Chapter 2 – Recovery
Warren awoke in a hospital bed in one of the residence rooms. His head was ringing. An oxygen mask covered the lower part of his face. When he tried to remove it he felt an IV pulling at the crook in his arm. A gloved finger gently tapped his hand.
"Doc says you should keep that on for a little while longer." Rogue's voice peppered his ears.
"How long?" he whispered through the perforations in the plastic encasing his mouth.
"Dr. MacTaggert said your oxygenation levels have to stabilize. And they've been pretty good for the last few hours, so that thing might come off tonight. You are pretty indestructible, you know. After what you've been through, you should be dead. You heal almost as fast as Logan."
"Where's Jean?" asked Angel weakly.
"Jean's with the Professor."
"I have to see her." Warren sat up, jerking the tube feeding oxygen to his mask.
"You can't see Jean right now." Rogue pressed his shoulder. "The Professor needs to be alone with her and you need to rest and get well. Jean will be okay. You saved her."
"She saved me." Warren fell back and closed his eyes.
Rogue felt a pang in her gut. A noontime shaft of sunlight streaming through the window illuminated one of Warren's feathers as it slowly circled to the floor. So, even Angel, the beautiful lone hero of the skies, like practically every guy alive, was in love with Jean Grey. But Rogue, his old friend, who, with some support from Logan, had rescued the world by sending Apocalypse into a time rift, was invisible.
At least Scott had been there. Mystique had floored him, but Rogue and Wolverine eventually peeled him off the ground. Limping, Scott had joyfully embraced her in victory. And while airborne, en route to the Institute, they were side by side as she tended Kurt's wounds. The proximity to his body coupled with the elation she felt pumping through her nerves threatened to unleash feelings for Scott she had worked hard for weeks and weeks to seal up tight within the recesses of her psyche.
She soon discovered it didn't matter how thick the plaster and strong the containment walls were. All it took was the tiniest chink to set her desire for Scott free. They brushed against each other during turbulence and Summers caught her gaze. For a fraction of a second Rogue believed he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Then they landed. Scott immediately split off to find Jean.
Rogue got Cannonball to assist getting Kurt out of the aircraft. Once Nightcrawler was in the care of Dr. MacTaggert's medics, Rogue, despite a desperate wish to appear utterly disinterested, found herself turning to watch Scott as he approached Jean. Grey was levitating above them all, staring into the distance and didn't seem to be aware of him. Right then Rogue really wanted to hate her – for being so perfect, so gorgeous, so powerful, and just about always the subject of the spotlight – but she couldn't. Their psychic connection was too deep.
The link stemmed from the time nine months earlier when Rogue and Jean first touched. Jean's powers had expanded to an astounding degree in a matter of hours. The young mutant was adrift in a chaotic vortex spawned by the uncontrollable surge in her abilities. With serious reservations, the Professor finally allowed Rogue to absorb enough of Jean's power to create a psychic conduit. This enabled Grey to focus on something or someone besides the confusion engulfing her. Rogue provided a path to the person who knew her better than anyone else, supposedly, Scott Summers. Joining their minds, Rogue saw Jean through Scott's eyes and vice versa. The stunning redhead was everything, every particle in the universe to him. And for Jean, the handsome young man with the ruby quartz glasses represented safety and security; he would ground her on Earth and keep her from shooting off into oblivion.
Ever since, Rogue could never be sure whether her emotions were her own or Jean's. Walking alongside the med staff transporting Kurt indoors, she sensed Scott tearing himself apart inside while he peered helplessly at the girl floating beyond his grasp. A sudden burst of light hurt Rogue's retinas. Jean became incandescent. Rogue blinked as her teammate grew wings of fire and blazed towards the stratosphere. Part of Rogue soared away too.
Now, looking at Warren sleeping, Rogue imagined the dreams that stirred behind his rapidly shifting lids. He was with Jean Grey at that very moment, weightless, enveloped in her telekinetic energy, lost in her dazzling green eyes.