Disclaimer: If it looks familiar, then it ain't mine. Got that, bub?

The Young and the Restless

"Hey!" A perky voice called out as one teen rushed into the rec room. "It's almost time for my favorite soap, change the channel!"

"We're watching cartoons here!" A voice heavily accented with German protested as he watched Kitty wrestle the remote from Bobby.

Jean and Scott walked in.

"What's going on here?" Jean demanded.

Everyone started talking at once.

Right now, there were eight teenaged mutants in the house, six of whom were present in the rec room and only one TV with cable. That is usually a sure recipe for trouble.

Jean let out a piercing whistle that shut everyone up. But through her TP, she got the gist of the argument and relayed such to her boyfriend.

"Alright, why don't we take a vote?" An exasperated Scott called out.

"Who wants cartoons?" Jean asked.

Bobby, Jaime, and Kurt raised their hands.

"Alright, who wants to watch soaps?" Jean asked. She herself raised her hand.

Kitty did too.

Jean turned to Scott and glared.

Slowly, Scott raised his hand.

The boys groaned.

"Man, Scott, she's got you whipped," Bobby snorted.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Kurt added.

"It's three-to-three," Jaime frowned.

"Hmm, that seems to pose a problem."

Unfortunately, Rogue chose that very moment to step into the room.

"Like, Rogue!" Kitty called out excitedly. "Do you wanna watch cartoons?"

Rogue frowned at the sudden assault. "Why would I wanna watch cartoons?"

"Soaps it is, then!" Kitty squealed. "That's four to three. We win!"

The boys grumbled in protest, but before the channel could be switched, they were interrupted by a telepathic call.

~X-Men to the briefing room now.~

"So who are we supposed to be looking for again?" A southern drawl asked as the X-Jet began its descent.

Scott frowned. "Hard to say," he admitted. "The professor said that the signal was very weak to begin with, so keep your eyes peeled for anything strange."

"Right," Wolverine said as he unfastened his seatbelt. "Shades, you and Red search the north area. Stripes and Gumbo can search the south area. I'll take the rest,"

Rogue groaned as her assigned partner walked up to her, took her gloved hand, and kissed it. "Seems like Mademoiselle Destiny is intent on bringing us together, mon cherie." He smirked, his red on black eyes blazing intently with good humor.

"She has one sick sense of humor, I'll giver her that." Rogue grumbled as she stood up and followed the rest of the team down the ramp. But before she could get out, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Wolverine.

"You'll be OK with Gumbo, Stripes?" He asked.

"Yeah." She shrugged.

"Shades there hates his guts," he motioned to Cyclops who was already down with Jean. "And between you and Jean, I think you can keep him in line better. But if he tries even something remotely funny," snikt.

Rogue nodded. She got it.

"Damn it, Cajun, for the last time, keep your hands to yourself!" Rogue snapped as she whirled around to face the smirking teen.

"Sorry, chere. This poor thief can't seem to keep his hands off pretty things." He gave her a wink.

"You did not just call me a thing." Green eyes blazed in a way that Remy had grown to love.

"So what do you want Remy to call you?" He asked suggestively.

The war Rogue waged against her temper was apparent on her face. Finally, she took a deep shaky breath and turned around. They have a mission to do, and it doesn't include killing the annoying mutant behind her.

They haven't gone five meters when Rogue felt a hand toying with her hair.

"That's it!" Rogue exploded. "I can't do this."

"Well, Remy open to suggestions, cher." He said. "So how do you want to do it?" He leered.

"Like this." Rogue glared at him. "You go that way." She pointed to the alley to her right. "And I'll go this way," she motioned to the street on her left. "Then we'll meet later, preferably when Wolverine's around."

The humor left Remy's face. "Gambit doesn't think it be a good idea to split up, petite," he said, serious for once. "Gambit'll behave,"

"I don't care what Gambit says," Rogue grated out. "Go that way. Now."

"But—"

"Now!"

Alright, in retrospect, maybe splitting up wasn't a great idea. It had suddenly gone dark, and she was alone, and the rendezvous time wasn't for another half an hour.

Maybe the Cajun's groping and flirting was better than this slinking off in dark alleys alone.

Then she remembered the number of times the Cajun's hands accidentally brushed her behind.

She sighed. Well, maybe this was better than being with him.

Then, she heard a sniffle. Her senses were immediately awakened. Someone was crying.

Slowly, cautiously, she walked towards the source of the sound.

After five minutes of searching. She found her.

The source of the crying had the shape of a young girl, about Jaime's size. Her blond hair was tied up in a neat pony tail. She was wearing a short, white dress that was probably pretty and clean earlier, but was now dirty and tattered. But what set her apart was the shimmering light surrounding her body. It was like she was covered with pixie dust, Rogue thought, remembering the childhood stories her momma used to tell her, her real momma.

Rogue activated her comm. badge. "It's Rogue. I think I found our mutant." Then, she stepped forward. "Sugah?"

Startled eyes looked up as the crying suddenly stopped. The girl screamed and unexpectedly, Rogue felt that a strong force hit her body.

Pretty fairies were the last things Rogue thought of before she blacked out.

Remy cursed himself a thousand times as he ran to Rogue's location. He knew splitting up was not a good idea. It was his fault for pushing her over the edge with his flirting. And the touching. And the innuendoes.

Turning a corner, he suddenly stopped. His eyes, most adjusted to seeing in the dark, immediately saw Rogue's abandoned communication badge. He kneeled as he picked it up. A few paces forward, he saw something that made his blood turn cold. He saw Rogue's uniform on the ground, but no Rogue.

"Roguey?" He called out softly. With thieves' feet he softly padded towards Rogue's discarded clothes.

And he almost jumped up in surprise when he saw the pile of clothes wriggle.

Then a head popped out.

And he almost fainted in surprise.

For a pair of eerily familiar green eyes looked at him.

Wolverine ran as fast as his feet could carry him. He knew assigning her with Gumbo was a mistake. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her.

Then, he slowed down. He could smell the Cajun with faint traces of Rogue.

And sure enough, Gambit appeared in his line of vision.

"Gumbo," Wolverine growled.

Gambit stopped walking and faced him. "Well, homme," he said, his confident smirk gone. "I've got good news and bad news."

Wolverine eyed him skeptically. The Cajun didn't look depressed, just a little bit distressed. That meant that Rogue was OK. He looked around.

"The good news is Gambit found Rogue."

"Where is she?" Wolverine sniffed. Sure enough, he can smell her, but his eyes can't see her.

"That's the bad news," Gambit sighed before he opened his trench coat.

And Wolverine stared. And stared. And he kept on staring.

Until the little squirming bundle on Gambit's arms finally broke free, and Gambit had to put her down.

"Bad man!" The kid Gambit was previously holding screamed. Then, she kicked with all her might at Gambit's ankles. "Bad! Bad!"

Gambit winced. "Non petite, you promised to play nice."

"No!" She glared at him.

While Wolverine kept on staring. The kid, no more older than three, had Stripes's green eyes and the auburn hair with the distinctive white stripe. And she was wearing Rogue's tank top as a some sort of dress.

e He Gambit crouched down so he would be at level with the kid. "Petite," he warned her, holding out an index finger.

Immediately, the kid lounged and bit the offending finger.

"Merde!"

The kid screamed and ran towards Wolverine.

Yep. That was Rogue alright.

And stopped when she saw him. Her eyes widened in surprise.

Wolverine sniffed. The smell was distinctively Rogue's. This was her, no doubt about it.

Then, the kid broke into a smile. "Kitty!" She cried out as she held her arms up towards the big man. "Kitty!" She repeated.

"Homme," Gambit frowned as he took off his gloves and examined his injured finger. "Gambit thinks the kid wants you to pick her up."

Wolverine looked at Remy as if he had just lost his mind.

"That's Rogue?" Scott asked incredulously during the debriefing.

The professor nodded. "I talked to the parents of the young mutant we were supposed to be after. Apparently, she has the power to reverse the process of aging. But they said that this is the first time she did that to a person. Her usual victims are animals and plants."

Kitty giggled as she bounced little Rogue on her lap.

"So how long will she—" Wolverine asked.

"Don't worry, the process is only temporary. We would expect her to be back to normal in about a week or so," the professor replied.

"You're so cute," Kitty cooed.

"Pretty," Rogue giggled as she wound a strand of Kitty's hair around her chubby fingers.

Kurt, in his image-inducer (for he didn't want to scare the kid), took Rogue from Kitty. "Now I'm the older brother." He said proudly. "Can you say Kurt?" He asked as he lifted Rogue up over his head.

Rogue laughed and giggled.

"I can't believe that such a happy and sunny baby turned out like Rogue," Jean commented under her breath.

Rogue accidentally brought her tiny fists forcefully downwards, accidentally hitting Kurt's watch. It fitz a bit before it died.

And Kurt was now in his original form, holding a tiny kid in his arms.

Kurt gasped. No! He didn't want his baby sister to see him like this! He didn't want her to be scared of him!

Rogue's eyes went round as she stared at the figure who was holding her.

"Here, Jean, hold her," Kurt said glumly as he was about to hand his sister to the redhead.

Jean was about to take her, but Rogue had wrapped her arms around Kurt's hands.

"No!" She said. "Grover!"

"Like, what did she say?"

"Grover," Rogue said as she looked at Kurt. "Grover! Grover!"

"I think she thinks you're the character from Sesame Street," Scott snorted.

Kurt smiled. "See." He said as he adjusted Rogue on his arms. "Chicks dig the fuzzy dude."

"Grover!"

"How old are you, sweetie?" Kitty asked as she playfully tickled Rogue, who was lying on the couch.

Rogue held out two fingers.

"Smart baby!" She giggled. Then, an idea hit her. "What's your name?"

"Anna." Rogue cooed.

Kitty squealed. "Kurt!" She called out.

Kurt ported into the room. "What? What?"

"I, like, just found out Rogue's real name!"

Kurt frowned. "Well? What is it?"

"Listen," Kitty turned to Rogue. "Honey, what's your real name?"

Rogue frowned as if pondering the question. "Marie!" She shouted delightfully.

"Her name's Marie?" Kurt frowned.

"No, earlier, she said it's Anna," Kitty argued.

"Let me try," Kurt said as he kneeled before the couch.

"Grover!"

"Yes, yes." He smiled at her. "Now, little sister, tell me what's your name,"

"Mandy."

"Hmm, she is trickier than I thought," Kitty mused.

"Hey!" Jean popped into Kitty's room. "It's my turn with Roguey,"

"Want to practice?" Kitty teased her.

Jean turned red. "Er, no. I just like kids,"

"Right," Kurt laughed as he picked up Rogue and handed her to Jean. "See you later, little sister."

"Potty!" Rogue glared at Jean.

"Er, what?" Jean paled.

"Go potty."

"Alright," she took Rogue's hand and led her to the bathroom. Jean sighed.

~tbc