Still here? A miracle! Okay, wrapping things up. Maybe after this and the other story, I'll be able to focus on my two main fics. ...if Todd doesn't demand another story. Stupid, adorable frog-boy.
Yay, smut! Well, not really smut, but a lot more detailed kissing than I'm usually comfortable writing. Yeah...y'know, I think that out of all my fics, this an' the last chapter were my first real kiss scenes. Considering the romance freak I am, that's bizarre. Anyway
X-men (c) Marvel.

They found her sitting in the X-jet when they returned from the mission bearing HardDrive and Vanisher, both unconscious. Her eyes red and wet. She explained that she'd been lost, had managed to find her way out of the building by sheer luck, and been to confused once out to do anything but wait for the others. She ignored the mistrustful looks that Scott kept giving her, but when Kurt innocently inquired if she was all right, she shouted that she was fine, and that she hadn't been crying, and for him to mind his own effing business anyway, and had stormed to the cargo area of the jet. No one bothered her.

Now, two days later, she couldn't get it out of her head. She would catch herself running her fingers over her lips, remembering. She spaced out in class, wondering how it was possible, why it hadn't killed him. She had dreams about him, for crissakes! Now that was disgusting.

Or it should have been. But she couldn't help remembering the real feeling of his kiss. It hadn't been gross, or slimy, like she would've thought. Just passionate, almost painfully so, but tender at the same time. She remembered the tear that had slid down his cheek to hers, burning, silently telling of a hopeless longing more effectively than words or kiss could convey. It wasn't just lust he felt; somehow that had been communicated in the kiss too. No, somewhere in that green frog freak, he loved her.

How long had he felt this way about her? Why hadn't she seen it? She knew the answer--she had, but...but it had been Toad, for crying out loud! The repulsive, slimy, green...

She buried her head in her hands. She finally found a guy who loved her, even when she had been at her worst. She finally found a guy she could touch! And it was Toad. Toad. He wasn't even human.

But...he had been able to touch her. And she had to find out how. And why.

The InBetween House was just the was she remembered it. Broken-down, out of the way. But empty. Warily, she walked inside and looked around. How many times had they stopped here, when a mission was too far from their base for Vanisher and Harddrive to manage in one trip. She ran her hand along the ancient foozeball table that Toad and Progeny had played on so loudly, always announcing each goal with a boisterous chorus of the scorer's national anthem, while the other boo-ed them down. Boys. She spun the goalie --for luck-- and realized she was smiling fondly at such memories. She snatched her hand away and shook off the thick layer of dust that now coated her glove. All that was a long time ago. It didn't matter any more.

Why had she come here? No one had been here for a year, at least, Brotherhood or otherwise. And she was going to get it when the Professor and Scott found out. Better to just leave now and try to sneak back in the mansion unnoticed. She turned back toward the door when a soft voice stopped her.

"Why're you 'ere?"

She spun around and saw Toad leaning against the rickety-looking bannister, a faintly curious, but tired look in his gold eyes.

"Ah..." she began awkwardly. "Why'd you do that...that night...?" His eyes widened, and he focused on the ground, not looking at her.

"Why d'ya think?" he responded quietly. Rogue closed her eyes and shook her head. She wasn't going to think, not about that! The only reason she was here, the only reason she hadn't beat the crap out of him for what he had done and said, as far as she was concerned, was to find out how.

"Can Ah...can Ah really touch ya?" Toad shrugged and held his right hand out, still not looking at her. Rogue took of a glove and hesitantly reached out to him, suppressing disgust. She couldn't believe she was going to willingly touch the slimeball. Skin met skin. She could feel his tension; he was just as nervous as she was. His hand was cold and clammy, trembling slightly under her touch. She held her breath for a few moments, counting heartbeats. Then...

"...How...?" Toad shrugged again.

"Gorra few theories. Nuthin' y'd like ta hear. All comes down ta my mutation, I guess."

His mutation. Sometimes she forgot it was just that. Most of the time. All the time, actually. Rogue looked up at him and tried, for once, to see beyond the mutation to the human being that he might be. Even if nature hadn't chosen for him to have green skin and webbed fingers, she decided, he wouldn't have been terribly attractive. Too sharp a nose, all those piercings, skinny as a rail. But he wasn't as disgusting as she'd once thought. Still without looking at her, Toad could feel her scrutiny, and a darker green flushed his cheeks. Rogue noticed this and smiled slightly. Maybe... He wasn't Prince Charming, certainly, but maybe he wasn't that bad either. And anyway, he was the only one she could touch, and Rogue had long become accustomed to taking what she could get. She carefully reached out her other hand and laid it light on his cold cheek.

Toad's eyes snapped back to her, wide and fearful. Rogue leaned up to kiss him and he froze. When she didn't stop, or vanish away like a dream, he put a hand around her waist and rested the other one in her thick, soft hair. He knew she was probably imagining just about anyone else in his place, but for now, he told himself, it didn't matter. Life had not been kind to him, and knowing that he'd never again get a woman to willingly kiss him...he was perfectly willing to take what he could get. If she could pretend she was kissing some handsome hotshot from the X-men or something, he could just as easily pretend, just for this moment, that she loved him.

Rogue broke away first, but didn't move or push his arms away. She leaned against him, nestling her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and licked her lips, still tasting the kiss. Surprisingly tender, frightened almost, surprisingly sweet. How could being in his arms suddenly feel so...right? She turned her face back to his for another and tried to coax the passion she'd felt from him those three nights past back into the kiss. Maybe...how long was his tongue again? She mentally shook herself; she couldn't believe she'd just thought that. A kiss was one thing, but that? That was just gross! But he didn't try anything like that, just tasted her lips cautiously.

This time, it was Toad who broke away and stepped back. Rogue looked up to see him shaking his head, his eyes squeezed shut. For a moment she worried that she had hurt him, that whatever immunity he'd had to her powers had vanished, but then he looked back up at her and she saw a hurt hopelessness in his dark, wet eyes. He shook his head, resigned.

"G'bye, Rogue," he said softly, trailing a cool finger across her cheek and gently wiping away tears she didn't remember shedding. He turned to leave and suddenly a dam burst within her.

"Wait!" She started towards him. He looked back at her and shook his head again.

"It's no' real," he said sadly. "It wouldn' work if it was." He turned away again.

"Toad!" she called, feeling a desperate need to say something, to call him back. He stopped for a moment, but didn't turn. There was a long, tense pause.

"It's Mort," he said at last, then vanished into the shadows.

"Mort..." Rogue whispered, feeling tears falling on her hand. She was alone again.

The End.

I jus' wanna say, I think for Mort to tell his real name to anyone is a big deal for him. Especially in the Ultimate Universe, where Magneto really emphasises forgetting one's human origins (remember the bit with Detonator?) Anyway, there. Now that that's out of my system, maybe I can really write what I want to.

Rogue: "Then write me some mouthwash."
Toad: "Oh, come on. I had a tic-tac."
Rogue: "I don't care! I kissed you. No one should kiss you! Ick...."
Toad: sniffle "I'm gonna go eat a bucket of Ben an' Jerry's an' sulk."
Xany: "Now look what you've done, girl! You apologize!"
Rogue: mutter mutter s'rry...

Sigh...kids...