Author's Note

Well, I should be finishing up some corrections for my publisher but, what the hell. Fan fiction is soooooo much more fun. Less money, but more fun. But, A.M.bookworm247, wow, thanks for the heartfelt review. I am ALL about them; feel free to leave more at your convenience. And money. I want all my loyal supporters to know that I never refuse monetary rewards and should you continue to read my stories, I promise to continue to never refuse them . . . . . right. So . . . . uh . . . enjoy the new chapter.

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For the millionth time in only a few days, Rogue found herself in the Med-Lab again, with an odd assortment of wires and tubes hanging off of her. She gave a long sigh and tried to shift to a more comfortable position. The wires made movement difficult. In the end, she just dropped her arms and slouched forward, sighing at Dr. McCoy's large, blue, hairy back. And sighed again. Did he really have to walk around in his underwear like that? She knew that being big and hairy made finding and wearing clothes difficult but didn't they have Big & Tall stores just for those kinds of men? Hell, even dogs nowadays wore clothes. And they didn't even have opposable thumbs. Let alone checking accounts.

As he examined Rogue's bio-signs on the monitor, Dr. McCoy heard her give another long, drawn out sigh and repressed a smile. For being one of the most powerful mutants in the world, young Rogue seemed to have a bit of paranoia about hospitals. Of course, he really couldn't blame her for it. She did have an unerring knack for ending up in them. He watched the colorful squiggles on the screen blip, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. As always he was fascinated by Rogue's genetic make-up, so different from anything other mutant's he had ever seen. Normally he would have been just as frustrated as intrigued but today, today he had had a breakthrough. Questions had been answered. The mystery had been finally solved. He finally knew the source of Rogue's power, as well as her inability to control it. At least, he had a pretty good idea. Well, it was more like an inclination. Maybe a—

She sighed again. "Are we almost done here Mr. McCoy?" Rogue asked the boredom evident in her voice.

"Almost. We're just waiting for the Professor to get here. There are some things I need to discuss with him and I want him to see this."

Rolling her eyes, she tried to shift again and got the same result. "Mah butt's starting to fall asleep."

He glanced over his shoulder at her and raised one bushy eyebrow. "I have an assortment of very powerful medicinal drugs down here, Rogue. I could put you to sleep if you'd like."

She eyed him balefully. "Now, Mr. McCoy, you shouldn't make promises you aren't goin' to keep."

He chuckled lightly. "Is it really that bad?"

She raised her arms, looking a little like a marionette puppet. "Mah jaw feels like someone hit me with a sledgehamma. Mah body feels like Ah've got pin and needles all over. And to top it all off Ah have wires where God did not intend for there to be wires."

"I am truly sorry about the discomfort Rogue, but I assure you, that they are necessary."

"Ah know that," she muttered quietly. "Ah just wish they weren't necessary quite so often."

The doors to the Med-Lab slid open with a hiss and the Professor streamed in, hands folded on his lap. He nodded briefly to Dr. McCoy and wheeled his way over to Rogue.

"Rogue. How are you feeling?" he asked in his kind, quiet voice. For some reason, it never failed to soothe her nerves.

"Kinda like a science experiment."

He smiled at her and turned to face Dr. McCoy. "Mr. McCoy? What information do you have for us?"

The doctor moved over to the door and flicked off the room's overhead lights so that they could see the information displayed on the flat, wall screens. The odd assortments of bars, lines, and numbers swirled in a colorful, confusing dance. Rogue briefly considered trying to understand them, then decided it wasn't worth adding to her headache.

"Mutation is caused by a specific gene that we in the business like to call the X gene," McCoy began, pointing to picture of a blue spiral. "Basically what the X gene does is it gives certain cells of the body a secondary genetic code. All cells develop a certain code; some become liver cells, some skin cells, some heart cells. But in mutants, certain cells pull a kind of double duty. We'll use Scott as an example." He pushed a few buttons on the side of the screen and new squiggle showed up on the screen. Rogue tilted her head and tried to decide if it looked the same as the last squiggle. It's hard to tell with squiggles.

"In Scott's case, his eye cells developed a secondary code. First and foremost, they work as regular eye cells, allowing him to see. They also act as billions of tiny storage units; they absorb solar energy and store it until it is released."

Rogue raised one hand half way. "Uh, that's great Mr. McCoy, but what does that hafta do with me?"

Dr. McCoy shook one finger at her. "I'm getting there, Rogue. You wouldn't want me to just blurt it all out, would you?"

"Um . . . . yeah, I kinda would."

He ignored her. "Now in Rogue's case, her X gene acts differently, which is why I had so much trouble identifying how her powers work."

"Figures."

The screens switched again and Rogue felt her eyes widen. Those squiggles were definitely different than the ones before. They looked . . . . kinda like little Pac-Men.

"At first, it looks like none of Rogue's cells have a secondary code. When she is at rest, all of her cells function normally. But, as it turns out, ALL of her cells have two codes."

"ARGH! Just spit it out already! What do they do and what the hell did Mystique do to me?"

With a broad smile, Dr. McCoy stepped closer to Rogue and tapped a finger against her forehead. "Since you asked so nicely. What all of your cells do, is absorb energy. When they absorb the energy, their code is altered by it, giving you that mutant's abilities. When you use up the stored energy, the code is no longer being affected, and it reverts back to its normal state. However, it's not possible for you to use up all of the energy, so there are micro amounts left over that your body continues to store. Kind of like a fingerprint. At some point, your body began producing its own energy, which allowed for you to begin using all the powers you had previously sampled. What Mystique seems to have done to you, is to have simultaneously removed the other signature codes while implanting a different code, one that prevents your cells from absorbing energy."

She stared at him, jaw open slightly. "Okay. So why can't Ah control mah powers?"

He moved back to the wall screen and brought up an image of what she assumed was her brain. Deep in the center was a small, red circle about the size of a quarter. He pointed to it with one furry finger.

"This is the problem. Your X gene is connected with this part of your brain. At some point, for some reason, this part of your brain shut down. At first I thought maybe it was from some sort of head trauma, but you've had Wolverine's healing ability several times now. It should have been repaired. Which leads me to believe," he cast a look over at the Professor who sat silently, "that its origins are mental."

Rogue frowned at that. "You mean like Ah had a mental breakdown or something?"

There was a slight pause. "Something like that."

"Great. Ah'll just flip through mah handy-dandy mental breakdown files and figure out which one it was. There's only been about three thousand in the last week or so." She sighed and scratched her neck. "This thing that Mystique did. The injecting of the new code or whateva . . . . is it bad? Ah mean health wise. 'Cause, if this things kills me, Ah'm gonna be upset."

"I'm not sure. I'll have to run some more tests."

Another sigh. "Ah thought you might say that."

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Later that evening, finally free from the circus of medical tubes, tests, and strange, blinking screens, Rogue stood outside her room on her balcony, arms resting on the railing as she stared up into the night sky, trying to forget the various aches and pains that plagued her body. Her jaw throbbed painfully; she had refused Dr. McCoy's offer of pain medication. She didn't like the way medication made her feel sleepy and out of it. Her fingers curled over the railing, into the grooves she had made nights earlier. Next time she saw Mystique, she was going to give the blue-skinned bitch a beating like she had never had before. In fact, she made a mental note to start carrying a tire iron around with her. Because you just can't leave these things to fate. She started to turn back into the mansion (to head down into the garage and find her new weapon of choice) when she heard an odd hooting sound. It sounded a bit like an owl was trying to throw up. Her face scrunched as she turned her head to the left and then to the right. She saw nothing.

"Up here, cherie."

Raising her eyes, she was just in time to see Gambit as he dropped from the tree that towered over the balcony. He landed silently, his long coat fluttering around him. She raised one eyebrow at him.

"Please tell me that was not you a second ago."

Gambit frowned as he stood up. "Why?"

"Because that was the worst owl impression Ah have eva heard."

"Owl? Dat was a nightingale, cherie."

"That was definitely not a nightingale. Nightingale's don't hoot."

"Maybe you jus' not talkin' to the right nightingales."

Rogue held up one hand and shook her head, feeling her head begin to throb as well. "Nevamind. What are you doin' here?"

Reaching into his overcoat, he came up with a folded piece of brown paper. "Gambit brought you a present. But if you gonna be snippy, he ain't gonna give it to you."

Her eyes nearly burned a hole in him. "Look swamp rat, Ah' just spent the last six hours being poked, prodded, and injected. Ah WILL kill you, and it WILL be messy."

He held out the piece of paper silently. Warily, she snatched it from his fingers and unfolded it, holding it back towards the window so that the light from inside could fall on it. Written in a small, scratchy handwriting were a series of numbers. She lifted her eyes to his.

"What? Is there a treasure chest buried here or somethin'?"

Gambit snatched the paper back from her and waved it annoying in front of her face. "Non, but dis is where dat helicopta carryin' Mystique landed 'bout two hours ago."

She grabbed it back. "Where did you get this from?"

He shrugged and grinned slyly. "Called in a favor. So how 'bout it cherie? You wanna drop in and pay Mystique a visit? Maybe give her a housewarmin' present." His staff appeared in his hand and he twirled it skillfully, snapping it down against the stone balcony with a heavy thud. Rogue glanced down at the paper and then turned to stare back into her room. Running off after Mystique with only a moral corrupt Cajun as back-up was probably a very bad idea. She should go back inside and tell the Professor. He'd call everyone together and they'd go after Mystique as a team. Smarter and less chance of something bad happening. Then Mystique's face swam through her mind, smiling mockingly.

I've gotten all I need from you, sweetheart. Fuck that.

She turned back to him. "We're gonna need to take the X-Jet."

Still grinning, he held up one fist and open his hand. A set of black keys dangled from his fingers. "You want a minute to pack, cherie?"

Rogue met his gaze with her own and couldn't keep the smile from twisting her lips. Her pulse began to heat with excitement; she could feel it pounding in the back of her head. And he stood there, half illuminated by the light that streamed out of the balcony window. His hair had been tousled by the night wind, there was a hint of stubble on his razor-sharp cheeks, and his eyes watched her with a devil-may-care attitude in them.

Damn if he wasn't sexy as sin.

She closed the distance between them so that she was only an arms length away. "If we're going to do this," she said, keeping her eyes on his, "then we need to get somethin' outta the way first."

He leaned against his staff slightly, his head cocked to the side. "And what's dat?"

Instead of answering, she took a final step forward, reached up behind his head, and dragged his head down. Just a second before his lips crushed against hers, she could hear cheering coming from inside her mind. Then their mouths met and she couldn't hear anything at all. Couldn't think anything except, why didn't Ah do this sooner? His lips were softer than they looked and warm. They fit over hers as if they had been cut from the same mould. Tiny shivers ran down her spine and slid over her skin as she felt the tip of his tongue and tasted his hot breath.

She surprised him. Again. Normally Gambit didn't care for surprises, but when they came like this, he was all for them. He recovered quickly and met her assault with one of his own. One arm he wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer so that their bodies pressed against each other. The other slid up to her face, cupping her cheek against his palm and then sliding back into her hair. He didn't question why she was kissing him. Nor did he question why she seemed to fit so perfectly in his arms. He did, however, question why she tasted a little like grape bubblegum. She didn't seem to him like the type to chew Bubbalicious. Then he felt her shudder against him and completely forgot about everything except the sweet sensation of having her mouth pressed against his.

Rogue drew back slowly, reluctant to release his lips. They eyes opened at the same time and they each drew in identical long breaths. She saw the desire swimming in his strangely enticing eyes and it sent a thrill through her. It took her a moment before she could speak.

"Well. Now that that's taken care of. Let's go."