Still Holding Out For You
By Lady Trunks
Part 16

J.Dax- You mean you don't like the "we think you're weird" glances? I love those. Then make sure you stick your tongue out at them. It's fun! I'm glad you liked it. And that is a rather big IF isn't it?

Icy- I have a style? O.O Wow, that's cool. About Cherry getting what's coming to her... I think muwhahahah sums that up pretty well. And you have to know I agree about Rietro. It is the best coupling. (Obviously I think that since everything I write is about them, so I'm probably being redundant, but I like saying it. ^^)And the monkeys are annoying, but it's the blue bunnies (not the ice cream!) that are really evil. They wait for you to go to bed and then mess with your computer. Evil bunnies!!) I don't think I traumatize easily though.

DragonBlond- That totally fits!! ^_^ If this wasn't already based on another song, I would base it on that. But I think I can fit it in somewhere. Thankies!! ^^

Rogue Le Beau- No, no, no. I would never kill my beautiful Pietro. Well, my original idea maybe, but it changed. Does that mean your holding chapter 3 hostage until your sure that I give them a happy ending? You wouldn't do that to me, would you. That's cruel. I love Without You too, but Still Holding Out For You inspired me. Maybe another fic. (BTW, Cold Hearts is put on the critical list until I can convince myself that it's not completely lame and needs to be finished, something that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. I HATE that fic!!)

Ellen- You're welcome. ^^

HoneyBug16- -.- What if I want to? You're the first person I know who turned down reviews. ^_^ Well, Todd Fan but it was over 100 chapters so that's understandable.

Nightshade- Bwahahahaha. Glad I could bring you over to the dark side. ^_^ I just love Rietro.

Syrenwytch- (Chapter 3) Bwahahaha. That will actually be explained in later chapters. But I am embaressed to say that way back when I first got into Evo I liked Scrouge pairings... I think it lasted about 1 episode, then I wanted Scott and Jean to disappear off the face of the earth... A feeling that's pretty much stuck. And then I saw Pietro *dreamy sigh*.

Roguechere- For me it's Rogue and to a lesser extent Wanda and Mystique, the rest of the females are just extras. Okay, as for the rumors. The first set (that they were a couple) was just everyone thinking that because they were always together. The second one was started by a certain person who will remain nameless after a conversation at the mall with the other two. I don't know if anyone else had figured that out, but I knew. Bwahahaha, I know everything! ^^

Lucky439- Actually I have been thinking about planning a wedding between the two, but I was planning on using it in my Secret Series. Or maybe I'll just write a fic about that. About a baby (or should I say babies, always figured they would have twins) we'll see what I can think of. And you're already planning on asking for a sequel? I wouldn't have any idea what to put in. I would need ideas. And I probably wouldn't be able to get around to it for awhile because I've already started my next fic.

X-DarkHorizon-X- Ok. ^^ I decided that it would be a sudden realization simply because she's known him for so long she wouldn't really start to fall in love with him now. Instead she would realize that she always did.

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Rogue gave a sigh of relief, thankful to be home after such a stressful day of school. Despite the incident at lunch where Pietro and her had acted like they normally did, she couldn't help but feel tense knowing that later she was going to have to talk to him and tell him about her feelings. The thought was, to put it simply, terrifying. All day it had been prevalent in her mind and as a result she was positive that she had failed a chemistry quiz. Not that she cared about the chemical formula of baking soda or some such nonsense along that line. She had a lot more complicated things on her mind right now, things that actually had relevance to her life. In fact, the outcome of her revelation would have a permanent impact on her relationship with Pietro, good or bad.

And it was that thought that was bothering her the most. The uncertainty of it. What if he just wanted to be friends? Would it be possible to go back to the way they had been before, or it would slowly destroy their friendship, something that had become a pivotal part of her life. And what if they did decide to take their relationship to another level and become something more than friends. Would it last? Without touch, which was an important factor in a relationship, would it be possible to have a long-term relationship?

The thoughts kept running through her mind and all she could do was worry about it. Deciding that anything was better then standing around fretting over it, she went in search of anything that would take her mind off of it. She found Jean and Kitty in the common room, watching TV and discussing what each was going to wear for the homecoming dance.

"Hi Rogue." Kitty said, scooting over to make room for the Goth on the couch.

Rogue sat down, but before long she was back on her feet. "Do you guys want to go do something?" Rogue asked them. Neither commented on her obviously agitated state.

"Like what?"

"I don't care. Just something to get out of the mansion and kill some time."

"Well, I need to pick up my shoes for the dance…" Jean suggested hesitantly, knowing how much the younger girl hated shopping. She was rather surprised when she quickly agreed. "Okay, what's up? Hey, aren't you supposed to be at Pietro's basketball game?" She said, searching the other girls face.

"That is the last place I need to be right now!" Rogue said, eyes widening in alarm at the thought.

"Oh my god! You really are in love with him!" Jean suddenly exclaimed, figuring it out.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now. I need to get it off my mind before I go crazy worrying about it. Let's go to the mall. That way I'll have something else to make me miserable, and then I can focus on that." Rogue said ushering the two out of the room.

A few minutes later they were in the car and on their way to the mall, Jean safely behind the wheel. "You know Jean, you drive slower than Irene and she's blind." Rogue complained.

"She drives?" Jean asked, completely ignoring the insult.

"You're completely missing the point. If she did it would have to be faster then this."

"Rogue?"

"What?"

"In 5 seconds you are going to be walking." Jean said, but with such a serene expression on her face that it hardly seemed like a feasible threat.

"Well, I would probably get there faster!" She griped, but with a sullen expression she leaned back in the seat and stopped talking.

They arrived at the mall without further incident, and soon were going from shop to shop. Rogue soon came to grips with the extremity of her foolishness in agreeing to go shopping with the two terrors. Though she knew it was going to be painful from the onset, she hadn't fully realized the extent of their shopping addiction. For someone who entered a store knowing exactly what she wanted, the whole window-shopping experience was boring and the constant browsing just irritating. Twenty minutes after they arrived she was silently wishing that she had went to the game, heck even a danger room session with Logan would have been less torture than this.

When Jean and Kitty had finally found everything they were looking for, Rogue let out a relieved sigh. At least it had acted as a distraction, something that she could be thankful for. There had even been a period of five minutes after the seventh store where she was so busy contemplating the murder (and her sub sequential defense) of the two girls where she hadn't thought about Pietro. They were finally getting ready to leave when Jean suddenly froze, dropping all her packages.

"Jean? What is it?" Kitty asked her friend.

"Shhh," Rogue hissed trying to make out a sound that she could barely hear over the shoppers. Then she heard it again, more distinct this time: a scream for help. With a glance at each other they all took off running to find the source of the scream.

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