Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. You should know that by now.

Dinner was rather uneventful. Rogue was introduced as Anna Marie, which immediately caused the corner of the room where the young girl, Kayla, and her friends were sitting to erupt in whispers. Other than that, Jubilee's constant banter and questioning made it hard for Rogue to really concentrate on her thoughts.

"So yesterday, when Jean and I went to the mall, there was this great sale at the Gap."

"Mm-hmm?"

"I love that store. I love the mall."

"Oh?"

"Did you know I lived in a mall for a while?"

"No"

"I did. Then I came here. Why are you wearing gloves?"

"My mut--"

"Is it true you can't touch anyone?"

"Yes"

"That's gotta suck. What does it feel like when--"

Rogue couldn't handle any more of it. She stood up mid-sentence, picking up her plate and heading to the kitchen. Handing the plate to the student who was washing the dishes that night, she was faced with another question.

"Uh, excuse me... I heard from one of my friends that you're Rogue. Is it true?"

She raised her gloved hands and her eyebrows in unison.

"You've heard the stories. What do YOU think, sugah?"

The sudden spray of the water from the hose in the teenager's hand answered her question. She walked out of the dining hall and started towards the recreation room. On her way, Jean's voice telepathically flooded her head.

"To the left."

She turned her head to see an open doorway. Smiling at Jean's cryptic message, she walked in to see what her friend wanted.

"Ah have to get to my post. Whaddaya want?"

The room was dark, the only light coming in from the window. Rogue reached to the wall to find the light switch, and when she did, she was surprised to find the room empty. Jean was nowhere to be seen. She was just about to project mentally the most vulgar appreciation of Jean's instructions, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, she came nose to nose with Jean, who looked angry.

"What? What's going on?"

"Nothing... just practicing for later, when I have to calm people down after the dance."

"Your sense of humor ain't that great, Jeanie."

"I hang out with Scott, what do you expect?"

They both laughed a little bit, before Rogue got back to business.

"So what exactly is this about?"

"Movies."

"Excuse me?"

"Movies." She pointed to the wall behind Rogue, where a huge collection of DVDs filled a bookcase. "You get to decide which ones they can choose from to watch tonight in the rec. room.

"That's a lot of pressure there, Jean. Can't Bobby decide?"

"Sure...if you want to watch Tom Green movies all night. And believe me, after a certain point, all you'll really be able to do is watch the movies. "

"Point taken. Alright." She grabbed 'The Matrix', 'Ferris Bueller's day off', 'The Goonies', and 'Labyrinth'.

"That enough?"

"How about one more, just for good measure? And to make Bobby think you care." Jean held up 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'.

"Excellent. That it?"

Jean nodded.

"Thanks, Jean. I'll see you later" She left the room, turning the light out as she left, and closing the door.

"You haven't changed."

She put a chair under the doorknob for good measure, and walked towards the rec. room again, dvds in hand. She turned around at the door of the rec. room, just in time to see the chair shake and finally fly against the opposite side of the hall, shattering into many pieces and scaring the students who were now streaming out of the dining hall. Rogue laughed as she went into the room and laid the movies on the table. Plopping herself on the couch, she picked up the remote control and started flipping through the channels. Students entered the room, some of them noticing her, most just going about their business. As the room began to fill, Bobby came in, dropping ice cubes down the backs of whomever was in his way. He hopped over the back of the couch and grabbed for the movies.

"Jean told me you picked some up...ooh! Bill and Ted!" His face lit up and he ran to the dvd player with the disc. Rogue had the sudden feeling that she would be monitoring him as much as she would be monitoring the kids. Just then, another group of students walked into the room, crowding around one boy, who had their full attention.

"I swear, she said that. Just like in the stories Gambit tells. She called me Sugar."

"Man, you're lying. That chick ain't real."

"She's real. She was wearing gloves. And long sleeves. You saw her. Its hot out. Why would she be wearing long sleeves?"

"Maybe she's got some skin mutation. Like the rest of her family."

By that point, Bobby had returned to the couch and heard most of the conversation. He turned around. "Why don't you just ask her yourself?" he gestured to Rogue. "I'm sure she'd be able to answer you best."

Maybe I won't have to watch him after all, she thought, as she turned around to face the group of students.

"Or Ah could take off one of mah gloves and shake your hand. That would answer your question too, wouldn't it...SUGAH?"

The entire group went quiet, and the triumphant smile of the dishwashing boy made her smile.

"Now are ya'll going to stand there all night or come and watch Bobby's stupid movie?"

She turned around and grabbed the remote from Bobby's hand, pressing the play button.

............

The rest of the night went without incident. The movie was actually better than she had remembered it being, and the students were a lot quieter and better behaved than she remembered children and teenagers to be. It wasn't until the room was almost empty, and Bobby was asleep and drooling a bit on the couch, that she started to remember the reason she had come back. She felt the guilt coming on, the same guilt that she had every time she thought about her leaving the institute.

"Hey. Y'all keep an eye on 'ol Ice-face here would ya? I've got go go somewhere."

The students nodded, and she walked to the window of the rec. room, throwing open the sash and jumping out, falling for a split second before swooping down and back up, landing gracefully on the roof. She could hear the voices from the room below her.

"Holy shit! I thought she was going to fall for a second there!"

"I wonder where she went?"

"Someone shut the wondow. Its cold in here."

"That's because Mr. Drake is having a bad dream."

"So wake him up"

"You do it. You're the one wearing the sweater."

"Ugh. Shut up you two, I'll --"

The voices got farther and farther away, as she walked across the vast roof, towards her favorite spot. She settled down and stretched out her legs, leaning against a chimney and looking out over the lake, the stars reflecting off of its glassy surface. She remembered a night just like this one, three years before, when she had been reflecting up on the roof. She looked over to the corner of the roof and imagined that night, how Remy had popped his slightly tipsy head over the gutter to invite her back to the party. She remembered how hard it had been to write the letter, and how much harder it was to leave it next to Remy's bed and sneak out of the mansion. As tears started to form in her eyes, she stood up. She just couldn't stand it any longer. She had made the wrong choice, leaving. She hated herself for it. And she knew that she wouldn't make it again. She flew off of the roof and around the mansion, back to the window she came out of, just as one of the students was about to close it, breezing past him and jetting into the hallway, not bothering to land until she was in front of the elevator. She pushed the button and waited for it to come, hoping that none of the other adults would see her heading down to the lower levels. As she entered the elevator, she heard Scott's voice approaching. Luckily, though, the doors slid shut before he could see who was on the lift.

The doors re-opened to the polished metal hallway of the mansion's lower level, and Rogue stepped off of the elevator and into the long corridor. Her footsteps echoed as she walked towards the med-bay. She hesitated at the door, but took a deep breath to reassure herself. She pushed the door open, startled at first at how dark it was in the room. Peering around some of Hank's machinery, she spied the door to the second exam room slightly ajar, with a bit of light coming from behind it. Hank himself was nowhere to be found, so she proceeded to walk towards the door, her resolve fading with every step. A weak voice from inside the room made her freeze in her place.

"Henri? Dat you?"

The words hit her. Hard. She hadn't heard his voice in three years. She just shut down. Physically and mentally. It was all she could do to remember to breathe, something which she was evidently doing very loudly.

"Henri? You ok?"

She still couldn't move, but her breathing was slowly returning to normal.

"Merde, now you hearing t'ings, Remy."

She was glad to hear that he still referred to himself in the third person. That had been one of the first things that she really noticed about him. Her courage had somehow returned, to the point where she was able to walk again. She approached the door, and put her hand on the knob.

"Ok. He may be lyin' in dis bed, not doin' much movin', but Remy still able to hear you."

She knew that there was no escaping it now, it had been her decision to come down now, she was even defying what she was told to do. She took another deep breath and pushed the door open, walking into the small room.

The room was very sterile looking, a hospital bed along the wall to the left of the door, with a big-screen TV across the room from it. The low table to the right of the door was covered in flowers, and the bedside table was entirely hidden under homemade cards from the students.

The door and the bed were in such a way that Remy was unable to see her. She walked up behind him and stood next to the bed. She put her gloved hand over his folded hands and looked into his eyes. Once he recognized her, which didn't take more than half a second, his face froze. He was unable to even blink, but a single tear streamed down his cheek. Rogue couldn't think of anything to say, so she put on the best smile that she could muster, and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey there, Swamp Rat"

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! The Romy-ness has started. next chapter, I'll up the Romy factor more, obviously. But only if everyone is nice and gives me reviews.

reviews! reviews! reviews! : )