August 5, 1992

Moira walked into the lobby of Westchester. Her steps were shaky and she felt a strange sense of disconnection. She hadn't been gone for long, and she was lost. Where was she, and who was everyone? She had walked the lobby countless times since she had first met Charles, but somehow she felt like a stranger now.

In the lobby she heard a few of the students talking. Moira recognized Bobby, but not who he was talking to. The girl was listening, pulling on her white strands of hair every now and then like she wasn't used to it.

"Mom?"

Moira turned around. David was standing at the top of the stairs that led to the basement. She smiled gently at him, grateful for something to ground her again.

"David," she said.

She walked forward and hugged him. He hugged her back and Moira closed her eyes for a second. Moira breathed in and let him go, looking down the stairs.

"Is your father...?" she asked.

David shook his head.

"No change," he said.

Moira bit the inside of her cheek. In her mind she cursed Magneto. This was his fault somehow: the coincidence was too much otherwise. She didn't say anything though. Of her two sons, she knew which one was more likely to take vengeance, and that was David. That would be the last thing that they would need.

"I see," she said.

She straightened her coat.

"I'm going to go sit by your father," she said.

"I'm going there too," David said.

Moira cocked her head.

"David, you look exhausted," she said.

"I've heard that," David said, "But I'll be fine."

Despite everything Moira couldn't help but smile, this one genuine. Her son's stubbornness could be endearing at times, and it had been a long time since that stubbornness had been displayed towards her husband in anything but a hostile manner.

She didn't know what had brought on this change. Then again, maybe this was what had been lurking beneath her son's bitterness: all they'd had to do was scratch the surface. Moira was sad that it took an accident to do that, but she remembered the day that her marriage had been saved. Those circumstances hadn't been the best either.

"David, get some sleep," she said, "I'll be with your father, and if he wakes then I'll call for you at once."

David hesitated and Moira touched his shoulder.

"Please do this for me," she said.

He nodded reluctantly before hugging her again.

"It's going to be fine mom," he said.

"I know," Moira said.

Moira could hear the certainty in her voice even if she didn't feel it. She didn't know though: neither of them did. With another breath she pulled away.

"Now head upstairs," she said, "I suppose Kurt hasn't slept either?"

David shrugged and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's been complicated," he said.

"I see," Moira said, "Then he'll be joining you soon."

David gave her a lopsided smile before heading upstairs. Moira went downstairs, her hand on the stair railing. Like earlier she felt shaky and weak, as though she was doing something unfamiliar in a strange place.

She walked past one of the med-bay doors and saw Jean talking with a man who was stubbornly trying to sit up. Moira didn't pay them much attention. There were only three medical chambers, and her husband was in one of the approaching ones.

Moira found Charles's chamber with ease. Kurt was sitting next to him, his feet on the chair and his whole body leaning into a crouch. His arms were wrapped around his legs and his chin rested on his knees.

When she came in he looked up, his eyes surprised. Moira managed the same gentle smile that she had given his brother. A moment later he teleported next to her. Moira had been expecting it, but she still had to cough because of the sulfur. When it had cleared she reached out and hugged him. He hugged her back, the hug lasting longer than David's. Kurt had never been shy about being hugged, even when he'd hit his teens.

She released him and touched his cheek.

"Go to bed Kurt," she said, "I'll watch him for a while."

"But-" Kurt said.

"I already had this argument with your brother," Moira laughed, "I'm not afraid to have it with you too Kurt."

Kurt shifted his feet, his tail swishing behind him. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"If David didn't have any luck I guess I won't either?" he asked.

"Not a bit," she said, "I'll call you if he wakes up."

Kurt nodded and, in another flash of sulfur and black smoke, he was gone. Moira stood still and looked at the spot where her son had been. She didn't want to turn around and see her husband hooked up to tubes and heart monitors, didn't want to see how bad it was.

Nonetheless, she turned. It was worse than she had thought. All of the IV's and the monitors were there, just like she had expected them to be. There was more though. Moira hadn't thought that his eyes would be open, staring sightlessly forwards. It hurt to see eyes that were so full of knowledge and compassion to suddenly become vacant.

Choking back a sob Moira sat down next to him. She reached out and took his hand in hers. It was lukewarm to her touch and Moira swallowed.

"Charles, don't do this," she said, "Not now."

Moira brought his hand up to her lips. She wasn't sure if he could hear her, but he needed to.

"It's not going to end this way," she said, "It's just not. So you're going to open your eyes again, do you understand?"

She closed her eyes, the tears finally running down her cheeks.

"Don't leave me," she said.


"Rogue?"

Rogue looked up, her gloved hands fiddling absently with the hem of her shirt. Scott looked back at her, looking somewhat uncertain. She didn't know what that look meant, and she was almost afraid to ask.

Things had been going so well before she'd run off to the train station. She had a place that valued and protected her. Rogue friend with Bobby, a boy who seemed interested in becoming more. She wasn't sure how that worked with her skin, but it was nice to have someone care about her.

She had almost thrown it all away, and she knew that she'd nearly messed everything up. Then Magneto had come and things had taken their own momentum. She had been the impetus for that, and she'd been waiting for someone to tell her that, to lecture her. She would have had it coming.

It was why she hadn't been surprised when Scott had pulled her from the lobby.

"I have someone that I would like you to meet," Scott said, "I know that the Professor wanted the two of you to meet and well..."

He swallowed and touched his sunglasses absently. Rogue raised her eyes. She wasn't in trouble? Her mind went immediately to the Professor, how he'd nearly been killed trying to find her. She understood, although she didn't know who Scott was referring to.

Things had been difficult since Staten Island. She was still thinking apprehensively about Logan. He might be better, but they weren't letting him out of med-bay just yet. She didn't know why they were keeping him so long: she'd seen him heal in the past.

If he didn't heal it would be her fault. She knew what he had done to save her, and the risk he had taken. He'd been so good to her, so protective, when all he'd been was little more than a stranger who had taken her under his wing.

"In any case, I think that you two might be able to support each other," Scott said.

She continued to look at him, still confused. Scott raised his voice when he spoke again.

"Max, you can come in," he said.

Rogue turned around as the door opened. A boy a few years younger than her stepped in. His long brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and his eyes were gray. There was something familiar about him, and it sent a chill up her spine, though she didn't know why.

At the same time she saw that he was wearing a turtleneck with a coat over it. It wasn't cold out. Rogue saw that he was wearing gloves and long pants too. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Rogue, this is my nephew, Max," Scott said.

Rogue glanced quickly at Scott before turning back to Max. He was Scott's nephew? They didn't look alike. She wasn't going to question it though. She kept her eyes firmly on Max as he sat down next to her.

"The two of you will be going through a similar curriculum for the next few months," Scott said, "Maybe longer. I think that now might be the right time to get to know each other a little bit."

Max glanced at Rogue. Once more she felt the chilly feeling when his eyes settled on her, but it wasn't a hostile look. Rogue just had no idea how to place it.

"You might want to check out your schedules-" Scott said.

The phone rang and Scott sighed.

"Excuse me," he said.

Scott picked up the phone.

"Scott Summers," he said.

Rogue glanced over at Max. Max watched his uncle as Scott threw his hands up.

"I'll be back," Scott said, flipping the phone shut, "Just give me a few minutes."

Rogue nodded as Scott left the room. The door shut, the snap seeming louder than Rogue had ever heard. She twisted her hands in her lap.

"What's your mutation?"

Rogue blinked.

"Pardon?" she asked.

"Your mutation," Max said.

"Right. Ah can...ah can..." Rogue said.

She ducked her head.

"Bad things happen when people touch me," she said.

"Like?" Max asked.

Rogue fiddled with the white strands in her hair.

"Ah take something from em," she said, "An they either die or go into comas."

"Oh," Max said.

There was a pause. Rogue mustered up her courage and looked over at Max.

"Is it the same thing for ya?" she asked.

Max shook his head and rubbed his neck.

"No," he said, "I um...I..."

He paused.

"I control metal," he said.

Rogue started. She remembered the train she'd boarded, the train that she had thought would take her far away from Westchester. Then Logan had come on and convinced her to come back. She had been ready to go when Magneto had boarded and the whole car seemed to turn against them.

She swallowed again. This wasn't the train station, and Max had nothing to do with Magneto.

"Why the gloves then?" she asked.

Max laughed, the sound rueful.

"A little while ago I figured out that there was a little caveat with that," he said, "I started...I started to turn living things into metal by touching them."

He raised his hands up and shook them a few times.

"Hence the gloves," he said.

Rogue looked down at her own gloves.

"Ah can't touch anyone either," she said.

"Yeah," Max said, "Sucks, doesn't it?"

Rogue rubbed her hands together. It seemed like an understatement.

"The first boy ah kissed ended up in a coma for three days," she said.

The words came out before she thought about them. Rogue sighed, wondering why she felt the urge to tell people that. It was almost as if she wanted to get it out of the way as fast as possible. Burdening people with the knowledge wasn't going to help anyone though.

"I almost killed my sister," Max said.

She blinked at him. His voice caught when he continued on.

"She's just about done with her treatments for blood poisoning," he said, "They found mercury in her. Mercury for crissakes."

He glared down at his hands.

"And all because I didn't want her to eat my fries," he said.

Max clenched his hands into fists before he turned his attention back to Rogue.

"I know how it feels," he said.

Rogue felt gratitude well up inside her. She wasn't happy that he had a mutation that would prevent him from contact for the rest of his life. However, it did make her feel a little less alone to know that someone understood what she was feeling.

"Ah know ya do," Rogue said.