Huh. Would you look at that, another chapter. Guess this isn't going to be a twoshot after all.

Barghest: Thankee kindly.

Wizard Flower: Well, seems like that's what's gonna happen. Enjoy.

Kitty was, in a word, freaked. Sure, being freaked was something she'd gotten used to since moving to the Institute, but that wasn't her usual kind of freaked.

Okay, so she'd had to take a late shower 'cause she'd spent the first part of her night showing Rogue around. She was like, a totally weird girl, but it wasn't like Kitty could really blame her––after all, what would she be like if she had to live with the Brotherhood boys for as long as Rogue had? Anyway, the Professor had asked her to show Rogue around 'cause she was going to be her new roommate, which Kitty was totally psyched about; Jean was nice and all, but she was always off doing her own thing and it's be awesome to have another girl right there to talk to!

So anyway, shower. She'd gone last because she'd taken so long showing Rogue around, and it was really gross because there was fur clogging the drain. She'd have something to say to Kurt tomorrow, alright. She'd taken a quick shower so she didn't need to stay near that for too long, but then she'd gone back to her room. Her empty room.

At first, Kitty wasn't sure if there was something wrong. Had Rogue gone walking around the mansion this late? Kitty had left her in the room when she had gone to take a shower, but… oh no. Was that the window? Open? Like, way open and not how she'd left it before?

Kitty ran to the open window, heart suddenly racing. There was no way… had she… where had she gone? The girl stuck her head out the window, looking back and forth frantically.

"Rogue?" she called. "Hey Rogue?"

No answer.

Crap.

Kitty ran from her room, trying to, er… think as loudly as she could. Professor! Professor!

The answer came almost instantly. Kitty, please try and be a bit quieter. I can hear you. What's wrong?

It's Rogue! Kitty shouted before really absorbing what the Professor had said and trying to curb her volume. She's gone! I don't know where, but the window was open, and I think she went out that way, and––

Kitty, the Professor said, cutting her off, there is no need for your hysteria. Please calm down.

But Professor––

Kitty. This time his voice was gentle, and in spite of her panic the young mutant stopped her aimless running and took a breath.

Come to the kitchen, the Professor said. We can continue the conversation there. Ororo's making tea.

For a moment, Kitty simply stood where she was. The Professor sounded remarkably calm, and that, at least, did something to assuage her nerves. Yeah. Yeah, that sounded good. She took another breath to organize herself and started down the hall again.

The mansion was always creepier at night, and Kitty was relieved to get to the lights of the kitchen. Storm and the Professor were sitting at the kitchen table, conversing lightly, though they halted when Kitty walked in.

Ororo's eyebrows rose. "Kitty?"

"It's alright, Ororo. I'm sure Kitty is simply worried about Rogue tonight. I was the one that invited her down here. Perhaps some tea would help."

Ororo glanced back at the Professor, and a moment of silence passed between them before she nodded.

"I see," she said, forsaking her seat for the kettle on the stove. "Well's there is certainly enough hot water to go around. What would you like?"

Kitty, who wasn't really crazy about tea, shifted awkwardly. "Um… I dunno. Er, like, what is there?"

Both of the adults chuckled and shared a glance.

"How about chamomile?" Ororo offered. "That should help with worry."

"Um, alright."

"Have a seat, Kitty," the Professor said, gesturing to the many chairs around the table. Kitty obliged quietly, but once sitting she couldn't help but fidget.

"Now, please tell me what it is that has so upset you."

"Rogue's gone!" she blurted a bit too loudly. Ororo looked over in surprise, but said nothing. "I mean, uh, I was showing her around, and then I left her in my room, and then I took a shower and when I got back the window was open and she was like, not there!"

The Professor hmmed. "I see," he said, taking a sip from his teacup.

"So, like, what do we do?"

"Do?"

"Aren't we gonna, like, go after her or something?"

The Professor sighed and put the teacup down. "Kitty… this Institute was built as a place of knowledge and teaching. When I discovered the existence of mutants, I built it under the assumption that mutants would one day be revealed to the world. I believe that it is possible for those who possess an advanced x-gene to coexist peacefully with those who do not, and it is this dream that has carried me this far. Peace is what I strive for, and what I hope to inspire my students to strive for.

But true peace is not something that can be forced. Freedom alongside peace is just as important. Above all, I wish for all of my students to make their own choices. When Jean and I first approached you, we said that we would not force you to come here. We wished only to offer you an opportunity and understanding that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Yes, we wanted you to come here, but if, with your eyes open and aware of the choice in its entirety, you had said no, we would have respected your decision."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, I know that, Professor. And wasn't that, like, why we didn't try to win her over in the first place? After what happened in Mississippi?"

The Professor nodded, then shifted to give Storm enough room to lean over and place a steaming cup of tea in front of Kitty before retaking her previous seat. Kitty picked up the cup and delicately stuck her tongue into it. It wasn't as hot as it looked, so she chanced a mouthful. It wasn't too bad, she decided.

"Indeed. As I have said in the past, new members, Rogue included, must come of their own free will or not at all."

Kitty swallowed. "Yeah, but, like, she did come of her own free will and all that! Right? I mean, with the trip and the snow and the plane and everything? I mean, Scott told us all what happened with Miss Darkh––uh, Mystique, like how Rogue saved his life and everything. That means she's with us now, right?"

The Professor sighed again. "Perhaps. But choices are not often set in stone; they can be changed at a moment's notice. And I have vowed to respect the decisions made by others. I will respect the decisions made by you, or Scott, or any one of my students. And I must respect the decisions made by Rogue. I would never require something of her not freely given, which includes her allegiance. She is free to go where she chooses."

"But–but what if she, like, goes back to the Brotherhood? To Mystique?"

"Then that is her choice," the Professor said firmly. "If she truly wished to return to the life she led before, it would not be within my right to hold her here against her will."

"Well, yeah, but what about what Mystique did to her? She can't just go back to someone like that; that wouldn't be fair! I mean, what if she's lied to again, or––"

Professor Xavier held up a hand, cutting the girl off mid-sentence. "Even after everything that transpired between Rogue and Mystique, I cannot decide what the relationship between the two will be. Rogue has been greatly wronged, but she must decide how she wishes to deal with it on her own, and on how to move forward from where she is now."

"But…" Kitty's argument died in her throat. Against that logic, there really wasn't any argument she could make. What could they do? Go after her and drag her back, sit her down and say you have to be an X-Man now? That was even worse than letting her go back to Mystique! But if she wanted to go back to Mystique… was there anything they could do?

"... I just thought…" Kitty's shoulders slumped, defeated. "I thought she would've stayed."

The Professor took another sip of tea. "The human mind is a strange thing, Kitty. I may have a better glass to see through than most, but even I cannot predict where one's thoughts may lead them. You can spend most of your life hearing them, but even then you will find that people, at their deepest levels, will still surprise you."

"Yeah…" Kitty pulled her own tea closer and gulped down another mouthful. It was cooler now, and it actually tasted kind of nice.

"I would not worry too much about Rogue," said Storm, taking her first step into the conversation. "She seems like a very independent young woman. I do not believe she would forget what has happened between her and Mystique. She can take care of herself, and wherever she goes, I think she will be alright."

"Yeah."

"I agree with you Ororo. But…" the Professor gave a meaningful look to Kitty, "... it is getting quite late. And you have school tomorrow, Kitty. I would suggest returning to your room and getting some sleep."

"Right…" The young mutant stood gloomily and put the tea on the table.

"You can take it with you," Storm said. "It will help you sleep."

Kitty obediently picked the tea up. "Yeah, okay."

"Goodnight," said the Professor, accentuated with a farewell nod from the weather witch.

"'Night."

The path back to her room seemed much longer that the path from it. Kitty wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to feel; Rogue had seemed like she liked being with the X-Men. Yeah, she had been, like, totally silent for most of the night, but she had been smiling… right? Kitty had actually seen that, hadn't she? Then… why? Why would she go back to Mystique?

It hurt, Kitty realized. Scott had been trying so hard to win Rogue over, it had always been a matter of when, not if. It hurt to know that the X-Men weren't good enough. Kitty had been so excited when she saw Rogue sitting in the lounge with Scott and Jean and the adults; the surging feeling of yes, that looks right had almost overwhelmed her; she was finally there! There was a sense of brilliant excitement, at least until the Mystique conversation, but even after that it was back. Man, Kitty had been so happy to have a roommate! Rogue was closer to Kitty's age than Jean, and it had gotten the younger mutant totally wired up for shopping trips and girl-talks and just being a teenager where she didn't have to constantly worry about her powers slipping through. Rogue's arrival had sent her mind soaring, and the fall was so sudden it felt like the wind had been kicked out of her. Just like that, all her excitement was pointless. Useless. It didn't matter. Rogue didn't want any of that, didn't want their friendship, didn't want them. And it hurt, and it made Kitty feel more… inadequate than she ever had in her life. Rogue hadn't even given them––given her––a chance, and there wasn't going to be any way to convince her to again.

Kitty paused for a moment at her door. The emptiness would be sadder tonight, she thought, pulling her tea closer to her to leech as much warmth as she could. The chilliness outside was starting to get inside the mansion. Her bed suddenly seemed like a good idea; as the Professor had said, she did have school tomorrow. Kitty drained the last of her tea and phased through the door, resolving to bring it downstairs in the morning.

And then she got an eyeful of Rogue undressing.

"What the––hey!" the southern mutant screeched, turning away and pulling her shirt up to cover her chest. "Yer s'pposed to knock! I'm changing! I'm… what'cha starin' at me for? I'm changing! Stop it! What's your problem?"

Kitty blinked, mouth agape. "You're… you're here!"

"Yeah. And I'm half-naked. And stop starin' at me, for Chrissake! Turn around!"

"Oh, uh…" Kitty turned around, hearing an annoyed harrumph from behind her. Rogue was here. Wait, Rogue was here. Rogue was here! Rogue was here!

"'Kay, I'm done. Y'know, you shouldn't––what the––!"

Rogue took a few alarmed steps back as Kitty literally flew at her and fastened her arms securely around her torso.

"You're back! I didn't––but––you're back! Oh, wow! I mean… you're back!"

"Let go of me."

The steely nature of Rogue's words could do nothing to dampen the million-watt smile stretching across Kitty's face, although she did as she was asked and took a step back. "Sorry, sorry, it's just… you're back! Here!"

"Yeah…?"

"Oh man, this is like, so totally cool. I mean, I took a shower and then you were, like, gone when I got back and I thought you'd left to go back to the Brotherhood and I was worried and I told the Professor but he told me to calm down and I was like, 'What if she's, like, gone back to Mystique 'cause that'd be so sad' but then he's like 'You can't do anything about it' and I thought you'd left us, but you didn't 'cause you're here, and it's like, amazing! I mean, holy crap, you came back! Like, where did you even go?"

Rogue blinked slowly. "Uh, yeah… sorry about that. I kinda had to go back. T'get my stuff." She gestured at a small duffel on her bed. "Y'know, brushes and clothes and stuff."

Kitty peered at the article of baggage. "Oh…" But, wait, that bag looked really small in comparison to all the stuff she had brought from home. "Is that everything?"

Rogue cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Like, all of it?"

"Sorry, but I didn't exactly have a lot of time to pack outta Mississippi," Rogue said, voice sharp.

"Oh my god, we are, like, totally going shopping tomorrow. You need way more stuff than that."

"Uh, I don't really have any money…"

"Oh, no problem! My allowance day was yesterday; I'll split it with you!"

"Look, I don't really need––"

"Don't worry, I'm, like, totally fine splitting it. It'll be awesome! We can get you some clothes and shoes and––oh!––maybe––"

Kitty.

Kitty paused, but Rogue gasped and jumped back wildly, looking for the source of the voice.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Kitty said. "That's just the Professor."

"Th-the Professor?"

Indeed, Rogue, the Professor said to both of them. There is no need for alarm. I do not read the minds of others unless they allow me to, but it is past midnight. Rogue, if you are finished preparing, perhaps it would be a good idea to get some sleep. You, also, have school tomorrow.

"Oh, um…" Rogue gulped. "I, uh… yeah. I was, erm, just finishing up."

The Professor's mental presence receded, and Kitty heaved a sigh.

"Man, that's lame. But I guess we are up pretty late. Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?"

"Well…"

"Please?"

"I don't know…"

"Please?"

Rogue made a noncommittal grunt, looking away. Kitty pulled on her best puppy face, and when Rogue glanced back she gave it everything she had. Victory was won in short order.

"... okay, fine."

"Yes!" Kitty shouted before realizing that it was still nighttime and clapping a hand over her mouth. "Oops."

Rogue actually cracked a smile. It was small, sure, but it was there. Kitty couldn't help but grin back between her fingers. Rogue rolled her eyes and turned away, busying herself with clearing her bed of the meager possessions won back from her old home. Kitty, still grinning, moved back to her own bed and slipped under the covers. She waited until Rogue had climbed into her own bed, waved and turned off the light.

"Goodnight, Rogue!"

"G'night."