"Oh you can't help that. Everyone here is a mad. You might have noticed... I'm not all there myself... " Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland

So that I can feel the rain...


Marie sank to the ground, again, staring at the spot where Carol had just vanished. The house around her was still crumbling to bits, but the hurricane had died down to a light rain. Her arms hung limply and her shoulders slumped. The breeze would still gust with some strength occasionally, and pushed around a soft mist that was what remained of the fog. It also whipped her hair in her face, but she didn't do anything about it. A soft background murmur was the only sound coming from the fog now. The Professor's shield was still up. "Let it down," Marie said with very little emotion. And he silently did. She tilted her head up to feel the rain on her face.

"You did the right thing, Marie." Charles placed his hand on her shoulder and mentally felt' around the new, quieter landscape. Carol had been sent back to the background mists with the rest of the psyches, no long tormenting Marie. Much of the psychic interference had disappeared with her. The perimeter shields were still strong, she needed to build some new inner shields to block out the other voices when they got too rowdy', but all in all, he was very proud of Rogue.

Mutely, she nodded. It still didn't feel right to get rid of Carol, but she had no other choice. As she felt rain patter across her skin, she would admit, it did feel nice to enjoy the relative quiet once again. "You said she might get better? Maybe?"

"Yes. Jean and I have been working with her. She is no longer comatose, she has shown response to certain stimuli. If you like, I could take you to see her." Since she didn't exactly have top secret clearance, he probably meant sneak her in.

"I don't think she'd want that," her voice still showing little emotion. Even with extra help from the two telepaths, containing Carol had been incredibly draining. Right now Marie was too exhausted to emote' or psychoanalyze this any further.

Jean crouched down beside her, "It's up to you. Whatever you want to do."

Remaining on the ground, she just lifted her head, "What I want is to see Remy. Has Storm talked to him yet?"

"I'll go find out right now. He's likely on his way," the Professor's understanding grandfather smile was back. She still wanted to find Remy. He let his awareness spread, but still could find no sign of coersion, manipulation, any kind of brainwashing'. Beside him, Jean was doing the same thing. There's nothing. Remy was telling the truth. What a spectacular first impression we made on Rogue's boyfriend. Outwardly Xavier assured Rogue, "Why don't you rest until he gets here?"

Mutely, again, Marie nodded. Her eyelids felt heavy already. Besides being mentally exhausted, she had been awake for almost two days straight already, minus her brief psychic coma-nap. Letting her eyes close, she began to drift off, a new room began to materialize around her. A manifestation of her subconscious starting to repair her fractured mindscape, building new shields around her. Soft, almond colored walls slowly grew upward. A few of the decorations were from her old room at the institute, but most of the room Jean recognized as one of the bedrooms in Marie and Remy's apartment. It was the place she subconsciously thought of as home. More evidence that Remy' honestly did nothing but try to help Marie.

The sound of the rain subsided into a gentle patter on the roof. An exhausted Marie burrowed deeper into the blankets on a bed that had appeared underneath her. She'd rest a little bit. Remy would be here in no time, he'd try to sneak into the room without waking her, but she would anyway and he'd tell her to back to sleep, because she needed the rest. He'd see the ring and know she'd snooped in his room. She'd tell him for all the worry he'd put her through she'd deserved to wear it. He'd smile...and everything would be fine.

Beware the Jabberooky...


Henry McCoy somewhat frantically made his way into the MedLab, it had been a very long day and his poor nerves couldn't handle much more. "Jean, we are expecting a new patient," he announced abruptly.

"What happened?" Jean snapped up, instantly assumed the worst. "Is it one of the students-,"

Shaking his head apologetically, "My apologies for causing you undue concern. One of the esteemed local hospitals called requesting to transfer of one of their patients. Apparently, they do not feel they can provide the appropriate care for this patient's unique needs." Meaning the hospital didn't want to deal with a mutant. It had happened before. Being the country's leading experts on mutants, Xavier got requests of this type on occasions. "Has our resident Sleeping Beauty awoken yet?"

"No, and it's probably not the best idea to give her a roommate just yet." Jean chewed on her lower lip. Rogue's mental state should be stable, but there was no need to test that now. "Well, we could move her to a more isolated area...or..Maybe we could move her to her old room. Waking up in familiar surroundings wouldn't be a bad idea for her."

Cyclops voice came over Henry's communicator, "Hank, the ambulance is here."

"I'll be right up. Jean if you would be so kind as to move our originally patient. I shall bring the new one here shortly." Hank bounded back the way he came, muttering light hearted under his breath, "Why if I had a nickel for every comatose patient here today...well, I'd have ten cents, but that's beside the point..."

The ambulance pulled into the front of the mansion. Hank met the crew there as they were opening the back of the vehicle. One turned his head and started briefing Hank while he opened the doors, "He was pretty much stabilized when we left. Still a mess, but stable." The doctors at the hospital had already given Hank the rundown on the patient's injuries, so he merely nodded and didn't ask many questions. The wheels of the gurney clicked against the edge of the doorframe when the paramedics lower it, giving Henry his first look at the new patient.

"Oh my stars and garters..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before...

The wind was picking up again. It had been on and off all day, more constantly 'on' since nightfall. A gust blew Remy's coat back as he turned down another alley. Another blind alley. The X-patrol had beat him to the restaurant, but it didn't matter because Marie had already 'left'. He thought he'd know where she'd go. He knew how she thought, even when she wasn't thinking straight. She hadn't gone home, to her Mom's, any of the bus and/or train stations. He'd been all over the city and outside it, looking for her, but all his instincts had all been wrong. That left one other possible place, but he had been so sure that she won't go back there. It wouldn't be the first time he had been wrong about something. It also wouldn't be the first time something could go horrible when he was wrong.

Digging in his pocket, he took out his phone, his new, borrowed' phone since his old one was still at Xavier's. With a final sigh of desperation, he punched in the school's number.

"Hello, Xavier Institute." came a smooth voice.

It was the good cop, hopeful that was a positive sign. He said a silent prayer, something he didn't do often. "It's 'Gordon'," he didn't wait for a response. "I can't find her. I've looked every place she might be. She not showing up on any radar, literally. If you know anything, I swear I'll let the hairy guy cut me up all he wants, just-,"

"She's here." the woman on the other side interrupted him and he let at a relieved sigh.

"Is she OK?" he demanded.

"She's still...confused. The voices were out of control, but Dr. Grey and the Professor are helping her with them." He wasn't sure if telepaths messing with Marie's head was a good thing or not. "She asked for you." Storm's voice continued.

This time he inhaled sharply, "Will you let me see her?" he asked warily. It would be walking straight back into the spider's web, but he had to risk it.

"She's resting right now, but she does want to see you," the calming voice smoothly avoided the question.

It didn't really matter, she was there, so that's where he was going. If she wasn't there and this was a trick, he'd blast his way out again and find her. No matter where she was. "I'm holding you to that, Monroe," with that he unceremoniously hung up. Wearily he rubbed his hand across his face, trying not to let his hopes rise too much at the thought of seeing Marie again. There was still the Xavier squad to deal with, but she was safe, she was alright...

"I know you probably think this an elaborate trap devised by Xavier, but she, is in fact, there."

The wind had died down, but Remy's blood dropped about twenty degrees. He had to remind himself to breath. Without turning around, he knew who it was. "What are you doing here?" he asked very, very quietly.

"Just keeping you from doing anything else foolish," a man in a finely tailored black suit and spotless overcoat casually stated.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Alright, let's go over what we do know," Summers was pacing. And he had a headache. Today had been even more insane than the usual ones at the Institute. All he was missing was a blackboard and pie charts to complete his lecture tone. He knew he sounded like that, couldn't help it, he had slipped in leader' mode, as Jean called it.

Beast obligingly went over the facts that most everyone knew already, "The police got a 911 call that a man had been shot. The caller didn't leave their name. Paramedics at the scene knew the injury wasn't a gunshot wound, but didn't know what to make of it. And that combined with the fact that the patient was a mutant gave the hospital staff entirely too much of a headache, so they called us. Personally, I think it looks like some sort of energy bolt, maybe plasma. From the wound, it looks like the shot came from an angle, probably while he was turning around, so he may or may not have seen the attacker. The blast did a fair amount of surface damage, but not too much internally. He should recover nicely given time, and I'm giving him generous amounts of morphine until then. He should be in an absolutely wonderful mood when he wakes up."

That would be an improvement over the last time he was here, Scott thought to himself. "Yes, but the biggest question is who shot him and why? Rogue is going to want to know when she wakes up and I'm not sure we want to get her mad just yet. Let's go over what the possibilities could be. One-,"

Wolverine interrupted, "I thought Jeannie and Chuck took care of that brainwashing thing. Stripes'll glad that lowlife's out of commission."

" Jeannie and Chuck' don't think there was any brainwashing." Cyclops tried to get back on track.

Logan still didn't believe that, they must have missed something. "Oh yeah, she just up and ran off with this guy."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"You did it, didn't you? You took her," Remy said, though he didn't really need to ask the question.

The man in the overcoat shrugged nonchalantly and inspected his fingernails, "Originally, yes. I knew you would figure it out eventually, you aren't as stupid as you'd like people to believe."

"Why? Why did you want to kill that Carol person? Why did you want to do that to Marie?"

"I didn't want to kill her. I never want to kill people, it is sometimes inevitable in the course of the scientific study," he said with a calm logic. "Besides, she's not actually dead anyway. Don't know if she'll ever recover, but that's hardly important now. Her part of the experiment is over. As for Rogue, she should be happy. She always hated her powers, thought that she was useless to the X-Men. She has more power than she could ever dream of now," a cold hearted smile.

"Because you're such a nice guy," Remy knew from past experience fighting wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he was left with venting and ranting impotently. "You're experiment to drive her nuts was a success. Congratulations."

There was no reaction, "I knew there would be psychological side effects. That's why I sent her back to Xavier. He was quite suited to deal with those complications."

"Those complications' were a lot more than you expected?" Remy wasn't quite sure why he was still talking. Essex wasn't going to tell him anything he didn't want to. Nothing he said could change what happened, or would make any sense, for that matter, to sane people anyway.

"Nonsense. I expect everything. Her delusions got the better of her before she could reach Xavier. For that occurrence, I merely planted a subconscious suggestion for her to go to Madipoor should that happen." Seeing Remy's shocked look, he merely smiled and continued, "I knew you were there, and you cannot be within 50 miles of a damsel in anything remotely resembling distress without gallantly stepping in. I think it may be a secondary mutation of yours," he said with very dry humor. "I figured you would help her find her way back to Xavier's. I didn't expect you to take quite so long though," a mildly reproving look. "No matter, she's there now, Xavier is fixing' the psychic damage even as we speak, so I'll forgive your unprofessional tardiness."

"Gee, will ya? Thanks. You really are a nice guy, Essex," he practically spat out the name. He reall wanted to hit the smug S.O.B. Why not? Essex would knock him back, say something about being too rash and be on his merry, little, evil, way. Essex couldn't really hurt him. Well, that wasn't true. The good doctor could hurt him plenty, he had the nightmares to prove it. But the freak considered him too valuable a specimen' to damage permanently'. Why not risk it? Because I need to get back to Marie.

The perfectly tailored arm of the suit moved up and Essex could check his watch."You should probably be going now."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scott sighed and looked at the ceiling, silently cursing Logan's stubbornness. "No, she didn't run off. Our running theory now is that a third party-,"

"What happened to your government angle?"

"A third party, who may or may not be with the government, though probably not, was involved in both Rogue's and Major Danver's disappearances and Remy' didn't find her till later, after the voices' started. She was apparently pretty good at controlling them until a few days ago."

"Because he was brainwashing her." Wolverine repeated as if they were all a bit dense. "Once we got him away from her, it started wearing off and she came back," a shrug, "maybe not in the best way, but still..."

Jean broke in sounding diplomatic,"That's true in a way...at least. We tried to get as much information as we could from Rogue' memories. It was a still little hazy in her head, but we learned a lot. Her boyfriend's' not a telepath at least, he doesn't think he is. He does know he's nearly impossible to read, but just considers it a lucky coincidence. He's probably a very low level psi, maybe an empath-,"

"An empath, that would explain a lot," Scott muttered under his breath.

"-and he's biggest strength is in his shielding. Marie had a classic fugue episode. She 'forgot' everything to avoid dealing with Carol. Eventually she would have remembered on her own, in a few days probably, but every time her makeshift shields started to give, she would begin acting erratically, hallucinating-,"

"Like she did at the restaurant." Beast supplied helpfully. He had been jotting things down in a notebook while Wolverine insisting on running the converation in circles. At least he was being constructive.

Nodding, Jean continued, "Yes, and Remy would always try to calm her down'-,"

"Meaning he would strengthen her shields, block out Carol, but also keep her from remembering." Cyclops concluded.

"So, he was brainwashing her." Cyclops silently counted to ten to keep himself from strangling Logan.

Jean sighed, "No, it was all on a subconscious level, he only wanted to make her better', but he never really knew what was wrong with her, so he just maintained what seemed to be her normal' state. When we captured him and held him here, there was no one to reinforce the shielding and it finally collapsed on its own."

Logan sounded not entirely convinced, but was running out of counter arguments. "What was that you said about empaths'?" These eggheads had way too many words to describe things. What exactly was an empath' again?... something like a telepath...

"Empaths tend to act more ...erratically than other psis, because they read emotions not thoughts, like telepaths do. So they can be illogical."

That didn't make sense to Logan, "If he was a 'path, than he would have known we wouldn't hurt Rogue." Aha, another counterpoint.

"No, he would only feel our emotions like worry, fear, anger and not the reasons behind them. Magneto always feels' he's helping his people, even when he's blowing things up. Some empaths can be very untrusting for that reason." Jean was oing a remarkable job of still sounding patient.

"And empathy is generally useless against sociopaths and some psychotic types that because they don't feel' anything." Scott added. Before Wolverine could interject anything else, he pushed through with the original topic of discussion. "Now let's get back to possible suspects and evidence behind them. One, it was random, Two, he may have stumbled onto something about the real kidnapper. Three, it was a personal enemy-,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why are you telling me this?" Remy was always suspicious around Essex, but right now the man was being far too courteous.

"So full of questions today, aren't we? Honestly, I thought you would have realized that as well. Perhaps you are not as clever as I gave you credit for."

Remy waited, hearing his own heart thump behind his ribs. What was Essex doing here, why was he talking to Remy at all? "You want me to keep my mouth shut."

"That is something you normally excel at. But you, obviously, have not been using your better judgement as of late," and pointed look. "I just want to assure myself that you have not broken yourself of that habit entirely. As I said before, you would have figured out it my part in this eventually. Especially with Raven running about with that ridiculous book of hers." Remy didn't even bother wondering how Essex knew that. He knew how to take down federal super-soldier Danvers, knew Remy would be in Madripoor, why wouldn't he know about Destiny's diary? Obviously, knowing such things just fell under the 'Evil Genius' title. Remy's internal musing was interrupted, "But you already knew I took Rogue, didn't you?"

Yes, he did. He hadn't admitted it to himself, but in the middle of night, during his worst dreams, he knew what had to have happened. The creeping voice in the back of his head that always thought the worst, had realized this long ago. He could finally understand how Raven could think some fates could have been worse than death for her daughter.

"There would be no benefit in telling her, you know that, or you would have already," he pointed out with more calm logic.

Ignoring the implication of that statement, "It doesn't matter. Xavier's mucking around in her head, he'll find out," part him was relieved he didn't have to say anything.

With utterly no concern whatsoever, "He can't find what doesn't exist. I told you I expect everything."

That wasn't possible, how could....Then it hit him, if Marie was kept sedated the entire time, she would have no memories, nothing to recover.

"I generally don't care for anaesthesia, interferes with my results too much, but sometimes it is a necessary evil." Gambit almost laughed out loud at the irony of that statement.

"Do you quite understand what I'm saying LeBeau?" Remy stared, not sure at all what the man was trying to say. "The experiment was a success. All that's left is field observations. I thought you'd be rather happy to hear that. Rogue is free', to use the vernacular expression."

She was free? Was the freak really going to leave her alone? "So long as I don't do anything foolish', right?"

A even coler smile, "Precisely."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summers was making sense, Logan hated that. But he still couldn't believe that Rogue was actually with that low life of her own free will. She was with that Bobby kid before, the one who wanted to be an accountant, for crying out loud. "Remy", (what kind of name was that anyway?) couldn't be farther from her type, as long he ignored the fact that Marie had a crush on himself for while. No, it wasn't the same thing. She'd go back to Drake when she came to her senses, she had too. He was a good kid, and just a little afraid of Logan, the way he should be.

"It was only a couple days...and the shields collapsed. That means he had to be around her constantly." He had been paying almost no attention to what Cyke had been saying about suspects and crime scenes.

"When you love somebody, you kinda want to be around em lot. It's funny how that works," came a voice from the doorway.

"Hello, Rogue. We didn't think you'd be awake yet. How are you feeling?" the Professor had known she was there, but let her wait until she wanted to talk.

Seemingly ignoring Xavier's question, "At first, I told myself I was only hanging around him because I didn't have anyone else, but that wasn't why. I wanted to be with him, that was always the reason." There was a pause. She was still tired, but honestly, she had a hard time sleeping without Remy there. So she got up, and found Remy in the Medlab. No sleeping after that. "What happened to him?" her voice was neutral, but she glanced sidelong at Wolverine.

They of course knew immediately what she was talking about. "He was attacked, somewhere in the Bronx, we don't know who yet. But he's going to be fine." She didn't say anything, just nodded and left the room, presumably to go back to the MedLab. Logan started to follow her, but hesitated. "Hey, kid-,"

A half turn momentarily,"Not now, Logan." There was an angry edge to her voice. "The Professor and Jean can tell everything that happened. I don't want to deal with anything else right now." And then she turned back, exiting through the door.

Leaving the war room, she made her way down the hallway. A few steps before the MedLab doors she heard someone, "Hey, Rog-,Marie." She froze, hearing a familiar voice. "I don't know if you remember me yet, but my name's-,"

"bobby," she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello, Police? I think someone's been shot. I don't know, I just saw him in an alley. Where?" Essex was doing a good imitating mild panic as he talked to police dispatch. As a scientist he valued his privacy, it was essential to his research. LeBeau's silence hadn't been overly important before. The thief had never really been in a position to tell anything, at least not to anyone that mattered or who would believe him. But now that he had formed this...attachment to Xavier's student, that situation had changed. Gambit staying with Xavier's people wasn't an entirely bad idea, the boy should be around other mutants more for sufficent development. So he just needed to remind Remy about the importance of discretion. The subtle threat to the girl would probably have been enough to ensure the boy's silence, but no sense in taking any chances.

He continued his converstaion, "No, no. I should go. Someone may still be around. No, I told you I didn't see anyone. I have to go." Just a touch of added fear, so he could avoid staying around for a police questioning. He hung up his phone and put it back in his coat pocket. The ambulance should be here soon. Remy needed a lesson, but letting him bleed to death in a dim, back alley would be highly counterproductive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bobby. She did remember him, and he was the person she was least looking forward to talking to.

"Does that mean you're... feeling better?"

"Yeah," answering his question. She still wasn't looking at him, but could tell from his voice that he was smiling. She should get used to people asking that, this wouldn't be he last time. "Pretty much, I guess."

"I'm really, really sorry about what happened earlier. Honestly, I never liked Emma, I can't believe she attacked you like-,"

"It's alright, I wasn't exactly acting friendly." Marie fidgeted with her hair and forced herself to look up.

"And about the ice wall, You were running right toward the cliff...I thought you were going to fall. I wasn't trying to hurt you. You have to believe me. , I was just trying-,"

"I said it's alright. It's alright," it was an interesting change of pace having someone else apologizing, but she was anxious to back to Remy. "I know we should talk about this and everything... but I can't really talk right now..."

He looked down, shoved his hands in his pockets, unsure of her reaction. "OK...Anything you want... I missed you..I just wanted to tell you that,.. and I'm just glad you back." he stammered out.

That was low, not intended to be, undoubtably, but that was low. She inched forward a bit, triggering the MedLab doors. Letting the door slid open,she glanced inside. Remy was still asleep, so she let herself turn a fraction to face Bobby. "I do remember you, Bobby, everything, I think, anyway. Her eyes darted up and down and occasionally back into the room, trying but having no idea how to say these things. "I put you through a lot, I know-,'

"It's not like you left on purpose. It never should have happened, but you're back now and everything, well, it can't go back to normal exactly, but-,"

"No, it can't. I know the last six months shouldn't happened-,"

"Eight months. You've been gone for eight months."

"Ok, the last eight months never should have happened, but they did and nothing can ever be the same. I'm sorry," she said apologizing yet again. Finally making her way through the doors, and not looking back at Bobby who was still standing where she'd left him.

"Whenever you're ready to talk, I'll be here. I've waited this long..." he shrugged, trying to be good natured and supportive.

That was really low. She didn't respond, couldn't even look at him again. What should she say, Sorry, I know I've put you through the ringer these past months, but I don't love you, don't really want to talk to you, and kinda wish I was still doing that fugue thing, so I could have my perfect life back? Couldn't very well say that. Bobby was a nice kid, she at least owed him a decent conversation. Who was she calling kid'? He was the same age as she was. They graduated together, started taking basic college courses at the institute together, were going to decide where to go to school together after that. But then she changed all that when she ran away.

All the psychological talk aside, that's what happened. Her life became just too screwed up, so she left to make a new one. Her new perfect life. Not everyone would consider it perfect,' but she was as close to normal' as she'd ever had and to her it was utterly perfect. A job, an apartment, someone who loved her, occasional lunch with her Mom...briefly she wondered if the Professor had found out Raven while he was in her head. That would be even more of an explanation than Remy had been. She didn't want to admit it, but losing her mother hurt a lot more than she thought it should. Don't think about that...BEEP, something was beeping, in a hospital room that couldn't be good. What was beeping?

Immediately forgetting about Raven and Bobby, she frantically looked around trying to figure out what was wrong, but only saw incomprehensible machinery.

"I'll get Jean," she vaguely heard someone else say.

"Remy?" she decided bypass the machines altogether and just focus her worry on Remy. "What's wrong, cher? Talk to me, please," she begged. While she did, Jean appeared suddenly there at the bedside with some big, blue, hairy guy she'd never seen before, fussing with the I.V. The beeping stopped and along with it Rogue's heart rate cut in half.

When Bobby called over the comm link, Jean and Hank had already been on their way down the hall. The doctor's comm badge was linked to the monitors in the MedLab just for occasions like these. "His blood pressure was just up a little. I gave him something to bring it down. He's fine." Jean was using her calming doctor's voice and saw Rogue's tension visibly drain. The girl kept her grip on Remy's hand and still didn't look completely well. She should still be sleeping. "Why don't you lie back down. You need the rest. I'll stay here with him and tell you the minute he wakes up."

"No," she replied without bothering to think it over. "I don't even think about trying to make me go. I'm stronger than all y'all now, and I'm staying right here," that came out it little angrier than she had intended.

The blue guy was the one who finally answered, "Alright, then. We shall find you a nice, comfy chair. Perhaps some pillows?"

"Sure, thanks,...um..."

"Hank, Hank McCoy. Pleasure to make your acquaintance," he extended a blue hand in introduction. She shook it wearily. Well, as far as new people went, he did seemed a whole lot nicer than that white woman. Nevertheless, she turned her attention back to Remy. Dr. McCoy faded back, presumably to find that chair he was talking about and Jean had already moved back probably to give her some space. Remy's hand was still in hers and she smoothed his hair back. He looked so peaceful, which was ironic, since he usually didn't sleep well. Not without her there, he always said. "Can you hear me? I'm right here beside you, love. You're safe now, we both are. These are my old friends, they'll take good care of you. And I'll never run again, I promise. Just don't scare me like that again.

Across the room, Bobby hadn't worked up the nerve to approach Rogue again. So instead he stood at a distance, while the two resident doctors played around with charts for the guy on the bed. Rogue was holding his hand, stroking his face tenderly and murmuring to him in...French, it sounded like. "What's she saying," he turned to Jean with trepidation.

Jean was actually trying not to telepathically eavesdrop. The interference in Rogue's mind had died down when the storms did. She alot more readable, especially when she was practically projecting like she was now. "Um...she just telling him where he is, what's going on...things like that." She answered, more like lied, quietly so Rogue wouldn't hear them.

Beside her, Beast looked over at Jean and then started translating, even more quietly, "You can't leave me yet. You promised me forever, I'm holding you to that. It wasn't been forever, amour."

"Hank-," Jean said disapprovingly, Bobby didn't need to know that.

"He deserves to know, Jean. You can't keep them in the dark. It will only lead to more problems," he said referring to all the students

"Forever?" Bobby questioned almost to himself.

Henry heard him anyway, "Yes, that's engraved inside the band of the ring she's wearing. I am sorry Robert," and he meant it sincerely.

Bobby thought about what Marie had said, how things could never be the same. "That's what she was trying to tell me. But isn't that the guy that Wolverine caught? Isn't he the one who-,"

"No," Jean sounded tired. "I'll explain everything. C'mon, Bobby," she gently took his elbow and led him out of the MedLab. Beast stepped back a bit further and busied himself with more lab work, while he soft sounds of Marie voice lingered in the background. It was really was a beautiful language, he thought as he left the room.

Marie looked over her shoulder, "They're gone now." Remy slowly cracked open an eyelid, when he heard her say that. He had been in and out of consciousness since she found him. But she still had a heart attack when that beeping started. "It is safe here. They are my friends."

"I'm still getting used to that idea," he croaked. His throat wasn't feeling any better, but oddly enough he felt rather happy about it. He tugged little on the I.V., wondering what was in it exactly. Marie ran her fingers through his hair some more. Or maybe it was just finally seeing his amour again. She looked alright, actually she looked radiant, like she always did. "You look radiant," he just came out and said. What was is that I.V.? Marie just smiled at him. "Ya sure you're alright, chere?"

"I'm fine. You seriously need to rest." His eyes drooped shut even though he was preparing to tell her he was perfectly fine. Lightly he felt her hand brush across the bandage on his neck. "Wolverine is so dead when I get a hold of him." She thought he didn't know what happened to him, but he could 'remember' what Logan did.

"Ya know, you're beautiful when you're angry," he opened his eyes again. "Who was that guy you were talking too?"

She sighed, "That would be my old boyfriend Bobby."

"Old as in ex-, or old as in you forgot him?"

"It's over-,"

"So you forgot?"

"I did forget, and now I have to find a way to tell him, it was fun, thanks for worrying about me all this time, but I'm in hopelessly in love with someone else. Any suggestions how to start that conversation?"

He thought about that for a second, but another thought overtook his slightly clouded brain, "Did you say Bobby?' That popsicle kid who-,"

She smiled and leaned her head down, touching his forehead and kissed him. He forgot what he was talking about and didn't bother blaming it on the I.V. this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another longer chapter. Dum-dum... the major villain is revealed, even though everybody already knew who it was anyway. Now the characters know too, well at least one of them. Rogue's amnesia was explained, some of you probably figured most of it out from the last chapter. I hope I didn't drag on for to long with the explanation. I've never seen an explanation of empaths before, so this one came completely out of me head, but it seemed logically enough. And it explained how Gambit could have been a psi and still have been involved with Sinister. Don't kill me for hurting Remy (again,) he's going to be fine! Sinister wanted to get his point across, and he's not a nice guy.

I realized while I was writing this that Beast and Sinister kinda talk alike. It was weird. Beast's line about comatose patients is blatantly stolen, from what issue I can't remember. It was right after the Age of Apocalypse, I know that. It was one favorite X-Men quotes.

I was kind of dreading writing this chapter, because this is the one where I had to rip Bobby's heart right out of this chest. (He's a nice guy, I didn't want to do it, but I had to.) On to the shout outs:


ishandahalf -Remy is back, but not a lot of mushyness. Well Rogue's old friends didn't help the situation much. But it wasn't their idea to attack her. Bobby was just trying to kept her from running off the cliff. Emma was the one who really pushed her over the edge with her over- reacting. Stupid Emma..grumble... They finally believe Rogue about the brainwashing. Took them long enough, but honestly it probably was a logically conclusion to jump to, given the life they lead. And yes, the x-Men have been trying but they really don't have any idea of what's going one.

Pixie Flyer -Evil write'rs block. I had a little of that in this chapter. Hope you get over it soon.

star_of_chaos()-Glad I could help make you feel better. :)

evanescence kicks ass -Yeah the psyche stuff was hard to write. The whole stories gotten harder in the last few chapters because I'm trying to tie everything together. Lot harder than I thought it'd be. :)

Randirogue- Thanks. I love your story Callous,' so that means a lot.

4Rogue()-Poor Remy indeed. First his frantic, then he's in the hospital. But he's fine! (Don't kill me!) :)

Jukebox -Yep, back to the real world for this chap. The cold, cruel, real world. :)

SeaWench-The cabin is a little like the mental bricks, even though I wasn't crazy about the 2nd Rogue mini. I do still follow the comics. So far I like the direction Rogue's taking, wouldn't want her to remain powerless forever, but it's a interesting angle to explore. I do wish there would be some exploration of Remy and Rogue's relationship. It's been pushed aside right now.

Silly Sphinx-Logan does have that bad temper. Gets him into trouble. :) Glad you like it.

Iseult of the Snows -Short and time the point. :) Thanks!

Alwaysright1-There was a little implied Romy, but yeah, that chapter was mostly about Carol and getting Rogue's head back together. You are exactly right about Tantie Matte, and why Rogue chose her as a protector'. I'm glad you saw it.

Girl number 1()-Thanks. Here's the next update.

Sagi()- That wasn't the ending, so don't release Shadowcat. It is almost over though. Hopefully you'll like the ending. Yeah, Rogue's keeping her powers from Carol. I loved the movies, but the comic incarnation of Rogue is still my favorite.

AngstWolf -Here's another chapter, still a little late, but not as bad as last time. (More work and holiday madness) This chappie's super sized too. I just started writing and it wasn't done, so I had to keep going.

Zeelee-Good ol' Emma, always there to make things worse. :) Logan is still not a happy camper, and not likely to get any happier, but that too bad because there's nothing he can do about it. ;).

millie()-Good point, Rogue doesn't have to absorb someone else to become a stronger character. Some development could work just as well. I do like Evolution Rogue and she still doesn't have extra powers, just stronger charazation. I guess I just like Rogue with those powers. The movies were good, loved them, (the second one was the best. ) And Anna Paquin didn't do a bad job, per se, but she did not quite fit.

Tayrion-Got your review in right under the wire. Thank you for your compliments and I hope you still like the story after chap 9. (The story started gettng harder to write in the later chapters. Writer's block I guess.) You are right, though. I did change a lot of elements from the movie to make them closer to the comic. Some of the things in the comics I liked better and was more comfortable writing, so I steered things that way. Maybe I should have tried thinking 'outside the box' more so to speak. Case in point, I did it again in this chapter by bringing in Sinister, when he's not one of the characters likely to show up in the movie. (The Shiar and Apocalyse are the least likely to appear, in my opinion anyway.) By now I have a pattern of that, so why change toward the end? :) Maybe,(in all my vast spare time) I'll try a movie story that follows the 'movie' better. It would be a good challenge.