Chapter 37: Good Girl, Bad Boy

Gambit and Vanessa stood back to back in the train yard. His eyes glowed red with three charged cards in one hand and his staff in the other. Vanessa stood ready as the men circling them closed in. Her gun, out of ammo, was back in her holster.

"Get them!" yelled one of the men from somewhere in the dark.

Gambit unleashed his cards in one direction while men from the other lunged towards him. He struck out with his staff before they got in arms reach and grabbed more cards. Vanessa lashed out at her attackers with hands and feet. She was going to make them all pay for their hand in trafficking people and putting them in indentured slavery.

Not all the men they were fighting were 'Average Joes'. There were a number of them who were actually skilled combatants and it was these who were making it hardest on them. They worked together and anticipated attacks. More than once Vanessa ended up being overwhelmed only to be saved at the last second by Gambit. She wasn't sure what irked her more: the fact that she had needed rescuing or the fact that Gambit was such a far better combatant that she wondered if she was actually getting in his way. Still, she did get to rescue him a couple of times, so that made her feel a little better.

Gambit reached into his pocket for more cards and discovered he'd run out. He took his staff with both hands and renewed his attack. It had been a long time since he'd been in a fight so big he'd actually run out of cards. Adrenaline pumped through him and thrilled him. This was it. He was reasonably confident that they'd get out of this but he couldn't be certain and the possibility of deadly failure made him feel alive.

He charged up his staff and used it as a conduit to lightly charge the clothes of those attacking them—when he was actually able to make contact with the clothes. The charge wasn't enough to kill them, but they'd seen enough of Gambit's exploding cards to make them realise they were in trouble. They'd stop to get their clothes off, giving Gambit ample opportunity to finish them off.

In the end all fell to their feet or ran away. And as Gambit turned around to see if there were any left, his eyes locked with Vanessa's, who was doing the same thing. He took her face in his hands and kissed her firmly.

The moment was broken by the sound of sirens and Gambit pulled away to look in that direction.

"Sounds like our cue to go," he said.

"Right," Vanessa agreed.

With the thrill of battle still running through their veins, they ran for the perimeter closest to where Gambit's motorcycle was parked. They went through the same hole in the fence they'd entered through earlier and found his bike where they hid it under loose foliage.

The adrenaline wore off during the trip back to Vanessa's apartment and both started to feel tired as they headed inside. Regardless, neither one of them was thinking about how they'd just like to crash or shower, or how sore they thought they were going to be in the morning. They were far too busy thinking about the kiss.

"So," Vanessa said, closing the door behind her and somewhat relieved that her housemate was away for the weekend. "Umm, I think I'm going to go shower and then hit the hay."

"Alright," Gambit replied while tossing his coat over the back of a chair.

"Oh, umm, you didn't want to use the shower first, did you?" she asked, her eyes on his bare, muscular arms as he stretched them over his head.

"Nah, I can wait," he said, noticing her noticing him. "I might slack off and save it until morning."

"Alright," Vanessa said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear nervously. "Okay, well, I'll just go shower then."

"Okay," Gambit said as he sat down on the lounge.

"Okay," Vanessa repeated, remembered herself and managed to drag her eyes away from Gambit long enough to actually walk down the hallway to the bathroom.

Gambit grinned to himself as Vanessa went by and turned his head once she was past him to watch her. That Vanessa was an attractive woman hadn't been lost on him. Part of him was tempted to inquire if he could join her but the rest of him realised that after knowing each other for a couple of years now with no previous romantic interaction, it probably wasn't appropriate. Still, he wouldn't mind taking her into his arms again.

He heard the water begin to run and proceeded to strip down to his pants. He considered changing into the spare pair he had sitting in his bag in Vanessa's lounge room but decided she may have a point about showering before bed. He was slick and smelly from sweat. Had this been a hotel he might have gone through with skipping the shower but he didn't want to stink out Vanessa's home.

He busied himself with trivial things until he heard the shower end. A moment later a door opened and closed.

"Shower's yours if you want it," Vanessa's voice called down the hall.

"Thanks, I will," Gambit replied as he got off the lounge. "Is there a towel I can use?"

"Oh, umm, I'll just grab you one."

Gambit headed down the hall and reached Vanessa just as she was closing the linen cupboard. She was wrapped in a pale blue towel which was only just long enough to cover her backside. A blush filled her cheeks when she spotted him, and she held the top of her towel tight against her chest.

"Here," she said, clearing her throat awkwardly as she held out the clean towel she'd just retrieved.

"Merci," Gambit replied, accepting the towel and making a point to look at her eyes and nowhere else, as tempting as it was. She couldn't meet his eyes and was obviously embarrassed, but not enough to stop her from checking him out.

"Ahem, so, umm," she said, realising what she was doing and backing off towards her room. "I'll let you have that shower."

"Right. Thanks."

Vanessa dashed off and Gambit grinned to himself as he entered the bathroom. He was definitely right about asking to shower with her being a bad idea. She was way too shy to go for that and it probably would have earned him a slap across the face for his trouble. He put the towel over the railing, ditched the last of his clothing and got into the shower.

After a good thorough wash that resulted in him smelling like vanilla scented shower gel, Gambit emerged, dried himself off, and realised he left his pyjama pants in the lounge room. He shrugged to himself, grabbed his dirty clothes and wrapped the towel around his waist. If Vanessa saw him, well, it was only fair since he just saw her.

He returned to the lounge room with no sign of Vanessa. He grabbed his pyjama pants out of the bag he'd brought with him and was about to drop the towel when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Oh, umm..." Vanessa stammered.

"Oh hey, Nessie," Gambit said, turning his head to look at her. "Forgot to take my pants into the shower with me."

"Oh right umm," she said and pointed behind her while her eyes ran all over him. "I'll just uhhh..."

She didn't even bother with any more words, just turned her back and walked down the hall. Gambit quickly changed. That was close. As much as Gambit liked the idea of getting into bed with Vanessa he preferred to seduce women with words and romantic gestures, not by tastelessly exposing himself.

"Alright," he called, "it's safe now."

"Heh," Vanessa responded as she returned, avoiding his gaze. "Thanks. I'm just going to get some water and then I'm going to bed."

"Okay," Gambit replied.

He would have liked to have returned the checking out, but she was wrapped in a big thick dressing gown. The bottoms of a pair of pyjama pants peeked out from underneath.

"Did you want anything?" she asked as she headed into the nearby kitchen.

"Hmm," Gambit considered as he followed her in. "Well, there is something..."

Vanessa started as she felt Gambit's hand slide around her waist and she stopped in the middle of setting a glass on the bench. Gambit moved in, lowering his head towards hers.

"Or rather, someone..." he murmured as he gently caressed her cheek with his other hand.

Vanessa caught her breath, her eyes on his lips. Gambit fancied he felt her tremble a little. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss. She stood there limply for a moment then slowly slid her hands up his bare arms and kissed him back ever so slightly.

Gambit found her shyness adorable and made a mental note not to go too fast. It looked like there'd be no sex tonight, but Gambit was okay with that. Not all women were inclined to having sex on a whim, after all, and sex or the lack thereof didn't influence his attraction to Vanessa.

And he was very much attracted to her.

The kiss intensified and he pulled her closer into him. Vanessa's hands reached his shoulders and she seemed uncertain as to what to do with them, whether to move them around his neck or onto his chest. Gambit was about to help her make that decision when she broke off the kiss. She turned away from him and avoided his eyes.

Gambit cleared his throat. He was confident that Vanessa was attracted to him too but it seemed she wasn't comfortable about acting on it. Why, he couldn't tell. There were too many possibilities, everything from being naturally shy, to having a problem with mixing business and pleasure, to already having a boyfriend. Come to think about it, while his love life had come up occasionally, hers hadn't. Gambit frowned and wondered if there was something more sinister to this: Vanessa did fight very hard to end sexual slavery and other related crimes, and she had told him she was a sucker for a good sob story. Had someone taken advantage of her in the past?

"Ah," Gambit said, deciding one of them had to say something. "Boyfriend?"

"Hmm? Oh, umm, no," Vanessa replied, busying herself with getting her glass of water.

Gambit hesitated, but not being able to think of anything else, and Vanessa being somewhat unhelpful with cues, he asked: "Did I do something wrong?"

Vanessa looked down at her glass.

"No," she said. "It's just... it's not you, it's me, okay?"

Gambit mentally winced while Vanessa drank.

"I really hate it when women say that to me," he said. "They almost always say it to me when we're breaking up because the long-distance nature of our relationship has become an issue. I'm not stupid. I know it's really me."

Vanessa stopped drinking with her glass half full.

"Well," she said tersely. "This time it really is me. We're not even together to break up."

There was a long silence while Vanessa finished drinking.

"Can we be together?" Gambit asked quietly.

Finally Vanessa looked at him. "Together as in...?"

"Would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow night?" Gambit asked, watching her carefully. "Or do you have a problem mixing business and pleasure?"

"Yes, no..." She sighed. "I don't know. Where's this coming from? We were fine and then you... you kissed me at the train depot. I mean... that was just adrenaline talking or something, right?"

"Well, adrenaline might have been the trigger, chère, but I am impulsive sometimes and I do find you very attractive," Gambit replied, and put on his meekest voice. "I'd hoped the feeling might have been mutual."

Vanessa chewed the inside of her bottom lip.

"I..." she started to say, stopped, started to walk away down the hall, and then before she could move completely out of sight, returned. "See the thing is... This is kinda embarrassing..."

Gambit waited patiently while she returned to not quite looking at him. Vanessa took a deep breath.

"I've never been kissed before," she said so quietly that Gambit almost didn't hear her.

Gambit stared. Vanessa glared at him.

"Don't give me that look," she said irritably.

"Oh, uh, désolé, ma chère," Gambit replied. "I'm just amazed. How does a woman as strong and beautiful and loving as you almost reach thirty and never been kissed?"

Virgin wouldn't have surprised him at this point, but never been kissed? The idea was unfathomable.

"I don't know what to tell you," she said. "I don't really get out much, I guess. I spend most of my time on my charity work."

"High school?"

"I used to beat up bullies for bullying others," Vanessa stated. "In hindsight I think I might have intimidated my crushes."

Gambit chuckled and closed the distance between them.

"Ah, balls mustn't have dropped yet," he said slyly.

"Remy—"

"I can picture you doing that by the way," he went on, taking her hand in his. "You've been sticking up for the downtrodden all your life, haven't you?"

"Well, most of it I guess," Vanessa replied, looking down at their joined hands. "Everyone's friend. Nobody's girlfriend."

She swallowed as Gambit stroked her cheek.

"So let me change that," he said softly. "I like you, Nessie. I'm not asking out of pity or because I want to get you in the sack. As I said, you're a strong, beautiful, loving woman. And I'm in a place with you where I can actually be honest about a few things that I always have to lie my ass off to everyone else about."

"Oh?" Vanessa inquired. "Like you being a thief?"

"Yeah, the law-abiding girlfriends don't always go for that," Gambit replied wryly. "The thief or the lying about it part."

Vanessa cracked a smile which Gambit was relieved to see.

"Well, I can see why that might be a deterrent," she said and shook her head. "I never thought I might be attracted to the bad boy type."

"Funny," Gambit replied, brushing her lips with his thumb. "I didn't think I'd be attracted to the good girl type."

Vanessa laughed.

"So, how about that date?" he asked.

"Okay," Vanessa agreed. "I think I'd like that."

Gambit was nervous. He didn't often feel nervous when going out on dates, but this time he felt a certain amount of pressure to make sure that Vanessa's first date ever was a good one. He wished he had given himself more time, but he supposed he didn't really have it since he was only staying for the weekend.

Vanessa had never been one for dressing up and the only dress she had was the one she'd worn at the Stark Charity Christmas party a couple of years ago. The same one she wore when she and Gambit met for the second time. She envied Gambit when he 'picked her up' that evening. He hadn't brought much luggage with him but it turned out he could pull off everything from casual, combat, and formalwear from his limited number of clothes.

"These are for you," Gambit said, holding out a medium bouquet of flowers. "And may I say you look beautiful tonight?"

"Oh, umm, thanks," Vanessa replied as she accepted the flowers. She didn't think anyone did that anymore. She was also hoping he wouldn't notice that it was the same dress. "Umm, I guess I should find a vase..."

Gambit grinned and held out a vase he'd located earlier. Vanessa grinned back.

"You think of everything, I see," she said as she settled the flowers inside.

"The vase thing tends to come up often," Gambit replied and held out his elbow to her. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

As they departed the apartment, Vanessa wondered if she should have worn pants after all. Gambit only had his motorcycle and she didn't really care to rifr that in her dress. As it happened, however, Gambit bypassed the garage altogether and guided her outside where a horse and carriage was waiting.

"Oh, you're joking," Vanessa said, staring at it.

"Not at all," Gambit replied and led her to the carriage

They climbed in and once they were settled, their driver took off.

"This is a little much, don't you think?" Vanessa said, not so much complaining as she was concerned Gambit was going to be overly romantic.

"Not at all," Gambit replied, taking her hand in his. "We had three options for transport tonight; my motorcycle, your car, and public transport. Didn't know how you'd feel about taking my bike on a date and taking you out in your own car seems a little tasteless. So, classy public transport it was."

Vanessa laughed.

"I like how you threw the 'classy' part in there," she said.

"I don't do buses."

Their ride stopped at the restaurant Gambit had booked them at. Gambit tipped the driver generously and then they headed inside. Before too long they were seated at their table.

"Huh," Vanessa mused as she pursued the menu. "I can't believe we haven't done this before."

"Gone on a date?" Gambit asked glancing up at her from his own menu.

"Had dinner at a restaurant. Been to plenty of cafes, though."

"Heh, that's true," he replied. "Well, I guess we've always been too busy playing vigilante to stop and have fancy dinners."

"I suppose we were at that," she said. "Hmm... I can't decide. Do you know what you want yet?"

They chatted about the options until their server arrived to take their order.

"You know," Vanessa said thoughtfully after their server departed. "It's occurred to me that I don't really know all that much about you. Like, I know I've been calling you Remy, but... Well, is that even your real name?"

Gambit blinked and then grinned.

"Heh, I'd forgotten that you thought it was an alias," he said. "Remy LeBeau is my real name."

Vanessa frowned. "Is it?"

"Sure. Why?" Gambit asked. "You don't believe me?"

"Well, it's more that the Remy LeBeau I looked up is in his 50s," she pointed out. "I could believe you're older than you look, but not that much older."

"Oh, well," Gambit said, his mind racing to find a way to explain it without resorting to a blatant lie. He didn't want to lie to her on their first date. "It's a family name. You probably looked up Remy LeBeau Junior, right?"

"Yeah, oh, you're like Remy LeBeau the Third, huh?" Vanessa asked.

"Something like that."

Vanessa considered him for a moment. "That's a very non-committal response. I thought you said you could be honest with me?"

"About some things, not everything," he admitted, hesitated and went on with: "My real name is Remy LeBeau. Remy LeBeau Junior is an alias and I can't tell you who it belongs to. And there are going to be people who will be pissed with me if they find out I even told you that much."

"People, huh? Fellow thieves?" Vanessa eyed him for a moment. "You're part of some organisation? Family business?"

Gambit nodded. "A mix of both. There's a few families in the organisation."

"Well, that would explain why you're so good so young. I've heard that thief families often train their kids in the business," Vanessa said. "I looked up McCarthy. Seems that their systems are normally very difficult to break into. Plenty of people try, very few ever succeed."

"Yeah, that's true," Gambit said. "Look, umm, all cards on the table, I guess. I like you and I want to see where things go between us. But there are things that I can't tell you about myself. Not because I don't trust you or anything, but because it doesn't just affect me. And my family's not going to be happy with me if they find out I'm dating an ex-cop. Heck, they're going to be annoyed that I even started a professional association with an ex-cop."

"Really?" Vanessa asked dubiously. "Do they feel the same way about ex-dirty-cops?"

"Actually, yes," Gambit said with a nod, much to Vanessa's surprise. "Loyalty is pretty important to us. We won't even deal with dirty cops if we can avoid it. They made a commitment, they should stick with it."

Vanessa made a thoughtful noise, and the conversation paused while the server returned with their drinks. Vanessa took a sip of hers as the server departed.

"So, I'm not going to be good enough for your family, huh?" she asked musingly.

"The opposite, actually," Gambit replied, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "They'll be worried you're going to be a good influence on me. Especially with you encouraging me to actually actively help people stuck in sexual slavery."

"Wait, what?" Vanessa asked.

"They normally don't mind who I rob, as long as I don't piss off the wrong people," Gambit said. "They don't want a bounty to end up on my head or something, so they give me a hard time about helping people like that. They're worried about me. Can't blame them for that, really."

Vanessa shook her head.

"This is a really twisted conversation," she said. "I can understand that people might be worried about someone they love getting hurt if they start engaging in vigilantism, but this is kinda... yeah, twisted."

Gambit grinned and reached across the table to take her hand. "Yeah, it is a little. Which is why I'm going to hide you from my family as long as possible."

Vanessa considered that for a moment, then asked tentatively: "They're not going to put a bounty on my head are they?"

"No," Gambit replied firmly, knowing with absolute certainty that it was true. "They'd only do that if they thought that I'd told you any family secrets, which is why I can't be honest about everything. We prefer to steal stuff, but we'll do whatever it takes to protect our secrets."

"Alright," Vanessa said. "In that case I want you to promise me something. Don't lie to me. If there's something you can't tell me, then say that you can't tell me. I can't do this relationship if I feel I can't trust you to be honest."

At those words Gambit felt like he had a burden lifted from him.

"I promise," he said, feeling good about it. "I always did hate lying to my girlfriends. You can't really build a real, meaningful relationship with someone if you're always lying to them."

"Exactly," Vanessa agreed, and lifted her glass. "And I might be a dateless loser-"

"You're not a loser."

"—but I have standards, thank you very much. I'd rather have no romantic relationship at all than one based on lies."

"Hmm, I guess my standards aren't that high," Gambit replied wryly. "But then I have to deal with all the consequences of having low standards so it evens out, I guess."

"Low standards huh?" Vanessa repeated with a smirk at him.

"Don't twist that into some imagined insult," Gambit responded, giving her a Look. "I wouldn't have dated nearly so many women if I had high standards, but that doesn't mean I can't recognise a quality lady when I meet one."

"Charmer," Vanessa replied, then pointed at him. "If you tell me I'm out of your league, I'll smack you."

Gambit opened his mouth to reply, smirked, and shut his mouth again with a chuckle.

"What?" she asked.

"I was gonna make a comment about how maybe I was into that kind of thing, but I thought better of it," Gambit said, grinning at her. "And then I ended up making a comment anyway."

"I noticed."

Conversation moved onto other things and both were pleased they managed to sort out some parameters for their relationship. It seemed to go without saying that this wouldn't be the last date they would share too.

After dinner Gambit took Vanessa out dancing. She was dubious at first, since she didn't dance, but Gambit insisted she would do fine.

"Besides, I saw you dance last night," he said.

"Huh?" she asked with a frown. "I didn't dance last night."

He grinned at her. "You fight with such grace, it looked like one to me."

"If your idea of dancing involves such violence, don't blame me if I tread on your feet."

Despite her words, Vanessa didn't tread on Gambit's toes at all. Finally they headed back to her apartment.

"And this, I suppose, concludes our date," Gambit said. "Normally I'd either leave or we'd jump into bed together, but since I'm staying here and I'm presuming that you're not the kind of lady who puts out on the first date, I guess neither of those are happening."

"No, neither are," Vanessa replied, hesitated, then wrapped her arms around his neck. "But I wouldn't mind some more of that kissing."

Gambit slid his hands about her waist.

"Well, in that case..."

Blake slid his arm around Rogue while she looked through the photo slideshow Kitty had sent her. Rogue sighed wistfully seeing Kitty and Piotr gathered around Meredith in a hospital bed with a newborn baby in her arms. There were more photos: Kitty and Piotr taking turns holding their first grandchild, the rest of their children getting a look in, Meredith proudly holding her baby girl with her husband at her side.

Rogue sniffed and Blake gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Everyone's growing up on me again," she said softly. "Kitty's got a granddaughter. Sienna's pregnant and won't be coming back up..."

"Well, maybe she'll come back up when the kid's old enough and then you'll have two people to hug," Blake suggested.

"If you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working," Rogue said.

She was happy for Meredith and her family, and for Sienna as well. She tried so hard not to let it get to her, but it was just so easy to feel like her life was stagnant. So many of her friends had kids, and now the first grandchild had arrived. She couldn't have that, and her apparent agelessness suggested that she would outlive all her friends.

Blake opened his mouth to respond and then hesitated. Although he got why Kitty would want to send Rogue picture of her new granddaughter, he was annoyed about it. Any time one of her friends had a baby or celebrated some other family milestone, it always made Rogue broody. He tried so hard to help her out of her funk, but more often than not, no matter what he tried, he only ever seemed to make things worse.

Instead of speaking, her shuffled closer to her and held her close. This, it seemed, was the only thing he could do for her.

"Madame," James said, before either one could say anything, "there's an incoming call for you from Lorna Dane."

"Oh really?" Rogue asked in surprise. Although she still spoke to Magneto once a month, she hadn't heard from Lorna in years. "Put her through here, please."

"Should I go?" Blake asked. He wasn't sure who Lorna was, but had a vague idea he'd heard the name somewhere before.

"I'll let you know," Rogue replied and Lorna's face appeared on the screen where photos of Kitty's new granddaughter had just been. "Lorna, long time no see."

The mature green-haired woman gave Rogue a nod.

"It has," she said, and her solemn eyes glanced towards Blake. "Who's your friend?"

"This is my boyfriend, Blake," Rogue said with a note of pride on her voice that made Blake feel happy to hear.

"Oh, you have a boyfriend now?" Lorna asked, guessing from the hazmat suit that he was wearing that Rogue was still having power control problems. "That's great. How long have you been together?"

"Umm," Rogue considered for a moment. "Five or six years, I think."

"Wow," Lorna said softly. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Rogue replied. "So, what can I do for you?"

Lorna took a deep breath and went on in a tone of voice that suggested she'd been saying the words all day: "I regret to inform you that Magneto passed away last night."

That was about the time that Blake realised where he'd heard the name "Lorna Dane" before. She was Magneto's daughter and heir, the one who would one day take over the leadership of Asteroid M. This was an official call. He was sitting in on an official call. He probably shouldn't be here.

"Oh!" Rogue exclaimed. "Oh, no, I'm so sorry to hear that. May I ask how?"

"Peacefully in his sleep, thank goodness," Lorna replied, sounding like she was fighting to keep herself composed. "It was really unexpected, well, discounting the fact that he was a hundred years old, I suppose."

Rogue shook her head. "Just because you know it's going to happen doesn't make it any easier."

"No, it doesn't." Lorna took a deep breath. "The funeral will be on the 15th. I realise you probably won't be able to come, but I'd like you to say something if you can. You're pretty much the only friend Dad had who's still alive."

"Still not sure how that happened," Rogue replied wryly, not bothering to argue that Magneto must have had other friends. Magneto simply wasn't the kind of person who made friends easily and generally preferred to keep a professional distance from his subordinates.

"I don't think he did either," Lorna said with a sniff and a slight smile.

"Well, I think you're right about me not being able to attend, although I'll do my best to get there," Rogue said. "Would you accept a video message?"

Lorna paused briefly. "I can't believe I didn't think of that myself. The whole thing's going to get televised anyway."

"Well, you've had a lot on your mind and a very busy day to boot, I'm sure," Rogue replied sympathetically.

"I have, but fortunately this is the last call I have to make. I mean, I guess you of all people probably deserved to hear first after the people of Asteroid M, but...I selfishly saved you for last," and Lorna lost her battle to keep composed as tears filled her eyes with the next words: "I knew your condolences wouldn't be empty words."

"Oh, Lorna," Rogue replied, dashing up to the screen. "I'm so sorry. I would offer you my shoulder to cry on it I could."

"I know... I know we didn't have the best relationship, but he was my Dad," Lorna wept. "I loved him."

"And he loved you too," Rogue said with absolute certainty. "I know it."

Lorna couldn't reply right away, she was so choked up on tears.

"Thank you," she said finally, after she took a moment to blow her nose and wipe away her tears with a nearby tissue from a box that was placed out of camera range.

"I'm only speaking the truth, sugar," Rogue said.

Lorna nodded. "I... I should go. But I'll make sure you get to see the broadcast if you can't make it."

"I'd appreciate it. And Lorna? If you ever want someone to talk to, you can call me any time."

"Thank you."

The call was soon ended and Rogue sat back down in silence next to Blake. Blake put his arm back around her, wondering what would be the best thing to say. After all her concerns about her friends moving on with their lives and having families, Blake was very worried about how'd she take the death of one of them. (Even if he had some trouble with the idea that Rogue had been friends with Magneto of all people).

"You okay?" he asked finally.

Rogue took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I think I am," she said slowly. "I mean, it is a bit of a shock, and I'm going to miss him, but... I'll be okay."

"You sure?" Blake asked cautiously.

Rogue turned her head to regard him.

"Yeah, I'm not going to get depressed about this one," she said, realising what he was concerned about. "This day would have come even if I was a normal girl with a normal lifespan. And oddly enough, if I was normal, I doubt Erik and I even would have become friends."

Her eyes flickered towards the screen, which had returned to the pictures of Kitty's family.

"Funny how things work out," she murmured, then grunted. "Anyway, I should probably get onto Fury and see if I can badger him into letting me attend."

"You really think you can talk him into letting you go?" Blake asked dubiously.

"Not a chance," Rogue replied cheerfully. "I don't have any teleportation abilities that will take me that far, so that'll mean physical transport, and I really don't think I should be away from the prison that long, especially when I'll be out of James' range. But Fury needs to win one every now and then."

Blake laughed.

Rogue was one of the privileged few outside of Asteroid M to see the broadcast of Magneto's funeral. It irked her, but she was unsurprised that the eulogies given were rather political in nature. It was a state affair, and Magneto did keep people at a distance.

"And finally," said Alex, who was conducting this portion of the service, "a word from Rogue."

Rogue's face appeared on the screen and she found it a little weird to be seeing her face and hearing the speech she'd made not that long ago.

"When Erik and I first met he tried to kill me. He had no grudge against me, I was simply a pawn in his latest plan. And it wasn't even my death he was after so much as that would be a by-product of what he had planned. I was rescued in time but I will always bear the scars from that day," she said, giving her white streak of hair a gentle tug. "Years later, I, isolated from others by my own mutant powers, and he, isolated from others by his own actions, formed a highly unlikely friendship. We had common ground in engineering. We played chess. We spoke of so many things.

"There were many things we did not agree on, but I could respect him because he was a man of conviction. A man who did what he did because he honestly believed it was the right thing to do. More than that, he did it for his family, for his people, not for personal power or glory. I won't pretend I approved of his methods, but his heart for his people was so big it wasn't hard to see why he was willing to do whatever it took to protect them. He didn't need the approval or love of others as long as he knew that his people were safe from another holocaust.

"I don't know if Erik 'Magneto' Lehnsherr was a good man, but I do know that he was a great man. He was my nemesis and my mentor, but he was also my friend and I'm honoured to have known him. Fare thee well, Erik, may you rest in peace."