Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men or anything related to the X-men.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to look at the newest chapter of this story. I wasn't able to reply to the lovely guest, but I want to apologize for using the wrong word on the other chapter. I didn't mean 'last' as in the end of the story, just 'last' as in previous. I have fixed that typo in the newest edit of the previous chapter. Also, a big thank you to the sassy Jehilew for her many, many great compliments and discussions. If you want an excellently realistic (and accent correct :). ) selection of Romy stories, check out her page.

Anywho, onto the chapter:

Only a few days after my revealing discussion with Jude, I still hadn't approached Remy. We had passed each other multiple times and had the usual amount of senseless conversations, but I had not tackled the topic of feelings. Despite his usual attempts to tease and flirt with me, he hadn't pushed the subject to hard either. I couldn't tell if that was a sign from Remy or maybe he had an idea what was floating around my head and just wanted to see what I decided to do. You'd think it would have been easier to admit you cared about someone who spent so many days pestering you with endless romantic lines.

It wasn't like I had been just lazily floating around the castle grounds waiting for him to look my way. Most of my days had been spent next to my mother. We had spent ages cooped up in my bedroom or her new suite looking at old family documents and photographs. The old photo album that had sent me into such a shock so long ago had been dusted off and was now proudly sitting on my desk. It was a possession that I could now say I truly treasured.

When mom was forced to take it easy and rest, since she was still recovering from years of maltreatment, I kept myself deeply involved in the rescue efforts. There was food to box up, paperwork to organize, and a whole dimension to convince that Morphs were not horrible monsters. Even little Batal had taken his new representative position quite seriously and had been bringing me regular reports about how everyone was feeling and what they needed in the form of supplies.

The rare times that I had been away from the work effort and my mother, I had jumped into spending time with my friends. Axel, despite the fact the danger was over, had been stuck to my side like glue as I made the rounds. I couldn't fathom what he was expecting to come sailing around the corner, but he still followed me like a puppy through every humanitarian effort. The only thing that seemed to force him to step away was the look in my mother's eyes when she politely requested we have some time to spend with just each other.

The X-men had all found their own uses in Lenox pretty quickly. Ororo had even headed up the committee to try and restore the Morph's old plot of land to its former farmable state. With her help, a few seedlings had already started to appear on the horizon line. It would take a long time before the place could support any kind of life besides desert creatures, but it was a start. Honestly, I wondered in the back of my mind if any of the Morphs would want to go back to the place they had been held captive in for all those years.

Kitty and Kurt had somewhat surprisingly, become my main source of help. They had been with me through most of my trips outside of the palace grounds and were already growing quite accustomed to using their powers freely. It was bizarre how comfortable all of the X-men seemed to be living in a world that easily accepted them. They could fly, phase through walls, or even shoot things with laser beams and no one said a word.

Well, Kurt enjoyed using his powers while still under the guise of his human cover. I didn't question him outright, but I had a suspicious feeling that he didn't feel comfortable showing how much he favored the Morph line. We hadn't gotten the chance to really sit down and discuss what I had learned about Mystique and myself. How could I tell him that he was distantly related to Sunil and Griffin? I couldn't decide if it was more painful to tell everyone the truth or to keep it inside.

Wouldn't the holdouts on accepting the Morphs be shocked to know that their mystery princess had one for an adopted brother? I was proud of Kurt no matter what his family heritage. He was my annoying little brother and no discovery could change that. If he told me he wanted me to shout out that he was my brother and/or a morph, then I would have gladly granted his request. But as it stood now, he almost seemed to be praying that his privacy was kept in tack.

Either way, Kitty, and Kurt were currently sitting in my room when the announcement came through the royal channel, that there was going to be an extravagant ball. When my mom had knocked on my door, I had expected her to explain that we might be planning a new program or were going to have dinner alone tonight. But the idea that the public and some of the dimension's lower rulers wanted to see us in the fancy clothes and jewels, hadn't crossed my mind.

I knew she was the queen, and that I was the princess, but the idea that other people were interested in watching us dance a little and sit on those oversized thrones seemed bizarre. After discovering my family and reuniting with my friends, I had become so obsessed with getting to spend time with them and help the Morph relief cause that I hadn't realized we meant anything to anyone else. Sure everyone stared when I went out, but I was almost certain it was a fleeting faze.

"A ball?" Kitty grinned happily and bounced up and down slightly on the bed. Her excitement was apparently catching because even Kurt started to grin widely.

"Yes. We have some planning to do, but I would be honored to have all of the X-men attend as guests of the royal family." Mother remained calm and dignified as she spoke, proving that she had a great deal more regalness in her system than I ever would.

"Awesome!" Kitty squealed and jumped off the bed quicker than a shot, before disappearing around the corner shouting something about dress shopping.

The room grew quiet once the rocket called Kitty blasted away into the land of strip malls and boutiques. I looked at Kurt and wondered if this was the right moment to try and properly introduce him to my mother as my adopted brother. He had been the strongest family I had before realizing how deeply my roots really were, and he deserved some form of recognition, even if that recognition was kept only between the three of us. I watched both of their faces and tried to figure out how to start the discussion.

"I better go tell some of the others," Kurt broke in before I could say anything and simply thanked my mom for the news than left the room.

"Alex," My mother broke my emotional tug-of-war and pulled my attention back to her face. She walked towards my bed and delicately took a seat on the plush comforter. In her hands, she held a rather large book that I had never seen before. Even with my newly opened memory bank, I wasn't able to pinpoint what the book meant to our family. It was obviously somewhat important since she cradled it so closely to her chest.

"I wanted to give you something, my dear." She handed the book to me and I studied the cover intently waiting for the sudden memory to snap into place in my brain.

The feel and design of the tome made it seem rather old. It was twice the size of any dictionary I had seen before and had a small square right in the middle of the cover. I ran my index finger over the decorative gold trim around the square, before following my mom's prompting and sticking my bare hand on the square. The book immediately let out a light glow and forced my locket to snap into action and put out its own matching glow. The emeralds decorating the far edges of the cover followed the pattern and shimmered brightly as the square revealed our family crest.

When the book had settled its glow, I opened the cover and expected to find some sort of tiny print or handwritten entries, but it was blank. The whole thing had no typed lines, handwritten notes, or even pictures anywhere. I flipped the pages to get a quick look at the rest of the book and looked up at my mom when my memory scan came up empty and the item seemed to lose its impressiveness.

"Thanks, mom," I ran my finger on one of the blank pages and watched her smile at my confusion.

"This is a book that has been passed from mimic to mimic." She touched the blank page with a sigh, "Your dad had been waiting to pass it down to you when you were older."

I was silent for a moment as the image of my father's kind and warm smile appeared in my head. "Why is it blank then? If it has been through so many people's hands where is the writing?"

"All you have to do," She explained gently and pointed to the top of the page, "Is think of whichever Lenox heir you want to read about. The section will appear for you right on the page."

The idea seemed a little silly, but I took a deep breath and focused on my father as I touched the page. Almost instantly, the book let out a gentle glow and words began to appear all over the page. I skimmed through a few pages and was surprised to find out how much my father had actually written in this book.

"All of the past rulers used this to leave their discoveries and messages to the next generation. They wrote about everything from their day-to-day lives to their new discoveries about their abilities and powers. This book is for you to keep nearby and to write whatever you feel in it, my dear."

As the idea that I had a new connection to the father I thought was gone for years to come fully hit me, I closed the book and wrapped my arms around my mother. I didn't have to say a word to her, as she returned the gesture immediately and held me tightly I knew that she understood. This gift meant more to me then I could ever say.

Despite the craziness that had been going on throughout the Lenox dimension, they had managed to pull together a completely over-extravagant ball in less than three days. Axel had assured me that this was actually a very simple and small get together for only the heads of the different stations throughout Lenox, but I couldn't fathom that there was anything small about this party when I saw how many pieces of silver had been brought up to the main kitchen for cleaning. It looked even bigger than the party that had been put together to celebrate my fake engagement to Jude. Even my dress was going to be fancier this time around.

I had a ton of outfits and, weirdly, tiaras in my closets, but this was apparently a serious enough event to require that an, unfortunately, available tailor be called in to rush a new designer ball gown. Which is exactly why I was standing on an oversized pincushion-like- creature for the second time that day. The tailor in question had already completed the majority of the dress, through what I assumed were some extremely late nights, and was now just trying to complete the base and decide how he could put a regal sash with the outfit. Supposedly, it was tradition for my mother and me to sport the various badges and medals associated with our stature. The idea that I had any earned any kind of medal was almost funny enough to laugh out loud, but none of the dress crew seemed to find the situation funny.

It felt kind of silly to me to be wearing such a glittering gown, no matter what the event I would be attending. The under layer of the strapless dress was an extremely dark emerald green. While the top layer was a strange mixture of see-through black mesh, with various rose designs clumped together in particular spots. The main skirt billowed outwards and gave me the official Disney princess theme. On the upper portion of the dress were less black lace and only a few specific rose spots. The amount of cleavage shown by the dress probably wasn't as bad as it seemed in my head, but it made me feel self-conscious to look down and see the extremely fitted design hugging each curve of my upper body. All of Lenox pretty much knew that they couldn't touch my skin, but what if someone tripped or forgot even for a moment?

I ran my hands on the soft tulle over layer and fingered the tight black fabric sash my official dress designer was still trying to tie in with the image. Aside from the tailor and his boss whose name I hadn't been able to gather, past her official title of royal dress designer for the princess, was a few other helpers trying to work on the bottom of my hem and a pair of gloves that were supposed to reach high up on my arms for added protection.

"Remy approves, Chere."

I heard his voice before I saw any sign of the Cajun. The tailor jumped in surprise and the other members of my dress staff were equally astonished to find that he had seemingly just appeared on my balcony. I knew the Cajun had a fondness for sneaking around the rooftops, but apparently, he had kept that hidden from the palace workers. It was an impressive feat, even to me, since there was so much security around the place.

"Excuse me," The dress diva spoke up and frowned at Remy. I had the distinct impression that he was high on her list of annoyances since he had disrupted multiple earlier attempts to discuss my dress plans. "The princess is to be addressed only as, her royal highness."

"He doesn't have to do that." I waved her aside feeling awkward enough being all dolled up in front of Remy. But he shook his head at me and stepped in front of my giant pincushion with his usual amount of grace and charm.

"Non, it be alright." He bowed very slowly and elegantly as if he had been trained his whole life to deal with royalty, "You look lovely, your Royal Highness."

We stared into each other's eyes in silence as the others around us continued to mill about. The sounds of the room faded as I stared into his eyes and lost my train of thought completely. The words that I had wanted to tell him for so long were on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't get them out. It was as if he was so close to me and yet still so far away. We had danced on this line for so long, that I was almost starting to worry that there was no way to get over it.

"Are you coming to the ball?" I finally asked unable to form the words I almost thought he wanted to hear as well.

"Remy wouldn't miss it." He paused only a moment and his eyes glanced at the others in the room. "You still owe him a dance, Che-" He hesitated as the dress lady glared daggers at him, "Your highness."

I wanted to yell at the woman on the spot for breaking our moment. Even if I was too chicken or stupid to let the moment happen. Why would he listen to her anyway? This was Remy. He wasn't the type to even listen to Logan who threatened him with bodily harm. It was just the two of us talking nonsense again, but there was something different about the whole mix. I had been a fake princess then. Surely, he didn't see me any different now? I was the same Rogue... or Alex… or whatever as before. Wasn't I?

"We need to finish the gown for the ball," The woman spoke up again and incurred more of my silent wrath. "If you will excuse us."

"Sure," Remy agreed before I could even open my mouth to send the workers away. "Till tonight, princess."

Now that my mother was back in the palace and her positron as the official queen had been settled, I was now second to everything. I didn't mind being demoted at all. Really, it was pretty great. It took a little of the attention away from me and gave me a chance to stall a little longer before entering big events like the welcome ball.

Before entering for her customary arrival announcement, she had kissed my head; careful not to mess up the intricate up-do my stylist had wrangled my brown curls into, and straightened my mismatched gold locket before leaving my side to greet the crowd in the silver ballroom. I watched her through a crack in the doors, despite the guards who seemed to find the idea awkward, and stared in amazement as the frail woman glided down the stairway. It was as if my mother had never left her past life as a fancy queen for the darkness of a dungeon.

"Presenting," The voice of tonight's royal proclaimer, echoed into my closed off area and forced my feet to step forward.

I had been through the grand entrance thing before, but this one felt different. I wasn't walking in with the same level of guilt that had overshadowed my last arrival. I knew that I was the real princess whether I felt worthy of the title or not. This was the life I had been born into. I had been meant for the balls and glitter of expensive jewels, but I couldn't find any comfort in the grandeur of my true heritage just yet.

"Her Royal Highness, Alexandria Gracelyn Rose Lenox, Crown Princess of the Lenox Dimension."

I stepped into the light and was completely overwhelmed by the applause that greeted my entrance. The leaders from all throughout Lenox raised their champagne glasses to me at the top of the stairwell, as if they knew that I had done something huge. Defeating Sunil had been a big deal, but I wondered if any of them really knew the entire story? Did they know how much had happened to make this wacky moment possible?

My mother stood next to the X-Men and Jude at the base of the stairs, with what I could only describe as a proud smile covering her face. I could see that everyone had dressed up for the event. Jean and the other girls had all managed to find flattering gowns in varying shades of colors. The boys were spruced up in some sleek looking black tuxes, despite their usual annoyance to dress in anything better than t-shirts and jeans. Even Logan, who was being silently chastised by Storm for picking at his bow tie, was dressed up for the event. It made me smile to realize that someone else felt as awkward in their fancy clothes as I did in my revealing gown.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, Logan stepped forward and grabbed hold of my hand. I had expected the move but some of the others from Earth seemed a little surprised by his gentlemanly qualities. It had been customary to have someone high-ranking meet the reigning king or queen and other royal family members at the bottom of the stairs, but with my dad not here for the event, I had asked Logan to fill in for the slot. He hadn't said much in response to my request, but the way his eyes had studied my face and his head had nodded slowly, yet firmly, to agree, I knew he understood how much it meant to me to have him be part of this. Logan had been the closest thing to a father that I had known for a while, and I didn't think my own dad would be anything but happy as he watched us from Heaven.

Logan walked me to my mother's side and gave my covered hand a very tiny squeeze before letting go. The gesture wasn't unnoticed by me and I tried to send him a small smile before the crowd of people hurriedly gathered around us. Everyone had something to say to my mother, who still looked too skinny for her own good, but was healthier than she had been only days before. They bowed and/or curtsied to each of us in turn and tired to keep their greetings to an appropriate time level since the line was already starting to stretch far too long for anyone's taste.

By the time the general greetings had finished, the band began to start a little filler music. I knew traditionally that the first dance belonged to my mother and father. Since my father was unable to take his place in the dance, a handsome middle-aged security guard took his place. I wasn't surprised when the guard, who I had only recently learned had been on her personal security team back in the day, stepped up to twirl her around the floor.

I stayed back as best I could and scanned the room for a certain someone. I hadn't seen Remy when I entered the ballroom and had briefly wondered if he had decided to skip the dance entirely. Maybe someone else had gotten to him and made the whole situation more awkward? It wasn't like the dress situation had been the first time someone had tried to reprimand the X-men for addressing me casually, but Remy seemed to have received the largest amount of those lectures. But surely that wouldn't stop him from showing up. Would it?

"Who are you looking for?" Kitty questioned me as she sipped on a glass of champagne.

"I just…" I stumbled over the question and pushed aside the idea of answering it. I wasn't ready to face the giggles and squeals of an excited Kitty when she found out I wanted to be near Remy. "No one. I wasn't looking for anyone. Oh, and I'd take it easy on that stuff, Kit."

She mumbled something in response to my statement about being made of tougher stuff then I gave her credit for, but I couldn't hear the whole statement since mom's dance had finished and the crowd was applauding. Mom walked back over to me with her dancing partner in tow and seemed to sense that I was nervous just like Kitty had. The band was changing their sheet music and would be expecting my dance partner and me to approach the stage any minute now. Where was Remy LeBeau?

"He'll be here." My mom whispered the thought very softly in my ear and honestly surprised me. I had no idea how she could know, or if she truly did know for that matter, but before I could ask any follow-up questions, a warm hand grabbed my own.

"May I have this dance, Chere?" Remy's voice was as deep and warm as ever. His normally disheveled hair was handsomely styled and the deep black tuxedo that covered his muscular frame seemed to have been made just for him. I could see the slight curve in his smile that kept it from being completely straight as he looked into my eyes, and felt myself be pulled deeper into his spell.

"You are late, Swamp Rat," I smiled at him and followed his lead to the dance floor.

"Moi?" He whispered to only me as we took our position and waited for the music to begin, "Non, Remy never late. Everyone else just early."

The music began to play very softly in the background, or maybe it was just soft compared to my beating heart. The way he stared into my eyes and held me so close to his muscular frame as we twirled around the floor kept my brain on a rollercoaster of emotions. It was almost impossible to even focus on my feet as the earthy smell of my Cajun washed over me.

My Cajun? I mentally froze as the term ran through my head. When had he become 'My Cajun'? I fought the blush that threatened to burst out across my cheeks and looked down from his piercing eyes to study my feet.

"You look breath takin' tonight, Chere." Remy's voice came to my ears once again and he pulled one of his covered hands away from my lower back to gently turn my chin upward.

"Gloves?" I asked in surprise, somehow having missed the fact he was wearing any hand cover during the excitement of the moment. He merely grinned at me and put the gloved hand back to its former position on my lower back.

I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed he had been wearing a pair earlier, but it made sense. Remy never came unprepared and he apparently had expected we might touch tonight. I wasn't sure if his assumptions were more amusing or forward. He defiantly had good enough spy skills to know that I had been trying to practice my control since I had woken up.

Those few moments I wasn't watched by anyone and had my room to myself, I had focused on my hands and tired to recall the claws. I had managed to get the claws to appear about halfway during my best attempt, but the moment I tried to think of Remy's powers and charge them, the whole plan failed. My mind might have been cleared by the power burst, or whatever had hit Sunil, but I still had a long way to go before I could honestly say I was in control.

As our dance began to slow down, I realized that my moment was passing me by, "Remy," I mumbled out the thought and he raised an eyebrow, "Why were you late?"

"Well," He twirled me away from his body, though the dance didn't call for such a move, then twirled me back into his embrace, "Remy was on his way when he thought that he might need something."

Before I could ask what, he pulled a queen of hearts playing card out of his pocket that had a very familiar design on it; one intricately burned rose. I don't know when he had stolen the card from my dresser, but I could almost imagine what he was planning to use it for.

"Well, Mister LeBeau," I smiled teasingly at him and found my own confidence begin to grow, "You really think I would kiss you in front of this crowd?"

"Isn't there a long history of the princess falling for a scoundrel?" He teased right back and stopped our movements in the center of the room, though neither of us could tell if the music was still playing in the background.

"None of them quite match up to your level of mischief, Remy."

He laughed softly and pulled the card slowly towards my face. We both knew what was happening, and without a word we each seemed to sense that both of us wanted it just as badly as the other one did. The only thing Remy didn't know was that I wanted this kiss to be real. No cards, no cloth, no covers whatsoever.

I sucked in a deep breath for courage and tried to focus my entire mind on Remy and my desire to be close to him. My hands grabbed his face gently and the boy raised a quizzical eyebrow before I pressed my lips firmly on top of his.

The entire kiss lasted no longer than a minute, max, but when I pulled away from Remy I immediately looked for any sign of weakness. Instead of the pale, sickly color, his cheeks would have been decorated with only a few months earlier had I kissed him, his face was now covered in a healthy glow and he seemed no worse for the wear. It wasn't perfect, but I had been able to pull away the moment I had felt my control start to slip.

It was a start to full control. I believed It was a start for both of us, as Remy wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly against his warm chest, despite the hundreds or more eyes staring at us unblinkingly. Yes, this was our start.

Okay, Everyone! Roll the credits and play 'Roots Before Branches' by Room for Two or 'Who I Am' by Jessica Andrews. I couldn't decide which would be a better song for the last chapter. There is a song for each chapter in my head, and sometimes more than one song for the chapters.

Can you believe that this story is done? I am planning on a sequel, but it is still in the planning stages. I can tell you that there will hopefully be more of the other X-men in the next story. Now that Rogue has discovered her true identity, she has a long way to go before becoming a queen or whatever else she may decide to do with her life.

Thank you all for staying with this story through the long hiatuses. I hope it was worth your time and that you will keep an eye out for the next installment. Thank you again. : ).