Mish : I'm always working on something you know that lol - this is for you cause right now you're not home to read it - hopefully when you get back you'll get two parts to read. Love you girl.

Jenny : I've been waiting on your reviews actually so getting two is amazing. I'm glad you like how Bobby reacted. I've read fics where they make him out to be an ass after the fact but you all know he's a great guy and no matter what he'd get over himself cause he does love Rogue and her happiness is important. Doesn't mean he can't become testosterone boy with Logan hehe.

Carlee : If there was a plan for Logan to keep Rogue from the 'scrawny brat' you know he'd win and it'd be a great victory party *wink, wink*. But there's no plan, actually he's not going to need one, the people on the outside of their relationship, Bobby, Jean, Scott and others *not telling who* will slowly push them together. None too gently either.

Okay that's enough babbling from me, enjoy,

~Gimpy~

****

The Chemistry exam passed in a confusing haze as Rogue tried to push past the torment itching beneath her skin just enough to concentrate on the words before her. None of it was making sense, losing all meaning to the dull ache in her heart. Not only had she effectively broken Bobby's heart but she was more than certain Logan's was laying in pieces as much as her own. Her occupied mind continuously fluttered back to the last scene in the hall outside her room and every time it did she forced an inquisitive glance at Bobby. She double-checked he was in fact in one piece.

Safe in the knowledge he was indeed intact, she still couldn't grasp the words on the paper before her, still couldn't break past the haze in her mind. Her impending failure started to creep up on her. She swore at herself, threatening to take away all chocolate for a week if she didn't concentrate. It worked for about half an hour, just long enough to finish her last Written Response and then again the bomb dropped and she lost all cohesion, mentally and almost physically.

Slipping from the room the moment pencils down was announced, she seeped into the shadows. Trembling under the siege of bordering insanity, she grew blind to the world around her, letting the shadows casting down to consume her. She barely even registered the warmth of Bobby's arms as he pulled her to him. She went willingly, forgetting for the moment that they were at odds. Their conflict was nothing in comparison to the one surging inside her now.

"Bobby… can you just… I don't know, just take me away from here… I don't care where I just need to get out of here."

A gasp caught in his throat at her words, he knew they came out of a need to be away from Logan. It had nothing to do with him. He tried not to let it hurt, tried to ignore his own emotions and delve instead into hers. When she turned her gaze from the floor to greet his, her eyes begging him with such earnest need, he was hers once more.

"Uh… some of the others and I are going up the road to the lake, you know, just to relax maybe get some group studying in." he offered what he could, hoping it was enough to dull the ache so visibly killing her.

"Others as in who?" she drawled out the words with a tinge of trepidation.

Hesitation lingered on his breath before he spoke. "Kitty, John and… Jubilee."

Scrunching her nose in disgust, Rogue grumbled a little. "They don't like me Bobby."

"They don't know you," he amended. "You don't even have to talk to them, you can hide under a tree in the shadows like you always do." The teasing tone meant to ease her worked, much to Bobby's surprise.

"Promise?" she attempted to tease back but faltered, the sound coming out in more of a whimper then anything else.

"Yeah," he returned gently gripping her arm in a comforting grasp before leading her towards the garage and the car.

****

"Oh! Which car are we taking!" A jubilant Kitty asked, standing at the entrance to the school. Holding the door open, she waited impatiently for John and Jubilee to haul the overflowing cooler. She cast her friends a cheeky grin when she eyed it. John had managed to sneak a few beers amongst the food and so far they were getting away with it.

Jubilee shook her head and called back, "The Professor said we could take the green Volvo, not the best of cars but hey, least it's souped up to the nines."

Pouting for a moment, Kitty shrugged off the setback and smiled again as she followed the two to the garage. Glancing over her shoulder, she tried to catch sight of Bobby. "Hmm," she muttered deep in thought.

"Hmm what?" John inquired as he and Jubilee waited for the girl to follow them into the garage and open the trunk.

Snapping her head forward she frowned. "Bobby's not here yet," she mused before moving again. Rounding the corner, she grabbed the keys for the Volvo off the wall and headed towards it. "Wonder what's taking him…"

With a customary roll of the eyes, Jubilee scoffed at her friends more then obvious affection for the boy in question. "Get over him already, the guys got like a massive hard on for the dark depression herself," Jubilee snarled the one amongst many nicknames she had for Rogue.

Sputtering a mess of jumbled words, Kitty blushed a violent red and ducked away from her prying eyes. "Shut up," was all she could manage to spout back beneath her beat red flush.

"Just open the damn trunk would you?" John snapped lightheartedly at both girls.

In an act of childish immaturity, Kitty shoved her pink tongue in his direction before doing as he asked. Lifting the trunk, she leaned against the side of the car. "I honestly don't know what you guys are talking about. I don't feel that way about… BOBBY! Hey," she gushed in an even brighter red and pushed off the car in his direction before faltering mid step. "Ro-gue…" she drawled her name slowly as she took in the girl. "H-hey."

Bowing away from the three pairs of eyes that landed on her, Rogue started to regret this decision. Looking between him and the others, Bobby moved towards the car.

"Hey guys, I've got blankets!" he tried to lighten the sudden tenseness with a light voice but failed. "Ri-i-ight."

Shooting a pensive glare towards Bobby, Jubilee marched towards him, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the garage. Pushing him in front of her, she hissed at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing Ice-cream? You could have asked before you toted Miss Gloom 2004 along for this little joy ride."

"Jube, look at her… seriously look at her." Bobby flared at the insensitive girl, swinging her in the direction he was talking about.

Gnawing at on her lip, she fought the grip on her arm then relented when Bobby jerked her a little. Allowing herself the discomfort of actually looking at the girl in question, she ignored the truth placating the girl's features.

"Look at her and tell me you can't see the ultimate and utter destruction." His voice leered in her ear.

Shaking him off, she gave him the satisfaction of seeing, actually seeing this girl. She took in the bridge like slump in her shoulders, noted the white knuckles from over tightened fists, even caught a tint of red seeping from the vice like hold. Flinching inward, Jubilee memorized the dark cloud she knew already surrounded her, this time actually seeing it. It was all consuming and seemed to drown the girl. What finally forced the air from her draining form was the look in her eyes when she turned ever so much to the side and for a moment eyed her back. It wasn't just the sadness or the shattering despair that lay there but the lack of any spark, dull and void of anything real. Her eyes lay in a pool of death and shattered hope.

A pity for the girl washed over her for the first time since she'd met her. Sighing, she turned back to Bobby and uttered, "Fine, she can come but she sits in the front. And I make no promises to be nice, least not overtly."

Just the slightest bit smug at getting the response he'd wanted, he huffed a muted, "No prob."

Making his way back to the shadow girl, he guided her towards the car. Putting force on the hand on her back, she spun around. Peering up at him, she voiced the unsettling feeling coursing through her. "This was a bad idea. Maybe I should just go back inside."

He stopped her before she could act on her words. "Don't, it'll be fine."

"They don't even want me here," she rebutted bitterly.

"But I want you here, so get in the car." It was a soft command, one she followed resolutely.

As much as she didn't want the discomfort that was bound to follow, she couldn't risk running into him. Embarrassment and lack of control to keep behind the thin line she'd set meant it would definitely get crossed. Getting into the car, she curled in on herself, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head on the cool glass window. A deafening silence followed as everyone climbed into the car and Bobby turned the ignition. It held the group in its grasp, squeezing any shred of comfort from the already stale air.

With an indignant groan, John slipped between the front seat, reaching for the one tool that would ease the quiet. Flinching away from the boy's outstretched hand, Rogue watched as he flipped on the radio to the appropriate station and muttered softy, "I don't like uncomfortable silences."

Filling the tiny car, heavy beats replaced the silence but only completed half its task. During the entire journey to the lake, an uneasy air remained, threatening to drown the reverted girl with its weight. The brief second the car came to a stop but never fully shut off, Rogue was out, backing away from the vehicle to give the others room to move about with her at a safe distance from them. She never caught Bobby's pathetic frown or the disinterest of the others.

Listening to the pounding beat of her own heart in her frail chest, she allowed it to fade, slowly turning to take in the surreal surroundings.

Nature's unique song subdued the bombardment in her ears, its soothing call easing her muscles and relaxing her mind. The wind rustled in the trees, taken aback by the new intruders in its home. Hovering mere feet away from the small group, it watched, intrigued by them.

Swallowing the lump in her throat at having reencountered the entity from the night on the ledge, she let it dissolve in her stomach. Least now she wasn't completely cornered by strangers.

Grazing the arching vast space of grass, trees and the purity of life, she started off in the direction of the biggest tree she could find, readying to lose herself beneath its folds. To her utter distaste, the others followed her path to the trees arching base and started to settle in. She could already hear Bobby's voice long before he mouthed the words. 'Give them a chance.' Bestow upon them a courtesy they never gave a second thought to giving her. In a world that bends to the unfair, this was almost above and beyond.

Once again retracting into herself, she relented for Bobby, squarely believing she'd be under another tree within the hour.

"Damn, I have a huge gaping hole in my stomach that's dying to be filled with something other than brain food." Jubilee was the first to speak, her voice filled with mock disgust aimed at Kitty.

"Hey!" Kitty snapped at her friend indignantly. "It's a proven fact that vegetables and wheat products improve mental abilities."

"And it's also a proven fact, chica, that if you jam too many carrots into your system you can turn all sorts of funky colors. I just so happen to like my honey-colored cultured skin-tone just the way it is. Now pass the junk food Miss Brainiac." With the eagerness of a starved child, Jubilee grabbed the offered bag and tore it open. A gentle hum floated from the girl as she tasted the salty sweetness of Lays Barbecue Chips.

"Gripe, gripe, gripe but when we get our marks back you'll change your tune. Trust in the Kitty, the Kitty is good." The light banter the two continuously shared brought smiles to the boy's faces as well as their own.

Behind her smirk, Jubilee took a quick jab at the girl, hoping to get a rise out of her. "You know Kitty, your hairballs are suspiciously starting to sound like words to me."

"OH!" Bobby and John spurted as one, little dribbles of Coke slipping from Bobby's curved lips.

"Nice Burn!" John commented, laughing even harder at the brown coke stains forming on Bobby's light blue tee.

Feigning a pout, Kitty's arm sprouted out swiftly, her dept fingers gripping at the girls skin and closing in. Jubilee curdled at the pinch and shot out of her sitting position, barely missing the other girl as she fazed herself. Jubilee fell through the girl, hitting the ground hard with a resounding oomph. Before either boy could comprehend what was transpiring, Kitty was off, heading straight for the lake a very angered Jubilee hot on her trail.

Rogue allowed herself the grace of watching them giggle and slowly run out breath as they took turns chasing each other. Through her side vision, she saw the boys shake their heads and heard John curse girls and their odd behavior. She had to admit there was definitely something about Jubilee and Kitty. Were they odd? Absolutely. But there was something else Rogue couldn't quite put her fingers on. There was a freedom about them, an ability to do what they pleased, say what they willed no matter how inane it might have sounded. They were uninhibited, in almost every meaning of the word.

Her green eyes deepened as envy's raging form washed over her. Envy was quickly followed by a despondence and understanding that she would never be able to have their freedom. Not in such an all-consuming way that they seemed blessed with. Willing herself to tear her gaze away, she allowed her lids to flutter shut as she leaned back.

Breathing in the warm air she realized that it'd been a long while since she'd actually stayed outside like this. And although the sun remained hidden behind the leaves, its straining rays still managed to peak in under the overhang every once in awhile. Tuning back into the world around her for a second, she realized that Bobby and the girls had gone down to the lake to take a dip. Jealousy reared its head again on the forlorn girl.

"How long's it been?" John's soft voice broke a tiny slit in her wondering thoughts just big enough to catch her attention.

Never turning to him, she intensely peered at the glistening glassy water top, the waves gently rolling back and forth into the hem of the lake. "Since what?"

Unfazed by the lack of attention he got from the young woman, he fussed with something she couldn't see and replied. "Since you've gone swimming."

Holding a breath in astonishment, she realized this young man was far more observant then she gave him credit for. "Years…" she whispered back to him, silently cursing the prickling at the back of her eyes.

"Same," he droned with almost just as much depression as she did. Seeing the question grow in Rogue's eyes, he replied. "Water's my downfall. Can't kill me but just being submerged in it… it feels odd and almost hurts."

"Makes sense when you think about it." Rogue motioned to the lighter lying next to him and he nodded.

Leaning back, no sooner had she closed her eyes did she snap them back open and stare at the young man in shock. Quirking a brow he followed her line of sight to the guitar sitting in his lap and smiled. "Mags meet Rogue, Rogue this is Mags. She's my baby." He cooed to the guitar as if it were in fact an infant.

Awe shined in her eyes, replacing the envy for a precious moment. "She's beautiful."

An appreciative smile crossed the tainted boy and he caressed the back of the object lovingly. "I've had her since I was twelve," he mused.

Something took over the young woman, something that started in the base of her mind and slowly reached the tips of her fingers. The skin itched to touch the instrument, itched and burned with the need. Wetting her lips, she reached out a tentatively gloved hand and murmured, "You mind?"

Chuckling he removed the strap from around his neck and passed the crimson red acoustic guitar to her outstretched hands. "You play?" he asked when she pulled the strap over her shoulder and held the neck instinctively like a professional.

Entrapped at the feel of the cool smooth wood sprawled beneath her gloved hands, she managed a soft nod of the head. Without thought of the consequences, Rogue pulled at the barrier that kept her bare nimble fingers from touching the vast expanse. Blindly tossing the gloves aside, she ran the pads of her fingers over the base straight to the pickguard. The rosewood shined and glistened under her touch and she inhaled the musty sent. Gently, as if fearing she'd break the cherished object, she ran her other hand up the neck. Framing the back of the neck with her hand, she tested the strings, allowing the coiled metal to run under her fingers.

Without thought she tested her memory, forming cords with her hand, her eyes falling shut. John watched, transfixed, as she lost herself in his beloved, in doing so he realized exactly why Bobby had fallen for her. She was remarkable in every sense of the word. Lost in the formations her hands were taking on, she barely caught John's question to play something.

She didn't have to be told twice before her hand at the pickguard sprung to life. Using her thumb instead of a pick, she brushed the nail over the string, the cord C minor bursting from the cavernous hole in the center of the artifact. It hummed in her ear - taunting her to play another cord. She appeased the call, moving one hand softly over the neck of the guitar as the other strummed. A tune started to immerge, a soft tempo of complicated bridges tumbling out of her lithe fingers. Slowly, gaining more confidence, she added another note and then another until her hands flew along the neck with the adeptness of a professional. As complicated as it grew, the tempo remained a gentle call, like the wind's soft whispers.

Leveling off into the chorus of a song, John realized he had heard it once but never quite like this. He gasped when she started to purr the melodic words that went with the lullaby.

"I wake up in the morning, put on my face. The one that's gonna get me through another day," the words fell from her dripping mouth, a frown forming as the song brought memories of that morning when she'd woken up in his arms. "It doesn't really matter how I feel inside, 'cause life is like a game sometimes."

"But then you came around me, the walls just disappeared, nothing to surround me and keep me from my fears. I'm unprotected." Wispy breaths coated the words, each one meaning more then her one-man audience could ever know. She returned to that day she met Logan, returned to that day he'd stolen her carefully built walls. "See how I've opened up. Ohhh you made me trust."

The word trust came out in a brash whisper, becoming a curse to her entire being. Closing her eyes, she lost herself in the chorus, mentally showcasing everything Logan had done to her. "Because I've never felt like this before… I'm naked… around you… does it show?"

"You see right through me and I can't hide… I'm naked… around you…" She paused for a moment, hesitating to sing the next few words - afraid they might be true. "And it feels so right."

"I'm trying to remember why I was afraid to be myself and let the covers fall away. I guess I never had someone like you… to help me… to help me fit in my ski-in…" her voice cracked at the end and she couldn't bring herself to finish the song. The song's words stung so deeply, marring even more of her tainted soul. Trying to breathe back the tears in her eyes, she slipped out of the instrument that had inadvertently caused the new wave of turmoil. Placing it on the ground before her, she grabbed her gloves, forcing them onto shaking flesh.

John had watched as the song's biting words slowly broke this vision before him and when she finally snapped, he almost went with her. He tried to say something to ease her but found no words. Forced to watch as she scrambled to pull herself together, all he could do was stare as she snatched up her things and rose on trembling legs. She all but ran from the scene that had played out behind her, taking off to find a refuge not that far away from the others. Slumping at the base of the tree, she curled in on herself and bit back the sobs, blinking away the tears. Disconnecting herself from the emotions playing out inside her, she went numb, blissfully and completely numb and detached.

Removing himself from the cool water, Bobby cursed as he watched her go. As he made his way over to John, he questioned having brought her here. Snatching up a towel, he glared at the other boy hotly.

"What the hell happened?" Bobby snapped, surprising John.

Taking his guitar in hand, he placed it back in the confines of its case, hoping at the same time to dispel the guilt at having a part in the destruction of the girl. "I don't… I don't know, but you should go to her."

It was Bobby's turn to be surprised. "I thought you said I should back off from her for a while?"

"Yeah well, I saw something in her man, something that made me realize why you do it. So go do it already." The tone he spoke with was humbled and uncharacteristically soft.

Nodding, Bobby pulled his shirt back on and started the slow trek towards Rogue's new shaded tree. He didn't dispense with words, just sat beside her and allowed her to know that he was there. Nothing more, nothing less then just there. There were no tears where he had expected to find them, no sobs when he'd expected to hear them, simply silence.

Losing themselves in their own respective thoughts, Bobby spoke first with a dreadful resignation, "You love him."

She didn't bother sugar-coating it when she replied in a mute tone. "Yes."

Nodding for show only, he continued, knowing he was about to get his heart broken. "You never loved me."

"No, not the way I love him." Direct and to the point was all she could do. Why should she have to spare his heart when no one bestowed her the same?

He knew he should have been surprised but he wasn't, knew he should be angry but he couldn't. "He loves you too."

"Doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Cause it could never happen, not with him or you or anybody else. It will never happen." No emotion lay in her words, just pure fact. "And that's okay by me."

"It shouldn't be okay, Rogue. You shouldn't have to be alone." His heart was sinking but his voice remained cold and detached because he realized that's what she needed. No preaching, no dramatic proclamations, just simple fact.

"But I do. I finally understand that no-" Any chance at finishing the sentence was lost when a frightened scream broke over the two like falling rocks. Snapping their gazes in the direction it came from, both of their hearts stopped at the sight.

Two black cars had pulled up alongside the Volvo, their size towering over the smaller car. The men who exited, mimicked their vehicles, broad muscular men endowed in black shadowy cloaks towered like looming trees wilting in a dying forest. At the foot of what looked to be the leader, lay Kitty's prone form, her face buried in the tall grass. Rogue couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. Her muscles disobeyed her, opting for sitting still as the scene unfolded.

Bobby, unaffected, burst into action, his training taking over. Taking off at a run, he dodged an array of ominous darts laced in heavy sedatives. Trying desperately to fold the distance between him and blonde girl lying on the ground, he urged his legs further apart, the earth beneath him rushing up to his lead-weighted feet. Out of the corner of his eye he witnessed as John attempted to strike his loyal lighter. It's flame imitated Rogue - freezing within the belly of the container, unwilling to face the danger on the outside. The falter was his downfall as the tiny prick of needles bit at his neck, arm and left leg. Any ability he possessed seeped from his form as he drifted off, the ground rushing up to greet him with displeasure.

Before the eerie darkness folded him completely in its grasp, John watched with fear as Jubilee ignored her powers and rushed one of the men, opting to use her agile limbs to her advantage. Slipping out of one's grasp, she connected her knee into his stomach and slammed the ball of her palm into his temple. Instead of going down as she had hoped, he reached to his back and pulled out a cattle prod.

John tried to warn her, tried desperately to open his mouth and scream her name. He withered in the silky grass, using the last of his energy on the futile attempts. When the darkness finally clutched him, the last thing he fell witness to was an electrical charge surging through Jubilee's form and a blood-curdling scream as she too succumbed to the pull of purgatory.

Incapable of being forced to dawn the role of the spectator, Rogue echoed Bobby, rushing out from beneath the tree's shade and into the sun's harsh brutality. Try as she might, she was still too late to help any of them when she finally reached the battlefield. The scene played out in bitterly slow motion, the gap between her and her destination seemingly growing with each step. With horrid detail she watched Bobby reach the grassy inland only to be hit with a tirade of sparking electricity. His boyish face cracked under the pressure of the prods at his back. Grasping hands curled in as the icy waters beneath his skin tried to burst forth and render the attackers in a glacial blanket. He failed as the fire burning through his back tore at the cold rush of power, his ability evaporating into nothing. The blood coursing through her veins broiled within her and she fell to Bobby's side on one knee for a split second.

"Rogue…" his coarse voice croaked. She flinched at the pain hidden there and stifled a gag at the smell of burnt flesh. His burnt flesh.

Flaring her nose at the intruders, a growl born of primal anger and the will to survive ripened in her throat, startling the men for only a moment. Closing her mind off from the fear surging within, she allowed what little of Logan she had left take over. Skills she did not know she possessed broke through the barrier she'd put up against his memories living inside her. Instincts she didn't have the time to understand flowed into her blood, adrenaline taking over.

Charging from bent knee, she careened into the closest body as fast as she could, slamming the attacker into the ground as a way of wreaking retribution for her fallen comrades. Acting without conscious thought, she gripped his neck with her bare hands, her gloves laying under the tree she'd once inhabited. Holding on only long enough to weaken the man, she advanced on the next. Blue veins spread across her face as well as that of her victim, swelling fear in her new prey.

Stalking him slowly, she dodged his punches, landing a sound kick in his jaw, the bones crushing under the force. The sound of a gun cocking rang out in the now still field and the man before her fell to the ground, cradling his chin. Tilting her head to the side, she peered at the last man and stared down the barrel of his Colt as he removed the safety and pointed it directly at her head. She felt as if there should have been fear, a fear of death, but it never came. Instead an understanding washed over her. This wasn't about killing them. Sedatives and cattle prods were about subduing. Her assumptions were confirmed when a tall figure stepped from the back of the last car and called out for the man not to fire the arms.

"I want this one alive," his dry voice wrapped around Rogue's courage and gripped it with such force that it died almost instantly.

Before she could comprehend why they wanted her, she felt a jolt of insurmountable pain ripple in fiery waves through her back. Another prod joined the other, doubling the intensity. Remaining stoic-faced, she swallowed her screams as the pain clouded her mind and she slipped onto the dirt-ridden ground in a convulsive heap. Before she lost all coherence, her name fell from Bobby's lips in a crippling cry.

"ROGUE!!!!!!!"