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Rogue

"Would you stop that flamin' humming?"

"What?" I had been spacing out pretty hard as we walked, lost in the smells and colors around me. Logan glared at me and stopped. The stream was rolling through, big surprise, more fields of grass today, a low, flat break between two small forested areas. The sun was beating down on us and he stepped towards the water's edge to grab a drink.

"Humming. Stop humming. You're drivin' me crazy." He cupped the clear water with his hands and took a long swallow. I joined him and rinsed the sweat from my face.

"Sorry, sugar. Didn't know I was." He snorted and copied my move, scrubbing his face with the cool water.

"You do. A lot. Sometimes you actually sing under your breath."

"Oh." Well, that was a little embarrassing. I always had a song going full blast in my head, but apparently it wasn't staying there. It didn't surprise me though. I missed music. Desperately. Hell, I missed pretty much everything if I really let myself think about it, but music was something that I took for granted, something that I had woven into the background of my every waking moment. Woke up to music, showered to music, drove to music, trained to music, danced in front of the mirror to music, drums seemed to follow me through each day like my own heartbeat.

I tried to keep focused, to keep moving just like Logan said, but the overwhelming, overly emotional fact was I wanted to go home. Now. I wanted a hot shower and a change of clothes and coffee and a warm bed with soft sheets and I wanted, no, needed to blast my music and dance and sing at the top of my lungs until my throat turned itself inside out. I had a few of my favorite songs loaded on my phone, not many as it was my Avengers' business phone, but Logan had glared at me and muttered something about keeping the racket down so the animals didn't come after us every time I tried to play anything. Figured I'd save the battery anyhow. My Stark phone had a solar charging panel that was still working with the alien sun, but I was preparing for the day it went totally dead. At least my phone wasn't like a normal smart phone that needed the cloud to save its files. I tried to save looking at my pictures for the days I really needed them. I smiled sheepishly at Logan.

"Sorry, like I said, didn't realize I was doing it." He grunted.

"Well, you are. Stop it." He got back up and waited for me before we started walking. "We need to look for a place to make camp," he said, all business. "Sun's starting to set. We're not gonna make it to the next group of trees by nightfall." We picked up the pace and walked for hours in silence.

"Don't you miss it?" I blurted out, wishing I could swallow the words back as soon as they passed my lips.

"Miss what?" He popped his claws and cut a wide angry swath through some of the taller grass barring our way.

"Home." My whisper came out sadder than I had wanted. I was drowning in a bucket of homesick, and he acted like we were on a fucking camping trip. Maybe it was too personal of a question, cut him too deep. He had been keeping his verbal distance since I ripped back at him about Erik, maybe we weren't friends anymore. Our conversations had been real limited, like on a need only basis for days, and I was sick of it. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? You looking for me to spill my guts, start blubberin' about Ororo, or about driving my Harley or the school? Sorry, Rogue. Not my style, no point in makin' yourself crazy over what you can't change. Nothin' I can do about gettin' home right now anyway, just gotta keep goin' every day, one foot in front of the other." Inspirational speeches from Wolverine. Just great.

"Don't you miss anything?" I whispered sadly, willing my mind away from the feel of the rough stubble on Remy's chin, his hair sliding through my fingers. I had been counting the days here, but the number was so high now that it made me physically ill to think about it. He grunted again and went back to cutting the tall grass.

"Beer."

"Beer?" You had to be effing kidding me. That's what I got for trying to have a real conversation with the man.

"Beer." I rolled my eyes and angrily shut my mouth.

We settled for the night in a patch of the taller grass we cleared next to the river bank. There were some larger rocks along one edge and after we ate and cleaned up, I leaned back against them to watch the fire. Some of the wood we had found changed the colors of the flames to blues and greens, just like a driftwood fire back home. The colors danced and crackled and I had to drag my mind back again from thoughts of family and friends. Logan stretched out beside me, laced his hands behind his head.

"So…" his voice broke hours of silence, "what do you miss most, Rogue?" I glared at him, anger boiling hot in my throat.

"Thought you didn't want to talk about things we couldn't change."

"I don't want to talk about it, but you do. You need to, it's botherin' you so bad I can smell it." I sighed. His flippant dismissal of the conversation earlier had really pissed me off, but I didn't want to fight with him anymore today. Our verbal tussles were exhausting.

"Logan, you don't have to…"

"Now, goddammit, don't be like that. You wanted a serious conversation, let's have a serious conversation. I'm not asking for my health here, I'm asking because I care, goddammit." That was a lot of goddammit. Surprised he hadn't thrown an 'Anna' in there for good measure. I pursed my lips and played along.

"Truthfully? I miss everything, but that's just too much for my brain to handle all at once. I've had to divide it into categories: the big things and the little things. What I miss the most, like, the one big thing? I can't talk about that, can't let myself feel that. But the little things? Kind of depends on the day, sugar. Some days it's a hot shower, some days clean underwear. But today? Today, I miss music the most."

"Music?"

"Yeah. You called me out on that one. Humming, singing? The noise, the rhythm... music helps me think, it helps me cope. It makes me happy, makes me sad. This place, it's just too quiet." I shivered. He turned towards me.

"Quiet? You need another dose of my power, girl? So flamin' loud on this planet, I can't sleep most nights."

"That kind of noise, it's different than music. I don't know how to explain it to you, I guess." I sighed and dropped my hands helplessly into my lap. "I know you're not really a music guy." It was absolutely true. All these years we'd been friends, family, and I'd never seen him buy an album or flip on the radio. Even riding in his jeep, I was the one who would tune in a station. He got up and rummaged through my bag, producing my phone.

"What's the password?" He asked over his shoulder.

"7369." I replied. REMY on a phone keypad. His look told me I wasn't as clever and sneaky about that as I thought. I got up and walked towards him as he flipped through my phone. He was smiling in the dim light of the screen.

"What are you…?" The tiny speakers reverberated the acoustic drenched opening to 'Stardust', the Willie Nelson version. I swallowed and tears stung my eyes.

"You told me not to play that thing." He put my phone in the breast pocket of his flannel shirt and stepped towards me.

"Thought we could make an exception tonight." He tilted my chin upwards. I was taller than him, but it seemed like I always had to look up to see him. "Your favorite, right?" I smiled, touched that he remembered. It had probably been years since I mentioned the song.

"All right, then." He put his arm around my waist and pulled me up against him, laughed at the dumbstruck look on my face. "How about a dance, Anna?" He held his other hand out for me to take.

"My pleasure, sugar." We waltzed in the dim, dusty firelight, swaying contentedly in each other's arms.

Logan

They had been marking us for days, keeping their distance, staying downwind. When we were in the trees, the smaller forested areas that had begun popping up along the river, they were nowhere to be seen. As soon as we exited, there they were, cutting through the grasslands and headin' us off, gauging our speed and abilities. They were good, no god damned doubt about it, but I was the best, could smell them when they were near. So could Rogue, I bet, if she knew what it was she was smellin'. There were still just two of them for now, big black cats the size of a mountain lion, muscular and sleek except for the row of spikes running up the ridge of their backs. Didn't say anything to Rogue, didn't want to spook her, especially when I wasn't sure what they wanted. Sometimes I lost sight of them as we walked, but I felt them keeping tabs on us. Maybe they wanted us for breakfast, or maybe we had just wandered into their territory and they were escorting us out. Didn't want to assume predatory instincts were a universal thing, though it seemed pretty flamin' likely. My guts said to get us the hell away from them as fast as I could, stand and fight only if we had to. No reason to seek out trouble when we could easily be outnumbered.

I pushed Rogue hard to keep ahead and away from them, keeping a closer watch on her than normal. From the looks of our environment the grasslands were going to completely disappear at a point real soon, givin' way to solid trees. If I could get us there, we should be well away from our feline shadows. 'Til that point, I was up in her business day in day out, which she didn't let last very long. She whirled on me in a cloud of hair when I tried to follow her into some bushes.

"Hey!" She stopped me in my tracks by smacking me in the chest with the palm of her hand. "Little privacy, please!" She was fuming and squinting in the sun. Made me feel a little bad, I had apparently dropped her sunglasses dragging her from the teleportation site during our first few hours here. Who the hell brought sunglasses to a nighttime concert?

"You never know, sugar," she had said when I asked. "Show started at night, but I was ready to party 'til the break of dawn." She had winked at me; I blamed the Cajun's influence. I grunted at her hand in the middle of my chest.

"Don't go too far." I warned and she crashed off into the grass, mumbling.

"I'll go as far as I need to, thank you very much…" she said under her breath as she stomped away. At this point, we were beyond the early awkwardness of having to answer the call of nature around each other. Didn't bother me, but I was used to livin' in the wild. Rogue was real skittish. Like I didn't know women crapped for god's sake. Didn't want her to hurt herself holding it in or something stupid. She got over it real fast.

I hadn't wanted to bring up any…female…things with her, but we really didn't need any more surprises or complications. I just flat-out asked her one day after being here a couple months, asked her if we needed to find something for her to use. She had been rinsing my tank top out that day in the stream that had become a river. She stopped and blinked at me.

"What are you…?" Realization dawned on her face and she blushed a little and stifled a laugh. "Oh. My period? Is that what you're asking about, sugar?" I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair. Couldn't believe I had brought it up, none of my damned business anyway.

"Never mind." I moved to step away from her, but she stopped me.

"No, no. It's okay. It's a valid question, would be real inconvenient to deal with in our situation. Lucky for us, it's not a problem." She pursed her lips and squeezed the water out of my tank top, laid it flat on a nearby rock. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Why's that?" She picked at the seam of the drying shirt, her face suddenly sad.

"Don't have one, sugar. Haven't for years." This really wasn't my business, but I knelt beside her and she looked up at me with regret in her eyes. "Hank doesn't know if it's just because we train so hard, or if it's something wrong with me, something caused by my powers. But he's pretty sure I can't have…can't…" She swallowed and I felt like such a dick for even bringing it up. I reached up and tucked a stray lock of her white stripe back into the auburn hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know, girl."

"S'okay, sugar. Not many people do, it's not something I like to talk about. Pretty much just the Professor, Hank, and…Remy." She almost tripped on his name, but kept going. "It was always such a non-issue anyway with my powers. Not like it was gonna happen, kind of need to be able to touch to get pregnant, right? Who knows what my powers would have done to a baby growing inside me! Then, after I gained control and things still didn't…" She stopped herself, shook off my hand and stood. "Probably for the best, right? Nobody wants a hot mess like me for their mother anyway." I almost let it drop, she was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, but some twitchy thought made me push further.

"What did Gambit have to say about it?" Her face blanched and told me I had hit it right on the mark.

"Doesn't matter, does it? He was the one who dumped me, remember?" She stomped off which was kind of what she did when she got pissed at me. We'd argue and her temper'd soar, her eyes flashing and she'd bounce off in a huff to cool down. Most of the time, I kind of liked it, she was real sexy when she was all worked up. This time, I wanted to follow her and pull her into my arms, tell her everything would be all right. I scrubbed my hands down my face. Jesus. I had no fucking idea. I knew she'd probably punch me if she knew I was feeling sorry for her, but damn. Why had she kept this from everybody? From me? I thought we were close. Was this the real reason she had pushed Gambit away, why she had thrown herself at that son of a bitch Magneto? She could try to spout off that shit about followin' her animal instincts to me again all she wanted, but the bottom line was that bastard Magneto already had kids. Gambit was young and he loved her, probably talked a lot with Rogue about starting a family together. It made me even sadder that she thought there was something wrong with her, something broken just 'cause she couldn't have kids.

I stood to go after her when I spotted the cats for the first time up on the horizon. My heart hammered and the hair on my neck stood on end. I crouched low but knew they had already been watching us. I listened for Rogue, worked slowly her direction. If they had made a move, I could have gotten to her, protected her. I sniffed and looked slowly around, but only saw the two of them. They were lying in the tall grass, tails swishing lazily back and forth, looking exactly like two big-ass kittens stalking a mouse. I watched them, hoping real hard we weren't the mice.

Sam

"C'mon girl, just two more."

If looks could kill, I'd have been a dead man. "You said that…two reps ago!" Red-faced and sweaty, Lila gritted her teeth and gripped the weight bar, her dark eyes just angry slits. I laughed and leaned over her from my spot position.

"Did I? Guess I lost count." She rolled her eyes at my smirk. "We can start over if you want…One…"

"No!" She exhaled in a dramatic puff. "Two more is great!"

I had been putting her through her paces the last couple of weeks, physical therapy the next phase of her recovery as Hank put it. Her body was bouncing back quickly, but things were moving slower than she wanted them to and it frustrated her. Today was a good day though, her muscles were humming and her spirits were good. That had been the hardest, keeping her up and keeping her motivated. Two months unconscious, another month working to be able to stand on her own, she had to learn to do everything again like a toddler taking her first steps. Her intergalactic tour had to be cancelled, her agent called a couple of times a week to check on her progress. She was depressed, and the lack of access to her powers cast a big shadow over everything she had accomplished so far.

My own anger and sadness at the state of my powers had been slightly mollified by switching the focus to her and her recovery. Gave me something to work on, to strive for. If we could get her 100%, get her powers rolling, then Anna and Logan…I stopped myself, not wanting to get too far ahead. Hank had been sequestered studying the sample Gambit and Storm had brought back, doing his damnedest, but coming up goose-eggs. As a team we'd barely been able to get him to eat, sleep, and shower on a daily basis, only Ororo, in between helping Gambit with his own slow recovery, seemed to be able to bully him into a semi-human routine.

"Two! That's it, Guthrie! I'm done!" I relieved Lila of the weight bar and handed her a towel.

"Good job, girl. You worked real hard today." I helped her sit up. She draped the towel around her neck and looked at me ruefully.

"Yeah, great job. That was just the bar, you realize? No added weights at all and my arms are jello." She shook her head and scowled, the frustration as thick on her as her sweat.

"It's not like you could lift weights before. You've always been a pretty big wuss." Her mouth popped open and I grinned at her. I laughed so hard I barely managed to dodge the sweaty towel she whipped at me.

"Isn't there some sort of medical board I can report you to? I don't think physical therapists are supposed to abuse their patients like this!" I pulled her close and planted a big kiss square on her lips. She tried to squirm away, but I held her tight.

"Ewww, Guthrie, I need a shower. I'm seriously sweaty." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. Lila didn't like to sweat and got pretty pissed at me for making her do it, but it was for her own good. I kissed that wrinkled little nose.

"Reckon there's room in that shower for two?" I buried my face into the side of her neck, one of her notoriously ticklish spots. She squealed. "Is that a yes?" I asked and pulled my head back. She swatted me on the arm.

"Sam…"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"

The profanity laced baritone that rumbled through the halls belonged to the Beast. Lila and I exchanged confused glances, and I jumped to my feet and helped her up. We hurried towards his lab and found the Doc…laughing.

"Dr. McCoy?" Lila stepped forward into the lab and I followed. The Beast's white coat clad form was shaking with peals of laughter, so deep and hard tears wound their way down his furry face. Lila looked alarmed and gestured for me to do something. I stepped around her and touched his big burly shoulder.

"Hank, are you okay?" I asked as he brought himself under control. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his lab coat.

"Ahhhh…Sam…Lila." He continued to grin and an occasional laugh bubbled out of him. "I apologize. Not the most eloquent use of the language of Shakespeare, but occasionally appropriate to convey one's feelings." He hooked his glasses back over his ears and smiled at us. "And, in answer to your question, I am most definitely all right." He gestured to his table, a jumbled mad-scientist's mess of papers and petri-dishes. Front and center was the vial Gambit had liberated from the Purifier's laboratory. "And, hopefully, soon, the two of you will be just as all right."