Title: A Stranger's Touch: Allied Strangers
Rating: PG
Summary: A bond between two people can take many years to develop. Or a few weeks. [First part in what will hopefully be a series]
Type of fic: Story
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and places are not mine. They belong to Marvel and/or Marvel Studios, WB, Film Roman (I think), and whoever else claims rights to them.
Distribution: FF.net and Random Thoughts. All else, please just ask.
Author's notes: Sorry there's quite a bit, and with more to probably follow!
#01 - / denotes psychic thoughts /
#02 - This is pretty much - and very much - an AU story, however a lot of the stuff that's happened in Seasons One and Two WILL be included. Not all, but some.
#03 - My accent-writing ability extends only to "Ah" and "mah". I suck at it majorly.
#04 - This story is under the assumption that the Brotherhood members do NOT know that Mystique and Ms Darkholme are the same person, and that it was Mystique who recruited all the members. Remember - AU.

***

Allied Strangers

Chapter Two

'From one freak school to another,' she muttered darkly as she threw her backpack onto the bed. Bayville High was almost an exact replica of her old school. The same sneers and distrustful stares, the same mocking laughter and disdainful words. The only difference were the faces. 'Exactly what Ah wanted.'

Just one reason she looked forward to coming home. Rogue had only been in the Brotherhood house only a week, and already she felt surprisingly at ease. Her housemates' determined effort to make her a part of their family was working despite her efforts to impede them, much to her dismay. Todd was sweet and funny, although he stunk worse than a swamp full of dead animals in the middle of summer. And Lance was…

She wasn't sure exactly what he was, but he was something. He was different from all the other guys she knew. He made her feel comfortable, almost content at who she was, what she was. She found it easy to talk to him about anything, and best of all, he understood her.

The sharp knock on her bedroom door made her jump. 'What is it?' she snapped irritably.

'Yo Roguey, Lance and me are going to get something to eat. Wanna come with?' Todd's voice called back, not at all sounding offended.

Must be pay day. Not for the first time Rogue wondered where Mystique gets the money. Did she work? If so, as what? Surely potential employers would be a little wary with the blue skin. Fortunately Mystique was never around, which made her glad. The woman made her feel slightly nervous. Like a strict and stern old woman with a tight bun, but without the tight bun or the "old" part.

'Uh, sure, give me a minute,' Rogue called back after a long pause.

'See you downstairs!'

She walked to her dresser, opened the top drawer and pulled out a dark green, long sleeved top. As she did something fell from within the folds of the clothing and clattered noisily onto the wooden floorboards. It was the communicator Jean Grey had given her in Mississippi. Rogue, overwhelmed with too much change in too few days, had placed it aside. Had all but forgotten about it. Jean Grey was a member of the X-Geeks. Or rather, the X-Men. They were 'The Enemy'.

Unwillingly, her thoughts turned to the other members of The Enemy. One other member in particular. The tall, good-looking, senior – Scott Summers. Rogue would swear that he had been watching her the past week but couldn't be certain. He had been the guy who had wanted to kill her. Right?

Rogue's memories of that crazy night were vague, the only snatches of what she remembered so disturbing that she didn't even want to think about it. Her last clear memory was of dancing with the football player, Cody, of finally feeling some semblance of normalcy and acceptance. Then he had tripped, fallen over her, and then the pain. The pain that had shot through her head and had seemed to rip her entire being into two. She had been parted into two, one half Rogue one half Cody.

She remembered the panic, the terror. Memories of X-Men suddenly crashing through doors and jumping down from the roof, all wanting to get their hands on her, to hurt her and get rid of her. Kill her.

Rogue shuddered at the thought, forcing herself to forget. She stared down at the communicator still on the floor, a large part of her wanting to stomp on it and break it into tiny pieces. Instead she bent to pick it up, staring at it and weighing the light device in her palm.

The small part of her that wanted to press the button to activate it insisted that she not do something she might later regret. It was the same part of her that continually questioned her memories of what had really happened in Mississippi. The same part that gently returned the communicator back in the drawer.

*

Scott saw the flying disc a fraction too late and as he tried to duck the edge smacked him on the temple. Pain bloomed from the point of impact out, his eyes losing focus for a moment. He stumbled dizzyingly to his knees, both hands shooting up to cradle his head.

/ Scott! /

The shouted name boomed forcefully inside his mind, and he flinched. / Jean, not so loud! /

/ Sorry, Scott. Are you okay? /

Before he could reply, another voice intruded with, 'Come on, kid! Heads up! Pay attention!'

Scott gingerly shook off the lingering effects of the blow to the head. 'Thanks for your concern, Logan. I'm fine.'

'Scott, you know better than the daydream during a training session,' Logan said disapprovingly and without apology. 'You and Jean get back and get ready for school.' He stalked away.

He felt ashamed enough about his actions and said nothing to defend himself. Logan was right. He, Scott, was a leader. He was supposed to be setting the example for the others, and what he did was beyond foolish.

'Scott, are you okay?'

He looked up into the fretful face of Jean. His heart missed a beat. 'I'm fine, Jean. Just a small headache, nothing I can't handle.' He could tell she wanted to know what had caused him to become so inattentive, but she kept silent. He didn't offer any explanations and the two of them walked wordlessly towards the mansion.

'So, uh, what about the new girl, huh?' Jean suddenly said.

Scott was more surprised about her choice of subject rather than her actually speaking. He looked at her. 'You mean Rogue?'

'Yeah. She hasn't contacted us, and she keeps to herself at school. What do you think happens at the Brotherhood house?'

He didn't mention that he had been thinking endlessly about the very same question. Instead he just shrugged. 'I really don't know. She doesn't hang around Lance or Todd much, so maybe that's a good thing?'

'But that's only school. That still leaves quite a few hours in the house, and I've noticed that Lance has been driving her to and from school, but not Todd.' Jean sighed. 'I just don't know, Scott. When I was talking to her, when I gave her the communicator, she just looked so scared and lost. And deep down I know she would have come to us if Mystique hadn't been around. It's like I failed her or something.'

A snatch of an earlier dream flickered through his mind – 'You lied to me, Scott. You lied.' / 'No! No, I didn't lie! I didn't!' – and he sympathised with Jean's feeling of failure. He placed a comforting arm over her shoulder, voicing words he often recited in his thoughts. 'It's not your fault, Jean. You did the best you could, and we couldn't have physically forced her to come with us. If she wants to join us, then she will have to come herself of her own free will.'

'Do you think she ever will?'

Scott stared straight ahead. 'I hope so.'

*

'Mystique left us quite a bit for this week,' Lance said as the three of them walked into the air-conditioned grocery store. 'You can pretty much get anything you want.'

'Yo, I'm going to get me some chocolates!' Todd said excitedly, hopping away towards the junk food aisle.

'Bit of a sweet tooth, huh?' Rogue commented, an amused grin involuntarily curving her lips.

Lance grabbed a trolley and they made their way towards the produce section. 'Like you wouldn't believe. A couple of weeks ago he ate his way through about ten large M&M packets in one go.'

She made a face. 'That's sickening. Ah can barely get through one packet.'

'That's okay, Todd will happily eat the rest of it.' He stopped beside the oranges. 'Orange?'

Rogue was not used to this side of him. It was completely out of character to the person that he revealed to the world. She would never have guessed that he would be so comfortable being the adult figure. She nodded at him. 'Ah like oranges.'

Lance smiled and grabbed a bag of oranges. 'Finally, someone else whose diet doesn't consist of only junk food and winged insects.'

For a while the two of them walked up and down the aisled, shopping in near silence. He would ask if she liked a certain food and she would either agree or disagree. If she agreed he would look critically at the price and either add it to the trolley or suggest a less expensive alternative. It was an interesting experience, and not all that dull.

As the time passed Rogue found herself watching him intently.

Lance caught her eye and shrugged at her look. 'My mother was a lousy shopper, so I used to do it. She never looked at the prices and whenever we got to the checkout we never had any money. She'd get upset and start yelling at whoever was behind the counter until the manager was called and we either got thrown out or just got given the stuff so she'd stop making a scene.' He continued walking down the aisle, keeping his gaze on the goods on the shelves. 'Pretty soon I started counting the money before we went shopping and had to keep returning the more expensive stuff on the shelves.'

He laughed suddenly, bitterly. 'I couldn't let her see, of course, or else she'd start screeching that we weren't poor and that we could afford "all them nice things other people bought". I hated her for making me feel worthless when all I was doing was helping. So I started doing the shopping myself, while she was passed out so that she didn't insist on coming along. It was all happy families.'

'How…how old were you?'

'I was ten.'

Rogue felt sympathy for the abused boy that she had never known but refused to let it show. She had always hated those pitying looks others gave her and she knew that Lance would be no different. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was, but the words wouldn't form. It seemed such a ridiculous thing to say. Instead she asked, 'What happened to your mom?'

They had entered the breakfast cereal aisle and they slowed to a crawl, perusing the boxes on offer. 'She died when I was about thirteen, and I got placed in one foster home after another. Did you know Mystique is my legal guardian? At least until I'm twenty-one, then I'm on my own.'

Rogue was stunned. 'She is? Does that mean Todd as well? And me..?'

Lance finally looked at her, an inscrutable look on his face. 'Todd, definitely. As for you, I'm not really sure. Maybe not.'

This time it was her turn to look away, the pain of having left everything she had ever known still fresh. 'Irene was always like a mother to me, although I knew she wasn't. Ah'm not really sure if Ah'm adopted or not, she never said. She was actually the one who said that Ah should go with Mystique, that she could help with what was happening to me.' She shrugged. 'Ah'm still like Ah am, but it does help knowing that now Ah'm not the only one. Ah'm still a freak though.'

'Rogue, you're not a freak,' Lance told her gently. 'And I'm glad that you're here, and with us. How about some Count Chocola?'

'Get two boxes, yo!' Todd's voice called out from the other end of the aisle. He hopped towards them, his arms full of an assortment of chocolate-based sweets, which he dumped into the half full trolley. 'And all these!'

Rogue stared at the boxes and packets that covered the rest of their shopping, glad for the distraction. She and Lance had been – dare she say it? – bonding. It was out of the question. She wasn't supposed to get close to people.

It was dangerous.

end part two.

Of course, much thanks goes to those who reviewed. Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated, so thank you very, very much. I am actually quite surprised people read this, and am very flattered that you have. I hope you enjoyed this part, and all upcoming parts. I hope to update at least once a week, just in case anyone is wondering.