For once Rogue was glad to have the house to herself. Logan and the guys had gone out to the lake with the boys, Jubilee and Kitty had both taken off into town.In the weeks since Jean Grey’s death they’d regained some hint of their former selves and were on a quest to get a few personal items. Smiling as she realized that neither Scott nor Tank was about to get too much sleep in the next day or so, Rogue poured another cup of coffee and listened for the soft sounds of the babies’ cries. Being mother of two and aunt to two was harder than she’d originally thought, her son added to her joy as she raised the little girl they’d rescued from the lab.
Putting her cup down at a soft knock on the door she headed for the door. She wasn’t expecting company. Although, Helen had mentioned that she’d left word along the underground that kids were welcomed here. Assuming that was the reason for the knock Rogue clipped the baby monitor to her hip and strode to answer the door.
She pulled it open to stare at the familiar woman on the porch. She could feel all the blood draining from her face and a tremble creep through her body.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“To talk.” Soft, like a spring breeze Storm whispered.
“About what? I have nothing to say to you now get off….”
“Charles is ill.”
“Good, I hope it takes him a long, painfilled time to die.” Rogue snarled and made to slam the door.
“I need to talk to you Rogue, I need to understand something.”
“What makes youthink I would help you?”
Storm flushed slightly before shrugging and glancing at her boots. “Tell me why.”
“Why what?”
“Why you weren’t there. Why you and the other two girls weren’t there to see Jean die. You could have done it yourself, you could have had an end and yuet you let Logan take her life. Why?”
Rogue stared at her, anger warred with sympathy and pity within her. Tensing at the first faint sounds of her son’s cry Rogue turned and hurried through the house. She didn’t need all the kids awake and James would certainly wake them if she didn’t stop his cries.
Clutching her sonto her chest she bowed her head. She didn’t have the strength to fight the never ending flood of X-Men and their interference. Her world revolved around her children, her husband, her identity as part of that world was gone.
“Please Rogue,” Storm’s voice made her start violently. She whirled around furiously, her eyes flashing and tugged at a gloved hand.
“These aren’t lab babies are they?” Storm glanced around at the four cribs in the room. Only one seemed to be older than a few months and she was still sleeping soundly, a faint, relaxing tune filling the room.
“I have nothing to say to you, now get out of my house. If I wanted to speak tyou I’d have stayed in New York.”
“I’m not working with Charlesw any longer Rogue. I work for myself. Hank, Piotr, and myself have begun building a new school. Chalres has left the mansion. He’s currently being treated in Paris.”
“Then let him stay there.”
“Let us have them back. Let us help you.”
“I wouldn’t give you a shovel full of shit much less any of these children. You made me. You and the rest of the X-Men killed the girl I was and left this angry, bitter, twisted shell in her stead.” Rogue hissed. “Now, get out of my sight. Go home to New York. Go play school teacher. Stay away from us or else.”
Storm sighed softly. She had to prove that she was no threat to Rogue, to the life that she’d built and the only way to do that was to surrender, to reveal her deepest darkest secret.
“I owe you an apology. You’re right; I had a hand in what happened. I let my own emotional turmoil blind me to what Jean was really like. I wanted you out of the way as well. I wanted you to vanish, to let me have my solitude, my life back. You brought something with you when you came to us that made me uncomfortable.”
“What? A sense of honor?”
“No. Logan.”
Rogue froze at the soft admission. “What about him?”
“I love Hank; he’s been good to me. He’s helped me deal with the hell I’ve endured but I didn’t want himat first. I wanted Hank for what he stood for.”
“What are you babbling about?”
“Hank is very much a gentlemen but I wanted him to be more primal, more animalistic, like Logan. I envied you what you’d managed to get from him. It’s taken me a long time to realize that in my own foolish way I was no beter than Jean or Chalres. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care anymore,” Rogue replied stiffly. “You see I have Logan, I know he loves me and nothing will ever change that. If you want sympathy you’ve come to the wrong place.”
“I haven’t come for pity. I came to tell you that as far as I’m concerned, as far as my teammates are concerned this is over. You leave us alone, we’ll leave you alone. I see that you won’t return the children so I’ll have to make do with that.” Storm turned and walked toward the front door. “Congratulations, Rogue. You’ve managed to do something that Magneto’s been trying to do for years.”
“I don’t care. Now get out, and don’t come back. You come back, I’ll have you arrested!”
Storm hid a smile as she opened the door and stepped out into the warm afternoon sunlight. She glanced once behind her to see Rogue holding the baby closely, before turning and heading for her car. Charles had no power over the girls any more and for that she was glad.
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