AN: Hey sorry for the long time between chapters. I've been settling into my new school and my beta also moved. And we have good news...we've done typing/writing book 1 of this series and have started book 2. :)

Chapter 8

Ivy groaned as she felt her phone vibrate yet again. 'probably Magneto again...' she'd been avoiding him lately. She took a deep breath pulling out the phone. She glared at the phone only to stop and stare at the name quickly answering. "Hello?"

"HEY YOU ANSWERED!"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Yeah we've been in and out of service for several days. We're still on the trail and haven't been able to find them yet. They apparently didn't come to Texas but we believe she might have gone west."

"Yeah, well we have some good news over here."

"Oh? What is it, Jean?" She paused. "You didn't have a baby, did you?"

"NO! I wish I could…It's Rogue." Ivy immediately focused all her attention on the phone.

"ROGUE?!? What happened?"

"Well, that's why I called. She woke up!"

"WHAT! That's awesome! Oh my gosh, what great news! How is she? Is she going to recover fully now? Is there anything I can do? I mean…"

"IVY!" Jean yelled, finally getting the girl stop rambling. "She'll be fine. Just so you're aware, besides me and Scott, you are then first person we told. I was just on my way to tell Magneto when I thought to call you."

"Thank you. I'll make sure to tell everyone. Hey, I have to go. We're…going into a dead zone."

"Ok, well…talk to you later."

"Jean, who are you talking to?" Ivy could hear Magneto's voice.

"Oh, just Ivy."

"WHAT!"

With that Ivy quickly hung up, only to feel her phone vibrate as she ignored yet another call form Magneto. They had been at the ranch for nearly a week. And it had been around two since they had left Genosha. They had yet to leave for multiple reasons.

1. Gambit had destroyed the shed his second day here and promised to fix it, something he hadn't quite gotten right yet.

2. Kurt had gotten sick.

3. She knew that Logan and Shannon didn't want to leave. And…

4. She, somewhere deep down, didn't want to leave and tear apart the happiness they'd found here.

Ivy smiled as she passed the orchard where Lance was causing Earthquakes to drop the fruit from the trees as Pietro ran around catching and sorting it. The only reason why Ivy tolerated it was because the tree's seemed to like the burdens being taken off and it mixed up the dirt for the trees to get fresh soil. It also attracted bugs; and, disgusted as she was, she couldn't bring herself to stop Toad's food source.

Ivy then looked over at Kitty, Blob and Gambit, who were trying to rebuild the shed, yet again. Kitty was holding the nails in place while Gambit was hammering. They had decided that with Kitty supervising he would be less likely to do something stupid. And Blob was there…well she didn't really know what he was doing.

She then saw Forge who was, once again, going over the backup schematics for the Dome at Genosha. They were so happy.

That was why the last two points were the hardest for her to admit. She'd tried telling herself that it was no different from Genosha…only without a wall, without guards, and with humans…with Karma.

The old woman was like a mother to all of them. She fed them, sheltered them, and always welcomed them in, but it was more than that. She was a source of strength, a rod of discipline, and a wall of security when the time came. The sight of her red and-white checkered blouse bustling about the ranch, often as not with Lil'Bess held casually in her hand, was an image they'd grown to love and look forward to. In fact, it was getting hard to imagine life without Karma.

At the moment, Karma was helping sort the barrels of fruit (Pietro tended to get a little sloppy once in a while) while Mystique worked nearby. The blue woman was frowning.

"You ok?" Ivy asked Mystique, who was busy staring at Karma work.

"Yes, but Magneto is getting more impatient. And I know we can't stay too much longer."

"What do you…" Ivy flinched as she felt some grass explode on the other side of the house. "GAMBIT!" Ivy yelled as she took off running. "GAMBIT! KITTY! BLOB!"

Gambit pulled himself from the wreckage of the "new" shed.

"Well…dat didn' work." He muttered, pulling a few splinters from his coat. "You two ok?"

"Yea!"

"'m fine"

"Remy Le'Beau what did you do to my shed this tahme?" Karma shouted, white hair in disarray and her Texan accent slipping in her fury.

"Well…" Gambit flinched and grinned sheepishly as Karma approached, Lil'Bess at the ready. "Turns out that my powers don' make good welding torches." As Gambit sweet-talked himself out of another beating, Ivy caught Mystique staring at the house for the hundredth time that day. She'd been mother henning Kurt for days, to the point that he had gone to Karma who in turn banned her from the house until nighttimes.

"Mystique." The shape-shifter jumped slightly.

"What?"

"I was wondering what was wrong with Gambit. It's the fourth time this week. Even he isn't this clumsy." Mystique's expression was the darkest Ivy had ever seen on her faces as she formulated her reply. "He's…nervous."

"…Nervous?" Ivy repeated, looking back at Gambit again. There was no way. The easy-going swindler, loose-tongued, fun-loving Cajan was nervous? Yeah, right. Gambit flashed another sparkling white grin at Karma as she threatened him, playfully rolling his eyes at a giggling Shannon when Karma looked away. Nervous?

"How do you figure?"

Mystique had turned to stare at the house again. "Did Gambit tell you why he came?"

"…No?"

"Well there are two reasons. One he is becoming more and more upset over Rogue and two Magneto sent him. He's here to make sure Logan doesn't become a …problem." Mystique paused. "We'd better head back soon."

"Wait why is he worried about Rogue?"

Mystique smiled. "He fell in love with Rogue before the disaster."

"What disaster?" Mystique turned her attention back onto Ivy. "Didn't any of the 'X-men' tell you?"

Ivy looked confused. "Tell me what?"

"Do you remember how Rogue came to be in her coma state?"

Ivy nodded. When Magneto had used the Statue of Liberty to threaten the world he had used Rogue. Apparently instead of killing her it had drained her to the point where she was forced into a coma. Until today that is.

"Well, she was a member of the X-men at the time. And it was a real blow to them. First of all, Logan was with her when she was taken and he blames himself for failing her. Then Chuck wouldn't allow anyone to try and rescue her without knowing what Magneto was up to. And Gambit was promised that Rogue wouldn't get hurt. Now can you see why?"

Ivy nodded slowly. "So I guess it's good she's woken up, huh?"

"What are you talking about, Ivy?"

"Jean called. Rogue woke up this morning. I was actually going to tell everyone after lunch."

"She's awake?"

Ivy nodded. She turned back to Gambit and Karma.

"Hey, Ivy. Pets are allowed in the house right?"

"Yes, why?...Mystique?" Ivy turned to see a cat's tail disappear behind the kitchen door.

"HALP ME!!!" Kurt yelled running out of the house and away from a hen.

"MYSTIQUE! I TOLD YOU TO STAY 'WAY FROM THAT BOY!"

Ivy smiled before making her way back towards the horse coral to help feed the horses for the day. It was her favorite job not to mention that all the boys that helped refused to wear shirts. The man Damien had revealed that he had the power to, in a way, detect the x-gene in an individual, hence how he knew that Ivy was a mutant upon her arrival.

"Ivy would you like to ride with us we need to go round up some strays?" Damien asked walking up with two horses saddled and ready to go.

"Sure let's go."

AN: PLEASE REVIEW it makes us feel like we're not wasting our time....(even though we would still do it... :D)