Marie stood outside the door of the apartment that she shared with Bobby.

She had spent the night on Logan's couch and had woken up mildly hung over. Once she'd showered and eaten some toast and a banana, however, she felt much better. Then she remembered what she still needed to do that morning—talk to Bobby and ask Storm for her own room—and she felt queasy for a whole different reason.

There was no way to know, short of finding a clairvoyant mutant to absorb, how upset Bobby would end up being. He might yell, he might cry, he might beg her to reconsider. But none of those possibilities were going to deter Marie from doing what she knew was the right thing for both of them.

She raised her fist and knocked.

Bobby opened the door, and Marie felt nothing at seeing him again. No warm feelings surfaced and made her rethink what she was about to do. Absence had not made the heart grow fonder.

"You're back!" He said, obviously surprised. But then his expression turned to confusion. "Why are you knocking? It's not locked."

Good question, complicated answer. "Can we talk?"

His face fell. "Where's your suitcase?"

"In Logan's apartment."

He stood aside, shaking his head. "I always knew that there was something between the two of you. And then the way he took off on Thursday—"

"Bobby! There's nothing going on between Logan and me." She had told him this numerous times.

"Then why were you with him?"

"I wasn't 'with' him, I just needed a place to stay that wasn't here." She sighed because that didn't sound much better. "Let's go sit down."

She sat in a chair, and Bobby sat on the couch opposite her.

"Is this about what would happen if your powers come back?" he asked. "Because you caught me off guard when you asked me that, and I didn't really have time to think before I answered."

It was, in a way. But it was also about so many other things too. "Bobby, do you even want to get married?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's like I told you. I always figured I would one day. It feels like it's finally the right time."

It wasn't exactly a glowing endorsement. "Okay, but do you want to get married to me?"

Bobby furrowed his brow. "I...yes, I think so. I thought I did."

That told her everything she needed to know. "If you have to think about it, or you're not sure, then I don't think you do," she said. "Our wedding is supposed to be one of the happiest days of our lives. It should be something that we look forward to with excitement. It shouldn't feel like we're doing it to check a box or because everyone expects it."

Thankfully, he understood where she was headed with the conversation. "Since you're bringing this up, I'm guessing that means you don't want to get married to me."

"I think I've known for a while, but it took getting away from here for me to see it." She searched for the words to explain. "Being with you is familiar, and I think that's why we stayed together for so long. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I don't want just 'familiar' anymore. I want to be with someone who loves me—"

"I love you."

"—as more than a friend."

He stared at the floor, and the fact that he didn't try to argue spoke volumes.

"And you deserve someone who is head over heels in love with you."

Bobby seemed to finally understand. "That's not you."

"No." She slid the engagement ring off her finger and then set it on the coffee table. "I'm sorry."

He stared at the ring. "I knew. Even before I proposed... I knew that something wasn't right. I guess I hoped that a wedding would fix it."

"I'm just as much to blame," she said. "I should have never accepted."

"Is it strange that I'm not even upset? I guess that's a sign, huh?"

"Yeah. Better that we figured it out now, than ten years from now."

He nodded solemnly in agreement.

One day, she would tell him the rest of the story. About Remy, and everything she had been running from. She wanted Bobby to understand how much she had appreciated his friendship at a very dark time in her life.

"So, what now?" he asked. "Are you going to move in with Logan?"

She shook her head. "I'm going to ask Storm for another apartment, and then pack up my stuff."

"Do you want help moving it?"

"I'd like that, thanks."

xxx

Storm was sympathetic, although puzzled by Marie's seemingly sudden change of heart. Thankfully, she was also too polite to ask for details. If she had put two and two together about the letter to Anna-Marie LeBeau and the woman standing in front of her, she didn't mention it.

Because the school was so insular, news about the break-up had gotten around fast. By the time Marie left Storm's office with her new key in hand, Jubilee had not only already heard what had happened, but she was waiting to intercept Marie in the hall.

"Spill!"

Marie knew she had forgotten something. "I'm really sorry I missed the party."

Jubilee waved her hands. "No one cares about that! I want to know what happened in Mississippi. I thought you and Bobby were the real deal. One week away from the mansion was all it took to decide that you weren't in love with him anymore?"

"Kind of?" Marie looked around. In that mansion, the walls had ears. No way was she going to have a private conversation while out in the open. "Let's go to your room."

They sat on Jubilee's bed, and Marie tried to decide how many details she wanted to give up. Part of her was itching to tell someone, and while technically, Logan knew everything, he was, well...Logan. A guy. And sometimes, Marie felt like she needed a female perspective.

"If I tell you—"

"Steel trap," Jubilee said. "And I throw away the key." She mimed locking her lips and discarding the key.

"I mean it," Marie insisted. "No one else knows this besides Logan, and he sure as hell isn't going to let it slip."

"Yeah, yeah, if it gets out, you'll know it was me. I've heard it all before."

Marie reluctantly began. "I had a life before I came to the mansion."

"Didn't we all?"

Technically, but Marie suspected that hers had been a little different. "I was married."

"But didn't you turn eighteen after you got here?"

Marie nodded. "I was seventeen at the time. We had parental consent, so it was legal."

"Holy shit."

"Anyway—"

"Oh my god, did you flee from him? And then he found you when you went back home? Were you in one of those religious cults?" Jubilee dropped her voice. "Are you in trouble? Because we both know a guy with claws and a severely flawed sense of morals who can help."

"Okay, I don't think Logan would appreciate that, for one," Marie said. Even if it was kind of true. "And two, no, it wasn't like that. And there wasn't any cult." Jubilee watched too much TV.

"Hey, it was a good guess."

Marie rolled her eyes. "I don't want to get into all of the details right now, but my mutation and the way it manifested was part of why I left. The other part of it was me just being young and not knowing how to deal with certain things. Or how to be an adult, basically. It wasn't anything that Remy did."

"'Remy'? Is that his name?"

Marie nodded. "We were childhood sweethearts."

"Ooh!" She gasped excitedly. "Did you see him when you went back?"

"Yeah. We had a lot to talk about."

"I'll bet. Is he hot?" Jubilee asked.

"Of course you would want to know that." Marie opened the photo gallery on her phone. She had taken a picture of the photo that had been on the mantel. "This was taken a few months before we were married."

Jubilee squeed. "You two were so cute."

"This is our house—well was." And then she showed Jubilee the selfie that Remy had taken in the kitchen.

Jubilee practically drooled on the screen. "Hubba hubba. Yeah, no offense to Bobby, 'cause he's good-looking, but this guy's in a whole other league."

"All right, that's enough." Marie took her phone back. "Anyway, now you know. And honestly? Seeing Remy again made me remember how you're supposed to feel about the man you're marrying. I kind of already knew it was over with Bobby before I left, I just didn't want to admit it."

"Wait a minute..." Jubilee looked like she was doing some mental math. "If you ran away, then does that mean that you're still married?"

Reluctantly, Marie answered, "Yes."

"So...how was that going to work with Bobby if you hadn't gone home?"

If Marie had gotten that far, she would've married Bobby using her official alias. It would have helped her separate her two lives, but she still would have felt like a fraud. "I don't know, Jubes. It probably wouldn't have."

Jubilee thought about this and then nodded. "No wonder it took you so long to accept his proposal. I just thought, you know, skin."

Some other time, Marie would tell Jubilee about her powers coming back. She'd have to tell Storm and the rest of the team as well. As much as she wasn't looking forward to having people avoid her in the halls again, she would deal with it if it meant that she could actually train to use her mutation the way she had done with Remy. But for now, the conversation could wait.

"I know that you were looking forward to helping me with the wedding, and I appreciate everything that—"

"Rogue, seriously. It's a little messed up that I was more excited for your wedding than you were. I get it, so don't worry. I'll find another project to work on."

God help them all.

Later that night, Marie sat on the couch in her new living room. Because of the nature of the school, mutants came and went, and they were prepared for all occasions. She had opted to move into one of the furnished suites for the time being. That way, she didn't have to immediately go out and buy new furnishings. It made her almost wish that she hadn't just donated almost an entire household's worth of items, but shipping them all up to New York would have been expensive. Plus, she wouldn't have wanted it to feel like she was trying to recreate her former life.

It was the same reason she'd turned down Bobby's offer to let her take whatever furniture or kitchen items from the apartment that she wanted. She was going to start all over, from scratch, and make her next apartment her own.

Once the initial shock had worn off, Bobby had seemed happier, almost lighter, than she'd seen him in a while. He was relieved, she realized. The breakup had been a long time coming, and she had done what he hadn't been able to by telling him that it was okay to pursue a future that didn't have her in it.

If only it was that easy letting go of Remy. Maybe Marie would never be able to forget him. People said that about first loves, didn't they? It would be completely normal if she thought about him from time to time.

Because she had nothing else to do, and apparently hated herself, she browsed some baby name websites. When she found one she liked, she texted it to Remy on a whim.

He countered an hour later with, Augustin.

It was the same problem they'd originally had. After they had ruled out most of the family names, Remy kept pushing for a French-sounding name, and Marie was never sure if he was serious, or just doing it to see if any of them would stick.

She sent back another. Emmett

That is a great name, he replied.

That was easy. She was typing out a thank you, when the rest of his response came in.

For an otter.

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to him to remember the character from her favorite Christmas movie as a child.

He spelled his name with one 't', not two, she informed him.

Still a no.

Marie smiled. Curiously, some of the pressure she'd felt in her chest since coming back had eased.