The government thought itself so wise to use the mutant Leech as a “cure” for all mutants. Surely they had taken all precautions to ensure that such a cure would be permanent. It would do no good to them if said cure was only a temporary fix. What they failed to take into account was the simple fact that nature cannot be stymied. The hubris of humanity to attempt to hinder such a powerful process as genetic mutation was so great that nature, had it the ability, would have laughed heartily at such folly.

**********

Marie had not been Rogue for well over a year. She grew accustomed to the feel of skin on her own. She began to take simple things for granted, like brushing against a person in a bustling hallway or walking in a crowd.

Bobby had been upset that she’d felt the urge to go through with the cure, but his hormones quickly reminded him not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He and Marie, though he still called her Rogue, grew quite close. There was even talk of a possible engagement in the future, though neither felt rushed.

Since the deaths of Professor Xavier, Scott and Jean, the school was being run by Ororo. She was fully capable of overseeing the daily requirements of such a large establishment, despite the lack of experience of actually doing so.

Logan was restless. The words of the Phoenix, that he had been tamed, continually rattled through his mind. The wildness in him responded to the challenge, but the responsibility he had recently taken on demanded that he stay.

The mutant children chose to remain, as they still needed to be educated in an environment that was without prejudice. Despite the “curing” of Magneto, the X-Men were still needed to prevent rogue groups of mutants from harming humans, and also to prevent humans from doing the same to mutants throughout the world.

Marie had decided to stay at the mansion with Bobby since he was needed with the X-Men. There were moments when she missed the excitement of missions. She loved the feel of leather on her skin, a remnant of Logan drifting through her subconscious mind.

**********

It was an accident.

She had found Logan sitting on a bench overlooking one of the back lawns. “Hey,” she said, as she sat. The grunt of recognition made the corner of her mouth lift. They stayed this way for several minutes, not speaking, and in that time Marie wished with all her heart that she could know what he was thinking and fix what was broken. It was a silly thing to wish, and she knew it was damn near impossible, but you can’t stop a girl from wishing.

In that moment, Marie touched Logan. At first all she felt was warmth and the crisp hair that sprinkled the back of his hand. Then, as Logan turned his head to look in her eyes, she felt him trickle into her mind.

He was sad. That was what she had wanted to know. He was also surprised at the tingle he felt being drawn from his body. Neither she nor Logan knew how exactly much time went by with her touching him, but upon realizing what was happening, Marie snatched her hand away. The look in her eyes made Logan grab her arm to hold her still.

For a moment she was like a rabbit trapped by a fox, struggling to pull free, though all she managed to do was be drawn closer to Logan so she could not escape. It was then, against Logan’s shoulder, that she began to cry softly.

“It’s all right, darlin’. There’s no reason to cry. Look.” She watched as he touched her skin and with held breath realized nothing was happening. “See? Nothin’ to it.”

After that day it was an unspoken vow that neither mention what had occurred. After all, it was just a fluke. It wouldn’t happen again. It couldn’t. She was cured.

**********

It’s amazing how life has its twists and turns that no one ever really sees them coming. The every day accidents that happen so easily.

The roads had turned icy as Marie traveled back to the mansion from the city, and when she approached the curve, the last thing she saw was the car leaving the road. Hours passed before anyone realized she should have long since arrived. Ororo, having taken to the skies in search, found the overturned vehicle first. Piotr and Bobby arrived shortly thereafter, which allowed Piotr to pull the mangled door from the frame of the car.

It wasn’t until they pulled Marie from the vehicle that they realized how badly she was injured. Upon arriving at the mansion, Marie was taken to the medical labs for treatment, but all who looked at her injuries knew time was running out. The internal damage was too grave. The loss of blood too great.

“Why won’t she wake up?” Bobby asked Dr. McCoy.

“She has lost too much blood,” he said with a solemn shake of his head. “Even if we begin giving transfusions now, it’s too late.” The tears that filled the blue man’s eyes brought more tears to Bobby’s. “I am so sorry.”

At that moment Logan walked in the room and moved over to Marie’s still form. All who saw his expression knew it to be one of anger. What they could not tell was at whom his anger was focused. Marie, had she been conscious, would have told them he was mad at everything. Mad at her for driving in such conditions. Mad at her again for taking the damn cure that prevented her skin from working. Mad mostly at himself for not stopping her when he had the chance.

While Bobby held Marie’s bloody hand, Logan brushed the hair away from her forehead. “Hey, kid.” He whispered those two words so softly only those standing close could hear. “Open your eyes.” To the shock of everyone, she did just that.

When her eyes focused, they looked directly into the hazel eyes boring into her own. She tried to say something, but the pain that moved through her body prevented anything other than a strangled gasp from escaping. The pallor of her face, which was already terribly pale, became even more so.

“It’s all right, Marie.” Logan smiled softly down and took her hand. “Hold on.” A small nod from Marie told him she understood. “Let’s see if we can’t fix this.” As Marie held on, her mutation began to pull on his. The pull was light, so much so that Logan was only marginally affected, but Marie’s wounds did begin to heal.

Bobby had immediately let go of Marie when he felt the tingle of her mutation. He watched as she concentrated on Logan and began to repair herself slower than anyone would have liked, but healing was healing. One minute stretched to five, and soon the floodgates of the Marie’s mutation, starved for too long, hungrily pulled at those of the Wolverine. With a snatch of her hand Marie pulled herself free of Logan and watched as he slid to the floor, unconscious.

The smell blood was overwhelming. Undaunted by the eyes that observed her, Marie snatched the ruined clothes from her frame and searched for a medical gown. Turning to face the open-mouthed stares behind her, she snarled orders. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get him off the floor!”

Dr. McCoy quickly raised Logan’s form onto the gurney Marie had only minutes ago been dying on. Stepping closer, Marie stroked Logan’s face.

Bobby, watching closely, drew in a deep breath of disapproval, but Marie had too much of Logan rattling around in her head at the moment to deal with petty worries. “Either help or get the fuck out,” She said to no one in particular. “I’m not hurting him now. See?” Placing her hand flush with Logan’s skin, it was apparent to everyone that her mutation was indeed behaving itself.

“Marie, dear, Robert is right to worry.” Hank spoke softly, as not to anger the currently volatile young woman. “Moments ago we witnessed your mutation come alive. How is this possible?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it now, Hank,” Marie said, in the clipped tones of the man next to her. “Later.”

“Yes, later,” Dr. McCoy worriedly replied.

**********

Logan sat still while Hank poked, prodded, and generally aggravated the hell out of him. That lasted until Marie walked in and gave him an excuse to focus on something other than the good doctor and his instruments.

“Hey, sugar. Feelin’ better?”

“Good as new, darlin’. You know that mutation of yours can’t keep me down for long.” He hid his smirk when her coffee colored eyes rolled in mock disgust.

“Logan, you were unconscious for three days,” Marie said with a great deal of exasperation.

“Not to side with Logan, my dear, but he is correct. According to Dr. Grey’s records, Logan was disabled nearly one hundred and seventy two hours after your last encounter.” Hank turned to consult his notes. “This encounter merely required seventy six and one half hours.”

Now it was Logan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Is it necessary to keep track of shit like that?”

Dr. McCoy looked mildly affronted, but mirthfully replied, “Yes, Logan. The scientific knowledge gathered from keeping such records is very helpful. In this particular instance, it tells me that even though the exposure to Rogue’s skin was equivalent to the exposure that resulted from your experience on Liberty Island, your recovery time has significantly improved.”

Logan turned to Marie and grinned. “Hear that? Significantly improved.”

“Oh, shut up.” Turning to face Dr. McCoy, Marie said, “Hank, do you think that has somethin’ to do with the cure?”

The fur on Dr. McCoy’s forehead moved with the skin underneath, expressing his thoughtfulness. “It is possible. Would it be all right if I took blood from you, Rogue? I will match my results to the blood taken shortly after you were administered this so called ‘cure.’” At that, Dr. McCoy turned and left, leaving Logan and Marie to look very confusedly at the space he had recently occupied.

**********

It being a sunny, if bitterly cold, Saturday, the grounds were full of adolescents of varying ages. Bobby, in search of Marie, walked the snow dusted sidewalks. He knew the stone benches in the garden were the most likely place to find her. And sure enough, there she sat; frozen breath puffing lightly from her lips. She had been gazing uninterestedly toward the iced fountain when her eyes fell upon him. Bobby sighed when he saw the sad smile flit unknowingly across her face.

“Hey, Bobby.” She motioned for him to sit. “I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“I’ve been around.”

Now it was Marie’s turn to sigh, the frosty tendrils of air disappearing as quickly as they formed. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“Everything.”

Bobby’s brows knit together as he echoed Marie’s word. “Everything?”

“Let me start with what I’m not sorry for, and we’ll work our way up from there. I’m not sorry I took the cure. The last year with you has been more normal than I ever thought I’d experience. I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“I’m glad you had the chance to feel normal, Rogue. Everyone deserves normal; even us.” Bobby paused before continuing. “Can I ask you a question before you finish?”

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He didn’t have to say specifically to what he was speaking. They both knew he wanted to know about the return of her mutation.

“I was afraid.” Meekly she continued. “I was touching Logan when it happened.”

Bobby laughed coldly, though with some understanding. “Ironic, huh? As close as we’ve been the last year, the one person you’re touching when this happens is him.” He looked away hurt and a little angry. “I always knew he’d take you away, you know. I think maybe that’s why this doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I always knew.” Looking back at Rogue now, he saw the sad tears gliding down her pretty face.

“I’m sorry, Bobby.”

“I know.”

**********

“After carefully examining your blood sample, Rogue, I have determined that the cure serum is still present.” Marie nodded her agreement. They both knew if the serum wasn’t present she would be unable to touch anyone at all. “What I found odd is the fact the concentration of serum is a fraction of its original dosage.”

Marie shook her head in disbelief. “What does that mean, Hank?”

“There are a few possibilities: One, your mutation is overcoming the serum. Two, the serum has weakened considerably, or three, such a large dose of Logan’s mutation had a diminishing effect on it.” Dr. McCoy sat quietly as Marie processed this information.

It was into this silence that Logan entered. Marie’s stricken face caused Logan to turn angrily toward the good doctor. “What the hell did you tell her?”

Marie spoke first. “The cure’s wearing off.”

“Well, damn, darlin’. We knew that.” Sitting down, Logan asked Dr. McCoy, “Find anything out about why my recovery time is improving after I touch her?”

Sharp, white teeth showed themselves as Dr. McCoy smiled. “The answer to that is truly fascinating.”

“Well spit it out, doc. I don’t have all damn day,” Logan growled.

Eyes twinkling, Dr. McCoy simply said, “I have no scientific explanation.”

The looks on Logan and Marie’s faces were priceless. It was too bad that only Dr. McCoy was there to appreciate their stunned looks.

“Hank, at the risk of sounding like Logan, what the hell do you mean ‘I have no scientific explanation?’ You always have an explanation.” Standing, she began to pace the room. “Doesn’t it have something to do with the cure?” Seeing Dr. McCoy shake his head, she tried again. “Logan’s mutation isn’t adapting to mine?” Another head shake telling her no. “Then what is it?!”

“As I said, my dear, I have no factual evidence to lend me a hypothesis. Logan’s mutation remains what it has always been: a wondrous display of the human body’s ability to heal itself.” Dr. McCoy looked from patient to patient before continuing. “The only possible explanation, given that the cure has weakened to the point where I believe it to be ineffective, is that you have gained a measure of control over your mutation.”

**********

Marie found Logan sitting alone in a small room typically used on Fridays for poker night, looking out the window, nursing a beer. She smiled when he pulled out the straight-backed chair to his left for her to sit in. He hadn’t even turned around to see who had come in the room.

“Hey.” She chuckled when his only response was a grunt. He needed to come up with some other way to greet people, she thought. They sat quietly, watching the snow fall gently against the frosty panes.

“How old are you now, Marie?” The question was odd, which was why when Logan looked at her face, awaiting her response, her eyebrows were drawn together in confusion.

“I was nineteen this year.”

Nodding, he turned his attention back to the snow. She got tired of the silence and asked, “How old are you now, Logan? Eighty? A hundred? Does it bother you that you’ll always be the oldest person I know?”

Logan blew out a frustrated breath and looked her dead in the eyes when he said, “It’s the ‘always’ in that sentence that I worry about, kid. I’ve never had someone constant. I can’t remember most of my life, but I know that. The only constant I’ve ever had is me. I’ve looked at this face in the mirror for twenty years and nothing changes.”

“You have us now.”

With a sad shake of his head he said, “No, darlin’, I don’t. People get old; they die. What good does it do me to never get sick, or know it could be five hundred fucking years before I die? If, and that’s a big damn if, I ever do!”

Marie stared at him for a few long moments before saying, “You know what? Get over yourself, you jackass.” Dark eyebrows jerked up toward his hairline. “You ask me how old I am.” He nodded, prompting her to continue. “Let’s say you’re around a hundred. I’ll always be eighty years younger than you. When I’m fifty, you’ll be a hundred and sixty. When I’m eighty, you’ll only be ten years from your bicentennial.”

Logan smirked and said, “What’s your point?”

“Quit whining.” She took his beer and drew in a mouthful. “For the moment I can touch people, and I’ve got you to fix me when I’m broken. Life is good.”

Outside the closed door of the poker room, friendly laughter could be heard.

**********

~ Eight years later ~

Taking a quick look around the corner, Logan made sure there were no guards posted at the station. It appeared that the distraction caused by rest of the team had drawn all personnel to the front of the facility. Moving quickly, and with as much stealth as his large frame could manage, Logan ran from his position to the station. Just as he arrived three guards exited the building, roughly two hundred meters away, and began opening fire.

After diving for cover, Logan felt the knives embedded in his arms slide out of his hands. If he was lucky, the guards wouldn’t advance as a unit and he would be able to overwhelm them. “Shit, shit, shit,” he said to himself. “Why aren’t these idiots with everybody else?”

Glancing from his position, he was thankful that this was a deeply wooded location, which allowed plenty of cover between himself and the goon squad.

“Sugar, are you talking to yourself?” Logan, startled by the sudden presence of a familiar voice, looked up to see Marie dropping quickly from the sky. Settling lightly on her feet, completely unconcerned by the three guards she had to have seen from the air, she grinned salaciously at Logan. He couldn’t help but laugh at her.

Motioning with her hand over her shoulder she asked, “Where did those idiots come from?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, babe. There I was, doing everything as planned, and they had to go and ruin it.” A dramatic sigh by Logan caused delighted laughter from the woman before him.

“Can I play with ‘em?” Marie seemed far too excited by this prospect.

“Only if I get to play, too.”

“All right.” Rubbing her hands together gleefully she continued, “I’ll distract the little bastards. You immobilize.”

“Deal. 1-2-3, and go.”

Marie lifted gracefully into the air at startling speed as Logan began to run toward the men. As he broke through a line of trees and entered a small clearing, he saw Marie come back to earth. If the guards’ attention had been focused on the racket Logan had been making, it was now most definitely focused on the woman who had dropped from heaven wearing a leather outfit that might as well have been painted on.

Still grinning, Marie sauntered toward the guards as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Realizing this woman was a part of the intrusion to their little mutant torture house, they opened fire. Logan, having stopped to enjoy the proceedings, watched as bullets flattened harmlessly against extremely durable flesh and fell impotently to the ground. He knew it was with great care that Marie knocked out the two closest men, because hitting them with even a fraction of her strength would have most certainly resulted in their deaths.

The last guard continued to fire at Marie, prompting her to giggle and say, “Stop that. It tickles.” The man did not stop until the weapon he was holding suddenly separated into two distinctly different pieces.

Grabbing a double handful of the guard’s uniform Logan said, “Hey, bub. It’s not nice to shoot at ladies.”

“She’s no lady. She’s a freak, just like you,” he spat.

“No, she’s not just like me.” Logan shook his head. “See, she’s plays nice,” he said, pointing to the men lying on the ground. “I don’t.” The metallic thump, resulting from a sharp headbutt, left the man crumpled on the ground.

Marie stepped over a guard as she walked toward Logan. “See, sugar? Wasn’t that fun?” Giving him a quick kiss, she reached under his arms and flew them toward the front of the facility. Looking briefly at his face she asked, “What’s with the sour expression?”

“You know I don’t like it when people shoot you, Marie.”

Looking to the ground in order to gauge direction, Marie began her descent before responding. “I like it a whole hell of a lot less when they shoot you, Logan. The difference here is the bullets don’t go in me.” His frown deepened more, if that was even possible. Another kiss was pressed to his lips as their feet touched the ground. “I know. It’s the principle of the thing. Next time I promise I’ll let them shoot you at least once. Just so you can complain about it to me later.”

This smartass comment got her a slap on the rear end, which brought a full grin to her face. As they moved toward the Blackbird Marie said, “Ororo, this piece of shit facility wasn’t even close to as secured as we thought it’d be. We’ve gotta get better informants.”

Stepping on the plane, Logan realized this was a successful mission, even if the security hadn’t been up to expectations. Nearly a dozen mutants had been rescued, and more than a few looked a little worse for wear.

“Let’s go home,” Marie said, as she took Logan’s hand and lead him to the front of the plane.

**********

Later that night, deep under the covers Logan didn’t need but Marie absolutely loved being smothered by, the couple lay quietly. Large, male hands stroked lovingly through auburn hair that was once brown, causing green eyes to open and look into his.

He thought back to five years earlier, when he and Marie had been the raiding party on a ring of mutants Magneto controlled. Carol Danvers, a superior to Magneto in every way, most especially character, had been taken by surprise. She was contained by a mutant called Static, whose ability was to swamp the mind with sensory overload left his victims incapable of functioning, let alone the ability to defend themselves. The X-Men’s saving grace had been the fact that this mutant was only able to control a single individual at a time.

Magneto, continually overconfident, had not counted on them discovering his position so quickly. Realizing there was no way to salvage the situation, and in an attempt to prevent Carol from becoming a mortal enemy, he ordered her execution. This was not a simple task, as one of Carol’s powers was a durability only matched by Logan’s adamantium.

When Logan and Marie burst through the door where Carol was being held, Static was so desperately trying to murder Carol that he did not even register the new presence in the room. Logan, moving quickly, buried his claws into the man and ignored the gurgling sounds of death.

Carol, now released from the cacophonous volume in her mind, opened her eyes. She may have been severely weakened, but the anger in her when she spoke was tangible.

“I know you,” she said, looking directly at Marie. “Charles once spoke of you to me.” Marie’s head had shaken in confusion, so Carol continued. “He found your mutation extraordinary. He believed once you gained control you would be capable of many things. Tell me, child, have you gained control?”

“Yes.”

Carol’s eyes closed for a moment and a small, pained smile moved over her face. “Excellent.” After taking a shallow breath she said, “I need you to stop Erik for me. I am unable to do so myself at the moment, but I believe you have the ability to take only what you need.” Taking a ragged breath she continued, “Would you do that for me?”

Marie looked at Logan, seeking his advice. He spoke, saying, “She’s powerful, Marie. You’ll have to be careful.” Now Logan turned to Carol and said, “This is no picnic, Carol. It may be awhile before you come to.”

“I understand.” Looking at Marie once more, Carol said, “Take what you need. I ask only that my thoughts and feelings remain private.”

Taking only what was needed and leaving everything else behind required intense concentration, from both Marie and whomever she was touching. Logan was the strongest person she had ever taken from in terms of holding back what he wanted to keep. There was also the matter of Logan’s healing factor allowing him to recover at a faster rate, so that even while having his life force pulled from him, he was capable of retaining consciousness much longer than the average mutant.

Carol may have been powerful, but she wasn’t Logan.

Marie turned her full attention back to Carol and took a deep, steadying breath before reaching out and taking Carol’s hand. After closing her eyes to concentrate, Marie opened the gates to her mutation one by one. Take the mutation. It became a mantra in her head. It only took fifteen seconds for Carol to lose consciousness, but Marie could feel Carol’s mutations fighting against her, so one more gate was opened. Now the mutation poured in with more ease, but receiving such a large surge of energy caused Marie to lose track of time.

It was Logan who pulled Marie free. She felt gloved hands grasp her face and heard the desperate plea of her name. When her eyes opened Logan blinked hard, but recovered quickly.

“Is she okay?” Marie asked desperately.

Standing, Logan walked to Carol and placed two fingers on the pulse in her neck. “Yeah, kid, she’s okay.” Moving back to Marie he said, “How are you?”

Logan had watched as Marie’s eyebrows drew together, trying to make a decision on that herself. She said, “I don’t feel any different. Did it work?”

“It worked, darlin’. Trust me, it worked.” Logan turned his head to look back at Carol. “Only thing Carol didn’t do was give you an owners’ manual to all that junk you took. One of her powers is that she’s real strong. Hit the wall and see where that gets you.”

Marie stood slowly and turned to face the cement walls of the room. A resounding crack echoed through it, and Marie opened her eyes to see that her right arm was buried to the elbow in the wall.

“Shit.”

“You can say that again, baby. Gotta assume if that one works they all work. I don’t like it, but if we’re going to catch those bastards, we better go now.” Taking one last look at Carol he said, “We’ll come back for her with Hank.”

Magneto had been long gone, but when the team caught up with several of his henchmen, they were very surprised to find themselves up against a mutant who they couldn’t harm. They thought they’d left that woman to die in a room made of cement.

When Marie made it back to the Blackbird with Logan, she looked into the mirror to see brown eyes and hair replaced with green and auburn.

Now, five years gone since that day, Marie retained all of Carol’s powers, hair and eye color. Dr. McCoy’s only explanation was that Marie had held on to Carol far longer than anyone she had ever touched. If it had not been for Marie’s ability to compartmentalize, Dr. McCoy feared that Marie would now be tormented by the overwhelming volume of another’s memories.

Logan’s hands continued to stroke Marie’s hair and she said softly, “Whatcha thinking about, baby?”

“You.”

Marie smiled and said, “Am I in trouble?”

Logan kept a straight face when he replied, “If you were, do you think you should be smiling?”

“Depends on what you’re going to do to punish me,” she said, smiling even bigger now.

Logan chuckled deeply before saying, “Damn, kid. What have I turned you into?”

Delighted feminine laughter sounded and Marie said, “You haven’t turned me into anything, Logan. I’ve always been this way. I let you think I was young and innocent.”

“Marie, you are young and you were innocent.”

“Yeah, well I’m not innocent anymore, bub.” Reaching behind Logan, she gave him what would have been a bone crushing hug for anybody else, but in this case only served in pulling Logan especially close. “Thank you for that.”

Logan smiled down into Marie’s happy face and said, “It was my pleasure, darlin’.”

“Mine too, sugar.” She leaned up, mouth slack, and was rewarded with a sound kiss. When she opened her eyes she said, “Want to tell me what you were thinking about now?”

She felt as well as heard Logan let out a deep breath before he said, “I was thinking about you and Carol.” Marie listened patiently and he continued, “How you were able to take only what you needed from her.”

“It didn’t really work out as planned, sugar, but I get what you’re sayin’. Go on.”

“Think you could do that with me?”

A very long stretch of silence, no facial expression giving her away, and then, “Excuse me?!” Pushing herself up, then crossing long legs beneath her, she waited for an explanation.

“Remember that conversation we had about how I’ll always be older than you?”

Unsure where this was going, Marie simply responded, “Yes.”

“I need for you to always be younger than me, Marie. I need to know that in a hundred years, when I look in the mirror and haven’t changed, you’ll be with me, still looking like you do now.” Logan was pleading now; desperate for her to understand.

“Logan, you saw what happened when I took that much from Carol.” Motioning toward her hair she said, “Look at me. It’s taken me years to get used to how I look now. Do you want to look into your own eyes every time you see me?”

“To tell the truth, baby, I don’t care what your eyes look like as long as I’m able to look into them. You did too good of a job breaking me down, darlin’, and you had to know that one day it was going to come to this.” Logan watched as Marie took in his words and then as she shook her head.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.”

“How?”

“We’ll do it in stages. Take as much as you can each time.” Logan could tell that she was beginning to understand. “Remember what Hank said. Every time you take something from me my mutation makes me recover faster. The way I see it, after all the times you’ve touched me, soon I won’t even feel it anymore.”

“You really think this’ll work?” Rogue couldn’t help but be skeptical. It couldn’t be this easy.

“It has to.” That was Logan through and through. It didn’t matter if it should work. It would work because he said it would.

“Okay, sugar.”

**********

It turned out Logan was right. They were amazed when it took only three weeks for Logan’s mutation to adjust itself so that Marie’s, even when completely uncontrolled, did anything more than tingle. Upon reaching this point, Marie had Logan test their little project, and needless to say he was not happy about it.

Marie stood in the middle of the bedroom she shared with Logan, holding her arm out impatiently, as she said, “Dammit, Logan, you know it takes something special to make me bleed. I’m not really in the mood to go out and find someone else to test this, so for God’s sake, cut me.” Logan growled unhappily as he looked on the smooth, white flesh of Marie’s arm.

“Logan, sweetie, it’s just my arm. I could be crazy and ask you to gut me or something, but that would be overkill and probably ruin the carpet.” A thoughtful expression came over her face as she continued, “Speaking of which, let’s take this into the bathroom.”

Logan stood there, rooted to the spot, as he watched Marie disappear through the door of their bathroom. A few seconds passed before he heard her say, “Let’s go, buster. I don’t have all night.” Had this been another situation he would have laughed at her candor.

He found her standing in the tub, shirt gone and a simple bra underneath. “Marie, darlin’, I don’t think this requires you be without clothing.” The saucy wench had the nerve to grin at him. “Stop that. Let’s get this over with then.”

“You’re complaining an awful lot for somebody who thought up this grand scheme.” She saw one long blade slide halfway out of Logan’s right hand and swallowed nervously. Holding still, she felt her face contort in pain as the blade slid into the underside of her arm and out the other. Just as quickly the blade withdrew from her arm back into Logan’s.

Logan whispered his apology while brushing away the blood on Marie’s arm. When he did so they saw the same immaculate flesh that had been present moments before.

“I’ll be damned,” Logan said, amazed.

“No you won’t,” replied Marie.

**********

The cure had worked in so many more ways than had been intended.

A once lost girl, found deep in Canada by a stranger, had been stripped of a mutation she was powerless to control. The intention of the government had been to take away what it deemed dangers to society, and in many this had been the case. However, all they had done for the girl called Rogue was give.

Now she, known to a few as Marie, could live her life as she chose. She touched friends and lived among a group of people who never thought to fear her. Most of all, she loved a man with an intensity that only he could return. He gave her wonderfully amazing children, blessed with their father’s longevity, and he made their mother damn near unstoppable.

Nature had allowed Marie’s mutation to come through, saving her life in so many ways. Now she would live with her family for hundreds of years, and she was thankful of the cure every day.