To all of my reviewers so far: I LOVE YOU! Oh and Gothic-Rogue, how did I know that you were going to vote for Lance? ^^

Little note: I must say that I think that Self Possessed was the best episode ever. Even if I think Rogue should totally move on and get over Scott (Pietro and Lance are so cuter, and cooler for that matter). On a side note: If any of you see my Todd, you tell him to get his little amphibian butt back to me before I go all Logan on him. Thank you for your time.

Cold Hearts
By Lady Trunks

Chapter 1

Lance stepped outside and quickly lit a cigarette. Even though it was way to cold to be outside, Pietro had made a stupid new rule about no smoking in the house. The prick said that it clogged his pores or some other shit like that. He had been on a real power trip lately, first insisting that Lance and the others wait on him hand in foot and then going as far as to insist that he be allowed to use Lance's jeep for his dates tonight. It was enough to make Lance want to kill him. It was hard to imagine that they had once been friends, actually more like brothers. Of course that was before he had betrayed them all for his 'dad'.

Stepping off the porch, Lance decided to go for a walk around the block while he finished his cigarette. He'd barely made it to the end of the street when some figure ran into him. Not being in the mood to mess with anyone he shoved them away. He was surprised when the other person groaned in pain since he hadn't pushed them to hard.

"What's you prob…" His voice trailed off as he recognized that the other person was none other than Rogue. He started to say something when the moon came out from behind the clouds long enough for him to get a good look at her. She looked like she had just been beaten.

"Hey, Lance." She managed to say, though it didn't come out very clear.

"ROGUE! What happened?" Instead of answering she crumpled to the ground at his feet. He gently scooped her up and quickly walked back to the house careful not to jar her injuries.

"Todd! Freddy! Come here, quick!" Lance called anxiously, heading upstairs. Hearing the tone of his voice, the other two entered the living room and followed his retreating form up the stairs.

"Yo, what's up Lance?" Todd asked following Lance into his room. Lance gently laid Rogue on his bed and for the first time the others noticed that he had been carrying someone. "What the… Rogue?! What the hell happened?"

"I ran into her down the block. She passed out." Lance explained, cautiously drawing the coat away from the girl.

After he had removed it he carefully brushed her hair away from her face being careful not to make contact with her skin. The others were able to get a good look at her then and couldn't contain their surprise. "Who the hell did that to her?" Todd hissed, an unfamiliar note that would most likely be described as fury in his voice.

"I don't know," Lance answered, "but when I find out." The threat was obvious in his voice. He went over to his dresser and picked up a pair of gloves. "Todd, go boil some water to clean her wounds and bring some ice to stop the swelling. Fred go find some rags to clean it with, medicine, and whatever bandages you can find." They all left to do his bidding. He then returned to the bed and began to check her for other injuries. He noticed that her shirt was sticking to her side from what appeared to be blood. He tried to pry it away so he could see the wound, and Rogue moaned in pain as tears fell from her closed eyes.

He pulled away for a second not wanting to cause her anymore pain but knew that he had to clean the wound. With a regretful look at her tearstained face, he quickly pulled the shirt away. The action caused a muffled scream from the unconscious figure and blood started to flood from the wound again. Lance paled at the site. It was a lot worse then he had thought at first.

The gash in her side was almost 3 inches deep and 2 inches wide. Blood oozed out of it, and the skin around the edges was slightly charred as if it had been caused by something hot. This also helped, because it helped to ease the flow of blood some.

Lance tried to think of what could have caused the wound, and the only thing he could think of was a mutant. But who? One thing was for sure though, they definitely weren't going to get away with this, he would see to that. No one hurt Rogue.

The other two came back with the things he had requested and he got to work cleaning the wound. "Hey Todd. Do you still have any film in your camera?"

Todd looked at him questioningly, "Yeah, why?" Lance was acting a little too calm, and it was worrying the other two.

"Would you go get it for me?" Todd left the room and returned a few seconds later with the camera. Lance took it and stopped his ministrations long enough to take it and snap a few pictures of Rogue's injuries. When he was finished he handed the camera back to Todd and returned to bandaging up the girl.

"Why'd you do that?" Fred asked, a concerned look on his face, also noticing how strange Lance was acting.

"My defense." Both continued to stare at him in confusion. "When I find out who did this I'm going to kill them." He said it so matter-of-factly that neither boy doubted for a second that he had every intention of following through.

Before they could follow question him, they heard the door downstairs open and a voice call out, "Hey, where is everyone?"

"Up here, Pietro." Freddy called downstairs. In an instant, Pietro was up the stairs and at the door.

"IthoughtItoldyoutohavethisdumpcleanedupbythetimeIgotback." He glared at Todd and Fred before he noticed the concerned looks on their faces. He followed their gazes to the bed where Lance was and paled noticeably as he recognized the figure passed out in the bed.

He walked over to the bed and sat beside her. That's when he got his first site of the injury. "What happened?" He asked, the shock slowing his speed down so that he almost sounded normal. Lance explained to him what had happened as he started to bandage up her side. With Pietro lifting her so that he could wrap the gauze all the way around her body.

When he was finally finished he turned his attention to the more superficial wounds. One side of her face was bruised and beginning to swell, probably from being hit. Her eye was already darkening and by morning it would definitely be black.

Lance took the pack of ice that Todd had brought and pressed it gently against her face to stop the swelling. The chill of it seemed to rouse her a little and she opened her eyes weakly. She blinked in surprise to see the Brotherhood hovering of her, "What? Where am I?" She tried to set up, which pulled on her side causing her to let out a hiss at the pain. She quickly sank back onto the bed.

"Areyoualright?Whathappened?Whodidthistoyou?" Pietro burst out.

"Damn Speedy, you're hard enough to understand at the best of times. Right now my head just can't stand it." She chided the Silver-haired boy as he stood gazing at her with a concerned expression on his face. It wasn't something she was used to seeing, especially lately. Though once upon a time they had been like a family, all that had ended when she left to join the X-Men.

He actually looked apologetic when he asked again in a slower tone, "Are you alright?"

"Besides feeling like hell? I ache all over, there's a hole in my side, and I'm pretty sure that I'm in Lance's bed. What's not right about all this?" She asked, slipping into her sarcastic mode despite the pain.

"You know, a lot of girls would be happy to find themselves in my bed," Lance said, relieved to find out that she was okay.

"God you sound like Pietro," she said smiling slightly despite her words.

"Hey, I resent that." Pietro said, a mock frown on his face. "No one has lines as good as mine."

"But you're okay now, right?" Fred asked, and they all turned serious again.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She assured them gently.

"We should probably call the institute and tell them you're here," Lance suggested.

"No, you can't!" Rogue burst out a panicked expression on her face. At this everyone seemed to freeze before they all turned their attention fully onto her.

"Rogue," Pietro asked forcing himself to talk slow, his words completely serious now infused with steel, "who did this to you?"

She hesitated for a moment, "I can't tell you."

Lance took this as his cue, "We need to know Roguey. Tell us."

"If I do you'll go off and do something stupid," She said still refusing to tell them.

"Of course we will," Todd told her simply, "it's what we do. But whoever it is needs to know that you don't mess with family."

"That's right." Freddy added.

Despite herself, Rogue felt warmth flood through her at their words. They still thought of her as family even though she had left them. This also led her to feel guilt over leaving them. At the time she felt that she had to, Mystique had lied to her, tricked her, and she couldn't remain in the same house as her. But she didn't have to leave and join the enemy; she hadn't had to fight against them. But despite all that they still felt the need to protect her, their 'little sister'. It was surprisingly sweet in a male chauvinist kinda way.

"Tell us the name, Rogue." Pietro demanded once again. She could tell that they weren't going to shut up until she told.

She leaned her head down and mumbled something under her breath. "What was that?" Lance said, narrowing his eyes trying to hear.

She raised her head and looked him right in the face so their could be no misunderstanding and said clearly, "Summers."

~~~~~

Bwahahahaha. That's all I got to say about that. No one guessed Scott, oh well, more of a surprise. Also I need some tips on writing Remy's accent. I really suck at accents, that why I completely left out Rogue's. But Remy's just not Remy without the Cajun accent, ya know. And I did have someone ask what is Rola, so I feel that I should say this.
Rola: Rogue and Lance
Rietro: Rogue and Pietro
So vote which one you think should be a couple in this story. As of now Lance is in the lead.

Oh and did I mention, I need reviews to survive? Yeah, my doctor told me. Apparently it's a rare condition or something. And since you don't want to be responsible for my early demise, you no what to do. Push the lil' button. Come on, you know you want to.