There was something in the way her eyes pleaded . Scott couldn't put his finger on it . He was exhausted as heck after all. He really hated being in this situation . He was supposed to be prepping for college courses, not running as his heart tried to burst through his chest. Sinister, Sabertooth and a whole whack of bad guys were stalking them through the Morlock tunnels, he shuddered , the former Morlock tunnels.

He and Rogue wanted to thank Spike for all his help with Apocalypse. What they weren't prepared for was the massacre that greeted them . Nearly every Morlock was dead and those that remained were wounded badly . Blood covered the sewer walls as thick as paint and the heavy copper smell hung in the air. Scott had puked and Rogue's face was a mask of pain and tears . That's when they heard the voices of evil and ran like Hell was at their heels.

It had been days. They were covered in filth , they were starving and half crazy with thirst. He had done all he could do , he zigged when they zagged and avoided their clutches up until this point. He had no doubts in his mind as they collapsed in a another dark dank tunnel , looking the same as the millions before . They were going to die , no ifs, ands or buts about it . Hope just left the building and all that was left was dread and acceptance. And then he looked at Rogue, she looked more fragile then glass at the moment. She was weeping with eyes too dehydrated for tears . One look into her eyes and he knew that she knew just what he did. He looked towards the entrance to the tunnel and looked back at her . She nodded and they were on the same page once again . They wouldn't give them the satisfaction as Scott brought the entrance of the tube down with an optic blast, keeping them out while forever sealing themselves in.

It seemed like another few days past but it could have been hours . The entire tunnel was as black and impenetrable as midnight and they only thing keeping them sane was each others voices . They talked and talked , they spoke of their lives , their hopes, their dreams and their fears until Rogue said she was tired and Cyclops knew they were done . He reached out for her in the dark and muzzled her hair in the pitch black. They held each other as they lay down and waited for the inevitable to come.

The world sounded muffled to Scott Summers. It was still completely black, he felt cold and couldn't move, his vocal cords didn't seem to function. He wondered if these were what the last moments before death felt like. Then he heard the faint murmur of Hank and then the light and steady beep that felt right beside his head. He was in the infirmary in the mansion and according to Hank he was in a coma that they never knew if he would ever come out of it. As the second beep came into focus and Hank moved on to Rogue it was the same prognosis that he heard.

He would fade in and out for days at a time . The only thing that kept him in sync with the passage of time were the headers for Hanks notes. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. For some reason even Jean or Charles couldn't break through. He felt his stubble become a beard and his ears tickle as his hair grew passed them. Hank, to his credit, would never give up . He tried drug after drug and treatment after treatment but the world was still numb to them and they were numb to the world. Jean would read to him every day and he could hear Remy's sugary words lilt towards Rogue and he wondered if she was the same as him. He doesn't even feel when they do his twice daily stretches just tries to remember the pull of the muscles as Hank reads them off for his notes.

He was about to go insane , He couldn't sleep and it had been 18 months since he was first "awake". He either dreamed of the massacre down in the sewer or his living death for the rest of eternity. He wanted it to end , he was begging for release from this living hell and then he heard a gruff sigh and a cracking beer.

" I know you can't hear me but I saved you , you son of a bitch."

it broke through the fog of his own apathy.

"It took 8 days of me tracking and 2 days of me digging and I didn't sleep a good goddamn but I saved your sorry ass, slim, so you owe me"

" I never really liked you , you know. You got a stick up your ass and your are wound so tight I don't thing they could get a pin up your ass with the aid of a jackhamer. But you did good when you saved her and protected her. You showed you me that you were the man Chuck always knew you were and I always thought you weren't"

" So , here is what happens. You wake up …. You get your boyscout ass out of this bed … and You be the best god-damned leader this world has ever seen because you just proved it in spades"

" You gotta get up , cause if you get up …. she … she can get up too ..."

For the first time in his life , he heard Logan's voice falter as it got up and started drifting away.

" The world's taken everything from me, even my memories and I spit in the bastard's eye with a smile on my face. I don't think I could take losing her, Slim, anything in the world I can take , but not her ..."

And with that he disappeared.

It was the look that plagued his every thought right now. She could bring Blob and even Apocalypse to their knees with a single touch and that look was so vulnerable it made all his being ache with compassion. Shes looked at him like that always but he thinks he just never took the time to notice . She has always been that fragile piece of glass around him, whether it was the shy girl on the picnic table rehearsing Henry the 5th or the bad ass mutant beating down the apocalypse, she always looked at him the same.

Even in the face of death, the look that never changed. The look that never missed a step or seemed forced. The look that always seemed sad and happy at the same time. The look that seemed so pure and unquestionable. It was then he realized what the look actually meant.

At that moment his eyes popped open and everything ran on auto pilot.

His joints felt like rusted tin dipped in sheets of ice as he pushed himself up on the railing.

He almost felt like he was going to fall to the ground and shatter . Ever fiber of his being screamed out in pain but he pushed forward.

He didn't notice Jean dropping her book and running for Hank.

He didn't notice Remy jump back like he was a zombie and glower at where Scott's view truly lay.

Because the only thing Scott noticed , Truly noticed for the first time was an angel laying in the bed.

And with one last burst of energy he lay down right beside her, pressing his lips to her hair and falling into the first contented sleep he had probably ever had in his life.

If he woke up so could she.

She loved him.

She always had.

She always would.

She had waited for him forever.

Now it was his turn.