Ok – don't get all strange on me – I had to attempt it at least once – a pure NO OC story had to be done – I don't own them not a damned one – this time – I hope – maybe – nope not yet. (looks at the blank page in front of her – can I really do this?)

Ten years after X3 a heartbroken and much changed Marie comes home to the mansion – Can she handle the changes she finds – especially in the one person she counted on to never change.

Chapter 1 Homecoming

Marie looked at the closed gates in front of her. A lot had changed over the last ten years – she wasn't a frightened eighteen year old any more – frightened of herself and the world at large.

She remembered the night vividly – it was the night before her life went to hell – before she did the most stupid thing she had ever done – the night she snuck out – and betrayed everything she believed in – and took the Cure. She'd thought it would help – thought being able to touch would make her normal – make her like everyone else. Instead she was more alone now than she'd ever been before she took it.

It had been temporary – they hadn't known it then – Bobby had been thrilled – and then as cold as his power – the only satisfaction she had – was Kitty seeing through him – and dumping him for Pete.

It had been the last night she spoke to him – the last night she spent any time with him. He'd stayed – but wouldn't talk to anyone after Jean. His door was locked – the smell of cigars and whiskey coming from underneath. She'd slipped him a note – to say goodbye. She wondered if he was still here.

She'd left less than a week after. She'd won a scholarship to Duke – she'd surprised herself and everyone else by taking it. She'd packed her bags – again – and this time left with everyone's blessing – at least everyone who came to say goodbye.

School had been great – living in a dorm – not worrying about if she would hurt someone by accident – and then she had – and it was back – worse and better than before. She'd been in her biology class, talking to her professor when she reached out to take a paper from the woman – and brushed against the back of her hand – and couldn't let go. She didn't find out until later that it wasn't her fault – that her professor had been the one to trigger the whole thing.

She'd spent three months in a psych ward – after that. She'd NEVER killed anyone before – never absorbed them so completely. It had nearly driven her insane – would have – if she hadn't met Emma. Emma Frost had helped her get control – not only of the woman inside her head – but of her newfound powers. Carol Danvers had given her everything – except the tumor that was killing her – in a desperate attempt to survive. She still tried to take control every now and then – but Marie had learned and learned well exactly how to control her.

Carol was jealous of her memories – something Marie was grateful for, she got the powers – she could fly – she was nearly invulnerable – and she still had her skin – skin she had learned to control – but she was alone – and afraid.

Emma had ended up trying to use her. She'd gone home – to try to mend fences and maybe – just maybe feel human again – but her parents told her the one thing that she didn't know – the one thing that rocked her world more than anything else – that she was adopted – that they weren't her parents – and they didn't know who her parents were – really. The County Department of Human Services office that handled the adoption didn't even have a birth name for her mother – she'd been abandoned at a hospital emergency room door – and no mother was ever found.

She didn't know who she was – where she came from – she had no family – and – until she'd gotten the letter in her hand – she'd thought she had no friends left.

Rogue:

Please come back – we need you. Logan needs you. I can't tell you everything that's happened – just that he's worse than he was after Jean.

Storm

They needed her – HE needed her. Why had she listened to the siren call of this place? She was already regretting it – and she hadn't even walked through the gates. It didn't help that her own personal life was a huge mess right now – she'd found out the man she thought she loved was married – and had no plans on ending it. This letter coming just a week after throwing his ass out into the snow – had given her a surge of hope and then a crushing dread.

She stood there – the cab long gone – trying to decide if she was going to push the button, when the gates swung open – and a familiar feeling entered her mind – along with a familiar – and much missed voice.

Welcome Home, Rogue.

She stood there in shock – she didn't know how – didn't really want to know how – but the wave of joy at his familiar mental touch made her think that he just might be right – she was home.