The breakfast diners began to filter out of the room in short order, Xavier catching Logan's eye as he left and indicating toward his watch to remind Logan of their appointment. Logan ignored a furious looking Scott, who was dragged out of the room when it looked like he was going to head toward Marie by a very worried looking Jean, whether she was worried about the situation, or what might happen to Scott if he tried to start a confrontation, Logan couldn't tell. Ororo left the room as she did most things, exuding calm, though her eyes as usual gave her away as she briefly looked over towards him with a concerned air.
Just before half nine the teens finally settled on their plans for the day, and all began to rise and move out of the room. The silent moody kid noticed that Marie wasn't following them and finally spoke. Ignoring Logan completely he said, "Come on Rogue, there's room for you too," in a friendly, though slightly pleading, tone.
"Sorry Bobby, I've already got plans today," she replied, as she finished off the last of her breakfast, a plump juicy strawberry. "I'll see you guys later," she added, directly to Jubilee and Kitty.
"Sure thing girl," Jubilee answered, waving at her as she followed the rest of the group.
Kitty, obviously the touchy feely one of the pair, stooped to give Marie a hug. "See you later too Logan," she added with a shy wave, before jogging to catch up with her friends.
"See, that wasn't so bad now was it," Logan teased, clearing away their dishes as he rose from the table, "We are going to be late though for test number two if we don't get going now though." He could have sworn Marie whined in response, as she stood up to follow him out of the room.
Approaching the Professor’s office they could hear the muted hum of raised voices, to normal ears none of the words would be discernible but to both Logan and Marie, who had retained a surprising amount of Logan's mutation after the statue incident, they both clearly heard Scott ranting about how ‘she was naked!’
"Cool your head boy scout," Logan said, as they opened the door and entered the office bang on nine thirty. "She wasn't naked, you could just only see her face and her bare arm outside of the sheet, she was actually wearing this sexy green number, you've probably seen the like, silky soft, spaghetti straps, and barely enough material to cover a perfectly curved ass!" he described, almost drooling at the memory, as Marie tried, and failed, to stifle her giggles; Scott's face turned almost purple with rage.
"Stop antagonizing him Logan," Jean snapped, "It was inappropriate for you to be in Rogue's room," she commented self-righteously.
"You think that was inappropriate, you should have seen what he was doing an hour earlier," Marie quipped. This time earning a snigger and a stifled giggle, respectively, from Logan and Ororo.
"Enough! Everyone," Xavier stated pointedly, glaring at both Scott and Logan. "Everyone please, take a seat, and let us discuss this situation like rational adults."
Several chairs had been arranged in a semicircle opposite the Professor’s desk. Jean pushed Scott into the first chair to the left, and seated herself to his right. Ororo sat on the chair furthest to the right, so Logan directed Marie to sit next to her, seating himself between Marie and Jean. Not only did the position put him between Marie and Scott, for the time being keeping her more or less out of the firing range, it also put him, rather than her, in the most vulnerable position; directly opposite Charles.
"The first thing we need to ascertain is how far pregnant you are Rogue," Xavier asked gently.
"Somewhere around twenty weeks," Marie replied confidently.
"And have you had any maternity care to date?" Jean followed up.
"No," Marie answered, "Is that something you can do or would we need to find a specialist off site?" Marie queried. Jean and Marie briefly and courteously discussed Marie's basic care needs, and Jean offered her a consultation at a later date to go over birthing options, which Marie assured her they would take her up on soon.
"Who is the father?" Scott demanded tightly, once the previous line of conversation had ended.
"I am," Logan answered, short, sweet, and to the point. Marie nodded her head to confirm.
The Professor spoke quickly next, to waylay any attempt at reaction from Scott, who had made his thoughts regarding Logan, in relation to the apparent relationship between he and Rogue, very clear before the couple had arrived for the meeting.
"Would you, if you don't mind, explain your relationship please Rogue?" he addressed her directly, in the hopes that if she could verbalize a concise reasoning, some if his own unease would be allayed.
"Well, I suppose I should start at the point we met. Logan and I met in a parking lot outside some little dive bar on the side of the highway, god only knows where--"
"Brooks," Logan interrupted, "On Highway 542, we stopped for breakfast the next morning at a place called Elnora."
"Did you go back?" Marie asked amused.
Logan nodded. "Paid that sore loser a visit, returned his knife," Logan added with a telling grin.
"Okay," Marie continued with a chuckle, "We met in a parking lot, outside a dive bar, off Highway 542 just out of Brooks, Alberta. I'd bailed out of my ride after the driver… lost consciousness and couldn't drive his truck anymore, and I'd had to hike for a while. I was cold, alone, on the verge of frostbite when Logan stopped me from going inside the bar saying it was really not a nice place, honestly, didn't really believe him initially but after... well, Logan definitely called it right. Anyway, he invited me into his camper so I could warm up and make sure I wasn't frostbitten, I was going to congratulate you on the most obvious way to say 'here let me kidnap you' but then I figured what the heck, I could just drop you like the last guy if you turned out to be an asshole, plus, if you had, I could have stolen your truck because I at least knew how to drive that-" Logan laughed at her comment, he knew that was the god honest truth- "But Logan was nice, warmed me up, checked me for frostbite, fed me, let me sleep in his camper, and offered to give me a ride when he was done at the bar, we were both heading in the same direction."
"What was he doing at the bar?" Ororo asked curiously.
Marie glanced at Logan before he replied matter of factly, "Cage fighting." Scott scoffed something that sounded like 'figures' but both ignored him, and Marie continued her story.
She didn't gloss over any details, even including an account of how Logan had intercepted the rufying pair of drunks, and the cheating cage fighters at the bar in Fort Nelson. Not forgetting the touristy stops they made on the trip, and their mad dash under the northern lights, to beat the snowstorm to the Whitehorse cabin so they wouldn't have to shelter in a motel. She told how Logan had nursed her when she had gotten sick, and had possibly inadvertently healed her, before she finished by telling her side of the snowball fight, that had signalled the end of their resistance against the feelings they both held for each other.
"And it was about a week after that that Sabretooth turned up, and then you guys followed... I guess you know the rest from there," Marie finished with a smile, when she thought back over it all, it had been a very eventful several weeks.
"I don't mean to sound like the fun police but you two were having sex for a whole week without protection... Neither of you considered the possibility of pregnancy?" Jean asked, glaring at Logan.
He hung his head but grinned and chuckled. "The thought did briefly cross my mind but we were kind of snowed in and I hadn't prepared for... that. I don't think it would have made any difference though, you?" he asked Marie.
"Nope," she replied, "I knew the risks just as much as he did, I made my choice and I'm happy with it," she commented, placing her hand on her belly and feeling the baby shift under her hand.
"I can't believe you are all sitting here listening to this without a problem, seriously! Basic birth control aside, last I checked sixteen-year olds can't consent to sex!" Scott stated loudly.
"Not in New York," Logan stated calmly, "But none of this happened in New York, in fact, that is specifically why I left when Marie and I decided she would stay here at the school, age of consent is seventeen in New York, Marie turned seventeen yesterday, age of consent in Canada however, is sixteen, you want to accuse me of something get your facts straight first, you'll save yourself the embarrassment of being wrong, and before you go getting your panties even more in a wad," Logan continued, as the facts began to sink in for their crowd, "Marie's age was my biggest issue with all this too but life's too short to waste it trying to satisfy the rest of the world, at least hers is, I'm in this for the long haul, as far as I know she is too, I'll be here for her and the baby anytime, Marie will get older, I won't... I'm not going to waste a minute of the time we have together worrying about you, or anyone else. Does anyone in this room really think I have anything other than Marie's best interests at heart?" he addressed the room.
No one spoke for several minutes before Scott replied again bitterly, "I personally feel you're just a sick old man buying the affection of a naive child by spoiling her with 'things' in exchange for her body--"
Logan cut Scott off by jumping to his feet to stand toe to toe with him, Marie followed as quickly as she could, catching hold of Logan's hands so he wouldn't hit or impale Scott. "You can think and say whatever the hell you want about me asshole but you speak about Marie like that again and--"
"He's not worth it Logan," Marie warned him gently, her fingers laced through his as she stood at his back, her scent was nervous, but not for her, for him.
Logan growled deeply, his threat clear, before he turned his back on Scott and hugged Marie to him and guided her back to her seat. He ignored Scott before addressing the Professor directly.
"If this is going to be a problem for your 'staff' let me know now, Marie and I can move out and I can commute her in daily for classes but we need to know quickly, now more than ever, I want her settled well in advance of the baby arriving. My first preference is for us to remain here to avoid the stress of extra car travel, and where her friends are close by, if you've got a problem with that, or a problem with us living off site and her continuing to take classes here, say it now so I can get her back to Yukon and enrolled in classes in Canada, but one way or another this relationship, and this child, are both non-negotiable."
The Professor paused for several moments, looking at Logan but also seemingly through him, odd glances, nods, and head shakes, indicated the process of a conversation unheard by Logan and Marie.
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