Remy was the first to awaken, and he blinked in surprise to see everyone else sprawled out fallen on the floor. Genie cowered in a corner, her eyes wide and unblinking, and he could tell that she was hyperventilating slightly.

When he looked to his side he saw Rogue lying almost flat on her back, her beautiful auburn curls spread out around her, both hands lying on her stomach. She looked rather peaceful, really…

Storm was already stirring, so he quickly got up and picked Rogue up into his arms, carrying her out the door and to his room. They would have to find Beth quickly, and they would need the professor to help track her. But first, he would wait for his Rogue to wake up.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"What I don't understand, is why you punish yourself so much over this so-called "love." What is it that you did, that makes you feel so guilty?"

A few stubborn tears shone in her eyes.

"What do ya care? Ah made a mistake, a big one, and Ah'm payin' for it, so why do ya have ta make all these questions, as though ya think answers are gonna start poppin' up all ovah the place…"

"Rogue, I simply want to help you," Justin leaned in closer, and for a minute she thought he was going to take her hand.

She pulled away, suddenly, curling her legs up under her on the couch.

He looked saddened as he leaned back again.

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and tried to forget what had happened in her last session.

She didn't tell random people random things, much less of all a psychologist who probably would only tell her to go read another self-healing how-to booklet and go to a seminar. Yeah, she though sarcastically, that had helped.

"I don't mean to hurt you, in any way, but I need to know the truth. You're harming yourself more than you know by locking all these things inside you, not sharing with anyone, never lessening the burden you carry within."

"Yeah, well it's mah burden, and ah'll carry it."

"As you wish," his voice was sad, and he looked down at the clipboard in his hands.

"Justin, ya can't help me…even if you wanted to…and I know that ya don't. Everyone wants money, and they'll work for it. That's all this is…work."

"There you are wrong, Rogue. This is more than work."

"Are y' all right?"

A hand on her shoulder made her jerk awake, out of habit one of her hands reached out and enveloped the hand in an iron grip, another arm snaking around the person's neck, the imprisoned hand twisted around the back, a knee into the bottom of the spine, and the person was then unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

"Is dis de way you treat everyone who wakes y' up?" Remy asked from his position on the floor.

"Oh, hell, I'm so sorry. It's just…well, habits die hard, you know?"

"Yeah…" He leaned up and kissed her.

She blinked in surprise, not even remembering to pull back.

"Right…you can do that now." She tipped her head to one side and looked at him. "So do it again."

OoOoOoOoOoO

She trusted him, didn't she?

Of course she did. She had showed him the diary, the little book that she kept that had told him all about how she had fallen in love with another man, and how he had cheated on her, using her most vulnerable emotions to hurt her the most.

He was tempted to find the sick freak and beat him up until he got a taste of what Rogue had suffered through… but right now he had to find Beth, get the professor to cooperate, make amends with the x-men and finally sit down with the girl who he had come to consider his daughter and get the full story from her, starting at the beginning….