The youngest member (X-Men Evolution)

Grim Reminder

"Why are you awake baby bird?" Logan asked as he entered the library, Marigold frowned and closed the book she had been reading. "Why are you up?" She asked in return, knowing that even Logan tended to be asleep at this hour of the night. "I had a bad dream, your turn." He said walking to the seat the girl was on and picking her up. Marigold had started to protest at this type of action after her friends at school told her that she was too long to be carried around like a baby, even after The Professor assured her that it was quite alright to be coddled. (and most of the students at Xavier Institute did things with her that weren't considered normal for her age, like cuddling and reading books to her. But could you blame them? They were only trying to make up for all the coddling and cuddles that the girl had missed growing up in that awful facility.) But when Logan picked her up and held her on his side she never complained, mostly because she knew that it wouldn't get her anywhere. But also because she always felt protected when Logan was close to her, and after her nightmare tonight she was more than welcoming to Logan holding her. "What was it about?" Marigold asked, resting her head on Logan's shoulder as he walked out of the library and down the hallway. "I'm not sure. I don't remember." Logan said with a shrug, and if Marigold knew he was lying she wasn't going to call him out on it. "Now stop ignoring my question, why are you up?" Logan asked. "Same reason you are." She said after a few silent moments passed. Logan sighed, even though he had already known why the girl was up, he was glad she was willing to talk about it...just a little bit. "How bad was it?" He asked as he opened the door to her bedroom with his free hand. "Not one of the worst, but it sucked." Marigold admitted as she gripped Logan's shirt in her hand. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Logan asked as he walked by Marigold's bed and stopped at her window, He took a seat on the seal of the window and Marigold shifted to where she was curled up in his lap so that they could both fit in the frame of the window. Once she was settled and Logan was as comfortable as he was going to get she sighed. "They are all the same...I'm in the facility. Sometimes Julie is there, those are the better dreams." Marigold said, resting her head under Logan's chin. The man hummed as she described the dream, and she was right. It wasn't a good one. Flashes of Logan's nightmare he had raced through his mind as the girl talked. And when she seemed like she was done Logan asked if she wanted to hear one of his old travel stories. Marigold smiled and nodded, she loved hearing Logan's stories of when he would travel and things he did before joining the X-men.(secretly all the Xavier students did, and sometime they would discreetly listen in when Logan would tell her stories.) Logan took a few moments to pick out a story to tell, while running his hand through the girls hair, scratching her scalp. "Alright, I got one." He said, and as he talked Marigold rested her head against his chest, his voice vibrating against her ear and his arms around her enveloped the in a blanket of warmth. Before she knew it she was lulled back into slumber before his story was even 1/2 way done. "I can finish the rest later." Logan said with a smirk when he looked down and saw that she was knocked out. "I'm getting pretty good at this whole taking care of kids thing aren't I?" Logan asked himself as he stood up from the window and he tucked the girl into her bed, she didn't even stir as she was laid down. The girl had served as a good distraction for Logan, but now that she was safe in her own bed the nightmare that had woken him up made him feel anxious. He left her room and went back to his own, knowing that it wouldn't be easy for him to go back to sleep.

- The Next Morning-

"Dear mom and dad, today started out just like all the other school days. With everyone feeling a little crowded. Me included. Especially with a roommate like Rogue, although it isn't really easy to get that close to her...or healthy either."

Rogue walked into the dorm room that Kitty and her shared and Kitty looked up from the e-mail she was typing to her parents and watched as Rogue started blow drying her hair from her recent shower. Kitty groaned, unable to concentrate with the noise. But instead of voicing her opinion she closed her laptop and left her room. Maybe if she got lucky no one would be in the kitchen yet.