19 January

"Eating something you don't want to."

"Hey Ally, have you see Hank?"

"No ... why?" she asked in response.

"Ah need his help on mah Biology homework. He ain't in his room like he usually is."

"He might be in the rec room with Bobby," Ally suggested with a shrug. She didn't give Rogue a chance to speak further and continued walking down the hallway toward her room.

Rogue sighed, but decided to take Ally's word and trudged down to the room she hardly knew at all. She peeked inside and knew instantly that Ally had been wrong. "Uh, hi guys. Any of ya know where Hank is?"

Bobby looked up from the television screen and gave Rogue a shake of his head. Remy and Scott paused their pool game.

"What do you need him for?" Scott asked.

"Biology homework," Rogue said. "He's usually the one t' give me a hand." Her eyes wandered from Scott to Remy, absently wondering if he would be able to help her as well as Hank. She doubted it, seeing as Remy wasn't in school, but she hadn't really hung out with Remy in a long time.

"Good luck, chere," Remy said unhelpfully. He turned back to the table, calculating his next move.

A little frustrated, Rogue turned back around and wandered slowly through the hallways. She couldn't figure out how such a big guy like Hank could disappear so thoroughly. Even those that knew him well didn't know where he could be.

Then, on her way past the kitchen, she heard noises that were certainly out of place for the time of night. Everyone had already had dinner, so why was someone rooting through pots and pans and other noisy items?

Rogue poked her head through the doorway, and then smiled when she saw exactly whom she had been looking for. "Hey! What ... are ya doin'?" She slowly walked up to Hank's side, peering at the object of his interest.

"Cooking," he replied cheerfully. "Or, more specifically, baking."

"Ah di'n't know you baked."

"I don't," Hank agreed. "Consider this an experiment."

"Cookies ... an experiment?"

"I thought I'd add a few extra ingredients for longer lasting freshness. Usually cookies get soggy when put away or hard and stale when left out. Either way you treat these cookies, they should taste just as good as if they came right out of the oven not even an hour ago."

Rogue swallowed. "And ... what are these ingredients?"

Hank leveled a serious stare at her. "If I told you, then I'd have to kill you."

She jumped back. "What?"

He smiled and chuckled. "No, it's my little secret for right now. Want one?"

Rogue held up her hand, rejecting his offer too quickly to think about his feelings. "Nah, Ah'm full. But thank -"

Hank cut her off, shoving a cookie in her face. "It tastes like the real thing, but it'll last longer."

"Yeah, but is it healthy?" Rogue shot back.

"Of course not! It's a cookie!"

"No, Ah'm good."

"I can't take no for an answer."

The look in his blue eyes was innocent enough, Rogue decided. A little afraid, she took the cookie from his oversized hand, and took a small bite out of the edge. Chewing it and swallowing it, she met his eyes.

"Well?"

"Unless you bake a mean cookie, this the best cookie I've ever had."

She was rewarded with a gleeful grin.