Secret Revealed

"Where do you think you're going?" Pietro asked Todd that afternoon.

"Out." Todd said simply.

"That's not telling me anything."

Todd shrugged. "Then I won't tell you anything," He made to the door.

"You better stop," Pietro warned. "Stop now or…"

"Or what?" Todd challenged. "You gonna knock me out with your bad breath?" The others snickered at this.

"D-don't mess with me." Pietro spluttered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll see you guys later," Todd said shutting the door behind him.

"Arrgh, that's it!" Pietro burst out. "I'm going to find out exactly what he's up to."

"Pietro, can't you mind your own business for once?" Tabitha said nonchalantly while lying on her stomach reading a magazine.

"This is my business. Toad is my team mate and I am fully eligible to know where he goes every day."

"Pietro, leave the guy alone." Lance said.

"I'm going." Pietro said brusquely. "You guys can either stay here or come with me."

"Pietro…" Fred began.

"Don't try to stop me, I'm going!" And with that he went out the door slamming it behind him.

Tabitha looked at Lance. "What do we do now?"

"We better go with him." Lance sighed.

They followed Pietro, who was following Todd, through town to a small ice cream shop. To their surprise it was the X-Men they met.

"What are you losers doing here?" Scott asked angrily.

"Us? What are you X-Geeks doing here?" Lance countered.

"None of your business you yahoos." Rogue snapped.

"Hey, check that out!" Evan pointed. They all looked into the window of the parlor. What they saw made their jaws drop. Todd and Serena were sitting right inside, sharing a soda, laughing and talking, clearly oblivious to everything else around them. Todd leaned in and kissed Serena on the cheek and she giggled.

Kurt's eyes widened. "Oh, Mein Gott."

"This is your fault!" Scott turned angrily to the Brotherhood.

"Our fault?" Tabitha asked in disbelief.

"Serena has enough problems without you losers making it worse!" Scott snapped.

"Toad has enough problems without dating a girl who's psychotic!" Pietro snapped back.

(Inside…)

"Remember our first kiss?" Serena asked Todd.

"Yeah," Todd said dreamily. "Out on the beach…"

"I thought it as in the park," Serena said though she knew that neither of those were correct.

"Nah, that was what brought me to my senses. The real kiss was on the beach, under the starry sky." He smiled flirtatiously. "But both were excellent, yo."

Serena giggled. "You're so funny."

Todd reached for her hand. "Yeah, well…"

"Toad what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Serena what do you think you're doing with this slime?"

The two of them looked around to see both the Brotherhood and the X-Men standing around them. Serena noticed that people were looking over at them.

"Guys, please be quiet." Serena said through gritted teeth.

"How could you do this to us?" Pietro asked Todd disbelievingly. "Going out with this chick and not even telling us."

"Pietro... don't." Lance spoke up.

"You knew," Pietro said furiously. "You knew all along didn't you?" Lance nodded. "I knew it. I knew something was up that you guys weren't telling me."

"We didn't tell you because we knew you were going to be upset." Fred told him.

"I'm not upset. I'm beyond upset. I am Pissed Off!" He roared.

"Say a little louder Pietro." Todd said sarcastically. "I'm sure there are people fifteen miles away who didn't hear you."

"Would you guys get out of here?" Serena hissed.

"How long have you kept this from us?" Scott interrogated. "How long have you been seeing him? What else have you been hiding?"

Everybody in the restaurant was staring at them. Some were whispering, others shaking their heads. Serena felt herself go red. She didn't care that the X-Men had found out about her seeing Todd. She didn't care what they thought. She didn't even care that they were declaring it to a restaurant full of people she didn't even know. But scolding her for it, acting as if she had done something unforgivably wrong, was absolutely humiliating. Todd felt the same way. His face was hot with embarrassment. Having his friends storm in here and start harassing him like he was some kind of little kid was enough to make him want to sink into the floor. Everyone's eyes were on either Todd, Serena, or the two groups that were fighting. Some were whispering to each other and shaking their heads. It was like something out of a soap opera. Serena decided to meet the situation head-on. She stood up and faced the X-Men defiantly.

"Yeah, that's right," she began, her voice carrying over the din. "I am DATING HIM! And you know what? I don't really care who knows about it anymore. Ya hear me?" She shouted to all the people in the restaurant. "Todd and I are dating, so just DEAL WITH IT!" Everyone in the restaurant immediately averted their gaze. Serena looked past Scott and saw Kurt and her face fell. He looked so…dejected. Almost as if he was going to cry. Serena had no idea that the truth would hurt him this badly.

"Why don't we like, step outside and talk about this?" Kitty suggested nervously.

"An excellent idea," Scott growled. The Brotherhood, X-Men, Serena and Todd all filed outside to continue the extremely loud conversation.

"I can't believe you're dating this X-Geek!" Pietro chastised.

"She is not an X-Geek!" Todd said hotly.

Meanwhile over with the X-Men group… "Will you just get your own lives and stay out of mine?" Serena yelled at them.

"I can't believe you've been seeing this, this…" Scott searched for the right words, "Brotherhood trash!"

Serena's eyes widened in both shock and anger. "How dare you!"

"Scott, calm down." Jean told him sternly.

"Did it ever occur to you why we never told you?" Serena asked all of them. When none answered, "It's because we knew this would happen. We knew that you guys would disapprove. We knew you would start fighting. We knew you would try to keep us apart."

Scott shook his head in disappointment. "I can't believe this. It's a good thing Rogue told us what you were doing."

"What?" Serena gasped.

"That's right." A choked voice said. It was Kurt, who had spoken for the first time upon discovering Serena and Todd together. "Rogue told us what was going on."

Serena turned to look at Rogue. "How could you?"

Rogue looked at the ground so that she wouldn't have to look at Serena. "I'm sorry Serena. I had to."

"You promised." Serena said in a low voice.

Rogue shifted a little. "It was getting out of hand."

"I trusted you." Serena said in a tearful voice. "We trusted you."

"Come on," Scott said roughly, grabbing Serena's arm. "We're going home."

Serena jerked her arm out of his grip. "Get your hands off me Scott Summers! I am allowed to do whatever I want and I will go wherever I want to and…WILL YOU GET BACK TO YOUR OWN PATHETIC LIVES?" She bellowed at the people who were grouped inside staring at the through the window. They instantly scattered.

"Come on Toad," Pietro said as they started down the street.

"No." Todd said flatly.

"I said come on!"

"And I said no!"

"You're coming with us!" Pietro told him.

"Bite me!" Todd snapped.

"Pietro…" Lance began.

Pietro rounded on Lance. "You stay out of this!"

"You are not allowed to see him anymore," Scott told her. "You hear me?"

How dare they interfere with me and Todd? Serena could feel her anger rising. She did not want to lose him again. Not after coming all this way. She was not going to let anyone get between them. Especially not her teammates. Her eyes glowed a bright blue and her hair started flowing.

"No one… no one comes between me and Todd." She said in a deadly voice.

"Serena, don't," Todd put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped and looked at him. "We knew this was going to happen from the beginning."

She buried her face in his shoulder. "I don't want to lose you again."

He whispered in her ear. "I'll be over at ten after everyone's asleep." She looked up at him in surprise. He gave a small wink. She smiled slightly and hugged him again. Before letting go she whispered, "I'll be waiting."

Slowly, very slowly, they drew apart until finally their hands slid from the each other's. They left with their teams, sparing one last, longing glance at each other.

Later that evening…

"Professor this is so unfair!" They were back at the X-Mansion. All of them were gathered in Professor Xavier's study. "Why can't I see Todd?" Serena demanded.

"Because," he began emphasizing each word to come, "he is a distraction."

"What do you mean a distraction?"

"I mean that he is a diversion from your work, your training, and possibly your missions."

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic about this?" Serena asked calmly.

"I'm sorry Serena," He said folding his fingers, "but I'm afraid for the time being you will be confined to the mansion and won't be allowed to see him."

"What is the big deal?" Serena burst out. "Kitty is dating Lance! What's the difference?"

"The difference," His tone turning slightly stern, "is that Kitty does not let her infatuation come before her missions, especially when up against the opposing team."

Serena folded her arms. "Well then maybe I'm on the wrong team. What if I were to just quit?"

"I'm afraid that is not an option." Xavier said austerely.

"What do you mean by that?" Serena asked charily.

"I am sorry Serena," the professor told her, "but I'm afraid that your powers are still too dangerous and uncontrollable. It is for the safety of you and others that you remain here."

"What are you talking about?" Serena asked him skeptically. "I have plenty of control."

"Though you may have retained some restraint over your abilities, I'm afraid you're still not in control of your emotions."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" She exclaimed, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red.

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "I believe this proves me correct in thinking so."

"I don't believe this." Serena looked at the ground trying her best to keep from doing something she might regret later.

"You are no longer permitted to see him." The professor said indifferently. "You will have an escort with you wherever you go. If you are caught associating with him in any way punishment will be reinforced."

"So…" Serena said her voice shaking slightly. "So this is how it's gonna be, huh?"

"Believe me Serena," Xavier reassured her, "this is for your own good."

"Whatever, I don't care anymore," She turned away from them. "I'm going to bed."

Rogue felt entirely guilty. She couldn't eat that evening because her stomach squirmed so badly. Even later that night when everyone was asleep she found it impossible to when every time she closed her eyes she saw Serena's hurt face of finding out Rogue had betrayed her trust. She tossed and turned but she could fall asleep no matter what she tried.

"Can't sleep?"

She opened her eyes to see her roommate Kitty wide awake. "Not a wink."

"Like, how could you do it Rogue?" Kitty asked in disbelief. "How could you betray Serena like that?"

"I had to." Rogue said.

"But you promised her you wouldn't tell anybody."

"I know that."

"Well then why?" Kitty asked.

"Some promises weren't meant to be kept." Rogue said simply.

"Well then you shouldn't have made the promise in the first place." Kitty said in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone.

Rogue looked away from her irritably. "I don't expect you to understand."

"Oh, I like, totally understand." Kitty said scrutinously. "There's something you're not telling me."

Rogue looked back at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"The Rogue I know would never break a promise like that, ever."

"Unless I had a reason." Rogue hinted.

"So what is it then?" Kitty asked.

Rogue shifted her gaze once more. "I can't tell you."

"Like, what has happened to you?" Kitty asked incredulously. "You're like, being even more secretive than usual."

"Look Kitty, I had my reasons." Rogue said flatly. "Everyone would've found out sooner or later."

"So like, why not later?"

"The professor is probably right." Rogue said trying to convince herself more than Kitty. "He's nothing but a distraction for her."

"Like, who are you to question their being together?"

"I'm not questioning anything," Rogue said irritably. "I'm just saying that it's better off if they're separated for a while."

"But you're the one who like, got them back together in the first place." Kitty pointed out.

"Will you just drop it?" Rogue said impatiently.

"No." Kitty said determinedly. "You've been a totally lousy friend Rogue. You made like, a huge promise and you broke it. Now Serena's probably going to totally hate you."

"She'll thank me in the long run."

Kitty snorted. "Oh really? Ask yourself Rogue, do you really think you did the right thing?"

"I…I don't know."

"You don't know." Kitty said skeptically.

"No, I don't!" Rogue burst out. "I didn't want to, but I didn't want anyone getting hurt."

"But Rogue, someone did get hurt," Kitty told her in an undertone. "In fact two people got hurt, when you helped split them apart."

Rogue looked at her hands in horror. "What have I done?"

"You like, split up a once-happy couple."

Rogue closed her eyes ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"Like, don't apologize to me." Kitty said.

"You're right Kitty." Rogue said in realization. "I gotta apologize to Serena and hope she forgives me."

"Well don't get your hopes up too much." Kitty said dismissively.

Rogue climbed out of bed, walked over to Serena's room, and knocked on the door before pushing it open. "Serena, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for…" She gasped. "Kitty!"

There was the sound of hurried footsteps and Kitty was by her side looking worried. "What? What is it?"

"It's Serena! She's gone!"

That's right everyone, the secret is finally out. Now that everyone knows, where will Serena and Todd go? What will they do? Stay tuned!