Rogues eyes fluttered open as she heard the voices of several people close by to her. For one horrible moment she thought that she had gone blind when she realized that wherever she was, the lights were off. She could hear the steady beep of a heart machine next to the hospital bed she was on. She briefly wondered why she was on a comfy hospital bed when every time before the scientists had put her on a cold metal slab. She began to squirm a little to see if her restraints were loose enough for her to attempt an escape. But she discovered she wasn't tied down at all.

Where was she? The scientists surely wouldn't have left her free like that. She tried to sit up but was too weak and was soon out of breath. She also found that she was sore all over, as though she hadn't used her muscles in weeks. She wanted so bad to move but she couldn't muster the strength. She let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. She needed a plan. Maybe she could pretend to still be comatose until she could run away?

"I'm afraid that won't work Rogue." Said a calm male voice.

Rogue sucked in a deep breath ready to scream, but found her throat dry and sore. "Do not be afraid, I am a friend." He said in a soothing tone of voice and she peeked her eyes open again.

Rogue felt the fear ebb away but not completely, she had seen too much to trust someone by their voice alone. "Who are ya?" She croaked. She needed water.

"I'm like you, in fact, I tried to contact you when your powers first manifested." He said.

She took a good look at him. The room was still dark but she could make out his features now that her eyes had time to adjust. He was sitting in a wheel chair wearing a business suite with a shaved head. He was projecting an aura of calm with soft facial expressions and earnest eyes.

She had never met this man once in her life. Though she got the vague feeling from some of her psyches that they recognized her.

"Ah don't remember ya." She told him. Could he be with that group of lunatics that chased her all over Caldecott?

"You probably wouldn't, but you would remember Jean and Scott, two of my students." He said and wheeled himself more into the room. "Or perhaps Kitty and Kurt?"

Rogue remembered the bipolar redhead and the guy with the visor and of course she remembered Kurt, his psyche was currently residing in her head. "Yeah Ah remember them." She said frowning. "That red-head and boy with the visor were super friendly." Sarcasm dripped from every word.

"No Rogue, you were tricked." He said earnestly, clearly upset for having her being tricked. "There was another there that night, another mutant by the name of Mystique. She fooled you Rogue into believing that we were there to cause you harm." He said.

She of course knew this from her multiple absorptions of the shape shifting trickster.

"Then why were ya there?" Rogue asked. She knew Mystique, very well in fact. The shape shifter had chased her ever since she had got her powers. That's the main reason she had let herself be caught and taken to Area 51. She just hadn't planned on staying so long.

"To help you Rogue. The entire reason I built this school was to help young mutants control their powers and to help others with them." He said and Rogue could feel a pitch coming on.

"Ah can't help anyone with my powers." She told him only thing she was good for was gathering information.

"Just give me a chance, and even if I can't help you, I can at least protect you from whoever you're hiding from." He said and Sogue stiffened.

"Ah'd rather you not go through my thoughts in the future." She said with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sorry Rogue, but we needed to find out your name and why Area 51 captured you." He said apologetically. "But please just give the Institute a chance, wouldn't it be nice to have a warm bed and the safety of other looking out for you for a while at least?"

Rogue had to admit the idea was very appealing. She could lay low for a while and gather herself back up. The whole point of letting herself be captured and taken to Area 51 was to through Mystique off the trail. Plus it might be nice to hang around some people her own age for a change.

But she just couldn't bring herself to trust him, no one ever did anything out of the goodness of their hearts. There was always a secret agenda. Rogue wasn't sure if it was the right decision to stay but she really had no other choice. Besides if things go bad she still had a few cards up her sleeves from people she did trust, at least a little bit.

She sighed before answering. "Ah'll stay." She said looking away from him. There was no such thing as a freebie. "What do Ah have ta do ta get protection?"

He smiled that knowing smile that a parent gives to a young child. "You will need to attend the local high school and you will have to obey house rules."

"That's it?" Rogue asked dubiously. "Ya don't want me ta siphon information off of anyone or somethin' like that?"

There was that smile along with a soft chuckle. "No, nothing like that. You won't be forced to do anything against your will."

Rogue thought he sounded sincere and there was no harm in trying this out for a while. Then a question that had been bugging her popped into her head. "Where did ya find me?" Surley this man and his merry band of pubescent mutants hadn't stormed Area 51 just for her.

His good natured smile turned down at her question. "Mutants were recently revealed to the world." Rogue wasn't sure how she felt about that mutants and base lines alike avoided her anyway. "Some of my students and faculty were captured and taken to Area 51. Upon their rescue we found you and brought you with us. You have been in our care for the last three months." He informed her.

"Ah've been out of it that whole time?" He nodded solemnly at her question.

"Now that you are awake do you mind if I have our resident doctor take a look at you?" He asked.

Rogue looked back up to him. "Sure, just don't let him touch my skin." She warned him.

"Don't worry Rogue, we have taken the utmost precautions." He assured her.

A moment later a giant blue ape in a lab coat and glasses walked in to the room with a tray of medical supplies. Rogue wasn't that surprised to see the man, she had seen worse, much worse. Though she had never seen such a pretty shade of blue before.

"It is good to see you awake. I have many a question for you." He told her and Rogue's stomach twisted in remembrance of the scientists.

"Like what?" She asked. He pulled out a medical file and pen and started writing in it. She would have to make sure to destroy that file before she left.

"How many mutations do you have exactly?" He asked causing Rogue to knit her brows together.

"Jus' the one." She told him honestly.

"Hmm," He hummed. "Curios."

"What Hank means to say, is that we were unable to penetrate your arm with a needle and several times one of us would come in here to find you floating." Xavier explained.

Oh.

She knew what he meant now. "Ah, Ah accidentally absorbed someone permanently once." She told him, surely he wouldn't let her stay now. "So now Ah have her powers of super strength, invulnerability an' flight." Rogue explained.

Xavier looked mildly shocked at this revelation while Hank began scribbling furiously in a folder he was holding. "How did this happen?" Xavier asked.

"It was an accident." She said a little harder then she had the previous time.

Xavier looked at her for a moment as though trying to read her mind again. On instinct she forcefully pushed up her mental walls fully aware that it made her look guilty. She wouldn't just allow him to read her mind. "And the girl you absorbed-"

"Dead." Rogue said curtly. She hated what had happened to Carol and now had to live the rest of her life with the woman's blood on her hands. "It was an accident." She said again, but this time she was trying to convince herself.

"I see," He said coming to some sort of decision. "You are still more then welcomed to stay here."

Rogue was momentarily surprised when he said this. She must have been mistaken because men like him didn't allow urders around their untainted protégés. "Ah'm sorry?"

"I said; you are still welcomed to stay here. You said it was an accident and I believe you." He said in what Rogue guessed to be a fatherly voice.

This man was giving her a chance despite the fact she had told him she had killed a woman. "If Ah'm gonna stay here, then Ah'd appreciate it if ya didn't tell anyone about that or my extra abilities." She asked the two men hoping that they would oblige her. She didn't need a group of her peers knowing she was a murderer, being a mutant teenager was hard enough as it was.

"Don't worry Rogue, your secret is safe with us. Your business is your prerogative here." Xavier assured her.

"Now let's get down to how exactly your mutation works." Hank said.

XxX

It was dinner time when Rogue was finally able to leave the med lab, as Hank had called it. Rogue followed the Professor down the long hallway to the dining room. According to the Professor, Mystique had blown up the mansion right before the world had found out about their little secret. They were currently in the middle of a rebuild and had pretty much everything done except the interior which was about halfway done. Because of the rebuild, Xavier was able to add more rooms to the mansion and thus Rogue would be allowed to have her own room.

Xavier wheeled into the large dining room with Rogue hot on his tires. He cleared his throat and gained attention of the twenty or so mutants in the room. "I would like you all to welcome our newest student, Rogue." He said and gestured to her.

All eyes turned to her. Rogue absolutely hated being the center of attention. All were silent except the gruff man in the corner. Wolverine, Mystique's psyche provided.

"Welcome." He told her causing the flood gates to burst open.

Everyone suddenly remembered their manners as several got up to either allow room or to go shake her hand. The boy with red sunglasses reached her first. "Glad to see you awake and that you decided to stay." He said very businesslike and held out a stiff hand.

She looked down at it for a second before looking back up to him. "Ah don't really shake hands or anythin' like that." She told him hoping it didn't hurt his feelings or anything.

A light blush crept across his cheeks. "Of course," He said. "I wasn't thinking."

"Like, don't hog her!" Cried a tiny brunette girl. Rogue needed to remember to be extra nice to her for helping the awkward moment to pass. "Come on you can, like, totally sit next to me and Kurt." She said excitedly. She grabbed her covered arm and dragged her to the table to sit between her and the blue boy.

She knew the blue boy instantly, her half-brother. She knew he was her brother from one of the many times she had absorbed their mother. They also had another brother but Rogue couldn't get much information on him.

"Do you remember me?" He asked excitedly in a thick German accent.

"Yeah, the teleporter." She said with a slight smile. She loved his power it was so fun to just pop around wherever you wanted. The tail and acrobatics were pretty cool too

"Yeah! That's me!" He said excitedly looking around at the kids around him.

The rest of the dinner was spent in talk about Area 51 and various goings on. She had kept mostly quiet, only speaking when spoken too. She had tried to follow along with the conversations but it was hard, she hadn't eaten this much in a long time. She had been on the run with no money and had to get what she could. She hadn't noticed the pair or wild grey eyes watch her devour plate after plate.

Rogue was currently following Wolverine down the hallway to her bedroom. He had been quiet the whole time, in fact the only thing she had heard him say to her or anyone else was 'welcome'. They finally arrived at a door at the very end of the hallway. He opened the door and flipped the light switch before moving out of the way to let her in.

She walked past him to stand just inside the door before turning around to face him. "Thank you." She said quietly but she knew he heard it.

He did a sort of grunt but didn't leave, instead he just stared her down. "Are you in trouble kid?" He blurted out after a moment.

Rogue kept her face carefully blank.

"You don't have to tell me, just know that I'm here if you need someone to talk to." He said before turning on his heel and leveling her alone.

Rogue watched his retreating form down the hallway until he disappeared around the corner. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She would have to be more careful. Rule number one: don't get attached. She closed her door and leaned against it as she surveyed the room. There was a single full-sized bed on the south wall and a glass door that lead to a small balcony on the east wall. the balcony faced the front gate and had a string of lights on the railing.

The bedroom was nice and Rogue really wanted to sleep in, what was sure to be a very soft bed. But she didn't feel safe sleeping around these people. They seemed nice enough but rule fourteen and fifteen kept her from losing her senses. Never trust anyone and there are always strings attached. Just because Xavier said he didn't want anything from her didn't mean it was true.

Rogue looked around the room for anything that didn't belong. She saw nothing right off the bat but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there. She grabbed the pillow and spare blanket from the bed before going to the balcony.

Once outside, Rogue looked up to the roof about three feet above her head. Rule sixteen: someone is always watching. So instead of floating up to the roof like she would have preferred to do, she threw the pillow and blanket up on the roof before climbing onto it herself. She walked the roof until she came to the chimney on the north side where she set up camp.

Tomorrow she had to start school. Maybe she shouldn't have taken Xavier up on his offer. It was bad enough the first time around and this time didn't promise to be much better especially with the public knowing about their little secret. She dreaded tomorrows torture but knew she had to get her sleep tonight, she would need her strength for tomorrow. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was that the roof was surprisingly comfortable compared to some of the places she had slept before.

A/N

I'm actually rewriting parts of this story so I won't post all the chapters at once and I do expect some freaking reviews.