Disclaimer: This fan fiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is intended.

What on earth did women see in that Neanderthal? Callum wondered.

And the doctor folded his camera away, smoothing his clothes as he did so. Moving quickly, careful to check over his shoulder and ascertain whether the hairy Canadian and his newer, more docile piece of tail were following behind. Because after all, he couldn’t risk that degenerate making it to Marie before he did. Thankfully, however, they weren’t: they were probably still back there sucking face or licking one another’s toe-nails or whatever else they did to get their freak on. And doubtless doing it in public too, in a place where good, honest, dog-walking people could see them- Which was just plain wrong. Callum shook his head disgustedly: It was sick, the way the older man was clearly playing on the feelings of a younger, more innocent girl like Kitty. Disgusting the way Logan was so shameless when it came to getting what he wanted from the women around him. And they let him! Didn’t even make him pester them or persuade them: All he had to do was throw one of those annoyingly machismo-saturated looks their way and the girls practically swooned. Even Marie. No, especially Marie. The Doctor humphed in annoyance: Even before Jubilee and Kitty’s intercession with Daken he could see the effect being around Logan was having on his girlfriend. See the way her eyes lit up when she realised he was alive. From the moment she got out of that jet she’d totalled her gaze hadn’t strayed from Logan’s for more than a second-

And as soon as she’d had a chance she’d jumped the guy. Literally. Slobbering all over him like a fat man slobbers over chocolate, or a drowning man greets air.

The moment she’d opened her eyes after Daken healed her (and on a side note, what the Hell was that about?) she launched herself at Logan like Kennedy had launched the Space Race at the Russians- And the effect had been similarly spectacular. In fact, considering how far she’d stuck her tongue down the feral’s throat Callum was actually impressed she’d managed to get it back out again-

Not that it had bothered him. At all.

Not that he was at all jealous that never once in their two years together had Marie kissed him like that. That he’d never once seen her…glow for him the way she lit up for “her,” Wolverine. And he wouldn’t have wanted her to, he told himself. After all, his Marie was sensible, steady. Not flighty or overly emotional like most girls he knew. No clinginess, no dangerous, upstart passion marred their relationship; She was almost epic in her detachment from the romance most women saw as their due. And for that reason he was sure that once he got her back home they could put all this leather-clad nonsense behind them. Start making plans to buy a house and have a family and maybe a dog. Everything would be fine so long as he got her away from these people- especially Logan- and once he showed her the photo he’d just taken he knew that would happen. Knew she’d come running back to him with open arms. Because once Marie realised that Logan was fooling around with young Kitty Callum doubted she’d ever speak to the feral again-

And that was precisely what hr wanted, even if it meant that he’d know he would always be her second choice. After all, two years was a lot of time to invest in someone without any hope of return on your investment-

He saw her up ahead then.

She was picking her way through the remains of the X-Men’s jet, her face a mask of concentration. Expression troubled, breathing through her mouth from what Callum could see. Her hands were still gloved, the fingers digging into her palms so tightly that if it had been bare skin she would’ve drawn blood. She looked tense and worried and beautiful- Though not in a way that Callum liked. Because this was the Marie he knew belonged to Logan, the Marie who’d called herself Rogue. And Callum knew as sure as eggs were eggs that this Marie wouldn’t let him away with any of his usual manoeuvres or tricks when he spoke to her-

Which meant that he’d take a smidgeon of pleasure on showing her what was really going on between Kitty and her precious Wolverine.

He didn’t like that fact about himself, but there it was.

“Hey, you,” he said softly then. Stepping up to her and pressing a light kiss to her temple, shooting the bloodied leather uniform a disapproving look.

She noticed. “Hey yourself,” she retorted. And then, realising how rude that sounded, “Sorry shuggs, Ah’m just trying t’keep outta trouble until the worst of Daken’s mutation wears off.” She shrugged. “It’s making me grouchy. That and the Stark versus Osborne smack-down.” And she gestured to the right, where a large crowd of reporters had gathered around Tony Stark and a newly-arrived Senator Osborne, hurling questions at them and demanding to know what had happened with the X-jet today. Also demanding to know whether the reports that Stark had been seen kissing Miss Pepper Potts by Central Park Lake were true. Osborne seemed nonplussed by the attention though Stark didn’t looked fazed by it. In fact, he was so relaxed that he actually shot Marie a cheeky grin, too quick for the gathered reporters to notice-

Forcing Callum to remind himself that soon she would be back in Lawrence, Kansas with him and out of harm’s- and the charming boy billionaire’s- way.

“Look, Marie,” he said then, spurred on by that thought, “I have something I want to show you, but I’m not sure how you’re going to react.” Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “But I still think you deserve to know, so- so I’m just going to come out with it and let you make up your own mind.” And he took his phone out, pulling up the photo of Logan with Kitty Pryde. Telling himself he wasn’t feeling at all gleeful about doing this- Even thought he knew that was a crock. He pressed the cell into her hand, screen up- showing the feral with his arms wrapped around Pryde and pressing a kiss to the crown of her head- and then took a step away. Waiting for her to explode, for the tears and the anger and the tantrums to start. But Rogue didn’t do any of that, not even for a minute.

Instead she turned to stare quizzically at him. “Why are you showing me this?” she asked.

“What do you mean, why am I showing you this?” he said. “It’s Logan. With Kitty.”

He didn’t mean it to, but he suspected that last sentence made him sound like a fourteen year old girl.

“And your point would be?” she retorted mildly.

He rolled his eyes. “That they have their arms wrapped around each other and they’re kissing- he’s kissing her-”

And then Marie did the most unbelievable thing she’d ever done in front of him: She started laughing. Loudly. So loudly in fact that she stopped the press-conference going on to her right.

For a second silence reigned as the entire group- reporters, passers-by, sundry superheroes- stared at Callum and Marie like they were crazy. The doctor’s embarrassment mounting with each second that passed. But Marie didn’t seem to care, because by this point she was bent over double, trying to catch her breath. Not even looking at the picture, just laughing for all the world to see. “Oh darlin’,” she puffed out in between giggles, “If you think that’s what kissin’ the Wolverine looks like then you’re one innocent little Yankie!”

And she slipped on the muddy ground, landing on her ass because of her laughter. Not even stopping to sit upright because apparently she still found it funny as Hell.

Callum was scandalized. “So you’re saying that he behaves this way towards all of you?” he hissed. “What are you, his harem?” And he tried to grab his phone back- no, he wasn’t being petulant- though she kept holding it out of his reach. Still laughing like a little kid. He’d never seen her so amused in the two years he’d known her, and something about that thought made him uncomfortable, though he didn’t want to investigate why.

“We’re not his harem, darlin’,” she was telling him breathlessly, “We’re his family-”

“Family?” Callum snapped. “And what does that make your relationship with him, then? Incest?”

That sobered her some. “Hey,” she said, “There’s no need to be nasty-”

“You just laughed at me in front of all these people and you’re saying I’m being nasty?” She was unbelievable.

“Ah didn’t laugh at you,” she said soothingly, “Ah laughed at what you said. You were making out like there was something going on between Logan and Kitty-”

He narrowed his eyes. “And how would you know there’s not?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Because Kit wouldn’t do that to Pete,” she said primly.

“And who’s Pete? Her boyfriend?” he snorted. “Because having a boyfriend doesn’t seem to stop the Wolverine-”

Marie got to her feet. “He’s her husband, Cal!” she snapped. “And for your information it takes two people to cheat-”

“Well, you would know.” Now it was his turn to laugh. “Is that why you’ve been eye-humping that hairy animal since the moment you got here, Marie?”

Now she sputtered. Now that Logan’s honour had been brought into disrepute. Slut. “Ah have not been “eye-humping,” anyone!” she snapped.

“Could have fooled me! After all, what the Hell else is skin-tight leather for?” And he went to grab her arms, rage finally boiling over. The stress of how far this was going from the way he’d planned robbing him of the ability to see how epically stupid that would be. Because as soon as he made contact with that leather-clad arm she flipped him. Knocking him onto his back and then placing a single high-heeled boot to his chest. She hadn’t even broken a sweat doing it, and once again Callum felt a surge of embarrassment at how public she was being with all this-

But then, he supposed he shouldn’t have expected anything less, considering how much he now knew about the kind of woman she could be.

“Nobody manhandles me,” she bit out then, “You got that?” She was staring at him like she’d never really seen him before, and something in Callum twisted at the sight. “And nobody insults me or mah family, because that way lies a world o’ pain.” She was wearing her Rogue face now, and Callum had to be honest: it scared him a little. Something told him that Rogue would never put up with him the way Marie had done. “Now Ah’ve spent the last two years with you,” she was saying tightly. “Ah’ve spent the last two years pretending you’re what Ah want. And Ah’m sorry Ah wasn’t honest. Ah’m sorry Ah let you think Marie was all there was to me. Ah’m even sorry that Ah hid mah heart away after what Logan did to me, because it would’ve have been braver and more honest to just go through the pain and deal. But you know what, Callum?” She put her face in his. “You’re not what Ah want. Haven’t been for some time now. And it took nearly dying- again- for me t’realise that Ah’m wasting mah life with you in Kansas-”

Somehow he found his voice. “Why?” he snorted. “Because your precious Logan’s not there?”

“No,” she said softly. “Because Ah’m not there. Not me, the real me.” She gestured to the suit, pride colouring her face; in his peripheral vision Callum saw Jubilee give a bright grin. “Ah’m an X-Man, shuggah,” she said. “An X-Man. That’s who Ah am, who Ah’ll always be. Ah’ve been saving the world with Logan and mah girls and mah team-mates for longer than you were in medical school, and to be perfectly honest, that means Ah fuckin’ rock.” She moved her boot from his chest, shook her head sadly. “But you can’t handle that, can you? You’ll always need me to pretend this part o’ me doesn’t exist. And that being the case, you’re gonna haveta hit the road, shuggah-

Because frankly, mah dear, you’re wasting mah Goddamn time.”

And with that she strode away from him. Head held high, white streaks glinting in the light. Ass swaying as she sashayed away, making every male head in the place- and quite a few of the female ones- turn. Callum watched her go, not quite able to believe what had just happened to him-

While about twenty feet away, puffing on a stogie, Logan let out a small puff of breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Smiling to himself in recognition of the woman who’d just passed him by. Because it looked like he wasn’t gonna haveta romance Marie away from Callum after all-

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Don’t get cocky, sensei,” she told him. “This doesn’t change much.”

His smile widened. “It changes everything.”

And then he shot Jubilee and Remy an absolutely rakish grin.