Kayla walked the halls of the mansion searching for her father, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. She kept rubbing her arms hoping to make the tingling sensation go away.
As she walked into the kitchen, she bumped into Christopher.
"I hope you’re ready to get your butt kicked at pool next Tuesday," Christopher teased.
Kayla ignored him. "Have you seen my dad?"
"No, I haven’t."
Kayla turned and walked away without giving Christopher another thought. She hurried down the hall heading for the garage when suddenly someone grabbed her bare arm.
"Let go of me!" Kayla shouted at the contact.
"Geez I’m sorry," Christopher said, releasing her.
"What do you want?"
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I’m fine...just don’t do that again," Kayla told him.
Then she walked off wondering why nothing had happened when Christopher had touched her skin. She concluded that it must have been Jean causing the images.
Christopher watched her walk away, shaking his head slightly. His dad had told him once that girls get confusing as they get older, but at twelve years old they were already confusing.
Not finding her dad in the garage either, Kayla decided to walk outside. She wondered past the tables where the reception was to take place, noticing that a few people had already taken their seats for the ceremony. She walked slowly to a small corner of the gardens behind the mansion, where she stopped and carefully picked up the hem of her dress so that she could kneel down before the large stone that stood there. She ran a hand over the name Rogue, a sad smile on her face. The only thing Kayla could remember about her mother that was not from a picture, was that she’d smelled like ivory soap. She remembered her mother saying once that any other kind of soap would drive her daddy’s sensitive nose crazy.
"Hey Lil Bit," a voice came from behind her.
Kayla turned to see Logan walking towards her. "Hi daddy," she said quietly.
"Christopher told me you were looking for me." Logan squatted down next to her and placed a hand on her back.
"Yes sir, I wanted to make sure I got to tell you good bye," Kayla said.
"Well, I was going to make sure I saw you before I left. I would never leave without saying good bye," Logan told her.
Kayla smiled and turned her head back to the stone, drawing Logan’s glance to it also. "With you getting married, does it mean momma’s never coming back for sure now?"
"It’s been a long time since your mom disappeared, Kayla. If she were alive we would have found her by now," Logan said softly. "But I want you to know that no one can replace your mother, that she will always have a special place in my heart."
"I like Valerie she’s nice. It’s just hard for me to remember momma and I was afraid you were going to forget her too," Kayla admitted. She turned towards Logan and wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face so he couldn’t see the tears she was crying.
"Hey, look at me," he told her. Kayla pulled back and sniffled a little. "I will never forget your mother. You remind me of her every day, you have her mouth and her nose. I’m sorry but I think you got your wild hair from me, but it’s the same color as hers."
Kayla giggled a little at the thought of having hair like her daddy’s.
"And you know you can always ask me about her any time," Logan said.
Kayla nodded. "I know, I was just thinking about her today, that’s all."
Logan kissed her on the cheek. Then he looked at his watch ."It’s about time to start, so you better go find
Valerie."
"Okay, I love you daddy," Kayla said, starting to run off toward the mansion.
"I love you too, Lil Bit," Logan replied. He watched her run until she disappeared from his sight. Turning slowly he faced the stone once more. ‘In Memory of Rogue, Friend, Lover and Mother,’ was written across it. Logan pressed the palm of his hand over the engraved name and rubbed it back and forth. It was a routine of his done so often that a indention was forming in the stone. It was almost as if he was trying to erase her name.
He stopped when he heard the music start. Sighing, he hooked a finger in the collar of his tuxedo and tried to stretch it out from his neck. Giving the memorial one last look he turned and walked away.
----------------------------------------------------------
After the ceremony everyone stood outside in the driveway of the mansion to see Logan and Valerie off. Logan shook the Professor’s hand. "Thanks for everything Chuck. Call me if we need to come back."
"I’m sure things will be fine for now, Logan. You and Valerie have a good time."
Logan turned and came face to face with Scott and Remy.
"I feel I should warn you ahead of time," Remy told him, "Jubilee is the one that drove the car out of the garage, so you better check the glove compartment."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"Be careful Logan, any sign of trouble and we’ll be there," Scott told him.
Logan nodded his head and said, "I’ll contact you if there is, but other than that I don’t wanna see your sorry ass for at least a week. Now, I’m counting on you guys to keep an eye on Kayla while I’m gone." Logan turned to face Remy. "And don’t let her go to the mall with your girlfriend."
"Speaking of Kayla, I think someone is waiting to tell you bye," Scott said, pointing behind Logan.
Logan turned and saw Kayla standing by the car waiting for him. Scott watched as he walked over and knelt before her, giving her a hug. Then Valerie walked over and whispered something in Logan’s ear causing him to stand up. Valerie waved one last time before she went to the passenger side door and got in.
"Hey there Lil Chere," Remy said, when Kayla walked over to where they were standing. "How about we go inside and I teach you some card tricks?"
"Sure," said Kayla sadly, watching her daddy and new step mom drive off.
"They’ll be back shortly Kayla," Scott told her gently.
Kayla nodded her head and grabbed Remy’s hand as they walked inside.
Scott looked around for Jean, but couldn’t spot her. He went inside and headed upstairs to their room to search for her, finding her tucking Rachel into bed.
"How are you feeling?" Scott asked.
"I’m tired," Jean told him. Then she added quietly, "I had another sharp pain in my head today. It caused me to black out for a moment."
"What?!" Scott practically shouted. "Why didn’t yo-"
"Shh!" Jean said placing a hand over his mouth before he woke Rachel. They walked out of her room and Scott continued, "Why didn’t you tell me? When did this happen?"
"It happened in Ororo’s room," Jean told him. She walked over to the couch and was followed by Scott. "I’m fine now, but something happened while I was in pain."
"What happened? You should have been up here lying down all day."
"Well, as the pain started I closed my eyes, and then images appeared."
"What kind of images?" Scott asked.
"I’m not sure, they were running through my head so fast I couldn’t make sense of them. Then the last one slowed down and it was like I was looking through another person’s eyes. I saw a man whose face was covered and a woman lying on the floor, then a pair of hands rolled her over. It was hands that blong to a female. Before I could see a face, I opened my eyes."
"What do you think it means?" Scott asked.
"I don’t know," said Jean, shaking her head. “It was like I seeing the image through my own eyes, as though I was the person that was rolling the body over.”
"I want you to go and get some rest. You don’t have to worry about helping with the clean up," Scott said.
Jean pushed herself up off the couch and walked toward the bedroom. Scott helped her into bed and set a glass of water on the nightstand. "Call me if you need anything," he told her, placing a kiss on her lips.
It didn’t take long for Jean to fall into a deep sleep.
When she woke up she was breathing heavily. She opened her eyes to see Scott above her gently shaking her shoulders. "Scott?" she asked.
"You were having a nightmare," he told her.
"Someone’s projecting." She grabbed the sides of her head. "They’re in pain, and on the verge of exhaustion."
"Jean, what’s the matter?"
Jean sat up and threw off the covers, putting her feet on the floor. "We need to get the Professor."
"Stay here, I’ll get him," Scott told her.
"No, I’ll go with you," Jean said, already putting her robe on.
They headed down the hall to the main floor, only to be greeted by the Professor and Remy, both already in the hallway watching the front door.
"I was just about to call you," Charles said. "I figured you would have felt it too."
"What is it?" Scott asked.
"I don’t know, I sense that someone is deeply disturbed," Charles said. "I’ve already contacted the others and told them to be on guard in case the situation turns hostile."
"Do you know who it is?" Jean asked.
"No, but I don’t really sense any danger, just someone in need."
"Why not use Cerebro?" Scott asked.
"Because if it is someone to fear, I don’t want to lead them to the lower levels."
"What time is it?" Remy asked.
"Around two thirty," Scott told him.
"Why don’t you guys take a look around the grounds see if you can find anything," Jean suggested.
"Let me get my visor," Scott said, running back up the stairs.
As Remy and Scott walked around the grounds they didn’t see anything that looked odd. They were walking back to the front door when Remy turned to look around one last time. His eyes focused on a dark lumpy shape just outside the main gate.
"Scott, was that there earlier?" Remy asked.
Scott turned to see where Remy was pointing. He shook his head. "No, it wasn’t."
Scott put a hand to his visor as they walked cautiously towards the gate, trying to see what was lying on the ground. As they got closer Scott said, "Hank and Ororo are on their way out."
Remy nodded and slowly opened the gate. "It looks human, but I don’t think they’re breathing," he said.
Scott heard Hank and Ororo approaching as he knelt down and rolled the body over. "Oh my God!" he said. Behind him he heard Ororo gasp in shock.
Hank reached over to check for a pulse. "She’s still breathing let’s get her to the med lab," he said. Then he moved the white streaks of hair out of her face to reveal Rogue’s brown eyes staring blankly back at them.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay this is the last beta'd chapter until September returns to the internet world! Hope you enjoy!