Rogue and Gambit didn't stop at a hotel the second night.

When they did rest, it was just in a field.

They sat in the back of the truck to look at stars, since it was really clear out here.

Reminded Rogue of the camping out last week and how their new friends had liked seeing the stars...

She was starting to be reminded of it all constantly.

Commenting this aloud, she got this anwer:

"Probably mean you feel like you should go back."

Rogue thought.... What if Gambit was right?

Maybe that was why she kept thinking of it.

Propping herself up on the side of the truck bed, she said, "Do you think it'd be awkward...just showing up after...gee, 3 days now?"

"Gambit think it get more awkward de longer you wait," was the blunt response.

Gambit privately was surprised Rogue was already bringing up the idea of returning. Hadn't she just said last evening that she couldn't?

Normally, more time to themselves might have sounded good to him, but he was feeling like this little adventure was taking on a life of its own, and he wasn't sure he liked it. Maybe getting back to the house would help Rogue settle down and get back to normal.

"Maybe," Rogue agreed. "Still...I really wasn't sure I was ready...but then, I can't really think of anythin' else." She sighed. "But...if I go back now, I have to tell them why I left. What if that's just too much?"

Gambit didn't think there was much fear of that, but all he did was shrug. "Do it change anything?"

Rogue was quiet. Then, "Nah...I guess not, when you look at it that way." She tilted her head back. "Well, I don't want to talk about it anymore right now.... Let's talk about somethin' unimportant.... It's a real beautiful night."

The cool weather had blown off, and all that was left was a slight breeze that was pretty warm even at this hour, and clear skies.

You could even see lightning bugs if you looked across the field.

"Oui, c'est bielle," Gambit agreed.

Of course, he was looking at Rogue (she didn't see, but she kind of could guess from the tone), but by the time she looked down Gambit was very carefully eyeing the sky.

Rogue rolled her eyes, but honestly if he hadn't said something like that, she'd have thought something was seriously wrong, so she didn't complain.

"I used to do this," she said instead. "Back when I was a kid...we'd catch those fireflies in a jar.... Harder than it looks though."

"Better to jus' leave 'em be," Gambit said. "Good way to land your foot in de swamp, trying dat."

"Speakin' from experience?" Rogue said.

"Dere plenty of fireflies along de Bayou, but catchin' 'em ain't no picnic." Gambit clearly was speaking from experience even if he wouldn't admit it.

This kind of one to two line conversation, with breaks in between, went on for a while.

"Don't get scared
For you are not alone
Hold your breath
And open up your eyes. You're brighter than the starlight
You're brighter than the moonlit night
You light up the sky
You're brighter than the lightning bug
You're brighter than the candle burn
You light up the night. Don't close your eyes
And please don't say a word
The sounds in your head
Are sailing away. You're brighter than the starlight
You're brighter than the moonlit night
You light up the sky"

Surprisingly, Rogue started to relax a little. Kind of took her back.

But then...that made her feel heavy when she thought about it.

Back before she had her power...she thought her life was gonna be pretty simple...straight forward. She'd do whatever came naturally to her and get married, have a family...all the things normal girls did.

And then, being a mutant, it changed all that...

Maybe the X-men gave a sort of semblance of a normal life to them...but even so, it wasn't the same, and Rogue knew it. She knew it wasn't satisfying her...

But now...she wasn't sure what would.

After a while of this, the idea came into her head...maybe this was just more her thinking about herself.

Maybe that's all it was...

She suddenly thought...she'd scared the entire team, running off and doing this...and Gambit had even come after her...all because she was unhappy.

Shine had told her it was okay not to like her situation...but was that a reason to cause everyone so much trouble?

Finally actual remorse kind of hit.

Rogue sat back up.

"Gambit," she said, in a different tone, "ya think...everyone's going to be real upset...? I mean, were they real upset that I up and disappeared?"

"What kind of dumb question is dat?" Gambit wasn't sure why she was asking all of the sudden, but he wasn't going to sugarcoat it. "Of course dey were. Logan's about ready to kill someone."

"Oh my..." Rogue said.

"Dey blame Mystique," Gambit said. "But after what you tell me, I think it not her fault, entirely. But dey don't know dat. Logan fixing to hurt her, but dey stop him. Still..."

"Ah..." Rogue said. "I can't believe I didn't think of that.... Oh..." She put her face in her hands. "I really am selfish.... I shoulda known it would all fall back on Mystique... Shine too?"

"Yeah, but Shine can handle herself," Gambit said. "She not let Scott bully her, don't worry. Anyway, West is dere."

"But still!" Rogue said. "Maybe I should have at least told Jean and Xavier that wasn't it... They stopped reachin' out to me, though, so even if I wanted to..."

"Maybe shoulda thought of all dat before you jus' disappear." Gambit was a little petty.

"All right, I get it!" Rogue snapped. "I didn't think! All right..."

"You never think," Gambit said, "not before you rush off."

Rogue was going to make a snippy retort...but then stopped.... It was true, wasn't it?

So she took it meekly.

Gambit, now over it, felt a little bad.

"Well, on de other hand, everyone know dat you jus' upset over a lot," he said. "So dey won't be too hard on ya."

"I guess that just about says it, though." Rogue leaned on one hand now. "I was thinkin' of stallin' on goin' back, but the longer I wait...the worse it'll be for them, won't it? I mean...even if I called, it won't change anything will it?"

"Probably not." Gambit saw no reason to discourage her from this train of thought.

"All right," Rogue said after a pause. "We're goin' back."

"We?" Gambit said. "What make you think I join you? Maybe I need more time off."

Rogue gave him a look.

"Jus' kiddin'," Gambit said. "Gambit ain't gonna miss de look on deir faces, for sure."

Rogue glared some more but then shrugged. "Whatever.... We can head back once it's daylight, but right now tryin' to read that map seems like a pain." She settled back down.

Now that she'd finally decided to do this, she became much calmer.

Gambit would have thanked God if he believed in God, but as it was, he couldn't help but wonder why women were so confusing. All that effort just to make up their minds to do what the obvious choice would have been from the start.

[No comment on whether or not this is a sexist thought. Let's just let Gambit have his moment of blowing off steam.]

Rogue eventually fell asleep.

Gambit covered her up with his coat.

[Awwwww.]

* * *

The third day, Scott wondered very sarcastically if Rogue would return.

Logan told him to shut up about it.

"I just don't see the point of such false optimism," Scott said. "We should try to reach out to them again."

"If they don't want to return, we cannot make them," Xavier argued. "We have other matters to attend to."

So they did.

It was Sunday, so Shine and Wally went to The Way's little park gathering. Jubilee went with them, so did Storm and Logan.

Logan was perhaps going more to show a bit more deference to Shine after she'd chastised him the way she did, and Wally also...but Wally scared him less. He was always a little wary of angry women.

Mike asked after Rogue kindly, and Anne asked if they could do anything to help.

Storm thought it showed that they really did actually care.

"They're good people," she said to Logan. "We were so quick to judge when we came here.... I mean, looking back, we were like wild animals--skittish and wary--but see how it turned out."

"We still had every reason not to expect to be treated well," Logan said.

"Perhaps going through life always suspecting everyone is not that different than going through life looking down on others for being different," Storm said, rather insightfully.

Logan had no come back for that.

They also agreed to come the next day to help with construction again. According to some of the men at the church, they were still weeks from finishing even the sanctuary without more help.

But in the meantime, more people had been in touch about the outreach, and it was looking like they might be able to expand it.

"Do you think any of the people who live in the sewers would be interested in moving up into the city?" Anne asked them. "To a safe house anyway?"

"I do not think so," Storm said. "They feel safe down there. I once asked them myself. They prefer to hide."

"Well...perhaps their hearts might open a little," Anne said, "seeing how people do care...but if not, I guess we'll just have to do what we can.... Only, it's not any kind of life for those children, I think."

"Is it any kind of life to be up here, livin' in fear that people will attack 'em for walkin' down the street?" Logan said.

Anne looked at him sadly, but then she shrugged. "Perhaps not, but many people have to live with such a fear, and the world has to keep turning. Mr. Logan...hiding away from people changes nothing. It's a risk to go out into the world, but we're here for a reason, I think, not to hide. Surely you must agree, since you and the others are a team of public heroes."

"Not so public," Storm said. "No one can even know our real identities or where we live. We have many enemies.... Even you might be in danger by association." She looked down.

Anne put a hand on her arm. "Well...Storm, I consider that an honor. Having some real heroes coming to our little congregation, we must be doing something right. And the rest is up to God."

She shrugged. "I know it's easy to say that, but it's not so easy to live it. Sometimes, I do get very afraid...but you know what I do then? I pray, and I start praising...and the fear passes. It's not like all that fancy new psychology they're putting out, but it's stood the test of time. Faith."

Storm was silent for a bit. After Anne walked away she said, "I confess, Logan, my faith is not taking well to Rogue's disappearance. I had hoped after what had happened before, God would have kept her with us.... I just do not understand."

"Me neither, Storm," Logan said. "I guess we're supposed to be trustin', but it's not that easy. God's let me down enough times."

"I don't exactly see how God can let anyone down," Storm said. "Should we really question Him? And yet, I do. Being worshiped once myself, I find it hard to picture any god as not imperfect and confused. I wish I had the understanding of theology and practice that Shine seems to have, or even Mr. Billings and his wife. They all seem so sure, even when they are unsure. But I am not."

"They've practiced it for years," Logan allowed. "I'd think if any of us could get there, it'd be you, Storm. Sort of comes naturally to you. The rest of us are a lot more cynical."

"Logan, I really don't think I'm that much less cynical," Storm said. "I just think I am a little less quick to be sure I know better."

"What's the difference?" Logan said.

[Think about that for a minute.]

Storm paused. "I...really don't know." She smiled. "What an odd thought."

"You two coming?" Wally said. "Or do you need a minute alone?"

Shine elbowed him.

"We're coming," Storm said. 

"What are you smirkin' 😏 about, West?" Logan said a bit tersely, which meant he was in a good mood.

"Oh, nothing," Wally said, as Storm had walked past to get to the car. "Just...you know...you guys have been talking a lot..."

"So?" Logan said.

"Nothing, I guess," Wally said again. 

"Whatever idea you're gettin' in that pinball machine of a brain you've got, ya can just get it right out," Logan said.

"What a visual," Wally said weirdly. "I gotta hand it to you, buddy, none of my other friends insulted me quite so creatively. If you cuss less than the teenagers, you sure make up for it in colorful mental images."

"Wally," Shine called, "should we just go out to lunch? A couple of people are heading to Denny's."

"Well, sure, any time," Wally said.

"Too bad Morph stayed home, huh?" Jubilee said, climbing into the back of the car. "I guess he's not really interested in all this still.... So...uh...I signed up for the camp."

She waited for them to tell her that was a bad idea.

"Didn't you need a guardian's signature?" was the first thing Storm asked.

"Well, not for the waiting list," Jubilee said. "There're some forms." She held them up. "If...well...if one of you wants to fill them out..."

Logan looked at her a bit oddly, but all he said was, "If ya go you'd better take bug spray."

"Well, duh," Jubilee said. "I'm not really a nature kind of girl.... Trinity said there's cabins, though."

"It's just next week, isn't it?" Shine said. "I can't believe it's going to be August already...and we'll have been here for two months. We should celebrate not getting kicked out."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, that was a bad joke," Shine said sheepishly. "I use dark humor to cope at times.... I mean, though, there were a few close calls you have to admit."

"I thought it was funny," Wally said, "kind of, but I guess I can't talk, huh?"

"You keep workin' our last nerve, and you can see if ya get kicked out," Logan said. "Ya still got a week or so."

"Logan!" Storm was shocked.

But Wally chuckled. "Oh, come on, Logan, you'd miss us too much."

"Miss ya?" Logan scoffed. "More like you'd get too bored away from the constant danger."

"If we're that addicted to tension, it could explain a lot," Shine said. "But it's more of an adaptive survival trait than inherent to my genetic code, or so I'd like to think."

That joke went over Jubilee's head, but Storm shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You have spoken to Hank too many times, Shine."

"Well, I've always had a weakness for scientific jargon," Shine said. "Makes me sound smarter."

* * *

In their absence, Morph was stuck guarding Mystique again...stuck being a relative term. Scott seemed to have decided to ignore her.

Mystique was getting more and more bored. Somehow having a normal-ish room was only making her feel more cooped up, now that she could see the outside...

She wasn't easy about Rogue still...and she thought a lot about what Shine had been telling her.

In her position, any ray of hope was appealing, but she wasn't the type to believe something just because she wanted to--at least not if it was offered to her without threats.

She knew she was softening towards Shine's weird but sincere ways, and she was afraid she'd weaken toward Kurt if given half a chance to do so.... She couldn't afford to forget that she had to get away from this house sooner or later.

She could hear Morph getting more and more bored out in the hall and talking to himself. By now, she was so used to this, she almost didn't notice any longer, but on a day where the hours were just dragging by, it was getting on her nerves.

Finally she yanked the door open. "Do you mind?"

Morph jumped.

"How did you get the lock undone?" he said.

Mystique rolled her eyes. "You forgot to lock it before."

Morph looked really guilty. "Oh...heh.... Gee, I'm not good at this.... Scott really should fire me."

"Yes, and then he could position a quieter person," Mystique said sharply. "Some of us would like to hear ourselves think."

She started to shut the door.

"Do you just want to come out?" Morph asked.

Mystique paused. "What?... But Likstar is not here."

"Well...no, but she'll be back pretty soon," Morph said. "And Scott's not here...so..."

Mystique didn't really want to be stuck in the room... It was getting sweltering in the late July heat, with the sun coming in the window...

If he was going to break Cyclops' rules, why should she be the one to stop him? She wouldn't be the one in trouble later.

She opened the room the rest of the way. "I'm not staying here if I don't have to."

"To be honest, I just want to leave this hallway," Morph said. "But don't try anything."

"I'm not going anywhere." Mystique headed down the hallway, still wincing from her injuries. "I know it's futile to try. But I might blow something up. Better watch it."

"I thought you didn't have a sense of humor," Morph said. "That's still kind of dark--I'll take it as progress."

"The only joke is that even if I did that it wouldn't do any good," Mystique snapped. "So there's no point in not saying it."

"Are you ever not ice cold?" Morph shot back. "After I was so nice about that book thing too. Not even a 'thank you, Morph.'"

Mystique rolled her eyes and headed down the hall...carefully.

Even getting to the living room hurt way too much, and she sank into a chair.

Morph followed, holding the book. 

"This is so much darker than I thought it would be," he muttered, more to himself. "What kind of Christian reads this kind of thing?"

Mystique had thought the darkness of the book made it way better, to her mind. Nothing too fluffy or rose colored about it. But she didn't share that thought. 

"Ah, well." Morph set it aside and grabbed the TV remote. "I need a break..."

Mystique stared out the window. At least it was cooler in here... She was still bored.

She wondered aimlessly if she was ever going to escape...if Sinister was ever going to come back here... She still had nightmares about that.

Kurt poofed into the room so fast he nearly scared her into falling onto the floor.

"Herr Morph--" Kurt didn't see her at first. "--do you know when the others are returning?"

"Uh...no," Morph said. "The service ought to be over by now, right? But maybe they went for lunch."

"Ah," Kurt said. 

"Why didn't you go today?" Morph asked.

"I feel I cannot go while they meet in the park," Kurt said. "I vould not vant to get their permit revoked because of people's fear of my shape."

"Ah," Morph said. He morphed into Kurt. "It is a little unusual."

He returned to normal. "Well, want to watch this show?"

"I really don't vatch television," Kurt said politely. "It is considered a vaste of time by the brethren, and it has a lot of immorality on it."

Morph winced. "Well...not all of it is bad. I mean, what about I Love Lucy?"

"I do not know who this Lucy is," Kurt said.

"Gilligan's Island?" Morph said. "There's a lot of classics. The Cosby Show...Family Matters--Oh, no, you wouldn't like that one. They've got some bad jokes...though they do pray and stuff."

"I do not condemn anyone else," Kurt said politely. "If your conscience suits you.... Why didn't you go to service, though?"

"Oh...I just needed a break," Morph said. "You know I'm still not sure about any of this.... I mean, it's convincing and all, but it's a lot...and anyway, not sure a shape-shifting mutant would go over so well with church people."

"Actually I think that is the only one that might be easy," Kurt said. 

Mystique felt he should have noticed she was there by now.

But the room was dim, and her skin was dark enough to not stand out so much against the backgrounds.

"It's not as easy as you might think," Morph said.  "No one trusts you when you can be anyone or anything. I'll tell you, when I was in school, I always got a bad rep because other kids would say I did something and just looked like them while I was doing it... I mean, it was true a few times, but you know 'fool me once, shame on you' and so on."

"Indeed," Kurt said. "I am sorry to hear that."

"It wasn't so bad," Morph said. "I mean, at least I went to school... You were in a circus, right?"

"Ah, yes, the star attraction," Kurt said. "But in the end, I vas still alone. The church is the only place I have ever felt truly accepted."

"Mind if I ask," Morph said, "if you didn't look like that, and you could fit in with other people, do you think you'd still be so religious?"

Kurt was silent. Then he said, "I do not know. Once, I thought the answer vould be no. I have been driven to God, in a way. But, I saw Herr Logan's desperation, and he is very unlike me in appearance, but inside, not so much."

"Oh, I don't think you're alike at all," Morph said.

"Not now," Kurt said. "But before, I vas quite a bitter person. You vould not have recognized me."

"Really?" Morph was shocked. "Wow."

"And also, my mother," Kurt said. 

Mystique flinched.

Kurt finally noticed she was there, and he instantly looked horrified. "Oh...hullo.... Forgive me, I did not see you sitting there.... I did not think you vould be out... I mean..."

"Oh..." Morph had almost forgotten Mystique was there, she was so quiet. "Right...awkward."

Him saying it was awkward just made it more awkward.

"Oh, please, go on," Mystique said flatly. "Don't stop because I'm here. What were you going to say, Kurt?"

"It vas not my place," Kurt said.

"No, go on, really," Mystique said.

"Oh, go on," Morph said. "She's asking for it anyway."

"Vell, I did not mean to criticize," Kurt said meekly. "I vas only going to say that, given her circumstances, I vas not sure being able to blend in vould have made me feel any less alone. And so perhaps the answer vould have been the same all along."

Mystique looked at him, and then she sighed.

"There are times I'm glad I look human," Morph said. "But you know, we're all outcasts, even if we don't look it. That's true." He sighed.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," Kurt said apologetically.

Mystique really couldn't stand this.

"Oh, stop it, Kurt," she said crossly. "Nothing you could say could possibly offend me. It was true anyway. I've told you as much myself. Don't walk on eggshells around me. I've heard worse than anything you could possibly come up with."

Kurt didn't understand why she was saying this.

But Morph nodded. "You know, that's probably true. You don't have the sick imagination to really say something offensive, Preacher."

"Vell, I don't think that's the point," Kurt said. "Ve have...too much...history, I think."

"No, we have no history," Mystique said, "so there is nothing in trying to pretend any differently."

"Of course," Kurt said. He poofed out.

"Why did you do that?" Morph said to Mystique, a little crossly. "He wouldn't hurt a fly--why you gotta be so mean to him?

"Is it mean to tell the truth?" Mystique said, though she felt guilty enough. 

"You could have said it a nicer way, then," Morph said.

"I can't sugarcoat things the way other people can," Mystique said. "And even if I could, Kurt knows the truth already. Anyway, I can't stand him acting like we have anything to talk about." She frowned at the floor. "Not that it's any of your business anyway."

"I guess it's not," Morph admitted. "But I like Kurt, so it sucks to see him upset. I don't get you, Mystique. You act like everyone hates you, but you're the one who's mean to everyone who tries to help you--which isn't even that many people, and you want to whittle that number down to zero, it seems like."

Mystique was losing her patience with people saying things like this to her.

"Why don't you get off that high horse?" she said curtly. "What's the difference between that and you leaving the team to deal with things on your own? Perhaps being on your own is just easier, and people who try to interfere with that should mind their own business. I do well alone. I'm not a pet. And I don't need to be taken care of by these fools."

"They're just being nice," Morph said. "And I don't think it's the same thing at all. I just went off because I thought I would hurt them."

Mystique was silent a moment, and then she said real low, "And I know I will."

Maybe she didn't even mean to say that out loud, but it was such a sobering thing to hear that Morph lost his irritation and just went back to watching TV, not sure what to say now.

The others came back just about an hour later. As it happened, it was about 2:15 pm.

Shine didn't even react to seeing Mystique out already, she just asked her if she needed any more pain medication.

Mystique seemed to chafe under being spoken to this way, but she answered civilly, for her.

Morph couldn't help but think she'd really softened to Shine much more than she thought she had... Shine really could get around anyone; it was impressive.

"Oh, is this The Cosby Show?" Wally sat down. "I love this show."

Shine sat down too.

Logan and Storm hung around, mostly because it was nearing 3 pm.

At 10 till, Scott and Jean and Hank returned from a mission. Hank said nothing about it, but Scott walked downstairs and said, "Well, and I see no one is here."

Shine ignored him.

Kurt reappeared, probably thinking Mystique would be gone, but she was still sitting there--she was as curious as anyone else.

"Nothing yet?" he said.

"Nope," Wally said. "But we got 8 minutes."

At 2:57, Logan sighed. "Well, I knew it was too good to be true."

* * *

Gambit was driving while Rogue held the map. "I swear we went the wrong way," she said.

"And I tell you, Gambit know exactly where he going," Gambit said.

"Off a cliff?" Rogue said. "Into a river? Because I don't think this is anywhere important."

"Have a little faith in Gambit driving, Chere."

"Whatever..." Rogue lowered the map. Then she reached into her napsack and pulled out the gift from Shine. She hadn't had the nerve to open it, but she thought maybe she should before they got there.

She unwrapped it. 

"The Princess and the Goblin?" she said oddly. "Why on earth...? This is a children's book."

"Dat figure," Gambit said. 

Rogue started looking through it.

Before she knew it, Gambit was stopping the car.

* * *

"And it's 2:59," Scott said. He looked at his watch. "And 30 seconds...20... Well, I think we can conclude your prediction was off, Miss Likstar."

"Maybe your watch is a minute fast," Wally suggested.

"I assure you, it's not," Scott said.

"It's not like it matters so much," Kurt said. "They could still return today. And even if they do not, anyone can make a mistake."

"Well, there, it's 3:00 pm now," Scott said. "I guess we can safely say the good Lord does not predict things by the hour."

No sooner had he said this than the front door opened.

Everyone had been expecting it to be the back door, since that was where the garage was, but instead Gambit came in the front.

Seeing all of them waiting, he said, "Didn't expect a welcome party."

Scott's jaw dropped.

"Hey." Wally waved.

"But--" Storm began, about to ask where Rogue was.

Then Rogue, really slowly and kind of small looking, came in the door after Gambit, with a really nervous expression.

Mystique gasped.

Shine looked at the clock. "Three on the dot," she said.

Scott was beyond the power of speech at the moment.

"Three?" Gambit said. "Oh...yeah...we late."

"I told you it was the wrong way," Rogue said.

"We here all de same, aren't we?" Gambit snapped.

"Rogue!" Storm finally cried and hurried up to her. 

Rogue let her hug her.

"Rogue!" Jubilee joined them.

"Well, it's about time," Logan said, sounding relieved. "Any longer and we were going to hawk yer stuff."

"Oh, shut up," Rogue said. "I...well, I gave y'all a bit of a scare, huh? But it's fine. I'm fine...Storm."

Storm stepped back. "You are all right?" she said, uncertainly. "I mean..."

"I'm all right," Rogue said quietly. "Just...thick headed, as usual...but I'll be all right, you'll see."

Mystique turned to give Shine the most astounded look imaginable.

Shine was just smiling.

"Well," she said, "this is the first time this has happened."

"Dang," Wally said. "This is pretty cool, Baby. Right to the minute."

"I think it was just to annoy Scott," Shine said.

Scott just clamped his mouth shut and left the room.

"What's his problem?" Rogue asked.

"He just lost," Logan said.

Rogue looked over at Shine, then at Mystique. "Hi, Momma," she said slowly.

Mystique didn't know what to say.

"I...guess I should say this now," Rogue said, "before I lose my nerve.... I didn't go just 'cause of her--" Pointing at Mystique. "--It was my own thing I had...so...no one be too mean, all right? Enough blamin' goin' on around here as it is..."

Mystique bit her lip.

"And...Miz Likstar," Rogue said, "I...know...you were right, about all of it. I had...I had to admit it, though...to you."

Shine got up and walked up to Rogue, gaze steady. Then she reached out and hugged her.

Rogue looked taken aback, but she didn't stop her.

"I'm really glad you're back," Shine said. "I was super worried."

Then she stepped back. "Whatever you need to say to me, you can say it after everyone else gets a chance, okay? You should let everyone know you're back. But let me say now--nothing is necessary."

Rogue lowered her voice. "Maybe it ain't to you, Shine, but it is to me...But you're right, I shouldn't make the Professor wait any longer, or Jean..."

[And thus ends Rogue's going rogue arc. 

Hopefully the worst of it is over for her from here.

Can't wait for the next stretch of this story. Hard to top this, but I'll try.]