Chapter Sixty-Four:


For a long moment Rogue stood frozen in place, unable to move, unable to breathe.

Only Remy's arm was keeping her on her feet at the moment, and she could feel his hand tracing a gentle circle on her back to soothe her nerves, but it wasn't helping much.

Lance was alive, and more importantly, he was here!

Oh God, she thought with a half-sob. Oh God, thank ya.

And then Lance was there in front of her, having bolted across the street regardless of oncoming traffic, his dark eyes searching hers face frantically, as if he still couldn't believe it was her. Taking a deep breath, Rogue took a shaky step towards him, and that seemed to shake him out of his reverie, for the next thing she knew he was throwing his arms around her and pulling her into a crushing hug.

Burying her face in his chest, Rogue wrapped her arms around him and wept openly, her heart bursting with relief. She could feel his heart pounding just beneath his shirt, and she was thrilled to find that he still smelled faintly of sandalwood like she'd remembered.

After a few long moments, Lance pulled back, staring down at her in confusion, his dark eyes swirling with tears. "You're dead," he whispered in disbelief.

"Ah could say the same t' you, sugah," Rogue rasped, tears stinging her eyes. "But Ah reckon we're both lookin' pretty good fo' a couple o' corpses, huh?"

"Yeah," Lance nodded, still a bit dazed, but he took a step back and let his eyes rake her over appraisingly. "Man, did you ever grow up, Rogue. I almost didn't believe it was you! I mean, your skin's so tan and your hair's so long and you aren't wearing a single piece of black clothing."

"Ah happen t' still like black, thank ya very much," Rogue said with a scowl, but it ended up turning into a smile. "Ah jus' like other colors too now."

"I'm glad," Lance said with a smile of his own. "You look good."

"So do ya, sugah," she replied, and she meant it. He'd grown a bit taller since she'd last seen him, and his hair was no longer wild and unruly as it had been back in high school. He looked healthy and well-fed, and, if she wasn't mistaken, he looked happy. Not just to see her, but happy in general.

It had been a long time since she'd seen him like that.

"I take it you two know each other then?" Matt asked slowly, frowning in confusion.

Rogue laughed, wiping at her cheeks with her hands.

"Yeah," Lance replied, not taking his eyes off of her. "We do. Matt, this is Rogue."

The boy's eyes widened. "Seriously?" he cried, looking from one to the other. "She's...?"

Lance nodded silently.

"Whoa," Matt murmured, blinking in shock. "This is unbelievable."

Rogue raised an eyebrow, but before she could inquire about that, Matt turned to her with a confused frown.

"I thought you said your name was Marie?"

"Marie's my real name," Rogue informed him.

"Huh," Lance tilted his head a little. "I always wondered what your name really was."

"Ah know," Rogue smirked. "That was half the fun o' keepin' it a secret, everybody wanted t' know."

Lance shook his head in amusement. "Where the hell have you been all this time, anyway?"

"New Orleans," Rogue replied with a shaky smile. "Ah've become as much o' a swamp rat as Remy here."

For the first time Lance seemed to notice the others, and he nodded stiffly at Remy. "Hello, Gambit."

"De name's Remy, if y' don' mind," Remy replied smoothly, extending a hand in greeting. "Haven't gone by Gambit since we ditched Magneto."

Lance's shoulders relaxed a little and he shook his hand, then glanced back at Rogue with an inquisitive look. "So you've been living with Remy for the past few years then?"

"Yeah," Rogue nodded, fidgeting with her hands. "Ah have."

Lance looked down at her hands and she saw his eyes get wide, and only then did she realize that her wedding ring was now in plain view. "Looks like you've been doing more than just living with him."

A nervous twist seized her stomach, and she swallowed hard. "We got married a few years back," she told him softly. "Ah didn' know ya were alive or Ah would have..."

"It's okay," Lance said, smiling faintly. "I'm just glad that you're safe, and that you've been happy. But you do know Kitty's going to have a fit when she hears she missed your wedding."

Rogue's heart skipped a beat and she grabbed onto his arm sharply. "Kit's alive?" she demanded breathlessly, digging her fingers into his arm sharply. "She's here?"

"Yeah," Lance said with a wince, gently prying her hand off of his arm. "She is."

"Oh God," Rogue breathed, closing her eyes and letting the moment sink in.

"We're engaged, actually," Lance added, and when Rogue opened her eyes he was grinning, dark eyes bright. "I proposed about two months ago."

"Ah'm glad," Rogue said, throwing her arms around him again as tears slid down her cheeks. "Oh, Ah'm so happy fo' ya'll, Lance. Ya always made her so happy."

"You were the only one who'd admit it," Lance replied ruefully. "Everyone else was against us being together."

"That's 'cause everyone else was crazy," Rogue retorted. "Ah mean, come on, we were runnin' 'round in spandex- there had t' be somethin' wrong wit' all o' us, right?"

Lance chuckled. "Yeah, but at least it looks like some of us grew out of that."

"An' it looks like some o' us jus' grew up period," Rogue said, unable to keep from grinning. "A safehouse, huh? An' t' think ya used t' be a hood, Rocky."

"Who says I'm not still?" Lance retorted with a smirk. "No, the safehouse was actually Kitty's idea, she just dragged me and the others into it."

"Others?" Rogue echoed, a twinge of hope rising in her chest.

"Tabby, Amara, Todd and Wanda are all here, too," Lance nodded. "Man, they're going to just flip when they see you. We thought you were dead!"

"The feelin' is mutual," Rogue assured him with a weak smile.

"Let's get you back to the house," Lance said eagerly. "I can't wait to see the look on Kitty's face when she sees you."

To be honest, Rogue couldn't either. How fiercely she wanted to see her former roommate again, to hug her and hear the younger girl's giddy laughter after so long. Ah didn' realize how badly Ah still missed ya, Kitty, she thought with a smile, and tried to imagine what her friend looked like now, after four years apart. Would she be any taller? Was her hair still long? Did she still talk like valley girl?

She was still wrapped up in her thoughts that she hardly noticed as Lance began to lead them back towards the SUV, with Remy tugging her along by the hand. As they reached the vehicle, she shook her head to break free of her reverie, and offered Remy a smile as he gave her a hand into the car. Matt sat in the passenger's seat up front by Lance, and Tessa climbed into the back seat silently, looking pleased to be off her feet for a while.

"Can y' swing by the pier first?" Remy asked of Lance. "Our friend Lucas is dere watchin' our bikes, we need t' pick him up."

"Sure," Lance nodded, starting the engine. "Not a problem."

As they pulled away from the curb, Rogue glanced out the window, watching the street go by, and tried to calm the nervous pounding of her heart. It felt like a dream, finding Lance, learning that Kitty and Tabby and Amara had survived the explosion of the mansion, that Todd and Wanda had escaped the fight against the Sentinel.

It felt unreal, after all these years, for her dream to finally come true.

Remy, as always, seemed to know what she was thinking and reached over to place a hand on her shoulder. "See, chere?" he murmured. "T'ings gon' work out fo' de best. We done found some o' yo' amis, an' if Shadowcat survived, den mebbe some o' de ot'er X-men did, too, hahn?"

"Yeah," Rogue agreed softly. "Maybe."

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked suddenly, looking at them in the rearview mirror. "The X-men aren't dead."

"What?" Rogue blinked, her heart leaping in her chest so suddenly she thought it might burst. "What do ya mean?"

"I mean that the X-men are alive," Lance replied with a strange expression on his face. "All of them."


A/N: I really appreciate you guys being so patient w/ me. I know this post was terribly short, and it's overdue for when I promised a new post, but my little sister got into a car accident back home so I have been with my family for the past week. She's recovering at home now, so I headed back to school yesterday, and this is all that I have managed to get done so far. I promise to get the next post up later this week, if I can, and it will answer a lot of questions, particularly about that nasty cliff-hanger I just left you guys with :) See you then!