| Chapter Ten: Growing Closer |

Logan lifted his fist and knocked the door. “Go away,” her voice came in her accent. Logan smiled after hearing it for a while, but then cleared his throat to speak. “Rogue, it’s me,” there was silence on the other side. “Logan.” He finished. He could hear footsteps rushing towards the door and the door unlocking. A pair of arms were thrown around him as he felt Rogue’s weight against him in a tight hug. He hugged her back with a smile. “Logan, you woke up!” she said happily.

When she pulled away, the smile disappeared from Logan’s face as he saw he cut, slowly turning into a scar, on her right cheek. Rogue smiled wide before putting a hand to her cheek and drawing in a breath. “Oh,” she just said, not really about anything. “I need to talk to you Rogue. Is that okay with you?” Logan asked. She nodded and the two walked into her room which had stayed to look pretty much untouched and brand new. “Wow, you really know how to keep y a place,” Logan commented casually.

“I was bored just sittin’ in here so I decided to organize and clean everythin’ so… ta-da,” she said quite dully. Logan looked at her sadly and sat on her bed. He patted a space next to him for her to sit. As Logan looked into her eyes, he could see the sadness and pain, and a little happiness that he guessed was from seeing him, but the other emotions just made him feel terrible.

“I’m sorry, for what everyone says I did…” he began. Rogue looked shocked at him and he sighed. It was the first time she had ever heard him apologize and it being the first time being used towards her gave her a mixture of emotions that she both liked and disliked.

“It’s okay but… can you tell me what happened? All the other kids are callin’ you crazy because of it,”

“I was actually going to ask you to do the same for me. I don’t exactly remember any of it except for the tranq hitting me,” he replied. Rogue glanced at him and then to the floor. She felt she didn’t want to repeat what had happened. It would be like reliving the pain all over again to her.

“Please,” Logan said softly, putting his hand over Rogue’s. She looked him in the eye. “I need to know,” Rogue didn’t like this Logan very much. He sounded like he was begging and pleading and sensitive, and even though she wanted that sometimes, she didn’t like it now. It made her feel uncomfortable, so she sighed, agreeing to tell him the story.

“I was just going down to get somethin’ to eat ‘cause I missed lunch and I saw Scott, Hank, and you were in there. When I was going inside, you called me Leila for some reason… I told you I wasn’t and I went to get my snack and somethin’ to drink. I was about to go upstairs to my room, but you grabbed me and pushed me against the wall really hard…” she said. Rogue chocked and rubbed her neck and arm as if feeling his grip again. Logan stared at her, showing no emotion until she finished.

“You kept saying I wasn’t Leila. You kept saying that I was Mystique coming in disguised as Leila,” Rogue started to cry. She cleared her throat before she would completely break down and lose her voice to tell the story. “Hank and Scott kept yellin’ at you and I kept beggin’ you to stop and let me go and I wasn’t Mystique or Leila, but you didn’t listen to a word I said. You had your mind made up.

“Then you told Professor Hank that you was gonna hurt me real bad so that I’d turn back into my true form ‘cause you thought I was still Mystique. Your claws came out and scratched my cheek pretty deep,” Rogue ran her hand over the cuts on her cheek. “Before you could do anythin’ else, Scott came and tackled you to the ground and Hank pulled me back. Then you and him wrestled for a bit, you cut Scott, and while you was still tryin’ to hurt me, Jean came and shot you with the tranq and you’ve been out ever since.” She finished.

She looked to the floor crying, and Logan pulled her into a hug. He had a hard time believing that he would do that to her—to anyone. It rarely happened, if ever never, that he would mistake someone’s identity. “I just have one question for you,” Rogue said, pulling away from Logan. Logan thought he was confused when she said it, but when he saw her face he knew she had suddenly become angry.

“Why would you confuse me out of hundreds of other students and Leila?! She’s the newest one, you’ve known me longest! It would have been understandable if it was her instead of me, but why me Logan?! WHY?!” Rogue snapped, getting up in the middle of her angry rant. Logan looked at wide eyed.

“I-I don’t remember any of that Rogue. I can’t say why I did it because I don’t know or remember. I’m sorry, really I am,”

“Is it that you like her better than me already?!”

“What? No, I—“

“That has to be why! I see how much you and her hang out with each other! The whole school’s been talkin’ about how she’s making crazy and everything! It’s the only reason why you would attack me and not her when you’re with her! She hasn’t said a word about your coma, and I’ve been worried sick, Logan…” Rogue’s volume grew softer as she said the last sentence.

“Rogue, please—“

“Get out of my room. I saw you, I know you’re okay, now get out.”

“Marie—“

“Don’t call me that right now, it’s only making me angry more. Leave, Logan. Now.” Rogue’s words were stern and serious. She stood away from the bed, her back near the wall, and her finger pointed towards the door. Logan sighed, knowing it was pointless to even keep trying. He go up, opened the door, and walked through it. He nearly jumped when it slammed him and again when he almost ran right into Leila.

“Logan, you’re awake!” she said happily and hugged him, just as Rogue had done earlier. “Yeah, I’m up now.” He replied.

Quick footsteps were heard rushing down the hall, making Logan alert and ready to fight. “Rogue’s room is this way! Hurry!” he heard Ororo’s voice. Not too long after, she appeared along with Scott and Hank right by her side. “Logan! Stop right there!” Scott shouted.

“See, I’m not even doing anything wrong,” Logan said as he relaxed himself. “What did you do to the professor?”

“Nothing, I just left him in his office,” the dream Logan had had before he fell into his coma had gotten to him and he suddenly tensed again. “Is he okay?”

“Yes. He’s just sleeping, but the question is, are you okay, Logan?” Hank asked. Logan nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, and I didn’t do anything. Why are you guys hunting me down?”

“The Professor said to stop you. What were you doing?”

“Logan didn’t do anything, I was with him the whole time, I swear.” Leila butted in. “He just came from Rogue’s room. Rogue is fine and Logan is too, he didn’t do anything to anyone.”

Leila had earned herself a trustworthy reputation around the school and it included honesty. All four stared at her, not expecting her to speak. Ororo looked to Scott and Hank, trying to see what their decision would be. Leave Logan be or get him away from everyone else and lock him up until they thought he was alright?

“I swear, he’s alright. He’s nothing like how he was that night,” Leila continued. Logan looked at her, remembering that he saw her smirking at him just before he went unconscious. He wanted to talk to her about it now. “Alright,” Storm finally said, and the tension in the air finally seemed to diminish. “If you try anything Logan, we’ll have to get you,” Scott warned.

“Alright, Laser Beams, I got it,” Logan said with a smirk. The three went back down the stairs to continue what they were doing before the message sent out. Leila turned to Logan with the brightest smile he had ever seen. She had sure opened up and become more confident than when Logan first met her. “Logan, come on! I have to show you my room, me and some other girls made it all pretty!”

Leila grabbed Logan’s hand and dragged him to her room. She closed the door behind the two as Logan looked wide-eyed around her room. They had replaced the wall paper to light pink, had posters of boy bands on her walls, and her shoes had even been bedazzled her shoes and some of her clothes. Leila’s name was in stickers on the head of her bed with rainbow colored sheets and a unicorn on her blanket. It was all so girly for Logan and it didn’t seem like Leila to Logan.

“Wow…” was all he said. She appeared in front of him with a wide smile, close to the one he first saw when they started talking. “Do you like it?”

“It… it’s something,” he breathed. Leila dragged him to her bed where they sat next to each other. She started to look sad, something Logan was more familiar with her looking like. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I was just so worried while you were out,” Leila said softly. “I thought you were sick or something, but I remembered you had a healing factor and that isn’t possible,” Logan rubbed her back with a small smile. “Hey, I’m alright now.” He remembered Rogue saying that Leila didn’t care about him being in the corner, but he could see that she was. Leila threw herself into him in a hug.

“I’m sorry, Logan,” she whispered.

“What for…?” he asked back. Leila didn’t answer as she sprung up with a huge smile. “Promise me you’ll always be my friend and never leave me?” she said quickly. Logan could see why, he could hear other girls coming.

“Of course,” Leila hugged him again, and just in time when the door opened and four other girls appeared. They stopped chatting when they saw Leila and Logan hugging. She let go and turned to her friends. “Hold on, I’m coming.” They nodded and stood near the doorway, continuing their conversation.

Leila turned back to Logan one more time and gave him a kiss on the cheek. This made Logan smile softly. “I love you, Wolverine,” Leila said and she went out with her friends where Logan could hear them teasing her. He chuckled himself and rubbed his hand over his cheek, where he felt lipstick.

Logan had a feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was fuzzy and made him feel good, but in the back of his mind he also felt worry, but he wasn't sure what about. He shrugged the feeling away as he watched the shadow of Leila and her friends grow smaller down the hall. She reminded him of a happier version of Rogue, but at the same time she was completely different, but he couldn't pinpoint in what way.

He smiled either way at how Leila had become outgoing in a few months.

“I love you too, Leila,”

@@@@@

A/N; SHOUT OUT TO THE REAL MVP @IAmNotLikeOthers THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING