Marie looked up from the picnic she'd arranged by the lake to see the man she'd been waiting for walking across the expansive lawn. Of course, as soon as Anna saw him, she was off and running as fast as her little, three-year old legs could carry her. Marie followed more slowly, the picnic forgotten. She watched as Anna collided with his leg with her customary thump and held on as he continued to walk, taking her along for the ride.

Even Anna's giggles couldn't bring a smile to her face, though, as Marie took in her husband's attire. He was dressed in his uniform, ready for battle.

"Who is it this time?" she asked.

"Magneto." was his gruff reply.

"Dammit, Logan. I'm going with you."

He chuckled low. "No you're not darlin'. Don't want you risking injury now. Besides," he added, pointing to her slightly rounded belly, "you wouldn't be able to zip up the uniform."

Marie hated feeling this powerless. She loved being pregnant, but she worried terribly whenever Logan went on a mission without her. It had been hard at 23 with Anna, and it was even harder now. He thought he was indestructible. Her skin had proven on more than one occasion how wrong that assumption was.

"Just promise me you'll stay away from Magneto. Play with Sabretooth and Mystique all you like, but don't take him on."

"You know I can't promise that, darlin'. What if someone gets hurt or needs help?"

"Ok, just don't go looking for trouble. Don't fight him unless you have to." She let the worry creep into her voice as she started to cry. Damn, she hated these blasted hormones. She was starting to cry at the slightest provocation. It made her feel weak.

At her mother's tears, Anna looked up, confused. Thinking something must be the matter, she started to cry too. Logan picked her up, giving her a quick hug and settling her on his shoulders. Then, he leaned forward and hugged Marie. "I promise, darlin'. Sabretooth'll probably keep me plenty busy."

Grabbing her gloved hand in his, he said, "C'mon. Walk me back to the mansion."

Marie nodded and leaned against him. Anna started to pull on his hair. She loved being on her daddy's shoulders. She always clung to the two small points in his hair like handle bars, tugging his head right and left to point him where she wanted to go. Logan indulged her for a few minutes, weaving crazily across the lawn, then he heard the growl of a motorcycle quickly approaching.

"That'll be Scooter. He was in town when the call came. That's why I had a chance to say goodb..."

Marie put a hand over his mouth, cutting off his sentence. She hated it when he said goodbye before a mission. She knew it was superstitious of her, but she couldn't help it.

"I'll see you tonight," she said, reaching out to take Anna from his arms, then pulling her scarf across her face, she rose on her tip-toes and kissed him.

"Tonight," Logan answered, then ran off. Scott finally arrived a minute later, running after Logan. Minutes later, Marie watched as the Blackbird took off, praying that everyone would be safe. She set Anna down and they returned to their picnic spot, eating lunch by themselves.

Marie was startled awake by the knock on her door. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. She'd wanted to stay up and wait for Logan, but the pregnancy was making her more tired than usual. Rising from the chair and shutting off the TV, which was now displaying static, she stumbled through the darkened room to the door. Who could be up at this hour?, her sleep clogged mind tried to figure out. It couldn't be Logan; he wouldn't knock.

She opened the door to see the tear-streaked face of her best friend. Jubilee's uniform was torn and bloody in places, and she slumped, as if bearing some burden too heavy for her to hold.

Marie stepped back as if she'd been punched. Her heart froze. Her tightened throat would only allow her to whisper, "No."

Noticing Marie's reaction, Jubilee held out her hands, "No, no, no, Rogue. He's not dead. He's just... you have to come to the Med Lab."

Marie was relieved and struck with terror within a second of each other. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't hunky dory either. Jubilee wouldn't be acting this way unless it was really, really bad.

Surprised at her presence of mind, Marie asked, "Anna?"

"I'll watch her, Rogue. You've got to go to the Med Lab, now."

Marie hurried down the hall on shaky legs, using the elevator ride to try to calm her nerves. No matter how bad it was, this was Logan. He'll be all right. He always is.

Exiting the elevator, she saw the blood. It wasn't just a few drops here and there. This was an unbroken trail of blood poured along the floor from the hangar bay to the med lab. She froze, unable to take another step. There couldn't be that much blood in the human body. How could someone lose that much and still be alive?

"Rogue." Scott's voice took her by surprise. She hadn't even noticed him standing there, in the hallway outside the med lab. In fact, almost the whole team was standing there, besides Jean, Hank, and Logan. "Rogue, he's asking for you. It's... it's bad Rogue."

She nodded, forcing herself to move down the hallway, one step and then another. When she reached the med lab, she triggered the door and stepped inside. She had thought the hallway was bad. There was even more blood in here, splashed on the floor, spattered on Hank and Jean, covering the body on the operating table. The body, for that's all it could be, glistened with blood. There wasn't an inch of undamaged skin in sight.

Hank was frantically pulling out drawers, opening cupboards, and collecting and preparing the surgical instruments. Jean was leaning over the body, whispering something about how they didn't have time and they couldn't wait.

When the soaked head turned and the pain-filled hazel eyes looked into hers, she knew, and the tears poured from her eyes, blurring her vision. It was Logan lying there, horribly injured.

"Marie," he whispered, holding out a hand weakly.

She ran to him, wanting to touch him, to comfort him, but it wasn't only her deadly skin that stood in her way now. She didn't want to hurt him.

"Oh, Logan," she said through her sobs.

"I had to, Marie... I love you."

Marie's grief and pain turned immediately to anger. "Oh no you don't. Don't say that like you mean goodbye. You're not getting away from me that easy, Mister. I'm not close to being done with you yet, so you let Jean and Hank do their jobs and you hold on, you hear me? You hold on. You promised, remember? You promised you wouldn't leave me again."

"I'll... try, darlin'."

"No, don't try, just do it."

"Rogue," Jean interrupted. "We have to start the operation."

"Jean, why isn't he healing?"

"The damage is so extensive his healing factor's been overloaded. It doesn't seem to be working right now... Rogue, I can explain this later. For now, you really have to go."

Marie nodded and started to back away. "I'll be right outside, sugah, ok?"

The last thing she saw was Logan nodding and closing his eyes, then the med lab door shut in her face.