Warning: Grief reaction and revelations of long-kept secrets. Violence and paranoia.
The X-Men arrived to the sounds of thrashing and crashing, coming from inside the Warehouse. Thinking the worst, they ran on in, Logan leading the way, only to find Rogue taking on an enraged Sabertooth. No-one envied the man's position as he was thrown bodily against the wall on the other side of the Warehouse.
Rogue's body held a metallic edge to it and as Sabertooth's head crashed the wall, so did her body lose energy as she collapsed against the medley of crates and building materials.
On hearing the commotion, Magneto left his office, stopping to observe the wreckage. The X-men did not need to hear his down-beaten words, "Take her! Go on. Get her out of my sight." for Logan to fetch the girl and carry her to the jet.
As they lay her on the makeshift sick-bay, Logan spared no time in rolling up his sleeves and allowing contact to be made between his and Rogue's skin.
XxX
There were many times during the rest of the day that they thought she'd woken, thanks to the power of Logan's healings. Neither the Professor nor Beast left her side. Nor did Logan, when he recovered from the effects of her toxic skin and the length of contact it needed to heal her prior injuries.
The first time she woke, it was clear, she was suffering the effects of Logan's memories, waking up in a hospital. While she did not have his adamantium claws, she did have his strength, paranoia and general dis-trust of hospital procedures. They managed to contain her and had to cuff her wrists and ankles to the bed.
Logan was barely awake at this moment and when he heard, felt put-out that he had missed the skirmish. He'd always enjoyed a good fight. After all, it was what he'd been 'made' for.
The second time, Rogue fought against her restraints, injuring herself in the process and kicking out at anyone who tried to block her escape, before climbing onto one of the surfaces and throwing herself out of the window.
Hank hated having to sedate her and once again Logan's healing powers were called on. They also used metallic cuffs which would prove much less falliable.
XxX
She woke again in the early hours of the second morning, exhausted and aware that she couldn't properly move. She put it down to a dislocated shoulder and damage from the fire and wasn't too worried.
As she came to, she found she couldn't recognise her location and assumed Magneto had locked her up again. Therefore it was a surprise when Logan and the Professor entered the room.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was rough and gravelly. She half choked and went to cover her mouth, only to find herself cuffed.
"What the hell?"
"It was a necessary precaution, Rogue but if you give us another few moments, I can remove the restraints." The Professor kept his voice low and soft, aiming for reassuring.
Rogue edged herself as far as possible and asked, warily"Are you a shrink?"
The Professor paused, curious. "Why do you say that?"
"You're using the shrink voice."
He laughed awkwardly. "It is not my principal line of work, but I suppose my telepathy has provided an advantage."
"Oh." The cuffs were removed and she rubbed at her wrists, unaware that her previous condition would have prevented her from this action.
The Professor resumed the conversation. "What can you remember about the last few days?"
"I was angry at someone."
"Can you remember?"
"It was one of Magneto's goons. The big, stupid one."
Logan snorted, but the Professor sent a withering look.
"Sabertooth."
"Yes, I'm aware the two of you have had some difficulties."
It was Rogue's turn to snort. "Difficulties? The guy's a bully. Pure and simple."
"What was the fight about?"
"He broke something of mine and Piotr's." His eyes were clearly willing her to continue. "He broke Piotr's radio and my phone. You probably think I shouldn't be so materialistic, but the phone had the last voicemail my mother left me. Now it's gone. And the rest of my things are probably being burned or trashed or something."
The last few days had taken their tole and she wanted to bury herself under her covers, but the leg restraints were still on, as though she were an animal or worse, back in the hospital. The Professor quickly pushed the button deactivating the restraints allowing her to curl up and hide herself as she wished. She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder, in comfort, but did not have the strength to shake it off.
When she was calm again, the men waited for her to sit up once more, but the soft sounds of sleep told them their talk would have to be delayed.
"We should all try and get some sleep."
XxX
Rogue was stirring when the smell of food woke her fully. It was the blue boy, Kurt, bringing her a tray.
"The Professor thought you might be hungry. He also thought you might be better off seeing a friendly face."
"Careful Kurt, you don't want to frighten her." Kitty sank into the seat next to her, while Kurt placed the tray on the side table, before sitting at the end of the bed.
"It's easier for Kurt to save his public face for when we're outside the school."
"I can change if you want..."
Rogue shook her head. "Don't worry. Why should you have to hide when this is your home."
Kurt nodded in agreement.
"Everyone's glad you're finally here. I know the Professor will be stoked to get to know you."
There was something hidden behind the innocuous words, but Rogue was too tired to analyse. She looked at the breakfast and found, too her horror, it was full of standard breakfast items, most of which she didn't like. She picked on the toast - which was wholemeal - while Kurt and Kitty continued to talk. There was something innocent about their chatter and as they were determined to catch her up on the things that had happened.
When The Professor and Logan arrived a few moments later, along with Hank, they sent Kitty and Kurt away.
"Don't wear her out."
Logan frowned at the tray, sending it along with the youngsters.
"You didn't eat much."
It hit her that this man would have known some of her problems via her mother.
"It's not that. I'm just not a fan of eggs. Or bacon."
He eyed her, waiting for the rest.
"Or beans. or brown bread."
"Well, why don't you tell us what you do eat and we can get you fed?"
As the Professor watched the two interact, he felt a great sense of envy that Logan had a better rapport than he did. It was irrational to feel jealous, given the recent discovery but it rankled him to know that Logan had a head start. Logan must have sensed some of Charles' predicament, for he made some excuse to leave, whilst Hank looked at her charts.
"It looks like you're recovering quite nicely, Rogue."
She frowned, looking at her arms, amazed that she was able to move them and that there was little to no sign of injury.
"Is something the matter?"
"Other than a few days ago I was suffering from a dislocated should and burns? No, not a thing."
"Of course. You'll be unaware of Logan's healing powers. It's quite fortunate that they were able to hasten your recovery. Although there were some side-effects."
She looked up at him? "What do you mean?"
"You don't recall your escape attempts?"
Here the Professor intervened. "Perhaps we should discuss this later? For now, let's focus on ensuring you're back to full health. We've been able to assess your records and seeing as the past few weeks, there have been some, lapses in your care, we have to make some adjustments."
"Like what?"
"Hank has been able to source your medication and providing there are no unfortunate reactions, you will be able to be moved out of the med-bay. I have put you with Kitty as you both appear to get on well, unless there's someone else you'd rather share with?"
She shook her head.
"Then after the holidays, we will look at getting you ready to return to school and completing your education."
"Holidays? What day is it?"
"December 19th."
The Professor had no inclination of the significance of the question until he felt the utter desolation and despair. Once again Rogue made herself small by curling into herself and shrinking under the covers.
He spoke to Logan about it, once they were sure Rogue was asleep and they had left the Med-bay.
"Is there something significant about this time of year, other than the festive season?"
Logan had only a vague recollection. He really hadn't spent that much time with the mother and daughter, despite knowing them for years. He knew Anna had always celebrated her child's birthday, but hadn't made much mention of her own. Unless the birthday was around this time of year...
Could that be it?
XxX
It was another couple of days before Rogue left the Med-bay. Most of the X-Men had arranged to return to their families for the holidays. Kitty offered to cancel but Rogue insisted she carry on with her plans.
"Ah'm not really in the celebrating mood."
"Well, maybe we can do something in the new year? Like, a post holiday holiday?"
She shrugged but was saved from replying by Kurt's appearance. She was still getting used to his teleporting and he had the decency to look apologetic.
"Sorry, I came to see if Kitty was finished packing?"
Kitty snapped the lid of the case she was rapidly filling and Kurt teleported it downstairs. Rogue was able to summon up enough energy to leave the room along with Kitty when the time came for her to leave.
Those that remained spent a quiet night in front of the TV with a takeaway before them. Someone had requested Indian, which was a rare choice for Rogue as her mother had detested spice. Rogue had selected a Rogan Josh, not knowing how her body would respond to spices. The dish itself had more flavour than she was used to of late, but was certainly edible.
She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Logan, Hank and the Professor staring. "What?"
The Professor chuckled. "Nothing, it's good to see you enjoying your food."
She shrugged, they were getting into dangerous territory.
"As there's only a few of us still here for Christmas, is there anything you would like to do?"
"What do you usually do?"
"Well, most of the students have already exchanged gifts, but they have left some for you. Would you like to save them for the day?"
"Me? Why would they leave things for me?"
"They wanted to welcome you properly, but given the timing, they had already made arrangements."
She nodded.
"We usually have dinner around noon and everyone tends to pitch in to make sure it's ready. After that, well, we have no fixed plans."
"Pretty standard, right?"
"Yes. How did you spend your Christmases?"
She paused before forcing herself to engage. "Well, mom was usually working the night before, so I'd let her sleep and then Carole would come over around noon and we'd have brunch and presents. Then, we'd all make dinner and have it in the evening, before watching Christmas films."
"Carole, she was a friend of your mothers?"
"Yep, she took me in for a bit, well, until the accident. Sometimes we'd have Irene over but she didn't get on with Carole."
"Oh?"
"Carole thought Irene was a free-loading mooch." Hank gave a discrete choke, fearing he'd have to get used to more plain-speaking.
The Professor cleared his throat to hide his friend's reaction, fearing the same. "And I take it Irene didn't hold much warmth for Carole?"
Rogue shook her head. "Nope. She thought Carole was an interfering cow. Mom tried to mediate but it never went well. I tried to tell her that you couldn't expect everyone to like each other. Mum didn't agree. She always said that everyone has the ability to be liked, they only have to make the right choices."
"She sounds like a very wise woman."
Rogue felt her mouth move slowly, her face adjusting to accommodate something she very rarely gave in public. It took Logan a few seconds to realise she was almost smiling. In that moment, there was a lightness in her features and her eyes weren't so heavy and downcast. He caught the Professor's eye briefly and he nodded. He had noticed the difference the gesture made.
After dinner, they were talking about plans for the next few days. Rogue wanted to go shopping. She needed Christmas presents but not knowing what anyone liked and being on a limited budget was beginning to stress her out. That and she needed practically everything, given that her belongings were still absent.
The Professor tried to dissuade her. "Are you sure you're up to it? They'll be so many people milling about, especially at this time of year."
"I know but I can't make do with the things I have on, can I? The Brotherhood probably destroyed most of my things and the fire burnt the rest."
The Professor and Logan exchanged expressions as feelings of guilt arose.
"Come with me, Rogue."
She was too tired to question why, so she followed the Professor to a room across from his own office. He opened the door and motioned for her to go in. Everything she had at Mystique's was present and correct, even the bare belongings she had at Magneto's.
"I had Kurt and Kitty pack up your things from the Brotherhood. Logan insisted on bringing the things from the Warehouse."
"You were there?"
"Cerebro picked up you using your power, but we were too late. Magneto had already moved you on when we arrived."
"Oh."
"I'm sure you will want to sort through your belongings and decide what you want to have in your room. Anything else can be stored in here. The door will be locked. No-one will be able to access this unless you want them too."
She felt her eyes welling up and turned her face away.
"There are some matters we need to discuss, but perhaps tonight is not the night."
She turned to face him. "What things?"
"Did your mother ever talk to you about your father? Who he was or had been?"
She shrugged, hating the tension in her stomach. "She did when I was younger. She said he was a good man but it wasn't the right time for them. Then as I got older, I stopped asking. Things were difficult and all the stories she'd told me, all the reassuring details were inadequate."
"Logan mentioned you had difficulties."
He'd used that word again. She laughed, although it wasn't pleasant. "I hated myself and everyone around me, did he tell you what I did?."
He nodded, gravely. "He found you."
"I hated him for that. I'd made up my mind. I wanted out. I didn't care if my actions would hurt anyone else."
There was a great sense of pity in the air, although it wasn't smothering.
"Do you still hate him?"
She shook her head. "Did he tell you about me as a way of off-loading or was there a reason you needed to know?"
He had the vaguest idea that his next words would have to be carefully considered. "Partially. He is a good friend to me. He was deeply affected by your actions back then and certainly the ones of late. He was determined to honour your mother's wishes and take over guardianship of you. It was something I also wanted to achieve. However, it wasn't until recently that my motives and actions changed. New information came to light, quite by chance, that rather changed the odds."
He had her full concentration by now.
"You see, Rogue, I knew your mother."
She wasn't surprised by this information. Her mother had lived a full life before she had her only child. But there was something definite in the Professor's meaning.
"When did you know her?"
"Oh, it was eighteen years ago that we met officially."
He watched as realisation sank in.
"So that means..."
"I'm your father Rogue."
XxX