Finding A Way Around Pride

Eighteenfreaks: Thanks! I definitely think that she would feel free and happy without her mutation, but I don't believe she would jump off the deep end and become a stripper or something crazy like that.

Lady Serpentina: Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot! He isn't acting himself - Its all apart of my plan! Mwahaha!! And I share your Jean sentiments exactly. Actually I've never liked her at all, not just in the movies, haha.

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Wolverine and Storm looked at the young woman like the question that had just left her lips was the stupidest thing she had ever said. Which it was, she knew. Rogue was almost positive, upon leaving the mansion, that they would send someone after her. When she hadn’t heard anything after a few days, though, she had begun to dwell on the other thoughts she had. If she got the cure, would she be allowed back? Would they even want her back? After all, it was an academy for mutants. To quell the sadness rising in her breast at the loss she had determinedly reminded herself of everything that had happened to her since her mutation sprang forth, not just what had happened on Saturday. That had merely been the straw that broke her back.

“What’d’ya mean, ‘What are we doin’ here’?” Wolverine asked, mimicking her drawl in an irritated fashion.

Storm gave him a side long glance, silently reminding him that the reason for his anger was not all to blame on the girl. His jaw muscles visibly contracted.

“You know why we’re here, Rogue. May we come in?” Storm asked in a polite tone.

The light in Rogue’s eyes flared with joy and reflected hope. The two older X-Men were glad to see it. When a guarded look replaced it like a shroud, reminding them of the Rogue that had lived at the mansion all those years, they were confused. They both knew they had a story to hear from the southerner and that the only way to receive it was to put on their best face.

“I’m sorry, please – come in.” she apologized for her lack of hospitality and opened the door wide.

The inside of the small apartment was just as shocking to them as Rogue’s appearance. A dirty, rundown shack of a living space was what they had expected, after their brief tour of the building on the way to the apartment. What greeted them, however, was a quaint little pad that obviously belonged to a young woman. Even though it had the look of something poor-turned-hospitable, it was such a contrast to the hallway outside that you didn’t even notice the bare spots on the walls where someone had obviously scrubbed the life out of something that had stained them. Or the cracks running through the kitchen cabinets that had been masked with happy yellow paint. Even the decades-out-of-date shag rug covering the hand-scrubbed linoleum looked welcoming.

Rogue directed them to sit on a threadbare, but comfy couch beneath a once-grimy window, and sat herself opposite them in a mismatching armchair.

“You want to know where I went…what I’ve been doing.” Rogue stated, not bothering to make it a question, because she knew the answer to that question as well.

“I always said you were a smart kid.” Wolverine muttered, lifting a corner of his mouth just enough to soften the remark.

She took a big breath, seemed to be in silent conversation with her self, then let it out in a whoosh of conviction.

Reaching across the space – which was not very large, due to the small size of her abode – she took Storm’s hand. As she had expected, Storm flinched, minimal as the automatic reaction had been. She would have taken Wolverine’s because she knew he wasn’t afraid of her mutation, but she didn’t have the courage now.

Nothing happened.

Nothing happened to Storm, and nothing happened in the small living room for what seemed hours.

She didn’t have the courage to take Wolverine’s hand and show him that he could touch her without fearing death.

Storm closed her hand around the girl’s in slow moving astonishment.

She lacked the courage to have it proven that Wolverine didn’t recognize her love and reciprocate because of her – Marie – and not her mutation.

“What have you done, Marie?” Wolverine whispered the gruff words into the silence.

Courage failed her when it became impossible for her to hide from the truth behind her mutation.

“What have you done?” he yelled in her face and snatched her hand from the motionless Storm.

He pressed it to his face, much as he had done at the top of Lady Liberty, and when his veins didn’t swell with the rush of power to her touch he grabbed her chin. Forcing her eyes to his he demanded an answer with his expression.

“I got the cure.” She told him. She had meant for this moment – this…this confession – to come out calm and without remorse. But her voice was strangled and her second thoughts shone through.

Storm saw the carefree, touchable Rogue slipping from their safe new grasp and rushed to throw her arms around her.

The effect was immediate and Storm knew it was due to her physical acceptance of Rogue’s decision. It also helped that it was the first time someone had hugged without abandon. She could feel Wolverine’s eyes boring into her back, as if she were a shield to the young woman in her arms. When she felt confident that Rogue was away from the edge of that cliff of despair she leaned back, gave her a smile, and regained her seat on the couch.

“Now, let us be calm about this. It is not the end of the world.” Storm said wisely.

“It’s the end of somethin’.” Wolverine muttered, but glared in mutinous silence at Storm’s look.

“Please start at the beginning, Rogue.” The older woman asked kindly.

Rogue took a deep breath and directed a shaky smile at the floor.

“I saw the news report about the cure on Saturday after … what had happened earlier. I didn’t make the decision for him, though!” she shouted, rushing to get the words out of her mouth before Wolverine could say anything – which he was about to do.

“It was just the last straw…I didn’t see why I should waste time thinking about it, so I left immediately. I went straight to the clinic in New York City and waited in line all night. It seemed that it was so popular that they kept the clinic open on Sunday.” She said with a wry smile.

“Figures.” Came Wolverine’s growl.

“It hurt…burned like fire through my blood. Afterwards I was a little disoriented but another girl who took the cure, she helped. Her name’s Anna – she’s my roommate here. She’s very sweet.” She said with a happy smile.

“Why did you come all the way to Philadelphia, though? And why didn’t you tell anyone or contact us?” Storm said, about to expound on how worried she had been, but she didn’t want to upset Rogue.

“Well, we came here because its where Anna’s originally from Philly. She was one her way to Xavier’s for help when she heard the news and decided to get the cure.” She explained and they could tell she was avoiding answering Storm’s second inquiry.

“Why no word? You thought we just wouldn’t notice you’d left?” Wolverine demanded and ignored the look Storm gave him that read ‘hypocrite’ all over it.

“I…I figured that everyone would tell me not to and I couldn’t bear to hear that when I wanted the cure so much. I didn’t want to face the disappointment. And I thought that since Xavier’s was a school for mutants…I wouldn’t be welcome anymore…since I’d be human.” She explained softly to her hands clasped nervously in her lap.

“Stupid girl. So you run off without a damned word, worry everyone sick and decide to never come back ‘cause you think we wouldn’t want you there?” the Wolverine yelled incredulously, “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard! Didn’t you take into account that there are people at that school who care about you? We don’t keep you around ‘cause of your fuckin’ mutation, Marie.”

Rogue recoiled against the back of her arm chair. Wolverine had never spoken to her like that. She didn’t know whether to have her feelings hurt because of his words, or to feel elated that he cared so much. Storm took notice of her obvious conflict and intervened neatly.

“What Logan is trying to say is that we care about you, Rogue. We may have negative sentiments about the cure, but if it makes you happy then we would not oppose you. As for belonging in the mansion - the Xavier Institute will always be a home to you, Rogue.” Storm explained in a gentler manner than her fellow X-Man.

The glaze that covered her luminescent green eyes ensured Storm that the chances of Rogue returning home with them were significant. She breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her gaze to smile brightly at them.

“I’m so glad…You don’t know what it means to me to have a home and family…unconditionally.” She whispered.

“That mean you’re comin’ home?” Wolverine asked, although it was more of a statement because he was sure that, of course, she would come home. That’s where she belonged.

Silence.

Storm and Wolverine stared expectantly at her. He began to grow irritated at her lack of an immediate, enthusiastic response.

“No. I’m not.” She told them firmly, despite the fact that her hands were bunched in scared fists in her lap.