The Tree
The Mirror
Rogue opened her eyes to find herself still lying on her bedroom floor. The room was still dark, and her body was cold, but she hardly noticed. Right now, she felt as though she could fly even without her powers. For the first time she could remember, she truly felt free. She wanted to turn cartwheels down the halls screaming "Hallelujah!" over and over and kissing anyone who might find them self in her path. She was that happy.
What a turn around from earlier this evening, she thought to herself.
But she had some things to take care of first. She looked at the clock. 11:42. She had felt as though she had spent hours in the recesses of her mind, and was amazed when she realized that it had been a mere forty minutes since she had made it to her room from the MedLab. As she made it over to the bed stand to pull out the paper bag full of stolen goods and set it on the bed, she marveled at how fast the mind works. She passed the mirror on her dresser as she turned from the bed. Normally, she didn't give too much thought to how she looked, but tonight, Remy stopped her.
The moon full had risen and was spilling light in through her window to play upon her hair and caress her pale skin. The sight really was glorious, and she could hear Remy's thoughts at the sight of her in the mirror, some of which were less innocent than others. For the most part, though, he expressed to her how beautiful he thought she was, inside and out. He was truly awe-stricken by what he saw in her.
She had never really thought of herself as being beautiful. Couldn't let herself believe that she was beautiful. If she was, she would only attract men and end up hurting them with her absorbing powers. Or at least that's what she had told herself to the point where she had completely embraced the notion. Besides, she had always believed that true beauty lies within, and she knew she was a mess there. Truthfully, her failure to reorganize her own beauty had stemmed from her horrible lack of self-esteem. She understood that now. She was looking at herself from his eyes, and new eyes of her own, and she began to see what he had been trying to tell her since the day they met. She was beautiful. She could acknowledge that now, but in a self-confident way, not an arrogant way.
Looking herself over in the mirror, she also realized she was still in that green evening dress. She set the bag down, and proceeded to carefully remove the dress without wrinkling it any more than she already had. Her shoes and panty hoes followed. Rogue then pulled on the first pair of boxers she saw and a black baby-t the read "StrangeLittleGirl" in red letters across the front. Remy had bought it for her a concert they had been to recently (or rather, that she had dragged him to, but that he had ended up enjoying anyways) and she thought it was strangely appropriate.[1] Making a point of going barefooted and barehanded, she continued out the still dark room into the hall with the brown bag.
Third time I've been down here tonight, Rogue thought to herself as she entered the MedLab. The other X-Men had made their way down there. Ororo was seated at Remy's side, holding his limp hand while Hank was still bumbling about with something or other (or rather, ten some things). The others were carrying on a conversation she never knew the subject of because her presence interrupted it. She didn't seem to notice that she had become the center of attention, though – her gazed was fixed on the prone figure lying in the hospital bed. Bobby broke the silence first.
"Hey Rogue. How you doin'?" he asked cautiously.
"Wonderful!" she replied. The huge grin on her face that followed the statement utterly confounded Iceman, and the baffled look on his face was priceless. But before he could think of something to say, Logan spoke up.
"What's in the bag darlin'?"
"Oh!" she said, as though she had just remembered something, and made her way over to where Hank was.
"Yes?" the blue mutant asked her. Just then, she became acutely aware of what she was doing and extremely self-conscience of all the eyes staring at her. She had been so bold walking in, but now that it was coming down to it, she felt so shameful of her actions. By handing the bag over to its rightful owner, she would have to face what she had nearly done and she wasn't sure if she was ready to do that. It suddenly seemed as though there were a bowling ball in her stomach and a desert in her mouth. The old sensations of her courage selling out on her began to overwhelm her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in.
No, gal, she told herself. That was the old you that couldn't face it – that wouldn't risk embarrassment in exchange for truth. You've moved beyond that, now.
"Rogue? Are you feeling quite all right?" Beast interrupted her thoughts.
"Yeah, Ah'm fine, sugah. Just needed a second to gather my wits." He gave her a puzzling look. "Ah believe these belong to you. Ah'm sorry Ah took 'em without askin'. It was wrong a' me to do so."
He took a peek inside the bag.
"Oh my stars and gar –" he looked up to the truly apologetic expression on her face, and he realized that she had meant her last statement on more just one level. She was ready for anything from him, his wrath, his judgment, anything.
"That's quite alright, Rogue. Thank you for retuning it. Are you sure you're all right though?"
His tone was genuinely worried. Shoulda know better, gal. After all, this is Hank McCoy. Can't deny being more than a little relived, though.
"Yeah, sugah, Ah am, an gettin' better by the minute," she answered. Rogue then turned to the rest of the group. "Ah owe you all an apology, though. Fo' the way Ah acted earlier tonight. Wasn't lady-lahk at all. See, Ah was real upset, but Ah know that ain't no excuse, cuz ah shouldn't a' taken it out on y'all. So, Ah'm sorry."
At various levels of dumbfounded-ess, the rest of the group muttered some sort of acceptance. They knew Rogue to be unpredictable, so her outburst earlier had hardly phased them, especially considering Remy's current state. But for her to apologize to them for it was completely unexpected. It was Hank who finally broke the silence.
"Um, Rogue, this isn't mine." The group's attention turned to the resident doctor, who was currently holding up a nearly full bottle of Vodka.
"Hey! You're right, Hank that's mine!" Warren moved to snatch the bottle from his friend's paws and unscrewed the cap. "I've been looking for this."
"Yeah, like ah said, sorry 'bout takin' it without askin'," Rogue offered.
Warren narrowed his eyes at her. "That's okay, I guess."
"What else is in that bag?" Bobby asked as he moved to take a peek into the brown paper. Much to Rogue's relief, though, Hank pulled the bag out of Bobby's reach.
"So whacha up to darlin'? You doin'a twelve step program and this is the part where you apologize to everyone?" Logan said to change the subject.
Rogue smiled. "Somethin' lahk that, yeah. Now, if y'all will excuse me, Ah'd lahk sometime alone with Remy, here."
Being able to sense her good intentions, Logan and the telepaths were the first to head for the door. Beast was the next one to humor her, heading into the other room to replace the bottles of medicine back to their respective storage spaces. The rest left rather hesitantly, with Storm being the last one out the door. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but was at a loss for words. So instead, she just placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder and gave her a weak smile.
Rogue made her way to the only occupied bed in the room. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at his handsome face. He had stopped "talking" to her, but she could still feel his presence inside her. He had been observing the events from her eyes the whole time, all the while giving her all the support and love that he had in him. It really was a wonderful, feeling all the emotions he felt for her. She looked at his face with red-on-black eyes that matched his closed ones. He seemed so peaceful, and for a moment, she entertained the idea of keeping his psyche just where it was.
But it was only for a moment. She knew in her heart what she had to do. She shifted her position a bit, leaned in til their lips were less than half-an-inch apart, and gently closed her eyes.
[1] Rogue says: "Y'all git ten points if'n ya know what concert the shirt if from!"