The next morning, Rogue woke up with an incredible headache. Her CD player was still going. She silently cursed for putting it on the repeat setting before she had gone to sleep. Kitty was lying in her bed, a small smile on her face. Rogue wanted to go over and slug her. She shouldn't be smiling. Rob was dead.
She looked at the clock. It was eight. She had been sleeping for over twelve hours. She pulled some clean clothes out of the dresser and walked out the door and to the bathroom. She quickly changed, dumping her dirty stuff in a pile on the floor. She got a quick look at her face as she glanced in the mirror. Her hair was knotted and her makeup was smeared. She got a washcloth and wiped off her face. She'd go without makeup today. She didn't have to go to school today, she still had a couple weeks left in summer. She could go without her gothic look for once.
"Who are you and where's Rogue?" she heard Scott joking once she got to the dining room. She couldn't understand why he would be joking at a time like this. One of their friends was dead. Sure, he'd only been around for a few days, but still, he was dead. Shouldn't he be upset?
"Nah," Rogue said. She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and took a bite. The sugary sweet taste of a doughnut filled her mouth. She spit it back into a napkin and grabbed a bagel.
"What's up Rogue?" Jean asked. She was sitting beside Scott.
"Nothing," Rogue told her. She threw the offending doughnut into the trash in the corner and took a bite out of the bagel. The not so sweet taste comforted her. Why should she be treating herself to luxuries like doughnuts when Rob wouldn't ever eat again?
"Rogue, what's wrong?" asked Jean again. Jean wasn't somebody to let the conversation go. She could tell that Rogue was upset and she was going to do something about it.
"I said, nothing," Rogue said again, loudly. "Why are you so happy? Rob is dead."
"Oh." Jean gave Scott a look. "We'll leave you alone." The two of them got up and left the dining room. Rogue looked down at the bagel. She wasn't hungry anymore. She didn't feel like doing anything. She took her bagel and threw it as hard as she could across the room. It hit the wall with a satisfying thump and landed on the floor.
"Easy, Rogue," she heard Logan say. He stepped out of the doorway. "Throwing things isn't going to help anybody."
"Get away from me." Rogue said. She ran from the room and into the backyard. Evan was standing there, shooting hoops as if nothing had happened. As if Rob was some sort of distant memory. As if he hadn't nearly beaten Evan every time they had played one-on-one.
"What are you doing?" she yelled. "Rob is DEAD and you're playing basketball?" she ran away from the court and around the mansion, leaving Evan standing there, holding the ball. She continued running until she hit the spot where Rob had been laying yesterday. She sat down, leaning against the tree that Sabertooth had jumped out of and began to cry.
~
"Professor, you really should tell her." Jean said after she left the dining room that morning. Scott was standing with her. "That's somewhat mean."
"Rogue needs to learn," the Professor stated somewhat simply.
"She shouldn't have to learn like this." Jean protested. "You know something that she doesn't. You need to tell her."
"Rob's grandparents will be here to pick him up in a few hours, let's prepare the mansion," the Professor said, signally the conversation was over. Jean and Scott left the room and walked back towards the dining room. Rogue was gone and there was a bagel on the floor. Logan was sipping coffee by the window, reading the newspaper.
"You need to tell her, Red, nothing's going to be ok until you do," he said, not looking up. "Sometimes you have to go with your instincts and ignore those who tell you not to."
"I guess." Jean said. She left the room and walked to the front of the mansion where she could sense Rogue. Rogue looked up at her. Her makeup-less face was pale and hollow. It was streaked with tears.
"What?" she said, somewhat meanly. "Can't you people ever leave me alone?"
"There's something I need to show you." Jean said, She started back towards the mansion. Rogue started to follow behind her. Jean walked through the halls and towards the med. lab. Rogue stopped right outside of the door.
"I'm not going in there," she said.
"Yes you are," she pushed a few buttons on the door and then pushed Rogue into the room. Rob lay on one of the cots. He wasn't bleeding anymore. He had an IV taped to his arm.
"Why is that there? He's dead, he doesn't need that." Rogue said. Jean shook her head and silently pointed towards the heart monitor. The noise had been turned off, but Jean turned it back on. A steady, constant beeping sounded from the machine, instead of the long, continuous beep that Rogue had been expecting. She looked back at Rob's body and watched in awe as his chest moved shakily up and then down again. His eyes remained shut.
"What happened?" she asked. She looked at Jean. "How come nobody told me?" she demanded.
"Yesterday, you left before the rest of us. Ororo was able to get a heartbeat and perform the unthinkable. She said that there wasn't much hope, but she meant there still was some hope left. Logan then placed his hand on his arm and let him absorb his healing skills. If he had been completely dead, then he wouldn't have been able to, but he wasn't. Kitty's CPR probably saved his life. The Professor probably thought that you would be to overwhelmed if you knew. We contacted his grandparents yesterday. They're coming today and taking Rob home to recover in Massachusetts."
"You mean he's alive?" Rogue asked. She couldn't believe it. It had all looked so hopeless yesterday. But she hadn't been paying attention. She had let the little voice control her, tell her untrue facts. Rob was alive. He wasn't dead.
"Yes, he's alive. Rogue, he's alive. And he'll probably be fine." Jean took Rogue's arm. "We've got to go now. His grandparents will be here soon." Rogue took one last look at Rob's body and smiled. There was faith after all.
*************
Hey, it's me. I know, I know, I haven't done any notes like this before, but there is a first time for everything, right? Well anyway, he looked dead, now he isn't. I've had problems thinking of what I was going to do with him for awhile. I mean, first I wanted to kill him, then I didn't, then I did…Anyway, I'm hoping that his being alive is possible in real life, but even if it isn't, believe it for this story. Advanced medical treatment or something like that. Anyway, there are only a few parts left and I'm going to start a new story after that, so enjoy the ending scenes.
-Black Ice
