Lorna Dane and Alex Summers, through X-Factor #75. Spoilers up to that point only.

Lorna Dane and Alex Summers, through X-Factor #75. Spoilers up to that point only. There is a lot of history sitting behind that hug when Lorna and Alex finally see each other again in X-Factor #71. They have tried building an ordinary life together, been turned against their friends, had their home destroyed, and spent long stretches unable to reach each other. Getting them back on the same team brings all of that with them. Their first meeting is already a mess. In X-Men #58, both are prisoners of Larry Trask and his Sentinels. Alex has agreed to cooperate because Trask promised to leave Lorna alone. Bobby arrives, sees Alex apparently working with their captor, and calls him a coward. Lorna is the one who explains why Alex gave in. Then a Sentinel grabs her anyway, and Alex attacks it. The relationship starts with him being frightened of his own power, trying to protect somebody, and discovering that the man holding them prisoner never intended to honor the deal. Bobby's interest in Lorna matters to the early story, but Lorna gets a say in it. In #60, Jean assumes Bobby is showing off in front of his girl. Lorna makes it clear that she enjoys Bobby's company without belonging to him. By #65, she and Alex are working together closely enough that Jean notices the connection, and Bobby notices it too. The jealousy is already making its way into team business while Alex and Lorna help Xavier prepare for the Z'nox invasion. Incredible Hulk #150 adds a rough early chapter. A flashback shows Alex losing control during a confrontation with Bobby over Lorna and injuring him. Alex leaves the X-Men, ashamed and afraid of what his powers can do. Months later, Xavier sends Lorna to find him in New Mexico. The Hulk mistakes her green hair for Jarella's, and Alex is pulled into a fight that helps restore some of his confidence. He and Lorna decide to return to the team. Even that return gets interrupted: the Secret Empire captures them, with their disappearance feeding into the Captain America #172–175 story. After Krakoa and the arrival of the new X-Men, Alex and Lorna leave the active team in X-Men #94 to pursue their studies. This is an important part of them. They actually want a home, research, and time together. There are publication years in which their relationship is built around trying to have those things while remaining available when their friends need help. #97 gives us a very clear look at that life. They are doctoral candidates working in the Rio Diablo country. Alex kisses Lorna before heading out for the day, and her thoughts are full of how happy she is with him. Then Erik the Red knocks on the door. He attacks and brainwashes Lorna, uses her against Alex, and brings both of them under his control. The next time the X-Men see them, they are trying to get to Xavier to kill him. That is a violent interruption of an affectionate relationship. Both of them are being used. Their later recovery brings them to Moira's care on Muir Island, where the quiet life keeps getting interrupted too. In Marvel Team-Up #69–70, the Living Monolith's people go after Alex again. After Spider-Man and Thor help free him, Alex's immediate concern is getting back to Muir and finding out what happened to Lorna. X-Men #125 has a small conversation that says a lot about how other people see them. Phoenix tells Lorna she envies the life she and Alex are building away from the X-Men. Lorna treats that as a choice Phoenix could make too. Of course, this is the beginning of the Proteus story, so their friends and their powers are about to become central to their lives again. Alex and Lorna both help in that fight. Then there are the genuinely ordinary moments. In Uncanny #145, they are repairing a windmill together when Xavier calls them back to help rescue Arcade's hostages. In #159, Lorna is there at the cabin during Alex's reunion with Corsair. They have dinner with Scott and their newly returned father, and she jokes about Alex being the cook because it gets him out of washing dishes. These scenes give the relationship a lived-in quality. They have shared work and routines, and Lorna has a place in Alex's family life. The collapse of that life starts before Alex even knows it is happening. In #218, they discover a stranded Brood Starshark in the desert, drawing Alex back toward the X-Men. By #219, Alex has recurring nightmares and dangerous energy discharges. Lorna comforts him. When he returns to New York to investigate, she wants to accompany him, but he insists on going alone. Malice later reveals she possessed Lorna at the airport when he left. The attack on their home is a test of that possession. Alex, meanwhile, discovers the X-Men interfered with his memories and rejoins the team. The reader knows what has happened to Lorna before he does. In #222, Alex blasts an attacking Polaris before realizing who she is. Psylocke briefly gives Lorna control again, and she is confused by what has happened. Malice takes over once more. Alex clings to her as she flies away, trying to reach the woman he loves. Malice deliberately makes that love hurt. She tells him he can stop her by shooting her down, otherwise he will have to live with what she does next. Alex finally fires. Her shield stops the blast, and she uses the fact that he tried as another weapon against him. He is left on his knees crying. The cruelty depends on Lorna being someone he knows and loves, and on Malice being able to speak and act through her. Alex's life keeps moving while Lorna remains trapped. He goes through the X-Men's sacrifice in Dallas, their resurrection, and the decision to live secretly in Australia. His relationship with Madelyne develops during that period. Uncanny #239 makes the connection to Lorna painfully explicit: he dreams about losing Lorna to Malice and reaching for Madelyne, who has also been left alone. When Madelyne approaches him in reality, the framed picture of Alex and Lorna falls and breaks. Alex and Madelyne become lovers, and Inferno takes him into her orbit as the Goblin Prince. His grief over Lorna, his feelings for Madelyne, his resentment toward Scott, and the demonic influence are tangled together. Calling this a tidy breakup followed by a tidy new relationship would leave out most of what the story is showing us. Lorna has not been freely living her own life on the other side of that separation. When she manages to call for help in #249, she thinks for a moment that she is speaking to Alex. She has finally worked up the courage to contact him, only to learn he is not the person on the line. Malice is still an internal threat even as Lorna regains control. Then Zaladane captures her before the X-Men can bring her to safety. Alex follows Zaladane's forces undercover. In #250 he is captured, restrained, and forced to watch as Lorna's magnetic powers are taken from her. But Lorna's new strength becomes the means of escape. She breaks free and helps release the others, including Alex. Even in this reunion, she has to survive another assault on her body and identity, and she is also the person who gets them out. There is barely any room for the two of them to work out what happens next. Alex goes through the Siege Perilous in #251, with Psylocke using her telepathy to overcome his hesitation. He eventually turns up in Genosha as an amnesiac Magistrate. During X-Tinction Agenda, fighting Scott brings back his memories, and he helps bring down Hodge. He stays afterward to help prevent the old abuses from continuing. Lorna's separate path leads back to Muir Island and into the Shadow King's control. So when X-Factor #71 puts them in the same room again, they are arriving from very different disasters. Lorna has recovered her magnetic powers after the Muir Island Saga. Alex has been working in Genosha. She welcomes him with a hug. The old affection is still there, but the book does not give them a long conversation that resolves every part of what happened while they were apart. The familiarity comes back quickly. In #73, Lorna can see Alex trying to become Scott's version of a serious team leader, and she calls him on it. She knows his habits and insecurities well enough to recognize them. In #74, they are playing squash when he brings up Rahne's behavior and tells her that Rahne came into his bed during the night. Lorna's joking stops. By #75, her attempt to talk to Rahne has become a tense confrontation, with Rahne treating her as a rival. Through #75, that situation is still unresolved. It deserves more care than treating it as a fun new love triangle, especially with everything Rahne has just been through in Genosha. Alex and Lorna's reunion is being complicated before they have even had much space to settle back into each other's lives. What their earlier history adds is the knowledge that there was a real life here before all of this. They studied together, kept a home together, helped their friends, and made each other part of the family. Then enemies repeatedly got between them by taking away their choices. There are also decisions Alex makes himself, including leaving Lorna behind and becoming involved with Madelyne, which belong in the discussion too. By X-Factor #75, they have found their way back to each other. Whether they can rebuild something stable after everything that happened is still an open question at this point in the reading.