After five years of searching, five years of tracking down leads on a past he still barely knew, he was finally going home. 'Home.' In all his remembered life, he never thought he'd find a place he could call home. It'd taken some getting used to. The search for his past had helped him get away, given him time to do some serious thinking.

After five years of following lead after lead, he'd realized that it would probably take the rest of his future to discover all of his past. It was a price he realized he wasn't willing to pay. There was someone waiting for him. Someone who had his dogtags as well as his heart. She would be about 21 now, and he couldn't wait to see how the girl he had known had changed, becoming the woman he wanted to know.

He hadn't talked to her in years. Most of the leads had taken him out of the country or to out-of-the-way places without phones, he reasoned. Hell, who was he kidding? He'd been scared. That's right, just plain scared that if he talked to her, he wouldn't be able to stay away. He'd give up his search for the past and come running back to her. Of course, that's what he was doing now, but he didn't care. She was his future, dammit. It'd taken that long to get it through his thick metal skull that his past didn't matter if he didn't have her.

---

He arrived at the mansion in the early evening. He was surprised to find that even after so long, the security system was programmed to allow him entry.

Parking Cyke's motorcycle in front of the porch, Logan grabbed his duffle bag and hurried up the steps to the front door. He wondered whether he should knock or just walk in, when the door opened and the professor greeted him.

"Logan, welcome home."

"Good to be back, Chuck."

"If you have time, I'd like to discuss..."

Logan picked up her scent, different, but the same, all at once. "Later. I've got someone to say 'hi' to."

"Actually, we really need to discuss..." the professor began, but Logan left him to search out Marie. Her scent lead into the common room, but when he looked around at the teenagers and young adults, he couldn't see her. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, concentrating on finding her by scent alone. There she was, over to his right by the foosball table.

Opening his eyes, he was stunned to see the young woman playing with two of her peers. It wasn't Marie. She was about the same size, but her hair was bleach blonde and cropped short. He could smell the chemicals from here. Not only that, but she was wearing a tank top and shorts. Her scent was Marie, but her appearance was all wrong. Could she have gained control over her powers in the time he was gone?

"Marie," he called, walking over to the table. He knew she heard him, but she didn't respond to her name. Reaching her side, he touched her arm and looked into the face he'd been dreaming of for years as she turned to face him.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice calm, if slightly confused. Her face was the same, except for an old scar that ran from her forehead down to her chin on the right side.

"Marie? What happened?" he asked, reaching out to touch the scar. She flinched away from his familiarity.

"I think you've got me confused with someone else. My name's Carol."

"No, I'm not confused. Marie... Rogue, what happened to you."

At the use of her codename, recognition dawned on Marie's face.

'It's about time!' Logan thought, but his hope was dashed when she replied.

"Oh, you knew Rogue? I'm sorry no one told you, but she's dead."

SNIKT The claws were out without conscious thought. Marie wasn't dead; she was standing right in front of him. Why was she acting this way? Why didn't she recognize him?

"Logan," a deep male voice called to him from the hallway. The professor had caught up to him. "Are you ready to talk now?"

---

"What's going on? Why doesn't she recognize me? Why does she think her name is Carol? Why didn't you call me when this happened? What..."

"We didn't call you because you'd been gone for two years and didn't seem to care." Cyclops interrupted.

SNIKT

"Logan," Jean shouted, putting herself between her husband and the dangerous man. "Calm down."

"Calm down?!?"

"Logan," Ororo cut in, her soothing, relaxed voice interrupting his ranting. "We're trying to answer your questions, if you'll just give us a chance."

Logan stopped his pacing to focus his attention on the professor. "Ok, Chuck, hit it."

"It happened about three years ago. Rogue was driving herself and a classmate, Carol Danvers, to the community college when they were broadsided by a drunk driver. They were both badly injured and rendered unconscious. Rogue was in her seatbelt, but Carol wasn't, and their skin touched. By the time rescue personnel arrived, Carol was dead. Rogue was in the hospital, unconscious for days, and when she woke up, she was Carol."

"It doesn't work like that. She keeps her own personality when she absorbs other people."

"Rogue never absorbed another person completely before. Also, her mutation went away."

"What?"

"Surely you noticed that Carol doesn't wear gloves. Her only mutations are the flying and strength that she had in her old body. Also, she doesn't have access to the other personalities Rogue absorbed prior to her."

"This isn't right. That's Marie in there."

"That's Carol in there. She's just in Marie's body."

"How do you know? Did you check her?"

"I did a surface scan, but Carol is reluctant to have a deeper psychic scan. I'm respecting her privacy."

"But what if Rogue is trapped in there and this Carol girl is controlling..."

"She's not. There's never been any indication of that."

"But what if she is?"

---

Marie was surrounded by darkness. It was warm and safe. She didn't have to think about how Logan'd left her, how he didn't come back after the accident, and how he didn't care about her at all. Carol had been angry. She'd wanted to live, while Marie was close to giving up. It had been so easy to just surrender. She hadn't regretted it, until she heard his deep, rich voice again, calling her name.

"Marie."