I'm back! Just a few things before the new chapter:

Thanks to phoenixphantasy and Kari Lynn Craine- I had a great time on holiday:)

Ratdogtwo (and anyone else who is interested) I intend for this to be the first of a trilogy, each with an original character in it. I have the first chapter for the second installment written already, and most of the plot worked out in my head :) I also have plenty of plans for the third, so it's all looking good.

Finally... not being a comic reader, I don't really know much about Moira MacTaggart. I did look her up on Wikipedia (how I love that website) but she will probably be horribly out of character. So, apologies for that in advance!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and thanks for your patience - here is the long awaited 17th chapter!

Rogue looked down at her friend's pale face, brushing her hair absentmindedly with a gloved hand.

Ever since Professor Worthington had brought her back after she was struck by the Cure bullet she had been lying there, unchanging, despite Doctor McCoy's best efforts. Rogue felt guilty for ever being grateful that a Cure had been made. Her salvation was destroying her best friend, killing her slowly.

At first Jack had been able to sustain herself within her coma like state, but as the hours then days passed she became rapidly more dependant on life-support as her body just gave up.

What was worse was no one could explain it. Jack was skinny, but otherwise healthy. There was no reason why she was dying.

Rogue had no knowledge of medicine, so she did the only thing she could do for her friend. She hoped.

Hank admitted defeat three days after the ill-fated dinner and called for outside help. Moira MacTaggart, expert on all things mutant was the first person he called. She said she would be on the next plane to New York, but the X-men went one step better and picked her up in the Jet. A few hours later, clutching a small holdall, Moira was on the doorstep to the mansion.

"Thank you for coming Moira," Hank said as he greeted the female doctor.

"No problem," Moira said, "Where is she?"

"Right through here," Hank said.

He lead her into the basement of the mansion to where Jack was lying, still unmoved, all the various life support machines practically living for her.

"I must admit to being totally stumped," Hank said gravely, "I can think of no reason why she would react this way. Mr. Worthington has seen the cure delivered to hundreds of Mutants and says he's never seen anything like it either. It's like the cure is suppressing her whole body, not just the X-gene."

Moira examined Jack, checking her pulse, her breathing and temperature, just like Hank had done on his preliminary examination. A light frown appeared on her forehead.

"Is it possible she's had some sort of negative reaction?"

"There is no sign of distress, though," Hank said, "No swollen glands, her breathing isn't rasping… She's just gone into complete system shutdown. Comatose."

"Have you taken a blood test?" Moira asked.

"Yes, nothing irregular – slightly higher than average Haemoglobin count, but not enough to cause this."

"Brain scan?"

"As would be expected for a patient in a coma."

"What about a genetic scan?" Moira asked.

"No, I didn't do that," Hank said, "I didn't think it would tell us anything."

"Well, given that we have no other starting point, it might be an idea to give it a try," Moira said, "Even if it does only tell us what we already know, at least we won't have lost anything. And while we work tell me everything you know about her, background, heritage, everything you know."

"That won't be an awful lot," Hank said.

Warren stood on his balcony, more upset and worried about Jack than he cared to admit. He tried not to dwell on it too much but lessons proved to be no distraction, as he was always looking over to the empty chair where she should have been sat, hanging off his every word as she always did.

"It's not your fault," his Father had said as they stood together the first night, on Warren's balcony, much like he was now.

"I know," Warren said, "But that bullet was meant for me…"

"What do you mean?"

"Callisto, the woman shooting the gun, she looked annoyed before she dashed off… She never meant to hit Jack, and Jack was stood right in front of me when she was hit."

"Doctor McCoy will be able to help her," his father said confidently.

But he hadn't… Now they had called in the reinforcements – some woman from Britain that Warren hadn't met yet. She had arrived earlier that day. Warren wondered if she would be able to come to any different conclusions. She was supposed to be a mutant expert, but what would she be able to do that Hank hadn't done already?

The others offered what little comfort they could, but most were starting to prepare themselves for the worst. Not many believed Jack would pull through.

Only Rogue held onto any hope.

"You should get some sleep," Moira said to Rogue, handing her a mug of hot chocolate as she sat down beside her.

"I know," Rogue said, "But I keep telling myself 'I'll wait five more minutes, see if she wakes up' and before I know it another hour has passed."

"You and Jack are close then," Moira said.

"She's my best friend," Rogue said with a shrug, "I haven't know her very long, but it's the same with most of the people who get inside my head. I feel an attachment that's deeper than just normal friendship. She's like a sister to me."

"The people who get inside your head?" Moira questioned.

"My power," Rogue held up her gloved hand, "If I touch someone's skin I absorb their spirit – their powers and their memories."

"And you have done that to Jack?"

"Yeah, when my power came back after getting the cure…" Rogue spat the word she had once spoken with reverence.

Moira smiled at her sadly, putting a comforting hand on the girls shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said, "If she wakes, I'll come and get you straight away."

"Thanks," Rogue said, draining her drink. The warm liquid was making her sleepy.

"Try to get some sleep," Moira said, taking the mug back from her, "I know it's hard."

Rogue nodded, and went over to the door. Just before she left, she turned back to Moira.

"There's one thing that confuses me about all this though," she said, "Part of Jack's power is to block things, with a shield. Why didn't she block the cure bullet?"

When Moira had no answers, Rogue continued up to her bedroom.

"You got Rogue to go to her room?" Warren said with surprise as he stepped into the medical room.

"I think she finally gave into exhaustion more than anything," Moira said.

"She's been dead on her feet for a couple of days now," Warren said, "I'm Warren, by the way, I wanted to thank you, for coming."

"It's no problem – anything for Xavier's X-men," Moira said, a shine of pain in her eyes, "I don't know how much I can do that Hank hasn't done already, but I will try everything in my power."

"Well, Rogue's not the only one who's grateful to you for that," Warren said.

"Everyone here has seen so much death lately," Moira said, turning back to the kettle she had used to make Rogue her drink, "The others don't dare to hope in case they have their hearts broken again."

"Do you think she's going to die?" Warren asked, his throat dry.

"I honestly don't know," Moira said, "I can see no reason why she should, but unless we can shock her out of this coma she may just keep shutting down."

Warren looked over to where Jack was lying, pale but otherwise peaceful. His heart was tearing in his chest. He had never felt so strongly for anyone before and in a way it scared him, and not only because he thought she might die.

Moira looked over at him with a sad, knowing smile.

Hank went into work to touch base. He had told them of the situation, and they were completely fine about him only popping in briefly – they weren't going to deny the X-men their Doctor.

"Still no change," he told the President when he asked after her.

As he headed back out to his car, he was confronted by Jack's friends from work.

"We heard that Jack got hurt," Cathy said.

"Is she going to be ok?" David asked.

"I… don't know," Hank said, not having the heart to raise their hopes by lying, "She suffered an adverse reaction to the Cure and has gone into a coma."

"But, but, she's going to get better, right?" David stammered.

"I don't know," Hank repeated, "I sincerely hope so, but I don't know what I can do to help her…"

"We're coming with you to see her," Cathy said.

Hank shook his head.

"You know I can't let you do that."

"Why not? She's not just an X-man!" Cathy snapped angrily.

"She's our friend too!" David added with equal fervour.

Hank put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I know," he said, "And I'm sorry. If anything changes I will let you know straight away."

"And if the worst comes to the worst?" Laure asked.

"Then I will certainly not deny you the right to attend a friend's funeral," Hank said, "But for more than just security reasons I hope it does not come to that."

Rogue got up late the next day. No one came to wake her, and Kitty had left her a note saying she could rest as long as she needed. Rogue didn't feel like sleeping any longer than she already had, but equally didn't feel much like going to lesson until she had woken up a bit, and eaten breakfast.

She got herself some toast, eating it quickly, before taking a brisk walk round the mansion to try and revive her brain slightly. She was walking past the library when she saw Jimmy sitting on his own in a corner.

He looked upset, and Rogue thought that it was unlikely that anyone had tried to talk to him, see if he was alright. No one really liked being around him because of his power. But Jack had always made the effort, and the boy was probably missing the interaction as much as he was worried about his friend.

Rogue sat down net to Jimmy, taking his hand in hers.

"You ok?" she asked him.

"Not really," he said. He had an almost guilty expression on his face. Rogue wondered if he blamed himself because he was the source of the cure.

"This isn't your fault Jimmy," Rogue said, "Callisto was the one who pulled the trigger. You don't have to feel guilty about it."

"I'm not guilty about that," Jimmy said.

"Then what is it?" Rogue asked gently, "You can talk to me, I'm here for you."

Jimmy smiled at her gratefully but the troubled expression didn't fade.

"I think I know something that could help them cure Jack," he said.

"Then why haven't you told them?" Rogue struggled to keep a demanding tone out of her voice.

"Because she made me promise to keep it a secret," Jimmy said.

Rogue looked down at Jimmy. She could see the inner turmoil. He didn't want to break his promise to Jack, yet equally he didn't want to see her die while withholding potentially vital information.

"Why don't you tell me," Rogue suggested, "Jack is my best friend, and she won't mind if I know. If I think it might help then we can tell everyone, if not I can keep a secret, and I won't tell anyone."

Jimmy thought about this. Given the circumstances he had no choice really, and it was better than just breaking his promise completely. He looked down at the floor then looked back up at Rogue.

"She's not a Mutant," he said.

Hank arrived back at the mansion and headed straight down to the medical room to find Moira waiting for him.

"You might want to take a look at this," she said.

Hank, hearing an edge in her voice, picked up his pace a little and swiftly crossed the floor to her side. She was looking at the genetic scan. As Hank looked down at it he started, pulled back, put on his glasses then looked closer.

"What on Earth?" he said.

"Exactly my reaction," Moira said.

Rogue paced back and forth as she headed down to the medical room, contemplating whether or not to tell Doctor McCoy. Would it even help? Jimmy had said that the cure had been tested on Humans and was found to have no negative affect.

In a moment of decisiveness she went to open the door. As she reached it, she heard Doctor McCoy talking to Moira, and paused to listen.

"She doesn't have the mutant X-gene," Moira said.

"But that would mean she's not a mutant," Hank said.

"I know, yet she has mutant-like powers," Moira said, "That again, is exactly what I thought. But look closer. This is the genetic scan for a typical mutant, and this is the genetic scan for a typical human. Now look at Jack's."

"It's like a blend, a cross between the two," Hank said.

"Yes," Moira said, "So she both doesn't have the X-gene, and is entirely an X-gene, which I guess is why she is suffering so badly with the cure. It doesn't have something specific to target, so it targets everything."

"Completely suppressing her entire system," Hank finished.

Outside, Rogue's decision was easy – she didn't need to break Jimmy's promise to Jack. They already knew.

"So if she isn't mutant or human," Moira said, "then what is she?"

"Perhaps like our friend Logan, Jack fell prey to an experiment," Hank suggested, "Genetic modification to better understand the mutant gene, the mutant phenomenon. Maybe even in hopes of manufacturing a cure."

"It would explain why she was so reluctant to talk about her past," Moira said, "Perhaps she is ashamed of it, or perhaps the trauma of it caused her to block it out and she can't even remember."

"Whatever it is, it's irrelevant," Hank said, "We need to work out how we can help her – does this information give you any ideas?"

"What about a blood transfusion?" Moira suggested, "Recipients of blood from Mutant donors have been known to develop their powers for a short while. Giving her body a dose of the Mutant X-gene might be enough to draw the cure away from her organs."

"It's an idea, but I have been unable to get a blood type for her. Each of the samples we have taken has proved inconclusive in the tests. We could go for the most common, but it's a risk."

"Can't you take another sample?" Moira asked.

"I fear it would make her too weak," Hank said, "It is risk, risk, risk every move we make. We need to decide what is the least risky strategy."

"Well, she hasn't got much worse in the last two days," Moira said, "The least risky strategy for now is to leave her while we decide with everyone else what is the best route to take. I don't think we alone can make this decision."

As Moira and Hank walked up to visit Storm together, Moira's phone rang. Hank paused to let her take the call. He tuned his ears out to let her have some privacy, and stared around the room, occasionally glancing over to see if she was done. He caught sight of her face and stopped. She had turned completely ashen with shock.

"Moira?" Hank asked as she hung up the phone, returning it to her pocket with a shaky hand.

"I…I have to go," she said.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"It's Kevin, he's taken a fall while playing at home, fractured his skull," Moira struggled to keep her voice steady, "I have to get back to him, Hank. I can't leave my baby in hospital all alone. If I leave now I should just make the next flight home."

Hank nodded.

"I think the X-men and I can handle Jack's case from now on," he said kindly, "you go and get packed, I'll call you a taxi."

"Where's she going?" Rogue asked Hank as they watched Moira be driven off in a taxi. Many of the other X-men had come out to thank the doctor and wish her son well, but Rogue had missed the explanation.

"Her son has been badly hurt, she's going back to Scotland to see to him."

Rogue had been angry at her abrupt departure, but couldn't hold onto it. Even though she didn't have children of her own, Rogue knew about how strong the maternal bond could be. She could only begin to imagine the pain Moira would experience every second she spent on the other side of the ocean from her hospitalised child.

They walked together back into the mansion in time to hear Storm summon them all to her office.

"Ororo, Moira has gone home – her son was injured badly, so we need to talk about Jack," Hank said as he stepped into her office.

"I hate to say it, but it will have to wait," Storm said, "The President called, he needs us to go to him immediately. He said it was important."

"More important than Jack?" Rogue demanded as she walked through the door.

"He said it was," Storm said, "He asked me to tell you he was sorry."

"We can't just leave her!" Rogue said.

"We don't have a choice," Hank said. The President knew the situation – he wouldn't have said something was more important than Jack's life lightly.

Rogue wasn't the only one who wasn't best impressed with the President's demand.

"What?" Warren said angrily, "We can't! What about Jack?"

"The timing is unfortunate, but there's nothing anyone can do about that," Storm said, "Emergencies don't wait until sick team-mates get better."

"I thought you said you would always put the lives of your team-mates first?" Warren said.

"Look, bub," Logan said, stepping in, pushing Warren away from Storm, "We all know you're crazy about her, but you can't let that get in the way of doing what you have to do."

Warren looked at him, eyes blazing, but softened when he saw the hurt and sorrow on Logan's usually emotionless face. He backed down and nodded sadly.

Rogue however, wasn't going to give in that easily.

"Someone can stay behind to watch her!" she said, "In case she takes a turn for the worse."

"I can't afford to lose any more team mates," Storm protested, "I'm one down as it is."

"I'll stay," Rogue said, "Let me stay and watch her. The President isn't likely to miss me – it's not like my power is particularly useful in emergencies…"

Storm smiled at her sympathetically and then reluctantly nodded – she knew she wasn't going to win this fight. Even if she dragged Rogue along, her heart wouldn't be in it, and neither would Warren's.

As soon as they were gone, Rogue headed down to the medical room where Jack was.

Rogue looked up at the genetic scan information. Hank had said it was neither mutant nor human, but some sort of infusion of the two. She had no X-gene, and yet her whole body was an X-gene.

Jack had always been strange. Perhaps she was some sort of Government experiment like Hank suspected. Rogue thought back to their first meeting in Magneto's encampment. It was hard to forget – it wasn't every day your powers returned to you like a bolt of lightening when you took someone's hand.

Rogue nursed her fingers as they tingled slightly at the memory. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

What if she had suffered such a reaction, not because her power had returned, but because Jack's energy was somehow incompatible?

Rogue looked over at the comatose girl, fingering her gloves nervously. In a decisive moment, she ripped the glove from her hand and marched over to Jack. Carefully, nervously, she lowered her hand to Jack's face, brushing her fingers over her cheek.

It wasn't as violent as that first encounter, but there was a definite crackle beneath her fingers, like static.

"Help me Jack," Rogue muttered, lowering her hands to her face once again, "Help me help you."

She touched her whole palm to Jack's face, holding on as long as she dared. Staggering backwards, tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain, Rogue back into a wall and collapsed to the floor out cold.

Not really much comic relief in there at all... that kinda failed to happen. Sorry lol, hope it wasn't too depressy.

Please review! I'd love to know what you thought of it xXx