AN: Ok, I think this is the final chapter, I might add an epilogue though. This is a quote from my first AN: "This story has no plot, it's just gonna be long and full of fluff" so what happened? I swear that plot wasn't meant to be there! Damn muse always mucking me about!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own so you don't sue

All Grown Up

Chapter 8

Rogue sat alone on the mansions roof, watching Scott and Jean leave for their honeymoon. She had a lot on her mind right now otherwise she would have been down there with the others, protesting about the pointless tradition of throwing the bouquet but secretly hoping she'd be the one to catch it.

There were so many things going on in her mind, so much she had to figure out. How was she going to tell the man she loved that she really was immortal, that the vague 'far into the future' Irene had mentioned and she had dismissed as mistaken ramblings, even after seeing the book, really would happen? What was she going to do about the entity that she had locked up inside her mind? She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it locked up forever, it was too powerful for that. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, sensing a presence coming up behind her, "Somethin' wrong Jamie?" she asked without turning.

If the teen was surprised that she had known it was him he didn't show it, taking a seat on the rooftop beside her, "Jean's looking for you," he said simply.

Rogue turned her head to look at the boy, he really hadn't changed that much, his face was still open and a little naive, his hazel eyes were friendly and welcoming and his light brown hair was styled in the same way it always had been. The only real difference was that he was one of the tallest students now, standing a few inches over Rogue, and she wasn't exactly short herself. Jamie had always been like a baby brother to the X-Men, all of them trying to surreptitiously prevent him from falling victim to the pranks of the other New Mutants, and Rogue had been much kinder to him than she had to the others, not that many of them would have noticed the difference. She had almost unconsciously toned down the bitchy, sarcastic comments when he was around, felling that he didn't deserve any of her carefully constructed attitude. She smiled slightly at him, "Is she now? Good thang Ah'm up heah then ain't it?" they both laughed before Rogue became serious, "Jamie, sugah, y'all don' mahnd if Ah tell ya somethin' do ya? It's jus' Ah wanna get it all figuahed out b'fore Ah tell Remy, an' since yoah heah an' Ah trust ya…" she trailed off looking at her hands.

Jamie stared at her, overjoyed. She wanted to talk to him before Remy, him! Of course she'd said that it was because he was there, but she trusted him, of course she could tell him what was bothering her! Curbing his excitement before it embarrassed him he said, "Sure, you can tell me anything."

Another smile from Rogue, "Good ta know, sugah. Th' professah told y'all 'bout what happened with the thing in Scott's head rahght?"

Jamie nodded, "He said you absorbed it and locked it away or something."

"Yeah, did he say anythin' else?" the boy shook his head, "Then Ah guess Ah'd bettah explain, even though Ah don' 'zactly undahstand mahself. When Ah was fightin' the… y'know Ah still don' know what it's called, ain't that odd? Well, when Ah was fightin' it Ah used mah mahnd ta create a lahght so Ah could see it's face an' th' lahght took on a lahfe of it's own, apparently it's some kinda manifestation of a part o' mah soul o' whatevah, Ah ain't too sure. It looks lahke an oriental style dragon and it's golden -- Remy, Scott, Jean an' th' professah've all seen it too -- and it's got a soft, female voice, kinda lahke Storm's but without an accent. Anyway, it told meh that howevah Ah treated it -- the thang from Scott's head -- would reflect on how Ah'd treat people when Ah became ruler. Ya with meh so far?"

"Dragon thing told you not to kill the bad guy or you'd be evil," Jamie repeated with a nod.

"Yeah. So Ah shut it away. Then the wolf thing tells meh Ah c'n give powahs Ah've absorbed to people they don' belong to, lahke Ah could give you Storm's powahs o' whatevah if y' asked for 'em. An' that means, since Ah got the immortality from the 'bad guy' Ah c'n use mah new powahs ta make Remy immortal too, make him mah prophesised consort. But Ah won' do it 'less he wants it done, an' Ah don' know if he'd say yes. It's a pretty big step, bigger'n marriage, an' Ah know that kinda commitment scares him. Ah ain't sayin' that he don' love me, Ah know he does, but Ah cain't say he'd really love me forever, Ah jus' don' know what ta do." She was watching her hands again, acting as if they were the most fascinating things she'd ever seen.

Jamie cast a sidelong look at her, digesting what she'd just said. They sat in silence for abut five minutes, neither knowing what to say. Eventually Jamie looked at his friend head on and spoke, "I know I'm only a kid and everything, but it seems like you should maybe talk to him, tell him what you just told me and then trust that everything works out."

The woman burst out laughing, causing the teenager to blush a bright red in embarrassment. Seeing the mortified look on his face she stopped, "Sorry sugah, Ah guess Ah'm jus' surprised that anyone livin' in this mad house c'n be so wise."

"Practice," he smiled back at her, "Now go find Remy."

Placing a hand on his shoulder she leaned across and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks sugah," she whispered, pulling herself up and walking towards the other side of the roof.

"Hey Rogue?"

She turned back with a small smile, "Yeah?"

Jamie looked a little sheepish, "If it was me, I'd take immortality and stay with you. Remy'd be stupid not to."

Rogue's smile broadened as she turned away calling over her shoulder, "Maybe when ya oldah."

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"Somet'in' wrong Jamie?" Remy asked as the boy tried to sneak up behind him.

Again the boy hid his shock at being noticed when he was being as quiet as possible, "Rogue's looking for you," he said simply.

The older man turned to look at him, "Any reason why mon ami?"

The sixteen-year-old smiled at his friend, "Can't say, I mean if I told you then there'd be no point her telling you and anyway it won't sound the same coming from me."

Remy looked at the boy in confusion, "Care t' repeat dat?"

"Nuh-uh," Jamie shook his head as he left the room, and the confused Cajun it contained, "I'll tell Rogue you're here ok."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was actually several hours later before Rogue got her chance to speak with Remy. She was up on the roof again, eyes closed, in silent conversation with the wolf, when Remy sat down beside her. Without opening her eyes she leaned her head on Remy's shoulder, "Whatcha doin' up heah disturbin' a gal when she's meditatin'?"

Planting a soft kiss on the top of her head he answered seriously, "Jamie said y' had somet'in' t' tell me mon amour?"

"Ah guess Ah do at that," she tilted her head up to look at him, hesitancy and a little fear in the depths of her emerald green eyes, "Ya remembah that wolf thing* that help defeat whatevah'd taken ovah Scott?" Remy nodded. "Well she… kinda told me some things 'bout mah powahs."

"What kinda t'ings chere?"

Rogue hesitated, not sure how the man she loved would react to what she was going to say next, but carried on anyway, "Ah… Ah c'n give othah people mah powahs now, well powahs Ah've absorbed anyway, an' Ah'm kin'a… um, well Ah'm a li'l bit immortal now Rems." The last part was spoken so quickly that Remy had a hard time understanding it.

When the words finally formed into a coherent sentence in his mind he froze -- not moving, not speaking, barely even breathing -- and translated the words into french just to make sure he'd got it right but no, even in his native tongue the words had the same meaning, the woman he loved was immortal now. Of course he'd known intellectually that she would be, Irene had said so after all and she was never wrong, but he'd never really thought about it coming true, he'd never thought about getting old and dieing while Rogue lived on.

"Uh, Remy, sugah, you ok?" No reaction. "Remy?" Nothing. "C'mon sugah, say somethin' ya startin' ta scare me now."

"Rogue? Remy be hearin' t'ings, t'ought I heard y' say dat y' be immortal now," Remy's voice was weak and shaky as he hoped desperately that he had in fact been hearing things.

"That's cos ya did sugah, Ah'm immortal an'… if ya wanna Ah mean… you could be too. Ya don' haveta o' anythin' jus', y'know…" she trailed off nervously, lifting her head off of his shoulder to stare out over the mansions grounds, wishing this was as easy as it had been with Jamie.

For the second time in as many minutes Remy LeBeau couldn't believe what he was hearing, was this beautiful, powerful goddess beside him offering him immortality? Was she really asking him to spend eternity with her? One look at her face, even if it was in profile, and he knew she was. He also knew he would accept the offer, he'd always sworn that not even death would part them and he'd never broken a promise to a woman, especially not this one. "Y' t'ink y' c'n put up wit' dis Cajun f'r dat long chere? Cos if y' can den Remy'd be honoured t'accept y're off'r."

Rogue's heart soared at his words but she still had to be sure, had to know that he knew what he was giving up, "Ya sure 'bout that Swamp Rat? Bein' wit' me f'r that long mahght not be too good fo' ya health ya know. An' Ah won' tolerate ya goin' aftah othah gals eithah."

Instead of answering her he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Rogue got the message and opened the flow to the power, retreating deep into her mind to find what she was looking for then taking a hold of it, splitting it in two and pulling half after her as she returned to reality. Once the power was on the surface she concentrated on feeding it through to Remy. Minutes later they pulled apart and Remy looked her directly in the eye, "Well dat was weird."

Rogue nodded, "Yeah, nevah really felt mah powahs fr'm the othah sahde befo'." A thoughtful look crossed Rogue's face as she felt the effects of her powers, "Ah wondah if Jamie was serious 'bout wantin' ta be immortal too?" she muttered before collapsing gratefully into the arms of the man she loved.

Smiling Remy carried her tenderly down to their room and tucked her into bed, fully dressed, before heading off to find a certain teenage boy.

The End… for now.

* See the revised version of the last chapter if you read the one with the dragon instead of the wolf.

Hmm, that guy on the roof was supposed to be Remy, where'd Jamie come from? Oh well, it's kinda sweet, I suppose the conversation wouldn't have made much sense if it was Remy there anyway, plus everyone loves the cute li'l guy don't they? And awwww, he's gonna get to be immortal too. Now Remy and Rogue can be together forever, as it's meant to be and Jamie can be like their foster son/little brother thing. Woo hoo!

I'm not gonna give review responses because I'm trying to update all my fics tonight so I don't really have time but I'm glad everyone is looking forward to the sequel, as soon as I write it I will post it so you could be waiting days or months.

A final thanks to everyone who reviewed this or read it and didn't review, you're all wonderful, lovely people.

Have a happy New Year, see you at the sequel,

Much love,

Mercury Dream.