Everything Steve did and said, from the touch of his hand and that sweet kiss to the term of endearment and that heartfelt conviction, should have been completely reassuring to Rogue. And it was, in a way. It cemented what she had already known about Steve and the way he thought about things. But it also made her realize something.

She wasn't afraid of Steve seeing the scars because of what he would think about them. She was afraid of him seeing them because then it would be real. He would really, truly see a fragment of what had been done to her, the results of one of the final days of her captivity, and somehow that was so much worse than him seeing the tattoo. Those inked numbers were easy for her to distance herself from because they had been quick and painless when compared to everything that had followed. But the scars...

"I know that," she said softly with a nod, her awe at the realization showing in both her voice and the look in her eyes as she leaned back to look up at him. "I know it. That's not why... I'm afraid of you seeing them because then you'll know. What they did to me. What I went through everyday for all those years."

She could barely stand to think about it herself and now he was going to be thinking about it too. Guilty was the only way she could feel about that.