Disclaimer: Don't own anything or anyone from X-Men.

Chica De Los Ojos Cafe: I'm glad that this story has touched you! I'll see where the story and its characters take me and I hope that you will like the rest of it as you have liked the beginning. Me encanto los dichos que tienes en tu pagina.

Baby12: I'll try updating soon, I promise you that.

Rapunzel34: Yes, you should never rush into anything, especially if it has to do with love (as if I can really talk about that).

Elle457: I am glad that you like it, poet at heart. Lololol.

Nicki-hunny: Thank you, thank you, and thank you. Here's the update you have requested.

A/N: I want to thank all of my readers and reviewers who have been so wonderful and encouraging with me. You have all been great to me. Kisses to all.

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"Bobby, you've got to understand that I have to do this." Rogue announced rapidly after explaining to him why she was packing her suitcase. She didn't even allow him to digest this before nervously rushing into her next sentence. "I know that you don't like how caught-up I am when it comes to Logan, and I know that we usually get into arguments about him, but I need to go and find Logan. He could be dead for all we know and I'll never forgive myself if I don't take this chance and go with the X-Men to find him. I know that this means we'll be apart for an indefinite amount of time but I--."

"Calm down Rogue." Bobby announced, interrupting her rapid flow of words, holding his hands in the air as if trying to protect himself from them, amusement coating his words. "I understand you and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"—have to make sure that he is okay and—what?" Her eyes widened and she collapsed into a sitting position on her bed. Had she been so nervous all evening and had spent the whole time coming up with a speech that she was sure he couldn't argue with…and it was all for nothing? "You understand?"

His sad smile grew a little more genuine as he sat down next to her, placing his arm around her shoulder. For a moment he looked ahead in silence, as if enjoying this moment more than any of the other times that they had been together. "Yes, I do. Rogue, I know that I've been very clingy lately, and that I used to be very jealous, but then I've realized something."

"What?"

"You're happy." Hearing her confused silence, Bobby nervously cleared his throat and continued before he regretted it and took everything back. This was hard enough as it was, and he was praying for strength to continue strong, to be confident, if not for him, for her. "I love you, Rogue, and I know that you love me too, just not like I love you. I used to hope that you would learn to love me that way in time, but you always kept something locked away from me." He knew that she was about to protest this, but he stopped her from lying just to make him feel better. "Rogue, all these months you have been a wonderful girlfriend to me. But most of all, you've been the best friend I have ever had in my life. You've been by my side, never wavering, never leaving me alone with my depressing thoughts. You've made sure that I was happy and was always unselfish when it came to me. And now, I need to be unselfish and do something for you—even though it will kill me to do it. You've talked my mother into calling me, into deciding to come and spend some time at Xavier's school for Gifted Young People, to give mutants a chance. You're a special woman, Rogue, and just thinking of all the reasons that I love you and should keep you chained to my side are making this so much harder."

Frowning in confusion, Rogue returned to her sitting position and looked into his eyes, trying to find the answer in them to her many questions. Worrying at the sadness that she found in those beautiful eyes, she began to become slightly frantic. The fact that his mother was going to be living at the school didn't even register in her mind, which was fogged with worry. "Bobby?"

As if guessing that she couldn't take the suspense any longer, Bobby sighed sadly and looked deeply into her eyes. "Rogue, I'm letting you go."

Those five words shook Rogue's world so hard that she had to hold onto his arm with a gloved hand. When her world stopped spinning, she knew that she must have heard him wrong. Bobby couldn't be breaking up with her! "What?"

Bobby's smile grew sadder as he saw realization fill her widened eyes. "I've been noticing that you're happy now. You've been different these past few months and at first I wondered if it had to do with me…then I realized that both you and Mr. Summers have some sort of bond. That had me insanely jealous for the first few months. But now I see a whole new Rogue appearing, one that I like, and whom I'm happy to know. After much denial I finally had to admit that it's because of him that you are changing into a better person." His eyes were teary as he continued. "I love you, Rogue, and I have to show you that by letting you go."

Her words were barely audible when she whispered: "Scott and I are only friends."

"I know that. I know that you wouldn't ever cheat on me, Rogue, you're above that. You're special in more ways than you could ever know." Bobby responded in a voice hoarse from trying to keep back tears. "But Mr. Summers has been able to do something that I haven't. You need him, and I won't stand in your way anymore."

Lowering her eyes, Rogue felt tears but she held them back, accepting Bobby's gift. "Thank you Bobby." On impulse and custom, she threw her arms around his shoulders and his arms went around her body, pulling her against him. She felt his tears and it caused her to find it harder to keep hers back.

There was a soft and quick knock on the door before it opened, revealing Scott in the doorway. Both Rogue and Bobby looked up at him in surprise, and Rogue wondered about the strange aura she felt around him. But Scott just looked at them and then cleared his throat. "I, uh, I came to make sure that you were feeling alright after what happened this evening."

"I'm fine."

"I can see that." Scott Summers announced in a clipped voice that didn't sound anything like his usually teasing one. He then briefly nodded, acknowledging Bobby's presence, before turning around and leaving as abruptly as he had come, leaving the door wide open as he strode away.

Rogue, not understanding what had just happened, frowned. "I wonder what happened to him."

Getting up from the bed, Bobby looked in the direction that Scott had taken off to. For some moments he watched Scott until he disappeared, then he turned to look at a confused Rogue. "He cares for you. He's jealous."

Rogue snorted, a little smile appearing on her face at the ridiculous thought that Scott Summers would be jealous. "Bobby Drake, Scott and I are just friends. There would be no explainable reason for him to be jealous."

Bobby looked at her in contemplative silence before shaking his head and then returning to look in the direction where Scott had disappeared to.

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What is wrong with me? That question plagued Scott's mind as he stomped down the hallway. The encounter in Rogue's room had happened hours ago but still his hackles rose every time he remembered opening the door and finding her in Bobby's embrace. Scott shook his head, trying not to remember the tenderness and love that he had seen in that hug. I don't have any reason to be acting this way! Rogue and Bobby were boyfriend and girlfriend, they had been that for a long time now, so why was it that when he'd seen them together he'd sensed a feeling of dislike so great he wanted to do something that would have only embarrassed him till his dying days?

He'd been jealous. There was no other word for the feeling that had hit him deep in his gut, and which was still churning every time his thoughts ventured on Rogue—which it had been doing a lot these past three months. It had become so common for him to think of her that he hadn't thought it odd. She was his best friend, the only one who could bring him the peace he needed to sleep. But lately, he realized that his feelings, the way he thought and looked at her, well, they weren't the way he would look at a friend or feel for one. He was beginning to care deeper for her, and he felt guilty as hell. He loved Jean, he would always love Jean…but how could he explain the fact that he was beginning to have feelings for Rogue?

Staring ahead of him at nothing at all, Scott continued his rounds, making sure that every student was safely inside of their rooms and hopefully asleep. It was a tiring job, with so many rooms and students to keep a track of, but he welcomed this because it gave him enough time to get his thoughts straightened. His new feelings were going to be nothing but trouble, especially since this new assignment had him and Rogue pretending to be spouses.

Stopping for a moment, Scott looked down at his feet, thinking about that. Married… Rogue and him... That was the oddest idea he had ever heard, and he wondered how he was going to pull it off. This mission was going to prove to him all the reasons why a relationship of any sort except friendship between Rogue and himself would be impossible. For one, she was Rogue the Untouchable, as she liked to call herself. For two, there was Jean.

But Jean is dead.

Bobby then. There was Bobby.

He's very much alive.

Yes, Bobby was alive, and if that hug said anything, it spoke volumes about the loving relationship those two had.

"Scott! Oh, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere." Turning to the sound of his name, he saw Storm coming up towards him. "I'm glad I found you. Xavier wanted me to inform you that Mrs. Drake will be coming to spend some time with us, just so that you won't be surprised when you see a new face amongst us."

The name didn't ring any bells until once more, the memory of some hours ago resurfaced. "Bobby Drake's mother?"

"Yes."

Scott, who prided himself on having an excellent memory, made a face. "I thought that his whole family shunned him when they found out that he was a mutant."

"They did." Storm announced with a nod of her head. "But it seems that Rogue has been talking to Mrs. Drake and has convinced her to move here and spend some time with her eldest son—something that Xavier was hoping would happen."

"Rogue convinced her?"

"Yes. Bobby sure is a lucky boy to have a girl that loves him enough to do that for him." Storm smiled genuinely and then walked off, leaving Scott to his own disturbing thoughts.

Yes, there was no denying of it now. Scott Summers was very jealous.

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It was later than when she would usually be sleeping with him, but for some reason Rogue couldn't get herself to go out of her door. She looked at the doorknob as if it would burn her, and she made a face, walking back towards her bed and throwing herself on it. A sound from Jubilee made Rogue turn to look at her and Rogue couldn't help but wonder what was happening in her roommate's dreams. Was she dreaming of Kurt?

Groaning, the young woman got up and went to the window, looking out at the dark sky. There wasn't even one star visible. Leaning towards the window, she breathed on the glass and watched as it fogged up. Running her gloved fingers over the foggy area she drew little doodles and watched as they disappeared little by little. This was something that she would do when younger, and some nights, she would do so again. It was some sort of therapy for her.

Hearing the grandfather clock down the hallway chiming one in the morning, Rogue made a face and looked around the room, wondering when she was going to see it again. In a couple of days? In a couple of weeks? They would be traveling early tomorrow morning and didn't know when they would be able to return. Rogue suddenly realized that she would miss this place.

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Hearing the grandfather clock close to his room chime one in the morning, Scott sat up in his bed, eyes (red from lack of sleep) trained faithfully on the door. Even though he looked calm on the outside, millions of questions were racing through his brain. Like the ones that said that Rogue should have been here by now. That they were usually sleeping peacefully at this hour. He frowned. What was she doing? Wasn't she going to come?

The weeks he had spent away from her had been filled with sleepless nights, and he knew that this night wouldn't be any different if he didn't have her by his side. What if she's spending her last night there with him? That thought entered his mind and Scott's face grew into an angry frown. Had she decided to stay with Bobby while Scott had been gone on his last mission, and had found that she slept better with Bobby than with him? What if she would never come back to sleep by his side again?

Refusing to believe this, Scott threw off his sheets so that he could go and look for her himself…drag her back if need be. But when he was searching everywhere in the darkness for his other night slipper, he heard the door creak open and turned to see Rogue enter his room and shyly lock the door behind her. A smile appeared on his face when he realized that he had just been torturing himself. She wasn't going to sleep with Bobby; she was coming here to him.

"Hi." Rogue whispered as she came towards him and climbed into the bed. Pulling up the sheets from where he had thrown in, she squirmed around until she had finally found a comfortable position. Straightening the sheets so that they were covering them both, she turned to look at him in expectant silence.

"Hey." He smiled sheepishly, scratching behind his ear. "Look, about this evening. I'm sorry for interrupting you and your boyfriend. I should have waited until I heard someone say 'come in' before charging inside."

"Don't worry about it."

Lying down as well, Scott closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her once more. Pulling off his visor, he reached on the night table for his sleeping mask and put it on."So you didn't get into problems with your boyfriend? He didn't ask you why one of your teachers just barged into your room?"

"In two months you will have become my ex teacher." Rogue told him as-a-matter-of-factly, as if he didn't already know by heart the date of her graduation. "And no, he didn't get angry. We were just caught up in what we were talking about."

Not knowing whether to feel happy or insulted about the fact that Bobby didn't consider him a threat, Scott decided to talk about safer topics. "I heard that Bobby's mother is going to be spending some time here now."

"Yes." Rogue beamed, sounding happier than she had for a long time. "I'm so happy for both of them." Yawning, she rolled in bed and turned her back on him. "Goodnight Scott."

By now, placing his arm around her waist as they slept had become a ritual, but still, tonight he felt jittery and nervous as he performed this ritual. "'Night Rogue."

There was some silence for a couple of minutes and Scott thought that she had nodded off to sleep, but then Rogue's sleepy voice surprised him. "Scott?"

"Yes?" He yawned, cuddling closer.

"I missed you."

By the time he was able to finally find words to say something back to Rogue, he heard her shallow breathing and knew that she was asleep. He imagined the peaceful look on her sleeping face and his hand went from around her waist to caress her soft hair. Leaning in he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of her shampoo—which had become one of his favorite scents. It was a lovely flowery scent, unlike the 'fresh citrus' smell that Jean had always loved.

Placing his arm around her waist once more, Scott suddenly realized how often of late that he had subconsciously been comparing Rogue to Jean. Both were such different women that he didn't think that this was a rather successful comparison.

Jean was friendly, outgoing, and somewhat of a flirt when she had wanted to be. Rogue, on the other hand, was introverted, with a smile that made his life brighten, and hidden humor she would only bring out whenever he was beginning to get depressed by Jean's absence.

But lately, the depression had disappeared for good, and Scott was realizing that little by little, he was accepting Jean Grey's death and learning to live without her. That didn't mean that he didn't love her anymore—he would always love Jean—it just meant that he had realized that life would go on without her, and that he had much life still left to live.

A soft smile appeared on his face as he closed his eyes and tightened his protective grip around Rogue's waist. As always, when he was with her, peace seemed to invade his body, and he felt himself giving into the need to sleep. His last thoughts before falling to sleep were: I missed you too, Rogue.

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