Jane Bayfield gazed at the man beside her who was watching the baseball game intently. The young boy at bat hit the ball and the man was suddenly on his feet screaming “Yes! Run Tommy!” She also rose from her seat on the bleachers to encourage the boy to run his hardest. He made it to second base safely and the next boy went up to bat.
“I see all of that extra practice has really helped Tommy,” she approved softly. The man turned to her and smiled before giving her a quick kiss and whispering “I think having a mother has really helped him, too.”
Jane’s eyes teared up at this comment and she could barely get out a “Thank you, Mike.” Through her suddenly tight throat. She had been trying really hard to be a good mother for Tommy the past year and a half, and her fiance’s approval meant a lot to her.
Jane had met Mike two years ago shortly after she had moved from her home in Pennsylvania to Florida for a job teaching at an elementary school. He had accidentally hit her and her bike with his car and waited with her in the emergency room for 3 hours to get her arm x-rayed. She ended up with a broken arm and a date with the man who would become her fiance.
Jane moved in with Mike and his now five year old son six months later, and she had been working hard to make their little family work. Mike’s first wife, Caroline had left them when Tommy was only 2, so he had few memories of her and considered Jane to be his mother. The first time Tommy had called her ‘Mommy’ she had actually cried with joy. Now they were watching Tommy play his first little league game, just six months away from their wedding.
They decided two months ago when they got engaged to have a small ceremony with just friends and a few of Mike’s relatives as both of Jane’s parents had died several years before. She had never imagined getting married so young (she had just turned twenty-three) but she loved Mike and Tommy, although sometimes she wondered if she loved the normalcy of their little family more than anything.
Her childhood and teenage years had been blissfully normal but sometimes in the back of her mind she felt as if she had endured a lifetime of hardship, and it was this feeling that compelled her to seek out a normal life with a normal job and a normal family. But sometimes she felt like she didn’t quite belong in this suburban setting, as if she were destined for something more in life.
A yell of excitement from beside her jolted Jane out of her thoughts and she realized that Tommy had made it to home. She got up and clapped with Mike, pushing all of her doubts from her mind.

§––––––––––§

“Alright Tommy, keep your eye on the ball,” Mike said knowingly before throwing the ball softly towards Tommy. The small boy grabbed for it with his glove but missed. “That’s okay son, just let the ball come to you. Now throw it back; that’s it, aim with your glove.” Mike encouraged. Jane smiled from her spot on the deck, enjoying the interaction between her ‘boys.’ The idea of playing catch in the backyard seemed so small town and adorable to her. That is until she caught a rogue ball to the temple.
{‘Come on, I’ll take care of you.’ he said softly. ‘Ya promise?’ she asked in her southern drawl. ‘Yeah, yeah I promise...’}
“Jane... Jane, are you alright?!?” she opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Mike whose eyes were filled with worry, and Tommy, who looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I’m weally sawwy Mommy!” Tommy choked out.
“Oh honey, it’s alright, Mommy is just fine!” Jane assured the wild eyed little boy. She sat up slowly with her hand pressed against the tender spot on her temple.
“Why don’t you go get Mommy an ice pack, buddy?” Mike asked the frantic child and when he was out of earshot he turned to her “Jane, I think we should go to the hospital, you might have a concussion, you got hit right in a soft spot,”
“No, really I’m fine,” she affirmed, shaking off the odd voices she had just heard in her head.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jane said in a mock serious voice. She was trying to chase down a giggling Tommy and get him dressed for kindergarten.

“AH! Gotcha!” Mike yelled, turning a squirming Tommy upside down and carrying him over to Jane who took him in her arms. “How’s your head Jane?” he asked quietly so as not to upset Tommy “Oh, it’s fine” she replied despite the dull ache that still came from the lump on her temple “Good, well I will see you both later.” He said, giving them each a kiss before setting out for work.

“Honey, remember the cake tasting today at four, okay?” Jane reminded him.

“I’ll be there!” Mike said grinning.

Jane put Tommy down and said “You, mister need to get ready for school or we’re gonna be late.”

“I doan wanna go ta schoo Mommy!” Tommy whined.

Jane laughed at him, not believing that he was already sick of school. He would be like her by high school, never wanting to drag herself downstairs for classes... Huh? What was she thinking? She had lived in a one story house miles from the high school that she drove to everyday in her beat up civic. Where in the world had she gotten that idea from?

“Mommy, I think it’s time ta go.” Tommy was suddenly in front of her again, fully dressed, dragging his small backpack behind him. She blinked several times before smiling “I think you’re right sweetie!”


They arrived at school a mere ten minutes before the bell and Jane rushed to drop Tommy off at his classroom in the kindergarten hallway before making her way to her 4th grade classroom. Her students, as usual, were all talking animatedly when she walked into class but quickly turned to the front as she commanded their attention gently. She had frequently overheard student conversations about her being the favorite fourth grade teacher and so even on her worst days, she never raised her voice unnecessarily, but rather coaxed in a soft manner which had proved effective over her past 2 years of teaching.

“Alright everyone, let’s get out our projects and continue presenting. Billy, it’s your turn,”

Billy walked eagerly to the front of the class, poster board in hand. “Well, I decided that I would do my project the weasel family because my ferret Ned is a part of it,” Billy began, unfurling his poster board “the real name of the weasel family is the Mustelidae family but everyone calls it the weasel family. Other animals in this family are otters, badgers, and wolverines.”

{‘What kind of a name is Wolverine?’ she said with a soft southern accent}

She shook her head to rid it of the voice that was somehow so familiar. She would swear the southern accented voice was her own but she had never spoken with an accent, especially not a southern one. She was from Pennsylvania for god’s sake!

“The wolverine lives in many places but it is mostly in Siberia, Alaska, and Canada,”

Jane inhaled sharply as a vision suddenly popped into her head. She was sitting in a grimy bar watching men fight in a cage. One man started kicking the other man who suddenly rose up and leveled him quickly before raising his head. Jane felt her breath catch at the attraction she felt for this wild looking man. “Ladies and gentlemen, tonight’s winner and still king of the cage The Wolverine,” The announcer said in an almost bored fashion over the many boos.

The scene in her head suddenly jumped and she was sitting in a truck beside the wild looking man from the cage fight hearing herself ask “What kind of a name is Wolverine?” “My name’s Logan,” he replied with in a soft yet gruff voice that brought goosebumps to her skin and sent tingles up her spine in the most pleasant way.

She gasped as the classroom came back into focus “Logan,” she breathed out. The name made her heart ache and yet she couldn’t remember ever meeting a Logan.
She decided that maybe she did need to go to the doctor since she appeared to be hallucinating so after Billy’s presentation was finished, she called the office and had a sub come take over her class so that she could leave. She arranged for a ride home for Tommy and called Mike to let him know that she was going to the doctor’s office. He wanted to join her but she assured him that she was fine by herself.

As a walk in appointment, she was forced to sit in the uncomfortable waiting room with nothing to do but watch the news or read four year old magazines. She chose the former, leaning back and trying to pay attention to keep her mind off of the scenes that she had witnessed earlier in her mind.

“...75 degrees and sunny. Back to you Nancy,” the weatherman finished and the screen cut back to ‘Nancy,’ who was wearing a light pink suit and somehow managed to look serious and friendly at the same time.

“Thanks Jim. The top story today revolves around the ongoing issue over the controversial Mutant Registration Act,”

{‘It’s nothing personal it’s just that when people touch my skin, something happens,’
‘What?’
‘Ah dunno, they just get hurt.’}

“Dr. Hank McCoy captivated the press today with a touching account of the mistreatment of children who were found to have the X gene, including a personal account about a young woman who was killed by mutant protesters. When asked to identify the woman, all he would say was ‘She was a friend,’.”

She turned away from the television as tears pricked her eyes, wondering why the furry mutant’s speech was having such an effect on her, and why it had triggered another delusion. Suddenly, she was afraid that maybe she was a mutant whose powers were triggered by her recent head injury, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind, chiding herself for being silly. She closed her eyes and waited for the nurse to call her name.

§–––––w34;–––––§


“So they said what exactly?” Mike asked with concern as they walked towards the bakery where they would be tasting cakes for their wedding.

“Doctor Kline said that I have a mild concussion which is probably what is causing these odd hallucinations that I’ve been having since yesterday,” she said “And don’t you dare say I told you so,” she said playfully as she saw him open his mouth.

He smiled at her before saying softly “Well I did tell you,” which earned him a playful slap on the arm from Jane.

“How dare you be mean to your poor concussed fiance.” Jane said, sticking her bottom lip out and achieving the puppy dog look.

“Aw, you know I’m just teasing baby.” Mike said as he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. She really loved their playful banter, but it was so easy to get him with her puppy dog look that she just couldn’t help herself. It was comfortable, these moments of theirs.

{‘When they come out, does it hurt?’ The now familiar southern accented voice asked.
‘Everytime.’ The gruff voice responded quietly. She had a feeling that she had never shared that with anyone before.}

She pulled back from Mike and put her hand on her forehead, willing these visions to stop. The smile slid from Mike’s face as he observed her reaction. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern etching his face. “Fine,” she responded unconvincingly. “What is it exactly that you see and hear, Jane?” Mike asked, not unkindly, just curiously.

She sighed, “I don’t know really, mostly it’s just a conversation between a man and a woman,” she paused, suddenly not wanting to divulge her visions to Mike, although she didn’t know why, they just seemed personal somehow. He was looking expectantly at her and she smiled, “I don’t know, just silly little scenes in a truck and a cage fighting bar. I have such an imagination, maybe I should write a book,” she laughed.

Mike smiled back at her “Maybe,” he said “but right now we have some cake to taste.” He grabbed her hand and led them towards the door to the small bakery. She let him lead her along but her mind was trailing behind them, thinking of the wild, enchanting hazel eyes of the man in her head.

One month later.

“Jane!” Mike’s sister Helen called “your guests are looking for you,” she said smiling as she came up behind Jane fussing with a platter of food in the kitchen. “I’ll get that honey, you get out there, after all it is your engagement party.”

“Thanks Helen,” Jane said in a worn out voice, a headache was forming in her temples “I’ll see you out there.” She combed her fingers through her light brown hair as she pushed through the kitchen door and observed the 40 or so people milling about her and Mike’s home, amazed at how her small ‘a few friends and family’ wedding guest list had grown.

The wedding was a mere five months away, and this late engagement party was really a dry run to see if she could cater for this many people at her wedding or if she needed to splurge for a catering company. She was still trying to keep the wedding simple, but it seemed to grow more and more complicated as more people were added to the guest list. She sighed, realizing that a catering company would be necessary if she wanted to enjoy her wedding at all.

“Mommy!” she winced as Tommy yelled for her across the room and several people turned to look at the boy running up to her. “Tommy, you need to use your inside voice honey, okay?” she said when he reached her. “Okay mommy. Can I go play outside wif Meredith and Connor?” he asked motioning to his cousins excitedly.

“Of course darling but stay in the yard.” she responded. He started off before turning back to her “Do I haf to use my inside voice outside?” he asked. Jane laughed “No, honey you can use your outside voice.” He bounded off just as Mike walked up to her.

“Helen told me that we’re ready for dinner outside,” he offered “You ready for the ‘thank you for coming’ speech?” he asked with a smile as he swung his arm around her waist. “I’m ready for bed,” she sighed “but I guess that thank you’s and dinner come before that.” Jane smiled tiredly as she rubbed her aching temples.

§––––––––––§


In the backyard, Mike stood from his seat and tapped his glass, commanding the attention of everyone present, “Before dinner is served, Jane and I would like to thank you all for coming,” he began and Jane slowly stood despite the near blinding headache that was pounding through her head “It really means a lot to us that...” Jane was suddenly pulled hard into the truck scene {‘Ah’m Rogue’ ‘Were ya in the army? Doesn... doesn’t that mean you were in tha army?’ she asked nodding towards his dog tags. He didn’t respond.}

She blinked as the people around her came back into focus. Shit. This could not be happening again. It had been a month since her last hallucination and she was not about to let them come back. Mike finished saying whatever he had been saying and turned to her “Would you like to say anything honey?” he asked her.

“I...” She was pulled into a vision of the truck once more. {‘So what kind of a name is Rogue?’ the man asked. ‘Ah dunno, what kind of a name is Wolverine?’ the woman retorted. ‘My name’s Logan,’ he said after a pause. ‘Marie,’ she offered back as she glanced at the side mirror, seeing long dark brown hair framing large brown eyes set in a pale, young face. Jane’s face.}

It was as if a floodgate had been opened in her mind and she heard a million people saying her name “Rogue, Rogue, Rogue,” as visions, or rather memories swirled in her head. She heard a million “Rogues” but only one “Marie” and Logan’s face swam to the front of her mind before being swept away as memories came in and shattered the carefully constructed illusion that was her past, replacing those false, happy memories with memories of a far less pleasant nature.

She remembered her home in Mississippi, her energy sucking powers developing, her parents kicking her out, hitch hiking across the United States and Canada. She remembered meeting Logan and Sabretooth’s attack. She remembered the Mansion and Professor X and Jean and Scott and Ororo and Bobby and John and Kitty and Jubilee and Hank and a hundred other people. She remembered Magneto’s attempt to use her, she remembered her white striped hair, and Logan saving her from Magneto’s machine. She remembered Alkali Lake and how they had all barely escaped alive. She remembered Scott and Jean’s wedding, gaining some control of her powers, her budding relationship with Logan, her 20th birthday, and then... nothing. That was all she remembered. She had no idea what happened after that or how she had ended up where she was.

Suddenly she was back beside Mike, leaning against the table in front of her, gasping for air. “Jane!” He yelled, grabbing onto her arm and steadying her, asking “Are you alright?”

She looked up to see that people had risen from their chairs in alarm. “Jane?” Mike said questioningly. She looked at him and at the people around her, realizing with a start that the sense of normalcy and family she had longed for had been fabricated in her mind by whoever had created Jane Bayfield. As much as she cared for Mike and Tommy, she realized that they could never be a part of her life in the way that they wanted. They needed a Jane Bayfield, but it wasn’t her.

She was a deadly mutant who fought alongside the X-men. She was the Rogue. She could only imagine having a family with one man. Logan’s face once again came into her mind, and she knew that she had to find him, and hopefully find out what had happened to her over three years ago. But before she could do that she needed to rectify the situation at hand.

“Jane?” Mike’s voice cut through her thoughts once again.

“Ah’m sorry Mike, but Ah can’t do this,” She said in the drawl she now recognized as her own. He looked confused not only by her voice but also by the sentence that she had just uttered.

“Wha... What do you... Jane?” he said questioningly, drawing back from her and looking at her as though she was a stranger, which she was. Everyone broke into shocked whispers of confusion. She turned to them all “Ah’m really sorry everyone, but Ah just can’t go through with this, Ah’m... Ah’m too young.” she said, trying to offer the simplest explanation without revealing that she was a mutant.

“Why don’t you tell these nice people the truth?” Helen said, swaying towards Rogue, eyes flashing a gold-yellow color. She knew those eyes.

“Mystique!” she hissed.

“Well, I see you’ve gotten your memories back. Pity. We thought that you would have a nice storybook ending, but it seems like I’m gonna have to kill you after all.” She said with an unforgiving smirk.

“Wha... what do ya mean? Why am Ah here?” Rogue asked, genuinely confused.

Mystique’s smirk faltered as she realized that Rogue didn’t remember quite as much as she thought. Perhaps she had revealed herself too soon.

Mike looked between the two women, “Helen... Jane... what the hell is going on?” Mike yelled in exasperation.

“She’s not your sister Mike.” Rogue said.

Mike looked over at Mystique who simply shrugged and quipped “In all fairness, she’s not your fiance,” before morphing into Rogue as she had been three years ago, complete with white streaks framing her face and leather gloves to her elbows. “She’s the Rogue,” she mocked before changing back into her blue scaled form. “And she’s a mutant.” She finished amongst shocked yells and a panic of people rushing away from the two of them.

Mystique lunged towards Rogue who instinctively spun away and managed to get in a well placed kick before Mystique had fully turned back to her. Mystique blocked her next punch and threw one of her own, landing it right between Rogue’s eyes.

Before Rogue could recover, Mystique had her pinned to a tree by her neck, “I knew we should have just killed you before, it would have saved me a lot of trouble.” Mystique whispered sinisterly, tightening her grip and completely cutting off Rogue’s airway. Terror welled inside of Rogue and just as black spots began to blur her vision, she heard a thunk and Mystique fell to the ground, revealing Mike holding a piece of wood.

“Mommy, what’s going on?!” a frightened Tommy ran towards her clutching frantically at her dress, begging her to pick him up. She grabbed him and shoved him towards Mike shouting “Run!” as she took off towards the house. “Where are we going?” Mike asked, trying to keep pace with her. “We aren’t goin’ anywhere, you two are. Ah want you to drive to your parents house in South Carolina and stay there for at least two weeks.” She told him as she pushed them towards the garage amongst frightened, running guests.

“Jane, please come with us,” Mike pleaded “I don’t care that you’re a mutant, I lo-”

“Ah’m not Jane.” She said harshly, cutting him off before he said that four letter word that would make her feel even worse. She sighed at the shocked look on Mike’s face and softened her tone, “Look Mike, Ah really do care about you and Tommy but Ah’m just not the woman that you fell in love with, and Ah... Ah love someone else. I’m sorry but you need to go, it’s for your own safety.” He looked crestfallen at this explanation but toughened when he realized that his son would be in danger if they stayed there.

She gave him a smile and dropped a kiss on Tommy’s head whispering “I will always love you,” before pushing them towards the SUV and jumping into the Accord. She figured they had mere minutes before Mystique woke up and summoned Magneto or whomever she worked for nowadays.

As they simultaneously pulled out of the garage, Mike yelled out his window “Jane... what’s your real name?” she paused before saying “Marie, my name’s Marie. Goodbye Mike.”

“Goodbye, Jane.” He replied, saying goodbye to the facade that he was in love with, releasing her from past promises.

Jane Bayfield was dead.

§––––––––––§

Drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. She told herself mentally to keep from sinking wholly into her newfound memories and wrecking the car. That was all she needed now, what with Mystique probably hot on her tail.

She didn’t have to think twice about where she was going, since nowhere sounded safer or would offer more clues to her missing past than Xavier’s School for the Gifted. The Mansion. Suddenly she was nervous. What if something had happened to everyone at Xavier’s too? What if the school was gone? What if Logan was gone?

She hadn’t paid much attention to mutant issues while she was playing house besides that newscast she had seen of Hank at the doctor’s office, so she didn’t have much of an idea of what was going on in her world. A wave of depression seeped into her mind as she mulled these thoughts over. “No,” she finally said out loud. Everyone would be fine. When she got back to the Mansion, everything would go back to normal. Well, as normal as things always were at a home for displaced mutants. Yes, that’s right. Everything would be just fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine...

He stopped for the night at an unobtrusive motel and made good use of the dingy bar downstairs, getting as drunk as was possible with his healing powers. He had been there for about 20 minutes and was just starting in on his second bottle of whiskey when he caught her scent. His head shot up and he saw her walk out of the side door of the bar and into the night. Logan was up off his chair and out of the door in mere seconds. She was standing by a truck talking to someone through the rolled down window.

How could this be? She was dead... but then who was that woman who looked like her and smelled like her? Who was it if not Rogue? His Marie?

He started to walk swiftly towards her calling out “Marie!” as he broke into a run.

She looked towards him in confusion “Logan?” she asked before slowly opening her arms towards him and smiling “Logan!”

He was five feet from her when her face suddenly altered into a grimace of pain. He stopped running at her expression and followed her eyes to her hands. The flesh was melting off of her hands and arms, exposing bone. He looked back to her face “Marie?”

“Logan, what have you done to me?” She accused as her face started to melt away “You killed me, Logan! You killed me!” She screamed at him.

He reached out towards her trying to hold her, to fix her but there was nothing to do, and she melted away into nothingness before his eyes.

The truck door opened and a shadowy man stepped out, looking at the place where Marie had been standing before glancing towards Logan “You never should have brought her here, Wolverine. It’s your own fault that she’s dead.” The man said as he started to step from the shadows...

Logan bolted up in bed, trying to calm himself enough to retract his claws. It was just a dream. She was dead, always dead. Although his dreams tried to bring her back to life, the Wolverine inside of him never let him forget that it was his fault she was gone, his fault that she had gotten tangled up with those people in the first place.

He got up from the small bed and walked to the window of the dingy motel room trying to remember the last time he had slept through the night. It had to have been that last night with Rogue. He had woken up with his arm wrapped around her waist, never guessing that it would be one of the last moments of peace he would have.

Although it wasn’t yet five o’clock in the morning, he knew it was time to get back on the road as he would never be able to sleep more that night.

Endless, empty road stretched before Logan as he road into the morning. It had been over two years since her death but he could still smell her soft scent in his mind, still feel her arms wrapping around his waist from behind him on the bike, still taste her sweet lips as they pressed against his own.... He tortured himself with thoughts of her. It was his own personal form of punishment for the part he played in her death.

Sure, he hadn’t struck the blow that had ended her life, but if he hadn’t left her alone that day...

He shook his head to rid it of thoughts of her, instead concentrating on the white lines on the road as they disappeared beneath the tires of his motorcycle. He had no place to go, no one to see, nothing to do but to try to outrun the past.

The gates to the Mansion looked the same as they always had, well kept and imposing. “That’s a good sign,” Marie muttered to herself. She had driven straight through the night and the next morning, as she had been too afraid to stop for the night. She figured the sooner she got to the Mansion, the better.

Well, now she was here and she could not seem to get up the nerve to drive up the long driveway and into the place that she had called home for so many years. Finally she entered her personal gate passcode, half expecting it not to work, but it did and the gate opened smoothly leaving nothing in her path.

Tentatively she drove forward, eyes searching the grounds as she went. There was no one outside, but she had expected that since it was nearly dinnertime in the Mansion and everyone would either be cooking or doing homework. Or gossiping, which was usually what Jubilee would do everyday when they were in school. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she remembered all the trouble she and Jubilee (and more often than not Kitty) had gotten into years ago.

She found herself automatically braking and was surprised to see that she was already at the Mansion’s large garage. She walked in through an open garage door and made her way towards the door leading inside. Slowly, she turned the handle and let herself in, looking around for anything that may be out of order, but nothing was. A clatter in the kitchen followed by a child’s voice saying “Oh, man!” had her on guard and she walked swiftly into the kitchen, surprising a young girl who had apparently knocked over some pots and pans.

“Are you a friend of Ms. Munroe’s?” The girl, who looked to be about eight, asked.

“Ah- yes Ah am. Would ya like some help with those?” Marie motioned towards the two large bowls that the girl was trying to unsuccessfully carry.

“Wow, would I. It’s my turn to help in the kitchen and everyone else who is helping has already gone to the dining room with their trays of food.” The girl explained in a disturbingly chipper manner as she handed a bowl to Marie. “Come on, we’re already late,” she said over her shoulder as she rushed towards the dining room.

When Marie got to the entrance to the dining room, she saw a smiling Storm take the bowl and ask the little girl a question. The girl answered and pointed towards the doorway before skipping off, and Storm looked up.

Marie saw her friends eyes take in her appearance from head to toe as she started to walk towards her. After Storm had taken just a few steps however, Rogue saw her eyes widen, as the smile slipped from her face, much like the bowl slipped from her fingers not a second later. The glass shattering as it hit the floor quieted the room and everyone stared first at Storm, then in the direction that she was staring: straight towards Marie.
§––––––––––§

There was a split second of shocked silence... and then they attacked. She heard Scott’s commanding yell and barely dodged a shot from his eyes. She saw Ororo hustling confused students towards the other doors. She felt Jean hold her still with her power. She saw Pete swing his metal covered arm towards her face and she squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that this was surely the end... until a commanding “Stop!” reverberated through the heads of everyone who was still present in the room.

Pete swung away from her and a surprised Jean dropped her hold. The whirring of Professor X’s wheelchair stopped right in front of her and she slowly opened her eyes to see him staring confusedly at her.

“Rogue? My God, it’s really you.” He said in the most shocked voice she had ever witnessed him using. A murmur broke out amongst those in the dining hall and she heard Jean say “But how?”

Why was everyone so shocked? she wondered. Sure she had been gone awhile but really- oh. They thought she was dead, obviously. How had she never thought of that possibility? This whole thing was just so unreal.

“Oh, Rogue! I can’t believe it!” Cried a pregnant woman, who she was shocked to realize was Kitty.

“Rogue?” The Professor questioned tentatively.

“Yes, Professor?” she answered in a voice that sounded much calmer than she actually felt.

“Would you like something to eat? It’s spaghetti night.” He said in the same voice he used to discuss biochemistry and politics.

That was about the last thing she expected the Professor to say, but at his words she realized just how very hungry she was. “That sounds perfect.” She said.

It was good to be home.

All through the meal Rogue felt eyes on her. Most were the eyes of her friends, some were the eyes of the older students, and the rest were the eyes of the students who were too young to remember her but who were intrigued by the presence of a new adult, especially one who looked as comfortingly momish as she did at that moment.

She knew that even though her hair must look a mess and her face was probably beginning to bruise, her well coiffed light brown hair and simple make up screamed ‘Mommy’ to all of the younger children. Not to mention that she still wore the knee length powder blue skirt and white top with matching sweater that she had been wearing to her engagement party the evening before. And she still had on her engagement ring. She would have to get that back to Mike somehow.

After the meal the children retired to the lounge or their rooms and the X-men convened in Professor X’s office. Everything still looked the same but the people were different somehow, more mature.

Most obviously changed was Kitty who was rosy cheeked and glowing in her pregnant state with Colossus at her side, looking even bigger than the last time she saw him, if that was possible. Storm had her white locks cut in a bob style and had a scar along her jawline that Rogue didn’t recognize although it looked years old. Jean on the other hand had grown her hair out and dyed it a slightly less vibrant shade of red. She was perched on the edge of Scott’s arm chair and Scott had his arm resting around her waist in a comfortable manner. Scott actually looked too comfortable... well for Scott that is. It looked like marriage had chilled him out much for the better. The Professor was the only one of them who looked unchanged, as if time hadn’t touched him, although he must be over seventy by now.

“Rogue, what happened?” Kitty burst out once everyone had assembled.

“Ah was hopin’ ya’ll could tell me that,” Rogue said in a frustrated voice “until yesterday Ah was Jane Bayfield, elementary school teacher and mom extraordinaire.”

“Mom? Rogue do you have a baby?!?” Kitty squealed, rubbing her own belly unconsciously.

“No, Tommy is my fian- exfiance Mike’s son.”

“Rogue, what did you mean when you said you were Jane Bayfield?” The Professor asked.

“Ah mean exactly that, Ah was Jane Bayfield. Ah remember being born and raised in Pennsylvania and my parents dying in a car crash when Ah was 19. Ah remember my childhood best friend Sasha and Ah remember going to a fondue place on my 10th birthday. Ah remember attending the University of Pennsylvania and graduating cum laude with a degree in education. Ah have been living life as a completely different person for the past three years and Ah want to know why!” She said near tears now.

“What do you mean three years?” Jean asked quizzically “You’ve only been gone a little over two years. You die- disappeared shortly after you’re 21st birthday.”

“Wha- what do ya mean? Ah can’t remember anything past my 20th birthday...”

Everyone was silent for a moment. “Rogue, I think that I should take a look in your mind. To help you remember, and to help us figure out who did this to you.” The Professor said finally. “But for now, I think we should all get some rest.”

“Thank you professor, but Ah just have one more question.”

“What is it my dear?”

“Where’s Logan?”

“Well, that, Rogue is a question I can answer definitively: I have no idea.”

§––––––––––§

“Good morning, sunshine!” A voice said above Rogue much too cheerily and she struggled to open her eyes against the blinding light coming in through the window of a guest room. She finally settled for opening one eye and identified Kitty standing in the middle of the room, a large bag of clothing in her hands. “Pete wanted to carry these in to you but I told him we had some catching up to do. He’s so protective of me and the baby, always offering to carry even the tiniest of things. I swear he offered to carry my purse the other day it’s ridiculous... but I love it.” Kitty said, her smile widening.

“Now that’s something Ah’d pay to see, Colossus with a purse. How long have ya’ll been married, anyway?”

Kitty’s smile faded “It’ll be two and a half years next month,” she said slowly “You were my maid of honor.” She finished softly, picking at invisible lint on her shirt to avoid Rogue’s eyes.

“Oh. Well Ah’m glad Ah was there,” Rogue said before quickly changing the subject “And when is the next little X-man due?”

“Two months. And she’s actually gonna be an X-woman.” Kitty brightened at the mention of her baby.

“Oh, a girl! Kitty, that’s so exciting! Remember when we used to plan out baby names and you only ever wanted to pick out girl names? It’s like ya knew.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Kitty paused “I’m really glad my daughter will get to know her Auntie Rogue.” She said, tearing up. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry.” Kitty laughed, wiping at her eyes “I’m so emotional these days.”

“Ah’ve missed you Kits. And Ah’m so happy to be able to meet your daughter.” Rogue said, getting up and hugging Kitty. “Now, let’s get to picking out some clothes that don’t make me look like Susie Homemaker, shall we?”

§––––––––––§

Two hours and 7 new outfits later, Kitty and Rogue had caught up about everything over the past two years except for “Logan,” Rogue blurted out finally “What’s the story?”

“Oh, honey I’m so not the person to ask. You two were so caught up in each other in that last year that between missions and you guys taking all those romantic getaways I hardly saw you, let alone Wolverine.” Kitty replied

“Ah have to find him. Do you have any idea where he would be?”

“After you di- were gone, he locked himself in his room for a week, and then one day he was gone. He hasn’t been back since.”

“So how exactly did Ah ‘die’ anyway.”

“Well we thought that you died in a fire caused by mutant protesters. Although we have no idea why you were even there. You and Logan were supposed to be at some secluded cabin,” Kitty cringed at the story. Something about that story pricked at the back of Rogue’s mind. Why did that story sound so familiar? And then she realized: “Ah heard Hank talk about a friend who was killed by protesters... he meant me.” She said, not as a question but a statement.

“It was really hard for everyone... when you were gone.” Kitty said sadly.

“Ugh, it’s all so frustrating! Why did this happen to me? Ah wish Ah could remember.”

“That’s why you have an appointment with the professor tonight, to help you remember.” Kitty responded kindly “Now let’s go get some lunch in town, I’m absolutely starving.”