Author's Chapter Notes:
From here the story won't be as polished, the chapters from here have literally only bee written in the last week and a bit and haven't been as thoroughly proofed.
Rogue lay still, hugging the body beneath her through the warm silk sheet, as she basked in contentment.

“Hey Logan,” she murmured softly, smiling at the half-hearted grunt she received in answer. “When did you know?” she asked cryptically, though knowing he would understand her question.

A chuckle was her initial response, before his deep voice rumbled, “From the minute I first laid eyes on you, I’d been here about fifteen minutes, I was waiting on the Professor for, I don’t know, orientation... I saw you pass by the window, you were gorgeous... and you were pissed about something, you were gone all to soon but I decided right then and there I was going to stick around a while, had to find out who that beautiful, mysterious woman was.”

Rogue’s brow furrowed in thought. “But I was on a mission when you arrived,” she recalled.

“You were on a mission by the time I was introduced to the rest of the team, maybe that’s why you were pissed when I saw you, I recall you didn’t like that mission, said something to Chuck about ‘I told you that would happen’ when you got back... I asked around about you while you were gone, people told me some things and... I decided a girl like you, hell, you wouldn’t be interested in a guy like me, I was about ready to pack up and leave when I saw you the second time.” Logan smiled fondly at the memory. “I was in the garden, I saw you head for the mansion, you looked exhausted, and you sat down for a while on a stone bench in Ororo’s rose garden, then you lay down and I think you fell asleep for a while... there’s a picture I drew then, while I was watching you sleep... I was pissed as hell when Iceman found you and woke you up.”

“Why did you start giving the pictures to me?” Rogue queried, “You’d been at the mansion four months before you gave me the first one.”

Wolverine stroked her back gently with a gloved hand, a smile on his lips as he did. “I was on the roof that night, on the east peak, up by one of the chimneys... you came out, to watch the sunset I suppose, I was this close to walking over to you and saying something but you just looked too peaceful to disturb. It was one of the few times I had seen you truly relaxed, you were radiant, and not just because the sunlight turned your hair to fire and skin to burnished copper.

“As you went inside though, your eyes... you looked so... weary. Like your soul was tired. I went straight inside and spent all night getting that picture perfect, I don’t know what it was but I just felt like... like I needed to show you, I wanted you to see yourself how I saw you,” Wolverine told her softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“There was a big gap between the pictures at one point, why was that?” Rogue asked softly, almost hesitantly.

“You were with Gambit,” Wolverine replied, spitting the other man’s name in disgust. “It didn’t surprise me, he was a smooth talker, polished and shiny, the kind of guy I figured a girl like you would go for... I was so jealous of him, to start with at least, I did my best to ignore you, I didn’t want to do anything to embarrass myself, or you... Then one day something caught my eye and... I realised you weren’t as happy as everyone thought, as I’d thought. I gave you the very first picture I drew after that, part of me hoping I was wrong, the rest of me hoping you would see too.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?” Rogue asked curiously, glancing up at Wolverine when she felt him tense. She had to prod him again before he answered.

“I thought about it, so many times... I guess I was scared, I didn’t do relationships, and you aren’t the kind of woman a man takes to his bed for the one night... I didn’t know if I deserved you, I don’t ever want to hurt you, or make you regret this... Now that I’ve got you, if I lost you now, I don’t know what I would do,” Wolverine murmured, hugging her tighter.

“Same here sugar,” Rogue replied, snuggling down into his warmth. “Let’s promise each other, right here, right now, and forever, we’ll never lose each other. I’ll always be yours, and you can always be mine,” she murmured sleepily.

“I promise,” Wolverine rumbled in reply, sighing contentedly as he joined her in sleep moments later.
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