A series by November

Chapter 13: Only Coming Through in Waves

"There is no pain, you are receding,
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves,
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying..."
--Pink Floyd

Rogue climbed to the top of the ladder and made a final adjustment to the pink curtain valance.

She climbed down and stepped back to the room’s door. A grin lit her face.

Xavier had given her an apartment for Maggie and herself, two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and an adjoining bath. She was now standing in Maggie’s room.

She and Essie and Kitty had painted the walls a pale pink. Directly across from the door was Maggie’s bed, dressed in shades of pink, with a flowered dust ruffle and a plaid duvet, all surrounded by frothy white mosquito netting. On the other side was a desk, varnished by Rogue until the blonde finish shone. Shelving encircled that half of the room, and painted wooden letters spelling out Maggie’s name were propped against the wall. Maggie’s toys were all put onto neat cubbies on the left wall. Against the window was a rocking chair, a present from Jubilee and Kitty.

She heard the faint whirr of the professor’s chair. She stepped aside and let him enter.

"WOW," he said. Marie laughed. "Rogue, you really have outdone yourself."

"Where the hell is Jean? I can’t wait for her to see it." Rogue was literally bouncing up and down.

"Let me contact her." The professor was silent, eyes fixed on a nonexistent point in the distance. His eyes shifted, and he remained quiet.

"Ah. Good timing. They will be here in about two minutes. Shall we greet them?"

"Absolutely."

A few minutes later they were sitting just outside the front entrance, the Professor in his chair, Rogue on the front walk. A few minutes later, the Summers minivan stopped. Jean lifted the little girl from her car seat and she went running over to Rogue.

"Hey baby." Rogue picked up the little girl and kissed her cheek. "Did you have fun with Miss Jean?"

"She brought me ice cream."

"She did? Did you thank her nicely?"

"Thank you Miss Jean," she shouted at Jean, who was a good fifty feet down the walk.

The professor chuckled. "Better late than never, eh?"

"Hey kiddo. I have a surprise for you."

"Yay!"

They walked into the house. Rogue smiled at Jean over her shoulder. "Was she good for you?"

"She was very good," Jean said.

The walked into the suite, first Rogue and Maggie, then the professor, and Jean. Rogue put Maggie down in the doorway and the little girl shrieked. She then proceeded to run to the bed, grab her teddy bear, and jump up and down.

"Oh, none of that with the shoes on, missy!" Rogue tickled the little girl while removing her shoes.

"So what do you say to the professor for finding us this awesome room?"

"Thank you professor," she said sheepishly.

"Why you are more than welcome, Maggie. We’re very glad you’ve come to stay with us." Rogue noticed that Jean and the professor were both beaming. She was glad. They all needed to drink something so happy deep down into their souls, as they had all seen too much destruction and pain.

September came and Rogue again began college. This year Leah and Rakim rented a place off campus. They dubbed it Party Central. Rogue’s classes grew more specific. She became interested in clinical psychology and began outlining an undergraduate thesis on mutant manifestation experiences.

In early November the A Team was called for a mission. The Friends of Humanity were planning an attack on a small resistance coalition in southern Massachusetts. There had been other missions but this time the school was in a state of quiet, edgy unrest. Everyone sensed something but no one said anything, as if keeping quiet would ward off the inevitable.

In a school full of telepaths, clairvoyants, and people who were generally hyper-perceptive, the edginess was granted. Two days into the mission the team returned. Scott was badly wounded and Kitty was barely alive.

Rogue woke in a cold sweat, the telepathic page ringing in her ears. ~Rogue, to the medlab, ASAP!~

She could hear the panic in Jean’s voice and immediately knew that the page had been real, not a dream.

She leapt up from her bed, threw on a sweatshirt over her pajamas, and shook Maggie awake. "Maggie, I'm going downstairs for a little while, I’ll be back before you know it." Maggie barely stirred.

Rogue was unprepared for what she found. Jean was bleeding from a gash on her forehead, and she and Hank were engaged in a rapid-fire medical dialogue that she barely understood. Without being told she cut a piece of gauze and wrapped it around Jean’s head to quell the bleeding. They put a tube down Kitty’s throat. What part of her was aware of the pain kept becoming intangible. "Kitty, you‘ve got to stop phasing out, do you hear me? We can‘t help you if you do that. Rogue, squeeze this bag. Hank, this IV isn’t working. What’s her BP?"

"Eighty over forty," Darla said.

"Give her another unit."

"Rogue, look in that file for Kitty’s chart, quick. Open it to the first page and find her blood type. Darla, start another unit of O-neg." "Got it."

Hank looked at Jean. "Pressure’s 80 palp, pulse 180."

"Where’s she fucking bleeding from?" Jean cried. The nurse attached another pint of blood and finished attaching the heart monitor.

"She’s in V-Tach. Rogue, take over bagging."

"Got it."

"Hemoccult’s positive."

"Shit."

"Cath’s in, look, Jean." The catheter bag was filled with blood.

"Rogue, leave. Go get the professor."

"Got it."

Rogue swallowed. She knew this meant Kitty was dying. Her voice sounded froggy. By the time she reached the door, she heard the monitor’s flatline drone.

Of course the professor was already on his way to the medbay. "Rogue, what is it?"

"I‘m pretty sure Kitty‘s dying. Jean’s a little beat up and Scott is wounded but not critical." She was still in crisis mode and the words fell automatically from her tongue. Rogue sat outside the medbay on a chair. Xavier went inside. Jubilee came down the hall.

"How is she, Roguey?"

She threw her arms around Jubilee and held tight. She felt so numb inside. "I don’t think she’s gonna make it."

The medbay door opened and the professor emerged. "I’m so sorry ladies." His voice was thick with grief, lines on his forehead seeming deeper than they did yesterday. Jubilee began to tremble. Rogue held her tighter. "Debriefing in ten minutes."

Rogue went upstairs, her whole body aching. She knocked on Carter’s door. She had helped him fall asleep hours ago, after tucking Maggie in. There was no answer. She must have hit him good, she thought. Finally she just opened the door.

"Carter?" She shook him.

"Mmm."

"Carter wake up."

"Roguey? Whaswrong?"

"I have to tell you something." He opened his eyes to slits, blinked when he saw the tears running down her face.

"What’s wrong? The mission?"

She nodded. "Kitty- didn’t make it."

"What?" It was inconceivable to him.

"She got shot." Rogue whispered.

"No."

Rogue just nodded.

"No, couldn’t she just phase out?"

"She didn’t. She’s gone, Car."

Then Rogue held him because she needed to be held. He was tense, every muscle in his body tense as he grappled with reality. Finally he was able to hold her back.

"I’ve gotta get back to Maggie."

"No."

"I have to Carter. If she wakes up and I’m gone she’ll freak."

"Well then hit me one. I don’t want to be awake."

She stared at him.

"Just this once." She touched his outstretched palm and took his power for one brief second. Then she pulled away and his eyes fluttered.

She kissed his forehead, having no words to say in her own grief, and she left him.

How was she going to tell Maggie that Miss Kitty, who loved to amuse her with her own special version of Peek-a-boo, was gone? To her relief Maggie was sleeping soundly. She tucked the covers around her more tightly and went to bed.

There was no sleep for Rogue that night.