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.
#05 - Thanks to wolviesgal's Home Page for the use of transcripts.

***

Allied Strangers

Chapter Eight

Ever since the incident with Kurt and the lab a few days earlier, Rogue had avoided all members of both teams as much as she could. With the Brotherhood, it wasn't hard. None of them would speak to her, not even Lance. It hurt more than she wanted to admit.

But the X-Men were a different story. Scott continued to try and befriend her for some reason, but this time he was joined by Kurt. They would smile whenever they saw her, greet her when they passed in the hallway. Kurt had even asked her once to join them for lunch.

But Rogue refused to be lured into their little group. She knew she would never fit in with them. How could she? Even if – and she reminded herself that it was a very big IF – she wanted to, would they ever truly accept her? She'd been living with the Brotherhood for the past several weeks. Surely they would have reservations about her joining them.

That was IF she wanted to, of course.

'Which Ah don't,' she said out loud, knitting her brows together. 'Why would Ah want to join a bunch of people who want me dead anyway?'

Rogue stared at the Maths book in front of her, attempting to concentrate on the figures and calculations she had to do for homework. But her mind kept drifting. First, to Scott. Then Lance. And back to Scott.

'Why'd he have to be so…so…' She trailed off, not wanting to use "cute". Not again anyway. Cute wasn't a word for her. It was a word for girls like Kitty, or Jean. Not for girls like her.

'And why won't he talk to me?' she challenged the algebra equation before her. 'It's not like Ah wanted to be with the X-Men. It wasn't mah fight, so why should Ah have stuck around?'

Rogue pushed the book away from her as she sat up. She knew there was a good reason why she should never get close to people.

'Because you end up caring,' she muttered.

'Fred!' Todd suddenly hollered from the hallway just outside her bedroom door.

Rogue jumped, her head pivoting towards the noise. 'What-'

'Give me back my Snickers!' Todd shouted, his voice fading as he evidently hopped down the stairs. 'Give 'em back!'

She shook her head, smiling. Todd was as protective of his Snickers bars as she was of her ice cream. She heard more commotion downstairs as the two boys struggled and fought over the chocolate, followed by Pietro's verbal encouragements.

'Shut up, you idiots!' she heard Lance shout from the top of the stairs. 'Some people are trying to do homework, you know!'

Rogue lost her smile. Lance never did homework on a Saturday. Which left only…her. He was getting the others to stop…for her.

She heard footsteps thumping down the stairs, and without hesitation she grabbed her jacket lying on the floor and raced down after him. Lance was going out for a drive.

She had just enough time to jump into the passenger seat before Lance shifted into drive and pressed his foot to the pedal. He screeched into a violent stop when he realised he had a passenger, throwing her against the dash.

'Ow! Ah thought you were-'

'Are you crazy?' he demanded, staring at her in disbelief. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

Rogue pushed herself back onto the seat, straightening her shoulders and ignoring the pain along the top of her chest. 'Ah'm coming with you,' she said firmly.

A small frown came over Lance's face, which reminded her strongly of Scott. However, she thought it best not to voice the comparison.

'Look, I'm not going anywhere special,' he told her, looking away. 'You might want to get out.'

Rogue tried not to show her disappointment, but she refused to leave. She couldn't. She wanted him to understand… What exactly, she wasn't sure. She didn't understand any of it herself.

'Ah'm staying.'

Lance's jaw clenched visibly. Without a word, he accelerated suddenly out of the driveway, throwing them both back against the chairs.

She thought about reaching for her seatbelt, but then stopped. She trusted him.

*

He had stopped on the outskirts of Bayville, in a secluded spot that always had a great view of the sunset. But it was early afternoon and the sun still sat above them, unobstructed by clouds. They stood side by side staring across at the city before them, not having spoken a word since leaving the house.

After what seemed like an eternity, or possibly only a few minutes, Lance finally spoke. 'What are you doing here, Rogue?' he asked quietly.

'Ah wanted to talk to you…' She trailed off, clearing her throat. 'About what happened a few days ago, in that lab.'

He frowned at the memory, remembering how conflicted she looked when he had questioned her alliance to them. He hadn't meant to do it, but having seen her with the X-Geeks. It had been too much. He felt as if they were slowly losing her to them. To him. 'What were you doing with them anyway?'

'Kurt, he was, it was an accident, and Ah was there, and…' Rogue trailed off once more. 'Ah was just helping them to get blue boy back, that's all.'

Lance wasn't sure what he was more angry about – that she helped them, or that she didn't think it was a big deal. 'It's your life, you do whatever the hell you wanna do.'

'Lance-'

'Look, forget it,' he interrupted harshly. He silently cursed himself when he saw her flinch out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face her. 'Look, Rogue, I'm sorry. I just don't understand any of this.'

She looked up at him, clearly lost and confused. 'Ah don't know why Ah did it! Ah just…Ah thought it was the right thing to do.'

Lance wondered if she realised how much of an X-Man she sounded, and he clenched his hands. He didn't want to lose her to them. Not if he could help it, and holding a grudge wasn't helping. He took a deep breath, and forced a smile. 'It's over now, right? Maybe we should forget about it.'

She looked at him for a moment, then smiled tentatively. 'Ah'd like that.'

He turned back to the view of the city. It was so…shiny.

'You know what Ah miss?' Rogue asked quietly after a few minutes. 'Ah miss-' But she broke off.

Lance glanced at her. 'Miss what, Rogue?'

'Ah miss the way things used to be, when there was just the three of us in the house. Todd, and you, and me. Things just seemed simpler.'

He frowned, turning to look at her profile. 'And they aren't now?'

'It's…it's just a lot more crowded, Ah guess.'

Lance wondered if she was thinking about Summers. He turned away once again. 'Yeah, you could say that.'

*

'Rogue, do you trust me?'

She was surprised by the question, seemingly out of nowhere, and she turned to look at him. But he was still staring straight ahead. 'You're probably the only person Ah trust right now, Lance,' she answered truthfully.

He turned, moving so that he stood closely before her. 'I won't hurt you, I promise.'

She knew what he wanted, what he was going to do, and her heart started to thump hard against her chest. She swallowed, wanting to refuse him – not wanting to hurt him – but she forced herself to slowly nod her head. Just once, but it was enough.

She could see his hands travelling from his side and up, towards her face. She made fists with her hands to keep them from reaching out to stop him.

Her heart was thundering, and she was certain that he could hear it. But her eyes didn't move from his face.

He smiled down at her then. And it was real. Tender and genuine.

And she relaxed, uncurling her fingers.

He pushed back her hair, tucking the strands behind her ear. And then the tips of his fingers skimming, tracing, along the curve of her face. His palm placed gently against her cheek.

Touch.

She wondered if this was what heaven felt like.

end part eight.