A/N: as usual, i've no excuse. but i do promise that the regular schedule of updates for this fic will be back. three more chapters, people!

10/13

Scott Summers and Rogue still weren't talking. A fact proved by the way that she had turned her head as far as she could from his general direction this morning at Drama class. A few of the kids at the Institute noticed, but no one really approached him for it. After the blur of a day that he had at school, he was already seriously contemplating upon ending the whole argument by apologizing to her. Sure, it wasn't technically his fault but it would be the gentlemanly thing to do, wouldn't it?

And about his feelings? He'd rather think that over much, much later.

He parked his car at the garage and went straight up to his room. He put his school bag down next to the door. His bed looked tempting, but he needed a place to think where he wouldn't fall asleep. The chair in front of his study table seemed to be an obvious choice.

Now, how was he about to go through this apology thing? Obviously, the best strategic way was to corner Rogue somewhere in the mansion--assuming that she's already in--and talk to her. Preferably she needs to be alone. Scott really didn't want to say sorry in front of Warren. Or anybody else, for that matter.

He sighed and leaned on his computer table. Warren. Was he being ridiculously out of line to see Warren as a threat? Was he being excessively paranoid to think that Warren's stolen Rogue away from him? Not that Rogue's a piece of property of sorts, of course not. Okay, so Warren seems to be a nice guy. Rogue likes him, right? That's got to amount to something, right?

And with that, Scott Summers decided to give Warren Worthington III the chance that he never gave him. He was going to try to befriend him even if it killed him.

Now that that was done with, he needed to think of the words to say for an apology. Somehow he didn't think that 'Sorry for acting like an ass' would quite cut it. Knowing Rogue, she just might agree with him being an ass and walk away. And this was Rogue that he was apologizing to, so the sugary words other girls loved were definitely out of the question. But how could one ask for forgiveness to a girl without using sweet words and still sound sincere?

After at least an hour of contemplating and staring at the peeling paint on his ceiling, he decided to go down the stairs, to the Rec. Room where the television sat. Nobody was quite in yet so the TV was his for the taking. If he were to approach Rogue at her current state of anger at him, he'd need all the relaxation he could get.

The house was silent and devoid of people. They were all probably out, partying somewhere. He flipped on the screen for a couple of minutes, and then decided on an old black and white film. As he settled down on his usual spot on the couch, one Jean Grey walked in.

"Oh, hi Scott," she greeted, a big smile already forming in her lips. She walked over to him, dropped her bag right beside the couch and sat down with him.

He smiled at her in return. Exactly what he needed. This was Jean, the girl who made the butterflies in his stomach go on hyper drive.

"Long time no talk, huh?" she asked, her voice floating through the air of the room.

"Hmm, what? Oh yeah. Well, you know, school's been crazy these days,"

Silence passed. It was somewhat awkward, and he wanted nothing more than to break it. But, as these things usually went, he found nothing significant enough to say to her. He can't very well talk to her about Rogue; he wasn't as blind as they thought him to be after all. Even he could sense the enrooted tension between the two. And he can't talk to her about Warren, and he definitely can't open up a conversation with her about Duncan.

She must've sensed it too, the awkwardness, because she cleared her throat uncomfortably for a couple of times.

Since when did this happen? Usually he would've jumped at any chance to talk to her, the girl of his dreams, about anything at all. But now . . . he couldn't explain it, but he somehow he can't find anything to say to her. And that tiny little factoid didn't even bother him at all.

After what seemed like hours of silence, Scott finally cleared his throat and decided that perhaps this wasn't the best of times to have a conversation with Jean. After all, he did have something to attend to. "Have you seen Rogue?"

She looked a bit taken aback by his question, her emotions betrayed by the sudden rising of her eyebrows. "Oh, uhm . . . I haven't really seen her, but you know, maybe she's out shopping with Warren or something."

Scott settled his attention to the television once again. "Yeah, probably. With Warren."

"Why? She'll be back you know. She's probably just shopping for more winter clothes."

He looked up at her. "What? Winter clothes? But winter's just passed, why would she need some more clothes?"

A sudden look of realization dawned upon her face. "Didn't you know?"

"Know what?"

"About the trip."

"What trip?"

Jean's eyes widened some more. "Huh. How weird. I thought that since you and
Rogue talked all the time, she would've mentioned it to you. Apparently not…" she trailed on, seemingly lost in thought.

Through rather gritted teeth, he managed to ask, "Jean, what trip?"

"The trip to Europe." Seeing the still-puzzled look on his face, she went on. "The trip to Europe to one of the Worthington Estates there."

Scott was speechless. And in another minute, he would be enraged. "What?"

"Yeah, I was there in the Professor's room when Warren asked for permission to take Rogue to Europe. He said he wanted her to meet his family or something like that. Isn't she quite lucky?"

"For how long? Did Warren say for how long?"

Jean looked thoughtful. "Uhm . . .I'm not really sure, but I'm supposing it's for an indefinite amount of time. It is Europe after all; it's not somewhere that can be toured in just a week. Scott, are you okay? You're a little pale."

He shrugged off the hand that she offered to him. "The Professor. Surely he didn't approve of all these? An indefinite amount of time is too long and she's still has to go to school, right?"

She gave him this weird look, apparently not knowing what to think of his reaction. "I don't know, I think he's already agreed to it. He said that when it comes down to it, it's still all Rogue's decision. Scott?"

Her voice went unnoticed because Scott stood up and walked out of the Rec. Room, with an unreadable expression in his face.

"Weird," Jean thought, taking another glance at the now forgotten monochromatic film. "I'd have thought that he'd be happy for her."

tbc