"I just don't see how Rogue can march off with Miss Wanda in the state that she's in, and we're all supposed to relax and go back to what we were doing!"

"Jean, calm down." Scott had to quicken his steps in order to get around Jean and keep her from charging off onto the grounds. Taking her by the hand, he sat down on the fountain seat and waited for her to follow. "I'm sure the Professor's keeping an eye on them. Wanda seemed upset and maybe Rogue can help her. They seem to have similar temperaments, and they've been becoming friends. Besides, you don't really want to barge in on them with Wanda as angry as she was."

Okay, now clearly that had been the wrong thing to say. For half a moment, Scott thought Jean had developed a touch of pyrokinesis, her glare was that potent.

"That's what you think of me? You think I'd be that stupid? I'm just expressing my concerns about what's safe for all of us who live here. Wanda's powerful enough to beat all of us. She has before, and if we get used to her and the rest of the Brotherhood traipsing in and out, -."

"Jean! Come on. It hasn't gotten that bad yet and if it does, we'll be careful. What's really bothering you?"

"Rogue's never really warmed up to me. I tried so hard and she just shuts me out. And now, she and Wanda have become friends practically overnight. I'm her teammate!"

"Well, since that accident last month, maybe they both felt they could lower their defenses a little. Maybe Rogue'll get used to it and open up to the rest of us more. She's had a tough year what with Mesmero and,-."

"Not, to interrupt, Scott, but I've had my own share of run-ins with Mesmero. If you'd bother to remember."

"I'm sorry Jean, I should have -."

"Kept your mouth shut?"

Though she couldn't see his eyes, his jaw did his iron-man impersonation that he reserved for when he was ticked. She'd gone too far. Oh, God. Here he was trying to help her and she had to go and lash out at him. "Scott, I'm sorry, I was angry but I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"Yeah. It's okay. Let's do something fun. We could try the Danger Room."

"We need lives."

"Race ya?" Scott's smile let Jean know that he wasn't too angry at her.

"Okay."

Rogue stopped as they reached the Brotherhood's house. It had been a long walk, and a long day. They had stopped at the food court and took the longer routes through the industrial complex by the river and then the park.

There had been so much for both Rogue and Wanda to tell. But after Rogue's explanation, nothing more was said about Pietro or Erik.

"It would be wrong for me to tell you." Wanda's presence went from pleading to threatening. She was so upset, she probably didn't even realize she was doing it. "Wait. Wanda, please, let me explain."

"I need to know." Her voice was cold, calm. Very unlike Wanda.

"No, you need to understand. It's different. If I tell you, you'll know, but it won't help your relationship with Pietro at all. If he finds out that I've told you, he'll be mad at me and you. And he won't want to explain why he cowers around Erik to you. You need to talk to him. Tell him how you feel."

"I don't know if you've noticed, Rogue, but we Lensherr's aren't much for touchy-feely."

"You think I am?" Rogue wasn't good at this feelings bit either. "You both need to talk to each other. He's scared you'll hate him for abandoning you. And he won't tell you what happened after Erik left you until he knows you don't think that anymore. He'll start to trust you."

Wanda turned away from Rogue, deep in thought.

"If you talk to him, maybe you can have a brother again."

"I have a brother." Wanda's voice was flat, terse.

"No you don't. You can't count on him. He can't count on you."

"Well, whose fault is that?"

"Erik's."

Wanda smirked as if to agree.

"Hey, come on. New subject. Let's do something fun."

"Rogue, what was it like growing up in Mississippi?"

"You really wanna go in?" Rogue asked. Looking up at this place she'd once called home.

"Sure. I live here." With a rueful chuckle she turned back to Rogue. She grinned a hopeful smile. "You know, you could move back in."

"Hey, you could move out." It had become an old joke with them. Neither one could bear the leader of the other's household. They both looked up at the house again. Neither had ever told so much about their lives to someone else before. There was a lot to think about.

Wanda broke the silence. "You want me to walk you home?"

Rogue couldn't help laughing. "I can get home in half a second! In fact, I never left!"

"How's your work with Storm coming?"

"It's not, really. We might go out later to practice tomorrow. Logan's still trying to get me not to feel bad about flinging him into walls."

"That's a prerequisite?"

"No, but, I'm not comfortable with the idea of mucking about with the weather. She was one of the first mutants I absorbed; I didn't even know them yet." Rogue stopped. "I just told you all this, why do you need to hear it again."

Wanda moved her hand dismissively. "Let me put it this way, it is now October. I'm no clairvoyant, but I think we're gonna have a snowy winter. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay. Is anyone looking?" Rogue asked, looking around herself.

"I don't see anyone and all the curtains are down."

"See ya." With a grin and a small rush of air, Rogue was gone.

Wanda turned up the walk and headed inside.

Magneto surveyed the scene from a car that was parked within sight of the Brotherhood's house.

Storm set the jet down carefully in one of the park's clearings.

"All right Rogue. We're far enough away from everything that minor weather changes should go unnoticed by most of Bayville and upstate New York. How much weather have you been able to effect?"

"Other than the thunderstorms I called up when I lost control and the first time I met you, nothing." Rogue shrugged. "Honestly, I've been a little afraid to play around with lightning."

"I can certainly understand that. My sister and I emigrated from Africa when we were near your age. I have had white hair since I was a child and it was an easy target for schoolchildren. One time, their teasing went too far, and the rains came out of season. Before anyone understood what was going on, the water froze first into flakes, then into a bruising hailstorm. Later, when our father died, I could not control my mutation and the lightning storm almost destroyed our entire village. We were not allowed to stay there after that. It is a dangerous ability which, for me at least, responds to my emotions. The degree of control has been hard to come by."

"That's why you didn't want anyone to come with us."

"Yes. I can protect myself, and your default mutation, if you lose control, is Kitty's insubstantiality. Lightning will pass right through you. Understood?"

"I think I can do that. But, can we start simple?"

"Of course. Are you ready?"

"Okay."

Storm began to lead Rogue through the beginning stages of reaching out and recognizing various weather patterns and cloud formations. It was not easy.

"Storm, if this is your mutation, shouldn't you instinctively understand these things?"

"I do."

"Then why did you go through the trouble of going to school to learn about this?"

With a wry smile, Storm answered. "Oh, the doctorate. I knew that I might have to train someone someday. It helps to know the terminology and the physics behind meteorology. That way, some of the things other scientists have learned about the weather can help you. I know that for other powers, you have gotten direction from the memories in your head. Can my personality help you at all?"

"Well, apparently, I'm supposed to move this there," as she spoke, Rogue shoved at a mass of air. "And lightly pull this here." With that, a grey cloud blew in from the west and started bathing the trees on the other side of the clearing with rain.

"That is very good. You must have been practicing. Try lightning."

"There's not enough charge for a lightning bolt."

Storm smiled. "Good. How do you build up that charge?"

The whole afternoon was spent learning how to build up large and small electricity charges for various lightning sizes and how to manipulate temperature and pressure to create snowflakes out of rain. When Rogue's first experiments with wind degenerated into a miniature tornado, Storm quickly wrested control and called it quits.

"Rogue, you are doing very well. Seeing your reluctance to use it makes me feel better about your having this power. It shows that you have a clear idea of how destructive it can be. You will not abuse it.

"But Rogue," Storm continued. "You could have allowed the personality of me in your head to guide you. Why did you wait for me to be with you?"

"If I screw up, you can fix it." Rogue smiled, jokingly. Then her expression grew more serious. "Storm, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"If I knew why-." Rogue stopped a minute to consider her phrasing. When she started speaking again, the words rushed out faster and faster. "Let's say Evan wanted to know why you behaved a certain way, how would you feel if he came to me and asked why you did what you did? Would you want me to tell him? And if-."

"Wait, Rogue, slow down."

"Think about it a minute. If I told someone something about you that I learned because I'd absorbed you, how would you feel?"

Storm seemed surprised by the question. As she was thinking, she seated herself near Rogue on the grass of the clearing. "Rogue, none of us blames you for what happened with Apocalypse. You and he had similar abilities; it makes sense that he learned much of what he knew of us through you. However, that was done through Mystique and Mesmero's manipulations, not your will. Do you understand that?"

"Yes."

Storm continued. "In fact, none of us, especially me, would be free today if you had not used Leech's abilities to shut down mutations and other energy sources to stop him."

"But if it were someone else, not Apocalypse, would you feel betrayed?"

A shadow fell over them as the Blackbird rose with a hum of straining magnetic currents. This proved the distraction, for, a ways behind them a voice declared:

"I know I would."