Title: Day To Day
Author: PrincessOfQuestionableMorals
Characters/Pairings: Rogue/Gambit, Kitty/Piotr Logan, Storm, Bobby, Jubilee, Hank McCoy, Emma Frost, the Professor
Genre: Drama
Note: Canon with all four X-Men movies, but uses the alternative Rogue ending for X3.
Note 2: Wow, thanks for all the story alerts, and the reviews! You guys are awesome. I hope you like this chapter too. =]
Summary: The battle had been won. Peace had been made. And so they started to rebuild, with new friends and new enemies.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kitty entered the library, scanning the bent heads for the familiar white on brown pattern. She spotted Rogue carrying a stack of books to a table, and began heading towards her.

"Rogue?" she prompted, quietly. Rogue ignored her with studied indifference—she had heard the tiny Chicagoan coming from across the room, one of the few perks of absorbing Logan.

Kitty fidgeted. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out, acutely aware of the curious looks those around her gave her, as Rogue remained resolutely immersed in the book she was reading. Kitty took a deep breath, continuing. "I didn't mean it the way I said it, you and Jubilee have been training forever, and I know how you feel about your powers and how hard you've tried to control them and you're one of my best friends and I don't know why—"

Rogue held up a hand, stemming the flow of words from the tiny girl's mouth. "Kitty, yah look like you're about to pass out," she informed the other girl. She lowered her hand, turning to face Kitty. "Ah'm…sorry, too."

Kitty's forehead wrinkled as she drew her eyebrows together. "Why are you sorry?"

Rogue sighed. "Ah've been so paranoid about you and Bobby, and it's not fair because you're one of mah best friends and Ah know you wouldn't try to hurt me, it's just been—"

"Wait, back up," said Kitty. "Me and Bobby?" Rogue watched in astonishment as the other girl started to laugh.

"Me…and…oh, wow…" the girl took a deep breath, gathering herself. "Sorry, but Bobby isn't my type."

"Does he know that?" asked Rogue, a little irritated at her friend's levity. "Does everyone else know that?" She paused. "Because I wasn't the only one who saw you two ice skating." She raised an eyebrow. "Or did you not notice tall, dark, and Russian ignoring you lately?"

Kitty's mouth formed an "O". "I thought he was just being—"

Rogue chuckled. "Kitty, yah have got to learn to read people better."

"Well, see, that's why I have you!" the tiny girl insisted. She brought out her best puppy-dog eyes. "Friends?"

Oh, God, not the Bambi eyes. Rogue sighed, rubbing her face. "Friends."

"Good," said Kitty. "Now, did you happen to find any physics books in your journey?" She indicated the pile of books on the desk.

"As a matter of fact…" Rogue started, trailing off and smiling.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The young girl walking the lawn of the Xavier Institute had a rather unique appearance. She was small, with curly red hair drifting to about her shoulders, and skin as green as the grass of the lawn. She was searching for a cat that had been inhabiting the area around the school—or, she was, until a gleam of light in the woods caught her attention.

Walking toward it, curious, she continued through the trees until she came to a clearing, where a large circle of light was glowing, growing steadily larger with each passing minute.

Christine, eyes wide, began to run back to the mansion, not looking back. Miss Storm would definitely want to know about this.

However, her run through the mansion was impeded by the solid body she slammed into.

"Whoa!" shrieked Kitty as Christine ran into her, knocking her over. She phased both herself and the smaller girl through the floor, before popping back through.

"Christine?" asked Rogue, recognizing the girl.

"You guys will never believe what I just saw. I was out in the woods, because Tommy told me that there was a stray cat, and when I was at home I had a cat, and I miss him a lot, and the stray cat was there but it was near the forest and I saw something sparkly and I followed it and I found something and I need to find Miss Storm right now."

"Whoa," said Rogue, holding up a hand. "Slow down, sugah."

The little girl stopped, taking a breath, and stared expectantly in Rogue.

The southern girl nodded. "Now, what did you find?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What is it?" breathed Kitty, staring at the sparkly silver hole. "It's…shiny."

"It looks like it might be a temporal shift, or a teleportation device…" Storm walked around the ring.

"Which means…?" prompted Kitty.

Jubilee leaned over. "Magic door," she whispered.

Rogue snorted as Kitty's confused expression only intensified.

"Well, is it dangerous?" asked Logan, leaning against a tree.

"In five seconds, a dinosaur is totally going to come out of there, isn't it?" asked Jubilee rhetorically. When every stared at her, she shrugged. "What? I watch Primeval."

"Considering there were no mutants before the twentieth centuries, I find it somehow doubtful that a dinosaur is going to emerge," said Storm dryly.

"How do you know it was caused by a mutant?" asked Bobby. "For all we know, it could be naturally occurring."

"Bobby, have you ever seen something like this 'naturally occurring' anywhere?" asked Jubilee, one eyebrow raised.

"Also, the patterns here fit that of a mutant the Professor and I encountered once." A worried expression passed over Storm's face. "We believed him to be…regardless, if he has returned, that could mean—"

She was interrupted by a fountain of shimmers erupting from the ring. It wobbled, edges blurring, and a dark shape appeared in the middle. The X-Men backed up, falling into defensive positions, as the shape solidified into the form of a person and came flying out, heading right towards—

"Rogue!" shrieked Kitty as the older girl fell backwards under the weight of what appeared to be a person. Rogue yelled as well, propelling the man on top of her to the side and rolling out from under him. Seeing her friend was out of the way, Jubilee conjured up shimmering fireworks that danced around her hands, preparing to aim them at the intruder, but she was stopped by, of all people, Logan.

"Wait, Firecracker," he said gruffly. He moved closer to the man on the ground. "You look familiar."

The man's head shot up. "Logan?"

"What?" shrieked Kitty, helping Rogue up off the ground. "You know him?"

"Only in the vaguest sense of the word," growled Logan, eyes narrowed.

"Maybe for you, homme," said the man, winking.

"But that's impossible," ground out Logan. "You look the same."

"So do you," shot back the man. Eyes widening, he jumped to his feet. Wary, the X-Men fell back into their defensive positions once more. "Where is he?"

"Where's who?" asked Hank, mystified.

"I was fighting a man—" The stranger looked around. "Where am I?"

"Westchester, New York," drawled Rogue. "Pretty far from home, Cajun—you came through the…" She looked around. The ring had vanished. "That's weird," she said, puzzled.

"What's your name?" asked Bobby coldly, icing his hands for effect.

The man regarded him just as coldly, eyes lingering on his hands. He pulled out a deck of cards, charging one in his hand. "My name," he said, smirking, "is Gambit."