A/N: Hey all, we're coming to close. Here's one of the last few chapters. Hope you enjoy. Please R&R! Thanks
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men.
Chapter 55: Reconciliation:
Rogue rushed through the halls of the institute. A million thoughts were rushing through her head. But the biggest, brightest thought in her mind was this was all her fault! She didn't know what happened but she did know that Scott had gotten hurt after she stupidly broke up with him. What had she been thinking? She had willingly pushed him away. Who pushed away an amazing man like Scott? She wouldn't anymore. When he woke up she would tell him, she would tell him how much she loved him, how much she wanted him. And how she'd never let him go.
But, he just had to be all right!
Rogue rushed into the infirmary intent on finding Scott immediately. Her eyes were blurry and she couldn't really see where she was going, but that was ok.
The next thing she knew she was being wrapped in a pair of strong arms. She fought against their hold; she had to get to Scott.
"Hey there, kid," she heard Logan's gruff voice say. "Slow down, ok."
She paused in her thrashing and looked up to see that it was Logan who'd grabbed her.
"Logan?" she said confused; wasn't he supposed to be with Lyss? "You're here?"
"Yeah, I heard what Jean did, so I hitched a ride with Hank and Kurt," Logan explained.
"Jean?" Rogue said, still utterly confused.
Logan frowned. "I thought the Professor told you?"
She shook her head. "He just said that Scott was hurt. He didn't say that Jean did it."
This was all her fault. She'd pushed him to Jean.
"Where is he? I need to see him," Rogue said urgently.
Logan led her to a room near by. It was occupied by Hank and the Professor, but she had eyes only for the man lying on the bed.
Rogue rushed inside, going to Scott's bedside. His left arm was bandaged from shoulder to just below the elbow.
She picked up his right hand, giving it a squeeze. "Is he… is he all right?" she stuttered out.
"His arm sustained some severe burns, and he's got a broken rib," Hank answered, solemnly.
She couldn't help the whimper that came out.
"But why isn't he awake?" Rogue asked alarmed.
"I gave him some morphine to deal with the pain. He should be waking up soon," Hank assured her.
Rogue nodded. She let out a sigh. "How did this happen?"
"As far as I can tell," the Professor started. "He'd gone to confront Jean. Something he said must have provoked her, and she… well, she did this."
Rogue frowned. She'd told Scott to go to Jean.
"Rogue," Hank began gently. "You should be in bed. You're still weak."
She laughed out loud. Scott was the one who was hurt, they didn't need to worry about her not when she'd caused this.
Rogue felt Hank place his hands gently on her shoulders from behind, attempting to lead her out.
"No!" she protested, shrugging his hands off.
"Rogue—"
"No, I'm not going anywhere, not until he wakes up," she explained.
Hank let out a sigh. "All right, but you do need to lie down. I'm going to roll in a bed for you."
He started for the door. She heard Logan say, "Thanks Hank."
She could hear the worry in his voice and when she looked at him she could see he was watching her intently.
"I'll be fine, Logan, when Scott's fine," she assured him.
Logan let out a snort indicating that he wasn't sure that he believed her. She wasn't sure if she believed herself either. If Scott woke up and couldn't forgive her idiocy, she wasn't sure what she would do.
"I'm going to have a word with Jean," Logan said starting for the door.
Rogue shot him a panicked look. If she'd done this to the man she loved, what would she do to Logan? She opened her mouth to protest, but the Professor beat her to it.
"Are you sure that's wise Logan?" the Professor started. "I've increased the power on her inhibitor, but Jean is a powerful mutant…"
Logan gave the man a grimace. "I can take care of myself, Chuck."
"Just…" Rogue breathed out. "Be careful."
Logan nodded at her, giving her an unreadable look and answered, "You too."
Rogue wanted to yell after him, tell him that it was Scott that needed to be careful not her. But he was already gone. That left her alone with Scott and the Professor and she really wanted him to leave so she could beg for Scott's forgiveness.
"This isn't your fault, Rogue," the Professor began gently.
"Yes, it is," she replied harshly. "I'm the one who pushed him away, pushed him to Jean and look what happened. If I'd just accepted that he didn't want Jean anymore he wouldn't be hurt. This is entirely my fault."
The Professor rolled towards her to put a hand on her arm, an attempt to comfort her.
"Oh Rogue, you and Scott, you've been put in a horrible position, through no fault of your own. How could any of us have predicted that Jean was alive?"
"We should have," Rogue said illogically.
"But we didn't," the Professor countered. "But you and Scott's love for each other does not go invalidated because she is alive, Rogue. What you two feel for each other is real and pure and important. Don't forget that."
He was right. She had been an idiot before. But she wouldn't be again. She turned to give him a small half smile. "I won't," she answered.
The Professor smiled back. "Now, I'm going to talk to Logan, but let me know if you need anything."
She nodded and watched him leave before turning back to Scott.
"Scott," she began, squeezing his hand tight. "It's me, Rogue. I'm here. I love you so much, ok. I was wrong before, I need you."
She let out a sigh. She'd stay there until he woke up and could respond.
Logan walked into the holding cell area to see Jean sitting on the edge of her bed. Machines were hooked up to her and he assumed they were the ones helping to damper her powers.
"Logan," Jean started in that voice that was so hers. "This is a pleasant surprise."
But her eyes told him he wasn't speaking with Jean.
Logan walked towards her particular cell, without a word he hit some buttons on the key pad next to it. The force-field dematerialized and he entered the cell. Once inside, the force-field came back up.
"Daring…" Jean breathed out in a husky voice.
"Hello Jean," he greeted grimly.
He crossed his arms across his chest, eyeing her carefully. He would have flinched when her eyes switched back to the emerald green ones he was so familiar with, but didn't, because he knew that was exactly what she wanted.
"Hello Logan," she replied. She stood up off the bed and began to walk towards him. She halted abruptly when the shackles around her wrists pulled back.
"Take these off of me."
He gave her a 'you're crazy' look which she was. But…
"Logan, you know I'm fine now," she added to his surprise.
He barely held in his snort of incredulity. She really was nuts. But he didn't want to anger her. So he settled on saying, "Sorry, Jean, we don't really know that."
"You think I'd hurt the people I care about," Jean scoffed. "The people I love?"
He shrugged. "Yeah," he answered and then continued on sarcastically, "You loved Scott too and you gave him a nice warm welcome."
"I'm sorry about Scott. I wasn't quite myself," she paused, looking down demurely. He could almost believe her. Almost… "But I would never hurt you. You've always had a place in my heart, you know?"
"I know."
"What about me, you cared about me too," Jean conversed casually.
"I loved you," he admitted.
"Loved?" There was an edge of darkness to her voice, which was so not Jean. "You've moved on… to my cousin. Who knew Uncle Richard had such a colourful life before Aunt Lizzie."
So she knew all about Lyss. That didn't really surprise him. Jean was supposed to be an all powerful mutant. Jean had probably felt Lyss close by when she'd awakened at Alkali Lake and latched onto her. The Jean part of her was looking for family, but the Phoenix part of her only wanted to use Lyss.
"Are you sure you're with who you're supposed to be with? As I remember…We did have a spark… a fire between us…."
She began to lean into him, getting close. He didn't take a step back.
"We did," he agreed.
"Care to see if we still do?" Jean questioned, moving closer, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He leaned forward, his lips inches from hers. A self-satisfied smirk overtook her features.
"Let's cut the crap," he said harshly, pulling her arms away from him. He held her at arms length. "You're not Jean."
His eyes widened in surprise when she wrenched out of his grasp and started laughing. The laugh was pure evil.
When she looked at him again the flaming eyes were back.
"That was too easy," she bit out. "Jean is gone. Only the Phoenix remains. And make no mistake, I will get out of here and I will burn this world to a crisp, starting with your precious Lyss."
Logan lunged angrily at the woman he once loved. He was cut short when he heard his name being shouted.
"Logan!"
He turned to see that the Professor had entered the holding area.
"Professor," Logan growled out. "Jean's gone. If we hold onto this… this thing," He pointed at Jean's body and she just chuckled, infuriating him all the more. "She's just going to try to kill us again."
The Professor shook his head. He rolled to the key pad and entered a code. "Come out now, Logan."
Logan let out an infuriated growl but did as told. The force-field went back up behind him. He watched Jean retake her seat. She sat there, silently watching them.
"Jean is still there, I've seen her, Rogue's seen her," the Professor explained. "We can save her."
A scream from behind them told them that the Phoenix disagreed. "She's gone!"
The Professor paused putting a hand to his temple. Logan assumed he was using his power on Jean, as she began to close her eyes.
They walked out of the holding cells.
"She's dangerous," Logan gritted out.
"Yes," the Professor agreed. "But she's still Jean."
"How are you going to get her back?" Logan inquired. "How are you going to make sure she doesn't come back?"
"I'm going to help Jean fight the Phoenix. We'll trap her, like we did before," the Professor assured. "Emma will help."
"Is she awake?" he asked, surprised.
"Woke up this morning. As soon as she's up to it we will begin."
"In the meanwhile," Logan said incredulously. "Get some extra locks on this place…"
Scott's eyes felt heavy, like something weighed down on them. He wanted to wake up. He felt like it was time to wake up, but for some reason his eyes didn't want to cooperate. With all his might he lifted a hand to his face; he had to be sure his glasses were there before he gave it his all. Yes, they were there.
He tried again, once, twice, before, finally, his eye lids cooperated. They fluttered open and he could see that he was staring straight up at the red-tinted ceiling that wasn't his room's ceiling. For a minute, he couldn't remember what had happened. Was he still at the Hellfire Club? Then, as he attempted to move around, he felt an intense pain shoot down his arm.
"Scott?" a voice wondered out loud.
And that's when he realized someone was holding his hand. "Rogue?" he hoped, before looking to his right.
But before he could confirm that it was Rogue, a pair of lips crashed over his to kiss him fiercely, hungrily. He relaxed into the kiss knowing exactly who those lips belonged to.
After a minute, she pulled back to smile at him. He returned the smile. When tears pricked the corner of her eyes he gave her a confused look.
"Rogue?"
And then it all came back to him. Jean was back; they'd fought her and had brought her home. He and Rogue had fought about her, about Jean. Rogue had sent him away… but she was here, now.
"Rogue—" he started, but she cut him off.
"Oh God, Scott," she moaned out. "I was such an idiot! I can't believe what I said… and then, and then… you go and get hurt. It's all my fault! I'm so sorry, Scott. Please, please forgive me."
Finally, she seemed to pause for breath. She was so frantic, so rushed that he honestly didn't catch her every word.
He gave her an amused grin. "Rogue, I really didn't understand a word you just said." She seemed about to reiterate, but he held a hand up. "All I need to know, Rogue, is if you love me."
When she once again pressed her lips to his in a searing kiss he knew the answer to that question.
He was so glad that she'd come to her senses. They had a lot to talk about, but at least she knew she belonged with him now.
Well that's it for this one. So, I'm writing ahead for this one and I'm coming close to writing the final scenes. I've got to admit, I'm a bit sad. I've been writing this forever it seems. It's going to be strange not having to update it.
Anyways, thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing: CraZy-InsanNe995; xmen4life; Recovering4life; and Ryromaniac.
If anyone's interested in my X-men Evolution fics, I'm considering starting a second sequel to my To Touch series (To Touch, Confused Couples). If you're interested or not let me know through my poll on my profile page. Thanks.
I'll be updating soon!
