31

Last period for Rogue was PE and she had both Jean Grey and Scott in her class. Of course, the cheerleaders were about, but Mr McCoy was their teacher and, somehow, made it so they were separated. Rogue wondered if the teachers knew about what was going on between her and the cheerleaders or if Mr McCoy was just perspective. Either way, she was glad that she was away from them and near Jean, only, something had felt off about Jean all day.

She hadn't seemed to be her normal self. She was still friendly and let on, but she wasn't talking to her as much. She seemed to be holding her head a lot more when she thought people weren't looking either, but Rogue had seen it. And felt it.

At lunch, she had felt Jean enter her mind and had to quickly start thinking about something else besides noticing Jean enter her mind thanks to Emma Frost's powers. She let her mind fall on Stacy and how miserable she felt which was easy enough to do. When she felt Jean leave her mind, Rogue had quickly conversed with Emma who informed her that she didn't believe what Jean did, entering her mind, was a tactical response to learn if she was a mutant or not. She thought it was an accident. And Rogue believed Emma.

The image of Jean losing control last night at Duncan's party crossed Rogue's mind as well. That, and she was familiar with that glassy look that coated Jean's eyes. She had looked that way quite a few times when she had lost control or was close to losing it. The eyes of a girl who was lost and scared and ready to break if she was pushed any further.

Rogue had glanced across the table at Scott, seeing him notice something was off about Jean as well. He reached over the table, taking one of Jean's hands and asked: "Hey, are you alright?"

Rogue frowned at that, knowing the response which was going to come next.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jean had said, forcing a smile.

Rogue knew she wasn't and that Jean was lying. She wasn't going to admit to feeling like she was losing control of her powers, especially not in front of someone she thought wasn't a mutant.

"You sure? You don't look so well. Maybe ya should go see the nurse or somethin'?" Rogue suggested, trying to give Jean an out the best way she could. "Who knows, maybe you'll be sent home and get the rest of the day off."

Again, Jean focused a smile.

"I promise, I'm fine. Just a headache," Jean had said in response.

Jean's stubbornness had led her into last period with Rogue where Jean's front for the day was seeming to break down. Rogue was near Jean when she heard her moan out and touch her head just before reaching for her spear. Rogue was stunned as she saw items around Jean start to lift into the air as Jean thought with whatever was going on inside her head.

Rogue wasn't sure what to do as she watched it happen, so asked "You alright?"

That seemed to bring Jean back to earth as the items dropped back down to where they had been slightly floating. Rogue had quickly glanced around, noting that no one had seen the items floating besides herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jean huffed out.

Rogue didn't believe her. Jean was losing control over her powers. Rogue swallowed hard as she tried to think of what to do. If Jean lost control over her powers, then that Charles Xavier wasn't around to wipe everyone's memories of the incident that would happen. That, and then someone could get hurt and that would be hard to explain. Rogue's mind also went back to Magneto and that was the thought that scared her the most.

Magneto didn't want mutants to be known at the moment. If he found out that she knew something was up with the psychic and didn't do anything to stop her from losing control, then there could be consequences and she didn't want any harm to come to Colossus's sister.

Rogue glanced around, trying to think of something. Anything to help get Jean out of PE. For a brief second, her eyes met with Scott's who had been keeping an eye on Jean as well. He was across the field and distracted with whatever workout Mr McCoy was giving the boys to do, so he wasn't going to be much help when it came to Jean. None of the other X-Women were around them either so that literally left Rogue stuck with a telepath who was starting to lose control.

Rogue was beginning to freak out a little as she really couldn't seem to find a way to help Jean. One idea did come to mind as to how she could help, but the idea terrified her and she really didn't want to do it. Not after finding out about Cody. She didn't want to, possibly, put Jean in a coma, but she didn't want Colossus's sister to suffer either. She remembered Gambit explaining that she'd touched many people after Cody and they hadn't ended up in comas, so she should be fine, but still, the thought of taking another person's life away from them scared her to the point where she was frozen on the spot.

All she could do was watch Jean as she went to pick up a spear. Watch how, as Jean raised the spear above her head and moved herself in a position to throw it, her breathing became deep and heavy and her eyelids began to close a little as if she was close to having a seizer. Rogue's attention fell from Jean on to the throwing equipment that was around them. It was starting to shake and lift again, only this time, there were a lot more objects affected by Jean's powers.

Jean cried out in pain and it was as if a switch went off inside Rogue's head and she was acting before she could think.

Rogue glanced around herself, figuring out what she needed to do and trying to come up with a way to get away with it. That's when she saw the weighted balls and she got an idea. Rogue picked up one of those weighted balls that wasn't that heavy to her, but she made a show of struggling with the weight. On purpose, Rogue made a show of tripping backwards with the weighted ball and fell into Jean. As quickly as she could before anymore sharp items rose in the air, she made skin to skin contact with Jean. At first, Rogue completely missed all of Jean's bare skin, but once they were both on the ground, Rogue moved her cheek, so it touched Jean's bear arm. Rogue found it very difficult not to scream out in pain herself as her head exploded with whatever power was attacking Jean's mind. Rogue dropped the weighted ball that actually ended up hitting Jean's head.

The shock of the weighted ball hitting Jean's head travelled through the connection and it was enough of a shock to make Rogue pull away from Jean.

Rogue sat up and grabbed a hold of her head as she tried her best to put away Jean's psyche as fast as she could. She brough out and used Emma's psyche without even thinking of the consequences. Luckily, not many people were paying attention to her.

"Jean!" Rogue heard Scott call out.

He was by her side and lifting the red head up to see if she was hurt. Mr McCoy came to Rogue's side, being less touchy and simply asking her the same question.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rogue said, forcing herself to her feet.

She quickly turned to see what state Jean was in, silently praying that she hadn't fallen into a coma.

Luckily, Jean didn't even seem to be unconscious.

"Ouch, my head," Jean said, rubbing at the red mark that was forming on her head.

Rogue sighed, felling rather relieved to see that Jean was still awake, although, that didn't make the sickly feeling she had after using her powers once again go away. Rogue was slightly worried that she hadn't drained enough of Jean's powers since the contact was only brief. But now Scott was there and could take over making sure Jean kept her powers on the down low so that was some kind of stress relief.

That was, until Mr McCoy spoke.

"I believe both of you should go and see the nurse. Just encase," Mr McCoy said.

Rogue tried to brush off that she was fine and that Scott could take Jean to the nurse if he wanted, but Mr McCoy insisted, saying that she looked extremely pale herself. Rogue cursed herself for not being able to hide the fact that using her powers had actually made her feel sick and disgusted with herself.

Eventually, Rogue nodded her head and moved towards Jean, being careful as she moved an arm around her back to support her. Rogue's breath got trapped in her body as Jean moved an arm around her neck. She swallowed hard as she finished taking the rest of Jean's weight from Scott.

Slowly, she began to move with Jean towards the nurse's office. To anyone else, it might have looked like she was being careful with Jean because she was injured, but that wasn't what she was doing.

Of course, the cheerleaders laughed and gossiped about the fall, but they became background noise as Rogue escorted Jean to the nurse.

Xxxxx

Somehow, Rogue had managed to get Jean to the nurse without an accident.

By the time they'd reached the nurse's office, Jean seemed to be coming to a lot more and was looking a lot better. It was obvious to Rogue that she had a grasp on her powers again. Especially since Rogue had gotten a really bad headache and still had it since touching Jean. Whatever was going on up in her mind, the problem had definitely been halved. Plus, the school day was close to coming to a close so Jean would soon be away from everyone too.

Rogue was made to sit down by the nurse while she looked over Jean. The nurse didn't bother looking over her and she was perfectly alright with that. Rogue received a cup of water and she forced herself to drink it to stop how obvious her shaking was.

When the nurse did leave the room for a time, Rogue had been sat in silence, still trying to put away the chaos that was left attacking her own mind. That, and she was trying to lock up her own fears and anxieties about having touched Jean and what could have happened. Even though the worst didn't happen, Rogue just couldn't help but feel scared.

"Thank you,"

"Huh," Rogue said, coming out of her own mind and glancing at Jean.

Jean was holding a cold press to her head for the little bump she'd taken from the weighted ball, but she had a small, genuine smile on her face as she glanced at Rogue.

"Thank you. For helping me," she said.

Rogue was a little confused for a time, wondering if she knew what she had done. She blinked a few times, not seeing any tells in Jean's eyes.

"It was nothin'." Rogue said, figuring Jean just meant for helping her get to the nurse. Or maybe she was thanking her for getting her out of a situation where she was about to lose control of her powers, who knew?

Rogue and Jean were both brought out of their conversation, however, as the principle entered.

"Rogue, detention!" he said straight out.

"What? But why? I've not done anything wrong," she said, feeling even more confused.

"Don't do that. You're lucky Kimberly isn't pressing charges. Stealing another person's positions is a criminal offence after all," he said.

"Stealing, but I've not stolen anything," Rogue said, starting to piece together what was going on.

Jean was coming to the same conclusion.

"That's enough. Detention tonight or I'll get the authorities involved, do you understand me?" he asked.

Rogue opened her mouth, going to argue, but sealed it shut, thinking better of it. The principle left the room, leaving Rogue and Jean alone again.

Rogue was fuming. She'd gathered that the cheerleaders had gone back to her locker and managed to break into it this time, leaving their items there and then grassing her up to the principle.

"Stacy," Jean said, more of a statement then a question.

Rogue snorted at this. At least the cheerleaders were good for one thing though. Rogue's sickness at using her powers was starting to pass as irritation and anger took over.

Xxxxx

Gambit had seen what had happened during Rogue's PE lesson. He'd noticed Jean losing control of her powers too, but he was at a loss when it came to helping. He was rather glad Rogue thought on her feet and absorbed Jean. He was actually quite surprised that she did absorb her considering their conversation last night. When everyone was paying attention to Jean after being hit in the head by the weighted ball, he focused on Rogue and he saw it. He'd noticed Rogue's hesitation before she absorbed Jean, but now he saw how Rogue looked ready to puck. He wanted to reach out and get Rogue out of there, but that PE teacher stepped in before he could do anything.

Gambit sighed as he watched Rogue walk off with Jean. He began to make his way to his bike knowing the school day was almost over.

As he went, he did think it was good to see Rogue starting to use her powers again. Ever since last night, he had been worried about that becoming a massive issue and still hadn't come up with any ideas on how to either convince Magneto not to let Rogue absorb people or convince Rogue to keep absorbing people. But she'd taken the plunge on her own which made things easier for him. Hopefully, given time, Rogue wouldn't worry so much about the possibility of putting someone in a coma. He could only hope though and deal with one thing at a time. The cheerleaders and Duncan's lot were still the first thing on the top of his list that he wanted to deal with. He figured he'd wait for Rogue to open up to him about her powers again and then they'd take it from there.

After Gambit got on his bike and parked up in front of the school, one of the first people to come out of it was Stacy. He grimaced as she approached him, but he was rather glad to have this opportunity to make his mark.

"Hi Remy, couldn't wait to see me, huh?" she asked, smirking with a secret. Only, Gambit knew why she was smirking and found it rather amusing that this girl didn't know what hell she had coming her way. But for now, he'd play nice.

"Non, I be here t' pick up my girlfriend," he said.

"Girlfriend, huh? Well, I didn't realise things were moving so quickly," she said as she moved closer to Remy.

Remy lifted him arm, forcing Stacy back off him.

"I meant Rogue Stacy. I ain't interested in you. Never have been," he said, loud enough for people closer to them to hear.

Stacy seemed to back up a little, but she wasn't done.

"Come off it. You're not really interested in Rogue," Stacy said.

Gambit could see her scrambling for something to say that would make things seem less embarrassing for her.

"She be the only woman I'm interested in," Gambit said.

"Oh, I get it. She has something over you, doesn't she?" Stacy said, trying to come across as cocky as she attempted to discredit Rogue's name.

"Non," Remy said, looking unmoved by Stacy's performance. "She too decent of a person to do something like dat. Unlike yourself. Here's some advice for ya when it comes t' meetin' a guy, don't pawn yourself off to them as fast as ya did moi. Desperate ain't a thing most guys go for."

"Excuse me! You kissed me!" she stated.

"Says the fille who's been practically tryna sit on my lap de past two times I've visited," Gambit said, again, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Stacy was in shock and startled at the public humiliation of rejection she was receiving. She went to slap him, seeing no other way, but Gambit caught her wrist and held it tight. He very quickly worked through her emotions and brought out the little girl inside her who was crying on the inside. Stacy began to weep and then fully broke down in tears.

"Sorry petite, but Rogue be de only femme for me," he said, letting her go only when she was on her knees, crying in front of him with the whole school either recording her or photographing her.

Soon, she jumped up on her feet and took off still crying with her cheerleaders following after her, dumbfounded as to what to do.

Gambit returned to folding his arms and leaning against his bike, waiting. He didn't think that would be the last of the riff wrath he'd be experiencing, but he'd been waiting all day for this and was ready for it.

"Hey you," called Duncan Matthews.

Gambit barely turned his head as he acknowledged the teenager.

"You best come 'round back. Rogue's in trouble," Duncan said.

Gambit's eyebrow rose at this. He wasn't stupid and could see straight through Duncan's lies.

"Well come on then, or don't you actually care about her?" Duncan questioned in front of the school.

Gambit stood up from his bike and followed Duncan and his jocks around the back of the school.

Xxxxx

Rogue had been near pulling her hair out as she took a seat in the classroom to begin her detention. Her phone had been taken off her again before she could get a message to Gambit and she was stressing over what might happen to him.

"Excuse me," came Jean Grey's voice.

Rogue lifted her head to see Jean just entering the classroom as she addressed the teacher.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but Rogue shouldn't be in detention," Jean said to the teacher.

Rogue glanced between Jean and the teacher. The teacher's grimace started to fall off her face until she looked like a blank canvas. She opened the book that she had in front of her, checking for something and then said: "You're right. Rogue, your free to leave. Please come and collect your phone."

Rogue's eyebrow shot up and so did a few of the other student's in detention. She figured what had happened, or more, what Jean had done and decided that she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Rogue got up from her seat, took her phone and then left the detention room with Jean, hearing the other kids kick up a fuss about their detentions.

"That was weird," Rogue said, realising that she should probably make a scene of questioning what just happened rather than just accepting things. Afterall, that could lead to Jean asking questions about her.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Miss Loopa is a bit of a scatter brains. She won't even realise what's going on," Jean said.

Rogue had to bite her tongue as there was so much she wanted to say to that. All of it was referring in some way or another to Jean's telepathic abilities though, so she kept quiet and settled for a smirk.

As they began walking out of school together, it dawned on her that Gambit must still be waiting for her.

"I best get ta Remy before someone else gets ta him first," Rogue said.

"I'll walk you," Jean offered.

Xxxxx

Gambit expected the attack from behind straight away. The first jock to attack him was flipped over his shoulder and landed hard on their back. Of course, it was the numbers game that was the problem and he knew he couldn't use his powers. The next two came at once, managing to restrain his arms for a time, but Gambit knew how to get out of the hold. As he managed to avoid attacks from the two holding him and take down one of the jocks who was restraining him, Duncan made a punch. There was no way for Gambit to avoid the punch and Duncan wasn't holding back. He was knocked down to the floor where he didn't want to be.

Duncan was near on top of him as he continued to throw punches that Gambit blocked.

"Stay. Away. From. Rogue!" Duncan yelled out in between punches.

"Hey, knock it off!" Scott called.

Of all people, Gambit never expected Xavier's gooden boy to be interfering in this fight. He snorted mentally on the inside. He didn't need, nor really want his help, but he provided a good distraction.

Gambit kicked Duncan off him and managed to land a punch. He could see out of the corner of his eye that he'd left himself open for another jock to make a punch at him and hit, but that's where the golden boy actually did come in handy as he blocked the punch for him.

"Get lost Summers! This doesn't concern you." Duncan stated.

"What your doing is wrong and you know it!" Scott said, coming to stand beside Gambit as the pair became surrounded.

"Fine, we'll take you out too," Duncan said as him and his friends advanced.

Xxxxx

When Rogue and Jean emerged outside and saw Gambit's bike but no Gambit, Rogue's heart rate instantly increased.

"Let's check around back," Jean suggested.

Rogue took off in a run, not doubting the telepath. Jean wasn't far behind. As she rounded the corner, she managed to witness the fight.

"Duncan, what the hell!" Rogue demanded to know.

Rogue moved to stand in front of Gambit who had just took a tackle and had floored a jock. She moved to stand in front of him as Duncan approached with a metal bar raised.

"Rogue, move out the way!" Duncan demanded of her, grabbing her arm and trying to shove her.

Rogue held her ground and didn't move one inch. It was a stretch, but she tapped into Blob's power, making her unmovable and reached up for the crowbar Duncan had. She ripped it out of his hands and shoved him back.

"No! What the hell do you think you're doing attacking them?" Rogue demanded to know.

"Isn't it obvious?" Duncan exclaimed. "This guy is using you and, obviously, has something over you. Why else would you be with this creep? I'm just taking care of the problem for you and getting him out of the way."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at Duncan.

"He doesn't have anything on meh! I chose ta be with him Duncan," Rogue said.

"You can stop lying now Rogue. I've got your back, alright babe," Duncan said, again, trying to move her out of the way.

Rogue grabbed Duncan's hand and threw it off her shoulder.

"No, not alright! And I ain't liein'! The truth is, I just ain't interested in ya! So back off already." Rogue snapped at him.

Duncan glared down at Rogue, not liking the rejection.

"Huh, so the rumours were true to begin with. Your nothing but a slut-" Duncan went to say, but before he could finish, Gambit had lashed out and punched him.

Duncan cried out as he fell to the floor and grabbed at his broken noise. Rogue glanced back to see Gambit looking furious. His eyes were beginning to spark dangerously behind his glasses and she was worried he was going to get spotted as being a mutant.

"Hey," Rogue said, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from advancing. "Calm down, alright?" she told him.

Gambit wanted to argue with Rogue and beat the living crap out of Duncan like he'd wanted to from day one. He had been quite amused to hear Rogue telling Duncan she was with him and for him to shove it just as he'd been wanting to hear for a while, but that comment he made just erased that little gloat of his and got him seeing red. When he met Rogue's eyes, seeing she was serious, he decided to ease up a little, not wanting to get into a fight with her again over the guy who she'd just dumped.

"Don't call mon femme une salope," Gambit simply said, taking a step back.

Duncan was helped up by a couple of his friends.

"Your gonna regret this," Duncan warned the pair of them before taking off with his friends.

Rogue sighed as she turned back to face Gambit. This was just the cherry on top of her day and she'd been done with it a long while ago.

Something stung her in her head and she reached up to take hold of it, wincing. It was Jean's psyche again. It just didn't seem to want to stay in it's prison.

Gambit noticed Rogue grasping her head. He reached up, taking hold of her arm and asked: "You alright?"

"Yeah," Rogue said, quickly coming back to the present and opening her eyes. "Just wish I didn't make another enemy today."

Gambit's frown deepened as he realised what he'd done. He didn't regret knocking Duncan around. Actually, he wished he'd gotten in a few more blows in, but it only just clicked for him that his actions may have just made things worse for Rogue tomorrow. He didn't want that. Didn't want to see her suffer daily. So Duncan and his jocks were also on his hit list tonight. It was going to be a long night of digging through backgrounds and secrets, but he was going to make these cheerleaders and jocks sorry.

Before that though, he focused his attention on Rogue who looked beat. Gambit moved his hand, threading it in Rogue's hair.

"I'm sorry cher," he said, meeting her eyes.

Rogue could see that he honestly meant that and it surprised her. She'd never heard Gambit apologise for anything before. Still, it didn't make things any easier on her and she guessed he knew that.

"Hey, don't worry too much about Duncan." Scott said, approaching them with Jean by his side.

Scott turned to eye Gambit through his own pair of glasses. There seemed to be a bit of tension there, but Scott continued to be the peace maker.

"We'll keep an eye out for her," Scott said.

Gambit raised his eyebrow at this, not too sure what to make of it.

On one side, he was glad that Rogue had someone backing her corner seeing how Mystique just upped and left her to it. On the other, he didn't trust them. That, and Rogue being near them. It just spelled trouble. He was planning to put an end to the cheerleaders and jock's rein this evening, but even he was smart enough to know that he might not be able to make a miracle happen in one night. There were a lot of people to get through and a lot of planning needing to be put in place to stop them. Until then, Rogue would have to deal with the cheerleaders and the jocks and since Risty was no longer there, well, he guessed the X-Men were the best thing when it came to keeping her out of harm's way until he could put his plan in action.

Plus, he began to think of the role he was playing as the concerned boyfriend who wanted to look out for and care for his girlfriend, Rogue. He wasn't supposed to know who the X-Men were or be wary of the trouble being around them would cause. He disliked his own role in this story as he nodded his head, placed his arm around Rogue and began to walk away with her. Strangely, Rogue came quietly, not fighting off his advances even when they were out of sight from the X-Men. He reckoned that wasn't a good sign.

"Can we not go straight back to the base?" Rogue asked after they were out of earshot. "I could really do with some breathin' space away from everythin'."

And hearing those words put Gambit in even more of a foul mood. He couldn't turn her down. Not after today.