All characters owned by Marvel Comics

Author's notes: Whew! Last chapter! Can't believe we're already done! Thanks everybody for reading, it's been really awesome to have people so excited about one of my stories!

No sequel in mind for this one, Rogue's in a good place at the end here and I think I'll leave her there. I know I kind of end with a few unanswered questions, but that's how I like to do things. (Though, after reading this epilogue, the answer to the question you may have about Val Cooper is "yes".)

Epilogue

"Don't be a stranger, Rogue." Kitty crushed the life out of me in one of her bear hugs, and kissed my cheek before she let go. "Wow," she beamed, though her eyes held a trace of sadness. "Still not used to that."

I laughed. "Tell me about it. I mean, what am I gonna do with all my gloves?" We giggled together the way old friends do, but I had to say my peace to the girl before she trotted off back to England. "Kitty, Pete'll be okay. I saw the specs on that station in Magneto's memories, and it was self-sustaining, water, air, food, meant to house hundreds of mutants long-term…"

Shaking, she sighed. "I know. I just still can't believe he'd…" She bit back her tears. "I mean, how could he? I just can't process it. He and Illyana…I lost them both." I hugged her again and her little body snuffled tears onto my shoulder.

"He was in a lot of pain, Kitty, more than any of us could understand. I'm speaking from experience, sugar, sometimes you have to go a long ways away before you can come home again."

Kurt came down the main staircase with a suitcase in his hand. It had been a day for goodbyes as the world couldn't wait for us to grieve anymore. The blue and fuzzy Kurt, whose haunting yellow eyes matched the falling baby in my worst nightmare. A nightmare, or a memory? I hadn't said anything about it to anyone except Remy, didn't know what it could mean. If I ever ran into Mystique again, it was on the top of a long laundry list of questions, a list that included askin' her about her seeming mental obsession with antique books and journals...

"Guten tag, Fraulein Anna," he winked and I winced. Damn Remy LeBeau and his big mouth. I had missed Kitty and Kurt dearly, and it seemed like they had just gotten there, but old friends were never far away. "Until we meet again." Kitty blew me a kiss and I watched them both head for the lower levels and their own aircraft parked in the hangar.

I stepped from the entryway into the living room and stood next to the windows. Most everyone had left by now. X-Factor had disappeared in the dead of night with the still unconscious Magneto in tow, Professor Xavier and Hank riding shotgun to keep him that way. When the Professor returned, we had a trip to Mississippi to plan. I had decided it was long past time I introduced him to an old friend.

Most of X-Force had scattered, too, gone who the hell knew where. I was sad to see Sam and Roberto run off like thieves in the night, but had been glad to see the rest of them leave.

It was almost dusk of the day after the funeral, and out the window I caught a glimpse of Jubilee, Bobby, and Bishop heading for the basketball court. Life would go on with the X-Men, we'd taken our lumps and bruises, but we would always come up swingin'. I wondered if they needed a fourth for their game of pickup…

"Can I say goodbye? Please?" I whirled at the sound, and the body of Alex Summers filled the entryway.

My stomach did a backflip. "You didn't leave with the rest of your team?" It was a stupid question, obviously he hadn't left yet, but I still didn't know how I felt about him, or how I should act around him. The anger, the betrayal, still simmered beneath the surface, but I didn't know if I could hate him for what had happened. You can't help who you fall in love with, and if I hadn't been part of it from the inside, I might have been able to see the tragedy in the story of Carol and Alex. In time, maybe, who knew how deep my hurt would remain.

He stepped towards me with the sad eyes of a puppy dog that expected to get kicked. "I'm done with X-Force. I'm gonna catch up with X-Factor at the Avengers' mansion, see if I can do some good in the name of Uncle Sam. Val Cooper stopped this morning on her way back to Washington from a mission in Mississippi. I'll ride with her to New York to join the rest of the team." He stopped in front of me and an awkward silence stretched in front of us.

I never could stand awkward silences, so I broke it first. "Did Scott leave with Sam and the others?"

He shook his head. "He left for Alaska to visit our grandparents. He needs to get away from all of this, get his head back together." Wasn't that the truth? Alex opened his mouth three or four times like he wanted to say something more to me, but couldn't get it to come out right. His face was still a mottled, swollen mess thanks to my punch, and I felt the teensiest bit guilty about that, but there was no way I was apologizing. I took a different track.

"Thanks, by the way, for saving me from your brother's bullet at the end there."

Grimacing, he ran a hand through his thick blonde hair. "Uh, you know Scottie and I are immune to each other's powers, right? I wasn't exactly Sir Galahad."

I rolled my eyes. "You may be immune, but I ain't. It's the thought that counts, sugar."

He took my hands in his and stared at them, ran his thumbs along my bare knuckles, the row on my right hand scabbed over from where they had connected with his cheekbone. "Rogue, I…"

I slid a hand from his grasp and put it over his mouth "A thank you is all I can give right now, Alex." Forgiveness, if ever, was gonna be a long time comin'.

He held my hand to his mouth and kissed it softly, his piercing blue eyes a startling contrast to his gentle touch. "It'll do," he whispered roughly. "For now." He pulled back and smiled, but it didn't reach those fierce eyes that were confusing me, making my knees shake.

"Are you ready?" Val Cooper, X-Factor's government liaison, paused in the hallway to look in on us.

"Yeah," Alex called over his shoulder. "I'll be right there, Val."

Val had never been my biggest fan. Her eyes moved from him to me, but something about the way she stared at us raised the hackles on the back of my neck. The corner of her mouth went up in a strange smile before she headed out the door.

Alex reached up and tucked a stray curl behind one of my ears, and I let him. "Goodbye, Rogue."

"Goodbye, Alex."

Just like that, he walked away. I sighed and leaned against the back of a couch to catch my breath. It was all such a mess, and like everything else since I had woken up, it would just take time to sort it out. At least I didn't want to sock him in the face again. It was an improvement, right?

I pushed all thoughts of Alex away and wound my way upstairs, casting a fleeting thought instead to the rest of my teammates. Logan, Jean, Ororo, Remy…all of us had earned a quiet afternoon to recharge our emotional batteries. If I knew Ororo, she was either tending the flowers in her attic room or rolling through the clouds, communing with nature. Logan and Jean had left to spend a little quality time away from the mansion, but not before I borrowed a quick dose of healing factor to cover the lumps I had taken yesterday. As for Remy…

I reached my room with its new door, and stopped. The entrance was slightly ajar. I knew I had locked the darn thing before I had gone downstairs for the day…I trusted my teammates with my life, but my privacy was another thing entirely. I pushed open the door and peeped inside. Nothing was out of place, save for a large white box perched on top of my bed. I stepped towards it cautiously. A single white magnolia, a favorite of this Mississippi gal, lay on its top, along with a note. I lifted the blossom and inhaled the heady fragrance, transported to my childhood home on a sweet cloud. The note attached was from everybody's favorite Swamp Rat.

"A-," it read,

Please join me for dinner this evening at 7:00 on the dock overlooking Spuyten Dyvil Cove.

Wear this.

–R"

I opened the box, gasping at the sight of the beautiful dress nestled in the folds of tissue paper. I lifted it free and held it up to my body in front of the mirror. It was gorgeous, form-fitting, falling just below my knees, made of a dark green lace with a sheer liner beneath. It had cap-sleeves and a demure neckline, but the back plunged straight down in a scandalous v that almost reached my tailbone. Wearing a bra was gonna be impossible, that louse. There were even high heels to match, and a lacy scrap that was apparently supposed to be panties. I didn't want to think about how he knew my size, but it all fit like a dream. The clock read six-fifteen. Plenty of time. I pulled half of my curls up, leaving the rest to trail down my bare back, and dashed on minimal makeup.

Before I left my room, I caught one last glimpse of myself in the mirror, and the girl who stared back at me looked…happy. Healed and whole, ready for whatever life would throw at her next. When I had woken in the infirmary all those months ago, I thought I would never recover from what had been taken from me, but here, now, my heart was fit to burst at how many wonderful things had taken the place of what I had lost.

I practically ran to the rickety old boathouse that sat beside the lake bordering Xavier's estate. The soft glow of two rows of candles in glass mason jars lined the edge of the dock and Remy leaned easily against one of the pylons in a dark suit that hugged his lithe form in all the right places. At his feet, a picnic basket sat on the plaid blanket spread at the end of the dock, alongside a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket.

"Bon nuit, chere." He met me halfway and brought my hands to his lips, his eyes drinking in the sight of me. "You're beautiful, Anna."

I gave him my best knockout smile, under my lashes with just a little pout. "Not so bad yourself, sugar." He smiled that devil smile and leaned in, but I bent my head back, teasing. "What is all this, Remy?"

His laugh was husky, warm enough I wondered if he'd already popped the cork on that champagne. "Just a little something I whipped up. Figured you'd appreciate me making you all my specialties."

"Can we start with dessert?"

Those eyes of his sparkled. "Depends. Did you bring your famous boysenberry pie?"

"No, sugar, but I brought something just as sweet…"

His lips found mine in the soft light of the candles. I still didn't know what this was between us, where we were goin', what the future held, but in his arms, I truly felt like anything was possible.

The End