did all she could to hide it.

Mystique glarred at her then released the girl, "Fuck. The old man always was paranoid."

Rogue nodded and rubbed her arm but the friction on her spandex suit only made it hurt more.

"Fine. Tomorrow I want the entire layout of the mansion. I want to know what and who are in every single room. I'm assuming Xavier doesn't change that up on a daily bases. You got that?"

Rogue nodded.

The blue woman looked over at the heap of the X-Man slumped against the far wall and became instantly proud of her adopted daughter. She had the power to show the humans real fear. She turned to leave then gave the girl another look.

"Rogue, dear, what is the matter? You seem more jumpy than usual."

"Oh, um, sorry. It's his memories. He's just, um, a really fucked up guy, ya know?"

She nodded, "I'm sure. And don't swear, dear." She excepted the explanation and shut the door behind her.

A breathy 'holy shit' escaped Rogue's lips when she finally allowed herself to breathe again.

Wolverine figured that was a sign that he could stop playing the victim and he sat up and tried to get comfortable. Then he just decided he would settle with getting some of the pressure off his shoulder blades.

He looked over at Rogue and noted that she was just starring at the door, wringing her gloved hands.

"That was pretty good, kid," he finally was able to get some what comfortable. "But you know, you could have just grabbed her, drained her power and use it to get me the fuck out of here." That was one of the plans he came up with during his little acting performance.

"Fuck you." was her answer and he cocked his eyebrow at her in surprise.

She turned to look at him then, "I'm not using my skin on the woman who took me in, gave me a home and raised me, thank you very much."

"Yeah. Moms are always using their kids as murdering machine for world domination and bruisn' em up when they don't do what they want. I just wanna get sick from all the love." he added.

"Fuck you," she repeated and stormed out of the room. The heavy metal door slammed so hard under her super human strength he could feel the vibrates go from the wall down the chain and into his adamantium bones.

***** ****** ******
****** ****** *****

Wolverine growled in frustation. Four days he'd been chained to this wall and his nose was itching like hell under his mask. Everyday she came in and they'd either just stare at each other or start cussing each other out. Then Mystique or Destiny would come in and she'd feed them another completely ridiculous story. He was being to reconsider his opinion that Mystique wasn't a moron like the rest of them when she bought her story that the X-Men's emergency safety compound was in a small village in Yugoslavia. It was all he could do to surpress the groan when she'd said it, figuring that they were caught. But the blue bitch bought it and Rogue said she had even sent Blob there to keep look out. 'Fucking Yugoslavia?' he had said to her when Mystique left. She just shrugged saying it was the only thing that came to her.

"Honey, ahm home," her cynical voice floated to his ears and he glared at her.

"You know what? Why don't you just drain me and then I wouldn't have to deal with your shit," he growled.

"Now, be nice. I'm baring gifts," now that got his attention and he instantly shut his mouth. It was probably fucking Mystique.

"Ya said yesterday that I was the only one that ever came in here so I figured, ya know, that means ya ain't eating," she pulled out a plate from behind her back and exclaimed "TADA."

To say the girl was always full of surprises was an understatment. "What the fuck are you doing? Is it like fucking posioned or something?"

She rolled her eyes at him and set the plate down on the table. "No, sugah. Its not. I just figured you'd need your strength to get outta here. 'Cuz ahm not carrying ya heavy ass."

She finally was able to retrive the key she had tucked down in her glove and grabbed the plate again and went to the door of the cage.

"Alright, ahm comin' in. But you gotta promise not to kick me or some shit like that." she hestitated holding the door of the cage open not yet stepping in.

"No promises, darlin'" he answered honestly.

Her hand flew to her hip in aggreviation, "You know, you are the most ungratiful piece of shit that ever walked this earth. I'm sparein' ya from my skin, cuz believe me, sugah, it ain't no hair off my hide to drain you. Then I give you my own damn food and--"

He cut her off, "Your food?"

"Yes, my food. Don't you think someone would notice I was takin' extra food? Ahm tryin' real hard not to get caught here."

"Then maybe you shouldn't say dumbass things like Yugoslavia."

"You want this food or not?"

Fuck he was hungry and there was no point in denying it. He figured not inflicting bodily harm on her for a few minutes was a trade off he could make. "Fine." he grunted.

She slowly inched her way over to him and kneeled down beside him, setting the plate down. He stretched his legs out and she jerked back at the movement.

He laughed a little, "Just getting comfy, kid."

She called him an asshole and sat back up.

"You gonna undo these chains?" he asked hopefully.

"Hell no, I'm not that stupid. You'd claw me and steal my food."

He nodded to himself that she was probably right. Though he wasn't sure if he would halt his escape to eat the damn muffin and shit. Yep. He decided. He'd claw her up good but leave her the food. Can't say he ain't a generous man.

"That thing's probably uncomfortable, you want me to take it off," he snapped out of his self and at first she was talking about the chain. But then he notice she was looking at his mask.

"No" he snarled.

"Oh come on, your head needs to breathe."

He glarred at her but damn if his nose wasn't still itching too. He grunted another 'fine.'

His navy blue eyes locked onto her hands as they slowly reached up to his face. She lightly placed her hands on his jaw and slid two fingers under his mask. The soft material of her gloves caressed his face as she moved her hands up to his cheeks, taking the mask further up. He had to clench his eyes shut fighting the feel of her gloves against his stratchy stuble. When her hands moved through his hair he couldn't stop his head from going back to follow them, reluctant to end the contact. When the mask was completely off her hands left him and he wanted to growl and tell her to put them back. Then he told himself to get a fucking grip.

"My nose itches," he finally offered to end the uncomfortable silence between them.

Her face eased into a gentle smile and she gave him release and stratched her nails over his nose a couple of times. She torn off a piece of the muffin and put it in front of him mouth and smirked at him.

He leaned forward and took it from her fingers. And made sure to bite down on them hard. She jerked her hand back and messaged the tips of her fingers.

"Shit, Wolverine. Ah should just let you starve!"

He swallowed the dry muffin, "Probably."

She sat back but her face didn't show anger anymore and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Her eyes bore into his but they wouldn't tell him anything either. He couldn't read anything into her smelling scared because she always smelled scared. He figure'd she was always expecting to be caught.

"What?" he finally asked.

She looked down at the plate then broke off another chuck of the muffin, but let her hand just rest in her lap, starring at it. Then she flipped her hair over her shoulder then raised the food to his face again.

"Sabertooth showed up today," she whispered.

He knocked her hand away with his head, eating was the last of his worries, "What?!"

Rogue lowered her hand back onto her lap and nodded, not looking at him.

"Fuck!"

"Yeah."

He studied her for a second then came to a decision, "Kid, you're gonna have to touch me. He's gonna be able to tell if you're lying."

She lifted her head to look at him and shook her head, "No. I can do it."

"The fuck you can. He's gonna smell you're lying before you even open your mouth." This little plan of hers was going south real quick and he knew it. They were both royally screwed.

"I'll...I'll.." she looked around the room like someone had placed the answer somewhere on the wall, "I'll just stay away from him. I'll... wear lots of perfume around him or something."

He had to give the kid credit. She had guts. And they were about to be spilled all over the place because he knew there was no way Sabretooth was falling for this little play of theirs.

He was surprised when she didn't come back then next day but later that night instead. He watched her quietly ease through the door into the room and shut it just as carefully. She wasn't wearing her usual green suit but just a regular pair of pajama pants and t-shirt. He was amazed how much she looked like any normal girl that could be running around the mansion.

Then he realized her presence probably wasn't a good sign. "What are you doing here, kid?"

She quickly walked over and unlocked the door without any of the hestation of last time and sat on the floor across from him. A good four feet away from him.

"Sabretooth said you should be watched at all times, so I volunterred for tonight," she explained.

"And he agreed to that?" He was generally surprise he didn't want to come in here and 'greet' him personally.

She began tugging at her short gloves, "Yeah, well, I don't think he wanted to but then..he..um..he ah..went in Mystique's and Destiny's room."

And now he really wanted to be sick, "I didn't need to know that, kid."

"Yeah, me neither."

They went back to silence between them. And he knew he desperately needed a new plan. He couldn't count on her to get him out of here anymore. Hell, he never really considered that her plan was even a viable option. He just hadn't come up with anything better yet.

"Oh!" her exclaim jerked his attention back to her as she pulled something out of the pocket of her pants. She crawled over to him and began unwrapping it.

"It's an energy bar, I grabbed it earlier,"

He ate it, this time opting not to bite her fingers off because he really was hungry. He took the last bite from her and noticed her arm as she pulled it away.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

She blinked at him in confusion and he nodded his head toward her arm.

"Oh. Um, Pryo burned me last week. Something about I gave him a dirty look or somethin'. Who knows, he's always complain'." She laid her hand over the burn on her forearm. It really wasn't that big, she was surprised he even saw it.

"He burned you?! I hope you laid the little bastard out."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Why? So him, Avalanche, and Blob can gang up on me? No thank you."

He didn't understand why he was so mad that the little fire shit had burned her. Hell, he wanted to claw her up piece by piece. But then again she had done a lot worse to him than give him dirty looks so as he figured he intitled to feel like that.

She wiped her hands on her pants and stood up, "Well, I guess ahm just gonna sleep on that table or something. Let me know if you need anything."

She turned away but just as he opened his mouth she turned her head back around to face him, "Don't need anything." she added.

He fought the grin that wanted to come out. He decided he liked Rogue enough that he'd kill her quickly when he got out. He could see her curl up on the table and thought to himself it was a damn shame that a woman with that good a figure and a baby face with attitude to spare would have to die so young. But a evil bitch was a evil bitch. Besides, whatever he did to her would be humane compared to whatever Sabretooth would plan when he found out.


***********

'Wolverine. Wolverine.' The fucking assholes would not stop taunting him. It was one thing to rip his skin open and use his body for their twisted as shit experiments. But calling his name over and over again for what felt like for fucking ever was just beyond curelty. Wolverine. Wolverine. Over and fucking over again. Finally he couldn't take any more. A grizzled scream escaped his throat and he let the claws free to do their damage to the fuckers.

But they didn't sink into lard filled flesh like he had hoped. Instead the were only able to come out a few inches before they collided with the adamantium wall and were for stopped, sending a shock wave of blinding pain up his forearm.

"Fucking shit," he screamed again as if to release some of the pain from his body.

The next sensation that struck him was that something was rubbing against his knee.

"Wolverine, wake up."

He groaned, coming back to reality. Another god damn fucking dream. When the hell had he fallen asleep, anyway? "Get your god damn hand off me, I'm awake."

"Ya alright, sugah? You were moanin' pretty bad there."

"I'm just perfect."

"Shit, I'll get you a rag or somethin'." She used his shoulders to push herself up and he wanted to scream at the added pain it put in his arms.

"I don't want a damn rag," he hissed.

"Your hands are bleeding pretty bad there."

"They'll stop."

She rolled her eyes at him but dropped it. "So what do you think I should do?" She ended up asking the question without meaning to.

"Go to hell sounds good to me."

The look in her eyes scared him for a minute. Fuck if she didn't look like she was gonna cry. How many times a day did he tell her to go fuck herself? And he really did feel bad about saying it now. Now because she was stroking his cheek with that gloved hand of hers and he was starting to wonder why the hell he hadn't tried gloves in the bedroom before. The hand followed the same path it had done earlier that day and it was almost pain how slow it finally went into his hair. He couldn't help it, not this time. He actually groaned. And when her fingers tightened and gripped a chunk of his hair he braced himself for the kiss he hoped he'd get to enjoy for a few seconds before passing out.

But his lips did not meet hers. Instead the back of his head was forcefully slammed into the wall.

"Fuck!" he tried to lung at her. He pull so hard it felt like the chains actually gave a little to him, but he still wasn't able to reach her, she was already leaning on the opposite side of the cage with her arms crossed on her chest.

"You little bitch!" he growled.

"You gonna tell my momma on me?" He hated that damn smile on her face.

"When I get out of here, you're the first person I'm clawin' up, kid."

She left the cage and locked the door behind her, "You're welcomed to try, sugah."

"Get the fuck up! Now!" What the hell? He wondered how he managed to keep falling asleep in this hell hole. So much for staying alert and on guard. If he was a better man he might admit that he trusted the kid. But he wasn't.

"There a reason you're screamin' in my ear, darlin'?" He was so tired. It probably sounded like it to, but he was too fucking tired to give a damn. She hadn't come in all day yesterday and he hoped that meant that she wasn't going to show up anymore. Instead the damn flame-retarded brat and that Avalanche mother-fucker sat there and yapped like a couple of poodles all day long. At least Rogue was something to look at. Hell, even Mystique would have been an improvement over those two dumbass. He half hoped Sabretooth had ripped the girl to shreds. Then he remembered that was his job.

He was jarred fully awake though when she shoved him to one side, pulling at his now very tender shoulders. "Fuck, kid. You wanna watch it? Hey, what are you--"

The chains. She was unlocking the chains. But the poor dumb kid. She jerkedon it, try the lock again, and jerked on it one more time. Hell, he could do that. He fucking had been doing that for almost six days now and evidently that wasn't going to work. She couldn't even work a padlock? Then he noticed with her being that close to him a very different smell was overriding her per usual fear.

"Why do you smell like blood?" He asked.

"Because ahm bleeding."

Real cute. Damn this kid almost annoyed him more than Scooter did. And if she didn't stop tugging on those chains like that-- "Alright. Let's try this. Why are you bleeding?"

What the hell was her problem? Key in hole, twist, open. That's it. It ain't hard. "Either fucking take the god damn things off or stop ripping my fucking wrists up!"

"Sabretooth," she stuttered. "He…he…caught me. Ahm… Shit we don't have time for this! Why do all you assholes have to have healing factors?"

"'Cuz we gotta deal with brats like you?" Fuck, it was her blood and if it was stronger than her fear scent then there had to be a lot of it. He couldn't look to see how bad it was with her behind him but any attack from Sabretooth wasn't good. Damn. Maybe he was telepathic too? Chuck would be so proud.

He was sure she had something smart to say, but the metal door being slammed open and the table that had been barricaded in front of it thrown across the room stopped both their movements.

He heard her whimpering in his ear and he tried to look back to see if she got it unlocked yet. Nope, it looked like her hands were shakin' too damn much. "Fuck, kid! Now would be a good time!"

"You're gonna pay for that you little whore!!" Sabretooth was getting uglier every time he saw him. Dents and bruises were evident all over the grizzly man. He knew they were probably a lot worse than that just a few minutes ago. She must have gotten good hits in too. He was going to give the fucker his best badass growl but then he felt that the girl was no longer moving. A gloved hand was tightly clenching his forearm and he turned to look. Her face was complete void of color and he'd never seen eyes quite that big before. She had completely locked up.

"God damnit not now!! Snap the hell out of it!" he screamed at her.

"Two little bitches for the price of one," Sabretooth ripped the cage door off snarling at them.

Life just fucking sucked. In those milliseconds he thought of all the things he hadn't had the chance to do yet. Discover his past, open his own bar, fuck Jean... Damn he really wanted to get into Jean's pants. But fuck, Jean's ass was quickly forgotten when he felt his arms relax.

First things first, the claws came out. He wondered in the back of his mind if the girl was smart enough to get out of the way. Probably not.

He lunged at the other beast man from his position on the floor, claws aimed right at the larger man's gut. They made their target and the two men hit the floor. He was the first on to his feet but before he could set himself up Sabretooth had him by the neck and slammed him against the metal bars of the cage.

Air was quickly leaving his lungs under the talon grip. He couldn't even so much as fucking cough. His thoughts went back to Jean's ass as his last desperate attempt to get air failed. But he was starting to think that someone of a higher power didn't want him thinking about Jean's ass because the girl came flying at supersonic speed out of the cage and into Sabretooth. The two went right threw the cement wall on the other side of the room as the blocks they went through crumbled and flew all over the place.

He was no longer feeling the effects of asphyxiation when the girl came stumbling in back through the gaping hole. Now he could really see her. The whole side of her uniform was stained red and shredded. She was gripping her shoulder and holding it so tight he wondered if it would fall off if she let go or something. Dirt and bruises cohabitated all over her with the gouges in her flesh.

"Leave," she grunted with the smallest voice he'd ever heard, "Ah'll hold him off as long as ah can. Hurry, the others'll be here soon, too."

Damn, who would have thought that a busted up kid trying to be a martyr for him would be the biggest turn on he'd ever seen in his entire life?

"We'll both go." He said it but he didn't believe it. Unless they both were going to hell. Now that he might buy.

"Would you just get the fuck out of here?!" she screamed that time.

"I don't know the fucking way out, kid. You have to come with me anyways." Yeah, that'd work.

Sure enough she looked behind her, probably to see if Sabretooth was up yet, then mumbled a quiet 'fine.'

They ran out of the room, he followed three steps behind her. He was trying to smell if anyone was following them but his nose was still overloaded with just her blood. He considered changing his mind and just asking for directions since technically she was hurting both their chances. Not to mention that if that was as fast as she could run they were in serious trouble unless the Brother Hood mother-fuckers happen to accidentally lap them.

"We're almost there, just ahead!" She screamed. He figured she was trying to render his hearing unless as well. Maybe she liked getting the shit beaten out of her?

Somewhere in the back on his head he must have had a sex Jean thought because a ball of fire slammed right into his back and him right into the kid. The back of his uniform hissed as it dissolved from both the direct heat of the blast and his charred skin. Metal must be one hell of a conductor. He pushed off of her and vaguely noted he must of pushed on her injured side because his hand was now wet with blood.

The Pyro brat was trying to look intimidating standing there with his pansy ass lighter. At first he tried dodging the blasts that the kid sent his way then decided he couldn't give a shit. He was going to heal. This mother fucker, however, wouldn't be as lucky. Adrenaline was pumping so hard through him as he charged he barely felt his suit melt on his arms or his chest. The sound of the little bastard's choked scream as he shoved a set of claws into his gut was music to his ears though. He added the set on the other hand and flashed the little shit a grin just before he closed his eyes and crumbled to the ground. He wondered how many people would thank him for making sure there was one less annoying little prick in the world?

Speaking of annoying-- he turned to see the girl still trying to get off the ground from before and had only managed to get to her hands and knees. He really should fucking leave her. Or maybe ram a set of claws through the back of her head on the way out...

"Fuck, kid, get up!" he repeated the command she had given him not ten minutes ago. Her response, however, was not nearly as eloquent as his. He couldn't tell if it was a groan, a whimper, or her swearing at him. Maybe it was some combination of all of them.

Whatever it was, it was apparent she was making no attempt to get up, or at least none that would get them out of there in the next week or so. The bad Wolverine on his left shoulder was chanting 'Leave her. Leave her. Mystique and Sabretooth will take care of her,' in his ear. The good Wolverine on his other shoulder said, 'No. You wanted to claw her. Now's the time. It will save her from Mystique and
Sabretooth!" He had to admit the good Wolverine had a point. It didn't look like the kid was going to making it anyway; it was just a matter of how much pain she would be in when she did finally croak.

It was the god damn Wolverine in the middle that was threatening that he'd never be the human he wanted to be if he did anything less than get the girl to safety. He hated that Wolverine. It was the same one that made him go on Chuck's fucking little missions to save the whole shitty world.

The roar that was a few hundred feet had all three of them yelling at him just to make up his fucking mind and get the hell out. He wrapped one arm around the girl's side and clenched her upper arm with his other hand and dragged her up off the floor against him. Damn if his hand on her side was getting warm and sticky. He swore several times from now both hands being covered in her blood and he wanted to be sick. Another call from Sabretooth reminded him that'd he'd just have to throw up later and he grabbed her tighter and made his way back down the corridor.

She made it ten large steps before she was swearing at him, "Just fuckin' leave me."

He gripped her arm even tighter to both get the message across that he wasn't about to fucking do that and because, at that point, she stopped supporting even a little bit of her own weight.

"God damnit, kid. Just try and keep your fucking legs moving!" Shit, he was doing all the work here and all she could do was complain? She swore at him again but weakly moved her legs in step with his. He took it as a sign that he could pick up the speed and he tried a little more of a run. Again he was dragging her but he didn't care because the door was straight ahead.

He kicked the door open and it easily obeyed his metal inlaid foot. Once outside he surveyed his surrounds and smelled nothing but woods. Nothing but god damn trees and squirrels. He kept moving anyway, although it was very unlikely without any kind of transportation they were going to get out of there.

No longer able to see the warehouse that had been his unwelcomed home for a week he figured it was okay to stop and take a breather, dragging the girl up the steep hill was more of a work out then his under nourished body could handle. And his fucking shoulders were throbbing so hard he thought about just cutting his god damn arm off. Then he remembered that his companion hadn't uttered a profanity at him for some time he turned her to look her in the face.

"Darlin', how we doing?" Again he couldn't get anything from her smell, nothing he didn't already know and it fucking drove him crazy.

She waved a bit on her feet and he quickly grabbed her arms again to keep her from falling over. She clenched his shoulders in her hands to keep her up right and he wanted to scream from the pain of it. But he let her keep them there, being the nice guy that he was.

"We're just outside of the city. New York-- Keep going west and you'll be there," she explained, although she didn't look at him. Her head stayed down and he didn't know if it was because she was nervous or scare or she just didn't have the strength to lift it.

"Alright then, I hope you're up to it. We're gonna have to pick the pace up here."

"No. Ahm not goin'. Ahm stayin' here." She lifted her head to look in his eyes. He thought the feel of her blood made him sick, seeing all the tears and sweat bruising all over her face made his shoulder seem like an orgasm compared to his stomach.

"We've gone over this, kid. I'm not fucking leaving you." He gripped her arm again, that had apparently worked pretty good the last time.

"No, Ahm not leavin' mah home, mah family. Ah fought hard to get them and ah not just leavin' em. They're all ah got!"

He wanted to laugh in her face. He wanted to laugh in her face and slap her good and hard. "Family? You're fucking kidding me, right? What? You think Mystique is gonna save you from Sabretooth? Huh? The bitch is going to hold your god damn ass down for him!"

She violently started to shake her head, again looking down.

"You need to realize something, darlin'. There's nothing but fucked up assholes back there. Assholes who are gonna want to rip you to pieces and get off on hearin' you scream. And if you think Mystique is any different then you're more fucking stupid and hopeless than I thought."

She tried to push him away, she really did. With everything she had she pushed. He had to grab both her arms to make sure she didn't fall backwards because of the action. "What do ya want? What the hell else am ah gonna do?" She was crying now. It made him feel better that they were at least angry tears; she wasn't reserved on dying right then and there.

"You're gonna come with me. We're gonna get you patched up." he offered.

"You're gonna take me to the X-Men? So they can finish me off? No thanks, ah'd rather have mah family do it then the people ah've been fighting against most mah life."

What is it with this kid that made him want to laugh? Maybe it was because she was so cynical it reminded him of himself. "Nah, kid. They're the good guys. The only one you gotta worry about is me."

She never got a chance to answer him. A red beam of light shot right past him and sent her flying into a tree six feet away. The branches and leaved shook violently and he looked at her lying crumbed and completely lifeless at the base.

"Logan, man, are you alright?" Cyclops came running up behind him and patted the back of his shoulder.

He hissed and knocked the hand off and turned to meet his favorite rival, "I was fucking fine, Scooter 'til you shot the god damn kid!"

"What are you talking about? I just saved your life!"

"It was already saved, dickhead."

He walked over to her and knelt down beside her. Carefully, he moved her hair out of her face and gave the white streaks an extra stroke. He always thought they were one of the things that made her the
instant hard-on that she was. Satisfied that he could still feel her pulse, even though it was weak, he lifted her into his arms as gently as he could. He thought that cradling her head against his shoulder would flare the up the pain but it was just the opposite. Having her in his arms made everything in him feel good. Even his always itching and throbbing knuckles were finally at peace.

"What the hell are you doing? You're not bringing her!" Cyclops stepped between him and the waiting blackbird. His clenched eyebrows disappeared beneath his visor and Logan swore that the asshole's eyes were squinting at him too.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, so move out of my fucking way." he moved to step around him but again he blocked him from advancing. "If she fucking dies in my arms, One-Eye, I'm going to cut you into god damn chunks and feed you to fucking Sabretooth!"

"Logan--" he stopped when the other man growled at him the sighed and moved to the side. "I'll be speaking to the Professor about this!" he said as they both made their way up the ramp.

"Yeah, what the fuck else is new, prick."



**********************************************************************

He stared down at her from his chair in the med lab. He fucking hated the med lab. Even if Jeanie offered to fuck him there he wouldn't want to go in. Damn white walls and that smell, what the hell was that smell anyway? It all made his skin crawl and his nightmares daydreams.

But the med lab was where he was for an hour every fucking day for over a week now. Jeanie patched her side up the best she could and stitched up the rest of what looked like little scraps in comparison. She said her shoulder had been dislocated. He patted himself on the back for being psychic after all. The concussion and the burn on her chest looked almost as bad as her side. Fucking One- Eye.

He told her over and over again to wake up. But of course, she never listens to him. Hell, she was probably doing the opposite of what he said just to spite him. That thought made him laugh. The groan only his sensitive ears could pick up made him stop instantaneously.

"Mornin', darlin'."

Closely he watched her lick her lips and give her arms a tug. He watched the look on her face as it contorted when she realized restraints held her to the bed. Chuck's request.

"Not a nice way to wake up, is it?" He tried not to smirk at her, but they weren't lying when they said revenge is sweet.

But she didn't seem to mind and just laid there. She went from licking her lips to clenching her eyes shut and repeated the process several times.

"Where am ah?" He wanted to read her eyes but she wouldn't let him. Evidently she decided it was better with them closed.

"The mansion." he answered then added, "Xavier's."

She gave him a small nod. "Am ah gonna live?"

He swallowed the lump that had unknowingly grown in his throat and thanked god no one else was in the fucking room, "What do you want me to tell you, kid?"

She shook her head and he wasn't sure if that meant that she didn't want to know or she wanted him to tell her she wasn't going to make it. That one action of hers nearly stopped his impenetrable heart and made him to the absolutely unthinkable.

"Do you want me to heal you?" Instantly he wished the words hadn't escaped his mouth. Thoughts like that were reserved for self-mutilation after she died.

Again she shook her head, releasing him from his offer and he wanted to kiss her thank you for again saving him. Because he really did not want to do it.

"Listen, when you get better--, "in his head he corrected himself with if, "you're gonna stay here. You're not going back to those mother-fuckers."

Slowly she opened her eyes. Her cloudy, dull green ones meeting his fevered blue. "Why?"

"You said it yourself, darlin'. You need a home and a family now. This is one hell of a house and there's tons of little brats here that would do you some good to run around with."

"They'd…They'd," she had to swallow to get some moisture back into her dry, scratchy throat, "they'd never trust me, ah'd... ah'd be-"

"What?" he interrupted her, "An outcast? A Rogue? You already are, kid. These are the fucking good guys. If anyone is gonna take you in its going to be these shitheads." He told himself he really shouldn't call them shitheads. Hell, they took his ass in and gave him a home and all that shit. Coarse they sent him all over the place to get his ass torn to hell but---- Yeah. Shitheads.

She managed a little snort, "That's what you said last time before that twit Cyclops blasted me."

God she was perfect. "How 'bout this: If you stay here and promise to be a good lil' girl. No attacking or killin' anybody and behavin' at least a mile within the rules I promise to protect you. From my shitheads, from your assholes, and from any other random fucker who comes along. We got a deal?" He didn't know why he said it. But he didn't regret it like when he offered to heal her. He was okay with
this outburst of the heart. Protecting her and making she she didn't regret what she did for him was something he had to do. He wanted to keep that fire cracker and defiant little bitch in this world as long as he could. Not only that but Scooter wouldn't like that idea at all, so that right there proved it was the right thing to do.

The eyes he stared at now weren't dull like there where a minute ago. Instead they were a deep, glossy green that reminded him of life itself. "You promise?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"Yeah, darlin'. I promise." Mentally he reminded her that she had to live first.

Rogue was in the med lab a month before Jeanie finally gave her the okay to leave. And that started her life at the mansion. He spent most of the day with her, except when he was training. For the first week that she was out and about amongst everyone else she stayed to herself and in her room. Finally, he dragged her out and told her that she had to at least fucking eat in the cafeteria with him. She agreed and he knew it was only because he let her know that she didn't have a god damn choice in the matter. And after eating in there a few times it wasn't long before that annoying little motor mouth Jubilee plopped right down beside her and filled her in on all the latest mansion gossip. And with Yellow's fucking stamp of approval all the other little X-brats followed shortly after, slowly trying to include her into their plans. He knew she hated every fucking minute of it and was usually nervous and scared shitless. That's why he always made her go and reminded her she was still too damn weak to fight him. So she'd swear at him but follow the kids, and he'd have his 'damn, I'm good,' celebration cigar as he watched her slowly walk away with them.

He wasn't sure how he was going to manage the whole fucking 'hey, I think I'll keep her' shit if the juniors hadn't accepted her so quickly. He actually fucking lucked out. The senior X-Men, however, were not so tolerate. Fucking hypocrites, right? He could tell just by looking at them that every time they fucking saw her they remembered her kicking their asses over and over again. Hell, she was just fucking watching T.V. with Freeze Boy and Jeanie glared at her like she murdered a baby or some shit. But Jean was the worst. She wasn't the fucking only one by any means. 'Ro made it obvious she didn't trust her any farther than she could throw her, but at least she was god damn civil to her face. The Professor kept trying to get into her fucking head without asking her. Which pissed Logan off to the point he threatened to fucking run over all of his god damn wheelchairs with his truck. He gave him the 'Now, Logan'. Nothing made him angrier than the 'now, Logan.' So every time she told him she had this weird splitting headache he'd go and put a set of claw holes in the side of one of his wheelchairs. Eventually the headaches stopped.

At first Scooter was worse then Jean. Acting like a real prick, no big surprise. But out of the fucking blue he started saying 'hi' real nice to her when he saw her and then he fucking saw the two of them and they looked like they were having some real deep fucking conversation. Day after day she developed this fucked up bond with him that made Logan just want to be sick. What was it about chicks that they couldn't see how much of a god damn asshole he was? What eased his queasy stomach was that she always sided with him against Scooter when they got into one of their arguments not matter what.
(She'd just tell him what a complete fucking moron he was later.) It made him feel like at least him and god damn One-Eye were finally even. One hot chick a piece. Although every time Jeanie walked away he wondered what it would be like to have BOTH of them in his corner? Then he reminded himself that god damn Scooter was stilling winning. At least he was fucking getting some.

But all that was important was that him and the kid got together better than he ever thought they would. The original plan was she'd make friends and would no longer be dependent on him and they'd both
go about their lives. It didn't go that way. They fucking stuck to each other like glue and it scared him how much they were alike and he actually began depending on her just as much.

"Hey, kid." he opened the door without knocking. He never knocked. She was lucking he didn't fucking rip the door off the hinges the rare times she locked it.

"Hey yaself, sugah."

He closed the door and looked at her. She was sitting at the chair of the vanity table Kitty and Yellow had bought her. She was dabbing a washcloth on her forehead just above her eye. He wanted to laugh that she was so anti-social she already had her pjs on.

Then he smelled blood.

"What the fuck," he closed the four feet between them before she could react and grabbed her chin, lifting her face up to him, her hair protecting his hand. With the other hand he grabbed her glove covered wrist to pull the rag away. There was a gash on her forehead, right above her shocked face.

"What. The. Fuck. Happened," he growled.

"Nothing, really. It's not that bad," she tried to shoo his hands away but he only tightened his grip.

"You have three seconds to fucking spill it, darlin'." All kinds of things were running through his mind. She met up with her brotherhood friends. Scooter fucking knocked her down the stairs. Jeanie mentally threw something at her--

"Really, Logan. Calm down. Piotr came back from Russia today and ah guess no one told him, ah, ya know came to the other side," she started explaining, trying to do it the best way without getting the boy in trouble. "He kinda threw me through the library wall--"

"Fuck!" He clenched his and made his way back towards the door he'd just entered. Why the hell didn't anybody ever tell him shit around here?

"No!" She jumped up and grabbed his arm and tried to turn him back around. "Wait, sugah, where do ya think you're goin`?"

"To teach that fucking metal punk some god damn manners," he snarled, narrowing his eyes in warning at the hand clenched around him.

She smiled at him, "Ah don't think you're one to be teachin' anyone manners."

"Real cute, kid." His voice and face softened considerably, "Have I told you lately you bug the hell outta me? Now let me the fuck go."

"Yes ya have," her voice felt like velvet to him with that southern twang. Soft, thick, and rich. Those words described almost every part of her. Then she pulled him closer to her. He tried his damnest to ignore the feel of the side of her breast again his still imprisoned arm. When she gently pressed her lips to his shoulder he easily felt the heat and softness seared right through his shirt to his skin.

She pulled back just a little bit to smile back up at him, "Ah love hearin' it every time, too, sugah."

He no longer had any fucking control of his own god damn body. His free arm came up and stroked the back of her head without his consent. Sliding his fingers into the thick chocolate locks was completely his idea, however. He tried to say something but he still hadn't found the control switch to his fucking mouth so he settled for stroking the back of her head with his thumb. In this moment his realized what perfection actually was. It was think brown hair wrapped in his fingers, small silk hands gripping his arm, pouty lips smiling at him, and forest green eyes looking up at him.

His moment of pure bliss crashed when she had to blink her eyes shut when a drop of blood dripped from her forehead. She wiped it off with the cloth then tried to smile reassuringly at him but it was already too late. He was back to being fucking furious.

"Excuse me, darlin'. I got a Russian to kabob." He tried again to pull his arm free of her but she only tightened her grip. He growled a warning at her.

"Logan, please! He already apologized. Ya can't blame him for tryin' to protect his family. Please! If ya go down there and beat him up it'll just make everyone mad at me," she tried to convince him. His eyes darted across her face a few times.

The before she could stop him he lifted the hem of her skirt up. She couldn't help but squeak in surprise and tried to knocked his hand away.

"What are ya doin`---" he only grabbed her hand to still her and she notice she was staring at her side.

She stopped struggling at watched his eyes as they narrowed, studying the still healing wound on her side, "It's okay, sugah. It doesn't hurt as much as it use to. "

He only looked at her eyes for a second before pulling her shirt all the way up. She blushed but stayed put and let him repeat the process with the burn on her chest.

"Ya know, Jubes told me that a guy had to buy ya dinner before he could take your clothes off," she tried to joke to lightened the mood but he only frowned at her and carefully eased the shirt back down, careful that his knuckles didn't touch her side.

"Really, Logan, say something`."

But he didn't. Instead he took her hand in his and walked the two steps to the bed. He could feel her heart beat jack up to a fucking unchartable speed. He released her hand before crawling on the bed and sat on the center of it. She stood watching him, wringing the tips of her gloves in her hands. Like she always did when she was nervous. His only respond was to pat the space beside him. What worried her the most was his face was more serious then she'd ever seen. And soft. She was slightly surprised he could make a face like that.

She eased beside him and instantly his hand went into her hair. That was officially his new favorite fucking thing ever. Why the fuck had he been screwing blondes and red heads? She relished in the feel of it and closed her eyes and completely melted.

He smiled and lowered his face to hers and pulled her head forward to meet him. The kiss was soft but demanding. He felt the pull but it his mind pushed it to the back and concentrated on the feel of her full lips against his own. She tried to push him off, but he only lowered her to lay down on the bed and deepened the kiss. She still tried to severe the connection but responded to the kiss never-the-less. His hand slide from her hair down her neck to increase skin contact. She finally stopped fighting him when his hand moved into her shirt and stop on the top of her chest.

There wasn't much strength left in his body and he put everything he had into the kiss. It became desperate and fast as he tried to think about the things he wanted her to have. How much he trusted her, how much he wanted to take care of her. And definitely that he also liked telling her how much he loved her annoying him and prayed no Jean ass thoughts popped up.

He felt his hand on her chest slip as he began to loose consciousness. He fought it and pressed his hand harder to her and his lips harder to her mouth. He held on till he felt the skin under his hand no longer rippled and scarred, but the porcelain silk it was suppose to be. With the last few seconds of consciousness he moved his hand to her forehead. And satisfied that it too was now smooth and unmarred he let the gentle blackness take him to his deserved rest before he embarked on whatever the perfect side of life had in store for him. The last thing he felt was his hand limply slide from her face back into her hair.




The End.