Finding Marie Chapter 13, a x-men: the movie fanfic

Author's Notes: Thoughts are signified by 'these'. Emphasis and the voices in Rogue's head are in italics. Telepathic conversation is underlined.

I apologize wholeheartedly for the delay. RL sucks and I've gotten way behind on all my WIPs. Hopefully some of you are still with me.

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Rogue covered her mouth with one hand and re-read the short paragraph three times, her eyes wide. But no matter how many times she scanned the words, they didn't change. She felt oddly lightheaded as she thought about the consequences of this knowledge. Joseph, the man who had helped her overcome the invading personality of Carol Danvers, the man who had gotten Carol off of her in the first place… the man she herself had saved from a guaranteed death in a few days' time, was genetically the same man as the one who had tried to kill her as part of his plot for mutant supremacy.

Her stomach twisted when Rogue remembered thinking he was handsome. She'd never been attracted to Magneto in the least.

'Did you know?' she demanded from Erik.

He looks a bit like I did at that age, but my hair wasn't white or that long, Erik paused. And physically he's a lot more… muscular than I was.

Maybe physical fitness is important to him, maybe he don't use his powers for every little thing like you, Logan cut in. Not all of us have superiority complexes.

'Are you defending him?' Rogue asked in disbelief.

Logan grunted, He did save you, kid. Makes anyone okay in my book.

'But he's… him,' she mentally pointed in Erik's direction.

I've said my piece, Logan shrugged. You have to make up your own mind about him.

Rogue cut off the mental conversation when she thought Erik was going to add something. She had enough to consider between the two real Magneto's without the one in her head getting in the way too.

"Marie? What are you doing up?" Mystique asked worriedly, moving into the room from the hall.

"I'm fine, Mama," Rogue answered with a fleeting smile. "I just couldn't sleep. But now that you're here, there's something you should see."

Rogue rolled the chair she was in to the side a little so Mystique had a clear shot at the computer screen. Joseph's profile was still open on the screen, and Mystique scanned through the material quickly, a soft sound of only-a-little-bit-surprised discovery escaping.

"Huh. Makes sense," the shape shifter muttered under her breath.

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"What do you mean by that?" Rogue asked in a timid voice.

Mystique turned her head and more carefully looked over her adopted daughter. Rogue was pale and looked wound tight, like the slightest thing might make her break. If knowledge of who Joseph was genetically made Rogue react this way, then the closeness the white-haired man had felt for Rogue must not have been one-sided. Mystique doubted she would have reacted this badly otherwise. Now though… Mystique knew it would take a lot for Rogue to even consider staying friends with the man she had rescued.

"When you were… unconscious, Joseph took charge," Mystique explained calmly. "At one point it struck me as slightly odd that I so easily followed his lead, but Magneto has always had that effect on me, so it makes sense that another version of him would as well."

Rogue nodded slowly.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Mystique asked when the younger woman didn't respond verbally. "We don't have to let him stay here if it's going to make you too uncomfortable."

Immediately shaking her head, Rogue answered, "No. He doesn't have anything or anywhere to go. No matter who he is, he still helped save me. I owe him that much."

"If you ever change your mind, let me know," Mystique said.

"I will," Rogue responded. When Mystique straightened and made to leave the room, Rogue added, "There's more you need to see… it'll help with getting the lab shut down."

As she watched the video files, Mystique felt her anger growing at the group that ran the facility. She also realized that not all of the way Rogue was behaving was because of who Joseph had turned out to be. And this Mystique could actually help Rogue feel better about. There were some serious benefits to living the life of a wealthy and politically powerful man, even if it did take her away from the people she cared about.

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"I'm emailing you the files now," 'Senator Kelly's voice said into the phone. It amused Rogue to watch her adoptive mother speak in someone else's voice while keeping her own form. "I want this place shut down now, and I want the people responsible quietly brought to justice before the American people find out where some of their tax money has been diverted and for what reason." There was a pause as Kelly's contact in the Justice Department had his say, before Mystique spoke again, still in her borrowed identity. "I'd appreciate being informed when it's finished. Thank you."

Rogue looked at Mystique questioningly.

"A special task force is going to be sent in. They'll take custody of anyone there and begin an investigation of everything that was going on."

Rogue frowned. "Will they look for Joseph?"

"I don't know. According to the files we have the people in the lab only shot surveillance when an experiment or execution was taking place. There's a good chance the task force won't know whether he had been killed ahead of schedule and simply not filmed or if he escaped. In any case, they will have plenty of evidence without having to track him down for an eyewitness account. And this won't be an ordinary investigation and trial, anyway."

"So now what?" Rogue asked after a silent moment.

Mystique shrugged. "Now we decide what we want to do about Joseph."

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Piotr was cleaning up after his first art class of the morning when one of the school's seniors, Kitty Pryde, timidly knocked on the open door. He turned to look at her and raised a questioning brow. Some of the more forward teenage female students tried to flirt with him on occasion, but this one had never sought him out outside the classroom setting. And although this was technically a classroom and he was her teacher, the art class Kitty took wasn't until the last period of the day.

"May I help you with something, Miss Pryde?"

He called all of his older students by their last names so no one could accuse him of favoritism or showing too much interest in someone he shouldn't. Piotr depended on this job to be able to send steady money back to his family in Russia, paintings didn't sell according to any regular pattern, and he liked having a place on the X-Team. He wasn't about to mess that up.

"You're good friends with Rogue, right?" she asked.

Piotr nodded, and Kitty rushed ahead.

"Cuz Jubilee and I were her roommates when she was living here, and I've been wondering if you could tell me how she's doing? I mean, ever since she brought Miss Danvers here yesterday, there have been all kinds of rumors about Rogue being a member of the Brotherhood and helping Mystique try to get Magneto out of jail and stuff, and Miss Danvers is telling anyone who will listen that Rogue attacked her and stole her powers on purpose."

Kitty finally stopped to take a breath, and Piotr demanded coldly, "And you believed her?"

The young woman took a step back at his tone and shook her head. "No, not really, I mean, Rogue didn't like her power. She didn't want to use it at all. So I was thinking that the only way that what Danvers said could be true is if Mystique was controlling Rogue somehow. And Rogue is living with Mystique and the Brotherhood, isn't she?"

Piotr sighed. "Yes, she is, and Mystique is Rogue's adoptive mother. But she is not a member of their group. The encounter with Danvers was a misunderstanding of sorts when Danvers attacked Mystique without provocation. With Danvers using her super strength to nearly kill Mystique and still easily hold Rogue back, Rogue had no choice but to use her skin."

Kitty nodded her understanding, biting her lip thoughtfully. She walked back toward the open doorway, turning right before she exited to say with a friendly wave, "Thanks, Pete."

Piotr stared at the doorway long after she had disappeared, wondering why he had no problem with the cute brunette calling him by an Americanized nickname he'd never before had a preference for.

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When Joseph came down to breakfast the day after his rescue, dressed in clothes Avalanche had given him the night before, it was to find everyone but Mystique, who was not in the room, sitting on stools surrounding an island. They all looked up at him, except for Rogue who simply kept eating. He smiled a greeting but they simply nodded or turned back to what they had been doing, Pietro and Wanda giving him odd looks.

With minutes the others all excused themselves and Joseph sat down in the stool next to Rogue that Wanda had vacated. The curly-haired redhead was the last to leave, and she shot Rogue a look that Joseph could only identify as supportive before she headed for the door.

"The honeymoon over?" Joseph asked dryly when it was just he and Rogue left in the kitchen.

Rogue smiled briefly in acknowledgement of the joke, but she didn't laugh, and the smile faded more quickly than Joseph had expected it to.

"Something wrong, angel?" he asked cautiously.

"I hope not," she answered softly. "Joseph, I'm not sure how to tell you what I need to without offending you, so I'm just going to say it and hope you can understand where we're coming from."

After everything that had happened to him over the past year, starting with his kidnapping at the hands of a dimension-hopping mutant, Joseph couldn't help but immediately expect the worst. Joseph's heart sank at the prospect of never seeing Rogue again, but he could understand the Brotherhood wanting him out of the House since they knew nothing about him. They'd already done more for him than anyone else, aside from his parents, ever had. They had sheltered, fed and clothed him for a night in return for his helping Rogue, but he had already owed her his life (though he would have done anything in his power to help her even if that hadn't been the case) so he felt that he was still the one indebted, not them… and certainly not her.

"I'll be out of here by the end of the day," he said quietly.

"Joseph." He looked up at Rogue to find her frowning. "We're not kicking you out."

"You're not?" Joseph felt the tension leave his body.

Rogue shook her head, "No. But the others want me to read you so they know you're trustworthy. They…"

"Go ahead," he interrupted, keeping his tone calm and even to show her it wasn't a problem, that she didn't need to explain.

"Really?" she asked, clearly startled.

Joseph nodded and spoke intently. "If it was one of them, I might have hesitated, but I don't have anything I want to hide from you."

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Rogue blushed at Joseph's words and the intensity of his gaze. Erik and Logan were keeping their thoughts to themselves for once, but Carol was enjoying reminding Rogue of why it didn't matter how Joseph looked at her. Rogue knew that Joseph was attracted to her. Or at least she thought he was, and most of the inhabitants of her head agreed, especially when he continued to call her his angel. But a big part of her thought Carol might be right, that Joseph may just be very grateful to her for her part in his rescue.

Remy was a huge flirt, but although he made comments to her, calling her his "chere" as he did with other women, he never went beyond it. Rogue knew from observing him with other women that just because one of them might not be immediately interested, it never stopped Remy from sidling up beside them and coaxing their attention with soft touches. And not all of them were on the other women's skin, so why not touch her sleeve or some other covered part of her? If such a known player didn't want to make the effort, even if it was temporary, why would someone else? Not that she knew for a fact that Joseph wasn't like that, but from her first impressions of him, she somehow doubted he had much in common with Remy.

She and Mystique had woken the others early that morning to let them in on what they had discovered about Joseph's identity as well as what was being done about the lab. They'd all been shocked, Pietro and Wanda understandably feeling odd about the idea of living with a man that genetically was identical to their father. But they had all agreed that if he was trustworthy, they shouldn't kick him out just for that. He had no place to go and nothing of his own, and he had helped Mystique and Rogue without asking anything in return. So Rogue had been asked to find out if he was trustworthy. She had at first balked at the idea, thinking they wanted her to touch him, putting yet another personality in her crowded mind. But they had simply wanted her to read him, using one of her borrowed powers and not her own dangerous one.

Joseph softly calling her name pulled her out of her own thoughts. She blinked and looked at him questioningly.

"Did you want to do this right here?" he asked. "Or would it be better for you if we sat somewhere more comfortable?"

"Here's fine," she responded, scooting the stool she was on closer to his and accidentally bumping knees with him.

Joseph smiled at her embarrassed apology. Rogue tensed slightly when Joseph reached toward her with both hands, but he simply took hold of the stool she was sitting on to pull her in closer, his legs spread just wide enough that hers fit snugly between them.

"Better?" he asked, now only inches away.

Rogue nodded mutely, confounded by the way she was feeling. Even though he wasn't touching her, Rogue could feel Joseph's presence surrounding her. And despite who she now knew he was, there was nothing menacing or otherwise negative about the sensation. It was almost like he was sheltering her. But because she did know, Rogue wouldn't allow herself to enjoy it.

"I've never done this before," she told him before focusing her gaze on his eyes, leaning toward him unconsciously. "I guess it would be best if you just relax your mind."

You may need to relax, too, my angel, he observed gently, directly to her mind.

Rogue had nearly forgotten that he could do that, but she took it in stride and breathed deeply to calm herself, inadvertently filling her lungs with Joseph's clean, masculine scent. She entered his mind gently with hers, deciding to approach this as if he was one of the personalities in her head that she had to sort through in order to regain control. Rogue touched on Joseph's surface thoughts first, finding that as he had said, he was calm and accepting of the situation, as well as very glad that he wouldn't have to leave her… she abruptly delved into his memories, avoiding those from the last twenty-four hours so she wouldn't have to face whatever it was he felt about her.

The bare facts she had read in his bio file came to vivid life, showing her how much he had loved his parents and how devastated he had been after the collision that had killed them. How for a time he had wished his powers hadn't kicked in and formed a magnetic bubble around him that had stopped the metal of the car from crushing him. His disgust at the fact that though he had been lauded as one of the most promising law students of his year, once it was discovered that he was a mutant, too many doors were no longer open to him. But never once did he use his abilities to harm other people, even when confronting the man who had drunkenly killed his parents… though he had been sorely tempted.

Rogue watched as Joseph took out his frustrations at the shambles of his former life on a piece of junk metal, twisting and bending it so fast it was almost a metallic blur. But then he suddenly stopped, catching the metal when it fell from where he had been levitating it. Something about the shape in his hands reminded him of a piece of jewelry his mother had owned and almost always wore. Joseph began manipulating the metal again, this time with purpose, until his mother's face was captured in the alloy.

Joseph had found a peace in working to create things with his powers that he had never found in pursuing a law degree. One thing led to another and Joseph was soon earning a living selling metal sculptures, many of his buyers never knowing that the pieces he bought were created by force of will and not any sort of tool. He never hid the fact that he was a mutant, but he didn't volunteer the knowledge, either. So it came as a surprise to him when shortly after his twenty-sixth birthday another mutant attacked him, putting a control collar around his neck before Joseph could even try to protect himself. Joseph was taken through a vortex and into the lab where Rogue had met him. There he was examined, tortured and experimented on. Through things the guards and doctors said and talking to Charlie and Adam, the other mutants being held and experimented on, Joseph learned that all three of them had been brought from the same place to another dimension.

At first, there had been brief moments when the men holding him would take the collar off, but Joseph didn't try to escape, the men in the lab, the one in charge… Dr. Slaken… in particular, using the lives of his fellow captives as bargaining chips. But when one of the guards decided to have a bit of "fun" with Charlie when Joseph was awake and un-collared, Joseph snapped. For the first time, he learned that his control over magnetic fields could cause damage to the human brain. The guard died almost instantly from a brain aneurysm. It took Dr. Slaken a couple days to realize it hadn't been one of those freak things, but one of the freaks. By then, Joseph had discovered that less focus could cause others to fall unconscious. After a punishment that had tears streaming down Rogue's face just watching it, they never left the collar off while Joseph was awake.

Rogue was yanked back to the physical world suddenly, finding herself cradled against Joseph's chest, sobbing uncontrollably and shaking almost violently. Joseph was rocking her slightly, making soothing noises.

When she had calmed some, he whispered, "I'm sorry, angel. I didn't want you to see that. Things like that should never touch someone as good as you."

"Why didn't you kill them all once you found out you could?" she asked in a small voice a few minutes later.

Joseph looked at her, regret clear in his eyes, and answered, "Sometimes I really wish I had. But the first time was purely an accident, and I wasn't sure I could get them all before they got to Charlie or Adam. By the time they started executing us, there was never a time that I was awake and able to use my powers."

"I'm sorry, Joseph."

"Hey." He lifted her chin so their gazes met, and Rogue wondered idly where he'd gotten the gloves. "I know you're just sympathizing, but it's because of you that I was able to get out of there, that I'm even alive right now. You have nothing at all to be sorry about."

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Two weeks later…

"Better just park here, Pietro," Wanda commented as they passed a public parking lot three blocks from their destination. "The lot by the theatre has that weekly farmer's market today."

"Oh, right."

The Maximoff twins were accompanied by Rogue and Joseph. With only two more weeks until she had to go back to D.C., Mystique had calls to make and paperwork to get done and wasn't in the mood to hide her true form just to go out in public. Remy was once again out of town, none of them were really sure what for this time, but he was due back that night. Avalanche had declined to go to the movies with them because he was elbow deep in an oil change on a client's classic Impala. Wanda had suggested Rogue should invite Piotr, but it was the middle of the day on a weekday, and Rogue knew Piotr would be teaching his art classes.

The past two weeks had gone by quickly. After Rogue had reported to the others what she had found in Joseph's mind, they had relaxed slightly, willing to give him a chance to fit into their lives. Not to say that they now trusted him… they were still reserved in his presence. Joseph, for his part, was reading a lot of history and watching the news and the History Channel to come to grips with how his world differed from the one he now found himself in. Rogue never told him that she had asked Xavier to look out for a mutant that might help him get home, not wanting to raise his hopes unnecessarily. She found herself spending a lot of time with Joseph despite her nervousness when around him. They often read together in the library or watched TV at the same time in one of the family rooms. It had been Rogue that asked the others to allow Joseph access to the DR and the gym when she had noticed that he was running every morning as well as doing sit ups and other exercises on the lawn.

Wanda and Rogue had taken him to the mall a few days after he had arrived in order to get him clothes of his own as well as other essentials. He hadn't ventured off the grounds of the House much since then, and never alone, though he had come back alone once after Remy had dragged him to a pool hall and then left with a willing female. The Cajun had been unapologetic when Rogue had cornered him to chew him out for leaving Joseph alone, pointing out that the white haired man had made it back just fine. The thing Rogue had found the most odd about Joseph living with them was how very little he seemed to use his powers. In that way he was very much oppposite from Magneto.

Pietro found a spot in the public lot across from the town hall, and Wanda remarked as they all climbed out, "I wonder what that's all about."

There was quite a crowd of people in front of the town hall building, many holding picket signs. As they drew closer (the movie theatre was on the other side of the town hall), Rogue tensed. The signs made it clear that this was an anti-mutant protest, some of them saying things like "Mutant Registration Now," "Monsters Don't Have Rights" and "Protect Our Jobs and Our Children."

Hoping they wouldn't be noticed, Rogue and the others kept walking, hurrying slightly by unspoken agreement.

"They've gotta be muties, look at their hair!" someone suddenly yelled.

Rogue's eyes went wide. Her own hair was odd enough on its own, but next to a young man with pure white hair and another with silver? She glanced at the other three people with her. They had stopped walking as well, Rogue only just then noticing that she had done so. Wanda looked scared, Pietro was pissed if his scowl were any indication, and Joseph had moved closer to Rogue, a protective expression on his face.

"Just keep walking," Joseph said quietly.

Unfortunately the humans had moved closer to form a loose circle around the small group, and when Pietro and Wanda went to take a step, the circle closed in tighter, cutting off their means of escape.

That's when the verbal jabs and name-calling began.

"Where do you muties think you're going?"

"Freaks."

"Abominations."

"You think you can do whatever you want just because you have powers?"

"Demons."

"Poison."

Rogue flinched at that last one, since it did indeed apply to her, or her skin at least. She felt a hand gently squeeze her gloved one and glanced over at Joseph. He gave her hand another squeeze and shook his head minutely, telling her not to believe anything they said. Knowing the voices in her head, the ones that weren't on her side, got louder when she was feeling self-doubt or self-loathing, Rogue tamped down on her runaway thoughts. She was born this way, it was not her fault, nor did anyone have the right to take their prejudices out on her and her friends.

A man near Wanda suddenly pushed the witch, knocking her nearly off balance. Rogue watched, wide-eyed and unable to stop it, as Wanda panicked and used her power to push back. The man who had shoved her was picked up off the ground by red glowing light and thrown a good ten feet from where he'd been. He picked himself up almost immediately and pointed fiercely at Wanda.

"You see! She is a mutie freak!"

A woman near him with a homemade sign smacked him with it. "This is supposed to be a peaceful demonstration! You're no better than them if you have to sink to their level."

The man snarled at his fellow protestor before yelling right back at her. Rogue's eyes grew wider as the crowd around them started taking sides in the argument. It wasn't long before the gathering of people resorted to shoving each other, and punches and more serious attacks soon followed. Rogue, Joseph, and the twins were not forgotten.

Pietro kept a firm hand around Wanda's arm, trying to protect his younger-by-two-minutes sibling by keeping her close. All of them were jostled and shoved, and Joseph was the first to be separated from their small group by a surge of protestors coming between him and Rogue. Before she could worry about him too much, Rogue was left alone in the surging mass of humans. A woman had reached to strike Wanda, and Pietro had reacted by scooping his sister into his arms and using his super speed to get them both out, casting an apologetic look in Rogue's direction before disappearing in a blur.

Real fear started to creep in on Rogue. She couldn't risk flying out of the crowd when she still wasn't completely comfortable with the power. There was no ceiling here to stop her if she did lose control. And though her clothes had protected the people hitting and pushing her so far, it was only a matter of time before someone touched the uncovered skin of her face. Rogue was really not looking forward to having a panicked, hate-filled mind added to the ones already in her head. The strongest three of whom were not exactly helping her in her current situation.

Carol was angrily telling her to take on the humans, to fight them all. Erik and Logan agreed with her in so far as making sure Rogue was able to get out of the melee without real injury, but Carol, still a fresh personality, was louder and angrier in Rogue's head than the two men. Rogue was going to have to focus heavily on something external if she was going to get through this without Carol getting a stronger hold in her mind.

Reaching out lightly with her borrowed telepathy, Rogue located Joseph several feet behind her. As she headed his way, squeezing through the now-rioting crowd, she picked up violent thoughts being projected loudly from a man.

'This will teach them,' the disturbed mind was thinking with malicious glee, 'the only good freak is a dead freak.'

Rogue's heart stopped momentarily as the image of a gun pointed at Joseph's unsuspecting back filled her mind. She began moving faster the last couple of feet, not hesitating to use her super strength to get people out of her way when she needed to. The dull gleam of dark metal caught her eye a second before she spotted Joseph's white hair. Inserting herself quickly between Joseph and his unseen assailant, Rogue couldn't help but flinch when the sound of the gun going off split the air. She watched in an oddly detached awe as the bullet struck her chest and bounced off.

The shooter's eyes bulged before he turned tail and disappeared into the crowd. Before she could attempt to go after him, Rogue was spun roughly around. Anxious eyes and hands traveled her torso as Joseph looked for a wound that wasn't there.

"Don't ever do that again!" he said sternly, almost yelling.

Rogue could picture him shaking her if they weren't in the middle of their current situation. It made her feel somehow ashamed of her actions, and that made her angry.

"Joseph, I'm fine. I'm bulletproof; remember? Better a nasty bruise on me than a fatal wound on you!"

"No," he responded firmly. "It's never better for you to be hurt. Not to me."

"Well, excuse me for trying to save your life again!"

Some of the tension drained from Joseph's face, and a short laugh curled the corners of his mouth. And just like that the situation seemed odd and almost comical. With their powers, she and Joseph alone could probably take out the whole crowd, and here they were acting like cornered rabbits and sniping at each other instead of getting out of the situation.

"I'm sorry I yelled," Joseph told her gently. "You're right, I do tend to forget that you don't need as much protection as someone would think by looking at you. But if something ever did happen to you that I could have prevented, I would never forgive myself."

Knowing he meant every word, Rogue felt her heart clench. Why did things have to be so complicated? "Joseph…"

She trailed away when Joseph's eyes widened and he mouthed the word "no," reaching forward to drag her to him. Joseph had thrown his right hand outward even as his left pulled her close, his gaze focused behind her. Rogue spun in the safety of Joseph's light hold, watching as a man with a metal bat was struck with his own weapon. When her would-be assailant collapsed to the ground, Rogue turned back to Joseph and smiled up at him.

"Thank you," she said.

He smiled, reluctantly letting go of her now that at least that danger had passed, "I'm just glad people have lost their appreciation for wooden bats."

Rogue laughed softly and nodded toward an opening in the rioting crowd, "Shall we?"

"Where are Wanda and Pietro?" he asked.

Rogue, never having let go of the light psychic touch she had established between them when she was looking for him, could feel that he was not quite as concerned about the brother and sister as he still was about her but nevertheless he felt the need to know that his other housemates were okay.

"Pietro carried Wanda out," she told him, already moving with him through the mass of people. "They're probably back at the car already."

Rogue's prediction proved true, and Wanda nearly burst into tears of relief when they approached the car looking none the worse for the wear. The slightly older young woman threw herself at Rogue, hugging her tight with no apparent thought to her own safety. Luckily her aim was accurate and clothing covered Rogue in all the places Wanda was touching her.

"You're both okay, right?" Wanda asked when she finally let go of Rogue. "You didn't have to touch anyone, did you? I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

"Yes, we are, and no, I didn't," Rogue answered. "And it's not your fault, Wanda. You reacted to a bad situation. If it had been me, it would have been even worse for all of us."

Wanda nodded her acceptance slowly, peaking at Joseph to make sure he agreed with Rogue's assessment.

Joseph smiled reassuringly at Wanda before commenting, "Is there another movie theatre in close driving distance or are we giving up on the idea of seeing a movie?"

"I think we should just head back to the House," Rogue answered, still worried about Wanda.

"We can watch a DVD or see what's on Pay-Per-View," Pietro added. "I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

Joseph nodded, and they all got in the vehicle. Pietro sat in the back with his twin sister who was still obviously shaken, keeping an arm around her. Rogue drove simply because she had a driver's license and Joseph's forged papers from Mystique's contact hadn't come through yet. As Pietro had said, they'd already had enough excitement for the day; they didn't need to risk getting pulled over and Joseph being arrested.

Rogue wondered for a wild moment if Joseph would have the same fingerprints as Magneto if he were ever arrested. Yes, they were genetically identical, but so were identical twins and twins were born with separate sets of fingerprints.

Proving once again that he was always tuned into her on some level, Joseph laid a hand on her covered shoulder in an attempt to relieve her anxiety. He knew touch, although dangerous, was comforting to her. When she was safely stopped at a red light, Rogue turned her head and smiled at him.

Joseph smiled back at her warmly, sending contrasting sensations coursing through her body. A thrill shot up her spine but at the same time her stomach sank. Rogue faced forward again, the smile fading from her lips as she drove. The conflicting things she felt toward Joseph were driving her crazy. He seemed like such a nice, caring man, but he was Magneto. How did she reconcile who he was genetically with how he treated her and the others?

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Later that night, Joseph and Rogue were alone in the main family room. Rogue was at one end of the couch reading a book while Joseph sat in the middle watching the news. When the broadcast was over, he turned off the TV. Rogue looked up from her book and smiled softly at him.

"Gonna head up?" she asked absently.

"In a minute," Joseph responded. "I wanted to ask you something first."

Rogue marked her spot in the book with her finger before turning her attention fully in his direction.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out and do something on Friday. We could go to a movie, or have dinner out. How about it?"

"I think Wanda might have plans," Rogue answered. "But we can ask everyone when a good day would be."

Joseph smiled indulgently. That wasn't what he meant. He'd been attracted to Rogue even before he'd opened his eyes and seen her, and it had only deepened in the short time he'd been living under the same roof with her. Joseph had been willing before to wait and see how things developed between them, not sure she felt even half as strongly about him as he did about her, but after what had happened that afternoon…

Knowing that she had taken a bullet for him, even if it couldn't really hurt her, and knowing that he would rather have taken it himself to spare her even a bit of discomfort had made him see that she meant even more to him than he had previously realized. And then he had come to the conclusion that he didn't want to wait, didn't want to risk something happening to either one of them before he got the chance to tell her how he felt. There was always a chance that a human could find a way around either of their powers, and he was sure there were more powerful mutants out there.

"No, angel, I meant just you and I. We could…"

"No. I can't. I'm sorry," she interrupted.

Rogue had spoken so quickly that Joseph wasn't sure he'd heard her right… he certainly hoped he hadn't. "What?"

"I can't go out with you, Joseph," she replied, a bit slower this time, though she still seemed flustered and anxious. "I'm sorry."

Before he could ask her why or whether he had been wrong in assuming she had felt the same connection between them that he had, Rogue got up and left the room. Joseph sank back further against the couch cushions. How could he have been so wrong? He sighed. Maybe he had just moved too fast for her, but he hadn't seen the point in wasting time. The only way to know how he had been so off track would be to wait and see if anything changed.

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Joseph walked into the kitchen three days later to find Rogue making a pot of coffee. She stared at him with a pained expression for a few moments before dropping her gaze.

"I'll be done in a minute," she told him.

There was a sharpness in her voice that showed him she had noticed his avoidance of her the past few days. But her refusal of him still hurt, and he wasn't going to apologize for needing to nurse his wounds or for the way he felt about her. Why did she feel hurt anyway? She was the one who had said no.

Joseph moved around the kitchen, getting the things ready to make an omelet. Rogue simply stood in place, staring unblinkingly at the coffee machine. Until he had to reach past her to get a pan, his arm brushing her shoulder, inches above the tiny strip of bare skin between the bottom of her sleeve and the top edge of her glove. She jumped then.

"Careful," she cried softly.

He knew her well enough to know that she was scared for him, not herself. Joseph grasped her shoulders gently and turned her to face him, using her hair as a shield to lift her chin so their gazes met. There were tears swimming in her eyes, and Joseph felt them tug at his heart.

"Is this why you said no?" he asked in barely more than a whisper. "Because you think no one would really want to be with someone who can't touch skin to skin? I promise you, angel, that's not how I feel. I thought you knew that."

Rogue's breath hitched, and she ducked her head into his shirt. Her slim shoulders were shaking minutely, and Joseph wrapped his arms around her, letting her get out whatever it was that she'd been holding onto.

"That's part of it," she murmured after a few minutes.

"Are you going to tell me what else is stopping you?" he asked as gently as possible.

Rogue peaked up at him, biting her lip as she studied his face.

"Not yet," she choked out. "But I will, I promise."

Knowing he had to be satisfied with that much, Joseph nodded slowly. Rogue fidgeted, and Joseph dropped his arms from around her. If he was going to have an open and honest relationship with her, which he wanted more than anything, he was going to have to make the first steps himself.

Joseph watched silently as she poured herself a mug of the now-ready coffee before holding the pot up in his direction, asking without words if he wanted a cup. He shook his head and she returned the pot to the coffeemaker. After a soft, apologetic smile, Rogue turned to go. Joseph stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"He botherin' you, chere?" Remy's voice asked from the doorway.

The Cajun was glaring at the spot where Joseph's hand was holding Rogue's arm. The man with oddly colored eyes was a huge flirt, which made Rogue take him less than seriously most of the time, but Joseph had seen the protective way Remy sometimes looked at her. Maybe it was the fact that they were both Southerners, or maybe it was simply the fact that Rogue inspired protective feelings in people. Remembering how the housemates had reacted to the situation with Carol Danvers the first time Joseph had met them, Joseph was more inclined to believe it was the latter.

But Remy's immediate jumping to that conclusion made Joseph realize that Rogue was not the only one to start treating him differently after that first day. Did this mean it was just the way they normally behaved toward newcomers and that first day had been a fluke due to the circumstances? Or did something happen to change how not just Rogue but all of them viewed him? He could only wait until she was ready to share her reason with him to see if it was something that would have set the others off as well.

"No, Rem," Rogue answered. "He was just getting my attention. There's fresh coffee if you want some."

"Thanks, chere," Remy responded, immediately accepting her words at face value and moving across the kitchen to help himself to a morning dose of caffeine.

Joseph was still thoughtfully watching Remy, so he was slightly surprised by a tug on his arm. He glanced at Rogue, who motioned for him to follow her out of the kitchen. Together they made their way to the library, Rogue closing the door behind them.

"I assume there was something you wanted to say?" Rogue asked. "I'm sure the stuff you left out in the kitchen will keep for a few minutes."

Joseph nodded to both of her statements, choosing a seat facing hers when she sat down in a comfortable armchair, her coffee mug cradled gingerly in her gloved hands. He waited until Rogue had taken a few sips before beginning.

"Mystique told me a little about the different times you've used your power, and I have a theory about it," he began. "But I'd like to hear about all your experiences from your point of view."

Rogue leaned back further in her chair and sighed. "Alright."

She had to tell him first about the fact that her memory had been altered and still wasn't complete so that he understood that she couldn't remember every time she had touched someone with her powerful skin. Rogue then related everything she could remember about the different times her skin had touched someone else's. Her voice remained steady almost all the way through her tale, only breaking when she mentioned her death and revival on Liberty Island.

"Have you ever had to concentrate to take on someone's power?" he asked when she was done. "I think your skin may be tied into your emotional state, and if you were calm enough and didn't perceive yourself to be in any danger, you might be able to touch someone you trusted."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, you said you've always been able to touch Piotr. Have you ever tried to take his power?"

Rogue shook her head.

"So, maybe something about Piotr's skin does make him less susceptible to your skin," Joseph continued. "But that doesn't mean he's completely immune. I think if you tried to, you could copy his ability."

"You're saying because I trust Piotr, it gives him an extra protection against my skin?" When Joseph nodded in response to Rogue's question, she continued, "Then why did I take Logan's mutation both times I touched him? I trust Logan above anyone else."

Joseph felt a twinge of jealousy at her words. He knew from Mystique that Rogue had spent only a couple days with Logan and yet she trusted him completely. Joseph had been living in the same house with her for nearly two weeks now and there was still something coming between them that she wouldn't tell him about. The odd thing was that he would swear whatever it was hadn't been a factor the first day they'd met, the day she'd freed and saved him and he had helped save her. So what had changed? And more importantly, what could be done to fix it?

Logically, he knew that she felt an older-brother, hero-worship, deep-friendship type of affection for Logan, and that wasn't what he wanted to have with her for himself, but it didn't change the fact that there was someone who meant that much to her. Piotr, too, was more important to her than most of the other people in her life.

"Yes, but the first time I imagine you were scared out of your mind by the fact that someone you trusted had just accidentally skewered you. Plus your body knew you were dying, that you needed his power." Rogue was nodding slowly, and Joseph continued. "The second time it took time to kick in because you were nearly… gone. Logan was pushing not only his power into you, but also his will to live."

"You're right," she said softly, that faraway look in her eyes that signified one of the voices in her head was talking to her. "Cody and David were both a 'first kiss' situation that I was nervous about, that on top of my power manifesting right then made me react badly. From what I can remember of my life with Mama and Irene, the times I touched them didn't truly hurt them; I certainly never put either of them in a coma. And when Magneto was trying to give me his power, I think I might have fought back a little. He held on for a long time, but it didn't drain him as much as it did Logan. I was terrified, more scared than I'd ever been, but I also didn't want to let him use me to hurt other people."

Joseph smiled gently at her, once again amazed at how much she put other people before herself.

"Could it really be true?" Rogue murmured to herself, setting her mug on the small end table by her chair before standing. Her eyes fell on his watching face and cleared. "I can't risk it. The only one I could test it on safely is Logan, and I don't know when I'll see him next."

"It's something to consider, at least," he said gently as she turned slightly away from him, not able to keep from feeling disappointed that even with the protection of his slower healing factor she wasn't willing to try it on him. "And if it does turn out to be true, you may be able to work on it and eventually get to the point where you could touch anyone with a bit of concentration."

Rogue paced back and forth several steps, a thoughtful frown furrowing her brow. Joseph remained silent, letting her work through what she thought of his theory on her own. She finally stopped pacing with a deep sigh, turning back toward him, though she didn't look directly at him.

"Please don't tell my mother about this," she begged softly.

Joseph frowned, "If you don't want me to say anything to anyone, I won't, it isn't anyone's business but yours. But why don't you want me to tell Mystique?"

Rogue met his gaze, sorrow clear in her expressive eyes, "Because I don't think I can ever fully trust her."