Rogue and Feral sit in the back of another cab, this time headed away from an airport. It was only eight forty at night but they were exhausted. Their bottoms were numb from sitting all day. Feral, who has never flown before, found the seats on the plane small and uncomfortable. The first two hours of the flight she spent nervous, afraid of every little noise and shift the plane made. Eventually she relaxed, not enough to sleep on the flight, but enough to enjoy it.
They came to the gate of the mansion and just when Rogue was going to get out and used the intercom, the gates opened.
“I should have known.” a slight laughter to her voice.
“What?”
“That the Professor would have sensed our arrival.”
“Wow! When you said it was a mansion, you really weren’t joking. This makes our school look like a rinky dinky shack.”
The cab driver stopped the car in front of the main entrance and got out to remove the bags from the trunk. Xavier waited with a smile on his face and his hands folded on his lap as the two ladies got out of the cab, beside him was a teenage boy of about fifteen. He handed the boy money and he raced down the steps to pay the driver.
“I would have done that.” Rogue smiled as she walked up the steps to him.
“Ah. But it seems I beat you to it.” The Professor laughed. She bent at the waist and gave him a long hug. “Oh, how I missed you my child. As has everyone.”
“I missed you too. I missed everyone.” Her southern drawl had softened over the years but was still there. “Oh lord, where are my manners? Professor, this is Georgianna. Gigi, this is Professor Charles Xavier.”
He extended his arm to the women and they shook hands after she removed her gloves. She then removed her jacket and pulled down her hood.
“I am pleased to meet you and have you join our team. You do not have to call me Professor Charles Xavier though. I feel it is too formal and far too long. You can do what most of the resident do, just use any one of the three.” He smiled warmly at her and she immediately felt at home. “Follow me. I will show you to your rooms. I would assume after the day you both had you would like a hot shower and a soft bed.”
“Oh please, yes.” Rogue just wanted to sleep. No. Get cleaned first then sleep.
“What about our bags?” Feral turned and pointed at them.
“Oh, excuse me. Now it seems that I have forgotten my manners. This -” He waved his hand at the boy “is Jamie Madrox. He’s been a student of ours for two years now. We refer to him as Multiple Man.” At the mention of his mutant name, the boy multiplied. Now there was six of him and they each were carrying suitcases. “Jamie, meet the new staff members, Ms. Rogue and - What do you wish to be called by the students?”
“Uh… Ms. Georgie is fine.” She had the feeling this house was just full of surprises.
“And Ms. Georgie. Now Jamie can you all please bring their bags to the rooms I showed you early. Thank you. Follow me ladies.” Jamie said a quick hi to the new teachers before he -- they? -- ran up the stairs. Feral’s enhanced hearing picked up Jamie’s voice at the top of the stairs.
“Wait until the guys hear that we got two new hot teachers.” She stumbled. Did he really just say that? Did a student find her ‘hot’? This was the first time anybody found her attractive. She was going to love living here.
They stepped out of the private elevator that was for the staff members and walked toward the teacher’s corridor. They turned a corner and walked right past Bobby’s old room. Rogue’s breath caught in her throat as she remembered all of the firsts that happened to her in there. Her first boyfriend. Her first kiss. The first time someone told her ‘I love you’ and the first time she said it back. The first time she made love. She smiled sadly at the memory of it. Two awkward teenagers, nervous as hell, armed with a lot of scarves, a body suit and a box of condoms. But they loved each other and it turned out to be a beautiful act.
“This is it. Georgianna you’re on the end and Rogue your right before her. Your bags are already in your rooms. Good-” Charles was interrupted by the sound of two men arguing.
“Come on. I kicked your ass and you know it.” Said the smooth masculine voice.
“Hey if that’s true how come you’re the one wincing?” replied the deep, gravelly voice that was almost a constant growl.
“Because not all of us have that convenient healing factor.” Said the smooth voice again. The bodies that the voices were attached to turned the corner and Rogue saw it was Scott with another man. Big, hairy and looked like he enjoyed being intimidating. “Rogue? Rogue!” Scott jogged over to her, a smile on his bruised face, as she ran to him. He grabbed her in a bear hug and swung her in a circle.
“Put me down you fool.” She joked as she slapped him on the shoulders until he placed her back on the floor. “Damn I missed you”
“I missed you, too. How are you doing now?”
“Better. Not perfect, but better. I got a few surprises but I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. How have you been?”
“Good. Jean and I got married. I wanted you to be there but you wanted to be left alone with no contact so…”
“So that’s where Havok went when he took off for a few days last year. I’m sorry if I shut you out. I just need to be away completely for a while until I was ready. Congratulations though. Better late than never right? Hey I want you to meet someone.” She introduced him to Feral and he in turn reluctantly introduced her to Wolverine. She said ‘Hi’, he grunted a hello and then excused himself to bed.
After a few minutes of talk, Scott and Xavier both retired to their rooms and the girls took a long hot shower before slipping under their covers and get some much desired sleep.
Rogue woke the next morning and for a moment forgot where she was. She contemplated staying in bed all day before she dismissed the idea and got out of bed to go to the bathroom. While she was brushing her teeth, she let Bobby out of the mental box she had for him. No one knew she still held onto him after all these years, though she believed that Emma had her suspicions.
~Hey Rogue. ~
~Hey Bobby. ~
~What’s wrong? ~
~It’s just being back here is harder than I thought it would be. It’s my home and I want to be here, I need to be here, but the memories of you are so strong. ~
~You can get through this. ~
~Will you help me? ~
~No. You have to do this by yourself. Now lock me back up and don’t think about me, OK. And remember it’s alright to have fun and laugh. ~
As she went through the steps to lock Bobby back up she felt like crying. There were times when she wanted to get up and hang out and laugh and be happy but then there were times when all she wanted to do was curl up in bed all day with a big blanket and a crappy movie on TV, crying her eyes out.
She was still grieving, she knew that, but she didn’t want anyone to know it. Over the years she never got to mourn him properly. After he passed away she had a long stay in denial, then she was forced to absorb a women, then she left the mansion when her mind started to stray from her control and after that she spent years working hard at finding control of her skin and her mind.
Now she realized she moved past denial but had planted one foot firmly in anger and the other in depression… and she had no immediate plans on budging. If only there was one person who truly understood what he was to her. She hadn’t just lost a boyfriend that day. She had lost her best friend, the first person since her mutation arrived to see past the deadly skin, her Monday night date, her first love.
Just as she finished locking him up and putting his box deep into the back of her mind, there was a knock at the door. She put on a pair of gloves quickly as no one knew of her control yet and she wanted to surprise them. She wasn’t surprised to see Siryn, Jubilee and Kitty, standing in their pajamas, at her door.
“Ahhhh! Rogue! Like, where’s my hug, bitch?” Came Jubilee’s loud voice. Rogue laughed. It had been so long since she saw her friend and she was still as crazy as ever.
“God I missed you guys.”
“It’s about time you came back. It’s been so fucking boring here without you. I was this close to jumping a ride to frenchy land and dragging your ass back.” Jubes told her after she had gotten her hug.
“What she means to say is; we missed you too.” Kitty hugged her friend followed by Theresa.
Feral woke up when she heard a girl scream. Thinking it might have been Rogue having another nightmare about Bobby, she got out of bed to wake the woman. When she got to her room she noticed a small reunion taking place. Rogue, a tall woman with flame orange hair, a small fragile looking brunette and an animated Asian woman sat on the bed. They seemed to be looking at something on the small one’s hand. Not wanting to disturb them she turned her back to leave.
“Gigi.” Rogue called for her. “Where are you going?”
“I saw you talking and I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Don’t be silly. We were all just looking at Kitty’s ring. She just got engaged a couple nights ago.”
“Oh. Congratulations.” Feral told Katherine.
“Thanks. You must be Georgianna or do you prefer Feral?”
“Georgie or Gigi are fine.”
“Well, Gigi, you going to stand there all day. Come on in girl. I’m Jubilee, but call me Jubes. This little shrimp is Kitty as you might’ve guessed, and this tall drink of Guinness is Theresa, or Tessa.” She threw her arms around Feral and gave her a heartfelt hug. Feral, noticing that no one seemed bothered by her fur, hugged her back. “Come on, let’s hang out. We have a couple minutes before we need to get ready for our breakfast meeting with Xavier.”
By the time Feral left the room to dress for the meeting, she felt like she knew these girls forever. She couldn’t explain how she knew it but she was positive she had just made friends for life with these young women.
When she left her room after changing she found the four girls waiting for her.
“We thought, with you being new and all, that we’d be your personal escorts.”
“And by personal escort she meant the type that accompanies you somewhere, not the type that sleeps with you.” Jubes explained unnecessarily with a smile.
“Damn and here I was thinking I had an offer.” Feral surprised herself with her lack of shyness. The girls laughed all the way to the lower levels. Feral couldn’t get over how big this house was and was glad for her tour guides because she would have surely gotten lost. The five ladies were the last to arrive for the meeting. Rogue and Feral had seats waiting for them next to Charles.
“This morning’s meeting is simply a meet and greet.” Charles explained quietly to Feral, who sat wringing her hands nervously. “Relax, child. We don’t bite.” He then slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked around the table timidly, and was shocked to find a blue skinned mutant next to her and a big man covered in blue fur next to Rogue. They sat eating their breakfast for the next couple of minutes, talking quietly amongst themselves.
Feral talked with Kurt and she was surprised to find someone who was almost as shy as she was. Rogue was in a discussion of ethics with the professor and Hank. She found that she liked the blue mutant a lot. He had a big booming laugh, a million dollar vocabulary and instantly treated her like his favorite niece.
“May I have everyone’s attention, please? I would like to introduce you to our two new members. This is Feral and this, as most of you know, is Rogue.” Charles then introduced the members of the team and their abilities. “Right now I would like you to give your attention to Rogue.”
“Hey guys. I was told that everyone knows about my skin and about the incident with Carol, right?” Everyone nodded. “Well, while I was away Ms. Frost helped me the best she could but decided I needed a little more help. So every other weekend I flew to Muir Island to meet with Dr. Moira MacTaggert.”
“Who is she?” Storm asked.
“She is a leading authority on genetic mutations. I’ve worked with her before. A few times actually.” Xavier informed her.
“Yeah, so between the two of them, I was able to remove Carol’s presence in my mind permanently and keep her powers. I can now fly, I’m invulnerable to a certain extent and I’m strong. Really strong.”
“How strong?” Scott, his mind forever in leader mode, asked.
“I picked up a truck like it was a pillow. They say I could lift up to fifty tons.”
Jubilee said ‘Shit’, Siryn said ‘Whopper’, Kitty just stared with her mouth open.
“And just one more thing.” She glanced at Feral, who gave her a supporting smile. “I was able to finally get control of my skin.”
There was a moment where most of them did a quick impression of Kitty, before yelling out congratulations. The professor ended the meeting, shortly after and informed Rogue and Feral to be at the Danger Room at noon. The team needed to evaluate their fighting skills.
Feral was taken on a tour of the mansion by Kitty, Peter, Jubilee, Kurt and Storm. Hank and Theresa went to tutor some students that needed it. Jean settled into the medlab while Scott and the professor went to set up the programs for the Danger Room. Wolverine, ignoring everyone as usually, disappeared to his room. Rogue stopped John and gave him a hug. She teased him about settling down with one girl after he promised to be the mansion ‘playa’ as she walked with him and Remy. Remy tried to hit on her and she instantly made a silent promise to never date someone like him. He was so full of himself.
At noon, the Danger Room’s observation deck was full with every last member of the X-men. Feral was informed she was to take on Scott and Rogue was to take on Wolverine. While the first duo was fighting, Rogue went to introduce herself personally to the big brooding man, despite the protest of her friends. She extended a hand to him but he merely looked at it, his arms staying firmly crossed in front of his chest. She raised her eyebrow at him but did not lower her hand. Eventually he took it and shook it.
“See, that wasn’t too hard.” It was his turn to raise his eyebrows. “Good luck in there.” She told him and walked over to her friends. He couldn’t believe the audacity of the girl. Didn’t she know who he was? Who she was dealing with? She wanted to shake hands and be friends. He didn’t have friends. He had co-workers and acquaintances. Occasionally he would talk shop with one of the guys or have a drinking buddy to watch the game with for the night but that’s as far as it went. This girl needed to be afraid of him, like everyone else in the house. Once they got in the Danger Room and start fighting, he’d show her exactly who she was dealing with.
“Good fight.” Rogue told Wolverine when they were through. He snarled at her and stomped to his room, people jumping out of his way as he walked. “What’s his problem?” She asked.
“You won. Duh.” Kitty said.
“No I didn’t. We tied.” The match was a long and brutal one. Fist were thrown, feet were kicked, claws unleashed. At one point Rogue was able to pick up Wolverine and fly to the ceiling. He punched her in the face and she let him go. He landed with a sickening crunch. Finally the professor decided that the fight had gone on long enough, he had appointments he had to keep after all, and called it a draw.
“Chica, that’s the first time he didn’t win in the Danger Room. Or any fight for that matter.” Jubilee said impressed.
Rogue couldn’t help but smile.
Wolverine slammed the door to his room. Fucking bitch. She made him look like a fool. Every punch he threw she either blocked it or shook it off. Even though he was pissed as hell that she almost got the best of him, he was impressed by her. No one had ever lasted that long in a fight with him. Not only was she strong, thanks to her mutation, but she was a good fighter, a smart fighter. She would be a great asset to the team.
Now he was frustrated. There were only two things to ease the frustration. Fight, safe to say that wouldn’t work this time, or sex. It was time to call one of his many girls.
A few days later, Rogue, Feral, Kitty, Theresa, and Jubilee were sprawled out on every usable surface of the rec room.
“I’m so bored.” Jubilee stated for what felt like the millionth time, from her position on the floor.
“Tell me about it.” Kitty agreed from where she sat crossed leg on the coffee table, again.
“What are you complaining about? Go find that fiancé of yours. I’m sure the two of you can think of something to do.” Theresa said mischievously. Kitty was about to explain that he was tutoring when Storm ran in.
“Get suited up girls.” She said.
“Finally! Some action.” Jubilee exclaimed, jumping up.
“What’s wrong?” Theresa asked, ignoring Jubilee who was jumping up and down with her fist in front of her face, as if fighting someone invisible, which in the house they lived in, was very likely.
“Just got word the FOH is planning an attack on a family.”
“Who are the FOH and why are they targeting one family?” Rogue wondered.
“Friends of Humanity. They’re a bunch of mutant loathing humans, that try to do as much harm to mutants and mutant loving humans as possible. There is a family in North Dakota. They have many acres of land, a big house and no children. After seeing how many mutant children were unwanted in the adoption system, they decided to only adopt mutants. Over the years they became parents to over twenty six mutants. They are a leading example of humans and mutants living with and loving each other. Needless to say, the FOH doesn’t appreciate the image.”
“Damn.” Feral whispered.
“Exactly, this is why we need to hurry up. Can one of you get Wolverine, he’s still sleeping I think. I would do it but I got to get changed and get the jet started.” Then she left.
“Shit. Who’s going to go wake up sleeping Wolvie?” Jubilee wondered and then yelled out, “NOT IT.” This was quickly followed by Kitty, Theresa and Feral collectively yelling “NOT IT.”
“Chicken shits!” Rogue stuck her tongue out at them. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Then she ran up the steps, while the girls went into the elevator.
Stopping outside of Wolverine’s door, Rogue knocked. Then waited to the count of ten and knocked again. Nothing. Getting impatient, she opened the door. The sight that met her was not what she expected. Wolverine was shirtless, most likely naked, in bed with some blonde, who was definitely naked. Both were covered at the waist with a sheet, he was on his side, facing the door. The blonde, shocked, was scrambling to cover her exposed breasts. He was just pissed.
“Do you fucking mind?” He growled.
“Not at all. But if you’re going to finish, I suggest you make it fast. We need to go.” She crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to get up.
“No. You need to go.” He jumped out of the bed and she was relieved to see he had on sweatpants.
“No. We need to go. To the *basement* and then we need to go catch a *plane*. Now.” She stressed the words not want to come out and say ‘We have an X-men mission’ in front of company but he was starting to get on her nerves. There was a family in North Dakota that needed them and here he was trying to get laid. While they were talking the blonde got dressed and was slipping out the door.
“I’ll call you.” He yelled out to her before she closed the door behind her.
“You better be careful, you know how expensive those one nine hundred numbers are.” She said coolly. “Now hurry up. There is a family that needs our help or don’t you give a shit about mutants getting hurt.”
“Don’t you ever assume what I give a shit about little girl.” He spat. She muttered ‘whatever asshole’ and turned her back on him and didn’t see him charge her. He shoved her against the door and turned her around to face him. He was expecting outrage, or fear, hell even tears. He was not expecting a smirk.
“We don’t have time for me to kick your ass again.” She knew he couldn’t stand that they tied in that fight they had days earlier. He brought his face closer to hers and took a deep sniff. He smelt anger and frustration wrapped in a thick layer of sadness and hopelessness, but no fear.
“Did you just sniff me?” She almost laughed in his face from the absurdity of it.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” he asked slowly.
“No.” She stated matter-of-factly. She then wiggled out of his grasp; she didn’t need her abilities to assist her with it because he let her go. “But don’t take it personal. I’m not afraid of anyone.” She opened the door and stepped out of his room. He followed her without a word. He had never met someone who wasn’t scared of him and the first person who wasn’t was a young woman that barely reached his chin but that had a hell of a right hook. He smirked behind her back with respect for the woman; she was definitely a feisty little southern thing.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
~ ~ signals the start and end of dialog in Rogue's mind.