Heavy, white flakes fell outside the window of the dimly lit room. Inside someone scrambled around apparently looking for something. Passing through the frosted glass you could see her auburn hair with the streak of silver running from the peak of her forehead. It was Rogue and she appeared frustrated.

Professor Xavier preferred that there be formal dress at the dinner table. With that fact, Rogue had put on nice khaki pants, shiny black heels, and one of her favorite blouses. The last item needed were her gloves. That's what she was so desperately trying to find.

Opening the drawers of her dresser and shoving the contents aside, she let out a sigh. She ran across the room and flew onto her bed landing on her knees. She ran her hands all over the comforter her eyes darting all over. Nope, not on that layer. She tore the blanket off and continued her search on the sheets. Nothing. Now where the hell had she put them.

A shadow walked through the open door. Rogue looked up.

"Jubilee, have you seen my gloves?"

Jubilee had blankly walked into the room and when Rogue had spoken to her she appeared to jump out of a trance.

"What?"

Appearing amused Rogue repeated, "My gloves, have you seen them?"

Jubilee's eyes became wary and she shook her head and pointed across the room.

"Rogue your gloves are right on top of your desk."

"A'h know that, those are the gloves A'h always wear, Ah'm lookin for my nice ones."

"Those black velvet ones?"

Surprised that she would know the ones she's referring to Rogue replied, "Yeah…those ones."

"Nope, can't help you, sorry."

Jubilee quickly walked towards the door.

"Well, Jubilee can you at least help me loo-."

"Rogue dinner starts in a minute just put on those gloves." Jubilee interrupted with a face that stated that she was in a hurry.

Jubilee turned and headed back down the hallway and then stopped herself with one hand on the door frame.

"Oh and Rogue, you need to get some new taste in music cause that crap you're listening to…it really brings me down." She whispered that last part.

Jubilee smiled and ran down that hallway as a pillow came flying out the door.

Rogue giggled and got back to her searching. Jubilee sure seemed to be acting weird. Rogue slipped off her bed onto the floor and lifted the sheet up to look under. Again, nothing. Where was it? Rogue let her eyes wander around the room as she tried to recall the last time she wore them. Then she spotted it. Three black fingers were peering out from under Jubilee's bed. Rogue chuckled and pulled her glove out. She poked her head under the bed to find the other. She was met with dust and empty liquor bottles.

"You've got to be kidding me…where the hell's the other?"

Rogue sat up and looked across Jubilee's bed to the nightstand. There placed so absentmindedly was Rogue's glove paired with a glass cup. Did Jubilee want the crap beat out of her? Rogue shuffled over to it. She cried aloud when she realized what it was being used for.

Rogue quickly raced out of the room after turning off her Andrew Lloyd Webber CD.

She ran through the empty corridors and down the carpeted main stair. She pushed her way through the door into the dining room. Brightly lit, it smelled like Thanksgiving dinner, but it was only the day before Christmas Eve. And unlike Thanksgiving, everyone had started without her. She was fine with that and she was glad no one took notice that she arrived late. She made her way around five of the seven tables and sat down with all of her peers.

"I dished you up some food Rogue, I even put some extra stuffing on there cause I know you like it." Jubilee stated with an overly nice tone.

"A coaster?" "Damn it Jubilee these are nice gloves."

Jubilee grabbed Rogue's hands, "I know Rogue and I'm sorry, but I need something to put my water on, you know how I need water before I go to bed."

Rogue let out an unsatisfied sigh, "Oh please Jubilee, you're not fooling anyone!"

"What are you talking about?" Jubilee whispered in a demanding tone.

"Your "water" sure smells a lot like Vodka!" Rogue harshly whispered back throwing in quotes with her fingers.

"What--!?" Jubilee shot out.

Rogue cocked her head and pouted her lips out. Jubilee held her accused gaze for another minute before abandoning it.

"Fine, do you want me to buy you a new pair?"

"No Jubilee, it's just…A'h don't know, never mind."

"I really am sorry."

"I know you are." Rogue patted Jubilee on the shoulder.

Rogue began eating her food. Every once and a while she would chime in on some conversation, contributing to the common roar that filled the dining hall. The noise of little kids laughing and yelling, and the clinking of silverware stopped when Ororo walked over to those tables to quiet them down. Rogue looked over to see why they had so abruptly stopped, she saw no reason, and when she turned back to her food she was met with a silent table all looking over at Professor Xavier who had come over to speak with them.

He had a festive holiday box in his hands.

"Crap." Rogue whispered.

"What?" Jubilee questioned.

"You'll see."

"Well you're all looking exceptional this evening." Xavier spoke calmly, but with a hint of mischief.

"I know that Christmas is only two days away and you're all caught up in the holiday spirit, but the staff and I thought it would be fun to do a Secret Santa. Since you either are or are close to being adults, we thought we would include you in this activity."

There was a split second of silence and then a general murmur of agreement.

"Superb, we have already pulled the names at the staff table so it's your turn." Xavier said with glee and he handed the box to Peter.

One by one the students pulled names, and each slip was greeted by a smile, an eye roll, or a puzzled look. It finally came to Rogue and there was one slip left. She reached into the box and pulled the slip out with some difficulty, due to the gloves. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked down.

Scott Summers.

"Now another reason we thought you could handle Secret Santa is we know there won't be any childish switching of names." "So feel free to be creative and have fun with it."

As Professor Xavier moved back to the staff table, Peter and Bobby compared their names and switched right away.

Instantly there was a jumble of questions and exasperations.

Jubilee openly cried, "What the hell am I going to get Professor X? Huh? Does anyone have any idea?"

Rogue craned her neck up to try and catch a glimpse of papers, "Does anyone have me?"

A series of, I don't, went around the table.

Damn, that's just what Rogue needed. Some teacher trying to figure out what Rogue would like. How on earth would Rogue get nothing but crap with this thing. She looked up at the staff table. All of them were staring at her table smiling and commenting. Rogue looked down the faces and saw Mr. Summers staring at her, did he have her name? Then Kurt was staring at her, was it him? Then she saw Logan staring at her, what the hell?

---

Bright, white light shone in through the frosted window. It fell across one of the two beds inside the room. A figure lay tangled amongst the sheets and blanket. Pale, firm leg wrapped in a rope of fabric, a bare arm hanging down off of the side of the bed. A hand stuck out from under the pillow and a tangled head of hair rested on the mattress. The muffled sounds of Christmas songs came through the dark wooden door.

Squinting, Rogue lifted her head up from the mattress into a beam of light. She let a long sigh flap through her full lips before pointing her toes and stretching her entire body. She fell limp again and closed her eyes trying to recapture the sleep she had just awoken from. The sound of running and giggling increased and then fell back away as two younger students ran down the hall past her door. Convinced she couldn't achieve sleep until that night Rogue let out another sigh as she pulled the blanket away and swung her legs off the bed to sit up. She rubbed her face and looked over to Jubilee. Instead of Jubilee, there was her bed with a jumble of sheets on top of it. Rogue glanced over at the clock as Jubilee entered the room.

"Girl you gotta get up." Jubilee said annoyingly loud standing in the doorway.

"Why?" Rogue croaked out with a voice that hadn't been used since last night.

Jubilee strolled over to Rogue's bed and sat down as Rogue laid her head back onto her pillow.

Spanking Rogue's butt, Jubilee said, "Because, it's Christmas Eve, and us girls are going out shopping for our Secret Santa."

"Oh crap, A'h forgot about that."

"You're coming with us you know."

"Who's all going?"

"Well, YOU, me and Kitty, oh and Bobby, Peter, and Jamie."

Rogue sat up and stared at Jubilee. "We're all going together?"

"Yep so come on we got a full day ahead of us!" Jubilee stated with steady crescendo.

"Professor Xavier is just letting us take one of the SUVs?" Rogue questioned hoping to find an excuse not to go.

"Yeah, Rogue, darling I've got everything taken care of."

"Who's driving?"

"Me."

Rogue got up from her bed and headed for the bathroom. Leaving the door open, Rogue brushed her hair staring into the mirror. She didn't need a shower, did she? Nah, she's not looking to meet any guys at the mall anyway. She walked back out of the bathroom and looked out the window.

"What's the temperature like outside?"

"It's warm honey, like fifty degrees."

"Warm?"

"Well it's warm for a New York Christmas Eve."

"I suppose."

Rogue slipped out of her velvet green night gown, and put on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, her heeled boots, and her white opera gloves that she got from Bobby six months ago during their brief visit to his house. She put her hair back excluding the white area.

Following Jubilee out of the door, Rogue said, "Ah'm driving."

Pulling into the parking garage, Rogue looked for an open spot away from the rest of the cars. She didn't want anyone dinging the nice Suburban that Professor Xavier, so graciously, let them borrow. Walking towards the entrance, Rogue saw a familiar blue Mazda parked along side a familiar motorcycle.

"Looks like some of the teachers are here too."

Jubilee rolled her eyes, "The few times we get outta the school and the teachers are here!"

Everyone gave a loud `Amen to that' that echoed throughout the concrete structure.

A warm blast of air met all of them as they walked into the frantic building. People crowded the walkways and escalators, trying to get their, very last minute, shopping done. Rogue made a note in her head to keep an eye out for the teachers.

"How are you Rogue?" Bobby asked from behind.

Keeping their pace, Rogue turned her head back glancing out of the corner of her eye, "Fine, how are you Bobby?"

"I'm good, so who do you have?"

"Now, now Bobby Drake, A'h can't tell you that, what if it was you?" Rogue said smiling.

Rogue glanced back past Bobby and saw Peter walking alone behind all of them. Rogue stopped to let everyone pass her and then caught up with him.

"Hey Peter, why do you look so down?" Rogue said with the most sincere concern.

"It's nothing Rogue, its just I don't know what to get my person." Peter said with an exasperated _expression.

"Well who do you have? I won't tell anyone."

"Uh…Kitty," Peter said blushing, with a hint of his Russian accent.

"Here Peter, let's just stop for a second." Rogue said, placing her hand up on his shoulder.

"I would suggest that with any woman, clothes are never a wrong choice."

Looking up past his brow, as if locking that fact into his brain, Peter said, "Clothes, got it."

"I'll even help you out, Kitty is a small and her favorite color is purple."

"Thank you so much Rogue." Peter said placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Peter!" Bobby yelled from down the walkway, standing next to Jamie.

"Well it looks like we're breaking off, Ah'll see you later Peter." Rogue said and she started jogging towards Jubilee and Kitty.

"Hey Rogue, we're meeting up with the guys later." Kitty said when Rogue caught up with them.

"Okay, let's get shopping!" Jubilee shouted.

Going through practically all of the stores, Rogue was neither inspired by anything nor found anything to get Mr. Summers. As for Jubilee, she only found things that would no doubt seem rude and immature.

"My God Jubilee, you think Xavier is gonna like head wax!" Rogue stated, making emphasis with her hands.

"Honestly Rogue, you come up with something then, cause I'm tired of wracking my brain thinking of things he'd like, hell, the guy is telepathic, he's gonna know how hard I tried, and that's all that matters!"

"No Ah'm too busy thinking of something to get Mr. Summers."

Kitty and Jubilee both let out a sharp gasp.

"Oh Rogue I'm sorry, that is hard."

"I know!"

"You've guys have got it bad, my person is so easy!"

"Yes we know, you know exactly what to get Peter!" Jubilee sassed.

Rogue had to keep in a chuckle when she heard that Kitty had Peter. It was cute. Rogue turned into a small shop at the end of the third level. Jubilee and Kitty both had a couple of bags in each hand. Rogue still didn't have anything. What could she get Scott that didn't seem so unimportant and superficial? Shelves lined the store and contained so many random things. One shelf had porcelain angels on it. They were really beautiful. How was she supposed to know that he would like one of them? Then one caught her eye and she knew it would be perfect for him. It was a pale angel, standing upon a stone in the middle of raging waters. It had red hair and green eyes, and the flowing fabric that draped her body seemed to be aflame. Her white wings were full of feathers with red tips. She didn't know why, but this seemed like something he would treasure. She picked it up and continued her search. In the jewelry area of the store were many retro pieces. And yet again something caught her eye. This store seemed to be made for the Secret Santas who had Scott Summers. It was a ring that seemed identical to the one that he gave Jean Grey when he proposed. Rogue started getting choked up. From behind her came two gasps that escaped out of Kitty's and Jubilee's mouths.

"Rogue, you have to get that for him, it would mean so much." Kitty whispered.

"A'h think Ah'm gonna put it on a chain." Rogue whispered back.

"That's a perfect idea." Jubilee gasped.

Rogue continued looking; she found a few `maybe' items and then paid for them all. She went to a nicer jeweler and bought a silver chain. Then with bags in hands, Kitty, Jubilee, and Rogue set out looking for the boys.

"Honestly Jubilee, you didn't think to set up a meeting place!"

"Sorry Rogue it slipped my mind."

"You guys what are we gonna do, we've been looking for them for 45 minutes?" Kitty worried.

They all stood in the middle of the two way river of shoppers, lost, not knowing what to do. Rogue suggested that they go over to the benches against the wall. They began fighting their way through the crowd. Saying as many "excuse me" as possible Jubilee and Kitty made it there first. Rogue attempted to make her way through the last line of people, tiptoeing, when a line of immovable teen girls pushed into her. Rogue went flying and so did her bags and everything fell in slow motion. As things landed, they made reassuring noises that nothing had broke, until the angel bag hit the ground with a sickening clank. Rogue sat there, in the crowd of people, staring at the bag, supporting herself with her hands. Both Kitty and Jubilee were standing up and it took a minute before the girls that had hit her to stop.

"Stacy I think you hit that girl." One blond said to the other.

"Damn straight you hit her!" Jubilee screamed.

Kitty ran over to Rogue to help her up and kindly asked, "Rogue, are you okay?"

Rogue didn't know whether to tear after those girls and suck them dry one by one or cry. Leave it to Jubilee to know what to do. She took three long strides and was right up there screaming at them.

"You're gonna pay for whatever you broke!" Jubilee yelled pointing back at the bags lying on the floor.

Stacy looked over past Jubilee to Rogue, "Your friend there, the skunk haired one, was moving against traffic, it's no one's fault but her own."

The four girls turned around and walked away.

Jubilee stood there, her hands clenched at her sides. She raised her hand and flipped her middle finger up. At the same time a yellow spark flew towards the girls' backs.

"Well you know what, FU-!"

"Jubilee!" Scott Summers yelled from the store entrance across the way.

Jubilee swallowed those last words and jumped at the sound of Mr. Summers' voice. Jubilee turned towards Scott and a pop sounded behind her followed by screams. Shit she was busted.

"How long have you been here?" Mr. Summers asked with the best smile he could put on.

Maybe she wasn't in deep shit.

"For a few hours."

"Did you come here alone?"

"No, actually I came here with Kitty, Peter, Bobby, Jamie, and Rogue-Oh man, ROGUE!"

Jubilee turned back to see if she was okay. She looked back and Rogue was on her knees by the angel bag crying, as Kitty rubbed her back. Scott was on his way over to her before Jubilee even noticed and helped her up and tried to calm her down. Man what a day.

After Rogue had gotten her composure back, they decided to head for the parking garage in hopes that the boys were waiting for them there. About halfway through the mall they heard laughing and looked. The three girls, who were already irritated beyond belief, could only look dumbstruck as Bobby, Jamie, and Peter loudly came out of a store with bright pink bags in their hands. Jubilee looked up at the store name just as Rogue did.

"You guys are perverts!" Jubilee screamed.

"Really Bobby, that's disgusting." Rogue spewed.

"Honestly, who the hell are you guys shopping for?!?" Kitty blurted.

The three girls walked past Victoria's Secret and the guys scrambled to follow. Rogue turned back and looked into Victoria's Secret. She did a double take when she thought she saw Logan looking at her and jump down behind a shelf.

Bobby leaned in towards Peter and whispered, "Gosh, what's their problem?"

Finally making it back to the mansion, Rogue couldn't imagine a day worse than this day. Well, besides the one on top of the Statue of Liberty. She would just head back to her room to wrap the Secret Santa gifts and go to bed early. She was met with a white box tied in a red bow on the floor by her door. It said "To Rogue from your Secret Santa". Well this would make her feel better. She bent down and picked it up. She got into her room and closed the door. Sitting on her bed she untied the bow and opened the box. Pulling the white tissue paper away Rogue was met with a pair of binoculars.

"What the hell?" Rogue whispered.

---

"At least they're nice binoculars." Jubilee stated hardly making an attempt to cheer her up.

"Yeah A'h suppose." Rogue drawled. And they were a nice pair of binoculars. They were small, with an elegant, false wood shell. It had metal lining painted in gold. But what on earth did she radiate that made her Secret Santa think she would like a pair of binoculars.

Instead of going to bed early, Rogue stayed up for the majority of the night. What a dumpy day this had been. After getting over the fact that her Secret Santa had her all wrong she opened the bag containing the broken angel. She carefully pulled out the pieces. Much to her dismay the wings had both broken off. Luckily it was just that, the angel had broken into three main pieces.

"That is totally fixable Rogue!" Jubilee elated.

"Is there anyone here that can fix things?"

"Peter is pretty good with those things, he's made models before." Jubilee suggested.

"I mean mutations; does anyone have a power like that?"

"Oh, that I don't know." Jubilee sat down putting her chin in her hand.

"Let's go see shall we?"

Jubilee followed Rogue downstairs and they both began "interviewing" the younger kids, and the students that they didn't know as well. Down in the living room were most of the kids. Rogue talked to each one, some answering no right away and some asking their own questions.

Rogue was standing in front of the TV futilely trying to block their view. The screen was too damn big.

"Come on you guys A'h just need to ask you one thing!" Rogue pleaded.

"Get out of the way!"

"Move it!" Rogue continued begging them. Ororo walked into the room and noticed Jubilee and Rogue on opposite sides of the room appearing to be making deals with the children. Then an annoying poke on her shoulder directed her focus down. It was Jones and there was a question that was just dying to be asked.

"What can I do for you Jones?" Her crystal blue eyes filled with utter kindness.

"Uh…Miss Munroe, it was so warm today that all of the snow melted. I sure hope that there'll be a white Christmas tomorrow." Jones was a bad actor, and his question was just a reminder to Ororo, considering he'd made that comment at least five times before.

"Jones, you have nothing to worry about, I saw the news and there will be snow tomorrow." Ororo smiled.

"Okay, just checking." Jones turned and ran back towards his friends shaking his head up and down.

"Okay." Ororo chuckled.

She glanced back up towards Rogue, who was still standing in front of the TV, her arms flailing in gestures. She shuffled her way past a game of checkers on the floor and tapped Rogue on the shoulder.

"Are we entertaining?" She asked suspecting that some sort of thing was being planned.

"Oh hi Miss Munroe, no we were just talking." Rogue smiled as best she could.

Jubilee walked to the back of the couch and placed her hands on two of the kids' heads who were pleading with Rogue to move.

"We're trying to see if any of these wonderful children can help us fix something." She squeezed their heads.

"Ah…you mean with their mutations?" Ororo leaned forward.

"Yes."

"Well I have no recollection of that talent, but you should go talk to Charles." She pointed out the door.

"Oh yeah…duh...Professor Xavier would know that!" Rogue chuckled hitting the side of her head with her hand.

Rogue headed towards the hall and Jubilee kept staring at Storm. Ororo slowly looked out of the corner of her eye towards Jubilee and then turned with hands on her hips.

"Is there something you were wondering Jubilation?" Ororo scolded with an arched eyebrow.

Jubilee's eyebrows were raised and she bit her lip in concern.

"Yeah, is there gonna be any snow tomorrow?"

"I'll see what I can do." Ororo teased.

"Okay!" Jubilee squealed and ran out into the hall.

Slamming the door open to their room, Rogue and Jubilee stormed in.

"Of all the mutations out there, no one can fix anything!" Rogue yelled in disappointment.

"I know!" Jubilee returned.

"Well I guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way!" Rogue threw her hands up into the air.

Rogue had strolled down the hall to the other wing to Peter's room to borrow rubber cement. Jamie and Bobby were also there, having a rowdy good time, laughing their asses off about something. Something perverted no doubt. For the next two hours Rogue and Jubilee sat in their rooms and chatted about things while Rogue held the wings together to dry. They talked about when they first discovered their powers, when they first met. How they got to be at the school. Jubilee told Rogue about how she remembers being totally fascinated with Rogue when she first came here. They laughed and they cried. It was ten o'clock when Rogue finally put the angel down.

Rogue got up and hit play on the CD player. On came Andrew Lloyd Webber's opening to Phantom of the Opera. Rogue danced back to her bed and sat down. Jubilee stared across at Rogue with a disgusted look on her face.

Shrugging her shoulders Rogue prodded, "What?"

"How on earth do you listen to that stuff?"

"A'h love opera!"

"It's boring Rogue, EXTREMEMLY boring!!!" Jubilee strained that word and fell back on her bed.

"Fine, you find something else to listen to." Rogue got up from her bed.

"Where are you going?!?" Jubilee cried.

"The bathroom…is that okay with you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine with it if you're fine with it."

"Thank you."

Rogue walked into the bathroom and closed the door. She sat down and was surprised when the toilet rattled along to the bass of the song that Jubilee put in. She finished, and washed her hands; all the while the walls were shaking and thumping. She came out to find Jubilee standing on top of her bed making rude gestures laughing and singing along.

"I wanna get you in the back seat window up that's the way you like to FU-!"

"Jubilee!" Rogue screamed, slamming her hand down on the stop button.

Jubilee kept on singing, "clogged up fog alert, rip the pants and rip the shirt, ruff sex make it-!"

Three light knocks on the door stopped Jubilee's rampage of vulgar lyrics. Jubilee jumped down off of the bed and prepared herself for a visitor with hands in her lap and a cheesy smile on her face. Rogue walked towards the door and reached for the knob. She could hear whispers and laughing. She swung the door open and half gasped and half laughed at what she saw.

Standing there was Jamie clad in boxers and with two water balloons in his hands. To top it all off he was wearing a purple lace bra that he had clearly bought that day, with a water balloon in each cup. Jubilee looked out and screamed in offense. Rogue noticed Bobby and Peter down the hall slapping their knees and gasping for air.

"Charming." Rogue teased with a raised lip. Jamie stepped forward and Jubilee screamed. Rogue put both her hands on the door and slammed with all of her might. The door hit Jamie in the knee and the face with enough force to trigger is power. With strange thumping and slapping noises, eleven more Jamies were generated behind the original, hitting the back wall. Jubilee and Rogue burst out laughing. Standing there in a conga line, with the biggest surprised looks were Jamie times eleven. Each one had a water balloon in each hand and each one was wearing a bra.

A long shadow entered the hall followed by Scott Summers.

"What's going on up here?!?" he demanded.

All eleven Jamies turned towards him and then back at Bobby and Peter. They had angry looks on their faces and they were squeezing the balloons tight. They all took off towards Bobby and Peter who had already started running down the hall.

There was a knock on Rogue and Jubilee's door again. This time Jubilee ran up to it. She cupped her right hand which was full of glowing sparks, ready to prank those guys.

She swung open the door yelling, "Shove this up your-!"

"Whoa-Jubilee stop!" Mr. Summers yelled, jumping against the back wall.

Jubilee quickly closed her hand and stuttered, "Mr. Summers, I-I-I thought it was someone else, I'm sorry!"

"What's going on you two?"

Rogue jumped behind Jubilee, pointing down the hall, and tattled, "They were gonna throw water balloons at us!"

"Great…boys!" Scott Summers tore off after them.

Rogue quickly got the angel in a box and wrapped it. She scribbled a note and taped it to the box. Perfect timing, with Mr. Summers running after the boys, she could put the gift outside his bedroom. She headed out of the door, and looked both ways. Nobody was there. She looked back in at Jubilee. Jubilee was just finishing her note and read it aloud happily.

"To Professor Charles Xavier, I hope you find this useful, from your Secret Santa!"

"Nice Jubes, now let's go!"

They both ran down the hall to the other wing. When they reached it, they realized their predicament. Neither Rogue nor Jubilee knew which room was Cyclops' or Xavier's. They couldn't ask anyone that would blow the whole anonymity of the game. They would have to violate the teachers' privacy. Jubilee went down the right side of the hall and opened the first door and Rogue walked towards the first door on the left. She grasped the doorknob and twisted. Yes, it was unlocked. She shoved her way inside and stared.

Among the clothes that scattered the floor was Logan, pulling his shirt over his head. Rogue quickly went bright red and Logan sensed someone open the door.

With the shirt over his face he blindly turned his head towards the door and demanded, "Who's there?"

Rogue stood there, choking on the breath that was stolen away. Jubilee grabbed Rogue's shoulder, pulled her away, and poked her head in.

"Oops…wrong room!"

"God Rogue, get a grip!"

"Ah'm sorry I was…confused." Rogue stuttered.

"Right, anyway I found Scott's room."

"Okay."

Rogue and Jubilee quickly set their gifts down outside their doors and ran back down the hallway. Rogue turned back to see Logan poking his head out, staring at them wearing a tuxedo shirt. He shot back in his room and closed the door.

Rogue and Jubilee got back to their room and stayed there for the rest of the night. They talked more, invited Kitty and Tracy to their room. They all played truth or dare, but it consisted truth more than anything. Then Jubilee looked up at the clock. It was 1:20 and she got up and looked out the window.

"Merry Christmas guys!" she yelled.

She ran back towards them with a gleam in her eye.

"Follow me!" she taunted.

"Jubilee, what are you -?" Rogue questioned but never finished as she tore after Jubilee.

Jubilee ran down the carpeted hall and down the stairs. She ran through the main hall to the big front doors. Rogue, Kitty, and Tracy could only run and watch Jubilee as she ran out into the night. Rogue bolted out of the doors and stopped abruptly at the beauty. She had run into a gorgeous blue, white, and silver moon lit night. Jubilee stood in ankle deep powder snow smiling. Tracy and Kitty giggled behind Rogue as huge, soft, white flakes fell all around her. The moon was the only thing that illuminated these diamonds. Rogue smiled too. She held her hands up to catch the flakes. Her awe was interrupted by Jubilee.

With hands raised to the sky, Jubilee yelled, "Merry Christmas!"

Just then sparkling blue, yellow, purple, green, and red sparks flew out of Jubilee's hands. They kept on flying, more and more illuminating the snow in different colors. Rogue ran out to Jubilee, even though it was beautiful, the noise created was so loud in the night time silence that it hurt Rogue's ears. High pitched screeching and whirring followed the smoke trails of the fireworks. Lights began turning on in the mansion. Rogue grabbed Jubilee's arms and pulled them down.

"Jubilee stop!" Rogue said giggling.

"Merry Christmas Rogue!" Jubilee hugged her.

Dozens of faces filled the lit windows and each one had a smile on as the snow fell. A dark figure was walking towards the entrance from inside. They stepped outside revealing Storm, with a gracious look on her face and fogged eyes.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, girls." She joked.

"I couldn't wait!" Jubilee giggled.

The rest of the day went beautifully. They all had a wonderful Christmas breakfast. They opened presents around the giant Christmas tree. Kurt read some passages from the bible, telling the Christmas story. They had lunch, again it was wonderful. They played games in the snow including an all school snowball fight with Storm and Iceman as team captains. Rogue was proud that she got a few hits in on the "Iceman". They all sat around the fire, telling stories and chatting, with hot chocolate. Rogue just had to get to bed early and left the common room half-way through Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She wrapped the next Secret Santa gift and put it outside of Mr. Summers' door. She went back to her room and was startled to see another white box with a red bow around it. She stood there staring at it. It was just her and the box in the dark hallway. She picked it up and read the note. "To Rogue from your Secret Santa, confused?" She had no idea what that meant. She went into her bedroom and opened the box. There placed in white tissue paper was what looked like a wand. It was about ten inches long and had gold framing the length of it on opposite sides. The whole thing looked like it was made out of a false wood pattern just like the binoculars. On one end of it were the metal threads like a screw.

Again all Rogue could say was, "What the hell?"

---

Rogue woke up rather spastically the next morning. She twitched and stretched under her sheets while she tried to recall the events that occurred the past few days. Okay, Secret Santa, Scott Summers. Shopping the day of Christmas Eve, what a disaster that was. Finding perfect gifts for Mr. Summers then breaking perfect gift for Mr. Summers. Fixing the gift for Mr. Summers. The attempted prank on her and Jubilee by Jamie, Bobby, and Peter. Leaving the first gift by Mr. Summers' door. Staying up all night and then running outside in the snow. Christmas Day, Christmas night, and both of the rather cryptic gifts from her Secret Santa.

And cryptic was the best word to describe them. She had no idea what they meant. Rogue sat up in her bed and picked the two items up off of her night stand. She stared at them.

"What does it mean?" she whispered.

The bathroom door swung open and a wet haired Jubilee walked out with a towel wrapped around her body.

"Hey Rogue how'd you sleep?"

Through a yawn Rogue muttered, "Fine."

Jubilee sat down on her bed and let out a tired sigh. She looked over at Rogue and then down at the objects in her hands.

"Another piece to an unsolvable puzzle?" she questioned amused.

Letting out an agreeing chuckle Rogue said, "Yeah, tell me about it."

Jubilee looked back and forth between the small binoculars and the wand-like stick. She yawned and then made an obvious observation.

"They match."

"Yeah they do Jubilee." Rogue stated a little annoyed.

Then Jubilee stated something that hadn't come to Rogue's mind.

"Maybe they go together you know, like it's actually one thing." Rogue looked up at Jubilee with a surprised gape. Jubilee was a sweetheart but she wasn't one who used her head too often, so this sudden input impressed Rogue. Rogue began flipping the binoculars over in her hand and sure enough there was something there. Along the bottom of the right scope was a hole with threads along the walls. Rogue took the "wand" and matched the two threaded pieces together. She began to turn the wand, screwing it into the binoculars. Then it hit Rogue and she smiled. Jubilee yanked it from her hand and headed for the window. She peered through the binoculars and snorted.

"A lot of good this thing does, it just gets in the way."

Rogue giggled and went over to Jubilee at the window. She took Jubilee's right hand.

"Hold it here."

Now Jubilee was holding the left scope of the binoculars and the wand. She turned to Rogue and gave a puzzled look. Rogue grabbed it out of her hands and held it just by the wand. She put it up to her eyes and then pulled it down laughing. Jubilee continued to stare at Rogue dumbfounded.

"Don't you know what it is?"

"No I don't please tell me!"

"They're not binoculars, it's a lorgnette!"

Jubilee just stared at Rogue as if she were crazy.

"A lorgnette?" she questioned, blinking very slowly.

"Yes a lorgnette, you know, when you go to the opera!"

"Oh yeah, you look through those."

"YES!" Rogue cried with jubilation.

"Well that is something-something else." Jubilee dryly stated.

Rogue then realized that her Secret Santa knew her perfectly. Who was it? She had to find out. She would do it through process of elimination.

"Jubilee do you know who your Secret Santa is?" Rogue questioned analytically.

"No I don't but they give good gifts."

"Well what did you get?"

"Let me show you."

Jubilee walked over to her desk where a big white box lay with a small black box on top of it. She opened the black box and pulled out two golden hoop earrings.

Rogue put her hands up to her mouth and breathily said, "Oh Jubilee you love hoop earrings!"

"I know but it gets better!"

Rogue crossed her legs on her bed in anticipation. Jubilee opened the big white box and pulled out a jacket. This wasn't just any jacket though, not to Jubilee it wasn't. It was a yellow leather jacket. She was smiling so big that her gums were showing.

"Jubilee it's gorgeous"

"I know!"

"It's yellow!"

"I know!"

"It's leather, oh and look it has an X up on the collar, just like our uniforms."

"I know, so it has to be a teacher, they would be the only ones who could get the yellow X like my uniform."

That was true. So now Rogue knew that her Secret Santa wasn't one of the teachers. But which one was the question. So this new bit of information wasn't much help. She had to find out who the others had.

"I'm going to go down to breakfast, you coming?" Jubilee asked as she turned towards the wall and took her towel off.

Rogue turned to give Jubilee some privacy while she dressed.

"Ah'll meet you down there, Ah'm goin to have a shower."

"Okay I'll save you a spot next to me."

Jubilee put her shoes on and headed out the door. Rogue closed the door and turned on her CD. She walked into her bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. She went back out and grabbed the lorgnette. She stared at herself in the mirror again. As the harps in "Angel of Music" played Rogue saw her faded green nightgown turn into a beautiful formal gown. Her hair was now out of her face held up by a beautiful clip. She had white elbow length gloves on and she was holding her golden plated lorgnette. She was sitting in a cavernous opera house watching the dark cloaked Phantom pound at the organ keys. A loud thud shook Rogue out of her fantasy.

She walked back into the bedroom and looked out the window. The remnants of a slushy snowball slid down the glass. She looked out and saw several distorted figures running away. She laughed and went back into the bathroom. Rogue turned the shower on and let it run for a while. She stared at herself in the mirror. Slowly she slid each strap off of her shoulders. She then grabbed the green fabric at her waist and pulled down. The nightgown fell to the cold tile floor around Rogue's feet. Rogue crossed her arms in front of her chest covering up her entire nudity. Rogue stared at her pale skin in despair. So much skin there, and every inch dangerous enough to cover and never allow contact. Rogue stopped feeling sorry for herself years ago, yet there were times that she hated being what she was.

Rogue sat in the shower. She liked to savor these kinds of things. The hot water rolling down her skin was one of the few times there was some other contact on her skin other than fabric and her own hand. Rogue tilted her head back into the stream. Then she moved it forward listening for something. Her music had stopped. Why? She had put it on repeat. Rogue turned off the shower. She stepped out and reached for a towel, wrapping it around her torso.

She ran out into the bedroom and there was her CD player open. She looked in and her CD was gone. What the hell?

"Jubilee!" Rogue hissed slamming her fist down on her desk.

Rogue ran keeping a hand on the towel ends so she wouldn't turn her pursuit into a streaking party, and swung the door open stepping into the hall. Rogue looked to the left, and then to the right. Someone had just turned the corner running.

"Oh no you don't Jubilee!" Rogue yelled taking off down the hall.

This was a little out of Rogue's comfort zone, yet her figuring was that everyone but Jubilee was down at breakfast or outside playing in the snow. So Rogue took off faster letting the air catch some of her towel and parting it. Rogue tore around the corner and screamed, attempting to back step. Someone was there bent over, head facing her, picking something off the ground. It was a man.

Rogue screamed even louder when the collision happened. She raised both of her hands to brace against this mystery man. In doing so her towel began to slip off of her body. Her feet slipped on the carpet and as she slid towards the man his head was aimed at the worse spot. The man gasped out loud when Rogue put her hands on his back. Rogue groaned when her attempt to vault over the man failed. The man's head came into contact with Rogue's groin and Rogue realized that she could no longer talk to this man when she found out who it was. Acting as an immovable, solid object, when Rogue's legs hit the man the rest of her body continued moving. Rogue was flipped over the man's shoulders and back. Rogue did one full turn in the air before landing painfully five feet away.

And she meant painful, the thud was deafening and Rogue lost her breath. She hit her head on the carpeting so hard that she could feel the wood floor underneath it. Rogue landed on her side, semi-sprawled on the floor with her towel resting on her calf.

She lay there stunned both by the shock of the event and the actual shock of hitting the floor so hard. Her wet hair clung all around her, to her face, shoulders, and the floor. She brought her unpinned arm up across her chest to cover the obvious. Her legs were already crossed so she didn't worry about the other obvious. A tear ran down her cheek from the pain and then more tears began to fall from embarrassment.

She knew who the mystery man was. When Rogue slid into the man, his ear touched her bare thigh and the connection was made. Rogue blinked and looked up. There was a burning from behind her eye. Scott Summers aka Cyclops shoots beams of pure force from his eyes. Rogue had just absorbed that power and since she never suffered the head trauma that Scott had she could control it. The white part of Rogue's eyes were now a crimson red and her original brown now had a light tint of red in it as well.

Scott Summers was a man that she respected and hoped that he respected her as well. That would no longer be possible after this incident. Scott had fallen over after Rogue's legs had met his shoulders. He was on his knees in an instant and pushed himself back up. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around for Rogue. She was no where to be found. He turned around and saw her lying there exposed, her skin seemed to be glowing a deep red and he closed his eyes.

She lay there coughing and crying at the same time. Then she heard his voice calling out to her asking if she was okay. Rogue blinked a couple of times as tears continued to fall down her cheek. She coughed yet again and sat up grabbing for the towel.

"Mr. Summers a-a-are you okay, A-A-Ah'm so sorry." Rogue cried.

"Yeah Rogue I'm fine, are you okay?" he asked with concern.

Rogue pulled the towel up to her chest; it covered the whole length of the front of her body. She propped herself up with an elbow and she wiped the tears from her eyes with her hand.

"Ah'm fine, and it's okay… y-y-you can open your eyes." Rogue whispered.

"Are you sure?" Scott strained his eyebrows up in concern.

"Yeah."

Scott lifted his eyelids from behind his glasses to reveal the familiar red world. He looked down at Rogue who was staring at the ground avoiding eye contact. She had a disappointed look on her face. He rushed over to her and bent over extending his hand. Rogue tightened her grip around her body. Scott's _expression became even more concerned and then he looked down at his hand.

"Oh, Rogue I am so sorry, I forgot."

Scott closed his eyes again, and it was clear to Rogue he had since his eyebrows were now hidden behind his glasses in strain.

"Give me your towel." Scott calmly asked.

Rogue trusted him, and she knew what he was getting at so she peeled her towel away and folded it over her hand. She sat up and brushed Scott's hand with her toweled hand. He blindly reached for her hand and strongly grasped it. He gently lifted the weight of her body up and he could hear both her feet pad against the carpet. He sensed her walk past him and opened his eyes. He was standing alone in the hall again. He glanced back to see her looking back at him and rewrapping herself in her towel. As she turned the corner she whispered that she was sorry. Scott glanced down at the floor and saw the CD that he was picking up before the accident.

Rogue threw herself onto her bed still in her towel. She began to cry. This whole event had been way too emotional for her. Her emotions mixed with his. A light knock came to her door and she heard Scott say her name.

Scott was staring at her wooden door and it opened. He looked down at the distraught Rogue. This was very uncomfortable for him considering she was an emotional 18 year old girl.

"This is yours," he said holding out the CD.

Rogue grabbed the other side careful to not touch him and questioned, "How'd you know that it is mine?"

He avoided eye contact, "Because…I know you like opera."

Rogue looked to the floor, thoughts filling her head and said again, "Ah'm sorry."

"It's okay Rogue, it was an accident."

Rogue had silent tears running down her cheeks as she continued to avoid eye contact.

"Why are you crying Rogue?"

"It's just hard not being able to control my powers." She whispered.

He made a motion to bump her chin and she looked up.

"Rogue, you're preaching to the choir."

Rogue gave a closed mouth smile as Mr. Summers turned away. The sound of children running up the stairs and asking what happened, and "who screamed?" filled the hallway. Rogue closed the door as Mr. Summers told everyone to calm down.

Rogue was too disturbed by this whole incident to go down to breakfast. In fact after she slipped into the Xavier sweat suit she stayed in her room the whole day. Jubilee came in several times to check on her. She had some clue as to what happened when Mr. Summers came down blushing and she heard Professor Xavier chuckle. Jubilee brought her some food and helped her wrap Rogue's next present for Mr. Summers.

"How long does this go on for again Jubilee?" Rogue asked looking for tape.

"The whole thing goes on for a week, so we have what, like three days left."

"Okay"

"So what is that you've got for Mr. Summers?"

"It's a baseball glove."

"Aw that's nice, he likes baseball doesn't he?"

"Yeah, at least that's what I thought."

Rogue and Jubilee both laughed.

"What do you have for Xavier?"

"Well I gave him the back-scratcher the first day, and the head wax yesterday, so today I'm giving him reflectors!" Jubilee said with a smile.

"Reflectors?" Rogue prodded.

"Yeah, there are like ten in each package and you put them on the spokes of your bike tires, and when they go around, they slide down and make little clinking noises."

Rogue just stared at Jubilee in utter amazement.

"What, it would be cute if he put them on his wheelchair spokes!"

"I guess." Rogue rolled her eyes.

"So do you have any idea who your Secret Santa is?"

"I have a pretty good idea." Rogue smiled mischievously.

Jubilee brought both Rogue's and her gifts to their teachers' rooms. While Jubilee was gone Rogue stepped into the bathroom to brush her hair. There was a light thud on her door and Rogue ran to it throwing the brush down. She swung the door open smiling. She looked to the right and there was no one there. She looked to the left and caught a glimpse of a leg as the Secret Santa turned the corner. She looked down and saw a small black box tied in a red bow. Jubilee came from the right and asked if that gift just got here. Rogue said yeah and that they left in that direction. Jubilee started to run down the hall and Rogue caught up with her grabbing her arm.

"Ah'd rather not know I guess."

"Well here's some food for thought, Mr. Summers wasn't in his room!" Jubilee exclaimed.

Rogue smiled as she picked up the black box and went inside. She untied the bow and slowly took the lid off. She pulled the white tissue paper aside and breathed deeply in.

"Sweet Jesus," she whispered.

---

"There is no way that your Secret Santa hasn't passed the price limit on your gifts!" Jubilee cried out frustrated.

"A'h know." Rogue remarked giddily.

"I mean LOOK at it!" Jubilee had thrust her hand towards Rogue's gift.

Rogue couldn't even speak. There was something caught in her throat. Something that she needed to say, but she didn't know what it was. She was overjoyed, overwhelmed, she was taken by whoever her Secret Santa was.

"This isn't Secret Santa anymore," Jubilee raised a pointed finger up, "this-this-this is Secret Admirer!"

Rogue rolled her eyes and looked up at Jubilee from her bed.

"This is not a Secret Admirer." She dully stated.

"Then explain the nice gifts, explain THIS!" Jubilee snatched Rogue's latest gift from her hands and held it up as if it were contaminated.

Between Jubilee's manicured fingers she held a comb. Five ivory teeth protruded from the body. Adorning the top of the comb was a crystal, white flower set on a bright green stem and surrounded by three green leaves. Rogue just stared up at the comb smiling. Jubilee saw her _expression and sat down next to her. She grabbed Rogue's gloved hands and leaned in, a look of concern on her face.

"Rogue this just isn't right."

Rogue bit her lip, "Why not?"

"Because…if this is from Mr. Summers you know that it's because he just lost –"

"A'h know!" Rogue interrupted pulling her hands out of Jubilee's.

A sudden rush of guilt filled Rogue and suddenly her gift didn't appear as beautiful as it had just appeared. It looked sad. If it was Mr. Summers that had given it to her she would have to return the gifts insistently. She couldn't take advantage of him like that. The man had lost his fiancé, in part to Rogue's inability to land the jet properly. Rogue turned away from Jubilee.

"It's not your fault Rogue, you know that." Jubilee whispered.

Rogue turned towards Jubilee with a tear glistening in her eye.

"Isn't it?"

Jubilee frowned at Rogue, too many times had Jubilee, Kitty, and the teachers comforted Rogue and reassured her that Jean's death was by her choice.

"Ah'm sorry, you're right."

Jubilee smiled and let out a sigh. She needed to get Rogue's mind away from this subject.

"Let's go out with the guys!"

"Out?"

"Just outside Rogue, we've been cooped up for too long in here."

"Okay just let me get dressed."

"I'll meet you downstairs." Jubilee got up and walked out of the room.

Rogue got up and opened up her closet. She began digging through all of the clothes that were so carelessly thrown in the closet in search of her winter outerwear. Rogue very quickly dressed in all the necessary layers and by the end she was damp with sweat. She sat on her bed to tie her boots and was barely able to bend down to her feet. Clunking, she exited her room and headed down the hall. Running her mitten-covered hand down the banister, Rogue childishly jumped the last two steps landing with an echoing boom. She smiled at herself and turned down the lightly lit hallway. Rogue slowed down her walking when a bead of sweat ran from her brow. She passed Professor Xavier's office but then stopped when an unfamiliar voice met her ears.

Rogue walked back to his great paneled door and pressed up against it. A conversation between Xavier and the stranger was coming to an end and Rogue could only catch the last sentences.

"Monsieur Xavier, I appreciate your gesture yet I am afraid that I will not be able to take it up today."

The man spoke with rhythm and a sort of song. Aside from that, he was clearly from the south, particularly from the Louisiana region. Rogue knew this because she had an old friend from the bayou. He spoke like those southern Baptist ministers with breaks and strange emphasis. She heard a rustling and backed away from the door.

"Well that is fine then; don't forget about us here if you should ever need help." Professor Xavier's polite voice contrasted greatly from the mystery man.

"I won't Mon Ami."

Rogue heard the door knob rattle and she realized she needed to get her butt out of there if she didn't want to get caught. She quickly shuffled back the way she came as the door opened and the stranger's footsteps headed the other direction towards the door. Rogue curiously turned back towards the stranger just as a small piece of paper fell from his jacket.

"Oh-!" Rogue exclaimed and ran towards the man.

She stopped to pick up the paper only to see it was a playing card. She continued after the man turning the corner. She bumped the man squarely in the chest and as she fell back he caught her in his arms. With his right hand supporting her in the small of her back and his left hand grasping her wrist, they appeared to be dancing. She looked up at the face of the mystery man and was met with even more mystery. The man's handsome face was sprinkled with a 5 o'clock shadow along his strong jaw line. He had a somewhat crooked nose and shaggy brown hair clung at his forehead. The most wonderful part of his face were his eyes and Rogue had to hold back a gasp as her face reflected in red surrounded by black.

"Oh my-." Rogue whispered.

"Whoa now-," his sentenced stopped as he looked down and a look of clear interest ran across his face, "are we alright?"

Rogue had her one hand grasping his shoulder and her other holding the bicep of the arm that held her up.

Rogue coughed and shook her head to rid herself of the crimson that had quickly spread into her face, "Ah'm sorry, but you dropped this." Rogue stuttered holding up the card.

The dark eyed man just continued staring into Rogue's brown eyes. Rogue stared back and he repeatedly raised his eyebrows. Rogue giggled and then pushed away from the man. He immediately received the message and pulled her up so she could stand on her own. He eyed her once and then gave a gleaming smile.

"Ya keep it Chere, then I will have something to come back for, neh?" his smooth Cajun accent sang.

He began walking backwards away from the blushing Rogue. This gave Rogue some extra time to examine this man. His head was placed atop a thick neck leading to broad shoulders. A brown trench coat hung over his body, but she could tell that he had a slim to muscular body. A runner's body and at least six foot six. Rogue let out a long sigh as her hormones raged. Even though she was eighteen she had the distinct impression that this twenty-something man wanted her and she had no problem with that. She stuck her hip out and gave a satisfied smile as she arched an eyebrow.

"Rogue, I do believe your friends are waiting for you." Xavier surprised her as he rolled up.

"Oh yeah, thank you Professor!"

Rogue joined Jubilee, Kitty, Tracy, Bobby, Jamie, and Peter with butterflies still bouncing around in her stomach. She was lucky no one there could read minds otherwise she would be in trouble, especially with Bobby. Rogue let the girl in her smile again.

They began walking around talking about things that most young adults talk about. They all attempted to keep their Secret Santa's a secret, but Jamie ended up revealing that he had Dr. McCoy, who had only come to the mansion a month before, and that he caught Dr. McCoy slipping a gift for him into his room. Rogue just had to tell the girls about the man she had bumped into, yet found it nearly impossible to do so with Bobby's arm draped around her and Peter devoting all of his attention to Kitty. She then realized what she had to do to get rid of them for now.

"Boys, A'h need to talk to Kitty, Jubes, and Tracy." Rogue stroked Bobby's hand.

"Okay go ahead Rogue." Jamie muttered as no boy moved from their positions.

"Okay…I guess if you want to hear it…it involves bleeding though-."

"Whoa!" Bobby quickly lifted his arm off of Rogue and Peter made a gagging noise as they all fell five steps behind the girls.

Rogue proceeded to tell the girls about this man and they all were so caught up in Rogue's moment that they didn't realize what the boys were about to do. They were all huddled together even though they were walking and Bobby was concentrating on his explanation. The guys all nodded their heads and then turned forward, keeping a steady pace. The girls continued walking ahead as Bobby raised his hand up. A sparkling stream of frost shot from his hand and proceeded to form a slick layer of ice underneath the girls' feet. All at once their next step lost all friction and they began doing a little balance dance as the men ran up behind the girls. Kitty seemingly floated into Peter's arms. Jamie awkwardly shuffled up to Tracy and as she fell into him he lost his balance and hit the ice hard, cushioning Tracy's fall. Bobby, being the Iceman he was, skated up to Rogue and scooped her up and twirled her around. The girls all half laughed out of delight and half groaned out of the lameness of the whole action. Rogue sarcastically threw in an "Our heroes!" towards all of the men.

The whole noise of the rescues overwhelmed Jubilee's cry and her tumble. It wasn't until the Kitty and Rogue were set down and Tracy pushed herself up using Jamie that they noticed Jubilee kneeling on the ground rubbing her butt.

Jubilee looked up at them all frowning and turned towards Jamie who still sat on the ice.

"Sure… go for Tracy instead of me!" Jubilee angrily hissed sending a pink firework towards him striking his cheek and muttered, "Asshole."

The guys all laughed at Jubilee as the three girls clumsily got Jubilee back up. Jubilee continued being angry at all of the boys for choosing who they chose over her. She continued her war with them, every once and a while throwing snowballs at them or tackling them, only Bobby and Jamie successfully, and giving them a nasty white-wash. Rogue prodded at what Kitty had gotten because she seemed very embarrassed about some of the gifts. Rogue bugged her enough and she finally gave in.

"My Secret Santa got me a-a," Kitty looked back towards the boys seeing Jubilee shoving snow down his jacket and shirt, "a bra!"

"A BRA?!?" Rogue exclaimed.

"Yes!" Kitty whispered strained.

"Wow!" Rogue pretended not to know who Kitty's Secret Santa was.

They all began, what they agreed to be, their last game of tag considering they were now adults, and that's when Rogue approached Peter about his inappropriate gift to Kitty.

"A BRA?!?" Peter exclaimed.

"Yes, didn't you know that Peter?" Rogue questioned skeptically.

"No, Bobby and Jamie told me it was a bathing suit, Kitty didn't have one so I thought I could get her one."

"Oh wow, Bobby and Jamie, well I'll handle them, but a bathing suit?" Rogue continued her prodding, "when will she be able to use that?"

"Well we all go swimming and she can never come."

"I've never been swimming, wait- swimming where?"

"The pool Rogue!"

"Oh my God, that's right, I forgot that there was a pool here, you guys go swimming a lot?"

"Once a week usually, Xavier reserves Tuesdays for us."

"Since when?"

"Since you've been here Rogue."

Rogue ran away feeling stupid as Kitty clambered after her screaming and then phasing into the ground ready to spring a surprise "TAG YOU'RE IT!" on her next victim.

A pool? She couldn't believe she had been missing out on this. Suddenly she felt like she needed to make up a bunch of lost swimming time. She wanted to go swimming right then and there. She didn't have a bathing suit though. She would have to sneak a bathing suit from Jubilee or Tracy. She would also have to sneak in these sessions at night so no one else would be there and know what she looked like in a bathing suit even before she knew herself.

The sun began to set on their game of tag just as Jubilee got tagged. She frustratingly sent a shower of sparks at Peter, who had avoided her dive and correspondingly shifted the skin of his face into metal as the fireworks reflected off of him. They all returned inside after rounding up the rest of the kids, and sat down next to the fireplace. The kids were sent to bed early and Rogue and Jubilee staggered up the steps, tired themselves. When they got there, two gifts lay at their door.

"How many gifts are we gonna get?" Jubilee complained, although it wasn't about the gifts it was the fact that they hadn't gotten a gift for their people.

Jubilee and Rogue sat across from each other on their beds and opened up their boxes at the same time. Jubilee pulled out five golden bracelets and, smiling, clanked each one on her wrist. Rogue pulled away the white tissue paper yet again and beamed proudly as she pulled out the most beautiful opera gloves she had ever seen.

Jubilee had a look of concern over her face, but Rogue assured her that these were no more expensive than the jacket she had gotten a few days ago. They were black velvet, although when the light hit them, they seemed highlighted in a dark green. There was gold embroidery up and down the elbow length pieces that twisted and curved all over the gloves.

Just then a knock came at there door and when they opened it Mr. Summers was standing there with Bobby, Peter, Jamie and Kitty standing behind him. He looked down at the gloves in Rogue's hand and nervously coughed.

"Surprise Danger Room session you guys, let's get going!"

Jubilee and Rogue stood there with their mouths open as the four teens behind Scott rolled their eyes.

---

Rogue stumbled out of the Danger Room behind Jamie and Jubilee. Following them were Kitty, Bobby and Peter nearly untouched yet still sore. How fair was it that those three were able to avoid almost all of the dangers that faced them? It wasn't that Rogue, Jubilee or Jamie weren't as good at their physical defense as the other three were, it was the fact that Peter could withstand almost any of the stun laser attacks on him, Bobby could usually create an ice wall in time, and Kitty pretty much stayed where she was the whole time phasing through anything that came her way. Rogue had to fight the very strong will to absorb Kitty or Bobby who often ran by her smiling as she got struck by the beam.

Mr. Summers came out of the control room smiling.

"Good job you guys, although I would like to see less power use from you three," Mr. Summers elated while pointing at the snickering three.

"Jamie you need to work on your footwork," Mr. Summers scolded, "you keep on tripping and that'll cost ya,"

He then turned towards Rogue and complimented, "Rogue you have been doing very well in your aerial acrobatics; it's almost as if you were meant to be in the air!"

Rogue smiled back at him followed instantly by a wince as she grasped her left side. Surely she had a bruise from when Jubilee pushed her out of her way into the path of an impact beam.

Through ragged breathing Jubilee complained, "I don't mean to be rude Mr. Summers…I really don't, but can we save the rest of the critiques for the morning cause I am pooped!"

Mr. Summers' _expression became glum and then he sighed, "Of course you guys, what am I thinking, keeping you up this late!"

His mouth soon returned to a smile and he followed them out of the prep room turning out the white lights. Assuring them that he would be fine cleaning up after them in the dressing room the six entered the elevator droopy eyed and silent.

Through the humming of the lift Jubilee stared at Bobby and Kitty and then demanded, "In the future, you three need to watch our backs more if you are going to use your powers!"

Bobby rolled his eyes and shifted on his feet. He licked his lips and returned her demand, "We can't help it if our powers are useful in there and yours are more…sparkle and dazzle."

Rogue let out an offended chuckle and put her hands on her hips. Jubilee shifted her weight onto her back hip, crossed her arms, and pushed her tongue into her cheek biting it.

"Dazzle that!" Jubilee spat and a shower of sparks hit Bobby square in the jaw.

"Damn it Jubilee!" Bobby exclaimed and then blew cold air into her face.

Jubilee put her hands up in defense and turned her face, already red nosed and rosy cheeked. Rogue put her gloved hand up to Bobby's lips and then pushed Jubilee to the wall of the elevator. Just then the bell dinged and the doors opened.

There stood Kurt Wagner, in his pajamas, with his eyebrows raised, arms crossed, and tail flicking back and forth.

"Bobby, I am sorry to say dat I could hear your cursing from my bedroom," he sadly stated.

Bobby breathed in with shame and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Wagner."

"Do not be sorry with me, you may want send your apologies somewhere else," Kurt whispered humbly and glanced upwards.

"I will."

"Okay, good, now all of you need to get to bed!" the Nightcrawler barked and with a sound of collapsed air, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Rogue and Jubilee somehow made it to bed and fell asleep instantly. An hour later Rogue woke up to a nagging feeling. Then she remembered and silently pulled her covers off. She somehow made it over to Jubilee's dresser without bumping into anything and then she began blindly searching for her bathing suit. Nothing in the top drawer Rogue concluded after picking up several lace panties and instantly dropping them. She searched through every drawer down to the last one. With the creak of wood sliding against wood she opened it and shuffled around through it. She finally found it on the bottom underneath all of the other clothes, of course, she thought to herself. Rogue slowly slid off her pajama bottoms and stepped out of them. Then she hooked her thumbs in her panties and let them slide down her legs. She stepped out of them as well. She pulled on the bathing suit bottoms and quickly realized that they were quite scandalous even for Jubilee. Rogue pulled off her shirt and then brought the top up along her arms. She tied the string in back and then shivered. Was the top on correct? She cupped her hands around her breasts and felt, and sure enough the fabric of the suit was covering what it was supposed to cover although that was very little.

Rogue then tiptoed over to her desk feeling for her coat. She laughed inside because her eyes were open and she turned her head downward, even though she couldn't see, as she felt for her jacket. Her hands finally fell across her long velvet jacket and she slipped it on startled at how soft it was against all of her exposed skin. She picked up her gloves and slid them on, out of habit, not realizing she didn't need them. She painstakingly opened the door, which took about five minutes and exited the room.

Feeling like she was finally free Rogue ran silently down the hall. She reached the elevator, but was startled to hear it moving up to her level. She looked in both directions down the startling dark hallways and ran towards the stairs. As quickly as she could she ran, half sliding down her butt, down the slick carpeted stairs and crouched at the bottom. A dark figure walked past the top of the stairs down the staff hallway. Rogue heard a door open and shut and she crouched there for another five minutes before continuing on.

She took the stairs down to the next level and gasped as she landed on cold marble floors with her bare feet. It was pitch black down there and she felt panic begin to surge in her throat. Luckily a faint green glow was making its way through a door down the hallway on the right. Rogue walked through the dark for what seemed like an hour before making it to the end of the hallway which took a hard right down yet another hallway. The strong smell of chlorine hit her nose and humid air clung to her feet from under the door. Rogue peered in the glass of the door and realized that the window was fogged up.

She reached down and grasped the handle. It had better not be locked. She held her breath as she turned the handle and heard the door click open. Unexpectedly the door swung open out of Rogue's hand as a small breeze ran through the door into the hall. The door hit the wall with a deafening bang and Rogue thought right there and then to run up to her room as fast as she could. Rogue stood there with ever muscle in her body poised to run and then relaxed as no sounds came from the upper levels.

Rogue stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She stood before an almost Olympic sized swimming pool with diving boards on one end. Benches lined one wall and on the opposite wall two doors stood with men and women signs on them. Rogue walked over to a bench and slid her gloves off. She walked to the edge of the pool and stared at it.

An eerie glow danced along the surface of the water every five feet and the water was unusually calm. Rogue reached her foot down and comically dabbed her big toe in the water. The ripple ran out from her toe and raced across the pool. Just right Rogue thought. Rogue moved her leg out so she stood with her feet shoulder length apart and pulled her ankle length jacket off of her shoulders. She let it fall in a crumple at her feet and she glanced over at the door cautiously. Rogue breathed in and with a slapping noise as her feet left the tile Rogue jumped into a dead silence as she flew through the air. Rogue pivoted and glided into the water. What a feeling! It felt so good to have this water rush around her whole body as she propelled forward. She broke the surface halfway across the pool. She stood there for a while with her ears just below the surface listening to her heartbeat. She waited there so long that the water around her calmed once more.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

The sound was soothing if not totally meditative.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub-thump. Lub-dub-thump. Rogue lifted her head out of the water and stared towards the door with scared eyes.

Thump…thump…thump. Someone was coming. No…scratch that…someone was there!

Rogue saw a silhouette against the glass of the door and heard the door knob rattle. Rogue inhaled loudly and as gracefully as she could, to not disturb the surface, she dove under the water. She brought herself down to the bottom the pressure against her ears and nasal cavity. She could hear the muffled sound of the door opening and then footsteps. Slow footsteps. Whoever it was had to hurry up because she was running out of air.

Thud after agonizing thud, she heard another door open, probably the one to the dressing room and she swam towards the edge of the pool where she left her jacket. She remained under water, her lungs burning, until she heard the door close. She kicked off from the bottom and breached the surface. She sprayed water out of her mouth and put her hands up on the edge of the pool. She hoisted herself up and put a knee on the tiled edge. She pushed up with that knee only to have it slip out from under her and she fell forward on the cold wet tile hitting her chin.

Rogue scrambled up onto her feet and grabbed her jacket. She slid along the floor and reached the door her feet slapping against the tile. She swung it open, turned to close the door and pulled it shut quietly. She backed up down the hall behind her and crouched along the wall. Rogue could see the door open inside and a male figure walk out. She saw the unmistakable movement of someone taking off their pants and underwear as the man jumped into the pool. Rogue made a face which was met with a dull sting all over her jaw.

Rogue brought her hand up to her face and could feel the warm dripping of blood and soon the metallic taste met her tongue. She brought her arm along her mouth and chin and wiped as much as she could away before putting on her jacket and running back towards the door to the pool. She had to get to the stairway. She turned the corner quickly and as far away from the window as possible. She felt her way to the steps and ran up them. She turned the railing and was soon up the second flight of steps to her level. She stopped at the top to listen for anyone and realized that water was running down her legs to the carpet leaving a sopping trail behind her. She didn't care.

Rogue began jogging down the hall and soon realized that she didn't know where she was exactly. She walked straight ahead and hit wall. She began following that in the direction and felt the second doorknob from the corner and swung the door open and slammed it shut. She let out a loud sigh as the lights in her room were turned on.

If Rogue had seen Jubilee in this state she would have thought that she had been attacked. With blood running down her neck, dripping off of her chin, streaked down her arm, and her jacket hanging off of her shoulder exposing her bathing suit, Rogue looked an awful mess. She stood there panting and staring at the posters of Sports Illustrated models not realizing that she had made a mistake. Well she did realize that she had made a mistake, but she did not want to believe that this was happening to her.

Bobby ran up to Rogue screaming, "Holy shit Rogue, what happened?"

He was desperately moving around her, bringing his arms up then down trying to get closer to her to attempt to comfort her from her incident. Rogue didn't need comforting she just needed to be in the right room. Jamie was up out of bed to, standing there in his boxers looking startled. Bobby was mumbling, also standing in boxers, trying to get an explanation from Rogue. Rogue snapped out of it and began looking around panicked just as Peter came barging in, clad only in boxers.

"What has happened?"

Jubilee squeezed into the room beside Peter and glanced at all of them in their boxers and then at Rogue in HER bathing suit.

"Rogue what are you doing?!?"

She then saw the blood and rushed over to her.

"W-w-we need to get out of here now!" Rogue bellowed.

"I'll explain to you guys later if you promise not to tell the teachers anything!"

They all shook their heads up and down and everyone rushed to their appropriate rooms. Not two minutes after they reached their room and Rogue was in the shower cleaning up did Miss Munroe come knocking on their door. Jubilee answered it with a pale face. With a robe pulled tight around herself and a slight breeze running down the hallway Ororo had fury in her slightly whitened eyes.

"What-is-going-on?"

"Uh-w-well-you-uh see-um-Rogue was-," Jubilee stammered looking over Ororo's shoulder.

"What is it," the Weather Witch prodded.

"Rogue was feeling ill," Jubilee quickly recovered.

"And you needed to wake the entire hallway?" she was now tapping her foot.

"Well-uh-you see- uh Rogue was sleepwalking and went into Bobby's room!" Jubilee jumped up gleefully at her creative story and smiled.

Ororo arched an eyebrow so high it almost touched her hairline and stuck her tongue in her cheek.

"Uh-huh," she suspiciously mumbled.

Just then Bobby and Jamie were running down the hall with shirts on now. Ororo turned thrusting her hands on her hips and Jubilee could've sworn she saw some electricity pricking at her hair.

"What on earth is going on?"

"Rogue was-Rogue was sleepwalking Miss Munroe," Bobby shot out.

It was damn lucky that he had been thinking along the same lines as Jubilee.

Ororo turned glaring back at Bobby, Jubilee, and Jamie and whispered, "We will see in the morning won't we?"

Jubilee knew that that meant Professor Xavier will be prodding for the truth. Well they were all pretty much screwed and they didn't know why. Jubilee gave Bobby and Jamie a quick good night and closed the door just as Rogue was stepping out with a cloth over her lower face.

"What the hell happened?!?" Jubilee barely whispered.

Rogue pulled the cloth away revealing a fat, split lip, and a swollen cheek and chin, that accompanied the bruises from the Danger Room session earlier. Jubilee gritted her teeth and exhaled sharply.

"I wuz gnna guh smimmin n smun wuz air!"

Jubilee let out a bubbly laugh and Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Did you just say you were going to go swimming and someone was there?"

Rogue nodded her head with a pain in her eyes.

"Okay," Jubilee breathed with a smile.

Rogue finished cleaning herself up and got into bed. She awoke the next morning to a cracking pain in her jaw and could feel her taught skin around her mouth. This was going look bad. Rogue decided that she would have to go down to the medical bay with some lie to have her injury checked out. She got dressed and stumbled around looking for her gloves. She ravaged her bedroom let out frustrated grunts. She was bent down looking behind her nightstand when she shot up, with a look of terror on her face as Jubilee entered the room.

She turned towards her and grabbed Jubilee's shoulders. Jubilee leaned back and away from Rogue's face with a disgusted look that she was only feigning.

"My gloves are down at the pool!"

Jubilee's eyes were as big as Rogue's and she ran out of the room. Rogue sat on her bed for ten minutes before Jubilee returned holding a stitch in her side.

Panting Jubilee said, "They aren't there!"

"Oh no!"

"I know!"

"Someone's gonna know!"

"I know!"

"OH NO!"

Jubilee stared painfully at Rogue's face and shaking her head she said, "Rogue you gotta see Dr. McCoy about that."

"A'h know."

And Rogue did. Hank didn't ask any questions about it aside from the one about being attacked. He handled her gently even though he had large hands. He gave her some pain medicine and told her how to get the swelling to go down. He was quite a nice man Rogue realized. It had taken quite a while and Rogue got back up to her room at around 7 at night and was greeted by a large black box tied in a red ribbon. Rogue walked in the room feeling a little better and sat down next to Jubilee.

"It's a big one this time Rogue," Jubilee spoke.

Rogue nodded and opened the package. She dropped it immediately when her eyes fell upon a glittering black dress folded over a neck high blouse. She stared in awe and realized what Jubilee said was true. This was a Secret Admirer. She pulled out the note and it read:

Tomorrow at 6,
If you wish,
To know who I am,
Take my hand,
Wear this dress,
And the rest,
Enter the car,
Outside the door,
And you will learn,
What my final gift to you is.

"Creepy!" Jubilee yelled.

"No it's not!" Rogue yelled back hitting Jubilee.

Rogue set the box aside and picked up the dress. She stepped in the bathroom holding it along her body.

"I think there's something else Rogue."

"What?"

"There's another note in the box."

"What does it say?"

Jubilee read it aloud, "Oh and…you left these downstairs last night."

Jubilee pulled out Rogue's white gloves that she forgot down at the pool. Rogue and Jubilee stared each other in the eyes.

Rogue gasped, "Now THAT is creepy!"

---

Rogue awoke with a jerk and habitually slammed her hand down on the clock beside her bed. It wasn't making any noise. She groaned out loud at the numbing pain that shot down her face. She rubbed along her jaw and mouth pulling her hand away only to reveal fresh blood. She looked down at her pillow and sure enough several dark red streaks had seeped into the fabric. She kicked aside her blanket and ran into the bathroom. Examining her face closer she saw that the small cut in her lip had split open to a large gouge. She would definitely need stitches for this one.

Rogue let out an airy sigh and began washing her hands and face. She ripped a fresh hand towel off of the rack and placed it on her mouth. Walking back into her bedroom she looked at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning. No one would be awake yet. What was she supposed to do, wait for Dr. McCoy to wake up to stitch her up? Rogue considered waking him up herself, but soon abandoned the thought. She would just stay up and wait for everyone else to wake. Rogue slipped out of the room still in her pajamas. She padded along the hallway heading for the staircase. She would wait out in the common room. Turning the corner towards the stairs Rogue was startled to see Logan walking out of the shadows of the staff hallway.

Logan appeared just as startled for he dropped the duffle bag that was strung over his shoulder and went into a stance with fists clenched. After Rogue saw this she continued on unfazed at the danger of attack that Logan presented.

"Hey," Logan growled.

Rogue stopped and turned towards him with an eyebrow raised.

She swallowed in dryly and pulled the towel away from her face which clung as the blood began to dry.

Hoarsely Rogue replied, "Hey what?"

"What happened to you?" Logan asked in childish manner which was closely followed by a chuckle.

"What's so funny Logan?" Rogue's arched eyebrow peaked even more.

"Danger Room get a little outta hand for ya?" Logan teased through a broad smile.

"Actually if you must know-," Rogue stopped her defense immediately as the embarrassing events of the previous night rolled through her head, "yes, yes the Danger Room did this to me."

Suddenly for some unknown reason Rogue's temper began to rise.

Stepping back towards the stairs Rogue raised her hands up mockingly.

"Poor little ol' me, poor Rogue can't keep my wits about me!" she was throwing her head back in woeful expressions.

Stepping forward with an angry _expression Logan said, "Now you wait just a min-."

"Poor Rogue needs the Wolverine to watch her back!" Rogue finished her last sentence and took another step backwards.

Rogue's toes met the top stair but her heel jutted out into nothing. Rogue dropped the towel and began swinging her arms in exaggerated circles. The look on her face was fear as she began to fall backwards down the stairs. Logan yelled and ran towards her. Rogue fell towards the steps yet took immediate action. She did a backwards dive towards the first landing and after making contact with her hands she sprung herself to the main level landing on her feet facing Logan at the top of the stairs. She brought herself into a crouch, absorbing some of the impact of her landing, and smiled at him.

Logan frowned at her and spat, "Well you are a big girl now aren't you?"

Rogue stood up and frowned back at him. He began to walk down the steps towards her.

She curled her lip at him and said, "Yeah, I am!"

She clapped her hands together and took a step towards the common room. Rogue's foot was suddenly above her head and she was falling to the ground. She landed on the marble floor in a pool of water. Her head cracked against the mineral and her back twisted in an odd way.

Logan swore aloud and skipped the rest of the steps to get to her. He crouched over her and put his hand under her head.

"Rogue, are you alright?"

He glanced around at the pool of water which covered the whole width of the hallway. Dozens of snow boots and snow pants were sitting a few feet away, the obvious source of this puddle.

Rogue let out a loud groan as Logan pulled her to her feet. She twisted her arm to her back and winced knowing immediately that she pulled something back there. Logan held her arm as she shuffled to the couch in the common room. He left her for a second and returned with her towel and his bag around his shoulder once more.

"I got Hank up and he'll be down in a second," he grumbled.

"Where are you going?" Rogue asked irritated.

"Somewhere," he said and got up and left.

Rogue sat there stunned at the fact that he was so short with her and he left without even saying goodbye. A tear ran down her face as she realized what a jerk he really was as Jubilee had so repeated time and time again. She scoffed at his face that had appeared in her head. She had been reluctant about meeting this man that had so generously given her the gifts. Now after her blunt encounter with Logan she was set to pursue any man that showed an interest. She heard someone coming down the steps and she pushed harder on her lip with the towel.

Mr. McCoy came in with a look of utter concern on his face and he sat down next to her.

"It just hasn't been your week has it my young friend?"

Muffled, Rogue answered, "No it hasn't."

"Well Logan told me what just happened and I might be able to get you better for tonight."

Rogue suddenly turned looking at Hank in the eyes. Did he know about it? Was it actually him? No it couldn't be Jamie said he saw him putting a gift for him by his door. She continued to contemplate the statement Hank made as they headed down to the medical lab.

Rogue had refused the numbing agent that the bulky doctor offered pushing the plunger to a large needle down. She didn't mind pain every now and then. She could feel the tugging of the stitches as Dr. McCoy put them on her lip. After they were done with that he asked her if she wanted help with her back. It ended up being a great massage when she agreed. It helped a little, but as Hank admitted, he wasn't a chiropractor.

Rogue managed to get up to the main level in time for lunch and as she sat down Jubilee, Kitty and Tracy swarmed her.

"Girl, we are going to get you ready for tonight!" Jubilee giggled excitedly.

"Uh-," Rogue began.

"We are going to make you look so good!" Kitty flared up.

"There is this new technique with eye liner that I've been dying to try!" Tracy calmly stated.

"Wait-you guys," Rogue began again.

"What's your favorite color around your eyes?" Jubilee said glancing over at Tracy.

"STOP!" Rogue yelled.

Jubilee jumped back as a small pop echoed around her. For a moment Kitty became intangible from the shock of Rogue's outburst and Tracy let out a yelp that was a little too piercing as everyone in the dining room covered their ears. Jubilee and Kitty just stared at Rogue as Tracy stared around the room biting her thumb nail.

"A'h want you guys to help me, but A'h think A'h might lay off of the makeup and keep it natural," Rogue reassured with arms raised.

After a long uncomfortable silence Jubilee sat up grabbing Rogue's arm and said, "Let's get going!"

Rogue glanced over at the clock and saw it read 12:30.

"But guys it's only 12-," she protested.

"I know we better hurry up!"

They pretty much forced Rogue through the next four hours, she did anything they directed her to do or she sat there while they poked and prodded her. Rogue had dressed herself alone in the bathroom and when she emerged they jumped her. Jubilee had unbuttoned the top seven buttons of her neck-high blouse, which Rogue put on under her black gown. Kitty took Rogue from behind and untied her corset-like ties and retied them as tight as she could leaving Rogue gasping for air. Tracy encouraged Rogue to push her breasts up and together and helped her when she refused to do it.

Looking rather shocked at the three ladies lack of inhibition Rogue sat down at her desk chair as they whipped out the makeup. They painted her face for a half an hour before Rogue protested and threw herself out of the chair.

"Not that A'h don't appreciate all of this, but A'h have to see what you guys have done."

Rogue stomped into the bathroom and screamed. Then she laughed as the three ran in behind her. They all winced as if someone else had done this to her.

"Get out!" Rogue roared slamming the door.

Rogue examined her face which was decorated similarly to a clown. She had dark purple eye shadow as well as a shade of purple on her lips. Someone, most likely Jubilee had lined her lips in a bright pink giving her the hoochie-look. Rogue wretched and threw her face to the sink scrubbing as hard as she could. Rogue glanced up sniffing. Someone had saturated her in a strong perfume that burned the nostrils. Rogue carefully got out of her clothes and stepped in the shower. She made sure she was totally clean before getting out.

Slowly but surely Rogue prepared herself. Rogue put on her high necked blouse that her Secret Santa had so considerably added to her outfit. Rogue lifted her chin as she buttoned the last top one. She then stepped into her gown and brought it up around her bare thighs. She slipped her arms through and began tying the corset piece again. The black dress really showed off her curves and yet the blouse gave her a dignified look. If it weren't for the blouse Rogue would be walking around with a bare chest basically. Rogue then tied her hair back into a bun and slid the beautiful comb into the base of it. Rogue left a few strands of white out though which was her signature hairstyle. She barely put on any makeup only a couple of dabs of pale concealer. Rogue stepped out and was met with smiles as the girls saw her. They all applauded her jokingly and Jubilee took out her golden hoop earrings and gave them to Rogue saying that they fit the outfit perfectly.

Rogue bent down a pulled the black embroidered gloves out of the box. She pulled them up over the sleeves of her blouse and picked up her lorgnette. She smiled a dashing smile and giggled. Rogue glanced down at the clock and saw it turn over to 5:53PM.

Rogue took a deep breath in and walked with the girls as they all headed down to the common room where they all would exchange their last gifts. Rogue had grabbed the box with Mr. Summers ring and chain, and had an odd feeling in her stomach thinking about his reaction. As they all reached the room everyone turned to look at Rogue.

Professor Xavier beamed at her and Hank raised his eyebrows. Rogue looked towards Ororo who had put her hands over her mouth and her eyes shone brightly. Rogue began to blush deep crimson. She looked over at Jamie, Peter, and Bobby. Jamie and Peter both were staring with mouths open, but Bobby looked stern. Everyone else stared for a little while longer and then Xavier announced that they were to meet up with their Secret Santas. Rogue looked around and noticed that Mr. Summers was gone as well as Logan, who had left this morning obviously not intending to return this night. She stood there stupidly as the clock hit 6 and she bid everyone goodnight.

She entered the dark hallway and Bobby ran after her.

"I don't want you to go," Bobby almost pleaded.

"Oh Bobby," Rogue put a gloved hand on his cheek she didn't know what to do or say.

Bobby looked down in her eyes and realization overtook them.

"Does it really have to be this way?"

Rogue glanced down and slowly looked back up in his eyes.

"There isn't enough time in this world for you to wait for me," Rogue swallowed hard.

Bobby followed her action and swallowed followed by a shaky voice, "It's not what I want."

A tear clung in her eye and she blinked it away.

"It's what A'h want…for you," Rogue stared into his eyes.

"B-b-but what about this next guy," Bobby stammered angrily thrusting his hand in the direction of the door.

Rogue stood there for a second staring at him and then looked down to the floor.

Bobby turned away from her and walked back into the common room. He turned and stared at her.

Rogue put her arms up helplessly and let them fall to her sides again.

"A'h have to try."

Bobby looked away from her. Rogue let the tears fall down her face. She walked towards the front doors of the mansion. She reached for the handle and looked up to see Bobby stepping towards her.

He grabbed her arms and held her gently as he brought his lips to hers. He was careful with her stitches other than that he didn't even attempt to block her power. She felt cold rush through her as he entered her mind and he released her. He walked away holding her hand for as long as he could before releasing it. Rogue cried even more as he walked back into the room with his head down.

She swung the door open and stepped out. She was standing alongside of a shining black limousine. The chauffer stepped out and came around to her side opening the door smiling. She walked forward and he pulled two small stubs out of his pocket.

"Tickets for the beautiful young lady," he politely said.

Rogue glanced at him with tears still clinging to her cheeks and pulled them out of his hand.

"Thank you."

She looked down and read them moving her lips:

Phantom of the Opera.

Rogue smiled inside and out as a large hand, whose arm was clearly in a tux, came out from the open door. She stepped forward and took it squeezing tightly.

She sat down smiling and blushing as she looked into the eyes of the Wolverine.