Later that evening, as Rogue was getting the kids ready to head downstairs for dinner, Logan was covertly helping them stall. He still hadn't told Rogue they were going out and Ororo was due any minute now, a knock on the suite door announced her arrival moments later.
"Hey, you guys ready for dinner?" Ororo asked the two little ones, who giggled and nodded like they knew a big secret.
"We are actually trying to get down," Rogue replied, "But..."
"Oh, it was no trouble for me to come get them," Ororo replied with a secretive smile. "You two have fun," she added, as Ava and James raced out the door laughing, while Rogue stared after them mouth opened in surprise.
"By the way," Logan said, coming to stand behind her., "Ororo's watching the kids tonight so we can go out, if you're getting changed you've got ten minutes." He shut the door before taking a seat on the couch and flipping the tv on, she hadn't moved a moment later so he turned back to her, "Hurry up, we don't have all night, reservation's for six thirty and it's gonna take at least fifteen minutes to get there."
Rogue jumped into action, racing to the bedroom and digging through the small pile of her clothes that had so far migrated to Logan's room. She popped her head out of the bedroom as she looked Logan over to see what he was wearing, clearly trying to gauge what dress code they were aiming for. She was back ten minutes later, dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, and a forest green, tight, low cut, sweater. She'd pulled her hair into a sleek high pony tail, leaving her white streaks down but curled, and applied some eyeliner, she had two tubes of lipstick in hand.
"Which one?" she asked Logan, one was a dark red, the other was purple.
"Go wild, go the purple," Logan replied with a grin, as Rogue disappeared back into the bathroom.
She was back a moment later, handbag and heeled boots in hand. "Come on, let's go!" she called, as she bounced on one foot trying to get a boot on. She was getting excited now. Logan held her balanced as she pulled her shoes on, then offered her his arm as they left the suite.
They didn't draw much attention on their exit, due in part to the fact that almost everyone was at dinner. When they got to the garage Logan opened the door of one of the shiny sports cars he was borrowing for the night, whether its owner liked it or not, helping her in before moving around the car. He pulled out the flowers from where he had stashed them earlier. "Here hold these," he said, as he handed them to her and got in the driver's seat.
"Oh my gosh, for me?" she asked, as she took the flowers.
"No darlin, they're for the car," Logan replied sarcastically, as Rogue gushed over the flowers.
"Smartass," she replied with a chuckle, as she leaned over the centre console as placed a kiss on his covered cheek.
"Seatbelt," Logan replied with a grin, a split second before the engine roared to life. As soon as her belt clicked, the car peeled out of the garage leaving behind a cloud of smoke.
"That's why you picked this car isn't it," Rogue giggled. Logan just nodded in response.
The restaurant was a dark, earthy, country-styled steakhouse, tucked away from the highway. "You've been here before..." Rogue said, looking around her confused.
"I think I have, I'm sure I have, but I can't for the life of me remember when, or why, or with who, but I know the steaks good, the ribs too. The company's not half bad this time either," he added as he seated her.
"Is the Wolverine flirting?" Rogue asked, in faux shock.
"I do know how to you know, not my fault most chicks are so easy I don't even have to bother to get my bed warmed, for you though, you're special darlin, you get the full package," he replied with a wink, as he took a seat opposite her.
"Flowers and dinner for two, you're going all out, I like it, it was sweet, and you snuck it up on me with no warning, I didn't even get a chance to put my pretty panties on," Rogue whispered cheekily.
Logan groaned. "Let's not talk about your panties until after dinner," he whispered back, as the waiter approached missing the comment but he could obviously tell it had been something risqué from Rogue's reaction.
Dinner was quiet, drawn out, and more fun than Logan had thought it would be but he still hadn't been able to find the right time to bring out the ring. They'd just ordered dessert when Rogue excused herself to the little girls’ room, when dessert arrived, he saw her just coming out of the bathroom. Moving quickly, he pulled the ring out and dropped it over the handle of her dessert fork, another glance in her direction showed she hadn't noticed his quick movement.
"So, what was your plan for the rest of the night Romeo?" Rogue asked, as she took her seat again, it took her a moment to pick up the fork to tuck into her dessert. The soft chime of metal shifting against metal drew her attention to her hand. "Is that - is that a ring?" she asked, completely unnecessarily.
"It sure looks like it, I wonder where that could have come from, did someone propose to you recently maybe, maybe they thought you deserved some bling to go along with it," Logan teased.
He momentarily panicked when she started to cry, until he saw the smile trying to break through. Making his move he shifted around the table, and kneeled down beside her as he slipped the ring off the fork before sliding it gently onto her finger. She looked like she wanted to do an Ava, and squeal and jump up and down, as she threw her arms around his neck. Some of their fellow diners, mostly older couples, had noticed the proposal and where watching teary eyed, or smiling all lovey-dovey in their direction. He dropped a kiss in her hair, as he put her back fully in her seat.
"Come on, eat up, we might have time to catch a movie if you want? Honestly, I didn't really plan anything else, I figured you might have some suggestions, this is your first date, right?"
"Well yeah, but it may just have to be my last because there is no way you can top tonight," Rogue replied with a laugh as she took a moment to admire the ring that now resided on her finger.
It turned out they were too late for the last movie showing of the night by the time they finally got moving from the restaurant, so they took a walk around a local lake instead, amusing themselves trying to call which of the other people there were normal, drug dealers, or serial killers. Rogue was surprisingly adept at picking out the dealers and creeps.
"I did spend seven months on the road remember, you learn to pick them when you have to," she replied. "God, the number of dealers who offered me drugs for sex... there was a point I'd have considered money, but not drugs."
"When was that?" Logan asked, concerned even though she was no longer in that danger.
"That was about when a fat, dirty trucker dropped me off in the infamous Laughlin City, the furthest north I'd been able to get, and helpfully told me I'd be unlikely to find anyone going further north due to a storm blowing in," she replied with a soft smile.
"Laughlin City, isn't that were we met?" Logan asked with a grin.
"Yes indeed, my knight in shining adamantium, saving me from freezing on the highway," she said, as she cuddled closer to him.
"I think you're giving me a little too much credit there darlin, you're the one who stole a ride, then you sassed me when I dumped you out, before eating all my food when I finally caved and let you in, not to mention you got my truck totalled," Logan reminded her.
"Unfortunately for you tough guy I know what you were thinking through all that," she replied with a coy smile, "You were worried about me, even before you had to light out of the bar, and I just knew you wouldn't leave me behind once I was standing on the side of the road looking sorry for myself... I've sometimes wondered, what would have happened if Sabretooth hadn't turned up?"
“Well, we wouldn't be here, I think that's a given. I'd have taken you to Alaska, might have taken you other places too," he added suggestively. "... Ava and James would still be in labs, I'd have never known about Caleb, maybe I'd have fallen in love with you, I probably would have thought I was too much of an asshole to ever be any good for you and moved on and left you somewhere. You know, as much as I hate to admit, we kinda owe a lot to those evil fuckers."
"Wow... that was deep, I'll admit I was heading more in the direction of that quiet little rest stop twenty k's up the highway, with the little alcove under the trees... but you're right, this is definitely better," Marie replied with a dreamy smile.
Logan chuckled as remembered that particular fantasy. “Maybe if you play your cards right, we can take a road trip and do a little role play, you still got that coat?" he growled in her ear, as he pulled her into his arms.
"Speaking of role play, we're engaged, we've got two - three kids, we've been sharing a bed for weeks, when are we gonna start doing what mommy's and daddy's do when the kids aren't looking?" she asked cheekily.
"Hm, one day, when the time's right. I'm not gonna rush you, I want you to be comfortable, you're getting there but you still worry too much and tense sometimes when we're close. I want it to be perfect for you baby, I'll wait however long it takes for you to really truly be ready. Good things take time, and you are the best thing that's ever happened to me," Logan told her as he held her in his arms, chin resting on her shoulder, as they stared out across the moonlit lake.
"You really are a closet romantic," Rogue replied, voice thick with emotion, as she placed a kiss on his cheek while hugging his arms around her.
"Only for you darlin, now let's get you home, to bed, and tomorrow mommy officially moves in, how does that sound?" Logan queried, pulling away to lead her back down the dimly lit path toward the carpark.
"Oh, only perfect," Rogue replied lightly, almost skipping in her joy.
--
When they got back to the mansion that night, the kids were already asleep. Ororo was curled up on the couch with a book and a glass of wine, glancing up at the sound of the door opening.
"Hey, sorry 'Roro, we didn't mean to keep you so late," Logan said as they entered, not bothering to shut the door behind them.
"That's no problem," she replied, spying the glowing red led numbers on a nearby clock that read after one am. "I'm not finished my book yet anyways, and it's not going to be often you get a break from the kids so I hope you enjoyed the time you had," her comment could be read as being meant for Logan only but she had a distinct impression that it would apply as equally to Rogue.
She'd always known the pair were close, Logan's caring for the girl had been obvious, from the minute he had woken up in the med lab that very first time and she had been the first thing he had asked about, to almost dying to save her life. Likewise, Rogue often spoke about Logan during his absence, and always with a softness and longing that made Ororo feel like the girl was deeply in love with him. Since James had been found, even before it had been confirmed he was indeed Logan's child, Rogue had taken to him in much the same way. After adding Ava and Logan back to the mix, she couldn't help the feeling that they were molding themselves into a family unit. The fact that they had both returned to the suite, instead of Logan dropping Rogue at her room, indicated to her that perhaps their night wasn't over. She decided it was probably best she beat a hasty retreat. As she gathered up her book, and folded the blanket she had been using, Logan spoke again.
"The kids weren't too much trouble?" he asked.
"No, not at all, James took some time to get into bed because he kept asking for you both to give him a hug before he would go to sleep but he eventually slept, Ava's been up a couple of times, she's not sleeping very deeply but she puts herself back to sleep with no trouble. They're good kids, you should be proud," she assured him, in fact, for feral mutant children they were some of the best-behaved kids she'd ever minded.
"I don’t know if I can claim any of that good behaviour," Logan chuckled, as he considered the length of time he had really had to be any influence over the two youngsters.
"I don’t know, I'm leaning towards it being something in the gene's, I mean, three from three for polite, intelligent, well-adjusted kids, from a variety of backgrounds, that's some pretty good odds," Ororo replied with a grin.
Logan chuckled in response before Rogue suddenly asked, "Is Kitty still scanning databases to see if there are any more of Logan's kids around?"
"I believe she has a notification set to all the databases she's able to access, so if any new information comes up it will come straight to us, but the scans she completed, and a review of the records we recovered, didn't reveal any other known connections," Ororo replied. She wasn't surprised neither of them had thought to ask sooner but was equally as sorry it was something that Logan would always be worrying about.
"That's great," Logan replied, looking relieved, "Hey, and thanks, for everything you guys have done on that front too, I appreciate it," he added.
"It's not a problem Logan, I'm glad we could get them back safe and sound, and I'm glad we could get a bit of your past, and a bit of your future, for you," she replied with a smile, and bid the pair goodnight before seeing herself out, gently closing the suite door behind her.