Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and the X-Men belongs to Marvel.
A/N: This is a sequal to my story, Family Ties, but the first doesn't have to be read to understand this. Frankly, I'm not of the opinion that the first is all that good, so you really don't have to bother.
Dawn blocked a blow from her cousin, inching backwards to where Rogue could protect her back. Wolverine circled around her, cutting her off from her partner.
"Emerald!" Rogue shouted, accent stronger from the stress, "C'mon!"
"I'm trying!" She faked a blow at his head and slammed it into his gut when he went to block. Cyclops folded over, but kicked out at her knees as he fell, following her down to kneel at her throat.
"You know what to do." He said, small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, I do." She grabbed him, flipping them over. As she grinned, triumphant, he flipped them back, putting his weight on her wrists. "I yield. Bastard." Dawn grumbled.
Across the room, Logan had extracted his own yield from Rogue.
"Are we ever gonna be able to beat ya?" Rogue grumbled.
Logan looked at his lover. "I hope not."
"The day you can take me down, Dawn, I'll resign command." Scott agreed, then seemed to notice the heated look Logan was giving him. "Logan… I have class in ten."
Logan growled something unintelligible and dragged Scott down for a kiss.
Dawn rolled her eyes, and she and Rogue left. Those two acted like they'd gotten together a month ago, not close to ten years. They were always so careful to avoid the kids seeing them together, though they all knew, so she supposed they deserved a place where they could be obvious. But did it have to be around her? It just made her wish for her boyfriend.
Blah.
Rogue nudged her. "Bobby, again?"
"Is it that obvious?" She flicked sweat-soaked, short brown strands off her face.
"Ya get this look on your face. Ice cream after my classes are done?"
"Oh, yeah."
Indigo sighed, staring out the window. Generally she hated English class, though because Ms. Rogue was a good teacher, she merely disliked it. To her, the forest fire in Lord of the Flies was just that; a forest fire. It didn't symbolize the boys' civilization dying, or their humanity, or anything but a bunch of flaming wood. Ms. Rogue was pretty good about stuff like that.
Ms. Rogue's soft southern accent continued on, and while Indigo's best friend, Lucy, was staring in rapt attention, Indigo Lee's mind continued to wander. Ms. Rogue had been in her mother's class here, and apparently they'd been good friends. She was wearing an outfit from the Rougish line - a whole line that Jubilee, Indigo's mom, had designed and put into production just for her—a sheer, high necked green top with a tight, silky tank top underneath and matching gloves. Ms. Rogue never had managed to control her mutation.
A bunch of other kids were wearing one of Jubilation!'s designs. Hers were often more mutation friendly than other designers, being a mutant herself.
Finally, finally, the bell rang. Indigo nearly flew out the door, then waited impatiently for Lucy to join her. The ash-blonde did, eventually, though she'd lingered to talk to her favorite teacher.
"Lucy, lunch is going to get cold!"
"I'm coming, Indi. Calm down."
They walked together to lunch, passing Mr. Summers and Mr. Logan on their way there. The two men were walking much closer than any heterosexual friends had a right to be; did they really think they were fooling anyone? Besides, they totally shared a room.
Indigo giggled when she thought they were out of earshot. Ahead, Scott rolled his eyes behind his glasses. His hearing was a lot better than his kids thought; remnant of years without sight. "They're sooo cute."
"I heard Mr. Summers had a fiancée, once."
"Yeah, Mom told me. Jean Black, or Grey, or something. She was the nurse here, I think."
"What happened?"
"I dunno. She didn't tell me that; you know my Mom doesn't talk about the Institute much."
The girls continued on, chatting about classes and things more interesting than the dead fiancée of their headmaster.
At lunch, the two sat together, watching the head table. Apparently, the teachers used to sit with the students, but as the amount of kids grew, it just hadn't seemed reasonable. They had to watch what was going on.
Mr. Summers sat in the center, with Mr. Logan and Ms. Summers on his right and left. Ms. Rogue sat next to Ms. Summers, with Ms. Pryde and Mr. Rasputin beyond her. The last two had gotten married two years ago at the school, but the woman had kept her name to keep the confusion down. She'd said that two teachers with the same name was enough. Ms. Munroe was on Mr. Logan's other side, her ornate wooden cane next to her.
Ms. Pryde and Mr. Rasputin were chatting, and sitting close together, barely a space between them.
The door opened, and a short blonde man in an expensive suit walked in. The hall quieted; no one at the school took well to strangers.
But this was apparently no stranger, as Ms. Summers fairly flew into his arms, squealing in girlish delight.
"Bobby!" She lowered her voice, but the sound still carried in the silent hall. "You came!"
"Hey." He walked to the teachers' table with his arm around her.
"Bobby Drake." Mr. Summers stood up, shook the younger man's hand.
'Bobby' inclined his head in a respectful nod. "Mr. Summers."
"Iceman." Indigo whispered. "Mom told me about him. Apparently he dated Ms. Rogue, once."
"Looks like he's dating Ms. Summers now." By the way the tall woman was hanging on her companion's arm, she could believe it.
The teachers made room for the visitor between Ms. Summers and Ms. Rogue, and all the younger generation of teachers bent their heads towards him.
Rogue sighed, watching Dawn and Bobby staring dreamily into each others' eyes. She'd been almost positive she'd gotten over not being able to have the type of relationship Kitty, or Scott had, but watching her ex starting to have it with her best friend? Kind of dredging up the old bitterness. She fiddled with the edges of her gloves.
Across the table, Scott glanced at her and discreetly poked Logan.
"Rogue thinkin' 'bout her gloves again?" Logan asked quietly.
"She's dwelling. It's seeing Dawnie and Bobby, I think." Scott replied, just as softly.
Rogue looked up, and saw Scott rubbing tiredly under his glasses. Logan leaned over and massaged at the base of his lover's neck. Scott shook him off. She could almost hear him scolding about PDAs; she'd heard the lecture enough times.
Scott cornered her after lunch. "Rogue. Got some time?"
"Sure."
They wandered out into one of Ororo's gardens, sitting in a bench purposely placed to be unseen from the mansion.
Scott reached out, placing a hand on one of her silky gloves. She appreciated the gesture, knowing just a little of how uncomfortable physical affection was for him. "These bothering you again?" He asked.
Though most of the others spoke to Piotr, Scott was the one she talked to when she had a problem she couldn't discuss with Dawn. He just listened, and rarely judged.
"I guess." She shrugged apathetically.
"Why?" Rogue stared in disbelief. Why did it bother her she couldn't have any physical contact for the rest of her life? "Why today, specifically?" He clarified. She was usually okay, but sometimes the hatred of her mutation just crept up on her and poisoned everything.
She would have danced around the problem, but long experience had taught her that Scott could, and would, outwait her. "Dawn." She admitted. "An' Bobby. I was wonderin', if it wasn't for my mutation, could I have that with him?"
"You can't know." Scott drew back. "For the longest time, I thought Jean killed herself." He held up a hand to cut off her inevitable denial. "I wondered if I'd fought with her less, listened to her more, let her in… whatever it was that made her want to leave, if I could have fixed it."
"But you two seemed so…" Rogue grasped for the word.
"Perfect? Happy?" Scott suggested with a rueful smile. "You were a child, Rogue, and we worked hard to appear that way. That's not to say we didn't love each other. As Logan so frequently tells me, doubting that is bullshit. Don't dwell on what can't be. You had something good with Bobby, you know. You were happy together, and it didn't work out. Try not to poison the memories."
"Thanks, Scott."
These little chats, while irritating at the time, did help.
"Anytime." He watched her go through red shades.