Story Title: Wash Away Those Years
Chapter Title: Built Up Inside
Pairing: Pyro/Rogue (of course) but for a while, might be Bobby/Kitty/Rogue/Pyro love square
Part: 1/?
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Set during X-Men: The Last Stand, and loosely based off the video footage from X-Men: The Last Stand.
Disclaimer: I just own the idea.
Summary: Rogue runs into Pyro while seeking the cure. Some unexpected things arise from their encounter. Now, their both struggling to find themselves, and to find one another as they try to hold onto what used to be, and what could've been. But can they re-write the past and present all together and find something worthwhile?...

Previously on Wash Away Those Years:

She looked through the crowd of picketers and saw an all too familiar face. She blinked a few times and squinted, not believing her own eyes. Was it really him?

--

Pyro let out a soft, sympathetic laugh. "You know, you're pathetic... Coming here,"

--

"Oh yeah?" Rogue smiled, and then proceeded to slide the lighter down her shirt and into her bra. "I doubt that." She then grinned.

The look on John's face was purely priceless. He didn't know rather to ponder on how hot that was or get angry as he was now forced to do the assignment. Rogue's grin never left her face, as she sat back down on the bed. John watched her, amazed that she had found his weakness and beaten him at his own game.

"Just so you know, I would have no problem retrieving that from you right now," he joked while grinning. Afterall, he knew he technically couldn't because of her untouchable skin.

"I know you would" her accent peaking through as she too grinned before looking back at her assignment.

The memory subsided as the woman in front of her, holding the needle asked "miss? You okay?"

Rogue turned her head back to the woman. "y…yeah, I'm fine." She assures.

The woman looked at Rogue, unsure of the expression on her face. Rogue gave a nod that signaled yes as a tear formed in her eye. She missed how it used to be with John, how loving and caring he used to be with her. There was an unmistakable bond between the two... A friendship that Rogue and John had that nobody, not even Bobby could shake.

She sobbed a little as the woman injected the needle into her arm. She closed her eyes as she started to feel the cure run through her veins. She took a deep breath and then opened her eyes as the woman took the needle out. She looked at the woman, then back down at her arm. She didn't feel different. She didn't look different. She looked up at the woman with a puzzled expression.

"Um, how do I know if I'm cured..?" Rogue asked the woman as she stepped away, setting the needle down on the surgeons tray beside the chair Rogue was sitting on.

"Test it out," The woman replied while smiling back at Rogue and taking off her latex gloves.

"D...Do you mind..?" Rogue gestured as she reached for the woman's hand, hoping that for the first time, she'd be able to touch without killing someone.

The woman nodded at her, as Rogue took in a deep breath while closing her eyes in fear as she finally gained up enough courage to touch the woman's hand. She opened her eyes when she realized she was touching the woman's skin and nothing was happening. Her eyes jumped to the lady's face as she broke out into a large smile.

"I… I'm cured!" Rogue said as her excitement spilled out in her words.

"Congratulations miss," The woman said kindly to Rogue, smiling down at her patiently.

Rogue couldn't believe it was finally happening. All this time what she'd wanted was finally here. She couldn't have been happier. Her smile grew as she looked up at the woman in the white lab coat that had just given her the most precious thing in the world. Rogue exited the cure center, leaving behind the pair of brown gloves that had made her feel imprisoned all her life.

She walked out of the cure center smiling into the chanting crowd. The things she could do now , the people she would no longer have to fear. Pyro watched her from afar with disdain. She walked out of the lot and onto the sidewalk to wait for the bus. Then within a blink of an eye, she heard roaring behind her, glass breaking as the force from the explosion shoved her to the ground. Loud, frantic screams filled her ears as Rogue turned to see the building she had been in not 2 minutes before, go up in flames. It didn't take her long to realize what had just happened. She pulled herself up from off the ground, still battered and shaken. People were running everywhere, the fire throwing the protesting crowd into chaos. She searched through the frantic mass of bodies. She knew she had found him, as he was the only one not running but walking away. Rogue runs up to him, gripping his arm and spinning him around to face her.

"What the hell was that for!?" she angrily asks.

"Orders," he simply replied as he turned back around and walked away. Police cars were speeding by with their lights on, rushing to the center as firefighters zoomed behind them honking their horn. Rogue didn't care if John didn't wanna talk to her. He was gonna hear what she had to say, no matter what he did. She followed closely behind him as he quickened his pace.

"You know, there were dozens of innocent people in there! What gives you the right to do that!?" Rogue shouts out to him over the loud sirens. He ignores her, pissing her off even more. She wanted to hear an explanation, and soon.

"Do you think your proving a point by doing this?" she asks him, getting no response.

"I'm talking to you!" she turned him around for the second time, forcing him to face her.

Pyro stared at her calmly, the slight anger and worry in Rogue's eyes not phasing him the slightest. "Look, now that you've lowered yourself to nothing... Why don't you go back to the little Iceprick and fuck him like I'm sure you two have worked around before and leave me the fuck alone, how about that?" Pyro said, completely fed up with Rogue. Her upper lip curling in hurt and disgust as her hand comes up to slap him across the face; tears slightly building in her eyes that she desperately tried to blink back. He knew he had gone too far. They both stood in awkward silence for a moment on the sidewalk, thinking of what was just said.

Rogue broke the silence, finally. "Don't you ever talk to me like that… And you leave Bobby out of this. Don't think for one second you cared where me and Bobby were going. You know what? Why don't you just go play with your precious fire and stop acting like you actually cared about me or anything other than yourself."

Pyro looked her in the eyes with nothing but pure hate. He takes her by surprise when he grabs her and backs her up, slamming her against the brick wall of the closest building, causing her to let out a whimper from the impact. He then grabs her by the neck. Rogue was surprised, and a little scared. He didn't choke her, but gripped her neck enough to keep her in her place so she couldn't go anywhere. His face mere inches away from hers.

He says in a mad, yet stern voice, "You have no fucking idea what I'd go through for you!" He held her gaze, pure intensity and rage showing through. He then realized what he'd said, and corrected himself. "Would've…" He snarled with bitterness, words intending to slap Rogue in the face. She didn't say anything, just stood there in minor shock, still a little scared as she looked into his furious eyes.

He looks into her eyes and gives her face a look over. His eyes scan down from her eyes, traveling over her nose, then her lips. God, those lips... The lips he's wanted to kiss since the day he met her. His gaze lingered on her lips for a moment, then moved back up to her eyes as his lip curled. His hold on her throat tightened for a moment before he let go of her, backing away. Rogue let herself slide down the wall slightly as she watched him. As Pyro moved to walk away, she tilted her head down, towards the sidewalk.

Pyro quickened his pace as his eyes closed... his mind now flooded with unwanted memories of her. He was reminded of how he would dream for the day he'd show her his feelings and how he never acted on them. Memories of the things he loved about her flashed through his mind. Those lips, her beautiful brown eyes, her cute southern accent that would always make him love to get her mad just to hear it. He opened his eyes, ignoring the memories as he continued walking. Rogue looked back up as Pyro got farther and farther away from her.

"John!" she called out to him, pushing off the wall to follow him. He ignores her, closing his eyes , still involuntarily thinking of the past. Why didn't he just do it? Why did he let Bobby have her?

"John," she repeated again as she got closer to him.

He unexpectedly whips around to face her, pulling her into a fierce kiss... hard, passionate, rough. His hands grab her face, stopping her from pulling away. He didn't care if she didn't like kissing him, if she'd hate him for this or even the rejection he was sure he'd receive.

His tongue darted inside her mouth, craving more. He wanted, demanded to taste her... and he did. He didn't even notice that she wasn't fighting him, or that she was deepening the kiss more as she embraced him. It was everything he'd imagined, and more. He was like a hungry dog as he kissed her, wanting to taste her more as he became greedy. So many times he'd wished for this moment, even at The Brotherhood. So much want, lust, love… All reamed into one kiss.

John finally broke the kiss as air became an issue, pulling back to look at her. He quickly took his hands off her face. He took one last look at her, showing so much weakness… He turned away from her for the final time and continued his fleeing. Rogue stood there frozen, filled with so much confusion. She dropped to her knees on the dirty pavement, covering her face with her hands as she began to cry. Was she the reason he left the jet that day? Was she the reason he hated Bobby so much? As she stood there and cried on the sidewalk, Pyro watched her from afar as he too felt so many emotions whirling through him. Emotions that he thought had long died that day he left the X-men behind, now coming alive. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he felt the familiar sting of knowing she's still gonna go back to Bobby. For the first time in a long time, Pyro felt his eyes become watery. Was it hurt, envy? Or was it just plain heartache? He opened his eyes and took one last look at Rogue before leaving it all behind, leaving it there with that girl... crying into the pavement.

A/N: Special thanks to sarahroseserena and katt500 for being my beta's and helping me with my grammar. I suck at grammar, so they're a blessing! Haha

A/N2: Please, do me a huge favor and review... I hate begging, so please don't make me... Seriously, i have some brownies and I'm not afraid to use em! It took me a while to get this chapter together, so (like I've been begging) please take the time and review it for me and show me that my work wasn't for nothing. Thanks! -hugs-