Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm going to dedicate this to August Dawn, who I hope would be proud of the way I actually hacked away at this chapters longer introspective parts lol- To everyone else feedback is always appreciated and thank you for the kind words!
Rogue sat with her body plush against the ground, enjoying the beauty of the day. Memories danced their head like forgotten lullabies and she breathed them in, watching the events unfold behind her closed eyes.
She saw her backyard as a child in the house in Meridian where she grew up, she felt the thick stifling heat of a Mississippi August itching its way up over her skin and biting at her nerves. She felt the cool breeze fan her face and she imagined that it was a treat because breezes in the middle of summer back in Mississippi were few and far between and they carried the smell of barbeque and charcoal and beer, the smells of her childhood.

She could vividly see her backyard, the white picket fence enclosing the small area. Her mother’s tomato plants and herb garden growing off to the side, and her father on the concrete part of the path barbequing, ribs, chicken and steak as he guzzled down beer after beer, thick clouds of smoke waffling off the grill when he’d had to much and burned the meat.

Ironically the thing Rogue centered on during her stroll down memory lane was the hammock which swung gracefully in her backyard. A thick, woven net of sturdy white rope attached to two thick steel rods which were planted firmly in the ground. Marie could see herself as a child chasing after her younger cousins, in a spirited game of tag. They’d run around until their pulses pounded in their heads and then they’d fall down dizzy swing away in that stupid hammock.

She was lying on the grass now and that was comfortable enough, one arm was bent at the elbow and tossed carelessly across her face blocking out the sunny light. Her eyebrows furrowed at the memory of the hammock and she realized that the only thing missing from this pretty sunny Westchester day was a hammock, and someone to sit on it with.

She didn’t have to think to know who she’d love to share a hammock with on a beautiful sunny Westchester day, of course it was Logan.

She wanted the relationship she used to have with Logan, the old one where they were comfortable and easy with each other where everything was natural and familiar. The Logan she used to know, not the horny drunkard who’d fingered her on the couch, was the man she wanted to curl up with on her hammock on this gorgeous sunny day.

Marie had kept up her end of the bargain she’d given Logan all he ever wanted. She gave him toothy smiles and friendly gazes, warm hugs and the idea that they were still friends. They weren’t okay, or at least their friendship wasn’t okay. Because friends didn’t finger each other drunkenly in the dark and friends sure as hell didn’t go a year without talking only to secretly pine for each other, well maybe the pining was one sided. Rogue had Logan in her head after all, if he was in any way still interested, he’d have made another move by now.
That night she’d been inexperienced, shy, a blushing virgin. She hadn’t even had a chance to be with Bobby romantically, attending three funerals in a two week span didn’t exactly put you in the mood. Now though she’d gotten her fill of experience and she longed to show the Wolverine what she’d learned.

The first time with Bobby she’d hadn’t been nearly as turned on as she had been on the couch with Wolverine. Bobby was young and inexperienced, kind and sweet. Logan was fierce and feral, fire and heat. It was like apples and oranges. Rogue wanted Logan, through all her admittedly short lived sexual escapades with Bobby, she had only ever gleamed satisfaction by thinking about Logan’s reaction. How would he react if I touched him there? Would his breath hitch the same way Bobby’s did if I used my mouth on Logan like that? How can I get Logan to moan out load into my open mouth?

She never found anyone that made her blood turn to fire or heart race, she never re-discovered the spark that hard flamed her insides that night with Logan on the couch. She never tumbled over that unexpected urge to grab the man she was with by the mutton chops and jump into bed with him and she knew as she perused through different guys that it was because there wasn’t really anyone quite like Logan out there.

He’d come to her like a crying child with a bruised knee, only his pain ran deeper than that because he had murdered the women he loved. Rogue harbored no misconceptions about what her night with Logan would have been like, passionate and amazing. Not real though, not concrete. He would have taken comfort in her bed and she sighed forlornly thinking about the missed night of passion with Logan. Logan was sex personified; he was a walking orgasm in snug jeans with a big belt buckle. Her throat went dry just thinking about what it would be like to take a man as sexual as him and actually spend the night in his bed. Hell, Logan could make drinking beer and belching look sexy, Rogue felt a shudder run through her as she thought about what it would be like for the two of them if they’d made it off of the REC room couch.

She shifted on her back under the trees which were rustling in the breeze, providing a soothing mid-day melody. The idea of Logan’s bed made Rogue flush and heart race even though it’d been a full year or so since their one and only sexual encounter. Logan was what she wanted, he was her best friend, he made her pulse quicken and her eyes darken. He was hot, he was sexy, he was bonafide man meat, he was....

He was standing right in front of her, with a shit eating grin on as he stared down at her like she was caught red handed in the cookie jar.
Rogue didn’t know how long she’d been fantasizing about Logan while she was sitting out here, but she knew her little jog down memory lane had left her wanting…mainly him. IF the winds shifted he would easily be able to tell. Maybe if she crossed her legs? Would that help or make it worse?

“Hey You.”

“Hey yourself.”

Was that her voice? Why the hell did it sound so parched? Her throat hadn’t been that dry when she’d come out here….

It was the most they’d spoken since he returned, minus the chase pat on the back she’d given him when he’d come back a week late for graduation. She wasn’t letting up on that, graduation in of itself, when you took away the whole proud parents thing and the money for gifts thing, basically meant very little. She had at least hoped Logan would have been around for the occasion if for no other reason than the photo opt.

He hadn’t as much as offered belated congratulations.

“Nice day, huh?”

Good, monosyllabic conversation with Logan something really never do change.

Logan sat down next to her on the grass and Rogue started talking to keep her thoughts occupied.

“Yeah, it’s gorgeous out today I hope the weather holds, ya know while Storm’s on vacation with the others,” she laughed a little nervously and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

Logan studied her as she moved, she was beautiful. God he wanted her, he wondered what she would do if he just jumped her. Just a little. He pushed those thoughts away hastily, he’d promised himself he wouldn’t fuck up their friendship just for a roll in the hay. He also promised he’d protect her, he wish he knew how.

“Hey, Logan? Anybody home?”

She snapped her fingers in front of his face, which was clearly zoned out and without thinking he brought his hands up to her wrist and wrapped his fingers around it, yanking her arm and in effect her, towards him. It was purely a reaction, he was zoned out and something was swimming dangerously close to his face. Instinct alone told him to secure the item in question and bring it closer to investigate, the fact that it was Marie’s tiny hand was inconsequential.

Marie gasped. Logan exhaled deeply and grunted.

Logan’s hands were large and rough and with his fingers wrapped around her wrist, and without him realizing what he was doing, he loosened his grip and opened the palm of his hand, holding her hand in his he stroked his thumb lovingly over the palm of her hand.

“Shouldn’t snap your fingers in someone’s face, it’s impolite.”

Rogue was very soothed by his ministrations. It felt comforting, he was holding her hand and stroking her palm and she almost tilted her head back and let out a little contented sigh. She kept control over herself though and locked her eyes on his at his words.

A little giggle escaped her mouth but she spoke with an edge to her voice.

“You showed up two weeks late for my Graduation and you’re lecturing me on what’s polite? That’s funny sugar.”

For extra emphasis she took her hand out of his and realized that the lack of his ministrations probably hurt her more than it did him. She folded her hands in her lap and dragged her eyes away from his face to stare at her hands, like they were the most interesting things in the world.

“I didn’t know.”

Rogue thought it surprised the both of them that he actually did feel guilty about missing the event. She could see that written on his face as clear as the color of the sky. She’d gotten a good glimpse of what guilty Logan looked like once upon a time.

“Ya woulda been informed if you were around, not like I can send ya a message with my mind or anything.”

She winced a little too late realizing that you can’t use those kinds of slurs when you’re walking around with people who are mourning for telepaths they knew in real life.

She expected to look up into Logan’s dark and stormy grieving face, eyes laced with pain; but when she looked up Logan’s eyes were clear and his expression was normal, there was no trace of sadness on his face. Instead he seemed caught unawares by her wincing and his eyebrow shot up. The grimace on her face turned into a little laugh of relief.

“Marie darlin’ I think you’re getting a little too much sun, maybe you should come inside for a while.”

A little shiver snaked its way up her spine when he said that, the last time he’d called her darlin was on that god damned couch a year ago. It turned her insides to jelly just thinking about it and him sitting here now saying her name and calling her darlin only stirred up memories.

“Nah, I’m fine, just enjoying the day. You just tell me what was so important you had to miss my graduation.”

Rapid changes of subject always worked well.

She felt herself flush a little took a deep breath before she locked her mask back on, the mask she had spent a few days carefully creating. The one that made her cheeks hurt from a phony smile that never quite reached her eyes but which seemed genuine enough to fool Logan into thinking that they were okay.

“Nuttin, I just honest to God didn’t know if I had I would have been here.”

She arched a finely shaped eyebrow, mimicking a frequent expression of his.

“You doubtin me darlin?”

Her brow fell and her face took on a sassy hue that made her eyes sparkled.

“Always, sugar.”

This she could do, sass and banter were as natural to her as a Mississippi mudslide and she could easily dance around legitimate conversation with Logan while utilizing her acute powers of sarcasm. She just needed to make sure he didn’t do anything to look overly sexy; otherwise she’d be shot to hell in a hand basket.

Logan sprawled out on the grass, hands palm down on the grass, legs crossed at the ankle as he mimicked her earlier position. She sat Indian style next to him, closer than absolutely necessary because he had pulled her forward moments ago. For some reason Rogue was sharply aware of her hands and she realized it was because she missed the sensation of his thumbs stroking her palms. Such a simple touch and packed quite a punch.

“Tell ya what I’ll make it up to ya. Beer and hockey, my room later tonight.”

Alcohol? Logan’s room? Hockey? No. No, no, no, no, no! That was not a safe idea. That was a dangerous idea. Half of Rogue’s head was doing a little dance, beer in Logan’s bedroom, it was a fantasy come true. The other part of Rogue’s head was having an anxiety attack; beer in Logan’s bedroom, nothing good could come from this. She sought for a compromise, struggling for the first time to keep her witty demeanor in tack as she addressed Logan’s offer.

“Beer and sports? That’s how you want to atone for missing the biggest educational ceremony of my life?”

Her eyebrow arched again and his immediate grin, a hearty smirk that crawled all the way around his mouth made her realize that he loved it when she utilized physical traits of his.

“Behave yourself and maybe I’ll get a special surprise for you.”

He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively before throwing a casual wink her way.

Her breathing stopped, her face fell and her eyes went dead pan in a matter of thirty seconds.

The one and only time Logan had ever graced her with a wink, let alone a mischievous wink, was that night they almost…well you know.

Either way Rogue had attributed it to Logan’s three bottles of whiskey, but here he was stone cold sober and he had just winked at her in broad daylight no less… was Logan a closet winker?

A shocked expression kissed her face briefly before she flung up her mask again, all smiles and fake sincerity. Nothing to see here folks, no girl pining away for the passionate night she let slip through her fingers, or the idea of Logan never allowing it to happen again. No siree, bob she was dandy!

They were talking about drinking beer and watching Hockey and that was all Marie would ever want from Logan.

She almost snorted at her own absurdity. In true southern tradition she straightened her back bone, squared her jaw and looked Logan dead in the eye. She mustered up whatever was left of hersassy charms and tried to finish the conversation with a little bit of dignity intact.

“Hmm, sugarh, what makes you so sure I wanna get,” she stopped speaking to wriggle her eyebrows suggestively the way Logan had done before continuing, “one of your surprises?”

Logan’s response was intentionally geared at getting under Rogue’s skin. The next words to leave his mouth were uttered in a thick, husky voice, the kind of voice that dragged promise and satisfaction in its wake and made a girl go weak in the knees just from the rich timbre of the sound.

“Oh trust me darlin’ no doubt about it, you’re gonna want this surprise.”

Logan’s words may have come out sounding husky, but his eyes remained clear and Rogue realized he was just joking around. She wanted to do more with him than just joke around and she was beginning to get sick of her own thoughts.

Time to get move, go inside, find a book to read or take a cold shower, she really needed to not be in close proximity to Logan right now.

She sprang easily to her feet and stretched her arms over her head she missed the way Logan’s eyes suddenly clouded as he practically raked them over her form. He watched the play of muscle under her skin as she lifted her arms and trailed his gaze down the length of her body appreciating the way her shirt clung to her and the way her pants gripped her hips. He had the sudden urge to use his fingers to pry them off of her skin, they looked incredibly tight. He heard Rogue start to speak and immediately his eyes went to her face.

“Beer and sports later on? This better be one terrific surprise.”

“Do I ever disappoint?”

Too many possible answers flew into Rogues head at that statement and before she could pick one to respond with Logan interrupted her thoughts.

“Okay don’t actually answer that, just get yourself over to my room by 8.”

She laughed lightly because she figured Logan could read the possible answers she was thinking of on her face.

He was taking out a cigar and getting ready to light it, that was Rogue’s cue to leave.

“All right then.”

She walked away and she missed the way his eyes glued themselves to her ass. Logan sighed out loud and long thinking to himself.

Shit what the hell am I going to surprise her with…..?
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