Logan knocked on the door to Xavier’s study.
“Come in.”
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Ah, Logan. How is Rogue?”
He took a few steps into the room. “She’s been extra sleepy the last coupla days, but she seems okay. Says her head feels lighter now, just needs to sleep it off some.”
“Excellent. I am glad to hear...” The Professor’s words cut off abruptly, and Logan was surprised by the sudden flush of anger across his face. His ice-blue eyes glittered dangerously, focusing on the bag slung over Logan’s shoulder, before he schooled his face into a more neutral expression.
“Leaving us so soon, are you?” he asked coldly.
Logan had to smother a smile. He moved forward until he was standing in front of the desk, pulling the duffel bag from his shoulder, hefting it in both hands.
“You know, Marie said you wouldn’t poke in my head without my permission, but I was never sure until now.”
Xavier regarded him steadily. “Until now?”
Logan dropped the duffel bag on the desk in front of Xavier, letting it land with a solid thunk.
“If you had ever looked in my head, even for a minute, you would sure as hell know that I’d never leave Marie.”
Understanding lit the Professor’s eyes, a wry smile curling his lips. “I apologize for my...misjudgment.”
Logan snorted. “You looked like you woulda jumped out of that chair and kicked my ass if you coulda.”
A sharp, startled bark of laughter escaped the Professor. “Perhaps it is better for both of us that I cannot, then.” He looked down at the scuffed bag. “This is for me then, I take it?”
Logan nodded.
The Professor pulled the zipper open enough to see the stacks of ten- and twenty-dollar bills straining the cotton seams of the weathered duffel before zipping it back up.
“I pay my own way,” Logan rumbled. “That’s for stayin’ at your cabin this winter, and for the groceries and stuff. And for whatever you want for me an’ Marie stayin’ here until we can get our own place. You let me know if it runs out, and I’ll hit the fight circuit again and get more.”
Xavier looked at Logan thoughtfully. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk, and Logan sat down. Xavier poured for them both from the ever-present teapot.
“You know, in the past Rogue has simply chosen to remain here out of convenience. Her salary, for teaching here and for fighting on the team, is more than adequate to cover living expenses outside the mansion.” Xavier’s sharp eyes looked at Logan over the rim of his teacup. “We would be more than happy to add you to our staff as well.”
“To the staff?” Logan raised a cynical eyebrow.
Xavier nodded. “And, if you choose, to the team. After training, of course.”
“I’m no teacher. And I’m definitely no X-Man.”
“Not a teacher. Are you certain of that, Logan? You certainly taught Rogue to control her mutation, where the rest of us failed.” The pale eyes lit with amusement. “And...I understand from her last Danger Room session that she has learned a few other things as well.”
Logan smirked. Marie had downplayed what happened, but Jubilee had been only too happy to tell him the full story with relish. She had talked Marie into running through a Danger Room simulation with Kitty and Gambit, and Gambit had taken the opportunity to get too handsy with Marie. Marie had kicked him in the balls so hard that he had limped for days afterwards. Logan cornering him later and threatening to send a claw where the sun don’t shine had been an unnecessary — but entertaining — corollary. Remy had already been avoiding Marie like the plague, caution replacing lust in those devil eyes of his.
“Trust me, Chuck. She already had that particular move down before we met.”
“Nonetheless. I had thought perhaps that you might teach self-defense for a start. Marie also said you have a mechanical turn of mind. I am sure that Scott would welcome the help with his automotive repair classes. And as for joining the team...”
He took another careful sip of his tea. “I know military training when I see it, Logan.”
Logan looked down at his hands, picturing the blades beneath the skin. Was he capable of something like that — teaching kids, working on a team? He could fight, that’s for sure, but the rest of it...he just didn’t know.
“May I ask you something, Logan?” Xavier’s crisp voice interrupted his thoughts.
He looked up. “Sure.”
“I have known Rogue for many years. Her trust was hard-won, but she did learn to trust me over the years. But you...I suspect you do not trust easily as well. And yet you trusted me with Rogue’s safety. I had expected you to strenuously object, and yet you allowed me to enter her head.” His pale brow furrowed a fraction. “Why?”
“You held her hand.”
“Pardon?”
Logan shifted a little in his chair, trying to get the words right. “You hadn’t seen her since she got control of her mutation. Just had her word on it. But when she took your hand...you didn’t even flinch. Jubilee’s the same, and McCoy. Everyone else...even though they know she can control it now, they still shy away from her. Just habit, I guess, but it hurts her every time to see it. You didn’t, ‘cause you trust her like that. Like she trusts you.”
“I see. You are very perceptive, Logan.”
Logan shrugged. They sat in silence for awhile.
“When Marie goes on a mission — I’d go too?”
Xavier quirked an eyebrow. “As I’m sure you know, Rogue is an independent young woman. I do not think she would appreciate the idea of a...babysitter.”
Logan felt the growl forming in his chest and smothered it. “It’s not like that between us. I’ve got her back. She’s got mine.”
“The team...” Xavier stopped abruptly as the growl broke free from Logan’s chest.
“The team blasted her outta the sky when she was just a kid.”
Lines of tension appeared around Xavier’s mouth. “That was regrettable, of course, but the only tactical decision that was possible at the time.”
Logan swallowed down the lump of anger in his throat. “That’s what I mean. I may not remember much about bein’ a soldier, but I know that much. Summers is gonna make the call that works best for the team...that works best for the mission. I’m always gonna make the call that works best for Marie. That’s just how it is.”
“You feel it would have happened differently? If you had been there, when Erik had Rogue in his machine?”
Logan could feel the tips of his claws pressing against the skin of his knuckles and clenched his fists, forcing the muscles of his forearm to relax to keep them inside. “I know it woulda happened differently. I woulda cut her outta there with my claws. Or died tryin’.”
“I see.” Xavier sat back, a smile flickering at the edges of his mouth. “It seems as though you have made your decision, then.”
Logan nodded. “I’ll talk it over with Marie, but I don’t think it’ll be a surprise to her. And I’ll give it a try.”
“Excellent.”
Logan turned to go.
“Oh, one more thing, Logan,” Xavier casually said, shuffling some papers out of his desk. “I understand that you and Rogue have been exploring the woods around the property.”
Logan bristled. “Yeah. That a problem?”
Xavier smiled soothingly. “Quite the contrary. I was hoping perhaps you could do me a favor. A package was accidentally delivered to one of the outbuildings instead of the main house. If your wanderings take you in that direction, could you fetch it for me? I’ve taken the liberty of marking the location on this map, although Rogue might remember the place. It’s the old gamekeeper’s cottage.”
Logan relaxed. “Sure. No problem.”
Xavier handed over the map. “I appreciate it. And Logan...” The smile reached his eyes, making the pale blue depths twinkle merrily. “Welcome to the X-Men.”
____________________
Marie and Logan rambled through the woods, breathing in the quiet.
“The gamekeeper’s cottage is just around the bend here, but you’re sure that’s what he said?”
“Yep.”
“I just can’t imagine anyone thinkin’ a delivery would go there. It’s so out of the way, and the place is a wreck...”
They turned the corner, emerging from the trees into a clearing.
“Oh!” Marie breathed. “I guess it makes more sense now. I had no idea Xavier was havin’ this place renovated. It’s beautiful.”
He grunted his agreement. Xavier had obviously gone to great effort to maintain the character of the place, seamlessly melding the stone facade with more modern elements like large, airy windows and a new slate roof.
“There’s the package,” he said, gesturing to the front steps. “Only...”
They moved closer, both of them looking down at the elegant gold box tied in paler gold ribbon. “This wasn’t a delivery,” Marie said. “What’s the Professor up to?”
Logan flipped over the tag, barely visible against the identical gold coloring of the box. “To Logan and Rogue, with my compliments,” he read aloud. “Professor X.” He looked at Marie. “He couldnta just handed it to us at the mansion?”
She shrugged, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “Well, I guess we should open it.” She pulled on the pale gold ribbon. “It’s almost a shame, it’s so prettily wrapped,” she commented, before pulling the lid off the box.
They both peered inside. “A key?” Logan said.
She handed it to him. “Maybe he left us somethin’ inside? There’re an envelope too, feels like papers in there. Maybe they explain...”
Logan put the key in the lock and turned, the tumblers clicking smoothly open. He swung the door open.
The place was just as nice inside as outside. Sleekly modern in some ways, but still homey, even empty as it was. It reminded him a lot of the cabin, in fact. A full wall of windows faced the back of the house, spilling sunlight onto the dark wood floors.
Marie was still looking at the papers, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Some legal stuff, I think...”
A splash of color caught his attention. “Marie...look.”
He heard her breath catch in her throat. “Our paintin’.” Hung over the fireplace, the only furnishing in the house, was the painting of the woods that Marie had given to Logan at Christmas.
He looked at Marie. “Is Xavier...is he rentin’ us this place?”
She shook her head, her eyes wide as she looked back at the papers, and he was surprised at the stab of disappointment he felt. “Logan...he’s givin’ us this place.”
“What?”
Her smile was incandescent as she held up a paper. “It’s a deed, signed over to us. Not just the cottage, but some of the land around it too. Almost two thousand acres.”
Her eyes grew misty with tears. “He knew...he knew that we wouldn’t be happy at the mansion. That we would need a place of our own. He must’ve started the renovation as soon as I called him that first time.”
Logan looked around the warm, sunlit space again, trying to wrap his mind around it. “This would be our house?”
She gave him a hug. “This would be our home.” She pulled back, searching his eyes. “What do you think?”
He picked her up and swung her in a circle. She giggled in delight and he took her lips with his own, swallowing her laughter in a deep, slow kiss before setting her down. “I think we should look around.”
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