A/N: Well, here it is, y'all. Last chapter! I can't believe it took me a whole year to write this...whoa.

Okay, if you want to read my prequel thingy for this, it should be out soon, school and other stuff I have to do permitting. I haven't thought of a name yet, so you might have to put me on author alert to catch it.

A/N 2: Yay! Oh, and review. Now yay!

A/N 3: Here are the chapter names/songs: Confessions Part 1 and 2 are songs by Usher (shut up); Arms Wide Open is by someone whose name I don't know; and Future Love Paradise is by Seal. This chapter title is up for interpretation.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. If I did...it would be cool.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Finale

Gwen threw open her suitcase and laid it on her bed, her hand still smarting from catching it in the clasp moments before. She hated packing for a trip. Usually, she got hurt some way or another, and something always got left behind. Plus, there was the ever-present embarrassment of having people see how disorganized a person she really was.

Rogue and Jubilee sat on the bed next to hers, giggling as she went through her drawers and chucked her clothes into her bag (without folding them), screaming, "Dammit!" the entire time.

"You could help," Gwen yelled at them from the bathroom, picking up all of her spare lipsticks and eyeliners from the edge of the sink and flinging them into her purse. "Storm's gonna completely spaz if I miss the bus!"

"We know," Jubilee yelled back.

Gwen, having gathered all of her makeup, ran back into her room. Neither of her friends had moved an inch. She glared at them.

"This bus ride," she announced, picking up her hair brush from her desk and running it through her somewhat mangled hair, "is the next big step for me. And if you're just going to sit there-"

" '-and do nothing,' " Rogue interrupted, grinning, " 'you may be the reason why my life could never move forward,' " she finished for Gwen. "You've told us that every night for the past week, whenever you wanted someone to do something for you."

"Like turn on the TV," Jubilee told her, chuckling.

Gwen gave them the finger, and tossed her brush into her suitcase. She wished there was actual time to finish with her hair, but everything she had told her friends was true. If she was late and she missed her ride, Storm would get extremely annoyed. And, however overly dramatic she had made it seem, getting on that bus was the most important thing in the world to her right then.

One week earlier

A few days after her father had left, Hank had let her out of her infirmary bed, satisfied that she had recuperated. The first thing had done was leave several voice messages on her dad's machine, asking him to call her back so they could talk. After a few days, she realized they'd never be returned.

So instead of crying, which was what she really felt like doing, she had gone to Professor Xavier and demanded use of Cerebro so she could find Ray Noveau.

"I don't think you're strong enough to use it," he told her, when he finished telling Logan, who was in his office when Gwen burst in unnannounced; about "using his mutation with more responsibility," (surprised by her loud arrival, he had extracted his claws and almost cut off her arm before realizing who it was).

She rolled her eyes impatiently. "Then you want to do it?"

He smiled gently. "Fine."

It didn't take him very long to find her. She lived in New York City, not very far from where they had picked up Caroline two weeks before. It shocked Gwen that they had been that close.

She wrote down her address on a small piece of paper, thanked the professor, apologized for ruining his meeting, smiled as best as she could at Logan, and darted quickly out into the hallway, barely making it to the end when she ran into Kurt.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking one look at her face.

"Nothing," she replied, before bursting into tears.

He didn't say anything, much to her relief. Instead, he leaned down and hugged her tightly, muffling her sobs against his shirt.

"I hate him," she said, choking.

"No, you don't," he told her, gripping her tighter. Then, without warning, he teleported back to his room.

Once there, Gwen punched him half-heartedly. "Kurt! You know I hate that!"

"Yes, I know." He sat on the edge of his bed, taking her down with him. She started crying again, part sorrow, part relief of having found someone who cared that she was heartbroken and angry.

"He hates me," she moaned, burying her face further into his chest.

"No. He doesn't." He stroked the curls of her hair.

"Why'd he leave, then?" Gwen whispered. Kurt sighed.

"He was confused, and- and scared..." His voice trailed off. Then he spoke again. "I don't know. I'm sorry, but I don't."

"Raven was sorry," she told Kurt.

"So I've been told."

"It's true." She waited for his undoubtedly sarcastic response, but when she didn't get any, she sighed. "I probably should have told you that I was bringing her here."

He grunted. "Probably."

Gwen shuddered, still teary. "Sorry," she murmured. "And I'm the one who brought Caroline here, too. So sorry for that."

"It's okay. It's fine," he told her. Then, so softly Gwen wasn't sure if it was his thought or his actual voice: "Love you, Gwen."

"Love you too, Kurt," she muttered quietly.

They stayed in their embrace for a long time, until Kurt's door opened and Storm appeared.

Kurt sat up straighter and Gwen could practically hear him blush. He was so stupid around the woman; it was almost enough to make her laugh.

"Don't hurt yourself," she said in low voice, so only he could hear it. He ignored her.

"Hello, Ororo." Kurt pulled Gwen up. Storm came over to the bed and tapped her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" she asked kindly.

Gwen took her arms off of Kurt. "Fantastic. I'm fan-FREAKING-tastic." She wiped her face on her sleeve.

Storm patted her head. "You'll be fine." Gwen wrinkled her nose in distaste as she smoothed her curls.

"You screwed up my hair," she told her, but Storm had bent down to kiss Kurt and her complaint fell on deaf ears. "Hey! HEY! I'm RIGHT here!" she screamed, standing up indignantly.

They pulled away, and Storm sat down on the bed where Gwen had been.

"You can't help yourselves, can you?" Gwen glowered, sniffling slightly. Storm ignored her and leaned her head against Kurt's shoulder.

"The professor told me you went to see him earlier," she said. "So I went to find you." Pausing, she gave Gwen her warmest look, the one reserved for students having trouble getting used to their newfound mutations. "What's her name again?"

Gwen glanced down at her fist, suddenly remembering the address in her hand. "Here." She handed the piece of paper over to her teacher. Storm smoothed it out and read aloud: "Vandram Drive...this is in New York city."

"No way," Gwen said sarcastically.

Storm raised her eyebrows at her. "Are you going to let me finish?"

Gwen wrinkled her nose. "Yeah."

"Thank you. This is a two hour drive away."

"So?"

Closing her eyes, Storm waved her fingers in the air, calculating something. "I think if you went over to the bus station a few miles over you could make it over there in one ride, two at the most."

A moment passed. Then: "Two rides?"

One week later, outside

Kurt had been waiting with Ororo outside by her car for almost half an hour. "What's she doing?" he asked, not for the first time that day.

Ororo glanced down at her watch for the hundredth time. "Packing. She's going to miss the bus at this rate, though." She looked over at him. "I'm getting worried."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, I know what's happened. She forgot to set the alarm and overslept. She's all right."

"Okay." Ororo shrugged, and Kurt felt his heart skip happily. Leaning over, he tipped her face towards his and kissed her again. She laughed.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

Kurt thought for a moment. "Because I can." He draped her arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer.

"This is nice," Ororo sighed, after a moment.

"You have no idea," he told her. "Love you," he said more quietly.

"Love you." They remained in embrace until:

"GodDAMMIT!" someone shouted inside, accompanied by a crash and shouts.

"Gwen's ready," Kurt announced, pulling away.

A few moments later, his niece came running out of the lobby, tripping over her suitcase. Rogue and Jubilee followed.

"What happened?" Kurt asked, walking over and taking her bag. She groaned.

"I FELL." She threw her suitcase into the back of Storm's car. "And they laughed at me."

"Because it was funny!" Jubilee shrieked, still in hysterics.

Gwen straightened. "Bye for now," she said firmly, before running over to her friends and hugging them. They sobered up immediately.

"I'll be back before my birthday," she told them. "FYI, it's the twenty-sixth of July." She winked.

Gwen went over to Kurt. "Do you have everything?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Everything's in your suitcase?"

"Yesss..." Gwen muttered impatiently. "I got everything done. Went downstairs and said goodbye to Caroline." She made a boxing motion, grinning devilishly.

"She'd have killed you."

"Yeah, I know." Folding her arms, she frowned. "I don't know why she's even here."

"Because if she wasn't, she'd kill everyone else."

"Alright." Gwen jumped up and wrapped her arms around Kurt's neck. He lifted her up. "Bye bye. I'll call in a while."

"Okay." He hugged her back. "Be careful."

"I will." She lowered herself back down onto the ground and opened the front door of Ororo's car. "Bye, everyone!" She waved. "Hey, Storm, I was in detention for nothing all week, you realize that?"

Ororo smiled at Kurt. "I'll be back in a couple of hours," she said to him. To Gwen: "We're sorry about that."

"Can I donate my time toward another crime?"

Ororo put the key in the ignition. "It's not a crime, first of all. Second of all, what did you do, Gwen?"

"I borrowed your convertible a couple weeks ago without asking."

"What!" she almost screamed.

The car pulled away.

"Bye, Storm!" Gwen yelled from the back of the bus, waving through the window at her teacher. A man shushed her, and she glowered in his direction.

"Bye!" she screamed even louder, though it was at him. Sitting back down in her seat, she pulled out her CD player from her bag, strapped on the earphones, and pressed play. She had no idea what song was about to play (she hadn't looked at the CD itself), but it was alright.

Gwen heard the first few notes strum into her ears and without really registering what it was, she began singing along quietly, knowing every word and melody from past hearings.

To her surprise, no one stopped her.

The End