CHAPTER 1

Four Years Later

Rogue walked the streets of Bayville, simply enjoying the nice weather... and lack of others. She liked her teammates at the institute, but sometimes, she just wanted some alone time. Especially since Logan had just run the team through a vigorous morning Danger Room session.

And while she would love nothing more than a nice long soak in her bathtub, Kitty had gotten to the thing first. So she decided to take a walk around town, despite her sore muscles.

She was surprised to find a new store, White Owl. Somewhat curious, as she had no idea what the store could be, and just a little bored, she decided to take a look inside. Opening the door, she was surprised to find the place lit softly. The second thing she noticed was the smell, she couldn't describe it, but whatever it was calmed had her, and made her feel comfortable.

Looking around, she noticed rows of candles, incense, soaps, oils, books, and various other quaint nick-knacks for sale. She was also surprised to find a snowy white owl resting on a perch on a counter. At first she thought it was stuffed, until it turned it's head to look at her and hooted, ruffling it's feathers.

Smiling, she walked over to the counter, and the owl. Holding out her gloved hand,towards the owl, she waited for the owl to make a decision. The owl looked at her momentarily. Her gold eyes accessing Rogues worth, before butting her head against the mutants hand. Smiling, Rogue began to stroke the owls feathers, the owl seemed to preen under the attention.

"Yer a beautiful owl," Rogue said softly, her southern accent coloring her words.

"Don't praise her too much," as English accented voice said from behind her, causing Rogue to turn around to face the speaker. "She's got a big enough ego as it is."

The owl glared at the speaker, before hooting, it seemed indignantly.

Rogue smiled at the other person, a young woman, not much older than herself, with long black hair and eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Rogue wondered how she could see through them, but maybe she was blind. "Ah think she disagrees with yah."

The woman chuckled. "Hedwig has always had her own mind." She held out her hand to Rogue. "Rose Potter, owner of this store."

Rogue cautiously took Rose's hand and shook it, still wary despite the gloves she was wearing. "Ah'm Rogue."

Rose raised her eyebrow, but didn't say anything about the mutant's gloves, despite the warm weather, or her name. "Well Rogue, are you looking for anything specific, of are you just curious about the shop?"

"Just curious." She looked around the store again. "What exactly do yah sell here?"

Rose smirked. "A bit of this, a bit of that. Basically, I sell relaxation and relief. Everything in here is meant to be soothing, or to cure some ache or pain. I have candles, incense, soaps and bath oils, music, books on various subjects, and some medicinal ointments, oils, and elixirs. Nothing FDA approved, but they work." She smirked. "I can even sell a few other things to spice up your sex life."

Rogue frowned. "Ah don't have ah sex life," she said, looking away with a blush.

"Shame," Rose told her. "You're certainly beautiful enough, but then again, I'm not one to talk. Is there anything in particular you'd like from what I've said, or would you just like to browse?"

Rogue looked up and smiled at the other woman, she liked her. "Yah have anything for sore muscles?"

Rose nodded. "Ointment, oils, and bath oils, depending on what you're looking for." She lead Rogue over to several shelves, pulling down a small tub of ointment she explained. "Ointment for times when you may not have the time, or inclination, for a long soak in the tub." She then picked up a bottle of oil. "If you rub this oil into your skin before you exercise, it'll keep your muscles from getting sore." She then headed over to a different set of shelves and asked, "Any scent in particular you like?"

Rogue shook her head.

Rose thought for a moment, before selecting an oil from the shelf. "This cinnamon scented one should work then," she muttered to herself, though loud enough for Rogue to hear, before handing the bottle to her. "Put a couple drops in the bathtub and not only will it help your muscles relax, and ease pain, but it'll help you relax."

"How much are these?" Rogue asked, trying to decide which one she would get if she could only get one.

Rose paused for a moment, and Rogue could tell she was doing math in her head. "Twelve dollars."

Rogue smiled, she'd be able to get all three. "Ah'd like to get 'em please."

Rose smiled, and lead Rogue to the counter, where she punched numbers into an old style cash register, before the register dinged and the drawer opened. Accepting the twenty-dollar bill from Rogue, she quickly counted out change before handing it to Rogue. "Have a nice day, and feel free to come back," she said with a smile.

Rogue smirked. "If this stuff works, Ah'll definitely be back."

Rose chuckled. "In that case, I'll see you later."

With a smile on her face, Rogue left the store.

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Rose Potter smiled as she watched Rogue leave her store.

She was certainly an interesting, and attractive woman. Though she wondered how she could wear so much clothing in this weather, and why her name was Rogue. It was certainly a unique name. She looked over at her familiar. "What do you think girl?" she asked as she took off her sunglasses, revealing her green eyes with slitted pupils.

Hedwig, ever the communicative owl, hooted her approval of the woman who had just left the store. Rose chuckled.

"I hope she needs refills soon, but even if she doesn't I suppose I'll see her when school begins." Rose sighed, before turning back to the beaded entryway to the back of the store. "I suppose I'd better get back to work."

Walking back into her workshop, where she combined potions with various other things she could sell to muggles, or as she preferred to call them, normals, she contemplated how she had come to Bayville.

It had started in her fourth and last year at Hogwarts. The disbelief and slander of her by the school and Daily Prophet during the Tri-Wizard Tournament had jaded her. And when Pettigrew kidnapped her, she had been lucky enough to flame away before he could do anything. But when she tried to explain to Fudge that Wormtail was alive, and trying to resurrect Voldemort, of course he didn't believe her. And during the summer, when the slander of her in the paper continued, and her friends barely wrote to her, she had enough.

Packing up everything she owned, she traveled the world with her flaming ability, one of many numerous side effects of Fawkes attempt to save her life in second year. It wasn't like she had needed a wand to cast magic anyway, so she easily was able to fly under the radar as she traveled. And she had learned a lot in that time. For a year, the world was her domain, with the goblins help of course.

But after that year, she wanted to settle someplace, to find someplace to call home. It just so happened that she had chosen Bayville.

And Rogue intrigued her. Not only was she a beautiful young woman, but she was a good, if troubled person, which was always a plus. How she knew this was another of her abilities she had picked up down in the chamber, she could, for lack of a better term, read people. She couldn't get specifics, but she would sense the general personality of people around her.

Checking on the wax she was melting for candles, she idly wondered if Rogue would even be open to her attentions.

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Two Days Later

Rogue locked the door to her and Kitty's room, not that it would stop Kitty from coming in if she really wanted to, but hopefully her roommate would actually try the door and realize she shouldn't come in.

Sometimes she wondered about the Professor's wisdom in putting the girl that could walk through walls and the girl that had uncontrollable, deadly skin in the same bedroom.

The ointment she had purchased from Rose had actually helped immensely when she used it upon her return to the manor (Kitty had still been in the bath). And so, as there was an actual scheduled danger room session in an hour, she decided to try the oil.

Stripping off her gloves, shirt, and pants, Rogue was left dressed in her plain sports bra and boy shorts. They weren't sexy, but it wasn't like she could actually show anyone. Opening the bottle of oil, she poured some into her palm, before setting the bottle aside. Rubbing the oil over her hands a bit, she began to massage the oil into the areas that were usually most affected after the danger room, beginning with her legs, calves and thighs. She then massaged the oil into each of her shoulders.

Satisfied that she had worked in the oil thoroughly, Rouge wiped off her hand with a paper towel, before putting on her X-Men uniform. Looking at her bedside clock, she was relieved that she still had fifteen minutes to get to the Danger room.

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Two Hours and Fifteen Minutes Later

"I don't suppose anyone has any ideas on how we can get Mr. Logan to lay off every now and then," Kathrine 'Kitty' Pryde, also known as Shadowcat, moaned as she and her fellow teammates walked out of the Danger room.

Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler, groaned. "My whole body is sore, even my tail," he complained in his faint German accent. "I didn't even know my tail could get sore."

"Cheer up guys," Scott Summers, Cyclops, panted. "We beat the sim at least."

His teammates smiled faintly at that. All except Rogue, who had vanished almost immediately, rather than complain about aches and pains with her fellow students. Especially since it appeared that that oil had worked, she didn't have a single sore muscle. It was Jean who noticed her absence.

"Where's Rogue?" the redheaded telepath asked.

Kitty's eyes widened and she rushed to her feet. "Crap, she's gone for the bath," she yelled, before running away from her fellow X-Men, hoping she could somehow beat Rogue to the much coveted bathtub.

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Kitty was surprised to find Rogue, not in their bath, but relaxing on her bed, changed into her nightclothes and relaxing to music on her CD player while she read a book.

The sight stopped Kitty cold. "You're like, finished with the bath already?" she asked incredulously.

Rogue smirked. "Ah didn't take one," she told her roommate. "Yer free to it."

"You're not sore at all?" Kitty asked, completely astounded. Normally the two fought for the right to sooth their muscles in their shared bathtub after every Danger Room session.

"Nah," Rogue said, turning back to her book.

"How?"

"That there's mah little secret," Rogue answered with a grin. She decided she wouldn't share the secret of her oils and ointments until she went back to White Owl for refills. It would be fun to keep Kitty stewing for a little while.

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