Title: Time Changes Everything
Author: me!
Pairings/Characters: Rogue/Scott, Logan, Storm
Summary: It was on that one unsuspecting trip to the city that her whole life was turned upside down. S/R, AU.
Rogue had never been one to follow the rules. Especially now that she was on special teacher watch; ever since she had returned from getting the cure, she had been treated like a porcelain doll on a very unstable shelf.
Bobby had been estatic when she returned as the same life-sucking mutant she was when she left. However, Rogue had promised herself to be different - to be herself. And she couldn't lie anymore. Not to Bobby, not to anyone. So that meant she had to cut Bobby out of her life. It hurt but he healed quickly, heading to Kitty's welcoming arms quickly.
With everything in chaos, Rogue felt the need to vent. However, she had found an odd sort of comfort in talking to the headstones of Professor X and sometimes Scott. She hadn't known the latter much but she always felt a sort of...attatchment to him when it turned out Logan had a thing for Jean and vice versa. Today, she felt the need to talk with Scott. Shuffling to his headstone, she almost felt silly. But everyone was asleep in the mansion and she was feeling lonely.
"Hi, Mr. Summers," she began hesitantly. "Okay, I guess I can call you Scott since you're not even alive anymore..."
She loved visiting the city. She had been working on her control religiously for the past few months of her return that she could walk around the city without gloves on, at least. She loved being able to wear the short-sleeved shirts she had been saving up for this moment. The slightly baggy jeans were still in place but she didn't look like such a...freak anymore, and she loved it. She got compliments on how her hair was different and how "cute teenagers today are" and she reveled in them.
It was on that one unsuspecting trip to the city that her whole life was turned upside down. She walked into her favorite little coffee shop, rarely filled with customers but somehow managing to stay open. She walked up to the counter and ordered her normal drink. Paying for it and subtly flirting with the cute barista, she took a cautious sip and scanned the little sitting area. She noticed a man who looked slightly familiar. Almost choking on her drink, she noticed the overwhelming similarities the man shared with Mr. Summers - Scott.
Unthinkingly, she made her way over to him. Before she could register what she was doing, she was asking if the seat was taken.
"No, take it," he said, a little surprised. He scanned her face, almost as if he was looking for something but couldn't find it. "I'm sorry but do I know you from somewhere? You seem very familiar."
The way he spoke reminded her of Scott as well. He was poised, always polite, and hesitant to offend her.
She smiled reassuringly. "Actually, I was about to ask you the same thing," she told him. "I'm Marie...but you might've known me as Rogue," she told him.
He looked deflated. "I'm sorry but that doesn't really ring a bell," he said, the disappointment clear on his face. He looked back up at her. "I'm Scott Summers, though," he introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, Marie," he smiled at her and held out a hand. Her defated frown immegiately changed as she jumped up and hugged him, careful to only touch him where he was covered. "Um...you're very friendly," he told her, a little shocked.
"No, I do know you!" she exclaimed, elicting wary glances from other customers. She quickly calmed down a bit. "Do you remember anything over a year ago?"
He pondered that for a minute. "No, I don't," he finally told her. "Why?"
"I know what happened to you. But you have to trust me and come with me. Please?" she asked, hoping she hadn't scared him too much.
Luckily, he smiled at her and nodded. "I trust you," he told her. "I don't know why, but I have a good gut feeling about you," he told her.
"And trust me again, you're never wrong," she grinned, standing up and walking with him to the door. Scott simply smiled at this young lady, already feeling a sort of preference for the quirky brunette.
Rogue was the hero at the school for once; no one shirked away from her anymore. When she brought Scott home, everyone, including Storm, finally started treating her as if she was mentally stable. Unfortunately for Scott, his memory was temporarily erased, something that they weren't sure was going to heal any time soon.
Storm couldn't help but notice at how quickly Rogue and Scott became friends. She knew he had a sort of attatchment to the young mutant - she was, after all, the one that had "saved him from his life of wandering," as he had put it. But she also couldn't help but notice how attentive they were to each other. They would finish sentences from one another and if anything happened to the other, they were immediately there, not letting anyone else help.
This worried the older mutant. She didn't want this to end badly. What would happen when Logan returned? Would he be as willing to accept the two as she was? What would happen when he even saw Scott? Scott claimed to have no memory of the anything past a year when he woke up on a beach somewhere off the coast of Maine and ended up traveling back to New York, where Rogue found him.
Storm let out a weary sigh. She wished Xavier was still alive to help her with all of this. She was relieved Scott was safe but he wasn't of any good to her at the moment. What if he never recovered.
"Well, you used to be incharge of this whole thing, you know. Well, second in charge," a familiar voice resounded from the hallway.
"Are you serious? I don't think I could ever been incharge of this...it seems like so much for one person to bear. I really respect that Ororo person; she's one hell of a woman," Scott said, sounding awed.
"Well, you were a sort of stick in the mud back then. Not that I really talked with you. You were pretty intimidating," Rogue teased him. "Were being the operative word here."
A giggle escaped from her lips and for a minute, Storm was surprised at how much Rogue had come out of her shell since returning from attempting to get the cure. She was happy the girl was finally able to act like a teenager instead of the outcast she was before.
"Were? You mean, my manliness doesn't intimidate you at all?" Scott teased her back.
Rogue laughed at him. "Oh, please. You wouldn't harm a fly," she told him.
"Oh, really?" he asked. Rogue rolled her eyes playfully at him while Scott deftly grabbed her around the waist and pinned her against the wall. He seemed to be up close but Storm's already impaired vision was strained when he was covering Rogue. He looked to be whispering in her ear and whatever he said had caused the young mutant to change from playful to...intense. Awkwardly, they both began to chuckle and sprang apart when they heard a couple of students passing by. Rogue was blushing - that much was obvious from her body language as well - but it was surprising as Scott's eyes glowed a certain color. Panic filled Rogue's eyes, recognizing what was about to happen. Thinking quickly she yelled at Scott to close his eyes. Ororo sprang to action, finding a spare pair of glasses Xavier always kept in his desk and she couldn't get herself to get rid of.
Running into the hallway, she handed the glasses to Rogue who gently placed the glasses on Scott's face, seeing as he was gripping his head in pain and squeezing his eyes shut. "Scott," her voice whispered. "Scott, you can open your eyes now," she told him, grabbing his hands. He looked up, his face twisted in agony and confusion, quickly turning to concern and panic.
"I didn't hurt you, did I? And you, are you okay too, Storm? Thank you for the glasses; this is amazing," he babbled before Rogue chuckled softly. "What?"
"I think we have some explaining to do," she told him, eyes lit with amusement. All of a sudden, a crash was heard from upstairs. Storm shot Rogue an apologetic look. "Okay, I guess I have some explaining to do."
Storm left the pair then, pretending to not notice how Rogue still held Scott's hands and the way they seemed to forget anyone else was with them.
Logan couldn't believe it. After returning to the mansion a little more than a year and a half after the Alacatraz incident, about ten million things had changed. However, when Rogue told him that Scott was alive, he was taken aback. When Ororo told him about the suspected feelings growing between One-Eye and Rogue, well...he was a little more than surprised.
He was well recepted back at the mansion. After parking his bike outside the main entrance, he was immediately come face to face with Rogue. She had on less clothes than he had ever seen her wear. He was a little hesitant to hug her back but she laughed and reassured him that her control was firmly in check. He gave her a small congratulatory smile and then hugged her back. When she brought out Scott to meet him (again, but not to Scott's knowledge), he was at a loss for words. But he did notice the way Rogue held his hand when she dragged him to Logan and the way she didn't let go.
"I don't believe it," he said for the twelfth time that night. He was sitting in the kitchen with Ororo, watching Scott and Rogue sit on the couch - too close for his taste - and talk.
"Trust me, no one was more shocked than I was when I found this out," she reassured him. "They've just been...closer than normal. I think it's the hero complex she had with you too, only a little backwards."
Logan gave her a confused look. "What hero complex?"
"Well, she grew a little crush on you because you "saved her" from what Mississippi held for her. She saved him from being lost, with no idea of who he was, in New York. He grew fond of her and she grew fond of him as well, hence their semi-relationship. But it's different for them because he actually likes her back." She threw a pointed glare Logan's way.
"I don't care what happened, I don't approve of this at all," he told her, ignoring the look and fixing all his energy at wearing a hole at the back of Scott's head.
Rogue pouted. Even though he hadn't been practicing for almost two years, Scott was still better at defending himself then she was. Shifting her balance to the other foot, she swiftly dodged his attack, though she knew he wouldn't dare hit her.
In the year that Scott had been back, Rogue - no, Marie - had changed. Not only had she moved her superhero crush from one leader to another, she was a different person altogether. She had accepted who she was and embraced it. But she had been able to use her own patience and training to help Scott almost completely control his power as well. After the damage done to him from Jean, Scott's power had been altered and only his emotions set it off. He kept the glasses on most of the time but Marie was able to convince him to take them off a lot.
"Why the pout, Marie?" he asked. He rarely ever called her Rogue anymore; that was for when they were mad at each other. After learning of her real name, he claimed that Rogue was not fitting enough for a beautiful young lady as she. She blushed and accepted the compliment, never going back to Rogue.
"Because it's not fair. You've been out of the game longer and yet, you're still better than me," she said, relaxing her defensive position and wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her palm.
"Anything you can do, I can do better," he teased. She rolled her eyes and didn't notice when he swiped her feet from under her. Unfortunately, it backfired as Marie grabbed onto him for support, only pulling him down on top of her. Suddenly, both were hyperaware that they were in a very compromising position.
Scott's mouth seemed to be functioning on a different plane than his brain so he was also surprised when he asked what she'd do if he kissed her.
She kissed him first.
No one was really surprised when Scott and Marie walked hand in hand everywhere now. They all claimed to know that the two would get together eventually; it was inevitable. Marie would chuckle to herself when she heard the rumors flying about them. Even after three months, she knew that the relationship was skewed and different and she didn't deserve someone like him. But when she would start to think too much, Scott would give her a kiss, or tell her he loved her, or give her hand a reassuring squeeze every time she needed it.
She was blissfully happy. Everything she had ever dreamed of was coming true: the true love, the perfect man, the best life possible. She even had Logan's blessing on this one; a change from the usual hate glares he shot Scott in the beginning.
"Marie." Scott's voice was soft and gentle in her ears. "It's time to go," he chuckled as she jolted awake.
"Oh, am I late?" she asked, worried. She looked like a mess and didn't want to make them late. She anxiously ran her fingers through her hair.
"No, I woke you up a little early to let you get ready," he told her. She smiled at him thankfully. "But we do have to get going or Ororo is going to kill us," he laughed.
Tonight was Ororo's official engagement party. Hank had proposed two weeks ago and the Head of Mutant Human Relations felt Hank and his soon-to-be bride should be honored. Ororo had been on a streak of nerves all week; most of her classes had been canceled.
Wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a quick peck followed by a most likely giddy smile, Marie was about to saunter off to get ready before she felt Scott grab her around the waist and pull her back towards him. "There's nothing that says we can't be late, though," he whispered in her ear, turning her around and kissing her back.