SPECIAL NOTE: As you may have noticed, this story is also half done under the name Scarecrow1984, that was my old name on here, but I have since changed it and don't know how to take my old account off.

Disclaimer: I have no legal ties to the original x-men characters. Some of the characters I have in this story are in fact my own creation, but arguably they are based on ideas from x-men and/or other marvel ideas. I own no rights to any of these characters; therefore I claim no monies, goods, nor services for my writing. I write for the fun of it and the fact that I write x-men stuff should be considered a tribute to the Marvel and x-men creators. I am a fan, albeit an obsessed one, of x-men and write these for that reason. Having said this, on with the show!!

Chapter One – Memories

"Are you ready?" Bobby asked as he knocked on Marie's open bedroom door and entered.

"No" Marie said looking up at him from a suitcase that was only half packed. Bobby stopped in to see Marie before his last class, they were planning on meeting each other at dinner later that night, but he knew she was afraid of the trip, so he decided to stop in and try to reassure her, to calm her down. When he saw the look in her eyes, however, he knew that calming her wasn't going to be easy.

"It's going to be okay," Bobby said, unsure of the truth in his words, "I think they will be happy to see you".

"But you don't know that, I mean I just ran away! They are going to be furious!" she retorted almost in tears. After dinner that night Marie was to take a train home to visit her parents, whom she hadn't seen for over two and a half years when she ran off after discovering her mutant powers. "I've hurt them so much, how can they ever forgive me?" As Marie said this she thought of the irony in the statement. Her mutant power was such that if she touched someone she would absorb their life source, and if she held on too long she could kill them. When she touched a mutant it was slightly different, but still very painful. When talking about her parents, however, she was not talking about the physical hurt. She had never hurt them physically with her powers or in any other way. She was sure that she had hurt them emotionally when she ran away, because of that she was afraid to face them.

"Rogue, they love you. I think they will be so glad that you're okay and back at home that they won't be mad. You will probably have to explain some things, but they will understand."

"How can you be sure? Look at what your parents did, and you didn't run off on them." As soon as Rogue said this she wished she hadn't. She saw the pain on Bobby's face as he remembered the last encounter at his house. It was four months ago, but still so vivid in both of their memories. His parents thought they sent him off to boarding school, but when he, Marie, John, and Logan showed up at their home, his parents weren't too welcoming. Then to find out that he was a mutant!! His brother called the police, and his parents watched with cold eyes as he and his friends escaped. Since then his parents had not spoken to him. No calls, no letters, nothing. A few times Bobby tried to call them, twice getting his mom then his brother, but when he said "Hi, it's me, Bobby" He heard a "click" and the phone went dead.

"I'm sorry" Rogue said immediately. She had been kneeling on the floor by her suitcase, but got up and went to sit on her bed, not knowing what to say after that blunder she had just made.

"Its okay, it's true. My parents did basically disown me" Bobby said as he went to sit on the bed beside Rogue, "but the dynamics of my family and yours are very different". As Bobby said this he reached with his hand to her chin and pushed her head up gently so that he could look into her eyes. He knew she had confided only in him about her family. She kept things about her life before Xavier's school and the x-men very private. Bobby was the only one who knew about her life before being a mutant.

"Everyone in my family never really got along. We were hardly ever together, and when we were it was pandemonium. The fights were awful. My dad was a workaholic. So was my mom, she also drank heavily. And my brother was, and may still be, heavily into drugs. The only time my family got along is during the holidays, and most of the time that was only because friends were at our house so we had to put on the act." He paused a moment thinking about these times before continuing, "Your family is different. You and your parents were very close. Your dad was retired from the Navy and your mom was and always had been a stay at home mom. They were both a big part of your life when you were growing up. The love they had for you was evident in your childhood; it isn't just going to disappear, even if you did run away."

She smiled a bit as she said, "maybe you're right."

"Of course I am," He responded, "Now finish packing while I'm in class, and I'll meet you in the cafeteria." He smiled a little when he said this then put his hand on the back of her neck and caressed it gently with his thumb. He wasn't touching her skin; her long dark brown hair was between his skin and hers. He bent down to kiss her quickly. It had taken a long time for Rogue to stop backing away every time Bobby went to kiss her. He continually had to tell her that it didn't hurt him as she thought it did. She would always say that it must hurt him because she could feel her lips get cold, along with an icy feeling that ran through her entire body. Bobby promised her that it didn't hurt him and that as long as she wasn't hurting from their kisses, he was going to kiss her as much as she would allow. With that she finally gave in.

Bobby wasn't entirely truthful when he told Marie that it didn't hurt him. Their kisses were bittersweet to him, they were painful, but he loved them because he loved Marie. He had gotten used to the pain, because of that he didn't think it hurt as much as it used to, or at least he was able to bear the pain a little better with every kiss. He felt a surging pain run through his body when they kissed. This kiss was no different. The pain would start in his fingertips and feet. It would feel like fire, and quickly would spread through his veins, up his arms and legs, into his chest. It felt like his very being was leaving him through his mouth.

Their lips parted and she smiled at him. He smiled at her too and said "Goodbye my Rogue, I'll see you in a few hours at dinner." Then he got up and left the room. Once he got out into the hallway he stopped and leaned against the wall. He grabbed his chest, and waited a moment for the pain to subside. He had held on a little too long that time. It usually hurt, but not this much. He would have to be more careful. Bobby didn't want their kisses to stop, so he couldn't show Marie that it was hurting him. The pain began to go away. He stood up fully, looked around, and walked off to his last class.